The Fifth Down: Take Our Pro Bowl, Please

The Fifth Down: Take Our Pro Bowl, Please

Commissioner Roger Goodell said last week that the Pro Bowl had to be improved or could die. Some would call it a mercy killing.

Mike Tanier wrote in The Times:

This year’s edition of the game was particularly painful to watch, with defenders hitting so gently that the game made youth flag football look like Antietam.

The N.F.L.  is so good at making money that The Onion imagined Goodell’s next step.

The league is open to hearing exactly how much money viewers are willing to offer to make a Pro Bowl cancellation happen. “The fans have said this is becoming embarrassing for the sport, and we want them to know we’re listening. So there’s a seat at the bargaining table waiting for them,” said Goodell, gesturing to his team of accountants and lawyers.

Sources inside the league said they were not expecting an unusually large deal with the fans, as the NFL already takes in more than 95% of Americans’ discretionary income.

Bill Barnwell of Grantland.com has suggestions for saving the Pro Bowl. And some of your suggestions here.

Three other  links for your consideration:

1) Jack Del Rio was asked if it was difficult to go from a head coach (at Jacksonville) to a defensive coordinator (at Denver). His response seemed to confirm what some players might have suspected all along, that coaches don’t have human feelings. SportsRadioInterviews.com:

“I don’t really think about it much. I’m just plugging and doing my job. I enjoy working. I enjoy being around the guys. I enjoy the competition. I enjoy the evaluation part, so I’m really just digging in and getting to work. I haven’t really thought about how that feels. As coaches we really don’t think about how we feel much. That’s how we are able to work long hours.”

2) Joe Starkey of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says Pittsburgh’s hiring of Todd Haley as offensive coordinator was about putting Ben Roethlisberger on notice, setting up a power struggle: “It’s either going to work to spectacular results or blow up in their faces.”

3) The Associated Press analyzed a previously unreported tape recording by President Nixon,  who pushed hard for TV blackouts to end for playoff games but was rebuffed by Pete Rozelle.  The recording can be heard here. 

The president was a serious fan and in the early 1970s, he shared the anger of Washington residents who couldn’t watch Redskins games on TV, former aides recalled.

Nixon was right. History has shown that it was a short-sighted strategy by the league. Rozelle feared that pro football would become a “studio show” — which it has largely become, to great success. Two years ago, a Fifth Down reader shared his story of traveling from Brooklyn to Kingston, N.Y., with college friends to be able to watch a telecast of the Jets in the A.F.L. title game.

On Pro Football: Falling Short Again, Legacy of Belichick and Brady Loses Some Luster

On Pro Football: Falling Short Again, Legacy of Belichick and Brady Loses Some Luster Back in February 2005, when Bill Belichick and Tom Brady hoisted the Super Bowl trophy for the third time in four seasons, they seemed like a safe bet for greatest coach-quarterback combination in N.F.L. history. That was before the videotaping scandal known as Spygate ensnarled New England, before the Super Bowl defeat in 2008.

That was before Sunday, too.

Again, the New England Patriots not only reached the Super Bowl but led the Giants late in the fourth quarter. Again, they lost a heartbreaker. This, though, is where the question of Brady and Belichick’s collective legacy gets tricky, even for two men certain to reach the Hall of Fame.

Between them, B&B boast 5 Super Bowl appearances and 16 playoff victories, the most for any one such pairing. But while Brady and Belichick have won numerous games and twice put themselves this close, the slim space between thumb and forefinger, to another championship in recent years, their recent history is that of falling short, closer to the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s than any historic N.F.L. dynasties.

In the immediate aftermath of Super Bowl XLVI, a dour Belichick grunted one-word answers at his podium. This supposedly new Belichick, warm and fuzzy throughout the week, clad once in a lilac-patterned shirt and another time in a violet tie, had returned to vintage form, right down to his classic grey hoodie and postgame disdain. Asked if he would explain his thought process in allowing the Giants to score late to get the ball back, he answered quickly, simply, “No.”

Brady descended his own podium, walked down a corridor and sank into the waiting arms of his wife, the model Gisele Bündchen. They embraced for a long time.

Soon after, a video would hit the Internet, with Bündchen defending Brady to hecklers. She swore in the video and said her husband could not throw the ball and catch it, an obvious dig at receivers Wes Welker and Deion Branch, both of whom dropped critical passes.

That’s the funny thing about legacies, how easily they can shift. If Rob Gronkowski does not injure his ankle against the Baltimore Ravens, if Welker’s hands secure the ball, if Brady doesn’t throw an interception, perhaps the Patriots win. Perhaps Brady and Belichick move closer to assuming the title of greatest combo of all time. An inch here, a correction there, and everything is different.

Say Asante Samuel secured the interception he dropped in the Super Bowl four years ago. The Patriots would then stand with the Packers of the 1960s, the Steelers of the 1970s, the 49ers of the ’80s and the Cowboys of the ’90s; stand, if not at the top, then near it.

The Patriots have won 86 games since their last Super Bowl championship, in 2005. The key phrase to add is “and counting.”

The elephant in the room is Spygate, of course, even if the scope of the scandal — and the impact of the information the Patriots illegally obtained — is dismissed by Belichick supporters. The N.F.L. made its feelings clear on the subject when it docked New England a first-round draft choice and fined Belichick and the Patriots $750,000 total, a penalty among the steepest the league has ever levied.

The Patriots have continued to achieve success, to win games and division titles, since the controversy dimmed. But where they once seized Super Bowls by the slimmest of margins, they have recently lost them exactly the same way.

The last time Brady lost to the Giants, he said he struggled to sleep, woke up after an hour and thought “that didn’t happen.” This time, Brady must confront both his wife’s unfortunate comments and the window remaining in his career, which has shrunk considerably since 2008.

This current Patriots team, while obviously talented, is not as deep as the ones that won the championships. There are fewer Richard Seymours, Rodney Harrisons and Ty Laws around. That was evident Sunday.

Now, Brady and Belichick hold a 3-2 mark in Super Bowls, which is nothing to scoff at, which is remarkable, really, just a cut below other combinations. Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Noll never lost in their four Super Bowls. Joe Montana and Bill Walsh went 3-0 and Montana won a fourth title with a team that Walsh largely built.

It’s hard to argue that Brady and Belichick are even the best quarterback-coach combination of the past four seasons, not after Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin bested them in the Super Bowl, not once, but twice. This is how quickly perceptions shift, even since the events of Sunday ended.

Back at his podium, as Belichick addressed reporters, his voice dripped with that classic dry annoyance. “Any more questions about the game?” he asked. He didn’t get that after another Super Bowl defeat, the most pertinent questions, of his legacy in particular, went beyond that.

Belichick Wanted Giants to Throw Toward Manningham

Belichick Wanted Giants to Throw Toward Manningham Then the receiver New England deemed less dangerous than Victor Cruz or Hakeem Nicks made a catch that will be replayed over and over for years to come.

"This is still a Cruz and Nicks game," Patriots coach Bill Belichick tells his defenders in audio captured for "Sound FX," which first aired Wednesday night on NFL Network. "I know we're right on them; it's tight. But those are still the guys. Make them go to Manningham; make them go to (tight end Bear) Pascoe. Let's make sure we get Cruz and Nicks."

Manningham's 38-yard reception — over-the-shoulder, between two defenders and along the sideline — was the key play on the Giants' winning drive. New England challenged the catch, but as the video review is going on, a dejected Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is heard muttering, "He caught it."

Cruz had 82 catches for 1,536 yards this season, while Nicks had 76 receptions for 1,192 yards. Manningham caught 39 passes for 523 yards and was slowed by injuries.

With New York in position to run down the clock and kick the winning field goal later in the drive, New England linebacker Jerod Mayo tells his fellow defenders in the huddle, "We've got to let 'em score." Tackle Vince Wilfork then assures a teammate as the players are lining up, "Yeah, yeah, let 'em score."

But on the sideline, Brady laments, "They're not going to score."

He was wrong. Ahmad Bradshaw fell into the end zone after trying to stop himself, putting the Giants up 21-17 with 57 seconds left. With one timeout and needing a touchdown, Brady couldn't lead the Patriots on a winning drive.

"Sound FX" replays will air on NFL Network on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

The Fifth Down: Randy Moss and a Possible Return to the Patriots

The Fifth Down: Randy Moss and a Possible Return to the Patriots

The possibility that Randy Moss will behave means that at least some team will take a chance on him.

But now that he has announced his return, don’t assume that the Patriots, the seemingly logical choice, will be that team.

Mike Reiss, ESPN Boston:

My feeling is that the team has moved on.

Part of the reason the Patriots moved on from Moss in the first place was a halftime blowup with play-caller Bill O’Brien in Moss’ final game with the team in Week 4 of 2010. It highlighted a shift in which Moss had transitioned from a team-first player in 2007 to someone more interested in his own production.

It is also my belief that quarterback Tom Brady became increasingly drained with keeping Moss on board, to the point that it became a concern of the coaching staff.

Tedy Bruschi disagrees.

What about the Jets?

From The Jets Blog: “I think I speak for a majority of Jets fans, when I say PLEASE NO. Randy Moss is everything the Jets don’t need at the WR position.”

Three links for your consideration:

1) Gary Shelton of The Tampa Bay Times on Freddie Solomon, the former 49ers and Dolphins receiver, who became known for his community service. Solomon died on Monday of cancer at 59:

Do not remember Freddie Solomon for the catches he made. Remember him for the lives he changed.

2) Mike Sullivan, who is leaving his post as Giants quarterbacks coach to become Greg Schiano’s offensive coordinator at Tampa Bay, leaves this thought about Eli Manning, via Giants.com:

“Working with Eli, it was wonderful to see the hard work, the commitment, and the focus on all the little details. He’s such a true professional. I think there was a definite determination and attitude he brought to the table this year to focus on being the best he could possibly be, whether it was small mechanical things, or footwork, or different things in practice. Or taking it a step further into greater detail in terms of game plan preparation, the dialogue, the communication, cracking the code for various opponents.”

3) ProFootballFocus.com rates the top 50 free agents, with Mario Williams at No. 1. The only Jet or Giant to make the list is Jets defensive tackle Sione Pouha at No. 18.

Also from ProFootballFocus.com: Nnamdi Asomugha is an unusually poor tackler.

Extra point Whether the Patriots will want him or not, Moss seems to have strong feelings for the Patriots. As The Boston Globe pointed out: “He showed up to owner Robert Kraft’s house as he sat shiva following the death of Myra Kraft” and “was in Kevin Faulk’s driveway a week ago when the running back returned from Indianapolis.”

Super Bowl — Lesser-Known Giants Have Their Moment, Too

Super Bowl — Lesser-Known Giants Have Their Moment, Too  People in Justin Tuck jerseys lined the Canyon of Heroes. The crowd showered Eli Manning with chants of “M.V.P.!” On a stage at City Hall, Victor Cruz performed his trademark salsa dance for onlookers, some of whom mimicked his hip-swaying moves.

The latest news, notes and analysis of the N.F.L. playoffs.

All of this was to be expected at Tuesday’s ticker-tape parade in honor of the Giants’ Super Bowl XLVI victory over the New England Patriots. But the raucous celebration was also an opportunity for some of the team’s less-heralded players to soak in New York City’s adulation.

Fans shouted for receiver Ramses Barden, who did not play in the postseason. Just like the rest of his teammates, Adrian Tracy, a linebacker on the practice squad, received a key to the city from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The backup quarterback David Carr appeared to record the proceedings from his cellphone as his float rolled beneath fluttering scraps of paper.

The glorious ride up Broadway might have been the most surreal for tight end Bear Pascoe, who grew up in California on a cattle ranch where acres stretched as far as the eye could see.

“That was like nothing else I’ve ever experienced,” Pascoe said after the parade. “That was really cool, really cool. To see the city turn out like that, and stuff coming down from the windows.”

Wearing a camouflage cap and a Giants sweatshirt, Pascoe was joined on the float by, among others, the injured tight ends Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum, who both walked with crutches because of the knee injuries they sustained during the Super Bowl.

Before the tight ends’ float turned left onto Broadway and moved past the “Charging Bull,” the well-known Wall Street statue in Lower Manhattan, the tight ends coach Mike Pope turned to Pascoe and told him to soak it all in, to enjoy the moment.

A few in the crowd even recognized Pascoe and yelled out his name. (The fans were less familiar with the members of the news media standing on a flatbed truck in front of Pascoe’s float, chanting “Who are you?” as the vehicle shuttled past.)

Pascoe waved to the crowd, which did not greet his float with as loud a roar as it did Manning’s. But while his contingent moved past the Trinity Church on Wall Street, a man in the crowd threw Pascoe a football. Pascoe caught it, autographed it and threw it back. Earlier, Pascoe caught a roll of toilet paper and threw it back into the crowd.

While spectators wearing throwback Lawrence Taylor and Rodney Hampton jerseys outnumbered those in Pascoe jerseys — if there actually were any — Pascoe noticed a woman holding a sign for him. Its flirtatious message was, “I Like Bear Pascoe’s Tight End.”

“I got a girlfriend, ladies,” Pascoe said afterward.

His girlfriend, Katie, was there Tuesday, riding in a separate bus. She did not see the sign from Pascoe’s admirer, but said of its message: “No way! Oh, I think that’s going to catch on.”

Among the other players to receive some of the limelight were the injured starters Jonathan Goff and Terrell Thomas, both of whom missed the season because of knee injuries. Also joining the Giants on stage at City Hall was the rookie defensive tackle Marvin Austin, who missed the season with a torn pectoral muscle.

Perhaps the most amusing instance of newfound fame among lesser-known players was shown on the Twitter feed of the reserve defensive end Justin Trattou.

From a reception after the parade, Trattou sent a photograph of him with the clock-wearing rapper Flavor Flav.

More Evidence Big Football Players Face Heart Risks

More Evidence Big Football Players Face Heart Risks The report in the American Journal of Cardiology followed more than 3,400 National Football League (NFL) players who were active between 1959 and 1988, and found that 334 had died by 2007 -- only about half the rate that would be expected based on U.S. norms.

But certain players, the ones who were biggest during their careers, had higher risks of dying from heart disease or stroke, with defensive linemen especially vulnerable.

The findings build on evidence that football players' big bodies can become a health liability in the long run, said Sherry Baron, a researcher at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati, who led the study.

"I think this makes it clear that if you're big and muscular at a young age, it could have a long-term (health) effect," she said.

According to the study, defensive linemen had a 42 percent higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared with U.S. men in general. Of 498 defensive linemen, 41 died of cardiovascular causes.

Often, professional athletes' muscle mass can make for a high body mass index (BMI), a commonly used measure of weight in relation to height, and Baron said there was an argument that a high BMI based on muscle is not so bad.

The problem, though, is that once big athletes are no longer in the game, it's very hard to keep up their former physical activity levels, she added. Sometimes, injury can make it impossible.

The study also showed that players with a BMI of 30 or higher during their careers, which would qualify them as "obese," were twice as likely to die of cardiovascular causes as their lighter peers.

As for why the ex-players had a lower overall mortality rate than the general public, the authors said one factor was likely to be that few of them smoke, which has been shown in previous studies.

The high BMI numbers might not reflect the fact that more of their weight is based on muscle mass, and their overall higher fitness level and body composition may help as well, they wrote.

But other studies have found that after retirement, pro football players tend to have more heart risk factors, such as high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels and obesity, than the general public.

Cardiologists said the current study has some limitations.

One is that it relied on information from death certificates, which do not always give the whole picture, said Martin Goldman, a cardiologist at Mt Sinai Medical Center in New York, who has studied heart risks for NFL players.

There are also many unknowns, such as how the players' BMIs changed over time, or what kind of lifestyle they led after retirement.

Still, he agreed that the bottom line does seem to be that size matters, adding that big players need to make an effort to lose weight once they're no longer playing.

"They don't necessarily change their eating habits, even though they're not exercising as much," he said.

Both Baron and Goldman agreed that there are implications beyond the NFL, since college and high school football players tend to bulk up to play. And there is evidence this may put them at risk for heart disease later on.

"Young athletes may strive to look like the professional players, but they need to realize there could be long-term health effects," Baron added. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/xPPpyF

(Reporting from New York by Amy Norton at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)

Sports of The Times: New York’s Best Quarterback? It’s Not a Snap Decision

Sports of The Times: New York’s Best Quarterback? It’s Not a Snap Decision All anybody can say for sure is that Eli Manning, with two Super Bowl rings for the Giants, has accomplished more than any other New York quarterback. But is he better than Joe Namath, the Super Bowl III icon whose Jets justified the American Football League? Better than two of the Giants’ previous championship quarterbacks in the modern T-formation era, Phil Simms and Charlie Conerly? Better than Y. A. Tittle, a two-time N.F.L. most valuable player with the Giants?

After watching professional quarterbacks as man and boy for more than six decades, I’ve always hesitated to rank them, say, 1 to 10, for several reasons.

As essential as a quality quarterback is, he doesn’t “win” a Super Bowl; he’s merely on a team that wins a Super Bowl. His success depends on how well his linemen block, how well his receivers get open and how well they catch his passes. It depends on how well his defensive and special teams units do their job. Quarterbacks are not golfers or sprinters or skiers. They’re not out there alone.

As much as anything else, a quarterback’s success also depends on how well his skills fit his coaches’ offensive system.

Another variable is what the ever-changing rules allow a quarterback and his receivers to do that a previous era’s quarterback and receivers could not do. And sometimes, his success or failure depends on how much his skill is sabotaged by inclement weather or an injury.

When Namath was told after Super Bowl III that he now was “king of the hill,” he disagreed.

“No, we’re king of the hill,” he said, meaning all the Jets’ players and coaches.

The Jets didn’t upset the Baltimore Colts, 16-7, in Super Bowl III because Namath guaranteed it. They won because they were the better team that day as Namath engineered their offense, just as the Giants twice were the better team (offense, defense, special teams) in their last-minute Super Bowl upsets of the New England Patriots as Manning engineered their offense.

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As feared by opposing coaches as Namath was — “he tilts the field,” the Raiders ruler Al Davis often said — his career was derailed by knee and wrist surgery as well as the gradual decline of the Jets as a contender. He threw too many interceptions, but so did Brett Favre; each believed that his cannonlike arm could zing the pass in there before a defender could snatch it.

To assume that Manning will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame because he has twice been a winning Super Bowl quarterback is, at best, premature. His eventual résumé will include what he does or doesn’t do over the rest of his career.

Jim Plunkett was the Raiders quarterback on two Super Bowl champions, but he’s not in the Hall of Fame. Conerly isn’t there, either. He should be, but he’s not. He once missed election by two votes and was somehow sidetracked. In the pre-Super Bowl era, he was the Giants’ quarterback on the 1956 N.F.L. championship team that pounded the Bears, 47-7, and on the teams that lost the title to Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts in 1958 (in overtime) and in 1959.

Tittle led the Giants to three consecutive N.F.L. championship games. They were routed in Green Bay, 37-0, in 1961. He threw for 33 touchdowns in 1962, but against the Packers at Yankee Stadium, a frigid swirling wind broke up his passes in a 16-7 loss. After throwing for 36 touchdowns in 1963, he was hobbled by a knee injury during a 14-10 defeat in Chicago. With better luck, Tittle might have been the first New York quarterback with two championships.

And yet Tittle, who also never led the 49ers to the N.F.L. championship before his trade to the Giants, is in the Hall of Fame. Deservedly so.

Simms was never better than in the sunny calm of Super Bowl XXI at the Rose Bowl, completing 22 of 25 passes for 268 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 39-20 triumph over the Denver Broncos. But when the Giants reached Super Bowl XV, Simms was on crutches with an injured foot. His backup, Jeff Hostetler, guided a 15-13 win on Matt Bahr’s five field goals at San Francisco in the N.F.C. title game and a 20-19 triumph over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Fla.

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In the 2000 N.F.C. championship game, Kerry Collins threw five touchdown passes in a 41-0 rout of the Vikings at Giants Stadium, but in Super Bowl XXXV the Ravens’ defense hounded him into completing only 15 of 39 passes for only 112 yards with four interceptions in a 34-7 embarrassment in Tampa.

The Jets, for all of Coach Rex Ryan’s recent proclamations and promises, have yet to return to the Super Bowl. But over the years they advanced to the A.F.C. title game four times — once each with Richard Todd and Vinny Testaverde at quarterback, twice with their incumbent, Mark Sanchez.

Todd’s 1982 team eliminated the Bengals and the Raiders in the playoffs but got stuck in the Orange Bowl swamp created by a weeklong rain before the Dolphins’ 14-0 victory in the conference championship game. Testaverde’s 1998 team led by 10-0 in Denver but disintegrated in a 23-10 loss. Sanchez’s 2009 team lost in Indianapolis, 30-17; his 2010 team lost in Pittsburgh, 24-19.

That leaves Namath as the only Jets quarterback with a Super Bowl ring. Among the Giants quarterbacks, Conerly earned an N.F.L. championship ring in the pre-Super Bowl era, and Simms and Hostetler were each measured for a ring after a Super Bowl victory before Manning earned two. (Simms got a second ring for guiding the 1990 team to an 11-2 start.)

But which quarterback is New York’s best? If you go by rings, it’s Eli Manning. If you don’t, it’s Joe Namath.