If we can successfully take our opinion on the current salaries in the league out of our mind (and this is very hard to actually do), then here are my thoughts on the question.

I have really enjoyed watching the defenses adjust and adapt in recent years to the spread offenses.  And there are a number of things that defenses are having to do.  Disguise what they are doing with many different looks.  Devise new schemes and tactics to deal with the speed and spread of today’s offenses.  And one tactic in particular that seems critical is the ability to put pressure on the quarterback through a variety of new and creative blitz schemes.

Well, it seems to be a given that in order to blitz consistently, you have got to be able to have corners who can play man coverage.  And if you are going to really get after it, that means you are looking for a real shut down cover man like Darrelle Revis.

Now take this one step further.  When I look back over, say, the last ten years in football, I hear young football players planning their career as quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, or maybe even linebackers.  I have seldom heard them talk about being a “great cornerback”.

But that could change now.  From 2001 to 2009, cornerbacks’ percentage increase in salary was 138%, second only to wide receivers.  So now maybe more of your really outstanding athletes will want to focus on becoming a really good cover corner.  And what might be the impact?

Well maybe then, the quarterbacks, wide receivers, and offensive coordinators are going to have to get even more creative with their offenses.  Then the defensive coordinators will have to do the same.  And so on and so on and that could be really fun for football fans.

So, I guess in a way, yes the holdout by Revis may end up being good for the game of football in the long run.  Anyway, it will be interesting to see.

I never saw Leinart really lead that team.  I never heard his teammates really endorse him as a guy that they would follow.  Many talk about guys that have “it”, although “it” is hard to define.  For an NFL quarterback,  I believe it is that intangible that makes a guy a leader, someone that every football player on the team believes in and will follow when they step in the huddle.  And I just don’t believe that Matt Leinart has it.

Maybe I’m wrong.  Some would point out the success he had in college at USC.  But when you look at that part of his career, he was surrounded by huge talent, an excellent college coach, and a system that got the most out of the players.  Leinart didn’t have to take a team and carry them down the field sometimes at USC; he had a great team surrounding him.

Maybe I’m wrong and he actually has “it”.  I just haven’t seen or heard any evidence of it in the games I’ve watched him play.

Sorry Matt, but thank goodness you got the big money up front, because I think your NFL career is pretty much over at this point.

First, the offensive line has huge problems to be fixed.  And there really isn’t a playmaker receiver on the squad.  So beyond Steven Jackson, Bradford, if he starts, will be missing a supporting cast to be a winning quarterback in year one.  And he is liable to set an NFL record for number of times sacked if he starts all year.

He did  show in the first preseason game that he has strengthened his upper body and the surgically repaired shoulder when he took a hit and landed on the shoulder.  He got up with no apparent problems, letting the Rams breathe a sigh of relief.

So, if he does end up starting, it will be a long year for the Number one pick.  If he stays healthy through it though, he should have the chance to really take of in years 2 and 3 if the football team builds around him.

Good luck Sam.

Let’s first look at history.  T.O. always ends up throwing someone under the bus when things don’t go his way.  It ALWAYS happens.  And Ocho loves attention as much, if not more than T.O.  Someone in this duo will feel neglected.  Either with not enough passes to them or not enough attention.

And look at how they each view the pairing.  T.O. calls himself Batman with Ocho being Robin.  Ocho, on the other hand, calls himself Clyde and T.O. Bonnie.  Hmmm who’s leading this dance?

The bottom line is too much ego for one wide receiver corps and one football team.  I believe the explosion will happen before the halfway point in this football season.

Now from what I can tell, teammates flew down to Hattiesburg.  And people were apparently talking to him and they probably were talking to him and asking him to come back.  The team with him is in a position to win a Super Bowl.  But did he really have to make it sound the way he did?  I guess no one should be surprised.

The second thing was his announcement that he is back AND that he is retiring at the end of the year, almost in the same breath.  That, to me, means he wants to be the topic of discussion all year long.  You might disagree and that’s ok.  But given his history, I think he talked about it now just to get the attention.

Ok Brett here it is.  Great player, great quarterback, but I am through writing about you.  This is it.  The last time, I promise.  I just can’t do it anymore.  I just had to write this last one, I felt I owed it to the people, but after this many articles, I’m done………

Second, last year and now before training camp this year, he is so overweight and out of shape that he can’t really contribute to helping the team.  So, after accepting a $100 million dollar contract, he won’t honor that contract by working hard to help the team.

All of this points to character problems.  And to look at his character, I guess all you have to do is go back a few years and look at the incident in 2006 when he stomped on the head of Cowboys center Andre Gurode.  Or maybe it’s not really character problems, but no character at all.

Albert Haynesworth appears to me to be nothing more than an incredible waste of talent.  He has shown in the past that he can play the game, and play it well.  But now he either really doesn’t want to play anymore or thinks he can just take the money and show up without working. Either way, I just don’t understand it.

But here is the deal.  Remember the old saying “There is no I in team”?  Well Terrell proved that there is  a “TO in idiot” with all of his antics.  But all the things he did never stopped teams from taking a gamble on him.  And most of the time, he produced.

But the question I would like to pose is this.  What if T.O. had not carried so much baggage?  What if he wasn’t such a disruption in the locker room?  If he had stayed with one football team and one solid quarterback for an extended time, what kind of legacy would he have?  What kind of numbers would he have produced?

All of that talent and how much did it end up being under utilized because of his antics and attitude? I really wish we could have seen what could have been.  I think that he had the talent to be one of the best ever, maybe THE best.

So yes, I believe he will land with a team.  Because the talent is there.  But it probably won’t be the team that he would choose.  And he won’t get the money that he wants.  All because of attitude.  What a shame.

How did Coach Pete Carroll react?  Here is his quote “A great maple bar is a great maple bar, right Golden?”  Are you kidding me?

Some people might say no harm, no foul.  But what if this was a 15 year old kid from the wrong side of town?  Do you think that it would have been laughed off and no charges pressed?  I doubt it.  Interestingly Top Pot is a recent new sponsor for the Seahawks AND decided not to press charges.

And what was Golden Tate’s response?  “They’re irresistible”.  I guess he can say that when his coach laughs and he only receives a warning.

But mark my word, when coaches let things slide, they have set the bar.  Just like Coach Childress in Minnesota.  He let Favre skip preseason work and guess what?  Now Adrian Peterson missed this year’s minicamp.  Give them an inch….

So now we know where the bar is for the Seahawks and it will be interesting to see what happens when something else happens and the victim isn’t so accommodating.   What will Carroll do then?  My guess is as little as possible.

I wonder if the Seahawks owner and management are starting to regret their hire?  I believe that they will before it’s over.  Just ask USC.

And there was one part that stood out to me.  I have heard a lot of talking heads say that Ben wasn’t convicted or even charged, so he was basically just guilty of stupidity.  But as I read some of the information in the recent reports, I had to end up disagreeing with those comments.

Now I am not saying he did it or he didn’t.  But it appears to be clear that there were some things that he did that weren’t in question.  Here is a quote from Goodell on one of these items  “As the District Attorney concluded, the extensive investigatory record shows that you contributed to the
irresponsible consumption of alcohol by purchasing [or facilitating the purchase of] alcoholic beverages for underage college students, at least some of whom were likely already intoxicated. There is no question that the excessive consumption of alcohol that evening put the students and yourself at risk.”

That’s enough for me.  And it begs another question,  Is Big Ben Roethlisberger just stupid and irresponsible, or is he also a loser?”  I mean what 28 year old multi millionaire professional athlete hangs out drinking (and apparently buying drinks for) 20 year old college coeds?  I just don’t get it.  Of all the company that he could keep, this is what he does? And given the bar that he was in, in the town that he was in, it was a given who would be the primary group in that bar.

Ok, I know it sounds judgmental, but I just believe that it’s time to grow up for Big Ben.

It has always baffled me that we wildly support the system that pays ball players these unbelievable amounts of money.  But we don’t seem to lose sleep over the fact that two of the most important functions in our society, those who educate our children (teachers) and those who protect us (policemen, firemen, etc) are so vastly underpaid.

I guess one could argue that this is all entertainment and it provides us that outlet to escape the realities and disappointments of real life. We can escape for a while, even a short while, into watching our favorite athletes go crazy in their respective sport.  But over the years, as the money that ball players get paid has spiraled out of control, more and more of their behavior has as well.  And I find myself more and more disgusted as time rolls on.

Some argue that they are paid for their performance in their respective sport and that they don’t owe us anything as “role models”.  I disagree with that however.  I think that as fans, we ultimately pay their salaries.  And we must decide as a society what we do, in fact, expect from them off the playing field.

If we don’t like it, then we must act on that.  We quit watching on TV, we quit paying those high ticket prices, we stop buying that “official licensed” merchandise.  Only through the money can we make our opinions known.   Sadly, that seems to be the only thing that gets through anymore.

So now I’ve had my rant.  And I hope that Commissioner Goodell and his counterparts in the other sports will continue on this track.  But if we, the fans, don’t speak our mind and vote with our wallets, nothing will ever change.