Agree with the post 100%.
Sorry to lecture, but some things still need clearing up.
Quote of the week was Peter King saying in MMQB that Sunday was "Moss's first game of marginal impact" right after quoting Crennel IN THE SAME COLUMN lamenting that the Browns were forced to focus all of their attention on Moss.
That's called an EXTREME impact Peter!!!
King, like so many talking heads, continues to misunderstand football stats.
The best way to think about a football player's impact, is to imagine the change in team point differential with a replacement player on the same team against the same opponents (If Moss isn't scoring fantasy points or our front-3 aren't sacking the QB, it's a sign to frauds like King that they are necessarily being unproductive players). The offense is scoring when Randy is on the field. The defense is stopping teams when guys like Seymour are on the field. That's the concept. It's not rocket science for ****s sake.
But everyone reads King.
We all love Bruschi but our defense has always played more dominant when it has a big lead to work with....in a tight game Bru probably turns back into the shell of his former self (sorry to sound like Felger on that one)....good news is those guys will get to pin their ears back a lot this year....and we won't have to worry about Chris Hanson too much either....and those guys can also thank Randy Moss.
And it's always nice to see our O-line get respect, but please don't ever forget this:
When you take guys out of coverage against guys like Moss/Stallworth/Welker to blitz/pressure A GREAT QB, you will get burned. Every coach understands this. For whatever reason, the talking heads can't grasp this...."only a few sacks on TB, he has all day to throw, ergo, his O-line must be twice as dominant as they were last year," or in prior years when it was impossible to imagine Tom surviving the season....IT'S THE WEAPONS!....just ask Peyton!
Losing Branch killed us last year (I predicted this too). I've been campaigning for Moss for a few years....(and FWIW totally opposed to T.O.)...Mike Silver could never understand this -- he kept quoting Todd Steussie to me....I warned him.
Now it's just too funny to hear the Colts fans pointing to all the "help" Tom has this year....this was their worst nightmare -- an actual season for Brady to play with Peyton-like toys dominating coverage all over the place....and unlike Manning, our guy can actually throw a spiral and read a progression without freaking out....EAT IT INDIANAPOLIS....the karma scales flipped big time over the past 10 months....hang on tight....it's going to be a bumpy ride for the rest of the NFL.
One last thing on my mind: I love Sammy Morris and have been on his bandwagon since the offseason and preseason, but I'm sorry he just doesn't scare defenses quite as much as Maroney. If we ever have to come from behind to win, Maroney is the guy who will keep defenses honest and help keep Brady upright....Morris is a great compliment to Maroney (particularly against a 3-4) and has helped keep Maroney fresh....but let's not fool ourselves, when healthy, Maroney is still the ace, and a big factor come January. The coaches know this and that's why they're asking Morris to carry the load right now, and he's delivered, in part because of the space cleared out by....
OUR RECEIVERS DAMN IT!
