lamberts-lost-tooth
09-14-2008, 03:50 AM
AFC wide-open now
By Joe Starkey
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Some grist for the mill ...
• Suddenly, I'm seeing a Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowl. The Cowboys were an obvious and popular preseason pick in the NFC. They are by far the most talented team in the conference. But how about the AFC? Has a conference landscape ever changed so radically in Week 1?
• Yeah, I know. Fifteen games plus playoffs lay ahead. We're talking gut feeling here, not stone-cold, lead-pipe lock.
• Besides, I picked the Pirates to go 82-80 (a day I shall regret for the rest of my life).
• If it came to Steelers-Cowboys, might "Hollywood" Jessica Simpson spice things up by claiming the Steelers quarterback couldn't spell "B-E-N" if you spotted him the 'B' and the 'N'?
• It's not just the Tom Brady situation that shook up the AFC. Indianapolis looked decrepit at home against the fighting Kyle Orton; Jacksonville lost its starting guards for the season; and star linebacker Shawne Merriman gave up his heroic but misguided attempt to play on a torn-up knee.
• Steelers-Jets in the AFC title game? Call it the Faneca Bowl.
• Don't forget the Patriots. Bill Belichick lives for these situations. His approach is so flexible that he could easily flip from the spread to the power run game overnight - or even from series to series. The defensive line will still control games. Secondaries still must contend with Randy being Randy, and quarterback Matt Cassel -- the guy who played behind Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and three years under Brady in New England -- will be better than people expect.
• Among Cassel's housemates at USC were Palmer and Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, who had this to say earlier this week: "Just knowing Matt, he's a very competitive, fun, outgoing guy. I don't know how far he's progressed in the NFL, but I know he's a great athlete, and I know he's played behind the greatest quarterback, perhaps, to ever play the game. To have that and to have two Heisman Trophy winners (in front of him) in college, I mean, I'm sure he's learned a lot."
• Anybody still include Greg Schiano among their hottest young coaching candidates? Rutgers has been outscored 68-19 by Fresno State and North Carolina in its first two games. Both at home. The Schiano-to-Penn State scenario suddenly seems about as likely as Dave Wannstedt taking a yoga class with Ricky Williams.
• USF's pulsating win over Kansas on Friday saved the season for the Big East. Seriously, if the Bulls don't survive there, the Big East has no national title contender before conference play even begins. USF (3-0) now has a chance to rise high in the rankings. Its next four games are Florida International, North Carolina State, Pitt and Syracuse.
• Matt Wieters, the 6-foot-5, switch-hitting catcher the Pirates bypassed with the fourth pick of the 2007 draft, recently was named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America, joining the likes of Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez and Josh Beckett as winners of that award.
• Daniel Moskos, the guy the Pirates took instead of Wieters, had a 6.30 earned-run average in Class A ball.
• It's hard to believe anybody in baseball, including then-Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield, would have drafted Moskos over Wieters if all things were equal. In other words, if finances and/or the fact that Scott Boras represented Wieters were not factors. Wieters signed for $6 million as the No. 5 pick with the Orioles. Moskos signed for $2.5 million at No. 4.
• Littlefield deserves criticism for the pick, obviously, but let's agree on this: Any time a gaffe of such crippling magnitude occurs within a business, the owner of said business is indisputably the main culprit. In this case, that would be Bob Nutting.
• Bypassing Wieters might go down as the greatest draft-day disaster in Pirates history -- pending resolution of the Pedro Alvarez case, of course.
• Only five months til spring training!
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_588159.html
By Joe Starkey
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Some grist for the mill ...
• Suddenly, I'm seeing a Steelers-Cowboys Super Bowl. The Cowboys were an obvious and popular preseason pick in the NFC. They are by far the most talented team in the conference. But how about the AFC? Has a conference landscape ever changed so radically in Week 1?
• Yeah, I know. Fifteen games plus playoffs lay ahead. We're talking gut feeling here, not stone-cold, lead-pipe lock.
• Besides, I picked the Pirates to go 82-80 (a day I shall regret for the rest of my life).
• If it came to Steelers-Cowboys, might "Hollywood" Jessica Simpson spice things up by claiming the Steelers quarterback couldn't spell "B-E-N" if you spotted him the 'B' and the 'N'?
• It's not just the Tom Brady situation that shook up the AFC. Indianapolis looked decrepit at home against the fighting Kyle Orton; Jacksonville lost its starting guards for the season; and star linebacker Shawne Merriman gave up his heroic but misguided attempt to play on a torn-up knee.
• Steelers-Jets in the AFC title game? Call it the Faneca Bowl.
• Don't forget the Patriots. Bill Belichick lives for these situations. His approach is so flexible that he could easily flip from the spread to the power run game overnight - or even from series to series. The defensive line will still control games. Secondaries still must contend with Randy being Randy, and quarterback Matt Cassel -- the guy who played behind Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and three years under Brady in New England -- will be better than people expect.
• Among Cassel's housemates at USC were Palmer and Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, who had this to say earlier this week: "Just knowing Matt, he's a very competitive, fun, outgoing guy. I don't know how far he's progressed in the NFL, but I know he's a great athlete, and I know he's played behind the greatest quarterback, perhaps, to ever play the game. To have that and to have two Heisman Trophy winners (in front of him) in college, I mean, I'm sure he's learned a lot."
• Anybody still include Greg Schiano among their hottest young coaching candidates? Rutgers has been outscored 68-19 by Fresno State and North Carolina in its first two games. Both at home. The Schiano-to-Penn State scenario suddenly seems about as likely as Dave Wannstedt taking a yoga class with Ricky Williams.
• USF's pulsating win over Kansas on Friday saved the season for the Big East. Seriously, if the Bulls don't survive there, the Big East has no national title contender before conference play even begins. USF (3-0) now has a chance to rise high in the rankings. Its next four games are Florida International, North Carolina State, Pitt and Syracuse.
• Matt Wieters, the 6-foot-5, switch-hitting catcher the Pirates bypassed with the fourth pick of the 2007 draft, recently was named the Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America, joining the likes of Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez and Josh Beckett as winners of that award.
• Daniel Moskos, the guy the Pirates took instead of Wieters, had a 6.30 earned-run average in Class A ball.
• It's hard to believe anybody in baseball, including then-Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield, would have drafted Moskos over Wieters if all things were equal. In other words, if finances and/or the fact that Scott Boras represented Wieters were not factors. Wieters signed for $6 million as the No. 5 pick with the Orioles. Moskos signed for $2.5 million at No. 4.
• Littlefield deserves criticism for the pick, obviously, but let's agree on this: Any time a gaffe of such crippling magnitude occurs within a business, the owner of said business is indisputably the main culprit. In this case, that would be Bob Nutting.
• Bypassing Wieters might go down as the greatest draft-day disaster in Pirates history -- pending resolution of the Pedro Alvarez case, of course.
• Only five months til spring training!
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_588159.html