This could be bad news to some and great news to others.

The National Football League owns are planning to take a vote in May on plans to lengthen the regular season though it is unlikely that the new longer season would start until 2011.  They are planning to increase the NFL football season by 17 or possibly even 18 games.

It would also include reducing preseason games by at least one.  All this is an effort explained NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to “[increase] value” in this challenging economic climate the county finds itself in.  Regardless of what happens there is little chance that the football season will remain at its current 16 regular season games.

I for one do not have a problem with this.  I love football and one or two more meaningful regular season games is good news.  I hate the preseason.  It means nothing.  Its just a way for teams to evaluate their new talent and see where they stand.  I feel that they can have scrimmage games for this.  Its also a quick way for owners to make a little money off fans who are so football starved after not seeing any games since January that they are still willing to pay good money to see a meaningless game rationalizing that at least they get to see that pigskin flying again.

But thinking about the players point of view I can see how they would be against it.  Its a brutal sport that ranks number one is physicality among all the top pro sports in the United States.  Guys are usually beat up and bruised after 16 games and while one or two more games may be exciting or no big deal to us we are not the ones actually having to play it.   This presents more opportunities more players to get injured and everyone not going to into the postseason 100% healthy.

And even though the idea of more football is obviously appealing to most fans, if we really think hard about it, at the end of week 17, has anyone ever thought, “That really needed to be longer”? Sixteen games is plenty to determine who’s the best team out there.  There is only so many Sunday and Monday night football games we need in a year.  We have to make room for the NBA and MBL season too (just playing).

One can see the good and the bad in this.  Players do not want to be paid less and owners need to make some changes to keep their revenue intact. Fans are going not to get a choice,surprise, surprise, because anything that the owners would approve that would make them more money and sell more NFL tickets, the owners are going to approve. Records are going to fall. Careers are going to get a little shorter. The regular season’s going to get longer, whether it’s a good idea or not. Coors and Budweiser stand to sell more beer as well.  I would start buying stock in them today.  How many extra million cans of beer are going to be sold as a result of this?

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NFL Season Will Get A Little Longer

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Coach Josh McDaniels spoke with the media for the first time Tuesday since the rift between the new Broncos coach and the Pro Bowl quarterback became public. He reiterated that Cutler is his quarterback and he’ll do what he can to improve the relationship.

The Broncos had shown a lot of interest in former New England’s quarterback Matt Casell and it was widely reported that the Denver Broncos were trying to make a deal involving trading their current quarterback.  Matt Cassel ended up being traded by New England to Kansas City, and Cutler asked to be traded.

“I’ve always been optimistic,” McDaniels said at the NFL meetings. “He’s on our team, he’s under contract, and I understand there’s things we have to work toward in our relationship.

“I’ve heard (Cutler’s trade request), but have not heard it from him personally. No one has contacted me, called me, text-messaged or e-mailed me.”

Cutler is halfway through the six-year, $48 million contract he signed as the 11th overall pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2006 draft. He’s 17-20 as Broncos starter, although that’s misleading because of Denver’s dismal defense. He’s 13-1 in games in which Denver held its opponents under 21 points.

He was upset when Mike Shanahan was fired as coach, and even requested that members of Shanahan’s offensive staff be retained, which didn’t happen.

“It’s not an ideal situation, obviously,” McDaniels said. “We want him to be here, but it has to be two ways. It’s a challenge for him. I understand the position he is in and I respect that.”

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Broncos Coach Commited to Cutler

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NFL owners have passed four player safety rules for next season. One of them is the elimination of blindside helmet-to-helmet blocks.

The changes came Tuesday at the NFL meetings in California.

The new rules state that the initial force of a blindside block can’t be delivered by a helmet, forearm or shoulder to an opponent’s head or neck. An illegal blindside block will bring a 15-yard penalty.

Initial contact to the head of a defenseless receiver also will draw a 15-yard penalty.

On kickoffs, no blocking wedge of more than two players will be allowed. Also, the kicking team can’t have more than five players bunched together pursuing an onside kick.

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NFL passes new safety rules for next season

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Albert Haynesworth walked into the front lobby of Redskins Park on the first day of free agency. After being congratulated by front office chief Vinny Cerrato, the All-Pro defensive tackle turned and introduced his mother. Once the pleasantries were done, the parties went to work — completing the paperwork on a seven-year contract that is worth about $100 million and includes an NFL-record $41 million in guaranteed money.

The Washington Redskins were back to their old form as champions of the offseason, snagging the biggest name available in the first few hours of the open market. They agreed to terms with Haynesworth around dawn Friday, culminating a sleepless night that included a just-after-midnight deal — six years, $54 million, $22.5 million guaranteed — to re-sign cornerback DeAngelo Hall.

“Wow! Amazing!” said Redskins defensive tackle Lorenzo Alexander, providing the almost universal reaction to Haynesworth’s guaranteed payout, which tops the $37 million the Atlanta Falcons gave Michael Vick in 2004.

All this from a team that has laid off at least 30 people since the start of the year in two rounds of cutbacks. The Redskins are among 10 to 12 teams that have cut staff because of the economic crisis, according to an NFL estimate, but marquee free agents appear recession-proof.

Not so fortunate was Shawn Springs. Expensive and often injured, the 33-year-old cornerback was deemed no longer needed once Hall was kept in the fold.

From Bruce Smith in 2000 to London Fletcher in 2007, the Redskins’ Dan Snyder made his NFL name as the owner who always got the player he wanted, even if it meant overpaying for players who didn’t pan out. Snyder’s deep pockets have produced only one playoff win this decade.

Last year, the team was uncharacteristically quiet, making no major signings during the entire free agency period. An 8-8 season with an aging roster — along with the fact that the Redskins have only four picks in upcoming draft — prompted Snyder to revert to his old ways.

Whatever the money, the Redskins get credit for targeting two deficiencies from last season: sacks and turnovers.

Haynesworth should help with the sacks. The 27-year-old lineman got to the quarterback a career-high 8 1/2 times last year, more than one-third of a Washington team total (24) that ranked tied for 28th in the NFL. If nothing else, he will divert attention away from defensive ends Jason Taylor and Andre Carter, who managed 7 1/2 sacks between them in 2008.

Haynesworth, 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds, and has 24 sacks in seven NFL seasons since the Titans drafted him in the first round out of the University of Tennessee in 2002. His possible downsides: He hasn’t played a full season since his rookie year because of various injuries, he’s been known to take plays off, and he might never live down a five-game suspension for swiping his cleated foot over Dallas center Andre Gurode’s face in 2006.

The suspension is the NFL’s longest for an on-field act, and Haynesworth was also required to attend anger management sessions. Now, having signed with an NFC East team, Haynesworth will face Gurode twice a year.

It was uncertain whether the Redskins would be able to fit Haynesworth under the salary cap, but the front office spent this month renegotiating several contracts to clear money for the upcoming season. The team also saved money under the cap by releasing linebacker Marcus Washington last week.

Hall will be getting paid to get picks. His five interceptions for the season — three with Oakland, two with Washington — were three more than any other cornerback on the Redskins’ roster. Washington had only 18 takeaways in 2008, tied for 28th in the league.

The 25-year-old cornerback is also netting his second big payday in as many years. He was guaranteed about $24 million in a seven-year, $70 million contract he signed a year ago with Oakland, but he struggled to adjust to the Raiders’ man-to-man defense and was waived after eight games.

The Redskins picked him up less than a week later, and he provided a needed boost to a secondary beset by too many injuries and not enough big plays. He was also a model citizen, avoiding the outbursts that prompted the Atlanta Falcons to trade him to Oakland in 2008.

With Springs released, Hall and Carlos Rogers are now expected to form the new starting cornerback tandem.

The Redskins might not be done yet. Also on the wish list — assuming it can fit under the cap — is an offensive lineman. The team has been in contact with former Redskins guard Derrick Dockery, who was cut Thursday by the Buffalo Bills.

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Haynesworth recieves 7-yr $100M deal from Redskins

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Tomlin is the perfect figure for these uncertain times. Confident in victory, humbled but not awed by the magnitude of the moment.

“It’s like chess to me,” Tomlin said Monday at a news conference where he appeared with Holmes, the Super Bowl’s most valuable player. “I like to control my emotions because I want to see things with great clarity. I think that’s what my team needs me to do in those instances. Not that I don’t enjoy it, I do, but I’m always trying to stay a step ahead.”

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In many ways, the 24-year-old Holmes emerged as the most triumphant figure of Super Bowl XLIII. He is a work-in-progress player whom Tomlin takes pride in. Holmes was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession at a traffic stop in October. The incident led Tomlin to suspend Holmes for that week’s game against the Giants
Coincidentally, Plaxico Burress, the Giants’ star receiver, was held out of that game’s first two series for the latest in a string of indiscretions.

Last season, Burress was one of the stars of the Giants’ dramatic Super Bowl victory against New England. Like Holmes, Burress caught the game-winning touchdown pass in the last minute.

Little did anyone know that Burress was on a downward spiral that culminated in November when he accidentally shot himself in the thigh with an unregistered handgun at a Manhattan nightclub.

This is not an attempt to rain on Holmes’s parade; it’s just a cautionary note that Tomlin seems to embrace — teaching young people how to live with success, learn from failure and grow from it.

Holmes discussed Monday how he met with Tomlin after the incident and was told he would miss the game.

“At first, I didn’t want to hear that from my head coach,” he said. “I was hoping he would trust in my word that nothing went wrong, but I see that he put me in a better situation by handling the situation firsthand, getting distractions away from the team, as well as myself allowing me to come back to the team the following week ready to go. He accepted all that.”

If these playoffs were any indication, Holmes is off to a good start reinventing a positive public image. He began his remarks Monday by thanking God, teammates, family and coaches for keeping him humble.

He spoke with Hines Ward about what to expect in the near future.

“He told me to stay humble,” Holmes said. “Things were going to come for me and just be ready to represent my family, this team and this whole organization, because everybody behind me had my back.”

Holmes spoke of how he had spent late Sunday with his children. “Went up to the room, made sure they were being well taken care of, fed them, put on a movie — they were very excited about watching ‘Madagascar 2,’ ” he said.

Deeds, not words, are what matter. If anyone knows this, it’s Tomlin. He was asked about Holmes, the suspension and the evolution that led to Sunday’s magnificent performance.

“You wear many hats in this business, and I embrace that as much as I do the X’s and O’s,” Tomlin said. “I probably get more enjoyment out of watching people grow than I do preparing winning football games. It’s a beautiful thing. I believe that’s what we’re all called to do.”

Just before Tomlin excused himself, he was asked about the possibility of his team’s defending its championship. He said he didn’t think in terms of defending or repeating.

“That special group of men that was in that locker room last night that ended the game?” he said. “That’s gone forever.”

Tomlin said next year’s roster would not be the same. “A lot of the faces will be the same, but nothing stays the same in this game,” he said. “A few will come and go.”

He added, “Our focus will be about being the one at the end of the season.”

At a time of anxiety and uncertainty, Steelers Nation can be sure of this much — you’ve got the right man for the job and the times.

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Sports Highlights

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