SBNation.com User Blog: JokerPace

HINES WARD IS back n Black....& a shade of Gold July 2012...Mr. Ward can be seen for the last time...

JokerPace — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:07:29 -0000

HINES WARD IS back n Black....& a shade of Gold

July 2012...Mr. Ward can be seen for the last time in a Football Jersey that resembles the Pittsburgh Steelers...

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

...his last unofficial moment on the Field will be n a major Hollywood Film, not bad at all!

Don't fall for the Peyton Manning Bamboozle

JokerPace — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:16:02 -0000

As we all know by this point, there are more than a hand full of NFL teams vying for the Starting Quarterback services of one PEYTON WILLIAMS MANNING. The Indianapolis Colts officially announced the release of Peyton on March 7th-which means teams like the Dolphins--Cardinals--Jets--Redskins and at least 3 other teams are strongly considering giving Peyton a new contract to come play in their city. All I have to say is "pump the brakes homeboy", take my advice and the advice of a few others that I've read in the national media and social internet blogs of late, "don't touch P.Manning with a ten foot pole", his medical condition is to unstable even with a recent doctor's note that says he's 100% cleared to play professional tackle football again, its not worth the investment

Four neck surgeries in a 14 month span for an athlete that plays n the National Football League has no business suiting up and playing and no logical thinking owner of any team n the NFL should be signing any checks over to an athlete that has that type of medical resume, even if that player is a future first ballot Hall of Famer. How soon we forget about other athletes who had to retire unexpectedly cause of similar medical conditions, does Michael Irvin ring a bell? Now I know Irvin plays the receiver position and he gets hit more often than a QB but when it gets down to the nitty-gritty of play between those white lines, its about impact and the way the NFL is being played today--players are faster & stronger--the contact risk outweighs the benefits

I don't think there has been enough said or enough opinions expressed as it relates to Peyton quitting the game of Football and moving on with his life. It would be sobering time for the NFL, albeit brief, if Manning decided to do that but I believe every fan that loves the sport would truly understand if Peyton decided to 'hang em up' for good; he's closer to anyone in the league at becoming fully or partially paralyzed off one clean or otherwise hard hit and I can tell u this: if it was hard watching Peyton say goodbye to the Colts organization and the fans it would be 100 times harder to watch him being carted off the field on a stretcher, motionless, next season, if in fact he does decide to resume his career--which all signs points to him doing

Stay away Peyton-don't come back-you have nothing more to prove and more importantly-Owners don't fall for the Peyton politically friendly correct Manning charm and talent, it won't pay off in the long run (literally and figuratively), at the end of the day/contract all you will have is a physically broken down overpaid Peyton (hopefully he can still walk upright) leading your team to another first round playoff exit (like P.M. did so regularly with the Colts, when he was younger and more skillfully sharp) and you'll be trying to convince your fans and front office personnel that signing Peyton was still a smart move even though he brought you no Super Bowl Championship and your still searching for a 'franchise' quality quarterback (hint hint: Dolphins and Redskins)

p.s.

The real question that needs to be asked and that nobody seems to bringing up; why did Jim Irsay (owner of the Colts) pony up so much money to an aging unhealthy quarterback who was on the back end of his career? Last year Irsay gave Peyton (who was coming off his 2nd neck surgery) a ridiculously high salary built contract that you normally would give to a franchise QB that's 25 not 35, which is one of the main reasons they had to cut Peyton and not keep him-which meant they could have tried to work out an easier transition from him to Andrew Luck (who the Colts will be picking first in the 1st round of this years draft) with Peyton still on the team...the Colts were on the hook for $28 million-owed to Peyton-if they didn't cut him before March 8th. The Irsay family put themselves in this awkward position with Peyton, by overpaying him last off-season, so I have zero sympathy for that organization...

p.s.

NFL musings and predictions for the '11 season-by: JokerPace

JokerPace — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 22:36:47 -0000

Now lets get down to the professional football business Yo!

1. Great to see arguably the best receiver in the NFL, Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals, received a very rich long term contract extension, he's worth it and the organization really had no choice but to give him what he wanted cause 'Fitz' is the face of the team and his productivity on the field since he entered the league n '04 is second to none. But here's the issue, the team will only get its money worth from the Fitz deal if their newly required free agent QB, Kevin Kolb, turns out to be a franchise type quarterback...I gotta feeling Kolb won't be the answer, sorry Larry

2. Still not sure if Cam Newton will turn into a leading franchise type qb for the Carolina Panthers, way to early to tell but if I was buying stock and Cam was the stock, I would say 'hold'...wait and let the stock mature before making a final decision

3. Chris Johnson, the running back for the Tenessee Titans, is holding out for a new contract deal and eventually he will get it but he shouldn't get the type of money he's been asking for; he wants quarterback type $ even though he doesn't touch the ball on every play like a qb. He want it but we all want a lot of things in life that we can't always have and in this case Johnson should settle for being the highest paid running back in the league. The shelf life for running backs in the 21st century NFL is 5 to 8 years as it relates to Prime Level play and the Titan organization understands that, if CJ doesn't except top RBack money then Tennessee should trade him and get a first and 2nd round pick for the '12 draft. It has already been proven, quite consistently over the life of this league, that you don't need a great running back to win a title-all a team needs is a good/serviceable back that knows how to move the chains and get first downs; if you don't believe me, recent history proves it, just look at the...Green Bay Packers and New Orlean Saints

4. Big Ben and Phillip Rivers will make the leap to the top of the qb food chain this season, along with Aaron Rodgers, they will be looked at as the top 3 qb's the game has to offer when its all said and done at the end of this year

5. Here's a list of once highly touted qb's that will never be great or even very good in the NFL, mainly because of poor throwing mechanics, pocket confidence and/or the inability to read and comprehend defensive schemes: Vince Young, Jason Campbell, Alex Smith, Chad Henne (I would like to add Tim Tebow to this list but in fairness its to early, I'll give him 2 more years before I put him on this list)

6. Tony Romo is being paid like a franchise quarterback and he puts up gaudy regular season numbers but his ability to come through in the playoffs will forever mark him as a underachiever, after this season the Cowboys will be forced to look for another future QB in the '12 draft

7. Sam Bradford is a stud and barring injury will be a top 10 QB in the next 2 years

8. the New York Jets and New England Patriots will make the playoffs but won't represent the AFC in the super bowl...they look great on paper but will have trouble transferring all of that supposed great talent to the field on a consistent week to week basis

9. Matt Cassell is extremely overpaid and overrated, he will be horribly exposed this year as a very average qb

10. The irony of Peyton Manning signing that super rich contract extension this offseason is the fact he's coming off a major neck/spine surgery and he's yet to fully heal and who knows if he'll ever be fully capable of playing this season at all-at the level we're use to seeing from him. Manning should be happy he won his only super bowl title back in '06 cause he'll never get close to another bowl again. At the end of last season the Colts should have been seriously scouting a future QB replacement-now they will be up against the draft clock to find a formidable college quarterback to groom; this will be the beginning of the deteioration of Peyton's body

11. I'm not quite sure Colt McCoy is the franchise qb the Cleveland Browns want and need him to be but he does have a cool name and since we're on the topic of 'not so sures'--Cam Newton--way to early to tell what his impact will be but he has a great smile...the TV commercial world will love him

12. What do Mike Shanahan and Todd Haley have in common? They are both 'horrible' head coaches

13. After this season is over Joe Flacco will start to be questioned about his ability to be a great qb in this league and David Garrard will be officially released/cut from the Jacksonville Jaguars

14. Josh Freeman has the potential to maximize the 'mobile qb' theory that coaches and experts have been trying to label on a young gunslinger for some time now. He has a great arm and knows how to move well in the pocket without jeopardizing the integrity of the play-(i.e. taking off and running before he lets the pass play fully develop)

15. the Detroit Lions are definitely on the Rise, the Vikings-Bears-Texans are not, all 3 teams will have to re-evaluate the direction of their team at the end of the season. The culprit for these teams not playing well: Donovan McNabb-Mike Martz and Gary Kubiak

16. the Giants season, because of major injuries to key players, is over before it has even began

17. The Cincinnati Bengals has ushered out the old and brought in the new but the results will continue to be the same: BAD-on and off the field. One final salutation for Carson Palmer, he's sitting out the year so he doesn't have to play for the Bengal organization again, not sure it even matters in the grand scheme of things-the Cincinnati fans have already gotten over him and at best he was an average playing quarterback; he never truly got back to that great level of play after that major knee injury 5 years ago

18. If I was betting man I would put money on the Saints, Falcons, Packers and Rams(that's right I said the Rams-they not the Lions will make a huge jump in maturity and wins as a team this year) competing to appear in the NFC Championship game

*A run 1st, throw 2nd QB will never be successful in the NFL....that's why Division 1A college coaches need to do their mobile qb talent a favor-while they're still in college-and groom them away from being 'freestyle' quarterbacks to a more pocket oriented signal caller, so when they do reach the NFL there more prepared to succeed long term*

19. I would be shocked if the 49ers won more than 2 games this year

20. On paper the entire Philadelphia Eagles team looks formidable-a dream like team-but they don't play football on paper and this Eagle team will have to show up each and every week and play at the top of their game cause teams are going to be 'fired up' to get after them. The Eagles went out and signed a lot of free agent players-at a high price no less-with the idea that these players will immediately fit in (despite the lockout shortened training camp)-that alone is a risky assumption on the coaches part but that won't be the reason why the Eagles will be at home watching the the Super Bowl as suppose to playing deep in to the postseason. The reason will be MICHEAL VICK...he had a great comeback year last season, not a MVP type season but a good enough season as it relates to him getting out of prison just a full season prior. But this year Vick will be exposed for what he use to be exposed for before he went to prison, when he was the qb for the Atlanta Falcons, his inaccurancy-inability to play a full season healthy and his still slow defensive read progressions. Opposing defenses have had a full offseason to adjust to what Vick did last year and this season you will see him struggle mightedly against teams that have very good defensive personnel...oh and here's the icing on the ice cream cake, Vick has yet to win a major playoff game that has mattered in his entire career

Peace...enjoy the 2011 NFL Season, it should be a fantastic!

p.s.

Hey Raider Nation, u thought I forgot about you guys, well I didn't; I would be lying if I said I like anything about your team (from the front office to the coaching staff to the players on the field) everything about the Raider team and organization is a disaster and this offseason has proved no different-from letting certain pro bowl players walk in free agency to the drafting of suspect skills talent Terrelle Pryor, I expect the Oakland Raiders to continue their recent decade long history of Excellent Mediocrity