Every summer, I start to think about NCAA two-zero-fill-in-the-blank, and Madden two-zero-fill-in-the-blank. This year will be NCAA 2010, and Madden 2010, and given that both of my teams should be good (Georgia Tech and the Falcons), I feel a little more excited than most.

[Falcons Message Board]

I’m not somebody that really cares about draft grades the day after a draft — how many times have these so-called “experts” been wrong in the past? — but since NFL is officially over, and since we’re stuck with a few boring NBA series right now and 145 more MLB games, I figure I may as well milk this post for what it’s worth.

It’s the last time we’ll be discussing the NFL until a Bengals player gets arrested in the offseason.

How’d your team do over the weekend? I’ve got lots of different opinions from lots of different people. Click here and you can see how Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline rates the picks; click here to see how Larry Weisman, writer for USA Today, breaks down all seven rounds. Clifton Brown, writer for Sporting News Today, has his take here; for Yahoo! Sports, go here.

I’d give you Todd McShay or Mel Kiper, Jr., but they’re douche bags and charge you $39.95 a year for their services — if I could charge everyone $39.95 to be completely wrong about how a player will turn out, I would. McShay isn’t that bad, but Kiper’s looked like a weatherman with some of his recent predictions.

Enjoy the grades. They mean nothing. At the end of the day, Calvin Johnson has to catch Matthew Stafford’s passes, and DHB wasn’t a stretch by Oakland until he officially busts in Oakland. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I’m counting down to September. Fall, you couldn’t get here soon enough.

ESPN has a nice little piece on each team’s strength of schedule for 2009. It also notes that if you went from worst to first in the NFC South, then you’re pretty much screwed (see: Falcons, who have the fourth hardest schedule this year, with opponents’ records being a combined 150-105).

An interesting note: The Cardinals, who made the Super Bowl, have the 27th hardest schedule, or sixth easiest next year; the Minnesota Vikings, who won their division and played a first round playoff game at home, have the second easiest schedule. The Patriots, who missed the playoffs, have the third easiest schedule.

You can see all teams here. With the addition of Jay Cutler, and with the easiest schedule in the NFL, it looks as if the Bears might have an easy ride to the playoffs next year.

[ESPN]

The Cowboys cut T.O. Given last year, probably a good move. The T.O. sweepstakes have begun, only it appears there’s less bidders for him than there was for Manny Ramirez. Early rumors had him going to Cleveland, which isn’t happening. Then the Giants, and that’s not happening (though I gotta say: if you put him and Plax with that offensive line and Brandon Jacobs, you’d probably get another Super Bowl).

Over the next couple of days, I’m sure we’ll hear of seven or eight teams, none of which will be very serious, and then he’ll land with the Patriots, and Tom Brady will beak his own ridiculous touchdown record.

[Cowboys Cut T.O.]
[ESPN]

I’ve noted many times that the NFL Combine is the most overrated event in sports when it comes to gauging talent, yet every year I get caught up in what a guy runs or what a guy jumps or what a guy throws (combine studs that probably went a bit high: JaMarcus Russell, Donte Stallworth, and just last year, Vernon Gholston).

That said, via The Big Lead, here’s some guys that impressed, and some guys that didn’t. A couple of notables on my end, from what I’ve seen on NFL Network:

Pat White, QB/WR: He ran an unofficial time of 4.49 in the 40, and then it was adjusted to a 4.55. He also jumped a solid nine feet in the broad jump, which is real important once you’re actually in the game. I know I often see guys stand in place, squat, and leap as far forward as possible. Like I said: Great gauge at talent.

Darius Heyward-Bey, WR: This guy was being talked about as a second rounder, but after running a 4.3 flat, he’s probably going to end up cracking the top 15. Michael Crabtree is still “the guy” when it comes to receivers, but Heyward-Bey is sure creeping up.

Derrick Anderson, WR: This is the guy that I think will be a solid NFL player — probably a good number two receiver — but his 4.58 40 will have schools not paying attention to whether or not he can run a route and catch the ball, and just say he’s too slow to play.

Beanie Wells, RB: I can’t tell if a 4.59 40 is good or bad for him. On one side, it’s slower than most strong safeties. But he’s 235 pounds, and at that size, how fast do you want him to run?

[The Big Lead]
Getting Listy With The Combine

Julius Peppers has made it clear that he wants out of the 4-3 defense, and that there’s four teams — one of them the Cowboys, and two others teams in the NFC South — that he’s willing to go to.

As it turns out, the Panthers have tagged their former first pick, and Peppers is set to receive $16.83 million for 2009. Peppers’ agent expected the franchise tag, but also expects him to be traded. The problem with the trade is that, under the rules, no other team can sign Peppers without giving up two first round picks, which is a hefty amount for a guy that’s had 16.5 sacks over the last two years, with 14.5 of them coming last year.

I’m not the biggest fan of reality TV series — I don’t like American Idol, I don’t like The City, I don’t like Big Brother or any of those other gay shows — but if there’s one reality show I might watch (outside of the one that might involve Rachel Bilson naked), it’s one that follows the life of T.O., your everyday crazy you just can’t get enough of.

The Dallas Cowboys’ controversial wide receiver will star in his own show on VH1 this summer, giving fans a look into his life off the field.

VH1 announced Monday that the series takes place in the offseason, and T.O.’s best friends and publicists — Monique Jackson and Kita Williams — will help him re-examine his personal life. The two will work as “matchmakers and therapists” for Owens.

Also to make a cameo appearance are real life best friends, Tony Romo, Donnovan McNabb, and Jeff Garcia, with an occasional appearance of Jason Garrett and Jason Whitten.

Most of Dallas Nation isn’t happy with the Cowboys right now, and now a former player and Hall of Famer, Troy Aikman, is lining up to callout Dallas’s new franchise quarterback.

His beef? That Romo needs to start thinking about how he’s viewed in the media, and that he needs to take football more seriously.

“I think maybe things happened so quickly for Tony in terms of obscurity to all of a sudden national spotlight that he hasn’t fully grasped what being the Cowboys quarterback is all about,” Aikman said to Irvin. “And you don’t go to Cabo the week before a playoff game. You just don’t do it.

“It didn’t take away from his preparations. I know that. I mean, everything he says is I think accurate. I don’t think that had any bearing.

“But to say, ‘I don’t worry about perception,’ you better worry about perception, because it’s a big part of making it through some very difficult times.”

Tony Romo’s retort?

“You never win the big one until you win the big one. Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin were fired before they ended up going on their playoff run last year and winning the Super Bowl. Three games before the playoffs, neither one of them were coming back.

“So, believe me, the NFL is such a reality show. Week to week, you’re the best player in the league to the worst player in the league. It all depends on what you’ve done for me lately.”

This goes right along with some of the other things Aikman didn’t approve of while playing with Michael Irvin, namely getting cracked out on drugs, having multiple children with different women, and making up stories that you weren’t robbed because the gunmen were Cowboys fans.

In what shouldn’t even be considered “news,” it is news, because as it turns out the problems in Dallas were worse than we ever expected. You can read the whole thing here, but this is just a few highlights from Dallas News:

• The team charter left late for road games five times this season because players were late to the airport according to three sources. The total represented more than half of the eight regular season away games. Sources declined to name the late players. The Philadelphia trip was delayed by more than an hour.
• Under Parcells, players were fined $5,000 for being late to meetings, and as much as $12,000 for missing an injury treatment session.
• This season, players were fined $100 for being late to meetings or missing a treatment. During training camp, linebacker Anthony Spencer was featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks after being fined $100 for missing a treatment session. But sources said Spencer was not alone in missing such treatments.
• According to five sources, several offensive players lost respect for Garrett for his failure to corral quarterback Tony Romo in practice. Romo, sources said, often forced throws in practice and often did not treat practice work consistently.

So, in short: The Cowboys need to start all over. I mean new owner, new coach, new offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator, new star receiver, and a quarterback that takes his games more seriously than his vacations with Jessica Simpson.

Sadly, from reading this most of the blame should fall on Jerry Jones, who pretty much gave the players a green light to be late to whatever they like. ($100 fines? That’s like slapping me on the wrist with a dollar charge every time I’m late to work; they’d never see meat 8:00 a.m.) That said, it’s just so much more fun to poke all the blame towards Wade Phillips, who really does resemble a helpless fat man with no hope in sight.

Dallas had a fallout that was pretty bad, and when things go bad in Dallas, Jerry Jones pulls the plugs on players he feels are responsible. First example, Pacman Jones, who was released last week. Tank Johnson is rumored to be on his way out the door, and after that?

Well, it could be everyone’s favorite mouthy receiver, T.O.

From an anonymous source within the Cowboys:

“I think we all know that chemistry is the problem with this team more than the schemes or anything else,” a Cowboys source said. “Are we going to continue to allow talent to outweigh everything else in the decisions we make with players and putting the roster together? We’re like the Redskins used to be when they signed every player they wanted. There’s more to it than talent. It has to be more about the team.”

“The big one [Owens] didn’t get discussed yet, but I’m sure it will and real hard.”

I don’t know what season this guy watched, but I saw zero chemistry issues. A wide receiver storming up and down the sidelines yelling at the defense to play better, the o-line to block better, and his quarterback to throw better is perfectly normal.

Besides, none of those problems would have ever existed if it wasn’t for conspiring meetings between Tony Romo and Jason Witten in the first place, where they drew up secret plays in the sand to make sure Witten got the ball more. Team chemistry problems…. that’s just far fetched and ridiculous.