As PRO FOOTBALL TALK mentioned today, the situation with Michael Crabtree’s holdout is steadily declining into “disaster” territory. Now, according to his agent Eugene Parker, Crabtree is planning to sit the entire season out, then join the 2010 NFL Draft (in prime time!) in search of a new team.

(This is Michael Crabtree catching a football during a football game. Just keeping it fresh in your mind, since you’re not going to be seeing it for a good, long while.)

Crabtree, the phenomenally productive and talented receiver out of Texas Tech (best known for driving a wooden stake through Texas’ season), was the 10th pick of the draft. Obviously, he thinks he should have gone higher - or should be paid as such, anyway. Never mind that the “big” money comes from the second contract, not the rookie contract.

But if there’s some chuckling you hear, it’s probably coming from Cleveland. Read more…

One of the storylines in the leadup to the NFL draft was that Michael Crabtree had an inflated sense of self-worth, which prompted an infinitely stupid quote from a scout that compared the thought of drafting him to eating an animal’s fecal matter. Yes, that actually happened.

(”You want someone who acts like a baby? Here. Here’s an actual baby.”)

That all came as news to Mike Leach, who had coached Crabtree for the last three seasons at Texas Tech. Leach thinks the rumors came from tradition-hater Eric Mangini at Cleveland - nay, he’s dead certain of it. And based on the fusillade of invective that the Dread Pirate Coach has launched at Mangini, it’s once again clear that the only thing more entertaining than a free-speaking coach is a free-speaking coach who feels like he’s been wronged: Read more…

In a game for the ages, upset-minded Texas Tech scored an improbable touchdown with one second left to steal a win from the top-ranked Texas Longhorns, 39-33. The winning score came on a 28-yard pass from new Heisman frontrunner Graham Harrell to his top target, Michael Crabtree.

On Texas’ side, star QB Colt McCoy significantly underperformed for most of the game, but his 91-yard touchdown bomb to freshman Malcolm Williams put Texas right back in the game in the middle of the fourth quarter.

Read more…