Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
The Only Thing: Jim Harbaugh's Success All That Matters
Bleacher Report wrote in 2012,
The point at which the world of professional sports diverges from the reality you and I know is how much a team is willing to tolerate if a player can help them win. There are countless examples of players whose bad behavior is overlooked as long as they produce. Once the points start to decline; when the 40 time starts to tick up...that's when bad behavior shifts from "disappointing" to "unacceptable."
So... as long as someone is contributing to your winning ways, you keep him. While he has the talent to help your organization, his personality and approach should not be criticized.
According to popular media and the fans who cannot think for themselves, this is the conclusion when it comes to San Francisco 49er head coach Jim Harbaugh.
But if you are going to say that about Harbaugh... if you want to say winning isn't everything, it's the only thing... then say it for athletes who do dumb, even criminal things.
Yea, an also-ran player who can't get it done on the court or field -- get rid of him, when he runs up against the law or is even just shown to have a bad attitude, isn't that right? However, an athlete who can go into beast mode should be "acceptable," no matter what.
Say it's all about winning instead of being furious at Ray Lewis for ten years after his blood-soaked night. Say that about Michael Vick and his dogs, instead of being angry that the NFL allowed him another chance... or about any number of troubled athletes with elite talent.
Yea, an also-ran player who can't get it done on the court or field -- get rid of him, when he runs up against the law or is even just shown to have a bad attitude, isn't that right? However, an athlete who can go into beast mode should be "acceptable," no matter what.
Say it's all about winning instead of being furious at Ray Lewis for ten years after his blood-soaked night. Say that about Michael Vick and his dogs, instead of being angry that the NFL allowed him another chance... or about any number of troubled athletes with elite talent.
"But Harbaugh hasn't done anything to break a law or be moronic," you might say, "he is just hard to get along with. That's not really a problem."
Then why are Terrell Owens and Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson so despised? Why do NBA fans have such a love-hate relationship with the do-it-my-way Allen Iverson?
"Those guys didn't help their teams win."
Really? Their on-the-field numbers were pretty amazing. Whether you think they were too individualistic in play or personal behavior is simply your opinion.
"Yea, but... they blew up locker rooms, they were not 'team guys', they were distractions."
Really? Their on-the-field numbers were pretty amazing. Whether you think they were too individualistic in play or personal behavior is simply your opinion.
"Yea, but... they blew up locker rooms, they were not 'team guys', they were distractions."
So Harbaugh's Chucky, Junior act isn't a distraction? So the reports that the coach "wears people out" and seems to not care about the defensive half of his team is team-friendly? Why would the Niner organization allow all of these negative stories to leak out about him if there wasn't fire beneath the smoke?
"Coach Harbaugh wins everywhere he goes and wins immediately. The University of San Diego won conference titles under his leadership. Stanford went from being dogs to humiliating Pete Carroll's USC Trojans at USC. And now Harbaugh has brought the Niners to the brink of three consecutive Super Bowls! He was one play away from winning one of them!"
And to do that, he has shown himself to be someone who is divisive and nearly impossible to get along with.
"Come on, man. Use wisdom. All successful men are tortured by the need to dominate. All powerful people are Type A personalities. You deal with that to get what you want."
Okay, but who draws that line of what to accept, and how much?
This is not picking on Jim Harbaugh. If the everyday person's words, actions and attitudes were picked apart the way sports celebrities get dissected, few would escape unscathed. It is meant to poke at us, sports fans who have these weird standards that are just indefensible.
The bottom line is: We are in a culture where anything can be justified if we like the person. Right now, Harbaugh still is liked by most media talking heads and football fanatics. He is a "winner," and until that perception shifts (likely because of the same press that now deifies his coaching success), the answer we will hear is, Keep him and dump anyone in his way.
"Coach Harbaugh wins everywhere he goes and wins immediately. The University of San Diego won conference titles under his leadership. Stanford went from being dogs to humiliating Pete Carroll's USC Trojans at USC. And now Harbaugh has brought the Niners to the brink of three consecutive Super Bowls! He was one play away from winning one of them!"
And to do that, he has shown himself to be someone who is divisive and nearly impossible to get along with.
"Come on, man. Use wisdom. All successful men are tortured by the need to dominate. All powerful people are Type A personalities. You deal with that to get what you want."
Okay, but who draws that line of what to accept, and how much?
The bottom line is: We are in a culture where anything can be justified if we like the person. Right now, Harbaugh still is liked by most media talking heads and football fanatics. He is a "winner," and until that perception shifts (likely because of the same press that now deifies his coaching success), the answer we will hear is, Keep him and dump anyone in his way.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Super Bowl 2013: Predictions and Notes
Running tab of the big game:
PRE-GAME
First take: Ravens 31, 49ers 27.
The experts seem to be picking San Fran based on overall talent. A few took Baltimore because of the emotive factor: Ray Lewis is playing his last game and the team has rallied behind him since his retirement announcement before the playoffs. I think the talent difference is overplayed on this stage. So is the 'win one for the Gip' stuff.
I tend to support people who are viciously, over-the-top hated, so I've got to admit that I'm rooting for Lewis a bit. Felt the same about LeBron James after the Cleveland exit, Terrell Owens being constantly blasted for his eccentric diva persona though he's never been in trouble or accused of PED use, etc. Self-righteousness stinks like roadkill.
Colin Kaepernick is cool and collected, but he's very young, and up against one of three Joe Cools in league history: Flacco. (Namath and Montana are the others, of course.) I think that will be the difference. Barely.
PRE-GAME
First take: Ravens 31, 49ers 27.
The experts seem to be picking San Fran based on overall talent. A few took Baltimore because of the emotive factor: Ray Lewis is playing his last game and the team has rallied behind him since his retirement announcement before the playoffs. I think the talent difference is overplayed on this stage. So is the 'win one for the Gip' stuff.
I tend to support people who are viciously, over-the-top hated, so I've got to admit that I'm rooting for Lewis a bit. Felt the same about LeBron James after the Cleveland exit, Terrell Owens being constantly blasted for his eccentric diva persona though he's never been in trouble or accused of PED use, etc. Self-righteousness stinks like roadkill.
Colin Kaepernick is cool and collected, but he's very young, and up against one of three Joe Cools in league history: Flacco. (Namath and Montana are the others, of course.) I think that will be the difference. Barely.
1ST Q
"Good drama would be kap gets hurt and smith comes and plays a strong game" says a text from my brother. Love that idea.
RayRay misses a couple of early open-field tackles and looked very slow. (ETA: He was pretty much at three-quarters speed of the other 21 players all game long.) Kinda deadens the whole PED thing, but the eye test is no proof when it comes to enhancers. I don't care what Bill Simmons says about before-and-after heads of athletes.
GoDaddy's shill Danica Patrick features model Bar Refaeli and "Walter" trading spit in an irrelevant exercise. Refaeli must have needed a check badly. Can't even think of a good insult for this tripe. But then: It is GoDaddy.Their specialty is pushing out soft porn ads that have nothing to do with buying a web domain. Nothing to see here.
2ND Q
Back to back commercials with the usual agenda. Cross-dressing men eating Doritos...
...and then homoerotic Calvin Klein models. CK has always been mainstream porno.
Raven tight end Pitta catches a touchdown to put Baltimore up 14-3. I have a feeling that the Ravens better get a two or three-score lead... San Fran is a team that can be beat if they're up a bit. But if they're down in the fourth, they get all berserker (like their coach Jim Harbaugh) and score three times over the opponents' stupid prevent D.
Hyundai has an ad about every six commercials. None of them memorable; they're trying too hard. They must have spent their entire '13 budget; we'll see these spots all year.
"It's been chippy from the start," to paraphrase the CBS commentators. An on-the-field brawl after Ed Reed picked Kap off bring it to a head. That was the S.F. QB's first big mistake in his short and moist pro career... interesting to see how he reacts.
Kap has indeed looked just a tad hesitant after his high-stakes INT. Just a tad but enough to throw his timing off... then comes Flacco's TD pass to Jacoby Jones, where Jones burned Culliver twice. Been a while since I've seen a juke that good. Barry Sanders is smiling somewhere.
"Jim Harbaugh is going to eat the face off of a bench player to scare his team into playing better," I text my brother. Halftime score: 21-6.
HALFTIME SHOW
When Beyonce is involved, we are probably gonna see some satanic imagery. Remember last year's show with Madonna, Nicki Minaj and company--Baphomet worshippers galore. That was clearly a satanic ritual. Those who scoff at that simply are uninformed and have no idea what they are looking at. When we don't know something, we should find out about it.
Watch any of Beyonce's recent videos and know she is down with the beast, too. And no way will the agents of the prince of lies allow 100 million-plus viewers to avoid these symbols and sick agendas. No larger audience all year long. Can't-miss opportunity.
Twenty minutes later: More informed people than me will break this down. But first impressions reveal the usual homage to the enemy of mankind. Pyramid hand gestures and light shows... total absence of men and overwhelming feminine energy... nothing new here.
3RD Q
Not long after Jones' 109-yard kickoff return, most of the Superdome lights goes dark for a half-hour. (ETA: the official count was later changed to 108 yards.) Baltimore is up 28-6. The delay is obviously going to hurt the Ravens more, as they had ridiculously nice momenturm. Accident? Or conspiracy to prevent a total blowout game? It will be asked after this game. A conspiracy is simply a secret plan by two or more people, but that word makes "intelligent" people into mockers.
Paraphrasing commentator Phil Simms: The Ravens do a good collective job of keeping Kap from breaking a big one. It's been strange to see so many teams let him take the same angles toward the sidelines for 20-yard runs. Will be a lot of film on him... and Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, and Robert Griffin III too, of course. Defenses will catch up to these guys. At least as much as the league will allow.
As expected: Kap leads the Niners downfield, Michael Crabtree catches the TD, and the game has totally changed. It looks like the Ravens are going to fold faster than Superman on laundry day, to quote Bart Simpson. Ravens, 28-13, with 7:20 left in the quarter. I see the score being very close early in the fourth... Baltimore is taking their foot off the gas; the lights-out garbage was just in time for the Niners. So predictable.
Deion Sanders' "Leon Sandcastle" commercial is the only ad to get a positive reaction out of me so far. A forty-something rookie dominating the NFL combine... I like it. Every other commercial, as mentioned earlier, seems to be trying too hard. I guess if I paid hundreds of thousands per minute, I would sweat about making an impact too.
The Ravens are clinging to a 28-23 lead.
4TH Q
Still up 31-29 with under ten minutes to go, the Ravens have allowed 23 points in 12:00 of game time. They look totally shaken--or shook, as the rappers use to say. The first half fire is long gone. And I'll be surprised if Baltimore wins what looked like a sure thing not that long ago. Wow.
Fourth down, 1:49 to go, Kap in trouble, he floats a ball over Crabtree's head out of bound. What a thriller. Jim Harbaugh is crying about holding but 1) Crab was grabby too, and 2) the ball was out of bounds. It was uncatchable, even with a lay-out, fingertip catch, toe-dragging effort. A ref throws a flag in that situation, he should be fired. No ref threw. Ravens up, 34-29.
Baltimore runs three times and takes an intentional safety. San Fran didn't seem to see it coming and 8 of the last 12 seconds slip away before they push the punter out of bounds. Wow again.
The RayRay haters are frothing on the Inter-Web. And Jim is about to pop a vein. But then he always looks that way. He won't last long in this league with that kind of emotion and energy being constantly expended... just ask the original Chucky, Jon Gruden.
Baltimore wins, 34-31.
GoDaddy's shill Danica Patrick features model Bar Refaeli and "Walter" trading spit in an irrelevant exercise. Refaeli must have needed a check badly. Can't even think of a good insult for this tripe. But then: It is GoDaddy.Their specialty is pushing out soft porn ads that have nothing to do with buying a web domain. Nothing to see here.
2ND Q
Back to back commercials with the usual agenda. Cross-dressing men eating Doritos...
...and then homoerotic Calvin Klein models. CK has always been mainstream porno.
Raven tight end Pitta catches a touchdown to put Baltimore up 14-3. I have a feeling that the Ravens better get a two or three-score lead... San Fran is a team that can be beat if they're up a bit. But if they're down in the fourth, they get all berserker (like their coach Jim Harbaugh) and score three times over the opponents' stupid prevent D.
Hyundai has an ad about every six commercials. None of them memorable; they're trying too hard. They must have spent their entire '13 budget; we'll see these spots all year.
"It's been chippy from the start," to paraphrase the CBS commentators. An on-the-field brawl after Ed Reed picked Kap off bring it to a head. That was the S.F. QB's first big mistake in his short and moist pro career... interesting to see how he reacts.
Kap has indeed looked just a tad hesitant after his high-stakes INT. Just a tad but enough to throw his timing off... then comes Flacco's TD pass to Jacoby Jones, where Jones burned Culliver twice. Been a while since I've seen a juke that good. Barry Sanders is smiling somewhere.
"Jim Harbaugh is going to eat the face off of a bench player to scare his team into playing better," I text my brother. Halftime score: 21-6.
HALFTIME SHOW
When Beyonce is involved, we are probably gonna see some satanic imagery. Remember last year's show with Madonna, Nicki Minaj and company--Baphomet worshippers galore. That was clearly a satanic ritual. Those who scoff at that simply are uninformed and have no idea what they are looking at. When we don't know something, we should find out about it.
Watch any of Beyonce's recent videos and know she is down with the beast, too. And no way will the agents of the prince of lies allow 100 million-plus viewers to avoid these symbols and sick agendas. No larger audience all year long. Can't-miss opportunity.
Twenty minutes later: More informed people than me will break this down. But first impressions reveal the usual homage to the enemy of mankind. Pyramid hand gestures and light shows... total absence of men and overwhelming feminine energy... nothing new here.
3RD Q
Not long after Jones' 109-yard kickoff return, most of the Superdome lights goes dark for a half-hour. (ETA: the official count was later changed to 108 yards.) Baltimore is up 28-6. The delay is obviously going to hurt the Ravens more, as they had ridiculously nice momenturm. Accident? Or conspiracy to prevent a total blowout game? It will be asked after this game. A conspiracy is simply a secret plan by two or more people, but that word makes "intelligent" people into mockers.
Paraphrasing commentator Phil Simms: The Ravens do a good collective job of keeping Kap from breaking a big one. It's been strange to see so many teams let him take the same angles toward the sidelines for 20-yard runs. Will be a lot of film on him... and Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, and Robert Griffin III too, of course. Defenses will catch up to these guys. At least as much as the league will allow.
As expected: Kap leads the Niners downfield, Michael Crabtree catches the TD, and the game has totally changed. It looks like the Ravens are going to fold faster than Superman on laundry day, to quote Bart Simpson. Ravens, 28-13, with 7:20 left in the quarter. I see the score being very close early in the fourth... Baltimore is taking their foot off the gas; the lights-out garbage was just in time for the Niners. So predictable.
Deion Sanders' "Leon Sandcastle" commercial is the only ad to get a positive reaction out of me so far. A forty-something rookie dominating the NFL combine... I like it. Every other commercial, as mentioned earlier, seems to be trying too hard. I guess if I paid hundreds of thousands per minute, I would sweat about making an impact too.
The Ravens are clinging to a 28-23 lead.
4TH Q
Still up 31-29 with under ten minutes to go, the Ravens have allowed 23 points in 12:00 of game time. They look totally shaken--or shook, as the rappers use to say. The first half fire is long gone. And I'll be surprised if Baltimore wins what looked like a sure thing not that long ago. Wow.
Fourth down, 1:49 to go, Kap in trouble, he floats a ball over Crabtree's head out of bound. What a thriller. Jim Harbaugh is crying about holding but 1) Crab was grabby too, and 2) the ball was out of bounds. It was uncatchable, even with a lay-out, fingertip catch, toe-dragging effort. A ref throws a flag in that situation, he should be fired. No ref threw. Ravens up, 34-29.
Baltimore runs three times and takes an intentional safety. San Fran didn't seem to see it coming and 8 of the last 12 seconds slip away before they push the punter out of bounds. Wow again.
The RayRay haters are frothing on the Inter-Web. And Jim is about to pop a vein. But then he always looks that way. He won't last long in this league with that kind of emotion and energy being constantly expended... just ask the original Chucky, Jon Gruden.
Baltimore wins, 34-31.
Monday, January 21, 2013
NFL 2012 Championship Sunday: Head-Ducking
Big Joe went toe-to-toe with Captain America and won for the second time this season. Flacco and Ray Lewis led the AFC champion Ravens to the Super Bowl in a fashion we will remember for a few years. That is about the ceiling for memorable sports events these days, except for the occasional one-handed catch-against-the-helmet.
It's hard to pick against New England. And then I'm almost surprised when they stumble. When they do lose, they're usually right there in the end. Not today. Baltimore pulled away, stopping all of Tom Brady's usual fine engineering. No matter what's going on, we can't tell by looking at Patriot coach Bill Belichick.
When things get tight or go wrong, more often than not Atlanta will freeze up. Unfortunately, that is the character of this talented team. They escaped against Seattle a week ago. Could see the relief in Ryan's face postgame. NFC champ San Francisco had a little more comeback gas in the tank today.
A few years ago, coach Jon Gruden got put in split-screens with Chucky the killer doll. He keeps getting asked to climb out of the TV booth and coach again, but won't. The NFL has its new Chucky--the super-intense, throw his venti Starbucks against the wall because it's too sweet, slap an opposing coach's behind like he's beating a rug type.
We're talking about 49er coach Jim Harbaugh. I'm sure he's not really an unbalanced lunatic control freak; he just plays one on TV.
During the New England-Baltimore game, Stevan Ridley clearly lowered his helmet before losing the football on contact. Players like Wes Welker and Danny Woodhead did it during that game, too--hunching forward to meet the tackler. They should have to adjust, same as the defenders.
Michael Wilbon has a phrase that puts it best (paraphrase): The NFL has legislated defense out of football. That is partly responsible for the recent rash of broken offensive records and rookie quarterbacks who play like five-year vets. But there seems to be a movement by most sports media: Ignore the decade-long cumulative effect of rule changes, bent on (1) making the game "safer", and (2) making the game offense-packed and fan-friendly.
The result of this is a weird spirit of seeing the defense as a sort of bad guy, guilty until proven innocent at all times. The number of defensive penalties in the game the last few season has changed the whole feel of pro football games.
Ridley put himself in a life-threatening position, and no one has batted an eye about it (except me). If Ridley had been laid out for more than a moment, hushing all of the spectators, there would be more fake outrage over safety. But violence will not be legislated out of this game.
It's hard to pick against New England. And then I'm almost surprised when they stumble. When they do lose, they're usually right there in the end. Not today. Baltimore pulled away, stopping all of Tom Brady's usual fine engineering. No matter what's going on, we can't tell by looking at Patriot coach Bill Belichick.
***
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Falcons played true to form, in the end. I'm not one of the Matt Ryan doubters. But as a whole, the Falcons are like Tiger Woods in his prime. They simply play better when they are blowing people out. When things get tight or go wrong, more often than not Atlanta will freeze up. Unfortunately, that is the character of this talented team. They escaped against Seattle a week ago. Could see the relief in Ryan's face postgame. NFC champ San Francisco had a little more comeback gas in the tank today.
A few years ago, coach Jon Gruden got put in split-screens with Chucky the killer doll. He keeps getting asked to climb out of the TV booth and coach again, but won't. The NFL has its new Chucky--the super-intense, throw his venti Starbucks against the wall because it's too sweet, slap an opposing coach's behind like he's beating a rug type.
We're talking about 49er coach Jim Harbaugh. I'm sure he's not really an unbalanced lunatic control freak; he just plays one on TV.
***
Why no outcry about offensive players ducking their heads and causing some of these head collisions? 
Ridley put himself in a life-threatening position, and no one has batted an eye about it (except me). If Ridley had been laid out for more than a moment, hushing all of the spectators, there would be more fake outrage over safety. But violence will not be legislated out of this game.
2012 season, Week 13.
2012 season, Week 5.
Replacement referees, replaced.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
NFL 2012 Q1 Report
As usual, the people who are paid to prognosticate started making concrete judgements on the NFL, minutes after Week 1. Football teams were "who we thought they were".. the rest were huge surprises or disappointments. Remember: Week 1 had just ended.
On one sports radio show, the co-hosts joked about our amnesia-riddled, kneejerk society.. and within two minutes were rethinking their preseason predictions because of the first game's results.
Like every specialty channel, ESPN has twenty-four hours per day to fill, on multiple platforms. So there is simply no time to let things lie. Talking heads have to be definitive at all times, and perspective is useless (until time forces it on us). Pump out enough information/trivial tidbits to drown us, and we either won't remember or won't care how many times you were wrong. Numb us in the cool waters of River Terabyte.
This is the name of the game from CNN and FoxNews, on down the line. ESPN is only following the lead.
Random flashes on the 2012 National Football League campaign:
- Watching Tom Brady toss the pigskin around to Gronkowski, Woodhead, Edelman and Welker nearly always gives me the giggles. The N.E. Patriot offense makes me think of a big brother, or the older neighborhood cat who was simply cooler and more athletic than any kid around. The guy all the other guys are copying. I always have the impression Brady's out there playing with midget versions of himself. (Yea, Gronk is physically larger, but it's all about their collective body language.).. why are the Pats funny to me? Maybe it's because Welker and company are like Mini Coopers out there, zigzagging around, their drumsticks spinning like cartoon character legs. The opposing three-hundred-pound defensive players look like they are trying to grab speedy toddlers.
- For a long time, the AFC seemed deeper, top to bottom, than the NFC. That's clearly shifted over the last few seasons, and the switchover looks to be complete after the first four weeks. Every NFC team is dangerous on any given week. The AFC has a few dogs: the Jets, the Browns, three-quarters of the AFC South.
- I don't understand the surprise at the NFC West's rise. This league is all about complete flips in stature. There are a handful of perenially-good teams that benefit from good owners and management; otherwise, terrible teams are constantly struggling to their feet before sinking back to the floor. Did people really think the NFC
WorstWest would collectively stink for decades?
- Washington Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III has been around just long enough for the scrutiny to worm into him. He's almost too engaged with the media and the public--too open with them/us. Meanwhile, fans and 'heads are dividing into underrated/overrated camps already.. I was thinking Griffin is so savvy, and then he got jumped for criticizing things like the opposing teams' style. At some point, everyone in the public eye seems to get swallowed up. Truly, no one is immune: you are caught between being honest, true, 100%, and realizing that the honest and true you is bound to be crushed by the cwuel cwuel world. And as intelligent as RG seems to be, he doesn't appear to understand how delicious his every word and deed have become. This is why the Bradys and Derek Jeters are who they are. They are normally silent, or they're slippery when they must speak. Athletes try to emulate their play, when it may be their off-the-field persona that needs copying.
- Back to the NFC West: specifically, the St. Louis Rams. For years I've thought it a shame that running back Steven Jackson be wasted on this team. RBs only have about four or five peak years, sandwiched between a few seasons on each side. Jackson has a few eye-popping stats, like 2,334 from scrimmage back in '06. He tends to rush for over 1,000 even when missing games because of injury. But the Rams seem to be milking this man's talent.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tim Tebow Sates the Lions... for Now
The presser was full of grace. The incoming backup quarterback smiled as usual and said the 'right' things. Tim Tebow has signed with the New York Jets.
Starting QB Mark Sanchez says, I'm not worried. No one believes Mark.
Why do so many assume that Tebow is going to get eaten alive by the NYC media and fan pressure? It's understandable, but not likely. Tebow has, in a sense, thrown himself to the lions. Since he purposely came to New York, when Jacksonville was interested, means one thing: Tim ain't skurred.
Maybe Tebow doesn't care for the 'safe' option.
He puts the lie to that aw-shucks image. There is a perception that Tim, and by proxy any athlete who pays more than lip service to Christianity, are basically soft. Too soft to keep a steady head in the heat of New York's kitchen. Too soft to succeed at the most elite levels of sport.
Christian athletes who are tough enough... A.C. Green and David Robinson spring to mind. So do George Foreman, Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner, and Mariano Rivera--all top-notch sportsmen who publicly profess. It's an impressive list. And a short one.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Are You There, God? It's Me, Tim
Right now, almost no one involved with the NFL (including radio and TV analysts) believe in Tim Tebow. His chances of becoming a successful pro quarterback are so astronomical, Tebow's critics say, they are positively biblical.
They are not wrong, at least to date. Tebow was given a half-chance after the lockout to make his mark. But his preseason appearances were anemic. He's been described as a tight end who wandered under center.
Monday night's game against AFC West rival Oakland and we didn't see Tebow.Kyle Orton started for the Denver Broncos, and rightly so. Even QB Brady Quinn has an opportunity to step ahead of Tebow.
Tim Tebow's supporters are just as enthusiastic as his critics. Strangely enough, many of those who think the least of him have confessed guilt--as if they're insulting a nice guy. They are correct again.
They are not wrong, at least to date. Tebow was given a half-chance after the lockout to make his mark. But his preseason appearances were anemic. He's been described as a tight end who wandered under center.
Monday night's game against AFC West rival Oakland and we didn't see Tebow.Kyle Orton started for the Denver Broncos, and rightly so. Even QB Brady Quinn has an opportunity to step ahead of Tebow.
Tim Tebow's supporters are just as enthusiastic as his critics. Strangely enough, many of those who think the least of him have confessed guilt--as if they're insulting a nice guy. They are correct again.
His Super Bowl commercial pushed an emotional anti-abortion button, and he wrote a memoir before the age of twenty-five. Those things, added to his evangelical appeal, rubbed people the wrong way. Now that he appears short of the skills needed to quarterback a team, Tebow is fair game.
The only way to give Tebow a shot to succeed is to completely build the Denver franchise around his particular skills--think Michael Vick, Jr. Slower with a weaker arm. For now it seems that Tebow hasn't adjusted to the speed of NFL defenses. Only playing time solves that, if it can be solved at all.
Denver is not going to build off of him. It could work if the Broncos were brilliant personnel evaluators, only they clearly are not. Tebow as the cornerstone is too radical an idea in the conservative world of the National Football League. You copy the winners--that's how it works. And so far even scrambling QBs like Vick can't win it all.
Only a strike of fortune will reveal whether he can really perform.
The only way to give Tebow a shot to succeed is to completely build the Denver franchise around his particular skills--think Michael Vick, Jr. Slower with a weaker arm. For now it seems that Tebow hasn't adjusted to the speed of NFL defenses. Only playing time solves that, if it can be solved at all.
Denver is not going to build off of him. It could work if the Broncos were brilliant personnel evaluators, only they clearly are not. Tebow as the cornerstone is too radical an idea in the conservative world of the National Football League. You copy the winners--that's how it works. And so far even scrambling QBs like Vick can't win it all.
Only a strike of fortune will reveal whether he can really perform.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Rate Me
So are we still saying that the Philadelphia Eagles' Brian Westbrook is one of the game's best? I don't know if I agree with that, anymore. He had two amazing seasons in 2006 & '07. He blocks and even can play at QB. But we're talking about someone who has never, in an eight-season career, played a full season. And after two concussions in five games, his very playing future is rumored doubtful.
He's got the talent to match anyone in the NFL. But to be considered one of the best, you've got to have durability. It's not his fault that his body breaks down more than average. Nor that he plays at the halfback position, one of the most physically-demanding in the sport.
When we list the best running backs playing today, everything should be taken into account. The statistics. The all-around contributions. The clutch play. And the durability. Sometimes "durability" relates to the size of an athlete's heart (i.e. Allen Iverson); other times to how well his body takes punishment.
Westy's career is not over Not at age 30, with "only" a few concussions so far. At worst, he will sit the 2009 campaign and return next season. Or he might make a tough-guy return for the playoffs--assuming Philly gets in. Aside from the 2006 season, when QB Donovan McNabb went down to injury, and Westbrook willed the team to two playoff wins, #36 seems to fade as winter goes on.
While we're at it, we've got to look at the Chargers' Ladainian Tomlinson, too. Is he still one of the best? Or is he falling off a table?
LT missed a game due to groin injury back in January, and his team lost to eventual Super Bowl champs Pittsburgh. A year before that, he wasn't effective (five yards on two carries) in a playoff loss to New England. You've got to assume that these performances had something to do with the contentious relationship that's developed between San Diego fans/management and Tomlinson. Even in 2007, there were whispers about his toughness. Premature? Perhaps.
LT is the leading touchdown rusher in history. And Westbrook is one of a handful of players to rush for 30 TDs and catch 25.
But all the stats in the world don't matter, next to piling up numbers when it counts. Both of these men, as much as we love watching them at their best, haven't quite stepped up on that count.
Anyway, there's only one "LT" in football. He was on "Dancing With the Stars" a while back...
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