How does a winless, hopeless and inferior Carolina Panther team take the defending Super Bowl champs to the brink before finally succumbing to defeat?
Injuries – that’s how.
There’s definitely something wrong with the Saints and while we could try to search for a deeper meaning to their recent struggles, I think the reason is simple. They’re just too banged up on the offensive side of the ball and we better get used to lackluster wins like their 16-14 victory today until they’re healthy again.
Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas were both sidelined for New Orleans against Carolina and it showed. Drew Brees still managed to complete 33-of-48 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown, but the Panthers knew New Orleans couldn’t run the ball so they stayed back in coverage and allowed Brees to complete underneath passes. To Brees’ credit, he took what the defense gave him and led his team to a much-needed victory following last weekend’s overtime loss to the Falcons.
But Brees isn’t 100% either. He wore a brace on his sprained knee and although it didn’t look like it affected him too much, he was still hampered. Brees’ injury coupled with Bush and Thomas being held out, and suddenly the Saints look incredibly vulnerable.
Of course, this is the price that the defending champs pay. Every game is the opponent’s Super Bowl and when injuries pop up, you just have to deal with them and find ways to win. That’s what the Saints did on Sunday and while it wasn’t pretty, at the end of the day victories are all that matters.
Speaking of injuries, Panthers’ receiver Steve Smith suffered a high ankle sprain today and at the moment, there’s no timetable for his return. This news must make rookie Jimmy Clausen incredibly happy, as Smith has lived in the rookie’s ear for the past two weeks. I thought Smith may murder Clausen and leave his body on the Superdome carpet after Clausen wasn’t paying attention to the playclock and the Panthers had to burn a timeout.
This question came up today at work, and it has me really wondering. Who was last player in college football that caused you to hold your breath as soon as the ball was in his hands?
My immediate response was Reggie Bush, who I always felt had the ability to break a long touchdown run every time he touched the ball. With his speed and shiftiness, any time he was in the open field, he was a serious threat to score.
Some of my earliest college football memories were of watching Raghib “Rocket” Ismail at Notre Dame, and he had that same ability. Although I realize that more now watching him on YouTube, as I was only about 6 years old when he started at Notre Dame. Not long after the Rocket, Desmond Howard did the same thing.
The difference between Robinson and those players, however, is that Robinson is the quarterback and has his hands on the ball on every down. He also has the option to throw the ball, which makes every snap the Michigan offense has taken this season an event.
Have there been other quarterbacks like that? Robinson is often compared to Pat White because of the system he’s in, but I don’t remember having that same feeling with White, as dynamic as he was. Tommy Frazier was a beast at Nebraska and always had the ability to break a big run, but if I remember correctly (again, I was pretty young during Frazier’s time), he ran through a lot of people, and while he was fast, didn’t have Denard Robinson speed.
I’m not saying Robinson is better than all of those guys, or an all-time great player. He still hasn’t played against a defense that you would even think is formidable. But just for pure game-breaking ability at his position, I’m having a hard time figuring out who matches him. Thoughts?
I went to do a report on Reggie Bush’s fractured fibula and then noticed roughly 1,800 more injuries worth noting in the NFL. So here’s a rundown of six of those 1,800 injuries…
Reggie Bush, RB, Saints
Bush suffered a fracture of the upper fibula in his right leg after muffing a punt during the Saints’ 25-22 win over the 49ers last night. He doesn’t need surgery, but he’ll miss at least four-to-six weeks. DeShawn Wynn now takes over the backup duties behind Pierre Thomas.
Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Colts
More bad news for Gonzalez, who will be sidelined for the next 4-6 weeks with a high right ankle sprain. Obviously the Colts can and have gotten by without him, but this has to be frustrating for Gonzalez, who can never seem to stay healthy.
Jake Delhomme, QB, Browns
Jake the INT Machine has had a boot on his injured ankle for a week and reports state that he likely has a high ankle sprain. While head coach Eric Mangini doesn’t want to make a definitive statement either way on whether or not Delhomme will play this week, chances are Seneca Wallace will receive his second start of the year on Sunday.
Jerious Norwood, RB, Falcons
Norwood tore his ACL on the opening kickoff last week against the Cardinals. He’ll be placed on IR, effectively ending his season. Jason Snelling now becomes the sole backup to Michael Turner.
Kevin Faulk, RB, Patriots
The Patriots’ running back situation just got more interesting, as Faulk will miss the rest of the season due to a torn ACL. Danny Woodhead will get a look as a third-down back, but Sammy Morris and BenJarvus Green-Ellis will see more action behind Fred Taylor now.
Funny story (at least to me): I had two games up for grabs last night. In one PPR league, I was up 13 points facing Marques Colston and wasn’t particularly optimistic about my chances given the way the Seahawks shredded the 49er pass defense in Week 1. But Colston was held to 5-67, so my team held on. In my other league, I was trailing by 12 with Drew Brees (254 yards, 2 TDs), Pierre Thomas (103 total yards, 8 catches) and Michael Crabtree (1-32) going, while my opponent only had Frank Gore. Seven catches, 168 yards and two TDs later, I lost by two. Ugh. To make matters worse, I had Jahvid Best sitting on my bench, which serves as the ol’ double kick in the nuts. UGH.
What’s the lesson? Anything can happen in fantasy football. Just when you think you’ve locked a game up, you’ll find a way to lose, and when you’re holding on for dear life, the lead will be just enough.
Oh, and don’t bench Jahvid Best.
But back to the SF/NO game…Alex Smith (275 yards, TD, 2 INTs) looked pretty good at times, but both interceptions were his fault. He threw a few very nice passes to Vernon Davis (4-78, seven targets) and Josh Morgan (6-70, eight targets), but Crabtree only saw three passes come his way. I’d keep him on the bench until he’s starts producing.
For the Saints, Reggie Bush looked great (34 total yards, TD, four catches) before leaving the game with a leg injury, and now ESPN is saying that he’s going to miss at least 6 weeks. Bump up Thomas and put DeShawn Wynn on your radar. Heath Evans might get some extra work as well, but it’s more likely that Sean Payton will elect to feature Devery Henderson (3-28) or Robert Meachem (0-0) more in the passing game to account for Bush’s production there.
“Pat Haden, the new athletic director, earlier in the month he said ‘If I were Reggie Bush with Pat Haden’s soul, yes I would give back the Heisman.’ OK, the Heisman’s given back. But Pat Haden, what are you going to now as far as correcting these transgressions? They played with an ineligible player, they went to BCS Bowl Games with an ineligible player, you don’t have the wins no more but you still have the money. What is your soul telling you to do with that money now that you got with an illegal player? That’s the big question that I want to hear answered now.”
Good point. If all is equal, then USC should have to forfeit everything they received during Bush’s tenure – and not just wins. As Howard points out, the Trojans used an ineligible player to not only win, but also receive a payout at the end of the year for the multiple bowls they appeared in.
As the guys at Larry Brown Sports said: It’s your move, Pat.
Not to sound preachy, but when you mess up in life, there are usually consequences that you eventually have to face. Granted, those consequences may come later down the road, but eventually karma catches up with people.
Bush did something wrong at USC. An argument that often gets brought up in relation to this topic is whether or not you or another athlete would have done the same thing (i.e. accept gifts from an agent, booster or what have you). But that’s irrelevant. The point is that he screwed up and until now, he didn’t have to pay for his actions.
But USC certainly did, now didn’t they? They had to forfeit all of their wins during Bush’s tenure with the program and also had to cough up scholarships for future recruiting. Considering Bush broke rules under their watch, they should have been punished and they were. It’s not fair to the current players that they were punished because of what Bush did, but unfortunately they’re the only true victims here.
Some are going to claim that Bush shouldn’t have to give back the award because it was earned for what he did on the field. I buy that and I certainly don’t disagree. But he can’ t keep his Heisman, his Super Bowl ring and his millions of dollars from the NFL while USC is stuck footing the bill for mistakes that he made.
Life doesn’t work like that – what goes around comes around, which is a notion that Bush was just reminded of.
Imagine you’re in a store and while you were shopping, someone decides to steal something and run out the door. Security then blocks all exits, takes down everyone’s information and then bans those people that were shopping at the time from the store for the next two years.
Meanwhile, the person that stole the item not only avoids punishment, but he or she winds up hitting the lottery for $52 million a couple of months later.
Is it fair that the people in the store that didn’t steal anything got punished for one person breaking the law, even though their only connection with the criminal was that they attended the same store? And is it fair that the one person who stole something not only got off scot-free but also cashed in later?
Any reasonable person would probably answer “no” to the above scenario, which is why I don’t feel the least bit sorry for Reggie Bush that the Downtown Athletic Club is expected to strip him from his 2005 Heisman Trophy. (It’s important to note that Bush hasn’t been stripped of his Heisman yet.)
Obviously my shopping analogy isn’t the best fit because Bush never stole anything, but you get the point. Bush broke the rules and the current USC players had to pay for them. Meanwhile, Bush avoids any kind of punishment and not only that, but he also receives a $52 million contract from the Saints on top of it.
Pat Haden, who was recently hired as USC’s Athlete Director, appeared on the Dan Patrick show on Wednesday and gave a rather unusual response to the question: “If you were Reggie Bush, would you give back the Heisman?”
Here’s the video below (hat tip to SPORTSbyBROOKS.com):
If you were Reggie Bush with Pat Haden’s soul? Who the hell talks like that? A simple, “Yes I would,” or “No I would not,” would have done just fine.
I think Haden was the right man to replace Mike Garrett at USC, but I find his response to a rather simple question kind of weird. I know what he was getting at, but it nevertheless was an odd way to phrase it.
That didn’t take long. Yesterday I was front and center on the Nick Saban-is-right-bandwagon, but this morning I already find myself trying not to break my leg while jumping off it.
That’s because I remembered who was doing all the talking in this growing discussion about player agents, how they interact with college athletes and what the NFL should do to help remedy the situation.
It’s Nick Saban. The same Nick Saban who left LSU high and dry to take the NFL’s money in Miami, only to stick it up the Dolphins’ you-know-what when he got home sick for the NCAA. Now he’s blasting the NFL for not taking a more active role in getting agents to stop pestering students? Oh, brother.
As I wrote yesterday, the NFL should help. College football is where the NFL gets its talent and if its little brother needs assistance dealing with a problem, then big brother should step in. As Saban noted in one of his rants, if an agent breaks a rule that leads to a player losing his eligibility, the NFL could suspend that agent’s license. (Assuming of course that the NFL can even do that, which at this point remains a little unclear.)
But let’s keep in mind that little brother makes billions of dollars a year and therefore, can deal with its problem on its own if it comes down to it. And the root of the issue isn’t the NFL or even the agents themselves – it’s the players who continue to hold their hands out.
There’s a simple solution when it comes to this growing problem and that’s for the athletes to stop accepting gifts. Don’t go to parties hosted by these agents, don’t accept gifts of suits, cars or money, and don’t do anything that’s going to threaten your playing career or the future of your program. It shouldn’t be that hard to say no, given the recent developments with Reggie Bush, who single-handedly just made the USC football program irrelevant for the next two years.
A day after helping Mike Garrett with his retirement decision (that’s a nice way of saying they gave him the boot) and replacing him with new athletic director Pat Haden, USC returned its copy of the Heisman Trophy that former running back Reggie Bush won in 2005.
From ESPN.com:
The university’s incoming president announced an overhaul of the athletic department Tuesday, replacing athletic director Mike Garrett with Pat Haden, ordering the removal of displays honoring Bush’s and Mayo’s accomplishments at USC and returning its copy of Bush’s Heisman.
Haden said the school’s plan to get rid of nearly all references to Bush and Mayo — right down to scrubbing their images from school murals and removing Bush’s No. 5 jersey in its place of honor in the lobby of Heritage Hall — are all part of the NCAA’s directive to disassociate the school from the athletes.
It’s important to note that Bush is still in possession of the original Heisman, which is given out by the Downtown Athletic Club and the Heisman Trust. Outside of the fact that it’s given to a college player, the NCAA has no barring on who receives the award and therefore, whether or not one should be taken away.
Some may question why USC didn’t get rid of O.J. Simpson’s Heisman after he murdered two people all of his legal troubles, but don’t forget that his trial in the early 90s was nearly 30 years after he donned a Trojan uniform. Plus, everything that coconut did after his playing days had no affect on what he did on the field at USC.
Bush, on the other hand, is a different story. He directly played a role in USC receiving a two-year bowl ban and I can’t blame the university for wanting to scrub his name from its memory. Their message is clear: We’re moving on.
If this is USC’s way of embarrassing Bush, then so be it. He deserves it. I realize he was only a kid and kids are easily persuaded, but he still knew right from wrong. He still made the conscious decision to put himself ahead of the program.
