The Tiger Report: 09/02/11

Friday, September 2, 2011

The StarCaps saga has finally come to a close

Posted by Mike Florio on September 2, 2011, 5:07 PM EDT

More than three years after Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams (pictured), Saints defensive end Will Smith, free-agent defensive tackle Pat Williams, and free-agent defensive end Charles Grant tested positive for a banned diuretic after taking an over-the-counter weight-loss supplement that had been spiked with it, the four players have been officially suspended.

Per Albert Breer of NFL Network, each player has been suspended two games and fined another two game checks.

It was believed that the discipline had been delayed by the unsettled negotiations regarding the league’s drug-testing policies, which have bogged down as to the issue of HGH testing. The shortened suspensions comport with the Word Anti-Doping Agency’s standards regarding the use of diuretics.

It means that the Vikings won’t have Kevin Williams for Week One at San Diego or Week Two against Tampa. And the Saints won’t have Smith for Thursday night’s season debut at Green Bay, or for the following weekend’s game home opener against the Bears.

Under the procedures used by the league in recent years, Pat Williams and Charles Grant can serve their suspensions while unsigned.

The suspensions were delayed due to litigation filed initially by all four players. Eventually, Pat and Kevin Williams were able to fashion theories under Minnesota law that blocked the suspensions pending the resolution of their lawsuit. The league opted not to impose the suspensions against Smith and Grant while the Williams case proceeded.

Myron Rolle cut by Titans

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 2, 2011, 4:43 PM EDT

At Florida State, Myron Rolle was one of the best stories in college football: A student-athlete who actually put the student first by missing part of a football game to interview for a Rhodes Scholarship, and then skipping a year of football so he could study at Oxford.

It would have been another great story if Rolle had been able to return from Oxford and have a successful NFL career, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

Rolle never got on the field for a regular-season game last year after the Titans took him in the sixth round of the NFL draft. And now the Titans have told Rolle they’re going to release him, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.

It’s still possible that Rolle will catch on somewhere and have a fine NFL career, but at this point it seems unlikely. If his NFL career is over, we have little doubt that he’ll put his degree in medical anthropology to good use.

Josh Sitton gets 5yr extension from the Packers

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 2, 2011, 4:00 PM EDT

Packers guard Josh Sitton has quietly developed into one of the very best at his position. Now he’s going to be paid like it.

Packers.com announced a long-term deal with Sitton on Friday. Terms are unavailable, but Sitton’s comments on Twitter after the news broke indicates that it’s a five-year extension through 2016.

“It’s a big weight off my shoulders,” Sitton said.

The Packers were among the league leaders in salary cap room and G.M. Ted Thompson spent the surplus the way he always spends it: On a talented homegrown draft pick.

“It’s kind of surreal, thinking three and a half years ago sitting in college and not even knowing if I would get drafted or not,” Sitton said.

It appears the Colts are planning to start Kerry Collins

Adam Schefter reported on ESPN that it appears the colts are going to start week 1 with Kerry Collins at the helm of the offense. This is a huge indictment on Curtis Painter and the Colts. If they are more comfortable going with a 38 year old veteran off the street over a player they drafted and have groomed for 2 full years, there is a problem. I have no problem with Kerry Collins, but more the fact that he knows nothing about the team or the system and he is already a better option than Painter. The Colts are often applauded for how well they draft, but apparently back up quarterback isn't part of that equation.

Kerry Collins despite his age, should be able to come in and move the ball. He has had some bad years, but he has also had some really good years. Most people don't realize that Collins has thrown for over 40,000 yards and over 200 touchdowns. That ranks him at 11th and 29th respectively, all time.

Saint's Will Smith awaiting status regarding StarCaps case

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 2, 2011, 2:17 PM EDT

Wild Card Playoffs - New Orleans Saints v Seattle Seahawks

Getty Images

Back in late April, when the lockout was at its zaniness just before the draft, the NFL declared victory in the long-running legal battle surrounding the StarCaps case.

We thought the four-year saga was finally over, and that four-game suspensions forKevin Williams, Pat Williams, and Will Smith were on the way. Kevin Williams said he was “at peace” with the decision.

A report surfaced in late August that the suspensions would be reduced to two games, but that was never confirmed.

Now we’re only six days from the season opener, and uncertainty remains. What’s going on here?

Smith and the Saints have no idea. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports the Saints are moving forward at this point like Smith will be eligible to play the Packers in Week One, but they don’t really know. They haven’t heard anything from the league, who is remaining mum.

The question of whether players will be suspended 2 games for testing positive for diurectics is likely part of the ongoing negotiations regarding a new steroids policy.

Blackouts looming for the season opener

Posted by Mike Florio on September 2, 2011, 1:18 PM EDT

When the Titans visit the Jaguars on September 11, Tennessee tailback Chris Johnson will be present. The only question left is whether enough other people will be present to allow the game to be televised.

As of Tuesday, more than 10,000 unsold non-premium tickets remained. Per Jacksonville Business Journal (via SportsBusiness Daily), the Jags decided to give away free tickets to Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Rams to anyone who purchased tickets to the Week One game, on a one-for-one basis.

The size of the dent that the promotion made isn’t yet known. Regardless of the number of unsold seats, the Jaguars are optimistic (unlike the Bucs) that the tickets will be sold.

“The last thing we want is the first regular season game to be blacked out,” Mackey Weaver, the team’s Vice President of Marketing and Sales, told ActionNewsJax.com. “With the 9/11 significance of the game and the hated Tennessee Titans as the opponent, we’re going to have a big rally here.”

That’s what makes the looming blackouts for both the Bucs and Jaguars (and the Dolphins in Week Two) even more troubling. These are home openers, and intriguing matchups. The Jags host a division rival, the Bucs host the Detroit’s new darlings of the NFL, and the Dolphins host the high-powered Houston offense.

The late Sam Kinison used to say that starving people in Third World countries should live where the food is. To be as successful as possible, the NFL eventually will have to move teams to where the people — and thus the money — are.

Denarius Moore is pushing for increased playing time in Oakland

Denarius Moore - WR - Raiders

ESPN's Bill Williamson confirms that Denarius Moore "will certainly be in the top of part of the Raiders’ receiving rotation" in the season opener.

Williamson even suggests that Moore could start the opener, but the Raiders' blind loyalty to Darrius Heyward-Bey may keep that from happening. Regardless, Moore has only slowed a little off his red-hot start to training camp. "He's been tremendous," coach Hue Jackson said. "He belongs." We don't think Moore is a mere camp darling, making him worth a flier in most 12-team fantasy formats.

Source: ESPN.com

Bo Jackson: Panthers are scary good with Cam Newton (aka Superman)

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 2, 2011, 11:45 AM EDT

We’ll have to wait until next Sunday to see what Cam Newton looks like in a real NFL game. But Bo Jackson has seen enough of Newton to say the Panthers will be a frighteningly good team with Newton at the helm — and to compare Newton to a bunch of Hall of Famers.

Jackson, the former Raiders running back who, like Newton, was a Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn, said on the Jim Rome show that Newton’s physical gifts are unlike those of any player in football, and the Panthers have the right offense to take advantage of Newton’s gifts.

“There isn’t another quarterback in the NFL that has all of those tangibles,” Jackson said. “And when you put all of those tangibles together with the quality of receivers and linemen that he’s got blocking for him, and the running backs that he can get the pill to, this guy is scary. The Panthers are scary.”

Jackson also says Newton compares favorably to some of the all-time great NFL players.

“When you speak of Cam Newton, I’ll put it to you just like this: He has the arm strength and power of Dan Marino and John Elway combined,” Jackson said. “He is quicker than Michael Vick, faster than Michael Vick. And he will run over you with the power of a Jerome Bettis, Bo Jackson, Earl Campbell. That’s the kind of guy he is.”

I think Jackson left out Superman, but other than that, he’s pretty well covered every great player he could possibly compare to Newton. And Jackson seems to think Newton is going to be better than any of them. Maybe we should just put Cam in Canton right now.

Whoa, whoa there Bo. Let's stop this exaggeration train before it leaves the station. Cam is a very gifted athlete, but to say he has the best traits of all these greats is preposterous. Let's get to the Michael Vick comparison, Newton was clocked at 4.59 and the reports on Mike Vick range from 4.25 to 4.45, with a consensus being in the 4.36 range. On top of that Newton is a great runner, but he just does not look that fast on the field. Of course he has longer legs than Vick but he still does not just glide past defenders like Vick. Not to even mention that Bo compares his running power to himself, Earl Campbell and Jerome Bettis. I think that is all a joke. He is a big and powerful dude, but those were men among boys when it came to power running. I won't go to say that this is race motivated hyperbole, but I do think that if Cam attended Bama instead War Eagle Nation, Bo might not have the same man crush.

Bengals sign Leon Hall to $39 million extension

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 2, 2011, 10:50 AM EDT

The Cincinnati Bengals have locked up their No. 1 cornerback for four more years.

Leon Hall has signed a four-year, $39 million extension that keeps him in Cincinnati through the 2015 season, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.

PFT has confirmed that the deal will pay Hall $14 million this year and $20 million by March.

Hall was the Bengals’ first-round pick in 2007 and has played in all 64 games, starting all but six early in his rookie year. Re-signing him became a major priority when cornerback Johnathan Joseph left Cincinnati for Houston.

After the signing of offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, the Bengals have now spent significant money this week extending two of their top veterans.

Denver loses SydQuan Thompson for the year

SydQuan Thompson - DB - Broncos

Broncos CB SydQuan Thompson is out for the season after tearing his right Achilles' tendon Thursday night.

Thompson went down on a non-contact play last night and now faces an uphill battle to be on a roster next season. The 2010 seventh-round pick appeared in 13 games last season, recording two interceptions.

Source: Denver Post

Hayneswoth: “You know what . . . I’d give that money back and I’d come here.”

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 2, 2011, 10:09 AM EDT

Getty Images

Albert Haynesworth’s debut on Thursday night went well.

He pushed around the Giants’ backup offensive linemen (no surprise), then spoke glowinglyabout his new team after the game, calling New England a “career-saving place.”

“If God forbid, I got cut from this team, I know I could go out there and play for another team,” Haynesworth said via the Boston Herald. “But, I feel like this is going to be the last place I’m going to play. If it doesn’t work out here, I’m not going to play anywhere else.”

So what’s different in New England? Haynesworth says he’s supported.

“Everyone’s here for you. I really enjoy that,” said Haynesworth. “I know my head coach is for me. I know my owner’s for me. My players are for me. I feel relaxed. I’m having fun again. I’m having fun playing football again.”

It’s about this time that Titans and Redskins fans are thinking: Wait until the real games start. In the meantime, the Patriots will enjoy this honeymoon period. They are keeping Haynesworth happy by rotating their defensive linemen a ton.

Haynesworth wishes he came to New England two years ago instead of Washington.

“You know what, when all is said and done, hell, I’d give that money back and I’d come here.”

That’s easy to say now, but it has to be music to Bill Belichick’s ears.

Matt Cassel insists he was not injured last night

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 2, 2011, 9:43 AM EDT

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel left Thursday’s game after taking a big hit from Packers defensive tackle Howard Green.

We noted last night it didn’t look serious and Cassel appeared ready to come back in, and Cassel confirmed that after the game.

“We were just being cautious,” Cassel said via the Kansas City Star. “I wanted to go back in. . . . Normally, I can take [getting hit by a 340-pound defender]. I don’t know what happened. Actually, I think it was [landing on] the ball more than anything.”

Of greater concern: tight end Tony Moeaki, right tackle Barry Richardson and safety Eric Berry all got hurt in the first half. Jared Gaither looked solid replacing Richardson and may start Week One. Berry’s injury didn’t look bad.

The Chiefs, breaking from league norm, played some of their starters into the fourth quarter. The injuries occurred in the first half.

The bright side here is that Cassel moved the ball well after struggling earlier in the preseason.

Lance Briggs has asked to be traded, again

Getty Images

Posted by Mike Florio on September 2, 2011, 8:51 AM EDT

In a move that could cause some confusion as to whether it has been written now or in 2007, Bears linebacker Lance Briggs once again has asked for a trade.

“The Bears made their decision, now I have to make mine,” Briggs told Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune. “It’s just how the business works. It’s not going to take away from what I do on the field.”

And then Briggs added a line that would make even Yogi Berra cringe: “I’m 100 percent a Bear, until I’m not a Bear anymore.”

Briggs is entering the fourth year of a six-year deal that he signed after hitting the market as an unrestricted free agent, and after insisting during a season of franchise-tag money that he’d never play for the Bears again. In 2008, he accepted a six-year deal from the Bears — and now he doesn’t like the last three years of it.

We’ve got no sympathy for Briggs. He knew what he was signing when he signed it. And he agreed to commit for six years in order to get the kind of up front money that he was only going to get with a contract of that duration. If he wanted to be free again after only three years, he should have signed a three-year deal.

Of course, the Bears can’t claim to be surprised by this. Briggs is merely doing what Briggs already has done.

“Who doesn’t want a new contract?” coach Lovie Smith told the Tribune. “All of us would want a new contract. But still, you go to work every day and do your job, and that’s what he’s doing. I have no complaints about him.”

Yet. Though Briggs claims that he’s still all in, how can he truly be all in when he has formally asked to be shipped out?

Another blow to the Giants defense, Sintim lost for the season

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 2, 2011, 8:17 AM EDT

Giants linebacker Clint Sintim’s 2010 season ended early when he suffered a torn right ACL in December. After spending eight months rehabbing that knee injury, Sintim got healthy enough that he could return to the field — and now his 2011 season has ended before it began, thanks to another right knee injury.

Sintim suffered a ruptured patella tendon during Thursday night’s preseason game and will not play at all this year.

“It’s unfortunate,” Sintim said. “I worked really hard to get back. And um . . . it’s just unfortunate.”

Giants coach Tom Coughlin said he admired how hard Sintim worked to get back on the field.

“Works his tail off, really didn’t say a word the whole preseason, just did what he had to do, worked on the field,” Coughlin said. “And then to see that happen tonight. It was devastating.”

Sintim said he was crushed when he felt the tendon tear in his knee, but that he has no plans to quit and will start working toward a 2012 return.

“I knew as soon as I hit [the ground],” he said. “I knew. . . . But that’s the way football is. I’m going to give myself a couple of days and I’m going to get back on the grind.”

Vick: "You can't design a defense to stop me"

Posted by Mike Florio on September 2, 2011, 6:34 AM EDT

File photo of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick smiling during NFL game in Philadelphia

Reuters

Mike Vick apparently plans to earn every penny of his latest $100 million* contract.

Despite late-season evidence of regression and/or defenses figuring out Mike Vick 2.0 in 2010, Vick remains supremely confident in his abilities.

“I’ve been hearing that for years,” Vick recently told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. “You can’t design a defense to stop me, especially not on this team. We have so many weapons, and some teams have tried to make that their primary focus. That’s when we run up the score.”

Coach Andy Reid agrees, explaining that Vick has worked on his struggles last year against the blitz.

“Now he’s got it,” Reid said. “People can say there’s a way to stop Michael Vick, but this is a team sport. You’ve got this beautiful mind of [offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg's] and you’ve got to deal with what he’s gonna throw at you, and there are all these other players you have to defend. You can say you’re gonna stop Michael Vick, but you’ve got to stop the whole group.”

(Lions fans have passed out from laughter regarding the use of “beautiful mind” in reference to Mornhinweg.)

Of course, stopping the whole group becomes a little easier given the struggles of the five men responsible for opening holes and buying time for Vick. And so instead of talking big, Vick, Reid, and company would be better served finding a way to dial back those sky-high expectations while they focus on getting the job done, once and for all, in 2011.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 1, 2011, 11:53 PM EDT

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Kerry Collins claps during warm-ups before their NFL football versus the Green Bay Packers game in Indianapolis

Reuters

It’s the fourth preseason week. We don’t learn too much from this week, but here are a few nuggets to note from Thursday night.

1. Colts quarterback Kerry Collins looked like you’d expect him to look.

2. The Chiefs can’t be pleased that Matt Cassel got injured, even if it’s minor.

3. The Ravens need to search for a new backup quarterback.

4. John Beck played . . . with the backups. The intrigue builds in Washington!

5. Brady Quinn a very rough first half against the Cardinals: He completed 4-of-12 passes for 26 yards and a bad interception. Quinn’s receivers dropped two passes, but the Cardinals also dropped a potential pick six.

6. We love Colin Kaepernick as a prospect, but he’s had a rough preseason. Two of his first four passes Thursday night were picked off. He has five interceptions with no touchdowns in his limited preseason work.

7. Albert Haynesworth should be ready to roll in Week One after getting his feet wet Thursday.

8. Perhaps Eagles quarterback Mike Kafka will win the backup job by default.

Cassel and Moeaki leave game with injuries

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 1, 2011, 11:08 PM EDT

For starting players, the fourth preseason week is one to play quickly and hope to avoid injury.

Two key Chiefs players did not survive Thursday night’s game 100%, although it’s unclear if either injury is serious. Quarterback Matt Cassel and tight end Tony Moeaki both left with injuries, according to Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star.

Cassel appeared to hurt his shoulder after getting tackled. The Chiefs did not disclose the injury. He was seen on the sideline with his helmet on after the hit ready to go back in, so it doesn’t appear the injury was too worrisome.

Moeaki, who has struggled to stay healthy all camp, left with a knee injury.

The Chiefs lost the game 20-19 to the Packers.

The Tiger Report

Pages

Friday, September 2, 2011

The StarCaps saga has finally come to a close

Myron Rolle cut by Titans

Josh Sitton gets 5yr extension from the Packers

It appears the Colts are planning to start Kerry Collins

Saint's Will Smith awaiting status regarding StarCaps case

Blackouts looming for the season opener

Denarius Moore is pushing for increased playing time in Oakland

Bo Jackson: Panthers are scary good with Cam Newton (aka Superman)

Bengals sign Leon Hall to $39 million extension

Denver loses SydQuan Thompson for the year

Hayneswoth: “You know what . . . I’d give that money back and I’d come here.”

Matt Cassel insists he was not injured last night

Lance Briggs has asked to be traded, again

Another blow to the Giants defense, Sintim lost for the season

Vick: "You can't design a defense to stop me"

Cassel and Moeaki leave game with injuries

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