Week 12
11/25/05
- After earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, Cardinals
quarterback Kurt Warner had his agent let the Arizona media
know his client was ready to negotiate a long-term contract
with the team. No word yet on what coach Dennis Green felt about
the tactics employed by his quarterback but it says here the
move makes some sense. Although Warner has won just once in
six starts with the team while back-up Josh McCown is 2-2 as
a starter this season, Warner is clearly the team's best pure
passer. McCown makes more plays with his speed and is able to
buy time in the pocket, an important factor considering the
team's poor play along the offensive line this season. However,
if given decent play along the offensive line and in the running
game, two areas that will definitely receive attention in the
off-season, Warner is the better choice for the Cardinals in
2006. Look for the team to take a quarterback early in the draft
and allow McCown to depart in free agency.
- The turmoil continues to swirl in Detroit with general manager
Matt Millen apparently asking the team's owner, William Clay
Ford, for permission to fire coach Steve Mariucci. It's been
rumored that Millen and Mariucci has clashed over Mariucci's
decision to bench quarterback Joey Harrington in favor of Jeff
Garcia. However, there's certainly no guarantee with acquiesce
to his general manager's wishes. Although Millen recently signed
a long-term contract extension, it was recently leaked that
the deal is basically pay-as-you-go deal, meaning Millen gets
paid only as long as he remains employed by the team. There
are plenty of reasons why Mariucci should be fired. First off,
the team is only 15-28 during his tenure. Second, despite the
wealth of young talent on the team, there are no signs the team
is improving. Players such as Roy Williams, Charles Rogers,
Kevin Jones and Jeff Backus have taken a step back in 2005.
Third, it's readily apparent the team lacks discipline. Finally,
Mariucci has done nothing to develop Harrington. As for Millen,
he has his own laundry list of reasons why he should be fired.
First, his two choices to coach the team have been failures.
Second, he spent three consecutive 1st round draft choices on
wide receivers, although the team lacked talent along the offensive
line. Third, he is solely responsible for the decision to sign
Garcia while also paying Harrington a $3-million roster bonus
in June. Millen must have known Mariucci would move Garcia into
the starting line-up at the earliest opportunity. Given Millen's
preference for Harrington, he should never have signed Garcia
in the first place. And that is the why it's likely Ford will
fire Millen and Mariucci at the conclusion of the season.
- Four weeks Bills running back Willis McGahee let the world
know he felt he was the best running back in the league. Since
then the self-proclaimed great one has amassed 291 yards on
77 carries for a 3.8 yards per carry average, he has one 100-yard
rushing game (against a depleted Patriots defense) and has fumbled
once. Not exactly numbers you would expect from the best runner
in the league. This week, Bills coach Mike Mularkey let McGahee
know he should keep his thoughts to himself and not provide
opposing defenses with bulletin board material. McGahee rebounded
well the last time he was criticized by his coach (after a tepid
performance against the Bucs), so look for him to bounce back
with a big game this week against Carolina.
- The Giants offensive line has improved their play considerably
over last season but the unit's depth may be tested this weekend
against the Seahawks, in a key match-up that will go a long
way to determining home field advantage in the NFC. Left tackle
Luke Petitgout and center Shaun O'Hara are questionable with
knee and ankle injuries. Their back-ups are Bob Whitfield and
Jason Whittle. Whitfield hasn't started since the 2003 season
when he was Atlanta while Whittle is a natural guard who was
replaced by David Diehl in the starting line-up at guard when
the team signed former Jet Kareem McKenzie to move in for Diehl
at right tackle. With reclamation project Rich Seubert, who
also hasn't played since 2003, being the only other back-up
on the roster, the Giants may be in trouble if Petitgout and
O'Hara can't go on Sunday.
- Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has spent some time this
season complaining that he's a better passer than he's given
credit for while his critics have pointed to his career statistics
and lack of consistency. Going into this week's match-up against
the Lions, Vick had thrown for over 200 yards in three consecutive
games, the first time in his career he had accomplished this
feat. Included in there was a 306-yard performance against the
Bucs, which was only the second 300-yard passing performance
of his career. Of course, all good mirages must pass and so
Vick only passed for 146 yards against the Lions because of
his team's dominance in the game. Although Vick isn't a great
passer, what's never mentioned is that he doesn't have to be.
Defenses are forced to account for his speed, which frees up
space for the team's other skill position players. Plus, the
fact is he averages 50 yards rushing per game, yards that go
a long way in addressing his deficiencies as a passer.
- Texans head coach Dom Capers has done an abysmal job in disciplining
his team and the results of that effort were never more apparent
than during his team's loss to the Chiefs on Sunday night. Although
wide receiver Andre Johnson has never been mentioned in the
same breath as Terrell Owens (for many reasons - performance
and attitude come to mind), his frustration boiled over against
the Chiefs and his lack of discipline cost his team dearly.
With the outcome still in doubt, Johnson received a personal
foul penalty for shoving Chiefs safety Sammy Knight in the face
mask. Subsequently Johnson lost a key fumble while fighting
for extra yards and cameras showed his frustration on the sidelines.
However, Capers never benched his underperforming star receiver
and that certainly didn't surprise any Texan fans.
- Keeping with the Texans, there certainly can't be a worse
offensive coordinator in the league than Joe Pendry. His play-calling
against the Chiefs was abysmal. With his team having one timeout
remaining and trailing by 17 points with 14 seconds left before
halftime, Pendry called for a short out sideline pass that would
have left the team at the Chiefs 40-yard line with roughly ten
seconds left. The pass was intercepted by Eric Warfield and
returned for a touchdown that essentially put he game out of
reach. Any decent playcaller would have known the Chiefs would
be defending the sideline and called for at least an intermediate
pass down the middle, knowing the clock could be stopped by
timeout, allowing for a field goal attempt. Which begs the question
- how is this guy still in the league? And for that matter,
why is Dom Capers?
- 49ers wide receiver Brandon Lloyd has taken a fair amount
of criticism this year for his performance on the field and
his inability to play through injuries. However, the slender
Lloyd is miscast as a number one receiver largely because he
is unable to consistently beat defenders off the line. And he
has suffered because of the poor play of the team's quarterback
this season. Lloyd's touchdown reception this past week against
Seattle was his first since the third week of the season, which
was also the last time the team threw a touchdown pass.
- One can't help but wonder how Raiders coach Norv Turner felt
after his team went into Washington and defeated the Redskins.
Mistreated by owner Daniel Snyder not long after Snyder took
over the team, Turner clearly deserved better and the loss the
Raiders laid on the Redskins will likely to a long way towards
eliminating Washington from post-season contention.
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