FloridaGridiron.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)—Jacksonville’s quarterback competition turned out to be a stalemate against Atlanta.

David Garrard(notes) did little to solidify his starting spot and rookie Blaine Gabbert(notes) was equally unimpressive as the Jaguars beat the Falcons 15-13 Friday night.

Garrard completed 7 of 12 passes for 99 yards, with an interception in three series. Gabbert, the 10th pick in the April draft, completed 11 of 23 passes for 96 yards in seven series. Gabbert was plagued by several drops, including three on one second-half series that forced the Jaguars to settle for a 54-yard field goal.

Matt Ryan’s(notes) receiving corps had similar issues, but Harry Douglas(notes) turned a short crossing route into a 76-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Ryan finished 7 of 15 for 116 yards.

via Garrard, Gabbert unimpressive as Jags beat Falcons – NFL – Yahoo! Sports.

MIAMI (AP)—Cam Newton threw a Hail Mary pass that fell incomplete on the final play of the first half Friday night, and that’s the closest he came to reaching the end zone.

The top pick of the NFL draft was shut out in his first exhibition-game start, and Newton’s Carolina Panthers lost to the Miami Dolphins 20-10.

Newton played the entire first half, when the Panthers managed only three first downs, had the ball for less than eight minutes and fell behind 17-0. Newton went 7 for 14 for 66 yards, and he ran four times for 18 yards.

Carolina crossed midfield for the first time when Newton ran for 7 yards on the next-to-last play of the half.

Reggie Bush(notes), another former Heisman Trophy winner, played for the first time since joining the Dolphins and totaled 81 yards from scrimmage in three series. He ran eight times for 48 yards, including a 17-yard burst up the middle, and caught two passes for 33 yards.

via Newton, Panthers lose to Dolphins 20-10 – NFL – Yahoo! Sports.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—NCAA President Mark Emmert says he’s willing to back up his tough talk on punishing rule-breakers—even using the “death penalty” as a deterrent.

With salacious allegations swirling around Miami’s football program, and one week after Emmert joined with university presidents to discuss toughening sanctions against cheating schools, the NCAA’s leader said he believed the infractions committee should make the harshest penalty an option.

“If, and I say if, we have very unique circumstances where TV bans and death penalties are warranted, then I don’t think they are off the table and I would be OK with putting those in place,” Emmert told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday.

via NCAA’s ‘death penalty’ could be option for Miami – College Football – Rivals.com.

DAVIE, Fla. (AP)—Reggie Bush(notes) watched part of his first practice with the Miami Dolphins from an end zone, arms across his chest, nodding and smiling as he studied what was happening on the field.

He can’t wait for a different view.

Bush’s next chapter formally began Friday, one day after he was acquired by the Dolphins in a trade with the New Orleans Saints and agreed to a two-year contract worth nearly $10 million. He cannot practice with the club until Aug. 4 because of NFL rules, but is in camp and already knee-deep into the process of learning everything about his new team.

via Bush says trade to Dolphins is ‘surreal’ – NFL – Yahoo! Sports.

Free agents agreeing to deals (not official until Friday evening): After playing opposite DE Jared Allen, former Vikings DE Ray Edwards will now bookend DE John Abraham in Atlanta after agreeing to a five-year deal with the Falcons, per FOXSports; G Davin Joseph will remain with the Buccaneers for seven years and $53 million per WDAE in Tampa … the Bucs are also keeping T Jeremy Trueblood and adding P Michael Koenen; after being dumped by Dallas, WR Roy Williams is ready to reunite with Bears OC Mike Martz in Chicago per ESPN.

via Hot reads: Friday’s NFL player news – The Huddle – USATODAY.com.

If you are writing for one of our blogs, why not add an avatar that will help you gain the recognition you deserve?

For starters, if you don’t know, an avatar is a tiny image you use to show a picture of yourself. You get one with your site profile – your overall profile that makes you a member of FloridaGridiron.com. This allows you to join/form groups and discussions.

If you choose to start a blog, or write for a blog, then you have a profile (same log-in information) that allows you to write for that blog. You can also tweak that user profile with another avatar (or perhaps the same) that shows you off as a writer on the site.

Got questions? Leave a comment or email me. Happy avatar-ing!

Now, to make joining the site easier than ever, we just implemented using Facebook Connect to FloridaGridiron!

If you want to join the site, and don’t feel like waisting time on filling out more information, simply click on the Facebook Connect button and log in using your Facebook ID and password. Simple as that, you’re done!

Look for:

You are also logged into both FloridaGridiron and your Facebook account at the same time! Welcome aboard!

So, you’ve come to the right place to talk about your favorite team – or even to talk trash to the fans of your most hated rival! But you want to know now to get around the site a bit – here is a brief tutorial on what you can do next.

The point of this site is obviously to find ways to connect with other fans of your favorite team, but also to read what is being said about your team (and possibly, even express yourself about what concerns your favorite team!)

Let’s start from the beginning – when you land on FloridaGridiron.com, you start on the main blog. It serves as kind of a landing spot for eveything – you can navigate from here to any portion of the site. To find your favorite team’s blog, just scan the navigation bar at the top of the page (not the grey floating bar at the very top!). You will see several selections:

• Home – brings you back to the main page, FloridaGridiron.com in this case
• Blog – brings you to the blog section, in this case FloridaGridiron.com’s blog updates
• Members – gives you a list of all the members, site wide, of FloridaGridiron
• Groups – gives you a list of groups, sitewide, of FloridaGridiron
• Blogs – gives you a list of all the blogs, sitewide, of FloridaGridiron; for example, The Aquarium, The Tribe, etc.

By clicking on each of those tabs, you will be redirected to a different portion of the site (as described above). Easy enough? Now, go get lost out there! Form groups, connect with other fans, and talk trash to your rivals!

In order to make life easier, you could sign up for an account at Gravatar which will give you a centralized area to enter a picture to be used in all of your posts, etc.

A gravatar is a globally recognized avatar and will allow you to upload an image which will follow you from site to site you sign up at. Just a tip, take a look and try it out.

Join Gravatar

Just fine tuning things a bit around here. We have relaunched the site as a social network built around the sport of football here in Florida. For now, we are focusing on the major college teams and pro teams, but in the future we are looking to expand to all college teams here in Florida as well as high school programs.

For now, we are tweaking The Aquarium, which is our portion of the site dedicated to the Miami Dolphins. Check out the latest posts there by heading directly to the Aquarium or by checking back on the front end here.