After guiding his Carolina Panthers’ team to an NFL worst 2-14 record, head coach John Fox was hired by the Denver Broncos on Thursday.

What happened to the days when a guy would be relegated to an offensive or defensive coordinator position at best after a FAIL year? Like ex Lions’ coach Rod Marinelli who went 0-16 a few years ago in Detroit and now paces the sidelines in Chicago as the D coordinator or Scott Linehan who is the O coordinator in Detroit after a bumpy ride at the helm in St. Louis that included a 3-13 record in 2007 followed by an 0-4 start in 2008.

Fox, 55 years old, did find success early during his nine year tenure in Carolina when he took over for a 1-15 team and had them playing in the Super Bowl two years later. In all, Fox compiled a 73-71 record while winning five of eight playoff games.

Fox takes over for a team that showed promise two seasons ago ending with an 8-8 record but spiraled to the basement of the AFC West finishing with a 4-12 record this year with quarterback Tim Tebow taking the snaps in the final few games.

Much of the blame for that implosion went to fired ex-coach Josh McDaniels who cleaned house by trading away several of the team’s star players. Seemed like any time one would grow disgruntled or appeared to need an attitude adjustment, rather than work it through McDaniles dumped them instead. Are you taking note of this Mike Shanahan?

Following the trend mentioned earlier with head coaches being relegated to lower positions, ironically, McDaniels is rumored to be heading to St. Louis as an offensive coordinator to take over a spot vacated by Pat Shurmur who accepted the head coaching position in Cleveland.

Shurmur has been St. Louis’ offensive coordinator over the past two seasons and will become the first coach hired by team president Mike Holmgren. Holmgren canned coach Eric Mangini right after the season after Mangini ended with his second straight 5-11 record.

MORE NFL: Jets, Patriots and their Hatfields vs. McCoys routine

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The New Orleans Saints went into their NFC Playoff game as double-digit favorites against the Seattle Seahawks, the league’s first 7-9 team to appear in the playoffs. With four playoff wins in a row at raucous Qwest Field, Pete Carroll’s ‘Hawks would extend that streak to five and sprint off the field with a 41-36 win that sent tremors throughout the league.

The Seahawks looked outmatched early on, trailing 10-0 then 17-7 but Matt Hasselbeck got a vertical game going taking his team on a 24-3 run to retake the lead.

Hasselbeck (25 of 35, 272 yards, 4 TDs) set a career playoff high but the game wasn’t on ice until running back Marshawn Lynch evaded about six would-be tacklers to score on a highlight reel 67-yard touchdown run with 3:22 left in the game.

Lynch finished with 19 carries for 131 yards and became the first Seahawks running back to eclipse 100 yards in a game all season.

While spending much of the game watching his defense collapse and give up 41 points, Drew Brees finished 39 of 60 for 404 yards and two TDs with 33 of those attempts coming in the second half.

The Seahawks (8-9) have one of the loudest stadiums in the league and responded with one of the biggest upsets in NFL Playoff history and with the New York Jets knocking off the Indianapolis Colts, both of last year’s Super Bowl teams had an early exit in this year’s playoffs.

Up next, Seattle will travel to play either the top NFC seed Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome or the No. 2 Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.

What better way to end an argument about whether 7-9 teams even belong in the playoffs than to beat last year’s Super Bowl Champion.

Box Score on NFL.com.

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The key to the New York Jets beating the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in this year’s NFL Playoffs was keeping the ball out of Peyton Manning’s hands and they did just that with a solid run game that chewed up a majority of the clock. In all, the Jets finished with 38 carries for 169 yards and they did it riding the backs of LaDainian Tomlinson (16 carries, 82 yards, two TDs) and Shonn Greene (19 carries, 70 yards).

In a game that stayed close with the Jets dominating the clock most of the third quarter, Manning (18 of 26, 225 yards, one TD) got a final chance late in the fourth and marched the Colts down the field to give clutch kicker Adam Vinatieri a shot to take the lead from 50 yards out. With the clock down to 53 seconds, Vinatieri nailed the 50-yard field goal for a 16-14 lead.

With less than a minute left and his team on the road, it looked like Rex Ryan would again lose to the Colts but the tide turned when the Colts special teams and defense decided to collapse. Antonio Cromartie who was burned for a few long passes throughout the day returned the kickoff 47 yards setting up Mark Sanchez with an opportunity to get the Jets close enough for a game winning kick. Sanchez (18 of 31, 189 yards, one INT) did just that and kicker Nick Folk made a 32-yard field goal as time expired giving the Jets a 17-16 win.

The Jets (12-5) will now travel to New England for a third meeting with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick this season. Although the teams split the previous two meetings, the Pats blew out the Jets 45-3 in the game in Foxborough.

With heavy underdog Seattle Seahawks knocking off the New Orleans Saints earlier in the day, both teams from last year’s Super Bowl have been eliminated.

Box Score on NFL.com.

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Taking a play out of the Philadelphia Flyers Broad Street Bullies playbook, a team playing in the KHL in Russia started a premeditated, all-out brawl just six seconds into a game recently. With the help of two former NHL players, team Vityaz Chekhov instigated the fight against team Omsk Avangard and although the players may think their moves were appreciated by a few, by the time the police get done with their investigations they may regret making that move.  

Following the game, Vityaz players Darcy Verot and Josh Gratton were required to make a trip to the local police station for an interrogation and sources say a civil case may be opened against them for their over-aggressive behaviour. Following the game there were also demands to ban both players from the league for life.

Question here is, when you watch the video below, it appears Gratton (No. 92) and Verot were actually not the main aggressors in the fights while Sergei Belokon (No. 61) who pummels away at a defenseless player laying face down on the ice was. While there was a campaign for these players to face a legal court on charges, Avangard’s Martin Skoula and Roman Červenka were both left with concussions.

In the meantime, the KHL did step in and look over the tapes and decided to fine Avangard coach Anatoly Bardin 100,000 roubles and Vityaz coach Andrei Nazarov 400,000 roubles. We don’t know how many dollars all those roubles equal but it sounds like a lot so we’ll assume they got their Christmas’ ruined with the ruling.

 In addition to those fines, the league decided to suspend Gratton for 15 games, Ivan Larin for 14 games, Georgy Belokon for 13 games and last but not least, Darcy Verot for 12. Gratton, who is still under contract with the Atlanta Thrashers, was reassigned to the KHL earlier this year and Verot who originally came into the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins has amassed more than 1,000 penalty minutes skating for Vityaz.

Avangard’s manager made a statement regarding the incident:

“Why does Russian hockey need these strange foreigners?”

Seems as though the North Americans may be wearing out their welcome overseas.

When you watch the video below, don’t be confused by the fans’ reactions. While the fights appear to be appreciated by the crowd, keep in mind the whistling you hear throughout the ordeal is actually a sign of booing in that country.

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When Orlando Magic president Otis Smith said his team, “Needed a little bit more punch,” most people didn’t expect him to orchestrate two blockbuster deals that would shake up two NBA conferences. By the time Smith was done yesterday, the Magic parted ways with Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter and were welcoming Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas and Phoenix Suns players Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu to Central Florida.

While Lewis went to the Wizards for Arenas, Carter headed west to Arizona as part of the Suns/Magic deal that saw several players swap time zones. In that deal, the Magic got  Richardson, Turkoglu and Earl Clark in exchange for Carter, Marcin Gorat, Mickael Pietrus, a 2011 first-round pick and cash considerations.

Turkoglu heads back to Orlando where he enjoyed his best seasons since coming to the NBA. In the midst of a huge contract, the Suns may have taken advantage of dumping a huge amount from their salary base that was going to a player who hasn’t quite lived up to expectations.  

When asked about Arenas’ past legal troubles that included pleading guilty to a felony gun charge, Smith told ESPN that he was confident that was behind the player:

“We have a tendency not to forgive people in this country,” Smith said. “We have a tendency to hold onto things a little bit longer, particularly if they play professional sports. And I always say that sometimes good people do stupid things, and that one’s right on the top of the list. But I feel comfortable with who he is, knowing him since he was 19 years old.”

Normally teams stockpiling superstars like the Magic are doing is not taken too kindly by fans throughout the league but after the Miami Heat bolstered their roster snagging three of the top free agents this past summer, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Lebron James, that tone may have changed.

Another motivation for this move by the Magic may have been the fact they had dropped five of their past six games sinking three spots from the top spot in the Eastern Conference into fourth. In the meantime, Miami and the Boston Celtics have been on season-best 11 and 12 game win streaks.

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The Detroit Red Wings always seem to find the right roster to compete and many times dominate in the NHL and this season has been no exception. More than a quarter of the way through the 2010-11 season, the Red Wings find themselves sitting in the top spot in the NHL with a 17-4-2 record and 38 points after 23 games.

How do they do it consistently year after year and even decade after decade?

A lot of teams would like to know so they can copy the formula that GM Ken Holland has put together but that’s a difficult task when there is a salary cap that exists; ask the Chicago Blackhawks about that.

The Blackhawks threw all their eggs in one basket last season and went for it all. Luckily for them they got to the Stanley Cup Finals and won the championship, otherwise they would be looking at an uphill struggle to win it this season.

The Blackhawks, who like many teams struggle to stay under the salary cap, were forced to let nine players go from that championship roster since June. A few of those players have found great success in their new homes like Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd in Atlanta who are No. 1 and 2 in scoring for the Thrashers with Ladd wearing a ‘C’ on his jersey and Big Buff wearing an ‘A’. Byfuglien actually leads the NHL in scoring for defenseman and that stat that may be hard to look at for Blackhawks fans who see their team six points behind division leading Detroit and just two points away from the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference.

So how do the Red Wings stay so consistent? One reason is Holland uses the team’s history of winning to attract several veterans over the years who are looking for an opportunity to have their name engraved on the cup. Players like Brett Hull, Chris Chelios and more recently Mike Modano have joined the Wings late in their careers with hope of hoisting the cup before exiting for the golf course.

Holland normally has blended veterans like these with a strong group of young players and draft picks to find the right chemistry. Going into this season however, many people questioned the Red Wings ability to stay on top since the veteran group far outweighed the youth, making their roster the oldest in the NHL.

Led by 40-year-old Nicklas Lidstrom and Mike Modano the Wings have 14 players over 30 years old with seven of them being over the age of 35. Balancing out the age scale this season is young goaltender Jimmy Howard is leading the charge. Howard has an astounding 15-2-2 record and 2.38 GAA and .919 save percentage. His mentor on the bench, Chris Osgood, has spent most of his career with the Red Wings and after a short stint outside the organization, turned down an opportunity for a huge contract elsewhere to finish his career in Detroit. Other players like Marian Hossa, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Dominic Hasek did the same with Hossa passing up a 70-plus million dollar multi-year deal to skate one year with the team in 2008 .

So GM’s around the league, there is the formula! Have a consistent draft and get veteran players to agree to skate for millions of dollars less per season than their agents can get them from somewhere else. Yeah, good luck with that, unless your Ken Holland running a team in Hockeytown.

Copyright © 2010 Sports Climax, LLC

When you browse through a Webster’s Dictionary and stop at the word ‘puppeteer’ you can’t help to think of the Childress and Favre situation that unraveled over the past few years in Minnesota. Full story here.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

When you browse through a Webster’s Dictionary and stop at the word ‘puppeteer’ you can’t help to think of the Brad Childress and Brett Favre situation that unraveled over the past few years in Minnesota.

Webster’s description of that and another word sums up Chilly’s demise; PUPPETEER a) one who manipulates puppets and PUPPET b) one whose acts are controlled by an outside force or influence.

Brad Childress and Brett Favre have been the stars in the soap opera that unraveled in Minnesota around the Vikings facility all season and this year’s sideshow started in a very familiar fashion.

A year after Chilly personally flew to Mississippi to “ask” Brett Favre to don Vikings purple; a herd of players that included defensive end Jared Allen did a sequel making this year’s trip. And why not! The 40-year-old graying quarterback had taken the franchise to within one play of making a trip to the Super Bowl. The script last year ended tragically with a patented Favre interception that sent the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl but when you’re one dumb mistake from making it to the big stage it’s hard to resist an encore.

Snatching Favre out of retirement is something Childress will always be remembered for. It was no secret the high maintenance prima donna quarterback was interested in playing in Minnesota when he first left the Packers but it would still take an effort by Chilly to travel several states away and “talk” him out of retirement.

Throughout the team’s successful run last season, Childress was a man who was beginning to lose control of his players including Favre. When a quarterback no matter what experience, calls you out on the sidelines on national television and again in a weekly presser, you need to show him who’s wearing the pants. Mike Shanahan stepped up when Albert Haynesworth got a little too vocal about his style of defense and soon after Shanny laid the law down on his All-Pro prima donna the Redskins players lined up in front of the camera supporting their team and coach.

If a boss doesn’t step up like Shanny did in the Fat Albert case, you’re many times setting up your demise and “workers” will lose respect and confidence in you as their leader, that’s how management works. It works like that in an office, on a construction site and even around the firehouse.

Favre had been the puppeteer since he arrived in Minnesota until recently when Childress began fighting back trying to reaffirm who was in charge as the two clashed, trading shots in the media. The world always seems to revolve around Favre’s ego and he may have been allowed to dictate more than he should have early on, even if he did it in a passive aggressive manner. After the incident on the sidelines last season, the media and fans began to question who was really running the locker room. That bled over to this season when the team began losing out of the gate.

In an attempt to bring an end to this year’s dismal start, Randy Moss was brought in by owner Zygi Wilf who wanted to replace injured wide receiver Sidney Rice. But just weeks into his return tenure to Minny, Moss began pulling from the Favre script and questioning Childress’ offense decisions.

And why couldn’t he when Favre did it the season before, although in a passive aggressive fashion. Moss’ actions and words were the straws that broke the camel’s back and Chilly decided to take a stand so he sent Moss packing to the displeasure of his owner and Moss’ teammates. 

Statement made, but at the wrong time and to the wrong player. A statement though much less in nature could have been made to Favre a year earlier but the puppet normally can’t control the puppeteer so it wasn’t.

After getting blown out by the Green Bay Packers last week, a team they swept last season, Zygi responded by cutting Chilly’s strings, sending his career in Minnesota crashing to the ground.

So as this story ends it brings with it a great lesson to all the other head coaches in the NFL who may want to be aware of who is “pulling their strings”.

Okay, it’s time to get back to Webster’s to research the ‘D’ section to look up “Dead in the water” for my Mike Singletary and John Fox articles.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

The last time Ondrej Pavelec took the ice against the Washington Capitals he lasted less than three minutes before he was taken off the ice on a stretcher after collapsing unconscious in front of a stunned crowd at Philips Arena. Friday was quite a different story. With Pavelec between the pipes and health on his side, he stonewalled the NHL’s best team; turning aside all 29 shots he faced for a 5-0 shutout.

It was a game that the Thrashers owned from the start and “owned” is not a common term used by opponents facing Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.

The five-goal margin of victory was the largest this season for the Thrashers and the first five-goal win since Jan. 12, 2010 in a 6-1 win over Ottawa. It was also the team’s first shutout since April 10, 2010 when they knocked out the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0; the same game rookie Evander Kane knocked out Matt Cooke with one punch.

The win improved the Thrashers’ record to 8-9-3 (19 points) for the season and contributions came from every line on the ice. Ben Eager opened the scoring with his third goal of the season, putting the Thrashers ahead 1-0 at the 2:42 mark of the opening frame then several other players found the net.

Nik Antropov, Evander Kane, Dustin Byfuglien and Alexander Burmistrov finished off the scoring with 18-year-old Burmistrov’s tally being one for the highlight reel. After skating the puck into the Capitals’ zone, the Russian turned defenseman Jeff Schultz and the Capitals’ rookie goaltender inside out before sweeping the puck in from behind the net. It was Burmistrov’s third goal of the season and fifth point (1g, 4a) over the last five games.

Kane who scored a pair of goals in each of two previous games against the Caps this year, has seven points (5g, 2a) in four games against Washington this season.

The Thrashers are 2-1-1 against the Caps in four games this season with a 2-0 record on their home ice.

Scoring Summary

Period (Time) Goal (Assists)

1 (2:42)    Eager (3) (Antropov)

1 (8:52)    Antropov (5) (Eager, Oduya)

1 (9:07)    Kane (8) (Little)

2 (19:10)   Byfuglien (6) (Kane)

3 (17:17)   Burmistrov (3) (Ladd, Bergfors)

Scoring by Period

ATL: 3 – 1 – 1 — 5

WSH: 0 – 0 – 0 — 0

Shots by Period

ATL:  7 – 14 – 15 — 36

WSH: 12 – 10 –  7 — 29

Special Teams

ATL: PP – 0/2   PK – 3/3

WSH: PP – 0/3   PK – 2/2

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