Prison Release for Burgess

Plaxico Burress got out of prison 4 months earlier than most of us expected.

To top it off, he was released early for good behavior!!!  Who would have thunk it. Plaxico and behaving are not on the same planet.

I must say, prison, like time, brings on changes. I only hope that the NFL sees it that way and allows him to get picked up by a team.Right now it looks as if the Eagles have first dibs, but I think that Plaxico will be better suited in St Louis with the Rams for three reasons:

• Former team mate Fred Robbins
• Former defensive coordinator with the Giants, Steve Spagnuola, and last but most importantly,
• the Rams have no veteran receivers and Plaxico fits that bill.

I MAKE THE CALL.

INJUSTICE

The NCAA, BCS and all of those collegiate organizations who profit from athletes playing for no pay need to take a good look at themselves.

You use these students for your advantage and when something goes wrong, you are quick to punish the student and not the system.

Yes, I know. How can we punish the system would be the very next question. USC deserves to keep the 2004 BCS Trophy.

The game was won on the playing field against Oklahoma and not against someone’s wallet. Reggie Bush’s ability to play football had nothing to do with accepting benefits from an agent or an alumni. His prowess was on the football field and not at the bank.

Give me a break here people. You took his Heisman, and now you are taking away the championship trophy and punishing USC by allowing them a mere 15 scholarships for the next three years?

Answer me one question: You have taken away all of Reggie’s belongings, now, does the Pac 10 still get to keep the 14 million dollars they got for winning the BCS. Try taking that away and see what happens. Where is the justice?  I MAKE THE CALL.

NFL Team Logos

Ron Rivera has replaced John Fox as the coach of the Carolina Panthers, and he has to rebuild if the Panthers are to become legitimate contenders in the NFC.

Being his first year and with the current talent he has, he is not expected to do anything this season. That being the case, stop playing poker and use the number one pick that you have  as a bargaining chip, to stock pile some players that the team desperately needs.

Teams like Washington, Oakland Tennessee, Cincinnati and Arizona need a quarterback and Cam Newton has a lot of stock value to bargain with. Step up to the plate, make the call and use him. After all, you don’t have a second round pick anyway, so make the deal and begin stock piling players for your run back to respectability for the Panthers. I MAKE THE CALL.

NFL Team Logos

Moving kickoffs back to the 30 yard line, is it good for the game or is it safer for the players?

In my humble opinion, it does neither.

All this new rule change does is confuse both players and fans alike and make the owners look as if they don’t know what is going on in the football world.

In other words, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Leave well enough alone. No one has been complaining about it so why are they changing it.

The owners say that it is a safety issue and pushing it back to the 30 yard line will decrease the number of hits the return man will have to take simply because most of the kickoffs will end up in the end zone without being returned. I say bunk.

It will just give the return man more incentive to bring it out of the end zone because the longer the run, the more stats he piles up. It will in no way decrease the amount of hits the return man takes. It only makes it longer and that will subject him to more hits because he has much further to go. I MAKE THE CALL.

For the past 9 days, owners and player reps were locked in a room pretending to negotiate for a Collective Bargain Agreement.

Come 11:59 pm tonight, mark my words, there will be a lockout by the owners.

If nothing has been done in over a week, what can happen in less than 24 hours?

Unless both parties have an epiphany, put a stake in it. The talks are over for the time being.

The sad part about all of this is everyone loses except the highly paid lawyers.

NFL Team Logos

Yes, the union will decertify and of course file an injunction with hopes of preventing the lockout, but for right now, it really does not matter.

Let’s see how far into the summer months this goes until the owners and players come to their senses and begin to give and take on the issues.

Right now, both parties are acting like members of congress, Democrats and Republicans who can’t agree on diddly squat no matter who is right or who is wrong. I MAKE THE CALL.

As much as I hate to say it, I must.

It looks like the owners are going to lockout the players. I don’t see an agreement by March 3rd. Why? It is very simple.

All the problems associated with the NFL is self inflicted and neither players or owners are willing to recognize this.

Players are not going to give back what hey have gotten, and why should they.

Owners want more and are trying to take back money that the players are now getting.

In other words, the owners want more for less. Having to give up a billion from the top seems ridiculous and wanting to play an 18 game season with minimal benefits and remunerations is really asking too much of the players, not to mention the safety concerns.

The only way to prevent the lockout is to put everything on the table from both parties and go from there, keeping in mind that what the players are currently receiving is not part of the bargaining chip. I MAKE THE CALL. (RELEASE TUESDAY)

Cam Newton

Like Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, former Auburn quarterback, Cam Newton signed one of the most lucrative agreements ever coming straight out of college.

Newton inked a deal with Armour in excess of $1 million annually. He is expected to go very high in this year’s NFL Draft, and should be among one of the first 3 quarterbacks selected.

Newton played just for a year at Auburn, but he took them to an undefeated season and their first championship in 54 years. Nice work if you can get, and Newton deserves it. I MAKE THE CALL.

NFL Team Logos

Will the NFL have a deal done by March 3rd, 2011? I seriously doubt it.

Will we have a lockout? We most certainly will.

Why? Here are the reasons:

• The Players Association will not budge on the one billion that the owners are asking for, and you can’t blame them. You don’t give back what you already have.
• No player wants an 18 season game schedule, but the owners do. I don’t see anything wrong with an 18 game season provided the players interests and welfare are protected.
• There has to be a Rookie Salary Cap. I don’t care who does not like or want it, it has to be done. Walking off a college football field and demanding millions of dollars for unproven professional talent is simply ludacris.
• Revamp the off season conditioning policy to allow the players flexible schedules for staying in shape, and just perhaps, you won’t need more than 2 pre-season games to get in shape.
• Last, but not least, think about the safety aspect of a longer season. No matter what your opinion on the 18 game season is, believe me, it is going to happen regardless of your thoughts about it.

I MAKE THE CALL.

Did # 45 live up to its hype?

It certainly did.  The game was played in the trenches, and the coach with best game plan won.

Yes, McCarthy had a better plan despite losing top players on either side of the ball. He came prepared to face and defend off any adversity that the Steelers threw at his Packers.

I must admit that the Steelers gave him a lot of help in this win. The Steelers gave him three turnovers, resulting in 21 points, and they allowed a third and ten reception that should not have happened. They also committed a foolish penalty that but them back on the seven yard line, when they could have been on the forty yard line.

My pick on the winner was off base, but my point on the coach with the plan was spot on. I MAKE THE CALL.

On Sunday at Cowboys Stadium in Fort Worth Texas, two Titans will face each other in a show down at 6:29 pm.

Each team has strenghts and weaknesses on either side of the ball.

Each team must overcome its short comings in order to win.

Most of the talk is about the players when it comes down to who wins and who loses.

Wrong. It is now about the coaches and their game plans.

We all know what each coach has to work with. What we as fans don’t know is how the coaches will game plan their players to be successful in their skill spots to overcome the opposing coach’s schemes.

Fans when it comes down to picking the winner, it is about McCarthy and Tomlin, not Rogers or Rothlisberger.

At the end of the day, the winner is Steelers 28, Packers 17. I MAKE THE CALL.