Teams That Didn’t Show Up in Week One of the NFL Season

Nothing like playing Monday morning NFL Quarterback, but it was so clear that there were a few teams that did not show up this past Sunday. I think I was there with the majority of you saying, “What the hell?” So let’s bash on some failed week one teams.

1. Carolina Panthers – Wow, either Philly is that good or Carolina is still hurting from the beat down that Arizona laid on them in the playoffs last year. This game was over before half; in fact the starters for Philly left the field in the 3rd Quarter. This felt like a preseason game. Look out Carolina this could be a disaster season.

2. Houston Texans – Everyone was picking Houston as their sleeper team in the National media and they were right they were fast asleep on Monday and made Mark Sanchez look like the next Tom Brady. Coach Rex Ryan (New York Jets) looks brilliant and Jets fans are probably booking Super Bowl tickets this morning.

3. St. Louis Rams – So if you are a fantasy football player there is always that mid-1st round pick that you may have landed and Stephen Jackson joins your team. You try to justify it, however this team is garbage and Stephen can only do so much year after year. I just feel bad great baseball city wanting some football.

4. Jay Cutler & The Bears WR’s – Whoops, this is not a team, but it was hard not to sit back and wonder if Chicago ran any passing plays in the offseason. At one point I felt like Cutler was trying to throw interceptions because he was upset. The bad luck of the Cubs may have rubbed off on this one and let’s never crown a new player the King of Chicago sports until he has produced on the field.

5. Cincinnati Bengals – How bad was the Cincinnati vs. Denver game? It was terrible and the sports gamblers cringed as we watched one of the craziest finishes unfold with Denver on the winner’s side destroying the point spread. This team looked as bad as expected and if they won that game the Broncos would be in this slot.

6. Denver Broncos – See above, I’m just angry at how things played out with McDaniels, Cutler and Marshall. Use to support this team when John Elway was running the show.

7. Steelers Running Game – Willie Parker and Rashard Mendenhall this one goes out to you. I thought that the Steelers were a hard nosed grind it on the ground football team? What happened? Big Ben did and now this team looks a lot like a Kurt Warner led team or the New England Patriots or the Colts. Funny thing is, does Pitt even need a running game to win?

8. Arizona Cardinals – There could be arguments to see the Dolphins, Browns or Buccaneers in this slot, however Arizona really let us all down on Sunday and I think we kind of saw it coming. This team did not look like a near Super Bowl champion from last year. When Tim Hightower is your leading WR, there are problems on the O-Line.

9. & 10. Buffalo Bills & Oakland Raiders – I am saving the bottom two slots for teams that should let us down as expected tonight. I hope that I am wrong, I really do for the sake of competition, but a T.O. led Bills team and an Al Davis led Raiders team spells disaster for me.

NBA: Ricky Rubio Stays In Spain For Two More Years

Who is Ricky Rubio? Why are we talking about a young kid staying Spain? If you are asking this you clearly missed the 2009 NBA Draft this year. The Minnesota Timberwolves decided to draft two PG’s in the first round this year with Ricky Rubio (Pick 5) and Jonny Flynn (Pick 6).

So what happens when a player delays joining a NBA team? Well thanks for asking. The Timberwolves will continue to own the rights to Ricky Rubio, so if any NBA team has interest in Rubio they will have to present a deal that makes sense for them to trade off his rights. This is great for the buzz that Rubio received recently, however will it hold strong as a long term investment or be a waste of a pick with a guy that only wanted to move to the United States if it involved locating to Miami or LA.
This brought to attention famous draft picks that refused to sign with the team that selected them. The most recent example that I can provide is Eli Manning. Eli was drafted by San Diego and then traded to the New York Giants. The Chargers used these picks to bring in Philip Rivers and Shawn Merriman. So who got the last laugh, maybe the Giants with one Super Bowl in the books since the trade or the Chargers with a leader on Offense and Defense? What do you think?

An even deeper dig would be when John Elway was drafted by the Baltimore Colts and then traded to the Denver Broncos. Should I even ask who received the better side of this trade? Baltimore received the following: QB Mark Herrmann, OL Chris Hinton, and OG Ron Solt. Denver enjoyed the two Super Bowl wins I am sure.

So while the two examples provided do not look terribly pretty for the Timberwolves. I guess the hope of new head coach Kurt Rambis is that they will get a trade similar to the Chargers/Giants and far from the Baltimore/Denver deal.