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As much as Bus Cook's "50 Shades"-like description of his client might tempt us to think otherwise, we must -- as a people -- face reality: Brett Favre is not coming back to the NFL.

The Ol' Gunslinger is done, trading in gridiron glory for life's simpler pleasures. A coach's whistle. A tractor. A nice-fitting pair of affordable dungarees.

Thankfully, Favre isn't totally off the grid. He stole the show during Super Bowl weekend in February, thanks to a well-conceived and executed "NFL Honors" appearance with Aaron Rodgers. Favre returns to NFL Network on Sunday, when he joins "NFL GameDay Morning" live from Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Set against the backdrop of Peyton Manning's return to Indianapolis, Favre will discuss what it's like to play against your former longtime team. He has experience in this field.

We'll be interested in what Far-vra has to say about Manning, though it should be noted the two likely future Hall of Famers share the same situation only in the broadest of strokes.

Favre was booed lustily when he showed up at Lambeau Field in 2009 as a member of the hated Minnesota Vikings. Manning, meanwhile, will be treated by Indianapolis fans as the beloved prodigal son returning home. Bank on it.


Brett Favre comes back ... to 'NFL GameDay Morning' - NFL-com

NBA star LeBron James hasn't played organized football since his junior year in high school, but that doesn't mean his dream of playing the sport has died. During a Twitter Q&A with his over 10 million followers on Friday night, LeBron was asked if he would 'ever consider playing in one pro football game? In any league?'

Apparently the LeBron's football dream isn't dead because he wants to play in one NFL games before it's over. Presumably, that would mean playing in a game while he's still athletic enough to do so.

If LeBron wanted to to be competitive on the football field, this game would probably have to happen in the next five-to-seven years. If I'm an NFL owner reading that tweet, I'm thinking of a way to get LeBron on the field for one preseason game and I'd play that game at Bristol Motor Speedway and then I'd count my money as I watched 150,000 people pile in to watch LeBron in his one and only NFL appearance.

Another option for LeBron would be playing for Jerry Jones at Cowboys Stadium. Not only is LeBron already friends with Jones, but he attended a Cowboys game earlier this season. Hulk Hogan could even do the pregame coin flip since LeBron seems to like him too.

The idea of LeBron in the NFL isn't a new one. Dolphins wide receiver Mike Wallace weighed in on the subject in August, saying "He's the greatest athlete on the planet. I feel there's no greater talent than LeBron. You throw him a couple of passes and get him a couple of routes, and he'll be all right."

During the NBA Lockout in 2011, LeBron famously sent out this tweet:

Of course, before LeBron even thinks about making the one-game jump to the NFL, he needs to worry about more pressing matters, like beating Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy in a game on one-on-one basketball.



LeBron James wants to play in one NFL game 'before it's over' - CBSSports-com

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Key Week 7 NFL Injuries: Cutler, Bradford, Foster among many injured
By Eric Kay | CBSSports-com
October 20, 2013 9:45 pm ET

Jay Cutler: The Bears QB left the game vs. the Redskins in the second quarter with a groin injury. Cutler was injured when he was brought down on the first career sack by 333-pound nose tackle Chris Baker. Cutler clutched at the top of his left leg and limped off the field. He will have an MRI on Monday.

He finished with 28 yards passing and was replaced by Josh McCown, who was 14-for-20 for 204 yards and a score. The Bears ended up losing 45-41 to the Redskins. Chicago didn't waste any time securing the services of another QB, bringing back Jordan Palmer.

Sam Bradford: The Rams QB was injured in the fourth quarter after being pushed out of bounds by Panthers safety Mike Mitchell. Sources tell CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora that the injury is believed to be serious.

Pro Football Talk reported that Bradford suffered a torn ACL.

Mike Silver of NFL Network floated the idea that Tim Tebow could be brought to St. Louis as a possible replacement, which is highly unlikely, La Canfora reports. Bradford was 21-for-30 for 255 yards and a score before being replaced by Kellen Clemens.

Nick Foles: The Eagles quarterback left with a head injury after a performance he may not want to remember. He was 11-for-29 for 80 yards after being hyped as a must-start fantasy play and someone analysts pegged as a sure-fire big performer against a porous Dallas defense.

Foles was replaced by Matt Barkley, who wasn't much better, and was even berated by Michael Vick's loudmouth brother, Marcus on Twitter at one point of the game. There was no word on the extent of Foles' injury.

Reggie Wayne: The Colts longtime wideout left the game in the fourth quarter with a knee sprain. NBC reported that he had tears in his eyes walking to the locker room. He finished the game with five catches for 50 yards.

Brian Cushing: Ouch. It just looked painful when Cushing got his leg was awkwardly caught during a low block by Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles in the third quarter. Cushing broke his leg and suffered a torn LCL.

This is the second year in a row that Cushing's season has ended early. The fifth-year linebacker missed almost all of last season after tearing the ACL in his left knee in Week 5. That injury sidelined Cushing for nine months.

Arian Foster: Foster's game lasted just four carries before he was ruled out with a hamstring injury. He was limited all week with a hamstring injury and should get time to let it heal as the Texans have a bye in Week 8. Suffice it to say, this won't help his stock price.

Leon Hall: Leon Hall missed much of the 2011 season after tearing his left Achilles tendon. Now, the top-notch Bengals cornerback will miss the rest of the 2013 season with the same injury to his right Achilles. According to CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora, Hall tore his Achilles while defending Lions receiver Calvin Johnson in the Bengals' win Sunday. In his absence, it appears as if Adam Jones will take over his starting job.

Jermichael Finley : The Packers tight end was taken off on a stretcher in the fourth quarter against the Browns. The Packers said he had movement and feeling in all of his extremities. The team said he was taken to a hospital for further examination. Finley was knocked out of a game earlier this season with a concussion, and provided some thoughtful commentary about the injury that you can watch here.

Doug Martin: Martin left just after halftime and didn't return vs. the Falcons. X-rays on his shoulder were negative and did not reveal a separation. Martin's arm was in a sling, however.

Martin took a hard hit attempting to haul in a pass near the goal line in the third quarter. He was off to a good start before the injury, finding some running room with rookie quarterback Mike Glennon establishing a connection with star wide receiver Vincent Jackson. He had 47 yards on 11 carries and 7 on one catch.

Mike James took Martin's place in the lineup, finishing with 45 yards on 14 carries and 8 on three catches. He would likely get the majority of the workload if Martin is unable to play in what figures to be a tough matchup Week 8 against the Panthers.




Key Week 7 NFL Injuries: Cutler, Bradford, Foster among many injured - CBSSports-com

Bud Adams, a pro football presence for more than half a century as a founder of the American Football League and the owner of the Houston Oilers and their successors, the Tennessee Titans, died on Monday at his home in Houston. He was 90.

The Titans announced his death.

The A.F.L. began with two very rich Texans. Lamar Hunt, the Dallas-based son of the oil tycoon H. L. Hunt, conceived of a league that would compete with the established National Football League. He enlisted Mr. Adams, the owner of the Ada Oil Company of Houston and son of Phillips Petroleum’s chairman, to join him. They announced plans for the A.F.L. at a news conference in Mr. Adams’s board room, then teamed with six other owners in what became known as the Foolish Club, the collective name embodying the formidable task of taking on the N.F.L.

The new league, which began play in 1960, endured rocky financial times at first, but it thrived and merged with the N.F.L. in 1970. Mr. Adams’s death leaves Ralph Wilson, the founder of the Buffalo Bills, as the last N.F.L. owner whose football roots go back to the A.F.L.’s creation.

Mr. Adams, who, like Mr. Hunt, had been rebuffed in efforts to buy the N.F.L.’s Chicago Cardinals before forming the A.F.L., obtained his Houston franchise for the league’s inaugural fee of $25,000. Forbes magazine estimated the Titans’ value at $1.055 billion in August, the 19th-highest among the N.F.L.’s 32 teams.

The Oilers won the first two A.F.L. championships, in 1960 and 1961, then lost to Mr. Hunt’s Dallas Texans (the predecessor of the N.F.L.’s Kansas City Chiefs) in the 1962 championship game.

By the late 1980s, Mr. Adams was complaining that the Oilers’ home, the Astrodome, was outmoded, and he considered moving the team to Jacksonville, Fla. The Astrodome’s seating was expanded with financing from a public bond issue, but Mr. Adams remained unhappy. After failing to obtain public financing for a downtown stadium, he moved the Oilers to Tennessee in 1997.

After one year at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis and another at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, the team moved into a new, publicly financed stadium in Nashville, now called LP Field. (The naming rights belong to Louisiana-Pacific, a maker of building materials based in Nashville.)

In their first season at the new stadium, when their name was changed from the Oilers to the Titans, they defeated the visiting Buffalo Bills in a wild-card playoff game, scoring a final-seconds touchdown on a kickoff return spiced by a lateral — a play that became known as the Music City Miracle. They went to Super Bowl XXXIV in January 2000, losing to the St. Louis Rams, 26-19, after getting to the Rams’ 1-yard line as time ran out.

Mr. Adams, a private man, was uncomfortable with public-relations gestures, and he could display a rough edge. In April 1966, after Al Davis was introduced as the new A.F.L. commissioner at a Houston hotel, Mr. Adams got into a fight with Jack Gallagher, a sports columnist for The Houston Post who had criticized Oilers management.

“I called him a couple of names; then he said something back to me,” Mr. Adams was quoted as saying by Jeff Miller in “Going Long” (2003), an oral history of the A.F.L. “I had enough by then, so I just went over and cold-cocked him.”

Soon the two men were rolling on the floor. “Bud was a big, strong guy,” Mr. Wilson, the Bills’ owner, recalled. “He was pummeling him. I was on top of Bud, and Al Davis was on top of me. We finally broke it up.”

Kenneth Stanley Adams Jr. was born on Jan. 3, 1923, in Bartlesville, Okla., where his father ran Phillips Petroleum. He played in the backfield for the University of Kansas before serving as a Navy officer in World War II, then settled in Houston in 1946 and founded Ada Oil.

Mr. Adams’s early Houston Oilers, wearing the logo of an oil derrick on their helmets and led by the former Chicago Bears quarterback George Blanda and the Heisman Trophy-winning halfback Billy Cannon, were the A.F.L.’s premier team.

Mr. Adams ran the Oilers and his other businesses from an office in which he displayed a collection of Western and American Indian art. He belonged to the Cherokee Nation as a descendant through his mother, Blanche.

Mr. Adams changed coaches frequently in Houston — he fired Bum Phillips after the 1980 season although Mr. Phillips (who died last week) had coached three consecutive playoff teams — but found stability in 1994 in hiring Jeff Fisher, who stayed on for 17 seasons.

The Titans never returned to the Super Bowl, but Mr. Adams returned to the public eye in November 2009, when the N.F.L. fined him $250,000 for making obscene gestures at Bills fans while gloating over a home-field trouncing of Buffalo. The Titans finished third in their division that season with an 8-8 record. They have not finished higher than second since. Their 2012 season included a 51-20 loss to the Chicago Bears, which Mr. Adams called the worst game in franchise history.

Mr. Adams was last at a Titans game on Sept. 15, seeing them lose to the Texans in Houston. At his death, the Titans, coached by Mike Munchak, had a season record of 3-4.

Mr. Adams continued to live in Houston after moving his team to Tennessee. He was chairman of Adams Resources and Energy, an oil and natural gas production and marketing company that grew out of Ada Oil. He also had holdings in Texas ranch land, California vegetable farms, real estate and auto dealerships.

His wife, Nancy, died in 2009. His survivors include two daughters, Susie Smith and Amy Strunk; and seven grandchildren. His son, Kenneth III, died in 1987 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Nashville Tennessean reported on Monday that Mr. Adams had said that members of his family would have financial control of the Titans on his death. The newspaper quoted him as saying in 2008 that his grandson Kenneth IV, a member of the team’s front office, “might be the one running it after I’m no lo

Michael Vick is learning that dog owners have long memories.

The oft-injured Eagles quarterback tops Forbes’ annual list of the most disliked NFL players, a spot that’s as familiar to the 33-year-old as Philadelphia’s injury report.

“NFL fans, those who identify as pretty hard-core fans, like him. He’s kind of shaken off the off-field stuff with them,” Tom Van Riper of Forbes said of the Philly quarterback, who has now been voted the No. 1 most disliked NFL player in two of the three polls conducted by E-Poll (he’s also a regular near the top of the list of most disliked athletes).

But Van Riper notes that it’s the casual fan — whose only knowledge of the quarterback is his 2007 arrest and 18-month prison term stemming from his involvement in the “Bad Newz Kennels” dogfighting ring — that is pushing Vick to the top of the list.

“Since the survey encompasses the entire population, meaning more casual fans or people who aren’t particularly NFL fans, they’re the ones who continue to put him near the top because they still know him as ‘that dogfighting guy’,” Van Riper said.

The scientific survey polls 1,100 people above the age of 13 and those who were surveyed were only asked about active players. “If you’re an NFL quarterback or a skill position player or a halfway high-profile player, they ran numbers on those guys,” Van Riper said.

Rounding out the top-five are Chargers linebacker Manti Te’o, Lions badboy lineman Ndamukong Suh, Steelers quarterback Ben Roehtlisberger and supplanted Jets signal-caller Mark Sanchez.

While Te’o (fake girlfriend) and Roethlisberger (sexual assault accusations) rank on the list for off-field issues and Suh lands here for his dirty play, Sanchez’s top-five ranking is a head-scratcher.

“Sanchez, to me, is a tough one. Why he is ‘disliked’ is a little bit strange,” Van Riper said. “He’s a quarterback in New York. He has not progressed, most people think, to where they thought he would be when you look at where he was a few years ago.”

The Forbes writer did have one theory for why Sanchez — who has been a complete non-factor for the Jets this season — landed so high on the list: Guilt by association.

“You’ve got three of these USC guys (Sanchez, Carson Palmer and Reggie Bush), who, this is nothing more than my own speculation, but when you have some of these players who were with USC in their glory years — they’re kind of golden boys — and for the most part have been kind of flops in the NFL, at least to a degree, you get a negative perception about them,” he said.

The list is also one place where Sanchez beats Tom Brady. The Patriots quarterback came in at No. 8 on the list, which Van Riper credits to his upper-crust lifestyle.

“Women love him, but he’s not a man’s man,” he said. “Some of that may be jealousy; a lot of fans have seen their teams lose to Tom Brady.”

Read more: Michael Vick tops Forbes list of NFL

It’s hard to remember an NFL season with more high-profile injuries and serious scares than this one, particularly after last weekend’s nationally televised parade of yellow flags and stretchers. And with the ever-growing popularity of fantasy football, more and more people are watching their favorite players go down as the league continues to tweak its safety rules.

As most football fans know, the NFL has made a push for protecting players from head injuries and concussions, changing rules over the past several years to make many upper-body hits illegal. That has led many tacklers to instead aim low, and many people have blamed the rules for an apparent surge in knee and leg injuries across the league — and the corresponding player fines and suspensions for delivering so-called illegal hits.

It’s a trend that has many fans, pundits and players — including Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman — questioning the league’s front office.

“All of us NFL players, from wide receivers to defensive backs, chose this profession,” Sherman wrote in his latest column on Sports Illustrated’s “Monday Morning Quarterback” website. “Concussions are going to happen to cornerbacks who go low and lead with their shoulders, wide receivers who duck into contact, safeties who tackle high and linemen who run into somebody on every single play.”

The players who make hard hits are not the problem, Sherman said, “the NFL is the problem.” Unlike the thousands of former NFLers who have sued the league, accusing it of hiding the dangers of head injuries, today’s players are quite aware of the short- and long-term effects of concussions.

Here’s an excerpt of Sherman’s column published Wednesday:

That’s why a lot of guys get frustrated with these fines and penalties, especially for the defenseless receiver rule. Nobody who chooses to play this sport should be described as defenseless. There’s nothing we can do about it, unless you want us to just wait until these guys catch the ball and then let them come down and we tackle them. That’s not going to happen. Now you have receivers going up to catch passes and players are hitting them with shoulder pads and guys like (Kam) Chancellor and (Brandon) Meriweather are still getting fined. Those used to be highlight hits.

Now that there’s so much public ire, the NFL is trying to punish guys and say, Hey look, we care. It’s not hurting anybody but the players by making the game more dangerous. Defensive players are used to playing fast, but now they’re being forced to play with indecision, and indecision gets you hurt in this game.


Richard Sherman on concussions: ‘The NFL is the problem’ - Seattle Seahawks & NFL News

After reading that tweet from LeBron James, and this article from Bleacher Report's Ethan Grant, I decided to ask three NFL scouts their opinion on James as an NFL prospect. The scouts have decades of experience projecting NFL players. The answers, well, surprised me.

My question was simple: How would James fare in the NFL? Not from five years ago, but now. How would he do right now?

Scout One: "I really believe that in a matter of a few months, after some serious practice and contact, he'd be the best non-quarterback player in football. He'd play tight end, and he'd be better than [Rob Gronkowski] or any other tight end. He'd be better than Megatron. LeBron James would dominate the NFL."

I thought: Wait, what? James could come into the NFL and after a month of practices dominate the hardest sport in the world? Thought my scout friend had one too many margaritas. Then came the following from a second NFL scout.

Scout Two: "My question would be, what would happen once the hitting started? I also don't think he'd be able to block, which would be a liability to some degree—but there have been great tight ends who couldn't block. In today's game, blocking by the tight end isn't as huge a deal as it once was.

"He'd be an impossible matchup. He'd draw a pass inference penalty every play. You couldn't cover him with one guy. The Megatron comparison is a good one. Megaton is what [6'5"], and LeBron is [6'8"] and can run probably faster. He's young, still (28). He'd be in that Megatron mold, only bigger, stronger, faster. Think about a [receiver] that would be better than Megatron, better than [Gronkowski]. A lot better. That would be LeBron."

Oh. Snap.

The third scout had a different take: "He wouldn't be able to take the physical abuse. A guy that tall crossing the middle of the field would get killed. I don't think he would last a single game."

Then the scout made an interesting point.

"He would be a huge target, because every player would want to knock the piss out of LeBron James."

There is some middle ground here.

James' physical gifts would make him one of the more unique players in NFL history. Yet it is also true that James' body would be shell-shocked by the violence of professional football. He's not posting up Kevin Garnett. He'd be going up against some of the most vicious athletes in all of sports. His frame just isn't ready for that type of punishment.

But if James were ever serious and ended up spending an entire training camp with a team, he'd be formidable. He'd be beyond formidable. He'd be Jim Brown formidable. That's how good he could be.




Ten-Point Stance: Mike Freeman's NFL Notebook Heading into Week 8 | Bleacher Report

Nine teams have started at least two quarterbacks this season and this weekend two more join that list. That's a huge increase over last year.


Talk about a quarterback scramble.

Through the first seven weeks of the NFL season, nine teams have started at least two quarterbacks — Minnesota has started three — and this weekend you'll be able to add Chicago and St. Louis to that list. Come Monday, 45 different players will have started at quarterback for the 32 teams, among them a promoted practice-squad player, Buffalo's Thad Lewis, and one who has made starts for two different teams this season, the Vikings' Josh Freeman, formerly of Tampa Bay.

Through seven games last year, just three teams had started multiple quarterbacks — Arizona, Kansas City and Tennessee — and all of them went on to have losing seasons. Not surprisingly, there are no winning teams among this year's nine quarterback shufflers, and they have a combined record of 17-43.

Teams have turned over every stone to find someone to throw the rock. Blast-from-the-past names such as Brett Favre, Jeff Garcia and Tim Tebow surfaced this week, if only in reports, as teams around the league dusted off their little black books for solutions.

The Bills have had 10 different quarterbacks on the roster since Coach Doug Marrone took over in January: Lewis, EJ Manuel, Jeff Tuel, Matt Flynn, Kevin Kolb, Tarvaris Jackson, Matt Leinart, Dennis Dixon, Aaron Corp and Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Buffalo started the season with rookie Manuel backed up by undrafted rookie Tuel. It had all the makings of two wide-eyed 14-year-olds grabbing the car keys for a road trip across the country. But somehow, the Bills are now a respectable 3-4 and have discovered an intriguing option in Lewis.

"I give Buffalo some credit," said former NFL quarterback Rich Gannon, now a CBS analyst. "How do you go into a regular-season in that division, really in any division, with two rookies in a quarterback room together? Who's going to mentor the other guy?"

But that's the NFL these days. You fake it 'til you make it … even though you often don't make it at all.

Minnesota's quest for a quarterback has come up empty so far, with the Vikings cycling through Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel, Freeman and now back to Ponder.

Cleveland went from Brandon Weeden to third-stringer Brian Hoyer, leapfrogging backup Jason Campbell. Hoyer gave the Browns an impressive boost before suffering a season-ending knee injury. The team went back to Weeden, confirmed he isn't what they want, and now have circled back to Campbell.

The good news for Campbell is he's starting Sunday. The bad news is he's starting on the road against Kansas City, against a defense that's No. 1 in sacks, points allowed and third-down-conversion rate, and tied for first in takeaways.

"Arrowhead is one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL," Campbell said. "That means even more we need to be on the same page with our play calls and making sure everyone is hearing it and getting lined up correctly."

Garcia knows the value in that. He played for eight teams in an NFL career that stretched from 1999 to 2011, making four Pro Bowls but also coming into some situations as a fireman, where he was entrusted to put out an inferno. That required a lot of playbook speed-reading and forgetting everything you learned at your old place and learning it again at your new one.

"You have to mentally empower yourself to work through certain kinks or lack of confidence in your knowledge, because you can't let anybody else see that," said Garcia, now an NFL Network analyst. "You can't let your teammates or the coaches know that you're unsure.

"There were times in trying to learn Jon Gruden's offense when we would call a play — and I'm going back to the off-season work — and we would call different shifts and motions, and I wasn't sure where everybody was supposed to line up, and I was just hoping they knew where they were supposed to line up. I knew where they were going to finish, but I didn't know where they were going to start at."

Those situations were rare, Garcia said. But for a quarterback, moving from team to team can lead to information overload, and especially for a player such as Freeman, who in a few weeks went from the Buccaneers bench to starting for the Vikings.

Garcia's name came up this week after he revealed in a radio interview that earlier this season he called the Browns, for whom he played in 2004, and told them he'd be happy to come in for a workout. They didn't take him up on the offer.

"It's funny," said Garcia, 43, who last threw a pass in 2008. "Because now you've got those people out there who say, 'Hey, yeah, wish you the best.' Then you've got people who say, 'You bum! Go back to the couch!'"

Favre — who is 44, a grandfather and hasn't played since 2010 — said in an interview with SportsTalk 570 in Washington that he has heard from "a couple of teams" but isn't interested in coming out of retirement yet again.

"It's flattering, but there's no way I'm gonna do that," Favre said.

Most of the quarterback changes this season have been because of injuries, and Gannon said in many of those cases those players are increasingly at risk because of the emphasis on pulling down the ball and running.

"The only way you really learn to play the position is to go out and do it," Gannon said. "I think what these rookie quarterbacks and some of the young quarterbacks are learning is that, 'You want to run around? That's fine. But there are going to be consequences.'

"These young guys are getting whacked, because they don't realize that these guys on the other side are trained assassins when it comes to a quarterback running the football. These guys, when they see a quarterback get outside the pocket, their eyes become like saucers. It's a free shot. It's a knockout shot, and they all try and take them."

And the revolving door of quarterbacks continues to spin.

First off, let’s get something straight: I like football. I watch it often. And, if you look at television ratings, the NFL rules the roost. I’m not going to deny those things. Instead, I’ll say I prefer baseball over football. Yes, that game you think is only relevant for your grandpa is better than the NFL, and here’s why.

1) It’s Played In the Summer

Baseball is more than a sport, it’s a gathering. It has this social appeal that football can’t come near to because the majority of it is played in the warmth of the sun. There’s a reason they call them the “Boys of Summer.” We gather with family and friends, eat hot dogs, drink beer, and enjoy time with our family with the kids out of school. The NFL gets rain and snow, for those with outdoor stadiums. Yes, it’s cool to watch the NFL… literally.

2) Baseball Is Played Daily

If you’re a super, hardcore sports fan, baseball is the ultimate fix. Games are played daily, and with it, no matter what day it is on the calendar during the season, you have fresh game stories to talk about the next day around the water cooler. At best, you get Monday, Thursday, and Sunday in the NFL. If you’re sports junkie, that’s too long to wait.

3) Every Ballpark Is Different

No rectangular playing surface for baseball. Every ballpark has its uniqueness, which means not only is there games every day, every game can have its own unique twist. Whether it’s the Green Monster, or Tal’s Hill, no fan can say, “If you’ve been to one ballpark you’ve seen them all.”

4) MLB-com, MLB.TV, and MLB “At Bat” for Mobile Devices Rules Online

While the NFL rules television, when it comes to online offerings MLB Advanced Media is considered the gold standard by which all other sports are measured. MLB-com’s At Bat for mobile devices has been Apple’s top-grossing app in the App Store. Not content with just iOS offerings, MLB.TV allows you to watch games via your standard computer, and At Bat is available for Android and Blackberry 10.

5) No Lockouts or Strikes

It’s odd to say this, but the league that once was the most dysfunctional will see 21 years of uninterrupted labor peace. The NFL, NBA, and NHL all had work stoppages when their collective bargaining agreements ended, and they all look very much like MLB did back in 1994-95 when the game was in danger of losing fans by the droves due to the lockout that caused the World Series to be cancelled.

6) Baseball Doesn’t Have Concussions Threatening the Game

While the NFL has settled with players to the tune of $765 million, the issue is not in the league’s rearview mirror. And while fans will continue to watch, the visibility of the concussion issue is bound to have fewer kids entering football and trying other sports. For baseball, while there is a concussion policy, it appears that as soon as 2014 collisions at the plate may be banned.

7) Baseball Fans Care About the Numbers

For all those reading and saying MLB has a steroid problem, what’s really being said is that baseball fans care about the sanctity of the game and the records that are produced. When a player is suspended for performance-enhancing drugs, it’s front page news and causes an uproar. In it’s a player in the NFL it’s relegated the back pages. Why? Because, deep down, if you ask fans of football whether they care if players are using PEDs, they’ll say no.

8) Baseball Is Cerebral

You don’t see books and movies made about computer geeks in the NFL revolutionizing the game (see Moneyball as the example). That’s not to say they aren’t there and that’s not to say they don’t deserve their due. It’s to say, baseball is a numbers game and sabermetrics, the analytics of baseball, is seen as where advanced sports analytics was spawned. Bill James made TIME’s Top 100 in 2006, Nate Silver took advanced analytics that he fostered at Baseball Prospectus, jumped to The New York Times, and became a media sensation when predicted the outcome of the last presidential elections. Baseball geeks are cool.

9) Baseball’s Got Amazing History

Part of the reason fans get upset about the molestation of the sacred records in baseball by PED users is some of them have been around for over 100 years. In fact, the origins of baseball are now being traced back to the 18th Century and later. While the birth of pro football dates back to as early as 1862, the NFL didn’t start till August 20, 1920 in Canton, Ohio. By then, Major League Baseball had been around since 1871 with the National League.

10) Free Baseball

This may drive some fans nuts, but the saying, “It ain’t over till it’s over” is born out of baseball. There is no clock. The game continues for as many innings as it takes to break ties. In that, baseball harkens back to when we used to not be on the clock. When every second of our lives weren’t counted like rare gold pieces. Most baseball fans love extra innings games. Whether it’s on Twitter or Facebook, the saying, “Free baseball,” is a sign that you’re getting more than you paid for.

The NFL is great. I, and millions of others will watch it. But, if I have a choice between baseball or football, I’ll play Terence Mann in Field of Dreams and say as he did at Fenway Park, “I’ll have a dog and a beer.” Baseball rules.



10 Reasons Why Major League Baseball Is Better Than the NFL - Forbes

There have been two 109-yard scoring plays in NFL history and they both happened in the same stadium.

Vikings rookie Cordarrelle Patterson took the opening kickoff against Green Bay and returned 109-yards for a touchdown on Sunday, setting the NFL record for longest kickoff return in league history and tying Antonio Cromartie's record for longest play in NFL history.

Patterson broke the kickoff return record previously held by New England's Ellis Hobbs (2007), Green Bay's Randall Cobb (2011) and Baltimore's Jacoby Jones (2012). All three players shared the kickoff return record with 108-yard touchdowns.

The record-setting kickoff return by Patterson tied Cromartie's record for longest play in NFL history. Cromartie, then with the Chargers, returned a missed field goal 109-yards for a touchdown in a 2007 game against the Vikings played at the Metrodome.

On that play, Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell fell short on a 57-yard field goal attempt and Cromartie returned it for a touchdown in a game Minnesota would win 35-17.

Thanks to the return, Patterson will now be in the NFL record book forever. Future kickoff returners can tie Patterson's record, but they can't break it.



Cordarrelle Patterson ties NFL record with 109-yard kickoff return - CBSSports-com

Another NFL trade deadline has come and gone, with the total sum of activity being one minor transaction: the Eagles’ trade of defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga and a sixth-round pick to the Patriots for a fifth-rounder. As usual, rumors of potential franchise-altering moves—names like Larry Fitzgerald and Adrian Peterson were even being floated—never moved beyond fantasy. NFL rosters—molded, assembled and architected through the long offseason—largely are the same as they were at the start of the season and will be at the end. The NFL trade deadline is one of those rare times where my mantra—“deadlines spur action”—doesn’t apply.

It’s rare when an opportunity to create conversation around the NFL falls short compared to other major sports leagues. There’s more “buzz” around the NBA (late February) and MLB (late July) deadlines than there is for the NFL. Let’s examine why.
Game of schemes

Although there have been some notable exceptions, trading in the NFL is rare, especially at the deadline. One primary reason is the nature of the game itself.

Football is schematic. Fitting players into these sometimes-complicated schemes—no matter their talent—is not as seamless as other sports in which the transition from one team to another is based largely on talent, especially in the middle of the season.

We witnessed the disastrous performance a week ago by Josh Freeman soon after being acquired by the Vikings. Although Freeman was a free agent signing rather than a trade—the Buccaneers desperately and unsuccessfully tried to trade him before releasing him—the point is the same: the transfer of a player’s skillset from one system to another, even if similar, is problematic.

We often hear the all-too-common rationalization for the subpar performance of a new acquisition—whether acquired in free agency or trade—that he needs time to assimilate. Of course, midseason trades only exacerbate the difficulty.
Why is he available?

Teams don’t trade players seen as valuable to the team’s future. When hearing from team executives about an available player, my default question was always “Why don’t you want him?” Typically, the desire to unload arises from positional surpluses, a player not fitting the scheme of a new coaching staff, cap issues, etc. Translated, teams offering players at the deadline are really saying, We don’t want him; please give us something so we don’t have to cut him and get nothing!

As alluded to above with Freeman, Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik had no leverage to extract value for his then-embattled quarterback, as in order to maintain relationships around the NFL he had to be honest about Freeman’s issues with Greg Schiano and the likelihood of a divorce even in the event of no trade.

There are times, however, that changed circumstances due to injuries present opportunities—and leverage—to spur a deal. The biggest trade this season—the Browns sending Trent Richardson to the Colts for a 2014 first-round pick—happened primarily due to the Colts’ losing running back Vick Ballard to injury. And despite initial, near-universal reaction otherwise, my immediate read on the trade was that the Browns took advantage of the Colts’ injury situation and an impulsive owner, and that Richardson is not the elite player some thought. Cleveland was able to garner a first-round pick—as valuable currency as there is in the NFL—for a player not part of the team’s future.

More than most know, teams that trade players often high-five in the glow of addition by subtraction.


Cap and cash concerns

Another traditional impediment to NFL trading has been financial, with the acquiring team assuming what may be an onerous contract (for instance, Jared Allen’s remaining $7.6 million made him an unattractive trade option despite reports of interest) and the trading team accelerating cap charges for the following season of the unamortized portion of the traded player’s contract.

With improved overall cap management in recent years and, frankly, less money spent on players, teams are now better equipped to trade and take on cap and cash charges. Even so, there is still hesitation by increasingly future-focused general managers, especially with only a modest cap increase projected in 2014.

When with the Packers, I once drafted a proposal along with then-general manager Ron Wolf to allow teams to trade cap room. The thought was that teams could use effective cap management to their advantage, selling space to willing teams teetering perilously close to the limit. Unfortunately, the proposal was a nonstarter; the NFL responded that teams “make their bed” with cap and contract decisions, and should not be bailed out by better-managed teams through trade.

Despite the NFL prohibition on trades for cap or cash, teams have figured out a (legal) way around it. Earlier this season, both Levi Brown, traded from the Cardinals to the Steelers, and Eugene Monroe, traded by the Jaguars to the Ravens, had their existing contracts adjusted for trade purposes. The Cardinals and Jaguars both paid large portions of the players’ 2013 compensation by converting salary to bonus in order to facilitate trades in legal circumvention of the rule preventing cash and cap trades. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a trend for teams to pay players so that other teams will take them for any modicum of compensation.
Contract year

A final issue complicating activity at the trade deadline is that often players rumored in trade discussions —among them this year Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt and Allen—are in the final year of their contract. Thus, trading for a player in the last year of his contract is often part of two parallel discussions: one with the team about trade compensation and one with the agent about contract compensation.

When the Packers attempted to acquire Randy Moss from the Raiders during the 2007 draft, we had negotiations both with Al Davis on draft choice compensa

Former NFL safety Hamza Abdullah, who along with his younger brother Husain, chose to take off the 2012 NFL season to pursue his Muslim faith, went on a lengthy and profane rant against the NFL on Twitter Thursday morning.

Although Husain Abdullah, 28, returned to the NFL this season, signing a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, 30-year-old Hamza did not get any opportunities despite eight years in the league.

It's not clear what triggered Abdullah's lengthy Twitter expression, which started with criticisms of fellow Muslims and then switched to the NFL's treatment of its players, specifically safety and health.

Abdullah's phone was off as the tweets went viral Thursday morning, raising some concern about his well-being. But a person close to Abdullah told USA TODAY Sports he had been in touch with family members, including his brother, Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah, and everything was OK.

A league spokesman said in an email to USA TODAY Sports the NFL's Player Engagement staff "is reaching out to (Abdullah) to see if we can be of assistance."

A concussion, the fourth of his career, ended Husain Abdullah's 2011 season with the Minnesota Vikings. Hamza, who played for four teams from 2005-2011, seems to intimate in his tweets that he also suffered his own head trauma while playing.

Here's Hamza Abdullah in his own words, with multiple profanities blacked out:

"[EXPLETIVE] you NFL for lying to these people and denying the fact that football causes brain damage."

"Every player understood the risks of playing football, and we did it, and would do it over again!"

"We just thought/assumed we would be taken care of after we were done."

"[EXPLETIVE] you NFL for denying players their benefits and making us go through these [EXPLETIVE] hoops."

"[EXPLETIVE] you NFL because you are the plantation and WE are the slaves😡 #IfYouThinkOtherwiseYouAreDelusional"

"[EXPLETIVE you NFL for that slave trade you call the "NFL COMBINE", where you strip us of our manhood"

"[EXPLETIVE] you NFL for wanting players to kill themselves so you can show the "SLAVES" what life off the plantation is"

He continues further, describing some of the suicidal impulses that many former players recently expressed in the PBS documentary League of Denial.

"How many former players have to kill themselves before you guys [expletive] realize, that they're pushing us to it."

"I've thought about that, and the only reason I won't, is because I'm Muslim."

"But I do think about if my families life would be better, if I wasn't here."

"Every time I go to sleep, I pray that Allah takes care of my family, just in case I don't wake up."

"And quietly, I'm disappointed sometimes when I do wake up."

"I'm married to a beautiful wife, have 3 beautiful children, and my financially GOOD, yet I don't want to wake up."

"[EXPLETIVE] you Roger Goodell. You would sell your [expletive] soul for a dollar."

"[EXPLETIVE] you NFL for making people like my brother sign injury waivers that say if they get hurt they get NOTHING!"

"[EXPLETIVE] you NFL. You got too greedy."

Four hours later, Abdullah apologized for his language, but not the content of his tweets.



Former pro safety goes on massive anti-NFL Twitter rant

Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Justin Blackmon has been suspended indefinitely without pay for another violation of the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

Blackmon was previously suspended the first four games of this season for violating the policy. The latest violation is at least his third in about 18 months. The Jaguars acknowledged he has a problem.

"All of us who are a part of the Jaguars family care very deeply about Justin and his well-being," general manager Dave Caldwell said in a statement. "That said, he must be held accountable and accept the consequences announced today by the NFL."

Blackmon's suspension begins immediately. Unlike his four-game suspension, he won't be allowed in the building during this one. He will be eligible to apply for reinstatement before the start of the 2014 season.

"I want to sincerely apologize to Mr. (Shad) Khan (the team owner), my teammates, my coaches and to the Jaguars fans for not utilizing the resources that I was provided to overcome my challenges," Blackmon said in a statement released by his agent. "I am determined to overcome the issues that have resulted in this situation, and I truly appreciate the support that the Jaguars and my agent have shown me."

Blackmon has 29 receptions for 415 yards and a touchdown this year for the Jaguars (0-8).

Settlement OK'd: A federal judge in Minnesota gave final approval to a $50 million settlement in the complicated court fight over publicity rights for retired NFL players, calling it a "one-of-a-kind, and a remarkable victory for the class as a whole."

The NFL and the retired players reached the agreement in March, and U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson gave preliminary approval in April. But 19 players had filed objections, with some saying direct payments won't be made to the former players and that varying benefits will be unfairly distributed.

Prime-time switch: The Chiefs-Broncos game in Week 11 is moving to prime time. The NFL said Kansas City's matchup with Denver on Nov. 17 would be on NBC's "Sunday Night Football."

The Green Bay Packers and New York Giants were originally in that slot, but were moved to 1:25 p.m. PST. Also, the Chargers-Dolphins game was moved to 1:05 p.m.

Briefly: Vikings general manager Rick Spielman says head coach Leslie Frazier "is not going anywhere" despite a 1-6 start. He says the blame for the poor performance can be spread across the board. ... Seahawks receiver Percy Harvin will not play Sunday against the Buccaneers as he continues to recover from hip surgery in August. ... Falcons receiver Roddy White has returned to practice for the first time in more than three weeks and is listed as questionable for Sunday's game at Carolina. ... The status of Saints receiver Marques Colston (knee, missed practice) and linebacker Jonathan Vilma (eligible to come off injured reserve) remained unclear. ... Former Jets guard Brandon Moore officially retired after 11 seasons, all with New York. Moore was selected for his only Pro Bowl after the 2011 season and was widely considered one of the best players at his position.



NFL news and notes, Nov. 1 - SFGate

The NFL will not be beaten by demons.

Justin Blackmon is a talented wide receiver who is watching his career slip down the drain, unable to control issues in his private life that have negatively impacted his ability to catch footballs for a living.

Demons. Blackmon has demons. That's the term we've been authorized to use in this profession when we watch a player with immense talent waste it by grabbing a bottle, a pipe, a vial or whatever vice one might choose to unravel an otherwise positive trajectory in the sport and, by proxy, in life.

Blackmon's demise should be a cautionary tale for other players in the NFL. His situation should be a warning for those players struggling with their own issues to get help before it's too late—to not let the demons win. But it won't be. It never is.

From the contextual standpoint of the NFL, it matters not whether Blackmon has been suspended for the remainder of the season because he is losing a lifelong battle with a debilitating disease of substance and alcohol abuse, or he's merely another celebrity who thinks the rules don't apply to him.

It matters not if Blackmon is a good man who needs help or is a horrible person who has run out of chances.

What matters, for now, is that he's gone. The NFL is in the reputation business, not the rehabilitation business.

There is no such thing as a cautionary tale, sadly, it seems.

The league had no choice to suspend Blackmon after repeatedly and unabashedly violating the league's rules. His punishment was—as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk understands it—negotiated between the league and Players Association, which is to suggest that perhaps he's getting off easy.

Blackmon, like others before him and certainly others in his wake, will be gone until he's not. Eventually Blackmon will be welcomed back into the NFL family once he gets his act together. He's too talented not to be.

League one, demons zilch.

How many times have we seen that same scoreline? The NFL will never lose because the moment a player's demons become too powerful, he is gone, replaced by a player with less talent and presumably fewer demons.

Presumably. In truth, it's hard to know what personal issues a player may develop when he enters the league. Even when there are flags—giant, bright red flags—when a player comes from college to the professional ranks, talent and potential often overshadow the dark circumstances of one's past.

The NFL received a giant dose of revisionist history this summer with the Aaron Hernandez situation, as his past issues—and demons—became one of the biggest scandals to ever hit the NFL. (The NFL rolled right along through that one with relative ease, mind you.)

Nearly every pundit covering football thought Blackmon was a horrible draft choice by Jacksonville with the fifth pick in the 2012 NFL draft, not because he wasn't an immensely talented receiver, but because his demons had already begun to derail his potential.

Blackmon was losing his battle before he even got into the league, and his inability to balance the manifestation of that potential with his obvious demons was a huge reason why former general manager Gene Smith and his entire regime were fired.

When it comes to off-field issues, the NFL is all about balance. There are 2,000 players in the NFL, and everyone is battling something. The league and its teams are in a never-ending search to find the players who are strong enough on the field to succeed and strong enough in life not to fail.

Blackmon isn't the only player to fail. Within the calendar year, there have been 17 alcohol- or drug-related arrests in the NFL and another 19 involving weapons charges, assault, disorderly conduct or resisting arrest. Demons come in all shapes and sizes, it seems.

Most notably, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith has put himself through a terrible year, spending more time battling his demons than opposing blockers. Smith was arrested earlier this season for driving under the influence, spent five weeks in a treatment facility and recently turned himself in to authorities on weapons charges that stem from an incident in 2012.

Smith was reinstated to the 49ers a day after being released on $75,000 bail. He has multiple court hearings for his multiple offenses in November. He has a job because he still has value. He still has talent the 49ers can use, demons and all.

Even Blackmon will surely get another chance when he overcomes his problems. From the Jaguars' official statement by GM David Caldwell:

His suspension will provide him the opportunity to receive the attention and professional treatment necessary to overcome his challenges, and we will support him during this time. The Jacksonville Jaguars will evaluate Justin's status once he has successfully met the criteria to be considered for reinstatement to the league.

Get better, then come on back.

As long as Blackmon is able to catch passes or Smith is able to make tackles or any of the dozens of athletes arrested and/or suspended over the last few years are able to come back and do their respective football jobs, they will still have that job—or a job somewhere—waiting for them.

The NFL is a league of second chances for those who need another chance and have the talent to warrant that risk. Michael Vick would have been out of the league after his stint in federal prison if he wasn't talented enough for a team to take another chance on him. Countless players come back from scrapes with the law and issues with substance abuse when their talent warrants another opportunity.

And yet, players need to be smart enough to take advantage of the first opportunity and not put themselves in situations that necessitate a second chance.

The players in the NFL—yes, even a rookie earning the league minimum—make enough money to have a friend, family member, agent or cab company on speed dial to call when they get in trouble.

Every one of us i

Assuming Nick Foles wants to take the Eagles starting quarterback job for good -- and perhaps fulfill his owner's wish of finding a franchise quarterback -- he went a long way toward doing exactly that Sunday. Foles, in fact, was historically good, tying an NFL record by throwing seven touchdown passes vs. the Raiders on Sunday.

With his performance in Week 9, Foles joined former Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp in 1969, former Bears quarterback Sid Luckman in 1943, former Eagles quarterback Adrian Burk in 1954, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning earlier this season, former Oilers quarterback George Blanda in 1961 and former Giants quarterback Y.A. Tittle in 1962 by throwing for that many scores. And apparently it's becoming quite a trend for modern-day signal-callers.

But here's something special for Foles. The previous best passer rating among those in the seven-touchdown club was Tittle's 151.4. Foles' rating for Sunday was 158.4, the highest possible mark.

Most disappointing of all, however, was that Foles tossed his seventh touchdown with 4:28 to play in the third quarter. But coach Chip Kelly inserted backup Matt Barkley into the game and didn't give Foles one last chance to break the record.

Entering Sunday's game, Foles had thrown six touchdown passes ALL SEASON. But he got hot Sunday as you can see by the scoring summary below and by his stat line (22 of 28 for 406 yards and zero interceptions):

So yeah, a pretty good day for Foles, who had more touchdown passes than incompletions.

Meanwhile in Washington ...

The Chargers had won four-straight games in the Eastern Time zone, but clearly, the changing of the clocks screwed up their equilibrium even more than normal. Or, you know, maybe the Redskins are figuring out that the NFC East isn't lost and that maybe they're good enough to compete with the Cowboys for the division crown.

While we could talk about how the Chargers, who still have a chance to grab that second AFC wild card playoff spot, hurt themselves by dropping to 4-4, let's look at the Redskins and figure out what they did well.

For the first time this season, running back Alfred Morris got at least 20 carries, and he rewarded the coaching staff for doing so, as he gained 129 yards on 25 carries while scoring a touchdown.

For the first time this season, quarterback Robert Griffin III completed better than 70 percent of his passes, going 23 of 32 for 291 yards and an interception.

Fullback Darrel Young had two carries for 17 yards entering Week 9. On Sunday, he scored three touchdowns, including the game-winner.

The Redskins entered the game vs. the Chargers ranked No. 21 in the league in rush defense and No. 30 in total defense. They held San Diego's running game to 69 yards.

A few more numbers from the game.

--The Chargers blocked their first field goal in 11 years, via Grant Paulsen, when they batted down Redskins kicker Kai Forbath's 25-yard attempt in the first quarter. Later in the game, San Diego blocked another Forbath attempt -- this time a 59-yard opportunity with 5 seconds to play in the first half.

--The Redskins started their first two offensive series on their own 1-yard line. On the first, they drove the ball 92 yards before Forbath's first field goal was blocked, and on the second, Griffin was intercepted in the end zone for a San Diego touchdown.

--Before Morris scored his only touchdown of the day in the second quarter, the Chargers set a team record by not allowing an opponent's touchdown in 12-straight quarters (via John Keim).

--Griffin's pick-6 was only the second time a quarterback has thrown an interception from his own end zone since 2006. Cincinnati's Andy Dalton threw one in 2012 (via ESPN Stats Info).

BY THE NUMBERS

0: The number of times before Sunday that the Eagles had beaten the Raiders in Oakland, losing all three previous matchups (via Paul Domowitch). Four of the previous five Philadelphia wins in this series came when the Eagles played at home. The other occurred when the Eagles visited the Raiders in Los Angeles.

1: The number of 100-yard rushing games for Titans running back Chris Johnson this season. Before Sunday, he had zero.

2: The number of rushing touchdowns scored by Chris Johnson this season. Before Sunday, he had zero.

2: The number of coaches who have faced off against a team that he once led for at least 17 seasons. That would be Rams coach Jeff Fisher, whose squad lost Sunday to the Titans/Oilers organization for which he coached from 1994-2010. The other was Curly Lambeau, who led the 1952 Redskins team into a game against the Packers -- whom Lambeau coached from 1921-49. Washington lost that game 35-20 to the Gene Ronzani-coached Packers.

5: The number of undrafted rookie quarterbacks who have made an NFL start in the past 20 years, including Buffalo's Jeff Tuel on Sunday, via Mike Rodak. Before Tuel, the last to do it was Max Hall in 2010 for the Cardinals. A word of caution for Tuel: Hall is no longer in the NFL (he plays in Canada now).

5: The number of times Rex Ryan has beaten his brother Rob Ryan when Rex was either a defensive coordinator or a head coach and Rob was a defensive coordinator. They've played five times.

8: The number of games this season that the Panthers haven't allowed an opponent to score a touchdown in the first quarter, via Jonathan Jones. Which means the Panthers haven't allowed a touchdown in the first quarter all season. In sad news, though, Carolina allowed Atlanta to score a first-half touchdown, the first time that's happened to the Panthers this season.

0:15: The worst time of any game for the Chargers, who have lost three of their four games in the final 15 seconds of the fourth quarter, via ESPN Stats Info. Two of those losses have occurred on the final play of the game.

19: The number of teams in the Super Bowl era that have started a season 9-0, including the Chiefs (via NFL communications). The other 18 tea

Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin addressed allegations of player misconduct and said that the NFL is conducting a review of the workplace inside the organization's locker room.

"As the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, I'm in charge of the workplace atmosphere," Philbin said Monday after practice. "Since April 10, 2012, when the players first came here and I was the head coach, every decision I have made and every decision we have done in this facility has been done with one thing in mind and that is to help our players and our organization reach their full potential. "Any type of conduct or behavior that detracts from that objective is not acceptable and is not tolerated."

Philbin confirmed that tackle Jonathan Martin abruptly left the team facility last Monday following an incident in the cafeteria. Martin has not since returned to the team.

After Martin's representatives contacted Philbin Sunday with "concerns over player conduct that had occurred," Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for the league's involvement to conduct a review of the workplace.

Philbin said the Dolphins would cooperate fully, calling the review "comprehensive" and "objective." As a result, Miami announced Sunday night it suspended guard Richie Incognito indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team.

"If the review shows that this is not a safe atmosphere, I will take whatever measure necessary to ensure that it is," Philbin said. "I have that obligation to the players that I coach on a daily basis and I will do that."

Of all the players asked in the locker room, all said they would want Martin to return if he feels well enough to do so.

"Anything that's going on with J-Mart right now, I hope gets sorted out and I hope he's OK," defensive tackle Jared Odrick said. "I hope he continues his career and plays great and plays awesome."

"It's about winning," offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie added. "If you're going to help us win, then, OK, we need you to help us win and let's get that done. I can't hold no grudge over, 'You told,' or whatever it is."

Players expressed support for Incognito and Martin, saying that they were integral parts of the offense. According to the players made available, there was never the appearance of tension between Incognito and Martin in regular interactions.

"I thought they were friends," McKinnie said.

Part of the alleged harassment in the Miami locker room stemmed from older players seeking younger ones to handle the bill for expensive meals and parties. Rookie cornerback Wil Davis sent a tweet Friday that read: "I just seen a dinner bill for $30,000… WOW #RookieNight."

Davis clarified in another tweet that the bill had been split. He said Monday that an expensive lifestyle can be costly for young players with smaller salaries.

"Oh yeah, it's an NFL thing," Davis said. "If you spend all that money, of course you're going to get into trouble."

Davis added, however, that it's not an obligation for younger player to pay for expensive meals.

How difficult is it to say no?

"Easily," Davis said. "They're not coming after you. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. That's the No. 1 thing going into it, they all said: 'It's rookie night, but if you guys don't want to do it, you don't have to.'"

The question in the Dolphins case is whether these incidents, common in other NFL locker rooms, crossed the line.

"I don't want to call it 'hazing,' " defensive end Cameron Wake said. "I mean, that's – rite of passage – in this league. It's a group of elite men. It's a fraternity, it's a brotherhood. It's a lot of things. And there's a membership. You have to pay your dues to get certain privileges."

The NFL's collective bargaining agreement stipulates that the maximum time Incognito can be suspended for conduct detrimental to the team is four games.

The timetable for the NFL to conduct its review has not been determined. When the league does send its representatives to South Florida, Dolphins players feel there won't be anything to hide.

"I think the situation in the locker room is very healthy," tight end Michael Egnew said. "We have some excellent players in here and a lot of good guys in this locker room."



Dolphins welcome NFL workplace review

It's no coincidence that some of the world's most prolific writers have Bovada Sportsbook in there list of what I feel to be the Nr: 1 greatest sports books ever.




Welcome!!

Dolphins guard Richie Incognito, long considered one of the dirtiest players in the NFL, so infuriated Texans defensive end Antonio Smith in the preseason that Smith ripped off Incognito’s helmet and swung it at him.

Smith, who did no damage, was suspended for the final two preseason games and the first game of the regular season.

The NFL is a game of men imposing their will on one another. The X-rated language, the cheap shots and the extracurricular activity at the bottom of a pile happen all the time.

It’s a form of bullying, but it’s on the field, there are seven officials in position to police it and it’s one team against another.

But now Incognito has been accused of another form of bullying — against teammate Jonathan Martin, leading the Dolphins to suspend him and it’s hard to imagine him ever playing for the Dolphins again.

This goes way beyond the boys-will-be-boys mentality of NFL locker rooms with reports that Incognito sent racially charged text messages and voice mails and crude threats to Martin.

The second-year offensive tackle left the team last Monday, with no indication when or if he’s coming back, after an incident in the Dolphins lunch room when he sat down to eat and his teammates got up to leave.

As a stand-alone event, that would be relatively harmless. But it appears to be the latest — and last — bit of hazing that forced Martin to bolt in the middle of the season.

There were also reports that Martin paid $15,000 for a players trip to Las Vegas even though he wasn’t going. He reportedly was pressured into paying by Incognito.

But the worst came out Monday when CBS Sports revealed Incognito left a message on Martin’s voicemail in April referring to Martin, who is biracial, as a “half n----.” Incognito also said he would defecate in Martin’s mouth.

NFL-com, which obtained the transcript, reported Incognito also said laughing, “I’m gonna slap your real mother across the face. (Expletive) you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.”

NFL-com said the transcript was part of the evidence given to the NFL and the NFL Players Association. The Dolphins have asked the NFL to investigate.

Locker room hazing has been rationalized as a rite of passage and part of the culture that has long been accepted in the NFL. But Incognito vs. Martin appears to be an unconscionable and blatant case of workplace intimidation that not only threatens the Dolphins’ season, but will force all teams to take a much closer look at what’s going on inside their locker rooms.

Rookies get tied to goal posts. They are forced to buy doughnuts for the veterans once or twice a week. Their playbooks suddenly are missing along with their helmets.

Dez Bryant, perhaps in retaliation for refusing to carry Roy Williams’ shoulder pads during his rookie training camp, was forced to pick up a $54,896 tab for a team dinner at a Dallas steakhouse. Even Jerry Jones said it “would make my eyes water to have a bill like that.”

Brett Favre’s favorite practical joke was stealing his teammates’ car keys from their lockers before practice in the middle of the winter and then having a locker room attendant drive the car to the other side of Lambeau Field.

But what Incognito allegedly did far crossed the line of locker room fun.

“He’s a passionate guy that loves football,” one coach who has been on the same team as Incognito told the Daily News on Monday. “At times, he has trouble controlling his anger or emotions and the game day issues got out of control. That sums him up in a nutshell. I don’t know a lot about his life outside of football.”

The Rams cut Incognito two days after a 2009 game in which he was assessed with two personal fouls for head butting (and fined $50,000) and got into a sideline argument with coach Steve Spagnuolo.

He appeared to get things in order by making the Pro Bowl with the Dolphins last year and then being voted by teammates this season to the players council. But it all blew up in his face Monday.

Miami coach Joe Philbin said Monday that he met with Martin the night of last week’s incident and said, “He never mentioned to me any accusations or any inappropriate behavior.”

But conversations Sunday with Martin’s representatives alleged player misconduct. Soon after, Philbin decided to suspend Incognito.

“As the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, I am in charge of the workplace atmosphere,” Philbin said. “I take this responsibility very seriously.”

NFL teams are supposed to be a brotherhood. The players are supposed to take care of each other. The message appears to have gotten lost in Miami.

Read more: Richie Incognito's behavior cannot be tolerated in NFL - NY Daily News

Bears receiver Brandon Marshall has stayed up to speed with the details of the bullying controversy engulfing the Miami Dolphins, his former team, and issued a call for change Wednesday.

Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin left the team last week after saying he was frequently harassed by guard Richie Incognito, who has been suspended indefinitely.

Marshall was a Dolphins receiver during the 2010 and 2011 seasons and still counts Incognito as an acquaintance with whom he periodically communicated. But Marshall said Wednesday at Halas Hall that he’s sensitive and sympathetic to the feelings Martin has had that prompted his departure from the team.

“My prayers definitely are for him,” Marshall said. “It’s a serious situation. ... I wish him the best and hopefully he’s getting the care that he needs.”

Marshall spoke at length on the issue Wednesday and said he still did not know enough about what all had been said and done by Incognito to warrant his punishment. Marshall said he enjoyed playing with Incognito but has been taken aback by the allegations of things that Incognito did to Martin, including harassing text and voice messages that included racial slurs.

“I also know it’s not an isolated incident,” Marshall said. “It’s unfortunately the culture of the NFL.”

Marshall said it’s different with the Bears, where younger players are asked to “earn their stripes” but not treated disrespectfully. “We look at rookies different,” he said. “You have to earn your stripes, earn your place on the team, earn your place in the NFL. But as far as crossing that line? Disrespecting guys? Demeaning guys? That just doesn’t happen here. Actually, Coach (Marc) Trestman did a great job of really going out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable from Day One.”

Marshall remains aware of how sensitive an issue this has become.

“Look at it from this standpoint,” Marshall said. “Take a little boy and a little girl. A little boy falls down and the first thing we say as parents is ‘Get up, shake it off. You’ll be OK. Don’t cry.’ A little girl falls down, what do we say? ‘It’s going to be OK.’ We validate their feelings. So right there from that moment, we’re teaching our men to mask their feelings, to not show their emotions. And it’s that times 100 with football players. You can’t show that your hurt, can’t show any pain. So for a guy to come into the locker room and he shows a little vulnerability, that’s a problem.

"That’s what I mean by the culture of the NFL. And that’s what we have to change. So what’s going on in Miami goes on in every locker room. But it’s time for us to start talking. Maybe have some group sessions where guys sit down and maybe talk about what’s going on off the field or what’s going on in the building and not mask everything. Because the (longer) it goes untreated, the worse it gets.”



Bears receiver Brandon Marshall hopes Incognito bullying accusations spark NFL culture change - chicagotribune-com

I’m Richard Sherman. I’m a guy who plays cornerback for the Seahawks, who makes $550,000 a year to control a small sliver of one of 32 NFL fields on any given Sunday. But let’s imagine, for a moment, I’m a much more powerful man, one who earns a salary—$30 million—higher than the best-paid player in the league. I’m the man who, for better or worse, holds the future of pro football in his palm.

I’m the commissioner of the NFL.

It’s a difficult job, I’m sure, working for the owners while looking out for the welfare of the players. It always seems like a happy balance is being struck in late April, when a parade of draftees crosses the stage at Radio City Music Hall, each one giving Roger Goodell a handshake and a hug after his name is called. But for the rest of the year it’s clear that the interests of the 1,700 players pale in importance to those of the 32 owners.

But I, Commissioner Sherman, am here to fix that, so let’s get started.

The first thing I would do is give up some of my power. I’d leave the whole fine system for on-field actions to a committee of former players and former coaches. I’d create a system of checks and balances, something like a democracy. (Crazy, right?)

If I were commissioner, I’d listen to Brandon Meriweather because he’s expressed something that many players think but are afraid to say. When the Redskins safety said he was going to start targeting the ACLs of offensive players, his message was understood by his peers but confusing to fans and media. The defenseless-receiver rule is forcing tacklers to target knees. Offensive players bend down to protect their knees, and if we target the waist, we collide with their heads and get fined. If we target the knees, we don’t get fined, and sometimes they don’t get up.

If I were commissioner, I’d listen to Hamza Abdullah, too. He’s the former pro who just blasted the league on Twitter for several things, including its handling of retiree benefits. I’d streamline the system to make it easier for players who need disability money to get it. Many ex-players would rather suffer than jump through the NFL’s hoops. They have to file paperwork, wait several months, go see this doctor on this day, a specialist on that day, and if they miss a deadline, they’re ineligible. That’s just how the league is, but not the way it has to be.

If I were commissioner, I wouldn’t ask a player to take a pay cut to play for a championship. Players are now paid postseason bonuses that are usually less than their standard regular-season game check. The compensation should consistently mirror the profits, regular season or not.

If I were commissioner, I’d be very transparent about where fines end up. In my regime all the money from helmet-to-helmet fines would go directly to fund treatment for players suffering from injuries from head trauma.

This league is not all about ‘the Shield’ and all the name brands this commissioner has sold it to. The NFL is nothing without the players.

If I were commissioner, I’d give the players back their individuality. I wouldn’t pretend that knee and thigh pads prevent injuries. I’d never fine players for wearing the wrong length socks or cleats with too much or too little of one team color. I’d let them wear whatever they want for interviews at their own lockers. Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch would be free to promote his Beast Mode merchandise—which supports his charity—in any way he chooses, as long as he doesn’t do it during a game. I’d understand that this league is not all about “the Shield” and all the name brands this commissioner has sold it to. The NFL is nothing without the players, individuals whose creativity should be celebrated.

If I were commissioner, I’d actually care about my players. I’d recognize that most of them don’t spend more than three years in the NFL, and when they’re done, many of them are broken in mind and body, and I’d do everything I could to genuinely help them in their transition from athlete to retiree.

And if that were too difficult, if I found it was impossible to do the job asked of me by NFL owners and still do right by players, I’d do those incoming rookies the favor of not offering a hug they’ll soon regret.





Richard Sherman on how he'd run the NFL if he had Roger Goodell's job | The MMQB with Peter King