Antrel Rolle is a Giant

The New York Football Giants made an aggressive entry into free agency on Friday with the signing of Cardinals S Antrel Rolle, making him the highest-paid safety in the game.

The 27-year-old Rolle fills a HUGE position of need for the Giants, who lost Kenny Phillips to injury last season and were abused in the defensive secondary down the stretch.  Rolle – who had 4 interceptions last year – was widely regarded as the best available safety in FA, and GM Jerry Reese wasn’t going to let him leave the Meadowlands with out a deal.  Even if it meant overpaying a bit. The Giants are hopeful that Rolle will team with Phillips (his fellow U of Miami alum) to make one of the best safety tandems in the league.

Rolle agrees:

“The best in the league, hands down,” Rolle said on a conference call with reporters this morning. “Without a doubt. … I mean, The sky’s the limit for us. We’re definitely going to go out and make things happen.”

“I was extremely excited when this opportunity presented itself,” Rolle said. “Being back there with a fellow University of Miami guy, and a guy I know that his potential going to be maximized. My potential is going to be maximized with him. We’re going to be a dynamic duo.”

Of course, that largely depends on how well Phillips recovers from his knee injury. Even though the Giants say KP is ahead of schedule, his status for 2010 is still unclear, making the Rolle signing even more crucial for the Giants.

Rolle, who started his career at CB, is a bona fide play maker with 4 career TDs and a knack for gaining big yardage once he gets his hands on the ball … something the Giants secondary is desperately in need of.

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS OF ANTREL ROLLE AFTER THE JUMP

These stopwatches mean millions of dollars to players at the NFL Combine (Photo: Ben Liebenberg/NFL.com)

You’ll have to forgive us for our recent lapse in NFL coverage … we were swept up in Winter Olympic fever for the past few weeks, and kind of forgot that the NFL Scouting Combine started last week.  And yeah, we actually had something better to do than watch a bunch of grown men run around in their skivvies.  So sue us.

Otherwise known as the “underwear Olympics”, the Combine is the annual meat market where NFL teams poke and prod at the latest round of prospects like so much cattle, sizing up their chances of success at the next level. It’s where Wonderlics, route trees and body lean become the talk of the day.  A place where a mediocre player can rise from obscurity with a 4.3 40-yard dash time, and where an all-American LB can tumble down the draft charts because he’s a few inches too short.

As you might be able to surmise from our tone, we don’t put as much stock in the combine as some others.  I mean, it’s a useful tool to get an up-close look at these athletes, who teams are about to invest millions of dollars in … but it should really only be one piece of the larger puzzle.  How someone performs on an indoor track in a sterilized environment should not be viewed as a direct reflection of how they will perform on Sunday.  Sure, there are some physical tools that you simply can’t teach, and certain teams (ie., the Raiders) are always going to take a chance on gifted athletes, whether they can actually play football or not.  But if a kid is ranked in your top 10 at the end of the college season, after being a playmaker his entire career, there’s simply no way a slow 3-cone drill time should drop him off of your board.

DTs Gerald McCoy of Oklahoma (left) and Ndomukong Suh of Nebraska are 2 of the top prospects in this year's draft (Photo: Ben Liebenberg/NFL.com)

I’ve watched a few hours of the combine over the past 2 days, and I guess I’ll have to leave it to the Kipers and Mayocks of the world, who make their living off of this event. And don’t get me wrong, you can definitely gain some affirmation on your feelings about a player one way or another from these workouts – and especially the interviews.  I just feel that often, too much value is placed on these measurements over actual gameday performance.

And with that, I leave you with a few Combine-related links:

• Tim Tebow’s 2010 Combine performance set to Iron Maiden [Deadspin]
• NFL Network’s Rich Eisen prepares to run the 40-yard dash [NFL.com]
• *UPDATE* Clemson RB CJ Spiller’s blazing 40-yard dash of 4.27 seconds … actually clocked in at 4.37 seconds.  Whoops.

AFTER THE JUMP, WATCH RICH EISEN RUN THE 40-YARD DASH … IN A SUIT

NFL Network’s Rich Eisen continued his tradition of running the 40 in his suit today … watch for yourselves, and wonder if you could do better:

[via Shutdown Corner]

Now that the dust has settled from Super Bowl 44, we would be remiss if we didn’t post one last Tecmo Bowl recreation for the season, from our Youtube friend MRNFL. This one captures the biggest play from Super Sunday, and possibly the entire season, as Tecmo Tracy Porter picks off Tecmo Peyton and races 74 yards for the game-winning score.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get tired of these.

A picture says 1000 words (Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images via ESPN.com)

The New Orleans Saints shocked the world and defeated the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 to win Super Bowl XLIV, and bring the Lombardi Trophy home to the city of New Orleans.

Trailing 10-0 at the end of the 1st quarter, head coach Sean Payton made a series of gutsy calls – including a failed 4th and goal attempt in the 2nd quarter and successful onside kick to start the 2nd half – that helped the Saints chip away at the lead and put themselves in a position to win.

Drew Brees went 32-39 for 288 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions to collect the MVP award, and the Saints defense came up big when it mattered to preserve the lead.  The game winning-play came when Tracy Porter picked off Peyton Manning and brought it 74 yards to the house with 3:12 remaining.

WATCH VIDEO OF PORTER’S INTERCEPTION AFTER THE JUMP

Porter also picked off Brett Favre to seal the NFC Championship game two weeks ago (video here).  And for Manning, who is already regarded by many as the best QB of all time, it is a legacy-defining play.

Full Super Bowl XLIV highlights from NFL.com here

Congratulations to the Saints … and good for the city of New Orleans.

The big day is upon us. The most holy day of the NFL season: Super Bowl Sunday.

As we proved with our horrendous 2009-2010 playoff pick performance, game prognostication is not exactly our forte here at ReadAndReact.  But when you fall off the horse, you get right back on and try again … and we would be remiss if we didn’t at least join the rest of the blogosphere and make our picks for Super Bowl XLIV.  Sadly, only one member of our staff – steverodgers – has a chance for his original SB pick to come through, if the Colts end up winning tonight in Miami.

The overwhelming emotional favorite in today’s game is the Saints, with most of the country rallying behind the “Who Dat Nation” and the city of New Orleans.  But the Indianapolis Colts – with their far superior defense and Peyton Manning at the helm – remains the rational favorite to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. And everyone loves themselves a Pierre!

We’ll be checking in throughout the day, and posting our thoughts in the comments section.  Feel free to join in, and enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday!

This insightful video provides a small glimpse of the NFL’s favorite family during some of their now-legendary backyard football games at the Manning family home in New Orleans.  Here we see young Peyton turn into a whiny little bitch whenever older brother Cooper puts the smack down on him, while Archie just watches in silence from behind the camera.

Classic footage right here, folks.  Unfortunately, Eli was apparently still too young to don the full pads for such hard-hitting action.

[via StacheMouthFootball]

And with that, Polamalu has officially become my least favorite NFL pitch man of all time.  Between this and those awful Head & Shoulders commercials, I’d be cool with never seeing ol’ Troy in an advertisement ever again.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to undergo some hypnotherapy to try and drive that image out of my brain forever.

Rex Ryan displaying the type of devil-may-care attitude we've come to expect

The awesome picture above comes from Miami, where the NFL’s elite have gathered for the pre-Super Bowl festivities.  It’s also where our favorite rabble-rousing head coach, Rex Ryan, decided to take in a MMA Strikeforce event on Saturday night … where he was inevitably surrounded by Dolphins fans, eager to express their distaste their AFC Rival Jets.  You can see where this is going.

Our friends at SportsByBrooks has the whole story, including video of the interview Rex gave over the jumbotron that might have ruffled some feathers in Miami. If you need even more coverage, The Miami Herald has the first-hand story from the photographer, along with Ryan’s clearly forced apology.

Does anyone else notice that Rex’s shirt says “Wide Guy” on it?  Is this a brand for big & talls, or a cautionary sign for whenever he’s transported on the freeway?