National Football Post Diner News

12 SEPT 2008

QUOTE OF THE DAY:  "Without winners, there wouldn't even be any civilization."  — Woody Hayes

FROM AP... A day after Kiffin distanced himself from the defense in the aftermath of Oakland's 41-14 loss to Denver in Monday's season opener, Ryan accepted full responsibility for the Raiders' dismal defensive performance. He tried to deflect attention away from his players during a colorful and animated 18-minute tirade. "That's all on me. I put the game plan in, I run the defense, and it's all on me," Ryan said Thursday. "I just want to set it straight because I've been here five years and I don't think people necessarily have the right story.  "I'm disappointed, but I just wanted to tell my side of the story for once because there's so many other things that come out where I have to read it and take it and I just want the truth as I know the truth."

Rob Ryan is one of the most loyal, hard-working coaches I have ever been around.  He loves the Raiders and wants to do what is best for the team.  This constant spat between the head coach and the owner is not helping Ryan coach the defense, not at all.  But the fact is, Ryan does set the game plan, though he has significant restrictions put on him that were in place long before Ryan set foot in the Hotel.  Ask Gunther Cunningham, Jim Haslett, Dave Adolph, Willie Shaw, and even Charlie Sumner.  Ask them how the Raiders play the bootleg, how there always has to be a player in the middle of the field, how the eight-man front defense is played.  Ryan is always stuck with certain guys that he has to play and use.  Rob is right in that this is normally set up in the offseason, not during the week.  He clearly has the toughest job in football and you have to admire his willingness to always put the team first.  The players love to play for Rob.  He is enthusiastic, passionate, and works his tail off to prepare the team.  I suspect they will play much better this week in Kansas City than they did against Denver.  At some point, though, this constant cat fight between the coach and owner has to end.  The opponents are the guys in the other uniforms, not the ones wearing silver and black. 

FROM JIM WYATT OF THE TENNESSEAN... I just want everyone to know I am fine. Everything is all right. I'm cool.' Young won't play Sunday at Cincinnati because of the sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. The injury could keep him out for several weeks, although Coach Jeff Fisher said Young would have to show progress on all fronts to get his starting job back. Young said he is confident that will happen. "They drafted me to be the quarterback of the organization, and that is what they want me to do,' he said. "This organization is behind me. My teammates are behind me.… I am just ready to get back with them on the football field.'

Young is going to have to prove he can throw the ball with some degree of accuracy.  His lack of accuracy on every level is what hurts him the most.  He does not have the rhythm needed to be an effective timing passer.  His ball is never in the same place at the same time.  His footwork is not as big a problem as his guiding of the ball and not being able to cut it loose.  Young seems to play the game too mechanically.  Once teams contain him, force him to stay in the pocket, and prevent him from running around, he is not the same player.  Simple throws are hard throws for Vince right now.  If he wants to get his job back, he is going to need to be more accurate down the field.  I know all the people (Jamie Dukes being the most vocal) want the Titans to get a wideout who can stretch the field, but with Chris Johnson they have a better weapon to help Young.  The Titans need to play Johnson even more and limit the amount of time they spend giving the ball to LenDale White.  Despite losing all that weight, White is still too slow getting to the hole.  He does not have the burst to hit the hole.  Watching him reminds me of something I've heard Bill Parcells say regarding similar situations and players, "You have to knock them down twice for him to make yards."  With Kerry Collins this week, watch the Titans make more plays down the field.  If the Bengals play any three-deep or man coverage, Collins will shred them. 

FROM JEFF LEGWOLD OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS... Numbers like 41-3, 23-3, 35-27 and 48-20, the scores of those four Rivers starts; numbers like 4-0, those Chargers wins all added up. "They embarrassed us. Hopefully, we will play a lot better than the last two games," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. " . . . They kicked us pretty good." And if the Broncos were graded by the grass stains on Rivers' uniform the past two seasons, they likely wouldn't get a passing mark for getting to the passer. Rivers has been sacked only three times in the teams' past four meetings combined. And he also hasn't been pressured enough in between the sacks to slow him all that much. Rivers has thrown seven touchdown passes in those four games and been harassed into only two interceptions, but none of those interceptions has come in the past three times the two teams have played. "Pressure's big," Broncos defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban said. "Sacks or pressure?  Selfishly, you could say sacks. But winning? That's pressure. To win as a defense, it's always getting pressure." And the key to pressure is just beating your man off the ball and just having that quarterback reset. If he has to think about somebody in his face, it could be an errant throw, which causes interceptions, it could be happy feet, which causes him to scramble, which gives us another opportunity to get him.  "There's just so much that happens from getting somebody in his face."

Rivers had a 125 rating last week and still lost.  He has to be licking his chops over the Broncos secondary, which lacks speed and coverage skills.  The Raider game was the perfect match for the Broncos and their “all up approach” to run defense.  The Raiders cannot throw the ball, and it appears if they don’t even really want to do so.  So, as far as I am concerned, that game was not a genuine test of the Broncos' real weakness on defense.  The Chargers will make plays in the passing game and so will the Broncos.  This game might be a high scoring affair.  The team that ends up victorious will be the one that is able to get pressure on the passer.  The Chargers are by far the more physical team, and on defense they just need to prevent big plays.  This problem occurred early in the 2007 season and seems to be back once again.  The Denver-San Diego contest might be the best game to watch on Sunday.  I suspect the ball will be in the air all day and there will be lots of points on the board. 

FROM GEORGE SIPPLE OF THE DETROIT FREE PRESS... We're going to probably try to get Gosder in the game some," offensive coordinator Jim Colletto said after Thursday's practice. "He needs to play." Of the eight offensive tackles selected in the first round of this year's draft, Cherilus was the only healthy one who didn't start in his team's season opener. "In my eyes, he could probably play right now," Colletto said, adding that the Lions decided to start a veteran, George Foster, at right tackle instead. Would Cherilus, selected 17th overall out of Boston College, rotate with Foster this week? "I don't know how much he'll rotate, but I'm going to try to get him in some at some point in the game," Colletto said.

This is when the head coach needs to step in and say, "I have seen enough of George Foster, get Cherlius in the game."  Very few assistant coaches are strong enough in their conviction of player personnel to make this call alone.  The head coach has to step in and say, "enough is enough."  I mean, really, George Foster is going to get you beat.  This is a given, so why keep playing him?  I'll tell you why.  Because everyone is afraid to make the decision.  Do you think this would happen in NE?  This is one of my pet peeves in the league.  Why use a guy you know cannot play rather than take a chance on an unknown who might be able to play?  It makes no sense to me.  No new player is truly ever ready to play.  I remember in Cleveland when we had Gene Williams playing right tackle.  He was better suited for guard and we had this enormous man Orlando Brown waiting in the wings.  When Belichick asked the staff what we should do, everyone hesitated and would not make the call, offering a thousand reasons for not making the move.  When he had finally heard enough, Belichick simply said, "I want him in the game, I have seen enough."  Remember, no one has ever dedicated a monument to a committee.

FROM GERRY DULAC OF THE PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE... Coach Mike Tomlin is proceeding cautiously with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, limiting his work in practice but still planning on him playing Sunday night against the Cleveland Browns. Roethlisberger returned to practice yesterday but did little more than attempt handoffs because of a sore right shoulder that was injured against the Houston Texans. However, he is expected to do more today. "He's pushing toward game-readiness," Tomlin said. "We have to take it day by day. Sunday we'll go out and play and he'll be a part of that and there will be no excuses." While Roethlisberger and left tackle Marvel Smith (groin) returned to practice, cornerback  Deshea Townsend (heel contusion) missed his second day in a row. Tomlin said he doesn't know if the 11-year veteran can play Sunday. "I really don't have an answer to that right now," Tomlin said. "He wasn't good enough to go today. As of right now, he's not game ready."

This is a huge game for the Browns.  They are playing at home again and if they lose two in a row at the Dawg Pound, their team will be in an awful spot.  Big Ben took some big hits last week, and even though he is the toughest quarterback to get on the ground, he needs to avoid getting hit.  His line has to step up and play much better.  The Browns need to get back on track offensively and the key will be how well they protect against Pittsburgh's rush.  The Browns won’t be able to slow down and control the game with their defense, so they are going to have to match points with the Steelers.  The Browns won games last year with their offense and if they don’t come to play, they don't stand a chance against the Steelers.  In my opinion, Pittsburgh is the best team in the AFC right now. 

FROM MICHAEL C. WRIGHT OF THE FLORIDA TIMES UNION... I have a healthy respect for what Dick Jauron and his staff and that organization have put together," Del Rio said. "They've kind of flown below the radar a little bit - not in our minds. We've been studying the tape, knowing this is our home opener for a couple of weeks. They've put together a nice program." A good portion of Buffalo's assembly of talent comes from the draft. Going into Sunday's game, eight of the Bills' current starters - safeties Donte Whitner and Ko Simpson, defensive tackle Kyle Williams, guard Brad Butler, linebacker Keith Ellison, running back Marshawn Lynch, linebacker Paul Posluszny and quarterback Trent Edwards - were drafted under Jauron's watch. Several other starters - former Jaguars defensive tackle Marcus Stroud, linebacker Kawika Mitchell, guards Derrick Dockery and Kirk Chambers, center Melvin Fowler, tight end Robert Royal and fullback Darian Barnes - joined the Bills through free agency with Jauron at the controls. "We can be really good," Stroud said. "It reminds me of some of the teams we had down there in Jacksonville. We definitely have the talent here."

I love this week's matchup between the Jags and the Bills.  I'm looking forward to seeing if the Bills can handle success and play well two weeks in a row.  Having lost four offensive linemen, the Jags are a wounded team.  Finding replacements will be a daunting task.  Jason Peters will play, allowing Buffalo to move Walker back to his right tackle spot.  As Michael Wright reports in the article above, the key to Buffalo's success has been in large part due to their ability to draft.  This year, though, they added free agents Stroud and Mitchell who have given them more size and power in their front seven.  The Bills are no longer a small team and will not get pushed around so easily.  They need to keep exploring and expanding the offense, adding more touches to guys like Roscoe Parrish.  The Jags took too many chances defensively last week against the Titans and must be more careful when they attack.  And now, even more so, David Garrard has to be as careful with the ball as he was last year.  He must not make the mistakes.  He has to keep in mind that with his line in disarray, throwing an incomplete pass is not a bad play.  I think the Jags will have success on the ground and expect Maurice Jones-Drew to break out against the Bills.  Yet another great game to watch.  Like all Bill games, the special teams will make their presence felt, too. 

FROM JAMISON HEMSLEY OF THE BALTIMORE SUN... There is a possibility that the game could be changed again Sunday if Hurricane Ike causes damage to the city and Reliant Stadium, the Texans' 71,054-seat retractable-roof stadium. If the game can't be played in Houston, the NFL might consider relocating the game to an alternate site. Shifting the game to Atlanta, 793 miles east of Houston, was discussed by the league yesterday. "I'm sure the league and the Texans will monitor the situation and see what the conditions are in Houston when the storm has passed through" tomorrow, Cass said. Keeping the game in Houston goes against the league's recent trend of moving games affected by severe conditions.  In 2003, a game in San Diego was moved to Arizona State because Southern California was being ravaged by wildfires. In 2005, the league caused controversy when it made New Orleans, which suffered through Hurricane Katrina, play an originally scheduled home game against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium. The NFL took heat for giving the Giants an unfair advantage, one reason this weekend's game wasn't moved to Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium.

The Ravens will need to have another game plan that helps the quarterback and might need to score more than 17 points to win this game.  The Texans are a completely different team at home and seem to get much better protection from their offensive line at Reliant Stadium.  The Texans need to find a way to handle the seven-man front of the Ravens, something that the Bengals could not accomplish last week.  The Bengals got dominated up front, allowing the Ravens to play coverage.  That formula will be in play once again this week and I am not sure the Ravens can have the same success as they had against the Bengals.  The Texan defensive line needs to handle the Ravens.  Using an unbalanced set won’t work as well this week for Baltimore.  The Ravens will need to find another wrinkle. 

FROM BARRY SVRLUGA OF THE WASHINGTON POST... "I wish I could go to a team for one week with the best offensive line, or the team with the best scheme, and switch places with their back and see how others would do in this system," Portis said, sitting on a couch the other day at Redskins Park. "I get a lot of touches with nowhere to run. I could see if I got all those touches and had some lanes, but there's nine or 10 men in the box. "You know, I'm dodging all the people in the backfield, fighting just to get back to the line of scrimmage, and people [are] looking around like, 'Oh, he just missed it.' I'm dodging people getting the handoff, because nobody's really respecting us as a passing team."  Two things about which to be clear: In the same conversation, Portis stood up for Campbell, whose adjustment to Zorn's offense is receiving magnifying-glass attention. "I believe in him," Portis said.

He might have stood up for Campbell, but I bet Portis is not well-liked in the offensive line meeting room.  I heard Portis interviewed during the Jacksonville preseason game.  He made it sound as if everything was okay, that it was just a matter of a few things needing to be adjusted.  At that point, I knew the Skins were in deep trouble.  I would like for Portis to show me instances when he has faced a defense with ten in the box that was not short yardage.  In essence, he's basically saying, "I am good, but my teammates are killing me."  It is awfully selfish for him to speak out this way. 

THE DINER'S HIGH SCHOOL COACH OF THE WEEK

FROM JOHN BRANCH OF THE NEW YORK TIMES... The tornado also wiped out Ed Thomas’s football program. And Ed Thomas is not the type of man to stand for that. That is why, minutes after emerging with his wife, Jan, from beneath the basement steps to find their house on Conn Street and all the ones around it virtually erased from their foundations, Thomas walked — his two cars were destroyed, too — the few blocks to school. And he started to rebuild the past 33 years. Thomas is 57 years old, and for most of his life, Room 214 served as his classroom for teaching government and economics, his headquarters as the athletic director and his office as coach of the football team.  Three of the room’s cement-block walls had been lined with framed photographs of all-conference players, hundreds of them. Some were in black and white.

Ed  Thomas is a really great man.  He loves his work, he loves his town and he influences everyone his life touches.  There is a great feature on what this team had to overcome from the tornados this summer to get their school and field back in shape.  With help from his former players, Thomas was able to make good on his promise to get the school and the field ready for football season.  Showtime's Inside the NFL did a feature on Thomas.  If you get an opportunity, please tune in.  It will touch your heart. 

THE DINER'S DIVISION ONE COACH OF THE WEEK

FROM ANDY GARDINER OF THE USA TODAY... That led him to Terry Holland, the highly respected former basketball coach and athletics director at Virginia and a native North Carolinian. Holland arrived in October and two months later hired Skip Holtz to revive a Pirates football program that was 3-20 the previous two seasons. ECU football has been on the rise ever since. Holtz, son of Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, improved the record to 5-6 in his first season. The Pirates went 7-6 in 2006 and made their first bowl appearance in five years. East Carolina finished 8-5 last season with a win against No. 22 Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl. That victory was a prelude to the stunning start to this year in which the Pirates knocked off No. 15 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia.

Skip has done a remarkable job of rebuilding the program and showing people he is a great coach, not just the son of a great coach.  I admire his ability to overcome adversity and keep fighting. 

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