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With one pen, any man can rule...

A Word from The Writer:

The Monday Analysis - 17 May 2004

The Monday Analysis Returns

Yes, we're back. Let's get to the news of the NFL.

Cardinals Safety Pat Tillman Killed in Afghanistan

Safety Pat Tillman was effected by the attacks on 9/11 so much that in May of 2002 he was ready to serve his country. He signed up with the Army Rangers just after getting married and walked away from a $3.6 million contract to serve his country.

Tillman was killed in action on Thursday, April 22, 2004. He was 27 years old.

Tillman's platoon was in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border when they became involved in a firefight.

"He is a hero," Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwill said. "He was a brave man. There are very few people who have the courage to do what he did, the courage to walk away from a professional sports career and make the ultimate sacrifice."

"Pat Tillman personified all the best values of his country and the NFL," commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. "He was an achiever and leader on many levels who always put his team, his community, and his country ahead of his personal interests."

"We lost a unique individual that touched the lives of many with his love for life, his toughness, his intellect," former teammate QB Jake Plummer said in a statement released by the Broncos. "Pat Tillman lived life to the fullest and will be remembered forever in my heart and mind."

Tillman never gave an interview or sought praise for his decision to join the Army. Many around the league said that when he got out of the Army at age 28 that he'd still be in the prime of his career to return to football, and after three years in the Army, be in the best shape of his life.

Tillman was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his efforts to save his platoon mates during this fire fight, and promoted to corporal.

The Monday Analysis sends its condolences to the Tillman family, the Arizona Cardinals, the US Army Rangers, and the Arizona State Sun Devils. For a special Monday Analysis banner honoring Tillman, please click here for the graphic to post on your own site.

Pats Trade Second Rounder for RB Dillon

Man, the Patriots just could not wait, now could they? The Monday before the Draft, they traded one of their two second round picks for running back Corey Dillon, now formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals. Dillon is one of those hot players who played for a crap team, and now he has his chance to place for a winner. Dillon, 29, ends his rough seven-year stay in Ohio.

"Corey joins Kevin Faulk and our other very good backs to deepen an already competitive running back position," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.

Dillon holds all the rushing records in Cincinnati, but has never been on a winning team.

Welcome to New England, Corey. We win Championships here.

NFL Releases 2004 Schedule

The Patriots have nine games after 4 PM, four during primetime Monday and Sunday nights. Check it out for yourself!

 

2004 PRESEASON SCHEDULE

Date

Time

Opponent

TV Broadcast

Home/Away

Friday, August 13

8 PM ET

Eagles

WCVB 5

H

Saturday, August 21

7 PM ET

at Bengals

WCVB

A

Saturday, August 28

8 PM ET

at Panthers

WCVB 5

A

Wednesday, September 1

8 PM ET

Jaguars

WCVB 5

H

2004 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

Week

Date

Time

Opponent

TV Broadcast

Home/Away

1

Thu. Sep. 9

9:00 p.m. ET

Colts

ABC

H

2

Sun. Sep. 19

4:15 p.m. ET

at Cardinals

CBS

A

3

BYE WEEK

4

Sun. Oct. 3

1:00 p.m. ET

at Bills

CBS

A

5

Sun. Oct. 10

1:00 p.m. ET

Dolphins

CBS

H

6

Sun. Oct. 17

1:00 p.m. ET

Seahawks

FOX

H

7

Sun. Oct. 24

4:05 p.m. ET

Jets

CBS

H

8

Sun. Oct. 31

1:00 p.m. ET

at Steelers

CBS

A

9

Sun. Nov. 7

4:15 p.m. ET

at Rams

CBS

A

10

Sun. Nov. 14

8:30 p.m. ET

Bills

ESPN

H

11

Mon. Nov. 22

9:00 p.m. ET

at Chiefs

ABC

A

12

Sun. Nov. 28

1:00 p.m. ET

Ravens

CBS

H

13

Sun. Dec. 5

1:00 p.m. ET

at Browns

CBS

A

14

Sun. Dec. 12

1:00 p.m. ET

Bengals

CBS

H

15

Mon. Dec. 20

9:00 p.m. ET

at Dolphins

ABC

A

16

Sun. Dec. 26

4:05 p.m. ET

at Jets

CBS

A

17

Sun. Jan. 2

1:00 p.m. ET

49ers

FOX

H

BREAKING NEWS - Pats Tix Sale

Patriots Tickets got on sale this Saturday, 22 May 2004 at 10 AM at Ticketmaster. Call 1-617-931-2222 or 1-508-931-2222 or http://www.ticketmaster.com

Pats in Buffalo - Calling All Fans for a Trek

The Monday Analysis will travel to Buffalo again this year for the October 3rd away game. Send me a note if you're interested in going. Ticket sales have yet to be announced, and I'll let you know when they do!

Draft Weekend 2004

San Diego took Eli Manning as their first pick - who had told the Chargers earlier in the week that he did not want to play for them. An hour later Diego traded their first pick to the Giants for their first pick, quarterback Philip Rivers plus some draft choices in a truly bizarre trade. 

But more importantly, the Patriots picked up some valuable players, two in the first round. Here's the breakdown of the entire first round:

ROUND 1

Pick Team Player Pos School
1 New York Giants  
(from San Diego)
Eli Manning QB Ole Miss
2 Oakland Raiders Robert Gallery OT Iowa
3 Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald WR Pittsburgh
4 San Diego Chargers  
(from New York Giants)
Philip Rivers QB NC State
5 Washington Redskins   Sean Taylor S Miami (FL)
6 Cleveland Browns  
(from Detroit)
Kellen Winslow Jr TE Miami (FL)
7 Detroit Lions  
(from Cleveland)
Roy Williams WR Texas
8 Atlanta Falcons   DeAngelo Hall CB Virginia Tech
9 Jacksonville Jaguars   Reggie Williams WR Washington
10 Houston Texans   Dunta Robinson CB South Carolina
11 Pittsburgh Steelers   Ben Roethlisberger QB Miami (OH)
12 New York Jets   Jonathan Vilma ILB Miami (FL)
13 Buffalo Bills   Lee Evans WR Wisconsin
14 Chicago Bears   Tommie Harris DT Oklahoma
15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers   Michael Clayton WR LSU
16 Philadelphia Eagles  
(from San Francisco)
Shawn Andrews OT Arkansas
17 Denver Broncos  
(from Cincinnati)
D.J. Williams OLB Miami (FL)
18 New Orleans Saints   Will Smith DE Ohio St.
19 Miami Dolphins  
(from Minnesota)
Vernon Carey OT Miami (FL)
20 Minnesota Vikings  
(from Miami)
Kenechi Udeze DE Southern Cal
21 New England Patriots  
(from Baltimore)
Vince Wilfork DT Miami (FL)
22 Buffalo Bills  
(from Dallas)
J.P. Losman QB Tulane
23 Seattle Seahawks   Marcus Tubbs DT Texas
24 St. Louis Rams  
(from Denver via Cincinnati)
Steven Jackson RB Oregon St.
25 Green Bay Packers   Ahmad Carroll CB Arkansas
26 Cincinnati Bengals  
(from St. Louis)
Chris Perry RB Michigan
27 Houston Texans  
(from Tennessee)
Jason Babin DE W. Michigan
28 Carolina Panthers  
(from Philadelphia via San Francisco)
Chris Gamble CB Ohio St.
29 Atlanta Falcons  
(from Indianapolis)
Michael Jenkins WR Ohio St.
30 Detroit Lions  
(from Kansas City)
Kevin Jones RB Virginia Tech
31 San Francisco 49ers  
(from Carolina)
Rashaun Woods WR Oklahoma St.
32 New England Patriots   Benjamin Watson TE Georgia
* denotes compensatory pick
# denotes supplemental pick

The Patriots picked up the following players:

 

Round Pick Player Pos School
1 21(21) Vince Wilfork* DT Miami (FL)
1 32(32) Benjamin Watson TE Georgia
2 31(63) Marquise Hill* DE LSU
3 32(95) Guss Scott S Florida
4 17(113) Dexter Reid S North Carolina
4 32(128) Cedric Cobbs RB Arkansas
5 32(164) P.K. Sam* WR Florida St.
7 32(233) Christian Morton CB Illinois
*Underclassman


First Round Picks Vince Wilfork and Ben Watson with Bob and Jonathan Kraft

Patriots Coming and Going

Ted Washington signed a four year deal with the Raiders...Anthony Pleasant has retired. The Monday Analysis congratulates him on a terrific championship career, and a bright and well-deserved retirement....Kevin Faulk signed a three-year deal with the Pats....The Patriots re-signed RB Marc Cloud...Free-agent guard from San Diego Bob Hallen signed a two-year deal with the Patriots...J.J. Stokes re-signed with the Patriots...A sure sign that the Ken Walter punting era in New England is over with the Patriots signing veteran punter Josh Miller...Kent State head coach Dan Pees is now the new linebackers coach for the Patriots, after Bob Ryan signed with the Raiders...Tom Brady had minor shoulder surgery and is expected to make a full recovery and be just fine to win Super Bowl XXXIX...Damien Woody signed a deal with the Lions...The Patriots re-signed guard Russ Hochstein...O-T-I-S is B-A-C-K with the P-A-T-S...CB Jeff Burris comes to New England from Cincinnati.

CBS Drops Deion

Finally, someone over at the Tiffany Network got a clue and fired Deion Sanders from the NFL Today. Sanders refused a $1.3 million offer from CBS, wanting closer to $2 million. No go. Sanders was more mouth than football, treating Sundays like some pathetic side show and not gelling with others in the studio. So he's gone, and hopefully completely forgotten!

Early rumors have Shannon Sharpe to retire and filling the spot. 

Monday Night Releases Guerrero, Picks up Tafoya

ABC obviously came to their senses and dropped Lisa Guerrero after one season as the sideline reporter for Monday Night Football, picking up Michelle Tafoya to roam the sidelines. 

Guerrero made several blunders over her only season, including this question to Redskins QB Patrick Ramsey: "I saw you talking to Laveranues Coles, your ex-teammate (before the game.) What did he say to you?" Ramsey never answered her since he and Coles were current teammates. 

Guerrero's contract is active through the end of the season.

Broncos Retire McCaffrey, Sharpe

Both "Easy" Ed McCaffrey and Shannon Sharpe have retired this offseason. Both were apart of the duo championship seasons in Denver, led by Hall of Famer John Elway. Sharpe picked up another ring during a short stint with the Ravens before returning to Denver. Sharpe is the leading candidate for the vacant position on CBS's The NFL Today.

McCaffrey played for 13 seasons, while Sharpe played 14 seasons. 

Random Notes of the League

Bill Romanowski was released by the Raiders...Yapp Warren Sapp is now Al Davis' Boy, signing a seven-year deal with Oakland...Brian Griese is heading to north Florida after signing a three-year deal with Tampa Bay...The Redskins signed released QB Mark Brunnell...Tom Tupa signed with the Redskins...David Boston moves from San Diego to Miami after being traded to the Dolphins for cornerback James Fletcher...John Lynch was released from Tampa Bay, then signed with Denver...Terrell Owens was traded to Baltimore, complained, then traded to Philadelphia...Crybaby East Boston native Jermaine Wiggins was dumped by another Super Bowl team and signs with the Vikings...The Bears released QB Chris Chandler, then signed with the Rams...The Giants released QB Kerry Collins...Buffalo QB Drew Bledsoe restructured his contract to make cap room...K Martin Gramatica has signed with the Giants...Kurt Warner is expected to be released by the Rams on June 1, and has visited with the Giants...Dallas released RB Troy Hambrick, and has signed with Oakland...QB Jon Kitna signed a one-year deal with the Bengals.

Top Ten List of the Week

1. Pat Tillman

2. I am writing this while watching the Super Bowl XXXVIII DVD. Simply awesome.

3. Bravo to the Pats on another great draft and offseason, thus far.

4. Eli Manning has got to be a bigger baby than his sissy brother, Peyton. "I don't wanna play for the Chargers." Too bad, dude. You got where you're drafted. Next time leave your loser dad home to play golf and work your deals yourself. Baby.

5. Oh, just a reminder: The Patriots won the Super Bowl this year, in case you forgot.

6. Yapp Sapp and Crypt Keeper Davis should be very happy together in Oakland. But don't expect any rings.

7. Ty Law needs to dumps those idiot agents and stop negotiating in the press. Just shut up!

8. Bravo to the Supreme Court for denying Maurice Clarett entrance to the NFL. Dude, wait your turn!

9. I think Buffalo jumped too soon at picking up a quarterback to replace Bledsoe. And trading the first-round pick next year to get another first-round bench warmer is bad team management. Period.

10. Sorry for the lengthy hiatus, folks. It's great to be back.

ejh

17 May 2004

   

© copyright 1999-2004 writersmarch, Ltd.& Unestone Press
All rights reserved.
The Writer


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