Yardbarker: Gary Stills

Kordell Stewart has found some work

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:54:59 -0500

I got so excited when I saw "Kordell Stewart" and "UFL" in the same headline. It wasn't that long ago when Kordell was traipsing around on "Pros vs. Joes," still clinging to his NFL dream, so I thought maybe he'd swallowed his pride and decided to give the UFL a go. Baby, I'd have been glued to that TV. No such luck, though the consolation prize isn't bad: Kordell Stewart will be providing sideline reports during UFL games on Versus. I guess...

Around the Blogosphere: 6/22

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:31:48 -0500

Here are some good links to check out. Footbaltimore, a great new site, has a post about Ray Rice’s sophomore season in college and how it could possibly be repeated in the NFL. You also might want to check out Footbaltimore’s four breakout players for the 2009 season. Ravens Gab has an encouraging post that Kelly Gregg is on schedule to return from his injury. An article/page on MSNBC Sports has an overview of good and bad moves made by teams, in the opinion of Tom Curran. Also,...

Friday UFL Headlines

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:50:31 -0500

Though most of the quarterbacks were "ineligible," a few big names were drafted in last night's inaugural UFL draft, including former Arizona State standout DB and St. Louis Rams first round selection in 2001, Adam Archuleta, the Arizona Cardinals 12th selection in the 2002 draft, Wisconsin DT Wendell Bryant, ex-LSU Tiger RB and Jacksonville Jaguar 2003 pick, LaBrandon Toefield and former Ohio State and Washington standouts and second round picks of the Indianapolis Colts, DB Mike Doss and DT Larry Tripplett.

Archuleta and Bryant will be playing ball in Las Vegas, Toefield in New York and Doss and Tripplett in Orlando. Other notable players drafted include former Grand Valley State WR David Kircus, West Virginia LB Gary Stills (Las Vegas), Utah QB Brian Johnson (New York), Wisconsin QB Brooks Bollinger, Michigan RB Chris Perry, Georgia TE Jermaine Wiggins (Orlando), Auburn DE Marquies Gunn, Pearl River CC WR Larry Brackins, San Diego State S Marviel Underwood and Wisconsin-La Cross DB Jeremy Unertl (San Francisco).

For full results, check out the UFL website.

!WARNING! THIS IS A BIT OF A RANT.

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:38:35 -0500

Wow. This is getting so annoying. ?So if you live in Baltimore or have an affinity for listening to radio shows online, you might know about the new sports station in Baltimore, 105.7 The Fan. ?So it?s not that new, created in November, but still has a cool fresh feeling of something new. ?I ...

Rams Put Two More on IR - Stanley and Stills

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:28:42 -0500

The Rams today put two more players on IR, as wide receiver and kick returner Derek Stanley and linebacker Gary Stills were put on the list. The moves on Thursday brings to an even dozen the number of Rams player on IR. Stanley tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Sunday?s loss [...]

Rams Place WR Derek Stanley, LB Gary Stills On IR

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:17:29 -0500

The Rams lost two more players for the rest of the season, placing wide receiver and kick returner Derek Stanley and linebacker Gary Stills on...

Rams Vote For Captains, Sign Players

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:46:39 -0500

The Rams reduced the number of team captains from nine to five yesterday and then voted for five players to serve in that role.? On offense, Marc Bulger and receiver Torry Holt are captains while Will Witherspoon and Corey Chavous will lead the defense.? Safety Todd Johnson has been elected the captain of the special teams.? Off the field, the Rams signed cornerback Ricky Manning and came to terms with linebacker Gary Stills.? Manning arrived in St. Louis from Chicago after being cut by the Bears.? Stills was released by Baltimore where he excelled on special teams.? To make room on the roster for Manning, the Rams released defensive back Eric Bassey.? An additional player will be released in order to make room for Stills.

St. Louis Rams Sign Gary Stills

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:52:29 -0500

The St. Louis Rams agreed to sign Gary Stills to their roster to anchor their special teams.? Gary Stills has played in the NFL for 9 years and is 34 years old. This is another solid move by Al Saunders and the St. Louis Rams. Stills has played 16 games, six straight years. Like the [...]

Ravens Trim Down to Final Roster

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:31:07 -0500

There were some surprises in the Ravens final round of cuts, but the most surprising were on the defensive side of the ball, and several preseason standouts at cornerback and linebacker were released yesterday. Among the surprises were linebacker and special teams standout Gary Stills and cornerback

Ravens v. Patriots Recap - Preseason Week 1

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:19:59 -0500

The Ravens and Patriots met in Foxboro tonight for a preseason matchup, and it was not pretty. The Ravens technically won 16-15.
spacerFor the Patriots, Brady and Moss sat, along with other starters. The Ravens sat McGahee and others. Kyle Boller got the start for the Ravens, followed by Troy Smith and finally a brief appearance by first-round draft pick Joe Flacco.spacer

Boller, the Eternal Rookie, started brilliantly, hitting Derrick Mason a few times and threading some beautiful passes. Then the Pats got to him. He fumbled the first time he was hit, as is his habit. He later threw an interception where the only doubt was whether the two Patriots defenders blanketing the intended receiver could decide which one of them was going to take it. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Troy Smith played the middle 30-35 minutes of the game, and generally made great decisions with the ball. His biggest failing was in making accurate throws, which shouldn't be surprising since Cam Cameron has tried to tweak his mechanics to allow him to throw the ball more quickly. On some throws he confidently strode and hit his receivers. On others he missed by yards.

Joe Flacco made a pretty good case for worst professional debut of all time. His first snap and pass should have been picked off. His second snap resulted in a lost fumble. He ended the game 0 for 3 with a lost fumble, and none of the three passes were close to complete.
bblahlahblah The Skins are so good at LB they gave up on Robert McCune

There were highlights for the Ravens though. New free agent acquisition Fabian Washington, a CB and former Raiders first round pick, had two interceptions. Free agent acquisition Brendon Ayanbadejo (the second Ayanbadejo in Ravens history) knocked down a two-point conversion attempt that would have given the Pats the lead in the 4th quarter. Ray Rice looked serviceable, though with a weak two yards per carry.
The Ravens defense was, of course, excellent. Ronnie Prude is trying to keep his spot on the team, after his excellent campaign two years ago was tempered quite a bit by his disappearing act last season. The Ravens have a glut of linebackers, with Ray Lewis, Bart Scott and Brandon Ayanbadejo solidly entrenched. Last year's draft pick Prescott Burgess would seem safe, as would Ray Lewis' backup Nick Griesen. Gary Stills is a Pro Bowler on special teams. That leaves quite a backlog for Antwan Barnes (also a 2007 draft pick), oft-injured Dan Cody, Edgar Jones, and my personal favorite, Robert McCune. McCune appeared to be everywhere tonight.
Yamon Figurs, though, stole the show for the Ravens. He had a 52-yard punt return that ended when he carelessly stepped out of bounds at the two. Later he had a 48-yard kick return. He looks like a totally different returner than the rookie who ended his season with a broken leg last year. Special teams were good all-around for the Ravens, who got two field goals from Stover and a third from potential kickoff specialist Piotr Czech. Coverage was excellent, as returners were stopped inside the 20 on at least three occasions.
The Patriots hardly seemed as though they were trying. QB Matt Cassel looked absolutely putrid. His replacement, Matt Guittierez, was better. He took a few sacks though and threw one of the Fabian Washington picks. The last QB, UFA rookie Kevin O'Connell from San Diego State, made poor throws but looked good scrambling.

The bright spots for the Pats (other than the fact they trotted out almost entire backups) were running back and Maryland alum Lamont Jordan and rookie LB out of Michigan Shawn Crable. Crable had an interception. Jordan had some excellent runs and looked quite shifty. His size makes him a great change of pace to Maroney.

I guess the story of the night were the Raiders' cast-offs, Jordan and Washington. Well, them and the fact that the Ravens probably really wanted to win and the Pats are just biding time til they can start the divisional round of the playoffs in January 2009.

Ravens Week 10 - Broken

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:45:23 -0500

The saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But what if it is broke? As an official homeowner for 4 full months, I've had to learn to deal with many of these daily dilemmas. Take this past Saturday, my first weekend at home in more than a month. I fixed a towel rack, a vacuum, a smoke detector and a light bulb. Well I guess you don't actually fix a light bulb, you replace it, but I was rather proud of my man-of-the-house accomplishments and technically, th...

Is Jonathan Ogden's career over?

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:47:25 -0500

Also, read who missed practice today in Baltimore: four big-time names, two each on offense and defense.