November 30, 2005: NFL
Commentary, Week 12
By White Russian
Time to Move On
When
is the T.O. thing going to die? Now we have Senator Arlen Specter saying the
NFL and the Eagles are wrong in their sidelining of Owens for the duration
of the season. While he doesn’t like Terrell’s actions, Specter
said, “I do not believe, personally, that it is appropriate to punish
him (by forcing him to sit out the rest of the season). He's not committed
a crime, he's committed a breach of contract. And what they're doing against
him is vindictive."
Why do people outside football feel this need to jump into this situation that has already been handled by the league? Jesse Jackson made his obligatory cameo, and now we have a senator chiming in.
Specter is flat out wrong in his judgment. The bottom line is that Terrell Owens is the property of the Philadelphia Eagles. They own him and they will continue to pay him. If they want to pay him outlandish sums of money to stay home, then that is their prerogative. The league had an independent arbitrator look at both sides and the arbitrator validated that the Eagles are not being vindictive and that it is Owens who is in the wrong. Why would the Eagles want to just release him? That would allow him to go to another team and it would show other super star brats that the way to move from one team to another is to act like an idiot until you are let go.
Deion Sanders has added his thoughts to the situation, saying, “I feel bad for T.O. It's not right. Just because a guy won't say he's sorry, he's out of the game of football for the season. It's like someone working a job 9 to 5 and they don't apologize to their boss, they're fired. There are so many things that I don't like about it. A man should be able to work and make an honest living and do what he loves to do.“
What Sanders does not seem to understand is that the action against Owens was not taken based on one incident. Owens has had many chances to correct his behavior and finally the Eagles got tired of his act. Sanders tries to bring the 9 to 5 working man into the conversation, which is just plain absurd. Comparing millionaire football players to everyday working people is generally not a good idea, as the everyday working people are not going to feel the millionaire player’s “pain”. The everyday workingman who screws up so much at work that he has to be fired does not continue to get paid after he is fired. Remember that the Eagles are still paying Owens his salary.
On a smaller scale, Jay Payton did the same thing to the Red Sox this summer. He was unhappy so he purposely got into a nasty confrontation with manager Terry Francona in the dugout, knowing that the result would be a trade out of Boston. He admitted that the reason he acted that way was so the Sox would get rid of him. After he was traded to Oakland, he flourished.
This is the type of unprofessionalism that the Eagles situation is about. Owens has done this before, calling out both his coach and his quarterback in San Francisco. Owens tried to do it again to the Eagles. If Owens had his way, he would be playing for another team right now, planting little seeds of discontent to use down the road. The man is a cancer, and the NFL is better off with him staying home on Sundays.
Thrilling Matchups
The viewing choices Sunday were more than a little disappointing, considering
this is week 12 and the playoff races are heating up. At 10 AM, the only choice
was the thrilling matchup between two 2 and 8 teams, San Francisco at Tennessee.
At 1 PM, the choice was either the N.Y. Giants at Seattle or Jacksonville
at Arizona. And the prime time Sunday night game was another matchup between
2 and 8 teams, New Orleans at N.Y. Jets. That’s basically one good game
out of four. On the other hand, Friday and Saturday made up college football
rivalry week #2, which was infinitely better with a multitude of choices throughout
the day.
New
Orleans in Prime Time
The New Orleans Sunday Night game against the Jets was another opportunity
to highlight the hurricane that ravaged the South. Anticipating exhaustive
Katrina coverage, the BMTG watched the game wondering how many hurricane references
there would be throughout the evening. While the effects of the hurricane
on the Saints were talked about, the BMTG expected that there would be much
more, including extensive video and human interest stories. There was no devastation
video and there were no tear jerking interviews.
References
to Katrina:
Song Requested by The Diesel
Playing in the Jets stadium with 14 seconds left in the first half was “Rubberband
Man,” which is also on Volume 7 of the BMTG music collection.
Anyone
Else Want to Call a Timeout?
There was an odd sequence of timeouts following the Giants game-tying late
touchdown. The Giants score with 1:59 left and the two-point conversion attempt
to come. The Giants call a time out; then Seattle challenges the touchdown
call. Seattle loses the challenge and is charged with a time out. The two-point
conversion is successful and there is another time out – this time for
the two-minute warning. Despite tying it late, that was enough for the Giants,
who then proceeded to do their best to lose the game, missing three game winning
field goals. Earlier in the game the Giants committed five false start penalties
on one drive.
Referee Phrasing
“After the play is over - unnecessary roughness - number 81 - flings
the guy to the ground after the play is over - down counts - third down.”
“Flings the guy to the ground” is almost as good as the reference to “unnatural acts” several weeks ago on Sunday Night Football.
Fantasy Notes
Payton Manning and Marvin Harrison teamed up to score 362 smallworld points
on just their first play from scrimmage. On that one play Manning scored 140
(or almost half) of his total output for the night – 140 on the first
play, 160 the rest of the night, for a total of 300. Harrison scored 222 (or
nearly two-thirds) of his total output for the night on that first play –
222 on the first play, 122 the rest of the night, for a total of 344.
But it wasn’t quite enough to enable Sandman to gain ground on White Russian, as LaDainian Tomlinson single handedly saved the Russian, the Chargers, and Drew Brees, who threw four interceptions in the game. Tomlinson’s two scoring runs, one late in the fourth quarter to tie the game and the other in overtime to win the game, accounted for 43% of his total output – 266 on the two touchdown runs, 350 the rest of the day, for a total of 616.
Picking a receiver is generally a crapshoot once you get beyond the few players who are a must start every week. Take a look at Eagles wide receiver Reggie Brown over the last four weeks. In week 9, the first week of life without Terrell Owens, Brown had 94 yards and a touchdown at Washington, as McNabb threw for 304 yards. For week 10, Brown was added to White Russian’s roster and managed only 15 yards, no touchdowns, and some key drops at home against Dallas, while McNabb threw for only 169 yards. With McNabb out, the White Russian dropped Brown in week 11. That was the week Brown went for 88 yards and a touchdown, while backup McMahon threw for 298 yards in New York against the Giants. And then this week, in anticipation of a nice game at home versus Green Bay, Brown was added back to the roster by White Russian. Brown did not catch a pass and McMahon threw for only 91 yards.
Week |
Brown |
SWP |
QB (YDS) |
Opponent |
On Roster? |
9 |
94 yds, TD |
258 |
McNabb (304) |
at Washington |
No |
10 |
15 yds |
36 |
McNabb (169) |
Dallas |
Yes |
11 |
88 yds, TD |
242 |
McMahon (298) |
at N.Y. Giants |
No |
12 |
0 yds |
0 |
McMahon (91) |
Green Bay |
Yes |
| 2 weeks on White Russian’s roster = 36 SWP 2 weeks off White Russian’s roster = 500 SWP 8 weeks to begin season = 234 SWP |
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