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[duvaldude08]

Man the Steelers are in bad shape. The steel curtain has came down. Their defense SUCKED. And poor big ben had to totter and hobble around in the pocket all night. I was scared he was going to hurt himself when the fumble that snap because it was impossiable for him to get to that ball.

[I-10east]

Tebow fan or not, can we agree that was the best playoff game of the weekend? Wow, what an electric game.

+1

[duvaldude08]

I dont know. I like the Saints and Lions game better.

[duvaldude08]

More trouble in Jag land.

Sources: Jags, Paul Vance to part ways

EmailPrintComments11By Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter
ESPN
A dispute over contract language that affects seven fired Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coaches for over $3 million may have been one of the factors that led to the dismissal of Paul Vance, the team's senior vice president of football operations and general counsel, according to league sources.


AFC South blog
ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky writes about all things AFC South in his division blog.

• Blog network: NFL Nation


A source said the dispute is over an amount of money between $3.5 million and $4 million.

The seven assistants had signed extensions in 2010 and the club believed it was for two years that would expire at the end of the 2011 season. However, the applicable clause in dispute states, "shall terminate on the later of January 31, 2012 or the day after the Jaguars' last football game of the 2012 season and playoffs..."

Consequently, the assistant coaches want to be compensated for the 2012 season, especially if they remain unemployed. Those coaches' specific names have not been confirmed.

Vance, who was dismissed Sunday as the team's senior vice president of football operations and general counsel, called it an incorrect reference and that it "should have read the 2011 NFL season." Vance termed it an error and "there was no intent on your part or our part of the club to establish a contract for the 2012 season," according to a correspondence acquired by ESPN that was sent to the coaches.

Currently, the dispute remains between the club and the coaches, but without resolution could end up as a formal grievance filed with the league office, sources said.

Vance initially joined the expansion Jaguars in 1994 as the team's general counsel before he was appointed by former owner Wayne Weaver to oversee football operations, mostly related to contract negotiations, but with a very influential voice on all matters.

Sashi Brown has been promoted as new general counsel after serving as the assistant general counsel. Vance will be utilized as a consultant during the transition and for the remainder of the calendar year.

The organization was informed of the changes via an internal email, in which there was no mention on whether there will be a new vice president of football operations. Currently, Gene Smith is the Jags' general manager overseeing the personnel department. Smith also is heading the search for a new coach, with new owner Shad Khan making the final determination on that hire.

Weaver agreed to sell the franchise to Khan on Nov. 29 for $770 million. The deal included a $660 million sale price and $110 million in debt. Khan, an Illinois businessman who tried to buy the St. Louis Rams in 2010, began negotiating to buy the Jaguars later that year.

Last Wednesday, when the team officially was transferred to his ownership, he said he "will do everything possible to build a consistent winner on the field and a model franchise off the field."

[Tacachale]

^This is just what I tell the folks I work with. Get the details right; typos count.

[copperfiend]

Local reporters have stressed that is not the reason Vance was fired but it was part of it. He's been here for 10 years and survived one regime change already. He helped get the salary cap in order after Coughlin/Huyghe destroyed it and did a good jobb. But with a new owner coming in, some changes are in order.

[duvaldude08]

Local reporters have stressed that is not the reason Vance was fired but it was part of it. He's been here for 10 years and survived one regime change already. He helped get the salary cap in order after Coughlin/Huyghe destroyed it and did a good jobb. But with a new owner coming in, some changes are in order.

I wonder what the othe reasons are.  But im sure that was the main part. For that to get by him and its his job to review it, thats not good. When you end up costing an organziation money, you become a libility. Its unfortunate though. It seems he's taking it in stride, which is a good thing.

[I-10east]

I dont know. I like the Saints and Lions game better.

A late blowout (DET at NO) over a competitive thrilling finish (PIT at DEN)?? It became apparent who was gonna win the Saints game in the fourth quarter; Detroit completely abandoned the run throughout the entire game; Contrastingly, the DEN game was pretty boring early, but finished strong in the fourth quarter to go into overtime. I'll take a late blooming unpredictible finish over an anticlamactic game anyday.

[duvaldude08]

THE NEW YORKER ONLINE ONLY
THE SPORTING SCENE
Dispatches from the playing fields by New Yorker writers.

« Celebrating the Stiff-ArmMainAnyone But Tebow? »
JANUARY 9, 2012
HOW TO STEAL A TEAM
Posted by Alex Koppelman


In the magazine this week, Connie Bruck profiles entrepreneur Philip Anschutz, a billionaire who’s made money doing a little bit of everything, from oil and telecommunications to concert promotionsâ€"and sports. The article is centered around the highest-profile venture Anschutz has going right now: his efforts to lure an N.F.L. team to Los Angeles, and, more specifically, to a stadium he’d like to build in downtown L.A.

For anyone who is, like me, a Baltimore native, the story of the fits and starts in the process of bringing a team back to L.A. can only bring back memories of our city’s own attempts to secure an N.F.L. franchise in the years after the Colts slunk away under cover of darkness for Indianapolis.

I’d be run out of my own hometown on a rail if I didn’t pause here to note that the situation is quite different, in that most L.A. residents have been coolly indifferent to their plight, while Baltimore was devastated when it lost the Colts. (If you haven’t seen it, “The Band That Wouldn’t Die,” a Barry Levinson documentary about the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, which kept right on playing after the team left, captures the deep, almost unbelievable, sense of loss fans felt when the Colts moved away.) Still. There are parallels.

The N.F.L. didn’t feel compelled to put a new team in Baltimore the way it does with L.A. But both cities have sidled up to multiple potential suitors, only to find out they were trying to make another city jealous. Baltimore flirted with the Cardinals (then of St. Louis, now in Arizona), L.A.’s own Rams (now in St. Louis), and the Cincinnati Bengals, among others. L.A. has been linked, at one point or another, to a list of teams including the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, and their own departed franchises, the Rams and the Oakland Raiders. But many of those are dropping off the list, at least for now. The Jaguars were just sold, and the new owner seems committed to staying putâ€"the previous owner reportedly turned away L.A.-based buyers, including Anschultz. The Chargers just committed to staying at least another year in San Diego, and the team’s owner and Anschutz apparently do not get along. The Vikings are working on a deal with their home state for a new stadium. The Rams, who seem the likeliest candidate, may be about to make a commitment of sorts to St. Louis; they’re looking to hire Jeff Fisher as their new coach, and he’s said to have balked at the idea of the team’s moving.

For the most partâ€"the Vikings and Raiders are the exceptionsâ€"the franchises that have been linked to L.A. don’t have fan bases that would dress in sackcloth and ashes were their teams to pick up and move. But as the process drags on, the danger is that a dark horse team, one with deeper roots in its current city, could be the one to make the trip. (The Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills come to mind.) That’s what happened in Baltimore; not long after the N.F.L. spurned us in its 1993 expansion roundâ€"choosing Jacksonville, of all places, insteadâ€"the city lured Art Modell and his Browns away from Cleveland, leaving people there as heartbroken as Colts fans had been. And that, Baltimoreans will tell you, isn’t a fate we’d wish on anyone. Except Bob Irsay.

[duvaldude08]

I dont know. I like the Saints and Lions game better.

A late blowout (DET at NO) over a competitive thrilling finish (PIT at DEN)?? It became apparent who was gonna win the Saints game in the fourth quarter; Detroit completely abandoned the run throughout the entire game; Contrastingly, the DEN game was pretty boring early, but finished strong in the fourth quarter to go into overtime. I'll take a late blooming unpredictible finish over an anticlamactic game anyday.

I think both games had their climax at different points in the game. Both were good games though. I just wish the NFL didnt the QB the glory for EVERYTHING. Honestly, it was the receiver that won the game, not Tebow. But thats how the NFL is. Like when we beat the Ravens, it was referred to as "Gabbert's first win", when Scobee is actually the one who won the game for us. Denver's kicker is the reason they won alot of their games also. (field goals) But , thats just the NFL. Win or lose, everything on the QB, whether they REALLY had something to do with it or not. I must though, it was more so the Steelers being out smarted vs outplayed. Very slick move by the Broncos. They knew the steelers D was going to set up for the run, so instead they dropped a bomb. VERY smart play calling.

[Keith-N-Jax]

DD the offense still has to move the ball to get in to Scobee range. As with any kicker.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Long night for the Tebow Hype,

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Long night for the Tebow Hype,

It's gonna be an even longer off-season.

[Tacachale]

What a show the 49ers and Saints put on today. That fourth quarter was the stuff of legend.

[duvaldude08]

Well this game is a wrap and its only the 3rd Q...42-7? Somebody please save the bronco because they are drowning.