It's open-line Wednesday. The lines are open and waiting for your NFL questions with the season fast approaching. We're going to discuss the nuts and bolts of the NFL and anything else that's on your mind, if you'll pardon the overstatement.
Question: Is there any evidence that the hapless, hopeless Raiders are really just a farm team for the New England Patriots?
Yes, and they're not even subtle about the arrangement. The Raiders sent Randy Moss — maybe the best receiver in the game — to their parent team, the Patriots, for chump change — a fourth-round draft pick. The Raiders drafted wide receiver Doug Gabriel in 2003, sent him to New England two years later, and then New England sent him back down to its farm team, the Raiders. Last season the Raiders released LaMont Jordan, and he was immediately signed by, you guessed it, the Patriots. The Raiders used one of their picks in this year's draft to select linebacker Stryker Sulak. They cut him and the Patriots picked him up only to release him later.
The Raiders drafted quarterback Andrew Walter, and then generously developed him for three seasons and played him in 15 games just so he would be ready when he was called up to the big-league club in New England, where he is now Tom Brady's backup. Similarly, when New England needed a Pro Bowl defensive end/linebacker, they called the Raiders this summer and got him for third- and fifth-round picks. All of this casts suspicion on the famous tuck-rule game.
Who is the latest nutcase in the NFL?
We're going to have to go with Michael Crabtree, the 49ers' rookie receiver who was the 10th player chosen in the draft, three slots behind another receiver, the Raiders' Darrius Heyward-Bey. See if you can follow this dizzy logic: Crabtree has yet to sign a contract because he is negotiating based on his position in mock drafts rather than where he was actually drafted. He believes the Raiders erred in selecting Heyward-Bey ahead of him, and he doesn't think he should have to pay for that mistake. After all, he was predicted to be the first receiver taken in the draft, not the second. He says he will sit out the season and re-enter the draft if he is not offered more money than Heyward-Bey ($23.5 million guaranteed).
What is it with these players giving themselves nicknames?
There was a time when players earned nicknames from teammates or coaches, for better or worse. Nowadays, they hand-pick their own nicknames — ?la Chad Ochocinco Johnson. The Titans' running-back duo of LenDale White and Chris Johnson was dubbed "Smash and Dash" by White last season. But in June, Johnson announced that his new nickname is "Every Coach's Dream."
"I have to be my own guy, so no more Smash and Dash, that was last year. Every Coach's Dream, that's me," he explained modestly. "I feel for me, I can't be noticed as a group any more."
You mean, like a team?
Every Coach's Dream has rushed for just 26 yards on 15 carries this preseason.
Who are the Biggest Bust candidates?
Michael Vick and Reggie Bush are competing for the title with Vince Young, who was benched last season, but you'd never know it to listen to him talk. Earlier this summer, he told Esquire magazine that he will be the next black quarterback to take a team to the Super Bowl and that he'll be voted to the Hall of Fame someday.
"He's going to need to win a few games before he starts talking about the Hall of Fame," said Titan coach Jeff Fisher.
How fast would that Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt run a 40-yard dash?
A lot of people have wondered that since he ran his mind-boggling world record of 9.58 in the 100-meter dash. This gets complicated. Most sprinters don't hit top speed until about 60 meters — well past the 40-yard mark — and the 40-yard dash is not contested in track. Also, football players are hand-timed, while track athletes are timed by a photoelectric system that is significantly more accurate and results in slower times. Furthermore, football coaches and scouts don't start the stopwatch for 40 times until the runner moves (instead of when the gun fires), which also results in faster times.
The fastest receiver in last spring's NFL draft ran 4.30 — which would convert to a 4.54 electric time in track, at the very best. Based on Bolt's 20-meter splits during his 9.58 world-record run in the 100-meter dash at the recent World Championships, it has been estimated that he covered 40 yards in the 3.7-3.8 hand-timed range, but that sounds too fast to me. He reached 40 meters (or 43.7445 yards) in 4.64 seconds (electric time). Things really get crazy once Bolt achieved top speed — he covered the final 40 meters in 3.27 seconds with electric timing!
e-mail: drob@desnews.com