MABSD: Of Clocks and Kings

So today's Monday Morning Back Seat Driver is coming to you in the afternoon (MABSD). Mainly this is because Delta airlines blows and it took me 12 hours to get home. Between their policy of maintaining overbooked flights, mechanical problems in Montreal, not enough sandbags on the plane and the fact that the company is run on the slogan "I'll ruin your day like we ruined our company". At least their were no Snakes on the Mother Fucking Plane.

There is an old saying "even broken clocks are right twice a day". I was thinking about that when Ron Jaworski debated Iron Mike on ESPN Sunday Morning Countdown on if the current Bears were as good as the 1985 Bears. Typically Ron is the best analysis in the business. However Ron listed facts and figures to explain why the 2006 Bears were better, the man who coached the 1985 Bears focused his steely eyes onto the camera and said "The only thing better about this year's Bears team is the coach". This is a man that coached the team and his closing argument of putting Ron in the camel clutch seemed convincing. While the 2006 version fell Dolphins same as the 1985 version. The difference is the the MNF classic had Marino passing like craz while this years game had Joey Harrington combing his beard and Rex Grossman doing an impersonation of a Steve Spurrier product. With most of the NFC's elite teams losing this week (Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Minnesota and Saint Louis) the NFC seems fairly wide open. Honestly the best way to increasing your creds for Super Bowel contender seems to be not playing (Giants - wait can I get a ruling on if the bye week is different than playing the Texans?).

The King of football now is the turnover. When you look through the loss columns you can point to the turnover battle as the reason for the loss. Grossman's 3 picks, Brady's 4 INTs, Vicks 2 picks and a fumble, etc,etc,etc. Football today is played conservative. Its a short passing routes, with control offenses. This means mistakes cause radical shifts in field position (intercepting a pass intended for 10 yards is very different than intecepting a pass intended 40 yards). Coaches play books are not designed for chewing up yardage quickly and quarterbacks rarely today have the training or freedom to run the no-huddle offense/play calling at the line. Manning truly is a throwback quarterback to the 1980s when QBs were often co-equal offensive coordinators. This is also not exactly the golden age of quarterbacks. How many current starters are in the prime of hall of fame careers? How many are in the prime of Pro Bowl careers? There is Brady and Manning and then a number of borderliners, not quit theres and never will bes. Offenses and quarterbacks that mistakes these days just don't have the ability to rescue themselves. Which is why I think picking games is an attempt in futility most of the time because its really a question of which quarterback or team will make more mistakes. I think this is why the Colts trouncing of the Pats was so surprising. Not because Brady made mistakes but because Belichek coached like Mike Martz or Andy Reid. Throwing the ball repeatedly against a defense that is weakest against the run sounds like a recipe for disaster.


A few college thoughts.....Louisville plays Rutgers on Thursday a victory there could nearly lock up a spot in the BCS Championship Game for this soon to be Big East champion. My sense is that only Florida has the chance for hopping Louisville given the tougher schedule.