NFL investigated Green Bay Packers for ‘bounty rule’ violations in 2007

The New Orleans Saints weren’t the only team to be investigated by the NFL for violations of the league’s “bounty rule” in recent years. The Green Bay Packers were investigated in 2007 for lesser infractions and wound up suffering no punishment after agreeing to discontinue their actions.

In 2007, Packers players reportedly offered to pay the team’s defensive linemen $500 each if they were able to hold Minnesota Vikings tailback Adrian Peterson under 100 rushing yards and the Carolina Panthers under 60 rushing yards as a team.

Read more: nola.com

Aaron Rodgers is league’s best, but how do other quarterbacks rate? NFL Insider

The catchphrase for decades has been “the NFL is a quarterback-driven league.” What does that mean?

All the rules and all the trends the past 20 years favor the quarterback. So the elite quarterbacks rise above everything — elite defenses, elite running games, elite coaches — and generally emerge with the ring at the end.

An elite quarterback historically is found high in the first round of the draft, but not always. Eleven of the past 20 Super Bowls…

cleveland.com
12/24/11

Tebow and Ramblings from the Sports Think Tank

Denver is in a mess over this Tebow deal. John Fox, the head coach, and John Elway, Broncos President, didn’t waste a first round draft pick on him, but the fans are restless because of superman reputation off the field. Reports from camp tell us the players are 100% behind Kyle Orton starting at QB.

What do you think?

If small market teams like New Orleans, GB and Indy can compete and win championships – why are we so surprised when Boise, TCU, Va Tech and Mizzou win. Or Texas Tech for that matter?

What team is the NO Saints of college football?

What about Indy? And GB?

 Bo Bounds is the host of The Out of Bounds show on ESPN 105.9 The  Zone & creator of the http://yalllifestyle.com. Twitter: @bobounds & @yalllifestyle.

***I’m not and don’t claim to be a journalist. If that bothers you….get over it.

Former New Orleans Saints assistant coach Mike McCarthy paid his dues to become a Super Bowl 2011 winner

Dallas – From Sean Payton and Drew Brees to Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers. 

Two coaches who paid their dues, then climbed the mountain to win a Super Bowl for a small-market franchise. Two quarterbacks who overcame setbacks, one with a shoulder injury that could have ended his career, the other forced to play a waiting game, waiting for a legend to finally retire and give him a chance to prove he was a winner.

nola.com
2/8/11

ARLINGTON, Texas – How does a team that seemed so ordinary in October prove itself to be the NFL’s best team on Super Bowl Sunday? How does a team that lost 15 players, including six starters, to the injured reserve list prove itself so deep that it can win it all?

How did these Green Bay Packers do it?

How did this team that lost to the Redskins and Lions on the road and to the Dolphins at home find the perseverance and will and talent to climb out of that valley and rise to the NFL’s mountaintop?

Read more of “Champion Packers a perfect study in perseverance” on MiamiHerald.com
2.7.11

Green Bay Packers’ foundation for success follows 1990s model

DALLAS — There’s the general manager who sticks to his convictions, the head coach who turns quarterbacks into stars, the quarterback with the rocket arm and the defensive star who makes game-changing plays.

They are the foundation of the Green Bay Packers — then and now.
In the 1990s, it was Ron Wolf, the cutthroat general manager; Mike Holmgren, the coach who brought the quarterback-friendly West coast offense to the Midwest; Brett Favre, the gunslinger quarterback;

greenbaypressgazette.com
2/5/11

N.F.L. Linemen Tip the Scales

When B. J. Raji nimbly intercepted a pass and shimmied in the end zone last Sunday, helping to put Green Bay into the Super Bowl, the feat was remarkable given that Raji is a nose tackle and, at 337 pounds, is thought to be the largest player to score a postseason touchdown in N.F.L. history.

nytimes.com
1/28/11

Legacy NFL teams dominate Super Bowl

Why First Down Means Everything

Sunday’s NFL Conference Championship games could be among the most-watched football games in the history of the galaxy. Some of the most defining and important plays of the game, though, will come at points in the telecast when many of us will be fetching a fresh beer: first and 10 at the beginning of a new drive.

You won’t see many of these plays in the highlights. More often than not it’s a handoff that, on average, goes for just over four yards. But according to an exhaustive study of NFL play data conducted by Yale professor Cade Massey, what happens on first and 10 in an NFL game is a powerful indicator of who will win.

wsj.com
1/21/11