Best Football Talk

The Kansas City Chiefs made a bold move acquiring quarterback Matt Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel from the New England Patriots, in exchange for a second round draft pick. Tom Brady and his injured knee must be feeling just fine or they would have never let Cassel go.

Cassel had a wonderful year filling in for Brady that included a passer rating of 89.4, 21 touchdowns, and over 3500 yards in the air. Vrabel finished the year with 62 tackles and 4 sacks. Cassel will immediately help at this vital position that the Chiefs have not had in years. Combine that with new offensive minded coach Todd Haley, and the Chiefs don`t look so terrible any more.

But what looks great on paper, doesn`t translate success on the field. You still have to suit up every Sunday against the world`s greatest athletes. Ask the Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo how well "paper champions" do!

photo credit: GMO66

NFL legend Brett Favre has decide that it is time to call it a career for the second time in as many years, at the young age of 39. Favre who will save the New York Jets 13 million dollars in cap room by retiring, did not have a press conference like the parade he had in Green Bay last year, when he pulled the same stunt.

His decision came 6 weeks after his only season with the Jets, ended in disappointment as the Jets went 1-4 down the stretch and failed to make the playoffs once again. He threw 9 interceptions in that terrible stretch of games, but threw them at the worse possible time in the game.

He said that he was also bothered by a torn biceps tendon in his throwing arm, but he will be the first to tell you that he is ready to put on his # 4 jersey at the sound of the whistle. Favre said in regards to the injury that-"It's something that obviously I was able to play with. I don't think I was nearly as productive as the season progressed, but it very well could be fine next year. I'm well aware of that. But then again, it could linger and bother me throughout the year, and I just felt like it was time. I think that, to me more than anything, was a wakeup call."

He leaves with records that may never be broken : his games consecutively played streak, career touchdowns-464, career completions-5,720, career passing yards-65,127, and regular season wins at 169. Easily a first ballot Hall of Famer and very debatable as the best quarterback ever. The NFL will miss this legend just like we did with Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and Roger Staubach.

photo from http://www.stltoday.com/

Weeks after firing Herman Edwards, the Kansas City Chiefs hired Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley as their next head coach. Haley capitalizing on the Cardinals run to the Super Bowl by accepting the head coaching job, after the Cardinals heart-breaking loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger.

New general manager Scott Pioli said "We really believe he’s the right guy for the job". Kansas City has the 3rd pick in this years draft, and are 32 million under the NFL salary capacity. The deal for Haley is for four years and the financial terms were not disclosed. The Cards had one of the most exciting and explosive offenses in the league this year. Having star receivers in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin helped, and not to mention a former league and Super Bowl MVP in Kurt Warner.

Haley did not start calling plays until deep in the 2007 season. However, an Arizona offense led by quarterback Warner set a Cardinal franchise record with 427 points, finished 3rd in scoring in the NFL and was 2nd in passing yards. We will see how well Arizona fairs without Haley and how well he does in Kansas City without Fitzgerald, Warner, and Boldin.

Walter Payton is considered to be one of the best running backs to ever dawn an NFL uniform. His stats alone say just how good he was. He was a graceful make you miss back, that combined agility with after burner speed on the gridiron. He spent his whole NFL career with the Chicago Bears who drafted him in the first round out of Jackson State. He missed just one game his first season, then went on to play in 186 consecutive games. Imagine someone at that position taking a pounding in practice and every Sunday, yet never missing  but one day!

Payton was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1993 and was considered the best at his position during his time. His career stats are unimaginable. 16,726 rushing yards, 110 career touchdowns, 492 career catches, for over 4,500 yards, 77 games of over 100 yards rushing, played in 9 Pro-Bowls, and was a 7-time All-Pro. Defenders knew when he was coming to either get out of the way, or wind up on a highlight reel for NFL films. It was a great thrill for me to see him play on television growing up, even though I was not a Bears fan. He is one of those guys that is so good that you pull for because of his greatness.

Though he tragically passed away in November of 1999 at 45, he will be remembered for his "sweetness" on the football field and his great devotion off the field to his friends, family, and his die-hard NFL fans.

photo credit: RMTip21

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 in Super Bowl XLIII that had many firsts. Just when it looked like Arizona`s dismal offense that has been anything but this postseason, came roaring back to take a brief lead. However, Ben Roethlisberger and Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes would have the last say in what turned out to be a thrilling Super Bowl.

Pittsburgh was cruising along with a 20-7 4th quarter lead when the Cardinals made their move. Kurt Warner hit Larry Fitzgerald with a 1-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 20-14 with 7:33 left. After Pittsburgh`s  Justin Hartwig was called for a 5-yard penalty when the Steelers were already backed up on the goal line, resulting in a safety to make the score 20-16 Pittsburgh with 2:58 remaining. Kurt Warner like so many other times in Super Bowl pasts, would connect with a big game receiver.

He connected with Fitzgerald at mid-field and Fitzgerald took it to the house for a 64-yard touchdown to put Arizona ahead 23-20. But Roethlisberger would drive his team down with 2:37 left, hooking up with Holmes on another memorable Super Bowl catch. This one was a 6-yard toss, but the catch was unreal, and the replay was spectacular. In real time, it looked like Holmes didn`t get his feet down. But the replay clearly showed him getting both feet down and securing the ball before he went out of bounds. I sometimes can`t walk two feet without tripping, and I saw him make one of the greatest catches ever, along with Dwight Clark and David Tyree.

Arizona got the ball back with 35 seconds left, and their hopes of winning their first Super Bowl were dashed when Warner fumbled at mid-field and Pittsburgh recovered. It appeared that it was an incomplete pass when showed in slow-motion, but the booth review decided it was a fumble. All in all, it was a great Super Bowl and next year will probably top this years. This is why I love the NFL!

I think everyone in the NFL knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. The Kansas City Chiefs made it official today, firing head coach Herman Edwards after 3 seasons and a record of 15-34 during his tenure. Edwards' status has been in question since new G.M. Scott Pioli was hired on Jan. 13. Asked at his press conference about Edwards' status, Pioli took the fifth.

Edwards was 41-44 in 5 NFL seasons as head coach of the New York Jets , including 3 appearances in the playoffs. Edwards came to the Chiefs from the Jets and made the playoffs in his very 1st season, when the team was 9-7. But he was under fire after the team finished a sloppy 4-12 in 2007. "I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Hunt Family for the opportunity to spend nine seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs," said Edwards. Detroit, Oakland and St. Louis were the only teams in the NFL that had worse records during Edwards 3 years as Kansas City. Sources say that Mike Shanahan is the leading candidate for the job.