Month: January 2010 (Page 49 of 65)

      Would a loss to the Cowboys signal the end for McNabb?

      January 8, 2010 /

      Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Inquirer speculates that if the Eagles lose their Wild Card matchup to the Cowboys on Saturday that the team will look to dump Donovan McNabb in the offseason.

      Is this the last go-round for Donovan McNabb, the man who has done everything a Philadelphia quarterback can do except for the one thing that everybody so desperately wants him to do?

      Personally, I think this is it. I think the club made that clear without saying it by giving McNabb a raise during the offseason but declining to extend his contract past the 2010 season. If they win a Super Bowl, of course, things change. If they get to another NFC Championship Game, and McNabb plays great, things change. Short of that, though, I think it’s over.

      Eleven years is a long time for a quarterback in one city. Five years is a long time for a fan base to be locked in perpetual debate about a quarterback – and that is how long Eagles fans have been burying me in a digital avalanche every time I type the guy’s name, pro or con. Ever since that achingly slow fourth-quarter drive in the Super Bowl, when McNabb either did or did not throw up in the huddle, the town has been thoroughly divided. During the flash points, you can read the exhaustion on everyone’s face, including McNabb’s. Another flash point is coming, maybe as soon as tomorrow night. When this season is over, there is nothing that anybody will say concerning McNabb that hasn’t already been said a million times. The answer here is not obvious until you look at the contract. McNabb has trade value only as long as he is under contract – which means you trade him now or you have to extend him for X-number of years after the season, with a new signing bonus and plenty of color and pageantry (and a likely one-way ticket out the door for Kevin Kolb, whom you have previously identified as your future).

      If the Eagles lose tomorrow, does anybody really think they are going to do that? Or that they should?

      This has been a heated debate for years. Some feel as though Eagle fans should be happy getting to the playoffs on a regular basis, even though they come up short of a Super Bowl victory every year. But when you watch the same product repeatedly fail over and over again, you get tired of it.

      Personally, if you have a quarterback that can consistently get a team to the playoffs every year, or every other year or whatever, they have to hold onto him. But I understand the frustration that Eagle fans go through in that the team is always knocking on the door of more and never producing.


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      Colt McCoy is the epitome of class

      January 8, 2010 /

      The college football gods owe Colt McCoy a massive apology, because what they did to him on Thursday night was extremely cruel.

      On the fifth play of the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, an Alabama defender hit McCoy on his right side and the quarterback’s arm immediately went dead. He motioned to come out of the game and was replaced by freshman Garrett Gilbert for the remainder of the series.

      That was the last time McCoy took a snap for the Texas Longhorns, who eventually fell to Alabama, 37-21.

      It’s not fair what happened to McCoy. You could see how distraught he was while having to watch from the sidelines as his team fought an uphill battle. He came back for his senior year for the opportunity to win a national championship and instead he was forced to be a spectator for his team’s biggest moment. For what he did at Texas and for college football, he deserved more than this ending.

      But even though he was handed the most unfortunate of breaks, McCoy proved to everyone how much character he has. Following the game, he held back tears while talking to ESPN reporter Lisa Salters about having to watch the game from the sidelines. Nobody would have blamed him if he vented his frustrations or talked about how the outcome of the game would have been different had he played.

      But instead, he made it a point of emphasis to congratulate Alabama not once, but twice while wrapping up the interview. And it wasn’t a clichéd, tongue-in-check type of congratulations: It was as sincere as they come.

      McCoy managed to muster the strength to congratulate an opponent that had just benefited from one of his darkest moments. Now that’s class.


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      College Football

      Alabama overcomes Saban’s first quarter mistakes to win national title

      January 8, 2010 /

      Those that tuned into the 2010 BCS National Championship Game don’t need a breakdown of what transpired on Thursday night: Alabama took advantage of a Colt McCoy shoulder injury and managed to survive a late rally by Texas to cash in a 37-21 victory.

      Had McCoy played the entire game, would Texas have won? We’ll never know, although the Longhorns certainly had everything working in their favor early on, taking advantage of one Nick Saban mistake after another.

      Saban’s decision to receive instead of putting his defense on the field first was unwise. His decision to fake a punt after the Tide went three and out on their first possession was unnecessary. And his decision not to instruct his return team to call for a fair catch or re-position themselves after Texas had already kicked the ball short at the start of the game was neglectful.

      Due to those three decisions, Saban essentially spotted the Longhorns a 6-0 lead. Had McCoy not been hurt, who knows whether or not that 6-0 lead could have been 14-0 to start the game.

      Saban obviously deserves enormous credit for turning Alabama’s program around and building a national championship team. What he’s been able to do in such a short period of time has been remarkable and speaks to how good he is at what he does. He’s a motivator, a master game planner and manages to keep young men focused, which cannot be easy to do.

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      College Football

      Exective director Bill Hancock defends the BCS

      January 7, 2010 /

      Bill Hancock officially began his tenure as BCS executive director this week and spoke with reporters on Thursday about the current state of college football.

      Let’s go point by point…

      “College football has never been better and I believe the BCS is part of that.”

      This is actually a true statement, but it isn’t saying much. If something is better than asinine, does it make it good? No, it doesn’t. It makes it better than asinine. Yes, the BCS Championship Game is better than the pre-BCS system, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be drastically improved.

      Hancock said the fact that other lower levels of college football use playoffs to decide their champions doesn’t mean it would work in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The second-tier of Division I football, the Championship Subdivision, has a 16-team playoff with all but the final played at home sites.

      “It works at that level, I can’t deny it, but if you look attendance for those games, only Montana had decent attendance,” he said. “Many teams didn’t draw as well as they did in the regular season.”

      All right, so because Hancock has some anecdotal data about lower level teams not drawing as well in the playoffs, we’re supposed to believe that home playoff games at the D1 level wouldn’t work either? Really? Like the Gators aren’t going to sell out the Swamp in the first round of an eight-team playoff? Give me a break.

      This excerpt from ESPN (via the AP), Hancock throws out several debatable “facts” and says the case is closed.

      Bill Hancock said a playoff at college football’s highest level would lead to more injuries, conflict with final exams, kill the bowl system and diminish the importance of the regular season.

      More injuries? The current BCS system has five games. My proposed eight-team playoff would include seven games. Does Hancock really believe that the additional injury risk of two games is a valid argument against a playoff?

      Kill the bowl system? The current system features a lot of lower-level bowls that feature teams that aren’t playing for a national championship. Players, coaches and fans attend these games as a celebration of a good season. How would holding a playoff affect this system in any way?

      Diminish the importance of the regular season? If anything, it would increase the importance of the regular season. Under the current system, if a team loses a game it shouldn’t, it’s championship aspirations are effectively killed. With a playoff, that team would still have a fighting chance to make the postseason and compete for a title. And think about those fringe teams fighting for a playoff spot over the last couple of weeks. Every contest would become an elimination game. Under the current system, none of these teams would have an opportunity to play for a title.

      Conflict with final exams? In an eight-team playoff, there are only four D1 teams in the entire country that would play more than one postseason game, and we’re worried about final exams?

      Sigh.


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      College Football

      Report: Browns to keep Eric Mangini

      January 7, 2010 /

      According to ESPN.com, the Browns will retain head coach Eric Mangini and his entire coaching staff in 2010.

      Mangini went 5-11 in his first season with the Browns, who finished with a four-game winning streak.

      On Tuesday, his first day running the Browns, Holmgren said Mangini had a legitimate shot of returning for a second season in Cleveland.

      Holmgren is also interviewing general manager candidates this week. On Wednesday, Eagles GM Tom Heckert visited the Browns. Per league rules, Heckert could not be hired by Cleveland until Philadelphia completes its season.

      While it’s hard to argue with Holmgren’s decision based on how the Browns finished the season, this could potentially be a disaster in the making. The Browns looked completely befuddled under Mangini’s guidance for most of the season and three of their four wins at the end of the year came against the Chiefs, Raiders and struggling Jaguars.

      That said, the Browns did improve defensively under Mangini and the emergence of running back Jerome Harrison offers hope for the offense heading into next season. Mangini didn’t handle his quarterback situation very well earlier in the year, but Brady Quinn did show promise before injuring himself in Week 15.

      Chances are that Mangini will be on a short leash next year. Holmgren might not be expecting a playoff appearance, but if the team doesn’t show marked improvement n 2010 then Mangini could be on his way out this time next year.


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