04/24/24
January 07, 2013
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Indy also aren't playing on a ploughed field.
Snyder spent a billion dollars on his players and nine cents on his playing surface. Chris Clemons is also done after blowing his knee out yesterday when he stepped in a rabbit burrow.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:29 AM on January 07, 2013
As the game progressed, you wonder why Mike Shanahan didn't pull the plug on Snyder's prized investment earlier. And he's taking a lot of heat about that this morning.
posted by NerfballPro at 11:17 AM on January 07, 2013
Ethan Albright is not very happy with his player rating in Madden '07.
posted by NoMich at 11:24 AM on January 07, 2013
That [fake] letter is hilarious.
My horrible passer ratings are of greatest misfortune to my son, Red Beard Jr. The poor boy is not only hideously ugly and covered by freakishly large freckles. He also has to suffer through playing catch with me and my senile-elderly-woman-type passer ratings. A session of tossing the pigskin usually consists of me missing my son by thirty yards in sporadic directions. I led him in front of a fire truck once and my wife kicked my ass.
posted by grum@work at 11:42 AM on January 07, 2013
Watching a battered RG3 get beaten up and hobble around to finish up his rookie season makes me wonder how long his career can ultimately last.
Is it the style or the player? Russel Wilson was running around and throwing blocks all game.
posted by tron7 at 11:59 AM on January 07, 2013
Wilson's time will come too if he keeps playing in that manner. I love the way he (and RG3) play, but it's just a matter time until he also gets rocked. That style of play is entertaining but not conducive to a long, healthy career.
posted by dyams at 12:07 PM on January 07, 2013
Dan Marino had 87 rushing yards in his career. He was pretty decent.
posted by Debo270 at 12:57 PM on January 07, 2013
Wilson's time will come too if he keeps playing in that manner.
Good to know. I love how football's conventional wisdom has determined a trend line from the single data point of Michael Vick's career.
posted by yerfatma at 01:02 PM on January 07, 2013
I love how football's conventional wisdom has determined a trend line from the single data point of Michael Vick's career.
As I recall, Randall Cunningham did it a long time before Michael Vick did. And he suffered a injury early in his career that basically destroyed his speed and forced him to be a pocket passer. He was never as effective from that point forward.
posted by NerfballPro at 02:33 PM on January 07, 2013
Steve Young managed to do both things pretty well for a long time.
posted by Etrigan at 02:37 PM on January 07, 2013
The new breed of QB, RG3/Newton/Kaepernick/Wilson, operate in option heavy offenses where they are the primarily running backs. These guys are carrying the ball 8 or 10 times per game by design, sometimes out of running formations where the defence is keying on run. Rarely is there a game where a running back doesn't get hammered and come out of the game for at least a few plays and yet the QBs in these offenses are running the ball at least half as much as the RBs.
Steve Young was essentially a passing QB who ran only when plays broke down.
He also had Jerry Rice who created an instant mismatch every time he stepped on the field - he couldn't be covered by a single defender. Young was the facilitator and the distributor within the offense, not a primary running option.
posted by cixelsyd at 03:08 PM on January 07, 2013
Adding to the growing list of ways in which I'm not that much of a sports fan (but I'm okay with admitting it), I have no desire to watch the Mythical National Championship, mainly because I can't see it being a interesting or exciting game to watch.
The only way I can see Notre Dame winning is if Alabama decides to be really, really bad on offense (which they're not above doing, to be honest). And most of the scenarios in my mind for how this game turns out involve Alabama acting like a pillow to any form of enthusiasm this game might generate.
I just don't see this matchup and think to myself, "Self, this looks like a scintillating football game."
posted by Bonkers at 03:43 PM on January 07, 2013
Rarely is there a game where a running back doesn't get hammered and come out of the game for at least a few plays
Even granting that's true, I don't think many teams are running QB plays where they dive into a linebacker. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison. Not saying these QBs aren't at greater risk, I'm just not sure I buy the idea that a guy built like RG3 can't survive. He's not the same body type as Vick or Cunningham and if we can use Vick on one side of the ledger, Steve Young is a pretty good counterpoint.
I don't remember Jamarcus Russel getting hurt either.
posted by yerfatma at 05:12 PM on January 07, 2013
I think that should read:
I don't remember Jamarcus Russel getting hurt either.
Steve McNair, though, underwent a bit of an adjustment to increase his longevity and honestly make himself a better player. At first he looked to run very frequently, but he settled in to be a qb who generally looked to pass when he had the ball but was still very dangerous when he took off. Of course, he was also constantly injured, but just kept playing anyway.
posted by bender at 05:24 PM on January 07, 2013
I just don't see this matchup and think to myself, "Self, this looks like a scintillating football game."
Fun fact: No team has ever come from behind at halftime to win a BCS Championship Game. I can think of maybe four that have been good actual games in retrospect.
posted by Etrigan at 05:47 PM on January 07, 2013
Good to know
Didn't know the idea of the more wicked hits you subject yourself to at the hands of fast, strong NFL tacklers, the greater the chance you'll miss significant time and/or lessen the length of your projected career was all that new. Seems there may be a reason Marino, Manning, and some of the QBs who rarely subject themselves to such punishment can play into their late 30s. Even Manning can come back and have a great year at an advanced (by NFL standards) age because he plays to avoid the major hits and punishment.
posted by dyams at 05:48 PM on January 07, 2013
There's a difference between "the greater the chance you'll miss significant time and/or lessen the length of your projected career" and "Wilson's time will come too if he keeps playing in that manner.... it's just a matter time until he also gets rocked." Your initial certainty went a little far.
posted by Etrigan at 05:51 PM on January 07, 2013
Seems there may be a reason Marino, Manning, and some of the QBs who rarely subject themselves to such punishment can play into their late 30s.
Well, one reason on the part of Marino was his skill at being born in 1961, which meant he didn't have to face modern Ds that are significantly bigger and faster.
posted by etagloh at 07:34 PM on January 07, 2013
Well, one reason on the part of Marino was his skill at being born in 1961, which meant he didn't have to face modern Ds that are significantly bigger and faster.
I'm not sure I buy this line of argumentation generally* -- sure, defenders are bigger and faster now, but so are offenders. Marino didn't have access to a lot of the advances in training and medicine that would have made him less susceptible to injury and let him recover faster.
But I admit I may be over- or underestimating some factor. Has anyone done any good research into whether careers last longer these days?
* -- Except in cases like pre- and post-integration baseball, where one can legitimately say that there was a distinct difference in the talent pool.
posted by Etrigan at 07:39 PM on January 07, 2013
As a fan I'd like to see RG3 in the game for another 10 years at least. He can be successful throwing the ball, he has a great arm and makes better decisions than players at his position that have been in the league for 5 years or more (cough Romo, Rivers, ...). He's got championship talent and game smarts - I can't understand why the Redskins aren't focused on the long term picture.
posted by cixelsyd at 08:07 PM on January 07, 2013
Well, one reason on the part of Marino was his skill at being born in 1961, which meant he didn't have to face modern Ds that are significantly bigger and faster.
Marino's only been out of the game for 14 years. Why would he have more trouble avoiding injury than Peyton Manning, who plays the game the same way he did?
posted by rcade at 08:55 PM on January 07, 2013
My broader point is that for every non-scrambling Hall of Fame QB, there are a handful of pretty decent pocket-passers who have had the bejimminies knocked out of them, which is one reason why they're not ranked alongside those non-scrambling HoF QBs. It just feels like there's a certain amount of confirmation bias here.
posted by etagloh at 10:02 PM on January 07, 2013
Watching a battered RG3 get beaten up and hobble around to finish up his rookie season makes me wonder how long his career can ultimately last. Having a mobile, running QB is great, but seeing them injured is tough to watch. Griffin looks like he could develop into a pocket passer, but would he be able to protect himself and resist running like he does and taking the hits (and still be a dominant player?).
It's for reasons such as those I think Indy making Luck their man was a smart move.