Per the Big East:
The Big East said Sunday the back judge is supposed to focus on the play clock. When it hits zero, he is then supposed to check on the ball before calling delay of game.
The league says there will always be some lag time, and that on the fake field goal, "this lag time created the situation where it appears the play clock expired just before the snap."
This is like the Supreme Court ruling that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy. What a flippin' joke. Delay of game is a black-and-white penalty; once the clock hits zero, if the ball isn't snapped it's a penalty. There's no "lag time," or anything of the sort.
Notre Dame twice last night was called for a delay of game penalty. Do you suppose there was any "lag time" allowed there? Of course not, because there is no such thing. When the shot clock runs out in basketball it's a violation, and when the play clock runs out in football it's a penalty. Period, no exceptions.
I was actually looking forward to the NCAA apologizing to Notre Dame for missing the call there, so I could tell them to take their apology and shove it up their ass. Instead they don't even do that, but rather deny the reality that a delay of game even happened. So not only do they not apologize for the mistake, but they insult our intelligence by acting like this happens all the time. Which it doesn't; delay of game is called often, and it's called when the play clock hits zero, not two seconds after the play clock hits zero.
Nothing, of course, will give Notre Dame the victory they probably would have had had delay of game been called (unless Michigan St. can hit a 51-yard field goal). But to spit on my face like this...fuck you, Big East. FUCK YOU.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Random musings a day before the NFL season kicks off
* The Baltimore Ravens have the makings of a pretty good team, but I am very worried about their cornerback situation. They will be starting Fabian Washington and Chris Carr (two failed Raiders, to put that in perspective) on Monday night, with newly acquired Josh Wilson as the 3rd corner. This is a team that counts Lardarius Webb as its best corner, so it's not a great situation even when they're healthy. And right now they're not, with Webb injured and Ed Reed seemingly on the permanent disabled list. If they can win and field a solid defense with that corner situation, I would be very impressed.
* The talent level of the San Diego Chargers has quietly regressed over the past couple of seasons, to the point that if you eliminated Philip Rivers from the equation, I'm not sure there's much difference between them and their division rivals. They'll be starting Malcolm Floyd and Legedu Naanee at receiver, and really have no impact on defense anymore. Shawne Merriman has declined badly, Jamal Williams is no longer there clogging the middle (he was a great nose tackle, really underrated), the linebackers seem average and I don't know what to make of their offensive line anymore. I'd be willing to bet that Marcus McNeill is missed more than Vincent Jackson; Norv can scheme around a missing receiver, but it's hard to scheme around a blindside protector who can't protect. I would still put the Chargers ahead of the rest of the AFC West because of Rivers, but they aren't so frightening anymore. I'm afraid their window of opportunity is very close to shut.
* When the Redskins acquired Donovan McNabb, I said that automatically made them a playoff contender. Uhh, I'd like to retract that statement. McNabb has gotten by before with substandard receivers, but I was not counting on the exhumed corpse of Joey Galloway to be starting for this team. It's not a stretch to say the Redskins' two best receivers are their tight ends, Chris Cooley and Fred Davis, with Clinton Portis probably next in line. I'm also skeptical of their move to a 3-4 defense. Players like Andre Carter and Albert Haynesworth really don't fit at all in a 3-4, but can be really good in a 4-3. I honestly have no idea why the Redskins are making such a switch; I would also wonder how a small inside linebacker like London Fletcher will fit into a 3-4. Brian Orakpo is the only player who seamlessly fits into a 3-4, and he was just fine last year playing in a 4-3.
* The Panthers and Giants finished with the same record last season, the Panthers went into New York and destroyed the Giants last season...so naturally, the Giants are the biggest favorites of the week according to Vegas. Okay I get it, the Giants are opening a new stadium, and they have a lot more fans than the Panthers so the action is going to be on them. But honestly, I think the Panthers are a nice sleeper (I hate that term; to me, the Rams were a sleeper in that last year in that they never woke up) team, with three explosive offensive playmakers, a more stable QB than last year (Matt Moore isn't great, but he shouldn't submarine their season like Delhomme did) and an interesting defensive line. The Panthers' defensive line had a very good pre-season, which doesn't mean much but they may have some intriguing young players there. One to watch for is 2nd year end Everette Brown, a 2nd round pick last year who will be counted on to be the team's best pass rusher. I think he's up to the challenge.
* The Denver Broncos, through various trades, have had 8 first and second round picks in the past two drafts. Here is what they've ended up with:
RB Knowshon Moreno, OLB Robert Ayers, CB Alphonso Smith (already traded), S Darcel McBath, TE Richard Quinn, WR Demaryius Thomas, QB Tim Tebow, G Zane Beadles.
Are you scared yet? You almost have to try to screw things up this badly. First and second round picks are premium picks, where you get starters and impact players. It's early, but I'd be shocked if more than three of these guys became long-term starters for Denver.
The Alphonso Smith pick is the best one. The Broncos, as a result of the Cutler trade, had the Bears' first round pick in 2010. They traded that pick for a 2nd rounder in 2009, which they used on Smith. Smith was just recently traded to Detroit for a backup TE named Dan Gronkowski. The Bears' first round pick went to Seattle, became the 14th pick and became S Earl Thomas. The flow chart for that pick went like this:
1st rounder in 2010 (Earl Thomas) ---- 2nd rounder in 2009 (Alphonso Smith) ---- 7th rounder in 2009 (Dan Gronkowski)
I continue to say, if you told me Josh McDaniels was a plant of the Raiders, Chiefs or Chargers, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. What a disgrace. Never before has a first round pick devalued so quickly.
* The Jets will continue their victory parade on Monday night....wait, what? They didn't win the Super Bowl last year? Well it sure seems like they did. I've never seen a 9-7 team that needed the Colts to roll over for them in order to make the playoffs celebrate themselves so vociferously. This team has all the makings of a crash-and-burn season. You know how the story goes; team gets off to slow start, QB is struggling, fans turn on the team, players turn on each other, season goes south, team finishes 6-10. And quite frankly, people are putting a little too much faith into Mark Sanchez. I like the guy, I think he can be good, but he was piss-poor for most of last season. Let's see it before we start proclaiming him the Sanchize.
* Almost everyone is picking the Packers to represent the NFC, and I'm left scratching my head wondering why. I mean sure, the Packers have a good team that went 11-5 last year. But they have some serious question marks as well. First, this team only has one legitimate pass rusher in Clay Matthews. Someone needs to step up and help him. And secondly, that corner situation looks awful shaky. Woodson can still play, but Al Harris is hurt and probably done as an effective corner in this league, leaving Tramon Williams to start and a rookie named Sam Shields playing the nickel. Sam Shields, by the way, was a receiver at Miami but apparently has been quite impressive. Either way, I really feel like you can move the ball on this team. This team feasted on bad QBs last season, but when they played good ones they got torched. Favre, Roethlisberger, Warner...they all had huge days against Green Bay, and I don't see why that would change this year. Unless they have an impact pass rusher that I don't know about besides Matthews.
Everyone picking Green Bay reminds me of a quote from somebody smart; when everybody is thinking the same, nobody is truly thinking.
* Finally, I haven't said anything about Notre Dame football in awhile, and that's mainly because I didn't know what to say coming into the season. This is a talented, underachieving roster with a coaching staff that led Cincinnati to an undefeated regular season coming in. I don't know what to make of that yet. Early returns are positive, as the defense was much better this past week, the discipline was noticeably better and Notre Dame was able to hold off a short rally by Purdue and hold their 4th quarter lead, something they struggled mightily with last season. So I'm encouraged heading into the Michigan game this week. But I'm not going to crown their ass (copyright, Denny Green) just yet.
As Lou Holtz once said (covered in spittle, no doubt); when we're good, I won't have to tell you.
* The talent level of the San Diego Chargers has quietly regressed over the past couple of seasons, to the point that if you eliminated Philip Rivers from the equation, I'm not sure there's much difference between them and their division rivals. They'll be starting Malcolm Floyd and Legedu Naanee at receiver, and really have no impact on defense anymore. Shawne Merriman has declined badly, Jamal Williams is no longer there clogging the middle (he was a great nose tackle, really underrated), the linebackers seem average and I don't know what to make of their offensive line anymore. I'd be willing to bet that Marcus McNeill is missed more than Vincent Jackson; Norv can scheme around a missing receiver, but it's hard to scheme around a blindside protector who can't protect. I would still put the Chargers ahead of the rest of the AFC West because of Rivers, but they aren't so frightening anymore. I'm afraid their window of opportunity is very close to shut.
* When the Redskins acquired Donovan McNabb, I said that automatically made them a playoff contender. Uhh, I'd like to retract that statement. McNabb has gotten by before with substandard receivers, but I was not counting on the exhumed corpse of Joey Galloway to be starting for this team. It's not a stretch to say the Redskins' two best receivers are their tight ends, Chris Cooley and Fred Davis, with Clinton Portis probably next in line. I'm also skeptical of their move to a 3-4 defense. Players like Andre Carter and Albert Haynesworth really don't fit at all in a 3-4, but can be really good in a 4-3. I honestly have no idea why the Redskins are making such a switch; I would also wonder how a small inside linebacker like London Fletcher will fit into a 3-4. Brian Orakpo is the only player who seamlessly fits into a 3-4, and he was just fine last year playing in a 4-3.
* The Panthers and Giants finished with the same record last season, the Panthers went into New York and destroyed the Giants last season...so naturally, the Giants are the biggest favorites of the week according to Vegas. Okay I get it, the Giants are opening a new stadium, and they have a lot more fans than the Panthers so the action is going to be on them. But honestly, I think the Panthers are a nice sleeper (I hate that term; to me, the Rams were a sleeper in that last year in that they never woke up) team, with three explosive offensive playmakers, a more stable QB than last year (Matt Moore isn't great, but he shouldn't submarine their season like Delhomme did) and an interesting defensive line. The Panthers' defensive line had a very good pre-season, which doesn't mean much but they may have some intriguing young players there. One to watch for is 2nd year end Everette Brown, a 2nd round pick last year who will be counted on to be the team's best pass rusher. I think he's up to the challenge.
* The Denver Broncos, through various trades, have had 8 first and second round picks in the past two drafts. Here is what they've ended up with:
RB Knowshon Moreno, OLB Robert Ayers, CB Alphonso Smith (already traded), S Darcel McBath, TE Richard Quinn, WR Demaryius Thomas, QB Tim Tebow, G Zane Beadles.
Are you scared yet? You almost have to try to screw things up this badly. First and second round picks are premium picks, where you get starters and impact players. It's early, but I'd be shocked if more than three of these guys became long-term starters for Denver.
The Alphonso Smith pick is the best one. The Broncos, as a result of the Cutler trade, had the Bears' first round pick in 2010. They traded that pick for a 2nd rounder in 2009, which they used on Smith. Smith was just recently traded to Detroit for a backup TE named Dan Gronkowski. The Bears' first round pick went to Seattle, became the 14th pick and became S Earl Thomas. The flow chart for that pick went like this:
1st rounder in 2010 (Earl Thomas) ---- 2nd rounder in 2009 (Alphonso Smith) ---- 7th rounder in 2009 (Dan Gronkowski)
I continue to say, if you told me Josh McDaniels was a plant of the Raiders, Chiefs or Chargers, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. What a disgrace. Never before has a first round pick devalued so quickly.
* The Jets will continue their victory parade on Monday night....wait, what? They didn't win the Super Bowl last year? Well it sure seems like they did. I've never seen a 9-7 team that needed the Colts to roll over for them in order to make the playoffs celebrate themselves so vociferously. This team has all the makings of a crash-and-burn season. You know how the story goes; team gets off to slow start, QB is struggling, fans turn on the team, players turn on each other, season goes south, team finishes 6-10. And quite frankly, people are putting a little too much faith into Mark Sanchez. I like the guy, I think he can be good, but he was piss-poor for most of last season. Let's see it before we start proclaiming him the Sanchize.
* Almost everyone is picking the Packers to represent the NFC, and I'm left scratching my head wondering why. I mean sure, the Packers have a good team that went 11-5 last year. But they have some serious question marks as well. First, this team only has one legitimate pass rusher in Clay Matthews. Someone needs to step up and help him. And secondly, that corner situation looks awful shaky. Woodson can still play, but Al Harris is hurt and probably done as an effective corner in this league, leaving Tramon Williams to start and a rookie named Sam Shields playing the nickel. Sam Shields, by the way, was a receiver at Miami but apparently has been quite impressive. Either way, I really feel like you can move the ball on this team. This team feasted on bad QBs last season, but when they played good ones they got torched. Favre, Roethlisberger, Warner...they all had huge days against Green Bay, and I don't see why that would change this year. Unless they have an impact pass rusher that I don't know about besides Matthews.
Everyone picking Green Bay reminds me of a quote from somebody smart; when everybody is thinking the same, nobody is truly thinking.
* Finally, I haven't said anything about Notre Dame football in awhile, and that's mainly because I didn't know what to say coming into the season. This is a talented, underachieving roster with a coaching staff that led Cincinnati to an undefeated regular season coming in. I don't know what to make of that yet. Early returns are positive, as the defense was much better this past week, the discipline was noticeably better and Notre Dame was able to hold off a short rally by Purdue and hold their 4th quarter lead, something they struggled mightily with last season. So I'm encouraged heading into the Michigan game this week. But I'm not going to crown their ass (copyright, Denny Green) just yet.
As Lou Holtz once said (covered in spittle, no doubt); when we're good, I won't have to tell you.
Friday, September 3, 2010
In which I wish that Ken Whisenhunt was the Vikings' coach
Ken Whisenhunt absolutely should have gone out and gotten himself a better QB this offseason than Derek Anderson, but at least he's willing to admit when he's wrong about something and bench Matt Leinart. It's easy to bullshit people into Matt Leinart, as he's a former college star and first round draft pick. But Whisenhunt knows Leinart will not get the Cardinals to the promised land, so he's going to give Anderson a try.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have Brad Childress. His stubborn refusal to give up on Tarvaris Jackson is going to be the death of this franchise, I swear. The Vikings traded Sage Rosenfels (and Darius Reynaud; also a mistake in my opinion) to the Giants today, and will now go with Jackson and Joe Webb as the backups to Favre. Jackson has been, to put it nicely, terrible this preseason. He finished the preseason 12-26, including 2-8 in the final preseason game against Denver. Rosenfels may not be great, but he was certainly better than that and he deserved to be the backup.
But you see, Brad Childress can't get himself to admit a mistake. Four years ago he drafted Jackson and said he could be Donovan McNabb someday, and damnit it's going to happen come hell or high water. It really makes you wonder why this team even traded for Rosenfels. It's obvious that no matter how much he outplayed Jackson, he was never going to be placed higher on the depth chart. It's like Childress had to throw people off the scent, so he traded for Rosenfels in order to make it look like he was creating a competition.
Favre hasn't missed a start in a very, very long time and odds are he'll make it through these 16 weeks unscathed. But you never know, and you always want to have a trustworthy backup in place. The Vikings do not have that. They had that in Rosenfels; sure, he's had his problems in the past with some untimely interceptions and fumbles, but damnit the guy can throw the ball with some touch and accuracy, which is more than you can say about Jackson.
During the final preseason game, tight end Garrett Mills ran a seam route and got behind the defense. Jackson threw the ball well behind Mills, who could not catch it. It was a throw that would have tempted me to cut the guy on the spot if I were his coach. That is a throw an NFL QB needs to make 9 times out of 10, and Jackson has trouble making it 5 times out of 10. The Vikings have waited four long years for Jackson to develop, and it is time to cut the cord. This isn't to say that Jackson couldn't be a decent backup for someone else. He can play decently in stretches, and at the very least he can always take off and run. But as long as he's with the Vikings and Childress is the coach, he will never be fairly evaluated. He had no business beating out Rosenfels for the backup job, and only did because Childress refuses to admit his mistake.
What worries me is that Childress apparently still believes Jackson is the QB of the future, which is ludicrous. Jackson is what he is at this point; he's a scattshot passer with great arm strength and great athleticism. This is his fifth year in the league, and judging by this preseason he hasn't changed and I'm pretty sure he never will. Favre only has one year left, and it would be ridiculous for the Vikings to consider Jackson as a starter for next season. But that appears to be exactly what they're doing. At which point they'll be just like the Cardinals, foolishly believing in a former draft pick who never panned out and then benching him for an underwhelming veteran.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have Brad Childress. His stubborn refusal to give up on Tarvaris Jackson is going to be the death of this franchise, I swear. The Vikings traded Sage Rosenfels (and Darius Reynaud; also a mistake in my opinion) to the Giants today, and will now go with Jackson and Joe Webb as the backups to Favre. Jackson has been, to put it nicely, terrible this preseason. He finished the preseason 12-26, including 2-8 in the final preseason game against Denver. Rosenfels may not be great, but he was certainly better than that and he deserved to be the backup.
But you see, Brad Childress can't get himself to admit a mistake. Four years ago he drafted Jackson and said he could be Donovan McNabb someday, and damnit it's going to happen come hell or high water. It really makes you wonder why this team even traded for Rosenfels. It's obvious that no matter how much he outplayed Jackson, he was never going to be placed higher on the depth chart. It's like Childress had to throw people off the scent, so he traded for Rosenfels in order to make it look like he was creating a competition.
Favre hasn't missed a start in a very, very long time and odds are he'll make it through these 16 weeks unscathed. But you never know, and you always want to have a trustworthy backup in place. The Vikings do not have that. They had that in Rosenfels; sure, he's had his problems in the past with some untimely interceptions and fumbles, but damnit the guy can throw the ball with some touch and accuracy, which is more than you can say about Jackson.
During the final preseason game, tight end Garrett Mills ran a seam route and got behind the defense. Jackson threw the ball well behind Mills, who could not catch it. It was a throw that would have tempted me to cut the guy on the spot if I were his coach. That is a throw an NFL QB needs to make 9 times out of 10, and Jackson has trouble making it 5 times out of 10. The Vikings have waited four long years for Jackson to develop, and it is time to cut the cord. This isn't to say that Jackson couldn't be a decent backup for someone else. He can play decently in stretches, and at the very least he can always take off and run. But as long as he's with the Vikings and Childress is the coach, he will never be fairly evaluated. He had no business beating out Rosenfels for the backup job, and only did because Childress refuses to admit his mistake.
What worries me is that Childress apparently still believes Jackson is the QB of the future, which is ludicrous. Jackson is what he is at this point; he's a scattshot passer with great arm strength and great athleticism. This is his fifth year in the league, and judging by this preseason he hasn't changed and I'm pretty sure he never will. Favre only has one year left, and it would be ridiculous for the Vikings to consider Jackson as a starter for next season. But that appears to be exactly what they're doing. At which point they'll be just like the Cardinals, foolishly believing in a former draft pick who never panned out and then benching him for an underwhelming veteran.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Ken Whisenhunt and his QB situation
Ken Whisenhunt has done a great job as head coach of the Cardinals, taking a talented but underachieving roster and turning it into a playoff team. But he made a huge mistake this offseason, electing to go with Matt Leinart and Derek Anderson at QB, rather than finding a steadier hand.
The Cardinals, whether they wanted to admit it or not, have known for years that Matt Leinart is not the guy. They tried to hand him the job in the 2008 preseason, but he instead flopped miserably (3 INTs in against Oakland) and they instead started Kurt Warner, with whom they almost won the Super Bowl. Matt Leinart's career numbers are miserable, when you consider he was playing in the very same offense that Warner ran so masterfully. This offseason, with Warner retiring, the Cardinals had an opportunity to make a fresh start at QB, but instead opted for Cleveland castoff Derek Anderson to compete with Matt Leinart.
Of course, it's not enough to just say that a team should make a move at QB without having other options. But there were other options this offseason. Donovan McNabb was available. Jason Campbell was available. They passed on Jimmy Clausen twice. All of these QBs represented better options than what Arizona elected to go with, and now they're going to pay for it.
Matt Leinart's tenure in Arizona is basically over. He burned a lot of bridges this week, and it wouldn't surprise me if they outright released him. This means that the team is basically stuck with Derek Anderson for this season. I don't mean to put too fine a point on it, but Anderson was as bad, if not worse, than JaMarcus Russell last season. This is a team with enough talent to remain a playoff team, and they've left it in some very uncapable hands.
Derek Anderson will make a nice test case for the role environment plays in a QB's performance. When Anderson was teamed with Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow, he played well, although he was inaccurate even then. When Cleveland got rid of all of their NFL-quality receivers, he became one of the worst QBs in the league. Now he's in Arizona, throwing to good receivers (including Larry Fitzgerald, one of the league's best) and playing with good RBs, but also playing behind a potentially leaky offensive line. Even with that caveat, there's no doubt this is the best situation Anderson has been in, and he's not without his strengths. Well okay, he has one strength; he throws a really nice deep ball. He's immobile and inaccurate with questionable decision-making ability, but man can he throw some pretty rainbows. We will get a good idea for how much a good supporting cast can help a QB, because Anderson is pretty dreadful otherwise.
I feel bad for Arizona fans, who were just starting to taste some success, and now the team has gone back to being run like it was throughout the 1990s and early part of this decade. The Cardinals made a huge mistake entrusting their otherwise talented team with these shaky QBs. They are roughly going from a A quarterback in Warner to a C-or-worse QB in Anderson or Leinart. They'd better hope their receivers can make up for the shortcomings of their QBs, or this is going to be a long season in the desert.
The Cardinals, whether they wanted to admit it or not, have known for years that Matt Leinart is not the guy. They tried to hand him the job in the 2008 preseason, but he instead flopped miserably (3 INTs in against Oakland) and they instead started Kurt Warner, with whom they almost won the Super Bowl. Matt Leinart's career numbers are miserable, when you consider he was playing in the very same offense that Warner ran so masterfully. This offseason, with Warner retiring, the Cardinals had an opportunity to make a fresh start at QB, but instead opted for Cleveland castoff Derek Anderson to compete with Matt Leinart.
Of course, it's not enough to just say that a team should make a move at QB without having other options. But there were other options this offseason. Donovan McNabb was available. Jason Campbell was available. They passed on Jimmy Clausen twice. All of these QBs represented better options than what Arizona elected to go with, and now they're going to pay for it.
Matt Leinart's tenure in Arizona is basically over. He burned a lot of bridges this week, and it wouldn't surprise me if they outright released him. This means that the team is basically stuck with Derek Anderson for this season. I don't mean to put too fine a point on it, but Anderson was as bad, if not worse, than JaMarcus Russell last season. This is a team with enough talent to remain a playoff team, and they've left it in some very uncapable hands.
Derek Anderson will make a nice test case for the role environment plays in a QB's performance. When Anderson was teamed with Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow, he played well, although he was inaccurate even then. When Cleveland got rid of all of their NFL-quality receivers, he became one of the worst QBs in the league. Now he's in Arizona, throwing to good receivers (including Larry Fitzgerald, one of the league's best) and playing with good RBs, but also playing behind a potentially leaky offensive line. Even with that caveat, there's no doubt this is the best situation Anderson has been in, and he's not without his strengths. Well okay, he has one strength; he throws a really nice deep ball. He's immobile and inaccurate with questionable decision-making ability, but man can he throw some pretty rainbows. We will get a good idea for how much a good supporting cast can help a QB, because Anderson is pretty dreadful otherwise.
I feel bad for Arizona fans, who were just starting to taste some success, and now the team has gone back to being run like it was throughout the 1990s and early part of this decade. The Cardinals made a huge mistake entrusting their otherwise talented team with these shaky QBs. They are roughly going from a A quarterback in Warner to a C-or-worse QB in Anderson or Leinart. They'd better hope their receivers can make up for the shortcomings of their QBs, or this is going to be a long season in the desert.
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