Dave’s Football Blog

The situation in New Orleans appears to be far worse than anyone ever expected. More than 80% of the city is flooded, and those flood waters are starting to collect around the Superdome. The refugees inside the dome are going to be moved to the unused Houston Astrodome as part of the Governor’s mandatory evacuation of the city.

As for the Saints, they will be making camp in San Antonio following their preseason game with the Raiders on Thursday. Where they will actually play their games remains to be seen. LSU has a 90,000 seat stadium in Baton Rouge, which is about 78 miles northwest of New Orleans, but the campus may become a major center in the rescue effort. Saints owner Tom Benson has strong business ties in San Antonio and may be able to use the Alamodome for several home games, though the NFL will surely frown on a team playing so far away from home, no matter what the situation.

Writer Kaycee Nilson is openly wondering whether the Saints will have a New Orleans to march home to. I imagine she’s not the only one. I also imagine this is not the way Tom Benson thought he might leave New Orleans…

The following players were cut earlier this week:

1. Peerless Price, WR, Atlanta Falcons

2. Peter Warrick, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
3. Chad Hutchinson, QB, Chicago Bears

The Price cut may be the highest profile cut of the week. Price, who was successful as a receiver in Buffalo, was supposed to be Michael Vick’s go-to receiver. Obviously, that didn’t work out. I suspect, however, that Price will catch on somewhere else — possibly with the Eagles, who are in dire need of receivers behind Terrell Owens and Greg Lewis right about now.

Warrick might catch on with someone as well, but he now has a reputation as being a little too fragile, which is poison around the NFL. He might need to go north of the border for a season or two to get his legs back under him.

As for Hutchinson… well, Chad was a bust in Dallas and Chicago. We won’t be hearing from him again for a while. Tim Couch will be back in the NFL first.

CBS Sportsline’s Clark Judge has decided to put the Kiss of Death(TM) on the Carolina Panthers.

I know it’s the Kiss of Death(TM), because CBS Sportsline is making Firefox crash left and right this morning.

I watched a little bit of the Rams-Lions preseason game last night. Watching Detroit fans boo in the second quarter and begin their mass exodus halfway through the third quarter was far more amusing than the average episode of Mind of Mencia. (Sure, the Pope Cheech I bit was really funny, but c’mon…) If the Lions don’t turn it around this year, Matt Millen can look forward to a long career in the announcer’s booth.

It still begs the question, though — are the Lions really that bad, or are the Rams really that good? Their defense tore through the Lions’ offensive line like it was one of those gigantic paper signs your high school team runs through before kickoff. Plus, RB Stephen Jackson and QB Marc Bulger both looked solid, and judging from his sideline interview, Marshall Faulk is giving Jackson his blessing. (Or at least putting on a brave face…)

Perhaps the Rams and even the Cardinals will raise the level of play from the Division of Oz this year? Granted, that won’t take much, but unless the Packers’ O-line mans up and Kyle Orton turns into Peyton Manning overnight, the NFC North could take the NFC West’s title of “Worst Division in the NFL.” When Mike Tice’s Vikings are your lead dog, the view is even worse than usual…

Vic Carucci of NFL.com seems to think the Panthers are poised for greatness this season.

How good are the Panthers?

After preseason victories over the New York Giants and Detroit Lions, Browns coach Romeo Crennel was cautiously pleased with the progress he had seen from his team. But he viewed the Panthers as the greatest test to date for a club still finding its way in the middle of a major overhaul. He even saw a moral victory in the outcome….

It is clear the Panthers see themselves as belonging among the better teams in the league. They should. They are not rebuilding from scratch. They are fine-tuning a team whose greatest offseason accomplishment is getting players back from injury and returning to the form that was good enough for a Super Bowl appearance two seasons ago.

That’s the best thing about being both a Steelers and Panthers fan — it’s fairly rare for both teams to start sucking during the same season.

Official word out of Pittsburgh is that Jerome Bettis will be out for at least two weeks with a calf injury. The Bus will not be available for the season opener against Tennessee but might be able to play after that.

So barring any more injuries (knock on wood), Willie Parker will start, Verron Haynes will be the third-down back, and rookie Noah Herron will fill in wherever needed. No word yet on whether Maurice Clarett will show up at Heinz Field holding a cardboard sign with “WILL WORK FOR FOOD” scrawled on it.

I hate seeing what’s happening to New Orleans right now. It’s a city I never had a chance to visit before Hurricane Katrina blew into town, and I hope it gets the opportunity to rebuild once the worst is over. If you’re stuck down there, stay as safe as you can.

As a football fan, though, the thing piquing my curiosity the most is how Saints owner Tom Benson will react to this storm. Katrina didn’t just punch holes in the Superdome roof; it also destroyed just about any hope that Benson has of getting a new stadium in New Orleans. If the city and state didn’t have the money before, they damn sure won’t have it now.

The Superdome may not even be ready by Sept. 18 for the Saints’ home opener against the Giants, in no small part because it may still be needed for shelter by then. New Orleans will be cleaning up from Katrina for months. A storm like this can either unite a city behind its teams — much like Hurricane Andrew did for “the U” — or it could tear it to shreds.

So how will Benson respond to this? Will he start trying to foster some good will (for a change) in Louisiana and repair his reputation? Or will he use this storm as a final excuse to pack up the Saints and head west? Any team sharing a division with both the Falcons and the Panthers needs all the help it can get, so Benson’s reaction to Katrina may be the most crucial factor in the Saints’ success this season.

Which is pretty sad, but not nearly as sad as what this storm is doing to New Orleans…

So now Jerome Bettis has an injured right calf and will miss at least the season opener. Plus, Duce Staley is still rehabbing his torn meniscus and will likely not see any action until Week 5, right after the Steelers’ bye week.

You know what this means, right? Willie Parker is going to get the ball and the spotlight.

In fact, from the looks of things, Bill Cowher is going to sit Parker out of next week’s exhibition game against the Panthers, a move that Parker, who’s from North Carolina, doesn’t really like. Nevertheless, it’s a move that helps ensure Parker will be ready for Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans.

I still believe strongly that this kid is going to open some eyes around this league. With Ben Roethlisberger struggling a bit so far this preseason, he may have to. Stay subscribed to this one, folks…

Remember that doctor on 60 Minute who allegedly susbcribed steroids to three Carolina Panthers players? Well, the NFL looked into that and found that the Panthers didn’t know about it and didn’t authorize it. What’s more, the players who were caught visiting the steroid doc probably won’t be suspended, because they didn’t actually violate the NFL’s drug policy — which is much like saying Neil O’Donnell wasn’t the MVP for the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX, but you get the idea.

Of those three players, only center Jeff Mitchell is still with the Panthers. Todd Steussie wears Buccanneer pewter, and Todd Sauerbrun was dumped on the Broncos. I hope they have a lot of meat loaf in Denver…

The success of Correll Buckhalter in the Philadelphia Eagles backfield in 2003 made then-holdout Duce Staley seem expendable. Thanks to a torn patellar tendon in his right knee, Buckhalter didn’t play in 2004. Now, it appears the same injury will keep him out of action in 2005.

He’s not going to recover from this, folks. Tim Couch will be playing in the NFL again before Correll Buckhalter.

Perhaps the Eagles and Bears could discuss a trade. How about rookie holdout Cedric Benson for backup QB Mike McMahon and next year’s first-round draft pick? Someone ought to be thinking about these things, people…