Of course, Manning never winged a football through goal posts from midfield while on one knee, which I imagine made Boller an even more attractive prospect in Billick's mind. Whatever, neither Boller nor Billick worked out in Baltimore and now one is the backup quarterback for the Rams and the other is an in-booth NFL analyst for Fox.
St. Louis will face Manning and the Colts this week, and Boller, for the first time in his career, looks like a Pro Bowl quarterback. Via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Rush Limbaugh, radio personality, has made a handsome living out of spreading his brand of conservatism. Bart Scott is an NFL linebacker, outspoken about most things, including politics.
During the 2006 mid-term elections Scott, then with the Ravens, spoke about his political philosophy with USA Today's Skip Wood.
"We get a break by that, but then our family members are overtaxed. You know, tax cuts for the rich. Well, it's a Catch-22. Do you want to save more of your money, when you can afford to pay the taxes, or do you want your families to save more of their money, when sometimes maybe they're really being burdened? A lot of guys say, 'Now that I've got money, I'm going to have to vote Republican, but I'll go back to being a Democrat when I retire.' To me, that's just selfish."
After three Rams losses, it's pretty evident 2009 is going to be a long season in St. Louis (the third straight of the variety). Monday, they received some more bad news -- that Laurent Robinson, a member of the already paper-thin receiving corps, will likely miss the remainder of the season after injuring his lower leg (both a fractured fibula and high ankle sprain) during Sunday's loss to Green Bay.
Quarterback Marc Bulger also left the game injured, but his injury isn't deemed as serious, now that he's been diagnosed with a bruised rotator cuff. Earlier Monday, some feared Bulger had a torn rotator cuff and would also miss the remainder of the season. Of course, clouding matters is that Kyle Boller came in relief of Bulger and looked far superior.
After hearing how physical a camp the Rams are running under new head coach Steve Spagnuolo, injuries shouldn't surprise us. Thus, when Marc Bulger fell injured with a broken pinky on his right (throwing) hand, it didn't seem too shocking at first glance. That is, of course, until learning what actually happened: Bulger suffered a non-displaced fracture to his pinky due to an errant snap exchange from his center. He won't be wearing a cast and expects to be back in about two weeks.
In the meantime, the person taking the snaps for the Rams' first-team offense will be none other than Kyle Boller -- the former first-rounder for the Ravens who compiled a 71.9 quarterback rating in 53 career games for Baltimore.
It happens every year at training camp, yet every year seems worse than the ones that preceded it: players get injured, sometimes seriously, and an offseason worth of plans suddenly become meaningless.
And on Sunday, the Ravens' No. 2 wideout, Mark Clayton, strained a hamstring that will keep him out 2-3 preseason games. Compared to Bradley or Douglas, that's good news, but Baltimore also doesn't have much depth at receiver. More than that, quarterback Joe Flacco is just in his second season. Spreading the offensive burden seems like the best strategy to build on the success he had last year, but that becomes problematic if Flacco doesn't have anybody to throw to. Or maybe it doesn't.
On Tuesday I noted that some NFL executives aren't sold on Brandon Marshall. At least to the point that they would give up a high-round pick to have him. Marshall is still a member of the Broncos, the team that drafted him, but he's made it clear throughout the offseason that he'd like to get traded.
Despite some apprehension around the league, the Ravens could be interested in Marshall. That's what happens when your best receiver retires, another does the same two days after signing a free-agent contract, and there are still questions if 2005 first-round pick Mark Clayton can ably fill the No. 1 role.
The Minnesota Vikings finished the 1998 season with 15 wins. The offense averaged almost 35 points a game (best in the league) with a 35-year-old Randall Cunningham under center, two big-play receivers in Cris Carter and Randy Moss, and a steady run game led by Robert Smith and Leroy Hoard.
And Brian Billick was the brains behind it all. He would parlay his successes as the Vikes' offensive coordinator into a head-coaching gig with the Ravens. Billick's offensive philosophy in Baltimore never produced anything approaching what he was able to accomplish in Minnesota, and by the time he was fired nine years later, he was known as much for his inability to develop a franchise quarterback or find a deep threat at wide receiver as he was for the organization's 2000 Super Bowl win.
So it is with some irony that the man behind Kyle Boller weighs in on the Vikings' current stable of quarterbacks now that Brett Favre has temporarily* announced his retirement.
A year ago, Eric Mangini, still the Jets head coach, was contemplating making a quarterback change. Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens were scheduled to fight for the job, and Mangini, uninspired by his options, eventually traded for Brett Favre and released Pennington.
After an 8-3 start, the Jets, largely due to Favre's inconsistent play, finished 1-4 and missed the playoffs. Pennington signed with the Dolphins and promptly led them to the AFC East title.
Mangini is now with the Browns (and Favre is retired, at least momentarily), but last year's experiences may have influenced his decision with his new club. Leading up to last month's draft, speculation had Cleveland trading Brady Quinn. It didn't happen, and apparently there were plenty of opportunities.
Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.
Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.
Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.
Nate Davis has had a rough few months. After an impressive junior season at Ball State -- one in which some folks had him pegged as a possible first-round pick -- the MAC quarterback has experienced a series of setbacks that will cost him millions of dollars, and perhaps the opportunity to play professional football.
This is what Brian Billick had in mind when he traded back into the first round of the 2003 draft to take Kyle Boller: the next Peyton Manning. 
After three 
After hearing how 
It happens every year at training camp, yet every year seems worse than the ones that preceded it: players get injured, sometimes seriously, and an offseason worth of plans suddenly become meaningless. 
On Tuesday I noted that 
The Minnesota Vikings finished the 1998 season with 15 wins. The offense averaged almost 35 points a game (best in the league) with a 35-year-old 
A year ago, 
Nate Davis
