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By Vic Carucci | NFL.com
Random thoughts
» I'm not sure I can be sold on the idea of "situational" quarterback substitution. Baltimore and Arizona used it in their Week 3 game that the Ravens won, 26-23. Their coaches appear comfortable with using it again.
Kyle Boller made a late-game relief appearance for Ravens starter Steve McNair, who is still nursing a sore groin muscle stemming from an injury in the first game of the season. Boller deftly led the Ravens to their winning field goal, and coach Brian Billick is open to turning to his backup again because "that's 20 fewer plays, five fewer hits, whatever it may be" for McNair to endure.
Kurt Warner emerged from the bench in place of Cardinals starter Matt Leinart, and led two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Warner did an excellent job of engineering the no-huddle offense, something Leinart is far from mastering. As a result, new coach Ken Whisenhunt has thrown open the possibility that Warner could again step in at times to run the no-huddle when Leinart returns as the starter.
"We're lucky to have the latitude with Kyle," Billick told reporters in Baltimore.
Really? I can't be convinced that the two-platoon system works at quarterback, because it's the one position that should have an unquestioned starter. If two players fill it, then a team doesn't have anyone worthy of the No. 1 role. Two players filling it is awkward and confusing, especially for the other players on offense.
"It's a little bit weird," Warner told reporters in Arizona. "But at the same time to be in a backup role and have somebody say, 'Here's an opportunity for you to play weekly,' that excites me as well. In this position, you usually don't play unless something happens to the guy in front of you."
Exactly.
» Throw a flag on me for underestimating the Packers' run defense. I honestly expected Tomlinson to have his best game of the season against a unit that, I erroneously concluded in a Sept. 21 column for NFL.com, was loaded with quick and talented athletes but not stout enough to deal with the run.
The Packers' ability to effectively deal with Tomlinson was the result of some outstanding scheming by defensive coordinator Bob Sanders. Sanders did some early-down blitzing, while also using safeties near the line of scrimmage. Most of all, however, he leaned heavily on his defensive tackles (including Corey Williams, who made his first start of the season in place of Johnny Jolly) to control the inside gaps. That forced Tomlinson to try and run outside, where the Packers' speedy linebackers were usually ready to greet him.
"Our run defense was excellent, especially when they came in and tried to establish the run from the first series of the game," McCarthy told reporters in Green Bay. "It wasn't like they tried to run the ball, then got away from it, and tried to come back to it. They really pounded away at it."
» The NFL is quickly catching onto the notion that Tony Romo is hard to catch.
Romo's elusiveness was a huge factor in his ability to lead the Cowboys to their Week 3 pounding of the Chicago Bears. He did not register a single rushing yard, but he did an outstanding job of avoiding Bears pass rushers in the pocket. He not only showed a great feel for the pressure, but also staggering quickness to step away from trouble on the way to throwing for 329 yards and two touchdowns. And even at that, the Bears managed to sack Romo three times.
Nevertheless, Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher, who sacked Romo twice, shared a telling observation about the Cowboys' quarterback from an unnamed Miami defensive player who no doubt had been left frustrated by an inability to control Romo in Week 2.
"He said, 'He's surprisingly quick so try and not take it for granted; make sure you're ready to go,'" Urlacher told reporters before facing Dallas.
» A recommendation for your football reading list: The Paolantonio Report: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches, and Moments in NFL History. As the title suggests, this is a bold offering of opinions from one man, ESPN national correspondent Sal Paolantonio (with writing assistance from Reuben Frank). Some pages will have you nodding in agreement and others will have you shaking your head and yelling out loud with no one around you.
I did that when I saw Marv Levy listed as the most overrated Hall-of-Famer of all time. Paolantonio put far too much weight on Levy's Buffalo Bills losing four consecutive Super Bowls by a combined score of 139-73 and not enough on his ability to keep a roster of players with some massive egos together and grounded enough to make that unprecedented run. In fact, earlier in the book, the Bills of the 1990s are among the most underrated Super Bowl teams in NFL history.
But it's that kind of book. You won't agree with everything, but you will find it interesting and extremely well researched.
LINK
Random thoughts
» I'm not sure I can be sold on the idea of "situational" quarterback substitution. Baltimore and Arizona used it in their Week 3 game that the Ravens won, 26-23. Their coaches appear comfortable with using it again.
Kyle Boller made a late-game relief appearance for Ravens starter Steve McNair, who is still nursing a sore groin muscle stemming from an injury in the first game of the season. Boller deftly led the Ravens to their winning field goal, and coach Brian Billick is open to turning to his backup again because "that's 20 fewer plays, five fewer hits, whatever it may be" for McNair to endure.
Kurt Warner emerged from the bench in place of Cardinals starter Matt Leinart, and led two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Warner did an excellent job of engineering the no-huddle offense, something Leinart is far from mastering. As a result, new coach Ken Whisenhunt has thrown open the possibility that Warner could again step in at times to run the no-huddle when Leinart returns as the starter.
"We're lucky to have the latitude with Kyle," Billick told reporters in Baltimore.
Really? I can't be convinced that the two-platoon system works at quarterback, because it's the one position that should have an unquestioned starter. If two players fill it, then a team doesn't have anyone worthy of the No. 1 role. Two players filling it is awkward and confusing, especially for the other players on offense.
"It's a little bit weird," Warner told reporters in Arizona. "But at the same time to be in a backup role and have somebody say, 'Here's an opportunity for you to play weekly,' that excites me as well. In this position, you usually don't play unless something happens to the guy in front of you."
Exactly.
» Throw a flag on me for underestimating the Packers' run defense. I honestly expected Tomlinson to have his best game of the season against a unit that, I erroneously concluded in a Sept. 21 column for NFL.com, was loaded with quick and talented athletes but not stout enough to deal with the run.
The Packers' ability to effectively deal with Tomlinson was the result of some outstanding scheming by defensive coordinator Bob Sanders. Sanders did some early-down blitzing, while also using safeties near the line of scrimmage. Most of all, however, he leaned heavily on his defensive tackles (including Corey Williams, who made his first start of the season in place of Johnny Jolly) to control the inside gaps. That forced Tomlinson to try and run outside, where the Packers' speedy linebackers were usually ready to greet him.
"Our run defense was excellent, especially when they came in and tried to establish the run from the first series of the game," McCarthy told reporters in Green Bay. "It wasn't like they tried to run the ball, then got away from it, and tried to come back to it. They really pounded away at it."
» The NFL is quickly catching onto the notion that Tony Romo is hard to catch.
Romo's elusiveness was a huge factor in his ability to lead the Cowboys to their Week 3 pounding of the Chicago Bears. He did not register a single rushing yard, but he did an outstanding job of avoiding Bears pass rushers in the pocket. He not only showed a great feel for the pressure, but also staggering quickness to step away from trouble on the way to throwing for 329 yards and two touchdowns. And even at that, the Bears managed to sack Romo three times.
Nevertheless, Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher, who sacked Romo twice, shared a telling observation about the Cowboys' quarterback from an unnamed Miami defensive player who no doubt had been left frustrated by an inability to control Romo in Week 2.
"He said, 'He's surprisingly quick so try and not take it for granted; make sure you're ready to go,'" Urlacher told reporters before facing Dallas.
» A recommendation for your football reading list: The Paolantonio Report: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches, and Moments in NFL History. As the title suggests, this is a bold offering of opinions from one man, ESPN national correspondent Sal Paolantonio (with writing assistance from Reuben Frank). Some pages will have you nodding in agreement and others will have you shaking your head and yelling out loud with no one around you.
I did that when I saw Marv Levy listed as the most overrated Hall-of-Famer of all time. Paolantonio put far too much weight on Levy's Buffalo Bills losing four consecutive Super Bowls by a combined score of 139-73 and not enough on his ability to keep a roster of players with some massive egos together and grounded enough to make that unprecedented run. In fact, earlier in the book, the Bills of the 1990s are among the most underrated Super Bowl teams in NFL history.
But it's that kind of book. You won't agree with everything, but you will find it interesting and extremely well researched.
LINK
