Read the argument from Loyal Homer about which NFL playoff game is the best of the upcoming weekend.
Rarely in sports does the star power on the field in a game promise quality. Such is the case for the NFL divisional playoff game this Sunday afternoon when the Minnesota Vikings host the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL’s best playoff game, and perhaps its best game all season.
We are all aware of the start power in this game, from both sides. The Vikings have Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, and Jared Allen along with an entire cast of supporting characters. The Cowboys have Tony Romo, Marion Barber, and DeMarcus Ware along with their entire cast of supporting characters. The talent abounds, and fans are in for a treat.
Usually when analyzing what the best games of the weekend will be I rely heavily on statistics and general game knowledge – football teams have to run the ball well and stop the run to win in the playoffs. The Cowboys have a strong and dynamic running attack and the ability to stop the run. The Vikings have Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor – a dynamic duo in their own right – along with a defense that is excellent against the run. But, these are playoff teams. That is what fans and the media expect. What will make this such a great game is not that raw data, but the immeasurable stuff.
The Cowboys have something in this game coming in the Vikings will fight tooth and nail to take away – momentum. Ever since DeMarcus Ware’s scary head injury in the penultimate game of the season – and his miraculous return a week later – the Cowboys have played with an extra bounce on both sides of the ball. Tony Romo’s passes are sharper, Miles Austin’s routes are a little crisper, Keith Brookings tackles are a little stronger, and even Felix Jones is a little faster (though that is hard to believe). Momentum breeds confidence, confidence wins. The Cowboys have it right now, and the Vikings need it.
Desperation lives in both teams, and both coaches. The coaches from both teams have a tremendous amount of incentive to win.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips has his back against the wall. General Manager Jerry Jones has a nice contract extension sitting somewhere in a desk drawer (a desk that is probably made of gold, diamonds, and rare baby seal skin). If Wade Phillips wins this game – and perhaps a conference championship game, Jones will likely offer Phillips a pen and the contract. If Phillips and the Cowboys lose Sunday, Phillips career in Dallas will come to an abrupt end.
Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress also has his back to the wall. He has been vocally critical of his star quarterback (who may know a thing or two more about the offense than Childress), and entered the season on a hot seat. Thus far the Vikings have played well, especially having started the season so strongly. Lately, however, the Vikings have begun to slip – especially in road games. The Vikings are fortunate to be playing at home Sunday, having lost four of the last five road games. While the team has played strong at home, without a secure return from Favre and the prospect of ending a once promising season on a down note, Childress could find himself unemployed.
Coaches coach, and players play. The difference is players have stronger contracts than coaches. If the players of both teams like and respect their coaches, they best pull out all the stops this weekend. .
This game has the requisite drama every big game needs – plenty of coaches coaching for their jobs, players playing for contracts, players giving it one last shot, players trying to erase a stigma… and that whole “lose and the team’s out of the playoffs” thing. Without a doubt I have had the best track record at picking the must-watch games of the weekends throughout the Fall and Winter. This game is no exception. Grab a six pack (or if you’re like Sports Geek, a smooth bourbon or a delicious scotch) and enjoy what promises to be not only the best game of the weekend and playoffs, but perhaps the entire season.
Read the arguments from Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan about which games they believe are the best of the upcoming weekend.
Welcome to December, that magical time in the NFL season that separates the good teams from the okay teams, and the okay teams from the bad teams. And, apparently the same time of year that separates the former Super Bowl champs from logic. One game, more than any other, features two teams with a great deal to prove. When the San Diego Chargers visit the Dallas Cowboys Sunday afternoon both teams are under pressure to perform and prove they belong among the elite teams building momentum into January and playoff time.
Here is a fun fact… that is not particularly fun for Tony Romo. Did you know that Tony Romo’s non-December/January record in the NFL is 31-8? Did you further know that his December/January record (including playoffs) as the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is 5-11?
Now the Cowboys are coming off a tough interdivision loss to the New York Giants last Sunday. For once, this team failure cannot be laid at the feet of Tony Romo. Romo led a furious comeback on the road completing 41 passes for 392 yards, three touchdowns – and no turnovers. While Romo’s arm and decision making appear to be locked in during the first part of December, the running game and defense are not stepping up. The Cowboys ran for a mere 45 yards last weekend and lost a fumble, forcing Romo to shoulder the majority of the team’s offensive production.
The Cowboys defense is also struggling, giving up several big plays to what was an out of sync Giants offense. Eli Manning threw one long touchdown pass – a 74 yard pass to Brandon Jacobs – and the special teams gave up a crucial 79 yard punt return for a touchdown to Domenik Hixon.
The problem with the 2009 Cowboys is that every aspect of the team does not show up for every game. One game Romo plays well, the next he doesn’t. One week the defense is a top tier defense, the next week it isn’t. And, there is no team in the NFL more opposite of the Cowboys than the Chargers. The Chargers are in sync weekly and making continuous improvement.
While the Chargers are a decent middle of the pack group on defense giving up 20 points a game, the offense has NO problem scoring more than 20. The Chargers have the third best defense in the NFL averaging nearly 29 points per game. One reason the Chargers perform so well on offense? The team does not cause self-inflicted wounds. The Chargers are the fourth least penalized team in the NFL, having been called for just 61 penalties. Also, those penalties are not killers, as they have been penalized the LEAST amount of yards in the NFL this season. This achievement is in stark contrast to Sunday’s opponent. The Cowboys are the fifth most penalized team in the league. Is this the game where the Cowboys turn the corner and stop making unforced errors? It must be, or the separation between the playoff-ready Chargers and the fledgling Cowboys will never be more stark.
Because the Chargers continue to get better, and the Cowboys continue to perplex, the Cowboys need to win this game to prove to the fans, the management – and each other in the locker room – that the team is able to compete in high pressure situations as the weather becomes colder.
Cowboys must prove they are an elite team worthy of a playoff appearance. They are constantly fighting the well-earned reputation of a good team out of the gates, but a terrible team at closing. For the franchise to return to post-season prominence it MUST establish itself as a strong team in December, and a strong team against other good teams. Make no mistake – this is a statement game for the Cowboys. It is a must win.
But, that must-win for the Cowboys could not come against a more difficult opponent than the San Diego Chargers. Man, are these Chargers good. As a result, this game promises to be outstanding. Expectations are through the roof for both teams, and it is a must win for both teams – making it the best game of THIS weekend.
The headline fits. Andy Reid is putting together one heckuva a coaching job so far in the 2009 season. He signed quarterback he did not need in Michael Vick, he unexpectedly lost a quarterback he DID need with Donavan McNabb’s injury, and he is getting much more of a quarterback he was not sure he even wanted in Kevin Kolb.
After a 1-3 preseason (like THAT matters), the Philadelphia Eagles have looked quite solid with a 2-1 record as the team enters its bye week. The Eagles are currently second in the NFC East behind the New York Giants. The team has overcome the potential distraction of Michael Vick’s presence as McNabb seems to remain the team’s leader despite his injury.
Everything seems to point to a great season for the Eagles, right? Wrong. The Philadelphia Eagles have the league’s most deceiving win-loss record.
After the team returns from the bye week it will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that is thanking its lucky stars the Cleveland Browns are so bad. Then the Eagles hit the road to face the 1-2 Oakland Raiders and the 1-2 Washington Redskins – you know, the team that just lost to the DETROIT LIONS. It is hard to imagine an easier schedule in the entire league. It is very possible that the team ends up 5-1 after the first two months of the season are in the books.
But, that is when the wheels will fall off the Eagles’ first class train ride to Miami for Super Bowl XLIV.
When the calendar turns to November, the season becomes more difficult and the team’s true nature will be revealed. The Eagles play five games in November, starting by hosting the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys before hitting the road to face the San Diego Chargers and the Chicago Bears. The final game of the month is at home against the struggling Redskins. November may change the Eagles 5-1 fortunes as they play much tougher defenses and offenses that will test the team’s limits.
The season does not get any easier in December, either. The Eagles play the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta – think they will boo Michael Vick? – then the Giants in New York before hosting a resurgent San Francisco 49ers and the league’s best defense to date, the Denver Broncos. Then they play at Dallas to end the season.
A strong start is vital if the team believes it has any chance to make the playoffs. The Eagles must bank early victories against subpar teams to ready itself when the schedule becomes more difficult when the weather turns colder.
The Eagles also struggle with injuries year in, year out. Running back Brian Westbrook has never avoided injured reserve for an entire season. McNabb has been injured more often in recent years, too. The Eagles have already lost four players for the entire season are playing with a depleted linebacking corps and secondary.
The Eagles also play in a very difficult division where the Cowboys and Giants are two of the elite teams in the entire league. The Wild Card spots are more uncertain than ever before, too, considering the emergence of the NFC North as a decent division and the strength of the Falcons and New Orleans Saints in the NFC South. For the Eagles to have a shot at returning to playoff glory, early wins must be combined with the capacity to survive the season physically and emotionally.
With a depleted, injury-riddled team and an increasingly difficult schedule on the horizon, the Philadelphia Eagles have the most deceiving record in the NFL.
We are less than two weeks away from the start of the NFL season. The anticipation is building. Some starting positions have been decided, while others are still up for grabs. Once those are all settled the teams can focus on the season and made that seventeen week push to the playoffs. Some will have more difficult roads than others, due in large part to where they play – which division. For example, the NFC West and AFC West appear to be down once again. But several other division races are sure to be exciting up until Week 17. After evaluating all of the divisions, I have decided that the NFC East is the overall best division in the NFL.
One element that makes this race interesting is that all four teams are in cities that are in the top 10 in television markets. These teams do not lack for attention and it sure helps that all four are competitive. I am not sure that you can look at any other division and realistically say “Any team in that division can make the playoffs.” Last year, the four teams all had at least a .500 record. The only other division that could say that was the NFC South.
The Philadelphia Eagles, who made the playoffs last year as a wild card and advanced to the NFC conference championship, return a strong nucleus. Granted, some of the stars like quarterback Donavan McNabb and running back Brian Westbrook are getting older. But they added some potential playmakers by drafting wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and running back LeSean McCoy. Plus, you may have heard that they also picked up a backup quarterback. Some guy by the name of Michael Vick.
The New York Giants, the reigning division winner, struggled down the stretch without Plaxico Burress. I am not convinced they have addressed their offensive concerns in the offseason. Running back Derrick Ward left via free agency. The wide receiving core is young and inexperienced. Not to mention that last season’s defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, left to become head coach of the St. Louis Rams. With that said, the Giants are just two years removed from a championship, and they still have to be considered a threat to win the division. Eli Manning also has a new contract, so he will be itching to prove his worth and prove the critics wrong who say the Giants overpaid.
The Dallas Cowboys are America’s team, and this year they are America’s team without society’s newest reality TV star Terrell Owens. This is a big year for head coach Wade Phillips, too. Missing the playoffs is a real possibility, especially in this division. You know general manager Jerry Jones will be looking for a scapegoat if the Cowboys do not make the playoffs in their first year of playing in beautiful new Cowboys Stadium. Fortunately, plenty of weapons return. The key to the Cowboys is whether or not wide receiver Roy Williams can step up and become the number one receiver the Cowboys expect him to be. The playoffs are a realistic goal.
The Washington Redskins, after getting off to a very strong start, limped to a 2-6 finish. We all know Redskins owner Daniel Snyder refuses to sit still, and he proved us right again by giving an extremely big contract to defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. Perhaps no quarterback in the league is facing more pressure than Jason Campbell. After flirting with acquiring Jay Cutler and trading up to draft Mark Sanchez, the Redskins decided to stick with Campbell who is entering a contract year. Campbell is popular in the clubhouse, but it is his responsibility to get the Redskins back to the playoffs. Finishing 8-8 was the worst record in the division, which says a lot about the strength and the parity in the division.
All four of these teams can realistically make the playoffs. Can any other division say that? Maybe the AFC East. Maybe!! But the NFC East has a much stronger case and overall, from top to bottom, the teams are better. The division is the class of the NFL!
Read Sports Geek and Loyal Homer’s arguments for which division in the NFL will be the toughest in the 2009 season.
It’s football week at The Sports Debates! And what better way to kick it off than to take a look at which division in the NFL is going to be the toughest, most competitive in the league?
Sports Geek is arguing for the NFC North, and Loyal Homer is arguing for the NFC East.
As for Bleacher Fan, I asked myself the following three questions to try and determine which will be the division to watch in 2009:
2008 Performance (Was it a competitive division top-to-bottom last year?)
Personnel (Did all of the teams within the division get better in the offseason?)
2009 Schedule (Will the season provide a strong enough test for the division?)
There was only one division that I could answer ‘YES’ to all of the questions, and that was the AFC East.
2008 Performance
Going into the 2008 season, many expected the NFC East to be the toughest division in football. The New York Giants were reigning 2007 Super Bowl champs, and the Dallas Cowboys were a very popular preseason pick to represent the NFC in 2008. Also in the mix were the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles, both with potential to upset the balance of power in the division. Top to bottom, the NFC East appeared to be the division to watch.
The 2008 season, however, proved those expectations wrong. Thanks to quarterback issues, the Cowboys and Eagles both had periodic struggles (Dallas collapsed after Tony Romo’s injury and Philadelphia had a minor mid-season controversy after benching Donovan McNabb). In Washington, the Redskins ended up being the most unpredictable team in football. They were able to win in Dallas, defeated the NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals, and won both games against the Eagles (who also reached the NFC Championship game), but lost to the St. Louis Rams (who finished the season at 2-14), the Cincinnati Bengals (4-11-1), and the San Francisco 49ers (7-9).
Instead, the AFC East ended up as the most exciting to watch. Entering week 17 of the season, the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots were both tied at 10-5, with the New York Jets one game behind at 9-6. There were many different playoff scenarios for the division. It was entirely possible that all three teams could finish tied at 10-6. It was also possible that ALL THREE teams could make the playoffs, or only ONE of the three could make the playoffs. Making the division race even more exciting was the fact that the Jets were scheduled to play the Dolphins that week.
When the dust settled, the Dolphins (who just one year prior finished with a league-worst 1-15 record) ended up clinching the division by defeating the Jets 24-17. The Patriots, who finished 2008 with a very impressive 11-5 record DESPITE losing Tom Brady in week 1, still somehow missed the playoffs, becoming the first 11-win team in over 20 years not to reach the postseason.
Personnel
All four teams have upgraded in the offseason. The most notable signings for each team are:
The Patriots expect to bring quarterback Tom Brady back this season (although a shoulder injury at the hands of Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth last weekend has some questioning his current health).
The Jets feel confident that they can successfully work their highly rated draft pick out of Southern Cal, quarterback Mark Sanchez, into their offense.
In Buffalo, the big news of the offseason was the signing of Pro Bowl wide receiver Terrell Owens
The Dolphins resigned their former Defensive Player of the Year, Pro Bowler Jason Taylor, after he spent the last season in Washington.
2009 Schedule
The AFC East will be facing off against the AFC South and the NFC South in 2009. While those divisions include a couple teams which could provide for easy pickings (primarily the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars), the majority of teams on their schedule are expected to perform very well this year. In 2008, the Jaguars were the only team to finish below .500, and four of the eight teams finished with more than 10 wins: the Tennessee Titans (13-3), Carolina Panthers (12-4), Indianapolis Colts (12-4), and the Atlanta Falcons (11-5). All four of those teams also reached the playoffs last season, and should provide some stiff competition for the AFC East in 2009.
When you break down all of the factors that make for exciting football to watch (talent, expectations, and challenges), the AFC East has it all. I expect the division race to once again go all the way to the last week of the season, and once again expect to see multiple teams also in the Wild Card hunt. In 2009, the best football will be played in the toughest division in the NFL – the AFC East!
Many NFL teams have important players. However, only a few teams in the NFL would be devastated if they lost their most important player. The writers at The Sports Debates believe there are three teams – and three players – who, more than any other team, would be significantly less effective if the player went down to injury. Bleacher Fan will argue the player a team that least afford to lose is safety Ed Reed (Baltimore Ravens) while Loyal Homer will argue the player is quarterback Peyton Manning (Indianapolis Colts).
If there was ever an NFL quarterback who knew how to win without winning pretty, it is Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben debuted in the NFL in 2004, and won two offensive rookie of the year awards. Since then the awards have dried up, sans the one selection to the Pro Bowl in 2007. He just is not a big time stat producer like some of his fellow quarterbacks in the NFL – Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Instead, Big Ben is a winner. Now entering his sixth season of professional football, Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl rings. Roethlisberger is the league’s most important player.
Ben Roethlisberger has some skills at quarterback, for sure. But, what he has that most lack is guts and instinct. He has a knack for staying in the pocket and taking the big hits to deliver a pass. He will also stick his neck out in order to gain an extra yard or two on a play (or stop a car). He has an uncanny ability to use his feet to create extra time in the pocket while his receivers get open.
Then there is the ability to lead, measured in the NFL by wins and losses. Roethlisberger has an outstanding all-time regular season record as a starter of 51-20. Against the elite teams in the NFL (we’ll define them as follows: Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers) he has a respectable regular season record of 15-9. Against his division, the AFC North, he has an all-time record of a whopping 22-4. The supposed biggest rivalry on the Steelers yearly calendar, the Cleveland Browns, have never defeated the Steelers in a game Roethlisberger has played in. He has been so dominant in the battle of the steel cities that the Browns are not even considered a rival anymore (at least they are not considered a rival to the Steelers).
Since Roethlisberger entered the league in 2004 the Steelers compiled a record of 56-24. That means that when Roethlisberger starts at quarterback the Steelers have a winning percentage of 72 percent. Basically, they win three of every four games they play when Big Ben starts under center. Without him the Steelers winning percentage is 56 percent. It is the same defense, the same receivers, the same offensive line, the same running backs – but about a quarter fewer wins. Those stats say something about Roethlisberger’s value.
I cannot make a good argument for Roethlisberger being the most important player to a team in the NFL without talking about his playoff performance. He is lifetime 8-2 in the playoffs – having defeated both NFC teams he has ever faced in the playoffs. He has led three playoff comebacks for victories as well.
We must also talk clutch. Of the 59 career win Roethlisberger has piled up as a starter in the NFL, he has led his team from behind in 19 of them. Eight of those wins happened when he led a scoring drive that ended with less than 43 seconds on the clock (that does not include his two overtime wins). That includes the 2008 Super Bowl when he led a scoring drive that notched the go ahead touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals with just 35 ticks left on the clock.
Roethlisberger wins in the regular season, he wins in the playoffs, and he wins by leading when it matters most, as the seconds tick down. In those clutch, last second drives of the game here are the statistics that Roethlisberger has compiled: completes 74 percent of his passes for 737 yards and six touchdowns. That completion percentage is something to behold.
Roethlisberger’s ability to physically do things in the pocket (and out of the pocket), plus trust his unmatched instincts, separates him from the other quarterbacks in the league. He does not have the Brady’s style or Manning’s extreme smarts. He has his guts, his intuition – and his Super Bowl rings. The Pittsburgh Steelers would not be as dominant year in year out without Roethlisberger. If the Steelers lose him, they lose their identity – and their place in the standings.
As The Sports Debates has mentioned several times this week, we sure are ready for football to start. We’re ready for the bone crushing hits. We’re ready for pin-point passing accuracy. We’re ready for a breakway run. Heck, we’re even ready to see Ed Hochuli flex his muscles on the field. Expect to see a lot of football debates in the coming months. In fact, we might as well talk football today. It’s a favorite water cooler topic of any fan in any sport. So I ask you, which coach do you think opens the season with the most to prove? Who is on the hot seat the most?
I really like the coach I am arguing for. He seems like a good guy. He’s had to put up with a lot of crap, but unfortunately it goes with the territory. The coach who I think is on the hot seat right off the bat this training camp season is Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips.
It’s not that Phillips has been a bust in Dallas. He has posted a 22-10 record in the regular season. That would be exceptional anywhere else. Heck, he’d be in the conversation when discussing the coaches in the upper echelon of the NFL. But, he’s not coaching just any team. He’s coaching America’s Team.
Two years ago Dallas went 13-3 and had home field advantage in the playoffs. Their second round matchup was against the division rival New York Giants. The Giants won 21-17, deflating the hopes of all Cowboys fans. Much of the blame fell, unfairly, on Phillips. Forget the fact that he led the team to 13 victories. He couldn’t win in the playoffs, which is something Dallas hasn’t done since 1996. Last year, the team fell to 9-7, including a blowout loss to Philadelphia to close the season. It’s a game that put egg on the face of the entire organization for the entire off-season. It’s a game that led to Phillips’ seat getting warmer. There was even speculation that Cowboys owner (as if you didn’t know who the owner is) Jerry Jones was going to bring in Mike Shannahan. But, Phillips withstood the storm and he’s still there.
How long he’s there remains to be seen. The Cowboys are moving into a luxurious new stadium and the Cowboys need to win! Badly! Terrell Owens, the alleged cause of much of the drama last year, has packed his drama and left for Buffalo. But, he also took his big play potential with him.
The onus is on Wade Phllips to get the job done, now. Going 9-7 isn’t going to get the job, and it’s quite conceivable that just making the playoffs won’t be enough to save his job. With the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, and Washington Redskins in the division it’s going to be tough to get to the playoffs. But, that’s what it is going to take to have a chance to save his job.
I feel like a kid trying to go to sleep on Christmas Eve! We are just a few short days away from the opening of NFL Training Camps, and while the old adage that ‘every team is undefeated’ may hold true for now, there are several coaches in the league who already find themselves on the “hot-seat.”
Loyal Homer will argue that Wade Phillips of the Dallas Cowboys is the man with the target on his back, and Sports Geek will argue that it is Brad Childress whose head is first on the chopping block.
As for Bleacher Fan, I believe it is Marvin Lewis of the Cincinnati Bengals whose number has finally come up!
The fact that he’s been able to avoid speculation this long is astonishing to me. Let’s be honest, it’s not like the Bengals were a well regarded team when he took over the reigns from Dick LeBeau in 2003, but to say that the team has actually REGRESSED under Lewis’ tenure is a dubious honor that I’m sure he won’t be writing home about any time soon!
Sure, his first three seasons with Cincinnati showed promise. He took the team from a 2-14 record in 2002 and turned in records of 8-8, 8-8, and then 11-5 respectively. The 2005 season also marked the first division championship AND playoff appearance for the Bengals in 15 years. Things were looking promising for Lewis.
Something changed, though, following the knee injury to Carson Palmer in the 2005 Wild-Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bengals came into the 2006 season full of promise, but that promise never materialized into success.
Their records for the following three years plummeted, dropping from 8-8 in 2006 to 7-9 in 2007, before finally bottoming out at 4-11-1 last year. All told, in six seasons as the Bengals head coach, Marvin Lewis has only turned in one season with a winning record, and his career record in Cincinnati is 46-49-1 (.486).
Accompanying that severe decline in performance came a string of legal charges against players within the Bengals organization that made Lewis look like the NFL’s real life version of Nate Scarborough. Then came the icing on the cake – Chad Johnson (I refuse to call him by his “new” name). I will give the man his due, he is a top-tier receiver, but he has turned his existence in the NFL into a media circus that has created far more controversy than it has touchdowns. Between the off-field drama around Johnson’s “happiness” with the organization, and his antics on the field, he has become more of a distraction than anything else.
So where does that leave Marvin Lewis? When you consider the personnel issues, compounded by the lack of success on the field DESPITE having players like Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (who isn’t even a Bengal anymore), it gives off the appearance that Lewis has zero control over the players within his organization. He comes off as a hapless victim, rather than the leader of a professional football team.
Fast forward to the 2009 season, and this year’s training camp… what is Lewis’ solution to these problems? He welcomes even greater public scrutiny by allowing his Bengals to be the focal point of the HBO mini-series Hard Knocks. That means that every decision he makes in the preseason, and every incident that occurs during training camp, will not only be scrutinized by Bengals fans, beat-reporters, and the Bengals organization, but will actually be scrutinized by a national television audience!
How has that worked out in the past? During the return of the series in 2007, the show watched Herm Edwards as he led the Kansas City Chiefs to a record of 4-12 (Edwards was subsequently fired in early 2009). In 2008, the series travelled to Dallas, where they witnessed the preseason hype around the Dallas Cowboys, preseason favorites to be NFC Champions, and who subsequently melted down mid-season and missed the playoffs altogether. Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips barely escaped the season with his job, and his job-security is still very tenuous, as Loyal Homer points out in his argument today.
Between the increased public scrutiny over his every move in this pre-season, the inability to maintain control over the players within his organization, and the abysmal performances turned in on the field over the past three seasons, Marvin Lewis will need to come out of the gates with guns blazing if he wishes to stay employed in the Queen City much longer.
A couple of weeks ago, the writing staff here at The Sports Debates were tossing around topic ideas and we discussed the 2005 NFL Draft. Folks, we trouble naming players out of that draft who had made big contributions. After looking over this list, we agreed that it was a terrible draft. Look at it, folks. The first round is lackluster AT BEST! San Francisco taking quarterback Alex Smith first overall really set the tone for the entire draft, didn’t it? You could make a solid case for Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White, as my colleagues have decided to do. But, since I had to choose one guy that I would want to resign to a long term deal, I chose Dallas Cowboys‘ linebacker DeMarcus Ware.
Ware, out of Troy University, was drafted with the 11th overall pick in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft. In a short time, he has become one of the league’s best linebackers. In four years, he has accumulated 297 tackles and 53.5 sacks, including a whopping 20 sacks last year. At one point last year, he had a sack in ten consecutive games. He also made the Pro Bowl the past three years.
Ware, who just turned 27, is in the last year of his rookie contract. His base salary is just over $1 million, a far cry from the extravagant contracts that not only some of the league’s top defensive players have (see Albert Haynesworth and James Harrison), but also what some of the players in his own draft class currently have (see Antrel Rolle, Aaron Rodgers, and Luis Castillo).
To the Cowboys credit, they have plans to extend Ware’s contract. The Cowboys obviously want to keep him, and he seems to want to stay in Dallas. He is also set to receive a gigantic pay raise that will raise him to the upper echelon of salaries in the NFL. Hopefully, this will raise his profile, also.
DeMarcus Ware still isn’t nearly as well known as some of his teammates. Yes, I know he plays for America’s Team and he gets a front row seat to the daily soap opera there. But, he’s strangely off of the national radar. Tony Romo and Terrell Owens stole all the headlines the last couple of years. The fact remains that Ware is a beast on the field and someone opposing offenses game plan around – without much success.
The Cowboys should definitely sign Ware to an extension… very soon. He’s just entering the prime of his career, and he should play the prime of his career at the new Cowboys Stadium.
Time and time again, America roots for the underdog in athletic competition. For baseball, maybe it was the Tampa Bay Rays last year. For college basketball, maybe it was George Mason making a deep run in the 2006 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Maybe it was rooting for Boise State to knock off Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl in college football. Maybe it’s whoever is playing the New York Yankees or the Dallas Cowboys, perhaps the two wealthiest teams in all of sports. In golf, America roots for John Daly.
In some ways, John Daly is just another regular John Doe. Yes, I know! John Doe doesn’t always have a checkered past littered with alcoholism, gambling additions, and ex-wives. But, many of us may have a friend who has tackled the same issues that Daly has, right? And we root for that friend to succeed, right? John Daly is no different.
John Daly burst onto the scene in 1991, going from zero to hero and winning the 1991 PGA Championship – one of golf’s four majors (as we all know). He was the ninth alternate to get into the tournament (as Sports Geek pointed out in his intro). He won that tournament without playing as much as a single round at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, who played host for the PGA Championship that year. Remember that little mini-mullet he had?
He wasn’t then, and isn’t now, a regular country club golfer. Close your eyes and picture a golfer… it’s tough to bring an image of John Daly to mind – admit it! I’ll admit it. I don’t! But, so what! Isn’t that what makes him likable?
It doesn’t matter that for the better part of his golf career he has been this cursing, overweight, beer-drinking, cigarette smoking, golfer. He comes across as a likable guy. He has that likability factor going for him that Simon Cowell likes to talk about on American Idol. Outside of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, he is still arguably one of the top draws in golf – which is amazing considering he hasn’t won a PGA tournament in almost five and a half years. If Woods, Mickelson, and Daly were battling it out on the back nine on Sunday, Daly would have just as much crowd support as Woods and Mickelson. He’s David and everyone else is Goliath. He’s the ultimate underdog. That’s why America roots for him.
Last weekend, Daly played in his first tournament in over 6 months at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee. He finished tied for 59th place, with a four round score of one over par. Not great, but it’s a start. Hopefully, it’s the start of many more things to come!
To answer the debate question from Sport Geek, yes, America should root for John Daly. Every sport needs someone to take on the underdog role, and John Daly fits it perfectly!
Posted by Sports Geek 
