The Tiger Report: 09/12/11

Monday, September 12, 2011

Harbaugh upset no 49ers highlights were on TV last night

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 12, 2011, 5:16 PM EDT

After his 49ers beat the Seahawks, coach Jim Harbaugh went home and did some channel surfing. And he wasn’t happy that he never saw his own team.

“Kind of flipped through the channels, the NFL Network, the highlight express, and the ESPN blitz, and never caught one highlight of the 49ers on any of those,” Harbaugh said today.

Harbaugh said the lack of 49ers highlights on TV demonstrates the perception that the 49ers aren’t a good team.

“I mean, just kind of documents what you know. What the perception is of our team around the league and around the country,” Harbaugh said. “It’ll be up to us to do something about that. We can take control of that and that’s something we need to do.”

So Harbaugh sees it as part of his job to make the media believe the 49ers are good. He’ll be happy to know that Florio picked them to make the playoffs.

Madieu Williams flagged for a legal hit

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 12, 2011, 6:20 PM EDT

Getty Images

The NFL’s obsession with cracking down on launching claimed its first victim of the 2011 season on Sunday when 49ers safety Madieu Williams was flagged for a shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Seahawks tight end Anthony McCoy.

As McCoy was reaching up to grab a pass over the middle of the field, Williams hit him to jar the ball loose. As you can see in this picture of the collision in question, Williams led with his right shoulder — not his head — and made contact with McCoy’s right shoulder — again, not his head.

Williams should have been praised for making a good, hard, clean hit while avoiding helmet-to-helmet contact. Instead he was given a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness, which set up a Seahawks field goal.

San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh made clear after the game that he wasn’t happy about the penalty, saying Williams had delivered “an extremely clean hit.” Harbaugh said he wants the league office to explain to him what was wrong with what Williams did, because he’s not sure what he’s supposed to tell his players to do.

Frankly, if the new emphasis on “launching” bans hits like the one Williams delivered to McCoy, I’m not sure what any defensive back is ever supposed to do. It’s admirable that the NFL wants to protect players from violent hits to the head, but what Williams did was nothing more than play football the way it’s supposed to be played.

Jon Beason out for the season with torn Achilles

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 12, 2011, 4:21 PM EDT

Florio mentioned this morning that the Panthers were bracing for the worst when it comes to linebacker Jon Beason.

They learned the worst this afternoon. Beason will miss the season with a torn Achilles, coach Ron Rivera confirmed Monday.

You only have to look at Beason’s contract to see his importance to the team. The team gave him a $20 million signing bonus last month on a $51.3 million, six-year contract.

Beason had Achilles soreness throughout the offseason and seemed to rush back on to the field Sunday. Carolina has to be thinking twice about letting Beason play, no matter how hard he pushed for it.

Dan Connor will take over for Beason. Carolina’s entire defense will take a hit, especially on passing downs. Beason was arguably the second best young inside linebacker in football behind Patrick Willis.

More good news on the injury front for the Rams

Reports are starting to surface out of St. Louis that several of the Rams injured during the opener are not as badly injured as initially thought.

First Sam Bradford's results have all looked good so far, and now Danny Amendola and Jason Smith both appear that they will be able to return much sooner than initially anticipated. Amendola reportedly could return in as soon as week 5 and Smith is day to day. Steven Jackson looks like he will sit next week and possibly return in week 3.

It looks like Spagnuola's plan to pray all night worked.

Stevie Johnson says block on Berry was legal

Posted by Mike Florio on September 12, 2011, 3:28 PM EDT

With the Chiefs losing safety Eric Berry for the full season after tearing an ACL during a Week One blowout loss to the Bills, the debate has now turned to the question of whether the hit that tore the ligament should result in a fine for Bills receiver Stevie Johnson.

Berry’s camp, we’re told, definitely believes that Johnson should be fined for diving helmet first at Berry’s lower legs while trying to throw a block ahead of the ball carrier. The video clearly showsthat Johnson hit Berry low.

Johnson disagrees. Strongly.

Asked via Twitter by “@Mr_Hoosier” whether “God [made] you take a cheap shot on our best player,” Johnson said this: “man shutup U clown ILL NEVER CHEAPSHOT A PLAYER ON THE FIELD! IDC if he my Enemy U Square! Last I checked a cut block was legal!”

Actually, Johnson is right. There’s nothing illegal about diving at a guy’s knees in the open field.

That said, most players wish it were illegal. Last year, after a rash of helmet-to-helmet hits heightened everyone’s sensitivity to defenseless players, several players made it clear that they’d rather be hit high than low, since taking a low hit can tear up a knee — and limit or end a career.

Thus, even though Johnson is unlikely to be fined, Johnson could be subject to scorn from his peers.

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Good news for Rams, Bradford is day to day

Sam Bradford - QB - Rams

Sam Bradford Sam Bradford #8 of the St. Louis Rams passes against the Atlanta Falcons at the Edward Jones Dome on November 21, 2010 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Falcons beat the Rams 34-17.

In his Monday presser, Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo characterized Sam Bradford's finger injury as a "contusion or bruise."

Spags called it a "day-to-day" situation. The extra day to heal up will help Bradford because the Rams play on Monday Night Football in Week 2. They may not even practice until Thursday. Look for Bradford to be out there next week.

Hakeem Nicks X-rays negative, further tests await

Hakeem Nicks - WR - Giants

Hakeem Nicks will undergo further evaluation on his injured knee after initial X-rays came back negative on Sunday evening.

HC Tom Coughlin vaguely stated at his Monday afternoon press conference that Nicks is dealing with "some type of injury." Ominous sounding, but far from an indication that Nicks is dealing with a serious ailment. It does appear there is some concern for his status about Week 2, however. If Nicks is out against the Rams, Mario Manningham can be treated as a WR1.

Source: Mike Garafolo on Twitter

LeGarrette Blount mad he didn't get the ball enough

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 12, 2011, 2:49 PM EDT

LeGarrette Blount, Cliff Avril, Chris Houston

Buccaneers running back LeGarrette Blount ended Sunday’s loss to the Lions with five carries for 15 yards. That lack of involvement in the offense made him mad enough to punch someone.

“I’m a play-maker on this team also, so I feel like I should be on the football field more,” Blount said, per the St. Petersburg Times. “We got away from our game plan. We got away from getting me the football.”

The Bucs definitely shifted their offensive approach as the game went on: Their first offensive play was a handoff to Blount, and he got three more handoffs on the Bucs’ next 13 offensive plays. And then he saw the ball once in the second half.

But the truth is, the Bucs’ offense was a lot better without Blount than with him. Early in the game, the offense was stagnating. Once they shifted to more three-receiver sets and allowed Josh Freeman to spread the ball around more, the Buccaneers finally started to have some success against the Lions.

Still, Bucs coach Raheem Morris said he thinks Blount might have a point.

“We have a weapon in Blount, we want to be able to run the ball with him,” Morris said Monday. “Maybe as a coach, I went too fast, I went too early to the two-minute offense. But I wanted to get something going, get something generated, get [Freeman] some confidence and get all those guys going. And it worked to the standpoint that we were able to get back into the game. . . . You can blame me for that, you guys can write coach stuck to the two-minute offense too early. But I was giving our offense a chance to get going and we got it going.”

So Morris has no problem with Blount wanting the ball more. And next week, he may just give him the ball more. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Ravens very happy with Bryant McKinnie

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 12, 2011, 2:10 PM EDT

A man that was recently 400 pounds can’t exactly slip under the radar.

Baltimore’s signing of former Viking Bryant McKinnie got plenty of attention when it happened a few weeks back, but we didn’t know McKinnie’s impact until Sunday. The man looked ready to go.

McKinnie had a terrific game run-blocking. With Michael Oher on the right side where he is more comfortable, Baltimore’s rushing attack looked like it did in 2009. They piled up 170 yards on Pittsburgh.

“McKinnie slapped around Pittsburgh All-World outside linebacker James Harrision, at times knocking him silly with one big paw,” Mike Preston of theBaltimore Sun wrote.

(That sound you hear is Vikings fans falling out of their chairs.)

Joe Flacco got great protection throughout the game. It appears the Ravens got a motivated McKinnie.

“[Minnesota] tried to make it seem like I lost it. Well, I guess I found it in Baltimore. It’s good motivation,” McKinnie said after the game.

Decent starting left tackles are not easy to find. McKinnie only has to be average on the left side to greatly help Baltimore’s line. He frees Oher up to vastly upgrade the right side, where Oher is more comfortable.

It was only one game, but the Ravens must feel like they found a rather large diamond in the free agency rough.

Ask the other 3 teams in the NFC North, and they are happy McKinnie was jettisoned out of Minnesota.

Chiefs lose star safety, Eric Berry, to a torn ACL

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 12, 2011, 2:41 PM EDT

No team suffered through a worse opening weekthan the Kansas City Chiefs.

Sunday’s effort looked even uglier on Monday with the news that safety Eric Berry has torn his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. Jason La Canfora of NFL Network reported the bad news for the Chiefs second year player.

Berry was hurt while getting blocked on a play in the first quarter. The Chiefs believe the league should levy discipline for what they believe is an illegal block.

In his rookie season, Berry played every single defensive snap. The team thought he was ready to be one of the elite safeties in the league.

Instead, his injury is another obstacle the Chiefs must overcome during a dreadful start to the 2011 season.

DirecTV streaming service was disatrous

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 12, 2011, 12:30 PM EDT

I spend Sundays at work. Given the option to expense DirecTV’s “Sunday Ticket-to-Go” again this year, I choose to pass because it was such a mess last season.

It sounds like the problems only intensified on Sunday, with the new service through Playstation 3 also creating issues. The PS3 didn’t work for customers during the 1 p.m. ET games, but mostlyseemed fixed for the late games.

“Customers who purchased NFL SUNDAY Ticket through Playstation will receive a credit through the Playstation Network,” DirecTV said in a statement.

Those who used the product during the afternoon games mostly said it was pretty sweet, although a few readers continued to experience problems. So perhaps the PS3 issues have been fixed long-term.

DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket-to-Go gaffes are a more serious problem. There wasn’t a week last year where the service didn’t have streaming problems. They didn’t offer refunds, just promises it would get better. It never did.

We got reports from countless readers that their “To go” service was unwatchable Sunday. It froze often. A lot of readers had trouble with the IPad app and on their mobile device. Countless others couldn’t get it to work on their computer.

BusinessInsider.com called the service “disastrous” and “embarrassing” for DirecTV. The NFL should be embarrassed too.

The world of online broadcasts is a huge, emerging market that is crucial to the future of the league. DirecTV has the rights to the games online Sunday domestically and they haven’t been up to the task. Imagine if a broadcast network couldn’t deliver a game?

NFL.com showed with their Preseason Live package that they are ahead of DirecTV technologically. While the satellite company provides boatloads of money, the NFL should also be concerned about growing the league.

At some point the league has to consider whether DirecTV is the right partner to accomplish that growth.

(Photo courtesy of LASnark.com.)

2011 NFL Regular Season Schedule: Week 2

Week 2
Sun, Sep 18	Time (ET)	Stadium/Tickets	Network	DIRECTV	SIRIUS	Westwood One	Game Access
KC @ DET	1:00 PM	Ford Field Tickets	CBS	704	137 (KC) 135 (DET)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
OAK @ BUF	1:00 PM	Ralph Wilson Stadium Tickets	CBS	705	148 (OAK) 104 (BUF)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
BAL @ TEN	1:00 PM	LP Field Tickets	CBS	706	134 (BAL) 149 (TEN)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
JAC @ NYJ	1:00 PM	MetLife Stadium Tickets	CBS	707	136 (JAC) 85 (NYJ)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
CLE @ IND	1:00 PM	Lucas Oil Stadium Tickets	CBS	708	106 (CLE) 92 (IND)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
ARI @ WAS	1:00 PM	FedExField Tickets	FOX	709	91 (ARI) 112 (WAS)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
TB @ MIN	1:00 PM	Mall of America Field Tickets	FOX	710	104 (TB) 113 (MIN)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
GB @ CAR	1:00 PM	Bank of America Stadium Tickets	FOX	711	94 (GB) 117 (CAR)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
CHI @ NO	1:00 PM	Superdome Tickets	FOX	712	128 (CHI) 86 (NO)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
SEA @ PIT	1:00 PM	Heinz Field Tickets	FOX	713	139 (SEA) 93 (PIT)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
DAL @ SF	4:05 PM	Candlestick Park Tickets	FOX	714	92 (DAL) 139 (SF)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
SD @ NE	4:15 PM	Gillette Stadium Tickets	CBS	717	93 (SD) 86 (NE)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
CIN @ DEN	4:15 PM	Sports Authority Field at Mile High Tickets	CBS	715	91 (CIN) 94 (DEN)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
HOU @ MIA	4:15 PM	Sun Life Stadium Tickets	CBS	716	112 (HOU) 85 (MIA)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
PHI @ ATL	8:20 PM	Georgia Dome Tickets	NBC		92 (PHI) 93 (ATL)	Radio	Game Center Listen \| Watch
Mon, Sep 19	Time (ET)	Stadium/Tickets	Network	DIRECTV	SIRIUS	Westwood One	Game Access
STL @ NYG	8:30 PM	MetLife Stadium Tickets	ESPN		92 (STL) 93 (NYG)	Radio	Game Center Listen \| Watch

Byes: None

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