NFL Preseason Week 4: Panthers Vs Steelers

Tonight’s game between the Panthers and the Steelers is the final game of the preseason.  There are 16 games on tap tonight.  Only two will be nationally televised:  The Jets and Eagles game airs at 7:00PM ET and the Seahawks take on the Raiders at 10:00PM ET.  Both games will air on the NFL Network.

QB Cam Newton won’t take the field tonight due to a rib injury he sustained in last Sunday’s loss to New England.  Ben Roethlisberger reportedly won’t play tonight.

Joe Webb will QB for the Panthers hoping, of course, to secure a spot on the roster.  Roman Harper who hasn’t played at all during the preseason due to turf toe will pair with Thomas DeCoud at safety.

Greg Olsen won’t suit up for the Panthers' final preseason game tonight because his son T.J. had open heart surgery this past Monday.  T.J. has been fighting hypoplastic heart syndrome since he was born.  Hopefully, this final surgery will allow the little guy to live a long and normal life.  Olsen should be back with the team in time for the regular-season opener.

And because no post would be complete without some pom-poms, please enjoy this photo of Top Cat Kimberly.

GO PANTHERS!

Photo credit:  Goodstuff Creative

Johnny F-U Ball

Yesterday I was going to put up a post about the preseason game between the Cleveland Browns and the team whose name shall not be mentioned.

Usually when I create a graphic suitable for a football post, I have the two team mascots pictured in front of the stadium where the game will be played.  I couldn’t go with that idea for last night’s game because the team whose name shall not be mentioned no longer has a mascot, at least not a politically correct one.  I ditched the idea and didn’t post anything.

For the purposes of full disclosure, I grew up pulling for any team other than the team whose name shall not be mentioned.  Despite the fact that I am not a fan, I was going to root for Washington because I loathe a certain arrogant smart ass.

Back in February Barry Switzer, former head coach for Oklahoma and the Dallas Cowboys, said this about the immature, polarizing player:

"I'm gonna tell you. I said Johnny Manziel is…I don't like his antics. I think he's an arrogant little prick.  I've said that and I'll say it again. He's a privileged kid, he's embarrassed himself, he's embarrassed his teammates, his program. He's embarrassed his coach. And they'll all have to defend him because they have to coach. I know that. I spent 40 years in the damn game so I know how it works."

Linebacker Brian Orakpo and the rest of the Redskins bench were having a little fun with the rookie.  At one point in the first quarter, Orakpo celebrated a teammate’s sack of the little snot by showing off his imitation of Manziel’s “money gesture”.  After forcing the Browns to punt, Orakpo stopped near the yard marker in front of the Redskins sideline and again gave the money sign.

With 2:28 left in the third quarter, Manziel threw an incomplete pass.  A few words from the Redskins bench were hurled at him.  As he walked back the huddle all butthurt, he flipped them off.  The gesture was caught on national TV.

The Browns lost the game 24-23 and Manziel is expected to draw an $11,025 fine for his gesture.

"It did not sit well," Browns coach Mike Pettine said. "I was informed of it after the game and it's disappointing. Because what we talk about is being poised and being focused—that you have to be able to maintain your poise." 

"That's a big part of all football players, especially the quarterback, that we have to keep our composure," Pettine said. "So that's something that we'll obviously address with him."

Asked in his postgame news conference if he thought it was wrong, Manziel smiled before laughing.

“I felt like I did a good job of holding my composure throughout the night, and you have a lapse of judgment and slip up.  I mean, I didn't think it was positive," Manziel said, before adding he couldn't blame it on distractions, repeating he had simply lost his composure.

Better get used to it little man.  Welcome to the NFL.

NFL Preseason Week 2: Kansas City Chiefs Vs Carolina Panthers

Today Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton is going to ditch his red jersey and play in his first live-game action against the Kansas City Chiefs.  The hope is that he can play until halftime without running too much on his surgically repaired left ankle.

The game will air on Fox at 8:00PM from Bank of America Stadium.  There’s one other game today.  It pits Denver against San Francisco.  That game kicks off at 4:00PM on the NFL Network.

The oddsmakers give KC a 3-point edge to win 27-24.  I hope they’re wrong.  And as for my friends Proof and Woodsterman, I love you guys but I can’t stand your quarterback.  I’m rootin’ for the Broncos.

Because no football post is complete without some pom-poms, please enjoy this pic of Top Cat Madelyn who is far and away much prettier than the floozy Proof picked to post at his site IYKWIMAITYD.

NFL Preseason Week 2: Jaguars Vs Da Bears

Tonight at 8:00 PM from Soldier Field, Week 2 of the NFL Preseason kicks off with a game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Da Bears.

I’m pulling for Chicago because I am one of those pigskin romanticists who always held a special place in my heart for the old “Black and Blue Division”.  Who can forget legends like Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka, Gayle Sayers, Mike Singletary and Walter Payton?

The “Monsters of the Midway” played in legendary Soldier Field in bone-chilling winds off the Great Lakes where the weather was the team’s greatest ally.  I remember well hunkering down on a cold winter day far from frigid Chicago watching Da Bears grind it out in the snow.  Good times.

Last Friday Chicago beat Philadelphia 34-28.  Much of the credit goes to Zack Miller who had 6 catches for 68 yards and two TDs.  Miller was the Jags 6th round draft pick in 2009.

The Chicago Tribune’s David Haugh noted, “Nobody's suggesting Miller will become as productive as the Seahawks tight end with the same name, who has 322 career receptions. Nobody with only four games' experience in the last three regular seasons guarantees an NFL team anything, but Miller's emergence at least reminded wayward starter Martellus Bennett the Bears have options if he cannot clean up his act. They might not be 65-catch-per-season options, but Coach Marc Trestman's midweek comments made clear the Bears prefer hungry players eager to please over talented but selfish guys immersed in immaturity.”

Chicago needs to be wary of No. 1 Draft Pick Blake Bortles who was 7 of 11 passing for a total of 117 passing yards against Tampa Bay last week.  Will the Jags let Bortles play tonight?  According to ESPN, Coach Gus Bradley will start Chad Henne and put in Bortles for the second half.

GO BEARS!

Since Da Bears haven’t had any cheerleaders on the sidelines since 1985, I am relegated to providing a Jags cheerleader picture because no football post is complete without some pom-poms.