Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
NBAE/Getty Images
|
“It’s always a clash of strong-willed, self-confident leaders,” Sabol said. “Both feel it’s their team. More than anything, the quarterback-coach relationship is a partnership rather than a friendship.”
And, in one current case, it’s neither partnership nor friendship.
Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler and the team’s newly christened head coach Josh McDaniels have, to put it mildly, gotten off on the wrong foot.
When McDaniels mulled making a move to replace Cutler with Matt Cassel more than a month ago and Cutler caught wind of it, the Broncos quarterback went into a snit from which he’s still not emerged. Now, after weeks of Cutler’s slapping the olive branch from the hand of McDaniels and owner Pat Bowlen, the Broncos declared Tuesday they would trade Cutler.
On Wednesday, Cutler told FOXsports.com that he didn’t mean it. “I didn’t want to get traded. ... I really didn’t want this. I love Denver. I really like my teammates. I didn’t want it to get this far.”
If, in a bizarre turn of events, Cutler winds up staying in Denver, he and McDaniels' relationship going forward could be prickly. But, as Sabol points out, that’s not unusual in the course of NFL history.
“I could count on one hand the number of relationships between head coaches and quarterbacks that were functional and still have a finger left to pick my nose,” he said. “Mike Ditka-Jim McMahon. George Seifert-Steve Young. Troy Aikman-Barry Switzer. I don’t think any relationship in all of sports is more delicate yet more important and significant than the one between head coach and quarterback. How one goes, so goes the other.”
Joe Theismann, the former Redskins quarterback and ESPN analyst said, “You’re talking about a relationship like the one between trainers and racehorses. You think of a quarterback ... very high-strung in a lot of instances. Skittish. Reacts emotionally. Doesn’t always think things out. And then the head coach needs to rein that in. Bill Walsh and Steve Young didn’t always get along. (Don) Shula and (Dan) Marino got into it. As quarterback, you’re basically in charge and the coach has to figure out what buttons to push.”
Speaking of the McDaniels-Cutler situation, Theismann said, “It’s like having a very talented son. The problem that Josh has is, he doesn’t know this son. Jay’s adopted or has come to Josh through a marriage and Josh doesn’t know which buttons to push. Obviously, one not to push is to not go talking about trading him.”
That’s an understatement.
Sabol ticks through the number of dysfunctional relationships:
|
Packers legend Bart Starr, after a dressing down from first-year Packers coach Vince Lombardi during practice going into Lombardi’s office and saying, “You can’t expect me to lead this team if you do that to me in public. You have an issue bring it to me and we can fix it.”
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
 | Slideshow |
 | Super Bowl XLVI shots See the best moments before, during and after the Giants' win over the Patriots more photos |
Latest from ProFootballTalk |
 | Video: Football from NBC Sports |
 Getty Images |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
