Random NFL Thoughts

A few random musings about the NFL, for no particular reason ...

There is too much money being thrown around in the NFL. The Cowboys signed Demarcus Ware, a defensive lineman, to a six year, $78 Million contract yesterday. Demarcus is one of the best linemen in the league, young, and should have a very productive future ... but $78 Million? $40 Million is guaranteed, which means if he blows out a knee on the first play of this coming weekend's game and never plays another down, Jerry Jones will have to pay him that $40 Million. The contract makes him the team's highest paid player, which means Romo and a few others will be wanting to restructure their contracts accordingly.

The Cowboy's top paid players, with guaranteed/signing bonus in paranthesis: Ware, $78,000,000 ($40,000,000); Tony Romo, $67,000,000 ($30,000,000); Terrence Newman, $50,000,000 ($22,500,000); Leonard Davis, $49,000,000 ($18,700,000); Roy Williams, $45,000,000 ($9,000,000); Marion Barber, $45,000,000 ($16,000,000); Flozell Adams, $43,800,000 ($15,000,000); Ken Hamlin, $39,000,000 ($9,000,000); Andre Gurode, $30,000,000 ($10,000,000); Jason Witten, $29,000,000 ($12,000,000); Jay Ratliff, $20,000,000 ($8,000,000); Bradie James, $20,000,000 ($8,000,000) .... A whole lot of money for 12 players, each with an average contract length of six years. Then you have to add up the salaries for the other 41 players on the roster, plus coaches, staff, etc, etc, etc .... the NFL is a rich man's game, for certain.

Jerry World, the Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington, cost over $1 Billion. It is a mammoth structure, and an architectural wonder. Is it far more than is necessary to play a football game in - certainly. Is it bigger than Jones' ego - not a chance......

Atlanta's coach, during this past weekend's game against Dallas, called a timeout early in the second half. The purpose - to complain to the referee that the sun was in his quarterback's eyes ... The construction of the new stadium allows sunlight to hit the field from the stadium ends, and this dufus thought it was unfair. I have never seen such a thing - sunlight deemed an unfair advantage for the home team? What a wuss ....

When were quarterbacks deemed off limits to the defense? You can't touch their helmets ... you can't hit them below the knees ... if they slide, you can't touch them ... if they are on their way out of bounds running, you can't touch them ... If you took today's best quarterbacks, like Brady, and teleported them back to the days of Bart Starr, would they still be the best?

Why is it a terrible foul for a defensive player to grab a facemask (15 yard penalty), but perfectly fine for an offensive player with the ball to grab a defender's facemask and use it to push the defender away (called stiffarming) ...?

There have got to be more good players in this country than we see every Sunday. You have 30 teams, with 53 players each. These are supposed to be the absolute best in the country. Yet, how many teams suck, how many players look like inept trash, how few players are considered 'great'? I don't believe that there are so few people who can play the game well at a professional level.

Sam Bradford, OU's Heismann winning quarterback ... could have declared for the NFL draft after his sophmore year, and would have been the top QB chosen - millions of dollars ... however, he goes back to school for his junior year, stating he wants to remain with his teamates and the program. Stand up guy ... Injures his shoulder in the first game this season, reinjured it, and now will have season ending shoulder surgery. He has stated he will declare for the draft, and he hopes he can recover enough to pull down a top draft position. His dedication to his college has probably cost him $10-15,000,000 in starting salary.

It hurts me to see the Washington Redskins doing so poorly this year ... NOT!

I enjoy seeing New Orleans doing so well ... that city has suffered so much, and had such a crappy football team for so long, they deserve something to cheer about.