Getcha Popcorn Ready!

With camps getting started all over the NFL, it’s time to turn more and more of our attention to Lord Football. And I will not be wasting any space on whether or not the league’s biggest diva will or won’t play (we all know he’s coming back, but not until he plants enough doubt with his personal mouthpiece, Chris Mortensen of ESPN, so that in case he fails, he has some built in excuses). What other stories are of interest? Dez Bryant refusing to carry Roy Williams’ pads and then backing off because he “didn’t know it was a tradition” with the Cowboys? More boring than the drama surrounding The Bachelorette, Ali. And as Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News perfectly pointed out – if that’s the ‘Boys big problem, they are going to have a great season. Instead, we learned today that Terrell Owens had signed on to play with the Bengals this season. Well, Cincy – Getcha Popcorn Ready!!

I may be as crazy as the Timberwolves GM, but I actually think this could work very, very well for the Bengals. If Owens can keep his ego in check, he has a chance to put up really good numbers on a team that has the potential to be a factor in the playoffs. Here are the reasons it will not implode:

1 – Carson Palmer
No quarterback in the league has dealt with more “entertainers” at the wide receiver position than Palmer. His main target has been the always-entertaining Chad Ochocinco, and previously he was teamed up with the always-outspoken T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Palmer is as well-prepared as any quarterback in the league to block out egos and just try to make plays. While his numbers were very pedestrian as he came back from missing most of 2008 with an arm injury, he remains a cerebral quarterback and if his arm strength returns, he could be the comeback player of the year.

2 – The Fit
Owens is not nearly as fast as he once was, and he does not have the most reliable hands in the league, but he has the potential to find quite a few openings with Ochocinco stretching the field and rookie TE Jermaine Gresham attracting the attention of linebackers or safeties. It has the potential to fit the same way Katy Perry fits in a bikini – snug and very flattering.

3 – Owens’ Maturity
Has T.O. really matured? It’s hard to say, but despite his previous track record of being an enormous headache, he was very tame last season. Despite playing for a horrendous Bills team with quarterbacks that were more useless than Carrie Underwood in a Chelsea bar, Owens did not ruffle feathers. He posted his weakest season totals since he was a rookie, yet he was almost a model citizen. Has he realized that winning is more important than his diva act? Perhaps. Or was it just but on the back burner until he had the proper spotlight to promote himself? I want to believe that he will be entertaining, yet will play hard and not be a locker room cancer.

4 – The Competition
The AFC North should be extremely compelling this season, with Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh all eyeing the division title. Yet the Ravens are dealing with a banged up secondary – particularly Ed Reed. The Steelers could find themselves in a hole early without Big Ben under center, and their defense was not as strong in 2009 as typical Pittsburgh defenses. Add that to the very young secondary in Cleveland and the Bengals look to have a very good chance to improve upon their poor 26th ranked passing offense.

Owens will no doubt form the most entertaining wide receiver combo with Chad Ochocinco, and when you add Antonio Bryant to the mix (whatever short time he is healthy), the Bengals could have a very potent passing offense that could help to balance the Cedric Benson-led running game. That could make the Bengals very dangerous, so you better getcha popcorn ready.

Week 11 Hangover - Love/Hate

This week we're leading off with the hates........no real reason. It's my site, I'm in charge.

HATE

- It’s a known fact that Syracuse basketball plays great at Madison Square Garden in NY. Well I went there Friday night to watch the Orange dismantle the UNC Tar Heels in the 2K Sports Championship. And their fans are something to behold, with the majority of them having the physical attributes of two of the school’s famous point guards of the past: the face of Jerry McNamara (balding, whispy attempt at a goatee) and the body of Sherman Douglas (round – as wide as they are tall). Short, fat, awkward fans wearing their orange jerseys over button-down shirts, or over nothing at all, but ALWAYS complimented by a fat gold chain. And those are just the women. I’ve never been there, but based on their fans on Friday, I would assume that Syracuse’s campus is on wheels, double-wide, and could be hooked up to a large truck to tour the country.

- Despite the Bengals crapping themselves against the Raiders, these are not the “same old Bengals” that always find a way to lose. Thanks to the rest of their division losing, they didn’t give up any ground and are still in a position of strength. Losing without Cedric Benson after a horrific fumble in the last 40 seconds on a kickoff after giving up the tying touchdown is a terrible loss, but not crippling to the season. They get the Lions and Browns in the next two weeks, so they immediately have a chance to blow out an inferior opponent and prove it was a blip, not a pattern. The Raiders have continued to play hard for Tom Cable despite having a QB who couldn’t throw and an WR who can’t catch. What a difference replacing a joke in JaMarcus Russell with a below average option in Bruce Gradkowski makes.

- Can someone please explain the appeal of Lady Gaga? I really don’t get it. She’s a hideous freak with minimal talents. Oh, and her music stinks too. I don’t get her whole schtick of wearing outrageous outfits and acting like an idiot. I mean, why wouldn’t the American Music Awards spend more time showing Carrie Underwood? Or Mary J. Blige? Or anyone else for that matter? And yet for some reason, Gaga is all over the place and gets accolades within the music community, but she terrifies me and I have to immediately change the channel if her freaky mugg crosses the screen.

- The Broncos are officially in big trouble. After their improbably 6-0 start, they dropped their 4th straight, getting mauled at home by the Chargers. They are now a game out of the division lead and face turmoil, with some of their players accusing each other of quitting or not caring enough, including Brandon Marshall & Knowshon Moreno fighting on the sidelines.

- Losing to Northwestern was a complete embarrassment for Wisconsin on Saturday. They started the day with an outside chance to tie for the Big Ten championship, and went to bed tied for 4th place, and having purple footprints all over their backsides. Their defense couldn’t slow down the Northwestern offense, the Badger offense couldn’t produce points (2 turnovers) in their last three possessions, and WR Isaac Anderson showed off his stone hands for another week. Pitiful. Another trip to the Outback Bowl for the Badgers?

LOVE

- Matthew Stafford gave a glimpse of why he may have been worthy of that top pick in the draft and could potentially help the Lions franchise rise from the ashes. Granted it was against the hapless Browns, but this game amazingly turned into one of the more compelling football games of the entire season, resulting in a 38-37 shootout win for the Lions. Stafford dislocated his non-throwing shoulder on the second-to-last play of the game, but was able to elude the medical staff and get back into the game to throw the game winning touchdown, after a pass interference call and a strange timeout by Eric Mangini. Had Mangini not called timeout, Daunte Culpepper would have had to take the final snap. So it was yet another bad decision by Mangini in a season full of them, and it allowed Stafford to show his grit and make the winning throw. He threw for 5 touchdowns in the game, besting Brady Quinn’s 4 touchdowns. Amazingly, The Browns had only scored 5 offensive TDs all season before this game, and Quinn led them to 4 TDs in this game. Stafford proved he has the potential to lead the franchise in this game, and maybe we need to give Quinn a chance to mature into his position of leading the team. Or maybe his girlfriend from draft night knew something ahead of time, and didn’t stick around.

- The NFL underdogs rose up. With the Raiders beating the Bengals, the Chiefs shocking the Steelers, and the Redskins and Bills barely dropping games against the Cowboys and Jaguars, respectively, the meek of the league had a surprising resurgence. During the first half of the year, the oddsmakers couldn’t make spreads wide enough as these poor teams continued to get blown out every week. But this week there were only 4 of the 15 games that were decided by more than one score. It will be interesting to see if the spreads begin to get a little tighter down the stretch in the coming weeks.

- It’s going to be a great coaching carousel this off-season, in both college and the NFL. The Notre Dame job will be open (even Charlie Weis himself said he won’t be surprised if he’s let go), and there will likely be anywhere from 7-10 openings in the NFL, some in prestigious places like the Cowboys or Redskins and others in less desirable places like Cleveland and Buffalo. First, let’s stop the Urban Meyer to Notre Dame rumors – that is not happening. We’ve covered that in the past. But an interesting opening that might pop up after this weekend? LSU, where Les Miles flubbed a game against Ole Miss that could cost his team and school a BCS berth. Down by 2 points, the Bayou Bengals inexplicably let 17-18 seconds run off the clock before completing a pass with one second remaining at the 6 yard line. Instead of trying to sprint the FG unit on the field, or running a play for a touchdown, they tried to spike the ball. Of course, a spike takes one second and the clock runs out, game over. After the game, Miles was asked who made the call to spike the ball, and he responded that he DIDN’T KNOW!! Blink, blink…..stare…….Uh-oh. Miles has never been Nick Saban, and won a national championship with most of Saban’s players, and something like this could be enough to get him bounced out of town. And it doesn’t even involve whatever is going on in the background of this picture…….not that there’s anything wrong with it.

- Aaron Rodgers erasing all doubt about who the best QB from the 2005 draft. Rodgers dominated the 49ers defense and has produced some great numbers this season, nearly 2800 yards, 19 TDs, and a QB rating of 102.6. While he is still likely a distant 5th in the MVP race behind Favre, Manning, Brees and Brady, he has been tremendous in keeping the Packers in the playoff hunt despite playing behind the leakiest offensive line in the league. And speaking of Favre, he may be playing as well as he has played since 1997, and as much as it pains me, he is right up there in the MVP discussion, and likely the favorite at this point. He has only thrown 3 interceptions all year, easily the least by any QB that has started every game (McNabb & Rodgers have the next fewest with 5).

- Wes Welker continues to light up the stat sheets. It is now time to stop looking at him as an interesting little mighty might and start to mention him with the best receivers in the league. The guy led the league in catches in 2007, was 2nd in 2008, and is the league leader thus far in 2009. After lighting up the Jets for 15 catches for 192 yards, he has 79 catches in 9 games, which is ahead of the pace he was on the past 2 years when he ended with over 110 catches each year. He is Tom Brady’s security blanket and has the ability to stop and start on a dime as if he controls his legs with a joystick.

Week 9 Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- Thankfully we no longer have to worry about Iowa crashing the BCS championship. Losing to Northwestern? Ouch. While I don’t believe Ricky Stanzi is a great quarterback by any stretch, the guy is a gamer, and it’s obvious that the team is not the same without him. After he left the game with an ankle injury, the Hawkeyes had no chance. And yet they still can play their way to the Rose Bowl (where they will get demoralized by Oregon) by beating Ohio State.

- Congrats, Mr. & Mrs. Squirrel on a great wedding this past weekend. Great to catch up with everyone. And it was a classic Midwest wedding in that there was a mullet sighting, at least one guy wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a tie, and a few people that were as wide as they were tall (and at least a few of them were cops, so I should probably leave it at that). Oh, and of course, a polka.

- The Bengals are a virtual lock to make the playoffs and are potentially a threat to win the AFC. They’ve now swept the Ravens are 4-0 within the AFC North, which many thought was the best division in football. They pounded the Ravens with their running game, as Cedric Benson went over 100 yards against the supposedly tough and angry Ravens defense for the second time this season.

- As strange as it sounds, the Titans appear to be much better with Vince Young at QB. It’s not that he’s putting up magical yardage numbers, but the team is responding with him under center. He has a passer rating of 83 and is averaging less than 150 yards in his starts, but he ran for a TD as the Titans won their second consecutive game. Now here’s where it gets interesting for the owner, Bud Adams. If the team continues to win with Young, is Jeff Fisher more or less on the hot seat? He was the coach who went with Kerry Collins to start the season, and he was the coach who was reluctant to go to Young until the owner demanded that the former #3 pick get some playing time. Now that they are winning, his record looks better, but his error of not starting Young from the beginning looks more and more glaring.

- The Brewers traded JJ Hardy to the Minnesota Twins for young CF Carlos Gomez over the weekend. The move frees up Alcides Escobar to be the starting shortstop, and guarantees the team will not be resigning Mike Cameron, which frees up a considerable amount of payroll. If that money is used for much-needed starting pitching, I think it could be a great trade for the Brewers. They were not going to get much value for a .229 hitting SS that everyone knew the Brewers no longer wanted. And Gomez is a young player with vast potential, as he was one of the key cogs in the trade that sent Johan Santana to the Mets a few years ago. This gives the Brewers the potential to have an extremely fast and athletic line up with Escobar, Gomez and Ricky Weeks all able to put pressure on opposing teams with their running game. The real question is whether Ken Macha will utilize that speed or if he will continue to try and rely on the HR as the sole source of offense.

HATE

- Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome your 2010 coach of the Green Bay Packers, Jon Gruden!!! There needs to be wholesale changes in Green Bay after this season. Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy need to go. And the special teams coach should have been left in Tampa Bay to find his own way home. The team has talented players at the skill positions, but the game plan is about as exciting as watching Lauren Conrad on the Hills – nothing ever happens, and there is no creativity or excitement. The offensive line is worse than an average big ten team, but they don’t do anything to help Rodgers get rid of the ball faster – roll him out, stick with a 3 step drop, draw plays, etc. Tampa Bay sacked Rodgers 6 times and had 3 interceptions. This was a complete abomination and embarrassment, and a reason for a complete overhaul.

- How is that Jay Cutler experience working out in Chicago? About as well as Katherine Heigl’s movie career. The Bears were blown out by the Cardinals yesterday, and while Cutler hasn’t been the biggest problem, the team is in trouble. Has the team quit on Lovie Smith? Time for Chicago fans to start thinking about whether Luol Deng and the Bulls. Then the Bulls will fall out of contention by April, and false hope for the Cubs can begin again. The cycle continues……

- Does Mike Singletary’s “Mr. Furious” routine have an expiration date? Are we past it? It seems possible that he had his team too high to start the season and the team has regressed and went from 3-1 to 4-5. And Alex Smith definitely has not revived his career based on this week’s 3 INT performance.

- Not sure what to even say about this video from a women’s college soccer game. This is the dirtiest, most ruthless thing I’ve seen in a really long time. She should have been thrown out of the game at least 4-5 times.