National Football League

Go inside Merriman, McNabb, Moss stories

Published Nov. 4, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Every week, the experts of FOX NFL Sunday will candidly reveal their observations and make their opinions known as they prepare for football's top-rated pregame telecast — seen each Sunday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT. We'll share some of the highlights from Curt, Terry, Howie, Jimmy and Michael grabbed from their weekly conference call with insider John Czarnecki.

This week, Czar probes the FOX NFL Sunday crew on Shawne Merriman, the Donovan McNabb benching and the Randy Moss situation.

Czar: What really went unnoticed this week was Shawne Merriman going to the Buffalo Bills.

Michael Strahan: Merriman has fallen so far that people don’t even care that he’s going to Buffalo. It’s kind of a shame for how great he used to be. Going to Buffalo is not good news after it was probably 78 degrees yesterday in San Diego.

Jimmy Johnson: But the Bills put a claim in on him, while with Randy, he slipped down the waiver wire because some teams didn’t want to pay him $3.4 million.

Howie Long: The Bills picked him up because Buddy Nix, the guy who drafted him in San Diego, is now the general manager in Buffalo.

Curt Menefee: This is simply a move to convince their fans that they are still trying to be competitive. This is a franchise that is $25 million under what they spent last year. They haven’t come close to spending this year. They want to show the fans they are not giving up on this season.

HL: The first snowfall is about to hit. And once that happens, it’s depressing there for five months. They are hoping they can sell him on the chicken wings and the enthusiasm of the fans.

JJ: I know exactly how he feels. I would hate to be asked to go up there and do an interview next month.”

MS: But at least you could get in and out of there in one day.

***

Czar: Can anybody interpret what Mike Shanahan was trying to say to explain his benching of Donovan McNabb? Why didn’t he simply say that McNabb wasn’t playing well?

Terry Bradshaw: What is interesting here is that McNabb is really well liked in that locker room. This might have been a miscalculation by Shanahan. I can remember Chris Cooley saying that when the Eagles traded him it was “one of the top 10 biggest bonehead trades in the history of the NFL.

JJ: I think bottom line is that he must have felt that Rex Grossman throws the ball better than McNabb.

MS: Didn’t you see how quickly he backed off that ‘not smart enough’ explanation or excuse? The other thing is that he opened it up for Terrell Owens to talk again about what happened in that Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. And then they compounded it by bringing in JaMarcus Russell.

TB: Who was known for being fat. What he show up at? 286 pounds for his workout.

CM: The bottom line is it sounds like they told the wrong lie to begin with. They said so many things about why they benched him instead of coming out and simply telling the truth.

HL: That’s my point. They really haven’t said what they really believe about Donovan.

JJ: They think he is a decent leader and can run the offense, but that he is not accurate enough for their liking.

HL: And he has struggled in some games.

MS: But when a guy has been in there the whole time and been taking a beating against Detroit’s front four, you don’t pull him in the final two minutes. The bottom line if he’s really not in shape, and they are letting him play, why didn’t they allow Albert Haynesworth to play?

TB: But the players really know that he’s better than Rex Grossman. That’s a problem, because the players always know who the better player is.

MS: In Donovan’s situation, because he does have a track record like winning five division titles for the Eagles, he’s been a perennial winner; the players are going to give him more leeway when compared to the situation between Coach Shanahan and Haynesworth. They understand that their coach is accomplished, but was it worth upsetting that balance in the locker room? Donovan has been like a consummate leader for this team.

Czar: Will how Shanahan treated Haynesworth and now McNabb affect whether or not free agents will come to Redskins?

HL: The first thing is always money. And ever since Daniel Snyder has owned the team, they are trying to put out a great product. It’s a good package that they present to a player.

MS: I think Shanahan has a great reputation still. I think money is still the reason why players go anywhere, but when a guy now considers the Redskins they are going to talk to Haynesworth and Donovan and ask about what happened. If they have another option, one that might make them happier, then they might choose that one over Washington.

JJ: I do think that Mike is a really good coach and better than most.

TB: I always heard he was a very good offensive head coach, but that he wasn’t that great in picking personnel.

***

Czar: How bad was this Minnesota trade for Randy Moss for a third-round pick?

HL: There have been worse trades than this one, like trading your whole draft for Ricky Williams. And how about Jimmy trading Herschel Walker to Minnesota for a king’s ransom. That trade turned around the Cowboys.

JJ: How about Joey Galloway for two No. 1 picks? It’s when you are trading away first- and second-round picks, that’s when it’s really bad. Now, it was a horrible trade, but desperate people do desperate things.

MS: When I looked at Randy’s press conference after the New England game, I didn’t think it was as bad as a lot of people thought it was.

Czar: It seemed that Moss was really upset that the coaches and some of the players didn’t listen to his advice about how their game against New England was going to be played.

HL: Here was the problem — Randy really believed in Bill Belichick as a head coach and he didn’t so much once he got to Minnesota. I don’t really know if that’s the case in Minnesota, but that’s what Randy thought. He was in New England, and he saw how a real football team was run and how it practiced, meets, prepares and then goes out an executes the game plan.

JJ: The bottom line is that the Vikings haven’t performed well and bringing Brett back has proven to be a disaster. They were hoping that bringing in Moss they could get some production out of Favre, and then he throws some interceptions trying to force it to him and then Childress gives up on them. And when he praises New England and Belichick and then tells everyone about him complaining about the food, then it gave Childress a chance to show everyone that he is in control. He could get rid of him and tell everyone he’s not getting that much production out of him. We need to shake things up. He was wrong trading for him, and he was wrong for cutting him.

MS: The other thing is this team isn’t playing that well. They are not stopping the run like they used to and they are not protecting Brett as well as they did last season. And Brett is not playing as well, either.

HL: You can question a lot of things about Randy, but when it comes to football he’s a smart guy.

JJ: When I visited with him in the past, I came away understanding that he is a free spirit, but also a very good football player. He works hard, and he knows football. As a coach, you just have to be able to deal with his little quirks. If you are winning games, you can deal with those things. This never would have happened in New England because he respected Belichick.

HL: Jimmy, you hit the nail right on the head. I think it’s ironic, too, that the two guys who have defined the position in the last 10 years or so, Randy and Terrell Owens, have played with nine teams now. Now, this has been for different reasons, but it sure is interesting.

***

Czar: Who is the best team in the NFC right now?

HL: The Giants.

JJ: We know it isn’t Tampa Bay, no offense to Raheem. But the one good thing about the Bucs is that they have had so many comeback wins. I don’t see this bunch giving up or anything. Yes, they had a poor game against New Orleans, but they bounced back from that. This bunch, they know they're a young team, and Raheem Morris is an enthusiastic coach. They are going to be fine whether they lose a tight ball game or get blown out by Atlanta.

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