The Giants' GM seach continues to surprise. The first shot was fired when Patriots Personnel chief Scott Pioli turned down a gig that many in the NFL considered his dream job.

On Tuesday, the Newark Star-Ledger reported that Cowboys coach Bill Parcells was rebuffed after letting the Giants know of his interest in their GM position. This report was echoed on nfl.com. Considering his familiarity with Tom Coughlin and the Mara family, New York is sending a clear message that they don't want a short-term solution like Parcells.

Later Tuesday afternoon on WFAN, Mike Francesa of Mike the Mad Dog said that he was "hearing" that Tom Coughlin is likely to stay on as coach, with in-house favorite Jerry Reese likely to take over the GM position. Francesa is very close with both Parcells and the Giants, so his information is probably accurate.

Maybe Pioli knows he has a good thing in New England and just wants to stay. Maybe the Star-Ledger's report isn't accurate (it wouldn't be the first time). But it's hard to hear these three stories and not speculatively connect the dots.

Pioli, Parcells' son-in-law, would not consider the Giants job if the Big Tuna was interested. The unspoken agreement (or spoken for all we know) between the two reportedly was the reason the Cowboys didn't enter the Adam Vinatieri sweepstakes until too late last winter. Parcells didn't want to drive the price up for a Patriots player. It's not quite the Sopranos, but family politics still rules in New Jersey.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Associated Press announced its All-Pro team on Monday. I don't get to watch as much tape as I'd like in-season, but I'm starting to catch up now. Here's my All-Pro list, with the AP's pick in parentheses. The Voting and second team is included here.

QB: Peyton Manning (Drew Brees) - Brees won by one vote, 25-24, partially because Marc Bulger got one vote. It's the first time since 2002 Manning didn't win. Brees is a better story, but Manning may have enjoyed his most efficient season ever. FootballOutsiders ranked Manning's season as the best by a quarterback in the ten years they have data. Manning only had 148 drives this season, the lowest in at least a decade. Brees had 173. That's not his fault, but Manning was at the top of his game and remains the best.

RB: LaDainian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson (Tomlinson, Larry Johnson) - Not much to say about Tomlinson that hasn't been said. LJ carried the Chiefs, but Jackson had a more complete year in the receiving game. Johnson still doesn't block, but he's a close third here. Frank Gore would make my second time.

WR: Reggie Wayne, Steve Smith (Marvin Harrison, Chad Johnson) - Harrison is a fine pick, but had more drops and less yards-per-catch than Wayne. Johnson was too quiet for the first half of the season. Smith dominated most of the time despite a collapsing offense around him. Andre Johnson and Lee Evans were considerations.

TE: Antonio Gates (Antonio Gates) - Tony Gonzalez is a close second, but I love Gates' ability to catch passes in traffic.

T: Walter Jones, Jonathan Ogden (Willie Anderson, Jammal Brown)- Talk about respect for second-year Saint Jammal Brown. Jones and Ogden are Hall of Famers still playing at the top of their game. Ogden especially had a great comeback year. Brown and Anderson are fine picks, but Brown made too many mental mistakes at the beginning of the season.

G: Shawn Andrews, Kris Dielman (Shawn Andrews, Alan Faneca) - I'm not capable of picking out the best guards at this stage of my career. I base it mostly on what I read. Dr. Z of Sports Illustrated, who I respect as much as anyone, chose Mike Goff and Logan Mankins.

C: Jeff Saturday (Olin Kreutz)

Defense/Special Teams

DE: Jason Taylor, Julius Peppers (Taylor, Peppers)-Aaron Schobel, Ty Warren, and Trevor Pryce all got votes and enjoyed excellent seasons.

DT: Pat Williams, John Henderson (Jamal Williams, Kevin Williams) - Every time I watched the Vikings, Pat Williams just destroyed any chance to run on the Vikings. Its interesting Henderson did so well in the All Pro voting, but somehow didn't make the Pro Bowl.

ILB: Brian Urlacher, Zach Thomas (Urlacher, Thomas) - Thomas still going strong into his 30's. DeMeco Ryans deserved some consideration here.

OLB: Shawne Merriman, Adalius Thomas (Merriman, Thomas) - Julian Peterson tailed off in the second half, but was a huge difference maker for Seattle.

CB: Champ Bailey, Nnamdi Asomugha (Bailey, Rashean Mathis) - The All-Pro voters are more on point than the method to determine the Pro Bowl. Asomugha's dominant season came in third behind another solid choice in Mathis. Al Harris didn't get a vote, but Walt Harris did.

S: Adrian Wilson, Brian Dawkins (Ed Reed, Dawkins) - Reed didn't give up big plays this season, but he didn't make many either until late in the year.

P: Brian Moorman, Bills (Moorman)

K: Nate Kaeding, Chargers (Robbie Gould) -The AP's list of the votes called him Nick Kaeding, which nicely sums up how kickers are regarded in the NFL.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Andy Warhol once said that everyone in the future would be world-famous for 15 minutes. While that's truer today than ever, it's worth adjusting in 2007. Everyone in the future will have their own blog. After avoiding the inevitability as long as possible, now it's my turn.

One tricky aspect to starting this blog is that a huge chunk of my job at Rotoworld is updating our NFL news page. In the end, our page has been a blog since before the word blog existed. We update news large and small round the clock, with a link and some commentary, often fantasy sports related.

This blog isn't going to replace that news page, but it could provide a place to go more in-depth with a big story. Or a wacky story. It can be a place for opinion and resource that points you to other great writing out there. It can be a place to peddle some rumors, and tackle some topics as they are breaking. Maybe I'll even develop more of my own sources like the king of all NFL blogs, Mike Florio.

Just yesterday, the entire NFL was stunned to hear Patriots VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli turn down a chance to speak to the Giants about his supposed dream job. We had the link up hours before the Boston Globe and AP posted it and I was itching to go off about the implications in New York, which is supposed to be one of the premier franchises in the league. Now I can.

When I started working full-time on football on 2003, I didn't know exactly where to look for quality football writing. Now that I do, hopefully this blog can be a place to point you in the right direction to some favorite links each day without ripping off Buster Olney too much.

Enough of the foreplay. Thanks for checking in and let me know what you think.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)