Duane
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http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com/
- The bye week sort of blows, but it also gives the fans a bit of rest as well. I didn’t have to worry about the Titans coming out and playing their best football of the year against Dallas (which usually happens since every time Dallas plays on the road, they are such a hated team that the home team really gears up for the game). On the other hand, why have a bye week by week three? Not only does it fell disjointed as a fan, but you’d have to believe it’s a tremendous disadvantage for those teams with the early bye week. Especially if you’re Dallas who also has to deal with the crappiness of the Thanksgiving schedule later on in the year.
- Think the refereeing still sucks? Well, I do….although it’s slightly better than last year. It was one of the main concerns I had during the CBA talks as the CBA talks were taking away from time that also needed to be spent on getting the refereeing up to snuff. I wouldn’t expect the refereeing to improve greatly overnight. I think one of the issues is that they need to recruit more referees and give better and stricter training. That takes time. But in the meantime they could add more referees to the football field as more eyes on the field will increase your chance of making the correct call. Also, they need to incorporate college football’s review system. If I’m a coach and I “waste” both of my challenge flags and then later on in the game the refs make an absolutely terrible call and I now can’t challenge it, that still doesn’t take away from the fact that the refs made a horrendous error. I’m really puzzled why the NFL is so averse to making these changes. Makes me wonder if they are afraid that a change in the refereeing and replay rules would be an admission that the NFL can sometimes to fraudulent.
- You know what’s weird? The Texans passing up on Reggie Bush may not have been so stupid after all. This team really, really, really cannot play defense. They can’t tackle, they can’t cover, they blow assignments and they can’t stop anybody. Obviously, the Commanders are a better offense with Clinton Portis in the game, but as Dallas showed, if you take away the deep ball and the stuff on the perimeter and give the Commanders offense the middle of the field, they are going to have a tough time moving the ball. Yet, the Skins kept calling the same swing passes, pitch plays, and other perimeter plays and the Texans acted like the game of football was just invented on Friday.
Unfortunately, passing up on Bush for Mario Williams doesn’t appear to be the answer to their defensive woes
- The big noise in NY is Jeremy Shockey telling the press that “we were outplayed and outcoached.” I’m not sure what the big deal about that really is. A big part of football is accountability. If players can be blamed for being outplayed, certainly coaches can be blamed for being outcoached. You could argue that Shockey should’ve reserved those comments for the locker room, but how often do you hear a coach knock a player’s play in a press conference or after a game?
- My friend and I were debating the cause of the improved play of the Vikings. Was it the removal of Moss/Culpepper or the removal of Mike Tice? I’d like to say both were big factors, but I went with Mike Tice.
The Vikings formula is much different now as they are a conservative, ball control offense that plays stingy defense. That can be attributed to getting rid of Culpepper who was/is always prone to making big mistakes at the end of the game whereas Brad Johnson tends to protect the ball better. And while their WR’s aren’t great, they are more apt to block and catch passes over the middle than Randy Moss. Plus, getting Culpepper and Moss off the payroll means they can now use that money for defensive players to help build a quality defense, something they never had in Minnesota while the pair where playing there.
That being said, the Vikings haven’t really added many big name FA’s to their defense. Pat Williams, Darren Sharper, and Fred Smoot were paid nicely…but that’s about it. And in reality, the Vikings probably could have afforded to keep Moss and Culpepper and get Williams, Sharper, and Smoot.
Defense doesn’t necessarily win championships, but you at least need a good defense to win the Super Bowl. The last 21 Super Bowl winners have finished no higher than 8th in points allowed. 19 of the last 20 Super Bowl teams have finished with at least 40 team sacks in the regular season (New England had 38 in 2001). And 19 of the last 20 Super Bowl teams have had a positive turnover margin (only Carolina in 2003 did not have a positive margin).
While Vikings coach Brad Childress has had a different offensive approach than his mentor Andy Reid, he has taken some of the focal points that were so prevalent in Philadelphia over the years. And by doing so, he’s doing more with seemingly less talent.
- The bye week sort of blows, but it also gives the fans a bit of rest as well. I didn’t have to worry about the Titans coming out and playing their best football of the year against Dallas (which usually happens since every time Dallas plays on the road, they are such a hated team that the home team really gears up for the game). On the other hand, why have a bye week by week three? Not only does it fell disjointed as a fan, but you’d have to believe it’s a tremendous disadvantage for those teams with the early bye week. Especially if you’re Dallas who also has to deal with the crappiness of the Thanksgiving schedule later on in the year.
- Think the refereeing still sucks? Well, I do….although it’s slightly better than last year. It was one of the main concerns I had during the CBA talks as the CBA talks were taking away from time that also needed to be spent on getting the refereeing up to snuff. I wouldn’t expect the refereeing to improve greatly overnight. I think one of the issues is that they need to recruit more referees and give better and stricter training. That takes time. But in the meantime they could add more referees to the football field as more eyes on the field will increase your chance of making the correct call. Also, they need to incorporate college football’s review system. If I’m a coach and I “waste” both of my challenge flags and then later on in the game the refs make an absolutely terrible call and I now can’t challenge it, that still doesn’t take away from the fact that the refs made a horrendous error. I’m really puzzled why the NFL is so averse to making these changes. Makes me wonder if they are afraid that a change in the refereeing and replay rules would be an admission that the NFL can sometimes to fraudulent.
- You know what’s weird? The Texans passing up on Reggie Bush may not have been so stupid after all. This team really, really, really cannot play defense. They can’t tackle, they can’t cover, they blow assignments and they can’t stop anybody. Obviously, the Commanders are a better offense with Clinton Portis in the game, but as Dallas showed, if you take away the deep ball and the stuff on the perimeter and give the Commanders offense the middle of the field, they are going to have a tough time moving the ball. Yet, the Skins kept calling the same swing passes, pitch plays, and other perimeter plays and the Texans acted like the game of football was just invented on Friday.
Unfortunately, passing up on Bush for Mario Williams doesn’t appear to be the answer to their defensive woes
- The big noise in NY is Jeremy Shockey telling the press that “we were outplayed and outcoached.” I’m not sure what the big deal about that really is. A big part of football is accountability. If players can be blamed for being outplayed, certainly coaches can be blamed for being outcoached. You could argue that Shockey should’ve reserved those comments for the locker room, but how often do you hear a coach knock a player’s play in a press conference or after a game?
- My friend and I were debating the cause of the improved play of the Vikings. Was it the removal of Moss/Culpepper or the removal of Mike Tice? I’d like to say both were big factors, but I went with Mike Tice.
The Vikings formula is much different now as they are a conservative, ball control offense that plays stingy defense. That can be attributed to getting rid of Culpepper who was/is always prone to making big mistakes at the end of the game whereas Brad Johnson tends to protect the ball better. And while their WR’s aren’t great, they are more apt to block and catch passes over the middle than Randy Moss. Plus, getting Culpepper and Moss off the payroll means they can now use that money for defensive players to help build a quality defense, something they never had in Minnesota while the pair where playing there.
That being said, the Vikings haven’t really added many big name FA’s to their defense. Pat Williams, Darren Sharper, and Fred Smoot were paid nicely…but that’s about it. And in reality, the Vikings probably could have afforded to keep Moss and Culpepper and get Williams, Sharper, and Smoot.
Defense doesn’t necessarily win championships, but you at least need a good defense to win the Super Bowl. The last 21 Super Bowl winners have finished no higher than 8th in points allowed. 19 of the last 20 Super Bowl teams have finished with at least 40 team sacks in the regular season (New England had 38 in 2001). And 19 of the last 20 Super Bowl teams have had a positive turnover margin (only Carolina in 2003 did not have a positive margin).
While Vikings coach Brad Childress has had a different offensive approach than his mentor Andy Reid, he has taken some of the focal points that were so prevalent in Philadelphia over the years. And by doing so, he’s doing more with seemingly less talent.
