National Football Post Diner News

11    Nov 2008

QUOTE:  “Knowledge will give you power, but character, respect." Bruce Lee

You can view the clip from my "Around The League" NFL Network segment here.

FROM JOHN CRUMPACKER OF THE SAN FRANCISCO FORTY-NINERS... The 49ers were trying to punch the ball into the end zone from the Arizona 2-yard line with three seconds left but fullback Michael Robinson was stopped at the 1 and the Cardinals escaped with a 29-24 victory over their NFC West rivals. "I tried my hardest," Robinson said of his plunge into the middle of the line, stopped short of the goal line by Clark Haggans' tackle. "It was one of those things where they made the play and we didn't." There were a lot of things the 49ers didn't do that cost them this game, their sixth straight defeat and by far the most frustrating and demoralizing. "It tears your heart out," interim head coach Mike Singletary said. "There will be no carryover. We'll be fine. We've got a great group of guys in there who want to win. It's all about finishing." Following an Arizona punt, the 49ers took possession at the Cardinals' 42-yard line with 1:06 left, trailing 29-24 and out of timeouts. Three straight passes from Shaun Hill to wide receiver Jason Hill advanced the ball to the 1-yard line. Receiver Hill, no relation to quarterback Shaun, was tackled with about 45 seconds to play, clock ticking.

You have to admire the intensity and the toughness that the new 49ers showed this week coming off the bye and having been under the Mike Singletary regime for only a week.  They looked much more physical and intense.  But they still made huge mistakes that cost them the game; they turned the ball over and they could not execute the 2-minute drill.  With that being said, there was at least hope and they put themselves in position to win the game.  As for the Cardinals, they are going to win the NFC West, and they showed toughness and come-from-behind ability.  What impressed me most about the Cardinals last night was their lack of panic after going down 14-3 early.  The hardest part of playing a bad team is that you tend to panic if you are not dominating and in the lead after the first quarter.  Good teams know that the game is about playing hard for four quarters, and the best teams wear their opponents down as the game progresses.  The Cards were so good at attacking the protections of the 49ers, and they kept getting A gap pressure on the quarterback.  Had they been able to stay on sides, this game might not have been close because of all the mistakes the 49ers made. 

FROM MIKE REISS OF THE BOSTON GLOBE... Thomas's loss for an extended period will be a significant setback for the Patriots, who already are playing without safety Rodney Harrison (out for the season with a torn quad) on defense. Asked how the Patriots have been successful plugging injury-based holes in the past, linebacker Mike Vrabel said: "We talk about it all the time. Our focus has to be on the Jets. We're going to have 11 guys out there. Unfortunately, AD is not going to be there this week." Cornerback Ellis Hobbs touched on how significant it is to lose a player of Thomas's caliber. "It's extremely tough," he said. "Any time you lose a player, especially an impact player like him, it hurts. But he'll tell you himself, the machine can't stop. It has to continue to roll." Pierre Woods, a third-year pro from Michigan, took over for Thomas on Sunday and likely will get his first pro start against the Jets. "It's definitely an opportunity," said Woods, who has played 33 games since the Patriots signed him as an undrafted free agent. "So just go out there and do my job and I think I'll be fine."

One thing about the Patriots 2008 version is the team RULES.  The fact that they have lost Thomas does not affect them as much as many might think.  Thomas is a good player, but he does benefit from the scheme and how he is used in the overall defense.  Pierre Woods is a good, young player, and he can compensate for the loss of Thomas in the coverage aspect.  Where Thomas might be hard to replace is as a rusher and as a player that can mismatch on running backs in protections.  The Patriots have started to rebuild their linebackers; with the selection of Mayo and now the injury to Thomas, they will be able to go younger.  I watched the Patriots closely this weekend, and they are getting better with their defensive front—their line is starting to play better.  They are now ready for the second half of the season, and if Seymour and Warren can play like they did on Sunday, they can help compensate for the loss of Thomas.  One thing about the Pats:  they offer no excuses; they just go out and play. 

FROM RALPH VACCHIANO OF NEW YORK DAILY NEWS... The defending Super Bowl champions (8-1) are not just good. They are, in the words of Tom Coughlin, "battle tested." They've won 12 of their last 13 games, dating back to the start of last season's playoffs, and six of those have come right down to the wire. They've won 14 of their last 15 on the road, including many where they had to overcome their own struggles.  So when the playoffs arrive in seven (or possibly eight) weeks, the Giants will feel more ready than ever before.  "As each game comes along there are different ways that you have to go about winning," Coughlin said yesterday. "Sometimes the adjustment is made right on the field during the game. To be able to find a way to win is reinforcing for the players. It's a feeling of quiet confidence among ourselves that we trust in each other.”

What Tom Coughlin has said here is the key to the NFL.  And this is what motivates the players; not the speeches, but the knowledge and the adjustments made during the game.  Each week you have to find different ways to win the game.  When talking to basketball coaches, I always found that they had a more profound way of predicting the game and knowing what it took to win.  They set their whole plan each week as to what they had to do to win the game.  That’s what the Patriots do, that’s what the Giants do, and now you can see that element in the Titans as well.  Right now, there are a bunch of teams in the NFL fighting for playoff spots—but there are only a few that are battled tested. 

FROM LES BOWEN OF THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS... IN THE GOOD old days, 5 or 6 or 7 years ago, we would complain about the Eagles not being able to hammer out tough rushing yards, and not being able to stop the run. These complaints would trigger a sort of condescending chuckle from the team's brain trust, and a lecture on how running and stopping the run were so '90s. The new millennium was going to be all about passing and stopping the pass. You were going to have to beat teams like the St. Louis Rams and their Greatest Show on Turf to get to the Super Bowl.  Well, here we are in 2008, and somehow, we aren't all flying around in rocket cars, like the Jetsons. The No. 1 rushing attack in the league, heading into last night's action, belonged to the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, no small thanks to the mind-bending 219 yards gobbled up in Sunday night's beat-down of the Eagles. Washington weighed in at No. 4 in NFL rushing.

I watched this game again on tape and it was not even close.  I really believe the slow grass field at the Linc helped the Eagles keep the Giants from getting a good pass-rush going, as there was so much slippage on each step made by the Giants’ lineman.  The Eagles have allowed over 400 yards rushing their last two HOME games against the NFC East teams.  They have allowed their NFC East opponents to control the ball for over 35 minutes in the last two HOME meetings.  When you get pushed around at HOME, something is wrong.  I did hear Andy Reid say that he is three feet away from having three more wins, but that comment does not translate on the tape.  Until Andy admits that the Giants are better and that the Giants have the kind of offensive and defensive lines he wants—but has been unable to draft—then he is never going to close the gap.  When I look at the Eagles offensive line today (without Andrews) and see that the best player on the line is the guy that I drafted in 1997, Tra Thomas, then something is wrong.  Their guards are not good enough when Andrews is not in the game, and they don't win the match-up against the Giants.  When I was in Cleveland, I had a board that listed every starter from the division and how we matched up to that player, man for man.  Until we could shift that match-up in our favor, I knew that we could not win the AFC Central.  The Eagles need to IMPROVE their talent on both lines.  They have been disguising their lack of talent with a very fine coaching staff, but when you have lost four games in a row to one team, you are clearly out-matched. 

FROM DAVID HAUGH OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE... It's one thing to let Kyle Orton call his own plays at the line of scrimmage, but quite another to allow the quarterback to decide whether he tests an ankle to which he has no business risking further injury. If the Bears indeed left it up to Orton whether he would play Sunday with a sprained ankle—the version according to Orton—then what exactly is the medical staff's role? Orton's wisdom in realizing he should take the safe route saved the Bears from the embarrassing possibility of having their franchise quarterback, who didn't practice all week, reinjured on a bad field that remains a problem. Was it really his call? Sunday's Packers game is a different story. The clock has restarted on his injury and, given the progress that surprised even Orton in the last week, it makes sense that he would have some input into whether he feels good enough to play in a big game against a division rival.

Orton won't play unless the team doctors give him medical clearance to play.  This is not his call at all, and if he does get back on the field to practice this week, he will have to prove to the coaches and trainers that he can handle the pressure and react without any problems.  This is a decision that comes from the trainers after viewing how Orton appears when he works out.  My gut feeling tells me that he is going to play. 

FROM TEDDY KIDER OF THE NEW ORLEANS TIMES PICAYUNE... We're not able to be in London right now after the Carolina loss and not pay attention to all of the things, where we were able to just disappear and focus on a game plan," Saints Coach Sean Payton said Monday, sounding almost nostalgic about the international game that he had criticized. "We're going to have to be able to do that here at home, and we're going to have to be able to focus on preparing to play our best game and improving this week." "It's frustrating, because it's the lack of consistency that we talked about at the bye week," Payton said. "If you looked at the first eight games, that would be the one common denominator."

I agree with Sean, and what I see from the Saints is a lack of toughness as an overall football team.  If you compare the Saints to the Giants, they lack the same toughness that the Giants display each week.  The Saints have one of the best offensive-line coaches in the NFL; Doug Marone does a great job with his talent base, but they need to improve all areas of their line and add more toughness to their team.   This defense is very soft, and they have not been able to play against the run since Payton has been in New Orleans.  The Saints are not going to make the playoffs, and it will be a very interesting off-season in New Orleans.  They must find a way to get an edge, a sense of competitive nature in all the players they bring to New Orleans. 

FROM JIM THOMAS OF THE ST. LOUIS POST DISPACTH... Oddly enough, that contest also was played at the Meadowlands — a 44-24 loss to the New York Giants. Haslett wanted nothing to do with talk about the team's fragile psyche. In his most agitated news conference rant since taking over as Rams head coach, Haslett wants a team that can protect the football. "When you're on a team that loses this many games that we've lost over the last couple of years, (a fragile psyche) has something to do with it," Haslett said, his voice rising. "But I'll say this, you can overcome adversity if it's one, maybe two turnovers. But if you're going to turn the ... ball over five times, you ain't going to overcome that. Nobody's that good in the NFL, to have five turnovers and think you're going to come back … or think you're going to be in the game. I don't know any team that will overcome it. Adversity, teams that are fragile, when you turn the ball over five times, hell yeah, you're going to be fragile."

The Rams lack talent and they lack the ability to overcome any adversity.  They were able to focus and concentrate for a brief period of time, but once the players got comfortable again, they went back to their old ways.  Haslett can only do so much with this team; the die had been cast this past off-season as they tried to repair.  Clearly, the Rams need to evaluate what kinds of players they select and how they build a team this off-season, as many of their problems are not in their coaching but in their design. 

FROM JASON WILDE OF THE WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL... Barnett went down on the opening series of the second half when he overran Vikings halfback Adrian Peterson, then tried to change directions and had his foot stick in the FieldTurf. McCarthy said Barnett will undergo surgery but that the procedure has yet to be scheduled. "He's very disappointed. It's unfortunate. But we need to have the other guys step up," McCarthy said. Asked if it was the ACL, McCarthy replied, "He has a ligament tear. If he wants to tell you which one, he can tell you." McCarthy later confirmed on his afternoon radio show on WTMJ-AM in Milwaukee that it was an ACL tear. The injury normally requires a 6-to-8 month recovery period, meaning Barnett is likely to be limited in training camp next year. Barnett wasn't in the locker room during the media access period Monday, but he didn't sound particularly optimistic about the injury after the game Sunday. "It felt like it got messed up," he said. "I'm just hoping for the best. That's all I can do."

This injury is really going to hurt the Packers on two fronts:  in pass coverage and fitting the run.  The passing defense will really suffer now because of the way the Packers play their schemes, the Mike backer is asked to be a great coverage player and in losing Barnett, they lose that element of their defense.  Barnett could match patterns underneath and he allowed them to be successful with their man concepts.  They don't have anyone in their linebacker group who can fill this role right now without making some critical mistakes.  The Packers are just losing too many good players on their defense to overcome and maintain excellence.