What do you get when you combine the political capital of the world, the media capital of the world, the first ever capital city of our country, and the hub city of a state that might as well be it's own country? Fun times in the division, that's what!
Yes, I suffer from a bias for the east... the NFC East, that is. Being the contrarian that I am, I certainly understand the geographical pride of native Texans reveling in the defeat of teams that represent the cities that dominate the national media. Washington, Philadelphia and New York control the mainstream media, and as someone with a large disdain for the generic version of historical occurrences as opposed to raw truth, this falls right in my wheel house. I love being from the DC area, and I love watching my home city suffer in the realm of the NFL. Let's take a quick tour around the NFC East to see how our rivals are keeping themselves occupied during the lockout.
According to several reports, the Washington Redskins coaching staff sent a (rumored) shock wave through the coaching community by filing a brief to the US 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. What's that you say, you had already heard of the brief? Au contraire, this brief was basically the Redskins coaches 'opting out' of an association with the other coaches that are showing support for the players. Chalk up another reason to hate Mike Shanahan and his staff. From what was initially reported, the NFL Coaches Association filed a brief with it's signers remaining anonymous, but voicing concern that the actions of the owners on the players could easily be turned around and exacted on the coaches.
As PFT's Mike Florio points out, coaches are much more easily replaced than the players are. If you think drafting a quarterback is an inexact science, try hiring a head coach. I've been squawking about how the coaches are caught in the middle of the lockout for a while now. The careers of several budding young coaches could be getting snatched away from them as the days pass and systems go uninstalled. As OCC brought to us, some coaches are having their salaries reduced during the lockout, even though they are expected to lead their teams to the playoffs despite the wrinkle thrown on their faces.
So if the Redskins coaches didn't have a risk of being 'found out' for signing the brief, did they really just alienate every fellow coach and future free agent for Dan Snyder? Dan Snyder, known as one of the most unfriendly-to-fan owners in professional sports? This just smells like a slimy mandate from the big boss to me. What a bunch of kiss ups. Viva la resistance!
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-- One of the Eagles fan posters over at BGN, MidwesternEaglesfan, compiled a list of the top 10 Eagles with something to prove. Good read, but conspicuously absent is coach Andy Reid. You'd think he'd need to win a Super Bowl sooner or later to keep his job, but they have such low expectations in Philly,
-- Michael Vick continues his image rehabilitation tour, but I have to give him credit for this message. NFL.com reports he tells a bunch of inner-city students that his hardest test and most important burden is to keep away from the friends that would influence him to do wrong. It's a message I stress to my young one all the time.
-- Giants former running back Tiki Barber had amazing feet on the field. Well, he's managed to do something hardly ever seen before, stand upright with both feet firmly planted in his mouth. Big Blue View's Mike Farley brings his take on Tiki Barber comparing his hiding out with his girlfriend from his wive to Anne Frank. Ummm... wow.
-- According to several reports, not too many people listened when Eli Manning tried to organize team workouts. Only about a dozen or so players showed up. Now the reports are that the longer the lockout goes, the better organized the practices will become. Eli Manning leading a team? I'll believe it when I see it.