Wednesday 29 September 2010

Cutler, Gruden and Monday Night Football

There are American football analysts who take the simple option of re-evaluating the entire game afresh after each play. ESPN's Jon Gruden is particularly guilty of this. Following Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs stripping the ball from James Jones late in the Monday night game, Gruden fell into a reverie of admiration: 'this is simply what they do!', later adding: 'and it's just non-stop passion to the football when you talk about Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. Who says those two guys are slowing down?'

In doing so Gruden completely overlooked the fact that Urlacher had, until that point, had a very average game; missing an interception opportunity by turning his shoulders square to the play on the Packers opening score, and missing key tackles on the Packers previous possession.

Both Gruden and Ron Jaworski were equally guilty of talking up Jay Cutler to an overstated level. Cutler is, in his current guise, a middling quarterback. He makes just enough big down the field gains with pretty passes to Johnny Knox to distract from his generally poor decision-making under pressure.

His fondness of throwing the ball into heavy coverage has not disappeared, nor has his willingness to fling the ball wildly in any direction when the pocket collapses around him and defenders close in. Two times the Packers dropped easy interceptions, whilst two more were overturned for defensive penalties.

There is a significant quality difference between his opposite number on Monday night, Aaron Rodgers, a player who looks to be entering the elite class of quarterbacks in the league, and Cutler. Rodgers makes more accurate passes, and crucially, far better decisions. His ability in reading Urlacher's shoulder turn for example, allowed him to zip the ball past the stranded linebacker to the speedy receiver Greg Jennings beyond.

Rodgers also has a very fast release when under pressure, but still makes the correct read to find an open receiver. He is also more agile and speedy than Cutler when flushed from the pocket. Several times plays looked to be dead before Rodgers made backwards, lateral and acceleration moves upfield to escape the attentions of Bears defenders. Cutler looked decidedly slow in his scrambling attempts by comparison.

It helps of course that Rodgers has arguably the league's best receiving corps, the still criminally-underrated trio of Jennings, James and Jermichael Finlay. Beyond this, they even have fine fourth and fifth level receivers in the form of returner Jordy Nelson and Brett Swain, and newly-promoted running back Brandon Jackson added to the reception tallies against Chicago.

The Bears won thanks to the Packer mistakes. Long drives resulted in costly penalties and dropped catches, and poor special teams and turnovers gave Chicago easy points.

ESPN coverage

ESPN's coverage of Monday Night football has always been pretty poor, with the sole exception of lead commentator Mike Tirico who has grown into the role well. I have never understood the insistence on utilising a three man booth when one would be enough, and ESPN have certainly picked out some sub-standard analysing teams.

Gruden and Jaworksi may not be as bad as Tony Kornheiser's painful sensationalist sports talk radio material was, but I don't understand those that praise Gruden's 'down-to-earth' style, which as far as I can see, involves him making overly obvious points interspersed with 'what I'd do if I was still coaching' offerings, which invariably turn out to be disastrously wrong. Maybe that's why you're not still a coach, Jon?

And if I never hear the word 'escapability' again, I'll die a happy man.

Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth may not be perfect, but they are the best the league's TV coverage can offer at the current time. This is primarily because Collinsworth makes the viewer see things that they might otherwise have missed, and is able to give you a good sense of which individual battles on which to focus your attention in advance of the action.

American football concussions

As much as I love American football, there is no doubt that it is both a dangerous activity, but also a sport where the NFL has been slow to deal with the issue of long-term injuries caused by playing the game, particularly in the case of concussions and brain damage.

Before the 2009 season when the league finally made a high-profile attempt to crack down on players being put back into games following concussions and introducing on field penalties for helmet-to-helmet contact, it has so far appeared that the culture of the sport has failed to adapt sufficiently.

In week 1 of the season for example, Philadelphia Eagles players Kevin Kolb and Stewart Bradley both suffered concussions, Bradley's with dramatic immediate effects


Stewart Bradley falls concussed to the ground

Almost defying belief, Bradley was put back into the game shortly afterwards only to be fully withdrawn later on. Incidents such as these, where despite the league insisting that coaches must perform substantive 'tests' on the sidelines to determine whether a player can return to the action, clearly show that the policy is not working.

And there is plenty of tragic evidence from the league's history, often swept under the carpet or blamed on other problems that signifies the extreme jeopardy players are being placed in when such apparent disregard for safety occurs.


Mike Webster, who died in 2002

Mike Webster, Justin Strzelczyk, Andre Waters and Terry Long are just a few of the known cases of former players who went on to develop serious mental issues in later life, often resulting in suicide.

Scientists believe that repetitive stress on the head and frequent concussions can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, similar to the condition that many boxers face following their careers in the ring.

CTE causes symptoms ranging from memory loss, a deterioration in mental ability, loss of co-ordination and speech problems, and a host of more general behavioral issues-explosive, inappropriate or uncharacteristic actions, jealousy, paranoia and depression.

Research is still in a relatively early stage in this area, and has meant that players such as Waters and Strzelczyk were only posthumously identified as having suffered brain damage caused by playing that may have determined their tragic final actions.

As a result, researchers are now encouraging both current and former players to help participate in co-operating with ongoing studies in an effort to better understand the long-term side effects of the game.

What is most worrying is that once you begin to research the effect of concussions in football, you find extensive examples of the devastating results.

In his book 'Head Game: Football's Concussion Crisis' published in 2006, former Harvard footballer and pro wrestler Chris Nowinski, who suffered his own career-ending concussive injury, describes the fog of ignorance surrounding the problem:

'The more I looked into my concussive problems, the more I realized that I had never heard of any of the true dangers posed by head injuries. Nor had the rest of the United States, it seemed. Why? Because the organization (NFL) with the most money to study concussions and the biggest stage from which to spread the message at this point hasn't shown the ability to publicize the truth about these devastating injuries.'

Part of the problem is the culture of the sport, from sidelines to locker rooms, where players are both scared to speak out when they have suffered an injury for fear of losing a spot on the team, and feel peer pressure from team mates to not appear 'soft' by stopping playing. It is not just players either; cases such as that of Stewart Bradley show that certain coaches are just as guilty of putting the performance of the team above the safety of their players.

The game itself has also evolved so that the helmet is no longer as much a protective item as a weapon. The frequency of helmet-to-helmet hits over the standard wrap-tackling has increased rapidly in recent decades, as defensive players go for dramatic show-reel plays that broadcasters such as ESPN show endlessly on Sports Center.

It's encouraging to see new helmet technology being developed to try and combat the effects of blows to the head, but it's going to take a sea-change in player attitudes led by early education to protect oneself properly on the field to avoid future cases like that of Justin Strzelczyk.

Monday 27 September 2010

College round-up week 4

Miami-Pitt

Is this the core of the same Pittsburgh team I saw last year? It's hard to believe how average they looked against the Hurricanes. Simply unable to get anything going on offense all game long, they could barely accumulate first downs, let alone look threatening downfield.

Starting QB Tino Sunseri was eventually benched, and back-up Pat Bostick at least looked comfortable in the position, generating a drive made up of lofted passes steadily down the field, before also lofting up an easy interception.

Most worryingly, Dion Lewis, touted as a potential dark-horse for the Heisman trophy after an excellent freshman year has not found his 2010 rhythm yet. Instead Pitt's running game (and only positive news from the game) came in the form of power RB Ray Graham.

Hopefully Lewis can regain his 2009 form, he is incredibly exciting to watch when he makes cuts and escapes the first tackler. I have no doubt he will make an impact in the NFL one day.

Miami's pro-style offense made them look a class above Pitt, and the Hurricanes have a fine selection of receivers in Travis Benjamin, LaRon Byrd and Leonard Hankerson. These are players that already look capable of making an impact in the NFL, and backed up by a solid defensive effort they easily won this game.

Alabama-Arkansas

A great game of football played in perfect conditions and with the most electric crowd that only the college game can produce.

It was such a tight game that mistakes were ultimately the difference, and it's impossible to look past Arkansas' QB Ryan Mallett's two late interceptions as the primary cause for defeat.
It was not the picks themselves that particularly cost the Razorbacks, more the momentum shift and deflation you could feel from the stands in their aftermath.

It had looked as if Arkansas were headed for the comfortable win, but Alabama managed to establish the running game with Mark Ingram more consistently in the second half, and this coupled with key defensive stops and the turnovers were enough to guide the Tide to victory.

There is no more galling loss than one such as this for Arkansas, and this would have doubtless been the signature win of their season had they pulled it off.

Mallett looks to have definite pro-potential. His foot work is for the most part, very solid, and he made some nice step up into the pocket moves not often seen at this level. He also made several stunningly accurate passes, and was helped with equally strong receiver performances by Greg Childs, Joe Adams and Jarius Wright.

Worryingly though, he made risky throws, and could even have been picked off more than the three times he was.

Alabama QB Greg McElroy also made mistakes however, throwing two picks, one of which he clearly failed to see the Arkansas defensive back at all until he cut to the ball.

The difference was that McElroy adapted his game in the second half, and the play calling changed. There was more commitment to the run game for starters, but also the passes that were called were largely safer, shorter routes to the sure hands of Julio Jones, who had the better of his match-up with cornerback Ramon Broadway.

This game also showed the importance of having a running game; Arkansas started with reasonable production in this area but fell away badly in the second half, heaping more pressure on Mallett and allowing Alabama to predict the play-calling.

Sunday Night Football review

New York-Miami




A very watchable Sunday Night Football then on Channel 4, where two teams regarded highly for their defensive football also managed to produce decent moments of attacking intent.

Miami were unlucky to lose what turned out to be a predictably tight encounter given the similar nature of the setups of the teams, and most surprisingly managed to develop a strong passing game that represented the opposite philosophy we had seen the week before in Minnesota.

Miami's receivers impressed across the board, and Brandon Marshall stood out most with big gains on crucial downs, whilst all the time being involved in a heated match-up against old AFC West-foe, cornerback Antonio Cromartie.

The momentum of the game swung fairly wildly. It had looked like a potential blow-out win for the Jets when they extended to an easy two-score lead following a Mark Sanchez completion to Dustin Keller at the back of the endzone early in the second quarter.

But Miami were able to find momentum by spreading pass receptions across Marshall, Davone Bess and Brian Hartline. Indeed there were times when the Jets vaunted defense seemed unable to stop the catches along the sidelines from Bess, whilst Henne was delivering the ball with confidence, good-timing and precision, albeit occasionally interspersed with the more familiar risky tosses into double coverage.

The famed wildcat offense was largely unproductive-used predictably or delivered with such languid sweeps that the Jets were able to make easy stuffing tackles, and it was this inability to get the running game motoring that went some way to costing the Dolphins the game.

They were unlucky to concede the headline touchdown to the Jets most-wanted receiver Braylon Edwards, when covering defender Jason Allen lost his footing on the newly laid turf covering the baseball infield at Sun Life stadium, and this was Edwards primary impact on the proceedings.

NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth generously blamed only the field for the resulting play, but Allen also over-ran the action, and was guilty of doing the exact same later in the encounter in allowing Edwards another easy completion.

It was also Allen who drew the pass interference penalty on Edwards late in the dying minutes of the game that presented the Jets with the fresh set of downs and Ladanian Tomlinson's charge into the endzone to ultimately seal victory.

Cornerbacks are struggling to cover Edwards for whatever reason, and whilst I don't consider him anywhere near an elite receiver in the league given his previous form, he has successfully made a nuisance of himself at the start of this season, both on and off the field of play. The Patriot's Darius Butler had an equally torrid time in attempting to get to grips with the receiver in their week 2 clash.

With the exception of the cornerbacks Miami were as impressive when the opposition had the football. Cameron Wake made several good defensive plays, including the seemingly physically impossible leaping from a cut block to knock down a Sanchez pass at the line of scrimmage. Karlos Dansby also had important tackles and a strong presence on the field and looks to be a bad loss for the Arizona Cardinals.

Overall it was difficult to be blown away by the performance of the Jets; they showed us nothing here that we perhaps didn't already know. Sanchez is capable of delivering strikes but still has vulnerabilities in his game, and nearly delivered a disastrously soft interception to Dolphins defensive-end Kendall Langford in the last quarter. Their defense occasionally looked strong at the aggressive point of attack with Shaun Ellis and Jason Taylor making dramatic plays, but Miami's offensive line were able to buy the time and protection for Henne to pass the ball with ease at other points in the game.

The major positive for New York was the return of bruising running back Shonn Greene running downhill towards the end of the game, although for reasons unknown they chose to abandon this tactic late on.

What the game did tell us is that the AFC East will be ultra-competitive again this year (with the exception of the Bills), and with the Patriots looking hitherto shaky, it is up for the taking.

A breakdown of the rest of the NFL week 3 encounters and college games to follow shortly