[Falcons Message Board]

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.

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]

There’s been rumors for some time that Cutler was a bratty little baby. And now those rumors are starting to look true. Cutler, who wants out of Denver after Josh McDaniels acquied about a trade for Matt Cassel, apparently had things go from bad to worse Wednesday morning.

The conference call was anything but genial and the two sides are now further apart than prior to it, the source said. The source added that the Broncos’ tone of the conference call was as if Cutler created the situation by asking for the trade and not the other way around.

I’m sure there will be a hold out, then Cutler will realize the millions of dollars he’s missing out on, and will quickly report to practice. Insulin doesn’t cheap these days, y’know.

[ESPN]

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

Josh McDaniels, the Patriots’ 32-year-old offensive coordinator, agreed to a four-year deal to replace Mike Shanahan, who was fired Dec. 30 after 14 seasons with a 146-91 record.

“Josh McDaniels is one of the finest people and brightest, most talented coaches I have ever worked with,” New England coach Bill Belichick said in a statement. “Since joining us eight years ago, Josh performed a variety of roles and excelled in every one of them.”

I looked at this, and on paper, I said, “Good hire.” The guy’s young, he seems bright, he’s from the Belichick family tree, and he’s bound to bring some Spygate secrets with him to the Mile High City. Then I started thinking I’d seen this somewhere.

Romeo Crennel? Flop.

Eric Mangini? Flop.

Charlie Weis? Flop in 2009.

Do we see a pattern? With each head coach that comes from Belichick and gets fired, it’s just making Bill look smarter and smarter and smarter. This one I have hope in, though. However, I should confess that when Crennel left New England, I was certain the Patriots would never have success again.

Flop.

So there it is: Next week Baltimore will play at Pittsburgh for their third and final grudge match of the season. In the first game, Ravens players accused Heinz Ward of being dirty, and also ended the season of Rashad Mendenhall. In their second contest, there was the very disputed call when Ben Roethlisberger completed a touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes that didn’t quite look like a touchdown (certainly not something that was indisputable).

And on the NFC side? Well, not as much fun. It’ll feature a game in Arizona where the Cardinals — maybe the flattest team coming into the playoffs — will host the Eagles, a team whose fanbase was screaming that Andy Reed and Donnovan McNabb should both be doing their thing elsewhere.

I’ll admit: Philadelphia/Pittsburgh or Philadelphia/Baltimore has a decent ring to it. But Arizona playing one of those teams? Would they really stand a chance against that defense. I know they tore apart Carolina, but I feel most of that was contributed to really, really bad quarterback play. I’m not sure that’d be the case if they played Baltimore (who runs and relies on its defense) or Pittsburgh, who does much of the same.

Games are next Saturday and Sunday. Should be fun. No Peyton, no Tom, no Eli, no LT, but we do get an old QB, two great defenses, and a team that doesn’t believe in running the ball (what’s the over/under on passes thrown in that Philly/Arizona game?). I’m looking forward to it.

So the Browns hired him, probably to make up for ever firing Belichick back in the 90’s. And after a bad season, a good season but no playoffs, and then this year’s terrible season, Crennel was shown the door.

He’ll now be replaced by one of his best friends, Eric Mangini, former coach recently fired by the Jets, and former coordinator of the Patriots.

Jets running back Leon Washington said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he was pleased to see Mangini land another head-coaching job.

“I am really happy for Coach Mangini,” Washington said in the e-mail. “I learned so much from him while he had his tenure with the Jets. His hardworking, selfless and competitive approach really helped me …The Browns got themselves a really good coach.”

It’s good to hear the Browns got themselves a really good coach. Just last year, the Jets got themselves a really good QB. Until, uh, you know, he threw nine picks down the stretch and lost to the Seahawks and ‘Niners.

-Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins: The first time these two teams played, Baltimore killed them. But Miami’s done a lot of growing up since then.

-Indianapolis Colts @ Denver/San Diego: The Colts will be rooting hard for Denver in this one. The Chargers have given them absolute fits over the last couple of years.

-Philadelphia Eagles @ Minnesota Vikings: Are the Eagles the hottest team in the NFL right now? Minnesota can’t be happy about drawing them in the first round.

-Atlanta Falcons @ Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals will need to play better than they have the last few weeks to win this one. Atlanta can run, and they don’t turn the ball over often.

What you’ll notice is that Dallas is out. That’s because they sucked balls against Philadelphia, and there’ll surely be some heads rolling soon. And Tampa Bay is out because they lost again, only it was at home to the Raiders, which isn’t really excuseable.