This week, Questions are from The Doc, incoherent stuttering responses are from The Juice.
1. Cards- 6 passing TDs, 5 rushing TDs, 1 TAINT (Touchdown After INT), 5 fumbles run back for TDs, and 2 Kick-off returns for TDs. That’s Offense: 11, Defense 8. WTF? You always hear the saying “its hard to overcome a defensive TD.” The Cards are 3-5. What’s going on? Is the D that good or is the O that bad?
Those stats are mind-blowing. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s always seemed to me that turnovers are about 90% luck, especially fumble recoveries. To run 5 fumbles back for TD’s has nothing to do with planning or skill, it’s simply that the football is oddly shaped and bounces strangely. Sometimes, those bounces take it right into the hands of a defender running full-speed against the flow, so that he can run untouched into the end-zone. More statistical evidence that the Cards stink: by yardage, their offense ranks 28th in rushing and 31st in passing, and their defense ranks 28th against the run and 27th against the pass. We’ve said before that we don’t like to measure teams by the yardage statistics, so how about this: their point differential on the season is -68. This is a terrible team, with a bad offense AND a bad defense, and the lucky turnovers are the only reason they have 3 wins in the first place.
2. Is Eli Manning a Hall of Fame QB? Resume- 57.8% completion. 213 yards/gm. 142 TDs, 99 INTs. Rating 80.4 56-39 win/loss in regular season. 4 play-off appearances (on 6 seasons, 5 for 7 likely this year). Career play-off record: 4-3. 1 Pro-Bowl. 1 Superbowl MVP. The best thing you can say about the guy is that he wins and goes to the play-offs a lot, but in the end isn’t that all that matters?
My gut reaction was an immediate “No,” but now that I’ve looked at the stats a bit more, I’ve changed my answer to “Hell No!” Look, the Pro-Bowl should be for guys who do their job well and have a good season. The Hall of Fame should be for guys whose play has made them immortal. It’s not always that way, though. I looked through the lists, and there are 23 modern-era QB’s in the Hall of Fame. The least statistically impressive has to be Bob Griese, who’s 77.1 career QB rating is mediocre, who never passed for more than 2500 yards in a season, who had many seasons with more INTs than TDs, and who was supported by the best running game and defense of his era. He won two Superbowls, though, so they put him in. Because that team had no stars (their defense was nicknamed the “No-name Defense” for a while) and the credit has to somewhere, Griese (and maybe Larry Csonka) got a lot more hype than deserved. This makes no sense to me, and unless his statistics improve and he generates a ton of signature moments (and at least one more title), it makes no sense to put Eli in there, either.
3. The NFL has moved to a new system, back loading the schedules with Division games to make December more meaningful and to prevent a team giving up like the Colts did last year. As a result there are 2 unintended consequences. 1. Teams like the Giants and Titans have only played 1 game in the Division, so it is difficult to tell if they are any good. 2. Struggling teams like the Vikings and Redskins still have a lot of games left with the teams they are chasing (giving them hope). So far, how do you like the system?
I’m a big fan of this change. I want teams in the playoffs who are hot down the stretch, not teams who built a huge lead early and got rusty while coasting through the last 3 weeks. The NFL playoffs are the best thing in sports. And this new scheduling kind of makes the few weeks of the regular season into an extended playoff. Oakland plays KC in the final game of the season, and that could easily be a “Division Championship Game,” depending on the Chargers. Same for Indy and Tennessee, who play in weeks 14 AND 17, two hugely meaningful games late in the season. It’s unlikely the Colts will be able to rest their starters against the Titans in the final week. I love this system, and can’t wait for snowy, December football games where both teams are fighting for a spot in the big show (which entails more snowy January games!).
4. Phillip Rivers stats through 9 games: 2944 yards, 19 TDs, 8 INTs. Rating of 102.9. He is projected to break Dan Marino’s single season yards record (and he has a pretty soft schedule). So why isn’t this guy getting MVP buzz? Or at least more recognition?
Peter King actually finally gave him some hype in his Monday Morning QB column this week. He hopped Rivers over Brady and Manning in the MVP race, but he says all of them are still in it for one reason: they’re all having good seasons with back-up piecemeal receivers and tight ends. This is certainly true of all three, but Rivers hasn’t had his best receiver (Vincent Jackson) all season, and has also lost the best TE in the NFL (Antonio Gates), and he’s having the best season of any QB since Brady in 2007. I think the low level of competition Rivers faces hurts his cause (man, their schedule is a joke), but if he keeps up this pace and they make the playoffs, he HAS to be MVP, right? Not necessarily. Since 1990, QBs have won or shared the MVP 14 times, but only 7 times has that same QB led the league in passer rating. It’s still a huge popularity contest, since it’s done by an AP vote. Also, since 90% of the press is East coast, there’s a huge bias against a QB from California (Steve Young led the league in passer rating 6 times, but won MVP only twice, even though his team was always in the playoffs and often won the Superbowl). I don’t really give a crap about this award anyway, to tell the truth, because, since 1987, only QBs and RBs have won. How can those be the only two “Valuable” positions? It’s a media farce. I’ll pay attention to Rivers’ statistics, though, because if he breaks Marino’s record, that will really be impressive.
5. All of a sudden Michael Vick is the top free agent QB on the market next year. Where will he go? Will Minnesota, Arizona, and San Fran all go after him?
They’d be stupid not to, but I have to say, if he keeps up this level of performance, the Eagles need to do whatever it takes to keep him. He’s obviously a great fit with that team, at least right now. If he’s successful with them in the playoffs, then they’d be fools to let such a good thing go. If they do, though, I think the three teams you listed would be very interesting. Arizona sucks right now (see my response to question 1), and I don’t think that Vick alone could turn them around. They have huge O-line and running game issues, and even though Fitzgerald and Breaston are a nice WR combo, Vick will need more than that to make the offense competitive. San Fran is kind of a trainwreck. It’s true that their biggest issue is at QB, and so maybe Vick could really help the team, but isn’t California the stronghold for PETA? Wouldn’t the animal-rights freaks make life really hard for Vick out there? No, I think, if he has to leave the Eagle, Minnesota is his best landing spot. When healthy, they have some decent receivers, a great running game, and a solid O-line and defense. If they can get rid of their retarded coach and bring in someone with some creativity and clock management skills (and less of a pedophile moustache), Vick could be just what they need. All this depends on him staying healthy and continuing to perform this season, though. Two tenuous propositions for a dude that takes as many hits as Vick does.
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