Red-Zone Report

The Steelers had all the opportunities Sunday to pull out their first win in four weeks. All the chances to, as coach Mike Tomlin put it after last week’s loss to the Ravens, “unleash some hell here in December.” Starting with the opening drive, after Pittsburgh returned the kickoff to the Raiders 19 yard line. 

Result: three-and-out. Field goal.

Two drives later the Steelers were inside the Raiders 5, thanks in large part to a 60-yard run by Rashard Mendenhall. They faced a 4th-and-1. The Raiders defense stuffed Ben Roethlisberger’s QB sneak.

Result: Turnover on downs.

Just before the half, the Steelers were driving inside the Raiders 20-yard line, ready to increase their 10-6 lead.  Looking at  a 1-and-10 with 1:11 on the clock.

Result: Interception in the end-zone.

After a scoreless third quarter, both offenses came alive in the fourth. First it was the Raiders, moving ahead 13-10. Then the Steelers took a 17-13 lead. The Raiders responded, going back on top 20-17. The Steelers then looked to put the finishing touches on an exciting fourth quarter, with their final touchdown, the team’s second in 8 minutes. Taking a 24-20 lead with 1:56 remaining.

“The party was getting ready to get started,” Steelers wideout Santonio Holmes said. “And that’s how we felt, knowing that the offense went down and did our job. We left everything to the defense.”

But the Raiders answered last, starting at their own 12 yard line with less than two minutes remaining. Raiders new signal caller Bruce Gradkowski led an 88-yard march in 10 plays, leaving 0:09 on the clock after an 11-yard dart to rookie wideout Louis Murphy in the corner of the end zone. 

It left only enough time for two plays, including a last-ditch Hail Mary from Big Ben that the Raiders batted down in the end zone, incomplete.

“A couple of mishaps here and there, and [the Raiders] won the ballgame,” Holmes finished. “It was very unacceptable by us as a team.”

All the pieces were in place for a Steelers win: At home. In December. Ready to unleash hell after a three-game losing skid. Facing the 3-8 Raiders.

Like I said, all the pieces.

But instead the Steelers fall to 6-6, third place in the AFC North. And they don’t have much time to recover. Mentally. Physically. They return to action Thursday against the Browns.

Troy Polamalu is expected to miss his fourth straight game with a knee injury. Cornerback William Gay left the game Sunday with a concussion. And wide receiver Hines Ward is questionable after sustaining a hamstring injury.

Then again, the Browns are 1-and-10. Have lost 7 straight. Are ranked 30th in offensive yards. Dead last in points scored. 31st in passing yards. And give up an NFL worst 400.2 passing yards per game.

Should be an easy win. Should provide an excellent opportunity to unleash some hell.

Dirty play: Hines Ward did everything he had to do to score a go-ahead touchdown with 1:56 remaining, going as far as to blatantly grab the facemask of the Raiders Chris Johnson, pulling him aside as Ward met a Roethlisberger throw in the end-zone. Luckily for the Steelers, no flag was thrown.  

Ward, in fact, was voted the dirtiest player in the league.  By the players themselves in a recent Sports Illustrated poll.

Ward’s response, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “I beat Joey? Wow,” referencing former teammate Joey Porter. “How can I be the dirtiest player on the field — a little, old wideout with no speed? I don’t know whether to be happy or mad about it.”

Upper Deck View by Larry Leonard

Penn State Ticket Plan Swaps Loyalty for Cash

            Yeah, yeah, we all understand. It’s an “Arms Race” in big league college football. Ohio State and Michigan have already done it, so we’re already behind. College football is “big business,” and big piles of money aren’t enough. They always need more.       

            But there really is no way to sugarcoat it. The new “Seat Transfer and Equity Plan (STEP)” announced for the 2011 football season is Penn State Athletics’ way of kicking out the fans who built the program into one of America’s richest in order to make room for even richer fans. Loyalty is not about devotion or any kind of personal relationship between fans, team and university. Loyalty is measured by the size of “contributions.”  

            They’re “transferring” your seat to someone who will give them a lot more money. Athletic Director Tim Curley told the Centre Daily Times that only about half of Penn State’s 75,000 season ticket holders would be affected. The half with good seats. According to Curley, allocating seats according to the size of the check is only “fair.”

            It’s not that tickets to Penn State football are cheap right now. At $55 a throw they’re more than the average ticket price to see an NFL Bills’ game at Rich Stadium just up the road in Buffalo. More than the average Red Sox ticket at venerable Fenway Park in Boston.  More than the average ticket price for the entire NBA. 

            And that’s before the new “Equity” plan kicks in.

            The irony of this announcement is that it came on the same day Northeastern University, a school of 20,000 students and a member of the FCS/1-AA powerhouse Colonial Athletic Association (national champion Richmond, #2 Villanova, Delaware, et al), announced that it would be dropping football after 74 years, saying that it’s too expensive to maintain.

            If Penn State Athletics was in NU’s position, struggling to stay afloat, the new STEP plan could be justified. But it’s not.

           Instead, Penn State is already one of the richest and most profitable athletic programs in the nation, racking up a $19 million profit in the past fiscal year on income of $96 million. In this rough economy, most for-profit companies in State College would kill to make a 20 percent profit margin.

            For the record, Penn State Athletics is corporately separated from the university, and is therefore “self-sustaining.” As Joe Paterno told the Associated Press, “We don’t get a nickel from the university for anything.” So it is important to bring in enough money to cover expenses. But, as a non-profit, the athletic department gets a tax break from the IRS for operating as a non-profit. And in non-profit accounting, the goal is to break even. Surpluses are not illegal, but at a certain point excess profitability should make clear-thinking adults question either the tax-free status or the pricing tactics.

            If Penn State is losing money, raise the prices. But if Penn State is rolling in cash, where is the compelling rationale for this? 

             And that is where the rub is. Penn State Athletics brings in so much revenue that they can’t seem to spend the money fast enough to merely just break even. Despite comfortably supporting 29 intercollegiate sports, living like celebrities and paying themselves salaries appropriate for the Captains of Industry, athletic department executives have so much money pouring in that they can’t possibly spend more than they make.

              In justifying the STEP program to the press, department officials have emphasized football’s role in supporting the entire athletic program and have also cited an additional $11 million in annual debt service excluded from yearly operating expense reports. But that may be disingenuous. The 29 programs are in such good shape that the department has tens of millions left over each year. The debt is accounted for as a capital expense, and is supported through separate capital campaign funding, so it’s not part of the P&L equation.

            So, why do they need to double the price of your football tickets?  

            As far as anyone can tell, this is an idea that has been swirling around college athletic departments for a number of years, the spawn of NFL seat-licensing scams, and borrowed by other high-profile college programs in both football and basketball in order to maximize the take created by high demand and limited supply. As Penn State Associate AD Greg Myford clarified for AP, the STEP plan isn’t exactly a “seat license,” but instead a mandatory annual “contribution.” Besides, Penn State already has “seat licenses,” in the Club Seat section. 

            Think of it as Free Enterprise Capitalism as practiced by non-profit intercollegiate sports. In his 2008 book “Counterfeit Amateurs,” Penn State alum and former Notre Dame lineman Allen Sack says the phenomenon is a parallel to what he calls “academic capitalism,” an invasion of academia by entrepreneurs. Students have been reduced to “customers.” And college athletics have been reduced to “entertainment,” with little or no relationship to the school next door. Sack also contends that players have been reduced to “employees,” without the normal benefits afforded other American workers, such as worker’s compensation for injuries suffered on the job.

             And, at very low wages. The tuition, fees, room, board and books for scholarship athletes at Penn State amount to only about $25,000 for an in-state resident—or $10 an hour, considering a football player’s year-round average 48-hour weekly schedule (NCAA rules aside)—paid in barter, not cash. Not even “pizza money.”  

            So the kids are getting squat while the athletic department is rolling in dough, but it’s still not enough.         

            Penn State’s ultimate excuse for doing this boils down to “everyone else is doing it.” Well, not Northeastern—but, you know, the other Big Time College Football schools.

            They’re really doing it because they think they can.

             Gordon Gekko’s “Greed is Good” speech in the 1987 film “Wall Street” was supposed to be a moral tale delivering the opposite lesson, but some folks just don’t get irony. For Penn State Athletics it seems to have become a motto.

            Regardless of whether STEP makes the cash register ring even louder for Penn State football or not, the announcement of this plan demonstrates for too many Penn State fans a startling truth.

            At Penn State, loyalty is a commodity to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. In their own words, it is only “fair.”

“It goes back to my Pittsburgh days,” Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter said during a Wednesday conference call, referring to his “hate” for the Patriots.

“I felt a certain way, after some things came out, way back when I was in Pittsburgh, some AFC championships I lost to them, couple times. Come to figure out a few months later why we lost,” Porter said. ” So yeah, I have a natural hate for them. Period. And that’s just gonna be with me forever.”

Porter was referencing the Patriots videotape scandal, which was uncovered in 2007. We got our hands on the tape.

Here it is, for your viewing pleasure:

Three-time MVP and two-time retiree, Brett Favre, has rejoined the NFL; this time with the Minnesota Vikings. Favre waited until July to announce his second retirement in as many years only to announce his move to join the Vikings a month later.

A shoe-in for the NFL hall of fame, Favre signed a two-year contact with Minnesota.

In his career, Favre has completed 5,720 passes, thrown for 464 touchdowns with only 310 interceptions. Fitting into the Vikings’ lineup will be a challenge. Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels are already in a preseason battle for the starting QB position. Now with Favre in the mix, three can be a crowd.

Favre has been a consistanly good player, but at 39, will his age start to become a factor? Farve has stated that he recently underwent arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder in May. He went on to say he’s been playing with a torn rotator cuff for the past three years. If that is how he was playing injured, we can only wonder how he will play when healthy.

As the pre-season continues, interesting transactions are being made by teams. First the move by Philadelphia picking up recently released from prison Michael Vick. Now, it’s Favre’s turn to make news with his unretirement.

Sources: NFL.com, Fox.com, ESPN.com

RZR’s Team Links is made up of  ”Team Links AFC” and “Team Links NFC” — links to some of the best fan sites we could find, plus each team’s official page — PLUS “In the Papers” — a collection of each team’s local newspaper(s) online linked directly to the sports page.

Haven’t seen them yet? What are you waiting for – check it out now!

The signing of Michael Vick does not pose a threat to Eagles QB Donovan McNabb for one simple reason: Vick will not play quarterback for the Eagles in 2009. At least not exclusively.

Vick will play the role of option QB, RB, maybe even WR. He will provide the Eagles with an offensive weapon that opposing defenses will have to prepare for and track throughout the game. If they don’t, they may pay for it.

In six NFL seasons, Vick has compiled 11,505 passing yards and 3,859 rushing yards — a 3-to-1 ratio.

[In comparison, Kordell Stewart, in his "Slash" role --and throughout his career-- only got as close as a 5-to-1 ratio, pass vs. run, with comparable passing statistics.]

With Vick lined up in the back field, split-back, pro-formation, a number of things are possible: A) Direct snap to Vick; B) Hand-off to Vick on a running play; C) Pitch to Vick with the option to throw.

Or none of the above. But either way, defenses will have to account for him.

When Vick is on the field, he will occupy at least one defender. That should free things up slightly for the Eagles receiving corp and versatile back Brian Westbrook (who had off-season surgery remove scar tissue and bone fragments from his right ankle).

My point is, the Ealges have added another weapon to their offense. And it’s been the plan all off-season. The first three draft picks were on the offensive side of the ball, and 6 of 8 picks overall.

Vick will provide a way to keep the Eagles offense near the top and improve their chances in the post-season. Vick will not challenge McNabb at QB or clock significant playing time behind center. He is simply another wrinkle in the Eagles offense, part of head coach Andy Reid’s mission– maybe his last chance – to get the Eagles back to the Super Bowl.

Source: NFL.com, profootballreference.com, football.about.com (photo); 10:15 p.m. et

It seems Michael Vick has found a new home in the NFL. He will play backup quarterback to the Philadelphia Eagles’ Donovan McNabb.

After 19 months in Federal Prison, Vick will be rejoining the NFL. Eagles’ head coach, Andy Reid isn’t known for his decision making. Reid has stuck with always injured QB McNabb for three seasons.

His decisions have, however, paid off. Reid has taken the Eagles to an unprecidented 5 NFC title  games. Will this decision be another TO mistake? Or, will Vick prove he’s worth a second chance?

As the NFL preseason gets underway, all fans will be watching Vick closely to see if he fails or (hopefully) rises above.