Bleacher Report is always an interesting to read. There are tons of unpaid writers who are looking to write something that gets attention for themselves. So I often read things that aren't especially well-written, but take a strong stand against/for something. Attention is what it is about. Then you have articles that are supposed to be well-thought out and not attention-grabbing, but they are just wrong. We have an article like that today. The author of the column says Jabari Parker and the hype around him presents a unique challenge for Duke basketball and Coach K. I think other recruits have gotten more hype and I also think any hype around Jabari Parker isn't anything Coach K hasn't seen before. He was the coach of the Men's Olympic Basketball team twice and has coached for over 30 years at Duke, but for some reason the author thinks Jabari Parker changes the Duke basketball program permanently and presents a change in the direction of the program.
There aren't many things left on Mike Krzyzewski's professional bucket list.
Outside of back-to-back-to-back national titles (which will never ever happen again) there isn't anything else he could do at Duke. Yep, he's a good coach, moving on...
He's won four national championships, been to 11 Final Fours and coached tens of future NBA standouts.
"Tens of?" Just say dozens. Also, Arizona Wildcats fans say Duke has won three national championships because the 2001 National Title Game was an officiating abomination and the Wildcats should have won that national title.
The list of accomplishments is long enough to write a second Declaration
of Independence. This season, he'll be trying to add another: managing
the hype of incoming prep star Jabari Parker.
For those of us paying attention, which I include myself among them, the hype machine for freshmen so far appears to be in this order:
Andrew Wiggins
The Kentucky recruiting class
Jabari Parker
So really, there is hype, but not more than most other talented freshmen are receiving. Austin Rivers and Kyrie Irving had a ton of hype coming into college well and Coach K managed the hype very well. He managed Austin Rivers, who wasn't exactly loved by his teammates, very well during Rivers' year at Duke. So managing Jabari Parker is going to be much easier than that. That's where this entire column falls apart. The author acts like Parker is the type of player Coach K has never seen before when this could not be further from the truth. Parker is low maintenance, talented, and by all accounts a good kid. There is nothing Parker presents that Coach K hasn't seen before, no matter how much the author wants to make it seem like there is. Jabari Parker, as we have seen, is a great player. Still, managing the hype of Parker doesn't seem like something it would be difficult for Coach K to do. I'm sure he has had bigger expectations and hype to manage during his coaching career.
As the Blue Devils prepare for their season-opening clash against
Davidson on Friday night, the conversation is fixated on Parker, as if
his mere presence is that of an endangered species.
I can't speak for Duke fans everywhere, but most Duke fans I know wanted to see Rodney Hood play as much as they want to see Parker. The conversation really wasn't as fixated on Parker as much as the author wants to make it seem like.
Everyone wants to know how he's playing, what his role will be and how
this quiet young man will deal with the smoldering spotlight.
Yep, it's not the first time Coach K has had to handle an incoming freshman who has some hype surrounding him. Coach K has coached an Olympic team that had Kevin Durant, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron James, and Carmelo Anthony on it. These guys have egos and were only being coached in the short-term by Coach K, so other than pride in their country, they had no reason to buy into what he was teaching and subjugate their egos. So while Parker may not have the maturity of these players, the author is stretching it a bit in acting like finding a role for a talented player is unfamiliar territory for Coach K.
Kansas star Andrew Wiggins' reclassification took the entire onus off
Parker a bit. Wiggins is the can't-miss superstar whose expected
presence in the 2014 NBA draft is causing Tankapalooza around the Association.
Exactly and that's why there isn't as much pressure on Jabari Parker at Duke. He's surrounded by a talented supporting cast and he isn't expected to carry the entire load of the team.
Remember, though, it was Parker—not Wiggins—who earned the moniker "the
best high school basketball player since LeBron James" from Sports Illustrated.
Well, Parker "earned" that moniker in May of 2012. Andrew Wiggins was a sophomore at that point and it was really too early to say he was the best high school basketball player since LeBron James. Parker was a junior and it's not like Parker and Wiggins were on the same grade level at that point, so it would not have been an even comparison. A high school athlete coming off his junior season is much different from a high school athlete coming off his sophomore season. So basically Parker and Wiggins weren't being compared at this point, so it's not like Parker "earned" the moniker over Wiggins.
Parker represents something of a test case for Krzyzewski.
No, he doesn't. Not really.
When Parker, at the time neck and neck Wiggins for the top player in the
Class of 2013, decided to attend Duke, it signified a slight changing
of the guard at Duke.
It doesn't really, but I guess it's fun to pretend.
By all accounts, Parker is expected to play just one year in college before leaving for the NBA.
Really? By "all accounts" Parker is expected to play just one year in college before leaving for the NBA? I guess by "all accounts" the author isn't including what Jabari Parker has said himself.
I'm don't entirely expect Jabari Parker to stay in college for more than one year, but it's absolutely untrue that by all accounts he is expected to play just one year in college. Parker has gone out of his way to state that he would consider staying in college for more than one year. Maybe he's lying, but even the "Sports Illustrated" article stated he wasn't your typical one-and-done college basketball player.
Schools that recruited Parker did so on the basis of preparing him for the pro game.
That isn't something that Krzyzewski takes lightly.
Especially since Krzyzewski has coached one-and-done players like Corey Maggette, Luol Deng, Kyrie Irving, and Austin Rivers already. He knows what these one-and-done guys are looking for during their one year in college.
Remember, this is the same Coach K who has spoken out multiple times
about the one-and-done rule, which forces players to be at least one
year removed from high school before entering the NBA draft.
If this author would do his research he would know that most college coaches hate the one-and-done rule. They do two years of work to recruit a player they only have on-campus for less than eight months? What college coach would actually like the one-and-done rule? So in typical Bleacher Report fashion the author is confusing liking the one-and-done rule with being willing to recruit college athletes who are probably going to be one-and-done. There is a difference.
SEC coaches don't like the one-and-done rule. The poster boy coach, unfairly, for the one-and-done rule doesn't like the one-and-done rule. Calipari has been willing to work his program around college basketball players who are willing to be in college for one year only and not every coach has wanted to do this. Traditionally, Coach K doesn't like to do this, but he has made exceptions. So most college coaches don't like the one-and-done rule because it ruins their hard work and makes it more difficult to keep talented players on the roster for longer periods of time to be coached by them.
His exact phrasing, according to USA Today, was that the NBA "controls college basketball."
Which is absolutely true in my opinion.
It was as curmudgeonly as one would expect from the decidedly old-school coach.
Yes, I guess Coach K is old-school. I don't know how many old-school coaches who appears to be in favor of changing the definition of "amateurism" and indicating the NCAA system isn't working like it should be though. He is old-school, but much of his success as a coach has come from learning new ideas and adapting the Duke team to those new ideas. So if Coach is a curmudgeon because he doesn't like the one-and-done rule, then a lot of college basketball coaches could be considered curmudgeons.
But even if Coach K doesn't love the one-and-done rule, he's slowly coming to embrace it. Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers both entered the draft after one season. Parker will be his third one-and-done in four seasons.
Maybe Parker will be a one-and-done. If you have done any type of research into Jabari Parker you would know he isn't your typical college basketball player who will be a high draft pick. Most people thought Harrison Barnes would be a one-and-done. There is a list of college players who were considered one-and-done over the last few years that really weren't one-and-done. Cody Zeller was thought to be a guy who could be one-and-done, so was Perry Jones III, Isiah Austin, Marcus Smart, Willie Cauley-Stein (just based on the fact he went to Kentucky, it sort of profiles him to be a one-and-done), Kyle Anderson, and Alex Poythress (again, recruiting profiling). My point is you never know what kids will do, so saying Parker is going to be one-and-done is presumptive.
These are changing times at Duke. Irving was considered a one-and-done possibility, but not a guarantee.
This is revisionist history. Kyrie Irving was always considered a one-and-done by most people and only his foot injury really set him back. Plus, there is rarely such a thing as a one-and-done guarantee, so stop writing things like that.
I'm still scratching my head over Rivers' decision to turn pro, as it
seems are the NBA teams who have watched his career already go up in
flames.
This is just shitty writing. Rivers' decision to go pro wasn't a head-scratcher of a decision. He appeared to be ready for the NBA after his one year at Duke. His decision to go pro wasn't the problem and shouldn't cause anyone to scratch their head. It is his ability in the NBA that should make you scratch your head and wonder what the hell happened to him. So this writing seems to indicate it was Rivers' decision to go pro that should be questioned, when that's not true. He appeared to be ready to at-worst be a guy who could score points off the bench as a combo guard, so his decision to go pro is a head-scratcher only in wondering why he is so terrible in the NBA.
Parker, by all accounts, is the first player Coach K has recruited and landed during this era where the John Calipari wink-wink agreement was in place.
Rivers was going to be a one-and-done, Irving looked like a one-and-done and if Shawn Livingston had come to Duke (as he had committed to them) then he was going to be a one-and-done. Also, the idea of a "wink-wink agreement" being in place is stupid. There's no winking involved because college basketball players can go to the NBA after one season in college. It's perfectly within the rules and there's no need to act like it isn't.
Krzyzewski must work to manage the Parker hype, while accentuating the
young man's talents in a way that engenders his school to more
one-and-done type talents.
You mean sort of like how (in hindsight) he got everything out of Austin Rivers' talent and then Parker committed to Duke after that and Rodney Hood (another guy who is looking at the NBA after this season) transferred to Duke? Parker isn't the test-case for Coach K's new love for the one-and-done rule. The test case(s) already occurred.
There's no turning point here, there's no fork in the road and there is nothing for Coach K to deal with that he hasn't dealt with before. It's all been done and there's no need to be dramatic about Parker committing to Duke.
“I’m not surprised about Rodney,” Krzyzewski said, via the Charlotte Observer's Laura Keeley. “Rodney, every day last year … he handled that situation unbelievably well and many times was our best player.
Again, to nitpick the author...Laura Keeley works for the Raleigh News-Observer mainly. Her columns are farmed out to the Charlotte Observer because both papers are owned by the same company, but she really works for the Raleigh paper. Both papers do seem to like "observing" though, almost as much as I like nit-picking.
It's telling that, rather than give the young captaincy spot to Parker,
as one might expect for a player with such considerable hype, Coach K
gave it to Hood.
What in the hell is this telling of? Rodney Hood is a redshirt junior and Jabari Parker is a freshman. Coach K will never, and I mean never, give a freshman a captain spot. In fact, 90% of college basketball coaches would not give a captain spot to a freshman. So it's only telling of the policy against naming freshmen as team captains when there are older players who have been in the program longer and been better leaders.
The author never does tell us what Parker not being named a captain is telling of.
Traditional positions are for your stat sheets only. Parker could oscillate between the 3 and 4 all season.
Actually, he will oscillate between the 3, 4, and 5 position on the court. Small details...
The Blue Devils come into the season ranked fourth in the nation. When
Krzyzewski spoke at the school's Countdown to Craziness ceremony, he
instructed the fans to look up in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium,
where his numerous accomplishments hang down like ghosts of the past.
There were the national championships. The Final Fours. The ACC crowns...telling them that each senior class has left with something to hold on to since he's arrived in Durham.
Well, not EVERY senior class has left with something to hold on to since he's arrived at Duke. Just the ones that he has recruited, which isn't any less impressive.
He instructed them that nothing had changed. That they'd get to leave with a lasting memory hanging from the hallowed arena.
But everything has changed...at least for the purposes of this article where the author is insisting everything has changed even though it hasn't.
That may be true. But for Krzyzewski to make sure nothing changes, he needs to realize that everything already has.
What? This makes not of sense. To make sure nothing changes, Krzyzweski needs to realize everything has changed? But if everything has changed then he can't make sure nothing changes because everything has already changed. This is what happens when a writer tries to play around with deep thoughts. They write something that sounds deep, but in fact could very well be gibberish.
Starting with Parker.
Not at all. Parker hasn't changed anything. He is just a recruit who committed to play for Duke and may only stay at the school for one year. Coach K has dealt with these types of recruits before and will deal with them again. Don't be dramatic in order to churn out a column. The nature of college basketball is that teams change from year-to-year, but let's not be so dramatic about what Jabari Parker supposedly represents to the Duke program.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
8 comments Now That the "Peyton Paradox" Is Shown as Not a Thing, Gregg Reminds Us Again the Read-Option Is Dead
I have been eagerly waiting for Gregg's reaction to Peyton Manning and the Broncos defeating the Kansas City Chiefs this past weekend. I wanted to read Gregg's reaction since Manning didn't come up short in a big game this past weekend. Not shockingly, Gregg doesn't mention his half-assed "Peyton Paradox" theory that he half-assed created just a few weeks ago because he's a half-ass writer. He talks about the Chiefs-Broncos game that the Broncos won, but decides to neglect mentioning that a month ago he discussed why Peyton Manning has trouble winning big games. When he's wrong, Gregg doesn't want us to know, but when he is right, he feels the need to tell us all about it. This week in TMQ, the column is a little bit shorter. This would be good news if Gregg decided to get rid of the useless non-NFL bullshit, but he seemingly keeps the same amount of non-NFL bullshit and decides to skimp on his commentary from the Week 11 games. I should probably be glad about this. At a certain point, Gregg will just quickly mention the NFL games that were played, criticize a few head coaches for their tactics/strategies, and get back to what he really wants to write about, which is how unrealistic television is and discussing political news.
It's the Parking Lot Theory of Officiating.
No, it's not. You just made that up.
When a call (or a no-call) on the last play decides the game, officials want to be sure they can get out of the parking lot. That means the call (or no-call) will go the home team's way.
Well, originally the call went against the home team. So the call went against the home team and then maybe the Parking Lot Theory of Officiating kicked in and the officials reversed the call. The knee-jerk call went against the home team originally though.
New England at Carolina, the home Panthers were flagged for pass interference as the clock expired, then the flag was picked up. That much was correct, because Rob Gronkowski, who was grabbed, could not have made the catch -- and the officiating standard is, if there is doubt about whether it was interference, then it was not interference.
Is that the standard though? The officials threw a flag, so there was clearly not doubt originally about whether it was interference or not.
But defensive holding should have been called, which would have given the Patriots the ball on the Cats' 13, an untimed down and one more try. Probably Carolina still would have prevailed, the game ending without controversy. But maybe the Patriots would have won, leaving the crowd enraged at the officials.
"Probably" Carolina still would have won the game if there was an untimed down, though it is entirely possible the Patriots could have won the game as well. One of these two things could have happened. This is analysis brought to you by Gregg Easterbrook.
Last year's Fail Mary conclusion of the Packers at Seahawks game was a botched call that favored the home crowd. When officials mistakenly awarded victory to the Jets with a few seconds to play a 1998 contest against Seattle, the call favored the home crowd. That same year, officials mistakenly awarded victory to the Patriots on the final ticks of the clock against Buffalo, and the call favored the home crowd. When officials botched the final call of the 2003 Giants at Niners playoff game, the decision favored the home crowd.
So what's the lesson to be learned from this? If the game is going to be decided by one play, make sure in advance that one play takes place on your homefield?
There have of course been cases where zebras ruled against the home crowd in the final seconds, and every official knows what happens -- the crowd goes bonkers, as it did at the 2001 Cleveland Browns rain-of-beer-bottles game. Add that since the 1998 botched call in Buffalo at New England, officials have felt they should not throw flags in Hail Mary situations unless there is absolutely no choice.
So it appears that Gregg's point is close calls favor the home team unless the close call favors the visiting team. I'm glad we discussed this topic.
Most NFL officials start as high school or small-college officials, circumstances in which you walk through the hostile crowd in zebra stripes to get to your car after the game. At the NFL level, there is security, shuttle buses, locker rooms to change to street clothes. But the psychology remains -- when a ruling decides the game, officials lean in favor of the home crowd.
I'm not sure this is a conscious decision or not, but it seems that Gregg has shown us that NFL officials will either rule in favor of the home team or the visiting team on close calls that could decide a game.
The Cats held the high-scoring Patriots to 20 points in a decent defensive performance -- though they did allow them to move 62 yards in 59 seconds at the end. Carolina's linebacker-focused Tampa 2 defense emphasizes discipline, not gimmicks.
This is hilarious and shows how little football (or possibly Carolina Panthers games) Gregg Easterbrook watches. Carolina doesn't run the Tampa-2 defense predominantly. Jon Gruden mentioned Carolina was running Tampa-2 Monday night during the game, but that's only because Carolina was playing their safeties back at that point in the game. For most of the game the Panthers were loading the box and daring the Patriots receivers to beat them. Carolina also plays a lot of Cover-1 with a deep safety and (like most teams) will run 3-4 and 4-3 principles. The defensive coordinator for Carolina is Sean McDermott, who is a Jim Johnson disciple, and Jim Johnson had an attacking defense that certainly wasn't Tampa-2. But due to the fact Gregg doesn't watch much football, yet he writes about it every week in TMQ, he heard Jon Gruden mention Carolina was running Tampa-2 coverage and like a game of Telephone he tells us that is the defense Carolina runs predominantly.
The Cats got the touchdown they needed to win -- though they struggled offensively against a New England defense with multiple starters injured.
The Panthers had seven drives during the game for a total of 300 yards. They went punt, touchdown, field goal, end of half, touchdown, punt, touchdown. So they had four scoring drives and two punts during the game. I'm not sure I would consider that struggling offensively, but whatever.
As for the Patriots, now they are angry. You won't like them when they are angry.
They were angry after Spygate as well and that lead to an 18-1 season where Gregg Easterbrook claimed the Patriots lost the Super Bowl because they had pissed off the football gods by cheating. I guess Gregg thinks the Patriots have a right to be angry this time, so the football gods won't smite them. No word from Gregg on whether the football gods care whether the Saints put a bounty on opposing players and will punish the Saints this season for doing so. I'm guessing Gregg won't vocalize this theory until the Saints lose an important game.
In other football news, the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers, who met for the last NFC championship, are a combined 9-14 since kickoff of that contest. The Falcons' season is over, and the Niners are taking on water:
The 49ers are currently the 6th seed in the NFC Playoff picture. If that's "taking on water" then there are ten other teams in the NFC who would like to take on water also. So while Gregg, as usual, is eager to mislead his readers the 49ers are still on schedule to make the playoffs.
San Francisco is 6-4, with a struggling offense held to less than 200 yards by the New Orleans Saints. Colin Kaepernick looks dazed and confused -- the zone-read play-fakes that gave him uncovered receivers last season are not getting the job done this season.
As I predicted in MMQB Review this week Gregg Easterbrook is very excited to point out how the zone-read is not working for the 49ers. When Gregg is right about something, we get to hear about it. When he's wrong about something, like the "Peyton Paradox," well that just gets swept by the wayside until the Broncos lose another game.
Perhaps TMQ needs to declare a new football immutable law: Whenever the quarterback poses wearing less than the cheerleaders on their bikini calendar, woe onto that team.
And of course no conversation related to Colin Kaepernick would be complete without a mention of how he posed nude for ESPN the Magazine. Gregg almost has as much of an obsession with Colin Kaepernick having posed nude as he does with pointing out how the read-option isn't working anymore for the 49ers.
The Saints don't lack for bravado. Trailing in the third quarter, New Orleans went for it on fourth-and-4: the try failed, but only stoked the home team's determination.
Gregg is a psychic so he knows this play stoked the Saints determination.
Trailing in the fourth quarter, New Orleans threw deep on third-and-1, for a 26-yard gain.
If this play had not worked then Gregg would have criticized the Saints for throwing deep when they only needed one yard. He would have quoted the Saints yards per carry average during the game to show they could have picked up the first down running the football, then said all the Saints had to do was "do a little dance" and get the first down. Since the play worked, Gregg has no criticism for it. Gregg is way too outcome based with his criticism.
Head coach Sean Payton called timeout at 2:11, before a Saints' field goal attempt, though the clock would have stopped at the two minute warning. He seemed to want as many ticks as possible on the scoreboard to keep his players, and the home crowd, convinced a comeback could happen. The New Orleans winning play began with three seconds showing.
Of course the Saints let the clock tick down to three seconds and it isn't like the Saints were hustling to get the clock stopped at three seconds. These are just small details of course. Details that Gregg doesn't care to share because it would undermine his point that Sean Payton calling timeout with 2:11 left was the key to the Saints winning the game. Gregg loves to mislead his audience, which is just a polite way of saying he lies or at the least withholds the truth.
This season the Saints are third on defense. Rob Ryan to the Saints may have been an even more important offseason move than Alex Smith to the Chiefs.
And yet, Gregg would criticize Rob Ryan last year for his blitz-happy defense. It's funny how now that Ryan is having success Gregg doesn't have as much criticism for Ryan's defensive philosophies.
How would you feel if your team led 70-49 with four minutes remaining, and lost? I'm not talking about your basketball team -- I'm talking about your football team. See below.
How would you feel if I said I don't care to see below?
Stats of the Week No. 9: Geno Smith finished with a 10.1 passer rating. If every attempt hits the ground incomplete, under the NFL formula a quarterback receives a 39.6 passer rating.
Then maybe Geno Smith should not have tried to throw the football to a receiver and instead should have just thrown every pass into the ground.
Later the Bengals again rushed seven, blocking a punt and returning it for a touchdown. On that play, high first-round draft choice Barkevious Mingo simply brushed his man and started up the field to cover the punt, assuming there would be no rush; instead Mingo's man blocked the kick. The scoop-and-score was by Tony Dye, who was called up from the practice squad shortly before the contest. Who-dat scores while first-round draft choice is flummoxed. Sweet.
Gregg will always take the time to point out when an undrafted player does well as compared to a highly-drafted player. Naturally, when Gregg earlier in this TMQ wrote,
Stats of the Week No. 7: At the half versus Cleveland, the Cincinnati Bengals had more touchdowns (four) than first downs (three).
He failed to mention that second round pick Andy Dalton threw for two of these touchdowns and the passes went to a first and third round pick respectively. Gregg also fails to mention the Browns scored a touchdown when highly-drafted glory boy first round pick Joe Haden picked off an Andy Dalton pass and ran it back for a touchdown. Gregg won't mention a player's draft position when a highly-drafted player does something positive, but damn if he won't mention when a player does something positive and that player is undrafted.
Nobody wins all the time, but Kansas City seemed troubled in bowing out as the last undefeated of 2013. The Chiefs have just three offensive touchdowns in their past 10 quarters. Appearing in prime time, many Kansas City players seemed more concerned with preening than performing.
The Chiefs lost a football game! Quick, change the narratives around! A team that once emphasized great defense and taking care of the football is now a team that can't score points and is more concerned with preening than playing well. It would be funny if these narratives weren't changed out of pure laziness on the part of the writers who change these narratives around.
When the Broncos needed a yard for a touchdown, there were not one, not two but three shifts to distract the defense: touchdown. When the Chiefs needed a yard for a touchdown, there was no misdirection, just a straight-ahead power rush, stuffed.
Excellent anecdotal evidence. If only the Chiefs had "done a little dance" to get a yard then they would have won the game. I'm sure Gregg wrote "game over" in his notebook after the Chiefs were stuffed on the one yard they needed for the touchdown.
Kansas City did play an aggressive defensive scheme -- many eight- or even nine-man fronts, with Cover 1 (lone high safety) and man-to-man press corners. Defensive coordinators watching on the tube must have wondered if this would prove the scheme to stop Peyton Manning.
Yes, I'm sure defensive coordinators everywhere were slapping their forehead saying, "So THAT is how you stop Peyton Manning? We have tried everything but that to stop Manning since 1998 and nothing else worked."
Sweet 'n' sour bonus: Leading 27-23 at the start of the fourth quarter, Detroit lined up for a field goal attempt from the Pittsburgh 10. The call was a fake, resulting in a lost fumble. TMQ thinks NFL coaches should call fakes more often. In this case the fake was attempted in strong rain; holder Sam Martin slipped, then fumbled. Martin has now carried the ball twice in 2013, fumbling both times.
Normally Gregg would tell us that "fortune favors the bold" and Jim Schwartz was inspiring his team by telling them he was playing to win the game, but since the outcome wasn't positive then Gregg glosses over his usual explanations for why a team that went for it on fourth down or tried a fake field goal/punt lost the game.
So basically if the Lions had just gone for the field goal here, which would be the not bold move that doesn't tell Schwartz's team he is trying to win the game, then the game would have potentially gone into overtime. Fortune favors the bold, unless it doesn't.
TMQ lampoons psychics who get into legal troubles they don't see coming. The latest example is Sylvia Mitchell, a New York City fortuneteller just sentenced to five to 15 years for grand larceny. Mitchell catered to a high-end Manhattan clientele. The jury found that she stole from her marks by asking fees for psychic revelations -- in effect, charging for a product she did not deliver.
Suppose the theory of the Mitchell conviction is correct -- that accepting fees for promises of supernatural interaction constitutes grand larceny. Wouldn't every church, mosque and synagogue be subject to a police raid?
Well, not necessarily. I am betting Mitchell would not read a person's fortune if he/she didn't pay her money. This is as opposed to a person being able to attend a church, mosque, or synagogue without having to pay for money for supernatural interaction. It's a pretty basic difference in requiring money for supernatural interaction and donating money for a supernatural interaction. In one case, the money is a requirement and in the other case the money is completely optional. The police can't raid a church simply because someone chose to donate money to that church.
The minister says that attending church and making donations is good for my soul. Maybe he's right. I choose of my own free will to believe he is. Or maybe all clergy are con artists. Should they go to prison for accepting money in return for vague intimations about an unverifiable spiritual plane?
No, they should not. The psychic is selling a person's fortune as a product, while a church isn't selling any type of product, but is a place where people can choose to go to worship as they wish to. A church doesn't sell spiritual guidance or spiritual forgiveness. They offer this guidance and forgiveness to the attendee and the attendee decides whether he/she wants to contribute to the church in the form of an offering.
While Gerald Ford, who was never elected to national office, has his name on a supercarrier, Franklin Roosevelt, elected four times and who led the country during the world's worst war, has his name on only a destroyer.
My God, how do Roosevelt's relative sleep in peace with this huge slap in the face always hovering over them? (let's pretend a slap in the face can hover)
Lyndon Johnson, who brought about passage of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and who was winner of a landslide national election, will have his name on a new type of destroyer that's under construction at Bath Iron Works -- an important ship, but nowhere as important as the supercarrier that bears the name of the unelected partial-term Ford.
This would be interesting to read if I didn't know this was a blatant attempt to kill space in TMQ so that it wouldn't look like Gregg lacked material for this week's column.
Republican secretaries of the Navy chose Ford and Bush over Clinton, who won more presidential elections than Ford and Bush combined.
(falls asleep while reading)
Action shows fundamentally are preposterous: "The Blacklist" pushes the envelope. In just the first few episodes, a dozen FBI agents are killed in several machine-gun battles in Washington, D.C.;
It seems that Gregg has found a new television show to criticize for a lack of realism. Because one would expect a television show about a criminal mastermind who intentionally turns himself over to the FBI to be a very realistic show. As always, Gregg takes the time to criticize this show for lacking realism, but he doesn't dislike the show enough to stop watching it.
100 people are killed with biological weapons in Washington's subway system and in a federal courthouse; a cargo plane explodes above Washington and a commercial airliner is blown up at Reagan National Airport. That's just the first few episodes!
(sighs deeply) It's a television show created for entertainment purposes only. "The Blacklist" is not supposed to be realistic.
A bad guy gets on a subway train said to be pulling into DuPont Circle, an actual subway stop in Washington. The subway announcer voice is saying, "Connect to the Yellow Line at Farragut North." The Farragut North station does not meet that line. The sign on the train lists its destination as Shady Green. The actual destination is Shady Grove.
How does NBC get away with a show that blatantly gets facts wrong, like claiming the subway stops at a station that doesn't exist and calling "Shady Grove" "Shady Green"?
You can clearly see we are at the non-football related section of TMQ. I can't imagine there is anyone who reads TMQ that looks forward to the portions where Gregg micro-criticizes a television show for lacking accuracy.
In the first "Star Trek" remake, in "Superman Returns," in "Unforgettable" and other movies and shows, pieces of aircraft or spacecraft fall straight down. They would fall is a broad parabolic arc.
But would they edit their column about football to where there isn't a misprint in that last sentence?
Several plots hinge on the FBI finding a criminal mastermind by tracing a credit card. A glamorous woman described as the world's most dangerous international assassin is cornered after she uses her credit card to order a drink in a hotel bar. Wouldn't the world's most dangerous international assassin buy her Cosmopolitan with unmarked euros?
No Gregg, she would not. She would most likely write a check for her drink or use a money order to purchase a drink at the bar.
Charles Youvella, 1996-2013:
Listen to an Arizona local newscaster reporting on the awful death. The newscaster and people he interviews focus on how hard Youvella was trying to win the game when he was fatally injured -- as if this meant anything at all, let alone is relevant compared to a young person's life.
I don't think the newscaster was trying to do anything but show that Youvella was dedicated to playing football well and was describing what Youvella was doing when he was fatally injured. Compared to a young person's life there isn't anything that seems as relevant, so rather than sit in silence after reporting the story, the newscaster spoke a bit about how Youvella was dedicated to winning the football game.
They reach for silver-lining comments that come out sounding ludicrous: People gave the boy's family gift cards!
They are only reporting that the community cared about the family and were showing sympathy. I don't think this is a silver-lining comment where it's like, "sure your son may be dead, but here's a $40 gift card to Carrabba's."
Of course when a person dies young, it is hard to think of anything to say. But broadcasters, writers and fans need a vocabulary in which to face that harm caused by football, and to express that sports glory is meaningless if harm is done.
Because the perfect time to comment on how football is so dangerous is during the reporting of Youvella's life and how his family was holding up after his death. Commentary about the dangers of football fits in perfectly with this type of news report.
Philadelphia has rebounded to lead the NFC East, but has no victory over a team with a winning record. Down the stretch, the Eagles don't face any elite teams.
They do play the 6-4 Chicago Bears, who are going to get Jay Cutler back at some point in the near future (hopefully), plus they still have to play the Cowboys. The Eagles don't face an elite team, but they also aren't an elite team themselves.
In 2012, the Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons opened 3-6, then went won out and made the postseason...When they fell behind 24-0 at Philadelphia then rallied to make it 24-16 with the ball on the Eagles' 18 in the final minute, the faithful were dancing. RG III dropped back -- and with five linemen to block three pass rushers, was almost immediately under pressure. R*dsk*ns out of time outs, Griffin had to avoid being sacked.
It's easy to see Gregg is writing "Redskins" so why does he insist on continuing to write that name with asterisks in the name in place of vowels rather than just calling the Redskins the "Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons" like he did earlier in this paragraph? I'll answer my own question. Gregg likes to be cutesy when he writes and he thinks writing "R*dsk*ns" is a funny thing to do. He is wrong.
Down 17-6 at the end of the first half, the Colts were staging yet another comeback: third quarter touchdown, then krumble on the play! The Flaming Thumbtacks dropped the kickoff, and TMQ contends the kickoff fumble -- krumble -- is the most damaging event in football, since the team that just scored immediately gets the ball in scoring position again.
I'm pretty sure that Gregg also claims the pick-six is the event that turns the tide the most in a football...or something like that. I tried to do a search for it, but I didn't really find anything. I swear Gregg has said something about a pick-six having a huge impact on a game in the same manner that he refers to a "krumble" having a huge impact on the game. Either way, let's not call a kickoff fumble a "krumble."
In the fourth quarter, Drew Brees was sacked on third down and fumbled, with San Francisco recoverying.
Oh, so the 49ers recoveryed the ball. It's always nice to get a fumble recovery because recoverying the ball is fantastic.
Just as the first quarter was ending at Tennessee, officials missed a 12-men-on-the-field violation by the Flaming Thumbtacks. During the long commercial break, they failed to correct the problem. Just as the game should have resumed, Chuck Pagano threw the challenge flag. NFL Network then went back into commercial. When it returned -- after festive mid-November ads for Christmas shopping --
The point of these ads is to get consumers to go out and purchase products before Christmas Eve. I don't know why I even bother talking about this every year, but I don't know why Gregg Easterbrook has to be so stupid about things like this. Retailers want to increase their sales, so they offer good deals for the holiday season well before the holiday season starts to increase their sales and create a sense of urgency in the consumer. That's why holiday commercials start in November and that's why sales for Christmas products go on sale prior to Christmas Eve.
Beleaguered Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland, who traded first- and second-round choices to draft Dion Jordan, seems just now to be discovering that the guy is a part-time player. How could Ireland possibly have known?
Dion Jordan is a rookie, so he isn't necessarily a part-time player at this point. It's just that his strength right now isn't playing against the run, so the Dolphins insert him into the game in passing situations. The Seahawks do something similar when it comes to Bruce Irvin, or did last year at least. So Jordan is a rookie and it's a bit early to call him a part-time player.
Everybody knew except Ireland! See for example TMQ on the Tuesday after the draft, check the Miami item.
I did check out the Miami item and I also checked out the Buffalo item where Gregg wrote something similar to what he wrote about Dion Jordan, except Gregg turned out to be wrong:
The Bills used a third-round pick on Marquise Goodwin, fastest man at the combine -- he ran a 4.3, excuse me, a 4.27. That's fast. Complication: Goodwin was never a full-time starter in college, recording just 26 receptions as a senior. So he's a track star but his own college coaches thought he couldn't play. Why will that change in the pros?
It will change because Goodwin doesn't have Case McCoy or David Ash throwing him the football. Goodwin has 16 receptions for 261 yards and three interceptions on the year. That's while being targeted only 26 times and Goodwin has 13 of those receptions in the last four games. Detailing how many receptions a wide receiver has in college doesn't tell the whole story on whether the coaches think that player can play or not. So Marquise Goodwin looks like a good draft pick, but you won't find Gregg mentioning that he didn't think Goodwin would be a good pro. Gregg only focuses on the times when he is right and ignores when he is wrong.
Hidden play of the week: Hidden plays are ones that never make highlight reels, but sustain or stop drives. San Francisco leading 20-17 in the fourth quarter at New Orleans, Colin Kaepernick scrambled on a busted play and flipped a flare pass to Frank Gore, running alone up the Saints' sideline. Gore would have gotten a first down, and might have reached New Orleans territory, but he dropped the well-thrown ball.
As I always say, simply because a play doesn't make the 45-second highlight reel doesn't mean the play is irrelevant. So judging a play as being "hidden" or not based on what the highlight reel shows is faulty reasoning in the first place. Plus, this dropped pass that would have converted a first down and extended the 49ers drive wasn't hidden at all. It took place in the fourth quarter of a three-point game. I'm sure 49ers fans and anyone who watched the game knows this was a crucial play that helped lead to the 49ers eventually losing.
The Niners punted and went on to lose by a field goal as the clock expired.
See? Not a hidden play.
Next Week: Andy Reid demands to know why his 22 assistants didn't tell him the Denver Broncos are a high-scoring team.
Right, because knowing the Broncos are a high-scoring team and being able to stop the Broncos from scoring is the same thing. Having knowledge of good the Broncos are on offense means the Chiefs could have stopped the Broncos from scoring. Maybe Reid's assistants should have told him about the "Peyton Paradox" since it's a real thing and all.
It's the Parking Lot Theory of Officiating.
No, it's not. You just made that up.
When a call (or a no-call) on the last play decides the game, officials want to be sure they can get out of the parking lot. That means the call (or no-call) will go the home team's way.
Well, originally the call went against the home team. So the call went against the home team and then maybe the Parking Lot Theory of Officiating kicked in and the officials reversed the call. The knee-jerk call went against the home team originally though.
New England at Carolina, the home Panthers were flagged for pass interference as the clock expired, then the flag was picked up. That much was correct, because Rob Gronkowski, who was grabbed, could not have made the catch -- and the officiating standard is, if there is doubt about whether it was interference, then it was not interference.
Is that the standard though? The officials threw a flag, so there was clearly not doubt originally about whether it was interference or not.
But defensive holding should have been called, which would have given the Patriots the ball on the Cats' 13, an untimed down and one more try. Probably Carolina still would have prevailed, the game ending without controversy. But maybe the Patriots would have won, leaving the crowd enraged at the officials.
"Probably" Carolina still would have won the game if there was an untimed down, though it is entirely possible the Patriots could have won the game as well. One of these two things could have happened. This is analysis brought to you by Gregg Easterbrook.
Last year's Fail Mary conclusion of the Packers at Seahawks game was a botched call that favored the home crowd. When officials mistakenly awarded victory to the Jets with a few seconds to play a 1998 contest against Seattle, the call favored the home crowd. That same year, officials mistakenly awarded victory to the Patriots on the final ticks of the clock against Buffalo, and the call favored the home crowd. When officials botched the final call of the 2003 Giants at Niners playoff game, the decision favored the home crowd.
So what's the lesson to be learned from this? If the game is going to be decided by one play, make sure in advance that one play takes place on your homefield?
There have of course been cases where zebras ruled against the home crowd in the final seconds, and every official knows what happens -- the crowd goes bonkers, as it did at the 2001 Cleveland Browns rain-of-beer-bottles game. Add that since the 1998 botched call in Buffalo at New England, officials have felt they should not throw flags in Hail Mary situations unless there is absolutely no choice.
So it appears that Gregg's point is close calls favor the home team unless the close call favors the visiting team. I'm glad we discussed this topic.
Most NFL officials start as high school or small-college officials, circumstances in which you walk through the hostile crowd in zebra stripes to get to your car after the game. At the NFL level, there is security, shuttle buses, locker rooms to change to street clothes. But the psychology remains -- when a ruling decides the game, officials lean in favor of the home crowd.
I'm not sure this is a conscious decision or not, but it seems that Gregg has shown us that NFL officials will either rule in favor of the home team or the visiting team on close calls that could decide a game.
The Cats held the high-scoring Patriots to 20 points in a decent defensive performance -- though they did allow them to move 62 yards in 59 seconds at the end. Carolina's linebacker-focused Tampa 2 defense emphasizes discipline, not gimmicks.
This is hilarious and shows how little football (or possibly Carolina Panthers games) Gregg Easterbrook watches. Carolina doesn't run the Tampa-2 defense predominantly. Jon Gruden mentioned Carolina was running Tampa-2 Monday night during the game, but that's only because Carolina was playing their safeties back at that point in the game. For most of the game the Panthers were loading the box and daring the Patriots receivers to beat them. Carolina also plays a lot of Cover-1 with a deep safety and (like most teams) will run 3-4 and 4-3 principles. The defensive coordinator for Carolina is Sean McDermott, who is a Jim Johnson disciple, and Jim Johnson had an attacking defense that certainly wasn't Tampa-2. But due to the fact Gregg doesn't watch much football, yet he writes about it every week in TMQ, he heard Jon Gruden mention Carolina was running Tampa-2 coverage and like a game of Telephone he tells us that is the defense Carolina runs predominantly.
The Cats got the touchdown they needed to win -- though they struggled offensively against a New England defense with multiple starters injured.
The Panthers had seven drives during the game for a total of 300 yards. They went punt, touchdown, field goal, end of half, touchdown, punt, touchdown. So they had four scoring drives and two punts during the game. I'm not sure I would consider that struggling offensively, but whatever.
As for the Patriots, now they are angry. You won't like them when they are angry.
They were angry after Spygate as well and that lead to an 18-1 season where Gregg Easterbrook claimed the Patriots lost the Super Bowl because they had pissed off the football gods by cheating. I guess Gregg thinks the Patriots have a right to be angry this time, so the football gods won't smite them. No word from Gregg on whether the football gods care whether the Saints put a bounty on opposing players and will punish the Saints this season for doing so. I'm guessing Gregg won't vocalize this theory until the Saints lose an important game.
In other football news, the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers, who met for the last NFC championship, are a combined 9-14 since kickoff of that contest. The Falcons' season is over, and the Niners are taking on water:
The 49ers are currently the 6th seed in the NFC Playoff picture. If that's "taking on water" then there are ten other teams in the NFC who would like to take on water also. So while Gregg, as usual, is eager to mislead his readers the 49ers are still on schedule to make the playoffs.
San Francisco is 6-4, with a struggling offense held to less than 200 yards by the New Orleans Saints. Colin Kaepernick looks dazed and confused -- the zone-read play-fakes that gave him uncovered receivers last season are not getting the job done this season.
As I predicted in MMQB Review this week Gregg Easterbrook is very excited to point out how the zone-read is not working for the 49ers. When Gregg is right about something, we get to hear about it. When he's wrong about something, like the "Peyton Paradox," well that just gets swept by the wayside until the Broncos lose another game.
Perhaps TMQ needs to declare a new football immutable law: Whenever the quarterback poses wearing less than the cheerleaders on their bikini calendar, woe onto that team.
And of course no conversation related to Colin Kaepernick would be complete without a mention of how he posed nude for ESPN the Magazine. Gregg almost has as much of an obsession with Colin Kaepernick having posed nude as he does with pointing out how the read-option isn't working anymore for the 49ers.
The Saints don't lack for bravado. Trailing in the third quarter, New Orleans went for it on fourth-and-4: the try failed, but only stoked the home team's determination.
Gregg is a psychic so he knows this play stoked the Saints determination.
Trailing in the fourth quarter, New Orleans threw deep on third-and-1, for a 26-yard gain.
If this play had not worked then Gregg would have criticized the Saints for throwing deep when they only needed one yard. He would have quoted the Saints yards per carry average during the game to show they could have picked up the first down running the football, then said all the Saints had to do was "do a little dance" and get the first down. Since the play worked, Gregg has no criticism for it. Gregg is way too outcome based with his criticism.
Head coach Sean Payton called timeout at 2:11, before a Saints' field goal attempt, though the clock would have stopped at the two minute warning. He seemed to want as many ticks as possible on the scoreboard to keep his players, and the home crowd, convinced a comeback could happen. The New Orleans winning play began with three seconds showing.
Of course the Saints let the clock tick down to three seconds and it isn't like the Saints were hustling to get the clock stopped at three seconds. These are just small details of course. Details that Gregg doesn't care to share because it would undermine his point that Sean Payton calling timeout with 2:11 left was the key to the Saints winning the game. Gregg loves to mislead his audience, which is just a polite way of saying he lies or at the least withholds the truth.
This season the Saints are third on defense. Rob Ryan to the Saints may have been an even more important offseason move than Alex Smith to the Chiefs.
And yet, Gregg would criticize Rob Ryan last year for his blitz-happy defense. It's funny how now that Ryan is having success Gregg doesn't have as much criticism for Ryan's defensive philosophies.
How would you feel if your team led 70-49 with four minutes remaining, and lost? I'm not talking about your basketball team -- I'm talking about your football team. See below.
How would you feel if I said I don't care to see below?
Stats of the Week No. 9: Geno Smith finished with a 10.1 passer rating. If every attempt hits the ground incomplete, under the NFL formula a quarterback receives a 39.6 passer rating.
Then maybe Geno Smith should not have tried to throw the football to a receiver and instead should have just thrown every pass into the ground.
Later the Bengals again rushed seven, blocking a punt and returning it for a touchdown. On that play, high first-round draft choice Barkevious Mingo simply brushed his man and started up the field to cover the punt, assuming there would be no rush; instead Mingo's man blocked the kick. The scoop-and-score was by Tony Dye, who was called up from the practice squad shortly before the contest. Who-dat scores while first-round draft choice is flummoxed. Sweet.
Gregg will always take the time to point out when an undrafted player does well as compared to a highly-drafted player. Naturally, when Gregg earlier in this TMQ wrote,
Stats of the Week No. 7: At the half versus Cleveland, the Cincinnati Bengals had more touchdowns (four) than first downs (three).
He failed to mention that second round pick Andy Dalton threw for two of these touchdowns and the passes went to a first and third round pick respectively. Gregg also fails to mention the Browns scored a touchdown when highly-drafted glory boy first round pick Joe Haden picked off an Andy Dalton pass and ran it back for a touchdown. Gregg won't mention a player's draft position when a highly-drafted player does something positive, but damn if he won't mention when a player does something positive and that player is undrafted.
Nobody wins all the time, but Kansas City seemed troubled in bowing out as the last undefeated of 2013. The Chiefs have just three offensive touchdowns in their past 10 quarters. Appearing in prime time, many Kansas City players seemed more concerned with preening than performing.
The Chiefs lost a football game! Quick, change the narratives around! A team that once emphasized great defense and taking care of the football is now a team that can't score points and is more concerned with preening than playing well. It would be funny if these narratives weren't changed out of pure laziness on the part of the writers who change these narratives around.
When the Broncos needed a yard for a touchdown, there were not one, not two but three shifts to distract the defense: touchdown. When the Chiefs needed a yard for a touchdown, there was no misdirection, just a straight-ahead power rush, stuffed.
Excellent anecdotal evidence. If only the Chiefs had "done a little dance" to get a yard then they would have won the game. I'm sure Gregg wrote "game over" in his notebook after the Chiefs were stuffed on the one yard they needed for the touchdown.
Kansas City did play an aggressive defensive scheme -- many eight- or even nine-man fronts, with Cover 1 (lone high safety) and man-to-man press corners. Defensive coordinators watching on the tube must have wondered if this would prove the scheme to stop Peyton Manning.
Yes, I'm sure defensive coordinators everywhere were slapping their forehead saying, "So THAT is how you stop Peyton Manning? We have tried everything but that to stop Manning since 1998 and nothing else worked."
Sweet 'n' sour bonus: Leading 27-23 at the start of the fourth quarter, Detroit lined up for a field goal attempt from the Pittsburgh 10. The call was a fake, resulting in a lost fumble. TMQ thinks NFL coaches should call fakes more often. In this case the fake was attempted in strong rain; holder Sam Martin slipped, then fumbled. Martin has now carried the ball twice in 2013, fumbling both times.
Normally Gregg would tell us that "fortune favors the bold" and Jim Schwartz was inspiring his team by telling them he was playing to win the game, but since the outcome wasn't positive then Gregg glosses over his usual explanations for why a team that went for it on fourth down or tried a fake field goal/punt lost the game.
So basically if the Lions had just gone for the field goal here, which would be the not bold move that doesn't tell Schwartz's team he is trying to win the game, then the game would have potentially gone into overtime. Fortune favors the bold, unless it doesn't.
TMQ lampoons psychics who get into legal troubles they don't see coming. The latest example is Sylvia Mitchell, a New York City fortuneteller just sentenced to five to 15 years for grand larceny. Mitchell catered to a high-end Manhattan clientele. The jury found that she stole from her marks by asking fees for psychic revelations -- in effect, charging for a product she did not deliver.
Suppose the theory of the Mitchell conviction is correct -- that accepting fees for promises of supernatural interaction constitutes grand larceny. Wouldn't every church, mosque and synagogue be subject to a police raid?
Well, not necessarily. I am betting Mitchell would not read a person's fortune if he/she didn't pay her money. This is as opposed to a person being able to attend a church, mosque, or synagogue without having to pay for money for supernatural interaction. It's a pretty basic difference in requiring money for supernatural interaction and donating money for a supernatural interaction. In one case, the money is a requirement and in the other case the money is completely optional. The police can't raid a church simply because someone chose to donate money to that church.
The minister says that attending church and making donations is good for my soul. Maybe he's right. I choose of my own free will to believe he is. Or maybe all clergy are con artists. Should they go to prison for accepting money in return for vague intimations about an unverifiable spiritual plane?
No, they should not. The psychic is selling a person's fortune as a product, while a church isn't selling any type of product, but is a place where people can choose to go to worship as they wish to. A church doesn't sell spiritual guidance or spiritual forgiveness. They offer this guidance and forgiveness to the attendee and the attendee decides whether he/she wants to contribute to the church in the form of an offering.
While Gerald Ford, who was never elected to national office, has his name on a supercarrier, Franklin Roosevelt, elected four times and who led the country during the world's worst war, has his name on only a destroyer.
My God, how do Roosevelt's relative sleep in peace with this huge slap in the face always hovering over them? (let's pretend a slap in the face can hover)
Lyndon Johnson, who brought about passage of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and who was winner of a landslide national election, will have his name on a new type of destroyer that's under construction at Bath Iron Works -- an important ship, but nowhere as important as the supercarrier that bears the name of the unelected partial-term Ford.
This would be interesting to read if I didn't know this was a blatant attempt to kill space in TMQ so that it wouldn't look like Gregg lacked material for this week's column.
Republican secretaries of the Navy chose Ford and Bush over Clinton, who won more presidential elections than Ford and Bush combined.
(falls asleep while reading)
Action shows fundamentally are preposterous: "The Blacklist" pushes the envelope. In just the first few episodes, a dozen FBI agents are killed in several machine-gun battles in Washington, D.C.;
It seems that Gregg has found a new television show to criticize for a lack of realism. Because one would expect a television show about a criminal mastermind who intentionally turns himself over to the FBI to be a very realistic show. As always, Gregg takes the time to criticize this show for lacking realism, but he doesn't dislike the show enough to stop watching it.
100 people are killed with biological weapons in Washington's subway system and in a federal courthouse; a cargo plane explodes above Washington and a commercial airliner is blown up at Reagan National Airport. That's just the first few episodes!
(sighs deeply) It's a television show created for entertainment purposes only. "The Blacklist" is not supposed to be realistic.
A bad guy gets on a subway train said to be pulling into DuPont Circle, an actual subway stop in Washington. The subway announcer voice is saying, "Connect to the Yellow Line at Farragut North." The Farragut North station does not meet that line. The sign on the train lists its destination as Shady Green. The actual destination is Shady Grove.
How does NBC get away with a show that blatantly gets facts wrong, like claiming the subway stops at a station that doesn't exist and calling "Shady Grove" "Shady Green"?
You can clearly see we are at the non-football related section of TMQ. I can't imagine there is anyone who reads TMQ that looks forward to the portions where Gregg micro-criticizes a television show for lacking accuracy.
In the first "Star Trek" remake, in "Superman Returns," in "Unforgettable" and other movies and shows, pieces of aircraft or spacecraft fall straight down. They would fall is a broad parabolic arc.
But would they edit their column about football to where there isn't a misprint in that last sentence?
Several plots hinge on the FBI finding a criminal mastermind by tracing a credit card. A glamorous woman described as the world's most dangerous international assassin is cornered after she uses her credit card to order a drink in a hotel bar. Wouldn't the world's most dangerous international assassin buy her Cosmopolitan with unmarked euros?
No Gregg, she would not. She would most likely write a check for her drink or use a money order to purchase a drink at the bar.
Charles Youvella, 1996-2013:
Listen to an Arizona local newscaster reporting on the awful death. The newscaster and people he interviews focus on how hard Youvella was trying to win the game when he was fatally injured -- as if this meant anything at all, let alone is relevant compared to a young person's life.
I don't think the newscaster was trying to do anything but show that Youvella was dedicated to playing football well and was describing what Youvella was doing when he was fatally injured. Compared to a young person's life there isn't anything that seems as relevant, so rather than sit in silence after reporting the story, the newscaster spoke a bit about how Youvella was dedicated to winning the football game.
They reach for silver-lining comments that come out sounding ludicrous: People gave the boy's family gift cards!
They are only reporting that the community cared about the family and were showing sympathy. I don't think this is a silver-lining comment where it's like, "sure your son may be dead, but here's a $40 gift card to Carrabba's."
Of course when a person dies young, it is hard to think of anything to say. But broadcasters, writers and fans need a vocabulary in which to face that harm caused by football, and to express that sports glory is meaningless if harm is done.
Because the perfect time to comment on how football is so dangerous is during the reporting of Youvella's life and how his family was holding up after his death. Commentary about the dangers of football fits in perfectly with this type of news report.
Philadelphia has rebounded to lead the NFC East, but has no victory over a team with a winning record. Down the stretch, the Eagles don't face any elite teams.
They do play the 6-4 Chicago Bears, who are going to get Jay Cutler back at some point in the near future (hopefully), plus they still have to play the Cowboys. The Eagles don't face an elite team, but they also aren't an elite team themselves.
In 2012, the Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons opened 3-6, then went won out and made the postseason...When they fell behind 24-0 at Philadelphia then rallied to make it 24-16 with the ball on the Eagles' 18 in the final minute, the faithful were dancing. RG III dropped back -- and with five linemen to block three pass rushers, was almost immediately under pressure. R*dsk*ns out of time outs, Griffin had to avoid being sacked.
It's easy to see Gregg is writing "Redskins" so why does he insist on continuing to write that name with asterisks in the name in place of vowels rather than just calling the Redskins the "Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons" like he did earlier in this paragraph? I'll answer my own question. Gregg likes to be cutesy when he writes and he thinks writing "R*dsk*ns" is a funny thing to do. He is wrong.
Down 17-6 at the end of the first half, the Colts were staging yet another comeback: third quarter touchdown, then krumble on the play! The Flaming Thumbtacks dropped the kickoff, and TMQ contends the kickoff fumble -- krumble -- is the most damaging event in football, since the team that just scored immediately gets the ball in scoring position again.
I'm pretty sure that Gregg also claims the pick-six is the event that turns the tide the most in a football...or something like that. I tried to do a search for it, but I didn't really find anything. I swear Gregg has said something about a pick-six having a huge impact on a game in the same manner that he refers to a "krumble" having a huge impact on the game. Either way, let's not call a kickoff fumble a "krumble."
In the fourth quarter, Drew Brees was sacked on third down and fumbled, with San Francisco recoverying.
Oh, so the 49ers recoveryed the ball. It's always nice to get a fumble recovery because recoverying the ball is fantastic.
Just as the first quarter was ending at Tennessee, officials missed a 12-men-on-the-field violation by the Flaming Thumbtacks. During the long commercial break, they failed to correct the problem. Just as the game should have resumed, Chuck Pagano threw the challenge flag. NFL Network then went back into commercial. When it returned -- after festive mid-November ads for Christmas shopping --
The point of these ads is to get consumers to go out and purchase products before Christmas Eve. I don't know why I even bother talking about this every year, but I don't know why Gregg Easterbrook has to be so stupid about things like this. Retailers want to increase their sales, so they offer good deals for the holiday season well before the holiday season starts to increase their sales and create a sense of urgency in the consumer. That's why holiday commercials start in November and that's why sales for Christmas products go on sale prior to Christmas Eve.
Beleaguered Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland, who traded first- and second-round choices to draft Dion Jordan, seems just now to be discovering that the guy is a part-time player. How could Ireland possibly have known?
Dion Jordan is a rookie, so he isn't necessarily a part-time player at this point. It's just that his strength right now isn't playing against the run, so the Dolphins insert him into the game in passing situations. The Seahawks do something similar when it comes to Bruce Irvin, or did last year at least. So Jordan is a rookie and it's a bit early to call him a part-time player.
Everybody knew except Ireland! See for example TMQ on the Tuesday after the draft, check the Miami item.
I did check out the Miami item and I also checked out the Buffalo item where Gregg wrote something similar to what he wrote about Dion Jordan, except Gregg turned out to be wrong:
The Bills used a third-round pick on Marquise Goodwin, fastest man at the combine -- he ran a 4.3, excuse me, a 4.27. That's fast. Complication: Goodwin was never a full-time starter in college, recording just 26 receptions as a senior. So he's a track star but his own college coaches thought he couldn't play. Why will that change in the pros?
It will change because Goodwin doesn't have Case McCoy or David Ash throwing him the football. Goodwin has 16 receptions for 261 yards and three interceptions on the year. That's while being targeted only 26 times and Goodwin has 13 of those receptions in the last four games. Detailing how many receptions a wide receiver has in college doesn't tell the whole story on whether the coaches think that player can play or not. So Marquise Goodwin looks like a good draft pick, but you won't find Gregg mentioning that he didn't think Goodwin would be a good pro. Gregg only focuses on the times when he is right and ignores when he is wrong.
Hidden play of the week: Hidden plays are ones that never make highlight reels, but sustain or stop drives. San Francisco leading 20-17 in the fourth quarter at New Orleans, Colin Kaepernick scrambled on a busted play and flipped a flare pass to Frank Gore, running alone up the Saints' sideline. Gore would have gotten a first down, and might have reached New Orleans territory, but he dropped the well-thrown ball.
As I always say, simply because a play doesn't make the 45-second highlight reel doesn't mean the play is irrelevant. So judging a play as being "hidden" or not based on what the highlight reel shows is faulty reasoning in the first place. Plus, this dropped pass that would have converted a first down and extended the 49ers drive wasn't hidden at all. It took place in the fourth quarter of a three-point game. I'm sure 49ers fans and anyone who watched the game knows this was a crucial play that helped lead to the 49ers eventually losing.
The Niners punted and went on to lose by a field goal as the clock expired.
See? Not a hidden play.
Next Week: Andy Reid demands to know why his 22 assistants didn't tell him the Denver Broncos are a high-scoring team.
Right, because knowing the Broncos are a high-scoring team and being able to stop the Broncos from scoring is the same thing. Having knowledge of good the Broncos are on offense means the Chiefs could have stopped the Broncos from scoring. Maybe Reid's assistants should have told him about the "Peyton Paradox" since it's a real thing and all.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
0 comments Bleacher Report Continues It's Shameless Use of Borrowing Data from Another Writer to Create a Slideshow; Also May Not Understand What "Value" Means
We have seen instances before where Bleacher Report writers have essentially just taken data from another site in order to push out a cheap slideshow. We have seen instances where Bleacher Report has used another person's ideas to write a slideshow. Now, we have an instance where this writer for Bleacher Report was perusing MLBTradeRumors.com and then decides to let Tim Dierkes and Steve Adams do all the work in gathering the data together so that he can push out a cheap slideshow about the 15 best "value" pitching free agents this winter. Of course, he doesn't understand what the term "value" means since he has players on this list who he projects will earn $12 million or more per year. I'm not sure a pitcher who is earning $12-$15 million or more per year can be considered a "value" as long as that pitcher isn't one of the best pitchers in baseball. But hey, it doesn't matter if the content of the slideshow contradicts the premise of the slideshow. That doesn't matter. What does matter is the author had someone else do all the research and this was an easy slideshow to put together.
While it's easy to say who the top free agents available are, determining their value is another story. After all, Edwin Jackson was the No. 4-ranked starting pitcher on the market last year before the Cubs signed him for four years and $52 million. In return, he went 8-18 with a 4.98 ERA. So the Cubs didn't get good value out of him.
And of course the only way to evaluate a pitcher is wins and losses. Fine, Jackson stunk, but Jackson's ranking on the free agent market is irrelevant for most discussions as to "value" and a pitcher's free agent ranking is an arbitrary ranking that has very little factual value to me.
On the other hand, the Tigers re-signed Anibal Sanchez for five years and $80 million and got a league-best 2.57 ERA out of him. That was money well spent.
Except he wasn't a free agent when they signed him. So, they had money well-spent, but this wasn't money they spent on a free agent. This slideshow is supposed to be about free agents, no?
So, who are the best value pitchers? Here's a look at the 15 best values on the free-agent market.
As long as you ignore the use of the word "value" and try to ignore that the author relied on someone else's work to come to his conclusions, you will absolutely love this slideshow. Let's start ranking the 15 best "values" on the free agent market.
Let's start the slideshow!
15. Paul Maholm
Maholm was 10-11 with a 4.41 ERA in 2013 and has only had a winning record once in his career.
Of course he played for the Pirates and the Cubs, so it's hard to win games when you don't play for a good team for most of your career.
But he still provides a lot of value as a left-handed starter.
Maholm's value exists in that he is a left-handed human being who plays baseball professionally.
Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Maholm will end up with a one-year, $7 million deal, although he could also see him getting a second year.
Get used to seeing Tim Dierkes or another MLBTradeRumors.com writers mentioned as the source of the information as to whether these pitchers are a value or not. This is typical Bleacher Report. The author writes a column about what a value certain pitchers will be, then uses someone else's work/opinion to show the player is going to be a value.
14. Ubaldo Jimenez
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Jimenez will receive a three-year, $39 million deal, or even an Edwin Jackson-type deal for $52 million over four years.
No really, click on the link. That's nearly exactly what Steve Adams wrote about Ubaldo Jimenez.
However, $13 million a year for less than 11 wins over each of the last three years is a bit too much. That's more than $1 million per win.
So why is Jimenez even ranked on a list of best values on the free agent market when he isn't even close to being a value? Other than Bleacher Report wants pageviews and longer slideshows allow the opportunity for more pageviews, accuracy of the slideshow be damned.
13. Joaquin Benoit
He finished the year with 24 saves and a 2.01 ERA.
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Benoit is looking at something in the neighborhood of two years and $16 million.
Steve Adams said Benoit would get "in the vicinity" of two years and $16 million. So at least he changed "vicinity" to "neighborhood." For some of Bleacher Report's writers that's some high creativity.
But will his 6.35 ERA during the playoffs hurt him? Let's also not forget that he was thrust into the closer's role when the Tigers struggled to find a closer. He just happened to do well.
Yes, will Benoit's small sample size overshadow the large sample size that said he was a good closer? Also, I like how the author says Benoit was "thrust" into the role of closer, but just happened to do well, as if Benoit didn't do well based on his talent or something. Like it was an accident Benoit did well.
Is Mike Trout one of the American League's best players? He didn't hit well in April. Let's not forget he was thrust into his role as an outfielder and just happened to be one of the best outfielders in the baseball.
But there's no guarantee that it will continue.
I guess this is as opposed to the other available free agents who are guaranteed to continue to play well.
With those question marks, it's hard to say Benoit is a good value at $8 million a year heading into 2014.
And yet, he is on a list that ranks the best free agent values. Perhaps this slideshow is a few slides too long?
Then the writer cites MLBTradeRumors.com again and ranks Ricky Nolasco as the 12th best pitching value with a projected contract of $13 million per year. I'm not even sure the word "value" can be used when Nolasco gets $13 million per year and is on the list. It's like listing the Top 20 healthiest items on the menu at McDonald's and numbers 11-20 wouldn't even be close to healthy, so it seems counter intuitive to even have them placed on a list with the word "healthy."
11. Joe Nathan
Nathan was one of the best closers in baseball in 2013, with a 1.39 ERA and 43 saves on the year.
Good thing Nathan wasn't thrust into the role of closer or it would have just happened that he was one of the best closers in baseball. And don't forget, that's no guarantee his success will continue.
Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Nathan can get a two-year, $26 million deal.
However, despite his successes, $13 million a year is too much to pay for a closer. Other closer-type guys will make far less money and put up near the same stats as Nathan.
I'm not sure how a closer making $13 million per year is a better value than an average pitcher making $7 million per year (Paul Maholm), but I don't usually like to apply logic to Bleacher Report's slideshows if I can help it.
10. Eric O'Flaherty
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com wrote back in May that because of the surgery, O'Flaherty would have to settle for a one-year deal—or even a minor league deal. For the team that signs him, his value will be huge, provided there are no setbacks.
Steve Adams or Tim Dierkes could have consolidated their work and just written this slideshow themselves.
For teams that are looking for a setup man, or even a relatively inexpensive closer, O'Flaherty could be that guy that provides the best value.
Whoa, whoa. A closer? You don't want to thrust O'Flaherty into the closer role because he has never done that before. Have we learned nothing from Joaquin Benoit? I'm shocked the author thinks O'Flaherty can be a closer because he's never closed games before and there's no guarantee O'Flaherty's success would continue if he became a closer.
9. Dan Haren
According to Bill Ladson of MLB.com, Haren would prefer to pitch for a team on the West Coast to be closer to his family. That cuts the market by more than 75 percent and could see Haren's dollars go down.
Yeah, Haren "prefers" to pitch on the West Coast until no West Coast team offers him the large contract an East Coast team offers and then he will be fine pitching on the East Coast.
He made $13 million last year and will likely be seeking the same amount of money for 2014. After all, his ERA only jumped up 0.34 points from 2012.
Oh, his ERA "only" jumped up 0.34 points from 2012? That's great. Haren's ERA jumped 1.16 points from 2011 to 2012, so he's trending the wrong way, plus he is 33 years old and his home run rate has nearly doubled over the last two seasons from what it was in 2011. But hey, Haren strikes out a lot of batters and that's super-exciting to watch!
In five of the last seven years, he's had at least 192 strikeouts, which is likely why he got a $13 million contract from the Nationals.
If he can recapture that magic, $13 million could be a good investment for a team looking to solve problems in the rotation.
Not at all. If Dan Haren gets $13 million per year over more than one year then this will not be a good investment. His performance is declining, his innings are declining, and his home run rate is increasing. I guess it says a lot about the free agent market that a declining pitcher who gets $13 million per year is "a good investment."
8. Matt Garza
Matt Garza may be the most sought-after pitcher this offseason, but he hasn't been overly impressive throughout his career. In eight years, Garza is 67-67 with a 3.84 ERA. He's only had two winning seasons in his career, but he gets strikeouts.
This writer is very, very impressed with a pitcher who gets a lot of strikeouts. Also, giving us Garza's win-loss record as proof he hasn't been impressive isn't a very impressive way of evaluating him as a pitcher.
Matt Sullivan of SB Nation believes Garza will have the same type of season that Ryan Dempster had in 2012, before he got a two-year, $26.5 million deal:
The big difference in the two pitchers of course being that Dempster was around six years old than Matt Garza when he got the two-year $26.5 million deal.
Regardless, Sullivan believes Garza will receive something in the neighborhood of five years and $70 million.
I would shudder to ask the author this, but I wonder what HE thinks Garza will receive. After all, he's the guy writing a slideshow listing the best free agent pitching values. Inherent in this slideshow is that the author would be able to give his own opinion as to what the best free agent pitching values are, as opposed to simply relying on the opinion of others.
He doesn't have a history of strong performances, which makes the value of his potential deal not the best in the world. If the signing team can get 15-17 wins on average from him, then it will be a good deal.
If the signing team can get 15-17 wins on average from Garza then he would be averaging more wins per year under his new contract than his current career high in wins in a season (15 wins). Also, don't judge Garza's contract by how many wins he has. That's stupid.
But he's only gotten to 15 wins once in his career.
So he's a bad value, but the 8th best value on the free agent market with a contract averaging $14 million per year! Definitely a better value than Joe Nathan getting paid $13 million for one season.
5. A.J. Burnett
A.J. Burnett has gotten paid handsomely over the last five years after the New York Yankees signed him to a five-year, $82.5 million deal in 2008.
I'm sure he was considered Bleacher Report's 8th best free agent value during that offseason, based entirely on the contract someone other than a Bleacher Report writer projected Burnett would receive.
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Burnett is still unsure about pitching in 2014, and if he does, he'll only be seeking a one-year deal.
If that's the case, Burnett could give it a go for one more year, trying to help the Pirates take the next step. He's a good value in the NL, and the Pirates are where his value is its highest.
Yes, but are the Pirates going to pay $12 million for a year of A.J. Burnett? I know this author loves his pitchers who strike hitters out, but is Burnett really a great value at $12 million per year (which is the amount Steve Adams seems to think Burnett will get)? I'm not sure that would make Burnett the 5th best free agency pitching value.
4. Hiroki Kuroda
If he does stay in the U.S., Kuroda will likely command another one-year deal for about $15 million.
While his record was only 11-13, he still had an ERA of 3.31. In fact, in the six years he's been in the U.S., he hasn't had an ERA over 3.76.
But how many wins does Kuroda have? That's the real test of his talent as a pitcher. Who cares if Kuroda has started 30+ games for four years straight, let's talk about his record "only" being 11-13.
He was the Yankees' best pitcher this year, and the $15 million was well worth it—at least compared to the money the team spent on a number of injured stars.
I'm still not sure if $15 million for Kuroda could be considered the 4th best "value" on the free agent market. $15 million prices a lot of teams out of the running for Kuroda, thereby ruining the idea he is any type of value.
3. Ervin Santana
Ervin Santana is one of the best free-agent pitchers on the market in terms of overall best and best value.
I am not sure I could disagree more. He's good, but not one of the best free agent pitchers AND one of the best values. Sorry, not happening with how the free agent market works. Very rarely is one of the best free agent pitchers available also turn out to be one of the best values.
In 2013, he went 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA and 161 strikeouts. While he had the same number of wins as he did in 2012,
Wins are a team-based statistic. Santana pitched with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols hitting behind him in 2012 and pitched with Billy Butler hitting behind him in 2013. He can't win a game if his team doesn't score runs.
his ERA dropped from 5.16 and his strikeouts increased by 28. He also had 23 quality starts in 2013, compared to 15 in 2012.
This author loves himself some strikeouts.
Santana could be seeking the same type of contract Kyle Lohse sought last year (five years, $75-90 million).
$15-$18 million per year for a pitcher that has put up a career ERA of 4.19, ERA+ of 100, and has a WAR of 15.7 over nine seasons? Yeah, I'm not sure I'm seeing how $15-$18 million per year for that is the 3rd best "value" among free agent pitchers. Santana is a good pitcher who is about to be overpaid...sort of not like what happened with Kyle Lohse, because he got three years for $33 million, not five years at $75-$90 million. So really Santana doesn't seem to be angling for a contract much like Lohse's.
2. Masahiro Tanaka
While it's easy to say who the top free agents available are, determining their value is another story. After all, Edwin Jackson was the No. 4-ranked starting pitcher on the market last year before the Cubs signed him for four years and $52 million. In return, he went 8-18 with a 4.98 ERA. So the Cubs didn't get good value out of him.
And of course the only way to evaluate a pitcher is wins and losses. Fine, Jackson stunk, but Jackson's ranking on the free agent market is irrelevant for most discussions as to "value" and a pitcher's free agent ranking is an arbitrary ranking that has very little factual value to me.
On the other hand, the Tigers re-signed Anibal Sanchez for five years and $80 million and got a league-best 2.57 ERA out of him. That was money well spent.
Except he wasn't a free agent when they signed him. So, they had money well-spent, but this wasn't money they spent on a free agent. This slideshow is supposed to be about free agents, no?
So, who are the best value pitchers? Here's a look at the 15 best values on the free-agent market.
As long as you ignore the use of the word "value" and try to ignore that the author relied on someone else's work to come to his conclusions, you will absolutely love this slideshow. Let's start ranking the 15 best "values" on the free agent market.
Let's start the slideshow!
15. Paul Maholm
Maholm was 10-11 with a 4.41 ERA in 2013 and has only had a winning record once in his career.
Of course he played for the Pirates and the Cubs, so it's hard to win games when you don't play for a good team for most of your career.
But he still provides a lot of value as a left-handed starter.
Maholm's value exists in that he is a left-handed human being who plays baseball professionally.
Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Maholm will end up with a one-year, $7 million deal, although he could also see him getting a second year.
Get used to seeing Tim Dierkes or another MLBTradeRumors.com writers mentioned as the source of the information as to whether these pitchers are a value or not. This is typical Bleacher Report. The author writes a column about what a value certain pitchers will be, then uses someone else's work/opinion to show the player is going to be a value.
14. Ubaldo Jimenez
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Jimenez will receive a three-year, $39 million deal, or even an Edwin Jackson-type deal for $52 million over four years.
No really, click on the link. That's nearly exactly what Steve Adams wrote about Ubaldo Jimenez.
However, $13 million a year for less than 11 wins over each of the last three years is a bit too much. That's more than $1 million per win.
So why is Jimenez even ranked on a list of best values on the free agent market when he isn't even close to being a value? Other than Bleacher Report wants pageviews and longer slideshows allow the opportunity for more pageviews, accuracy of the slideshow be damned.
13. Joaquin Benoit
He finished the year with 24 saves and a 2.01 ERA.
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Benoit is looking at something in the neighborhood of two years and $16 million.
Steve Adams said Benoit would get "in the vicinity" of two years and $16 million. So at least he changed "vicinity" to "neighborhood." For some of Bleacher Report's writers that's some high creativity.
But will his 6.35 ERA during the playoffs hurt him? Let's also not forget that he was thrust into the closer's role when the Tigers struggled to find a closer. He just happened to do well.
Yes, will Benoit's small sample size overshadow the large sample size that said he was a good closer? Also, I like how the author says Benoit was "thrust" into the role of closer, but just happened to do well, as if Benoit didn't do well based on his talent or something. Like it was an accident Benoit did well.
Is Mike Trout one of the American League's best players? He didn't hit well in April. Let's not forget he was thrust into his role as an outfielder and just happened to be one of the best outfielders in the baseball.
But there's no guarantee that it will continue.
I guess this is as opposed to the other available free agents who are guaranteed to continue to play well.
With those question marks, it's hard to say Benoit is a good value at $8 million a year heading into 2014.
And yet, he is on a list that ranks the best free agent values. Perhaps this slideshow is a few slides too long?
Then the writer cites MLBTradeRumors.com again and ranks Ricky Nolasco as the 12th best pitching value with a projected contract of $13 million per year. I'm not even sure the word "value" can be used when Nolasco gets $13 million per year and is on the list. It's like listing the Top 20 healthiest items on the menu at McDonald's and numbers 11-20 wouldn't even be close to healthy, so it seems counter intuitive to even have them placed on a list with the word "healthy."
11. Joe Nathan
Nathan was one of the best closers in baseball in 2013, with a 1.39 ERA and 43 saves on the year.
Good thing Nathan wasn't thrust into the role of closer or it would have just happened that he was one of the best closers in baseball. And don't forget, that's no guarantee his success will continue.
Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Nathan can get a two-year, $26 million deal.
However, despite his successes, $13 million a year is too much to pay for a closer. Other closer-type guys will make far less money and put up near the same stats as Nathan.
I'm not sure how a closer making $13 million per year is a better value than an average pitcher making $7 million per year (Paul Maholm), but I don't usually like to apply logic to Bleacher Report's slideshows if I can help it.
10. Eric O'Flaherty
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com wrote back in May that because of the surgery, O'Flaherty would have to settle for a one-year deal—or even a minor league deal. For the team that signs him, his value will be huge, provided there are no setbacks.
Steve Adams or Tim Dierkes could have consolidated their work and just written this slideshow themselves.
For teams that are looking for a setup man, or even a relatively inexpensive closer, O'Flaherty could be that guy that provides the best value.
Whoa, whoa. A closer? You don't want to thrust O'Flaherty into the closer role because he has never done that before. Have we learned nothing from Joaquin Benoit? I'm shocked the author thinks O'Flaherty can be a closer because he's never closed games before and there's no guarantee O'Flaherty's success would continue if he became a closer.
9. Dan Haren
According to Bill Ladson of MLB.com, Haren would prefer to pitch for a team on the West Coast to be closer to his family. That cuts the market by more than 75 percent and could see Haren's dollars go down.
Yeah, Haren "prefers" to pitch on the West Coast until no West Coast team offers him the large contract an East Coast team offers and then he will be fine pitching on the East Coast.
He made $13 million last year and will likely be seeking the same amount of money for 2014. After all, his ERA only jumped up 0.34 points from 2012.
Oh, his ERA "only" jumped up 0.34 points from 2012? That's great. Haren's ERA jumped 1.16 points from 2011 to 2012, so he's trending the wrong way, plus he is 33 years old and his home run rate has nearly doubled over the last two seasons from what it was in 2011. But hey, Haren strikes out a lot of batters and that's super-exciting to watch!
In five of the last seven years, he's had at least 192 strikeouts, which is likely why he got a $13 million contract from the Nationals.
If he can recapture that magic, $13 million could be a good investment for a team looking to solve problems in the rotation.
Not at all. If Dan Haren gets $13 million per year over more than one year then this will not be a good investment. His performance is declining, his innings are declining, and his home run rate is increasing. I guess it says a lot about the free agent market that a declining pitcher who gets $13 million per year is "a good investment."
8. Matt Garza
Matt Garza may be the most sought-after pitcher this offseason, but he hasn't been overly impressive throughout his career. In eight years, Garza is 67-67 with a 3.84 ERA. He's only had two winning seasons in his career, but he gets strikeouts.
This writer is very, very impressed with a pitcher who gets a lot of strikeouts. Also, giving us Garza's win-loss record as proof he hasn't been impressive isn't a very impressive way of evaluating him as a pitcher.
Matt Sullivan of SB Nation believes Garza will have the same type of season that Ryan Dempster had in 2012, before he got a two-year, $26.5 million deal:
The big difference in the two pitchers of course being that Dempster was around six years old than Matt Garza when he got the two-year $26.5 million deal.
Regardless, Sullivan believes Garza will receive something in the neighborhood of five years and $70 million.
I would shudder to ask the author this, but I wonder what HE thinks Garza will receive. After all, he's the guy writing a slideshow listing the best free agent pitching values. Inherent in this slideshow is that the author would be able to give his own opinion as to what the best free agent pitching values are, as opposed to simply relying on the opinion of others.
He doesn't have a history of strong performances, which makes the value of his potential deal not the best in the world. If the signing team can get 15-17 wins on average from him, then it will be a good deal.
If the signing team can get 15-17 wins on average from Garza then he would be averaging more wins per year under his new contract than his current career high in wins in a season (15 wins). Also, don't judge Garza's contract by how many wins he has. That's stupid.
But he's only gotten to 15 wins once in his career.
So he's a bad value, but the 8th best value on the free agent market with a contract averaging $14 million per year! Definitely a better value than Joe Nathan getting paid $13 million for one season.
5. A.J. Burnett
A.J. Burnett has gotten paid handsomely over the last five years after the New York Yankees signed him to a five-year, $82.5 million deal in 2008.
I'm sure he was considered Bleacher Report's 8th best free agent value during that offseason, based entirely on the contract someone other than a Bleacher Report writer projected Burnett would receive.
Steve Adams of MLBTradeRumors.com believes Burnett is still unsure about pitching in 2014, and if he does, he'll only be seeking a one-year deal.
If that's the case, Burnett could give it a go for one more year, trying to help the Pirates take the next step. He's a good value in the NL, and the Pirates are where his value is its highest.
Yes, but are the Pirates going to pay $12 million for a year of A.J. Burnett? I know this author loves his pitchers who strike hitters out, but is Burnett really a great value at $12 million per year (which is the amount Steve Adams seems to think Burnett will get)? I'm not sure that would make Burnett the 5th best free agency pitching value.
4. Hiroki Kuroda
If he does stay in the U.S., Kuroda will likely command another one-year deal for about $15 million.
While his record was only 11-13, he still had an ERA of 3.31. In fact, in the six years he's been in the U.S., he hasn't had an ERA over 3.76.
But how many wins does Kuroda have? That's the real test of his talent as a pitcher. Who cares if Kuroda has started 30+ games for four years straight, let's talk about his record "only" being 11-13.
He was the Yankees' best pitcher this year, and the $15 million was well worth it—at least compared to the money the team spent on a number of injured stars.
I'm still not sure if $15 million for Kuroda could be considered the 4th best "value" on the free agent market. $15 million prices a lot of teams out of the running for Kuroda, thereby ruining the idea he is any type of value.
3. Ervin Santana
Ervin Santana is one of the best free-agent pitchers on the market in terms of overall best and best value.
I am not sure I could disagree more. He's good, but not one of the best free agent pitchers AND one of the best values. Sorry, not happening with how the free agent market works. Very rarely is one of the best free agent pitchers available also turn out to be one of the best values.
In 2013, he went 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA and 161 strikeouts. While he had the same number of wins as he did in 2012,
Wins are a team-based statistic. Santana pitched with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols hitting behind him in 2012 and pitched with Billy Butler hitting behind him in 2013. He can't win a game if his team doesn't score runs.
his ERA dropped from 5.16 and his strikeouts increased by 28. He also had 23 quality starts in 2013, compared to 15 in 2012.
This author loves himself some strikeouts.
Santana could be seeking the same type of contract Kyle Lohse sought last year (five years, $75-90 million).
$15-$18 million per year for a pitcher that has put up a career ERA of 4.19, ERA+ of 100, and has a WAR of 15.7 over nine seasons? Yeah, I'm not sure I'm seeing how $15-$18 million per year for that is the 3rd best "value" among free agent pitchers. Santana is a good pitcher who is about to be overpaid...sort of not like what happened with Kyle Lohse, because he got three years for $33 million, not five years at $75-$90 million. So really Santana doesn't seem to be angling for a contract much like Lohse's.
2. Masahiro Tanaka
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
7 comments MMQB Review: To Peter King's Amazement, Ruby Tuesday's Doesn't Have the Best Beer Selection Edition
Peter King described laying his dog Bailey to rest last week and included more discussion of the Richie Incognito-Miami Dolphins-Jonathan Martin situation since he wasn't too interested in the games that occurred during Week 10. Peter reveled in the Rams good 2013 draft because Tavon Austin had a spectacular performance for the Rams during Week 10. Peter also relayed personal messages to friends in his "Things He Thinks" since apparently he doesn't have the capability to send a text message to these people. This week Peter talks about how the Broncos protected Peyton Manning (it's shocking the Chiefs lost now that they weren't going up against a team's backup quarterback), messy and rainy fields, recalls JFK's assassination (in order to kill space I would assume) and how he doesn't understand how a bug gets in a hotel room. Shouldn't bugs know he is the great Peter King and leave him alone?
We have great and controversial events to discuss, and we shall. But there are great and controversial events every week in pro football, and I’ll get to the rise of a battered Denver offensive line, to the 113-minute weather/tornado-threat delay, and to a foul that, in today’s football, simply must be called. But first …
What great and important event occurred that could cause Peter King to ignore the results of this past week's NFL games? What has happened to place all of these immediate events on the back burner and requires our full attention right now?
Friday is the 50-year anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.
A murder that happened 50 years ago. Of course.
It is also the five-year anniversary of the first of three strokes suffered by a great and irascible football writer, Paul Zimmerman, who was the king of the hill when I got to Sports Illustrated in 1989. A week never goes by that one of you, either on email, through Twitter or seeing me in an airport, doesn’t ask, How’s Dr. Z?
Not exactly the most urgent of anniversaries that should be celebrated prior to actually writing about the NFL games for Week 11, but I should just be happy that Peter King isn't trying to extort money from his readers to pay for a risky treatment for Dr. Z in Michigan like he did a few years ago. By the way, I don't remember Peter ever saying what happened with that risky treatment that Peter was begging his readers for money to help Dr. Z finance. I'm guessing it didn't help Dr. Z very much, but it's very kind of Peter to take his readers money and then not tell us how the treatment worked out. That's still one of the most irritating things Peter has done. As opposed to using some of his and his other 1%-er friends to help pay for Dr. Z's treatment, Peter asked his readers to help chip in money to pay for Dr. Z's treatment, despite the fact Dr. Z made more money than probably 95% of Peter's MMQB audience in a given year and if a layperson emailed Peter for a few bucks to pay for the same treatment this email would probably go ignored. I thought it was a great cause, but I'm not sure I like how Peter went about funding the cause.
Or, When will Paul start writing again? This week, you’ll find out. NFL Films dispatched ace Ken Rodgers to produce and actor Tom Wopat to narrate the current story of 81-year-old Paul Zimmerman, and it airs beginning Tuesday night at 10:30 Eastern on NFL Network,
And why wouldn't it be narrated by Luke Duke?
The final score Sunday night: Denver 27, Kansas City 17, Peyton Manning sacks 0, Peyton Manning knockdowns 0.
Peyton Manning wins in important games this week 1, times Gregg Easterbrook will mention the "Peyton Paradox" this week 0.
Denver came in with a plan: Run the ball enough to take time off the clock and take pressure off Manning; throw the ball quickly, before the heat can hit home. Manning’s had many better days in the NFL, but an interception- and sack-free game? Against the ball-hawking Chiefs? He’ll take it.
Good to hear Peyton Manning will take a victory. I was concerned he might decide the victory was actually a loss and not accept the victory, allowing the Chiefs to keep their perfect record.
Denver doesn’t get to be fat and happy for long. Two more emotional games await in short order: at New England Sunday night (Manning-Brady XIV happens in Foxboro), and a rematch with the Chiefs in Kansas City seven days later. The Chiefs have to be careful. They’ve got San Diego and Denver coming up, then finish with three of their final four on the road.
The Chiefs shouldn't worry, I'm sure they will run into a few backup or third-string quarterbacks somewhere over the next few weeks.
They’ve gotten just one sack in the past three games. Defensive coordinator Bob Sutton has to figure a way for Tamba Hali and Justin Houston, particularly, to disrupt the quarterback more.
It's always funny how sportswriters change their perspective after a team loses. Peter comes into this MMQB describing the Chiefs pass rush as ferocious, thinks it was a great job the Broncos did in protecting Manning and says they are the NFL leader in sacks...which is all true. Once the Broncos have won the game all of a sudden Peter points out the Chiefs need to do something to improve their pass rush because they have only one sack in the last three games. So either the tough pass rush isn't so tough or opposing teams have figured out how to counter the Chiefs pass rush. It's just funny how the Chiefs pass rush goes from tough to struggling after one game. The pass rush that Peter thinks was so great suddenly isn't sacking the quarterback enough.
My first thought, for much of the first four-and-a-half hours of the game, which had a 113-minute delay in the middle of first quarter because of severe weather (an estimated 70 tornadoes touched down in the Midwest Sunday), was that this was Exhibit A for postponing a game for a day.
Peter's second though? The spread in the press box is running low, so he better hit up the concession stands now if he expects to get more food.
The delay got so long they stopped selling beer in the stadium,
Except for the Allagash White beer stand, they stayed open so Peter enjoyed the sweet, but not too filling taste of Allagash White beer and maybe if he keeps mentioning beer over and over in his column some brewery will send him some free beer. How long does Peter have to keep mentioning beer before he starts to get some free shit?
But with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, I went down to the field to watch the rest of the game from a tunnel.
The Allagash White beer stand was closed and the pressbox spread had eventually run out. Much like a beer who has finished hibernating, it was time to go in search of food.
The field was a cow pasture, and players, officials and (during TV timeouts) the grounds crew tried to tamp down the turf after the torrential rain ruined it. And I thought: How great it is to see a game in the elements like this.
It's easy to understand how great it is to see an NFL game played in elements like this when you aren't the one on the field trying to run on a field where even the smallest misstep could result in a sprained ankle and every divot provides a new and exciting chance to blow out your knee.
You hate to make the fans wait out a two-hour delay, but would it have been more inconvenient, say, to reschedule the game for Monday at noon?
Yes, it would have been very inconvenient. People in Chicago have jobs. Well, maybe they have jobs. After all, those Wrigley Field day games are fairly well-attended, so maybe these Bears fans would make due and attend the game.
Of all the games I’ve covered, only a Giants preseason game at foggy, rainy Cleveland in the ’80s, at the old Cleveland Stadium, was like this one. I was looking for the ghost of Jim Brown that day; and Sunday, I wondered how many of these games Luckman, Sayers and Butkus played in.
It's fun to be nostalgic for a time that may not have existed while the players on the field are running around playing football on a torn-up field that greatly increases the risk one of these football players would suffer a severe injury.
Our Robert Klemko wandered into the Bears’ locker room and found another oddity: Some players slept during the break.
Is this really odd? Professional athletes take a nap before a game all the time. This was just another long wait for a game to start to some of the Bears players. I thought it was clear there was going to be at least an hour wait for the game to start again, so a nap may have been in order.
At least two Bears gave in to the urge, and what they did next kept Chicago in the NFC North hunt. Backup quarterback Josh McCown, starting in place of the injured Jay Cutler, laid down and began visualizing plays, and before he knew it he was asleep. “I closed my eyes and just tried to think about the game,” McCown said, “and I think I dozed off.” Reserve defensive end David Bass did the same: “I napped for 15 to 20 minutes. It was refreshing.” Bass came out after the interrupted first quarter and picked off a Joe Flacco throw before it passed the line of scrimmage, returning it for a 24-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
I'm sure Gregg Easterbrook will have a brand new theory this week about how if a player sleeps during halftime then he will play better in the second half.
The more the NFL can hark back to a simpler day, a muddier day, the better.
It's kind of dangerous to play on a field like that.
Three quick takes from the day:
Make it quick. I want to talk more about the JFK assassination.
1. Tony Corrente got the call right in New Orleans. With 3:18 left and San Francisco up by three in a crucial game between the Niners and Saints, linebacker Ahmad Brooks sacked Drew Brees and forced a fumble, which the Niners recovered. The problem was the sack, and the mechanics of it. Brooks clotheslined Brees on a hit that started above the sternum and finished with him forcibly sending Brees to the ground by contacting the neck with his forearm. Corrente called a personal foul on Brooks, gave the ball back to New Orleans, and the Saints went on to win with two Garrett Hartley field goals in the final three minutes.
Oh, the Saints. Always the first to cry when they feel they have been wronged and never wanting to hear about when they get a little bit lucky and win a game. This was a penalty, I guess, but it's a little bit lucky the Saints got away with this victory. I guess they have some good karma for all the bad stuff they went through last season...none of which was their fault of course.
3. Washington tackle Trent Williams made a serious accusation against game umpire Roy Ellison. During the Philly-Washington game, Williams said Ellison called him a “garbage a–, disrespectful motherf–ker.” The league said it would investigate. That’s a stunning charge, and reporters in the Washington locker room afterward say other players backed up Williams’ account.
BREAKING NEWS: A professional athlete's teammates support something he says and won't publicly contradict him publicly. Who would have ever thought Williams' teammates would back him up regarding something he claims was said to him? Is Williams sure the official didn't say "It's garbage day, so respect your mother for sure?"
It’s certainly possible that Carolina could go 3-0 against the Patriots and Saints in the next six weeks.
No, it's not. Let's pull back the reins a little bit. This seems to be the year of Peter King taking a small sample size and turning this sample size into a larger trend. He's taken the result of a few games and managed to try to extrapolate that into what "could" happen later in the year, when it is simply too presumptive. Carolina won a close, controversial game over the Patriots. Let's not hand them two victories over the Saints quite yet.
How important is home-field advantage in the NFC? Let’s examine the two prime contenders for the No. 1 seed—Seattle (10-1) and New Orleans (8-2)—over recent games. (I’m going to use New Orleans’ stats for this year only, because the absence of Sean Payton and the bounty scandal skews the 2012 numbers. But I’ll use 2012 and 2013 for Seattle, because the team has been basically the same for two seasons, without any football tornadoes ravaging the win-loss record.)
The only reliable data to be used here is data that Peter has manipulated to help prove his point. The 2013 Seattle team isn't really the same as the 2012 Seattle team, especially considering they have added Percy Harvin. Who am I to allow reality to mess with the data and main idea behind Peter's comparison though?
The point of this comparison is both teams are better home teams than road teams. The margin of victory is 13-17 points less for the Saints and Seahawks on the road as compared to their margin of victory at home.
Seattle could win at New Orleans. New Orleans could win at Seattle. But the edge for the home teams in their noisy venues is so big that it will be a major factor in January.
Yeah, it "could" happen. Just a few weeks ago Peter had Peyton Manning playing a wild card road game against the Patriots and that's not the position Manning and the Broncos are currently in. Peter is enjoying a little speculation this season.
First, the rules: By NFL bylaws, all players are tested for recreational drugs once a year, sometime in a 16-week period between April 20 and Aug. 9. If a player tests positive in that solitary test, he is eligible to be tested at random after that. If he is clean, he can do recreational drugs, such as marijuana, without fear of the league as long as he doesn’t exhibit any aberrant behavior or get caught publicly (as with Dwayne Bowe last week). So the vast majority of NFL players are able, as long as they behave, to smoke marijuana at will after the spring/summer test.
It's fine to smoke pot, just don't get caught. I wonder when it will be we found out this is the NFL's policy about PED's as well? It can't be long now until a big NFL PED scandal starts. Who am I kidding though? Human beings are naturally as strong and big as NFL players are. It's just all the hard work they put in that helps them look cut and sculpted.
Fine Fifteen
2. Seattle (10-1). Percy Harvin must love his new gig. Got his feet wet Sunday (one target, one catch, 17 yards) and now the Seahawks have a week off with the bye. What a country!
Because I'm sure Percy Harvin doesn't enjoy playing football and isn't chomping at the bit to get back on the field.
3. Kansas City (9-1). To those who would have the Chiefs plummet because of the loss last night, I ask you this: KC was a decided underdog, playing at Denver. If you rated the Chiefs low before the game, fine. If you rated them high and would drop them a few spots this morning, I am confused.
This from Peter King, the guy who had the Chiefs #1 in his Fine Fifteen for two straight weeks, then put the Chiefs #2 in the Fine Fifteen leading up to the Broncos-Chiefs game even though the Chiefs had a bye week and there was no logical reason to drop them from the top spot in the rankings at that point. So it's okay to drop the Chiefs a spot on their bye week, but dropping them a few spots after they lose a game is just crazy to Peter.
5. New Orleans (8-2). Drew Brees harped on turnovers, and not committing them. The Saints committed three—and still beat the Niners.
The 49ers committed one turnover and held the ball for 25 minutes of the game, so that didn't help their chances at victory.
8. San Francisco (6-4). Let’s see how they react to playing for the fifth seed. Hard to imagine they can finish any higher now.
It's time for Gregg Easterbrook to point out the read-option doesn't work anymore because the 49ers have lost two games in a row. When the 49ers are 11-5 and are a really strong fifth seed I don't think the 49ers players will care. The 49ers play Washington, St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Arizona to end the season. 11-5 is within reach with the Rams and Seahawks both having to come to San Francisco to play.
13. Arizona (6-4). Won three in a row. Carson Palmer with 660 passing yards in his last two (over 400 Sunday at Jacksonville). Not a coincidence.
The Cardinals have won three in a row over the Jaguars, Falcons and Texans. It's not a coincidence they have won three in a row playing those three teams.
15. Green Bay (5-5). You tell me how long Aaron Rodgers will be out, and I’ll tell you when I’ll re-insert the Pack among the relevant teams.
But Bob McGinn says the Packers have planned for Rodgers to be out for a while and they are one of the best prepared teams in the NFL should their starting quarterback get injured. Just put Seneca Wallace in there, he'll fix everything.
Offensive Players of the Week
Matt McGloin, quarterback, Oakland. How insane is football? McGloin was camp fodder, the fourth passer in camp for the Raiders, after not being drafted last April. On Sunday, he started an NFL game for Oakland, completed 18 of 32 passes for 197 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, as Oakland stunned Houston 28-23.
Actually, if Peter had paid attention to the Raiders during the preseason he would know that McGloin looked really good in training camp, so good he beat out 2013 4th round pick Tyler Wilson for the 3rd QB spot. McGloin was camp fodder, but it was clear to the Raiders fairly quickly that McGloin could play.
Just watch him, and you see why he might have a chance to stick in the league. He’s confident, throws a good ball and looks like he has a chance to be accurate downfield.
Maybe you should have watched him in training camp, because these seem to be the reports that were coming out of Raiders camp. They did cut Tyler Wilson to give him the job and felt good enough to cut Matt Flynn and make McGloin the backup quarterback. How ironic would it be if the Raiders spent a 1st and 2nd round choice on Palmer, spent a supplemental draft choice on Pryor, spent late round picks for Flynn, a fourth round pick on Tyler Wilson, and then the best quarterback for the Raiders over the next few years is an undrafted player? I'm getting WAY ahead of myself, but I do appreciate a little irony if it should play out this way.
Greg Schiano, head coach, Tampa Bay. Three weeks ago, fans left Raymond James Stadium with bags over their heads after a dispiriting 31-13 loss to Carolina. Since then, with every fan leaving this season, and this head coach, for dead, the Bucs flew to Seattle and bolted to a 21-0 lead over the two-TD-favorite Seahawks before losing in overtime; beat Miami on a Thursday night; then, on Sunday, routed the woebegone Falcons 41-28. The Bucs are still paying for the sins of starting 0-8, for sure. But 2-8, and playing hard, feels hugely different than 0-8.
The Buccaneers are going to be the Chiefs of next year if they get a head coach in Tampa Bay that commands the respect of the players and gets the team on the right track. A new coach is all that is needed because there is a lot of talent on the roster.
Please move away from the windows and the front row of the press box. Severe weather is approaching.”
—A warning in the press box at Soldier Field Sunday, as a series of black clouds approached the
stadium.
In other words, Those windows in front of you might get blown out. We’d like to keep you scribes around for the second half.
So naturally Peter began snapping pictures of the field. No, he really did. One of the pictures he took is in this week's MMQB.
“Absolutely not.”
—Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano, asked Friday if the club had buyer’s remorse over trading its top draft choice in 2014 for Trent Richardson in September.
I realize Pagano can't tell the truth, but the Colts have to be having some sort of remorse over trading their 2014 1st round pick for Trent Richardson. It doesn't look like a very good trade at all.
The trade was two months ago today. While I am not ready to say it’s a debacle of a deal, Richardson has not done well in either making people miss or powering out of the grasp of tacklers at the line of scrimmage.
Trent Richardson didn't really make people miss or get out of the tacklers' grasp in Cleveland also and it was generally chalked up to playing behind a sub-par offensive line. I'm not against a team trading a first round pick for a running back or drafting a running back in the first round, but this trade doesn't look very good for the Colts right now. As I've said before, they are winning so no one notices right now, but be sure Bill Barnwell will do an entire column on the GM missteps made by Ryan Grigson as soon as the Colts start losing a few games in a row. Barnwell has to see a team start losing before he decides to pummel that team's GM for a few missteps...or at least that's how it seems.
“We’re going to stay patient,’’ said Pagano. “His numbers will come. His yards will come … We miss a block here or there and a guy is sitting there free in the hole. I don’t know if he’s snake bit, I don’t know what the heck is going on.
Trent Richardson isn't a very good running back. Also, running backs don't generally take time to adjust to running the football in the NFL. It's not like the quarterback or wide receiver position where a player might take a few seasons to start producing. Other than being good in pass protection, a running back usually doesn't take a couple of seasons to be ready to play at the NFL level.
Eight games is too early to call the Richardson trade a terrible one. But it’s not too early to start thinking it.
While I do think it is too early to call the Richardson trade a terrible one, his performance in Indianapolis is similar to his performance in Cleveland, only worse. So I don't think it looks very good for Richardson because he wasn't exactly a game breaker in Cleveland either and he seems to be trending the wrong way.
“I don’t think it will ever go away. Just that little chip. It’s not anger or resentment or anything like that. But it’s a little chip.”
—Saints quarterback Drew Brees, to me, on how he’ll always carry the feeling of the 2012 league sanctions over the Saints’ bounty scandal with him.
Drew Brees is insufferable. At least the Patriots had the decency to quietly steam behind the scenes about the Spygate sanctions placed on them by Roger Goodell rather than whining publicly like children for being punished for something the evidence appeared to point towards being true.
And also, that "little chip" is anger and resentment. Otherwise it wouldn't be a chip. Stop trying to defend your teammates who took bounties out on opposing quarterbacks while still trying to maintain your clean image as a nice guy. You are angry, just say it.
The killing of the president is one of my first vivid memories. For those too young to remember it (meaning most of you), I’d recommend getting educated about it this week. It was quite an extraordinary time in the country, an extraordinarily sad time.
Yes, Google it and you may one day learn about the JFK assassination and why it seems 45% of people who have the first name "John" have "Kennedy" as their middle name. You could also watch "JFK" by Oliver Stone and learn about the JFK assassination...or maybe go to school to learn about it.
Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
I have five:
Oh, only five of them?
2. Thought I’d have a chance to try one of the autumnal Michigan brews during a meal stop at Ruby Tuesday’s in Grand Rapids.
A person is just setting themselves up for disappointment when they go searching for something outside of food at Ruby Tuesday's. I'm pretty sure this is in the Bible and/or the Koran. Peter is fishing in the wrong pond if he thinks he can find a good autumnal brew at Ruby Tuesday's.
Bell’s Brewery, maybe, from nearby Kalamazoo; the Winter White or the Octoberfest, maybe. Nope. Largely chain beer, except for one Brooklyn selection. There’s a thriving Michigan beer culture, and none of it here. Why, Ruby Tuesday’s? Why?
Because it's a chain restaurant that wants to sell popular beers, food and liquor and aren't in the business of being known for their vast beer selection. I don't know why Peter would think Ruby Tuesday's would have a vast beer selection.
3. Killed two flies in my room and relocated a ladybug from the room desk in the Chicago O’Hare Marriott over the weekend. What’s that all about?
Maybe you need to take a shower? Obviously these insects don't know that you are the great Peter King, they had no business being in your room, and they should travel down the hall to the room of middle class people who won't be disgusted by the sight of insects in their room because they are so poor.
Insects have no place anywhere near Peter King. At least the free coffee was delicious at the O'Hare Marriott, though Peter did go to the lobby to try some of the Chicago beer culture and the O'Hare didn't have any local beers. Why, O'Hare Marriott, why?
5. Passed a nut shop in the O’Hare terminal Saturday advertising toffee-covered nuts, calling them “luxurious.” Synonyms for “luxurious’’ in my online dictionary: opulent, extravagant, palatial. Never really thought of a toffee-covered nut as opulent or palatial, but maybe that’s just me.
I've never used the term precocious repeatedly to describe adult men, so to each his own I guess.
“Marcus Mariota in 2013: 25TD, 0 INT.
“Nick Foles in 2013: 16TD, 0 INT.
“Think Chip Kelly’s offense works?’’
—@nfldraftscout, Matt Miller, NFL writer for Bleacher Report, on Saturday night.
Now all of a sudden because the Eagles are winning games Chip Kelly's offense works in the NFL again. It's amazing how just a few weeks ago he was being counted out, but now he's an offensive genius again.
“President Kennedy 50 years ago today was at home in Palm Beach-attended church, watched @ChicagoBears v @packers, screened film ‘Tom Jones.’ ”
—@BeschlossDC, presidential historian Michael Beschloss, on Sunday, documenting how John F. Kennedy spent the last Sunday of his life 50 years ago.
Peter King is very serious about commemorating the 50th anniversary of JFK's death. I hope he knows that Chris Matthews currently is the Peter King to JFK's Brett Favre, so Peter needs to back off Matthews' man.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 11:
a. Great point by Raiders beat man Steve Corkran: “Matt McGloin went from camp arm in late April to Raiders starting QB on Sunday. No way anyone saw that happening.”
Yeah, probably not, but it wasn't entirely out of the blue. I didn't pay much attention to the Raiders during Training Camp, but everything I did hear involved Matt McGloin looking very impressive and it was constantly stated the Raiders were going to have to find a way to get him on the roster.
h. So Nick Foles wasn’t a big star Sunday. He also didn’t make a big mistake.
Okay. Take it easy. I'm not sure who is criticizing Nick Foles for not playing well. No need to get defensive about it.
l. A 31-point quarter against Cleveland. Now that’s something I didn’t think would happen to these Browns. Defensive and special-teams touchdowns helped.
Considering the Bengals picked up three first downs in the first half, I would say that defensive and special teams touchdowns did help the Bengals have a 31-point quarter.
2. I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 11:
a. The Steelers’ throwup uniforms. I mean, their throwback uniforms.
b. If Dan and Art Rooney look at those prison uniforms and do anything but wretch, I’d be stunned.
c. Please don’t humor the Steelers by giving your Steeler fan friend one of those things for the holidays.
Shouldn't this all be one topic as opposed to three separate topics? Peter hasn't changed topics, yet he puts each thought next to a new letter of the alphabet. I'm not sure that's how an outline is supposed to work.
j. Live by the Stafford, die by the Stafford.
I see what you did there, Peter. But didn't Stafford's fake spike against the Cowboys hail the beginning of a brand new Matthew Stafford? I think that's what I was lead to believe as Peter King wrote so admiringly just a few weeks ago. It seems Stafford hasn't changed. Who woulda thunk it?
3. I think this is the moral of the story in the Ed Reed-being-cut-by-Houston-after-making-$5.4-million-for-275-mostly-invisible-snaps debacle: It’s okay to pay for a name and leadership in a veteran player who is far over the hill … but base the pay on performance. For Reed, the Texans were a gold watch before retirement. But instead of Swiss Army, he was a Rolex, and after his recent dip in performance with the Ravens, Houston just paid him too much. In a tight-cap era, with too many stars on defense to pay already, Reed, at his age, was too luxurious.
Says Peter King using his masterful grasp of hindsight. I remember Peter being very concerned this offseason that the Ravens were losing their veteran leadership on defense (which is a valid concern), but at no point do I recall Peter mentioning that this was a smart move and Reed was "far over the hill" or anything of the like.
4. I think the American sports media fired Greg Schiano too early.
He's won two games this year. I think Peter King is overstating how not-fired Greg Schiano should be. I get it. Schiano is one of Peter's boys from Rutgers, but I don't know if winning four or five games is enough to help Schiano keep his job. What may help Schiano keep his job is the Buccaneers don't want to pay three more years of his contract and then pay for a new head coach.
6. I think you may never hear it from Ben Tate, because he’s not the kind to talk about his pain. But the man has four cracked ribs, and he got crunched solidly by the Raiders three or four times Sunday, including one accordion tackle that made me cringe. Nineteen carries for 88 yards, in this dirge of a Houston season … pretty impressive.
Ben Tate is running for a new contract after this season. He isn't running with cracked ribs because he really likes the Texans organization and team. He knows this is his chance with Foster injured to show what he can do and he won't let four cracked ribs hold him back. I doubt it's about the team anymore than it is about wanting to get paid after this season.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
e. I’ll ask you nicely, college football: Stop with the timeout after first downs. Some of these games … interminable.
Says the guy who this week wrote in praising fashion about an NFL game that went nearly six hours due to a long delay for the weather. College football games are long, but it's not like NFL games are excessively shorter.
Let's look at some of these non-football thoughts of Peter's:
b. Also on that three-man Hightower crew, as a warmup to his ref stint Sunday at Soldier Field: Gene Steratore.
c. Duke is 8-2. The football team.
d. Please don’t wear those uniforms again, Northwestern. They hurt the eyes.
e. I’ll ask you nicely, college football: Stop with the timeout after first downs. Some of these games … interminable.
f. Headline someone at CNN would like to have back after the state of Illinois was ravaged by more than 50 twisters: “Tornadoes touch down in Illinois; Bears game interrupted.”
So are these really non-football related thoughts? They seem to be very much related to football in my opinion.
g. Coffeenerdness: Bring the maple oat nut scone back, Starbucks. Don’t make me beg.
Don't make Peter tear your entire corporation a new asshole in MMQB because you won't let him have his way! Give Peter King what he wants or face the wrath of him acting like a child in order to get what he wants!
h. Beernerdness: I had no new ones this week. I simply must try harder.
Or not go to Ruby Tuesday's and expect to try new beer selections.
The Adieu Haiku
And then there were none.
Buoniconti pops champagne.
Perfection is safe.
If only the Chiefs could have played teams with lousy records all season they could have been like the 1972 Dolphins and gone perfect over an entire NFL season.
We have great and controversial events to discuss, and we shall. But there are great and controversial events every week in pro football, and I’ll get to the rise of a battered Denver offensive line, to the 113-minute weather/tornado-threat delay, and to a foul that, in today’s football, simply must be called. But first …
What great and important event occurred that could cause Peter King to ignore the results of this past week's NFL games? What has happened to place all of these immediate events on the back burner and requires our full attention right now?
Friday is the 50-year anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.
A murder that happened 50 years ago. Of course.
It is also the five-year anniversary of the first of three strokes suffered by a great and irascible football writer, Paul Zimmerman, who was the king of the hill when I got to Sports Illustrated in 1989. A week never goes by that one of you, either on email, through Twitter or seeing me in an airport, doesn’t ask, How’s Dr. Z?
Not exactly the most urgent of anniversaries that should be celebrated prior to actually writing about the NFL games for Week 11, but I should just be happy that Peter King isn't trying to extort money from his readers to pay for a risky treatment for Dr. Z in Michigan like he did a few years ago. By the way, I don't remember Peter ever saying what happened with that risky treatment that Peter was begging his readers for money to help Dr. Z finance. I'm guessing it didn't help Dr. Z very much, but it's very kind of Peter to take his readers money and then not tell us how the treatment worked out. That's still one of the most irritating things Peter has done. As opposed to using some of his and his other 1%-er friends to help pay for Dr. Z's treatment, Peter asked his readers to help chip in money to pay for Dr. Z's treatment, despite the fact Dr. Z made more money than probably 95% of Peter's MMQB audience in a given year and if a layperson emailed Peter for a few bucks to pay for the same treatment this email would probably go ignored. I thought it was a great cause, but I'm not sure I like how Peter went about funding the cause.
Or, When will Paul start writing again? This week, you’ll find out. NFL Films dispatched ace Ken Rodgers to produce and actor Tom Wopat to narrate the current story of 81-year-old Paul Zimmerman, and it airs beginning Tuesday night at 10:30 Eastern on NFL Network,
And why wouldn't it be narrated by Luke Duke?
The final score Sunday night: Denver 27, Kansas City 17, Peyton Manning sacks 0, Peyton Manning knockdowns 0.
Peyton Manning wins in important games this week 1, times Gregg Easterbrook will mention the "Peyton Paradox" this week 0.
Denver came in with a plan: Run the ball enough to take time off the clock and take pressure off Manning; throw the ball quickly, before the heat can hit home. Manning’s had many better days in the NFL, but an interception- and sack-free game? Against the ball-hawking Chiefs? He’ll take it.
Good to hear Peyton Manning will take a victory. I was concerned he might decide the victory was actually a loss and not accept the victory, allowing the Chiefs to keep their perfect record.
Denver doesn’t get to be fat and happy for long. Two more emotional games await in short order: at New England Sunday night (Manning-Brady XIV happens in Foxboro), and a rematch with the Chiefs in Kansas City seven days later. The Chiefs have to be careful. They’ve got San Diego and Denver coming up, then finish with three of their final four on the road.
The Chiefs shouldn't worry, I'm sure they will run into a few backup or third-string quarterbacks somewhere over the next few weeks.
They’ve gotten just one sack in the past three games. Defensive coordinator Bob Sutton has to figure a way for Tamba Hali and Justin Houston, particularly, to disrupt the quarterback more.
It's always funny how sportswriters change their perspective after a team loses. Peter comes into this MMQB describing the Chiefs pass rush as ferocious, thinks it was a great job the Broncos did in protecting Manning and says they are the NFL leader in sacks...which is all true. Once the Broncos have won the game all of a sudden Peter points out the Chiefs need to do something to improve their pass rush because they have only one sack in the last three games. So either the tough pass rush isn't so tough or opposing teams have figured out how to counter the Chiefs pass rush. It's just funny how the Chiefs pass rush goes from tough to struggling after one game. The pass rush that Peter thinks was so great suddenly isn't sacking the quarterback enough.
My first thought, for much of the first four-and-a-half hours of the game, which had a 113-minute delay in the middle of first quarter because of severe weather (an estimated 70 tornadoes touched down in the Midwest Sunday), was that this was Exhibit A for postponing a game for a day.
Peter's second though? The spread in the press box is running low, so he better hit up the concession stands now if he expects to get more food.
The delay got so long they stopped selling beer in the stadium,
Except for the Allagash White beer stand, they stayed open so Peter enjoyed the sweet, but not too filling taste of Allagash White beer and maybe if he keeps mentioning beer over and over in his column some brewery will send him some free beer. How long does Peter have to keep mentioning beer before he starts to get some free shit?
But with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter, I went down to the field to watch the rest of the game from a tunnel.
The Allagash White beer stand was closed and the pressbox spread had eventually run out. Much like a beer who has finished hibernating, it was time to go in search of food.
The field was a cow pasture, and players, officials and (during TV timeouts) the grounds crew tried to tamp down the turf after the torrential rain ruined it. And I thought: How great it is to see a game in the elements like this.
It's easy to understand how great it is to see an NFL game played in elements like this when you aren't the one on the field trying to run on a field where even the smallest misstep could result in a sprained ankle and every divot provides a new and exciting chance to blow out your knee.
You hate to make the fans wait out a two-hour delay, but would it have been more inconvenient, say, to reschedule the game for Monday at noon?
Yes, it would have been very inconvenient. People in Chicago have jobs. Well, maybe they have jobs. After all, those Wrigley Field day games are fairly well-attended, so maybe these Bears fans would make due and attend the game.
Of all the games I’ve covered, only a Giants preseason game at foggy, rainy Cleveland in the ’80s, at the old Cleveland Stadium, was like this one. I was looking for the ghost of Jim Brown that day; and Sunday, I wondered how many of these games Luckman, Sayers and Butkus played in.
It's fun to be nostalgic for a time that may not have existed while the players on the field are running around playing football on a torn-up field that greatly increases the risk one of these football players would suffer a severe injury.
Our Robert Klemko wandered into the Bears’ locker room and found another oddity: Some players slept during the break.
Is this really odd? Professional athletes take a nap before a game all the time. This was just another long wait for a game to start to some of the Bears players. I thought it was clear there was going to be at least an hour wait for the game to start again, so a nap may have been in order.
At least two Bears gave in to the urge, and what they did next kept Chicago in the NFC North hunt. Backup quarterback Josh McCown, starting in place of the injured Jay Cutler, laid down and began visualizing plays, and before he knew it he was asleep. “I closed my eyes and just tried to think about the game,” McCown said, “and I think I dozed off.” Reserve defensive end David Bass did the same: “I napped for 15 to 20 minutes. It was refreshing.” Bass came out after the interrupted first quarter and picked off a Joe Flacco throw before it passed the line of scrimmage, returning it for a 24-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
I'm sure Gregg Easterbrook will have a brand new theory this week about how if a player sleeps during halftime then he will play better in the second half.
The more the NFL can hark back to a simpler day, a muddier day, the better.
It's kind of dangerous to play on a field like that.
Three quick takes from the day:
Make it quick. I want to talk more about the JFK assassination.
1. Tony Corrente got the call right in New Orleans. With 3:18 left and San Francisco up by three in a crucial game between the Niners and Saints, linebacker Ahmad Brooks sacked Drew Brees and forced a fumble, which the Niners recovered. The problem was the sack, and the mechanics of it. Brooks clotheslined Brees on a hit that started above the sternum and finished with him forcibly sending Brees to the ground by contacting the neck with his forearm. Corrente called a personal foul on Brooks, gave the ball back to New Orleans, and the Saints went on to win with two Garrett Hartley field goals in the final three minutes.
Oh, the Saints. Always the first to cry when they feel they have been wronged and never wanting to hear about when they get a little bit lucky and win a game. This was a penalty, I guess, but it's a little bit lucky the Saints got away with this victory. I guess they have some good karma for all the bad stuff they went through last season...none of which was their fault of course.
3. Washington tackle Trent Williams made a serious accusation against game umpire Roy Ellison. During the Philly-Washington game, Williams said Ellison called him a “garbage a–, disrespectful motherf–ker.” The league said it would investigate. That’s a stunning charge, and reporters in the Washington locker room afterward say other players backed up Williams’ account.
BREAKING NEWS: A professional athlete's teammates support something he says and won't publicly contradict him publicly. Who would have ever thought Williams' teammates would back him up regarding something he claims was said to him? Is Williams sure the official didn't say "It's garbage day, so respect your mother for sure?"
It’s certainly possible that Carolina could go 3-0 against the Patriots and Saints in the next six weeks.
No, it's not. Let's pull back the reins a little bit. This seems to be the year of Peter King taking a small sample size and turning this sample size into a larger trend. He's taken the result of a few games and managed to try to extrapolate that into what "could" happen later in the year, when it is simply too presumptive. Carolina won a close, controversial game over the Patriots. Let's not hand them two victories over the Saints quite yet.
How important is home-field advantage in the NFC? Let’s examine the two prime contenders for the No. 1 seed—Seattle (10-1) and New Orleans (8-2)—over recent games. (I’m going to use New Orleans’ stats for this year only, because the absence of Sean Payton and the bounty scandal skews the 2012 numbers. But I’ll use 2012 and 2013 for Seattle, because the team has been basically the same for two seasons, without any football tornadoes ravaging the win-loss record.)
The only reliable data to be used here is data that Peter has manipulated to help prove his point. The 2013 Seattle team isn't really the same as the 2012 Seattle team, especially considering they have added Percy Harvin. Who am I to allow reality to mess with the data and main idea behind Peter's comparison though?
The point of this comparison is both teams are better home teams than road teams. The margin of victory is 13-17 points less for the Saints and Seahawks on the road as compared to their margin of victory at home.
Seattle could win at New Orleans. New Orleans could win at Seattle. But the edge for the home teams in their noisy venues is so big that it will be a major factor in January.
Yeah, it "could" happen. Just a few weeks ago Peter had Peyton Manning playing a wild card road game against the Patriots and that's not the position Manning and the Broncos are currently in. Peter is enjoying a little speculation this season.
First, the rules: By NFL bylaws, all players are tested for recreational drugs once a year, sometime in a 16-week period between April 20 and Aug. 9. If a player tests positive in that solitary test, he is eligible to be tested at random after that. If he is clean, he can do recreational drugs, such as marijuana, without fear of the league as long as he doesn’t exhibit any aberrant behavior or get caught publicly (as with Dwayne Bowe last week). So the vast majority of NFL players are able, as long as they behave, to smoke marijuana at will after the spring/summer test.
It's fine to smoke pot, just don't get caught. I wonder when it will be we found out this is the NFL's policy about PED's as well? It can't be long now until a big NFL PED scandal starts. Who am I kidding though? Human beings are naturally as strong and big as NFL players are. It's just all the hard work they put in that helps them look cut and sculpted.
Fine Fifteen
2. Seattle (10-1). Percy Harvin must love his new gig. Got his feet wet Sunday (one target, one catch, 17 yards) and now the Seahawks have a week off with the bye. What a country!
Because I'm sure Percy Harvin doesn't enjoy playing football and isn't chomping at the bit to get back on the field.
3. Kansas City (9-1). To those who would have the Chiefs plummet because of the loss last night, I ask you this: KC was a decided underdog, playing at Denver. If you rated the Chiefs low before the game, fine. If you rated them high and would drop them a few spots this morning, I am confused.
This from Peter King, the guy who had the Chiefs #1 in his Fine Fifteen for two straight weeks, then put the Chiefs #2 in the Fine Fifteen leading up to the Broncos-Chiefs game even though the Chiefs had a bye week and there was no logical reason to drop them from the top spot in the rankings at that point. So it's okay to drop the Chiefs a spot on their bye week, but dropping them a few spots after they lose a game is just crazy to Peter.
5. New Orleans (8-2). Drew Brees harped on turnovers, and not committing them. The Saints committed three—and still beat the Niners.
The 49ers committed one turnover and held the ball for 25 minutes of the game, so that didn't help their chances at victory.
8. San Francisco (6-4). Let’s see how they react to playing for the fifth seed. Hard to imagine they can finish any higher now.
It's time for Gregg Easterbrook to point out the read-option doesn't work anymore because the 49ers have lost two games in a row. When the 49ers are 11-5 and are a really strong fifth seed I don't think the 49ers players will care. The 49ers play Washington, St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Arizona to end the season. 11-5 is within reach with the Rams and Seahawks both having to come to San Francisco to play.
13. Arizona (6-4). Won three in a row. Carson Palmer with 660 passing yards in his last two (over 400 Sunday at Jacksonville). Not a coincidence.
The Cardinals have won three in a row over the Jaguars, Falcons and Texans. It's not a coincidence they have won three in a row playing those three teams.
15. Green Bay (5-5). You tell me how long Aaron Rodgers will be out, and I’ll tell you when I’ll re-insert the Pack among the relevant teams.
But Bob McGinn says the Packers have planned for Rodgers to be out for a while and they are one of the best prepared teams in the NFL should their starting quarterback get injured. Just put Seneca Wallace in there, he'll fix everything.
Offensive Players of the Week
Matt McGloin, quarterback, Oakland. How insane is football? McGloin was camp fodder, the fourth passer in camp for the Raiders, after not being drafted last April. On Sunday, he started an NFL game for Oakland, completed 18 of 32 passes for 197 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, as Oakland stunned Houston 28-23.
Actually, if Peter had paid attention to the Raiders during the preseason he would know that McGloin looked really good in training camp, so good he beat out 2013 4th round pick Tyler Wilson for the 3rd QB spot. McGloin was camp fodder, but it was clear to the Raiders fairly quickly that McGloin could play.
Just watch him, and you see why he might have a chance to stick in the league. He’s confident, throws a good ball and looks like he has a chance to be accurate downfield.
Maybe you should have watched him in training camp, because these seem to be the reports that were coming out of Raiders camp. They did cut Tyler Wilson to give him the job and felt good enough to cut Matt Flynn and make McGloin the backup quarterback. How ironic would it be if the Raiders spent a 1st and 2nd round choice on Palmer, spent a supplemental draft choice on Pryor, spent late round picks for Flynn, a fourth round pick on Tyler Wilson, and then the best quarterback for the Raiders over the next few years is an undrafted player? I'm getting WAY ahead of myself, but I do appreciate a little irony if it should play out this way.
Greg Schiano, head coach, Tampa Bay. Three weeks ago, fans left Raymond James Stadium with bags over their heads after a dispiriting 31-13 loss to Carolina. Since then, with every fan leaving this season, and this head coach, for dead, the Bucs flew to Seattle and bolted to a 21-0 lead over the two-TD-favorite Seahawks before losing in overtime; beat Miami on a Thursday night; then, on Sunday, routed the woebegone Falcons 41-28. The Bucs are still paying for the sins of starting 0-8, for sure. But 2-8, and playing hard, feels hugely different than 0-8.
The Buccaneers are going to be the Chiefs of next year if they get a head coach in Tampa Bay that commands the respect of the players and gets the team on the right track. A new coach is all that is needed because there is a lot of talent on the roster.
Please move away from the windows and the front row of the press box. Severe weather is approaching.”
—A warning in the press box at Soldier Field Sunday, as a series of black clouds approached the
stadium.
In other words, Those windows in front of you might get blown out. We’d like to keep you scribes around for the second half.
So naturally Peter began snapping pictures of the field. No, he really did. One of the pictures he took is in this week's MMQB.
“Absolutely not.”
—Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano, asked Friday if the club had buyer’s remorse over trading its top draft choice in 2014 for Trent Richardson in September.
I realize Pagano can't tell the truth, but the Colts have to be having some sort of remorse over trading their 2014 1st round pick for Trent Richardson. It doesn't look like a very good trade at all.
The trade was two months ago today. While I am not ready to say it’s a debacle of a deal, Richardson has not done well in either making people miss or powering out of the grasp of tacklers at the line of scrimmage.
Trent Richardson didn't really make people miss or get out of the tacklers' grasp in Cleveland also and it was generally chalked up to playing behind a sub-par offensive line. I'm not against a team trading a first round pick for a running back or drafting a running back in the first round, but this trade doesn't look very good for the Colts right now. As I've said before, they are winning so no one notices right now, but be sure Bill Barnwell will do an entire column on the GM missteps made by Ryan Grigson as soon as the Colts start losing a few games in a row. Barnwell has to see a team start losing before he decides to pummel that team's GM for a few missteps...or at least that's how it seems.
“We’re going to stay patient,’’ said Pagano. “His numbers will come. His yards will come … We miss a block here or there and a guy is sitting there free in the hole. I don’t know if he’s snake bit, I don’t know what the heck is going on.
Trent Richardson isn't a very good running back. Also, running backs don't generally take time to adjust to running the football in the NFL. It's not like the quarterback or wide receiver position where a player might take a few seasons to start producing. Other than being good in pass protection, a running back usually doesn't take a couple of seasons to be ready to play at the NFL level.
Eight games is too early to call the Richardson trade a terrible one. But it’s not too early to start thinking it.
While I do think it is too early to call the Richardson trade a terrible one, his performance in Indianapolis is similar to his performance in Cleveland, only worse. So I don't think it looks very good for Richardson because he wasn't exactly a game breaker in Cleveland either and he seems to be trending the wrong way.
“I don’t think it will ever go away. Just that little chip. It’s not anger or resentment or anything like that. But it’s a little chip.”
—Saints quarterback Drew Brees, to me, on how he’ll always carry the feeling of the 2012 league sanctions over the Saints’ bounty scandal with him.
Drew Brees is insufferable. At least the Patriots had the decency to quietly steam behind the scenes about the Spygate sanctions placed on them by Roger Goodell rather than whining publicly like children for being punished for something the evidence appeared to point towards being true.
And also, that "little chip" is anger and resentment. Otherwise it wouldn't be a chip. Stop trying to defend your teammates who took bounties out on opposing quarterbacks while still trying to maintain your clean image as a nice guy. You are angry, just say it.
The killing of the president is one of my first vivid memories. For those too young to remember it (meaning most of you), I’d recommend getting educated about it this week. It was quite an extraordinary time in the country, an extraordinarily sad time.
Yes, Google it and you may one day learn about the JFK assassination and why it seems 45% of people who have the first name "John" have "Kennedy" as their middle name. You could also watch "JFK" by Oliver Stone and learn about the JFK assassination...or maybe go to school to learn about it.
Mr. Starwood Preferred Member Travel Note of the Week
I have five:
Oh, only five of them?
2. Thought I’d have a chance to try one of the autumnal Michigan brews during a meal stop at Ruby Tuesday’s in Grand Rapids.
A person is just setting themselves up for disappointment when they go searching for something outside of food at Ruby Tuesday's. I'm pretty sure this is in the Bible and/or the Koran. Peter is fishing in the wrong pond if he thinks he can find a good autumnal brew at Ruby Tuesday's.
Bell’s Brewery, maybe, from nearby Kalamazoo; the Winter White or the Octoberfest, maybe. Nope. Largely chain beer, except for one Brooklyn selection. There’s a thriving Michigan beer culture, and none of it here. Why, Ruby Tuesday’s? Why?
Because it's a chain restaurant that wants to sell popular beers, food and liquor and aren't in the business of being known for their vast beer selection. I don't know why Peter would think Ruby Tuesday's would have a vast beer selection.
3. Killed two flies in my room and relocated a ladybug from the room desk in the Chicago O’Hare Marriott over the weekend. What’s that all about?
Maybe you need to take a shower? Obviously these insects don't know that you are the great Peter King, they had no business being in your room, and they should travel down the hall to the room of middle class people who won't be disgusted by the sight of insects in their room because they are so poor.
Insects have no place anywhere near Peter King. At least the free coffee was delicious at the O'Hare Marriott, though Peter did go to the lobby to try some of the Chicago beer culture and the O'Hare didn't have any local beers. Why, O'Hare Marriott, why?
5. Passed a nut shop in the O’Hare terminal Saturday advertising toffee-covered nuts, calling them “luxurious.” Synonyms for “luxurious’’ in my online dictionary: opulent, extravagant, palatial. Never really thought of a toffee-covered nut as opulent or palatial, but maybe that’s just me.
I've never used the term precocious repeatedly to describe adult men, so to each his own I guess.
“Marcus Mariota in 2013: 25TD, 0 INT.
“Nick Foles in 2013: 16TD, 0 INT.
“Think Chip Kelly’s offense works?’’
—@nfldraftscout, Matt Miller, NFL writer for Bleacher Report, on Saturday night.
Now all of a sudden because the Eagles are winning games Chip Kelly's offense works in the NFL again. It's amazing how just a few weeks ago he was being counted out, but now he's an offensive genius again.
“President Kennedy 50 years ago today was at home in Palm Beach-attended church, watched @ChicagoBears v @packers, screened film ‘Tom Jones.’ ”
—@BeschlossDC, presidential historian Michael Beschloss, on Sunday, documenting how John F. Kennedy spent the last Sunday of his life 50 years ago.
Peter King is very serious about commemorating the 50th anniversary of JFK's death. I hope he knows that Chris Matthews currently is the Peter King to JFK's Brett Favre, so Peter needs to back off Matthews' man.
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 11:
a. Great point by Raiders beat man Steve Corkran: “Matt McGloin went from camp arm in late April to Raiders starting QB on Sunday. No way anyone saw that happening.”
Yeah, probably not, but it wasn't entirely out of the blue. I didn't pay much attention to the Raiders during Training Camp, but everything I did hear involved Matt McGloin looking very impressive and it was constantly stated the Raiders were going to have to find a way to get him on the roster.
h. So Nick Foles wasn’t a big star Sunday. He also didn’t make a big mistake.
Okay. Take it easy. I'm not sure who is criticizing Nick Foles for not playing well. No need to get defensive about it.
l. A 31-point quarter against Cleveland. Now that’s something I didn’t think would happen to these Browns. Defensive and special-teams touchdowns helped.
Considering the Bengals picked up three first downs in the first half, I would say that defensive and special teams touchdowns did help the Bengals have a 31-point quarter.
2. I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 11:
a. The Steelers’ throwup uniforms. I mean, their throwback uniforms.
b. If Dan and Art Rooney look at those prison uniforms and do anything but wretch, I’d be stunned.
c. Please don’t humor the Steelers by giving your Steeler fan friend one of those things for the holidays.
Shouldn't this all be one topic as opposed to three separate topics? Peter hasn't changed topics, yet he puts each thought next to a new letter of the alphabet. I'm not sure that's how an outline is supposed to work.
j. Live by the Stafford, die by the Stafford.
I see what you did there, Peter. But didn't Stafford's fake spike against the Cowboys hail the beginning of a brand new Matthew Stafford? I think that's what I was lead to believe as Peter King wrote so admiringly just a few weeks ago. It seems Stafford hasn't changed. Who woulda thunk it?
3. I think this is the moral of the story in the Ed Reed-being-cut-by-Houston-after-making-$5.4-million-for-275-mostly-invisible-snaps debacle: It’s okay to pay for a name and leadership in a veteran player who is far over the hill … but base the pay on performance. For Reed, the Texans were a gold watch before retirement. But instead of Swiss Army, he was a Rolex, and after his recent dip in performance with the Ravens, Houston just paid him too much. In a tight-cap era, with too many stars on defense to pay already, Reed, at his age, was too luxurious.
Says Peter King using his masterful grasp of hindsight. I remember Peter being very concerned this offseason that the Ravens were losing their veteran leadership on defense (which is a valid concern), but at no point do I recall Peter mentioning that this was a smart move and Reed was "far over the hill" or anything of the like.
4. I think the American sports media fired Greg Schiano too early.
He's won two games this year. I think Peter King is overstating how not-fired Greg Schiano should be. I get it. Schiano is one of Peter's boys from Rutgers, but I don't know if winning four or five games is enough to help Schiano keep his job. What may help Schiano keep his job is the Buccaneers don't want to pay three more years of his contract and then pay for a new head coach.
6. I think you may never hear it from Ben Tate, because he’s not the kind to talk about his pain. But the man has four cracked ribs, and he got crunched solidly by the Raiders three or four times Sunday, including one accordion tackle that made me cringe. Nineteen carries for 88 yards, in this dirge of a Houston season … pretty impressive.
Ben Tate is running for a new contract after this season. He isn't running with cracked ribs because he really likes the Texans organization and team. He knows this is his chance with Foster injured to show what he can do and he won't let four cracked ribs hold him back. I doubt it's about the team anymore than it is about wanting to get paid after this season.
10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
e. I’ll ask you nicely, college football: Stop with the timeout after first downs. Some of these games … interminable.
Says the guy who this week wrote in praising fashion about an NFL game that went nearly six hours due to a long delay for the weather. College football games are long, but it's not like NFL games are excessively shorter.
Let's look at some of these non-football thoughts of Peter's:
b. Also on that three-man Hightower crew, as a warmup to his ref stint Sunday at Soldier Field: Gene Steratore.
c. Duke is 8-2. The football team.
d. Please don’t wear those uniforms again, Northwestern. They hurt the eyes.
e. I’ll ask you nicely, college football: Stop with the timeout after first downs. Some of these games … interminable.
f. Headline someone at CNN would like to have back after the state of Illinois was ravaged by more than 50 twisters: “Tornadoes touch down in Illinois; Bears game interrupted.”
So are these really non-football related thoughts? They seem to be very much related to football in my opinion.
g. Coffeenerdness: Bring the maple oat nut scone back, Starbucks. Don’t make me beg.
Don't make Peter tear your entire corporation a new asshole in MMQB because you won't let him have his way! Give Peter King what he wants or face the wrath of him acting like a child in order to get what he wants!
h. Beernerdness: I had no new ones this week. I simply must try harder.
Or not go to Ruby Tuesday's and expect to try new beer selections.
The Adieu Haiku
And then there were none.
Buoniconti pops champagne.
Perfection is safe.
If only the Chiefs could have played teams with lousy records all season they could have been like the 1972 Dolphins and gone perfect over an entire NFL season.
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