Goodell wants your team to sign Tim Tebow: I am sick of Tim Tebow, but apparently Roger Goodell is not.

posted by Bag Man to football at 07:50 PM - 30 comments

An Outspoken Punter Finds Himself Out of Work: Kluwe, who gained national attention last fall for his support of same-sex marriage, figured his time in Minnesota was coming to an end when the Vikings chose Jeff Locke, a U.C.L.A. punter/kicker, in the fifth round of the N.F.L. draft.

posted by BornIcon to football at 11:20 AM - 4 comments

Tim Tebow Forsaken by Jets: Quarterback Tim Tebow arrived at the New York Jets facility this morning and was told he was being released. Acquired before last season for a fourth- and sixth-round pick (with a seventh-round pick coming with him), Tebow only had six completions for 39 yards and 32 rushing carries for 102 yards. He had no touchdowns as a Jet. His hometown newspaper, the Florida Times-Union, reports this morning that he's coming to Jacksonville -- to set up fast-casual chicken restaurants.

posted by rcade to football at 08:42 AM - 33 comments

Jerry Jones Continues Odd Draft Strategy: Either Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones knows something the rest of the league doesn't, or he just screwed up again by trading down from 18 to 31, getting a third-round pick instead of a second rounder (trade chart be damned) and drafting at 31 a center projected as low as the third round by some experts. "It's a mistake to think that transactions go by any trade chart ... We invented trade charts," Jones said. A Dallas scout was reportedly "baffled beyond belief" by the moves.

posted by rcade to football at 12:57 PM - 11 comments

6 Things Your Business Can Learn from My Rookie Year in the NFL : Given Fleener is a Stanford grad, not too surprising that he looks at sport as a business. "One of the many “knocks” on the Colts team last year was our youth. We had a very young team by NFL standards. The media mistook young age for low maturity levels, and while it’s hard to argue that correlation doesn’t equal causation in that regard, it is too much simplification to say that youth = immaturity."

posted by billsaysthis to football at 11:44 AM - 0 comments

John Kass: American Football Industry is on its Deathbed: "Football is dead in America," Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass writes today. "But it's not the lawyers who are the death of football. Blaming lawyers misses the point. Like their counterparts in nature, lawyers are merely the cleanup crew. What finishes football are the parents of future football players. The NFL desperately needs American parents. Not as fans, but as suppliers of young flesh."

posted by rcade to football at 05:48 PM - 27 comments

Auburn Cuts Down Poisoned Toomer's Corner Oaks: After two years of rescue efforts, Auburn University is cutting down two iconic trees at Toomer's Corner that an Alabama fan poisoned after his team lost a football game to Auburn. Harvey Updyke confessed in a call to an Alabama sports radio show under the fake name "Al in Dadeville," ending his call "Roll Damn Tide." He was caught and pleaded guilty in March to felony criminal damage to an agricultural facility. He will serve at least six months of a three-year sentence.

posted by rcade to football at 10:23 PM - 0 comments

Cleveland Browns owner's company in trouble: Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam’s travel center company for “many years” engaged in a fraud scheme to keep millions of dollars owed to customers.

posted by BornIcon to football at 12:15 PM - 5 comments

NFL Players Knew Teammate Was Gay, Didn't Care: CBS Sports columnist Mike Freeman makes this claim today about an unnamed NFL team and unnamed NFL player. Several players told him that a "good dozen" were aware of their teammate being gay and it didn't matter. "It was the worst kept secret on the team," one player told him. "Many of us knew and we didn't care at all. We saw him as a player, not as a gay player."

posted by rcade to football at 02:59 PM - 5 comments

Longtime NFL announcer Pat Summerall has died: For many sports fans in the 1960s through the 1990s, Pat Summerall was the voice of the NFL, starting with CBS' Sunday telecasts and later with Fox, famously paired for much of that time with John Madden. Summerall, 82, passed away Tuesday in Dallas.

posted by BornIcon to football at 06:15 PM - 5 comments

Bills Receiver Asks North Korea to Bomb New England: Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson posted the following message on Twitter: "War is nothing to be played with. I apologize North Korea ... but if y'all do bomb first bomb Foxboro, Mass." (Foxboro Stadium is the original name of the New England Patriots' home field.)

posted by rcade to football at 04:30 PM - 27 comments

From a prison cell to the football field: Exonerated Brian Banks signs with Atlanta Falcons: Brian Banks wore the uniform of a prison inmate for more than five years, serving time for a rape he didn't commit. This week, he learned he'll be wearing an Atlanta Falcons jersey.

posted by BornIcon to football at 11:40 AM - 12 comments

Crabtree Lost Sight After Super Bowl Hit: San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree said that a hit by Baltimore Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith on the game's final possession temporarily blinded him. "When the guy hit me, he hit me all in the face," Crabtree said. "I'm not tripping. I'm not one to whine about nothing, but he hit me all in the face, and I couldn't really see after he hit me." He did not seek medical treatment and did not leave the game because his vision "snapped back," he said.

posted by rcade to football at 09:34 AM - 0 comments

Tony Romo stays in Dallas: 6-year extension worth $108 million. $55 guaranteed - 3 more than Flacco.

posted by phaedon to football at 04:35 PM - 16 comments

Miami Dolphins Change Their Logo: For the first time since the team was founded in 1966, the Miami Dolphins won't have a helmeted dolphin on their logo. A uniform change for next season includes a new more realistic logo. Snowflake could not reached for comment.

posted by rcade to football at 11:06 AM - 18 comments

Sun Belt Conference Adds 4 Schools: The Sun Belt Conference is adding Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Idaho and New Mexico State this week, according to reports. They replace North Texas, Florida Atlantic and Middle Tennessee, which left for Conference USA. Idaho and New Mexico State will be football-only members. The top-ranked team among five conferences -- Sun Belt, CUSA, Mountain West, MAC and the needs-a-name half of the Big East -- will get a berth in the new playoff.

posted by rcade to football at 10:11 AM - 4 comments

New Fox Channel Takes on ESPN: On Aug. 17, a new Fox Sports 1 network is launching as a direct competitor to the Beast of Bristol. The network will air college basketball and football, a 26-week slate of Major League Baseball (starting in 2014), UEFA Champions League soccer and men's and women's World Cup soccer, a nightly news program competing with SportsCenter and an hour-long evening show hosted by Regis Philbin.

posted by rcade to football at 06:40 PM - 20 comments

NFL Teams Asking Prospects: Do You Like Girls?: Two NFL draft prospects said that teams have asked them questions attempting to find out whether they are gay. "They ask, like, 'Do you have a girlfriend? Are you married? Do you like girls?' Those kinds of things," said Colorado tight end Nick Kasa. "[I]t was just kind of weird. But they would ask you with a straight face."

posted by rcade to football at 01:44 PM - 11 comments

49ers Have Deal to Trade Alex Smith: The San Francisco 49ers have a deal in place to trade quarterback Alex Smith when swaps can take place in March, team officials told CBS Sports. The most likely destination is Kansas City. Smith, the first overall pick in the 2005 draft, led the 49ers to a 13-3 record and the playoffs two seasons ago. He earns $8.5 million this season and $7.5 million in 2014.

posted by rcade to football at 10:17 AM - 12 comments

Flacco Wanted to Cheat on Super Bowl's Final Play: As the Baltimore Ravens prepared to punt on the final play of Super Bowl 0x2F, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco urged teammates on the sideline to tackle San Francisco 49ers returner Ted Ginn Jr. if he got past all of the Baltimore defenders. NFL video shows Flacco making the suggestion several times. "If he starts to break it, go tackle him," Flacco said. "If he breaks this ... if he busts it for some reason? Tackle him! Go tackle him."

posted by rcade to football at 06:16 PM - 13 comments

Clydesdale Wins Super Bowl Ad Meter: Anheuser-Busch climbed back into the saddle with the Super Bowl's top commercial -- a heart-tugging tale of the bond between a trainer and the Budweiser Clydesdale he raised -- in USA Today's Ad Meter. Procter & Gamble's Tide detergent pulled off a close No. 2 with an ad about an image of football legend Joe Montana miraculously appearing in a salsa stain.

posted by rcade to football at 08:27 AM - 22 comments

Ravens Power Past 49ers to Win Super Bowl: The Baltimore Ravens took a 28-6 lead over the San Francisco 49ers and held on for a 34-31 victory in Super Bowl 0x2F. After Jacoby Jones ran the second half opening kickoff back 108 yards to give the Ravens that 22-point lead, it looked like it was lights out for the 49ers. But then half of the New Orleans Superdome lights went out for 30 minutes, and after the delay was over, San Francisco lit up the Baltimore defense for two quick touchdowns to pull to within 8. They later closed the gap to 31-29.

posted by rcade to football at 11:56 PM - 33 comments

Rich Rodriguez: Some Michigan players 'felt a sense of entitlement': He was implementing a spread-option offense, while working mostly with players recruited for a pro-style scheme, and said he just needed time.

posted by bo_fan to football at 12:21 PM - 1 comment

Randy Moss: 'I'm the Greatest Receiver Ever': San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss declared himself the greatest wide receiver to play the game during Super Bowl Media Day Tuesday. "I don't really live on numbers, I live on impact, what you are able to do out on the field," Moss said. "I really do think that I am the greatest receiver to ever play this game." Moss has 982 receptions, 156 touchdown receptions and 15,292 yards in his 14-season career, compared to Jerry Rice's 1,549 receptions, 197 touchdown receptions and 22,895 yards over 21 seasons.

posted by rcade to football at 05:44 PM - 27 comments

The NFL's Response to Brain Trauma: A Brief History: The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates, a former football fanatic who has drifted away from the game because of the ongoing brain trauma revelations, lays out a timeline of the league's actions. Parts of it don't make for pleasant reading.

posted by cobra! to football at 12:09 PM - 1 comment

Coach Bill Callahan Threw Super Bowl?: Former Oakland Raider players, Tim Brown and Jerry Rice, claim that coach Bill Callahan threw Super Bowl XXXVII against Tampa Bay because was still miffed at the Raiders for trading coach John Gruden to the Buccaneers. In response, Callahan vehemently denies their allegations and seems to be firing up the ol' defamation lawsuit engine.

posted by NoMich to football at 07:06 AM - 7 comments

Saints Coach Sean Payton Reinstated: The NFL has reinstated New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton after his one-year suspension from the bounty scandal. During his absence the Saints went 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time in four years. Payton signed a five-year contract extension last month that puts him with the team through 2017.

posted by rcade to football at 02:32 PM - 7 comments

Ravens Will Meet 49ers in Super Bowl 0x2F: The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers won the conference championship games Sunday and will meet in the Super Bowl. Ravens coach John Harbaugh and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, brothers born 14 months apart, will face each other after knocking off the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons on the road.

posted by rcade to football at 11:16 PM - 80 comments

Jaguars Hire Gus Bradley as Head Coach: The Jacksonville Jaguars have hired Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley to be their new head coach, the fourth in team history. The Seahawks defense gave up a league-low 15.3 points per game last season under Bradley, who was in his fourth season as DC. Before that, he was a linebackers coach at Tampa Bay and a college assistant coach from 1990 to 2005.

posted by rcade to football at 09:01 AM - 13 comments

Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend was... fake?: Per Deadspin, the most inspiring story in college football this year was just that: a story.

posted by Goyoucolts to football at 06:41 PM - 50 comments

Eagles Hire Chip Kelly as Head Coach: The Philadelphia Eagles have hired Chip Kelly away from Phil Knight and the Oregon Ducks. Kelly, whose up-tempo offense helped Oregon reach a BCS championship game, was 46-7 in four seasons. He was still recruiting for the Ducks as recently as Tuesday but had a "change of heart" about taking the Philly job, an unidentified source told USA Today.

posted by rcade to football at 01:10 PM - 17 comments

Jaguars Fire Coach Mike Mularkey: New Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell has fired head coach Mike Mularkey after only one season leading the team, a 2-14 disaster that was the worst in franchise history. Caldwell and Mularkey worked together for four years when Caldwell was the Atlanta Falcons director of pro player personnel and Mularkey the offensive coordinator.

posted by rcade to football at 01:22 PM - 15 comments

Junior Seau Had Brain Disease CTE: Twelve-time Pro Bowl linebacker Junior Seau had a degenerative brain disease when he committed suicide last May, the National Institutes of Health revealed Thursday after conducting a blind study of his brain at his family's request. Seau had abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the NIH found. "I was not surprised after learning a little about CTE that he had it," said his son Tyler. In private his father was suffering from wild mood swings, irrationality, forgetfulness, insomnia and depression, Tyler said.

posted by rcade to football at 09:19 AM - 0 comments

Alabama Crushes Notre Dame in BCS Championship: College football's BCS championship between Alabama and Notre Dame ended early in a flurry of Crimson Tide touchdowns en route to a 42-14 victory. Coach Nick Saban's team has won three of the last four championships and the SEC has won its seventh in a row.

posted by rcade to football at 09:29 AM - 34 comments

RG3 Reinjures Knee in Washington Playoff Exit: Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III's spectacular rookie season came to an end Sunday when he re-injured his right knee, hurt four weeks earlier, in a 24-14 NFC wild-card playoff loss to Seattle. As new questions are being asked about coach Mike Shanahan playing the team's franchise quarterback despite the injury, team doctor James Andrews revealed that he never cleared Griffin to play after the original injury, contradicting comments by Shanahan.

posted by rcade to football at 11:20 AM - 11 comments

2013 Cotton Bowl: Johnny Manziel Highlight Reel vs Oklahoma : Johnny Football is pretty good!

posted by gfinsf to football at 07:24 AM - 7 comments

Clowney's monster hit sparks Gamecocks' Outback Bowl win: After Michigan's Floyd Simmons gained not-quite-four yards on a fourth-and-four play in the fourth quarter of the Outback Bowl, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier watched as referee Jeff Maconaghy awarded a first down in spite of the fact that the nose of the ball didn't reach the first-down marker. Spurrier asked a nearby official for an explanation. Spurrier's memory of the exchange goes like this: Spurrier: "You know the ball did not touch the first-down marker?" Official: "I know it didn't." Spurrier: "Well, why'd he give it to 'em?" Official: "I don't know." Michigan took the field for its first-down play. Quarterback Devin Gardner handed off to Vincent Smith. Then... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

posted by gfinsf to football at 05:44 AM - 14 comments

Jets fire GM, but Ryan will return: Mike Tannenbaum was fired as the Jets' general manager after a 6-10 season, but the club announced head coach Rex Ryan will return next season.

posted by jjzucal to football at 10:11 PM - 7 comments

Romo, Cowboys Toss Away Opportunity: For the second straight season, the Dallas Cowboys lost a final week game and the NFC East, keeping them out of the playoffs in a 28-18 loss to the red-hot Washington Redskins. Dallas quarterback Tony Romo threw three interceptions, including a crushing late giveaway to Rob Jackson on a swing pass. "I wish I had made a better decision at that time," Romo said.

posted by rcade to football at 01:57 PM - 17 comments

Eagles Fire Coach Andy Reid: The Philadelphia Eagles have reportedly fired head coach Andy Reid, the NFL's longest tenured coach, after 14 seasons. Reid led the team to five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl appearance. His regular-season record was 130-92-1. The Eagles went 4-12 this season.

posted by rcade to football at 08:17 PM - 16 comments