My bad, I was thinking it was the Giants game where the self-icing occurred.
They showed an extremely depressing stat last night during the game. Something about more blown 4 quarter leads in one season than in franchise history or something to that effect.
I think I disagree with the firing of Morris. Only his third season, the second season had promising results, but I think the biggest element for benefit of the doubt is that he has one of the youngest teams in the NFL. There’s almost no experience on there, and that was a function of the front office, not him. With a shortened off season then things get really tough for a young team.
I would have given him one more season.
Whereas the notion of Mularkey getting another gig as a head coach I find baffling (the Jags are supposedly interviewing him).
Wannstedt was bumped to DC in Buffalo.
Shadarr
5983
I don’t buy that. The reason most high picks start as rookies is not that they’re just so great you can’t keep them off the field, it’s that they are drafted by shitty teams with no better alternatives. To my knowledge there has never been a situation where a team had the #1 pick and a future hall of famer. There haven’t even been many cases where a team had a guy like Favre and drafted a QB in the first round, although that may have been due to the cap and the old rookie salary problem.
Almost every time, the reason a guy like Alex Smith or Cam Newton or Matt Ryan started was because he was the best QB on the team, even as a raw rookie. When the Cardinals had both Leinart and Warner on the roster, they didn’t play Leinart just because he was a high first round pick, they played the best player. The situation with Brees and Rivers in San Diego might also play into it, as the Chargers dumped Brees over injury concerns and then watched him set the season passing record and win a Super Bowl on another team.
robsam
5984
As I reflect on the disappointment of the 2011 Cowboys, I can still find some small bit of joy when I relive this moment.
It’s a tough division every year. If you don’t think it is then you have no idea what you’re talking about. Of course the Giants could have been eliminated last night. That’s the whole point.
And with Romo it’s always something at the end, when his team needs him. That botched field goal years ago was not the anomaly people thought it was, it was the essence of Romo in one play. That’s why I compare him to those other types of QBs, the types that raise their fans hopes at some point but fail to deliver in the end. Tebow inherited a 1-4 team headed nowhere, they are now in the playoffs, something Orton can’t claim even if he won the last game.
Wow, that’s a fairly inept statement. The botched field goal was the essence of Romo in play? What the fuck? So the sum whole of Tony Romo, a quarterback, can be summarized in the essence of a play where he was the holder of a field goal? Really? This is such an incredibly stupid thing to say that it pretty much invalidates you from having a competent thought about football. Ever.
— Alan
Sarkus
5986
I’m not sure why, but Romo does seem to have a history of being on the bad side of many Cowboy moments where if things had gone the other way the Cowboys would have won the game. Individually its not something you can put a finger on, but Romo never quite seems to pull out an important game when its close - he makes some mistake or a play goes badly. Its kind of like Tavaris Jackson this year with the Seahawks - at a certain point you realize the guy is just missing something, which in Jackson’s case was the fact that he never lead the Seahawks on a game winning drive late.
But Romo is pretty good in a lot of ways, so its a tough scenario from the team standpoint.
Jackson never had anything to lose to begin with.
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/dallas-cowboys-release-jerry-jones,2815/
I’m not sure I understand the dumping of the Polians… maybe someone can explain that one.
— Alan
Polian the Elder was a good GM. Polian the Younger, not so much. Hard to ditch the guy’s son and still keep the old man around. Time for a change.
Sarkus
5989
And remember, Bill Polian (the elder) got really upset at a local Indy columnist for suggesting the Colts drop junior a few months ago. Clearly Irsay felt he needed to make a change, elder probably wasn’t willing to go along with it and was fired as well. Bill Polian is only 70 or so, but apparently doesn’t want to be a day to day GM anymore.
Shadarr
5990
This should help clear it up. The whole nepotism angle complicates things, but the bottom line is that they have had nothing but shit drafts for about 5 years. That’s a front office problem, not a coaching or Manning-injury problem.
Nawid_A
5991
Yeah the Colts have had a lack of talent for a while and it was only when Manning got injured that the rest of the world got to see it.
Thongsy
5992
The Giants had Warner and Manning too at the same time. Started Warner but the team was so-so though no fault of Warner so they started Manning whom was abysmal and taken out in the Ravens (?) game and replaced by Warner midway through who rally the Giants back in that game. But Warner then pretty much told the team never to do that again lest you shatter the confidences of your new franchise QB.
It’s not that the new high draft pick is the best QB, but the fact he’ll be the QB of the future and he needs to get experience that forces them into starting them. Other QBs on the team are just as good as the rookie mainly for the fact they have had years of experience which makes up the difference in raw talent the rookie might have. But teams want to see what their future investment can do. They know they’re not going to be contenders that season and young QBs will have growing pains they need to experience. Not sure what the Colts do with Manning/Luck since Luck is generally believed to be as pro-ready as pro-ready can be.
pcbonn
5993
Each team in the NFC East beat ONE playoff team this year (Giants beat Patriots, Eagles beat Giants, Cowboys beat 49ers, Redskins beat Giants twice). Outside of beating themselves, that division had two quality wins all year. All they did was feast on themselves and “lesser” teams. Sorry, that does not make a “tough division”. They are living on past glories at this point.
Nawid_A
5994
Yeah the NFC East wasn’t really any better than the NFC West.
Lorini
5995
Or the AFC West for that matter. Only the Giants had a winning record and then just barely.
Shadarr
5996
I still think teams only ever play rookies when they don’t have a better alternative. If Warner had played for New York the way he did in Arizona, they would’ve kept Manning on the bench. I can’t think of a single example of a Pro Bowl QB playing well and being benched in favour of a rookie just because he’s the future. Warner was benched for sucking. The Vikings wanted to sit Ponder and start McNabb, but McNabb sucked. In every case where there was a good veteran QB and a first-round rookie, the veteran played until the young guy was ready. In fact, with Favre they didn’t even directly make the decision, they just said “We’re tired of dealing with your offseason bullshit, you say you’re retired then retire, we’re moving on.”
Warner had a winning record with the Giants. He didn’t suck. He had some turnovers that were a problem, but the team was winning. Manning came in and Giants started losing.
The Giants started Manning more to develop him than because they had a QB problem. I think the plan all along was to ease him in during that first season. Warner was there to start the season but the plan was to have Warner as the backup somewhere along the way. Just my speculation.
robsam
5998
So we’ve established you don’t what you are talking about.
You dismiss the fact that the Giants beat the #1 AFC seed with a handwave, hoping no one noticed it.
You bravely mention that Dallas beat the NFC #2 seed.
You ignore the fact that the NFC East is the home of the most bitter rivals in any division of the NFL, much like the SEC in NCAA football, where anyone can beat anyone on a given day.
You finish it with a nice “living on past glories” snarky comment, ignoring the fact the Giants ruined a perfect season for the Pats and won the Super Bowl not long ago.
The NFC East may be a bit down, but spread Dallas, NYG, and Philly around the rest of the NFL divisions and (AFC or NFC) and all three of them make the playoffs.
sluggo
5999
Re Polians: You have the top pick in next year’s draft, and it’s a pick that the entire league wants. Teams will pay a king’s ransom for that pick.
Do you: (a) stick with your current GM, who’s been pretty unimpressive the last few years; (b) start looking for a new GM, knowing that top pick makes you an incredibly attractive place for any good GM candidate? It’s got to be B, all the way.
Starting a GM search right now is a great move. Everyone will be interested, and you can pick their brains as to what they think you should do with the pick. This is possibly a once-a-generation chance for the Colts, and it makes all sorts of sense to try and find the person who will make the most of it.
It also wouldn’t surprise me if there was already a behind-the-scenes difference of opinion about what to do with the pick – maybe one of them wanted to trade Manning or the pick, the other wanted to keep both, etc.
Every year EVERY division has teams fighting it out to see who claims division champ. If the NFC East teams’ claim to ‘toughness’ is that they have to fight their way through their rivals, well every team who wins a division(ie Denver) can say the same thing.
The point of mentioning the field goal was to point out the “wtf?” nature of Romo. Yes, his defining play(to this point) is a field goal attempt! That tells you what you need to know about Romo as a QB.
Be honest, if his career was over right now and ten years from now some highlight reel of current QBs comes up, what clip do you think is guaranteed to make it for Romo?
