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You Like That: NFL Wild Card Round Preview

Well, I hope you like it, anyway.  The NFL Playoffs are finally upon us, and that means two of the best weekends on the sports calendar are upon us as well.  Wild Card Weekend and Divisional Playoff Weekend are coming, and with those come eight NFL playoff games.  Those eight start with four this weekend, each providing unique intrigue and scintillating storylines.

This post will only examine the Wild Card games.  Other playoff game previews will be potentially saved for other entries.  So let’s get right to it.  Here are previews for each Wild Card Game.

Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans

The Kansas City Chiefs enter January as the NFL’s hottest team, having won their last nine games after a disappointing 1-5 start. Against what team did the only win in their first six games come?  The Houston Texans, the same team they have to play on Saturday.

Both teams, however, are far different than they were in that September 13 meeting, one that resulted in a 27-20 Chiefs victory. Different in the sense that they both lost their star running backs to season-ending injuries and both started their seasons in sub-par fashion before figuring things out toward a run to the second season.

While the Chiefs started 1-5 and looked done with ten games to play, the Texans started 2-6 and looked buried after a 44-26 loss to the Dolphins (Houston was down 41-0 at halftime).  Now, they’re unbelievably matching up in a playoff game.

The matchup to watch this time around would definitely have to be the Chiefs’ altered running game against the defensive line of the Texans.  Can some combination of Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware make strides against a Texan defense that ranked top 10 in the league in rushing yards allowed?  More importantly, can the Chiefs’ offensive line find a way to handle J.J. Watt and his disruptive ability to get to the quarterback?  And can Watt and the Houston defense make vastly underrated Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith look like a Red Ryder BB Gun?

While the Chiefs are on a ten-game winning streak and the Law of Averages says that this must end eventually, they’re still as hot as any team in the NFL.  The Texans used four quarterbacks over the course of the season, but they have theirs healthy.  However, Brian Hoyer doesn’t make the same impact on the game as Smith.  The Texans need a lot of different things to happen to win this game, too many to put faith in them to win it.

The Pick: Chiefs 24, Texans 14

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

Speaking of quarterback problems, the Bengals have their own quasi-quarterback issue brought about by injury.  Andy Dalton went down with a broken thumb in the team’s December 13 game against- you guessed it- the Steelers.  In his place stepped notoriously arrogant but wildly efficient backup A.J. McCarron, and the team has won two games under his leadership, and a third in Denver went to overtime. McCarron still has yet to throw an interception in any of his starts, and his ability to protect the ball will be huge, especially considering the offensive firepower the Steelers possess.

Pittsburgh, however, comes into January decimated.  Arguably the team’s best player, running back Le’Veon Bell tore his MCL against the Bengals on November 1 (parallels, again).  Backup running back DeAngelo Williams has been effective in his stead but he suffered an ankle injury in last week’s game against the Browns.  He was ruled out for this game, and the Steelers will lean on the combination of Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman on Saturday night.  We all know about the greatness of Antonio Brown and Ben Roethlisberger, but the task of stopping the Pittsburgh offense will undoubtedly be easier without Bell or Williams.

Sure, the Bengals are using a backup quarterback.  But the Steelers secondary is… not that good.  Ranking 30th in the league in pass defense, the Cincinnati offense can move the ball against it if they don’t commit turnovers and have a balanced attack.  The Pittsburgh rush defense is much better (5th in the league) but the story here will be the passing game. If McCarron can move the ball (and I think he will), it could spell death for the Steelers.

So while Pittsburgh boasts an amazing, albeit decimated, offense and a solid defense in areas, this will be the upset of Wild Card Weekend.

The Pick: Bengals 26, Steelers 21

This game might be the most interesting one of the weekend.  The Seattle Seahawks are coming off of their usual second-half run to end the regular season, while the Minnesota Vikings just won their first NFC North championship since 2009.  Oh, and its going to be really cold.  Like, zero degree cold.

In any event, task number one, two, three, four, and five for the Minnesota Viking defense will be stopping Russell Wilson.  The Seahawks’ quarterback is coming off the best season of his young career and was playing about as well as any quarterback in the league (even Cam Newton) to end the season.  The Vikings are going to have to contain his running and passing, a tall task for a defense that is middle of the road in both categories.

As for the Vikings’ offense, it’s going to have to run through Adrian Peterson.  Also, a good, mistake-free game from quarterback Teddy Bridgewater wouldn’t hurt, either.  But, they’ll be going against a Seahawks defense that ranked second in passing and first in rushing this year.  Good luck.

Even though there will be no Beast Mode for the Seahawks on Sunday, I still like them to win.

The Pick: Seahawks 20, Vikings 12

Green Bay Packers at Washington Redskins

The Green Bay Packers are broken.  After a 6-0 start, the team finished 4-6 and lost out on a division crown last week in a frustrating loss to the Vikings.  Aaron Rodgers hasn’t had a 300-yard game since mid-November.  Since then, the team has had losses at home to the Bears, last week’s game and a road thrashing at the hands of the Cardinals in week 16.  They’re actually pretty good on the road, with an even record at home as on the road.

But they’re going to need to have a great game on Sunday to beat the Washington Redskins, and that team is going in the opposite direction.  Since an excruciating week 13 loss to the Cowboys, Washington has won four games in a row and come into the playoffs at 9-7 and hot.  Kirk Cousins has played exceptionally well since week 7.  That game against Tampa Bay is now known for this:

Since “You like that”, Cousins has thrown for 23 touchdowns and three interceptions.  He’s also made us forget about Robert Griffin III.

If the Packers are going to beat the Redskins on Sunday, they need more from Rodgers against a defense that can be had.  The Skins’ defense ranks 28th in yards this season, while the Packers are 15th.  If the Packers can move the ball consistently through the air, they can and probably will win this one.  If not, take the Redskins.  That’s what I’m doing, and I like that.

The Pick: Redskins 28, Packers 17

As always, enjoy the games and have a great Wild Card Weekend!

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College Football Playoff Preview

This year in college football, New Year’s Eve will be so awesome.  And while you may not necessarily be watching the College Football Playoff through confetti (or at all, because of the utterly ridiculous scheduling loophole), the Cotton and Orange Bowls will provide all sorts of intrigue this year as the College Football Playoff bowl games. Of course, the other New Year’s Six bowls (Peach, Fiesta, Rose, Sugar) all provide interesting matchups as well; this post, however, will only focus on the two playoff games.

So for now, we’ll only take a look at Clemson-Oklahoma and Michigan State-Alabama.  It’s playoff time again!  Let’s get right into it.

Orange Bowl

Last year, Clemson and Oklahoma played in the Russell Athletic Bowl, and Oklahoma got absolutely hammered with a capital h.  They’re meeting in a slightly different and more important bowl game this year in Miami, but Oklahoma will still be out for revenge.

The team’s “out for revenge” attitude can be tied directly back to transfer quarterback Baker Mayfield.  He transferred into Oklahoma in 2014 but was unable to play until this season because of the Big 12’s transfer rules against a player transferring from one in-conference school to another.  His departure from Texas Tech can best be described as acrimonious, and he’ll be more than happy to tell you about it.

In any event, the key matchup in this game will be Mayfield and the Sooner offense against that of the Clemson Tigers.  The duel between the Oklahoma quarterback and fellow Heisman Trophy finalist Deshaun Watson will be the main attraction to this semifinal.  Of course, there is more to it than this.

Another key will be each team’s surprisingly good defense.  The Tigers and Sooners are ranked 8th and 31st is yards per game allowed, respectively, in college football, and both allow around 20 points per game.  The defenses are an under-appreciated part of the Orange Bowl, and it will be extremely important for each defensive unit to play well, but particularly against the no-huddle: the defense that is on the field less will likely have the upper hand.  It’s worth noting that Oklahoma easily has the best defensive player on the field in the game in linebacker Eric Striker.

But this is really why I’m taking Oklahoma: weapons.  Talent. Versatility.  Oklahoma’s offense can kill you in many different ways, but the most devastating of all may be through running back Samaje Perine.  If Perine gets loose early in the game, you can expect a very long day for the Tiger defense.  His running will also set up Mayfield, star wide receiver Sterling Shepard and the rest of the Oklahoma passing game.

That being said, it’s going to be an excellent game.  Clemson is getting absolutely no respect from Las Vegas, the public, or really anyone covering the game.  It’s going to be as spirited a big game as we have seen in college football for quite some time, but I think Oklahoma has a slight edge.

The Pick: Oklahoma 38, Clemson 31

Cotton Bowl

This game is really a matchup of two very similar teams.  They both play basically the same offense; often under center, never hurrying up.  But what they do with their offenses is very different: while Michigan State rightfully puts their faith in senior quarterback Connor Cook, Alabama will rightfully give the ball to Heisman Trophy winning running back Derrick Henry.  And they’ll give the ball to him some more.  And some more.  And some more.

A conservative estimate of Henry’s touches would likely be set at 40, and he’ll probably reach that by running the ball alone.  In Alabama’s last two games of the season, Henry racked up 46 and 44 carries in wins over Auburn and Florida.  If Alabama is to win this game, they have to give the ball to #2 and hope that he has another monster day; this is entirely possible, but the task will be tougher against a stout run defense that only allowed 113.1 yards per game on the ground this season (7th in major college football).

Another thing Alabama will need to do is to put faith in quarterback Jake Coker to make enough plays to win them game.  His sound decision making and sudden, new-found mobility has helped Alabama get to this point, and for the first time in his up and down, good and bad college career, the quarterback will get a chance to be the signal caller on a national championship team.  To have that distinction, though, he’ll have to have a solid, mistake-free game against a really good defense.

As for that defense?  It’s really well-suited for a game like this.  While it ranks a mediocre 76th in FBS in passing yards allowed per game, Alabama will have a difficult time running it on them, as the stats above show.  The main battle in this game is going to be Henry and the offensive line of the Crimson Tide against Michigan State’s defensive line, led by future NFL Draft first-round pick Shilique Calhoun.  Whichever front gets a push will win the battle, and possibly win the game as well.

Of course, Michigan State’s offense is key as well.  They will also have to be able to run the ball against Alabama’s solid defense, one that allows the least rushing yards per game of any team in America (74). Cook might have to do it on his right arm alone, and that may be a risky proposition: the Tide are also a top-20 pass defending team. Making headway will be an immense challenge for the Spartan offense, one that may be too difficult to overcome.

I’m picking Alabama.  Spread offenses do well against Nick Saban, but this is the furthest thing from a spread offense.  Mark Dantonio will have his team ready, and the Spartans will play angry.  But I just think the Tide has too much.

The Pick: Alabama 27, Michigan State 17

Personally, I believe that Oklahoma would beat Alabama in a national championship game.  However, that will be a separate post after the semifinal results.  As always, enjoy the games and have a safe, healthy, and Happy New Year!

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You’d Never Know the Mets Were in the World Series Last Year

The 2015 New York Mets were something that the Mets have not been, aside from 2006, for the better part of fourteen years: good. Relevant. Fun. Exciting. Successful.

Behind a once-in-a-lifetime young pitching staff, the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes and the absolutely masterful job Terry Collins did managing the team, the Mets eked by the Dodgers in five games in the NLDS and then proceeded to dump-truck the Cubs on their way to a sweep and the World Series.  Of course, we all know how the story ended: playoff star Daniel Murphy went cold, the pitching, especially in the bullpen, failed and the Royals essentially killed the Mets with 1,000 paper cuts.  So after that five-game World Series was over, you would surely think that the team would do their best to lock up free-agents-to-be Cespedes and Murphy, right?  Wrong.

Well, at least they would try to replace them with high-priced free agents at the same positions, right?  Wrong again.

To be fair, the team has basically replaced Murphy by trading for former Pirates’ second baseman Neil Walker.  The team also pursued the free agent who may have single-handedly stopped the Winter Meetings in their tracks, second baseman Ben Zobrist.  Zobrist decided to take less money than the $60 million the Mets were offering and signed with the Cubs for four years and $56 million. However this isn’t a huge deal, as Walker can step in to Murphy’s place and provide the same production he did, so that move should work out.  But who would the team acquire to replace Cespedes?

If you guessed Alejandro De Aza, you’re either a psychic or have inner knowings of the team’s front office plans.

The team announced the signing yesterday, along with its terms: one year, $5.75 million.  The opportunity to make that $7 million with performance-based incentives.  In other words, not someone who is going to be able to replace the production left behind by the departure of Cespedes.

To be clear, De Aza is a quality player, but probably one that is more suited to a bench role.  A career .267 hitter, he’s only averaged slightly over five home runs per year in his eight years in the majors.  In a platoon with current center fielder, right-handed hitter and 2014 Gold Glove award winner Juan Lagares, the left-handed hitting De Aza would probably get more playing time and bat near the bottom of the order.  The move for the team is not necessarily a bad one at a small level, but as part of the bigger picture, it doesn’t really work.  The team needed to somehow replace Cespedes’ big bat in the lineup, and they couldn’t even do it in the aggregate.

But this isn’t about a team’s free agent moves after making the World Series.  This is about the owners of that team, Fred and Jeff Wilpon, along with president Saul Katz, simply being unwilling to put in the money needed to keep the team near the top for several years to come.

On Monday, freelance writer Howard Megdal published a piece on Vocativ about how the team is more or less swimming in a pool of unpaid debt.  You have to read the whole thing for yourself, but here is an excerpt:

Back in 2008, the team’s investments with Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff were discovered to be a fraud. More than $500 million in assets Wilpon and Katz thought they had—and had borrowed against—vanished. Accordingly, just to stay afloat, they needed to take out a $430 million loan against the team and $450 million against their majority ownership stake in SNY (a network started with a loan from Madoff, incidentally).

Ever since, the Mets have managed to get by annually by diverting revenue from their baseball and television operation into the financing of debt. Prior to the refinancing of the past two years, the annual interest on these two loans plus debt balloon payments of more than $43 million have exceeded team payroll itself.

The refinancing of the two loans has extended their due dates out five years, so this arrangement is set to continue for a long time to come. And the debt balloon payments run until December 2045, when currently youthful pitching ace Steven Matz will be 54 years old.

The Mets will be paying these crazy debts until 2045.  It will take the team so long to pay off these debts that they will be finished paying off the rest of Bobby Bonilla’s contract before the debts are paid.  It’s a bad situation, and the main reason why the team hasn’t been spending big bucks in free agency for the last several years.

This is the problem, though: it isn’t like the team is not making money.  Even with the debt payments, the Mets experienced an attendance increase of 19.5% a year ago (and a similar, if not larger, increase should be expected next season based off the results of 2015).  Also, the team’s most conservative estimates state that they added around $20 million in revenue from the team’s playoff games. That same article says that ratings on the team’s television network, SportsNet New York (SNY, for short) increased by about 56 percent over the past year, which means more revenue because advertisers are far more likely to pay for commercial sports on the team-owned network.

The opportunity for the Mets to spend is right in front of them.  Their starting rotation is making so little (a projected $13.5 million next year) that this person is going to be the highest-paid starter on the team next season:

Mets fans are some of the best in baseball.  They’re smart, dedicated and they aren’t shy about letting ownership know how they feel about the job they are doing.  They’re extremely upset right now, and they have every right to be.  The opportunity to win a World Series doesn’t come around very often, but the opportunity is even more rare when teams who have a chance to win one fail consistently to spend the necessary money to be in contention year after year.  It’s a shame for their fans that the Mets are blowing the opportunity to win, but this is especially disappointing when you consider the fact that the team’s rotation is not going to be together forever.

But, if the past actions of Mets ownership is any indication, there’s no reason to think that the team’s frugal ways are changing anytime soon.

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Odell Beckham Jr.’s One-Game Suspension Is Just Right

Rarely is this ever said about the NFL’s disciplinary decisions, but they actually got something right Monday.

Yes, they suspended a player, and, in a rare occurrence, they even got the length of time of the suspension exactly right (when has that happened in the last ten years?).  What they did was suspend star Giants’ wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. one game for his ridiculousness during the Giants’ 38-35 loss to the still-undefeated Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

This whole story started with the build-up to the much-anticipated matchup between Carolina Panthers’ cornerback Josh Norman and Beckham.  It would be a collision of arguably the two best players at their respective positions in the NFL right now, and you could probably gather that there would be some bad blood between the parties.  Of course, when there is such a highly-anticipated matchup, there is naturally going to be some ill-will, and indeed there was on Sunday.

It started seemingly from the get-go, and Norman was the one who actually instigated the initial scuffling.  His throwdown of the star receiver is what initially garnered the attention of the fans, referees, and even the FOX broadcast.  After that, it was only 99.9% Beckham’s fault.  You can watch an NFL-made highlight video of the matchup here; embedding the video from YouTube is not allowed by request of the maker of the video (the NFL).

Anyway, Beckham was the guilty party on just about every play.  It looked as if he was so rattled by Norman and the Panther defense that he was really more worried about getting his shots in against Norman and others when the play was over than running his route and trying to make a play during game action.  But that isn’t even the problem, here, actually, it’s far from it.

OBJ’s actions on the field Sunday weren’t just about a man simply losing his damn mind.  They were seriously dangerous, and Norman, Beckham or anyone else playing for either team could have been severely injured as a result of his actions.

You can see if you watch the video that Beckham threw multiple punches on Norman and even, on one play flew in like a missile, led with the crown of his helmet, and kinda sorta tried to decapitate the Panthers’ corner.  That play and two others led to 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalties against the Giants, but none of those plays or any of the other reckless and stupid ones led to ejection.

And that is the mistake of the officials working the game.  Terry McAulay and his crew missed several surefire penalties over the course of the afternoon, and if they had gotten control of the game and Beckham earlier, most of the shenanigans that occurred between the two probably would not have happened in the first place.  Once they did, however, there should have been no other course of action than to eject OBJ.  So how did this start, other than with the matchup and the crazy hype?

Supposedly, if you ask the Giants, it started with homophobic slurs directed at the wide receiver.  And according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, this isn’t just their best guess; they’re convinced and may even do something about it:

If that is true, that is a truly abhorrent action on the part of the Panther players.  If it isn’t, it makes Beckham’s actions that much less understandable, as if they were at all in the first place; as Bob Seger would say, “He (Beckham) had lost all control.”

Another potential provocation for the Giants’ star came in an unexpected form: a baseball bat.  In a video posted to Instagram by Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, Josh Norman is seen clearly wielding a black baseball bat.  Glazer also describes a threat made by a Panthers practice squad player directly to Beckham:

If those are the real reasons why OBJ completely lost his mind on Sunday, well…. maybe you could justify his anger at the Panther players.  If he felt threatened in any way by anyone on the Panthers and felt the need at all times to defend himself, it’s possible to justify his actions.  But, according to injured cornerback Bene Benwikere, the team uses a baseball bat before every game as a symbol of home run plays and “laying the wood”, and not as a symbol of mass destruction:

Basically, this has gotten to the point of being he said, he said.  If Benwikere’s side of the story is true, then Beckham got too caught up in the game, the matchup, or whatever and just lost his damn mind. If the Giants’ side of the story is correct, then there is some justification for what Beckham did, but even then, his actions put people in danger and that is unacceptable no matter what happened before or during the game.

All this being said, the NFL absolutely got it right here; Beckham needed to be suspended, and even though he is a marketable star player in the league’s biggest market, he had to be disciplined for what he did to the entire Panthers team, his own team, and even himself through his stupidity on Sunday.  The NFL’s discipline of Beckham in this scenario is absolutely necessary, whether he’s the best receiver in football or the fifth receiver on the league’s worst team.

So, for once, the NFL’s handling of a star player’s transgressions should be applauded.

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It’s Time to Revoke Jeff Fisher’s Lifetime Head Coaching Pass

Let me ask you an honest question: in his twenty-one-year NFL head-coaching career, how many of St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher’s teams have actually been good?  The answer, of course, depends on how you define good, so let’s put it this way: how many of Fisher’s teams have actually won a playoff game?

The answer will surprise you: out of twenty-one seasons, Jeff Fisher-coached teams have won a playoff game in exactly three different campaigns.  That may surprise you, considering the fact that his career started with the Houston Oilers and is still going today, but Fisher’s overall career has actually been one borne out of mediocrity more than success.  And yet, Fisher is no different from that gift you get on Christmas but know you’ll never use: he’s difficult to get rid of, and you feel guilty if you’re the one who dispatches him.

Why do I say this, then?  This is why, from CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora:

Jeff Fisher’s job is safe in St. Louis, despite the 5-8 Rams closing in on their fourth straight losing season under Fisher. Rams owner Stan Kroenke is likely stuck in St. Louis for another year, and he is focused on a possible move to Los Angeles and is not in the business of paying ‎people $6 million plus to leave for a product he isn’t all that engaged in right now, anyway.

Fisher will be back with the Rams next season, meaning that they are more likely than not to be as hopelessly average as they are now. Why in the world has he lasted so long?

Here’s one reason: there are a lot of unknown commodities when it comes to NFL coaches.  Yes, the Rams could absolutely do better than Jeff Fisher, but it’s also important to note that they would also like to not do worse.  Their choice essentially comes down to Jeff Fisher or any head coaching candidate they can find.  And, if this guy is any indication, the waters of finding a new head coach can be pretty treacherous sometimes.

That’s just one reason, and it’s really more of a supposition than it is conclusive deduction.  But there should be something to be said for Fisher; according to a USA Today study in 2012, NFL head coaches actually have the longest average tenures out of the four major sports. The average length of that tenure?  4.39 years.  Fisher is in his 21st. That should be commended.

However, one cannot help but think that Fisher has been incredibly lucky in lasting this long.  Here’s another exercise for you, the reader: try to guess Jeff Fisher’s career winning percentage, including last night’s 31-23 victory over the Buccaneers.  You’re probably thinking somewhere in the high-50s, maybe even 60%.  If you guessed that, you would be very wrong.

It’s exactly 52%.  Fisher has lasted in the NFL for just about 21 years and has a career .520 winning percentage.  For context, Colts head coach Chuck Pagano has won two-thirds of his games in almost four years in Indianapolis and he’s about to get fired.  Mike Smith won 58% of his games in seven seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, a run that included five straight seasons from 2008-2012 with at least nine wins.  He did get fired after last season.

Welcome to the NFL.

Seriously, though: how?  How does a man whose teams are consistently mediocre retain job status for, with the exception of the 2011 season, every year since 1994?  Again, his first head coaching tenure started with the Houston Oilers.  Maybe it was because of complacent owners who were fine with the status quo of mediocrity (more on one of those owners later).  Maybe it was the weakness of the pool from which the Oilers/Titans and Rams would have to take a head coach from in the event that one of them fired Fisher.  It could be either one.

It pains me to say this, but at the same time, I just can’t emphasize this enough: he really isn’t a great NFL head coach.  Gary Davenport took the words right out of my mouth wrote about this for Bleacher Report Friday:

Jeff Fisher just isn‘t a very good head coach.

Mind you, he isn‘t a terrible head coach. He’s an experienced head coach, with this being his 21st season prowling an NFL sideline. He’s been to a Super Bowl. Six times, teams he’s coached have won double-digit games.

Of course, we just hit on part of the problem. Jeff Fisher teams have won 10 or more games only six times in 21 years. Meanwhile, nine seasons with Fisher at the helm have ended with his team winning seven or eight games.

The Rams appear headed for No. 10 in 2015.

All of three head coaches in NFL history have lost more games than Fisher. All three have more playoff and Super Bowl appearances. Many more.

The statistic that Davenport provided showed the top four head coaches in terms of most losses in NFL history.  Fisher was number four.  Numbers one, two and three were Dan Reeves (one of the better and criminally underrated head coaches in NFL history), Tom Landry, and Don Shula.  Not for nothing, but I would take any one of those three over Fisher in a second.  That’s nothing against Fisher and his longevity, but those men had greater success, especially in January and February.

I can’t honestly answer as to why Jeff Fisher still has a job in the NFL. What I can say is that it is virtually impossible for us to remove him; we can’t get rid of him and something tells me that we may not be able to anytime soon unless he decides to step away.  His teams have been consistently mediocre, and nearly 21 years really isn’t all that small of a sample size, either.  And it’s not like the Rams are magically going to get better under his tutelage next year (and the year after that, and so on).

Which is grounds to have his lifetime pass to being an NFL head coach removed.

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Christian McCaffrey’s Claim to the Heisman Trophy

Since 1988, former Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders held the record for all-purpose yards with 3,250.  In just 11 games, it was one of the most unbelievable records ever held in college football or any other sport, for that matter, and it was one of the few records that looked as if it might never be broken.  That unbeatable record was smashed last weekend.

It was broken by none other than Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey.

Before we go any further, McCaffrey broke the record in 13 games as opposed to Sanders’ 11.  He also had 413 touches against Sanders’ 394. But forget all of that: he broke of the longer-standing and harder-to-break records in sports, and there should be something to show for that.  But will that thing be a Heisman Trophy?

McCaffrey will be in New York on Saturday night as one of three Heisman finalists, along with Alabama running back Derrick Henry and Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson.  According to OddsShark, Henry is the overwhelming favorite to win the trophy, with McCaffrey far behind and Watson even further off the pace, and many prognosticators think he is going to win the award.  I think he’s going to win it.  It is almost a foregone conclusion that he is going to be the Heisman Trophy winner in 2015, but should he be?  According to statistics, the answer is no.

For starters, McCaffrey obviously has more all-purpose yards than anyone else in the field (all-purpose encapsulates rushing, receiving, and punt and kick return yardage).  With that out of the way, he still deserves the Heisman over Henry.

There are plenty of reasons why he should win the Heisman, but the main one is that we, as college football fans, have just never seen anyone have such a great season in the sport in a long, long time. While the seasons of Henry and Watson have been incredible in their own right and would be worthy of winning the award in almost any other season, McCaffrey’s season has not just been really good; it’s been historic.  It has transcended the usual year-to-year performances that are rewarded with trips to Gotham; this is a performance that should be rewarded with acclaim for decades to come.  This was one of the greatest seasons ever, and it should be rewarded with a Heisman.

One of the reasons, however, that McCaffrey will likely fall short of winning the sport’s greatest individual honor is because of team performance.  Out of the three teams of finalists for the trophy, McCaffrey’s Cardinal are the only one not represented in this year’s College Football Playoff.  The reason is two losses, one in September to Northwestern and the other in November to the team’s biggest rival, Oregon.  McCaffrey only struggled in the Northwestern game (he only rushed for 66 yards) but even in a game in which he supposedly faltered, he still had 171 all-purpose yards.  In the Oregon game, he had 244 all-purpose yards.  No blame can be laid there, and it really wasn’t his fault that Stanford lost either game.

As for Henry, he was able to amass 166 rushing and receiving yards in Alabama’s one loss to Ole Miss.  Watson did not lose, so it’s impossible to see what he would do with his team on the losing end. Here’s the thing, though: McCaffrey is impossible to stop.  If a defense holds down one area of his game, it quite possibly opens up another. He can’t be held down, and the best defenses can hope to do is contain him.  Or, a defense could do what USC did and stop no areas of his game.  He’s one of the most tantalizing players the game has seen recently, and it’s just difficult to completely shut him down.

That’s not to say, of course, that it’s easy to contain Henry, but if a defense is somehow able to take away his inside running game and not let him get the edge for big plays, he can be contained.  He’s not really going to kill you out of the backfield as a receiver or as a return man.  McCaffrey can do literally everything for the Cardinal offense, and he’s the main reason the team has gone from 72nd to 27th in total offense in FBS this season.  He’s the main reason; there aren’t any others.  Alabama’s team offense was 9th in major college football last season, and it’s 34th this season.  To be fair, the offense lost wideout Amari Cooper and quarterback Blake Sims, but Henry has not been able to carry the offense the way McCaffrey has.

This is the statistical argument behind Christian McCaffrey’s Heisman candidacy.  Here’s another argument: while I’m sure this is true of most other great players, his teammates absolutely love him.  Here’s video of him being announced as a Heisman candidate, as well as his teammates going absolutely ape:

That’s really cool.  That shows you just how much his teammates want this for him, and how much they appreciate how he’s carried the team over the course of the season as well.

So while other candidates will get more consideration and are deserving of attention, there’s one man who should be the surefire winner of the 2015 Heisman Trophy.  He won’t be, but hopefully we can remember in the future just how great he was this season.

That man is none other than Christian McCaffrey.

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Sports Bloggers Are People, Too

Pardon this interruption, but bloggers are people who sit in their mother’s basements and write stuff.

Seems pretty bold coming from someone who runs a blog himself. But don’t take it from me; take it from ESPN’s Michael Wilbon.

Wilbon, along with Tony Kornheiser, is the co-host of the station’s Pardon the Interruption and is also known for his work with the network’s NBA Countdown.  Prior to that, he gained notoriety for his work writing about the sports landscape for the Washington Post.  He’s survived a lot of change and done a lot of good work during his career, so I’m not going to take any shots at him in this post (besides the intro, because that was low-hanging fruit).

Wilbon was recently on a panel with Kornheiser, USA Today’s Christine Brennan, and Maury Povich (yes, that Maury Povich) to discuss the evolution of journalism.  (Povich was on the panel because it was done in conjunction with the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism; Shirley was Maury’s father.)

Anyway, Wilbon was asked by Povich about the change in journalism from when he broke into the business to now.  And this is what he said:

What bugs me now is that people is that people sit in their mother’s basements and write this crap and they don’t have any knowledge of what is going on in that place, and it’s too easy to get it. You can go to a game, you can go to a locker room. The only reason to read this stuff is to tell people why something happened, and if you’re not there, and you can’t tell me why it happened, I don’t care about all your advanced analytics and all the other things you concoct.

First of all, I’m not sitting in my mom’s basement right now while I write this article, so he’s kind of wrong with his remarks off the top.

Let me say this: he does make a couple of valid points.  For starters, when covering a team, it helps to be in the locker room interviewing players and coaches rather than writing about said team from afar.  His other completely correct point comes when he says that people read pieces of sports writing to figure out why something happened; that’s absolutely right.  That’s why I don’t write recaps here; sports writing is all about the “why” and not the “how”.

But the “mother’s basement” put-down and “they don’t have any knowledge” points are simply wrong.  While it should be noted that Kornheiser and Brennan weren’t too fond of this new journalism, either, they were at least able to stay away from making blanket statements like Wilbon’s.  It’s also ironic that Wilbon is saying this coming off the heels off his company’s shutting down of Grantland, which was the greatest example of modern, long-form internet blogging (in other words, journalism).

And about the advanced analytics that he seemingly despises?  While we are all entitled to the right to have an opinion, I find Wilbon to be in the wrong here as well.  He obviously doesn’t think much of advanced stats in sports, but they aren’t concocted: maybe he should read this article from one of his ESPN colleagues, Tom Haberstroh; in it, Haberstroh combines advanced analytics with solid writing to provide a fascinating lens into the NBA’s gradual acceptance of living and dying by the three.

Teams, especially in Wilbon’s area of expertise, basketball, are relying on advanced analytics more and more.  All advanced analytics amounts to is another way for teams to make personnel decisions, and teams that ignore them completely are often left behind because they are disregarding information that could really help them in making future decisions.

But blogging isn’t all about sitting in mom’s basement and writing about stuff.  For example, Jessica Mendoza of ESPN (them again) became the first female announcer ever to broadcast an MLB playoff game.  The reason why is because the color commentator she was filling in for, Curt Schilling, was suspended, initially because of a tweet equating Muslims to Nazis.  Later, he decided to e-mail a writer at Awful Announcing about his displeasure with their reporting on the initial story about the tweet (AA, ironically enough, was one of the first sites to call Wilbon out on his comments at the Povich Symposium).

The site then published Schilling’s e-mail, and he was suspended for the rest of the season, allowing Mendoza to finish off the rest of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball schedule and the one playoff game the network aired, the American League Wild Card game.  Simply enough, if it wasn’t for Awful Announcing, Schilling likely would have returned to the broadcast booth before the end of the season, and no history would be made.  Like it or not, the site changed the course of history for both people, as Mendoza earned rave critiques and may very well replace Schilling in the broadcast booth for the long run.

Another, more obvious example of the importance of blogging comes in the form of the Greg Hardy story.  As you probably already knew, Deadspin published photos of the aftermath of the domestic incident between him and his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Holder, in early 2014.  The images are incredibly disturbing, and no matter where you stand on the story, Deadspin’s publishing of the photos has framed the debate on the issue.  The anger toward Greg Hardy may very well have dissipated if it weren’t for our ability to see those pictures.

To conclude, I have a world of respect for Michael Wilbon.  Having seen him all over ESPN for as long as I can remember, he always seems fresh and interesting, even as he freely admits that he isn’t quite down with the new way the majority of the people look at sports.  His points always bear weight, even as he easily surpasses the topic-to-topic time limits on PTI.  They bear weight because of the respect he has among colleagues and people in sports, as well as his vast experience in the industry.

But as much as it pains me to say this, he’s wrong on this one.  We don’t just sit in the basement in our underwear and write, and we definitely don’t just spit out nerdy statistics for no particular reason. This mass generalization is unfair, but to be fair to Wilbon, some of us bloggers have probably told people of his ilk to “get off our lawn”. I’m not telling Wilbon to do that, but he needs to respect us and the work we do as indicative of the way sports journalism is going.

He needs to respect us because we’re people, too.

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Dab This: Don’t Criticize Cam Newton’s Celebrating

(WARNING: article may contain subjects inappropriate for those under the age of nine years old.)

You’re probably reading this and wondering what in the world I’m talking about.  Nine years old?  Why is that?  I’ll explain it near the end of the article.

This controversy started when star quarterback Cam Newton’s Panthers traveled to Nashville to play the Titans.  Newton’s Carolina team was 8-0 entering the game; no small feat, especially considering the parity that currently exists in the NFL.  Newton is their leader, but he’s also a character the likes of which has rarely been seen in the league recently.  He’s not afraid to show his personality, and sometimes, that can get him into trouble with the more rigid of football fans.

Sunday would be possibly the first time he has been heavily criticized for his in-game antics; he caught plenty of heat for things that happened while he was in college, but that was mainly directed at him for off-the-field transgressions, which were nothing compared to what the NFL deals within regards to some of their stars now.

In any event, Newton would lead the Panthers to a late 10-point lead in Tennessee.  He played a masterful game, completing 81% of his passes, throwing for over 200 yards, throwing and rushing for a touchdown each in the process.  However, the rushing touchdown would be the one that has us talking this week.

After punching it in on the ground from two yards out, Newton proceeded to partake in a dance known as the “dab”, which is credited to the Atlanta hip-hop duo Migos.  Anyway, it wasn’t the dance itself that is the problem, it’s the nature in which it was done. See for yourself how Newton sticks it to Tennessee here:

As you can see from the video, the dance was pretty darn in-your-face.  Here’s the thing, though: I really didn’t have much of a problem with it.  There are any number of reasons why, but I’ll outline a few of them here.

1. He’s 9-0- And All the People Criticizing Him Aren’t

This is the simplest reason why it’s easy to defend Cam here. Whether you like him, dislike him, or compare him to Colin Kaepernick hate him, there are two quarterbacks in the NFL that are undefeated. They are:

  1. Tom Brady (the greatest quarterback ever)
  2. Cam Newton

That’s it.  And no, you won’t see Tom Brady hitting any dabs on Sunday, but that’s okay.  He and Newton are polar opposites as quarterbacks and leaders, but the marked differences between them is what makes their success so interesting.  Newton’s team is having the same amount of success as Brady’s, whether you like that or not. If I was 9-0 in fantasy football, I’d probably be dabbing right now, too. The fact that Newton’s Panthers are 9-0 in real life is more than cause enough to celebrate.

2. Haters Gon’ Hate- But Detractors Need to Direct Their Anger Elsewhere

Speaking of the Panthers, the man in the picture used to play for them.  His name is Greg Hardy.  He plays for the Cowboys, he is a lot to handle at defensive end, and his presence has improved the team’s defense this season.  He also happens to be a proven domestic abuser, and he’ll also be suiting up for Dallas on Sunday with not nearly as much fanfare as Newton (although that’s debatable; the public protest of Hardy has existed, although very intermittently).

If you want to get mad at Hardy, I’m more than okay with that.  If you want to get angry at the fact that he’s been playing since week 5, you go do you.  But to get mad at Newton more so than you are at Hardy….. come on.  You’re just being ridiculous at this point.

You could also get mad at the NFL because the quality of their games is completely terrible; that would make sense as well.  But, apparently a dance is worse than both of those things, so I’m glad that we have at least established this for the rest of the season.

NOTE: Before I get into my next point, let me just say that it will be very divisive.  I absolutely loathe using this reason for basically anything inside the sports world, and most of the time, I think people use it because it’s an easy cop out.  I didn’t want to do this, and it doesn’t apply most of the time anymore (thankfully), but as I thought about the reasons why Newton has gotten so much backlash, this was the first thing that popped into my mind.

After another quarterback did something that should have yielded him double the controversy on the exact same day to maybe half the criticism, I knew why.  So, with some trepidation, this is the last reason why people are wrongly criticizing Newton, but shouldn’t….

The Race Card

I still hate this excuse, but this is one of those times when it applies. Warren Moon has repeatedly stated that criticism of Newton is driven by Newton’s being an African-American, and at least in this case, it’s true.  I’ll explain why it is briefly but hopefully succinctly.

Later that day, in fact, that night, the Cardinals faced the Seahawks on Sunday Night Football.  The Cardinals got what was probably the biggest win of their season, and with it, the NFC West is essentially theirs to lose.  After the team had clinched the win, quarterback Carson Palmer got so “excited” that he commanded the Seahawks fans to, well…. judge for yourself.  (WARNING: video may be disturbing to some, and I’m actually serious this time.)

So, let’s think: the Palmer gesture was just seeing people and getting excited, but the dab was an in-your-face, outlandish, and inappropriate behavior, showing once and for all that the player in the act of dabbing does not know how to win with grace?  Huh, that’s funny.  I wonder why that is.

It’s something that Greg Howard of Deadspin wrote about yesterday. I can’t quote the full article because it’s so expletive-laden, but it’s absolutely brilliant.  This is the important part:

If the Panthers weren’t undefeated, and if Newton weren’t a midseason MVP candidate, some would take some dabbing as a window into his soul and his future, proof that he’s not and will never be a True Franchise Quarterback. But they can’t anymore. He’s showing with every win that pearl-clutching talk about his maturity or whether he’s appropriately deferential after touchdowns says more about those doing the complaining. Newton’s proving that the things about him that make people so angry are entirely unconnected to his on-field success, and that to “play the right way” is to win and put yourself and your team in a position to dance every week.

Amen.  I’ll leave it at that.

Our business is just about done here, but to this point, I’ve left one promise unattended to.  Yes, I said I’d get into the whole thing about nine-year olds, and the time has come to talk about what relevance they have to this story.

This isn’t about all third and fourth graders, but it’s about one and her mother.  I’m not even going to give my opinion on the letter other than to say this: it’s absurd.  I’ll leave it all right here and you can judge its craziness for yourself:

Dear Mr. Newton,

Congratulations on your win in Nashville today. Our team played well, but yours played better. Kudos to the Panthers organization.

That game happened to be my nine year old daughter’s first live NFL experience. She was surprised to see so many Panthers’ fans sitting in our section of the stadium; that doesn’t happen much at fourth grade football games. And she was excited we were near the end zone, so we would be close to the “action,” particularly in the second half.

Because of where we sat, we had a close up view of your conduct in the fourth quarter. The chest puffs. The pelvic thrusts. The arrogant struts and the ‘in your face’ taunting of both the Titans’ players and fans. We saw it all.

I refuse to believe you don’t realize you are a role model. You are paid millions of dollars every week to play hard and be a leader. In the off season you’re expected to make appearances, support charities, and inspire young kids to pursue your sport and all sports. With everything the NFL has gone through in recent years, I’m confident they have advised that you are, by virtue of your position and career choice, a role model.

And because you are a role model, your behavior brought out like behavior in the stands. Some of the Panthers fans in our section began taunting the hometown fans. Many Titans fans booed you, a few offering instructive, but not necessarily family friendly, suggestions as to how you might change your behavior.

My daughter sensed the change immediately – and started asking questions. Won’t he get in trouble for doing that? Is he trying to make people mad? Do you think he knows he looks like a spoiled brat?

I didn’t have great answers for her, and honestly, in an effort to minimize your negative impact and what was otherwise a really fun day, I redirected her attention to the cheerleaders and mascot.

I could tell she was still thinking about it as we boarded a shuttle back to our car. “I guess he doesn’t have kids or a Mom at home watching the game,” she added.

I don’t know about your family life Mr. Newton, but I think I’m safe in saying thousands of kids watch you every week. You have amazing talent and an incredible platform to be a role model for them. Unfortunately, what you modeled for them today was egotism, arrogance and poor sportsmanship.

Is that what your coaches and mentors modeled for you, Mr. Newton?

Newton is absolutely aware of his standing as a role model, but that term means different things to different people.  His mom, Jackie, likely was watching the game whilst he dabbed.

And no, that probably isn’t what Cam Newton’s coaches and mentors modeled him for.   But it’s what has the Panthers at 9-0, and it’s what has made Newton successful in his young NFL career.

Which is why this debate is coated with a dab of stupidity.

 

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The End: Peyton Manning’s Loss to Father Time Should Not Come as a Shock

If Father Time really is undefeated, then we just saw the greatest living example of its power.  That example comes in the form of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

This may finally be the end for Peyton, the man who just this week set the all-time record in passing yards previously held by Brett Favre. Favre, because he’s a legend, congratulated Manning in the only way he knew how, which was from a tree stand while hunting in the woods:

All that aside, Manning may very well be the greatest regular-season quarterback to ever play in the NFL.  But, as many wise people have said, all good things must come to an end, and Peyton Manning’s career has reached the same fate that every other good thing in the history of the world has: the end.

The end for Manning has been abrupt.  It came without warning.  But most importantly, it was no different from what happens to every other NFL player at a certain stage in his career; said player’s skills decline and no team in their right mind would sign that player, so the player is left with no other choice but to retire.

And in most cases, those players have absolutely no clue what to do when they reach retirement.  Luckily for number 18, he has endorsements such as Nationwide.  And Papa John’s.  And DirecTV. And Gatorade.  He’s prepared for retirement, and that’s a good thing. Unfortunately, retirement will (or at least should) be coming soon.

Manning threw four interceptions in Sunday’s home loss to the Chiefs, and looked like a shell of himself for the entire day; he would be benched in favor of backup Brock Osweiler in the third quarter. And to put it plainly, Peyton has looked like a shell of himself for about the last calendar year.  Starting with a loss to the Rams around this date last year (November 16th, 2014), Manning has thrown 25 interceptions against just 19 touchdowns.  This is a sharp contrast from his career 2.15:1 touchdown to interception ratio; if you were to remove the numbers of the last calendar year from Peyton’s resume, his TD-INT ratio would be 2.3:1.

He has stunningly thrown an interception in each of the first nine Broncos games this season; to compare, there were nine games last season in which he didn’t throw a pick, so the sharp decline means that something else must be at play here.  That thing that is at play is the silent killer of NFL careers; injuries.

Before we get into the more recent injury(ies) Peyton is dealing with, the more long term one has to do with the feeling he has in his hands, or lack thereof.  If you saw Peyton Manning play for the Colts, you know he had one of the strongest arms in football.  I mean, just check out some of the lasers he was chucking for the team in his then-record-setting 2004 season, one that saw him throw an unprecedented 49 touchdowns.

Manning would come back to break that record with the Broncos in 2013.  He threw 55 TDs that season, but if you look closely, you can clearly tell that his arm strength is fading by this point.

Why did that arm strength fade?  There is not one definitive answer, but one of the main explanations for this sudden drop-off is his fingertips, and the fact that, you know, he has no feeling in them.  This is what Manning said to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King in August:

“I can’t feel anything in my fingertips,” Manning said Thursday. “It’s crazy. I’ve talked to a doctor recently who said,  Don’t count on the feeling coming back. It was hard for me for about two years, because one doctor told me I could wake up any morning and it might come back. So you wake up every day thinking, Today’s the day! Then it’s not.”

This is just me talking here, and I’m not Peyton Manning.  But if I had no feeling in my fingertips and I may not ever get them back again, I would probably retire.  That being said, his comeback from four neck surgeries in 2011 is nothing short of brave and admirable, and he should be commended for coming back from such a dire state.  I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that he was able to play so well without any arm strength or feeling in his fingers for his first two and a half years in Denver.  But if it were my decision, I would have hung it up after having the neck surgeries and finding out that I couldn’t feel the tips of my fingers anymore.

The other far less serious and shorter-term injury that Peyton has incurred is a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his left foot, which should keep him out at least for this week against the Bears. Osweiler, who went 14-24 for 146 yards after Peyton was benched midway through the third quarter, will take his place in the meantime. Osweiler is not a great option at quarterback but, as painful as this is to say, he’s obviously a better option than Manning at this point.

Unfortunately, it’s pretty safe to say that Peyton Manning is at the end of his rope in terms of his illustrious career.  His decline is remarkably similar to that of Dan Marino, and while the two will be united in Canton soon enough, Marino’s decline was eerily similar to that of Manning’s; Dan’s team reached the playoffs in his final season and he threw more interceptions than touchdowns in 2000 as well, just like Manning is doing in 2015.

Additionally, the only way Manning can reclaim his 2015 season is to get fully healthy again, and while that may take some time, the Broncos have no other option at this point but to bench him and allow his foot injury to heal.  Also, it wouldn’t hurt if he magically recovered the lost feeling in his fingertips; it seems to be what has caused his arm strength to go out the window in his Denver years.

Peyton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks ever; even though many rag on him for his career record in the playoffs (11-13), he routinely took teams to January that had no business being there without his presence; this is especially true in his years with the Colts. He’s one of the all-time greats, whether he under-performed in the playoffs or not.

But there is one opponent he couldn’t conquer: father time.

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Here’s Johnny: It Should Be Manziel Time in Cleveland

While I don’t usually like writing about 2-7 football teams and I only really write about topics I find interesting, this is a very rare exception.

With the circus and everlasting drama that has become the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback situation and the eternal craziness that surrounds new starter Johnny Manziel, this is a team and a state of affairs that is worthy of being addressed.  So let’s address it.

Basically, you see, what had happened was, Browns starting quarterback Josh McCown was concussed when he tried to helicopter over two Jets defenders in week 1 (that wasn’t the best idea).  He was replaced by backup/lightning rod Johnny Manziel, and, put simply, Manziel did pretty well.  Manziel, known to that point in his NFL career for his drinking problems and extended stay in rehab to get them under control, had struggled mightily in his one full game last season, throwing for just 80 yards in a 30-0 hammering at the hands of the in-state rival Bengals.

Manziel threw for 182 yards in that game against the Jets, ending the contest with a touchdown and an interception.  He would get the start the next week due to the McCown injury and defeated the Titans in easily the best performance of his young career.  While he only put the ball in the air 15 times, he threw for two touchdowns, 11.5 yards per attempt, and, most importantly, did not turn the ball over.  But the Browns and head coach Mike Pettine decided to go back to McCown in week 3, and McCown rightfully kept the job after averaging 384.67 yards per game for the next three weeks.

Unfortunately, losing his starting job led to Manziel, at least in one instance, returning to drinking.  Of course, he shouldn’t win the starting job because he has difficulties handling a backup role, but this is simply the most likely reason why this occurred.  It’s a shame, but Manziel clearly has to learn how to handle failure, and part of his lack of success in the NFL has been caused by his inability to do so.

But that was then, and this is now.  McCown’s performance took a step back after his ludicrously impressive three-week run, and he injured his shoulder in a week 7 loss to the Rams.  At this point, it was time for Manziel to step in again, and he would lead the 2-6 Browns into Cincinnati last Thursday night to play the team that ruined his debut a year ago.  How would he fare?

The answer depends on your dissemination of his play.  While his numbers are thoroughly underwhelming (15-33, 168 yards, one touchdown), he did something that he failed to do last season: protect the football.  Cleveland would lose 31-10, but Manziel orchestrated a ten-play, 92 yard drive for the Browns’ only touchdown right before the end of the first half.  His second half was marked with inconsistency, but he was still able to protect the ball through his struggles.

So why exactly is it time to give the keys to the offense to Manziel, even when McCown has clearly played better?  For one thing, youth is obviously on Manziel’s side (he is 22; McCown is 36) and at this point, Manziel has the higher ceiling.  The Browns fell to 2-7 with the loss on Thursday, and it became apparent a long time ago that they aren’t going anywhere in 2015.

Letting Manziel play out the rest of the regular season serves a dual purpose; 1) the organization can figure out if Manziel can sustain his somewhat impressive play and 2) if Manziel fails, the team will realize this, lose, and probably get a high draft pick.  They could use that high draft pick on a quarterback (California’s Jared Goff and Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg are the two most highly-touted QBs in this year’s class) and move on from Manziel/McCown.

This is a point that was visited by Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport on Friday:

Where he then proceeded to play so badly that the Buccaneers cut bait after one year.

Explain to me exactly how this somehow prepares the Browns for a bright future? Or any future?

Of course, the team is presently led by Mike Pettine.

Oh yeah, that’s right.  Mike Pettine.

Pettine has been consistently lukewarm toward his current starting quarterback’s style of play, and he is not overly appreciative of Manziel’s tendency of create plays outside the pocket.  When asked by reporters about his quarterback’s performance against Cincinnati, he responded in exactly the manner in which you would expect.  These are all real quotes.

“No, I can’t (say he’ll play the next game)…. When we get in and get back from this time off, we’ll assess what pool of players are available and go ahead and make those decisions from there. This will be a good time to step away and reassess where we are moving forward.”

“It was just inconsistent…. He did some good things, but in the second half, especially after we fell behind, he was just trying to make too many big plays instead of just taking completions …. It’s also a function of how well we play around him…. I don’t know if in the second half we played well enough around him for him to play well.”

Pettine is absolutely correct in stating that Manziel was inconsistent. He is also correct in stating that the Browns were not good enough around him.  I wouldn’t say this play was good enough on Thursday night:

It’s not a surprise, then, that the Browns had it taken to them in the second half.  But that isn’t Manziel’s fault; why is his coach emphasizing his inconsistency and stressing the need for the team to look at all options instead of just letting Manziel play?

I honestly can’t tell you why this hasn’t happened already, but the Browns really should give Johnny Manziel a chance.  And a real chance at that; don’t just give him another game or two and hand the reins back to McCown.  The former has shown that he is at least capable of playing at the professional level, and he should be given an opportunity/audition to prove that he can be the team’s franchise quarterback going forward.

If the team elects to go back to McCown, though, it will probably be setting itself further back.  A move like this would disallow the team to get a good look at a very clear future.

That very clear future is Johnny Manziel.