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“NFL-On the Hot Seat”

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3-weeks left to go in the NFL season, and then the bloodshed starts.

In a results-oriented business, you don’t win, you don’t survive, and the day after the New Year’s celebration is over, the coaching firings will begin, and they could be widespread. It might be the bloodiest week in NFL history.

CLEVELAND..The entire season has been a referendum on the credibility of the Browns. The GM-Sashi Brown was taken out two weeks ago. Hue Jackson is (1-28) and will likely be fired next. But it is an indictment top to bottom of the entire organization. The new GM John Dorsey is already in place.

CINCINNATI…Owner Mike Brown has always been loyal, but in 15-years, Marvin Lewis has never won a playoff game,in fact, hardly ever makes the playoffs. How much longer does this got?

CHICAGO…John Fox is (14-33) and the rebuilding is underway with new QB-Mitch Trubisky, but they weren’t winning early, and still not winning late. A likely change.

NEW YORK…The Giants have already blown out Jerry Reese and then coach Ben McAdoo. Poor Eli Manning. Failed drafts, failed free agent signings, injuries. What a mess.

INDIANAPOLIS….Chuck Pagano survived cancer. Survived the loss of his GM. But likely won’t survive the yearlong loss of star QB-Andrew Luck. It’s more an organizational problem with the Colts, than just a head coach problem.

NEW YORK…A year ago people liked the job done by Todd Bowles, now his team has fallen apart. Quarterback issues, bad defense, lousy attitudes. Maybe a roster housecleaning helps Bowles. Maybe a new coach has s better chance.

ARIZONA..Bruce Ariens give you mixed messages. Injuries, the coaches illness, the loss of his quarterback, free agent defections, it’s all part of what might be a change coming.

HOUSTON…It would be crazy to remove Bill O’Brien. Injuries, injuries, more injuries, so I don’t know why Bill O’Brien has to be accountable for that. But he is working for a demanding owner..

DENVER…It’s not what the Broncos have been used to, all this losing, and bad quarterbacking, and now the debate, is it on John Elway’s fault, or on new coach Vance Joseph? It might be too early for ‘one and done’ but it might happen.

As much as NFL owners want to win, and cannot tolerate losing, and that fans bring some enormous heat, there’s something else that needs to be considered. Where are you going to find head coaches, if indeed 9-teams blow their leaders out.

3-weeks left in the season, 9-jobs in jeopardy. Used to be called Black Monday. Might really become Bloody Monday.

A way of life in the NFL.

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“NFL Hot Seats-Everywhere”

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3-weeks left in an NFL season. A couple of great teams this year, lots of bad teams around, and a bunch of coaching firings just around the corner.

It’s a results oriented league, but for every team that is about to blow out a head coach his staff, there are different reasons for different teams failures.

CLEVELAND…The entire season has been a referendum on the Browns front office, their coaches, and the roster. They are failing in lots of areas. The GM-Sashi Brown was axed last week, and it appears coach Hue Jackson will be gone once the season ends on New Year’s Day weekend. Going (1-28) over the last two yerts is just the tip of the iceberg of all things wrong on the Mistake by the Lake.

INDIANAPOLIS…Chuck Pagano survived cancer, survived the firing of his GM a year ago, but it does not appear he can survive the season’s losses piling Up with quarterback Andrew Luck still out of action with complicated shoulder surgery. The problems though are the roster, and that’s an organizational failure.

CHICAGO….John Fox has seen his teams go (14-33) since taking over. They are in the midst of rebuilding, and the growth of QB-Mitch Trubisky has been very slow. He might survive, but he might get fired.

ARIZONA…Bruce Ariens had dropped some hints of leaving the club, some of it might be linked to health, but he is not very tolerant of losing. His Loss of QB-Carson Palmer was a setback too. Should stay, might leave.

NEW YORK GIANTS….Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese were both dumped two weeks ago, so a complete overhaul is coming.

HOUSTON…Ridiculous for anyone considering change with the Texans. Bill O’Brien lost his star quarterback, then 3-of his top pass rushers and a linebacker with injuries and suspensions. Good coach, deserves to stay, but works for a pushy owner.

CINCINNATI…Marvin Lewis brought law and order to the disarray that was Bengals football, but in 15-years, he’s never won a playoff game, and in 11-years, never made the playoffs. Ownership has been loyal, but ownership, Mike Brown, has a horrible history running the franchise.

DENVER….The big debate right now is whether it is the coach Vance Joseph, or the GM-John Elways, with what has befallen the once-proud Broncos. Joseph stays, but they have to be better next year, and his GM better figure out the quarterback problem.

TAMPA BAY…It just hasn’t worked out, despite the arrival of stud quarterback Jameis Winston, and Dirk Cotter’s tenure might end quickly.s.

NEW YORK JETS…A year ago, they praised Todd Bowles, now his job is in jeopardy. A quarterback mess, a defense full of attitude issues, and a front office malaise. Maybe he deserves a chance to overhaul the roster.

That’s 10-potential coaching changes.

Teams might be dissatisfied with where they are, are there really 10-quality head coaching candidates out there to replace the guys who might get fired?

It ends in 3-weeks, the season. It ends in 3-weeks, a bunch of coaching careers too. Might not be fair. But is the way of business in the NFL.

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“Winter Meetings-Final Day”

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News & Notes from the hallways in Orlando in the final hours of the Winter meetings.

Padres..We have 150-infielders on the roster, but not enough starting pitching…Not sure how Chase Headley fits in with Yanget Solarte, Carlos Asuaje, and the wide host of shortstops on the roster….Wish they were coming back with Joules Chacin and Craig Stammen signed-but as long as they aren’t signed elsewhere, it means they could still be part of the Friars. GM AJ Preller was shopping both Headley and Solarte on Wednesday night and still taking calls on relief ace Brad Hand.

Dodgers…Players are leaving. I am surprised at the lack of effort by LA to retain Yu Darvish, who could be headed back to the American League with the Astros or Twins. ..they also lose setup guy Brandon Morrow, a key component of the Blue bullpen….I know Dave Roberts says they still have 98-starting pitchers, but part of that are injury related guys, the kid Julio Urias, the forever hurt Brandon McCarthy, the slow to come back from surgery Hyn Jin-Ryu. And I wonder what Adrian Gonzalez feels like now that word is out they wanted to ship him to the lowly Miami Marlins.

Angels…Some week or so for Gm-Billy Eppler….Signing Shohei Ohtani for next to nothing in terms of salary…..Trading last night for veteran 2B-Ian Kindler of the Tigers…restructuring the contract of OF-Justin Upton to keep his booming bat….and the signing of the top Laztin free agent let go in the Braves scandal, Kevin Maitan.. They look loaded and do believe all their injured starting pitching is healthy now.

Miami…And you thought hurricane damage in South Florida was bad…..Agent Scott Boras described it perfectly…wishing that MLB did a better job os screening the Derek Jeter group, who dont have enough money, and have ripped apart the franchise in one weeks time. They dealt Giancarlo Stanton..Dee Gordon and Marcell Ozuna…got 1-veteran players, Starlin Castro back, plus 9-minor league prospects….As Boras said, the took a ‘jewelry store roster-made it a pawn shop’.

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“Star Running Back-Forever Stained”

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So how are we, how are they, supposed to feel about him?

Marshall Faulk, icon, Hall of Fame running back, NFL Network personality, is in seclusion, is in hiding.

His reputation is gone. His broadcasting career probably damaged.

Faulk, one of 7-ex NFL players, plus a producer, named in a nasty lawsuit filed by a former NFL Network employee, charging she was a victim of constant sexual harassment, sexual battery and more, over a four year period.

The ex Aztecs-Colts-Rams running back, fingered as a ‘ringleader’ of a group of NFL Network guys, who tried to hit on a female employee.

The word ‘no’ was followed by even more abuse, till she left or was terminated. Even worse, for 4-years, NFL Network officials stone-walled her and NFL execs ignored her letters.

The paragraphs about Faulk are steamy. Exposing himself to the woman in a hotel room. Pinning her to a wall, asking for oral sex. Overly aggressive sexual conversations about her personal life. Intimidation. Touching and groping, and more.

Faulk has teammates in all this.

On the sleaze meter, Ike Taylor, the ex Steeler, is named in the suit for sending the woman of video of him ‘masturbating’ in a shower and propositioning her.

Network teammate Heath Evans passed on sexual jokes, and propositioned the woman too.

Add in a network producer, who attempted to create sexual physical contact in the midst of a lot of verbal sexual abuse..

And of course there is more sordid history about the actions of Warren Sapp, Eric Daivs and Donovan McNabb, now with other networks, who did the same to this woman before they left the network for jobs other places..

Network history is littered with guys who kept their jobs, or went to other jobs, after the same sordid history, Deion Sanders, Michael Irvin, Lawrence Taylor and more.

But this is a different time right now. Ask Warren Moon. Ask Al Franken. Ask Harvey Weinstein. Ask John Conyers. And get ready to ask more, for public figures are headed to public scorn in the coming days.

It’s everywhere, with women now showing courage to stand up and say ‘he did it to me too’.

For Faulk, so revered in our community for his accomplishments at SDSU and then in the NFL, this is a horrible ‘fall from grace’.

Does he ever work in the media again? The Hall of Fame won’t remove his statue. San Diego State shouldn’t penalize him by taking down displays in their Hall of Fame. But, behind closed doors, they have to be upset.

But you cannot think Marshall Faulk in the same feeling anymore..

This isn’t an OJ Simpson type of activity.

But it is damning for so many in San Diego who felt he was special.

Your private life is your private life, good-bad-moral-immoral. But if you break the law, it becomes public record. And when it does, we have to cover the story, sadly.

He violated the trust of friends, fans, alums, the working media and his bosses.

Never forget the greatness of Marshall Faulk. Hard to forget now, what he was doing behind closed doors.

You’d like to think we should respect his privacy. But he didn’t respect women and what was private is now public.

A football hero makes horrible decisions. End of image, end of career.

What do you say? How do you feel? Now we know how she, the victim, feels.

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“Baseball-Get Ready-Get Set-Go”

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It’s day one of the Winter Baseball meetings in Orlando, and the wheeling and dealing is about to begin.

Yes, the Yankees have acquired MVP-home run hitter Giancarlo Stanton.

And yes, the Angels, won the bidding battle to lure Japanese slugger Shohei Ohtani.

And now the real work begins.

Who lands where, and for how much, as free agents begin signing contracts with other teams.

It is year where serviceable players are demanding big paydays, more than they should actually be worth on the open market. But baseball is flush in money thanks to their TV contracts, and clubs are always willing to go the extra year and extra dollars if they think they can buy themselves bats in the lineup.

The top everyday players to bid on…
..JD-Martinez-Arizona home run hitter-not much of a glove-agents wants 200M deal?
..Eric Hosmer…Back to back 25HR seasons but worth 25M a year?rUYes:O D
..Lorenzo Cain..ex-Royals outfielder-with bat and glove, but 15M a season guy?
..Mike Moustakas..legitimate bat-glove-leader-deserves payday.
..Carlos Santana..can hit HRs and play decent lst base..but 20M per?

..Carlos Gonzalez…take him out of Coors Field-what do you have?
..Logan Morrisson..comes off 38HR-season in Tampa but sub par BA.
..Jose Bautista..ex Blue Jay bomber-but coming off bad season
..Zac Cosart..great season with lowly Reds, but odd great season?
..Jon Lucroy…catcher with some power-but off season

..Todd Frazier..some pop but not much average
..Jason Werth-do everything but lots of injuries
..Luca Duda…dependable glove-some home runs
..Jay Bruce…solid years but to superstar
..Carlos Gomez…hot and cold hitter in Texas

..Yonder Alonso..comes off strong season better than career numbers
..Seth Smith..occasional home run hitter
..Brandon Phillips…lots of miles on those tires-but fiery guy
..Neil Walker..grinder of 2nd baseman
..Matt Holliday..old warhorse-how much gas left in tank
..Mike Napoli…same at Holliday
..Melky Cabrera…career seemingly stalled.

Shall be fun watching one dominoe that falls which leads clubs to have to move quickly to replace the player they jost loss.

The best values, probably the KC duo of Hosmer-Moustakas. Big gamble might be the price paid on Cosart. Over the hill gang, likely Buatista. Worth there risk player, Alonso.

Get ready-get set-go spend your money in free agency.

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