NFC: Who wants it?

The consensus pick to win the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys (1-4), are awful.  The Green Bay Packers (3-3) are battling the injury bug.  The New Orleans Saints (4-2) and the Atlanta Falcons (4-2) look great one week and terrible the next.  Dare I say the best team right now is the Philadelphia Eagles (4-2), but that could change after next week.  There are quite a few critical matchups that will determine who will run the table the rest of the way.  Washington is playing at Chicago.  Minnesota is playing at Green Bay.  New York is playing at Dallas.  Those three games will determine the outcome of the NFC East and the NFC North.  Yes, there are still plenty of games left, but if the Redskins or Bears win, they will be another step closer to being a contender.  The Vikings beat the Packers and they are right back into the pack.  The Cowboys beat the Giants and pundits will hesitate to right them off for another week.  This is hopefully the week we finally see who really wants to win the NFC.

Big Ben’s return

You couldn’t ask for a better time to return to the NFL if you’re Ben Roethlisberger.  After serving a four game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, Ben showed why he is still an elite quarterback.  Granted he was playing the Cleveland Browns, but he still showed the poise and playmaking ability that make him a great quarterback.  Cleveland was starting a rookie in Colt McCoy at quarterback and lets face it, the Browns defense isn’t the Steel Curtain.  On top of having a favorable matchup, Brett Favre is taking away all the attention from Big Ben’s off field troubles with some of his own.  It’s a win-win for Roethlisberger.  He finished the game 16-27 with 257 yards passing and 3 touchdowns.  Not a bad return.  Now he just needs to keep his head on the task at hand and stay down. 

What is a dirty hit and a legal hit?

There has been a lot of emphasis on concussions in the NFL and rightfully so.  A lot can be done to better protect the players now and for the future of the sport.  The apparent problem now is that the NFL can’t communicate to its players and the public exactly what they want to do about it.  Before I go any further I want to say that the NFL has always marketed the sport as a violent sport with big hits.  Anyone who says otherwise is either blind to that fact or doesn’t want to acknowledge it.  Now with that said, the NFL made a big mistake in the beginning.  They said publicly that they want to protect their players by putting stricter guidelines in place for players diagnosed with concussions.  Their mistake was then saying they want to extend the regular season from 16 to 18 games.  Now with a greater emphasis on wanting to protect your players, why do you want them to play an extra two games? 
This week the NFL decided to start a crackdown on dirty hits.  Three players, James Harrison of Pittsburgh, Dunta Robinson of Atlanta and Brandon Meriweather of New England were fined 50,000 dollars for their “dirty” hits.  Harrison was fined 75,000 for being a “repeat offender” as said by the league.  The only hit in my opinion that warranted a massive fine was Meriweather’s hit on Baltimore’s Todd Heap in which Meriweather led with his head on a defenseless receiver when the ball was no where in the area.  The other two were borderline.  The point is made that instincts will tell the player with the football to cradle yourself when the defender is coming at you.  That will lead to most of the helmet to helmet hits you see. 
The NFL might suspend players who make helmet to helmet hits for the duration of the regular season and playoffs.  To me this is the league putting a bigger emphasis on the rules already in place.  However, they seem to be reacting when they should have been preventing.  I’m not saying the league should have fined these guys a lot sooner, but they shouldn’t try to say they were protecting the players when they’ve always marketed the game with big hits and want to add two games to the regular season.  Folks forget that commissioner Roger Goodell is acting on behalf of the owners first and the league second.  The players might be third or fourth.