RealGM Wiretap
The AFC The Buddy Nix Buffalo Rumblings: “When Roger Goodell spoke to Buffalo Bills fans before the team's home game against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 9, one of the topics that came up quite a bit was the Bills Toronto Series. Season ticket holders are leery of losing more games to Canada and the potential for the team to move to the large metropolitan center permanently.” The Jeff Ireland Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald: “I'm told the Dolphins may have been hurt in a self inflicted way by the lasting pictures of former Florida coach Urban Meyer sharing time on the sideline with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross at Sun Life Stadium Sunday afternoon.” The Jonathan Kraft Karen Guregian of The Boston Herald: “[Don] Shula, the Hall of Famer who coached the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Colts, knew precisely what Bill Belichick must have been thinking — and feeling — on the sideline as [Tom] Brady broke the huddle with the offense. Shula had the same vibe whenever his former Dolphins quarterback and fellow Hall of Famer Dan Marino needed to stage a comeback with little time on the clock.” The Mike Tannenbaum Brian Costello of The New York Post: “Rex Ryan wants more "Mayhem." The Jets coach said Monday that linebacker Aaron Maybin, nicknamed "Mayhem," has impressed him. "We need to get him on the field more," Ryan said. Maybin has three sacks, tied for the team lead with Calvin Pace. After spending a portion of training camp with the Jets, Maybin was cut and then re-signed after Week 3. In four games, he has made an impact with three forced fumbles.” The Ozzie Newsome Bruce Raffel of Baltimore Beat Down: “The Baltimore Ravens have no one but themselves to blame for their embarrassing 12-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday Night Football in a game that saw them take until well into the second half before they could even muster their initial first down of the game.” The Mike Brown Josh Kirkendall of Cincy Jungle: “Peter King of Sports Illustrated never ceases to surprise me. He'll frustrate me, sure. Barricading endless praise about the Cincinnati Bengals behind miles-thick steel doors thousands of feet deep into the ground that makes a government-built bomb shelter appear as sturdy as sinking feet in the sands of a beach. He'll focus somewhat on the more intriguing stories of the league. And by intriguing, we really only mean the Colts, Eagles, upper East coast teams and Brett Favre. And though he still has the Bengals ranked 15th, he writes one of the most shocking lines in he history of the written word during his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback.” The Tom Heckert Dawgs By Nature: “I know that the Browns offense has been bad the past two weeks. In fact, it has been really, really bad. But I am a glass is half full kind of guy now. I want to talk about the defense. In case you haven't looked, the Browns defense is ranked 4th in the NFL! Seriously! Don't get me wrong, I think ranking defenses by yards isn't the smartest thing in the world, but even going by points, the Browns rank 8th in the NFL.” The Kevin Colbert The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Quarterback Terrelle Pryor made his NFL debut Sunday in the first quarter of the Raiders' 28-0 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Pryor, eligible to play for the first time this season, lined up as a wide receiver on the Raiders' opening drive with quarterback Kyle Boller in shotgun formation. Pryor went in motion, lined up under center, took the snap on third and one and appeared to run for a first down. But Pryor was called for a false start for not being set for one second before taking the snap.” The Rick Smith Battle Red Blog: “This is a question I've been pondering the last couple of weeks. The 2011 Houston Texans defense is legitimately good. It'd be even better with a healthy Mario Williams and a serviceable CB2, but even without those things, the Houston defense is still very solid. If the 2010 Houston Texans defense was a pile of fresh cow dung, the 2011 Houston Texans defense is a garden of blooming jasmine. It's night and day.” The Chris Polian Stampede Blue: “Last night, in the midst of one of the Colts most embarrassing losses all time, Chris Collinsworth made a few comments that should have made fans cringe far worse than the score did. Talking about the anemic Colts offense and the importance of Peyton Manning, Collingsworth said how he hopes Peyton Manning does what is best for him and his future post football because he is still a young guy who has plans and goals he wants to achieve after he's done playing quarterback.” The Gene Smith Alfie Crow of Big Cat Country: “Rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert picked up his first victory, but struggled to do much in the passing game against the leagues third ranked pass defense. It was a combination of poor protection at times, dropped balls (including back to back touchdown passes), and the rookie just flat out missing guys. Thankfully for the Jaguars, running back Maurice Jones-Drew was able to grind out 105 yards on 30 carries.” The Mike Reinfeldt Music City Miracles: “There is so much wrong with the Titans right now that it is impossible to put a number on the things that need to be fixed, but I do think there are three areas where they can make some personnel changes that will might serve as a band-aid for the rest of the season.” The Brian Xanders Troy Hufford of Mile High Report: “For 55 minutes, I sat in boredom and disbelief. Tim Tebow was awful and the Broncos were scoreless. There was a stretch from the 2nd through 3rd quarter where he missed 6 consecutive passing attempts. At the start of the 4th quarter, Tebow had 2 net passing yards. The game was, seemingly, over. There were 5 minutes and 23 second left in the 4th quarter and the Broncos were down 15-0 with the ball at their own 20.” The Scott Pioli Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride: “Chiefs QB Matt Cassel went on 810 WHB for weekly Monday morning appearance and confirmed what we all thought: the Chiefs thought the Oakland Raiders were taking some cheap shots at the end of Sunday's game.” The Al Davis Steve Corkran of The Contra Costa Times: “It was darker than usual in the press room during coach Hue Jackson’s weekly news conference Monday, but that had everything to do with the lighting and nothing to do with a change in Jackson’s typical sunny disposition.” The Dean Spanos John Gennaro of Bolts From The Blue: “Every time someone tells me that they don't like Norv Turner and think "He needs to go", my response is almost always to ask who they would replace him with.” The NFC The Stephen Jones Blogging The Boys: “Following his breakout performance against the St. Louis Rams, DeMarco Murray has been the topic of many conversations. Both nationally and within the Cowboys kingdom, fans and writers alike are mitigating Murray's resounding performance by indicating that it was done against a Rams defense that really doesn't resemble a professional unit at the moment.” The Jerry Reese Mark Hale of The New York Post: “Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara would have been in agony last week if he’d done all the work at practice he did Monday. “Usually by this time last week, after all that activity, my foot would be throbbing,” Amukamara said. “But now it feels pretty good. But I still have to rehab and still take care of it.” Amukamara, the Giants’ rookie first-round pick, broke his foot in his first practice with the team and has missed the entire season. The cornerback worked on special teams and did individual work this morning at practice, though, and said he was totally pain free.” The Howie Roseman Bleeding Green Nation: “When the Eagles traded up to take him at #13 in the 2010 draft, it was clear that [Brandon] Graham's development was going to be a key to the Eagles defense for the next several years. He certainly showed some flashes early last season, but tore his ACL in a week 14 game against the Cowboys and was lost for the season.” The Bruce Allen Hogs Haven: “The 'Cover Zero' defense is something that's been talked about a lot when discussing the Redskins defense. It got a lot of negativity after two key plays we used it in, and it failed (namely, the Rams TD with Brian Orakpo missing coverage, and the 3rd and 21 play against the Cowboys). But I personally, am a big believer in it. As a defense, we are very aggressive. Look at our key players, DeAngelo Hall, LaRon Landry, Brian Orakpo, Ryan Kerrigan. All aggressive play-makers for us. I think the Cover Zero suits their aggressiveness perfectly and allows us to really attack the QB and rush his throws. But what exactly is the Cover Zero defense? Let's have a look...” The Jerry Angelo Mark Potash of The Chicago Sun-Times: “Matt Forte leads the Bears with 672 rushing yards (on 124 carries, 5.4 yards per carry) and 419 receiving yards. He leads the NFL with 1,091 total yards. He's the first running back to break the 1,000-yard mark after seven games since 2004. Forte credited his offensive line for his productive night against the Buccaneers, but center and offensive captain Roberto Garza wasn't buying that.” The Martin Mayhew Sean Yuille of Pride Of Detroit: “Following Sunday's game between the Lions and Falcons, a couple of Atlanta players accused Ndamukong Suh and Cliff Avril of taunting Matt Ryan after he was injured in the third quarter. Specifically, Falcons center Todd McClure accused Suh of saying, among other things, "Get the cart." Falcons wide receiver Roddy White also accused Suh of taunting Ryan, and he alleged Avril taunted Ryan as well.” The Mark Murphy Kareem Copeland of The Green Bay Press-Gazette: “Packers coach Mike McCarthy, however, found a new way to show Aaron Rodgers some love. “He is clearly the best decision maker that I’ve been around since my time in Kansas City with Joe Montana. He does not get bored throwing completions and that’s a great attribute to have as a quarterback. He’s clearly in tune with taking what the defense gives you. He has the anticipation, arm strength, dead accuracy to attack the seams. He does a great job of staying disciplined and playing within the offense.” Montana is only a 4-time Super Bowl champion, 3-time Super Bowl MVP and a Hall of Famer.” The Mark Wilf Dan Wiederer of The Star Tribune: “The compliments seemed endless, so much praise flowing toward Christian Ponder on Sunday night that you half-expected the Vikings rookie to leave Mall of America Field carrying a bouquet of flowers from Peyton Manning and a collection of balloons from John Elway.” The Thomas Dimitroff Jeanna Thomas of The Falcoholic: “I heard a really interesting statistic last night on some show on ESPN that I was not actually watching. It was so interesting, in fact, that even though I have no idea what show it was or who actually mentioned this particular gem of a statistic, I decided to write about it, anyway. I was brushing my teeth, and in the next room, my husband was watching some show, on which some guy said that if the Falcons can score 30 points against the Lions, the Falcons will definitely emerge victorious.” The Marty Hurney Cat Scratch Reader: “Prior to the start of the season the Panthers were determined to have the hardest Strength of Schedule in the NFL. Now that we've played the first seven weeks of the season it would appear the schedule is not quite as hard as we thought it would be. Through 7 games the Panthers opponents are 22-18, a 55% winning percentage but it only gets easier from here. The Panthers 9 remaining opponents have a 30-31 record (49%).” The Mickey Loomis Mike Triplett of The Times-Picayune: “New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said he will likely have to remain in the upstairs coaching booth on game days until December, depending on how long it takes him to recover from leg surgery. But whenever he gets the green light, he will indeed return to the sideline.” The Mark Dominik Bucs Nation: “Kellen Winslow Jr. was a special player when he came into the league. He was a truly dynamic player who could become the best pass-catching tight end in the league. Then he got on his motorcycle and destroyed his knee. Complications and idiotic medical practices by the Cleveland Browns worsened that condition.” The Rod Graves Jess Root of Revenge of The Birds: “A frustrated Ken Whisenhunt suggested that changes could be coming. "We've got to look at everything we're doing and look at the guys that we're doing it with. I think it's not just one position, it's a number of positions. That's what we're trying to do to put our best guys in there to give us a chance to win," he said after the game.” The Billy Devaney Ryan Van Bibber of Turf Show Times: “The night before their sixth shellacking of the 2011 NFL season, head coach Steve Spagnuolo took his St. Louis Rams team to the ballpark in Arlington, TX, to watch game three of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers. A trip to watch the Cards play was supposed to be therapeutic as well as inspirational. Obviously, the effect was lost on the Rams the next day.” The Trent Baalke Kevin Lynch of The San Francisco Chronicle: “Alex Smith had a vision of his former self with his less than stellar performance in Detroit, and that’s why the seven-year veteran threw often during the bye week. Even though the 49ers beat the Lions with a 6-yard pass from Alex Smith to Delanie Walker in the final two minutes, Smith wasn’t pleased with his performance. He told general manager Trent Baalke after the game he could have played much better.” The John Schneider Danny O’Neil of The Seattle Times: “The news didn't get any better for the Seahawks one day after their 6-3 loss in Cleveland. Not in terms of Leon Washington's 81-yard punt return for a touchdown, which was nullified by a block-in-the-back penalty against Kennard Cox. "I didn't think that was a call that should have been made," coach Pete Carroll said. "That was unfortunate." The penalty was called near midfield, and replays showed minimal contact between Cox and the Browns' Kevin Dockery who may not have been able to make the play.”
NFL Scoop: 32-Team Week 7 Reactions
The AFC The Buddy Nix Buffalo Rumblings: “When Roger Goodell spoke to Buffalo Bills fans before the team's home game against the Philadelphia Eagles on October 9, one of the topics that came up quite a bit was the Bills Toronto Series. Season ticket holders are leery of losing more games to Canada and the potential for the team to move to the large metropolitan center permanently.” The Jeff Ireland Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald: “I'm told the Dolphins may have been hurt in a self inflicted way by the lasting pictures of former Florida coach Urban Meyer sharing time on the sideline with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross at Sun Life Stadium Sunday afternoon.” The Jonathan Kraft Karen Guregian of The Boston Herald: “[Don] Shula, the Hall of Famer who coached the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Colts, knew precisely what Bill Belichick must have been thinking — and feeling — on the sideline as [Tom] Brady broke the huddle with the offense. Shula had the same vibe whenever his former Dolphins quarterback and fellow Hall of Famer Dan Marino needed to stage a comeback with little time on the clock.” The Mike Tannenbaum Brian Costello of The New York Post: “Rex Ryan wants more "Mayhem." The Jets coach said Monday that linebacker Aaron Maybin, nicknamed "Mayhem," has impressed him. "We need to get him on the field more," Ryan said. Maybin has three sacks, tied for the team lead with Calvin Pace. After spending a portion of training camp with the Jets, Maybin was cut and then re-signed after Week 3. In four games, he has made an impact with three forced fumbles.” The Ozzie Newsome Bruce Raffel of Baltimore Beat Down: “The Baltimore Ravens have no one but themselves to blame for their embarrassing 12-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday Night Football in a game that saw them take until well into the second half before they could even muster their initial first down of the game.” The Mike Brown Josh Kirkendall of Cincy Jungle: “Peter King of Sports Illustrated never ceases to surprise me. He'll frustrate me, sure. Barricading endless praise about the Cincinnati Bengals behind miles-thick steel doors thousands of feet deep into the ground that makes a government-built bomb shelter appear as sturdy as sinking feet in the sands of a beach. He'll focus somewhat on the more intriguing stories of the league. And by intriguing, we really only mean the Colts, Eagles, upper East coast teams and Brett Favre. And though he still has the Bengals ranked 15th, he writes one of the most shocking lines in he history of the written word during his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback.” The Tom Heckert Dawgs By Nature: “I know that the Browns offense has been bad the past two weeks. In fact, it has been really, really bad. But I am a glass is half full kind of guy now. I want to talk about the defense. In case you haven't looked, the Browns defense is ranked 4th in the NFL! Seriously! Don't get me wrong, I think ranking defenses by yards isn't the smartest thing in the world, but even going by points, the Browns rank 8th in the NFL.” The Kevin Colbert The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Quarterback Terrelle Pryor made his NFL debut Sunday in the first quarter of the Raiders' 28-0 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Pryor, eligible to play for the first time this season, lined up as a wide receiver on the Raiders' opening drive with quarterback Kyle Boller in shotgun formation. Pryor went in motion, lined up under center, took the snap on third and one and appeared to run for a first down. But Pryor was called for a false start for not being set for one second before taking the snap.” The Rick Smith Battle Red Blog: “This is a question I've been pondering the last couple of weeks. The 2011 Houston Texans defense is legitimately good. It'd be even better with a healthy Mario Williams and a serviceable CB2, but even without those things, the Houston defense is still very solid. If the 2010 Houston Texans defense was a pile of fresh cow dung, the 2011 Houston Texans defense is a garden of blooming jasmine. It's night and day.” The Chris Polian Stampede Blue: “Last night, in the midst of one of the Colts most embarrassing losses all time, Chris Collinsworth made a few comments that should have made fans cringe far worse than the score did. Talking about the anemic Colts offense and the importance of Peyton Manning, Collingsworth said how he hopes Peyton Manning does what is best for him and his future post football because he is still a young guy who has plans and goals he wants to achieve after he's done playing quarterback.” The Gene Smith Alfie Crow of Big Cat Country: “Rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert picked up his first victory, but struggled to do much in the passing game against the leagues third ranked pass defense. It was a combination of poor protection at times, dropped balls (including back to back touchdown passes), and the rookie just flat out missing guys. Thankfully for the Jaguars, running back Maurice Jones-Drew was able to grind out 105 yards on 30 carries.” The Mike Reinfeldt Music City Miracles: “There is so much wrong with the Titans right now that it is impossible to put a number on the things that need to be fixed, but I do think there are three areas where they can make some personnel changes that will might serve as a band-aid for the rest of the season.” The Brian Xanders Troy Hufford of Mile High Report: “For 55 minutes, I sat in boredom and disbelief. Tim Tebow was awful and the Broncos were scoreless. There was a stretch from the 2nd through 3rd quarter where he missed 6 consecutive passing attempts. At the start of the 4th quarter, Tebow had 2 net passing yards. The game was, seemingly, over. There were 5 minutes and 23 second left in the 4th quarter and the Broncos were down 15-0 with the ball at their own 20.” The Scott Pioli Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride: “Chiefs QB Matt Cassel went on 810 WHB for weekly Monday morning appearance and confirmed what we all thought: the Chiefs thought the Oakland Raiders were taking some cheap shots at the end of Sunday's game.” The Al Davis Steve Corkran of The Contra Costa Times: “It was darker than usual in the press room during coach Hue Jackson’s weekly news conference Monday, but that had everything to do with the lighting and nothing to do with a change in Jackson’s typical sunny disposition.” The Dean Spanos John Gennaro of Bolts From The Blue: “Every time someone tells me that they don't like Norv Turner and think "He needs to go", my response is almost always to ask who they would replace him with.” The NFC The Stephen Jones Blogging The Boys: “Following his breakout performance against the St. Louis Rams, DeMarco Murray has been the topic of many conversations. Both nationally and within the Cowboys kingdom, fans and writers alike are mitigating Murray's resounding performance by indicating that it was done against a Rams defense that really doesn't resemble a professional unit at the moment.” The Jerry Reese Mark Hale of The New York Post: “Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara would have been in agony last week if he’d done all the work at practice he did Monday. “Usually by this time last week, after all that activity, my foot would be throbbing,” Amukamara said. “But now it feels pretty good. But I still have to rehab and still take care of it.” Amukamara, the Giants’ rookie first-round pick, broke his foot in his first practice with the team and has missed the entire season. The cornerback worked on special teams and did individual work this morning at practice, though, and said he was totally pain free.” The Howie Roseman Bleeding Green Nation: “When the Eagles traded up to take him at #13 in the 2010 draft, it was clear that [Brandon] Graham's development was going to be a key to the Eagles defense for the next several years. He certainly showed some flashes early last season, but tore his ACL in a week 14 game against the Cowboys and was lost for the season.” The Bruce Allen Hogs Haven: “The 'Cover Zero' defense is something that's been talked about a lot when discussing the Redskins defense. It got a lot of negativity after two key plays we used it in, and it failed (namely, the Rams TD with Brian Orakpo missing coverage, and the 3rd and 21 play against the Cowboys). But I personally, am a big believer in it. As a defense, we are very aggressive. Look at our key players, DeAngelo Hall, LaRon Landry, Brian Orakpo, Ryan Kerrigan. All aggressive play-makers for us. I think the Cover Zero suits their aggressiveness perfectly and allows us to really attack the QB and rush his throws. But what exactly is the Cover Zero defense? Let's have a look...” The Jerry Angelo Mark Potash of The Chicago Sun-Times: “Matt Forte leads the Bears with 672 rushing yards (on 124 carries, 5.4 yards per carry) and 419 receiving yards. He leads the NFL with 1,091 total yards. He's the first running back to break the 1,000-yard mark after seven games since 2004. Forte credited his offensive line for his productive night against the Buccaneers, but center and offensive captain Roberto Garza wasn't buying that.” The Martin Mayhew Sean Yuille of Pride Of Detroit: “Following Sunday's game between the Lions and Falcons, a couple of Atlanta players accused Ndamukong Suh and Cliff Avril of taunting Matt Ryan after he was injured in the third quarter. Specifically, Falcons center Todd McClure accused Suh of saying, among other things, "Get the cart." Falcons wide receiver Roddy White also accused Suh of taunting Ryan, and he alleged Avril taunted Ryan as well.” The Mark Murphy Kareem Copeland of The Green Bay Press-Gazette: “Packers coach Mike McCarthy, however, found a new way to show Aaron Rodgers some love. “He is clearly the best decision maker that I’ve been around since my time in Kansas City with Joe Montana. He does not get bored throwing completions and that’s a great attribute to have as a quarterback. He’s clearly in tune with taking what the defense gives you. He has the anticipation, arm strength, dead accuracy to attack the seams. He does a great job of staying disciplined and playing within the offense.” Montana is only a 4-time Super Bowl champion, 3-time Super Bowl MVP and a Hall of Famer.” The Mark Wilf Dan Wiederer of The Star Tribune: “The compliments seemed endless, so much praise flowing toward Christian Ponder on Sunday night that you half-expected the Vikings rookie to leave Mall of America Field carrying a bouquet of flowers from Peyton Manning and a collection of balloons from John Elway.” The Thomas Dimitroff Jeanna Thomas of The Falcoholic: “I heard a really interesting statistic last night on some show on ESPN that I was not actually watching. It was so interesting, in fact, that even though I have no idea what show it was or who actually mentioned this particular gem of a statistic, I decided to write about it, anyway. I was brushing my teeth, and in the next room, my husband was watching some show, on which some guy said that if the Falcons can score 30 points against the Lions, the Falcons will definitely emerge victorious.” The Marty Hurney Cat Scratch Reader: “Prior to the start of the season the Panthers were determined to have the hardest Strength of Schedule in the NFL. Now that we've played the first seven weeks of the season it would appear the schedule is not quite as hard as we thought it would be. Through 7 games the Panthers opponents are 22-18, a 55% winning percentage but it only gets easier from here. The Panthers 9 remaining opponents have a 30-31 record (49%).” The Mickey Loomis Mike Triplett of The Times-Picayune: “New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said he will likely have to remain in the upstairs coaching booth on game days until December, depending on how long it takes him to recover from leg surgery. But whenever he gets the green light, he will indeed return to the sideline.” The Mark Dominik Bucs Nation: “Kellen Winslow Jr. was a special player when he came into the league. He was a truly dynamic player who could become the best pass-catching tight end in the league. Then he got on his motorcycle and destroyed his knee. Complications and idiotic medical practices by the Cleveland Browns worsened that condition.” The Rod Graves Jess Root of Revenge of The Birds: “A frustrated Ken Whisenhunt suggested that changes could be coming. "We've got to look at everything we're doing and look at the guys that we're doing it with. I think it's not just one position, it's a number of positions. That's what we're trying to do to put our best guys in there to give us a chance to win," he said after the game.” The Billy Devaney Ryan Van Bibber of Turf Show Times: “The night before their sixth shellacking of the 2011 NFL season, head coach Steve Spagnuolo took his St. Louis Rams team to the ballpark in Arlington, TX, to watch game three of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers. A trip to watch the Cards play was supposed to be therapeutic as well as inspirational. Obviously, the effect was lost on the Rams the next day.” The Trent Baalke Kevin Lynch of The San Francisco Chronicle: “Alex Smith had a vision of his former self with his less than stellar performance in Detroit, and that’s why the seven-year veteran threw often during the bye week. Even though the 49ers beat the Lions with a 6-yard pass from Alex Smith to Delanie Walker in the final two minutes, Smith wasn’t pleased with his performance. He told general manager Trent Baalke after the game he could have played much better.” The John Schneider Danny O’Neil of The Seattle Times: “The news didn't get any better for the Seahawks one day after their 6-3 loss in Cleveland. Not in terms of Leon Washington's 81-yard punt return for a touchdown, which was nullified by a block-in-the-back penalty against Kennard Cox. "I didn't think that was a call that should have been made," coach Pete Carroll said. "That was unfortunate." The penalty was called near midfield, and replays showed minimal contact between Cox and the Browns' Kevin Dockery who may not have been able to make the play.”