Good Coaching Secret to Vick, Eagles' Success

Instead of starting off my blog with another Brett Favre bitch-fest, I offer this change-up.

Micheal Vick has always been talented, but he has never had quality coaching to meet his talent. Sure, he had Dan Reeves, but Reeves was no offensive genius. And Jim Mora Jr., although he installed a West Coast offense in Atlanta, tried to limit Vick to a pocket passer, which he is not. However, Reid, an offensive genius and quarterback guru, is still allowing Vick to be spontaneous and run, but moreover wants Vick to always see the throw first and work through his progressions before taking off and running with it. This does come at a price, however. Vick has already been injured this season when he took off an ran and it is bound to happen again every time Vick takes off. That is why keeping Kevin Kolb is smart if you're the Eagles. Both of them will be free agents after this season, and the Eagles will be so much better off if they are resigned. Kolb, though, will have to be content with being paid backup-quarterback money, because that is what he is going to be.

Before last night's game Redskins' defensive coordinator Jim Haslett equated the Eagles offense to that of the Rams from a decade ago. When I first read that statement I though it was ludicrous. After seeing how many times Reid wanted Vick to pick up big gains on passing plays I could see where Haslett was coming from, not to mention he did a terrible job defending the Eagles' attack.

Andy Reid's coaching record is 114-70-1, a winning percentage of .62. 1999 and 2005 have been the Eagles only losing seasons with Reid at the helm.

To say that owners like Dan Snyder, Jerry Jones, and Al Davis are a dying breed in the NFL is an understatement. They are throw backs to the 70s and 80s when the NFL was trying to be flashy and attract fans with boisterous coaching and players and high-priced free agents making impacts on teams. That is not the NFL of the 2010s. It wasn't even the NFL of the 2000s. Do you know what the Eagles owner looks like? The Steelers? The Giants? Didn't think so.

Shrutebag was right this morning: "The NFL is a nuts-and-bolts, thinking man's league." I agree with that statement. The Giants with Bill Parcells, a nuts-and-bolts thinking man's head coach, won two Super Bowls at the twilight of the flashy NFL of the 80s and early-90s with nuts-and-bolts thinking man's players. There are too many players on those teams to count.

Al Davis, after years of losing and .500 seasons with high-priced, washed-up free agents, finally turned a corner and hired a young coach and largely this year's Raiders are built with young players through the draft. Yes, the Raiders went to a Super Bowl in the past decade with Davis' old formula, but the next season when many of their aged stars were injured, the Raiders were losers. Count 'em: Rich Gannon, Rod Woodson, Dana Stubblefield, Bill Romanowski, Trace Armstrong, Terrance Shaw all sustained career-ending injuries in 2003 and Raiders won only four games that year after winning 11 and a Super Bowl birth the previous year.

When Jerry Jones had a disciplinarian head coach (Parcells, Jones) the Cowboys were winners and were disciplined, having few penalties. The problem, in Jones' point of view was they wanted too much control over personnel decisions. Jones felt they had too much power, so they were fired and brought in puppets like Switzer, Gailey, Campo, and Phillips, the teams struggled and were not disciplined. Owners like Jones, Davis, and Snyder will never hire a general manager or allow their coach to make decisions for the good of the team.

Stat of the Week: The Broncos followed a 45-point loss up with a 20-point win. And I guess Tim Tebow threw his first touchdown pass. Big woop. It was like a one-yard square-out. He celebrated like he had just thrown a game-winning Hail Mary.

Meanwhile, I am just done with Favre and the Vikings. He turned the ball over four more times and was the sole reason for the Vikings defeat. The Vikings season is done. The players have no respect for their coach. That is what really pissed me off. I'm sorry, but I am not in the Childress is a bum boat. The Fox NFL Sunday put it nicely. Basically Jimmy Johnson said "man up, put your differences aside, and play some damn good football." The Vikings have done nothing but improved year-after-year with Childress and without the Vikings older stars like Moss and Culpepper; six wins, eight wins, 10 wins, 12 wins. And the Bears on an off-day, are now tied for the division lead.

College Football Score From A School You've Never Heard Of (Last Week of D-II/III Regular Season): California of Pennsylvania 57, Cheyney 6. Watch the replay.

Next Week: The Vikings are once again on national TV as they play at home against the Packers. CBS has the doubleheader. Gumbel and Dierdorf journey to the Meadowlands to call the action for Houston and the Jets. Nantz and Simms will be at Indianapolis-New England, which will be seen by the whole CBS network (there are no other late games on CBS). Cleveland-Jacksonville and Cincinnati-Buffalo are two lowest-rated games on CBS (I think they are the network's "D" and "E" games. Living in Ohio sucks sometimes!) Even if WTTE does not show a game at 1:00, Seattle-New Orleans at 4:05 should be good.

Week 7, One Big Brett Favre Rant

After Sunday night's loss to the Packers, Vikings coach Brad Childress basically threw Brett Favre under the bus in the postgame conference, blaming Favre for the loss, as he should (with a little help from the officiating crew). In case you didn't see it, a Vikings touchdown was overturned, even though Visanthe Shancoe clearly had possession as he hit the ground. There was also a pass interference call on Randy Moss that smelled of b.s. (see, I'm not a total Vikings hater).

Childress blamed Favre for the loss, and rightly so. I see a coach that is frustrated with losing and being 2-4. He knows his team is more talented than 2-4, and they are. There is no way a team with Randy Moss, Adrian Peterson, their defense and even Brett Favre should be 2-4.

Granted, Adrian Peterson is quietly on his way to an 1,800 yard season, but this simply cannot go on any longer. I know Favre will never be bench, but I would seriously consider it. Favre has already thrown 10 interceptions (he threw seven all of last season).

And of course ESPN, the network of Brett Favre apologists, basically ripped Childress for ripping Favre on the basis on "Oh, that's just ol' Brett. He always throws it to the other guys but to our guys more." ESPN has never taken Brad Childress seriously; poking fun at his headset and his orthodontist dimenor. Remember they won 10 games in 2008 with Gus Frerotte as their starting quarterback, and without Randy Moss.

Meanwhile, five of top ten passers on Sunday lost their games; Carson Palmer had a 400-yard effort in a loss, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw four touchdowns in a loss, Drew Brees tossed nearly 60 passes in a shocking loss.

Most Super Bowl teams hit their groove in the middle of season, meaning, it's not the end of the world if a team drops a game or two at the beginning or end of the season. The Giants, possibly the best team in the NFC, are on a four-game winning streak. The Jets, a five-game streak. The Patriots, a four-game streak. The Titans, a three-game streak.

Close Calls: Two contests on Sunday were decided by a point, four by three points and one by four. Conversely, there were contests decided by 45, 22, and 18 points.

Location Political Correctness?: Last year, the p.a. announcer at Sun Life Stadium (previously Land Shark Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Pro Player Park, Joe Robbie Stadium) addressed the crowd at the Super Bowl, "Welcome to South Florida!" I believe I heard that this year's Super Bowl will not be in Dallas, but in North Texas. I guess Coral Gables felt discriminated against, as will Fort Worth and Irving this year? Oy vey!

Super Bowl Spoilers: The Browns have beaten the defending Super Bowl champions in each of the past three seasons (Giants in 2008, Steelers last year, and the Saints this year).

Speaking of the Saints, as hard as it is to believe, Drew Bress leads the league in interceptions with 10 (Brett Favre does too, but that's no surprise).

College Football Scores From Schools You've Never Heard Of: Mercyhurst 31, California of Pennsylvania 21

Score #2. Maritime Bowl: Maine Maritime 28, Massachusetts Maritime 27

Bonus Score. Sominex Bowl: Indianapolis 6, Northern Michigan 5. All points scored in fourth quarter.

Patch Stat of the Week: The Raiders put up 59 points against the Broncos. Most ever for the franchise, ever, in history, even through the AFL days. They put up 52 three times; once in 2002, 2000, and then in 1963 (a 52-49 shootout against the Oilers).

Why Am I Watching This Game?: In the Columbus, Ohio market, the Seahawks-Cardinals snorefest was shown. Why? It was a regional matchup weekend on Fox. How regional are teams that are located 1,900 and 2,400 miles away? What's worse, this game was shown to countless other markets that I bet did not give two shits about this game. Buffalo? Kansas City? West Palm Beach? It was shown to 19% of Fox's affiliates! Even their so-called #1 game, Chicago-Washington was only (in the scheme of things) shown to 34% of Fox affiliates. Eagles-Titans, their #2 game, was shown to 33% of Fox's affiliates. WGRT in Dayton was the only Ohio Fox affiliate to host Redskins-Bears. None had Eagles-Titans. Am I the only one who does not understand the logic behind this?

Next Week: Luckily, Fox has the double-header next week (since Fox does not release what their broadcasting assignments are until the morning of an NFL Sunday, I can't share them). Pats-Vikings is the main 4:15 game. Jim Nantz and Phil Simms of CBS will be at Jax/North Texas, although 49ers-Broncos in London is slotted ahead of that with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf in the booth. I'm pretty sure I have yet to see a game in London since the NFL has started that again due to local obligations (sometimes it sucks having four AFC teams that have fans in the area).

Brett Favre Sends Out Naughty Pictures Of Certain Body Parts And The Decatur Staleys Have Returned to the NFL

Before moving onto this past weekends collisions, I want to talk about something from last week. Chuck Cecil, defensive coordinator of the Titans, did not agree with a penalty against his unit in the game against the Broncos, so he gave the officials a middle finger, and CBS cameras happened to be pointed at him when he flipped the officials off. CBS's broadcast of the gesture was on YouTube for a few days before being removed for a copyright violation. CBS's broadcast team took in it stride. Kevin Harlan, who was handling the play-by-play duties for the game jokingly said something like "he fired off a Hawaiian peace sign!" And color commentator Soloman Wilcots did not even mention the gesture in his explanation of the penalty.

Cecil was fined $40,000 for the gesture and tied his middle and index fingers together for the game against Dallas on Sunday, this article explains. (Note: The comment by BobsCountryBunker made me laugh)

And now Cecil's half of a piece sign is my Blogger avatar, although for some reason it's really really small.

The Favre story to me seems really tabloidish and not that big of a deal. If you're not up to speed a female member of the Jets staff came out and said that Favre sent her inappropriate texts and pictures, including one of Favre's penis, to her when he was with the team in 2008. I think the Jets staffperson just wants the fame. I'm not saying it didn't happen, it most certainly may have. Call me a bad person that a married man would send such message but it's not a big deal to me. And why it took two years for this story to surface makes it seem more fishier.

Some recent personnel decisions by the Patriots have really puzzled me. Randy Moss gets temperamental and yes he doesn't give 100% on each and every play. He has never once in his career been cut or traded because he can't catch a football. He can. Why he was so quickly whisked away makes me think something else went on that hasn't been made public. Moss never ran his mouth (he said that he thought 2010 would be his last year with the Pats. So what? His contract was up anyway). I know it's Belichick and the Patriots, I'd like to know why Moss was simply written off on the Patriots' game plan. He was a complete non-factor. And now the Pats think they can win with 5'8" underneath guys (they have in the past), and they have traded back Deion Branch, whom they cut ties with after the '05 season.

Since Belichick came to New England, they've always been very finesse on offense. They were never a deep passing team until '07 nor were they a pound-the-rock running team, even with Corey Dillon or Antowain Smith. Seriously, watch the Pats during their Super Bowl run, lots of cutesie screens and rinky-dink stuff to the slot, Troy Brown and later Givens and Patten as well as sweeps and pitches. In '01, their only deep threat, Terry Glenn, was suspended and not awarded a Super Bowl ring and was traded to the Packers in the offseason, which paved the way for Troy Brown catch 101 passes.

In other NFL news the Decatur Staleys beat the Kewanee Walworths in a 25-7 blowout, er, I mean the Chicago Bears beat the Carolina Panthers 23-6, but their style of play was much like the Staleys of 90 years ago. Chicago had 218 yards rushing, helped by a cover-your-eyes bad performance by backup quarterback Todd Collins (6 of 16 for 32 yards and four interceptions). Chicago's defense tore up the hapless Carolina offense, giving up a mere 147 total yards. The Bears could still easily go 11-5 with many doubters, due to the weakness of their schedule.

The Falcons are 4-1 in case you haven't heard. They've beaten Cleveland, Arizona, New Orleans, and San Francisco, not exactly the best the NFL has to offer. I'm not counting them out but I'm not putting them up on a pedestal yet. Tony Gonzalez is on pace to have a huge year though.

The 1972 Dolphins did not have much time for their champagne to age. The Chiefs went down as the last undefeated team to be...defeated.

Useless Stats Section:

Stat #1: The Bears have 80 yards passing in their past two games where they have gone 1-1.

Stat #2: Yes the Browns are 1-4. Their three losses were by three, two, seven, and ten. Their sole win was by three. Expect the margin of defeat to get higher, as their next four opponents are Pittsburgh, New Orleans, New England, and the Jets.

Stat #3: All of the teams in the AFC South are 3-2.

Stat #4: The Lions have not put up more than 40 points since 2007.

Stat #5: The NFC West-leading Cardinals did not have an offensive touchdown despite putting up 30 against the Saints.

Stat #6: The Panthers have five touchdowns and 16 turnovers.

We're All Professionals Here: The first play of the Vikings-Jets collision was a reverse pass from Randy Moss to Brett Favre. Favre was flagged for ineligible receiver downfield. Next play, 1st and 15 from the Viking 35, fullback Jim Kleinsasser was flagged for a false start. On the next play, this time 1st and 20, Adrian Peterson gains four yards. Next play, false start on lineman Loadholt. It was that kind of night for the Vikings.

SNF Analysis: The 49ers, the team we all predicted would win the NFC West, are 0-5, dismal on offense, dismal on defense. Mike Singletary is mad and Alex Smith is still a bust, despite every intention of his coaches trying to make him a starter. They are in the cellar, there is no doubt about it. The end of the game came down to controversial slide by running back LeSean McCoy. It was 2nd and 13 at the Eagles' 17. He caught a short flare-out pass and scampered 11 yards before falling two yards short of the first down. He was going to be tackled anyway and it was doubtful that he would have gained two more yards, despite the I told you sos by Cris Collinsworth (he's known for doing that). On the ensuing 49ers drive, the Eagles played conventional defense, no mega blitzes, no wacky prevent, they mixed their coverages well. They did take one gamble, blitzing six, and they got to Alex Smith so fast that he didn't notice that Frank Gore was wide open with nothing but green in front of him. And then came the duck that Alex Smith threw to a wide open Travard Lidley...who plays for the Eagles...

College Football Scores From Schools You've Never Heard Of:

Score #1: West Chester 44, Shippensburg 43

Blowout Special: Willamette 69, Pacific U 7

Brett Favre Rant of the Week: I do not care about the so-called scandal with the Jets' staffperson, whether he sent naughty photos or texts or not, I DO NOT CARE! Favre has already thrown seven interceptions, which is the same amount that he tossed last year and they are 1-3 and still looking downright ugly on offense. Fortunately for the Vikings, they may still be able to win the division with a 9-7 record, which may end up happening with the toughness of their schedule.

The Chiefs, NFL's Passively Aggressive Team: The low-voltage chiefs tried to be aggressive, but that proved to be a moot point against the Colts. They started the game with an onside kick, which failed. And after an Adam Vinateri field goal, this was followed by a 15-play drive that resulted in no points because Matt Cassel's 4th and 2 pass from the Colts' 8 clanged incomplete. Moral of the story, don't try to out-Colt the Colts.

Next Week: Browns @ Steelers, 1:00 on CBS. Kevin Harlan and Soloman Wilcots in the booth. Fox has the doubleheader for Week 6. In the Columbus market, Saints @ Bucs will be at 1:00, with Cowboys @ Vikings (the Irrelevant Bowl) at 4:15. Colts-Redskins on Sunday Night and Jags-Titans on Monday Night.

Save Yourself: The Bills, Bengals, Cardinals, and Panthers all have byes next week!