Financially savvy NFL players

Steelers wide receiver uses a budget his mom helped create and has saved 'most' of his $35 million in career earnings

Excerpt:

Heyward-Bey, with the help of his mother, who is a certified accountant, has been frugal with his nearly $35 million in career earnings, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

Heyward-Bey made nearly $30 million in his four years with the Oakland Raiders prior to a stop in Indianapolis in 2013 and then joining the Steelers in 2014. They re-signed him this previous offseason.

The 29-year-old receiver has managed his money closely, saving "most" of it, according to Fowler.

Darrius and his mother designed a monthly allowance for him and he pays her a commission to help manage his money and track his expenses. "I get an email [from her] every Tuesday," Heyward-Bey told Fowler. "I can read it over, check it up. I see where the money is going."

Comment: Heyward-Bey image source / Quin image source / for a complete contrast see The Sad Financial Future of Many NFL Players

Detroit Lions player has doubled his money in 8 years by investing 70% of his NFL salary

Excerpt:

Detroit Lions safety Glover Quin is in the fourth year of his five-year, $23.5 million contract. But by living on just 30% of that salary and investing the other 70%, Quin has managed to double his money.

In a fantastic story from Michael Rothstein of ESPN, Quin said his frugal tendencies and savvy investments — from the moment he entered the NFL in 2009 — had allowed him to effectively earn two contracts simultaneously.

"To sit here and say I've played for eight years and made this much money, I was in a couple investments for five years and kind of made the same amount of money," Quin told ESPN. "It's kind of like having a double NFL career, you know."

Even our NFL "heroes" need to budget, conserve, invest wisely and diversify

The Sad Financial Future That Awaits Many NFL Players
Excerpt:

For our research published last year in the American Economic Review, we collected data on more than 2,000 players—all of those who were drafted by the NFL from 1996 to 2003—and followed them until 2013. We were interested in seeing how well football players do, financially, after they leave the game. Because it is very hard to find out how much they earned and spent after they retire, we looked at a simple measure of financial distress that is publicly available: bankruptcy filings. And we found that things did not go well at all. Football players, even those with short careers, usually earn more than what most college-educated workers earn during a lifetime. Because NFL careers are so short, the players’ post-NFL retirements can be long. Many get other jobs, but only a tiny percentage end up with coveted high-salary jobs such as sportscasting. After 12 years in post-NFL retirement, more than 15% of the players we followed had declared bankruptcy. We also found that bankruptcy does not depend on how much an NFL player earned in his career or how long he plays. Amazingly, higher income or longer careers seem to offer little protection against bankruptcy. These findings have been documented, with some variation, by other sources. There are numerous news stories and interviews describing instances where players have lost all the money they earned. Unfortunately, we continue to witness this phenomenon each year.

1 in 6 NFL players go bankrupt
Excerpt:

Studies have shown that a high percentage of NFL players declare bankruptcy after their playing days, and many others suffer financial difficulties. A Sports Illustrated (SI) article from 2009 indicated that after two years of retirement, a whopping 78 percent of former NFL players went bankrupt or suffered financial stress due to joblessness or divorce -- although in fairness, that analysis falls into the heart of the Great Recession. A recently released study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) focused on the bankruptcy aspect. The NBER working paper studied NFL players who had been drafted between 1996 and 2003. The authors found that bankruptcy filings began relatively soon after retirement and continued all the way through the first dozen post-retirement years. Taken in total, almost 16 percent of the players studied declared bankruptcy during the first twelve years of retirement. The bankruptcies did not correlate with the amount of money made over a career or the length of time in the league. Keep in mind that there are plenty of undrafted players who spend some time in the NFL (just over 31 percent in 2013 according to the Elias Sports Bureau) and most make nowhere near the money that drafted players do. Adding those players could skew the statistics either way -- the undrafted players made less money to save, yet the undrafted player may have a greater sense of how short the NFL experience can be and may be more likely to engage in financial planning. Financial planning, or more precisely the lack of it, is the main point. While the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) started a financial wellness program around the time of the SI article, too many players either do not take the advice or do not fully understand it. It is hard for an NFL athlete to fully grasp the fact that his career is short-lived and that he must plan for the future. The NBER paper points out that NFL players do not follow the "life-cycle model" of savings. In this model, people try to balance their consumption over their lifetime and save for the future, instead of simply consuming more in proportion with their current income. One could argue that most Americans do not follow that model either -- but most Americans do not get annual contracts averaging millions of dollars, especially knowing in advance that the income is short-term

Why NFL Players Are So Likely to Declare Bankruptcy
Excerpt:

In the opening anecdote of the Sports Illustrated story, Raghib (Rocket) Ismail, the Notre Dame superstar who played in the CFL and NFL and earned as much as $4.5 million per year, recalled how impervious he was to financial advice early on in his career. “I once had a meeting with J.P. Morgan,” he said, “and it was literally like listening to Charlie Brown’s teacher.” They get bad advice and make bad decisions. Ismail blew money on a wide range of sketchy investments, including a religious movie, a music label, and various high-risk restaurant and retail endeavors. Many players have sued their advisors after allegedly being scammed out of millions. In one suit filed in 2013, a group of 16 former and current NFL players claimed they were collectively bilked for more than $50 million based on the actions of an advisor who had allegedly invested the money in an illegal casino. “Regulated or not, shady advisors have made quite a mark on the NFL financial scene,” the authors of the 2014 book Is There Life After Football? Surviving the NFL wrote. “Before closer scrutiny was instituted, at least 78 players lost more than $42 million between 1999 and 2002 because they trusted money to agents and financial advisors with questionable backgrounds.” More recently, seven-time Pro Bowler Dwight Freeney sued Bank of America for $20 million, because a former adviser from the bank supposedly defrauded him by (illegally) wiring millions of dollars out of Freeney’s account. In another recent case, it is a former NFL player who is himself being accused of operating a sketchy investing scheme. In early April, the SEC filed a federal fraud complaint against former NFL player Will Allen and a business associate, who together allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme, using money from some investors to pay off others. The operation was supposed to be loaning money to athletes who were short of cash, but the suit claims roughly $7 million raised from investors was used instead for personal expenses of Allen and his associate. They get used to a certain lifestyle. Warren Sapp reportedly had 240 pairs of collectible sneakers, including 213 sets of Air Jordans, which wound up selling for more than $6,000 at auction. Former standout wide receiver Andre Rison famously blew $1 million on jewelry and routinely walked around clubs with tens of thousands of dollars in cash in his pockets, he recalled in the “Broke” documentary. Troubled cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones has said that he once dropped $1 million in a single weekend in Las Vegas. Extravagant spending is ingrained in NFL culture, insiders say. “Around the locker room, players’ cars, clothes, houses and ‘bling’ are constantly scrutinized. If they’re not up to par, they’re ridiculed,” former Green Bay Packers’ George E. Koonce, Jr. and his fellow authors explained in Is There Life After Football? “Players don’t see their bills or keep track of their payments. They’re in the dark about taxes. They lose touch with their own money.” Once they retire and the millions stop flowing into their bank accounts, many players find it impossible to dramatically shift gears and adapt to life on a limited fixed income. It’s all the more difficult because they’re still relatively young and aren’t anywhere near ready to embrace the sensible, low-key, downsized lifestyle of the typical 70-year-old retiree.

How Dan Marino, Vince Young and Other Broke NFL Players Lost Their Fortunes
Excerpt:

Dan Marino, a former quarterback for the Miami Dolphins with a decorated NFL career, recently suffered a major financial setback after losing big in a major investment. The nine-time pro bowler and analyst with CBS’ “The NFL Today,” has accumulated millions over his career, but he lost a major portion of that money in one investment in a company called Digital Domain from which he purchased 1,575,525 shares. The company is popular for producing the famous hologram of dead rapper Tupac Shakur at the Coachella Music and Art Festival. However, the company soon after filed for bankruptcy, taking Marino’s stock with it. According to reports, the 51-year-old Marino’s investment might have resulted in a loss of $14 million.

There’s A Difference Between Broke And Bankrupt For Ex-NFL Players
Excerpt:

What the NFL did instead was eventually market its own study, published months after my SI article in 2009, with findings that were more pessimistic than the NBER working paper’s but more optimistic than the ones in my article. The league supplied University of Michigan researchers with an even more rarified sample of players: pension-eligible retirees, meaning those who had played a minimum of three years. The average career length among those interviewed was 7.3 seasons, far longer than the NFL average.4 “We had no way to include players with shorter careers,” one of the Michigan authors, David Weir, wrote to me in 2012, “and I would certainly agree that they would be an interesting group to know more about.” That same year, I received an email from an NFL PR person with the following results for me to chew on: “45% (age 50+) and 48% (age 30-49) of retired players said that they have at some point ‘experienced significant losses in business or financial investments.’” None of this was a direct comparison to the number cited in my article, not even close. But said PR person nevertheless included his own note, colored in bright red font: “a far cry from 78 percent.” The NFL has already convinced thousands of men to devote themselves to the pursuit of a lifestyle that is unsustainable at best and fictional at worst. Some of the enablers of this dream include, but are not limited to: the league’s financial literacy programs, which have historically failed to instill basic principles; the NFL Players Association’s certification program for financial advisers, which supposedly vetted a number of moneymen who reportedly allowed players to lose more than $300 million in recent years; and the players themselves, who are pressured to exaggerate the opulence of their existence.

16% of retired NFL players go bankrupt, a report says
Excerpt:

... the 15.7% figure should not lead anyone to conclude that the other 84% of NFL alums are all raking in the money and living high on the hog—many more than 15.7% struggle financially after leaving the sport, and many may go broke or get close to it. But this paper strictly measures bankruptcy filings.

Ex-NFL RB Clinton Portis files for bankruptcy amid $5M debt
Excerpt:

Former Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis filed for bankruptcy last week, saying he has debts of more than $5 million that he can’t afford to pay. Portis, who earned more than $43 million over his nine-year career, listed his creditors on his bankruptcy filing. He owes the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas $287,178.56, and the IRS accused him of failing to pay $401,432.18 in federal income taxes in 2006, and $57,187.61 in federal income taxes in 2010. Portis also owes $500,000 to his mother, $500,000 to “Entertainment Tonight” correspondent and former NFL sideline reporter Nischelle Turner and $412,000 in “domestic support obligations” to four different women, according to reports. Portis is one of a dozen former pro athletes and stars who invested in a now-defunct Alabama casino. Others include world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather, actor Jamie Foxx and ex-NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens.

Comments: I'm a fan, but don't regard them as heroes. For heroes see Hebrews 11! Image is screen grab from final article.

Announcing the Carson Chargers - Raiders

Raiders, Chargers Propose Shared Football Stadium Near L.A.
Excerpt:

For two decades, this football-deprived city has been trying to win back the love of the National Football League. Now, L.A. has an abundance of suitors—though how serious they are is unclear. The San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders Friday announced a proposal to build a shared football stadium near Los Angeles, making it the fourth plan to bring the NFL back to the area. The $1.7 billion stadium would be privately funded, according to its backers. The latest proposal, first reported in the Los Angeles Times, calls for a stadium in Carson, a small city less than 20 miles south of L.A.

Comment: Got to like the ring of "privately funded,"

After-Manning-Shock

Jets trade backup QB Drew Stanton to Colts

 Excerpt:

Drew Stanton, the Jets backup quarterback who grew upset with the team when Tim Tebow joined the depth chart, has been traded to the Indianapolis Colts, the Jets announced Friday. The Jets get a sixth-round pick in April's draft in exchange for Stanton and a seventh rounder -- one of the picks acquired from Denver in the trade for Tebow.

Comment: Manning to Broncos .. Tebow to Jets ... Stanton to Colts

The Myth of Jobs and Stadiums

As Super Bowl Shows, Build Stadiums for Love and Not Money Excerpt:

Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts play eight regular season games per year, has every amenity: a retractable roof, state-of-the-art turf, seven locker rooms, 137 luxury suites, 1,000 flat-screen televisions.

And well it should: It cost $720 million to build. Of this, the Colts paid only $100 million. To cover the rest, local officials raised taxes on hotels, restaurants and rental cars, and issued bonds that soon led to ballooning financing costs.

As Bloomberg News reported Feb. 2, the cost overruns resulted partly from the city’s reliance on auction-rate securities, which became extremely expensive as the market for such bonds collapsed in 2008. Interest rates on some of the stadium bonds reached 15 percent at one point, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

All told, this led to about $43 million in unexpected financing costs. As projected deficits grew larger, the county board that operates the stadium had to reduce arts and cultural grants, and the city increased taxes on hotels even further.

... And the debts linger: From the Kingdome in Seattle to the Astrodome in Houston to the old Giants Stadium in New Jersey, today’s taxpayers are on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in debt for stadiums that are no longer in use or no longer even exist. The RCA Dome -- which Lucas Oil Stadium replaced, and which was imploded in 2008 -- won’t be paid off until 2021.

Comment: Read the full article. I oppose public financing of stadiums. If a team threatens to walk ... let 'em!

Some QB's make better Congressman!

32 Worst First-Round Draft Picks in NFL History

Excerpt:

In 1994, the Washington Redskins thought they had identified their next great quarterback when they invested the No. 3 overall draft pick in the 1994 draft in selecting Heath Shuler. Shuler started eight games for the Redskins in 1994 and wasn't terrible, as he came up with 10 touchdown passes to just 11 interceptions, showing a degree of promise. Sadly for Shuler and the Redskins, Shuler never took the next step up and instead regressed. Shuler only received five more starts over the next two years in Washington, and then his career as a Redskins player was done. His starting record was 4-9.

Comment: He is a good congressman! A Blue Dog democrat!

Peyton Manning NFL MVP

Has Peyton Manning played his last game for the Colts?

Excerpt:

Manning, the Hall of Fame-worthy 35-year-old quarterback, firmly established himself as the most irreplaceable player in the game this season, and did it without taking a single snap. Some have even suggested he deserves Most Valuable Player consideration: With him, the Colts are a perennial Super Bowl contender, without him they're a laughingstock.

One player can have this kind of understandable impact in the NBA, where a LeBron James can leave Cleveland Cavaliers and reduce them from a 60-win team to the worst team in the league. In the NBA, you're talking about five players on the court at a time.

Nobody could have imagined this would happen in football, where Manning is one of 11 players, and doesn't play defense or special teams.

When the New England Patriots lost Tom Brady for the 2008 season, they still went 11-5.

The Colts, who two years ago were in the middle of a debate over whether an undefeated season was possible, are now wondering if they will win a single game. We've always known Manning is he face of the franchise (and, to a certain extent, the entire NFL). Now we're finding out he's the heart, the soul, the brains ... everything.

The Colts aren't just losing this season; they're barely competitive, enduring a season that included a nationally televised, 62-7 shellacking by the Saints in New Orleans.

...

Turns out the Colts picked the perfect year to stink.

If they get the first pick in the draft -- and they have a two-game lead on Minnesota and St. Louis with three games remaining -- they will be in position to pick Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck , by most accounts the best quarterback prospect to come out of college since Hall of Famer John Elway left Stanford and joined the Denver Broncos in 1983.

Not a bad deal: The Colts get 13 years of elite quarterbacking from Manning, suffer for one season, then get Luck for another decade or more of elite quarterbacking.

Comment: Lucky them! Image source

Tim Tebow's comeback wins

Full of fancy featwork: List of Denver Broncos' comeback wins worthy of closer look

Excerpts:

In Tim Tebow​'s first start of the season, became the first NFL team to overcome a 15-point deficit with less than three minutes remaining.

...

Broncos 18, Dolphins 15, overtime, in Miami, Oct. 23.

By rallying to win this one, the Broncos had confidence the next time they were behind late. For this one, the Broncos and Tebow were on their own. Not only did the Broncos need two touchdowns and a two-point conversion to tie it, there was so little time left that they needed to recover an onside kick in between.

When citing the difficulty of this comeback, there's no sense overlooking the obvious. The 15 points appeared impossible given the way Tebow was playing in his first start. When the Broncos got the ball at their 20 with 5:23 remaining, Tebow was 4-of-14 for a mere 40 yards while taking five sacks for 27 yards of losses. Suddenly, magically, Tebow started throwing with accuracy. He threw two touchdown passes and ran in the two-point conversion.

In overtime, Denver needed Matt Prater​, who had missed two field goals earlier in the game, to come through from 52 yards. He did. Tebow Time was officially on the clock.

Comment: Image source: Author Jeffrey Beall. All he does is win!

NFL: Why viewers can't see "All-22" Footage

The Footage the NFL Won't Show You - Despite Its TV Ubiquity, the League Won't Share "All-22" Footage

Excerpt:

If you ask the league to see the footage that was taken from on high to show the entire field and what all 22 players did on every play, the response will be emphatic. "NO ONE gets that," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email. This footage, added fellow league spokesman Greg Aiello, "is regarded at this point as proprietary NFL coaching information."

For decades, NFL TV broadcasts have relied most heavily on one view: the shot from a sideline camera that follows the progress of the ball. Anyone who wants to analyze the game, however, prefers to see the pulled-back camera angle known as the "All 22."

While this shot makes the players look like stick figures, it allows students of the game to see things that are invisible to TV watchers: like what routes the receivers ran, how the defense aligned itself and who made blocks past the line of scrimmage.

Comment: When I was a child we used to play Electric football. It was a noisy buzzie game. More on it below (from the Wiki link):

The game is played on a small metal field, with plastic players placed on the field in formations, just as in real football. The ball is a football-shaped small piece of foam or felt. When the players are set up, a switch is activated that turns on a small electric motor which causes the field to vibrate, and moves the players around the field. The imagination then takes flight as players run around the board in an unpredictable manner.

Each player is attached to a base, with prongs on the bottom that allow the player to move. Rookie bases are not adjustable and the player hopefully runs forward. Pro bases have a dial that you can turn to have players turn to the right or left.

A special player called the Triple Threat Quarterback (TTQ) allows players to pass, punt or kick field goals. The ball has a slit that lets the game player place it on the TTQ's arm. The arm is pulled back and released to pass the ball. Use of this figure is a very difficult skill to master and was the primary form of advancing the ball.

For kicking the ball is placed on a tee on the TTQ and a plastic leg is flicked to kick the ball.

Images above: Sear's advertisement (we played with an earlier variety that pass pre-Superbowl era); Joe Namath circa 1960's (available on Ebay at a starting bid price of $ 25); and History of Tudor Games (image of a mid-'50s model)

The LA Trump Card

California scheming: NFL has been brilliant in using LA to get stadiums built

Excerpt:

Los Angeles lost its two NFL teams, the Rams and the Raiders, the same year, 1995. Since then, not including teams that would never move (the New York teams, Dallas, Pittsburgh) and the five expansions teams, 10 NFL teams have gotten new stadiums, and most of them had the threat of "you'd better build a top notch stadium, or else LA!" hanging over the host city. Recently, the threats from the NFL have become more ominous as developers insist they want to bring two teams to LA. Coincidently, four NFL team owners are looking for new stadiums: San Diego, Buffalo, Jacksonville and our own Vikings. My guess is the NFL felt the potential of one team moving wasn't enough to scare all four cities into action.

Comment: Goes like this: "If you won't build a stadium, we will move". And some people think ... "Minnesota won't be Minnesota without the Vikings". Well life will go on. Zygi Wilf needs to put up much more than he has so far voiced.

How Wilson manufactures NFL game footballs

How Wilson manufactures NFL game footballs

Comment: Sent to me by my brother-in-law. Interesting

White Men Can't Run

Race factors into evaluation of Gerhart

Excerpt:

When NFL scouts look at Gerhart, they see a 6-foot, 231-pound power back who ran for 1,871 yards and 27 touchdowns last season, getting edged out by Alabama’s Mark Ingram in the closest Heisman vote in history. When they look at Gerhart’s numbers from the NFL scouting combine, they see that he ran a 4.50-second 40-yard dash and registered a 38-inch vertical leap, both impressive numbers for a player his size.

Yet they also see a white guy trying to make it in the league as a feature back, something that has become increasingly rare in this era. Peyton Hillis(notes), now with the Cleveland Browns, led the Denver Broncos in rushing yards in 2008, but was limited to just 54 last season in part because of 2009 draft pick Knowshon Moreno’s(notes) addition.

Race shouldn’t be an issue, of course, but Gerhart can’t help but believe that it has colored the opinions of at least some potential employers.

“One team I interviewed with asked me about being a white running back,” Gerhart says. “They asked if it made me feel entitled, or like I felt I was a poster child for white running backs. I said, ‘No, I’m just out there playing ball. I don’t think about that.’ I didn’t really know what to say.”

One longtime NFL scout insisted that Gerhart’s skin color will likely prevent the Pac-10’s offensive player of the year from being drafted in Thursday’s first round.

“He’ll be a great second-round pickup for somebody, but I guarantee you if he was the exact same guy – but he was black – he’d go in the first round for sure,” the scout said. “You could make a case that he’s a Steven Jackson-type – doesn’t have blazing speed but he’s strong and powerful and versatile.”

Comment: A variation of White Men Can't Jump

Is the next Viking's stadium in .... LA?

Los Angeles, Are You Ready For Some NFL Football?

Excerpt:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he's going to sign an environmental exemption bill that will clear the way for construction of the LA Stadium.

State senators approved the bill, which would nullify a lawsuit over the project's environmental impact report by citizens in neighboring Walnut. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill in support of the stadium because its impact on the local economy and its ability to generate jobs.

There will be more than 6,700 new jobs created because of the stadium, causing an addition $21 million in new tax revenue and $762 million in new economic activity, said LA Stadium spokesperson.

Schwarzenegger hopes developer Majestic Realty Co., the driving company behind the project, doesn't poach any California teams to play in the proposed venue. They have indicated their plan to approach seven teams in hopes of luring one to LA. The list includes the three California teams: San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers.

Comment: My own view is that LA won't support an NFL team (not sufficient fan support)

NFL History: The Steagles and the Carpets

Steelers Shared Resources With 2 Teams During World War II

Excerpt:

So when Layden saw that the Steelers had only six players under contract and that the Eagles were down to about a dozen, he suggested a temporary merger between teams whose history was already intertwined. (Both joined the league the same year and, through much wrangling, were once traded by their respective owners.) Layden figured the arrangement would keep both franchises alive and solve his problem of trying to create a schedule for nine teams.

“Had to do it,” the Steelers co-owner Bert Bell said in an interview with The New York Times that summer. “Pittsburgh had no backs left and Philadelphia had no linemen.”

With a roster full of 4-Fs — men ineligible for the draft — Phil-Pitt was born. Newspaper columnists dubbed the team the Steagles, even though the plan was for them to be called the Eagles without a city in the name.

The players were pooled, and few football fans complained. “Both teams had been so bad that there was no worry of their becoming a superteam,” Algeo said.

But by the season’s end, the Steagles had become a decent one.

...

After the team dissolved, the Eagles were able to stand alone for the 1944 season. But with the Rams returning to the league, and the newly formed Boston Yanks joining, Layden had 11 teams. So the Steelers once again agreed to a merger, this time with the Chicago Cardinals.

That season, Card-Pitt, as the team was known, became rooted to the bottom of standings and set a benchmark for futility. The Detroit Lions might have posted the worst record in league history in 2008 by going 0-16, but they were only one team. It took two teams in 1944 to go a perfectly useless 0-10. Card-Pitt became better known as the Carpets, because opponents ran over them.

Comment: Fascinating. First I've heard of this! Check out the NYTimes graphic (from the NFL Hall of Fame)

The Dolphins’ Formation: How They Did It

The Dolphins’ Formation: How They Did It

Excerpt:

The Dolphins wanted to try the “Wildcat” offense during the pre-season, but running back Ronnie Brown’s sprained right thumb delayed those plans.

Sunday in New England, the timing was perfect for a trick formation, and the result was a stunning 38-13 victory.

The idea was reborn eight days ago, as the Dolphins flew home from a discouraging loss at Arizona. Coach Tony Sparano called quarterbacks coach David Lee to the front of the plane to discuss ways to beat a team that had won 21 consecutive regular-season games.

Lee ran the exotic formation last year when he was offensive coordinator at the University of Arkansas. In Fayetteville he called it the “Wild Hog” and used running back Darren McFadden to create havoc by lining up as a quarterback in the shotgun.

Sunday, it was Brown who lined up six times at quarterback and came away with three touchdown runs and one scoring pass. Brown also ran for a touchdown from a conventional set.

They tried it for the first time on second-and-goal from the 2, late in the first quarter. Brown waltzed into the end zone past a confused Patriots defense.

Lighting Up N.F.L. Scoreboards

the most stunning offensive performance was by the Miami Dolphins in their 38-13 victory over the Patriots. The back-to-earth performance of Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel was to be expected (and predicted by Porter, who backed up his pregame trash talk with three sacks). Opponents now have film of Cassel and what they see is an offense that has lost all semblance of the wide-open, down-the-field attack that made the Patriots virtually unstoppable with Tom Brady. The short screen passes on which the Patriots would like to rely are less effective.

But Brady didn’t play defense, and that’s where the Patriots’ real troubles lie now. New England was shredded by an exotic formation — the Dolphins called it “Wildcat” — in which running back Ronnie Brown produced an astonishing four touchdowns from six direct snaps (three runs, one pass to Anthony Fasano). Brown also scored a touchdown out of a — ho-hum — conventional set. New England safety Rodney Harrison admitted the Patriots had no idea that formation was coming — shocking enough for a team known for its meticulous preparation — but after Brown had run for two touchdowns and thrown for another, the Patriots were still unable to adjust, allowing one more 62-yard Brown touchdown run.

“Wildcat” didn’t just expose a hole in the Patriots’ game plan, it exposed just how much the brilliance of Brady covered up. Without him, the onus falls on the defense to keep games close and it’s hard to imagine that the rebuilding Dolphins are the toughest offense the Patriots will face this season. The defense tried to figure out what the Dolphins were doing on the sideline — Belichick could be seen talking with defensive coordinator Dean Pees after one of Brown’s direct snaps — but to no avail.

Comment: The most surprising game of the week - the Dolphins upset New England!

Muddy Night Football

Daylong rain turns the new sod at Heinz Field into a quagmire

One of the more enjoyable (to watch) football games of the season was played last night. The Steelers beat Miami 3-0 with a FG in the last 20 seconds of the game! The funniest play was a Miami punt where the football sank nose down in the mud ... no bounce ... just phwapt!

SI: Steelers beat Dolphins 3-0 Pittsburgh scores in final minute on muddy field

Excerpt:

Late in the third quarter, Brandon Fields' punt from near the Miami goal line came straight down and plugged in the soggy turf like an arrow, burying itself several inches deep.

The NFL Thanksgiving Classic

The Insider: Why Detroit, Dallas get Turkey day benefit

Wikipedia: Thanksgiving Classic

Comment: If you are a fan of the NFL, these are interesting reads. Because we have family that lives in Dallas (actually Arlington), the Dallas game is always an interest to us. And because I went to seminary in Michigan; for several desperate, disappointing years (desparate and disappointing only about football!), we were Detroit Lions fans. Kathee and I went to the Thanksgiving classic in Detroit (the Pontiac Superdome) in 1979 (the Lions upset the Bears 20-0).

NFL scores - 1979 (PDF)

Lions 1979 details

Nov. 22, 1979 - The Lions shocked Chicago and a national television audience on Thanksgiving Day, blanking the playoff-bound Bears, 20-0. Jeff Komlo highlighted the day for Detroit, shaking off three interceptions and passing for 244 yards and one TD. Rick Kane picked up 67 yards and plowed over from one-yard out for a TD. Detroit held Walter Payton to 54 yards and Al "Bubba" Baker picked up four of the club's five sacks. The shutout was Detroit's first in 40 Turkey Day appearances and stuck Chicago with its only loss in the season's last eight weeks.

The midseason unbeaten "super" bowl

Here's the match up of the season - the two best teams who will never meet in the Super Bowl: New England Patriots at the Indianapolis Colts

Sports of The Times
Manning and Brady Bring to Mind Quarterbacks Past
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: November 3, 2007
Peyton Manning may or may not be a latter-day Johnny Unitas but Tom Brady, without question, is this generation’s Bart Starr.

Manning and Brady Bring to Mind Quarterbacks Past

Prediction: My heart says the Colts ... my head says the Pats.

Remembering Darryl Stingley

Darryl Stingley, the paralyzed New England Patriots NFL wide receiver, died today. He was paralyzed after a brutal (but legal) hit by Oakland Raider defensive back Jack Tatum in a 1978 NFL exhibition game. This incident brought about many improvements in player safety: the anti-spearing rule and the stickum ban.

In his book, They Call Me Assassin, Tatum stated his best hits “border on felonious assault”. Tatum was also involved in the famous Immaculate Reception play from the 1972 AFC divisional playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders.

Darryl Stingley was completely paralyzed by the Tatum hit. In 1983, Stingley authored Happy to Be Alive, a memoir of his life and injury.