Can someone please show me the official NCAA rulebook? If you have a copy, please send it to me. I will even send you a self-addressed, pre-paid, Fed-Ex envelope in which to send it. I challenge anyone to produce this document, because I simply don’t believe that it exists. Until I see this book with my own eyes I will believe that the National Committee of Asinine Administrators are simple making up the rules as they go along, with a focus on accommodating the growth of their pocket books and the well-being of their highest revenue generating member institutions.
It’s no secret that I hate the NCAA, and would like nothing more than to see this hypocritical organization broken up like the $710 million revenue generating monopoly that they are. (This $710 million figure is according to THEIR 2009-2010 revenue budget), so FORGIVE ME FOR THINKING THAT THEY ARE NOT REPORTING EVERYTHING AND THAT THIS NUMBER IS INDEED UNDERSTATED!
I know that I may sound like the Mad Blogger right now (I keep hearing a voice in the back of my head shouting “tell’em why you mad son”), but the NCAA’s handling of the most recent incident at The University of Ohio State (at least that's what Pryor thinks that school is called) is absolutely ridiculous. Everyone outside of Auburn, Alabama should be mad as hell at this farce of a punishment that was given out to the NCAA darlings that reside in Columbus Ohio. Auburn fans, just keep your mouth shut on this one because you all are currently getting away with things that would make former SMU boosters proud (Cam Newton may be the highest paid state employee in Alabama).
Apparently four prominent (and six total) Buckeye football players (and allegedly student-athletes) have been found by the NCAA to have accepted improper benefits. These benefits were the proceeds that the players made by selling championship rings, jerseys, and other awards for cash. While I disagree with 90% of NCAA rules, I do believe that these stupid rules should be enforced fairly and evenly throughout all of their member institutions. This means that if players at two different schools violate an NCAA rule, they should be subject to the same punishment. This is obviously not the case with the NCAA. Apparently the punishment for selling memorabilia is a four to five game suspension (although I seriously doubt that we will see that in writing anywhere). I am guessing that this is the punishment because University of Georgia wide receiver AJ Greene (who should be the first receiver drafted in April) was forced to sit out four games and pay back the proceeds that he got from selling an Independence Bowl jersey. He sat out the first four games of Georgia’s season (presumably because they were the next four games after he was found to have violated the rules), which basically ended their season before it got started. The University of Ohio State on the other hand is governed by a different set of rules. Since they are among the NCAA and the bowl system's favorite programs, the punishment for their star players will be slightly different from Greene’s. They will face a five game suspension as opposed to Greene’s four game ban, however, this suspension does not start until next season. This means that these players will be able to play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 4th.
Many people are wondering how you can suspend players for the following season for violations that you discovered this season. Also isn’t it much more of a deterant to other players if the players are forced to miss a BS (the “C” is optional, so you can include it if you like) game. It is logical for people to feel this way, but the logical people who have these questions must remember two things. 1) The NCAA is not a logical organization therefore they do not make logical decisions, EVER! and 2) This is The University of Ohio State, which means that they are indeed above the law.
Just think back to the days of Maurice Clarett, who received thousands of dollars in improper benefits while leading the old Scarlett and Gray to a National Championship in 2002. In addition to the improper benefits, he repeatedly lied to NCAA investigators about his dealings in Columbus. Instead of punishing the program, the NCAA let The University of Ohio State simply toss Clarett to the wayside, without suffering any punishment. So in essence, the player who led the team in rushing and practically won the National Championship for them single-handidly (by making great offensive and defensive plays) was dismissed from school (which he deserved), but the school got to keep their National Championship and all of the revenue that came with it, and coach sweater-vest is still stalking the sidelines in Columbus beating up on glorified high school teams around the state of Ohio, while playing in a BS game almost every year. Their non-conference schedule annually includes Ohio University, Akron, and Youngstown State. In addition to that, they play in a Big Ten Conference that usually proves to be pretty weak, yet year in and year out they are highly ranked and virtually ensured in playing in a top bowl game. Even this season, when the Big Ten Conference had a three-way tie at the top, the Buckeye's still received a BS bid over Michigan State, because they have more of a national profile and they “travel well” (I guess any vacation is better than going to Cleveland), and thanks to the NCAA they will be traveling with their starting quarterback, running back, and two other key starters.
The thing that really makes this punishment laughable is the fact that the four key players that were suspended for the first five games of next season are all eligible to enter the NFL draft. If they choose to do so (which I am sure at least three will), The University of Ohio State would receive virtually no punishment for this incident, which is to be suspected because the boys up there in Columbus are definitely above the law. The NCAA stated along with this decision that postseason play is a “unique opportunity” that is “evaluated differently” when it comes to punishment, which is in essence saying that this is a high-profile game and we want to put our best product on the field, damn the rules that we created to govern ourselves by.
Although I gladly cheer each time this asinine organization makes a bone-headed decision that makes them look like the idiots that they are, I must applaud them for at least pretending to crack down on players who sell their memorabilia and paraphanelia. There are some that argue that these items belong to the players and are theirs to sell if they please. I strongly disagree with this argument, because this will open the door to players selling their $300 conference championship rings to boosters for $20,000. If that wouldn’t amount to a recruiting advantage, I don’t know what would. Just imagine coach sweater-vest telling a recruit that he should come to The University of Ohio State where he can win Big-Ten championships and sell the rings for tens of thousands of dollars. Worse yet, boosters of schools that are recruiting high profile prospects could potentially start buying thier high school championship rings and t-shirts for thousands of dollars, just to let the recruits know how much they "love a winner".
For all of the Division 1 athletes that may read this entry, I want to leave you with some words of advice. Do not sell your personal rings and other awards until you are eligible to go pro, and your chances of getting away with it increases ten-fold if you attend The University of Ohio State.
One Final Thought: The NCAA ruled the players eligible to play, but the idiots at The University of Ohio State can take a stand and do the right thing by suspending the players themselves. I seriously doubt that they will do such a thing, but there is still the remote possibility that they will do what's right.
AND NOW FOR MY BALLER & SCRUB OF THE WEEK:
BALLER OF THE WEEK: LeBron James (Miami Heat) – Last week he messed around and got a triple-double against the Lakers. LeBron proved once again that he is the best player in the league with his 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on Christmas day.
BALLER OF THE WEEK: Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers) – 25 of 37 for 404 yards with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. They say that big-time players show up in big-time games, which is what Rodgers did in a must win game for his team’s playoff hopes.
SCRUB OF THE WEEK: The NFC West – If Seattle beats St. Louis on Sunday they will win the division with a 7-9 record. Worse yet, they will have a HOME game to open the playoffs. If this happens, something tells me the NFL will be reseeding playoff teams by record next season. The NFL also shares in this honor for making this game the NBC Sunday Night Football game. What did the rest of us do to deserve to have this as a nationally telvised game? This punishment should be reserved for the people in Seattle and St. Louis only!
Totally Unrelated to the World of Sports: If you enjoy hip-hop and are in the market for something new to bump in your iPod, I strongly recommend Friday Night Lights by J. Cole. Give it a listen if you haven't already, you won't be disappointed. As a matter of fact, if you download it for FREE from his website at http://www.jcolemusic.com/ and don't like it, I will give you your money back!
Showing posts with label terrell pryor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terrell pryor. Show all posts
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, January 11, 2009
DEATH OF THE QUARTERBACK
Without a doubt, the most important position on the football field is the quarterback. If you don’t believe me, just take a look around the NFL. The teams that get good consistent play from their quarterbacks (i.e. the Colts, Patriots, Chargers, Eagles, and Steelers) are regular post-season participants, while the teams that are inconsistent at that position struggle to make the playoffs with any regularity (i.e. the 49er’s, Chiefs, Raiders, Bills, and the infamous Lions). Of course, as with anything else there are some exceptions. For instance, Baltimore’s defense has traditionally been good enough to overcome the lack of a consistent quarterback. On the other end of the spectrum, there are players like Drew Brees and Jay Cutler who aren’t annually competing for a playoff spot simply because their teams have terrible defenses. Whatever the case may be, it is fair to say that in the NFL the quarterback is usually the difference between a winning team and a losing team. Even in Baltimore’s case, the quarterback has to be good enough to stay out of the way of the defense.
With this thought in mind, I am sad to announce that in the coming years the quality of quarterback play in the NFL will decline tremendously. I am placing the blame for this on one group of people, COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES! Gimmick offenses are the new flavor of the month in college football. You have the “Spread (running) Option” of West Virginia, the “Spread (passing & running) Option” of Florida, and the glorified “Run – and – Shoot” of Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Add to that the “Triple Option” of Georgia Tech, the “Snap it to Pryor and Get Out of the Way” of Ohio State, and you have a host of teams that put quarterbacks on the field who never truly learn to read a defense and go through progressions. The list goes on, because I didn’t even bother to mention the host of teams who run some copycat form of one of these offenses (with no success at all).
Obviously, there are several reasons why these gimmick offenses have become so popular in college football. For example, the reason that West Virginia and Florida run their versions of the “Spread Option” is to simply keep the ball in the hands of their best players as much as possible. In the case of both teams, that player is the quarterback. As far as the “Run – and – Shoot” offense, teams simply have more good receivers than the opposition has defensive backs. The triple option on the other hand is a fairly safe offense and is hard for opponents to prepare for, because there aren’t many teams at the highest level of college football who run such an offense. As for Ohio State, they run the “Snap it to Pryor and Get Out of the Way” for two reasons. The first of which is that Terrell Pryor is a great athlete and the second is that Coach Sweater-vest (Jim Tressel) doesn’t have any offensive imagination.
All of these offenses are fine and well in the college game, and I don’t fault the coaches for doing what they feel will give their teams the best chance to win. However, they are doing kids who dream of playing quarterback in the NFL a huge disservice and all but ensuring that NFL teams will have to spend extra time teaching new quarterbacks the basics of playing the position.
One would think that at the professional level, coaches would not have to spend time teaching quarterbacks how to do such basic things as take a snap from under center, go through progressions, or identify a defensive formation. However, the under-development of these skills in college football will dictate that NFL quarterback coaches spend a lot of time working with the quarterback on these things. A lot of college quarterbacks go their entire college career without taking a single snap from under center. Taking a snap from center is a mandatory requirement in the NFL because your footwork has to be on point in order for the timing of routes to work and because being in shotgun all the time severely limits the amount of running plays at your disposal. The other problem with the gimmick offenses is that the majority of them are one-read offenses. This basically means that the quarterback has a predetermined receiver that he is supposed to pass the ball to, and if that receiver is not open he should keep the ball and run it himself. That is another philosophy that simply won’t work in the NFL, because good NFL defensive coordinators usually scheme to take away your first option on most pass plays. Therefore it is very important that the quarterback learns to go through his progressions and get to his second, third, or even fourth receiver. Oh, by the way he needs to be able to do this is about four seconds. If you are an NFL quarterback and you don’t have the speed of Michael Vick; running is not an option, it is only to be done as a last resort. Teams really don’t like their quarterbacks running around because they make too much money to risk injury taking open field hits and because defensive ends in the NFL run like college running backs, so the chances of them catching you are very high. In short, if an NFL team tried to run Florida’s, West Virginia’s, or Georgia Tech’s offense, they would have to change its name. It wouldn’t be called an “option”, it would be called INJURED RESERVE!!!! NFL defensive players and coaches would LOVE to play against these offenses, and the shelf life of quarterbacks would be greatly reduced.
Most of the college football fans that I know enjoy the college game because of the excitement associated with seeing so many completely different offensive styles. I on the other hand, enjoy the precision of NFL offenses. Moderately skilled college quarterbacks can have a great deal of success in that game because receivers are allowed to routinely get wide open in their routes. A college receiver is open when he has the defender beat by five yards or so. Therefore it isn’t hard to get him the ball. On the other hand, a receiver in the NFL is open if he is running even with the defender, but has inside position. The NFL quarterback is expected to be able to not only get him the ball, but get him the ball IN STRIDE! At the rate that the college game is going, there will be very few quarterbacks entering the league in the coming years who are talented enough to even attempt such a throw. The Tennessee Titans are already realizing that they wasted the third overall draft pick in the 2006 draft on a quarterback who can’t throw the football (in my opinion his passing has not improved one bit since he arrived at the University of Texas). Trust me, other teams learned from their mistake, which is why Tim Tebow or Pat White won’t be drafted early to play quarterback. Ohio State’s Terrell Pryor is very similar to what Young was at Texas, which means he has a lot of work to do if he plans on ever being an NFL quarterback. He has plenty of time, and I hope he is successful.
I am not saying that every NFL quarterback has to be a classic drop-back passer in the mold of Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and Carson Palmer. In fact I would love to have a duel threat lead my team (i.e. Donovan McNabb, Steve Young, Michael Vick, and even David Garrard), as long as they are truly a duel threat and not a player that couldn’t throw a football in an ocean like Young and (currently) Pryor.
I believe that two of these “gimmick” quarterbacks have bright NFL futures at the position. The two players that I am a referring to are Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy. They are in the minority of those who seem to actually be able to go through progressions and are also very accurate with their passes. The simply have to learn to take snaps from under center and get their footwork together.
Year in and year out, the best rookie NFL quarterbacks come from colleges that play a “Pro-Style” offense. Look at Matt Ryan and Joe Flaco. That was also the case with Phillip Rivers, Ben Rothlisberger, and Eli Manning, all of whom were in the 2004 draft and were still alive in the playoffs this past weekend. Jay Cutler belongs in this group as well. This will also be the case with this year’s draft, where Matthew Stafford (from Georgia) is likely to be the first quarterback taken. He comes from a “Pro-Style” offense and has proto-type NFL size and a rocket arm. He already knows how to take a snap from under-center and read a defense. Although there have been some busts who came from traditional offenses, there have been very few that have been successful from “gimmick offenses”.
AND NOW FOR MY BALLER & SCRUB OF THE WEEK!
BALLER: Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals) - Fitzgerald had 8 catches for 166 yards and 1 touchdown while leading the Cardinals to the NFC Championship game by crushing the Carolina Panthers 33-13.
SCRUB: Jake Delhomme (Carolina Panthers) - Delhomme helped lead the Arizona Cardinals to the NFC Championship game by completing a very Favre like 5 passes to thier defensive backs. Just for good measure he also lost a fumble.
With this thought in mind, I am sad to announce that in the coming years the quality of quarterback play in the NFL will decline tremendously. I am placing the blame for this on one group of people, COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACHES! Gimmick offenses are the new flavor of the month in college football. You have the “Spread (running) Option” of West Virginia, the “Spread (passing & running) Option” of Florida, and the glorified “Run – and – Shoot” of Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Add to that the “Triple Option” of Georgia Tech, the “Snap it to Pryor and Get Out of the Way” of Ohio State, and you have a host of teams that put quarterbacks on the field who never truly learn to read a defense and go through progressions. The list goes on, because I didn’t even bother to mention the host of teams who run some copycat form of one of these offenses (with no success at all).
Obviously, there are several reasons why these gimmick offenses have become so popular in college football. For example, the reason that West Virginia and Florida run their versions of the “Spread Option” is to simply keep the ball in the hands of their best players as much as possible. In the case of both teams, that player is the quarterback. As far as the “Run – and – Shoot” offense, teams simply have more good receivers than the opposition has defensive backs. The triple option on the other hand is a fairly safe offense and is hard for opponents to prepare for, because there aren’t many teams at the highest level of college football who run such an offense. As for Ohio State, they run the “Snap it to Pryor and Get Out of the Way” for two reasons. The first of which is that Terrell Pryor is a great athlete and the second is that Coach Sweater-vest (Jim Tressel) doesn’t have any offensive imagination.
All of these offenses are fine and well in the college game, and I don’t fault the coaches for doing what they feel will give their teams the best chance to win. However, they are doing kids who dream of playing quarterback in the NFL a huge disservice and all but ensuring that NFL teams will have to spend extra time teaching new quarterbacks the basics of playing the position.
One would think that at the professional level, coaches would not have to spend time teaching quarterbacks how to do such basic things as take a snap from under center, go through progressions, or identify a defensive formation. However, the under-development of these skills in college football will dictate that NFL quarterback coaches spend a lot of time working with the quarterback on these things. A lot of college quarterbacks go their entire college career without taking a single snap from under center. Taking a snap from center is a mandatory requirement in the NFL because your footwork has to be on point in order for the timing of routes to work and because being in shotgun all the time severely limits the amount of running plays at your disposal. The other problem with the gimmick offenses is that the majority of them are one-read offenses. This basically means that the quarterback has a predetermined receiver that he is supposed to pass the ball to, and if that receiver is not open he should keep the ball and run it himself. That is another philosophy that simply won’t work in the NFL, because good NFL defensive coordinators usually scheme to take away your first option on most pass plays. Therefore it is very important that the quarterback learns to go through his progressions and get to his second, third, or even fourth receiver. Oh, by the way he needs to be able to do this is about four seconds. If you are an NFL quarterback and you don’t have the speed of Michael Vick; running is not an option, it is only to be done as a last resort. Teams really don’t like their quarterbacks running around because they make too much money to risk injury taking open field hits and because defensive ends in the NFL run like college running backs, so the chances of them catching you are very high. In short, if an NFL team tried to run Florida’s, West Virginia’s, or Georgia Tech’s offense, they would have to change its name. It wouldn’t be called an “option”, it would be called INJURED RESERVE!!!! NFL defensive players and coaches would LOVE to play against these offenses, and the shelf life of quarterbacks would be greatly reduced.
Most of the college football fans that I know enjoy the college game because of the excitement associated with seeing so many completely different offensive styles. I on the other hand, enjoy the precision of NFL offenses. Moderately skilled college quarterbacks can have a great deal of success in that game because receivers are allowed to routinely get wide open in their routes. A college receiver is open when he has the defender beat by five yards or so. Therefore it isn’t hard to get him the ball. On the other hand, a receiver in the NFL is open if he is running even with the defender, but has inside position. The NFL quarterback is expected to be able to not only get him the ball, but get him the ball IN STRIDE! At the rate that the college game is going, there will be very few quarterbacks entering the league in the coming years who are talented enough to even attempt such a throw. The Tennessee Titans are already realizing that they wasted the third overall draft pick in the 2006 draft on a quarterback who can’t throw the football (in my opinion his passing has not improved one bit since he arrived at the University of Texas). Trust me, other teams learned from their mistake, which is why Tim Tebow or Pat White won’t be drafted early to play quarterback. Ohio State’s Terrell Pryor is very similar to what Young was at Texas, which means he has a lot of work to do if he plans on ever being an NFL quarterback. He has plenty of time, and I hope he is successful.
I am not saying that every NFL quarterback has to be a classic drop-back passer in the mold of Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Tom Brady, and Carson Palmer. In fact I would love to have a duel threat lead my team (i.e. Donovan McNabb, Steve Young, Michael Vick, and even David Garrard), as long as they are truly a duel threat and not a player that couldn’t throw a football in an ocean like Young and (currently) Pryor.
I believe that two of these “gimmick” quarterbacks have bright NFL futures at the position. The two players that I am a referring to are Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy. They are in the minority of those who seem to actually be able to go through progressions and are also very accurate with their passes. The simply have to learn to take snaps from under center and get their footwork together.
Year in and year out, the best rookie NFL quarterbacks come from colleges that play a “Pro-Style” offense. Look at Matt Ryan and Joe Flaco. That was also the case with Phillip Rivers, Ben Rothlisberger, and Eli Manning, all of whom were in the 2004 draft and were still alive in the playoffs this past weekend. Jay Cutler belongs in this group as well. This will also be the case with this year’s draft, where Matthew Stafford (from Georgia) is likely to be the first quarterback taken. He comes from a “Pro-Style” offense and has proto-type NFL size and a rocket arm. He already knows how to take a snap from under-center and read a defense. Although there have been some busts who came from traditional offenses, there have been very few that have been successful from “gimmick offenses”.
AND NOW FOR MY BALLER & SCRUB OF THE WEEK!
BALLER: Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona Cardinals) - Fitzgerald had 8 catches for 166 yards and 1 touchdown while leading the Cardinals to the NFC Championship game by crushing the Carolina Panthers 33-13.
SCRUB: Jake Delhomme (Carolina Panthers) - Delhomme helped lead the Arizona Cardinals to the NFC Championship game by completing a very Favre like 5 passes to thier defensive backs. Just for good measure he also lost a fumble.
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