NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - 08/09 Season

[-Jrabbit]

Don't be dissing the Dallas guys. You play until the whistle blows.
The whistle blew.

Quite a defensive struggle so far...

[Ming]

Ya gotta love the game. It's like pinball.

Dallas takes the lead again.

[SlowwHand]

Let's not forget that Romo wasn't drafted.

[snoopy369]

Nice game. Now I wait until tomorrow to see if I managed to win my league 1 game, despite getting no credit for his TD run (on a return)

Also, if I lose by <6, I'm sending DeSean Jackson hate mail

[-Jrabbit]

Ah, the evils of D/ST... Looks like I'm 2-for-3 with my teams thsi week. Huge day for my Poly team. Looks like I'm a heartbreaking half-point short in one FFZ league.

[Jaguar]

A brief discussion of why Romeo Crennel is one of the worst head coaches in the league:

Week 1: Down 28-7 to the Cowboys with 10 minutes left to play, the Browns faced 4th and 3 on the Dallas 17. They needed three scores to avoid defeat. Crennel elects to kick a field goal, meaning that the Browns still needed three scores to avoid defeat.

Week 2: Down 10-3 with 3:28 left to play, the Browns faced 4th and 7 on the Pittsburgh 20. They needed a touchdown to avoid defeat. Romeo Crennel again elects to kick a field goal, meaning that the Browns... still needed a touchdown to avoid defeat.

This is so mindbogglingly stupid. I just don't understand.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by Jaguar
A brief discussion of why Romeo Crennel is one of the worst head coaches in the league:

Week 1: Down 28-7 to the Cowboys with 10 minutes left to play, the Browns faced 4th and 3 on the Dallas 17. They needed three scores to avoid defeat. Crennel elects to kick a field goal, meaning that the Browns still needed three scores to avoid defeat.

Week 2: Down 10-3 with 3:28 left to play, the Browns faced 4th and 7 on the Pittsburgh 20. They needed a touchdown to avoid defeat. Romeo Crennel again elects to kick a field goal, meaning that the Browns... still needed a touchdown to avoid defeat.

This is so mindbogglingly stupid. I just don't understand.

Almost reminds me of when Buddy Ryan was a head coach at Philly

He was a great defensive whizz but had periods of "duh-huh as head coach


Buddy ball

[snoopy369]

Just as an aside, the spread in the latter game was 6 points. Take from that what you will.

[Grandpa Troll]

Un-flippin-believable!!!

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- Out with the new, in with the old.

With the passing offense sputtering in two losses to open the season, Minnesota coach Brad Childress decided the Vikings can no longer afford to let 25-year-old quarterback Tarvaris Jackson learn on the job.

On Wednesday, Childress turned to 15-year veteran Gus Frerotte to run the offense for the rest of the season.

"I'm just not seeing right now the aggressiveness from Tarvaris that I saw throughout the offseason, training camp, the two preseason games that he played in," Childress said. "And part of it may be experience. I know Gus will give us that. And I know his approach will also lend itself to that."

Jackson completed just 51 percent of his passes this season. He threw a game-ending interception at Green Bay that sealed the Packers victory and was partly responsible for the offense settling for five field goals and scoring no touchdowns in an 18-15 loss to the Colts.

"I know there's many other plays, there's a lot of other people that have to step up," Childress said. "But then when you go back through and look at the tape, and most importantly to be able to sit across from the young man and want to be able to verify what you're feeling -- it's kind of like looking in your kids' eyes and saying one (thing) and feeling another."

It's an abrupt and drastic move for a team that entered the season with sky-high expectations after spending $60 million in guaranteed money to position itself as an NFC contender.

Only two weeks in, the Vikings already are two games behind NFC North-leading Green Bay with games against Carolina, at Tennessee and at New Orleans coming up.

"We're 0-2 right now, and the key thing, probably one of the reasons Coach made the decision, was maybe because we need to get something to get us over the hump to get us a win," the 37-year-old Frerotte said.

Jackson admitted to "inconsistent play to say the least," but also said he was surprised and upset by the move.

"I could easily hold my head low, keep my head down, you know, be a cancer to the team," Jackson said. "I'm still frustrated and mad about the situation, but I'm going to use that as motivation to try to get better and just better myself for the future."

The passing offense has struggled mightily through the first two weeks, not only with Jackson's accuracy, but also with receivers dropping passes and conservative play calling.

After the loss to the Colts on Sunday dropped the Vikings to 0-2, Childress said Jackson "is definitely our quarterback this week."

But that stance started to soften on Monday, when he said coaches were "chewing on a bunch of things right now and making sure that he's the best guy for us to go forward."

By Tuesday, the decision was made to give the job to Frerotte.

"I wish I had more time, but it's coach's decision," Jackson said. "I don't want all my work to go to waste. I felt like I've come this far and I've worked so hard to get to where I am now and I'm going to continue to work hard and keep trying to get better and take it one day at a time. Whatever happens, happens."

Childress said he still believes Jackson has a "bright future."

"While I know he doesn't like it, I'd worry about him if he did like it," Childress said. "I know he'll make the most of it."

Frerotte has played with seven teams, including Minnesota twice, in his 15 years in the league.

"I was very surprised," receiver Bobby Wade said. "I didn't anticipate that. Obviously it's the coach's decision and the administration's decision and we have to run with that."

Last season, Frerotte started three games with St. Louis and played in five others, completing 56.3 percent of his passes for 1,014 yards, seven touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Frerotte showed in training camp this year that his 37-year-old arm still has plenty of juice in it. Wade said the playbook may open up with a veteran in there as opposed to a guy who has 16 total starts.

"I think the coach was keeping it limited for a reason, obviously not to try to put too much on a young player and trying to get a guy more comfortable and more confident," Wade said. "You might see some things change this week with Gus back there."

[snoopy369]

I'll agree that Tavaris Jackson is not the long term QB for MIN.

However, whatever the question, if Gus Frerotte is the answer, something is very, very wrong.

[SlowwHand]

He's good enough to last as long as he has. Longer than Jackson will be around. Peterson in the backfield, and he still can't pass? There's something wrong with that situation.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
He's good enough to last as long as he has. Longer than Jackson will be around. Peterson in the backfield, and he still can't pass? There's something wrong with that situation.

He did so-so for us Slowwie, back in Scarlett and Gold heydays

But alas, our Redskins need to do lots to redeem themselves like a lil ole trouncing down Dalllas way fer a start

[snoopy369]

With Tavaris Jackson, MIN obviously wasn't going to make the playoffs this year.

With Gus Frerotte, MIN ... will not make the playoffs this year.

So why dump the new guy after 2 games and go with the guy who won't be more than a year or two anyway

[SlowwHand]

Because he sucks. I don't know that he can play 1st string in the NFL.

[-Jrabbit]

Love to see Minnesota panicking at 0-2 after declining to sign a decent backup QB.

Jackson hasn't been great, but looks even worse than he is because Minny has a pretty bad group of receivers. Lots of dropped balls. Sure, they signed Berrian, but he's primarily a deep-ball specialist, and Tarvaris can't... throw... deep... And now Sidney Rice is hurt, so they will have TWO ex-Bears at WR. They don't even have a decent TE.

In conclusion, I don't think I'll be adding Frerotte to my fantasy team just yet.