The Tiger Report: 10/11/11

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tom Waddle lashes out at Brandon Meriweather

Posted by Michael David Smith on October 11, 2011, 8:16 PM EDT

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Former Bears receiver Tom Waddle is lashing out at Bears safety Brandon Meriweather for a style of play that Waddle believes is dirty and designed to knock opposing receivers out.

“I don’t approve of the way he plays the game,” Waddle said on ESPN 1000. “And you can call me a sissy all you want. OK? I was on the receiving end of a lot of head-to-head hits. And maybe it’s the reason I act the way I do. But in football there are going to be moments when a guy is trying to make a tackle and his helmet hits yours. It’s going to happen, and in today’s game you’re going to get flagged for it. And that’s the way it is.”

Meriweather has been fined twice for helmet-to-helmet hits, and he might pick up another fine for a hit against the Lions on Monday night. Waddle says Meriweather deserves the fines because he plays with an intent to hurt.

“When I interpret the way you go about your job that you have the intent to hurt somebody, I’ve got no time for you. I’ve got no place for you. The game’s got no place for you,” Waddle said. “He’s going to hurt himself, and he’s going to hurt someone else because of the intent.”

In Waddle’s view, Meriweather’s style of play doesn’t belong in the NFL.

“I don’t know Brandon. I haven’t had a discussion with him. But it sure looks by the way he plays the game that the intent isn’t to put a big hit on someone and legally knock them out, it’s to hurt someone,” Waddle said. “What Brandon does is he leads with his helmet all the time. There’s no place in the game, brother, at this particular time for that. It’s vicious enough. And when your intent, in my humble opinion, is to hurt or maim, I’ve got no time for you, and I don’t think the game’s got any place for you.”

Chad Ochocinco entirely irrelevant in New England

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on October 11, 2011, 7:47 PM EDT

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Chad Ochocinco started the year as the most expensive part-time receiver in the league. Five games hasn’t changed that.

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com notes that Ochocinco was on the field for 32 of 81 snaps against the Jets.

Ochocinco caught two passes in the game, which ties his season high. He doesn’t have a game over 45 yards. Ocho’s best stat remains his Twitter follower count.

You can slice this any way you want, but the Patriots expected more. Ochocinco will earn $6 million this season. Deion Branch is earning $2.2 million to start, and he’s been more than twice as productive.

Reiss think it’s too early to call the Ocho signing a bust. Tom Curran of CSNNE.com feels differently.

“Chad Ochocinco has to do an exceptional amount to even get himself back to zero because he’s so far in the hole,” Curran said.

The Patriots offense is so loaded it almost doesn’t matter. Ocho is really the team’s fifth receiver behind the two wideouts and the two young tight ends. Ochoinco has almost reached the point that he’s a non-story.

This all reminds me of Randy Moss’ journey to on-field irrelevance last year.

Mike Brown not commenting on trading Carson Palmer

Posted by Mike Florio on October 11, 2011, 6:36 PM EDT

The NFL’s annual trading deadline comes in a week. With the Bengals at 3-2 and rookie quarterback Andy Daltonplaying very well, owner Mike Brown could be tempted to move quarterback Carson Palmer.

If Brown is, he isn’t saying.

“I don’t have a thing to say about that,” Brown said at the ownership meetings in Houston, according to Steve Wyche of NFL.com. Per Wyche, Brown also said he doesn’t like to comment on football matters.

Of course, that policy didn’t stop Brown from commenting strongly on Palmer’s status after the lockout ended.

As explained in our Week Five 10-pack, there’s no reason to trade Palmer within the next week, since the Bengals could get more by launching an auction for Palmer in the offseason. With the Bengals likely to get one or more 2012 draft picks if the trade happens now or later, why not wait until later?

There’s also a chance that the Bengals could get an even better package for Palmer if a team that needs a quarterback can’t get the quarterback the team wants via free agency or the draft.

Former Bengal, Dhani Jones calls it quits

Ex-Bengals LB Dhani Jones retires from NFL

Ex-Bengals LB Dhani Jones announced his NFL retirement Tuesday.

The 10-year veteran drew scant interest following the lockout despite leading the Bengals in tackles a year ago. A 131-game starter for the Giants, Eagles, and Bengals, Jones finishes his career with 616 tackles. Although he'll likely continue his adventures on the Travel Channel, Jones may find his way into the NFL analysis business in the long run. He's a natural on television.

Source: dhanijones.tv

Video: Deion Sanders "Rex Grossman may be best QB in NFC East"

By MJD via Shutdown Corner - Yahoo!

The last time Washington Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman (notes) played in a football game, he went 15 of 29 for 143 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. This week, he didn't play. And somehow, over that period of time, he became, in the eyes of Deion Sanders, the best quarterback in the NFC East. The Grossman talk starts about 54 seconds in.

This is, of course, crazy talk. And although Deion didn't stutter, the "may be" and "right now" in "Rex Grossman may be the best quarterback right now in the NFC East" count as pretty big equivocations, too.

Even with those, it's still crazy talk. I get the point he's trying to make. Tony Romo's (notes) had a couple of meltdowns, Michael Vick's (notes) not been playing great, nor has Eli Manning (notes). Still, though. It's Rex Grossman, you know? If Radiohead releases a couple of bad albums, no one says, "Well, then let's go ahead and say Hoobastank might be the best band out there right now."

I'm sorry if that seems unnecessarily harsh on Rex Grossman -- I don't compare people to Hoobastank lightly -- but what is it that he's done to claim the title of best quarterback in the division? I get it, everyone else is struggling right now. But Romo, Eli and Vick all have better passer ratings than Grossman. You can't win by default if you're defaulting along with everyone else.

Mustached American Michael Irvin called him on it, saying that he'd take any other quarterback in the NFC East right now ahead of Grossman. He'd be right to do so.

Gracias, DC Sports Bog.

Super Bowl XLIX will be played in Arizona in 2015

Posted by Michael David Smith on October 11, 2011, 1:26 PM EDT

Arizona has won the right to host another Super Bowl, as the NFL’s owners voted today to bring the game back to University of Phoenix Stadium in 2015.

The owners voted today to pick Glendale, Arizona over the other finalist, Tampa, Florida.

Tampa and Glendale had been identified as the Super Bowl XLIX host city finalists several months ago. The NFL waited to schedule a final vote on the matter until they were sure the lockout wouldn’t cancel the 2012 Super Bowl, which would have resulted in Indianapolis being awarded the 2015 game. (Aren’t you glad we’re not worrying about such things anymore?)

Indianapolis hosts the Super Bowl at the conclusion of this season, followed by New Orleans in 2013 and New York/New Jersey in 2014 before Arizona in 2015.

PFT's Power Rankings: Week 5

Posted by Mike Florio on October 11, 2011, 11:08 AM EDT

1. Packers (No. 1; 5-0): Brett Favre was surprised it took the Packers so long to come back from a 14-0 deficit.

2. Saints (No. 2; 4-1): Who does Roman Harper think he is, Ken Lucas?

3. Lions (No. 3; 5-0): Calvin Johnson had only one touchdown reception last night, which will cause him to drop out of Cris Carter’s top five.

4. Bills (No. 10; 4-1): Leave it to a guy from Harvard to perfectly execute a dummy play.

5. Patriots (No. 5; 4-1): Leave it to a team from near Harvard to make the Jets look like a bunch of dummies.

6. Ravens (No. 4; 3-1): With John Harbaugh’s brother’s team at 4-1, Packers-Lions isn’t the only must-see game on Thanksgiving.

7. 49ers (No. 12; 4-1): The worst division in football is producing one of the best teams in the conference.

8. Chargers (No. 7; 4-1): A bunch of bad teams have landed in the portion of the schedule when the Chargers traditionally play badly.

9. Raiders (No. 15; 3-2): With Sebastian Janikowski and Darrius Heyward-Bey and Michael Huff showing up big for the Raiders the day after Al Davis died, perhaps it’s time to give JaMarcus Russell a second chance.

10. Texans (No. 6; 3-2): Fortunately for the Texans, everyone in the division lost.

11. Steelers (No. 11; 3-2): If Ben Roethlisberger can throw five touchdown passes with a sprained left foot, maybe they should amputate the right one.

12. Redskins (No. 17; 3-1): A year after Mike Vick’s night to remember at FedEx Field, he’s returning with a won-loss record to forget.

13. Giants (No. 9; 3-2): The presence of copious amounts of pink at MetLife Stadium was followed by heavy consumption of copious amounts of a certain pink liquid by Tom Coughlin after the game.

14. Bengals (No. 21; 3-2): Somewhere, Carson Palmer is sitting on the floor of a room, turning a lamp on and off repeatedly.

15. Buccaneers (No. 8; 3-2): Instead of wearing the throwback creamsicles against the Niners, the Bucs opted to play like those teams instead.

16. Titans (No. 14; 3-2): Instead of asking “when” Chris Johnson will become Chris Johnson again, maybe we should be asking “if”?

17. Bears (No. 13; 2-3): Lovie Smith’s seat gradually is getting warmer.

18. Falcons (No. 16; 2-3): Why even bother making the playoffs if this year’s rematch with the Packers would be played at Lambeau Field?

19. Cowboys (No. 19; 2-2): The late-game misfortunes of Houston’s quarterback has resulted in a nickname based on the Cowboys’ signal-caller: Schromo.

20. Jets (No. 18; 2-3): What happens when a team premised on confidence suddenly has none?

21. Panthers (No. 20; 1-4): This team should change its nickname to the Horseshoes or the Hand Grenades.

22. Seahawks (No. 27; 2-3): That injury to Tarvaris Jackson could jeopardize Pete Carroll’s shot at getting Andrew Luck.

23. Eagles (No. 22; 1-4): Until Andy Reid has real fear of getting fired, this team will underachieve.

24. Browns (No. 24; 2-2): Peyton Hillis should have simply said he had a staph infection. No one would have doubted that.

25. Chiefs (No. 28; 2-3): By bouncing back after two horrendous losses to open the season, the Chiefs remind me a little of the ’89 Steelers. Which reminds me that I am freaking old.

26. Vikings (No. 29; 1-4): Sometimes, football is as simple as allowing superior players to display their superiority.

27. Broncos (No. 26; 1-4): The decision to start Tim Tebow could be the first tangible evidence of a “Suck of Luck” campaign.

28. Cardinals (No. 23; 1-4): Well, at least Kevin Kolb’s new team is doing as well as his old team.

29. Jaguars (No. 25; 1-4): As a new incentive to move tickets in Jacksonville, the league will televise the home games only if there isn’t a sellout.

30. Colts (No. 30; 0-5): If the Colts get to 0-14, will Bill Polian rest his starters?

31. Rams (No. 31; 0-4): With two weeks to prepare for the Packers, maybe the Rams can pull off the upset. (Yes, I managed to type that while at all times maintaining a straight face.)

32. Dolphins (No. 32; 0-4): If you ain’t playin’, you ain’t losin’.

It is officially "Tebow Time" in Denver

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on October 11, 2011, 10:25 AM EDT

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow slips a tackle by San Diego Chargers linebacker Andrew Gachkar in their NFL football game in Denver

In a decision that may only surprise writers that covered John Fox during his Panthers days, the Broncos have decided to go with Tim Tebow as their starting quarterback.

Josina Anderson of ESPN and Jay Glazer of FOX both broke the news that Fox told his team Tebow was taking over in a team meeting on Tuesday morning.

Tebow’s first start will be in Miami, when the Dolphins honor the 2009 University of Florida championship team. Seriously, this may be the lowest moment in Dolphins franchise history.

Kyle Orton is experiencing a low moment too. He played the off-field game like an All Pro this offseason, essentially forcing Denver’s hand by making a trade to Miami difficult. He will make $9 million because of the move, but his on-field play was lacking.

Look, there are a lot of problems with the Broncos. They are 30th in points allowed. The run game is generic.

But even the staunchest Orton loyalist, if there were any to begin with, must admit that the Broncos should see what Tebow can do.

Fox stubbornly stuck with Jake Delhomme for too long in his last spot, but this situation was different. Fox and Broncos VP John Elway don’t seem to believe in Tebow as the team’s “quarterback of the future.” Tebow gets his audition to prove them wrong.

Unless Tebow blows them away over the next three months, we’d expect the Broncos to look for a new quarterback in the offseason.

And then we can have another Tebow QB controversy, billboards and all.

Today owners will vote for location of the 2015 Super Bowl

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on October 11, 2011, 9:59 AM EDT

Kevin New from Tampa, Florida plays with son Skylar and wife Anne outside their hotel after an overnight storm dropped five inches of snow in Dallas

Reuters

The selection of the 2015 Super Bowl isn’t getting quite the attention that the selection of the 2014 game received last year.

In fact, we forgot the NFL owners weremeeting today in Houston in part to vote on the decision until we did our work for thismorning’s one-liners.

Here’s what you need to know: The game should be awarded sometime this afternoon. It will be played in warm weather, and there are only two candidates up for the gig: Tampa Bay and Arizona.

Both cities have hosted Super Bowls recently. Both cities are confident they will win. Tampa Bay’s host committee paid for billboards touting Tampa’s mild February weather for owners to see on their way in from the Houston airport.

I’d roll with Tampa for selfish reasons: It’s set up better for the media. Arizona is very spread out.

Really, I’ll just be happy if I’m still employed covering football in 2015.

Ed Roski makes bold move to get a team in L.A.

Posted by Mike Florio on October 11, 2011, 9:06 AM EDT

Well, the passing of Al Davis already has caused a seismic shift in the Southern California stadium shuffle.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports that Ed Roski, who hopes to build a new NFL venue in the City of Industry, has dropped his request for a no-cash minority stake in the team that would play there.

Instead, Roski is willing to “hand over the 600 acres” to the team that moves there. The team that moves there would be responsible for financing the stadium, and the team that moves there would sell Roski a share of the franchise at market value.

“I am continuing to work to bring NFL football back to Los Angeles,” Roski told Farmer via email in response to a request for confirmation. “The stadium at Grand Crossing creates a winning environment for fans, for the community and for the NFL now.

“My goal is to bring football back to Los Angeles, create jobs now, and to create an incredible NFL experience every game day for fans.”

Roski’s revised offer creates two dramatically different business models for the two proposed L.A. stadiums. The downtown facility that AEG wants to build would be financed and owned by AEG; the football team would be a tenant. The Grand Crossing project would give land to the NFL team at no cost, with the NFL team responsible for paying for the structure — but also pocketing all revenue flowing from its use.

Fundamental differences also exist in the non-game experiences that the stadiums would create. The AEG project, already named Farmers Field, would be a swanky, multi-use building in the heart of the L.A. Live complex. The stadium at Grand Crossing has enough adjacent parking areas to permit traditional day-long tailgating parties, which could be one of the extra perks needed to persuade fans (and families) to choose to watch games in person and not via their HDTVs.

The league apparently is playing this one down the middle for now, in the hopes of getting the best possible deal by leveraging the two proposals against each other. If that’s the strategy (and indeed it is), it’s working — as evidenced by Roski’s recent revision to his offer.

Jim Irsay would have a hard time passing up Andrew Lcuk

Posted by Michael David Smith on October 11, 2011, 7:23 AM EDT

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Less than three months after giving Peyton Manning a five-year, $90 million contract, Colts owner Jim Irsay is acknowledging that his team may be looking for its quarterback of the future in next year’s NFL draft.

Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reports that Irsay strongly indicated that his team would be interested in a franchise quarterback like Stanford’s Andrew Luck in the 2012 NFL draft.

“Guys like that come along so rarely,” Irsay said, referring to sure-thing prospects like Manning and Luck.

The winless Colts are the first team to five losses this season, giving them an early lead in the race for the first pick in the draft. This year, the first pick seems like a foregone conclusion: Luck is considered by far the best pro prospect playing college football right now.

So if the Colts get the first pick, do they go for Luck? Or do they trade the pick to a team that will give the Colts a bounty of players and picks that could allow them to build another Super Bowl winner around Manning?

Irsay said he believes the Colts with Manning are a good team — he said he thinks they’d be 4-1 if Manning were playing — but Irsay also seems to think Luck is too big a talent to pass up.

“Even if that means that guy sits for three or four years, you’d certainly think about taking him,” Irsay said. “You see what Green Bay did with [Brett] Favre and [Aaron] Rodgers and you’d like to be able to do the same thing.”

Brian Urlacher: "Defensively, we stink"

Posted by Michael David Smith on October 11, 2011, 6:57 AM EDT

After losing to the Lions on Monday night, Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher went off on the defense, and he didn’t exclude himself.

“Defensively, we stink. We can’t stop the run, we can’t stop the pass,” Urlacher said, via Sean Jensen of theChicago Sun-Times.

Urlacher seemed particularly agitated about Lions running back Jahvid Best being able to run through a huge hole and race 88 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

“The quarterback took a snap, he handed it to the guy, and he ran 88 yards without being touched,” Urlacher said. “That’s what I saw. I don’t know why it happened, but that’s what I saw.”

The Best run also angered Bears coach Lovie Smith.

“Defensively, just can’t give up big plays like that,” Smith said. “Best is a good player, but we’re not set up to give up easy runs or passes that way — [we've] got to keep the ball in front of us and you know, to be able to have a base run go for a touchdown–it’s kind of hard to swallow.”

2011 NFL Regular Season Schedule: Week 6

Week 6
Sun, Oct 16	Time (ET)	Stadium/Tickets	Network	DIRECTV	SIRIUS	Westwood One	Game Access
CAR @ ATL	1:00 PM	Georgia Dome Tickets	FOX	710	135 (CAR) 93 (ATL)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
PHI @ WAS	1:00 PM	FedExField Tickets	FOX	707	132 (PHI) 86 (WAS)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
STL @ GB	1:00 PM	Lambeau Field Tickets	FOX	709	138 (STL) 92 (GB)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
IND @ CIN	1:00 PM	Paul Brown Stadium Tickets	CBS	705	113 (IND) 106 (CIN)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
BUF @ NYG	1:00 PM	MetLife Stadium Tickets	CBS	704	112 (BUF) 91 (NYG)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
JAC @ PIT	1:00 PM	Heinz Field Tickets	CBS	706	148 (JAC) 94 (PIT)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
SF @ DET	1:00 PM	Ford Field Tickets	FOX	708	128 (SF) 85 (DET)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
CLE @ OAK	4:05 PM	O.co Coliseum Tickets	CBS	712	92 (CLE) 139 (OAK)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
HOU @ BAL	4:05 PM	M&T Bank Stadium Tickets	CBS	711	93 (HOU) 134 (BAL)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
NO @ TB	4:15 PM	Raymond James Stadium Tickets	FOX	714	94 (NO) 136 (TB)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
DAL @ NE	4:15 PM	Gillette Stadium Tickets	FOX	713	137 (DAL) 86 (NE)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
MIN @ CHI	8:20 PM	Soldier Field Tickets	NBC		92 (MIN) 93 (CHI)		Game Center Listen \| Watch
Mon, Oct 17	Time (ET)	Stadium/Tickets	Network	DIRECTV	SIRIUS	Westwood One	Game Access
MIA @ NYJ	8:30 PM	MetLife Stadium Tickets	ESPN		92 (MIA) 93 (NYJ)		Game Center Listen \| Watch

Byes: Cardinals, Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Seahawks, Titans

The Tiger Report

Pages

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tom Waddle lashes out at Brandon Meriweather

Chad Ochocinco entirely irrelevant in New England

Mike Brown not commenting on trading Carson Palmer

Former Bengal, Dhani Jones calls it quits

Video: Deion Sanders "Rex Grossman may be best QB in NFC East"

Super Bowl XLIX will be played in Arizona in 2015

PFT's Power Rankings: Week 5

It is officially "Tebow Time" in Denver

Today owners will vote for location of the 2015 Super Bowl

Ed Roski makes bold move to get a team in L.A.

Jim Irsay would have a hard time passing up Andrew Lcuk

Brian Urlacher: "Defensively, we stink"

2011 NFL Regular Season Schedule: Week 6

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