NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - Off Season

[Al B. Sure!]

Interesting trade this week:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5681687

Disappointed with his role in Cleveland's offense this season, Harrison was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles on Wednesday for Mike Bell in an exchange of running backs.

Andy Reid sure can't stand powerbacks and loves his scat backs.

[Al B. Sure!]

Kind of cool:

Jesse Holley(notes) is going from reality TV to the NFL after getting promoted from the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad to the team's active roster.
In the summer of 2009, Holley was the winner of the Michael Irvin-hosted reality show "4th and Long." His reward for outlasting 11 other competitors on the Spike TV program? An invitation to Dallas Cowboys training camps. Once there, Holley made the most of the opportunity; scoring a touchdown in a 2009 preseason game and playing well enough to make the practice squad, where he remained until getting promoted this week.
He's expected to be active in Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings and contribute on special teams.
Irvin is happy for him. He told ESPN:
"He's a hard working guy. Even doing the show, we had guys who did well, but when I was trying to find the right guy, [who] fit the situation, not physically gifted, but fit a situation. The way he practices is always good. That's how he's earned coach [Wade] Phillips' respect. It's not anything I did on the show. I gave him an opportunity, he had to go earn that."
Though the "Cowboys sign reality show star" sounds like a situation ripe for a punchline, Holley's rise to the NFL isn't exactly a rags-to-riches story. It's not Vince Papale in "Invincible" or Rudy getting a sack for Notre Dame.
Holley has a solid, if unspectacular football pedigree. He played college ball at North Carolina, earning honorable mention All-ACC honors as a sophomore. After going undrafted, he played on the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad for three months in 2007 and then was on the roster of the CFL's BC Lions for a short time. After getting released there, he signed up to be on Irvin's reality show.
Though he's a rookie who's never played a down in a real NFL game, Holley might be able to give Tony Romo(notes) and Wade Phillips some advice on how to win a championship. In 2005, Holley was a walk-on on the the North Carolina basketball team that won the national title.

[-Jrabbit]

I was totally unaware of this (never watched Irvin's show).
Very cool story.

[Al B. Sure!]

Nothing to do with that guy and this is fairly old news but you might be interested in this guy named Kenny Bell, JRabbit. He was a Hofstra WR who never made it past NFL practice squads and tryouts but has gotten some fame over the years after CBS did a story on him for being the motion-caption actor for Madden and does stunt work for Friday Night Lights.

It is crazy that he has the physical ability to and does all the moves done by all the superstars in the game but can't get a shot in real-life:

http://deadspin.com/301963/you-control-everything-this-man-does

So here's a sad little story: The guy who serves as the model for motion capture on Madden, Kenny Bell, really wants to be a real life NFL player. He might look like a player, but he isn't, not really. But he wants to be.

Badly.

Kenny Bell graduated in 2002, has made a DVD of himself catching passes from Josh Booty and has a letter of recommendation from Jeff Garcia that states "He has shown me the talent and the skill to play on the professional level." The horrible thing is this poor guy still carries around both wherever he goes, just on the off chance that someone...anyone...will give him a shot with a professional football team. Just a tryout, a practice, something to show a professional scout what he can do.

That has to be frustrating, to play Madden and watch fake people impersonating real people impersonating you find more virtual joy than you do in your real life.

Here's CBS's story:


Poor guy even has a video series of himself on youtube called "NFL or Bust". He has what it takes physically but that's not enough.


It's a shame and it puts some light on Kenny McKinley committing suicide after his knee injury. A lot of these guys come out of college and even though they have degrees, they don't want to do anything but be on the field and have no conception of life beyond football. I mean if it's been your life since Pop Warner, it's understandable but damn it's got to tear them up when their dreams are dashed.

I'm actually now kind of wondering about the guys I know who played college ball. Hope they're cool psychologically.

[SlowwHand]

Yeah, I'm glad for Holley. He deserves a shot.

[snoopy369]

Further evidence of Intentional Grounding being ignored by refs... Hasselebeck just threw the ball at a guard's feet, while wrapped up by a DT. Inside the pocket, never got near a real receiver nor even to the line of scrimmage (unless that guard was illegally downfield of course!). Bah. Didn't matter as it was 3rd and long, but I'd really like to see that foul called as often as it should be...

[-Jrabbit]

Yeah, a bad call, but I've come to expect it.
Seattle is moving the ball at will. Marshawn looks really good.

[snoopy369]

Good lord the Bears have looked terrible today. I have to blame the coaching for this one; Tice in particular. The tackles have looked terrible - they haven't been playing remotely competently.

That said, our run game is fine. We just forget to use it...

[Guynemer]

****ing Lions.

[duke o' york]

I hate excessive celebration calls, even when they go against the opposition.

The umpire's just jealous of that awesome leap over the receiver's head.

Dallas are awesome for collecting penalties though. If this was (rest of the world) football, they'd be miles ahead every week.

[duke o' york]

Penalty Yards is outstanding today - easily MVP for the first half.

[flash9286]

The penalty calls for excess celebration and PI on Jenkins were awful calls.

[Lord Avalon]

****ing Lions.

I only caught the end of that game. Stanton was in, so the Giants killed another QB, eh?

Edit: Woo, Dolphins OT win over the Pack!

[Al B. Sure!]

When is Stafford coming back? Drew Stanton starting isn't realistic if the Lions want to win more games... although Calvin Johnson is better with Stanton than Stafford


Sloww, I think I've already won our bet. Sanchez continues to show that he's the real deal (although he threw his first INTs of the year today; still, that's a stat I wasn't aware of. He's gone this long without an INT) while Stafford continues to miss games due to injury and has been outplayed by Shaun Hill and probably Drew Stanton.

[Al B. Sure!]

****ing Lions.

It could be worse, Guy. You could be a Cowboys fan

Cowboys play the Giants next week. The G-men are going to put the Cowboys to bed in the NFC East next week. Put them to bed