November 20
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
columnist Dave Hyde
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Here's why Ricky Williams might be the most amazing story in football right now: He's doing things he never did before. No one expected that from him. Not at 32, in his second football act, after all the miles and all the stories. But Thursday night, in the 24-17 victory against Carolina, the Dolphins offense wasn't just Run, Ricky, Run. It started with this: Catch, Ricky, Catch. Asked to be a feature back in a competitive season for first time since he wore dreadlocks, Williams caught a 14-yard pass for the Dolphins' first touchdown. He then ran a 1-yard touchdown out of the Wildcat formation for the second touchdown. He'd never done this before, by the way. Never run for and caught a ..."
November 20
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
columnist Jim Mandich
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The Dolphins came up here on a short week of preparation with a banged up football team and found a way to get it done. Try to figure out all the combinations used on the injury-depleted offensive line if you can. Try to figure out exactly how any positions on the line Nate Garner played in Thursday night's 24-17 win over the Panthers, but somehow the Dolphins managed to pull out an important victory. It was a stinky start to the game, but the offense grabbed the momentum in the second quarter, just making enough plays to take the lead. While the defense kept Carolina to a field goal in the first half you knew it was going to get dicey in the second half, and it did. That third-down ..."
November 20
Washington Post
columnist Leonard Shapiro
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Not long after John Riggins retired from football following the 1985 season, I asked a network sports television executive why a colorful, quote machine of a player I'd covered since the day he came to town in 1976 hadn't been signed up immediately by a single broadcasting entity televising pro football. After all, he was smart, telegenic, funny and opinionated, everything and more you'd look for in the booth or in a studio every NFL Sunday. The short answer, and almost 25 years later I'm paraphrasing here, was that the network suits were scared of a possible runaway Diesel, if only because you never knew what he might say next. Riggins clearly lived up to that billing during his ..."
November 19
St. Paul Pioneer Press
columnist Charley Walters
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Aaron Rodgers watched Brett Favre from the Green Bay Packers' bench for three seasons before succeeding the future hall of fame quarterback. Tarvaris Jackson, 26, is watching Favre, 40, through nine games with the Vikings this season and improving, coach Brad Childress said Wednesday. Jackson said the most important thing he has learned as Favre's top backup is to be himself and not be influenced by others. "There are little things, but the biggest thing probably is not football related, but it's how he's going to be himself regardless of the situation," Jackson said of Favre on Wednesday. "He's going to do what he knows; he's going to be Brett. What this really boils down to is being what ..."
November 19
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
columnist Bob Wolfley
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For a team that is 5-4, one whose chances for a division title appear to be out of reach, some of Green Bay's games this season have generated huge national television audiences. Of course there is a Favre Factor here - Brett Favre's presence on the Minnesota Vikings fueled interest in the two Packers-Vikings games, which were played in the first half of the season on a national stage. But Favre didn't play in last Sunday's Dallas Cowboys at Packers game on Fox, which went to most of the country, and there was a bigger national audience for that game than for the much anticipated prime-time game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts on NBC-TV. Through 10 weeks of the ..."
November 18
New York Post
columnist Mark Cannizzaro
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Those who are calling for Rex Ryan to shut his mouth now that his team has lost five of its last six are taking a knee-jerk route to criticism. If Ryan changes now by clamming up, he would be showing himself as a phony, making it seem as if his previous bravado was all an act, and the same people ripping him now for talking too much would be ripping him for being a fake. Ryan needs to stay true to himself, whether his critics like it or not, and simply become a better head coach who prepares his team better and makes better in-game decisions such as not wasting timeouts because of disorganization and miscommunications on his sideline. Sure Ryan's bravado has put a XXXL bull's eye on his ..."
November 18
Green Bay Press Gazette
columnist Mike Vandermause
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Ahman Green wasn't ready to give up his career in the National Football League. But by the middle of October, 11 months had passed since the 32-year-old running back's last game, and Green admits he was starting to think about another line of work. "It was tough," he said. "But in the back of my head was always (the thought), 'Stay in shape, be ready to go at the drop of a dime and a phone call.' " Nothing materialized following a tryout with the St. Louis Rams in August, but Green continued to work out while maintaining his residence in De Pere. When the phone finally rang again, Green Bay Packers director of football operations Reggie McKenzie was on the line offering a tryout. "My ..."
November 18
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
columnist Bud Lea
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He is a lonely man. He cannot hide his mistakes in the huddle or in the locker room. He comes out each week, naked to his critics and vulnerable to his opponents. He is Aaron Rodgers. The only thing you knew about Sunday's game at Lambeau Field was that Rodgers was going to be under a microscope. All week long the talk had been about how the Green Bay Packer quarterback was leading the NFL in sacks and had played poorly in a shocking 38-28 loss to the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You wondered how much more of a beating he could take. You wondered how well he could stand up against a Dallas defense that treats quarterbacks the way vicious dogs treat the mailman. You wondered when he will ..."
November 18
Dallas Morning News
columnist Jean Jaques Taylor
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If Wade Phillips doesn't trust the players on the Cowboys' roster, then he needs to cut them and sign some players he does trust. Doug Free, a three-year veteran, is supposed to be the backup for both tackles. With Marc Colombo presumably out for the rest of the season with a broken left leg and torn ligaments in his ankle, Free should move into the starting lineup. Now, Phillips isn't sure he wants to do that. He's contemplating moving Leonard Davis to right tackle and using Montrae Holland or Cory Procter at guard. Then why is Free on the team? If Phillips is afraid to use him now, then he'll never use him. And if he'll never use him, then the Cowboys need to get rid of him. It's ..."
November 17
Boston Globe
columnist Tony Massarotti
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Bill Belichick says something like this after most every loss, of course, but most times we just gloss over it. We usually take it as nothing more than politically correct mumble-babble from the distinguished coach of the Patriots, a man frequently accused of acting as if he is smarter than everyone else and a man who usually is."
November 17
Boston Globe
columnist Dan Shaughnessy
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Roughly 12 hours after what is sure to become one of the most discussed coaching decisions of his remarkable career, Patriots coach Bill Belichick stuck to his call to go for it last night on fourth and 2 from the 28-yard line, the defining play of the Patriots' 35-34 loss in Indianapolis. "The same thing I said after the game -- I thought it was our best chance to win," Belichick said at a press conference. "I thought we needed to make that one play, then we could basically run out the clock. And we weren't able to make it.""
November 17
Akron Beacon Journal
columnist Patrick McManamon
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The Browns played the Baltimore Ravens even Monday night for a half. Expect this to be the mantra from the coach following the eighth loss in nine games - well, we showed some positive things in the first half. Gosh golly gee whiz, get out the Black Label for that one Mabel. Whatever. What was painfully evident was that it took one possession and one completion and one touchdown for the game to swing the Ravens' way. All involved fundamental errors that 1-and-7 teams like the Browns make even though they cannot afford them. Take them in order. The Browns had the Ravens facing third-and-5 at their 46-yard-line. This is a good situation for a defense, and in the first half the Browns were ..."
November 17
Cleveland Plain Dealer
columnist Bill Livingston
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The captain of the Browns' ship of fools went a little overboard as the midnight hour approached Monday. Because of it, Eric Mangini too should be tossed over the side, like excess baggage. That probably won't happen until this miserable season -- with the same game being played over and over again, like the same day was re-lived over and over in the movie "Groundhog Day" -- finally wallows to a close. Nothing much figures to change with this rudderless franchise until then. Still, the half-baked slumdog of a play at the end of the Ravens game deserves particular censure. Down 16 points, last play of the game, a stadium that looked almost as empty as the head of owner Randy Lerner when he ..."
November 17
Boston Globe
columnist Christopher L. Gasper
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Bill Belichick is no stranger to controversial or unpopular decisions. He chose Tom Brady over Drew Bledsoe in 2001. In Super Bowl XXXVI, instead of kneeling on the ball with 1:30 left and no timeouts and playing for overtime, he let a second-year quarterback fire away and set up the winning field goal. He cut starting safety Lawyer Milloy five days before the 2003 season, and watched his team win its last 15 games, including the playoffs, to hoist the Lombardi Trophy."
November 17
Washington Post
columnist Tracee Hamilton
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Well, it figures. The Redskins seem to have gotten it together, finally, with Sunday's 27-17 win, overcoming injuries and strife and all that TV movie stuff. What they haven't had is a good position controversy. Here it comes. With Clinton Portis cheering from the sideline, backup Ladell Betts has, in the past game and a half, revved up the Redskins' offense, which in turn has revved up the entire team, the coaches and the fans. So what happens when Portis, out because of a concussion suffered in last week's loss to Atlanta, is healthy again? Nothing. The NFL isn't like baseball. Guys are seldom Wally Pipped in the NFL. In other words, they don't lose their starting jobs over a headache. ..."