Dirtiest Hit of the College Football Season

During the #10 Arkansas - Vanderbilt football game Saturday afternoon, Arkansas gunner Marquel Wade LAID OUT Commodores' punt returner Jonathan Krause - so much so that Krause was writhing in pain after that hit.


Deservedly so, Wade was ejected from the game - you can see in the above video that he was showboating, taunting and gloating after his hit - UNCALLED for in this day and age of football safety.

The play reminded me of a similar hit the Carolina Panthers gunner Dante Wesley made on punt returner Clifton Smith. The only difference was that a fight did not break out in this weekend's college football game.

The Two Rams Games that have Haunted Me

It's now two hours until kickoff, and as we get ready for the 2-1 Redskins (WOOT, WOOT!) to face off against the 0-3 Rams at the Edward Jones Dome, I fear the inevitable will happen: the favorites (Redskins), picked by many to win this game, create mistake-after-mistake to cost them a victory against the heavy-underdog Rams team. It's happened before - actually two times the last three years:

2008
The Pete Pickup-and-Fumble Game

Click the above picture to see highlights from this game

Yikes! And to add insult to injury, Rams offensive lineman Richie Incognito blew his fuse and got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty near the end of the game, but kicker Josh Brown nailed a 50-yard field goal (instead of a 30-some-yard FG) to win the game.

2010
We-Didn't-Come-to-Play Game

Click the above picture to see highlights from this game

This game involved the 0-2 Rams against the 1-1 Redskins (again, favorites for this game). But this time, w/ McNabb at QB, the Redskins didn't show up. The big 40+ yard run by S-Jax (Steven Jackson) in the 1st quarter was the big dagger/big hole that we were unable to overcome come the second half. Despite him leaving with a groin injury in the 2nd quarter, we just could not stop the Rams offense offensively.

So, my question to you is this: Which Redskin team will show up? The one that defeated the Giants, or the one that created multiple blunders against the hapless 2011 Cowboys team/2008 + 2010 Rams teams of the past three years?

Trick Play That Did NOT Count of the Day

The Johnny Knox TD that would have made the game only a one-score deficit was not to be; there was a holding penalty that brought the whole play back and cost the Bears a chance of a comeback. But, WHAT A FAKE by punt returner Devin Hester!

R.I.P. Orlando Brown

One of the better offensive linemen this past decade has passed away at the young age of 40 - ex-Raven and Cleveland Brown, Orlando "Zeus" Brown - according to NFL Network's Jason LaCanfora:

If the name sounds familiar to you, then you must remember the Ravens in their glory years. Once he left the Ravens for their not-so-great division rivals the Cleveland Browns, he had an incident with referee Jeff Triplett.

Triplett threw a flag that "accidentally" hit Brown in his right eye.

In frustration, he pushed the ref, and was automatically ejected.

In a 2003 article by Sports Illustrated, it was written that Brown nearly lost vision in that eye.






It's sad that such a player had to die at such a young age. Current Ravens running back Ray Rice said tweeted it best:

The 2011 Ultimate NFL Player Bracket

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? I sure am. With the start of the NFL season just hours upon us, I thought it would be a good time to unveil the 2011 Ultimate NFL Player Bracket. If you remember during this past summer, NFL Network aired its 100 Top NFL Players in chunks of 10. In addition, various other networks/blogs/websites made their "own" Top-100: CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated's Peter King and Scouts Inc. I, too, made my own top-100 with no biases (*Note: NO rookies were used in any of the rankings, and non take in part the offseason changes over the past month*). I then compiled the rankings and sorted based on an average ranking.

Since you guys LOVE brackets, I took the top 64 of those NFL players to make a 2011 Ultimate NFL Player Bracket. Below, you will see a downloadable Excel bracket:

Once completed, please send me your Final Four AND Top NFL Player to: sameermalla@gmail.com (email); @skinsballr (Twitter) or post your comment below this post.

Play of the Day - Preseason Edition

During yesterday's high-scoring preseason game between the high-powered Saints and the lowly Raiders, former Redskin quarterback Jason Campbell passed the ball to former Redskin and Maryland Terrapin lineman Stephon Heyer. Take a look: