Jason Babin: Bears used cheap shots to knock him out of the game

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 10, 2011, 6:26 PM EST

AP

Eagles defensive end Jason Babin is the latest of a growing number of defensive players who complain that the NFL doesn’t protect them the same way it protects offensive players.

Babin said today that the Bears ran a play on Monday night on which a tight end in motion drilled him from the side when he couldn’t see it coming, and that the NFL ought to make such plays illegal.

“I got the s— knocked out of me,” Babin said, via CSNPhilly.com. “I knew somebody hit me from the side and I didn’t know where it came from or who it was. To me it’s one of those plays, where somebody could get really hurt, especially if you’re running full speed and not looking.”

Babin ripped Bears coach Lovie Smith and offensive coordinator Mike Martz for what he referred to as an “intentionally called play.” Babin acknowledged that the blindside block is not against the rules, but he thinks it should be.

“If everything is about safety and protecting players, then that should definitely fall under the safety rules and regulations,” Babin said.

This specific play aside, there’s not much doubt that Babin’s larger point is right: The NFL’s emphasis on player safety has largely been about protecting offensive players. Protecting defensive players should be just as important.

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Albert Haynesworth regarding leaving New England

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 10, 2011, 3:25 PM EST

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Here’s what Albert Haynesworth had to sayin early September after joining the Patriots.

“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, yeah. Haynesworth is generally full of it when speaking to the media. He also said New England was a “career-saving place” in part because they would keep him fresh by rotating him more.

Josh Cribbs gives away too much about Browns' gameplan

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 10, 2011, 1:41 PM EST

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Browns receiver and return man Josh Cribbsappears to have given too much away when talking to reporters about Sunday’s game against the Rams.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cribbs offered some hints that the Browns’ game plan will call for him to line up in the backfield, either as a running back or a Wildcat quarterback.

“I can’t give nothing away, but they put something in that’s special to me and that’s all I can say about that,” Cribbs said. “Coach is really trying to target me and the coaches are really making an opportunity for me to get the football more.”

John Harbaugh upset with music played at Heinz Field

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 10, 2011, 11:51 AM EST

AP

Ravens coach John Harbaugh knows the rivalry with the Steelers is tough. But Harbaugh thinks that in one respect, the Steelers crossed the line on Sunday.

Specifically, Harbaugh is upset that the staff at Heinz Field played music designed to hurt Joe Flacco’s feelings.

According to Kevin Van Valkenburg of theBaltimore Sun, the Heinz Field sound system blared Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “What’s Your Name”while contrasting the stats of Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger on the scoreboard, and that was somehow a slap in the face to Flacco. Apparently Harbaugh thinks the reference to “little girl” in the lyrics was supposed to be insulting Flacco, andHarbaugh was angry about it.

If that sounds to you like a weird thing for a coach to get upset about, well, you’re not alone. Flacco was baffled by the whole thing.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Flacco said. “They were playing a song?”

This actually isn’t the first time an NFL head coach has been angered by an opposing team playing music designed to belittle his quarterback. When Joey Harrington led the Dolphins against the Lions on Thanksgiving 2006, Dolphins coach Nick Saban complained about the Lions playing Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” on the Ford Field sound system as a jab at Harrington, who’s a pianist in his spare time.

Flacco and Harrington both got their revenge by winning.

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Rodger-Cromartie still upset about being traded to the Eagles

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 10, 2011, 8:56 AM EST

Reuters

Eagles cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie just suffered his worst game during his increasingly poor season in Philadelphia.

The way he sees it, there really wasn’t any need for him to get traded to the Eagles anyway.  He thought the Cardinals already had their quarterback.

“I was always a [John] Skelton fan even when I was there,” Rodgers-Cromartie said via Bob Grotz of the Delaware County Times. “I was pulling for the guy. I know what he’s capable of doing. I know he can run this offense real good. And he does have a big arm.”

Skelton didn’t play well last week. If he somehow helped the Cardinals pull off a second straight win as a starter, Kolb wouldn’t look so good in comparison.

Rodgers-Cromartie, meanwhile, doesn’t sound so thrilled about his new role in Philly. He wants to play on the outside, rather than in the slot where he’s clearly uncomfortable.

“Am I mad? Yeah,” Rodgers-Cromartie said. “I would like to be outside.”

DRC still sounds a little salty that he got dealt in the first place.

“They know what they had,” Rodgers-Cromartie said.

Yes. Perhaps they did.

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Boss and Heyward-Bey's status uncertain going into tonight's game

Posted by Mike Florio on November 10, 2011, 7:00 AM EST

AP

On Sunday, Raiders coach Hue Jackson didn’t use receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey and tight end Kevin Boss as extensively as Jackson normally would.  The boss claims that Boss and Heyward-Bey weren’t benched, but the facts suggest otherwise.

And it left Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey scratching his head.  “I was totally confused,” Bailey recently told Adam Schein and Rich Gannon of SiriusXM NFL Radio.  “They did the exact opposite of what I expected.  I didn’t expect [T.J.] Houshmandzadeh to play as much as he did, being that it was his first week there.  You know, I was prepared to match up with Heyward-Bey because he had been playing so well the last few weeks and he didn’t even start the game.  He might have played 12 snaps total in the whole game. . . .

“I mean, he’s their best guy getting off the bump.  He’s one of their fastest guys.  I’m like, I don’t understand why he’s not playing.”

Bailey suggested that perhaps “something happened during the bye week” regarding Heyward-Bey.  The more pressing question heading into Thursday night’s game between the Raiders and Chargers is whether whatever happened with Heyward-Bey and Boss will cause them to continue to receive limited reps.

“I was surprised,’’ Boss said Monday.  “Coach’s decision.’’

It’s another coach’s decision that is making some wonder whether the coach is making the right decisions.

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Students rioting in support of Joe Paterno

I don't understand people sometimes.  The fact that rioting began on the Penn State campus last night in the wake of the Joe Paterno firing is mind boggling to me.  You have a legendary football coach, who has failed to make the right choice for 10 or more years.  Then in a brief video outside his home, instead of addressing the issue, he says "We are still Penn State.....beat Nebraska."  Then he seemingly tries to brush off the magnitude of what happened, saying something to the effect of let's pray for them, they can have a meaningful life still.  Yet hundreds if not thousands of ignorant young people are violently protesting his firing.

Joe Paterno has failed as a person and as a football coach, because he focused more of football and less on coaching.  Right or wrong, Paterno was in a father-like role as a college coach.  He was not only in a position of power and authority, but a role as a teacher.  Like it or not, he had a certain responsibility to help mold these boys into young men.  He had an opportunity to be a man of integrity and lead by example, but he failed.

We are not talking about one of those warm and fuzzy "Values" commercials where the kid touches the ball before it goes out of bounds.  Then kid then proceeds to tell his coach and the ref the truth even though it hurts his team.  This is about protecting something much more important than a football program or a University's prestige.  It is about protecting living-breathing human beings, and children at that.  Joe Pa may not have been the one that did the violent act against these young boys, but not doing enough to prevent it makes him guilty of the crime.

The question I have to ask in the wake of this is, why the rioting?  What are you, who take to the streets, rioting for?  Is it because football is more important?  Is it because you were fortunate enough not to be sodomized, so the crime is irrelevant?  

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DeMarco Murray reminds Jerry Jones of Eric Dickerson

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 9, 2011, 9:22 PM EST

AP

When Cowboys owner Jerry Jones looks at rookie running back DeMarco Murray, he’s reminded of a running back who had one of the great rookie seasons in NFL history, on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Jones said on 105.3 The Fan that Murray reminds him of Eric Dickerson, who ran for 1,808 yards as a rookie with the Los Angeles Rams in 1983.

“He kind of has a glide a little like Dickerson used to,” Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News. “He has a certain smoothness. His glide, he doesn’t lift his feet as much as Dickerson did, but the other thing he reminds me of is he runs with such acceleration and power.”

And Jones says that when he sees the way Murray breaks tackles, he can’t help but think of the way Dickerson used to do it.

“He really throws that weight around,” Jones said. “You have some backs, 235-pound backs, 240, they don’t run. They run on their toes and they don’t run with power. He’s 220 pounds, 225 pound back who runs with even more power and runs with more impact than his weight.”

Obviously, it’s extremely premature to compare Murray to Dickerson, who’s one of the greatest runners the game of football has ever seen. But it’s easy to see why Jones is excited about Murray, who has totaled 466 yards in his three games as the Cowboys’ top running back. Murray looks like a star in the making.

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Earl Bennett fined $5,000 for orange cleats

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 10, 2011, 7:00 AM EST

Getty Images

Bears receiver Earl Bennett put on a pair of orange shoes for Monday night’s game against the Eagles. The NFL was not happy with that blatant disregard for its uniform policies: Bennett has confirmed that the NFL fined him $5,000 because of the shoes.

Some players who get fined vow not to change their ways, but Bennett isn’t one of them. Bennett said he has learned his lesson and will only wear the regulation shoes from now on, lest he incur the wrath of his wife.

“They say they will double the fine, so, it would be 10 grand,” Bennett said. “And I don’t think my wife would like that.”

The NFL might not have liked his color scheme, but Bennett’s shoes brought him good luck. Entering Sunday night’s game, Bennett had just three catches for 20 yards all season. Against the Eagles he had five catches for 95 yards and a touchdown.

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Rams bench their best offensive lineman

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 9, 2011, 11:03 PM EST

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The most disappointing group of players on a wildly disappointing Rams team has been the offensive line. Thus, it’s not a huge shock the team is starting to make some changes.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatchreports center Jason Brown will be benched for Sunday’s game at Cleveland. Tony Wragge will take his place.

The odd part here: Brown’s play was apparently not the cause of the benching.  Thomas notes that Brown has consistently graded out as the team’s best lineman this year, and he had a solid game against the Cardinals.

Brown signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract in 2009, and is due $5 million next season.

It’s unclear at this stage why Brown is getting benched.  We’ll let you know when we know, because the benching of a center on a 1-7 team is guaranteed to drive pageviews.

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