ironwasp
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2006
- Messages
- 1,321
- Reaction score
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1 – Rex Grossman would not be human if he did not allow himself a small inward smile at the sight of Brian Griese tossing three picks in the Bears extraordinary defeat in Detroit. However much Grossman’s poor play contributed to the Bears going into that game at 1-2, he bears no responsibility for Sunday’s loss, which suggests the teams’ ills run far deeper than the guy under centre. Still, a team that is three games back in its division after four weeks may feel it is in need of a quick fix. Kyle Orton anyone?
2 – For one quarter at least, Travis Henry, a rookie named Shelvin Young and a crafty, imaginative game plan exposed last season’s fault line in the Colts run defence, racking up more than 100 yards and getting Denver off to a flier in the dome. In the end the Broncos couldn’t keep up their momentum and it was their defence, unable to stop either pass or run, that was the determining factor in the game. Nevertheless, better teams than the Broncos will have taken note of what it takes to run and score on the Colts and those with a complementary passing attack, as well as a defence that is not modelled on a sieve with particularly large holes, will believe they can beat the Colts.
3 – Has there ever been a situation where there are so few QBs who are undisputably settled into the long-term starter role? Having a quick look around the league I would say that there are at least nine QB controversies raging right now, and others perhaps bubbling under. And guess what – and I know this is kind of obvious – not one of those nine teams has a winning record. In many cases the team has brought the situation on itself with a lack of foresight, poor drafting (including bringing young guys in – who aren’t ready to play – but who undermine the starter) and general ineptitude.
4 – The 2007 WR draft class was advertised in advance as a good one, and is already shaping up pretty well in some quarters. Calvin Johnson has made a solid, if unspectacular start in receiver-rich Detroit; Dwayne Bowe has caught a pair of decent touchdowns for the offensively-challenged Chiefs; Tony Gonzalez is being brought on slowly but steadily in the slot in Indy; Craig Davis of the Chargers has a TD to his name in the anaemic passing game in San Diego, while second-rounder Sidney Rice caught a ripper for a TD in Minnesota’s defeat at the hands of Green Bay. On the debit side, Robert Meachem clearly hasn’t gotten up to speed with the Saints play book and has been inactive at a time when his team needs all the help it can get, while Ted Ginn Jr’s special teams work and one catch for 15 yards will not have changed the minds many Dolphin fans that that he was a terrible pick for a team with so many other needs.
5 – Speaking of which, how dumb does Miami’s post-season in-out-shake-it-all-about QB work look now? Daunte Culpepper, released in acrimonious circumstances by the Fins, could not have made his point more forcefully to his former employers if he had fired an ICBM into Dolphin Stadium. On the same day, Joey Harrington, who was also run out of town in the summer, looked fine as he led his new team, Atlanta, to its first win of the season. Trent Green, on the other hand, looked poor again as the ‘Fins slumped to 0-4. But as bad as Green was, it was the Dolphins once much-vaunted defence that really stole the horror show. Justin Fargas and Lamont Jordan ripped Jason Taylor, Joey “I guarantee it” Porter and co for more than 250 yards on the ground. The Fins have Houston and Cleveland in the next fortnight, if they don’t manage a victory in one of those, the next realistic chance might not be until week 10.
6 – I read that a lot of people, fans, players and coaches, in New England are already getting bored and frustrated with the 16-0 talk. Well, you’d better get used to it because until the Pats lose, it’s not going away. And that’s not this week. Perhaps in week six, when Dallas presents a serious challenge, but a win then will only make things worse.
7 – The chickens are coming home to roost in Cincinnati . Reports of the game of Marv Lewis chewing his players out in a “profanity-laced tirade”, accusing them of selfishness, are everywhere this morning. But it may be too late. Lewis has presided over the building of a team that appears to have a unique ability to self-destruct, whether it be off the field or in the locker room. And now on the pitch also. An undisciplined, “selfish” side is going to find it hard to fight back from 1-3 in a tough conference, and Lewis might now be fighting for his job.
8 – Is it just me or does most of this league suck right now? We have four unbeaten teams and probably only another two or three that could be considered high quality, never mind genuine Championship contenders. The rest? Yuck! Parity is an admirable goal. It makes the NFL the fascinating league it is, but it also a kissing cousin to mediocrity and that’s what we have right now. Nowhere is that more painfully obvious than in the once powerful AFC West, which is currently led by the … 2-2 Broncos, Chiefs and Raiders.
9 – I know that US fans are nervous about the prospect of NFL regular season games disappearing to foreign climes. As an overseas plan, I like the idea a lot and I have my tickets lined up for the Fins-Giants game later this month. But, boy are we being made to suffer for this. One of the featured games this weekend on Sky (the NFL’s UK broadcaster) is Miami at Houston, followed in week six by Miami at Cleveland. That will make five Dolphins games out of six that have been broadcast here live, which is more than enough for anyone. OK, so watching a train wreck once might be gorily fascinating, but enough already.
10 – Why, in the name of Rod Rust, would anyone kick the damn ball to Devin Hester?
2 – For one quarter at least, Travis Henry, a rookie named Shelvin Young and a crafty, imaginative game plan exposed last season’s fault line in the Colts run defence, racking up more than 100 yards and getting Denver off to a flier in the dome. In the end the Broncos couldn’t keep up their momentum and it was their defence, unable to stop either pass or run, that was the determining factor in the game. Nevertheless, better teams than the Broncos will have taken note of what it takes to run and score on the Colts and those with a complementary passing attack, as well as a defence that is not modelled on a sieve with particularly large holes, will believe they can beat the Colts.
3 – Has there ever been a situation where there are so few QBs who are undisputably settled into the long-term starter role? Having a quick look around the league I would say that there are at least nine QB controversies raging right now, and others perhaps bubbling under. And guess what – and I know this is kind of obvious – not one of those nine teams has a winning record. In many cases the team has brought the situation on itself with a lack of foresight, poor drafting (including bringing young guys in – who aren’t ready to play – but who undermine the starter) and general ineptitude.
4 – The 2007 WR draft class was advertised in advance as a good one, and is already shaping up pretty well in some quarters. Calvin Johnson has made a solid, if unspectacular start in receiver-rich Detroit; Dwayne Bowe has caught a pair of decent touchdowns for the offensively-challenged Chiefs; Tony Gonzalez is being brought on slowly but steadily in the slot in Indy; Craig Davis of the Chargers has a TD to his name in the anaemic passing game in San Diego, while second-rounder Sidney Rice caught a ripper for a TD in Minnesota’s defeat at the hands of Green Bay. On the debit side, Robert Meachem clearly hasn’t gotten up to speed with the Saints play book and has been inactive at a time when his team needs all the help it can get, while Ted Ginn Jr’s special teams work and one catch for 15 yards will not have changed the minds many Dolphin fans that that he was a terrible pick for a team with so many other needs.
5 – Speaking of which, how dumb does Miami’s post-season in-out-shake-it-all-about QB work look now? Daunte Culpepper, released in acrimonious circumstances by the Fins, could not have made his point more forcefully to his former employers if he had fired an ICBM into Dolphin Stadium. On the same day, Joey Harrington, who was also run out of town in the summer, looked fine as he led his new team, Atlanta, to its first win of the season. Trent Green, on the other hand, looked poor again as the ‘Fins slumped to 0-4. But as bad as Green was, it was the Dolphins once much-vaunted defence that really stole the horror show. Justin Fargas and Lamont Jordan ripped Jason Taylor, Joey “I guarantee it” Porter and co for more than 250 yards on the ground. The Fins have Houston and Cleveland in the next fortnight, if they don’t manage a victory in one of those, the next realistic chance might not be until week 10.
6 – I read that a lot of people, fans, players and coaches, in New England are already getting bored and frustrated with the 16-0 talk. Well, you’d better get used to it because until the Pats lose, it’s not going away. And that’s not this week. Perhaps in week six, when Dallas presents a serious challenge, but a win then will only make things worse.
7 – The chickens are coming home to roost in Cincinnati . Reports of the game of Marv Lewis chewing his players out in a “profanity-laced tirade”, accusing them of selfishness, are everywhere this morning. But it may be too late. Lewis has presided over the building of a team that appears to have a unique ability to self-destruct, whether it be off the field or in the locker room. And now on the pitch also. An undisciplined, “selfish” side is going to find it hard to fight back from 1-3 in a tough conference, and Lewis might now be fighting for his job.
8 – Is it just me or does most of this league suck right now? We have four unbeaten teams and probably only another two or three that could be considered high quality, never mind genuine Championship contenders. The rest? Yuck! Parity is an admirable goal. It makes the NFL the fascinating league it is, but it also a kissing cousin to mediocrity and that’s what we have right now. Nowhere is that more painfully obvious than in the once powerful AFC West, which is currently led by the … 2-2 Broncos, Chiefs and Raiders.
9 – I know that US fans are nervous about the prospect of NFL regular season games disappearing to foreign climes. As an overseas plan, I like the idea a lot and I have my tickets lined up for the Fins-Giants game later this month. But, boy are we being made to suffer for this. One of the featured games this weekend on Sky (the NFL’s UK broadcaster) is Miami at Houston, followed in week six by Miami at Cleveland. That will make five Dolphins games out of six that have been broadcast here live, which is more than enough for anyone. OK, so watching a train wreck once might be gorily fascinating, but enough already.
10 – Why, in the name of Rod Rust, would anyone kick the damn ball to Devin Hester?
