Category: football

Holy cow, they suck! (The Redskins for those playing along at home) Why did Daniel Snyder hire Marty? I mean, didn’t he see the end of the dinosaur era the last couple years in Kansas City? He totally lost control of his players. Bill Parcells is the only coach who can get away with the militaristic drill instructor crap anymore and he’s retired (and now you know why, it doesn’t work that way anymore). You don’t inspire players with brute force of will. It doesn’t work. They make too much money.

How did Daniel Snyder make all his money? I mean, if his business judgement is as bad as his personal judgement, I have no idea. C’mon, Jeff George? What a loser! The man had one good season, and that’s because he was in Minnesota with all the weapons he could ever want. Every other team he’s played for has been a miserable failure. He’s been a cancer in every locker room he’s ever been in, has no leadership ability, and for crying out loud, I wish that every single football commentator would stop talking about his talent and “potential”. Potential is a little late for this guy. He’s been in the league long enough that we can label him what he is, a selfish, unmotivated dunderhead with no business being a starting QB in the NFL.

The last shred of class on that team belongs to Darrell Green and Bruce Smith. Darrell’s done after this season, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is Bruce’s last year. After that, what happens? Where’s the leadership going to come from? How are they going to lure any top free agents when you have Marty at the helm?

Now I know how Browns fans feel…

I feel I’m breaking some kind of rule here talking about football in a blog, since I started my blog-life reading erudite journals about the industry, photography and literature. And now, here I am writing about football. Well, that’s just who I am, baby. I dig the geeky, and the banal. I’m a conundrum wrapped in a perplexity wrapped in flaky pastry.

Sorry, had to do it. Now on to what I think about week 1 in the NFL (minus tonight’s game):

1. I think LaDainian Tomlinson is the real thing. 113 yards in his first game is one thing, but the kid blocked like a veteran and didn’t make any glaring rookie mistakes that I could see.
2. The Chargers D will rival the Ravens for #1 this year. They looked absolutely awesome yesterday. I’m not sure if the Redskins are really that bad, or if the Chargers just stifled them.
3. The Redskins really are that bad.
4. It’s definitely week 1. With all the games without touchdowns and poor offensive play, it looked like everyone but the Colts and 49ers needed another week of training camp.
5. Peyton Manning is the best QB in football, bar none. Watching him work the line of scrimmage, play the no-huddle like Jim Kelly on speed and make some impossible throws was just poetry. Also, that 9-yard run yesterday blew me away. For a “pocket” QB, he’s got quite a motor on him. He played an impeccible game yesterday.

I think that’s it for this week. On a completely separate subject, we watched Band of Brothers last night, and I was slightly disappointed. Maybe it was all the hype, but I was expecting more. It seemed like Tom Hanks and Mr. Spielberg are trying to redo Private Ryan and fix the shortcomings of the movie. I’ll try it again next week, but it didn’t grab me like I expected it to. Something about it seems “off”, either something missing or too much of something else. I can’t put my finger on it.

Great Column in the Washington Post Magazine today. Football really is America’s game now. The only romance left for baseball is in the once-a-decade baseball movie that renews our faith in the history of the game that enthralled this country for the first half of the century.

Do you know how hard it is to pick a fantasy lineup in week 1? It’s tough! I’ve switched between starting quarterbacks at least three times, and defenses 4 or 5. I even dropped one of my D’s and picked up the Chargers! I’m going insane. Kurt Warner is the better QB, but he’s playing Philly and Elvis Grbac is playing against Chicago’s suspect D.

How have I resolved my dilemna? I decided to go with my gut. My gut says the Dolphins will have a great first game, and Warner is going to throw 6 touchdowns. If I’m wrong, there’s always next week, when picking will be much much easier.

It’s fantasy football time! We had our draft yesterday (which was cool, you could draft if you were there, and it turned to auto if you left – nice). I haven’t been impressed so far with nfl.com‘s ui for their fantasy stuff. It’s confusing, and things aren’t where you expect them to be. IE: It’s too hard to get to your lineup. You have to go to Transations -> Set Lineup. It’s the most important part of the game, and should be very close to the homepage, like Yahoo does.

But, UI aside, I’m pretty happy with my team. I made the first three picks in person before Jen and I went to dinner (Cheng’s: If you live in Sterling, or close, it’s a great place for Chinese Food). So, here’s my starting lineup:

• QA: Kurt Warner
• RB: LaDainian Tomlinson
• WR: Sean Dawkins
• WR: Keyshawn Johnson
• TE: Ken Dilger
• K: David Akers
• Defense: Raiders

It should be an interesting season, to say the least. Will Keyshawn break out with Brad Johnson throwing him the ball? Is Kurt Warner fully recovered from the concussions? Is Tomlinson the real thing? We’ll see. I love football!!!!

The Redskins are going to suck this year. You can’t lose almost half your starters, including your quarterback and half your offensive line and expect to win it all. It just doesn’t work that way!!!

They have Jeff “All About Me” George leading an offense who’s only weapon is recovering from knee .

They have an almost completely new Defensive Line.

They have a coach who’s never won a Super Bowl, and who’s not real popular with players. How many years back do you have to go to find one of his KC teams that impressed anyone?

I don’t know what’s going to happen this year, but they’ll be lucky to go 8-8, and then Dan will yank Marty faster than they fired Richard Pettibone.

I miss the NFL. This is the time of year I get tired of watching baseball highlights on SportsCenter. I’m only kind of into the NBA playoffs this year because neither the Suns or Jazz are still in it. It’s been fun, but it’s not FOOTBALL!! I miss Chris Berman, Al Michaels, Dennis Miller, and even white bread Dan Fouts. I miss the whole thing. I miss the postgame interviews with guys who can’t seem to string sentances together or catch their breath. It’s GREAT!!

I even love pre-season. Actually, I almost like pre-season more than the regular season. That’s the time of year when you get to see everyone on your team. Everyone’s full of hope, and you get to watch all the young guys play for spots on the team. It’s great. Like last year, everyone in DC was enthralled with Chad Dukes. Other than having a great name, was just a bruiser. No one said he was Stephen Davis, but damned if we all didn’t want him to get the starters job for the month of September.

The Hall of Fame game can’t come soon enough…