"SOMETIMES WHEN YOU WIN, YOU REALLY LOSE AND SOMETIMES WHEN YOU LOSE YOU REALLY WIN, AND SOMETIMES WHEN YOU WIN OR LOSE, YOU ACTUALLY TIE, AND SOMETIMES WHEN YOU TIE, YOU ACTUALLY WIN OR LOSE. WINNING OR LOSING IS ALL ONE ORGANIC MECHANISM, FROM WHICH ONE EXTRACTS WHAT ONE NEEDS." -WHITE MAN CAN'T JUMP
Pretty interesting week of football in both college and the pros. The Saints are channelling the 2000 Rams' best show on turf. Notre Dame still can't get over the hump, in a year where they had to grind out a win over USC. The Browns cannot play offense at an NFL caliber level even OTA's the longest training camp out of all 32 teams, 4 preseason games and 6 regular games. Talent level aside, there is no excuse that they haven't created a scheme that can move the ball at least a little bit against other teams. It's a complete joke. I feel bad for all the guys.
Notre Dame
Despite a hell of an effort by Robby Parris aka John Stamos 2.0, the Fighting Irish came up short again against USC. What a bummer. In a game they had to have, Notre Dame had a tough time competing against the Trojans and their talent level. The game was teetering on a blow out several times, only to see USC keep Notre Dame in the game with un-excusable dead ball 15 yard penalties, with several extending Notre Dame drives. It was just a complete lack of discipline by Pete Carroll's guys.
A lot of USC honks have been out this morning clamoring that they were getting homered to death by bad calls and spots. Absolutely not. It was USC player stupidity. All those personal fouls and un-sportsman like conduct penalties were justified to me. Taylor Mays, everybody's All-American, is very overrated. I dunno what he has done or proved. I think he's very average. He's nowhere close to Tennessee safety Erick Berry's level. I realize Mays weighs a lot and still runs a 4.3 40, but I have never seen him make a good play. I have seen him hit guys late. I have seen him spear guys after his teammates have safely dragged them to the ground. I have seen him take cheap shots like the one he took on Robby Parris late in the 4th quarter. But I have yet to see him make a big play in a big game. And he was very much absent when Notre Dame got it going in the 4th quarter.
A good game might have won Jimmy Clausen the Heisman Trophy Saturday. Unfortunately, he didn't play well enough in the first half and got too far behind. He continues to show though, that he has a lot of skills. He stood in there Saturday through continued heat and pressure better than I have ever seen him. He made some big time throws in that second half. I was bummed though cause that was a big game for him being a California kid. He had a chance to stick it to a bunch of guys he grew up with a came up a little short. And on top of that, he got really tight and didn't make great throws the last two plays on the goal line. That first throw seemed a little rushed, and it wasn't clear whether Golden Tate cut the route or Clausen didn't read it right. That last play with one second was where I was shaking my head. I don't understand why he didn't take his chances with Kyle Rudolph. It was coming open too. It was a great high-low read route combo. He had that linebacker sitting in no-man's land. And for some reason, he chose to throw the out to a scrub whose only in there because Robby got hurt. And of course he slipped out of his break. He's a backup receiver for Notre Dame. I thought he should have waited for Rudy to clear one more step and put it on him high and hard where only he can catch it. O well.
Golden Tate is a terror after the catch. It is really unbelievable. He just cannot be brought to the ground. He is so strong and powerful. I mean the guy has a lot of bad moments--drops, fumbles, hot dog tendencies, but all that aside--when he gets the ball, you better be ready to go if you want to tackle him. The whole season you have seen guys just fail to get him down. There will be 3 guys trying to handle him and all 3 guys will fall trying to get him out of bounds and Tate will still be standing after the play. He is a beast.
Matt Barkley got my "best player in the gym" award. Not bad for a freshman. Pretty solid effort. Aside from the panic interception, he was very sharp and threw it well at every level of the field. Always a little easier when you're playing the Notre Dame paper-machey secondary.
For the Notre Dame fans, here's the crux of the situation. It was a great game. The guys played really hard. BUT--you were at home. You had the most talented team you have had in a very long time. You were playing the worst USC team they have had in the last five or six years. Missing their best receiver and goal line running back. With a true freshman quarterback. And only two horses on defense. You have all that going for you, and you look up to see that you're down 20 in the 4th quarter? Really? And if it wasn't for a complete lack of focus and discipline by USC, you get blown out of the stadium. It was a great effort and a great fight. But you're still barely in the top 40 teams in college football, and though progress is being made it is still very hard to take your playing ability as a team seriously. There was not any point in that game where anyone being objective thought you might have a chance to win.
But let's end this rant on the positive. Rob, great effort man--great game. 9 catches for 90 yards. Several clutch 3rd down pick-ups. Ballsy catch on 3rd and 13 with the game on the line. It was the best game of your career. I hope your knee is okay.
NFL
It's amazing how quick fortunes and futures change in the NFL. There is nothing like it. It is a zero-sum game.
Coach Rex Ryan was the toast of the league. 3-0, a genius, they were carving his name into the coach of the year trophy. Three weeks later, he's 3-3. The last two games, he has ended games with timeouts in his pocket, and has exposed himself as a coach who needs to take game management 101.
And my guy Matt Sanchez isn't doing his coach or more importantly me any favors. WHAT THE HELL MAN? STOP EMBARRASSING THE "YOUGOTJC" BLOG! YOU'RE IN THE FRICKKIN NFL MATT! 8 PICKS IN 3 GAMES? REALLY? WORK ON YOUR CRAFT. PLAYING QUARTERBACK IS HARD, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE A ROOK. STOP TEXTING THE BIMBOS THAT STALK THE STREETS OF NEW YORK. HOW BOUT SOME FILM STUDY? WHAT A JOKE. AND DON'T CRY IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT.
2 comments:
jc, you mean mark sanchez? or you call him matt for a reason?
Johnny,
I did not get to watch the game in its entirety because I was watching the best college basketball practice I have ever seen, but while I agree with most of your points one thing you need to realize is these Notre Dame players do not know what it is like to play in a game as big as they had to on Saturday. Clausen and Tate are the only players who have and it showed. With the roster filled with sophomores and juniors you need to take into consideration that these players were just not ready for this game. Now as the game went on ND began to relax(despite them trailing the whole game) and these unexperienced players became experienced before our eyes. I like your take on Rudy being the target on the last play and ND normally does hit there tight end in that situation, but if the best WR in the country were healthy I believe it would have been irrelevant because Michael Floyd would have torched the Trojans all game long. Nice job on the NFL take. Look for ND to run the table and beat Iowa or Ohio St. in there trip to a BCS Bowl Game.
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