6181

I’m over-sensitive to this, but are you trying to say brian westbrook was a third down back? Reggie Bush, ideally, may have been projected to be brian westbrook(or a sightly better brian westbrook), but that wasnt because the league was over valuing third down backs or punt returns— before concussions cut his career short, westbrook had a 2-3 year window where he was probably the second best RB in the league behind LT. In 2007, he might have even been the best. Heck, as early as the eagles 2004 superbowl season, westbrook was arguably their best offensive player.

Darren sproles is probably as close as you can get to a superstar third down back.* Westbrook was more like a slightly worse marshall faulk whose career got cut short because of concussions. In 06, the eagles were under-.500 when mcnabb blew out his knee and, with andy reid putting the burden solely on westbrook, he stepped up and carried a written-off eagles team to 5 or 6 straight wins and a playoff victory over the giants. He was the mvp of a real tough nfc east that year.

I do think youre right that big proponents of reggie bush were at the time comparing him (favorably) to brian westbrook, but that was more because they thought he could someday be a top-tier running back. The proposed ceiling was more brian westbrook-meets gale sayers, not a rich man’s darren sproles.

All that said, bush had a pretty good season in miami this year. Also, with the way the sport has become exponentially more finesse/pass-oriented, maybe he could have a ricky williams-esque career resurgence and prove he’s not a bust. Maybe? I can’t claim to have watched a lot of fins games.

edit: *thinking about this, it’s clear sproles isnt just a “3rd down rb” either. He’s out there on any down, another tool in the impossibly varied pocketknife of the saints offense. That said, I also think that were the saints to have a true #1 RB who could also catch the ball like sproles does— a westbrook, ray rice, marshall faulk, prime LT— you wouldnt see the “rb by committee” thing to the same extent. The point is this: in any other era, on near any other team, Sproles is a (great) third down rb, but still burdened with the weaknesses of a third down rb; yet in this Saint offense, in this new NFL, they can ignore orthodoxy, they can outsmart and out-finesse everybody, and darren sproles can be a #1 running back.

6182

I have to say I think Pierre Thomas was the best Saints player last night. He can pretty much do it all, running, weaving and wiggling, catch passes and block, and yesterday he got an additional 3-5 more yards after everyone figured he was down several times.

That said, Calvin Johnson. Holy shit.

6183

Do not fear… I did not come for you.

6184

Whole lotta puntin’ goin’ on.

Oh, Eli…

6185

The way this is going, that safety might be enough.

More importantly, neither of these teams has a chance against the Packers.

6186

6187

Holy shit, Nicks.

6188

Falcons, with a good running game, go empty backfield TWICE on 4th down to run a QB sneak. Horrible, horrible coaching there.

And Nicks may have just broken their back with that one. Wide open, then runs through about 7 white jerseys for the score after the catch.

6189

So what am I not understanding about when a receiver is shoved out of bounds but the clock keeps ticking? And the defense would want the clock stopped to boot?

6190

This has turned out to be one of those seasons where a bunch of teams that don’t belong in the playoffs are exposed as the posers they are.

If you were inclined to think Tebow is not an NFL level QB then imagine how ugly that game is going to be.

6191

After three years of losing their first and only playoff game, you’d think the Falcons might be looking to do something different. New coach, new QB, I dunno…but they need to do something.

6192

Well the Falcons did use 5 draft picks to get an explosive receiver. And they scored not one, but TWO whole points. I’d say probably the coach is the problem, but on the other hand they’ve had 4 straight winning seasons. Prior to that, the Falcons had NEVER had consecutive winning seasons in their history. So I’m thinking the coach is safe for a good while.

And I’m definitely one inclined to think Tebow is not a good QB - as well as thinking John Fox is an overrated coach having seen his teams up close for years in Carolina. So let’s just say I’m expecting another blowout starting in a few minutes.

6193

I think there is just a big gap this year between the top teams and the rest of the pack. In the NFC in particular, where SF, GB, and NO are clearly much better then anyone else. The AFC is less clear, mainly because the better teams are either majorly flawed (like NE) or are getting killed by injuries (HOU, PIT). So while there may be some good games, I think we’re going to see a lot less then exciting games. Including the Superbowl, unfortunately.

6194

I’m inclined to think an OC change might be in order. The interesting thing is that may happen, but not because the Falcons want to get rid of their OC - rather Mike Mularkey is one of the hot coordinators this year. So in some ways the Falcons may be better off if he does get a head coaching job, because I doubt they’ll make any major changes if he doesn’t depart on his own.

6195

I thought it was going to be unique, but surprisingly, this was the third game to end 24-2.

In 1972 Pittsburgh beat San Diego 24-2 and in 1980 the Pats beat the Bills by the same score.

There hasn’t been a 27-2 since 1957, so Tynes screwed that up for us.

6196

If I’m the Steelers, I’m perfectly happy putting up field goals every time I have the chance, because I don’t think the Broncos are scoring many points today.

It’s almost like they’re playing blackjack: if the Steelers hit 21, it’s bust for Denver. :)

Edit: what the hell do I know? You couldn’t place those two passes any better.

6197

This is kind of a weird story - a St. Louis newspaper writer tweeted that the only hang-up for Fisher the Rams involves what would happen if the Rams were to relocate back to LA. It isn’t clear what this is about and its probably just Fisher wanting some financial boost if he ends up having to relocate to a higher tax state, but it is interesting. Technically the Rams can leave St. Louis after 2014 if certain original lease promises about revenue aren’t met (and they aren’t expected to be) but I would consider the Rams an unlikely team to end up moving.

I do wonder what will happen after this season - there were some rumblings during the lockout that once the CBA was figured out and the season played there would be some major movement on the question of who is interested in the various LA stadium propositions.

6198

Ah, that classic Steelers maneuver: allow eight yards in the first quarter, turn great offensive possessions into two field goals, allow a touchdown in the second!

6199

When we traded for him I was expecting four games of fannying about going sideways behind the line before he got injured and that’d be that. My opinion didn’t improve in the first few games when, outside of a drive against New England, it was clear we had little idea of how to use him.

Then by the last game of the season I was shaking my head and saying “man our offence looks woeful without Bush out there.” Fortunately the Jets were determined to beat themselves.

Somehow through the course of the season Bush came up with a respectable one cut style, making sure to hit the hole and get something and a couple of times, despite being right on the sideline, he squared his pads and hit his tackler rather than stepping out.

I’m sure he had a bit of a chip on his shoulder after being considered a disposable part of a Champion team, but it was clear that his good season did come with a change in mindset from Bush. I’ll have to see him do it again next year before I totally buy what my eyes are showing me, but he took a good number of steps toward converting my opinion this year.

6200

Tebow air attack commence!

/laugh

~C~