We are currently in the midst of an NFL season unlike any other. While ESPN would have you believe that you need to pray to the Patriots to have mercy on your soul, the truth is that their task, no matter how overblown, is remarkable. Beneath all of the fodder and the deserved tributes to fallen star Sean Taylor, lies some truly great stories. So while the lawyers for Lexus work out the kinks of ESPN's usage of "Pursuit of Perfection" here are a few stories that have caught my eye.
1. During their Week 13 Thursday night showdown, much ado was made about Brett Favre's career record at Texas Stadium, which is now a dismal 0-9. While that does improve his worse all-time record by one quarterback at a visiting stadium it is not the worse of a quarterback at a single venue. Former Heisman trophy winner and current OsteoCal spokesman Chris Weinke started (and presumably ended) his career 0-12 all-time at what was his home field, the now Bank of America Stadium and still holds the record at 15 for most consecutive losses by a QB. Note that Weinke started most of the games for the Panthers during their joke of a season in 2001, where they finished with a single win, although two years later they would win the NFC Championship behind Delhomme.
2. The career passing leader of a single franchise is usually made into a bust and placed into Canton with usually few questions. Some big news earlier this year revolved around Peyton eclipsing the Colts' marks set by the great Johnny Unitas. However during the Week 12 game that was marred in a field goal controversy between the Browns and Ravens, Kyle Boller became the all-time leader in passing yards for Baltimore. Give this a minute to sink into your mind. Although Boller has officially been graded a bust of a first round pick, it speaks volumes about the Ravens franchise over the past five to six years. You mean to tell me that Boller has thrown for more yards than the greats like Elvis Grbac, Trent Dilfer and a full season from Steve McNair! While the lack of any type of quarterback has ruined Batimore's chances of ever getting another championship out of that great defense, what would our fantasy teams be without Matt Stover putting up the big points every year? I think its an even trade.
3. The biggest misconception behind the "Spy-gate" scandal is that New England had to forfeit all of their first round draft picks. While they have been penalized to give up their own draft pick (no worse that 29th, probably), they still have one from a trade made last year that was used for one franchise to draft offensive lineman Joe Staley. That franchise would happen to be the current 2nd overall pick in the '08 Draft, San Francisco 49ers. Just what we all need, right? A team that is dominating the rest of the league beyond recognition takes the field next year with Darren McFadden helping out that backfield. I'm sure kudos will be in order for the Patriots yet again, as they saw the opportunity to select high in a year where expectations for the 49ers were well warranted and unaccomplished.
4. A repeat of last year? All of this draft talk has got me geared up for the real thing but some of the big questions revolve around those left unturned a year ago. Who needs a quarterback? The top prospects have been thrown out there in the form of Matt Ryan, Brian Brohm and Andre Woodson, but the suspects needing their services may be inclined to fill other needs. Is there really a chance that a team could completely pass on all of these guys and get one of them in the second round? I played out last year's draft fifty times in my head and never envisioned a scenario that had the wonder boy Brady Quinn falling out of the top 15, much less 20. Free agency and trades will play a major part into this as guys like McNabb and possibly Derek Anderson may be in search of new homes.
These are just a couple of the things I've been bouncing over for a while now. Unlike all the rest of my days at home, I believe today I will watch a ton of sports culminating in the announcement of the Heisman trophy award. However the judges have voted, the only thing for certain is that it's probably not Chase Daniel. I'm OK with that.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
NFL Blah, Blah
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8 comments:
Obviously the thing that kills me the most is the situation with the Pats. They should be banned from getting first round draft picks for the next five years. Or they should be put on post-season probation like collegiate programs. Anything to keep them from winning another Super Bowl.
I think the draft is the best story line in the NFL this year, which I have been none to pleased with. I've found the overall league pretty boring because there's such a lack of parity. As I've said before - there's the Patriots and then there's everyone else. I know that's cliche at this point, but I haven't seen any reason not to think otherwise. However, the possibility that Andre Woodson will go somewhere cool still excites me. I've been saying this for the past three months and it's been met with luke warm acceptance up here, but Woodson would be perfect for the Bears. He's everything they wanted in Rex plus the mental capabilities.
And Clyde, come on! Are you serious about the Patriots? Is this because of the video taping that Vagini crowed about? I think that whole situation is absurd. For starters, you can't possibly believe that the video taping ever actually helped them in a game. It would require an act of God for someone to be able to pick up signals on a video tape and then beam them up to the offensive coordinator who then beamed them into Brady's helmet all in matter of the 30 seconds. The taping was stupid but I don't doubt the superiority of the Patriots or the legitimacy of their Super Bowls. It's not like they started losing once they were found out.
This Bears season has been one to forget for sure, but I'm not sure they just crumble their current team up and rebuild with a rookie quarterback. The Broncos tried to let a rookie lead a decent team and were left out of the playoffs a year ago(Let's not forget that was the AFC where winning every week matters). With the growing pains that all rookies endure, quarterbacks especially, I'm not sure that the ever-aging defense (who've just been decimated with injuries all year) can waste another season waiting for Hester to break one while their QB fails. I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade away a later pick or two in hopes of finding a better short term option. The last two high draft picks that Chicago has spent on quarterbacks has resulted in Rex Grossman and Cade McNown. How'd that work out?
All of this is useless unless the Bears can run the ball though and Benson was certainly a disappointment this season. Being picked in a draft that included the oft injured Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams sometimes masks Benson's ineffectiveness, but has he really been worth the 4th overall selection? It starts to make you wonder if they have any clue how to build a successful offense through the draft.
All very good points about the Bears. Grossman probably looked like a good bet when he was drafted, what seems like a 100 years ago. Then injuries really derailed his career and in his first full-season start, he was saddled with really stinging criticism that it seems to have really done a number on his confidence. I mean, the Chicago press was tearing this guy up long before the Super Bowl, which is why he was stupidly called the media ignorant on Super Bowl media day. I think that was entirely directed at the Chicago media and not necessarily the national press, but he collectively pissed off everyone from small town columnists to ESPN analysts. That just added to the intense pressure he's under.
Grossman definitely has some physical shortcomings but I think the majority of his problems are pyschological. I can't imagine that with this latest knee injury he'll be returning to Chicago. He'll be an NFL player somewhere, and might even turn out to be a good one, but there's too much stigma in this town. And I think it's apparent that the Bears management care little for Brian Griese because they don't look at him as a long term option. It also seems like they're really skeptical of Orton as well.
So, the Bears will definitely have to address their QB situation in some way or another with the draft. They may trade for a short term solution, but I personally don't think they'll do that. There's this other stigma about not having a franchise quarterback. The Bears have had so many quarterback issues for so many years that Jerry Angelo wants to be the one to solve them. I think that's why Grossman was given so much leadway despite his up and down play. I wouldn't be surprised if they went for someone like Woodson, whom I believe provides the Bears with everything they wanted from Rex plus a few extras - he's bigger, can see over defenders and isn't easily rattled. Woodson has already faced more adversity in his college career than Grossman ever did at Florida. And also, given the current QB crisis in the NFL, how many options would the Bears have when it came to securing a short term solution?
But I wouldn't mind if the top two priorities were split between QB and running back. Benson has been a total bust. Earlier this season, I kept wondering why Grossman took so much heat and Benson got off easy when he was an equally big problem with their offense.
Maybe the Bears should draft Pat White (assuming that he goes pro), hire Ron Zook (or someone like him) as their offensive coordinator, and install a spread option offense. How much worse could it be than their current offense?
They'd score zero points with Cedric Benson as the lead running back. I don't know, is there anyway they could score negative points?
So get some quick backs who can make things happen in space and use Benson as a short yardage power back.
And, just for the record, my vote is that they would score zero points b/c they'd be running a spread option in the NFL, not b/c Benson is their lead back.
But its a good opportunity to test the offense to see if it would work. A defense that, when healthy, is good enough to keep the score low and an offense that is already horrible. Really got nothing to lose.
Garrett Wolfe and the non-AD Peterson certainly fit the bill of quick back, but their still offensively stale. If they had anyone else to act as a diversion I would suggest putting Hester in the backfield, but the attention that would bring would be tremendous. The scary part of this is that through the first six weeks of last year, they looked head and shoulders above any team in the league. Was Thomas Jones that good? His performance with my Jets this year would deter such praise. I guess if there is one thing to take away from this season for Chicago is that they should now know for sure who is worth keeping and who is expendable on the offense. I agree that it would be very cool to see Woodson there.
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