I haven’t written for awhile, but now is as good a time as any to get back into the swing of things.
First, congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for their Super Bowl victory. Considering what that region has been through, you have to be happy for them. A championship is by no means a cure all, but it certainly will give that city something to proud of.
The Giants hired a new defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell, who was the DC of the Buffalo Bills for the last four years. I don’t know much about his style, but I can say one thing. I happened to see a smidgen of game last year where he was serving as the interim head coach after Dick Jauron was fired. If I remember correctly, the Bills had just defended a trick play by Jacksonville near the end zone and Fewell exuded energy on the sideline, celebrating with his players. Win or lose, I want to see some passion from my coaches. I think Fewell will bring just that. A good hire.
I heard an interesting assessment from ESPN’s Sal Palentonio about an uncapped year in 2010. It appears we are headed for that with no CBA agreement on the horizon. With that, Palentonio believes that rather than seeing a spending frenzy, quite the opposite will happen. Owners will collude in their free agency spending to drive down the salary cap, saving more money and preparing for a possible lockout come 2011. Kinda makes sense. What do you do when you know troubled times are ahead? You cut back.
The other thing worth mentioning comes from something I heard on a Philadelphia sports station on my way to work. John Mara’s comments about how angered he was over this past season have been well documented. This particular morning show was in awe of Mara because, only two years removed from a Super Bowl victory, he was still demanding excellence. Of course they were comparing this to their own franchise, which typically likes to refer to itself as the “gold standard” of NFL teams despite not having any hardware. I think we are pretty fortunate to have such candid leadership from an owner.
The combine followed by free agency are just around the corner…