The Stankoniforous Files

First of all, excuse Stank-0's extended absence.  First, Stank-0 went down to the homeplace with his lady, and then on the last day of the trip fell ill.  That put the blog game on time out, but now it's back on.

This Saturday is conference championship Saturday.  The game that le twitter has been goin on about is the SEC championship: Auburn vs S. Carolina.  Stank-0 would be lyin if he said he expected either of these teams to be here. That game rests on one issue: can you stop/slow down/limit Cam Newton?  That's it.  If Cam has a marginally good game, he needs to get his suit dry cleaned to accept his Heisman. Strike a pose!



The Big XII Championship is intriguing because Nebraska and Oklahoma have played in some legendary games (1971 Game of the Century which they want to honor in 2020-21 with a home-and-home series) and this is Nebraska's final game as a member of the XII.

In the NFL you have the Broncos going to division-leading KC and the Raiders going to San Diego.  These two games could go a long way towards deciding the division.  You also get ATL vs TB part II.  The Dirty Birds owned the first game so the Bucs will definitely want some get back.  The Steelers are going to Baltimore to face the Ravens in the Sunday Night game.  The Ravens won the previous match up so this game is very important for the AFC North.

To top it all off, you get Jets @ Patriots on Monday Night.  Gang Green is playing as well as anyone in the AFC if not the entire league. Can Tom Bieber Brady cool them off in Foxboro?

The NBA really has no game of value with two teams worth watching over the weekend, it's quite sad.

In college basketball, you have Butler @ Duke, but it doesn't excite. Then there's UK @ UNC.  Could be good but its all about the Wildcats at this point.  There are of course a plethora of college basketball games on this weekend. 

That about covers this weekend.  What will you be watching?

There are media reports in from the Chicago Sun-Times that several unnamed sources (players) want Coach Childress fired.  The money quote:

We know that Coach Childress doesn't have our backs, so why should we have his?

That is the very definition of losing a locker room.  Stank-0 is sure you've heard the stories so there's no need to re-tread over them.

The primary question is simple, does Childress deserve to be canned?  Stank-0 would say not necessarily.  QB play has clearly regressed since last season.  The primary offensive weapon is out for most of the season, that will effect the offense. The defensive front four are not creating the type of pressure they did last season. Jared Allen got Samson'd after he cut his hair. 

The other side of the argument is that Childress has allowed the atmosphere in Minny to deteriorate into a circus.  Percy Miracles is comin at his neck, of all people. Then there's the question of what coach would want this job, but that's easy to answer.  You have a clear head coach in waiting in Leslie Frazier, defensive coordinator.

Since Frazier likely won't get the nod, then who is out there that will take the job? It's the same problem that the Cowboys face.

Should Childress get fired, what happens to the team? To Lorenzo Favre? So many questions, not enough answers. 

First I will need you, the reader, to suspend all disbelief, like watching WWE.  Ok, let's move on.

We all remember that Coach Shanahan benched Mac-5 in favor of Turnoversaurus Rex a few weeks ago. What if there's another reason for that?

I think Shanahan has his eyes on Jay Cutler.  Now hear me out.  Since the retirement of John Elway, Cutler is the QB with the best arm that Shanahan ever had.  Sometimes he relies on that arm too much, but he can easily make every NFL throw.  Now I think that Mac-5 > Cutler, but Shanahan doesn't have to re-teach the nuances of his system to Cutler.  They also have rapport and they know and are used to each other.

Cutler hasn't set the world on fire since he came to the City of Wind so a straight across trade isn't exactly impossible.  Highly improbable but not impossible.  Am I thinkin too much or can this happen?

Let Stank-0 get this outta his system so the rest of the post can be written properly.  Congratulations to the Raiders, however, it's my belief that the Chiefs lost not so much that the Raiders won.  Not putting up TDs when necessary, offensive miscues, and defensive lapses cost KC a chance to win this game.

Al Davis' decision to draft Janikowski looks good now.  Stank-0 remembers when he was at FSU doing the same thing he does in Oakland, kick long field goals with ease and causing touchbacks on kickoffs.

The AFC West is now significantly tighter with the Chiefs holding a half game lead over the resurgent Raiders.  The Chargahs appear to be in their annual November uptick. The division could get very interesting.  KC's game at Denver next Sunday just became that much more important.  The Raiders can move into a tie while on their bye if the Chiefs should fall.


Lorenzo Favre showed some more late game heroics.  Just when you want to write post-mortems on Lorenzo, he tells us to fall back.  Percy Miracles is a resilent player.  He kept having ankle problems, would come out of the game, and then re-enter later.

A big problem is that the Vikings went away from AD.  He had a grand total of 11 carries in the game. 


Another team that lost a game they should have won was the Lions.  They lost their kicker to injury so they sent in Suh to kick the extra point, which he promptly missed.  Then it seems like Matthew Stafford re-injured his shoulder. He also looked a bit sluggish in his reads.  Their main offensive weapon, Megatron, was blanketed.

Defensively outside of the front four, there is much to be desired. 

To end on a positive note, is it just Stank-0 or were the Colts' unis kinda dope?


Ok guess it's just me. The Michael Vick Experience is back!  If Vick lost a step, not sure where.  He can hit the X button and leave a defender.  Coach Reid, it's pretty simple at this point.  Start Vick and save your job.


This week had three OT games, which is great until your team is in one of those games. Stank-0 will next look at the AFC West because things just got more interesting.
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 Since Werd's post referencing last weekend's action, Randall Gene Moss was placed on waivers by the Vikings.  The reason is because of some remarks about some post-game meal catered by a mom-and-pop's place.

Moss had a profanity laced tirade about how he doesn't eat such food now that he's rich.  It did not go over well with the team. Stank-0 can see the anger that such remarks would garner, however, is that sufficient to cut a man that has since helped your stagnant offense get on track? Moss was drawing consistent over-the-top help even though he's 33 and has a history of lackluster effort.


In any case, fans of every team across the league imagined what life would be like with Moss on their offense.  When it came time to claim Moss off the waiver wire, 21 teams passed on him.  This is eerily similar to how the draft went for Moss.

Now the Titans have claimed Moss off waivers. Stank-0 has a feeling that this is Moss' last reasonable chance to play in the NFL. This is Moss' Buffalo.  He has to be a model citizen if he wants another chance on another team.  The spotlight is squarely on the Titans but Coach Fisher can manage Moss' personality if he was able to keep VY on task. Britt probably cannot wait to heal up and play on the other side of Moss.  It's possible that he could score 4 TDs the next time he takes the field.

In the postscript for this bewildering experience, the Vikings are taking shots at Moss. Percy Miracles is probably crying is his car right now.  Moss opened up alot of things for Percy.

We will examine three sports events of importance.  There are two games to look at, Browns @ Saints and Raiders @ Broncos, and a special performance by Cristiano Ronaldo.

The biggest shock of this weekend was the Browns coming into the Super Dome and walkin out with a W.  The consensus was that the Browns were just there and the Saints would make them look like a college football team, however, it didn't go down like that.  Drew Brees aka Breesus to the Who Dat Nation faithful committed 4 turnovers.  That's not a typo.  He tossed two INT TDs to a LB, who became only the 3rd player to ever have two in the single game. 

I'll say this, nothing is wrong with the Saints, it's that the league has game planned how to beat them.  It happens to every Super Bowl champion.  You are now the hunted.  You can't sneak up on anyone and whatever other cliches fits in there.

The Browns defensive coordinator just earned himself a head coaching job off of one game.  ONE GAME!

Next the award for getting humbled goes to none other than the Denver Broncos.  In the span of 1:30 of the first quarter, the Raiders scored a TD on a pass from Campbell to Miller and then an INT TD.  It's 14-0.  Then on the Broncos next offensive play, the Raiders defense forces a fumble and caps off the drive with a McFadden running TD (one of 4 on the day for Mac) and it's 21-0.  Before the end of the first quarter, it's 24-0.  By halftime it's 31-0.

Now I expected some let down from the Raiders and the Broncos to climb back in the game and they did.  They scored twice to pull within 38-14, but the Raiders just kept scoring.  The Raiders tossed 59 points on the board.  A Grant, a Lincoln and fo' Washingtons.  That sounds like a low scoring basketball game.

That was a horrible display.  By the midway point of the 3rd quarter, the stands were starting to clear out.


Finally the special performance by Cristiano Ronaldo, the best futbol player in the world.  He scored 4 goals in a game this weekend.  That is special regardless of who does it, but, Ronaldo hadn't accomplished such a feat since he was a child.  The fans of the Spanish league are indeed lucky to be able to boo or cheer a once-in-a-lifetime player like this.

I'll write more I may even have a few thoughts about this World Series and some other things.

As always all photos courtesy of NFL.com

Football is a violent, dangerous game.  That we can all agree upon.  The NFL is concerned with what players put in their bodies as well as protecting their bodies from unnecessary harm.  Sometimes they get it right, like the research into concussions.  Sometimes they miss the mark, and we have a perfect example of that. 

This past week was an aberration.  There was an unusually high number of players getting walloped on the field of play.  The signature moment would be the hit that Eagles' wideout DeSean Jackson suffered.  The NFL has decided to further buttress the "defenseless receiver" rule.

This is problematic.

These hits are occuring in fractions of a second, which means these men have to process the information and make a decision beforehand.

The next problem is that a defender's job is the separate the ball from the man. There's no rule tweaking that will fix that problem.  These players have been taught from childhood to hit the man to knock the ball loose.  No fine or even game suspension is going to easily fix that.

Then there's the glorification of hits. NFL Films will show old school videos of players being blown up/jacked up/hit sticked/lit up/rocked whatever the new phrase for laying a hit on a player. You can't have it both ways now.



Big NFL Hits

Then you must account for the fact that players are bigger, stronger, and faster than ever before. When LBs run a legit 4.4-4.5 40 then they can close distance in a hurry and the results can be jarring.

It's no secret the NFL is an offensive league (read: people want to see touchdowns) and there have been steps taken to protect QBs.  Is the same thing happening with receivers because the passing game is dependent upon them as well?

UPDATE! It seems the NFL is hypocritical.  The NFL is selling photos of some of these "illegal" hits.  Way not to send mixed messages.  

UPDATE#2!:  The hit to Todd Heap is also for sale! 

We have Exhibit A that the Chiefs are on the rise.  The organization and the fans can claim that a conspiracy is at work against them.  The NFL is conspiring to take Ws away from the Chiefs.

See the zebras called a highly dubious PI (pass interference) on the Chiefs' defense on the key drive of the game.

See Stank-0 isn't bitter about it.  No not at all because the Chiefs let Arian Foster run wild on 'em.  (No lie Foster is ballin, RESPECT!) They let Andre Johnson ( a top 3 WR) get loose and score the deciding touchdown. 

Again there are some positives to take away from this game.

• Cassel had 3 TDs.  Hopefully this will quiet the people saying that Cassel can't cut it.  For at least a week.  
• Dwayne Bowe was a key contributor to the offense.  Welcome back Mr. Bowe, we've missed you. 
• The running back duo of Thomas & Charles put up numbers. [Writer's note: If they keep performing we'll need some kitschy nickname for them at some point.  Start thinkin of somethin.]
• The rest of the AFC West lost so the Chiefs are still up a game on everyone. 

The defense did not show up.  Again we have the standard that was set last week to compare all defensive performances against.  This week they were lacking.  The Chiefs run defense was supposed to have improved. Fellas, you can do better.  You stymied the best QB on the planet in his own HOUSE.

 The Chiefs need to end this skid and in a hurry.  This Sunday another tough AFC South team, but another winnable game. 

With the Chiefs falling to the Colts, this is the first time since 1970 that there's been no 4-0 team.  Congratulations are in order to the Colts.  Peyton, even though held in check for most of the game, found a way to manufacture a TD.

Stank-0 wasn't as surprised by the defensive performance.  You must remember that Cronnel and Weis were on those Patriots teams that owned the Colts for so long.  They are probably the only men outside of Belicheck that know Peyton that well.

Stank-0 doesn't believe in moral victories, but there are some positives that Chiefs' fans can take away from this game.

• We now know the level of defense the Chiefs are capable of playing.  They went into Indy and frustrated the best QB in football for most of the game. 
• Cassel is incrementally getting better.  He missed on throws that needed to be completed, but he's at least progressing.
• The rest of the schedule cannot possibly be anymore difficult than the game they just played. 
• The loss was not in division
• The Chiefs have given up zero points off turnovers so far this season.

With the Broncos and Chargers losing, the Chiefs are firmly in the driver's seat of the AFC West.

The biggest breaking news is that Randall Gene Moss of the Patriots, may be dealt to the Minnesota Vikings.  This is interesting for several reasons.  This was his original team back when he was drafted in 1998. 

Stank-0 thinks this shows a few things: 1. The Patriots were NOT gonna pay the man. It wasn't gonna happen. 2. The Patriots think his best day might be behind him. Who knows?

The Patriots are smart to potentially deal him out of division and conference. The NFC North will need some corners right fast and in a hurry.

If this does happen, Lorenzo Favre will play 2-3 seasons longer.  You do know that Favre tried to recruit Moss way back when right? It also gives Favre the deep threat he's never had.  Wait til Rice comes back. O_O
Mawse, Rice, and AD?! How do you stop that? Eight in the box? Or double cover Mawse and let Rice tear you a new one? Or play cover 2 and let AD run wild? Defensive coordinators are gonna start losing sleep.

You know who benefits the most? Berrian. He will get to eat up the #3 corner.

 
Stank-0 is loving the season right now (Chiefs are the lone undefeated team left!!! You mad huh?!) but lost in all this euphoria about this season is the very real fact that there may be no football in the near future.

The two major players are Roger Goodell, NFL Commish and DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA.  There's a faction of owners that want more protection for the investments, such as new stadiums.  Those are represented by Jerry Jones (Cowboys), Robert Kraft (Patriots), Pat Bowlen(Broncos), and  Jerry Richardson (Panthers).

At the basis is money obviously.  The owners want the the players to take a small percentage.  Stank-0 won't even get into asking the players association to take a smaller piece of a pie that continues to grow at a steady clip.  The Federal Reserve should have the NFL print their money for them. Let's not even talk about the Super Bowl commercials.  Networks are standing in line to get the NFL on their station and willing to pay the preacher.

Stank-0 is in total agreement regarding the rookie wage scale.  It's reached the point where no team wants the first 3 to 5 picks in the draft because the signing bonuses are so astronomical.  If the player's association wants some public relations leverage, they should budge on this point. 

No this time there's a major sticking point: the owners want an 18 game season. Talks have stalled on this point and they should.  Even with this 2010 season, there's a highly probability that the majority of divisions will be clinched way before week 17, like last season.  What's the utility in adding two additional games? Looks like a pure money grab.

There's plenty of stars being knocked out week after week, why add to the toll?  This labor dispute is more than billionaires fighting millionaires, it's players trying to protect their bodies from useless games.  If there is a lockout, Stank-0 won't even be upset at the players.

There are other issues such as revenue sharing, which doesn't get much press. The leagues does share revenue but teams have created alternate streams of income such as luxury suites, which are outside the agreement.  The upper 15 are subsidizing the lower 17 and some owners believe that some in the lower 17 are keeping revenue artificially low to continue to receive the subsidies.

In the end, if they don't calm down then everyone will lose.

I had the privilege of watching every game today on NFL RedZone.  It's wonderful.  It's like Twitter on Sunday with video.  It continually jumps from one game to the other. 

On my TV, the Broncos @ Titans and the Lions @ Packers were on.  Not exactly must see TV.  On got on RZ it was poppin.  Saw the important parts of 8 games today.  It was glorious.  I'm not sure I can watch the NFL without RZ anymore.  It's that crucial. Conflict.

The only downside? The guy's voice.  He doesn't have the voice to do the show, and he tended to talk over the broadcasters of the game we switch to.  Just switch us to the game and get out of the way. The analysts will bring us up to speed.

One other thing, there needs to be better filler when all the games are on commercial break.  Not sure how to fix that part though.  It felt like the guy was talkin to use up the time until the game(s) came back on. 

My only gripe is what took the NFL so long to create this? It renders ESPN superfluous. No need to wait until the end of the day to see the highlights because Infl watched them as they happened.

PS. I'm sure that Stank-0 is glad that KC is the last unbeaten team in the NFL, but how long will it last?

There are only 3 undefeated teams at this point: KC, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. 


The battle for Texas wasn't nearly as compelling as the lead up to the game.  The Texans are still the little brother to the Cowboys.  Houston, you had your shot.  You stepped to the champ and he floored you.  Roy Williams had a big day.  Still not a believer in Roy. 


Watched some of the Colts @ Broncos.  Peyton wasn't in the zone he was on last Sunday, but he did his thing.  Champ was a straight up blanket on Wayne, Dallas Clark was straight up doubled so Peyton just went to Austin Collie.  He mercilessly abused the corner on that side.  It's safe to say that the Brady vs Manning debate fell Peyton's way.
The Broncos did everything you're supposed to do against Peyton.  They brought pressure and they bottled up the run game more or less.


Also observed a little of the Titans @ Giants. Not a pretty picture.  Not sure what's exactly ailing the Gmen. Part of it has to do with Jacobs.  If he doesn't get on track, then Bradshaw isn't gonna beat you.  Just not gonna happen. So you can "pin your ears back and go after Eli." The Gmen O line is shaky so that works. 


Saved the best for last.  It is not easy to come to Arrowhead and win.  Real talk, it's the loudest stadium in the league even in the worst of times.  Now there's something to cheer about?

The game itself was about the Chiefs not letting Gore get on track.  If Gore doesn't get going, Alex Smith WILL NOT beat you.  Even with the skill players out there like Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree, and Josh Morgan it's not gonna happen.  The 49ers could have made it more interesting but it would have been on the shoulders of Smith to win the game.

What made it worse was 49ers' mistakes.  There would be some offensive continuity and a penalty would kill the drive. That was essentially the game.

Cassel made some progress which is good. That first TD to McCluster kinda jumpstarted him. Charles and Jones on the ground was very helpful.  Special teams evened out between the two teams.  

Stank0 has to say that while Weis and Cronnel are not head coach material, they were born to be coordinators. 

The meat of the schedule after the bye is the Colts, Titans, and Texans.  After this week's games those 3 teams played, the only team that really terrifies Stank0 is the Colts.  The other two showed enough vulnerabilities that the Chiefs could steal those games.

Monday night Packers @ Bears. Don't think that Cutler will be as brilliant as he was against the Cowboys.  Think Stank0 chose the Pack in his pick em league, but Cutler and Martz worry me. *Cue MNF theme music*

Oh and the Chiefs are 3-0 in case ya'll forgot.

With Broncos WR Kenny McKinley's death, there are still some mysterious circumstances surrounding it.  The out-of-the-blue nature of his passing is the first problem.  It was brought to Stank-0's attention that head trauma could play a role in McKinley's passing. If so, then the NFL needs to devote serious resources to getting a handle on this.

McKinley's case is not an outlier.  Those in the know are saying that Roethlisberger's inappropirate conduct down in Georgia could have been a symptom of head trauma.  The only thing that bothered Stank-0 about that finding was the timing.  Like it was meant to sweep his conduct under the guise of medicine. Roethlisberger has taken enough hits in his career to justify the claim.

 The interesting part of the research is that the head injuries that NFL players are afflicted with are being linked to depression.  The other thing is that these head injuries appear to be fairly wide spread in the NFL.

Stank-0 will applaud the NFL for the work they've done regarding concussions but this may be a bit broader than just concussions.  The DoD and the NFL have teamed up to study concussions and their relations to PTSD.  It may be time for a joint DoD-NFL study on head trauma.  More definitely needs to be known.

This has larger implications like the proposed 18 game season.  New medical rules may need to be instituted such as an automatic number of games required to sit after a concussion, and Stank-0 is advocating 6-8 games for the first concussion.  Nothing is more important than the quality of life of these players.

Stank-0 loves football as much as the next guy but is the cost too high? 

We are in a bizarro world where the Cowboys and Vikings can be 0-2 and the Bucs and Chiefs can be 2-0. 

The Cowboys have the talent they need to cut down on self inflicted mental errors.  Which may be more difficult to correct. Healthy O linemen returning may help with alot of that.  

The Vikings really REALLY miss Sydney Rice.  Teams are sitting in zone and forcing Lorenzo to find the open man.  Rice masked over alot of problems and areas of concern.  The Vikings have Bernard Berrian but he don't really see no passes because he has a drop problem. It showed up in special teams.

The Fins signing Marshall to pair him with Henne was a masterful move. Marshall is a physical presence at the skill position. First play was a 46 yard strike to Marshall and he went right past Lito Sheppard.  Like he was standing still. 

The Bucs have a budding duo in Freeman-to-Williams.  Also shout out to former J-Hawk Talib making plays in the secondary. K-2 is still a force even with two bad knees.  He is indeed a soldier.

Manning Bowl part deux does not get favorable reviews. It was all Peyton.  The Colts QB is must see TV all by his lonesome.  The way he performs his craft is up there with Russell, Ruth, Sanders, and Jordan.  The Peytonian Standard if you will.
We haven't even mentioned the clinic that Matthias and Freeney put on.  G-Men O linemen Diehl will be seeing Freeney in his sleep tonight. Stank-0 doesn't blame Diehl at all, he was soldiering on, but at least put a TE or back on his side to chip Freeney.



Moss in a contract year means you don't talk about Revis Island or bad things can happen. Like this.



Poor lil lo Tink Tink.


 Can Stank-0 say it again, the Texans are for real. All it took was some time for Schaub and Johnson to mesh.  That boy is a beast, why not just double cover him and take him away?  Schaub threw for 497 yards and Mac 5 threw for 428.  Guess defense was optional today.

By now you've heard that Dixon went down with a knee injury.  Leftwich will get re-signed but it will leave Pittsburgh a little thin at the QB spot even when Roethlisberger returns.  Byron and Batch have to man the post for now.

The C-Hawks came back down to Earth.  Every team isn't as inept as the 49ers.

Lest Stank-0 forgets, QB controversy has officially landed in PHI. Coach, do you want wins or confidence?  This season they might be mutually exclusive.

Let Stank-0 start off with this.

This isn't last year.  Teams that were turrible (no Barkley) are not as bad.  The Lions were a blown call away from a W against the Bears.  The Lions have some legit players on D led by Suh.  That D line ain't play pimpin.  The offensive is led by Stafford and Megatron aka Calvin Johnson.  That connection could be the driving force for the Lions for years to come.

Unfortunately they take a step forward and then two steps back.  Stafford injured his throwing shoulder and will miss some time.  The good news? It won't require surgery. 

The C-Hawks bulldozed the 9ers.  It's sad.  The NFC West is up for grabs and the 49ers still can't do nothin about it.  Stank-0 was never really sold on Hassleback but obviously he can still get the job done.  Also Mike Williams (formerly of USC) is back.  Welcome back, homey.

Stank-0 will keep saying it until you hear me.  The Texans will be in the playoffs.  They ain't neva scared (no Bonecrusher).  Also Houston was correct in taking Mario instead of Reggie.  Gadget backs are a dime a dozen.  A rising D lineman who brings consistent pressure is hard to find.

If the Pats don't get Randy's deal done or leave feelers that it's a priority, it could cost them the season.  Moss had no TDs against the Bengals and really was of no consequence upon the outcome of the game.  An unhappy Randy is bad for bidness.  Ask Oakland.

Stank-0 only saw the 3rd and 4th quarters of the Ravens @ Jets.  The Jets' high expectations have come back down to Earth.  To win games you need to score TDs #RevRunWisdom.  Santonio Holmes wouldn't have made that much of a difference.  The running game was held in check so that only leaves the passing attack, which was ineffective. 

The Ravens have a top notch WR corps.  Q, Housh, D-Mase, and Heap are more than enough targets for Flacco. Q and Housh are interchangable as #1 WRs.  Heap is too fast for LBs and too big for DBs.

Man, whatever elixir Ray Ray is taking, Stank-0 wants it when he gets old. Lewis out there hustling and absolutely knocked some poor soul into tomorrow with a hit.  He's still trying to figure out what happened. 



The Chiefs are woeful offensively, but have made some strides defensively.  The first half they were flyin around, makin plays.  The rooks are gonna be crucial to the Chiefs' season.  Chew on this. It's possible for the Chiefs to be 3-0 by Week 4.  They travel to Cleveland and then host the 49ers at Arrowhead. 

In case you ain't know, Arrowhead might be the loudest stadium in the NFL.  There were several penalties where the whistle was blown and the play was run anyway because no one (offense nor defense) could hear the whistle.