How many chances is Norv Turner going to get to be a Head Coach in this league? This is try number 3 and clearly the most talented team he has had. He has some gifted offensive players and defensive players but he will still lose.

Norv can coach and honestly should just be a coordinator. He led the Cowboys offense during their Super Bowl runs and then got the 49ers offense up and going before leaving there to coach the Chargers. He was given his first head job back in the day with the Redskins and only got them to the playoffs once. That team had plenty of money to spend and wasn’t shy about bringing in talent. They still lost and Turner left there with a 49-59 record. He moved on to the Raiders where he was again given a head job and led them to 2 straight losing seasons before being removed from there as well. Turner now is in San Diego and coached them to his best year yet last season but this season we are starting to get the feel that last year was a fluke. The Chargers just lost to the Dolphins and have started out very slow.

I’ll pose the question: If Norv Turner were black would he be getting this many chances? Marvin Lewis is going to be fired by Cincinnati and rightfully so but it will be a long time before he is hired as a head man anywhere else. Ray Rhodes got plenty of chances to coach in the league but it is rare. I dont’ know the answer to the question I posed but I have my opinion on it and the answer is a resounding no to me. Norv, like Marvin Lewis, is a gifted coordinator who for whatever reason doesn’t have the chops to be a solid head coach in the league and that’s ok. I’m just sick of teams firing someone and always talking about Norv Turner as a replacement when he doesn’t even have close a winning record as a professional coach. Give others a chance and move on because the Chargers aren’t done losing yet this season. Call it the curse of Norv.

Kurt Warner is a devout religious man and has never hidden that fact from anyone. He is a strong believer in being ‘born again’ and saved and I respect him for that. Now I just think the guy is ‘born again’ as a pro football quarterback. I’ve long forgotten his game against the Jets where he threw for nearly 500 yards but threw 3 interceptions and lost 3 fumbles because this guy just keeps coming back.

I thought for sure that his career was done when he got benched in New York and then ended up in Arizona. In fact, i thought he would end up as the next Steve DeBerg or Vinnie who wandered around the league until they were 40 something. Instead Warner has been reborn in Arizona after beating out Matt Leinart and pushing the Cardinals to a 3-2 league record. After all, they just beat the previously undefeated Bills by nearly 30 points and could’ve put up 50 points if they wanted to and they didn’t even have one of their biggest weapons (Boldin) because of a serious injury.

Warner had talked this past week of retiring coming off the Jets game and watching Boldin get hurt but that talk is all gone now. As the Cardinals play the Cowboys this weekend I’ll be watching very closely because they Cowboys are very good and oh….he’s my starting fantasy QB who keeps leading me to victory. Go Kurt.

I love each Saturday and look forward to the games at hand. Last weekend was great and this weekend isn’t close to that but here’s a few games that I’m going to sit through before I muster up the courage to watch the Cubs lose to the Dodgers and break my heart again. Anyway…(tears starting to well up) the top games for this weekend are…

Auburn vs Vanderbilt - Normally this wouldn’t even be a game but both teams are top 20 and I really like Auburn. The game is at Vandy and they are playing the best they have in my entire lifetime, kind of like the Cubs before the playoffs started. I mean the Cubs are the best team in the National League and it was obvious. Then the playoffs start and they look like a bunch of high school kids going to the state tournament for the first time. Kills me. 4 Errors at home? Joke. Sorry. Auburn has won the last 13 games versus Vandy and I don’t see that changing. It will be a good game but Auburn is very very tough.

Texas vs Colorado - I like this game because I actually think Colorado has a chance. Most people picked them to beat Florida St last week and it didn’t happen so this time the door is open for an upset. Texas comes in looking very good and ranked 7th in the country. Colorado will be able to play with them and I think they will even have the lead in the 4th quarter before Texas ends up beating them late. Look for Colt McCoy to make a Heisman name for himself late in this game.

Usc vs Oregon - Usc is coming off an upset loss to Oregon st nearly a week and a half ago and they’ve had some time to prepare for the Ducks. The Ducks are going to face a serious uphill battle as they have to go into the Colisseum where USC doesn’t lose. Oregon needs to play out of their heads because they are going to get a fired up team playing in front of a fired up fan base. Look out…

I’m going to focus on the teams for now and none has been more surprising than the Buffalo Bills. They are atop the AFC East right now with an undefeated record and have been getting great play from their skilled position players and look to be in a great position to actually make the playoffs. I love Trent Edwards at QB because he makes good solid choices and doesn’t force the ball when it isn’t there. He is showing excellent leadership and it looks like his team is really buying into it.

The Tennessee Titans are another team that is undefeated at 4-0 and playing awesome behind Kerry Collins at QB. I remember when Collins was drafted highly and so much was put on him and quietly he has had an excellent career. Vince Young got hurt and the Titans actually got better because Collins can throw the ball. They have a great tailback in Chris Johnson who is setting the league on fire and play great defense. We really need to start to give Jeff Fisher some due respect because the man can coach.

My surprising bad team is the Colts. They are 1-2 and could’ve easily lost all 3 games they’ve played so far. Peyton Manning just doesn’t look the same so far and Marvin Harrison is starting to show his age. I know they need Joseph Addai to step up because he’s been a disappointment so far as well. It is early and I don’t expect the Colts to end up on my list, but Bob Sanders is out for a few more weeks and they could find themselves in a big hole if they don’t get things straightened out quickly.

This past weekend was amazing to witness. I watched the first half of the Alabama/Georgia game and came away with one conclusion: Nick Saban is a college football genius. That is a prepared football team that comes ready to play. They have already upset Clemson and threw them into a tailspin and now they thump Georgia and let’s see what happens now. They were up 31-0 at halftime and played inspired defense against a team with a top 10 draft choice at QB and a first round choice at tailback in Moreno.

Florida lost. Tebow fumbled and as i watched the last highlight I wondered why he wasn’t standing under center on 4th down. Everyone in the world knew what the play was going to be and it failed horribly. All 22 people ended up in the pile. It was like watching a traffic jam car crash, slow and painful. I thought Florida was the team to beat this year but it goes to show you how tough the SEC is. Alabama will still have to play LSU, Auburn. It doesn’t get easier at all for any of them. While BYU keeps sliding up the rankings playing weak conference opponents, out of their control, teams from the SEC keep beating each other up and hurting their chances of a national title. Meanwhile BYU, UTAH, BOISE ST all keep creeping up the rankings and I’m not saying they shouldn’t but the system is so jacked up in college football it is crazy. When they finally decide on a playoff they are going to wonder how and why they did it this way for so many years.

I honestly believe that college football is a playoff away from being the greatest sport in the United States and I truly believe that. If they thought March Madness brought attention this would be unbelievable.

That was a very good football game and the tailback for Oregon St is a good football player. He did that against arguably the best defense in the country. He’s tough. USC lacked some mental toughness though and it showed. They played from behind as if they were panicked and had a serious lack of compusure. McKnight was not relevant to the game at all and Sanchez couldn’t pick up his team when it was needed. Sanchez is a pro and is a gifted football player but it didn’t show last night. That interception he threw with 3 minutes left really sealed the deal for Oregon st and showed a sign of weakness for USC. What Oregon St did better than anyone could expect was control the ball. They were able to really run the ball and keep that offense on the sideline. If the game went another quarter I could see USC winning by 2 touchdowns but they didn’t and should be out of the National Championship race. Losing 1 game is usually the kiss of death for a PAC 10 team but not for an SEC or BIG 10 team. This year will be a little different because Ohio St got killed by USC so they need to be ranked after USC no matter what in my opinion.

Anyway, it was the best thursday night game I’ve ever seen.

We are 4 games into the season people and BYU fans are back in full force. In fact, with the internet it is worse than I could ever imagine. The BYU fan is unlike most other college football fans. I’ve talked about it before and I don’t shy away from the fact that I hope BYU loses every single football game but they won’t. BYU is loaded this year and playing the typical schedule of pansies that we have all grown accustomed to. I can’t fault them for being able to beat most of the teams in the MWC or for trying to schedule PAC 10 teams because that’s at least a good effort trying there. I just hope they lose every single week and it is only because the ‘BYU’ fan annoys me to no end. They speak of championships and Ty Detmer like he came out of the BIBLE. Lavell Edwards is standing on the rung closest to heaven and now Bronco Mendenhall is climbing fast.

My theory is to give BYU what they want most and put them in the PAC 10. I will never say that they couldn’t compete because they could. BYU has a first team of offense and defense that can play with anyone in the country. However, week after week and when injuries take their toll you would see that BYU would lose 3-5 games each year in that conference. It’s ok to admit it BYU fans but your 2nd and 3rd team players just aren’t comparable to the ‘typical’ Pac 10 team. Give UCLA a year or two under their coach and get his players in there. Oregon is a good program and Arizona St is getting there. Byu has the luxury to play teams like Wyoming where starters are out by the 3rd quarter and that will continue and I can’t fault them for being that much better than most teams this year. I have to give credit where it is due. Heck, (BYU term) they beat UCLA by 100 points so what more could they have done.

Here’s my point. Let BYU go undefeated and then lets start talking about the BCS, not 4 weeks in. Max Hall goes down and BYU is in a world of hurt to go undefeated. Let BYU stay healthy and let them play LSU/ALABAMA/AUBURN/FLORIDA/USC in a bowl game and see what happens. I promise you it won’t be pretty and I’ll be laughing my head off on the couch drinking my non caffeinated soda.

My brothers and i have a joke that never gets old. The joke ties two references together by using a name change. Example: Did you hear N’Sync changed their name? N’Sync On the Block. The joke can go on forever and we think it is funny at least but I have one for Matt Millen. Did you hear Matt Millen changed his name? Isiah Thomas Millen.

That’s the best way to describe the disaster that was Matt Millen. He was terrible at his job. His draft picks, his player decisions and the play on the field is ridiculous. He drafted the best receiver each year or as he saw them and they rarely have panned out. He tried with Charles Rogers and failed, he tried with Mike Williams and failed. Roy Williams is good and so is Calvin Johnson but not when the Qb is a has been/never was who simply can’t get the job done. Jon Kitna is not a starter in the NFL that gets wins for his team and shouldn’t have a job. The team defense has been neglected in the early rounds and it shows. What took so long?

Now what is Millen going to do? He will want another front office job but nobody is that stupid or desperate. He may want to go back into the booth but his reputation has taken a big big hit here and a network has better options there. I question ESPN’s use of Steve Phillips for baseball sometimes because of his noted failures and Millen will go down in history as a waste of 5 plus years at the position. He set the team back an entire decade literally. They aren’t close to being good. The only people upset at the firing is the rest of the division because Detroit used to mean 2 wins for everyone on their schedule and maybe not so anymore.

At least Hurrican Millen has finally left Detroit and left the whole football team in his wake. Good luck rebuilding Lions fans, I hear Isiah Thomas wants a shot at football.

Can you think of something worse in sports than to be the Raiders head coach? I honestly can’t. I’d rather coach a team in the WNBA than the Raiders. Lane Kiffin has the job right now and every day a rumor is started or continued that he’ll be let go. Every day Kiffin wakes up and wonders if today is his last day on the job. He answers questions about it all day long and each of his players wonder if today is the day they get a new coach.

Al Davis has to realize that this simply isn’t working for him. The last winning coach they had was Jon Gruden and he got to walk to Tampa Bay. After he left the Raiders got Bill Callahan who took them to a Super Bowl in his first year on the job. Soon he tanked and was canned basically after two seasons. Then they hired Norv Turner who has nearly been hired by every single team in the NFL. This guy has been given more chances to be a head coach than anyone I can think of. He’s failed so often as a head coach but people still keep trying to give him a job. He didn’t cut it after two seasons and was canned. They brought in Art Shell because apparently he didn’t prove he could cut it the first time so he went 2-14 again and was fired. Now we have Lane Kiffin who was brought in to clean up the crap and teach a rookie QB who isn’t ready to be a starter in the league. They’ve played better than nearly anyone expected yet he’s about to get fired so we can start the circus all over again.

Kiffin should’ve kept his job at USC and ended up a head coach at some major university somewhere. Instead he becomes another casualty of the Raiders coaching circle and that’s nothing to really be proud of. BUYER BEWARE if you get offered that job after Kiffin is gone.

Tom Brady goes down.  Peyton Manning comes back slow from injury.  LT gets hurt early on and says it isn’t bad but he isn’t practicing this week.  BoB Sanders is out now for 4-6 weeks with an ankle sprain.  Shawne Merriman is done for the year and I could keep on going.  I decided to keep going…Devin Hester got hurt dodging someone.  Darren McFadden, who looks really good by the way, is questionable this week and his running mate for the Raiders is out also.  Football is prone to injuries but when the league loses it’s mvp for the season and defensive player of the year for 4-6 weeks that is a bad start.

I have to admit that I am a little suspicious of how they listed BOB Sanders.  4-6 Weeks for a high ankle sprain?  I’ve sprained my ankles numerous times horribly and I never missed 4 weeks as a result.  This is either the Colts spinning it or he is hurt worse than we really know.  I’m guessing the latter.  Sanders plays ferocious defense and is a big hitter.  Forte, for the Bears, got drilled by Sanders opening week and I think he’ll never forget that hit.  Sanders is needed by the league and by the Colts especially.

I’m just glad that football is back even though my fantasy team is horrible right now.  I actually drafted Vernon Davis.  Sorry to get sidetracked but I drafted Vernon Davis and I expect to win.  Kind of like the Bears thinking they can go far with Kyle Orton or Super Rex Grossman.

Here’s to hoping nobody gets hurt this week…