11/16/07
- There were some curious game management decisions made by
some highly esteemed coaches this week. In Indianapolis, head
coach Tony Dungy quite possibly cost his team a win by calling
a timeout for no other reason than to argue with the referees.
After Colts tight end Ben Utecht was called for a false start
when the Colts were trying to bait the Chargers into an encroachment
penalty on 4th and one on the Chargers 11-yard line with one
minute and 36 seconds, remaining, Dungy called timeout to complain
that Utecht's abrupt step back as the team realigned was not
a deliberate attempt to draw the Chargers offside. While one
could argue the call, it says here that very rarely has a tight
end ever stepped back so quickly during a re-alignment. Adam
Vinatieri's missed field goal likely would have been good from
five yards closer plus the timeout cost the Colts 45 valuable
seconds once they got the ball back. Rather than having 22 seconds
to get the Colts into field goal position from their own 33-yard
line, quarterback Peyton Manning would have had 59 seconds and
we all know what he can do in that amount of time. Kudos to
Dungy for admitting his mistake thereby letting his players
know that he too is accountable for his decisions.
- While Dungy's brain cramp was somewhat understandable given
that Vinatieri is Mr. Clutch and never misses from inside 30
yards, Browns coach Romeo Crennel's decision to call a timeout
before requesting a challenge must go down as certifiably stupid.
After the Steelers Heath Miller scored a lead changing 2-yard
touchdown pass, Cleveland called timeout for no apparent reason
and subsequently chose to challenge the call. The call wasn't
overturned so Cleveland was left with only one timeout which
was used on defense, leaving them with no timeouts during their
final drive. Kicker Phil
Dawson's 52-yard attempt was just short but would have been
good had the Browns advanced the ball a few more yards, something
not possible because Crennel had wasted at least one timeout
and possibly two if you accept the argument that he never should
have challenged the Miller touchdown in the first place.
- In Washington, Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs was doing his
best Mike Martz imitation, burning timeouts with indecision.
Gibbs wasted his first timeout of the second half because he
could not decide whether to kick a field goal, challenge the
spot or go for it on 4th and one from the Eagles five-yard line
with over nine minutes remaining in the third quarter. He burned
a second timeout on a 1st and ten play with just under ten minutes
remaining and the Redskins on their own 38-yard line. The final
timeout was wasted on the challenge of a Ladell Betts fumble
with over eight minutes remaining in the game. After the game,
Gibbs refused to acknowledge he had mismanaged the team's use
of their timeouts, choosing instead to blame the officials.
-
 It
is now safe to say that Titans quarterback Vince
Young is suffering a severe sophomore slump. Whereas Young
was winning games for the team in 2006 despite putting up rather
mediocre passing numbers, it's easy to conclude that in 2007
they are winning games in spite of him. Simply put, the team's
defense and its running game have carried the team to its 6-3
record. Despite improving his completion percentage from a horrible
51.5 per cent last season to a respectable 60.9 per cent this
season, his average yards per pass attempt is down from 6.2
to 5.8, the result of him not making big plays in the passing
game, and he has just one game with more than 200 yards passing
while putting up two with under 100 yards. In addition, he is
not making as many plays with his feet, averaging fewer yards
per game than last season and scoring fewer rushing touchdowns.
Throw in his inability to reduce the number of times he puts
the ball on the ground (12 last season and five thus far in
2007), his higher interception rate and lower touchdown rate
and you have your classic sophomore slump. Jacksonville showed
the rest of the league the key to shutting down the Titans offense
so look for teams to play eight men in the box pretty much exclusively
until Young proves he can win games with his throwing ability.
- Packers running back Ryan Grant proved he was the real deal
in the team's win over Minnesota this week. After a couple of
weeks of solid production, Grant this week became the first
running back to go over 100 yards against the stout Vikings
run defense. Grant had many open gaps to rush through in what
was perhaps the best performance of the season for the Packers
offensive line. Give credit to much maligned general manager
Ted Thompson for parting with one of his precious draft picks,
albeit only a 7th rounder, to acquire Grant from the Giants
prior to the season.
- Things are getting ugly in Carolina. The team's decision
to acquire former Texan David
Carr to backup Jake
Delhomme has been a major bust and with Delhomme out, star
wide receiver Steve
Smith has been rendered all but useless. With Delhomme in
the lineup for the first three games of the season, Smith had
18 receptions for 281 yards and four touchdowns. With Delhomme
out for the past six games, Smith has managed 29 receptions
for 309 yards and two touchdowns, with nearly half of that production
coming in week six against the Cardinals. Throw in an 0-4 home
record with the latest loss coming to the Falcons in their first
road win of the season and it won't be a surprise if there are
front office and coaching changes in Carolina prior to 2008.
- Shifting the focus to wide receivers, look for Cardinals
receiver Anquan Boldin to struggle in the second half of the
season because of his inability to recover from the hip injury
that kept him out for three games earlier this season. Boldin
has admitted that the injury is still hindering him and his
lack of production bears this out. Over the past three games
Boldin has 14 receptions for 94 yards and tow touchdowns, averaging
a paltry 6.7 yards per reception, a staggering number for a
player generally acknowledged as being one of the better players
in the league at accumulating yards after the catch. Worse yet,
the team is targeting other players in the red zone, with fellow
wideout Larry Fitzgerald and tight end Leonard Pope getting
more looks in the red zone at Boldin's expense.
- Moving on to Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, it won't
be a surprise if he doesn't come anywhere close to matching
his statistics for the first six games of the season over the
remainder of 2007. Despite battling a sprained right ankle that
has not allowed him to practice, Burress rang up 30 receptions
for 507 yards and eight touchdowns during the Giants first six
games. However, Burress has gone silent since then with 11 receptions
for only 81 yards and no touchdowns over the past three weeks.
He failed to display the ability to gain separation this week
against the Cowboys and it could be that the ankle injury has
gotten worse and he may need to take a break from the lineup
for him to become productive once again. As was the case against
the Cowboys, look for tight end Jeremy Shockey to benefit greatly
from Burress' reduced role in the offense.
- Down in New England, the rich get richer with the news that
2006 2nd round pick Chad
Jackson is ready to return to the lineup from the physically
unable to perform list. Jackson struggled in 2006 as a rookie
and doesn't figure to get many touches behind the super trio
of Randy
Moss, Donte
Stallworth and Wes
Welker but he does give the team the option of using him
in four receiver sets, provided he's fully recovered from the
anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in the playoffs
last season. Largely forgotten is that Jackson was the second
receiver chosen in his draft class and that the Patriots actually
gave up a 3rd round pick in order to move up and grab him. At
the least, he provides the team with additional depth down the
stretch in case one of their other receivers is injured or blows
a gasket.
- And finally in Washington, it looks like the turbulent tenure
of Brandon Lloyd will end with a whimper. The enigmatic wide
receiver suffered a broken collarbone and will be out for at
least six weeks. With the Redskins unlikely to make the playoffs
and in need of his roster spot given their injury situation
at wide receiver, Lloyd was placed on injured reserve. The cost
to benefit analysis on his time in Washington shapes up something
like this - 25 receptions for 379 yards and no touchdowns versus
major headaches for the coaches, 3rd and 4th round draft picks
and a little under $12-million in salary of which over $7-million
will count against the cap over the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
- Keeping with the Washington wide receivers, despite paying
Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El and Lloyd each over $5-million
per season, it was a pair of veteran retreads that became the
first Redskins wide receivers with touchdown receptions this
season. James Thrash hauled in two touchdown passes against
the Eagles and Keenan McCardell also had a touchdown reception.
- Anybody who has seen the Titans play in 2007 knows that defensive
tackle Albert Haynesworth has become a dominant player and is
likely the best defensive tackle in the league this season.
Haynesworth has consistently clogged the lane on rushing plays
despite facing double teams on nearly every down, forcing opponents
to rush outside to get any yardage on the ground. He has also
gotten after the quarterback with regularity and figures to
become the highest paid defensive tackle in the game after the
season when his contract is up. His negotiating leverage went
up a notch this week when he was forced to the sidelines with
a hamstring injury. The result was the Jaguars rushing for 166
yards on the ground, the most the Titans had surrendered in
a game all season. The Titans entered the game allowing opponents
an average of 66 yards a game on the ground and had yet to surrender
100 yards to an opponent.
- Apparently Falcons quarterback Joey Harrington acted with
amazement when told by reporters than he was heading to the
bench this week in favor of Byron Leftwich. There are two amazing
things about this. It's amazing that rookie head coach Bobby
Petrino failed to notify Harrington that he was being benched
before he gave the news to the local media and it's amazing
that Harrington is consistently amazed that he's being benched.
-
 Keeping
with quarterbacks, the public relations machines in Baltimore
and San Francisco are working overtime this week regarding the
status and production of each team's quarterback position. In
Baltimore, the team has "discovered" that Steve
McNair has a sore shoulder and so he will be replaced by
Kyle Boller
for this week's game must win game against Cleveland. Maybe
what they really discovered was that in his six starts, McNair
has two touchdowns, four interceptions, seven lost fumbles and
is averaging a pathetic 5.4 yards per attempt, second worst
in the league. He eschews any type of downfield throw for dump
off passes meaning he's become a turnover machine despite not
taking any risks down the field. The Ravens "discovering" McNair
has a shoulder injury and dumping him for Boller is kind of
like how I dumped my flat chested girlfriend when I was thirteen
because I needed to "hang out with my friends" and then moving
in on the new busty, pimple faced blonde in my class. The alternative
isn't always great but sometimes it beats what you have.
- In case anybody was wondering who has the worst yards per
attempt passing in the league, your answer lies in San Francisco
in the form of the first overall selection in the 2005 draft.
Word has come out that Alex
Smith has not one but two injuries that are causing him
to quickly succumb to draft bust status. According to Smith,
a separated right shoulder and strained forearm are causing
him to throw with less accuracy and he suggested he might need
to be removed from the line-up. While it is clear that such
statements are not conducive to a quarterback assuming the natural
role of the leader of a team that generally accompanies playing
the position, Smith's poor performance is the result of a number
of factors and he is not entirely to blame for being unable
to top 200 yards passing in 24 of his first 30 starts in the
league (including 15 such games over his past 17 starts). First
off, this offense is least imaginative and likely easiest to
defend in the entire league. The formations are the same, there
is little presnap motion and running plays are straight ahead.
Second, the receiving corps lacks playmakers. Say what you want
about Darrell
Jackson's career achievements and Vernon
Davis' upside at tight end but it's meaningless if these
players can't make plays or aren't put in position to make plays.
Jackson appears washed up at this point and, while it hasn't
been mentioned yet, the chances of Davis being a draft bust
are becoming greater by the week. Finally, the offensive line
is atrocious. The free agent signing of Jonas Jennings from
the Bills prior to the 2005 season has been a colossal failure.
Jennings hasn't played up to his salary and, because he is on
injured reserve, by the end of this season will have played
in only 21 of a possible 48 games. And it doesn't stop there.
Kwame Harris was a wasted 2003 1st round pick, David Baas a
wasted 2nd round pick from 2005 and the team's 3rd round pick
from 2005, Adam Snyder, is nothing more than serviceable. Add
it all up and while Smith has been far less than spectacular,
he hasn't been surrounded with enough talent to have a reasonable
chance at success.
- Look for the Earnest Graham show in Tampa Bay to cool off
in the coming weeks due to a convergence of issues. Graham has
been outstanding since moving into the starting line-up four
games ago, racking up 448 total yards and a touchdown despite
having to face the Titans and Jaguars during that stretch, two
of the better run defenses in the league. However, Bucs coach
Jon Gruden has always favored a committee approach to the position
and, prior to this season, Cadillac Williams, Michael Pittman
and Mike Alstott shared the touches at running back. With Pittman
ready to return to the lineup this week from the ankle injury
that sidelined him for four games and Michael Bennett learning
more of the playbook each week, expect Graham to remain the
key cog in the team's running attack but don't expect him to
keep averaging the 25 touches per game that he has received
since Pittman's injury.
- Looks like Bears head coach Lovie Smith has at his wits end
with the underwhelming performance of running back Cedric
Benson. Benson's story for much of the season has been that
he hasn't received enough touches to wear down the defense so
his yards per carry has suffered. However, that explanation
is simply false with Benson having only the 18th most rushing
yards despite having the sixth most carries in the league. In
fact, out of the top 50 rushing yardage leaders in the league,
Benson has the lowest yards per carry behind only Rudi Johnson
of the Bengals. With general manager Jerry D'Angelo having come
out in support of Benson two weeks ago, there might be fireworks
in Chicago between the general manager and head coach if Smith
decides to lessen Benson's workload and give more touches to
backup Adrian
Peterson.
- With Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress struggling in recent
weeks, the team could definitely use some production from backup
wide receivers Steve
Smith, Sinorice
Moss and David
Tyree. Thus far in 2007 the team's backup wide receivers
have combined for 14 receptions, 126 yards and no touchdowns,
which is a day's work for the Patriots Wes Welker. It seems
certain teams have difficulty filling certain positions and
the wide receiver position has been a major source of draft
failures for the Giants over recent years. Stretching it back
to 2000, the team has drafted and received little to no production
from the Ron
Dixon (3rd round selection in 2000), Tim
Carter (2nd round of the 2002 draft), Jamaar
Taylor (2004 6th round pick), Moss (2nd round of the 2006
draft) and Smith (2nd round of this year's draft). While there
is still hope that Smith will show something once he returns
from the hamstring injury that has sidelined him since the third
week of the season, it appears the coaching staff's patience
with Moss is wearing thin and he needs to start making plays
to solidify his standing with the team for the 2008 season.
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