Here's one thing I just can't stand that happens EVERY WEEK: So called "experts" sitting there on TV making predictions about games/making general statements about how good or bad a team is based solely on their last week's performance. It's making me sick. How many times do you watch Sunday NFL Countdown while they're picking games, and the only reasons for their picks they're giving are "Yeah, Drew Brees passed for over 400 yds last week, so Saints are gonna win" or "Patriots dropped 52 on Buffalo Monday night, so this week, they're gonna drop 52 on Philly this week."
Teams have bad games. It's that simple. Moreover, really good teams seem to have really bad games against bad teams late in the season. This happens every year. I don't get why the experts don't predict this more often. If you look at the undefeated Dolphins of 72', most of their close games were late in the season against teams with bad-mediocre records.
Yeah, it may be hard to predict, but it looks so dumb when every single week you pick games based on how a team played last week. Every time Matt Berry comes on TV... their so called "fantasy expert," he's saying to start some guy just because he had a good last week. "Jamal Lewis went nuts with 4 tds last week, so he's a sure starter this week..." COME ON! Gimme a break! I'd just like to see some more in-depth analysis... that's all.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Ravens - Grow Up.
Well, since the Lima Middle School students will not be visiting the Allen County Museum today due to there being a few ice patches on the roads, there is no news in Lima, and consequently I have down time here at work. So I'll write about what a bunch of bitches the Baltimore Ravens are.
It's clear that I'm a huge Pats fan, but I'm going to look at last week's game from an objective viewpoint. So forget the fact that I jumped so hard when Jabbar Gaffney caught that TD pass that I shook the entire house and scared the shit out of my wife and probably the neighbors...
First of all, let's get something out of the way: The Patriots were lucky as hell to win that game. I mean reeeeeally lucky. Not too many more things could have gone their way. BUT this was in no way the fault of the referees, who the Ravens are so openly blaming for the loss rather than themselves, who blew it BIGTIME.
Let's List the things that needed to happen in order for the Patriots to win.
1. Ravens had to turn the ball over on that drive that Boller threw the interception or else a 2 possession game with half of the fourth quarter left would have probably resulted in a Pats loss.
2. Pats D had to somehow make Ravens go 3 and out on 2 consecutive drives after being abused by Mcgahee all night long
3. Brady's pass that got tipped like 100 ft in the air had to not be intercepted.
4. Ravens coaches had to call that timeout as the Ravens D stopped the sneak on 4th down.
5. Pats had to false start as they were being stuffed on the next play.
6. Ravens D had to be called for defensive holding when Brady's 4th and 6 pass went incomplete.
Now, let's analyze each of these.
1. First of all, Alex and I were watching this game in bed, and leaned over to her and said that if the Ravens don't turn it over on this drive, we're gonna lose. I really think that this was the number one most lucky thing that happened for the Pats during that game. If Baltimore goes up by 10 there, we don't have a chance to win that game, the way that the Baltimore D pretty much shut down Randy Moss... Pats would have had to go to him down the field to give them any chance. Plus we just straight up couldn't stop the Ravens running game all night, and they would have been able to control the clock. My god, who the hell was he throwing to anyways?? Does he even know? That interception was way worse than any INT that Brett Favre has ever thrown. Worst one I've ever seen in my life.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] Kyle Boller to Blame
2. Pretty self-explanatory. Pats just manned up and played like a championship team. They dug deep. They stopped McGahee.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame
3. Can't believe this thing wasn't picked. I'd say that 8/10 times, that ball is picked for sure.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] God to Blame
4. There's been a big shit-storm with this defensive coordinator calling a timeout a few seconds before the ball was snapped. And yes, it was clearly a few seconds before... the coach was running down the sidelines screaming for a timeout. Apparently, it's a rule in the NFL that only the head coach or a player can call timeout. Yeah... it's also a rule that you have to come to a complete stop at a red light before turning right at 3:00 in the morning... it's just one of those things that everyone does and nobody gets pulled over for (although some people fail drivers tests for it). How many times do assistant coaches call timeouts? All the time! Totally legit timeout call, case closed. I do understand the players being pissed at the coaches for this one though.
[ ] Refs to blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame
5. Most beneficial false start of all time, hands down. They were probably getting their asses stuffed. Who knows though, did the O line keep going hard after they heard the whistle? Maybe not. Can't draw any conclusions from this one.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] God to Blame
6. Did you watch the game??? I know it's easy to hate on the Pats cuz theyre like all good and stuff... but I can't think of a more clear example of a defensive hold than this play (except maybe when Moss got held in the end zone earlier in the game, but that was probably their gameplan). He had Ben Watson covered like a blanket. the rule is 5 yards. Not 10. Not 15. I don't know what else to say about this except that if you don't think this was a hold, then you obviously know nothing about football.
[ ] Refs to blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame
I was just reviewing this list I made, and I didn't see and boxes checked indicating that the refs were to blame for anything. Luck? Yeah. Pretty damn lucky win. But this is why I love being a Patriots fan. We literally make teams cry. "waaah waaaaaah waaaah ....the refs have them crowned already... waaah" It's the funnest thing ever to watch. Turning grown men into babies. The fact of the matter is that if anything, I'm sure that the refs probably don't want the Pats to go undefeated because of the whole spygate thing.
The Ravens were apparently playing for Sean Tayler. Cool, fine with me, just don't disgrace him by acting like a bunch of 2 year olds when the game is over. Blaming your own meltdown on referees. Sean Taylor is probably looking down shaking his head right now like "you blew it... and you acted like idiots after..."
To close, I just want to talk about how the Patriots are so hated. I understand it... they win a lot. It's to be expected. But with this team, it's really admirable. It's not like the Yankees or Sox that just buy everyone and win solely because of that. The Patriots are incredibly well coached, humble as hell, and they turn mediocre players into superstars. And don't talk to me about cheating. Other teams are now just a lot more careful when they film opponents.
It's clear that I'm a huge Pats fan, but I'm going to look at last week's game from an objective viewpoint. So forget the fact that I jumped so hard when Jabbar Gaffney caught that TD pass that I shook the entire house and scared the shit out of my wife and probably the neighbors...
First of all, let's get something out of the way: The Patriots were lucky as hell to win that game. I mean reeeeeally lucky. Not too many more things could have gone their way. BUT this was in no way the fault of the referees, who the Ravens are so openly blaming for the loss rather than themselves, who blew it BIGTIME.
Let's List the things that needed to happen in order for the Patriots to win.
1. Ravens had to turn the ball over on that drive that Boller threw the interception or else a 2 possession game with half of the fourth quarter left would have probably resulted in a Pats loss.
2. Pats D had to somehow make Ravens go 3 and out on 2 consecutive drives after being abused by Mcgahee all night long
3. Brady's pass that got tipped like 100 ft in the air had to not be intercepted.
4. Ravens coaches had to call that timeout as the Ravens D stopped the sneak on 4th down.
5. Pats had to false start as they were being stuffed on the next play.
6. Ravens D had to be called for defensive holding when Brady's 4th and 6 pass went incomplete.
Now, let's analyze each of these.
1. First of all, Alex and I were watching this game in bed, and leaned over to her and said that if the Ravens don't turn it over on this drive, we're gonna lose. I really think that this was the number one most lucky thing that happened for the Pats during that game. If Baltimore goes up by 10 there, we don't have a chance to win that game, the way that the Baltimore D pretty much shut down Randy Moss... Pats would have had to go to him down the field to give them any chance. Plus we just straight up couldn't stop the Ravens running game all night, and they would have been able to control the clock. My god, who the hell was he throwing to anyways?? Does he even know? That interception was way worse than any INT that Brett Favre has ever thrown. Worst one I've ever seen in my life.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] Kyle Boller to Blame
2. Pretty self-explanatory. Pats just manned up and played like a championship team. They dug deep. They stopped McGahee.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame
3. Can't believe this thing wasn't picked. I'd say that 8/10 times, that ball is picked for sure.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] God to Blame
4. There's been a big shit-storm with this defensive coordinator calling a timeout a few seconds before the ball was snapped. And yes, it was clearly a few seconds before... the coach was running down the sidelines screaming for a timeout. Apparently, it's a rule in the NFL that only the head coach or a player can call timeout. Yeah... it's also a rule that you have to come to a complete stop at a red light before turning right at 3:00 in the morning... it's just one of those things that everyone does and nobody gets pulled over for (although some people fail drivers tests for it). How many times do assistant coaches call timeouts? All the time! Totally legit timeout call, case closed. I do understand the players being pissed at the coaches for this one though.
[ ] Refs to blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame
5. Most beneficial false start of all time, hands down. They were probably getting their asses stuffed. Who knows though, did the O line keep going hard after they heard the whistle? Maybe not. Can't draw any conclusions from this one.
[ ] Refs to Blame
[x] God to Blame
6. Did you watch the game??? I know it's easy to hate on the Pats cuz theyre like all good and stuff... but I can't think of a more clear example of a defensive hold than this play (except maybe when Moss got held in the end zone earlier in the game, but that was probably their gameplan). He had Ben Watson covered like a blanket. the rule is 5 yards. Not 10. Not 15. I don't know what else to say about this except that if you don't think this was a hold, then you obviously know nothing about football.
[ ] Refs to blame
[x] Yourselves to Blame
I was just reviewing this list I made, and I didn't see and boxes checked indicating that the refs were to blame for anything. Luck? Yeah. Pretty damn lucky win. But this is why I love being a Patriots fan. We literally make teams cry. "waaah waaaaaah waaaah ....the refs have them crowned already... waaah" It's the funnest thing ever to watch. Turning grown men into babies. The fact of the matter is that if anything, I'm sure that the refs probably don't want the Pats to go undefeated because of the whole spygate thing.
The Ravens were apparently playing for Sean Tayler. Cool, fine with me, just don't disgrace him by acting like a bunch of 2 year olds when the game is over. Blaming your own meltdown on referees. Sean Taylor is probably looking down shaking his head right now like "you blew it... and you acted like idiots after..."
To close, I just want to talk about how the Patriots are so hated. I understand it... they win a lot. It's to be expected. But with this team, it's really admirable. It's not like the Yankees or Sox that just buy everyone and win solely because of that. The Patriots are incredibly well coached, humble as hell, and they turn mediocre players into superstars. And don't talk to me about cheating. Other teams are now just a lot more careful when they film opponents.
Friday, November 16, 2007
WHY GOD WHY?!?!?!
Today I'd like to discuss a very disturbing recent trend in sports: I like to call it the "If you don't win the championship, immediately fire the coach/an important player." trend. I understand that it's the team's goal to win the super bowl/World Series, but what is the deal with this? Over the past few years, it seems to have gotten much worse. It seems like a lot of GMs don't understand one important aspect of sports: VARIANCE
You can't win every year. You just can't. George Steinbrenner doesn't seem to understand this. I know that you're trying to improve your team. I know you want to win the world series. BUT you just can't 100% expect to win it every year. Their problem all year had been pitching, and it was still pitching during the playoffs. In order to give yourself the best chance to win, you want to be as strong as you can in each position. Joe Torre is the best manager in baseball! Isn't that obvious?? Why don't they take a chunk of that 250 million they were paying A-Rod and get some pitchers?
Now, if there's one thing I like about baseball, it's that they play a lot of games during the season, and that large amount of games lessens the variance a good deal. So unlike other sports, namely football, the teams that make it to the playoffs are inarguably the best. It's tough to make the playoffs in baseball. That said, how many games are actually played in the playoffs, compared to the season? 162 during the season, then a 5 game series, then two 7 game series'. A lot of variance can occur within that small of a series. Now, I'm not saying that they should play longer series' (and thank god they don't) , all I'm saying is that you can't expect to have everything go your way every time over such a small period of time.
Ok so forget baseball... the biggest mistake EVER made in sports in my opinion was the Chargers firing Marty Schottenheimer last year. 14-2 during the regular season. And here's the thing. That team, playing at its absolute best, will win that game against New England 50% of the time. I'd say that's fair. And here's the other thing. They pretty much were playing their best. That was a great game. It came down to a last second FG. Now if we think that the variance in Baseball playoffs is bad, think about the variance involved in just ONE game in a league like the NFL where teams are closely talented, ESPECIALLY in the playoffs.
The Chargers were playing amazing football, they had a well established running game, LT is breaking records like crazy, even Philip Rivers is looking good. The team is working like a well oiled machine. Then you lose a close game to a good team in the playoffs, and you fire Marty, who gives you your best chance to win? (Or at least a better chance than Norv Turner) They have the same team, different coach. They were great last year and horrible this year. I mean bad, too. LT can't have an LT like game for his life (although his off days are quite impressive still), Philip Rivers looks like me at a Brookfield East practice... it's just a real mess. And that idiot GM brought it upon himself and the city.
Now there are coaches that deserve to be fired. Callahan, Weis, Mangini... the list goes on. But when you're consistently giving yourself a great chance to win, don't screw it up royally by making a 180 degree change in coaching. It's bad for the players and bad for the team overall. I want to see Marty-Ball again....
You can't win every year. You just can't. George Steinbrenner doesn't seem to understand this. I know that you're trying to improve your team. I know you want to win the world series. BUT you just can't 100% expect to win it every year. Their problem all year had been pitching, and it was still pitching during the playoffs. In order to give yourself the best chance to win, you want to be as strong as you can in each position. Joe Torre is the best manager in baseball! Isn't that obvious?? Why don't they take a chunk of that 250 million they were paying A-Rod and get some pitchers?
Now, if there's one thing I like about baseball, it's that they play a lot of games during the season, and that large amount of games lessens the variance a good deal. So unlike other sports, namely football, the teams that make it to the playoffs are inarguably the best. It's tough to make the playoffs in baseball. That said, how many games are actually played in the playoffs, compared to the season? 162 during the season, then a 5 game series, then two 7 game series'. A lot of variance can occur within that small of a series. Now, I'm not saying that they should play longer series' (and thank god they don't) , all I'm saying is that you can't expect to have everything go your way every time over such a small period of time.
Ok so forget baseball... the biggest mistake EVER made in sports in my opinion was the Chargers firing Marty Schottenheimer last year. 14-2 during the regular season. And here's the thing. That team, playing at its absolute best, will win that game against New England 50% of the time. I'd say that's fair. And here's the other thing. They pretty much were playing their best. That was a great game. It came down to a last second FG. Now if we think that the variance in Baseball playoffs is bad, think about the variance involved in just ONE game in a league like the NFL where teams are closely talented, ESPECIALLY in the playoffs.
The Chargers were playing amazing football, they had a well established running game, LT is breaking records like crazy, even Philip Rivers is looking good. The team is working like a well oiled machine. Then you lose a close game to a good team in the playoffs, and you fire Marty, who gives you your best chance to win? (Or at least a better chance than Norv Turner) They have the same team, different coach. They were great last year and horrible this year. I mean bad, too. LT can't have an LT like game for his life (although his off days are quite impressive still), Philip Rivers looks like me at a Brookfield East practice... it's just a real mess. And that idiot GM brought it upon himself and the city.
Now there are coaches that deserve to be fired. Callahan, Weis, Mangini... the list goes on. But when you're consistently giving yourself a great chance to win, don't screw it up royally by making a 180 degree change in coaching. It's bad for the players and bad for the team overall. I want to see Marty-Ball again....
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Colts: Time to Panic?
Well, let me sum that up in one word. No. With the Colts losing this week, everyone's talking about how they're no longer the 2nd best team in the league. They're saying Pittsburgh... Dallas...Green Bay... uh, no.
Let's talk about Sunday night's game. Yes, they lost to the Chargers. Yes, the Chargers are terrible. I'd say that in the NFL, teams are pretty close to each other talent-wise compared to other sports. That being said, it's quite often that the team making the most mistakes loses. Peyton Manning threw 6 interceptions and they still *basically* won the game. Mr. Clutch himself, Adam Vinateri, misses two field goals, including a game winner chip-shot. What else can possibly go wrong in one game? What other team in the NFL can make so many mistakes, and still have such a great chance to win? What other team can make half that many mistakes and still have a chance to win? The Jay Mariottis of the world need to stop pressing the panic button and realize that a fluke loss one week doesn't mean anything.
Another issue for this team is injuries. No Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark, Tony Ugoh.... the list goes on. The past 2 weeks have been a nut check for these guys, and I think that they've somewhat proven that they can handle adversity. Losing to the Pats is nothing to be ashamed of, and the Colts looked really good in that game, even without those guys. I've never seen Tom Brady under so much pressure... that Colts defense has to be the most underrated in the league. They're so fun to watch, and really talented. And last week they put themselves in position to win in San Diego with all those injuries and after a sick amount of mistakes/bad luck. Just a fluke FG miss.
Put a healthy Colts team in front of either Green Bay or Pittsburgh, and it's a slaughter-fest. I don't care how good Ben Roethlisberger looked in wins over Baltimore and Cleveland. They haven't been consistent. The Colts have played real teams, and been impressive in all of their games. They also play consistently well. Does anyone remember that Pittsburgh lost to Arizona? The only team in the league other than NE that has a chance at beating the Colts anytime soon is the Cowboys, and I only say that because they can keep up offensively, and because Peyton isn't quite himself this year. But he's still Peyton Manning.
Let's talk about Sunday night's game. Yes, they lost to the Chargers. Yes, the Chargers are terrible. I'd say that in the NFL, teams are pretty close to each other talent-wise compared to other sports. That being said, it's quite often that the team making the most mistakes loses. Peyton Manning threw 6 interceptions and they still *basically* won the game. Mr. Clutch himself, Adam Vinateri, misses two field goals, including a game winner chip-shot. What else can possibly go wrong in one game? What other team in the NFL can make so many mistakes, and still have such a great chance to win? What other team can make half that many mistakes and still have a chance to win? The Jay Mariottis of the world need to stop pressing the panic button and realize that a fluke loss one week doesn't mean anything.
Another issue for this team is injuries. No Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark, Tony Ugoh.... the list goes on. The past 2 weeks have been a nut check for these guys, and I think that they've somewhat proven that they can handle adversity. Losing to the Pats is nothing to be ashamed of, and the Colts looked really good in that game, even without those guys. I've never seen Tom Brady under so much pressure... that Colts defense has to be the most underrated in the league. They're so fun to watch, and really talented. And last week they put themselves in position to win in San Diego with all those injuries and after a sick amount of mistakes/bad luck. Just a fluke FG miss.
Put a healthy Colts team in front of either Green Bay or Pittsburgh, and it's a slaughter-fest. I don't care how good Ben Roethlisberger looked in wins over Baltimore and Cleveland. They haven't been consistent. The Colts have played real teams, and been impressive in all of their games. They also play consistently well. Does anyone remember that Pittsburgh lost to Arizona? The only team in the league other than NE that has a chance at beating the Colts anytime soon is the Cowboys, and I only say that because they can keep up offensively, and because Peyton isn't quite himself this year. But he's still Peyton Manning.
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