NEW YORK, N.Y. – The 2010 NFL Draft has been full of surprises. After much speculation about teams trading for the St. Louis Rams first pick in the 2nd round to land Notre Dame quarterback, Jimmy Clausen, the Rams kept the pick and Clausen dropped all the way down to 48th overall where he was selected by the Carolina Panthers.

Clausen’s drop in stock was one of the biggest surprises but he wasn’t alone. As Clausen squirmed in his seat, dropping 44 picks lower than the slot ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper, Jr. had him in, Texas Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy dropped all the way into the 3rd round. McCoy was selected 85th overall by the Cleveland Browns who threw in the towel on the Brady Quinn project, trading Quinn to the Denver Broncos in the off season.

NFL 2010 DRAFT SECOND ROUND RESULTS

33. St. Louis Rams: Rodger Saffold- offensive tackle, Indiana
34. Minnesota Vikings: Chris Cook- cornerback, Virginia
35. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Brian Price- defensive tackle, UCLA
36. Kansas City Chiefs: Dexter McCluster- running back, Mississippi
37. Philadelphia Eagles: Nate Allen- safety, South Florida
38. Cleveland Browns: T.J. Ward- safety, Oregon
39. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Arrelious Benn- wide receiver, Illinois
40. Miami Dolphins: Koa Misi- linebacker, Utah
41. Buffalo Bills: Torell Troup- defensive tackle, Central Florida
42. New England Patriots: Rob Gronkowski- tight end, Arizona
43. Baltimore Ravens: Sergio Kindle- linebacker, Texas
44. Oakland Raiders: Lamarr Houston- defensive tackle, Texas
45. Denver Broncos: Zane Beadles- offensive guard, Utah
46. New York Giants: Linval Joseph- defensive tackle, East Carolina
47. Arizona Cardinals: Daryl Washington- linebacker, TCU
48. Carolina Panthers: Jimmy Clausen- quarterback, Notre Dame
49. San Francisco 49ers: Taylor Mays- safety, USC
50. Kansas City Chiefs: Javier Arenas- cornerback, Alabama
51. Minnesota Vikings: Toby Gerhart- running back, Stanford
52. Pittsburgh Steelers: Jason Worilds- linebacker, Virginia Tech
53. New England Patriots: Jermaine Cunningham- linebacker, Florida
54. Cincinnati Bengals: Carlos Dunlap- defensive end, Florida
55. Dallas Cowboys: Sean Lee- linebacker, Penn State
56. Green Bay Packers: Michael Neal- defensive tackle, Purdue
57. Baltimore Ravens: Terrence Cody- defensive tackle, Alabama
58. Houston Texans: Ben Tate- running back, Auburn
59. Cleveland Browns: Montario Hardesty- running back, Tennessee
60. Seattle Seahawks: Golden Tate- wide receiver, Notre Dame
61. New York Jets: Vladimir Ducasse- offensive guard, UMass
62. New England Patriots: Brandon Spikes- linebacker, Florida
63. Indianapolis Colts: Patrick Angerer- linebacker, Iowa
64. New Orleans Saints: Charles Brown- offensive tackle, USC

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

NEW YORK – Has there ever been a free agency period in the NFL that has included so many All-Pro, marquee names? The latest to join the group is New York Jets running back, Thomas Jones.

After having a career year and leading the Jets AFC-best rushing attack, Jones will be released on Friday when NFL 2010 free agency begins.

Jones who is coming off his best year as a pro, would have been due $5.8 million for this upcoming year, a salary that included a $3 million bonus.

The Jets attempted to restructure his contract but Jones declined to take a pay cut. It’s hard to blame him since last year while playing for only $900,000, he maintained a great attitude and produced strong numbers for the team while patiently waiting for this higher-structured year to arrive.

Jones, 31-years-old, set career highs of 1,402 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns leading his team to the AFC championship game against Indianapolis.

Also a leader in the locker room, he was voted the team’s most inspirational player by his teammates on two separate occasions.

Jones joins several other marquee names in his position that are joining the free agent market. San Diego cut LaDainian Tomlinson, the Philadelphia Eagles released Brian Westbrook, the Cleveland Browns sent Jamal Lewis packing and Minnesota Vikings Chester Taylor is out in the open market.

Another potential free agent expecting to create a buzz may be Terrell Owens who is leaving the Buffalo Bills after just one season.

T.O. was productive in the cold while playing for a struggling franchise known for a weak passing game (25th in the NFL last season). He caught 55 passes for 829 yards, taking 5 to the house.

On the defensive side of the ball names like Julius Peppers, Aaron Kampman and the Chicago Bears Adewale Ogunleye are expected to be available for bid starting March 5th.

Copyright © 2010 – Sports Climax^TM

After losing to the 2-11 Cleveland Browns 13-6 Thursday night in front of a national television audience and throwing all but their mathematical chances of a playoff spot down the drain, the 6-7 Pittsburgh Steelers get this week’s Slap-of-the-Week.

The loss was the 5th in a row for the Steelers drawing sharp criticism from some of their local columnists like Ron Cook who pulled no punches.

The Browns attacked Ben Roethlisberger from the start, sacking the scrambling QB eight times during a night where temps were reported to be -12 below zero chill factor at kickoff time.

Here are a few post-game quotes from the under-achievers who were last year’s Super Bowl Champions.

WR Hines Ward: “To lose five straight coming off a Super Bowl from last year, it’s embarrassing for me. It just hurts, it hurts a lot. There’s nothing fun about losing games, especially five in a row. We’re better than that, we should play better than that.”

WR Mike Wallace: “It was like every time I go out for a pass, when I looked back, he’d be getting hit,” referring to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “I’d just be coming out of my break and he’d be going down.”

Coach Mike Tomlin: “I thought they fought. I thought they stuck together, but it wasn’t enough to win the football game. … Fighting and sticking together are not winning football games. We’re finding new and different ways to not rise up. This one tonight happened in all three phases.”

Tackle Willie Colon: “This was probably the worst we played up front all year. I know it was probably my worst game. I feel like I let the line down.”

Defensive Back Deshea Townsend: “Mind-boggling.”

Nose Tackle Casey Hampton: “Like a bad dream. [The season] is a wrap, this [explicate] is a wrap.”

Yes it is. It’s not only a wrap but it’s a full-on Bitch-Slap to go along with your record for most consecutive losses (5) for a Super Bowl winner the season following a Super Bowl win.

Other NFL Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week Columns:

Jay Cutler and Da’ Bears

Detroit Lions Exec Matt Millen

Rush Limbaugh NFL Owner?

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax

DETROIT – The Detroit Lions may have found the leader they have been searching for over the past few decades and that leader may have accomplished a near-impossible feat; winning over the Detroit media.

On his home field in a game against the Cleveland Browns, Lions rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford had been battling all afternoon to lead his team back from a 24-3 deficit and it ended in dramatic fashion.

Down 37-31 Stafford had no timeouts remaining, needed to get into the end zone from the Cleveland 32 and had only :08 seconds to do it. What happened over the next several minutes may become Stafford’s defining moment.

Stafford took the snap and scrambled Favre-style, avoiding an aggressive rush while trying to find an open receiver. He avoided one rusher, then another as the clock ticked to :00. Stafford saw the Browns’ 305-pound lineman C.J. Mosley barreling in at him but stood tall, planted his feet and threw the desperation pass.

As the ball sailed towards the end zone, Mosley crushed Stafford into the Ford Field turf. The rookie quarterback laid flat on the turf, grimacing in pain with an apparent shoulder injury but the Hail Mary pass was answered in the form of yellow hankies blanketing the end zone.

Pass interference on the defense.

While Stafford was helped to the sidelines where team doctors attempted to look at the injury, Cleveland decided to call time out to set up their defense as Lions back-up quarterback Daunte Culpepper was stepping up to the line to take the game’s final snap.

“I heard time-out over the loudspeaker and knew that was probably my only chance of getting back in,” Stafford said. “It was my left shoulder. Don’t really need it to throw.”

The doctors attempted to keep Stafford down to examine and determine the type of injury but Stafford refused to stay down. When he told the doctors to help him up, they refused until he demanded.

“Once one of them helped me up,” Stafford said, “they weren’t going to stop me.”

Lions coach Jim Schwartz must have had a tremendous amount of information swirling through his head. His back-up quarterback was in the huddle on the field, his starter with an obvious injury demanding on returning for the final play, his team needing a touchdown to win, no timeouts remaining.

Ignoring the pain, Stafford found the energy to push his way back onto the field, took the final snap and thread a bullet to tight end Brandon Pettigrew for a touchdown, his record 5th of the game and a 38-37 victory. Stafford also finished with a career-high 422 passing yards.

See dramatic comeback video on NFL.com here.

Schwartz was nearly lost for words during some of the post-game. “[Stafford] popped up, and all the team doctors said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.’ I said, ‘What does he have?’ They said, ‘We don’t even know.’

Stafford, his shoulder wrapped in ice, elaborated more during post game. “I was in some good pain, but the play goes on. It didn’t feel good, but I didn’t care. It was one play. I knew I didn’t have to play too much, just one snap, and try to throw a TD.”

“I’ve never been a part of [winning with no time on the clock],” said Stafford. “I’ve been a part of some close ones at the end, obviously, but that was wild.”

Wild? Yes. 

True courage? Yes.

Defining moment? Time will tell and more importantly, the Detroit Lions may have finally found their leader.

Related Articles:

No Doubt Now: Stafford Strong Enough to Lead – Detroit Free Press

Stafford Shows True Grit in Beating Browns – The Detroit News

Schwartz: X-Rays Negative on Stafford’s Shoulder – DFP

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax