November 8, 2004: NFL
Week 9 Commentary and Analysis
By Ahchie
Throw Him the Darn Ball
Why
don’t the Ravens throw it to Jamal Lewis more? Once he catches a short
pass, he could be free to run for a lot of yards as he would be very difficult
to tackle in the open field. A screen pass would essentially be like a handoff
on the side of the field where he would not have to break many tackles to
consistently get long gains. On Sunday’s game against the Browns, Lewis
caught one pass for a gain of 14 yards. His only other catch came in week
3 and that catch resulted in a 46 yard gain. That makes two receptions for
a total of 60 yards – through the first nine weeks of the season. The
only reason one can think of is that Lewis gets too winded. Often times he
can be seen huffing and puffing on the sidelines after carrying the ball on
more than two consecutive plays. He will pound the ball up the middle, break
through for impressive gains, then stand on the sidelines gasping for air
when the Ravens are finally in the red zone, which is the time when they need
him the most. It seems like throwing screen passes to him would get him in
the open field more where he would not have to pound the ball through so many
defenders. Having to go through fewer defenders would perhaps leave him with
more energy to stay on the field.
Looking at the dismal receiving numbers of Lewis prompted the BMTG to take a look at other elite backs in the league to see how they are utilized. All are of similar size, ranging from 5 foot 9 to 6 foot 2 and 200 to 245 pounds. At 25 years old, 5 foot 11 and 245 pounds, Lewis is the heaviest of the group, which may contribute to his tendency to get fewer reception opportunities, but should not eliminate the pass catching completely. The findings indicate that Lewis is not being utilized to his potential:
| Player | Age |
Height |
Weight |
Receptions |
Yards |
Average |
| Clinton Portis | 23 |
5'11" |
205 |
24 |
151 |
6.3 |
| Domanick Davis | 24 |
5'9" |
221 |
28 |
269 |
9.6 |
| LaDainian Tomlinson (1) | 25 |
5'10" |
221 |
27 |
249 |
9.2 |
| Jamal Lewis | 25 |
5'11 |
245 |
2 |
60 |
30.0 |
| Deuce McAllister (2) | 25 |
6'1" |
232 |
12 |
70 |
5.8 |
| Shaun Alexander (3) | 27 |
5'11" |
225 |
12 |
100 |
8.3 |
| Anthony Thomas (4) | 27 |
6'2" |
225 |
7 |
55 |
7.9 |
| Duce Staley (5) | 29 |
5'11" |
242 |
4 |
25 |
6.3 |
| Tiki Barber (6) | 29 |
5'10" |
200 |
31 |
411 |
13.3 |
| Marshall Faulk (7) | 31 |
5'10" |
211 |
34 |
238 |
7.0 |
| Priest Holmes | 31 |
5'9" |
213 |
19 |
187 |
9.8 |
(1) Last season Tomlinson caught 100 passes for 725 yards.
(2) Last three games, McAllister has caught 10 passes for 50 yards, after
limited playing time due to injury. In 2003, McAllister caught 69 passes for
516 yards.
(3) In 2002, at age 25, Alexander caught 59 passes for 460 yards.
(4) Six of Thomas’ receptions have come in the last two games, as he
did not play much before then.
(5) In 2001, at age 26, Staley caught 63 passes for 626 yards, followed by
51 for 541 yards in 2002.
(6) In 2000, at age 25, Barber had his best receiving season, catching 70
passes for 719 yards.
(7) In 1998 and 1999, at age 25 and 26, Faulk had his two best receiving seasons,
catching 86 passes for 908 yards in 1998 and 87 passes for 1,048 yards in
1999.
For the older players, their best receiving seasons came around the age of 25. Duce Staley is the closest in size to Lewis, and while he has been limited this season, when he was a premier back in the league he had impressive receiving numbers. While the lighter backs generally have fared better as receivers, there is no rational explanation as to why Jamal Lewis is not thrown the ball on short pass routes and screen plays.
Jeckyl and Hyde
This
week's Jeckyl and Hyde team is the New York Giants, who easily beat Minnesota
last week, then lost to Chicago this week. Maybe Tom Coughlin has lost his
ability to coach again. It should be noted that the last two wins by Chicago
coincide with the return of the A-Train, Anthony Thomas, who was relegated
to back up role to the currently injured Thomas Jones.
Commentator Spotlight: Paul Maguire
Two
things to know about Paul Maguire – first, and most importantly, he
does an excellent job of refuting what Joe Theismann says and second, and
more interestingly, he has a foot fetish. During Sunday night’s game
between the original Cleveland Browns (now the Baltimore Ravens) and the new
Cleveland Browns, he repeatedly urged viewers to look at the feet of Jamal
Lewis. Over and over throughout the night was heard the statement, “Look
at his feet!” Maguire was so enamored with Lewis’ feet that it
went beyond making his point that Jamal never stops moving them. He was put
into a trance every time Lewis ran with the ball and one could sense his building
anticipation whenever Baltimore was about to get the ball.
Paul Maguire is actually a very good broadcaster and he makes it a little easier to stomach the incessant droning of Theismann. Maguire also happens to be a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2002).
Wasted Challenge
With Oakland facing 3rd and one in the first half, Carolina decided to challenge
the spot of the ball. A win of the challenge would put Oakland at 3rd and
three. The challenge failed and Oakland proceeded to throw a 36-yard pass
for a first down.
More Injury Games
Duce Staley, Pittsburgh, was listed all week as probable (knee). Before Sunday’s
game he was deactivated due to a hamstring injury.
Darrell Jackson, Seattle, was not cleared to play until Saturday due to a sprained ankle. He then caught five passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns.
Questions for Mike Martz
Mike Martz is becoming legendary for his tendency to make horrible calls.
Each week we will pose a new question to Martz. At the end of the season we
will compile his errors into an open letter.
This week's question:
"Where did you learn clock management? You were down by 18 with 3:43 left in the game, had the ball on the three yard line on first and goal, giving you the opportunity for a quick touchdown. Throw quick passes against a depleted New England secondary? No, instead you chose the following sequence: First play is a run for one yard. Clock runs down to 3:12 before the next snap. Next play is another run, this time for a loss of three yards. Clock runs down to 2:28, when The Scarecrow calls a timeout with one second left on the play clock. On the third play, The Scarecrow completes a pass short of the end zone and your team continues to show no desire to stop the clock. The officials stop the clock for you as they assess a holding call on one of your players, resulting in third and goal from about the 13 with 2:19 to play. Those three plays took 1 minute and 24 seconds, with the end result of a loss of 10 yards and the use of one timeout. The next play was not seen because it was time to switch to NFL Prime Time. Granted, your team did not have a great chance to catch up, but your clock management showed that either you gave up or you don't know what you are doing. Instead of running, you could have done what you love to do - throw the ball. Quick passes into the end zone would have given you a good chance of scoring without using much time."
Fantasy Notes
The Diesel continue to roll, even without the services of Darrell
Jackson, who was expected to miss the game, then amassed 358 points against
the 49ers. The Diesel's replacement, Dante Hall, came up with 130 points.
Donovan McNabb and the rest of the Eagles had a horrible game against the suddenly dominant Steelers, as McNabb and Terrell Owens had their worst games of the year. Willis McGahee shined for the second straight week.
Seeming to be past his troubles choosing a tight end, Brother Nature is now experiencing a total breakdown in his choice of team defense. The points for the last five weeks are: -120, 205, 10, 0, 0 for a total of 95 points, or 19 points per week. For the last three weeks, Brother Nature's team defense has averaged 3.33 points per week.