MMQB Review: Holdouts and a Shaky Tebow (Is that possible?) Edition

This is your daily reminder I have set up a College Football Pick 'Em League for Yahoo. Personally, this is my second favorite fantasy league because it keeps my interest in college football games I wouldn't normally care about on Saturdays. I have set it up against the spread and the games we will be choosing are Top 25 games and games the Yahoo editors choose as "worthy" of being chosen. The ID is 1704 and the password is "asu." Feel free to join and it doesn't take long each week to pick the games, plus it is fun to go against the spread.

Last week in his MMQB, Peter introduced us to the concept of the "overtrained athlete" or as I like to call it "the latest bullshit excuse for testing positive for a PED and being suspended by the NFL." He also informed us that Nate Kaeding sees a shrink and got very excited at how Sam Bradford looked against his own team's defense. What happens this week? Does Peter turn on Peet's Coffee because they don't offer a bran muffin for $1 with any purchase of a coffee? Is he going to give us no information on Brett Favre by giving us information on Brett Favre or will he tell us where we can pencil Tim Tebow in at?

What I like about the Jets is they don't care if you hate them.

Peter likes it when they make you fight to love them.

It is easy for a team to say they don't care if you hate them when they are successful and accumulating more fans because they are successful.

You're going to be hated when you say over and over that you think you're going to win the Super Bowl, when you allow NFL Films and HBO Sports into your camp for the most entertaining reality show/infomercial on TV and you're brash and full of yourselves doing it, when your coach swears like a sailor after 11 shots of Jack Daniels ("News flash -- football coaches curse!'' linebacker Bart Scott says),

"News flash -- Stitches aren't outrageously expensive," Bengoodfella says to Bart Scott.

And I mean it: They truly don't care.

And I mean it: I don't care if they care if I hate them or not. Don't NFL teams generally have to accomplish something, like win the Super Bowl a minimum of once to be universally hated? The Jets may want to work on making the playoffs in back-to-back years before they start telling us how they don't care if we hate them.

In the show, Rex Ryan, in a sing-songy voice, walks through the SUNY-Cortland dorm hallway the first night of camp at bed check saying: "Revis? REE-vis! Where are you? Come on. Come on home.'' The classic quote about contract holdouts from football people is this: "We only talk about the players who are here. Got any questions about the guys who are here?'' The Jets' way is this: "Why ignore the elephant in the room?''

Refusing to ignore the elephant in the room is what makes the Jets so successful. "Successful" being defined as, "they made the AFC Championship Game last year and have made the playoffs two out of the last five years."

I like how Peter is doing a summary of a HBO television show in his MMQB. Rather than doing any kind of reporting in-depth on the Jets he has decided to write episode summaries on what goes during"Hard Knocks."

In the show, Ryan and Tannenbaum have a contest to see who can throw a pass into a net cleanly, and Tannenbaum tries to catch a punt cleanly. Not done for the show. "They did the same thing last year in training camp,'' Scott said.

What grade did you give this episode of "Hard Knocks" Peter? "A-," "B+," or another grade? You have to end each summary you write of the show with a grade!

We did a lot of that stuff in Baltimore too when Rex was there, because he believes in making the game something the players will love. Remember in Jerry Maguire, when one of the other players is looking at Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding and he said, 'Why don't we have that relationship?' That's how a lot of players on other teams look at our relationship with Rex.''

The players on the Jets team look at Rex Ryan as their agent and want to have lengthy discussions with him while they are naked? That's probably not a healthy thing for them to do.

Notice that Peter talks to the New York Jets player that just got paid in free agency, Bart Scott, and he has great things to say about the Jets and Rex Ryan. I wonder what would happen if Peter talked to the Jets players who haven't gotten paid, like Nick Mangold and David Harris, or he spoke with ex-Jets players who (of there are a few) who never got paid by the team and were disgruntled when they left. I wonder if they feel this tight relationship with Jets management?

There are disgruntled players on every team, it just seems the Jets have more upset players than most teams.

Just might be happening as you read this. Scott said he thought there were "over 10'' players on other teams who wanted to play for Ryan and the Jets. "After this show, there will be many more,'' he said.

"Over 10" players on other teams wanted to play for Ryan and the Jets? Why doesn't that sound impressive to me? That's like one player on every third team in the NFL wants to play in New York with the Jets. I would think with the kind of defense the Jets play and how much players seems to love Rex Ryan, that number would be higher. Even after the show is over I think even 30 players who want to play for the Jets isn't that many. Shouldn't the entire Raiders and Rams team want to play for a more successful franchise in a bigger market?

Everyone wants to know if Revis will come in by the Sept. 13 opener, and I think it's more likely he will than won't.

Given Peter's history of making accurate predictions, look for Revis to miss the September 13 opening game.

Barring major injury, it's certain they'd exercise the option. That means Revis, under the existing contract, would make about $21 million over the next three years.

With Nnamdi Asomugha in the midst of a $15-million-a-year deal -- signed in 2009, when he was a free-agent -- and no other cornerback making more than $10 million annually, Revis is in a tough spot.

Leave it to Al Davis to screw other NFL teams over and pay an absurd amount of money for a cornerback. Now Asomugha's very high salary cap number is the what the other cornerbacks in the NFL look to exceed. As great as Revis is, I just don't see him as a guy who deserves a $15 million plus per year contract.

It would help if Revis would lower his demands and the Jets would meet those demands. The bottom line is that Asomugha wouldn't get $15 million per year on the free agent market. I just don't think he could get that much money.

The Jets have determined in-house they cannot tear up the deal and pay Revis a penny more than Asomugha. They also know the Raiders may not exercise the option of Asomugha's third year, and if he hits the open market, it's doubtful anyone would pay him what the Raiders paid him in 2009.

No team would pay Asomugha what the Raiders are paying him right now. The only team that could want to pay him that much is a team that runs a lot of man coverage and needs lockdown corners...like the Jets. I can't see a franchise paying $15 million per year to Asomugha on the open market. I think Revis is making a mistake in believing Asomugha's contract represents the market value of a top cornerback. It represents Al Davis' determination of market value for a top-flight cornerback, which doesn't represent what other teams would pay.

The only way I see this getting done is the Jets throwing a good-faith signing bonus at Revis right now, maybe $8 million, and adding one year to the end of his contract at, say, $12 million. That'd give Revis, in effect, four years and $41 million -- which would be less than Asomugha, but remember, Revis is dealing from the disadvantage of having three years left on his deal.

There is no way I can see Revis signing a contract that covers four more years at $10 million per year with basically an $8 million dollar signing bonus right now. I don't see that happening. He is making a huge fuss over his contract, I don't think he would settle for $5 million less per year than Asomugha and one extra year on the end of the deal. Peter must be smoking crack.

I don't see the Jets caving and giving him a deal anywhere near Asomugha's -- not with so much time left on the contract and with the prospect of a job action next year.

It sounds to me like Revis either needs to come to camp or continue holding out. I will personally continue to not care either way.

Don't ask Bob Sanders about the future.

ANDERSON, Ind. -- Just ask him about tomorrow. The 2007 Defensive Player of the Year has missed more NFL games due to injury (49) than games he's played (47) since entering the league in 2004. "I don't look too far ahead, because it's a tough game to try to prevent injuries,'' he told me. "So I don't think about whether I can play 16 games.''

As Bob Sanders was speaking and saying this, his jaw broke. As he opened his car door to go to the hospital for his broken jaw, he pulled ligaments in his arm, and as he was driving to the hospital he turned around to change lanes safely and his head fell off.

I'm pretty sure Bob Sanders is made of paper mache.

I don't expect him to play healthy for four months -- I don't think the Colts do either, deep down -- but Sanders, who has been removed from team activities often in the last few seasons as he rehabbed,

(Colts trainer) "Bob, just sit here in this chair and don't do anything. Don't move or try to move. Just sit. We will come get you at the end of the day."

(Bob Sanders blinks and pulls a muscle in his eye)

If I were coaching, I'd split the strong safety job between Sanders and Melvin Bullitt.

If I were coaching, I would assume Bob Sanders isn't on the team and any production they get from him is a bonus. Actually, I am cold-hearted, Sanders would have had his last chance to stay healthy last year and depending on the salary cap ramifications, I would have released him this offseason. I got no loyalty like that.

This year, new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell has lots of toys to play with, and the Giants could play some of the most interesting line combinations the league has ever seen. Fewell has experimented with rushing four defensive ends -- from among Tuck, Umenyiora (up to 257 from 250), Mathias Kiwanuka, first-round pick Jason Pierre-Paul and Dave Tollefson, who is having a great camp -- with no tackles on some passing downs. Tuck is playing all four line spots in practice. Canty's playing all over the line too. "So far it looks good,'' Umenyiora said.

I don't know about the other line combinations the Giants are using, but I know for a fact the Carolina Panthers rushed four defensive ends on passing downs last year. The Giants do have more talent at that position than the Panthers had last year, but this type of line combination has been done before. I wouldn't expect Peter to know this though. I wish he would, but I don't expect him to.

A healthy Giants team will create more problems than any defensive front except the maniacally variable Jets.

Therein lies the Giants problem from last year, they couldn't stay healthy.

Looks like Kolb is forming a nice bond with one of the rookie receivers, fifth-round pick Riley Cooper from Florida. He was one of Tim Tebow's favorites at Florida.

Kolb and Cooper get ice cream together after practice and they even have a secret handshake. Those two guys are tight. I tell you what I think will be really important for the Eagles this year. I think it will be important if Kolb forms a nice tight bond with either of his two best receivers, Jeremy Maclin or Desean Jackson, rather than a guy who isn't guaranteed to make the roster.

Speaking of Tebow ...

HE ISN'T READY TO START FOR THE BRONCOS THIS YEAR...BUT HE SHOULD START ANYWAY!

I saw nothing but the highlights of Tim Tebow's eight-for-13 opener Sunday night at Paul Brown Stadium. Three thoughts: He has to have better awareness of the pressure around him and make quicker decisions when that pressure's there ...

As I wrote on Saturday, Tebow (contrary to what Woody Paige says) isn't used to having pressure put on him like there will be the at NFL level. He isn't really a scrambling quarterback, or hasn't shown himself to be. He needs to get used to pressure and throwing a pass while feeling the pressure.

The mechanics he worked so diligently to refine in the spring looked inconsistent to me; the sooner they become rote, the better he'll play, obviously ...

That's exactly what happens...when Tebow finds himself in unfamiliar territory, with pressure on him or throwing the ball quickly he is going to go back to his old mechanics. These are the type of things his extreme supporters fail to see. It's a work-in-progress, especially once the opposing defense starts coming at him hard.

Josh McDaniels' theory is he wants Tebow working on the plays he's being taught, not continually thinking about his arm movements.

Does this sound like the kind of guy who is ready to quarterback an NFL team right now?

Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week

Starbucks, Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y., Saturday, 6:45 a.m.:

I'm sitting there, drinking a latte and writing my Carolina Panthers preview for the Sports Illustrated football preview (get in line for the Sept. 1 issue now, folks) when an older man, about 60, walks in and gets a tall coffee. He sits in a plush chair angled so he's looking right at me from a distance of about 10 feet. He has nothing to read. He talks to no one. He sits, mostly looking at me but also at the people who walk in and out of the store, for the next two hours and 46 minutes. Then he gets up, deposits his empty cup in the trash, goes to the men's room, comes out and walks out of the store, giving me and the couple next to me long looks.

Who has the kind of time to stare into space and stare holes through someone typing for almost three hours? A contemplative half hour is probably healthy, but the guy sat there doing nothing for a half-hour longer than it takes a Kenyan to run a marathon.

Why is Peter so concerned with what everyone else is doing around him? Perhaps this guy had just suffered a death in his family or had lost his wife in the past couple of days and they loved to go to that Starbucks every morning when she was alive. Maybe this guy was scouting the place out as a good place to do an illegal exchange of money for drugs or something. Maybe the guy was waiting on someone for a blind date and was desperately looking for this person in the Starbucks and didn't want to leave until she showed up. There are hundreds of reasons why this guy could have just sat there.

Why must Peter King always worry about what everyone else is doing in public? The guy was staring, if you don't like it go to the next Starbucks which is probably a block away.

Houston GM Rick Smith meditates every morning. He goes into a large closet in his Houston-area home very early, shuts out the world and either mouths a mantra like "Peace'' softly and repeatedly or just sits in silence. Smith is a spiritual man who believes this period of meditation gets him closer to God.

I'm a big fan of this, though I don't do it, and I'm not a particularly religious man. We're so caught up in Blackberries and iPhones and Twitter and the constant flow of information that we rarely sit back and take stock of who exactly we are and what we're doing here. Good for Smith.

So now sitting around and taking stock is a good thing in Peter's mind. Maybe the man who stared at Peter in Starbucks for nearly three hours was meditating and taking stock of who exactly we are and what we are doing here. Peter King has never though about that of course. He's too busy criticizing the guy for sitting in a chair and doing nothing for nearly three hours to think that possibly the guy was meditating or taking stock of his place in the world.

Only Peter King could criticize a guy for sitting at a Starbucks and not doing anything of substance in public, then compliment a fellow journalist for doing the same thing in private.

I think Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee is the reporter of the week for tracking down Glen Coffee, the 49ers backup running back who stunned the team by retiring Friday. It's an interesting story. Football, Coffee told Barrows, "was a struggle for a long time. Actually when I look back I feel I never should have entered the draft in the first place. Football was no longer my dream. I found Christ in college. It changed my views on everything. But I still was a football player because it was expected of me, it was something I did all my life. I was basically wasting the [49ers'] time ... His [Christ's] will, I felt, wasn't football. He told me a long time ago to walk away from the game."

Glen Coffee has gotten some fairly mixed reviews for doing this. Peter King had this to say about the decision:

Coffee never gave any sign of being finished with football -- until he walked into coach Mike Singletary's office and told him he was through. The game's not for everyone, obviously.

Peter says nothing complimentary or positive really about Coffee's decision to retire from the NFL and follow his love for Jesus Christ. Peter wrote something positive about when Scott Sicko nearly turned down an offer to join the Cowboys roster as an undrafted free agent because he thought his future was doing something else, but he didn't really write anything positive here about Glen Coffee when he decided his future was doing something else.

Imagine if Tim Tebow had done the same thing. Granted, Tebow is a higher profile athlete, but he has been featured dozens of times for all the work he does in other countries for the church. If Tebow had done the same thing that Glen Coffee did then I think the reaction would be much different.

Fanhouse wrote the story, complete with a picture of Coffee yawning, because you know, he is lazy and all of that. The comments in this story at ProFootballTalk, also reveal that I think the reaction to Tebow retiring would be a little different than the reaction to Glen Coffee retiring. It may be different if Tebow retired because he is so high-profile, but I think it is responsible of Coffee to not waste the 49ers time if he didn't want to be there. I think I expected something more congratulatory and less ho-hum about Coffee's decision from Peter King.

4. I think we'll find out this week that defending NFL sack champion Elvis Dumervil is out for the year with his torn pectoral. Now Robert Ayers becomes one of the five most important Broncos this year.

Yet for some reason, all anyone can seem to talk about is the Broncos offense. I think losing Dumervil is a more important story than who is the quarterback for the Broncos, but I guess we can't tell some of the people who cover the Broncos this. When Robert Ayers is an important player for your defense, then that may not be great news.

c. Ditto, with an asterisk, Sam Bradford (six of 13, 57 yards) against Minnesota. The Rams had major protection issues with Bradford in the game -- right tackle Jason Smith looked particularly rusty, a bad sign for the number two overall pick in 2009 -- and he made a couple of poor throws. But he converted his first two third-down throws, ran the huddle well and took his first three hits since shoulder surgery 10 months ago.

So after last week's glowing review of Sam Bradford, Peter wants you to know that it isn't Bradford's fault he didn't play well. It was his offensive line that didn't do well. Peter wasn't wrong last week when he wrote that Bradford looked great in practice, it is mostly the Rams offensive line's fault he didn't perform well. I didn't see the game, so Bradford may have played great, but this is one of the many reasons it is hard to put a rookie quarterback behind an offensive line that isn't a quality line.

f. Mike Smith told me in Atlanta recently he was happy with the speed and intensity of his youth on defense, and it showed in the preseason opener. Will linebacker Sean Weatherspoon and defensive end Kroy Biermann, particularly, looked fast covering and rushing, respectively.

Of course Biermann, as we learned last week when Peter was listing the "easy" schedule the Cardinals had in the beginning of the season, isn't part of a killer pass rush that Matt Leinart would need to worry about. So Biermann did well, he just hasn't reached the point of "killer" yet.

g. With Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson lost for the preseason, it'll be interesting to see how much work Chan Gailey gives C.J. Spiller, who wasn't a workhorse at Clemson. You don't want Spiller entering the season nicked up, particularly with a physical Miami team opening the season on the turf in Orchard Park.

This brings up the question I had about why the Bills even drafted Spiller again? They don't want to use him as a workhouse back, but they pick him in the Top 10 of the NFL Draft. Who do they think he is, Reggie Bush?

k. Saw nothing of it, but how about Aaron Rodgers completing his first 10 throws and 12 of 13 overall, for 159 yards, against Cleveland? Can you find a weakness in that guy's game?

He's not Brett Favre.

q. Pete Carroll Moment of the Night in Seattle: He high-fived the National Anthem singer at the end of the song.

Hey, if you had just barely avoided some NCAA violations that occurred during your watch as a head coach you would be giddy too. I still can't believe Peter tried to tell us when the Seahawks hired Carroll that Carroll's leaving USC as head coach had nothing to do with the NCAA violations that were going to come down on USC.

Second point: The Patriots have brought in four old veteran receivers in the last two seasons -- Joey Galloway, Greg Lewis, Torry Holt and David Patten -- for wideout depth. Unless they bring back Patten (doubtful, with him turning 36 this week), those four vets would have played a combined three games for New England and caught a grand total of seven passes. It could be that Wes Welker will have the comeback of comebacks this year and be full speed on Labor Day. It's possible that third-round pick Taylor Price is a very quick study and will be ready to go early. They'd better be, for Tom Brady's sake.

When I needle Peter for being a Patriots fan and mention he can break down their depth chart at nearly every position, while he doesn't have this much information about other teams, this what I am talking about. He can break down that depth chart of who the Patriots have signed in the past and how it affects their future with ease.

The Patriots still have Julian Edelman, Randy Moss and Welker appears to be making a decent recovery from his knee injury. Hold your horses/ Don't pull a Bill Simmons and say the Patriots are "boring" this year, which is why you aren't paying attention to them, and jump off the fan wagon Peter.

g. Lay off Jacoby Ellsbury, all you tough guys out there. You think he wants to crack his ribs? You think a headfirst-diver should play with cracked ribs? This is the speed guy at the top of the order the Red Sox have never had. Don't run this guy out of town. You'll regret it, I promise you.

Somewhere Bill Simmons is saying, "but he is a boring player (the team is losing) and the team lacks emotion (wins). Plus, baseball games take too long this year (he doesn't want to watch a losing team) and plus baseball is declining in fan interest (or at least among people who only like to get into baseball when their team is winning)."

The 2004 and 2007 Red Sox team would have played with cracked ribs, dammit!