Monday, January 21, 2008

Monday Links

Just a couple of things I saw here and there...

Irsay thinks Tony is coming back. I don't think that's much of a surprise.

CHFF compares Favre and the Manning Family

They also declare the Chargers to be the Pats' number one rivals in the AFC now. I think that's jumping the gun. The Chargers were clearly better than a Colts team that couldn't rush the passer, but this is always the problem with these guys. They ignore context all together. Yeah, the Chargers won both games this year, but by a total of 6 points. Next year, the Colts will field a team with two defensive ends. I think that will make a difference. Furthermore, the Colts played the Pats a whole lot better than SD did in either of their losses. If the statement had been that the 2007 Chargers were better, I think that would be true. They beat us twice in close, freaky games. But going forward? It's sort of splitting hairs since SD is a top flight team, but it's a hilarious opinion with no basis in fact. Sigh, I suppose that's just what you get from them.

Dr Z. thinks Tony made a mistake. I 100% disagree. It's true that the Colts could have kicked on 4th down with 2:06 to play, but that would have changed things...
1. The Chargers would have started their drive inside the 2 minute warning after the kick off. As things stood, the Colts had plenty of time and a time out to drive. Two dropped passes killed their chances, but time to score wasn't the issue.
2. Norv might have thrown if the Colts had only needed a FG to win. You can't say, hey, we stopped them so that would have worked out the same. Knowing that a first down would win the game, he surely would have tried a pass play. That was bad news for us all day. Then again, it was Norv, so you never know.
3. AV was shaky all year. I'm not sure that banking on a long FG to win it was going to work any better.
4. I sleep better knowing we had at least one more good look at the endzone. If you kick there, you run the risk of never seeing the ball again. I couldn't have been ok with that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the Favre/Manning family story is just pure BS. CHFF is run by assholes.

Anonymous said...

And it has been comfirmed by adam schefter on nfl network and nfl.com that he will indeed return

Bob M. said...

Anon, great news on Dungy. Thanks. The good and bad part of CHFF is their attitude--in effect, "Here's the numbers, we're right!" I find it amusing and I like decisive people--even if they are wrong, they're usually fun to try to convert, and when you agree with them on something, it's great fun picking apart somebody on the other side of an argument because they always come armed to the teeth--you can let them look like rthe rabid tools and you can be the voice of reason. Also it's easy to pick them apart since they leave little margin for self-doubt and lots of room for ridicule. I'd say "jerks" rather than "a-holes" but it's really semantics at that point.

DZ, agreed on the endgame vs SD--A figgie results in a kickoff (always a dangerous thing) and SD ball on maybe the 30 YL, not stranding the opponent on their 1 yard line. I think the risk/reward analysis dictates taking the shot for the TD. Scifres is a demigod, but a 66-yarder was not quite expected. Even a 50-yard punt nets us 16 more yards. Then there was the Reggie injury and dropped passes. You don't plan for that. Add 16 yards on a still amazing punt (or 26 yards on an ordinary punt), give Reggie the catch he almost held onto, and Clark too and we'd have the ball about the SD 20 with maybe a minute left. I like them odds.

Regarding Rivers, I still think he is a punk with a bit of an emotional/psychological problem (may be as benign as "immaturity" or as bad as Billy Martin/Napoleon complex, though he's no twerp), but in light of the news of his surgery 5 days before playing on Sunday, he is one tough SOB. Let's park a pickup on his head to see if he's as tough as McNair....