14 comments Panic On The Streets of Boston! Everyone Grab Your Loved Ones And Trample The Nearest Person On The Way Out Of The City!

Just a reminder for what seems like the hundredth time, we have room for one more person in the BotB Fantasy League. If you are interested, tell me or sign up today. I will fill the spot tomorrow.

Hat Guy wants everyone in Boston to know it is all over. There's no need to even try anymore. They have lost to the Yankees in a 3 game series and they will never have a good team again. They may as well just disband the team and move to Omaha, Nebraska. I hear there are plenty of baseball fans in that area who will support a bunch of losers like the Red Sox.

It’s time for the Red Sox to throw out all the familiar plot lines.

This annoys me. There are no "plot lines" just games to be played. The media has a fascination with turning games into "plots" as if they need to add drama to sporting events. Its overplayed and overdone and I wish it would stop.

This season is no longer about beating the Yankees. It’s not about winning the AL East. It’s not about curses or Evil Empires or blood feuds.

When was it ever just about beating the Yankees? I realize the media eats up the rivalry between these two teams and turns it into something that it is not, which is more important than a normal game, but the Red Sox goal I presume is to win the World Series, not beat the Yankees.

I understand this. Trust me I do. Every year I have to deal with everyone treating Duke-UNC in college basketball like it is for the National Championship. When I tell everyone it doesn't matter if Duke beats UNC or UNC beats Duke if one of those teams loses to Virginia or another team they should not lose to, I get looked at like I am crazy. It's true. The Red Sox could sweep the Yankees in an "important" series but if they lose 2 out of 3 to the White Sox, the Yankees sweep doesn't matter as much.

The Red Sox lost two out of three to the Yankees but if they had swept the series they still would have been 5.5 games behind, which is still a tough job to come back and win the AL East. It's not time to panic quite yet.

All that counts now is figuring out a way to make the playoffs.

How about continue winning games and stay in the lead for the Wild Card? I think that would work to make the playoffs. I know it is much more fun to write this way, to write like the Red Sox season is over because the Yankees took 2 out of 3 from them, but all is not lost and the Red Sox still have the 4th best record in the American League which will get them in the playoffs as of today.

The Red Sox will tell you the division is still within their grasp, because that’s what they have to say and how they have to think.

Those noble gentleman...not acknowledging the unattainable. I would like to know when ANY MLB team has come out and said, "yeah, we are pretty much playing for the Wild Card spot from here on out," even in late August. I can't recall a time. Why would this case be any different?

But while we’re waiting for all these things to come to pass, Boston would be advised to stop looking ahead at the Yankees, who are about to disappear over the horizon.

I hate to be the person to tell Hat Guy this but there is really no difference in trying to catch the Yankees and trying to win the Wild Card. As much fun as it would be to think the focus of the team is different, either way the Red Sox are trying to win games to get the Wild Card or win games to catch the Yankees. Either way, they have to win games. I think they know that. The purpose really doesn't freaking matter.

Let's look at how the NL and AL Wild Cards have done lately:

Since the Wild Card's inception in 1995 the NL Wild Card has made the NLCS 8 times, made the World Series 6 times, and won the World Series twice.

The AL Wild Card has made the ALCS 8 times, made the World Series 3 times, and won the World Series twice.

What I am saying is the Wild Card is not a kiss of death for the Boston Red Sox, so no matter how many times they lose to the Yankees and have to "switch their focus," it doesn't matter what they do as long as they keep winning games, which was probably their intent in the first place.

Hat Guy is placing too much emphasis on beating the Yankees. It only counts for one win for the Red Sox anyway when they beat the Yankees. I am sure they just want to win baseball games and they aren't focused on beating the Yankees but just winning baseball games.

Better to take a look over their shoulders at the Rangers and the Rays, who are just one and three games behind respectively in the AL Wild Card race.

Actually as of today the Rangers are now 1.5 games behind the Red Sox and the Rays are 3 games back.

Maybe the key to the Red Sox winning the Wild Card is to not play any more baseball games.

Yankee and Red Sox fans may have looked at this series as some sort of test, but the players knew that it was just a three-game set that they really had to win.

Those stupid Yankee and Red Sox fans, they just thought this past 3 game series was an exhibition game that didn't count.

Even the premier matchup of Josh Beckett and CC Sabathia took a back seat to the Boston imperative to win games, no matter who the opponent is.

Again, that was sort of the point for Josh Beckett and CC Sabathia. I really doubt they were going into the game thinking they had to beat each other, they were probably thinking they had to win the damn game and to do that they each person had to pitch well. Only the media and select fans really buy into the hype that the Red Sox-Yankees games mean any more in the standings than just another game won or lost in the standings.

In the next few weeks, Boston has to play Chicago, which is battling Detroit for the AL Central title, seven times. They also have six more against the Rays, three against the Angels and three more against New York. That’s 19 games against contending teams.

So basically by being in the lead for the Wild Card and getting to play six more games against the Rays the Red Sox nearly control their own destiny...so there is really no need to panic? Before lighting the torches and running around the streets in a fit because the Red Sox may not make the playoffs, Hat Guy should sit down and realize it can be a good position to be in to actually play the teams contending for the playoffs down the stretch.

The Red Sox have to think about winning series now.

What the hell were they thinking about previously to this Yankee series? Winning one game and then finding a good bar to hang out in after the games?

The Yankees still have to go back to the West Coast, where they never thrive, to play three against Seattle and three more against the Angels. Texas has 19 games against the Angels, Mariners, Rays and Twins. Tampa has six against Boston, seven against the Yankees, four against the Tigers and three against the Rangers.

So basically every other team the Red Sox are going up against for the Wild Card have to play teams trying to make the playoffs also? It looks to me like the Rays have the hardest schedule of the four teams...maybe they should be the ones Hat Guy is writing a column in a panic about. Of course he only writes about the Yankees and Red Sox, so to write a column about the Rays needing to panic would be impossible for him.

You can write off bad losses or three-game losing streaks in April, May and June, but not in late August and September.

I see what he is saying but it actually counts the same in the standings. The Red Sox have always been focused on winning baseball games, whether it is for the AL East lead or for the Wild Card, it doesn't matter. I realize it is fun for the media and writers like Hat Guy to think their focus has switched from the rivalry with the Yankees to getting the Wild Card, but it's stupid, they just want to win games.

-Mark Sanchez, the future 3 time Super Bowl MVP, played another exhibition game last night. The greatest quarterback ever started the game and because he played more than one series and didn't go against a porous Rams defense, he struggled. Yes, I am rubbing his face in this because I am tired of the Sanchez love out in the media.

Even the Associated Press loves themselves some Mark Sanchez.

Once he gains experience, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez will probably become more comfortable and confident in the pocket.

Probably, let's just ignore the fact 50% of quarterbacks taken in the first round are busts. Why would Mark Sanchez bust anyway, he is Mark Sanchez, God Among Men. Sum up the game and drop the commentary please.

I am not against Mark Sanchez, though it certainly sounds like it, but everyone has just assumed he is going to be a great quarterback based on one series against the Rams in the preseason. He is the heir apparent to Brett Favre to be the media's golden boy.

Sanchez was 3-8 for 43 yards with an interception returned for a touchdown, a fumble and a touchdown pass after the Ravens 1st team defense was taken out of the game. I make a motion we wait for the season to start before announcing Mark Sanchez is going to be a great quarterback in the NFL.

-After yesterday's discussion about Derek Jeter and where he ranks over the past 50 years, I found an article about Joe Posnanski that said Jeter is underrated.

I think we all agreed The Jeter is not the greatest player over the past 50 years, so Peter King's comment that brought it up was wrong, but I am not even sure if he is considered "underrated" either.

The word, Jeterate, was born of my own frustration -- a frustration shared with many people who are not in love with the Yankees -- that Jeter (because of his looks, his charms, his charisma, his natural ability to lead, his pinstripes) will receive hosannas and standing ovations for more or less anything he does, even ridiculous stuff. Especially INTANGIBLES.

When Derek Jeter was born, he came with an umbilical cord attached to a small bucket of intangibles.

Jeter has received excessive praise for his defense -- and three gold gloves -- though various defensive statistics and subjective viewings suggested that he has been a subpar shortstop.

Meaningless nerd statistics invented to bring down The Jeter.

Announcers and analysts of all kinds will write sonnets to Jeter's baseball brilliance -- the guy never makes a mistake! -- though a closer statistical view shows, for instance, he can be a spotty base runner (last year, for instance, Bill James' analysis showed Jeter to be minus-14 bases as a runner). Captain Clutch is actually hitting below his career averages with runners in scoring position, in late and close situations and in the postseason.

Then explain why he is the greatest shortstop ever! You can't because he is the greatest shortstop ever...or the greatest player of Peter King's lifetime, which could very well be the dumbest thing said by Peter King in a while and that is saying something.

He has, against all odds, become UNDERRATED. And that is a wicked turn. I think Jeter at 35 is having one of his greatest seasons. I think he's playing defense better than he ever has, he's getting on base and slugging like he did in his prime, and in my view he has been the Yankees most valuable player in 2009. And, for once, it's funny, I don't hear too many other people talking about it.

Because Derek Jeter is playing like he used to in his prime, this year only, he is now underrated because no one is overly singing his praises and describing what a great player he is?

I just want to make sure I am getting this straight. So for Derek Jeter to be properly "rated" you have to shower him with lavish praise at all times and speak of him as if he is the greatest player of all time? In that case, he has been properly rated his entire career.

I think Derek Jeter has been overrated in the past a bit and now that he is not getting all that praise he has become properly rated.

The Dewan Plus/Minus system -- a video system where they plot every ball hit in play -- had long shown him to consistently be the worst shortstop in baseball. Now, it has him as a plus-7 shortstop, a top-10 shortstop. Ultimate Zone Rating -- UZR -- which had shown him to be costing his team runs defensively every single year since 2002 now calculates that he has saved the Yankees almost six runs this year.

Because he is finally playing like a Hall of Fame defensive shortstop should play doesn't mean he all of a sudden deserves praise for doing so. This doesn't make him underrated now. This means he has finally lived up to his billing, for one year, to play shortstop well enough to deserve even one Gold Glove.

He's the only lifelong shortstop the last 60 years to punch up an on-base percentage better than .375 (.387 lifetime -- and on-base percentage is probably the most telling single offensive stat).

Somewhere in New York, Jeff Francouer takes issue with this statement.

Well, the Hit King Pete Rose had 2,762 hits on the day he turned 36. Jeter, assuming health, will have more when he turns 36 next June.

"Tell Derek that the first 3,000 hits are easy," Rose said, and it's a good line, but the truth is that Jeter should breeze past 3,000 hits and, depending on how important it is to him, could really climb the charts if he wants to keep going and going.

Then Pete Rose said, "I bet you $10,000 Jeter never gets to 4,000 hits. You want some of that action don't you? Come on, just one bet."

Jeter is still Jeter. He hit his usual .323/.390/.430 the rest of the way in 2008, and this year he has been preposterously consistent. Batting average isn't a great measuring tool, but it's telling that Jeter is hitting at home (.319) and on the road (.340), in wins (.337) and losses (.318), with men on base (.315) and with nobody on base (.339).

We can all agree Derek Jeter is a great baseball player and a future Hall of Famer. Simply because he is still playing like a Hall of Fame player doesn't mean he is underrated. The lack of discussion about how great he is can be weighed off by the fact EVERYONE spoke great of Jeter when it wasn't always completely true.

He's probably not the greatest shortstop of all time and I think there are other shortstops, like some named in the comments yesterday, that may be a step or two below The Jeter.

And it's those sorts of things that have led many to consider Jeter a media creation. Well, he's not. He's a great player having another great season. He's one of the best hitting shortstops in baseball history.

In no way does this mean he is underrated. I think that is crazy to call Jeter underrated, especially compared to the lavish praise he has gotten his entire career. It means Derek Jeter is still a great baseball player. He is not underrated because he is still meeting the praise everyone gave him as a younger player, he is not the greatest shortstop of the past 50 years and he is certainly not the best player in Peter King's lifetime.

24 comments MMQB Review: The Westin Must Die!

Quick note: The BotB Yahoo Fantasy Draft is this Sunday at 1pm. We have 11 teams and need one more team to play without a bye. We will be getting 12 teams and not having a bye, if anyone wants to sign up, be sure to do so by Tuesday. I have a backup plan for a 12th team and want to give someone a shot at the spot if they haven't gotten a chance to sign up and wanted to.

It's Monday, which means we get a Peter King MMQB this morning. What are the odds he talks about Brett Favre? Would you have bet your house, your car, or your entire life savings on the fact we get at least a short discussion on the greatest quarterback to ever live? If so, you would have won.

First, Peter wants us to temper our expectations.

Don't get spoiled by the last two Mondays. I can't keep up the pace of 7,200- and 9,000-word columns in the preseason.

This week he doesn't talk at length about a lot of teams in the Upper Northeast part of the United States much, therefore he doesn't have that much to say. The other teams are so boring.

We got super long columns previously when he was discussing Mike Vick and other more interesting topics, but this week he just can't be that productive if he has to talk about other teams in the NFL.

I can't figure out whether it's more mind-boggling that the Titans punters were hitting the 60-yard-wide structure in pre-game warmups, or their just-out-of-college, free-agent punter would hit it in the fourth quarter. Or whether it wasn't hung 20 feet higher in the first place.

Agreed. You are building a massive new stadium specifically for a football team and you hang a videoboard in the field of play? Somehow I get the feeling this isn't the last we have heard from this videoboard in Dallas. It shows me just how little Jerry Jones actually cared about actually having football played in the stadium, he would prefer to show it off, so that is why no one seemed to catch this slight problem.

I was told Sunday night the Cowboys definitely got the green light from the NFL for all football and competitive aspects of the stadium, including the positioning of the board 90 feet above the field.

I guess the NFL is a bunch of idiots as well on this issue.

The NFL: Where not understanding how high punts go happens.

The league could do a number of things: Order the videoboard raised, have commissioner Roger Goodell unilaterally impose a rules change of some sort to account for punts hitting the board, or leave the rule the same. If a ball hits the board now, it's essentially a do-over; the play is played over as if it never happened.

I am opposed to the rule changes for hitting the board. This isn't baseball, there should not be different rules for every stadium football games are played in. I don't think that is an option. Keeping the rule the exact same is completely stupid. I don't want to watch a game where a ball hits a scoreboard two, maybe three times in a row, and the play has to start over continuously. How is that practical or even smart? The NFL needs to grow some balls and force Jerry Jones to do something about this.

The videoboard has to be raised, I don't see another option...unless the NFL is convinced another punt can't hit the board, which I don't believe they are convinced of, and if they are convinced of this they are idiots because another punt is going to hit hte board.

"The irony is that our stadium architect [at new Lucas Oil Stadium] wanted to hang the videoboards the same way in our stadium,'' Polian said. "So we put a metal beam about 90 feet above the ground and had our punter at the time, Hunter Smith, punt the ball up there trying to hit it. He hit it the majority of the time. That's why we put our replay boards on the wall.''

I don't want to be hard on Jerry Jones for this, but I can't believe there was no one involved with the situation who could not have not thought or mentioned a football may hit the videoboard. I feel bad for the Cowboys football team. It just shows me how little those who were building and designing the stadium were more focused on creating an experience and less focused on creating a place to actually play football.

"So you don't like the move,'' Childress said to me Wednesday.

It's not that I don't like the move to get Favre, I said; I just don't like it now.

Come on Brad, this is Peter King you are talking to. He LOVES the move to get Brett Favre by the Vikings, he just doesn't like hearing about how you and Brett Favre lied and deceived to get him on the team. The way this was worked reflected poorly on Brett and that CAN NOT AND WILL NOT happen again.

Favre, if needed, could have joined the Vikings near the Week 9 bye, and been fresh for the final eight games, five of which are in the friendly confines of the Metrodome.

Instead of starting the season off with Brett Favre on the team hijacking a roster spot and the starting quarterback position, Brett could have hijacked a player's roster spot in Week 9 after that player had worked hard all season and through training camp to play well for the team...then he could have been handed the starting quarterback position after some other poor asshole kept it warm for him. That was much more preferable in Peter's mind.

If you are going to be a real asshole about just giving the starting quarterback job to Brett Favre, you may as well just go all out and be a super duper big asshole and let him sit out half the season before just handing him the starting job.

I repeat: I'd have liked this move if Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson struggled, and Mariano Rivera had to come in for the season save.

Brett Favre is not Mariano Rivera. Not even close Mariano Rivera is still performing at a high level and Brett Favre has been on the level of an elite quarterback but one season in the past 5 years. Get your head out of Brett's ass Peter and realize Brett Favre is not even close to being a parallel to Mariano Rivera.

He is more of a Roger Clemens. The guy who gets to sit out half the year because he gets special treatment and then comes into the team and gets to leapfrog all the players who have worked harder than he has that season, just because of name recognition and the fact he used to be good. Brett Favre is Roger Clemens.

I don't care that Favre struggled Friday night, and I don't care that he started after being in camp for 15 minutes; all pretense of having to earn anything with the Vikings has been thrown out the window after Childress bent every rule on the team to get Favre in-house.

See, these are the things Peter should care about. If Peter King had any ability to be impartial when it comes to Brett Favre these three things would drive him to question the motives of Brett Favre and the reasoning behind the Vikings signing him. In a realistic world, Peter King would talk less about the fairness of the situation and talk more about how Brett Favre's performance level doesn't merit being handed a starting QB job. We won't get that though, because he is in mad love with Brett Favre.

I am not even sure Favre is the best QB on the Vikings roster. I know it was just a preseason game but Tavaris Jackson looked pretty good the other night. Of course he has spent a lot of time with his receivers, while Favre has not, which is another reason I think this is a bad idea.

In time, he'll learn his receivers, and he'll make some beautiful music with them.

And this is just a given based on how well he played last year? I like how Peter just assumes Brett Favre is going to be successful in Minnesota even though he has had one good year in the past 5 years. A quarterback who has thrown 54 interceptions over the past 3 years...does that sound like a good quarterback for a ball control, run-based offense to you?

This one tempts fate -- and the longest starting streak a quarterback has ever had.
So in summary, Peter King doesn't like this move of Favre to the Vikings because he doesn't want Brett Favre's records to be potentially messed up and he thinks the Vikings should have kept Favre in their backpocket a little bit longer as a backup plan. I am sure it would not have affected the Vikings team at all to have the thought of Favre stepping in and being the savior at midseason hanging over the team all preseason and at the beginning of the regular season.

The team is a quarterback away from serious Super Bowl contention, and he didn't trust Rosenfels or Jackson to be that quarterback.

Peter can't see because of the Favre-colored glasses he has on, but Brett Favre may not even be the quarterback who can lead the Vikings to Super Bowl contention.

I just think it shouldn't have been now or never. If Childress wanted Favre today, he'd want him next week. Or the week after.

How can Peter not see how completely unfair this would be to the Vikings players who have worked hard during training camp and the off season to get ready to play the season? If Childress had taken Peter's suggestion, Favre would come back when the season is halfway over and have skipped training camp, preseason, and just taken over the team he had no familiarity with in Week 9.

What Peter is really upset about is that he wants Brett Favre to play well this year and he doesn't think Brad Childress has set that up to happen. Peter doesn't care about anything except making sure Brett Favre has a good year and he will suggest the Vikings do anything that puts Favre in that position.

Quote of the Week I

"Michael, you can't do that.''
-- Mentor Tony Dungy to Michael Vick, after Vick was spotted by the New York Post drinking a Grey Goose and pineapple juice at a Philadelphia hotel bar.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking alcohol in public but this just goes to show me that Mike Vick hasn't quite gotten it yet. He is saying and doing the right things but it's pretty much all talk.

It is perception that Mike Vick is really fighting right now and even little things like this don't help that perception.

Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of the Week

Regarding the non-guaranteed, guaranteed reservation that got me booted from the Westin Hotel in San Diego nine days ago: I am not boycotting Westin Hotels. I probably should, but I realize the ultimate futility of it all, because Westin (and the hotel industry) is not going to change its policy of overbooking hotels in hopes of selling out every night.

This policy is ridiculous! If Peter King wants to roll into a hotel at 11:30 pm and be able to get a room when every other person at the hotel arrived much earlier and claimed a room, that should be his God-given right as an American. How dare this company try to make a profit and reward those people who get to the hotel first?

I wonder how long it took Peter's ego to realize they were not changing this policy? I bet it was at least early Saturday or early Sunday.

Avril's point, in brief, is that hotels allow guests to reserve rooms weeks in advance and then cancel hours before the day of arrival -- 24 hours at Westin's -- without incurring a charge.

Exactly. I sort of get what Peter is trying get at, but if he would spend less time pitching hissy fits and more time thinking the problem through he would realize unless he wants hotels to charge people for rooms they never use, this is the best system that is fair to both parties. I can imagine how much of a fit Peter would throw if he got charged for a room he never used.

The biggest thing I told Avril: When you reach the point of saturation at the hotel, it's idiotic to wait for those with guaranteed reservations to come in and be furious and then get sent somewhere. When the hotel is full, if there are four people still expected, call or text or e-mail them immediately -- or call the travel agent who booked the reservation, who theoretically can contact the traveler and tell him where he now is staying.

I know this would make Peter feel better if the hotel texted or emailed the person expecting to get a hotel room, but this doesn't even really make sense for a lot of business travelers. I know it is 2009 but not everyone has email or text messaging on their phone. Throw in the fact if a person is on a business trip then they will not be able to respond to either form of communication to resolve the problem immediately, thereby causing the same problem Peter had.

Not to mention texting or emailing just gives a heads up the hotel is booked and at that point the traveler would be in the same position Peter was in here. It solves nothing except tells you know before you arrive you don't have a hotel room. Not everyone is in the line of business, like Peter is, that would allow them to do something about it before they reach the hotel.

Let's speak English here: Just call or text or e-mail the loser who's on the street, or his travel agent, and give a free room somewhere else in town. That's the solution.

Or just tell the person in English when they get to the hotel and then give them a free room...which is what they did for Peter. I don't see how giving a heads up to a traveler they don't have a room is a better policy...they still don't have a room.

When I talked to Brady in the spring, he remembered --a bit ruefully -- what the Giants' rush had done to him in the Super Bowl, the last complete game he played. Watching a chunk of Thursday night's game against the Bengals on tape the other night, when Brady got hit hard twice, I was reminded of the hits and torment he took against the Giants.

You mean poor little Tom Brady got sacked a little bit? How sad...

Here's the deal. He is going to get hit many, many more times in his career and some of them are going to hurt. The odds are not good that he will miss another entire season. I would also like to add as great as the Patriots 19-0 season was and as great as Tom Brady was that season, the excellent offensive line play had a lot more to do with it than anyone has ever cared to acknowledge. The line was blocking so well the only way a team could beat the Patriots is rush 4 guys and drop the rest in coverage, which the Giants did well in the Super Bowl.

Brady was great that year, but when you have great protection it helps a lot.

e. Matt Forte is underrated as a cutback runner.

Patrick Crayton runs a beautiful stop-and-go-route...but he is overrated when it comes to running a slant.

What the hell does this all even mean? Who under/over rates running backs when it comes to specific moves or runs?

2. I think we're on the way to a desperately needed streamlining of the Hall of Fame ceremony, and hopefully reducing it from the three-hour range to maybe two hours and 15 minutes.

What is Peter's fascination with getting everything that inconveniences him changed immediately?

Eyes rolled particularly on Carl Peterson's 26-minute miniseries as the speech-maker for the late Derrick Thomas. I received lots of critical e-mail for saying the event needed to be streamlined, but anyone in attendance -- except for the new Hall of Famers and their families -- understands nothing will be lost if the speeches are kept to 15 minutes.

There you go people like me who thought Peter was being an asshole by not giving Hall of Fame inductees as much time to speak as they needed...apparently IF YOU WERE THERE you would know how long it felt. I guess since we weren't there, we have no damn perspective on how recognition for the highest achievement a NFL player can achieve would just seem tedious.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is actually for the new Hall of Famers and their families. Who gives a shit whatever everyone else thinks? The ceremony is not for Peter King, it's for guys who have achieved something in the NFL and their family. Everyone else should go fuck off if they don't like the length of speeches.

b. Recent history says a Super Bowl team will come, relatively speaking, out of nowhere. Arizona last year, the Giants the year before, sixth-seed Pittsburgh in '05, Carolina in '03, the Ravens in 2000. So I picked one logical team in the magazine and one illogical team.

I bet Peter picked New England and Philadelphia. I have no money, but I would bet some if I had it...or maybe New England and Minnesota.

6. I think the preseason is tough to judge anyway, but the Panthers left me guessing after watching three quarters of their game against Miami.

I know I sound stupid but...................three quarters? He couldn't even watch a whole game?

Good: DeAngelo Williams had the best run of any NFL back in the preseason (that and $4.14 will buy you a grande hazelnut latte) with his electrifying, 25-yarder in the first quarter.

Other than that he ran 6 times for about 6 yards...not that impressive. 25 yard runs don't always make up for crappy 1 yard runs.

Bad: Julius Peppers didn't get a sniff all night, and though much of that came against a terrific young tackle, Jake Long, it's the classic example of why no one beat the door down to get Peppers when he was on the market in the offseason. To pay a first-round pick and $16 million a year for a guy who's going to get you 10 sacks a year ... let's just say there are better ways to spend your salary cap money and draft choices.

You don't care and I am not going to link you to anything but Julius Peppers is overrated. He is a great defensive end but he is not a top 3 defensive end. This is a major argument among Panthers fans and if you look at the numbers he gets a greater portion of sacks against bad teams than any other "top" defensive end, including Justin Tuck, Jared Allen, Dwight Freeney, etc.

If you put Julius Peppers against a great tackle, he gets shut down. Yes, I realize it was one preseason game but this is a career long trend. Peppers isn't a horrible defensive end but it is beyond frustrating to hear him get called an "elite" pass rusher when "elite" or "great" tackles shut him out in a game.

He may never be as good as his reputation says he is or as good as he thinks he is.

c. Said it before and I'll say it again: Derek Jeter's the best baseball player of my lifetime.

Really? The Jeter? I have finally begrudingly accepted that Jeter is a great baseball player but the best player of Peter's lifetime? Peter is around 50 years old, which means his lifetime spans from 1959-2009.

That means he think Jeter is better than Albert Pujols, Mickey Mantle, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Rickey Henderson...and that is just naming a few.

As much as I respect The Jeter, I think it is pure hyperbole to even believe he is the greatest player of Peter King's lifetime. I can usually respect someone's opinion, but it's hard here.

h. Great Sears commercial about Favre being unable to make up his mind about a big electronics buy. The kid waiting on him tells him about the wafflers who come and can't decide whether to buy what they really want. "Those guys drive me crazy,'' he says. Art, or something, imitating reality.

Hahaha! Brett Favre is making fun of himself. How self deprecating! Making fun of himself for doing something he can completely control but chooses not to because his massive ego requires other people bow down to him...hilarious.

Though if that commercial was actually reality Brett Favre would have decided to not make a big electronics buy and then later go back to the store and said he wanted the big electronic gadget after all, offered the store more money and then literally have taken the big electronic gadget off the back of someone else's truck in the parking lot. Then he would have returned the gadget a few days later, and then when someone else is looking to buy it, steal it again. That would have been much more realistic.

8 comments Saturday Stuff

It's Saturday, which means I am too lazy to write a really long post today, and you are probably too busy to read a really long post. So I will shorten it out and jump all over the sports world for the day.

-Greg Paulus was playing basketball 5 months ago and today he is the Syracuse starting quarterback. I am not sure if this says more about his ability to come back and play football after 4 years of being an underachieving point guard or says more about Syracuse's complete lack of options at the quarterback position.

"My first thing was to go to the staff and say, 'Who is Greg Paulus?'" Marrone said. "I hate to say that now, but I really didn't know."

No offense to Doug Marrone but if he doesn't know who Greg Paulus is, even if he doesn't follow college basketball, I don't know how well that bodes for him as the Syracuse head coach. Paulus was a pretty highly recruited college football quarterback five years ago and if Marrone was involved at all with football I would think he could remember this. I realize he comes from the NFL and all but I always thought Paulus was a pretty highly recruited guy, especially since he comes from the Syracuse area and Marrone is an alumni...I just thought he would know the name.

I personally am excited to see Paulus start for the Orange but I really am not confident in his ability to win football games at Syracuse because of the talent level of team and the fact he hasn't played competitive football in 5 years. I have to admit I will try to watch a Syracuse game or two though to watch him play. Even if he sucks it will get some interest in Syracuse football this year.

-TMQ is back. I am not going to cover it all for this week, because as was mentioned in the comments, it really did not have a whole lot to do with football. Still, just based on the first and last sentences we have a lot to look forward to this year.

TMQ travels back in time to August 2009!

That is the title of his lastest crap filled entry into sports journalism.

Does anything make sense in football anymore? Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers allowed 57 sacks, rushed for 2.9 yards per carry in the playoffs -- and won the Super Bowl. The other Super Bowl entrant, the Arizona Cardinals, reached the big game despite finishing last in rushing yards.

This man frustrates me beyond belief. Someone needs to inform him there are more facets to the game of football than just random cherry picked statistics. He acts as if the team that wins the Super Bowl every year should be last in sacks allowed, first in rushing, and first in every other defensive and offensive category.

Rookie quarterbacks, who are never supposed to win, were dominant 2008 players, with Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan combining to go 24-12. The previous two rookie quarterbacks to start an entire season, David Carr and Peyton Manning, were a combined 7-25.

David Carr was drafted #1 by an expansion team and Peyton Manning was drafted #1 by an awful Colts team. The team around the rookie quarterback also has something to do with that quarterback's success.

Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan both went to teams that had good players in place, in fact Flacco wasn't even drafted in the lottery, he was just a good rookie quarterback. Ryan went to an Atlanta Falcons team that had a massive hole at quarterback and was actually solid in other positions on the roster. They were able to draft #3 because their quarterback was in jail and they had no backup options...and their coach quit before the season was over. The Falcons didn't really have a horrible season based solely on not having talent on the roster. You have to look at other circumstances in the situation before you start just talking about how things are weird in the NFL.

Why all this strangeness? Because an NFL playbook from the year 2387 came backward in time and altered the football timeline -- just like the spaceships from the future that altered the timeline in the latest Star Trek movie.

I have nothing to say to this, except this has nothing to do with the NFL at all and I don't know how Gregg Easterbrook gets to write a column for ESPN.

"Pip Pip! Cheerio! Trap Press, Lads!" The Boston College men's basketball team beat Duke and North Carolina -- but lost to Harvard.

This was the last sentence of the article, before the preview of next week's article. Boston College beat North Carolina and Duke, then lost to Harvard back in Februrary 2009. That was almost seven months ago and he still finds the need to mention this in his weekly column that is supposed to be about the NFL.

Just based on the first couple and last couple sentences we can look forward to another year of idiocy from Mr. Easterbrook and his column which he refers to in the third person called TMQ.

-Josh Levin has written what is my favorite article of the day. It is entitled, "Sports Illustrated's Peter King Falls Out of Love With His Favorite Source."

In the column Levin documents Peter King and Brett Favre's relationship and includes money quotes like this:

In the beginning, King writes like a proud parent documenting his child's first steps. In recent weeks, he's taken on the demeanor of a father who's forever getting strung along by a drug-addict son

I think Mr. Levin may have missed the irony that Brett Favre did have a drug dependency on Vicodin when comparing Favre to a drug-addict son. I don't ask much of you guys but if you enjoy my MMQB Review every week, and really how couldn't you, then just read the short documentation of Favre and King's relationship. It is interesting to read and even includes links if you like to read Peter's old columns to make fun of him to yourself.

-I swear this is the last time I am going to bring up Lord Favre without prompting by a columnist like Peter King. Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com, which is one of my favorite sites and has been since it was in its infancy, has broken down the Favre situation and has some interesting thoughts. It shows just how calculating Brett Favre has been through this entire second un-retirement.

I've long believed that everyone connected to the sport of football will lie in the name of obtaining or securing a strategic advantage.

It's true. The NFL basically consists of a bunch of lies being told only interrupted by sporadic playing of football.

In February, Favre laid the foundation to secure a free-and-clear release from the Jets.

Step 1. He knows the team wants to move on without him, so give them a reason to do so. Say you are going to retire, maybe cry a little and you even get a little free coverage where people wax poetic over you? What's wrong with that?

When he got what he wanted in April, Favre said it had nothing to do with any desire to play for the Vikings.

Clearly a lie. We knew that then and we know that now.

Momentum continued to build in that direction until, all of a sudden, Favre told Vikings coach Brad Childress (whom Favre calls "Chilly") that the Second Annual Retirement would not become the Second Annual Unretirement.

Ready for a conspiracy theory that actually makes sense?

The powers-that-be would have us all believe Chilly accepted Favre's decision without any effort to change his mind. Then, Chilly ignored Favre for 20 days, and Favre ignored Childress for 20 days.

Do we really believe Childress would not have tried to change Favre's mind if he truly wanted him to come play quarterback for the Vikings? If Favre is completely on the fence about whether he wants to play or not and Childress needs to save his job, I can't believe he would seem to accept Favre's retirement without a fight.

But Chilly supposedly called Favre on Monday, on a whim. And Favre — who agonizes over every decision in his life — instantly determined without deliberation or debate to re-retire from retirement and relocate to Minnesota for six months.

This is my question. How are we supposed to believe Brett Favre made the decision to come back in one day when it has taken him weeks before this to make a decision?

He didn't just fly to Minnesota to hammer out a contract. He came, he saw, he practiced. All in one day. And he'll play in a game on Friday night.

This was clearly thought out beforehand and the Vikings players knew it, which led to the Jay Glazer report.

So if (when) Cook explained that Brett doesn't want to do the training camp thing, the two sides needed to come up with a plan for pulling the sheet off Favre after the Vikings departed Mankato.

It is just too coincidental for me to believe that Brett Favre decided he wanted to play again the day after training camp ended and Brad Childress let him do this. Everyone knows Favre did not want to attend training camp, so he made up an excuse that sounded like he was being selfless...saying he knows he couldn't make it through the entire season and then just waited for training camp to end.

The only semi-plausible approach was a renewed commitment to retirement, with the express (and top-secret) understanding that the Tuesday after the preseason opener would be the day Favre officially unretires.

If this is true, there is nothing wrong with this. It's not illegal or really unethical. It's just another example of how Brett Favre will lie to get what he wants and he also doesn't seem to care who or what he hurts to get what he wants. I am sure Rosenfels, Booty, and Jackson were not in on this plan so they thought all along they were competing for a starting job instead of Lord Favre's main backup.

I believe this conspiracy theory is true and I am amazed at the lengths that Brad Childress will go to keep his job. He could pretty much have lost all of his team's respect with this effort to get the God of Interceptions on his team.

-I have had a love/hate relationship with Gregg Doyel and right now it is more on the "love" side of the equation.

The post about how he doesn't like Jay Mariotti is good stuff, but in the comments he lists the writers that he actually enjoys reading...

Best writer in the business: Jason Whitlock
Most talented writer: Posnanski
Guy I don't read: Posnanski
Why: Too nice
Other must reads, other than our fine writers here at CBSSports.com of course: TJ Simers, Dan Wetzel, Mariotti (like watching a train wreck; I can't stop looking).
Peter King? Hell no.
Bob Ryan? Sometimes. Why not.
ESPN: Look, some day ESPN will own everything. Including healthcare and Iraq. So let's be nice to ESPN.

He said "hell no" to Peter King. I thought everyone liked Peter. I may be on the "hate" side of the equation with Doyel soon, and it appears he actually enjoys it when people hate him, so he may enjoy that. He is even running for the school board in Ohio. Seriously.

-I do have to say for a guy who doesn't like Jay Mariotti Gregg Doyel certainly writes a column 12 days AFTER Jay Mariotti writes a column that are very similar...even to the point it's almost a rip-off of Mariotti's column. Let's look at them side-by-side briefly.

Doyel's (August 18th - in black type)

Mariotti's (August 6th - in red type)

Those headlines are from years ago, but we can never forget. The first happened in 1920, when Chapman became the first, and still only, major league batter to die after being hit by a pitch.

A baseball, I'll remind you, is a lethal weapon. It's a rock-hard, tightly-wrapped object with a cork center that has killed one player and ruined the careers of others. In 1920, Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch and died 12 hours later in a New York City hospital.

And that brings me to the other headline I saw, the one from the future.

Second major leaguer dies from beanball

Impossible, right? Nobody's going to die on the baseball field.

Call those rare occasions, if you insist. I'd say it's historical evidence that we're long overdue for another tragedy, especially if the sleepy lords of Major League Baseball continue to poo-poo the potential consequences of purpose-pitch retaliation.

Players throw at players until the umpire starts throwing them out of the game, and even then, it's not over. After a game earlier this month in Los Angeles, Milwaukee's Prince Fielder lugged his 270 pounds under the stadium, all the way to the Dodgers' clubhouse, to confront the pitcher who had hit him that night -- as retaliation, presumably, after the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez had been hit by a pitch two innings earlier. Fielder never got close to reliever Guillermo Mota, but the next night the Dodgers posted nine security officials outside their clubhouse door.

But what made this episode so surreal -- and frightening -- was the sight of the 275-pound Fielder barreling through the underbelly of Dodger Stadium and trying to bust his way into the home clubhouse, where Prince wanted to crown Mota in front of 24 teammates who I'm fairly certain would have turned the scene into bloody-Octagon-meets-Evander Holyfield's ear.

Just to make sure he was in control, the Dodgers tightened security at Chavez Ravine. When Fielder took batting practice Wednesday evening, nine guards -- again, nine -- stood watch outside the visitors clubhouse. Throughout the night, there were no fewer than eight outside the Milwaukee clubhouse and five outside the home clubhouse.

Even if Bud Selig doesn't get it, the courts know: In the wrong hands, a baseball isn't a baseball.

But Selig's men have shown no interest in a cleanup, preferring to let a little-boy, tit-for-tat mindset run rampant.

Dangerous enough to a kill a major leaguer? Let's hope not. But don't act like the textbook case of retaliation -- a baseball buried in a hitter's back -- is as easy as it sounds. Major league pitchers routinely fail to hit something as large as the strike zone, but they can be trusted to hit something as small as a batter's back?

Neither was the victim of a purpose pitch, but it's amazing that today's ballplayers don't understand the life risk if a baseball thrown at 100 mph from 60 feet, six inches away strikes a man in the face, eye or skull.

"I have to protect my teammates," Santana said. "You can call that whatever you want."

I call it assault. One day, I'll call it murder. Right now, I call it inevitable.

I'd like to see Selig dabble in reform. I'd like him to tell managers and pitchers to stop throwing at batters with a lethal weapon.

It's not like the two articles are completely the same but there are enough similarities to where I almost felt like I was reading the same article. Maybe Gregg Doyel should start reading Jay Mariotti's columns more carefully.

9 comments I Found This Column To Be Completely Dispensable

It is pretty hard to define the word "valuable" or "indispensable" in sports...or to at least come to a consensus on the definition. When it comes time to vote at the end of the year in some sports, especially baseball, those voters who vote for the NL and AL MVP seem to think "valuable" means "plays for the best team in the league and is the best player on that team." Others think of it as an intangible thing, where someone like The Jeter would be valuable to the Yankees because he stands for everything a true Yankee is. I think of it in these terms, "if I took every player off x team, losing which player would cause the team to lose more games, than every other player."

I do sort of a cost-benefit analysis. For example, Mark Teixeira is not the most valuable Yankee, though he may be their best player right now. Alex Rodriguez is probably the most valuable Yankee, though an argument could be made for Mariano Rivera being that guy. How many games or situations does Rivera get the Yankees out of with a win that another reliever would not do so? I am rambling, but you get my point. I use indispensable interchangebly with valuable because they are really synonymous.

I am not sure what John Lopez's measurement for "indispensable" is. He names the MVP/MIP (Most indispensable player) for every NFL team and I take issue with a few of them.

Here, then, is a look at the one player each NFC team could least afford to lose to injury. Call them the "crippling" injuries when it comes to a team's hopes for 2009. And since losing a starting quarterback, obviously, would be devastating to every team, we left them out of this little exercise.

I like how we start the entire article off with a completely wrong assumption. This pretty much ruined any credibility this "exercise" had in my mind. I generally like John Lopez's stuff but making a blanket statement that for every NFL team to lose the starting QB would be devastating is a huge thing to just assume in the beginning of an article.

Is Detroit that much worse with Culpepper or Stafford starting? Are the Jets that much worse off if Kellen Clemens comes off the bench? Even for contending teams, how much is the fall off going to be if Favre gets hurt and Jackson or Rosenfels steps in? The Vikings made the playoffs without Favre, wouldn't the loss of another player be worse? I think it is not a good start to just say the loss of a starting QB to every team would be "devastating." The Patriots didn't fall apart without Brady last year and he is one of the top 2 QB's in the NFL. I am going to do my best to play by his insane "no QB" rules.

Atlanta Falcons, Tony Gonzalez

Last year the Falcons were 11-5 with a rookie quarterback starting without Tony Gonzalez. He has never played a snap for them, yet he is somehow now the most valuable player on the team.

Don't get me wrong. Michael Turner is crucial to the Falcons, much like Adrian Peterson is to the Vikings. And the Falcons have an elite, young and strong-armed quarterback in Matt Ryan. This is a multidimensional team that can do a lot of things at a high level. Most often it will be Turner leading the way. Sometimes, it will be Ryan.

So there is our answer. Michael Turner. Take him off the Falcons and I doubt the Falcons go 11-5. We know the Falcons can go 11-5 without Tony Gonzalez. Sometimes this stuff is too easy to criticize without feeling like I am picking on the author. I am even tempted to not pick Turner because Norwood is his backup and go with someone else as MIP...but I know it is not Gonzalez.

Carolina Panthers, Jon Beason

When play-making defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu was lost for the season with an Achilles tendon injury on the first day of training camp, everything changed for Beason. For starters, as an undersized (6-foot, 237-pound) middle linebacker accustomed to having his defensive linemen take on most blockers, Beason's prospects for another Pro Bowl season suffered a hit.

I like how his way of convincing the crowd that Beason is the MIP on the Panthers is to describe how losing another player on the Panthers is going to so greatly hurt the Panthers defense. So one of the best MLB in the league gets hurt and all of a sudden that MLB may not make the Pro Bowl? Somebody must have more value than Beason then.

Now, he's going to have to deal with much more traffic, and size coming at him. And how much of that pounding can Beason take?

I want to remind everyone John Lopez chose Jon Beason as the most indispensable player on the Panthers roster, not Maake Kemoeatu. Last year Kemoeatu missed one game and the Panthers defense gave up 300 yards in rushing to the Giants. Generally if you are going to list a player as the most indispensable player on a roster you shouldn't go on and on about how that MIP is going to struggle without another player on the roster.

Chicago Bears, Tommie Harris

But the Bears return to prominence depends also on the defense playing to its expected level, and if Harris cannot stay healthy, the Bears' D suffers a severe blow.

I have always liked Tommie Harris and do understand the importance he has to the Bears defense but.......what would the offense of the Bears look like if Devin Hester got injured? I don't think the Bears defense suffers as much without Harris as the offense may suffer without one legitimate wide receiver for Cutler to throw the ball to. I am almost afraid to mention when Urlacher doesn't play well, the Bears defense generally doesn't play well.

Detroit Lions, Shaun Smith

It sounds crazy calling this notorious attitude problem not even yet at the top of the depth chart as pivotal to the Detroit Lions.

Perhaps because it is crazy?

One of the key aspects of Schwartz' defense is funneling as much as possible into the middle of the defense, where the 6-2, 325-pound Smith will be.

So this MVP/MIP pick goes to a backup DT that SHOULD play well in the offensive system the new head coach wants to set up. I think this pick gets the award for "Most Speculation That Led to The Choice of MIP." He is assuming Smith is going to be a starter, assuming Schwartz will be able to run the type of defense he wants to run this year and assuming Smith will be the best player in that defense. That's a lot of assuming for a guy who is supposed to be the most indispensable player on a team.

Green Bay Packers, Greg Jennings

I am going to be honest. I don't know who the Packers MIP is, but I do know they have a ton of decent receivers on that roster. James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and Donald Driver all could have good years, so I don't know how Jennings is the pick.

Jennings has gone from underrated and overlooked on a national scale to quite possibly the best receiver in the game. Sure, it's probably still either the Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald or the Texans' Andre Johnson that leads the way, and certainly Terrell Owens and Randy Moss would have something to say.

Terrell Owens? Is this 2004? I like Randy Moss but there is no way he is the best receiver in the NFL. It's like John Lopez had a brief brain cramp and thought it was 2004, so he put that last sentence in there. How about Steve Smith and Calvin Johnson, do you think they have an opinion? I think they are better receivers than Moss and Owens.

Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson

I hate to disagree with this but I think Chester Taylor could take up some of the slack if Peterson went down. My choices would be Pat/Kevin Williams. When/If they go down this year, the Vikings are going to have a much more difficult time stopping the run.

New Orleans Saints, Pierre Thomas

(the sound of Bengoodfella laughing uncontrollably)

Saints coaches believe Thomas could be a 1,000-yard running back, which could lead to great things offensively, considering Drew Brees' talent and the prolific passing game. Thomas even has been used as the Wildcat back in training camp this year. Big things could be in store for him.

This choice is filled with wonderfully certain words like "could" and "believe," which COULD lead me to BELIEVE this is more of a prediction rather than actually an analysis of who the MIP on the Saints roster is. I am sorry, I can not allow a MVP/MIP for a team to be chosen on what that player "could" do, which the player has never done before, to make them the most indispensable player on a team. Bump that crap.

The Saints don't have an MIP outside of Drew Brees.

Philadelphia Eagles, Brian Westbrook

Completely disagree. The Eagles have played and won without Westbrook in the past. LeSean McCoy can step in, just like Buckhalter has done in the past, to take over some of the production Westbrook puts up when he is in the lineup. Westbrook is a great player but definitely not the most indispensable player on the Eagles roster. He's close but not necessarily it.

The Eagles got a taste of what life without Westbrook is like in 2008 and it wasn't pretty. Westbrook missed a couple of games early and as the season wound to a close, saw his attempts, yards and yards per-carry dwindle.

The Eagles actually got a taste of what life without a great backup running back is like. Again, the Eagles have succeeded without Westbrook in the lineup and they can do it again...especially with the second best RB in the draft backing him up.

I think for this year with Jim Johnson having died, Brian Dawkins in Denver and there being a leadership void (I hate saying it because it sounds cliche but it could be true), the MIP is currently injured, and that was Stewart Bradley. Seriously, ruling out QB's is absolutely no fun for something like this.

Washington Redskins, Chris Samuels

Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was brought in to make life miserable on opposing offenses. Haynesworth was the big offseason splash and indeed should be huge.

Sorry, but the drop off from Samuels to Mike Williams or Jeremy Bridges is not as great as the drop off from Haynesworth to Lorenzo Alexander or Kedric Gholston. Haynesworth is a guy who can change an entire defense just by being on the field and playing all the time as if he has a contract to play for.

Here, then, is a look at the one player each AFC team could least afford to lose to injury. Call them the "crippling" injuries when it comes to a team's hopes for 2009. And since losing a starting quarterback, obviously, would be devastating to every team, we left them out of this little exercise.

It still annoys me we can't use QB's.

Cincinnati Bengals, Chris Henry

I know Chad Johnson has seen his performance decline but Chris Henry is the most indispensable Bengal?

But Henry truly has been the biggest piece of the Bengals' offense thus far, much more so than Chad Ochocinco, in fact. In his first preseason game, Henry torched the Saints for 100-yards receiving and a pair of deep balls.

Well gee, based on that one preseason game I guess it shows that Chris Henry is the MIP for the Bengals. I didn't realize his one preseason game was so impressive. It looks like I will have to go ahead try to vote him into the Pro Bowl based on his one preseason game.

Chris Henry is the #3 receiver on the depth chart right now. There is Laveranues Coles and Chad Johnson ahead of him. The Bengals could afford to lose Henry. Right now, I have to say Cedric Benson is the MIP for the Bengals. Without him on the field the Bengals will have to rely on Brian Leonard or Kenny Watson for running yards. Having no running game would greatly adversely affect Carson Palmer's ability to throw the ball.

Denver Broncos, Brandon Marshall

No. There are other reasonable options for the Broncos including Jabar Gaffney, Brandon Stokley, Chad Jackson and Brandon Lloyd (I said reasonable, not incredibly helpful). Champ Bailey still can take away half of the field from the opposing QB and that makes him my choice. I would even say as a backup it is either Ryan Harris or Ryan Clady, both guys who will give Orton time to find an open receiver, no matter who that receiver is.

The Denver wide receiving corps behind Marshall is subpar at best. With his size, talent and ability to physically beat defensive backs to the ball, Marshall remaining healthy is crucial.

The backups are subpar but that doesn't mean Marshall is the MIP on the Broncos roster because if he/when he doesn't play this year they can still have offensive success. I guarantee a secondary with Alphonso Smith playing the nickel corner is a lot better than a secondary with Josh Bell/Jack Williams playing nickel corner and if the Broncos can succeed this year it depends a lot on the defense playing well. Champ Bailey is key to that success.

Houston Texans, DeMeco Ryans

We all love DeMeco Ryans but where is the pass rush coming from if Mario Williams gets hurt? Where does the passing game go if Andre Johnson isn't there to take the attention of half the secondary? Those are my only two questions and my two candidates for this team's MIP.

Kansas City Chiefs, Larry Johnson

Why do I find it hard to believe Larry Johnson is the most indispensable player on the Chiefs roster?

But if they want to keep things respectable, establish a new identity and maybe even surprise a team or two as they try to head back to the top of the AFC heap, Johnson could show the way. Getting LJ to play hard and be a good citizen is Haley's top priority. It would be quite the statement to everyone in the organization if Haley can get LJ to buy-in, so to speak.

So this choice isn't based on actual football indispensability but is based on the fact Larry Johnson is an asshole and if Todd Haley can get through to him it will set off an ubuntu-like effect through the entire organization ending with the entire team singing Kumbaya and holding hands as fireworks are set off in the distance and the team goes 4-12 this year?

I am going to do something crazy and base it on what a player actually brings to the team and think about what would happen if that player got hurt? Put me down for Dwyane Bowe. Along with actually being the team's best player, if Bowe gets hurt the Chiefs will have a receiving crew full of underachievers and guys who never have nor will achieve.

New York Jets, Nick Mangold

The Jets have high hopes for quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has yet to disappoint either on the field or off. But opposing defenses can change all that in a heartbeat and turn Sanchez' brain into mush, if health problems persist along the offensive line.

I am not specifically arguing that Mangold is not the most indispensable player on the offensive line, I am arguing the entire offensive line is indispensable if the issue is keeping Sanchez upright. Losing Ferguson or any other member of the line would cause the Jets problems.

I know the Jets want to be able to run the ball but if they don't have the real MIP, Kris Jenkins, on the field they won't be able to stop the run. Without him in the middle, the Jets ability to stop the run is going to be greatly diminished.

-Do you know who I haven't talked about in a couple of days? Brett Favre. Don't like you are tired of him, because you aren't. I know there was some question still as to whether he was an asshole or not...well I think all questions have now been answered.

Maybe Brett Favre lost the keenest segment of the Green Bay Packers fan base long ago.

Or maybe he really, truly lost them on Tuesday, when he signed with the hated Minnesota Vikings, and then in Favre fashion, said “If you’re a true Packer fan, you understand.”

Oh yes, Packer fans. If you don't understand Brett's need to force a trade away from your team, wait an entire season to get revenge and then sign with your most hated rival in an effort to get back at your General Manager for not doing exactly as Brett Favre says, you are not a real Packers fan.

“I couldn’t believe the ‘true Packers fans’ should understand thing,” said Ron Knautz. “I’m 54 years old. I’ve been a Packers fan since I was 5, which is when I knew what the Packers were. I got my picture taken with Bart Starr when I was 12. I’m a true Packers fan. Maybe a true Packers player would understand how I feel.”

Of course in 4 years all of these tensions will be gone and the (true or not true) Packers fans will be able to honor Brett Favre and retire his number...unless he decides he wants to come out of retirement again.

I think it would be hilarious if the Packers held a press conference to say they will never retire Brett Favre's jersey until he dies because then, and only then, will they know he is truly retired. I would enjoy that.

On the rare occasion a fan called to support Favre’s right to play for the Vikings, they were bayoneted by the next five callers, who reacted as if they’d just heard someone pitch the positives of joining the Taliban.

Will Brett Favre have any friends or fans left after this is all over? How egotistical for him to sign with his long time team's main rival out of spite and then tell all those fans who have supported him, bought his memorabilia and pretty much paid his salary all of those years in Green Bay they are not "real Packers fans" if they don't support him.

Brett Favre seems to think he is the king of all things Green Bay Packers since he seems to be the only one able to judge who is a true Packers fan and who is not. The Packers won more Super Bowls in the past without Brett Favre than they won with Brett Favre on the roster and they will win more Super Bowls in the future without Brett Favre on the roster. The organization doesn't end just because his time with the team ended. The "true" Packers fans are fans of the team, not just Brett Favre, so they don't have to support his every new decision every time he changes his mind on what he wants to do when it comes to playing football or not.

Brett Favre is so full of himself. I hope all of Lambeau Field boos him when he returns to play for the Vikings this year. It won't happen but it is my dream.

12 comments I Knew This Was Going To Happen

Last night Varitek was scratched from the lineup late in favor Of Victor Martinez. When I heard this news, all I could think was "please god let Beckett pitch great so I dont have to listen to arguments about how Tek can call a great game". Of course, Beckett goes out and throws like shit so now everyone is saying its because Tek wasnt behind the plate calling a good game for him. Nevermind the fact that Beckett couldnt hit his spots to save his life last night, or the fact that the pitcher calls his own game by choosing his signs, the catcher just throws down suggestions. Varitek calling a good game is like Derek Jeter and his intangibles.

Varitek was a very effective catcher for a long time, but now he is just a hole in the lineup and making his living off his "can call a good game" reputation. Seriously, thats it. He cant hit, he cant play defense, all he can do is "call a good game" whatever that means. After last night, I knew I could rely on a boston paper to write a shitty article that talks about this phenomenon. John Tomase of the Boston Herald did not let me down.

If nothing else, the Red Sox need Jason Varitek just to catch Josh Beckett

Right, and make their already starting to resemble a national league lineup weaker. Makes sense to me.

The Red Sox captain was a late scratch last night, forcing Victor Martinez to move behind the plate to catch Beckett for the first time. The two had never so much as thrown a side session together, and it showed.


Not throwing a side session together does not mean that this forced Beckett to miss his spots as badly as he did. I dont think Varitek not being behind the plate was forcing Josh to have a nervous breakdown and completely miss his spots. He is a professional MLB pitcher, all he had to do was put the ball where V-Marts glove was and maybe he wouldnt have gotten smacked around as much as he did.

Martinez hastily huddled with Varitek before the game, and then did the same with Beckett, but it’s unfair to expect any catcher to walk right in and know how Beckett ticks. The staff ace has spoken in the past about how the get-to-know-you process with Varitek took much of his first season here in 2006.

So....the get to know you season lasted the entire 2006 season? Really? Thats why Josh Beckett sucked so bad? Because of a "get to know you" phase? Okay, being as I remember this pretty vividly. The reason he got smacked around so much was because he was relying too much on his fastball and not enough on his secondary pitches because a)he thought he could just blow away hitters with his fastball and b) he thought his breaking ball was causing his blisters so he was reluctant to throw it.

And as he told WEEI.com last week, he doesn’t spend a ton of time reading scouting reports, instead putting himself in the best position possible physically to have every pitch at his disposal, while relying on his backstop to know the ins and outs of opposing tendencies.

I'm pretty sure V-Mart knows the "ins and outs of opposing tendencies" being as he has spent his whole career in the AL. Oh, and by the way, he has caught the past 2 cy young award winners, so I would argue that he can call a pretty good game as well.

All of that said, Beckett was not about to pin last night’s miserable outing (5.1 IP, 7 ER) on Martinez.

That would have been a pretty dick thing to do if he did.

Vick did a great job. My stuff didn’t equal what he was doing,” said Beckett, who noted that Martinez caught Cy Young Award winners C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee in Cleveland, “so he must be doing something right.”

Hey! I just said that! Way to include that quote in there to undermine the point of your article.

Still, the numbers are hard to ignore. Beckett is 14-2 with a 2.52 ERA when Varitek is his catcher. When someone else catches him, Beckett is 0-2 with an 11.25 ERA. Consider the following three games.


The one thing he chooses to ignore is out of all of his starts, only 3 times has another catcher caught beckett, so say it with me now: Small sample size. Not to mention that at the end of May, Beckett was rocking a ERA over 6. Who was catching him then? Yup, Varitek.

Beckett admitted he had nothing last night and the Jays teed off on him for three home runs and the seven runs.

Way to undermine the point in your article Pt. 2.

After last night’s game, manager Terry Francona noted that Beckett is a creature of habit, and the absence of both Varitek and pitching coach John Farrell (family issue) disrupted his routine. Beckett is never going to pin the blame on anyone but himself when he pitches poorly, but last night made it pretty clear that Varitek is a partner in his success.

You have done nothing to convince me that without Varitek Beckett is nothing. You even undermined your point twice by having quotes of Beckett admitted he had nothing, and you yourself admitted he had nothing. The only thing Mr. Tomase gives to make his point is a sample size of 3 games. Color me not convinced.

14 comments Everyone Hates Brett Favre

Guess what everyone? Brett Favre is back! He is playing for the Vikings this year! You didn't believe he could go an entire month without there being stories written about him and him keeping his name in the spotlight did you? I am not even going to link an article that says Brett Favre is back, we all have read about it and have discussed it. In the span of a little over one year I have gone from thinking Brett Favre is slightly overrated as a quarterback, to thinking he is a liar and an asshole for un-retiring, to knowing he is done as a quarterback because he can't play an entire season, to knowing he is a liar due to anything come out of his mouth being lie, and finally I am at the stage where I just want him to go away because I am tired of his waffling and spotlight chasing ways.

It's so bad Peter King has taken time away from taking out personal vendettas against the Westin with Tweet posts (like this one about the Westin) to slightly criticize Favre:

I've gotten 75-100 responses from people outraged at the hotel overbooking (including hotel employees). We won't be silenced.

Peter should just do what Martin Luther King did and stand up for what is right. I am not comparing those two of course, I am just using their name in the same sentence like Peter did with Jackie Robinson and Mike Vick yesterday.

You know things have gotten bad when Peter King criticizes Brett Favre at all. He only criticizes him about 10% as much as truly deserves to be criticized, but at least he does a little in his Tuesday mailbag.

"I'm sure I'll regret my decision down the road.''

--Brett Favre, to me, on July 28.

Down the road? That's a pretty short road. More like a driveway.

I wonder how it feels for Peter to hold Brett Favre in such high regard only to know Brett played him like he played every other journalist in America? It has to hurt his caffeinated feelings, wouldn't you think?

You would think I think this Brett Favre-to-Minnesota story is great, but I don't. I think it's wrong. I think it's a circus. And I think Minnesota coach Brad Childress is making a mistake.

See the angle Peter is taking here? He is sort of blaming Brett Favre, but mostly he is blaming Brad Childress for taking Brett Favre back...but not really blaming Brett Favre for retiring, again, last month and then telling the Vikings he wanted to play. It's a Catch-22 but if Favre did not say he wanted to play and then change his mind repeatedly, there would be no circus. Peter still refuses to acknowledge that Brett Favre's inability to make a decision pretty much led to this entire situation.

Peter is right, we do think he loves the Brett Favre to Minnesota story simply because he wrote 3 articles about it in a span of 24 hours when Favre last retired...and he brings up Brett Favre every damn week in his MMQB. You could see how his readers would think he liked the story.

If I were Childress, I'd have waited until Sage Rosenfels struggled -- if he struggled -- and then made the call to Favre. By doing it now, Childress loses Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson; how can they ever trust anything he says now?

Probably the same way we can't trust anything Brett Favre says at this point. It's two liars in Childress and Favre trusting each other in an effort to save the coaching job of the coach and the legacy of the player. If I were Rosenfels or Jackson I would demand a trade immediately. Sure the Vikings may not honor it but I wouldn't want to be in Minnesota anymore, that's for damn sure.

This move doesn't even make sense for the Vikings. Getting Favre for one year or two years will only make sure neither John David Booty and Tavaris Jackson never get a chance to develop as NFL quarterbacks and throws away the money and draft pick they spent on Rosenfels.

And the way Favre talked to me three weeks ago, there's a chance he won't last the season and Childress will have to turn to one of his angry quarterbacks.

I don't think you understand Peter. Brett Favre wants to play football and he has the passion to play? Why should lack of stamina and a diminished skill set prevent him from doing this? He always wants $12 million dollars to drag the team down. I don't think that is too much to ask for a quarterback who is coming off surgery and publicly said less than a month ago and he can't make it through an entire season. Gosh, the Vikings are getting a deal for $12 million.

I can't believe I fell for it and actually thought Favre would wait until midseason to join a team and be the savior. I actually believe him when he said he could not physically make it through an entire season. Either he lied about not being able to make it through an entire season or the Vikings are really going to get diminished returns on their Favre investment after about 8 games.

Childress has looked like a desperate man throughout this melodrama.

Yeah, Brad Childress has looked like the desperate man...not Brett Favre, he hasn't been desperate at all through this with his constant yearning for the spotlight and for his "comeback" to be set to his exact specifications. He gets a ton of money, can skip training camp, and doesn't have to compete with another player for the starting job.

Peter is only being semi-hard on Brett Favre here. Brett Favre is an incredibly desperate person and it has shown throughout this entire situation. The pathetic thing is that he has gotten his way the whole time.

Now the Vikings let him come back after the team has gone through training camp. Favre's the wishy-washiest player in memory -- and the Vikings are his enablers. It's ridiculous.

Finally, a little bit of the truth comes out of Peter's mouth. I have had my full of Brett Favre for the rest of my life. I rarely wish for others to fail, but I completely hope he fails. I want to see him fail and for the NFL to see him for the player and person he truly is, which is a selfish person who uses his past skills and achievements to get extort NFL teams into giving him exactly what he wants.

Now Peter turns to the only other topic that matters in the NFL right now. Mike Vick.

Plus, Dawkins is right about the competitive aspect. If Kolb is pushing McNabb, McNabb knows Kolb is not good enough to beat him out. But if Vick is pushing him, McNabb knows he could lose that one.

Kolb may not be good enough to beat McNabb out for the starting QB job, but I also really hope Mike Vick can't pop back into the NFL after two years away from the game and take over the starting QB job from McNabb either. McNabb has been playing in the Eagles system his entire career. What would they say about McNabb if it takes Mike Vick just a couple games of playing to take the starting QB job from McNabb who has been to 5 NFC Championships with the Eagles?

"That's right," said Dawkins. "Signing Michael means Donovan will make sure his game stays tight.''

I don't know whether I find it sad that McNabb needs to be pushed for the starting job to get him motivated or this is just human nature.

(Peter King on Todd Haley as the Chiefs head coach)

Ian, this is my belief: When a team stinks, as the Chiefs do, and a coach with a pretty good track record comes in, the only way you can judge the coach is if you get in the boat with him, row hard, and see where the sea takes you. Like him or not, the Chiefs have a smart coach who is an equal-opportunity abuser.

Two things: What track record does Todd Haley have as a head coach? Nothing at all. He has been an offensive coordinator with one team and that is about it, he hasn't had any football success other than that. The second thing is that I am going to argue the "smart coach" thing because it took him 3 quarters to open up the Cardinals' offense in the Super Bowl. I am hard on Todd Haley but only because he thinks he can be like Bill Parcells and berate players to get their respect. I am not sure he knows respect is earned, not yelled into submission.

(On whether Kyle Orton struggled in the first preseason game because he is not used to having a good offensive line)

I asked Orton on Monday about his first interception, the one by 49ers cornerback Nate Clements, when Clements was side-by-side with Denver tight end Daniel Graham in the end zone while Peyton Hillis ran free nearby when his cover man slipped. Orton said he'd already decided to throw to Graham, and what he should have done is throw the ball out of the end zone. I don't buy that. I know I'm doing a classic second-guess, but I believe Orton has to be able to make that split-second read to Hillis, especially with Graham closely guarded.

That has to make the entire city of Denver proud and completely non-nervous that even given a second chance to see what he did wrong, Kyle Orton still misses the fact he had a wide open man. This stuff is easier said than done I guess but I am sure Orton had watched the tape at that point and is surprises me he didn't say he would have thrown the ball to the open man.

I fucking hate Blogger. I hate it. I wrote an entire second half of this post and Blogger decided to not only not save what I wrote as I went along, but when I went to post it I got an error message which wiped everything I had written from here on out. I am not going to re-write the entire damn thing, it took too long. If I were Peter King I would whine about it and then start a boycott of Blogger.

Andrew of Philadelphia: "Is it too hard to believe that the Eagles are grooming Vick to be the next Donovan McNabb? McNabb has been in the league now for 10-plus years, he's been hurt multiple years and his career is waning. Andy Reid took a young agile yet inaccurate passer in McNabb and turned him into one of the best in the league. Vick can sit behind Donovan for two years (or less because of the injury prone McNabb), learn the offense and come in once McNabb has had his day in the NFL? Is that too far-fetched?''

This is the question that many Eagles fans have now, which is why I wasn't sure signing Vick was a great idea. They will clamor for him to be on the field if McNabb struggles. McNabb was drafted out of college by Andy Reid so he had a blank slate to work with concerning McNabb. Unfortunately I don't know how much "molding" of Vick can be done at this point. I don't really see Reid being able to turn Vick into one of the most accurate passers at this point in his career.

What says Peter?

Not at all. But I think it's a waste of time in this case to think much beyond this year. Reid made this decision ONLY when McNabb was an enthusiastic supporter of it; had McNabb not been on board, Reid wouldn't have done it.

Peter clings to the idea that McNabb was on board for this move. Whether it is true or not, if you take away the fact McNabb is on board there is not a whole lot of logical reasoning behind the Vick signing for the Eagles...that doesn't stop Peter from using the same "McNabb agreed to it" reasoning everytime a question is asked though.

Jay S. of Trenton: "Suppose the Broncos go 3-13 and end up with the NFL's worst record. Their first-round draft pick would belong to Seattle. Assuming that happens, has there been a bigger draft fleecing in the history of the NFL than Alphonso Smith for the first overall pick?''

I don't care how expensive 1st round picks are. Trading the 1st pick in the draft for a lesser value in Alphonso Smith is stupid. Especially for a team trying to rebuild. Usually draft picks and impact players are the best way to rebuild a team, so that 1st round pick may end up coming in handy.

I am not down on Alphonso Smith, I find it odd that Darrius Heyward-Bey's best game over this past college football season was against Alphonso Smith and Wake Forest. I don't know if Smith was actually covering Heyward-Bey or not, but I do find it odd the best game he had this year was against Smith. If I were having a gut reaction I would say Smith should have shut down Heyward-Bey or at least held him to his season's average, not give allow him to have the best game of his Junior year. It doesn't obviously mean Smith is not going to be a good NFL player, it just tells me he very well could not be worth a top 10 pick in the draft next year.

Peter?

But I am reminded about what that wise old football philosopher Randy Cross told me about Alphonso Smith after he studied him on tape last spring: "This guy might be the best cornerback in the draft, and he's definitely worth a first-round pick.''

Worth a first round pick, but not the first pick in the entire damn draft. A draft that will include tons of good QB prospects and players in the secondary like Taylor Mays and Eric Berry. There is a difference in him being worth a first round pick and the first pick in the draft. The first pick in the draft, no matter how expensive can be an impact player.

Now Peter whines about the Westin.

As of 7 a.m. today, I had more than 200 responses to my Westin situation in Tweets (mostly), phone calls and texts, plus another 1,000 or so in my SI e-mail. The general manager of the San Diego Westin has written a letter of apology on behalf of the hotel, and an old friend from high school now running the Westin Copley Place in Boston has done the same. I am grateful for the input, and I am not angry at any one person for the situation.

There is a line where complaining about the Westin's policy and trying to prove a point crosses over into just being obstinate and being difficult to please just to make yourself feel more important by causing a problem. Peter has crossed that threshold.

Peter travels a lot during the year. There are going to be bad examples of customer service and things are going to go wrong. Deal with it and quit complaining about it. I don't get to read Peter compliment a hotel when they give great service or have his precious freaking coffee ready every morning, but we always get to read about the bad shampoo and what the hotel did wrong from Peter.

The Westin has a messed up policy. Deal with it or choose a new hotel. Don't turn it into a high school drama where you act like your life has been altered in some immeasurable way in a negative manner.

This is the source of my anger: Let's say you have a 500-room hotel. Let's say it's a busy weekend, and you have sold out all 500 rooms with guaranteed reservations. Is the goal of the hotel to sell every one of its rooms every night? Yes -- or at least that's what the goal should be. I'm told by several emailers/Tweeters who work in the hotel industry that this isn't the goal of hotels. The goal, rather, is to sell more than 500 rooms by figuring an average of how many no-shows among those 500 reservations there will be. Let's say the hotel averages 20 no-shows per night for this time of year. Then the hotel will sell, for example, 515 rooms, and hope that it has at least 15 no-shows. So the hotel will earn, for example, about $3,000 more per night if it's a fairly upscale hotel by overbooking.

It stinks but this is exactly how businesses are run. Airlines overbook, salespeople double book their appointments and hotels overbook rooms to ensure they will make a profit. They are not running a hostel, they are running a business. An empty room is a sunk cost.

I'm not in this for free rooms or free anything and will accept nothing to "make it right.'' I want to see the policy changed. What possibly is the meaning of a guaranteed reservation if you get to a hotel at 11:15 at night and there's not a room for you?

It's a great question. They comped a room at another hotel for Peter and he himself acknowledges it was 11:15 at night, so as long as the room has a bed he should be fine for the time being. I would be annoyed also but I would also get over it and not try to bring the entire hotel industry down because I have been inconvenienced.

I'll decide this week and let you know what my plans are in Monday's column.

Please don't. It's so self important to actually believe you can change a hotel's policy by bitching. Maybe Peter will change the policy but it really should not be this big of a deal. Boycott the hotel and don't make a public display of it all.

Click here to pre-order Peter King's new book, "Monday Morning Quarterback: A fully caffeinated guide to everything you need to know about the NFL"

That's right, Peter has a book coming out. I bet 320 pages are about Brett Favre and the rest of the book is about his traveling problems.

-One more thing for the day. I am glad the Nationals and Stephen Strasburg were able to come to an agreement on a contract. It would have been incredibly stupid if they had not been able to. Strasburg needs to start pitching so he can make more money on another contract and the Nationals need to get fans butts in the seats somehow, outside of paying the fans to come to the game.

I thought for sure Scott Boras wanting tons of money and the general ineptitude of the Nationals front office would cause this deal to never happen. This was a huge win-win for both sides, though I am not sure what took so long, neither side had great alternative options.