NFL 2010

[Schwa.]

Passed out on the couch during half-time. I have to leave some energy for Monday after these crazy-ass weekends.

[Northern Wish]

Miami Dolphins to move to 3-0....WTF?!

NEW YORK -- New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested Tuesday on charges of driving while intoxicated after officers pulled him over because his SUV had excessive tinting on its windows, police said.

The 27-year-old Edwards was pulled over on the west side of Manhattan around 5:15 a.m., and officers noticed a strong smell of alcohol, said chief NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

Edwards was given a breath test at the scene and another at a police station. His blood alcohol level was .16, twice the legal limit, officials said. There were four other people in the SUV at the time.

The Jets expressed their disappointment in the receiver in a statement from general manager Mike Tannenbaum on Tuesday.

"We are very disappointed in Braylon's actions this morning. The Player Protect program is in place for our organization to prevent this situation. Braylon is aware of this program and showed poor judgment," Tannenbaum said.

"We are reviewing the information with the league and will impose the appropriate disciplinary measures."

The Player Protect program provides a 24-hour driving service exclusively for professional athletes. The company also provides security, if requested, from current or former law-enforcement agents.

If a player wants a lift home, he can call any time and will be driven home in a luxury SUV or a Mercedes limo or an executive limo van.

The Jets, through their player development program, distributed leaflets on the program to every player on the team. It informs them they aren't charged for the service, that the club picks up the expense.

Edwards, who caught a touchdown pass and two-point conversion on Sunday in the Jets' victory over the New England Patriots, is currently in police custody and will be arraigned later Tuesday.

Edwards' attorney, Peter Frankel, refused to comment on his client's arrest.

"It's too early in the process to say anything at this point," he said outside the courtroom at the Manhattan Criminal Court Building.

Frankel has represented imprisoned former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress in his attempts to gain work release.

Ira Judelson, a New York City-based bail bondsman, was at the courthouse on Tuesday and indicated that he had been instructed to pay whatever bail is necessary to keep Edwards out of jail.

During his weekly spot on WFAN-AM on Tuesday morning, Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said Edwards attended a Monday night event in support of Cotchery's nonprofit foundation benefiting underprivileged youth in Manhattan. Cotchery said several teammates were there, and the event ran from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Manhattan's west side.

It's not clear where Edwards was coming from when he was pulled over.

The Jets acquired Edwards, a former first-round pick out of Michigan in 2005, from the Cleveland Browns only days after he was accused of punching a man outside a Cleveland nightclub in October 2009. The victim was an acquaintance of LeBron James. Edwards pleaded not guilty at the time, but he ended up pleading no contest to misdemeanor aggravated disorderly conduct. He received probation and a $1,000 fine.

Edwards was required to make that plea in person, and it took him away from the Jets for a day as they prepared for a playoff game last Jan. 12. At the time, the Jets feared he would be slapped with a one-game suspension from the NFL, but they learned in late June that there would be no sanction from the league.

According to a league spokesman, DUIs are reviewed under the NFL's substance-abuse policy. There is no automatic suspension under any circumstances. The league isn't commenting on a possible outcome or specifics.

The first substance-abuse offense is not subject to suspension for a player, only a fine, which is half of a game check with a maximum of $50,000. It is not known if Edwards ever had a violation under the substance-abuse policy (the program is confidential) and if he would be subject to a suspension for a second offense.

The assault charge that Edwards previously had while in Cleveland is covered under the NFL's personal conduct policy and the two can't be used together against a player.

Edwards' big game Sunday was overshadowed by a taunting penalty he received after his touchdown.

On Monday, Edwards was chastised by coach Rex Ryan -- publicly and privately. In a team meeting, Ryan announced that he was prepared to give Edwards a game ball for his performance, but he decided against it because of the penalty.

"I love the way he played -- he was really into it -- but you're killing us," Ryan told reporters. "You can't put the team in that kind of jeopardy. I appreciate how passionate he is, but you don't want to be selfish. That's basically what that is."

AFC East blog

Graham ESPN.com's Tim Graham writes about all things AFC East in his division blog.

• Blog network: NFL Nation

Jets punter Steve Weatherford wasn't happy with his teammate's situation.

"It's obviously disappointing because he's a big part of our team offensively," he said on ESPN's SportsCenter on Tuesday.

This might be Edwards' final season with the Jets. In the offseason, he signed a one-year tender for $6.05 million, and he's due to become an unrestricted free agent in 2011.

The Jets were heavily criticized in the offseason for acquiring players with off-the-field issues. They traded for wide receiver Santonio Holmes even though he was facing a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. He has served two games.

Also, they traded for cornerback Antonio Cromartie, whose tenure with the San Diego Chargers was tainted by paternity issues. At the time of the trade, in March, Cromartie had fathered seven children from six different women and was late on $25,000 in child-support payments. To help Cromartie, the Jets fronted him $500,000 of his $1.1 million salary.

If Edwards isn't active for Sunday night's game in Miami, the Jets would be without two of their top three receivers. They have only three other receivers on the roster, Cotchery, Brad Smith and David Clowney. They could look to re-sign veteran Laveranues Coles.

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=5598872

[TheSloth]

Maybe the prosecutor will drop the charges like Braylon drops passes.

[Booche]

Or drops one of Miami's wins because lord knows they shouldnt be 2 and 0 no matter what Badams tries to tell you.

[badams]

Or drops one of Miami's wins because lord knows they shouldnt be 2 and 0 no matter what Badams tries to tell you.

Their D has saved this team over and over the first 2 games... 2 - 0 is 2 - 0 I'll take it!

[TheSloth]

It's going to be a game day decision in regard to who I hate more, the Fish or the Jets. My gut is telling me I'll be cheering for the Fish.

[Schwa.]

GO PHINS!!

Sure both of their wins were dumpster fire UGLY, but I'll take'm if they'll get them into the playoffs.

Vive le Favre Interception!!!

[badams]

GO PHINS!!

Sure both of their wins were dumpster fire UGLY, but I'll take'm if they'll get them into the playoffs.

Vive le Favre Interception!!!

I agree, they all count in the final standings.

[Kanada Kev]

[peipunk]

I can sum up the Buffalo Bills quarterback situation in one simple sentence …

I'm pretty sure Jim Kelly doesn't even remember what most folks in Buffalo would like to forget: In a playoff game against the Jags in 1997 the Bills Hall of Fame QB suffered a concussion and, after a season with a career-low 14 TDs and a career-high 19 picks, decided to hang 'em up, thus setting into motion 14 straight years of Bills buffoonery under center; a long, laughable list that begins with original heir apparent Todd Collins, a second-round pick out of Michigan in the 1995 draft, who started 3-2 but played more like Phil or Tom, until he injured his shoulder against the Patriots and was replaced by the infamous Billy Joe Hobert who promptly threw a pick on his first pass leading to a 33-6 blowout loss, after which Billy Joe admitted (awesomely, I might add) that he hadn't actually, you know, opened his playbook that week, which led to his release a few days later and cleared the way for Alex Van Pelt to throw 10 picks and two TDs leading to a 6-10 season that prompted legendary coach Marv Levy to follow Kelly into retirement where he was replaced by Wade Phillips who in 1998 also released Collins, and, despite a roster old enough to require an Early Bird Special for their training table, the coach also signed six-time CFL MVP Doug Flutie, then 35, and traded away a first- and fourth-round pick to the Jags for Rob Johnson, a passer whose release was so slow scouts measured it in light years, which led to stitches in his chin in his first game, and then eight brutal sacks against the Dolphins in Week 5, opening the door for the late-game heroics of the diminutive Flutie who became a Pro Bowl QB (despite an 87.4 passer rating) and a spokesperson for the sugary but still somehow bland Flutie Flakes after a 10-6 record and a wild-card berth that ended, with time running out, with Flutie getting destroyed at the 5-yard line by the Dolphins whose coach, his old college nemesis, Jimmy Johnson, celebrated by jumping up and down on a pile of Flutie Flakes, a slightly uncool gesture since, you know, the Flakes (the cereal, not the coach) helped fund autism charities; an ignominious ending to Flutie's season but just a warm-up for how he'd finish 1999 when, after starting 25 of 27 games and leading the (11-5) Bills back to the playoffs, Flutie was inexplicably benched by the perpetually uncertain Phillips (hmm, sound familiar, Cowboys fans?) who went with Johnson for a wild-card game in Tennessee; a bold move that seemed to pay off when Johnson, operating at times with just one shoe, led the Bills to a last-second go-ahead field goal only to watch in horror as the Titans pulled off the Music City Miracle on the ensuing kickoff, a stunning gut-punch that sent the Titans to the doorstep of a world championship and the Bills on a franchise death spiral they have yet to pull out of -- now, unable to deal a 37-year-old Flutie and unwilling to unload the expensive Johnson, Buffalo went into 2000 with two starting QBs -- which in the NFL means you have actually have none -- opening with Johnson under center after Flutie tore his groin (a horrendous injury that, some say, feels exactly like it does to be a Bills fan) and sat the first six weeks until he led the Bills to three last-second wins and 44 points in the season finale against Seattle, after which he was promptly … cut that spring because of his $5 million price tag, in a salary-cap purge of aging vets (and bad coaches) that, inexplicably, did not affect Johnson who repaid the 2001 Bills by going 1-7 (including a loss to a Flutie-led Chargers team) with five TDs and 31 sacks before the Pats put him out of his misery with a shoulder injury, opening the door in 2001 for Alex Van Pelt who then slammed said door on his fingers, throwing four picks in a 35-0 loss to the 49ers, something that made the Bills so desperate they considered Travis Brown from Northern Arizona University who would go on to throw a grand total of 29 passes in the NFL, valuable experience that, of course, led him to open a QB school after his retirement from the game, a move that, nonetheless, cleared roster room for the Bills to take a QB high in the draft (it was going to be either David Carr or Joey Harrington, who both turned out to be busts which, strangely, means blowing the 2002 draft ranks as one of the team's best QB decisions of the past 14 years) but when that didn't pan out Buffalo traded another first-round pick to acquire New England's Drew Bledsoe, who received a hero's welcome in town and, after fully recovering from internal injuries in 2001, threw for 4,359 yards, resurrecting his career with a trip to the 2002 Pro Bowl, despite the fact that the Bills' offensive line (perhaps the main culprit in this whole entire, extended QB mess) and Bledsoe's oak-tree-like pocket mobility led to 54 sacks and a decidedly mediocre 8-8 season; Bledsoe would start 48 games for the Bills and take nearly every snap between 2002-04, improving the team from two wins to nine, but never managed to get the Bills above third place in the AFC East, therefore making it necessary for the Bills' new staff -- coach Gregg Williams was replaced by former Steelers O-coord Mike Mularkey (at this point the team considered installing revolving doors in their coaches' offices) -- to (again) trade (another) king's ransom (for yet another crappy QB) to the Cowboys -- this time a first, a second and a fifth-round pick -- to move up to No. 22 to snag the this-time-we-really-mean-it-seriously-why-are-you-laughing? quarterback of the future, J.P. Losman, from sure-fire NFL player factory Tulane who, yep, broke his leg during the preseason, requiring the Bills to sign journeyman Shane Matthews, who was so bad the Bears signed him twice, and therefore unable to help the Bills in their final game of 2004 when, needing only a win at home to make the playoffs, they lost to a group of Steelers backups, thanks to 16 completions for 189 yards and a pick by Bledsoe who responded to his inevitable demotion by leaving for Dallas, thus paving the way in 2005 for the Lostman, er, Losman Era, to begin; well, it lasted four whole weeks until Losman (75 yards, a pick and three sacks) was benched in the fourth quarter against the Saints in favor of journeyman Kelly Holcomb (the second most famous athlete from Middle Tennessee State behind some WNBA player I've never heard of) who, concussed by the Pats (Holcomb, not the WNBA player) -- New England, we should pause here to say, has done more damage to Buffalo then Brett Hull, the GooGoo Dolls and Scott Norwood combined -- was replaced by Losman who, somehow managed to get hurt, again, lose four more games and blow a 21-0 lead against the Dolphins, leading desperate owner Ralph Wilson to re-hire the then-80-something-year-old Marv Levy who in his first act as GM hired the equally offensively overmatched Dick Jauron to coach the 2006 Bills to a 7-9 finish with the help of an actually kinda decent season from Losman (3,051 yards and 19 TDs), his first and last, by the way -- pssst: check this out, due to struggles with injuries, four different offensive coordinators and the Bills' QB curse of holding the ball for-ev-ah (103 sacks) Losman wound up going from the Bills to the UFL (hand to god) before taking a serious step down to join the Raiders, even though the official Losman website still, to this day, has him in a Bills uniform with the 2008 headline "Bills Revive Playoff Hopes" on the front page (and you thought you were confused) -- because Losman lost his starting job in 2007 to Trent Edwards, a passer Buffalo snagged in the third round of that year's draft out of Stanford (without trading away a single future first-round pick, go figure) who became the first Bills rookie QB since 1973 to win five games (is that a compliment or a criticism? can't tell … ) before carrying that momentum into 2008, completing 65.5 percent of his passes for a 7-9 team, followed in 2009 by a 1-4 start that, despite the calming presence of T.O., ultimately set off this bizarre, brainy chain of events: after the Yale-grad Jauron got fired, Edwards, the QB from Stanford gave way to the former Harvard QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (who registered a near-perfect 48 on his Wonderlic) who rallied the team to a 16-13 OT win against the Jets -- the season's only actual highlight -- which, naturally, caused fellow brainiac Jim Kelly (an "expert" who once opined "All the teams that are doing well, they all have quarterbacks") to get serious for a moment and remark that after 10 seasons without a playoff berth and 11 different quarterbacks since 1996 (and counting), it was high time the team dumped Edwards and "find someone who is the future of the Buffalo Bills," an opinion Kelly then promptly reversed a few months later when he declared "I hope [the starter] is Trent," a statement that, once again, made no sense whatsoever, especially after Kelly spent so much time before the draft publicly fawning over Tim Tebow, a player with a unique skill set that sure looked like a perfect fit with new head coach Chan Gailey; alas, the Bills passed on Tebow, started the 2010 season 0-2 and ranked 32nd in passing, flipped Edwards for Fitzpatrick (let's just call them: Ed Fitzpatwards, it'll be easier) for this week's game at (gulp) New England, creating an even higher level of desperation for Bills Nation that evoked Kelly's message of faith to fans this spring when he said, "Now, before U go 2 bed -- pray for our Buffalo Bills!" to which all I can say is you can wait for divine intervention in Buffalo if you want, but you'd probably have better luck re-signing Billy Joe Hobert.

[peipunk]

That was taken from here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=fleming/100923&sportCat=nfl

This in particular made me howl:

"a move that, nonetheless, cleared roster room for the Bills to take a QB high in the draft (it was going to be either David Carr or Joey Harrington, who both turned out to be busts which, strangely, means blowing the 2002 draft ranks as one of the team's best QB decisions of the past 14 years)"

[Booche]

The second coming of Rich Gannon is starting for the Raiders this weekend boys. Bet the house on them. Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuce Gradwowski is going to bring back the commitment to excellence.

Raiders - Redskins Super Bowl this year. I'm retiring on that bet.

Seriously though, last weekend was insane. Bruce always brings it. He is their Halak. Last game, the crowd was booing to end the 1st half, Gradwowski started the 2nd half and by his 4th snap the crowd went from "booooooooooooooo" to "Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuce"

It was my favorite Raider moment in the past 7 years. Wild though, this guy always seems to get it done whenever he comes in. He understands the weaknesses of his terrible offensive line and poor receivers, who he makes looks better somehow.

I know. I know. It was against the Lams but still........everytime I have seen him come in the past couple of years has been the same thing. He's the only qb who can make the offense move the chains and score some points.

[Northern Wish]

I found a pretty awesome site for watching any and all sports via the web today:

http://atdhe.net/index.html

Multiple feeds of most football etc so you can even get your home broadcaster.

Found it to catch the end of this awesome Atl NO game. Garrett you shithead!

[PassedOutGuy]

What a great freakin second half to the Chargers/Sea Chickens Game... if only Rivers didnt throw that second pick. 455 yards damn!

[TheSloth]

The indiginity of losing , soundly no less, to a team the Raiders beat the weekend before is a tough one to deal with. At least the Raiders, Bills and Phins all lost but jesus christ the Redskins really had to beat the Rams after giving one away to Houston. Same old, same old.

[Schwa.]

Miami came out flat as hell and allowed 2 scores on 2 possessions for NYJ. Ugly.

[peipunk]

GODDAMMIT I LOVE FOOTBALL

I might have to move to Eastern or Central time though, both the Sunday and Monday nighters are too goddamn late. Although tonight I am going out to watch Packers-Bears, gonna eat some wings and drink some draft.

The indiginity of losing , soundly no less, to a team the Raiders beat the weekend before is a tough one to deal with. At least the the Raiders, Bills and Phins all lost but jesus christ the Redskins really had to beat the Rams after giving one away to Houston. Same old, same old.

Philly next week, good luck with that.

Miami came out flat as hell and allowed 2 scores on 2 possessions for NYJ. Ugly.

I went to bed down 50 pts in fantasy and woke up down 12 thanks to Brandon Marshall and LT. Down 12 with Jermichael Finley playing tonight, so I need him to have 60 yds and a score. Good shit.

[TheSloth]

Philly next week, good luck with that.

Tell me about it, that place is going to be fucking crazy. McNabb is getting stretcher'd out.

[peipunk]

TAKING THE PLUNGE

::deep breath::

I am going to buy an Aaron Rodgers jersey tonight.

[TheSloth]

You should get "Bandwagon" stitched on the back.

[Northern Wish]

The Buffalo Bills are a fucking disaster. I am absolutely ashamed at what this franchise has become. Won't you come home Bill Polian?

NEW YORK - The winless Buffalo Bills released fourth-year quarterback Trent Edwards on Monday.

The Bills did not give any reason for their decision, but said in a statement head coach Chan Gailey would be available to discuss the issue at his regular Monday news conference.

The 26-year-old Edwards was selected by the Bulls in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft but has struggled with injuries and consistency. He completed 29 of 52 passes with one touchdown and two interceptions this season.

Edwards was demoted to the bench after the Bills lost their opening two games this season. They lost again, 38-30 to the New England Patriots, on Sunday.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Bills+release+former+starting+quarterback+Edwards/3585716/story.html#ixzz10l6A3kKA

[peipunk]

You should get "Bandwagon" stitched on the back.

Is that the best you can come up with? I was expecting far more fucking vitriol than that.

GREENBAY4LIFE

Well, life after 35 anyway.

[TheSloth]

Is that the best you can come up with? I was expecting far more fucking vitriol than that.

GREENBAY4LIFE

Well, life after 35 anyway.

Bah it's Monday, the hate has to build up over a week of office life.

[Booche]

I am going to buy an Aaron Rodgers jersey tonight.

Why wouldnt you get Clay Matthews??

Take your tampon out, although it's probably too late because because I can smell the odour from here. I pretty sure you've already got a case of toxic shock syndrome.

Top 5 NFL Jersey Sales Purchased By Dames

1. Aaron Rodgers

2. Tom Brady

3. Drew Brees

4. Peyton Manning

5. Brett Favre

[Schwa.]

Matthews is the right call. That fella's mean.