Lori

Nah - if he'd done that, he would've jumped ship on the Habs a long time ago, because they've been mediocre for about the last ten years. Or right about the time they ran off one of the best goalies to ever play the game. F#^! Mario Tremblay anyhow. Hey, nobody's perfect. Blame it on Guy Lafleur.

As I recall, Smith made a point of mentioning that after the game. "Troy Vincent's out there breast-feeding him," etc., etc. I'll give Nate more credit than you did, even considering the subpar season he had. But I'm with you on the franchise tag (and trade, if necessary).

Meazza's team also happens to be mine. Nine Stanley Cups in my lifetime, twenty-four overall. Your team, well...

Nope. Think PinkO.

Gotta admit -- it is amusing to watch Cowher when he gets angry, and said Chin starts jutting out further... and further... I think one of these days he's actually going to dislocate his jaw.

Considering where I live (and how many Steelers fans I work with), I figure a Pittsburgh win on Sunday - combined with the Bills' current level of mediocrity - will make said co-workers unbearable for oh, about the next ten years or so... Go Seahawks.

Not to disagree with your main point -- Buffalo's lines DO need work, and Seattle's and Pitt's O-lines are one of the main reasons they're still playing -- but Jeff Hartings has been a Stiller since 2001. Edited to add: BTW, he's also a center. Simmons and Faneca are their guards. Dunno how I missed that earlier; must be past my bedtime...

A moron and a hypocrite. I *did* actually read the column. Good stuff, Chevy...

Except that he just signed a deal to become San Fran's offensive coordinator... 49ers hire Turner

Something of note here - April has already coached both offense (TEs at Tulane and three seasons with the Falcons) and defense (seven seasons DL/secondary at U. of Arizona, four seasons DBs/kicking game at USC). And his first NFL job, with the Falcons? He worked for Jerry Glanville (who started his NFL career as a ST coach, too...) Found an old article about April recently; some of you might be interested... Bobby April (2000)

Oversimplified answer: Lindy Infante's mindset vs. Dick Vermeil/MadMikeMartz's. Both are hailed as offensive innovators, but I always thought DV/MMM did more to create mismatches Faulk could exploit -- lining him up wide, trying to get him out to the edge more often, etc. IMO, Infante (Colts OC, then HC) pigeonholed Faulk into more of a traditional RB role... he may have caught 50-some passes in most of his seasons under Infante, but I'd be willing to bet most of them were screens/dumpoffs. Marshall's been one of my favorite players ever since ESPN started picking up his San Diego State games; he reminded me of Thurman, maybe even a little (gasp) better overall. (Faster, certainly.) The game-breaking talent was always there, but I'm not sure he'd be a first-ballot Hall of Famer -- and there's no doubt about that, is there? -- had he spent much more time in Infante's offense. Just my opinion...

re: Williams - yes, the KC game was the only one he started at LG (in addition to 4 at RT). Even that was one game too many, as far as Kelly Holcomb and his aching head were concerned.... Villarrial started every game except for the home Miami game, although you're right -- he started a lot more than he finished.

A Culpepper - Randy Moss reunion? That could be amusing...

Yup, with a slight correction -- Biscuit was one of the guys in street clothes that day. I think Marv's postgame quote about going back to the 3-4 was something along the lines of, "if we're going to lose, we're going to lose with our best players on the field."

I was in the front row of the upper deck at that game. When that play happened, I damn near jumped....

Nah -- not funny. "Nu-cu-lar" instead of atomic, now that would have been funny.

Short-term, I'd agree. But if giving up some $$$ on the front end helps force their network into 50 million more homes? Not just the contracts they'll be signing with cable/dish providers. Think of what their rate card will look like for those games... with all the money coming straight back to the league. The Dean knows a heck of a lot more about this than I do. I'll be curious to hear his take...

"... hoof prints..." ?!?!? Good luck with your dad and all, but I'm starting to wonder about you....

Put their customer service number in your autodial, and bug the crap out of them for the next ten months (or however long it takes). And tell all your friends to do the same, if they don't want to miss the Thanksgiving game either...

Oh, no... we're not going to start talking about Muppets again, are we?

Here's the official release: Link

That wasn't a draft-day deal, which I *think* is the point the "Marv won't trade" people are trying to make. Still not sure which parallel universe they're getting this information from, though, since (as has been pointed out many times previously) the 2006 draft will be his first as an NFL GM...

Crazy like a fox. That's a mighty big incentive -- once the cable/dish companies' phone lines start melting down thanks to all the calls from football fans, they'll move a little quicker re: adding NFLNetwork. Count on that starting to happen well before the first game of that package airs.

Gotta Ngata.

Valid point. And while I never joined the tar-and-feathers brigade chasing after Mularkey, I'm not real fond of him right now -- that "I'm coming back... umm, maybe not" routine he pulled cost the Bills a week's worth of interviews.