National Football Post Diner News

28    Oct 2008

QUOTE:  "A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done." ~ Vince Lombardi        

FROM JIM WYATT OF THE TENNESSEAN…The Titans came off the mat in the second half, put away their old nemesis in convincing fashion, improved to 7-0 and took a four-game lead in the division. The Colts, Jaguars and Texans are all 3-4. The season hits the midway point next week. "We made a statement,' Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said.  "The Colts are definitely no slouches. They came in and played good, but we held. … Now, the Titans are the team to beat.' Trailing 14-6 in the third quarter, the Titans scored 25 straight points to take a 31-14 lead late in the fourth quarter before the Colts scored another touchdown. Running back LenDale White provided two short touchdown runs. Running back Chris Johnson added a 16-yard scoring run late in the fourth quarter to put the game away with 3:31 remaining. Quarterback Kerry Collins kept his poise as the Titans trailed in the second half. He finished 24-of-37 passing for 193 yards. "The Colts have been on top for a lot of years and we're trying to get where they've been, so it was a big step for us tonight,' Collins said.

I think the Titans proved that they can win games in any style and they do, in fact,  have a passing game to go along with their powerful running game.  The reason they can play any style is that their offensive line plays so well and is really well coached.  Offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger really gives them a multiple offense along with a very good play caller that works in unison with the defense.  The Titans know the game is never going to run away from them, that most often teams cannot score more than 17 points, so they can play a more conservative approach on offense.  But last night showed us that when they have to fire up the passing game, they can execute it very well.   This game was a statement game for the Titans and they are going to be tough to beat in the playoffs, as long as they stay healthy. 

FROM JOHN CRUMPACKER OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE…"We just felt like right now Shaun gives us the best chance of winning," Singletary said. "It's just a good decision all around right now. The things that have happened with the turnovers, J.T. (O'Sullivan) needs to take time to gather himself. It's a long season, eight games left, a lot of football. We may have to use both of them before it's over." O'Sullivan fumbled twice (losing one) and threw an interception seconds before halftime that was returned 75 yards for a touchdown by Seattle before being removed in favor of Hill, who played one snap in the first half and the entire second half. Martz was responsible for bringing O'Sullivan to the 49ers after the two were together in Detroit last season. Going with Hill represents for Singletary repudiation of Martz's judgment and, in a larger sense, his offense.

I think you have to make changes if you are in Mike Singletary’s shoes.  I am not a big fan of being out of control on Sunday during the game, and think what Mike did was more self indulgent than the right thing to do.  Fire Vernon Davis and make him sit on the bench.  But sending him to the locker room and making a fool out of him borders on being high schoolish.  I am all for wanting players that are winners, but Mike has been there for as long as Nolan, and all the players on the roster come from the Nolan/McCloughan regime.  So, they brought in the cancer cells.  And now we find out that Davis is not even one of the problems in the locker room, that there are “others”.  How does McCloughan handle this bashing of the players since he was the man in charge of at least making sure the players that were on the board passed the character and competitive test?  I really admire Singletary’s passion, but I think he needs to find other ways to motivate than to scream and yell to inspire the players.  He has to be their inspiration and he has to be intelligent in his dealing with each player.  This is not high school and the players are only going to respond to the coach who can inspire and lead through wisdom.     

FROM DANIAL BARBARISI OF THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL…“I was proud of the way the players hung in there and played good situational football; a lot of real specific, one-situation type plays. Our red-area defense, our two-minute operation, offensively getting the ball in down there on a double move in there to Kevin [Faulk]” for the winning touchdown, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.  “A lot of times, psychologically, the protection is thinking, ‘I’ve got to stay in longer, we don’t have as much room to punt, it’s not our normal depth from the center to the punter’,” Belichick said. “Also when you make a team re-kick it, guys aren’t as fresh. You don’t get the same energy on the punt the second time around.”

What makes Belichick so unique is that he finds ways to win games and rarely does he make mistakes at the end of the half that costs his team the game.  His situational football is one of the best in the NFL and even without Tom Brady, he is able to win games.  He has a defense that has some holes, no running backs, and a quarterback that has virtually never played.  If he wins the AFC East, he is my coach of the year, because instead of bitching about the problem, he is finding ways to solve the problem, without screaming or causing a scene.  It is never about him, only about the team. 

FROM NICHOLAS COTSONIKA OF THE DETROIT FREE PRESS…"Losing is a disease," he said Monday. "It's kind of a disease, and the way you fight it is, you've got to stay tough. You've got to be consistent." You've got to have a belief in what you're doing, and that's how you fight it. If you give in to it and just say, 'Well, let's do this or do that or do this,' I don't think you can beat it." But does Marinelli have the right medicine? "Yeah," Marinelli said. "Fundamentals. Execution." It has become routine. The Lions lose. Marinelli takes questions at his weekly news conference about making changes. He says he will stay the course. He says the Lions are doing what he wants, working hard and practicing well, but everyone -- coaches and players -- must execute better on game day. This time the Lions lost Sunday to Washington, 25-17. Marinelli took questions Monday about making a change at defensive coordinator or taking over the defensive play-calling. He said he wouldn't. He said he told the team that if the Lions are able to execute something in practice by Friday, they have to be able to call it on Sunday. "It's the player and the coach," Marinelli said. "It's not the call. It's the execution of the call."  Marinelli used an example where if a player does one thing correctly, it's a modest gain for the opponent, but if he does that thing incorrectly, it's a big play.

All calls look right on the board on Tuesday and Wednesday and even on Sunday.  I have sat in a room with coaches and have heard them talk the same rhetoric that is coming from Rod Marinelli.  Had we just done this, or if so and so would have just moved two inches over like we said, and on it goes.  And at the end of the day, there are reasons for poor execution.  It’s called poor talent.  If you are happy with your schemes, than the reason you don’t win has to be because the players lack necessary talent.  Yet, Marinelli loves his team, he loves his players and thinks that if he can keep working hard and keep coaching he will improve.  The will to succeed is something I admire in Coach Marinelli, but the reality is that he does not see the big picture.  He does not understand that the NFL is a talent driven league and he has a bad hand.   The problems in Detroit are both in design and production. 

FROM JOHN MCCLAIN OF THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE…For the first time in franchise history, the Texans are getting recognition as one of the best offensive teams in the NFL. The Texans — 3-4 with a three-game winning streak — rank fourth in yards (371.6), 11th in rushing (118.4) and fifth in passing (253.1). After starting the season with losses at Pittsburgh and Tennessee, the Texans are averaging 29.2 points over the past five games in which they are 3-2. Defeating Detroit and Cincinnati, which are a combined 0-15, at Reliant Stadium is one thing, but winning at Minnesota is something else. If the Texans are going to extend their winning streak to four games, expect them to rely heavily on the passing game Sunday. The Vikings (3-4) like to run and stop the run. They ranked first in both statistics last season. They rank eighth in rushing (128.4 yards) this season, and they’re second in run defense (70.7). The Texans have to contain running back Adrian Peterson. If the Vikings contain Steve Slaton, the burden falls on the right arm of Matt Schaub and his receivers, including Andre Johnson. “This league’s funny,” coach Gary Kubiak said Monday, the day after the Texans’ 35-6 victory over Cincinnati. “You can be struggling doing something, and you keep working, then all of a sudden, you can flip the tables over a three- or four-week period.”

Quietly, the Texans have won three in a row.  And I know they have not really beaten anyone great, but they have gotten off the decks and showed the NFL that they do have a very potent offense.  Now they need to show the NFL they have the ability to win on the road.  This is the perfect game to do just that.  They can move the ball and the Vikings don’t have that explosive offense to create problems in their secondary.  The Texans might be the second best team in the AFC South if they can get anything from their defense and if Matt Schaub keeps competing and playing tough. 

FROM ADAM TEICHER OF THE KANSAS CITY STAR…Tyler Thigpen didn’t realize just how much things had changed, how much he had changed, until he reviewed the video Monday. He saw himself throwing darts in the previous day’s 28-24 Chiefs loss to the Jets at the Meadowlands. Absent were the balls sent zipping off to nowhere. In their place were on-target throws that frequently beat good coverage. One of the more vivid examples of Thigpen’s dramatic improvement came on his 19-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez in the first quarter. Gonzalez was covered by both cornerback Dwight Lowery and linebacker Calvin Pace, but Thigpen’s throw went where only Gonzalez could get it. That’s the type of play, Thigpen only now realized, he couldn’t have made before. “A couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have even tried to throw that one to Tony,” Thigpen said Monday. “I wouldn’t have had the confidence. That play was a big difference for me.”

Thigpen looked very good and his accuracy this week was impressive.  He clearly has found some confidence after playing well against the Jets.  And yes, I know the Jets secondary is not the best in the NFL and everyone throws the ball well on them, but Thigpen needed a game that showed he could do something after the debacle in Atlanta.  The Chiefs need to be very careful about thinking they have their long range answer at quarterback.  They need to keep evaluating his play and as the competition gets tougher, that will be the real evaluation. 

FROM BOB MANAMAN OF THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC…Nothing has been determined, officially, although James on Monday sounded more than resigned to the fact that his days in Arizona appear numbered when he said, among other things that he was "put in a position to fail." "I'd rather not say anything," he added, "because I might get into more trouble."James, who has rushed 108 times for 380 yards - an average of 3.5 yards per carry, let his frustrations spill over last week when he publicly complained about his role. According to sources, he met privately with Whisenhunt about some of those comments and left the meeting feeling his days in Arizona were done. Hightower, who has 133 yards on 39 carries, didn't want to enter the fray when asked about possibly becoming the team's new featured back. "I'm not even thinking about that right now," Hightower said. "Whatever they ask me to do, I'm ready. I've got a lot more to learn, though, because I'm still making mistakes, but I can get better, and that's the key word." Whisenhunt said, based on what he's seen from the rookie, "You have to consider him" as the possible new featured halfback, although time will tell. "But yeah," he added, "I feel very comfortable with him.” 

I think this is the right move.  As explosive as the Cards have been passing the ball, they need to find some type of running game that can take the burden off the quarterback from time to time.  The Cards are very close and they can do some damage to the NFL over the next 8 games, but they need to make one or two personnel moves to shore up some poor areas of their team.  They cannot be shy and cannot worry about bad feelings.  They need to do what is right for the team and that starts with finding a back who can make some plays. 

FROM FRED MITCHELL OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE…Could it be that 23 years have passed since William "The Refrigerator" Perry burst onto the "Monday Night Football" scene as a 350-pound defensive lineman who also could run and catch passes for touchdowns? "Yes, it does seem that long ago," Perry said Monday from his home in Aiken, S.C. "It even seems longer than that, trust me." Perry, 45, remains good-natured despite suffering the sometimes life-threatening effects of Guillain-Barré syndrome, which affects the peripheral nervous system and causes progressive weakness. He was hospitalized for five months and is using a wheelchair as he rehabilitates.

"I'm doing fine," Perry said. "I'm walking a little bit and rehabbing and doing what I'm supposed to. Tell everybody that I'm doing a whole lot better. It just takes time. I hope to be up and about in a walker real soon."

Lets all hope William gets better and that the Bears are helping him as much as they can.  He is a big part of their franchise and during times like these, support from your team is the best medicine. 

FROM JEFF DARLINGTON OF THE MIAMI HERALD…For now, Sparano believes the answer has nothing to do with figuring out the numbers game. Instead, he said, it comes down to something much more subjective. 'For me, it's the way we practice,' Sparano said. ``I think that translates to how you play on the weekend. I rarely see us practice poorly during the week and play well on Sunday, or practice not great during the week and play well on Sunday. ``I feel like when we practice pretty well, we play pretty well.' That notion, to this point, also has been well-documented. Players have gone on the record with unsolicited comments about the intensity and focus of the Wednesday practice before each game the Dolphins have won. With some precedence for this trend now on the books, Sparano believes he will have all the ammunition he needs to make sure his players get the message: The feeling from a win is the direct result of the effort from a practice. 'I think when you're doing it on the practice field, and then you go to the game and have some success, it's pretty easy for the players to understand there's a correlation between what we did in practice and what we did during the game,' Sparano said.

This is why I felt that the Dolphins would improve each week of the season and by the end of the year would be a very tough team to play.  They work hard in practice and they work on the same fundamentals each day.  And when a player cannot execute those techniques and fundamentals, he is replaced with someone who can.  Miami is the opposite of the Lions approach.  The Dolphins respect their players, but are not unconditionally in love with them as the Lions and Rod Marinelli seem to be right now.  And when you have success from practicing hard each week it makes it much easier for the team to go back out and have another week of intense work.  The Dolphins are laying the foundation for their future. 

FROM LINDSAY H JONES OF THE DENVER POST…It's the hype building about rookie running back Ryan Torain, who is preparing to finally make his NFL debut, perhaps as soon as Sunday at Invesco Field at Mile High against the Miami Dolphins. Since when has the midseason debut of a rookie — especially one drafted in the fifth round — been so highly anticipated?  "I think a lot of people are putting pressure on his back by predicting him to do things when he's just trying to come out and do his job," veteran running back Michael Pittman said. "I think he feels it, but as a young guy, you want that opportunity."  Consider that when Torain dislocated his left elbow and damaged ligaments during training camp in early August, he had been steadily moving his way up the depth chart and likely would have been in contention to earn a starting job by September. At that point, the coaches were so impressed with their rookie tailback that head coach Mike Shanahan even offered up a comparison to Terrell Davis. "He's one of the most gifted running backs I've been around for a long time. He is very similar to Terrell Davis when he came in," Shanahan said Aug. 6, the day Torain was carted off the practice field.

We all know Mike Shanahan tends to overvalue his players, but if he is right about Torain, then this might be the one player who can help their bad defense.  They need to be able to control the ball and they need to be able to reduce the time of possession for their opponents.  Having a big back might just be the right answer.  They are NEVER going to be good enough on defense this year, so the best solution for the short term is having a big back that can control the game.  All the Denver fans need to hope Mike is right with this evaluation. 

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