We’re just a couple days away from the historic first regular-season NFL game played outside of North America. The game between the Miami Dolphins and N.Y. Giants lacks a tremendous amount of excitement with the Dolphins coming in at 0-7. But Commissioner Roger Goodell made some interesting comments about digital media today at “Sport 2020 – The Changing Face of the Global Sports Industry” conference from the Landmark Hotel in London:

“We will connect with more fans globally through digital media. Digital media expands the potential for communicating about our game and with our fans. The Internet is the new town square, a place for fans across the globe to gather and enjoy the NFL. I participated in a session at Google’s headquarters in California earlier this month, appropriately titled ‘Sports of the 21st Century, Sports and Fans – A New Connection.’ We discussed how this is the golden age for the fan. It’s a great time to be a sports fan with more points of contact than ever. It’s a self-service, on-demand environment with fans connecting on their own terms. They can get information when and how they want it. That changes our business model dramatically. Thanks to new technology, we can bring fans closer to football and deepen their interest in the game.”

Personally, I’m getting almost all of my football information online, mostly via the 32 NFL teams’ Media Web sites. And when I’m sitting in the press box at Buffalo Bills games, I still have the NFL.com Game Center on my laptop screen to double check plays, yardages and running stats. And when I venture outside of football as a fan of the NBA or PGA Tour, I look online first. It’s just not as common as it used to be to get last night’s scores in the morning paper. In fact, you probably got last night’s scores … last night.

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NFL Commissioner Hypes Digital Media

Miami Dolphins QB Trent Green suffered a serious concussion and was wheeled off the field strapped to a cart during the first quarter of his team’s 22-19 loss to the Houston Texans today. Trent was trying to make a block when the injury occurred. The big concern here is in knowing Trent’s history. He suffered a highly publicized, very serious concussion with the Chiefs last year and missed most of the season. The good news: Trent did return from a local hospital and was driven to the locker room in time to board the buses with his teammates.

The further we get into this 2007 season, the more it looks like the Dolphins made a bad decision in letting Daunte Culpepper go in favor of Trent, who has thrown five TDs but has also been intercepted seven times with no wins. Trent is 37-years-old and I’m not sure he can recover from many, if any, more of these types of injuries.

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Trent Green Suffers Serious Concussion

Members of the Miami Dolphins made a visit to Wembley Stadium in London a couple days ago to promote the NFL’s first-ever overseas regular season game. The Dolphins will face the New York Giants on Sunday, October 28, 2007. Naturally, DE Jason Taylor was the focus of attention because he’s the league’s defending defensive MVP and the leader of the team. But there’s more. I was reading an article at SI.com that reported PR powerhouse Rogers & Cohen were working with Jason to generate even more interest in this game. Sandy Friedman, the executive vice president for music and sports at R&C, while looking at a photo of a tuxedo-clad Jason and his beautiful wife, said to Jason and his agent:

“We sell Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as the First Couple of Country Music; that’s how we want to position you [as an NFL couple] over there. The trick is getting you off the sports pages and into the other parts of the paper — and that’s what this allows us to do. They’ll eat this up on Fleet Street. They love couples! We’ll make sure you’re seen with all the right people in all the right places. Because what you’re giving us, with the business interests and lifestyle and charitable efforts and entertainment ventures, is perfect for the business we’re in.”

So, you see what’s happening here? The powers-that-be are trying to generate interest in football from people who might not care about football. Which is fine. The NFL is worldwide and now that they’re playing regular season games outside of the U.S. for the first time, more efforts like this will be made to market NFL players globally. And to a diverse audience. It’s exciting for the game of professional football. But it’s kind of goofy at the same time if Jason and his wife are red-carpet posing in the tabloids. Nevertheless, I’m all for it if it brings more positive visibility to the game.

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Marketing the NFL in London: Dolphins, Giants Already Promoting October Matchup

Daunte Culpepper is getting help from the NFL Players Association in his quest to be released from the Miami Dolphins. The NFLPA filed a grievance today on Daunte’s behalf, with hopes that the matter can be resolved within a week. The Dolphins are apparently breaching Daunte’s contract by refusing to employ him or letting him go somewhere else. The grievance is similar to the one filed by the NFLPA last year against the Tennessee Titans after the team barred Steve McNair from working out at its facility. McNair was eventually traded to Baltimore for a fourth-round Draft pick. With the NFLPA involved, expect the matter to be resolved within the next couple weeks, if not sooner. But I wonder. Will Daunte be released or traded? He wants out on his own terms, but certainly the Dolphins know they can get something in return.

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NFLPA Files Grievance for Daunte Culpepper

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL

Think NFL fans aren’t hungry for some football almost two months before training camp even begins? YouTuber rockclimber556 captured this footage of recently drafted quarterback John Beck in 7-on-7 drills at Miami Dolphins minicamp. It might be Trent Green leading the Dolphins this season, but John is the future of the franchise at QB and he looked good in practice. It was interesting to get a fan’s perspective, enthusiasm and comments in this video.

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John Beck at Miami Dolphins Minicamp

Daunte Culpepper’s entire career has been based on teammates blocking for him. Now he’s the one doing the blocking as the Miami Dolphins QB says he’s going to put the snafu on any trade the Dolphins might be considering for him.

In a weird day of minicamp practice in South Florida, Culpepper walked off the field escorted by security after being told by QB coach Terry Shea that he was being barred from any quarterback drills. What gives? If the guy is on your team and he’s cleared to workout, why have him stand around and watch everyone else practice? Apparently this was the team’s way of dealing with Daunte’s trade tenacity. Childish behavior by the Dolphins, yes. But I guess this is how they want to handle the situation — to make a spectacle of Daunte by making him “stand in the corner” so to speak. Daunte (who doesn’t have an agent, he reps himself) is owed $5.5 million for the upcoming season and said the structure of his current deal — which runs through 2013 and is worth $51.5 million — will make it nearly impossible for another team to trade for him. If Daunte doesn’t restructure that deal, it’s a virtual certainty that no other team would be willing to make a trade with Miami for him. Plus, Daunte wants to be able to pick what team he plays for. So, we’ll see where this goes, but I believe Daunte Culpepper has taken his last snap for the Miami Dolphins in a short-lived South Florida career that saw him start only four games and get sacked 21 times.

I guess at this point the question is whether Daunte Culpepper can still be an effective QB in this league. Obviously, he still thinks so, but he’s going to need to make some adjustments in his game if he’s going to be a quality starter. In his younger days, Daunte did have the luxury of Randy Moss at his disposal. As a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, I would watch in awe as deep ball after deep ball was literally heaved in the direction of #84 who nine times out of ten would come down with it for a long gain or touchdown. It really was a thing of beauty and it made Daunte look like he could do no wrong. But without Randy Moss to bail him out in those situations, Daunte was really only an average quarterback. Don’t get me wrong. Daunte was solid. But Randy Moss made him better. A lot better. In his final season with the Vikings (without Randy, of course), and before his knee injury, Daunte was playing some of the worst ball of his life and it was painful to watch. That being said, if he thinks he’s going to get some kind of $50 million deal from any team, he’s dreaming. It isn’t going to happen. But he will play again. I’m certain of that. He looks to be in great shape although he says he still has a ways to go on the road to complete recovery. To take advantage of what he has left of his NFL career, he hopes that road isn’t much longer.

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Daunte Culpepper Leaves Minicamp Practice, Says He’ll Block Trade From Dolphins

After three months of trade talks, Trent Green is now officially a Miami Dolphin. And it looks like QB Daunte Culpepper is on his way out of town despite receiving news that he has been cleared to test his surgically repaired knee. Miami will give up a conditional 2008 fifth-round draft pick that can increase to a fourth-rounder if Trent meets certain performance standards (he just needs to play in 70% of the offensive snaps this season). So why not keep Daunte as an insurance policy at the quarterback position? Here’s why. He’s due to make $5.5 million in base salary this season. Plus, they just resigned backup QB Cleo Lemon to a one-year deal and drafted Brigham Young quarterback John Beck. You do the math.

The questions that remain are: 1.) is Trent 100% after missing half of last season with a serious concussion? and 2.) does Trent have enough talent around him on offense to make that much of a difference?

Only time will tell if there are any lingering effects from last season’s brain trauma, but Trent will be the starter and a great teacher for the aforementioned John Beck, the supposed QB of Miami’s future. But let’s look at the offensive line. Trent’s protectors in Kansas City were some of the best to ever play the game (eg. Will Shields and Willie Roaf). I like the “skill position” players in Miami (Ronnie Brown, Ted Ginn Jr., Chris Chambers), but I’m not sold on that O-line. Why would I be? They gave up 40+ sacks last season. Kudos for drafting center Samson Satele from Hawaii, but that’s not good enough. Miami’s offense isn’t going to set any records just because they signed Trent. He’ll help, but he’ll also need help. And I don’t think he’s got enough of it.

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Miami Ink: Trent Green Signs With Dolphins, Daunte Culpepper on Trading Block

What a perfect definition for the career of Trent Green as the QB continues to be stuck in limbo as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs despite the Miami Dolphins upping the ante, so to speak, in their desire to acquire the rights to his services. Trent Green may be in the twilight of his career, but I believe he still has a couple of very good football seasons ahead of him. Why don’t the Miami Dolphins want to pay more than a sixth-round pick for what would most-likely be their starting QB in 2007? The latest offer from Miami is a conditional sixth-round pick that could turn into a fifth-round pick based on Trent reaching certain performance incentives. The Chiefs want at least a fourth-round pick. I think the Dolphins have enough QBs with Daunte Culpepper, Cleo Lemon and the newly drafted John Beck, supposedly the future of the franchise. I think it’s doing the Chiefs more harm than good to keep Trent on their roster because the team doesn’t know who’s going to be their starting QB and Trent has already said that he wants out. Take the latest offer, let Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard fight it out for the starting job, and be done with it.

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Trent Green Still in Limbo Despite New Offer