With the 142nd pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select punter Kevin Huber, University of Cincinnati. The Bengals had one of the worst punting performances in the league last year. With an offense that ranked dead last in the league, there was a certain disadvantage with a punter that didn't help the Bengals field position. In a division that's clearly defensive-oriented, having a quality punter only helps the Bengals field position and was addressed as a serious need. Now, if Huber could have been selected later in the draft, that's another debate.

Rivals Scouting Report

Positives: Intelligent. Steady and level-headed. Good work ethic. Strives to get better at his craft and knows the way to the weight room. Excellent production. Very good leg strength. Nice placement to hem opponents inside the 20-yard line. Gets good lift and hang time. Only two punts leaked into the endzone as a senior. Served as the holder on placements. Well respected.

Negatives: Was less than impressive at the Senior Bowl. Get-off times are just average — 1.3 to 1.4 seconds. Could hasten his delivery. Did not punt his first two years at Cincinnati.

Summary: Good-sized, directional lefty who shows the ability to keep the ball outside the numbers. Hard worker with above-average leg strength to win a job.

There's several bits that we need to be aware of regarding the annual NFL Owners Meetings. First off, the NFL PR department informed the media that compensatory picks should be announced around 7:30 p.m. The best the Bengals can look for is a third-round pick, a sixth and two seventh-round picks. The worst being a fourth-round pick and a seventh-round pick. Likely, it'll be something in between.

Also a press conference is scheduled to be announce the 2009 NFL rule changes.

We've already learned opening day weekend's national schedule, as well as the Thanksgiving Day games.

Also, the league announced an extension with Direct TV taking their NFL Sunday Ticket through the 2014 season. Here's the Press Release.

The National Football League announced today an agreement to extend DIRECTV’s rights to carry NFL Sunday Ticket.  DIRECTV will continue to have exclusive television rights to air the package of Sunday afternoon games through the 2014 NFL season.

The agreement also significantly broadens the reach of NFL Sunday Ticket by enabling NFL fans that cannot receive DIRECTV satellite service to get NFL Sunday Ticket via broadband.  This service will begin no later than 2012.

In addition, the NFL will offer fans (also no later than 2012) a new “Red Zone Channel” that shows crucial live action cut-ins of all Sunday afternoon games starting at 1 p.m. ET and continuing through the conclusion of the 4 p.m. ET games. The “Red Zone Channel” will be available to cable, telco and satellite systems, wireless devices, and the Internet.

We are pleased to extend a partnership with DIRECTV that has complemented and supported our broadcast television packages for 15 years,” said NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL.  “We are looking forward to having the Red Zone channel on cable and other media platforms as well as showing NFL Sunday Ticket via broadband to the homes that cannot get satellite. This new content enhances our tradition of being the most pro-consumer, widely available sport on television.”

“The NFL SUNDAY TICKET™  service has been a part of DIRECTV since our first year of operation and is one of the defining characteristics of our best-in- class positioning,” said Chase Carey, president and CEO of DIRECTV Group.  “This latest extension allows us to retain and broaden our most popular sports subscription service. Through our wireless offering to NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ customers and the new broadband service to non-customers, we’re now able to expand the reach to even more NFL fans everywhere.”

Among the new features for fans are:

• Red Zone Channel: subscribers who do not have DIRECTV will have access to the “Red Zone” channel through local cable systems or telco, satellite systems and Internet providers. This special channel has been part of NFL Sunday Ticket on DIRECTV the past four seasons and will continue for those subscribers. It provides live look-ins and real-time highlights from every Sunday afternoon game starting at 1 P.M. (ET) through the late afternoon games.  The channel switches from game to game and airs live action when a team is in the Red Zone (inside the 20-yard line) and poised to score. A host also provides real-time scoring and fantasy updates.
• NFL Sunday Ticket on Broadband: Fans who live in areas where DIRECTV’s service is not available, such as apartment buildings or in residences with poor sightlines to a satellite signal, will be able to purchase a new NFL Sunday Ticket broadband package.

DIRECTV customers who purchase NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ and the SuperFan™ package receive all Sunday afternoon games in HD; a Game Mix channel with up to eight games on one screen; the Red Zone Channel; the SUPERCAST™ service that streams every live NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ broadcast to laptop computers; and the NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ Mobile service that delivers up-to-the-minute highlights, and soon full-length games, to cell phones, pda’s and other wireless devices.

DIRECTV also has extended its carriage agreement with NFL Network which airs seven days a week, 24 hours a day on a year-round basis and is the only network fully dedicated to the NFL and the sport of football.  NFL Network will continue to be offered in DIRECTV’s CHOICE package.

Mike Brown weighs in on the overtime issues in the NFL.

"It isn't fair in all cases if you want to argue both teams don't have a chance with the ball, but both teams have an equal chance to get a hold of the ball," Brown said. "To me, it's quicker, decisive, and dramatic. I don't feel it's unfair."

In his first sentence, he says that not all cases are fair. Then he concludes that he doesn't this it's unfair. Technicalities of the English language included, this doesn't make sense. Yea, yea. What Brown says and does doesn't make sense. We know that. It's been established time and again. However, that doesn't justify the idiocracy that Brown, and the NFL, specifically speaking the Competition Committee, have when making confusing, bewildering, muddling, perplexing, mystifying statements.

Statically, it's not fair. On Friday, Rich McKay said that nearly 50% of the team's that won the coin toss, won the game on their first possession -- forcefully leaving the eventual losers without an offensive opportunity.

Q.  Rich, you talked a minute ago about overtime and there's nothing you're going to be in a position to propose this year.  Do you have the statistics on 2008, how many teams won the coin toss ended up winning the overtime game on that first possession?

RICH McKAY:  I do have those.  We talked long and hard about them.  In fact we put them in our survey and we talked to the players about them.  I think everybody is still comfortable with the system.  Let me give you what I have.

The team that won the coin toss won 63 percent of the games

Q.  On the first possession?

RICH McKAY:  No, they won 43.4 percent on the first possession.

Q.  And then you said 63 total?

RICH McKAY:  That's correct, 63.3 percent of the games they won, and they won 43.4 of them on the first possession.

Q.  Before I let you guys go, are those numbers at all troubling to you guys that they're so high, particularly 43 percent on the first possession?

RICH McKAY:  I'll speak for myself personally.  They are troubling to me personally in the sense that I would like to see a game that you would think was “more balanced”, but I will say that when you talk to the membership and you talk to the players, I think they're comfortable with the fact that they had a chance to play defense, the game is decided in sudden death.  There is a sense they like the system and the excitement that the system brings, and there's not a real complaint by them that, oh, well, we're not getting a chance to match.  Because in their feeling, and they're very clear about it, hey, we could have helped ourselves, all we had to do was stop them.

I sense more concern, and I've had some, but I've sensed more concern with the media about it probably than they do, meaning the players, the coaches, the members of the league.  It's been something that we didn't end up with any proposal this year.

The issue isn't that the team that won the coin toss eventually won the game. It's that nearly 50% of the losing teams didn't get that offensive snap. These are Rich McKay's numbers, not mine. They were troubling to him too.

Back to Brown's statement in which he says that overtime is "quicker, decisive, and dramatic". In truth, he's right. It is quicker, decisive and dramatic, as McKay also points out. And make no mistake about it, the NFL is an entertainment business. Still, it's confusing to me that an NFL owner would actually point out that the system is fair, and that the three descriptive words include absolutely little argument on a team's chances towards success. Quicker only means that the networks can switch over to their afternoon game, or prime time programming, where advertising is strongest. Dramatic, it is. But so is every overtime-based system in other sports in which both teams receive an equal offensive shake.

The solution is simple. Once both teams have at least one handle of the football, either an offensive snap, or on a kick (punt, kickoff) return, then the game goes into sudden death. All regulation rules apply. If 56.6% of the game's that went into overtime in 2008 allowed both teams an equal shake, then where's the problem? How does it hurt the league, or anyone else for that matter, if the other 43.4% are allowed to respond? If a third possession is required, then it's required. They'd still be as decisive and dramatic. Make it about the health of the sport by completing games fully, and fairly so the games are won on the field, not the probability of a coin flip. Don't do it because you want it to be quicker, or decisive, or dramatic. That's just irresponsible for an owner to say.

(Note: You can find the full Q and A at the end of this post)

NFL Chancellor Roger Goodell gave his annual state of the NFL address, showing optimism that a deal between the league and the union will get done before the uncapped 2010 season.

On overtime:

Indicated the Competition Committee will look at tweaking overtime, perhaps moving up the kickoff to serve as something of an equalizer when a team wins the coin toss. He said 47 percent of teams winning the OT toss won the game on the first possession this season.

This is a huge jump after Clark Judge wrote that 30% of the teams that received the opening kickoff in overtime, won the game. However, Judge said his numbers go back to 1974 when the existing overtime rules were adopted. There's no telling how far Goodell's numbers go, or even if it was beyond this season. So either someone has bad information, or Goodell is serving a greater purpose to publicly spin a fact to point out ownerships support of tweaking overtime rules. Who the hell knows how that man thinks?

For instance, he began pointing about the country's suffering economy, but then said he's hopeful for putting another regular season game in Mexico in 2010. Yes, real good. Take the city's money away from them during regular season games for a city that's not even in our country. He said of the game that the Bills played in Toronto, “We said that the objective was to regionalize the Buffalo Bills, and it achieved those objectives. We were able to increase our season ticket sales in the Toronto area significantly — over 40 percent. And I think from that standpoint, we achieved what our initial goal was.” What about having an NFL franchise in London?

Still, it's the pending labor agreement that's critical to the NFL's future, which has complications of its own due to recent allegations, or "drama" surrounding the search for permanent NFLPA leadership. At least he's not suspending Bengals players to show the league setting examples; so perhaps there's progress, right?

You can find the entire Q and A after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Maybe bad quarterback play is a league-wide problem across the league. Usually after the Bengals lose during the early games on Sundays, I go through the other early games while tracking the later games being played. I was mildly surprised at the quarterback play, generally, throughout the league.

For instance, Peyton Manning threw two interceptions and fumbled at the goalline, sneaking a 10-6 victory from the Cleveland Browns. Bills' quarterback J.P. Losman, replacing an injured Trent Edwards, threw two incomplete passes and sacked on the Bills final attempt to tie the game; they lost 10-3. Even though he threw tree touchdowns and 298 yards passing, Aaron Rodgers was picked off by Jon Beasing in the closing minutes of the game, losing 35-31 at home. Marc Bulger threw three picks (16/35, 149 yards passing, no touchdowns). Drew Brees' third pick ended the Saints last minute chance to tie during their 23-20 loss to Tampa Bay. Only five quarterbacks during the early Sunday games threw for 200 yards or more.

Watching the Steelers-Patriots game is numbing. The game itself is fine, actually. It's Dan Dierdorf, who I'm nominating as the Biggest Sports Color Analyst Dick of all sports; who talks down to every player not named Ben Roethlisberger. For instance, a pass on third down to Heath Miller was low and behind the tight end. While giving Ben a free pass, Dierdorf blamed Miller because he's good enough to make the catch -- reference to the poorly thrown pass wasn't mentioned.

We figured a battle between the Packers and Cowboys would settle the NFC argument. The New York Giants dump both teams in successive weeks. In one that supposes they know everything, the Wild Card case often confirms the very nature of doubt. Go to warm Tampa Bay, weird-hole-in-dome Dallas and then -135 degree Green Bay and you're rewarded with a Super Bowl that has the New England Patriots winning by 65. None of this was expected. Each week, a majority thought the Giants opponents would win. And why not? More is promoted about this team's vulnerabilities than their strengths. Welcome to "Sports Talk."

The intriguing story is the Giants and Patriots re-match from week 17. The Patriots needed 15 fourth-quarter points just to win by three. The Giants were winning at half-time, 21-16. They were winning after the third quarter, 28-23. In the fourth quarter, the Giants went three-and-out. Eli Manning threw a pick to Ellis Hobbs. After Lawrence Maroney scored on a five-yard touchdown, the Patriots' led 38-28 with over four minutes to go. To his credit, Eli Manning took the Giants 68 yards completing a three-yard touchdown to Plaxico Burress for his fourth touchdown pass of the night. The on-side failed and Tom Brady took three knees. It wasn't like the luck-saved-our-ass Baltimore Ravens game. The win over the Giants was well worth the cost of admission.

It's good to know that the Giants nearly had their number forcing a successful conclusion that the Super Bowl will be just as entertaining. That is, if you believe in such things, that the Giants already showed their hand and the Meglo-Super-Genius Bill Belichick hasn't already devised a plan that will shatter every known Physics theory ever. The contemporary religious argument is that he'll find ample evidence that God (a.k.a., Brian Billick) doesn't exist.

I've already figured that most people don't want a Giants-Patriots game. Because what people want really matters in the scope in all things football, the argument is laid out. What's the point? There isn't any. It's fodder for a city that's long lost their playoff ambition (i.e., Bengals). And you knew that the Kelley Washington sighting would have everyone wondering if letting him go was the right move. Or wondering why the Bengals didn't have Washington become the best dag-um special teams player ever. Other than dancing, the guy was never worth the argument. Sunday's slap of the ball at the one-yard line included.

What happens when a 232-pound linebacker with over 600 career tackles gets wrestled to the ground by a referee? A grievance. No, seriously. It's nothing to take on a 300-pound lineman looking to take you out. It's nothing to collide with a running back with both going at full speed. An umpire takes a linebacker to the ground. Laughable. Reminds me of that beer commercial where the defense huddles up with one player promising a beer if they get to the quarterback -- or stop the play. Whatever. Then the ref, overhearing the bet in the huddle, takes out the quarterback on his own. Sorry. I just can't bring myself to take a linebacker's grievance on an umpire for being a little too physical seriously. And because YouTube is awesome....

Personally, I think Barnett is embarrassed that he got pwned by an umpire. Two points!

In the NFC, the Vikings knocked out several teams -- Panthers, Eagles, Lions, Cardinals -- with their Monday Night win. Unless either the Giants or Vikings lose out and either the Saints or Redskins win out, the seeding is close to being set.

The only team that has a chance to upset the top six AFC teams is the Tennessee Titans -- who have the Jets and Colts. With Indianapolis already sealed with their #2 seed -- they can't get #1 no matter what -- it's likely that the Colts will pull their better players early. The only way that the Titans can win a berth is if either the Browns or Steelers lose out and the Titans win out. A very unlikely scenario.