In Da News 9/15/2007
Crosby's Career Begins With Whirlwind Week
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 09/14/2007
"During warm-ups I had to keep telling myself don't overkick, don't let the emotions and everything take over. I just made sure to stay focused and got warm and felt good." -- Mason CrosbySince the month of September arrived, Packers rookie kicker Mason Crosby has had to stop every so often and take a deep breath, and it's hard to blame him. It's been the only way to slow down the psychological onslaught of the beginning of his life in the NFL, which has been as intense and rewarding, in addition to exhausting and exciting and any other such adjective, as that of perhaps any 2007 rookie in the league thus far. "It's been unbelievable," said Crosby, in perhaps the understatement of his life. It started for Crosby on Saturday, Sept. 1. Well, actually, it started back in late April, when Crosby was drafted in the sixth round by the Packers and knew he'd have to beat incumbent kicker Dave Rayner out of a job. He found out for sure he had done just that on Sept. 1, the day of the final roster cutdown, after a long and grueling training camp battle. Crosby spent most of the afternoon at a local sports bar, watching his alma mater Colorado against rival Colorado State in their college football season opener, with his cell phone by his side, praying it wouldn't ring. "I was hoping to not hear from anyone," he said. "Because that's good news." The phone didn't ring, and as the 5 p.m. cutdown deadline neared, Crosby felt confident enough to take a short nap. He then got a call from his parents in Texas, who had seen on the internet that Crosby made the team. More >>
New school vs. old school:
McCarthy, Coughlin have contrasting styles
By Tom Pelissero / greenbaypressgazette.com
The fire-breathing, socially impaired, borderline-inhuman image of Tom Coughlin incubated under the New York media microscope in recent years received something of a facelift this offseason, when the Giants coach held a series of off-the-record sessions with reporters to discuss how to shift the spotlight to his players. It was part of an agreement the noted taskmaster made with his family and his bosses when he accepted a one-year extension of his contract through 2008, shortly after a late-season slide nearly cost New York a playoff berth, threw Coughlin's job status into question and made his fuming face a constant target for TV cameras. Another former Green Bay Packers offensive assistant, another product of a blue-collar Irish family out east, another leader of an NFL team that went 8-8 last season is more selective with his emotional displays.More >>
Favre, Strahan won't revisit sack
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
GREEN BAY — More than five years later, Michael Strahan doesn't want to talk about it, and Brett Favre doesn't want to remember it. "It" is the sack Favre allegedly gift-wrapped for Strahan the last time the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants met at the Meadowlands, on Jan. 6, 2002, to give Strahan the NFL's single-season record of 22 1/2 sacks. In case you've forgotten, in the closing minutes of the Packers' 34-25 win, then-coach Mike Sherman called a running play, called "93 Blast," on which Favre was supposed to hand off to Ahman Green. Instead, Favre changed the call to a keep-pass without telling anyone else. Tight end Bubba Franks, thinking it was a run play, didn't block Strahan, who was given a sack when Favre tucked the ball and fell. The play created a colossal controversy, and although Favre maintained he didn't purposely give Strahan the sack, he was criticized nationally and many thought it tainted Strahan's record. And, the Packers' offensive linemen, including right tackle Mark Tauscher, who'd shut out Strahan all day, were less than thrilled. More >>
Published by PackerPundit On Saturday, September 15, 2007 at 5:32 AM.
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