A tip of the cap to former quarterback Joe Theismann

• San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers(notes) is a good person and a really good leader. When he gets frustrated and starts yelling, as he did numerous times Monday night during the 21-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he’s not doing it for show. He’s legit. However, if Rivers really wants to solve what’s ailing the Chargers, he should expend some of that frustration on Chargers management for not trying to get deals done with wide receiver Vincent Jackson(notes) and offensive tackle Marcus nfl jersey
McNeill(notes). On Monday, the Chargers missed Jackson in a big way. Aside from two busted coverages by Kansas City that allowed a 59-yard TD catch by Legedu Naanee(notes) and a 34-yard reception by tight end Antonio Gates(notes), the Chargers vertical game was pretty limited and the Chiefs were basically daring the Chargers to throw deep by the end of the game. If anybody can get San Diego to change its stance on Jackson and McNeill – Jackson apparently is willing to do a one-year contract at this point – it’s Rivers and he should realize that San Diego’s hope to win a title rests on having all its weapons.
• A tip of the cap to former quarterback Joe Theismann, who again is advising people, particularly men in their 60s, to get screened for abdominal aortic aneurysm (a.k.a. AAA). Theismann took time last week to call reporters around the country in the battle against the “silent killer.” Kmart is giving free screenings for AAA, which Theismann’s 90-year-old father was discovered to have five years ago. “There are a million people walking around with this and it has a 90-percent chance of fatality if not caught,” Theismann said. “But it has a 90-percent success rate of being treated if you find it.” Theismann also described the screening as being “like a pregnancy test with ultrasound.” In other words, it’s non-invasive, simple and quick. Get it done.
• Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano is a terrific coach in Indianapolis Colts jersey
many ways. He sees the big picture, he knows how to communicate with players and he’s very organized. However, he’s a butcher at game management and Sunday was the latest example. On third-and-13 from the Buffalo Bills’ 36 with 32 seconds left in the first half, the Dolphins called for a screen that gained 8 yards and put the team in position for a 46-yard field goal. Nice work. However, Sparano inexplicably called timeout with 21 seconds left rather than allowing the play clock to run down to three or four seconds so that the field goal attempt would be the last play of the half (or at least force Buffalo to call the timeout if the Bills wanted to stop the clock). When the Dolphins missed their field goal, the Bills got the ball with 16 seconds and all of their timeouts remaining. That gave Buffalo enough time to get in range for a 63-yard field goal attempt that missed. In a game the Dolphins won 15-10, Sparano’s timeout could have proved costly.
• As a postscript to the Dallas Cowboys’ loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday night when the last-second, game-winning touchdown was erased by a penalty against right tackle Alex Barron(notes), people associated with the St. Louis Rams are getting quite a chuckle. St. Louis took Barron in the first round in 2005. By 2008, the Rams had come to the conclusion that he was one of the laziest players in team history. They kept him only because they had no alternative. The fact he was so lazy with his technique Sunday should be of surprise to no one. The fact that the Cowboys have him on the roster is ridiculous.
• While I’m all for decorum in the locker room and at practice, I also find it a little ridiculous that TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz is tweeting about how she was “very uncomfortable!” in the Jets locker room last week as she waited for an interview with Mark Sanchez(notes). There is no excusing the catcalls that Sainz got from players and Kris Jenkins’s(notes) claim that “this is our locker room” is just plain stupid. When reporters are there, it’s a working environment. It’s not too much to ask players to act like gentlemen for a few minutes each day. At the same time, it’s a little hard to take Sainz seriously when she tweets (translated from Spanish), “I die of embarrassment!” A quick Internet search of Sainz will find at least one page full of glamorous photos, complete with posed swimsuit shots. Among the easy-to-find pictures of Sainz is one with her dressed in tight jeans and a sleeveless shirt sitting on the shoulders of two Indianapolis offensive linemen prior to the Super Bowl in February. In other words, Sainz, despite being a reporter, isn’t above using her looks to get attention. Fair enough, that’s your business if you want to play the Charo card. But don’t act surprised when Dallas Cowboys jersey
sometimes the attention goes the wrong way.
• Finally, on a personal note, congratulations to Henry Pierson Cole, who officially became an Eagle Scout on Monday night. You couldn’t make a father any more proud than I am today.