<p>Tebow was one dimensional and didn’t have the skill set to cut it as an NFL quarterback</p>
<p>Doesn’t Tebow’s situation say a lot about the quality of Collegiate programs? You have high caliber programs that can produce with average players. (Well not average per say but you get my gist [or is it per se?]) I mean take Florida. Could anyone really say that they were not a dominant team? They had the championship one year and were so close in the other year (I believe it was Tebow’s last year) and lost to Alabama. Even Auburn last year. Can anyone tell me with a straight face that if Nick Marshall had come out last year, he would have been taken in the first round? Even drafted? But then people will point to the running game and the brilliance of Tre Mason. Is he really going to take the job from Zac Stacy? The reason why Auburn made it to the championship game, beat Alabama for goodness sake’s, is because of their system. Which is so ironic for how simple it is. All they ran was the triple option. THIS IS A HIGH SCHOOL SYSTEM. Point being is that colleges can make some players seem so great, but in all actuality they were a benefit of the system. (Even though I loved him coming out, Trent Richardson anyone?)</p>
<p>@hayden I really like Geno Smith and was pulling for him to do well last season. Even though he had some inconsistent games, I still like him and his potential. I thought it was a farce that E.J Manuel was picked before him but a least the Jets got a great player in Sheldon Richardson </p>
<p>I am hoping that the O’Brien era will get off to a good start on Sunday vs. the Redskins. I’m expecting a big day from Arian Foster as a bounce back from his short season last year. </p>
<p>Me too, LasMa.</p>
<p>Oregon players have had some similar issues with system over translatable talent . . . and I LOVE Oregon football hen they aren’t playing my Huskies . . . but some of their stars haven’t made the jump well</p>
<p>Tate isn’t a “thug”. He is a talented football player who has stayed on the right side of the law other than purloining Top Pot maple bars at 4am as a rookie (open door during baking hours in the lobby of his condo). He is a “pretty boy” gloater who is sort of a low level bad actor. His problem is that he just doesn’t learn. He continues to get personal fouls and just ill will on the field for taunting - and lets just say that the Seahawks lowballed him for a reason. They let him save face and move on but they wanted him to move on for personal reasons. He wasn’t keeping the code.</p>
<p>@jmnva06 When you compare his stats to Elway’s, he actually outperformed him when you look at the first two seasons. And well, the rest is history. He deserted a shot. He does have the skill set. Someone just has to make the commitment to giving him an offense that caters to his skill set. Fox isn’t gonna make Peyton run the spread. A coach shouldn’t force or expect Tebow to stand in the pocket and throw it 35 times per game.</p>
<p>How football at most levels works, though, is coaches have systems. They “grow up” in a coaching tree of a particular favorite system. Now and then they have some kind of epiphany and change but generally they pick one and carry it with them wherever they go. With Holmgren, for example, it was the west coast offense. He took that and installed it wherever he went then sought out players who worked well within what he did. Tom Cable, the Seahawks offensive line coach, loves zone blocking schemes so he gets players who are good zone blockers. If you can’t zone block you won’t play for the Seahawks. They don’t change the system to suit one player. </p>
<p>Saintfan, I am a near of very little brain. And I can’t keep track of all your avatar changes! @-) </p>
<p>It’s a nervous tick on game day and the last one is kind of reactionary I admit. I’m cooking dinner now, but I’ll change it back to something more conventional soon :-B </p>
<p>Take J.J Watt. Talented, amazing, superb 3-4 DE. However in a 4-3 I don’t think he would as effective as he could be in a 3-4. His frame and skill set is more suited to a pass rush with D-line man stunts, as well as being able to crash hard from the back side, sort of reminiscent of a OLB. And his genius in run-stopping is also a product of a 3-4. He’d still be amazing, but not as effective. Even with J.J Watts talents, a coach like say Monte Kiffin wouldn’t just go to a 3-4. He near revolutionized the 4-3 with the Tampa 2!</p>
<p>@hayden DH knows me so well that when I start putting on another layer of top coat in the first quarter he say, “Trust me, sweetie, it’ll be OK. They’ll get an interception here.”</p>
<p>The thing that RGIII found and Manziel will likely find and Wilson somehow just knew is that there is a limit to the amount of punishment that at QB can take at the pro level. In baseball most pro players were shortstops in HS. Why? Because that’s where a HS baseball coach puts his best player. They get to college and the minors and the competition level is different and suddenly they aren’t the best in the pool anymore. In youth football your best players are very often slotted in at QB - I had a kid who played for several years and an H who coached football and baseball. That best player may not have the same advantages as they move through the levels. They get to the pros and everyone is fast and everyone is strong and everyone has a high motor. What works in college in terms of read option and make it up as you go scramble just doesn’t fool the guys who are paid millions a year to be that good. The DLs and LBs in the pros will make you pay over time if you try to make a living that way.</p>
<p>Lol he’ll find that out if he even gets to play, but I agree completely </p>
<p>NBC highlighted an R. Wilson stat last night, that he’s worked to quicken his release. They showed it’s now among the very fast releases in the NFL. Tebow’s mechanical problems never improved or, rather, he’d improve and then revert. His release was slow with a long windup. The Patriots gave him a real chance in camp but he didn’t show improvement in his release or accuracy or his decision-making. </p>
<p>But I think the QB’s like Wilson, Kaepernick, etc. are showing even really basic read option can work in the NFL if and make that IF you make quick decisions and are a credible passing threat. I compare Tebow’s terrific game against a Steelers defense that just didn’t seem to believe he could throw deep - when that was his best passing in college - versus the rest of his performances in the regular season and playoffs. That offense was terrible outside that one game. If a team were to run only read option or some variant, maybe he could have been successful but Wilson, Kaepernick, etc. have to combine read option with traditional pocket passing. I never saw Tebow succeed at that in the NFL outside of that one Steelers game where they kept bringing their safeties up even as Denver threw over their heads. </p>
<p>If I were Welker, I’d probably keep playing. I’d be within maybe 2 years of 1000 catches and being in the talk for HoF, though I don’t see him there given is lack of TD’s and amount of yardage (meaning they favor deeper threats). Legacy is important until it isn’t. Not many people are like Barry Sanders. </p>
<p>I grew up the Lions. Poster team for bad organization. Bill Ford installed his drinking buddy Russ Thomas and kept him as GM through 21 seasons - 1 with 10 wins (lost to Dallas 5-0 or something weird like that) and only a few other winning seasons. Then in 2001, Bill Ford (age 76 or so at the time) hired Matt Millen, which was one of the worst hires in the history of the NFL. They didn’t win a road game for 3 whole seasons. They lost every game in Millen’s last year. And he somehow managed to draft only wide receivers with the 7th, 10th and 2nd picks in the draft - with the last, Calvin Johnson, being the only good one. Our Thanksgiving tradition was to eat turkey and watch the Lions lose. BTW, Bill Ford died this year so maybe there is hope. </p>
<p>Today I’m rooting for the Vikings over the Rams, the Falcons over the Saints, the Cowboys over the Niners and the Colts over the Broncos. Atlanta is moving the ball well but shot themselves in the foot with fumble on the way into the endzone. At least they have limited the Saints to fieldgoals so far although that likely won’t hold.</p>
<p>On another note . . . our Sunday paper had a big advertising insert that was 8 thick, shiny pages of enticements to vacation in San Diego. I understand that the Chamber of Commerce wants to make money but it seems a bit disloyal to invite Seattleites to “come on down” when we play the Chargers next Sunday. I anticipate a sell-out with the 12s well represented.</p>
<p>The worst part of having a bottom tier NFL team is I have to listen to bottom tier announcers. I really hate Thom Brennaman, I find him really boring.</p>
<p>Much like this 0-0 Washington/Houston game</p>
<p>Has Clowney gotten to RG3 yet?</p>
<p>One sack but it was by Jackson</p>
<p>Since I posted, Washington scored, gave up a 76 yard pass play and then got the punt blocked and returned for a TD so it is 14-6 Houston</p>
<p>Speaking of JJ Watt, he blocked a point after touchdown kick. </p>
<p>The texans special teams just blocked a punt and scored. </p>