The injury hasn't been disclosed yet, but we know that whatever it is has ended Ronnie Brown's season.  I had a thought when I first saw the highlight on TV - "wow, that reminds me of the tackle that took down LJ".  Tonight I was looking at the replay clip on nfl.com and some things started boilin' in me noggin.

Peep dis:

1. Both players are almost exactly the same size (Johnson listed 6'1" 230lbs. - Brown listed 6'0" 230lbs.)
2. Both were the same age when the injury occurred (Johnson was 27 at the time)
3. It happened at almost the same point in the season (Johnson's in the Nov 4th game vs. The Packers - Brown on November 15th vs. The Bucs).  Though I believe LJ went down in week 8, Brown went down in week 9.  That's still close.
4. Both happened vs. teams located in "Bays" (Green Bay and Tampa Bay)
5. Both players injured their right foot.

Thems be some strange correlations! 

Now that I've got you thinking, can anyone think of others?

Miami fans should pray that Brown's return fares better than Johnson's.

First report I found - here

Steve McNair was apparently shot in the head.  I've heard things ranging from it was Steve and his girlfriend that were killed... supposedly by another mistress.  Sounds like a wicked triangle that ended up going wrong.  I can't confirm or deny any of this at this point.. 

From what I hear it occurred in downtown Nashville today. 

What terrible news to hear on this 4th of July.  Even though he left for Baltimore at the end of his career, Steve was well loved in Nashville.  He was the face of the Titans franchise for years.

Regardless of his issues, it is a terrible loss.

I'm about to defend Al Davis.  Maybe in a strange roundabout way I feel like I'm defending KC's pick of Jackson at 3... or maybe I just believe that nobody really has a right to criticize a draft until we see what comes of it. In any case I was compelled to do so and have gone too far to turn back now.

This started as a comment on another post and got out of hand... hope you brought your reading glasses and some patience... and perhaps a caffeinated beverage.

As for Heyward-Bey, consider our situation with Jackson.  We took him at 3 and probably could have traded down and taken him a little later... if there were takers.
JT The Brick (who is a huge Raiders homer mind you) said the Raiders were very high on DHB and weren't interested in Crabtree... actually never were.  They were in love with Heyward-Bey.  They knew the Giants were interested in grabbing him in the late 1st, and even heard that they considered moving up to 18 (Denver through the Cutler trade) to take him.  Whether that is true or not is up for debate.  Could the Raiders have traded down and got him?  Probably.  But maybe there weren't any trade takers (like with us).  The only teams that traded in to the top 18 were the Jets to get Sanchez, and the Bucs who took Freeman.  Everyone else stood.  The Trade to grab Sanchez was over with and nobody else really needed or wanted that #7 pick Oakland had.  With Sanchez off the board the leverage was gone.  If the Raiders slept on him he would have been gone before next round anyway.  Heyward-Bey was not worth a #7 pick to you and me, but to the Raiders he was.  The consensus was the guy was 1st round talent, just not top 10 talent.  Four words - eye of the beholder.  To many, Jackson was not worth a #3 but we took him because he fit our system and I don't hear anybody bitching about that. 

As for their 2nd round pick (47 overall), it was rumored (again through The Brick) that the Bears had designs on Mike Mitchell with the 49th pick until the Raiders snagged him at 47.  If the Bears had snatched him at 49, I bet we would be looking at that pick differently - because the Bears supposedly know good D when they see it (and have a track record to prove it).  Notice also that the Bears traded that 49th pick to Seattle for a 3rd and 4th round pick after Mitchell was taken.  Did they do this because the Raiders took him at 47?  Beats the piss out of me, and that's aims at another point.  I have no idea what any other team thought about this guy or where they had him on the board.  The media doesn't know who's where on what board, if they did then they would have known that this douche was on the Raiders board in the 2nd round and maybe he would have had some pre-draft attention.  We only know what we're allowed to know - and for some reason I love that about football, but that's for another discussion.


Just to lobby once more for the suggestion that Al Davis isn't totally batshit (just mostly) - McShay threw a bone to Davis pointing out that he wanted to take Marques Colston in the 3rd round in '06 but didn't get his way... it can be caught at the end of McShay's AFC breakdown here.  If he took Colston in the 3rd people would have popped him for that too.

So the draft guru's didn't have these guys slotted where they went, but what the hell do they know?  The most accurate mock draft of the big name gurus was Mayock's, and he hit 10 of 32... whoopty doo!

Listen, I hope both of these guys are huge busts.  I think the picks were stupid.  I will always root against anything and everything Raiders related.  I have no love for the Raiders.  But we really don't know... and won't know how stupid these picks are for a while.  Anything is possible in this league - think of all the late round and UDFA players that end up becoming stars - if someone had reached and picked them on day 1 they would have been criticized too. 

Spabblespoov Out

Our long lost sack machine seems to have developed a nasty streak this season.  Or perhaps now that he is the league's highest paid defensive player, more attention is paid to his actions.  Jared was fined $50k for two hits on Matt Schaub in last Sunday's game, one of which damaged the MCL in Schaub's left knee.  The full story on NFL.com can be read here.

I know Allen was somewhat controversial at times while in KC, mostly for his off-field issues.  But I don't remember him causing a lot of fuss on field, especially for roughing the passer penalties eventually resulting in fines (one late hit and two below-the-knee shots).  He always seemed to play pretty clean while in KC.  I haven't seen any of the hits that he got fined for, but I may try to track down the replay of those hits on Schaub to see how bad they were.

One thing that doesn't seem to have changed is his mouth.  He seems to like the "woe is the defender" position that has been taken up by a lot of defenders lately.  I personally don't think the game has suffered much due to this heightened stance on QB safety.  Most of the rules seem to be logically sound in my book.

So I have two questions for everyone.

1.  How much of an impact do you think Allen would have had on this year's KC team, positive or negative? 

2.  Do you agree with Allen's stance on the rules being too much in favor of QB's and/or of offensive players in general?

I certainly think Allen would have racked up several sacks for us and has certainly left a hole on our D-line.  But if he were having the same year here as he were having in Minnesota, would it just be another added distraction?  At what point would he have demanded a trade to a contender, or blown up about our losing season?  Curious to hear your thoughts.

The roster cuts are coming soon... who do you think will be at the top of the list??

If it were up to me, the roster cuts would include two loads of B.S.

BJ Sams and Bobby Sippio

I thought Sams was uninspiring again.  He looks like he lost all of his steps.  At this point I'm not sure what he brings to the table.  Will he somehow survive to 75 only to be cut in the move to 53?  In spite of Savage's blunder on Saturday, he still seems to have much more upside.

Poor Bobby... I was really pulling for him to make the roster this year, but this is the second game where his "velcro" hands have looked like they were covered in vasoline.  It's one thing to not have speed but have great hands... it's another to have neither.  I think this is the end of the road for big Sip.

So who's on your cut list?

UCrawford mentioned this in the comments of the Position Review: Linebackers post, but it was buried pretty deep so I wanted to start a new thread to get your opinions.

So Shawne Merriman has apparently torn his PCL - the report on NFLN is here.  From what I can gather from this article, it sounds like he is considering playing this season with it injured.  I don't know much about which CL is more critical, but I was under the impression that tearing any of them is a bad situation (ACL, MCL, PCL).  It sounds like Norv is on board with whatever as well... but is more concerned with him being available if they make the playoffs.

I can understand not wanting to lose a critical part of your defense (Norv) and not wanting to sit out an entire season (Shawne), but does it seem crazy to anybody else that he is hoping for a little patch-job so that he can play this season??  I'm trying to think of how I would feel if it were Derrick Johnson in a similar situation... of course the Chiefs aren't expected to be a contender like San Diego is, so the circumstances are different.  I'd probably tell Derrick to get healthy so he can come back next year when we will be more potent.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this?  Is it madness?