The Monday Night Football game was three days ago, but like a lot of people I can’t stop thinking about it. It was as interesting as a game can be. The people of New Orleans obviously thought so – two-thirds of TVs in the city were tuned to the game, and that’s better ratings than any Super Bowl has ever gotten in the city. There are two peripheral issues that come up around the Saints that I find interesting:
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I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at Florida State the last couple of days. Word is that Bobby Bowden is going to retire tomorrow. I have absolutely no doubt that he is doing the right thing – he has no business coaching anymore. That being said, I wasn’t expecting him to go easily. It will be very interesting to see what happens with this team next year. We have heard for a long time about how good Jimbo Fisher is, but now he has no safety net and no one to blame. I don’t like anything about the Seminoles, but the sport is unquestionably better when they are an elite squad.
There was a lot of good sports action yesterday. Here’s a look at the biggest stories to come out of the day:
1. Detroit has a long, long, long way to go. There were a couple of good things going on in their game against Green Bay, but not many. Matthew Stafford looks like a deer in the headlights, and I can’t imagine that getting chased around the field before throwing yet another interception is helping him become a better quarterback. I’m not writing the guy off yet, but this isn’t positive.
So, when do the Cavs admit that they made a mistake and try to do something about it? And what can they do? Shaq has now missed six games in a row with injury, and he has been a mere shadow of himself when he has played – 11.3 points and 6.9 boards. TheCavs made a big splash getting him to fix their problems up the middle, and they messed up their salary cap this year in the process. If Shaq isn’t the answer then the team won’t likely be able to go all the way, and that means that LeBron is more likely to leave town. I could see management starting to panic soon if something doesn’t change, or if Shaq doesn’t showed both some health and some marked improvement. Panic is always fun to watch – unless the team panicking is one you are a fan of.
I was looking ahead to Thursday’s Thanksgiving football games today when I had a few spare minutes, and something really jumped out at me – this could be a really, really bad day for sportsbooks . The public pays more attention to football on Thanksgiving day than on most days, and the fact that there are three games means that people will be drawn to parlays and teasers even more than usual. The public also has a blind, undying love for the favorites, so it’s bad news for books that there are three very obvious favorites on Thursday. The Packers will be a popular pick over the Lions. The Cowboys are a public favorite at any time, never mind when they are at home against the Raiders. The Giants are popular all the time and will be very popular this week against a freefalling Denver team. Books will be desperately hoping for an upset of some sort or this could be ugly. The worse news from my point of view is that none of those games is particularly riveting. Matthew Stafford showed he had some game yesterday, but the Packers are a significantly better opponent, and it’s not clear how healthy he is. Bruce Gradkowski gave the Raiders a nice boost, but they aren’t at home this time, and they aren’t a good road team. The Giants aren’t playing great football right now, but compared to the Broncos they look like world-beaters. The chances are high that this won’t be a stunning display of football. Last year’s games weren’t any good, so I was hoping for more this year. Maybe next year.
Ha! I knew if I kept doubting the Bengals for long enough they would come through for me. Losing to the Raiders? Really? People have been trying to paint the Bengals as an elite AFC team for a few weeks now, but you can’t be an elite AFC team and let the Raiders score 10 points in the last minute of the game to beat you. What I think we are actually learning about the Bengals is that they are playing in a division that just isn’t as good as we thought it was. We thought that the AFC North was among the best there was, but Baltimore continues to struggle, and Pittsburgh just lost to the Chiefs (of all things). And then there is Cleveland – they couldn’t even protect a massive lead against the pathetic Lions. The Bengals have, in my view, benefited from playing in this troubled conference and look better than they are as a result. Outside of the division their only wins are against the Bears and the Packers – two flawed teams as well. Needless to say, I’m not drinking the Cincinnati kool-aid. This is not a serious contender.
Three big personnel moves occurred in the NFL yesterday, and each of them is worth a discussion:
Ronnie Brown – The Dolphins’ impressive but fragile running back has been put on the IR, and that means he’s out for the season. This time it his right foot that is the problem. Back in 2007 it was his right leg. Maybe he should just amputate that leg and start over again. Needless to say, this is a big blow for an already fragile team. Only three teams have run better than the Dolphins this year, while only two teams have passed worse. Add in Brown’s impact as one of the only players in the league who can effectively run a wildcat and you have a big hole. They aren’t totally without hope – they still have Ricky Williams and he has looked good this year. Williams is a far more straight ahead, less versatile back than Brown is, though, and it’s doubtful that Williams will be able to lead a similarly effective running attack – if he can even stay healthy for the rest of the season.
Ryan Fitzgerald – Perry Fewell needed to make an impact quickly as the new head coach of the Bills, and he found the easiest way to do it – he changed his quarterback. The ineffective Trent Edwards has been benched in favor of the ineffective Ryan Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald has had significant play in three games so far this year, and the team has earned two of their three wins in that time. He has thrown twice as many touchdowns as interceptions, and has completed less than half his passes, so it’s not a perfect solution. The Bills have been a truly terrible passing team this year, though, so it won’t hurt. None of it gives me any reason to even consider backing the Bills now or into the future.
Bruce Gradkowski – It took far too long, but the Raiders have finally come to their senses. They have benched JaMarcus Russell and given Gradkowski the reins. It’s not just a fleeting thing, either – coach Cable says that Gradkowski will be given a real chance to settle in and play. Gradkowski is not a great QB and he is in a brutal situation, so this isn’t going to make a significant change for the team. It still was the only thing to do. Russell has been absolutely terrible, and he is making absolutely no progress while he is playing. He probably won’t make any progress when he isn’t playing, either, but at least he won’t be making more truly terrible plays and crushing his final shreds of confidence and self respect. I can’t imagine that the team will be anything other than relieved by the change – it might even give them a boost. The good news is that Gradkowski barely has to do anything to be just as good as Russell.
The Bills did the inevitable thing today when they fired head coach Dick Jauron. He was just 3-6 this year and 24-33, in his career with the team after three straight 7-9 seasons. Jauron had no long term future with the team, and he had played his last ace when he fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert right before the season started, so it was just a matter of time. There are reports that Jauron and the team were both caught off-guard by the move, but I don’t see how they could be. The fourth quarter against Tennessee last weekend was quite possibly the worst quarter of football a team has played all year. After they had played a solid game to tie it at 17 through three quarters they allowed 24 unanswered points. 14 of those points came from two interceptions returned for TDs, and in both cases the receivers did a pathetic job of earning their money on the plays. It was a clear sign that the coach had lost the team, and the only thing that made sense at this point was to make a change and get a head start on next year.
Wow, Cleveland is bad. So, so, so bad. Brady Quinn isn’t the answer. Is there an answer?
It was interesting watching the debut of John Wall in Kentucky tonight. It was pretty obvious why people are so excited about him – there is a lot of talent there. He turned it over too much, and he and fellow super-frosh Eric Bledsoe are going to have to learn to share the back court better, but he played well, and he scored the winning basket at the end of the game. He’s going to be a good one. That being said, that was one scary game from Kentucky. Miami of Ohio is a decent team with a very nice incoming freshman class, but they clearly aren’t of the caliber of Kentucky, and they were 17.5 point underdogs. Despite that, they were the better team for much of the game, and could very easily have pulled it out. Miami led for more of the game, and for much of the game they seemed to want it more. Kentucky simply needs to be much, much better to play with the big boys. They have a few easy game to work out the kinks, but a deadly four day stretch at the beginning of December in which they play UNC and UConn looms. They need to be much better than they were tonight if they want to survive that duo of potential disaster.
1. How in the world does anyone lose to Washington right now? Denver should be ashamed. It’s a sign of just how good Kyle Orton has been this year – the team self-destructed when he was hurt and the terrible Chris Simms had to take over.
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