Schwartz Says He's Spoken to League About Dustup

Once the game starts, however, Schwartz becomes a lot more demonstrative.

"Coach is fiery. We love that about him," offensive lineman Rob Sims said. "I think he's a great leader in regards to that, just staying positive, being emotional. Some guys, they try to just hide."

Schwartz wasn't about to back down Sunday after his team's 25-19 loss to the 49ers. When San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh gave him an exuberant handshake and a firm slap on the back, Schwartz took exception and chased him all the way to the tunnel. The two were kept separated, but the dustup became the talk of the league.

"I think that it is unfortunate that the events after the game have overshadowed the fact that it was probably one of the better games played yesterday," Schwartz said Monday. "It's unfortunate. The game's played by the players on the field, and you certainly don't want things like that to occur, but there's competitive people in the league. That's said, we need to do a better job of just leaving it to the players on the field."

The NFL did not fine either coach. Schwartz said he talked with the league Monday morning — and also had an opportunity to talk to Harbaugh after the game.

"Afterwards, in the tunnel, I got a brief chance to speak with him, sort of," Schwartz said. "Everything had died down a little bit. I'm sure we'll talk again."

Schwartz is a big part of Detroit's resurgence. The Lions went 0-16 in 2008, the season before he became their coach. After a couple losing seasons, Detroit started 5-0 before losing to San Francisco.

The Lions actually had a nine-game winning streak — dating to last year — before Sunday's loss. Along the way, Schwartz was as emotional as ever on the sideline. He charged onto the field and pumped his fist after a dramatic overtime win at Minnesota last month, and the following weekend, he appeared to have words for Dez Bryant after the Dallas receiver's catch was overturned on a challenge by Schwartz.

In the first half against San Francisco, Schwartz seemed to yell something across the field when the 49ers tried to challenge a Detroit touchdown — and instead were hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty because they weren't allowed to challenge that play.

Schwartz says he doubts that played any role in what happened after the game.

"I don't think he was watching on TV, and you can't hear things across the field," Schwartz said. "You can't challenge a scoring play."

Before coming to the Lions, Schwartz was a defensive coordinator with Tennessee. Titans safety Michael Griffin was amused by what happened after the Lions-49ers game.

"He used to always get us fired up," Griffin said. "Schwartz comes off as a nice guy, but when it comes to football and that game is on and it's ready to play, coach Schwartz is into it and ready to play and he backs his guys up 110 percent."

For his part, Schwartz downplayed the effect of his emotion.

"I don't know if it really means a whole lot," he said. "Everybody's competitive in a game, and usually when the game's over, everybody shakes hands and goes on to the next game."

Of course, that handshake was the whole problem Sunday, leaving Schwartz and his players to answer as much for the postgame brouhaha as for anything that took place during the four quarters.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal. It's one of those things that happens," wide receiver Nate Burleson said. "We're an emotional team, and we go as our head coach goes. We're going to continue to approach the game with passion just like he does, and I think how we've been playing is a direct reflection of how Jim is."

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Big East Planning To Add Six To Make 12-Team Football League

A conference official said that the six new programs in the “12-team model that’s on the table” were Boise State, Air Force, Navy, Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida. The addition of Boise State is a key for the league to retain its automatic qualifying bid in the Bowl Championship Series, which appears to be the motive for both Boise State and the Big East to overcome the awkward geography.

“If this can get done, that’s a pretty good outcome for us,” a league official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official stressed that there was no planned order or definitive timetable for universities to be invited into the conference.

He did say that no invitations were expected to be extended Monday, when the Big East will have a conference call in which its members are expected to vote on increasing the league’s exit fee to $10 million from $5 million.

Conference members hope that the solidarity displayed from the increase in the exit fee, which the league official referred to as a “trigger” for expansion, will help make the Big East an attractive landing spot as the realignment of the nation’s leading conferences continues.

The Big East’s football plans picked up steam on the same day that the Mountain West and Conference USA announced they were forming a 22-team super league that will stretch from Hawaii to Huntington, W.Va. That merger is expected to have little or no impact on the Big East’s plans, although Boise State and Air Force are now in the Mountain West.

Under the Big East plans now being considered, Boise State, Air Force and Navy would enter the conference as football-only members. Houston, S.M.U. and Central Florida would be added in all sports. Although the potential addition of those programs would dilute the league’s strength in basketball, it would add the television markets and recruiting bases in Houston, Dallas and Orlando, Fla.

Big East officials met with Central Florida officials in Cincinnati on Friday, helping to solidify the seeming inevitability of the Knights’ entry into the conference. But the biggest change in the Big East’s plans comes in its courtship of Boise State, which league officials had considered the longest of long shots last weekend. A key piece in Boise State’s recruitment is assurances from the Western Athletic Conference that Boise’s nonfootball sports could land there.

The Big East would like Boise State to help in the eyes of the B.C.S., and Boise State is interested in playing in a league with an automatic qualifier in the B.C.S.

“Boise is picking up steam, just through conversations and mutual interest,” a league official said Friday night. “You go on a date with someone; they like you and you like them. People on both sides are warming up to the idea.”

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Brett Favre Files Papers with the League to Officially Retire

It for sure wasn’t the way he wanted to go out, but it seems like it’s finally time for Vikings quarterback Brett Favre to walk away from the NFL. Today Favre officially filed his retirement papers with the NFL, the league confirmed. He had already said that after the season finale in Detroit, a game in which he didn’t play due to a concussion, that the game would be his last.

“I know it’s time, and that’s OK. It is,” Favre said after the game that day. “Again, I hold no regrets, and I can’t think of too many players offhand that can walk away and say that. Individually and from a team standpoint, it was way more than I ever dreamed of.”

Favre though is well known for putting people on hold with talk of retirement. The first time he walked away was 2008 with the Packers on March 6th, and then he came back that summer and eventually was traded to the New York Jets.

In 2009 with the Jets he retired again, only to come back and ink with the Vikings, and he had a huge season, leading the team to the NFC Title Game before they folded to the Saints in OT.

This past season he came back, but the season was a disaster, as the team not only didn’t play well, but Favre ended up getting hurt and his consecutive game streak was eventually snapped.

He was picked off 19 times this season and his 69.9 quarterback rating is the lowest of his career. The Vikings sunk to the bottom of the NFC North after starting the season with Super Bowl aspirations, coach Brad Childress was fired during the season and Favre was fined $50,000 for failure to cooperate with an NFL investigation into allegations that he sent lewd photos and messages to a team employee when both worked for the New York Jets in 2008.

Favre’s reputation took a serious hit from the humiliating scandal, which tarnished the image of one of the league’s most popular players.

His union with receiver Randy Moss also was a spectacular failure and his cherished streak of 297 straight starts ended, with a sprained throwing shoulder making it impossible for Favre to let those famously zip-filled passes rip from his right arm.

And just for good measure, the Metrodome roof caved in to provide a perfect metaphor for Favre and the Vikings’ 2010, forcing the Vikings to play “home” games at Detroit and at the University of Minnesota’s outdoor stadium in December.

“It’s been a wonderful experience for me,” Favre said. “This year did not work out the way we would have hoped, but that’s football. I don’t regret coming back. I enjoyed my experience here.”

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Season over? Not if you are in a keeper league

Think that your season is over just because you have been eliminated from the playoffs? That is absolutely not the case if you are still involved in a keeper league.

Our producer for NFL.com Fantasy LIVE, Dylan Milner, came to me recently and asked, “Is it unethical that I picked up TE Dallas Clark on waivers in my keeper league?”

Not only is that move ethical, this is the time of year you should be looking to make an acquisition like this. Players in keeper leagues should be looking over the free-agent list to see what gems can be unearthed at this time of year. Take advantage of short-sighted owners who were forced to cut Clark, TE Jermichael Finley or RB DeAngelo Williams.

And now Milner has one of the top tight ends on his roster for next season. And even if you don’t want to keep the player long-term, you still block another owner from making a claim on the player. Seriously, this is one of the joys of playing in keeper leagues — it keeps your head involved the whole year.

For example, one fantasy enthusiast dropped QB Tom Brady in our Orange County Register league back in 2008, and I scooped him up in Week 15 to save him from the keeper list. I already had a nice stable of our then-maximum three keepers that included RBs Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte (at least then) and Michael Turner, so I cut Brady loose, but it kept that owner from reacquiring him in Week 16 and keeping him the following year. And, trust me, this guy was not happy about it.

Nor was he happy when I drafted Brady in the first round the following year. And now, Brady has become a permanent part of that team. (We have increased our keepers to five, and I own AD, Turner, Brady, Ray Rice and Brandon Marshall – the latter will be cut this year so I can keep Finley.)

So do not consider it unethical to pick up those players. You are encouraged to do so. In fact, stop reading this and go scour the free-agent list right now. That is an order.

Tweet your fantasy questions to @nflfantasy. Your Tweet might end up on the air on NFL.com Fantasy LIVE.

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Press coverage: The nation's No. 2 league?

The SEC is king in college football after producing each of the last four national champions. That won't change until a team from another league hoists the crystal football.

But the SEC has a reason to look over its shoulder this season. Several of them, in fact. The Big 12, Pac-10 and Big Ten are trying to catch the SEC, and all three leagues can make cases for being the nation's No. 2 conference right now. According to the ESPN Stats & Info conference power rankings, the Big 12 is No. 2, followed by the Pac-10 and the Big Ten.

Which conference is right behind the SEC?

Bloggers David Ubben (Big 12), Ted Miller (Pac-10) and Adam Rittenberg (Big Ten) weigh in.

Adam Rittenberg: What the Big Ten lacks -- an undefeated team -- it more than makes up for with incredible depth. The league boasts three 1-loss teams in Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State, all of which could finish 11-1. It also boasts a veteran Iowa team that no one wants to face in a bowl, in addition to decent squads like Northwestern, Penn State and Michigan. Even Illinois has made some major strides from 2009.

[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Charlie NeibergallThe Big Ten boasts some great talent at quarterback, including Iowa's Ricky Stanzi, who ranks third in the nation.This is the deepest the Big Ten has been since 2006, when it entered late November with the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 team and three teams -- Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin -- ranked in the top 7 of the final BCS standings. The Big Ten's rise also has occurred while Michigan rebuilds. The league also has significantly upgraded its quarterback play, boasting five of the nation's top 15 rated passers. Although the Big Ten's nonconference performance was just so-so, competition within the league seems to be largely undervalued by those evil BCS computers. A top-tier SEC or Big 12 program seems to get much more credit for beating a mid-level team in its league than Wisconsin gets for beating Iowa on the road or Michigan State gets for beating Northwestern on the road. The human voters see the Big Ten in a different light.

The Big Ten finished the 2009-10 bowl season as the nation's No. 2 conference, recording four victories against top 15 opponents.

Nothing has changed to move the Big Ten off of the second line.

David Ubben: Hey, I get it. In college football, a conference is only as strong as its strongest link. That's how the expression goes, right? Gimme a break.

The Big 12 has landed a team in the title game in each of the past two seasons. Despite being on the outside looking in on this year's chase, the league still has five teams in the top 20, and earlier this year, nine teams were in the poll or receiving votes. All that should be even more impressive considering the league's glamour program, Texas, at 4-6, is having a "down year" that is insulting to down years. Nine consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins for the Longhorns has come to a rather spectacularly bad end.

But otherwise, strength is everywhere. Baylor is having one of the program's best years and should be just as good in 2011. Missouri, had they not tripped up at Texas Tech, could be in the top 10. Oklahoma State has emerged as the league's surprise top 10 team and Nebraska is proving everybody wrong who thought they were overrated in the preseason. Texas A&M struggled early, but has won four Big 12 games in a row to reach the top 20. All in a down year for the two programs who have ruled the conference, Oklahoma and Texas.

Outside of Colorado, which is leaving anyway, and rebuilding Kansas, every team in the league is proving to be, at the very least, capable. Iowa State, despite playing the toughest schedule in college football, still has a chance to qualify for a bowl, and if Texas does the same by beating rival Texas A&M, the league could have 10 bowl-eligible teams.

So maybe the Big 12 doesn't have a team vying for the crystal football this year, but it has a whole lot of really good teams, and a handful of others who are proving there's no such thing as an easy week in the Big 12.

Ted Miller: Over at the Pac-10, we're grinning. We're about to point out the Pac-10 plays a nine-game conference schedule, which automatically adds five losses to the conference, which, of course, hurts the conference's national perception, not to mention its number of bowl-eligible teams. Every other BCS conference plays eight, other than the eight-team Big East. But that’s not why we're grinning. We're grinning because the Big Ten and the Big 12 will do that soon, and then they'll find out the perception consequence of not giving your entire conference an extra win with a nonconference patsy. Of course, the savvy SEC will continue to play eight conference games, schedule weak nonconference opponents and then trumpet itself as super-awesome.

Why is the Pac-10 No. 2? Well, it's got the nation's No. 1 team in Oregon. It's got the nation's No. 6 team in Stanford, which many believe to be the nation's best one-loss team. And four of 10 teams are ranked. Are Iowa and Wisconsin good teams? Absolutely. But Iowa lost to Arizona, which has three Pac-10 defeats, and Wisconsin got a fluky one-point win at home over Arizona State, which is 2-5 in the Pac-10. The Pac-10 is 10-4 overall vs. other BCS conferences. It's ranked No. 1 by the Sagarin ratings, which for some reason don't believe stadium size is a true measure of a team or a conference. Even lowly Washington State is no longer the pushover it was the previous two seasons.

Depth? Let's put it this way: The Pac-10 would love to match the team that ends up second to last in its conference versus the one that ends up in that spot anywhere else.

Rittenberg: Three strong cases for the No. 2 spot. But are any of these leagues closing the gap with the SEC?

Ubben: I guess we'll find out come bowl season, but I don't know that anybody in the Big 12 is in position for a run like the SEC's enjoyed in the latter half of the last decade.

Oklahoma and Texas will be Oklahoma and Texas, but the strength of the Big 12 has been a rising middle class with teams like Oklahoma State, Missouri, Texas A&M and maybe Baylor and Texas Tech positioning themselves to become mainstays in the top 25 during the next couple years or beyond.

That's good for the computer ratings, but not good for a league trying to field a national champion. And for better or worse, a league's ultimate identity boils down to its best team or two. Thanks to that rising middle class, getting inside the top five and staying there could be harder than ever in the next few years.

[+] Enlarge AP Photo/Paul SakumaThe SEC might be the top rated conference, but the Pac-10's Darren Thomas leads the nation's No. 1 team in Oregon. Miller: Are we talking reality or perception? Because the SEC's ostensible superiority is largely about perception -- i.e., fan passion equals great football. The Pac-10 has a winning record vs. the SEC over the past decade, and the Big Ten has done just fine vs. the SEC in the Capital One and Outback Bowls. The SEC is probably No. 1, but the margin is thin, and the conference refuses to prove its superiority during the regular season by consistently scheduling tough nonconference games.

When USC ruled the Pac-10 from 2002-2008, folks called the conference the Trojans and the nine dwarfs. Now that USC has fallen, Oregon has risen, and teams such as Stanford and Arizona also have made moves. But USC will be back. That's just inevitable. And if Utah continues to play at a high level after it joins the Pac-12, you could make the case that the Pac-10 should start to produce multiple top-10 teams and five or six top-25 teams annually, which would put it on par with the SEC.

And, honestly, with resurgent Nebraska joining the Big Ten, I'm not sure we won't have a new No. 1 conference in 2011 anyway.

Rittenberg: Well, Ted made most of my points for me. I'll be sending a gift basket to Scottsdale.

The Big Ten certainly has matched up well with the SEC in the Capital One and Outback bowls, and the addition of Nebraska next fall truly enhances the league's clout. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany often points out the only way his league truly regains national respect is by beating the best from another conference at the championship level. The Big Ten still gets bashed for Ohio State's stumbles against the SEC in the BCS title game, and barring a wild final three weeks, a Big Ten squad won't be facing Auburn on Jan. 10 in Glendale. So the Big Ten must wait for that true statement game.

When I look at these two leagues from top to bottom, I don't see much difference. The Big Ten has continued to build off of its strong finish to 2009, while the SEC seems to have backslid. All you need to do is look at the SEC East division. Could Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State beat Auburn or LSU? It's possible, but I really think the entire league matches up better now with what the SEC is offering.

Like Ted writes, it's all about perception. Until a team from another league beats the SEC at the highest level, the SEC will keep living off of its incredible run.

But the Big Ten is catching up.

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So Far In Week 8 Well this week it is going to be little different because I was at the Talladega race and you will be able to see pictures of the people we met and such on Tuesday at www.league-legends.com. So I only got to catch the Sunday Night game so what I am going to do is give you the matchup and score as usual and just give you my reaction to the scores. So let's get it going.... Miami @ read more

November 1st, 2010 at 05:25 pm / #reviews #nfl #miami dolphins

4:30 - Pull ourselves out of bed and jump in shower in attempt to wake up. After a about 20 minutes we finally got ourselves up and going, got dressed, grabbed some chocolate milk and out the door we went about 5:15. 6:20- Stopped at gas station to grab some energy drinks to get it going, have to make this four hour drive and it's early. 7:30- Stopped at another gas station grabbed another read more

October 31st, 2010 at 09:50 pm / #NASCAR #talladega #motor sports

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the2ndstringers/2010/10/29/the-2nd-stringers-sports-blog-talk-radio Visit Link To Listen To Thursdays Episode Of The 2nd Stringers Blog Talk Radio Show Covering: - Fantasy Football - Fantasy Basketball - World Series - NASCAR - Free Talk Listen to us and if you have any fantasy questions to be answered on Thursdays send email to ryan@league-legends.com read more

October 29th, 2010 at 03:24 pm / #nba #mlb #nfl #sports news #sports talk

We have moved Thursday's Throw down to Friday now so the Formula can get Friday's Injury Report. This should help us be more accurate on the picks as for last week we went 8-6 ATS and Straight Up. It has been an exciting Football season thus far with unpredictability everywhere but we are trying to help make it little more predictable for you, of course this is for fun and we do not promote read more

October 29th, 2010 at 11:15 am / #nfl #picks #formula #the formula #thursday throwdown

Miami ThriceWell it was the opening night for the NBA and taking center stage was the Miami Heat and their "Miami Thrice" consisting of Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh, three of the biggest free agents in the off season on one team. High expectations are on this team and not the kind to get to the playoffs but to win not just a championship but multiple ones. Opening day was to be their read more

October 27th, 2010 at 04:07 pm / #nba #dwayne wade #miami heat #chris bosh #lebron james

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the2ndstringers/2010/10/27/the-2nd-stringers-sports-talk Click The Link Above To Listen To Tuesdays Episode Of The 2nd Stringers Radio Show. We had some technical difficulites at the beginning, Skype was not being very friendly but we got it all worked out and it was a good show. Talk About NFL Stories The Formula Baseball Basketball The Tuesday Hangover And Much read more

October 27th, 2010 at 08:33 am / #Radio #sports news #sports talk #2nd stringers

Top Shelf QBsRyan Fitzpatrick - Hmm... This name sounds familiar, oh yea, that's right I have been praising this guy and telling you, you needed to pick him up!!! If you were in need of a QB at all. Well seems like this week he paid for that WW Claim in a big way going for 374/4, not bad for a player that went largely undrafted and is still not owned in 95% of leagues. Carson Palmer - I left read more

October 26th, 2010 at 11:09 am

Well the question keeps getting asked to me did Miami get hosed on that call or was the ref just for making the ruling that he did? Well being a dolphins fan I am biased and think it was a horrible call and since the fumble went into the endzone it must be called a TD or Miami's ball but I guess I missed the rule for redo's. I say make your mind up for yourself with this link http:// read more

October 25th, 2010 at 10:28 pm / #miami dolphins

This week we are going to just jump right into it with... Cincinnati vs. Atlanta 32-39Well this was not the T.O and Ocho Show but more of the Ryan and White Show, even though the Bengals did make a late run though, but was quickly subsided by another Atlanta touchdown. Atlanta had a nice bounce back game, after a loss to the Eagles the week before and the Bengals I believe just have too many read more

October 25th, 2010 at 12:33 pm / #reviews #nfl #sports news #new orleans #green bay

Moments before the fight, the air was electric and everybody has already seen some good hard fights, now the fight that everybody paid to see Lesnar vs. Velasquez was about to start. Everybody expecting Lesnar to win this fight hands down in a submission or k.o, and Velasquez not getting the respect that he thought that he deserved was sure to make a good fight. The fight started and Brock shot read more

October 24th, 2010 at 11:46 am / #ufc #lesnar #carwin #velasquez

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