Mike Golic might have a unique perspective on all this bounty talk

Here’s a fun little trip down memory lane! Back in 1989, the Buddy Ryan-led Philadelphia Eagles played their rival Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day, in a nationally televised game that would forever come to be known as the “Bounty Bowl“.

In it, Ryan was accused by Dallas head coach Jimmy Johnson of placing a $200 bounty on kicker Luis Zendejas, and a $500 bounty on quarterback Troy Aikman. On the Cowboys’ only kickoff of the game, which Philadelphia won 27-0, Eagles linebacker Jesse Small sprinted straight at Zendejas (who had previously played for Ryan and the Eagles) in an obvious attempt to take him out. Zendejas dove to avoid the hit, but took a knee to the head resulting in a concussion, and setting off a firestorm of controversy.

Despite Johnson’s attempts to challenge Ryan to a fight in an alley, it was all fun and games in the media as Johnson made fun of Ryan’s “big, fat rear end”, who in turn deflected the controversy by making light of his own weight. Ryan also claimed that Zendejas was the one trying to injure Smalls, and wondered aloud “Why would we want to knock out that kicker? He wasn’t making any kicks at the time. We wanted him out there.”

On Monday, Mike Golic – who played for the Eagles in both games - said on ESPN that “there were bounties in that game”. But at the time, commissioner Paul Tagliabue turned the other cheek and exonerated Ryan of any wrongdoing - a claim that Ryan still clings to this day - and pretty much everyone got a big kick out the idea of bounties in football. Two weeks later, the league even promoted the re-match for ratings as “Bounty Bowl II”, which was marketed by CBS with wanted signs and became memorable for the snow/ice balls lobbed onto the field (and at announcers) by the Philadelphia fans.

BOUNTY BOWL VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

But now, 20+ years later, it seems that the attitudes in NFL locker rooms haven’t changed all that much, with the Saints bounty scandal as the news of the day, and more and more stories coming out about similar pay-for-performance systems being commonplace around the league. And this should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. Now, there’s a big gap between rewarding someone for making an interception or a sack (or even a big hit), and putting a dollar value on injuring a specific player … but at the end of the day, it all stems from the same mentality, and is not a good look for the league as it tries to clean up its image as a violent game.

The biggest difference today is that Roger Goodell certainly isn’t going to look the other way like Tagliabue, and is sure to drop the hammer on the New Orleans Saints and Gregg Williams (and possibly Sean Payton), to make an example out of them.

Interesting side note: Gregg Williams got his NFL coaching start as a member of the Houston Oilers staff in the early ’90s, where he worked under none other than defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. Hmmmm …

This was for all the marbles in the NFC East, with the winner taking the division and the loser going home to face a long off-season, watching the playoffs from the outside looking in. A play-in game, if you will, between bitter division rivals. As regular season match-ups go, it doesn’t get much bigger than this. So we battled our hangovers and made the trip to East Rutherford, where we took a lot of pictures along the way to share with you, our loyal readers.

Despite our sterling reputation as an emerging force in new sports media, we didn’t have any press passes or fancy cameras for this one, so these photos are all from the fan’s perpective … and all of them were taken on an iPhone 4s. We hope you enjoy!

(CLICK ANY PHOTO TO EMBIGGEN):

The new MetLife stadium is quite impressive from the outside (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

(Photo: ArtieFufkin)

The rain couldn't dampen the spirits of Giants fans, who were fired up for this one (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Romo and Co. are greeted warmly by the New York fans (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Oooh ... fireworks! (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

CONTINUE AFTER THE JUMP FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THE GIANTS/COWBOYS GAME

And the Giants take the field! (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Minutes later, Victor Cruz (left) would sprint toward us down this sideline into the endzone for a 74-yard 1st quarter score (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Cruz, Rolle and Bradshaw would all have big nights for NY (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

The Giants' front four came to play tonight (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Led by JPP and Tuck, who got the crowd involved early (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Romo would get taken down 6 times by the Giants D (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Eli leads the Giants on a scoring drive toward the end of the 1st quarter (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

The Giants offense came out firing on all cylinders (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Eli rolls to his right in the 2nd quarter (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Aaaaand halftime (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Romo finds himself backed up against his own endzone (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Eli surveys the Dallas coverage (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

In the 4th, Eli looks left to Hakeem Nicks ... (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

... who can't reel in the low pass (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

Unfortunately for Jerry Jones and Romo, Dallas' rally attempt fell short (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

And the Giants are NFC East Champions! (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

And here's the towel the fans received, and waved tirelessly throughout the game (Photo: ArtieFufkin)

As always, unrivaled analysis here from Carl, but we don’t recommend laying any money down on his picks … ever:

(Image via ESPN.com)

Every once in a while, the Worldwide Leader will produce a package that takes a different approach to the usual sports analysis, and thus stands out from the pack. Usually, we can rely on our boy Kenny Mayne to bring the off-center humor to the party, but this time Trey Wingo steps up with his feature on the trials and tribulations of Tony Romo so far this season.  In it, he and NFL Live co-host Marcellus Wiley go for a ride on the “Romo Coaster”, which promises to simulate the thrills and spills of a game with the much maligned Cowboys’ QB at the helm.

Watch as Wingo somehow manages to provide a perfectly cogent breakdown of Romo’s successes and failures while riding the coaster, while Wiley mainly tries to keep his lunch down:

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"The Kitchen" today (Image via ESPN.com)

We knew that former Dallas Cowboy All-Pro Lineman Nate Newton had lost a lot of weight recently. The story about Newton’s drastic weight loss broke in November of 2010, and we learned then about how Newton – who had tipped the scales at 325 pounds in his playing days, and added on another 75 after he quit the game - had dropped 175 pounds in just six months thanks to a “gastric sleeve” surgical procedure, saving his life and becoming nearly unrecognizable in the process.

Newton Before & After, Nov 2010 (Image via Huffpost.com)

But we still had to do a double (if not triple)-take when the man who used to be known as “The Kitchen” appeared on ESPN’s First Take this week as a guest analyst, looking absolutely nothing like his former self. As thin as he was around this time last year, it looks as though Newton has lost even more weight, and may have reached his ultimate goal of getting below 200 pounds.

Either way, it’s still a bit startling to realize that he’s the same person who won three Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys while pushing around the big boys in the trenches. But it’s definitely good to see that Newton is still keeping the weight off, and maintaining his healthy lifestyle. Good for him.

(Photo: Getty Images via BleacherReport.com)

Wow. Just wow.

After dominating the first half of Sunday’s Cowboys-Lions game and leading 27-3 in the third quarter, Tony Romo and the Cowboys figured out a new and exciting way to blow a football game. Romo threw two – count ‘em, TWO – pick six interceptions (3 total 2nd half INTs) that let the Lions back in the game and eventually defeat Dallas, 34-30. It was a stunning performance on both sides of the ball, as the Lions completed their second straight 20+ point comeback and improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1980.

Watch as Romo throws a gift-wrapped interception to his former teammate (and groomsman in his wedding) LB Bobby Carpenter who takes it to the house, and then follows that up with another INT to CB Chris Houston, who cuts the Lions deficit even further with a 56-yard return:

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With momentum firmly on their side, the Lions stormed back with a pair of late touchdown passes from Matt Stafford to Calvin Johnson. Watch as Megatron – whose talents Cowboys DC Rob Ryan had downplayed prior to the game – simply takes over at the end of the game:

As one of two remaining undefeated team in the league (NFC North rival Packers being the other), and with 8 consecutive wins (dating back to last season), I think it’s safe to say that this year’s Lions club is for real. At the other end of the spectrum, the Cowboys fall to 2-2 on the heels of the largest blown lead in franchise history, and people everywhere are wondering if Romo will be able to recover from his ever-increasing reputation as a choke artist.

We have no idea who created this masterpiece (it was originally posted to Reddit by user “Tokyosexwhale“), but it’s pretty much perfect, especially coming on the heels of Monday night’s game against the Redskins, where Romo was working with a crew of inexperienced receivers and a center who seemingly couldn’t remember a snap count. Kudos to you, sir.

CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW FULL-SIZE

(Image via Imgur.com)

(Photo: 30FPS via Shutdown Corner)

This picture of Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan has been making the rounds today, specifically because it shows Ryan’s playsheet from Sunday’s game against the 49ers, which includes a photo of actress/model Diora Baird.  No word yet from the Cowboys camp as to the significance of Baird do their game planning, but unless they received a scouting report suggesting she might be suiting up at wide receiver for the Niners, it’s most likely just a piece of eye candy for ol’ Rob to enjoy during his downtime on the sideline.

The original photo of Baird – who had a small role in Wedding Crashers as one of the early targets of Owen Wilson’s character - came from FHM magazine, where you’ll find a fairly spectacular gallery of photos on their site, in case you’d like to “scout” her “work” even further.

(H/T Larry Brown Sports)

(Photo: Newsday.com)

The NFL Films crew is back for another season putting microphones on the best players in the game and bringing fans the sights & sounds of the game like no one else.  In addition to their unrivaled Sound FX program on NFL Network, this footage is also airing as part of a brand new series, NFL Turning Point on Versus, which apparently is a network now.

On Sunday night, Jets CB Darrelle Revis was wired for sound as he battled Cowboys WR Dez Bryant, and ultimately delivered the crucial last-minute interception that set up Nick Folk’s game-winning 50-yard field goal. It was the first time Revis had ever worn a microphone during a game, and the all-everything corner said that he forgot he was wearing it until after the fact. Revis suggested that some of the audio they captured would need to be edited for public consumption before airing:

“Yeah, (it was) pretty cool. I’ll tell you, though, there was some crazy stuff on that mic, man,” Revis said. “It’s the heat of the battle. He said words to me, and I’m saying words back to Dez.”

“It’s X-rated. There was a lot of stuff going on, a lot of back and forth … That’s real life. Whatever was said on there, that’s what it was. It’s in the heat of the moment, the heat of battle. That’s what it was.”

Even with the X-rated stuff on the cutting room floor, it’s definitely fun to watch Revis and Bryant go at it throughout the game, with Revis expressing his respect for the young receiver both during and afterward. But it was Revis who once again proved himself to be the best shutdown corner in all of football, delivering the big play when his team needed it the most.

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RIP Chris Farley

Since our resident Cowboys fan, C-O-U-R-T-N-E-Y, has remained silent about the outlook for his favorite team, this guy will have to suffice as our “expert” opinion on the subject for now.

In response to the Cowboys meltdown at the Jets in Week 1, YouTube user divalover159 delivers a tirade for the ages on his favorite franchise, owner Jerry Jones, and QB/whipping boy Tony Romo. It’s nearly ten minutes of pure, unadulterated passion, bouncing bellies and questionable grammar, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Matt Foley, motivational speaker.

Sure, it goes on a bit long, but something about this video is truly captivating …

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

… and the Dallas Cowboys never lost again.

Yikes. I got hoarse just watching that video.

(H/T Reddit/r/nfl)