MMQB Review: Peter Has Got Meeting McNuggets

On a weekend where Dominic James came back from a broken leg in less than a month and Blake Griffin bled from nearly every orifice, the real hero of the weekend was Ty Lawson of UNC who came back from a badly swollen toe to help UNC beat LSU. Lawson was able to respond so well to the accusations from many people in the media (and on his team but very quietly) that he was not tough enough or was milking his injury by coming out and playing so well on his hurt little toe, it seemed like he was actually not that injured and was milking his injury. I am sure the seniors of UNC thank him for his courage to play on a completely non-career threatening injury that affected his toe. I am sure it was really, really swollen though.

Peter King has his weekly MMQB up and its fairly typical of him and that is not a good thing.

I've got Meeting McNuggets, but I don't have the whole Porterhouse, mainly because there simply isn't one.

Oh yeah, he just wrote "Meeting McNuggets" and referred to a larger story as a "Porterhouse." Somebody is VERY hungry.

News Item: I don't see Jay Cutler getting traded.

Look for Jay Cutler to be traded later today.

Funny thing is, around the lobby and meeting rooms, I couldn't find any coach who thought the Broncos should even think of trading Cutler.

That's because there are 31 teams that have a brain and an idea of how to run a team. You don't just accept a player's demands.

"Say you're the Broncos, and Tampa Bay offers you two ones [two first-round picks] plus [second-year quarterback] Josh Johnson for Cutler,'' one NFC coach told me. "Denver makes the deal and picks a quarterback with one of the ones. You've traded the best young quarterback in football for two guys who might have a chance, but might be washouts too. Denver's problem is they could never get fair value for him.''

Wow. What a non-brilliant quote. This could pertain to any trade where you trade a player for draft picks. It doesn't just pertain to Cutler. Any draft pick could be washout, that's the risk you take.

I called Charlie Weis, the Notre Dame coach and mentor of McDaniels, and asked what I considered the biggest question McDaniels must ask himself as he figures how far he'll go to keep Cutler:

Peter goes straight to the brilliant coaching mind who can't take three straight top 10 recruiting classes to any better than a bowl game against Hawaii.

Was there no one else available to comment or someone who could answer this question? I realize Weis "mentored" McDaniels but he also has no experience in a situation such as this and clearly is not qualified to give great advice on being a head coach.

But it was interesting here, listening to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speak to the body of league people (including McDaniels) and media here Sunday night. She talked at one point about how "history has a long arc,'' and how you have to take a long view of things. If you're always chasing the day's headlines, she said, you'll eventually become so reactionary that you'll ignore long-term good for short-term satisfaction, and you'll fail.

This can't be the same Condi Rice who worked in the Bush White House. There has to be another one because this statement makes sense AND seems logical.

By the way, word in the lobby last night was the Cowboys lost a $25-million-a-year naming-rights deal for their new stadium when AT&T dropped out of the bidding for Jerry's World in Arlington. No name on a stadium is worth that much, but this place is going to be fairly phenomenal, with its 180-foot-wide high-def TV/scoreboard stretching above the field from 20-to-20.

It is the perfect place to watch the home team lose a playoff game or not make the playoffs again. You may only have an above average team but at least you will have a clear view of that Tony Romo interception.

I toured the 70-percent-complete stadium last October, and it's just like what Elaine Benes found out about the Teri Hatcher-girlfriend character's northern endowment on Seinfeld: It's real, and it's spectacular.

Please tell me Peter King has not just now discovered Seinfeld.

The Cards won't go to the $10-million-a-year Boldin wants. And if a team -- Philadelphia seems most likely -- calls and offers a mid- to late-first-round pick for Boldin, Arizona would listen. If Boldin is willing to do a deal for between $8 million and $9 million a year, a T.J. Houshmandzadeh- or Plaxico Burress-type contract, I think he could get something done with Arizona.

I realize I know nothing about football but Boldin wants $10 million and the Cardinals only want to give a $8 million-$9 million deal. This doesn't seem like they are that far apart here. Sure over seven years that is a lot of money but Boldin will probably never see half of it because his contract will either be extended or he will be released. Now that I see these numbers, from a numbers standpoint this impasse doesn't make sense to me.

On the surface, it seems ridiculous Philly and others aren't running to try to dislodge the best physical wideout in football from the Cardinals.

When did Andre Johnson get traded to the Cardinals?

If I'm the Eagles, I don't walk to make that deal (if it can be made). I run.

Peter is lying. He would never, ever run. Perhaps walk at a brisk pace, but only after someone stole his coffee or if he sees Brett Favre in the distance. Even then it is more of a power walk.

The Mississippi tackle is probably the second- or third-most athletic tackle in this draft, and the book among some teams after the Scouting Combine was big money in the first round would ruin him, because of his well-publicized upbringing on the poor side of Memphis.

Poor people! Ewwwwwwwwww...they never amount to anything! So Michael Oher is going to see all that money and become overly excessive with his spending and get a huge posse. Don't draft him!

But Oher has impressed teams with his maturity and intelligence, and the fact is, he was adopted by an upper-class family in Memphis during his high-school years.

Rich people! Yeaaaaaaaaaa...they are so much better. Now instead of being excessive with this spending Michael Oher is going to be a total dick and join an upper class golf club. Draft this man immediately!

News Item: Condoleezza Rice tells the NFL to look globally.

Two interesting things from her talk to the league here, one football and one not.
She said she thought Great Britain, Germany and Australia would be good candidates for NFL franchises. "Find countries with a mass sports culture,'' the former Secretary of State said, "and where they play either rugby, Australian Rules football or soccer.''

That's you J.S.! Condi Rice and her band of NFL loving people are coming to Australia to start a football team. They will probably name it something horribly stereotypical like the Melbourne Jumpin' Kangaroos or something.

Condi Rice also mentioned something else interesting about Mexican drug cartels which led me to believe there is no way this could be the same Condi Rice who worked with George W. Bush.

1. In the last five years, 28 of the 72 overtime games played ended on the first possession of overtime, with the teams losing the coin flip not getting a chance to touch the ball. That's 39 percent of the games ending with one team touching the ball in overtime.

Here we go again with Peter bitching and moaning about the OT rules. That loss by the Colts in the playoffs must have really hurt him or set him off in some fashion. I thought for sure he would let this drop by now. Peter expresses surprise that they did not change the OT rules at the league meetings, but I am not surprised. The reason the rules did not change is because no one has thought of a suitable replacement for the current overtime system. I don't care what the replacement for the current system is, I just don't want it to end with the current OT system being the default system. There has to be an alternative in place and there doesn't seem to be one right now.

For example, I don't want each team to get a possession and then the game goes to whoever scores first wins. The teams have had the entire game to alternate possessions, what one more will do in OT before it goes to sudden death is beyond me.

3. "We'd like to see each team get one possession,'' said Steelers president Art Rooney, but he was drowned out by those not wanting to add plays to the best game in the world. Heresy! More plays!

That's the Super Bowl champion talking. Anyone listening?

Besides the fact Peter King apparently wants Art Rooney to be his new grandfather (he talks about him all the time), I don't know why an owner who won the Super Bowl should have more say so than an owner who has not won a Super Bowl.

The pro-overtime forces went out meekly this year. So this is what I root for: In the Super Bowl next year, I hope the game is tied after four quarters, and I hope the team that wins the toss to start overtime returns the kickoff to the 39, and I hope they advance the ball 21 yards in five plays, and on fourth-and-six from the opposing 38-yard line,

I am not good at math, but wouldn't that be the 40 yard line...ok, I guess there could be penalties or something, so I am not questioning this...but I still kind of am.

And I hope a 5-foot-9 kicker goes pirouetting in the air, pumping his fist while most of the free world shuts off the TVs feeling disgusted and 79,000 fans and one very ticked-off team leave the field feeling totally deflated.

I hope that kicker is named John Kasay. I would then keep the television on.

If my favorite team lost in the Super Bowl because of the current absolutely stupid OT rules, I would be incredibly pissed off. Not only because the current rules suck, but because there was not even a good suggestion as to a good way to do OT. The current system is absolutely horrible but there has not been a better alternative proposed yet, at least that I have heard about.

I hate college football's OT system but that is much more fair than the NFL system. Instead of teams starting off at the 25 yard line, why can't the teams just kick off and run the college system that way? After two possessions teams have to go for it on fourth down and can't kick an extra point? Does that make too much sense?

The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa must be doing quite well in the face of the economic downturn. I attempted to eat breakfast at two of its restaurants Sunday. I was turned away at one, with the place half-empty, because I was not a guest in the hotel. I was turned away at another because I was not a guest at the hotel and I did not have a reservation.

All those without a black AmEx card had better be full when they walk in the door here.

Or you could be a guest at the hotel or set a reservation.

I think a fun television idea would be to follow Peter King around all day and see how many real life things that he has never noticed, but normal people notice and go through everyday, and the camera would catch his response to this events. I am not saying I would watch this show, I am saying I would DVR it and watch it later and then write about it here. This incident would be episode #1...and I have no idea what I would call the show, but each week would be called, "Peter King takes on (fill in event here)."

Sunday morning, 6:17, I stumble down to the lobby, desperately needing coffee. Any coffee. I look in the quiet lobby for a coffee urn, a coffee station, a coffee shop open to get a to-go coffee.
"Sorry, sir,'' the front-desk guy said. "No coffee on the weekends 'til 7 a.m.''
That's what I call a full-service hotel. Want a coffee at 6:30 on a Saturday or Sunday? Get in your car and go find one.

This could be episode #2. Dammit, someone needs to wake up at the crack ass of dawn to get Peter King some coffee! How is he supposed to function on a Saturday or Sunday when someone will make him coffee?

I wonder if Peter realizes some poor soul has to actually make the coffee, it doesn't actually just appear magically.

Detroit stinks, obviously, but the Cowboys are only 6-6 in their last 12 Thanksgiving Day games. I suppose it's no time to kick Detroit (the city and the franchise) when it's down, but if Jim Schwartz doesn't turn this team around, how many more bad football games are we going to be subjected to? The league doesn't want to put a bunch of 44-10 games on national TV.

Peter King and I are in complete agreement on this issue. Tradition is wonderful and grand but I get so tired of changing channels trying to find a decent television show to watch on Thanksgiving because the Lions are losing very badly. It has to be embarrassing for them as well. I would not be shocked if the players did not mind just playing on Sunday.

4. I think you look at that and say, "Aaron Curry fifth? I thought he might go to Detroit first.'' Well, he might. But here's the question you ask yourself with Curry: Do you want to take a linebacker who doesn't sack the quarterback first overall and hand him $34 million?

If he is a better fit for my team and I think he is the best player available, yes I do. It drives me crazy when teams start taking skill position players just to justify the financial outlay. If you want Aaron Curry, and think he is the best player available, take him. Why pay $34 million for a skill position player who neither fits the team nor is the best player, just to justify the financial outlay?

Can you justify that financial outlay for a three-down linebacker, but a linebacker who doesn't rush well, a linebacker who averaged one sack for every 17 quarters of college football he played?

I don't know. Ask the Ravens, Panthers, 49ers, and any other team that has a great middle linebacker how much that person means to the defense and whether there is reason to put a lot of money into a top flight linebacker. I am not saying Aaron Curry is going to be great, I am asking if anyone thinks the Raiders, Cardinals, Falcons, Dolphins, and Texans regret on passing up on Patrick Willis. You can add the Packers, Broncos, Patriots, Rams, Bengals and Browns to the list of teams who probably regret passing Jon Beason. I think these teams kind of regret passing on these players.

6. I think, on the other hand, Torry Holt is bound for Tennessee. He's going to like running under those Kerry Collins bombs.

I know Kerry Collins is slowly climbing up the All Time passing yardage list. I will accept that, but what I will not accept is that a guy who had passing numbers that looked like this: 58% completion percentage, 12/7 TD:INT, 2,676 passing yards, and 79.9 rating and he is referred to as throwing "bombs."

Peter has a very high opinion of Kerry Collins, I do not. If Torry Holt is looking to go to Tennessee to catch "bombs" he better hope they have a nuclear warhead testing facility there and he is wearing the new style in radiation suits. That's the only way he will catch "bombs" in Tennessee.

7. I think, as one executive I respect pointed out Sunday night, older players have been like kryptonite this year in free-agency, except to those on the Bill Belichick tree.

That executive? Scott Pioli.

These guys are mostly one-year fixes at sub-$4-million-a-year salaries, with immense pride and leadership on their resumes. In the cases of Vrabel and Dawkins, the Chiefs and Broncos are paying about $3.5 million for example-setting in the offseason program and the locker room that new administrations find vital.

Actually Vrabel was traded, not signed in free agency. These are great players to have on a team and there are two situations when you need these players, when you have players who need to have an example set (i.e. the Chiefs) or if you have great players around them and need players who have talent and want to win a title to take the pressure off those players (i.e. the Patriots). Short term fixes are not always a good thing for every team and example setting provides zero wins for a team otherwise.

Good job for the Patriots and the Chiefs, they have made great acquisitions, but Peter kind of acts like every team should do this when this is not right for every team.

c. You can't pay cops enough. You just can't. Three cops dead, and a fourth gravely wounded, after a routine traffic stop in Oakland Saturday. We don't tell police officers enough how much we value their service.

"We" meaning "you" may not do this, but I certainly value their services and wave to cops when I see them. Don't perpetrate your bullshit on me Peter King, I value people, just because you don't do this doesn't make me guilty.

Most cops are great, except for that one Sheriff's Deputy in Boone, North Carolina who is a complete and utter dick.

d. Coffeenerdness: Peet's may be outnumbered by four Starbucks here in Dana Point, but the drive to find the lonely little Peet's is worth it.

Peter is all about the little guy now that he has moved to Boston (except when it comes time for his coffee on Saturday and Sunday). And yes, I realize these coffee shops are in California, but this "independent coffee shops are the best" stuff started when he moved to Boston.

g. I still think the best way to have a chance to win your tournament bracket every year -- after the research the NCAA does putting the brackets together -- is to take the team with the better seed in every game. That wouldn't be as fun, but it would give you the best shot to win.

Logically that does make sense but somewhere the people who picked Wake Forest, Utah, Ohio State, West Virginia, Boston College, BYU, California, Florida State, Illinois, Clemson, and Washington would disagree with this theory.

h. Dave Goldberg and Paul Zimmerman, you are sadly missed, by many, here.

Peter King, you need to learn how to email, write a letter, dial a phone or text message someone instead of wasting space to get the word count up on shout outs to your homies.