The Most Surprising NFL Division Debate – Who Expected The NFC South To Go South?

December 23, 2009

Read the arguments from Babe Ruthless and Bleacher Fan.



With two weeks left to go in the NFL’s regular season, there is still quite a bit to be determined. Three division races are still up for grabs and three of the four wild card spots have yet to be claimed. Today, The Sports Debates is exploring which division is the most surprising. Taking a quick look at the divisions, there is one division that really surprises me, and it is not one of those good surprises. Good surprises will happen to all of us hopefully two days from now. This is a bad surprise… the disappointing play in the NFC South.

First, the one bright spot in the NFC South is the New Orleans Saints. I thought they would make a run at a playoff spot, and I am a big fan of Drew Brees. But never ever did I expect the Saints to be 13-1 at this point in the season. That is certainly a good thing.

Now, on we go to the bad!

The Atlanta Falcons were a sexy preseason pick to make a run in the playoffs, and possibly even win the Super Bowl. Folks, that just is not happening as the Falcons were already eliminated from playoff consideration before this past Sunday. Running back Michael Turner got off to a mediocre start (ask Sports Geek about that) and that led to more pressure on Matt Ryan, who struggled at times. Then, once Turner and Ryan went down with injuries, the Falcons were doomed. That is because the undermanned Falcons defense has been downright horrible at times. I have been a vocal critic of defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, but in reality, he has very little to work with on defense. I mean, look at this defensive depth chart. Yikes!!!

The Carolina Panthers, last year’s division winner, has been a favorite target of The Sports Debates. First, Sports Geek stuck a fork in the team back in early October. Then, we actually did an entire debate on the future of John Fox. The bottom line is that at 6-8, the Panthers have been a complete disappointment. In actuality, the writing was written on the wall in INK when the Panthers front office had a complete brain fart and decided to give Jake Delhomme a contract extension (which takes the cake of the year’s worst contract in ANY sport… by far!). Not sure what they were smoking then, but I hope they have stopped by now. That constitutes a violation of the NFL’s drug policy! Whether or not this season costs John Fox his job remains to be seen, but either way, it has been a disappointing season.

I think we all saw the Tampa Bay Bucs taking a dive but yikes! This bad? How in the world did they beat Green Bay earlier in the season? I know the Bucs play in the NFL , and, theoretically, every team has a chance to win every week. As Dennis Green would say, “That’s why we took the [expletive deleted] field.” But come on! A record of 2-12? Fairly or unfairly, head coach Raheem Morris is already under fire partly due to the fact that he has essentially fired both his offensive coordinator and his defensive coordinator this season. Wait a minute! He fired his offensive coordinator ten days before the season. Why didn’t we see the signs then? And, are there signs of improvement? Not really!

It is the time of year to celebrate good surprises. But I am lamenting a bad surprise. The NFC South went south this year!

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Posted by Loyal Homer

The Quick Hook Coach Debate – The Quick Trigger is Not The Answer

October 6, 2009

Read the debate intro and Bleacher Fan’s argument that firing a coach early in the season is warranted.



I am well aware of the fact that today’s society is a “what have you done for me lately” society. I realize that people want answers now, not tomorrow. I realize that fans like Bleacher Fan have suffered, and I sympathize with those frustrations. I am a diehard Atlanta Falcons fan, fully aware that the organization has never had back to back winning seasons. I do understand the need to go after a potential quick fix. But firing a coach early in the season is not the answer.

I have never been in favor of firing a coach during the middle of the season, whether middle is four games in, two months in, or with six games to go in the season. It rarely has an positive impact. For every success story like Jim Tracy being hired in May and leading the Rockies to the wild card, there are 100 stories that detail how midseason change is not the way to go. For example, since 1970 no NFL head coach hired in midseason has made it to the playoffs.

In the examples listed by Sports Geek in the intro, coaches like Jeff Fisher are established coaches who have had success in this league. There is no doubt the Tennessee Titans are off to an atrocious start, though they competed in three fairly close games before the disaster this past week against the Jaguars. But, does that warrant a firing? Not hardly.

How about those who are head coaches for the very first time? Raheem Morris (Tampa Bay), Todd Haley (Kansas City) and Steve Spagnuolo (St. Louis) all fall under this category. All three of these teams are in obvious rebuilding mode. The Bucs have had a lot of personnel turnover in the past couple of and admit the team is in rebuilding mode. (Loyal Homer still openly questions the firing of Jon Gruden, but that is a debate for another day.) Kansas City, which was a competitive team not so long ago, failed to win games the majority of the time under former coach Herman Edwards and are now rebuilding. The Rams, who not so long ago had the “Greatest Show on Turf” now has one of the worst shows on turf, having been outscored 63-0 by two division opponents so far this season (28-0 Seattle and 35-0 San Francisco). Those results spell rebuilding. What should be expected? Is it fair to expect these three guys to go 4-0 in their first four games? All three of them were established assistant coaches. It is not fair to judge them on their first four games. What if you were judged solely on your first four days on the job?

Plus, firing a coach at this point in the season, or at any point during the season, nullifies the previous months of work. Organized team activities, training camp, preseason, and the first four games of the season have gotten the team to this point. Does firing the coach really improve the team right now? What if a new coach with an entirely different system comes in and brings his playbook and his coaches? That arrangement basically tosses aside the last THREE quarters of the season. That is not the answer!

To reiterate, I do understand the frustration of the fans of those teams who are currently sitting winless. It is maddening! But there is hope. Give established guys like Fisher and John Fox a chance to do what they do best. They are proven winners. And, give the new guys a chance. They are still laying the groundwork on hopefully building a good team. It just requires a little patience.

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Posted by Loyal Homer

The NFL Pre-Season Debate – The NFL Preseason Still Matters!

August 20, 2009

Read the debate intro and read Bleacher Fan’s argument that the NFL pre-season is unnecessary.



Football is finally here! We have been through our first week of pre-season games, with another round of games on tap for this weekend. Fans have gotten their first looks at their favorite teams. Some teams have new coaches. Some have new star players. Some have some exciting new rookies. One team even has a quarterback who has been in camp all of TWO days and yet is starting tomorrow night!

While the popular opinion is to disregard the pre-season and add extra games to the regular season, I believe that the NFL needs pre-season games to make the regular season a stronger product.

First and foremost, I think rookies need the pre-season to get acclimated to the speed of the NFL. For example, rookie Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford showed enough poise and pocket awareness in Detroit’s first game that there is talk that if he continues to improve the next three games, he may win the Lions quarterback competition (which I highlighted in a previous debate). In addition, how are fantasy football players supposed to evaluate rookies if they do not see them in games?

Second, players are more likely to get injured if they play more games in the regular season. Extra games accumulate over time, and quite possibly shorten the careers of many players. It is easy to say that people get injured in pre-season games, but, they do. Look at the facts. The majority of starters played only a couple of possessions last week. They will play a little more this week, and even more the week after that. But in the fourth game, they will not play much, if at all. Add up all their playing time over the four games and they might play six quarters. That is significantly less than adding extra games to the schedule. The wear and tear will affect the players, maybe in the short term and maybe in the long run. If a team makes a Super Bowl run, the guys on that team are playing significantly more “intense” minutes. That is going to wear on a body. Playing extra games at an intense level definitely increases the injury possibility when compared to playing pre-season games that sometimes are not played at full speed with the best eleven from each side on the field at the same time.

Third, I think teams need the pre-season in order to get acclimated to the styles of the new coaches they are playing for. Yes, I know “football is football,” but there are different styles. Nine teams have new head coaches (eleven counting the Oakland Raiders with head coach and alleged jaw breaker Tom Cable having the interim label removed, and then also Mike Singletary with the San Francisco 49ers). Seven of those (Raheem Morris, Jim Caldwell, Steve Spagnuolo, Rex Ryan, Jim Schwartz, Todd Haley, and Josh McDaniels) are first time head coaches in the NFL. Players need to get used to the coaches, and conversely, the coaches need to get used to the players. This does not even include all the new members on each coaching staff. There is a transition period and the pre-season is a way to ease that transition.

I know that season ticket holders like Bleacher Fan are frustrated that they have to pay full price to see a pre-season game. Like it or not, the NFL pre-season is necessary!

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Posted by Loyal Homer

The Who Should Have Signed Michael Vick Debate – Buccaneers’ Missed Opportunity for “Vick”-tory

August 17, 2009

Read Sports Geek and Loyal Homer’s arguments on which teams would have been a better fit for Michael Vick.



I was as shocked as anyone to see the announcement last week that Michael Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Not shocked because of what it meant for Vick, but for what it meant for the Philadelphia Eagles organization.

The Eagles now have to accept full responsibility for the social experiment that is Michael Vick’s return to the NFL. Whether it is the intention of head coach Andy Reid that Vick compete with the incumbent Donovan McNabb for the starting quarterback position or not, people will nevertheless view the two stars as competing. That perceived competition will add undue pressure to McNabb, and it unnecessarily shifts focus away from the more pressing needs of the team.

If Reid tries to insert Vick into a new role which he is not as comfortable playing in, and Vick fails, then Reid will be to blame for misappropriating Vick’s skills because he put Vick in a position where he was destined to fail. Either way, Vick can mitigate many of his shortcomings, and the Eagles will be almost entirely to blame if the experiment is unsuccessful.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the wrong fit for Michael Vick.

The team that should have been trying DESPERATELY to bring Vick into their organization is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers! Whether they believed the negative press was worth it or not, the Buccaneers are in desperate need of a player with Vick’s abilities. Tampa Bay would have presented a much more suitable home for #7.

The most obvious reason why Vick belongs in Tampa Bay is because the team is starved for talent at the quarterback position. Under new general manager Mark Dominik, and new head coach Raheem Morris, 2009 will mark the fifth time in six seasons that the Buccaneers begin the year with a new starting quarterback. This year, it will either be career backup Luke McCown or the injury-prone Byron Leftwich playing the role of signal-caller – and expectations are not very high for either.

Neither McCown nor Leftwich present Tampa with a viable long-term solution under center. While there may be questions regarding whether or not Vick can return to the same level he was playing at when he left the game, it is hard to argue against the fact that he still presents greater upside for the team than do the current options of Leftwich and McCown. Raheem Morris has already embraced 2009 as being a year with an open quarterback competition, so why not add Vick into the mix? He would have been available at a very cheap price (signing with Philadelphia for $1.6M with a team option for a second year), posing only a minimal risk that could have paid off with huge dividends if Vick were able to step in and lead the Buccaneers.

What made the seeming lack of interest from Tampa even more surprising was the fact that the Buccaneers had a very aggressive offseason in many other aspects. The team had already brought in tight end Kellen Winslow from Cleveland and running back Derrick Ward from the New York Giants. They had also released some of their ‘older’ big name players like wide receiver Ike Hilliard and linebacker Derrick Brooks. The Buccaneers appeared to be a rebuilding team ready to look to the future, except at the quarterback position.

The combination of Michael Vick with Kellen Winslow, Jr. would have been especially exciting (and productive). While with Atlanta, Vick’s favorite target was his tight end Alge Crumpler. Over the five year period they were paired together, Vick and Crumpler combined for more than 3,700 receiving yards and 30 touchdowns. Winslow, a pro bowler with a remarkable ability to make big plays (he even made Derek Anderson look good!), would have been a perfect complement to Vick. Vick’s scrambling and rushing ability would have also paired nicely with Derrick Ward in the backfield, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season in part time work for the Giants.

Tampa Bay had a great deal to gain and very little to lose if they pulled the trigger on a deal with Michael Vick. In the midst of rebuilding, and in dire need for talent at the quarterback position, the Buccaneers would have been able to put Vick’s considerable ability to immediate use. While the prospect of dealing with the negative publicity from signing Vick may have seemed unappealing to Dominik and Morris – both of whom are themselves rookies in their respective roles – the seeming refusal to even consider Vick is something they will regret for years to come.

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Posted by Bleacher Fan

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