RealGM Wiretap
The AFC The Buddy Nix Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings: “If you've caught even a quarter's worth of Buffalo Bills football this season, you don't need to be told that running back Fred Jackson has been, bar none, the team's most valuable player.” The Jeff Ireland The Phinsider: “The Miami Dolphins had this past weekend off, being scheduled for the first week of byes. During that time, the Dolphins, hopefully, used the break to find an answer to several issues the team has had through the first four weeks of the 2011 season.” The Jonathan Kraft Dan Duggan of The Boston Herald: “Turns out even the vaunted Darrelle Revis can’t stop Wes Welker. Round One between the NFL’s leading receiver and its best cover cornerback went to the former, as the Patriots beat the New York Jets, 30-21, at Gillette Stadium.” The Mike Tannenbaum Gang Green Nation: “The Jets have struggled forever finding a guy capable of consistently getting to the quarterback. Maybe Jamaal Westerman can be the guy. Aaron Maybin has a lot of fans, but he is really a situational guy.” The Ozzie Newsome Bruce Raffel of Baltimore Beatdown: “The 2011 NFL season is shaping up to be the most prolific passing year of any in league history. Through five weeks of the season, there have never been as many (10) 400+ yard passing games in NFL history and the most ever in a full season is only a few ahead of that (13).” The Mike Brown Ryan Harper of Cincy Jungle: “If you look up the word awesome in the dictionary you'll see a picture of A.J. Green next to it. Okay, well that technically isn't the case. The Bengals 2011 first round pick is on pace to have one of the most productive seasons by a rookie wide receiver in recent memory. “ The Tom Heckert Chris Pokorny of Dawgs By Nature: “Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur met with the media Monday afternoon to discuss several things that have happened since the team's bye week. One of the highlights is that Greg Little will be a starting receiver at the "X" position, and tight end Evan Moore should see some more reps” The Kevin Colbert Michael Bean of Behind The Steel Curtain: “Another week, another highlight reel catch for Mike Wallace, the continually improving wide receiving threat for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wallace's big play of Week 5 didn't come until the later part of the fourth quarter, with the Steelers comfortably ahead of the Titans but still in search of a knockout blow to punctuate what had easily been their best team effort of the 2011 season.” The Rick Smith Battle Red Blog: “Matt Schaub and these current Texans have been such a perfect blend of mediocrity over the past five years that Starbucks could buy the formula and start producing great-smelling java with a bitter aftertaste in all billion of its locations tomorrow.” The Chris Polian Stampede Blue: “Remember that guy Dallas Clark who used to torment opposing secondaries and light up the scoreboards? You know the guy who routinely broke long seam routes for key third down conversions and demoralized opponents with majestic leaping one-handed catches.” The Gene Smith Alfie Crow of Big Cat Country: “The Jacksonville Jaguars players [Monday] held a players only meet to have a heart to heart. I do not have word yet what was discussed in detail in the meeting, but sources have told me that no coaches or upper management were involved.” The Mike Reinfeldt Music City Miracles: “The Tennessee Titans are looking to trade for a wide receiver. I have heard that Mike Reinfeldt has been on the last phone exploring possibilities- including talks with the Green Bay Packers.” The Brian Xanders John Bena of Mile High Report: “Tim Tebow will be the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos - likely in the shot gun - when the team comes back from their by with a trip to Miami to face the Dolphins. Denver has never beaten the Dolphins in South Florida - they did win Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami - but at 0-4, Miami has struggled even more than the Broncos.” The Scott Pioli Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride: “Maybe Matt Cassel is taking a similar path as last year. No, this isn't a commentary on how Cassel is now the future of the Chiefs but I'm just pointing out what we're seeing from Cassel. Last year, despite the Chiefs 3-0 start, the early complaints about the Chiefs centered around Cassel.” The Al Davis The San Francisco Chronicle: “It’s hard to think of a more heartfelt Raider Nation memorial than this: an Al Davis tattoo. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such tribute to Oakland’s fallen leader (the gentleman got inked Sunday).” The Dean Spanos John Gennero of Bolts From The Blue: “The Chargers defense now has two notches in its belt for this season. Last week, they knocked Chad Henne out for the season and probably ended any chance he has of being a starter in the next few years. This week, they made Kyle Orton look so bad that he was benched for Tim Tebow for what will most likely be the rest of the season.” The NFC The Stephen Jones Steven Mullenax of The Landry Hat: “No Cowboy season in the past six years has been so defined by the play of Tony Romo. His epic victories in game two and three, and his colossal breakdowns in game one and four are the stuff of Greek Mythology.” The Jerry Reese Ed Valentine of Big Blue View: “Eli Manning's QBR Rating for this week tells a story not really just for Manning, but for the New York Giants offense in Sunday's 36-25 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Manning's QBR for the week was just an 18.0, 23rd in the league out of 26 quarterbacks rated prior to this week's Monday Night Football game.” The Howie Roseman Bleeding Green Nation: “As it turns out, Vince Young was almost right. He just chose the wrong word. He called the Eagles a Dream Team. What they are, really, is a Fantasy Team. And the problem is, fantasy teams aren't teams at all” The Bruce Allen Hogs Haven: “Hits on Michael Vick -- I want Vick to get hit early and often. Even if they don’t sack him, just get some good licks on him. Get in his head a little bit. I don't want to see Vick hurt, but I want him to feel major discomfort.” The Jerry Angelo Chicago Tribune: “Matt Forte has made it clear he's not happy with his contract situation after excelling through the first quarter of the season and accounting for more than 51 percent of the Bears' offense.” The Martin Mayhew Graham Couch of MLive.com: “Detroit Lions fans spent most of the last dozen years hoping Barry Sanders would take the field again, perhaps show up unannounced at training camp.” The Mark Murphy Acme Packing Company: “While watching players do the Lambeau Leap, I've always wondered how difficult it is for them to get free from the clutching hands of fans. They're being held up by every fan within a 10-seat radius; 22 hands all trying to get a piece of the latest touchdown scorer to jump into the crowd.” The Mark Wilf Christopher Gates of Daily Norseman: “Ho hum, another day, another 122 yards and three more touchdowns for the best running back in the National Football League. There are few players in this league that are as much fun to watch as Adrian Peterson, particularly when things get rolling the way they were on Sunday.” The Thomas Dimitroff Dave Choate of The Falcoholic: “The Falcons are bristling with weaponry. I don't think I have to account for everyone here, but suffice to say they have at least four legitimately good options in the passing game, and a decent supporting cast around them. This is not an offense that should struggle to score 14 points in a game.” The Marty Hurney Cat Scratch Reader: “Almost overshadowed by our abysmal run defense, Carolina's secondary has worked their way into the top 10 in pass defense and is all but knocking the door down to get into the top 5. They started slow, allowing Kevin Kolb to carve us up and look like a pro-bowler week 1 of the season, but have tightened the bolts and came together over the first quarter of the season. It is my hope that I can provide a convincing argument as to why we should all be excited for this group that many consider to be one of our bigger weaknesses.” The Mickey Loomis Kevin Spain of The Times-Picayune: “At his Monday press briefing, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said the win against Carolina could turn out to be key because of how they did it.” The Mark Dominik Rodney Page of The St. Petersburg Times: “If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to erase the memory of a 45-point loss to San Francisco, they may have to do it without two of their best players.” The Rod Graves Jess Root of Revenge Of The Birds: “So...yeah. The Arizona Cardinals were embarrassed 31-10 on Sunday. It would be understandable to think that there is not a single thing that we could find that could possibly be seen as a positive. That would be why this is later than normal.” The Billy Devaney Jim Thomas of St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Rod Hood didn't go home, nor did he go watch his alma mater, Auburn, play over the Rams’ bye weekend. He didn't head for a beach, either, for one last weekend of fun in the sun before the cold weather hits St. Louis.” The Trent Baalke David Fucillo of Niners Nation: “49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh chatted with the media [Monday] and again hit a couple high notes but didn't get into many specifics. He is a hard nut to crack, but the victories are coming by a combination of execution and great game-planning and he more or less said that with his comments. The players and coaches are coming together and taking care of business. It's pretty simple and Harbaugh is not going to give away any game-planning secrets, so we get fairly basic press conferences.” The John Schneider Danny Kelly of Field Gulls: “Remember three weeks ago when everyone thought the Seahawks were the worst team in the NFL? Remember a little while before that when the Seahawks’ failures prompted some national publication to make up rumors that Pete Carroll and John Schneider weren't getting along? Remember when everyone thought that James Carpenter was a bust and that the Seahawks had the worst offensive line in football?”
NFL Scoop: 32-Team Week 5 Reactions
The AFC The Buddy Nix Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings: “If you've caught even a quarter's worth of Buffalo Bills football this season, you don't need to be told that running back Fred Jackson has been, bar none, the team's most valuable player.” The Jeff Ireland The Phinsider: “The Miami Dolphins had this past weekend off, being scheduled for the first week of byes. During that time, the Dolphins, hopefully, used the break to find an answer to several issues the team has had through the first four weeks of the 2011 season.” The Jonathan Kraft Dan Duggan of The Boston Herald: “Turns out even the vaunted Darrelle Revis can’t stop Wes Welker. Round One between the NFL’s leading receiver and its best cover cornerback went to the former, as the Patriots beat the New York Jets, 30-21, at Gillette Stadium.” The Mike Tannenbaum Gang Green Nation: “The Jets have struggled forever finding a guy capable of consistently getting to the quarterback. Maybe Jamaal Westerman can be the guy. Aaron Maybin has a lot of fans, but he is really a situational guy.” The Ozzie Newsome Bruce Raffel of Baltimore Beatdown: “The 2011 NFL season is shaping up to be the most prolific passing year of any in league history. Through five weeks of the season, there have never been as many (10) 400+ yard passing games in NFL history and the most ever in a full season is only a few ahead of that (13).” The Mike Brown Ryan Harper of Cincy Jungle: “If you look up the word awesome in the dictionary you'll see a picture of A.J. Green next to it. Okay, well that technically isn't the case. The Bengals 2011 first round pick is on pace to have one of the most productive seasons by a rookie wide receiver in recent memory. “ The Tom Heckert Chris Pokorny of Dawgs By Nature: “Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur met with the media Monday afternoon to discuss several things that have happened since the team's bye week. One of the highlights is that Greg Little will be a starting receiver at the "X" position, and tight end Evan Moore should see some more reps” The Kevin Colbert Michael Bean of Behind The Steel Curtain: “Another week, another highlight reel catch for Mike Wallace, the continually improving wide receiving threat for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wallace's big play of Week 5 didn't come until the later part of the fourth quarter, with the Steelers comfortably ahead of the Titans but still in search of a knockout blow to punctuate what had easily been their best team effort of the 2011 season.” The Rick Smith Battle Red Blog: “Matt Schaub and these current Texans have been such a perfect blend of mediocrity over the past five years that Starbucks could buy the formula and start producing great-smelling java with a bitter aftertaste in all billion of its locations tomorrow.” The Chris Polian Stampede Blue: “Remember that guy Dallas Clark who used to torment opposing secondaries and light up the scoreboards? You know the guy who routinely broke long seam routes for key third down conversions and demoralized opponents with majestic leaping one-handed catches.” The Gene Smith Alfie Crow of Big Cat Country: “The Jacksonville Jaguars players [Monday] held a players only meet to have a heart to heart. I do not have word yet what was discussed in detail in the meeting, but sources have told me that no coaches or upper management were involved.” The Mike Reinfeldt Music City Miracles: “The Tennessee Titans are looking to trade for a wide receiver. I have heard that Mike Reinfeldt has been on the last phone exploring possibilities- including talks with the Green Bay Packers.” The Brian Xanders John Bena of Mile High Report: “Tim Tebow will be the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos - likely in the shot gun - when the team comes back from their by with a trip to Miami to face the Dolphins. Denver has never beaten the Dolphins in South Florida - they did win Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami - but at 0-4, Miami has struggled even more than the Broncos.” The Scott Pioli Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride: “Maybe Matt Cassel is taking a similar path as last year. No, this isn't a commentary on how Cassel is now the future of the Chiefs but I'm just pointing out what we're seeing from Cassel. Last year, despite the Chiefs 3-0 start, the early complaints about the Chiefs centered around Cassel.” The Al Davis The San Francisco Chronicle: “It’s hard to think of a more heartfelt Raider Nation memorial than this: an Al Davis tattoo. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such tribute to Oakland’s fallen leader (the gentleman got inked Sunday).” The Dean Spanos John Gennero of Bolts From The Blue: “The Chargers defense now has two notches in its belt for this season. Last week, they knocked Chad Henne out for the season and probably ended any chance he has of being a starter in the next few years. This week, they made Kyle Orton look so bad that he was benched for Tim Tebow for what will most likely be the rest of the season.” The NFC The Stephen Jones Steven Mullenax of The Landry Hat: “No Cowboy season in the past six years has been so defined by the play of Tony Romo. His epic victories in game two and three, and his colossal breakdowns in game one and four are the stuff of Greek Mythology.” The Jerry Reese Ed Valentine of Big Blue View: “Eli Manning's QBR Rating for this week tells a story not really just for Manning, but for the New York Giants offense in Sunday's 36-25 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Manning's QBR for the week was just an 18.0, 23rd in the league out of 26 quarterbacks rated prior to this week's Monday Night Football game.” The Howie Roseman Bleeding Green Nation: “As it turns out, Vince Young was almost right. He just chose the wrong word. He called the Eagles a Dream Team. What they are, really, is a Fantasy Team. And the problem is, fantasy teams aren't teams at all” The Bruce Allen Hogs Haven: “Hits on Michael Vick -- I want Vick to get hit early and often. Even if they don’t sack him, just get some good licks on him. Get in his head a little bit. I don't want to see Vick hurt, but I want him to feel major discomfort.” The Jerry Angelo Chicago Tribune: “Matt Forte has made it clear he's not happy with his contract situation after excelling through the first quarter of the season and accounting for more than 51 percent of the Bears' offense.” The Martin Mayhew Graham Couch of MLive.com: “Detroit Lions fans spent most of the last dozen years hoping Barry Sanders would take the field again, perhaps show up unannounced at training camp.” The Mark Murphy Acme Packing Company: “While watching players do the Lambeau Leap, I've always wondered how difficult it is for them to get free from the clutching hands of fans. They're being held up by every fan within a 10-seat radius; 22 hands all trying to get a piece of the latest touchdown scorer to jump into the crowd.” The Mark Wilf Christopher Gates of Daily Norseman: “Ho hum, another day, another 122 yards and three more touchdowns for the best running back in the National Football League. There are few players in this league that are as much fun to watch as Adrian Peterson, particularly when things get rolling the way they were on Sunday.” The Thomas Dimitroff Dave Choate of The Falcoholic: “The Falcons are bristling with weaponry. I don't think I have to account for everyone here, but suffice to say they have at least four legitimately good options in the passing game, and a decent supporting cast around them. This is not an offense that should struggle to score 14 points in a game.” The Marty Hurney Cat Scratch Reader: “Almost overshadowed by our abysmal run defense, Carolina's secondary has worked their way into the top 10 in pass defense and is all but knocking the door down to get into the top 5. They started slow, allowing Kevin Kolb to carve us up and look like a pro-bowler week 1 of the season, but have tightened the bolts and came together over the first quarter of the season. It is my hope that I can provide a convincing argument as to why we should all be excited for this group that many consider to be one of our bigger weaknesses.” The Mickey Loomis Kevin Spain of The Times-Picayune: “At his Monday press briefing, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said the win against Carolina could turn out to be key because of how they did it.” The Mark Dominik Rodney Page of The St. Petersburg Times: “If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to erase the memory of a 45-point loss to San Francisco, they may have to do it without two of their best players.” The Rod Graves Jess Root of Revenge Of The Birds: “So...yeah. The Arizona Cardinals were embarrassed 31-10 on Sunday. It would be understandable to think that there is not a single thing that we could find that could possibly be seen as a positive. That would be why this is later than normal.” The Billy Devaney Jim Thomas of St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Rod Hood didn't go home, nor did he go watch his alma mater, Auburn, play over the Rams’ bye weekend. He didn't head for a beach, either, for one last weekend of fun in the sun before the cold weather hits St. Louis.” The Trent Baalke David Fucillo of Niners Nation: “49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh chatted with the media [Monday] and again hit a couple high notes but didn't get into many specifics. He is a hard nut to crack, but the victories are coming by a combination of execution and great game-planning and he more or less said that with his comments. The players and coaches are coming together and taking care of business. It's pretty simple and Harbaugh is not going to give away any game-planning secrets, so we get fairly basic press conferences.” The John Schneider Danny Kelly of Field Gulls: “Remember three weeks ago when everyone thought the Seahawks were the worst team in the NFL? Remember a little while before that when the Seahawks’ failures prompted some national publication to make up rumors that Pete Carroll and John Schneider weren't getting along? Remember when everyone thought that James Carpenter was a bust and that the Seahawks had the worst offensive line in football?”