I wrote this piece for B/R a few weeks ago. It details how Tebow got to where he is today, from his miraculous birth to being on the back pages of New York tabloids.
I have never been a fan of the attention Tebow gets, but I enjoyed spelling out the complex story of who was the most popular man in American sports.
I just did an extensive piece about the Jets QB options in 2013. What I found was, no matter what avenue the Jets take, keeping Sanchez as the starter just makes more logical sense.
The only hope for Sanchez to not be the Jets starter is for either a) he plays badly enough over the next month to start one of the backups or b) Mike Tannenbaum is fired. Even if Mr. T is fired, it still makes more fiscal sense for the Jets to keep no. 6.
Latest at Bleacher Report: 9 New York Jets Who Could Shock the Word in 2012
Taking a look at some sleepers that could surprise for the Jets next season.
According to Bleacher Report draft guru Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout), many of the top players in this draft have no interest in going to Cleveland.
I have now heard from three agents, all with Top 10 picks, who don’t want to play for the #Browns.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) March 21, 2012
It comes as no suprise that Cleveland is a team players want to avoid. They don’t win many games, and a lot of good careers have gone unnoticed.
However, Cleveland has a top-five pick. Whoever is picking in the top 5 is going to be a bad team. You could argue that the Rams have had no more success in the past five years or so than the Browns, but no one is avoiding them.
The answer lies in how much money the Browns are spending. At least the Rams are trying, by signing guys like Cortland Finnegan and hiring a proven coach in Jeff Fisher. The Browns seem more interested in bringing back the west coast offense at all costs than winning games.
In a surprising move, the Houston Texans traded ILB DeMeco Ryans to the Eagles for a 4th round pick and a swap of 3rd round picks. Ryans was taking up a fair share of cap room, and he only played about half of defensive snaps last year as his pass coverage skills went South.
He is also a much better fit in a 4-3, and should be an immediate upgrade over anything the Eagles have.
I expect Boston College ILB Luke Kluechly to still be in play in the first round fr the Eagles. He may be a better fit as a WILL backer anyway, and he’s just a damn fine football player to just pass on.
Clearly, the value of veterans is deteriorating, and quickly. The NFL is becoming so much about pure athleticism that age is becoming a bigger factor every year.
On Tuesday, new Packers GM Reggie McKenzie confirmed rumblings that Hue Jackson was on his way out of Oakland by firing the coach after just one season after going 8-8.
Yes, the Raiders ended their season on a sour note by missing the playoffs in a loss to the Chargers, but that was not the reason for Hue’s departure. McKenzie wants his own guys in the fold, and only a spectacular season from Jackson and the Raiders could have saved his job.
As Jackson said after he learned of his firing:
“He’s going to gut this place,” Jackson told Henry Wofford of CSNBayArea.com. “He [McKenzie] wants to bring in his own guys. No job is safe right now.”
You could argue that the Raiders are a better team now than they were back in August. But it is clear that McKenzie is intent on giving the Raiders a new look and to flush every ounce of Al Davis’ residue from the organization. For the first time in their history, the Raiders are going to go about their business in a “normal” way; in other words, no longer will you see the Raiders make reckless trades and draft selections for the sake of being different.
Hue didn’t exactly help himself when he made proclamations at his end-of-year press conference about how he was going to take more control of the organization. McKenzie has made it clear that this is his show, and had he not fired Jackson, the two were undoubtedly going to bump heads at some point. It is very difficult to take so much power away from someone once they are used to having it.
Bottom line, Reggie had to make this move. If he didn’t, he would be delaying the inevitable and pushed prosperity ever further from the grasp of the Raiders. This is McKenzie’s only chance to make his mark as a GM, and he is not going to waste it because Hue Jackson loves the Raiders so much.
What does this mean for the future of the Raiders? First, expect to see a lot more firings in the near future. Scouts, assistants, anyone who does not fit in McKenzie’s plan is considered to be gone. McKenzie is going to draw the the Packers’ model of sucess, which is the polar opposite of what the Raiders are used to.
A few days ago, Rex Ryan stated that Darrelle Revis is going to be the best Jet of all time. Immediately, fans reacted with the whole “Shut up Rex!” routine, clamoring for a more mild-mannered coach. Why? Because coaches are not supposed to speak like that – we have never heard of such honesty in such a public profession.
Why don’t we spprove of this kind of behavior? Because it is different - we, as a society, expect things to work a certain way. When you go to work or school every day, you expect your car to work or train to be on time. When things on’t happen in the way we expect them, it is human nature to initially react in a negative way .
Players play. Coaches coach. When those coaches coach, they all must replicate every single coach before them because we have there apparently only one way to win in football – the way that has already been done.
Guess what. No one ever won a Super Bowl using a West Coast system before Bill Walsh. No one ever won a Super Bowl with an average QB until the Ravens did.
I guess there is a first time for everything.
Jets fans, let me ask you something: Have you enjoyed the past 40 years or losing and mediocrity? Would you prefer that? I’ll tell you what, you want the Jets to be more introvert, just go back to Mangini’s regime. What did that do? Eric was fired after three seasons. He made the playoffs once.
But hey, at least he was really bland and boring about it.
“So what? He puts too much pressure on his players!”
Let me tell you something – forget the fact that you play for Rex Ryan in New York City. If you don’t put out good tape, as a player, you don’t eat. Simple as that. Some guys get more time to prove themselves than others, but thats the way it works in the NFL and just about every job in America. If you don’t meet your sales quota, soon enough you’re out of a job. If Jim Leonhard or Bart Scott look a bit lazy on the field, after a while, they will be gone. I guarantee it. These guys have enough pressure on themselves to preform.
The same thing applies in coaching. let’s make this clear - If Rex doesn’t act the way he does, as himself, he will lose his job. Eric Mangini did not act like himself – he tried to be Bill Belichick. On the other hand, Jon Gruden didn’t fake his personality. Neither did Tony Dungy, or Bill Belicheck. Could you imagaine Tony Dungy going out and making half the statements Rex does? No, because thats not what Tony is all about.
Let’s compare two teams. One team has a young, franchise QB that has three winning season under his belt. The media loves this team – they have few weaknesses. Their coach usually has a solid gameplan and uses the strengths and weakness of his team. They got a high seed but lost their first Playoff game.
The other team has a QB that is, at times, horribly erratic, a coach that makes no attempt to hide his Super Bowl aspirations, has been caught crying to his players, flipping off rival fans, and massaging his wife’s feet. His strengh coach was forced to resign after a game when the offensive coordinator’s job was hanging by a thread. He signed a tailback that has not rushed for 1,000 yards in two years. He traded for a receiver that was a parking ticket away form a year suspension. Soon after, he had to make a decision on how long to bench his other receiver for his DUI.
If I told you team two would have a more sucessful season (in 2010 and 2009), you would probably think either a) I was lying or 2) thats a damn good coaching/management job for team two. Sure, you could argue that this unique style of coaching has led to all of these kinds of problems. But look at the final result.
Team 1 is the Falcons. Team 2 is the Jets.
It will still take time for the rest of the football world to accept Rex for who he is, and not always comparing his coaching style to other successful coaches. However, when Rex get his ring, I can guarantee you, the only people who are still going to be attacking Rex are those who are just jealous he isn’t their coach.
