Wade Phillips isn't much to look at, but neither is Bill Belichick. The difference: one comes off as a grandfatherly Gomer Pyle, the other dresses like a hobo -- but has three Super Bowl rings. The point: people don't care how you clean up when you're winning.
So while the "Aw, shucks" persona is perfectly acceptable if you're running a roadside vegetable stand, it's less so as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, an outfit that last won a playoff game in 1996. Fans used to winning are fickle that way.
But according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Mac Engel, don't let Wade's cuddly exterior fool you. Despite appearances, he really does know what he's doing.
Michael Vick is now free, both legally and professionally. He got out of the joint last month, and yesterday, the Falcons, the team that selected him with the first-overall pick in 2000, released him.
Even before Atlanta made it official, much of the talk this offseason (when we weren't discussing the implications of another Brett Favre fake retirement) has been about where Vick might play in 2009. Plenty of teams have issued "Yeah, we're not interested" statements, but athleticism trumps off-field troubles and there's a good chance Vick is playing somewhere next season, even if it's not at quarterback.
Bill Belichick is a lot of things, both real and imagined, but he rarely uses the media to take shots at opponents. Yes, he went off on Freddie Mitchell, but I'm not even sure that counts. Mitchell was flapping his gums about the Patriots prior to Super Bowl XXXIX and it prompted this response from Belichick: "All he does is talk. He's terrible, and you can print that. I was happy when he was in the game."
I mention that encounter because despite Belichick's sometimes tumultuous relationship with the New York Jets -- he resigned a half-hour after accepting the gig in 1999, and didn't appear to be particularly fond of former assistant Eric Mangini once he took the job in 2006 (This probably didn't help; on the upside, Bill and Herm never had any problems, and there's video evidence as proof. [Waves at camera, mouths "hello," laughs hysterically.]) -- he has yet to go "FredEx" on anybody associated with the team.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Look, the NFL offseason is freaking boring. I know, I know, if you're reading this, you're a die-hard and you can't get enough NFL news, even in June. But the fact is there's little-to-nothing going on this time of year. Which is why you've got to love Jets coach Rex Ryan and Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder for spicing things up the way they have the past couple of days.
Ryan and Crowder have been hooked up in a little war of words for the past week. And their dispute, rooted in Ryan's tough talk about not being intimidated by anybody else in the AFC East and Crowder's hurt feelings on behalf of a division-champion team that he feels isn't being given enough credit for its 2008 accomplishment, continued today.
For all you chumps who enjoyed a Tom Brady-less 2008 New England Patriots team, I got some bad news for you: Dreamboat is back. And to hear Peter King write it (in between uncontrollable sobs of joy, surely), Tommy Terrific is better, faster, stronger, so on and so forth.
Last September, Brady's season ended after just 15 plays. The Chiefs' Bernard Pollard tackled him low and blew up his ACL in the process. Following knee surgery (and a couple subsequent procedures to deal with a staph infection), Brady spent the last seven months planning a marriage and plotting his comeback.
Randy Moss is the best wide receiver in the NFL. For different reasons, Al Davis, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have a lot to do with that. But before his professional football career, Moss was a legit basketball player, too.
He was twice named Mr. Basketball in West Virginia, and even contemplated the two-sport route at one point. So when he says LeBron James could play in the NFL, I believe him. And not just suit up George Plimpton style, either. Moss thinks LeBron, an All-Ohio wideout in high school, would dominate.
After an injury-filled, $8 million season in Washington, Jason Taylor was back on the free-agent market this spring. Several teams needing a pass rusher showed interest, including the Patriots, who had previously traded veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs.
Taylor ended up in Miami, where he started his career and played for 10 seasons. It was one of the few examples of a player turning down a chance to join the Pats; head coach and evil genius Bill Belichick has an incredible knack for convincing free agents -- through Charles Manson-styled brainwashing, no doubt -- to come to Foxboro. Not this time.
Josh McDaniels' honeymoon as the Broncos new head coach was a short one. As soon as Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler commenced with the whinging, fans, for the most part, blamed the 32-year-old McDaniels. He has no prior head coaching experience, and obviously inherited his people-person skills from mentor Bill Belichick.
The confluence of all this eventually led to the Broncos trading Cutler to the Bears for two first-round picks and Kyle Orton. And it was hard to make the case that Denver was better without Cutler, despite the extra draft picks and the steady-but-hardly-spectacular Orton.
After a paid holiday in DC last year, Jason Taylor is back in Miami, where he spent the first 10 years of his career. But at 34, his role has changed. Taylor is no longer the focus of the defense, the pass-rushing specialist who averaged nearly 12 sacks a season during his time with the Dolphins.
Instead, he'll be used sparingly, in an effort to keep him fresh, healthy, and productive. Via the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero:
Wade Phillips isn't much to look at, but neither is Bill Belichick. The difference: one comes off as a grandfatherly Gomer Pyle, the other dresses like a hobo -- but has three Super Bowl rings. The point: people don't care how you clean up when you're winning. 
Michael Vick is now free, both legally and professionally. He got out of the joint last month, and yesterday, the Falcons, the team that selected him with the first-overall pick in 2000, released him. 
Bill Belichick is a lot of things, both real and imagined, but he rarely uses the media to take shots at opponents. Yes, he went off on Freddie Mitchell, but I'm not even sure that counts. Mitchell was flapping his gums about the Patriots prior to Super Bowl XXXIX and it prompted this response from Belichick: "All he does is talk. He's terrible, and you can print that. I was happy when he was in the game." 
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Look, the NFL offseason is freaking boring. I know, I know, if you're reading this, you're a die-hard and you can't get enough NFL news, even in June. But the fact is there's little-to-nothing going on this time of year. Which is why you've got to love Jets coach Rex Ryan and Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder for spicing things up the way they have the past couple of days.
For all you chumps who enjoyed a Tom Brady-less 2008 New England Patriots team, I got some bad news for you: Dreamboat is back. And to hear Peter King write it (in between uncontrollable sobs of joy, surely), Tommy Terrific is better, faster, stronger, so on and so forth.
Randy Moss is the best wide receiver in the NFL. For different reasons, Al Davis, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have a lot to do with that. But before his professional football career, Moss was a legit basketball player, too. 
After an injury-filled, $8 million season in Washington, Jason Taylor was back on the free-agent market this spring. Several teams needing a pass rusher showed interest, including the Patriots, who had previously traded veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel to the Chiefs. 
Josh McDaniels' honeymoon as the Broncos new head coach was a short one. As soon as Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler commenced with the whinging, fans, for the most part, blamed the 32-year-old McDaniels. He has no prior head coaching experience, and obviously inherited his people-person skills from mentor Bill Belichick. 
After a paid holiday in DC last year, Jason Taylor is back in Miami, where he spent the first 10 years of his career. But at 34, his role has changed. Taylor is no longer the focus of the defense, the pass-rushing specialist who averaged nearly 12 sacks a season during his time with the Dolphins.
