Week 8 NFL Thread

Tebow remains available.

 

There will never be another player quite like him.

 

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/blogs/228953181.html

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2010/columns/story?id=6077292

 

Coaching at the NFL or even major college level has gotten to be an all-consuming 24/7/365 job. You don't get days off from July through the end of your season and not many even in the off-season. It takes far too much of a toll. That's why you don't see the Landrys, Shulas, Grants and Nolls, that coach in one place for 20 years anymore. I'm shocked that anyone lasts a decade.

Sadly, the reporting isn't all that much better in terms of hours. Some of those NFL beat guys may not work 20 hours a day, but between reporting, writing, blogging, tweeting, doing a radio show and heaven knows what else, they don't have much of a life outside of the job anymore.

Bum Phillips dies at 10 p.m.? You're on the clock and we need a story pronto. Team trades star player (or even a backup) at 9 p.m.? Gotta redo the page and have a story. Star receiver winds up in ICU in the hospital after a game? Gotta be on the scene at 2 a.m. in case something happens. Owner visits some other city and arrives at 5 a.m.? Gotta be there for a comment. It's gotten to be almost like covering the president. Insane.

Far, far, far too much emphasis on sports in our society.

 

Wanted to add something regarding the McDaniels era: The original intent of Bowlen and Ellis was to put Jim Goodman in charge of personnel decisions. His son Jeff was to help with input, while Brian Xanders was to handle salary cap management. Josh McD was supposed to focus on coaching with some input into personnel, but never the final say. Then there was a falling out with the Goodmans and they departed.

I don't know all the details, but looking at what transpired later, there's evidence to suggest Xanders wanted in on personnel input when that wasn't his strength. I had heard somewhere that Jeff wanted in on salary cap management, when that wasn't his strength.

Either way, with the Goodmans gone, McD got put into personnel management when he was not qualified to do it. All you have to do is look at the 2009 draft, in which haphazard trades were made with picks and all three second-rounders were busts.

As for other issues, I'll just say this: Jay Cutler was likely going to be an issue regardless of who was coaching because he was unhappy that Mike Shanahan had been fired and that Jeremy Bates was not retained as offensive coordinator. Plus, he had Bus Cook as an agent and Cook has represented a bunch of players who have had major disputes with teams at one point (Brett Favre and Steve McNair are two examples, I believe Randy Moss is a third). And Brandon Marshall was rumored to be on his way out if Shanahan had returned. I'll leave it at that.

 

Ponder's the best guy for the present. But since you brought Freeman in --- for whatever insane reason --- you do have to give him a 4-5-game audition at some point this season.

Honestly, as a fanboi, I hope he stinks, because I certainly do not want the team to be suckered into signing him into a long-term deal as the "quarterback of the future". If he's the QB of the future, that future will include a lot of 5-11 seasons until the coach is fired and management owns up to the mistake.

As for Ponder, if you have truly decided he cannot be the guy going forward, then you are going to have to dump him and his salary in the offseason. He can't become an albatross around whoever you do bring in. Either commit to him or dump him.

On that last point, I'm undecided. He did help the team win 10 games as a second-year guy. He's not going to be a Hall of Famer, but he's not Blaine Gabbert/Tarvaris Jackson level of ineptitude, either. He has upside and room to improve. So you either bite the bullet and commit for a minimum of the next three years and see where he can lead you, or you cut bait and start over..... but not with Josh Freeman.

 

Why? I don't think there's been anything in his performance with either the Bucs this year or the Vikings that should make anyone believe he's a starting QB in the NFL. He wasn't just bad in his start last week. He was missing WR by miles. It wasn't that he was just leading his WRs slightly because he wasn't used to them. He was throwing the ball into a different zip code.
Can't we all just agree to put his one good season next to Brady Anderson's 50 HR season and just move on?

 

I agree. I never would have brought Freeman in. But since they did, they surely have to give him a chance. You don't sign a guy for $2 million to stand around as the backup --- especially when you already had Matt Cassel to do that job instead of Joe Webb.

If I'm Ponder, I'm trying to figure out what the team's commitment is right now. The whole thing sends a terrible message to a guy who you are trying to install confidence is. Someone asked if I'd trade Ponder for Brandon Weeden straight up? I doubt it; not sure Weeden would be an improvement anymore than Freeman is.

 

SKOL!