Hall of Fame Finalists Announced

by | Jan 6, 2009 | Hall of Fame

The fifteen 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists were announced Tuesday, adding their names to the two senior candidates announced in August.  The 25 semifinalists had been announced in November.

We’ve got a couple of great Hall of Fame discussions going already–one discussing our picks for the Hall of Fame Class of 2009, and one discussing the Hall of Fame worthiness of several current players.

The seventeen finalists:

WR Cris Carter
C Dermontti Dawson
DE Richard Dent
G Russ Grimm
WR Bob Hayes (Senior Candidate)
DE Claude Humphrey (Senior Candidate)
DT Cortez Kennedy
G Bob Kuechenberg
G Randall McDaniel
DT John Randle
WR Andre Reed
TE Shannon Sharpe
DE Bruce Smith
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
LB Derrick Thomas
Team Owner Ralph Wilson
DB Rod Woodson

Sharpe, Woodson, Smith and Randle are all first year finalists.

Only two players from our original guess of the 15 finalists did not make it–Ray Guy and Charles Haley.  The two that made it that weren’t on our list were Cortez Kennedy and Ralph Wilson.  All five of our picks for the Class of 2009 made the cut.

Jared Allen Not a Dirty Player

by | Dec 14, 2008 | NFL Random Thoughts

All this week, we’ve seen comments being left on blogs and message boards that indicate that the hit laid on Jared Allen by Gosder Cherilus (and subsequent knee injury) was karma for Allen’s earlier season hits on Matt Schaub and Aaron Rodgers.  All kinds of “fans” claim that Allen is a dirty player.

Now even ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio is getting in on the act, saying “We’ll wait a second while you wipe the Coke off your screen” after reporting that Allen declared that he has “never, ever taken a cheap shot at anybody.”

Florio’s proof that Allen has taken cheap shots?  The $75,000 in fines levied against him this season by the NFL for the hits on Schaub and Rodgers, and a (slightly biased) YouTube video replaying the hit on Schaub.

The random comments on the blogs don’t surprise me, nor really irritate me much, since it’s typically anonymous fans of other teams running their mouths.  But I would hope that someone like Florio would be able to provide a little better evidence (he is a lawyer, after all), and be a little non-partial, since he claims to hate all 32 teams equally.

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NFL Fines Absurdity Continues

by | Dec 14, 2008 | Business of Football, NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

The NFL continues to amaze me in their ability to find ridiculous actions to fine players for.  And while I’m not ready to go down the path of claiming vindictiveness yet, at least some Viking fans are thinking the NFL has it in for the team, possibly due to the Kevin & Pat Williams lawsuit.

The latest fined Viking?  DT Fred Evans, who was fined $5k for grabbing the face mask of RB Kevin Smith.  And my problem with the fine this time isn’t just the face that fining players for actions like a face mask, which is an unfortunate but common part of the game, is ridiculous (Vikings LB Chad Greenway was fined $15k earlier this year for a face mask that wasn’t called against the Saints, the first time I’d ever heard of such a fine).

My problem with this fine is that replays seemed to show (rather clearly, in my eyes) that Evans didn’t even grab the face mask on the play.  It appeared that Evans merely tackled Smith by the shoulder pads–essentially grabbing him by the front collar and pulling him down in a way that maybe appeared to be the result of a face mask, but on replay did not look like it.

So now it appears that Evans was penalized AND fined unfairly for the play.  Fortunately, unlike the Saints, who lost to the Vikings when Greenway’s penalty wasn’t called (on a play that may have impacted the outcome of the game), the Vikings didn’t lose to the 0-12 Lions last week.

I still have to wonder, though–with all of the poor officiating going on this year–are any moves being made to make NFL referees full time?  And hold them accoutable with something other than losing out on the opportunity to work playoff games?

Football Hall of Fame Worthy?

by | Dec 12, 2008 | Hall of Fame

Recently, I’ve heard the question asked on local sports radio about the Hall of Fame worthiness of Kurt Warner, and also recently discovered that Edgerrin James became the 13th leading rusher all time–and all of the top 12 that are eligible are all in the Hall of Fame.

We’ve had a good discussion about the 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, so I thought maybe we should put the topic up for discussion here–are the following active players Hall of Fame worthy?

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Week 15 Picks

by | Dec 11, 2008 | NFL Picks

Actually getting picks posted before the first game of the week for once–what a concept.

Lots of diffrences between Andy and I this week–could go a long way towards determining who wins for the season…

 
ZoneBlitz

(Rank)
Andy
(Picks)

Tony
(Picks)

Andy
(AtS)
Tony
(AtS)
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
New Orleans @ Chicago
NO (2)
Chi
NO
NO (+3)
NO (+3)
 
 
Sunday, December 14th, 2008

Detroit @ Indianapolis
Ind (16)
Ind
Ind
Ind (-17)
Ind (-17)
 
 
Denver @ Carolina
Car (13)
Car
Car
Den (+7.5)
Car (-7.5)
 
 
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta
Atl (6)
TB
Atl
TB (+3)
Atl (-3)
 
 
Pittsburgh @ Baltimore
Bal (1)
Bal
Pit
Bal (-2)
Pit (+2)
 
 
Tennessee @ Houston
Ten (12)
Ten
Ten
Ten (-3)
Ten (-3)
 
 
Washington @ Cincinnati
Was (11)
Was
Was
Was (-7)
Was (-7)
 
 
Seattle @ St. Louis
Sea (7)
Sea
Sea
StL (+3)
Sea (-3)
 
 
Green Bay @ Jacksonville
Jax (4)
Jax
Jax
Jax (+2.5)
Jax (+2.5)
 
 
San Diego @ Kansas City
SD (10)
SD
SD
KC (+5.5)
SD (-5.5)
 
 
San Francisco @ Miami
Mia (9)
Mia
Mia
SF (+6.5)
Mia (-6.5)
 
 
Buffalo @ NY Jets
NYJ (8)
NYJ
NYJ
NYJ (-7.5)
NYJ (-7.5)
 
 
Minnesota @ Arizona
Az (3)
Az
Az
Az (-3)
Az (-3)
     
New England @ Oakland
NE (15)
NE
NE
NE (-7)
NE (-7)
     
NY Giants @ Dallas   NYG (5)
NYG
Dal
NYG (+3)
Dal (-3)
Monday, December 15th
Cleveland @ Philadelphia
Phi (14)
Phi
Phi
Cle (+14)
Phi (-14)