Eagles and Michael Vick come to a 6-year deal.

If you thought Michael Vick was done with football whenever he went to jail, you we never so wrong.  He just managed to get a 9 figure deal from a team he really hasnt done much with yet.  I mean I am all for getting paid but that seems a little ridiculous if you ask me.   He is seriously back right at the top again though.  He is getting 40 million dollars guaranteed with his 6-year $100 million deal.  He only started in 11 games last season going 8-3 for the season.  Here is a list of career records last season with the Eagles (keep in mind that he played in 12 games instead of the normal 15 or 16 games like every other season with Atlanta):

• Passing Percentage:  62.6%
• Passing Yards: 3018
• Touchdown Passes: 21
• Rushing Touchdowns: 9
• QB Rating: 100.2
• Average Passing Yards: 8.1

If you take this into consideration you have to think that he has gotten even better since his Atlanta days.  I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of backlash in this whole process with him just a couple of years out of jail.  His previous deal with Atlanta was for 130 million dollars but over 10 years.  With this deal being even better, you can bet that people are going to come out ranting and raving about how we have not had enough time to see whether or not he has changed.  Look people, this dude grew up in an atmosphere of dog fighting.  Much of your middle-lower class in the South have all been to dog fights or at least heard about them.  I am not saying what he did was right or anything but I think you need to give the guy a break because he was just doing something that he grew up around and saw as entertainment on a Saturday afternoon.  He went to jail, paid his price…lost over 100 million dollars (most people don’t even make that much in the lifetime), his house, his team and came back stronger with a much better work ethic.  The point is that he came back and is now play even better than before.  He has a better supporting cast around him than he had in Atlanta which just goes to show that the Philadelphia Eagles will be a major threat to my Dallas Cowboys this season.

Michael Vick has offically turned his life around.

The comeback story of the decade has finally come to fruition.  It was the first time in sports marketing history that a company re-signed a player that had previously been fired.  Seriously, look it up.  This absolutely never happens…well I guess not until now.  Will Tiger Woods pick up his sponsors if he ends up turning his life around?  I think the answer to that question depends more on whether or not he can beat Jacks record.  Michael Vick is back because last season was his most prolific throwing season since he started in the NFL.   He ended the season with a QB rating of over 100 for the first time in his career.  He may have only run for under 700 yards, but that is still insane for a QB if you consider that Tony “uh oh” Romo has just over 400 yards for his career so far and Dan Marino finished his career with a total of 87 yards.   Some would say that this transition of his getting back into normal society has come “full circle” but I would argue that until he wins a Super Bowl or an MVP trophy its going to be hard to convince a lot of sports writers that he is completely back.  You would be remiss to think that this hype is not going to eventually get to a guy who was playing patty cake in prison just two years ago.  The point is that most people are looking at this as his welcome back into the ranks of the Elite but I could have told you that before he got out.  There really isnt much to do in prison other than work out and stay fit.  My next question honestly is where or not this opens up the doors for future convicted felons.  Are we going to just forgive and forget everything from now on?  Before Vick there was Kobe Bryant, Ray Lewis…so on and so forth.  Where do we as citizens and more importantly fans draw the line?  This is not about being black, white, rich, poor, or whatever, this is more about being a decent human being.  If you are going to set an example for our future, then set the example.  Here are some great Michael Vick commercials from the past.
This is a pretty good one.

Here is a short one

Here is my favorite one:

Will we have NFL Picks this season?

We have been getting a lot of questions from fans about whether or not we are going to be doing picks this season.  As far as we are concerned, as long as there are NFL games there will be picks.  Now, whether or not we are going to have a full season is yet to be seen.  I know we have all been wondering that though.  The feeling that I have been getting from the entire media is that we will have an NFL season but that it may not be a full year of football.  My question to them is this: How can you know when this season is going to start…or even have an inkling as to when its going to start?  Is there something I do not know about this situation because everything I have heard is that they are literally BILLIONS of dollars away from anything reasonable.  In the grand scheme of things I suppose that may mean something considering they started out almost $10 Billion dollars off in the beginning.  This is no Hatfield and McCoy issue, that’s for sure.  Reports that I am hearing today predict that this will all be over in a couple of weeks.  So far so good for the players as they are going to be getting a lot more money than usual possibly even approaching 50 percent of the entire pie (all the money generated).  This new collective bargaining agreement is sounding better and better for the players as the days go on.

Like us, you probably feel as if you are being left in the dark in all of this.  That is actually probably the scariest part of this whole ordeal, is not knowing whats going to happen and when.  I just hope that in the future this may never happen again (although I am almost certain it will).  Here are some videos to help you get over your withdrawals that I have no doubt we will all be having come August.

Here are some plays from 2010

2010-2011 NFL Preseason Picks

The dawn of a new NFL season is upon us and SidelineBlog is here to make out picks before the first game of the season. My picks for the Super Bowl are the Dallas Cowboys to be playing at home for the first time in NFL history against the Baltimore Ravens.  I think there is a chance for the Colts to make it because you obviously can never count out Peyton Manning.  At the same time I am just feeling what the Ravens have done with both their offense and defense in the off season.

Division	Team	Record
NFC East	Dallas Cowboys	12-4
NFC North	Minnesota Vikings	11-5
NFC South	New Orleans Saints	13-3
NFC West	San Francisco 49ers	10-6
NFC Wildcard	Green Bay Packers	9-7
NFC Wildcard	Washington Redskins	9-7
AFC East	New England Patriots	12-4
AFC North	Baltimore Ravens	11-5
AFC South	Indianapolis Colts	13-3
AFC West	San Diego Chargers	10-6
AFC Wildcard	Cincinatti Bengals	9-7
AFC Wildcard	Houston Texans	9-7

Dallas Cowboys 2010 Regular Season Schedule

First of all I want to start of by telling you that there is one team in the league that has 6 stand alone games (aka games which you have no competition for ratings usually during prime-time or a major holiday) and that team is the Dallas Cowboys baby!@!@  A bunch of teams have 5 prime-time games, but Dallas being America’s Team and all, got the best deal out of any teams.  This, however, means that the Cowboys will have the 3rd roughest regular season schedule.  One of the things that you can thank the NFL for is that finally they have wised up and made all Week 17 games divisional games.  That means there hopefully wont be very many games that are meaningless at the end of the season. I think its just great that they have the Cowboys playing Detroit on November 21rst and then have them playing again 4 days later against the defending Superbowl champion New Orleans Saints.   A week or so after than they travel over to Indianapolis to play Peyton Manning and the Colts.  They will however, have 3 primetime games in a row which is actually pretty cool if you ask me.  That means that there will only be one game that I wont be able to see this upcoming season and its the one against Arizona so I am not even sure I care all that much.  Yes, its pretty clear who the NFL thinks are the best teams.  If you are getting as excited as me, you cant wait for the regular season to start.  Well I can tell you right now, that with training camps finally under way today, that this football season could be the best one for the Cowboys in a long time.  On top of them playing a pretty tough schedule, they have no football to look forward to next season.  I think that this could easily be the motivation that the Cowboys have been looking for.  Anyways, check out their rough schedule and tell me what you think.

Dallas Cowboys 2010 Schedule

This is the Dallas Cowboys' 2010 regular season football schedule. It is broken down by weeks.

Week	Date	Game	Stadium	Time (CST)	Network
1	9/12	@ Washington	FedEx Field	7:20 PM	NBC
2	9/19	Chicago	Cowboys Stadium	12:00 PM	FOX
3	9/26	@ Houston	Reliant Stadium	12:00 PM	FOX
4	BYE	BYE	BYE	BYE	BYE
5	10/10	Tennessee	Cowboys Stadium	3:15 PM	CBS
6	10/17	@ Minnesota	Mall of America Field	3:15 PM	FOX
7	10/25	New York Giants	Cowboys Stadium	7:30 PM	ESPN
8	10/31	Jacksonville	Cowboys Stadium	12:00 PM	CBS
9	11/07	@ Green Bay	Lambeau Field	7:20 PM	NBC
10	11/14	@ New York Giants	New Meadowlands	3:15 PM	FOX
11	11/21	Detroit	Cowboys Stadium	12:00 PM	FOX
12	11/25	New Orleans	Cowboys Stadium	3:15 PM	FOX
13	12/05	@ Indianapolis	Lucas Oil Stadium	3:15 PM	FOX
14	12/12	Philadelphia	Cowboys Stadium	7:20 PM	NBC
15	12/19	Washington	Cowboys Stadium	12:00 PM	FOX
16	12/25	@ Arizona	University of Phoenix Stadium	6:30 PM	NFL
17	1/02	@ Philadelphia	Lincoln Financial Field	12:00 PM	FOX

Ben Roethlisberger likes raping little girls…

What is his problem?  I get it that in order to be the best at what you do, there is a certain amount of “cockiness” or arrogance that has to be there.  What I mean is that in order to be the best, you have to believe that you are the best.  We see this in all sports figures, politicians and pretty much anyone who is in a supreme position of power.  We might never know how many women Tiger Woods has been with.  Muhammad Ali brought his mistress to a fight.  His wife saw her on TV and flew down there to see what was up.  President of the United States at the time, Bill Clinton cheated on his wife in the Oval Office.  My point is that its almost expected to me.  The problem is that you can never know what someone is going to say after you open yourself up to them like that and “exchange fluids.”   For the most part, these athletes are handling themselves the same way both on and off the proverbial court.  Ben takes the cake though because he has been having lots of problems of late, and no one is really talking about it.  Until now.  Ben Roethlisberger is looking at allegations of sexual assault by a young woman in a club in Georgia.  I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking Kobe Bryant and cover up or something.  The only issues with that is that the girl west straight to a cop and then straight to the hospital to get examined (which is kind of weird I guess) and that there are cameras everywhere in that club.  This whole thing wouldn’t be so huge if Ben wasn’t constantly making horrible choices.   First, he gets caught riding a motorcycle without a helmet…or a valid drivers license.  Then he has “consensual sex” with a hotel employee who then cries rape (cough KOBE cough cough).  Now he is in Georgia in some college bar?  A college bar…REALLY???  I know you are 28 years old, but you are light years ahead of any one in that club (both in income and supposedly maturity).  Or maybe thats the point right?  Offer up free drinks, get a fine little piece to sit in your lap?  Why are you living in small town Georgia instead of Pittsburgh during the off season and why are you in the small town COLLEGE bar?  I guess you didn’t get enough at Miami of Ohio…I don’t know how big this will get, and I hope that the truth is found out.  I hope it turns out that she is some psycho who wants money from you.  At this point I have to believe the pattern I see which is that Ben makes bad choices.  This should be rock bottom, but you never know.  Here are some links to get you started on your own investigation:

Roethlisberger hires lawyer who defended Ray Lewis

Roethlisberger Leaves Georgia Following Sexual Assault Accusation

Ben Roethlisberger Accuser Described as “Hysterical”

Ben Roethlisberger not out of hot water yet

Roethlisberger accused of sexual assault yet again, The Bears go Redskins on the market, and NCAA tourny thoughts

Haha Bills Pick Up Chan Gailey…LOSERS!

The Buffalo Bills are a team that is not used to hearing the word “no” when trying to get what they want, but the past couple of weeks have been filled with them.  First it was Bill Cowher and he wasn’t going to go anywhere near Buffalo.  Then it was Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer who was leading the way for the job.  His team is still in the playoffs and therefore he is not open to talks at this point.  Marty Schottenheimer has been running the Jets offense for the past 4 seasons which would make it that much more important for big daddy to stay in New York. Anyways, he said no so the Bills went looking for another victim…oh excuse me…candidate.  Jim Harbaugh of Stanford was next in line with 4-1 odds of getting the job.  Then it was Ron Rivera (defensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers) and Leslie Frazier (defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings).  To make a long story short, somewhere down the line (probably WAYYYYYYY down the list) someone had written the name Chan Gailey down.  Who knows if this name was on a piece of paper on the piss stained bathroom floor down the hall from the conference room where these guys are all huddled together smoking wacky tobacky reminiscing of old times together.  Well…when they finally sobered up a decision had been made.  Chan Gailey was the new Head Coach of the Buffalo Bills.  What do you think about that Terrell???  This guy helped destroy the Cowboys internally.  I am not talking about Terrell Owens either.  Chan Gailey led the Cowboys to the playoffs twice but failed to ever get a win in the playoffs.  He has Bill Cowher backing him up unfortunately and considering thats who they wanted first, I am sure they feel like they are getting some kind of consolation prize with Gailey.  What a mess.  If you want to know more about it just check out what the Chicago Sun Times is reporting and take it from there.

2010 NFL Playoff Bracket

So I figured you guys were getting all weird about me not getting any of the current NFL news out there, but I would like to present you with a great bracket of the NFL teams that are fighting for a chance to play in this years Super Bowl.   If you click on the picture below you can get a full sized bracket.  I will be posting the scores and moving the winners on once the games are over.  Personally SidelineBlog officially takes no position (although we would not mind seeing Bret Favre get another ring or Tony Romo get his first) on the matter.  We are a lover of all sports and all teams but we usually root for the underdog.   I was very happy to see Tony Romo get the monkey of a playoff game off his back.    I did not think it would happen, but the Cowboys have finally won a playoff game after 13 or 14 years without one.   Next weeks matchup with the Vikings looks to be an interesting one.  I hope you enjoy the bracket guys and gals:

Lendale White Sends Message to Steelers’ Fans

That message is, “…we stomped you once, we gonna stomp you again.”  Is this really that smart considering they might end up facing them against in 3 weeks or so in the postseason?  I really do not think so, only because there have been teams in the past who have tried that and all it does is fire up the other team and fire up their fans so if they start the game on a big play, touchdown run, or just a long drive that results in some points, then you have a major problem because its just going to get worse.  I promise.  Besides Lendale, while you were stomping the Terrible Towel into the ground on National Television, your team was winning the game.  Look Lendale, youre numbers are down from last year even though you guys are considered the best team in the AFC???  I think you need to be concentrating on something other than how you can piss off 90,000 people with one incident.  This isnt Terrell Owens running out to the star in Dallas to pay homage to the football Gods, this is down right blatantly pissing people off which does nothing for you situation except make you a target next time you guys meet, whether its in the postseason or next season.  Pittsburgh fans do not forget.  Besides, whats the point anyway?  Its just a towel and really only satisfies you to get a message to other fans.  Its just another case of a Diva USC player trying to get as much attention as possible.  I would not be suprised if some of these players started leaking naked pictures of themselves just for the attention.  When that happens, I will no longer be posting or watching NFL games.  At this point, I think I might stop anyway only because my Dallas Cowboys are choke artists.  I hope in 3 weeks I am eating my words, but I have been screwed too many times to give a hoot what you people think.

Plaxico Burress placed on Non-Injured Reserve List

The New York Football Giants have suspended Plaxico Burress after he shot himself in the leg at a local night club.  The Superbowl star has had a lot of problems with his life lately.  The public and media have not been nice to him since he skipped a couple of team meetings.  To give you an idea of what I am talking about I will give you a timeline and you can see whether or not you believe he should be suspended and removed from the Giants (because essentially thats what they did when they put him on the Non-Injured reserve list), and by the way, he is also looking at 3 1/2 to 15 years in prison for his little stunt and not having a permit for his weapon.  I think the worst part about his situation is the fact that the Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg came out and told the public he wanted Plaxico Burress prosecuted to the fullest extent.  I feel bad I guess…because the dude is a good guy for the most part.  He has some issues he needs to work out and I think his ego has gotten the better of him.  What I am confused about is he is only suspended for 4 games which is the “rest of the season” but what about the playoffs…the Giants will clinch a spot with a win this weekend.  Who knows…but something tells me that you have seen the last of Burress in a Giants uniform.  I think he is a talented enough guy to get one a team somewhere else, but he wont be in New York more than likely.

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