NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - 2010 Offseason

[Al B. Sure!]

Can we officially say that the Steve Smith (as in the only one of consequence) now plays for the New York Giants?

To be honest, they're saying he will return in time for the season so he'll be okay... but all those Smith-less practices will not help the development of either Matt Moore or Jimmy Clausen.

[SlowwHand]

You're correct, and all over stupidity.

I now expect Steve Smith to be traded to the Lions for Ndamukong Suh.

Oh, gawd.

[Al B. Sure!]

Anyone know who Carolina's receivers even are now that Muhsin Muhammad retired and Steve Smith broke his arm? Dwayne Jarrett?

[SlowwHand]

10 Edwards, Armanti WR 5-11 182 22 R Appalachian State
12 Gettis, David WR 6-3 216 22 R Baylor
84 Guy, Trent WR 5-8 171 22 R Louisville
19 Jackson, Dexter WR 5-9 182 23 2 Appalachian State
80 Jarrett, Dwayne WR 6-4 219 23 4 Southern California
11 LaFell, Brandon WR 6-2 211 23 R Louisiana State
83 Martin, Charly WR 6-1 212 26 2 West Texas A&M
81 Moore, Kenneth WR 5-11 195 25 3 Wake Forest
89 Smith, Steve WR 5-9 185 31 10 Utah
15 Wright, Wallace WR 6-1 197 26 4 North Carolina
18 Young, Oliver WR 6-2 197 24 R South Carolina State

From their team site.

[Al B. Sure!]

That's a pretty crappy receiver corps... though I suppose last year's Giants team looked very lackluster and the receivers ending up being the one positive of the team (Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, Hakeem Nicks).

Wallace Wright did nothing all those years on the Jets... Dexter Jackson was in Tampa I think. Another no name who probably has 1 catch in his two years. Dwayne Jarrett has been a bust and it's rare for a guy to turn around in his fifth freaking year. The 5 rookies might have potential.

Thank god for Deangelo Williams and Johnathon Stewart, eh?

[Al B. Sure!]

The most experienced of the group is Dwayne Jarrett who had all of 17 catches for 197 yards and 1 TD last year. Of their 'veterans', Kenny Moore has had 6 career catches, Charley Martin 1 career catch, Dexter Jackson 0 career catches, Wallace Wright 8 career catches.

[SlowwHand]

They'll be hurting this year, no doubt.

[Al B. Sure!]

Not if they do what they were supposed to do last year but it took Delhomme's melt-down to realize it... hand the ball to Deangelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart.... again and again and again... 20+ carries each per game.

[ColdWizard]

Researchers find brain trauma in Henry

Chris Henry, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver who died in a traffic accident last year, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) -- a form of degenerative brain damage caused by multiple hits to the head -- at the time of his death, according to scientists at the Brain Injury Research Institute, a research center affiliated with West Virginia University.

"We would have been very happy if the results had been negative, but multiple areas of Chris Henry's brain showed CTE," said Julian Bailes, Director of BIRI and chairman of neurosurgery at West Virginia. Bailes and his colleagues plan to present results of their forensic examination at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Researchers have now discovered CTE in the brains of more than 50 deceased former athletes, including more than a dozen NFL and college players, pro wrestler Chris Benoit and NHL player Reggie Fleming.

Repeated blows to the head are the only known cause of CTE, researchers say. Concussive hits can trigger a buildup of toxic tau protein within the brain, which in turn can create damaging tangles and threads in the neural fibers that connect brain tissue. Victims can lose control of their impulses, suffer depression and memory loss, and ultimately develop dementia.

While the links between CTE and behavior are still being studied, many of the former athletes diagnosed with this form of brain damage died under unusual circumstances. Ex-Steeler Justin Strzelczyk, for example, was killed in 2004 after experiencing hallucinations, leading police on a high-speed chase for 40 miles before driving his car into a tanker truck. In 2007, Benoit strangled his wife and 7-year-old son, then put Bibles next to their bodies and hanged himself. Tom McHale, a guard for three NFL teams remembered by teammates as smart and dependable, sank into depression and died of a multiple-drug overdose in 2008.

Henry, 26, died on Dec. 17, 2009, a day after he either jumped or fell from the back of a moving pickup truck being driven by his fiancee, Loleini Tonga. The two had been involved in a dispute before Tonga got into the truck and Henry jumped in. One witness told reporters that Henry said, "If you take off, I'm going to jump off the truck and kill myself."

It is still not clear whether Henry jumped or fell, but as Tonga was driving at about 19 miles per hour, Henry crashed to the ground, suffering a fractured skull and massive head injuries. Police ruled the incident an accident. No traces of alcohol were found in a toxicology report, which didn't include any other tests for drugs. No charges were filed against Tonga.

After Henry's death, his mother, Carolyn Henry Glaspy, gave BIRI permission to examine his brain in detail.

CTE can be pinpointed only by autopsy, and even under regular post-mortem analysis, its effects are invisible. But using cell-staining techniques discovered and developed by Bennet Omalu, a neuropathologist who is co-director of BIRI, scientists can see the dangerous tau proteins and telltale tangles that characterize CTE. After staining, normal brain cells are blue and uncluttered under a microscope, while Henry's brain cells were discolored, clumpy and filled with threads, according to the researchers.

Now, Bailes -- and likely Henry's family, friends and fans -- will wonder if his neural damage contributed to his emotional volatility, including whatever problems he was suffering the day he died.

"I think it did," Bailes said. "Superimposed on the acute brain injuries Chris suffered when he died, there was fairly extensive damage throughout his brain that was fully consistent with CTE. This syndrome is expressed not only as changes in the brain, but clinically, as behavioral changes. And starting with Mike Webster, we have seen common threads in these cases: emotional disturbances, depression, failed personal relationships and businesses, suicidal thoughts, sometimes alcohol or drug use."

"I'm just trying to learn what happened, and what the situation was with Chris' brain," Glaspy said. "Whatever I can do to help anyone else who is going through this, I'm willing to do."

For years, the NFL and its affiliated researchers disputed a scientific evidence linking concussions to long-term brain damage. However, referring to reports of CTE among former players, NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee co-chair Richard Ellenbogen told The New York Times earlier this month, "They aren't assertions or hype -- they are facts."

In April, the league announced a $1-million gift to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University.

Henry, a native of Belle Chasse, La., played collegiately at West Virginia and was a third-round pick by the Bengals in 2005. He played for five tumultuous seasons in the NFL; he was arrested five times during his pro career, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him for the first half of the 2007 season for violating the league's personal conduct policy.

But after Cincinnati brought him back in 2008, Henry vowed to put his substance abuse and anger management issues behind him. And he had been succeeding, according to teammates as well as Bengals officials.

[SlowwHand]

He certainly was one that changed the game.

Former Chargers coach, passing guru Don Coryell dies at 85

[Grandpa Troll]

He certainly was one that changed the game.

Joe Gibbs was on his staff, Fouts,Largent,Winslow to name a few greats who played under him

[Ming]

RIP Air Coryell

[Al B. Sure!]

Norv Turner's version of the 'Air Coryell' offense will be a little lackluster the first three games of the season...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5345629

The NFL suspended San Diego Chargers Pro Bowl wide receiver Vincent Jackson three games for violating the league's personal conduct policy, a league source said Thursday.

[ColdWizard]

Jamarcus Russell trainwreck continues...

MOBILE, Ala. -- Former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell was arrested today for possession of a controlled substance, according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.

The substance was codeine syrup, spokeswoman Lori Myles said.

Myles said Russell was arrested at his home early this afternoon during an undercover investigation. He was booked into Mobile Metro Jail at 4:22 p.m. Russell was released minutes later after making $2,500 bail, according to online records.

Russell is scheduled to appear in court on July 20. A bond hearing is set for July 7.

Russell played high school football at Williamson High School in Mobile. He played quarterback for LSU from 2003 to 2006 and was the No. 1 draft pick for the Raiders in 2007.

Russell went 7-18 as a starting QB. The Raiders released Russell last May.

I almost expect him to jump bail next.

[SlowwHand]

He's minor league in everything that he does.