The joys of football are upon us, and NGPF is here to catch you up on the games you missed

Good morning, America! I’m not sure about you, but I had a great time sitting back and watching some football on the good old HDTV. (I probably can’t say the same for my girlfriend, but hey, she needs her training too, right? After all, my weekends should be all but gone in a few weeks here.)

Welcome to Next Gen Pro Football’s pioneering effort into the world of live blogging.

For many of us that don’t have NFLN, this is our first glimpse of an actual NFL game since February.  Tonight will feature a match-up between the defending champioin Indianapolis Colts, and one of the NFC’s major playoff contenders, the Dallas Cowboys.

The game is on Fox, and scheduled for an 8pm kickoff.  So you know that really means 8:15 or something.

We’ll be back in a few minutes to give our thoughts on what to look for in this game, unless of course you enjoy Joe Buck’s baseball commentary.

 Around the league in less than two minutes…

– The Pittsburgh Steelers laid a whooping on the New Orleans Saints from start to finish in the first preseason game of 2007, with the big surprise coming from Mike Tomlin’s passing game absolutely torching the Big Easy secondary. Ben Roethlisberger was perfect on his ceremonious one drive, connecting two times to Cedrick Wilson for a total of 73 yards.

The other story of note? The Saints’ passing game was rusty, with Drew Brees finishing 1/6 for 6 yards & backup Jamie Martin rounding out the first half with a 3/8 and 26 yard outing. Painful to watch, frankly. But I’m sure the ship will right itself.

It’s gettin’ hot in hurr.

– The Arizona Cardinals offensive line woes may become a thing of the past if the first week of camp is any indication. Of course, this could be the product of a defensive front seven still learning the nuances of a new defense.

– With Michael Vick presumably done for the year and Warrick Dunn scheduled to miss all of the preseason after offseason back surgery, Bobby Petrino will look to throw the ball more.

– Much maligned second round pick Alan Branch has signed, leaving the Arizona Cardinals with just one draft choice left unsigned (first-rounder Levi Brown).

– Unsurprisingly, Michael Vick’s welcome seems to be worn out in the ATL.

– In other Vick news, the court house he attended today turned into a full blown nightmare. Good thing Vick has the support of three morons from Boston.

– Jonathan Ogden is being placed on the PUP list due to a lingering toe injury, meaning he probably won’t be seeing much action until week one of the regular season.  He will then play all 16 games.  Duh.

‘Boys finally unwrap Philly’s draft day present

According to the Star-Telegram, Dallas Cowboys’ first round pick Anthony Spencer has signed a contract for $9 million over five years. Dallas started signing their draft choices fairly late into the process, but thanks to this morning’s signing, Jerry Jones will have all his draft picks in camp on time.

In order to pluck the last pass rusher in the draft with a first round grade off the board, the Cowboys had to pull off the unthinkable, trading with arch rival Philadelphia. While it cost several other teams (Cleveland, San Francisco, Indianapolis) first rounders to move up in the ‘07 draft, Jones cleverly managed to obtain Spencer for a second, a third, and a fifth rounder.

Brett Favre Continues His Slow Assault on the NFL Record Book…. 

It’s been a little over a week now since we first looked at some milestones that were on the horizon for running backs.  This time its the quarterbacks and two guys who are mentioned way too much by the mainstream media. 

Brett Favre is either first or second in just about every category there is for a quarterback, and is within striking range of owning every major NFL passing record.  He also leads the league in getting his ass kissed by T.V. commentators.(Look it up)

– Wade Phillips wants to instill more of a “family atmosphere” within the Cowboys’ roster. Terence Newman, one of the leaders of the Boys’, is apparently a key to this. What’s he gonna do, get his grandmother to rob some boy scouts?

– As a teenager, new Raiders’ coach Lane Kiffin dreamed of being a head coach in the NFL. A few years later, he’s the head man in Oakland and nearly finished with puberty.

– Will the Lions beat the clock in signing Corey Redding? With just under two hours to go we expect an announcement here any minute. This seems much more likely than the other two franchised players, Asante Samuel and Lance Briggs, signing their offers.

– Dolphins’ wideout Chris Chambers was pulled over for speeding, reckless driving, and, oh, a DUI early Saturday morning. It caught us off guard. We had no idea that guy even drank.

– The Dallas Morning News poses ten questions about the prospects of the Cowboys returning to the playoffs and winning.

– David Pollack won’t be playing football this year and will attempt a comeback in 2008 with the Bengals

– The Star-Telegram points out that there’s no need for a Larry Johnson trade involving the Cowboys: Arkansas super-back Darren McFadden is right around the corner.

When your son is the starting tight end for the Dallas Cowboys yet you resort to stealing over $5K in ATM withdrawls over a seven month period, you have to wonder one thing:

Jason Witten, why are you holding out?

Quote from dallasnews.com:

“Detective Will Johnson said Thursday that Kimberly Witten, 48, made 25 withdrawals from the Carter County Bank account of Marie McQueen beginning last November.

Investigators quoted Witten as saying she obtained McQueen’s bank account information from a statement mistakenly delivered to her mailbox.”

Fantasy Impact #5 — The NFC East

It’s been a few days since our last Fantasy Impact but now that our new home has been set up we’re happy to start rolling them out again, just as fast as before.

Today we start talking about that OTHER conference: The underperforming NFC.

And the first division we’ll be discussing from said conference is one featuring names seen in the newspaper headlines quite a bit the last couple of seasons: TO, Romo, McNabb, Eli.

We’ll get right down to those guys in a second, but first, we have a promise to keep. That’s right… It’s time for your daily jewel of wisdom.

Cap’n Cop-Biting Urinator Now Jobless, Soon To Be Homeless

Fred Evans was released by the Miami Dolphins today, and because of his unfortunate run-in with the law, and subsequent troubles that came to light a couple of days afterward, he’ll surely be looking at a suspension from iron-fisted Commissioner Roger Goodell. 

Evans surely would have been part of the Dolphins defensive line rotation this year, and as noted on this website, he wasn’t going to be released because of one transgression.  It was in the next couple of days that produced new-to-everyone-except-Fred information that this was not Evans’ first run-in with the law. 

Tony Romo’s Next Destination?

The contract extension talks between the Dallas Cowboys and their young quarterback Tony Romo seem to be over, at least for the time being.  In all likelihood, as the Dallas Morning News points out, Romo will probably receive a large contract at some point during the 2007 season. 

Depending on how the first month of the season goes for Romo, however, the leverage of either side could swing widely.  The downside for the Cowboys is if Romo has a great start to the ‘07 campaign he could start to think about opting for free agency in the spring.  The price tag to lock him up would certainly rise significantly.

Tank Johnson Ain’t Much of a Steer, But He May End up in Texas After All

While I’m usually taking part in the consumption of other forms of the word, I was getting my hands into ESPN’s “Hashmarks” only to find speculatory comments on Tank’s next destination. 

To nobody’s surprise, a strong potential suitor is “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys. 

Jerry Jones has taken many a risk in the pursuit of another Super Bowl ring, so adding a potential gun-toting vehicular manslaughter poster boy makes perfect sense.

Packer Trade Rumors

Rumors continue to circulate around the net that the Green Bay Packers will make a move before training camp opens July 28th. None of their draft picks seem to be inspiring awe, and they did next to nothing in free agency. While most of the talk circulates around current free agents still looking for a job, we find it hard to believe that making a move on one of them would help the team let alone make Brett Favre happy.

– With the Seahawks, Broncos, Dolphins and Cardinals all needing help on the interior of their lines, it will be interesting to see if any of these teams pull off a trade for one of the league’s many disgruntled guards.  Alan Faneca of the Steelers, Pete Kendall of the Jets, and the Niners Justin Smiley round out a talented bunch of guards looking for a (significant) pay increase….

The question will ultimately be if there are teams out there willing to part with a 2nd round pick and pay upwards of $18-20 million in guaranteed money.  To a guard.  Minnesota, Dallas, Cleveland, and Buffalo say hell yes.