Tiki Barber is getting more media attention now then when he was rushing for 1700 yards. In his upcming book appropriately titled “Tiki: My Life in the Game and Beyond”, Barber suggests that Coughlin is the reason he quit.

Cry Much?

As a Jag fan, I know what Coughlin does to his players. He is the drill sargeant of football. I watched him ream players for 8 years in Jacksonville. Players complained then…hell he even made a guy cry. But never in his tenure in Jacksonville did a player quit because of him. “If Tom Coughlin had not remained as head coach of the Giants, I might still be in a Giants uniform,” Barber writes, according to the Daily News.

Wow Tiki. You’re a real man’s man. I wonder how often your brother beat your ass growing up?

“[Coughlin] robbed me of what had been one of the most important things I had in my life, which was the joy I felt playing football,” Barber wrote, according to the newspaper. “I had lost that. He had taken it away.”

Tiki only makes himself look bad by these comments. He’s trying to place blame on Coughlin, when in fact he’s only exposing himself as a little bitch.

New England Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel is ending his holdout to sign the 1 year franchise tender. Really? You mean a player decided to end his holdout? What player has ever actually held out for the regular season. No One!

No player is going to miss those checks when the regular season starts. So what did Samuel actually accomplish my sitting out training camp and almost the entire preseason? The Pats may have stipulated that they won’t use the franchise tag on him again next year. That’s about it (if they did indeed agree to that). He is set to make $7.79 million this season.

It’s obvious that all players want a long term deal. Injuries happen every game. If a player suffers a career ending while on a 1 year contract, they’re basically screwed forever. However, if he has a 6 year deal, then he can still collect paychecks unless he retires. That’s the whole point behind these holdouts. But a team like the Patriots, will pretty much tell a player to shut up and sign somewhere else. They don’t respond to holdouts well.

Our guess is Samuel is on the Raiders in 2008.

We used to just say Bettis is big and fat, but now we can say he is a big fat liar. In Bettis’ new book “The Bus. My Life in and out of a Helmet,” he is quoted as saying “I wasn’t faking that I had an injury. I was just faking that the injury happened on that short-yardage play. I had to fool the coaches and the team’s medical department into thinking the injury had occurred on that play. Otherwise, the Steelers would have had their reason to cut me and my salary.”

I hope no kids decide to pick up his book. What a great example for the thousands of young football players coming up through the ranks. Bettis is basically telling them it’s ok to fake injuries for personal benefit.

And poor Richard Huntley. The guy got screwed out of a starting job on the Pittsburgh Steelers because Jerome Bettis lied. Don’t be surprised if he publicly lashes out on Bettis in the next few days. What a dick thing of Bettis to do.

I have a tip that Larry Johnson was spotted at Wachovia Bank in Kansas City this morning trying to cash a check for $45 million dollars. However, the teller told him he could only cash the $19 million in guaranteed money today. Sorry LJ.

Larry Johnson ended his holdout today and returned to Chiefs training camp. The holdout cost Johnson about $357,000, But Peterson joked that with his new contract, Johnson would have no problem paying the fines. “I think there’s still a little left.”

“He is in really good shape. I have been monitoring his progress,” Peterson said. “He’s been working very hard. I don’t think it will take him long to get up to speed. But there’s a soreness aspect you’ve got to go through. He expressed to me last night he knew that and he didn’t want to waste any more time sitting out.”

Well congrats LJ on your big contract. Just don’t disappoint your millions of fans with a bust season. So many players get injured or suck after they hit the big payday. Let’s hope LJ is not one of them.

We all knew it was coming soon enough. No one really believed Michael Vick would challenged the indictment in trial. The feds don’t indict criminals unless they know they can win the case. Point blank…Michael vick is guilty, and he has now plead guilty and will accept his punishment.

I originally thought if convicted, Vick would server about 8 months in prison. But recently, I’ve been hearing 12-18 months with a max of 5 years. No judge is going to give him 5 years in prison, but I guess 18 months could happen. I wonder if vick will be placed in a federal ‘pound me in the ass’ prison? Will the inmates accept him as one of their own? Will they be awe struck? Will Vick be isolated for his protection? So many questions!

But the most important question on everyone’s mind… will Michael Vick every play football again? And if so, what team would take him? If Vick survives prison, he will then serve a minimum 1 year NFL suspension. So you’re looknig at Vick coming back to the NFL around 2010. Thats a long time to be away from football. So if he is reinstated, what team would want him? The obvious choice is the Raiders. However, if Russell pans out, they won’t need a QB. Maybe Tampa? Really, there are only a fwew teams that would even consider bringing him back, and thats only if he serves his suspension and apologizes to everyone with a tear in his eye.

Every year the same thing happens. A star player gets hurt in preseason and we have the discussion about how to stop it. Some say the NFL preseason is too long and should be cut down to 2 games. Others will say injuries are part of the game, and all teams experience them. I say it’s a little of both.

Last year the Redskins lost Clinton Portis in a preseason game. Granted his injury was due to a bonehead tackle, but nonetheless it happened during a meaningless game. This year, the Jaguars have lost 1st round draft pick Reggie Fuckin’ Nelson with an ankle injury. And yes, you do have to include his middle name when talking about him.

Also losing star players this year are the New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos. Last nights injury ridden game between the Giants and Ravens should be proof enough that the NFL needs to step in an do something about preseason. Otherwise, teams will start copying the Chargers (who haven’t played LT in a preseason game in like 3-4 years).

This one hits close to home. As a Jag fan, I’ve been following every step in the Tim Couch saga. He was brought into camp with hopes of replacing Quinn Gray as the Jaguars third string quarterback. Unfortunately, Couch couldn’t offer the Jags anything to improve their team (probably because he has poor vision and a noodle for an arm).

If you’re a QB and you get cut by the Jags, you may as hell hang it up for the season. There is really no hope for Couch. The Jags have one of the worst ‘veteran’ QB staffs in the NFL. There are teams with rookie quarterbacks who can perform on a more consistent basis.

Couch needs to hang up his playing days and work on coaching if he still wants to be involved in football. Get an assistantship as a small time DII school and work your way up the ranks. That’s the only way this guy will ever sniff an NFL roster again.

In a recent Fox Sports article, Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowl linebacker Lofa Tatupu was quoted as saying Fred Taylor is the best running back in the NFL. Go ahead and read it for yourself.

“Frank Gore, who always plays great against us, is the third-best running back. LaDainian (Tomlinson) is second. But Taylor is clearly No. 1. You know where he is going and you cannot stop him. That’s the best thing you can say about a running back. He was outrunning our cornerbacks and breaking tackles from the front seven. Taylor is the ultimate blend of power and speed. And I’ve played all these guys, played Steven Jackson, Edgerrin James, all of them. I’m telling you — Fred Taylor is the best running back in the league.”

Tatupu isn’t the only one who thinks Fred Taylor is the best RB in the NFL. Even the great Jim Brown has publicly stated he thinks Fred ranks #1. And we at Mugdish couldn’t agree more (with all Jags homerism aside).

His 4.6 career yards per carry average ranks 5th all-time, behind only Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, O.J. Simpson, and Tiki Barber. That’s right. Fred Taylor has a better career rushing average then Ladainian Tomlinson. Shocked aren’t you. He’s also shooting for 10,000 career rushing yards this season, and should have it by week 4. The only thing holding Taylor back from the #1 spot in public opinion is touchdowns.

Thanks to fantasy football, the general football fan regards a 15 yard 2 touchdown performance better than a 130 yard 0 touchdown performance. Fred was a touchdown machine early in his career. He later lost goal-line caries to bigger backs like Stacey Mack and Greg Jones. If he played in a system that featured only one back, Fred could have broken NFL records left and right.