NFL Week 5 Thoughts

The Have Nots

Never before in the NFL have there been so many awful teams at once. There are so many bad teams it is unreal and next week there may be roughly 5 games you won't be able to bet points on in Pro Line. This week the Raiders/Giants game couldn't be touched and next week it may be the same thing all over again.

This goes far beyond the JamesCarvilleBowl which is the unofficial name for the Browns/Bills "game" on Sunday. If you ever needed a reason to buy NFL Sunday Ticket that game was it. The point is that there are so many brutal teams this year that 0-16 may be a possibility for some.

Here are the teams that I truly believe would struggle to beat Florida or Alabama of the NCAA:

Cleveland Browns: 1-4 (Got its 1 win by beating Buffalo)

Buffalo Bills: 1-4 (Got its 1 win by beating TB)

Oakland Raiders: 1-4 (Got its 1 win by beating KC)

Kansas City Chiefs: 0-5

Carolina Panthers: 1-4 (Got it 1 win by beating KC)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 0-5

St. Louis Rams: 0-5

Now I left out Tennessee (0-5) and Detroit (1-4) because both teams are competitive and have had some success losing mostly in close games. I mean the Titans are the best 0-5 team in history and the Lions only lost to the Steelers by 8 points with Dante Culpepper playing.

The point is that these teams are all terrible and will more than likely finish the season with under 9 wins combined.

Smarten Up

My biggest pet peeve about the NFL is the abundance of celebrations by players on losing teams. I love celebrations in sports. I mean the Tiger fist pump is a classic but I draw the line at celebrating while you are losing.

The specific example I am drawn to is Donnie Avery of the Rams celebrating a touchdown while his team is down 31-3. I get that he was excited that he scored a touchdown but his team is getting stomped by epic proportions and he is celebrating. Maybe if he spent more time working on his game rather than his touchdown celebrations his team wouldn't be 0-5.

The same can be said of countless other players though. Every time a fat lineman makes a tackle in the backfield they find it necessary to walk 5 yards and do either a slam gesture or a grave digging gesture. Grow up.

Jarred Allen and his stupid pose after he sacks the quarterback used to be funny but now is just annoying. Especially when he does it after turnstiling some rookie who has 0 business being in the game.

F*ck the Wildcat

Whoever brought this formation into the NFL needs to get kicked in the nuts. This thing is annoying for so many reasons:

1. Jon Gruden literally jizzes in his pants every time the Dolphins run the Wildcat

2. Chad Henne (my fantasy QB for this week) was only involved in 65% of the offensive plays tonight which limited the amount of points he could get and cost me my perfect fantasy season.

3. My Jets lost tonight because they can't stop this thing

4. #1 again. I watched almost the entire game and by the time it was done I was checking prices for flights so I could fly to Miami to kill Jon Gurden. I may even hire someone to do it.

In all seriousness though I don't understand how teams can't stop this thing. The corners do their normal thing while you bring up 1 safety to defend the run and keep 1 back to defend the pass. Everyone else plays the run. How is this complicated? 90% of the time it is a direct snap and the running back just rushed up the A gaps. Seems easy to me.

Overtime Rules Need to Change

Love the rule for Sunday because it meant Tom Brady and the Patriots lost and he isn't 7-0 in OT games anymore but in general the rule is stupid. How can you have two teams play a full game and then risk the possibility of only 1 team getting the ball in overtime? Teams have missed the playoffs because they lost the toss in overtime and it isn't right.

The problem is easily solved. Add 10 minutes and let the teams play out the whole OT. No need for sudden death. Give both teams an equal chance to have a possession and go from there. I would hate to see a team miss the playoffs or even miss out on a perfect season because of this stupid overtime rule.

Fix it.

Fantasy Goat of the Week (Player on my fantasy team "Favre $ Footlong" who blew it)

Dustin Keller and Lee Evans share the award this week as they combined for 2 catches and 11 yards. Lost my match up by 4 fantasy points because of these two douchers.

After the Bills game I traded Evans and tomorrow I will be shopping Keller.

Quick Thoughts

- Derek Anderson went 2-17 for 23 yards and had 1 INT on Sunday yet still managed to win the game. Ladies and Gentlemen your 2009 Cleveland Browns!

- JaMarcus Russell has the pocket presence of Helen Keller

- "Well, the weather's nice.'' Oakland defensive lineman Richard Seymour,asked on a conference call with New York reporters last week, "How's Oakland?''

- The Redskins have had the easiest schedule of any team in the NFL over the past 4 weeks yet are only 2-2 in that stretch. The opponents from those weeks have a combined record of 2-18.

- The injury to the patriots Matt Light is massive. If he doesn't come back this season there could be trouble in New England.

- Miles Austin had 10 catches for 250 yards and 2 TD on Sunday. Going into the game he had 23 catches for 435 yards.

- Mike Vrabel has 11 career receptions all for TDs

- Colts (5-0) and Giants (5-0) could very well meet in the SuperBowl which would be the most hyped SB in NFL history would it not? Hopefully the foot injury Eli has won't slow him down at all.

- Had a chance to go to the Browns/Bills game on Sunday as friend has season tickets. Best $160 I never spent.

- Josh McDaniels has the best fist pump in professional sports. Honestly Tiger Woods has nothing on JMD. His quadruple fist pump to the fans in front of 100 cameras after the win on Sunday was epic. Don't believe me? Check out the photographic proof:

Random YouTube Video (Not funny or related just an Amazing song)

A Simple Solution

About this time of year I get some strange feelings twirling around inside my stomach. It is a feeling of both love and hate. It is strange to get such strong feelings in both directions, but I have them. You see, as a huge The College Football Playoff Solution college football fan I wake up on Saturday mornings excited about what the day may hold. Will there be a huge upset, or perhaps an epic blow out. I love the drama, the excitement and enthusiasm.

Then there is the other side of the coin. I often find myself asking the question "What is the point?". It is hard to figure out why you should watch college football unless you have an alma mater that you ritually root for. Even if you have that alma mater there is a rare chance that they are going to be able to play for the big prize. Each year there are only a handful of teams who begin the year even eligible to win the National Championship in college football. Teams outside the top 25 have little to no chance to climb into the top 2 positions, therefore college football begins the season with some 90 or so teams that are ineligible to even win the national championship. Even teams who go undefeated yet begin their season in the top 25 have a small chance, the University of Utah 2009 football team is a perfect example of this conundrum. For this reason, college football is discouraging to me.

If you want more evidence of just how twisted the college football national championship process can be, just look further into the 2009 season. Oklahoma and Florida were selected to play for the national championship. As in previous years these are two huge schools, who began their season highly ranked. Both suffered a defeat and ended their season with but one loss. However, there is another story to be told. Oklahoma's fiercest rival, Texas had handily beat Oklahoma in the cotton bowl earlier in the season. Texas also ended their season with only one loss (Texas Tech, last minute catch, at Texas Tech). Thanks to a computer system that rewards early season losses above later in the season losses, the BCS system chose Oklahoma by the absolute slimmest of margins to play for the national title. The problem here is that both Oklahoma and Texas, and Utah, and Florida, and Texas Tech, and a couple of other teams each could have made their case that they deserved to play for a national title.

I dare say, it is time for the college football gurus at the NCAA to wake up and see what they are missing out on. I believe college football to have the largest following among all other collegiate and professional sports. I firmly believe that schools like LSU have far more fans than their instate professional team the New Orleans Saints. I think the same case could be made for Notre Dame having more fans than any other sports team in the country (even the Yankee's and Cowboys). So why is there not a system in place that can take advantage of the monstrous fan base found within NCAA Division one College football.

Let me purpose a simple system that would make sense to many of us fans. First and foremost, do away with preseason rankings. Give every team a shot to establish themselves after the first month of the season. Secondly, use your existing bowl structure and BCS computer rankings to arrive at the following play-off structure:

BCS #1 (Receives a Bye)

BCS #2 (Receives a Bye)

BCS #3 plays BCS #6

BCS #4 plays BCS #5

The winners of these games would be reseeded to play the two teams that received a bye, with the winners of those two games playing for a national championships at one of the Bowl Games already in place for the current BCS system. This system would answer the critics of a play off system who believe that it would add to many games to an already full schedule. If the critics who argue it would be to much travel would like, there could be an expansion of 1 or 2 BCS games that would allow for a regional system in the first round, but since when have fans from schools like USC not been willing to travel? This system could allow for some expansion by adding a BCS #7 and BCS #8 to play numbers 1 and 2 respectively in the first round.

Surely, the powers that be can envision that college football could possibly over take the NFL as our country's most beloved sports. These games would draw numbers at least close to the Superbowl if marketed and promoted correctly. It would definitely give the average football fan a reason to watch the meaningless BCS games that achieve average to high ratings already.

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The Fall of the 'Big 4'

The English Premier League season is well underway now, but even before a single ball was kicked it was being predicted that this season would be the season that the Premierships "Big Four" would finally be broken. The Big Four, if you're not aware, consists of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, and they are called the big four because there has been a notable gap in quality between these four teams and the rest of the English Football League.

Only four teams have ever won the Barclays Premier League title, and three of them are a big four team.

The Premiership fixtures so far this season have borne this out as, with eight games gone, the top five teams in the Premier League Table contains all four of the big four teams. There is still, understandably, talk of the top four teams being gate crashed by a few likely contenders.

The main culprits when this subject arises are Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Aston Villa and Manchester City. Everton and Tottenham have been flirting with the top four; finishing fifth for a number of seasons, and Aston Villa have been nipping at their heels, and Manchester City while still unproven, have spent the kind of money that should at least get them a top eight finish.

Indeed, as this article is being written, Tottenham are the fourth of the top five teams in the Premier League Table, and Manchester City lie in sixth with two games in hand; a win in those games would see them level with Chelsea at the top of the table.

So what about the big four themselves? Well Manchester United have gotten off to a mediocre (for them) start; winning but not particularly impressively in a number of matches, but then again Man U always seem to start slow, and despite this they have only lost once.

Chelsea seem to have had the best start of the top four teams, but a lot of their victories have seemed laboured and, in some cases, lucky.

Arsenal were widely tipped to be the team that dropped out of the top four, but have had decent start to the season and only seem to fall in Manchester; having so far lost to both United and City.

Liverpool, having seen the start of the season now, looks the most likely of the top four to slip up this season. They currently lie in fifth and are only above Manchester City on goal difference. All in all though, the big four still seem to be the big four. What about the challengers?

Everton have finished fifth in the last two seasons, so it's reasonable to expect they would be serious contenders, however they seem to have gotten off to the worst start of the challengers this season; losing three games, one of them being a 6-1 thrashing by Arsenal in the opening game of the season.

Aston Villa is holding their own, but they don't look like a team that will better its previous Premier League finish; currently sitting in eight.

Tottenham, as I've said, are doing very well; currently fourth in the league and playing some very good football. Perhaps the most successful of the challenging teams, as they should be, is Manchester City. They could well be top of the table if they can capitalize on their games in hand, and have already beaten one of the big four, Arsenal, and only just lost to a second when they were beaten 4-3 by Manchester United.

Added competition for the Premier League Title can only be good for Premiership football, but is this really the year that the big four are broken up?

I don't think so.

You see, Tottenham have had a good start, but they've played two of the big four and were beaten quite comprehensively on both occasions.

Everton have shown glimpses of what they are capable of under the guidance of the excellent David Moyes, but they've had a poor start and can't afford to lose many more games if they want to be serious contenders for a European Champions League spot.

Aston Villa is coming across very middle of the road and is showing no signs of exceeding expectations.

Manchester City is new and strong, but unproven. They have beaten one of the top four and their excellent start to the season has filled them with confidence, but they seem arrogant. Even in their 4-3 loss to Manchester United, they contested the perfectly legitimate 95th minute goal that sealed the win for United, and claimed they were unlucky to not have at least got a point. I watched that match and City were extremely lucky to have come so close to a point. They were gifted three goals by very poor individual errors by Manchester Uunited players, take those away and the game was mostly Manchester United. In short, City is heading for a reality check, throwing money at the team didn't immediately bag Chelsea the Premiership Title, and it won't bag Manchester City it either.

I think the end of this English Premier League Season will see Manchester United and Chelsea fighting it out for the top spot, with Liverpool and Arsenal not far behind hoping nab third, and Manchester City closely followed by Tottenham below them.

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Why Madden is the Best Sports Video Game

I play a lot of video games. I mean A LOT. Throughout my life I have owned almost every system you can name: Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Xbox, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and of course Gamegear and Gameboy (color and original).

One of my favorite genre of video games, as you can probably guess, is sports. I have always loved sports game for obvious reasons. They are always fun, the most realistic, and a great way to compete with your friends.

Over the past 10 years I have consistently owned at least 1 football, baseball, hockey, basketball, and soccer game. Of all of these sports the football game, which for as long as I can remember has been Madden, has always been the best and there is 1 reason why.

Madden is the only video game franchise where I play every single game.

Think about it and be honest with yourself. When was the last time you played 162 games of a season in any baseball game? I know I never have. That would take forever. I usually play about 10-20 and then simulate 10-20. You can call it cheating if you want but 162 games is way too repetitive.

NHL and NBA games have the same problem although not to the same extent. Each season requires you to play 82 games. Who plays all 82 games with the same team without getting wicked bored? I just can't do it.

But with Madden it is perfect. 16 games and then playoffs with the most games you play being 20. Well 21 if you play the Pro Bowl but even gamers don't wanna have anything to do with the Pro Bowl.

The reason this is so important is because one of the best parts about playing sports video games is seeing the progress you make with your players or in the cases of the newer EA games the Be a Pro mode. I like seeing my younger players get higher rated and become the superstars of the league rather than being dusters.

In the case of baseball, hockey, and basketball games it just takes way to long for this to happen. Take NBA Live 09 for example. I play as the Toronto Raptors and right off the bat I traded for Rajon Rondo. In 09 they have Rondo rated as a 78 I believe which is far too low. If you play 82 games and go through the off-season mode he goes up to roughly an 82. Now I can either play 82 games and let this happen or win 40 games and then simulate the rest knowing I will make the playoffs.

Now I may be the only one who finds this to be an issue but I think other people feel the same way. I like the managerial aspects of sports and like making trades, signing free agents and seeing players develop. What I don't like is playing 162 games with the exact same roster and using the same 9 guys to get hits game after game.

That is why Madden is the best sports video game out there because you can actually play every game and not get bored.

Additional Rant: One thing I always hated about Madden was the fact that I was a Jets fan. I love the Jets but they have never had a quarterback I like. Both Chad Pennington and Vinny Testaverde suck hard and whenever I started a new season I would use my 1st round pick to upgrade at quarterback.

I no longer have this problem since Mark Sanchez is the man but for a long time that frustrated me to no end. But is there anything worse than when your team has a dumpy quarterback in Madden?

Final Comment: Last week Josh Johnson started for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His Madden rating is 38. Worst Madden rating for a starting quarterback in NFL history? I gotta think so.

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Jeter > Rose?

There are only 27 players in the history of baseball that have 3000 career hits. Most of the players who have 3000 career hits limped to the mark, far from the being the players that set them up the get to 3000. More than half of the 3000 hit club finished their career with less than 3200 hits.

Only 5 of the 27 made it to 3500 hits. Just 2 of these 5 made it to 3800 hits; Ty Cobb (4189) and Pete Rose (4256).

We will always have a lingering question about Ichiro Suzuki, who has average a ML record 226 hits per season throughout his career, but his ML career started way too late (age 27) to have a chance at catching Cobb or Rose.

When the 2009 Regular Season ended today, Derek Jeter will be 35 years and 100 days old. Going into the playoffs he has 2747 career hits. When Pete Rose was 35 years and 100 days he had 2673 hits. This puts Jeter 75 hits ahead of Pete Rose's pace.

Jeter should reach 3000 hits during the first half of the 2011 season, becoming just the 3rd player to pull it off before their 37th birthday, along with Ty Cobb and Robin Yount. With 210+ hits this season, Jeter is sprinting to 3000.

Derek Jeter has already become the Yankees' all-time hit leader and has the most career hits as a shortstop. So can he catch Pete Rose?

It's very unlikely. Pete Rose played another 10 birthdays after his 35th. It would be very hard to imagine Jeter doing the same. Yankee fans and non-Yankee fans alike would have a hard time picturing the “Captain” in any uniform other than a Yankee one. It would be shocking to everyone if Jeter finished his career with any other team. Therefore he would have to have his decline (a severe one by the time he hits his mid-40s) on a team that doesn't appreciate declines.

Take Bernie Williams for example. He could have hooked on with another team, but would rather retire a Yankee. He wanted to play but the Yankees are trying to win the championship every year so they cut him loose.

Despite his amazing pace, it's extremely unlikely Jeter will pass Rose. When Derek Jeter's career is over, he will probably be somewhere between 3rd and 6th on the All-Time hit list. Right now 3, 4, and 5 are Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, and Tris Speaker, respectively. Not bad company to be in.

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