Dreams Blog
January 20, 2012
The Giants Lunch Pail Victory
That catch by Hakeem Nicks (7catches, 165yds., 2TDs) that ended the first half of the NY 37-20 win over the Packers was NOT a hail- Mary. It was a called play- “Flood Tip that was designed to put Nicks in a spot where he went up and got it with his strong hands,” Coach Coughlin explained.
The NY-D forced 3 GB fumbles that couldn’t be ignored or reversed. The worst call in my opinion saw Umeniora sack Rogers, tackling him around the waist as the many replays showed. The zebras called a roughing-hit to the head penalty on the Giants.
This might have been the straw that turned the scales toward NY.
GBs leading rusher was Rogers who was only 26-46, 264, in the air.
The Coaching Merry-Go-Round
Dan Daly (DC Times) wrote that the coaching pool seems to have dried up. “In recent years, such coaches as Jackson, Todd Haley, Josh McDaniel, Eric Mangini, Jim Mora Jr., Jim Zorn, Scott Linehan and Rod Marinelli have all washed out in fewer than three seasons. It’s scary how little rope coaches are given nowadays. The league is almost becoming like hockey that way.
Want to hear something that’s truly mind-blowing? All 12 of the coaches who made the playoffs this season are connected — either closely or remotely — to Bill Walsh or Bill Parcells. (That is, they’re located somewhere in Walsh’s or Parcells’ coaching trees,; even if they’re just a twig.) Nobody should be too surprised, then, that Romeo Crennel, a former Parcells assistant, was named to follow Haley in Kansas City, or that Fisher, San Francisco’s secondary coach under George Seifert (Walsh’s successor), has been in such demand. So it goes in the NFL, where coaching searches have become a risky — and expensive — version of blind man’s bluff. ”
I keep remembering what an old boss of mine said (he was the only guy I ever met named ‘Lefty’)- “You can always find someone else who can’t do the job.”
That made me think about that carousel and how important coaching was in the final analysis. My breakdown would be: Player Roster-40%; QB-20%; GM-20%; Head Coach-10%; Off. Coordinator-5%; Def. Coordinator-5%.
A Back Up QB For The Jets
Dan Daly (DC Times) wrote about finding the right NFL-QB. “You can’t pay too much attention to the quarterback position in the NFL (though the Washington Redskins have been ignoring this axiom for the past year). Until you find a bona fide QB, you can forget about hoisting any Lombardi trophies, forget about making. any history — the good kind, at least. In fact, until you find a bona fide QB, you’re pretty much roadkill for all the teams that have found bona fide QBs.”
I was glad to see the Jets sign Mark Brunell to help Mark Sanchez grow into his role as a team leader. But Brunell turned out to be more of a pal than a mentor.
Now word has it that the Jets will be looking for more of a task master to spur Sanchez- especially bringing in Tony Sparano to be the new offensive coordinator. Sparano is from the Bill Parcells coaching tree and emulates Parcells’ tough love tactics.
I think that the Jets let the wrong coordinator go. I should have been Mike Pettine on the bricks instead of Brian Shottenheimer. Shott’s offense didn’t do well because the players didn’t play well (Sanchez?) not because of the called plays. Pettine’s defense (or was it Ryan’s) slumped because of the defenses called and too much emphasis was put on “Revis’ Island.”
Jim Harbaugh’s Philips-Head
Scott Ostler (SF Chronicle) wrote about the reactions to Jim Harbaugh’s style.
We’ll call it the Tara VanDerveer Observation. The Stanford women’s basketball coach once said, “All the great ones have a ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘I always thought it was weird. I always thought it was weird that a lot of head coaches don’t really speak to you and don’t want to get to know you personally. And when I first got here I thought it was a little weird that he wanted to do that. … That’s why he’s won the locker room over, and why he’s won the organization and everyone over.’
It’s too early to proclaim Harbaugh a genius, but the 49ers would be wise to keep the maintenance guy with the screwdriver away from their coach.”
What Cap Will Posada Wear In Cooperstown?
Happy 50th Birthday to Jim Caple (ESPN.com).
Jim wrote about Jorge going into the MLB-HOF in five years, when he’s eligible. He pointed out that Posada’s numbers compare favorably with HOF catchers Bill Dickey, Gary Carter, and Gabby Hartnett. Posada played on five World Series Championship teams and should have won the 2007 MVP with a .426 OBP, incredible for a catcher, and a .970 OPS (Johnny Bench had .932 and .902 OPS in his MVP years- Joe Mauer had a 1.031 in his MVP year).
Johnny Bench warned, “There are 13 catchers in the Hall of Fame, eight elected by the Baseball Writers Assn. and the other five by the Veterans’ Committee. That’s about one a decade.”
Speaking of Johnny Bench, Bill Dwyer (LA Times) said, He had his ways of communicating when enough was enough.
“We were playing the Dodgers in Cincinnati one time, and the game the night before had gone on until something like 1 in the morning,” Bench says. “Then, a few hours later, we were back out there, and it was hot. It’s late in the game, the Dodgers are up, 10-0, and our pitcher, Gerry Arrigo, is still trying to throw hard and can’t do it. If he keeps throwing what he is throwing, the game will go on for hours. So I give him the curve sign. He shakes it off. I put it down again. He says no. A third time. No.
“So I put down the fastball sign, he lets go, and I catch it with my bare hand. I look over in the Dodgers dugout and you can’t see a soul. The dugout was below ground at Crosley Field, and they were all rolling around on the ground, laughing.”
