30
Jan
2012
Giants LB Mark Herzlich is the feel-good story of Super Bowl XLVI (VIDEO)
(Photo: NFLMocks.com)
Giants rookie linebacker Mark Herzlich has already defied the odds.
Two years ago, as an All-American at Boston College, Herzlich was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma – a rare form of bone cancer – and was told by doctors that he might not ever walk again, let alone play football. Well, after beating the cancer, returning to play his senior season and making it to the NFL as an undrafted free agent with New York, Herzlich continues to prove the doubters wrong. He played in eleven regular season games this year for the Giants, starting two (including a week 11 showdown against the Eagles), and making an immediate contribution on special teams.
But Herzlich’s tweet from today really put things into perspective as to just how far he’s come in so short a period of time:
(via LarryBrownSports)
Even though he hasn’t played since week 12 due to an ankle injury and illness, Herzlich hopes to take the field for the Giants at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday to complete his utter & total domination of cancer. And regardless, if you’re not inspired by Herzlich’s journey thus far, you may have no soul.
Back in September, NFL Network had Steve Mariucci sit down with Herzlich for this excellent in-depth interview:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
28
Oct
2011
Mike Ditka’s “Football Life” is pretty kick ass (VIDEO)
(Photo: Yahoo.com)
The latest episode of NFL Network’s excellent series, A Football Life, focused on the Chicago Bears’ legendary larger-than-life coach and player, Mike Ditka.
As usual, the program gives an in depth look into the Hall of Famer’s life, both on and off the field. From his upbringing in western Pennsylvania to his time as an All-American two-way end at Pitt and becoming a first round draft choice by the Bears. There, Iron Mike revolutionized the Tight End position and came to define toughness and agression from an offensive player in the NFL.
Of course, Ditka went on to coach the Bears for 11 years, winning Super Bowl XX and creating a much larger legend for his his blustery and temperamental persona. His coaching career ended on a less successful note with a 3-year stint with the Saints, where Da Coach looked so constantly stressed out that you genuinely worried he might have a heart attack at any minute.
With NFL Films at the helm, the show provides a multi-dimensional look at one of the more fascinating characters in NFL history. You can watch a bunch of clips here (the “growing up Ditka“ section is particularly worthwhile), but this segment covers a lot of ground on Ditka’s coaching career, including his, shall we say … colorful relationship with both quarterbacks and the media. It also includes a look at this classic furious, pantsless television interview, and starts with Ditka’s now-ubiquitous “Kick Ass” brand, which he shamelessly slaps on everything from red wine to Italian beef :
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
29
Sep
2011
Epic Bills Comeback vs Patriots – Sound FX (VIDEO)
(Photo: SI.com)
Last Sunday’s Bills-Patriots contest proved to be the NFL’s game of the week, as the upstart Bills fought back from an early 21-0 deficit to defeat their AFC East nemesis and improve to 3-0 on the season.
Fortunately for us, the NFL Films crew was on hand, and had a whole array of players and coaches mic’d up for the game to bring us the sights & sounds of the most exciting thing to happen in Buffalo in years. The resulting Sound FX highlights are definitely worth the watch, to see how the Bills were able to keep their heads in the game after falling behind, and snap their 15-game slide to the Pats.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
26
Sep
2011
Watch the Trailer for “A Football Life: Reggie White and Jerome Brown” (VIDEO)
(Image via SBNation.com)
Episode 3 of NFL Films’ extraordinary new series, A Football Life, premieres Thursday on the NFL Network, and this week it chronicles the bond between two of the most ferocious defenders to ever play in the NFL, Reggie White and Jerome Brown. The two Eagles defensive linemen were about as diametrically opposed personalities as you could find – Steve Sabol calls them “football’s version of the Odd Couple” – but shared an unbreakable bond on the field during the five seasons they played together in Philadelphia.
A Football Life takes a close look at that period, leading up to Brown’s untimely death in a car accident in 1992, and examines the lasting impact both men had both on and off the field. And after seeing how awesome the first two episodes of this series were, you can be sure we’ll be setting the DVR to record them all.
WATCH THE TRAILER AFTER THE JUMP
23
Sep
2011
Bill Belichick as a Roller Skating Pirate … no, really (VIDEO)
(Photo: INSNTRPLY.com)
Part 2 of A Football Life aired on NFL Network last night (read our review of Part 1 HERE), and while there was plenty more insight provided into the world of Bill Belichick, the runaway highlight from the show came during the Patriot’s 2009 week 8 bye. Former pats WR Randy Moss organized a Halloween party for the players & coaches, and sat down with the Hoodie to see if the coaches would be interested in joining. Belichick slowly warms to the idea, eventually saying “it’s a great holiday! Candy and costumes … how can you beat that?!?”
That scene is followed by footage of Belichick arriving at the roller rink dressed as a pirate, with his girlfriend playing the part of wench, where he’s greeted by Moss as Spongebob Squarepants and other players who are just thrilled to see Bill let his hair down a bit. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Belichick laces up the skates and takes to the rink to get his pirate roller boogie on … yaaaarrrrr:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
16
Sep
2011
Bill Belichick: A Football Life – The Softer Side of the Hoodie (VIDEO)
Belichick gets choked up reminiscing at Giants Stadium (Image via Sportsgrid.com)
Read our recap of Part 2 HERE
We, along with the rest of the sports-geek community, have been anxiously awaiting the premier of NFL Network’s new special, Bill Belichick: A Football Life. We’re big fans of all these mic’d up segments, and can’t get enough of the insight the NFL Films crew provides into the game we love so much. But after watching part 1, which aired Thursday night, let’s just say we’ve got mixed feelings.
Back in 2009, Belichick agreed to be the first person to be wired for sound by NFL Films for an entire year, promising an unprecedented look at the enigmatic coach’s life inside and outside the game. And while it’s certainly fascinating to hear Belichick do what he does best – like game-planning with Tom Brady for the Baltimore Ravens and Ed Reed, and working with his players and coaches – ultimately, Belichick is a guy who doesn’t talk very much … which doesn’t make for the most exciting television in the world. Even when relaxing on a boat, in the glimpses we get at his relationship with his son, and when he’s trying to relate with his players and be funny, Belichick is about as dry a character as they come. In fact, Deadspin has a hilarious “highlights” reel from the show, jam-packed with all the moments showing The Hoodie at his most grumbly. I mean, let’s face it, Rex Ryan, he ain’t.
But even still, Belichick is an unqualified football genius, and there is plenty here for Patriots fans and football nerds to geek out over. The trailer (below) gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect, and here’s list of standout moments from the program, with a couple of clips to whet your appetite. Even if the personalities might not be as dynamic as we might like, we’ll definitely be setting the DVR to record Part 2:
- The most notable highlight is when Belichick strolls through the bowels of Giants Stadium and gets teary-eyed (VIDEO BELOW) while reminiscing about his time spent there cutting his teeth as a defensive coach under Bill Parcells. It’s by far the most human we’ve ever seen the guy.
- Getting into some smack talk with Ravens WR Derrick Mason, in which he tells him to “Shut the f*ck up” and “Look at the scoreboard” (VIDEO BELOW)
- Joking with Chad Ochocino, then with the Bengals,telling him he might as well take the night off because the Pats were going to double-team him.
- Before the Denver game, Belichick shared a handshake with his former pupil Josh McDaniels, during which they agreed to just wave after the game.
- The aforementioned game-planning for the Ravens, and Belichick telling Ed Reed before the game that he’s the best free safety he has ever seen.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
25
Apr
2011
Hooray for Draft Week!! Hooray I say.
(Photo: mjbnewsonline.com)
As you may have noticed, we here at R&R have been feeling a bit disenchanted with the ol’ NFL these days, what with the lockout and ongoing labor discussions hanging over the game like a black cloud of death. I mean, it’s pretty tough to get excited about the off-season activities of your favorite team (let alone muster a blog post about it) when you have no assurances that there’s even going to be a season next season.
But fortunately, the NFL Draft is upon us to return a sense of normalcy to our lives! Beginning this Thursday night, we can forget about all the extra-curricular nonsense and get back to talking football. Once again, we can take refuge in the league’s greatest annual event, where fans of even the worst teams come away with a feeling of hope for the future. A place where we await war room updates from Ed Werder with baited breath, and find comfort in the cocksure smirk of Mel Kiper and the sweaty mess that has become Chris Berman. Although apparently, ESPN has removed Tom Jackson, Steve Young and Keyshawn Johnson from this year’s draft coverage team, which might actually mean someone will get a word in edgewise this year. Either way, we’ve been partial to NFL Network’s draft coverage in recent years, so we’ll probably be switching back and forth.
And I don’t know about you, but it just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart to know that I’ll be seeing this at some point this weekend:
Jets fans are always good for a draft meltdown (Image via rolandopastor.com)
21
Jan
2011
VIDEO: Patriots and Jets mic’d up for AFC Divisional Playoff
We’ve made no attempt to hide our infatuation with the NFL Network’s Sound FX program, and would be remiss if we didn’t pass along this clip from last weekend’s Patriots-Jets AFC Playoff game. As always, the NFL Films crew provides unparalleled insight into the game we love:
I’m not sure why, of all people, they chose to wire TE Alge Crumpler for sound, but he ended up being a major part of the game for the Pats. More importantly, it doesn’t seem like anyone on the Jets was actually mic’d up for this game, which is a bit of disappointment. I was really counting on getting some choice Bart Scott audio out of this.
8
Jan
2011
Mike Williams’ road from draft bust to comeback story of the year (VIDEO)
(Photo: SeahawkNationBlog.com)
During the pre-game build up to today’s Saints-Seahawks Wild Card game, NFL Network aired this excellent profile on Seattle WR Mike Williams, who has returned from the brink of obscurity to become the comeback player of the year for Pete Carroll‘s team in 2010. And while Michael Vick is likely a lock for the league-wide award, Williams’ story doesn’t involve electrocuting dogs, and is as refreshingly positive as we’ve heard in a while.
A dominating receiver at USC, Williams had been considered one of the biggest draft busts in recent memory after coming out after his Sophomore year and being chosen 10th overall by the Detroit Lions in 2005. Williams pocketed a huge signing bonus, got fat and subsequently cut, and bounced around to a few teams before falling out of the league. He spent those two years away from the game (from 2008-2009) starting a family, getting his head right and getting back into shape in case another opportunity came calling.
And when Carroll – who was Williams’ coach during his best years at USC – got the Seattle gig, he looked up his old go-to guy and invited Williams to camp. Since then, Mike Williams has done all the right things and started to erase that “bust” tag, leading the Seahawks with over 750 yards receiving this season and shattering his previous career totals along the way. But Williams truly seems to have a good head on his shoulders these days, and understands that he still has a long way to go:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
6
Dec
2010
As the Jets-Pats rivalry goes, there’s never been a bigger one than this
Long simmering, the feud between the Jets and Patriots is set to explode Monday night. (Source: New York Daily News)
(Ed. note: This article was originally posted last week, but with the impending Monday night match-up on everyone’s mind today, we thought it deserved another look)
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The word “rivalry” is tossed around a lot in the NFL. You hear announcers, desperate for market share, describe a pedestrian Seahawks-Chiefs tilt as a rivalry. Who’s buying that? Most “rivalries” unfold without so much as a breadcrumb on the line.
The history between the New York Jets and New England Patriots is a messy, entangled war by contrast. With both franchises notched at 9-2 atop the AFC East, you have to go back to the 1990 Monday-night meeting between the 10-1 49ers vs. the 10-1 New York Giants to find a late-season prime-time bout with equal appeal.
The lifetime record between these two teams stands at 51-50-1 in New York’s favor. Records aside, the Patriots are the Goliath, having dominated the last decade with three Super Bowl wins under the leadership of a once-per-generation quarterback talent in Tom Brady.
The Jets, after years of struggle, are at the threshold — but the long-time Jets fanatic is still haunted by ghosts: “When will the other shoe drop? When will the S.O.J.s appear from behind the Wizard’s curtain?”
A season sweep over the Patriots would send a statement league-wide: These Jets are for real.
