Owner Zygi Wilf promoted Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier as Interim Head Coach. However, I think that Josh would agree with me when I say that Wilf made a huge mistake. The Vikings are almost certainly not making the playoffs so why not continue the circus atmosphere and hire Brett Favre as a Player Coach? Can you imagine the press conferences after a tough loss where Favre would tear up while explaining to the media how he shouldn't have thrown those three interceptions that hindered the team. Then imagine having to go back to the podium and try to explain why his starting QB/himself tried to force the ball into the hands of a receiver triple covered down the field.

Forget the press conferences, what about his role on the field? How great would it be to see Favre yelling at his receivers after he horribly overthrows them. Maybe Favre could bring his gunslinger attitude to the defense and call out blitzes every play and watch as he stares blankly when the defense gives up huge plays down field. The possibilities are endlessly entertaining.

Zygi Wilf should realize that since this season is lost, the best way to fill the Metrodome is by making Favre coach. Does anyone seriously believe that Childress actually coached the team in any shape or form since Brett Favre joined the team? This would just be a formality and make Favre's role on the team the past season and a half official. The circus can continue for the rest of the season and keep the Vikings interesting and relevant. Bad publicity beats no publicity, right?

Thanks to Jvstin for the photo of Brett Favre

The New York Football Jets lost in a one point blowout, 10-9, to the Baltimore Ravens who couldn't get much going on either side of the ball as well. That Monday Night game was one of the worst displays of football that we've seen from both of those teams in a while. Mark Sanchez is possibly the biggest bust that the Jets have had since Browning Nagle. The Jets also benched Shonn Green after a fumble near the goal line and lost defensive tackle Kris Jenkins for the season. I wonder if Darrelle Revis can play tackle.

The Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills 15-10 in a game where the Dolphins newest acquisition, Brandon Marshall had 8 catches for only 53 yards with a long of 13, as well as a huge drop that would have either put the Dolphins in scoring position or been a touchdown itself. Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown combined for 31 carries and 127 yards and a Brown touchdown at the goal line.

The Buffalo Bills rookie running back, the biggest name to play that everyone was waiting to see beef up their fantasy roster (including myself), had a tremendous 7 carries for a tough 6 yards on the ground. Trent Edwards tossed the ball 34 times and completed 18 passes for a total of 139 yards, including the Bills lone touchdown on a 31 yard streak by Roscoe Parrish. In a stagnant game that proveded 14 punts (7 for each team), there wasn't much flash from any players.

So the questions remains, who do you think will win the AFC East in 2010:
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Thanks to jdn for the photo of Wes Welker.

What is the Wildcat?

To set up in the Wildcat the offensive line comes out unbalanced, meaning the weak side tackle and tight end swap places on the line. (The line from strong to weak would be T,T,G,C,G,TE). The receivers line up in what is called Deuces (Twins to the weak side and a single flanker on the unbalanced side). The split end on the Twins side is normally where the Quarterback will line up and the inside receiver is where your running back or speed player will line up. There is an upback or H-back lined up behind the original tackle position on the unbalanced side. A running back or speed player will then line up behind center in a shot gun formation. “We just scratched the surface of what we were trying to do. This is not something that just came up and we scribbled on the board a couple days ago”says Miami Dolphins Head Coach, Tony Sparano.” The purpose of the Wildcat formation is to confuse the defense and allow yourself multiple options of what to do once the ball has been snapped. The Miami Dolphins used the Wildcat formation to perfection against the New England Patriots last season as well as some other teams who spent all week practicing against it and still couldnt stop them. The other reason the Wildcat worked so well for Miami is that it wasn’t their base offense. The Dolphins still came out and ran regular sets of their offense making it that much harder for opposing defenses to be able to stop them and have the right personnel in the game when they came out in the double wing formation.

What Can the Wildcat Do?

The Wildcat formation allows options and gimmick plays for the offense. With a running back taking the snap, he can immediately take a hole and run for a big gain with all the motion confusing the linebackers. The inside receiver on the twins side will motion toward the quarterback before the snap every play. This creates an option read for the player at quarterback. By reading the defensive end, the quarterback can either hand the ball to the motioning back or take it himself based on the ends line of attack. With the lone split end on the unbalanced side, this also sets up a reverse play after running the read multiple times. The player at quarterback also has an opportunity to run regular passing plays out of the Wildcat formation with normal protection from the offensive line and the H-back. Don’t forget that the reverse will also set up the reverse pass later on in the game. With the teams original quarterback lined up split out to the twins side, this also sets up the ability to run a wide receiver screen pass. The Dolphins can throw a screen to Pennington who can catch the ball behind the line of scrimmage and then have him throw a deep ball to the opposite side split end all the way down the field.

The Wildcat allows a team to line up in one base offensive formation and run several different plays based on reads and tendencies. The defensive coordinators in the NFL will be spending much of their time in the pre-season and practice week defending the Wildcat with the influx of teams adding this to their arsenal of offensive weaponry. “We decided we were going to stop the run first. We weren't going to let McFadden beat us. We stressed accountability to the highest level. No matter how tempting it is to deviate from your responsibility to go to another guy, you can't leave your man” said Mario Cristobal, Florida International Head Coach. The Wildcat also allows a team to display all of their speed and athleticism on the field at once. With the addition of Pat White from West Virginia, the Dolphins have added to their Wildcat by drafting a run first quarterback who can absolutely make an immediate impact at the NFL level by stepping into the Wildcat for Miami.

Is the Wildcat Here to Stay?

“There's a way to stop everything. It'll be a trend for a while. The NFL is so fast, they'll find a way to defend it” said Channing Crowder, Miami Dolphins Linebacker. With the NFL being such a copycat league, I can see plenty of teams coming out in the Wildcat formation looking for success this season. It isn’t a formation that any team can run because they may not have the personnel needed to pull of all of the plays that the Wildcat has to offer. The Wildcat is going to be a huge hit in this upcoming season, but defensive coordinators are also going to study the film of what the Baltimore Ravens did to stop Miami last season and they will use that defensive front against it. On both sides of the ball, the Wildcat is all about assignments and responsibilities. If one player makes a mistake, it’s going to be a big play for the offense. I’m excited to see the Wildcat in the 2009-2010 season, but not if every single team is trying to run out of it when their offense isn’t built for it. As long as it doesn’t lead to offensive disaster for NFL games, the Wildcat is going to be widely seen in the NFL for at least a season or two.

This post was originally my first guest post on Chuck Hanf's blog, Two Cents From Beantown. I'd like to thank Chuck for giving me the option to re-post it here for you (as well as congratulate him on the recent birth of his daughter, Courtney Elizabeth). Plus, I always love going back and seeing what I've written in the past to compare it to the present.

Thanks to Zruda for the picture of the Miami Dolphins Wildcat Offense.

It's been a slow off-season on the Brett Favre front, but ESPN has recently tried to make it news again. I don't think this year is going to be as flashy and edgy as the past, he's coming back, just not for training camp. Also, anyone that says Brett Favre doesn't have the right as a 40 year old (21 NFL seasons) man to skip training camp (meant to teach the rookies and refresh the veterans) can blow it out their ass.

So far we know three things:

1. Brad Childress has not and will not give Favre a deadline to report to the team.
2. Brett's latest statement: "Hell, you gotta quit sometime. Then again, maybe I will be doing this when I'm 50 years old, who knows?"
3. Favre has been throwing with the Oak Grove High School football team in Hattiesburg again, the same team he threw with last season to warm up before returning to the Vikings.

Feel the excitement in the air, Brett Favre will be back next season and this time he is going to lead the Vikings to the Super Bowl. I already won one bet off Favre coming back and making it to the NFC Championship game, so if you're interested in upping the stakes Adam, you just let me know.

Thanks to shgmom56 for the photo of Brett Favre.

Too Much For TV

Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson are going to be the new wave of the NFL. This is going to be the Wade, LeBron, Bosh of the NFL. Both of these wide receivers have their own reality shows on VH1, did they not have the opportunity to meet one another and get to know each other better. C'Mon. Ocho Stinko went to the Bengals and said, "Yo, we need to sign my boy B.O.". And then it shall be done. Carson Palmer is going to be looking for a bed at McLean Hospital before it's all said and done.

I think they're going to yuk it up and that Chad Johnson is a far better player than Terrell Owens, only that Owens has the ability to cry like a baby more/better when he's not getting the ball enough (to his standards). That better not be a problem to a primary receiver that ended last season with 55 catches and 5 TD's. The only way this is going to work is if Owens realizes that it's Chad's team and he's going to be a possession receiver, a decoy route runner and a way to open the field and improve the running game.

Let's see if Owens is another professional athlete who had the epiphany, "I just want to win one before I retire and get forgotten for my skills and remembered for being a d-bag". It's going to be a fun season to watch with all the hype and story lines created around this, so be prepared.

Thanks to Keith Allison for the photo of Chad Johnson.

ROMO : My Life On The Edge : Living Dreams And Slaying Dragons took me a few chapters to start to get into it and then ran through it night after night quickly as the story continued and got deeper and more personal. I expected Romo's book to go down a similar path as Jose Canseco's two books about steroids in professional sports, who did and didn't and more insight into the NFL's issues with performance enhancing drugs. I was way off. The first half of the book was a straight forward autobiography about his childhood, his acceptance to Boston College and his struggle to outwork the rest of league and compete in the NFL.

I don't want to come off the wrong way, Romanowski's story was what everyone expects from the feel-good perspective. A young man did everything he could to reach every goal that he set for himself. You wanted to root for him. The PED information that I was stretching to learn about just wasn't what I expected it to be. Romo told us about his involvement with Victor Conte and BALCO, his partnership with EAS and how he and the Denver Broncos helped put them on the map and every single shred of supplement that he put into his body, legal and illegal. Contrary to what you may think of Bill Romanowski, he may have used steroids (namely THG), but never used a banned substance once throughout his entire playing career. Now that may sound confusing, Romo used THG (a steroid) but never used a banned substance. Romo used THG before it was a banned substance in the NFL, therefore, never used a banned substance.

The man trained insanely. The description of his workouts, summers and seasonal weight training, stretching, yoga, sprinting and anything else you can think of, this man did it harder than anyone and everyone else. I think Bill was absolutely certain that nobody was going to outwork him ever. The saddest part of the story, yet a somewhat silver lining for the protection of the players in the league today are the medical reports, hospital notes and other admissions of his concussions throughout his playing career that finally put an end to his playing days.

I do recommend Romo's book, but possibly not for the $14 that I paid for it. Try to find it used, borrow it, find it online, do something to get it for $5 or $6, but not full price. The only downside to this book is the fact that that pompous ass, Adam Schefter helped Bill write it, other than that, it's a slow developing story that gets better as it goes along and turns into a very quick read.

Thanks to Jack Nealy for the photo of the Oakland Raiders Commitmen to Excellence banner.

While executing a search warrant at the Toronto office of Dr. Anthony Galea last October, Canadian authorities carted off a significant amount of homeopathic medicines, almost 800 ampoules of substances with Russian labels and a small amount of human growth hormone, as well as evidence offering yet another connection to his treatment of elite athletes, specifically pro football players.

According to court documents ESPN obtained Monday, the lengthy list of items authorities seized includes an "NFL file folder," "Professional Players Journal" and "daytimer with football dates." Records indicate they also seized a "CFL [Canadian Football League] folder" from the office of Galea, former team physician to the Toronto Argonauts.

It's obviously not breaking news that NFL players used/use steroids and performance enhancing drugs, but having more information leaked and more players that decided to take that road as opposed to sticking to their guns and not joining the rest of the pack is always amusing to me. I have not changed my opinion that I don't care who has and has not used steroids or PED's, I just have the curiosity to know who did.

There were no names released in the publication today, but I'll be waiting for that information if and when it comes out and we'll all know together. Let's get the countdown started. Don't be afraid to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thanks to limowreck666 for the picture of the steroids.

The Free Agent Market

Most talks are that Adalius will end up with former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan and the New York Football Jets. More likely than not, I also believe that Thomas will end up there, playing in a similar system to what they used in Baltimore as well as having former teammate Bart Scott there to keep him in line and on edge. I must say that I'm happy to see Thomas get cut from the team, but don't want to see him end up playing for a division rival that's already got the odds stacked against us.

This does however give our draft picks, Brandon Spikes and Jermaine Cunningham, both of Florida to have an opportunity to step in and start alongside Jerod Mayo. I believe Spikes has the talent and the ability to compete at the NFL level, being given the opportunity, let's see what he has to offer.

Thanks to patriotworld for the photo of Adalius Thomas.

Santonio Holmes To The Jets

Understanding that he's suspended for the first four games of the season, the Jets added a two year removed, Super Bowl MVP. Holmes adds a second, even third, wide receiver threat for Mark Sanchez. New York is slowly taking over the AFC East as the team that players are going to go to for a championship. Starting with LaDanian Tomlinson and also locking up last years trade in Braylon Edwards, I don't think any defense in the division is going to stop the Jets from scoring. Don't forget that they also have head coach Rex Ryan with one of the best defenses and shut down corners in the league, Revis.

Marshall To The Dolphins

This morning I saw that Brandon Marshall was locked up with the Dolphins for 5 years, including the one year tender that he signed before the trade from Denver for a second round pick this week and a second round pick in 2011. The Dolphins also began improving over the past three years, making the playoffs and finishing higher than .500 year in and year out. With Chad Henne being the starting quarterback and the Wildcat still showing some promise, the Dolphins just added and outside threat that won't be stopped by most rivals.

Patriots Making No Moves

Not only have our two competing division rivals continued to build better teams, we've done nothing to improve our team and fill all the holes that we have on both sides of the ball. We have spent the big money to lock up Vince Wilfork in the middle of our 3-4 defense, but what have we done to build around him in the defensive backfield. I still believe in Belichick, but unless we have an amazing draft or start making some moves to compete with the Jets and Dolphins, I'm not too sure we'll have any shot at winning the Division or even making the playoffs.

Thanks to Jeffrey Beall for the photo of Brandon Marshall.

When Ralph Wilson opened his coffin to tell the world he was relieving Dick Jauron of his head coaching duties, Bills nation rejoiced. Jauron, outside of one 13-3 season with the Bears, has been the epitome of mediocre or worse his entire career. The hire was met with opposition and Jauron did little to erase any of the doubts. His ultra conservative nature, and play not to lose mentality, rubbed Bills fans the wrong way each and every season. Jauron is your cheap friend at the poker table. He isn't tryng to win, he's just trying to lose slower than everybody else. He'd rather wait for you to make a mistake than risk taking a chance himself. I lost count of how many games we lost despite big, early leads. Jauron would just stand on the sideline watching the lead slowly dwindle as our offense got more and more conservative. For a good amount of time I was convinced he was hooked on quaaludes. The news he would be gone was music to my ears. Jauron's quote to the Associated Press sums up the entire era when asked about the firing after a 3-6 start; " I really don't have anything to say".

Introducing Head Coach Chan Gailey

With Jauron gone and a lame duck coach in Perry Fewell taking over on an interim basis, the coaching search began. Despite the names of proven coaches like Mike Shanahan and Bill Cowher and upcoming guys like Leslie Frazier, we ended up with a man named Chan Gailey. All I knew about Gailey was that he coached the Cowboys. While the Cowboys were alright, he was eventually fired. I also thought about his time at Georgia Tech, realizing again, they were okay, but he was again fired. They improved leaps and bounds after he left.

I can't say that I'm excited for the Gailey era, to be honest, with 90 year old Ralph Wilson and 70 year old Buddy Nix pulling the strings. I'm not sure even Shanny or Cowher would be able to right this ship. I'll give Nix credit, he's a known talent evaluator and he at least understands that this thing isn't a speed boat. It's an oil tanker. There isn't going to be some quick turnaround. Nix knows that talk is cheap and he knows that fans don't want to hear about labor pains. The fans just want to see the baby.

A Quiet Off Season

The Bills were as loud in free agency as Silent Bob used to be before he became Kevin Smith. There was a Cornell Green signing and we recently picked up our annual former draft bust that we can still convince fans has talent in WR Chad Jackson. Nobody in the world shines crap and calls it gold like Ralph Wilson and the Buffalo Bills.

Will the future really be any different? Outside of Buddy Nix making us laugh and making fun of the Raiders is there light at the end of this tunnel? Is Chan the guy to get us there? Will Ralph Wilson ever die? Time will tell. All us Bills fans can do is just hope somebody slipped some sugar in Ralph and Buddy's coffee and we can finally give our loyal fan base another reason to shout. Come on Buddy, show us that baby.

You can follow Mike Bovenzi on twitter @The_Bunk.
Thanks to pythonspam for the photo of Chan Gailey.