NFL -- Are You Ready For Some Football? -- Week 10

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Tampa really needs a RB.

Didn't they spend two draft picks to get Bennett?

[Lord Avalon]

Freeney will mist rest of season
Colts defensive end placed on IR with foot injury

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Colts star defensive end Dwight Freeney will miss the rest of the season after being place on injured reserve Wednesday with a foot injury.

Freeney, the three-time Pro Bowler, is the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. He injured his left foot in Sunday's loss to San Diego and was diagnosed with a Lis Franc injury that may require surgery.

Simeon Rice, who the Colts claimed off waivers Monday from Denver, was expected to practice Wednesday with the team.

Indianapolis also placed backup linebacker Victor Worsley on injured reserve.

Tony Dungy was scheduled to talk about the injuries later Wednesday.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/11/14/bc.fbn.colts.freeney.ap/index.html

Ouch! I saw him get hurt - he was just doing a spin move. Went down, limped off the field.

[Lord Avalon]

Dolphins rookie QB John Beck will be the starter against Philly. A game later than I thought he'd be in.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Didn't they spend two draft picks to get Bennett?

I'm sure that his 5 carries for 12 yards on Sunday really made the Buccs feel good about that . Earnest Graham had a great day running the ball, but he's not the answer either.

[Lord Avalon]

5 for 12 would have been outstanding for the Lions against the Cards.

[-Jrabbit]

You mean Detroit's record-setting rushing performance? Truly remarkable. For two games, Martz used KJones well, then...

(-18) yards. Total. Granted, -15 was on one play. but still... WTF!!

[reismark]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
Didn't they spend two draft picks to get Bennett?

Not only that, but we get Pittman back this week as well.

Ricky can stay home in Miami and smoke all the pot he wants, for all I care.

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit
You mean Detroit's record-setting rushing performance? Truly remarkable. For two games, Martz used KJones well, then...

(-18) yards. Total. Granted, -15 was on one play. but still... WTF!!

Yep. Leading rusher was Aveion Cason (who ) with 1 rush for 1 yd.

BTW, which Rex will start for da Bears?

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by reismark

Not only that, but we get Pittman back this week as well.

Ricky can stay home in Miami and smoke all the pot he wants, for all I care.

Dolphins unsure if they'll bring Ricky back
FOXSports.com, Updated 22 minutes ago

Ricky Williams' suspension ended after more than 18 months Wednesday when he was reinstated by the NFL. Still unclear is whether the Miami Dolphins want him back.

Miami head coach Cam Cameron met with the Dolphins on Wednesday, informing the team that Williams had been reinstated, sources told FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer. But Cameron told the team he has not made a decision on whether to Williams would be allowed back on the team, and that he would not make the call until speaking to Williams personally, a source said. Cameron will meet with Williams on Thursday morning FOXSports.com's Alex Marvez reports. Miami players have told Glazer that they support Williams coming back to the team.
Williams will travel to South Florida Wednesday night, agent Leigh Steinberg told Marvez. Williams could return to practice as early as Friday if the Dolphins want him in their future plans.

"The minute he was reinstated, he and I had a phone conversation (for) probably five or six minutes," Cameron said Wednesday afternoon. "He and I will visit tomorrow. There's nothing to visit (with the media) on today further until he and I sit down and talk one on one. I will update you on that discussion and the direction we will be headed with him."

Cameron, whose team is 0-9, refused to shed light on his talk with Williams but said, "I think it's important to sit down with a guy and look him in the eye. I think phone conversations can be very misleading. Why go down that road when you don't need to?"

Steinberg said he was encouraged by a phone conversation Wednesday with Matt Thomas, Dolphins general counsel-football administration.

"His indication was they were interested in Ricky," Steinberg said. "The spirit of the discussion was welcoming. It was a very similar discussion to what you would have regarding a draft choice or any returning player. The only contingent was whether they would have him practice Friday or Monday."

Steinberg said Williams weighs 230 pounds, which is roughly 10 heavier than when he last played for the Dolphins in 2005, and "has been keeping in terrific shape." Steinberg said Williams spent the past five-and-a-half months in Boston receiving psychological help after a failed drug test for marijuana in April.

"Ricky has shown real dedication in facing his underlying issues and coming to terms with them," Steinberg said. "He's heavily motivated, and he's sitting on pins and needles. He can't wait to play again.

"He wants this. He's had to go through a lot to get back. It isn't like something that's been given to him. He's had to fight for it. He's realized how precious pro football is to him."

The 2002 league rushing champion, who has played in only 12 games since the start of the 2004 season, was in the Canadian Football League last season and applied for reinstatement Oct. 1.

He was suspended last year after violating the league's drug policy for the fourth time and tested positive again for marijuana in April, delaying his return through the first half of this season.

Williams remains under contract with the Dolphins.

The league said Williams is eligible to attend team meetings and practice immediately, but will not be able to play in a game until Miami plays at Pittsburgh on Monday night, Nov. 26. The team will have a roster exemption for up to two weeks if and when he starts practicing.

"Ricky worked extremely hard to meet the requirements for reinstatement," said his attorney, David Cornwell. "He is grateful for commissioner Goodell's decision. Ricky is committed to making the most of the opportunity to rejoin the NFL."

Williams rushed for 3,225 yards in the 2002 and 2003 seasons after being traded to the Dolphins from New Orleans. He then retired in 2004, traveling in India and Australia before returning to the Dolphins in 2005, when he ran for 743 yards alternating with rookie Ronnie Brown.

Brown is on injured reserve, leaving the Dolphins short on running backs. But they may decide to keep Williams inactive the rest of the season and then try to trade him.

In May, when discussing Williams' most recent relapse, Cameron said it's difficult to salvage the careers of troubled players.

"The easiest predictor of future behavior is previous behavior," the coach said.

That comment, however, was made nine losses ago.

Dolphins general manager Randy Mueller is unlikely to lobby for Williams' return. It was Mueller who traded Williams to Miami when both were with the Saints.

Since that deal, the Dolphins have endured a five-year playoff drought, the longest in franchise history.

FOXSports.com NFL Insiders Jay Glazer and Alex Marvez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Imran Siddiqui]

HAW HAW!!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3111806

DAVIE, Fla. -- Ricky Williams stood at a window in the Miami Dolphins' player lounge and watched the start of practice as he chomped on an apple, so close to an NFL return he could taste it.

Coach Cam Cameron decided Thursday to welcome Williams back, and he'll be on the field starting with Monday's workout. His first game in nearly two years could come a week later, Nov. 26 at Pittsburgh.

"He'll be a member of this team," Cameron said. "He's a Miami Dolphin."

Again.

[Lord Avalon]

I meant to post this earlier, but got busy at work and didn't get around to it.

Ricky? Beck? Dolfans cling to any hope

Posted on Thu, Nov. 15, 2007
By GREG COTE

Definitive signs that your NFL team is hurting and desperate:

Your team hands the football and the season to an unproven quarterback with zero professional experience, on the same day it weighs whether to reactivate a running back best known for smoking dope and being flighty and unreliable.

And this constitutes things looking up! This marks, from astonishingly slim pickings, the highlight and best day of the 2007 season.

Seriously. It actually does.

This is your life, Dolphins and Dolfans. When you are slogging through the worst season in franchise history at 0-9, a living paper bag with eyeholes, anything that feels like substantial change feels like fresh air, like an improvement -- and Miami got a double dose of it Wednesday.

Most notably, coach Cam Cameron finally picked the quarterback fans adore and have wanted to take over, and he will start Sunday at Philadelphia.

It will be Marino's first start since 1999.

Kidding!

It will be rookie John Beck's first start since his Brigham Young college days.

The decision is right, and smart, and overdue.

We have no idea if Beck will be great or even really good, but for now, it's enough that he isn't Cleo Lemon. It's enough that they're tossing a hand grenade into the moribund status quo and trying something. We're at the point where we will put a saddle on ''maybe'' and dream.

Cameron sort of committed to Beck starting the remaining seven games (``That's the plan at this point''), but was less firm on welcoming or even begrudgingly accepting back wayward son Ricky Williams, the once-great running back who is said to have cleansed himself for good of the evil weed and was reinstated by the NFL on Wednesday from his latest suspension.

MEETING TIME

The straight-laced Cameron will meet face-to-face with the free-spirit Williams today (picture Dick Cheney meeting Timothy Leary) and then reveal whether he will have Williams back.

Free advice: Take him back, if only for pragmatic reasons, presuming he's in the good shape and of the football-ready mind his agent claims. He's 30. He's not the future. But if he spends the balance of the season as the capable backup to Jesse Chatman and proves he has something left, who knows? Maybe you end up getting a modest draft pick for him. Meantime, maybe he helps you win a [bleeping] game!

I subscribe to the Joey Porter theory, volunteered when asked Wednesday if he would welcome Williams into the sanctum of the locker room.

''Yeah I would. We're 0-9,'' Porter said. `` I'd welcome bin Laden if he could run the ball like Ricky did.''

Kicker Jay Feely infamously said he would not welcome Ricky because he wants teammates he can trust, although ''0-9 but trustworthy'' strikes us as a thoroughly unsatisfying combination.

Other Dolphins pulled lumbar muscles Wednesday bending over backward to not comment about Ricky.

''I don't know about Ricky Williams,'' noted Channing Crowder. ``Brian Westbrook [of the Eagles] is a good running back, though.''

''I'll worry about that when it comes,'' nonspoke L.J. Shelton.

''Gotta ask the coach all Ricky Williams questions,'' said Jason Taylor, helpfully.

Guys, you are hurtling like a meteor toward 0-16. If Williams can bust a touchdown run, catch a key pass, share a yoga exercise, do anything to help you guys get a win, why would you not swallow your pride and accept him back?

Williams, of course, might prove a moot discussion if Cameron unwisely ignores the dormant, rested talent and declines to utilize it.

LATEST `NEXT MARINO'

Beck, on the other hand, will have close to half a season to show us whether he is The Next Marino, or at least the best guy since The Last Marino.

Excitement over Beck is understandable. He is the highest-drafted quarterback in Dolphins history (second round, 40th overall) since first-rounders Marino in 1983 and Bob Griese in 1967. That's fair company.

Sage Trent Green was praising Beck's potential Wednesday, but already cautioning against expecting too much too soon, noting, ''A lot of people thought Ryan Leaf would be a Hall of Famer.'' Meaning, we don't know, until we know.

Taylor observed, of Beck's seeming composure: ''Poise and all that is easy to see in practice.'' Meaning, let's see it Sunday in Philly, where they once booed Santa Claus.

Adding nevertheless to expectations, former 49ers great-turned-TV analyst Steve Young said Beck compares a lot to Tom Brady. Geez!

I ran a poll in my blog the other day and 97 percent voted for Beck over Lemon. Geez The Sequel! Think about that for a second. I could run a poll asking, 'Do you support peace on Earth?' and it wouldn't get 97 percent.

It should be noted the Wednesday news that had Dolfans buzzing -- Beck! Ricky? -- was not that seismic nationally. That's because 0-9 and for a sixth season in a row out of the playoffs has rendered Miami largely irrelevant in NFL circles beyond our borders.

But that's precisely why Wednesday felt so big in South Florida.

We're desperate enough to think a running back with baggage who hasn't played in two years might be worth yet another chance.

We're desperate enough to believe a rookie quarterback we barely know will lead us heroically out of this mess -- because at least that's believing in something.

http://www.miamiherald.com/616/story/308463.html

Sad, but true.

[-Jrabbit]

It's Week 11 and the FF playoffs will be coming into focus.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!??

[SlowwHand]

Ryan Leaf must get so tired of the truth of having his name being synonymous with crappy disappointment.

[Lord Avalon]

Well, he coulda stayed in school and matured for another year. But noooo.

[Lord Avalon]

At the half:

Miami up 7-3 in Philly!!

Lions down 10-0 at home to NYG.

Jags up 17-3 at home vs Chargers.

In 3rd Q, Chiefs have held Colts to 3? Tied at 3.