NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have a decision to make.

Sitting in the 16th position in the National Football League's waiver wire, the two in charge of player management could have the opportunity to claim future Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss.

Sitting between Moss and a plane ticket to Seattle, though, are other likely destinations like Buffalo (first in waiver wire), San Diego (10th in waiver wire), St. Louis (13th in waiver wire) and Washington (15th in waiver wire).

However, should the Seahawks have the opportunity to pluck Moss from the wire, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound wide receiver could provide a boost to a passing game that's been more aerial flop than aerial attack. Headed into week nine, Seattle ranks 25th in the league in passing yards per game. Moss has the hands, speed and agility needed to make big play after big play. His presence demands opponents to blanket him with their top defender and, oftentimes, double coverage.

Another perk that comes with Moss is reliability. In his 13-year career in the NFL, Moss has missed just six games – three in 2006 with Oakland and three in 2004 during his initial time spent in Minnesota – and has 11 seasons of at least 1,000 receiving yards. An average season for the receiver consists of 1,136 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns with 52 first downs coming off his catches.

He isn't perfect, though. As those in football and those that follow the sport have recently been reminded, Moss also comes with baggage. On the field, he'll play hard when he wants to. On the sideline, if he isn't happy he'll let you know. Off the field, it's still all about him.

Moss will remain on waivers until 4 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. If he's claimed during that period of time, the team he's awarded to will be responsible for the remaining amount of his $6.4 million he's making this season, the last year of his current contract.

If Moss passes through waivers without being claimed, Minnesota will be responsible for the remaining salary and the wideout would then become a free agent.

Since arriving in Seattle, Pete Carroll and John Schneider have gone out and brought in players possessing question marks with varying degrees of success. Reggie Williams and LenDale White were both tossed back after relatively short test runs, but Mike Williams, Leon Washington and Kentwan Balmer have proven to be worth the investment. Bringing in Randy Moss would be the ultimate test.

Can't get enough NFLGridironGab? Follow SeahawksGab Editor Devon Heinen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DevonHeinen.

Senior writer jclombardi highlights Packers headlines.

Packers focus on rushing defense: In the the halfway point of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have the No. 1 rushing defense in the NFL, allowing 58.9 yards per game. At the end of 2009, that top spot belonged to Green Bay, which held opponents to an average of 83.3 yards per game. But the Packers aren’t anywhere close to that now. Their rushing defense has fallen all the way to 25th at 123.6. Injuries and circumstances have led to the indication, at least statistically, of a defensive drop-off. But despite the numbers, the Packers still feel they have a very good run defense and point to the 9-0 shutout against New York. Coach McCarthy believes in the run defense and great opportunity to improve in the second half of the season. Against the Jets, the defensive line and supporting outside linebackers helped dictate the down and distance, said Capers.

Cowboys scouting report: Running game–Cowboys have been a major disappointment. The Cowboys rank No. 31 in the NFL in rushing yards per game. Their backfield tandem should be good — Marion Barber is 27, which is before the decline starts for most NFL backs, and Jones is 23, but they're not picking up anything. Barber, the nominal starter, has been reduced to mainly a short-yardage back and is averaging only 3.0 yards on his 65 carries. Jones has a decent 4.2-yard average in his 68 carries, but he hasn't been the breakaway threat of past years. On the offensive line, LT Free has been fine, but the rest of the group hasn't.  Passing game–Romo is out. The Cowboys will miss his ability to make plays, especially when things break down and he moves outside the pocket. Backup Jon Kitna is a stationary target. He has a decent and relatively accurate throwing arm, but he's not a playmaker. Running defense–Dallas' collapse on defense is the biggest surprise of its season. The Cowboys finished last season with the No. 4 rushing defense and No. 2 scoring defense but have dropped to Nos. 24 and 27, respectively, this year. Passing defense–The most damning statistic of a bad year? Jacksonville QB Garrard hitting the Cowboys for four touchdown passes and an astronomical passer rating. Though the Cowboys rank No. 9 in the NFL in sacks percentage, the pass rush hasn't been lacking. Special teams–Bryant is a big-time threat returning punts and has taken back two of his 12 returns for touchdowns. Rookie kickoff returner Akwasi Owusu-Ansah (21.7-yard average) hasn't been as dynamic.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers talks about team’s renewed confidence: "There was a different feeling in the locker room," Rodgers said in an interview on the Jim Rome radio show. "That confidence was back. There was an excitement. The urgency from the previous week carried over." "The guys we've brought in have all had the right mindset. They've been hungry," Rodgers said. "We brought in DE Green. He played great for us. Charles Peprah been starting at safety and had a great game Sunday. It's a combination of the guys filling those voids improving their play and good leadership keeping the guys focused on the things that we can control." Rodgers also discussed an offense that continues to struggle. The Packers rank No. 16 in the NFL in average yards (335.9), No. 13 in points (22 a game) and tied for No. 25 on third downs (35 percent). "Offensively we can do a lot more," Rodgers said. "We've been hurt by some injuries, obviously, to a couple key players. We still feel like we haven't made enough plays on offense, and that starts with me. I've got to play better in the second half of the season.”

(The following day of each regular-season game, I will review how the team's units fared in their latest matchup. Yesterday, the team played the Cowboys and beat them 35-10. Below are my grades for the units' performance. On offense, I broke it down to passing, rushing, and receiving. The defense, I broke down as a whole. Maybe I should also break down the O-Line on offense, and be more in-depth on the defensive breakdown? As always, let me know what you think.)

Passing: A+

David Garrard played a phenomenal game. All the critics will point out to him playing a Cowboys defense that made him look like the second coming of Joe Montana, but I don't care. I will give him the credit that he deserves. The guy was .6 points away from having a perfect QB rating. He started the game by completing his first 10 passes and finished with just for incompletions. In my eyes, when a quarterback has more, or the same amount of touchdowns passes as incompletions, he has had himself a great game.  Garrard's lost fumble was his only mishap.

Rushing: A-

As a unit, the Jaguars rushed for 149 yards. Maurice Jones-Drew finished the day with 135 rushing yards and David Garrard ran for a touchdown. However, I would have liked to see other players play a significant role in the ground game. The ground game needs to remain alive and well especially down the stretch for the Jacksonville Jaguars to be feared. Moreover, MJD has struggled to find the end zone this season and that needs to change.

Receiving: A

Fantasy players had to be happy with the production that they got out of Mike Sims-Walker. He put up 153 yards and had a touchdown. Both of Marcedes Lewis' were touchdowns. Marcedes Lewis is having himself a great season if you have not noticed. In his first four seasons, he recorded 7 touchdowns. He has already matched that number this season. Look for him to continue putting up big numbers in the second half of the season which should culminate with him earning a Pro Bowl berth.

Defense: B+/B

While the defense only had 2 sacks, they did have for interceptions. Three of those interceptions, however, were tipped by Cowboys receivers. But, I still like what they did as a whole. Coming into the game, the defense only had four interceptions. To match that output in a single game will surely energize that unit as a whole. Even though The Jaguars won by 18, it was never that close. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Jaguars had a 28-3, but two fourth quarter touchdowns by the Cowboys saw them finish with 17points. While in a perfect world, the defense would have held the Cowboys scoreless in the fourth, one has to be encouraged. The defense had allowed an average of 36 points in their two previous games. The pass defense still remains atrocious, ranking 28^th in the league. They allowed Jon Kitna to throw for 379 yards. Jack Del Rio must use the Bye Week to shore up the deficiencies in the secondary.

Jim Irsay will have to wait until after this season until his star franchise quarterback Peyton Manning will get his new deal, according to the Associated Press. The Indianapolis Colts' quarterback looks to become the highest-paid player in NFL history.

Irsay said he was set to give Manning his contract during the team's bye week, but Manning and his agent insisted that they will have the deal done after the season. Nice sign of unselfishness, don't you think?

"Any negotiation is a two-way street and we were ready to roll and we had a proposal, but they wanted to wait," Irsay said. "That's OK because every player is different. We had a bye week, and we thought we could have gotten [negotiations] rolling."

Manning's deal will expire after this season. Irsay hopes that Manning is a Colt for the rest of his career.

Manning will make his 199th career start tonight against the Houston Texans, hoping to get revenge on them at home after an embarrassing lost at Houston, led by Arian Foster. Whoever wins this game takes control of the AFC South division.

Manning is the only four-time MVP in the league. The Colts look to franchise-tag Manning if necessary. But it might not happen, since Manning will get his maxed-out contract.

"He is going to be the highest-paid player in the league," Irsay said Monday. "Look, we love him, and we'd like to see his career end here."

The Colts look to sign much higher than New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady's recent contract, which was a four-year $48.5 million contract extension.

Manning will get his contract, but the question of what time?

"During the season, Peyton wants his only focus to be on preparing for football games," agent Tom Condon told The Associated Press.

The only thing that could mess up the contract is the CBA. A new collective bargaining agreement stands in the way. But Condon doens't see anything slowing down the contract.

"It's probably not any more or any less difficult because of that," Condon said.

Today, the Chargers made the move that has been in the works for the last couple of weeks, waiving former Pro-Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman.

He was given a "minor-injury designation" on October 13th, which said that the Chargers would release him once he was back to full health. After passing a physical today, the move was made official. He has had injury problems in the past several years after becoming a feared linebacker in the first few years of his career, and the Chargers have finally decided to move on without him.

Wide receiver Buster Davis was placed on IR after missing last Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans with a groin injury. It's unfortunate for Davis considering 2010 was the first year he was starting to earn his designation as a first-round draft choice. He had accumulated 21 receptions for 259 yards in seven games.

Recently released offensive tackle Adam Terry was also re-signed now that a roster spot has been opened up for him.

So maybe there is more to this benching than "injuries" and "familiarity with the two minute offense" …

Via ProFootballTalk.com:

As the fallout from Mike Shanahan's decision to bench Donovan McNabb late in Sunday's loss to the Lions continues, there's increasing talk that the Redskins' coaches are frustrated because McNabb doesn't go hard enough at practice.

On Monday night ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that Shanahan wasn't pleased with McNabb's practice habits, and on Tuesday morning ESPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck, who spent some time on the Eagles' roster during McNabb's tenure in Philadelphia, said poor practice habits are par for the course for McNabb.

"I was a teammate of Donovan McNabb's in Philadelphia," Hasselbeck said on Mike and Mike in the Morning. "One of the things that drove them crazy in Philadelphia was the lack of tempo at which he practiced. . . . It was always something where you're leaving the quarterback meeting and it would be, 'Hey, listen, the head man wants a little more tempo today.' Nearly every single day. That's been the deal with Donovan McNabb. I know exactly what Mike Shanahan is talking about."

Hasselbeck still disagreed with benching McNabb overall in last Sunday's loss to the Lions, but said "that he can understand" some of the reasons behind the benching itself.

It's certainly going to be an interesting bye week.

There is no doubt in my mind that the decision to shockingly waive Randy Moss has a variety of reasons behind.

For now, however, the decision to jettison Moss only a month after trading a third round pick to obtain is being blamed on some poor etiquette in the lunch line.

According to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports Moss displayed boorish behavior during a catered lunch on Friday in front of the caterers themselves.

Silver talked to an anonymous Vikings player that recapped the embarrassing tirade in a way that made it sound like classless and inexcusable behavior.

The player said Moss yelled, "What the [expletive]? Who ordered this crap? I wouldn't feed this to my dog!"

"It was brutal. The truth is, he deserved to be cut after that. It was such an uncomfortable moment. You know that feeling where you just can tell someone feels so small? That's what it was like being there."

"This wasn't a chain – it was a mom-and-pop restaurant, and you could tell it was their best stuff. They had a special carving station set up, and there were players and other support staff lining up to eat it. And [Moss] is at his locker saying, 'You know, I used to have to eat that crap – but now I've got money.' You just felt so sad for them. I had never seen anyone treated like that.

"And by the way, the food was actually really good."

The caterer was Gus Tinucci of Tinucci's Restaurant, a well known establishment in Minnesota, was interviewed by Chip Scoggins of Access Vikings and his account was not much different from the player interviewed by Silver.

"[Moss] came walking up," Tinucci said. "There were a couple of guys that were in line. I knew Brett [Favre] put his helmet down. I met him carving. I was carving some meat for a guy and all of a sudden I heard all this screaming and I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' I knew who it was immediately. I looked up and there he was. [Moss said], 'I wouldn't feed this [expletive] to my [expletive] dog.' I was in shock. I couldn't believe it. It was quiet in there."

"We just went about our business," he said. "I had more compliments. The guys that were there and heard it and saw it, I think they were very appreciative of us being there. I wasn't going to say anything because we appreciate being there. We want to come back there. What am I going to do, call him out? Go, 'Hey, if you don't like it, get the hell out or whatever?' I'm in their house."

"It looked good, like we always do," he said. "I don't know if he was starving for attention or what. But nobody laughed I can guarantee you that."

"He just slammed us," Tinucci added. "It wasn't us personally because he doesn't know us from Adam."

Tinucci also said that one Vikings player told Moss to shut up and that two employees of the organization approached him to apologize.

First off, the one player that told Moss to shut up should be given a medal or a contract or something.  Second of all, where is the "veteran presence" on this team if only one player had the you-know-whats to tell the new guy to shape up.  Disgraceful.

Brad Childress told his team that "This just doesn't fit with how we treat people, how we talk to people and how we act."

That is all fine and good.  But I still don't understand why Childress would hire a guy who pretended to moon an entire stadium of people, squirted an official with his water bottle, and drove down the road with another person on the hood of his car and then expect to have him behave perfectly.

With Sidney rice a few weeks away at least from ebing able to return and Percy Harvin spending Monday in treatment for an ankle injury, the Vikings are again very slim at receiver following the waiver of Moss, which is now official.

This appears like it is just another knee jerk reaction that is not part of any grand plan but rather just an off-the-cuff action taken by a team that is quickly getting desperate.

Senior writer jclombardi grades Packers win over Jets.

SUMMARY: In a tight defensive game, the Packers got stifling defensive team and special teams performances forcing three turnovers and big plays to shut Jets 9-0. K Crosby kicked three field goals. CB Williams and CB Woodson had two big interceptions.

GAME BALLS: LB Bishop; WR Jennings; CB Woodson; CB Williams; S Peprah; S Smith.

INJURY REPORT: WR Driver (calf strain). TE Quarless (shoulder sprain).

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (JC vs. SE):

PASSING OFFENSE:  D- vs D. QB Rodgers had a rough day facing confusing blitz formations on the Jets defense. Pedestrian Rodgers completed only 15 of 34 passes, 170 yards, no touchdowns, two sacks, and a poor 59.7 passer rating. Rodgers failed to make proper play adjustments reacting with bad reads and misfired on throws. The receivers dropped another four passes. WR Jennings had six catches for 81 yards. WR Nelson had 5 catches for 55 yards.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D- vs D-. With the offensive line out-of-sync playing somewhat poorly with poor blocking and bad execution, the rushing game struggled getting 81 total yards. RB Jackson got only 57 averaging a pedestrian 3.7 yards. FB Kuhn was worse getting only 21 yards averaging an awful 2.6 yards. Again, the short yardage game failed especially on a big third and one play.

PASSING DEFENSE: A- vs B. Jets QB Sanchez completed only 16 of 38 for 256 yards, two big interceptions, and an awful 43.3 passer rating. It helped that his receivers dropped seven passes. Cornerbacks Williams and Woodson smartly wrestled away the ball from Jets wide receivers Cotchery and Keller to get key interceptions.

RUSHING DEFENSE: A vs A. The "no-names" defense had a stout performance with a rebuilt big defensive front handling the premier Jets offensive line. They held RBs Tomlinson and Greene to a combined 76 yards on 22 carries averaging only 3.6 yards. LB Bishop had ten solo tackles. Newcomer DE Green played about 35 snaps. Rookies DE Wilson, CB Shields, and LB Zombo played solid games. On a wildcat run by receiver Smith, LB Zombo forced a fumble and recovered by CB Williams. DE Green snuffed out an end-around play causing an eight yard loss.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A vs A-. P Masthay punted eight times for 44.0 gross and 41.5 net yards averages. He placed five punts inside the 20-yard line with the Jets getting zero return yards. With the exception of one long return, the kicking units had a good game. Smith made a great play on the fake punt.  K  Crosby made three of four field goals.

COACHING: B vs B. Coach McCarthy and staff get credit for great defensive and special teams performances. Generally, Capers game plan used seven or eight men in the box daring the Jets to pass the ball. The defense got big plays and turnovers to win the game. The team played a near-flawless game committing only three costly penalties and posting zero turnovers. Yet, the offense looked out-of-sync again. In the first half, the offense got only 123 net yards, zero third down conversions, and 3 points. For the game, they had only 237 total yards and no touchdowns. Also, they converted a miserable 2 of 14 third downs. At crucial times, the predictable play calling was too conservative with the short yardage and red zone units looking too pedestrian.