Talking Football Year Round
INDIANAPOLIS -- It's officially 11 and counting when it comes to the Indianapolis Colts' offensive line. The Colts will start their 11th different offensive line group of the season Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals after placing right tackle Gosder Cherilus on season-ending injured reserve. The Colts signed David Arkin to the roster from the practice squad. Cherilus has been dealing with an assortment of injuries, the most recent being a groin issue that caused him to miss the final two games of the regular season.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Respect and leadership show up in all shapes and forms. On Wednesday, it showed for the Carolina Panthers when a rookie defensive back asked strong safety Roman Harper for permission to go to the bathroom before putting in a little overtime practice for Saturday’s NFC wild-card playoff game against Arizona. Harper is 32. Rookie cornerback Bené Benwikere is 23 and rookie free safety Tre Boston is 22. Third-year cornerback Josh Norman is 25.
CLEVELAND -- Selling offseason optimism after a December free fall is difficult even with good quarterback play. The Cleveland Browns' outlook at the game’s most important position is spiraling down to the bottom of the NFL unless Johnny Manziel can take ownership of the job this offseason. Manziel was drafted before Minnesota’s Teddy Bridgewater and Oakland’s Derek Carr, yet both franchises have more quarterback security than the Browns do, in part because those rookies were able to play through mistakes.
ALLEN PARK, Mich. – Ndamukong Suh held a memorable news conference at midday Wednesday, hours after colleague Adam Schefter reported Suh told the NFL he didn’t know he stepped on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ calves and ankles because his feet were numb from the cold. After that, I was curious whether or not this was a real issue when playing in Green Bay and whether other Detroit Lions were struggling with cold feet or not being able to feel their feet Sunday in a 30-20 loss to Green Bay.
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Dom Capers didn't even want to think about where the Green Bay Packers would be without defensive tackle Letroy Guion. At first, he chuckled at the suggestion, and then he turned serious. "I'm just glad he filled a real need for us," the Packers defensive coordinator said this week. "One of the things about this game is you can run out of big guys that can make plays in there pretty quick. It becomes tough sledding if you don't have those guys.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles is trying to keep himself insulated from the chatter about him potentially become a head coach in 2015. He said Wednesday he doesn’t want to know who’s interested in interviewing him, but Bowles also said no interviews have been scheduled. “We’re trying to focus on the game and try to make sure our guys are ready to play right now,” Bowles said. Bowles said his assistant coaches have kept him informed that he’s one of the hottest coaching prospects in the NFL.
INDIANAPOLIS -- The record says that the Indianapolis Colts closed the regular season 3-1 and wrapped up the AFC South along the way. They’ll take those three victories but they weren’t the type of victories that made you think that they're ready for the playoffs. The Colts know it, too, that’s why tight end Dwayne Allen had no problem being blunt. “We’ve been underperforming in the month of December,” Allen said.
RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, who earned his first Pro Bowl selection last week, was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month on Wednesday. Wagner, in his third season out of Utah State, missed five games in the middle of the season with a turf-toe injury but has been on a tear since he returned for the final six games. The Seattle defense has allowed only 39 total points since Wagner returned. Wagner had 36 tackles in the four December games.
IRVING, Texas – Dallas Cowboys linebacker Rolando McClain returned to practice on a limited basis Wednesday. McClain did not play in the regular-season finale because of an illness, which is still listed as part of the reason why he was limited. He has been playing through a sore knee for the last few months. With rookie linebacker Anthony Hitchens missing practice with a high right ankle sprain, Cameron Lawrence took first-team snaps at middle linebacker.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Perhaps seeing his 1998 Dodge truck on its side with the roof smashed in was the best thing to happen to Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. He learned to better appreciate life. He learned not to take football so seriously. He learned to have fun playing football again. And when Newton is having fun, the Panthers typically have fun as well. “He’s probably the only one that can really explain it, but I know when I visited him in the hospital and just listening to him, I felt like he felt this was enlightening,’’ Carolina coach Ron Rivera said on Wednesday.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- In the end it was a play that had little risk and plenty of reward for two players the Denver Broncos thought might need a little pick-me-up for their efforts. Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase and quarterback Peyton Manning offered a light-hearted glimpse behind the 1-yard touchdown pass from Brock Osweiler to Virgil Green with 1 minute, 56 seconds remaining in the Broncos’ 47-14 victory over the Oakland Raiders this past Sunday.
CINCINNATI -- A.J. Green was sidelined Wednesday afternoon as the Cincinnati Bengals went through their first practice of wild-card week. It really wasn't surprising to see him spending the open portion of the workout off to the side while teammates went through drills. That's because he remains under the team's concussion protocol until he passes the battery of tests that are required before he's allowed to practice or play again. Coach Marvin Lewis confirmed earlier in the day during his weekly news conference that Green was still under the protocol.
IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys starting center Travis Frederick had no reaction to the NFL's decision to overturn a one-game suspension on Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. The only thing the Pro Bowl center cared about was stopping Suh, whom the Cowboys will face in a NFC wild-card playoff game on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. "It didn’t matter either way; they have a lot of great players on their defense and would have been fine without him, but are also that much better with him on that team," Frederick said after Wednesday's practice.
SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Chargers general manager Tom Telesco acknowledged last week’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that brought an abrupt end to the 2014 season still lingered into this week. “We didn’t play our best football in December, but still had a chance to get in,” Telesco said. “And then obviously when you lose that game, everything just stops. It’s over. You didn’t accomplish your goal, and you’re starting on next year.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak said he isn't going to talk about being a head-coaching candidate because he wants to stay focused on the playoffs. Even before he was linked to the openings with the New York Jets and Chicago Bears, Kubiak told coach John Harbaugh on Monday, "Anybody that wants to talk to me, just tell them no. I'm a busy man right now." "I told you guys before that I'm consumed with what I'm doing," Kubiak said Wednesday.
Healthy all season for the first time since 2009, Jay Cutler completed a career-high 66 percent of his passes in 2014 and set a career record for touchdown passes (28) in addition to racking up the second-most passing yards (3,812) in his nine NFL seasons. Yet from 2013 to 2014, the quarterback experienced the steepest decline of his Bears tenure in Total QBR (from 66.4 to 54.0). So while the raw numbers indicate Cutler produced a strong campaign in 2014, the Total QBR tells a different tale as his 54.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers used their bye week in November to fix their defense, so what will they do during their playoff bye? "I'm excited about some of the new wrinkles that we may move forward with and what we'll be able to do in the playoffs," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. That defensive coordinator Dom Capers can spend this week cooking up something new rather than fixing the old shows just how much progress his unit made since the halfway point of the season.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- If facing the Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson and the San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick in back-to-back weeks wasn’t enough, the Arizona Cardinals have spent the short week leading up to their wild card game preparing for another mobile quarterback. And he may be the toughest of the three. While Cam Newton is similar to Wilson and Kaepernick because he relies on his feet to make plays, he’ll present the Cardinals with an entirely different set of challenges because of his size and because he runs between the tackles.
With San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York saying he wants a “teacher” in the mold of Bill Walsh as his next head coach, it’s been suggested here the likes of 60-something old-schoolers Mike Shanahan and Mike Holmgren could be intriguing candidates. And according to CSNBayArea.com, Shanahan has spoken with Niners general manager Trent Baalke. Shanahan, 62, has roots with the Niners, having coached in San Francisco as offensive coordinator from 1992 through 1994.
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- After listening to St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher talk Tuesday afternoon, a muddled quarterback position gained a little bit of clarity at least in terms of what the plan is moving forward. Part of that plan includes retaining veteran signal caller Sam Bradford. In their ideal world, the Rams could reduce Bradford's $16.58 million salary cap number for 2015 by bringing him back on a more team-friendly deal. Beyond that, the Rams plan to add competition at the position, either via free agency or through the draft.
While the Detroit Lions waited to hear about the immediate future of star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the team also spent part of the day working out some defensive tackles. The Lions worked out Jermelle Cudjo and Ogemdi Nwagbuo on Tuesday, according to ESPN Insider Field Yates. The team also signed former Boston College wide receiver Ifeanyi Momah to a reserve/futures deal. The 6-foot-7 Momah was briefly on the Lions' practice squad this season, during the week the team went to London.
While neither CEO Jed York nor general manager Trent Baalke will acknowledge who they will interview for the San Francisco 49ers’ head coaching opening -- “Are we ever transparent in what we do?” Baalke joked, we think -- names of potential candidates have begun to leak. National reports have the Niners looking to secure interviews with Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase and New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels for later in the week.
SAN DIEGO -- After playing 16 games for the first time in four years -- in a season filled with highs and lows -- San Diego Chargers edge-rusher Dwight Freeney said after his team’s disappointing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that he needed time to reflect before deciding if he will play a 14th season. And that’s understood. We’re talking about a potential Hall of Famer in the Syracuse product, who played a total of 531 snaps for the Chargers in 2014.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- If quarterback Drew Stanton wants to play in Arizona's Wild Card game Saturday at Carolina, he has to practice at least one day this week, coach Bruce Arians said. That’s it. Just one. It doesn’t matter if it happened Tuesday or comes Wednesday or Thursday. That's all Arians wants to see from Stanton before he hands him the ball against the Panthers. But time is running out on Stanton. He wasn’t on the field during the part of Arizona’s practice Tuesday open to the media.
Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell has been asked in varying ways this season what it would be like not to have Ndamukong Suh in the lineup. What would this defense be like without him this season? What will this team look like without him next season if he departs via free agency? Consistently, Caldwell has said he doesn’t want to find out. After Suh twice stepped on Aaron Rodgers' leg Sunday and drew a one-game suspension, Caldwell learned what devising a game plan without Suh would look like.