Press Row

What Are Abbott Lines?

Let’s get this straight. Forty-Niner coach Mike Nolan is entitled to his reasons, is entitled to this charade of two quarterbacks competing for the starting job. He’s the boss, and the boss can create competition if that’s what makes him happy.

But it’s a phony competition because Alex Smith is a better quarterback than Shaun Hill, and Alex Smith should be the Niners’ quarterback. And he will be. …

“It’s not the same as baseball where hitting is hitting. Here, depending on the coaching system, your role is completely different. For me, that’s changed year-to-year-to-year. I feel a little handicapped in development when you only get to play one year under a system. (Peyton) Manning has had the same coordinator 11 years.”

Smith stopped, sighed. “You hate to make excuses,” he said. …

I said most quarterbacks have enormous egos. Does he?

“I would consider myself very normal.”

Is that good or bad?

“In the bigger picture of life, it’s a good thing. When it comes to professional sports, it can be a bad thing. A large ego and a little bit of arrogance is good. There are times I get down on myself because of it (normal ego). Whether you call it doubt or hesitance, sometimes that comes through for me and I don’t like it.”

Does he ever get angry?

“I do. It manifests itself differently. I can scream and yell, but in the general picture I’m a pretty easygoing person. I try not to let insignificant things bother me. I tend to internalize. That can work against me. I get down on myself.” ~ Lowell Cohn, Santa Rosa Press Democrat / The Cohn Zone, Mr. Smith Unplugged, 7/27

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Q [Mark Curnette]: Every year it comes up - and you changed defensive coordinators again in the offseason - how sick are you of the “defensive guru” label and the question why your defense in Cincinnati is not nearly as good as your defense in Baltimore?

A [Marvin Lewis]: I was a hell of a defensive coordinator. People don’t understand - I picked the players there. We had a great run of picking players. Here, our players haven’t worked the same. We’ve been injured (linebacker David Pollack); they’re no longer here (linebacker Odell Thurman). For whatever reason, free agents (linebacker Nate Webster) got hurt. We haven’t had the same fortune.

I’m not the general manager, basically. I think that’s different, as well. We’ve hit on some good players. (Defensive players in Baltimore) liked playing with each other; they went into second contracts. They liked each other. They had fun. The draft picks - (linebacker Jamie) Sharper, (safety Kim) Herring, (linebacker) Ray Lewis and (linebacker Peter) Boulware - those four guys kind of grew up together, and we added a core group of guys behind them. All the pieces kind of fit together.

You have to have some good fortune and have players come through the system.

And, I think, secondly, we’re overshadowed (in Cincinnati) by an offense. Here, even when the offense turns the football over, it’s always the defense’s fault. Bad things happened to us offensively last year. Because of injury and bad play on defense, we couldn’t quite right the ship. They finished the season strong again. ~ Mark Curnette, Cincinnati Enquirer, Q&A With Marvin Lewis, 7/27

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The payoff will come once the season starts. The media will have a new built-in angle to pump if either team gets off slowly. Prior to this season, it’s always about players and coaches.

Let’s say either team loses its first three. How long before some talk radio gasbag, or columnist, factors this Personal Seat License (PSL) ripoff into the equation?

It will sound something like this: “The (Giants or Jets) want you to spring for $40,000 in PSL dough for the garbage they are putting on the field?” Hey, if you don’t think each team is capable of sliding, think again. After all, this is the NFL. Its PR machine, and the leagues media lackeys (many of them work for networks that are in bed financially with the NFL) have created the parity myth.

In the NFL, because of its economic system, which breaks up teams faster than a short order cook can crack a couple of eggs, it’s all about mediocrity.

Now, the Giants and Jets economics include PSLs. This is legalized extortion. It’s also nothing more than a form of corporate welfare for the owners of both teams. The pressure is going to trickle down. Giants and Jets players are not just playing to win, they are playing to make sure fans will be willing to go into hock in order to pay the price for a PSL. And then be price gouged for tickets as well.

It’s one thing to spring for major dough when the product is good, quite another when you are being asked by ownership to financially support a loser. Of course there is precedent suggesting that morons, er, fans will pay through the nose for garbage.

People still buy Knicks tickets, right? ~ Bob Raissman, New York Daily News, If Jets and Giants struggle, media will hammer Personal Seat Licenses, 7/26

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Quarterback Philip Rivers nods when reminded how painful September was in the wake of the Super Bowl banter that permeated Chargers Park last July and August.

“There was so much hype last year and so much expectation, and all through training camp it was ‘Super Bowl,’ and we were not afraid to talk about it,” Rivers said. “I fell into that trap, too.

“Not that we weren’t focused, but it just seemed all the focus was on the ultimate goal.

“Subconsciously, we took some things for granted. Maybe we overlooked the meat-and-potatoes part of the deal and were looking ahead to dessert.” …

“I think the expectations are more of a reality now, more of what’s really expected,” Rivers said. “We have an understanding of what it really takes. We didn’t know what it was like to play in an AFC Championship Game. We didn’t know what it was like to go on the road and knock off the defending champs.

“But now we know. So when all these things come arising again —- which we hope we get the opportunity again —- then we’ve actually been through it.” ~ Mike Sullivan, North County Times, After Super disappointment, Bolts know talk is cheap, 7/27

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The Colts have had two full practices so far. At No. 3 this afternoon — the first in pads — they’ll already feel the effects of the league’s stricter training camp roster limits.

At linebacker, Tyjuan Hagler is on PUP recovering from a torn pectoral muscle; Clint Session, who is Hagler’s fill-in, has been excused for a funeral; Philip Wheeler didn’t finish the morning practice with a knee problem; Gary Brackett was held out.

“So now instead of having nine linebackers you’ve got five,” Colts president Bill Polian said. “We’re going to have a full contact practice with five linebackers. Surer than hell somebody else is going to get hurt, you know that. And I can’t get a linebacker in an hour and a half.”

“That’s going to happen all over the league. I’m sure there are good reasons for 80, but it doesn’t serve you very well out here.” …

But Polian tied his example to the general complaint teams have about the tougher roster-limits. With NFL Europe gone, roster exemptions that were tied to allocations also disappeared. Those exemptions helped teams get into the high 80s or higher early in camps.

Now, if a team is thinned out at a position, practices will have to be scaled back at times. The ultimate result? Polian believes it could could be sloppier play early in the season because teams won’t have had as many full-contact practices and be as ready. ~ Paul Kuharsky, ESPN.com, Polian: Roster limits now could mean worse play in season’s first month, 7/27

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Got any good lines from your favorite writer or blog—or maybe your own? Send them over.