AFC East: Norv Turner
Rex Ryan sorry for Chargers comments
New York Jets coach Rex Ryan apologized for the second time in as many days for his comments toward San Diego Chargers coach Norv Turner.
On Wednesday, Ryan insinuated he would've won two Super Bowls with the kind of talent Turner had in San Diego the past few seasons. Turner obviously didn't like the swipe and fired back with a small jab of his own.
But Ryan called Turner to apologize Wednesday and said he was sorry again during his news conference on Thursday.
My take: This was unnecessary and Ryan knows it. His Jets have had enough distractions the past few weeks and things were finally quiet for a couple days after they stopped their three-game losing streak. This week, Ryan is causing the distraction. He's providing bulletin-board material for the Chargers (4-1) and has no one to blame but himself.
Rob Parker, Hugh Douglas, and Skip Bayless take sides in the Rex Ryan, Norv Turner feud.
That could happen in 2011.
AP Photo/Greg TrottDarrelle Revis and Nnamdi Asomugha have both been to the last three Pro Bowls.But if he doesn't, then the New York Jets would be an obvious landing spot to highlight based on what Asomugha told me. He insisted he was "dead serious" about joining forces with Revis to form the ultimate shutdown corner tandem and that they had discussed it with Jets head coach Rex Ryan.
"Me and Revis have been talking to Rex to try to do something," Asomugha said. "You may see us in the future. There's a little bit of talk going on. Either he's coming to Oakland, or something else will happen."
Looks like "something else" can happen quite easily now. Revis won't be coming to Oakland anytime soon. Revis ended a summer contract holdout with an extension through 2014.
The Jets' other cornerback, Antonio Cromartie, is in the final year of his contract. He has played well in his one season with the Jets, but Asomugha plays in the highest echelon.
Asomugha and Revis were voted as Pro Bowl starters again this year. It is Asomugha's third straight Pro Bowl selection.
Money obviously would be a factor. Asomugha's contract with Oakland was considered one of the most outrageous deals of the past decade and totally warped the elite cornerback market. In fact, Revis' desire to be paid 50 cents more than Asomugha was a reason his contract squabble with the Jets lasted as long as it did. The Jets refused to let the deal Al Davis gave Asomugha be the standard.
When I caught up with Revis as he was heading up the tunnel toward the AFC locker room, he confirmed his desire to play with Asomugha, but conceded "That's a lot of money they're going to be pushing around, but that'll be tough for quarterbacks. I'll tell you that."
With plenty of money in his various accounts, maybe Asomugha would give the Jets a break so that he could team up with Revis.
"You always want that as a player, to have that guy on the other side of you that's equally as talented and can make plays," Asomugha said a year ago. "It fuels you a little bit. We'd been joking around with [AFC coach] Norv Turner throughout practices all week, and with [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell. He said they probably wouldn't allow us on the same team."
He was the guy who belted: "Gentlemen, start your engines."
After the interview, studio analyst Darren Woodson professed his eagerness to see Spiller turn the ignition.
In the "Camp Crossfire" segment, Woodson and Marcellus Wiley debated who would have the bigger debut season between Spiller and San Diego Chargers running back Ryan Mathews.
Wiley went with Mathews because Chargers coach Norv Turner already has committed to him being the workhorse. Woodson backed Spiller.
"The guy that's going to be the most exciting on the football field as a rookie," Woodson said, "is going to be C.J. Spiller up in Buffalo. The reason why is because Chan Gailey has come out said 'Hey, we're going to give him 12 to 15 carries this year, but he's going to make his huge impact is not only as a slot receiver, but in the return game.'
"That's where you're going to see C.J. Spiller become who he really is as a football player. By the end of this season, you better watch out. This guy might be rookie of the year."
On other topics the past couple days, Woodson also predicted New York Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson would be the biggest dud of 2010, but Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie would prove to be the biggest complementary acquisition of the offseason.
First the upside: He'll turn just 26 next month. He was an All-Pro in 2007, when he led the league with 10 interceptions.
But he brings his share of problems with him and will face the same type of scrutiny receiver Braylon Edwards received when the Jets traded for him in October.
In the interest of providing a more complete look at Cromartie than merely considering how potentially terrifying he and Darrelle Revis can be for opposing quarterbacks, let's take a look at the more troublesome aspects of his background.
- Cromartie has at least seven children in five states. Depending on the report, they were born to five or six women. (If he can't keep them straight, how can we?) All the children are under 6 years old.
- The San Diego Union-Tribune has reported he owes $25,000 in unpaid child support and has been the subject of five paternity lawsuits over the past three years.
- The Union-Tribune reported Friday morning Cromartie twice has failed to appear in court to address traffic tickets and has neglected to pay $799 in fines.
- The same story noted Cromartie is due in court this month for a case related to child support.
- San Diego police investigated him for assault for allegedly hitting a man over the head with a champagne bottle at a bar in November. No charges were filed for lack of evidence.
- Chargers coach Norv Turner fined Cromartie $2,500 for ripping the team's training-camp cuisine and suggesting that type of treatment is why they can't win Super Bowls.
Kirby Lee/US PresswireNnamdi Asomugha (21) says he and Darrelle Revis have talked about playing in the same secondary.I just heard one of the scariest ideas anybody has mentioned to me in a long time.
The AFC's starting cornerbacks, Darrelle Revis and Nnamdi Asomugha, want to play on the same team. As fantastical as that notion might be, it's frightening to consider.
Oakland Raiders star Asomugha was smiling when he brought up the dream scenario, but insisted he was "dead serious" and has spoken to New York Jets coach Rex Ryan about it.
"Me and Revis have been talking to Rex to try to do something," Asomugha said. "You may see us in the future. There's a little bit of talk going on. Either he's coming to Oakland or something else will happen."
Said Revis: "Me and him have talked about it, but I can't really control that situation. I don't know if he can either."
As much of a nightmare as it would be for opposing quarterbacks, it would be just as daunting for a team's capologist to figure out a way to pay them both. Asomugha has two years left on a three-year, $45.3 million contract that made him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history.
Revis, considered by most to be the NFL's top cover cornerback, might make more than that soon.
"That's a lot of money they're going to be pushing around," Revis said, "but that'll be tough for quarterbacks. I'll tell you that."
Revis and Asomugha on the field together would elicit memories of Mike Haynes and Lester Hayes for the Oakland Raiders in the 1980s.
"In a league where the art of man-to-man has kind of gone out of style, that could bring it back," Asomugha said.
"You always want that as a player, to have that guy on the other side of you that's equally as talented and can make plays. It fuels you a little bit. We'd been joking around with [AFC coach] Norv Turner throughout practices all week, and with [NFL commissioner] Roger Goodell. He said they probably wouldn't allow us on the same team."
Denver Broncos outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil wasn't thrilled to see defensive coordinator Mike Nolan leave for the Miami Dolphins.
Dolfans would love for them to reunite in South Florida.
"It's a possibility," Dumervil said, "but we'll see what happens in Denver."
Dumervil would be an unrestricted free agent if the owners and players hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement by March 5. But an uncapped season seems inevitable, and in that case, Dumervil would be a restricted free agent because he wouldn’t have the required number of accrued seasons.
Dumervil led the NFL with 17 sacks in his lone season under Nolan.
"It was great playing with him," Dumervil said. "I only got to play with him one year, but I had fun, I probably had one of my best years. I felt I was productive throughout my career before Nolan, but being able to move to linebacker enhanced my durability and allowed me to be more effective down the stretch."
I asked if other Pro Bowlers have been in his ear, lobbying to get him interested in joining their teams.
"That would be tampering," Dumervil said. "I can't snitch on nobody."
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard went to the Pro Bowl with a chip on his shoulder.
Garrard made the Pro Bowl roster as a bazillionth alternate. But he made it because of a series of injuries and Peyton Manning reaching the Super Bowl.
Garrard completed eight of 14 passes for 183 yards and one touchdown for a 125.6 passer rating.
"It's so awesome," Garrard said. "One of my goals coming into the game was to just be relevant and show all of the people who said 'What is he doing in there? The Pro Bowl had dropped off a few pegs,' that I do belong."
Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco badly wanted to reprise his preseason kicking exhibition against the New England Patriots and kick a field goal or an extra point in the Pro Bowl.
Miami Dolphins kicker Dan Carpenter had given his blessing on a final field goal in the waning moments, but the AFC ran out the clock.
"The game was too close for me to go out there and have fun," Ochocinco said. "Usually, if we were up by a little bit, it would've been fun to go do it, but it was too close to even attempt it."
NFC: Cowboys-Vikings: Mosley | Seifert » Saints-Cardinals: Yasinskas | Sando
Three nuggets of knowledge about Sunday's playoff game between the New York Jets (10-7) and San Diego Chargers (13-3):
Al Bello/Getty ImagesMark Sanchez should not try to win this game by himself.Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will try to keep Sanchez from getting into a shootout with Philip Rivers. The only reason Sanchez should be airing it out is if the Jets get behind by a couple of scores.
2. The Chargers have won 11 straight, but do the Jets have more momentum? The Chargers are the NFL's hottest team on paper. But they had a bye last weekend, while the Jets continued their surge with a convincing road playoff victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. The Jets have lost just once since Thanksgiving.
"Right now, all that momentum you're gathering, it's right now with two of the hottest teams in the league," Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "We've won six out of seven. We feel pretty good about ourselves."
The Chargers did benefit from the week off. Their injury report listed a solitary player: punter Mike Scifres with a minor groin issue.
"The physical part has been an issue for us in the past, but now we are making sure everything is in place," Chargers tight end Antonio Gates said. "Obviously, preparation is still the key but the fact that we are healthy and physically ready has me anxious to see how we're going to play this week."
3. The Jets need to get the Chargers to third down as often as possible. The defense's objective, of course, is to watch the chain gang flip the down marker to 4. The Jets have been the NFL's best at accomplishing that because they've been phenomenal on third down. Opponents converted a league-low 32 percent of their third downs and averaged only 14.8 first downs a game (2.1 fewer than the next stingiest defense) because the Jets have the No. 1 pass defense and love to blitz. The Chargers ranked seventh during the regular season in third-down conversions at 44 percent.
"The biggest thing you can do is minimize the third downs," Chargers coach Norv Turner said. "They're by far the best team in the league on third-down defense, and they've been better the last six weeks than they were the first 10. They sometime in the game are going to get somebody free, and we’re just going to make sure that it doesn’t turn into a big play for them."
Versus Revis, all WRs in elimination game
Al Pereira/Getty ImagesDarrelle Revis led the league with 37 passes defensed and recorded six interceptions this season.The Bengals were tied with the New York Jets and driving in the second quarter of the Jan. 9 wild-card playoff game in Paul Brown Stadium. Nine plays into their series, the Bengals had advanced to the Jets' 41-yard line. It was third-and-6. Carson Palmer took the shotgun snap and got foolish.
Chad Ochocinco, split right and with the NFL's best cover cornerback playing him heads up, released to get outside and flew. Not even a single move, much less a double move.
Palmer took three steps and fired a back-shoulder throw to Ochocinco that never arrived. Revis, defending the inside, rotated his entire body counterclockwise and snatched the underthrown ball. He spun once more to gather his feet and dashed 20 yards.
Joyner: Mission Impossible
Today's NFL has its own version of the impossible goal -- create a viable pass receiving habitat on Darrelle Revis Island. Many have tried to establish a beachhead on this atoll but Revis' 3.6 yards per pass attempt allowed total this season has kept this isle uninhabited. KC Joyner 
"When you have a choice, you're going to avoid him like the plague," ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer said. "I was shocked Carson Palmer took that shot. I'm shocked they'd even go there. That's usually a route you use to take advantage of a corner that doesn't belong because you know he can't make the play."
If offenses should know anything about playing the Jets, it's that Revis almost certainly will make the play.
More dominant pass coverage is almost unfathomable. Revis has become the NFL's preeminent lockdown cornerback, drawing comparisons to Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson and propelling the Jets' defense to the top of the charts.
Revis finished the regular season with six interceptions and a league-leading 37 passes defensed. He will be a major concern for the San Diego Chargers' prolific aerial attack Sunday in Qualcomm Stadium.
"I don't like the term 'shutdown corner' because I think that's hard to find, and it gets thrown around pretty loosely," Chargers head coach Norv Turner said, "but I think I might use that term with Revis. He's awfully impressive on tape. He just goes after it, and he plays every play like this game is meant to be played, and he is very impressive."
Because Miami Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt wouldn't listen.
Williams was weary and wary. He had banked a pair of seasons in which he led the NFL with 775 rushing attempts, and the Dolphins were facing uncertainty at offensive coordinator.
Norv Turner left Wannstedt's staff to be head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Wannstedt named running backs coach Joel Collier offensive coordinator, but Collier left the team a month later, citing exhaustion. The Dolphins then promoted Chris Foerster, an assistant with an offensive line background, to coordinator.
Williams started to feel exhausted.
He had a phone conversation with Wannstedt.
"I was talking to him more about the reasons I retired," Williams said. "He was trying to change my mind. So I talked to both him and [general manager] Rick Spielman.
"And the message I was trying to convey to him was that I didn't feel I was appreciated for the workload that he put on me, and that I didn't appreciate the way that he had handled the offense that last year, when Joel Collier was named the offensive coordinator, and then when Joel stepped down, he hired, you know, a guy who had never coached an offense before. I just explained to him I could foresee me getting the ball 30 to 35 times a game and my career being cut drastically short.
"He didn't really listen to anything I said. He just kept telling me basically that I was out of my mind and that I should come back. So the conversation ended that way."
MIAMI -- The last time Miami Dolphins receiver Greg Camarillo found himself in that Dolphin Stadium end zone, he ran to the front row and hugged the first fan he could touch. Within seconds, Camarillo was mobbed by jubilant fans and teammates. He had scored a touchdown, and the Dolphins won.
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| Joel Auerbach/US Presswire | |
| Dolphins defensive end Vonnie Holliday (91) and linebacker Joey Porter (55) celebrate during Miami's win over San Diego. |
That was their only victory in 2007. Camarillo's 64-yard dash beat the Baltimore Ravens in overtime. The Dolphins finished 1-15.
Camarillo scored his first touchdown of this season Sunday. This catch was much tougher. He jumped to snare the ball, maintained his position on the defensive back and landed in the end zone.
But he didn't flip out. He calmly looked to crowd and motioned with his hands for a little love.
The Dolphins beat the San Diego Chargers 17-10. The difference between Camarillo's touchdowns is symbolic of how far the Dolphins have come. These days, they expect success.
"We've arrived," Camarillo said. "Other teams would doubt us before. Now they have to prepare to play a great team. We're ready to play anybody."
The Dolphins are acting like they've done this before because, well, they have.
In consecutive games they've beaten the clubs that played for last year's AFC championship. They crushed the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Week 3. That outcome seemed like it might have been a fluke. After beating the Chargers on Sunday, it's harder to come up with excuses for how the Dolphins pulled it off.
"That's how [critics] look at that game," Dolphins defensive end Vonnie Holliday said, "that there was no Tom Brady, no Laurence Maroney. 'These guys are still a joke,' and they're going to look at this game right here and still say the same thing.
"There's still going to be non-believers out there. We're still going to have to fight for respect. We're in an uphill climb."
Even so, here are five things we learned about the Dolphins after they won two in a row for the first time since November 2006:
1. The Dolphins are resilient.
One year ago, a sequence such as this would've sunk the Dolphins.
Dan Carpenter missed a 42-yard field goal that would've given the Dolphins a 20-3 lead with 6:05 left in the third quarter. The Chargers scored a touchdown in seven plays, completing a 42-yard pass on third-and-10 along the way. On the ensuing kickoff, Dolphins return man Davone Bess fumbled it away. Two plays later, it was first-and-goal for the Chargers.
The series ended not with a crippling touchdown, but with the Dolphins stuffing all-world running back LaDainian Tomlinson on fourth-and-1.
How big was that? The Chargers lead the NFL in converting turnovers into points. And in their seven previous goal-to-go situations, they scored six touchdowns and a field goal. This time they got nothing.
"In training camp we often talked, and it happened in practice several times where sometimes things would go bad," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "It just would go bad. At some point you have to say 'No, not today. It's not going to happen today. We've got to turn it around.'
"It was really a defining moment in the game."
2. The Dolphins have developed a swagger and expect to win.
How sweet it is to kneel out a victory, something the Dolphins hadn't done since December 2006.
At Saturday's walkthrough, Sparano had the gumption to practice it.
"I ended [Saturday's practice] with that formation, and I didn't hear anything from the players," Sparano said. "I usually get an 'ooh' or an 'aah' when I do that."
Another example of Miami's confidence was going for it on fourth-and-1 from the San Diego 22. It worked, and Camarillo scored two plays later.
"Winning breeds confidence, and you have to build those winning habits," quarterback Chad Pennington said. "You have to taste victory. You have to understand what that feeling is like in your stomach when you put in a hard week of work and it call comes to fruition at 4 o'clock on Sunday. There's no greater feeling. There really isn't."
3. The Dolphins are a lot of fun to watch.
The Wildcat offense has brought excitement back for Dolfans. They shotgunned directly to Ronnie Brown 11 times Sunday, and he made things happen again. He ran for 125 yards and a touchdown.
But the passing game has been effective, too.
Pennington completed 22 of 29 passes for 228 yards and a 109.6 passer rating. His passer rating was 113.8 against the Patriots. A Miami quarterback hasn't broken 100 in consecutive games since Jay Fiedler did it in 2002.
Pennington completed 79.6 percent of his passes in those games.
In their victories, the Dolphins have amassed 851 yards, their highest two-game total in 13 years.
"We're finally clicking as an offense," Camarillo said. "The passing game is there. The running game is there. We have a lot of weapons, and we're finally starting to utilize them right."
Defensively, the Dolphins are all over quarterbacks. Joey Porter is playing like he did in Pittsburgh. The Dolphins limited the potent Chargers to 10 first downs and Tomlinson to 35 yards rushing.
"They disrupted us with their pass rush, their ability to rush the passer on the edge and their zone-blitz scheme," Chargers coach Norv Turner said. "They got matchups."
4. The Dolphins didn't beat themselves nearly as much as they once did.
Whether it's Pennington's precision passing, protecting the ball or the elimination of silly penalties, the Dolphins haven't been giving opponents extra opportunities.
Bess' fumble was only the second Miami turnover this year.
"Today we had one penalty. We won the time-of-possession game. We converted on third downs," Sparano said. "We played smart, tough football. So I hope that they are starting to understand that message, that when we don't h
urt ourselves and give ourselves a chance to win, in this league, you've got a chance."
5. They're pretty good.
The Dolphins simply aren't the same team as they were a year ago, even though they sure seemed like they were in trouble after an ugly loss to the Arizona Cardinals left them at 0-2.
Victories over two preseason Super Bowl favorites in consecutive games have the Dolphins soaring.
"Hopefully, we're going to raise some brows," Holliday said. "Hopefully, somebody's going to say, 'We need to at least take a look at these guys to see what they're doing over there because they're starting to make some noise.' That feels good."
ABOUT THIS BLOG
James Walker
Walker joined ESPN.com in 2008 after four seasons covering the NFL and NBA for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. He's a Temple graduate and Hyattsville, Md. native who lives in Miami.
