Gee, I guess maybe they should have just run it then Brian?

When it comes to TV's talkings head, one guy does stand out on a consistent basis. His name is Mike Mayock. Mike played as a safety at Boston College and once got two interceptions against no lesser a name than John Elway. Drafted by the Steelers, he then moved on to play out his career with the Giants, before retiring and becoming an analyst. Currently he works for the NFL network, mainly as a draft guru. And the guy knows his stuff. Of all the people you see talking about various players and their potential, Mayock is one of the best at evaluating personnel. But this week I'm interested in his role on the NFL Network show 'Playbook'. Because surprisingly, I think he made some bad judgements. Mainly I'm talkin' here about a video posted on NFL.com, where Mayock and Brian Billick discuss the Minnesota Vikings game against the Steelers. In particular they discuss the Vikings getting to the 1 yd line while down by 10, and only coming away with a field goal. Now I agree with Mayock that the Vikings should have gone for it on 4th down. But I don't agree totally with his assessment of the 2nd and 3rd downs. The reason this is of any importance at all is because it proves that even the smartest guys in football sometimes make stupid mistakes. For example, on the 2nd down the Vikings run a pass play and Mayock is adamant that everyone is covered and that Favre has to throw the ball away. Except if you look right at the goal line, there is the RB standing as open as you could possibly dream for. Favre just doesn't see him. Then next play, Vikings run a kind of pick or rub route at the back of the endzone, trying to get a TE free. Except that again Mayock proclaims that the rub hasn't worked, that no-one is open. This despite the fact that you can clearly see that if Brett anticipates and throws the ball into the space ahead of the TE, that TE was about to come free. I don't know why this kind of thing bugs me, it just does. I think it's because it's a case of missing the obvious. The answer is there, right in front of you, and they don't see it. Like the situation with the Panthers. Delhomme is not at fault, and yet progressively every talking head and football commentator in the land seems to be turning on him. Nobody it would appear has bothered to say "you know what, Carolina has a pretty damn strong running game, why don't they just run the ball more?" That's what frustrates me. Don't make something more complex or seem more juicy than it is just for the sake of TV. Tell it how it is, or not at all. But it get's worse. Same show, same analysts. Now they're talking about the Dolphins/Saints game. Except now the over analysis and media-friendly bile is gonna run into overload. Billick basically stands in front of the camera, looks the viewer in the eye, and tries to convince them that running the football and playing great defense doesn't work. Even though he won a Superbowl that way. He then goes on to show a highlight reel of the Dolphins miscues, which all happen to be through throwing the ball. He is essentially saying in one breath "you need to throw the ball, you can't just run it" then in the next saying "now look at all these miscues when the Dolphins threw the ball". Gee, I guess maybe they should have just run it then Brian? Scarily enough, he does actually go on to make a good point, and that was regarding the Saints method of stopping the Wildcat. Bring the Cornerbacks on a blitz to force the edges and have the two safeties play deep. Best solution I've seen yet.