September 2008 Archives
A few items from Charlie's noon presser:
-- Lou Somogyi asked about freshman cornerback Robert Blanton and his "chirping". "I'll give you an example from just yesterday," Charlie answered. "He had an interception in a one on one yesterday, so he intercepts the ball and he runs about ten yards to where the offensive guys are and then he just dives over the line like he was diving into the end zone, okay, and spikes the ball.
"Now, you don't think that aggravates the offensive guys? It does, but I tell you what, I thought it was hilarious, sitting there watching that, because he's simulating scoring and he's simulating interception and simulating the scoring."
-- I asked him about the shoestring, touchdown-saving tackle that Kyle McCarthy made in the first quarter versus Purdue that saved the Irish from being down 14-0 early (the Long Island Iced Teas would fail to score at all on the possession:
"Yeah, that was not a small thing," Charlie said. "They ended up with no points on that. That's 7-0. So they are going down the sideline, (Kyle McCarthy) knocks them out of bounds and they end up missing a field goal in that drive right there. That was a critical play.
"There's a lot of plays that people, you know, when you go back and rehash it, you look at it and you remember, but there are a lot of plays that happen in the game where you don't know -- like I said to them after Michigan State, you don't know which one play might have been a difference in the game. He doesn't come over and touch him, that guy is walking in for a touchdown and that's 14-0. That was a perfect example, John, of plays that could have made a difference in the game that you barely remember until you go back and watch the game again."
(Honestly, I didn't even know Charlie knew my name. In fact, I've been reading between the lines on that response and I'm pretty sure Charlie invited me over to the house for pizza and to watch the A.L. Divisional Series. Your thoughts?)
-- On true freshman tight end Kyle Rudolph, who played the entire game last Saturday: "He's one of the hardest-working freshmen I've ever been around," Charlie said, adding later, "He knew we were counting on him."
-- On Notre Dame entering games expecting to win, as opposed to hoping to win: "This has been a reclamation project we've been working on here for the last ten months...This goes back to the 'dive right in' mantra that a lot of people thought was corny. But now we've got a lot fewer guys dipping their toes in the water...guys like Mo Crum, I already knew he was in. David Bruton, I knew that he was in. David Grimes, but now you're getting more and more, and the more that you have in, the easier it ends up being."
We hate to repeat ourselves, but what you are seeing from Big 12 quarterbacks this season is historic. After five weeks of play — and all of it, we caution, non-conference play — nine of the conference’s 12 quarterbacks find themselves among the nation’s top 20 in passing efficiency.
That is simply, as the kids say, “ridic.”
While Heisman pundits stump for either Missouri’s Chase Daniel or Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy (who, by the way, is in his third year as a starter) actually has the highest passer efficiency rating in the conference (second in the nation) and has rushed for more yardage than either of the two.
McCoy has 14 touchdown passes and only one interception, and while so many players this season have taken to hurdling would-be tacklers, McCoy’s bull-rush into a Rice defender, sending him ass-over-teakettle, is his signature moment of the season thus far.
So, a quick list of teams that have one loss:
USC
Georgia
Notre Dame
Florida
Ohio State
...and Wisconsin
Not saying that the Fighting Irish are in that class yet at all, but I bet they have more underclassmen on their starting offense and defense than anyone on this list.
Also, it seems to me undeniable that the Irish turned a corner on Saturday. I believe that's the phrase you'll hear over and over again in the coming days. I attended the Friday pep rally and can't recall a flatter one. There were no special guests, just a desultory talk by David Bruton, a somewhat better one by Mo Crum, and a satisfactory one by Charlie Weis.
The crowd just wasn't into it and here's why: the basic feeling was, Give us a reason to believe in you. A lot of us who were watching on Friday are quite surprised at how well Notre Dame played on Saturday in the second half. Again, it's only a pep rally, but we were surprised.
And, by the way, I appreciate the efforts of Juan Muldoon, alias The Mexichaun, but I fear for his safety. Juan, you see, believes it's a solid idea to have the football team themselves lead cheers. What I think he misses is that they get ordered around all week long by their coaches. They don't like being put on the spot by a spritely dude in a green outfit.
I was sitting with a first-time visitor to Notre Dame when Juan ordered the team to stand up and perform a "Go Irish!" cheer. He told the defense to yell, "Go!" and the offense to yell, "Irish!" They stood up and, credit Pat Kuntz, he got into it. He realized that there are a lot of first-timers at a pep rally and they want to see pep from the football team.
But a lot of players, especially some high-profile sophomores, never moved their lips. This was like asking a 15 year-old to sing in public. Which it wasn't that far from being, after all.
My friend was disappointed in the players. "Look at that," she said. "They've got one-in-a-million lives. They should be more grateful for it. They should be getting into this."
I disagreed with her. "The players' job is to play," I said. "And I just think they don't appreciate being ordered around by the mascot."
Bruton finished his speech by starting the "Crank Me Up!" cheer. When he sat down Muldoon ordered him back to the mic to do a more traditional cheer. Bruton stared him down and said, somehwat comically but with no small amount of annoyance, "You're short."
The crowd laughed...uncomfortably. I love the Mexichaun's energy...but I hope someone talks to him this week about how he needs to stop poking the bears with a sharp stick.
I just landed in Philly on my way back home from Tampa Bay. Hunkering down with my Dunkin Donuts, St. Louis Rams linebacker Chris Draft returned a call.
"What's going on," I asked.
"Just watching the news about my coach getting fired," Draft answered.
Well, nobody's saying they didn't see this coming. When "win or be fired" ultimatums are being issued as they reportedly were about Rams coach Scott Linehan over the weekend, it's all over but the earnest conversation.
Did the speculation about Linehan's status hurt the Rams' performance?
"No. We weren't worried about that. We just had to win. It was on us. Speculation's not good but the way that you alleviate that is to win," said Draft.
The Rams took a 14-6 lead into halftime against the Bills then got outscored 25-0 in Linehan's last half as their head coach.
"We took a step in the right direction yesterday, the offense ran a lot smoother," said Draft. "We were together. Jack (Steven Jackson) ran the ball well, Torry (Holt) had his catches, Donnie Avery ran well. We were flying around on defense. Then we give up big plays here and it's still 31-14.
"It's pretty obvious, the only thing matters is winning and losing," Draft continued. "At the end of the day, we still went 3-13 last year. They don't put an asterisk next to it because of injuries. It doesn't say, 'They were 3-13 but had 19 people on IR'. That's what it is. You can't get around the fact in the last year and change, we are 3-17."
1. Can the Cowboys Weather Adversity?
When Dallas beat Philly two weeks ago, I wrote that the only team capable of stopping the Cowboys is the Cowboys. That remains the case. Losses - like yesterday's to the Redskins - happen. How you react to them says a lot about the direction you're headed. Says a lot about how you'll perform when the pressure gets turned up to boil. And how did the Cowboys most talented, vocal and hyped player respond yesterday to a loss in the fourth game of the regular season? Terrell Owens acted like a baby. As usual. The most narcissistic, needy player in professional sports whined that - despite being the focal point on more than a third of Dallas' plays, he wasn't featured prominently enough. When the going gets tough, T.O. gets whiny. Hopefully, it doesn't get to this. Maybe if Owens had held on to the touchdown pass that ricocheted off his hands during Dallas final drive he'd have felt better about his contributions. Tough catch? Sure, But if you're going to whine about touches, you better have made every play that came your way. It will be entertaining to see the Cowboys now defend Owens by saying that great players are supposed to want the ball and Terrell just wants to win. Enablers all of them. Someone needs to grow a pair down there and point out what's obvious. Owens is a great talent and a bad teammate no matter how charming, disarming and physically gifted he is. He's in it for T.O. Maybe Wade Phillips will do it. Right. Undoubtedly, dealing with Owens correctly will be a job left to head coach Jason Garrett in 2009.
2. Are Kiffin, Linehan Similar Situations?
No. The difference? Kiffin's players generally him in high regard. Said Raiders tight end Zach Miller after Oakland's loss to the Chargers, "(Kiffin) coaches his butt off every day. He's always out there. (Firing speculation) is a distraction that guys aren't focused on. In the locker room, we're focused on winning games." The way the Rams and Raiders lost on Sunday were eerily similar: the Rams led 14-6 at the break and lost 31-14 to Buffalo; Oakland was up 15-3 at the break and got outscored 25-3 after halftime by San Diego. Linehan, from his firing of assistants in the offseason to his benching of Marc Bulger Sunday, was not respected by a wide swath of players because he was viewed as spineless. The Rams have talent on their roster. Far more than the Raiders do. Linehan will be hard-pressed to get another head job after his St. Louis performance. Kiffin will get another crack. But when the ax does fall - and it seems inevitable - Kiffin needs to be mindful of how he speaks about the players Al Davis provided him with. Maybe too many of them are overmatched. But it's bad form to rip guys for a lack of talent when their effort is there. And it has been in Oakland.
3. Which QB Situation Will Get Stickiest?
There are plenty to choose from. Matt Leinart and Kurt Warner in Arizona after Warner's six-turnover performance led to a 34-0 Jets lead by halftime. An injured (possibly) Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay and the choice between rookies Matt Flynn and Brian Brohm to relieve him. Pick machine Brian Griese in Tampa with Jeff Garcia on the sidelines. Rookie Kevin O'Connell in for Matt Cassel in New England if Cassel flounders in San Francisco. Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn in Cleveland? I'm going with Quinn and Anderson in Cleveland although I think if the Bucs had lost Sunday, there'd be a poopstorm going on about Griese and Garcia right now.
4. Do You See Anquan Boldin's Point of View?
With 34 seconds left in the Cardinals-Jets game, Anquan Boldin got hit in the head by Jet Eric Green and got a glimpse (when Boldin came to) of his football mortality. Boldin's been an unhappy Cardinal since teammate Larry Fitzgerald got a $40 million contract with $30 million in guarantees that dwarfed Boldin's four-year, $22.67 million deal (extension) that has him locked up until 2010. Is Boldin making good money? Certainly. But his earning power could have been gone in that instant. I'm generally against renegotiations but when the market's changed as substantially as it has since the new CBA went through, guys can make a better case now that - in their dangerous line of work - being paid the going rate sometimes trumps their decision to sign a contract pre-CBA.
5. When Was the Last Time Muhsin Muhammad Played Like He Did Sunday?
On December 5, 2004, Panthers receiver Muhsin Muhammad had 10 catches for 179 yards against the Saints. Sunday, he had his most productive game in catches and receptions since then, going for 147 yards on eight catches against the Falcons.
Three Leftovers from Tampa's 30-21 win over the Packers.
1. I can't believe how well Derrick Brooks played today. He had a pick that led to a score, forced a fumble that was returned for a score (although the tackling form he employed on Ryan Grant - crown of head first on the football - on that play leads to paralysis) and was the driving force behind the Bucs allowing Grant 20 yards on 15 carries. Said Jon Gruden "We had a long discussion this week with Derrick and knew he has been nursing and working through a tough injury (hamstring). What he played like today was the Derrick Brooks that everybody recognizes. He made plays sideline to sideline. There is a lot of strength left in Derrick Brooks."
2. Initially, Mike McCarthy called Aaron Rodgers' injury a "shoulder bruise" but added that he didn't know the extent of it. Given the way he landed on it during a third-and-8 scramble - ball outstretched and shoulder kind of inverting as he hit the ground (not landing on it) - it could be an AC joint injury. And yes, I am a doctor. Rodgers said: I was not sure if I dislocated it or what. It hurt pretty bad. I was getting diagnosed on the sidelines and we got the interception so I went back out there and threw the touchdown pass to Jennings. I was in some pretty intense pain. We got the lead back and I tried to throw on the sidelines but I just couldn't do it. The doctor sat me down but, as bad as it hurt, I wanted to try and give it one more go."
3. The Packers have the Falcons next week and they took a number of injuries - Rodgers, corner Will Blackmon, defensive end Cullen Jenkins, safety Aaron Rouse and safety Nick Collins (who is very, very impressive every time I watch him). That said, Packers coach Mike McCarthy was as angry as I've seen him during this game. He said, "We're making the same mistakes which really bothers me. It's unacceptable for us to do the fundamental things wrong every week. We need to get it fixed."
Maybe it wasn't a major shock that the Crimson Tide upended No. 2 Georgia in Athens on Saturday night, but that 31-0 halftime lead certainly caught my attention. And so when I awoke this morning I searched a few websites but have yet to find the headline I so hoped to see:
O! 'Bama!
After all, any other headline would Palin comparison.
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Charlie Weis, during his Sunday afternoon presser, talked about how Purdue running back Kory Sheets nearly fell into him on the sidelines in the second half of yesterday's game. One of his assistants--I have to double-check whom, but I believe it was Ruben Mendoza (update: it was assistant strength and conditioning coach Rick Perry--blocked Sheets out of the way to prevent him from touching Weis, whom as you know is nursing a torn ACL and MCL.
Weis said that Sheets got up a little surprised, and he said, "Kory, he's just trying to protect me." According to Weis, Sheets replied, "Okay, got you, coach."
Then someone asked Weis what he tells his staff in terms of making sure he is protected during the game. "I told them, 'I get hit, they get fired.' Pretty easy."
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Hail Haile!
For my fellow distance-running geeks: Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie became the first person ever to finish a marathon in below 2:04, running a 2:03:59 on Sunday in the Berlin Marathon. He was already considered the greatest distance runner of all-time (Gebrselassie owns the world record in the 1/2 marathon as well). This just confirms it.
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Okay, I'm off to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Later.
LSU rookie Matt Flynn is in for Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers appeared to hurt his shoulder on a scramble in the third quarter. It was just announced that Rodgers is being sat out as a "coach's decision...he may return".
I guess that means he's got medical clearance to play but head coach Mike McCarthy is going with Flynn.
Fox just showed a replay of a third-and-8 scramble by Rodgers on which he lunged forward and stretched the ball out, appearing to wrench his shoulder a bit when he landed.
Meanwhile, Brian Griese just got picked for a TD by Charles Woodson and the score is now 21-20 Packers with 13 to go.
Packers QB Aaron Rodgers just threw a touchdown pass to Greg Jennings and left the field with his right arm limp and tucked in against his side. Backup Matt Flynn warmed up before Rodgers threw a few passes and appeared to say "It's fine"
Kind of an adjustment for the Packers to go from the most durable quarterback in NFL history to one who injures himself throwing a touchdown pass without getting hit.
The score is 20-14.
The aging Tampa linebacker (aren't we all...aging, I mean not Tampa linebackers) just forced a fumble on Ryan Grant that was returned for a touchdown by Jermaine Phillips to make it 20-7.
The Pack is flat like a flat thing today.
Not sure who the third quarterback for Arizona is today - Matt Leinart or Brian St. Pierre - but Kurt Warner's gotta be coming out soon.
In his last 12 snaps, he has two picks and two fumbles and Michael David Smith at profootballtalk.com says he saw Warner bang his hand during the opening drive.
The Jets just put up 34 second quarter points on the Cardinals.
How?
Here..
New York scored on the third play of the quarter on a 12-yard pass from Favre to Coles to make it 7-0
Three plays later Darrelle Revis picked off a Kurt Warner pass and returned it to make it 14-0.
The Cards held the ball for seven plays, punted, and the Jets needed just four plays before they scored another Favre to Coles TD.
On the first play of the next drive, Warner got picked again and the Jets got a field goal at the end of an eight-play drive that made it 24-0.
A strip-sack fumble led to another Favre to Coles TD and finally, with 10 seconds left in the half, Warner fumbled again and the Jets tacked on another field goal with two seconds left.
On Warner's last 12 snaps, Warner's fumbled twice and been picked twice.
The Bucs have moved ahead 10-7 and are about to get more as they just converted a fourth-and-2 from the Packers 22.
This drive - the third consecutive one to begin in Packers territory - began with the second pick of the day for Aaron Rodgers who is 6 for 14 for 77 yards with a td and those two picks. He's 1 for his last 7 attempts with 2 minutes left in the half.
After a deflected pass from Aaron Rodgers got picked off by Derrick Brooks (who's having a massive game) the Bucs got even with a touchdown pas from Brian Griese to tight end Alex Smith.
In unrelated news, did you get a load of the Jets throwback unis today? Gang Blue and Gold is up 20-0 on the Cardinals who - generally speaking - don't travel well.
Buccaneers kicker Matt Bryant made the tackle on the opening kickoff today. That he's on the field is a wonder. Bryant's 3-month-old son Tryson died Wednesday morning.
My personal take is: Play, don't play, whatever it takes to get you and your family through this day, this week, the future. There is no handbook to consult.
Whether he's playing out of a sense of obligation, duty, release or habit isn't relevant. He may not know exactly why he chose to play other than it felt the right thing to do (I hope to talk to him after the game).
All that said, it's a helluva thing.
It isn't even close. This is by far Notre Dame's best quarter of the season because they've been doing it without benefit of their opponent's mistakes. Three offensive drives, three touchdowns.
The latest came on a 4th-and-7 30-yard touchdown toss from Clausen to Grimes. The Greyhounds brought the house at Clausen and he was able to located Grimes in single coverage running a post route. I hear people criticize Clausen nearly daily, but I don't understand why. On this play, for example, he lofted the ball high so as to allow Grimes to run under it. That's Grimes' 2nd touchdown of the season.
The headiest play of the drive, though, was by left tackle Michael Turkovich. The Purdue defensive end jumped way offsides, but Turk did not move. As the Appletini player tried to get back onside, Turk leaped out of his stance. That wasn't a reaction, at least I don't believe it was. That was just a solid awareness of the rules. When Turkovich flew out of his stance, he compelled the referee to toss the flag on the Purdude for causing Turkovich to fly out of his stance.
Funny thing about Clausen's TD toss. After he threw it, Clausen walked downfield to the celebration as matter-of-factly as if he were walking to class. No excitement. No leaping up-and-down. Almost too cool...until he came across Michael Floyd and the two of them hugged.
Another nice touch...Clausen walks out past the yard-line numbers on the PATs and slaps hands with every member of the PAT team. Brandon Walker kicks so much better when the preceding play is a touchdown and not a third down.
Did you see that? A light just went on with the Notre Dame offense.
The Irish have put together their two most impressive offensive drives since BQQB was taking the snaps. The Irish scored again on a nice play-action pass to an open Kyle Rudolph (his first ND TD) as the Irish go up 28-14 (21 unanswered points).
Notre Dame now has as many first downs (8) in the first 8 minutes of the second half as they had all of the first half. Ourmando Allen has 124 rushing yards on just 13 carries and Rudolph's TD makes it 12 of 13 this season scored by underclassmen.
Purdue just hit a nice slant-in pass to Greg Orton who either scored (it looks as if he did) or was dragged out at the inch-line. Either way, it's about to be 28-21, Irish.
The way the ND offense is moving right now, I don't even think they care. They just want to get on the field and chew up some more yardage.
He's Armando!
The Irish just opened the 2nd half with their most impressive offensive drive of the season. Five plays, 81 yards, the shortest gain being an 8-yarder.
It began with Clausen making a beautiful throw between the short and deep zones on the sideline, laying it in to David Grimes for a 24-yard gain. Next up was a quick out to Golden Tate for 12. Then three straight rushing plays to Armando Allen that went for 8, 21 and then 16 yards. On the 16-yard TD run, Allen was untouched.
That's Notre Dame's first 3rd-quarter points of the season.
That's the most balanced the Irish offense has looked all season.
And, if you're yawning at home (and you're not, suddenly), that's Notre Dame's 12th touchdown of the year and the 11th scored by an underclassmen.
Credit that drive to a beautiful throw by Clausen and the offensive line's best performance yet of the season.
Armando now has 83 yards on only 10 carries.
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By the way, shortly before halftime I'm pretty sure I spotted Pat Kuntz yakking on the sidelines. That's what happens when you throw down too many Boilermakers. Also, up here in the booth, Kuntz made a tackle and our press box P.A. dude called him...well, mispronounced his name. The one name on this roster you should never mispronounce.
Nice play by Purdue's Greg Orton, who at one point had the football in his right hand and Terrail Lambert's helmet in his left. Orton made a nice catch on a slant-in, then cut outside and stiff-armed Lambert's facemask, taking the helmet off in one motion.
Also on that drive, QB Curtis Painter had a pass tipped on 2nd down, and Raeshon McNeil was in position to intercept the pass. But the Purdue receiver shoved him from behind and made the catch. I know some rules of pass interference go out the window on a deflected pass, but are you allowed to clip? What else can you do? Eye-gouge? Iron Lotus?
Maybe that's the way the rules go, but Purdue was able to get a clip and an offensive facemask in during their second TD drive. As I said, that may just be the rules.
Purdue is like, 6-8 on 3rd down conversions thus far.
Let me say it now: Michael Floyd is INSANE! He just made another tremendous catch, his fourth of the first half. This kid is is the best receiver on this team already. That was a 38-yard reception, the longest of his career.
Irish just tied it up on--what else?--a fade route to Golden Tate, Warrior. If you're snoring at home, that's Notre Dame's 11th TD (against zero field goals) of the season and the 10th scored by an underclassman. I've stopped keeping track of how many fade routes the Irish have scored on, but it's at least three.
14-all between two teams who really both prefer to pass the ball. And neither side has a sack so far.
I've been in love before, but never in as much love as Mike Haywood is with the fade route.
Brandon Walker jut missed a 30-yard field goal attempt. Right now Sarah Palin exudes more confidence.
It could be worse, Irish fans. After Purdue's Desmond Tardy somehow eluded three Irish defenders along the right sideline (special blame goes to David Bruton and Steve Quinn for being innocent bystanders), safety Kyle McCarthy raced across the field to make a shoestring tackle at the 10-yard line.
Last night at the rally du pep David Grimes had a great line about how there are three types of people in the world: "There are people that make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who wonder what happened."
On that play, it was Tardy and McCarthy who made something happen; Bruton and Quinn who watched it happen; and me up in the press box who, as I have too many times this season, was left to wonder what the heck is happening."
Without McCarthy's hustle, it's 14-0, Purdue. It still may be soon.
Golden Tate doesn't have a touch yet, even though Irish coaches have him identified, literally listed, as their top playmaker. Might wanna do something about that.
Notre Dame has failed to score in three of its four first quarters of this season. That's just wrong.
Duke beats Virginia 31-7 to go to 4-1 on the season. The Blue Devil first-year head coach is David Cutcliffe, who originally was Charlie's first offensive coordinator here in '05. Cutcliffe left before the season began for health issue.
Irish have just tied it up. True freshman cornerback Robert Blanton made a nice pick at about the Purdue 45 and then made an even prettier downfield run to score the touchdown. Honestly, that's the best run we've seen anyone in a gold helmet make since Zibby's called-back interception return in the first half against Stanford last season.
And, if you're snoring at home, that's Notre Dame's 10th touchdown of the season and the ninth that has been scored by a freshman or sophomore. Blanton, like classmate Michael Floyd, scores a TD the very first time he catches a ball in his collegiate career.
I dont' know about you, but I wouldn't have as much a problem with the Irish wideouts synchronizing their watches before each play if the team were completing passes.
The Irish came out five-wide empty backfield for their opening offensive series and Jimmy Clausen threw three incomplete passes. What I don't understand is why Clausen lines up under center on those plays when everyone knows he's passing. Clausen seems to prefer the shotgun, anyway.
Sam Young, for the second consecutive game, committed a penalty on the opening drive. This time it was a false start on 3rd-and-10.
Sure thing? Mike Anello, who made a great diving tackle on Kory Sheets on the opening kickoff.
Purdue just scored to go up 7-0. It was 3rd-and-9 at the Irish 22 and the Vodka Tonics did an end around to Sheets. True freshman Steve Filer was in position to make the tackle but simply failed to wrap up Sheets, a fifth-year senior. Welcome to college, Steve.
Greetings from South Bend, where every day is like sun day.
Sunny, clear and beautiful today. 77 degrees. A perfect afternoon unless you happen to be wearing a helmet and shoulder pads, in which case it may be a little warm.
A few quick notes before we kick off...
The Mets are about to blow a chance at the playoffs for the second straight year. I need to vent.
***
1:44 pm - Johan Santana begged for the chance to start and he's got the ball. Good move here, and loved that he asked to pitch on short rest. It's the kind of thing you'd expect from Mike Mussina, only the exact opposite.
1:45 - Good sign: they got Hanley Ramirez out. He kills the Mets. As do most of the Marlins. They're such a pain in the @$$.
1:48 - Nasty slidepiece to strike out Baker. Could've done without the foul balls to jack up with pitch count though.
1:50 - Damn, there goes the no-hitter. Gonna go out on a limb and say that the Mets will never EVER throw a no-hitter at Shea Stadium. Call it a hunch.
1:52 - Comebacker that Santana knocks down and throws the runner out. No runs in the first for the Marlins. Just want to point something out: maybe the most enjoyable thing about watching Johan Santana is that he's an athlete. Dives for groundballs, runs after pop-ups, takes full cuts when he's at the plate. Love it.
I think there was once a Super Friends episode in which some evil villain attempted to destroy the planet by controlling the weather (no, his name was not CEO of Peabody Energy). It feels as if that's what is happening here in South Bend. Or you could just call it Indian Summer.
Two weekends ago we got the most rain in a 48-hour period (just shy of a foot) that South Bend has ever received, and now we're dealing with 86-degree temps outside. Ever since autumn arrived it has felt a lot like summer. I know: enjoy it while it lasts.
Today I spotted Will Yeatman walking to class wearing a canary-yellow polo and white pants. He either thinks it's still summer or still San Diego. Either way, it's nice that he is even still here.
USC has lost the last two times they have visited the Beaver State, which is one reason that they won't lose this evening in Corvallis-in-Wonderland.
By the way, did you know that the backup QB for the Trojans this week is some dude named Garrett Green? Somehow he leaped right past Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain on the depth chart. If we don't see him tonight, then I like USC and large.
On to the other picks on a Supernatural Superserious SuperSaturday Soothsaying Screed....
Four days have passed since the Indiana State Excise Police went Dean Wormer on the women's lacrosse off-campus kegger. The good news, thus far, is that the Notre Dame Office of Residence Life has not gone Dean Wormer on the 16 varsity athletes who were arrested.
No news is good news at this stage. The Notre Dame administration is walking a tightrope on this one. On one hand, they don't want to alienate the local gendarmes who protect and serve this community. On the other, busting this party was the equivalent of calling a ticky-tack foul, or perhaps of flagging a punt return team for a questionable clip (at the 8:10 mark here) that would have had no effect on the outcome of the game.
(An aside: Coach Weis, Coach Haywood--I know you have better things to do, but perhaps someone close to you is reading this...check out the play at the 4:02 mark...can you picture what Golden Tate Warrior or Michael Floyd might be able to do on that route?)
Whenever I do make it to practice for the 20-minute media observance period (in which we get to watch players stretch and begin some routine drills...it isn't as if we get to watch them run a "bomb play"....that's from an old Gerry Faust vignette, in which the beloved former coach ran up the sidelines asking aloud, "Do we have a bomb play?!?")...anyway, when I do make it to practice, I cannot help but notice a tall player wearing No. 87.
Just huge. A little thin in the lower body for a major college football player, I think to myself, but otherwise, on a field full of giants, this player stands out.
The Goliath of whom I speak? Freshman tight end Joseph Fauria. This weekend, due to the lingering "held out of competition until further resolution" status of Will Yeatman, Fauria may indeed see some playing time. He's not as polished as classmate Kyle Rudolph, but it could be interesting.
The City of Detroit is in need of a new pinata this morning.
Matt Millen, the Lions GM who said in February that the Lions record during his tenure was "beyond awful," finally got the boot. The move comes after years of often hysterical agitating by Lions fans to get Millen canned.
It also comes one day after Bill Ford Jr.said that, if he had the authority, he would have fired Millen by now. Bill's father, William Clay Ford, is the owner.
(Dinner exchange last night at the Fords:
Billy: "Daddy, please let me axe that horrid man Millen! You never let me do anything and all my friends make sport of me because of my short pants and his horrid, horrid managing in general!"
WCF: "It's time you became a man, William. We fire Millen first thing in the morning."
Billy: "Oh, Daddy! You ARE the best. And I love the Ford Flex crossover more than words!" )
The Lions record during Millen's tenure was 31-84. Not coincidentally, they didn't make the playoffs during Millen's time running the ship aground.
The Lions only failed to lose fewer than 10 games once during Millen's reign. That was last year when they went 7-9. Despite a furious effort to get to 10 losses after a 6-2 start, the Lions failed to live up to their standard of ineptitude.
Millen's horrific first round drafting record will be his enduring GM legacy. During the bleakest period there was quarterback Joey Harrington (No. 3 in 2002), wide receiver Charles Rogers (No. 2 in 2003), wide receiver Roy Williams (No. 7 in 2004), running back Kevin Jones (No. 30 in 2004) and wide receiver Mike Williams (No. 10 in 2005).
Rogers was out of the NFL by 2004, Harrington was unemployed until this past week when he signed with New Orleans as a backup. Jones scored three touchdowns in four seasons for the Lions and is now a backup in Chicago and Mike Williams played two seasons for Detroit and is out of the league at 24. Roy Williams remains with the Lions and is pretty good.
In 2005, after a Lions fan was tackled while holding a "Fire Millen" sign at a Lions home game, "Fire Millen" signs started popping up at Tigers games, Red Wings games, Michigan games and even in the Gil Thorp comic strip (so says Wikipedia).
It was a movement. And now it's done.
My dealings with Millen have been limited. I spoke to him at the NFL Owners Meetings each of the past two Aprils and he was without pretense or swagger. We spoke about a writer, Alan Greenberg, who covered the Raiders when Millen was a linebacker there and who I covered the Patriots with. Greenberg died suddenly in March 2007. Instead of saying, "Oh, that's too bad..." Millen asked me for the address of Greenberg's wife and was visibly moved by the news.
In short, he seemed a hard guy to dislike. But a guy whose football personnel decisions were easy to hate. And he understood that, too.
"If I was sitting at home and I was a Lion fan, you've got to blame somebody," Millen said in February. "I'd blame me, too. ... That's part of my job is to get blamed. I'm OK with that. But it's also part of my job to win. We haven't done that."
Notes from Charlie Weis' noon presser:
-- As noted below, Weis opened Tuesday's presser by noting that he will be holding tight end Will Yeatman "out of competition" until his situation is "further resolved". You might infer from the tone Weis took that he was not overly upset with either of his two players over what happened this weekend. Yes, that's me reading into it and Weis never explicitly stated that, but there was nothing in his manner to indicate admonishment or anger. Yeatman and Golic will still practice with the team today.
If I had to predict (and I don't, but I will), I'd say that Notre Dame is not going to come down too harshly on any of the 16 varsity athletes arrested. Busting up a house party in which no neighbors phoned the police to complain about a disturbance seems slightly overzealous to me. We'll see if the Notre Dame administration agrees. But for now, at least, the Irish tight end is not at a dead end.
-- Asked by Rothstein how this opens things up at the tight end position, Charlie said, "The deptch chart has changed. The obvious guy who comes up front is (Joseph) Fauria. In fact today, instead of practicing on scout team, he'll be up with the big boys."
Fauria is the nephew of former New England Patriots tight end Christian Fauria. The freshman from Encino, Calif., is huge at 6-7, 245 pounds, and there's a good chance he'll be the 9th true freshman to see game time this season. he was the tight end on Dayne Crist's Notre Dame High School team last season.
Check out the touchdown celebration by Buccaneers tight end Jerramy Stevens during Sunday's Bucs win over the Bears. It comes at 3:15 on the video entitled Brian Griese highlights.
Now read this January Seattle Times story detailing the loathsome existence Stevens has led since before starring for the University of Washington.
The story really puts the post-TD antics into an even more chilling light. I'm covering the Bucs and Packers this weekend and hope to ask Stevens what the gesture symbolized.
Minnesota, which won one game last season, is 4-0. UNLV, which has had four consecutive two-win seasons, is 3-1. Northwestern is 4-0 for the first time since JFK was president. Duke, which won a total of two games the past three seasons, has matched that total in its first three games. And Vanderbilt, which last had a winning season in 1984, is 4-0 and ranked 21st in the Associated Press poll (and 25th in the Coaches’ Poll).
In a season in which a Colt (McCoy) and a Bronco (Mendenhall) have already shined, these five perennial also-rans have been true mavericks. How do you explain it? Different cures for different ills.
First, sure, these are non-conference schedules that Ty Willingham would kill for. Only six of their 19 collective opponents are BCS conference programs, and of those, only one exterior to this group (Northwestern played Duke and won) has a winning record. That school is Utah, which is responsible for the sole loss these five teams have in sum.
And yet, credit these five for surfacing from the depths.
At Minnesota and Duke, credit an infusion of coaching talent. The Golden Gophers are thriving under new defensive coordinator Ted Roof, picking off Rusty Smith passes in a 37-3 defeat of Florida Atlantic on Saturday. The Blue Devils are averaging 30 points per game under new coach David Cutcliffe, whose offensive acumen is sorely missed in Knoxville.
Northwestern, which is actually a legitimate mid-pack Big Ten program, can thank senior skill-position players such as tailback Tyrell Sutton and quarterback C.J. Bacher.
And UNLV owes much to the big-play capability of wideout Phillip Payne, whose late TD catches -- on virtually the identical fade route -- spurred overtime wins against Arizona State and Iowa State.
No sleeper has been more rousing than the Commodores, though. With only five starters returning from last season’s 5-7 team, Vandy seemed poised for its 26th consecutive losing season. Already, though, Vandy has compiled two wins in the nation’s toughest conference, the SEC, and need only go 2-6 (with games against Mississippi State and Duke) the rest of the way to earn their first bowl bid since 1982.
Can Vandy actually finish 7-5? To do so they’ll either have to beat a team currently ranked in the Top 25 or similarly unbeaten Kentucky. Or, as a last resort, there’s in-state bully Tennessee, which is off to its second 1-2 start in as many seasons.
1. If Lane Kiffin's fired, do the Raiders get even worse?
It's amazing to me that, after a week in which the hammer was allegedly poised to drop on the Raiders coach, he and his staff still got Oakland ready to go cross-country and give the very decent Bills all they could handle in a 24-23 loss. That tells me that Kiffin - while not an expert politico - is a very good head coach. And he's got his team's ear and hearts. If Al Davis fires Kiffin now he's showing how little regard he has for his players, his fans and the rest of the league. What motivation - aside from the paycheck - do the players have to play with "Pride and poise" when the owner's ready to mail in the season. Give a player an excuse to give less than his best and he'll take it every time, Bill Parcells used to say. Fire Kiffin and watch what happens.
2. Can the Patriots Get Right?
One of the hallmarks of Bill Belichick's early days with the Patriots was the way in which they shored up problem areas quickly and made weaknesses disappear. It's what makes the guy perhaps the best coach of all time. Winning with less. The way the Dolphins shined a light on Matt Cassel's inability to get the ball downfield and the leadfootedness of the Pats defense will give upcoming Pats opponents areas to try and exploit. Watch now as Belichick schemes to anticipate upcoming opponents efforts to attack those spots. New England as its presently constituted is not as bad as it was on Sunday against the Dolphins nor as good as it was a week earlier in New York. And - as I've written over and over - they weren't as good for the last third of 2007 as they were in the first 10 games. Not even close. They are a (without Brady) a good team. Even with Brady, they are a very good but flawed team which got as close to perfection last year because they have the best coach, quarterback, wide receiver combo since Walsh, Montana and Rice.
3. Can I honor my pledge to stop the early-season proclamations?
Even though I've come to learn that you can't make a reasonable assessment of where teams are until they've played four games, I've been tremendously kneejerk through the first three weeks. After Week 1, I was ga-ga over the Jets and believed the Redskins to be irreparably bad. After Week 2, I was goo-goo over the Patriots and even more fawning over the Cowboys. I am far from alone - in fact, the writers and analysts able to reserve judgment are in the minority these days. And I have a theory why this is and it has to do with the "splash factor." Make an early declaration and hope it holds up. It gives us a good, strong, decisive story and - if we happen to be right - lets us pound our chests about how we knew it first. But it kills our credibility. We're supposed to be the ones gathering stats, facts and anecdotes and applying our years of covering the league and noticing trends as they unfold to give reasoned analysis. We're not supposed to be slapping backs and climbing out on limbs at the coffee machine on Monday morning. A lot of my analysis gleaned from the preseason and training camps has been good - I liked the Bills and didn't like the Browns; I thought the Patriots and Colts were going to be off a bit. I liked the Eagles. But that stuff came after a few weeks of consideration. It wasn't based on snapshot observations. For instance, as bad as the Steelers looked Sunday against Philly, that was simply a bad matchup for them. Bad game plan, bad execution. They're better than they showed. And if they played the Eagles this Sunday, the outcome would probably be a bit different. Nothing is as good or as bad as it seems. Except the Rams.
4. Can Romeo Crennel Withstand the Storm?
The Browns are reeling and Derek Anderson is playing like a guy who couldn't beat out Charlie Frye for a starting job. The call is on for Romeo to go to the bullpen for Brady Quinn and the offseason defensive investments aren't paying dividends for the 0-3 Browns. This is a familiar situation that teams on the rise deal with. They inspire optimism with a flash season and then, when guys backslide a little and hit a wall the following year, people want them to go around the wall instead of climbing over it. The Browns need to stay true to themselves now and their offseason plans. Whether Crennel and the rest of the organization has the stones and the clout to do it is the question now.
5. Where to in Week 5?
Where would you, faithful reader, like to see me go in Week 5?
A) Tennessee at Baltimore
B) Pittsburgh at Jacksonville
C) Minnesota at New Orleans
D) Hell
If you read Notre Dame's student newspaper, The Observer, you'd have noticed that on the previous two Mondays, following home football games, there has been a front-page story concerning the number of underage students who had been arrested the previous Saturday for alcohol possession or public intoxication.
Tomorrow morning front-page Observer story is going to much bigger news.
Junior tight end Will Yeatman and freshman offensive lineman Mike Golic, Jr., (whose dad was a standout Notre Dame defensive lineman and team captain in the early 1980s and who is now a co-host of ESPN2's "Mike & Mike in the Morning") were two of 41 students arrested for misdemeanor alcohol charges at around 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
Yeatman is 20. Golic, 18. The pair were attending an off-campus party at a home in South Bend and were charged with underage consumption of alcohol. Members of Notre Dame's soccer and lacrosse teams were also there.
The consequences could be particularly dire for Yeatman, who had one catch in Notre Dame's 23-7 loss at Michigan State on Saturday afternoon. Last January Yeatman, who was also a freshman All-American lacrosse player for the Irish, was arrested for driving under the influence on a campus sidewalk. He was suspended both from the lacrosse season and spring football while taking a plea agreement in which the charges for drunken driving would be dismissed if he were to stay out of trouble for the year.
On Sunday evening Charlie Weis issued a brief statement: "I was made aware of the situation late (Sunday) afternoon and am currently looking into the matter."
Now everything for Yeatman is in jeopardy. His future at Notre Dame. His future on both teams. And his criminal record. Everything, at this moment, is up in the air.
Police made 34 arrests on the Notre Dame campus during the season-opener with San Diego State. The following Saturday they made 29 arrests. Not all of the arrests were for alcohol-related offenses, but most were.
This is a difficult tightrope for any university community to navigate. Last night in East Lansing, Michigan, there were waiting lines outside every bar. Earlier in the day tailgates overflowed with students carrying cases of LaBatt's or even full coolers. Many of these students were 21 or older, but likely just as many were not..
College students are going to drink beer. They just are (just like NBA rookies--and veterans-- are going to smoke weed). I don't mean to be flippant about this. The consequences for Yeatman in particular are potentially life-altering, after all. But raiding a house and arresting a bunch of underage students for drinking beer will do nothing to deter it from happening the following weekend.
Strangely enough, considering all the hysteria that emanated from the photo that circulated on-line earlier this summer, Sunday was Jimmy Clausen's 21st birthday.
If I never agreed with Charlie Weis about anything else-- but I do-- I would always elevate him slightly higher for his response to a question posed earlier this afternoon about Yankee Stadium and tonight being its closing night:
"It breaks my heart," Charlie said.
Mine, too.
I'm not just sad. I'm angry. I'm mad at everyone who has written a eulogy for Yankee Stadium in print or on-line, angry at everyone who feels compelled to compile our favorite Yankee Stadium moments.
Bugger off, I say.
Listen. If you happen to catch the flu and all your friends and family gather 'round to plan your funeral, wouldn't you be a little annoyed? Especially if they all had a younger version of you waiting in the wings who, sure, may not be as charming or charismatic, but comes with cupholders at every seat and wider concourses (G.A., you are my new Yankee Stadium).
This doesn't have to happen. Never had to happen. And the Yankees are a poorer franchise for letting it be so. While at the same time, yes, a much wealthier franchise. Which is what matters to them here.