At one point during the latest episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” Jets coach Rex Ryan explained to veteran wide receiver Laveranues Coles(notes) why the team had to cut him. It was over salary reasons, but Ryan said the team hoped to bring back Coles in the second week of the season when his contract won’t be fully guaranteed.
Ultimately, Ryan told Coles that the team had to make the move “in case [cornerback Darrelle Revis(notes)] shows up without a new contract.”
Here’s a little piece of information for Ryan and the rest of the New York Jets: If Revis doesn’t get a new contract soon, New York doesn’t have to worry about the star cornerback showing up. Ever.
As the clock ticks to the beginning of the NFL season, the relationship between the Jets and Revis is ticking toward an end. A divorce, really. That might sound like hysteria to some but it’s reality.
Continue reading at Yahoo ]]>
After successfully getting the Bengals to bring Batman to town, Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco has his sights set on a reunion with T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who is expected to be cut by the Seahawks if he's not traded.
Said Ochocinco on his Twitter page: "Disturbing news, i cant even fathom the thought of a reciever the caliber of Housh being traded let alone released, i will be lobbying heavy."
Ochocinco attributes his success to playing across from Houshmandzadeh. "I'd be happy to have him back," Ochocinco said.
Chad also opted to wax a little philosophically on the situation: "Situations like this is what scares me about the business side of the NFL which is why i play this game the way i do,having FUN, unbelievably."
Indeed, one of those receivers for whom Chad lobbies eventually could be the receiver that takes his roster spot.
ProFootballTalk ]]>
Matt Leinart's time in Arizona appears to be almost up.
Jay Glazer of FOX reports that the Cardinals have started actively shopping Leinart, according to several of his sources. The news comes one day after Leinart went nuclear with comments to the press. If Leinart's quotes were intended to get him moved from the roster, he should consider it mission accomplished.
Florio pointed out Tuesday morning that a straight release is more likely than a trade because Leinart's contract is not conducive to a deal. At best, the Cardinals could find a team willing to give up a late-round conditional pick. It would be tricky because Leinart would likely need to be willing to renegotiate his contract, which balloons to unmanageable levels in 2011.
Derek Anderson will start Thursday's preseason finale, and we doubt Leinart will play at all following this news. Why waste snaps "showcasing" Leinart when Ken Whisenhunt can use them to develop rookie quarterbacks Max Hall and John Skelton?
It's amazing to think how quickly this situation has escalated. There wasn't a hint that Anderson could pass Leinart until eight days ago, and nothing concrete until five days ago.
It would be a surprise if Leinart is still on the roster by Saturday evening.
ProFootballTalk ]]>
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice will be ineligible to play in the first six games of the regular season.
Rice was placed on the reserve physically unable to perform list Tuesday, the NFL's deadline for reducing rosters to 75 players. Players on reserve don't count toward the active total.
Rice had hip surgery last week and is expected to need at least two months of recovery, so the move was not a surprise. After Minnesota's sixth game, at Green Bay on Oct. 24, the team will have three more weeks to decide whether to activate Rice or end his season by putting him on injured reserve.
More at The New York Times ]]>
MINNEAPOLIS -- Odd, sort of, to be reviewing the most important week of the preseason and writing mainly about the impact of an officiating decision. But the most intriguing event of the third round of games has to do with officiating, and the effect of moving the umpire from the defensive to the offensive side of the ball so he won't be such a defenseless target in the middle of pass patterns.
I don't want to be too dramatic about it, but it's a virtual certainty that the rule will have far more impact on the Colts than on any other team in football. They won't be able to run their no-huddle offense with the same speed. And the triggerman knows it.
Peyton Manning thinks back to the Patriots-Colts game last November -- the Belichick No-Punt Game -- and is sure that game would have ended differently if the new ump rule was in place.
"If we had this rule last year,'' Manning said Saturday night, "there's no way we catch up in that New England game. We were down, what, 21 points in the fourth quarter? We wouldn't have had enough time to run enough plays to catch up. But forget about that game. Let's chart all the comeback wins where a team runs the hurry-up in the fourth quarter. How many of those games would have ended up the same way -- or would the quarterbacks have had enough time to run enough plays to come back and win?''
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz0yEyKY3Hz ]]>
Vikings quarterback Brett Favre acknowledges that in return for agreeing to play a 20th NFL season, he got a raise from the $13 million he was scheduled to make.
But while it would be easy to see Favre's absence from the first few weeks of training camp as nothing more than a contract holdout, Favre insists that the raise -- to a reported salary of $16 million, with another $4 million in incentives -- isn't the reason he decided to come back.
"I knew that would be some peoples' assumption," Favre told NBC's Al Michaels. "It was tempting, but I've always made a lot of money, and I knew I didn't need it." Obviously, Favre doesn't need the money. His "regular guy" image aside, he's made more than $100 million over the last 20 years. He's doing just fine financially.
But wasn't the money even a factor?
"Honestly, no," Favre said. "It all came back to feeling obligated to the guys. That was really the strongest pull. I'm no fool. It's a lot of money. But that in itself was not the biggest factor."
In other words, Favre is saying Vikings owner Zygi Wilf tossed him a few million bucks for no reason. That must be nice for Wilf to hear. ]]>
Posted by Mike Florio on August 12, 2010 8:31 AM ET
With the NFL trying its best to persuade fans to witness the ultimate brand of 3D football, an NFL game will be televised for the first time in 3D.Sean Leahy of USA Today reports that the September 2 preseason finale between the Giants and the Patriots will be broadcast in 3D, in a limited area. The broadcast will be available in New York, New Jersey, and New England.
In 2008, a game between the Chargers and Raiders was produced in 3D and beamed to theaters in New York, San Diego, and Boston. Last year, the Cowboys broadcast a portion of their game against the Chargers in 3D, but only on the giant drive-in theater screens hovering over their field of play. (The quality of the effort generated more "boos" than "oohs".)
We had believed that the technology initially would be limited to theaters, which would create potentially significant revenues via the imposition of movie-style ticket prices. But why limit the pool of people who can enjoy 3D, especially since it can be pumped into millions more homes than theaters, and thus generate millions more dollars via pay-per-view charges?
That said, in-home 3D has a long way to go, and it likely will be years before 3D televisions find themselves in wide use. Thus, when it comes to the challenge of getting people to continue coming to live games, the NFL should consider this to be a head start.
Meanwhile, we assume that the Jets are pissed that the Giants and the Patriots, the Jets in-stadium and in-division arch-rivals, got picked for the first 3D broadcast. We also assume that Giants V.P. of communications Pat Hanlon is nodding and smiling.
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