Other thoughts

* I've been one of Vince Young's biggest critics, and rightfully so; he threw 9 TDs and 17 INTs a couple years ago. But he looks greatly improved this season, and a 99 yard drive to win the game is unbelievable. You know what the real story in Tennessee is, though? The turnaround on defense. That teams was horrid on defense earlier this year. Tom Brady threw 5 TDs in the 2nd quarter against them, and teams were getting big plays against them every week. Now they're playing much better and keeping teams to around 20 points, which gives their offense a chance to win. It's hard to believe a team can change so much in a span of 5 games, but Tennessee has done a complete 180. Vince Young has given them a spark on offense, Chris Johnson is the best back in football, and their defense is playing much better. I still have a hard time believing they'll make the playoffs (going from 0-6 to 10-6 would be unprecedented), but they've at least made it interesting. Hard to believe after they lost to New England 59-0.

* After watching the Texans blow a 17-0 and then 20-7 halftime lead, I thought, "I would hate to be a fan of the Texans." Then I remembered that I root for the Texans of college football, Notre Dame. The Texans just keep finding ways to lose. Kris Brown misses field goals that can send consecutive games to overtime, then they dominate the Colts for a half and blow it in the 2nd half. They just cannot get over the hump, and just like Notre Dame I don't think their coach is going to survive this. This is the second straight year that Houston has been so close and yet so far away. Since Kubiak can't get them over the hump, I expect them to find a new coach who will.

* A week after thinking that maybe Jay Cutler really does suck, I went back to feeling bad for him today. That offensive line is horrid. Yes, that deserves italics. Orlando Pace is an absolute stiff; Jared Allen doesn't often use a bull rush, but today he was consistently pushing Pace into Cutler's lap. They open no holes in the run game for Matt Forte. And Jerry Angelo has given him a bunch of catch-and-run receivers who have no capability of going up and getting a football. Those guys will not a catch pass downfield unless Cutler drops it right in there. I like their rookie Johnny Knox, but the rest of those receivers are replaceable. Get Cutler a Brandon Marshall-type, please; or for Minnesota's sake, don't. They can just keep tackling those underneath routes.

* I have fun watching players, and then wondering why teams passed them up in the draft, or took other players ahead of them from the same position. For example, I saw Sidney Rice make more big plays today for Minnesota, and I was reminded that the Dolphins drafted Ted Ginn Jr. 9th overall that year. In retrospect, that is absolutely insane. Look at Darrius Heyward-Bey and tell me he's better than fellow rookies Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin, Percy Harvin, Kenny Britt, Hakeem Nicks, Mike Wallace or Johnny Knox. You would have to be extremely biased to think he's even close to any of them. Or how about Cincinnati improving greatly while getting absolutely nothing out of their first round pick, Andre Smith? Sometimes I wonder why we care so much about the draft when it's so obviously a crapshoot. Oh yeah, I do know; because it's fun.

* Speaking of Cincinatti, they must have the best run-blocking offensive line in the league. First Cedric Benson resurrects his carrer there, now Larry Johnson rushes for 100 yards, and an unknown rookie named Bernard Scott has ran well the past couple of weeks. It just doesn't matter who they put at RB, that team can run the football. It's quite amazing really, since most people probably couldn't name one of their lineman, and frankly I hardly can. This is like the Chiefs a few years ago, when they went from Priest Holmes to Larry Johnson to Derrick Blaylock and hardly skipped a beat.

* I don't want to pick on Raheem Morris too much, since it's not his fault that Tampa Bay promoted him too quickly to head coach. But Tampa Bay is tied with Cleveland and St. Louis for worst record in the league, and there is no way that talent-wise Tampa Bay should be down with those teams. I feel pretty confident in saying that if Jon Gruden were still coach they would not be 1-10 right now. They have more talent than the Browns and Rams, as well as the Lions and probably the Chiefs. And if you're ever wondering what signals there are for a coach who's in over his head, it's when he fires both of his coordinators in a season as Morris has this season.

This may not be a bold statement

Or maybe it is, since the '98 Vikings went 15-1, but this is the best Vikings team I've ever seen. I feel confident in saying that after today. That '98 team had one of the best, most dynamic offenses in NFL history, but it also had a fatal flaw; it wasn't very good on defense. That team's defense took advantage of the opponent getting behind early, which allowed Jimmy Hitchcock to intercept 7 passes. But when push came to shove, they couldn't stop Atlanta. Chris Chandler led an 80 yard drive to tie the NFC Championship Game, and then took Atlanta down the field to win the game in OT.

This team's defense, in an understatement, is better. This defense can win a Super Bowl; they rush the passer, stop the run and are even getting good secondary play without Antoine Winfield. There hasn't been a team yet to really take advantage of this, besides Baltimore (the first game that Winfield got injured). You need a good defense to win a Super Bowl, and this team has it.

What really separates this team, though, is that it also has a good offense. And good offense might also be an understatement; it might be great. Have I ever been more wrong about a player than I was about Favre? Probably not; he's been about 100X better than I thought he'd be. Peterson is actually not having that great of a season, but he's always dangerous. But then there's the developments in the receiving corps. Sidney Rice has zoomed right past becoming a good receiver and is a great receiver. Percy Harvin is impressive as well (another player I was wrong about). And Berrian was already a good receiver, and still is. Shiancoe became a good TE last season and has continued that. Chester Taylor is one of the league's better backup RBs. Understatement; this team has a lot of weapons.

So what is this team missing? The special teams are greatly improved. Ryan Longwell is a good, dependable kicker. Offense, defense, special teams? Check, check, check. The only weakness on this team is Childress' game management skills (he learned at the feet of Andy Reid, and it shows), but hopefully Favre's command of this offense will overwhelm that. I'm telling you, that '98 team was fantastic but the elephant in the room was always what would happen when the defense had to make a play. I no longer worry about that. Now my biggest worry is the head coach will challenge stupid plays, or punt on 4th and inches from the opponent's 40. It's a significant step forward. I think an NFC Championship Game between the Vikings and Saints would be a great game.

Les is mor...onic? Yeah, we'll go with that

Everyone is apalled with LSU's clock management at the end of their loss Saturday to Ole Miss. But you know what? We've been here before. I'll cut and paste:

LSU had 3:13 left, and they put themselves in good position to kick a game winning field goal on Auburn's 22 yard line. However, with a chance to make the kick and a timeout, LSU coach Les Miles chose to gamble (as he has so often during the year) and go for a touchdown. It turned out as he planned however, as LSU won on Matt Flinn's 22 yard pass to Demetrius Byrd. Miles later said he thought he had plenty of time, and reviews of the play verified that the pass was caught with 4 seconds remaining but the clock ran until the referee signaled TD with 1 second remaining.

This was back in 2007 during LSU's championship season. He risked a game-winning 40 yard field attempt to try a pass into the end zone. Had the clock run out, or something disastrous happened, Miles would have been murdered back then. But since it worked out, it was simply referred to as "controversial." Any LSU fans who were surprised by what happened on Saturday should have been reminded of what happened back in 2007; I know I remembered.

A Good Link I Found

http://sportsradiointerviews.com/2009/11/23/mike-homgren-is-still-not-pleased-about-seattle-losing-steve-hutchinson/

Mike Holmgren is still upset that the Seahawks lost Steve Hutchinson back in 2006, and I can't blame the guy. Reading his account of what happened, Seattle GM Tim Ruskell comes off as a bumbling idiot (and judging by Seattle's results the past few years, that seems fair) and there was no reason for the Seahawks to lose Hutchinson. Holmgren thought they were going to franchise him, but instead they placed the transition tag on him, which gives them right of first refusal but no compensation. Does Minnesota sign Hutchinson if they have to surrender a first round pick or two? Probably not. But since there was no compensation involved, they signed Hutchinson to a poison pill contract that Seattle couldn't match. Holmgren says that he thought they were going to franchise Hutchinson, and there's no reason they shouldn't have. They wanted to re-sign the guy, and probably would have matched Minnesota's offer if not for it's poison pill. Seattle blew this big time, and somehow Ruskell still has a job. And don't even mention the Deion Branch trade...

Is it wrong to revel in a team's slump?

Because I am enjoying Denver's current 4-game losing streak. I sensed all along that this team wasn't actually any good (remember that fluky win over Cincinnati? That's the only thing currently keeping them over .500), and they have really looked bad recently. San Diego just outclassed them today; it didn't feel like San Diego beat the shit out of them, as much as they were just simply better and over the course of the game showed them.

Even though I didn't mention it at the time, I knew subconsciously that McDaniels' celebration of that win over New England was a bad sign. As a coach, you cannot treat a win during the regular season as more than it is, and he celebrated like they had won the Super Bowl. I knew that was a bad sign, and now looks extremely foolish. I also knew their defense wasn't as good as it was playing, and they've come back to Earth. The fact is, this team never was a 6-0 caliber team, and now San Diego has officially passed them for the division lead.

Before the season started, I thought Denver was in a for a terrible 6-10 type season, and I was off. And maybe this is purely selfish on my part, but I don't care. This is not a playoff team, and it feels good to have that feeling justified during the season. I felt stupid when they started 6-0, but now that they're 6-4 I feel better.

One last thought; for as long as I live, I'll never understand why Kyle Orton was healthy enough to come in in the 2nd quarter, but not healthy enough to start. Huh? Is Josh McDaniels so arrogant that he thinks he can voluntarily play his backup QB and still beat San Diego? If you have a player healthy enough to play, then play him. That decision screams of unbridled arrogance, and I don't care what McDaniels has for an explanation, I will never accept it. Either you're starting QB can start, or he can't play.

I just noticed...

That I use the phrase "but you know what?" a lot. It probably comes across as annoying, and I didn't notice it until just now. But you know what? I enjoy asking myself questions, and then answering them as if it's Barbara Walters asking me.

By the way, Chicago has now taken a 12-10 lead over the Eagles, and I really can't overstate how amazing this is, considering I haven't seen Chicago hardly do anything on offense. It feels like they're down about 17-3, and instead they're winning. Cutler could play an awful game and still win, which would be a nice turn after all the criticism he takes for losing. I always enjoy when these "to the victor go the spoils" type people then have to defend an awful performance from a QB who wins. Go ahead and tell me that winning from a QB is all that matters, after Rex Grossman turns the ball over 6 times in a win over Arizona.

Cutler has had a lot of strong performances in his career that came in losing efforts, so it would be nice to see his critics then praise him for a "hard fought"victory, or some such, over Philadelphia when he's obviously been terrible tonight.

Have I overrated Jay Cutler?

So I'm watching the Eagles-Bears on Sunday night, and Jay Cutler just looks terrible. His passes are sailing all over, and he missed Greg Olsen and Devin Hester on back-to-back plays that would have been TDs. Cutler's struggles this season are well-documented, with 17 INTs already. Normally I ignore knee jerk reaction-type criticism (Peyton Manning used to get criticized, and by the time he retires he may be the best QB who ever played), but Cutler is becoming difficult to defend. Have I overrated Cutler in the past?

There's no doubt Cutler has always thrown a few too many INTs, and that's just how it's going to be with this guy. Maybe when he's 40 he'll have a Favre-like awakening and all of a sudden become a caretaker (seriously, I keep waiting for Favre to start throwing it to the other team and it just hasn't happened) but right now you just have to deal with a few INTs. 17 in 9 games, of course, is more than a few. But you know what? I'm willing to overlook the INTs, and say that maybe a few of them were flukes, and hey shit happens. But his inaccuracy tonight is startling, and it looks like he's afraid to just throw the ball. This is not the same QB who played so well for Denver last year, and looked like a future great player.

It really has me wondering what's going on. I've stated before that I don't like Chicago's talent, and that hasn't changed. That offensive line sucks, and those receivers are subpar. But you know what? Tom Brady posted an 87 rating in 2006 with his leading receivers being Reche Caldwell and Troy Brown. Whatever the circumstances, you suck it up and play. Excuses are of no use in the NFL.

So is Cutler just simply slumping, or is he just not as good as I thought? I've never thought that Cutler was a great player, as much as I thought he would be. But he has not progressed, and rather has regressed. Like I said, I can forgive the INTs if he's firing strikes otherwise, but he's not. He doesn't look the same at all, and if I didn't know who he was I'd probably be saying that this guy sucks. I haven't seen a guy regress this badly in awhile.

Charlie Weis: A Reflection

Weis' tenure at Notre Dame is about to come to an end, and there's no arguing otherwise. 6-5 (6-6 with a loss at Stanford this week) is a disappointing season for a team with a favorable schedule, a great QB and playmakers on offense. I thought I'd do a reflection his 5 years at Notre Dame before it comes to an end.

The High Point

You could argue the high point of the Weis era was his first game, a blowout victory at Pittsburgh. The following week was a good win at Michigan as well. However, I think the high point was the final game of that season, a 7 point victory at Stanford that clinched a berth in a BCS bowl. Notre Dame went 9-2 that season and played a great USC team down to the wire. I never would have believed at that time that 4 years later we'd be looking at a 6 win season and Weis' removal. I really thought he'd be here a long time.

The Low Point

Again, you could argue for a couple different games here. Certainly losing to Navy for the first time in over 40 years sucked, but in all honesty that was a better Navy team that year. Losses to Navy and Connecticut this year were bad, but I'm going to go with the loss to Syracuse last season. Syracuse was an awful 8 loss team that had fired their coach (Greg Robinson) that week. The fact that they came into Notre Dame Stadium and won is the most embarrassing defeat I've ever been a part of.

Best Positions of Development

There's no question that this all resides on offense. Weis has coached one first round QB (Quinn), and perhaps a second (Clausen). Samardzija, Stovall and McKnight all became much better receivers under Weis than they were under Willingham, and Tate and Floyd have followed in their footsteps. Notre Dame also has a good run of TEs going, from Fasano to Carlson to Rudolph.

Worst Positions of Development

Notre Dame has never had a good group of linebackers as long as Weis has been here. The defensive line and secondary have been a mixed bag. Abiamiri, Laws, Landri, Zbikowski and Ndukwe all play in the NFL, but there have been quite a few players who haven't developed defensively. And much to Weis' chagrin as an offensive coach, the offensive line has ranged from pretty good his first two years, to dreadful the next two seasons, to maybe above-average now.

Biggest Surprise

When Weis was hired, there was a belief that Notre Dame couldn't recruit top-notch athletes. I would say the recruitment of Clausen, Tate and Floyd have proven that wrong. It was also hard to believe that the 2005 offense could be good, after seeing those very same players play so inconsistently for Willingham. I can remember Notre Dame beating Purdue badly in Weis' first year with a near-flawless offensive performance, and most of these players had played the year before and lost badly to Purdue.

Biggest Disappointment

When Weis was hired, there wasn't a lot of speed on defense, and he knew that to compete with the USC's of the world that had to change. I don't know that it has, although sometimes it's tough to tell if these defensive players have the talent but just don't show it, or if they really are as bad as they sometimes look. The close losses have also become a huge thorn in the side for this team. Last season Notre Dame lost a bunch of close games, and this game they haven't lost a game by more than 7 points. It's easy to say "if only this had changed, we'd be 9-2" but of course after awhile something stops being fluky and starts becoming a personality trait. This team can't close games, plain and simple.

Final Analysis

There's no question that the program is in better shape now than when Weis was hired. Willingham had two consecutive subpar recruiting seasons that set up the 3-9 2007 season. Weis has recruited much better, and whoever takes over is not taking over an empty cupboard. Even if Clausen and Tate leave for the NFL, former 5-star recruit Dayne Crist will take over at QB, Michael Floyd will become the top receiver and the talent is still there to score points. What this team really needs is a strong defensive coach to develop the players that are here (they may not be great, but it shouldn't be as bad as it is), and a coach that will instill a killer instinct. Blowing a bunch of late leads is the only thing holding this team back from 9 and 10 wins the past two seasons.

So while Weis has done some good things in improving the overall talent base on the roster, ultimately you're judged by wins and losses and that has been subpar. I'm willing to forgive the 3-9 2007 seasons, which was a perfect storm of a bad season, but the past two seasons should have been better. Willingham's tenure is long gone, and you can no longer kick that dog around. This team is all on Weis, and ultimately he's failed. There's no doubt the man is a strong offensive coach, and some NFL team will be getting a good offensive coordinator. But Notre Dame stretched to hire Weis in the first place after all of their top choices (Urban Meyer, specifically), and at the end of the day, it showed.

Weis got off 19-6 start, and it's hard to believe this is where we're at.

Gimme Fewell, gimme fire gimme...Ryan Fitzpatrick?

I used to think that Joey Harrington was the worst QB who somehow kept falling into starting jobs. First he was with Detroit, then Miami, then Atlanta, and he started for all of them at various times. He has now passed that torch to Ryan Fitzpatrick, who new Bills coach Perry Fewell has named his starting QB. This is, of course, insanity. Trent Edwards is no great shakes, but not even in an alternate universe is Fitzpatrick a better QB than Edwards. Fitzpatrick has started for the Rams back in 2005, the Bengals last year, and a couple games earlier this year for the Bills. I don't know how he does it, but he keeps falling into starting jobs.

And on the subject of completely worthless QBs now getting a chance to start...Bruce Gradkowski! I understand that JaMarcus Russell has been nothing short of awful this season, but let's be honest; does Gradkowski have any sort of future? I've posted before his stat line a year ago against Pittsburgh, and while it's fair to say he was playing for a horrible Browns team against the eventual Super Bowl champions, it's also fair to say that his stat line went beyond just your average everyday mediocrity. Russell has done nothing to actually earn the starting job, so I don't feel bad for him, and it may be in the Raiders' best interest to cut him in the offseason and move on. If they had a better replacement than Gradkowski, I'd be all for it. But I can't imagine him putting up much better numbers than Russell was.

Not to rub salt in this wound, but after the Raiders drafted Russell, Calvin Johnson came off the board, then Joe Thomas, then four picks later Adrian Peterson. Not to play the whole "Team X should have drafted this player" which everyone does in hindsight, but it's not like expecting good careers out of Johnson, Thomas and Peterson was out of line. That was actually a really strong draft featuring those players, plus Patrick Willis, Darrelle Revis and Jon Beason later on in the first round.

Okay, I have another Russell anecdote; at the press conference last season where Al Davis announced the firing of Lane Kiffin, I remember him saying something like, "You didn't wanna draft JaMarcus Russell. He's a great quarterback." I'm paraphrasing, but Davis was bashing Kiffin for allegedly not wanting Russell. If that's true...I mean, how prescient does Kiffin look?

And one more; in Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball," he relates a story in which then-Magic GM Pat Williams raved about Penny Hardaway's great workout before the draft, that prompted them to trade Chris Webber for him. Simmons laughs this off, saying that Penny would have to be doing some crazy shit to justify passing on Webber (in hindsight; how do you pass on a possible frontcourt of Shaq and Webber? Who passes up a big man for a guard, all things being equal? Well the Magic did). This reminds me of the pre-draft bullshit before Russell was drafted, in which he also allegedly had a great workout. Remember Yi Jianlian posting up chairs? Or Kyle Boller throwing the ball through goalposts from his knees from about 40 yards out? It's a damn shame this game is actually played on a field, and not like a game of H-O-R-S-E.

And that should be all I have to say about Russell. He'll probably get cut in the off-season, some team will pick him up, then he'll eventually wash out. As much fun as it is to make fun of him, it really is a damn shame how bad his career has turned out. I can remember seeing him playing as a freshman in college (he played the 4th quarter against Iowa in that bowl game, and led LSU back to take a late lead that they eventually blew), and you could tell he had talent then. And he does have talent; I just don't think he cares. I've always thought he looked overweight, and his inability to complete a damn pass is embarrassing. You really have to not be trying to complete only 9-24 against the freaking Kansas City Chiefs. This doesn't happen a lot in the NFL, but Russell's career is just like an NBA player getting paid, and then coasting forever (think Tim Thomas). NFL contracts aren't guaranteed, which perenially motivates players, but Russell got such a big payday right away that he's set for life regardless of what happens. He really does have similar physical abilities to John Elway, but he's not motivated at all to reach that potential. All I really need to know about Russell is his hair, which was in a mohawk earlier this year and I assume still is. That tells me right there this is player that's not taking the job seriously. I never want my starting QB to have hair like that; get serious and act like a professional. You're not a corner or a receiver, you're the leader of the team. When they write the obituary on his career (as of now, he goes down with Ryan Leaf as one of the worst picks ever, no exaggeration), I hope they mention he got benched for Bruce Gradkowski. There is nothing more embarrassing than that.

And Lovie Smith still has a job because...?

There's a lot that could be said about the Bears. In the past couple of weeks, they've been absolutely destroyed by the Bengals and Cardinals. Of their remaining schedule, only the Rams and Lions look like wins.

But the only thing I'm going to say is, this is a team that clearly overrated its talent coming into the season. This is a roster that needs to be blown up. On defense, it's a lot of the same players who were on the Super Bowl team of 2006 that are sucking it up today. Namely, Alex Brown, Adewale Ogunleye, Tommie Harris, Mark Anderson, Charles Tillman, and Nathan Vasher. I know Urlacher is out, but there's no excuses in this league. This defense is terrible nowadays, and it needs to be blown up. The pass rushers don't rush the passer anymore. Tommie Harris is invisible. Nathan Vasher doesn't seem to play anymore, and Tillman can't play anymore. Only Lance Briggs is a good player anymore. They're getting old, and it needs to be blown up.

The reason I say they've overrated their own talent, though, is because of the trade for Jay Cutler. I don't think they make that trade unless they think they're a QB away from the Super Bowl, and nowadays that's a laughable assertion. I don't blame them for trading for Cutler; after all, QBs like that just don't come available often. But if they had assessed their roster properly, they'd know it's the defense that needs help the most. I also think Matt Forte and Devin Hester are inferior playmakers, but that's not the big problem with this team.

What's wrong with the Packers?

The Packers lost at Tampa Bay today to fall to 4-4. They are essentially out of the NFC North race, having been swept by Minnesota. This is team that everyone seems to think has a bunch of talent; they at least shouldn't be losing to the Tampa Bays of the world. So what's the problem?

Where's the pass rush? In the off-season, the Packers hired Dom Capers to be their defensive coordinator and switched to a 3-4. They then moved Aaron Kampman to OLB to fit the 3-4. As a result, Kampman has become a thoroughly worthless player. He has 2.5 sacks this season, after getting 15.5, 12 and 9.5 over the past three seasons. Essentially, by hiring Capers they've made their pass rush worse, the exact opposite effect of what was supposed to happen. Defensive linemen like Cullen Jenkins, Ryan Pickett and Johnny Jolly are good players but they aren't pass rushers. Outside of Kampman, nobody on this roster can rush the passer and Kampman has been ruined in the 3-4.

Where's the protection? Aaron Rodgers was sacked 6 times today by a Tampa Bay defense that had recorded 11 sacks all season. Right tackle Allen Barbre gets my vote for worst offensive lineman of the season; they re-signed Mark Tauscher and started him today but he got hurt. Chad Clifton has been hurt, and they don't have a viable replacement behind him. As I read at football outsiders, if Jared Allen played against Green Bay every week he'd be in the Hall of Fame by December. Rodgers has now been sacked 37 times, and some of that certainly goes on him. He shows a terrible pocket presence at times, and holds the ball too long. But this team screwed up when the drafted B.J. Raji in the first round instead of Michael Oher. Oher could have stepped in immediately and played RT, with the ability to play LT as well. Instead they drafted a backup nose tackle.

Is this team really that talented? Big-play teams like the Packers tend to get overrated, because people see the big plays to Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, but miss all the sacks Rodgers takes and the lack of pressure they generate on opposing QBs. And who are the teams the Packers have beaten this year, you might ask? The even-bigger-mess Bears, the Lions, Browns and Rams. They've lost to the Vikings twice, the Bengals and now the freaking Buccaneers. This team hasn't proven to be any better the worst teams in the league, and until they do it's time to stop giving them the benefit of the doubt. This team has some nice pieces (passing game, secondary, defensive tackles galore) but struggles with too many important aspects of the game (pass protection, pass rush). Until that gets fixed, they'll continue to beat the dregs of the league (except Tampa Bay) and nothing more.

Luckily for them...They do have Aaron Rodgers, and if he ever learns how to handle a pass rush, he'll be really good. He already is, really. His QB rating entering today was 110, and when he's in rhythm, few QBs throw as accurate a ball. Get this man a RT, add a pass rusher on defense and this team can be in business. Or move back to a 4-3 and move Kampman back to his comfort zone; they do, after all, already have a dominant pass rusher on the roster if they'd use him properly.

"Clutch"

I would just like the record to show that, in my lifetime, the following athletes have all been labeled "unclutch" at one point or another.

*Peyton Manning
*Kevin Garnett
*Alex Rodriguez

What do they all have in common? They all now have been a part of championship teams. Geez, it's like they were really good players all along who didn't have anything "wrong with their mental makeup" or whatever psychobabble sports journalists like to throw out there. In other words, go to hell Skip Bayless.

The race for LVP

Some people like to follow the race for MVP. Is it Peyton Manning or Drew Brees? Maybe Favre should be thrown in the mix.

I, on the other hand, am fascinated by the race for LVP. As far as I can tell, it's down to Derek Anderson and JaMarcus Russell. Maybe this happens every year, but I don't recall two QBs in the same season having such awful years. Sure, there are some other bad players in the league. Allen Barbre is an awful RT for the Packers. C.C. Brown is a disaster at safety for the Giants. I'm not even convinced Orlando Pace can walk anymore, let alone play LT for the Bears.

But we all know these awards go to QBs. Hey, if they're the most valuable they should also be the least valuable. Let's size up the contenders.

Derek Anderson: 43% completion percentage, 2 TDs, 9 INTs, 4.4 yards per attempt, 36.2 rating

Comments: Now that's pretty damn awful. The fact that the Browns keep trotting this guy out each week seems laughable. I understand they don't want to pay Quinn his playing time incentives, but how about the 3rd stringer Brett Ratliff? I have a hard time believing he could do worse than this. I have a hard time believing an NFL QB could do this. That rating is worse than if he threw nothing but incompletions.

JaMarcus Russell: 48% completion percentage, 2 TDs, 9 INTs, 5.5 yards per attempt, 48.3 rating

Comments: I gotta say, at the beginning of the year I thought Russell was going to run away with this award. I still think by the end of the year he's going to have a historically bad season considering the attempts he'll get, and frankly I'm rooting for it. But by some miracle, he has been better than Anderson this year. If the Browns had stayed with Quinn and accepted his 62 rating, Russell would have this award locked up. But it's like the Browns saw the Raiders beating them in some act of futility, and just couldn't allow that to happen. Kinda like how on draft day the Raiders wasted a top-10 pick on Heyward-Bey, but the Browns somehow outdid them by trading down a couple times and drafting a center.

In these guy's defense, I will say their receivers are awful. The Browns traded away their top two receivers and replaced them with basically nothing. The Raiders have surrounded Russell with two rookie receivers who on one play Sunday tripped over each other. But with that said, these are some awful seasons. And as bad as Russell's been, he's actually picked up his play just a tad the past couple of weeks, while Anderson has dropped his level of play considerably since his first start against Cincinnati. In an upset, Derek Anderson truly is the league's LVP.

This is too good

Over at espn.com they have an article about Roy Williams being unhappy with the passes being thrown his way.


"He gets the ball thrown correctly his way," Williams said of Austin. "I'm stretching and falling and doing everything. Everybody [else] who's been here's balls are there. Our footballs [from Romo to Williams] are everywhere right now."

You see, it's not Roy Williams' fault that Roy Williams sucks. It's Tony Romo's fault. Sure, he throws accurate passes to Miles Austin, Jason Witten and Patrick Crayton, but not to Williams. How can I put this gently...you don't get accurate passes thrown your way because your worthless ass doesn't get open. I love how Roy can see everyone but him getting good passes thrown their way, and he comes to the conclusion that it's Romo's fault. Maybe there's somethign wrong with you. Check that... there is something with you; you're worthless, go away.

This quote is the icing on the cake, though.

"I'm the No. 1 receiver. But things are just going No. 2's way."

Hmm. Nope I'm pretty sure you're not. Miles Austin is wiping the floor with your worthless ass right now. Do I even need to mention that Miles Austin does this with about half of the natural talent that Roy Williams has?

Checking the Cowboy's stats on the season, Austin, Witten and Crayton all have more receptions than Williams this year. Tashard Choice, the 3rd string RB, has one less reception than Williams. But this is all Romo's fault. Roy is a #1 receiver who just doesn't get good passes thrown his way. What a flipping joke.

Again, I don't know how to put this gently...Roy Williams is an awful receiver who needs to be released. His presence screws everything else up for Dallas. The amount of money and draft picks they put into him force them to play him every week and every down, even though he has nowhere near earned that playing time. Jerry Jones needs to realize what an awful trade that was and release this guy immediately. It's obvious he's never going to get better, because in his mind he's already a superstar. He's a sunk cost that needs to be released. He just gets in the way of productive players seeing the field and getting balls thrown their way. Dallas' best offense is with Austin and Crayton on the outside, and utilizing their TEs (Witten and Bennett) and RBs (Barber, Jones, Choice). Those guys make plays; Williams doesn't.