Week 8; Vikings, Cowboys, Fix Your Teams in One Easy Step!

I'm watching Fox NFL Sunday for once and they're talking about Brett Favre. I never thought I'd here Terry Bradshaw say something smart, but he just has. He remarked that every time a quarterback throws, he puts most of his weight on his left foot, which Favre has two broken bones in (as well as an injury in his elbow). Yes! Jimmy Johnson agrees! He also says that's it's okay to sit a game, and that Favre's good throws have been outweighed by his bad ones. Yes! Micheal Strahan says no coach has the balls (he said cajones, or however you spell it) to bench Favre. Yes! However Troy Aikman did his share of Favre-loving, especially after Favre took a big hit in the second half.

It is so refreshing to hear some media criticism of Favre, and not everybody apologizing for his bad plays and calling Brad Childress a lame-duck coach. Lately, I have gotten so tired of ESPN's love-affair of Favre that I have all but boycotted ESPN, other than Mike and Mike and the 11:00 SportsCenter ("The Blitz" segments only. The rest of the show I fast-forward through.)

How To Fix The Cowboys: Sorry to sound like a broken record, but Wade Phillips needs to go, and so does Jerry Jones. I've never like owners like Jerry Jones or Al Davis, who consider themselves "player's coaches". Players can't coach themselves, and when they're payed millions of dollars, they develop egos. To keep their egos in check, they need a powerful coach to keep them in line (Bill Parcells). The problem, according to owners like Jones, is that they want too much power, they want in on personnel decisions and the draft, which is how Parcells was ousted from New England after the Super Bowl loss to the Packers. It's not the players. The Cowboys are way too talented of a team to be 1-6. When Bill Parcells was the coach, he had inferior talent to what the Cowboys have now, but they were disciplined. They were not penalized a lot and players were not "larger" than the team. Also, JerryWorld is not exactly a stadium where home field advantage is much of a factor. See, it's so big that the crowd noise largely unaffects the opposing team. And even worse, every Cowboys game so far this season has been nationally televised.

Cowboys TV Schedule:

Week 1: Sunday Night
Week 2: #1 game of regional weekend on Fox (if an affiliate did not have local obligations, it is recommended they show this game, unless you're WTTE)
Week 3: #1 game of regional weekend on Fox
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: second game of doubleheader on CBS, shown to majority of country
Week 6: second game of doubleheader on Fox, shown to majority of country
Week 7: Monday Night
Week 8: #1 game of regional weekend on CBS
Week 9: Sunday Night
Week 10: second game of doubleheader on Fox
Week 11: play Lions. Likely not #1 game but stranger things have happened
Week 12: Thanksgiving Game on Fox
Week 13: second game of doubleheader on Fox
Week 14: scheduled for Sunday Night, could change because of Flex Scheduling
Week 15: play at 1:00 against the Redskins, might actually not be on national TV
Week 16: play Cardinals on NFL Network, Christmas
Week 17: play Eagles at 1:00

How To Fix The Vikings (Note: this was written before Moss was cut): ESPN's golden boy quarterback is the 30th-ranked quarterback in the NFL (there are 32 teams). He didn't play horribly last night and the Vikings were largely in the game for most of it but he did get hurt and had to be carried of the field. I'll say this again, there is no way the Vikings with Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss and their defense should be 2-5. No way. Favre has thrown costly interceptions in every game this season. Honestly how bad would Tarvaris Jackson be? Maybe they should reinstate the 5/8th clause? Where of every eight passes thrown, at least five should go to Randy Moss. And if you make him feel like an important part of the offense, he will catch all five passes that come his way. Favre will never want to not play unless he basically can't move, somebody (Childress) needs to take the initiative and do something. With their players, how bad would Jackson be?

So where should Moss go? How about Dallas? I haven't heard that discussed anywhere yet. That means it's either genius or stupid.

Chiefs (5-2), Raiders (4-4), Chargers (3-5), too much to say that the AFC West could actually be the most exciting division in football this season? The Chargers are making their late-season run and they have a relatively easy schedule from here on out. The Raiders have won their past two games by a combined score of 92-17, and are getting hot at the right time of the season, but so are the Chiefs, who happen to play the Raiders in Oakland next week and then the Broncos after that.

Thankfully the game in London was actually a game, which it has the perpetuity to not be. Hopefully the crowd did not know they were watching two of the worst NFL teams playing before their eyes. There was a Tim Tebow sighting, as I'm sure you know. And I'm sure you know too that he scored a touchdown. And how bad is the Broncos defense if they gave up 24 points and allowed Troy Smith (Troy Smith!) to complete 12 of 19 passes. Either that or Troy Smith is really good. Frank Gore also had 118 yards rushing.

Just for some amusment, here is a column from a local meatball, calling for the benching of Orton in favor of Tebow "to save the season" all the whille using the Tebow-as-a-Christian theme to fall the writers' cliches back on.

Then we have this lovely post from pro-football-reference. To sum it up: the Patriots are 6-1 for the fourth time in Belichick's career, but they're basically terrible; opportunistic on defense while giving up a lot of yards and who-dat talent (will they be Gregg Easterbrook's team he will gush about every week for having a few select undrafted or lowly drafted players that make plays once in awhile?)

I'll just say this as an argument against Easterbrook. Deion Branch, Patrick Chung, Brandon Spikes and Rob Gronkowski are second round picks. Jerod Mayo, Brandon Meriweather, and Devin McCourty are first round picks. Most of the defense is made up of highly drafted players, although running back Danny Woodhead, the Patriots MVP up to this point, went undrafted out of Chadron State (of Chadron, Nebraska).

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

Score #1: Washington & Lee 49, Catholic U 14. Two guys beating a whole team? Impressive!

Score #2: Stonehill 41, St. Anelm 27

Next Week: The Broncos, Titans, Jaguars, Redskins, Rams, and 49ers have byes next week. A Bills upset against the Bears to get off the schnide possible? Lots of good divisional games next week (Bucs-Falcons, Chiefs-Raiders). And once again we get to see the loser Cowboys on national TV. Don't worry, there are only two weeks until flex scheduling beings, so hopefully we won't be seeing much of the Cowboys and Vikings on national TV.

The Real NFL All-Decade Team

I know it's been a while since I've posted something, but this just popped in my head; creating a "true" all-decade team, meaning one completely made up of players who played every year of the 2000 decade, and interestingly, it's easier than I thought it would be.



Before I start, here is the official NFL 2000s All-Decade Team (first team only):



QB: Peyton Manning

RB: LaDainian Tomlinson

(RB: Edgerrin James)

FB: Lorenzo Neal

TE: Tony Gonzalez

WR: Marvin Harrison

WR: Randy Moss

Tackles: Walter Jones and Jonathan Ogden

Guards: Alan Faneca and Steve Hutchinson
Center: Kevin Mawae

DE: Dwight Feeney and Michael Strahan

DT: Warren Sapp and Richard Seymour

LB: Derrick Brooks, Ray Lewis, and Brian Urlacher

CB: Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson

S: Ed Reed Brian Dawkins

K: Adam Vinatieri

P: Shane Lechler

KR: Josh Cribbs

PR: Dante Hall



Of this list, 25 players are still active, and 15 played the entire decade. On that note, here goes my list:



QB: Peyton Manning

No diversion from the official list here. In fact, the second team quarterback, Tom Brady, played the entire decade, too. To be honest, I was not a fan of Peyton Manning at all, until a couple years ago, but now he is just so commanding on the field that he is the best quarterback in the league, bar none.



RB: LaDainian Tomlinson

Again not differentiating from the official list here. L.T. was a rookie in 2000.



FB: Tony Richardson

I was originally not going to have a fullback, however I remembered the accomplished and lengthy career of Richardson and decided to go ahead and put him in. Has blocked for Marcus Allen, Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson, Chester Taylor, and Thomas Jones (not all at the same time though!)



WR: Terrell Owens, Randy Moss

Although I'm not a huge T.O. fan, he has been around since '96, and played every season this decade. Randy Moss was voted to the second team, mainly because of his "dark years" with the Raiders, but he has been around since '98.



TE: Tony Gonzalez

Again, no diversion from the official list. He was hugely productive in every year this decade, too.



Offensive Linemen: Walter Jones, Flozell Adams, Alan Faneca, Mike Goff, and Kevin Mawae.

I grouped all o-linemen together, but I managed to find two guards, two tackles, and a center who were "all-decade" guys. Even though Mawae only played in six games in 2005, he is going on his 17th season in the league (remember him with the Seahawks way back when?) Mike Goff started seven games this past season, but started more than a dozen in the other nine years of the decade. Was a third round pick of the Bengals in 1998. Flozell Adams has played with one team in his (continuing) 13-year career - the Cowboys.



Defensive Linemen: Jason Taylor, John Abraham, Cornelius Griffin, Grady Jackson

I guess my all-decade defense will be a 4-3, as is the NFL's. The only guy I took from the official list is Jason Taylor. I did not even know Grady Jackson was still around, I remember him as a Raider in the late-90s and early last decade, I guess he's younger than I think he is. He's definitely a journeymen player, mainly because he's shown up to multiple camps overweight (he's officially listed at 345). Griffin was a rookie in the Giants' Super Bowl blunder against the Ravens, and has managed to stay with the Redskins since '04, despite a volatile front office. Abraham was an all-pro wa-ay back in 2001. He had 16.5 sacks in 2008, too.



Linebackers: London Fletcher, Ray Lewis, and James Farrior

Lewis and Urlacher are on the official team. London Fletcher is my favorite NFL defensive player. He has played in all but one game this decade. Why it took him until this year to make a Pro Bowl really baffles me, and even then, it was as an alternate. Urlacher would have made the cut, but because of his injury this past season, he isn't eligible. And what isn't there to say about Ray Lewis? He's made six all-pros in the oughts and one in the 90s and there really is no end in sight for him. Farrior was an all-pro in 2004 and a pro bowler in '08. Junior Seau could have easily been on a real all-decade team for the 90s and 00s (he was a rookie in 1990), however has only been a backup lately, so he also doesn't make my cut.



Defensive Backs: Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson, Brian Dawkins, and Darren Sharper

Two safeties, two corners. I was tempted to pick Ty Law over Woodson, but he played very little this year, and therefore I wasn't inclined to pick him for my all-decade team. Darren Sharper is another workhorse player who started a whole bunch of game in the oughts, much to my delight. Was an all-pro all the way back in 2000, however he lead the league in interceptions this year with nine, which was the same number he had in 2000. Did you know that Brian Dawkins has been around since '96? I do now.



Kicker: Jason Hanson

I'm a devout Belichick-era Patriots hater, therefore I couldn't stand myself if I picked Adam Vinatieri as my kicker. Hason has played with one team - the Lions - for the past 18 seasons!



Punter: Jeff Feagles

Feagles has played in the NFL for 22 seasons now, and probably is the best directional punter ever. I'm not saying that Shane Lechler didn't deserve his recognition, I just felt like being different.



Returners: Ahman Green and Derrick Mason

Green was another player who I had to be reminded by the internet that he was, in fact, still active. He was a returner early on in his career and did it rather unsuccessfully this year with the Packers. Unfortunately, kick and punt returner is a rather non-descript decision, and usually they don't last too long (Dante Hall, first team punt returner and second team kick returner, was in the league for nine seasons). And Josh Cribbs, while a sensation, has only been in the league the past five seasons. Derrick Mason led the league in all-purpose yards in 2000 (662 punt returning, 1132 kick returning, 895 receiving, and one rushing), and thus was an all-pro, although he has not touched a kick-off or punt since 2004, he is an "all-decade" returner.

In hindsight, it's interest to note how many players actually lasted and were successful in every year of the 2000s decade, especially some of the skill position guys (there are a ton of receivers who lasted a long time). All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with this roster