Matt Leinart Spotted At Pussycat Lounge In Scottsdale, Az

In his recent article, Sports Illustrated's Michael Silver notes that new Arizona Cardinals QB Matt Leinart was spotted at the Pussycat Lounge in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Pussycat Lounge -- not your typical strip club -- hosts such notables as Jamie Foxx and Mike Tyson, who was reported to have grabbed some woman's butt.

Man, dude likes to party.

Remember, Matt was seen earlier this year at a Playboy Party in Atlanta.

Michael Sliver On Kurt Warner's Ride, And Other Matters

Over the year's Sil's written some pretty funny openings to his work, and this one's certainly in the top 20. It's about Kurt Warner, who Mike Silver (of SI) is picking to have a great year -- didn't he do that in 2005?

Anyway, part of it comes from his good relationship with Warner, who lights up with a smile when he hears "You know my friend Mike Sliver." The other portion is that Warner's finally got the right mix of talent and scheme to do some real damage, not to mention a two-time national champ in Matt Leinart behind him.

But back to my point. This is the opening of the article:

"When Kurt Warner utters the words "Pimp my ride," do you:
a) break out laughing;
b) search for hidden cameras; or
c) take a boxy Ford van and turn it into a tricked-out vehicle that will seat the Arizona Cardinals quarterback's family of nine, complete with rims, tinted windows and iPod ports?

The answer, when you are the folks at West Coast Customs -- the company featured in the brilliantly named MTV show featuring some of the world's most accessorized automobiles -- is definitely "c" and probably all of the above.

..For the rest, click here:

Maurice Jones - Drew Video From First NFL Game

Fresh from being wrongly accused for a crime, UCLA's Maurice Drew, drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars -- who now goes by the name Maurice Jones-Drew -- had a great first NFL game against the Miami Dolphins. Preseason, yes, but it's still a great game and features his 55yd catch-and-run for a TD.

How To Get Raiders WR Randy Moss Open - Part One

I've been so critical of Oakland Raiders Offensive Coordinator Tom Walsh's approach , I figured it was only fair to place my own ideas out there.

Here's how I would solve the Raiders offensive line problem and get famed wide receiver Randy Moss open all at the same time.

Then formation here calls for a personal grouping of really three wide receivers and one back, but the third wide receiver plays flanker (Z) in the play, and Randy Moss is three-and-a-half-yards behind the weakside tackle where the fullback would normally be.

We place Moss in motion to the wide weakside before the snap of the ball. This forces the defense to 1) reveal its overall coverage and 2) place a slow defender -- more than likely a safety on first down -- on the fleet Moss. But this manuever also forces the defense to spread out to get Moss, thus leaving a nice passing lane for the tight end, who runs a five-yard out pattern. This second receiver in the pattern set will see the ball most of the time.

Note that Moss has an option to run either a fly pattern against man coverage or a kind of skinny post (break at 12 yards) into the seam of a three-deep defense, should the safety already be back in that position. It's not logical to try to run by the safety; we take our chances with the idea that we can drill our QB to make the throw on time to Moss should he chose to run the skinny post. We also chose the fly as the base pattern, in case the defense makes the mistake of not accouting for Moss in motion out of the backfield.

But Moss and the tight end open up the short middle for the halfback who runs a simple pattern to about 12 yards over the ball. There's nothing fancy here. The idea is to exploit the chance that between the free safety either covering the deep post or "spliting" the field and the middle linebackers moving into short hook zones or rushing the passer, that area will be open.

Finally, the Flanker runs a fake drive pattern, then turns and moves into what I call a "sweet spot" between the two deep zones post and corner and just over the hook zone. The Flanker's the fourth receiver.

The line blocking is zone-push: the linepeople don't give ground and instead push the defenders to keep them at bay. The strong guard is "uncovered" and so watches for the inside linebacker first and then the outside linebacker blitz. If the outside linebacker rushes, the guard slides out to get the defender. If both linebackers rush, the guard plays inside and the QB throws the hot pass to the halfback, who should be wide open.

The QB takes five steps-- three big and two small -- reading the weak safety and the middle linebackers as the drop back is taking place. Then once taking a hitch step set, looks to one, and if not open, then two, and so on...

In this case, the split end "Y" is a decoy that runs a pattern to basically shield the Flanker and then spread the defense wide and to the sideline, perhaps bring the free safety that way depending on the coverage. But a variation of this would have the split end as the primary receiver.

This can be the bread and butter play for any offense, but it's best use is to create a mismatch for Randy Moss. As for the o-line, we solve the problems they have faced by 1) QB and receiver timing and 2) an aggressive blocking style more like the run.

Junior Seau May Join New England Patriots

Dolphins training camp, originally uploaded by dougllio.

Just three days after giving a stirring speach that he was graduating and not retiring from the Miami Dolphins, and the San Diego Chargers, and
The NFL, Junior Seau may graduate alright, right to the New England Patriots.

It's not suprising given that Seau remarked that no one wanted him, so he got out.

Well, no one asked the Pats.

NY Giants Crush KC Chiefs 17-0

The Chiefs have not yet played at home.

Manning, Giants sharp in win over Chiefs

NFL.com wire reports

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (Aug. 17, 2006) -- Eli Manning and the New York Giants showed flashes of offense they'll need to repeat as NFC East champions. They also showed Herm Edwards how much work his Kansas City Chiefs have left to do.

Manning threw for one touchdown and set up another and the Giants starters and backups dominated in a 17-0 preseason victory over Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night, spoiling Edwards' return to Giants Stadium.

"We came out here and played very well," Manning said. "The defense did a great job of getting us good field possession on the first series and we were able to run the ball, throw the ball and convert third downs."

The Giants did just about anything they wanted in outgaining the Chiefs 309-111 while holding the ball for more than 37 minutes.

If the game showed anything, it was that the Giants (2-0) have the talent to repeat in the NFC East and that Edwards, the former Jets coach, has a lot of work ahead to get the Chiefs (0-2) back to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

"We've done this two weeks in a row," Edwards said matter of factly. "I flat out told the guys it wasn't a good job coaching, and you just can't play like that against a team that went to the playoffs last year. We have to hurry up and rally now."

Edwards led the Jets to three playoff appearances in five seasons, but he was ushered out after a 4-12 mark last season. In taking the Chiefs job, he promised to shore up their porous defense.

No such change was evident against the Giants.


Eli Manning was effective in limited action for the Giants.
Manning shredded Kansas City for touchdowns on two of the first three drives, capping the first with a 5-yard toss to Amani Toomer and handing off the Brandon Jacobs for a 1-yard plunge on the third series.

The other drive probably would have resulted in points had not Jeremy Shockey and Tim Carter been hit with consecutive holding penalties in Chiefs territory.

Defensively, New York limited Trent Green (4-of-6 for 32 yards) and halfback Larry Johnson (4 carries for 8 yards) to two first downs in two series before turning things over to the backups. The Chiefs only got into Giants' territory once in the game, getting to the New York 40 on their second series.

"Is it time to panic?" Green asked. "No, but I definitely think there has to be much more of a sense of urgency on the starters part."

Manning finished 11-of-14 for 80 yards playing for the first time this preseason with all 11 starters from the offense that scored 422 points last season.

Manning spread the ball around extremely well, hitting Toomer, Plaxico Burress and Carter with two passes each. Tiki Barber, appearing for the first time, ran five times for 22 yards and caught a pass for nine more.

Shockey, who missed the preseason opener with a concussion, caught one pass for 10 yards and cleared out the middle on the short touchdown pass to Toomer.

"I'm excited we have something to build on," Shockey said.

In the second-quarter drive, Manning used a no-huddle offense to move New York 52 yards in eight plays without all starters in the game. Jacobs had a 14-yard run on the second play of the drive in which the Giants had only one third-down play: Jacobs' touchdown run.

Kansas City never threatened.

"Last week we didn't come out the way we wanted," Giants safety Gibril Wilson. "This week we came out flying."

The game also marked the return of quarterback Rob Johnson to NFL action for the first time since December 2003. He missed the last two seasons with an elbow injury that required surgery.

The 33-year-old Johnson, who the Giants signed in May, replaced Manning midway through the second quarter and played five series, completing 7 of 14 passes for 62 yards. The 10-year veteran put up points on his last drive, taking New York 65 yards for a 31-yard field goal by Jay Feely on the final play of the third quarter.

"I'm not satisfied," Johnson said. "I have a lot to improve on."

The most serious injury in the game was a sprained knee sustained by Giants starting center Shaun O'Hara. He will have an MRI on Friday, but he was not concerned.

"I'll be back working at Albany," O'Hara said, referring to the team's training camp site.