Letters to the Editor
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I'm so ...
... liking having you on the Steelers' bandwagon with me King. Even if that they're good again this year has me almost breaking my rule about not watching the NFL until they're in the playoffs. I never did get to watch a football game last year.
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Throwbacks
Wow, those Redskin uniforms do look pretty good. They should keep wearing those.
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Bledsoe plan flaw
Buffalo's J.P. Losman has yet to turn into a Brady-like superstar.
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Is Al Michaels a dick, or what?
Just saying.
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Go Steelers!
Steelers looked awfully impressive yesterday against the Niners. I expect them to steamroll the Cardinals next week before finally facing a decent team -- Seattle -- the week after.
That said, did anyone else think the replay official screwed up big time on the Vernon Davis play? There's no way on earth that play could reasonably have been an incompletion -- it's either a 49er reception and down by contact or it's a Steelers interception since the ball popped straight up in the air and the defender grabbed it before it hit the ground. Personally, I thought the 49ers got hosed on the call since the ball carrier's arm hit the ground and I thought that one elbow = two feet in terms of ruling whether a catch was made or not.
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Raiders are learning
Well, at least the Raiders are learning. They were able to notice the situation (long field goal for the win, late in the game, time out remaining) and use it. This all before the rule gets quietly changed this offseason to prevent these things. Learning from past experience is not something football teams and coaches tend to do, so it's a big step forward in Oakland.
I expect to see the same thing happen a handful of times during the remainder of the season. I'm just waiting for a coach to call a fake field goal play on the second attempt.
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NFL Refs don't take enough control
Isn't it already in the referee's discretion whether or not to allow a timeout? Does anyone think a baseball umpire would allow a batter to back out on a 2-strike pitch in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game with the bases loaded, and call time, once a pitcher started his motion?
Baseball umpires sometimes are way too confrontational, but no one can argue that they let games get away from them the way NFL refs do on occasion. Why can't a ref just tell a coach, "Sorry dude. You want a timeout? Ask for it a little earlier."
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Packers
I wasn't sure the Pack could pull it off, but they did. I was hoping Jennings would be back, he was, that the O-Line would play better, they did and that the D would stay strong. Had any of that not happened, I don't know if they could have pulled it off. If the Packers can figure out their running game even a little better, I think they have a good shot at the Superbowl.
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Thanks for the Chicago bashing King.
I mean, yeah, the Bears suck again. No surprise there.
Cubs are playing good ball though. Soriano, Lee, and Ramirez are batting a combined total of about 9,000! So come on, give us a fighting chance at least!
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Proposing a new NFL rule?
Who are you, and what have you done with the real King Kaufman?
As a Browns fan, I say, yes, calling a time out right before the FG snap is a crap way to win a game, if you believe it "jinxes" the kicker. Which I don't. If anything, it allows you to get a free practice kick, check out your range and the windspeed, etc.
Sure Janikowski missed his second attempt, and sure, the Browns let their second attempt be blocked, but NFL kickers generally have nerves of steel after years of having timeouts called to specifically freeze them.
I think teams will learn pretty fast that it doesn't pay to give the kicker a free practice shot.
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Al Saunders Is A Genius*
Why does Al Saunders (Redskins Off. Coordinator) get accolades for being an offensive wizard? I've seen no proof to these claims. I've skimmed through a plethora of poorly written news article, scribbled in Crayon by failed-athletes-turned-sports-reporters, that fawn over his playbook. Supposedly it has a wide girth and long length. Too bad it's flaccid.
Or maybe his players don't know how to use it.
I mean, I'm told that Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking are geniuses. I've read their works and came away saying, "Yeah, they're smart." But Al Saunders is a real puzzle to me and those who describe him as a genius goes below comprehension. Throughout the second half of the 'Skins-Giants game, players such as Santana Moss and Jason Cambell spent most of the time looking off field instead of down field. They appeared to be confused. They shrug and shrug. Is it because Al's offensive "philosophy" is too deep? Or is it because Al's not a genius, he just has a thick playbook with a lot of useless formulas that befuddles his players?
I don't know. Someone please enlighten me.
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Timeouts
With very, very few exceptions if a team, pro or college, does not have 3 timeouts at the end of the game you are dealing with a poorly coached team.
It kills me how many times you see an entire team and coaching staff engaging in a circle jerk on the sidelines at the end of the game as the clock ticks away and they can't do anything about it because timeouts were used earlier. Because the quarterback didn't like the defensive set-up on a 3rd and 12 at his own 25 with 12 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Or the time clock was running out on a 3rd and 9 at their own 20. Or a questionableridiculous challenge.
Timeouts at the end of a close game are gold and should be treated as such. You have to plan as if 3 will be necessary-- usually on defense to stop the clock 3 times quickly, as the other team, barely ahead, tries to run out the clock with handoffs.
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Ho hum...Bears lose...big deal...
Who cares about Da Bears? Nobody in Chicago that I know of. Then again, I live on the North Side (Cubs Country!) and at the rate the Cubs are going right now, I'd say it won't be until well into October that we'll even realize there's a football team in town.
Then again, the South Side (White Sox Country) has probably been dying for football season to begin, starting sometime back in mid-summer when it became clear that the Smelly Sox were not getting anywhere near the post-season. And now this!
Sorry, Sox and Bears fans...for Cubs fans with long memories (or in my case, a deceased father and brother who bequeathed me their long memories) this is a case of "just deserts." One of the great conspiracy theories of Chicago history is that the White Sox and Bears higher-ups colluded to chase the Chicago Cardinals to St. Louis some sixty years ago, leaving the Bears with the exclusive Chicago football market. (And this being Chicago, the Bears expressed a certain amount of "gratitude" to the Sox and perhaps a few local politicians.)
So to Sox and Bears fans...thanks from a grateful Cubs Nation...and boo (@#$%&) hoo!