4 comments Elite Pass Rushers are Overrated Because They Aren't as Valuable as an Elite Quarterback

There are quite a few Bleacher Report copycat sites, or sites that appear to be Bleacher Report copycats, popping up on the Interwebs. I believe I have mentioned this before. They are mostly fan-driven sites with hot take commentary and headlines used for the sole purpose of pageviews. You know the articles are written for pageviews because the number of pageviews for the article is right there for you to look at. SEE HOW POPULAR THIS COLUMN IS? THAT MEANS IT CAN'T BE SHITTY WRITING! 2000 VIEWS CAN'T BE WRONG!

So the headline on this site, which is called "NFL SpinZone" (a wonderful title by the way since it indicates there will be "spin" accompanying the hot take), is "J.J. Watt and Other Elite Pass Rushers Overrated in the NFL? The Facts Say Yes." You can't argue with pageviews and facts. Thank you to the reader who found and emailed me this hot take. Apparently this NFL SpinZone is in some way attached to FanSided, which links articles from Bleacher Report. It's all very confusing. So here is why elite pass rushers are overrated. Spoiler alert: It's because quarterbacks are more valuable. Because that makes sense. This is why knives are overrated, because a gun is a much better weapon for combat while in a vicious cock-fight.

How could elite pass rushers be overrated? Here’s how.

Here's how! This is how the author pulls a JemeHill and makes a statement that most probably don't believe is necessarily is true and disproves it.

"How could chocolate not serve as the primary source of protein for adults? Here's how."

"Do vaccinations cause spontaneous combustion? The facts say "no" and here's why."

"Are ants really aliens gathering weaponry to take over Earth? Probably not. Here's what the facts say."

Most people belief that pass rushers, whether DE or OLB, are one of the most important positions on a football team.

I mean, it's the first sentence. Can we maybe not have a grammatical error in the first sentence? I just belief that if you are going to write for a web site then you should probably do your best to make sure your very first sentence doesn't have grammatical errors. And yes, I'm sure I have grammatical errors in my writing, but I try to avoid them in the first sentence. I belief that's the way to go.

Oh, and also..."most people" believe this to be true? Is that a factual statement or just a statement the author is making in an attempt to disprove something that most people don't believe anyway? I think I know the answer I belief is the correct one.

Some people believe that an elite pass rusher can have as big, or almost as big, of an impact on an NFL game as a great quarterback can. 

Yes, and some people are Scientologists. I would put both sets of people on the same craziness level. Okay, that's not true. Scientology is WAY crazier than believing an elite pass rusher can have as big of an impact on an NFL game as a great quarterback can. You get my point though.

So far the author has told us what "most" people believe and then stated what "some" people believe. He's well on his way to disproving a belief that he in his own mind thinks "most" and "some" people have. He's totally JemeHill'ing this article all up. He's creating all sorts of beliefs people have so he can prove just how overrated pass rushers are.

It’s often thought that the best teams in the NFL feature the best pass rushers. However, the facts starkly suggest otherwise as Justin Houston and J.J. Watt have both been on their couches for weeks.

(coughs) Based on a sample size of one year.

Both Houston and Watt impressively hit the 20-sack plateau in 2014, but the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans didn’t make the playoffs. The NFL’s top-5 pass rushers in 2014, as far as sacks recorded, were Elivs Dumervil (17 sacks), Connor Barwin (14.5), and Mario Williams (14.5). Between those five players (including Houston and Watt) only Dumervil’s Ravens made the playoffs.

Although there is no correlation between their great play and their team’s ultimate success.

Right, because they are a member of a team and the entire team has to play well in order for that team to win. The quarterback position is the most important position in football and I don't take seriously those "some" people who think an elite pass rusher is on par with an elite quarterback. So the author is disproving something that informed people probably wouldn't believe. Also, who is "Elivs Dumervil?" Is he Elvis Dumervil's evil twin? I bet Elivs Dumervil has a goatee.

That begged the question, “How much of an impact do elite pass rushers really have on an NFL team’s success?”

Get ready for the author to prove elite pass rushers aren't as important as an elite quarterback. I know this may come as a shock, since this is probably something most people already knew. The bottom line is an elite pass rusher is great to have, but there has to be a great defense around that elite pass rusher. Football is a team sport.

Fact #1:

As stated above, only one of the NFL’s top five sack leaders led their teams to the playoffs.

Fact.

Fact #1 from me:

In 2013, three of the NFL's top five sack leaders led their teams to the playoffs.

In 2012, four of the NFL's top five sack leaders led their teams to the playoffs. 

In 2011, two of the NFL's top five sack leaders led their teams to the playoffs. Jason Pierre-Paul was one of these players and his team won the Super Bowl.

In 2010, three of the NFL's top five sack leaders led their teams to the playoffs. Clay Matthews was one of these players and his team won the Super Bowl.

In 2009, three of the NFL's top five sacks leaders led their teams to the playoffs. Will Smith was one of these players and his team won the Super Bowl.

So out of the last five seasons, 15 of the 25 players in the top 5 of the NFL in sacks led their teams to the playoffs. That's 60% of the players who appeared in the top five of the NFL in sacks over the last five years (prior to 2014) whose team made the playoffs. No correlation there I'm sure. 

So, how much of an impact do elite pass rushers have on their teams? Clearly not as much as some people like to think. 

Based on the 2014 season, these "some people" are wrong. Based on the five years prior to that, these "some people" have a better case.

Whereas nearly every NFL team with a quarterback that is widely referred to as ‘elite’ did make the playoffs.

The author is relying on a lot of opinions and definitions of "elite" here that I don't care to get into. The important thing to note is quarterbacks like Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, and Matt Ryan didn't make the playoffs. Teams made the playoffs with non-elite quarterbacks like Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, and Andy Dalton. You can have your own opinion about Joe Flacco and Matthew Stafford too. Not sure I would call them "elite."

Fact #2:

Five pass rushers have recorded at least two sacks in the playoffs this year and none of those five player’s teams made it to a Conference Championship game.

This is a dumb statistic to use. Pass rushers who play the most games in the playoffs will naturally have better sack totals, but ignoring that, taking a sample size of two games is a terrible way to prove elite pass rushers are overrated. The #1 and #2 seeds in the AFC and NFC both will have only played one game prior to the Conference Championship Game, so naturally it's expected those pass rushers won't have as good of a sack total in the playoffs prior to the Conference Championship Game. Chandler Jones could have 1 sack in the one game he played prior to the Conference Championship Game. This doesn't mean he isn't elite or he didn't help his team win the Super Bowl.

The four teams that made it to Championship Sunday do not feature a single pass rusher that has recorded two sacks in the playoffs yet. Further evidence that dominant pass rushers do not directly equate to winning in the NFL.

Fact #2:

Again, over the last six seasons (including the 2014 season) 16 of the 30 players in the top five of the NFL in regular season sacks have also appeared in the playoffs. That's 53%, which by the way, is more than half. Sure, more elite quarterbacks have appeared in the playoffs during that time span, but no reasonable person is arguing a pass rusher is as valuable as a quarterback. The fact a pass rusher isn't as valuable as a quarterback doesn't mean an elite pass rusher is overrated.

Oddly enough, it seems the opposite is true.

Oddly enough, you use one season's worth of data to show this to be true.

The trend I’m noticing is that teams with multiple above-average pass rushers win with much more consistency than teams with one elite pass rusher.

Well yeah, that's true too. A team with multiple pass rushers that are very good will win more games than a team with one elite pass rusher and shitty pass rushers around him. That's blindingly obvious. Are elite offensive linemen overrated because a team with one elite offensive linemen and a bunch of useless assholes around him doesn't win with as much consistency as a team with multiple above-average offensive linemen? I think not. The author's argument is so terrible. He misunderstands that football is a team sport. A team with better players at more positions will win more games than a team with better players at just a few positions.

Fact #3:

The league’s most dominant pass rusher, and defensive player, couldn’t lead his team to the playoffs.

Fact #3: This is information gathered from one season. Over the past six seasons a player who has appeared in the top 5 of the NFL in sacks during the regular season has been on a team that won the Super Bowl three times. That's 50% of the time a team with an elite pass rusher wins the Super Bowl. I know, I know, I'm cheating by using a sample size larger than one season. How dare I try to get to the truth of whether pass rushers are overrated because they don't lead their team to the playoffs by searching out information and data that covers more than one NFL season!

The Texans’ Watt is the undisputed king of the NFL, on the defensive side of the ball that is. Yet, even his incredible impact couldn’t raise the Texans to the postseason. Would the Texans be worse without him? Certainly! 

Does this mean an elite pass rusher is overrated? Certainly not! It just means the Texans didn't make the playoffs in the AFC this season.

But if the Texans added Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady would it become a playoff team? I’m inclined to say yes, of course.

And because Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady would take the Texans to the playoffs when J.J. Watt could not, this means a quarterback is more valuable than a pass rusher, which means an elite pass rusher is overrated. So OF COURSE an elite pass rusher is overrated, because there are unnamed people in the world who think an elite pass rusher is as valuable as an elite quarterback. Obviously.

So do elite pass rushers really equal success in the NFL? Or is one player, even so great as one of 2014’s five elite pass rushers, not enough to truly make a huge difference in today’s NFL.

Based on one season's worth of data, these two questions aren't even worth answering with a definitive answer one way or another. Also, you forgot a question mark in the second question you asked.

Fact #4:

None of the for teams playing on Conference Championship Sunday boast an ‘elite’ pass rusher.

Fact #4. This information from one season doesn't mean elite pass rushers are overrated. Also, Clay Matthews has 61 sacks in his six year career. I would say he's pretty close to an elite pass rusher.

Also, the author's Fact #4 basically says the same thing as Fact #1. 

As far as 2014 statistics are concerned, the Patriots, Seahawks, Packers, and Colts do not feature as single elite pass rusher. That isn’t to say they’re bad pass rushing teams — that isn’t the case. These teams can get the quarterback, but they feature multiple players that can get to the quarterback and don’t rely on just one elite player.

Which is a nice thing to be able to do, just like having one elite pass rusher and multiple other players who can rush the quarterback on the same team is also a nice thing to have.

Look at the top pass rushers of the last four teams standing. The Packers’ Clay Matthews was 12th in the NFL in sacks in 2014. The Patriots’ Rob Ninkovich was 26th in the NFL in sacks in 2014. The Seahawks’ Michael Bennett was 36th in the NFL in sacks in 2014. The Colts’ Jonathan Newsome was 40th in the NFL in sacks in 2014. 

It's one year's worth of data. If you take a larger trend out of one season then you are the idiot here, not anyone who thinks an elite pass rusher can still help his team get to the playoffs. Data over the last six years shows defensive players in the top 5 of the NFL in sacks have led their team to the playoffs more often than not.

None of these pass rushers would be considered ‘elite’ pass rushers if just this years’ statistics were referenced. Matthews is the possible exception to this, although he hasn’t been lining up as a pure rusher in 2014 as much as he used to.

And yet, he still had 11 sacks on the season. Don't try to state Matthews isn't a pass rusher because he isn't lining up as much as a pure rusher in 2014 as he used to. If you are going to judge a player by sack totals, be consistent.

The top four teams in the NFL didn’t have a single pass rusher ranked in the top 10 in sacks this year and only one (Matthews) ranked inside the top 25.

You can restate the same thing 100 ways and it still doesn't take away from the fact you are using information based on one NFL season.

Quarterbacks don’t just get more media attention because it’s the flashy position, it’s because their impact on games is tremendous. Look at the quarterbacks of the last four teams standing. Brady, Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Andrew Luck. All four can either be considered elite or on the verge of elite at the quarterback position. It seems as though quality quarterbacks are still much more valuable than elite pass rushers.

Yes, quarterbacks are more valuable than elite pass rushers. I'm not sure anyone is arguing otherwise. Guess what though? That doesn't mean an elite pass rusher is overrated. An elite pass rusher can be less valuable than an elite quarterback and still not be overrated. 

These facts cannot be disputed that 2014’s elite pass rushers are in every way overrated, 

I literally just disputed the fact that 2014's elite pass rushers are in every way overrated by pointing out how the information you gathered for 2014 is contradicted by data from the previous five NFL seasons. Besides who is overrated and who isn't overrated is a purely subjective opinion. There are no "facts" that can definitively disprove a purely subjective opinion. It's an opinion and it's subjective. Facts can only go so far. Nice hot take to call J.J. Watt overrated in your title. I am sure it pumped up some pageviews for you. 

That is, if we all agree that winning games, going to the playoffs, and winning the Super Bowl is the main goal of every NFL team, how can these elite players not be overrated?

Because three of the Super Bowl-winning teams over the last six playoffs had a pass rusher rated in the top 5 of the NFL in sacks for that season. I would go further past six seasons, but this bullshit article isn't even worth it. I think six seasons pretty much proves the point I want to prove. Over the last six seasons, 53% of the players in the top 5 of the NFL in sacks made the playoffs. So winning games, going to the playoffs, and winning the Super Bowl IS the main goal of every NFL team. More often than not over the last six seasons, a team with a player in the top 5 of the NFL in sacks has made the playoffs. Over the last six seasons, 50% of Super Bowl-winning teams had a player in the top 5 of the NFL in sacks. So that's why these elite pass rushers are probably not overrated. I'll call that Fact #5.

I’m a huge

idiot for using one season's worth of information to jump to a conclusion?

Watt fan, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps investing in elite pass rushers isn’t as paramount to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy as most people believe.

Or perhaps you should go stop writing hot takes like this if you aren't willing to go back more than one season to come to the conclusion your hot take supports. Football is a team sport. Investing in elite pass rushers is worthless if there aren't other good pass rushers on the roster, but an elite pass rusher does help in hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Simply because quarterback is the most important position on the field, doesn't mean elite pass rushers are overrated.

Fact #6:

This article was an embarrassment.

11 comments Gregg Easterbrook Decides the NFL Is a Running League Again...At Least Until Next Weekend When It Could Be a Passing League Again

Last week Gregg Easterbrook came up with perhaps the dumbest idea for a running play (and a play to be run continuously nonetheless) an NFL team could use. Gregg suggested the Vikings have Joe Webb and Adrian Peterson run in opposite directions after the snap and apparently this would have confused the Packers so much they would never figure out a way to stop it. It's a dumb play to run continuously and would not consistently work. Of course given how the Packers defended Colin Kaepernick this past weekend maybe the Vikings should have just run the zone-read option the entire game. Gregg also showed an example of where his "game over" comment was proven wrong. He stated the Bengals-Texans game was over when the Bengals went for a field goal in the fourth quarter instead of going for it on fourth down, then later stated the Bengals could have won the game in the closing minutes if Andy Dalton had thrown an accurate pass to A.J. Green. Now one week after repeatedly saying the NFL was a passing league, Gregg reviews the zone-read option and shows how college running tactics are taking over in the NFL.

So in summary from what Gregg told us last week, the NFL is a passing league and a team that can't run the ball can still win the Super Bowl...then Gregg said a team like the Packers can't advance if they solely pass the ball. This week Gregg says the zone-read option is a tactic thriving in the NFL and more teams are going to continue to use it. Of course this is a running play, so I'm not sure how that works in conjunction with Gregg's belief the NFL is a passing league now.

And the divisional round produced a message -- that college football is taking over the NFL.

Watching Colin Kaepernick run the zone-read option against Green Bay was like watching an iPhone versus a Princess rotary dial.

I enjoy how late to the game Gregg Easterbrook is on the zone-read option. Of course he was late to the game regarding Russell Wilson just last week, so I shouldn't be surprised. One year ago, Cam Newton set the record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a season and this year Robert Griffin used the read-option to get the Redskins into the playoffs. But only after Colin Kaepernick used the read-option to beat the Packers does Gregg acknowledge the usefulness of this offensive strategy with a mobile quarterback.

On offense, the Packers were trying to do what all NFL teams have been trying to do since Joe Montana. The Forty Niners were trying to do what college teams are doing right now. And college trumped pro tactics. 

As usual, Gregg leaves out context and pertinent information. The week before the college tactics of the Redskins was defeated by the (mostly) pro offense of the Seahawks. Carolina ran some read-option this year as well and they didn't even make the playoffs. So on the whole, college tactics worked for some teams and didn't work for other teams. These college tactics aren't suddenly going to start taking over the NFL causing the pro-style offense to disappear. Sometimes teams that use some college tactics will beat a pro-style offense and sometimes a pro-style offense will beat a team that uses some college tactics.

Kaepernick rushed for 181 yards, the Niners gained 579 yards on offense -- amazing numbers -- by using the zone read and the Pistol, tactics more common in the Mid-American Conference than the NFL.

Actually, the Pistol is more commonly used by Kaepernick's college team, Nevada, and Nevada was in the WAC when Kaepernick attended Nevada and is now in the Mountain West Conference. So these tactics are more likely found to be used by a Chris Ault-coached team in the Mountain West Conference.

Green Bay's outside linebackers kept crashing -- standard NFL tactics, but death against the zone read. On Kaepernick's 56-yard touchdown run, which put the home team ahead to stay, Green Bay linebacker Erik Walden crashed inside and seemed unaware Kaepernick still had the ball as the San Francisco quarterback roared past him, then outran future Hall of Famer Charles Woodson to the end zone.

I am sure if Colin Kaepernick was an unwanted or a lowly-drafted player then Gregg would see fit to mention his draft position. Because Kaepernick was drafted in the second round, Gregg intentionally leaves out his draft position when discussing his exploits.

Linebackers at Akron or Bowling Green know not to crash against a zone read. But NFL linebackers didn't know it.

Gregg you are exactly right. College teams know how to stop the zone-read, but NFL teams don't. Because college teams were so good at stopping the Kaepernick out of the Pistol at Nevada, that is why Kaepernick won two bowl games at Nevada and passed for over 10,000 yards and rushed for over 4,000 yards in his college career. He's the only Division-I quarterback to ever accomplish that, which is amazing knowing Gregg believes college teams like Akron and Bowling Green knew how to defend the zone-read.

The fireworks at San Francisco show coach Jim Harbaugh put Kaepernick into the lineup midseason over pro-style passer Alex Smith because Harbaugh/West suspected a college offense, in the right hands, would tear up the NFL.

Assuming Gregg is right, why did Harbaugh know this? Because he was super-smart or because he had seen how Griffin and Newton succeeded with parts of their college offense in the game plan? My point is Kaepernick wasn't the first to run this zone-read and I find it interesting Gregg only acknowledges the usefulness of the zone-read after it works in a playoff game. Teams have been running parts of the zone-read all year and Gregg has seemingly ignored it. Now Gregg is acting like the zone-read hasn't been used effectively by some NFL teams all year.

I'm not so sure Gregg is right about why Harbaugh changed quarterbacks from Smith to Kaepernick. I can't read minds like Gregg can, but I would assume Harbaugh put Kaepernick in as the starter because he knew Alex Smith couldn't get the 49ers to the Super Bowl and thought Kaepernick could. This could be because portions of the zone-read could be installed in the game plan or because Kaepernick has a better arm than Smith.

This was misinformation -- Harbaugh/West was trying to give the impression his concern was molding Kaepernick into a pro-style passer, lulling his first-round opponent into not expecting college tactics.

It's always "A" or "B" with Gregg, isn't it? There is never a "C" answer. Harbaugh is turning Kaepernick into a pro-style passer, but he is also incorporating college tactics into the game plan as well.

Atlanta was able to defeat Seattle -- though not contain its offense -- because the Falcons had a bye and an extra week to prepare for college tactics, and knew they would get the Washington-Seattle winner. 

Of course the Falcons had played the Carolina Panthers twice this year and the Redskins once, so they already had experience defending teams with some zone-read in their offensive game plan, but it's more fun to pretend the Falcons defense had never seen the zone-read option before. Actually, I'm pretty sure Gregg isn't even aware of what teams run the zone-read and what teams don't. He's sort of writing by the seat of his pants here fully knowing ESPN doesn't give a shit if what he writes is accurate or not.

The zone read is a fad, and fads always run their course. But last season, Tim Tebow at Denver used the zone read to defeat the Steelers in the playoffs. This season, San Francisco and Seattle used the zone read to win playoff games, and San Francisco is not done.

The zone-read is a fad and most NFL teams don't primarily use the zone-read as their primary offensive weapon, but once it starts working in a game there is no need to stop using it. So some teams will use portions of the zone-read in their offensive game plan, but it doesn't seem to be the primary offensive tactic for most NFL teams (except for maybe Washington). This may help the zone-read become less of a fad if it used as part of the offensive game plan and not the entire basis of the offensive game plan.

In television news, your columnist figures in "Star Spangled Sundays," a four-part NFL Films documentary on the growth of the NFL, currently airing on NBC Sports Network. 

I don't know of a better way to put it. If you are a network that has hired Gregg Easterbrook to talk about football then it is very difficult for me to take you or your documentary very seriously.

Gregg Easterbrook knows the NFL like Frank Caliendo knows funny standup comedy.

Stats of the Divisional Round No. 4: In the postseason, Houston is 2-0 versus Cincinnati, and has never beaten any other team. (Repeat of a Stat of the Wild-Card Round, suggested by many readers including Amy Elrod of Brookline, Mass.) 

I guess this is an interesting statistic, but how many times have the Texans been in the playoffs to beat a team other than the Bengals? Twice in 2011 and 2012. It's a pretty small sample size.

Even Trindon Holliday, who returned two kicks for touchdowns for Denver, found a reserve of sourness within himself at the end. Just before Manning's disaster interception, Holliday fielded a punt at the Denver 14, and ran backward to the 7, where he was tackled. Dante Hall could come out ahead by running backward; no other kick returner in football should ever run backward.

Yes, only Dante Hall should be allowed to run backwards and no other kick returner should do so, especially a kick returner who already had two returned two kicks for a touchdown in this very game. Running backwards is meant for immortals like Dante Hall and not amateurs like Devin Hester or Trindon Holliday. What was Holliday thinking in believing he could run backwards and eventually get a touchdown? It's not like he already had shown he could slice up the Ravens special teams.

Starting on the 7 seemed to put Denver into bundle-of-nerves mode. 

Yes, it was this kick return that made Denver into a bundle-of-nerves and not the historically bad pass defense which led to a 70-yard touchdown reception by Jacoby Jones and the game going to overtime. It wasn't the fact the Broncos gave away a 7-point lead and didn't take advantage of chances to put the Ravens away on third-down in regulation that negatively affected the Broncos. It was this kick return solely.

Atlanta leading 13-0, Seattle reached third-and-1 on the Falcons' 11, and a run was stuffed. Pete Carroll decided to go for it, the manly-man move. TMQ's law of short yardage holds: Do a Little Dance If You Want to Gain That Yard. Misdirection is essential on short-yardage plays. But there was hardly any misdirection, then Russell Wilson handed to fullback Michael Robinson for a straight-ahead quick-hitter and he, too, was stuffed. The play was designed to draw attention to star tailback Marshawn Lynch, who fakes a pitch left, while Robinson goes up the middle. But Lynch took just one step, then came to a halt, standing and watching Robinson -- drawing Atlanta's attention to what was really happening, rather than creating a diversion.

The play was already over by the time Marshawn Lynch had stopped running. The Falcons had sniffed out the play and stopped Robinson from moving forward. So Lynch continuing to pretend he was running with the football was pointless because the Falcons already knew where the ball was. Don't blame Lynch because a fourth-down conversion didn't work. There's always a reason given by Gregg as to why the fourth-down conversions don't work and it is always either the play-caller's fault or the player's fault. Gregg never can accept the defense made a good play.

In a contest Seattle would go on to lose by two points, this sequence was pivotal. The Seahawks gained 491 yards, the best offensive performance of the divisional round. Two failures to gain a single yard doomed their hopes. 

So wouldn't it be fair to say that fortune didn't favor the bold and rather than go for it on fourth-down the Seahawks should have gone for the field goal on fourth down? I know this goes against everything Gregg preaches, but it seems even Gregg acknowledges this play was the difference in the game. Fortune favors the bold...unless it doesn't. Going for it on fourth-down tells your team you are trying to win the game...unless it fails in which case it doesn't help your team at all. It's all outcome-based for Gregg.

Seattle, which boasts of the league's best defensive backfield, blitzed two defensive backs on the play with 19 seconds showing, nickelback Marcus Trufant and nickel safety Winston Guy. But the Hawks didn't need a sack,

I'm sorry, what kind of fucktardery is this? What team doesn't "need" a sack? The game was being played in a dome (which meant no wind on a field goal try) and the Seahawks wanted to keep the Falcons out of field goal range, so they tried to sack Ryan. At what point does a team not need a sack?

and downs weren't a factor -- all Seattle needed was incompletions.

Right, and completions can be created by putting pressure on the quarterback to where he throws the ball poorly or before he wants to. Pressure can be created by blitzing. If pressure was the goal, blitzing wasn't a bad way to achieve that goal.

But there's no longer a fully loaded, manual Accord. As of 2013, Honda believes that buyers of the Accord, its bread-and-butter model for decades, don't want the driver-in-command feeling a stick shift confers. 

They believe this because it is backed up by the fact there are few drivers who want to drive stick shift cars anymore. Honda bases their belief on car sales, which I am sure is a measure of driver interest in stick shifts that Gregg strongly disputes as being accurate.

I am narrowing my search to the Audi 4 and the Acura TSX. I feel motivated to buy a stick-shift sports sedan while this category still exists.

0.00000000001%.

That's the amount I give a shit about what kind of car Gregg is looking to purchase. I'm fairly sure I am not the only one of his readers who feel the same way.

The postseason minkey finally is off the backs of the Falcons. 

A "Pink Panther" reference or a typo? I say it is a "Pink Panther" reference because that seems like something Gregg would reference.

The Falcons ran a beautiful play-fake touchdown pass on first-and-goal at the Seattle 1. If you're going to play-fake at the goal line, do it on first down, when the defense is primed for a rush, not on second or third down, when the defense has stopped a rush and expects pass. 

Gregg needs to teach a class on football so he doesn't keep all this important football knowledge to himself. If you are going to play-fake on the goal line, do it on first down. The defense is ALWAYS expecting rush on first down, while the defense is ALWAYS expecting a pass on second or third down. If I were in Gregg's class so he could teach me his football expertise, I would ask what is the defense ALWAYS expecting on second down if a team tries to run the ball on first down and fails? Are they expecting a rush or a pass? I am sure Gregg would have an answer that was completely horseshit. It's so good to know that Gregg knows what the defense is expecting on a certain down near the goal line. Gregg is either a football genius or he constantly makes shit up. I'll let you decide which.

Leading 27-14 late, Ryan threw a silly interception into double coverage, setting in motion Seattle's near win. If Atlanta takes a big lead against San Francisco, cover your eyes.

If the Falcons jump out to a big lead, boy they are going to be in trouble against the 49ers. I guess the Falcons are better off not trying to jump out to a big lead against the 49ers so they can ensure they win the game. So the Falcons should try not to score too many points and don't try to get sacks when they don't need a sack. That should be their offensive game plan.

Seriously, how full of shit is Gregg Easterbrook?

A 20-yard pass down the middle followed by a timeout -- not easy but possible, Atlanta had just done exactly that in 6 seconds -- would put the Hawks in position for a long field goal try to win.
Inexplicably, Seattle ran a short sideline route to Doug Baldwin, who frantically sprinted out of bounds to stop the clock -- when Seattle had timeouts!

But Seattle did have timeouts, but if they had tried to throw the ball any further down the field then the game clock could have run out and Baldwin got out of bounds by the time the Seahawks could have called at timeout. There is time off the clock between a head coach calling timeout and the official signaling for timeout. Baldwin was able to get out of bounds quick enough to where a timeout wasn't necessary. There simply wasn't enough time to run a much longer play and call a timeout before the game clock ran out.

Why on earth did Seattle call a short sideline route when holding two timeouts?

Because if they had run a longer route then the game clock would have run out. I know Gregg is an idiot when it comes to time and how time works (he really struggles with specificity of time), but if the Seahawks had run a much longer route then the clock definitely would have run out. It's just basic common sense. Maybe they could have gotten a longer sideline route completed, but even that was a risk. Anyway, it's not like the Seahawks had no success with a Hail Mary pass this year. 

If the Pats stay careful with the football, the last hurrah for Brady (and maybe for Bill Belichick) may await in New Orleans.

"The last hurrah?" So Belichick and/or Brady are retiring after the Super Bowl if they win it?

Over on offense, trailing 24-13 late in the third quarter, the Texans faced third-and-7 on the New England 38. Four-down thinking should be used here -- since you know you'll go on fourth down. Matt Schaub took a five-step drop and then threw a panic pass directly into the hands of a defender for an interception.

Yeah, this pass wasn't directly into the hands of a Patriots defender. This ball was thrown over the defender (Rob Ninkovich for those of us who like specificity in the description of a play that occurred) and he jumped up in the air and caught the pass. It wasn't a brilliant pass, but it also wasn't thrown directly into Ninkovich's hands. He had to make a play to make get the interception.

Before the game, Watt danced and stomped on the Patriots' logo. Boast after you win, not before you lose! New England leading 10-3, Watt stopped Ridley for a yard loss, then jumped up and performed an elaborate finger-pointing routine. Hey everybody, look at me! Dancing on the field about a routine tackle while your team is behind: ugh. Watt had a terrible game -- one tackle, half a sack, invisible for extended periods, often pancaked by Logan Mankins -- but limitless energy for self-promotion.

But Gregg, media members like Peter King like J.J. Watt so they won't call him out for immature antics when his team is losing. It pays to be on the good side of guys like Peter King because you can act like a dipshit and not get called out for it, when there are other athletes who get criticized by Peter for celebrating when their team is losing.

Atlanta leading 20-7 late in the third quarter, the Falcons faced third-and-9 on the Seattle 22. The key thing is to hold Atlanta to a field goal. A sack wouldn't alter the equation much, since Atlanta still would be in field goal range. Six-man blitz! Matt Ryan throws for 11 yards, and a moment later, the visitors trail 27-7. 

Plus, the Seahawks didn't even need a sack at this point in the game. A sack was worthless and it isn't like pressure on the quarterback can cause him to make a bad decision. Why create pressure on the quarterback or go for a sack when the defense doesn't even need a sack? Gregg gets so tired of teams trying to get a sack when they don't even need one.

Quarterbacks get too much praise when things go well -- see for example the beginning of this column -- and too much blame when things go poorly.

Gregg says quarterbacks get too much praise when things go well, but too much blame when things go poorly, and then references his own discussion of Colin Kaepernick in the beginning of this column. So is Gregg saying he has given Kaepernick too much praise? If so, why the hell is he praising him so much if he knows it is folly?

When the Bills rushed for 341 yards in a playoff game against the Dolphins in 1995, I thought no NFL team would ever again dominate the line of scrimmage in such fashion. I thought this until the Niners rushed for 323 yards in the playoffs against Green Bay, a team that boasts of its defense and whose linebacker Clay Matthews stars in not one but three series of television commercials. 

This is as opposed to the 49ers team that stars in a Visa commercial, of course. Also, when did numbers of commercials become the only standard upon which we determine if an athlete is any good at this sport or not? 

It was telling that on the fourth-and-5, Aaron Rodgers trotted off passively, not arguing with McCarthy to leave the offense on the field. Rodgers knew the Packers were beaten. He and his coach had quit on the game. 

Gregg made a remark like this last week too. When did publicly questioning your head coach's decision become a way of showing leadership? I missed this happening. I have no issue with a quarterback disagreeing with his head coach, but is it really showing leadership to throw a hissy-fit on the way to the sidelines when you disagree with your coach's decision?

The Ravens never quit, despite trailing in high altitude and facing the league's No. 2 defense.

Part of the reason the Ravens never quit is because they were never down by that many points to the Broncos. You know, that had something to do with their ability to not quit.

Baltimore's aging front seven sacked Peyton Manning thrice and hit him five times -- Manning gets antsy when he's hit, and this showed in the overtime interception.

Nearly every quarterback in the NFL starts to get antsy when he gets hit repeatedly.

Manning is 9-11 on his career in postseason games, Flacco is 7-4. Yet Manning is showered with effusive praise while all Flacco ever hears is complaints. And don't bother to compare their endorsement deals!

Gregg will have you believe the only difference in Peyton Manning and Joe Flacco is their playoff record and their endorsement deals. Other than the fact Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and Joe Flacco isn't really an elite quarterback, there are a few other differences in why Manning has gotten effusive praise and Flacco has not.

The Sports Illustrated issue received by readers the day before the divisional round predicted on the cover that the Super Bowl would pit Denver versus Green Bay. Both teams immediately lost. As noted by reader Bion Chen of Chicago, the issue touting Green Bay and Denver was cover-dated Jan. 14. The Packers and Broncos were out on Jan. 12. 

Magazines are routinely dated one week ahead. This isn't some bizarre form of Magazine Creep that Gregg Easterbrook should comment continuously on. Please tell me he won't comment continuously on this.

As backup receiver Jacoby Jones ran a fly -- exactly the pattern a defense should expect in this situation! -- the cornerback on his side, Tony Carter, just let him run by, covering no one. Carter was busy making the high school mistake of looking into the backfield trying to guess the play, rather than guarding his man.

Incorrect as always. Part of the reason I can't take Gregg seriously is that he completely doesn't understand NFL defenses. He doesn't understand that NFL defenses don't always run man-defense and sometimes a team is running a zone on defense. So the Broncos appeared to be a deep zone and it was Carter's job to let Jones go past him and then allow Jones to get picked up by the safety or at least allow for safety help. It's how the defense was designed. Gregg is too stupid (and yet he constantly claims to understand NFL defenses) to know Carter let Jones go by him because Jones was leaving Carter's zone. He wasn't supposed to follow Jones and passed him off to Rahim Moore.

Del Rio could have called timeout to make sure his charges understood to keep everything in front of them. 

Yes, he could have. He also could have expected his players not to be complete dipshits and keep the offensive player in front of them. This play was in no way Jack Del Rio's fault.

The Broncos took over on their 20 with 31 seconds remaining, holding two timeouts, needing a field goal to win. Peyton Manning is among the best quick-strike quarterbacks ever. Fox had him kneel. Fox made this mistake twice! At the end of the first half, Denver took possession on its 20 with 35 seconds remaining, holding all three timeouts. Fox had the Broncos jog to the locker room. 

He's done this probably 20 times as a head coach in his career, including at least once this season with the Broncos that I have seen. I'm surprised sportswriters are just noticing this.

Next Week: Arugula! Arugula! Clear the decks, prepare to dive! The Tuesday Morning Quarterback Challenge returns, for a limited engagement.

(For those who don't recall the good old days of a weekly TMQ Challenge, readers once voted that the diving horns of submarines in World War II movies went, "Arugula!") 

And I thought haikus were a bad column gimmick for Gregg to use. 

8 comments TMQ: Back in Gregg's Day Defenders Didn't Celebrate After Making a Great Play, Except for When They Did

Last week Gregg used statistics to talk about how amazing it was the Packers and Patriots were the #1 seeds in each of their respective conferences while also having the lowest ranked defenses in the NFL. This week Gregg discusses the prevalence of the spread offense and how we should just learn to deal with its presence in the NFL. This has been an issue that has been keeping me up at night, so I'm glad Gregg is finally addressing this problem. Gregg also does his usual second-guessing of any coach's decision that didn't end up working and then blaming a team's playoff loss solely on that decision.

It's the year of offensive stat-a-rama throughout the NFL. There have been five 5,000-yard passing seasons in NFL history; three of them were this year.

And Dan Marino's single season passing yardage record, the same one Gregg said would not be broken, was broken by two players this year.

Three of the top five rushing teams missed the playoffs

On a possibly related note as to why these teams missed the playoffs, two of these three teams that missed the playoffs also had rookie quarterbacks.

while all the top five passing teams made the postseason.

On another possibly related note as to why these teams made the playoffs, the quarterbacks for these five teams are Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford and Eli Manning. Perhaps the key to making the playoffs is to have a really good quarterback? If I were Gregg Easterbrook I would write 5000 words about how I just made the earth-shattering revelation a really good quarterback is important in order to win football games and then act as if I am the first one to observe this "new" development.

Detroit just gained a spectacular 882 yards passing in two games over six days -- and lost both because opponents gained 928 yards passing.

It sure sounds like having a better pass defense would have helped the Lions win these games. Of course last week we learned from Gregg that the new-age NFL may not require a good defense because the two best teams in the AFC and NFC don't have good defenses.

The league's No. 1 defense, the Pittsburgh Steelers, is already out of the playoffs, torched by Denver. In this year of offensive stat-a-rama, even a sputtering offense trumped the best defense!

Denver gained 447 yards of offense against the Steelers. The Broncos offense was sputtering, but it definitely wasn't sputtering against the Steelers. Plus, the Steelers were missing 2/3 of their starting defensive line, their starting safety and had an important linebacker (James Harrison) that seemed to be injured. I'm sure this isn't relevant at all to the Steelers giving up nearly 450 yards in a playoff game.

Much of the same is happening in college football. In the Rose Bowl, Wisconsin gained 508 yards on offense, which a generation ago would have meant a walkover triumph. Wisconsin lost because Oregon gained 621 yards. The University of Houston averaged 599 yards of offense per outing.

And Houston did have many a walkover triumph and lost only one game this year. So the indication that Houston didn't walkover teams, yet scored a lot of points isn't entirely accurate. Houston was 35th in college football in points allowed.

What is going on? I journeyed alone to a distant mountaintop -- OK, a distant parking lot -- to ask the football gods. Their answer: The children of the shotgun spread have come home.

I like how Gregg's own theories don't always support each other. Gregg loves to tell us college programs put their best athletes on offense, because offense is more entertaining than defense. So naturally one would think the best athletes in the NFL would also be on offense since that's the side of the ball these players played in college. This is not true now or this is now only partially true. Now Gregg says the children of the shotgun spread have come home. I can't wait to find out what this means exactly.

The children of the shotgun spread are advancing to the next levels. Players who spent their teen years in passing leagues -- and in seven-on-seven, everybody wants to play offense, nobody wants to be on defense -- have headed to college.

This is somewhat interesting. I don't know if "nobody" wants to be on defense, but I can see how passing leagues and seven-on-seven has caused an increase in passing at higher levels. Is this an interesting story to talk about right in the middle of the NFL playoffs? I'll let you as the reader decide that.

A generation ago, college coaches put their best athletes on defense and tried to shut people down. In recent years, with a few exceptions such as LSU's cornerbacks, colleges have put their best athletes on offense.

There are other exceptions in college football like the entire Alabama defense and pretty much any other team that has athletic players on defense. I also find it interesting Gregg is claiming colleges put their best athletes on defense, which I would hypothesize if this were completely true then the NFL Draft would have more offensive players drafted than defensive players. At the very least I would think a significant larger amount of offensive players would be taken in the first round as compared to defensive players taken in the first round. Maybe my hypothesis is wrong, but logic would dictate to me if the best players are on offense, those are the players that would get drafted higher in the NFL.

In the 2011 NFL Draft 129 of the 254 players were defenders, including 16 of the 32 first round picks.

In the 2010 NFL Draft 136 of the 255 players selected were defenders, including 18 of the 32 first round picks.

In the 2009 NFL Draft 123 of the 256 players selected were defenders, including 13 of the 32 first round picks.

In the 1994 NFL Draft, 104 of the 222 players selected were defenders, including 16 of the 29 first round picks.

In the 1995 NFL Draft, 119 of the 249 players selected were defenders, including 14 of the 32 first round picks.

In the 1996 NFL Draft, 120 of the 254 players selected were defenders, including 13 of the 32 first round picks.

I'm not sure this really proves anything to be honest and I randomly picked the 1994-1996 NFL Draft to see what the results yielded, so I had no ulterior motive to choosing those three years. It seems to be college teams may be putting their best athletes on offense, but this doesn't mean there aren't great athletes on defense nor is there a lack of top-end athletic talent coming into the NFL Draft. So Gregg may be right about why the NFL is becoming such a passing league, but I'm not sure the explanation is as easy as saying many of the best athletes coming out of college are being put on the offensive side of the ball.

At the same time, defense has moved from discipline to personal flash as its highest attainment. Ours is a visual society, and Clay Matthews -- flowing long hair, showing his biceps in wild celebrations after a sack -- is at the moment the epitome of the defensive visual. Jack Lambert would get the tackle, Bruce Smith would get the sack, then they'd just walk back to the defensive huddle.

YAY! More Gregg Easterbrook lies! Check out Bruce Smith 10 seconds into this video. Either Smith just shit his pants and has one last turd hanging on for dear life or he appears to be doing a sack dance of some sort. Reality is just never as much fun as fiction. Bruce Smith didn't get the sack and just walk back to the defensive huddle. He celebrated.

Today's defensive players are bored by topics like tackling fundamentals or stripping blockers so a teammate can make the play: They want to generate flashy "SportsCenter" visuals like Matthews does.

"And what's with today's music? It's all about creating an image and not about great music. The Beatles were never worried about an image, they only wanted to make music. Why doesn't my perceived reality match up exactly with the real world's reality?"

If that means boatloads of offensive yards surrendered for every one flashy sack, so be it. The defender who misses what should have been a routine wrap-up tackle, because he's hurled himself into space hoping to become a highlight, is as much an image of this football season as the big passing day.

Nothing is more persuasive to Gregg's point of view than talking in complete generalities about a subject. We all know there isn't a single defender that missed a tackle or missed a sack before the year 2000 (or whatever year Gregg believes these missed tackles by showboating players started). I'd love to hear about these boatloads of offensive yards surrendered for every flashy sack, and see examples of this in today's game versus video of NFL players "in the past" never missing a tackle or a sack. Of course Gregg can't provide this because he's just talking out his ass and hopes his readers don't actually do research to prove him wrong.

In other football news, just perhaps you heard about Tim Tebow's Broncos posting another implausible win.

Implausible? If I'm not wrong, the Broncos led the entire game. The Broncos also won the coin toss in overtime. I'm not sure how giving up a lead and then winning the game in overtime is seen as being "implausible," but I guess that's the standard fallback wording when talking about anything QB Broncos does. The Broncos can be leading for the entire game, yet QB Broncos led an "implausible" win.

Tebow should dress in a tunic, like Sir Galahad, whilst monks watch for signs of the devil incarnating around the New England bench.

Because the best thing for QB Broncos to do is buy into the hype and stereotypes the media is perpetuating about him.

A year ago, TMQ warned , "The new format does not guarantee each team a chance at the ball. If Team A receives the opening kickoff and scores a touchdown, the game simply ends." Back to the drawing board for overtime formats, please. How about alternating possessions beginning at the 50, and no kicking plays allowed?

I could possibly favor this rule.

Stats of the Wild-Card Round No. 3: Tony Gonzalez, No. 2 receiver in NFL history, is 0-5 in the postseason.

Clearly Tony Gonzalez is a drain on whatever team he plays for. No wonder the Falcons lost to the Giants. Did they even have a chance to win the game with Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez on the roster?

Stats of the Wild-Card Round No. 8: The city of Houston got its first NFL postseason win in 20 years.

Of course the city of Houston didn't have an NFL team for a few of those years...but who cares about details such as this?

The only thing that did not go Houston's way on this decisive snap was that Texans corner Jonathan Joseph should have knocked the pass down, which would have given Houston possession at midfield, rather than catch the ball, giving Houston possession on its 24. Fourth down, knock it down! Even if Houston coaches were shouting this, every defensive back knows interception stats are essential to future contract offers.

Which is exactly why Nnadmi Asomugha (career interceptions: 14 in nine years) and Darrelle Revis (career interceptions: 3 in five years) are two of the highest paid corners in the NFL. Because they have so many interceptions and all.

(As so kindly pointed out by Justin in the comments, I am a moron. Revis has 18 interceptions for his career. I looked at the wrong column for that statistic when writing this. Very embarrassing. My larger point is quality cornerbacks often don't get interceptions because the ball doesn't get thrown their way)

Denver takes possession on its 20 for the first snap of an all-new postseason overtime format that supposedly ensures no team will face defeat without a chance to touch the ball. Denver scores to win, which is sweet; the overtime format fails on its very first try, which sour.

The new overtime format isn't specifically designed for both teams to get a score. This is fairly obvious. So Gregg is incorrect in believing this is the intent of the new overtime format. The new overtime format is designed to ensure the team with the ball at the beginning of overtime has to score a touchdown or else the opposing team gets a possession. So I wouldn't say the new overtime format failed in any way because the Broncos scored a touchdown on their first possession.

Demaryius Thomas ran a simple in route, then was able to leg it to the end zone because there was no one back for Pittsburgh. Ike Taylor, a cornerback, was the sole Pittsburgh player with any depth, and he got outrun.

Or as I look at it, a highly-drafted, highly-paid first round glory boy draft pick threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to another highly-drafted, highly-paid first round glory boy draft pick and a lowly fourth round pick was beaten on the play. Gregg would never look at it this way though, because it would ruin the continuous lie he tries to perpetrate on his readers that highly drafted players rarely perform well compared to lowly drafted players.

The absence of safety Ryan Clark was a factor on this play -- his backup, Ryan Mundy, was charging toward the line at the snap, guessing run. Mike Tomlin was right not to dress Clark, who has sickle-cell trait, which makes exertion dangerous for him in high altitude. But Mundy didn't charge the line of scrimmage because the mood struck him. He was coached to do this when the Steelers read rush, and did so several times on first down in regulation.

Oh so NOW Gregg believes cornerbacks and safeties play a certain type of coverage because the coaching staff tells them to do so. Week after week we have to endure Gregg acting as if cornerbacks and safeties just freelance in the secondary and don't cover players they are supposed to be covering (when most likely the defense being called is a zone defense) because they just don't feel like it. Week after week I try to point out defensive players could simply be executing the play that was called. But now to avoid criticizing a 6th round draft pick, Gregg points out Mundy was only playing the defense that was called.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback maintains that the essence of the short-yardage play is misdirection. Boy, did Atlanta offer misdirection. First the Falcons shifted to an unbalanced line; then a back shifted; then a player simulated man-in-motion; then another back shifted; then Matt Ryan barked a hard count; then a man went in motion.

And yet the play failed. It is almost like Gregg's contention misdirection will always help to pick up the first down is bullshit. That could never be true though, right?

At the conclusion of the waltz, Ryan tried a sneak and was stuffed.

But the Falcons used misdirection! How can this be?

Yet Ryan just plowed ahead. Why didn't he audible to a pass? With eight defenders in the box and Atlanta having three men split wide, the home run pass should have been open -- a touchdown for Atlanta here would have changed the game.

And of course the home run pass was guaranteed to result in a touchdown, so the Falcons are stupid for not changing their play which would have immediately resulted in a touchdown...obviously. Do you know what else would have changed the game? If the Falcons had converted the fourth-and-one.

Arguably, Atlanta did not go for it enough! On the possession after the first fourth-and-1 failure, the Falcons punted on fourth-and-1 from the Jersey/A 42. Sure the last fourth-and-1 failed, but just because a coin came up heads on the last 10 flips tells nothing about what will happen on the next flip.

Unfortunately, this isn't a coin flip and the Giants defense had shown it could stop the Falcons on fourth-and-one.

Punting on fourth-and-1 in opposition territory is a punk move.

That's right homie. It's a punk move. Ya' hear?

Seeing their coaches quit, Falcons players quit. In the third quarter, Jersey/A faced third-and-7. Megabucks corner Dunta Robinson, one of the highest-paid defenders in the NFL -- paid much more than Atlanta corner Brent Grimes, a better player --

Based on what evidence? None? Sounds great then Gregg, just don't let the truth get in the way of your story, that's all I ask.

I'm not saying Robinson is a better corner than Grimes. I'm saying Gregg Easterbrook has provided no proof, outside of his own opinion, this statement is factual. Gregg Easterbrook has a magical way of stating an opinion as if it was a fact without providing any evidence his contention is correct.

In a year of gimmick defenses -- two linemen, zone rushes, safety blitzes --

All of these are gimmick defenses soon to be gone tomorrow.

Can they do so again? Kansas City showed that the formula for beating Green Bay is to frustrate Aaron Rodgers' receivers with bump-and-run and then, once holding even a slight lead, control the clock with power rushing against the Packers' (relatively) lightweight front seven, which is built to stop the pass after Green Bay jumps ahead.

Another key to beating the Packers is to outscore them after playing four quarters of football.

But remember what happened the last time Jersey/A went to Lambeau in the postseason.

Brett Favre threw an interception in overtime?

The Falcons have already spent much of their 2012 draft position to obtain Julio Jones. The Raiders have already spent much of their 2012 draft position to obtain Carson Palmer and Terrelle Pryor. Atlanta and Oakland, the teams that in 2011 mortgaged 2012 draft picks to win now, did not win now.

Julio Jones is a rookie wide receiver. A rookie. Jones almost had 1000 yards receiving this year for the Falcons. As a rookie. Maybe this won't end up being the best trade in the history of the NFL, but the jury is still very much out on whether the Falcons "mortgaged" their draft picks and whether this trade was a failure.

Starting defensive coordinator Wade Phillips returned to action, and the defense performed better. Philips called a few "overload" blitzes, including one that produced a key third-quarter sack. With the Cincinnati offensive line looking confused and sluggish, the overload blitz was the right tactic.

But I thought all blitzes resulted in long gains for the offense? How could the Texans have blitzed and it ended up working? Was Wade Phillips simply calling an overload blitz to show how smart he is and remind everyone he is coordinating the defense again? Hasn't Gregg told us defensive coordinators blitz a lot to draw attention to themselves? Or is that only Rob Ryan who does this?

Two referees over the weekend referred to hits to "the head and neck area." What's the difference between the neck and the "neck area?"

I'm guessing the "neck area" is right above the neck, but below the jaw? Or perhaps it doesn't really matter so shut up.

Good pass blocking allowed Tebow to carve up the Steelers' No. 1-ranked pass defense. Zane Beadles, noted in this column last week as a Pro Bowl snub, had a tremendous game, including pulling and knocking down two men on Tebow's touchdown run

Doesn't Gregg mean "second round pick Zane Beadles?" Actually, I should remember Gregg only mentions a player's draft spot when it is convenient for him to prove a point he wants to make. Gregg avoids mentioning a player's draft status in the hopes of misleading his readers who don't care to do research in order to find out Gregg is often full of shit. So you can bet if Zane Beadles wasn't drafted in the second round and was undrafted Gregg would point out this little fact out to his readers.

What should the Flying Elvii be on the lookout for as Denver arrives? The Denver offense sputters. But there is no NFL playbook for countering what Tebow does.

There is no specific playbook to counter what a lot of NFL offenses do. It is all in the execution based on a strategy the defense is using to stop what the offense wants to do. The Patriots can try to keep Tebow in the pocket, get pressure in his face (up the middle), and ensure he doesn't have a clear throwing lane on passing plays. The Patriots defense can also try to stay with the play design to not allow the running back to break containment to the outside, force Tebow to pitch the ball early when running the option, and tackle well on running plays. Like most things in the NFL, it is all about the execution.

Twice in an NFL playoff contest, the Detroit defense had no one even attempting to guard a New Orleans receiver. It's not that the receiver beat his man -- there was no one to beat!

It is almost like the Saints are good at designing pass plays to get their receivers open.

Pittsburgh defeated New England in part by jamming its receivers at the line to throw off timing; Kansas City defeated Green Bay in part by the same tactic. Will the Broncos and Giants play bump-and-run against the Patriots and Packers?

They should! Because that's the one surefire way of beating the Packers and the Packers. Jam their receivers on the line and a win will immediately follow. Why haven't other teams thought of using this simple tactic to beat the Packers and Patriots?

0 comments ESPN Fact Checker

This guy looks just like my old boss. No reason to hate on him, my old boss was awesome. Unfortunately, that is where the comparison comes to an abrupt end. I only have a quickie here, barely worth a post, but it's so radically, fundamentally wrong that I had to share it with you. Gene's preview column can be found here, in it he lists 43 predictions, one of which may be the sacred perfect example of wrongness prophecised by our ancestors.

New Orleans Saints -- Anything is possible in this division, including the Saints' marching past the Bucs and the Panthers. But none of it happens unless the New Orleans offensive line (this time without center Jeff Faine, who signed a free-agent deal with Tampa Bay) does a little something we like to call "pass blocking."

last year, the Saints conceded sixteen sacks.

Throwing more than any team in the NFL (62 more than second place Arizona, a huge margin).

They completed 67.5% of their passes, second only to New England (68.8%)

Those sixteen sacks were the fewest in the NFL.

Ergo; New Orleans was literally the best pass blocking team in the NFL. This is all the reason Wojciechowski gives for them being the second worst team in arguably the worst division in the NFL.

Later...

23: Player most likely to break the Madden curse

Favre.

not to ask the dumb question here, but like...who else was on the cover of Madden? I guess this is supposed to be a joke, which means that Gene has no more than 22 legitimate opinions about the NFL season this year.

26: NFC Flop of the Year leading candidate

The Bears.

so all of you picking the Bears to go 12-4 behind steely RB Matt Forte and battle tested, strong armed QB Kyle Orton, Gene thinks you may be in for a nasty little surprise. It may not be popular to say the Bears will finish below .500, it may not be the "cool" thing to say, it may be going out on a wild limb, but at least we have a reporter willing to say what no one else has the courage to - the Bears will not be a good team this year.

Take that mainstream media!