Sports Guy blames the Patriots' loss on the refs. It was a bad weekend for the refs, no doubt, but NFL officiating is consistently the best of all the major sports. Skip the complaining about the calls and read the rest, because there are some hysterical lines in the article.
17 comments:
"Never, ever, ever trust anyone who calls Archie Manning or Phil Simms 'Dad'"
Okay, this is coming from a Tampa Bay fan, but that statement is crap. How long have these guys been in the NFL? 5 years between them? (if he was referring to Eli). What does he expect? Super Bowl rings already.
Chris Simms is accurate and has a strong arm, but granted, he is still learning the game. He was thrust into a tough situation this year and responded well. He held up well against Washington and if not for Cadillac's fumble and Sheppard's drop in the end zone, the Bucs win that game.
Unfair assessment of NFL officials, too.
I loved the part about Sergeant Slaughter, though. Brought back some memories.
Paul-
How to put this...? Ah yes, Chris Simms sucks. Apparently the whole Simms' family made a deal with the devil so that no one notices how terrible they are at their jobs.
Phil was an average NFL quarterback who was carried by Parcells. The fact that Jeff Hostetler stepped in and the Giants didn't skip a beat attests to that. Yet I have actually heard people mention Simms as a possible Hall of Famer. Now he is the dumbest color man on tv, yet he is the number one guy for CBS and SI does feature articles on wonderful he is. I do not say "dumbest" lightly. There are plenty of annoying and silly announcers out there, but Simms is magnificently stupid.
Then his son comes along and everyone decides he is the next coming of the QuarterbackChrist. He goes to Texas and is handed the starting qb job over a guy in Major Applewhite who set all sorts of Big 12 freshman records and was as cool as could be under pressure. Simms proceeds to choke in every single big game he played at Texas. For three years Applewhite had to replace him late in important games because he was screwing up so badly. The clown still gets drafted to play in the NFL, does nothing for the Bucs except lose in the big game, and now everyone thinks he's got some great future as a quarterback. He has all the physical attributes--he's...he's like a Peyton Manning (choke artist) without the smarts.
I like Tampa Bay and I like Jon Gruden, so I hope they come to their senses and get rid of that clown, but the Simms voodoo seems to have undue sway over lots of people.
I really don't think you can judge an NFL QB on college performance. We've already seen that a lot of great college qbs suck in the NFL and and vice versa.
How did Simms suck this year? He guided a team through the toughest division in the NFC and to the playoffs, where, once again, if Edell Sheppard makes that catch in the end zone, the Bucs send it to overtime. Where was that ball thrown anyway? Where did it hit Sheppard? Oh yeah, RIGHT IN THE HANDS!
At worst, the jury is still out on Simms. I don't think he's the second coming, but he's not as terrible as you say. I'd take him over Jake Plummer. How many big NFL games has he started, anyway? One.
I don't want to wade too far into this territory but I would always take Jake Plummer over Chris Simms, if only for the experience factor.
This is the same Jake Plummer that throws left-handed picks, right?
By the way, I think Major Applewhite bagged my groceries last night at the supermarket.
Even if the NFC South was the toughest division in the NFC--which is debatable, the NFC East had a better aggregate record--that really isn't saying much this year.
What bad college quarterbacks were good in the NFL?
Texas fans always had handy excuses ready to go when Simms lost, too. Let's recap on Simms in the playoff game: 5.21 yards per attempt, no TDs, 2 picks, 3 sacks against a team that did not get very many sacks, 56.7 rating. If he had done his job the rest of the game, they wouldn't have needed Edell to make that catch.
That guy has done nothing, nothing, to earn all of his opportunities and acclaim. But I'm sure next year when he chokes it up in the big game, his defenders will blame the Ronde Barber dropped pick or Mike Alstott not getting the first down or whatever. Trust me--he's not the guy.
(I'm really looking forward to the inevitable Jake Plummer implosion.)
I got lazy on the vice versa deal. I was referring to marginal college QBs having good NFL careers. Point was: what the hell did Favre, Delhomme, Hasselbeck, Warner do in college?
I get it, I get it...Simms doesn't deserve the accolades. I didn't say he was Superman. But as I recall, the Skins did have a top 10 defense and Simms' interceptions were both tipped passes. I would rather see the Bucs get rid of Kenyatta Walker. They face first and 15 (or 10) and second and 15 (or 20) way too often because of his stupid false starts and holding calls.
Jake Plummer:
Started all 16 games and has completed 277 of 456 (60.7%) for 3,366 yards, and 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions while being sacked 22 times for 135 yards engineering the league’s fifth-ranked offense which turned the ball over the fewest times (16) in franchise history. He has also rushed for 151 yards on 46 carries (3.3 avg.). Placed among the conference (and league) leaders in several categories: Pass Attempts (456, 8th(11th)), Completions (277, 8th(12th)), Completion Percentage (60.7, 10th(16th)), Passing Yards (3,366, 7th(12th)), Passing Touchdowns (18, T6th(T12th)), Touchdown Percentage (3.9, 8th(16th)), Fewest Interceptions (7, 3rd(T4th)), Lowest Interception Percentage (1.5, 1st(2nd)) and Passer Rating (90.2, 5th(7th)). Also finished the season as the fourth-leading rusher in the AFC and sixth among the league’s quarterbacks with 151 rushing yards.
Chris Simms:
10 TDs, 7 INTs, Rating: 81.4
Dear God this has spiraled way out of control. I know Simms is not a world-beater. I just don't think he's all that terrible.
Check out the Plummer line.
Five years of 20+ INTs
60% comp. only 2 seasons
68 career fumbles
below 7 y/a five years
Rating: above 90 only twice (six years below 80)
AND that asshole mustache
(Granted some of those years are with Arizona)
http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/1003
Paul --
Also keep in mind that Payton also calls Archie Manniung Dad, so right there we are talking about eight years in the leagfue.
Hasselback had a damned good college career at BC. Ditto Favre at Southern Miss. Warner was great at Northern Iowa.
Simms should never have seen the field until Applewhite graduated. Some coaches forget that the name of the game is winning.
The refs cost the Pats at least one td (by giving one to Denver that so obnviously was a fumble out of the endzone) and that pass interference call made a huge difference. The Pats did not play well enough to win; they still may well have without those two wretched calls. Them's just facts.
As for Phil Simms, let's keep in mind that for most of his career he was fighting for his starting slot. That some are tagging him for the Hall of Fame and Art Monk still is not in is a freaking joke. Phil Simms would not have started for half of the teams in the league in 1986 and he would not start for half of the teams in the league now.
dc
They did have decent college careers, but most of the attention went to QBs of bigger/premier schools. My bad.
I do remember Mack Brown taking UNC from 1-10 to 10-1. I guess he became a better decision-maker over the last two years?
Play script:
1. get the ball to Vince Young
2. repeat #1
3. repeat #1...
Anyone who dogs Manning should also dog Marino in the same breath.
I have no problem with the other claims you made (for once), even though I didn't address them.
I assumed you meant that you would take Chris Simms over Jake Plummer this year.
Paul --
Not to pick on you, but if you saw Major Applewhite bagging your groceries last week, it must have been because he had not given his two week notice yet. At the tender age of 27, he has just been named offensive coordinator at Rice. Rice isn't good, but I'll bet you dollars to donuts, as my grandfather used to say, that Rice quarterbacks make smart decisions and that by the time he is 35 he is a major college or pro head coach and a good one.
I agree, Mack Bron is a good coach, but I still think the Applewhite-Simms decision shows how much hype, prototypical size, and supposedly great genes will get you over actually being what the experts like to call "good."
dc
Stephen- I was trying to compare first and second year stats.
DC- The Applewhite thing was a joke. What I meant was he's not making decisions on the field right now- Simms is.
That was exactly my point. How many 'hyped' college qbs don't do well in the pros, and some that don't get hyped have success. (Favre, Warner, Hasselbeck, Delhomme)
I still think Simms will be fine under Gruden. Of course, this is all rendered moot when Griese comes back.
Peyton Manning couldn't hold Dan Marino's jock strap. There is no comparison. For one thing, Marino never had the talent around him that Manning does. Mark Clayton, Mark Duper, O.J. McDuffie, Irving Fryar, and Tony Martin were solid receivers (mostly because Marino was throwing them the ball), but none of them were as good as Marvin Harrison, and most of them weren't as good as Reggie Wayne.
And let's look at the murderer's row that led the Dolphins in rushing during Marino's career: Andra Franklin, Woody Bennett, Tony Nathan, Lorenzo Hampton, Troy Stradford, Sammie Smith, Mark Higgs, Bernie Parmalee, Karim Abdul Jabbar, and J.J. Johnson. Only one running back in Marino's entire career got over 1000 yards rushing in a season, Jabbar, and that took over 300 carries with a 3.6 yards per carry average. Manning's primary running backs: Marshall Faulk, Edgerrin James, and Dominick Rhodes. Only once has Manning not had a 1000 yard rusher, because in 2002 Edgerrin James only got 989. (That's right, in 2001 Dominick Rhodes ran for over 1100 yards, with a 4.7 average, because James got hurt--after he had already rushed for 662 yards.)
More importantly, Marino was clutch. He has the second most fourth quarter comebacks in NFL history, 37, including 3 in the playoffs (plus one in the playoffs where the game was tied in the 4th). And he took the Dolphins to the Super Bowl--where he lost to the greatest quarterback ever.
For the record, I like Mack Brown too, but I'm surprised he hasn't been able to put together the dominant defense at Texas like the one he had at UNC.
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