Pick 7 - San Francisco 49ers

The pick here is Prince Amukamara.  People will learn to pronounce this kid's name.  He's a gifted cover corner with good size and run support skills.  He can compotently play both man-to-man or zone coverage while supporting against the run.  Essentially, he is the type of corner that you can plug and play in any system that Jim Harbaugh and his staff want to run.  He's a piece that would not need to be discarded in 3 years if a new coach is hired.  (Ask the Lions how that repeated strategy works).

In evaluating the Niners roster it is pretty clear that this is a talented group that underachieved in a weak division last year.  The door is open for this team to step through and make the playoffs against a division where everyone  finished nearly .500 or below.  Amukamara will help upgrade the secondary and defensive unit.  Harbaugh might be tempted to go offense here, but people underestimate Harbaugh's commitment to defense.  He went to Michigan.  He played for the Bears and the Colts (an underrated defense at the time).  He runs the football to control tempo.  He knows that no game is won on just one side of the ball because he has a high footbal IQ.  If one of the top flight QBs is available here he might be tempted, but the two QBs I consider worth drafting are already gone.

Keep in mind baseball is right around the corner.  Brian will be posting his fantasy baseball list based on regression analysis of each players' last 1800 at-bats.  He routinely uses this list, makes 4 moves during a season, and wins the fantasy baseball league.  Only God has a better list.

Pick 6 Cleveland

Pick 6 for Cle. caused by Jake Delhomme, words you hear a lot.  Thankfully they've decided to turn it over to Colt McCoy and the pain can end.  This would have been a perfect spot for A.J. Green, but he's gone, so they must regroup.  There are no other offensive needs that can addressed here, because the talent just isn't there, so the Browns will have to go Defense.  Robert Quinn or Vonn Miller would have been slam dunks here if they stuck in the 3-4, but they've gone to Dick Jauron's defense which means 4-3 with big run stopping ends.  I'd still consider Miller here, he could play Will or Sam on running downs and end on passing downs, and I'd also think that Adrian Clayborn would interest Jauron, but not this high.

So the choice has to be uber talented cornerback Patrick Peterson.  He's too good not to take, and if he doesn't work out at corner he'll be a Sean Taylor (R.I.P) type Safety

Pick 5 - Arizona Cardinal

The Pick - Cam Newton

The Cardinals are in dire need of a quarterback.  If the Bengals pick Gabbert then the Cardinals are left to either draft a prospect or resort to free agency.  Perhaps the Cardinals attempt to sign Carson Palmer in the offseason and spend this pick on a 3-4 outside linebacker like the versatile Von Miller.

I've got the Cardinals picking Newton because the coaching staff is familiar with the play of Big Ben.  Whisenhunt could look for Newton make plays outside the pocket and extend plays with his size and speed just like Ben does in Pittsburgh.

The quarterback position is evolving.  In the 90s and even the early 2000 everyone was looking for a drop back quarterback to get the ball out on time and spread the field with a powerful arm.  Now a days there is more than one way to get the job done.  Quarterbacks that move around and make something out of nothing can save drives and cover up a lot of weaknesses on your football team.

This is a lot earlier that most people have Newton coming off the board.  Some of that is certainly justified with Newton's troubles at Florida and Auburn.  It takes a fairly idiotic man to get caught taking money in the SEC.  They have protocols for these type of things and it's pretty simple.  However, I think his ability to move and throw the ball will keep Larry Fitzgerald from sitting down in the middle of the locker room, dousing himself in gasoline and lighting himself on fire like a Buddhist Monk.

If I was running Arizona that would be priority number one with me.  No Larry Fitzgerald fiery martyr moments this year.  He's probably the most talented wide receiver playing today and currently his best chance to get a catch is to set up a jugs machine behind center.  Simply tragic.

End of an Era in Utah

A sad day to see Jerry Sloan resign in Utah. How did it come to this. We may never know what was said between Sloan and general manager Kevin O'Conner. I hope he truly did try and talk him out of it. Seems like it should have ended differently, maybe with a gritty playoff loss, or maybe Karl Malone cheap shoting him and ending his career, or maybe like we all hoped another shot at the title without Jordan there to crush his dreams at the last gasp. Farewell Jerry Sloan, you made the idea of playing basketball in Utah more than just a joke, hopefully it stays that way.

Pick 4 - Bungles

After spending years trying to fill the void of Boomer Esiason (and think how sad it was that they were pining for the days of Boomer) they Bengals finally hit the jackpot, the prototype NFL quarterback, mechanically sound, the man who if you were going to sculpt a statue of a quarterback would be the man you had pose for it (easier now that he is a statue after they destroyed his leg), was the consensus number 1 pick by all the experts.  Cinci's inept scouting department could just sit back and do what the world told them, and despite our expectations they actually took him.

For years Palmer has probably regretted that, if only he could have come down with the flu, or been photographed with communist terrorist strippers (or started a dog fighting cockfighting Mike Tyson fighting ring) and fell because of character concerns he could have played for a real team and had the career he deserved.

Now he's had enough and wants to play for a real team (I hear Arizona is nice this time of year), and it's the time for the Bengals to show it wasn't a fluke when they got Palmer and they can in fact draft a reasonable quarterback.  Here are their choices

Blaine Gabbert:                I've never seen him, know nothing about him other than people love him

Cam Newton: Would probably steal Marv Lewis' laptop and write "Cam's" in glitter on it, also not the most accurate, has no prostyle experience, afraid to compete (left Fla. because he didn't want to sit a year instead played Juco against scrubs for a year).  Basically a more athletic Jamarcus Russell (without the arm strength).  No Thanks

Jake Locker:  A four year starter who still needs lots of learning, is it his coach from his first 2 years fault?  Don't know, but he should have ironed out the wrinkles by now, needs some time (2 years?) to get ready.  Bengals won't wait.

Ryan Mallet: Great arm, his feet will determine his future, if he can get his footwork down could be another great big quarterback, if not, he could take up a lot of room on the bus.

Christian Ponder: Just mediocre enough that he matches the Bengals draft strategy?  He'll be okay, but not here.

So Blaine Gabbert it is, the experts had it right with Palmer, and god knows the Bengals don't know what to do, so go with Gabbert, throw him to the wolves, and see if he brings home wolf pelts.

Pick 3 - Buffalo Bills

The Pick - A.J. Green WR Georgia

It has been a long time since the glory days of Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed.

The Bills are currently a team without an identity.  The team ranked in the bottom half of the league in nearly every major team statistic (passing, rushing, rush defense).  The only bright spot being the team ranked 3rd in the league in pass defense.  Of course, when the more talented teams in the division are kicking your ass they usually don't need to pass the ball.  They're running out the clock with run plays while you're desperately passing to get back into it.  Volume is the problem.  Opponents ran 571 run plays against the Bills while only throwing 473 times.

With all that said, the right move for a franchise this far down in the league is to draft the best player available.  In this case that is A.J. Green.  Green has been a star since he stepped foot on Georgia's campus.  His impact on the Bulldogs season was apparent when he returned from one of the more ridiculous suspensions in modern history.  (Reggie Bush's parents lived in a $250,000 paid for by agents/boosters and it took 5 years to investigate.  Green sells something that belongs to him and the NCAA cracks down in a few months.)  In any event, the Bulldogs were a completely different team with Green's athletic ability and incredible skill back in the lineup.  Green dominated all comers and showed his superior talent during the second half of the season, while the Bulldogs went from also ran to bowl eligible status.

I've seen some mock drafts saying that the Bills are "okay" at wide receiver with the emergence of Stevie Johnson.  Johnson is a good player.  Lee Evans is definitely serviceable.  However, the team needs an identity.  Ryan Fitzpatrick can get the job done as a signal caller.  The team should give him another year to develop while adding an uber-talented weapon to give this team a much needed identity.  It is time for the team to be something other than simply "okay" or more accurately "mediocre" at every position.  If Fitzpatrick doesn't get it done then they can draft another QB next year, a la the Cowboys drafting Michael Irvin just before getting Troy Aikman.  At the least the new QB would have a ton of targets.

The Bills need to address issues with offensive line, pass rushing linebacker and perhaps tight end later in the draft.

Mock Draft - Pick 2

On the Clock - Denver Broncos

2. Denver Broncos - Nick Fairley

One of the top players in this draft, and at a position of need this just makes way too much sense.  I doubt he'll have the impact that Suh provided the Lions last year, but honestly no one can be expected to.   This pick has the opportunity to be one of the huge tipping points in the draft however, and could go a lot of different ways.

First, if someone wants to take a quarterback early, this is the spot to trade to.  Ryan Fitzpatrick has shown once again that he can start and quarterback and run an offense well enough that fans won't change the channel, but long-term if the Bills want to be competitive he's not the answer.  So they may be inclined to take Gabbert with the third pick.  If not there is no way he falls all the way past Arizona at 5, with Carson Palmer ready to retire if he isn't traded, and a mannequin dressed in Kurt Warner's old jersey Arizona's best option one of these teams will take Gabbert, and one of them may even move up in front of the Bills to do it.

With Champ Bailey likely to depart Patrick Peterson (or P.P) as he will be known from this point forward will also factor in.  Taking a CB this high is risky though, and until P.P runs the short shuttle and 3 cone drill and shows he has the agility and change of direction to hang in the NFL I can't slot him in here.

Also if John Fox isn’t sold on Tim Tebow he could take Gabbert here as well.  But I think it’s worth giving Tebow a shot after what he showed at the end of the year, knowing that if it goes bad Gabbert real wasn’t a once in a lifetime quarterback that you missed out on, and you can probably draft someone comparable next year.

Mock Draft - Carolina Panthers on the Clock

Brian and I will be putting together a mock draft by alternating picks.  I'm up first

1.  Carolina Panthers - Da'Quan Bowers - DE Clemson

Bowers is the top pass rusher available in this draft.  The Panthers roster is depleted at virtually every position.  The Panthers need to start rebuilding.  In the NFL there are three marquis positions that define the modern franichise:  (1) Quarterback; (2) Left Tackle; and (3) Pass Rushing defensive end or linebacker.  It's no secret the modern game is based on passing.  The three key players in every pass play are those listed above.  With the departure of Julius Peppers the Panthers lost the best overall talent available at this position.

The only other possibility here would have been Fairley from Auburn.  Fairley is a player in the Warren Sapp mold which makes him valuable against both the pass and the run.  However, defensive tackles can be limited in their impact on the game because they often play a limited number of snaps.  As a result using the number one pick on a player that may play only half your defensive snaps is not necessarily a good plan.

The last piece that makes this the smart pick is the possibility of a collective bargaining agreement.  If a new CBA is reached then it will almost certainly include a rookie wage scale.  The enormous price of the number one draft pick has forced many teams to reach for the best QB available in recent years, regardless of that player's grade.  A franchise can only justify paying $50 million guaranteed to the quarterback position.  A rookie wage scale means that other positions are more likely to factor into the number one pick.  It would also increase the potential to trade the top picks in the draft because with less money invested the top picks would no longer be an all or nothing proposition.

The Book of Challenges

Brian and I have always talked about writing a book called the Book of Challenges.  The book would center on how to properly use your coach's challenges in a NFL game.  This subject comes up because in the Pittsburgh-Ravens game Mike Tomlin used a challenge on the opening play of the game for approximately 15 yards of field position.  On the play the return man, Webb, was tackled at the 35 yard line, but the referees ruled he was not down.  He got up and ran to the 50 yard line before being tackled again.  Tomlin challenged the play and won.  The announcers, Dierdorf and the guy I always mix up with Bryant Gumble, praised Tomlin for challenging the play.  They are both idiots.

Here is how the Book of Challenges looks:
Chapter 1 - Turnovers
Chapter 2 - Touchdowns
Chapter 3 - Turnovers that lead to Touchdowns
Chapter 4 - That's it.  You do not challenge anything that does not result in a turnover or a touchdown. The only possible exception being third down plays that would result in a fourth down, which are essentially turnovers.

The point is simple.  With only two challenges those challenges must be reserved for plays that result in points.  Turnovers result in points.  Touchdowns result in points on the board.  Herm Edwards once said something smart (it might be the only time) "You play to win the game."  Well, points win the game.  15 yards does not win the game.  In fact, it wins nothing.

If you blow your challenges on 15 yard plays then you might end up running out of challenges.  You only get 2, unless you are right about both.  Even then you only get three.  Any time there is a questionable turnover a coach should use their first challenge in order to save points or gain points, depending on your prospective.  However, if you've used one of your challenges on the first play of the game then you really can only afford to risk a challenge if it is a turnover that leads to a touchdown.  You cannot challenge a regular turnover and must rely upon your defense to make it up.  Either your defense gets a stop after turnover they caused or they make a stop after your offense turns it over.

In the aforementioned Pitt-Baltimore game Tomlin had to use his second challenge in the first quarter when Big Ben coughed up the ball and everyone except Corey Redding stopped playing.  Redding scored a touchdown on the turnover and Tomlin had to try to stem the tide.  Now if this game comes down to a questionable call in the subsequent three quarters Pittsburgh has to live with whatever call happens on the field.

This is especially dangerous because so many NFL officials have adopted a wait and see approach to fumbles and other calls.  Rather than blow the whistle and risk depriving a team of the fumble recovery or extra yardage, the officials rely upon replay to sort it.  The replay of plays when a whistle makes a challenge impossible has trained the referees to swallow the whistle rather than make the right call immediately.  It is a matter of preventing them from embarrassing themselves.

Turnovers.  Touchdowns.  Turnovers that lead to Touchdowns.  That's it.

Heisman Trophies and Blood

Tonight War Criminal Cam Newton will win the Heisman Trophy temporarily.  There remains little doubt that Newton was aware that his father was receiving payment for his attendance at Auburn.  Needless to say the SEC is not necessarily known for fairness and honesty in competition.  All of that is beside the point.

The point that young Cam is missing out on concerns the attendance of his father at the event.  The elder Newton announced this week he will not attend the ceremony to avoid robbing his son of a sacred moment.  An action that is no doubt intended to keep him from having to answer any tough questions about his actions on behalf of his son.  In terms of Cam, the question remains should he accept an award at a place where is father is clearly not welcome.

I was daydreaming about this particular circumstance earlier this week.  What if I was the clear front runner for the Heisman, but some hypocritical douchebags (the NCAA and College Football in particularmake billions of dollars off the work of these individuals) claimed my father could not attend for some reason? Now I understand that Cecil's actions preempted people from banning him from the ceremony, but what if he had not.  My answer would be tough.  Any organization that is not willing to have my family present can stick it up their asses.

I would attend the ceremony.  I would leave myself eligible to win the award.  Once I won the award I would refuse to touch the trophy.  I would step to the microphone and express my feelings concerning the hypocrisy of college football.  I would tell them thank you, but no thank you.  The Heisman Trophy is a piece of bronze and blood is thicker than even bronze.  I'd call the second place vote getter to the podium and declare him the winner.  Then I'd ride off into the sunset of professional football, millions of dollars and mega babes.  I'd be a legend.  The only guy to ever turn down the Heisman.

Cam, turn it down.  Do it for your dad.

Ron Santo...Hall of Famer

The Baseball Hall of Fame is not all about numbers.  My brother would argue otherwise as he  holds up his "Mazeroski, You Don't Belong!" sign.  With all due respect, and remember I am saying with all due respect, my brother is wrong, the truth is the Hall of Fame is about one word "fame."  Fame is about importance and significance to us all.

Let's review the initial Hall of Fame class.  The legendary 5.  Ruth, Cobb, Johnson, Matthewson and Wagner.  While each of these individuals had some of the most impressive numbers in history at the time, it was not all about the numbers.  Ruth was the most famous baseball player ever.  Cobb was a son-of-a-bitch on an epic scale, and therefore endlessly entertaining.  Matthewson lost it all in the Great War.  Wagner, well he might have been about the numbers.  Johnson was an incredible talent, but like Wagner, had incredible numbers.  However, a lot of the numbers guys, Young and the deadball era players, had to wait behind their more famous colleagues.

The point of the Hall of Fame is not to just reward numbers.  If it were the Bert Blyleven would already be in.  The Hall is about being important to us as a society.  Ruth altered baseball forever.  Johnson was unprecedented in his dominance.  Cobb lead the most important statistic of his time, batting average, by a large margin.  Mazeroski created one of the most indelible memories in baseball history.

Very few players of his time are currently more important to baseball than Santo is today.  Santo is the high priest of Cubs suffering.  His passing marks, for us Cubs fans, another sad milestone.  Another one of us that passed away before seeing the Cubs break the curse.  I heard someone today say that no one deserved to see the Cubs win the World Series more than Santo.  I wholeheartedly agree.

Santo's passion and love for the lovable losers make him a paragon of what baseball should be about.  The child in all of us loving unconditionally something that means nothing at all.  (Thanks to Mike Greenberg)  Santo didn't just love.  he didn't just love unconditionally.  He loved completely and we loved him back.  He should have been in the Hall of Fame anyway you look at it...numbers...fame...importance.

Finally, no one should overlook Santo's work as a humanitarian.  His efforts with Juvenile Diabetes and diabetes awareness are immeasurable.  I read somewhere today that Santo would personally call diabetes patients that wrote him about losing a limb.  He thought it made it more memorable for them.  I'd like to see evidence Cobb made one call that did not involve money or getting laid.

The fact Santo was not voted into the Hall of Fame during his lifetime is one of the great tragedies of baseball history.  Sadly, it can never be corrected.  Even posthumous induction will rob us all of the opportunity to watch Santo bask the universal love he so deserved from the entire baseball world.

Qatar and the bottomless abyss

Listen, I don't mean to offend anyone here.  However, the questionable decision to hold the World Cup in the middle of nowhere deserves some discussion.  As I understand it the expected game time temperatures for Qatar during the World Cup will be 130 degrees.  That's right.  130 degrees.

How are humans supposed to survive in that kind of environment?  Can our cruisers repel firepower of that magnitude?  Is it indeed a trap?  Is this a conspiracy to have an African team finally succeed in World Cup play?  How many overweight fans perish in this inhospitable environment?

I cannot imagine a bigger competitive disadvantage for European teams (I'm looking at you England) than playing the games on Satan's left asscheek.  Those poor limeys will be melting before half.  I suppose coaches can attempt to counteract this problem by having their team train (see, aren't I informative?  I know soccor lingo) in oppressive heat in the time leading up to the game.  But how does one simulate 130 degree heat?  Is is possible to fit a soccor field within a microwave oven?  Do you get portable heaters?

In any event, the end result of this type of thinking, first Russia then Qatar, is the outlandish concept of holding the tournament in a bottom less pit.  Much like the famous Simpson's episode where Ozzie Smith falls down a bottomless pit, this scenario is not unrealistic.  It would truly test the fortitude of international footballers to find out that they can only compete for the sport's greatest prize by willingly subjecting themselves to an eternity falling through blackness.  At least they wouldn't need to air condition the stadiums.

The Edmund Fitzgerald and Offensive Lines

Today is the 35 anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  As many of you know the sinking of the Fitz was immortalized in the excellent Gordon Lightfoot song (definitely in the top 5 of songs about death).  The tragic events of 35 years ago lead us to the other ongoing tragedy of our times...the Chicago Bears Offensive Line.

What's so horrible about this group you ask?  Let's start with a little refresher course on how to properly build a football team.  (Wade Phillips you should be taking notes).  Everything in football is easier when gigantically muscled men are not beating 10 years out of your life.  The word "everything" includes the following:  (1) passing; (2) running; (3) breathing; (4) cognitive function; and (5) tackling.  I can gain five yard a carry if I am not touched until four yards off the ball.  Anyone can find an open receiver if the defense has to cover people for 7-10 seconds.

What does this conclusion lead us to?  That any football team must be built from the front lines, specifically the defensive and offensive line.  In terms of the offense that means keeping your quarterback from having his dome caved in like a Chillean mine or allowing your running back to spot small patches of green, called holes, when he takes a hand off.  The Bears, both through design and poor player personnel decisions, fail utterly in this regard.  Reportedly Jay Cutler has applied for political assylum in several former Eastern Block countries.  Mike Martz refuses to even attempt to run the ball because he's declared such plays "futile" and "beneath his genius."  As a result his 3000 page play book has been reduced to 2996 pages and a short half page addendum about the discredited "theory" of the run play.

How did we get here?  The crappy play of Chicago's offensive line can be traced back to three distinct problems:  (1) drafting a disabled Chris Williams so he could "injure" himself in the first contact drill of training camp;  (2) trading two number 1 picks for Cutler instead of drafting offensive line; and (3) failing to use late draft picks to build potential line depth while using the same picks to draft 8 safeties that don't make a difference.  To be fair I loved the Cutler move.  I just figured we'd avoid problem number 3.  Instead Jerry Angelo signed the likes of Orlando Pace, Frank Omileye, Kevin Schaeffer, and John St. Clair.   Just because no one else wanted them didn't mean they couldn't play, right?  Wrong.   Now we're here.  Living a nightmare and taking years off the lives of Cutler and Forte.

The only hope is that the defense can play so masterfully that they will drag Chicago to the playoffs.   This is still theoretically possible given Brian Urlacher has been released from the government's witness protection program and allowed to play professional football again.  We'd all like to thank Mr. Urlacher for testifying against the space alien agents in our midst.

Randy Moss Conspiracy

First, welcome everyone to our blog.  This is the maiden voyage of something that we hope will be a great source of entertainment for readers.  Thanks for your support.

The first topic up for discussion...The Patriots conspiracy to defraud hapless NFL teams of their draft picks.  As you might be aware the Patriots own two first round, two second round, two third round and countless other draft picks in this April's draft (or as I call it Christmas in April).  Now they've got the Vikings third round pick for 4 games of Randy Moss mailing it in.  No one can tell me this is not the result of a Bill Belichik conspiracy to fleece the Vikings and teach Moss a lesson.

Did anyone else see that press conference where Moss threw himself on the Alter of the Patriots Way?  You know what that is?  That's Moss begging to be let back into the finely run ship that is New England.  It took 4 weeks with serial killer Brad Childress for Moss to realize how good he had it catching passes from Brady and benefitting from some of the best coaching in the league.

Now Moss is a free agent, after he clears waivers, and can play for anyone he wants.  For those of you thinking your team is going to claim Moss, you should stop deluding yourself.  Moss will put out the word concerning which team he will play for (New England) and everyone else will be scared off by the threat of the ultimate poison pill wrecking their locker room.  You can also count out any of the bad teams making a claim for a half season rental.  Those teams would have spent money on good players already if they were going to do it.

This leaves Moss free to return to Belichik, humbled and believing he never had it so good.  The only other possibility is that Rex Ryan picks him up just to prevent Belichik from pulling it off.  And what did Belichik have to give up for this?  He got Minnesota's 3rd round Pick and lost Moss for 3 games.

The really ingenius part of all this is the Belichik knew that Moss would fail or worsen the situation in Minnesota.  He knew that the trade would finish toppling the one team in the NFC that has enough talent to challenge him in the Super Bowl.  Now all he needs to do is win the AFC and the Super Bowl will be a victory lap.