NFL News & Rumors Digest

Sometimes, football is just about avoiding the massive mistake.  The Rams have specialized on massive errors in the initial half of Monday night’s game.

The Giants lead 21-6 in spite of a woeful performance by their offense for most of the 1st half.  All 3 New York touchdowns came off large Rams errors.

New York scored their 1st touchdown following a muffed punt, and a long third down penalty by St. Louis.  Giants linebacker Michael Boley picked up a Sam Bradford lateral to Cadillac Williams for a lengthy return touchdown for the second score.  Eli Manning lastly put together a excellent drive to close the first half, but it only happened right after a Rams penalty helped the Giants escape the shadow of their own aim line.

Bradford and the Rams offense had Massive Blue on the ropes early with a no huddle offense, but had to settle for short field objectives.  New York’s pass rush came alive in the second quarter as soon as it settled in.  Look for St. Louis to bring back the hurry up to commence the second half.

If the Giants can just keep away from their own massive mistake in the second half, they ought to be in good shape.

UPDATE: The Giants lead 28-9, but lost wide receivers Domenik Hixon (knee) and Mario Manningham (concussion) for the rest of the game.

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Saints coach Sean Payton is known as 1 of the boldest play callers in the NFL, a coach who runs a creative offensive technique and isn’t afraid to take probabilities.

So what was he doing on the last play of the Saints’ loss to the Packers?

Right after a pass interference penalty set the Saints up with one far more opportunity from the 1-yard line, with no time left on the clock, Payton had one play to call to give the Saints a shot at sending the game into overtime. And what did he call? The most obvious play you could picture from the 1-yard line: A handoff up the middle to Mark Ingram.

The Packers’ defense saw the play coming a mile away, stuffed it, and celebrated their opening night victory.

Why not fake a handoff up the middle, have Drew Brees roll out and give him the solution of passing to the tight end or running it into the finish zone himself? Why not spread your wide receivers wide and force the Packers’ defense to spread out? If you are going to run, why not a draw play for Darren Sproles?

Payton — the man who wasn’t afraid to call an onside kick to commence the second half of the Super Bowl — decided to go with the plainest, most conventional call in his playbook with no time left. It didn’t make any sense.

And with that, the Saints are -1.

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Former NFL QB Jim Miller, who is now a radio and Tv analyst, reports the Bills had been going to trade back into the 1st round if Christian Ponder was still on the board.

Peter King of SI.com thinks the Dolphins regret their trade for WR Brandon Marshall.

The college position coach of Patriots T Nate Solder has no doubts about his pupil’s capability to star in the NFL.

Ravens CB Jimmy Smith would like to swap numbers with CB Lardarius Webb.

The Bengals believe they got players who will aid on special teams.

Bold draft day trades are absolutely nothing new for the Browns, but they haven’t borne significantly fruit.

Steelers RB Baron Batch detailed his draft day reunion with his father.

LB Brooks Reed could have an immediate impact on the Texans defense.

The Colts created a concerted effort to greater defend their biggest asset during the draft.

LB Kirk Morrison remains open to the thought of returning to the Jaguars.

Titans QB Jake Locker has a massive fan in Warren Moon.

A vehicle accident gave Broncos LB Nate Irving a new outlook on life.

Chiefs coach Todd Haley has a lot of experience with high-maintenance wide receivers.

Raiders free of charge agent CB Nnamdi Asomugha highlights a low-wattage group of cost-free agents.

The Chargers would like to maintain LB Kevin Burnett.

Cowboys QB Tony Romo is going to try to qualify for the U.S. Open once more this year.

Giants TE Kevin Boss said his rehab from hip surgery is coming along nicely.

Eagles DE Victor Abiamiri is working difficult to alter his label as an injury-prone player.

An assessment of Redskins QB John Beck’s fitness for a beginning role.

DT Stephen Paea wants to make the Bears look good for trading up to get him.

The Lions wanted to trade up for CB Patrick Peterson last Thursday.

An in-depth recap of what the Packers did in the course of the draft.

When Vikings DT Christian Ballard failed a drug test is a lot more alarming than the truth that he failed a drug test.

Jay Glazer of FOX reports that the Falcons would have selected T Gabe Carimi if they had been unable to make the trade for Julio Jones.

Panthers QB Cam Newton’s brother was drafted by the UFL this week.

Saints QB Drew Brees thinks there’s still a big role for RB Reggie Bush on the team.

Former Buccaneers LB Derrick Brooks was honored by the team at a dinner on Saturday night.

This year’s draft showed how much power WR Larry Fitzgerald enjoys in the Cardinals organization.

Rams WR Mardy Gilyard may will need a great camp to make the team.

Trent Dilfer of ESPN believes 49ers RB Kendall Hunter could be the steal of the draft.

Andy Benoit of the New York Times applauds Seahawks WR Mike Williams’ comeback, but says he’s still just a possession receiver.

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Cleveland quarterback Colt McCoy has organized workouts in Texas for a few of his teammates during the NFL lockout. Several of the wide receivers are joining him in Austin to throw the ball around. By this time next week, he may have new targets. With the No. 6 overall pick in next week’s draft, the Browns may have the chance to add a top-flight wide receiver like Georgia’s A.J.

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Expect the Rams to be connected to plenty of free agent wide receivers when and if we actually have free agency. The Rams have a group of so-so receivers, with the best among them (Donnie Avery) coming off a serious injury.   Mark Clayton is expected to be re-signed, but he’s also coming off big injury.…

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The Detroit Lions have lost an assistant coach to the college ranks. Bruce Feldman of ESPN reports that Lions assistant Daron Roberts has accepted a position at West Virginia, where he’ll be the special teams coordinator and inside wide receivers coach. Roberts is still listed as assistant secondary coach on the team’s web site, and…

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New York Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery thinks he’ll be able to run in three to four weeks and will be prepared for training camp after undergoing surgery to fix a herniated disc in his back Feb. 3. Specifically, Cotchery underwent a microdiscectomy. Cotchery told ESPNNewYork.com that doctors “shaved off” the piece of the disc that was pressing against a nerve, causing shooting pain down his leg and into his foot. Cotchery had been feeling the effects of this injury since last year, but he decided to hold off on surgery. Unfortunately for him, the ailment didn’t heal with rehab and exercise.
“It wasn’t a good feeling,” Cotchery said. “It was pretty painful. I wouldn’t want any football player to have to go through that.”
Cotchery finished with the most recent regular season with 41 receptions for 433 yards and two touchdowns. FANTASY ANALYSIS: The back injury is being cited as the culprit for Cotchery’s many drops in 2010.
Cotchery’s role on the Jets next season will be determined by what the team is able to do with their free-agent wide receivers, Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes and Brad Smith. General manager Mike Tannenbaum has said he wants to re-sign all three, but his hands are tied without a collective bargaining agreement in place. I don’t think Jets will re-sign both Edwards and Holmes, which means Cotchery will probably see more time in the starting lineup. But the increased role doesn’t cover the fact that he’s a possession receiver in a run-first, run-second offense. He’s a WR3 in 12-team leagues at best.

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The quarterback position in Oakland took on a musical chairs format in 2010. Jason Campbell started the first two games before he was benched for Bruce Gradkowski. He re-gained the reins in week six after a Gradkowski injury, only to land back on the sidelines in week 12. But new Raiders head coach Hue Jackson wants to make one thing clear: Campbell is his starting quarterback for next season.
“There’s no question he is,” Jackson said of Campbell on Monday. “The guy won some very important games. The guy played hurt. The guy got to know his teammates, rallied his team, and finished very strong. He helped us win, obviously, every game in our division, there’s no question he is definitely the unquestioned starter on this football team at this point. But I think he knows without any shadow of a doubt, there’s work to do, and we have to do a great job of surrounding him, putting better players around him so he can go out and be the quarterback that we all know he can be.” FANTASY ANALYSIS: Gradkowski is scheduled to become a free agent this summer, so Campebll’s competition for the starting job appears to be very thin, no matter Jackson’s proclamation. It’s clear that he’s a Campbell guy whereas former head coach Tom Cable was a Gradkowski backer. Oakland has a nice group of wide receivers with potential such as Jacoby Ford, Louis Murphy and Chaz Schilens — I’m forever on that bandwagon — but Campbell isn’t a volume passer and the Raiders will still deploy a run-based offense under Jackson. Campbell is a mid-range QB2 in fantasy.

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