New helmet rule means NFL needs another official, Peter King says
Power-running game looking weaker as NFL linemen try to rise from 3-point stance
The NFL’s new restrictions on helmet contact will be so difficult to enforce that an additional official will be needed on the field. So says Peter King, Sports Illustrated’s popular pro football writer. “This is a gigantic change,” King said on Pro Football Talk (NBCSN). I think it’s going to lead to adding a full-time eighth official . . . to watch very closely in the trenches for collisions of helmets. . . .” King added some clarity to what will be allowed and not. “If you run into someone, and the collision involves helmets, you’re not getting thrown out of the game and you’re not getting a 15-yard penalty,” he said. “It’s only if you lower the helmet and drive right at somebody, that’s when you’re going to get in trouble.” He does not think a lineman in his 3-point stance will be penalized “as long as your head is up.”
Between the Lines: The most troubling issue is the power-run plays where O-linemen dig into the ground and fire out, helmets lowered. They will be expected to raise the helmet prior to contact.
Favre was in alcohol/drug rehab three times, ‘I was MVP on a pain-pill buzz’
Brett Favre, who was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and a Super Bowl winner, battled addictions to alcohol and prescription drugs for most of his career with the Green Bay Packers. He told Peter King in the latter’s final Monday Morning QB column for Sports Illustrated: “I took 14 Vicodin at one time. I was getting an hour or two of sleep many nights – maybe 30 minutes of quality sleep. I was the MVP on a pain-pill buzz.” Favre’s pill-popping has been known since he announced it in a press conference in 1995. But this is his first public mention of alcoholism. “When I played golf,” he said, “the only reason I wanted to play was to drink.”
Dear Brett: This revelation may not be a good thing. You could be like U.S. Grant, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, cited and — unfortunately — admired for performing great feats despite being helplessly drunk much of the time. But how many other careers have been derailed by alcohol? See item below.
June Jones says Manziel ‘can be the best player in Canadian Football League history’
Former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, having undergone rehabilitation from substance abuse and bipolar disorder, is trying a comeback in the Canadian Football League. After he signed a 2-year contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, their coach, June Jones, said Manziel “can be the best player in CFL history.” He said his offensive scheme will “put him in what he’s done.” Manziel sees this as an avenue to the NFL, as it was for Doug Flutie, Warren Moon and Jeff Garcia. “You look at some of the guys in the past who started here and went to the NFL.” Manziel said on Pro Football Talk. “There are some legendary guys.”
Dear Johnny: June Jones could be your salvation. He was one of the founders of the spread offense that worked so well for you at Texas A&M. But if you blow this opportunity there probably will be no other one.
ESPN’s Blackistone says Ovechkin is Washington’s all-time greatest athlete
Alex Ovechkin no longer can be designated as the greatest superstar who couldn’t get his team to the Stanley Cup Final. The center for the Washington Capitals has lost seven Game 7s during his postseason career. When Ovechkin finally broke through with the Caps’ 4-3 Eastern Conference series championship over Tampa Bay, the Washington media gushed with overpraise. ESPN’s Kevin Blackistone said on Around the Horn: “He is the greatest athlete in the history of professional sports here in Washington, D.C. “
Dear Kevin: Yes the 3-time MVP scored a goal one minute into Game 7 and led his team to victory. But greatest athlete in D.C. history? Have you heard of Sammy Baugh? Or Walter Johnson? Or Wes Unseld?
McCullers apologizes for ‘showing up’ teammate Gurriel
Lance McCullers pitched one of his worst games last Saturday in an 8-6 loss in Cleveland, but it wasn’t just sloppy pitching that concerned the Houston Astros. More disappointing was the way he “showed up” his teammate, first baseman Yuli Gurriel, who booted a routine grounder with runners on the corners and no outs in the second inning of a game that was scoreless at that point. When a run scored on the error, McCullers reacted by waving his arms and jumping. After the inning was over, with just the one run scoring, McCullers extended his glove in the dugout for Jose Altuve to provide a congratulatory slap. But the MVP second baseman threw down his hat and glove and reprimanded the 24-year-old pitcher. “I showed my frustration,” McCullers said, “and Altuve was letting me know that we’re beyond that. . . . I was really immature and let my emotions get the best of me. . . . I apologized and it won’t happen again.”
Between the Lines: The Astros like the intensity and passion of McCullers, but they would like to see more composure in adversity. More like Justin Verlander, less like Ken Giles.