Thursday Quote - Weis Likes Offense

Straight from the Tribune:
As for who Weis will be rooting for Saturday, as the newly reinstated offensive coordinator, the Irish coach made it clear: the offense. "When I'm the head coach, I cheer for everyone," Weis said. "Not when I'm calling plays. I'm a sore loser. I don't want to eat hot dogs, OK?"

Plenty to watch for in the Spring game this year. The resurgence of Robby Parris and the emergence of John Goodman (and hopefully the return of Duval) are great stories to look for at the receiver position. I'm personally looking forward to seeing the extra gear that our defense has supposedly picked up, and after watching Duncan in one on one drills from yesterday, the run blocking should also be fun to watch.

Happy BlueGold - Go Irish! ...now off to work on a business case for the rest of the day...

Quote of the Week... Talkin bout Practice

A few thoughts from all the Spring ball stuff thats been floating around with the start of practice this week.

I like what I've seen so far from the new coaches. Randy Hart has a very young group of defensive linemen to coach, and he hasn't been wasting any time. His drills involve a lot of energetic talking, a lot of rapid fire movement by the linemen, but most importantly, he is taking the time to correct technique. A spring a summer with Hart should have the trench men playing aggressive and off instinct.
Frank Verducci, while coming from the NFL (if you can call the Browns part of the NFL...), seems to have a good plan to mesh his coaching style with the college game. "The NFL is a more details game," Verducci explained to the media earlier this week, "whereas the college level is more about development." Adding that he hopes to teach linemen the details in a way that will "accelerate their development." What I like most about his coaching philosophy though is his expectations. Frank understands that the new techniques he is implementing may be new and mistakes may happen, but he is a guy that gets on people for repeat mistakes; that attitude will hopefully improve the consistency that Weis is hoping for this year.

My favorite coaching addition so far though has to be Tony Alford. As seen in the practice video, while the RBs carry the ball through routine agility drills, Alford is aggressively slapping at it, trying to dislodge it. The dirt on Alford coming in was that he is very intense about ball security, and while you can only tell so much from a 5 minute video clip, it looks like he doesn't plan on having his backs dropping the ball this year.

Furthermore, Alford seems to have already established a great relationship with his players, and he has instilled a mindset that will make them better. When talking to the media, Armando Allen was quick to point out how well his teammates have connected with Alford, but he also gave us this QotW gem:

"The difference between good and great is going out on the field and finishing plays. Not even in games, I'm talking about practice, walkthrough, its the little things for us." "We go out there everyday with the midset to grind, to do whatever we have to do to get better."
-Armando
That's it for now. Go Irish!

More on Recruiting... QotW

I had a chance to watch Charlie's press conference about signing day. For those of you that didn't have a free hour, here are a few of the highlights:

Zeke Motta: Weis said Motta reminds him a lot of Harrison Smith in terms of his athleticism and tackling. When watching Motta's tapes, the thing I like most is his aggressive downhill pursuit to the ball carrier; this guy doesn't mess around. He should be perfect for a Notre Dame safety that has (perhaps unfortunately) been asked to help a lot in run support.E.J. Banks: While Banks will be playing DB for the Irish, he did run and throw for over 1,000 yards playing quarterback his senior year. I was a little surprised with how Weis addressed the possibility of Banks playing QB in his press conference because he didn't rule out the possibility. With Clausen and Christ preventing a QB from really being recruited this year, Charlie alluded to the fact that some players like Banks might work their way under center in special packages. After watching Banks' highlight reels, I say it's worth a shot to put him in 'Wild Leprechaun' a few times a year.

Theo Riddick: With a premier back the caliber of Cierre Wood in this signing class, Riddick has been overlooked by some. Weis even said that this class didn't need two RBs, but when you get the opportunity to pick up someone of Riddick's talent, you can't say no. As such, be sure of the fact that Riddick should see some touches in the next few years despite the immense depth at the position. Possible roles mentioned during the presser include being used as a speed back or working from the slot.
Special Teams: It seems odd to some for ND to offer 3 special teams scholarships in one class, but Weis defended his offers very well. He expects Cowert to be competing for a starting spot at long snapper this September. Having snapped over 370 balls in four years of high school without any errors, Cowert could bring stability to a position that, as Weis put it, "could have been the difference between wins and losses" last season. If that weren't enough, Cowert played for the same high school and punter Ben Turk, who in addition to being labeled as one of the country's premier punters, won two state titles in Florida. At the very least, these two shouldn't crack under pressure.
Kicker Nick Tausch will be a welcomed addition to this team as well - half of his kickoffs in high school went for touchbacks (an area where ND has greatly struggled). As a funny bonus story, Tausch's dad won a ring in the NFL as an offensive linemen, and Nick's brother (280 lbs) signed to play line for TCU yesterday. How one family produces two excellent linemen and a kicker, I have no idea.
Manti Te'o: I was floored that Te'o picked ND. In addition to the fact that he attended an awful Syracuse game (where it was snowing) for his official visit, I heard that teammates took the devote Mormon out to some crazy parties later that night, and on top of it all, I heard he told someone "There is no way I will play here." Just goes to show you what rumors are worth I guess. Weis apparently spent a lot of time introducing Te'o to all of the Mormon faculty and students, and in the end, Charlie said that the values of the Notre Dame family closely aligned with the values he had been brought up with, and that was a major factor in his decision.
The hype of his commitment hasn't only been limited to fans though, as Weis said that the majority of the team sent him congratulatory text messages on signing day.

That's it for now. Go Irish!

Belated Quote

I meant to put this up earlier and use blogspot's auto-post feature to get it up in time for Thursday in an attempt to revive the struggling 'Quote of the Week' segment, but a couple midterms unfortunately got in the way.

Anyways, here's a segment from Charlie's presser earlier in the week talking about what JC needs to do for ND to be successful against UNC this weekend:

"Clausen is going to have to be patient this game. UNC does not blitz as much as the other teams this year because they trust their front four. It really challenges a young QB to be patient and go through a progression when there are seven guys dropping back in coverage."

If that wasn't good enough, here's a quote that HRB was kind enough to publish from last weekend's game:

On a side note, it looks like Brandon Walker won the kicking competition hands down this week, proving that a 1/7 kicker is the best that ND's 8,000 undergrad population can produce... Word on the DL is that Robby Parris was messing around at the end of practice and connected on 6 straight FGs, including a 52 yarder... just saying...

Go Irish!

Quote of the Week

This one comes from UHND's podcast, Spanning the Dome. In this particular podcast, the guys had Aaron Taylor on the show to talk about Notre Dame's offensive line, and here's some of what he had to say about Eric Olsen:

"I saw him a couple plays running down field and jacking guys. Of the things that I have seen (on the O-line), that is the most positive. That is a confidence and arrogance that you have to have... that chip on your shoulder. You'd be amazed at how much that can set the tone of a team by being aggressive and running downfield. Olsen getting down field and smacking people got me more excited than anything I've seen in a year and a half."

Here's looking forward to the O-line getting some work done this weekend.

Go Irish!

And if that wasn't enough, this never gets old.

Catching Up

Sorry for the brief absence of posts. There was so much intense book reading going on before classes started that I found it tough to get on the lap top. I'm so far behind on Notre Dame football that readers should be advised to check out a site that has been keeping up. I recommend Section 29, who has been counting down 12 important factors heading into the 2008 campaign.

While I may not be able to talk too much football right now, I can at least offer some campus news to all the domers that haven't made it to South Bend in the past few months. Up until recently, the sidewalk maze on West Quad was one of the eight wonders of the world; never before has a civilization been able to construct so many concrete paths that do not offer a straight path to anything. Over the summer, ND installed a 'knoll' between Keough/O'Neil and Reckers to replace the sidewalk jungle, and I have to say that it looks pretty nice. However, the University appears quite intent on keeping it looking nice, having erected a 15 foot mulch bunker aimed at stopping drunk Reckers' traffic from trampling the new grass.

Speaking of everyone's favorite food stop, Reckers has apparently unleashed a new menu for this year. I haven't had the chance to sample anything yet, but I'm told they basically renamed everything on their old menu to sound more organic/Italian. As long as I can still score a #33 late night, I think I'll be ok.

Not to leave this post totally void of football, here's a great quote I saw a couple days ago at SubwayDomer:

"I try to style my own play after the guys I watched on TV growing up: the nasty guys. It's something that gets me motivated; it gets me excited to maul somebody. It's real important. You have to be nasty in the trenches. If you can't bring that attitude to the table you're just going to get tossed around."

-Eric Olsen

My man. Go Irish!

Here We Go Brownies...

Unfortunately for me and the rest of the Notre Dame community, there's nothing Irish pigskin related to look forward to (besides perhaps the open to student practice) until September 6th.

Fortunately for me and every NFL fan out there, next week starts the beginning of preseason football games. So while the Notre Dame athletes are busy going from class to practice to CJs to bed, my home Dawgs are hard at work running through plays and cranking out media material.

And, fortunately for our Quote of the Week segment, a few Notre Dame players happen to be in the lime light of the preseason media binoculars, so I can find a way to tie in the Brown and Orange with the Blue and Gold.

While most late round draft picks (let alone undrafted free agents) rarely experience any media coverage while trying to make the team, former Irish running back Travis Thomas is making his presence known enough in practice to merit his own write up on the front page of the Akron Beacon Journal sports section this morning.
Quinn hands off to Thomas during Two-A-Days

First impressions are everything, and there's little doubt that rookie running back Travis Thomas made a favorable one on Browns coach Romeo Crennel. Crennel recently singled out Thomas for praise, an enviable position just a week into training camp.

For all of you potential Notre Dame recruits reading this, Thomas credits playing for Charlie Weis as one of the reasons for his success:

Thomas said he feels comfortable in the Browns offense, primarily because Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis ran a pro-style attack.''I thought the offense was similar to what I came from in college, and also, it was a good opportunity, and it seemed to be a good fit for me,'' he said of signing as an undrafted free agent.

It's very encouraging to see that TT is doing so well in Cleveland. I have to admit that I was skeptical about him making the team when I saw that he was signed, and even if he does make the team now, it would be an even larger surprise if he sees time at running back. Thomas is currently sitting behind Jamal Lewis, Jason Wright, and Jerome Harrison, who have already proven to coaches and fans that they can be a dominant back, an above average backup, and a capable speedy 3rd down back, respectively. The most likely way for Thomas to make an impact this season is on special teams, where he will rely on the experienced he gained while playing linebacker for Notre Dame.

There have been mixed reviews about Quinn's performance in training camp, but I think it is more a result of high expectations and tough competition than a lack of talent. What I have been reading about this summer camp is night and day different than what I was reading last season, when the Browns were in a 2.5 man quarterback derby (Quinn only practiced about half of the camp due to a hold out). Now DA is showing off his strong arm with confidence and is looking primed to lead the team this season, and Quinn, while he has been praised for his accuracy in the short game and ability to read the defense, is still going through some issues that every young quarterback faces in the NFL. For one thing, Quinn has been allegedly having some trouble with overthrowing his receivers on deep balls (which I suppose is better than the alternative Pennington approach), but head coach Romeo Crennel doesn't see it as a problem, but as sign of growth:

"Last year, he would just take what the defense gave him. I think he has better command of the offense, and he's trying to anticipate when he can make a play down the field."

''I know that he works hard. Things are going to smooth out for him and things will be less erratic for him, so to speak. "

Good luck to both Thomas and Quinn as they prepare to face New York a week from today in the first preseason game. Go Cleveland! Beat Jets!

Football in the offseason

Even though the Irish players are spending more time hitting the books and weights than each other, and even though my media darling Brownies are all on vacation, I've luckily been able to curb some of my football cravings the past few weeks in other ways than putting on my high school helmet while playing Madden.

That's right, I'm talking about the Cleveland Gladiators, a team that moved to the shores of Lake Erie after notching a dismal 2-14 record in Sin City last season. No Cleveland team has won anything since 1964, but this Saturday, the Gladiators will square off in a rematch against Bon Jovi's Philadelphia Soul in the league semi finals. At first glance, one might think that Weis will be rooting for the team of his musical man crush, but Cleveland does have a mascot named Rudi who I guess is a baller, so Notre Dame coaches from Jersey could probably go either way on this one.

So watch the game if you have time this weekend; they're more fun to watch than a failing Indians team.

But enough about Cleveland; news has been pretty good in South Bend these last few days as the Irish have secured two more verbal commitments for the recruiting class of 2009. The combination of Weis and Brown continued their trend of landing talented secondary recruits with the addition of Marlon Pollard on Monday, and also landed the second TE in the '09 class the next day in Fort Wayne product Tyler Eifert.

While such paper numbers as Pollard's 160 lb weight may not make him jump out as an elite prospect, the experts all seem to agree that his small frame is more than compensated for by other attributes. Recruiting guru Tom Lemming ranks Pollard as the 70th best player nationally, and adds that he has "everything needed to be an outstanding cornerback." While the 6'1" corner could use some time in the weight room, it seems that once he gets a little bigger, his style of play indicates that he should be able to add to Notre Dame's quickly growing aggressive secondary:

"I just go after it and I swarm to the ball. I play off my instincts and usually that carries me to the ball."

If Pollard has a nose for the ball, then TE prospect Tyler Eifert has hands for the ball. Eifert's picture may make him look more like the guy that sat next to you in freshman calc than someone that'll be playing ball on Saturdays, but his 6'5" 220 lb frame begs to differ. Ranked as a 3 star recruit by both Rivals and Scout, Eifert played his way to a scholarship offer at one of Notre Dame's camps this summer; Weis reportedly offered him the chance to play TE, WR, or safety for the Irish:"I think I could help out most at tight end,” he responded. “I know they already have some great tight ends, but I’ll play wherever I can contribute. It’s fine with me if that’s working out as a wide receiver first and growing into a tight end.”

You gotta love the way the kid is already talking like he's a team player. Here's ESPN's take on the Indiana native:

"Displays soft hands and the ability to pluck the ball. Eifert's main contribution to a college program likely will be as a pass-catcher, especially initially. He has the frame and hands to be a chains-mover"

Let's hope these two can help ND dominate teams in the future like Rudi dominates ugly chicken (?) mascots now!

Go Irish!

Talkin with Bill Lewis

Last night I had the opportunity to sit down at a local Notre Dame alumni club event to hear ND’s former assistant head coach, Bill Lewis, talk about the University and the upcoming football season. So instead of digging through articles on recruiting and player interviews for the quote of the week, I thought it would be nice to include a few highlights from Lewis’ presentation.
I remember at my freshman orientation, a senior who was selected to speak to the freshman class said something along the lines of “I am now a proud member of the dumbest class on campus,” and it seems like every senior over the next few years will be able to say something similar. ND commits have continued their ass-kicking on the SATs and other academic measurement systems; the class of 2012 will officially be the ‘smartest’ and most diverse class in the history of the school.

Bill also highlighted some of the construction and development plans currently going on, and while all of the alumni sat back impressed in their chairs, all I could think about was the absurd detours that I had to take to get to DeBartelo for all pf my classes last year. It’s always fun to look above you on your way to class and see a giant steel I-beam swinging from a crane…
But while Lewis talked long and passionately about the academics, facilities, and other sports at Notre Dame (just everything north of the JACC is being rebuilt), you could tell what he likes talking about most when he began talking about the 2008 football team, and the way that he talked about it had that straight-shooting, no-nonsense, Weis-like feel that seemed to add some actual weight to what was said.

Perhaps the most interesting segment of the evening was about a conversation Lewis had with Weis that he relayed to the audience. Lewis told Charlie he wanted to play a word association game; he would say a position name, and Weis would say the first thing that came to his mind. It went something like this:

Quarterback: really good
Running back: good. They compliment each other
OL: much better than last season
WR: need 1-2 freshman to contribute
TE: OK/average.

When challenged by one of the audience members about Clausen’s potential for the next season, Lewis made sure to make his expectations about Jimmy very clear.

"You don’t know how injured he was last season. There was a point when he couldn’t throw a ball from me to you. He was playing at times when he probably shouldn’t have played, and he wasn’t getting great protection all of the time. He needed to have a really good spring, but he didn’t. He had a GREAT spring.”

Other than that, there wasn’t anything too shocking about Weis’ attitude towards the offense. It makes sense that the receiving corps could use some young help, the O-line couldn’t have gotten much worse, and without a Mackey Award nominee tight end on the roster, the position really appears to be just OK heading into fall. What was a little more concerning was the defensive word association:

Secondary: could be a strength
D-Line: Need 5 freshman to get into the rotation
Linebackers: Neal and Smith need to grow up fast. Need freshman to contribute.

Everyone in the blogosphere has raised some concerns about the lack of depth on the defensive front, and while a few linebackers showed potential last year, I would agree that the young ones need to show a good deal of improvement if they want to compete consistently on every play. Regardless, I was surprised at the lack of an attempt to hide these weaknesses in the presentation. Like I said, Lewis was speaking pretty candidly, but it’s not too often that a coach admits he needs 5 freshman to play in order to make a 4 man unit a success next season.

When asked how a strong secondary and hybrid players like Harrison Smith might be able to help out a weak front seven, Lewis gave perhaps the most straightforward response of the night.
“The secondary may be a strength next season,” he said “but the fact is that players like Kerry Neal and Brian Smith, big, strong players that can really move, need to make the transition to the next level. These elite prospects that Weis has brought in, the rising sophomores and freshman, need to develop a high learning curve and find a way to get onto the field and make plays.”

AKA, you can’t mask a weak front seven with a strong secondary.
All and all, it was a fun event, and it was great to finally hear a coach talking some football again, but this cut and dry talk concerning the defensive confirmed what I thought could be one of our biggest question marks heading into next season. I’m curious about what everyone else thinks, so comment!

Go Irish!

Send In The Legs!

I’ll admit that when Weis womped the Wanstash to begin his college football coaching career I was gung ho about the often risky and always entertaining high octane offense that Brady and the boys carried to a 9-3 record. After being forced to watch last year’s young squad get absolutely hazed in the same system, however, I was fairly relieved to hear about our next two verbal commits.

While kicker Nick Tausch wasn't Notre Dame’s first choice, his verbal should still be getting Irish fans excited. With ND unable to notch a touchback at all last season and with Weis refusing to attempt a field goal any longer than an extra point, it should greatly benefit Notre Dame to have a strong-legged kicker on the roster if for no other reason than to make Whittaker realize that he has to make kicks to keep his starting job. I can’t say that I know much about this guy; high school kicking guru Chris Sailer has him ranked as the second best kicking prospect in the country, but I can’t even find a picture of him in pads. In fact, has anyone seen a pic of this guy other than this one?

With the future of blossoming baseball player Eric Maust in question, punter Ben Turk will be a welcomed addition to the 2009 squad, and while the punting has been fairly consistent over the last two years (see Geoff Price for Heisman facebook groups), picking up Turk ensures that the Irish will not be stranded without a scholarship kicker when Maust stops playing.

At the very least, these two players should be able to provide some much needed consistency on special teams, and if the saying ‘like father, like son’ is true, they should be able to help out even more. Both players dad’s played in the NFL.

On the red carpet, Notre Dame has extended its contract with NBC to 2015. This was somewhat expected as the team neared the 2010 expiration year of the old deal, but the more surprising aspect of the renewal is that the contract now provides for NBC to broadcast 7 home games and 1 game at a neutral sight every season. This is of course a side-effect of Kevin White’s 7-4-1 theory, but it is interesting that the contract still provides for this type of scheduling even though the doctor has left the building. Perhaps White’s vision of hammering slightly more than mediocre opponents in NFL stadiums across the country was not just his own. Only time will tell.

Blue Gray Sky conveniently put up a post from the SI Vault about ND’s history with the television networks (and particularly the venom the University has received as a result of it), and that is where this week’s quote comes from (the comments section). Don't worry about the quotes relevance to the post; just enjoy it.

“To all the ND haters out there: sorry for partying”

Better Late Than Never?

Instead of bailing completely on the quote of the week (which I'll admit I often do, especially in the offseason), I thought I'd toss up a short, belated quote to thank everyone for pushing my last QOTW article into the weekly top 5 at NDLNA. Far from being most blog-readers' first choice for Notre Dame commentary, it always makes me feel warm and fuzzy when someone other than myself links an article. That being said, here's an update on Sullivan I found while trying to figure out why the Browns cut ties with a behemoth offensive lineman that wanted to play for them...

"The Vikings could be considered a potential suitor for Bentley, 28, because Pro Bowl center Matt Birk is entering the last season of his contract and hasn't been approached about an extension. However, the team has liked what it has seen from sixth-round pick John Sullivan and has a few other candidates to play the position if Birk leaves after 2008."

From what I know about the Vikings line that isn't related to Brock Lesnar, Matt Birk is a heckuva center, and the fact that the team drafted Sullivan to eventually replace him speaks highly of Minnesota's plans for him. Go get em John (and work on the shotgun snaps in your spare time).

Spring Fever

As spring practices begin to start up, I've noticed that my 1-2 posts per week have been getting noticeably shown up by the plethora of other ND blogs itching to start talking some pigskin instead of any sort of roundball. Unfortunately, the last month of the school year comes with things like 'tests' and 'papers' and 'two-a-days for bookstore basketball,' so I hope no one will be too offended at my lack of obsessive coverage.

All other time commitments aside, I still find myself sacrificing some extra sleep every night trying to take in all of the great practice videos other sites have been posting, and from what I can tell so far, the theme for this spring seems to be perfecting the fundamentals.
The concept seems easy enough; stay low, hit hard, follow through. Pursue, eyes up, head on a swivel. We've all heard most of these phrases going all the way back to pee-wee football leagues, and while everything sounds straight forward, the truth is that it takes a lot of repetitious development to create fundamentally sound football players. Little things like getting runningbacks to protect the ball and run square through the hole can make a difference between a win and a loss.
Take new linebackers coach John Tenuta for example. I've watched two practice videos where he's worked on nothing but the LB's first steps. Excerpts taken from in between Tenuta's obscenities in this clip display his emphasis on the basics:

"Bring your feet!"
"Don't get caught arm tackling!"
"Don't drop your head!"
"Do it again, and get the dropstep right this time!"
This period of development is so crucial for a team like Notre Dame that needs to become more physical in order to have success next year. In the upcoming months, the players must build a solid foundation in the basic techniques required for their positions because they will need to focus their attention on mastering a plethora of plays, and after that, opponent specific gameplans. For anyone that has seen Will Ferrell's latest movie, Semi-Pro (if you haven't seen it, you're not missing anything, trust me), this is where the team learns the 'puke play.' This puke play is in reference to the fact that the players should have practiced these basics enough times that it caused them to puke, and hopefully, the intense repetition allows the basics to become second nature. When it gets to the fourth quarter and everyone's tired, they must be able to fall back on their unmovable foundation and trust it to finish the job.

That being said, I'm overly excited to see the upcoming developments on both sides of the ball this month, but the addition of Tenuta on defense has had most of my attention, and that is why he earned the honor of being featured for this quote of the week:


“You don’t want offensive dictating to you, you want to dictate to offenses,” Tenuta told the media before later stating, “We’re going to be an aggressive, ball hawking defense. I’m always going to aggressive.”


Bulls**t! Downhill!
Go Irish!

Stuff my Turkey with Natty

The Stanford Cardinal will be coming off of a bye week to face Notre Dame this weekend. At 3-7, this team has shown vulnerability (45-17 loss to UCLA, 27-9 loss to Washington), but has also managed to hang around long enough to drop some huge opponents in the PAC-10 (21-20 over Arizona, 24-23 over USC). Jim Harbaugh uses his plethora of receivers to mimic a pro style offense, and with 41 freshmen on the squad this year, the Christmas Trees might be on their way up in the next few seasons.

ND needs to watch out for the passing attack, but the deciding factor on who wins this game will likely be determined when the Irish are on offense. Ranked 11th in the country in sacks, Stanford ain't afraid to bring the heat with it's pass rush, frequently sending one or two linebackers on every down. As Weis mentioned in his press conference, "you don't have to guess if they're coming, cause they're always coming." While not quite deserving of a name like Blitz-Ford, the Cardinal defensive scheme could cause some problems for our green offensive line. Evaluating how ND picks up the pass pressure will give fans some idea of how much the O-Line has meshed at the end of the season.

Expect to see some Wenger and Bemenderfer at center with Sullivan listed as doubtful, and Hughes should continue to see some carries with Aldridge "still not at full speed." Pat Kuntz is not expected to play, still nursing a leg injury, but freshman Ian Williams has done a nice job filling in for him up to this point in the season.

Today's quotes are about two studs on the team from Charlie's November 20th press conference.

On Eric Maust's ridiculous rugby punt:

"There was no bigger play in the game than that play by Maust. You really have to be an athlete to do what he did. A, to catch the ball, but B, to be athletic enough to get the ball off and end up net punting 30 yards on a play really you could have lost 20 yards on. That was 50 yards of field position on that play there, solely due to him. No one else could we benefit that 50 yards to other than his athleticism on that play. "

On Laws potentially being named an All-American:

"Let's just go by the numbers. I mean, I don't see all these guys, what everyone does. When I do, it's just for a couple minutes of a game on Saturday night before I go to sleep. But if you just go by the numbers, the guy's getting nine, 10 tackles a game as an interior defensive lineman. That's phenomenal. Isn't like we're playing against crummy teams. Isn't like he's going against bad guys, and he's had numbers every week. Doesn't make any difference who we go against, he's had numbers every single week. It's tough not to at least have that argument. "

Sweet Potatoes or Yams? Nasties Thanksgiving Day Predictions:

Packers 17, Lions 24

Jets 10, Dallas 31

Colts 28, Falcons 14

There you have it Nasties, easy on the tryptophan. Beat Cardinal!