Let me say first that I am not saying that all coaches, football or otherwise,  are like Petrino or doing what Petrino did.  That is definitely not the case.  But he is also not the first one to think that he could get by with something like this.  What it does tell me though is that we have created an environment that breeds arrogance.  The arrogance to believe that because I am a coach of a major, Division 1, very successful football or sports program, then the rules don’t apply to me.  Or I just won’t get caught.  How’s that working for ya  Bobby,  Rick Pitino, or Damon Evans to name a few.

Who’s to blame?  Unfortunately, I believe that part of it falls on us, the fans.  I believe that our passion for sports like college football has helped created this mess.  Now some of you may be saying, whoa, wait a minute, don’t blame this on me, I’m just a fan.  But I was taught and I’ve always believed that if you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.  And when you don’t, then you get a mess.

What do I mean by this?  Well, because we as fans and supporters of college football or even pro football teams, have let the lines become blurred,  we’ve allowed the little things to become big things.  It’s like that frog in the water.  Slowly turn the heat up and he doesn’t even realize he is getting boiled.  And we have allowed the water to become boiling.

As we have looked away at this infraction and that infraction.  As we have allowed coaches to behave badly and then let them  be hired somewhere else.  As we have made winning the most important thing, we have set the stage for things like the Bobby Petrino disaster to happen.

Now some of you, or many of you, may strongly disagree with me.  And that’s ok.  That’s what is great about America.  But I believe that we really have a part in this. And if it’s going to change, we have to have a hand in that as well.

So let me go out on a limb and make some predictions for this year in pro football.  We’ll check back on these as the season progresses.

First I believe that Peyton will come back strong.  Will he be as good as before?  I think not completely but very close.  He is just such a competitor and has an unbelievable work ethic that I can’t see him not being successful again as a football player.  I also believe that Denver has a lot of the components to help make him successful.  I think Peyton has success for three to four more years in the National Football League.

Luck and RG:  This will be very interesting.  I believe that Luck will struggle and won’t finish his first season.  Not through any fault of his own though.  I think that the surrounding cast on the Colts won’t be able to protect him and he will struggle before an injury will derail his rookie season.  I do see long term success for him in the NFL however.  For Robert Griffin III?  Well I think that he will struggle although for different reasons than Andrew Luck.  I think that Griffin is tremendously talented. But I don’t think that he faced defenses remotely close to what he will see in the NFL.  So I think his rookie season will be an eye opener and he will struggle.  Unfortunately I don’t think he will make it long term.  As a quarterback with the ability to run, he doesn’t have the size like a Cam Newton or Tim Tebow to take the punishment over the long term.  So I believe that either injuries or lack of success will take him out of the game.

And speaking of Tebow, how will the soap opera in New York play out?  Well my prediction is probably different than a lot of other folks might make.  I think that in 2013 neither Sanchez or Tebow will be the quarterback for the Jets.   I just don’t believe that either of them will thrive in the circus that is Rex Ryan’s team.  And I don’t think either of them is a long term franchise quarterback in the NFL.  I predict they’ll both be out of football in five years.

Ok,  so I’m interested if any of you think I’m crazy.  Let me know your thoughts and we’ll check what happens as the 2012 football season plays out.

Maybe it’s time to quit talking specifically about the Saints and talk about who else is doing this.  I have heard some say that football is a violent game and this kind of talk is just talk and is part of the game and that they aren’t really targeting injuries.  And I haven’t played in the NFL, so I can’t say what really goes on in the team meetings or locker room discussions.

But while I believe that this practice isn’t rampant (and I could be wrong),  I do believe that it is probably going on more than in just New Orleans.  They were just dumb enough to be so blatant and arrogant to ignore the NFL and keep doing it and doing it.   But are they the only ones?

What I am interested in is finding out who else is doing this and get it stopped.  I believe that it’s the old “a few bad apples” situation so let’s find ‘em and get rid of them.  And then get back to enjoying football again.  This kind of thing is bad for the NFL and for football in general.  But let’s don’t beat it to death with discussion, let’s fix it.

There are a ton of great story lines for this coming year….Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck,  RG III,  Tebow and Sanchez,  and I could go on.  I’m ready to talk about all of that…..but let’ s make sure that this problem of targeting injuries is cleaned up….Are you listening Commissioner?

Now let me be clear.  It does appear that the owners pulled some last minute antics at the end here.  And I can’t blame the players for reviewing one more time and making sure that the deal that they agree to is, in fact, the deal that they want.   But I cannot and will not blame the coaches for the entire problem.  And, if the first preseason game is lost, I won’t put this all on the owners.

Why you ask?  Well, if both sides had been more willing to actually work towards a deal they wouldn’t be facing this deadline.  But no, both sides were, in my opinion, never going to do a deal until the very end.  I believe they were both hoping the leverage of lost games and revenues would pressure the other side into concessions.

Which just confirms that, as much as both sides were talking about the fans, neither side really cares about the fans.  It comes down to what it always comes down to …. the money.

Now I am still a fan, and I still love the game.  But going forward, anything that comes out of the mouths of the league, the owners, or the football players is suspect.  Maybe the only innocents in all of this are the coaches and the other employees of the teams.   Will I look at the players and owners with a little bit of distaste?  For sure I will.

And it’s not about the fact that there was a dispute or a lockout.  I think that is probably the normal order of things in professional sports.  It’s about the deception on both sides to the fans for the sake of money.  Now some may say “Hey the players deserve to fight for more money and benefits.”  Or they might say “The owners are business people and they have to protect their interests.”  And I am ok with that.

But a lot depends on how both sides conduct their business.  I heard Takeo Spikes say yesterday “That’s what they do!” in speaking about the owners.  He was referring to the moves at the end of the process.  But I believe that statement is valid for both sides.   Otherwise this deal could have been worked out a long time ago.

At this point, I just hope it gets done and we have football soon!  But I do blame both sides, not the owners by themselves or the players by themselves.

The bottom line is that it is way past time for this deadlock to be over.  What prompted me to write the obvious here?  People have been saying this for a while right?  Well, I just lost it the other day when some of the talking heads were discussing the new “secret” meetings that had started between owners, the league, and the players.  Because one of the parties was quoted as saying something to the effect of “I believe that now we are in a position to get this thing done”.

Now?  Why now?  Why haven’t they been in position before?  I can tell you why.  It’s about money and greed that’s why.  All of a sudden, both parties have realized that neither side is budging and guess what?  If it goes on much longer, training camp is delayed and preseason games are in jeopardy.  And losing preseason games means losing revenue.

So no matter what either side says, they are both about they money.  Not the fans, not the game itself, just the money.  Now there are, I’m sure some individuals on each side who probably care about something besides the money, but I can’t tell who they are.

What I do know is that it took the sport of professional baseball forever to recover from their last work stoppage.  And they recovered just in time to enter the Steroid nightmare.  Did the NFL learn nothing from this?

All I can say is that, as much as I love football, I might just have to live with college football if these guys don’t fix it and fix it now.  I don’t watch baseball any more and haven’t for years.  Come guys, quit posturing and get it done!

First, I want to comment on something I have seen in print mutliple times that just ABSOLUTELY DOESN”T MATTER.  Several articles have talked about, as if defending Cam, that he knew nothing about any conversations that his dad or anyone else had with Mississippi State.  Let me say it once more  “It doesn’t matter”.  The NCAA rules are very clear.  If a player or someone on behalf of a player, solicits payment, it is a violation.

So, while Cam may not have known, if his father, or anyone else, did in fact have those conversations, it’s over.  Guilty, end of story.  And so I look at the relative silence from Cam and his team and ask “What does it mean?”.

Well, to me, it plain and simple means one thing.  His father did in fact have those conversations.  And knowing the glacier speed at which the NCAA moves, I am guessing that his group is just trying to get through the season and pray for the NFL draft to hurry up.

Which begs another question.  Why are the athletes and coaches who break the rules allowed to just move on and enjoy money and popularity in the NFL without any consequences?  I understand that the NCAA and NFL are two totally independent organizations.  But will Auburn be any different than USC with the Reggie Bush mess if this proves to be true?  Newton will have moved on and the program (and the athletes who remain behind) will suffer.

I think that it’s time for the NCAA and the NFL to consider working together on this issue.  Now my guess is that the NFL wants to stay very clear of this.  But ultimately without some kind of significant impact on the player (or coach), as long as they can move on to the next level without consequences, then nothing will ever change.

I am an SEC fan and I will hate it if Auburn wins a National Championship only to have it revoked.  But I am afraid that I see the handwriting on the wall.

I’m not talking about the laziness of not going hard every play; that’s been know for a while.  And I’m not talking about the lack of a filter when he talks to the press; same answer there.  But his attitude that came out during the post practice meal last week, wow another Ben Roethlisberger.

What do I mean by that?  Well if you remember a lot of the stories that came out after Big Ben got into trouble…. about how many times, when he was called out about something in public, his response typically was “Do you know who I am?”.

Now, when the catered meal was served to the Vikings after practice last Friday, his comments were basically the same type of reaction.  He is above that, according to his standards, at least now that he has “money”.

That sense of entitlement is what I despise about many professional athletes today.  They’ve been blessed with great talent, talent given as a gift by the good Lord by the way, not earned.  And they live in a country where we are crazy enough to pay outlandish prices for tickets, merchandise, satelitte dishes, big flat screen tv’s and other things that allows the owners to pay them ridiculous amounts of money to play a game.

And they believe that they are better than the rest of us?  Well I am as tired of that kind of attitude as I am of the politicians in Washington.  But I guess the Titans are willing to gamble that it won’t become a cancer in their locker room.  Good luck with that Jeff Fisher!

I’m not sure if anyone can stay with the Crimson Tide this year.  South Carolina is tough and they probably have their best team since Spurrier arrived.

What do you think Football Nuts?  Should we go ahead and ship the trophy to Coach Saban?

I actually thought that he played ok.  Yes he made some mistakes.  Looked like normal mistakes that a young second year quarterback would make.  Like missing Braylon Edwards in the end zone.   And he missed some reads.  And there was that run early in the game where he slid just early enough to not make the first down.  But I really think the blame for the lack of offense can be shared with a lot of his offensive teammates.

There were some key drops by wide receivers. Shonn Greene had a critical fumble.  Dustin Keller steps out of bounds one yard short of a first down.  And that big sack on third and four.  Plenty of blame to go around here.

Sanchez (much to my chagrin since I’m not a big fan) will probably turn out to be a very good NFL quarteback.  And let’s remember, he only started something like 14 games in college.  So he isn’t even up to the experience level of most second year NFL quarterbacks.

But boy people are all piling on after the game with the Ravens.  And one more thing.  The Jets only lost by one point and the Ravens are a very good football team.  So it may not be doomsday for Sanchez and the Jets just yet.

So I’d like to see everyone give Sanchez a break, at least for now.  But then again, he’s playing in New York and the Jets are the team that doesn’t mind telling you how good they are.  So does he deserve this grief?  Well, who really knows, but I’m going to wait a while before I crucify him as not being able to make it in the NFL and a waste of a first round pick.

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.