NFL RECAP – WEEK SEVEN
STATE OF THE GAME
I have a confession to
make. I have not embraced the
play-it-safe, don't make mistakes, efficient passing game, just throw the ball
away style of today's offenses. We want
all quarterbacks to complete 65% plus of their passes. We want them all to "take what the
defense gives" and to "keep the chains moving". We want to turn Cam Newton and RG3 into Tom
Brady. We don't have the truly big-play
receivers (Bob Hayes, Lance Alworth, Cliff Branch, Mel Gray) whose primary
mission was to simply go deep. We don't
have much variety in the style or mentality of the offenses today, only
differences in quality of the people that man the "slot receiver",
the "pass-catching tight end", and the three-headed "running
back by committee.
Coaches today primarily
employ the football equivalent of small ball.
The teams with the best records in each conference are mirror images of
one another on offense. That is why we
have parity. All teams play on Sundays
the same teams they practice against all week.
The new wrinkle that is becoming not new is the hurry up --- pretty soon
that will look the same for all the teams as well. Does anybody dare to have a fresh idea? It is
like all the teams moved to tract housing in the suburbs.
The rules have emasculated
the defenses to the point that only the dropped pass, the offensive holding
call, or Blaine Gabbert are capable of negating these careful offenses. Please, football gods, send us the next defensive genius who can
disrupt the metronome offense. The
efficiency is boring me to death.
5-10 MUSINGS FROM THE GAMES
That Should Fix Everything
The Kansas City Chiefs have
announced that Brady Quinn will replace Matt Cassel as the starting
quarterback. I am struggling for the
appropriate analogy here. Try this: Switching from Cassel to Quinn is like asking
Charles Barkley to swap his little black dress for an evening gown. It is not going to get any less ugly.
Seriously? In a land of 300 million people the two top
quarterbacks the Chiefs have to offer are Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn? To put it in perspective, Brady Quinn could
not supplant Tim Tebow as the next option to a mediocre quarterback (Kyle
Orton) in Denver. Not since Dallas
replaced Quicy Carter with Chad Hutchinson has a team made such an astute
quarterback change.
The Curse Spreads to Kansas City
This is all some weird Josh
McDaniels curse that seems to have spread from Denver to Kansas City. Follow along if you can. In the first game of the 2008 season Tom
Brady goes down and Matt Cassel comes from nowhere to lead the Patriots to an
11-5 record. Josh McDaniels is the New England offense coordinator during Cassel's season of glory. Cassel parlays his lucky season in New England into a fat contract
with Kansas City.
In 2009 the Broncos loose all
their mental faculties and hire Josh McDaniels as head coach.
McDaniels decides it would be a good idea to pursue acquiring Cassel for
reasons that only make sense to him. One
can assume Josh believes the only thing separating Cassel from excellence was
that he needed McDaniels as a coach. Jay
Cutler is at the time the Bronco quarterback.
He pouts when he learns McDaniels is flirting with Cassel. Kyle Orton
comes to Denver from Chicago in the trade that gave Cutler his freedom. Josh McDaniels trades Peyton Hillis away to
the Browns for Brady Quinn. (Just as a
side note -- Hillis has a great season in Cleveland before he becomes a bit of
a diva). McDaniels then drafts Tebow in
the first round of the 2010 draft.
Fast forward to the 2011
season. New Bronco coach John Fox steps into the
quarterback bounty of Orton, Quinn, and Tebow.
Ultimately Orton does not get it done in Denver, Quinn is too lame to
get a chance, and Tebow somehow gets the Broncos to the playoffs and even wins
a playoff game. The Broncos release Orton late in 2011. The Chiefs pick him up and Orton
"outduels" Tebow in a thrilling 7-3 offensive masterpiece in week
sixteen of 2011. Talk about a small world. (The Broncos backed into the playoffs by
losing their last three games in 2011. Welcome to the AFC West).
In the 2012 off season Orton exits Kansas City stage left for Dallas
and in rushes -- Brady Quinn -- to
backup Matt Cassell. So, two of the
three Bronco rejects McDaniels brought to Denver have now started for Kansas City. And the Chiefs are still stuck with the
McDaniels guy that started it all, Cassell.
Hmmm. I wonder how the curse will
deposit Tebow in Kansas City? And just
for fun, an unproductive Peyton Hillis also found his way onto the 2012 Chiefs
roster.
Lead the Way
It was just a couple of weeks
ago that Panther wideout Steve Smith suggested that Cam Newton needed to up the
maturity component of his game.
Apparently the message didn't take.
Cam had another poor performance as the Panthers dropped a winnable game
to the Cowboys. More telling, Newton
exhibited all the leadership of a lost puppy in the post game press
conference. I have to think that his
mates on offense are getting tired of this routine. Many thought the Panthers had an outside
chance to challenge for a wild card spot.
The season is fast slipping away for the 1-5 Panthers.
Am I the Only One
Who lost track of how many
times the Lions put the ball on the ground on Monday night? The Bears are always good at forcing
turnovers, but the Lions had three red zone giveaways and a fumbled punt in their own
territory. Plus there were three or four
dropsies that avoided the turnover column because they first rolled out of
bounds. The Lions defense played well
enough to win the game. The Lions
offense moved the ball well enough to win the game. The ball spent too much time on the ground
for the Lions to win the game.
Meanwhile everyone is lining
up to praise Jay Cutler for...? I guess
when you are a butt head so often even a little leadership goes a long
way. The law of diminished expectations
strikes again.
The Playoff Polls
I have bothered seven
Americans who didn't think I could find them on their mobile phones. I have analyzed their responses in a highly
unscientific fashion -- and seven weeks into the season these are my playoff
projections for each conference:
NFC - Bears, Giants, Niners,
Falcons, Packers ,Vikings
AFC - Texans, Ravens,
Broncos, Patriots, Steelers, Colts
This feels a little bit like
the NBA where sometimes you regret that there are an equal number of
playoff teams from each conference.
Updating the QB Rookie Rankings
OK - -I have officially
pulled the "hot wife" factor from my rookie quarterback
rankings. I think that all five guys are
making progress.
RG3
Luck
Tannehill
Weeden
Russell
Old Alex Returns?
Let me see -- Alex Smith
against the Buffalo Bills is not the same player as Alex Smith against teams
that play defense - -such as the Giants or the Seahawks? After playing the best game of his life
against the Bills in week five, Smith has followed it up with consecutive
stinkers against good defenses. It
seemed clear in the second half of the Seattle game that Coach Harbaugh just
wanted to make sure Smith didn't lose the game.
The Niners are solid enough to go far with a game manager at
quarterback. But last year showed they
need more from Smith to win the big prize.
I think Colin Kapernick is the Niners quarterback of the future, and
that the future is getting closer than we thought.
Harbaugh the Annoyer
After the Niners came up
empty against the Giants in week six I mentioned that some of Jim Harbaugh's
tactics seemed poorly suited to the NFL.
Specifically, Harbaugh got into a war of words with the Giants over the
tactics of Niner lineman Justin Smith.
It came across to me as high school level game week rhetoric. Seems a little of the juvenile behavior
carried over into the Thursday night game with Seattle. Come on Jim - -coach the game. As much as I respect the job Harbaugh has
done in San Francisco, this part of his act is getting old.
WEEKLY AWARDS
MVP
This week I select Giants'
receiver Victor Cruz. The dude has a
knack for the big play. His late game
touchdown catch rescued the Giants in an entertaining win over the Redskins.
EL BUSTO
The Bengals lost a tough game
at home to the Steelers because their offense could not muster anything close
to a drive in the entire second half.
Quarterback Andy Dalton was 14-28 for a Blaine Gabbert-like 105
yards. More puzzling, he seemed to
forget that a talented playmaker named A.J. Green is on the Bengals
roster. Come on Andy, give your best
player a chance to make some plays.
SURPRISE-SURPRISE-SURPRISE
The Jim Neighbors award goes
to the Baltimore Ravens, and not in a good way.
Yes, the Ravens had a decimated defense and traveled to play the AFC's best
team, the Texans. Still, I
can't remember the last time the Ravens took such a thumping. I was surprised.
TREASURE OF THE WEEK
The Giants and Redskins went
back and forth. RG3 made some incredible
throws and dazzling runs. Eli Manning
and Victor Cruz did what they do - -make the plays they need to win games. Giants and Redskins earn the prize for the
week's best game. Patriots overtime win
against the Jets is a close second.
TRASH OF THE WEEK
Thank your favorite deity
that the Jets and Patriots was a compelling game. The only other late game was Raiders
/Jags. Yikes - -and it went to overtime. Raiders/Jags is painful enough. Extra period Raiders/Jags too much to bear. The trash can overflows with the mess from
this one.
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