There are two modes in the NFL: win at all costs now or rebuild for the future. The Vikings seem to have abandoned both of these plans in a weird mix of strategies. Brad Childress sent backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels to the Giants for a bag of potato chips and a can of soda. Nervous that the Giants wouldn’t take Rosenfels by himself, he sent return specialist Darius Reynaud to New York as well in the deal. The Vikings are prepped to make another run at the NFC title this year with most of last year’s team intact. Unfortunately, Coach Childress has decided to nix any what-if scenarios and seemingly disregard special teams. If all things go to plan, it may not ruin him: Favre may not get injured and someone – newcomer Greg Camarillo perhaps or the electric Percy Harvin- may step up on returns. But even so, this trade seems to have been woefully one-sided; it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the Vikings end up with the better end of this bargain.
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The Rosenfels Trade Leaves the Vikings Hypothetically Hopeless
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Why I drafted Kevin Kolb
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It takes a healthy dose of fortitude to ship your all-time leader in every significant passing category – not to mention the leader that took your team to one its only two Super Bowl appearances – out of your locker room. If they traded him to any other team, I could write it off as a front-office decision…maybe McNabb and Andy Reid just couldn’t get along anymore…maybe McNabb wanted out of Philly for financial purposes or because he wasn’t happy with the Eagles personel. But Philly shipped him down the road, within the division no less! They traded the player who knows their system better than anyone else in the league to a fierce rival, whom they will play twice a year every year. They better be damn sure that whoever replaces Donovan is well equipped to fill his McMonstorous shoes.
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Do Cornerbacks Like Darrelle Revis Deserve Big Money?
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Much of the discussion heading into next week’s football season is what will become of the whole Darrelle Revis situation for the New York Jets. Part of that conversation, I think, is whether a cornerback is worthy of the kind of money that Revis is asking for. Don’t get me wrong, cornerbacks like Champ Bailey and Deion Sanders can impact games in ways that players at other positions simply can’t; they can take star receivers out of the game and make them non-entities. But looking back at the past few decades, there just aren’t enough success stories to justify spending sizable amounts on a position that might leave you holding onto the next Bobby Taylor.
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Offensive Lines: Pass/Run Blocking And Transitioning to new Positions
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Football is a game of nuance and subtlety; the more you pay attention, the more you pick up. So I’ve made it a personal goal over the past couple weeks to understand a set of skills for which, as of now, I have little appreciation. A good offensive line is the difference between a playoff appearance and a 4-12 season. Ask Peyton Manning what a stellar offensive line has done for his career, and he’ll be the first to tell you that they are the real champions of his success. But within the five beasts of men that block for every QB, there is a world of detail not easily seen on TV away from the ball. I’d like to use the personnel that comprise the Steelers current unit for two quick case studies of challenges facing individuals on the line and questions the team must answer.
Headcoaching: More Than Xs and Os
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Recent HOF inductee Dick LeBeau has accomplished many impressive feats over his NFL career. A talented player and defensive strategist, LeBeau well deserved the induction into the Hall and the accolades that followed. The one pass that we grant The Wiz is the blemish of a failed headcoaching stint in Cincinnati, his only HC gig. In two and a half seasons as Skipper, LeBeau failed to compile anything close to a winning record and finished his last season a franchise worst 2-14. Even worse yet, he couldn’t leverage his defensive knowledge and prowess; the Bengals allowed a league bottom 456 points.
The reason we don’t bring this up when talking about LeBeau’s greatness is because headcoaching is a beast of its own nature. The abilities to strategize, breakdown film, teach new techniques, and correct fundamental mistakes are mere components in the grand scheme of headcoaching. It is just as much about managing confrontational egos and keeping peace between angry men as it is explaining the Xs and Os.
The best coaches today are those that can navigate the murky waters of press conferences, spring practices, the NFL’s front office, and shiesty player-agents. The game itself, it seems, is left for the coordinators.
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Rethinking Fantasy Football
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Last night i attended my first fantasy football draft in several years. I am not fielding a team, but i figured it would be a good way for me to get a refresher on where players ranked heading into the season. For a long time, I’ve believed that fantasy sports going mainstream has hurt the coverage of – and therefore my interest in – sports as a whole, especially with football. I can’t help but wonder how many people only care about Favre’s return because they have to figure out if he has more upside than Matt Ryan in the coming year, and not whether Favre’s decision could lead the Vikings back to the playoffs. That was my thinking anyway.
While one fantasy draft wasn’t going to be enough to turn me in the opposite direction and get me to sign up for a league, I am beginning to reevaluate the merits of following football from the fantasy end. In truth, the only thing that seems to be “fantasy” about these leagues is the sense of ownership over the players. Fantasy owners come to drafts prepared with all kinds of stats and lists that take everything into account, from high-profile changes in personnel and coaches to reports about how rookies are faring at training camp. Fantasy football has elevated the level of conversation among obsessive fans and driven them to take greater in-depth looks at teams around the league.
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NFL Rule Change: The Umps Move
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The NFL is nothing if not a copycat league. So what happens when a logistical issue prevents teams from doing the same thing that worked in years past? We’ll find out this season. The NFL has made some rule adjustments that largely seem minor in the sense that they will not greatly impact the game on a week-to-week basis. Sure, the new helmet rule, which mandates that a play is blown dead as soon as a runner’s helmet falls off, may cause some controversial goal at some point or another; but, overall, we can agree that this will not have many coaches changing game plans midweek.
One rule change, however, may cause coordinators pause as they chalk up their west coast offenses. The umpire move from behind the defensive line to 15 yards behind the offensive line may slow the game down and provide an extra advantage to defenses guarding against quick snap counts.
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The Redskins’ Crowded Backfield
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As we count down to kick off on opening day, each team develops story lines worthy of our attention. Some actually gain that attention (such as the Jets’ insane offseason, the Ravens’ offensive additions, and the drama surrounding a Minnesota QB whose name I will replace with Joey Harrington for the duration of the season). Other stories, however, somehow slide under the radar. So in today’s installment of “Interesting NFL Story Worthy of Your Attention,” I bring you: The Backfield of the Washington Redskins.
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New Forbes List Proves Winning Isn’t The Only Thing
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You want sports to be about winning. You want sports to be about being better than the other team, about exerting all your resources on Championship. You want sports to be about winning.
But as a Pittsburgher, and by extension a Pirates fan, I have learned that sports is not all about winning; it is a business not unlike any other, whose sole goal at the end of the day is to make money. Normally, this is most efficiently achieved through awards and trophies, but last month’s Forbes report reveals that the most profitable teams are far from the winningest.
The Best Three Football Writers You’re Not Reading
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Rather than tell you what I think about the upcoming NFL season, I have a better idea: let me tell you who you might want to read. I have friends do this for me with HBO series – I tell them to watch the first season, tell me if it sucked, and if not I pay a prorated on-demand fee and watch the season in two days, call my cable provider to return on-demand, and no one is any bit the wiser. True story. The same problem applies with the NFL: there’s a whole lot of crappy analysis and no one to sift through it all and tell you where to find the good stuff.
Has UFC Gone Mainstream? Have concussions?
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I remember the good ole days when it was okay to not like the UFC. In fact, I remember when the people who liked UFC were the weird ones. Now I’m beginning to feel fringe simply because I don’t watch. In fact, if I didn’t listen to Dan Lebatard’s Miami based radio show, I wouldn’t even know that it was a big deal that some dude named Fedor lost last week. Fedor did lose, right? Okay, just checking. I’ve tried watching UFC, because cool people like the UFC, but I just can’t stomach it. I find Dana White interviews and mental images of Rachelle Leah way more interesting than the actual fights.
So why don’t I like it? Because to me, the UFC is basically porn.
Direct All Anger at Shanahan
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Albert Haynesworth is a big baby. This is beyond dispute. You know it, I know it, and Ray Lewis knows it.
But, why aren’t fans directing their anger at Shanahan? Isn’t it a coach’s duty to manage egos? Isn’t it his job to know that Haynesworth is a baby and that he shouldn’t pick needless fights with him? I hope when fans complain that Haynesworth is overpaid, they realize that Shanahan has a five year contract that pays him seven million dollars a year. That’s 35 million dollars and it’s all guaranteed.
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The New and Improved Tight Ends of 2010
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Fantasy Football players will be the first to realize that there is a steady influx of impact tight ends this year. Whereas in 2005, there were a total of two tier-one tight ends – Gates and Gonzo – and about about 27 tier-two tight ends – with everyone from Alge Crumpler to Bo Scaife fitting into that category – now, there is no consensus top 15, let alone top 3. This year’s NFL draft reflects how important the position has grown: a record 21 tight ends were taken in the 2010 draft, 9 of whom went in the first four rounds.
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A QB Controversy Where None Exists
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By all early accounts, it appears as though when the 2010 NFL season begins, Byron Leftwich will start under center for the Steelers. If these account prove accurate, I have but one question for Coach Tomlin and his merry men of yinzers: Why is Dennis Dixon on the team? Start him or cut him, but do not keep him on the squad for three years, grooming him, prepping him, whispering sweet nothings into his ear about how, one day, he may very well take the hot seat should a proverbial hypocycloid hit the fan… only to bench him when that cataclysmic day finally arrives.
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