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A lot of reaction from Rush Limbaugh’s insightful statements this week...
“Dear Cat, It is absurd of the liberal media to pretend that a black quarterback is good enough to win the Superbowl. Signed, Doug Williams.”
“Dear Cat, White QBs should only be pocket passers. Signed, Jake the Snake.”
“Dear Cat, I don’t think the media is giving black QBs the benefit of the doubt. Signed, Akili Smith”
And Elvis hasn’t left the building either.
“Dear Cat, Jeff Garcia is a disgrace to humanity. Signed, Elvis Grbac”
“Dear Cat, I think Warner should take the money and run. Who needs it? Signed, Elvis Grbac.”
“Dear Cat, I think a statuesque QBs like Trent Dilfer are the future of the NFL. Signed, Elvis Grbac.”
Finally...
“Dear Cat, Terrell Owens is the BEST wide receiver in the NFL bar none. Signed, Randy Moss”
Ouch.
Yes, this is going to be a fun fun column to write about week #4! Not only am I high off of another 9-of-11 monitored picks that put me back in the top 5, but the NFL is rift with storylines that put Playmakers to shame. First lets check in with the high-level view: the favorites came down to earth with 2 covers of large spreads and 5 small upsets – about what you expect from a smattering of 3ish lines. WE HAVE OUR FIRST HOME DOG TO WIN: THE TEXANS!!! (I’m discounting that loss of the Cardinals in front of the Packers fans.) Home dogs continue to bow-wow, culminating with total destruction of the Saints and Bears in late night PRIME TIME. And football is LUCK? No, generally the outcome you get when the final second is up is the right outcome with few exceptions. When a bad team is playing, there is an eight ball in the bag somewhere and it comes out sooner or later – whether in the first minute or the 59th.
Of the five interconference matchups – 3 of them roughly even – the NFC took 4. (The overall tilt favors the NFC for the season too.) Republicanism was ripe in week 4 too. IE, the rich got richer.
Speaking of REPUBLICANISM, its good to see Rush on an even playing field. I reserve the right to be anti-republican in this column since THEY FAVOR THE ABOLITION OF OVERSEAS GAMBLING!!!! And you thought politics would never affect your life? Anyway, Rush deduced that the slanted media has a conspiracy to promote black QBs in the NFL. Ohhhhhkay buddy. Two NFC championship appearances have nothing to do with good consistent play at the QB position. Despite being a relatively modest scoring machine, the Eagles don’t have one identifiable player on their offense besides McNabb! Marvin Harrison? Nope. Terrell Owens? Nope. A true top 5 rusher? No way. They have been the ULTIMATE smoke&mirrors offense.
Let me qualify some of my bagging on McNabb this season. First, I cited ESPN’s opinion that McNabb wasn’t handling the blitz well. This is likely true. Of course, it isn’t like he has a dominant tight end to dump over the middle or even a great pass-catching running back. I also pointed out that his backups did as well as he did last year. This was true, but any handicapper needs to understand there is a BIG difference between playing 16 games and playing 2. No one really thinks Gus Frerotte is on his way to the Pro Bowl, for example. Then, last week, I recanted a lot of this saying, “How the mighty have fallen!” and that we all realize McNabb is nowhere as bad as the media is making him out to be. Sure enough, here comes DITTO-HEAD KING himself to trounce all over McNabb minutes before he POUNDED a solid Bills team.
Here’s the final deal: EVERY running QB has the problem of deciding when to run and when to pass. This is the hardest thing. McNabb – fresh off his 4 TD performance in the pocket vs. Cardinals last season (stats against horrifically bad teams shouldn’t ever count), a broken leg, and having seen Vick get knocked out -- decided he needed to be a pocket passer this season. If you suffered through Kordell’s career, you’ve seen this before. When a defense doesn’t have to fear McNabb’s rushing ability, it closes a lot of stuff down the field for an UNTALENTED offense. McNabb NEEDS to carry this team. His “slump” proves he needs to carry this team. The Eagles offense can’t carry itself. Is the defense weakened? Certainly. And yes, that has an effect too. But the Eagles were in the NFC championship because they were the most BALANCED team. That was: offense, defense AND special teams. They lost Brian Mitchell, they lost many key players on defense, and McNabb took away the offenses best weapon – himself.
QBs have up years and down years. Even the great ones have up years and down years. One year Kurt Warner is KURT WARNER, the next year he is typhoid mary. My whole thing on Tommy Maddox is, “Will he be the same guy in 2003”. Your protection changes, running game, wide receivers, whatever. You mess with the formula and Mark Rypien can be throwing 6 TDs in a game like Peyton Manning one year and 6 TDs in a season the next. Elway had Terrell Davis, Montana had Rice. No man is an island.
There is a story to every game. I pride myself in seeing the story. Not only was McNabb leading the Eagles to victory the story of the GAME, it was also the story of the LEAGUE. Think about it – with Vick out and Kordell sucking in Chicago, McNair (as always) gimpy, the spotlight SHOULD be hitting Donovan as the most exciting mobile QB in football right now. Again the Bills made a good effort to get back in the game late, but Miami has shown the league that the way to beat the Bills is to pound them. I don’t think Travis Henry being out was the difference, although I had been expecting him to play. (1 of 2 losses I had)
Now, #2. Terrell Owens. TO had a hissy fit last year because THEY WEREN’T RUNNING UP THE SCORE! He single-handedly ran Mooch out of town. Now, they have no score to run up. He made his bed and it is time to lie in it. 49ers are down and likely done. That is one of the worst coaching jobs in the NFL. If you don’t win the NFC championshipin San Francisco, you are a failure. Even Parcells won’t hold himself to that standard. I think the 49ers string of luck is over. TO is more concerned about those free agent dollars than SF winning.
Warner’s wife calls in to say Warner wants to play here or somewhere? Okay, it really didn’t sound that terrible. More disconcerning is Warner admitting (again) that he is thinking about life after football. At least you know the wife wants him to play, which is a positive. Again, the Kurt Warner story isn’t over by a long shot. (Even if the great football mind Rush thinks so.) Bulger hasn’t beaten anyone, anywhere, anyhow. I don’t give a rats ass that they won big and covered. That was my other loss, by the way. I took it largely on line value but I’d do it again. I don’t think the Rams should hang 10+ on anyone in the league, even the wretches in red. My coulda-woulda-shoulda is that if Dexter Jackson hangs on to the ball in the end zone for his 2nd pick (did they really win a bidding war for him? Wow...) the Cardinals cover.
There was a lot of truly bad defense this weekend, but there were some skunks that stuck out more. I thought the Raiders were god-awful bad. They simply had people in the wrong places all day long. I think this goes without saying, but the Saints were just putrid. They were helpless out there. I was surprised that Peyton was unleashing the can of whoop-ass in the 2nd half, but I do attribute the unnecessary aggressiveness to his playing in front of his home town. There might have been a message there for the Bucs too, leading into the MNF game. How come the Saints can’t play because they have too many injuries and lost starters, but the Patriots (who hung in vs. Washington) can???
I did expect the Saints to show up given that Red must be feeling the heat. I make a LOT of assumptions as a handicapper. I don’t do this fulltime. This isn’t my job. I can’t sit and breakdown tape looking for the hidden angle. I don’t have total access to the teams. But, I do know football, people, situations. Here’s a tip: I try to understand where a team is at and where particular players on a team are at. Do I KNOW? No. But I can make a lot of assumptions and be right a lot of the time. If I’m a player on this team, what am I thinking? What do I think of my coach? My teammates? When I pick games, I can only be and only am right 2 out of 3 times. So yes, I make assumptions and they are as critical – if not more critical -- to my weekly success as being able to make and break down the bookies numbers.
I don’t have my finger on why the Steelers have become the 10-minute men – blowing leads badly. I said the pass defenses were going to be tested last weekend and the Steelers again got the F. Is this surprising when they bid for Dexter Jackson and Lawyer Milloy just to come away with no one? I do think a key point in the game is when Tennessee opted for “1” to get 10-9 rather than going for 2. I say this because had they failed a 2-point conversion, the Steelers likely would have been down by 8 rather than 2 scores later in the game. Then, the Steelers wouldn’t have pressed into a int-for-TD that put them out of the game quickly. My wild guess is the Steelers tie up that game and go into overtime to win, the whole thing mirroring the playoff game from last year. But Jeff Fisher played smart by shoving the 2-point card in his back pocket and they came away with a lopsided win.
Give it to Mike Tice for telling the truth. He said last week Gus had a strong arm and he was telling the truth, wasn’t he! It has been a great week for 2nd year coaches and Tice is a vastly improved coach. Last year, he was kissing Randy’s ass with his “randy ratio”, watching his stars bicker on the sidelines, and picking on a no-name special teams player like he was the Bronco’s Romo. Now, he’s benching his star because he isn’t practicing and has total control of this football team. I bet Randy LOVED the Gus decision even before game time. Lets face it – he and Culpepper aren’t best buds or anything.
Should the Texans go for it??? DAMN RIGHT. What, you want to put it to a coin toss that’ll sink you 80% of the time if you lose rather than do a QB dive? No way. Until you change overtime in the NFL, that is often a great great call. Don’t let a coin flip determine your outcome! Plus, being the Texans, they would lose anyway and their mounting injuries necessitated the call.
We are getting out of September, where I am King. Now, we enter October where I am queen. The NFL will shakeup again as smashmouth football and the running game will take prominence over squads that are beaten up and need to show that they want to win. I like QBs and offense early in the season and favor them in my selection, but 300 yard games will be harder to come by now as players lose their crispness. If you are Baltimore, things are looking up. If you are the Bills, things aren’t looking so good. October came early this year and that is an ugly 2-2. My percentage will definitely be sliding from my current 26-13 high but I hope to hit 60% this month. I’m out of time here but maybe I’ll tack stuff on Saturday like I did last weeek (if you didn’t read it, you missed out!)
Real quick: revenge weekend in the NFL. I’ve already mentioned that I think the Dungy storyline is playing to perfection. He strikes me as a proud man and his pride was likely hurt last year. James will be the key. Browns (and in particular Couch) always play the Steelers tough. The Redskins are hitting a buzzsaw this week in Philadelphia. If you like to play old history, the Skins have spent their regular season lives getting burned by the likes of Randall Cunningham and McNabb. Offhand, I like Detroit in this spot against the 49ers. Garcia doesn’t seem to have his long ball anyway. “Old Farve” vs. “New Farve” is a very compelling matchup. Can Parcells coach in Texas as well as he does in New York? The Cardinals play the Cowboys like it is the Superbowl.
Don’t Let the Black Cat Cross YOUR Path on Sunday
“Dear Cat, It is absurd of the liberal media to pretend that a black quarterback is good enough to win the Superbowl. Signed, Doug Williams.”
“Dear Cat, White QBs should only be pocket passers. Signed, Jake the Snake.”
“Dear Cat, I don’t think the media is giving black QBs the benefit of the doubt. Signed, Akili Smith”
And Elvis hasn’t left the building either.
“Dear Cat, Jeff Garcia is a disgrace to humanity. Signed, Elvis Grbac”
“Dear Cat, I think Warner should take the money and run. Who needs it? Signed, Elvis Grbac.”
“Dear Cat, I think a statuesque QBs like Trent Dilfer are the future of the NFL. Signed, Elvis Grbac.”
Finally...
“Dear Cat, Terrell Owens is the BEST wide receiver in the NFL bar none. Signed, Randy Moss”
Ouch.
Yes, this is going to be a fun fun column to write about week #4! Not only am I high off of another 9-of-11 monitored picks that put me back in the top 5, but the NFL is rift with storylines that put Playmakers to shame. First lets check in with the high-level view: the favorites came down to earth with 2 covers of large spreads and 5 small upsets – about what you expect from a smattering of 3ish lines. WE HAVE OUR FIRST HOME DOG TO WIN: THE TEXANS!!! (I’m discounting that loss of the Cardinals in front of the Packers fans.) Home dogs continue to bow-wow, culminating with total destruction of the Saints and Bears in late night PRIME TIME. And football is LUCK? No, generally the outcome you get when the final second is up is the right outcome with few exceptions. When a bad team is playing, there is an eight ball in the bag somewhere and it comes out sooner or later – whether in the first minute or the 59th.
Of the five interconference matchups – 3 of them roughly even – the NFC took 4. (The overall tilt favors the NFC for the season too.) Republicanism was ripe in week 4 too. IE, the rich got richer.
Speaking of REPUBLICANISM, its good to see Rush on an even playing field. I reserve the right to be anti-republican in this column since THEY FAVOR THE ABOLITION OF OVERSEAS GAMBLING!!!! And you thought politics would never affect your life? Anyway, Rush deduced that the slanted media has a conspiracy to promote black QBs in the NFL. Ohhhhhkay buddy. Two NFC championship appearances have nothing to do with good consistent play at the QB position. Despite being a relatively modest scoring machine, the Eagles don’t have one identifiable player on their offense besides McNabb! Marvin Harrison? Nope. Terrell Owens? Nope. A true top 5 rusher? No way. They have been the ULTIMATE smoke&mirrors offense.
Let me qualify some of my bagging on McNabb this season. First, I cited ESPN’s opinion that McNabb wasn’t handling the blitz well. This is likely true. Of course, it isn’t like he has a dominant tight end to dump over the middle or even a great pass-catching running back. I also pointed out that his backups did as well as he did last year. This was true, but any handicapper needs to understand there is a BIG difference between playing 16 games and playing 2. No one really thinks Gus Frerotte is on his way to the Pro Bowl, for example. Then, last week, I recanted a lot of this saying, “How the mighty have fallen!” and that we all realize McNabb is nowhere as bad as the media is making him out to be. Sure enough, here comes DITTO-HEAD KING himself to trounce all over McNabb minutes before he POUNDED a solid Bills team.
Here’s the final deal: EVERY running QB has the problem of deciding when to run and when to pass. This is the hardest thing. McNabb – fresh off his 4 TD performance in the pocket vs. Cardinals last season (stats against horrifically bad teams shouldn’t ever count), a broken leg, and having seen Vick get knocked out -- decided he needed to be a pocket passer this season. If you suffered through Kordell’s career, you’ve seen this before. When a defense doesn’t have to fear McNabb’s rushing ability, it closes a lot of stuff down the field for an UNTALENTED offense. McNabb NEEDS to carry this team. His “slump” proves he needs to carry this team. The Eagles offense can’t carry itself. Is the defense weakened? Certainly. And yes, that has an effect too. But the Eagles were in the NFC championship because they were the most BALANCED team. That was: offense, defense AND special teams. They lost Brian Mitchell, they lost many key players on defense, and McNabb took away the offenses best weapon – himself.
QBs have up years and down years. Even the great ones have up years and down years. One year Kurt Warner is KURT WARNER, the next year he is typhoid mary. My whole thing on Tommy Maddox is, “Will he be the same guy in 2003”. Your protection changes, running game, wide receivers, whatever. You mess with the formula and Mark Rypien can be throwing 6 TDs in a game like Peyton Manning one year and 6 TDs in a season the next. Elway had Terrell Davis, Montana had Rice. No man is an island.
There is a story to every game. I pride myself in seeing the story. Not only was McNabb leading the Eagles to victory the story of the GAME, it was also the story of the LEAGUE. Think about it – with Vick out and Kordell sucking in Chicago, McNair (as always) gimpy, the spotlight SHOULD be hitting Donovan as the most exciting mobile QB in football right now. Again the Bills made a good effort to get back in the game late, but Miami has shown the league that the way to beat the Bills is to pound them. I don’t think Travis Henry being out was the difference, although I had been expecting him to play. (1 of 2 losses I had)
Now, #2. Terrell Owens. TO had a hissy fit last year because THEY WEREN’T RUNNING UP THE SCORE! He single-handedly ran Mooch out of town. Now, they have no score to run up. He made his bed and it is time to lie in it. 49ers are down and likely done. That is one of the worst coaching jobs in the NFL. If you don’t win the NFC championshipin San Francisco, you are a failure. Even Parcells won’t hold himself to that standard. I think the 49ers string of luck is over. TO is more concerned about those free agent dollars than SF winning.
Warner’s wife calls in to say Warner wants to play here or somewhere? Okay, it really didn’t sound that terrible. More disconcerning is Warner admitting (again) that he is thinking about life after football. At least you know the wife wants him to play, which is a positive. Again, the Kurt Warner story isn’t over by a long shot. (Even if the great football mind Rush thinks so.) Bulger hasn’t beaten anyone, anywhere, anyhow. I don’t give a rats ass that they won big and covered. That was my other loss, by the way. I took it largely on line value but I’d do it again. I don’t think the Rams should hang 10+ on anyone in the league, even the wretches in red. My coulda-woulda-shoulda is that if Dexter Jackson hangs on to the ball in the end zone for his 2nd pick (did they really win a bidding war for him? Wow...) the Cardinals cover.
There was a lot of truly bad defense this weekend, but there were some skunks that stuck out more. I thought the Raiders were god-awful bad. They simply had people in the wrong places all day long. I think this goes without saying, but the Saints were just putrid. They were helpless out there. I was surprised that Peyton was unleashing the can of whoop-ass in the 2nd half, but I do attribute the unnecessary aggressiveness to his playing in front of his home town. There might have been a message there for the Bucs too, leading into the MNF game. How come the Saints can’t play because they have too many injuries and lost starters, but the Patriots (who hung in vs. Washington) can???
I did expect the Saints to show up given that Red must be feeling the heat. I make a LOT of assumptions as a handicapper. I don’t do this fulltime. This isn’t my job. I can’t sit and breakdown tape looking for the hidden angle. I don’t have total access to the teams. But, I do know football, people, situations. Here’s a tip: I try to understand where a team is at and where particular players on a team are at. Do I KNOW? No. But I can make a lot of assumptions and be right a lot of the time. If I’m a player on this team, what am I thinking? What do I think of my coach? My teammates? When I pick games, I can only be and only am right 2 out of 3 times. So yes, I make assumptions and they are as critical – if not more critical -- to my weekly success as being able to make and break down the bookies numbers.
I don’t have my finger on why the Steelers have become the 10-minute men – blowing leads badly. I said the pass defenses were going to be tested last weekend and the Steelers again got the F. Is this surprising when they bid for Dexter Jackson and Lawyer Milloy just to come away with no one? I do think a key point in the game is when Tennessee opted for “1” to get 10-9 rather than going for 2. I say this because had they failed a 2-point conversion, the Steelers likely would have been down by 8 rather than 2 scores later in the game. Then, the Steelers wouldn’t have pressed into a int-for-TD that put them out of the game quickly. My wild guess is the Steelers tie up that game and go into overtime to win, the whole thing mirroring the playoff game from last year. But Jeff Fisher played smart by shoving the 2-point card in his back pocket and they came away with a lopsided win.
Give it to Mike Tice for telling the truth. He said last week Gus had a strong arm and he was telling the truth, wasn’t he! It has been a great week for 2nd year coaches and Tice is a vastly improved coach. Last year, he was kissing Randy’s ass with his “randy ratio”, watching his stars bicker on the sidelines, and picking on a no-name special teams player like he was the Bronco’s Romo. Now, he’s benching his star because he isn’t practicing and has total control of this football team. I bet Randy LOVED the Gus decision even before game time. Lets face it – he and Culpepper aren’t best buds or anything.
Should the Texans go for it??? DAMN RIGHT. What, you want to put it to a coin toss that’ll sink you 80% of the time if you lose rather than do a QB dive? No way. Until you change overtime in the NFL, that is often a great great call. Don’t let a coin flip determine your outcome! Plus, being the Texans, they would lose anyway and their mounting injuries necessitated the call.
We are getting out of September, where I am King. Now, we enter October where I am queen. The NFL will shakeup again as smashmouth football and the running game will take prominence over squads that are beaten up and need to show that they want to win. I like QBs and offense early in the season and favor them in my selection, but 300 yard games will be harder to come by now as players lose their crispness. If you are Baltimore, things are looking up. If you are the Bills, things aren’t looking so good. October came early this year and that is an ugly 2-2. My percentage will definitely be sliding from my current 26-13 high but I hope to hit 60% this month. I’m out of time here but maybe I’ll tack stuff on Saturday like I did last weeek (if you didn’t read it, you missed out!)
Real quick: revenge weekend in the NFL. I’ve already mentioned that I think the Dungy storyline is playing to perfection. He strikes me as a proud man and his pride was likely hurt last year. James will be the key. Browns (and in particular Couch) always play the Steelers tough. The Redskins are hitting a buzzsaw this week in Philadelphia. If you like to play old history, the Skins have spent their regular season lives getting burned by the likes of Randall Cunningham and McNabb. Offhand, I like Detroit in this spot against the 49ers. Garcia doesn’t seem to have his long ball anyway. “Old Farve” vs. “New Farve” is a very compelling matchup. Can Parcells coach in Texas as well as he does in New York? The Cardinals play the Cowboys like it is the Superbowl.
Don’t Let the Black Cat Cross YOUR Path on Sunday
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