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10 Truths: Patriots not perfect, but close
Jason Whitlock
FOXSports.com, Updated 7 hours ago
Have you ever heard a woman referred to as a Bengal? Good uniform, bad helmet. And, no, the description wasn't part of the Isiah Thomas sexual-harassment trial.
Here are your NFL Truths for Week 5:
10. With road games against Dallas and Indianapolis within the next month, it's unlikely the Patriots will remain undefeated longer than the Cowboys and Colts. But there is little doubt New England is the class of the NFL.
The Patriots have destroyed all of their opponents and they've done it without the services of Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour. When the Pats have their full complement of defensive stalwarts and a Randy Moss-fueled offense, we're talking about an all-time great team.
The Cowboys play in the NFC, so that gives them an edge in the race to stay unblemished. And the Cowboys have the horses to do it. They've been scoring just as many points as the Patriots, and the 'Boys have a freakish receiver with something to prove, too, Terrell Owens.
The Colts are the weakest of the three teams in the regular season. What I mean by that is once Indy gets to the playoffs the equation has to be changed. Week to week Indy's run defense is too reliant on safety Bob Sanders. Can he survive 16 weeks as an undersized middle linebacker?
But once the Colts are in the playoffs and they're relatively healthy, they become as dangerous as the Patriots and the Cowboys. Sanders and pass rusher Dwight Freeney can get hot and shut down an offense.
9. If I'm Jerry Jones, Tony Romo doesn't get a new contract until after the playoffs.
There's no doubt that Romo is underpaid right now at a million bucks. Through four games he's playing close to the same level as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. But we saw Romo slow down last season after a hot start.
The NFL is a 16-game marathon that concludes with a mountain climb called the playoffs. If Romo wants to be paid like a true franchise quarterback let him prove he can run the marathon and climb at least a portion of the mountain.
8. Marvin Lewis is learning the lesson Dennis Green learned in Minnesota: Don't turn your team over to wide receivers.
Remember when Dennis Green partnered up with Randy Moss and Cris Carter and basically named them assistants to the head coach? Moss and Carter went wherever Denny went. Denny fought to get Randy a mammoth contract.
How'd that work out for Denny?
The exact same way Marvin Lewis' partnership with Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh is working out. T.J. yelled at Marvin about play-calling on the sideline during Cincy's embarrassing loss to the Patriots. Johnson continues to bojangle for the cameras at every opportunity and turn the Cincy sideline into a re-enactment of "Flavor of Love."
And guess what? Marvin could be overheard by the media screaming at his team about being selfish and telling his team that the coaches will call the plays without being second-guessed by the players (receivers).
Johnson and Houshmandzadeh are great players. You can win with them. But if you coddle them, they will undermine team discipline. If Lewis continues to allow Johnson to play by one set of rules and turn the Bengals into Chad's personal reality show, the team will not come out of this funk.
Just ask Denny Green.
Marvin can't ask 52 guys to play like men and allow Johnson to tap dance and shuffle for the amusement of a TV audience. Yes, I realize TV broadcasters are fond of gushing about how much they love Johnson and how "fun" he is.
Johnson isn't the first black man to be loved for bojangling. But there isn't a long list of bojangling idiots who led their teams to Super Bowl titles.
7. At the end of the season, Chargers general manager A.J. Smith and head coach Norv Turner should both be replaced by Marty Schottenheimer.
I'm not a Marty fan. The guy chokes at playoff time. But there is no denying that Chargers owner Alex Spanos chose the wrong guy in the Schottenheimer-Smith feud. Spanos should fix his mistake by giving Schottenheimer control of the franchise for two years. Let Marty be head coach and GM. That's what Marty wants.
He wanted the same thing in Kansas City. He got that power in 1997 and 1998. It worked in '97 and blew up in his face in 1998, and he walked away and left a band of thugs behind. Maybe Marty learned a lesson in K.C. and won't repeat that mistake.
Marty has earned the opportunity to fail in San Diego. A.J. Smith has earned a pink slip. Replacing Schottenheimer with Norv Turner, a career failure as a head coach, is one of the worst decisions in NFL history.
6. Let me be the first to say it: Andy Reid is overrated.
Standing on the sideline and calling pass play after pass play while the Giants are hammering the franchise quarterback who built your reputation was one of the most selfish coaching acts I've ever witnessed.
Donovan McNabb should've slapped Reid after Philly's 16-3 loss. What a joke.
No way you let your star quarterback get sacked a dozen times, especially on a night when your ground game is giving you 5 yards per carry.
It's easy to blame Philly tackle Winston Justice, aka Highway-74, the express route to the quarterback. But Reid's game plan was atrocious. McNabb is being used and thrown to the wolves.
5. I'm repeating myself: The Bears should've signed Byron Leftwich.
Brian Griese is not the answer. Rex Grossman isn't even a question. And now that Joey Harrington has warmed, Leftwich may never get a shot in Atlanta.
Leftwich certainly won't be helping a playoff contender this year.
4. I owe someone in Green Bay an apology, and it's not Brett Favre.
I've been a longtime critic of Packers coach Mike McCarthy. It goes back to his days as an assistant in Kansas City under offensive coordinator Paul Hackett. I predicted McCarthy would be a flop in Green Bay.
Well, it's early in McCarthy's tenure and his story as a head coach has yet to be told, but so far he's handled an incredibly difficult situation quite well.
McCarthy somehow has managed to get Favre under control and back to playing at a Pro Bowl level.
Favre's re-emergence is turning into one of the great stories this season.
McCarthy deserves a lot of the credit. I don't mind being wrong about McCarthy.
3. Even at 3-1, there's no reason for people in Detroit to stop the Fire Millen Movement.
After further review, I've got the Lions losing their next four -- at Washington, Tampa Bay, at Chicago and Denver.
The Lions have more in common with the team that surrendered 56 points to McNabb and the Eagles than the team that has used nine interceptions from Brian Griese, Tarvaris Jackson and Josh McCown to win three games.
2. For you Notre Dame fans wondering at home, I'm a week or two away from writing a gloating/scathing column about Charlie Weis and the grossly premature contract extension Notre Dame gave him.
Oh, I haven't forgotten all the nasty e-mails I received two years ago after pointing out that ND had no business giving The Great Weis Hope a 10-year contract extension for doing far less in his first eight games than Tyrone Willingham did in his first eight at Notre Dame.
But before I strike I'm waiting on additional information to trickle in, such as I want it to be crystal clear that the Irish are the fourth-best Division I football team in Indiana -- after Purdue, Indiana and my Ball State Cardinals.
FYI: My Cardinals just might be the best team in the state. "The Nate Show with Dante and Darius" is the best-kept secret in college football. If there's a better quarterback (Nate Davis), receiver (Dante Love) and tight end (Darius Hill) trio in the country, someone drop me an e-mail and tell me about it.
1. Trent Green could've retired last season with his head held high and as a Kansas City icon.
Instead, he had to prove he could have success without the nurturing influence of Dick Vermeil and Al Saunders. Green is going to tarnish his reputation in Miami. I hope he retires after this season.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7296680
Jason Whitlock
FOXSports.com, Updated 7 hours ago
Have you ever heard a woman referred to as a Bengal? Good uniform, bad helmet. And, no, the description wasn't part of the Isiah Thomas sexual-harassment trial.
Here are your NFL Truths for Week 5:
10. With road games against Dallas and Indianapolis within the next month, it's unlikely the Patriots will remain undefeated longer than the Cowboys and Colts. But there is little doubt New England is the class of the NFL.
The Patriots have destroyed all of their opponents and they've done it without the services of Rodney Harrison and Richard Seymour. When the Pats have their full complement of defensive stalwarts and a Randy Moss-fueled offense, we're talking about an all-time great team.
The Cowboys play in the NFC, so that gives them an edge in the race to stay unblemished. And the Cowboys have the horses to do it. They've been scoring just as many points as the Patriots, and the 'Boys have a freakish receiver with something to prove, too, Terrell Owens.
The Colts are the weakest of the three teams in the regular season. What I mean by that is once Indy gets to the playoffs the equation has to be changed. Week to week Indy's run defense is too reliant on safety Bob Sanders. Can he survive 16 weeks as an undersized middle linebacker?
But once the Colts are in the playoffs and they're relatively healthy, they become as dangerous as the Patriots and the Cowboys. Sanders and pass rusher Dwight Freeney can get hot and shut down an offense.
9. If I'm Jerry Jones, Tony Romo doesn't get a new contract until after the playoffs.
There's no doubt that Romo is underpaid right now at a million bucks. Through four games he's playing close to the same level as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. But we saw Romo slow down last season after a hot start.
The NFL is a 16-game marathon that concludes with a mountain climb called the playoffs. If Romo wants to be paid like a true franchise quarterback let him prove he can run the marathon and climb at least a portion of the mountain.
8. Marvin Lewis is learning the lesson Dennis Green learned in Minnesota: Don't turn your team over to wide receivers.
Remember when Dennis Green partnered up with Randy Moss and Cris Carter and basically named them assistants to the head coach? Moss and Carter went wherever Denny went. Denny fought to get Randy a mammoth contract.
How'd that work out for Denny?
The exact same way Marvin Lewis' partnership with Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh is working out. T.J. yelled at Marvin about play-calling on the sideline during Cincy's embarrassing loss to the Patriots. Johnson continues to bojangle for the cameras at every opportunity and turn the Cincy sideline into a re-enactment of "Flavor of Love."
And guess what? Marvin could be overheard by the media screaming at his team about being selfish and telling his team that the coaches will call the plays without being second-guessed by the players (receivers).
Johnson and Houshmandzadeh are great players. You can win with them. But if you coddle them, they will undermine team discipline. If Lewis continues to allow Johnson to play by one set of rules and turn the Bengals into Chad's personal reality show, the team will not come out of this funk.
Just ask Denny Green.
Marvin can't ask 52 guys to play like men and allow Johnson to tap dance and shuffle for the amusement of a TV audience. Yes, I realize TV broadcasters are fond of gushing about how much they love Johnson and how "fun" he is.
Johnson isn't the first black man to be loved for bojangling. But there isn't a long list of bojangling idiots who led their teams to Super Bowl titles.
7. At the end of the season, Chargers general manager A.J. Smith and head coach Norv Turner should both be replaced by Marty Schottenheimer.
I'm not a Marty fan. The guy chokes at playoff time. But there is no denying that Chargers owner Alex Spanos chose the wrong guy in the Schottenheimer-Smith feud. Spanos should fix his mistake by giving Schottenheimer control of the franchise for two years. Let Marty be head coach and GM. That's what Marty wants.
He wanted the same thing in Kansas City. He got that power in 1997 and 1998. It worked in '97 and blew up in his face in 1998, and he walked away and left a band of thugs behind. Maybe Marty learned a lesson in K.C. and won't repeat that mistake.
Marty has earned the opportunity to fail in San Diego. A.J. Smith has earned a pink slip. Replacing Schottenheimer with Norv Turner, a career failure as a head coach, is one of the worst decisions in NFL history.
6. Let me be the first to say it: Andy Reid is overrated.
Standing on the sideline and calling pass play after pass play while the Giants are hammering the franchise quarterback who built your reputation was one of the most selfish coaching acts I've ever witnessed.
Donovan McNabb should've slapped Reid after Philly's 16-3 loss. What a joke.
No way you let your star quarterback get sacked a dozen times, especially on a night when your ground game is giving you 5 yards per carry.
It's easy to blame Philly tackle Winston Justice, aka Highway-74, the express route to the quarterback. But Reid's game plan was atrocious. McNabb is being used and thrown to the wolves.
5. I'm repeating myself: The Bears should've signed Byron Leftwich.
Brian Griese is not the answer. Rex Grossman isn't even a question. And now that Joey Harrington has warmed, Leftwich may never get a shot in Atlanta.
Leftwich certainly won't be helping a playoff contender this year.
4. I owe someone in Green Bay an apology, and it's not Brett Favre.
I've been a longtime critic of Packers coach Mike McCarthy. It goes back to his days as an assistant in Kansas City under offensive coordinator Paul Hackett. I predicted McCarthy would be a flop in Green Bay.
Well, it's early in McCarthy's tenure and his story as a head coach has yet to be told, but so far he's handled an incredibly difficult situation quite well.
McCarthy somehow has managed to get Favre under control and back to playing at a Pro Bowl level.
Favre's re-emergence is turning into one of the great stories this season.
McCarthy deserves a lot of the credit. I don't mind being wrong about McCarthy.
3. Even at 3-1, there's no reason for people in Detroit to stop the Fire Millen Movement.
After further review, I've got the Lions losing their next four -- at Washington, Tampa Bay, at Chicago and Denver.
The Lions have more in common with the team that surrendered 56 points to McNabb and the Eagles than the team that has used nine interceptions from Brian Griese, Tarvaris Jackson and Josh McCown to win three games.
2. For you Notre Dame fans wondering at home, I'm a week or two away from writing a gloating/scathing column about Charlie Weis and the grossly premature contract extension Notre Dame gave him.
Oh, I haven't forgotten all the nasty e-mails I received two years ago after pointing out that ND had no business giving The Great Weis Hope a 10-year contract extension for doing far less in his first eight games than Tyrone Willingham did in his first eight at Notre Dame.
But before I strike I'm waiting on additional information to trickle in, such as I want it to be crystal clear that the Irish are the fourth-best Division I football team in Indiana -- after Purdue, Indiana and my Ball State Cardinals.
FYI: My Cardinals just might be the best team in the state. "The Nate Show with Dante and Darius" is the best-kept secret in college football. If there's a better quarterback (Nate Davis), receiver (Dante Love) and tight end (Darius Hill) trio in the country, someone drop me an e-mail and tell me about it.
1. Trent Green could've retired last season with his head held high and as a Kansas City icon.
Instead, he had to prove he could have success without the nurturing influence of Dick Vermeil and Al Saunders. Green is going to tarnish his reputation in Miami. I hope he retires after this season.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7296680
