HEADLOCKS AND HANDOFFS
By Charlie Dudley on 7/23/2008 10:46 AM
Giants and Saints better-off after Shockey trade
The New York Giants traded Jeremy Shockey to the New Orleans Saints for second and fifth round draft picks in 2009. Shockey, when healthy and quiet, is among the elite tight ends in the NFL. The problem with Shockey, he wasn’t healthy or quiet for the Giants last season. He only had three touchdowns and none after week 10.
Many argue that the Giants are better without Shockey, and I would have to agree. The Giants no longer have to contend with a under producing, loud-mouth that wants the ball all the time. The Giants are left with Kevin Boss as the starter, who is pretty talented but needs work on his blocking.
The Saints, on the other hand, benefit greatly from the addition of Shockey. Now Drew Brees has another option to add to Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and Reggie Bush. Shockey is a definite upgrade at tight end from Eric Johnson and Billy Miller. Shockey will prevent a lot of teams from double-teaming Colston or Bush.
Both the Giants and the Saints got better in this trade, which is usually the idea. However, when you try to shop an outspoken underperformer, you very rarely get great market value for him. Kevin Boss has a shot to be the starter in New York now, and Shockey will draw attention and be a viable third option grouped with Bush and Colston.
Jason Taylor: Dancing with the Redskins
The Washington Redskins lost defensive end Phillip Daniels for the year and replaced him with Pro Bowler Jason Taylor. The Redskins only gave up a second round draft pick in 2009 and a sixth rounder in 2010.
Taylor, 33, is still a viable option at defensive end. He had 11 sacks and 55 tackles last year on the abysmal Miami Dolphins. Taylor will join a pretty good defense in Washington. He will line-up with the likes of Cornelius Griffin and Andre Carter on the defensive line; he may even drop back and play some linebacker along-side London Fletcher and Marcus Washington.
Taylor has already started practice with the Redskins and changed his number. Instead of wearing 99 like in Miami, he will wear 55 because he will be linebacker eligible, according to the Redskins roster. The Dolphins can continue to rebuild their franchise with the draft picks, and they don’t have to deal with the distractions of Taylor being unhappy.
Taylor will now have to play his brother-in-law, Dallas linebacker Zach Thomas, twice a season. Despite the two not lining up against one another, I’m sure that will be a played up story come their first meeting on September 28.
Raw Thoughts
Raw opened with random ramblings about who was going to take charge of the brand with the McMahons absent. It made since that JBL was thrusting himself into the title picture again. Oh wait, it didn’t. JBL needs to be far away from any belt that isn’t holding up his pants. Batista had a somewhat legitimate claim to a title shot, but with Kane going psycho, did he really expect to get a straight shot?
It was good to see Paul London on TV for the second straight week, but he got squashed again. Having ties to Shawn Michaels, at least for now, gets him a paycheck while the HBK-Jericho feud is ongoing. Jericho’s promo was really well done and what we, as fans, have grown to expect. Jericho is upping his game as that heinous heel. When he was running down the crowd for their morals, I had flashbacks to a heel Bret Hart’s anti-American promos about morality.
The Beth Phoenix-Santino Marella love interest angle should be weird and interesting. I thought, once again, Santino was hilarious on the mic. Who would think that hearing about fallopian tubes on WWE TV would be funny? Phoenix just owned Kelly Kelly and exerted her strength like only the Glamazon can. Kelly is much improved and seems to be getting better by the week.
The Hacksaw-Lawler stuff was fine to set up DiBiase and Rhodes coming out. I was really excited to hear Hacksaw wanting to quit, because it’s about time he retired the 2 x 4. DiBiase and Rhodes were once again great heels and I’m looking forward to their future in the business. It’s always great to see Jerry Lawler slap the taste out of someone’s mouth, even if he is old enough to be their father.
The return of D-Lo Brown was cool, if you remembered who he was. The only reason I remembered his music was because I was playing WWE The Music: Volume 4 the other day trying to find a song for my radio show. He is a decent worker and in a lot better shape than most returning guys his age. The fans didn’t seem to know who he was, but WWE can give him a new spot or educate the fans on his old one. Hopefully they will actually do something with him.
The main event was fine until JBL came out. I’m dreading JBL getting a shot at the belt again, and I’m leery that WWE might want us to pay money to see it. JBL needs to feud with Cena and finish up that snoozer before he ruins anyone else. He already made me dread a Chris Jericho match, which goes against every fiber of my being. Now JBL is probably hindering Cena from working with someone that can make him look good in the ring and that people might be interested in seeing. I really didn’t mind Punk-Batista for free because I knew it was gonna be a no-contest eventually. WWE’s booking is not doing Punk any favors. They haven’t killed his momentum yet but he is inching closer to Rey Mysterio territory.
The Cena-Batista confrontation at the end of Raw was well done. It showed us one big money match they could do on Raw. Finally, WWE practiced some sort of restraint in flying through new feuds.
Ass Clown of the Week Nominees
On my radio show each week, we give out an award to the dumbest person in the world of sports and wrestling. On Monday, we nominate people and give the award out on Thursday’s show. I’m now going to post nominees in the column, as well as, talk about them on my show. Just to give you an idea of who has won our prestigious award before here is a list:
Willie Randolph
- He won the first ever award for playing the race card instead of realizing that the Mets sucked at the time.
Nick Hogan
- He won for reasons I don’t need to explain.
Travis Henry
- Henry won the award for not showing up to work and getting released from the Broncos. He also has 9 kids by 9 different women that certainly helped his case.
FormerUniversity of Alabama QB, Kenny Stabler
- Stabler won for getting a DUI at 62. Overwhelming caller vote gave Stabler the win because in Auburn, we hate everything Alabama.
Headless Six Flags Guy
- An unnamed teenager won the award for walking into a restricted area at Six Flags Over Georgia and getting decapitated by the Batman ride.
The American League Players
- The AL players won for voting Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek onto the All-Star team, despite the fact he was hitting below .220 at the time.
Quentin “Rampage” Jackson
- Our most recent winner was Rampage Jackson for his shenanigans that you can read about in my last column.
This week’s nominee is Brandon Vera for urging the UFC fans to support Rampage Jackson even though he almost killed people evading police.
If you have any nominees, send them to my email address below. Be sure to check out Handoffs and Headlocks each and every Thursday for the Ass Clown of the Week winner. I will also do a write-up each Friday on the winner.
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My column here is an extension of the topics I cover on my radio show on WEGL 91.1 FM on the campus of Auburn University in Auburn, Ala. You can listen to the show “Handoffs and Headlocks” online at www.wegl91.com by clicking streaming and selecting a media player. The show airs during the summer on Monday at 1-3 p.m., Tuesday 1-2 p.m. and Thursday 1-3 p.m. (Note: All times are Central Standard Time).
Handoffs and Headlocks: No Hype Necessary, Just That Damn Good
