NFL and College Recap

It was an entertaining weekend of football, even with a really crappy NFL slate.

College Football Thoughts
I think college football has a complete and definitive separation at the top at this point. 1a Florida 1b Alabama, and then everyone else. I think those two teams are a solid level above Texas and the rest. If Texas can get a big win versus Oklahoma this weekend, I will re-consider, but Bama and Florida both have elite defenses to go with powerful ground games.


Florida Offense
I heard a great analogy regarding the Florida offense last week, they are a wishbone offense transported to 2009. That is so true. I heard it from a couple of announcers, Bob Davies and Gary Danielson, it is such a simple, yet effective way to describe it. Like the wishbone, Florida usually has several potential rushing options on every play, with the backbone being an effective dive play to the halfback. They then throw in fake reverses, shovel passes, and other misdirection to compliment the dive play. The last resort is a physical dive play by the QB and when your QB is Tebow, that is really effective. Because this offense is based out of the Shotgun, the defense has to respect the pass, and at some point to stop the run the defense goes to a man defense that Florida will exploit with some deep shots.

The biggest problem with this offense compared to the wishbone is the ability to run it out of the shotgun spread. With the wishbone, so many plays look the same and to successfully defend it, you needed to stick to your assignments. With Florida's spread option, it is much tougher to identify what the assignments should be due to a much larger variety of formations. Even if you defend everything really well, Florida can resort to a direct snap, with a lead blocker, to quite possibly the best short yardage runner in College or the NFL, Tim Tebow.

Can it be Stopped?
First off, the offense did not have a great game against Tennessee or LSU. In the Tennessee game, I think Urban Meyer was looking for a knockout punch too often instead of grinding it out. Against LSU, Florida was grinding it out and eating up clock. It was a dominating 13-3 win, at #4 LSU.

This is what I think you need to stop it
1. Athletic secondary to man up the WRs, and safeties that can really tackle.
2. LBs that can fly around and get to all the misdirection while still being physical enough to take on the dive. This is hard to find outiside of the SEC and USC.
3. Beef up front. Serious beef in the middle, a NT will work best.

Tennessee had the secondary with Eric Berry making plays, and the corners ability to match up in man to keep Florida from getting any big plays.

LSU also had the secondary to match up, and the LBs to stuff the dive and run down some of the outside plays.

The team that has it all, Alabama. In my mind, Alabama is the only team in the country that even has a chance against it. They have a comparable secondary and LB core to the other teams, but because of Terrence Cody at NT, the Tide can control the inside dive play. Because of Cody's size, Alabama only needs to put one guy in the middle to control the dive instead of two. This frees up a blitzer or a spy on Tebow, or any number of options for Saban.

If Alabama and Florida can make it to the SEC title game, it will be a classic.

RedZone Channel
What a great weekend to have the NFL Sunday Ticket, Superfan package. Due to an outrageous Direct Tv bill, I have them all, and on Sunday the Redzone channel in HD was worth it. Since the Packers are on bye, and the early slate looked so poor, it was a perfect Sunday to just watch the redzone channel from 12-3pm. If you just watch that channel, you never miss a play of note, never see a commercial, and never go very long without seeing something very interesting. If there is not a specific game you want to follow, it is a great way to stay well informed on 10 games at once.

My only problem with the RedZone channel has now happened two weeks in a row. They show WAY TOO MUCH of Cleveland games. I am sorry, the score was 6-3, that proves the game had nothing going on, yet we saw more of that game than the Giants, Eagles, Vikings, and until late Dallas. I know the first three games were blowouts, but come on, nobody wants to watch anything involving Cleveland until the spring when Lebron is in the playoffs. There has to be some Browns fans working for Direct TV, I see no other explanation.

Random NFL Thoughts

1. The Steelers really miss Troy at safety, yet they are still 3-2, not too bad without their best player.

2. The Lions are 1-4 and not even close to being on of the worst teams in the league. Is that good for the Lions, or bad for the NFL?

3. Chiefs, Rams, Raiders and Bucs are all terrible. Historically bad. The Lions, Bills and Browns are all really bad and the Titans are already 0-5. How many teams will win three games or less? Usually, we get one or two teams to win four or less games, not this year. This is a problem for the NFL that gives us a weekend slate like we just had. I cannot remember a year when a quarter of the league is completely out of it this early.

4. The Panthers displayed some fight and got a win. Good for them and their fans.

5. Cincinnati showed some fight, again. Very physical team, they are not going away.

6. Baltimore needs to stop worrying so much about the refs, and pay a little more attention to not committing stupid penalties. The Ravens had three penalties against them on the Bengals winning drive. The late hit on Lewis and the pass interference on Frank Walker were obvious penalties.

7. Peyton is so good and I have so much to say about him I may just start coming out with a weekly "Why Manning was so great THIS Sunday" article. He had Collinsworth in awe during the game, not a small feat.

8. Great win for Denver. They are looking legit. I thought they could beat the Cowboys by just believing in themselves that they were good. Now I believe they are pretty good. Smart secondary, athletic pass rush, solid OLine, smart QB, weapons on the outside, a very good rookie RB. They are a good team, I missed this one, they will easily win that division. Which leads to...

8. There will be a massive coaching firesale this season. When Denver and NYJets can have rookie head coaches doing this well, that spells trouble for a lot of coaches.

Here is my coach hotlist and the chances of them being out.
1. Jim Zorn - I give absolutely no chance of Zorn being in Washington come January. 100%

2. Dick Jauron - No chance here either. 100%

3. Tom Cable - The fact that Oakland's head coach may have to miss a portion of the season due to assaulting a fellow assistant and yet he is not even one of the two most likely coaches to be fired says a lot about the league this year. 95%

4. Norv Turner - The GM has already planted the seed. I foresee Holmgren. 85%

5. Wade Phillips - It will be sad to see him go, it would take away a lot of easy "Is Wade Phillips Awake" jokes during Cowboy games. There are way too many big names on the market for Jerry to sit out the playoff another year. Yes, Dallas is 3-2 but those wins were against winless Tampa, winless KC, and one win Carolina. 80%

6. Gary Kubiak - The owner has to be getting impatient and Kubiak had no head coaching experience. With the talent on that roster, the new stadium, the Houston market, the weather, the lack of state income taxes, if this job became available I would put it atop the list of top jobs. Would you rather be in Houston with talent or stuck in Dallas with Jerry Jones? 75%

7. Jim Fox - I think he is a good coach, but he put the stamp on Delhomme is our guy after that dreadful playoff performace. His tenure has also been so up and down, it is either best or bust with him in Carolina. 70%

8. Jack Del Rio - Were looking ok until blowout yesterday at Seattle. 65%

9. Mike McCarthy - The same problems keep arising. Penalties, no run game, lack of physicality, Thompson made a comment that he thought the team would be better. Since I do not see Thompson ever taking blame on his philosophy on how to build a team, I see McCarthy taking heat. The most likely scenario is they both get equal heat from management forcing Thompson to utilize Free Agency for at least one year, and forcing McCarthy to abandon the massively unsuccessful zone-blocking system. If Rodgers gets hurt in serious manner, both could be out. 40%

10. Jeff Fischer - I think he is a great coach, but it could be best for both to move on. Similar to Denver and Shanahan splitting last year. Even after several successful years, the coach and the franchise need a shot in the arm. I would take Fischer in Green Bay in a heartbeat. 20%


Quick Green Bay Vent
I cannot remember which announcer said it, maybe Dilfer, but I heard a great comment on the Packers this week. You cannot hide offensive lineman, especially tackles. It can be one of the worst positions after quarterback to be weak at. The Packers are really weak at both tackle spots and it will kill the season. So much promise down the drain by early October. Unless two reconstructed thirtysomethings can miraculously stay healthy AND be productive the rest of the season, Rodger will get sacked over 50 times, at least. This is one spot you cannot blame fans for unknowingly being loyal. We do not get to see how young offensive lineman are developing like McCarthy and Thompson do in practice. As legit fans of the Packers, we have to put trust into the fact that MM and TT know what they were doing with the line.

Well... I am ready to get the "pull the plug on this regime" ball rolling if that miracle of Tauscher and Clifton does not happen. What should we wait for? This is McCarthy's 4th season and Thompson 5th. There is talent, but things look mismatched and why should we trust these two to fix it? Here are my problems:
I am sick of the Packers not being physical enough.
I am sick of one injury causing three players to play somewhere else on the line.
I am sick of nothing being addressed in free agency.
I am sick of seeing our QB getting sacked.
I am sick of WRs dropping the ball.
I am sick of leading the league in penalties.
I am sick of being the youngest team in the league every year.
I am sick of no pass rush.
I am sick of losses at home.
I am sick of having no threat at RB.
I am sick of hearing fundementals or pad level being the problem.
I am sick of the team being built from the outside in. More emphasis on WR the OL.
I am sick of NEVER hearing McCarthy say he called a shitty game. It is always something else.

I am frustrated, and the physicality part is what really irks me. The Packers play in Wisconsin, in December and January in the playoffs. They cannot be a finesse football team, and right now, they are. I hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it.

That says everything right there, it is a bye week and I am still pissed about the Packers on a Monday morning.