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Jets Could Inquire About Cutler, Broncos Possibly Heart Sanchez

Posted: Apr 1st 2009 3:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Broncos, Jets, AFC West, NFL Draft, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching, NFL Rumors

3 COMMENTS

Jay Cutler's dreams are finally coming true: the Broncos have agreed to trade him. Of course, if he weren't so sensitive -- or if new head coach Josh McDaniels had better controlled the flow of information -- it never would've come to this.

Continue Reading Jets Could Inquire About Cutler, Broncos Possibly Heart Sanchez

ESPN to Re-Broadcast 'Greatest Game Ever Played' In Color

Posted: Dec 10th 2008 7:00AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Colts, Giants, NFL Media Watch

5 COMMENTS

Remember back in the last 1980s and early 1990s when Ted Turner spent his fortune buying up old films and "colorizing" them?

ESPN plans to do the same thing when they re-broadcast the "Greatest Game Ever Played" this Saturday. The "Greatest Game" was the 1958 NFL Championship game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants.

The game will celebrate its 50th anniversary on December 28th (not sure why ESPN is deciding to show the game two weeks earlier) and is credited with turning the NFL into a national passion. It was nationally televised on NBC and was the league's first ever sudden-death overtime game.

Fifteen members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were in that game: Johnny Unitas, Sam Huff, Gino Marchetti, Frank Gifford, Don Maynard, Raymond Berry, Art Donovan, Rosey Brown, Lenny Moore, Andy Robustetti, Emlen Tunnell and Jim Parker. Hall of Famer Weeb Ewbank was head coach of the Colts; Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry were coordinators for the Giants.

Continue Reading ESPN to Re-Broadcast 'Greatest Game Ever Played' In Color

Should the Falcons Start Over, or Do They Just Need to Tweak the Roster?

Posted: Feb 12th 2008 5:34PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Falcons, NFL Fans

0 COMMENTS

This has become an annual question in Atlanta: should the front office blow up the roster and start over, or are there pieces in place to get the Falcons back to playing something other than what we've been subjected to the last two seasons?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Steve Wyche thinks that with $23 million in salary-cap space, the front office should "semi-gut" the roster.

[New general manager Thomas] Dimitroff and [head coach Mike] Smith have to be sure they find the right replacements, though because if they're going to make wholesale changes, they better not miss on the players they bring in. Not to say immediate results would be demanded by Blank but if things stagnate or get even worse over the next few years...

Yeah, I'd say it's probably pretty important to just not sign the biggest name in free agency, but to actually find some players that help improve the team. The former strategy didn't work out all that well when Redskins owner Dan Snyder tried it with Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith back in the late 1990s.

Wyche also writes that losing assistant general manager Billy Devaney weakens the personnel department, which is kind of a big deal for a Falcons team that lacks depth up and down the roster.

Of course, Atlanta wouldn't be in this situation if owner Arthur Blank wasn't in such a hurry to fire Jim Mora, or before him, Dan Reeves. I'll admit to thinking that Mora let the inmates run the asylum during his stint with the Falcons, but in retrospect, he might as well have been Tom Landry relative to all that's happened in the past 12 months.

Some People Think Jerry Jones Is Assembling a Coaching Staff for Jason Garrett

Posted: Jan 30th 2008 5:43PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, NFC North, NFL Fans, NFL Rumors, NFL Coaching

0 COMMENTS

There are Cowboys fans still mad at Jerry Jones for firing Tom Landry. Certainly understandable. But much of the hatred directed at the Arkansas Hairpiece has softened over the years, particularly the '90s, when Dallas won three Super Bowls.

Still, fans are suspicious and probably for good reason. So too are the media. In today's Dallas Morning News, Jean-Jacques Taylor writes that the new staff Jones is putting together is more for the team's future head coach, Jason Garrett, than it is for incumbent Wade Phillips.

Taylor points to Dom Capers interviewing with the Cowboys for a spot on the defensive staff as a consultant or linebackers coach. You see, Capers was Garrett's hand-picked selection as his defensive coordinator had he taken the Ravens job. And since Dallas already has a defensive coordinator, Brian Stewart, this move seems fishy, at least according to Taylor. He also adds some other curiosities:

• Jerry has made Garrett the NFL's highest-paid assistant with a salary that's nearly as much, if not equal to what Phillips earns. We all know Phillips is going to spend all next season answering question after question about his future every time the Cowboys lose.

• Jerry hired Hudson Houck, a quality offensive line coach, who has more ties to Garrett than Phillips.

Taylor goes on for a few hundred more words, but you get the point. And i suspect Phillips does too. I don't think anybody will be shocked if when Phillips gets canned in a year's time and Garrett assumes the throne. And just like Marty Schottenheimer and the Chargers, it'll soon be forgotten if the Cowboys win, especially in the playoffs.

Would Jerry Jones Fire Wade Phillips to Keep Jason Garrett?

Posted: Jan 5th 2008 9:29AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, NFC East, NFL Coaching

9 COMMENTS

The Star-Telegram's Jim Reeves has been talking to Chargers general manager A.J. Smith, I see. He's concocted a crazy plan to keep this off-season's hot coaching candidate, current Cowboys offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett. It's so eloquently simple that it probably never occurred to most of us. Either that, or it's just too ridiculous. Definitely one or the other, though.

Who's more important to the Cowboys and their future? Coach Yuck-Yuck [Phillips] or one of the brightest young offensive minds to show up at Valley Ranch in a long, long time? If it comes to that, here's what Jerry has to do: He fires Phillips and he keeps Garrett.

Risky? Absolutely. Phillips is a known commodity, which is both good and bad. Garrett? Tremendous upside and potential, but he has only three years' coaching experience in the NFL.

Reeves points out that this isn't as mental as it sounds, after all, Jerry Jones is the same guy who fired Tom Landry because he knew Jimmy Johnson would turn things around.

Continue Reading Would Jerry Jones Fire Wade Phillips to Keep Jason Garrett?