Here’s what’s been bugging me in lieu of actual Colts football:
- Just before halftime last night, the Denver Broncos made one of the single worst play calls I’ve ever seen. They had 2nd and 10 from the 39 with :06 seconds left (and a time out). Instead of throwing a quick pass, they ran a QB sneak for 3 yards. It set up a 54 yard field goal which ended up being short. This was horrifically stupid. They had time to gain the extra 5-10 yards they probably needed to have a makeable attempt. Instead, they plowed into the line for 3 meaningless yards. To make it worse, Jaworski and Gruden PRAISED McDaniels effusively for such a ‘heady’ call. IT WAS STUPID. It was bone jarringly stupid. McDaniels has his team off to an incredible start, and he should be praised for that, but in this instance, he cost his team a credible shot at a field goal. Awful coaching moment.
- Alex Rodriguez’s post season numbers are: .288, .378 (OB), .535 (slugging), .913 OPS with 11 HR and 26 RBIs. Over a full season that would be a 41 HR, 96 RBI season. His regular season numbers are .305, .390, .576, .965. Now there’s a small dip there, which is to be expected considering the better pitchers and colder weather involved in the playoffs, but hopefully we can finally cram all this ‘choker’ crap. I’m no ARod fan (the roids made that impossible), but I hate it when people cherry pick a handful of games and make them mean more than they do.
- Bob Kravitz set me off yesterday with this video (at the :55 second mark)
and then repeated his sentiments in his column today. He says:
As for Johnson’s surprising dismissal and the reasons behind it, call me mildly cynical. Sadly, history has taught us we can’t always take the Colts at their word. It was only last year that they continued to deny — or “refuse to address” — reports that quarterback Peyton Manning had a second knee procedure.
This bothers me because I thought Kravitz was supposed to be a ‘reporter’. He doesn’t take the Colts at their word about Ed Johnson. Fair enough. Do some research. Make some calls. Watch some film. PROVE THEM WRONG. Instead, Kravitz just tosses around accusations. His reasoning is that last year they wouldn’t answer questions about Manning’s knee. So what? That’s not analysis. Here’s what bothers me so much about the “there must be something more going on here” position: there’s no evidence for it. We have four games worth of tape on Ed Johnson. If a serious reporter thinks there is something phony about the Colts’ decision to cut Ed Johnson he has avenues the rest of us don’t. He can make calls to agents, players, he can go to Ed’s house and try and get a quote. Moreover, he has access to what fans have as well: the tape. Comb over the tape and illustrate what a fine job Ed Johnson did. Show that the Colts’ claims don’t make sense.
Even the dirty bloggers did more work on this story than Bob Kravtiz. After ‘Preston’s’ tape review, I rewatched the Titans game and came to the same conclusion: Ed didn’t play well (I’m saving my commentary on this for tomorrow night’s 18 Plays). Last night Polian gave a lengthy, logical answer about Ed Johnson. It sounds sane and reasonable to me. It sounds much more reasonable than suggesting the Colts are covering some thing up (which they have zero motivation to do). Instead, Kravitz implies that Jim Caldwell is a liar, but gives precious little justification for his belief saying only:
I wondered, if Johnson was so bad, why was he still starting and getting so many snaps just two weeks ago at Tennessee? Why not demote him, as the Colts have with Tony Ugoh, or have him share time, as with Mike Pollak and Kyle DeVan?
“The feeling was it wouldn’t do any good to demote him,” Polian said.
Hm-m-m.
Again, Kravitz doesn’t suggest who else the Colts should have cut. He doesn’t contradict the logic of cutting a guy who was on his last chance with the team, but was slowly getting fat and lazy. He doesn’t address the fact that a guy who is on a tight leash, but is letting his weight go becomes a serious conduct risk even before he does anything wrong. And he does nothing to prove that Johnson deserved to be playing. He just wants to imply the Colts are hiding something, but won’t do the work to prove it. The insinuation that the Colts’ are hiding something doesn’t bother me. But for a reporter to make that claim without providing any support for it doesn’t make sense to me.
Seems like a weenie move to me.
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