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The National Football League is considering extending its schedule from 17 to 18 weeks.
Maybe they should just go to a 52-week schedule. It might be the only way they can keep their players out of trouble.
The players association may be concerned about the risk of injury due to the physical battering bodies take but obviously these guys have far too much money and free time for their own good.
NFL players show up in mug shots almost as often as they do on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Ben Roethlisberger’s reputation, despite never having been arrested, went from one-man team to one-man crime wave. JaMarcus Russell was arrested Monday for possession of codeine-laced cough syrup. This comes after he was released in May by the Raiders, who have started legal proceedings to recoup some of the $9 million they advanced the former first-round draft pick.
Russell is this generation’s Art Schlichter, another quarterback who squandered athletic talent — and riches — with a dubious lifestyle, bad friends, too many parties and a sense of misplaced entitlement.
Then there’s Tennessee quarterback Vince Young, cited for assault at a Dallas strip club. Michael Vick went to his 30th birthday party and Quanis Phillips, one of the codefendants in Vick’s dogfighting case, got shot.
Nobody’s sure who shot Phillips, although, in unrelated news, veterinarians reported curiously happy dogs shooting each other knowing looks for several days afterward. The problem for Vick is, he wasn’t supposed to be associating with criminal types. Notice a trend? All quarterbacks. And, as football players, they’re supposed to be the smart ones? The league doesn’t need to protect quarterbacks so much as it needs to protect us from the quarterbacks.
Justice is blind
Perhaps, what is fair depends on who you are in the NFL. Players get fined, suspended, vilified. Everyone else not so much. Former Raiders assistant Randy Hanson had a meeting with coach Tom Cable and ended up with a broken jaw. Must’ve walked into a door. Funny how those things happen
Saint’s head coach Sean Payton faced accusations of abusing pain killers and his assistant Joe Vitt was accused of stealing them. The silence from league headquarters was deafening.
When Lions’ president Tom Lewand was arrested for driving with twice the legal alcohol limit, team owner William Clay Ford did what his team is always known for — nothing! Now, it’s understandable having to watch the Lions everyday would drive anyone to drink but, you’d think the team president could afford a taxi.
Running on empty
Bengals’ running back Brian Leonard agrees with people who compare him to hall of famer John Riggins. Leonard told the Dayton News: “I’m my own person but do share some of the same similarities as Riggins.” Yeah, right. And I’m like Ernest Hemingway because both of us once typed! Leonard has rushed for 394 yards in three seasons; Riggins had more than 2,000 in his first three years.
Point After
Former University of Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm may yet give Trent Edwards the nudge as Bills’ starting quarterback. Reports suggest he has looked more than comfortable in coach Chan Gailey’s system and there’s a feeling he might have the best prospects for improvement ... Only three players remain from Carolina’s Super Bowl team seven years ago: receiver Steve Smith, tackle Jordan Gross, and kicker John Kasay. “That’s a good thing,” Smith told USA Today, “you can reach for the stars; you don’t have last year’s disappointments stuck to you.” He’s right. With a lineup like that they can look forward to a whole new year of disappointments ... Peyton Manning seems like the pope. Infallible. Everyone from Reggie Wayne to a third-string back named Mike Hart has been blamed for the Colts’ Super Bowl loss. Until now. Mike Florio, of profootballtalk.com writes Tracy Porter revealed his decisive interception occurred because “Peyton didn’t realize the offence he engineers by flapping his arms like a pelican ... had a significant tell.” ... The new CFL-NFL labour agreement means that after 2012, CFL players will no longer have a two-month window in their option year to sign with NFL teams. Bad news if you’re unemployed, a Ticats’ draft choice, looking for redemption — and named JaMarcus Russell.