News n’at

Interestingly, in his discussion of the offensive line, Bouchette doesn’t mention that after October 19th (when this version of the line started playing together) Ben was sacked 28 times, an average of 2.54 per game. However, in the first 5 games of the season (when Marvel Smith and Kendall Simmons were playing), Ben was sacked 18 times, an average of 3.6 per game, including that 8-sack disaster against Philadelphia. Though this line is far from “elite,” they did cut the sacks-per-game down by over 1 from the previous alignment.

We’ve been out to training camp before, and it’s a great experience for kids. So if you have kids, you should try to take them. We haven’t gone for a while, but if our relative schedules permit, maybe one or both of us will make it out there.

Finally, and somewhat regretably, I guess we have to touch on the Big Ben issue.

For those who haven’t heard, Ben was in Reno for a charity golf event. After the trip, a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her. There were some shaky details, and different stories have been floating around about possible settlements, etc. Rather than be a rumor beacon, we’re probably just going to sit back and let this thing run its course.

Let’s set the record straight. We’re not going to make excuses for Ben. If he’s guilty, then we thoroughly do not approve. We don’t think athletes should have higher standards or be “above the law.” That being said, if he is found to be innocent, then we do hope the allegations won’t tarnish his reputation. We do our best around here not to delve too much into the personal lives of the players, but this has been all over ESPN, so it’s something we felt we needed to touch on.