NOT FOR NOTHING, BUT…
* Do you think the Packers got enough in return for Brett Favre? A conditional draft pick that only turns into a first-rounder if he wins the Super Bowl AND is named Queen of England? (Actually, it’s…)

* A lot of people in the Giants Stadium press box were murmuring that the Dolphins will beat the Jets Sunday. But they won’t.

* The 16.5 points the Patriots are laying down to the Chiefs? Way, way, way too many. Brady or no Brady.

* The death of the preseason is coming. The process is a relic from a different age, an age when players got out of shape in the offseason. An age when salaries weren’t so high and the cost of losing a key player hit teams harder in the heart than the wallet. Nobody from the network side is whispering in my ear, but do you think The Peacock’s happy about sending their team to cover dog games in August that only matter to friends, family and fat coaches in tight-fitting sideline gear? Or CBS, ESPN or FOX?

Video   Fantasy Fix: Week 1 advice Sept 05: Gregg Rosenthal gives Week 1 advice as he takes a look at three matchups with new backfields and tells you who to play. NBC Sports

* Bear this in mind about the rejuvenated 2007 edition of Brett Favre: he only played six games against 2007 playoff teams last year. He went 4-2 against those teams (the Giants twice, Chargers, Redskins, Seahawks and Cowboys) but the Chargers were not the Chargers when he saw them in Week 3 and the Giants sure weren’t the Giants in Week 2.

* In the Sports Illustrated NFL Preview issue, Terrell Owens was described by a writer as arguably “the best receiver of his generation.” If catching the ball isn’t a part of the equation, I’m down with that assessment. Meanwhile, a Detroit News writer recently described wide receiver Calvin Johnson as one of the 10 best players in the NFL. He isn’t one of the 10 best players in the NFC North right now.

* Why say, "This is a non-smoking flight"? Tell me when it's a smoking flight, will ya. It's not 1978. People aren't expecting to light up.

A PAIR OF FUN EMAILS
Here are different takes on the story I wrote about the Cowboys getting out of whack in 2008 with the entertainment side of their sports-entertainment enterprise:

Tom,
As a journalist, you should at least attempt to write without a bias. Instead, your semantics indict you as a Cowboys "hater." 

Reading through your article, I can't help but to assume that you consider yourself a "football expert". Indeed, you attempt to diagnose the Cowboys ills and offer your own prescription. I've always contended that there are no experts when it comes to sports journalism – only speculation. The sports journalists’ job is to entertain. Perhaps going forward, you can work on the entertaining angle, but for now, since you present yourself as a football expert, I'll ask for your resume. How long did you play the game? Did you play Pop Warner, high school, college, and/or professional football? What sort of awards did you win during your time? Were you a starter? Any all-district, all conference, or all-American awards? Have you served as a football coach? If you did play and/or coach, how many championships did you win?

On behalf of the fans of "America's Team", I would like to extend our apologies to you for the Cowboys ruining your youth by beating whoever your favorite team might have been at the time.  By the way, as much as you would like for an East Coast team to be “America’s Team,” the Patriots will never have a fan base south of Rhode Island and the Giants fans will never move past the swamps of Jersey.

With regards,
Josh H. Ellis

Hi Josh, At least I get paid to be a blowhard.

Hello Tom,
I have been a Cowboy’s fan since I was five. My family is five generations in the Washington, DC suburbs, and still to this day are annoyed that I am not a Redskins fan. OK, so I am a girl who fell in love with Roger Staubach and still hold a grudge against the Rams for robbing him of his final Super Bowl before retirement in the late 1970s. But, somewhere along the line, I learned that football was more than just a pretty damn good quarterback. The sport was to be respected as tough, and teams that played together won games, especially Super Bowls.

I remember when Dallas fired Hollywood Henderson for drug use. It sent a strong message to me and the other children on my street: If you want to play for America’s team (and I was not going to be a cheerleader but wanted to work in marketing), you had to “act right.” And no one on the team ever wanted to see the stoic Tom Landry throw his hat on the ground because of something he did. The coach was the leader, and the players looked up to him; the owner stayed in the box.

Video   Sunday Night preview: Bears vs. Colts Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth say that the Peyton Manning watch is officially over and he will be ready to go for Week 1 against the Bears. NBC Sports

So, along comes this rich guy who buys the team. Fires Tom Landry. Gladhands on the field and calls plays. Fires a succession of other winning coaches and makes good, honest players want to retire or be traded. Hires a bunch of loud-mouthed, expensive players who stink at playing professional football. And on their off time they sell and do drugs, have a parade of out-of-wedlock children, etc. By then, I no longer wanted to market that team.

So, my nieces are now interested in professional football. I tell them about “America’s Team,” and Roger, Tony Dorsett, “Too Tall” Jones, Troy Aikman, and Herschel Walker. They ask why I no longer watch football or go to the games. I tell them about “America’s Joke”— the biggest one of all being Jerry Jones. He and others like him are ruining the sport. And, worst of all, he is dooming an entire generation of football players, few of whom can be ever be called “heroes” or “Hall of Famers.” And many of whom will be financially bankrupt, never able to achieve the financial success in retirement of someone like, say, Roger Staubach. But Jerry Jones will still be plenty wealthy.

Thanks for asking the question. The Cowboys are not only over the top, they are in a black hole in another universe.

Chris Davis

Chris, I like you.

CAMP LEFTOVERS
* Here’s Raiders tight end Zach Miller (grab him for your fantasy team NOW!): “I sense we have a totally different attitude as a team this year,” he told me in Oakland. “A lot more positive. Guys ended up seeing last year how close we were in a lot of games. If certain players made certain plays we could have won a lot of games last year. I think it will take the whole team recognizing that so we turn the corner. And honestly, some of those games shouldn’t have even been that close. There were a lot of games we let teams stay in it. We could have been up a couple of scores in a lot of games.”

Upset special for Week 1? Oakland over Denver. 

* Tony Dungy on his perception as a man who does no wrong. “I don’t worry about that,” he said. “There’s perception and there’s reality, and perception most of the time isn’t reality. I’ve long since stopped worrying about what people think or say so I haven’t ever felt overburdened (by perceptions). My dad told me a long time ago, ‘You are what you are, not what others you think you are.’ ”

* Mike Holmgren will miss his family’s postgame counseling sessions when he’s done in Seattle after this season. He has four girls and, he told me, each has a different approach.

“One is a doctor and she’s very analytical,” he explained. “She’ll say, ‘Dad, too much play-action on third down. Her twin sister is a writer. Her thing is the officials and the mood of the game. My third is married to a pastor and she wants to know how I am. And I love her most (he seemed to be joking here). And the fourth is a photographer who always wanted to be a scout. She’s very much into the action of it.

* I asked Bill Belichick what it’s like to be a new coach in the league in this day and age. “I just know what I’ve been through. That’d be like me asking you what it’s like to be 6-5. How would you know?” Good point. 

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