week 4 rankings

AFC

1.       Bengals- had the bye- might be too early for this team. At this point, no significant injuries- now they have 13 straight weeks to stay playing at this level. They were number 1 last week- no reason to move them down.

2.       Broncos- also had the bye. Chargers statistically have a better record but I still think denver’s the more complete team. Can’t wait for them to go head to head

3.       Chargers- yet another surprising win. I thought they were due for a let down. Eddie Royal and Rivers are playing lights out. I thought norv turner was an offensive genius?

4.       Colts- started off the year 0-2, since have two big impressive wins. Luck is starting to get into a groove. Can be a very scary team. Can move up.

5.       Texans- hesitant to put them on here. They are 3-1 and are playing well. JJ Watt is a stud. Scary good- the big test will be next week when they play dallas, another suprising 3-1 team

6.       New England- by default only because I have to choose a team from each division. Baltimore should be here. New England is a dud of a team. The entire east is a dud. But with tom brady and belichick they get the benefit of the doubt.

NFC

1.       Seahawks- had a bye- had them here last week, nothings changed. Lynch had a week to get healthy so most likely the offense will be full throttle coming out of the bye.

2.       Eagles- I was going to move them down, but they still only have the one loss, on the road against a very motivated niners team. The offense was pretty terrible, but they had a nice defensive showing and held the niners to some pretty medicore stats.

3.       Arizona- they are 3-0. One of the last few undefeated teams and they’ve played some pretty impressive teams. We will see what happens when they stop getting so lucky or they have to face adversity.

4.       Cowboys- outside of the week 1 loss to the niners they have surprisingly played well- I hate having them on this list but the offense is clicking and at this point of the season Demarco Murray is the mvp of the nfl. Romo has also kept his mistakes to a minimum (week 1 excluded).

5.        Lions- this is a hard one to gauge. They at times look like a runaway favorite and then the next drive, game etc they look like one of the worst. They are 3-1 and haven’t been tested very much in the division but ultimately think green bay will win it.

6.       Falcons- again by default. I don’t think Atlanta is any better than green bay or san fran but have to put them on here. I think their play is so inconsistent it’s very frustrating. You can’t get a finger on this team because one week before they run away from a medicore tampa team and then the following week lose to a pretty terrible Vikings team who bridgewater was starting his first game.  I had the saints high last week, but after getting thumped by dallas, they have to prove that they belong.

 

Boycotting ESPN

I am done with ESPN.  I will no longer frequent their website, nor watch their programming.  Bill Simmons was suspended for three weeks for calling Roger Goodell a liar on his podcast.  On the flip side, Stephen A Smith was suspended for one week for suggesting that women should stop provoking men into beating them.  For further effect, understand that this is not the first on-air display of ignorant sexism, as this sort of behavior was rampant when he was on the radio.  I don't really like Simmons, but this suspension is ridiculous, and suggests that calling somebody a liar is far worse than calling out women for provoking abuse.

Week 3 Observations

Top 6 ranking in each league and my take on goodell

Rankings
Nfc
1.       Seattle- very tough schedule as of yet. One road loss, beat Denver at home. They are the defending champs, so they get my respect. Their offense is better this year with Harvin healthy, however, lynch isn’t, so the ground game is a little down. Defense not as dominating but still top 2 or 3 in nfc.
2.       New Orleans- I know they are only 1-2, but I feel like they should be 3-0. Lost 2 games on last second field goals to a good falcons team and an upcoming browns team that was playing for something, and both loses were on the road. With upcoming games against the cowboys, bucs, lions and green bay at home I don’t see a loss in there and should be 6-2 half-way through the season.
3.       Philly- good offense- Kelly has some tricks up his sleeves. Mccoy injury is troubling. Defense isn’t that great but so far the offense has picked up the slack. Foles is looking like a steal.
4.       Arizona- lots of key players injured and suspended and they have still started 3-0, including a tough win against san diego and traveling east to beat the ny giants. Not sure if Stanton is good enough long term but he seems to do just enough to win. Defense has stepped up.
5.       Was going to put Detroit here and Atlanta next but moving Atlanta Falcons up to number 5. Offense is clicking with a healthy Julio Jones, running game is medicore, defense is alright. They were horrible last year after injuries and this is going to be a bounce back year. So far, looking impressive and matt ryan seems to have built a good rapport with his OC and isn’t making many mistakes
6.       Chicago- for some reason the bears have won and won without their two best receivers playing healthy and forte playing very average. Cutler outside of the game week 1 has looked resialiant.

 Afc:

1.Cincinnati-most complete dynamic, rounded team in the afc. Dalton is playing lights out and that’s with AJ Green not fully health

2. Denver- tough schedule so far, looked good against seattle who is almost unbeatable at home and they took them to OT. Defense is a little sketchy. Almost lost to Indy in the 2nd half, Manning however is a nice safety net

3. San Diego- a surprise team so far, tough loss week 1, have looked a lot better. Upset seattle, rivers looks rejuvenated and gates/royal have looked good as well. Running game is pretty unimpressive, now losing woodhead for the year, see how they respond

4. New England- Not the force it used to be. Not a lot of weapons on offense outside of brady and an injured gronk.

5. Indianapolis- Luck has looked good the last few weeks, and they could string together a winning streak especially playing in a weaker league. Inconsistent play on both sides has been their Achilles heal thus far, but they can turn it around

6. Pittsburgh- they were toe to toe with Baltimore but injuries and suspensions were the reason I couldn’t put them on here. Big Ben is healthy and playing well, running game with Blount and Bell has looked good thus far. Defense isn’t the strongest anymore, but I think it’s better than average and that’s all they need on this team.


Roger goodell when he first came on the scene was high on my list. He, whether for the right reasons or not, concerned himself witb heqd trauma and did his best to alleviate head injuries and a return to play protocal. However he does hold players accountable but does he hold refs with blown calls. Education is step one not fining players that for years the nfl glorified big hits. But lately goodell has been shit. 54 cases of domestic violence, 37 no repurcusions issued by the league. And thats just one issue. He has done lots for the owners, little for the players. From the referee lockout last year to the players lockout to blacked out games, no expansion franchises under his tenure etc. His new conferences are cold and unemphatic. He talks about player safety but yet wants to add 2 more games. He seems very reactive and very minimal proactive. Will do nothing until it blows up. I cant wait for him to leave.

Trend or anomaly

I'm curious to know what you all you think.....a decade ago coaches that transitted from the college ranks into the pro's did horrible...(spurrier, carroll stint #1, etc) with a small percentage doing really well (j johnson unfortunately). But recently I feel that most are having moderate to good and even great seasons. I see this more coming from the Pac-12 coaches (kelley, harbaugh, carroll, and even ron rivera with his connection to usc). My question is if this is the new wave of coaches into the pro ranks or if it's gong to dive back to coordinators etc in the pro's being recycled over and over again? And also if you think this is because of the new spread offense being used by college teams, now being implemented by many of the pro teams? I go back to my other postelation (<----- word?) and the pro teams and coaches and coordinators that just seem to be recycled despite few seasons of success and many of underperforming and lackluster. How many freakin' years was jim fassell in the pro's and what the hell did he accomplish? Also....one more observation and it goes back to the pac-12 coaches...the pac-12 is a very innovative conference with many non traditional offenses being run....when coaches from other conferences come into the pro's they seem to have a lot of 8-8 seasons and than go back or become a coordinator. But just look at these recent pac-12 coaches and their success in the pro's (Carroll-super bowl, harbaugh-3 seasons nfc championship game, kelley-taken a medicore philly team and now top 5 in the nfc, rivera-went from usc to coordinator to coach and has carolina as a perenial conference contender). Give me jim harbaugh, give me carroll or chip kelley over bruce arian, mike smith, doug marrone, trestman, marvin lewis, mike pettine, jason garrett, john fox, caldwell, Bill o brien, chuck pagano, gus bradley, andy reid, joe philbin, mike zimmer, coughlin, rex ryan, dennis allen, mccoy, jeff fisher, lovie smithm ken whisenhunt annnnnnnnnnnnnndd jay gruden. The only coaches that are proven that I would consider elite are belichick, sean payton, tomlin, and john harbaugh. Boom.

Week 2 QB roundup

Here's my rundown for the past week:

1)  Colin Kaepernick - If the guy doesn't develop some more accuracy, he's never going to get better.  He's a freak athlete, but he just seems to overthrow everything.  Jay Cutler did a really great job bringing his team back, but Kaepernick was a huge part of why Cutler even had a chance.

2)  Andrew Luck - I've mentioned this to a few people, and I continue to feel that we are watching a non-whiny Donovan McNabb.  Luck and McNabb are very similar in terms of athletic ability.  Luck does not seem to have the propensity to show up to camp bloated claiming he "put on muscle," which works in his favor.  Luck also has a pretty good arm and makes some great throws.  However, Luck bottom third of the league in terms of accuracy.  He leaves too many yards and points on the field by being inaccurate.  This doesn't mean he isn't really good, it just means that he is going to struggle to maximize his opportunities until he develops better short to mid-range accuracy.

3)  Aaron Rodgers - Good rebound week.  I bet he's glad the Packers gave Jordy Nelson all that money, though.  This was the first time in a long time that I wasn't quite sure whether Rodgers was making a receiver better, or the receiver was making Rodgers look better than he is.  Nelson was amazing, and thus Rodgers also looked amazing.

4)  Andy Dalton - On my list again, and for all the right reasons.  Dalton looked good even without AJ Green for most of the game.  That is one heck of a team, and is a Super Bowl favorite if Dalton maintains consistency.

5)  Matt Ryan - This is what happens when Matty Checkdown tries to play dink and dunk against a team with a legit defense.  Terrible game, terrible decision making, terrible outcome.

Sorry for a lot of the repeats from last week.  I don't get to watch every game, and I'd rather not comment on guys I didn't see play.

Adrian Peterson

This is going to be quite the non-sports post, but oh well.  Adrian Peterson was arrested for child abuse, etc (don't feel like looking up the actual term).  I saw some pictures online.  If those pictures are the result of Peterson "switching" his 4-year old child, I hope he rots in prison.  I have a lot of trouble judging corporal punishment.  I was spanked as a kid.  A lot of kids get hit with belts.  Typically, these events are half-hearted and are meant to scare the kid into listening, not actually hurt them.  The picture I saw showed angry red lashes across the legs of a child.  If these pictures are indeed of that kid and are from a switching that Peterson administered, then I am in front of the line screaming for the Vikings to cut him.  This may seem hypocritical, but I would maybe even feel a bit different if it was an 8-10 year old.  Or maybe not.  Peterson administered a "whooping" (his words) that went way overboard (if those are the actual pictures).

One more thing...  Peterson is smiling in his mugshot like he is on vacation.  No big deal, just arrested for beating the hell out of your kid.   Right now, I'm trying to wait for all the facts, but I just can't help but hate this guy.  My wife and kid have Peterson jerseys and I just want to burn them.... ugh.

Thursday Night Apathy

I guess there's football on right now. I'm writing a blog post about not watching, rather than planting my rear on my couch with a beer. I've a feeling that's not what the NFL has in mind with this whole Thursday night game thing.

I've never found the Thursday night games especially compelling. There was always something nice about the NFL being limited--I could get stuff done on Saturday and spend Sunday sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of guacamole or salsa and a bag of chips, and not feel too awfully guilty about it. I could watch MNF knowing I'd worked all day, and (when I lived on the West Coast) knowing I could do homework after the game, and that it football would then go away for the rest of the week. I could look forward to the novelty of Thursday football on Thanksgiving--and it didn't matter that it was always the Cowboys (who I hate) and Lions (who just weren't often very good, but could be fun to watch), because it was so unusual. Now we have imbalanced Sunday slates with crappy games picked for market reasons, Monday night double-headers, an extra Thanksgiving game added, and a game every other Thursday, too. On top of the saturation, I frequently have no particular interest in the Thursday match-ups (or Monday, either), certainly not enough to have gone out looking for a place to watch when they aired only on the NFL station.

For me, football always functioned best when it wasn't competing with anything else, and all I had to do was enjoy the game. Now, with its encroachment into the rest of the week, it feels to me like the bulk of it competes with the rest of my life, which limits the amount I can realistically consume, and then when I go to do that, there is nothing that appeals anyway--the Niners and Packers aren't often broadcast here in Virginia, and when they are, they're in those national games that I don't generally make time to watch anyway. Whereas I used to call up all the box scores and run through stats, I just don't do it multiple times per week, much less schedule my life around football.

But today I was in a decent place with my work, and thought maybe I'd carve out some time to at least watch the start of the game if it was on my TV (CBS now, as well as NFL Network--at least I think so, but can't confirm, since I didn't actually watch). Then I looked to see who was playing. Steelers-Ravens. Oh, this is good. Not only do we now have a game representing a league (really a product--let's call it what it is) that is trying to take over my life in increasingly uninspiring/unappealing ways, but also one that encapsulates ugly moral issues like sexual assault and domestic violence

So instead I sat upstairs and talked with my kids (who were supposed to be in bed by then anyway, but I audibled when we had a rough night), checked my email, and read a book by a Spokane Indian about Indians (who never, by the way, seem to call themselves "Redskins" non-Indian contentions that that's a positive term).

I guess I'm not the guy the NFL is trying to appeal to (though frankly, that's probably a smart marketing move, one of the things the NFL excels in).

Week 1 QB Round-up

I'm going to try to start doing a weekly QB round-up.  I'll pick 3-5 performances (that I at least saw some of) and discuss them.  I have a part-time job on Sunday and Monday nights, so I might not see every performance, so I won't discuss those games a lot of the time unless I DVR them and watch them later.  Here goes:

1)  Matt Ryan - Matt Ryan is still Matty Checkdown... Bear with me on this one.  Matt Ryan had a great game on Sunday.  He played like a QB who can win it all, although I have strong doubts that the Saints' defense is anywhere near as good as people think they are.  The thing that struck me is that he had yet another couple of plays where a screen led to a gigantic gain.  He always seems to get some great YAC from his RB or WR on those plays.  I want somebody to track YPCD (yards per checkdown) to see just how far ahead of everybody else this number is for Ryan.  Again, he played a great game, I just found it chuckly-worthy that it of course included a couple of big-gain checkdowns.

2)  Eli Manning - Terrible.  The worst multi-Super Bowl-winning QB in history... and only better than Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson on the list of QBs who have even won 1.  He has been inaccurate and turned the ball over his whole career.  Now that he doesn't have a defense to bail him out, he looks a lot more like the mediocre QB that he has always been.

3)  Andy Dalton - Andy Dalton struggled on third down.  He also struggled on all downs in the second half.  However, he did something he's never done against Baltimore: he didn't kill his team with bad throws.  This was a change.  Dalton is flawed.  He doesn't have a big enough arm to dominate a game.  However, give him guys like Gio Bernard and AJ Green, and he has plenty of arm to win.  I think this is the year that Dalton finally wins a playoff game and people stop riding him so hard.

4)  Joe Flacco - This dude is owner of the dumbest contract in sports history.  In fact, the stupidity of his contract rivals the stupidity of the Herschel Walker trade.  I understand he was historically great in their playoff run and that he has a great playoff record.  Just keep in mind that his playoff wins include at least one stat line (too lazy to search it) with double-digit passing yards.  Playoff wins are overrated in determining how good a QB is.  While Flacco deserves all the credit in the world for that amazing playoff run (11 TD, 0 INT), I think it's pretty obvious that those numbers are the only thing keeping him from trumping Dilfer and Johnson for worst SB winning QBs ever.  Ok, enough of my soapbox... I'm supposed to talk about this past week.  Flacco looked lost.  He turned in his typical 60+ attempts, <400 yards performance, most of which was accumulated playing catch up because he had played so poorly early.  Yes, I know Steve Smith dropped 4 balls early, but Flacco wouldn't have looked much better had Smith caught those balls.

5)  Aaron Rodgers - Oh boy, hate to do this one.  Aaron Rodgers looked timid last week.  In the first half, when the line was doing an ok job of protecting, Rodgers refused to push the ball downfield. It was really disappointing.  Even more disappointing is that he didn't challenge Richard Sherman at all. Sherman is good, but he's not freaking Deion Sanders.  At least throw toward the guy ONCE!  In the second half, Rodgers was under pressure more, but he still didn't look comfortable.  He wasn't accurate, he wasn't decisive, and he wasn't himself.  I've heard analysts blame his collarbone.  Huh? Dumb analysis.  He didn't look this bad last year after he returned from the injury.  This is probably just a one game thing and it wouldn't be the first time that Rodgers has played fairly poorly in the first game of the year (in fact, the only game where he truly played great was the opener against the Saints right after the lockout).  One thing that I found really interesting was looks of disgust and the head-shaking by Rodgers on the sideline every time the defense did something stupid.  I don't think I've ever seen him so demonstrative.  I think there might be trouble on the way for this team this year.

Green Bay Packers... Ugh.

So, the two (maybe still three...) people who read this blog know I'm a big Packers fan.  They also know that I'm not a rabid, drooling, foaming-at-the-mouth homer.  I can call it like I see it (except maybe when it comes to Aaron Rodgers, but he went to Cal, so leave me alone!).  Thursday concerned me a lot.  The Seahawks are a really good team.  The whole world knew going in that they would be tough to beat at home, and they were.  Not a shocker.

Here's my problem:  The defense is still a problem.  Specifically, the play on the edges is the problem.  I've read article after article and analysis after analysis saying that the defense played poorly in the middle.  Yeah, it's true.  AJ Hawk and Brad Jones kinda suck.  However, I have images of Percy Harvin running around the end on a motion handoff time after time burned into my brain. Why are they burned into my brain?  Nick Perry/Mike Neal/Clay Matthews/Julius Peppers repeatedly crashing down the line ALL THE WAY TO THE FREAKING CENTER biting on a fake hand off up the middle.  This has been a consistent theme for Mike McCarthy's teams with the exception of the 2010 Super Bowl team.  

I read a lot about sports.  I read team websites, blogs, major sports sites, etc.  One of the things that I read often on Packers.com is "Players, not plays" as stated by Vic Ketchman.  I think this is interesting.  I'm pretty quick to blame Dom Capers for a lot of the problems on defense because he continues to play a 2-4-5 defense, which is just plain stupid.  That particular defensive alignment has NEVER worked, and NEVER will (don't give me the argument about two lineman standing up and it working... I'm talking a true 2-4-5, where there are only two DL on the field).  However, at some point I have to just think that the players are either too stupid or too undisciplined to actually play the defense that is called.  Maybe the players are to blame.  But the flip-side is that the coaches are not focusing on this issue.

So, what do I actually think?  Well... this issue, as I stated earlier, has spanned multiple "generations" of Packers players, suggesting that coaching is an issue.  In addition, I think the types of players the Packers are choosing for their defense needs to be questioned.  I don't really know what the answer is, but I'm sick and tired of the Packers I-AA (FCS, fml that I felt I needed to add that) defense.  No more Super Bowls for Rodgers until that defense shows some freaking discipline.

A few random NFL QB thoughts before the big game tomorrow night

I've been busy, so not a lot of posts, so I'm just going to word-vomit them all out at once.

1)  "The Dalton Line" - Quite a few analysts have been spraying this bit of nonsense around for a while.  The idea is that if you have a QB worse than Dalton, you need a new QB.  If your QB is better, then you are ok.  Typically Dalton sits between 15-20 in these rankings.  I find this pretty hilarious as it is a clear indication that playoff victories are perceived as a single player accomplishment.  Andy Dalton hasn't won in the playoffs.  He also hasn't played particularly well.  Does this remind you of anybody?  Peyton Manning comes to mind.  Matt Ryan has been horrible in the playoffs, but he is considered a top 10 QB.  I don't really see much difference between Matty Checkdown and Dalton, yet everybody hates Dalton... In fact, Dalton gets Romo-esque hate (Romo is a different beast, though).

2)  Johnny Manziel - Despite the best efforts of ESPN, Johnny Foosball will not be starting.  I've never seen so many pundits wet their pants over a 5-6 YPA.  Manziel is very good at running around, but he isn't so good at actually throwing the ball to his teammates.  I don't think Manziel sits on the bench long, but he likely won't be any good once he finally gets on the field.

3)  Jay Cutler - It doesn't even take ESPN to run a hype train on this guy.  My neighbor, my dad, probably the guy down the street who doesn't even like football, and everybody's moms think Jay Cutler is going to set records this year because he has SOOOO many weapons.  The team had the same weapons last year.  Jay Cutler still throws really stupid interceptions.  He will probably throw for 400 yards with 25 TD and 20 INT, which is a far cry from the crap I'm hearing.

4)  Eli Manning - This one really makes me chuckle.  Bob McAdoo installs a west coast offense, only to find that Eli Manning is completely incapable of throwing accurate short and intermediate passes.  This season could be the year that cements him as a two-time SB winner that doesn't make the hall of fame.