Deadliest Young QB/WR Combo

As the NFL turns, this list will change every year with the constant revolving rosters and injuries in the NFL world. However, one thing is going to be for sure. These guys will always remain in the argument as what QB/WR combo is the deadliest for years to come. And when I say deadliest, I mean the combo that puts the most fear into a defense. Feel free to straighten me out if I miss anyone that excites you.

6. Matt Schaub/Andre Johnson- Going into week 9, Andre Johnson leads the NFL in receptions with 56 and yards with 772. The only thing that keeps AJ from being higher on the list is that he hasn’t been able to find the endzone with any consistency. But make no mistake you can’t have an argument like this w/o his name being in the mix.

5. Any QB/Calvin Johnson- I believe that Calvin Johnson is the most talented WR in the NFL. If the guy ever plays with a good QB he’ll be at the top of this list. He’s only in his 2nd year and I get the feeling that Detroit (now that Matt Millen is gone) will get a QB of relevance this offseason.

4. Kurt Warner or Matt Leinart/Larry Fitzgerald- Fitzgerald was a can’t miss WR coming out of college. He hasn’t done anything but prove those expectations right in his 4.5 seasons in the league. Give the fact he’s got a fantastic WR on the other side (Anquan Boldin) there is no real way to cover him.

3. Aaron Rodgers/Greg Jennings- One thing is for certain about Rodgers, there is no question who he looks to in the Packers offense. Greg Jennings is option one and two. Rodgers has shown he’s a legit NFL QB and he and Jennings are just getting warmed up. This duo is here to stay for years to come. Rodgers is among the league leaders in passing and Jennings is number 2 in yards. His best days are still ahead of him.

2. Jay Cutler/Brandon Marshall- This duo is very scary. Marshall is Terrell Owens good today. This combo has managed to turn the Denver offense into a passing offense. A Mike Shanahan team has always been famous for being one of the best running teams in the NFL. Not anymore. This team is now a pass first team thanks to the unique talents at QB and WR.

1. Matt Ryan/Roddy White- At first it seemed that this combo was a fluke. I’ve taken notice though. I really believe in this combo. If you’ve been following this blog over the past year, you know that I was a big believer in Matt Ryan. He’s playing QB like a veteran in his rookie year. It also helps to have an explosive WR in White. This is no fluke. Week in and week out this combo is getting more and more dangerous. White has unique size and speed and is a threat to score a TD from any point on the field. We’ve seen White’s explosiveness in glimpses but he’s never had a QB that could throw the ball with consistency. Now we all see what he can do with a legit QB.

NBA 2008-2009 Rookies

Sorry for the delay in my blog posting. I’ve had a busy last few weeks. I was out of town and also got married so things have been hectic. Anyway, I want to kick off the new NBA season by talking about some of the individual players to watch this season and what I expect these players.

First I want to talk about the rookies. Most people expect Greg Oden to win Rookie of the Year honors and rightfully so. Some even think it is Michael Beasley. However, I think the rookie of the year will be unanimous this year and that honor will go to OJ Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Mayo is NBA ready. He’s a natural scorer and has an all around game rivaling some of the superstars in the league. While he’ll have his rookie ups and downs his overall stats will be better than what we saw from last year’s super rookie Kevin Durant.

Durant line from last year was 20.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, .98 steals, .94 blocks, while shooting at a 43% clip. I believe that Mayo will average around 18 points a game but will do it more efficiently than 43% and his all around game will be better than Durant’s. I expect Mayo to average 2 steals a game and shoot about 45% from the field.

Another player that has caught my attention is NJ Nets Center Brook Lopez. Lopez probably will come off the bench this season but I see some real “big man” talent there. If he gets the minutes, I think he’s a double double lock and will block some shots as well. It remains to be seen how long the Lopez will continue to come off the bench. If he gets the opportunity to start he’ll make some noise at the Center position. Greg Oden is the cream of the crop here but Lopez shouldn’t go forgotten.

Derrick Rose is still on my list of great players out of this rookie class. I don’t include him in the conversation ONLY because it is so hard to succeed in the NBA as a Point Guard in the first year. I think Rose will live up to his draft status but his learning curve is much higher because of the position. He’s got a lot to learn. That’s not to say Rose won’t be relevant this year. I think he’s going to put up some good numbers. I just don’t think it will be OJ Mayo level numbers.

This is how I see it unfolding this year in the Rookie of the Year award. Feel Free to argue…

1. OJ Mayo
2. Greg Oden
3. Michael Beasley
4. Derrick Rose
5. Marc Gasol
6. Brook Lopez

Is It Only A Matter of Time?

There have been lots of rumblings in Miami about offensive coordinator Patrick Nix. The criticism goes from Nix being too conservative to not having his players prepared enough on gameday and even being accused of lousy playcalling. Nix’s response (he joked), “We've petitioned to the NCAA to get an extra 20 hours and get a 40-hour week, but they haven't seemed to buy it yet,". So his excuse (and that’s exactly what it is) is that he doesn’t have enough time to teach his young team his system. He says that 20 hours a week is not a reasonable time for college kids to learn an offensive system in 1 or 2 years.

That response made me think. In his second year, is Nix’s excuse valid? Is it really too much to expect a player to learn an offensive system in a year or even 2? I did some research to see if, indeed, it just takes time. I went searching the rest of college football to see if any of the top offenses in the country had 1st year or 2nd year coordinators. What I found was quite surprising.

-As of Thursday, October 16th, the number 1 offense in the country is University of Tulsa. Gus Malzahn is the offensive coordinator. He’s in his second season. They average 602.2 YPG of total offense. That ranks number 1. They average 53.2 points per game, which also ranks them number 1 in the country. What did Malzahn’s offense do in 2007? In his first season Tulsa averaged 549.6 YPG. That was also good for number 1 in the country. His team scored 41.1 PPG, good for number 6 in the country.

-Dana Holgorsen is in his 1st season as offensive coordinator at Houston. Under Holgorsen, the Cougars boast the number 4 offense in the nation at 561 YPG. They also average 38.5 PPG, which is tied for 14th (Florida) in the country. I want to reiterate this is Holgorsen’s 1st season there.

- Chip Kelly is in his second season as the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon. His offense currently ranks 12th in the nation at 475.2 YPG and 10th in the nation scoring at 39.7 PPG. In his first season, in 2007, his offense averaged 481.2 YPG which was good for 10th in the country and averaged 38.2 PPG, which was good for 10th.

-Doug Nussmeier is in his first season as offensive coordinator at Fresno State. His offense averages 447 YPG, good for 21 in the country. Fresno puts up 33.2 PPG, good for 30th in the nation.

I only looked up the top 25 offenses because it was a lot of work to find out that information. There were more examples down the line but this is enough to prove my point. Don’t tell me it’s impossible to have success in 1 or 2 years. A good offensive coordinator finds a way to have success. The above guys have found a way to teach their players to execute their system in less than 1 or 2 years. The excuse of not having enough time is not valid.

A Star Has Fallen

I hate to keep talking about the Cowboys here because I am certainly no fan, but you can’t ignore what has happened over the past week…..

-First, Mr. Pacman Jones gets into some fight with his own bodyguard. The bodyguard was of course someone the Cowboys themselves hired to be with him. That is irony at its finest right there. You can’t help but to laugh.

-The Cowboys lollygag around and lose to a lesser Arizona Cardinal team in OT. Add injury to insult they lose QB Tony Romo on the last offensive play of their opening offensive series by a hit on their QB.

-Then on the very next play, when the Cowboys have to punt and already have their QB knocked out for 4 weeks, their punter’s kick gets blocked and AZ recovers for a game ending TD in OT. Again, adding injury to insult, their punter gets his leg broken and he’s out indefinitely.

-During this ever painful game, they also lose promising rookie Felix Jones for up to four weeks with a partially torn hamstring.

-Now we just learned that Pacman Jones will be suspended 4 games by the NFL for the above mentioned incident. When a franchise is willing to give a talented player away you usually find out why sooner rather than later. Jeff Fisher and the Titans have to be laughing.

One week and the Cowboys go from a Super Bowl probable team to a team in shambles. The Cowboys give new meaning to the phrase “Worst Week”. I will admit I can’t help but to laugh at their misery.

"We're Number 1! We're Number 1!"

In the world of the NFL there is no such thing as a “gimme” game. There is no game on the schedule that you can count as an automatic win no matter how bad of an opponent you are facing. Somehow, this idea is lost on the Dallas Cowboys. They are playing uninspired and underperforming football. They have the most talent in the league on that team. It’s a team full of stars and great playmakers on both sides of the ball. Yet, they have only shown glimpses of that so far this season.

Most of the blame for this is on the NFL’s highest paid cheerleader. Wade Phillips is one of the worst coaches in the league today. But he’s at the helm of arguably the league’s greatest franchise. How could this happen? Well, it happens because Wade is a “yes” man.

Jerry Jones, the captain of this ship, is everything Al Davis wishes he could be. He actually is a successful meddler. Nothing goes on in Big D without Jones putting a stamp of approval on it. It’s because of that reason Dallas’ biggest asset (a great owner who goes after great players at any cost) is also the thing that gets in their way.

There aren’t many coaches who can work without the control. Successful coaches want things done their way. It’s because of that they are successful. It’s that ego and the in charge feeling they have which make them who they are. They will take all the blame when they lose and all of the credit when they win, even if it's only done in their mind. That’s why they live and breathe football. It’s the adrenalin rush from having the power in success and defeat that keeps them motivated to coach. They love it.

There is room for one ego per NFL team. That ego belongs to Jerry Jones. That's why Jimmy Johnson left and that's why Parcells grew tired of coaching under Jones.

Bill Parcells is also the guy who said it best in one of his many great press conferences. “If they want you to do the cooking, they can at least let you pick out some of the groceries”. Ok, that’s not exactly word for word but you get the drift. The point is coaches need to feel that total control.

Phillips doesn't fit that bill of a successful coach. He got this gig because Jerry Jones knew he could work with him. He needed someone who would sit across the table and say “yeah, Jerry, I can coach that guy” when Jerry asks him what he thinks. He knows what Jones wants to hear and will gladly agree. It’s not like he has a choice. No other team in the NFL wants him.

For that reason, Wade Phillips got this job. His job is to say yes to Jerry Jones while keeping order in the locker room. By order, I don't mean he puts his foot down. He has to keep his guys happy. He’s like the players’ friend. That’s why they love playing for him. They get to do what they want. But a happy locker room doesn’t translate to a Super Bowl team.

When this team wants to play, there are few teams that can step on the field with them. The problem is they need someone to motivate them to play up to their potential every week. Instead, they look bored. They think they are just going to start playing come playoff time. They don’t have respect for the other teams in the NFL. They expect to win just because they know how good they are. They forget it takes hard work to win in this league. Somehow, the guys in the Cowboys’ locker room are going to have to light a fire under themselves because Philips isn’t going to demand that kind of disciplined. That kind of discipline is brought on by tough love and hurt feelings. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Phillips is their friend. He’s their cheerleader. But he’s no coach.

Monday Football Rewind

The Good

It’s scary but the NY Giants actually look better this year than they did last year. At 4-0, they look like they are getting better and better every week. Eli Manning (so far) looks to be taking the lead in the “which Manning is better?” debate. Stay tuned…..The other lone remaining undefeated team in the NFL, The Tennessee Titans at 5-0, somehow keep finding ways to win. They gave Baltimore its second consecutive heart breaking loss in the final moments of the game. Baltimore outplayed and physically beat up the Steelers and Titans but managed to lose both games…..The Redskins have played some serious football the last few weeks (4 weeks to be exact). They have beaten the Cowboys and the Eagles in consecutive weeks. That is no small task this year. The NFC East arguably has the top four NFC teams in the conference with the Giants, Cowboys, Redskins, and the Eagles…..The Buffalo Bills lost for the first time this season and did so embarrassingly. They got whipped by Arizona 41-17. I think that says more about how good Arizona is at home more so than how good or bad the Bills are. Buffalo is certainly not as good as their 4-1 record though…..Expectedly, the Cowboys walked all over the Bengals to go to 4-1. They played uninspired football minus one huge TD combo of Romo to TO. It doesn’t take much to beat the Bengals.

The Bad

The Bungals are a sad bunch. You can see how frustrated they are with finger pointing and yelling at one another during the game. Palmer is underachieving big time, missing wide open receivers by 10 yards. There is one way out of this for this group, start over. Gotta clean out the roster and bring in new coaching. This combo is a disaster…..Bad teams find a way to lose. If you don’t believe me, ask the Houston Texans, who put a whipping on the Colts only to give the game away with 2 consecutive fumbles in the final minutes of the 4th quarter…..Man, how things have changed in Seattle. The one time perennial contender is quickly becoming irrelevant. I think Mike Holmgren is leaving the team one year too late. Things look pretty bad going forward for this organization…..I’m not going to waste time writing more about the Detroit Lions and the KC Chiefs. Both franchises are several free agency periods and drafts from becoming possibly relevant again.


Fantasy football and Fun with numbers:

Mystery QB 1- 1032 yds, 6 TDs, 1 Int
Mystery QB 2- 1031 yds, 5 Tds, 5 Int

QB 1, well that’s Eli Manning’s numbers through 4 games this season. QB 2, that’s Peyton Manning’s numbers through 4 games.

Mystery RB 1- 331 Yds, 3.7 YPC, 4 TDs
Mystery RB 2- 286 Yds, 4.9, 6 TDs

RB1, that’s LaDainian Tomlinson’s numbers through 5 games this season. RB 2, that’s Ronnie Brown’s numbers through 4 games played this season.

I can go on and on with examples, but the point I’m trying to make is once the season starts in fantasy football, it doesn’t matter where a guy is drafted once you take the name away. Take away a guy’s name and look at the numbers. It doesn’t matter if you drafted the guy in round 1 or round 10. Play your best players according to how they are playing from week to week. You could put yourself in a hole that you can’t dig yourself out of waiting for a big name guy to produce just because you picked him in round 1 or 2. In football it just doesn’t work that way. Once the season starts, throw the draft position and name in the trash and play your guys that have produced.

Why Was Dempster the Cubs’ Game One Starter?

Ok Lou Piniella . I understand wanting to reward your players for having a great season and all, but ask any scout-or baseball writer-or anyone who has any lick of baseball common sense, Ryan Dempster shouldn’t be getting the ball in game one of the playoffs. Especially, when you have two true number one starters in Zambrano and Harden. I don’t care that Zambrano struggled toward the end of the season. Even if you don’t agree that Zambrano should get the ball in game one you can’t argue that Harden shouldn’t get the ball with his ERA around 2.00. Either one of those guys should have gotten the ball instead of Dempster. I just don’t get the logic behind it. It’s short best of 5 series. If facing elimination, the Cubs have to rely on Dempster again to go out and prevent that from happening. I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t give me confidence at all. Even if the Cubs win the rest of their games and advance, it was the wrong move. They put themselves in a bad situation. I don’t want to blow a loss of one game out of proportion, but this is the playoffs now. One move like this could mean disaster for confidence and put added pressure on a team that could have been prevented. Admittedly, I haven't followed the matchup talk leading up to the playoffs so maybe I am not up to date on why this decision was made so feel free to set me straight.

Say what you want about Manny Ramirez, but the one thing you can’t argue is that every team he’s played on has become better. Cleveland made it to two World Series with him in the lineup. Boston won 2 World Series with him. Now the Dodgers, who were struggling before his acquisition, are now a legitimate threat in the NL. The same personality traits that cause Manny to, well , be Manny is the same that allows him to absorb all the pressure off of everyone in a clubhouse. One thing is a constant in every dugout that Manny is a part of. Those teams always look like they are having fun. The Dodgers seem to be having fun for the first time in a decade.