Blame Jim Caldwell For The Loss

We can all agree that football is the one sport where the coach plays a significant role in deciding whether his team wins or loses. Scouting, scheming, and practicing are the main responsibilities of an NFL coach and often is the difference between winning and losing. Hence, if you are hiring a coach to run your franchise, it would be advantageous to hire someone with a history of winning games. I have been skeptical about Jim Caldwell's pedigree of running a winning franchise such as the Colts, btu have refrained from speaking up due to the great success the team displayed during the regular season. Oh, and his quarterback is Peyton freakin Manning. But looking back at all the late quarter comebacks, weak conference playoff opponents, and the poor performance in the super bowl, I have to speak the truth.

Here is Jim Caldwell's career coaching record in Wake Forest University. This was reported on SportsbyBrooks several months ago and is even more relevant today.
Wow, that's really bad. I know that Wake isnt exactly a football powerhouse, but since Caldwells departure, Jim Grobe has coached the Deamon Deacons to a 59-51 record. That's slightly better than Caldwell's .292 winning percentage as a coach. How does a guy with a .292 winning percentage get to coach Peyton Manning in the NFL? Not wanting to play the race card, but him and Dungy seen to have a bunch of melanin in common. Heck, Jim Grobe deserves to take over for Bill Belichick if he can double Caldwell's winning percentage at the same university in the exact same conference

Shawn Springs thinks Hurricane Katrina is hilarious *UPDATE*

Shawn Springs, the veteran cornerback for the New England Patriots, was a guest on First Take today on ESPN2. He was given some softball questions about the Super Bowl and was expected to give some softball answers. I mean it's not like they know how to do anything else on ESPN. Well Shawn obviously had other things in mind. When asked which team he would rather not face in the Super Bowl, he responded "Well if it was me, I would hope a hurricane comes through". Nice choice of natural disasters Shawn Springs. I think you are looking for the word tornado. Tornado. It would have been more politically correct if you wanted Manning and Brees to simply get struck by lightning or get foot poisoning. Do you also wish there would be more unemployment in Detroit and a larger financial crisis on wall street?

I may have video evidence for you loyal readers later tonight, but no promises

*UPDATE* As promised I got you the video. I never disappoint, unless you're of the female gender, in which case it's 50-50

Best Manning Commercial Yet...Real Life

Chris Johnson Gets F%*@ed In The A$$

The Tennessee Titan ran for over 2,000 yards in a single season and doesn't even garnish any MVP votes. As much as I would have loved for Johnson to get the MVP and as much as he deserved it, I wouldn't mind it as much if both him and Manning both got a lot of votes- like what the NL ROY votes looked like with Tulo and Ryan Braun. Yes Manning had a great year and I have no problem with the MVP going to him. But for Johnson to not gain A SINGLE VOTE. Really!? What the hell AP, that's some bull right there. If having one of the greatest rushing seasons for ANY running back can't even get you ONE vote, then I guess being Brett Favre is the only other criteria to get votes.

I understand that the Titans missed the playoffs and it was probably more Vince Young than Johnson's doing that the Titans won as many games as they did- but how is the Titans win loss record anywhere close to being Johnson's fault. The Titans did not lose games because of Chris Johnson but he's being punished like he did.

The Colts Taking Heat For Protecting Players

On Sunday the Indianapolis Colts benched their starters like Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Joseph Addai, and company. They lost and their coach is taking a lot of heat for doing it from the fans and media. I know they were undefeated and everyone wants to see the perfect season, but if they would have gotten injured, especially Peyton Manning, the Fans and everyone else would have been on Jim Caldwell for not making the move.

I can see the argument for both sides. The fans at the game payed a lot of money to see their team win. Every fan wants to see their team do the impossible (it has happened twice though) and no fan wants their team to give up in a game. If this was a team that I followed and was a fan for I would be disappointed. I would be frustrated the team didn’t give it their all, play hard, and gave up a chance for the perfect season. I would be fine with it though and not boo the coach and team. I would respect that decision, because Jim Caldwell has to make it. If he went the other way and someone got injured, no would support him in that move to play them.

If a key player would have gotten injured, especially manning the season and superbowl hopes would be gone for the Colts. Football is a physical game where many players do get hurt. I can’t remember a game where a coach did play his star players after they clinched and the player got injured, but it could easily happen. On Sunday we did see the Bears loose three players in the game due to injuries. The Colts are nothing without Peyton Manning and the players Caldwell did bench to keep healthy for the playoffs. By benching Manning we did see the rookie back-up quarterback play and he isn't ready.

It is disappointing to see your team lay a egg, but sometimes you need to plan for the prize and forget the unnecessary steps to get there.

Tom Brady v. Peyton Manning

These two are probably the two greatest active QBs right now, and yes, I do consider Brett Favre active just like I consider my grandmother that play Mah Jong and Canasta every night active. Get it, because Brett Favre is old. OK bad joke, let's move on. On FO, there's a running thread called "The Irrational Brady/Manning debate"- and it's a good point. Debating who's better between Manning and Brady is like Tiger Woods debating which model he's gonna sleep with that night- either way you win. I created a poll on the side just to see what the GOI consensus is, but frankly, there will be no right answer.

Brady supporters will say that Brady has three rings versus Manning's one, but let's be honest, the Pats won their Superbowls because of defense and Manning won his because he was opposing Rex Grossman. Plus, saying a QB is good because he wins Superbowls is like saying batting average is the basis for why a player is good or not. Ooh, I'm on fire tonight. But seriously, Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson have Superbowl rings and Dan Marino doesn't. Big deal, it's not a good metric to determine who is better. Brady supporters will say that Brady has the all time passing TD record. Manning supporters will say that Brady had 78 more attempts to get one more TD.

Again, there is no right answer. I'm a Boston fan so I voted for Tom Brady. But I want you to judge for yourself. Here's are the stats you determine once and for all- who's better?

QB Rating
Tom Brady: 93.2; Peyton Manning: 95.3. Winner: Manning

YPA
Tom Brady: 7.3; Peyton Manning: 7.7. Winner: Manning

TD/INT ratio
Tom Brady: 2.27; Peyton Manning: 2.03. Winner: Brady

TD%
Tom Brady: 5.3; Peyton Manning: 5.6. Winner: Manning

INT%
Tom Brady: 2.3; Peyton Manning: 2.8. Winner: Brady

Completion Percentage
Tom Brady: 63.3%; Peyton Manning: 64.8%. Winner: Manning

Sack Percentage
Tom Brady: 5.0; Peyton Manning: 3.2. Winner: Does getting sacked less mean you're the winner?

SNL Skits
Tom Brady: Sexual Harassment and You; Peyton Manning: United Way Commercial. Winner: The writers that tried to make Michael Phelps look funny

Commercials
Tom Brady: 5 national commercials and every local Dunkin Donuts one. Peyton Manning: 78,456,908,675,786,567,903,456,000. Winner: Donovan McNabb's mom. Remember those Caampbell's Chunky Soup commercials?

Now yes, these stats makes it look like Peyton's the clear winner because he has his name more often that Brady. But then you consider Peyton's had better receivers than Brady throughout his career and he's gotten sacked less but Brady still has had Welker and Moss but Brady turns it over much less. Listen, those numbers up there are damn close and frankly, if you have an opinion on this this post probably didn't change your mind. But hot damn do I love to irrational argue this.

Peyton Manning: Sports' Billy Mays

Who Is The Best AFC QB?

Based upon the best statistic ever (hmm, sarcasism don't translate well on a blog) sacks per 100 passing attempts, I've decided to do a brief analysis of the great AFC QBs preemptively for my new poll.

S/100
Big Ben: 8.72
Philip Rivers: 6.23
Matt Schaub: 5.21
Tom Brady: 3.56
Peyton Manning: 2.06

YPA
Big Ben: 8.33
Peyton Manning: 8.17
Philip Rivers: 8.17
Matt Schaub: 8.10
Tom Brady: 7.76

Completion Percentage
Peyton Manning: 69.8
Big Ben: 68.9
Matt Schaub: 67.1
Tom Brady: 66.4
Philip Rivers: 63.2

Passer Rating:
Peyton Manning: 102.7
Tom Brady: 100.4
Matt Schaub: 98.9
Philip Rivers: 98.7
Big Ben: 98.6

TD/INT ratio:
Tom Brady: 3.33
Petyton Manning: 2.33
Philip Rivers: 2.83
Matt Schaub: 2.11
Big Ben: 1.70

So who is the best AFC QB? I don't think this one is clear. Peyton clearly takes advantage of his superior O-line but does the increase in sacks make guys like Rivers and Roethlisberger better than Manning? I don't know. But please, when you vote, take sacks and O-line into account.