NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

An ACL injury put linebacker Thomas Davis on the shelf last season for the Panthers, but it looks like he’s almost all the way back to 100 percent, as the Charlotte Observer reports the LB is ready to get a big lift back with his return to the teams defense.

The Panthers got some huge news last week, when LB Thomas Davis ran a 4.47-second 40 yard dash. That’s slightly off some of his previous times, but there is the small fact he’s less than six months from surgery to repair a torn ACL. Davis surprised folks with the speed of his recovery, doing more in the post-draft minicamp than expected. But if he’s out there laying down 4.47s now (as he reported, timed by a Panthers scout), it’s a good indication he’s nearly 100 percent back from last November’s blown knee. That’s huge for a defense that has to be solid in the back seven to make up for the transition in the front four.

It appears more and more that the city of New York is going to have the first cold weather outdoor Super Bowl on the East Coast in the history of the big game. It’s been one of the hottest topics in the NFL over the past few weeks, and now Gary Myers of the NY Daily News reports that it looks more than ever NY is going to get the game in 2014.

John Mara has been saying the Giants-Jets bid to host the Super Bowl in 2014 needs to pick up just 15 more votes when NFL owners go to the polls at the league meetings Tuesday in Dallas.

Well, you can make that 14 as Patriots owner Robert Kraft has officially promised his vote for the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather city as New York goes into election day as the overwhelming favorite over Tampa and South Florida to get Super Bowl XLVIII.

Long ago, it got my endorsement. The Super Bowl in New York would be a can’t-miss event.

Kraft, who has been outspoken for months in his support of the Super Bowl coming to New York, says he hasn’t even bothered to read the binders that contain the bids of the three finalists.

“Doing it in New York is the right thing for a lot of reasons,” Kraft told the Daily News last week. “I’ve been going to Patriots game for 50 years up here. I personally believe all football should be played outdoors. Our league was founded on winter football with the Ice Bowl. Our sport is about resilience, mental toughness, adjustments. I think it will be a great experience for the fans. A memorable experience.”

Kraft also believes a New York Super Bowl will send a message to the world that New York is back in business after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“We are with you,” Kraft said. “All of America is with you. This would be good for the country. It’s good for America. It’s good for the NFL. It says, “Whatever challenges, we are resilient people. We’re back and we’re doing things.”

It’s expected that a New York Super Bowl will be a $550 million boon to the metropolitan economy.

With it looking like this will happen, it is going to start a trend of other cities than that of Tampa, Miami, New Orleans and San Diego getting the biggest game of the year? And just what would happen if the weather plays a huge part in the outcome of the game?

I for one am for the idea, and would love to see other cities like Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Chicago get the game as well.

Sean Payton sits down with Ellen to discuss his upcoming book.

That’s right..Sean Payton has joined the literary ranks and is writing his own book.

The book, titled Home Team, tells Payton’s chronicle as an assistant coach in the NFL to finally finding a home in New Orleans and reaching the Super Bowl with the Saints. Co-authored with Ellis Henican, the book includes anecdotes from Payton’s Dallas days from the recent Super Bowl.

The book is scheduled to be released June 29th, according to Amazon.com’s website.

Mike Triplett of the Times-Picayune describes a scene from media day at the Super Bowl in which Payton was given the opportunity to make a very good point about the team’s attitude going into the big game.

Payton, who co-wrote the book with author Ellis Henican, said he didn’t have any problem with players going out on Monday night since there was no practice scheduled for Tuesday.

“I’m not naive,” the coach wrote. “If I were a player, that’s the night I’d be going out. But I’d damn sure make the Tuesday morning bus.”

Five players apparently didn’t – (cornerback Tracey) Porter, safeties Roman Harper and Usama Young, defensive end Bobby McCray and offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod.

While team officials and position coaches frantically tried to hunt them down and team and league public relations officials frantically tried to get Payton and his players up to the podiums at the scheduled time, Payton recognized a golden opportunity.

“What the players had done really wasn’t that big a deal,” he wrote. “Monday was the night they were supposed to go drinking. Tuesday was just Media Day. It was all unimportant. Who cares what time Media Day activities are supposed to begin? Believe me, the media will wait. And one by one, the five missing players begin to show up. This is going to be a teaching moment. Teaching by confrontation. …

“We were going to have a little emergency meeting just as soon as the last straggler arrived. It was Tracy Porter. Finally he appeared in the locker room. All the doors were closed. I began to speak.

“‘You guys,’” I said, starting softly. “‘You guys remind me of a team that’s just happy to be here. … There’s a lot of things I don’t do well. But I have very good intuition. It’d gotten me to this point in my career. Part of that is developed. Part of it’s innate. But I can, and I do, pay attention. And I have a good sense of what is going on here. … My intuition tells me you guys are in for a rude awakening this coming weekend. I can smell an ass kickin’ on the way. I can smell a team that looks like they’re just happy to be in the Super Bowl. You guys reek of that team.’”

Payton said he didn’t shout, but his comments were personal and direct, and he called out a few players by name – including the three defensive backs who were late.

“‘Do you honestly think (Indianapolis Colts receiver) Pierre Garcon and (expletive) Dallas Clark and these other guys from the Colts are out to the wee hours?’” Payton recalled saying. “‘Late for Media Day? You’re late. You’re (expletive) clueless. You got no idea.’”

The Saints were now 30 minutes late for their scheduled interview time – with hundreds of reporters assuming there was a delay because the weather had pushed the interviews inside. But Payton said he didn’t care. His speech went on to include assistant coaches and the overall “happy to be here” attitude he sensed and “giddiness” he had seen on the bus rides and in the hotel lobby.
“‘Let me know if you’re gonna party all week, because I’ll go drink red wine at the Prime, too,’”

Payton recalled saying. “‘We’re not gonna get vested in a game plan if this is the way we’re gonna go. Ah, hell, I’ll go get (expletive)-up with the rest of you. Is that what we’re here for?’”

Payton then ended his rant by passing on a message from his mentor and current Miami Dolphins president Parcells, who had watched the team practice Monday but declined an invitation to speak with the Saints since he is currently working for another team.

“Bill’s message wasn’t something he dreamed up alone,” Payton wrote. “It dates back decades before him. It sounds to me like pure Vince Lombardi, but it probably goes back even further than that. I told the players: ‘Here’s what Bill Parcells said. He said, When the band stops playing and the crowd stops cheering – when people stop paying to come – and it’s quiet and all you’re left with is yourself, and you’ve gotta be able to answer the question, Did I do my best? Did I do everything (expletive) possible to win this game?’”

Parcells, who won two Super Bowls as a coach and lost one, emphasized his point by saying that the mistakes he made in the loss will “haunt” him forever.

Payton said the players were silent in the locker room by that point. When he finished, he said quarterback Drew Brees followed up by calling a players-only meeting so he could give his own motivational speech. Then they finally went in for interviews.

“When we went to work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, everyone was focused. No one was just happy to be there,” Payton wrote. “Rather than holding a phony meeting on Tuesday, the players gave me a perfect opportunity to create a crisis. They delivered it to me in a golden wrapper.”

The Dallas Morning News also reported on the book, but instead focusing on Payton’s time with Dallas, including some interesting information on other coaching possibilities that were available to Payton and also praise for mentor Bill Parcells and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton has high praise for former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells in his new book Home Team, calling Parcells “brilliant” and describing him as having “the best coaching instincts” of anyone with which he has ever coached.

Payton paints owner Jerry Jones in a favorable light when relaying anecdotes of Jones describing Payton’s value to the Cowboys’ organization and advising him on his coaching future in the NFL.

Payton spends two chapters of the 288-page book on his time as an assistant coach with the Cowboys. Here are a few Dallas-related highlights from the new book, which is slated to go on sale July 6:

– Payton says one of Parcells’ best coaching jobs ever came in 2003 when the Cowboys finished the regular season with a 10-6 record and a playoff berth.

– Parcells discouraged Payton from taking the Raiders’ head coaching position after the 2004 season. Bill Callahan , Jon Gruden and John Fox also advised Payton against making the move.

– A day after being offered the Oakland head coaching job, Jones called Payton to come over to his house so the two could talk. As Payton puts it in the book, “If Jerry’s the last guy you see before you make a decision, you’re probably going to stay with him.” After the meeting, Payton called his wife, Beth, and his agent to tell them he wanted to remain with the Cowboys. He also received a new contract that day.

– Jones gave Payton his blessing when Payton accepted the Saints head coaching job before the 2006 season. Jones told Payton his reward, “could be bigger than you ever dreamed.”

Maybe the biggest offseason story for the Pats is that of WR Wes Welker, trying to make it back after a torn ACL during the regular season finale against the Texans. Welker so far is saying all the right things, and seems to be making some pretty fast progress from the injury.

Welker spoke at his football camp about coming back and hasn’t shown much in terms of wear and tear from the surgery that ended his season.

Speaking at his football camp on Saturday, Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker expressed optimism about his recovery from a torn ACL. Those in attendance say Welker showed no traces of the surgery, but it wasn’t exactly a full contact practice for the instructor.

“It’s going good so far. It’s a long process but I feel like I’m making a lot of strides,” Welker said.

Welker says he’s been working out with Tom Brady once or twice a week, but wouldn’t divulge how seriously he’s running yet. He did say Brady’s work ethic hasn’t changed.

“It’s always ‘one more’ with [Brady],” Welker said. “If it’s not perfect, it’s ‘another one, another one.’ He’s like ‘two more to this side’ and I’m like, ‘So that’s about 10.’ You love to see it, but at the same time, you’re looking at your watch and like, ‘My parking sticker is about to run out of time here. Let’s go.’”

Welker will spend the next month in New England rehabbing while the team practices and there is no timeline for his return.

There’s been so much talk about the Steelers running the ball more in 2010, and the big reason for that is what 2nd year back Rashard Mendenhall did last year, going over 1000 yards even though he wasn’t even the opening day starter. His play opened the door for the team to not even seriously make an offer to free agent Willie Parker.

Now Bruce Arians is talking about running the ball better, and running backs coach Kirby Wilson says the team can count on Mendenhall as well for pass protection, hoping to protect whoever is back there throwing the football this year.

With the normally Top 10 Pittsburgh Steelers ground game ranking 23rd (2008) and 19th (2009) the last two seasons, Steelers president Art Rooney II has issued a directive to the coaching staff for the Steelers to be a more effective team on the ground. “At the end of the game, in the four-minute [offense] to run out the clock and not punt the ball, short yards, goal line are areas we have to be more efficient,” Arians told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this week. Despite the inconsistency of the ground game last year, second-year back Rashard Mendenhall topped 1,100 yards.

A greater commitment to the running game, especially in the first half of the season where starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s availability is in question, could lead to a break-out season for the 5-10, 225-pound Mendenhall. “He has the unique ability to play every down, every situation. You can probably count that many guys on one hand who can do that in this league,” Steelers running backs coach Kirby Wilson said. “He’s an outstanding pass protector. He’s got unbelievable hands. He can run inside. He can run outside. He can run off-tackle, misdirection runs. He does a lot of things for this offense that are kind of in the background right now. He’s got great power and will only get better over the next four to five years.”

There’s no doubt this team needs to run better, and if they can, it will help out the passing game and take pressure off the person under center for the first few weeks of the regular season.

Another high profile AFC North player is likely going to be suspended to start the year, as Browns NT Shaun Rogers is going to be punished for his role in trying to board a plane with a gun at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer says that the Browns are simply waiting for the decision to come down as to how long the suspension is going to be, so they can plan around it.

The league has given the Browns no indication when it will hand down a suspension to Shaun Rogers for his April 1 arrest for carrying a loaded gun while attempting to board a plane at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Team president Mike Holmgren hopes to learn something from Goodell at the meetings in Dallas. He expects some sort of suspension. Rogers has attended the off-season program, but is not participating on the field yet because of his rehabilitation from an ankle injury last year. “I’m pleased with how he’s working here,” Holmgren said. “I think he messed up and he knows it. But I like how he’s working. Hopefully, he won’t make the same mistake again.”

Rogers seems to be on much better ground with the combo of Holmgren and coach Eric Mangini than last year, when there was talk about him not wanting to be with the team anymore after he and Mangini didn’t hit it off from the start. Now it looks like he’ll be ready to go to have a big 2010 with the club.