Tag: Football

To Leave Or Not To Leave, That Is The Question (Either Way It’s All About The Benjamin’s Baby!!)

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 P.M. marked the beginning of free agency in the NFL. It didn’t take long for teams to start signing and resigning players shortly after the 4 O’ clock hour. There were many moves that happened right away, and there are many moves that are still going to take place. I will give you a recap of what moves have been made and where your favorite players will be suiting up next season. I will also give you a quick rundown of some key players who have yet to sign a new deal. Some of these moves make you scratch your head from a football standpoint, but you need to remember these moves are about one thing and one thing only; money. With that being said, let’s take this thing for a ride.

One of the biggest signings so far has surely been Mike Wallace. Tuesday afternoon, the former Pittsburgh Steeler, signed the dotted line to play for the Miami Dolphins. The deal is reportedly for 5 years and 60 million dollars (30 million of which are guaranteed). It appears that the Steelers only offered Wallace 10 million per year, however Wallace was looking for a minimum of 12 million per year (cha ching). Another significant signing that occurred on Tuesday was the Cleveland Browns signing former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Paul Kruger to a 5 year, 40 million dollar contract. This is big money for a pretty unproven player in Kruger. He is a good linebacker but does not have the track record that would merit a contract of this magnitude. Only time will tell if the Browns made a smart move by signing Kruger (considering we are talking about the Browns I’m sure this move will backfire). There were a couple of moves at the tight end position Tuesday with Martellus Bennett and Anthony Fasano both on the move. Bennett, the former New York Giant, inked a 4 year, 20 million deal with the Chicago Bears, giving Jay Cutler another legitimate option other than Brandon Marshall. Anthony Fasano formerly of the Miami Dolphins signed with the already very busy Kansas City Chiefs. The deal is reportedly for 4 years and 16 million dollars. The Chiefs continue to improve their roster, and dare I say that the Chiefs might sniff at a winning record this season? Yeah you’re right, probably not. The biggest news at the tight end position by far was the decision by future Hall-Of-Famer Tony Gonzalez to come back to play one more season with the Atlanta Falcons. This season will be Gonzalez’s 18th, and based on his production from 2012, I’m sure the Falcons are giddy at the news of his comeback.

On the defensive side of the ball there hasn’t been as much noise, but there have been some moves that will impact the New York teams next season. The Giants had released Chris Canty who is now a member of the defending champion Baltimore Ravens. In his place, the Giants have brought in Cullen Jenkins formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles. The New York Jets made some noise a day prior to the free agent frenzy with the earth shattering signing of David Garrard, however they made a couple moves Tuesday as well. They restructured Santonio Holmes’ and Antonio Cromarties’ contracts and they can wave bye-bye to Mike Devito as he is off to the most popular place to live these days (apparently), Kansas City. Another noteworthy move from the defensive side of the ball was that the Eagles released Nnamdi Asomugha. Asomugha is one of the worst free agent signings in recent history (don’t worry Albert Haynesworth, your’e still #1 in my heart). Another notable release was Ryan Fitzpatrick being let go from the Buffalo Bills. At least they didn’t wipe their butt with all that money (haha). William Gay, formerly of the solid Arizona Cardinals defense will add some depth to an aging Pittsburgh Steelers defense. Also, Dunta Robinson, formerly of the Atlanta Falcons, signed with the new and improved Kansas City Chiefs.

At this point there are still some big names hanging out in free agency that have yet to sign somewhere. Most notably Wes Welker, Reggie Bush, Ahmad Bradshaw, Greg Jennings, Rashard Mendenhall, and Steven Jackson. All of these guys will find a home in the coming days, it is just a matter of where. You also have Victor Cruz in waiting as a restricted free agent. For those of you who don’t know what it means to be a restricted free agent allow me to explain: A restricted free agent can negotiate with any team until April 19th. If another team presents said free agent with an offer, the original team has an opportunity to match or exceed the offer. If the original team decides not to match the offer, they will receive draft compensation based on the qualifying offer. While I like Victor Cruz as a player (and I’m sure the Giants like him too), it’s not about the player, it’s about the money. Can the Giants keep Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz? I highly doubt it.

Let us move on to the other New York “team”, the Jets. The New York Jets are going to be one of the worst teams in the league this year. They have two quarterbacks who are both completely useless, and they are losing players in bulk this offseason. They already released Calvin Pace, Bart Scott, and Erik Smith in February. As I mentioned earlier, they lost mike Devito to free agency, they waived Sione Po’uha, and it is likely that Darrelle Revis will be traded before this years draft. It is safe to say that they are in rebuilding mode.

All in all it has been a busy couple of days in free agency, and the fun has only begun. As it stands so far, you’d have to say that the Kansas City Chiefs are the big winner so far. There are big names still left to sign so that may change in a heartbeat. Stay tuned for the rest of the moves around the NFL.

If you enjoy my writing, follow me over to intheneutralzone.com where I am a contributing author there as well. Also you can follow me on twitter @DaveEttinger2 or like me on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/DaveTalksSports. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Oo Yea I almost forgot….The Super Bowl

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

Does anybody else hate the fact that we have to wait an extra week for the Super Bowl? Personally, I hate it. Now I know this will never change because god forbid we take money out of anyone’s wallet. That would be a crime. But, from a fans perspective it really irks me that we have football every Sunday for 20 weeks in a row, and then before the most important game of the year we decide to take a week off. The only thing in sports worse than this is the time they take off before the College Football National “Championship”. Now I get why they take the week off. It helps set the stage by building up the anticipation for the game, the players get to have time with their families and friends in a different city every year, and the NFL gets to grab its share of the prize through player appearances and media week. Also, the host city boosts its economy while the NFL is in town. With all that being said, I still wish they would do away with the circus that is media week.

Lets move past the things we can not change. However, I do think the week off has an effect on the outcome of the game. The Ravens have been riding this wave of “destiny” as some would call it. When people say that Ray Lewis is destined to win this Super Bowl in his last season, I say they are carrying momentum through the playoffs. Most of this momentum is due to getting injured players back at the right time and Joe Flacco playing out of his mind right now doesn’t exactly hurt either. In my opinion the week off definitely favors the 49ers. It gives some of the injured 49ers a chance to get healthy, most notably Justin Smith. And it could possibly slow the Baltimore train that steamrolled its way through New England(which feels like a month ago not a week ago). Now am I saying that I want the Ravens to win and it’s an unfair advantage for them to have an extra week off? No not at all. I actually want the 49ers to win, due to my slight dislike of Ray “I didn’t do it” Lewis. What the Ravens need to do to win this game is try to be the more physical team. That is not an easy task when playing San Francisco. If you have watched them play this year you’d know that Navorro Bowman, Patrick Willis, and Aldon Smith are beasts on the football field. So, lets assume that the 49ers are going to be the more physical team on Sunday. How else can the Ravens win this football game without divine intervention? Well, a heavy dose of Ray Rice would be a nice start, but that will only be effective if Joe Flacco starts the game by taking deep shots down the field. This will stretch the field, keep the 49ers secondary honest, and prevent them from creeping towards the line on running plays. Once a nice balance of run and pass has been established that should allow an opportunity for them to go play action to Torrey Smith or Anquan Boldin throughout the game. This game plan should allow the Ravens to regain their momentum they’ve been carrying the past couple of weeks. While I believe this will work in the first half and the Ravens should jump out to an early lead, I don’t see them sustaining their offensive attack. Ultimately, I think the outcome of this game will come down to the team that is more physical and whichever QB plays better. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been waiting for Colin Kaepernick to make a huge “rookie” mistake that will cost his team a game. It just hasn’t happened yet, and I’m not about to pick this game for it to start. I think he’ll play mistake free football and manage the game as he has done since he took the reigns of this machine 10 weeks ago. I see this being a close game where the Ravens jump out to an early lead. However, in the end I see the 49ers controlling the time of possession and just playing too physical a brand of football for the Ravens to withstand. Sorry Ray, your “path” ends in New Orleans. You’ll have only your own shortcomings to thank for losing this game. My prediction for this game is 27-23(San Francisco). Enjoy the game!

The UnNatural Disaster that is the NY JETS

~ Dave Ettinger ~ Leave a comment

Hey let’s hop in our time machine and go back to 2009. Come on, this will be fun. So here we are beating quality teams on the road in the postseason. We come one win shy of a trip to the Super Bowl, but it was certainly a successful season. We have a top 5 rushing attack, top 5 defense, very good receivers, and an up and coming quarterback who’s confidence is building game by game. Our coach is a defensive minded coach who seems to know how to rally the troops every Sunday. Quick let us fast forward to the present day. We are in my estimation the most poorly run organization in the NFL, and we are the laughing stock of newspapers and sports talk shows nationwide. I’m going to tell you how we got from where we were to how we became the most entertaining circus since Barnum and Baileys. Then I’ll break down step by step what we need to do to get back to Super Bowl contention.
After consecutive trips to the AFC Championship in ’09 and ’10, you’d think the Jets would have a blueprint for success in their back pocket somewhere. Well someone from the Patriots obviously infiltrated the Jets organization as a spy and did that flashy memory erase thingy from Men In Black. Yo, Tommy Lee Jones is looking old as hell isn’t he? Which brings me to Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzanegger. Guys, you’re like 100! Stop making action flicks! You guys look ridiculous! Anyway, here’s why the Jets have crumbled over the past two seasons. Mark Sanchez is Alex Smith. They are both mentally weak, and they are at the peak of their potential; game managers. If Sanchez is going to be your guy you need to cater to his needs. Which is really the Jets biggest problem. If you need to have a perfect roster built around your QB just to be successful, then Sanchez isn’t your guy. You want my professional opinion? Sanchez is a bum. A franchise QB should be your captain and leader! He shouldn’t sulk and let his play circle the drain because your owner brought in Tim Tebow. That is the only time I will bring up that guy in this entire article because he’s obviously horrendous and isn’t worth wasting my breath on. Clearly not a football move, clearly for $ and front page headlines, blah blah blah we all know this already. Somebody stuff a sock in Skip Bayless’ mouth and tape it shut please. He obviously gets paid to play devils advocate because even he cant believe the garbage that spews out his mouth. Anyway, the Jets need someone to smack them silly and then sit them down in front of a mirror. If it sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it’s probably a, yup you got it, a duck. Rex Ryan needs to get fired because he’s not the guy. If you’re not going to fire him then at least tell him to shut his trap. Mark Sanchez is also not the guy, so why don’t we extend his freakin contract for no good reason. I mean come on!! The jets have literally done the exact opposite of what they should be doing. And as if last year couldn’t have gone any worse, why don’t we express to the rest of the league that we WANT to trade Darrelle Revis? Yup sure great idea Mr new General Manager guy, lets find the only way possible to get less value out of him. He only missed almost an entire season with a serious injury. And he’s only about the most stubborn guy in the world when it comes to contract negotiations. So lets please trade him for a 5th round pick and a bucket of chicken. All my Seinfeld fans out there got that one. What they should have done was trade him when his value was highest. Unfortunately that time isn’t now so they need to keep him until after the season starts, let him play well, and then trade him for as many pieces as possible. For all of you Jets fans out there that drink the Rex Ryan kool-aid, we are going to do this because we are NOT GOOD and we are in rebuilding mode. Dumb Fan #1: We are? Really? Me: Uh yea we suck. On that note, we need to start from scratch and rebuild this franchise. We need to get a bunch of draft picks for Revis and start to clear cap space for 2 years from now. Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez need to be fired and we need to start filling all of the holes on the roster. Those holes include : at least 2 WR’s, 2 RB’s, a TE, 2 O-Lineman, and a pass rush. Oo yea I almost forgot, we also need a QB, but that’s just a tiny little detail. How silly of me. So, as anyone with eyes can see, we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can think about the playoffs. Lets get to work then. Think you have the answer to the Jets problems?? Leave your ideas in the comment section below…..