Bears linebacker Lance Briggs says he’s going to wear red, white and blue when he starts the season on September 11, and he won’t let the NFL’s uniform police stop him.
In a series of Twitter messages on Thursday, Briggs said he has received special red, white and blue cleats and gloves from Reebok, and he’s going to wear them on Sunday despite the NFL’s strict uniform rules that prohibit players from wearing colors of their choosing.
“For the anniversary of 9/11 game why is it if I wear shoes and gloves that are the colors of our nations flag..I will be fined by the league,” Briggs wrote. “Shaking my head . . . looks like I’m getting fined this week.”
Briggs pointed out that players can wear pink shoes and gloves in conjunction with the league’s breast cancer awareness efforts, and he doesn’t see why he shouldn’t be able to wear read, white and blue on a day that the NFL and the nation are recognizing the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Briggs indicated that he’ll violate the uniform rules and take the fine, writing, “By far the best fine I will ever have to pay.”
Kudos to Briggs, this is one of the few good reasons to get fined.
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer isn’t saying anything publicly about his plans for the 2011 season, but he’s sending signals that he’ll retire unless the Bengals trade him. The Bengals, in turn, are insisting that they’ll make him retire, rather than play him.
But if that all makes it sound like Palmer absolutely won’t play, that’s not necessarily the case.
Mike Florio reported on Versus’ NBC Sports Talk that Palmer has spent the last three weeks working out with former NFL quarterback Ken O’Brien. Presumably, Palmer wouldn’t be doing drills with a former NFL quarterback unless he thought he had some time as an NFL quarterback ahead of him.
And so Palmer is at least keeping his options open, staying ready to play in case the opportunity arises. Now we’ll see whether the Bengals reconsider their stance that they’d rather he retire than play for another team.
If the Bengals do reconsider, there are bound to be some teams interested in a quarterback who threw for 3,970 yards and 26 touchdowns last season, especially considering that that quarterback is getting himself ready to play.
The Saints defense was embarrassed the last time we saw them in a meaningful game.
They gave up 41 points to the Seahawks, and were only the wrong end of an all-time highlight authored by Marshawn Lynch. You’d think the Saints would want to forget about that day, but they keep it at the front of their mind.
“We’ve discussed it sometimes this week,” defensive coordinator Gregg Williams told Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “I coach with a chip on my shoulder, and they play with a chip on their shoulders, too.”
Williams didn’t just mention it this week. He’s mentioned it every week since the lockout ended. When the team first returned, he greeted his players with a video of that game.
“It should still bother you, if you care about how people view you, if you have pride in how you play. If it doesn’t bother you, then you have a real problem,” defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis said.
The Saints will have a very different lineup on Thursday night. Defensive end Will Smith is suspended. Perhaps team’s best defensive player safety Malcom Jenkins is healthy. Free agent pickups Shaun RogersandAubrayo Franklin will be factors.
The names have changed, but the approach will not. Williams says the Saints will blitz a lot like usual.
“We’ve got to play our way,” Williams said.
I have said for a few weeks now that the Saints defense will be an elite unit this year and finish in the top 5.
5. Improved Secondary - Believe it or not, talent wise, the Lions secondary was actually better than most realize last year. Yes they got torched on occasion and their passing defense was ugly last year, but it wasn't all due to lack of talent in the backfield. Last year Chris Houston played as good as any of us could have hoped. Jonathan Wade on the other hand was a disaster. Remember when Louis Delmas was pumping him up in the preseason saying Wade was a shut down corner? I get it, Delmas was trying to build team confidence. But Wade was awful and was promptly cut early in the season. Then eventually Alphonso Smith worked his way into that position and played pretty well being a ball hawk, until he got his confidence destroyed by Tom Brady. Then you have the safeties. Spievey took bad angles and made the wrong reads frequently. But that should have been expected, he was a newly transitioned safety as well as a rookie. Then you have Delmas a defensive spark plug who never healed from his preseason groin injury. He never played at full speed all year, and it showed. This year Spievey actually looks the part, Delmas is healthy and fast again, Houston is more comfortable in our system, and now Smith can compete with newly acquired Wright for the starting spot opposite Houston.
4. Bobby Carpenter - Last year the Lions needed serious help at the linebacker position when the snatched Carpenter off the waiver wire. They were hoping an immediate return on investment and that just didn't happen. However, by the end of the season he looked like he started to feel comfortable in the scheme. Playing with confidence in his reserve roles as a linebacker and special teamer. As we reached the end of the season he got more playing time and even had 18 tackles over the last two games. The Lions wisely re-signed Bobby. This preseason he has been all over the field, sideline to sideline making plays. He currently is listed as a backup to Justin Durant. Even if he doesn't crack the starting lineup he is still going to be a factor. Not only is he a great special teamer, but with the injury history of Durant and Lions linebackers in general, having a quality backup is crucial.
3. Jahvid Best & Co. - Last season Jahvid Best burst onto the scene with 268 all purpose yards and 5 touchdowns in his first two games, then his season was derailed by the infamous turf toes. Best may not be an every down back but he is dynamic when he is on the field. The team made their best attempt to take some of the load off of Best with the drafting of Mikel LeShoure. An unfortunate injury ended his first season before it began, but the Lions grabbed Keiland Williams and Jerome Harrison to help fill the gaps. This team does not need to rush for 125 yards every week, they just need to help Jahvid Best stay fresh. If they can do that, Jahvid can be moved all over the field like a chess piece.
2. The Silver Crush, the new moniker that Jim Schwartz selected from the fan base, for the team's ferocious front four. While the Silver Crush is trying to live up to it's name, let's talk about them. The first misnomer is that this group is four players. While they typically only have four guys on the field at a time, this group is extremely deep. Sammie Lee Hill is a starter on most other 4-3 teams, Lo Jack is the secret superstar, and 1st round pick Nick Fairley is the 4th or 5th DT on the depth chart right now. Then you get to the pride of the Lions with the starting rotation of KVB, Williams, Suh, and Avil. This may be the most ferocious and disruptive group the league has seen in years. Not only is the talent in place, but with Gun' running the defense in Schwartz's wide nines system, these animals are allowed to just pursue and attack. And attack they do, just ask anyone tackled by Suh.
1. Matthew Stafford - He is trying hard to shed the bust label. It's not that he can't transition to the pro game. It's not that he doesn't have the tools to make all the throws. It's not that he can't be a leader of men. It's not that he doesn't have the toughness to play a man's game. It is simply that he has taken a beating, plain and simple. People want to call Stafford a china doll or a glass cannon. Maybe that is true, but maybe it isn't. Stafford has has only played in 13 of 32 games. This due in part to a minor knee injury and separations to both shoulders. Stafford has done everything he can this off season to strengthen and protect his body as much as possible. The coaches have really worked with him since last year on his pocket presence and footwork and it shows already. Matthew has already showed us both in preseason and regular season games that he has all the tools to get the job done at this level. We just need him to be on the field to prove it.
Troy Polamalu assures that there are no lingering effects from last year's Achilles injury.
"I feel awesome," Polamalu said. "We'll see how this year turns out, but I couldn't imagine feeling any better than I do now." Once again negotiating, Polamalu and the Steelers could have a contract extension in place by this weekend.
Florio told you an hour ago that Peyton Manning’s surgery could happen as early as Thursday. We can now tell you that surgery is complete.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports Manning had cervical fusion surgery, ending this afternoon. The expected recovery is 2-3 months, although we’ve seen with this injury how tricky it is to put a timeline on anything. There is no plan for Manning to go on I.R.
Indianapolis had no idea how Manning would respond to his last surgery. After delays, he tried to practice lightly for a week. That caused a setback, back pain, and further surgery. No one can truly know at this point where this goes from here.
It sounds like the Colts will hold out hope that Manning can return this season, but the landscape of the AFC South has clearly changed.
It’s up to Kerry Collins and company to try to keep the Colts afloat in the meantime. We have our doubts they can do so.
Even if Manning was able to play again this season, it could be too late to make a difference.
Thursday Saints at Packers - This potential title bout preview goes to the Saints. Special teams is the difference with Darren Sproles providing plenty of hidden yardage. 28-27
Sunday Steelers at Ravens - The common theme surrounding these two teams is the age of their defenses. In this case I think the difference is the health of James Harrison. Ravens win a close one. 24-17
Bengals at Browns - The Browns young defense is licking their chops for this chance to get after Andy Dalton. Browns roll 6-24
Colts at Texans - The news surrounding Peyton keeps getting worse. Kerry Collins will give his team a chance, but he typically gives the other team chances too. 17-31
Lions at Buccaneers - This is a rematch game for the Bucs, but the Lions are better than last year. Lions get the season started right. 31 - 24
Eagles at Rams - The dream team takes the show on the road and finds out that the Rams are building a pretty good team under the Arch. Eagles get the better of the Rams in a closer than expected game. 35-31
Falcons at Bears - The Bears offense is not hitting on all cylinders and the defense can't win the game for them. Falcons beat out the Bears 24 - 13
Bills at Chiefs - The Bills are not as bad as everyone thinks, and the Chiefs are not as good as everyone thinks. The Bills put up a fight but run out of gas. 17-24
Titans at Jaguars - The Jaguars apparently have no NFL caliber QB as a starter right now, so the Titans feel safe running the ball 30-40 times and walk away with a grind it out victory. 24-9
Giants at Redskins - The Giants are the better team, but injuries have decimated their defensive lineup. The Skins are able to win on the "strong right arm" of Rex Grossman. 24-28
Vikings at Chargers - McNabb is going to do better than most expect in Minnesota, but that won't cure the defensive issues the Vikings are about to reveal. San Diego runs the ball at will through the heart of this once proud defense. 17-35
Panthers at Cardinals - The Cardinals defensive back end is banged up, but Newton can't exploit it. Kolb lives up to the hype, this week. 10 - 28
Seahawks at 49ers - The battle of bad quarterbacks, 1.0. Listen it is bad enough that anyone who has to watch this game see's terrible quarterbacking, but this is game 1 of 2 this year. Gore is the key to this game, as the Niners ride him to 1 - 0. 14 - 17
Cowboys at Jets - I am not sold yet on the Jet's defensive linemen. There is a lot of potential there, but potential gets coaches fired. However, they still have the best back end in football and it forces the cowboys to abandon the vertical game. Cowboys eek out a tough win against the Jets. 20-17
Monday Patriots at Dolphins - Reggie Bush will shine in spots, but it will not be enough to keep the Patriots from frying the fish. Brady starts his campaign for MVP early in South Beach. 31 - 21
Raiders at Broncos - This heated rivalry is much more fun when the game is competitive. I don't think that is going to be the case this time around. The Raiders physical play is too much for the Broncos. 28-20
With rampant rumors and reports regarding the status of quarterback Peyton Manning, a source with knowledge of the situation tells us that Manning could have neck surgery as soon today, and that he will miss “significant time” as he recovers.
It’s currently expected that, after the surgery, Manning will recover and play again, possibly this year.
Manning has had two neck surgeries in the past two years. The most recent procedure occurred on May 23. He returned to practice last week, but a setback has forced him back to sidelines.
This may be the first week of the regular season, but it has the feel of a Super Bowl week for the NFL. One of the reasons is that we will unite with the rest of the nation on Sunday to reflect on the anniversary of 9/11 and honor the spirit of America.
All of us in the NFL appreciate your patience and understanding through what was a most unusual and challenging off-season. Now we are ready to enjoy what the NFL is all about -- great players, great fans, intense competition, the performance and passion surrounding America's most popular game.
Thanks to the hard work of our players, club owners, teams, and staff, the NFL's pledge to deliver great football to our fans has been strengthened and is more secure than ever. We start the regular season and the race to Super Bowl XLVI with tremendous anticipation and momentum.
We want you most of all to sit back and enjoy it – in our stadiums, on television, and wherever else you connect with the NFL. Football fans enjoying football is what we love.
Be assured, however, that we believe in better. Players, owners, coaches, team and league staff – working together -- will be putting our collective foot on the accelerator. We have more work to do to improve our league and game on a variety of fronts. We will do that by continuing to focus on the quality of the game and innovation. And we will do it relentlessly.
On behalf of everyone in the NFL, thank you for your incredible support, and thank you especially for sharing your views with us. Please keep it coming. We value your opinion because it helps make us better. The passion of our fans and communities is what makes the NFL so special.
Thank you again. Let's get it started.
We’re starting to feel increasingly bad for Colts fans, not to mention the entire organization and Peyton Manning.
Every little bit of information that comes out about Manning is ominous, and it is all pointing towards a bad outcome.
The latest news comes from coach Jim Caldwell and FOX’s Jay Glazer.
Here’s Glazer’s latest tweet: “While I’m hearing Manning hasn’t had surgery yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has it before the weekend!”
That goes along with owner Jim Irsay’s tweet. The Colts owner said Manning would be out “awhile” and the team would inform fans on more specifics soon.
Colts coach Jim Caldwell was asked about Manning being out awhile.
“It’s obviously accurate or he wouldn’t have tweeted it,” Caldwell said.
Based on all the information and reporting out there thus far, it would be a surprise if Manning didn’t require further surgery.
Daniel Thomas tweaked his hamstring Wednesday and will not practice Thursday.
Now the Larry Johnson re-signing makes more sense. The Dolphins consider Thomas day to day, but are going to proceed with caution. It's yet another bump in the road for the third-round rookie, who was slated for a minimal role to start the season anyway. Even if Thomas ends up active, he is unusable in fantasy.
With a 1-7 record at Sun Life Stadium in 2010, it’s fitting that the Dolphins would feel like strangers in their own home.
And so, as David Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel points out (via our pal Tom Curran of CSNNE.com), the Dolphins are pumping in crowd noise to prepare for the throng of Patriots fans who are expected to show up on Monday night.
It’s an unprecedented move by coach Tony Sparano.
“No, never before,” Sparano said regarding whether he’d ever done something like this. “One of the reasons we do it here is we are in South Florida and the New England teams and New York teams, there’s a a lot of fans out here.
“They have a good fan base themselves. Somehow they make their way into our stadium.”
They “made their way” into the stadium because Dolphins fans haven’t bought enough of the tickets. Just like all those Broncos fans will “make their way” into the stadium to watch Tim Tebowscore the winning touchdown with blood on his jersey stand on the sidelines during that notorious reunion of the 2009 Florida Gators.
Meanwhile, we invite Dolphins fans to continue to complain about our assessment that they are the 29th-ranked team in the league right now. If they can concentrate on their keyboards while all those raucous Pats fans try to tell them to be glad the Dolphins aren’t 32nd.
As The Tiger Report continues to grow, we have realized that we can do a better job with the layout and appearance of the site. So over the next few days we will be making more changes to the appearance. The site will remain fully functional and the content will continue to pour in. We just ask that you are patient with the us as the changes are applied for the next few days, and that you PLEASE provide us with your thoughts and opinions as they relate to our changes.
We will be holding a poll on the site to see if you like the changes, or if you prefer the current (old) design better. Please give us your opinion, as our goal is to make this better for you.
Tonight is opening night for the National Football League. The regular season begins with the annual NFL Kickoff special that will be aired on NBC tonight. The pregame show will begin at 7:30pm EST, with kickoff at 8:30pm.
The game tonight should be of epic proportions and could be a preview of the NFC Championship, or at least a preview of one of the NFC Champions. The Saints travel to Lambeau Field to face off against the defending Super Bowl champions. But Drew Brees and the Saints are hungry to reclaim that distinction. Both teams are relatively healthy and appear to be more improved than the years they respectively took home the Lombardi Trophy.
The game tonight should boast aggressive play calling on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Both Greg Williams and Dom Capers call fast paced attacking defenses. Despite the hard hitting blitzkrieg style of defense that we should expect to see tonight, don't think for a moment that the score board won't be lit up. The Saints and Packers are two of the most prolific offenses that the NFL has seen over the last few years. Last year alone both teams averaged 24 points per game while racking up over 350 yards of offense. Brees and Rodgers spearhead these attacks with their precision passing games that plan to go vertical all night. These two signal callers combined for 760/1133 for 8,542 yards and 61 touchdowns. That is some high octane offense, and tonight should be a blast to watch.
So in the immortal words of T.O., you better get your popcorn ready.
ESPN's Rich Cimini notes that CB Antonio Cromartie usually lines up against the "X" receiver, Dez Bryant's position.
Coach Rex Ryan has not tipped his hand as to how Darrelle Revis will be used Sunday night. But most are expecting the shutdown corner to play most of the game against Miles Austin, leaving the physical Bryant to tangle with the bigger Cromartie. Consider Dez a better fantasy play than Austin this week.
I was ecstatic to land Miles Austin in my fantasy football draft this year, but I am NOT ecstatic about the week one match up. Fortunately he is my WR2, so he probably still gets the start.
Dolphins LT Jake Long (shoulder surgery, knee) is a full go for Week 1.
Long took it easy in the preseason, but it's not a concern. In fact, the Miami Herald says the perennial Pro Bowler is healthier right now than he was heading into last season. Look for another elite campaign out of Long.
