Back in 2007 and 2008, I wrote a weekly online pro football column dubbed “Fourth and Long” for the late Football for Breakfast website. One hopes the gentle reader will enjoy this blast from 9/19/07…

Remember when everyone spoke in hushed and reverent tones about the ‘Patriot Way’?

Not anymore.

In the past four and half months, the Patriots have signed Randy Moss, the most disrespectful player in the league (and that’s saying something); Patriots defensive leader Rodney Harrison, SI’s Dirtiest Player of the Year in 2004 and 2006, has admitted to using HGH; and now Bill Belichick has been sanctioned $500,000 by the commissioner for cheating.

So much for the Patriot way.

Yet some pundits have argued that Spygate is much ado about nothing.

Everyone does it. You still gotta play the game. It doesn’t help much.

But the point these pundits are missing, it seems, is that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell expressly reiterated to teams in the offseason that it was illegal to videotape signals. Period.

With the knowledge that this reminder was sent specifically to stop the Patriots from continuing their rumored spying operations, Bill Belichick still ordered Matt Estrella to illegally videotape the Jets defensive signals in plain sight of everyone.

It was an arrogant and brazen flaunting of the rules and as such needed be punished to ensure that no one would ever attempt this again. If players are to be held to a higher standard, then organizations and coaches certainly should be, too.

Was the penalty too harsh? Well, half a million dollars is nothing to sneeze at. And a first round draft pick ain’t chump change. But Belichick should have been suspended for at least one game. The level of hubris he exhibited certainly deserved a more public humiliation. And a suspension is about as close to a 20th century version of the pillory that exists.

Or at the very least, Belichick should have been forced to hold a one-hour prime-time press conference on ESPN where he was required, with Goodell sitting next to him, to answer every question posed to him from the press.

None of this ‘I’m moving on’ or ‘I’m focused on the Chargers’ crap.

Make no mistake. Bill Belichick allowed this to happen.

He needlessly opened himself and the Patriots to this criticism, giving everyone who hates the Patriots the ammunition to take shots at them. Ammunition that they did not have 4 1/2 months ago.

Winning the Super Bowl may diminish the volume of the critics. Anything less will not.

And Bill Belichick has no one to blame but himself.

‘Larry King’ Ramblings

It seems we have learned an important lesson in the first year of Roger Goodell’s reign: Don’t mess with him. The NFL landscape is littered with the remains of players and coaches who took him lightly. Pacman Jones. Tank Johnson. Michael Vick. Rodney Harrison. Wade Wilson. And now future Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick. Who’s next?

What’s up with LT this year. Wasn’t this the guy who was praised for just handing the ball to the referee after a touchdown? Now he’s posing just like everyone else. And the Chargers did an awful lot of talking in the buildup to the Patriots game. Talking that they did not back up. Say what you will about Marty Schottenheimer, but the Chargers showed a lot more class with him in charge.

Speaking of Chargers coaches, why did Norv Turner need to make such a big deal out of spying? He even went so far as to change the team’s routine by holding back the offensive gameplan until the morning of the game. Doesn’t that just take focus away from the game? And why are the Chargers relying so heavily on Philip Rivers? Last year, the Chargers were successful running the ball with LT, then opening up the pass. If I remember correctly, it worked out pretty well for them. Maybe Schottenheimer and Cameron knew something that Turner doesn’t.

Did anyone else notice that the Jaguars game was blacked out in Jacksonville? This after they closed up 10,000 seats following the 2004 season. Not a good sign for the franchise. Don’t be surprised to see the Jaguars playing somewhere else in five years.

The Heidi Chronicles

Talk about dominance. Sunday Night Football beat the Emmy Awards in the ratings… I admit I have been critical of NBC’s Football in America, so I was happy to see improvements this week. And it didn’t hurt to have Bob Costas interview Roger Goodell. Good stuff… Monday Night Football is fun again thanks to chemistry between Jaworski, Kornheiser and Tirico, but Charles Barkley stole the show in the third quarter. In one particularly funny exchange after Tirico claimed the Eagles should have beaten the Packers in week one, Barkley responded, “If I didn’t eat so much, I wouldn’t be fat.” ESPN should bring him back every week.

The Joe Pisarcik Award

This week’s award has to go to ESPN for erroneously reporting that Eli Manning would miss four to six weeks with a separated shoulder. To make matters worse, when the Giants disputed the report, Chris Mortenson and John Clayton stuck to their guns and implied the Giants were lying. The proof is in the pudding. Eli Manning started Sunday, going 16-29 for 211 yards and 1 TD.

Playoffs?!? Don’t Talk About Playoffs?!?

With apologies to Jim Mora, it’s never too early to talk playoffs…

AFC Playoff Seeds
1) Indianapolis Colts (2-0): The Titans always play the Colts tough. Until they lose, I shall be ranking the defending champions as the top seed.
2) New England Patriots (2-0): Wow. 19-0 anyone?
3) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0): Two wins to start the Tomlin era. A fairly easy schedule bodes well.
4) Denver Broncos (2-0): Another win eked out. But you can’t argue with 2-0.
5) Houston Texans (2-0): Winning after being down 14-0 on the road is huge. Very impressive win.
6) Cleveland Browns (1-1): The Brady Quinn era is put on hold in an offensive explosion (554 yards in total offense, 5 TD passes). Derek Anderson for MVP!

NFC Playoff Seeds
1) Dallas Cowboys (2-0): Another impressive offensive show. The Bears will be a good test to see how good the Cowboys really are.
2) Green Bay Packers (2-0): Brett Favre becomes the all-time winningest QB, but more importantly, the offense earns this win. But going 2-0 against opponents with a combined record of 0-4 may be misleading. The big test comes this week against the Chargers.
3) San Francisco 49ers (2-0): They may not be impressive, but they are undefeated.
4) Carolina Panther (1-1): Panthers or Buccaneers? Gotta go with the Panthers for right now, but losing at home after being up 14-0 is not a good sign.
5) Detroit Lions (2-0): Kitna may not be crazy after all.
6) Washington Redskins (2-0): Tremendous improvement over last week. Winning in Philly on a Monday night is nothing to sneeze at.

The John Madden Wayback Machine

As John Madden has repeatedly said, the NFL needs to embrace its heritage the way baseball does. So every week I hope to bring back a fond memory or share of a forgotten moment from football seasons past, beginning with the College All-Star Game.

From 1934 to 1976, the NFL champion would face off against College All-Stars in an annual charity game, traditionally at Soldier Field in Chicago. The game was a competitive affair in the 1930s and 1940s when the National Football League was still in its infancy, but in the 1960s and 1970s, the games tended to be more one-sided.

Interestingly, the last College All-Star victory came in 1963 when Otto Graham lead the collegians over Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers! By 1976, crowds had begun to dwindle, and the final game was called in the third quarter with the Pittsburgh Steelers up 24-0 due to a driving rainstorm and unruly fans.

In the final tally, the NFL champions went 31-9-2.

For a more complete history of the College All-Star Game, make sure to visit Mark Bolding’s great Chicago Charities All-Star Game page.

The Battle for Brian Brohm (or Darren McFadden or Whoever the #1 Pick Will Be)

Winless teams in the running to ‘earn’ the top pick in the 2008 draft…

#1 – Atlanta Falcons (0-2): Best chance for victory slips away. Will Leftwich and 47-years-young Morten Anderson make a difference?
#2 – Miami Dolphins (0-2): Not a very good team.
#3 – Kansas City Chiefs (0-2): Ditto.
#4 – New Orleans Saints (0-2): Probably unfair to put them here, but they were 3-13 two years ago and have not looked good this year.
#5 – Buffalo Bills (0-2): Very emotional game. But not an auspicious start to the season.
#6 – St. Louis Rams (0-2): You can’t start the season with two home losses.
#7 – NY Jets (0-2): Justin McCareins drops two TDs in the final minute to seal the loss.
#8 – NY Giants (0-2): Eli shows his courage and gains the respect of the whole team, but 0-2 is 0-2.
#9 – Oakland Raiders (0-2): Another heartbreaking loss. I’m really starting to hate these last milli-second time outs.
#10 – Philadelphia Eagles (0-2): I doubt they will stay on this list for long, but they are tied for the worst record in the league.

Back in 2007 and 2008, I wrote a weekly online pro football column dubbed “Fourth and Long” for the late Football for Breakfast website. One hopes the gentle reader will enjoy this blast from 9/12/07…

Welcome to the inaugural Fourth and Long column from Football for Breakfast. Everybody and their sister writes a Monday morning football column so I decided that I needed to do something (completely) different like a Tuesday morning column. But Peter King owns Monday AND Tuesday mornings (bastard!) with Monday Morning Quarterback and MMQB — Tuesday Edition, so I’m taking the path of least resistance and doing a Wednesday morning column. At least until Peter King does MMQB — Wednesday Edition (bastard!).

Let me introduce the weekly features (with more to come in future weeks)…

Larry King Ramblings

Remember Larry King’s old USA Today column? This is my homage to that wonderful bit of inanity.

Isn’t it great to have football back?

Who needs the preseason? Randy Moss didn’t even practice and looked like a man among boys on that 51-yard TD catch running past three Jet DBs. 9 catches, 183 yards. Wonder if the Packers regret not trading that 4th round pick for him.

The Patriots are caught spying… again! Suddenly every team in America is revealing that the Patriots were spying on them. I’m interested to see what sort of punishment Goodell will be meting out.

Isn’t the difference between winning and losing amazing? The Broncos make a last second kick and suddenly everything is rosy. Wonder what the pundits would be saying if Elam missed that kick? Probably that Cutler will never have the Elway touch.

Speaking of Elway, remember when he couldn’t win the big game? After one particularly ignominious Super Bowl loss, the joke going around was that Elway had attempted suicide after the game. He put the gun to his head, pulled the trigger and missed. But now he is remembered as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time. I guess winning a couple of Super Bowls will do that to you.

Is it just me or are the Eagles a better team when they don’t rely upon Donovan McNabb? Don’t get me wrong, McNabb is a terrific QB, but the rest of the players seem to wait for him to make a play instead of acting like a team when Garcia stepped in last year.

My prayers go out to the Kevin Everett and his family. Here’s hoping that recent news reports that suggest he might recover enough to walk again are accurate.

The Heidi Chronicles

Another homage, this time to the legendary Heidi game, covers my random thoughts on the television coverage and commercials of the 2007 NFL season.

Reggie Bush has become so smooth in commercials this year. Last year, he looked like a stiff and now he’s holding his own against Peyton Manning.

Is it just me or is the NBC pre-game “Football in America” simply unwatchable? The banter feels shockingly insincere.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football, year two is much better than year one. The improved chemistry is palpable and Kornheiser, Jaworski and Tirico seem be enjoying themselves immensely. But the halftime version of Pardon the Interruption just doesn’t cut it, and I love PTI.

Chad, that’s it? A coat?

Should pro football games really end at 2:00am? The NFL and ESPN need to come up with a better way to celebrate the end of opening weekend.

The Joe Pisarcik Award

In the rush to break stories first, websites and media outlets have been reporting more and more misleading or inaccurate information. From Eli Manning’s (slightly) separated shoulder to Charlie Frye (definitely) staying in Cleveland, a lot of pundits (from ESPN to internet sites) have gotten some of these reports spectacularly wrong. I don’t mind rumors flying around at lightning speed (it’s kinda fun, actually), but no one seems to be keeping score. Until now.

Starting next week, I’ll be presenting the Joe Pisarcik Award of Miracle in the Meadowlands fame detailing the most inaccurate reporting out there.

Playoffs?!? Don’t Talk About Playoffs?!?

Thanks to Coach Mora, I will be picking the playoff teams as I see them for the week based on best records and personal bias. For those of you offended that your team is missing, bear in mind that I am rewarding those teams who are winning now (and frankly may not be winning later). If your team is so great, they will actually be in the playoffs come January, a much better reward than being listed in a column that no one reads.

AFC
#1 Seed – Indianapolis Colts (1-0): The defending champions certainly looked like it in the second half against the Saints.
#2 Seed – New England Patriots (1-0): This team is scary good. And how fair is it that the Patriots have improved on special teams with Ellis Hobbs returning a kickoff an NFL record 108 yards?
#3 Seed – Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0): Four TDs for Big Ben, but only 12 for 23 passing. The Steelers need a bigger challenge to know if they are truly back, but a nice inaugural win for Mike Tomlin.
#4 Seed – San Diego (1-0): Even though the Chargers pull out the win, they certainly did not look impressive. The Bears stuff LT for 25 yards on 17 carries. I am surprised by the number of commentators who are calling this a positive win. The Chargers did not look good in this game. Does it mean they will miss the playoffs? No. But just because they are labeled the most talented team in the history of the NFL, does not mean this was a good win.
Wild Card #1 – Tennessee Titans (1-0): All Vince Young does is win.
Wild Card #2 – Houston Texans (1-0): Two sacks and fumble recovery for touchdown for Mario Williams who has been unfairly maligned for not being Reggie Bush or Vince Young. And Schaub had a nice game to give the Texans a much-deserved opening win.

NFC
#1 Seed – Dallas Cowboys (1-0): Romo is very impressive, but self-described defensive genius Wade Phillips better fix that porous defense. And with two TD catches, T.O. staves off talk of dropped passes for another week.
#2 Seed – Carolina Panther (1-0): Jake is back on track.
#3 Seed – Green Bay Packers (1-0): Big win over the Eagles. Brett Favre still loves to play football.
#4 Seed – Seattle Seahawks (1-0): The best of the West.
Wild Card #1: Detroit Lions (1-0): A win is a win is a win. Maybe Kitna isn’t so crazy after all.
Wild Card #2: Minnesota Vikings (1-0): Adrian Peterson looks really good. 100-yard game and what a sweet touchdown catch and run.

The Battle for Brian Brohm (or Darren McFadden or Whoever the #1 Pick Will Be)

The teams most likely to ‘earn’ the top pick in the 2008 draft…
#1 – Atlanta Falcons (0-1): What a long season this is going to be for Falcons fans. Joey Harrington’s third chance to be a star in this league looks to end like the first two.
#2 – Cleveland Browns (0-1): Romeo, oh Romeo. Poor handling of the QB situation is coming back to haunt Romeo Crennel. How much longer before he realizes that Brady Quinn is the future of this franchise and needs to get game experience.
#3 – Kansas City Chiefs (0-1): I love Herm Edwards (“You play to win the game!”), but maybe he should spend less time doing commercials for the NFL Network and more time getting his team ready.
#4 – Miami Dolphins (0-1): Everyone seems to be praising Cam Cameron for going for the TD at the end of the first half, but I still think he should have kicked the FG.
#5 – Oakland Raiders (0-1): Until this team actually wins a game, it’s hard not to keep them on the list.