New Cowboys coach Wade Phillips has returned former first-round pick Bobby Carpenter to inside linebacker, his position at Ohio State. There is no question that the rookie Carpenter struggled as an outside pass rusher last season.
“It's tough because Bill (Parcells) doesn't always communicate everything really well,” Carpenter said. “It was tough for me trying to get a feel for what was going on and what they expected out of me and what their goals were for me to be out on the field. They have done a good job this year of communicating what they want and what I need to do to get better.”
Phillips said he moved Carpenter to inside linebacker in his 3-4 scheme because he’s athletic and because he can run. Some believe the new defense is more flexible for a young player like Carpenter.
“Last year was a little difficult," Carpenter said. “But with this defense, it allows you to run and make more plays. It's not near the structure of how you have to play within the scheme. You get to let your athletic ability take over.”
Super Bowl redux
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones only beat Indianapolis by a vote of 17-15 in last week’s 2011 Super Bowl vote, and the tightness is a strong indicator of the divide between the big-market and small-market owners. Jones won because his new stadium will be able to have 30,000 more fans attend the championship game, whereas Indianapolis wowed many owners with a $25 million pot to alleviate any NFL expenses for the game.
There was a time, long, long ago when the Super Bowl went to the best city and venue. But when the late Pete Rozelle was commissioner, many cities began to include financial perks to the league to land the all-important game. I can remember writing in the mid-1980s the “selling of the Super Bowl” when Miami out-spent San Diego for the rights to XXIII, and Rozelle pulled me aside to explain the financial situation. The cities started by bidding a couple million dollars 20 years ago to now where Indy was prepared to spend $25 million simply to buy the NFL’s most-prestigious event.
It shows how valuable the game is to any city. And, also, how valuable the Super Bowl is to the NFL.
Hester looks great
The experiment never worked at the U. of Miami, but Chicago’s super return man, Devin Hester, looked like a natural at receiver in recent mini-camp work. The first two days of camp, he didn’t drop a pass. He ran solid, crisp routes and, basically, had his teammates and coaches raving about him.
Give head coach Lovie Smith high marks for convincing Hester to junk cornerback for being a wide receiver.
“It was more exciting than I really thought it would be,” Hester said. “Whenever a player gets his hands on the ball and knows what he can do with it, it's a lot of fun.”
After the catch, Hester routinely made players miss. The new dimension should be great for Rex Grossman and also alleviate the frustration that Hester, who returned six kicks for touchdowns last season, will face when punters and kickers kick away from during the season. The Bears needed to find a way for Hester to get more touches.
On kickoffs, Hester will be paired with safety Danieal Manning, former college kickoff specialist, in hopes they can form a 1-2 punch. He will still wear No. 23 and be listed as a running back/receiver.
Reggie helps again
Saints running back Reggie Bush matched his original $50,000 to Holy Rosary High School last year, which helped keep the school for learning-challenged youth open. Bush presented the New Orleans’ school with his second $50,000 gift last Friday.
“After last year, they did such a great job, and what they do is so important,” Bush said. “This is a school that needs to stay open.”
Holy Rosary serves the needs of students who face learning challenges in a typical classroom environment. The school offers hands-on learning and cross-curricula that is designed to provide students with alternative ways to learn mainstream subjects in a smaller classroom setting.
Former coaches are fair game for the next season. Parcells was the recipient of comments like this when he came in after replacing coach Whatshisname. The coaches understand this, yet personal shots are not necessary and make the foolish speaker look like a punk. Look at who makes the comments.
Your SuperBowl redux is exactly what the Dallas Morning News published Sunday in my 'Letters to the Editor.' Money talks. 30,000 more seats puts at least $25,000,000 more cash into the NFL coffers from tickets alone. I don't think Indy really had a chance.
Why don't they get over this dog fighting thing. who cares except a bunch of wussies who have feelings for a animal. They say its not humane . So they are right its not, its some animals. I have 2 dogs but I could care less if he's fighting dogs that were breed to fight.So thats the dog's nature its inhumane to keep them from doing what they were breed to do. You so called intellectual smart people who don't do no wrong Lord forbid if any of your wrongdoings are found out oh thats right, who cares about your life.
OK "originalsouthernplaya"... I'm all for letting people do what they want on there property. BUT these are the dogs that are abused and beaten, they fight other dogs, and get more abuse if they live through it. THEN if they happen to escape the cage that they are kept in they go and attack kids AND adults... because thats now natural instinct. My 90 year old grandpa has a rottweiler and a pit bull - two of the dogs with the worst attack dog stigma, and they are the nicest most friendly animals on the planet. Its not canine nature when they are raised in a household to be mean and kill other dogs. Its all in how you raise them.
In the future please supress your hick'isms and learn a little bit about normal social interaction and good societal morality.
I only have one gripe. Why is this great story about Reggie Bush basically buried where no one can see it and allegations against Michael Vick and other atheletes splashed on Fox Sports front page. That stuff gets old to look at after a while. I enjoy reading inspiring stories versus the police blotter.
The reason is because bad news about players makes more headlines. Not everyone but most people are more intregued to read about the trouble that players get into then the charitable work that they are involved in.
I really am getting tired of negative press related to everything. I like Roger Goodell but I think at some point his reign will leave him looking like a dictator. Unfortunately our justice system and their coddling of superstars and big time ballers have left him with little choice if he wants the sport cleaned up. I do think that the press and the law enforcement guys are on a bit of a witch hunt but who cares. If Mike Vick doesn't play on Sunday maybe another QB will take his place and the Falcons can win. Also, OriginalSouthernPlaya is indeed an BLEEP.
A big thanks to Reggie Bush. What he did should be commended and put on the front page of this website,a swell as other news websites. A great example for all of us humans.
I am not an animal rights person. In fact, I think that people who put their pets in the same category as humans have sever mental problems. Training dogs to fight is a pretty sick and twisted hobby. here should be nothing else to say.
I want to comment on this guys article of 05/31/2007 on Michael Vick. What do you mean people raised in the rural south and midwest enjoy dog fighting and think nothing of it? Dirtbags and psychopaths enjoy dogfighting and it doesn't matter where they are from. That insulting and elitist comment is typical of journalists who somehow believe they are above the rest of us unwashed masses. Hey pal, you sit on your butt and watch ESPN 18 hours a day and write your opinion down and mail it in. Get over yourself and stay out of the south. No room for weak pathetic excuses like you down here.
Bobby Carpenter is a bust, moving him to the outside will only prolong his short NFL career.
What you are all forgetting is good ol' Reggie's parents lived in a house for free from an agent while he was in college and has refused to assist in any investigation. You would have to be nothing more than a complete BLEEP to not see that Reggie is doing all this BLEEP as a PR stunt to try and sway public opinion against the NCAA investigation.
And to "peaceprosperity", I couldn't have said it better myself - there's no room in the south for pansies.
Last edited by seedubelewe on May 31st at 5:52 AM.
I 'm with "bobbybooshay", you have a story about someone doing something great for children and everyone is concerned about a high paid dog fighter who is buring his bridges in his career. "it is better to be perceived and BLEEP, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt", think of that when you listen to Vick speak and then you can understand why he does what does.
Don't get all bent out of shape over the country boy southern comments. Just more ignorance from NE snobs. Works for me, maybe they'll stop moving down here and putting parking lots all over my beautiful south. I think I'm ready to change my allegiance from the Falcons to the Saints. They seem to have it together over there. Every move they make improves their team. Much as it galls me, I gotta scream GO SAINTS!!!!
Hate the fact that the Media OVER feeds the masses with alot of negativity (this Dogg Fighting BLEEP). They have the control over what they choose to post as front page news. When will a sports media outlet break that mold and post the Bush article or others like them on their front page.
Do fans really need their soap opra fix that these type of stories are headlines over & over again?
Yes its wrong, and if Vick is guilty, he's stupid & screwed & deserves whatever punishment he's given. He should have built a house and had dog fighting in one of those states that don't outlaw dog fighting. Dont really care too much about dog fighting but it can be very dangerous if the dogs do escape.
My point
...Sports & Society is in such an uproar about dogs being bred for fighting, but every single day people kill human babies because of an inconvience to their lifestyle(abortions)!!
A SICK world we live in...
Last edited by flippin_idiot on May 31st at 11:31 AM.
I believe carpenter will have a long carrer(with cowboys) if he plays inside linebacker as he did in college.He showed he can play at the nfl level with his few starts on the team now only time will tell before he plays his full potential playing inside.-Eddy the king of cowboys
Lol @ the comment regarding Bobby Carpenter being a bust. It would be one thing if they put him on the field and he simply flopped. It's another thing when they have a phenom starting at ROLB heading into his second year (Ware), they give a new contract to their starting RILB (James), sign a FA LILB to be a starter(Ayodele), and convert a DE to LOLB as a starter (Ellis). So basically, there was no room for Carpenter. If anything, it makes you wonder why they drafted a LB in the 1st round of that draft at all. Parcells wouldn't even let the guy on the field until the second half of the season, and even then, he had to split time with Al Singleton. When he started getting more work in at LOLB at the very end of the season, he played reasonably well for a rookie. In the playoff game against Seattle, he was seemingly all over the place, and the only LB besides Ware that seemed to be capapble of defending the pass (he had 3 deflections in that game). No way you can call him a bust when he was barely even given a chance. If anything, he should arguably be pushing to get more playing time than one of the ILBs, especially the frequently toasted Bradie James.
Last edited by Burned_Safety on June 1st at 11:32 AM.
Burned Safety you are right on the money ! carpenter barely played to be called a bust. He did good though when he started. Why does Julius Jones, Carpenter and all these other players have bad words for the coach who drafted them! Sorry you really wouldn't be anything if not for Parcells... T.O. Can you please shut up and stop dropping passes? I dont think tuna gave you butterfingers. The Cowboys could have won 12 or 13 games last year. A blocked field goal, redskins come back. Couple of fumbles in the playoff game then Romo gets blamed for bobbling the ball etc... little mistakes.
Oh yeah let's put originalsouthernplaya in a 2 feet by 2 feet box and let him fight with a few pit bulls for 6 hours until someone is dead. I guess if animals can do it then he's about as smart as dog so it's same thing right?
I just wanted to make a quick comment on the southern elitists ripping the czar and the ignorant BLEEP above condoning dog fighting.
1) John Czarnecki wrote and lived in Dallas for a number of years. So you idiots claiming he is ignorant to the ways of the south really have no idea what you are talking about.
2) The BLEEP who claimed people were robbing dogs of their natural instincts...you are so dumb that you contradicted your own statement. You claim that humans are interferring because dogs are bred to fight. Uhhhh what do you think dog breeding is? dogs dont breed themselves. When dogs are "bred to fight" that means the humans are already interfering creating the UNNATURAL animal instinct.
And just to close, someone said that Carpenter was moving to the outside...get your facts straight buddy, Carpenter is moving to the INSIDE. And how is he a bust? After one year of sitting on the bench in a poorly run 3-4 defense he is a bust? Did you miss that playoff game when he single handidly ran the defense? Did you miss the last 5 games when he was on FIRE? By your standards of waiting one year then Peyton Manning is a bust, same with Tom Brady, oh yeah, same with Steve Young. What about Troy? His first season he went 1-15...he was a bust too huh?
Last edited by sXe tHe LiviNg dEaD on June 5th at 2:17 AM.
I would like to comment on Czar's article on Michael Vick and dog fighting.
Czar - I have lived my entire life in the midwest and have never heard of anyone having dog fights here. For that matter, regardless where you assume there might be dog fighting going on (and it's probably safe to say, it is taking place where you live), I can probably assume that most people do not support dog fighting. I find it disappointing that you would alienate parts of this country like you did, by making such an ignorant comment. You lost me as a fan. You have no respect for me - I have none for you.
Folks, I don't agree with dog fighting but I also don't like the 'almighty' attitude of animal lovers. Can someone tell me when the neutered dogs signed on to be castrated AND whose benefit is it that dogs are neutered, definitely not the dogs'!!!
John Czarnecki, a former sportswriter with over 20 years experience covering the NFL, has been the editorial consultant for the Emmy Award-winning FOX NFL Sunday since its 1994 inception. Prior, he provided exclusive information to CBS Sports' The NFL Today program from 1991 to 1993, holding a similar position.
Prior to joining CBS Sports, Czarnecki was a pro football writer for The National Sports Daily (1989-91), The Dallas Morning News (1989), and The Los Angeles Herald-Examin er. An archive of work can be found here.
