Are You Ready for Some Football

[SlowwHand]

A) Vick is no Young. Young has touch and a brain.

B) I'd have voted Brees over Chad Pennington.

[Imran Siddiqui]

It amuses me how Sloww has to completely ignore Young's passer rating in order to continue his irrational hatred for Vick .

[Dis]

Vick is overrated.

I'm still waiting for a running QB to win a superbowl. I will change my tune when that happens.

Even my boy Cunningham turned more into a passing QB when the Vikes got close (lost in NFC title game to the Falcs). Randall had a lot of passing yards that year.

pass=win

I know, I know. In theory someone like Michael Vick should win a superbowl eventually. Hey, Trent Dilfer did it. So one would think any QB could do it.

[-Jrabbit]

Coaching Carousel Update, Thursday Edition

--Unconfirmed reports say Art Shell is being relieved of his coaching duties in Oakland. The official announcement is expected tomorrow.
--Cowher says he'll have a decision by Monday Jan. 8

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Dis
I know, I know. In theory someone like Michael Vick should win a superbowl eventually. Hey, Trent Dilfer did it. So one would think any QB could do it.

Why? Is Vick a good game manager (i.e., doesn't turn the ball over)? If not, then he won't.

Dilfer may have not been a great talent, but he managed the game well. Combined with the Ravens' shutdown defense, they won a Super Bowl.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Er... Dilfer had 11 interceptions in 9 games for that Baltimore Ravens team. Now, he was far better than Tony Banks at QB, and was decent in managing a game, but to say he didn't turn the ball over is kind of being silly.

[Lord Avalon]

I didn't know how many INTs he had. I guess I should have said something like he didn't turn it over more than their D could handle.

How many did he have in the playoffs? That might be more pertinent. If he played better and turned it over less than he did during the season, that would be a contributing factor to their SB run.

[Imran Siddiqui]

That could be true, but they'd have to get to the playoffs first .

And yes, he didn't turn it over more than their defense could handle, but at the same time it was one of the greatest defenses of all time. As long as the QB posted a rating over 70, I think they'd be fine.

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
B) I'd have voted Brees over Chad Pennington.

Brees' numbers were better, but Pennington is more the sun around which his team revolves. If Pennington is bad, the whole team is bad.
When Brees is bad, the team can still rely on McAllister/Bush to make a difference.

[Lord Avalon]

I think Pennington had 2 shoulder surgeries, whereas Brees only had 1.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, and few really thought he could come back. The vast majority of folks (I mean everyone except Pennington's mom) thought he'd try a little bit, but then a few games in, he'd (and they team'd) realize he couldn't throw anymore and the Jets would replace him, and then Pennington would retire after the season (or try to gut it out as a backup for a few more years before giving up).

NO ONE saw this.

[Jaguar]

Dilfer wasn't a great game manager or anything of the sort. He was legitimately terrible quarterback. His yards per attempt average was 6.65, which put him comfortably between Tim Couch and Cade McNown for the year.

The only reason his interception counts are so low is because the Ravens rarely let him throw the ball. (An excellent strategy, considering that Dilfer was terrible and they had Priest Holmes and Jamal lewis.) Dilfer attempted an average of 25 passes per game in the regular season games he played. That's already a very low number of attempts, but in the playoffs the Ravens got even more conservative. In four games, Dilfer was 9/14, 5/16, 9/18, and 12/25. That's an average of 18 passes per game. In comparison, Brett Favre throws about 38 passes per game this year.

The reason Dilfer never screwed the game up was primarily because he didn't get the ball much. It's really what the Bears should be doing with Grossman.

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
It amuses me how Sloww has to completely ignore Young's passer rating in order to continue his irrational hatred for Vick .

He's a rookie compared to a veteran.
It's ROY, not outstanding player of Super Bowl.
Tennessee was 8-8 in total but winning with Young, whereas Atlanta was 7-9.
It's pretty easy to say it.

[Imran Siddiqui]

In Vick's first full year as a starter (his 2nd year in the league) he was 22. Young was 23 this year (so rookie or not, he had an extra year of development as a passer). Vick also had better passing numbers and had a 9-6-1 record.

But keep gushing over Young while deriding Vick. I'm sure Chow will know how to use Young better than Knapp did, but I'm not foreseeing anything that much different than Vick (ie, passer rating in the 70s, or perhaps low 80s, plenty of rushing yards at opportune moments) in the near future.

[Lord Avalon]

Vick played 8 games in 2001. Comparing his 2nd season to Young's 1st season doesn't seem right to me.

Cowher expected to retire Friday at news conference
Bill Cowher has informed his assistant coaches he is stepping down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers after 15 seasons.

Cowher wanted to take a week to make his decision, and the Steelers were willing to give him until next Monday or Tuesday to make a decision. But after talking over the situation with the family and the Steelers, Cowher decided to move up his announcement until Friday.

The Steelers scheduled a 1 p.m. eastern press conference to discuss Cowher's situation. Although the team did not announce a decision, the word of his resignation was delivered to his assistant coaches.

Cowher built a home in North Carolina and wanted to spend more time with his family there. Though the Steelers wanted him back, Cowher was looking for the chance to get away from the game for an indefinite period. Even though he could get his name in some of the job currently open, Cowher will not coach in 2007.

First, the Steelers control his contractual rights through the 2007 season. Any team wanting him to coach would have to offer the Steelers a bounty of draft choices to get the rights to talk to him.

Second, Cowher doesn't want to coach in 2007. Apparently, his decision doesn't have much to do with money. He is indeed going to take this season off and relax although it's not out of the question for him to do some television work. Cowher is expected to be working this weekend for a network, an arrangement he made several weeks ago.

Cowher finished 161-99-1 in his 15 seasons with the Steelers. Thanks to Cowher and Chuck Noll, the Steelers have had one of the most stable coaching situations in the NFL.

Offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt and assistant head coach Russ Grimm are among the leading candidates for the Steelers job.

By making his decision known Friday, Cowher gives the Steelers the ability to talk to some of the assistant coaches currently in the playoffs. The NFL gives teams looking for head coaches until Sunday night to set up and conduct interviews with coaches currently in the playoffs. That could put the Steelers in position to talk to Cam Cameron of the Chargers and Ron Rivera of the Bears among other assistants.

The Steelers will meet Friday morning to discuss replacements.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2720570