Sorry, who did you say is the new Denver coach? WTF?

Tomorrow; previews of the Divisional round. Today; just random banter. Starting with... -- Jamie Dukes of the NFL Network, on air, calling a pick play for what it is. Yeah, this old chestnut again. Like I keep saying, it's in the rulebook so if they're not going to call it then guys like James Harrison have a case for complaining about why the league should be allowed to fine them excessively for the infringement of other rules, representing a clear bias in favour of the offense. If this went to a work tribunal for a normal job an employer would be hard pressed to justify allowing some employees to break certain rules but not others. -- The Cleveland Browns have found themselves a new Head Coach, Pat Shurmur. Pat spent nearly ten years as the QB coach for the Eagles, before taking a job on Steve Spagnuolo's staff as the offensive coordinator of the Rams. Head Coaching material? Hmm. Time will tell I guess, but there's growing rumblings around certain corners of the web that this a puppet assignment, with Mike Holmgren (The Dark Lord of the West Coast Offense) obviously the one pulling the strings. Personally I don't see how this is an upgrade over Mangini (do you realise how much it hurts me to defend him) and with the possibility that Rob Ryan might be shown the door soon as well, I'm not entirely sure that Browns fans are going to like the direction their franchise is headed. Of course this could do the opposite and instead provide an invigorating spark that the franchise needs. Just don't count on it. -- Yes, did I mention; Rob Ryan could be on his way out. I would reference you to the original article where I sourced the information, but bugger me if I haven't deleted the bloody link at some point. Trust me though the rumours are out there. If he does happen to be going free this off season, may I kindly and politely ask Jim Harbaugh to go snatch him. Ryan is a good coordinator with a good pedigree. It's just a shame that the Browns personnel has sucked balls for so long. -- Next, the first of two trips to deadspin.com starting with this article by Nate Jackson. To be honest I disagree with a fair chunk of this and have real trouble taking the players side in the CBA argument, but please note I only take the leagues side because I happen to be a Capitalist and because I think the owners are the lesser of two evils in this one. This letter though is aimed purely at Rodger Goodell and made me laugh at times as he stuck it to the worst thing to hit the NFL since Ryan Leaf. -- And now we return to Deadspin.com for quite simply the funniest, truest and generally most entertaining letters I've ever seen. Found here. -- Not so much an article or anything, but it's worth reading the comments sections in the above two articles. It seems that unlike a lot of the mainstream sites, deadspin seems to have a strange power that draws in comparably larger numbers of intelligent people to comment on it's articles than say.... most of the major networks and their affiliates. -- Finally, the Broncos have swooped on the hottest coaching candidate for 2011; John Fox! Wait, what? John Fox? What happened to John Elway promising that money would be no barrier to the Broncos getting the best candidate? Or is this a hire made in light of the fact that the Saints Greg Williams flat declined an offer to interview for the job? Well, what's done is done, so let's just remind ourselves of who John Fox is. He started with around 10 years experience coaching in college, mainly handling defensive backs. Then he hit the pro ranks in the early 90's with the Steelers and later the Chargers, before getting a coordinator gig with the Raiders. He moved across to the Giants to perform the same role. He then spent from 2002 until this season as head coach of the Panthers. During that time he compiled a 73-71 regular season record, with a 5-3 post season record. That included taking the Panthers to the Super Bowl in the '03 season and to the NFC Championship game in '05. From 2006 onwards however the Panthers had just one winning season in 5 under Fox, when they went 12-4 in 2008 before crashing out Arizona in the playoffs. And that is what worries me. Fox has a reputation as a solid defensive coach and certainly in Carolina he was able to put together a reasonably strong D. But the offense in the last few years has been atrocious. In that '08 season the Panthers had been running ball very well and did so right up until the second drive of the game against Arizona. Having toasted the Cardinals D on the opening drive with their rushing attack, the Panthers now got cute and it all went down hill from there. Now former QB Jake Delhomme is playing (or rather watching from the bench) in Cleveland and Fox is off to try and recover the Broncos. Some of the blame for that has to fall at Fox's own feet. I understand that coordinators are responsible for running their side of the ball, but the Head Coach is ultimately responsible for wins and losses, and thus by default he must make himself responsible for the performance of all the facets of his team. That means that if his offense isn't pulling its weight, he has to step in and make sure that it does. His failure to exercise some measure of control over the Panthers offense is the reason I don't like Fox. He had the ability to pull his offensive coordinator to one side during any of the many weeks this season (or last) and quietly whisper into the guys ear "run the fu-reaking football". But what about Dick LeBeau in Pittsburgh I hear you cry. He has almost untouched control over the Steelers defense, so shouldn't all coordinators. Well Dick LeBeau has one major factor in his favour; proven success. You have to remember that success brought about LeBeaus current level of autonomy, not the other way around. Which is more than can be said for the Panthers. Play to your strengths. "Know Thyself". Know yourself and the enemy. All the things that the Chiefs failed to do against the Ravens on Sunday. These are things the Panthers have been doing for the last two years. Despite a strong running attack that proved its immense worth in 2008, the Panthers under Fox stubbornly refused to make use of their ground game, wasting the valuable talents of guys like DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. That pisses me off and I imagine it annoyed a few Panthers fans as well. Will things get better in Denver under Fox? I'm sorry but it don't think they will. Denver have some wonderful young talents on their team so I hope for their sake that it does pan out alright in the end.

Happy Birthday to me

To start with today, technically it's my birthday now (January 5th) so Happy Birthday to me. Now to truly begin, it occurred to me that the other day I praised Michael Lombardi for the greatly improved quality of his articles on NFL.com, but I never mentioned who I thought was the best, most consistent writer over the course of the year. That award would go to Jason Whitlock of FOXsports.com. Whitlock may not be every body's cup of tea so to speak, but personally I find his articles and attitude very engaging. I like the fact that he doesn't pull any punches and unlike many who write for the major networks, he has no problem blowing up the leagues official line on various subjects, especially when they're trying to curry favour with the fans. So if Whitlock is the best and Lombardi is the most improved, who might be an upcoming face to look out for next year? That would fall to Albert Breer, also of NFL.com. For an example of his work, check out this recent article. Next, coaching news. To go along with the firing's of Mike Singletary, Wade Phillips, Brad Childress & Josh McDaniels, as well as the end of John Fox's tenure in Carolina, we now have the release of Eric Mangini by Cleveland and most recently the surprise (at least to me) firing of Tom Cable by the Raiders. Next in line could be Coach Tony Sporano of the Dolphins, with multiple news outlets suggesting that the Dolphins are extending feelers towards Stanford Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. Apparently Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was present at the Orange Bowl to watch Stanford put down Virginia Tech. If Sporano goes that would make eight teams with new Head Coaches for 2011. What was that we've told for the last month or more by the networks about a lack of coaching changes being made due to CBA uncertainty? Busted. Marvin Lewis of the Bengals will be keeping his spot though, with a two year extension apparently signed. To be honest, the Singletary, Childress and Philips firings I could see coming, but I'm not sure about some of the others. Josh McDaniels had his difficulties but he was putting together quite the offense I thought. Certainly no worse than the Texans under Gary Kubiak, and with more promise for the future in their roster. John Fox leaving was practically a gimme, but Eric Mangini? I know I'm not a huge Mangini fan, which makes this all the more surprising, but I kind of got the impression that in his second year Mangini was just starting to get his head around this whole head coaching thing. His demeanour, the way he spoke in interviews, the changes made to the team. I was shocked that Mangini wasn't allowed to come back for another crack of the whip in 2011. And I never thought I'd say this but.... I think Mangini might be a hot candidate for making a Super Bowl in the 20-teens. There, I said it. But now we really get down to it with Tom Cable. Are you kidding me? Tom Cable?! The same Tom Cable who looked to be turning the corner with the Raiders (finally)? The same Tom Cable who was just starting to figure out where his team was at on offense? The Tom Cable who was getting Jacoby Ford more and more involved? The same Tom Cable who was fashioning a strong ground game around Darren McFadden and Michael Bush? I feel sorry for Tom and I hope he gets a good gig for 2011. He, like Mangini, appeared to have finally found his feet and style as a Head Coach, which is the first step towards big things. Cable could be another hot shot for a Super Bowl coach in the coming 20-teens.

The moral of the story? Play to your strenghts people!!!

I just want to make one thing clear. After all the abuse I've thrown at the Panthers for giving the ball to QB Jake Delhomme, I'd like to point out that Delhomme is not the problem. In fact, Delhomme is a reasonably good QB. I can think of at least 10, probably way more, QB's who have started for NFL teams over the last few years that weren't a patch on him. And that's discounting rookies. The trouble is, Delhomme is not the kind of guy you give the ball to and say "Go win us the game son!" He's the kind of guy you ask to throw a few dropbacks, run some play action with and generally just keep the Defense from zeroing in on your run game. Like Kerry Collins did for the Titans last year. Like Sanchez did for the Jets this last weekend. He's their to compliment the strong running game. The issue is not with Delhomme, it's with the play calling. When you have two running backs of the calibre of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, you don't throw the ball 40+ times a game. You don't even thrwo it 30+ times a game. Let's not forget that last year Williams was third for rushing yardage, 1,515 yds, and if you add Stewarts tally, 836 yds, then they combined for over 2,000 yds. On average Williams carried the ball 5 times less per game than Adrian Peterson and yet racked up a much better average, 5.5yds per game to Peterson's 4.8. The only person with over 100 carries who comes even close to that is Derrick Ward (182 carries, 5.6 per carry). And that's before we get onto Williams's touchdown tally. He led the league last season with 18 rushing TD 's. Tack on another 10 from Jonathan Stewart, who was tied for 8th with Peterson amongst others, and you have 28 TD's generated from the running back position. Turnovers? 2 fumbles. Both by Stewart. (It's worth noting that the league high was 9 by... well, you guessed it. Adrian Peterson). These numbers are solid. What they point to is a one-two punch from the running back position which is unparalleled in the entire NFL. And that's what gets my back up. Why suddenly turn around and abandon what got you into the playoffs last year? Why waste an offensive combo that has the potential to go all the way to the promised land? Last year these two carved Arizona to pieces in the first drive of their playoff game. And then it steadily went down hill as the Panthers tried to lean on the pass, and instead turned the ball over 6 times for the QB position. Now yeah, that reflects badly on Delhomme and it's a game he'd want to forget. But you can't blame the guy if his coaches are determined to thrust the ball into his hands and make him perform miracles. So in summary, it's not Delhomme who should really be worrying about his job. It should be John Fox and Jeff Davidson. That's where the real problems lie. The moral of the story? Play to your strenghts people!!!