Tell Me All Your Thoughts on Blog

A few observations from the NFL:

1. Drew Brees is playing terribly. Watching the Saints on MNF, I was pretty shocked by his performance. The 3rd interception was the result of his arm getting knocked as he released the ball, and the 4th was a deflection off his receiver's chest, but he played an awful game. He had happy feet in the pocket all game, he was never set to throw. He had one or two completions downfield, but even those were off-balance throws into coverage and his receivers bailed him out. Honestly, his performance was indistinguishable from that of Rex Grossman Sunday night, except that I think the Cowboys are a better defensive team than the Titans, and there's no way Grossman has the options that Brees has. He just looked awful. I think the Saints are in big big trouble, and I'm not talking about the three losses. They might not win 5 games this year. On a positive note, Reggie Bush looked great in goal-line situations. He was too quick to the edge for the Titans on the first score, and then went right up the gut on the second one. If only he were that decisive on all his runs.

2. This is the only thing I'll say about the Donovan McNabb thing: Why has there never been a black US President? Why has there never been a black Vice President? Why are there so few black senators and representatives? Why are there so few black head coaches in the NCAA? The NFL? MLB? The NBA? Why are there so few black quarterbacks, in a league that is dominated by black athletes? I'm not saying we live in a racist nation, but you're a fucking liar and an idiot if you don't acknowledge the presence of racism and prejudice against blacks in our society. Of COURSE black quarterbacks are subjected to pressures and criticism that their white counterparts aren't faced with. Who would suggest that there aren't any players in the NFL who still don't believe a black quarterback can succeed? Or any coaches? Or any scouts? Or any members of the media? Or any fans? Don't be ridiculous. Look at Daunte Culpepper's career numbers. Or Donovan McNabb's. Or Byron Leftwich's. There's very little chance that these guys would have faced the same questions about their careers if they were white. In 1999, Culpepper threw for almost 4,000 yards with 33 touchdowns and 16 picks, and a 98 quarterback rating. In 2004, 4,700 yards with 39 touchdowns and 11 picks, with a 111 quarterback rating. Then he hurt his leg in 2005, and two years later, he's on the bench behind Josh McCown on a last place team, playing on a 1 year contract. This is a guy who took his team to the NFC championship, a quarterback with a career 90.9 passer rating who ought to be in his prime. I'm sorry, but if anybody can find me a white quarterback with anything like a similar story, please let me know. I'm NOT saying the NFL on the whole is a racist league, not at all. I am saying that Donovan McNabb was right, and he wasn't even making a point. He was stating the obvious. We don't live in a perfect society, there is still racism, and once we acknowledge that, then we must understand that there are no corners of society, no nooks, no jobs or positions where blacks aren't faced with challenges that their white counterparts are free of. Ok, that's all I'll ever say about the whole McNabb thing.

3. I'm sick of Joe Gibbs. I'd like to give the man a lot of credit for what he's done for the Redskins, and I'm not talking about his previous tenure. The Redskins have been one of the most mis-managed franchises in all of sports for the last 15 years. In his time back with the team, he has assembled a top-notch coaching staff, compiled a roster of solid pros, drafted extremely well, fielded a competitive team, and helped the franchise dig their way out of a deep salary cap hole. But he can't coach a game anymore. The Skins are a horribly conservative team. They never go out to really dominate a game and run away from teams. They try to plod their way down field and sneak into the endzone, and then they immediately retreat and try to bury their lead like squirrels. The Eagles put up 56 points on Sunday. In the 4th quarter of a blow-out win last week, the Patriots ran off-tackle on 4th and goal to put the cherry on top of a dominating performance against the Chargers. Great NFL teams don't make it look hard, they make it look easy. The Redskins don't look like a great NFL team, they look like a hard-working NFL team. Jason Campbell has a huge arm and great mobility. Santana Moss and Anwan Randle El are two of the fastest receivers out there. Clinton Portis is far more effective playing in space. Even Brandon Lloyd, who has been labeled a free-agent bust, is an explosive deep threat. Al Saunders' offense is designed to create mismatches by putting his playmakers in the open field and spreading the ball around. Gibbs is the wet blanket on what ought to be an explosive, wide open offense. Look, I love the concept of a punishing ground game as much as anybody, but when you have the players to take shots down field and open things up, you have to do it. The Redskins took their collective foot off the throttle in all phases of their loss on Sunday. They stopped blitzing on third down and Eli picked their secondary to pieces. They stopped taking shots down the field and couldn't back the Giants defense out of the box, and the result was long third-downs and too many three and outs. I don't even know where to start regarding the last four downs. My point here is this: the Redskins really need to open up the playbook and put points on the board, and if Joe Gibbs is the guy who insists on the anemic, cautious approach on both ends, well . . .

4. The following coaches are crap, and should be replaced:
1. Tom Coughlin
2. Jack Del Rio
3. Herm Edwards
4. Norv Turner

I'm holding out on Marvin Lewis, but just barely.

Coughlin is a joke. I can't believe they ever re-signed this guy. Frankly, I was appalled when they hired him in the first place. What a total cry-baby this guy is on the sidelines. The Giants SCREAM mutiny. They are a few more losses away from a major blow-up or some sort of media showdown.

I friggin' hate Jack Del Rio. He totally sold Byron Leftwich out. On the other hand, his teams do compete. I hope they go down in flames so he can get shit-canned.

Herm Edwards is flat-out the worst coach in the NFL, by a wide margin. I was a big fan of his when he took over in New Jersey. My brother started in with the whole "Herm Edwards is a terrible game-day coach" bit, and I pretty much dismissed that idea. When he got the job in Kansas City, I was optimistic. But man, when you watch him on the sidelines, he is just so clueless. I wonder how anybody on the Chiefs DOESN'T give up the moment things start to go poorly. Herm has no idea what he's doing over there! He just shakes his head and stares off into the distance!

Norv Turner . . .jeez. I like Norv. I even liked him here in Washington. But he can't be a head coach. The Chargers have no balls at all. The Redskins had no balls when he was here. His teams have no balls. They play like they don't know how to win, and they collapse when they aren't having success. This is going to be the final nail in his career as a head coach. This Chargers team is in big trouble, I would not be shocked if both he and A. J. Smith are gone by midseason. The biggest two scares were the exchange between LT and Rivers on the sideline, and then LT at the podium. He didn't sound like a guy who was disappointed by a couple of consecutive losses; he sounded like a guy who sees the team headed in the wrong direction.

5. The following coaches are great, and should be extended:
1. Jeff Fisher
2. Ken Wisenhunt
3. Mike Nolan
4. Mike McCarthy
5. Mike Tomlin
6. Gary Kubiak

There are a few other great head coaches, but they're the really obvious ones.

Jeff Fisher was extended. He's been with the Titans for 14 years now, has won more than he's lost in the regular season and post-season, and is the rare coach that guides his team through a rebuilding phase. His teams ALWAYS play hard. I'd say the only blemishes on his career are the signing of Kerry Collins and the handling of the departure of McNair, but those are small blemishes. They even survived an epic salary cap disaster that led to their rebuilding in the first place, and here they are, looking for all the world like a playoff team after a thumping of New Orleans on the road Monday night. When you have a good coach who you believe in, you keep him around. You don't just change for the sake of change.

I have to give it to Wisenhunt. I was really disturbed to see that he'd turned to Kurt Warner twice in the game against the Ravens. Normally, that's the type of move that drives me crazy. But they came back and nearly got the victory, and in the end, it was his willingness to make a move that kept them in the game. The Cardinals are a talented, explosive team that ought to be 2-1, and though they're just 1-2, it's rare that you can look at a coaching decision and know definitively that it improved the team's chances of winning.

Mike Nolan just looks and acts like a head coach, and he's turned a totally lost and awful franchise into a team that expects to win and is expected to win. They draft beautifully and put their players in position to make plays. I couldn't stand this guy when he was the Redskins defensive coordinator, but I've become a believer. The 49ers are really competitive, and I expect them to be a playoff team this year.

Mike McCarthy is the head coach of the 3-0 Packers. McCarthy was brought in to lead the rebuilding effort, to coach Aaron Rodgers, to work with a young team and build a competitor. Then he got stuck with Brett Favre, and his expectation changed. Instead of building for the future, he needed to win in the small window he had left with his aging superstar. The Packers are winning, Favre is playing smart, efficient football, and the young players on the roster are making big contributions. All that without a running game. I expect them to target a back in the 08 draft. McCarthy ought to have a long future with a franchise that has been extremely loyal to their coaches.

The Steelers are one of the best teams in the NFL, right up there with the Patriots. I have the Steelers ahead of the Colts. They are perhaps the most balanced offense in football, and their defense has been dominant. At this point, I'd say they have the best chance of challenging the Patriots in the AFC Championship. Tomlin has to get some of the credit. The blueprint was laid out by Cowher, and the roster is full of great picks and free-agent signings, but as we are witnessing with Norv Turner, that doesn't necessarily lead to success. Tomlin has the Steelers playing excellent football, and this is another franchise that trusts their coaches and sticks with them.

If the Texans win 7 games this year, Kubiak will have earned a big-time extension. This is another case of a team that expects to compete and win, and that's really saying something when you consider that the team has never had any measure of success. Kubiak has a history of coaching successful teams, so it's not a shock that he's brought a winning attitude to the Texans. The AFC South is a really tough division, and they've been hit by the injury bug, big-time, but Kubiak seems to have changed the attitude of the franchise, and the fact that they stayed in there against the Colts, without their best playmaker in Andre Johnson, tells me that they are a serious, competitive team.

6. I took a shit-bath on my picks in Week 3, to the tune of 6-10. Among my biggest disappointments:

-I picked the Rams in a blowout. What the hell? The Rams are in big trouble. I was seduced by their history of scoring lots of points. Stephen Jackson is out at least a week. Isaac Bruce is officially a chump, albeit one who is killing my fantasy team. Linehan may be in over his head.

-I picked the Chargers by 10 points. Friggin' Norv. Why would I EVER pick a Norv Turner coached team? What the hell is my problem? LT is still a beast. Vincent Jackson had a nice game. Antonio Gates went OFF. I still think they're only a little bit off, but man . . .

-I picked the Vikings. The NFL just got a bit more depressing because the Chiefs won a game. Who outside of Missouri wouldn't have been excited to see them go 0-16? I'm a little surprised the Vikings defense didn't shut out the Chiefs. Dwayne Bowe is starting to look like a good pick for Kansas City, by the way.

-I picked the Broncos by 35 points. To hell with Del Rio. I stand by my pick. Surely there was a Jaguars camera somewhere on Denver's sideline.

-I had the Skins by 12. They really let me down. I knew they'd lose when the Giants marched down the field and made it 17-10. The Skins had that look.

-I had the Bears. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Boy, that was a laugher. Jesus Christ. If there is a fantasy league where you pick the worst players week to week, let me know. Rex just NEVER fails to suck. Man oh man. As bad as Rex has been, that team needs an explosive back to compliment Cedric Benson. And what's with these Bears fans and their "Good Rex"? Good Rex, my ass. This guy must do a lot of charity work . . .

-I had the Saints. By midway through the first quarter, I was rooting for the Titans, so I don't feel so bad. But Drew Brees has to be one of the big stories of the NFL so far this season. Everything about him was off Monday night. His body language, his feet, his decision-making, everything was bad. He sucked! He played just as bad as Grossman. The same bad decisions, the same inaccuracy, the same results. On the flip side, I got 120 or so points from Lendale White! You know you're going down in flames when you're thrilled to get 70 yards and a score from your running back. What the fuck?

Week 4 picks coming later. Go Skynards.