He dropped the ball, but so did officials
One of these years, the NFL is going to have a scandal ous officiating blunder in a Super Bowl that is going to taint the game and the league.
It almost happened in SB 40 following the 2005 season, and it almost happened again in SB 43, played last Sunday. Both games involved the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pittsburgh's thrilling 27-23 win over Arizona left most of us catching our breath. It left others asking questions. Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating, addressed the issues on the NFL Network.
1. Shouldn't the fumble of Kurt Warner at the end have been reviewed by instant replay?
Short answer: It was. The fumble was confirmed by the replay official, but the game should have been stopped to allow referee Terry McAulay to conduct a formal review.
Situation: The Cardinals had the ball at the Pittsburgh 44 with 15 seconds left. On first down, he was hit by linebacker LaMarr Woodley, and the ball was recovered by defensive end Brett Keisel to effectively end the game with :05 remaining.
Problem: After the game, Warner and Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said they thought Warner's arm had gone forward enough to warrant an incomplete pass call. At the least, they said, a replay review should have occurred.
Explanation: Pereira said there was enough time for replay official Bobby McGrath to examine every replay and confirm the call on the field of a fumble was correct.
"Looking back at it, that big of a play, at the end of the game, I'd have sent it down and given [referee] Terry McAulay a chance to look at it again and confirm what McGrath saw and what Terry knew, that it was a fumble," Pereira said. "So you learn, and you go back on this and say the next time it happens, at this point of the game, this big of a play, let's go ahead and get it sent down."
2. Shouldn't Santonio Holmes have been flagged for excessive celebration after his game-winning touchdown for using the football as a prop?
Short answer: Yes.
Situation: After his score, Holmes gripped the ball and imitated LeBron James' pregame routine of throwing powder into the air.
Problem: Had a penalty been assessed, Pittsburgh would have had to have kicked off from its 15-yard line instead of the 30. The kickoff went to the Arizona 1 and was returned 22 yards to the 23. If you follow the arithmetic, Arizona would have started at its 38 given the same return from a deeper kickoff. Thus, in the two plays Arizona made before Warner's fumble, the Cardinals would have been at the Pittsburgh 29 with 15 seconds to go -- a more reasonable opportunity for a winning TD pass.
Explanation: Holmes waited about 15 seconds to perform his celebration. By then, the field officials were moving to officiate the extra-point try.
"Had he ended up facing us, we certainly would have called this . . . it is clearly using the ball as a prop, and it would have been a foul if we had seen it," Pereira said.
3. Wouldn't the Cardinals have won the game if Larry Fitzgerald or Steve Breaston had been able to bring down Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison during his 100-yard interception return for a touchdown as time ran out at the end of the first half?
Short answer: Not necessarily.
Explanation: Prior to the interception, Arizona guard Reggie Wells was flagged for grabbing a facemask. Such a personal foul is assessed to the end of the play, and the period is extended.
Pereira said, "So no matter what we would have ended up ruling, even if we would have reversed [the touchdown] and put it down short, we would have had another play and extended the half."
4. On the Harrison play, Fitzgerald clearly ran a long way out of bounds before catching up with Harrison. Would it have been a legal tackle if he had stopped Harrison short of the goal line?
Short answer: Yes.
Pereira said, "The only time you can't go out of bounds is during a kick."
In the end, Pittsburgh's win was untainted. But the Super Bowl is too big of an event, attracting millions of dollars in gambling action, for so many questions to be answered days after the game.
Free-agent decisions:
The Browns have 13 players who will become unrestricted free agents on Feb. 27 unless the team re-signs them.
They are: safety Mike Adams, cornerback Travis Daniels, linebacker Andra Davis, tight end Darnell Dinkins, guard Lennie Friedman, special teamer Kris Griffin, cornerback Daven Holly, safety Sean Jones, linebacker Willie McGinest, guard Seth McKinney, linebacker Shantee Orr, running back Jason Wright and offensive lineman Scott Young.
Jones would appear to be a priority to retain, but you never know with new sets of eyes evaluating the Browns' roster.
"That's a work in progress because [new General Manager George] Kokinis hasn't been here long," coach Eric Mangini said last week. "We are trying to put all of that together, what we have, and put that in context with where we think the strengths of this draft will be. Look at needs,' look at musts,' and have a big picture of how each section complements."
Mangini defined "musts" as positions "that you really feel you have to improve."
Job well done:
Players at the Pro Bowl often treat assistant coaches, teammates, family members or others important to them to the luau festivities in Honolulu. Browns nose tackle Shaun Rogers was so appreciative of the job done by former Browns communications director Amy Palcic that he paid for her to attend the Pro Bowl. Rogers arrived in Cleveland with a reputation of being media unfriendly. He thought Palcic helped change that image. Palcic was a victim of the Browns' recent layoffs.
On the mend:
Browns radio and TV analyst Doug Dieken is recuperating from double-knee replacement surgery performed last week. The former left tackle had been dealing with pain in both knees for a long time, and it became unbearable in 2008. "If anything, I know I'll be taller," Dieken said. He hopes to resume his golf game in nine to 10 weeks.
(c) 2009 Cleveland Live, Inc
The Arizona Cardinals: More Than Conquerors
When a 9-7 wild card team can fight their way into the Super Bowl by beating teams like the Atlanta Falcons (11-5), and the Carolina Panthers (12-4), people begin to see that team as: good.
When this same team is able to face a five-time Super Bowl Championship winning opponent, come back from a 13-point deficit at half-time, persevere with grit and moxie in the 4th quarter to amass 16 additional points...and finish that game only 4 points behind their so-called Goliath; people might see that team as: AWESOME.
All I wanted today was to see a good game...
I never expected to see the amazing tenacity of the Arizona Cardinals. To see their drive, their audacity, their forebearance...
(I also never would have imagined them giving away 106 yards in penalties.)
Super Bowl XLIII ended with the Cardinal's losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, yes. But, oddly, I'm unaffected by this defeat...actually, I find myself proud and smiling.
It isn't often I behold a game where such fearless bravery and unquenchable effort is expelled.
I'm certain some will consider this victory of the Steelers' as one which exemplifies their dominance in the game of football; and I guess that may be one way to assimilate the facts of the game and the overall outcome.
However, I am of the mindset that a real champion is not measured by the score at the end of the game.
The best team is not always the team who wins. The best effort and greatest athletic moments aren't always realized on the scoreboard.
True dominance and victory can often be awarded to a team without recognition...without a sound...without a trophy...a team who endures the fight and loses.
A team with an insurmountable deficit...a team who, if logic and reason were to be their guide, would merely concede when overpowered...surrender when defeated...and resign when reality clearly dictates their impending demise.
Valor and awe go to such a team who face their short-comings, who fail, but refuse to remain down...who maintain their vigor with diligence...who are immune to improbability, take fate by the horns and wrestle it to the ground.
The Arizona Cardinals fought the good fight. They kept the faith. They made me laugh...they made me scream...they made me pull my hair out and bite my nails.
But in the end, the Arizona Cardinals were more than conquerors, to me. They were the personification of endurance without reason...hope without time...effort immeasurable...and Inspiration Ad Infinitum.
It was an awesome game...
"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time" - Vince Lombardi
Copyright (c) 2009 Bleacher Report, Inc
The man who almost made Big Ben a WR
TAMPA - Cliff Hite has called himself a "nationally-known knucklehead."
He isn't.
He is a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, a former college quarterback at the University of Kentucky, a long-time high school teacher and a smart football coach.
But for all the good he's done and good sense he's shown, Hite knows his decision to put Ben Roethlisberger at wide receiver and his own son at quarterback for Findlay High School back in 1999 still draws snickers.
It would be easier, of course, if 16-year-olds came with "future NFL quarterback" stamped on their forehead so that high school coaches could avoid being part of "why'd he do that?" stories during Super Bowl week.
But they don't. So now that the Steelers' Roethlisberger is back in his second Super Bowl at the age of 26, Hite finds himself explaining again ... why?
The answer is simple. Hite felt Findlay's offense was more potent with his son, Ryan (a senior that year), throwing to the 6-foot-4, 180(ish)-pound Roethlisberger (a junior) than the other way around. And, since Ryan was the incumbent quarterback for Findlay and the Trojans had gone from 1-9 to 7-3 the previous year, it didn't make sense to flip everything. The insinuations of nepotism don't hold much water when the details are really examined.
Ryan, now the offensive coordinator at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., after having a decorated career as (ironically) a wideout at Division III Denison University, remembers Roethlisberger the wideout.
"He was a guy who was always 'WIDE OPEN!'," Ryan Hite says, laughing about Roethlisberger's post-play rantings in the huddle. "He wanted the ball in his hands and if you did get it to him, he made things happen. He was just a great target at 6-4. I remember the first game senior year, the team we played matched up a 5-8 corner on him and were going to play him man-to-man. On our first drive, I threw either five or six passes to him - he caught three and the rest were defensive pass interference calls.
Cliff Hite remembers meeting Roethlisberger the summer before Ben's freshman year.
"I had heard there was a tall, skinny kid that could throw the heck out of the ball," says Cliff. "One of my assistants said, 'Cliff, you need to talk to this kid because he's a tremendous basketball player and we might lose him if you don't.' I met Ben and told him, 'I really hope you come out for football.' I told him I was an old quarterback (Roethlisberger's father was also a college QB at Georgia Tech), and that I really hoped to open it up when we figure out what we have here."
Hite says that Roethlisberger played quarterback and receiver on the freshman team and was a backup on the varsity as a sophomore. As a junior, he caught 57 passes for 757 yards and seven touchdowns. He was named All-District.
His senior year, Roethlisberger assumed the reins of the offense. And absolutely ripped it up. He threw for 4,041 yards and 54 touchdowns in 12 games and ran for seven more scores.
"I saw two things that set him apart," says Hite. "First was his view. At 6-5 he could simply see so much better than anyone else. He saw things nobody else saw. And he had a knack for seeing the whole field. His vision is what made him such a good basketball player as well (Roethlisberger is Findlay's all-time leading scorer in hoops).
"The other thing was his knack for escapability," adds Hite. "It was almost ridiculous the way he could get out of trouble and make something happen. He learned to throw on the run here and in junior high. We didn't have the most dominant offensive line and he ran for his life a little bit at both levels."
Despite being so big, Hite says Roethlisberger was never awkward. "He was a delightful kid and he moved so well. You could tell he was a blue-chipper."
When it came time for Roethlisberger to look at colleges, Hite lobbied friends in the business to look at him as a quarterback.
"The buzz about him was as an athlete and some schools laid off because he was a tremendous basketball player and they were concerned he might want to play that," Hite says. "And the fact he'd been a receiver as a junior kept some schools from looking at him. I remember telling coaches, 'I have the best quarterback in the state," and they'd say, 'Well, where's he been?' I told them to just come and watch him."
Roethlisberger considered both Duke and Ohio State before settling on Miami of Ohio where he would play in a pro-style spread offense that made use of his arm, athleticism and size.
He wound up being the 10th overall pick in the 2004 draft and the rest has been NFL history.
Looking at him from afar now, Hite sees the same kind of person he coached nearly a decade ago.
"He was like - I don't know if this makes sense - a mature little kid in a toy store when he played here," Hite explains. "He just loved it. Loved competing, loved to be challenged, loved to be told he couldn't because then he would show that he could.
"I won't lie," Hite adds. "I never dreamed he'd be that good in high school. And I never dreamed he'd be this good going forward. He's taken it to levels that ... the only word I can think of is ridiculous."
(c)2009 KING-TV
Turnovers hampered Ravens
PITTSBURGH - The Baltimore Ravens won 13 games this season by taking advantage of their opponents' mistakes.
Then, when it mattered most, they gave away their chance to go to the Super Bowl.
Baltimore's bid to extend its improbable season was buried Sunday under the weight of five turnovers, the majority of them by their previously unflappable rookie quarterback.
Joe Flacco threw three interceptions, two in the final five minutes, and the Ravens lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-14 in the AFC championship game.
"Joe went out there and competed and fought and tried to find a way to win the football game. So I certainly have no complaints about that,'' said John Harbaugh, Baltimore's first-year coach.
And really, the Ravens couldn't complain about a season in which they went from 5-11 to within a victory of going to the Super Bowl.
Especially with a rookie quarterback and a first-year coach.
"It didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but like Coach Harbaugh said, it's just a starting point,'' offensive tackle Adam Terry said.
That also applies to Flacco, who went 13-of-30 for 141 yards to put a disappointing finish on an otherwise memorable rookie season.
"I'm not blaming it on a rookie wall. I don't believe in that stuff,'' Flacco said. "I threw two interceptions at the end of the game. You don't want to do it. Bottom line is we were still being aggressive and trying to put points on the board.''
But that was no easy task, because in this game the top-ranked defense in the NFL outplayed the second-ranked unit. The Ravens (13-6) led the league in takeaways during the regular season and owned an 8-1 advantage in turnovers after their first two playoff games, but it all changed in this game.
"They played excellent defense. They did what they had to do to get a victory,'' Ravens receiver Derrick Mason said. "I wish them well in Tampa.''
Mason, who played the second half of the season with a shoulder injury, expects Flacco to benefit from the experience he gained starting all 19 games.
"Joe has to keep his head up because the guy is going to get better,'' Mason said. "As long as we stick together as a team, Joe's going to lead this team to many more AFC championship games.''
If the Ravens are lucky, they won't be playing in those games against the Steelers.
Pittsburgh handed Baltimore half its losses this season, and in those three games Flacco threw one touchdown pass and was intercepted five times. Which explains why Pittsburgh won the AFC North (beating out Baltimore) and is headed to the Super Bowl.
"You have to give it up for the Steelers. They played tough all year,'' Flacco said. "We lost to them three times, and I have to give them credit.''
Although he struggled for most of the game, Flacco directed a 59-yard drive that got Baltimore to 16-14 with 9:29 left. Baltimore got the ball back, and it was up to Flacco to lead the Ravens to a victory.
He couldn't deliver.
Under pressure, Flacco threw the ball up for grabs before being hit. Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu made the catch and weaved his way 40 yards into the end zone with 4:24 left, virtually assuring the Ravens a trip home without the AFC title.
"Troy was probably just able to read my eyes,'' Flacco said. "I think he was just able to jump over there, read a little bit and he made a nice play.''
His final interception, which came on a deflection, sent Flacco to the sideline for the final time this season.
His performance conjured memories of another rookie quarterback who took his team to the AFC title game before coming unglued at Heinz Field. Ben Roethlisberger finished his first NFL season by going 14-of-24 with three interceptions in a loss to the New England Patriots in the 2004 AFC championship game.
Roethlisberger won the Super Bowl the following season.
The Ravens can only hope a year of experience will work similar wonders for their young quarterback, who only 13 months ago was flinging passes for the University of Delaware.
"The Super Bowl is something that we wanted to happen, but the Steelers are playing the way they have all year,'' Flacco said. "They're a good team to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.''
Copyright (c) 2009 Indiana Gazette
One of the Most Respected Coaches of Our Time
As I'm sitting in my living room watching a late morning edition of SportsCenter, a breaking news story develops about Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy. He is set to announce his retirement from coaching in the NFL.
For those of you who have read my articles before, I'm sure you are aware about my love for the Philadelphia Eagles. This story should have no impact on my life or for my favorite football team, right?
Wrong.
Even though I am a die-hard Eagles fan, I have always seen Dungy as one of the most respected coaches in professional football. He may not show it through his emotions like other coaches we see in the NFL, but that's what you have to love about him. He has class.
I will be the first to admit that I had the wrong first impression of Dungy. When I started following him early in his career, I always saw him as the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who could never finish the job completely. However, I never realized everything Dungy did for the organization.
In only his second season with the team in 1997, Dungy led the Buccaneers to their first winning season in 15 years. In that same season, Dungy led the Buccaneers to an opening round playoff win over the Detroit Lions before losing to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round. One of the main reasons behind Dungy's success was his defensive system he helped install for the team.
Most fans complain about their favorite team letting them down season after season when they fail to make the Super Bowl (I know I am guilty of this with the Eagles). Still, the Eagles were at least able to provide me with winning seven winning seasons and six playoff appearances in that span that the Buccaneers had losing seasons.
The fact that Dungy was able to help turn around the Buccaneers' organization that quickly is phenomenal. He was giving the city of Tampa Bay and their fans something to be excited for.
Dungy never had a problem when it came to getting his team to the playoffs. Unfortunately, it would be his failure to advance to the Super Bowl that lost him his job in Tampa Bay.
In four playoff appearances under Dungy, the Buccaneers made it to the NFC Championship once. Before a wildcard match up against the Philadelphia Eagles in 2002, it was made aware that Dungy's job status would rely on the outcome of the playoff game. The Eagles ended up defeating the Buccaneers 31-9 and Dungy was fired two days later.
Was it fair that Dungy was fired after what he did for the Buccaneers? Of course not.
Was it ironic that head coach Jon Gruden helped the Buccaneers win the Super Bowl the year after with a team that Dungy helped put together in his years in Tampa Bay? Of course. However, I have always been one to believe that everything in this world happens for a reason.
Lucky for Dungy, the Indianapolis Colts were aware of how great of a coach he was. In less than two weeks after being fired from the Buccaneers, the Colts hired Dungy as their new head coach. They were hoping that he could help improve a Colts team that had a strong offense, led by All-Star Peyton Manning, but a defense that continued to struggle each season.
In his first few seasons as the head coach of the Colts, Dungy appeared to be in the same situation he was in when he was with the Buccaneers. Year after year, the Colts would continue to make the playoffs but would always fall short of the Super Bowl. They even made it to the AFC Championship round in 2003 only to lose to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
In 2007, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts finally won their first Super Bowl under head coach Tony Dungy. He made his place in NFL history as he became the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl. However, there was another reason why this Super Bowl win was so remarkable for Tony Dungy that year.
Towards the end of the regular season, Dungy's 18-year old son James committed suicide in a Tampa Bay apartment building. This was a difficult situation for the Dungy family and the Colts organization.
At one point in our lives, we all have to deal with death at some point. What Dungy had to go through is unimaginable and nobody should ever have to deal with it.
After the death of his son, many of us expected Dungy to take a leave of absence for a time like this. The best thing a person can do in this situation is take some time off and be with the ones you love to help you get through it.
Instead, Dungy decided to not take a leave of absence and continue to coach the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs.
The run the Colts made to the Super Bowl that year fell nothing short of amazing. Whether it was their miraculous comeback against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game after being down 21-3 at halftime or future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning finally getting his first career Super Bowl win, the Colts shocked the world.
Still, the fact that Dungy was able to lead his team to a Super Bowl win the same year after everything he went through outside his life as a head coach makes a great story.
Dungy may not appear to be as intense as other coaches we see in the NFL today. Every time I watch the Colts play, Dungy is always on the sidelines, calm as a monk. He doesn't need to scream his lungs out to let his team know when they are doing something wrong.
He is the definition of the term class. Whether you are a fan of the Colts or a fan of any other of the other 31 teams in the NFL, you can't help but have respect for what he has done as a head coach in the NFL during his career.
I'm glad Dungy was finally able to win a Super Bowl as a head coach in the NFL when the Colts defeated the Bears in Super Bowl XL. He is a great guy with a great heart and I have nothing but the most respect for one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.
Copyright (c) 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc
My 'hometown' loyalty to the Arizona Cardinals
The pro-football Cardinals left Chicago for St. Louis in 1959, more than 20 years before I moved here from Michigan. (team history).
The St. Louis Cardinals then moved to Phoenix in 1988 (team history). And yet, despite how removed the franchise is from Chicago and my complete lack of a personal history with the team, I find myself rooting for the Cardinals as a proxy "home team" in the Bear-less NFL playoffs.
I guess this is strange -- I've adopted a hometown and now talked myself into temporary fan loyalty to a team that abandoned my adopted hometown the year after I was born. But it's only a bit more strange than living and dying with the fortunes of a team of highly-paid mercenaries from all over the globe who work for extremely wealthy businessmen who own the right to slap a cherished name on their teams' uniforms.
So who are you rooting for in the NFL playoffs and why?
Here are the upcoming match-ups among remaining teams, for your reference:
- San Diego Chargers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
- Tennessee Titans vs. Baltimore Ravens
- Arizona Cardinals vs. Carolina Panthers
- New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles
blogs.chicagotribune.com
Banged-up Panthers welcome first-round bye
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Carolina Panthers coach John Fox spent last week insisting too much is made of having a bye in the playoffs, repeatedly mentioning how the New York Giants didn't have a week off last year en route to winning the Super Bowl.
But a day after avoiding a monumental collapse in beating New Orleans 33-31 on John Kasay's last-second field goal, Fox had a different message.
With four key linemen banged up and a tired defense, Fox warmly welcomed being the No. 2 seed in the NFC, getting a week off and having the Panthers' first home playoff game in five years in the divisional round.
"The key is the bye," Fox said Monday. "I think in our current state, that's going to be beneficial to us because we had some guys nicked up that we like to have back before we play again. Had it been the other way, I'm not sure that would have been the case, especially with the long trip."
Instead of traveling to Arizona for a first-round game this weekend, the NFC South champion Panthers (12-4) will have three short, non-contact practices starting Wednesday before taking three days off. Fox hinted that several starters may not practice until next week.
The Panthers will face either Minnesota, Arizona or Atlanta on Jan. 10 in only the franchise's third home playoff game.
The break will allow starting defensive tackles Maake Kemoeatu (ankle) and Damione Lewis (shoulder) time to heal after they sat out Sunday. Right tackle Jeff Otah (toe) and right guard Geoff Hangartner (ankle) also hope to return after being knocked out of Sunday's game.
Kasay's 42-yard field goal with 1 second left Sunday gave Carolina the week off after the Panthers squandered a 30-10 fourth-quarter lead by giving up three straight touchdowns to the pass-happy Saints.
"I've never had a bye week before and believe me when I say we need a week off — both the offense and the defense," said quarterback Jake Delhomme, who engineered his fourth game-winning TD drive in the final four minutes this season.
The defense, though, appears to need the time off more.
After giving up 301 yards rushing in their overtime loss to the Giants, the Panthers allowed Drew Brees to throw for 386 yards and four touchdowns. The Panthers have given up 65 points the past two weeks.
"The second half they started no-huddling us and getting the ball out quick and doing some things of that nature," said safety Chris Harris, who had his first interception of the season in the first half. "They were able to get back in the ballgame."
But Carolina's juggernaut offense won another shootout.
Consider DeAngelo Williams' team-record 1,515 yards rushing is third in the league. Steve Smith, whose remarkable, leaping 39-yard grab in double-coverage set up the winning field goal, is third in the NFL with 1,421 yards receiving despite being suspended for the first two games.
The Panthers have scored at least 28 points in seven straight games.
The latest comeback completed a 4-1 record in their brutal five-game finish that included trips to Green Bay, the Giants and New Orleans and home games against Tampa Bay and Denver.
"At Green Bay is no box of chocolates. You've got Monday night football against the Tampa Bay Bucs," Fox began. "You've got the No. 2 offense in the National Football League in Denver. You've got to go to the New York Giants, the defending world champions. And you've got to go on the road, which (winning) hasn't been done this season in our (division) and you go 4-1.
"I'm not concerned that much."
The Panthers will face the highest remaining seed in the division playoffs. If No. 3 Minnesota beats Philadelphia, the Vikings will visit Bank of America Stadium. If the Eagles win, Carolina will face the Atlanta at Arizona winner.
The Panthers have played all three teams this season. They lost to the Vikings 20-10 in Week 3, beat Arizona 27-23 in October and split two games against Atlanta, including an embarrassing 45-28 loss at the Georgia Dome last month.
"It's not like they're totally foreign to us," Fox said. "That will be helpful."
So will the week off. After having to move Jordan Gross from left to right tackle and put in little-used Frank Omiyale at left tackle Sunday, the offensive line can get healthy.
Same thing on the defensive line, where Nick Hayden, who was on Carolina's practice squad until just over a week ago, was forced to start against the Saints.
And a week after his 50-yard field goal that could have won the game was caught in the wind and sailed wide left in the loss to the Giants, Kasay got another chance to give his team a rest.
"Guys don't feel as tired and they don't hurt as bad and there's a home game," Kasay said. "There are a lot of things that ripple out of that kick."
Copyright (c) 2008 The Associated Press
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