Posted by Will Brinson



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• MJD's taking the proverbial dog by the leash when it comes to offseason NFL boredom, creating a set of Westminster Dog Show comparisons to professional football players. That sounds crazy until you see the amazing first photo that involves Carson Palmer and an English Springer Spaniel with really droopy eyes and its ears in some sort of terrible ties.

• What happens when the NFL takes one of Georgia coach Mark Richt's assistants? He raids an NFL for his replacement, duh.

• Chuck Cecil -- you may remember him from such films as "My Middle Finger Caught on National TV" -- will interview for the Steelers defensive backs coaching gig.

• Former Texans DC Frank Bush got a new job as the Titans linebackers coach.

• Could Malcom Floyd be a fit for the Falcons in free agency? Dave Choate of the Falcoholic thinks it's a possibility.

• Adam Rank of NFL.com has the top-six NFL/WWE comparisons. It's like dogs but with less faking.

• Mike Tice has reportedly gotten an extension from the Bears for his work as offensive line coach. Or, as we like to call it, "

• Great read by Sally Jenkins on the labor situation at The Washington Post.

• Is there anyone out there that wants to argue that Da'Quan Bowers is a better pick for the Panthers than Nick Fairley? Yes, yes there is.

• Blogging the Boys breaks down the changes in positional coaches for Dallas this offseason.

Posted by Will Brinson



Got a link for the Hot Routes? Hit us up on Twitter (@CBSSportsNFL).

• Ron Artest apparently said at Christmas time that he wants to play tight end for the Jets. All "could this guy actually make the transition from the NBA to the NFL" analysis aside, is there an NBA player who fits better for a particular NFL team better than Artest and the Jets? "Crazy Pills," as Artest is commonly known, wouldn't even be a blip on the radar for that organization.

• 287 carries, 63 receptions and zero fumbles for Ray Rice this season. You know, for all those people who think he was a wasted top-five draft pick in fantasy.

• Mike Tice's stock is quickly rising when it comes to assistants who are potential head coaches. This is logical -- the Chicago Bears have one of the least talented offensive lines in football and yet Tice and Mike Martz have managed to make them pretty, pretty productive ever since the Bears' bye week.

• Would a rookie wage scale increase the number of underclassmen who bolt for the NFL? Well, not necessarily, but maybe so if that makes any sense. If not, check out Mike Florio's breakdown on how the changes in a future CBA would impact kids leaving college early.

• With two catches on Sunday, Derrick Mason would join a pretty exclusive club. Currently, Jerry Rice and Tony Gonzalez are the only two players to ever catch 60-plus balls in 11 straight seasons. Two receptions for Mason would get him there.

• Charlie Campbell of PewterReport.com reports that Cadillac Williams will "explore [his] options" in free agency. But Caddy also mentioned how much he loves playing for the Bucs. Which is good, because his free agency options will likely be pretty limited.

• Alan Faneca is contemplating retirement. That's the sort of thing that happens when you have to block for Derek Anderson, Max Hall and John Skelton all season.

• The Cowboys signed kicker Kris Brown, who's expected to give David Buehler a run for his money as the starter in 2011.

• The Falcons are looking forward to playing the Saints again, but they won't make too much (publicly anyway) about the Saints celebrating on Atlanta's home field after Monday night's victory.

• Roy Williams inexplicably compares himself to Michael Jordan. Maybe he was talking about the minor league baseball player?

Posted by Will Brinson

The Bears rushing attack isn't what one would call "potent." In fact, at 68.8 yards per game and 275 total yards, they don't just average less yards than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who feature Cadillac Williams who features a 2.5 yards per carry average!), and Tampa's only played three games. 

Or put more simply, the Bears are in next-to-last. And it's starting to get frustrating, of course.

"It's frustrating to the nth power," running back Matt Forte said to the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's very disappointing and frustrating. I'm a running back; you want to run the ball."

Adding to Forte's frustration is that the Bears have only even tried to run the ball 84 times; Denver, in dead last in yards per game is at least over 100 attempts on the season (and not to mention they aren't repeatedly punching their quarterback depth chart in the side of the head, metaphorically speaking). 

He's not the only one frustrated either -- Olin Kruetz, Mike Tice, Lovie Smith, Chester Taylor and pretty much everyone except Mike Martz made it seem kind of silly that they weren't at least trying to tote the rock a little bit. Indeed, the point of the article seemed to involve some sort of "tipping point" for everyone's gaskets getting blown about passing on every down.

But, hey, Martz is the guy who got them to a division-leading 3-1, and, well, now's certainly not the time to question his strategy. After all, look how safe and healthy and his quarterbacks are! 

Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Just because we can’t help ourselves, we’re bringing you the latest Randy Moss speculation (seriously, it’s like when you’re jonesing for some coffee, and your hands shake until you get the caffeine past your lips, that’s the effect these Moss stories are having on me).

According to csnne.com, which talked to former New England WR Troy Brown, Moss ignored Patriots coach Bill Belichick and refused to speak to him on the flight home from Miami on Sunday.

"Apparently, Belichick came to the back of the plane to speak with Randy and Randy just pretty much ignored him and didn't respond to anything he had to say," said Brown. "I guess there were a few other members of the team – some front-office people and maybe some players – that tried to talk to him, just talk to him in general, and he didn't respond to those guys, either.”

In the past two days, if you believe that he ignored Belichick a few hours after getting into a heated confrontation with QB coach Bill O’Brien, Moss’ immaturity has once again come to the forefront.

You have to wonder how Minnesota coach Brad Childress will handle what could be his team’s newest problem child. Especially when you think back to how Moss acted the first time he played for the Vikings (walking off the field before games were over, pretending to moon the Lambeau Field crowd). Mike Tice couldnt handle him. Childress now gets his chance.

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