Despite alleged progress, Tebow won’t throw at Combine

by | Feb 22, 2010 | NFL Draft, NFL Random Thoughts

It didn’t take an expert watching Tim Tebow play quarterback for Florida over the last four years to see that he was a great college player and a good and decent human being. It also didn’t take a genius to guess that he’d have trouble translating his ample skills to the National Football League, at least if he wanted to continue playing quarterback.

While he was a great scrambler and he could buy enough time in college where his long windup didn’t hurt him he wasn’t going to get away with windmilling his throws playing against elite competition every week.

Those beliefs seemed to be confirmed when Tebow went to the Senior Bowl and promptly struggled – not only with his throwing but with taking snaps from center.

Give Tebow credit for paying attention. In a recent story published at Bleacher Report he indicates a realization that he’s got shortcomings and that he is and plans to continue working on them.

That same story, however, indicates that he won’t throw at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Huh?

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Manning legacy not lost on these eyes

by | Feb 19, 2010 | NFL History, NFL Random Thoughts, Super Bowl

We’re closing in on two weeks since the Saints beat the Colts in the Super Bowl and my body is slowly adjusting to the next six months without football.

One of the things I keep reading in the days since what I thought was a pretty exciting game between two very good teams and two great quarterbacks is that the interception Peyton Manning threw on his way to the game-tying touchdown drive somehow cheapens his legacy as a star quarterback.

I’ll grant you, Manning has, at times, struggled in big games. But to say throwing a pick-six against New Orleans somehow detracts from him being one of the top quarterbacks of all-time is ridiculous.

First of all, this wasn’t an all-time great Colts team all season long. Sure, they were 14-0 before the coaches pulled the starters against New York. But Indianapolis won eight games by one score or less. Other than a four game stretch of dominance from their third game to their sixth game, when they won games by 21, 17, 22 and 36 points, the Colts generally played competitive games this year. This was a very, very good team, but any belief that this was a dominant bunch was misguided.

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Brees MVP moves him closer to HOF

by | Feb 8, 2010 | Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts, Super Bowl

Drew Brees, not Peyton Manning, displayed the poise and leadership of a Super Bowl champion Sunday night in Miami, leading his New Orleans Saints to their first Vince Lombardi trophy.

Brees completed 32 of 39 for 288 yards and two scores, winning the MVP trophy in the meantime.

His career is far from over and he’s got a lot more history to write in the years ahead. But I asked the question two weeks ago – will Drew Brees make the Hall of Fame? His last four seasons have certainly been trending in that direction.

Super Bowl performances like the show he put on tonight certainly won’t hurt his cause. Sure, it took Tracy Porter’s pick of Manning late in the game to seal the deal. And Sean Payton’s onside kick was a gutty call. But Brees’ performance was nearly flawless. My guess is he leads the Saints to many more playoff victories over the next few years as well.

If he does it’d be hard to keep him out of Canton in a decade, give or take a year or two.

NFL announced Team of the Decade for 2000s

by | Feb 1, 2010 | Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts

The NFL Hall of Fame Selection Committee announced its Team of the Decades for the 2000s last night during the Pro Bowl. There weren’t a ton of surprises on the list.

Comments at a few sites have made cases for guys like Priest Holmes and Torry Holt. I can see their points but I also have little disagreement with the players that were picked. Theirs seems largely in tune with the one we published a year ago.

Any major disagreements (Real ones, not complaints about the timing of the list being off because of the calendar starting at year one and not year zero)? Guys you think should have been on the list?

Here’s the list:

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With Warner’s retirement the Hall of Fame discussion begins

by | Jan 29, 2010 | Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts

This topic has been addressed before both here and in other places, but now, as Kurt Warner’s career comes to an end (assuming he doesn’t become the next Brett Favre) the debate surrounding arguably one of the most interesting Hall of Fame case studies out there can begin in earnest.

Warner finishes his career with 208 touchdown passes, which doesn’t put him in the top 20 all-time. With 32,344 yards passing, he falls short of the top 20 there, as well.

He was named to four Pro Bowls and was a first team All-Pro just twice. That’s also decent but not overwhelming.

On the other hand, the man led the league in completion percentage and yards per attempt in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He led in touchdown passes in 1999 and 2001 and yards in 2001, as well.

More importantly, he took three teams to Super Bowl appearances in 12 seasons, winning one with the Greatest Show on Turf and coming close in the other two.

Especially impressive, to me anyway, was the third one last year when he took the long moribund Arizona Cardinals on a playoff ride to remember. He came within a couple minutes of leading the Birds to an upset over the far superior Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now, he wasn’t especially durable. In the 11 seasons starting with the year he took over the helm in St. Louis through this year, he played 16 games just three times. But it’s also important to remember that the accomplishments he did compile started in 1999 when he was already 28 years old.

So, there’s a synopsis. Do the ring and multiple Super Bowl appearances win out? Or does the late start to Warner’s career keep him out?

Will any of you watch the Pro Bowl?

by | Jan 28, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

I was thinking about what I am going to do this weekend with no real football games on television for the first time since August. And it occurred to me that the Pro Bowl is this weekend.

I probably should have remembered that because of all the announcements about players pulling out of the game. But for some reason it hadn’t registered. And that’s probably because I really couldn’t possibly care less about this game.

For one thing, even when the game is the week after the Super Bowl in Hawaii, there are a ton of front-line players who skip the game for injuries or “injuries.” Second, there are weird rules about blitzing and stuff like that, or at least there were back when I used to occasionally tune in to watch.

Finally, to make it even less interesting than normal, 14 players from the Colts and Saints are missing this year’s game because it is this week instead of the week following the Super Bowl – can you really seriously call it the Pro Bowl and not have any players from the Super Bowl participants in the game? The absentees this year will include the top three vote getters – Super Bowl quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, and oft-elected Brett Favre, who hasn’t actually played in the game in years.

I’d heard some theories tossed around about moving the game to August so it is played before the season rather than after. That probably wouldn’t make any difference to me – and I would think teams would be a little hinky about letting their best players suit up for an all-star game before the season starts.

I’m curious to hear our readers’ thoughts on this game. Do you usually watch? Will you this year because of the new venue or the placement of the game between the Super Bowl and the Championship games? Is there anything the league could do to get you interested in watching? Or should the NFL just consider canceling the game?