NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

I suppose it depends on who you believe, but this is a case of “he said, he said.” Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is of the belief that despite his limited participation in practice this week, it shouldn’t affect whether he starts this Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.

Coach Mike Smith isn’t saying much, except to have listed Ryan as “limited” after a two-hour session on Thursday.

According to Ryan:

“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m getting a little better every day, which is a good thing. I’m just doing everything that I can at this point to get it back to where I can go back out there and play well.”

A turf toe injury had limited Ryan in practice since the week of their 20-17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; he had missed a pair of games – both home losses to Philadelphia and New Orleans – before returning to lead the Falcons to a road victory over the New York Jets last Sunday.

It’ll be a “5 Star Matchup” as Mike Tomlin puts it this Sunday at Heinz Field as the Steelers somewhat bleak playoff hopes stay alive as they take on the rival Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers lost to the Ravens a few weeks back, but will have their offensive leader, Ben Roethlisberger, back for the matchup. The last time they played, Dennis Dixon almost pulled off the major upset, but they fell short.

Here’s a couple of major keys that the Steelers need to do in order to get on the winning track vs the Ravens in a must win game at home:

1. Get to Joe Flacco - In three games vs the Ravens last year, they were able to make plays on defense due to bringing the heat against Flacco. With the secondary playing too much like swiss cheese, this may be the only way to win. How about a couple big sacks and maybe a forced fumble or two? That for sure wouldn’t hurt. The last time they got to him five times, but it still wasn’t enough.

2. Bottle Up Ray Rice – The last time they played Rice ran though the Steelers for 155 yards between the ground and air, and had the play of the game on a 44-yard pass play on fourth down after it looked like the Steelers were poised to pull off the win. Rice is the biggest playmaker, and if the Steelers can find a way to keep him in check, they will give themselves a chance to win.

3. Take Some Chances – Right now we know that the Steelers can’t run the ball on a consistent basis, so they might as well take some shots against a suspect Ravens secondary. Last week Ben went off for over 500 yards, and while you can’t possibly expect even close to that again, the big play shots to Mike Wallace and Hines Ward may be needed to get the offense going.

4. Be Physical - Tomlin always says that when these two teams play, the most physical one wins. It’s that simple. Last time, the Ravens did just enough and played just a little harder to get the win. I can’t see the Steelers running away with this game by any means, but if they just make one or two more plays, they will pull this one out.

Prediction: This is it. Win or go home for the Steelers. They got a boost of confidence last week with the win over the Pack, but let’s be real, the issues still remain. This is another shot to show they belong with the big boys in the AFC, and like I said, it won’t be easy, but they will find a way like last week.

Steelers 21 Ravens 18

Could Mike Shanahan be the next coach in Chicago? ESPN Chicago says that the former Broncos coach could be the next man in charge of the team. They state a source says that Shanahan is interested in the Bears job if it should be open at years end.

Even now, with a potential Monday night humiliation in the offing, Jerry Angelo’s refusal to give Lovie Smith the coveted vote of confidence and a bevy of suitable candidates in the wings, you don’t hear much about potential replacements for the Bears’ head coach. Specifically, you don’t hear much about the most obvious and most suitable prospect. A close friend of Mike Shanahan’s said the Chicago native and two-time Super Bowl winning coach with the Denver Broncos would be “extremely interested” if the Bears’ head-coaching job were to become vacant.

“The job is really attractive to Mike,” the friend said. “It’s home [with relatives of his, including his dad, in the Chicago area, and wife Peggy's family still in the Bloomington area]. It’s a great challenge because that roster needs to be made over, and the one guy there to build the team around is the one guy he has already built a team around and with whom he has a tremendous comfort level, Jay Cutler.”

The travesties continue to hinder the Dolphins, and the remnants from last weeks loss to the Tennessee Titans continue to follow the Dolphins everywhere this week.

The overtime loss to the Titans could bother any fan, so imagine how hard it must have been for the players to cope with the fact that they had the game almost in hand, until the wheels on the bus just fell apart all in one swift movement of the arm.

Yes, with Chad Henne’s interception, the wheels to the Dolphins bus began to disband.

The plot really began to thicken after the interception, where Michael Griffin tried to intentionally ground the ball, and end the play, but was never touched after he slid to the ground.

The whistle had supposedly blown, but none of the players on the field claim they heard it.

Dolphins receiver Greg Camarillo making a heads up play, ran over to Griffin, and with all of his momentum going towards Griffin, Camarillo appeared to tag Griffin rather roughly.

This rough tag garnered Camarillo and the Dolphins a 15 yard penalty at the time, and later, a $5,000 fine for Camarillo, from the NFL. The fine came just in time for Camarillo to receiver his little “Christmas present” from the league.

While Camarillo, and the rest of the people associated with the Dolphins organization disagree with the call, the VP of NFL officiating, Mike Pereira had this to say on the call, and fine:

“I don’t see the intercepting player trying to get up and run. He clearly gave himself up, and that’s the first part of the play,” Pereira said. “There’s no attempt to get up. [Camarillo] comes up and bangs him pretty good, even in slow motion. We’re out to protect players, and when a player gives himself up we don’t feel that he has to be hit.”

I have to disagree with Pereira on several facets of his quote.

First off, slow motion only makes the call even worse! It makes it look like Camarillo did not intentionally wallow Griffin, it makes it look accidental, and makes the refs look bad.

Pereira says this type of stuff all of the time to cover his referees behinds.

What else is he supposed to do, but this game was rather awful from the zebras standpoint.

Camarillo did the right thing in making sure Griffin was down, and unlike a quarterback sliding to the ground to stop the play, I do recall that any other player does not have that same power.

So wouldn’t this make what Camarillo did right? Wouldn’t this make what Camarillo did a heads up play instead of a bonehead one?

The refereeing in this league continues to amaze me, and some of the fines that they hand out are just plain ridiculous.

Camarillo did not do anything to deserve this fine except for hustle his butt off, and made a heads up play to ensure that Griffin was down. I guess the league is trying to make this a flag-football league instead of tackle.

This guy would be happy with that!

Well, to the delight of many fans, it appears that the team and Mike Tomlin has finally seen enough of William Gay as a starting corner. The Post Gazette reports that Gay has been told his role for Sunday vs the Ravens has been changed, in other words – he has been demoted:

Head coach Mike Tomlin has stirred — if not shaken — up a Steelers secondary carved recently as if it were a holiday dinner entree. Tomlin yesterday informed starting cornerback William Gay that his role would change for this week against Baltimore as he was demoted to nickel-package duty at cornerback while longtime starting left cornerback Deshea Townsend being elevated to the first team. Townsend will continue to cover the slot receiver in the nickel. “That was the decision Coach gave me. That’s the game plan, I guess,” Gay said after yesterday’s practice. “You got to always go with the head coach. He makes the best decisions to suit the situation. I just got to go in and do my best. The season isn’t over yet. And you’re always one play away [from an injury to a regular player]. You definitely want to stay ready.”

It was getting too old seeing week in and week out Gay get torched. He clearly has not been the player the Steelers were hoping to have when they lost Bryant McFadden in free agency this past offseason, and he has been not able to keep up the opposing wide outs on opposing teams. Let’s hope a benching or demotion means at the end of the day he’ll be a better player.

The Panthers have placed quarterback Jake Delhomme on injured reserve with a broken finger on his throwing hand, ending his worst season as a pro. Delhomme was hurt in a loss to the New York Jets on Nov. 29 and hadn’t played or practiced since, while Matt Moore has started the last three games and threw for a career-high 299 yards and three touchdowns in last Sunday’s upset win over Minnesota.

The Panthers (6-8) promoted quarterback Hunter Cantwell from the practice squad to take Delhomme’s roster spot. “We thought he might be further along as far as his finger,” Panthers coach John Fox said. “We kind of looked at it this week as far as gripping the ball, throwing the ball, and it wasn’t up to speed. We felt we needed to get another quarterback up.”

Bills interim coach Perry Fewell is taking a wait-and-see approach with his quarterbacks after starter Ryan Fitzpatrick missed his second straight practice because of an ankle injury.

Fewell said Fitzpatrick is feeling better and did "a little throwing" before practice Thursday as the Bills (5-9) prepare to play at Atlanta (7-7) this weekend. With backup Trent Edwards out with an ankle injury, third-stringer Brian Brohm would make his NFL debut if Fitzpatrick can't play.

Hurt against New England last weekend, Fitzpatrick walked stiffly around the locker room and, with a smile, said "Merry Christmas," when asked how he felt. Starting cornerback Drayton Florence missed practice due to an illness, but is expected to play.

Fresh of a 24-17 upset victory of the New Orleans Saints, the Dallas Cowboys will head to Washington for a prime-time matchup against the struggling Redskins this Sunday night. Washington fell victim to the New York Giants getting pummeled 45-12 last Monday.

For the Cowboys, they have a chance to secure themselves a postseason playoff berth with a victory coupled with a Giants loss. As many Cowboy fans are aware the Boys tend to wait until the very last week of the season before assuring themselves a spot in the "tournament".

While last season ended in a beat down from the Eagles, the Cowboys would prefer not to head into their regular season ending rematch next week, against those Eagles, with the same thing on the line. All indications are that the Cowboys would like next week's contest with the Eagles to be for the 1st in the NFC East.

Before they can get to that game they have to beat the Redskins. While their records are quite different, the Cowboys(9-5) know that those do not matter when they meet the Redskins(4-10). The Redskins were just a missed field-goal away from upsetting the Cowboys in Dallas on November 22nd. The Cowboys narrowly escaping with a 7-6 victory.

This time around the Cowboys will have to be much better if they want to collect on sine late Christmas season joy. The Boys failed to get much offensive momentum during the game and was thankful that their defense played amazing and that, now Cowboys kicker, Shaun Suisham missed a couple of field-goals.

Suisham will make his debut with the Cowboys Sunday when he returns to Washington. The Redskins cut him for missing a 23-yard field-goal against New Orleans on December 6th. The Cowboys released their kicker after he missed a crucial 24-yard field-goal, also against the Saints.

While most of the players on both teams are not as familiar with this rivalry, it is still one of the best in sports. The fans hate each other, the organizations hate each other. For Washington, nothing would be a better belated Christmas gift to their fans than playing spoiler on the Cowboys.

The season is over for Lions prized rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford. The team on Thursday decided to spare the final two games for Stafford, and decided to put him on injured reserve. Stafford has been sidelined for the last two weeks with a separated left shoulder, but it’s a knee injury that at the end of the day is the reason he’s going on IR.

Coach Jim Schwartz says Stafford will undergo a “minor knee procedure” on Tuesday. “It’s something he’s been able to play through but it was something we knew we needed to address after the season,” Schwartz said.

Stafford suffered a knee injury against the Bears back on October 4th and missed the next two games before returning to the lineup. “It’s not a repair, it’s nothing more than a clean-out,” Schwartz said. “He’ll be able to walk out of the operating room.”

Schwartz said today that as of no, no surgery is planned on Stafford’s shoulder.

“It was just a knee. His only issue was swelling, it wasn’t structure or anything else. If we could manage the swelling we could get him back on the field and we did that,” Schwartz said. “It was something we knew we’d have to address even back then.”