Bleacher Report - Articles by Blake Miller

Bucaneers Free Agents: Who Will Stay in Tampa Bay in '08?

Blake Miller — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:44:00 -0500

Going into the 2008 offseason, the Bucs currently have 23 million dollars in cap available, and will eventually shoot up to a whopping 30 million by the time the free-agent signing starts February 29th. Below is a list of unrestricted and restricted free agents as well as the status of current Buc coaches.

Unrestricted Free Agents
FB Mike Alstott
TE Anthony Becht
RB Michael Bennett
CB Sammy Davis
TE Keith Heinrich
WR Mark Jones
C Matt Lehr
RB Michael Pittman
TE Jerramy Stevens
LB Jeremiah Trotter
C John Wade

Restricted Free Agents
LB Antoine Cash
DT Jovan Haye
SS Kalvin Pearson

Exclusive Rights Free Agents
LS Andrew Economos
LT Donald Penn
WR Micheal Spurlock
FB Byron Storer
WR Paris Warren
DE Greg White

Coaching Moves
Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin - UNSIGNED
Quarterbacks Coach Paul Hackett - UNSIGNED
Senior Asst./Offensive Line Aaron Kromer - UNSIGNED
Asst. Defensive Backs Coach Jimmy Lake - UNSIGNED
Asst. Head Coach/Running Backs Coach Art Valero - LEFT/ST. LOUIS
Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach Bill Muir - SIGNED
Special Teams Coordinator Richard Bisaccia - SIGNED
Wide Receives Coach Richard Mann - SIGNED

Oklahoma Sooners Look to End Losing Streak

Blake Miller — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:38:09 -0500

The Oklahoma Sooners head into Allen Fieldhouse Monday night to take on the third-ranked 16-0 Kansas Jayhawks. The Hawks are going for their best start in 11 seasons.

Oklahoma goes into this game with an eight game losing streak, hoping to rebound back to the positive side.

However, I have a feeling that may not be the case.

Kansas is off to its best start since the 1996-97 season when it won its first 22 games. The Jayhawks join top-ranked North Carolina and No. 2 Memphis as the lone undefeated teams in D-I. They haven't lost at home to Oklahoma since an 80-77 defeat on Feb. 17, 1993, and have won 26 of their last 27 games overall at Allen Fieldhouse, including 11 this season.

The teams did not play in Lawrence last season, but Kansas won two meetings, including a 64-47 victory in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals that ended the Sooners' season.

The Jayhawks are second in the country in field goal percentage at 52.2 percent and lead the Big 12 in scoring with 83.7 points per game. Their offense may eventually get even better if Brandon Rush continues to play like he did his last time out.

Griffin, a 6-10 freshman, is ninth in the Big 12 with 15.4 points per game and turned in an excellent effort in his last contest. He had 27 points and 14 rebounds in his matchup with Kansas State star forward Michael Beasley, but Oklahoma fell 84-82 on Saturday.

Beasley scored 32 points, including the winner with 2.3 seconds left, and added 11 rebounds.

"He is a great player," Beasley said of Griffin. "We just came out and played and it ended up being the battle of the beasts. He is my guy. In basketball there are no friends on the court, but we will always be friends after the game."

The Sooners had a five-game winning streak snapped, a run that included two victories over ranked teams. Oklahoma allowed Kansas State to shoot 56.4 percent—the highest allowed by the Sooners since they let West Virginia shoot 66.7 percent in a 92-68 Oklahoma loss Dec. 22, 2005.

Tip-off starts at 9:00 p.m. EST.

New York Giants Move On to Face the Pack

Blake Miller — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:34:31 -0500

It appears Eli moves on, and older brother Peyton gets booted.

It is believed that the Cowboys were looking forward to move on and to face an explosive Green Bay offense, but their journey fell short Sunday night in the NFC Division title game.

It was the third time these two have battled each other this year and it appears the Giants got the better end of it. Manning ended the night passing for 163 yards including two touchdowns and zero interceptions. His first came early in the game on the first possession on a 52 yard pass play to Amani Toomer. His second came right before halftime to Toomer again.

Romo never really obtained a passing rhythm going 18 for 36 for 201 yards including one touchdown and one interception. The Giants took the early lead in the game; 7-0.

At the start of the second, Romo and company marched down and capped off a drive on a five-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Owens, who had returned to the field. Dallas was able to score one more time before the half on a one-yard run by the Pro Bowl back Marion Barber who got the start over Julius Jones.

However, the G-Men responded quickly after some good field position and scored on a four-yard pass from Eli to Amani.

At half, the score read 14-14, which seemed to be mysterious and scary for the Cowboy fans. Not much scoring production occured in the third; only three points thanks to the Cowboys' Nick Folk–giving Dallas the go-ahead lead into the fourth quarter; 17-14.

The fourth and final quarter brought points from only one team again, however this time it wasn't the Cowboys. The Giants scored on a one-yard touchdown run by Brandon Jacobs who finished with 54 yards on 14 touches with one touchdown. After the Jacobs score, the haters yelled and the Cowboys watched their lead go down the drain.

Still there was plenty of time on the clock to score and take the lead with 13:56 remaining. However, the Cowboys never got anything to go their way and never got into the red-zone.

As the final seconds ran out for the Cowboys' come-back win, Romo threw an interception to R.W. McQuarters who stepped right in front of Terry Glenn. It marked Romo's second straight disappointing finish to a playoff game, following his flubbed hold of a short field goal in Seattle a year ago.

This one is huge because "America's Team" seemed pointed toward a ninth trip to the Super Bowl, maybe even a sixth championship.

Dallas tied the most wins in team history with 13, but followed it by tying an NFL record with a sixth straight playoff loss. Romo fell to 0-2 and coach Wade Phillips finished his first year with the Cowboys by falling to 0-4 in his playoff career.

Marion Barber, however, would cap off his 2007-08 season well–going for 129 yards with one touchdown. Jason Witten led all receivers with 81 and Toomer with 80.

Owens, who made good on his vow to return from a high ankle sprain sustained three weeks ago, cried behind dark sunglasses with a quivering bottom lip while declaring, "You can point the finger at him, you can talk about the vacation, and if you do that, it's really unfair. That's my teammate. We lost as a team."