Legion of Angels News Archive

As we approach the halfway point of the season, I have been inundated with requests from the commissioner’s office and my peers in the press to make sense of this NFL season.

As the foremost authority on football, everyone wants me reveal the Super Bowl contenders and the Super Bowl pretenders.

This week’s NFL Truths column will address those mysteries.

10. I have no (expletive)ing idea which teams are legitimate. No clue.

I’m embarrassed. I’m paid to make sense of the NFL. This deep into the season, I should have a firm grasp on two or three favorites to win it all. I don’t.

I’m not sold on the undefeated Tennessee Titans as long as Kerry Collins is the quarterback. I nicknamed him Clipboard Kerry Collins years ago, and I still believe it. He’s not a starter. And he’s certainly not a Super Bowl quarterback.

Can he be Trent Dilfer? Maybe. But the Titans don’t have a Ray Lewis. Tennessee’s defense isn’t as good as the Baltimore defense that dragged Dilfer to a Super Bowl. The Titans sport a spotless record and Collins has yet to throw for 200 yards in a game.

I’m not sold on the 5-1 New York Giants. Not as long as Plaxico Burress continues his descent to a level below Terrell Owens. Burress working in New York is a powder keg that will ignite and blow up the Giants. The G-men lost to the Browns. Eli Manning is starting to regress.

The 5-1 Buffalo Bills? No way. Their leading rusher averages 3.5 yards per carry. Their quarterback has thrown five touchdowns. I don’t know anyone on their defense. The Bills have a lovely schedule. They’ll get exposed in the postseason.

What about the Pittsburgh Steelers? Schedule. Over the next month, the Steelers play the Giants, Redskins, Colts and Chargers. Big Ben won’t survive this stretch. Pittsburgh’s offensive line can’t protect.

9. The two teams I sort of like are the Carolina Panthers and the Green Bay Packers.

It troubles me to admit that about the Packers. I’m in the tank for Brett Favre and hoping he embarrasses Ted Thompson. After losing three in a row, the Packers have regained their footing with wins over Seattle and Indy. I expect the Packers to announce they’re for real on Nov. 2 when they face the Titans.

Aaron Rodgers has been better than I expected. Green Bay will score a lot of points the second half of the season.

Carolina gets to fatten its record with games against the Cardinals, Raiders and Lions over the next month. I love Carolina’s defense. It’s arguably the fastest unit in the league. Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad form a terrific tandem at receiver. And John Fox is as good a coach as there is.

8. Here’s my sleeper team: Da Bears.

Kyle Orton has won me over. He’s a pocket-passing version of Jake Delhomme although Orton is more accurate. I never envisioned Orton developing into a solid NFL starter. I thought his arm was too weak and he was too inaccurate under pressure.

I was wrong. The kid is completing 62 percent of his passes, which is a 10 percent improvement over his career numbers. Chicago posted 48 points against a Minnesota defense that can’t be run on.

If the Bears make the playoffs, they can beat any team they face.

7. After watching Brett Favre’s Wednesday press conference, there is even less reason to doubt the accuracy of Jay Glazer’s reporting about Favre helping the Lions prepare for the Packers.

I just happen to disagree with people who think that it is somehow a stain on Favre’s Green Bay legacy. It’s not.

The Packers treated Favre poorly. He has every right to want to see the organization flop without him, and of course he’s going to do everything he can to assure that it happens. What Favre did isn’t unusual in the slightest.

You ever seen someone fired from a job and escorted out by security? You ever wondered why they ask for a player’s playbook when they cut him? You think fired coaches don’t share everything they know about the team that canned them?

Brett Favre is a human being. He wants to see the Packers fail. There’s nothing wrong with that.

6. Speaking of rooting for failure, Vince Young didn’t appear all that happy watching the Titans improve to 6-0 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

I’m not trying to pile on Vince. Don’t make a big deal about this observation. But Young stood by himself away from the rest of the offensive players throughout much of the Tennessee-Kansas City contest.

If he’s trying to learn on game days, he’s learning from a distance. The backup quarterbacks usually stand around the offensive coaches and try to be around the communication process. Not Vince. He stood on an island on Sunday.

In fairness, he might need to stand back for a minute so he can see the big picture. And he did seem to show a little emotion when the Titans scored.

5. The Rams should not overreact and give Jim Haslett the permanent head-coaching assignment because the Rams have won two straight.

Haslett is benefitting from ownership putting pressure on the entire roster. When a head coach gets relieved this early in the season, the locker room gains some intensity and focus. It’s too early in the season to quit and mail it in.

Guys are still playing for contract leverage and dreaming about individual achievements. Before anyone anoints Haslett, let’s see what the Rams are doing in early December.

4. I’m disappointed Mike Singletary was given the 49ers job at midseason.

As an interim coach Singletary could screw up his resume by taking over the 49ers at this time. If the 49ers go in the tank and lose their remaining games, Singletary could take the blame and end up being positioned poorly for a genuine opportunity.

Singletary was on track to be an NFL head coach. I realize you have to take these opportunities whenever and however they’re presented. But I wish Mike would’ve waited.

3. When was the last time Al Davis made a bold decision that worked? Selecting Sebastian Janikowski in the first round of the 2000 draft.

Janikowski hasn’t been a Pro Bowl kicker. He’s not headed for the Hall of Fame. But he has remained a consistent weapon for the Raiders throughout his career. Last week he beat the Jets with a 57-yard field goal in overtime, bailing out coach Tom Cable who blew the game in regulation by calling one of those overused, last-second timeouts before a field-goal attempt.

There is no such thing as “icing” a kicker in warm weather. Leave the icing to hockey.

2. Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler and Craig James refuse to place my 20th-ranked Ball State Cardinals in their Associated Press Top 25 polls.

This hurts. You’re talking about three of my favorite college football broadcasters. My Cardinals are 7-0 and likely to hit 8-0 this weekend after a contest against Eastern Michigan.

But let me be perfectly honest. I don’t have a real problem with Herbie, Fowler and James being a bit suspicious of the Cardinals. We’ve struggled to replace star receiver Dante Love, and we haven’t been tested since September.

The most difficult portion of Ball State’s schedule is in November when the Cardinals play Northern Illinois, Central Michigan and Western Michigan. If we get through November unscathed and Herbstreit, Fowler and James continue to ignore my Cards, you’ll be treated to an angry, hilarious column about the Three BCS Elitists.

*1. Is anything more enjoyable than watching the Cowboys bomb and T.O. implode on the sideline?

As I said last week, Jerry Jones knows talent and is willing to pursue it. He knows nothing about winning chemistry and how to build it or maintain it.

Source — FOX Sports

HAIKOU, China (AP) - Annika Sorenstam announced in June that she is “stepping away” from golf at the end of this season, a phrase the 10-time major winner has repeatedly used rather than say she’s retiring.

Now, with a half-dozen events left before she plays the Dec. 11-14 Dubai Ladies Masters — a Ladies European Tour event — Sorenstam is hedging a bit more.

“We’ll see if I will come back in a few years to play,” Sorenstam said Thursday, on the eve of the 54-hole Grand China Air tournament, the first LPGA event in China.

“As of now, I’m leaving the door open. … That’s why I’m not using the ‘R’ word.”

The 38-year-old Swede is getting married in January, and she expects family and business interests to keep her occupied. She designs golf courses, has a clothing line, a charitable foundation and runs a golf academy.

Sorenstam said she won’t miss the “daily grind” of professional golf — the practice, gym sessions and pressure to perform.

“I have done that for so long and I have enjoyed it very much,” she said. “I’ve pushed myself. I’ve enjoyed the journey, but I’ve come to a point now where I’m very happy, I’m very satisfied with what I have achieved.”

Still, Sorenstam clearly has reservations and is choosing her words carefully.

“If I get the urge to come back, I have a chance,” Sorenstam said. “That’s why I have never said this is the end. But we’ll see.

“There are new challenges ahead,” she added. “Getting married and starting a family. Who knows? I might come out on tour sooner than later. It might be tougher than I think it is.”

Sorenstam has won three times this season and heads a 63-player field in China — two-thirds of whom are Asians. And that’s not because the field is stacked because of the location.

Fifty-one players come off the top of the LPGA’s money list. Eight more are Chinese, invited by the Chinese Golf Association. And four others are sponsors’ invitations, three of whom are Chinese. The other sponsors’ invitation is England’s Laura Davies.

Yani Tseng of Taiwan will be among the crowd favorites at the West Coast Golf Club, located on the mainland Chinese island of Hainan — situated between the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin.

In June at the LPGA Championship, Tseng became the first rookie to win a major since South Korean Se Ri Pak in 1998. At 19, she was also the second-youngest woman to win a major. Morgan Pressel — who is also in the China Air field — was 18 when she won the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year.

Another favorite will be 19-year-old Shanshan Feng, an LPGA rookie this season. She is also the only Chinese player on the LPGA tour.

“Chinese golf is getting bigger and bigger. It is getting more and more popular,” Feng said. “China can become another Korea for golf. I believe so. Maybe not now but in the future.”

In the LPGA’s rookie of the year standings, five of the top six are Asians. Tseng is No. 1, followed by South Koreans Na-yeon Choi and Hee-young Park. Japanese Momoko Ueda is No. 4 and Feng is No. 6.

Sorenstam credited Pak with popularizing women’s golf in South Korea, just as Sorenstam benefited from breakthroughs by fellow Swedes Liselotte Neumann and Helen Alfredsson.

“If I would guess what will happen in the next five to 10 years, we’re going to continue to see growth from this part of the world,” Sorenstam said. “I’m sure we’re going to see a lot more Chinese players joining the LPGA.”

Source — FOX Sports

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - The Tampa Bay Rays have been resilient all season, so manager Joe Maddon is not going to start doubting his team now.

A day after Boston closed within percentage points of first place in the AL East with an awesome display of power, the division-leading Rays shut down the Red Sox with superb pitching in a 2-1 victory Tuesday night.

Andy Sonnanstine pitched six strong innings and Tampa Bay’s bullpen sparkled, too, to enable Tampa Bay to rebound from a 13-5 loss in which the Red Sox homered six times and beat All-Star left-hander Scott Kazmir.

“It’s all about starting pitching every night, not just tonight,” Maddon said. “We’ve played well this year because of that and defense.”

Dioner Navarro singled with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth to drive in the winning run for the second time in a week against the defending World Series champions, who have lost seven of eight games at Tropicana Field this season.

The Rays, who have led the division for the past 54 days, moved one game ahead of the Red Sox, who dropped two of three to the Rays at Fenway Park last week.

Dan Wheeler (5-5) struck out the only batter he faced to bail Tampa Bay out of a ninth-inning jam and get the victory.

“We’re finally getting to the point now where we’re starting to believe that we can beat these guys, and that’s very important,” Maddon said. “You’ve got to believe you can beat all the guys in the division if you’re going to win it.”

The Rays loaded the bases on Jason Bartlett’s bloop single, a walk and a hit batsmen. Navarro, whose ninth-inning double off Jonathan Papelbon gave Tampa Bay a 5-4 victory in Boston a week ago Tuesday, ended it against Justin Masterson (6-5) with his hit to center over a drawn-in outfield.

The Rays had tied it 1-all on Carlos Pena’s seventh-inning, opposite-field homer off Josh Beckett.

“It’s amazing how one pitch can change the complexion of the game,” Beckett said.

“I don’t think he hit that ball that good. Ninety-eight percent of the guys in the big leagues will fly out to left field on that. But he’s strong and you can’t leave a pitch up to him like that.”

Beckett and Sonnanstine were outstanding against each another for the second time in six days.

The Boston starter limited the Rays to Pena’s 29th homer and two singles in eight innings, and Sonnanstine held the Red Sox to three hits and an unearned run on Kevin Youkilis’ sacrifice fly.

Both also allowed one run in a game Tampa Bay eventually won 4-2 in 14 innings last Wednesday.

“Sonnanstine was spectacular. That’s two games in a row that I’ve seen him about as good as I can imagine him,” Maddon said.

Beckett retired 13 in a row before Cliff Floyd singled to right with one out in the fifth. He walked Navarro, but got out of the inning when he struck out Eric Hinske and Gabe Gross.

The Red Sox snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth.

Jacoby Ellsbury beat out an infield single and Dustin Pedroia followed with a sharp grounder that Rays third baseman Evan Longoria bobbled and then kicked for an error. David Ortiz grounded to first, moving the runners up, and Youkilis followed with his sacrifice fly.

Akinori Iwamura singled with one out in the sixth for the second hit off Beckett. Pena’s homer in the seventh was his 15th since the All-Star break and only the second Beckett has allowed in his last six starts.

“I was throwing strikes with most of my pitches when I needed to,” Beckett said. “Like I said, it was unfortunate that one pitch changed the game like that.”

Notes

Red Sox 3B Mike Lowell, playing with a sore hip, left the game after singling in the ninth inning. He could hardly run to first base, and his status will be evaluated Wednesday. … Several Rays players, including Longoria and B.J. Upton, have mohawk haircuts, and Rays manager Joe Maddon showed up Tuesday wearing one as well. “It’s a unity kind of thing,” Maddon said, although his barely resembled a mohawk because the sides of his head were not trimmed as low as the others. “I didn’t hold back, I promise,” the manager said, insisting he gave the barber permission to cut it low. … Red Sox LF Jason Bay left the team to be with his wife, who is expecting a baby. He likely will return on Friday, when Boston begins a weekend series at Toronto.

Source — FOX Sports

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Tony Dungy doesn’t doubt Bob Sanders will be back in the Colts lineup this season. He’s just not sure how long Sanders will be out.

The 2007 defensive player of the year could miss up to six weeks after spraining his right ankle last weekend at Minnesota, and team officials are contemplating whether Sanders may need arthroscopic surgery on his knee, too.

“It’s kind of similar to (receiver) Roy Hall’s injury,” Dungy said. “He had his knee scoped, too, so he’s going to be out a while longer. If it’s going to be two or three weeks, then it makes sense to get it scoped. But (defensive tackle) Keyunta Dawson had the same kind of thing and he told me he was going to practice today, so we’re not really sure.”

Team president Bill Polian was more definitive Tuesday night while taping a segment for his Saturday night television show on WISH-TV. Polian said Sanders would miss four to six weeks.

Dungy has been wary of establishing ironclad timetables since he told reporters that tight end Dallas Clark was expected to go on injured reserve after tearing his ACL during the 2006 season. Two days later, the prognosis changed and while Clark missed four games, he played in the season finale and had a prominent role in the Colts’ Super Bowl run.

The latest injury continues a strange even-numbered-year hex for Sanders, who played in just six games during his rookie season in 2004 and four games in 2006. In odd-numbered years, Sanders has started 14 and 15 games, respectively.

Dungy wasn’t even sure how Sanders was hurt at Minnesota. He left during the fourth quarter and hasn’t been available to reporters since then.

“I’m still learning the extent of it myself,” Dungy said. “I guess, whether it was the ‘dreaded high ankle sprain,’ I guess I found that out Monday night.”

Losing one of the NFL’s hardest hitters will certainly impact the Colts’ struggling run defense.

Indy has already allowed Chicago rookie Matt Forte and Minnesota Pro Bowler Adrian Peterson to each rush for more than 100 yards, and the Colts rank 28th in the league against the run.

The likely replacement is second-year safety Melvin Bullitt, who made the team last year as an undrafted free agent. Bullitt finished with two tackles Sunday, but has often practiced with the starters.

“I feel like I’m prepared,” Bullitt said. “It’s always hard to replace a player like Bob, who was the defensive player of the year and, in my opinion, is the best safety in the league.”

Sanders’ injury is the latest setback for a team that has been ravaged by injuries all season.

Former league sacks champion Dwight Freeney missed all of training camp after sustaining a season-ending foot injury, which required surgery last November. Sanders, too, sat out training camp after having offseason shoulder surgery for the second straight year.

Then in July, two more starters were hurt. Two-time league MVP Peyton Manning had surgery to remove an infected bursa sac from his left knee, which kept him sidelined six weeks. Linebacker Tyjuan Hagler tore a pectoral muscle while lifting weights. Hagler is still on the physically unable to perform list.

It hasn’t gotten any better.

Since August, the Colts lost Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday, Clark and projected starting right guard Mike Pollak with knee injuries. Saturday and Pollak haven’t played since Aug. 24, while Clark missed the second half of the season opener and was held out of the Minnesota game.

Heck, even offensive line coach Howard Mudd is out after having knee surgery.

On Sunday, things got even worse. Besides Sanders, the Colts also lost left tackle Tony Ugoh with a groin injury.

While Ugoh isn’t expected to play against Jacksonville, Saturday is and Clark could if he can stay healthy in practice this week.

“It’s great, great. How are you feeling?” Clark joked Wednesday. “Today is a big day. I’m going to go out there and get hit around and see how it feels. It feels good, it feels stable, so today will tell a lot. Hopefully, I’ll make it through without getting any more sore.”

And the Colts believe they can get by temporarily without Sanders, their defensive leader, because they have a bye next week.

“With a guy like Bob, of course, there’s going to be some dropoff,” Freeney said. “Maybe you won’t see someone make that spectacular play, but you’ve still got to make plays. When one guy goes down, another guy has to step up, and there have to be 11 guys swarming to the ball.”

Source — FOX Sports

MIAMI (Reuters) - Record-breaking quarterback Brett Favre has changed his mind about retirement and is looking for a team for next season, according to media reports on Friday.

However the NFL’s all-time leader in pass completions is unlikely to find a home at his long-standing club, the Green Bay Packers.

ESPN.com reported that Favre had written a formal letter to Green Bay, where he played for 16 years, asking for a release from his contract in order for him to sign with another team.

The website said that Favre, who retired at the end of last season with an emotional press conference, had asked to come back to the team earlier this week but that the Packers were not receptive to his plans.

A statement from the Packers on Friday indicated that they were already committed to next season without him and with Aaron Rodgers, who has been understudy to Favre for the past three years, as starting quarterback.

“The finality of his decision to retire was accepted by the organization. At that point, the Green Bay Packers made the commitment to move forward with our football team.

“As a retired player, Brett has the option to apply for reinstatement with Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“If that were to occur, he would become an active member of the Green Bay Packers. As always, the Packers will do what’s right and in the best interest of the team,” the statement said.

If Favre were to be reinstated then Green Bay could either keep him on their squad, try to trade him or release him from the remainder of his three year contract with the organisation.

The quarterback quit after leading the Packers to a 13-3 record and the NFC title game where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants in overtime.

Favre, who started 275 consecutive regular season and playoff games, broke NFL records in his final campaign for most touchdown passes (442), passing yards (61,655), pass completions (5,377) and games with at least three touchdown passes (63).

The league’s only triple Most Valuable Player, Favre led the Packers to the 1997 Super Bowl title and was named to nine Pro Bowl teams.

Green Bay plan to retire Favre’s jersey at the opening game of next season and their statement hinted that remained their plan.

“As with all Packers greats, Brett’s legacy will always be celebrated by our fans and the organization, regardless of any change in his personal intentions,” they said.

Source — Yahoo!