Vick Scores

Michael Vick has completed an amazing comeback by signing a six year, $100 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. What an amazing feet considering the way he was treated when he first applied for reinstatement to the NFL after serving time in prison.

In spite of not playing for two years, Vick still has his skills at the crossroads age of 31. I think he can play well for the next few season, assuming he doesn't get hurt. His playing style is not conducive to players when they get old and lose some of their speed.

Vick still has all of his skills. I think he will have a hard time staying on the field for the entire season. Money is thrown around in the NFL. Quarterbacks certainly get their share. The Eagles had no problem paying him the money.

In my opinion, Vick will never see this contract to the end. It will either be renegotiated or he won't be with the Eagles.

The First Cut

There are always surprises when players get released from their teams during the mandatory roster cuts. James Sanders certainly fit the bill. He was a 4th round pick in the 2005 draft. He was a teammate of Logan Mankins at Fresno State.

He has been a very dependable player at safety for the last six seasons. Last year he had some injuries and missed some of this year's training camp. He also had a high salary cap number.

All of these things made him expendable. He is typical of so many players around the league. Although he played only six seasons, his body probably has the wear and tear of someone who played 12 years.

Sanders took someone's place six years ago. Whoever replaces him will ultimately meet the same fate.

It's very difficult to leave this game on your own terms.

Making a Point

Coach Belichick has been very critical about the rule change that moved the kickoff to the 35 yard line. It was done by the Competition Committee with the goal of preventing injuries on the coverage and return teams.

Belichick said the rule has taken away one of the most exciting plays in the game. It also effects filed position when a team starts on their own 20 yard line as a result of a touchback.

He made a good point when he said the rule should be changed about the extra point after a touchdown. Right now, the success rate is about 98% by teams. Why not make it more challenging, he said? Put the ball on the 20 yard line and make the kick more difficult.

Maybe they should eliminate the extra point and only allow two point conversions. That would drastically change the way the game is played after scoring.

I understand why the kickoff was changed, but they should just come out and say they want to eliminate kick returns. The league continues to use player safety concerns as a way of rationalizing their decisions. The league is concerned about player safety when it benefits their agenda.

Two In Three

The third pre-season game is seen as critical for the starters and those players tyring to make the roster. The final game next week has a goal of not getting anyone hurt.

The Pats plays the Lions in Detroit tonight and will see the Giants in Foxborough next Thursday. The Giants and Jets were scheduled tonight, but will play instead on Monday night because of Hurricane Irene. Although it's only the pre-season, this schedule doe snot bode well for the Jets or Giants.

In a time when player health and safety are of utmost importance, the Giants will play two games in three days when they face the Pats. Nothing can be done at this point because of the weather.

For the Giants, it will give new meaning to the term: "not get anyone hurt".

What Did You Expect?

Several former players have filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL over the handling of concussion related injuries.

The plaintiffs are lead by former Chicago Bears QB Jim MacMahon who said he played through five concussions. Years later, MacMahon says he suffers from confusion and often forgets why he entered a room.

The lawsuit accuses the league of failing to treat the players properly for concussions as well as covering up any link between the game and brain injuries. The league is accused of intentionally misconduct in its response to former player complaints of headaches, dizziness and dementia.

The league has denied all of the claims and said it will fight the lawsuit vigorously. How else did people think the league would respond? Naturally, they will deny everything because the league does a lousy job in taking care of the health problems of its former players.

Warren On the Way

Coach Belichick seems to know when to part way with players after he has used them up. The NFL has no room for sentimentalism. Former first round draft pick Ty Warren was cut in training camp after missing last season with a hip injury. Most thought he would be in the defensive line mix this season until the surprise announcement.

He signed as a free-agent with Denver for two years at $8 million. It included a $2.5 million signing bonus and a salary of $1.5 million for this season.

He suffered a partially torn right tricep muscle during practice last week. The team said they have no plans to put him on IR. They feel he might be ready to play in November.

Unfortunately for Warren, he is on a career ending path that so many players seem to follow. First they miss a season and then get hurt during training camp. Eventually, he will become a footnote in the history of the Pats.

Vince Belichick

So many former players seem to make the transition from the playing field to the media. The list is getting long.

Vince Wilfolk does a weekly interview on a local sports talk radio show. He is very insightful. He works on his articulation. He has some of Bill Belichick's sound bites, especially the one about "moving on".

Vince has the chance to get quite a bit of mic time this season as his name has been mentioned in the brewing University of Miami football program scandal. His name has been mentioned as being on the receiving end of "gifts" from a Miami booster.

He must have said "moving on" and "focusing on the season" five times during the interview. The NCAA has the Miami football program in its crosshairs. As more details of the scandal are released, Wilfolk will get his opportunity to do his Belichick imitation

Mills Steps Through the Door

The Pats seem to have a revolving door for former players to return after leaving the team. The list is very long. TE Garrett Mills can add his name to the group. The team announced his signing today.

The former 4th round pick of the Pats in the 2006 draft never played a regular season snap with them. He was inactive for the first nine games before being placed on IR with hip and thigh injuries.
He played with the Vikings from 2007-2009 before being with the Eagles and Bengals last year.

Coach Belichick often talks of how the scouting department keeps track of all of the players in the league. Mills is just another example.

Why Wasn't He Rehired?

I thought it was kind of strange when Corwin Brown was not rehired by the Pats as their secondary coach. Coach Belichick only does what is best for the team, but he has a long history with Brown. No reason was given for their separation.

Corwin was with the Pats from 1993-1996. Belichick was Defensive Coordinator under Bill Parcells during their Super Bowl run of 1996 .He followed Parcells and Belichick to the Jets for 1997 and 1998. He played eight seasons, finishing his career with the Lions.

The recent news about him was shocking. He was involved in a 7-hour standoff with a SWAT team after assaulting his wife in their home. He ended up with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was arrested and faces serious charges.

There is great concern that his behavior might be related to concussions he received during his playing career. His family believes he might suffer from the same brain illness as the late Dave Dauerson.

Meanwhile, the league continues to think that nobody gets hurt playing this game.

A Useless Play

It's easy to see why pre-season games are a constant threat to injury. Late in the 4th quarter against Tampa Bay, RB Danny Woodhead was on the punt coverage team. He took a tremendous hit in the head on a crack-block. He fell to the ground. When he got up, he was staggering. Several players helped him off the field.

Naturally, the team isn't saying anything about his condition, but 20 years from now, I'm sure he will look back on this play and realize this was one where he got a concussion.

It will be interesting to see how he does over the next two weeks. There was no penalty on the play.

Lot of Empty Seats

As long as four pre-season games are played, there will be discussion about their overall value. The owners want to eliminate two and play an 18 game regular season. Coach Belichick believes they are needed to evaluate talent under game type conditions.

The season ticket holders don't want four pre-season games. They are forced to pay top dollar for their ticket and refreshments inside the stadium.

As I watch the game between the Pats and Tampa Bay, there are very few fans in the stands. Where are they?Are they at home or tailgating in the parking lot?

Team always announce the attendance as the amount of tickets sold. I think there were more people at the open practice I attended than are here tonight.

Let's Sign Everyone

The 90 man roster is a fantasy team. Coach Belichick has lamented about wishing to sign everyone. In the end, it won't happen. Some really good players will be cut at all positions.

There are some players who would shock me if they didn't make the roster, but you never know at this point.We will see some surprising cuts. These guys will end up playing on another team.

I still don't why the regular season roster has not been expanded. There are many things about the new CBA that I don't understand. Expanding rosters create more jobs, but at a financial cost.

The roster that starts the opening game will not be the one we see at the last game of the season. We will hear this from the coach throughout the season.

A Brett Favre Moment?

Now that Tom Brady has turned 33, there has been some talk on the call-in shows about what the team will do if it ever makes a move to replace him.

Rookie Ryan Mallett is seen as a possible replacement down the road. He played very well against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week. Brian Hoyer has an excellent game also.

Eventually, Brady's contract will come to an end. What will the team do then? Will he be placed in a similar situation like Brett Favre had in Green Bay? Brady has often said how he wants to play until he is 40. Would Coach Belichick ever go in another direction with the position?

All of this is purely hypothetical. Nobody knows how much longer Brady will play. That depends on his health. Eventually Mallett and Hoyer will reach a point where the team might trade them away. One of them might have a Matt Cassell moment if Brady ever gets hurt.

The day Brady got hurt in 2009 proved to be the most important moment of Cassell's career. He was able to step in and make the most of the opportunity. It proved to be a financial windfall down the road.

Kickoff 2011

It's moments before kickoff of the first pre-season game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. So many questions are unanswered. The official "over and under" for wins this season is 11.5.

Brian Hoyer is the starter tonight as well as many other back-ups. We will get a chance to see a large number of players. Too bad the fans at the stadium are paying regular season prices for the talent level. This is why the owners love these games.

A Legend Keeps Coaching

Nobody ever knows when it's the right time to walk away from the game. Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno is coming back for another season at the age of 84. Many alumnae wish he would retire. The coaching staff seems very supportive of their boss. Their jobs are dependent upon him. He is more of a figure head than anything. That seems to work out in the end. The program has national ranking.

Unfortunately, the coach was injured in practice the other day after WR Devon Smith blindsided him. Paterno sustained shoulder and hip injuries. This is not Paterno's first time dealing with sideline collisions. Back in 2006, he broke his leg during a game. He later coached from the press box in 2008 after a hip problem.

You wonder how much longer he can coach. As Coach Belichick would say: "He's taking it day to day".

Questions on the Line

Coach Belichick continues to add veterans to the defensive line. The signings of Shaun Ellis and Andre Carter indicate that the coach is not content with the line in its present state. Albert Haynesworth missed practice for the fourth time. Shaun Ellis was placed on the PUP list.

The line is still a huge question mark. There are indications that the team will switch to a 4/3 alignment instead of their traditional 3/4. The coach has brushed off any comments about whether the team has the right players for their defense.

One thing for certain is that some of the younger linemen might be on the bubble as the defensive line be limited by the roster size.

Rex Being Rex

You can always count on Rex Ryan to say something outrageous. He had a real gem the other day when he acted like a sore loser over the departure of DE Shaun Ellis to the Pats.

The Jets offered Ellis a veteran minimum contract for one year. Apparently, the Pats threw in a few ore dollars which convinced Ellis to jump ship. Ellis spent his entire career with the Jets after being drafted in the first round of the 2000 draft. He was a compensation pick awarded to the Jets from the Pats as a result of signing Coach Belichick.

I can understand Ryan's concerns about Ellis going to the Pats, but you would never hear anything like this from Coach Belichick. As a dedicated Jet for 11 season, he deserved better parting comments from their coach.

That was Rex being Rex.

What Does Rex Think?

The Pats signed Jets free agent DE Shawn Ellis to a one year contract. The team has signed several linemen who might help the defense. The season is not contingent on Albert Haynesworth. I wonder if he will even make the opening day roster when the contracts kick in.

It's always hard to watch the Pats cut some players who could be good enough to play for another team. Rosters need to get down to the proper size on those dates. So many good players get released and never get another chance.

As Coach Belichick would say: "You can only have so many players on your roster".

Burress Already Missing Practice

I predict that the signing WR Plaxico Burress will not work out for the Jets. Burress, who missed the last two seasons while in jail, signed with them after declining an offer from the Giants. He has missed the last two days of practice after tweaking his ankle while running pass routes.

Burress had two offers to weigh before deciding to go with the Jets. The Giants deal made more sense for the team with $1 million in salary, $500 thousand for being on the game day roster for the 16 regular season games and $2.5 million in various incentive bonuses.

He decided to take the guaranteed money of $3 million from the Jets. In a rather odd twist to placate him, the team threw in another $17,000 as homage to his uniform #17.

Former Jet QB Joe Namath publicly stated that he was skeptical that Burress could return to his former level after being away from the game.

Going Full-circle

It always strikes me to see some of the relationships between coaches and players. Some go back to their college days. We always hear about the various branches of Coach Belichick's "coaching tree". This is true for so many of the coaches around the league. They all come from some "tree".

The paths of players and coaches can often have some interesting results. Such is the case for former Jets DE Shaun Ellis. He came into Foxborough the other day for a free agent workout. The 12 year veteran is looking for another team after declining a veteran minimum offer from the Jets

The irony is that Ellis was a first round pick of the Jets in 2000. The Jets were awarded the first round pick of the Pats as compensation for signing Coach Belichick. After 12 years, player and coach have come full-circle.

Is Bishop Done?

Many players have the end of their carer noted as a line in the list of daily transactions around the various sports leagues. Some get a couple of paragraphs because of their notoriety.

Former Pats QB Michael Bishop might be at the end of the line. At the age of 35, he was released by the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL. Bishop has played nine years in the CFL after spending three in the NFL. He was originally drafted by the Pats in the 7th round of the 1999 draft. He was ahead of Tom Brady on the depth chart in 2000.

He played sparingly this year. He carried the ball six times for 17 yards and on TD. He found his niche in the CFL and was able to carve out a decent career, but teams are not pounding down your door when you are 35. He gave up on the NFL a long time ago.

A Year Older

Tom Brady turned 34 today. He is still a young guy, but old in NFL years. As he starts his 12th season, he knows that time is working against him. How much longer can he play? Assuming doesn't get hurt, how effective will he be in four years? He is seven years away from his last Super Bowl win.

Nobody knows the answer to these questions. All you can hope for in this game is to be able to make the decision when it's over. Unfortunately, most players don't leave on their own terms. We don't know how it will end for him. Hopefully, it won't be like Joe Theismann.

Randy Walks Away

I was surprised to hear that Randy Moss retired today after 13 NFL seasons. At age 34, he said the time was right after considering several offers from teams. I wonder what type of deals they were. Was it short money? As a free agent, this was suppose to be his last chance at a big contract.

Moss appeared destined to play a few more seasons. After last season, he may have worn out his welcome around the league playing for the Pats, Vikings and Titans.

I'm glad that he is able to walk away from the game. At least it was not for health reasons or playing ability. Not everyone can leave the game on their terms.

He finished tied for 2nd with Terrell Owens with 153 TD's. His 14,858 receiving yards rank 5th and he is tied for 8th with Hines Ward with 954 receptions.