Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Midway Report

The Dallas Cowboys need help.

I just found an ad on Craigslist that reads: Coach Wanted!
  1. Must be an order taker and willing to wipe owners eyeglasses clean when they get foggy. 
  2. Must be willing to carry the label of "Coach" but know that most personnel decisions will be made by the incredibly egotistical owner. 
  3. Must be willing to constantly have the owner look over your shoulder and be micro-managed on a daily basis. 
  4. Please be aware that press conferences will be held side-by-side with the owner and you will always be required to speak with eloquence and great ambiguity while answering questions in a positive light no matter how gloomy things may actually be; all while never actually providing a solution to any problems. 
  5. This job requires that you "talk the talk" FIRST while "walking the walk" is optional and experience is NOT necessary.
Watching the Cowboys each week gives me both a heart attack and a broken remote control by the end of each game.

The majority of people want to put the blame on Tony Romo; I on the other hand, choose to put the majority of the blame on Jason Garrett.

Ben Rogers of ESPNDallas.com put it best when describing Jason Garrett; "He's cold, robotic and calculated in an industry that is fueled by passion, testosterone and emotion."

WOW! Talk about the hitting the nail on the head!

Jason Garrett belongs in a boardroom holding ridiculous needless corporate meetings that only waste time and solve nothing. His demeanor and overall lack of head coaching experience make him a very ineffective head choke - uh um, I mean, head coach. 

He cant manage the clock.  He cant manage to call effective plays that lead to touchdowns once inside the 20 yard line.  He cant manage to keep a roster of healthy players.  He cant get a run game established on a consistent basis.  He cant seem to put his team in position to win and he cant manage to get his team to play with a sense of urgency while limiting mistakes, dropped passes, or penalties.

I recently came to the realization that watching the Cowboys is eerily similar to watching a monkey bone a football.

Yes, its true that Romo has 15 total turnovers second in the league only to the Chiefs Matt Cassel who has 16.  Truth be told, the majority of Romo's turnovers are a result of his receivers (mostly Dez Bryant) making stupid idiotic ridiculous mistakes, or Romo is just pressing in an effort to help his team come from behind to win. 

When playing from behind or tied for the lead he has 13 interceptions this year.  When the Cowboys have the lead he has ZERO interceptions.

The Cowboys could very well be undefeated or have only one loss if they had a tough mentality and a winning attitude about them.  The apparent lackthereof is directly attributed to the head coach.

So far, the opponents they have faced have a 61% winning percentage ranking 3rd in the league only behind the Broncos and Jets whose opponents have a 63% and 62% winning percentage respectively.

The good news: their remaining opponents have a 46% winning percentage and that number INCLUDES the Falcons in week 9 who have a 7-0 record. 

The weak remaining strength of schedule may help them get back on the winning side of things as long as they can avoid injury at key positions and eliminate their usual boneheaded mistakes that you typically find plaguing a JV football team as opposed to a professional team. 

Staying healthy and playing "sharper" while omitting untimely penalties, huge mental lapses, and dropped passes could play a huge role in them becoming a wild card team. 

This season may very well come down to them and Washington playing each other in week 17 for a chance to go to the playoffs.

The offseason needs to be spent trying to figure out how to add depth to this roster.  Somehow they keep bringing in guys who just cant stay healthy and there isn't much talent sitting behind the starters.

In other league news:

The Falcons are doing great - their record says so.  Amazingly they are doing well while ranking 27th in the league in rushing yards.  That's a testament to "Matty Ice" and his high-flying receiver corp.

The Eagles are playing terribly - their apparent mid-season QB controversy, -9 turnover ratio, and current 3 game losing streak says so.

The Falcons, Giants, Bears, and 49ers are the cream of the NFC crop with a definite drop-off between this group and the next best team.  The AFC seems to be headed up by the Patriots; followed by, well, the rest of the Conference.  The Texans and Ravens have the best records in the AFC at 6-1 and 5-2 respectively, but with major injuries for both teams at key positions on defense its tough to say either team CAN'T be beaten.  The Broncos are the clear-cut leader in the AFC West with a 4-3 record.  As the season wears on, Peyton Manning seems to be finding his stride.  Being down 24-0 at halftime to division rival San Diego on Monday night in week 6, only to come back and win 35-24, sure says a lot about Peyton Manning.

The Bears are my current favorite to win the NFC because they can throw, run, play defense, and last I checked Devin Hester is still a key cog of their special teams.  The Falcons look great, but haven't played anyone good; which is evident by their opponents combined record of 18-32.  That combined record includes one team with a winning record through 8 weeks (Broncos at 4-3).

Ultimately, I think the playoffs look something like this:

Bears, Giants, 49ers, Falcons are your division winners in the NFC.  The wildcard will come down to Green Bay, Seattle, Dallas, and Washington fighting to make the playoffs right up to the final week of the season. 

(Before anyone crucifies me; Dallas being in the playoff picture is 90% my heart and 10% my head talking.  My head tells me they have a soft remaining schedule and my heart is holding out hope).

Patriots, Steelers, Houston, Denver are the division winners in the AFC with Baltimore and Miami holding down the wild cards.  San Diego may get it together towards the last quarter of the year to overtake the Dolphins for the final wild card spot.

In the end, the Bears will face the Patriots in the Super Bowl:

Bears 33 Patriots 27

Robert Griffin III is doing great thanks in large part to his coach and the ability of said coach to put him in a position to do well.  Andrew Luck is playing admirably while leading all rookies in passing yards (2235) with so very little around him in comparison to RGIII.  Russell Wilson is showing that he has what it takes to be a franchise QB in a very tough NFC West with two 4th quarter comebacks so far this year (It would have been three 4th quarter comebacks if Braylon Edwards could catch at the end of the Cardinals game week 1).  Brandon Weeden is doing better than most people thought and Ryan Tannehill is sitting in the same boat as his team is a miraculous 4-3.  The record doesn't say much considering their opponents year-to-date are playing slightly below .500 football and they play in a division with the Patriots and two very lackluster teams in the Bills and the woeful Jets.

Doug Martin looks like he could be Ray Rice 2.0; however, after losing right guard Carl Nicks to a toe injury his abilities will really be tested going forward.  Sixth rounder Alfred Morris is running all over, through, and around opposing defenses while leading all rookie rushers and ranked third overall in the NFL in rushing yards (717).  In addition, very much in the mold of Ray Rice, this Redskin tailback is proving he can also catch the ball out of the backfield.

Unfortunately, the top RB taken in the draft, Trent Richardson, is ranked 4th among rookie rushers behind the two aforementioned running backs and rookie QB RGIII.  Its important to keep in mind that he is playing for a team whose receiving corps consists of the backup waterboy, a former Browns cheerleader who has only one arm, and former homeless man with the "golden voice" Ted Williams; while Brandon "Benjamin Button" Weeden quarterbacks this squad.  This sounds like the second coming of Steven Jackson - a workhorse back who will spend his entire career playing on a terrible team.

RGIII's college teammate at Baylor - Kendall Wright - is leading all rookies in receptions with 40 while ranking third in receiving yards (327) behind only his former teammate in college Josh Gordon with 379 yards and alone in second among rookies is Chris Givens of the Rams with 331 yards.

Its been a great start to the NFL season after having endured a few weeks of Scab referees and some controversial games as a result.  The league seems to be running on all cylinders at this point with some exciting new talent playing on both sides of the ball and even more exciting games week to week.

I cant wait to see what the second half will bring!

FIN

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