If there are two phrases/names/things that are relevant to all things important in the world's culture right now, it's pretty obviously: "J.P. Losman" and "United Football League." No, no. Seriously. That's because today, Losman transplanted Tim Rattay as the most relevant non-ex-felon to potentially hop to the new league.
But, all sarcasm aside, this is kind of a big deal from a football fan's perspective simply because Losman is a pretty huge name when it comes to the UFL. Again. Seriously.
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Heading into this year's draft, Josh Freeman was considered to have the highest upside of any quarterback entering the NFL in 2009, while also possessing the biggest downside. The Buccaneers, in need of a true franchise quarterback for the first time since ... well, they've never really had one, were not only willing to take the chance on Freeman, but they were also willing to move up two spots to get him.
While fans of tackle football in the northeastern section of our country are coping with the season ending injury to Tom Brady, the football staff of the Patriots still have a job to do. Apparently, they're preparing to do so -- or attempting to do so -- with two guys named Matt Cassel and Kevin O'Connell doing their best to fill in for No. 12. And that's the way it's going to stay. For now. We think. Maybe. Unless it doesn't.
Starting on Sunday night, just hours after Brady suffered his knee injury, reports began to surface that free agent quarterbacks Chris Simms and Tim Rattay would be making their way to New England for some workouts, and apparently, they did in fact travel to Foxborough. Only no workouts took place.
There were no physicals, no contracts signed or offered, and apparently Belichick didn't even talk to them. They were turned away with the message, "the situation has changed."
It certainly has changed. Your starting quarterback is now a guy that hasn't started a football game since before he went to his senior prom in High School.
After all of the initial reports, speculation and guess work from yesterday, the Patriots finally announced the news everyone was expecting to hear: Tom Brady's season is over after only 11 passes. The hopes and dreams for the Patriots, at least for the short term, now rest on the right arm of Matt Cassel, who hasn't started a football game since he was a senior in High School nine years ago.
The Patriots, as is usually the case, didn't give great details as to what type of injury the star quarterback suffered, but did offer the following statement:
"After extensive tests this morning, it was revealed that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's left knee, which was injured in the first quarter of yesterday's game, will require surgery. He will be placed on injured reserve and will miss the remainder of the 2008 season."
Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.
This week I sat down with albaNY Hawker of 12 Seahawks Street, an independent column that covers the Seattle Seahawks.
Dan Benton: "I don't really want to start this with a question ... just a statement. Two in a row! Mmm, yeah. Let that sink in."
albaNY Hawker: "OK, maybe I'm thick, but it wasn't until I read your final question that I understood what "two in a row" referred to. Had to look at your schedule to see if the Cards had won their last two games. They didn't, losing to the lowly 49ers in front of your home crowd. Didn't think you'd be bragging about two years playing badly enough for a Top 10 draft choice either. But then I realized you're talking about the Cards beating the Seahawks the last two times they've played. Must be tough having to go back to last season to dig up smack talk. By the way, ask the Rams how well that winning streak against the Seahawks has been working for them since 2004. Or the 49ers this year. If Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander don't experience a mutual brain-fart at the end of the game at the Pink Taco, this would be titled four Questions for an Enemy Blogger. But granted, your guys made the plays to get into field goal range and won the game. Glad you like history, because that's all you'll be left with Sunday night."
Last Sunday, I mentioned that during the CBS Pregame Show, Charley Casserly talked about all The List. Those quarterbacks NFL general managers have on speed dial in case anybody went down with an injury.
But Bledsoe retired this off-season, in part because he had lost his starting job to Tony Romo. Apparently, he was happy watching The Price Is Right (with Drew Carey!) and fishing. Still, a handful of teams have showed interest in recent weeks, but Bledsoe likes his new life.
Gannon was in Buffalo last week for the Baltimore game, and when asked the other day by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune which young quarterback in the NFL he thought had a chance to be the next star, he replied, "Trent Edwards in Buffalo."...
"They came out against Baltimore and ran no-huddle the whole game," Gannon said. "That's not easy for a rookie to do. Trent is directing traffic at the line of scrimmage, he's getting the Bills out of bad plays and into good plays. I'm not trying to make him out as the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but he's much further along than any other rookie."
I'm with Gannon: I like Edwards a lot, and think he has more upside than J.P. Losman, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves with his performances to date. He's done an adequate job of managing the game, but he's been handcuffed by some pretty conservative play-calling and ill-timed interceptions in the Bills loss to the Cowboys, and the almost-loss to the Ravens.
In today's New York Times, William Rhoden wonders on the whereabouts of former NFL quarterback Aaron Brooks. Brooks was New Orleans' starter for six seasons before, playing half of '06 in Oakland. Now he's looking for work.
Brooks may still be serving time for the comments he made in 2005 when the Saints, like New Orleans itself, were demoralized by unimaginable upheavals caused by Katrina....
Brooks had had enough. During an interview with CBS, he blasted the N.F.L. and the Saints' owner, Tom Benson, pointing out that for someone who stands to make $600 million from the sale of the team, "I don't think a couple million would hurt to make his team feel very comfortable every week."
I'm sure both the NFL suits and Benson cringed at the remarks at the time, but I can't imagine that has anything to do with why Brooks isn't back in the league. Let's be honest, Brooks put up good numbers, but he'd do just enough to get you beat.
Plus, he was never especially accurate, wasn't afraid to take a sack, and had a knack for throwing picks in the worst possible situations. I suspect that has much more to do with his current job prospects than comments following Hurricane Katrina. Comments, by the way, that were much more on target than most of his throws.
Obviously, the available pool of free agent quarterbacks is slim pickins'. That became clear when the Cardinals were bummed that they lost out on the Vinny Testaverde sweepstakes, and had to settle for Tim Rattay.
On today's CBS Pregame Show, Charley Casserly talked to NFL general managers this week about which quarterbacks would be next to get a phone call if, God forbid, a team loses their starter. Here were the top-5 names:
Not exactly a group of first-ballot Hall of Famers. For anyone who's curious, Casserly reports that Brooks is fully recovered from off-season pectoral surgery and is anxious to get another shot. Bledsoe, on the other hand, is happy in retirement, but if the right opportunity came along...
Other GMs said they would pass on the Space Cowboys all together and just pick a young guy off another team's practice squad. David Green (Patriots), Darrell Hackney (Broncos) and Tyler Palko (Saints) were the most popular names cited.
There's nothing like a series of injuries to sour the hopes of busting out of a nine-year slump. Unfortunately, that's just the way things go for the Arizona Cardinals.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not writing the season off by any means. However, each time a player drops, so do the chances that Arizona will make the playoffs for the first time since 1998. And that was never more evident than yesterday when an injured Kurt Warner was replaced by street free agent Tim Rattay. It was if the life was just sucked right out of the team.
I suppose if there is any good news for the Cardinals and their fans, it's that Warner, who is undergoing an MRI today, believes he'll only miss a single week.
"We'll see the extent of it and see what we can do as far as getting me back as soon as possible," he said.
"I was really just trying to recover the football,'' Warner said. "As I reached out for the football, whoever it was put full force on my arm and just hurt the ligaments in there."
I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but maybe Warner wouldn't suffer so many injuries if he didn't hang onto the ball for so damn long. Luckily for him, it was his non-throwing elbow this time. Next time? Who knows.
If there are two phrases/names/things that are relevant to all things important in the world's culture right now, it's pretty obviously: "J.P. Losman" and "United Football League." No, no. Seriously. That's because today, Losman transplanted Tim Rattay as the most relevant non-ex-felon to potentially hop to the new league.
Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.
Welcome to another successful installment of Five Questions with an Enemy Blogger, where each week, via email, I will be exchanging hot questions and [sometimes] answers with a rival blogger about their team and the upcoming matchup.
I'll say this for Buffalo's new starting quarterback, Trent Edwards: He's got a lot of big-named supporters. The late Bill Walsh loved Edwards coming out of Stanford, and now, former NFL MVP Rich Gannon has some kind words for the Bills rookie: 
There's nothing like a series of injuries to sour the hopes of busting out of a nine-year slump. Unfortunately, that's just the way things go for the Arizona Cardinals.
