National Football Post Diner News

24    Oct 2008

QUOTE:  “We present a dramatically different approach to time management. This is a principle-centered approach. It transcends the traditional prescriptions of faster, harder, smarter, and more. Rather than offering you another clock, this approach provides you with a compass — because more important than how fast you're going, is where you're headed.” ~ Stephen Covey

FROM CALVIN WATKINS OF THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS…"The season's not over," Stewart said. "You should get measured by what you do at the end of the day, right? Not at the beginning. Look at the full body of work. Don't judge me on not even half of the season." Stewart has received most of the criticism over the defense's struggles. Though this is Phillips' 3-4 scheme, Stewart was brought in from San Diego last season to help teach it to the new defensive coaches and players. "The way you look at it is, you knew the job was rough when you took it," he said. "All you can do is be you, coach hard, be the best coach you can be at whatever you're supposed to be doing. And then what happens, happens. If you get blamed, you get blamed."

I think the biggest problem with the Dallas defense lies in the expectations of being a shut down unit.  They have gotten pass rush pressure from Demarcus Ware, but have not been able to get consistent pressure from anyone else.  And some of the guys that they are counting on to be good players have not matured as players, or have seen their better days as players.  For example, linebacker and first round pick Anthony Spencer has not been a factor, and the play of Anthony Henry has been so bad it amazes me that he is still active for games.  All that talk about this being a top talent defense is just that-- talk.  Now, I am not saying there is not room for improvement from the coaching side, because we all can do our own jobs better.  But when you look at the Cowboys on paper, they are just good on paper, not on the field. 

FROM CARLOS MONARREZ OF THE DETROIT FREE PRESS…The Lions said Thursday about 5,000 tickets remained for the 1 p.m. game at Ford Field. While the game may still reach a sellout, NFL rules state that a team must sell out 72 hours before kickoff in order to televise a home game. In cases where a team has been close to selling out, the NFL has granted a 24-hour extension. The blackout will affect broadcasts, including DirecTV's "Sunday Ticket," that have signal penetration within 75 miles of the stadium. TV markets where the game will not be shown are metro Detroit, Lansing, Saginaw/Flint and Toledo. On the radio, WXYT (1270-AM, 97.1-FM) will carry the game in Detroit."Yeah, it's tough," third-string quarterback Drew Henson said. "I guess I'm going to have to find my mom a ticket then."Henson, who played at Brighton High and Michigan, could especially empathize with his fellow hometown fans."I remember in high school once in a while" there would be a blackout, he said. "It's tough for fans that can't afford a ticket. Obviously it's not cheap to go to an NFL game, and it's your local team you grew up pulling for."The Lions had sold out 51 straight home games, dating to their final game at the Silverdome, a 15-10 win over Dallas on Jan. 6, 2002. Their last non-sellout was Dec. 30, 2001, when they drew 76,067 fans to see a 24-0 loss to Chicago."It's frustrating to be a part of," quarterback Dan Orlovsky said. "It doesn't make you feel too great about yourself that your hometown fans -- where in this city we have some phenomenal fans -- don't want to come see you play.”

What was very clear when I read this article was the loyalty and the dedication the Lions fans have showed for so many other losing seasons.  Last year, they started 6-2 and things looked promising. But when they went 1-7 over the next eight games, the fans were again disappointed.  Football is very important in Michigan and it always amazes me that the Lions have not been one of the most consistent organizations in the NFL.  And the reason is that they have never had the right football man in charge.  What people don’t understand about the NFL is that it takes talent to evaluate talent.  It is a unique skill and not everyone shares the same ability, much like everyone cannot sing, or dance. 

There are four types of scouts in all forms of scouting, as this was something I learned from Tony Lucadello of the great Philadelphia Phillies.  They all begin with the letter P.  The first kind is the Poor scout who cannot see any talent or is never right.  The second is the Picker.  This is the guy who picks on one thing all the time and cannot get off of it, and most of the time that single thing has NOTHING to do with whether a player can play.  The third type is the Production scout.  He is the guy who grades production and values stats.  Finally, there is the Projection scout, who can see the player today and project the talent out a year or two.  I heard Charley Casserly say on the NFL Today last week that a third round pick only has a 30% chance to be a starter and I totally disagree.  That may be the average of the league, but the league is not filled with Projection scouts.  The league average does not concern me.  What concerns me is the team I am working for.  Bill Walsh hated when scouts would tell him that this was a bad year for the draft.  He would respond by saying, “all we need is 12 players.  I am not interested in making every team better”.  He felt that scouts used the difficulty of the draft as a cop out.  Everyone evaluates talent, we all do it each time we watch a game.  But there is a huge difference between the person who knows what he is doing and others that are just guessing.

FROM GREG BISHOP OF THE NEW YORK TIMES…Coach Eric Mangini confirmed that Coles sustained a concussion last Sunday against the Oakland Raiders. It was Coles’s third documented head injury since late December 2006. “It’s a concussion,” Mangini said. Suddenly, the room was silent because Mangini says “concussion” about as often as he says “my friend, Bill Belichick.”  Mangini also confirmed that safety Eric Smith sustained his second concussion of the season in the game against the Raiders. The first came three weeks earlier, after a helmet-to-helmet collision with Arizona Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin, which cost Smith a one-game suspension and $50,000. Mangini did not say whether Coles or Smith would play Sunday. “I’ve got personal concern for all the guys,” Mangini said. “Their safety is important to me. That’s going to be first and foremost.”

The NFL has very strict rules on when a player can come back from a concussion and it is completely out of the hands of the coach.  The player must pass tests and must demonstrate that he does not have any side effects from the concussion.  The NFL has done a great job of making sure that players are not put back on the field if they are not ready to play.  And Eric is right, safety is most important.  Besides, if they cannot beat the Herman “Lets Build Something Together” Edwards Chiefs team this weekend, then something is very, very wrong. 

FROM ART THIEL OF THE SEATTLE PI…As any follower of the soap opera will tell you, the succession of Seahawks head coaches, scripted more carefully last January than the British monarchy, this week is, along with other matters Seahawk, catawampus. Two unscheduled events, the 1-5 record and the firing Monday of 49ers head coach Mike Nolan, have collided with a scheduled event, Sunday's game, to make Holmgren's 2009 much more intriguing than what remains of his 2008. The handoff between Holmgren and Jim Mora, the assistant head coach in charge of defensive backs, followed by Holmgren's wife-imposed "sabbatical," was designed to minimize distraction in a lame-duck year. Instead, it has come to fuel it. Outside of a small knot of fans in either city, no one cares about the game outcome. What swivels heads is the pending, but ill-defined, free agency of one of the NFL's premier coaches, combined with the sudden vacancy in a franchise he helped turn into a powerhouse. Holmgren goosed along the speculation, presumably inadvertently, by saying nothing had changed. For right now. In fact, by unofficial count in interviews with reporters here Wednesday and in San Francisco by phone, he used the phrase "right now" 12 times.

I am not sure Mike Homlgren wants to just pick the talent and not be the coach.  He is very serious about taking the year off and will make sure he fulfills his commitments to his wife.  What has happened to the 49ers is a painful thing to watch for all of the people who had something to do with building that franchise into one of the greatest in the NFL.  And everyone who has been there before wants to pitch in and help bring them back, to preserve the legacy of what Bill Walsh has built.  Mike might not want the job this year but at some point, if things don’t get turned around, he will have to answer the call. 

FROM BRYAN BURRELL OF THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH…Anyone could be tough in someone else's body," tailback Steven Jackson said when someone questioned why he wouldn't be able to play through the pain of a right thigh bruise he suffered near the end of this week's 34-14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, and be ready to rumble this Sunday against the New England Patriots. Jackson knows how important he is to the Rams' fortunes. He understands clearly that this is a dramatically better football team when a healthy Steven Jackson is the offense's primary weapon. He knows what is at stake if he can find a way to get back on the field at or near full strength in time for Sunday's showdown on the road. So on Thursday, for the second consecutive day, Jackson spent most of the two-hour practice in a training room pool trying to heal those battered muscles in his bruised thigh. He said he felt a lot better Thursday than he did on Wednesday, and probably three times better than he did four days earlier when he walked out of the Edward Jones Dome locker room with a stiff-legged gait.

The power and the explosion that Steven Jackson shows on the field place a huge wear and tear on his body.  Even though he is big and strong, he takes some hard hits and they tend to be hard to shake off during the week.  I believe that running backs who are not healthy are better to rest and recoup their bodies than to go out and take more blows.  That is why having two backs is essential, and why you must make sure you have depth at the position. 

FROM EDGAR THOMPSON OF THE PALM BEACH POST…Wilford, the fifth-year NFL veteran, didn't sign a big-time contract with the Dolphins this year just to sit on the bench. But he enters Sunday's game against Buffalo with one catch, and he's been on the inactive roster for two straight games."Am I hurt? Yeah," Wilford said Thursday. "But this is nothing new for me. Nothing in life came easy for me. This is just a little phase I'm going through."I just have to continue to believe in myself and crawl my way out of this valley."Wilford, 29, has faced challenges since birth. It's one reason that, even now, he keeps a smile on his face. Born with clubfeet, he wore correctional braces on his legs until he was 9 or 10. "Like Forrest Gump,' he said. Even when Wilford finally was able to run and jump, his father didn't allow his youngest son to play sports. "It was forbidden in my house," Wilford said. "My dad was a pastor, so we were always raised in the church. We were in church from Sunday until Saturday. ... Every day." But Wilford couldn't resist the urge to use his athletic gifts, so as a junior in high school, he secretly joined the track and field team. His parents, Ernest Sr. and Janice, found out when his name appeared in the newspaper for winning the state titles in the long jump, high jump and triple jump as a junior at Franklin/Armstrong Military School in Richmond, Va. The next year, Wilford played football for the first time and found his calling, though it took a while for anyone to realize it. For some time, Janice Wilford thought her son would join the military. Rising each day at 4 a.m., Ernest Wilford would iron his clothes, shine his shoes, polish his medals and head to school "dressed to perfection," she said.

Hard work and dedication have gotten Ernest Wilford this far.  But what hurts him so badly in Miami is that he needs other receivers around him to be effective.  His skill set is that of a complimentary receiver and is best when he is placed in a mismatch situation.  He is one of those players that is great when he plays 15 plays, but bad when he has to play 30. 

FROM LES BOWEN OF THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS…Defensive tackle Mike Patterson said the problem was more keeping the parts working together than pure physical effort. "We just haven't been able to play good team ball, like we were when we started," Patterson said. "Turner's doing real good, especially after contact. He knows how to make extra yardage. It's going to be important for us to do that.' Middle linebacker Stewart Bradley said Washington and San Francisco attacked the Birds a little differently than the earlier opponents did, stretching and cutting back. He said from what he has seen of Atlanta, he expects more of the straightforward power running game the Eagles were seeing earlier, that they were more successful stopping. "I think it's a type of attack we stack well against," Bradley said. "I'm pretty confident. They're a great running team, there's no doubt about that. It's going to be totally huge for us to stop the run." Bradley said most runners try to elude tacklers, but Turner seems to seek them out. "He does a good job positioning himself for contact, to keep going," Bradley said. "You don't necessarily see him breaking guys down and making them miss in the wide open field, but he'll get his shoulder low, or he'll throw his body to one side or the other so he can absorb the blow. Not many guys run like that." Bradley reiterated that stopping Turner was the key to stopping Ryan. "The time's [Ryan has] struggled is when they've gotten behind, and they haven't been running the ball as well, and it's been more on him."

The Eagles have been able to build a lead but have not been able to hold the lead.  And the Falcons have done a good job of being able to stick with their plan.  But this is a perfect game for the Eagles because they can throw the ball on the Falcons secondary and should be able to build an early lead.  If they don’t get up early, the Falcons will wear them down and win the fourth quarter.  The Eagles need to dance around the ring and keep moving.  Once a team makes it a slugfest kind of game, then this exposes their lack of size and power. 

FROM CHUCK LUDWIG OF THE DAYTON DAILY NEWS…Bengals rookie defensive tackle Pat Sims fancies himself as the next Warren Sapp, the seven-time Pro Bowl player whose career spanned 13 years with Tampa Bay (1995-2003) and Oakland (2004-2007)."He was unstoppable," Sims said. "I want to be like that real soon."The third-round draft pick from Auburn is coming on strong.Inactive the first five games because of a sprained big toe, Sims has delivered 12 tackles (6 solos) the past two games. That's the kind of production the defense needs to improve on its No. 27 ranking against the run (152.3 yards a game)."We'll continue to get him more and more snaps," head coach Marvin Lewis said. "He's having fun and realizing, 'You know what, I can do this. And they brought me here for the right reasons.' "That's a good thing for a young player because being injured like he was in the preseason, he didn't get a lot of looks. All his time was spent without pads."

Pat Sims is a very good talent and would have been drafted much earlier had he not had some of the off the field issues hampering him.  He is big, strong, powerful, can play the game with quickness and has what I call one step explosion.  That is like a boxer who can knock you out with one short punch.  And the Bengals have gotten much better on defense this year.  All they need is to find an offense. 

FROM SHIRA SPRINGER OF THE BOSTON GLOBE…Regardless, the infection could create long-term knee problems, including reduced mobility, stiffness, weakness, and lingering pain. Patients who suffer an infection might never regain full motion, a serious consequence for a professional athlete. But Brady's long-term prognosis also depends on what type of bacteria caused the infection. The most common cause of a post-operative septic joint is staph; if Brady has a staph infection responsive to antibiotics, he still has a chance at a good surgical result. When Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the ACL reconstruction at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles Oct. 6, he used Brady's patellar tendon to replace the torn ligament. With professional athletes, it is preferable to use their tendons as a substitute ligament because they are believed to be the strongest. If a second ACL reconstruction is necessary, doctors would likely use donor material from a cadaver. During the initial surgery, NFL sources said El Attrache also repaired the MCL, which is usually done through a separate incision. In cases where patients have a torn ACL and MCL, orthopedic surgeons typically wait for the MCL to heal before repairing the ACL. While Brady and ElAttrache may have been eager to fix his knee, several orthopedic surgeons contacted by the Globe said the additional MCL repair did not necessarily increase the odds of infection. "An ACL getting infected is extraordinarily rare," said T.O. Souryal, physician for the Dallas Mavericks, former consultant to the NFL Players Association, and an expert in ACL injuries. "I'm not sure the MCL adds to the risk, but it doesn't really take away from it. This can happen to any surgeon and with any procedure, whether it is a knee or a finger. Infection is a risk inherent in surgery."

The hardest thing for teams to deal with is when their own players don’t receive medical treatment in the area.  It’s one thing to have a second opinion, but it is another to not have the club monitor the situation on a daily basis.  I have no doubt Brady will be as good as new next season, but some of these bumps in the road could have been avoided. 

HIGH SCHOOL COACH OF THE WEEK…          Tony Annese Muskegon Michigan

Michigan High School Football - Rockford beaten by Muskegon

Comments

Add a Comment