Best Coach of the Year

Fired as of Monday 1/2/2006:
Haslet
Sherman
Capers
Tice
Martz -The only one that should get another chance

And yet, announcers and NFL columnists keep saying how each of these coaches are great, how they are all nice guys, and that they deserve another chance.
What a bunch of ASS KISSERS! Martz is the only one to accomplish anything.
Haslet took over a team that was elated to get rid of Ditka. Sherman had Favre and would have been gone long ago without him. Capers was improving the Texas, but this year was ugly. And Tice underperformed them all.
Martz will be better for the firing. He will be hired somewhere else. He will not be stuck with Bulger. He will turn around another team.

Finally, Coach of the Year. As a Bears fan, Lovie has taken credit for the turnaround. But he has ridden the coatails of the Bears D in the same way Kyle Orton has.
I think the best coach has been Nick Saban. He took a team Quarterbacked by Gus Frerotte, a team I figured would win 2 games this year, and got them to 9-7. Good Job. He beat SD in a big game this year. And he got Ricky Williams to come back and play. Smart Move.

Iran's Ahmadinejad says Israel should be moved to Europe and also NFL Picks

Iran's President this week said that Israel should be moved to Europe.
So, for this week, we asked him his thoughts on this week's NFL picks:
Chicago at Pittsburgh
-There's alot of Jews in Chicago, especially in the North Shore area, so I'm going to go with that blue collar town, the Steelers.
Indianapolis at Jacksonville
-This is the week INDY loses and ends their perfect season. Allah has foretold this
Detroit at Green Bay
-Why must you insult me with these horrible teams? I would issue a fatwa on the Ford Family, but their cars produce such low MPG that we can continue to sell such large amounts of oil to those americans who refuse to by Hybrids. So no Fatwa.....plus Allah likes sports.....


Other Thoughts by Ahmadinejad
Ahmad does not like NFL parity (NFL fans and the Iran Pres have something in common.)
Ahmad Like INDY in the super bowl
Ahmad does not like Al Michael

Final Thoughts:
Jews bad. Indy Good. Allah has spoken!

And there you have it......

Boy! That Coach was sure a nice guy.

I sincerely hope that Mariucci gets another chance to be a head coach (if he even wants to). He seems like a nice guy and a good coach to me. -Posted on a msg board

I see the above quote quite often....and I'd like to ask, what the heck does being a nice guy have to do with the criteria for a head coach.
The real question should be, "Is he a good football coach?" When he has good players, he can make the playoffs. If he has bad players he doesn't.
Part of being a great NFL coach is acquiring great players. Look at Denny Green or Marty S.
They can't win the big one. But, they make great personnel decisions.
It use to drive me crazy when Wanny was called by many, "A nice guy.
Like, how would you know if he is nice...and his job is to win football games.....
BTW, Wanny takes franchises and drives them into the ground.
I'd have to say all 31 teams in the NFL have "Nice Guy" coaches. Don Capers is a nice guy.
Do we give him a third chance to coach an NFL teams?
Finally, I think its time for me to apply for that Lions head coach Position. I'm a nice guy. My NFL record is 0-0. Any takers?

Postscript....After re-reading the above, I do agree that Matt Millen must go. My point was that everyone who is fired is always a nice guy. Who isn't a nice guy?
In the case of Detroit, Matt Millen and Owner Ford should get most of the blame. But then again, I already stated this in an earlier blog post.

Rex Grossman Vs Kyle Orton STATS

I've been getting real annoyed that people think Rex should start when he comes back.
The following is a game by game breakdown of all 6 games Rex has started......I came to the conclusion that his stats are no better than Kyle Orton.
Enjoy.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Here is every Rex Game.....all 6 of them:
1)Dec 14, 2003
Bears win 13 -10 over Minn
Tillman rips ball out of Moss's hands
13/30 157 TD 0 INT 0
BTW, A-train scores only td 13 carries for 79 yrs.
Looks like Bears win with running game and strong D
2) Dec 21, 2003
Bears 27 Redskins 24
19/32 249 TD 2 INT 1
A Train 32 carries for 141 yrds with 1 TD
Typical bears win....with a FG
Grossman looked good....
3) Dec 28. 2003
Bears 3 KC 31
Grossman gets hurt Volume 1 -Hurt in 2nd quarter
Before he left he was 5 for 15 for 86 yrds with 2 INT
4) Sept 12 2004
Bears 16 Detroit 20
Grossman drives ball downfield on last drive and throw INT....failing to achieve a come from behind victory
16/35 for 237 TD 0 INT 2
Grossman engineers 2 drives
Thomas Jones 21 for 67 yrds and 2 Tds.
5) Sep 18th 2004
Bears 21 GB 10
Grossman is 10 of 18 for 132 yrds TD 1 INT 1
Thomas Jones is 23 carries for 152 yrds with 1 TD
I remember this being an all around great TEAM effort. Grossman wasn amazing. He was efficient.
6) Sept 26 2004
Bears 22 Vikings 27
Grossman 21 of 31 for 248 yrds TD 0 INT 0
T Jones is 22 for 110 yrds 1 TD
Grossman gets hurt on TD at 2 minute warning
2005 Preseason - In 2 games he threw ZERO tds with the 1st string offense.
My Conclusion, he is no better and now less experienced than Orton.

Fire Steve Mariucci?

Are the Lions Crazy? No. They are using Steve Mariucci as a scapegoat. The real problem is ownership. Horrible cars. Horrible franchise. This nightmare started on Jan 10, 1964 when William Clay Ford purchased the Lions for $4.5 million. Financially, an awesome purchase. For Lions fans, a nail in the coffin. Since Mr. Ford's purchase, they have been to the playoffs in 1970, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000. In 41 yrs, they've been to the playoffs 8 times. I don't have all the stats in front of me, but its safe to say its time for them to sell.
Since the Fords mostly likely wont fire themselves, the second best thing would be to fire Matt Millen. The Fords have been so inept that they actually extended his contract even though he has had one of the worst records in the NFL for a GM. Matt Millen has failed to pick via trade or the draft, a pro bowl caliber player during his stay with the Lions, which began on Jan 1999. He has failed to find a decent qb. He has failed to find a good rb. And so far, after 3 seasons as a row of using their #1 pick for WR, each of these WR are nothing to write home about. Roy Williams being a decent WR.
In all honesty, I think Mariucci is a decent head coach. He's replacable. But if they replace him with Dick Jauron, it will continue to show how inept the Lions management are.
What do I care? I'm a Chicago Bears fan. If they want to keep on sucking, my Bears will be happy to take two wins from them every year.
Here are my suggestions on how to turn around the Lions for next year:
1) Trade a #2 or #1 pick for Jon Kitna. I'm giving away high picks, but this guy is the best back qb that ought to be starting in the NFL.
2) After the thanksgiving game, it looks like the end of Mariucci. So I would go after Gary Kubiak, the OC of the Denver Broncos. He deserves a chance....especially for turning around Jake Plummer. Jim Fassel also deserves another chance. He took an decent Giants team to the SB.
3) Go out and trade for Ricky Williams. Ricky needs more reps than he is getting now. You might be able to give away a #3
4) Go sign T.O. He would light a fire under this worthless franchise. This franchise cannot afford to ignore his talent.
5) Defense. The have a decent D. Jauron has his bend but dont break D and it ultimately works.....its a little soft for my taste. It needs to be more intense. They need more play makers. Build through the draft in this area.
6) Joey Harrington needs to be dropped. No Debate here.
7) Hire Bill Tobin as my GM. They fired him earlier, but he really should have been making the football decisions for this club.
If you follow my 5 point plan, the Lions will finally start winning.

Quick Question? Comparing Defenses without Schedule Strength

I am reading this Chicago Sun Times article comparing the current Bears defense to the Baltimore Ravens and the 85 Bears, but they neglect showing schedule strength.
Here is the article:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/couch/cst-spt-greg232.html
And here is another article comparing the defenses:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/s/2001/0213/1080969.html

Schedule Strength:
1985 Bears - Opposing team's combined record .473
2000 Ravens -.426 (109-147)
and this years bears opposing team records are lower thatn .500

The .473 of Bears opponents is misleading.
The 1985 bears played 49rs with Joe Montana, Joe Theisman, Danny White, Dan Marino(and lost)
True the 1985 bears had an easy time within their division going 8-0.
Outside, however, they played 7 of the best Teams in the NFL
Here is outside of the division records:
Miami 12-4
Dallas 10-6
Redskins 10-6
Jets 11-5
Patroits 11-5
Giants 10-6
Rams 11-5
49rs 10-6
Falcons 4-12
Washington 10-6
There is no comparison....1985 Bears are still the best. I saw Eric Dickerson locally still scared of the 85 bears when asked how good this current bears d is compared to others.
Do I need more stats?
Here is a list of Super Bowl teams and the strength of opponents schedule percentage:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/statitudes/news/2001/01/15/super_schedules/

The Black Hole Theory

Scientists say that, to the human eye, one cannot detect a black hole. Instead, they view the area around a Black hole and watch as light and large mass of objects disappear.
The point of this analogy is to support why Lovie Smith is a good coach.
One of the reasons it is tough to judge Lovie is because he has two excellent assistant coaches: Ron Rivera (Defense) and Ron Turner (Offense)
Ron Rivera inherited a great defense and continue to receive great players from his GM Angelo. According to the press, he calls a good game and make good halftime corrects. To an Amateur such as myself, there's not a bad player on their D, so the important thing is he uses them properly.
Ron Turner is the best OC the bears have ever had since I've been watching in 1979. The first time he was the OC, Eric Kramer put up the most TDs by a bears QB in ages. The year before that, he had Steve Walsh at the helm and won their last playoff game.
Last year, the offense was awful. It didn't help that the bears had the two worst qbs in the history of their franchise. But this year is different. The have reduced the amount of sacks over the previous year. The playcalling is smart. And a Rookie, 4th round QB, is not making many mistakes.
Love has picked two sound assistants. So are they doing his job? Not exactly.
3 years ago (2003 Season), the St. Louis Rams defense had the most takeaways with 46.
Their defense had 24 ints and 22 fumble recoveries. The year after he left, the Rams had 15 takeaways. And in 2005, the Rams D has fallen even further.
Sure, there have been some glaring mistakes.....an inability to sign a veteran qb before the start of the season. An insistence in starting Chad Hutchinson after Rex Grossman went down. A big mistake in signing kicker O'Brien. But Lovie has been smart to acknowledge his mistakes quickly and then correct them.
With last weeks win over Carolina, Lovie is starting to stamp his imprint on the Chicago Bears. And every Bear fan is grateful for Lovie pulling this franchise out of the "Black hole" we were in.

MLB Needs a Wellington Mara

Two interesting news items came across the ap wire this week:
1) Wellington Mara, Founding Owner of the NY Giants Died
2) The World Series had the lowest ratings ever.

Here is the correlation between the two news items:
Wellington Mara, a NYC Regional Owner, agreed to revenue sharing amongst owners, which divided profits equally between all NFL teams, which made the NFL stronger, that made all teams compete equally, which made all NFL teams visible to all Fans, which made the Super Bowl, year after year, the highest ratings on Television

Baseball had no Wellington Mara. Therefore, a New York owner named George kept all the profits for himself (only recently does he give some of it back). It made the Yankees a better team. Which created more customers(fans), which gave the network companies of television the idea to put them on TV, which created more fans, and ultimate, pushed out teams like the White Sox, the Astros, the Royals, The Brewers, etc.
The reason that baseball ratings for the World Series (which was a great series) were low is because the USA is familiar with few teams. By allowing individual teams to find their own television package, only a few have been able to thrive.
Specifically, The Yankees, The Cubs, the Red Sox, The Cardinals. (Braves are on TBS, but nobody cares because they choke every year)
I did not look it up, but when has ESPN ever not show any of the above 4?
Or when has ESPN shown the Royals vs the Brewers.
My philosophy might be off, but I think the remedy that Wellington Mara approved for the NFL might work for baseball.
That and Pete Rozelle's suggestion that ABC show MNF each and every week.
When will Baseball, which is suppose to be our national pastime, put on a prime time game of the week?
Why can't the same sports fans who watch NFL on Monday nights, watch Baseball on ABC Monday nights during the year?
Because, in the end, a lack of visibility, a lack of the familiar, is what did in MLB.

NFL Hall of Fame Vote Coming Up -RAY GUY NEEDS TO ENTER THE HOF

I noticed today that the Pro Football Hall Of Fame Vote is beginning. (Ap/Yahoo article here)
Link to all Sports would like for Ray Guy to enter the HOF. He has been named to the NFL's All-Century team as the best punter of all time.
Its long over due.
Here is a list of sportwriters that make the selections.
Sportswriters that decide HOF members and keep screwing over Ray:
Arizona Andy Bagnato, Arizona Republic
Atlanta Furman Bisher, The Atlanta Journal
Baltimore Scott Garceau, WMAR-TV
Buffalo Mark Gaughan, Buffalo News
Carolina Charles Chandler, Charlotte Observer
Chicago Don Pierson, Chicago Tribune*
Cincinnati Chick Ludwig, Dayton Daily News
Cleveland Tony Grossi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Dallas Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News*
Denver Woodrow Paige, Denver Post
Detroit Jerry Green, The Detroit News*
Green Bay Cliff Christl, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Houston John McClain, Houston Chronicle*
Indianapolis Mike Chappell, Indianapolis Star
Jacksonville Sam Kouvaris, WJXT-TV
Kansas City Bob Gretz, KCFX Overland Park, KS
Miami Edwin Pope, Miami Herald*
Minnesota Sid Hartman, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
New England Ron Borges, Boston Globe
New Orleans Pete Finney, Times-Picayune
New York (Giants) Vinny DiTrani, Bergen Record
New York (Jets) Paul Zimmerman, Sports Illustrated
Oakland Frank Cooney, The Sports Xchange
Philadelphia Paul Domowitch, Philadelphia Daily News
Pittsburgh Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
St. Louis Bernie Miklasz, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
San Diego Jerry Magee, San Diego Union Tribune*
San Francisco Ira Miller, San Francisco Chronicle*
Seattle John Clayton, ESPN/ESPN Magazine
Tampa Bay Ira Kaufman, Tampa Tribune
Tennessee David Climer, The Tennessean
Washington Len Shapiro, Washington Post*
PFWA David Elfin, Washington Times
At Large Jarrett Bell, USA Today
At Large Dave Goldberg, Associated Press*
At Large Peter King, Sports Illustrated
At Large Bob Oates, Los Angeles Times
At Large Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com
At Large Mike Wilbon, Washington Post

When I have a moment, I will update their link to incude email addresses.
Thanks for Suporting the Ray Guy HOF movement

Do stats lie?

Who's the best team? Who's the worst? These arguments are typically resolved by head to head competition. One team wins the game and that determines it.
But until that matchup, sports fans and talk shows debate these questions through the professional season. Statistics are used to (temporarily) resolve these questions.
Unfortunately, the wrong interpretation of stats can lead one fan to ultimate stupidity, while an accurate surveyor of stats can make that fan seem like a genius.
Each week, the NFL plays the fool by ranking teams based on how many yards they ran, passed, returned, let up. As Troy Aikman states in this article, "...You could average 600 yards a game and not score a single point and be the No. 1 offense."
He was so frustrated during his days as a player that he launched his own measure of NFL statistics called "Aikman Efficiency Ratings"
And the 3 time Super Bowl Winning QB is on the right track.
But there are a few things I think he missed that I would like to expand on. One of them I'd like to focus on today is Punting and Punt Return yard avg.
A long overlooked but important aspect of football is the punting game.
The key to football during all matchups is who had better field position during the game. If a drive stalls at the 50 yard line, and the punter is able to pin the opposing team at his 1 yard line, it will take the opponent several extra plays to get into the endzone. And a big plus is that the punter has given his now defense an opportunity to score via safety or a fumble/interception return.
But all it says on the stats sheet is that he hit a 49 yard punt (approx).
And the NFL's system on ranking all punters is wrong more ways that this.
To my knowledge, they simply rank the length of the punt minus the return yardage.
In my opinion, the NFL should base its punting stats on the following criteria, similar to a qb rating:
Length of Punt
Amount of Hang Time
Punts inside the 20
Punts inside the 10
Punts Inside the 5
There ought to be some type of rating that can measure the punter's contribution to his team.
And above all, call it the Ray Guy Punter Rating.
An interesting book that questions NFL stats and coaching logic that is similar to Bill James Landmark Baseball Abstract series is:
The Hidden Game of Football by Bob Carroll, Pete Palmer, John Thorn
One important point brought up in the book was whether a team should go for it on 4th and 1.
The Football Outsiders is a great website that challenges conventional wisdom about the NFL.
So, finally, the next time you begin to argue over who has a better football team, make sure to get your facts straight, from the right source.