1:52 PM EDT
The liveblog is over. Frankly, it met an early demise because the huge influx of traffic assaulted my site’s servers. Thanks to everyone for coming over to Twitter (@pigskinbuzz) to follow along there when stuff started breaking here!
You can still read everything from this morning below.
In honor of former Colt Peyton Manning (that still sounds weird) signing with the Denver Broncos, we present to you a gallery of NFL stars wearing the “wrong” uniforms. Like Manning, most of these players were unceremoniously (and sometimes ceremoniously) dumped by the teams they played the bulk of their careers for, but were unwilling to hang up their cleats for good.
Be warned: the images below may contain material offensive to the eyes of die-hard NFL fans. There’s just something so, so wrong about seeing superstar players wearing colors other than the ones we all see in our heads when we remember their playing days.
Halloween falls on a Monday this year, which means that most NFL players were too busy playing football yesterday to put together awesome home-made costumes. Luckily for them, we’re here to help them out with some suggestions for quick and easy costumes they can buy at the store.
He’s the reigning champ and he’s proven he can pull off the handlebar mustache. Plus, we know that he already has a championship belt.
Alex Smith is widely regarded as a bust, yet he’s somehow earned back the starting quarterback job for the team that drafted him in 2005. Now, it looks like he’s leading them to the playoffs. If that’s not coming back from the dead, I don’t know what is.
Flacco has thrown for 8 touchdowns and 6 interceptions this season, but his most impressive stat is that he currently leads the league in fewest eyebrows.
What can we say? The guy really, really looks like a beaver. He should embrace it.
He has red hair. LOLOLOL!
He’s rich, bitch! Johnson got paid this off-season and now it looks like he doesn’t give a crap about being an NFL player.
On second thought, Lynch can probably save the money he would have spent on a Predator costume and just go trick-or-treating in a gray t-shirt. No one will be able to tell.
This one is so obvious that it feels like cheating. If Calvin can’t find a Megatron costume at the store, he can just go with a Superman costume instead. Or a God costume.
Honestly, The Flash should probably go as Mike Wallace for Halloween.
New England fans get dressed up on game day and cheer on the Patriots from the sidelines. So does Chad!
Cromartie has nine kids with eight different women in six states. He’s earned the right to wear this costume.
Alternate costume suggestion: Guy from ZZ Top.
Frankly, there are many coaches in the NFL world who could fill out this costume. Maybe Rex can get together with his brother Rob, Andy Reid, Mike McCarthy and Romeo Crennel to form a pumpkin brigade.
June is a dead month in the football world. In a typical year, there are a few mini-camps taking place and not much else. In the middle of this year’s lockout, there’s absolutely nothing happening.
So, let’s talk about helmets, shall we?
I’m not the first to stoop to this level in an effort to find an interesting story. ESPN has already resorted to having all eight of its NFL bloggers rank the NFL’s helmets in order of attractiveness. Seriously.
Others have chimed in on the topic of how to make helmets more effective and reduce the risk of concussions. The geniuses at Bleacher Report have even suggested outlawing helmets altogether.
I’m going to take a bit of a different approach. I’m going to take you on a tour of weirdest, funniest and downright scariest helmets ever worn in the NFL.
Before I begin, I’d like to send some love to HelmetHut.com, where I found several of these images and where you can see a lot more of this stuff. It’s a tremendous resource for anyone brave enough to pore through the strange history of football helmets.
1. Otto Graham’s “Ahead Of Its Time” Clear Facemask
Before thinner, opaque bars became the norm, some players wore helmets with clear facemasks made of lucite (that weren’t unlike the visors that some players wear today). The Browns’ Otto Graham certainly wasn’t the only player to regularly sport a clear facemask–the Los Angeles Rams featured several players wearing the them at one point–but he’s the most famous. It’s curious that these didn’t catch on, as they would seem to offer better visibility than the facemasks players wear today. The issue was probably that they were more prone to cracking.
Most clear facemasks were a few inches in width and covered a straight line across the middle of a player’s face, but some were a little more unique. 49ers fullback Joe Perry looked like Hannibal Lecter in this one:
2. John Williams’ “D.I.Y. Double”
In the early days of modern facemasks, there were only a few different options for players to choose from. If you didn’t like any of the choices, you improvised.
John Williams of the Rams actually attached two different facemasks to his helmet and then taped them together to create this monstrosity. It looks like it would have provided good protection, but how the heck did he see out of this thing?
Williams wasn’t the first to attach multiple facemasks to his helmet. In the days of single-bar facemasks, it was pretty common for guys to attach two or more of them (sometimes at weird angles), but Williams gets the spot on this list because of how completely ridiculous his grill looks.
3. Harry Swayne’s “Thunderdome”
Speaking of ridiculous grills, look at that thing. Yikes. It has more bars than Alcatraz.
Occasionally, facial injuries force players to add extra protection to their helmets. That was the case with the Chargers’ Harry Swayne in the photo above and the same thing was going on with the Eagle’s Charlie Smith and the Giants’ Chris Canty and Justin Tuck below.
4. Steve Wallace’s “Helmet2″
The 49ers’ Steve Wallace liked safety so much that his helmet wore a helmet.
Seriously, though, Wallace endured many concussions throughout his career and he was forced to wear a helmet with a styrofoam cap on top to reduce the impact of collisions.
Mark Kelso of the Buffalo Bills wore a similar helmet and looked every bit as goofy:
5. Scott Player’s “Single-Bar Special”
It’s probably not fair to call the single-bar facemask “weird,” but we had to include it on this list because it’s a favorite of many football fans. Single-bar facemasks are now outlawed by the league, but they endured for many years because the kickers who wore them (and were grandfathered to the ban on them) played well into their 40s.
Scott Player and other kickers loved these facemasks because they allowed for maximum visibility. Player even angled his down so far that pretty much none of his face was protected. Not exactly what you’d want if you were at risk of being hit in the face, but it gave us all a great view of his glorious moustache.
Honorable Mention: LaDainian Tomlinson’s “Darth Vader”
Unlike many of the guys above, Tomlinson didn’t wear this unique helmet for safety reasons; he did it just because it looks cool (and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look really cool). Unfortunately, it also made it tough for him to see and he ended up trying several different variations of this facemask before going back to a traditional three-bar running back facemask when he signed with the Jets.
Not many guys in the NFL wear this style of facemask today, but Madden cover boy Peyton Hillis is a notable exception. His facemask is reminiscent of a bulldog’s face and fits right in in Cleveland.
Honorable Mention 2: Every single early facemask
It would be easy to do a top 100 list of bizarre early facemasks, so I’ll lump them all together here. Before players adopted the current standard of rubber-coated metal facemasks, there was a lot of weird experimenting going on. Some of these things look like they belong in a nightmare.
Have a personal favorite helmet that you think we should add to this list? Leave a comment below.
The NFL is a lot like a Hollywood movie franchise. There are bright lights, lots of cameras and a huge audience.
The stakes are high, the egos are enormous and some careers end before they get off the ground. Every year, there’s a new sequel with new heroes and new villains.
But what would happen if the NFL actually became a movie?
I’m not talking about an NFL Films documentary. I’m talking about a big budget, fictional production with a famous director and a cast of big-name Hollywood actors. I’m talking about sex, drugs, money and larger-than-life football action scenes. I’m talking about NFL: The Movie.
Who would be this movie? I’ve got a few ideas. Check it out:
Aaron Rodgers might have felt a bit like a temp when he sat on the bench behind Brett Favre for three seasons, so it’s fitting that he would be played by Ryan “The Temp” from The Office (the actor’s name is B.J. Novak, for those who care). For Rodgers’ sake, let’s hope that he doesn’t follow in Ryan’s footsteps and develop a nasty coke habit now that he’s seen some success.
Tom Brady has graced the covers of Esquire and GQ and he’s hosted Saturday Night Live, so it only makes sense that he would be played by a major movie star like Matt Damon. This is the only case in our movie where the NFLer might actually be more attractive than the actor playing him.
Speaking of major movie stars, here’s another. Harrison Ford has the acting range and, more importantly, the grey beard needed to portray a warrior like Brett Favre. Only one question remains: is Ford willing to do full-frontal nudity?
One of the NFL’s most likable guys gets played by one of Hollywood’s most likable actors. This is almost too obvious.
It feels mean to say it, but there’s something about Peyton Manning’s face that is decidedly… inhuman. Herman Munster gets the call here, mostly because I think he’d be a more versatile actor than a horse (our second choice to play Manning). If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from Manning’s numerous commercials, it’s that he’s a genuinely good actor.
The Geico Cavemen is a dead ringer for Roethlisberger, but what really makes this casting choice great is the fact that a caveman is also a perfect personality match for Big Ben.
Who else could play the NFL’s douchiest, greasiest heartthrob than Planet Earth’s douchiest, greasiest heartthrob? Honestly, I’m not convinced that these two aren’t just the same guy. Has anyone seen them together in the same room?
Michael Vick won’t be an easy role to play, with the dog-murdering past and all, but I think Chris Rock has the chops to pull it off. He can bring some humor to the role, which will be essential if Vick is to seem like anything less than a terrible human being. Then again, maybe Vick is the villain in this movie…
This kid probably has a real name, but I don’t feel like looking it up. Now that Charlie Sheen has been fired and Two And A Half Men is no longer making new episodes, I imagine this kid would jump at just about any role. The question is: can he act like his knee is too sore to go back into the NFC Championship game? I’m kidding, Bears fans. Settle down.
Look at that–the kid from The Sixth Sense is all grown up (kind of). Luckily for him, he retained enough of his boyish charm to make a good Eli Manning.
I don’t really feel like I have to explain this one.
Adrian Peterson caused a minor stir when he compared NFL players to slaves recently, so it’s fitting that he would be played in our movie by a guy who’s no stranger to playing a slave. LeVar Burton received accolades for his portrayal of Kunta Kinte in ABC’s award-winning miniseries Roots.
Let’s see… Dreadlocks? ✓ Tattoos? ✓ Grill? ✓ Really hard to understand when he talks? You better believe it’s a ✓.
Chad Ochocinco is on the downside of his NFL career, but I felt like I had to include him in this movie because he’s had such a steady presence in media coverage of the NFL over the past decade. Besides, it’s not like Dave Chappelle is the hottest name in Hollywood right now. Both guys are misunderstood and, ultimately, just want to entertain others without all the hassles that accompany fame.
Claudio Sanchez is semi-famous as best (he’s the lead singer of the band Coheed and Cambria), but he gets to be in our movie because he’s one of very few human beings willing to live their lives with that much hair.
Did you think I was just doing NFL players? Oh no, my friend. I’m doing the entire NFL world. In our movie, the NFL commissioner is played by the (fictional) vice president of PlayStation. If you’ve seen any of Kevin Butler’s PlayStation commercials, I think you’ll agree that he is more than capable of handing out indiscriminate fines and suspensions, just like Goodell.
[Insert joke about which one is the orc.]
[Insert joke about getting the Cryptkeeper if the orc isn't available.]
[Insert sad feelings if you're a Raiders fan.]
It doesn’t get much easier than this.
I take that back. Apparently, it gets a lot easier.
Ron White is a Grammy-nominated stand up comedian and charter member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, for those who have good taste and are unfamiliar with his work. All we’d need to do is trim White’s hair back a bit, replace that cigar with a foot and we’d be good to go.
Would anyone even notice if these two doppelgangers played each other in our movie?
Both guys rule with an iron fist and biceps that are way, way bigger than they have any right being. Seriously, grandpas… that’s not natural.
———-
That’s all that I’ve got for now. If there are any casting choices that you think I should have included, post them in the comments below. If they don’t suck, I’ll add them.
Starting in 2007, the NFL began hosting an annual regular season football game in England. The league calls this the NFL International Series and it has been a big enough success that some NFL insiders and journalists have begun to discuss whether the NFL would consider putting a franchise in Europe. In this article, I’ll discuss the viability of this concept.
Money.
If there’s money to be made in it, the NFL will do it. Europe is a vast, rich and untapped market. We know that the league has interest in expanding the reach of the game because it has committed to the International Series. The next logical step would be establishing a permanent presence abroad.
The biggest sports in the world are global and the NFL is not. The Super Bowl is no longer the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. The Champions League Final (the Super Bowl of European professional soccer) holds that title now. The NFL would surely love to take the crown back.
To compete in a global world, American football will have to become a global game. Read more…
The divisions in the NFL (last modified in 2002) are based on geography, but a number of other factors come into play. There’s an attempt to maintain traditional NFL/AFL rivalries. There’s also an attempt to create new rivalries (it’s not an accident that the Houston Texans are in the same division as the team that used to be the Houston Oilers and the new Cleveland Browns are in the same division as the team that used to be the old Cleveland Bowns). The end result is that everything looks pretty messed up when you look at it on a map:
I’m not proposing that it’s time to make major changes to the NFL’s divisions. If it ain’t broken, there’s no reason to fix it. Sure, there are a few divisions that are kind of duds (NFC West, I’m looking right at you), but there are a bunch that are packed with rich history (including the NFC East, which I would argue is the best division in sports).
The fact is that there’s no convincing reason why the NFL needs to have its divisions based on geography. Teams only have to travel to one city a week (unlike baseball, hockey and basketball teams who are constantly on the road), so it’s not a big deal if there are teams with a large distance between in the same division. Things are good as they currently are (at least until Los Angeles gets a team and messes everything up).
Still, it’s interesting to think about how things would look if the NFL decided to ignore old NFL and AFL alignment and pick the divisions based entirely on geographical location. It would look like this:
Super Bowl Sunday is always a fun day, but it’s even better if you have something extra to root for when you’re watching the big game.
There are lots of printable Super Bowl pools out there, but most of them are really boring. Pools that use squares or grids to predict the final score are lame. We decided to create something a lot more dynamic and exciting. What we came up with is an entirely new kind of Super Bowl pool. We think it’s going to be very popular.
We’ve put together a unique and fun Super Bowl pool that lets you predict what will happen during the game, including the halftime show and commercials. Do you think the first pass of the game will be complete? Do you think there will be a fake punt during the game? Will the winning coach get a Gatorade shower? If so, what color will the Gatorade be? What car company will have the first commercial? Will a fan run onto the field? Our downloadable Super Bowl pool has all these categories and a lot more. We firmly believe it’s the best Super Bowl pool out there. It’s completely free and we want to share it with you.
It’s easy. Just follow these 5 easy steps:
If you can’t open the PDF file, make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader (it’s free).
After the game, let us know what you thought about our pool. What did you like? What did you not like? Leave a comment below and send us an e-mail at pigskinbuzz@gmail.com.
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