Five months ago, San Francisco 49ers fans were tickled to death because their team had just selected wide receiver Michael Crabtree with the 10th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. When combined with Frank Gore, this up and coming team (who showed promise under new head coach Mike Singletary late last season) might actually make a run at a division title, or at the very least a wild card berth. The 49ers have not made the playoffs since 2002, and their overall record since that time is 32-64 (Ouch!). But for the fans, Crabtree was coming to save the day just like he did in college at Texas Tech.
Something happened, however, to ruin this feel good story – Crabtree refused to sign. Among other things, he feels that he was the best receiver in the draft and deserves more money than what the Oakland Raiders gave Darrius Heyward-Bey, the wide receiver selected ahead of Crabtree at 7th in the draft. Heyward-Bey signed a five-year deal worth up to $38.25M with $23.5M guaranteed. The 49ers, at this point, are not willing to give Crabtree the money he wants.
There are now also reports that the 49ers have filed an official complaint with the NFL that accuses the New York Jets of tampering, but the Jets are denying the allegations.
With everything going on, this has not yet been a distraction to the 49ers who have started the season with two wins, including a road win over the 2008 NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals. Folks in the Bay area are starting to get excited about the 49ers again, despite the fact that the 49er offense is anemic without running back Frank Gore. Quarterback Shaun Hill currently sits 28th in the league in passing with 176.5 yards per game, and throwing to guys like Arnaz Battle, Josh Morgan, and an aging Isaac Bruce doesn’t help the passing attack.
What would you do if you were in charge of the San Francisco 49ers organization? Would you keep trying to sign Crabtree, or would you let him walk away and reenter the draft next year? No one is denying his talent and what his impact could possibly mean to the 49ers, but is it too late for the team to get any benefit from signing him this late in the season?
Enter the Sports Debates (cue dramatic theme music)!
Should the 49ers cut their losses and let wide receiver Michael Crabtree reenter the draft?
Sports Geek will argue that they should let him reenter the 2010 draft, while Bleacher Fan will argue that the 49ers should still sign him if at all possible.
As is usually the case at The Sports Debates, this was an interesting debate. Whether a spectator or a participant in a sporting event, chances are good that you have been on both sides of a blowout. Obviously, it is much better to be on the winning side, but is too big a blowout good for football, or is it necessary to have some type of “mercy rule” in place?
SportsGeek cited an example of a game he attended in which he left after the score seemingly got out of hand, only to find out that the ‘losing’ team had come back to win the game after trailing by a large deficit. He also pointed out the story of a young man on a basketball team who suffered from several social anxiety disorders, but was able to get in and play late in a lopsided game, actually scoring his first points as a player.
Bleacher Fan counter-argues by pointing out that there are risks involved in continuing a “blowout” game and that there are no competitive or financial benefits. Bleacher Fan also correctly points out that these blowout games make for bad television, as they lead viewers to switching the channel to find a more enticing game. In some cases when the game is televised regionally, the network will actually switch to a more competitive game in order to keep the viewer on that station.
After careful review of the facts, I narrowly find in favor of Bleacher Fan!
In the words of former New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs coach Herman Edwards – ”You play to win the game. You don’t play it just to play it.” That fact supersedes anything else that goes on during the game.
We all love “feel good stories”. They are a product of what happens during the game. What it all boils down to, though, is winning, which is the opening point of Bleacher Fan’s argument. Once the game is in hand there is no more reason to endanger anyone and put them at further risk. Perhaps, as Bleacher Fan suggested, once the difference in score exceeds 50 points the game should stop, or maybe once it exceeds 40 points a continuous clock could begin. I do not know what the best model would be, but some type of ‘mercy rule’ needs to be put in place.
Agree or disagree? Have some stories of being on one side or the other of a blowout? Feel free to comment at the bottom of the page. Someone will respond to your thoughts/questions!
Why do two teams step onto a football field to play a game?
The answer is to determine a winner – it’s that simple. There are no style points in football, no judges to impress, and a one-point victory holds the exact same value as a 100-point victory. At the end of the game, one team gets to put a notch in their ‘W’ column, the other notches their ‘L’ column. That is all that matters, and it is the ONLY part of the game that anyone will remember!
Once a game has reached a point where the scoreboard is so lopsided that determining the winner has become a foregone conclusion, there is absolutely no reason for the game to continue! The winner has been decided, and anything else just becomes a formality. With that formality, the balance shifts and any benefits from allowing the game to proceed become far outweighed by the risks involved.
The Risks Just Aren’t Worth It
Perception is a very important issue that must be considered. For the program on the winning side of a blowout, the criticism that comes from “running up the score” can be very damaging in terms of public opinion. For the losing program, the issue of excessive embarrassment must be considered. Even if it comes against a top-tier program from a major conference, a 60-point loss reflects very poorly on the program, and severely damages recruiting opportunities.
A greater risk, though, is the potential for unnecessary injury during the game. It is true that most coaches will pull their ‘superstars’ from the game (unless they really ARE trying to run up the score), but there are still kids on the second and third strings giving their all in complete futility. Players, fans, and coaches alike all know that the continuation of the game is meaningless. If there were any chance of benefit, whether competitive, financial, or statistical, I would understand the risk. The problem is that those benefits just do not exist.
No Competitive Benefits
Since the creation of the NCAA in 1905, no team has ever come back to win a game when trailing by a deficit of greater than 35 points (Nevada had a 35-point comeback against Weber State back in 1991, and Michigan State repeated the feat against Northwestern in 2006). In more than 100 years of college football, though, no team has ever overcome a greater margin than that. Why, then, should a game be allowed to continue if the difference in the score is 40, 50, or even 60 points?! Historically, it has been proven that some leads are insurmountable. I agree that a team theoretically COULD come back when trailing by that much, but if no team has come back when trailing by 36 points, why should a game be allowed to continue when the point-differential is TWICE that amount?
A fair number to set for a mercy rule would be 50 points. The NCAA could take into account the possibility that a team COULD come back from a greater deficit than 35 points by allowing the cap to be set two full touchdowns higher than the current record. If, by some miracle, teams begin to prove that a 4o or 50-point lead can be CONSISTENTLY overcome, then the NCAA can investigate the possibility of increasing or lifting the cap altogether. Until then, stop wasting everyone’s time!
No Financial Benefits
There are two areas where financial benefit can be gained during a single game. Those areas are within the stadium (i.e. ticket-holders) and the potential television audience.
The college or university hosting the event has already realized the majority of benefit from the ticket-holders via the ticket office. I recently attended the game between The University of Akron and Morgan State, which ended in a 41-0 rout by the Akron Zips. The game was a sellout, but by the time the score reached 31-0 in the third quarter, the stands were already half-empty.
Once the rout is on, there is only minimal benefit to keeping the fans in the stadium. Most have already left the stadium in order to beat traffic. As for those remaining, do you REALLY think they are going to rush out and buy a t-shirt when their team is losing by 75 points?
Media outlets, on the other hand, are concerned with televising games that are intriguing and competitive. When a game reaches blowout status, and fans start leaving the stadium in droves, the broadcasting network is concerned that fans at home are doing the same by changing the channel. In order to preempt the inevitable channel-change, those stations will switch to air a more competitive matchup, hopefully keeping the home viewer interested.
In either case, the financial benefits that can be gained from that game have already been maximized.
No Statistical Benefits
There is no category in college football to measure the margin-of-victory. In the very short-term, margin-of-victory can have a minor effect. Usually, though, that effect is seen when a team that SHOULD blowout a much lower-caliber team but fails to do so (for example, Ohio State dropped in the rankings despite winning their game against Navy, because they didn’t win by enough points). The good news is that in those cases, the game will continue since it is not a blowout!
I have never heard of a team, though, that failed to reach the national championship game because they “only beat team XXXX by 45 points instead of 55 points”. Over the course of an entire season, a team’s margin of victory has virtually no bearing on their final rankings. Instead, it boils down solely to wins and losses.
The fans have left the game, the television stations have moved on to another game, history has PROVEN that there is virtually no chance of a comeback being realized, and the winning team has already been decided. Stop wasting everyone’s time, show a little mercy, and let us move on with our lives!
The idea of a mercy rule – or a slaughter rule for the more violently inclined – is not new to sports. Some sports use a mercy rule, but no sports SHOULD use a mercy rule.
Early on, before I became a writer and was doing sports talk radio, I attended a division two baseball game between Armstrong Atlantic and Valdosta State in Valdosta, Georgia. Valdosta State had an excellent team that season, though the season was still quite young as they were playing a team not in their conference. The starting pitching was especially good for the team with the top starters. Predictably, the starter had a great day and the Blazers were head of Armstrong Atlantic 15-1. I left the game in the sixth inning to complete my preparation for my radio show that evening. Lo and behold, Armstrong Atlantic got to Valdosta State’s relief pitching and won the game 17-15. Fortunately I found out before I went on air and embarrassed myself. However, this story proves one primary reason never to incorporate a mercy ruling in NCAA athletics. It is simply impossible to predict what will happen in a game. A mercy rule assumes an outcome that is not guaranteed, therefore it is not in the spirit of competition. It simply is not what sports are about.
Anyone reading this watch The Today Show? If so, you may remember the story of a young high school basketball player who suffered from severe social anxiety disorders. Toward the end of the player’s senior season the coach (helped by a heavy dose of crowd chanting) decided to play the team member who was essentially a water boy allowed to dress up for home games just like the team. He came in to a game and ended his career on a high note by hitting scoring his first ever points as an athlete. As a writer/reporter – that is where the story is. With a possible mercy ruling that story would never be written or told, which is a shame for the thousands of people who also suffer from social anxiety disorders and believe there is not hope.
Mercy rulings are bad for winning teams, too. If a player or two is vying for acclaim and awards at a season’s end, losing game time required to help build the case for the awards could make them harder to win.
Sure, it is easy to argue that a mercy rule helps the coaches avoid getting players hurt. That type of fear-based approach that has no place in sports. I call it, “Playing Not To Lose” Syndrome. Playing not to lose in many cases actually makes a player more susceptible to getting injured because they are not going full out. Therefore, they are not in the position they would normally be in and they are not playing with the same focus they usually bring to a game or competition. It is also easy to argue that a team that is up by a lot of points would not have the stars of the team in the game, therefore they would not be susceptible to injury. But, are the stars the only members of a team that matter? No.
Even teams that are ahead by a bunch of points have more to gain by playing out the entirety of a game. In the business world a project will not be cut short because it is going very well or the outcome will be too awesome. Why would an athletic competition – especially in a collegiate context – have rules in place that reinforce a lack of reality?
Mercy rulings breed weakness. They are a violation of the very principles that make sports matter – winning and losing. Mercy rulings are generally subjective (which is a problem) and entirely avoidable. It sounds overly simple, but, if a team is in danger of succumbing to a mercy ruling – GET BETTER. Practice harder. Revisit methodology and locker room habits. Transform culture. Losing should not be acceptable. In the modern sports paradigm it is simply hard to believe that such a cast divide exists between two collegiate programs that it is necessary to truncate a game because a team is so inferior that the game does not deserve completion.
Cutting a game short infers that nothing more of value can come out of a game. So, no more fun can be had by fans, no more learning can be uncovered for coaches or players (on both sides), nothing of consequence or value can happen because the outcome is decided. Mercy rulings eliminate some of the most valuable principles of sports.
Have you ever been watching a college football game on TV when the game quickly got out of hand? Maybe Florida is beating up on Charleston Southern, who plays in the FCS. Perhaps you see a note that says Tennessee had 657 yards of offense in a thrashing of Western Kentucky. Or perhaps you come across a story online reporting that Stephen F. Austin defeated Texas College 92-0. Scores like this continue to be the trend in college football, especially when there is a total mismatch between the two teams (which was the case in the aforementioned games). This tends to happen early (and often) in the season, when some BCS schools schedule “cupcakes” for their first couple of games. <br>
The Georgia High School Association (GHSA), as listed in its constitution and by-laws, has a mercy rule in effect for high school football games. This was put in place a few years ago at the encouragement of coaches. Essentially, the game has a continuous clock in the second half if the score differential is thirty or more points at halftime. If the margin of difference in the score exceeds 30 points in the second half, the continuous clock begins during the next possession. Unfortunately, my alma mater in Georgia has been on the short end of this a couple of times already this year (but we have been on the other end several times in the past).
Little league baseball is another example of an organization that has a mercy rule in place.
Today, we are focusing on college football. The Sports Debates is going to debate whether or not the NCAA should put some type of mercy rule in place.
Bleacher Fan is going to argue that the NCAA should institute a mercy rule in its football games. Meanwhile, Sports Geek will argue that the NCAA should notinstitute a mercy rule.
The clock is running… show no mercy in your debates!
We are in the home stretch for the 2009 baseball season. As the season draws to a close, we wanted to take a look back over the past six months to determine who the best pitcher of the year was.
Sports Geek is going to look at Chris Carpenter’s season, Loyal Homer will argue on behalf of Tim Lincecum, and Bleacher Fan will be arguing for Zach Greinke.
This is really not that complicated of a problem to solve. The best pitcher is the one who gives up the fewest runs… It really is that simple. Greinke, who is the ace in the Kansas City Royals rotation, is the owner of the best ERA in baseball.
The question is not to discuss the winningest pitcher in baseball, or the pitcher with the best shot to lead his team into the postseason. The fact that Greinke is a pitcher for one of the worst teams in baseball does not diminish the fact that he is a dominant pitcher. Greinke was named to his first All-Star team in 2009 (many believed that he SHOULD have been the starter), and is considered a favorite by many to win the American League Cy Young Award.
I hate to say it, but just imagine how bad the Royals would be if they DIDN’T have Greinke in their rotation! The Royals’ team ERA is a pathetic 4.69 (the fifth worst in baseball), and that INCLUDES Greinke’s league leading 2.14 ERA. The fact that he has lost six games this year is due primarily to a lack of run support by the Royals offense, who ranks in the bottom ten for total runs scored at 626 (as a side note, the New York Yankees have scored 856 runs as a team in 2009 – that is 230 MORE runs than the Royals).
Do not hold it against Greinke that the Royals are a bad team. As far as individual performance is concerned, Greinke is the most dominant pitcher in baseball today.
As already discussed, he leads the league in ERA. He also ranks third in the Majors in strikeouts with 224, and has only walked 44 batters. It is unfortunate that Greinke can’t have a better supporting cast around him. If that were the case, the Royals might actually be in contention for the postseason (especially in the American League Central division). Unfortunately for Kansas City fans, though, Greinke is only available to pitch once every five nights.
When Greinke does step onto the mound, though, fans know they are going to be treated to something special. At only 25 years old, Greinke is LOADED with upside! Since his rookie season in 2004, he has progressively improved in every single aspect of his game. His ERA has dropped every year, his strikeouts have increased, he is pitching for more innings, and his record has improved with each season. Who knows what lies ahead for Greinke? If he keeps this pace up, though, they might as well begin planning his induction ceremony into Cooperstown now!
The 2009 Major League Baseball season is entering the last two weeks. While it sadly looks like all the division and wild card races will be settled before the last day (unless the Twins can get hot and catch the White Sox in the American League Central), there are some interesting battles going on in individual competition. As Bleacher Fan pointed out, the writers at The Sports Debates are going to assess the top pitchers of 2009.
There have been some standout performances by pitchers this year. Chris Carpenter, Zach Greinke, Mariano Rivera, C.C. Sabathia, and Adam Wainwright all deserve consideration, but to me, one guy stands out as “King of the Mound” – Tim Lincecum.
Yesterday, Lincecum took the lost against the Dodgers in a very important game, putting the Giants into an even deeper hole in the NL wild card race (4.5 games back of the Rockies). Lincecum struggled with his command, and was never really able to get on track. Despite the loss which dropped him to 14-6 overall, though, he has a 2.47 ERA with an astonishing with 247 strikeouts in 211.1 innings pitched on the season.
It’s true that Lincecum’s Giants have stayed in postseason contention the vast majority of the season, but it can be argued that Lincecum has had to be spot-on in his pitching to get his wins. It is no secret that the Giants’ offense leaves a lot to be desired. As a team they rank 13th in the National League in runs scored at 4.04 runs a game, a stat magnified even more by the .257 overall team batting average.
Obviously, Lincecum needs to have a quality start in order to give his team a chance to win.
When you think of the Giants pitching staff, which is the strongest point of the team, you think of “The Freak.” He and Matt Cain are the anchors of the Giants rotation, and as long as those two stay healthy, they will be a contender in the National League West and in the National League.
Lincecum is not a physically imposing guy. He is listed at 5’11 and 172 lbs officially, though that may be pushing it a little. What adds to his effectiveness, though, is his long pitching stride. It’s hard enough hit a mid 90’s fastball, but with that long stride it appears to be coming much faster. He also has a near unhittable pitch that is referred to as a “12-6 curveball”.
A lot of guys have had great years in 2009. No one is disputing that. However, when determining the best pitcher in 2009, look no further than the 2008 Cy Young winner. If you think someone else is better, then I challenge you to stand in the batter’s box and see if you can come close to hitting his curve ball. I bet you can’t!
Read the Loyal Homer’s and Bleacher Fan’s arguments about who they believe is the best pitcher of the 2009 MLB season.
St. Louis Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter may not win the Cy Young award, but he is the best pitcher of the 2009 season.
Sure, Carpenter’s statistics are excellent as the regular season winds down. With a couple of starts still left on his 2009 calendar, Carpenter has won 16 games against just four losses and compiled a very impressive 2.45 ERA. Carpenter has also walked only 32 batters all season, while striking out 132 – a good total for a veteran pitcher not known for his high strike out totals anymore.
Carpenter’s regular season exploits forecast clutch performances in the upcoming playoffs, too. Carpenter has held opponents’ batting averages below .200 on the road this season (.198, to be exact). He has allowed just seven home runs all season and pitched three complete games. While June and September have been his worst months to date, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa is taking measures to ensure Carpenter’s freshness for the postseason. While Carpenter has compiled a 2.76 ERA at home this season, LaRussa may be more inclined to use the veteran to earn those hard fought game three road victories given Carpenter’s road performances this season. A veteran pitcher who brilliantly executes a game plan is exactly what a manager needs when starting the road portion of playoff series.
While Carpenter has performed impressively in all situations in 2009, those performances are quite remarkable when considering the context.
Carpenter appeared in a grand total of five games combined over the course of the 2007 and 2008 seasons. He pitched just 21.1 innings over that span, also. Carpenter has battled elbow and back injuries that may have caused a lesser pitcher to up the cleats after the multiple setbacks. Carpenter also struggled with a muscle injury earlier in the 2009 season, causing him to miss several starts – and probably his shot at the Cy Young award.
Carpenter has the stuff to be a great pitcher. Fans and media alike took notice of his talents in 2005 when he helped lead the Cardinals to a World Series title on the strength of a Cy Young winning year. But, that was four seasons ago. The injuries and various other changes in the game of baseball make it surprising and amazing that Carpenter has again emerged as one of the better pitchers in the game.
Especially unique is the Carpenter’s willingness to remain committed to his hitting coach’s philosophy of using a breaking ball as the primary pitch, rather than an out pitch. You may be telling your computer screen right now, “Hey, Sports Geek, you idiot, doesn’t it make sense that a guy who won the Cy Young award before would stick with the philosophy that already works for him?” Sure, it makes sense. But having recovered from major elbow surgery – perhaps necessary due to the high volume of arm torque-ing breaking balls Carpenter is required to throw as a Cardinals pitcher and Duncan pupil – is not small thing. Continually throwing the pitch that may have caused the need for the elbow surgery in the first place… some call it brave and courageous, others will call it stupid. I call it successful.
Chris Carpenter has put together an outstanding season despite very difficult circumstances. He is an experienced anchor of a successful pitching staff, and a manager’s dream. He may not have the most impressive statistics (in fact, those may belong to his teammate Adam Wainwright). What Carpenter has accomplished in 2009 is extremely impressive. And what he will likely accomplish this October only adds additional proof that he is the best pitcher of the 2009 Major League Baseball season.
If I told you before the NFL season started that the week two matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears was the one to watch because of how the team’s respective OFFENSES were going to control the game, you would have laughed at me. However, after injuries last weekend to Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher and Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, that is exactly what the situation is shaping up to be.
The Bears and Steelers are both textbook examples of a “defense-first” mentality. Both organizations confidently feature their defenses, relying on their offenses to a much lesser degree. However, this weekend both are forced to take the field without their key defensive players (the Steelers will still have the NFL’s 2008 Defensive Player of the Year linebacker James Harrison on the field, but it is Polamalu who is undeniably viewed as the leader of their defense). The absence of Urlacher and Polamalu leaves gaping holes in each teams’ defense, and it will be up to their supporting cast to fill in those gaps.
This means that both teams also have an opportunity offensively to capitalize on their opponent’s defensive weakness.
No player on the field will be subject to more scrutiny or have higher expectations placed on him than Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Following the highly publicized drama around Cutler’s departure from Denver, and the subsequent praise bestowed on the Bears for “finally” bringing in a pro-bowl caliber quarterback for the first time in over 20 years, many expected Cutler to become the final piece of the Bears’ championship puzzle. However, a very disappointing performance against the Green Bay Packers during week one of the season has cast doubt on his ability to carry the team.
The leadership responsibility now lies solely on Cutler’s shoulders to help the Bears succeed offensively. With the matchup this weekend against a significantly less dangerous Pittsburgh defense than if Polamalu were playing, Cutler will have as good an opportunity as any to prove that he was worth all the off-season hoopla. I hope, for his sake, that it works out well for the Bears. If the fans in Chicago booed quarterback Rex Grossman during the 2006 season (the same year when the Bears actually played in the Super Bowl), what do you think they will do to an over-hyped, underperforming prima-donna who fails to live up to expectations (which is exactly how many fans in Chi-Town will perceive Cutler if he cannot perform satisfactorily), no matter how unrealistic those expectations are?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, the Steelers will be dealing with their own share of scrutiny and expectation. They may have a much more established offense than Chicago, with players like quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receivers Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes to rely on, but defense has always been the focal point of a Steelers’ game plan.
Last weekend, Pittsburgh struggled offensively for much of the game against the Tennessee Titans, including a late Hines Ward fumble that nearly cost the Steelers the game. This week against the Bears, they can ill-afford to repeat that performance because they will not have a defense that is at full strength to fall back on as a safety-net.
The Steelers-Bears matchup on Sunday in Chicago is going to present a unique test for both teams. On defense, we will find out which player’s injury was more costly to their team (Urlacher or Polamalu), and we will find out which team’s offense is better prepared to carry the load for a weakened defense that cannot be called upon to do everything.
Read Sports Geek’s argument that USC-Washington is the best game of the week while Bleacher Fan argues that the NFL matchup between Pittsburgh and Chicago is the best game.
I hope everyone is ready for the weekend and week 2 of the NFL season. Many of week one’s matchups were very good, and there promises to be more of the same ahead. I will actually be in Atlanta this weekend to watch the Falcons and Panthers battle at the Georgia Dome on Sunday, after being up all night on Saturday watching Journey perform in metro Atlanta (are you jealous Bleacher Fan?). As for football, I have chosen the aforementioned Panthers-Falcons matchup as the best game of the weekend.
As I alluded to in Monday’s debate, the Panthers are struggling. Let’s face it, quarterback Jake Delhomme looked absolutely dreadful last week against the Eagles. He had five turnovers, but it could have been much more if he hadn’t been yanked in the third quarter for Josh McCown (who is now injured). The running game, which is a strong point of the team and features DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, was unable to get on track because of the scoring deficit.
The Falcons, on the other hand, are coming off a solid victory over the reigning AFC East champions, the Miami Dolphins. Quarterback Matt Ryan showed a little rust in the game, but he has a new best friend on the field in tight end Tony Gonzalez. As for the defense, which was considered to be the weakness of the team, they had a strong game by limiting the Dolphins offensively, who were unable to get their “Wildcat” formation on track.
This game figures to be a test for the Falcons secondary, though. Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington’s arm doesn’t necessarily pressure a defense downfield, but with Atlanta’s secondary lacking in height, look for Muhsin Muhammad to possibly have a big game this weekend. Steve Smith also seems to play well against Atlanta, going back to his battles with cornerback DeAngelo Hall, a former Falcon who currently plays for the Washington Redskins.
For the Panthers, Delhomme really needs to get back on track before it is too late. He is still the best option the Panthers have at the quarterback position, since the only other active quarterbacks on their roster are newly signed veteran A.J. Feeley and the inexperienced Matt Moore. Head coach John Fox (who really needs a chewing gum sponsorship) and the rest of Carolina’s management obviously have faith in Delhomme, having given him a contract extension in the offseason. The pressure will remain on Delhomme to perform, as he will be starting again on Sunday, despite being benched against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Let’s not forget, too, that this is a division clash. On one hand, Carolina needs to win to avoid falling two games behind Atlanta and possibly the New Orleans Saints, depending on their matchup with the Eagles. On the other hand, the Falcons need to take advantage of being at home, and to take advantage of the fact that the Panthers, the reigning NFC South champions, appear to be vulnerable. Both teams also have difficult road tests next week, with the Falcons going to New England to face the Patriots, and the Panthers heading to Dallas to take on the Cowboys.
As always, there are good games each and every week in the NFL, but this matchup is very important to both teams, and could be a hotly contested matchup.
And we're back... Should college coaches look into criminal and juvenile records when recruiting? The verdict says YES! http://bit.ly/dZ5LF310 months ago
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