The Dallas Cowboys have been known as America's Team for more than three decades but ESPN's Tom Jackson has a brutally honest take on exactly what the Cowboys really represent now: mediocrity. Jackson has repeatedly compared Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones with a carnival barker hyping up some kind of freak show. Check out this clip:
Online betting at Top Bet (click here for more information) lists the Cowboys as favorites over the visiting Cleveland Browns this Sunday in a battle of the two quarterbacks who lead the NFL in interceptions--Dallas' Tony Romo (13) and Cleveland's Brandon Weeden (12, tied for second place "honors" with Philip Rivers and Matt Cassel)--but would anyone be surprised if Dallas finds some way to lose even against the inept Browns? After all, the Cowboys blow more fourth quarter leads than any other team in recent memory, their clock management in crucial situations is very poor and Coach Jason Garrett even "iced" his own kicker last season!
Does any NFL owner other than Jones make a habit of giving postgame interviews in or around his team's locker room? Jones seems to be drawn to TV cameras like a moth is drawn to a flame but his coaching staff and players would probably perform better if Jones could accept a less visible role. Jones recently admitted that if another GM had performed as poorly in that role as he has performed as the GM of the Cowboys then he would fire him; maybe he should take his own advice.
Showing posts with label Tony Romo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony Romo. Show all posts
Friday, November 16, 2012
Monday, December 15, 2008
Monday Night Football Quick Hits: Eagles Fly Over Inept Browns
The Philadelphia Eagles thrashed the Cleveland Browns 30-10 and the beating was truly worse than even that lopsided score suggests; if the Eagles had any kind of red zone offense they could have easily dropped 50 points on the hapless, helpless, hopeless Browns, who are still mired in the longest stretch of time without an offensive touchdown in franchise history. Donovan McNabb completed 26 of 35 passes for 290 yards, two touchdowns and one interception en route to a 105.7 passer rating, his third highest single-game rating this season. He sat out most of the fourth quarter or he could have easily notched a 300 or even 400 yard game. "This is like seven on seven (practice drills with no linemen)...Donovan is getting no pressure on him," ESPN's Ron Jaworski said early in the third quarter.
You could not conceive of a bigger contrast than the one between the Eagles' offense--at least until they reached the red zone, when things got a little dicey--and the Browns' offense, "led" by third string quarterback Ken Dorsey, who completed 11 of 28 passes for 156 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, accumulating a 28.3 passer rating on the heels of his 49.6 passer rating last week in his first start of the season, a 28-9 loss to Tennessee. Dorsey has a peashooter for an arm and absolutely no mobility; his strength is supposed to be his ability to read coverages but that was hardly evident during this game. He totally misread a coverage and threw a pass that Asante Samuel intercepted and ran back for a touchdown late in the second quarter, extending Philadelphia's lead to 17-3. Dorsey's second pick also looked like it was the result of a terrible read and he could easily have had two more interceptions if Eagles' defenders had held on to the ball.
Here's a bizarre stat for the Browns: they have started six different quarterbacks in their last six Monday Night Football appearances, each of whom faced some kind of adversity either in that game or soon afterwards, beginning with Bernie Kosar in 1993 (waived by the Browns later that season) and then continuing with Eric Zeier in 1995 (started just one more game for the Browns), Kelly Holcomb (2003, benched during that game and did not play for the rest of the season), Derek Anderson (2008, benched three weeks later and then suffered a season-ending injury) and Brady Quinn (2008, broke his finger and is now out for the season). It is safe to assume that Dorsey does not have too many starts left in his future, either.
The Eagles effortlessly marched 64 yards on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. The Browns answered with their only productive drive of the game, going 63 yards before stalling at the Eagles' nine yard line and settling for a field goal. The Browns' offense did not reach Eagles' territory again until the second half.
Even when the Browns made a big defensive play they found a way not to score. After McNabb and the Eagles used horrible time management during a two minute drill near the end of the first half, McNabb threw a pass into the end zone that Brandon McDonald intercepted. Often, such picks are run back for TDs because the offensive players are so spread out. McDonald took off down the sideline but Brian Westbrook and Hank Baskett did not give up on the play, combining to run McDonald down as time expired. McDonald's 98 yard return is the longest interception return in regular season NFL history that did not result in a touchdown. Either McDonald is slow, Westbrook is really fast or the Browns are just cursed.
McDonald must have been destined to score in this game, though, because after McNabb went to the bench in the fourth quarter McDonald picked off Eagles' backup Kevin Kolb and raced 24 yards, somersaulting into the endzone to avoid a tackle attempt. That ended the Browns' touchdown-less streak--which had extended to 15 quarters--but the Browns' offense has not reached the endzone since Cleveland's 29-27 Monday Night Football win over Buffalo on November 17. Oddly, the Browns went 2-1 on Monday Night Football this year, beating the Super Bowl champion New York Giants and a Bills team that looked pretty good in mid-November. McDonald had at least one interception in each of Cleveland's three MNF games this year, an MNF first.
Braylon Edwards has been terrible for most of the season--leading the league in dropped passes after making the Pro Bowl last year--but even with the weak-armed Dorsey at the helm he caught five passes for 102 yards, thereby exceeding the 100 yard plateau in each of Cleveland's MNF games; only Jerry Rice and Torry Holt have had three 100 yard games in three MNF appearances in the same season.
Although a few individual players shined, this game was a microcosm of Cleveland's disastrous season. "It's really an embarrassment for Cleveland," Tony Kornheiser said after McNabb stood in the pocket unmolested for seemingly an eternity before throwing the TD pass that put the Eagles up 30-3. "It's everything that they've spent the whole year being: collapsing on offense, collapsing on defense, making no effort."
In many ways, the Browns resemble an expansion team now and, although injuries to the top two quarterbacks have played a part in that recently, the team did not look great for the most part even when Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn played. The Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 after the skunk Art Modell moved the original Browns to Baltimore and it must be said that virtually everything that has happened with the Browns since 1995--the team's final season in Cleveland--stinks. It started with Modell's underhanded moves that resulted in one Super Bowl title for his Baltimore Ravens and three Super Bowl wins for the New England Patriots, who smartly hired Bill Belichick a few years after Modell unceremoniously dumped the last Browns coach to win a playoff game. A lot of people seem to have forgotten that when Modell signed the deal to move the team Al Lerner--who later became the owner of the "new" Browns--was literally right by his side. If you believe in conspiracies, you could say that things worked out perfectly for the two good friends: Modell got to move his team, received a pile of money and even managed to get his long coveted Super Bowl championship, while Lerner got the opportunity to be the majority owner of the Browns, something that otherwise would never have happened because Modell was determined to keep control of the team in his family (ironically, he again got into financial trouble in Baltimore and had to sell controlling interest in the team). The only people who got screwed are the loyal Browns fans. Al Lerner has since passed away and his son Randy now owns the team but he seems more interested in the fate of his soccer team. I think that it is fair to say that Randy Lerner owes it to the Browns fans to put a much better and more professional product on the field. He has largely gotten a pass from the media and fans but the actions--and lack thereof--of he and his family have a lot to do with the sorry history of the Browns since 1995.
Here are some notes/comments about Sunday's action:
*Everyone has offered his or her two cents' worth about the drama in Dallas but I only heard two objective voices who made sense: Steve Young and John Madden. It is unfortunate that Young has such a limited role in ESPN's coverage because he is by far their best NFL analyst. Prior to Dallas' 20-8 win over the New York Giants, Young offered his prescription for the Cowboys to move forward: as the quarterback, Tony Romo should publicly take the blame for misreads/poorly thrown balls but in private Romo should assert himself when necessary and make sure that the lines of communication are open between he and all of the other offensive players. Young said that is the best way to defuse any potential controversies; considering that Young played with Jerry Rice, Terrell Owens and other receivers who wanted to have a lot of passes thrown in their direction, he definitely has a lot of credibility to explain how a quarterback should nourish his relationships with his teammates.
Madden made two interesting technical observations:
1) He watched the game film of the Dallas-Pittsburgh game and determined that Owens was indeed open but did not receive the ball, which has been Owens' contention (and which many other Dallas players also believe, despite the media's attempts to portray Owens to be a troublemaker).
2) During the New York game, Madden noted that a screen pass to Owens' side of the field is very effective because Owens attracts so much extra defensive coverage.
The bottom line is that Owens is a playmaker and he is a competitor who wants to be involved in the offense. The Cowboys should want to get the ball in his hands as much as possible; I've never heard it suggested of any other future Hall of Famer that he should not want the ball or that his team should not try to get him the ball. That is just ignorant. People can say that Owens destroys teams but the 49ers were a playoff team during five of his eight seasons in San Francisco and have not once been a .500 team since he departed after the 2002 season. The Eagles were a Super Bowl team with Owens and have barely been above .500 overall since they got rid of Owens. The Cowboys missed the playoffs two years in a row before Owens arrived but made the playoffs in each of his first two seasons with the team and are on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs again this year.
As Madden indicated, Owens not only makes plays but he attracts so much coverage that he enables less talented teammates to have opportunities to make plays. I just laugh when I hear people talk about how the Eagles need a game-breaking wide receiver to make their offense complete. They had one in Terrell Owens and Owens helped them to reach the Super Bowl but because McNabb is sensitive and the owner was too cheap or stubborn to pay Owens what he was worth--after Owens risked his career to come back from a devastating injury to have an MVP-level performance in the Super Bowl--the Eagles can derive temporary joy from beating the Browns before they are eliminated from postseason contention next week or in the final game of the season.
Most commentators took the easy route and bashed Terrell Owens in a variety of ways. I have said it before and it must be said again: the last person on Earth who should say anything about Owens is Keyshawn "Just Give Me the Damn Ball" Johnson, a player who was let go by a Super Bowl champion due to his insubordination and who--as Owens has rightly noted--is a commentator now at the age of 36 (just one year older than Owens) because Owens took his spot in Dallas. Talk about combining hypocrisy and conflict of interest in one sound bite! When Johnson talks about how a wide receiver should properly deal with his quarterback I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Johnson criticizes Owens' route running skills but Owens ranks second in NFL history in touchdowns, sixth in receiving yards and seventh in receptions, so this reminds me of the late, great Ralph Wiley's response to critics who said that baseball great Rickey Henderson did not always play hard: if a guy can put up those kind of numbers without playing hard (or, in this case, despite supposedly being a bad route runner) how great must he really be?
The problem here is that most people apparently cannot distinguish between athletes whose bad attitudes bring down their teams--like Chad Johnson--and athletes who are intense and passionate about winning and get frustrated when things aren't being done properly. I remember when then-Bengals running back Corey Dillon sat down on the bench in disgust and would not go back in the game because Coach Bruce Coslet's team was so undisciplined and unprepared. The media killed him but I always said to Bengals' fans that I hoped that the Browns would get Dillon because he was a great back on a sorry team. Bill Belichick saw through all the media nonsense and signed Dillon, who became a key contributor on a Super Bowl champion. In the NBA, Dennis Rodman may have seemed to be eccentric or worse but he had an extremely high basketball IQ. When he had high IQ basketball coaches like Chuck Daly and Phil Jackson he helped his teams win championships but he did not have patience for teammates and/or coaches who were soft or unprepared. One time, he was in the locker room when a coach was diagramming a defensive scheme and Rodman just went off, saying that the whole thing was BS, that Jackson's Bulls never played that kind of defense and it just won't work. Certain players just cannot be in situations that are not structured properly. Since coming to New England, Randy Moss has proven that even though he blatantly dogged it at times on previous teams he can be a winning player with the right structure around him.
Another aspect of the whole Owens situation that is strange is the "thrown to" numbers that have suddenly proliferated out of thin air. That is not an official NFL stat and I don't know how "thrown to" statistics are compiled; the numbers that have been bandied about in the past few days that purport to show that Owens has been "thrown to" more than Jason Witten this year seem bogus to me, unless "thrown to" includes balls that are thrown away and are uncatchable; the number of catchable balls thrown in Owens' direction this season has not been nearly as high as it should be (yes, Owens has dropped some catchable balls, too, but he has a track record of making big plays when he gets enough opportunities to do so).
By my count, here is the breakdown for Owens and Witten in the New York game:
Owens:
1) Dropped deep pass on 3rd and 10.
2) 25 yard reception on 2nd and 13.
3) Six yard reception on 1st and 10.
4) Overthrown ball on 1st and 10; illegal contact called on Giants, resulting in a five yard penalty and an automatic first down. If Owens had not been held, he likely would have had a huge gain on the play.
5) Seven yard reception on 2nd and eight.
6) Overthrown deep pass on 2nd and 13.
Owens finished with three receptions for 38 yards and drew one penalty that resulted in five yards and an automatic first down. He dropped one catchable pass and two of the balls thrown in his direction were not catchable.
Witten:
1) Off target, incomplete pass on 2nd and 10.
2) Dropped short pass on 3rd and 13.
3) Three yard reception on 1st and 10.
4) Five yard reception on 2nd and six.
5) Overthrown pass on 3rd and 11.
6) Underthrown pass on 1st and 10.
7) 12 yard reception on 1st and 10.
8) 13 yard reception on 2nd and nine.
9) 11 yard reception on 3rd and nine.
Witten also committed a false start penalty. Apparently, the second ball thrown to him was not "officially" recorded as a drop but the ball hit him on the hands and then hit the turf before he could control it. If that is not a drop then I am not sure what is.
After the game, Witten and Owens both told NBC's Andrea Kremer that their supposed feud had been blown completely out of proportion. "It was a lack of professionalism on (ESPN reporter) Ed Werder's behalf," Owens insisted to Kremer. In his postgame press conference, Owens added, "I don't know where he (Werder) got his information but it was a lie. It's unfair. I had to deal with this all week. I don't know where he's getting his sources from but whatever his source was, they told him a blatant lie." ESPN anchor John Buccigross said that the network stands by its story.
*"Bretty and the Jets" were bailed out by Buffalo's boneheaded playcalling but that does not change the fact that neither Brett Favre nor his team are performing well down the stretch. Favre had passer ratings over 100 in three straight wins to help the Jets improve to 8-3 but since that time they have limped to 9-5 as Favre threw four interceptions and just one touchdown pass while compiling ratings of 60.9, 60.8 and 61.4. At least he is consistent. Yes, Favre's old Green Bay team has crashed and burned this season but that has little to do with the performance of Favre's replacement, Aaron Rodgers, who has nearly duplicated Favre's 2007 stats and is having a better season this year than Favre is: Rodgers ranks eighth in the league in passer rating (91.8) and has thrown 23 TD passes while averaging 7.4 yards per attempt and only tossing 12 interceptions. In contrast, Favre ranks 15th in the NFL with a passer rating of 86.5 and he has 21 TDs, 17 interceptions--the most in the NFL--and is only averaging 6.8 yards per attempt, tied for 20th out of the 32 quarterbacks who have thrown enough passes to qualify for the league rankings. Last year, Favre had a 95.7 rating, 28 TDs, 15 interceptions and a 7.8 yards per attempt average.
New York's 31-27 win over Buffalo was a gift--the Bills had the lead and the ball with barely two minutes remaining before J.P. Losman inexplicably rolled out to pass and fumbled the ball, enabling the Jets to score the game-winning touchdown. The Jets have won three other games this year in which Favre had passer ratings of 76.0 or worse. Even though the Jets control their own destiny due to a favorable tiebreak situation, don't be a bit surprised if they end up right where I've said all along that they will be: sitting at home when the playoffs begin. Meanwhile, as I predicted in my season preview, ex-Jet Chad Pennington has gone to Miami and had a better season than Favre (though I was not bold enough to also predict that the Dolphins would improve their record as much as they have): Pennington ranks fourth in the NFL with a 95.1 passer rating and he has 14 TDs compared to just six interceptions. He is averaging a robust 7.8 yards per attempt (the same that Favre averaged in 2007 when he was considered an MVP candidate and one yard per attempt better than Favre this year) and he has 35 completions of at least 20 yards, two more than Favre in 32 fewer attempts. The knock on Pennington was that he does not have a strong arm but this season he has had more success throwing downfield than Favre has. Isn't it strange that Miami has the same 9-5 record as New York and that Pennington has had a better year than Favre while playing for a team that had been much worse (although the Jets were 4-12 in 2007 they were a playoff team in 2006, while the Dolphins were 1-15 in 2007 and 6-10 in 2006) but Favre has received much more media attention and praise than Pennington? If you go strictly by the numbers--not just passer rating but also completion percentage, yards per attempt and other key stats--then Philip Rivers, Pennington and Peyton Manning should be the AFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks this year. It will be interesting to see if Favre gets the nod instead due to how much the media pumps him up.
You could not conceive of a bigger contrast than the one between the Eagles' offense--at least until they reached the red zone, when things got a little dicey--and the Browns' offense, "led" by third string quarterback Ken Dorsey, who completed 11 of 28 passes for 156 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, accumulating a 28.3 passer rating on the heels of his 49.6 passer rating last week in his first start of the season, a 28-9 loss to Tennessee. Dorsey has a peashooter for an arm and absolutely no mobility; his strength is supposed to be his ability to read coverages but that was hardly evident during this game. He totally misread a coverage and threw a pass that Asante Samuel intercepted and ran back for a touchdown late in the second quarter, extending Philadelphia's lead to 17-3. Dorsey's second pick also looked like it was the result of a terrible read and he could easily have had two more interceptions if Eagles' defenders had held on to the ball.
Here's a bizarre stat for the Browns: they have started six different quarterbacks in their last six Monday Night Football appearances, each of whom faced some kind of adversity either in that game or soon afterwards, beginning with Bernie Kosar in 1993 (waived by the Browns later that season) and then continuing with Eric Zeier in 1995 (started just one more game for the Browns), Kelly Holcomb (2003, benched during that game and did not play for the rest of the season), Derek Anderson (2008, benched three weeks later and then suffered a season-ending injury) and Brady Quinn (2008, broke his finger and is now out for the season). It is safe to assume that Dorsey does not have too many starts left in his future, either.
The Eagles effortlessly marched 64 yards on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. The Browns answered with their only productive drive of the game, going 63 yards before stalling at the Eagles' nine yard line and settling for a field goal. The Browns' offense did not reach Eagles' territory again until the second half.
Even when the Browns made a big defensive play they found a way not to score. After McNabb and the Eagles used horrible time management during a two minute drill near the end of the first half, McNabb threw a pass into the end zone that Brandon McDonald intercepted. Often, such picks are run back for TDs because the offensive players are so spread out. McDonald took off down the sideline but Brian Westbrook and Hank Baskett did not give up on the play, combining to run McDonald down as time expired. McDonald's 98 yard return is the longest interception return in regular season NFL history that did not result in a touchdown. Either McDonald is slow, Westbrook is really fast or the Browns are just cursed.
McDonald must have been destined to score in this game, though, because after McNabb went to the bench in the fourth quarter McDonald picked off Eagles' backup Kevin Kolb and raced 24 yards, somersaulting into the endzone to avoid a tackle attempt. That ended the Browns' touchdown-less streak--which had extended to 15 quarters--but the Browns' offense has not reached the endzone since Cleveland's 29-27 Monday Night Football win over Buffalo on November 17. Oddly, the Browns went 2-1 on Monday Night Football this year, beating the Super Bowl champion New York Giants and a Bills team that looked pretty good in mid-November. McDonald had at least one interception in each of Cleveland's three MNF games this year, an MNF first.
Braylon Edwards has been terrible for most of the season--leading the league in dropped passes after making the Pro Bowl last year--but even with the weak-armed Dorsey at the helm he caught five passes for 102 yards, thereby exceeding the 100 yard plateau in each of Cleveland's MNF games; only Jerry Rice and Torry Holt have had three 100 yard games in three MNF appearances in the same season.
Although a few individual players shined, this game was a microcosm of Cleveland's disastrous season. "It's really an embarrassment for Cleveland," Tony Kornheiser said after McNabb stood in the pocket unmolested for seemingly an eternity before throwing the TD pass that put the Eagles up 30-3. "It's everything that they've spent the whole year being: collapsing on offense, collapsing on defense, making no effort."
In many ways, the Browns resemble an expansion team now and, although injuries to the top two quarterbacks have played a part in that recently, the team did not look great for the most part even when Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn played. The Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 after the skunk Art Modell moved the original Browns to Baltimore and it must be said that virtually everything that has happened with the Browns since 1995--the team's final season in Cleveland--stinks. It started with Modell's underhanded moves that resulted in one Super Bowl title for his Baltimore Ravens and three Super Bowl wins for the New England Patriots, who smartly hired Bill Belichick a few years after Modell unceremoniously dumped the last Browns coach to win a playoff game. A lot of people seem to have forgotten that when Modell signed the deal to move the team Al Lerner--who later became the owner of the "new" Browns--was literally right by his side. If you believe in conspiracies, you could say that things worked out perfectly for the two good friends: Modell got to move his team, received a pile of money and even managed to get his long coveted Super Bowl championship, while Lerner got the opportunity to be the majority owner of the Browns, something that otherwise would never have happened because Modell was determined to keep control of the team in his family (ironically, he again got into financial trouble in Baltimore and had to sell controlling interest in the team). The only people who got screwed are the loyal Browns fans. Al Lerner has since passed away and his son Randy now owns the team but he seems more interested in the fate of his soccer team. I think that it is fair to say that Randy Lerner owes it to the Browns fans to put a much better and more professional product on the field. He has largely gotten a pass from the media and fans but the actions--and lack thereof--of he and his family have a lot to do with the sorry history of the Browns since 1995.
Here are some notes/comments about Sunday's action:
*Everyone has offered his or her two cents' worth about the drama in Dallas but I only heard two objective voices who made sense: Steve Young and John Madden. It is unfortunate that Young has such a limited role in ESPN's coverage because he is by far their best NFL analyst. Prior to Dallas' 20-8 win over the New York Giants, Young offered his prescription for the Cowboys to move forward: as the quarterback, Tony Romo should publicly take the blame for misreads/poorly thrown balls but in private Romo should assert himself when necessary and make sure that the lines of communication are open between he and all of the other offensive players. Young said that is the best way to defuse any potential controversies; considering that Young played with Jerry Rice, Terrell Owens and other receivers who wanted to have a lot of passes thrown in their direction, he definitely has a lot of credibility to explain how a quarterback should nourish his relationships with his teammates.
Madden made two interesting technical observations:
1) He watched the game film of the Dallas-Pittsburgh game and determined that Owens was indeed open but did not receive the ball, which has been Owens' contention (and which many other Dallas players also believe, despite the media's attempts to portray Owens to be a troublemaker).
2) During the New York game, Madden noted that a screen pass to Owens' side of the field is very effective because Owens attracts so much extra defensive coverage.
The bottom line is that Owens is a playmaker and he is a competitor who wants to be involved in the offense. The Cowboys should want to get the ball in his hands as much as possible; I've never heard it suggested of any other future Hall of Famer that he should not want the ball or that his team should not try to get him the ball. That is just ignorant. People can say that Owens destroys teams but the 49ers were a playoff team during five of his eight seasons in San Francisco and have not once been a .500 team since he departed after the 2002 season. The Eagles were a Super Bowl team with Owens and have barely been above .500 overall since they got rid of Owens. The Cowboys missed the playoffs two years in a row before Owens arrived but made the playoffs in each of his first two seasons with the team and are on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs again this year.
As Madden indicated, Owens not only makes plays but he attracts so much coverage that he enables less talented teammates to have opportunities to make plays. I just laugh when I hear people talk about how the Eagles need a game-breaking wide receiver to make their offense complete. They had one in Terrell Owens and Owens helped them to reach the Super Bowl but because McNabb is sensitive and the owner was too cheap or stubborn to pay Owens what he was worth--after Owens risked his career to come back from a devastating injury to have an MVP-level performance in the Super Bowl--the Eagles can derive temporary joy from beating the Browns before they are eliminated from postseason contention next week or in the final game of the season.
Most commentators took the easy route and bashed Terrell Owens in a variety of ways. I have said it before and it must be said again: the last person on Earth who should say anything about Owens is Keyshawn "Just Give Me the Damn Ball" Johnson, a player who was let go by a Super Bowl champion due to his insubordination and who--as Owens has rightly noted--is a commentator now at the age of 36 (just one year older than Owens) because Owens took his spot in Dallas. Talk about combining hypocrisy and conflict of interest in one sound bite! When Johnson talks about how a wide receiver should properly deal with his quarterback I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Johnson criticizes Owens' route running skills but Owens ranks second in NFL history in touchdowns, sixth in receiving yards and seventh in receptions, so this reminds me of the late, great Ralph Wiley's response to critics who said that baseball great Rickey Henderson did not always play hard: if a guy can put up those kind of numbers without playing hard (or, in this case, despite supposedly being a bad route runner) how great must he really be?
The problem here is that most people apparently cannot distinguish between athletes whose bad attitudes bring down their teams--like Chad Johnson--and athletes who are intense and passionate about winning and get frustrated when things aren't being done properly. I remember when then-Bengals running back Corey Dillon sat down on the bench in disgust and would not go back in the game because Coach Bruce Coslet's team was so undisciplined and unprepared. The media killed him but I always said to Bengals' fans that I hoped that the Browns would get Dillon because he was a great back on a sorry team. Bill Belichick saw through all the media nonsense and signed Dillon, who became a key contributor on a Super Bowl champion. In the NBA, Dennis Rodman may have seemed to be eccentric or worse but he had an extremely high basketball IQ. When he had high IQ basketball coaches like Chuck Daly and Phil Jackson he helped his teams win championships but he did not have patience for teammates and/or coaches who were soft or unprepared. One time, he was in the locker room when a coach was diagramming a defensive scheme and Rodman just went off, saying that the whole thing was BS, that Jackson's Bulls never played that kind of defense and it just won't work. Certain players just cannot be in situations that are not structured properly. Since coming to New England, Randy Moss has proven that even though he blatantly dogged it at times on previous teams he can be a winning player with the right structure around him.
Another aspect of the whole Owens situation that is strange is the "thrown to" numbers that have suddenly proliferated out of thin air. That is not an official NFL stat and I don't know how "thrown to" statistics are compiled; the numbers that have been bandied about in the past few days that purport to show that Owens has been "thrown to" more than Jason Witten this year seem bogus to me, unless "thrown to" includes balls that are thrown away and are uncatchable; the number of catchable balls thrown in Owens' direction this season has not been nearly as high as it should be (yes, Owens has dropped some catchable balls, too, but he has a track record of making big plays when he gets enough opportunities to do so).
By my count, here is the breakdown for Owens and Witten in the New York game:
Owens:
1) Dropped deep pass on 3rd and 10.
2) 25 yard reception on 2nd and 13.
3) Six yard reception on 1st and 10.
4) Overthrown ball on 1st and 10; illegal contact called on Giants, resulting in a five yard penalty and an automatic first down. If Owens had not been held, he likely would have had a huge gain on the play.
5) Seven yard reception on 2nd and eight.
6) Overthrown deep pass on 2nd and 13.
Owens finished with three receptions for 38 yards and drew one penalty that resulted in five yards and an automatic first down. He dropped one catchable pass and two of the balls thrown in his direction were not catchable.
Witten:
1) Off target, incomplete pass on 2nd and 10.
2) Dropped short pass on 3rd and 13.
3) Three yard reception on 1st and 10.
4) Five yard reception on 2nd and six.
5) Overthrown pass on 3rd and 11.
6) Underthrown pass on 1st and 10.
7) 12 yard reception on 1st and 10.
8) 13 yard reception on 2nd and nine.
9) 11 yard reception on 3rd and nine.
Witten also committed a false start penalty. Apparently, the second ball thrown to him was not "officially" recorded as a drop but the ball hit him on the hands and then hit the turf before he could control it. If that is not a drop then I am not sure what is.
After the game, Witten and Owens both told NBC's Andrea Kremer that their supposed feud had been blown completely out of proportion. "It was a lack of professionalism on (ESPN reporter) Ed Werder's behalf," Owens insisted to Kremer. In his postgame press conference, Owens added, "I don't know where he (Werder) got his information but it was a lie. It's unfair. I had to deal with this all week. I don't know where he's getting his sources from but whatever his source was, they told him a blatant lie." ESPN anchor John Buccigross said that the network stands by its story.
*"Bretty and the Jets" were bailed out by Buffalo's boneheaded playcalling but that does not change the fact that neither Brett Favre nor his team are performing well down the stretch. Favre had passer ratings over 100 in three straight wins to help the Jets improve to 8-3 but since that time they have limped to 9-5 as Favre threw four interceptions and just one touchdown pass while compiling ratings of 60.9, 60.8 and 61.4. At least he is consistent. Yes, Favre's old Green Bay team has crashed and burned this season but that has little to do with the performance of Favre's replacement, Aaron Rodgers, who has nearly duplicated Favre's 2007 stats and is having a better season this year than Favre is: Rodgers ranks eighth in the league in passer rating (91.8) and has thrown 23 TD passes while averaging 7.4 yards per attempt and only tossing 12 interceptions. In contrast, Favre ranks 15th in the NFL with a passer rating of 86.5 and he has 21 TDs, 17 interceptions--the most in the NFL--and is only averaging 6.8 yards per attempt, tied for 20th out of the 32 quarterbacks who have thrown enough passes to qualify for the league rankings. Last year, Favre had a 95.7 rating, 28 TDs, 15 interceptions and a 7.8 yards per attempt average.
New York's 31-27 win over Buffalo was a gift--the Bills had the lead and the ball with barely two minutes remaining before J.P. Losman inexplicably rolled out to pass and fumbled the ball, enabling the Jets to score the game-winning touchdown. The Jets have won three other games this year in which Favre had passer ratings of 76.0 or worse. Even though the Jets control their own destiny due to a favorable tiebreak situation, don't be a bit surprised if they end up right where I've said all along that they will be: sitting at home when the playoffs begin. Meanwhile, as I predicted in my season preview, ex-Jet Chad Pennington has gone to Miami and had a better season than Favre (though I was not bold enough to also predict that the Dolphins would improve their record as much as they have): Pennington ranks fourth in the NFL with a 95.1 passer rating and he has 14 TDs compared to just six interceptions. He is averaging a robust 7.8 yards per attempt (the same that Favre averaged in 2007 when he was considered an MVP candidate and one yard per attempt better than Favre this year) and he has 35 completions of at least 20 yards, two more than Favre in 32 fewer attempts. The knock on Pennington was that he does not have a strong arm but this season he has had more success throwing downfield than Favre has. Isn't it strange that Miami has the same 9-5 record as New York and that Pennington has had a better year than Favre while playing for a team that had been much worse (although the Jets were 4-12 in 2007 they were a playoff team in 2006, while the Dolphins were 1-15 in 2007 and 6-10 in 2006) but Favre has received much more media attention and praise than Pennington? If you go strictly by the numbers--not just passer rating but also completion percentage, yards per attempt and other key stats--then Philip Rivers, Pennington and Peyton Manning should be the AFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks this year. It will be interesting to see if Favre gets the nod instead due to how much the media pumps him up.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Dallas Drama: Media Tries to Divide and Conquer Cowboys Locker Room
It is very interesting to watch the latest Dallas Cowboys drama unfold, particularly in terms of how the national media slants the coverage; the story that the media wants to tell--regardless of the truth of the matter--is that Terrell Owens is, as the already cliched phrase goes, "throwing his quarterback under the bus," as he is alleged to have done previously. That is the only story that sells, from their perspective; any other story is not nearly as interesting to them.
The most important thing to note is that no outsider--including ESPN's breathless reporters--are privy to whatever was said in any closed door meetings that the Cowboys may have held in recent days. That means that anything that any reporter says about such meetings is hearsay--second or third party information that may have been spun in any number of ways, whether by that reporter or by someone with an agenda who told something to the reporter.
What I found fascinating about Ed Werder's SportsCenter report is that he felt compelled to preface the fact that the Dallas defensive players support Owens by saying "Believe it or not." That is an editorial comment, not a fact based report. Furthermore, why should anyone be surprised that Dallas defensive players want their future Hall of Fame receiver to get the ball more often? Don't most teams in any sport figure out ways to get the ball to their best playmakers?
Another thing that is fascinating about this story is how ESPN has hastened to supposedly calculate exactly how many times Romo has thrown to Owens and to tight end Jason Witten. I'd like to know how those numbers are derived, because a pass that is "thrown to" Owens that sails four feet over his head and goes out of bounds hardly constitutes a reasonable attempt to get him the ball. The suggestion that Romo has recently thrown to Owens more than he has thrown to Witten does not pass the eyeball test for anyone who has watched the games--and whether or not Romo threw to Owens more often than Witten one year ago is irrelevant to the Cowboys' current situation.
Here are some indisputable numbers:
1) Terrell Owens is the active career leader in TD receptions with 138; he ranks second on the all-time list to the incomparable Jerry Rice.
2) Owens has led the NFL in TD receptions three times and ranks second this year despite being underutilized.
3) Owens has a career 14.9 career yards per reception average and is averaging 15.4 yards per reception this season.
4) Owens has 55 receptions for 848 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
5) Witten has 24 career receptions in his six season career--which is 13 fewer than Owens has caught in his three seasons in Dallas.
6) Witten has never caught more than seven TDs in a season.
7) Witten has a career 11.5 yards per reception average and is averaging 12.0 yards per reception this season.
8) Witten has 64 receptions for 771 yards and three touchdowns this season.
What those numbers show is that Owens is a playmaker--he makes big plays, both in terms of yardage and in terms of putting points on the board. He has been significantly more productive in those areas this season than Witten has despite having fewer opportunities. Owens' speed and ability to break tackles stretch the defense, which opens up the middle for Witten and opens up running lanes for the running backs. There is no reason for the Cowboys not to put the ball in Owens' hands as much as possible. The Dallas defensive players--who don't have an agenda other than wanting to win games--understand this and that is why they want Owens to get the ball more often.
You may recall that during the whole Owens-Donovan McNabb situation the media tried to make Owens the bad guy but you never heard any Philadelphia players criticize Owens or take McNabb's side; even after the Eagles got rid of Owens that never happened. Think about that for a moment. The media want you to believe that Owens is some kind of locker room cancer but the guys who are in the locker room with him--other than the specific player who he rightly criticized for not performing up to par in the Super Bowl--won't say anything bad about him on the record, even after he is no longer on the team. What does that tell you?
We all know that on Sunday NFL Countdown, Keyshawn and the boys will line Owens up in their crosshairs and fire away with both barrels. Before you join that firing squad in spirit, look at the numbers and think about what Owens' teammates have said--and have not said--publicly. Don't be swayed by "anonymous sources said" reports. Only believe what you see and hear with your own eyes and ears. That is the real story--and here is a great quote to consider, from Dallas defensive back Terence Newman: "I don't know why people want to kind of bash TO about being the bad guy and complaining about not getting the ball, because he hasn't said one word to anybody. There are more players on this team who have went to TO and said, 'Why aren't you getting the ball? Why is Witten getting all the balls' rather than TO saying (that). If you ask me as a defensive player, I like to see TO get the ball because it excites us and we know good things are going to happen. If you look at all of our games this year, when TO gets the ball we win football games and if he's not catching the ball then we struggle a little bit."
The most important thing to note is that no outsider--including ESPN's breathless reporters--are privy to whatever was said in any closed door meetings that the Cowboys may have held in recent days. That means that anything that any reporter says about such meetings is hearsay--second or third party information that may have been spun in any number of ways, whether by that reporter or by someone with an agenda who told something to the reporter.
What I found fascinating about Ed Werder's SportsCenter report is that he felt compelled to preface the fact that the Dallas defensive players support Owens by saying "Believe it or not." That is an editorial comment, not a fact based report. Furthermore, why should anyone be surprised that Dallas defensive players want their future Hall of Fame receiver to get the ball more often? Don't most teams in any sport figure out ways to get the ball to their best playmakers?
Another thing that is fascinating about this story is how ESPN has hastened to supposedly calculate exactly how many times Romo has thrown to Owens and to tight end Jason Witten. I'd like to know how those numbers are derived, because a pass that is "thrown to" Owens that sails four feet over his head and goes out of bounds hardly constitutes a reasonable attempt to get him the ball. The suggestion that Romo has recently thrown to Owens more than he has thrown to Witten does not pass the eyeball test for anyone who has watched the games--and whether or not Romo threw to Owens more often than Witten one year ago is irrelevant to the Cowboys' current situation.
Here are some indisputable numbers:
1) Terrell Owens is the active career leader in TD receptions with 138; he ranks second on the all-time list to the incomparable Jerry Rice.
2) Owens has led the NFL in TD receptions three times and ranks second this year despite being underutilized.
3) Owens has a career 14.9 career yards per reception average and is averaging 15.4 yards per reception this season.
4) Owens has 55 receptions for 848 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
5) Witten has 24 career receptions in his six season career--which is 13 fewer than Owens has caught in his three seasons in Dallas.
6) Witten has never caught more than seven TDs in a season.
7) Witten has a career 11.5 yards per reception average and is averaging 12.0 yards per reception this season.
8) Witten has 64 receptions for 771 yards and three touchdowns this season.
What those numbers show is that Owens is a playmaker--he makes big plays, both in terms of yardage and in terms of putting points on the board. He has been significantly more productive in those areas this season than Witten has despite having fewer opportunities. Owens' speed and ability to break tackles stretch the defense, which opens up the middle for Witten and opens up running lanes for the running backs. There is no reason for the Cowboys not to put the ball in Owens' hands as much as possible. The Dallas defensive players--who don't have an agenda other than wanting to win games--understand this and that is why they want Owens to get the ball more often.
You may recall that during the whole Owens-Donovan McNabb situation the media tried to make Owens the bad guy but you never heard any Philadelphia players criticize Owens or take McNabb's side; even after the Eagles got rid of Owens that never happened. Think about that for a moment. The media want you to believe that Owens is some kind of locker room cancer but the guys who are in the locker room with him--other than the specific player who he rightly criticized for not performing up to par in the Super Bowl--won't say anything bad about him on the record, even after he is no longer on the team. What does that tell you?
We all know that on Sunday NFL Countdown, Keyshawn and the boys will line Owens up in their crosshairs and fire away with both barrels. Before you join that firing squad in spirit, look at the numbers and think about what Owens' teammates have said--and have not said--publicly. Don't be swayed by "anonymous sources said" reports. Only believe what you see and hear with your own eyes and ears. That is the real story--and here is a great quote to consider, from Dallas defensive back Terence Newman: "I don't know why people want to kind of bash TO about being the bad guy and complaining about not getting the ball, because he hasn't said one word to anybody. There are more players on this team who have went to TO and said, 'Why aren't you getting the ball? Why is Witten getting all the balls' rather than TO saying (that). If you ask me as a defensive player, I like to see TO get the ball because it excites us and we know good things are going to happen. If you look at all of our games this year, when TO gets the ball we win football games and if he's not catching the ball then we struggle a little bit."
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday Night Football Quick Hits: "Who Can Make a Play? I Can!" Edition
Marion "the Barbarian" Barber rushed 18 times for 63 yards and one touchdown and caught four passes for 51 yards and one touchdown as the Dallas Cowboys won a dramatic 41-37 shootout over the Philadelphia Eagles. Barber's one yard touchdown run with 4:35 left in the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winning points. Tony Romo went 21-30 for 312 yards and three touchdowns but he had a costly first half fumble in his own endzone that resulted in an Eagles touchdown. Romo also threw an interception that led to an Eagles touchdown drive. Donovan McNabb went 25-37 for 281 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions but he made two fourth quarter errors that seriously hurt the Eagles: a fumble on a bizarre double pump attempted hand off to Brian Westbrook at the Dallas 33 with the Eagles up 37-34 with just 8:59 left in the game and an overthrow of a 3rd and eight pass to a wide open Westbrook with 3:30 left and the Cowboys up 41-37. The first mistake led to Dallas' winning touchdown drive and the second mistake ended the Eagles' best chance to retake the lead (they got the ball back one more time deep in their territory but never got past midfield).
Terrell Owens finished with three catches for 89 yards, including two touchdowns. He had all of his production in the first half but he still had a major impact on the game in the second half, as ESPN's Steve Young--one of the best football analysts on television--noted after the game: "TO makes the big plays early, he gets open and I think he forces the whole defense to move in his direction. Great offenses in this league really have that second or third receiver, like Dallas Clark in Indianapolis. Jason Witten is a guy who gets open a ton of times (for Dallas)." As ESPN showed the highlights of Owens' two touchdowns, Young added, "These are the kinds of plays that open ballgames, these big touchdowns that affect the defense the rest of the game. When you get by the goal line, it's tough to score in the NFL. Well, let's put 10 guys on one side and TO on the other side. Did you see what happened the second time they ran that play? TO could do anything he wanted and they had to foul him (a pass interference call against Asante Samuel) to get to the one. That's the kind of player you need, supported by other great players, like Jason Witten." After that pass interference play moved the ball to the one yard line, Barber scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. Emmitt Smith also noted that after Owens' two scores the Eagles were forced to double-team him, which created opportunities for Witten (seven receptions, 110 yards) and Barber. If you don't like Young's technical explanation of Owens' value, then you can always fall back on one of Owens' catch phrases from back in his 49ers' days: "Who can make a play? I can!"
With the Eagles leading 3-0, Owens opened the scoring for the Cowboys with a 72 yard touchdown reception, moving past Cris Carter into second place on the NFL's career touchdown receptions list (131). As Mike Tirico pointed out, Owens trails Jerry Rice by 66 touchdowns, so if Owens stays healthy it is not impossible for him to break the all-time record. Of course, maintaining a high level of production in one's mid to late 30s is very difficult for any player, let alone a wide receiver, which is what makes Rice's mark so incredible; I think that 197 will remain the target for quite some time and that Owens will not match it, but he may put the second place number all but out of reach for anyone who comes after him.
At one point early in the second quarter, Owens had 85 yards from scrimmage and the remaining Cowboys had -1 yard from scrimmage. After several fine runs by Barber put the Cowboys in scoring position, Owens scored Dallas' second offensive touchdown of the game on a nice four yard slant, putting the Cowboys up 21-20, enabling them to retake the lead after Romo's fumble on the previous possession. Owens is now second in NFL history with 30 2+ touchdown games; naturally, Rice (44) holds that record, too. Since Romo became Dallas' starting quarterback, he and Owens have hooked up for more touchdowns (28) than any other NFL tandem. That litany of records surprised Tony Kornheiser, who candidly admitted that he did not realize that Owens is that good. See how much you can learn if you actually watch the games and read the game notes instead of being obsessed with covering off field nonsense? Kornheiser said that controversy has "masked how good Owens really is" but who is responsible for that? Yes, Owens has exercised poor judgment in certain situations but I seem to recall Kornheiser and his Pardon the Interruption partner Mike Wilbon repeatedly praising Chad Johnson as some kind of lovable, harmless entertainer while at the same time relentlessly bashing Owens; those storylines reflect their biases, not any objective reality. If Kornheiser does not know that Owens is one of the greatest receivers ever he has no one to blame but himself.
As I've repeatedly indicated in this space, I grew up reading great articles by Kornheiser in magazines like Inside Sports back when Kornheiser was a great journalist who wrote insightful, in depth pieces. He is also capable of writing entertainment columns that are laugh out loud funny but the combination of his irreverent humor with his sports coverage often rubs me the wrong way now; I miss the Kornheiser I grew up with but I suppose that ESPN provides him several million reasons to prefer what he is doing now (not for nothing was the title of one of his books--a hilarious read, by the way--Back for More Cash).
After Owens' first half aerial heroics, Barber and Witten did serious work in the second half; Barber pounded the Eagles with tough runs and some timely receptions out of the backfield, while Witten found plenty of room to roam in the middle as Owens occupied two defensive players on the edge.
Despite the late mistakes, McNabb looked better than he has looked in quite some time. He broke tackles, made good reads and was very accurate with his throws. As Young said after the game, McNabb seems to have moved back into the elite category of NFL quarterbacks. Stuart Scott did a voiceover for a graphic that showed that McNabb has been an excellent September quarterback for the past several years, so we'll wait and see if McNabb stays healthy and productive for the entire season.
Here are some notes/comments about Sunday's action:
While some "experts" predicted doom and gloom for the New England Patriots sans 2007 NFL MVP Tom Brady, Matt Cassel played very solidly (13-23, 165 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions) as the Patriots beat the New York Jets 19-10 to improve to 2-0 and extend their NFL record regular season winning streak to 21. In his first home game as a Jet, Brett Favre went 18-26 for 181 yards and a touchdown but he threw a costly third quarter interception in his own territory that Cassel and the Patriots quickly converted into New England's only touchdown to give the Patriots a 13-3 lead. If Favre continues to throw the ball up for grabs against good teams, his interception totals are going to go up and his passer rating is going to go down. It is early, but based on what they have shown so far there is no objective reason to believe that the Jets are going to be a playoff team this year, let alone a Super Bowl contender; they squeaked by a weak Miami team and trailed almost the entire game against a New England team that some people thought would be vulnerable without Brady.
Of course, you cannot mention Favre without also talking about his Green Bay replacement, Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay is 2-0 now after a 48-25 victory over Detroit in which Rodgers went 24-38 for 328 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating for that game was 117.0, even better than the 115.5 he posted in week one. Rodgers ranks sixth in the NFL in passer rating (117.8), while Favre is eighth (104.1). Obviously, there is a long way to go in this season but Rodgers seems to have the necessary tools to be a very good NFL quarterback, so it is understandable why Green Bay's management elected to stop riding the Favre "I'm retiring/I'm not retiring" carousel. Prior to week one, ESPN's Tom Jackson and Cris Carter seemed to almost gleefully predict doom for Rodgers but, to his credit, Jackson has now completely changed his tune. During the "Whiteboard Breakdown" segment on Monday Night Countdown, Jackson said that after two games Rodgers has been the best player in the league and he called Rodgers "a naturally gifted passer."
The most exciting game of week two took place in Denver, where Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler (36-50, 350 yards, four touchdowns, one interception) and Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers (21-33, 377 yards, three touchdowns, one interception) engaged in an old fashioned, AFL-style shootout as their teams combined to produced 942 yards of offense. Denver made the winning score with just :24 left as Cutler hooked up with Eddie Royal for a four yard touchdown pass and then Denver Coach Mike Shanahan boldly went for the two point conversion, which also turned out to be a Cutler-Royal connection. NFL coaches usually go the safe route in that situation; this is just the third time that a team has won a game with a two point conversion since the NFL instituted the two point play in 1994.
Unfortunately, the ending of this game was marred by a bad call by Ed Hochuli, the usually reliable referee who has become famous for his prodigious "guns" and detailed explanations of calls. Two plays prior to the final touchdown, Cutler rolled out to pass but lost control of the ball. It was pretty obvious that he fumbled but Hochuli blew his whistle and ruled that this was an incomplete pass, nullifying San Diego's recovery. Once Hochuli realized that he had made a mistake there was nothing he could do because the play is dead as soon as he blows his whistle, as Hochuli explained after the game: "All we can do to fix it is put the ball at the spot that it hit the ground, which is why we moved it back to the 10-yard line and the down counts and it becomes third down."
Stat of the Week: Kurt Warner had more touchdown passes in the second half of last season (21) than any other NFL quarterback. In case you're wondering, 2007 league leader Tom Brady had 20 of his NFL single season record 50 in the second half of the season. Throwing a lot of touchdowns is nothing new for Warner; his 41 touchdowns in 1999 ranked third on the NFL single season list at that time and that is still the fifth highest single season total in NFL history.
This season, Warner is picking up right where he left off last year: after completing 19 of 30 passes for 197 yards and one touchdown in Arizona's 23-13 week one victory over San Francisco, he compiled a perfect passer rating (158.3) in Arizona's 31-10 destruction of Miami, completing 19 of 24 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns. This is the third time that Warner had a perfect rating in a game, tying Peyton Manning's NFL record. Warner started the game 9-9 for 221 yards.
Terrell Owens finished with three catches for 89 yards, including two touchdowns. He had all of his production in the first half but he still had a major impact on the game in the second half, as ESPN's Steve Young--one of the best football analysts on television--noted after the game: "TO makes the big plays early, he gets open and I think he forces the whole defense to move in his direction. Great offenses in this league really have that second or third receiver, like Dallas Clark in Indianapolis. Jason Witten is a guy who gets open a ton of times (for Dallas)." As ESPN showed the highlights of Owens' two touchdowns, Young added, "These are the kinds of plays that open ballgames, these big touchdowns that affect the defense the rest of the game. When you get by the goal line, it's tough to score in the NFL. Well, let's put 10 guys on one side and TO on the other side. Did you see what happened the second time they ran that play? TO could do anything he wanted and they had to foul him (a pass interference call against Asante Samuel) to get to the one. That's the kind of player you need, supported by other great players, like Jason Witten." After that pass interference play moved the ball to the one yard line, Barber scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. Emmitt Smith also noted that after Owens' two scores the Eagles were forced to double-team him, which created opportunities for Witten (seven receptions, 110 yards) and Barber. If you don't like Young's technical explanation of Owens' value, then you can always fall back on one of Owens' catch phrases from back in his 49ers' days: "Who can make a play? I can!"
With the Eagles leading 3-0, Owens opened the scoring for the Cowboys with a 72 yard touchdown reception, moving past Cris Carter into second place on the NFL's career touchdown receptions list (131). As Mike Tirico pointed out, Owens trails Jerry Rice by 66 touchdowns, so if Owens stays healthy it is not impossible for him to break the all-time record. Of course, maintaining a high level of production in one's mid to late 30s is very difficult for any player, let alone a wide receiver, which is what makes Rice's mark so incredible; I think that 197 will remain the target for quite some time and that Owens will not match it, but he may put the second place number all but out of reach for anyone who comes after him.
At one point early in the second quarter, Owens had 85 yards from scrimmage and the remaining Cowboys had -1 yard from scrimmage. After several fine runs by Barber put the Cowboys in scoring position, Owens scored Dallas' second offensive touchdown of the game on a nice four yard slant, putting the Cowboys up 21-20, enabling them to retake the lead after Romo's fumble on the previous possession. Owens is now second in NFL history with 30 2+ touchdown games; naturally, Rice (44) holds that record, too. Since Romo became Dallas' starting quarterback, he and Owens have hooked up for more touchdowns (28) than any other NFL tandem. That litany of records surprised Tony Kornheiser, who candidly admitted that he did not realize that Owens is that good. See how much you can learn if you actually watch the games and read the game notes instead of being obsessed with covering off field nonsense? Kornheiser said that controversy has "masked how good Owens really is" but who is responsible for that? Yes, Owens has exercised poor judgment in certain situations but I seem to recall Kornheiser and his Pardon the Interruption partner Mike Wilbon repeatedly praising Chad Johnson as some kind of lovable, harmless entertainer while at the same time relentlessly bashing Owens; those storylines reflect their biases, not any objective reality. If Kornheiser does not know that Owens is one of the greatest receivers ever he has no one to blame but himself.
As I've repeatedly indicated in this space, I grew up reading great articles by Kornheiser in magazines like Inside Sports back when Kornheiser was a great journalist who wrote insightful, in depth pieces. He is also capable of writing entertainment columns that are laugh out loud funny but the combination of his irreverent humor with his sports coverage often rubs me the wrong way now; I miss the Kornheiser I grew up with but I suppose that ESPN provides him several million reasons to prefer what he is doing now (not for nothing was the title of one of his books--a hilarious read, by the way--Back for More Cash).
After Owens' first half aerial heroics, Barber and Witten did serious work in the second half; Barber pounded the Eagles with tough runs and some timely receptions out of the backfield, while Witten found plenty of room to roam in the middle as Owens occupied two defensive players on the edge.
Despite the late mistakes, McNabb looked better than he has looked in quite some time. He broke tackles, made good reads and was very accurate with his throws. As Young said after the game, McNabb seems to have moved back into the elite category of NFL quarterbacks. Stuart Scott did a voiceover for a graphic that showed that McNabb has been an excellent September quarterback for the past several years, so we'll wait and see if McNabb stays healthy and productive for the entire season.
Here are some notes/comments about Sunday's action:
While some "experts" predicted doom and gloom for the New England Patriots sans 2007 NFL MVP Tom Brady, Matt Cassel played very solidly (13-23, 165 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions) as the Patriots beat the New York Jets 19-10 to improve to 2-0 and extend their NFL record regular season winning streak to 21. In his first home game as a Jet, Brett Favre went 18-26 for 181 yards and a touchdown but he threw a costly third quarter interception in his own territory that Cassel and the Patriots quickly converted into New England's only touchdown to give the Patriots a 13-3 lead. If Favre continues to throw the ball up for grabs against good teams, his interception totals are going to go up and his passer rating is going to go down. It is early, but based on what they have shown so far there is no objective reason to believe that the Jets are going to be a playoff team this year, let alone a Super Bowl contender; they squeaked by a weak Miami team and trailed almost the entire game against a New England team that some people thought would be vulnerable without Brady.
Of course, you cannot mention Favre without also talking about his Green Bay replacement, Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay is 2-0 now after a 48-25 victory over Detroit in which Rodgers went 24-38 for 328 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating for that game was 117.0, even better than the 115.5 he posted in week one. Rodgers ranks sixth in the NFL in passer rating (117.8), while Favre is eighth (104.1). Obviously, there is a long way to go in this season but Rodgers seems to have the necessary tools to be a very good NFL quarterback, so it is understandable why Green Bay's management elected to stop riding the Favre "I'm retiring/I'm not retiring" carousel. Prior to week one, ESPN's Tom Jackson and Cris Carter seemed to almost gleefully predict doom for Rodgers but, to his credit, Jackson has now completely changed his tune. During the "Whiteboard Breakdown" segment on Monday Night Countdown, Jackson said that after two games Rodgers has been the best player in the league and he called Rodgers "a naturally gifted passer."
The most exciting game of week two took place in Denver, where Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler (36-50, 350 yards, four touchdowns, one interception) and Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers (21-33, 377 yards, three touchdowns, one interception) engaged in an old fashioned, AFL-style shootout as their teams combined to produced 942 yards of offense. Denver made the winning score with just :24 left as Cutler hooked up with Eddie Royal for a four yard touchdown pass and then Denver Coach Mike Shanahan boldly went for the two point conversion, which also turned out to be a Cutler-Royal connection. NFL coaches usually go the safe route in that situation; this is just the third time that a team has won a game with a two point conversion since the NFL instituted the two point play in 1994.
Unfortunately, the ending of this game was marred by a bad call by Ed Hochuli, the usually reliable referee who has become famous for his prodigious "guns" and detailed explanations of calls. Two plays prior to the final touchdown, Cutler rolled out to pass but lost control of the ball. It was pretty obvious that he fumbled but Hochuli blew his whistle and ruled that this was an incomplete pass, nullifying San Diego's recovery. Once Hochuli realized that he had made a mistake there was nothing he could do because the play is dead as soon as he blows his whistle, as Hochuli explained after the game: "All we can do to fix it is put the ball at the spot that it hit the ground, which is why we moved it back to the 10-yard line and the down counts and it becomes third down."
Stat of the Week: Kurt Warner had more touchdown passes in the second half of last season (21) than any other NFL quarterback. In case you're wondering, 2007 league leader Tom Brady had 20 of his NFL single season record 50 in the second half of the season. Throwing a lot of touchdowns is nothing new for Warner; his 41 touchdowns in 1999 ranked third on the NFL single season list at that time and that is still the fifth highest single season total in NFL history.
This season, Warner is picking up right where he left off last year: after completing 19 of 30 passes for 197 yards and one touchdown in Arizona's 23-13 week one victory over San Francisco, he compiled a perfect passer rating (158.3) in Arizona's 31-10 destruction of Miami, completing 19 of 24 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns. This is the third time that Warner had a perfect rating in a game, tying Peyton Manning's NFL record. Warner started the game 9-9 for 221 yards.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
No TO Means No TDs for Dallas
The Dallas Cowboys averaged 28.4 ppg this season, second in the NFL to the record-setting, 16-0 New England Patriots (36.8 ppg), but could not even produce a single touchdown on Sunday versus the Washington Redskins, losing 27-6; in fact, the Cowboys have not scored a touchdown in the six quarters since Terrell Owens suffered a high ankle sprain. Despite all the talk about quarterback Tony Romo and tight end Jason Witten, it should be obvious now that Owens provides the juice that makes Dallas' offense go. Pro Bowler Witten has virtually disappeared since Owens got hurt and the Cowboys' running game has vanished as well, accounting for just one net yard (!) against Washington. It is true that Dallas had already wrapped up the number one seed in the NFC playoffs prior to the Washington game and thus "had nothing to play for," as the cliche goes, but it is also true that other than Owens and injured center Andre Gurode the Cowboys played their regular offensive starters until midway through the third quarter.
Owens not only was the most dangerous receiver in the NFC this season--ranking first in touchdowns (15), first in receptions of 20+ yards (22), second in yards (1355) and third in receptions of 40+ yards (6) despite missing a game and a half due to the ankle injury--but he attracted so much defensive attention that he opened things up for other players. Some people say that Witten is Romo's favorite or most "dependable" target but Witten is not as productive as Owens nor does he attract so much defensive attention that he opens up opportunities for his teammates to make plays. Witten had more receptions than Owens but he had fewer yards, less than half as many touchdowns and just 58.3% of his receptions accounted for first downs; among players who had at least 20 receptions, Owens led the league in the latter category, with 85.2% of his receptions producing first downs. New England's Randy Moss beat Owens in total receptions (98-81), touchdowns (23-15) and receptions of 40+ yards (9-6), but Owens outdid Moss in yards per reception (16.7 to 15.2), first down percentage (85.2 to 75.5) and receptions of 20+ yards (22 to 18), so one could even make a case that Owens was the best receiver in the NFL this season.
Owens' output is even more remarkable considering that he is 34 years old. Albert Breer of The Dallas Morning News points out that 11 of the 18 "modern-era" wide receivers who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame played until they were at least 34 and none of them were nearly as productive as Owens was this season; only Charlie Joiner even came remotely close, with 70 receptions for 1188 yards and seven touchdowns in 1981 (it must be remembered that some of those Hall of Famers played before the 1978 rules changes that made the NFL more of a pass oriented league). Owens caught more touchdowns than any other 34 year old ever has and his 1355 receiving yards in 14.5 games trails only Marvin Harrison's 1366 yards in 16 games in 2006. Jerry Rice still holds the record for the 34 and over group with 108 receptions in 1996, his last full season before a devastating knee injury that cost him virtually the entire 1997 season. Just to give you an idea of how remarkable the unparalleled Rice was, consider that he recovered and played seven more seasons before retiring at the age of 42, making more receptions (492, enough to tie with Walter Payton for 105th on the career receptions list) after what could have been a career-ending injury than many good receivers had in their entire careers.
Unlike some players who put up individual numbers without having much impact on their team's won-loss record, Owens has been to the playoffs with four different starting quarterbacks and his production has been remarkably consistent with each of them, as the chart at the end of this post shows.
Whether or not the Cowboys make it to the Super Bowl depends significantly on how well Owens' ankle heals before the team's first playoff game.
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Terrell Owens' production in his first 21 games with various starting quarterbacks
QB.....Receptions.....Yards......TDs.....Seasons
Steve Young.....75.....1184.....11.....1996-97
Jeff Garcia.....127.....1804.....15.....1999-00
Donovan McNabb.....123.....1959.....20.....2004-05
Tony Romo.....121.....1978.....21.....2006-07
(ESPN "Sunday Countdown" graphic)
Owens not only was the most dangerous receiver in the NFC this season--ranking first in touchdowns (15), first in receptions of 20+ yards (22), second in yards (1355) and third in receptions of 40+ yards (6) despite missing a game and a half due to the ankle injury--but he attracted so much defensive attention that he opened things up for other players. Some people say that Witten is Romo's favorite or most "dependable" target but Witten is not as productive as Owens nor does he attract so much defensive attention that he opens up opportunities for his teammates to make plays. Witten had more receptions than Owens but he had fewer yards, less than half as many touchdowns and just 58.3% of his receptions accounted for first downs; among players who had at least 20 receptions, Owens led the league in the latter category, with 85.2% of his receptions producing first downs. New England's Randy Moss beat Owens in total receptions (98-81), touchdowns (23-15) and receptions of 40+ yards (9-6), but Owens outdid Moss in yards per reception (16.7 to 15.2), first down percentage (85.2 to 75.5) and receptions of 20+ yards (22 to 18), so one could even make a case that Owens was the best receiver in the NFL this season.
Owens' output is even more remarkable considering that he is 34 years old. Albert Breer of The Dallas Morning News points out that 11 of the 18 "modern-era" wide receivers who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame played until they were at least 34 and none of them were nearly as productive as Owens was this season; only Charlie Joiner even came remotely close, with 70 receptions for 1188 yards and seven touchdowns in 1981 (it must be remembered that some of those Hall of Famers played before the 1978 rules changes that made the NFL more of a pass oriented league). Owens caught more touchdowns than any other 34 year old ever has and his 1355 receiving yards in 14.5 games trails only Marvin Harrison's 1366 yards in 16 games in 2006. Jerry Rice still holds the record for the 34 and over group with 108 receptions in 1996, his last full season before a devastating knee injury that cost him virtually the entire 1997 season. Just to give you an idea of how remarkable the unparalleled Rice was, consider that he recovered and played seven more seasons before retiring at the age of 42, making more receptions (492, enough to tie with Walter Payton for 105th on the career receptions list) after what could have been a career-ending injury than many good receivers had in their entire careers.
Unlike some players who put up individual numbers without having much impact on their team's won-loss record, Owens has been to the playoffs with four different starting quarterbacks and his production has been remarkably consistent with each of them, as the chart at the end of this post shows.
Whether or not the Cowboys make it to the Super Bowl depends significantly on how well Owens' ankle heals before the team's first playoff game.
***************
Terrell Owens' production in his first 21 games with various starting quarterbacks
QB.....Receptions.....Yards......TDs.....Seasons
Steve Young.....75.....1184.....11.....1996-97
Jeff Garcia.....127.....1804.....15.....1999-00
Donovan McNabb.....123.....1959.....20.....2004-05
Tony Romo.....121.....1978.....21.....2006-07
(ESPN "Sunday Countdown" graphic)
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Why is the Media Out to Get Terrell Owens?
Let me tell you about an athlete whose story you don't know. He was born to a 17 year old alcoholic, who raised him with help from her mother, who was also an alcoholic. He did not know who his real father was until he was 12 and he became friendly with a girl in the neighborhood--who turned out to be his half-sister. He sought to escape from his unhappy life at home by immersing himself in sports, becoming good at basketball, track and football. In high school, college and the professional ranks he distinguished himself with his work ethic until he became one of the best players in the history of football at his position. His name is Terrell Owens and, for some reason, no matter how hard he works, no matter how well he plays and no matter how well he conducts himself, a significant segment of the mainstream media is apparently determined to bring him down. You don't know his story because, even though the facts are publicly available and have been mentioned in a few articles, his story has not become a part of the national narrative the way that Brett Favre's triumphs over adversity have been relentlessly thrust into our collective consciousness.
That is not to say that Owens is perfect. Like everyone else, he has done things that he should not have done--but how is it that Ray Lewis obstructed justice in a double murder that still has not been solved and yet he has a better public image than a player who has never committed a crime and whose biggest "offense" is that he feuded with some of his quarterbacks, none of whom have played as well without Owens as they did with him?
Owens is having one of the most productive seasons of his future Hall of Fame career, his Dallas Cowboys have the best record in the NFC and Owens has been a model citizen. He has carefully walked the verbal line of praising new coach Wade Phillips without overtly slamming Phillips' predecessor Bill Parcells, who would not even publicly utter Owens' name--literally dehumanizing him. A little over a week ago, ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson, one of Parcells' former players, decided to publicly offer Owens some advice, namely to not even suggest that the Cowboys are better off without Parcells because Parcells laid the foundation for the team's current success. If Johnson were sincerely trying to help and not making a bid for more attention, wouldn't he deliver that message privately? Anyway, how likely is it that Owens would be watching a pregame show right before he's about to play? Apparently, someone told Owens that Johnson had disrespected him--I firmly believe that Owens never actually saw or heard the segment featuring Johnson (at least not before microphones were thrust into Owens' face). Naturally, feeling hurt and insulted, Owens fired back, although his comments actually simply stated the truth: Owens' career has been more successful than Johnson's and Parcells may have put the team together but Phillips is getting the most out of all of the players. ESPN and some other networks tried to turn this into some kind of blood feud but, fortunately, the story has died down.
That just meant that Owens' detractors had to try to stir up trouble in a different way. Is there anything more overblown than the ridiculous obsession with Jessica Simpson's appearance at last week's Cowboys-Eagles game? Who honestly believes that her mere presence had anything to do with how Tony Romo played? Asked about the situation, Owens delivered some one-liners. Look, he may not be Jay Leno or David Letterman but anyone who listed to the audio can plainly hear Owens and the media members around him laughing. Even if you just read the text of what Owens said, it was so over the top he obviously was kidding. Instead, Owens' attempt at humor was reported as if he actually demanded that Simpson stay away from future Cowboys' games, leading Owens to call Romo just to clear the air. Owens' teammates are bemused about this so-called controversy. As receiver Patrick Crayton noted, Simpson also attended two games that the Cowboys won but nobody is talking about that.
Before sticking a microphone in Owens' face and asking him to respond to Johnson wouldn't it be fair to make sure that Owens really knows exactly what Johnson said and how he said it? Johnson was grandstanding, to be sure, but he did not really blast Owens--but it makes for a juicier story to provoke Owens and then let the cameras roll. Also, before declaring that Owens really meant that Simpson should not come to the game doesn't a reporter have an obligation to know the context in which his comments were made?
The good news is that ultimately, all the mainstream media can do is manipulate how the public views certain people; it cannot decide the outcome of games--and, at the end of the day, if a player and his team cannot get it done no amount of whitewashing can cover up that stark fact. The Eagles, notwithstanding their victory over the Cowboys, are floundering and have never been the same since kicking Owens to the curb; yes, other factors also played a role in their demise but they have a crying need for a playmaking wide receiver. Hello? They had one and he is not so coincidentally a key performer for the conference's best team. Eagles' fans can savor their moment of triumph in their one Pyrrhic victory over Owens this season as they watch the Cowboys during the playoffs.
That is not to say that Owens is perfect. Like everyone else, he has done things that he should not have done--but how is it that Ray Lewis obstructed justice in a double murder that still has not been solved and yet he has a better public image than a player who has never committed a crime and whose biggest "offense" is that he feuded with some of his quarterbacks, none of whom have played as well without Owens as they did with him?
Owens is having one of the most productive seasons of his future Hall of Fame career, his Dallas Cowboys have the best record in the NFC and Owens has been a model citizen. He has carefully walked the verbal line of praising new coach Wade Phillips without overtly slamming Phillips' predecessor Bill Parcells, who would not even publicly utter Owens' name--literally dehumanizing him. A little over a week ago, ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson, one of Parcells' former players, decided to publicly offer Owens some advice, namely to not even suggest that the Cowboys are better off without Parcells because Parcells laid the foundation for the team's current success. If Johnson were sincerely trying to help and not making a bid for more attention, wouldn't he deliver that message privately? Anyway, how likely is it that Owens would be watching a pregame show right before he's about to play? Apparently, someone told Owens that Johnson had disrespected him--I firmly believe that Owens never actually saw or heard the segment featuring Johnson (at least not before microphones were thrust into Owens' face). Naturally, feeling hurt and insulted, Owens fired back, although his comments actually simply stated the truth: Owens' career has been more successful than Johnson's and Parcells may have put the team together but Phillips is getting the most out of all of the players. ESPN and some other networks tried to turn this into some kind of blood feud but, fortunately, the story has died down.
That just meant that Owens' detractors had to try to stir up trouble in a different way. Is there anything more overblown than the ridiculous obsession with Jessica Simpson's appearance at last week's Cowboys-Eagles game? Who honestly believes that her mere presence had anything to do with how Tony Romo played? Asked about the situation, Owens delivered some one-liners. Look, he may not be Jay Leno or David Letterman but anyone who listed to the audio can plainly hear Owens and the media members around him laughing. Even if you just read the text of what Owens said, it was so over the top he obviously was kidding. Instead, Owens' attempt at humor was reported as if he actually demanded that Simpson stay away from future Cowboys' games, leading Owens to call Romo just to clear the air. Owens' teammates are bemused about this so-called controversy. As receiver Patrick Crayton noted, Simpson also attended two games that the Cowboys won but nobody is talking about that.
Before sticking a microphone in Owens' face and asking him to respond to Johnson wouldn't it be fair to make sure that Owens really knows exactly what Johnson said and how he said it? Johnson was grandstanding, to be sure, but he did not really blast Owens--but it makes for a juicier story to provoke Owens and then let the cameras roll. Also, before declaring that Owens really meant that Simpson should not come to the game doesn't a reporter have an obligation to know the context in which his comments were made?
The good news is that ultimately, all the mainstream media can do is manipulate how the public views certain people; it cannot decide the outcome of games--and, at the end of the day, if a player and his team cannot get it done no amount of whitewashing can cover up that stark fact. The Eagles, notwithstanding their victory over the Cowboys, are floundering and have never been the same since kicking Owens to the curb; yes, other factors also played a role in their demise but they have a crying need for a playmaking wide receiver. Hello? They had one and he is not so coincidentally a key performer for the conference's best team. Eagles' fans can savor their moment of triumph in their one Pyrrhic victory over Owens this season as they watch the Cowboys during the playoffs.
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