Sunday Bloody Sunday

When does an NFL season begin? According to the NFL the first day of the league year is March 1. The preseason this year begins with the Hall of Fame game, three weeks from yesterday, featuring the Colts and Redskins. The regular season now opens on a Thursday (September 4, Redskins at Giants, coincidentally), but most teams open on that Sunday. But if you define the season starting when teams are allowed to start practicing in pads, the the 2008 NFL season began yesterday with the Washington Redskins first practice. It didn't go well.

The Redskins lost starting end Philip Daniels for the year an hour in. They also lost end Alex Busbee for the year and Fred Smoot for the day. By dinner they traded a 2009 2nd rounder and a 2010 6th rounder for 2006 Defensive Player of the Year and 2008 Dancing with the Stars runner up Jason Taylor. What I had heard during the draft was that the high bid for Jason Taylor was a 3rd round pick, which is a steal for a guy you can be reasonably certain will get you 10 sacks. It's generally accepted that a draft pick from the following year is worth a round less, so next year's 2nd is worth this year's 3rd, and a 2010 6th is worth less than a 7th this year. In other words, the Redskins package is the equivalent of what Miami turned down during the draft.

The most obvious result of the deal is that the Redskins now have arguably the best set of defensive ends in the NFL, with Taylor and Andre Carter. Mike Florio really breaks it down at Sporting News, and seems to favor the Dolphins slightly in the trade. Peter King is fascinated by how quickly the trade went down, and thinks that any package for Favre has to be greater than the one for Taylor. I think there is a far greater market for Taylor. Taylor step right in and can start on any team in the NFL; Favre would have to learn a new playbook and wouldn't start on at least five teams.

I think Washington went from being a 6-10 or 7-9 team to 9-7. Looking at the NFC East on paper, the only team that looks better than the Skins is the Cowboys. The Giants lose Strahan and have the subtraction by addition of Shockey. Washington was weak last year at receiver, and they really weren't generating a pass rush until late in the season. Now they add two of the top receivers in the draft and a top five defensive end.

Tuna Surprise

After years of laughable mismanagement, horrible trades, and wasted draft picks, Bill Parcells have taken the reins of the Dolphins. And in less than a month on the job, he has broken every rule in the book. He reportedly offered Tony Sparano the head coaching job before the playoffs started, a huge no no. Sparano may have spent the bye week lining up his staff, which probably had more to do with Dallas's one and done than any trip to Cabo San Lucas. He hired Jeff Ireland away from the Cowboys, a move Dallas could have blocked if Miami didn't give Ireland final say over the roster. But in an interview with USA Today, he indicated that Parcells has, at the very least, veto power.

It's difficult to watch Sportscenter or NFL Total Access zoom in Tom Brady's shoes or Jessica Simpson stills when there are these huge stories that affect multiple teams that go completely unnoticed by the mainstream media. It isn't as if the Cowboys and Dolphins are small market teams, and it isn't as if this story is without intrigue. Is it because Parcells still has friends at the worldwide leader? Or is the NFL putting the squeeze on media outlets? Or is it because the Dolphins new front office is no where near as good looking as Giselle and Jessica Simpson?

Skewing younger

The hot trend this offseason so far is in the assistant coaching ranks. If you count head coaches in waiting Jim Caldwell and Jim Mora, Jr., the first four head coaching openings of this offseason have been filled by candidates who were neither offensive nor defensive coordinators. Tony Sparano, the new coach of the Dolphins coaxed a career season out of Leonard Davis as offensive line coach of the Cowboys. The Eagles special teams fell apart after new Ravens coach John Harbaugh was switched from special teams to defensive backs coach this past offseason. Marcus Trufant made his first Pro Bowl with Mike Holmgren's expected successor Jim Mora, Jr. as defensive backs coach. And Jim Caldwell, the first publicly announced coach to be a successor, has Peyton Manning's ear as quarterbacks coach.

There are two possibly explanations for this shift: the head coaches are getting younger or the coordinators are getting older. Look at the Colts - offensive coordinator Tom Moore is over 16 years older than Caldwell. Likewise Seahawks defensive coordinator John Marshall and Jim Mora, Jr. Monte Kiffin and Jim Johnson are maybe the two most respected defensive coordinators of the last decade, and they are 67 and 66, respectively. Meanwhile it seems that coaches over 50 need not apply, as Jim Fassel seems to be the first coach half a hundred or more to be seriously interviewed for any of the openings, Marty rumors and Rooney Rule fodder notwithstanding.