Monday Football Thoughts: USC-UCLA; the National Championship Matchup; NFL Notes
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- Whew, the image-makers got the upset they wanted when UCLA upset USC Saturday. Not.
Instead, they got Ohio State versus Florida, not the much-wanted Michigan-Ohio State rematch far too much of the country begged for - right DESPN? And Michigan goes to the Rose Bowl to play USC. At least we’ll get to see if the so-called speed of Ohio State is for real, because the Gators definitely have speed, especially defensive speed.
What’s immediately comes to mind about this game is the battle between QBs; probable Heisman winner Troy Smith versus the much-dissed Chris Leak. First, we’re talking history in that the two starting quarterbacks in the National Championship game are black. Secondly, we’ll be witnessing a confounding contrast in quarterbacking styles. Chris Leak, the quintessential drop-back, stay in the pocket QB, plays in the Urban Meyer stretch-play, option offense that requires a mobile and sturdy quarterback. Meanwhile Ohio State’s Troy Smith is much more mobile than Leak. In fact Smith had to revamp his game to stay in the pocket and finish his reads and progressions to succeed in Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel’s offense. In essence we have two quarterbacks playing and excelling in systems that couldn’t fit their native talents any worse.
Both Smith and Leak are “too short” to fit the NFL mold for quarterbacks. But both appear to have NFL minds. What will be really interesting is where each of them will be drafted. Will their success be seen for what it is - succeeding in spite of playing in systems that don’t fit their attributes. Or will their success get twisted by the draft pundits who may say the much of Leak and Smith’s success is due to the talent around them? I’m sure we’ll hear draft slot projections for Leak and Smith during the run-up to the “Glendale, Arizona Big Kahuna Bowl.” January 8, 2 aught 7, be there, baby.
- Nice post-game UCLA-USC coverage by ABC. What did Karl Dorrell say? He said what? Oh wait, that wasn’t the man whose team just upset the number two team in the country that Lisa Salters ran over to, to breathlessly interview; Salters instead gravitated to the vanquished USC head frat boy Pete Carroll (just kiddin’ Pete, I do have much respect for you and the way you allow your players to enjoy football on the NCAA level).
- BTW, a shout out to Karl Dorrell. For those who don’t know, Dorrell has been under pressure since the day he was hired (’this Karl Dorrell is too young to be a head coach for an elite program’ - read, too black; Karl Dorrell is nothing but a recruiter - read, he’s the black guy who’s supposed to procure the best black athletes for our university’s football program, not coach them). Dorrell is known for his stoic sideline manner (well, Skip Bayless would describe Dorrell’s sideline manner as, sullen). Saturday, though, Dorrell showed the intensity that’s burning within - and that shit was cool. In the fourth quarter when nearly the entire Bruin sideline was woofin’ at the Trojans, the ABC cameras zoomed into the center of the UCLA player throng - and there was Dorrell, egging his players to play each of the final minutes with the same emotion they demonstrated during the woof session. Now that was niiiiiice.
- Did you see the look on Carroll’s face after the game? It was really odd and not at all the reaction he’s ever showed as a loser. Carroll looked like a man who’d just witnessed something he wasn’t supposed to see; like whispers throughout the week manifested themselves Saturday in the Rose Bowl - and he still was struggling with the truth.
- Now that Vince Young is used to the “speed” of the NFL, he’s treating the best football players on Earth like he did everybody in the Big 12.
- San Diego is, right now, the best team in the NFL.
- Mike Vick, Mike Vick. Life sure is nice when your receivers catch your passes and enough emphasis is placed on the run to keep defenses off your back.
- Marc Bulger called out some of his St. Louis teammates saying they thought they could just “show up” and beat Arizona - and it was apparent Sunday. And something I heard about Bulger - he’s never completed less that 50% of his passes in a game! Damn.
- Kansas City’s loss to Cleveland was inexcusable. All season the Chiefs’ defense has played like it has something to prove - until they met the Browns. Seven-and-five sure is different than 8-4. For the Chiefs, this loss might just cost them a wild-card spot.
- I really wish New England was a relatively healthy team so we could see the beauty of their total game. Their win against Detroit had to be one of the ugliest wins ever, and against a Lions team that, for all the world, played like this was their Super Bowl (one can only wonder what would happen to teams like the Lions if they played that hard each week). The Patriots are decimated on the D-side of the ball and they’re losing O-linemen at an alarming rate - but they still win. They get up just enough to slip by teams like the Lions and concentrate that little bit extra to take out teams like the Bears.
- Speaking of the Bears and ugly - well, you know or have heard how their offense looked Sunday. But I want to make a prediction here. Next season the Bears will trade Cedrick Benson to Denver for Tatum Bell and a draft choice. Benson is the powerful back with enough speed that Mike Shanahan needs to make his offense go, while the Broncos can keep Mike Bell on the cheap as an adequate backup for Benson. Meanwhile, Tatum Bell can be the pass-catching, spot playing back for the Bears since he can’t carry the rock 30 times a game like Chicago’s present main RB, Thomas Jones.
- The New York Jets really surprised me Sunday. No, the Green Bay Packers really surprised me Sunday. Actually, both teams did. I really believe that most of the Packers thought they were playing Monday night, and were having a special Sunday Lambeau Field walk-through, instead of playing a game. And the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets are this close to the playoffs. Last week I thought they’d finish 8-8, or 9-7 at best. Now, 11-5 is not at all out of the question. Sure they’re playing a relatively easy schedule, but this team is showing what I was writing about earlier with the Lions. The Jets bust their asses each week and have showed up and played hard all but one week this season. If all the teams on their schedule did the same, the Jets would be no better than 8-8 this season. But they’ll finish a lot better than that.
- New Orleans really handled their business against San Francisco. The 49ers were getting better by the week. So this was an important victory for the Saints.
- Same with Jacksonville as with New Orleans. Except the Jags need this win badly. And in typical Jacksonville style, they ground the Dolphins into dust.
- It’s going to be a looooong winter in New York Giantland.
- Finally, last night the Denver Jay Cutlers lost 23-20 at home to Seattle. Way to blow up your team’s season Mike Shanahan. Cutler, much-ballyhooed as the second coming of Brett Favre - sucked. Before a 71-yard TD pass and run to Brandon Marshall with 2:37 remaining in the game, Cutler was 9-20 for 72 yards and 2 INTs. And Shanahan benched Jake Plummer for this?! In a game where the Broncos actually, for once this season, exhibited profiency running the football (181 yards on 34 carries for a 5.3 ypc average). Unless Denver is, as Deion Sanders of NFL Network says, “playing for next season because Shanahan knows he doesn’t have a team that can win the Super Bowl this season,” this may be the worst coaching error of the season. Most coaches would get fired for doing some crap like this. Most coaches would lose the respect of their players for blowing up their team’s playoff chances. Most coaches would get booed out of the stadium at the end of last night’s game. However, in this case, Cutler as starter was what all of Denver wanted. Cutler was drafted to take the place of Jake Plummer, hopefully sooner rather than later. During the preseason all the veterans cooed about Cutler’s arm strength like in-love 13 year-old girls. And Shanahan fell for Cutler like a college freshman in Cabo wearing beer goggles.
Now that all of Denver has come down from their Cutler-and-tonic drunk and resultant hangover, they’re thinking - did I really? Nooooo I didn’t —— damn. Maybe it’ll be better next year.
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