NFL Sunday Recap - Determination

Call it what you will - drive, determination, perseverance. Some players have it, and some players don't.

Drive:
LaDainian Tomlinson
Though he'll probably never be the back he was in 2006, when he rushed for 1,815 yards and 28 TD, caught three more, and passed for two, Tomlinson continues to be a scoring threat. He may have only rushed for 50 yards against Dallas this week, but his 1st quarter score would give his team the lead early enroute to a 20-17 win. It was his 10th of the year, extending his record streak of double digit TD seasons to 9, having done it in every season he's been in the NFL. The win also gave the Chargers their 16th straight win in December. It's a streak that may not last much longer. His 3.9 yards per carry this season is the lowest of his career, and Darren Sproles has taken many of his receptions out of the backfield. The fact that he's become a little injury-prone over the last few seasons could mean his career is coming to a close, but he should see decent production over the next season or two.

NFL Week 8 Wrap-up

Coming up on the mid-point of the season, some divisions look like marathon, and other look like a run-away sprint:

Already Over?:
NFC North
The Minnesota Viking are clearly the team to beat right now in this division. Brett Favre is playing like he did the first half of last season, and no one is stepping up to challenge them yet. They are 3-0 in their division, and already swept the Green Bay Packers. The one challenger may still be the Bears, who the Vikes haven't played yet. That, and Brett Favre's age. Last season's late injury may be a sign that his body can't handle a full season any more. Only time will tell.

Wednesday Morning News - 10/21/09

The NBA and the referees union have reached a deal that will have them back on the court for the start of regular season play. [All Headline News]

A game-day staff worker for the San Diego Chargers died after falling from the press box before the Chargers-Broncos game Monday Night. [LA Times]

Joey Galloway and TE Michael Matthews were both cut by the New England Patriots on Tuesday. [FOX Sports]

The NY Yankees beat the LA Angels 11-1, and can clinch a World Series berth with a win tomorrow. The Philadelphia Phillies can clinch with a win tonight.

NFL Week 6 Wrap-up

Six weeks in, and some teams are turning things around, for good and bad:

Turning Good:
The Denver Broncos
After tying the Chargers at 8-8 but losing their division last season, the Broncos were an afterthought in the AFC West. They have a rookie head coach, and a starting QB who played ok but not great in the past. But starting with a fluke win in Week 1, the Broncos are undefeated and are quickly running away with the West. They even beat up on the much-talked about Chargers last night, winning 34-23, and dropping the Chargers to 2-3, and beat the presumed NFL Champion Patriots last week. With a revatalized D and an offense thats actually been getting along, the Broncos can wrap up their division pretty quickly if they can keep this up.

Pittsburgh Steelers
With a 1-2 start and no running game to speak of, the Steelers looked in trouble. But with RB Willie Parker's injury came the emergence of Rashard Mendenhall, and the return of the run in Steel Town. Now they've won three straight and are tied atop the AFC North with the Bengals. Mendenhall has allowed Ben Roethlisberger to do what he does best: make big plays when he has to and simply manage the game the rest of the time. If the running game as it stands can stay healthy, thats a recipe for another division title.

NFL Week 1 Wrap-up

With Week 1 in the books, we had some surprises, some injuries, and some big returns.

Surprises:
The 49ers win in Arizona:

San Fran goes into the home of the defending NFC Champs and pulls out a 20-16 win. Are these guys for real? Probably not, but at this point it doesn't look like Arizona is either.

That TD catch by Brandon Stokely:

If you haven't seen it yet, you aren't a football fan and shouldn't be reading this post. Some fun facts about the play:

• It is the longest play from scrimmage and tied with Aaron Brown's 87 yard kick return for longest play over all this weekend


• It is the longest touchdown play so far this season


• It was Stokely's only catch of the day


• If the ball hadn't been tipped first, the play probably wouldn't have happened

And kudos to Stokely for running along the endzone before scoring to run out the clock a little more.

The Monday Night games:

Sure, the teams that were expected to win won. But who expected them to come down to plays made in the final 2 minutes of both games? Sure, the Pats had some question marks, but the Chargers should have had a much easier time with the Raiders in the late game. It has to be said, though, that the Bills and Raiders both looked better than expected in losing efforts.

Injuries:
Brian Urlacher, LB, Bears: out for the year with a dislocated wrist
Reggie Hayward, DE, Jaguars: out for the year with a broken leg
Troy Polamalu, S, Steelers: out 3-6 with a sprained MCL
Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Colts: out an unspecified amount of time with a knee injury
Josh McCown, QB, Panthers: out for the season with knee and foot injuries Donovan McNabb, QB, Eagles: fractured rib, length of time yet to be determined

Returns:
Tom Brady:

After missing almost all of last season with a knee injury suffered in Week 1, Brady made his triumphant regular season return to Foxboro. He looked shaky for most of the game, but put together two TD drives in the fourth quarter, culminating in two TDs in the final 2:06 to squeak out a one point win.

Richard Seymour:

Seymour finally reported to Oakland on Sunday, and did, in fact, play in the Monday late game. He recorded 2 sacks in the loss.

Brett Favre:

Favre made his return to the NFC North after retiring to NY last season. The Vikings won, but Favre didn't do much more than manage the game and hand the ball to Adrian Peterson. He had one TD, to rookie Percy Harvin.

Fantasy Studs:

1. Drew Brees. Only a handful of people have thrown for more than 6 TDs in a game
2. Adrian Peterson. Theres a reason he was picked first in almost every fantasy draft.
3. Eagles D. 5 sacks, 5 INTs, 2 fumbles recovered, 2 TD. Some teams won't have stats like that after Week 3, let alone Week 1.

Fantasy Duds:

1. Willie Parker. Healthy and expected to get the bulk of the carries this season, Parker only managed 19 yards rushing.
2. Jake Delhomme. 73 passing yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs. He was eventually benched, and theres some speculation he might not last the season.
3. Jay Cutler. At least he had a TD to go with his 4 INTs.

Week 1 Picks:
Straight up: 14-2
ATS: 11-5
o/u: 8-8

Questions for Week 2:
Who will start in Philly?:

With Donovan McNabb expected to miss at least this weeks game, the Eagles signed Jeff Garcia. Garcia says he'll be ready to play this week, since he'll be coming in with experience in the system and having spent the preseason with Oakland. But Kevin Kolb has been there the whole time and is expected to take over when McNabb is finallt done. Will Garcia be handed the start? Or will this be Kolb's time to show what he can do?

Which Jake Delhomme will show up?

Delhomme has been the guy in Carolina for a while and it's served Carolina well. They've made the playoffs in three of his six seasons with the team, including one Super Bowl appearance. But he's had 9 INTs and 2 fumbles lost in his last two games. Is this a new Jake Delhomme? Or can he get back to his old self before its too late?

Are the plug 'n' play Pats done?

Bill Belichick has made a career in New England out of taking his ofeensive and defensive system, plugging players into them, seamingly at random, and making them work. However, the starting defense lost five players that were on last years Week 1 roster. While the defense didn't look bad against the Bills, they didn't look like the defense the Pats are known for, either. Additionally, before the fourth quarter, Brady looked shaky, hesitating when he felt his surgically repaired knee would be in danger. Most are picking the Pats as the team to beat this year, but if they continue to look like they did Monday night, they'll become the team to beat up on.

A Tale of Worst and Best: Analyzing the Richard Seymour Trade

On Sunday, the New England Patriots announced they were trading five time Pro Bowler Richard Seymour to the Oakland Raider for their 2011 first round pick. On the outside, this looks like a simple trade between two storied NFL franchises. But dig a little deeper and you'll find this trade embodies what makes Oakland one of the most disfunctional team in sports, and what makes New England the best run franchise in sports history.

A lot has been said about the Detroit Lions in recent years. The Matt Millen Era was not kind to them, and their 0-16 record in 2008 probably makes them the worst franchise in football right now. But don't overlook the Raiders. Since 2002, a year they finished with an 11-5 record and lost the Super Bowl, the Raiders have consistently mismanaged their team.They have consistently mismanaged their roster. They have consistently overpaid for players. They have consistently had the most disfunctional front office in sports. And they have consistently lost. Their five loses in 2002 equals the most wins they've had since that Super Bowl season, winning five games in 2004 and 2008. And you just have to look at the last 12 months to prove it.

A year ago today, the Raiders faced the Denver Broncos in the first game of the regular season. They had finished the preseason 1-3, but had high hopes believing this would be JaMarcus Russell would have a break out year and the running game would improve with rookie Darren McFadden. They would lose that game, 41-14. Less than a month later, with their record at 1-3, with that one win coming against the eventually 2-14 Kansas City Chiefs, Raiders owner Al Davis would head coach Lane Kiffin, sparking an odd, he said-he said situation in which Davis claimed Kiffin had done as head coach the opposite of what he promised before getting hired, and Kiffin charging Davis with undermining his ability to coach by trying to make team decisions without consulting Kiffin. O-line coach Tom Cable would handle the rest of the season in an interim capacity.

Under Cable, the Raiders went 4-8, getting shut out by Atlanta and losing to the previously mentioned Chiefs along the way. Cable would take great criticism towards the end of the season for his limiting of McFadden's playing time. McFadden would finish the season with only 499 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. Russell, the first overall pick in the 2007 draft, would finish with 2,423 passing yards, 13 TDs, and 8 INTs in 15 games. Cable would be named full-time head coach.

The 2009 NFL Draft would again give fans high hopes, with the team having the 7th ovarall pick. The Raiders would select WR Darrius Heyward-Bey, largely considered the third best receiver in the draft but the first one selected. They would go on to select an SS, another WR, a TE, and three DEs, in rounds 3, 4, and 6. Also, the signing of Jeff Garcia had been looked at as a positive, since he would push Russell to improve, and would potentially compete for the starting job.

Since the draft, its been business as usual. Heyward-Bey went through OTAs hampered by hamstring problems. Training camp kicked off with an assistant coach injured by Tom Cable, in what has been variously reported as either Cable knocking over the chair the coach was sitting in or Cable flat-out punching the man. Jeff Garcia, who many hoped would add veteran leadership to the team and might mentor Russell along, was cut amid specualtion that Davis didn't want anything threatening Russell's position as starter. Those three DEs? Only one, third round pick Matt Shaughnessy, is still with the team. And now they've traded for DE/DT Seymour.

By contrast, New England has been the model of how to run a franchise, in any sport. Since the Raiders last went to the Super Bowl, the Patriots have been to three, won two of them, and have had double-digit wins each year. But their dominance goes far beyond that, down to a fundamental level that no other team has equaled.

The Year 2000 brought two important changes to New England. That year would be Bill Belichick's first as Pats head coach. That same year, Belichick would use the 199th pick in the draft to select Michigan QB Tom Brady, a player who struggled in his first two seasons in college, but started his last two. Individually, that season would be statistical opposites for both men. Belichick largely struggled, finishing with the same 5-11 record he had in his last season as head coach, five years earlier with the Cleveland Browns. Brady would begin the year as the fourth string QB, but would consistently improve, ending it as Drew Bledsoe's backup. It would be that improvement that would show the NFL how good the Patriots were the following season.

In the second game of 2001, a 10-3 loss to the NY Jets, Bledsoe would be hospitalized with internal bleeding, the result of a viscious hit by LB Mo Lewis. Brady, with career stats of 1-for-3 passing for 6 yards, would take over as starter. With Brady as starter, the Pats would go 11-3, winning their first Super Bowl. Brady would be named Super Bowl MVP. Over that same span to the present, the Pats have a 97-31 record, a 3-1 Super Bowl record, and the leagues only 16-0 regular season in history. With Brady lost of the season in the first game of 2008, backup Matt Cassell, who hadn't started since high school, would take over. Belichick played to his teams strengths that year, finishing 11-5 and barely missing the playoffs, thanks in large part to the resurgent Miami Dolphins, now run by Belichick's mentor, Bill Parcells.

Belichick's genius isn't just in the draft and on the field. Its in his ability to perceive talent overall, and his ability to look at the long term results. Belichick plays no favorites when it comes to his roster. His ability to see a player in his decline and get rid of him before it hurts the team is uncanny, maybe second only to the Indianapolis Colts. And his ability to get top value in trades is second to none. Despite having some of top records in the league each of the last eight years, the Pats have had a pick in the top half of the first round twice, five of their eight first round picks came via trade, and all of their first round picks have been hugely productive players for them. All except 2002 pick TE Daniel Graham are still with the team.

It is with this trade that the greatest comparison between the teams can be made. It first has to be looked at as what each team loses in the trade. Oakland loses their 2011 first round pick. A first round pick is a hot commodity for any team, doubly so for one that has been struggling. And to give up a pick two years down the road shows ownership expects to win with a team that hasn't proven itself. New England loses Richard Seymour. As stated, Seymour was a five time Pro Bowler. Despite tying a career high with 8 sacks last season, his stats have largely declined, along with his health. He injured his knee in 2005, and ended his 2008 season with a back injury before their final game. A QB or WR might be able to come back from those injuries, but when you're a DL listed a 6'6", 310lbs, and about to turn 30, injuries tend to linger. And a player that size with knee and back problems has to be a concern. His huge salary didn't help the situation.

So what does each team gain? Oakland immediatly improves their defense. They get a player that will make them better in the short term. Even with lingering injuries, Seymour is better than anyone else on the Raiders d-line. But there are no long term gains. After 30, injury or no, most NFL players skills decline. Seymour turns 30 next month. This is also the final year of his contract, and he has shown hes not afraid to hold out for more money(Seymour has already failed to show up at Raiders practice, though they claim its because he needs to work some things out with the Pats before he gets there). Even with Oaklands history of overspending, this could be Seymours only season there. By contrast, New England improves in the long term. There are no obvious holes in the team right now, so a high draft pick in 2010 isn't needed. However, with the CBA nearing its experation, young, cheap players may become an even bigger commodity after 2010. This one trade may have ensured Oakland's future failure and New England's future success for years to come.