Something To Think About

Which NFL coach do you think makes the best half time adjustments?

I bet most of you said Bill Belichick.

When you think about it, it would be easy to make half time adjustments if you had a videotape of the opposing coaching staff signaling in plays to their team in the first half. This isn't the first time that a Patriots coach has been caught with a video camera aimed at opposing coaches during a game. I'm not making any accusations here, I'm just giving you something to think about. Maybe Belichick isn't really a coaching genius. Maybe he is really just a gifted cheater.

Its also being reported (again) that the Patriots may have somehow intercepted and/or jammed the Jets radio signals during the game. When you think about it, it would probably give you a competitive advantage if you could listen in on the opposing team's play calls. Or if you could talk to your quarterback via a radio during the game but the opposing team couldn't talk to theirs. Didn't the Jaguars complain about this very same thing after they lost to the Patriots in the playoffs a couple years ago?

I hope Roger Goodell throws the book at the Patriots and Bill Belichick. I wouldn't feel that way if there weren't so many stories out there about the Patriots getting away with this kind of crap for years. I am not talking about the Patriots defenders holding opposing receivers or running sprinklers on Gillette Field for days before the Colts come to play. I'm also not talking about letting the grass in Foxborough grow long to slow down opposing players or having a snow blower clear a path for the hometown kicker to make the game winning field goal. Do a Google search and spend the rest of your day reading stories about some of the other things the Patriots are alleged to have done under Bill Belichick. I don't think that taking a draft pick away from the Patriots will be much of a penalty. I really think that taking multiple draft picks and/or forfeiture of the Jets game is what needs to happen to ensure that Belichick and Robert Kraft don't do this kind of crap again. I think that Belichick also needs to be suspended for multiple games and the assistant coach who ran the video camera needs to be banned from the League forever. I also think that if Belichick gets caught doing this kind of crap again that he should be banned from the League forever.

How about preventing them from having any home field advantage in the playoffs this year? Yeah, every game they would play would have to be on the opposing team's field.

Cheating is cheating. I think what the Patriots did is actually worse than a player taking performance enhancing drugs (and Rodney Harrison got 4 games for that). I wonder how many Patriot players were involved in this video taping thing. You know if this is all true that Tom Brady had to know about it. Stealing the signs from opposing defensive coaches would be meaningless if you couldn't pass the relevant info on to your quarterback. Wouldn't it be funny if Tom Brady suddenly became a bad quarterback now that Belichick has been caught and will no longer be able to give Tom a heads up on what the defenses will be doing on every play. I wonder if everybody would still consider him to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time if he now sucks for the rest of his career. I would think that would probably tarnish his image a little bit.

Just something to think about.

Pacers News

Indianapolis, Indiana

It was announced today that the Indianapolis Pacers plan to construct a jail cell and court room in Conseco Fieldhouse.

They will not be the first professional sports team to have a court room and detention center in their arena. About half of all NFL arenas now come equipped with their own prison. The Pacers, however, will not use their court room and detention center quite like other teams use theirs. While other teams use their jail cells mostly for unruly fans, the Pacers plan to use their detention center for their own players. That's right, the Pacers are planning on replacing their home team's locker room with a jail cell.

The Pacers' front office stated that they were making the changes to Conseco Fieldhouse in an effort to help their players feel more at home.
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OK, the story about the court room and detention center at Conseco is just a joke. But, it was announced today that Shawne Williams of the Pacers was arrested last night for possession of marijuana and driving without a license. That is not a joke. You can check out the ESPN story here.

More legal troubles for the Pacers. How many players have they had arrested now? The Pacers are a joke.

If Reggie Miller was already dead he would be rolling over in his grave right now. But, thankfully Reggie is still alive. I say the Simons should fire Larry Bird and offer the job to Reggie Miller. Lord knows he couldn't possibly screw up the roster any more than Larry has.

Browns Trade Frye!

It was announced today that the Cleveland Browns have traded Charlie Frye to the Seattle Seahawks. Details of the trade have not been released, but it is believed that the Browns will receive a draft pick in return for Frye.

Charlie will be the third string emergency quarterback on the Seahawks roster. So basically the guy that Romeo Crennel tabbed as the Browns starter for week one isn't even good enough to be second string for the Seahawks. Wow!

It is believed that the Browns are planning to re-sign Ken Dorsey this afternoon to fill Frye's now vacant spot on the roster.
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Does anybody else think that the Browns organization is starting to look like some kind of circus? What the hell is the coaching staff and management in Cleveland doing? They draft a quarterback in the first round of the NFL draft and declare him the savior of the franchise. Then, they don't play him because he might get hurt. Even though he is obviously the best quarterback on the roster. Then, the guy they named the starting quarterback after training camp and 4 pre-season games has one bad quarter of football in their first game of the season and they bench him and replace him with the guy that he beat out in the pre-season. Then they trade the original starter two days later for an undisclosed draft pick. The team that received the Browns' starting quarterback announces they plan to use the guy as a third string quarterback.

Are you shitting me? What the hell was the coaching staff doing during the pre-season? One quarter and then you give up on Charlie Frye and trade him to Seattle for an undisclosed draft pick? I can't believe that they ever had any real confidence in Charlie or they wouldn't have given up on him so quick this season. Which means, they must have no confidence in Anderson if they thought Charlie was better than him to start with. Now I'm hearing talk that the Browns may consider starting Ken Dorsey. Holy shit, didn't they just cut the guy? Who the hell is making the personnel decisions for Cleveland?

I'm freaking speechless.

NFL week one

Here are some of my thoughts and observations from week one of the NFL season.

1) My thoughts and prayers are with Kevin Everett and his family.

2) Surprise, surprise. It appears that the New England Patriots have been caught cheating again. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last.

3) If the NFL wants to stop end zone celebrations they need to negotiate it into their TV contracts. Nobody will even notice if Chad Johnson puts on a tutu and twirls a baton in the end zone after a touchdown if the League forbids the networks from showing the celebrations on TV. The League should also ban the replay of touchdown celebrations during sports highlight shows, ESPN included. Out of sight and out of mind.

4) The Patriots and Colts look like the teams to beat after week one. I'm pretty sure the Patriots would have clubbed the Jets even without cheating.

5) I'm not sure the Browns will win a game this season. I wonder who they will draft to sit on the bench and hold a clipboard next season. Hmmm. I wonder who their coach will be next season. I don't think Bill Cowher will take it. My money is on Marty.

6) The Bears lost two defensive starters for the year in their first game. Mike Brown (db) and Dusty Dvoracek (nt) are out for the year. If their defense takes any more hits they might not even win the NFC North. Lord knows they can't count on Rex Grossman to carry the load. I don't know if anybody else noticed, but the Lions, Packers, and Vikings all look like they improved from last season.

7) Why the hell isn't anyone signing Byron Leftwich? I would think that Atlanta would be beating down his door. There are quite a few other teams that I think will regret not giving him a look. The Browns might as well sign Leftwich if they're not going to play Brady Quinn.

8) Joey Harrington didn't look too good for Atlanta. But, its hard to throw a pass when you are running for your life. I think Atlanta needs to work on their offensive line a little bit. The poor offensive line play might be why Atlanta isn't going after Leftwich. Byron hasn't exactly made a name for himself as an elusive quarterback.

9) The Raiders signed JaMarcus Russell yesterday. I still think this guy will turn out to be a bust in the NFL. I don't know why I think that, I just do.

10) I used to love Tiki Barber as a player. I hate him as a commentator.

11) Tony Kornheiser still isn't growing on me. I muted MNF in the first quarter again. I sure enjoyed the second MNF game last night, though. Greenie, Golic, and Ditka are much more enjoyable for me. I just wish the second game wasn't on so late.

12) Adrian Peterson sure looked good for the Vikings. I knew he would.

13) Vince Young still doesn't impress me as an NFL quarterback. I'm not saying the guy is bad, I just don't think he is as good as everyone apparently thinks he is. Vince went 11-18 for 78 yards passing with one interception against the Jags. Hardly Pro-Bowl material.

14) Did anybody else notice that the Lions hung 36 points on the Raiders? I know a lot of those points were scored late in the game, but the Raiders defense was pretty damn good last year. Maybe John Kitna knows what he is talking about. I guess we'll see soon enough. The Lions have the Vikings next week and the Bears in week 4. If they win both of those games maybe I will be a believer.

Browns Suck, Again.

I didn't get to see the game today against the Steelers, and I'm kind of glad that I didn't. Everything I've read today makes it sound like the Browns may have had the worst showing of any team in the NFL this weekend. It sounds to me like they were lucky they only lost 34-7.

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5 turnovers in the game.

4 different penalties on their first punt which only went for 15 yards to begin with.

Their quarterbacks were sacked 6 times.

They averaged only 2.9 yards per carry on offense.

They totaled only 221 yards of offense for the entire game.

The offensive line apparently looked like a sieve.

And Crennel yanked Charlie Frye in the second quarter for Derek Anderson.
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So much for my optimism that the Browns might win 8 games this season. After that showing today I think its time that Cleveland fans stop chanting for Brady Quinn and start chanting for a new coach.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated reported today that the Browns coaches and management are going to sit down on Monday to discuss their quarterback situation. I think they need to seriously consider giving Brady Quinn some playing time next week. I'm not saying the kid needs to be named the starter, but I think he should at least move up to number two and he should get on the field if the Browns offense sputters again next week. I know that the Browns offensive line hasn't performed as well as we all thought they would and there is the potential that Brady might get hurt. But, he probably has more experience playing behind a piss poor offensive line than most quarterbacks in the NFL do. If you don't believe me go take a look at some of his game films from his career at Notre Dame. Brady spent most of his time at Notre Dame running for his life. Playing for the Browns should be no different.

Darius Miller commits to UK

Darius Miller became the 7th prospect to commit or sign with UK since Billy Gillespie took over the program in April. Miller is a 6'7" forward from Mason County where he averaged 18.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists as a junior last season. Scout.com lists Darius as a 4 star recruit and the #35 prospect in the country for the class of '08.

The other Gillespie recruits who have committed or signed with UK since April are Patrick Patterson (07), Alex Legion (07), Dakotah Euton (10), DeAndre Liggins (08), KC Ross-Miller (10), and GJ Vilarino (09). Click on the recruit's name to see his Scout.com profile.

The Colts

OK. After watching last night's Colts/Saints game there are some things I'd like to say.

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1) NBC played that damn Chevy commercial with John Mellencamp's song way too many times. I pretty much decided last night that I will never buy a Chevy Silverado just because I am sick of that commercial and song.

2) The Colts appear to be better than I thought they were going to be. Especially on defense. Either that, or the Saints really got worse. Maybe my prediction of the Colts only winning 9 games this year was a little premature. The Saints didn't test the middle of Indy's defense as much as I thought they would, though. It was only one game so I'm not going to pass any judgement yet. I guarantee the Titans will test Indy's defensive middle next week.

3) Freddy Kieaho looks like he may be the real deal. He played fast, hit hard, and seemed to be in the right place most of the time. I think he could easily have 160-175 tackles this year if he stays healthy and continues to play the way he did last night.

4) That Colt's secondary already looks better than they did last year. They gave up a lot of underneath stuff last night, but they knocked the crap out of just about every receiver that caught a ball. By the 4th quarter there weren't too many Saints receivers that seemed brave enough to go over the middle. I really like that.

5) Here's the big one. Tony Ugoh looks like he may turn out to be pretty good in the NFL. I'm not going to say he played great like Chris Collinsworth and Tiki Barber tried to tell us at halftime. No, Tony was far from great. The three plays that Collinsworth/Barber showed us at halftime were probably the best three plays that Ugoh had in the first half. Anybody who watches the Colts on a regular basis can tell you that the Colts played two tight ends last night, especially in the first half, so they could put Ben Utecht next to Ugoh to help him block Will Smith. When Utecht wasn't there to help Ugoh, Will Smith was able to get around Ugoh pretty easily and cause Manning to throw the ball before he was ready. That screwed up the Colts' timing and caused a lot of incomplete passes. That is why Manning's completion percentage wasn't that great, especially in the first half. That severely limited the Colts offensive play calling last night. Tony will get a lot of holding calls this year if he doesn't correct his mechanics.

Tony Ugoh was playing against an All-Pro caliber defensive end in Will Smith so I am going to cut him some slack. Tony actually did a really good job run blocking. He didn't do so good in pass protection, but his problems there appeared to be mostly mechanics. John Madden was correct when he said Tony's center of gravity was too high and he needed to lower his hips. Tony also needs to work a little more on his footwork so he can keep his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage a little longer on Manning's deep drops. Will Smith was exploding up field on pass plays and Ugoh's feet were too slow to keep up. So, Ugoh tried to compensate by turning his hips and shoulders too soon and trying to push Smith past Manning to the outside. Tony needs to be able to backpedal a little faster and keep his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage a little bit longer. If Tony keeps his shoulders square and his hips low it will take away the defensive end's spin move to the inside. If Tony learns to keep his shoulders square it will also basically force the pass rusher to try either the bull rush move or the shoulder under to beat Ugoh to the outside. Either way, Tony will have the advantage if he can keep his center of gravity lower than that of the pass rusher.

6) Hats off to Ben Utecht. That guy was a blocking machine last night.

7) I didn't see any drop-off in the Colts running back production. Addai and Keith did fine as far as I am concerned.

8) I feel your pain Saints fans. Jason David drove me absolutely crazy when he played for the Colts. That guy will make some big plays for you this year, but he will also get burned a lot. He is simply too aggressive on pump fakes and play action. He is a good cornerback when he has deep help, but he is vulnerable when the deep safety help isn't there.

9) Did anybody else notice how much holding the refs missed last night? Both teams were holding like crazy. Freeney was getting held on almost every play, as was Will Smith for the Saints. Of course, Will Smith also had a handful of Tony Ugoh's face mask on every play so I guess it balanced out.
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All in all, I think the Colts looked pretty good. Once Tony Ugoh gets better at pass protection I think we will see the Colts go more with a single tight end look which will allow Manning to spread out the defenses a little more with three wide receiver sets. We didn't see that much last night. You'll know when Tony Ugoh starts getting better because you will start noticing Anthony Gonzalez getting on the field more in a three wide receiver look.

More on UK basketball

The Courier Journal reported yesterday that Stacey Webster is expected to be named an assistant coach on Billy Gillespie's staff.

Stacey Webster was an assistant at Illinois but has officially resigned that position. Stacey played basketball for the University of Wisconsin and has also been an assistant coach at Purdue and Ball State. Stacey has the reputation for being a good recruiter, especially around the midwest and specifically in the Chicago area.

It was also recently reported that Alvin Brooks will join Gillespie's staff. There has been no official announcement on Brooks, but Brooks was on Gillespie's staff at Texas A & M. Alvin was seen last week at UK's photo day so it does appear that he will be around in some capacity.

It being reported that Brooks will probably be hired as an office administrator while Webster will be a basketball assistant.

Kentucky basketball update

It is being reported that Kentucky has invited 6'11", 225 pound Garrett Stutz from Kansas City to Midnight Madness this year. Stutz played at a very small private school outside of Kansas City and just recently transferred to Kansas City North where he will play his senior season for Kirk Hinrich's dad. There isn't a lot of info available on Stutz yet, apparently because he is considered a late bloomer. Coach Hinrich says that Garrett has grown 4 or 5 inches in the last year or so. He went on to say that Stutz is pretty thin, but he posts up well. He also is reported to have decent range out to 19 feet with his jumper. Stutz is currently being recruited by Iowa State, Nebraska, Arizona State, Texas Christian, Kentucky, and Kansas. Garrett's father played college ball for Slippery Rock. Scout.com has Garrett listed as a 3 star recruit.

Former Wildcat Lucasz Obrzut has been invited to the Indiana Pacers pre-season camp this fall. Obrzut says he will move to Indianapolis later this month to begin working out and preparing for camp. Good Luck to Lucasz.

Colts cut down to 53

Well, the Colts have made their roster cuts to get down to the mandatory 53 players, and there are some surprises.


Here's the list of guys who are no longer Colts:
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DeDe Dorsey (RB), Bo Schobel (DE), Ryan LaCasse (DE), John Standeford (WR), Matt Ulrich (OG), Clifton Dawson (RB), Brandon Archer (LB), Josh Betts (QB), Duane Coleman (DB), Tanard Davis (DB), Matt Farbotko (TE), Johnny Harline (TE), KaMichael Hall (LB), Joe Lobdell (OG), Ramel Meekins (DT), Antonio Perkins (DB), Gijon Robinson (TE), Trent Shelton (WR), Craphonso Thorpe (WR), Scott Ware (DB), Sam Wilder (OG), and Victor Worsely (LB).
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I think Bo Schobel and Ryan LaCasse getting cut were the two biggest surprises for me. Both of those guys spent a considerable amount of time on the Colts active 53 man roster last year.

Standeford and Dorsey getting cut was a mild surprise for me. I thought both of those guys played pretty well this preseason, but I think they ultimately just got beat out by better players. Standeford lost out to Moorehead and Dorsey lost out to Kenton Keith.

So who were the surprises that made the roster? Melvin Bullitt (DB), Jeff Charleston (DE), Ramon Guzman (LB), and Luke Lawton (FB) all made the roster as undrafted rookies.

Ed Johnson (DT) was also undrafted and made the roster but I can't say he was a surprise after I saw him play this preseason.

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Check out the cuts made by the other NFL teams here!