Read the debate intro and the argument from Bleacher Fan about whether or not a two back system in the right approach for a successful NFL offense.
Looking around the NFL nowadays it becomes increasingly clear that the every-down type running back is nearing extinction. Teams are getting a plethora of players involved in the rushing attack. From short yardage specialist to third down pace-changers, more and more running backs are getting touches. But one approach to the rushing game is starting to garner support and has certainly piqued my interest – the two-back system.
Why not double your pleasure and double your fun with two full-time starting running backs? Now before your start to confuse my proposal with the enigma that is the running back by committee approach, let me clarify what I mean by the two-back system. The two-back system employs two primary running backs interchangeably. Coaches switch between the two backs in order to keep them fresh or alternate them on different drives. Running back by committee systems typically involve complex role assignments (e.g. the starter, the goal line back, the third down pace-changer, the fourth quarter clock grinder, etc.) that are meticulously assigned considering everything from defensive matchups to playing surface to statistical history. This is all too complex. The two-back system reduces this excessive entanglement with arbitrary stats and employs more of an old fashion gut feeling approach to calling the running game.
In 2008 the Carolina Panthers were a perfect example of a successful two-back system. Two running backs, DeAngello Williams and Jonathan Stewart, attempted 457 rushes for 2,351 yards and 28 touchdowns. While the dynamic duo did not split the load evenly (Williams had 273 attempts, 1,515 yards and 18 rushing scores while Stewart had 184 attempts, 836 yards and 10 rushing scores), they certainly were successful as a powerful tandem of starter quality running backs. The Panthers ended the season third in the NFL in rushing yards and first in rushing touchdowns, besting the next closest team by six scores. Even with the Panthers’ poor record in 2009 (5-7), the Panthers’ “double trouble” are primed to finish near the top of both categories again. It is clear that the two-back system is working in Carolina.
The New York Giants also experienced huge success last season leaning on the two-back system. The Giants led the NFL in rushing yards with 2,518. Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward accounted for the vast majority of this yardage while splitting the total number of carries somewhat evenly across the season. Brandon Jacobs had 1,089 yards on 219 attempts and 15 rushing touchdowns and Derrick Ward was not far behind with 1,025 yards on 182 carries and two rushing touchdowns. While Ward’s touchdowns are not comparable with Jacobs, the two backs were easily the envy of the league with dueling 1,000 yard seasons. This season the Giants rushing attack has taken a step back. Currently, the G Men are ranked tenth in rushing yardage entering week 14. This can be explained, in part, by the pounding Jacobs took last season. But I cannot help but wonder if the departure of Jacobs’ rushing brother-from-another-mother, Derrick Ward, is to blame. Ahmad Bradshaw (122 attempts for 596 yards and four rushing touchdowns) has not proven himself as an equivalent, starting caliber back that Derrick Ward was last season. In my opinion the Giants stuck with the two-back system, but the problem is the not the system but this season’s choice of backs.
The system is proving itself a winner. Teams like the Panthers, the Giants, and even this year’s Arizona Cardinals team, are really onto something. It is simple and effective and is quickly becoming a must for success in the NFL.
Read Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan’s arguments for which NFL teams they believe have already squandered a chance at postseason glory, just four weeks into the 2009 regular season.
In order for a team to fumble its chances for the postseason – especially this early in the 2009 season – it must have started the season with some shot to actually make the playoffs. In others words, the Cleveland Browns do not really qualify for participation in this debate (lucky for them). This debate is about teams that actually had a shot and have already squandered their chance at the postseason.
Since the lousy usual suspects will not be included, there are just a handful of teams that should have played good football and earned a spot in the playoffs this season. For me, no team has already blown its opportunity at postseason glory quite as spectacularly as the Carolina Panthers.
How appropriate that the Carolina Panthers spent week four of the NFL season at home on a bye week. You know, “bye” as in good “bye” to the team’s postseason chances this season, despite the fact that the calendar still reads early October.
The Panthers are showing all of the signs of a team destined to miss the NFL playoffs after a preseason of hype and high expectations. Exhibit A – the win-loss record. The Panthers completed their preseason slate with a record of 0-4. Fans speculated the team was struggling in the preseason because of the quality teams the Panthers faced, losing at the New York Giants, at Miami, then at home against Baltimore and defending Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh. Tough losses, but it was preseason and not the end of the world.
The thing about losing all of the preseason games is that it creates a culture of losing throughout a team. The Panthers saw that losing culture in full force in week one as the team hosted Philadelphia, and were destroyed 38-10. The Panthers followed up that surprising loss with a trip to Atlanta to face a Falcons team with many weapons. The Panthers lost that game, too, and then traveled to Dallas and lost on Monday night, scoring a mere seven points.
While the offense has struggled, the normally excellent defense that is the hallmark of Panther teams has struggled as well. For some perspective on the poor play of the defense, consider that the Panthers have given up more points than EVERY team in the NFC, except the St. Louis Rams.
That Panthers have only outpaced the offensive prowess of two other teams in the NFL – the Cleveland Browns and the St. Louis Rams. Not the company a team wants to keep in the stat column this season.
So, the offense is bad and the defense is bad. All of the badness will make it difficult to come back and compete in a division that is tough. The Panthers have already lost to one division opponent – the Atlanta Falcons – and will have a challenge to beat them when the two teams play again. The New Orleans Saints lead the division and promise to continue giving Carolina’s defense fits. The Panthers even trail the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in tiebreakers, placing the presumed impressive Panthers squarely in the basement of the NFC South.
The team is also suffering from the slow decline of established veteran leadership and infighting – and the two issues are related. Quarterback Jake Delhomme has slowly changed into a leader with diminishing skills. In the opening game of the season the quarterback threw a whopping four interceptions before getting the hook from the head coach. He has now thrown seven interceptions in three games. His teammates are apparently frustrated. Star wide receiver Steve Smith, showing an uncanny ability for how to use the media, called in to a local sports talk show in Charlotte to announce that he “never liked” Delhomme as a quarterback. When the quarterback and star receiver are not getting along… well, that is not exactly a foundation for a winning team.
On top of all of these obvious issues, the team is now losing faith in its head coach, John Fox. If the coach’s seat was warming up on September 13 – before the season actually started – then it must be on fire now.
The simple fact is that all signs point to a continued collapse from the Panthers. The team does not appear to have the guts and leadership to pull itself up by the bootstraps and compete in the division and fight for a spot in the playoffs. After all of the preseason and training camp belief that the Carolina Panthers were a team destined for an appearance in the postseason, they are now the team most notorious for blowing their shot early in the season.
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.
Read Bleacher Fan’s argument that the Cleveland Browns quarterback battle is the best this NFL training camp season and Loyal Homer’s argument that the best is the Detroit Lions quarterback battle.
Position battles in training camp are always compelling for the sports geek’s of the world. Whose technique is the best? Who has the most upside? Who sucks in practice but is a gamer? We love these types of questions.
Nowhere in the NFL are these questions more compelling than in Albany, New York for the New York Giants training camp, most apparently at the wide receiver position.
Aging veteran wide receiver Amani Toomer is no longer with the team, and star receiver Plaxico Burress really shot himself in the foot (well, the leg to be more precise) by getting into legal trouble. That leaves a LOT of players battling for a premier position in the most popular professional league in the country, on one of the most popular teams, in the biggest town in sports.
We do not get into predictions here at The Sports Debates (For good reason – who could have predicted Loyal Homer would have stayed up late last night baking cookies? Not me.). Each of these receivers needs a spot and has a valuable role to play. If I’m the Giants coach, this is how I break down the players abilities and begin defining roles at the start of training camp.
Nicks is my starter at the number one receiver position. He’s a first round draft pick with enormous talent and upside. While not tall like a typical number one receiver, his 6-foot 1-inch frame holds a strong 215 pounds, and he showed the capacity in college to wrestle catches away from defenders. He will need to prove he can run effective routes and block to nail the position down. But, it is there for the taking, and Nicks, though unproven, has the most raw talent in the group.
My number two receiver at the opening of camp is Steve Smith. Smith failed to break out until very late last season, grabbing only one touchdown catch on 574 yards receiving. While not quite six feet tall, Smith has shown a willingness to go across the middle and run the tough routes that are sure to glean tough hits. His speed is a bonus on the wing, allowing the field to stretch and more room to open up for the effective running game and short outlet passes that the Giants offense has always run with success.
My number three receiver going into camp is Sinorice Moss. Moss is a speedster who can get behind the defense, opening up underneath routes for Smith and running back Brandon Jacobs.
The three-way combination of speed at the receiver position forces defense to play on their heels and opens up the underneath game for quarter Eli Manning because the field is stretched.
Hixon, who had the opportunity to break out last season when Burress went down with his self-inflicted issues, dropped big passes on key plays. Until Hixon proves he can handle the offense beyond the routine demands of the position, he is not ready for the limelight in New York. It’s best to use him in spots right now where he can be effective and give him the opportunity to prove his value, rather than be thrust into a star position before he has paid his dues and is ready.
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.
You may have noticed, as astute reader Rocketfan did in the comments, that I intentionally omitted the Oakland Raiders in my “history” of Los Angeles professional football. Tricky, eh? The plan was to see if Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan were able to pick up on the most glaring reason for why the NFL has failed to put a successful franchise in LA for the long term… without handing it them. The smart writers that they are, they each brought up the point about two football teams in LA sharing the spotlight, and some of the difficulties that come with that arrangement. So many of these real estate speculators come into LA spouting off about how LA is a football starved town. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact that Los Angeles already has great football and a loyal following for a dominant team – a team that is not subject to stupid NFL broadcast black out rules (as teachj alluded to in the comments) – is really important. Yep, I’m making a reference to the Trojans of USC, and therefore awarding today’s debate win to…
BLEACHER FAN!!!!!
Southern Cal has a huge and loyal football fan base and plenty of other competition for sports allegiance. Any “newcomer” to the LA sports dynamic will be naturally viewed as an interloper on the scene – a team that isn’t TRUE LA, with players who aren’t TRUE LA – and fans will have a difficult time giving themselves over to a new team with unfamiliar players, or an old team with lousy players (if, say, the Buffalo Bills move to LA).
Like the LA Raiders and LA Rams learned years ago, USC football is competition for an LA NFL franchise, even if they do not play on the same day. Split loyalties are hard to overcome for football fans, unless long-standing tradition is stronger. For example, the New York Jets and the New York Giants have been around forever, and the market and tradition is plenty big to handle both. But Chicago, a successful split sport city in baseball, could never support two pro football teams because of long-standing traditions. The same fact is as true in LA now as it was in the 1980s and 1990s – those conditions have not changed.
There is also a fair share of legitimate fan skepticism at this point. If the city has had four different football franchises in town since 1926, why should a fan believe it will work THIS time? Surely they can get behind this team because a team can’t leave for a fifth time, right? Wrong. If the money is right, er, rather, if the attendance is NOT right, the team will move… as is the inescapable tradition of professional football in LA.
Loyal Homer did make a couple of good points, primarily the big TV market point. But market size is only an indicator of potential, not reality. Reality (and history) dictates the NFL moving back to LA would be another mistake, and it has nothing to do with facilities or shifting demographics. Even big kitchens can have too many cooks.
The truth is, as Bleacher Fan stated, the conditions for professional football in LA have not shifted enough to create a good opportunity. And no state of the art, top-of-the-line facility by a successful real estate broker will change that.
Lately, two of the biggest stories involving NFL wide receivers during off-season are the statuses of Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall and free agent Plaxico Burress.
Let’s recap shall we?
Marshall didn’t come into the league with as much fanfare as Burress. Marshall’s ability on the football field is also not as well-known to the casual fan as Burress’ is (fantasy football players aren’t casual fans); but, he has had an outstanding start to his career.
Drafted out of Central Florida in 2006 by the Denver Broncos, Marshall has quickly become one of the league’s best wide receivers. He has 226 catches for 2,899 yards in three years, including 206 catches for 2,580 the past two seasons. He’s been on my fantasy football team the past two years, and, obviously, he has been a big part of it.
That is all one the field. Very impressive! But off the field, he has some baggage, to say the least.
He was indirectly involved in the fatal shooting of Darrent Williams in 2007. He has been arrested numerous times for various alcohol related incidents and also domestic disturbances. He has also recently requested a trade.
Plaxico Burress came into the league with a lot more fanfare after an outstanding career at Michigan State. After being a solid player for five years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Burress went on to greener pastures with the New York Giants. His time in New York has been highlighted by a game-winning touchdown reception in Super Bowl XLII.
He, too, has some baggage. He held out from training camp due to being unhappy with his contract situation before the 2008 season. This ruffled some feathers with his former organization, the New York Giants. He was suspended for one game for violating team rules in 2008. This was the second time in his career he had been suspending for breaking team rules. He has been fined numerous times. And then, of course, there is the accidental shooting incident at a New York nightclub. This incident caused him to be suspended from the team for conduct detrimental to the team. He has since been released from the Giants and is trying to catch on with another team.
The question posed is which one of these talented players I would take. The answer is NEITHER.
Neither player is worth the major headaches that would be caused. As a loyal fan of my teams, I truly care about winning. But, I want chemistry in my clubhouse, and chemistry is not what you would have if either of these players is on a team. There are just too many distractions. The questions from the media would all be about Burress or Marshall… and that’s not what a TEAM needs.
Are they super talented? Absolutely! No one is questioning that. But I strongly believe Brandon Marshall and Plaxico Burress would bring more harm to my team than good!
Thanks but no thanks! But, feel free to give Al Davis a call!
And we're back... Should college coaches look into criminal and juvenile records when recruiting? The verdict says YES! http://bit.ly/dZ5LF311 months ago
Posted by Babe Ruthless 
