RANDOM THOUGHTS

It's a great day to be Greg Jennings

It’s a bye week and the Packers take a perfect 7 – 0 record in. The Pack also is widely regarded as the best in the biz right now. It is good to be a Cheesehead. As Greg Jennings once so famously said “It’s a great day to be great”. With that, we offer up some random thoughts after Week 8 in the NFL.

Don’t look now but the Steelers have very quietly righted their ship after getting smoked by the Ravens on opening day. Is that a Pittsburgh offense looking all vertical and things now?

My, how the mighty have fallen. The Ravens have a world calls defense. Then they dismantled the hated Steelers in the first game and had a hangover against the pedestrian Titans. Then they look tough. And then against Jacksonville the Raven offense gained a whopping 16 yards in the FIRST HALF on a Monday night, followed up by another lethargic performance against the Cards, having to rally from down 24 – 3. Ray Lewis can dance till he gets a spot on “Dancing with the Stars” but that isn’t going to cure what ails Baltimore.

And Da Bears have crept back into the hunt. If the Lions continue free falling the Bears just might sneak in the back door.

Coach of the Year Mike McCarthy

The Lions are imploding. Just as predicted the team is following their coach’s meltdown after the San Fran game when Jim Schwartz had his big feelings hurt by 49er coach Jim Harbaugh’s dismissive snub. Coach Schwartz? Grow a set, shaddup and lead. Vince never woulda done that. Neither would Mike McCarthy.

Speaking of the Packers erstwhile Head Honcho why is Mike McCarthy’s name NOT being bandied about as Coach of the Year candidate?? Winning as he did last year and following it up should be more than enough reason to have the man out front of the team be the man out front of the voting.

Coach of the Year voters love underdogs. But if Jims Schwartz or Harbaugh get the nod we will pull out what’s left of our hair. The job done by Mike McCarthy, Chan Gailey in Buffalo and Marvin Lewis in Cincy are nothing short of the best coaching jobs of the year.

Things are looking very peachy in the Queen city of Cincinnati these days. A rookie QB and #1 WR pick in Andy Dalton and A.J. Green and then they fleece the Raiders for not one but TWO potential first round picks for a guy not even on your playing roster??? Whoever pulled that deal off gets Executive of the Year period. No contest. And the Bengals now have the tools to build a real deep team for the long haul. With a top 5 defense they could be the next big deal in the AFC.

COACH ALERT: We are still maintaining that the driver of the Kansas City welcome wagon Todd Hailey has a hot seat but he’ll have to move over. Tony Sporano in Miami and Steve Spagnola in St. Louis are right there with him. In Miami the chant has begun that goes “Suck for Luck”. And not the kind of luck to actually win a game but Andrew Luck, the top rated QB prospect and consensus #1 pick out of Stanford, whose stock is soaring.

The Eagles had a great game against the Cowboys and looked pretty tough in the process. In a related story a tree fell in a forest while at that very moment a blind squirrel found a nut. And it was snowing. In Philly. In October.

Dallas? No hope. Not till they address the gaping hole they have at GM, and THAT just ain’t gonna happen kids.

MVP

Aaron Rodgers is playing with not just a chip but a lumber yard on his shoulder. Frankly, we couldn’t blame him at all if he called every D 1 team that passed him by, the other 23 NFL that passed him over, the fans who did not take kindly to his very presence during the last run of a certain legend, and that certain Hall of Fame Legend in a conference call and just said “HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW??!?!??!??!” But that’s just not Aaron’s style, which is why he had that “It” factor this year. Women love him, kids idolize him, and men want to be him. It’s good to be Aaron these days.

Rubbing our crystal ball we see an MVP trophy waiting for Aaron at the end of the year.

Parity, shmarity. There are more stinko teams this year than any time in recent memory. At week 8 there are no less than 9 teams with 2 wins or less, and the Dolphins and Colts have yet to post a win. Flip the league over and there are 11 teams with 5 or more wins. The only team to have lived up to its preseason billing is the Packers. While there are the usual pretenders the contenders will be winnowed down in short order. Green Bay is there.

Jason Garrett, unable to walk on water
in Big D

The list of really, really annoying teams in their inconsistencies is growing larger every day. These are the teams you just can’t figure out no matter how hard you try. Take the Giants. Ugh. They lead the NFC East by default but couldn’t beat the Seahawks? Or their neighbors the Jets. If only a team could win on the mouth of it’s coach. Or the Ravens. Just when we were ready to announce their arrival… well… Or the maddeningly inconsistent San Diego Chargers. Exactly how much talent do you need to run a 2:00 minute drill??? The Eagles? Great team on paper. Never shows up on the field, except after a bye week. Same with the Cowboys. Add Red Jesus, Head Coach Jason Garrett to the list on the Coach Watch. Jerry’s axe will fall on everyone except the principle responsible for Dallas’s bloated mess of a team. That’s Jerry Jones. In Washington it’s all smoke and mirrors until they get a QB. Hey Coach Shanahan… the guy you gassed is gonna be available soon, Jason Campbell. He’s got to be better than Rex Grossman (and, yes – he IS better). The sound you heard was Al Davis rolling over in his grave when the Raiders dealt a 1^st and a 1^st or 2^nd round pick to the Bengals for disgruntled QB Carson Palmer. Davis never would have pulled that deal off. And Palmer starts with 3 picks in a shutout loss. Think Al would have had a few asses for lunch after that game?  We certainly do. And how can the cardinals be so bad, especially after dealing a second round pick and a CB for Kevin Kolb? Are the Colts that God awful without just ONE player? If they are then look for a repeat of the Brett Favre mess in Indy in the next couple years.



TEBOW!!!!! Capable of beating the Dolphins...but not much else



The Dolphins are responsible for fueling Tebowmania. Look, we love the kid as a man and everything he does. We want our daughter’s to marry him. We want to see him do well. But watching his performance against the Lions was pitiful and painful. John Elway has to feel very uncomfortable with what he knows he’s going to have to do. Tebow? More like Te-no.

We genuinely feel bad about what’s happened to Jahvid Best and Jerome Harrison of the Lions. Harrison was found to have had a brain tumor while Best had another concussion that may sideline him for a long period of time. As much as we want to see the Lions lose we hate to see anybody in these circumstances. Godspeed, gentleman and our best for full and speedy recoveries.

This is the face of scary, Ndamuikong Suh

While  on the subject of the Lions Ndamukong  Suh has requested a personal audience with the Pope. NFL Commish Roger Goddell will entertain Suh to explain to him we he can’t keep yanking the earhole of a quarterback’s helmet over his nose. We get that football is a violent, collision sport. And we get that Suh is strong beyond description. It is his disregard for injury and Suh’s cavalier way that is disturbing. Suh’s primary defense has been he’s just too big, too strong, and too quick to quibble over such details as to whether or not he has just crippled someone.

We are even less enthralled with the Atlanta Falcon’s resident motormouth Roddy White who complained to the media over what Suh did or did not say over a fallen Matt Ryan. White has serious credibility issues when the replay shows that neither Suh nor Cliff Avril “…kicked at Ryan’s feet while he lay helpless on the ground…” Video doesn’t lie, Roddy. There was no evidence whatsoever of anyone kicking at Ryan. Were things said? Puh-LEEZ!! Back in the days of Tommy Nobis and Joe Schmidt and Ray Nitshcke and Dick Butkus someone popping off to the media like this would earn a belt in the chops later. Better hope the Falcons don’t have to face the Lions down the road. That one will be ugly.

Tom Brady... and the girls all faint

This just in… the Patriots aren’t invincible. Tom Terrific was contained by a Steeler D that had virtually none of its line backing corps and depended on a tight press man coverage scheme to limit Tom Brady’s ability to dink and dunk and get the ball in Wes Welker’s hands and have him run wild after the catch. The Steelers also showed how to beat the Pats to everyone else – keep Brady on the bench.  Big Ben did a masterful job of using his receivers, killing the clock, controlling the ball and tempo of the game and keeping Brady seated. That message has been heard loudly in Green Bay.

The Packer pass rush is still a concern. While GB is still top 10 in sacks and top 5 in picks the overall pass defense is still ranked near the bottom, right there with New England, a fact not lost on MM. Is that the sound of change or adaptation coming out of Lambeau?

Pam Anderson, and the guys go goofy

Of course complaining about the Packers pass rush right now is roughly akin to having a scantily clad in her prime Pamela Anderson standing readily before you and complaining about the mole on her back.

Everybody in America who is now looking forward to football for football’s sake on Thanksgiving Day raise your hand? Detroit has its annual turkey day blast, but unlike years past this game is going to be big. HUGE. Packers/ Lions Thanksgiving Day and the whole nation will turn out for the event. The Packers have become the refined, sophisticated polished assassins while the Lions come is a loud, bawdy, color wearing, and chain toting biker gang of thugs. The early battle to watch will be man child Suh up against Josh Sitton of the Packers who is every bit as nasty as Suh and as good a guard as Green Bay has seen in a long time. America - set your DVR.

Terrell Owens held a workout that was televised by the NFL Network. Not a single team showed from the NFL nor have any NFL offers been forthcoming. Color us surprised.

Hey buddy... can ya spare a few extra mill??
Chris Johnson carrying the hype

A CAUTIONARY TALE – Tennessee’s Chris Johnson has singlehandedly seriously diminished the bargaining power of any future running back in contract talks. After holding out for a megabucks megadeal Johnson, the fastest man in the NFL, has looked slow, tentative, unsure and at times just plain awful. His trademark explosion into and thru the hole is all but gone and at this point he certainly has not been worth 1/10^th the contract he so bitterly held out for. Don’t think for a second Johnson won’t be the poster boy held up in every team’s next dealings with their own backs.

Greg Jennings is one of the best possession receivers in the NFL and does not get near enough credit for that. There is nothing that Jennings does that is superlative. He’s not the biggest, the fastest or has the best hands among the elite. But when a crucial 3^rd down is needed he is money. You can set your watch by him – every year – 70 or so receptions/ 1,400 yards/ 10 TD’s. Money.

Speaking of money Terrell Owens was offered a contract to play in the Arena Football League at $400/ game. Our advice to TO is is take the money and run.

The two big contracts left for GM Ted Thompson after signing Jordy Nelson and Josh Sitton to long term deals are TE Jermichael Finley and backup QB Matt Flynn, who is arguably the hottest property not currently on the field. TT has consistently shown a willingness to reward past performance, and the signings of Nelson and Sitton speak volumes to the team. Not one to blow his dough on high priced free agents TT has built a team that wants to be here. Finley is just beginning to emerge as a star and may seek to be the focal point elsewhere, while Flynn loves Green Bay. Both will undoubtedly command much larger contracts than they currently are under and both are deserving of the raise. The emotional toll of a contract year is something the fan never sees as a player sits wondering where he will be next year. The game is easy. THAT’S pressure. Thompson has proven himself time and again in the face of his critics, and in Ted we trust. Here’s hoping both can be back for the long ride for the next several years.



Matt Flynn, hottest back up
in the NFL



Matt Flynn has the most difficult of personal dilemmas… does he stay in Green Bay to back up Aaron Rodgers in the only place he’s ever known in the NFL and loves knowing his team will always be in contention but he won’t see much of the field or does he go for the opportunity to play and garner the bigger dollars to a team that in all likelihood is going to try to build around him? With the dearth of quality quarterbacks Flynn IS a quality QB and a hot ticket, but what about the man himself? How much turmoil and torn emotions can that type of scenario create for such a young man? People tend to forget there is a person behind the face mask full of uncertainty and fear and swagger and bravado. As much as we want to see Flynn in Green Bay we also hope for Matt that whatever happens he is happy and things work out well for him.