Larry Brown Sports

As you may have expected, it seems like there is an explanation for the awkward handshake that took place between Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin last weekend. Darren Sharper, who played college ball with Tomlin at William and Mary, appeared on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” on Wednesday night and explained the history between his former teammate and Harbaugh.

“There’s bad blood between these two coaches,” Sharper said, via USA TODAY. “You think about the fact that the teams do not like each other, so that carries over to the coaches because they’re the ones preaching to the team before the games. And before this game there was a little bit of an incident in which Coach Harbaugh had some comments after they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers which he knew the camera was on, too.”

After the Ravens beat the Steelers 13-10 at Heinz Field a few weeks ago, television cameras captured Harbaugh telling his players that they were the more physically tough team, the more mentally tough team, the better team and the team that knows how to win football games.

“Coach Tomlin, like all coaches do, they watch everything,” Sharper continued. “They read the papers — they try to say they don’t — they read the papers, they look at television, and he thought that was a message towards his team.

“I know this for sure. I talked to Mike, and after the game I asked him about the handshake, and he said that there is some bad blood there. And he did not appreciate what Coach Harbaugh said postgame after the first victory.”

Based on Sharper first-hand knowledge, it sounds like the excuse Tomlin gave about wanting to get to the locker room before his players so he could welcome them is bogus. Harbaugh’s comments after the first game were the same ones we hear from coaches after victories all the time. There’s no love lost between Steelers and Ravens. Perhaps Tomlin is simply falling into line.

On Friday, Gregg Williams faced accusations surrounding an alleged bounty system that he had in place during his three seasons as Saints defensive coordinator. Darren Sharper, who played under Williams as a safety for the Saints in 2009 and 2010, has flatly denied those claims. While Sharper acknowledges that there were incentive-based bonuses doled out to players, he says they were only for clean, legal plays.

“I think this is something that, from when I got in the league in 1997, has happened thousands and thousands of times over,” Sharper told NFL.com. “It’s ridiculous that someone is trying to say that we made bounties on knocking guys out, when basically all it was is that when a guy gets an interception, then he might get paid. That’s something that guys do amongst themselves.”

It seems as if Sharper may want to get his story straight with Williams, who has already issued a statement acknowledging and apologizing for what the NFL’s investigation unearthed. Given that other NFL players who never played under Williams are essentially shrugging their shoulders at the allegations and calling bounty systems commonplace in NFL locker rooms, Sharper’s remarks come off as a little surprising.

H/T Pro Football Talk
Photo credit: Derick Hingle, US Presswire

It is no surprise to hear Darren Sharper say he would take former teammate Drew Brees over former teammate Brett Favre. Sharper played with Brees more recently and Brees is a much more well-liked NFL player than Favre.  However, the reason he gave is pretty entertaining.

“With the game on the line I would have to go with Mr. Drew Brees, because we’ve seen Brett — who I love to death — throw the ball up in the air when anyone can make a play on it, intercept it, at the end of games,” Sharper said on Sportscenter Tuesday according to Pro Football Talk. “If you want to come down to a two-minute drill where you need a play for your team to win, you go with one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, and that’s Drew Brees.”

That’s an even easier question for Sharper to answer fresh off of Brees’ record-breaking performance against the Falcons.  Still, it’s fun to continue to use Favre as a punching bag.  That makes two players this season who have said they prefer their current signal-caller to the Ole Gunslinger.  All Favre is a jackass jokes aside, I’d take Brees or Aaron Rodgers over him any day.

Even though we’re still more than three months from the kickoff of the upcoming NFL season, it’s never too early to start talking trash. The Saints and Vikings will open the season on Sept. 9th in a rematch of the NFC Championship Game and are already trading barbs. Why is that the case? Because Mr. I won’t retire til I’m 60 years old, Brett Favre, has decided to get the ankle surgery that doctors told him he would need if he wanted to play football again. Apparently the Saints plan to take full advantage of Favre’s repaired ankle — Saints safetey Darren Sharper said that “X marks the spot” in terms of the QB’s ankle. Ouch. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

Sharper’s comments angered Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe and that led to him firing back to Sharper in these comments to the media on Thursday:

“Sharper had surgery, too. And it was the knee.” So if ‘X’ marks the spot on Brett, I wonder what would mark the spot on Sharper? I know which one it is. I know exactly which one it is.”

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