Kaspers Korner

John Clayton of ESPN reported earlier this week in his blog on ESPN.com that the Buffalo Bills are still in the market for a veteran outside linebacker.  With linebacker Derrick Brooks still on the market the news does not make any sense.

Peter King of SI.com reported in his Monday Morning Quarterback column that Brooks wants to play one more year and that teams have not expressed a great interest in him.

The Bills linebacker core outside of outside of linebacker Kawika Mitchell has only three years of experience or less.

Bringing on Brooks just from the mental aspects of  the game would be a huge boost to the team as he is one of the best prepared linebackers in the league, which means he could teach the young linebackers how to prepare for each game.

“I always wonder during games, ‘How Derrick get there so fast?’ ” middle linebacker Barrett Ruud said. “Then I’d watch the tape, and I’d see he started running to the spot before I would have, because he just knew his keys and he knew the tendencies of the offense better than anybody else.”

With the better preparation the Bills would have a better chance at defending New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady who is also prepared very well.

The news from Clayton does not make sense as the Bills earlier this offseason looked into signing linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who was cut by the Saint Louis Rams, but did not sign him to a contract.

In the end the Bills are using the media to motivate the linebackers into playing better, because if the Bills were that desperate they would have signed someone already.

News has come out that San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis is not good at running routes.  The hiring of Mike Singletary as the head coach is just what the team needed.

Singletary took over last year during the regular season on October 20^th, 2008 from his predecessor Mike Nolan who left him a pretty big mess.

It became apparent last year that the team was a mess when Davis was sent to the lockerroom during a game when he engaged Singletary in an argument.

According to the San Francisco Gate Chronicle, Davis is not running routes properly and that only cements that 49er players are into some really bad habits when preparing for games.

When that occurs you need a tough disciplinarian to come in and institute routines that are vital to succeed in the National Football League.

Singletary isn’t going to have an easy time with instituting his rules as people hate change. 

It is especially tougher when it comes to putting in place tougher rules.

So, it will be a couple more seasons before 49er fans see a considerable change.

The Buffalo Bills toyed around with the idea of moving strong safety Donte Whitner to free safety.  In the end the Bills did the right thing by not moving Whitner.

The Bills solved their dilemma by selecting cornerback Jairus Byrd in the second round of this past April’s National Football League Draft who will be moved over to the free safety position.

The problem in the first place was that last year’s starter Ko Simpson did not create any turnovers as he has had no interceptions in the last two seasons.

What also prompted the idea is that when it comes to the Bills passing coverage the two positions are the same as the Bills play a cover two defense.

That means both the free and strong safety are both playing really deep, with each covering half the field, in order to prevent any wide receivers or tight ends running deep routes from catching the ball and gaining large chunks of yards.

As much they are the same the fact is the two positions are still different as the strong safety is responsible for helping to stop a ball carrier on running play close to the line of scrimmage as possible by flying up from his deep position.

The free safety on the other hand stays back as a safety valve to prevent the ball carrier going all the way to the endzone.

The Bills were smart to take Byrd and leave Whitner where he is because veteran players get into habits and certain ways of playing, which is much harder to break.

A rookie on the other hand is more open minded as they are new to the league and will do whatever it takes to get into the starting lineup

In the end the Bills defense should be better for going this route.

The Green Bay Packers have the largest waiting list in the National Football League as fans have to wait several decades for season tickets.  The main reason for the problem is an absurd policy.

The problem is that season ticket holders are allowed to pass it on to other family memebers.

That means as long as another person in the family wants them those season tickets never become available to the public.

According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette fans on the waiting list are starting to become aggrivated with the policy as some fans have waited 35 years just to get tickets.

Some have even taken their name off the list all together after waiting for 20 years.

So, how do the Packers solve this problem without ditching the policy?

The main solution is a personal seat license fee to buy a season tickets for a certain seat in Lambeau Field for a certain number of years.

The Packers have done this in the past in the form of a one time user fee in 2001 to help pay for renovations to Lambeau Field.

The other alternative is to raise ticket prices, which the Packers declined to do earlier this year.  Currently it cost $72 per a seat in between the 20 yard lines with the other sideline seats costing $64 and endzones $59.

The Packers cited the economy, but in reality it looks more like a move to not raise their profit levels to high to hurt their current fight against the NFLPA since their accounting books are open to the publice since they are a public corporation.

Something needs to give as it is not fair for these fans that have been waiting on the list for so long.

In the end after the Packers do something there will still he enough fans to sell out games as those who truly love Packer football will pay anything.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the Pittsburgh Steelers signed offensive tackle Max Starks to a new four year deal.

The Tennessean reports that Tennesse Titans running back Chris Brown has dropped the nickname dash for his own.  Really this is news?  He can call himself god and I could care less. The paper also reports that the signed sixth round pick cornerback Jason McCourty and seventh round pick offensive lineman Ryan Durand
Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Fernando Bryant has announced his retirement.

The Miami Herald reports that the Miami Dolphins signed safety Tyrone Culver to a two year contract extension.

The Boston Globe reports that New England Patriot linebacker Teddy Bruschi is undecided if this is going to be his last year.

The Kansas City Star reports that the Kansas City Chiefs have announced it will retire former Chiefs linebacker Derrick Brooks number 58.  They should have done this years ago.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the battles for starting position start today with the opening of mandatory minicamp.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the cost for parking at Bears games have gone up.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette, as well as other media outlets, report that the Green Bay Packers are close on a contract extension.

The Dallas Morning News that the band of three offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys signed a recording contract.

Kevin Lynch of the San Francisco Gate Chronicle is wondering if former San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz is right about tight end Vernon Davis.

The Newark Star Ledger reports that the New York Jets have reached a deal with Atlanctic Health for advertising on their practice jerseys.

WCCO confirms ProFootballTalk.com report that the Minnesot Vikings and quarterback Brett Farve have agreed to a contract in principle.

One feature of the Buffalo Bills old No Huddle offense that many people do not know or have forgotten is that quarterback Jim Kelly called the plays for the offense.  With Edwards being extremely intelligent he shoud be allowed to call his own plays.

Kelly was given permission at that time by head coach Marv Levy and offensive coordinator Ted Marchibroda to call his own plays and not only did he call the plays he also made up plays in the huddle based on what he saw from the defense.

If Bills offensive coordiantor Turk Schonert calls the plays then Edwards would have to relay them to the rest of the offense, which could slow things up just enough to allow the defense to sneak in a substitution.

Also, the coaching staff in the past has shown a tendancy from time to time to not be sure of what to call, which results in the Bills needsly having to burn a timeout.

Edwards trademark is his intelligence as he picked up the NFL game much more quicker than most young quarterbacks, which includes the ability to read defenses and know where he is going with the ball based on what he sees.

If the Bills knew what was best for the offense then the coaching staff would allow Edwards to make the play calls, but this is the Bills and they do lack common sense at times.

Former National Football League defensive tackle Warren Sapp recently revealed that young players don’t care about older players.  The reason is simple and that is the money has gone to their heads.

Sapp revealed to Peter King of SI.com that when he played with the Oakland Raiders one day Raider great Jack Tatum visited.  Sapp went to the younger players like fellow defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, along with others, and all blew off Sapp as they did not care.

Then there are reports each year how rookies would come in to their teams like they are gods gift to the team.

The reason is that they are paid mind blowing amounts of money, which gets larger each year.

For instance first overall pick in the 2009 draft Detroit Lions quarterback Mathew Stafford signed a six year $71 million contract with $41.75 guaranteed.

The last largest veteran quarterback contract signed was by Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger who signed a eight year $102 contract with $33.2 million guaranteed.

Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch revealed after he was arrested on weapon possesion charges that is the very reason for why his attitude as the money was so mind blowing he did not know how to handle it.

The news is appalling as these players deserve the respect that they have earned, because it wasn’t for them the league wouldn’t be what it is today.

The evidence is mounting for a rookie salary cap grows larger and at this point of time NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith should just concede it now as everyone who doesn’t live under a rock knows this is going to happen.

The Buffalo Bills look to have a franchise quarterback in Trent Edwards.  The one big question that still remains with him is can he stay healthy for a whole season.

Edwards biggest negative coming out of college was that he is unable to stay healthy for a whole full season.

That so far Edwards has proven that to be true as he has missed two games last year due to a groin injury and six games due to a hand injury in his rookie season.

Edwards has all the physical and mental tools to be a great quarterback in the National Football League, which Bills coaches notice right away.

Edwards right off the bat displayed the mental intelligence that it takes to be successful as he at the line of scrimmage even as a rookie was able to read defenses and know where he has to go with the football.

If Edwards cannot stay healthy for a whole season then he is useless as the AFC East is one of the most competitive divisions in the NFL.

Also, with Tom Brady back it is more important than ever that he doesn’t miss games, because from 2002-2006 Brady did not miss one game and most likely will not again for a long time.

I am hoping that this is the year that Edwards proves everyone wrong and starts all sixteen games, becomes am elite quarterback, and leads the Bills to the playoffs.

The Cincinnati Bengals passing game last year suffered tremendously as wide receiver Chad Ochocinco was distracted.  With Ochocinco’s mind not distracted the Bengals passing game is back.

Ochocinco last yearwas so distracted that he did not weight lift regularly, which was due to frustration over his repeated denied requests to be traded.

He has gotten over that and is already looking good in Organized Team Activities.

What is also helping is that wide receiver Chris Henry Has turned the corner in regards to his trouble making ways as he admitted he was sick and tired of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now, Henry is spending his nights at home with his family, which is the right thing to do.

Henry is a tremendously talented and his new attitude is showing on the field in practice.

The Bengals did suffer one setback as they lost wide receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh to free agency, but they addressed that right away by signing former former New York Jets wide receiver Lavernanues Cole.

Also, the Bengals have a capable tight ends in Reggie Kelly and Ben Utecht.

Kelly tied his career high receptions mark of 31, which he set in 2000 with the Atlanata Falcons.

Utecht saw his number of receptions go down from when he was on the Indianapolis Colts, but is the more talented of the two as he caught 37 passes in 2006 and 31 passes in 2007 as the back up tight end on the Colts to Dallas Clarke.

The only question that remains with the Bengals is quarterback Carson Palmer’s elbow going to be okay as he avoided Tommy John surgery to repair the injury to the ligament in his throwing arm.

If he is okay then the Bengals are going to give the Pittsburgh Steelers a tough time winning the AFC Central Division.

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan is already making headlines by trash talking about other AFC East opponents.  One piece of news that has been lost in all that has been the story that Ryan is a inspiration to everyone.

According to ESPN.com’s Tim Graham reports that NewYorkJets.com editor Randy Lange wrote broke that Ryan was diagnosed with Dyslexia a few years ago.

It is not uncommon for people to go undiagnosed as people will think that their problem is just something simple.

For Ryan to go years undiagnosed and to be successful at coaching in college and the NFL is an amazing accomplishment as it is a learning disability

Now, Ryan is aware of it he has learned how to cope with it and is growing leaps and bounds as he reads daily, improved his spelling and pronouncing names.

Jets players are already fired up from the trash talking that Ryan has been doing.

However, with this bit being revealed by himself to players they are truly going to be inspired, especially when the team is down.

Any win against the Jets this year will definitely have to be earned.