By ChrisPublished: 06 January 2010 11:34 AM ESTPosted in: Spotlight
Arrested again? Sheeeeeyit.
Former number two pick Charles Rogers was arrested Tuesday evening after getting a little bit too loco at a Mexican restaurant in Michigan.
Via FoxSports.com / Associated Press…
NOVI, Mich. (AP)
Police say ex-Detroit Lions and Michigan State receiver Charles Rogers has been arrested after apparently drinking too much and passing out at a Mexican restaurant.
Novi Deputy Chief Tom Lindberg said Wednesday that Rogers was arrested at the suburban Detroit restaurant on a warrant for disobeying a sobriety court order.
The 28-year-old Saginaw native and No. 2 NFL draft pick in 2003 pleaded guilty in September to impaired driving and re-entered a sobriety court program, which involves intensive counseling and testing.
Lindberg says Rogers was visibly intoxicated Tuesday and was taken to a hospital. He’s scheduled to appear Wednesday in district court.
This continues a sad sequence of events that saw Rogers’ once promising NFL career derailed by injuries and substance abuse issues. Rogers was both a beast starring at Michigan State and the star of one of my favorite Madden commercials of all-time.
By theOCDPublished: 29 December 2009 4:45 PM ESTPosted in: College Sports, NFL
Playoffs? Playoffs?! Unfortunately, most NFL teams will miss the playoffs and finish the season this week. That doesn’t mean they’re playing for nothing though. There are a handful of NFL teams who are still playing to win (lose?) top picks in the upcoming draft.
As it stands now, the Rams are in line to receive the #1 pick in April’s draft. This could land them Ndamokung Suh or possibly a shot at one of the elite quarterback prospects. However, St. Louis hasn’t secured the pick yet. The draft order is first determined by overall record and then opponents’ win percentage. So that means if St. Louis wins and Detroit loses, the Lions could “overtake” them for the first overall pick. Hilariously, the Rams’ only win up to this point was against the Lions in Week 8. After that, the Chiefs and Bucs will battle for the third overall pick. But neither team has a chance to jump the Lions for the second pick. Cleveland and Washington are the remaining two teams in the NFL’s cellar.
It seems likely that the first few picks off the board in April will include at least one defensive tackle (Suh or Gerald McCoy), one quarterback (Jimmy Clausen or Sam Bradford), and potentially one surprise (Rolando McClain or Dez Bryant). The other names in the mix to come off the board to one of the NFL’s worst franchises are Eric Berry (safety) along with Trent Williams and Russell Okung (offensive tackles). It’s worth noting that the Rams took Jason Smith (tackle), the Lions took Matthew Stafford (quarterback), and the Chiefs took Tyson Jackson (defensive end).
By theOCDPublished: 23 November 2009 7:09 AM ESTPosted in: NFL
The Lions are rarely competitive, but in their matchup against the Browns they had a shot. Detroit got off to a horrible start by allowing the Browns to score 24 points in the first quarter. But the Lions decided not to lay down for once and battled back for a victory.
Number one overall pick Matthew Stafford had his best game of the year tossing five touchdowns. Calvin “Megatron” Johnson and Kevin Smith both had over 100 yards receiving. As usual, Detroit’s secondary was scorched by the Browns. Brady Quinn went 21 for 33 with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
On the final play of the game, a Matthew Stafford(notes) pass fell incomplete and the Browns began to celebrate their second win of the year. But Hank Poteat(notes) was flagged for pass interference, which gave the Lions another down with no time on the clock.
There’s more: On the Poteat play, Stafford was hit when he released the ball and stayed down on the field in obvious pain. The rookie clutched his non-throwing shoulder as he ran off the field and was replaced for the final play by Daunte Culpepper(notes). With a cold Culpepper under center, the Lions prepared to snap the ball from the 1-yard line with the clock reading zeroes to get the go-ahead score. Amazingly, Cleveland called timeout before Culpepper could get the snap. This stoppage allowed Stafford to come back in the game and he promptly hit Brandon Pettigrew(notes) for the game-tying touchdown. A Jason Hanson(notes) extra point sealed the game.
Not that anyone should expect good coaching decisions by Eric Mangini, but that timeout was borderline criminal. Culpepper had to rush onto the field with no warning, having stood on the sideline for the previous three hours. The Lions had no timeouts and were in the confusing spot of having to run another play after having thought the game had ended.
So yeah, the Lions should have lost but got bailed out by a MANGENIUS maneuver. Cleveland came into the day averaging 214 yards of offense per game but had 439 on Sunday. This was after the Lions “solidified” their cornerback situation by naming Philip Buchanon and Will James as starters. Detroit will face Green Bay on Thanksgiving at Lambeau. Cleveland faces a brutal three-game stretch of Cincinnati, San Diego, and Pittsburgh. The highlights from the game are below.
By theOCDPublished: 05 October 2009 5:05 AM EDTPosted in: NFL
This past Sunday was not a good day for top picks Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez. Both rookies came into Sunday riding high after big victories. Last week, Stafford and the Lions snapped a 19-game slide with a win at home against the Skins. In New York, Sanchez had orchestrated a victory against the Titans to push the Jets to 3-0. However, Sanchez and Stafford both ended up taking a step backwards this week.
By theOCDPublished: 28 September 2009 7:37 AM EDTPosted in: NFL
Matthew Stafford reminds Lions fans how many wins they have
On Sunday, the Lions snapped a losing streak that dated back to 2007. They’d lost 19 games which was the second-worst mark in NFL history. Luckily, they won’t set another record for futility this season after beating the Redskins at Ford Field. The Lions shut down Clinton Portis (12 carries, 42 yards) and Jason Campbell couldn’t put enough points on the board. Matthew Stafford was relatively efficient with no turnovers and a TD pass to Bryant Johnson. The Lions did all of this without outside linebacker Ernie Sims, one of the few effective defensive players last year. Rookie DeAndre Levy started in his place.
After the game, Lions players hung out and high fived fans that had stuck around. The Lions may have the monkey off of their back but wins won’t come easy. Next week, Detroit faces the Bears as Soldier Field. It could be an interesting matchup with two gunslingers, Stafford and Jay Cutler, playing quarterback. It wasn’t all good for the Lions. Running back Kevin Smith left the game after suffering a right shoulder injury. It also wasn’t a pleasant afternoon for Redskins coach Jim Zorn. The loss to the Lions may eventually cost him his job.
By theOCDPublished: 14 September 2009 9:11 AM EDTPosted in: NFL
I didn’t get to watch Stafford but I did watch Sanchez. The Jets rookie actually got a pep talk from Joe Namath before the game. So maybe that provided a boost. Sanchez posted a relatively mediocre 272 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. But his performance was actually better than the line would indicate. His one pick was truly a “rookie mistake” — the kind that I think he’ll avoid in the future. The former USC QB did an excellent job of managing the game and picking his spots. Whether or not he’s the next Joe Namath, he’s seemingly the perfect signal caller for a Jets team with a nasty defense and diverse running attack.
Stafford’s game was not televised for me, so I just kept an eye on the box score. He started relatively well and had a rushing touchdown in the 3rd quarter. After one game, Stafford has zero touchdown passes and three picks. I’d blame Stafford for poor decision-making, but Drew Brees forced the Lions to throw all day by burying them early. The fact that he was picked by Darren Sharper, a safety, twice probably indicates that he made poor decisions — rather than a corner making a great play on the ball. While the former Georgia quarterback put up a frighteningly Joey Harrington-like line, I do believe that he will improve. I’m sticking to my assessment that he’s a slightly more stupid version Jay Cutler. And I’m still not sure if that’s good or bad.
Stafford (16 of 37, 205 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT): He tried throwing into tight windows too often – every quarterback who comes to the NFL in love with his arm strength has to learn that the windows at the next level are very thin, and this is true even against the Saints’ pass defense. Calvin Johnson(notes) was targeted 13 times, and he caught three passes. Stafford has more than enough weaponry around him, and he’ll learn to use it.
But his two picks to Darren Sharper(notes) were indicative of the growth process – one was a howler into triple coverage, and the other was right to Sharper; Stafford could not have thrown it more accurately to Sharper if he was trying to. By all indications, Stafford has taken to the playbook in a way that has impressed his coaches, and he really does have the kind of arm that can make just about any throw. The Lions just need to be patient. In the next five weeks, Stafford will go up against the defenses of the Vikings, Redskins, Bears, Steelers, and Packers. He’s going to have some really bad games, and the front office just needs to keep thinking in the long term.
Sanchez (18 of 31, 272 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT): The thing I like most about Sanchez, and I noticed it as much against the Texans as I did when he played for USC, is that he knows what kind of quarterback he is. He doesn’t tend to extend beyond his abilities, or beyond what the play will give him. That’s not to say that he’s a Captain Checkdown or anything – he has a good deep ball and he used it on the touchdown to Chansi Stuckey(notes), on a busted Cover-Zero look he analyzed correctly.
Sanchez reminds me of a pitcher who doesn’t have a 98-mile-per-hour fastball at an early age and has to learn to survive just as much on guts and intelligence. He has excellent pocket presence (when I saw him inside Lucas Oil Stadium at the Scouting Combine, I was amazed at his footwork). He was consistently good on rollouts and little shotgun screens, moving the ball and converting third downs. When it comes to quarterbacks, the word “efficient” can be a backhanded insult, because it implies that the player in question is just chipping away at a huge boulder when he should be breaking out the dynamite, But Sanchez’s efficiency shows up on the drive charts, and I think that will only get better with time. He will make mistakes, but I really like his ability to overcome them.
By theOCDPublished: 02 August 2009 10:59 PM EDTPosted in: NFL
The Lions were a joke last year with the first goose egg in NFL history. They’ve also had other laughable incidents such as a naked assistant coach at a Wendy’s drive through, anything related to Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky running out of the end zone for a safety… the list goes on. But this year was supposed to be different. The Lions reloaded with new management, a new coaching staff, and a highly touted rookie quarterback. They had emerged from the Matt Millen Era to play some real football. That was until Bryant Johnson came to training camp injured. In early July, Johnson was in a golf cart accident. His vehicle fell went up on two wheels and then fell on its side. It’s not quite as funny as the other incidents because he actually got hurt. Unfortunately, we’re a few days into camp and people are buzzing about a golf cart accident and Matthew Stafford’s summer boat outing. I speculate that the next laughable incident for the Lions will involve their search for a third quarterback or Charles Rogers.
ALLEN PARK — As he got undressed at his locker Saturday afternoon, Detroit Lions receiver Bryant Johnson showed the scars and still-healing wounds from a golf cart accident he was involved in this summer. The cuts and abrasions covered almost every part of his body. Johnson, who didn’t practice Saturday and could miss a couple weeks, was placed on the Active/Non-Football Injury list.
“Bryant, unfortunately, had a golf cart accident back in early July,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. “It was something we were well aware of. We took a couple of trips down to Atlanta to see him. “There are no orthopedic issues with it, a lot of superficial wounds, road rash and those kinds of things. We’ll take our time … with him.”
Johnson said: “In the community that I live in, everybody uses golf carts to get around. (The golf car) got out of control and it was on two wheels and it fell over. I was driving, and it fell over on my side. It slid about 10 yards. There was a hill, but it wasn’t a steep hill.”
Many of the wounds still appear to be a long way from healing, and recovery could be a lengthy process. Still, Johnson said the initial accident wasn’t that painful. “It really didn’t hurt until the first time I tried to take a shower,” Johnson said.
By theOCDPublished: 31 July 2009 1:07 PM EDTPosted in: NFL
New Lions head coach Jim Schwartz has no problem speaking his mind. During the offseason, he told a great story about how he ate Bill Belichick’s lunch as a low-level employee with the Browns. After he watched the film of every snap in the Lions 2008 season, he simply said that the team needed talent. Then he threw away the depth chart and put every job up for grabs. More recently, he professed his love for Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. That was just before he told the interviewer he didn’t read books by women. He basically says that a woman’s point of view is not for him. He probably could have given a better answer to that one.
Among the personal tidbits he revealed to the Associated Press:
• He listens to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden
• He has a flame tattoo just above his right ankle
• He is, or at least used to be, an avid reader, plowing through 500+ pages a day
• He doesn’t read books by women
I’d like to focus on that last one, because that’s the one I find most interesting/disturbing. Let’s go to Schwartz for a deeper explanation:
“If I find an author — David Morrell, Mario Puzo, John Grisham or any guy I hear is good — I’ll read everything he did,” Schwartz said. “I don’t read books by women. I’ve tried to, but their perspective is different, so I stick with what I like.”
By theOCDPublished: 15 July 2009 6:20 PM EDTPosted in: NFL
It was totally quiet except for Cassel, who kept saying, "Ca-Ching! Ca-Ching!" Just like a cash register, you know? He was high-fiving everyone.. it was really embarrassing.
He got his money. Yesterday, Matt Cassel was awarded a six year $63 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. Scott Pioli, the Chiefs current GM and former Patriots head man, orchestrated the deal to get Cassel and subsequently granted him the big pay day. The contract was inevitable since Pioli was on the hook for giving up a relatively valuable second round pick for Cassel and Mike Vrabel. You can’t really blame the Chiefs for getting the deal done. But with $28 million in guaranteed money committed to a career (professional AND amateur) backup, the Chiefs could be regretting this contract before it expires. That’s why I felt the need to share my not-so-fond but hilarious memories of Scott Mitchell.
I might appreciate this rag to riches story more if Cassel's wife had a buzz cut
I applaud Matt Cassel for his efforts last year. He surpassed all expectations with numbers worthy of a number one quarterback. He was even named the VIZIO Top Value Performer for being the player whose on-field performance most exceeds the value of his contract. Cassel made only $500,000 last year and received 42% of the vote to win the award. But that was last year with a near minimum contract. ESPN’s John Clayton backed the new deal saying that the Chiefs signed him for the average market price of a starting QB. SI’s Ross Tucker was not as kind in reaction to the Cassel deal tweeting, “I am not that convinced Cassel is that much better than Thigpen. I would like to have seen them last year in reversed roles.” Note that Tucker played in the NFL and has a much more normal looking head than Clayton. Don’t worry — I’m not going to rant about how I actually think that Tyler Thigpen is solid right now. Instead, I’m going to focus on the other obstacle facing Matt Cassel: The Ghost of Scott Mitchell.
