Things not looking good in Tampa Bay

Tampa worked during the offseason to bring in some new quarterbacks to bring life back to their pathetic offense from last year. At one point, there were 7 quarterbacks on the roster during preseason.

Despite the so called competition, Jeff Garcia was given the job fairly early. Unfortunately for him, he still had to throw to the Bucs receivers, and stand behind that shoddy offensive line.

Garcia, trying to make something happen with his feet, got hit in the third quarter, and had to sit out until midway through the fourth quarter. Even worse for Bucs fans though, was that Cadillac Williams was also knocked out of the game in the third quarter, but he didn't return. He went to the locker room, and is now questionable for next week with a cracked rib.

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I Don't Understand

Why, Jaguars front office? Why?

Why did you start Leftwich in your preseason games, giving him the first team snaps and then cut him, pushing David Garrard into a starting job that he may or may not be ready for?

Why did you screw all of those fantasy owners who begrudgingly took Leftwich in a late round as a back-up? They expected him to have Matt Jones, Reggie Williams, MoJo, and Marcedes Lewis to throw to. Now, he might not even start.

'Tis a sad day, Byron, when your once lofty status (Marshall days, of course) have been reduced to being cut by the Other Large Black Cats. Damn. I pretty much feel bad for him, though. He was never really that impressive, but didn't we always want him to be? I feel like "we" did, though I'm not really certain why.

Well, the Jags went 3-1 in the preseason and Indy only went 1-3, so clearly that AFC South is David Garrard's for the picking. HaHaHaHa, preseason is great. Thursday can't come quick enough.

Get ready, Quinn Gray, you'll be in for Garrard as soon as he throws enough picks in a row.

Tiki is a Crap-Head

Why does this guy enjoy making the Giants worse by leaking news that undermines their locker room? As if the Giants don't have enough problems... this year, they have to now deal with the fact that Tiki would've been back if not for Tom Coughlin. Well, who must be on the hot seat next to Del Rio this year? Coughlin. If the owners read that, Coughlin is probably already fired. Why? Because Tiki was one of the best producing backs in the past three years. He topped several RB categories the past 3 seasons and is now blaming the coach for his departure.

See you later, Tommy. But, still. This is ridiculous. Perhaps the Giants could have won another game or two, done better in the playoffs, or actually had a team unit if Tiki had not announced his retirement mid season.

Is this guy the most ME-ME-ME-Look at me, that we've ever seen? No, but he is right now. Hell, he's worse than TO who is actually commending his QB and coach these days. Twilight zone-ish, yes, but progressive for the formerly volatile WR.

Tiki is the new league donkey. I'm going to hate watching him on TV knowing that he is spoiling my Dad's favorite team from the inside out. Go Giants, in honor of Barry!

Draft TO

TO thinks you should draft TO for your fantasy team. When? Top 3. Of course. TO is awesome. I watched TO talk about TO on Jimmy Kimmel last night and at least he isn't a complete douchebag. Jimmy made fun of the open letter that TO did write on ESPN.com to all fantasy owners, but embellished slightly.

TO thinks you should also draft Tony Romo, mind you, so with that pick, you'll probably get at least 10 TDs. Why? Because TO will probably have at least 10 TDs this year. Last year, he registered 13 TDs and must have dropped at least 6 TD passes and tens of other passes that should have been completed. Yet, he is still a premier WR, so go ahead and draft him.

TO says so.

Kevin Jones keeps off the PUP list

Detroit Lions running back Kevin Jones has worked his way off the physically unable to perform. It was originally thought that the Lions were going to put him on the PUP list, which meant he would be unavailable for the first six weeks of the season. But the Lions took him off the list Saturday and added him to the teams 53 man roster.

But that doesn't mean Jones will be able to start and play right away. Jones is not sure when he will be able to play, but it is not likely for him to make an appearance in Week 1.

If you are a Lions fan looking for good news, you might want to keep looking. It's not even guaranteed that Jones will make it back before the six weeks he would have missed had he remained on the PUP list.

Jones said Monday at his first practice of the season that getting back before the Lions' sixth game Oct. 21 against Tampa Bay would be a bonus.

"I want to definitely be back before six (games)," he said. "But I can start practicing now and take it day by day."

Jones is still feeling the effects of a broken foot he suffered last season. Even though it's not sure exactly when he'll be back, the team is at least hopeful he will be able to play before six weeks are up.

The Great Fall

Well I can't say I was surprised to see michigan fall out of the top 25. Of course I didn't really think they would punish them that bad for a loss to the best 2nd rate team to ever play the game. Only time will tell if they can get back on track to salvage the season. However, a loss like this might only cause them to lose foucus on the rest of the season and become a trivia answer on a sports show...

"What team had the greatest collapse of all time?" As of right now for me it's Michigan

4th and Goal, Episode 11

The last week before the NFL regular season begins! It's also the first night of college football. So, to celebrate, we begin our NFL Week 1 picks. We also have a special college football themed round table discussion, where the guys try to convince Mike why he should care about college football, and the dreaded playoff debate.

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Broncos sign Simeon Rice

The Broncos announced Sunday that they have signed defensive end Simeon Rice to a 1 year, $3 million deal.

Rice, statistically, has been one of the best defensive ends in history. He's 13th in NFL history in career sacks. He needs just 10 more sacks to bust the top 10, and if he plays a couple more years could end up in the top 5.

Rice should provide a boost to that defensive line. They've lost some veteran players since last season. They got rid of Gerrard Warren and Jimmy Kennedy, and lost Ebenezer Ekuban to a season ending injury.

NFL announces some suspensions to start the season

The Patriots will be without strong safety Rodney Harrison for the first four games of the regular season. Harrison is being suspended for violating the NFL substance abuse policy. He admits to taking HGH to help recover from injuries, but claims he never took steroids.

Either way, he took a banned substance.

The other somewhat surprising suspension is that of Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson, who will be suspended for five games and fined $100,000.

I have no problem suspending players for taking steroids and HGH, but going that hard after a coach doesn't seem right. Wilson claims that he took HGH to improve his quality of life. He has suffered from diabetes for more than 20 years. Personally, assuming he is telling the truth, I have nothing wrong with that.

But, technically Wilson did break the rules. The NFL states that the substance abuse policy extends to all employees of the league and of the teams. It just seems stupid for a coach to be punished more severely than a player. Especially if you take into consideration his claims that it improves his quality of life.

Didn't see this one coming...

The Jaguars announced Friday that they will be cutting their starting quarterback Byron Leftwich when they cut their list of players down to 53.

Wow.

Back in February, head coach Jack Del Rio announced Leftwich would be the starter. And every day since then, Del Rio has said the same thing. Until now.

It's not that I think Leftwich is a great quarterback. His mechanics are awful. I can make a sandwich in the time it takes him to throw a pass. He is severely limited when it comes to scrambling and moving around in the pocket. His decision making is suspect, and to top it off he is injury prone. Leftwich has yet to play a full season in the NFL since he was drafted.

But he seems to have been the only quarterback in that city to have some success under center. Instead, David Garrard will get the nod.

The interesting part about this is the timing. There were little to no trade talks involving Leftwich, or indication that he was in danger of losing his starting job, let alone roster spot. And he wasn't released until hours before the rest of the teams in the league had to make their final cuts. So he wont have any time to go and try to win a spot for another team.

Now, Leftwich will have to wait and see what happens. If a quarterback gets injured in the first week or two of the season, Leftwich could be a good guy to bring in and lead the team until that quarterback is back. Or, more likely, if certain quarterbacks struggle, teams could sign him and hope he can provide a shot in the arm for their offense.

The most likely place I see him going is Atlanta. Even so, Leftwich will have to move in and learn a new system quickly if he is to get some playing time this year.

There have been rumors that Jack Del Rio is on the chopping block this year, and that he is a leading candidate to lose his job. I didn't believe any of those rumors, until now. He firmly strapped himself in to the hot seat with this move, in my opinion. If Garrard and the rest of the offense comes out and struggles early, Del Rio might not even last the season.

Eagles backup QB has surgery to repair broken hand

Philadelphia backup quarterback A.J. Feeley suffered a broken hand Thursday night in their preseason game against the Jets. He underwent surgery Friday to help the damage.

The injury wasn't severe. Feeley claims he played an entire series with it. Luckily for him, the injury came to his non throwing hand.

He should be ready to go when McNabb gets injured and is lost for the season in week 8.

Simeon Rice could find new home soon

Simeon Rice was released weeks ago by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Many thought it was a vicious move on the Bucs part. He had put up huge numbers for them for years, and then released him with no warning at the start of training camp.

Since then he has bounced around the league, visiting with different teams and trying to find a new team. The search could be finished soon. The search is down to two teams, the Denver Broncos and the St. Louis Rams. But Rice claims that the Broncos are in the lead.

"The Broncos are better than 50-50," Rice said. "They're like 55-45, maybe 60-40. Things are leaning their way. They're classy, man. All class. I want to knock on wood, but I feel like this is the place. I feel like this is a team that will challenge for the Super Bowl and create a Camelot type of experience."

The Broncos have a great secondary, but lack in depth up front on defense. Even an old Rice could help to fill some holes and give a boost to the defense.

Kiffin makes decision in quarterback battle

But, he's not telling anybody.

Kiffin told reporters in a conference call Friday afternoon that he "is prepared" to inform the two quarterbacks fighting for the starting job, Daunte Culpepper and Josh McCown, which one will start against the Lions. But Kiffin wont tell anybody else yet. And he possibly might hold out that information until the day before the game.

Steelers trade a conditional pick for Allen Rossum

The Steelers needed help in the return department. Willie Reid didn't pan out as well as an NFL returner as he did at Florida State. So the Steelers went elsewhere, and elsewhere is Atlanta. I guess Mike Tomlin heard the rumor that the Atlanta area is purging itself of talent. The Steelers traded a conditional pick for Alan Rossum, who made the Pro Bowl as a returner 3 years ago. A good move for the Steelers. The pick will most likely turn out to be a 5th rounder.