Sports Blog

The NFL regular games are about to start. The New England Patriots are now the favorite to win the Superbowl because of the upgraded line up they made in the off-season. The inclusion of Randy Moss has made this the team to beat. Also, the addition of Dante Stallworth says it all.

Tom Brady almost captured his fourth ring last year but they were short. The much contested AFC contains games with gnashing and bashing of teeth. The defending champion Indianapolis Colts, the chargers, and the Ravens are just the teams to deal with for the Patriots.

with the season about to start, why not cool of the season? Tom Brady must say, “Give me now the ring”.

Two days after being criticized on national television by Barber for a lack of strong leadership, Manning ripped his former teammate and current NBC football analyst for distracting the team last season with his early retirement announcement and his criticism of coach Tom Coughlin.

The soft-spoken Manning has to defend himself. Well, Tiki, you brought more trouble last year by calling your retirement. Am I right?

The report on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York said Donaghy will provide prosecutors as many as 20 names of other NBA officials and will detail their involvement in some form of gambling, believed to include betting in casinos.

The offenses may not include criminal activity, according to the report, but could violate NBA policy and lead to firings that would decimate the officiating staff. Twenty referees would make up about a third of the league’s roster.

I hope they will scrutinized the NFL also.

Playing his first game since tearing a knee ligament last November, McNabb did everything but scramble in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 27-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Friday night.

The five-time Pro Bowl quarterback put on an aerial display in the first quarter, finishing 6-for-9 for 138 yards, including a 58-yard strike to tight end Matt Schobel. He led the Eagles (1-1) to 10 points on four possessions, before giving way to backup A.J. Feeley.

With training camp ending today, JaMarcus Russell’s agents and the Raiders are no closer to signing a deal than they were when players reported to Napa on July 27. Talks between both sides have been practically nonexistent for more than a week, which has some team and league insiders thinking the impasse could extend into September.

No matter what happens, it seems that Oakland needs a lot of help not only from Jamarcus Russell.

As Michael Vick’s lawyers negotiated with prosecutors over the past week, the person with direct knowledge of the case said that people who represented Vick tried to reach out to the NFL to find out how the league planned to punish Vick.

But the NFL refused to discuss Vick’s punishment. “We are not in discussion with anyone about his possible suspension,” Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the NFL, said in an e-mail message.

Well, let’s see what will happen.

The last time Troy Smith played a significant football game, he was vying for a national championship.

In his NFL debut Monday night, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner will be competing for a job.
Smith and former UCLA standout Drew Olson are seeking to begin the season as the Baltimore Ravens’ third-string quarterback behind Steve McNair and Kyle Boller. The duel begins in earnest against the Philadelphia Eagles in the preseason opener for both teams.

The winner gets a spot on the roster with a team that has high hopes for reaching the Super Bowl.

“I’m getting a chance and opportunity to be part of something special here, and it’s my first Monday night football game. It means a lot,” Smith said. “Getting back out there on the field just means a lot. I’m just anxious to get out there.”

If nothing else, Smith will have another game to think about instead of the debacle in the BCS title game, when unbeaten Ohio State got blown out by Florida 41-14.

The 6-foot Smith, Baltimore’s fifth-round pick in the draft, has been deemed by some critics to be too small to play in the NFL. The 6-2 Olson has the edge in height and experience, having played in the preseason as a rookie last year and in NFL Europa over the summer.

Bring it on, Smith says.

Titans starting quarterback Vince Young was held out of Saturday night’s preseason game by coach Jeff Fisher for violating a team rule.

Fisher announced about an hour before the home game against the Washington Redskins that Young, who had been scheduled to run the Titans’ offense into the second quarter, for three or four series, would not play in the opening preseason contest.

Thirteen-year veteran Kerry Collins got the start in place of Young.

Fisher did not specify what rule Young had broken. But The (Nashville) Tennessean reported on its Web site that Young, the league’s 2006 offensive rookie of the year, violated a curfew by spending a night at home instead of in the hotel where the team is headquartered during training camp.

Adam Schefter, an NFL analyst, is reporting at NFL.com that the Raiders have traded Randy Moss to New England. Moss is in New England right now taking a physical with the Patriots’ team doctors, and if he passes the physical, the Patriots will ship a fourth-round pick in today’s draft to Oakland in exchange for Moss.

Moss already has agreed to dramatically restructure his contract, which is scheduled to pay him $9.75 million this coming season. New England was the one and only place Moss would agree to take a reduced contract, and he did so knowing that he would have the chance to win a Super Bowl. With the offseason that New England has had, no team in football has a better chance.

With this development, the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the happiest person right now. They (more…)

Desperate to resume his career, a “down and out” Ryan Tucker risked his football future by taking steroids.

He’ll pay for it — and so will the Browns.

Tucker, Cleveland’s rock-solid right offensive tackle, was suspended Friday for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

Tucker admitted taking a banned substance, saying he did so while being treated for a mental disorder that limited him to nine games last season.

“I didn’t intend to compromise the integrity of the NFL, my team,” a remorseful Tucker said following Friday’s morning practice. “I want to apologize to the fans, my family. It’s been a long road in which I was pretty down and out last year. In my attempt to come back I took a banned substance.