An incredible gift from NFL.com

Enjoy.

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• Why character issues matter

Jeff Triplette is the worst referee working in the NFL, and his crew is just as awful. When he made his first appearance on the broadcast last night, my wife said, and I quote: “Oh no, not him.” Yes - him.

And apparently, he treated the Lambeau crowd to a little family moment last night:

During a second-quarter timeout, Triplette was talking with members of the Packers defense, and it became apparent his microphone was on. After a few seconds of innocuous banter, Triplette told someone, “You need to get the (expletive) out of the way.”

Wow.

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• Someone Has To Say It

I’d just like to point out that the player that we were all told incessantly over the 48 hours of non-stop coverage of the NFL Draft was the “most NFL-Ready quarterback” in the entire 2008 Draft class just got beaten out by an unheralded 7th Rounder who most people thought would end up getting cut before training camp even started.

Just wanted to remind people that almost 100 percent of what you read immediatley after the draft is complete garbage. (And that goes double for draft grades )

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• Flynn Should Be the Backup

I am a huge Cliff Christl fan. Heck, his retirement from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is what prompted me to start blogging about the Packers. (I figured the net could use a young cantankerous curmudgeon to replace an old cantankerous curmudgeon.) That said, I have to disagree with him completely in regards to his special column on the Brett Favre situation over at NFL.com.

Comparing the Packers behavior in regards to Favre’s request to be released from his contract and the organizations behavior when Reggie White and William Henderson had reached the end of their respective relationships with the Packers, Christl writes:

When White decided he wanted to play again in 2000, the Packers willingly released him from his contract. When 12-year veteran William Henderson had the itch to play again last year after being told he no longer fit in the Packers’ plans, Thompson released him, announcing that he was doing so to give Henderson a chance to “pursue other opportunities” with no strings attached.

I’m sorry, but the comparison is absurd. It is one thing to give an outright release to a player who is washed up. It is quite another thing to let a player go who can still play the game at a high level. It is Thompson’s job to be sure he gets something of value for Favre, if he does indeed end up playing in another uniform. To do otherwise would be not only negligent, but a display of downright incompetence on Thompson’s part.

Christl addresses this somewhat with the following:

If Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy truly believe the Packers are a better team with Rodgers at quarterback, they should have the courage of their convictions. If they have as much confidence in Rodgers and their team as they say they do, they shouldn’t fear facing Favre in another uniform.

The Packers could have defused this controversy and made this a much less messy divorce if they had given Favre his release soon after he asked for it. Had they exercised the kind of PR savvy that marked the Harlan administration, they would have released Favre and simply announced that they were doing so only to honor his request.

Now that we’ve visited La-La Land, let’s all come back down to Earth. It’s great to be cozied up with your laptop and to write something with such bravado, but when you’re making franchise-defining decisions at 1265 Lombardi Avenue, things are just a wee bit different. Again, it would be incompetence to the Nth degree on Thompson’s part to let Favre play for any other NFL team without getting something in return.

Having said all of the preceding - it is a fantastic piece and well worth your time for the unique historical perspective Christl’s long history covering the Packers brings to his view on the current situation, however misguided it may be.

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• Who’s Lying Now?

Well, I suspected the Packers had to have something more than phone records. As it turns out, they don’t have phone records AT ALL, according to two separate sources. Not only do the Packers NOT have phone records, but Favre doesn’t even have a Packers-issued phone.

Watch PFT backpedal here.

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• The Favre Smoking Gun

Great post over at PackerGeeks regarding NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sticking his nose into the Favre situation. Seemingly when he’s not busy insulting our intelligence, the Commissioner takes it upon himself to meddle in whatever team’s affairs he sees fit.

Memo to Goodell: If you would like “to accelerate the process”, tell Hamlet down in Mississippi and his bumpkin agent to file for reinstatement. The Packers are under no obligation to do anything whatsoever with a retired player. Until Favre sends that letter, Thompson shouldn’t do a damn thing. Goodell wants this wrapped up by the start of Packers training camp? Really? What if they settle on a second or third round pick and a player now, only to have two starting quarterbacks go down in the second week of the preseason? The return on Favre’s rights would be much higher then. Thompson’s job is to look out for the interests of the Packers, not the league’s reputation.

And that’s another thing. Goodell is worried about the PR hit? Are you freekin’ serious? This from the man who has basically given a free pass to the Patriots for cheating (repeatedly) and let Adam Jones back in the league. To think that speeding up the arc of the Favre story will make all this “go away” is so beyond stupid, I have trouble even typing it. But that’s what Goodell wants - for it all to go away. He’s on the brink of a brand new season, and one retired player is getting all the headlines. Hell, did you know that Peyton Manning might not even start Week One?

Goodell needs to stop worrying about what the Packers are doing and get to the bottom of what Favre and Childress were talking about on repeated calls between the two. Adjudicating the rules of the league - that’s your job Roger. Not telling the Packers how to do theirs.

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• Woods Nails It

Mike Florio over at Pro Football Talk is a mixed bag. He can break some pretty big NFL stories and start a great rumor with the best of them - all while being a complete jackass.

A perfect example of the latter is on display today in his post regarding Ryan Grant and Grant’s contract situation. He makes several great points about the matter at hand, but can not help himself when writing the following about reasons for Grant’s success last season:

A passing game led by a Hall of Fame quarterback and a very overrated corps of primarily young receivers didn’t hurt last year, either. (emphasis mine)

Overrated? Really? Leading the league in yards after the catch means you’re overrated? Wow, tough room.

It’s a shame Florio can’t help making an ass out of himself like this, because he generally does solid work when analyzing contract demands, holdouts and anything cap related. And he was, bar-none, the single greatest source of information on the Michael Vick story, long before the rest of the “Real Media” (as he likes to call them) picked up the narrative. That’s what makes it all the more disappointing when he throws out sophmorish insults like the one above, which only serve to undermine his credibility.

It should be noted that Florio’s occasional fill-in Michael David Smith, from Football Outsiders, is just as good without the stupidity and bad jokes. Florio should really hand the reigns over to Smith full time and just get out of the way.

UPDATE: Florio has commented in the post itself that he meant to write ‘underrated’ - which makes much more sense. This doesn’t change the thrust of what I’ve written above.

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• The Good and the Bad (Waiting On Ugly…)

The news that Javon Walker was found unconscious on a street in Vegas, the apparent victim of an early morning robbery, is not a surprise. Not one bit. Here’s a guy who, since he entered the league, has done everything in his power to make it abundantly clear that he cares about nothing but his money. People like to talk about how Walker gets bad advice from people around him, and that is most likely true. But ultimately, he is the one responsible for his life and the direction it has taken since his ridiculous departure from the Packers. When given a great team, a great quarterback and a coach who believed in him, he compared having to go back on the field without a new contract to a soldier having to go back to Iraq. When he was given a young quarterback with whom to grow and a team that was willing to keep him on the roster, despite multiple injury problems, he very publicly said that he would not play second fiddle to Brandon Marshall. Yes, no doubt having Darrent Williams die in his arms has effected him greatly. But did he take nothing away from that event? That perhaps having millions of dollars and making such wild displays as, oh, spraying crowds with 15 bottles of Dom Perignon in Vegas, makes you a target? It’s unbelievably stupid that Walker put himself in this position after having lived through the tragic events on New Year’s Eve three years ago.

However, and despite my very public disdain for Walker, I really don’t feel anything but sadness for him and those unfortunate enough to care about him. Here is a kid who had the world handed to him and he has proceeded to ruin everything he possibly could. As sure as he only cared about himself, he was found as one would suspect when one has no true friends (Wonder where Drew Rosenhaus was when this was going on - and isn’t it funny that we haven’t heard a peep from the little weasel?) - drunk, alone, on a street in Vegas, with a broken orbital bone and no money. I suppose I should follow Steve’s lead and reserve judgment. But sometimes, things are as they appear, plain and simple, and I believe this is one of those times.

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• Why character issues matter