The Afternoon After: Mourning glory – maligned duo elevated by tributes

Here is my weekly look at what I saw from NFL Sunday. As usual, a reminder that I’m basically a football layman, and I’ll also point out that I observed less than usual due to watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, possibly the greatest movie of all time, on Sunday.

Emotion sickness As just about everyone did, I considered the death of Chris Henry to be a real shame. Obviously, Henry had something of a checkered past, but from all accounts was attempting to get his head on straight and his life in order, something all of us can appreciate.

Being on injured reserve and away from his team, he lapsed in his decision-making at the worst possible time.

Maybe that’s why I found it especially touching to see the efforts of Chad Ochocinco and Brandon Marshall, two other quirky – to say the least – wide receivers, to pay tribute to their fallen comrade.

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NFL getting catty about Dolphins bringing fun, innovation to the sport

One of the Dolphins' four quarterbacks -- of sorts -- flings it past notorious Wildcat critic and league substance abuse policy violator Calvin Pace What is it they say, that you fear what you don’t understand? Well, it’s apparent that the entire NFL is terrified of the Dolphins’ Wildcat offense.

They just don’t get it. They don’t get why it works, they don’t get why the Dolphins are so insistent on using it, they don’t get why the media is so fascinated by it. And they absolutely don’t get why they simply can’t stop it.

But it’s not just the Wildcat they fear, it’s that they’re facing a threat to their comfortable status quo, that they might have to adjust their stodgy status quo.

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