OldEnglandPatriot
On the Game Day Roster
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2006
- Messages
- 278
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1. It's a lot easier being Tony Romo than being Matt Leinart.
Now don't get me wrong, this is not a sob story for poor, unfortunate souls like Leinart who become instant celebrity multi-millionaires upon leaving college. But as I enjoy watching Tony Romo's rise to stardom and excellent quarterbackery(?) I can't help wondering if he would be quite so laid-back - and so successful - if he hadn't come into the league undrafted, and sat in the background for three years.
Romo certainly seems like a naturally loose kind of guy, but it must be a lot easier to be that way when you have come into the league unheralded and been able to learn in the background for a while. Almost any kind of half-decent NFL career must seem like a bonus for an undrafted QB. Romo could have bounced around three or four teams, doing a serviceable, journeyman job, and it would all have been gravy. He had the freedom to fail.
But when you are a number one draft choice, a high profile guy expected to be the franchise quarterback, that luxury isn't there. If Leinart was to have the kind of career I just described, he would be forever labelled a disappointment, a bust. The road to success is perhaps tougher for him and his ilk, and it will be interesting to see if he eventually gets there.
2. QB win/loss records are highly over-rated.
I've long thought this, and was reminded of it by a couple of things recently. Some great quarterback or other - sadly I forget who - was quoted after a game one time, saying 'I didn't do anything and these guys won the game for me'. And on the other hand, Jimmy Johnson stated on Fox a couple of weeks ago that 'You can't win games in the National Football League with Joey Harrington'.
Well, Harrington has been pretty good the past couple of weeks in compiling a 98 passer rating and taking Atlanta to one win and one shoulda-won. His career to date surely has to be viewed in the light of his playing for a horrible, horrible team in Detroit and one abortive season with an imploding Miami.
The best win/loss percentages among active QBs are held by Philip Rivers, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger... and Rex Grossman. Yes, Rex Grossman. Now, do you think Rex would be fourth in that list - or have gone to a Superbowl - if he had been drafted by the Arizona Cardinals or the Houston Texans? Of course QBs can win or lose games for their team, but so can and do the coaches and the other forty-plus players, be they guards, kickers or even punters.
3. Arseholes probably make the best coaches.
First, forgive me for the English spelling. Now, I might hesitate to go quite as far as 'arsehole' in some of these cases, but if you make a list of who comes across to you as the least pleasant and personable coaches in the league, I suspect it will bear a fair resemblance to this list: Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Bill Belichick, Eric Mangini, Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin.
With the exception of Mike Holmgren, that list includes all of the currently active NFL head coaches who have won the Superbowl. 2006 winner Bill Cowher might well have been on the list if he were still stalking the sidelines, and two-time winner Bill Parcells would have been a lock if he hadn't just retired (again).
Its not true to say that all good coaches are arseholes, or that all arseholes are good coaches. But it seems to me that if you are a good coach AND an arsehole, you have a good chance of being very successful.
4. Playing NFL games on different continents not only is selling out the teams and fans, but is also a waste of time.
So, the NFL takes a regular season game to London. As a Brit I should be pleased, no? No.
Why should true fans of the 'home' team miss one of likely only eight games they will get to see this year? Why should the 'home' team lose home stadium advantage? Why should a magnificent sports league reduce a regular season game to some kind of exhibition?
All this, for the sake of selling some shirts and foam hands, and perhaps a slightly bigger TV deal in the UK next time around. You could understand it if the NFL were struggling - even crusty cricket purists have largely accepted the new rock 'n' roll cricket format 'Twenty Twenty' because their game is in desperate need of more fans and more money. But actually the NFL has more money than God and almost as much power - and in this instance it's certainly moving in mysterious ways.
Trust me, American Football is never going to be anything but a trivial sport in the UK and most of the rest of the world. When you haven't grown up with it, gridiron is far too complex for all but the most fascinated/motivated to really get to grips with it. And don't feel sorry for the English fan. If he or she is prepared to stay up late, he or she can see plenty of live games on satellite TV, not to mention having access to EVERY game on the internet - something denied to US residents like me whose apartments happen to face in the wrong direction for DirecTV.
The NFL is a fantastic, successful league. In this era it is already far more accessible to those outside the USA than it has ever been. It should not cheapen itself nor short-change its teams and their loyal fans with any more games outside the country.
5. 'Ocho Cinco' is not to blame for Cincinnati's woes.
No, he really isn't. As a caveat before I start, it's possible that Marvin Lewis's comments about selfish players on his team were not aimed solely and squarely at Chad Johnson. But since pretty much everybody assumes that they were, let me say it again: Chad ain't to blame for Cincinnati's woes.
Chad didn't recruit - nor does he coach or co-ordinate - the Bengals' poor defense or special teams. He didn't draw up the offensive gameplan on Monday night that to my mind tried to run a little too much in the absence of its best running back. He certainly didn't prevent TJ Houshmandzadeh catching ten balls Monday night, and in fact probably helped that to happen.
If other players can't get on with their jobs when one (highly talented) guy has a moan about not getting enough ball or a busted play, they probably are a bit too fragile for this game and this league.
Ultimately, responsibility for most of the problems listed above rests with a head coach in his 5th year with the team, and with the GM who has recruited plenty of players who have been disappointments either on or off the field. Monday night's comments from Lewis struck me as the sure sign of a coach feeling the pressure that Tony Kornheiser repeatedly claimed Lewis is not under.
Now don't get me wrong, this is not a sob story for poor, unfortunate souls like Leinart who become instant celebrity multi-millionaires upon leaving college. But as I enjoy watching Tony Romo's rise to stardom and excellent quarterbackery(?) I can't help wondering if he would be quite so laid-back - and so successful - if he hadn't come into the league undrafted, and sat in the background for three years.
Romo certainly seems like a naturally loose kind of guy, but it must be a lot easier to be that way when you have come into the league unheralded and been able to learn in the background for a while. Almost any kind of half-decent NFL career must seem like a bonus for an undrafted QB. Romo could have bounced around three or four teams, doing a serviceable, journeyman job, and it would all have been gravy. He had the freedom to fail.
But when you are a number one draft choice, a high profile guy expected to be the franchise quarterback, that luxury isn't there. If Leinart was to have the kind of career I just described, he would be forever labelled a disappointment, a bust. The road to success is perhaps tougher for him and his ilk, and it will be interesting to see if he eventually gets there.
2. QB win/loss records are highly over-rated.
I've long thought this, and was reminded of it by a couple of things recently. Some great quarterback or other - sadly I forget who - was quoted after a game one time, saying 'I didn't do anything and these guys won the game for me'. And on the other hand, Jimmy Johnson stated on Fox a couple of weeks ago that 'You can't win games in the National Football League with Joey Harrington'.
Well, Harrington has been pretty good the past couple of weeks in compiling a 98 passer rating and taking Atlanta to one win and one shoulda-won. His career to date surely has to be viewed in the light of his playing for a horrible, horrible team in Detroit and one abortive season with an imploding Miami.
The best win/loss percentages among active QBs are held by Philip Rivers, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger... and Rex Grossman. Yes, Rex Grossman. Now, do you think Rex would be fourth in that list - or have gone to a Superbowl - if he had been drafted by the Arizona Cardinals or the Houston Texans? Of course QBs can win or lose games for their team, but so can and do the coaches and the other forty-plus players, be they guards, kickers or even punters.
3. Arseholes probably make the best coaches.
First, forgive me for the English spelling. Now, I might hesitate to go quite as far as 'arsehole' in some of these cases, but if you make a list of who comes across to you as the least pleasant and personable coaches in the league, I suspect it will bear a fair resemblance to this list: Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Bill Belichick, Eric Mangini, Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin.
With the exception of Mike Holmgren, that list includes all of the currently active NFL head coaches who have won the Superbowl. 2006 winner Bill Cowher might well have been on the list if he were still stalking the sidelines, and two-time winner Bill Parcells would have been a lock if he hadn't just retired (again).
Its not true to say that all good coaches are arseholes, or that all arseholes are good coaches. But it seems to me that if you are a good coach AND an arsehole, you have a good chance of being very successful.
4. Playing NFL games on different continents not only is selling out the teams and fans, but is also a waste of time.
So, the NFL takes a regular season game to London. As a Brit I should be pleased, no? No.
Why should true fans of the 'home' team miss one of likely only eight games they will get to see this year? Why should the 'home' team lose home stadium advantage? Why should a magnificent sports league reduce a regular season game to some kind of exhibition?
All this, for the sake of selling some shirts and foam hands, and perhaps a slightly bigger TV deal in the UK next time around. You could understand it if the NFL were struggling - even crusty cricket purists have largely accepted the new rock 'n' roll cricket format 'Twenty Twenty' because their game is in desperate need of more fans and more money. But actually the NFL has more money than God and almost as much power - and in this instance it's certainly moving in mysterious ways.
Trust me, American Football is never going to be anything but a trivial sport in the UK and most of the rest of the world. When you haven't grown up with it, gridiron is far too complex for all but the most fascinated/motivated to really get to grips with it. And don't feel sorry for the English fan. If he or she is prepared to stay up late, he or she can see plenty of live games on satellite TV, not to mention having access to EVERY game on the internet - something denied to US residents like me whose apartments happen to face in the wrong direction for DirecTV.
The NFL is a fantastic, successful league. In this era it is already far more accessible to those outside the USA than it has ever been. It should not cheapen itself nor short-change its teams and their loyal fans with any more games outside the country.
5. 'Ocho Cinco' is not to blame for Cincinnati's woes.
No, he really isn't. As a caveat before I start, it's possible that Marvin Lewis's comments about selfish players on his team were not aimed solely and squarely at Chad Johnson. But since pretty much everybody assumes that they were, let me say it again: Chad ain't to blame for Cincinnati's woes.
Chad didn't recruit - nor does he coach or co-ordinate - the Bengals' poor defense or special teams. He didn't draw up the offensive gameplan on Monday night that to my mind tried to run a little too much in the absence of its best running back. He certainly didn't prevent TJ Houshmandzadeh catching ten balls Monday night, and in fact probably helped that to happen.
If other players can't get on with their jobs when one (highly talented) guy has a moan about not getting enough ball or a busted play, they probably are a bit too fragile for this game and this league.
Ultimately, responsibility for most of the problems listed above rests with a head coach in his 5th year with the team, and with the GM who has recruited plenty of players who have been disappointments either on or off the field. Monday night's comments from Lewis struck me as the sure sign of a coach feeling the pressure that Tony Kornheiser repeatedly claimed Lewis is not under.
