Are The 2009 San Diego Chargers Better Than the 2006 Chargers?

Riding an 11-game winning streak as the 2010 playoffs approach, the San Diego Chargers have steadily risen up the NFL team rankings and, in some quarters, are considered the top-ranked team in the league. Both NFL.com and Sports Illustrated writer Peter King, for instance, have ranked the Chargers No. 1 in the league, and many other sports commentators feel the Chargers might be the team to beat in this year’s playoff.

What is in the cards for the Chargers remains to be seen, but the last time they enjoyed this kind of cachet among commentators and fans alike was following their 14-2 performance during the 2006 season. 

That optimism in 2006 proved to be fatal; the team quickly exited the playoffs in a divisional loss to New England, which set in motion a tumultuous series of events, culminating in a complete overhaul of the coaching staff and the firing of head coach Marty Schottenheimer.

But as the Chargers enter the playoffs with the same kind of momentum and apparent clout as in 2006 (in 2006 the Chargers entered the postseason on a 10-game winning streak), one does wonder whether the current version of the team is in fact as good as the highly-touted version in 2006.

In some ways, the similarities go beyond the powerful winning streaks that both teams have produced. Many of the key players in the 2009 season were also wreaking havoc in 2006—notably, quarterback Philip Rivers, tight end Antonio Gates, and wide receivers Vincent Jackson and even Malcolm Floyd.

In the case of Rivers, Jackson, and Floyd, the 2006 season was mostly a matter of getting their feet wet. Jackson had 457 receiving yards and six touchdowns, Floyd had three receiving TDs, and Rivers 3,383 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions. The receiving corps at the time was headed by Gates, who had 924 receiving yards and nine TDs, and Eric Parker, who had 48 receptions and 650-plus yards.

For Rivers, Jackson, and Floyd, each of them cranked the volume on their personal stats this season. Jackson in particular, has blossomed into a receiver of devastating ability, Malcolm Floyd had over 750 receiving yards in 2009, and Rivers the kind of year where he is a top candidate for the league MVP.

Back in 2006, the Chargers were mostly about LaDainian Tomlinson, and, in spite of the early signs of promise their current receivers displayed, the 2006 team was essentially the LT show. Tomlinson ran for 1,815 yards and 28 touchdowns, adding another three TDs and 500-plus yards as a receiver. It was the zenith of his career in the NFL.

At the same time, backup running back Michael Turner added another 502 rushing yards and 6.2 yards per carry, the kind of stats that were to fill his pockets with cash a year or so later.Even blocking fullback Lorenzo Neal ran for 148 yards on 29 carries, as the run-dominant Chargers of 2006 bowled over every nearly every defense in their way.

By any objective standard, the 2009 Chargers’ running attack cannot touch this. Tomlinson managed just 730 yards and a 3.3 yards per carry average. Darren Sproles chipped in another 343 yards, but the team’s running game was truthfully a shadow of its earlier self.

Some Charger supporters are quick to point out that as the Chargers have transitioned themselves to a passing team and that the decline in the running numbers is largely offset by an increase in aerial yardage.There is some truth to this, and, in the end, the 2006 Chargers accumulated 79 more yards than the 2009 team on offense. They did so, however, with a more balanced attack.

On defense, one key difference between the two squads is clearly seen in the performance of Shawne Merriman.In 2006, Merriman was ubiquitous—everywhere on the field—recording 17 sacks, and menacing quarterbacks and offensive tackles relentlessly. Merriman also forced four fumbles, as did bookend Shaun Phillips.

Merriman’s barrage of sacks counted heavily toward the team’s impressive total of 61. Yes, 61 sacks for the 2006 Chargers, as Phillips recorded 11.5 and Luis Castillo managed seven.

Jacques Cesaire and Randall Godfrey had four each as well, as the Chargers consistently exerted maximum pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

By comparison, in 2009 the Chargers’ sack machine recorded 35 sacks, 26 fewer than three years ago. Shaun Phillips led the team with seven, and also added seven forced fumbles. Merriman had four, and the rest of them were scattered about the team’s defensive unit.

Overall, the 2006 Chargers ranked 10th in the league in team defense, giving up an average of 18.9 points per game. Their defense was 12th in the league getting off the field on third down. 

The 2009 Chargers’ defense ranked 16th in the league, giving up an average of 20 points a game. They were 21st in the league getting off the field on third down, significantly worse than the 2006 team.

On the other side of the ball, the 2009 Chargers’ offense ranked 10th in the league, and averaged 28.4 points a game.

The 2006 team did better, ranking fourth in offense and averaging 30.8 points a game, the highest points-per-game average of any team in the league.

What does all of this suggest?

The pattern I see from the numbers is that the 2006 team was better. Their defense got far more pressure on the quarterback, and they got off the field more effectively on third down. They gave up fewer points and had more interceptions.

The Chargers offense was far more balanced than it is now in 2009, as they had a poignant passing attack and a devastating rushing attack.

But in the end, of course, it might not matter.

If the 2009 Chargers win the Super Bowl—or perhaps even get to the Super Bowl, they will likely be remembered as the better team by many of their dedicated fans. It would, in fact, be a tough argument to counter.

As it stands for now, though, that goal is one with several hurdles awaiting.

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Joey Porter’s Vision Quest

Rumor has it around the cyber-sphere that the Miami Dolphins season-ending match-up against the Pittsburgh Steelers tomorrow, might be the last time Joey Porter suits up for the South Florida team. More than a few precious pixels around the web have peddled the speculation—if true, it will bring to a close a three year term for Porter in Miami, that has been characterized by vicissitude and unpredictability.

The high point; a kind of “menace to society” version of Porter who was prolific in the 2008 season, where he recorded 17 1/2 sacks, many of them critically timed, and virtually all of them useful.  Porter drew double teams, terrorized ill-prepared offensive tackles, and ran his mouth off with noteworthy aplomb, all the more resonate because he backed up his taunts with aggressive physical play.

But the 2009 version of Joey Porter looks more like the 2007 version. As always, both the oral and physical motor was running—you could see those pistons furiously pumping on the field—but for the most part, Porter spun his wheels.

A knee injury has purportedly slowed him down, but Porter has been healthy enough to play most weeks.

Before the season began, I wrote a prediction in a blog that Porter would call out Mark Sanchez—a kind of rattle-the-rookie move. I was wrong, of course. It was not Sanchez that Porter taunted. Instead, he chose Tom Brady as a target, a development that Brady later announced was motivational in the Patriots’ Foxboro win over Miami—a win, by the way, where Porter failed to achieve even a single tackle, let alone a sack.

The following week, Porter sat, a pseudo healthy scratch we were told, and clearly a message was in the works.

By the numbers, Porter has recorded 8 sacks and 39 tackles this season—about half the sacks he produced a year ago—even though opposing teams have had to game plan for stopping Jason Taylor, who is Porter’s bookend in the main 3-4 scheme.

Also, by the numbers, we are told, that what Porter’s salary and incentives—all in—represents just under a $5 million hit against the cap for next year ($ 4.8 million).

As Porter still has two years remaining on his contract, the question hence becomes whether the Dolphins feel the dollars asterisked beside Porter’s name represent a prudent expenditure. Or, on the other hand, whether the Dolphins feel the opportunity cost of that money is too high.

There are several mitigating factors including Porter’s age (32), the health of his knees, but also, whether the Dolphins are prepared to resign Jason Taylor.  Cutting Porter loose to the wind is one thing, but does Miami want to give up the veteran leadership and presence with both of their outside linebackers, should Taylor leave or retire.

The sudden departure of Matt Roth last month, who was instantly snapped off waivers by Cleveland and has allegedly been very productive there, is also another factor as it speaks to Miami’s inherent depth at the linebacker position. Further, the highly circumspect play of Reggie Torbor against Houston last week, and the mediocre play of Akin Adoyele all season, does not suggest a surfeit of talent in the second tier of the front seven.

Fundamentally, can the Dolphins afford to lose to Porter given the questionable strength of their linebacking corps?

Further, if the case is to be made against Porter staying in Miami because he does not represent good value to the team, one then must wonder about other big contract players on the roster whose performance has been questionable; namely Gibril Wilson, whose terrible play was punctuated last week when he dropped a beach ball interception last week that even I could have caught. And Channing Crowder, who also signed a contract extension last year, but whose play is decidedly average. The Dolphins also have Ted Ginn to consider, the team’s most notorious question mark among the salary cap considerations.

While Porter has not put up the numbers of a year ago, he certainly has not fared worse than those mentioned here in 2009.

Heading into tomorrow’s contest against the Steelers—Porter’s former team—there is time enough for Joey to make a statement about his intentions for the future and where he might want to be.  Perhaps what might serve Joey Porter best is a fresh visit to the sweat lodge, a kind of season-ending communiqué with the spiritual world; a vision quest where Joey Porter emerges with his animus renewed, and shows all of us, one more time, what the team is losing if he is not a Miami Dolphin next year.

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Would You Trust Your Franchise’s Cherished Legacy To Ted Ginn’s Hands?

 

 

I want to start by turning back the clock for a moment, and I cannot promise this will be a good thing. In fact, it might get ugly.  As Lemony Snicket says, the Littlest Elf is out there somewhere if it’s happiness you are looking for.

 

 Specifically, I want to go back to week two of this 2009 NFL, and more specifically, to the last moment of play in the game.

 

The score: Indianapolis 27, Miami 23. The Dolphins have the ball on the Colts 42 yard line. It is the third or fourth last play of the game.

 

At 1-0, not one of us watching the game- not one person alive, has considered that the Indianapolis Colts, badly outplayed for 59 minutes, might be en route to a perfect season.  It is the furthest thing from anyone’s minds.

 

And then, out of the shotgun, Chad Pennington fires the ball deep into the Colts end zone.  Both the Colts defender and Miami receiver Ted Ginn Jr. go up for the ball. But as they both go up in the air, the Colts defender falls away from the contact from with Ginn.  He falls facing the rear of the end zone, meaning that he has no chance for an intercerption. None.

 

Ginn is in the perfect position to catch the pass and win the game for Miami. He has already won the contact battle in the millisecond before the ball arrives. Not to flog this, but again: the defender is falling away from the play.

 

The ball strikes Ginn in the hands. With the game on the line, against a team whose destiny might be to derail the Dolphins most cherished  team legacy, Chad Pennington, a quarterback who is often criticized for not having the big arm, throws a beautiful 42 yard pass into the end zone, and with the defender falling away perfectly, Ted Ginn drops the game winning pass.

 

Or does he?

 

Some historians of that play say that Ginn slapped the ball away, that somehow, through an incredible twist of fate, that Ginn took upon himself the role of cornerback, and the Colts defender, the receiver falling out of the play.  Ginn, momentarily frightened by the contact with the defender, and well aware of the hurricane of scorn already directed his way for dropping too many passes, sensed danger and thought the prudent thing was to slap the ball away to prevent an interception. Even though the ball was right there in his hands to win the game.

 

But the defender was falling away. I saw that from the comfort of my own sofa, a crumpled empty bag of Doritos strewn beside me. And Chad Pennington put the ball in Ginn’s hands to win the game, a game that might have altered the course of history. It almost certainly would have altered the Dolphins season.

 

I realize it has become fashionable to bash Ted Ginn. A former Dolphin great called him “a coward.” I can only imagine what the radio talk shows have said.  Children, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, members of the clergy, have in turn taken their shots. I am sure it has been beaten to death ad nauseam.  And for someone with the speed of a cheetah, the irony that Ginn is largely a standing target as opposed to a moving target is not lost on any of us.

 

Further, I am also aware that Peyton Manning torched the Dolphins secondary that night in September, that Gibril Wilson, to point another finger, not only blew several tackles, but found himself out of position several times that night; that Pennington, with one shot left in the game, threw an interception to Alvin Bethea in the Colts end zone; that Ginn also had 11 receptions for over 100 yards that night.

 

But the fact of the matter is that I cannot get that 42 yard pass out of my mind.

 

Should the Indianapolis Colts defeat the Jets today, and Buffalo next week, there is a real chance they might run the table and finally eclipse the Dolphins 1972 landmark achievement.

 

And if that happens, you can choose to remember whatever you want from the 2009 season. As for myself, I will remember a perfectly thrown pass by Chad Pennington with just a handful of seconds left to win a game against the Indianapolis Colts in week two of the season.

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Miami Dolphins-Houston Texans: Dolphins Visited By Three Ghosts

When the Miami Dolphins take the field this Christmas weekend against the underachieving Houston Texans, they would do well to seek the ghosts of contests past as the parsimonious stingy Scrooges in Houston have managed to squeak past Miami in each of the last three seasons.

The most recent ghost of contest pasts leads us down the haunting chamber of last year’s game where the Texans Matt Schaub slithered into the end zone with three seconds left to give Houston a 29-28 victory. Schaub played as though the Dolphins secondary was manned by oversized Tiny Tims, throwing for 379 yards. Texans star receiver Andre Johnson torched Miami for 178 of those yards. 

Miami’s effort was highlighted by a strong performance from Chad Pennington, who was 19 for 25 and two touchdowns, and the surprise performance of Patrick Cobbs, who had 130 plus receiving yards.

The Dolphins also won the turnover battle, 4-1, against Houston. But as the ghosts of contests past will quickly point out to Miami fans, the Dolphins have won the turnover battle in each of the last three contests and still lost. In 2008, plus three, 2007 plus one, and 2006 plus two.

A second ghost of contests past will remind Dolphins that during the 2007 game, won by Houston 22-19, that Texans kicker Kris Brown kicked three field goals over 50 yards, including a monumental 57 yarder to win the game.  The game also marked the demise of Dolphins quarterback Trent Green, who suffered a concussion attempting to block the Texans Travis Johnson. It was the beginning of the end for Green, and added one more pie in the face for a Dolphin team destined for 1-15.

Our third ghost of contests past takes us to the 2006 contest, also won by Houston, 17-15. This was the Nick Saban version of the contest, where Daunte Culpepper played the role of Bob Crachit, throwing for 249 yards, but failing to convert a two pointer to tie the game, David Carr threw for 230 yards and the leading rusher was Ron Dayne with 59 yards.

Yes, Ron Dayne.

How time flies.

For all their Scrooginess on defense, the Dolphins still lost, and later, when everything fell apart, Coach Saban apparently eschewed Jacob Marley’s warning about being obsessed with money. He left too.

Our three ghosts, then, have given us sufficient warning: Matt Schaub has thrown for 673 yards in the past two contests against Miami. Oddly enough, he has only one touchdown. Kris Brown has kicked six field goals in the past two contests against Miami. He couldn’t kick a 42 yarder to tie Indianapolis indoors on November 8th of this season, but he has slaughtered the Dolphins. Andre Johnson leads the league in receiving yards with 1433, and will line up against one of two rookie corners, Shaun Smith or Vontae Davis.

The Dolphins can win the turnover battle and still lose the game.

There is no Owen Daniels to contend with, who had 96 yards in the 2007 game, and 70 last year.

The game is likely to be close as a three point gap is the largest in the past three seasons.

Both teams have an outside shot at a wildcard spot.

And finally, as the ghost of last week’s game will say: Can Chad Henne avoid a costly mistake on an ill-advised play that will all but certainly end the Dolphin’s season?

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William Shakespeare’s Childress and Favre

William Shakespeare’s Childress and Favre .

Act One, Scene One

In a simple room furnished with only a long oaken table sits Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress, with team owner Ziggy Wilf in the background sitting barely illuminated. 

Both of whom appear calm and serene. The scene takes place at the team’s Winter Park facility. Enter Brett Favre.  Favre, agitated, nods but does not speak. Though December, an air conditioner hums in the room. After a moment of awkward silence, Childress speaks.

Childress: Greetings, friend. Thou art well, I presume?

Favre: Would’st thou not see with thine own eyes that I breathe a normal course?

Childress: Yes, thou gait seems purposeful, thou mind sharp as thy shepherd’s shears.

Favre: (Nods)

Childress: On then, to the matters at hand. It is regrettable thou feels thy slightest injury. Tis, indeed, this course seems to have led us astray.

Favre: If this course seems astray, it is because thou has rankled the edges of my peace.

Childress: How so?

Favre: By thou’s design to pulleth me from the field of combat, to throw my lot on the sidelines. Tis not thy destiny to watch the stage with thy head naked, the plumage of thy noble helmet cast in shame. How doth I sling the arrows of fortune from the shadows of battle? Doth Achilles slay Paris from behind the skirts of a tent?

Childress: No, true. He doth not. But, twas thou’s safety that dictates the course of action, to preserve thy strength for our common enemies, to keep thee strength. The day shall passeth where we meet Brees on the bloodied field.

Favre: Would’st thou deign me unworthy to fight each battle for its own merit?

Childress: Who can say? We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

Favre: (Becoming angry) Easy for thee to say.

Childress: Come, now. Tis a harsh world where things unpleasant happen.

Favre: I hold the world as the world; A stage where every man must play a part and mine is a sad one.

Childress: Indeed. Thou are feeling betray’d?

Favre: Yes, those that are betray’d, do feel the treason sharply. And more…thou’s design to prevent the audible. This too rankles my peace. Thou seeth these wounds? Thy art the wounds whose purchase is wisdom.  On the field of battle, it is thy right to calleth thee audible.

Childress: Better not, for the skirmishes we call are mapped before thy enemy is in sight. Our honour’d Bevel pens a juicy script. And we deign to holdeth the game plan irrevocable and sound, just as the suns shines at daybreak.

Favre: In the heat of battle, doth not our path course as thy winds change. Surely, the course maketh change a profit to be gained. Thou seeks to impede the audible though the path becomes clouded in battle. Show me thy wounds compared to mine.

Childress: There must be order in thy command, thy commander’s rule thy law. And thou has deigned to throw a surfeit of interceptions from the loins of the audible.

Favre: Yet, if Achilles doth heed Agamemnon,  then Troy is lost. Thy season’d hands, whose blood hath flowed freely, commandth the audible in the heat of battle.

Childress: We have breeched an impasse. Thou has ruin’d a trust. It is written, “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as night follows day, thou canst be false to any man.”

Favre: Our interest concerns all who tread these halls. T’was not the plan to deal thee unkindly, but to make thy world a better place. Thy love for Bevel’s script fills this room with an odor most foul. Do not pretend it is otherwise.

Childress: (Realizes the truth of Favre’s words, says resignedly) If thy has tears, prepare to shed them now.

Favre: Tis nobler to suffer the slings of outrageous treason, than shed a single tear against thy stare.

Childress: We are done, then?

Favre: Yes, done, my Brutus. Done.

End of Scene.

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Male Athletes With Girl’s Names

This all started on the morning of Dec. 7, 1995.

Not the commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack, but the stunning news that the Montreal Canadiens hockey team had traded Patrick Roy, one of the three best goalies in the history of the game, to the Colorado Avalanche for three players. In exchange, Montreal received Colorado’s goalie, whose name happened to be Jocelyn Thibault.

I leaped out of bed in panic. It was unimaginable. My first thought, prophetically enough, was that this was the end of a competitive franchise, a Nostradamus moment that has actually been proven to be correct.

My second thought, was, “Hey, did he say Jocelyn?”

Isn’t that a girl’s name? Who would name a boy “Jocelyn?” What is this?

From that moment, irrationally deciding that Jocelyn Thibault, would prove to be useless, I further gardened the idea that the male athletes who had “girl’s names” would never realize their full potential since their parents had not been smart enough to give them a strong boy’s name like Thomas, or John or yes, David.

It was not possible. Surely having a girl’s name would likely cause the little guy to suffer severe psychological damage from the wear and tear of female name associations. Imagine the ribbing in elementary school, the sweaty change rooms of high school, and the towel flicking.

It occurred to me that I needed to build a case against athletes who had girl’s names.

They must be pansies, I thought.

For instance, it was Ty Cobb who was probably the greatest hitter in baseball in the first half of the 20th century, not “Tyra Cobb.” George Herman “Babe” Ruth was not Georgina Ruth.  Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky  was not “Winona Gretzky”. Wilt Chamberlain not “Wilma Chamberlain.”

Imagine if Irving Favre had named his son Betty instead of Brett. Do you think that Betty Favre would still be playing at age 40?

Would Michael Jordan have had the extended career he did if his name was Michelle?

Of course not.

I smugly and secretly harboured this notion for years. Especially after Patrick Roy (not Pattie Roy by the way), went on to win two Stanley Cups for the Colorado Avalanche, and a big goalie mitt full of awards and accolades.  Meanwhile, Jocelyn Thibault, psychologically crippled that he was, spent a few nondescript seasons in Montreal before being traded off to Chicago.

More time passed. My iron clad argument was this: name one lifetime great male in any sport who had or has a girl’s name. And then I said, “Well, I’m waiting.”

And then one day, someone actually said, “What about Peyton Manning?”

Peyton.

I raced to Google like a thoroughbred and saw with my own eyes: Peyton. One of the most popular girl’s names for the year 2003. I gaped in horror!

Soon, more names filtered in.

“What about Marian Hossa?”

“What about Marion Barber?”

“What about Courtney Roby?”

“What about Drew Brees?”

“What about Marian Gaborik, second in scoring in the NHL this year?”

“What about Drew Daughty?”

“What about Alex Rodriguez?”

Okay, don’t push me on A-Rod. It’s mostly a boy’s name.

Watching the Dolphins game yesterday, among other things, I began to wonder about the name Vontae as in Vontae Davis. He had an interception early in the game, but later got torched repeatedly by Vince Young.

Hmm. And the only reference I could find to the name Vontae was in fact for a girl.

And what about Cameron Wake. Is there not a famous actress named Cameron Diaz?

Hmm, again.

And finally Pat White. If Pat White is short for Patrick, no problem, but look out if it is short for Patricia.

Then again, maybe not.

 

 

 

 

 

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Chris Johnson’s Uniform Found To Have Spiderman Symbiote

You remember the movie Spiderman III? Just a few years ago?

Remember there was a mysterious black oozing tar that incredibly had a will of its own? That the black oozing appended itself to Peter Parker’s Spidey’s suit and gave him incredible strength, speed, and an attitude nastier than Steve Hutchinson with a belly fully of Tasmanian Devils?  And Peter Parker brought the suit to his teacher, Dr. Curt Conners, who called the oozing tar a symbiote?

 

You remember all that?

 

Good.

 

You remember too, that at the end of the movie, in the climatic scene where the villain Eddie Brock, who had also the symbiote on his suit, was about to reunite with it? Remember that Spidey threw a pumpkin bomb that blew both Brock and the symbiote to Kingdom Come?

 

You probably thought that the symbiote was destroyed forever, right?

 

Well, face it.

 

We all did.

 

But we were wrong.

 

Tiny droplets of the stuff were scattered to the four winds, and now, inexplicably have been found in Tennessee Titan’s star running back Chris Johnson’s uniform. Not steroids or Beetle juice or StarCaps. Not a banned substance or a performance enhancing narcotic.

 

The symbiote.

 

It’s true. How else can we explain the 1626 rushing yards? The 391 receiving yards, eleven touchdowns and a rushing average of 6.0 yards per carry? Like, who has a rushing average in the NFL 13 games into the season at six? What is this: college?

 

How else can we explain the 4.2 hundred yard dash? The incredible open field acceleration?

 

That’s right. The symbiote has given Johnson the ability to run in the open field like a maniac freeway driver, weaving around defenders like they were cars plodding along as though they were Sunday drivers.

 

Something else, too: Remember when the Titans drafted Chris Johnson out of East Carolina in the first round, that draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. questioned the move? That’s right, folks. The symbiote had not found its way onto Johnson’s uniform then. Because Mel Kiper Jr. is never wrong.

 

And further: have you noticed the new bravado in Chris Johnson lately? How else can we explain this grandstanding? Telling Ted Ginn Jr. to meet him for a running race and then chastising Ginn for not showing up? And saying he’s just as fast as Usian Bolt? That he could beat Bolt in a fifty yard dash?

 

Remember in Spiderman III that the symbiote affected Peter Parker’s personality? Remember the scenes where he thought he was hot sh*t strutting down the street, a babe magnet with even having to wear Armani? Smoozing it up with Bryce Dallas Howard while poor Mary Jane Watson was again left holding the bag?

 

Coincidence? I think not.

 

Further to the previous further: there is no league policy regarding the symbiote. No ban or nothing. The league doesn’t even know the stuff exists.

 

And now, Dolphin fans, Chris Johnson is your problem to solve this weekend. Your run defense better be on red alert, your linebackers better step up. Gibril Wilson, no more bad angles or broken tackles. This is not Marion Butts lumbering toward you. Jason Taylor and Joey Porter. Pay attention. Forget about rushing the quarterback, whether it is Vince Young or Kerry Collins.  Contain the outside running lanes.

 

Come to think of it, contain the inside running lanes.

 

The symbiote is alive and well in the NFL. And ironically, Chris Johnson might not even know it.

 

 

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Your Choice: Rodgers or Rivers?

Rodgers Or Rivers?

 

Let me be perfectly clear about one thing: there are no stats in this blog. Not one. Zip.  And when I say no stats, I mean no stats. Passing yards? Touchdowns? Game winning drives? Overall record? Road wins? Home wins? Third-down completions? QB rating? Forget it. If you want to garden the stats-quatch patch, buy a seed catalogue.

 

And having thrown out that gauntlet, let me say something else: Aaron Rodgers or Phillip Rivers? I say Rivers. I want Rivers over Rodgers. I want Rivers if I am a GM of say, a new expansion team, because of his fierceness and his tenacious desire to win.

 

It’s too bad you can’t bottle that sideline look of Rivers, that determination at the line of scrimmage. Who can top that? Further, I want Rivers because he can hit those big guys like Vincent Jackson or Malcolm Floyd sixty yards down field with three guys draped all over them just like threading a needle.

 

Not only that, Rivers is more accurate. In a previous life, I now believe Rivers was a marksman, one of those guys who could light a wooden match with a .22 calibre rifle from a half mile away.

 

I believe that Aaron Rodgers delivered ice in a previous life, the kind of delivery that was done with a horse and buggy and those huge iron tongs. That’s what made him so tough.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I like Aaron Rodgers.  But, hey. Would you rather have toughness or relentless determination?

 

And something else, I want Rivers because he is less prone to making mistakes. When Rodgers has a bad game, he really has a bad game. I saw Jared Allen, who is just one guy, hurtle Rodgers into the turf seven times this year. And Rodgers was wincing. His face was scrunched up. But when Rivers has a bad game, somehow the Chargers are still in it.

 

And Rodgers has more bad games than Rivers.

 

Proof?

 

I just feel that that is true. Which is proof enough for me.

 

Rodgers holds the ball longer than Rivers. When Rivers sees a play heading south to Tijuana, he just spikes the ball into the ground but outside the hashmarks so he doesn’t get called for intentional grounding. Rodgers is getting better at getting rid of the ball faster, but still, for a while this year, he looked a bit like a statue.

 

And here is something else: with the game tied 10-10 in the fourth quarter on the road, say like in a place such as Dallas, who would you rather have lead your team down the field to victory? (Think last Sunday.)

 

And again: Rivers is probably older than Rodgers (remember our no stats rule), but he is still fairly young, and with age comes a certain amount of wisdom. Therefore, well you know where I am going with this.

 

One more thing, Rivers was drafted higher than Rodgers.

 

So, what more do you want? Stats? No way, Jose.

 

I say I would take Phillip Rivers over Aaron Rodgers any day.

 

Who wouldn’t?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ricky Williams: Silence Is Golden

 

 

 

 

Silence is Golden

The old teacher in David Carradine’s classic TV series Kung Fu, whose name was Master Po, was fond of saying things like “Grasshopper, the pathway you have chosen is chosen for you. For in the matter you speak of, destiny, there is no such thing as chance.” Or, “grasshopper, when one seeks escape, one never finds escape, for the trap is in the seeking.”

Words of wisdom? Perhaps.  But, let us consider for a moment the pathway chosen by Ricky Williams, the infamous running back of the Miami Dolphins, and an integral member of the Dolphin’s brainwave wildcat offense; Williams, whose checkered past has more twists, more ups and downs than a stadium size Snakes and Ladders game board.

In 2004, after winning a rushing title for the Dolphins in 2002 with an exceptional 1853 yards, and 1352 rushing yards the following year, the dreadlocked, soft-spoken Williams tests positive for marijuana for the third time, thus setting in motion a destiny well beyond the familiar for most NFL players and their fans. To wit: two days before training camp, he retires from football rather than face the ignominy of an imminent suspension.  The timing of his retirement sends Head Coach Dave Wannstadt over the deep end, (literally). Williams goes abroad. He travels. He is seen living in a tent in Australia , spending $7 a day. He goes to California and studies ayurveda, an ancient Indian system of holistic medicine. He learns yoga, and expresses a desire to become a yoga master.  Bill O’Reilly slams Williams on “The Factor,” calling him the “poster boy for the pot movement.”

2005. Williams returns to football. Wannstadt is now toast in Miami, and Nick Saban is in. Saban  hires Scott Linehan to run the offense.  Williams serves a  four game suspension, but under Master  Scott Linehan’s offensive system, rushes for 743 yards, 6 TDs, and a 4.4 yards per carry average. (Ah, grasshopper, he who walks the straight path discovers he has not forgotten how to run.) Nobody votes for Williams as the Comeback Player of the Year.

2006. Williams violates the NFL’s drug policy for the fourth time. He is rumoured to have been in India. The substance he allegedly used was related to his “herbal” therapy. Bill O’Reilly slams Williams on “The Factor.” Williams seeks refuge in Canada, playing in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts.  Williams is ripped by Joe Theismann, who calls him an “addict,” and who disdains the move by the Argos for signing him. Williams hurts himself in a game in Regina, Saskatchewan, breaking a bone in his forearm.  In eleven games, Williams rushes for 526 yards on 109 carries playing in Canada. Canadian Football League fans actually think Williams average performance for the Argonauts is evidence that the CFL is as good as the NFL.  A new rule in the Canadian Football League comes into effect that suspended or banned NFL players will no longer be permitted to play in the CFL.

2007. Williams applies for reinstatement. He practices yoga. He sees a shrink. Miami Dolphins Head Coach Cam Cameron says of Williams “past behavior is indicative of future behavior.” Translation: don’t bother coming back.  Then, the Miami Dolphins lose their first twelve games, and appear headed for an 0-16 season. Cam Cameron changes his tune. “The situation has changed,” he said. (Ah, grasshopper, what is pride without humility?)

Williams returns on a Monday night game in Pittsburg. Heinz Field is a mud bowl. Williams fumbles. Lawrence Timmons steps on his chest. Williams writhes on the field.  He has torn chest muscles. He is placed on IR. There is more yoga on the horizon. The Steelers win the lowest scoring game in Monday night history, 3-0.

2008. Williams signs a contract renewal with the Miami Dolphins. Nobody knows what to expect. The next drug test failure could be minutes or light years away. Bill Parcells likes what he sees. Williams signs an extension through 2009. Williams works hard. He spells Ronnie Brown. They become friends. Williams rushes for 659 yards, a 4.1 YPC average, 4 TDs. He catches 29 passes for 219 more yards. He is featured in the Dolphins wildcat offense, which is the brainchild of QB coach David Lee.

Since Williams reinstatement toward the end of 2007, since the night when he returned to the NFL after four violations of a banned substance, the night that Lawrence Timmons stepped on his chest, Williams has been clean. Now, through thirteen games of the 2009 season, Williams silence off the field has been accompanied by thunder on the field. He is currently 10^th in the league in rushing, 25 yards short of 1000.

He has ten touchdowns and averaged just under five yards per carry.

At 32, Williams has put Ladainian Tomlinson to shame. Since Ronnie Brown went down with a season ending injury, he has been the Dolphins most poignant attacker, supplanting the nascent trickery of the wildcat formation with power running. He has apparently turned the final corner of his career and is heading to the homestretch: at the end of next season, he will allegedly retire.

For diehard Miami Dolphin fans, the shibboleth this year has been silence. Master Po might say, “silence is golden.” But as Caine himself, played by the late David Carradine might respond, apropos of Williams, “I may be silent, but don’t mistake me for a wall.”

 

 

 

 

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‘Twas The NFL Homestretch

‘TWAS THE NFL HOMESTRETCH 2009

 

 

‘Twas the NFL homestretch

And all through the league,

Two playoff berths clinched

The number one seeds.

 

The Saints are a-cruising

12-0! What a sight!

Kudos to  Shaun Suisham

Who pushed it wide right.

 

In Indy they, too,

Ride the 12-0 bloom,

The rest of the division

Can choke on their fumes.

 

The Saints and the Colts

Now snug in their beds,

Visions of byes

Dance around in their heads.

 

As for the Jags, they

Might scrape for a seed,

Though none of their wins

Are against winning teams.

 

In the AFC North

It’s the Bengals who’re cosy,

Ravens imploding and the

Browns hold your nosy.

 

The Steelers, the champs

Not feeling so well,

Perhaps it was this week

They’ll unleash all that hell.

 

Coach Cable must be

So proud of his team,

To have beaten the Steelers

Can Al Davis still breathe?

 

He might need a medic,

Or maybe retire,

Before he tells someone,

“Hey baby, you’re fired.”

 

Now Randy, now Welker

One-two in the league,

But the Pats are a-stumbling

And starting to bleed.

 

Adrian Peterson

What’s up? You alive?

YPC last week

A scant one point five.

 

That will hardly

Keep you in Chris Johnson’s range,

And your fantasy owners

Must be going insane.

 

If you don’t pick it up

From behind you will see,

Steven Jackson, Thomas Jones

And soon MJD.

 

The sugar plum fairy’s

Inside Brett Favre’s head,

Says now it’s December,

Time for your arm to go dead.

 

This week we will see

How the Vikings reply,

Will they knock out the Bengals

And push for that bye?

 

And the Chargers in Dallas

Two coaches in step,

From the looks on their faces

Is one more inept?

 

The Cowboys are feeling

Some heat from the rear,

The Eagles bearing down

The Giants still near.

 

For either Chargers or Cowboys

A loss coming pray tell,

But will we see some more action

Off the fists of Flozell?

 

Some December surprises

From good Old Saint Nick?

Already two TDs he

Bestowed on Mike Vick.

 

And the Broncos out west

Staying close all the same,

As Coach McDaniels sideline rant

Said, “All were trying to do

Is win a f**kin game.”

 

The Broncos better off

Without Cutler it’s true,

Buckhalter and Moreno

Running well, too.

 

Elsewhere in the north

There is movement to boot,

The Packers are coming

To a wildcard game soon.

 

Up on the rooftops

The reindeer might linger,

Unless it’s in Nashville

They might get the finger

 

From Bud Adams, Bud Adams

Without a Vince Young,

Even though there’s Chris Johnson

You still might get stung.

 

So be good in the homestretch,

No mistakes teams can make,

A playoff berth looms

If you appreciate the stakes

 

And Santa is watching

Be good or you’ll find,

A broken rear window

And a golf club nearby.

 

Just four weeks left

NFL fans and we’ll see,

Who’ll wind up on top

And champs they will be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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