Category: Green Bay Packers

Bears May Look to Miami as a NFL Draft Trading Partner and Other Points of View.

Bears

  • Will Brinson at CBS Sports rates wide receiver David Terrell as the worst Bears first round draft pick in the last 25 years. I don’t see how he beat out Michael Haynes and Cade McNown but it must have been close.
  • Hub Arkush at chicagofootball.com continues to claim that the Bears have a “screaming need” for a number one receiver. I’m not too sure that they don’t have one in Alshon Jeffery. In fact, I’m going to be mildly disappointed if he’s not. I look around the rest of the league at what other teams have and I’m not too sure the need at receiver is as great as some Bears commentators seem to think it is. Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune agrees here.  Don’t get me wrong – another playmaker would be welcome and you won’t hear any complaints from me if they draft one. But with Marquis Wilson and Eddie Royal, with Martellus Bennett at tight end and Matt Forte at runningback, I think that the Bears have plenty of receiving talent. The “need” might be for depth.
  • Arkush has the Bears selecting runningback Todd Gurley in his latest mock draft. I would hope the Bears would desperately try to trade back if Gurley is their guy.

    Arkush has been pushing runningback as an underrated need for the Bears for quite a while now. He’s got a point but this might be over doing it. The draft has plenty of depth at runningback and Stanford OT Andrus Peat, Iowa OG Brandon Scherff, Michigan State CB Trae Waynes and West Virginia WR Kevin White – picks 9-12 in Arkush’s mock – all look like better picks to me in that spot.

    The guess here is that Arkush is just having a little fun with it and that he doens’t seriously believe that the Bears will take Gurley at seven.

  • The Bears best free agent signing? For my money its linebacker Mason Foster, signed from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (profiled here by Adam L. Jahns at the Chicago Sun-Times). Foster wasn’t a great fit for the cover two but I think he’s perfect for an inside linebacker in a 3-4 defense. Football outsiders points to the Bears struggles at linebacker in coverage as a major problem in 2014, one that they think Foster could help solve. Jon Bostic in particular looked lost in space last year.

Elsewhere

One Final Thought

For those of you wondering what Brit McHenry did to get herself suspended from ESPN, the video of this media darling is below. McHenry’s car was towed by a company that is, by most accounts, pretty shady. Note that she is warned immediately that she is on camera.

I get that she’s upset and I would be, too. But taking it out on the employee at the front desk, especially in this manner, is not a good look.

When Is Due Diligence Called For and When Isn’t It?

Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times profiles defensive tackle Danny Shelton:

“[G]iven that the team will morph into 4-3 defense on nickel and dime situations, the Bears could be cautious drafting someone who could be limited to two downs.”

“The 6-foot-2, 339-pounder has been compared to Haloti Ngata and Vince Wilfork. But he’s athletic enough that, growing up, he wanted to be Steelers safety Troy Polamalu.”

“He showed that athleticism when, in the rival Apple Cup matchup with Washington State this year, he barrel-rolled along the ground at line of scrimmage before the snap, lining up in a new position, and then sacked the quarterback.”

Having looked at some video of Shelton I can say that the comparison to Wilfork is a pretty good one. He’s plenty athletic and I think its entirely possible that he could be more than a two down player. But even as a two down player he’d be valuable. Finley points out that the Bears might be better off drafting a pass rusher – and they might. But there’s a decent chance that with proven 4-3 defensive ends like Jared Allen and Willie Young on the team, any pass rusher they take could well be restricted to being a two down player as well.

But here’s the paragraph that really caught my eye.

“Shelton talked extensively with the Bears at the Senior Bowl and at the NFL Scouting Combine, and, he said, with a Chicago scout after that. His only official visit after the combine was with the Browns, though he said teams have learned enough about him during his showcases to not need one-on-one visits.”

Do the Bears do their “due diligence” by brining in Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota – two players who are unlikely to be there at the seventh pick. They bring in Mario Edwards and T.J. Clemmings presumably on the off chance they find a way to trade down. But they don’t bring in Shelton, who is likely to be there when you pick and who fits the defense to a T? And not just the Bears – nobody seems to be brining him in.

I don’t get this. Each team gets 30 visits with prospects. The Packers general manager Ted Thompson restricts his mostly to low round players and free agents who weren’t at the Combine. That makes sense. But if you are a team like the Bears, how do you decide which prospects you do “due diligence on” and which you don’t?

The process seems random. Hopefully its not.

Who Has the Edge to Compete with the Packers in the NFC North Post Free Agency

All of the NFC North bloggers at ESPN agree that the best team in the division is still Green Bay but the reasons vary. None of them points to what I think are the most potent mix in football – the presence of quarterback Aaron Rogers combined with the best coaching staff in the league outside of New England.

Most of them agree that the Lions are the team to watch if anyone is to overtake the Packers for the division. I’m going to disagree.

This is primarily a Bears blog so let’s just get this out of the way:  The rebuilding Bears aren’t worth mentioning on this point.

The Packers 

Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune examines the importance of Rogers:

“Mike McCarthy‘s anxiety mushroomed beyond normal game-week levels in January every time he entered the Packers‘ training room to check on Aaron Rodgers‘ strained left calf.”

“McCarthy also endured losing Rodgers to a broken collarbone in 2013, resulting in an 0-for-November skid that nearly sent the Packers tumbling over the playoff cliff before Rodgers returned and saved the season. It was a jarring reminder that when the quarterback falters, a trap door can open beneath even the most accomplished teams.”

“‘Aaron … gives us the ability to be very aggressive in what we do (offensively), and it’s a lot of fun from that perspective,’ McCarthy said last month.

“Fun for the quarterback-haves sure, but misery for the have-nots.”

Aaron_Rodgers_drops_back_(cropped)

Never doubt the importance of Rogers (above) to the Packers or that he’s the best quarterback in the game with the possible exception of Tom Brady in New England.  And never doubt that he’s a key to elevating the performance of the team.  As 2013 showed, they’re below average without him.

The same goes for an outstanding coaching staff on both sides of the ball.  The environment is one where players know how to do their jobs and they expect to win when they do.  With the exception of occasional tacking issues and bouts of dropped passes they’re usually one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the league.

The Lions

Moving on, the Lions lost the primary reason their defense has been dominant over the past few years (Ndamukong Suh) and they haven’t gotten better anywhere else.  As Michael Rothstein at ESPN reviews the Lions roster, I see what many might consider a surprising number of places they need to get better including running back, wide receiver, offensive tackle, offensive guard, defensive end, and cornerback.

I mildly disagree with Kyle Meinke at mlive.com when he touts the Lions success in free agency by pointing to their defensive line and their defensive backfield. And yet they are still their top two needs in this year’s draft.

In fairness to Meinke, he isn’t exactly claiming that signings like Rashean Mathis are all-stars. And I’m not saying that the Lions understated approach to free agency is the wrong one to take. Indeed, I think this is the way to do it:

“‘Here’s what I do know: I do know you don’t win any games this time of the year,’ [Lions head coach Jim] Caldwell said recently. ‘At Indy, we lost every year in the offseason. We didn’t lose too many games during the season, because we didn’t believe in necessarily going (all out) in free agency. We’d pick our spots, and build our team through the draft.

“‘That’s what we do — we basically build our team through the draft. Nevertheless, there are some opportunities out there — like Golden Tate — to go out and make a difference for us.'”

Tate was a nice, big money signing. But nevertheless, they’ve hardly used free agency to plug holes effectively, especially at cornerback.

As Meinke points out, the Lions have not drafted consistently well in recent years.   The odds are good that, four years later, two failed drafts in a row (2010 and 2011) from which the Lions have no players left on their roster are going to catch up with this franchise.  No surprise that Sharon Katz at ESPN categorizes the Lions statistically as the NFL’s worst drafting team.

Marc Sessler highlights the up and down nature of the Lions history:

“We’re not calling for the Lions to tumble off a cliff — not with Matthew Stafford throwing to Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate — but in the past four seasons with Stafford under center, Detroit has won 10, four, seven and 11 games. They’ll pivot back to earth in 2015, leaving the door open for another conference heavy to nab a wild-card spot.”

With the departure of Suh, they may be about to find out how mediocre the talent on that roster really is.  With the magic focus that come with having a new head coach also wearing off, I can’t imagine that they’re not in for a fall.

The Vikings

The Vikings, on the other hand, are a team to keep an eye on this year.  Sessler details some reasons why:

“On the heels of Teddy Bridgewater‘s mostly promising rookie campaign, the team upgraded at wideout by trading for the fleet-footed Mike Wallace while saving $5 million in cap space by dumping Greg Jennings. Wallace gives the Vikings a bona fide No. 1 target to pair with the promising Charles Johnson. If Cordarelle Patterson can shake off last year’s disappointing campaign and Kyle Rudolph can stay healthy, Norv Turner’s air attack will soar. That said, the O-line needs help.

On defense, Zimmer added a pair of former Bengals in cornerback Terence Newman and safety Taylor Mays.

Cornerback is a chronic problem in Minnesota and Newman should help opposite Xavier Rhodes.  Wallace wasn’t used correctly in Miami and could be a significant upgrade over Jennings in my opinion.  Add in the potential return of running back Adrian Peterson and you’ve got a balanced offense and a serious problem when playing Minnesota.

But I like the Vikings even without Peterson.  Why?  I love Bridgewater.  More than any Bears fan has a right to do.  I think he’s still under-rated and is going to turn out to be a top five quarterback in the NFL.  I also love the coaching staff in Minnesota, most importantly offensive coordinator Norv Turner who I think knows how to use the talent that’s given to him.  And I think there’s plenty of talent there to take advantage of.  Chris Mortensen at ESPN apparently agrees in this interview as he repeatedly emphasizes the ability of head coach Mike Zimmer to develop young talent and how lucky Bridgewater was to land in the right place with Turner (below).

norv-turner-minnesota-vikings-593x356

Conclusion

Former Bears tight end Desmond Clark once said that the talent around the NFL on a team by team basis is largely the same.  That leaves quarterbacks and coaches to make the difference.  Those are the two things that can turn average players into good players and good players into great ones.  The only team in the division that has the quarterback and the coaching staff to compete with the Packers is the Vikings. They’re the team to keep an eye on this year.

Cutler Trade Good for Almost Everybody. Almost. And Other Points of View.

Bears

  • Elliot Harrison at nfl.com constructs his all-under 25 team. Guess how many Bears are on it?
  • Rob Demovsky, Green Bay blogger at ESPN, thinks the Bears signing of Pernell McPhee was the worst NFC North free agent move to date. Ben Goessling in Minnesota thought it was the Eddie Royal signing. Michael Rothstein in Detroit thought it was Ray McDonald. Clearly the Bears are making a great impression around the division.
  • Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune sets a fan who continues to make excuses for quarterback Jay Cutler straight as he answers your questions:

    “Will the Bears use more rollouts and bootlegs? It’s certainly a possibility. But the idea that the Bears didn’t do that under Marc Trestman, Mike Tice, Mike Martz and Ron Turner is flat out wrong. Everyone runs the boot game.”

    “To expect Cutler to change dramatically as a player with more bootlegs in the offensive scheme would be a miscalculation in my opinion. Look at how many offensive coaches he’s already worked with. Do you think every offensive coach the Bears have hired as been inept and incapable of coaching offensive football? The answer to that is no. Cutler is going to be who he’s been. If he can cut down on the number of turnovers, he has a chance to remain on the field.”

    I continue to be amazed by the number of fans who continue to make excuses for Cutler after six years of up and down play. Cutler was surrounded by about as much offensive talent as any quarterback in the NFL could reasonably expect to have. He had a head coach who believed in him at the beginning of the year and was as easy and as accommodating as any he’ll find to work with. He’ll never be any better than he was last year.

  • Hub Arkush at chicagofootball.com likes Missouri defensive end/outside linebacker Shane Ray better than I do.
  • Arkush also sings the praises of Bears general manager Ryan Pace‘s free agency moves but wisely ends the article with the critical question: “Now, can Pace draft better than his predecessors?” Pace is using free agency to set up the draft but the draft is where you really have to execute.
  • I’m not entirely sure why Jeff Dickerson at ESPN thinks that Bears safety Brock Vereen doesn’t fit the “aggressive, hard-hitting mold that new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and secondary coach Ed Donatell are known to prefer in safeties”.
  • Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune gets a little more information about the blocking scheme that the Broncos ran on the offensive line last year from new center Will Montgomery. It sounds like a little bit of everything depending on the situation.

Elsewhere

One Final Thought

Chase Goodbread at nfl.com points out that the Bears trade for Cutler apparently benefited teams all over the league – seemingly everyone but the Bears.

Like the Packers, the Bears Are Drafting for the Long Haul

Pete Dougherty at the Green Bay Press-Gazette thinks that Ted Thompson‘s draft strategy reflects the fact that there’s not much difference in drafting ability among NFL teams and that chance accounts for most of that difference. The smartest strategy is to collect extra picks to increase the odds of hitting on good players.

Green Bay General Manager Ted Thompson will likely be looking to fill holes that will appear long term
Green Bay General Manager Ted Thompson will likely be looking too the future when filling holes

One of the things that I liked about this article with that it highlights the “best available” strategy that many GMs claim to use but few seem to follow:

“This year, Thompson has nine picks (his own in each round plus two sixth-round compensatories) and two huge needs, at inside linebacker and cornerback.

“He should resist temptation to trade up for either position unless he’s absolutely blown away by a prospect. If there’s not an inside linebacker or corner he values at No. 30, he has enough positions of need a year or two down the road that a player of value should be worth taking there. That includes tight end, where he could use help now; outside linebacker, where three players (Julius Peppers, Mike Neal and Nick Perry) could be in their final year with the team; and defensive line, where B.J. Raji and Letroy Guion are decent bets to re-sign but on one-year deals.”

There’s little doubt that general managers draft for need. The problem may be that too often, they draft for immediate need. Dougherty highlights the fact that once you start planning for the future, you find that your needs grow and, therefore, the pool of potential prospects that fit grows.

Below is a table showing the Bears starters and their contract expiration dates:

Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 7.38.26 AM

The sharp observer will note that there are contracts expiring after this season at wide receiver, running back, defensive back, linebacker, on the offensive line and everywhere on the defensive line.  Many think that the Bears are filling their needs by signing free agents. But once you see that many are just potential stop gaps, often on one-year contracts, at postitions in need of long-term answers, you understand that they actually need nearly everything.

I’m amused by mock drafts that constantly change the Bears first pick based upon needs that have been filled in free agency.  The truth is that their needs are basically the same as they were when free agency started.  And their going to take the best available guy because the best available guy is almost certainly going to fill one of them for a long time.

Time Is a Quarterback’s Best Friend. And Other Points of View.

Bears

  • Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune interviews new Bears cornerback Alan Ball. Ball is a big defensive back at 6-2, 197 lb. You can’t have too many of them. Bears general manager Ryan Pace would seem to agree.
  • Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times goes down the Bears defensive depth chart. A couple thing become clear in this exercise. Defensive line is still by far the biggest need with Ego Ferguson backing up all three positions. The cornerback position is interesting with Demontre Hurts, Ball, Tim Jennings and Kyle Fuller lining up to compete for two spots. The guess here is that Fuller is established at one outside spot and that one of the other three ends up playing nickel.
  • Hub Arkush at chicagofootball.com is down right enthusiastic about the signing of linebacker Mason Foster.
  • The 49ers are continuing to stick with Blaine Gabbert (left) as their backup quarterback. Similar to Bears backup Jimmy Clausen (right), Gabbert got thrown into the fire immediately his first season and performed poorly. Also like Clausen, he never got another chance to prove himself.

    Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 6.25.40 AM

    There was a time when quarterbacks sat for years developing behind an established starter. Former Packers head coach Mike Holmgren once famously said that quarterbacks didn’t really pick up the offense until the THIRD YEAR. High round picks don’t get that kind of time anymore. But you have to wonder if both Gabbert and Clausen aren’t benefiting from their roles as backups in the same way that those quarterbacks of long ago did. If so, we may not have seen the last of either of them as starters.

  • Say what you want about former Bears head coach Marc Trestman, he apparently knew many of his players better then some would think. From John Mullin at csnchicago.com:

    “A footnote to the 2014 ‘leadership’ season: Trestman, who began naming weekly last season rather than the traditional team-vote method, appears to have had some sense of what he did and didn’t have as far as locker room leaders. Through 15 games, [Jared] Allen and [Jeremiah] Ratliff were captains six times each, Jay Cutler three times.

    “Brandon Marshall was a captain just twice, the second and last time being the Miami game, after which Marshall erupted with a postgame rant at teammates.”

Elsewhere

  • Conor Orr at nfl.com passes on that Mike McCarthy wants to put Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers in the pistol more often next year. The formation has most of the advantages of being in the shotgun but puts the runningback behind you, allowing for runs and making play action effective. I don’t see much of a downside.
  • Orr assesses the effectiveness of the NFL general managers in the draft by looking at the percentage of their picks that make the all-rookie team.

    “Jags GM Dave Caldwell is only two years in, but there’s no doubt he’ll need to hit on one this year. Three years without an All-Rookie selection is unheard of for gainfully employed GMs.”

    Carolina’s Dave Gettleman ranks at the top of the list. Bears general manager Ryan Pace isn’t ranked as he hasn’t made a pick yet.

  • Chris Wessling, also at nfl.com, comments on the staff’s division power rankings. The NFC North ranked third amongst the eight divisions:

    “Even with the acknowledgment that the Lions and Vikings are potential wild-card teams, the NFC North’s third-place ranking reflects respect for the Packers as the primary threat to the Seahawks’ NFC hegemony. Nobody knows what to think of Chicago, mirroring the Bears’ puzzlement at quarterback.”

  • Texans owner Bob McNair defended their signing of nose tackle Vince Wilfork by saying that players are more likely to lose speed than strength with age. Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com calls the notion “a bit simplistic”. I call it dead wrong.
  • Former Bears head coach Lovie Smith is returning to his familiar ways, limiting himself to free agents he either knows (Henry Melton, Chris Conte) or that people he knows know (Bruce Carter and Sterling Moore). That’s a similar strategy to the one he employed as head coach of the Bears when hiring assistants and, like the players he’s signing now, that meant he was drawing them from a very limited pool. There’s always going to be a cap on how much success coaches like Smith have. From the Tampa Tribune.
  • Still wondering why teams don’t spend high round picks on running backs anymore? The Broncos selected Ronnie Hillman in the third round of 2012, took Montee Ball in the second round and signed C.J. Anderson as an undrafted free agent in 2013. Guess which one is going into OTAs as the starter? Via Michael David Smith at profootballtalk.com.

One Final Thought

A reminder to everyone not to forget to register to get tickets for you and a guest to the NFL Draft in Chicago at NFL.com/DraftTown. As long as I get the second ticket.

Real Respect

Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune quotes Bears Chairman George McCaskey on why he proposed a rule change at the meetings that would guarantee both teams possession in overtime.

“‘A show of respect for the Packers,’ McCaskey said.

“He explained how he became compelled after watching his rivals lose the NFC championship game to the Seahawks on a first-possession touchdown pass.

“‘If you’re a Bears fan, of course, that was a great result,’ McCaskey said.”

That’s an odd way of saying that you respect someone.

Rival or not I make it a policy to never root against teams. I root for teams.

Here’s my way of showing proper respect: I thought the Packers had an under-rated defense that played their guts out and deserved better than they got.

I look forward to the day when Packers fans might might be able to honestly say the same thing about the Bears.

Some Life Lessons And Other Points of View

Bears

    • I’m trying to avoid a knee jerk reaction to the Bears questionable signing of defensive end Ray McDonald. Let’s just say I’m a bit disturbed by the repetitive nature of his apparent transgressions and leave it at that until I can get some more of my questions answered.
    • Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune reports that the Bears have signed defensive end Jarvis Jenkins. Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times reports that they also signed linebacker Mason Foster. Kevin Patra at nfl.com characterizes Jenkins as “a mediocre run defender” that “provides little in terms of a pass rush”. Connor Orr at the same site is more positive about Foster, saying that he’s durable and that his “ability to defend the pass — Foster has five picks over the last four years, including two returned for touchdowns — should also help add some much-needed range and versatility to a dusty Bears front seven”.

      The good news is that they’re on one-year prove it deals. The bad news?

      Jenkins record as a Washington Redskin: 17-31

      Foster’s record as a Buccaneer: 17-47

      I know that beggars can’t be choosers but do these guys sound like winners to you? Just sayin’…

    • John Mullin at csnchicago.com says that former Bears linebacker Lance Briggs could be headed to either Tampa Bay or San Francisco. Briggs still has a year or two left in him but I think he pretty much burned his bridges in Chicago with stunts like missing practice for the famous “Double Nickel Barbecue” opening the first week of the NFL season. This could be good signing for teams with coaches who have better control of their players.

Its pretty rare when a re-draft gives the Bears the same player that they actually took in retrospect. But that’s what happened when Bucky Brooks at nfl.com did a re-draft of 2014 and still gave the Bears Kyle Fuller.

Elsewhere

  • Running back Michael Bush reacts to his time in the forty yard dash at the NFL Veteran Combine. Via Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times:

    “It was an unofficial time, but the 4.91-second 40-yard dash crushed the former Bears running back. Visibly dazed, his face acted out the five stages of grief in the next five minutes.”

  • Marc Sessler at nfl.com on the NFL Veterans Combine: “It was like watching Old Yeller get shot 105 times”.
  • Steve Rosenbloom at the Chicago Tribune on the NFL Draft coming to Chicago: “Thank God we didn’t get the Olympics.” Amen to that.
  • Cleveland emerged as the favorite to be on the HBO series “Hard Knocks” over the weekend. Pat McManamon at ESPN doesn’t think it would be good for quarterback Johnny Manziel to be on the show his first camp coming out of rehab. I’d tend to agree. Personally I have almost no hope that Manziel will ever be a decent NFL quarterback but if he’s to have any shot at it, minimizing distractions is going to be critical. Manziel would probably make everyone in Cleveland happiest if he got off Twitter and kept his mouth shut as much as possible with limited media exposure. That might be his only hope.
  • nfl.com‘s Bucky Brooks has quarterback Marcus Mariota falling to New Orleans at 13 slot in the first round. I doubt he’d get any lower than that but I guess you never know. He has the Bears taking wide receiver Amari Cooper.
  • The time for Adrian Peterson and his agent Ben Dogra to face facts and accept that Peterson is playing for Minnesota or nobody next year is fast approaching. Rather than quote the whole article, I’ll just refer you to Mike Florio‘s post at profootballtalk.com and leave it at that.
  • Kind of having a hard time understanding why the Lions wouldn’t pick up Riley Reiff‘s fifth year option but if they’re going to, they aren’t saying so. Good offensive linemen don’t grow on trees. Or maybe they do. I’ve always been a little mixed up on that “birds and the bees” thing. Via Dave Birkett at the Detroit Free Press.
  • Rob Demovsky at ESPN details the problems the Packers currently have at inside linebacker. Both A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones were released last month. How bad is it? The depth chart at espn.com doesn’t even list a second starter.

One Final Thought

Laura Pavin quotes former Bears tight end Desmond Clark on how his life turned around:

“When one of his dad’s drug-dealing friends began trying to recruit Clark into a life of drug dealing, his cousin, also a crack addict, became furious. She told him that Clark was meant for more than the life she, his dad and his brother — who was selling drugs — were leading.

“‘I walked out of the house that day feeling a little different about myself, thinking ‘Hey, maybe I can be something beyond this situation,’ said Clark, 37. ‘As I grew up, what I took from that was that you can speak life into other people.'”

When I started reading this article, I thought it was going to be the typical “My mother was a saint and helped me come from nothing to the NFL” kind of read. Instead, it was surprisingly good with some interesting life lessons. It’s recommended reading.

Covering Up the Theft

Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times reports on the “rewording” of the definition of a catch at the league meetings in Arizona:

“The NFL Competition Committee has not changed the rule of what constitutes a catch, but tweaked the wording. Rather than “making a football move,” a receiver must “establish himself as a runner” in order to register a completed pass. If he is falling to the ground, the receiver must hang onto the ball.”

Finley makes it sound clean. But most reporters on the spot were still so confused about what a catch was going to be going forward that they said that they didn’t know what to write.

In any case, here’s what’s really happening. The league is trying to fix what was actually a total disaster after the fact. In a playoff game last year, Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant made a catch in the fourth quarter against the Packers that would have effectively won the contest. The ruling on the field was a catch, as Bryant had lost the ball when it hit the ground while extending the ball towards the goal line, what virtually everyone – including the referee on the field – considered to be a “football move”. The NFL Vice-President of Officiating, Dean Blandino (below), effectively overruled the referee from New York and declared it a non-catch. When asked about it after the game by FOX analyst Howie Long, Blandino said that extending the ball towards to goal line wasn’t “the type of football move that the rule covered”. The problem? There’s nothing in the the rule that actually said that.

dean-blandino-nfl-psi-footballs-deflategate

So now, after the fact, the league is trying to “clarify” the rule and cover up the fact that Blandino imposed his own bias and overruled the referee’s interpretation on the field, effectively declaring the winner of a playoff game.

Blandino is lucky. Had I been commissioner, “rewording” of the rule or not, I would have forced his resignation. As it is, the Cowboys simply have to live with the fact that the game was shamefully stolen from them.

Who Falls Off Farthest Without Their Quarterback?

Dan Hanzus at nfl.com answers your questions:

“I’ll look at it another way: Which one of last year’s playoff teams would instantly fall off a cliff if their star quarterback up and decided to join Jake Locker in the cornfields. My first thought was Andrew Luck, but that Matt Hasselbeck has some dad pluck. They’d probably go 7-9. There’s Tom Brady and the Patriots, of course, but knowing that team Jimmy Garoppolo would somehow make them better. The answer has to be the Cowboys, who are still voluntarily compensating Brandon Weeden. 12-4 to 4-12 would be in play.”

Hanzus forgot about the Packers who went 2-4-1 without Aaron Rogers in 2013. That translates to 4-5 wins over a 16 game season. For my money Rogers is the best quarterback in football and he single handedly elevates the Packers, a draft and develop team that will never have the elite talent all over the field that top teams like the Seattle Seahawks have.