Hue Jackson Could Be A Goner In Oakland

With news that the Oakland Raiders have hired Reggie McKenzie from the Green Bay Packers, there has been speculation that McKenzie will come in and clean house, including sending head coach Hue Jackson to the unemployment line. 

After the Raiders collapsed down the stretch and were unable to capture the AFC West crown there might be more truth to that than rumor. There are probably Raider fans out there that wouldn't mind seeing Jackson go considering he gave up most of the Raiders' future to the Cincinnati Bengals for Carson Palmer after channeling his inner Al Davis. Also his in game adjustments (like having Rolando McClain cover Calvin Johnson going deep) might be enough to show him the door. There is the prevailing thought that Jackson took too much power in the organization after Davis' passing and the rumor of him not being well liked by some players.

Green Bay linebackers coach Winston Moss is rumored to be a McKenzie favorite. Ironically Moss was a favorite of the late Davis. Both are former Raider linebackers. 

Conventional wisdom says that McKenzie comes in and gets rid of everyone that isn't on board and starts fresh. Maybe Jackson will stick around if he concedes his so called power to McKenzie and wants to concentrate on being the coach. If he doesn't he can kiss this job goodbye. This is a situation that bears watching.  

The World Of Jim Irsay

Only a casual football fan would insult an Indianapolis Colts fan for the horrible season they endured this year. It has resulted in the Polians (Bill and Chris) being fired. There also have been rumblings that they will take quarterback Andrew Luck with the number one pick in this spring's NFL draft. Things will be changing in Indy. Just don't insult the fans and let Jim Irsay hear about it.

Here's what Irsay tweeted about other teams fans and their Colts jokes.

Yea,Colts fans...don't take any crap off of any other fans..when their team wins 115 games in a decade,tell em then they can kiss your ring!


You tell em Jim. Right out of the keep your head up files.
   

Crennel To Be Named Coach Of The Kansas City Chiefs

Going 2-1 in the final three games of the season was enough for the Kansas City Chiefs to remove the interim tag from Romeo Crennel and name him the full time coach according to reports.  

The Chiefs recently interviewed ex-Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio, but it's not hard to see how they zeroed in on locking down Crennel. Jeff Fisher is going to either Miami or St. Louis (and has said as much), Josh McDaniels is already in New England, Kirk Ferentz is staying at Iowa and that leaves Crennel as an obvious choice to keep running the Chiefs.

It's a good move for the locker room as linebacker Tamba Hali stated that he wanted Crennel to remain as coach.

“He’s very motivating,” Hali told the Kansas City Star. “He treats us like men. He does expect a lot from us, but he knows what it takes.”

“I think anybody on this team would agree with me, if we can keep Romeo as our head coach here, it would be great,” Hali said.


Despite numerous injuries and the appearance of Tyler Plako at quarterback the Chiefs played some of their best football late in the year. That would include a win over the then undefeated Green Bay Packers.

If the Chiefs can get a capable offensive coordinator and they can get some of their key players (Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry) to return from injury and back to Pro Bowl form Kansas City could be a threat in the AFC West next season.

For Crennel's sake he better hope this turns out better than it did for him in Cleveland.

Evans Thinks Suh Is A Dirty Player

And the claims that Ndamukong Suh is a ‘dirty’ player continue to emerge as we are now on the eve of the Lions first playoff game since the 1999 season.

The latest claim has come from New Orleans Saints; Pro Bowl guard Jahri Evans who says Suh is a dirty player after the whistle.

“I think some things he does is dirty, after the whistle,” Evans told The Times-Picayune. “He needs to put a cap on that, but he’s a phenomenal player.”

Now this seems pretty consistent with a lot of the other claims that have surfaced during the season. It’s also hard for Lions fans to refute any claim that Suh is a dirty player based off what happened Thanksgiving weekend when Suh stomped on Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith.

The trouble though with Evans’ comments is he has never been matched with Suh… ever. So it may be safe to assume that Evans is jumping on a bandwagon rather than finding out for himself. Suh missed the matchup with the Saints earlier this season because of a two game suspension for the aforementioned stomp against the Packers.

This adds an interesting subplot to this game as there were stories coming out of New Orleans that if Suh starts taking any cheap shots at quarterback Drew Brees that they won't back down from him. It looks like Suh will have a target on his back Saturday night.  

Gordon, Kaman Not Pleased With The Clippers

It looked like the Los Angeles Clippers had finally shed their image of being a cheap organization when they made the trade for Chris Paul. It was a big moment for the team and maybe a moment where the Clippers can finally sit at the big boy table.

Former Clippers Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman weren't too thrilled about the turn of events. They're happy to be members of the New Orleans Hornets, but felt they were misled by team management.


“All you do is take the man’s word and take that he said that no one is going to go anywhere,” Gordon told Yahoo! Sports. “… To completely lie like that is something unprofessional.”


Strong words calling a man a liar. But since there's more to the story which consists of two sides we'll keep going. Since it is the Clippers we're talking about, Gordon might not be too far off base.

“I’m not deceptive enough to look players in the eye and tell them something that is not true,”general manager Neil Olshey said. “And I can tell you from an ownership level, the president of our company, myself, we made a corporate decision Monday morning that when the deal didn’t go through on Sunday night we would no longer pursue the trade. And that’s when we notified our players, to get the elephant out of the room during our abbreviated training camp.”    


Gordon and Kaman felt deceived since Olshey and head coach Vinny Del Negro held a team meeting pledging to move forward after the initial Paul trade was rejected.

I can see how Gordon could've felt that he was deceived since Olshey and Del Negro pretty much said everything was going to remain status quo.

Said Gordon: “They literally told me as an organization that they wanted to keep me, and [the trade still] went down?”

Kaman found out the details through his real estate agent's son.

“He said, ‘Hey, you got traded.’ I was like, ‘C’mon,’ ” Kaman said. “Then everyone started talking to me like, ‘Hey, what happened?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ Then my agent wasn’t calling me. I couldn’t get ahold of him. Then Farouq talked to his agent and said it was done.

“The Clippers didn’t tell me anything. They didn’t tell me I was traded or nothing after eight years. They didn’t have the guts to come tell me they traded me.”  

I would like to say I feel sorry for them but I don't. They know the NBA is all about business. As difficult as it  is to defend the Clippers on any front, they were offered a good deal and took it. You can't blame them for that. Both seem happy with the trade and Kaman took a jab at the Clippers.

“They’re very professional,” Kaman said. “I’m not used to that. No, serious. It was an adjustment. After eight years [with the Clippers], I didn’t know it could be like this. I wasn’t used to it. The way they handle business … they’re up front with you and they tell you what’s going on and what’s going to happen.”  

Better than the way Donald Sterling has his puppets handling business. 

Former Jet Kris Jenkins Flames Mark Sanchez

It's playoff time in the NFL and it seems the New York Jets are stealing all the headlines. First it was their ugly ouster from playoff contention, followed by backup Greg McElroy saying the locker room was corrupt and Erik Ainge's reply. Don't forget Bart Scott was fined $10,000 for flipping off a cameraman. All Jets all the time.

Retired player Kris Jenkins was a member of the Jets during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, which were Mark Sanchez's first two years in the league. He also had an opinion about the McElroy comments which ended up with Jenkins blasting Sanchez.


“The No. 1 quarterback should have said that a long time ago,” Jenkins said. “It would have been all part of the process of him growing a pair and standing up and being a man. But the thing is, he lost his because he got caught up in the wash that is New York, the spotlight, taking pictures in the magazines and doing all that stuff. That’s just what everybody has seen with Mark Sanchez, they got tired of it.”



“Mark wants to be a leader but there’s a difference between wanting it and taking it,” Jenkins said. “He’s always trying to be a crowd pleaser. He’s always trying to be nice. He wants to be a leader but he won’t take it.”


Sounds like the Jets have another Joe Namath on their hands. I know, Namath did win a Super Bowl and is a Hall of Famer. But his stats weren't that great. Remember Namath was known in New York for his "good looks" and being in the New York limelight.

Sanchez is no 'Broadway Joe', but the off field parallels are the same.

Smith Taking His Fellow Receivers To Hawaii

At the start of the NFL season there were stories about Carolina Panthers receiver Steve Smith wanting a trade out of town. It turned out to be all talk and Smith brushed it aside and had one of his finest seasons. He'll be rewarded by going to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii but he won't be alone.

Smith has told his receiving mates that he'll be paying for them to join him in Hawaii. What a noble gesture from someone that has been perceived to be a hot head.

“They kind of looked at each other, and I said, 'I'm serious,'” Smith said. “Once they got the call from my travel agent, they kind of knew it was for real.”

“All those guys ran routes to get me open. At times they took it for the team and ran some clear-out routes for me,” Smith said. “For me to sit here and say I did it on my own and all that stuff, it's unfair. This is an opportunity for me to thank them and enjoy as a group the success that we all played a part in.”

No one can ever accuse Smith of not being a team player.