College Playoff Rankings

The NCAA Playoffs Selection Committee released their first top 25 rankings of the year on Wednesday. It was pretty big news but I haven't a clue as to why it was pretty big news. This ranking means nothing. It's the one on December 7 that means something. I guess that the same thing can be said about every in-season ranking that's ever been done. It's only the final one that matters. If nothing else, the ranking released on Wednesday is proof that the selection committee is keeping up on the season. This selection committee includes some big names among the thirteen members. Barry Alvarez, Pat Haden, Oliver Luck, Archie Manning, Tom Osborne, and Condoleeza Rice. All of the members have some experience as college/conference administrators except Manning, former college football reporter Steve Wieberg, and former coach Tyrone Willingham. The selectors released the following Top 25. Their first of eight such rankings. Again, only the final one matters.

1.   Mississippi St.
2.   Florida St.
3.   Auburn
4.   Mississippi
5.   Oregon
6.   Alabama
7.   TCU
8.   Michigan St.
9.   Kansas St.
10. Notre Dame
11. Georgia
12. Arizona
13. Baylor
14. Arizona St.
15. Nebraska
16. Ohio St.
17. Utah
18. Oklahoma
19. LSU
20. West Virginia
21. Clemson
22. UCLA
23. East Carolina
24. Duke
25. Louisville

So, there you go until the next big ranking release on November 4.

After watching UCLA against Oregon and Cal, it's a minor miracle that the Bruins have only two losses on the season. I'm surprised that they made the Top 25. Especially with a USC fellow, Haden, on the committee.

Throwback Thursday: 1950s All-Decade Team

It sure is fun to look back at the NFL's All-Decade Teams. All of the All-Decade Teams are selected by the voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The team of the 1950s as well as all those that came before were selected retroactively in 1969 to mark the league's 50th anniversary.

Quarterbacks
Otto Graham
Bobby Layne
Norm Van Brocklin

Halfbacks
Frank Gifford
Ollie Matson
Hugh McElhenny
Lenny Moore

Fullbacks
Joe Perry
Alan Ameche

Ends
Raymond Berry
Tom Fears
Bobby Walston

Halfback-end
Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch

Tackles
Roosevelt Brown
Bob St. Clair

Guards
Dick Barwegan
Jim Parker
Dick Stanfel

Center
Chuck Bednarik

Kicker
Lou Groza

Defensive ends
Len Ford
Gino Marchetti

Defensive tackles
Art Donovan
Leo Nomellini
Ernie Stautner

Linebackers
Joe Fortunato
Bill George
Sam Huff
Joe Schmidt

Halfbacks
Jack Butler
Dick "Night Train" Lane

Safeties
Jack Christiansen
Yale Lary
Emlen Tunnell

It took only a glance to see that this All-Decade team is seriously flawed. No Jim Brown. How is that even possible? If the voters decided that Brown didn't play enough in the 1950s, how do they justify Jim Parker? Both Brown and Parker entered the NFL in 1957. Parker's selection is also a puzzle. He deserves to be on the team but he made it as a guard. He played tackle in the 1950s. Voters got lazy.

The Detroit Lions were well represented in the defensive backfield with Night Train, Jack Christiansen, and Yale Lary. Dick LeBeau and Lem Barney followed those football players in Detroit. The Lions had an incredible run of secondary talent.

Non-Hall of Famers on the 1950s All-Decade Team:
Alan Ameche
Bobby Walston
Dick Barwagen
Dick Stanfel
Joe Fortunato
-Stanfel has twice been a semi-finalist for the Hall of Fame

The 1951 University of San Francisco Dons is one of the greatest college football teams in history and so few people know about them. Unbeaten, untied, and not invited to a bowl game due to bigoted bowl selectors.  USF put an incredible four players on the NFL's 1950 All-Decade team. Ollie Matson, Bob St. Clair, Dick Stanfel, and Gino Marchetti.

Excessive Celebration

Two of the most ridiculous stunts on a football field this season are the celebrations of two defensive players. Both from the NFC North. Detroit Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch celebrated a sack of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers last month. He was so exuberant in his celebration that he tore the ACL in his left knee. Some said that he was copying Rodgers "discount double-check." I don't see it. I just see a stupid little dance move pulled out to celebrate making a routine play in a football game. Tulloch did return to the game for a couple of plays in the Lions next defensive series but left the game for good. An MRI confirmed the torn ACL. Chicago Bears defensive end Lamarr Houston did pretty much the same exact celebratory move on Sunday as Tulloch did a month ago. Houston's move didn't look anything like the "discount double check" either. Good thing as Houston sacked New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Houston ruptured the ACL in his right knee.

There is a lot of stupidity surrounding these celebrations. The most significant being that both players are on the shelf for the season for celebrating. Celebrating! They are now in the Bill Gramatica fraternity. No one wants to be there. There's even more stupidity surrounding excessive celebrations. When asked if he had any regrets, Tulloch replied "Hell no. I'd do it again, brother. You do it every time. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Just a matter of time."  Sure. Injuries can happen at any time in football but they don't have to happen during a celebration. Injuries shouldn't happen during a celebration. Just play the game. Houston's celebration was just mind-numbing. He celebrated a sack of the Patriots backup quarterback in the fourth quarter of a game that his team would lose 51-23. His team was getting destroyed yet Houston found it a fine time to celebrate. There is really no reason to celebrate when your team is down by four touchdowns. Ever!

Trade Deadline

Unlike the other professional sports leagues, the NFL trade deadline doesn't amount to much. That trade deadline is today at 4 p.m. ET. The Seattle Sehawks traded Percy Harvin to the New York Jets a little over a week ago. The New England Patriots acquired linebacker Akeem Ayers from the Tennessee Titans in a much less publicized trade last week. That whirlwind of activity could be the extent of the football trading this season.

There are still rumors. There are always rumors. There are rumors that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are seeking takers for receiver Vincent Jackson. The Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks are the supposedly interested parties. They probably aren't interested parties at the 2nd-round price the Buccaneers are rumored to be asking for a 31-year old receiver. The Buccaneers may or may not be shopping running back Doug Martin as well. Sports Illustrated's Peter King mentioned in his Monday Morning Quarterback column that Denver Broncos cornerback Tony Carter could be in demand as "everyone wants corners."

I think that Roger Goodell would love for the NFL trade deadline to heat up like it does for baseball, basketball, and hockey. As the trade deadline approaches in those sports the talk surrounding those leagues heats up to scorching temperatures. It's huge. The trade deadline might be the most talked about time of baseball's regular season. Goodell would probably love to have something like that in his league. It's not going to happen. Mid-season trades in football will never be a big deal. Trades will happen but the middle of the season is the not the time to make significant changes to a football team. It's too difficult to incorporate a new player into a football team during the season. "The Goods" will have to accept a fairly boring approach of the trade deadline. He'll just have to be happy with a league that only has thrilling games every week of the season.

Game Day Thoughts

"I'm thinking win, score, get out of here."
     -Minnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr

The Minnesota Vikings-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game had to be settled in overtime. There was a single play from scrimmage in that overtime. Barr stripped Buccaneers rookie tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins of the football after a ten-yard gain, scooped up the loose ball, and raced 27 yards for the game-winning touchdown. 19-13 Vikings.

Despite the Buccaneers scoring on their last three possessions in regulation, despite Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater leading the offense to last second field goals at the end of each half, the last field goal forcing overtime, this Vikings win was due to the defense. It seemed fitting that the defense would put up the winning score.

Barr has played well all season. It was just a matter of time before he put a game-changing/game-winning play. He hasn't been in any nation-wide media discussion for defensive rookie of the year. He should be. He still makes some mistakes. Head coach Mike Zimmer will even point out that his rookie linebacker made a mistake on the game-winning play but Barr has enough instincts, speed, and athletic ability to make up for these mistakes.

Anthony Barr isn't the only Vikings defensive player that is playing at a very high level. Defensive end Everson Griffen has been a nightmare for offenses the past two weeks. Three sacks against the Buffalo Bills last week. Another sack yesterday. He had the attention of the Buccaneers line with double teams and holding, called and un-called. Nothing the Buccaneers did was very effective. Griffen was disruptive all game.

The Vikings defense has given up 17, 17, and 13 points the last three weeks, If the offense was even slightly more productive, the team would have three wins rather than one.

The first possess in the red zone for either team was at the midpoint of the third quarter. That was the Vikings and they got a touchdown. A beautiful 17-yard Bridgewater pass to Greg Jennings. The score was 3-0 Vikings at the half. 13-13 at the end of regulation. Most people sleep through games like this. The light scoring was due more to terrific defense than pathetic offense. I actually prefer defensive battles to unrestricted scoring. 41-37 games are often 41-37 games because of an absolute lack of anything resembling a defensive presence.

The Vikings offense wasn't completely absent. They were actually moved the ball. They just didn't finish many drives. 332 total yards. 97 yards rushing. 235 yards passing. Teddy Bridgewater was efficient. Mostly in not turning the ball over. The touchdown throw to Jennings was beautiful. Perfectly placed over the defender and in front of the back of the endzone. He had some clutch throws on third-and-long. Including another beautiful throw to Cordarrelle Patterson that was to a small window between the defender and sideline. Bridgewater's biggest problem was too many passes batted down or tipped at the line. Those ended some promising drives. He also had a terrible pass on the regulation-ending, game-tying drive that should have been intercepted by Bucs corner Jonathan Banks.

Speaking of Bucs defenders, defensive tackle Gerald McCoy and Lavonte David are fantastic. Any discussion of the top-10 defensive players in the league likely includes them. Especially David. He was everywhere. He does everything that you could possibly want in a linebacker. Tackle ball carriers, rush the passer, defend the pass. Everything.

It was strange waking up to an NFL game in progress. A 6:30 west coast start for an NFL game just feels weird. The game was weird too. The Atlanta Falcons score 21 unanswered points in the first half. The Detroit Lions scored 22 unanswered points in the second half. The Lions win. Pretty much everything is going nicely for the Detroit Lions this season. Well, except for the kicking. Although is was a field goal that won the game yesterday. On the second try thanks to a penalty. The Lions are missing a lot of key players to injuries but keep winning. 6-2 and on the verge of getting very healthy.

Just when you think that you have the pulse of the league yo get games like the Pittsburgh Steelers-Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints-Green Bay Packers. The Colts and Packers have been playing like they could be meeting in a Super Bowl in a few months. The Steelers and Saints have been playing like they certainly won't. The Saints thrash the Packers. The Steelers put 51 points on the Colts. At least the Colts showed a lot of fight at the end of the game.

That's why they play the games.

The New England Patriots had a productive second quarter yesterday against the Chicago Bears. 31 points.

The hypocrisy of the NFL. The league has gone out their way to silence players and their endorsements. The players can't sport their fancy "Beats by Dre" head phones but there's a "Beats by Dre" commercial in the middle of an NFL game telecast. That's bad.

Game Day Thoughts

I would love to be present every time Bill Belichick addresses the media. It's a riot. Here's a bit of the interaction between Belichick and the New England media when a genius asks about the disciplining of corner Darrelle Revis:

Media: What's your version of what happened with Darrelle Revis on Tuesday?

Bill: Anything between me and the players is between myself and the players.

Media: You sent him home, is that correct?

Bill: I didn't say that.

Media: He was here and then...

Bill: I'm ready to talk about the Bears. Anything else is between myself and the players.

Media: Will his playing time on Sunday be impacted based on that?

Bill: I think the Bears are a really good team. I think they are going to be a tough, tough matchup for us. We're going to do the best we can to match up against them.

Terrific stuff.

It's hilarious to hear the New York Jets say that Percy Harvin's past is in the past and that the explosive, on the field and off, receiver should just be himself. The team says that they don't care about what happened in the past. If they want this to work, they had better care. Harvin even says that he doesn't need to change. If Harvin is to remain a part of the Jets long term plan, he has to change. If he's to have any sort of NFL future, he has to change. He has never been a cooperative teammate. He reacts violently to nearly every slight. No team can really be a team when a single player makes everyone else tense. It's clear that the Jets are just trying to make the new guy feel comfortable but this will be Harvin's last NFL shot if he doesn't change.

Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen donated $100 million to fight ebola. Nicely done.

Rookie corner Kyle Fuller has been a great find for the Chicago Bears. He's in any discussion for defensive rookie of the year. He's also probably going to play against the Patriots today with a broken hand and a hip pointer. Both are injuries that he suffered last week.

"Not to sound off my rocker, but (Austin Davis)-in my mind-can be the next Tom Brady or Kurt Warner. (Brian) Hoyer as well. Austin, like those mentioned, just needed a legit opportunity."
     -Brett Favre

Favre is sure showing a lot of love for his fellow Southern Mississippi alum but he's also out of his mind. He's definitely off his rocker. It also seems like quite a drop-off to go from Brady and Warner to Hoyer. That's a very wide range. Austin Davis is sure to fit somewhere in there. Like Brady, Warner, and Hoyer, Davis had to come from far back in the pack to earn some starting shots in the NFL but it's far too early to be mentioning him with Hall of Fame caliber quarterbacks and Brian Hoyer.

Here's hoping that Minnesota Vikings head coach has a better week this week than last week. His team suffered a last second loss to the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. Before, during, and after the game he was dealing with kidney stones. He had a medical procedure to remove the stones on Tuesday. He should be feeling much better today against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rich Eisen's new show, the Rich Eisen Show, on Directv is terrific. It's really an extreme extension of his successful podcast. It's extreme in that instead of an hour three times each week it's three hours every day. So far, it's working. Eisen has always had an excellent rapport with football players. That's especially evident in his interactions on the NFL Network set with Marshall Faulk, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, Warren Sapp, Kurt Warner, and Steve Mariucci. He's equally great with his football and non-football guests on his own shows. Despite my enjoyment of his show, Eisen's response to his interview with Denver Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders this past week is getting annoying. Eisen asked Sanders if there had been a lot of talk among the Broncos team about Peyton Manning's inevitable breaking of Brett Favre's touchdown record. As I recall, Sanders said that the media was talking about it much more than the team was talking about it. Later, when it was learned that Manning and his receivers had practiced their celebration in anticipation of breaking the record, Eisen claimed that Sanders lied to him. All Sanders said was that the media talked about it more than he and his teammates talked about it. Big surprise there. It doesn't mean that the team didn't talk about it. It certainly doesn't mean that a few pass catchers and Manning didn't practice a little celebration for the big moment. It hate it when people ask a question and then hear only what they want to hear.

Here are some Flea Flicker predictions of this week's games:

In the very, very early London game:
Falcons over Lions!

Vikings over Buccaneers
Jets over Bills
Patriots over Bears
Seahawks over Panthers
Dolphins over Jaguars
Ravens over Bengals
Texans over Titans
Chiefs over Rams
Cardinals over Eagles
Colts over Steelers
Raiders over Browns
Packers over Saints

Monday Night:
Cowboys over Redskins

There are some excellent games this week. There usually are. Of course, there's the fantastic, must-see Vikings-Buccaneers game. Some people seem to think that this isn't one of the excellent games week. Well, they are simply wrong. If the Browns do lose to the Raiders today, it will be the second week in a row that the Browns lost to a team with no wins on the season. My morning belongs to the Vikings but the afternoon has two terrific games in the Cardinals-Eagles and Colts-Steelers. The Sunday Night game was supposed to be a potential NFC Championship preview. The Packers have been playing like a team that could get there but the Saints have been disappointing. Fortunately for the them, the Saints are in a division that could put a .500 team into the playoffs.

It's a great day of football.

Go Vikings!

Brandt's Top-12

Gil Brandt has been scouting and judging the talent of football players since the 1950's. First with the Los Angeles Rams. Then with the expansion Dallas Cowboys in 1960. In both instances he worked with general manager Tex Schramm. Tom Landry, Schramm, and Brandt were the decision-makers that guided the Cowboys for thirty years and to two Super Bowl titles. Brandt has worked on the media side of things as a draft analyst since Jerry Jones tossed him, Landry, and Schramm out of Dallas in 1989. Brandt helped pioneer many of the football scouting techniques used today. He knows football. Earlier this week, perhaps inspired Peyton Manning's history-making throw, Brandt tweeted his all-time top-12 football players. Here they are:

1.   Sammy Baugh
2.   Don Hutson
3.   Gale Sayers
4.   Jerry Rice
5.   Jim Brown
6.   Lawrence Taylor
7.   Otto Graham
8.   Bob Lilly
9.   Deacon Jones
10. Roger Staubach
11. Johnny Unitas
12. Peyton Manning

This is an interesting list from a man that has been involved with the NFL for more than half a century. The only player on the list that really surprises me is Staubach. He's certainly a player that Brandt knew well. He drafted the quarterback knowing that Staubach wouldn't be available to play in a Cowboys game until his Navy commitment was complete. When he finally got to the Cowboys, Staubach was a fantastic football player. Especially clutch at the end of games. Although, one particular comeback should not have been! I'm just surprised Staubach is among the top-12 players in history, let alone ahead of Unitas and Manning.

I always enjoy hearing people that were involved with the NFL in the 1960s talk of Gale Sayers. His greatness isn't really appreciated by those that never saw him play. Those that saw him play have him right with Jim Brown among the backs in the history of the game. His career was cut short by injuries so he doesn't always get the respect that he deserves. Everyone of this generation is so fixated on numbers. Sayers was far greater than his numbers. His handful of healthy years were amazing. His running style was so distinctive. So beautiful.

Brandt includes only three post-1980 players. Lawrence Taylor, Jerry Rice, and Peyton Manning. Most lists such as this only have about three pre-1980 players. It's good to see an appreciation for football's past.

Nice work Mr. Brandt but I'd sure like to see Alan Page on this list.

"Contributor" Finalists

Many felt that the Pro Football Hall of Fame fell short in honoring the people that contributed to football but neither played nor coached the game. Owners, commissioners, general managers, scouts, officials. Folk of that sort. The Hall of Fame announced in August that a "contributor" category would be added to the voting process, starting with next year's Hall of Fame class. The first two nominees were announced on Wednesday.

Former general managers Bill Polian and Ron Wolf were chosen as finalists for the Hall of Fame Class of 2015. Nine voters spent Wednesday going through eleven possible nominees. Polian and Wolf made it through to the vote on January 31. They'll need 80 percent of that vote to make it to Canton.

Bill Polian put together three successful franchises. The Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s that earned trips to four consecutive Super Bowls. Then he accepted the challenge of jump starting the expansion Carolina Panthers. The team that he put together was in the NFC Championship game in their second season. He then turned a struggling Indianapolis Colts franchise into a consistent contender that won Super Bowl XLI. Drafting Peyton Manning with the first pick of the 1998 NFL Draft was a nice place to start.

Ron Wolf is probably best known for putting together a Green Bay Packers team that won Super Bowl XXXI. He hired Mike Holmgren to coach the team, traded for Brett Favre and signed Reggie White to lead the team. He might be best known as the Packers general manager but he spent the majority of his NFL career with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He was with the team from 1963-90, minus a brief run with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1975-78. He should make it to the Hall of Fame simply for working with Al Davis for all of those years.

The "contributor" nominees will be handled like the senior nominees have been handled for years. Their candidacy will be discussed and debated separate from the modern era finalists. Being part of the player/coaches vote is what has kept many worthy "contributor" candidates from being honored in Canton. This year's senior nominee is former Minnesota Vikings center Mick Tingelhoff. Wolf, Polian, and Tingelhoff have a solid chance to be chosen. This will probably result in an 8-member Hall of Fame Class of 2015.

Bill Polian and Ron Wolf are very deserving candidates but I really wish that the Hall of Fame voters would open their eyes to the early days of the NFL. Dayton Triangles owner Carl Storck is one of the founding fathers of the NFL and should be in the Hall of Fame. He served as Secretary-Treasurer for the league from 1921-39. He was the #2 to NFL President Joe Carr through most of the first twenty years of the league's existence. It was a minor miracle that the young football league even made it out of the 1920s. Storck's solid support of Carr and the league is a reason why we have an NFL today. He was the NFL President from 1939-41 following the sudden death of Carr. In the first twenty years of the league, Storck probably did more for the NFL than anyone not named Halas or Carr.

Throwback Thursday: A Legend Is Born

It was 90 years ago that a football game, a sportswriter, and a clever student publicity aide created a legend.

"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below."

We just don't see sports writing like that anymore.

In the creation of the "Four Horseman of Notre Dame" legend, the Army-Notre Dame football game on October 18, 1924 at the Polo Grounds takes the back seat to the words of Grantland Rice and and the quick-thinking actions of George Strickler. The score of the game is often forgotten. Notre Dame defeated Army 13-7. Strickler would later become the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune. In 1924, he was Knute Rockne's student publicity aide. Rice created the "Four Horsemen." Strickler made sure that the name stuck. After the team returned to South Bend, he posed the four players, dressed in their uniforms, on the backs of four horses from a livery stable in town. The wire services picked up the now-famous photo, and the legend of the "Four Horsemen" was insured.

Quarterback Harry Stuhldeher, left halfback Jim Crowley, right halfback Don Miller, and fullback Elmer Layden had made up the Irish backfield since their sophomore season in 1922. They had been dashing the hopes of opponents for more than two years. They formed a great backfield. Perhaps the best backfield that college football had ever seen. Fast and shifty, they could all block and tackle and carry the ball. Layden was the biggest of the four at 164 pounds. Stuhldreher was the lightest at 154. It was a different game back then and the Notre Dame backfield could do it all. The win over Army was Notre Dame's third of the 1924 season. They were rarely threatened the rest of the year. A 27-10 victory over an Ernie Nevers-led Stanford team in the 1925 Rose Bowl gave Notre Dame a national championship and a perfect 10-0 record.

After graduation, "the Four Horsemen" reunited with other Irish stars to play some exhibition games, often against NFL teams. None of the four played in the NFL but all spent some time as football coaches. That was considered the more honorable career path at the time.

Elmer Layden coached at this alma mater for seven years and compiled a 47-13-3 record. He served as athletic at Notre Dame. He was the first commissioner of the NFL guiding the professional league through the challenging World War II years.

Jim Crowley coached at Michigan St. and Fordham. He coached Vince Lombardi and the "Seven Blocks of Granite" at Fordham.

Harry Stuhldreher was the football coach and athletic director at Wisconsin

Don Miller coached at Georgia Tech for four years.

Layden and Crowley turned to business careers after football. Miller turned to law.

In the days before around the clock media coverage, writers were needed to tell everyone else what they saw on game dasy. Only 55,000 saw Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley, and Layden take apart a strong Army team on October 18, 1924. Millions would see it now. There was no TV in 1924. Not everyone had a radio. Grantland Rice had to tell the story and he certainly did that. He told the story in a way that made millions feel like they were at the Polo Grounds. Feel like they were on the field with the Horsemen. He created a legend.

Auditions

NFL teams routinely bring in free agents for tryouts on Tuesdays during the season. A "Tryout Tuesday." These player auditions are held on Tuesdays due to it being the one day of the week that the players with a job have off. The facility is free for a player without a job to try and claim one. There isn't much media coverage of these auditions so we rarely hear anything about them. We did hear about the players that the New York Giants brought to their facility yesterday because they brought in so many. 15! Usually, these "Tuesday Tryouts" involve a player or two. To have as many as 15 is quite unusual. That's a lot of sack lunches if the team provides a sack lunch. The Giants are on their "bye" this week so they are obviously turning over a lot of stones.

The group of 15 hopeful players trying out with the Giants included a receiver, three tight ends, three running backs, a quarterback, two guards, a long snapper, two punters, and two kickers.

Here are those players:

Receiver
Jon Baldwin

Tight Ends
Ted Bolser
Tony Moeaki
D.J. Williams

Running Backs
Alex Green
Felix Jones
Dion Lewis

Guards
Jack Cornell
Antoine McClain

Quarterback
Terrelle Pryor

Long Snapper
Tyler Ott

Punters
Jacob Dombrowski
Robert Malone

Kickers
Travis Coons
Nate Freese

That's quite a group. It's been speculated that the quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, was present more as an audition arm than a player that might receive a contract offer. Someone had to throw footballs to the seven skill position players.

The players in these "Tuesday Tryouts" throughout the league are usually longshots. We'll find out soon if any of the "Giants 15" get a contract and a shot to continue their football career.
     

Polls Are Open

Voting for the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl is open.

The 2015 Pro Bowl will again be held one week before the Super Bowl at the site of the Super Bowl. That will be in Arizona. This will be the second year of the "unconferenced" Pro Bowl. They invented a new word to describe this new Pro Bowl format. All of the players selected by the voting willbe divided into two teams through a fantasy football-like draft. Team captains, Hall of Fame receivers  Cris Carter and Michael Irvin, will select those teams. Team Carter and Team Irvin will square off against each other in the 2015 Pro Bowl.

Last year was the first year of this new Pro Bowl format. Most consider the change a success as the game was more competitive than some of the previous games. Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice were the captains of the 2014 Pro Bowl teams. I was skeptical of the change since I didn't think that changes needed to be made. I think that many people forget that this game is an all-star game. An exhibition game. All-star games are rarely the most cleanly played games. I've never understood why anyone would expect real game effort in an all-star game. Now, the Pro Bowl game that forced these changes, the 2013 Pro Bowl, was pretty pathetic. There were instances in that game in which players gave less effort than they would give in a walk-through. It was quite sad. I just thought that the effort in that game was more an exception than a trend. There have been Pro Bowls for more than half a century and we get, arguably. one pathetic game.

As it turned out,I actually liked the changes. I think that the kickoff should be brought back but I doubt that happens due to safety concerns. I like the Hall of Fame captains selecting the teams. The Sanders-Rice draft was televised last year and it was pretty entertaining. I can imagine Cris Carter and Michael Irvin being even more entertaining.

Voting for the 2015 Pro Bowl has started.

Week 7 Thoughts

Well. That was disappointing.

The Buffalo Bills get a touchdown reception from Sammy Watkins with a second to go. The Bills edge the Minnesota Vikings 17-16.

The Vikings defense played well until a couple of plays on that final, unfortunate drive. The have the Bills on the edge with a 4th & 20 on the Buffalo 40-yard line. Quarterback Kyle Orton connects with tight end Scott Chandler for 24 yards. An 18-yard catch and run to Watkins on 3rd & 12. A 28-yard toss to Chris Hogan that set the Bills up at the 2-yard line for one final play. That was the touchdown throw to Watkins. With the game on the line, the defense has to end the game on 4th & 20.

Minus that final drive, the Vikings controlled the second half. Much of that was due to the defense. The offense managed a single field goal. That field goal turned out to be the difference in the game. The Vikings had a 1st & goal from the 7-yard line. Two sacks had the Vikings sitting at 3rd & goal from the 23-yard line. A touchdown there and the Bills heroic drive at the end would not have mattered one bit. You can trade touchdowns for field goals in those situations.

Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had a mediocre game. He had modest passing totals. 15 of 26 for 157 yards and a touchdown. His first career touchdown pass. Two interceptions. One was on a tipped pass. The other was on a poor pass. That one led immediately to Sammy Watkins' first touchdown catch. For the second game in a row, Bridgewater was rarely given enough time in the pocket. Like last week against the Lions, the Vikings were facing a terrific defensive line. The Lions and Bills might have the best two lines in the league. It showed. The Bills talent showed and the Vikings difficulties in handling that talent showed. Bridgewater made some clutch throws. 3rd & 18 from midfield to start the 4th quarter, he hit Jarius Wright for 21 yards. He converted a few 3rd & longs with clutch throws. Those clutch throws made a play call on the Vikings last possession a little questionable. Facing a 3rd & 14 on their 45-yard line, the Vikings were clearly turning the game over to the defense. Offensive coordinator Norv Turner called a read option that Bridgewater kept for a 7-yard gain. They chose to play it safe rather than try to keep the ball and control the game.

The Vikings game plan was clearly ball control and it would have worked nicely if they could have stopped the Bills on a single drive. The Vikings ran for 158 yards on 29 carries. An average of 5.4 yards/carry. Solid running against a great run defense. Rookie back Jerick McKinnon had 103 yards on 19 carries. He had a real nice 30-yard run. A run that might have been an ankle tackle away from a long touchdown. Matt Asiata provided a nice change of pace.

The Vikings have a good thing going forward with McKinnon, He's getting better with each game. If the Vikings can get some consistency in the passing game, and they will with better protection, they should have nice balance.

The Vikings offensive line hasn't played well. It didn't help when center John Sullivan and guard Vladimir Ducasse left the game with injuries on the same play in the first half.

The Bills had a couple of significant injuries of their own in the first half. Running backs Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller both left the game. Spiller will undergo surgery and is likely done for the season with a broken collar bone. That left the running game in the hands of Anthony "Boobie" Dixon.

The Bills had 118 yards on the ground. 53 of those yards came on a single run by Spiller. He was injured on that play.

The Vikings defense did play well. That last drive, in particular, and Watkins, in general, were the problems. They handle Watkins better and that last drive wouldn't have mattered. They stop that last drive and Watkins simply had a decent game. Either way, the Vikings would have won.

Kyle Orton is going to be treated as a hero in this game but Watkins was the hero. The rookie is going to be one of the best receivers in the game. I'm not sure what it is about him that sets him apart. He's no faster or bigger than other top receivers but he's a very sound receiver in fundamentals and he's got some special skills. He's tough to stop now and he's going to get better.

The Bills have a lot of talent. They just have to solve the always significant quarterback question. Orton provides some stability for now but they have to decide if EJ Manuel is the "guy." Watkins is great. Or, very good now with all of the potential to be great. I really like Robert Woods. Running back could be an issue with the injuries to Spiller and Jackson. The Bills defense is solid and they are missing their very promising linebacker Kiko Alonso. Their defensive line is outstanding.

Speaking of defensive lines, the Vikings defensive line played very well. 6 sacks. Defensive end Everson Griffen finall broke out with 3 of those sacks. He also forced an Orton fumble on one of the sacks.

The secondary has played better but they hardly played poorly yesterday.

Pretty soon, rookie linebacker Anthony Barr is going to make a game-changing play. He's making plays but he has yet to make that singular game-changing play. It's coming. Soon.

On the 4th & 20 conversion by the Bills on that game-winning drive, it looked like linebacker Chad Greenway was less than ready for the snap. He was looking back toward the secondary at the snap. He was also the one with coverage on Scott Chandler. It's tough to say that it was a factor in the play.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer was dealing with kidney stones yesterday. I hear that's fun stuff. He has an operation scheduled on Tuesday.

In his postgame press conference Zimmer was fairly positive in his comments about his team. It was a drastic change from his postgame comments of the past two weeks. Understandable, as his team's play in the past two games was terrible. This was a very frustrating loss but it was a huge improvement over the last two weeks. It was good to hear Zimmer speak to that improvement.

The Vikings are now 2-5. 4-5 at their ninth week bye is the obvious goal. They visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week and host the Washington Redskins in two weeks. They can win those games and gain momentum for a stretch run.

Speaking of Washington, Colt McCoy led Washington to a victory over Tennessee. Colt McCoy!

The Buccaneers will be coming off of a bye when the Vikings visit them next week.

It was a bold move by Jeff Fisher and the St. Louis Rams to run a fake punt from their own goal line at the end of their game against the Seattle Seahawks. It worked and the Rams were able to run out the clock and secure a 28-26 win. It was wonderful and fun to see a flustered and defeated Pete Carroll. The Super Bowl champs are 3-3. That's good for third in the NFC West.

The Green Bay Packers are playing as well as any team in the league. They have won four straight games after a somewhat rough start. Three of the four wins were blowouts. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had three incomplete passes in 22 attempts against the Carolina Panthers yesterday. He's on a roll.

The Indianapolis Colts have also put a rough start behind them. With the way that they are playing now, it's difficult to believe that they were 0-2. Five straight wins. They beat up on the Cincinnati Bengals yesterday, 27-0. The Bengals had thoughts of being one of the best in the league only a few weeks ago. Andrew Luck to TY Hilton will be a terrific pitch-and-catch combination for years.

Postgame words from Chicago Bears receiver Brandon Marshall:
"We're 3-4. We need to play better. That's unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Shouldn't have lost today. Shouldn't be 3-4. Offense gotta play better. Simple as that...We're 3-4. We're 3-4. It's unacceptable. Unacceptable. Want me to say it again? 3-4 is unacceptable."

The Bears had an "unacceptable" 27-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Congratulations to the Jacksonville Jaguars on their first win of the 2014 season. They took care of the Cleveland Browns 24-6. The Browns entered the game riding high on a two-game win streak.

The Dallas Cowboys just keep winning. Six straight now with a 31-21 win over the New York Giants. The Cowboys are just cruising behind a dominating offensive line. The level of play of this line is amazing in that they are young and still learning. DeMarco Murray is gaining yards at a rapid clip and Tony Romo is throwing from a comfortable pocket. It's funny to think back to the expectations before the season. The Cowboys were supposed to be buried at the bottom of a weak NFC East. Instead, the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles each have a single loss and are at the top of a pretty strong division.

Another surprise one-loss team is the Arizona Cardinals. This is another team that was supposed to struggle after losing several key defensive players. Instead, they are finding ways to win games. Their only loss is to the Denver Broncos.

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos kicked a 48-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaing to defeat the San Diego Chargers. This was probably the surprise of the day. Outside of the Bills last second win, of course. The Chargers had been cruising with five straight wins after a season-opening loss to the Cardinals. That loss was one that they really should have won. At 5-2, the Chargers are in good shape. At 3-3, the Chiefs are still in it.

Congratulations to Peyton Manning and his new career touchdown passes record. I was watching when Fran Tarkenton made the record his in 1975. It's gone from Dan Marino to Brett Favre since that day. It's Manning's now.  510 and counting.

The Denver Broncos made easy work of a seriously depleted San Francisco 49ers defense. 42-17. The Broncos can make a lot of defenses look silly. They have so many weapons. The 49ers were missing stars NaVorro Bowman, Aldon Smith, and Patrick Willis just form their linebacker group.

Game Day Thoughts

The Minnesota Vikings visit the Buffalo Bills today. The Vikings are 2-4. The Bills are 3-3. After opening the season at 2-0, the Bills have lost three of the last four. Since Kyle Orton was inserted as the starting quarterback two weeks ago, the Bills are 1-1. A surprising win against the difficult Detroit Lions and a competitive loss to the surging New England Patriots. The Bills seem to be getting some things right with Orton leading the way. The Vikings haven't done a lot right the last two weeks. They scored 10 points in a terrible performance against the Green Bay Packers on a Thursday night in week 5. They scored 3 points against the Lions last week. The defense actually played well in that game. The offense did nothing against a fierce Lions pass rush. The offense hasn't done much since putting up 41 against Atlanta. The Vikings have to protect rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater better. The Bills defensive line is at least as good as that of the Lions.

If the Vikings line can give Bridgewater time, this could be a terrific game. If Bridgewater is treated like he was against the Lions last week, this could be a long game. The Bills are always tough at home.

This would be a great week for receiver Cordarrelle Patterson to be a big part of the Vikings game plan.

The great thing about the NFL is that every game can be a great game. The Thursday Night game is an example of that. The Patriots were supposed to destroy the Jets. The Jets are struggling. The Patriots are hitting their usual stride. None of that plays out. We get a terrific game. A game that the Jets could have won. It wasn't like the Patriots played poorly. The Jets just played well. Any team can pull out a win in this league. The Raiders gave the Chargers all that they could handle last week. That wasn't supposed to happen.

Some of the terrific games today:

New Orleans Saints at Detroit Lions
Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers
Cincinnati Bengals at Indianapolis Colts
New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
San Francisco 49ers at Denver Broncos

Can the Cowboys continue their surprising start to the season?

The Panthers have the unusual record of 3-2-1.

It will be interesting to see how the Jets handle Percy Harvin. The Jets have been a tough out in nearly all of their games but a lot of things have to go perfectly to climb out of a 1-6 hole. Is the team playing out the season with a lame duck coaching staff? Will a new coaching staff even want to deal with an electrifying yet troublesome player that has already burned out his welcome with two teams?

College stuff:

Another disappointing for Cal. They lose 36-34 to UCLA. It was baby blue's first win in Berkeley since 1998. Very disappointing.

The game was basically clinched when the on-field and replay officials ruled that UCLA's Marcus Rios intercepted a Jared Goff pass at the 2-yard line with less than a minute to play. Rios still hasn't secured possession of that ball. Horrible call. But a team that missed as many tackles that Cal missed really doesn't deserve to win a football game. Cal's defense has been simply terrible all season. I've had to witness most of the games through radio so I haven't seen the attempted tackles. Cal's tackling simply sucks. UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley threw for 330 yards. Pretty much every single one of those yards came after the catch. Hundley and his receivers feasted on short passes and long runs. It's no wonder that Hundley's completion percentage is over 70%. All of his passes are within a yard of the line of scrimmage. UCLA ran for 237 yards. Nearly every one of those yards came after contact. Cal has to work on their tackling. It's a football basic. Along with blocking. Cal isn't too hot at that either.

UCLA linebacker Myles Jack is a very impressive running back. He'll be starting in the NFL soon. As a linebacker.

In the first half a penalty was called on UCLA receiver Jordan Payton. The official threw the flag right at Payton and he reached up and instinctively caught it near his helmet. The announcers, Matt Millen in particular, thought that it was humorous. I couldn't help but think of former Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens tackle Orlando Brown. In 1999, Brown was hit in the eye by a penalty flag thrown by Jeff Triplette. The injury to his eye forced Brown to miss the entire 2000 season. It also caused the NFL to change it's penalty flag throwing practices. Common sense would have forced college football to do the same. Apparently it didn't. The Cal-UCLA official was an idiot for throwing a flag right at a player's head.

When Cal quarterback Jared Goff gets in rhythm, he's a fantastic quarterback.

Alabama coach Nick Saban got a lot of media grief last week for beating Arkansas by a single point, 14-13. The media never fails to reveal their stupidity. A win is a win no matter the score. The SEC is a tough place to play. I wonder if defeating a ranked Texas A&M team yesterday by the score of 59-0 is enough for the idiots in the media.

That was a terrific game in Tallahassee last night. I didn't think that the Seminoles had it in them. I was very wrong. This Irish team is much better than one that played for the NCAA championship a few years ago.

I still like the Mississippi schools at the top of polls.

GO Vikings!

Buh-Bye!

It looks like Percy Harvin took about a week more than 19 months to wear out his welcome in Seattle. The Seahawks traded the pesky receiver to the New York Jets yesterday for a single, conditional draft pick. It's being reported that the single draft pick could be as high as a 4th round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. That's surprisingly little and a decent drop from the nice bounty that the Seahawks gave to the Minnesota Vikings for Harvin on March 11, 2013. The Vikings received the Seahawks 1st and 7th round picks in the 2013 NFL Draft and their 3rd round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. Harvin's value to NFL teams has dropped in the last 19 months. It's a real shame. The drop has nothing to do with his football skills. He's one of the most explosive football players in the entire league. He's simply a pain in the ass.

The Minnesota Vikings got a steal when they selected Percy Harvin with the 22nd pick of the 2009 NFL Draft. He was a top-10 talent that some thought could tumble out of the first round. Some of the concerns were over Harvin's health. In particular, his history of migraines. The good news was that he hadn't missed a game due to migraines while he was at Florida. The bad news was that he had them. These migraines were such that he was compelled to smoke pot to ease the pain prior to the NFL Scouting Combine. That resulted in a positive test. Which resulted in many league decision-makers questioning his judgement. Those that questioned it had probably never experienced migraines or pot. Few in the NFL had questions about Harvin's football skills. Everyone had questions about Harvin's judgement, health, and attitude. Since high school, trouble seemed to find him. All of these questions were enough for Vikings head coach Brad Childress to spend a day with Harvin just days before the draft. That visit was promising enough for the Vikings to pull the trigger in the first round. Everything was just great early in the team-player relationship. Percy Harvin was a big part of an explosive offense led by Brett Favre. Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, Visanthe Shiancoe. The Vikings were loaded with playmakers. Harvin was a luxury. A wildcard. He could do a little bit of everything. A lot of receivers have lined up in the backfield as a gimmick. Harvin was a serious threat out of the backfield. Reverses, bubble screens, returns. Harvin wasn't just a receiver. He was an offensive dynamo. A defensive nightmare. Off the football field, there was no mention that he was a problem. As a rookie, he was probably on his best behavior. It had to help that there was a strong veteran presence on the team with Favre, Peterson, Steve Hutchinson, Pat Williams, Kevin Williams, EJ Henderson, and Antoine Winfield. Winning also helps and the 2009 Minnesota Vikings won. Nearly everything went their way until the NFC Championship game. 2009 was the high point of the Childress era and the fall from that point was immediate. The 2010 season was a disaster. Childress didn't even make it to the end of the season. Even during the good times of the 2009 season, it was clear that Harvin could be a little feisty. It was easy to like some of that. Football is a physical, passionate game. Fans love it when players show that passion. Emotions can run raw on the field but most players handle it. It was apparent that that the kid didn't handle his emotions as well as most. He was very quick to retaliate at any perceived slight. Rumors of Harvin being something of a handful off of the field started to pop up during the 2010 season. The honeymoon was over. The disaster of 2010 was followed by the disaster of 2011. Instead of the old Favre leading the team, the Vikings had a disinterested Donovan McNabb and rookie Christian Ponder leading the team. It's been rumored that Ponder was the main problem in Harvin's list of problems during three of his four years with the Vikings. Who knows? With Ponder throwing the ball, Harvin started the 2012 season on a torrid pace. Peterson was coming back from a torn ACL and the Vikings offense leaned on Harvin early in the season. The receiver was in the ridiculous early season MVP conversation. All of that ended when Harvin injured his ankle in game nine against the Seahawks. He didn't play again that season. There was some talk that he'd come back but he was finally put on ice. The back-and-forth about his potential return felt odd. It felt like there was more to the drama. In his six years in the league Harvin has shown that he can be a pain when he is on the field. He's even more of a pain when he's not on the field. Whatever happened with Harvin in the last months of the 2012 season, when he never saw the field, ended his Vikings career. They were moving him as soon as they could and they found an eager taker in the Seattle Seahawks. The most interesting thing about the transaction was that the Seahawks offensive coordinator was, and still is, Darrell Bevel. He was the Vikings offensive coordinator through the 2010 season. He may not have seen the worst of Harvin but he knew the potential for it. He also knew the potential of Harvin in his offense with Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch. That potential was very scary. Everyone was happy in Seattle in 2013 just like everyone was happy in Minnesota in 2009. The Seahawks 2013 season was one game better than the Vikings 2009 season. But, Harvin rarely played. He had an offseason hip injury and missed nearly all of the regular season. The only game that he played was against the Vikings. He had to be in that game. He aggravated the injury in that game and was on the sideline again. He was back for the playoffs and especially the Super Bowl. He might have even been the MVP of that Super Bowl. Despite the great team success, Harvin was apparently a pain. Big surprise. He can be a pain when he's playing. He can be an even greater pain when he isn't playing and he played very little in 2013. He apparently fought with fellow receiver Golden Tate before the Super Bowl. Tate was sporting a black eye during Super Bowl week. He apparently fought with fellow receiver Doug Baldwin this past preseason. Usually when we hear about fights between teammates it's offense against defense. It's rarely between players from the same unit. Harvin isn't your typical player and the Seahawks have decided that they no longer want any part of him. They gave him away. Now, he's the New York Jets problem and a real challenge for Rex Ryan.

Percy Harvin is a real piece of work. He is one of the most dangerous football players to ever play the game but he's on the fast track to becoming little more than a footnote. A great football player that never will be great because he couldn't get out of his own way. Another player that just trashed his career. He's played for three head coaches and heading to his fourth. He started with Brad Childress. A good football coach but a difficult coach in even the best of times. Then there was Leslie Frazier. A former player and easy-going. A player's coach and a man than many consider the nicest man that they have ever met. Pete Carroll seems to be loved by every player that has ever played for him. A coach that can deal with every character that comes in the shape of a football player. Three very different coaches and not one of them could keep Percy Harvin happy. Rex Ryan is more like Carroll than Childress or Frazier. The guess here is that Ryan won't fare any better. The problem is Harvin and he doesn't see the problem that he is.

Face Time

The Wall Street Journal must have a lot of time on their hands. The business staple did a study that tracked how many times coaches and quarterbacks are shown on the sideline during an average NFL game. The crack researchers watched two full games from the 2014 season for all 32 teams and tallied the number of times the broadcast cut to the head coach. Regardless of the duration. They performed a similar study on quarterbacks. The sample size seems small but what do I know. I wouldn't have attempted this study in the first place. Despite that, the study did provide some surprising results.

I would have guessed that Jim Harbaugh and Bill Belichick would lead the way among the coaches. Harbaugh led with an average of 45.5 shots per game. This is hardly a surprise as Harbaugh is a riot on the sidelines. Belichick is rarely as animated but he was right there at 44.5. Chip Kelly was a surprising third at 44. I would have expected Pete Carroll to be third. He was at #8. I would have expected him to be shot more than Kelly. In fact, I would have expected Kelly and Jason Garrett to be in the bottom half if you are looking for entertainment value in these sideline shots. Both were ranked ahead of Carroll. Kelly at 3 and Garrett at 6.

Here are all of the coaches and their shot tracker:

1.   45.5  Jim Harbaugh
2.   44.5  Bill Belichick
3.   44.0  Chip Kelly
4.   39.0  Tom Coughlin
5.   37.5  Mike Tomlin
6.   37.0  Jason Garrett
7.   35.0  Rex Ryan
8.   34.5  Pete Carroll
9.   34.0  Gus Bradley
10. 33.5  Mike Zimmer
11. 31.5  Bill O'Brien
12. 30.5  Ron Rivera
13. 30.0  Sean Payton
14. 29.5  Doug Marrone
15. 29.0  Chuck Pagano
16. 27.5  Dennis Allen*
16. 27.5  Jeff Fisher
18. 26.5  Marc Trestman
19. 25.0  Bruce Arians
20. 24.5  Mike Pettine
21. 23.5  Ken Whisnehut
21. 23.5  Marvin Lewis
23. 23.0  Joe Philben
24. 22.5  Mike Smith
25. 22.0  Andy Reid
26. 20.5  John Fox
27. 20.0  John Harbaugh
28. 18.5  Lovie Smith
29. 17.5  Jay Gruden
30. 15.5  Mike McCoy
31. 14.0  Jim Caldwell
32. 13.5  Mike McCarthy
      *-fired
The least shot coach is a surprise. McCarthy's very low shot count is due to his stoic behavior on the sideline but he isn't any more stoic than, say, Garrett. It's a lot more fun to see McCarthy after a failed Packers play than Garrett at any time. The disparity in the shots of the Harbaugh brothers is really something. It's difficult to believe that they are even related.

The other part of the Wall Street Journal study was the quarterbacks. As with the coaches, the top two are expected. Peyton Manning at #1 and Brady at #2. Most of the top 7 fall as expected. 4-7 are Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, and Aaron Rodgers. It's #3 that is the surprise of the list. Teddy Bridgewater. He's only started two games for the Minnesota Vikings. I wonder if those are the two games that were studied. One game that he didn't start was the Thursday Night game in Green Bay. He had injured his ankle in the game before so Christian Ponder started the game. Bridgewater was the Vikings quarterback that had the attention of the camera on the sideline. Ponder was rarely seen. He wasn't seen much on the field either.

Here's how the quarterbacks broke down:

1.   31.0  Peyton Manning
2.   29.5  Tom Brady
3.   22.5  Teddy Bridgewater
4.   21.5  Drew Brees
5.   20.0  Andrew Luck
6.   18.5  Cam Newton
7.   17.5  Aaron Rodgers
8.   17.0  Brian Hoyer
9.   16.5  Geno Smith
10. 16.0  Eli Manning
11. 15.5  Philip Rivers
11. 15.5  Russell Wilson
11. 15.5  Ben Roethlisberger
11. 15.5  Andy Dalton
15. 14.0  Kirk Cousins
16. 13.5  Alex Smith
17. 12.5  EJ Manuel
17. 12.5  Austin Davis
19. 11.5  Blake Bortles
19. 11.5  Tony Romo
19. 11.5  Drew Stanton
22. 11.0  Joe Flacco
22. 11.0  Ryan Tannehill
22. 11.0  Matt Ryan
25. 10.0  Nick Foles
25. 10.0  Jay Cutler
25. 10.0  Colin Kaepernick
28.   9.5  Ryan Fitzpatrick
29.   9.0  Derek Carr
30.   8.0  Charlie Whitehurst
30.   8.0  Matthew Stafford
32.   5.5  Mike Glennon

I suppose that the surprise of the quarterback list, besides Bridgewater, is the low face time of established quarterbacks like Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Jay Cutler, Colin Kaepernick, and Matthew Stafford. Unlike the coaches, there isn't much entertainment value in sideline shots of quarterbacks. They are usually looking at the defensive pictures or talking on the phone. Cutler has had some funny moments but he's unique in that way.

There's some interesting stuff here but I still find this an odd study.

Throwback Thursday: 1980s All-Decade Team

Here is the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 1980s chosen by the voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jerry Rice, Anthony Munoz, and Lawrence Taylor were the only unanimous choices on the team. They were named all 26 ballots. John Hannah was near-unanimous as he was named on 25 ballots. The voter that left Hannah off of their ballot should no longer have a vote.

The NFL's All-Decade Team for the 1980s

Quarterback
Joe Montana

Running backs
Walter Payton
Eric Dickerson

Receivers
Jerry Rice
Steve Largent

Tight End
Kellen Winslow

Tackles
Anthony Munoz
Jimbo Covert

Guards
John Hannah
Russ Grimm

Center 
Dwight Stephenson

Defensive End
Reggie White
Howie Long

Defensive Tackle
Randy White
Dan Hampton

Middle Linebacker
Mike Singletary

Outside Linebacker
Lawrence Taylor
Ted Hendricks

Cornerback
Mike Haynes
Mel Blount

Safety
Ronnie Lott
Kenny Easley

Kicker
Morten Andersen

Punter
Sean Landeta

Kick Returner
Mike Nelms

Punt Returner
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson

Coach
Bill Walsh

There's little to debate about this team. Ted Hendricks and Mel Blount retired in 1983 and their best years were actually played in the 1970s. They were such great players that it's difficult to argue their inclusion here. The one player that I might switch out is Jimbo Covert for Gary Zimmerman. Covert is the one non-specialist on the team that isn't in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Kenny Easley doesn't count as he's missing from the Hall of Fame simply because his career was cut short by injuries. A healthy career from Easley and you have one of the best safeties to ever play the game.

I'm still stunned that there's a voter that didn't see fit to vote for John Hannah.

More Magic from NFL Films

NFL Films production of "A Football Life" is back for a fourth season of NFL Network. I've said it before and I'll say it again and again and again. These programs are fantastic. Which is hardly a surprise as everything that NFL Films touches is magic.

The name for the series comes from a Steve Sabol quote:

"For a company that prides itself on telling good stories, this is one hell of a story. Dad makes the Hall of Fame. Son's going to be the presenter. Son gets a brain tumor. Now the story is, Is the son going to be there? Will the son make it? Who knows? I could be around until the Super Bowl in New York. But, I've had a lot of time to think...
So, they talk about heaven, and I don't know what is waiting for me up there. But, I can tell you this: Nothing will happen up there that can duplicate my life down here. That life cannot be better than the one I lived down here, the football life. It's been perfect."

I miss Steve Sabol. He did sell his NFL Films a little short. They tell great stories.

Season 1 brought us these football lives:
Bill Belichick
Reggie White and Jerome Brown
Kurt Warner
Walter Payton
Ed Sabol
Mike Ditka
Tom Landry
Al Davis

Season 2:
Faces of Tim Tebow
Ray Lewis
Tom Coughlin
The 1995 Cleveland Browns
The Fearson Foursome
Steve McNair
Eddie DeBartolo
Chris Spielman
Jimmy Johnson
John Riggins
Barry Sanders
Marcus Allen
Immaculate Recpetion

Season 3:
LaDanian Tomlinson
Don Shula
Darrelle Revis
Derrick Thomas
Steve Sabol
Matt Millen
Michael Strahan
Pat Summerall
Warren Sapp
Randall Cunningham
Cris Carter
The Forward Pass
Steve Gleason
The Great Wall of Dallas
Houston '93
Marty Schottenheimer
Vince Lombardi
Tiki and Rhonde Barber
Bill Parcells
Jerry Smith
Jerry Rice

Each episode of Season 4 premieres on Fridays at 9pm EST. The episodes are then replayed several times.

So far this season we've been treated to these football lives:
Joe Greene
Brandon Marshall
Sean Taylor
Warren Moon
Eric Dickerson

This Friday is Doug Flutie's time.

In the coming weeks, we'll see these football lives:
Terrell Davis
Ricky Williams
Earl Campbell
Csonka, Kiick, and Morris
Lyle Alzado
Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers

Every show is a keeper.

The Greatest?

Hearing Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo state that tight Jason Witten is the greatest Cowboy of all time got me thinking about the greatest player in the history of each of the 32 teams. It doesn't take much to get me thinking about football. So, here goes. The greatest players for each team according to me.

Minnesota Vikings: Alan Page
Green Bay Packers: Don Hutson
Chicago Bears: Walter Payton
Detroit Lions: Dutch Clark
New York Giants: Mel Hein
Dallas Cowboys: Bob Lilly
Philadelphia Eagles: Steve Van Buren
Washington Redskins: Sammy Baugh
New Orleans Saints: Drew Brees
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: LeRoy Selmon
Atlanta Falcons: Claude Humphrey
Carolina Panthers: Steve Smith
San Francisco 49ers: Jerry Rice
Cleveland/Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams: Deacon Jones
Seattle Seahawks: Walter Jones
Chicago/St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals: Larry Wilson
Pittsburgh Steelers: Joe Greene
Cleveland Browns: Jim Brown
Cincinnati Bengals: Anthony Munoz
Baltimore Ravens: Jonathan Ogden
New England Patriots: Tom Brady
Buffalo Bills: Bruce Smith
New York Jets: Joe Namath
Miami Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts: Johnny Unitas
Houston Texans: J.J. Watt
Jacksonville Jaguars: Fred Taylor
Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans: Earl Campbell
Oakland Raiders: Art Shell
Kansas City Chiefs: Bobby Bell
San Diego Chargers: Kellen Winslow
Denver Broncos: John Elway

There you go. The Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were probably the most difficult decisions. The Bears history is so long and successful. Bronko Nagurski, Bulldog Turner, George Connor, Sid Luckman, Dick Butkus. Tough choices. Jim Brown isn't a slam dunk for the Browns. Otto Graham has to get some consideration. He led the Browns to the championship game in all ten seasons of his career. Bill Willis and Marion Motley deserve attention as well. For the Giants, how do you decide between Hein and Lawrence Taylor. Hein might have played every minute of every game for 15 years. He was a center and was the league's MVP in 1938. The Ravens choice comes down to Ogden, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. Any of the three are deserving. The Colts? My goodness, how do you decide between Unitas and Peyton Manning? When he's through playing, Andrew Luck might make this decision even more difficult. The Chiefs of the late 1960s are an extremely underrated team. They have a Super Bowl win but are often forgotten when the great teams in league history are discussed. They were loaded with talent. Especially on defense. Buck Buchanan and Bell are two of the best to ever play their positions. The best Buccaneer? For me, it comes down to Selmon, Warren Sapp, and Derrick Brooks. The decision is a tough one.

The Texans are the youngest team in the league so it's no real surprise that their greatest player is a young one. It's still a little shocking to see a player drafted in 2011 on a list of the greatest ever. J.J. Watt is playing at a level right now that has rarely been seen. There are a bunch of defensive players that impact games but few take them over. Watt is doing that. He has joined Lawrence Taylor as the most dominant defensive players that I have seen play the game. If he can sustain this level of play, he'll be among the best ever.

Week 6 Thoughts

The Detroit Lions did as little as any team has ever done to win by two scores. The Minnesota Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions yesterday by the score of 17-3. Thrilling stuff.

17-3.

Neither team really did much. The Lions just happened into two touchdowns. To be perfectly honest, neither team played like they were committed to winning an NFL football game.

The Lions were 1-13 on third down. Pathetic.

The Vikings were 3-14 on third down. Pathetic.

The two teams half-assed their way to a combined 467 yards total yards from scrimmage. Pathetic.

The CBS headline said that the Lions D dominated Bridgewater and the Vikings. The Lions defense dominated nothing. No one part of either team dominated another part of the other team. The Lions had one fine drive that ended in a touchdown. The Vikings had one fine drive that ended in an interception in the end zone. That's it. Neither team did much of anything. The Lions got rewarded for sucking a little bit less.

At least three drives, potential drives, by the Vikings ended in sacks. That was sad. Very sad. But, it was hardly the Lions defense dominating the Vikings offense. It was the Lions defense teeing off on a desperate offense. The Vikings greatest demon was dropped passes. Too often, passes glanced off of the hands of receivers. Teddy Bridewater wasn't great but he was hardly dominated by a defense that really didn't do much. Neither team did much.

17-3. The Lions get a win that neither team truly deserved.

Sad. Very sad.

The game of the day definitely wasn't Vikings-Lions. It was the Dallas Cowboys visit to Seattle. It's funny how some talking heads honked about the Cowboys having about zero chance of a victory in Seattle. If these yahoos take the time to analyze the potentials of any game, they would understand that no game in the NFL is a given. They should never say that it is but they always do. They only look like idiots. The Seattle Seahawks are not unbeatable at home. They are a football team like any other football team. They just happen to have the most recent Lombardi trophy. It's good to see them go down in their own home. Romo, Murray, Bryant, the strength of the Dallas offense, the strength of this Dallas team is that offensive line. Great stuff there with the anonymous big guys.

The NFL is open to any team this year. The Raiders might be a stretch, but any team can win it all.

So, Mississippi State is the top ranked team in the nation. I'm not so sure that I ever would have predicted that. After seeing them not play well against a very good Auburn team and still take them apart, I'm convinced. Mississippi St. is the best team in the nation. The other Mississippi school should be second, if not first. For now, they are #3. The rest of the nation should shake a bit. There's some mighty fine football being played in Mississippi.

Dak Prescott vs. Bo Wallace. Mississippi St. vs. Mississippi is the championship game that I want to see. It will not happen because they play the last Sunday in November.

Next week is bad news for the Bills.

Game Day Thoughts

It's amazing to see how quickly rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has become the face of the Minnesota Vikings. He's only played about six quarters of NFL regular season football. Already, games are being advertised as "Teddy Bridgewater leads the Minnesota Vikings against..." This was certainly the hope when the Vikings traded back into the first round of last spring's draft to select Bridgewater. It's just surprising that it has taken place so soon. The kid's unique calmness was made even more apparent by Christian Ponder's frantic and sad performance against the Green Bay Packers last week. The Vikings really need Bridgewater under center. Now and for a very long time.

The Vikings host the Detroit Lions today. The Packers are still the favorites to win the NFC North but no team is separating themselves from the rest of the division just yet. The Lions have a division win against the Packers. The Vikings need a division win today.

The NFC East is the surprise division through five weeks. They were supposed to suck but the teams have actually played better than average to great. Three of the four teams are involved in big teams today. The Dallas Cowboys have played great. They looked horrible in a season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers. They haven't lost since. They visit the Seattle Seahawks today. As long as running back DeMarco Murray can stay healthy, the Cowboys can be a real tough team to beat. Many snickered when they spent first round picks on interior offensive lineman in recent drafts. Center Travis Frederick and guard Zack Martin are quickly becoming one of the better center-guard combos in the league. Tyron Smith is one of the best tackles. The Cowboys offensive line is playing at a very high level. They are a big reason for the Cowboys early season success. The Cowboys offensive line has to control the Seahawks front seven to have any chance at a win in Seattle. The other big NFC East game is tonight's game. New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants are playing great after a rough start. It probably took a while for the offense to get comfortable in new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo's offense. Despite some offensive issues, issues that the genius Chip Kelly wasn't supposed to allow, the Eagles are 4-1.

New England at Buffalo might be the best game not involving a team from the NFC East. The Bills are tough at home and the Patriots finally found their offense last week against the Cincinnati Bengals.

College Stuff:

As the 2012 National Signing Day approached, Cal was on the verge of bringing in one of the best recruiting classes in the nation. That potential class was led by a verbal commitment from safety Shaq Thompson of Sacramento's Grant Union High. Thompson is the younger brother of former Cal corner Syd'quan Thompson. The younger Thompson was very familiar with and fond of Cal, head coach Jeff Tedford, and recruiter and defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi. Several high school players were following Shaq Thompson's lead and Lupoi's enthusiastic recruiting. Quarterback Jared Goff, receivers Bryce Treggs and Jordan Payton, and lineman Arik Armstead. The class was a potential program-changer. Without much notice and 15 days before signing day, Lupoi bolts for Washington. Thompson changes his commitment to Washington. Armstead commits to Oregon. Payton commits to UCLA. The big loss was Thompson. Losing that recruiting class might also have cost Tedford his job. Yesterday, Cal was on the verge of going up 7-0 in the first quarter against Washington. Instead of a 1-yard quarterback plunge for Cal, Goff lost the ball and Thompson grabbed the loose ball and took it 100 yards for a 7-0 Huskies lead. Cal didn't really threaten much after that and lost 31-7. It was Thompson's fifth touchdown of the season. Four on defensive scores. One on offense.

Shaq Thompson received a harsh reception in his two visits to Berkeley. It always bothers me when a schools's fan base goes after a kid for not choosing their school. It's ridiculous to attack a kid for making a decision that is best for him. Lupoi's decision was the one that bothered me. He played at Cal. He played for Tedford. He loved Cal. His effectiveness as a recruiter was due to his enthusiasm for his school. His timing was horrible. Washington just threw a bunch of money at him and he grabbed it. He took a big recruit with him as well. Which was probably why then-Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian wanted Lupoi in the first place. Sarkisian learned at the altar of Peter Carroll so his ethics are real high.

It was disappointing to see that the two games that interested me most were at the same time. Oregon at UCLA and Auburn at Mississippi St. So, I was switching between the two.

Oregon coach Mark Helfrich and his staff were sporting some snappy polo shirts. Striped with the classic Oregon duck. That duck seems to have been forgotten with all of the ridiculous uniforms that Oregon wears. Bring the duck back! As for the game, UCLA was disappointing. The final score of 42-30 made the game seem a little closer than it really was.

I'm curious to see how NFL scouts view Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. He's a terrific football player but it's damn near impossible to judge his throwing skills. All of his completions are to wide, WIDE open receivers. He never has to throw into tight windows, No one knows if he even can. He won't get those wide open receivers in the NFL.

The Auburn-Mississippi St. game was a very sloppy game. Six turnovers in the first half. Four by Mississippi St. Two by Auburn. The four turnovers didn't keep Mississippi St. from taking a 28-13 half time lead.

Despite the sloppiness, Mississippi St. looks like a very strong, confident football team. Take away the mistakes and they destroy a very good Auburn team. Mississippi St. still won 38-23, even with a bunch of mistakes. I'd put Mississippi St. ahead of Florida St. right now. Mississippi too.

The Mississippi schools are the big story of this college football season. Mississippi St. and Mississippi could be the #1 and #2 teams in the nation by this afternoon. Texas A&M has probably seen all they want to see of the two schools. The Aggies might have had national title hopes after they dismantled South Carolina in week one. The Aggies have been humbled by the Mississippis the last two weeks.

Dak Prescott and Bo Wallace have to be made-up names. They sound like spies from a novel. Or, fictional football heroes. Instead, they are real life college football stars. Quarterbacks of those Mississippi schools. Prescott at Mississippi St. Wallace at Mississippi. Georgia running back Todd Gurley probably exited the Heisman race with his recent suspension. Prescott and Wallace are in that race. Perhaps leading it.

Nov. 29 could be a huge day in college football. Mississippi St. at Mississippi. State has the easier road to that game. Alabama on Nov. 15 is the only real threat to an undefeated record. Mississippi still has to go to LSU, and host Auburn. Fun days in Mississippi.

Fun day in Minnesota. Go Vikings!!!

Best Cowboy Ever!

Some in the media have been giving Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo some grief  over his comment that Jason Witten "might be the "best Cowboy of all time." NFL Network's Rich Eisen even said that Romo raised a "kerfuffle" with the comment. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that a "kerfuffle" was raised but Romo did express his opinion. If nothing else, he was paying his friend, teammate, and most reliable target a very high compliment. Romo has been relying on Witten to help him convert third downs for about a decade. The quarterback should speak highly of his tight end. Witten has earned it.

Who cares if Tony Romo believes that Jason Witten is the best Dallas Cowboys to ever play. Does it really matter? It's his opinion. He's entitled to it. Rich Eisen seemed to settle on Roger Staubach as the best Cowboy. There's probably many more people that would agree with Eisen than with Romo. Personally, I'd go with defensive tackle Bob Lilly as the best Cowboy. Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Larry Allen would all have supporters. Some might even ditch the thought that a player deserves the honor and put Tom Landry at the top of the Cowboy list. Hell, there might be a pocket of people that would even prop up Romo for the title. Everyone that cares enough to give this topic some thought has an opinion. No one is wrong. Not even Romo. If anything, he sparked the conversation and it's always fun to debate the "greatest of" something. Even the greatest Cowboy.

Romo shouldn't be immediately branded a fool. At least, not for this. A case can be made that Jason Witten should be in the discussion for the best Cowboy of them all. Even if Romo hadn't already put him in it. Witten has been a terrific tight end ever since he entered the league in 2003. At a time when tight end has evolved into an impact position, Witten has been among the best. There have been some great tight ends over the past several years. Shannon Sharpe, Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham, Rob Gronkowski. Witten is in their league. Which means that he'll likely join the other great Cowboys football players in Canton. Which puts him in their league too.

Sherman Says

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is a terrific football player. He's bright and articulate away from the football field. On the field, he's basically an ass. When he's mic'd-up, it's simply a ridiculous stream of insults. He rips everyone. Few are worthy of his time or talents on the football field. His most recent target was Washington Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon. Immediately following the Seahawks-Redskins game this past Monday night, Sherman said, per CSN Washington, "Pierre doesn't matter in this league." Given a chance to expound on his comments, Sherman replied, "I meant exactly what I said." That's pretty harsh. There's really no reason for an NFL player to say that another NFL player "doesn't matter in this league." When Sherman publicly insults another player, I think of what Minnesota Vikings receiver Jarius Wright did to him last season. Wright beat the talkative Sherman for a 38-yard touchdown. Wright turned Sherman around on a single move. He beat Sherman so soundly that he could stop and wait for Christian Ponder's underthrown pass. Sherman was mic'd for the game. He wasn't too talkative after that play. He was extremely talkative the rest of the game. Joe Webb was "wasting his time." Cordarrelle Patterson wasn't strong enough. He was strangely silent, for it is always strange when Sherman is silent, when Wight turned him like a top. Sherman had no "doesn't matter in this league" comment for Wright. A player that is far less accomplished in the league than Garcon. On the play, it was Sherman that didn't matter in this league.

Richard Sherman seems to be upset with a lot of people. He's pissed at the rest of the league and his college coach, Jim Harbaugh, because he wasn't drafted until the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He should be pissed at his own team for passing on him for four rounds. The Seahawks drafted two players that aren't even on their roster anymore before they decided to pull the trigger on Sherman. Guard John Moffitt was selected in the third round and didn't even make it to a third season with the team. Receiver Kris Durham was taken in the fourth round and was with the Detroit Lions by 2012. So, Sherman's own team didn't think highly enough of him in that 2011 draft to select him with any of their picks before the fifth round. The Seahawks were with the other 31 NFL teams that disrespected Sherman so much for four rounds of drafting action.

When asked about Sherman, Marshall Faulk said that the Seahawks corner needs to get into this nasty, bitter personality to play his game of football. Sherman has to become this character to perform on the football field. I can understand a football player digging up all those that have done him wrong to fuel his fire for the game. Every player probably does this to varying degrees. Despite all the rules to make it safer, football is a brutal game. NFL players have to get into a state of readiness to play this game that would get them locked up in most cities. Most players know how to turn that fire off at the end of the game. Sherman doesn't seem to turn it off. At least, he doesn't seem to turn it off right away. His comments about Garcon weren't made in the heat of battle. His rage at the end of the NFC Championship game last January were made after the game was won. Judging by that rage you'd think that his team wasn't going to New Jersey for a Super Bowl. Maybe, Sherman would speak differently of Garcon on Tuesday. If his comments following a game aren't the comments that he'd make on Tuesday then maybe he shouldn't speak until Tuesday. I think that Richard Sherman is far more interesting on Tuesday than he's ever been on Sunday.

Throwback Thursday: Career Touchdown Passes

When the Denver Broncos visit the New York Jets this Sunday, Peyton Manning could pass Brett Favre as the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes. It would take a mighty fine passing day from Manning but he's had many of those. It wouldn't even take his best day to pass Favre. Manning, with 503 career touchdown passes, is five behind Favre's 508. This week, next week, the career touchdown passes record should belong to Peyton Manning soon.

I remember when Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton broke the career touchdown passes record. It was a snowy day in Buffalo against the Bills on December 20, 1975. It was a game filled with records. O.J. Simpson scored his 23rd touchdown of the season that day. Chuck Foreman scored his 22nd. The two running backs were in a race for the season touchdown record. Tarkenton threw his 290th and 291st touchdown passes of his career that day. Both went to Foreman. The career touchdown passes record had belonged to Johnny Unitas at 290. Unitas had held the record since he took it from Y.A. Tittle in 1966.

In my lifetime, the career touchdown passes record has passed from Y.A. Tittle to Johnny Unitas to Fran Tarkenton to Dan Marino to Brett Favre. Peyton Manning should grab it soon. Tittle held the record for four years after wrestling it away from Bobby Layne during the 1962 season. Both Layne and Tittle had passed Sammy Baugh that year. Unitas held the record for nine years until Tarkenton broke it on that snowy day in Buffalo. Tarkenton retired with 342 career touchdown passes. Tarkenton held that record for a while. He may have held it longer than anyone has ever held it. No one really challenged it. Dan Fouts might have if Don Coryell had landed in San Diego about five years earlier. The incredible 1983 NFL Draft provided some worthy challengers in John Elway, Jim Kelly, and Dan Marino. It was Marino that would finally catch Tarkenton. That day finally came twenty years after that snowy day in Buffalo. Marino retired with 420 career touchdown passes. That held until Favre threw his 421st touchdown to Greg Jennings against the Vikings. I remember that game well. Favre would throw his 508th and last touchdown as a member of the Vikings. I also remember that game well. Favre probably doesn't.

When Fran Tarkenton threw his 291st career touchdown pass in that Buffalo snowstorm the NFL's career touchdown pass leader-board looked something like this:

1.   291 Fran Tarkenton
2.   290 Johnny Unitas
3.   255 Sonny Jurgensen
4.   242 Y.A. Tittle
5.   239 Len Dawson
6.   237 John Hadl
7.   236 George Blanda
8.   214 John Brodie
9.   199 Roman Gabriel
10. 196  Norm Snead
10. 196 Bobby Layne

Today the top-10 list looks like this:

1.   508 Brett Favre
2.   503 Peyton Manning
3.   420 Dan Marino
4.   372 Drew Brees
5.   365 Tom Brady
6.   342 Fran Tarkenton
7.   300 John Elway
8.   291 Warren Moon
9.   290 Johnny Unitas
10. 275 Vinny Testaverde

Warren Moon likely would have posed a threat to Marino's record, before Favre, if he hadn't been banished to the Canadian Football League for five years due to the color of his skin.

Drew Brees is the one quarterback that could threaten whatever number Manning has when he retires. A lot has to break Brees' way for that to happen. One, Manning has to retire soon. Two, Brees probably has to play at least three years past Manning's retirement to make up the current 129 touchdown pass difference. That's nearly 40 touchdowns per season. Brees is three years younger than Manning and looks to be going strong so it's possible but the guess here is that the chances are slim. It's the young guns like Andrew Luck that have the best chance to catch Manning. Or, maybe Manning holds the record as long as Tarkenton.

Heisman Race

This just feels like a good time to look at the Heisman Trophy race. This trophy has been a quarterback's trophy to win in recent years. USC running back Reggie Bush and Alabama running back Mark Ingram are the only non-quarterbacks to win since 2000. Most of the contenders in this look at the 2014 Heisman race are non-quarterbacks.

5. RB Ameer Abdulah, Nebraska
Season stats: 138 carries, 878 yards, 10 TDs, 7 receptions, 130 yards, 2 TDs
Last game: 24 carries, 45 yards, 2 TDs, 2 receptions, 22 yards in 27-22 loss to Michigan St.
The Spartans defense did a good job of containing Abdulah. He entered the game with a two-game 200-yard streak so he had the attention of a very good defense. At 5'9" and 190 lbs, Abdulah isn't a big back but he carries the Nebraska offense.

4. RB Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin
Season stats: 105 carries, 871 yards, 9 TDs, 5 receptions, 27 yards, 1 TD
Last game: 27 carries, 259 yards, 2 TDs in a 20-14 loss to Northwestern.
It doesn't seem possible that Wisconsin could score only 14 points let alone lose the game to Northwestern with Gordon gaining 259 yards. He's averaging 8.3 yards per carry. He's had eight runs of at least 30 yards. Seven runs of at least 40 yards. Five runs of at least 50 yards.

3. QB Dak Prescott, Mississippi St.
Season stats: 77-of-121 passing, 63.6 completion percentage, 1,223 yards, 13 TDs, 2 interceptions, 455 rushing yards, 6 TDs.
Last game: 19-of-25, 76 completion percentage, 259 yards, 2 TDs, 0 interceptions, 77 rushing yards, 3 TDs in 48-31 win over Texas A&M.
Prescott and Mississippi St. have been playing great all season. After stunning Texas A&M, people are finally looking their way. Prescott will probably move to the top of this list and most Heisman lists if he can repeat this performance against Auburn.

2. WR Amari Cooper, Alabama
Season stats: 52 receptions, 746 yards, 14.4 yards per catch, 5 TDs
Last game: 9 catches, 91 yards in 23-17 loss to Mississippi.
It's tough for a receiver to take home the Heisman but Cooper might be the best football player in the nation.

1. RB Todd Gurley, Georgia
Season stats: 94 carries, 773 yards, 8 TDs, 11 receptions, 53 yards, 50 passing yards, 1 kick-return TD.
Last game: 25 carries, 163 yards, 2 TDs, 2 receptions, 24 yards, 50 yards passing in 44-17 win over Vanderbilt.
Gurley might already have about 2,000 yards and the Heisman in his living room if Georgia didn't have so many capable backs. He runs for a while. Sits for a spell.

Teddy Bridgewater-Franchise Quarterback?

Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has played in just over six quarters of NFL-level football. That's a mighty small sample size to make any sort of  judgement. It's been more than enough to excite the hell out of the Vikings fan base. It's even been enough to excite his own team. Which is really the most important group to be excited.

Bridgewater looked like an eventual NFL franchise quarterback in his three years at Louisville. A Pro Day that was judged by many as terrible dropped his draft stock so much that he nearly slid out of the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. A possibility that was thought to be impossible only four months earlier. The Vikings got very lucky that so many teams had soured him so much. They were able to select him with the 32nd and final pick of the first round. It was a gift.

One of the greatest skills of the greatest quarterbacks is their uncanny ability to ignore the defensive pass rush. The ability to stay calm in the middle of all of that chaos is what often separates the great ones for the not-so-great. The Vikings drafted Christian Ponder with the 12th pick of the 2011 NFL Draft. He was supposed be the face of the franchise, the franchise quarterback, the hope for the next decade of Vikings football. There was never the same excitement over Ponder as there has been over Bridgewater. The excitement over Bridgewater has been there even before his six quarters of regular season football. It was there at training camp. It was there in the preseason games. It was even there in the first preseason against the Oakland Raiders when the rookie looked like a rookie making his first NFL appearance. That was the only time that Teddy Bridgewater has looked like a rookie quarterback since he's been in Minnesota. There was even more excitement over Bridgewater when the Vikings selected him with that 32nd pick. Twenty picks later than the one that they used to select Ponder only three years earlier. The greatest difference between Ponder and Bridgewater was seen in the last ten days. Bridgewater looked cool, confident, and mostly excellent in his first career NFL start against the Atlanta Falcons. First start. First win. Unfortunately, he hurt his ankle late in the game. He wasn't able to make the next start in the ridiculously scheduled Thursday Night game four days later. As a result, Ponder made his 36th career NFL start. It was a disaster. In the span of a few days, a perfect comparison was made available. Ponder in 36 starts never looked as comfortable or as confident as Bridgewater did in his first. Ponder is easily harassed. He gets frantic in the pocket. He either rushes throws or doesn't make them at all. He often chooses to run or simply takes a sack rather than risk a throw that any elite quarterback can make. He needs a completely clean pocket which rarely happens in the NFL. Bridgewater just seems to have a calmness about him. Always. It's as if he knows something that you don't. The pass rush doesn't seem to bother him one bit. Defenders can be surrounding him, reaching for him, even grabbing him and he's as calm as if he's playing in the park. His eyes are downfield, his feet are steady, and he's just looking to make a play. It's amazing to see. It's even more amazing to see when the complete opposite is made available for viewing only four days later.

Six quarters is hardly a proper sample size. It's still enough to see that the Vikings finally have a quarterback that could actually be the "One."

Week 5 Thoughts

No Minnesota Vikings. That's always an ingredient to an incomplete football Sunday.

There were some good early games yesterday. The New York Giants victory over the Atlanta Falcons was the only game decided by more than a single score. The Giants won 30-20 as they have quickly returned to relevance.

The New Orleans Saints had to come back against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win in overtime, 37-31. An early expected Super Bowl contender, the Saints doubled their win total of one in week 5. The Dallas Cowboys also needed overtime to defeat the Houston Texans, 20-17.

When the Vikings aren't playing, I often have tremendous difficulty settling on one game. Switching between games can be pointless as watching many games is like watching no games. You get no feel for any game. That's one of the reasons that I've never been a fan of the Red Zone programming. I can see the scoring plays on highlight shows. I'd rather see a game. Yesterday morning, I managed to stick with the Cowboys-Texans. It was a good game. The Cowboys led at the half 3-0. Some consider games such as this boring. It wasn't at all boring. Each team made some plays on offense. Each team made a lot of plays on defense. So many people only want to see offense. Defense does matter. Defense is entertaining. I'd much rather watch a defensive battle than an offensive shootout. The Cal-Washington St. game from Saturday had this very topic fresh in my mind. Cal defeated Washington St. 60-59. It was a ridiculous game. Cal quarterback Jared Goff threw for 527 yards. Washington St. quarterback Connor Halliday threw for an NCAA record 734 yards. There was zero defense on the field that night. The offenses might as well have been playing against air. I was listening to the game on the radio so I had no real evidence that the offenses weren't playing against air. I was happy that Cal won but the game was pathetic. Some people like games like this but it can barely be called football. It's Arena Football stuff. It's a track meet and it all comes down to the team that has the ball last. Cal won because Washington St.'s kicker missed a 19-yard field goal. He was probably too tired after kicking so many extra points. Anyway, the Cowboys-Texans game was an entertaining game. The first half was entertaining even though a field goal was the only score.

Texans running back Arian Foster looked like the back that was tearing up the league a few seasons ago. He looked great yesterday. When Foster is healthy and on his game, he just glides across the turf. He was doing that yesterday.

J.J. Watt is the best football player in the game today. He dominates games like Reggie White, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Greene have done in my lifetime of viewing football. Watt dominates plays and games even when he doesn't show up on stat sheets. He may physically occupy as many as three blockers and occupy the concerns of so many more on every play. The attention paid to him rarely seems to matter as he is always around the ball. He came out of the game often so a thigh injury seems to be hampering him. The injury never seemed to hamper him when he was on the field.

Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli has the Cowboys playing great team defense. They lost defensive end DeMarcus Ware to the Denver Broncos in free agency and middle linebacker Sean Lee to an offseason ACL injury. Basically, the Cowboys defense was supposed to suck. Really suck. They don't. The defense is actually playing pretty great.

The Cowboys are a very surprising 4-1.

I like the San Francisco 49ers running combination of Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde. Defenses probably don't much care for either one coming at them late in games.

The 49ers haven't played all five of their games at their new home in Santa Clara. It just feels like they have.

The Denver Broncos-Arizona Cardinals game was a close game until Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton was knocked out of the game. Stanton was already starting in place of injured starter Carson Palmer. Third-string/now-second-string rookie Logan Thomas entered the game for Stanton. He threw a short pass that running back Andre Ellington took for ar 81-yard touchdown. 24-20 Broncos became 41-20 Broncos pretty quick.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning had a decent game. Completed 31 of 47 passes for 479 yards and four touchdowns. Manning flew past 500 career touchdown passes. At 503, he's probably two games. maybe only one, away from catching Brett Favre's NFL record of 508. I remember when Fran Tarkenton held that touchdown record for about twenty years with 342.

When the Detroit Lions visit the Vikings next week, they could be without two of their top offensive weapons. Receiver Calvin Johnson aggravated his already injured ankle. Running back Reggie Bush suffered an ankle injury of his own. Rough Sunday as the Lions were stunned by the Buffalo Bills on a last-second 58-yard field goal. Bills win the game 17-14.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins are happy. No undefeated teams and it's only week 5.

College Upsets:

#2 Oregon lost to Arizona 31-24
#3 Alabama lost to #11 Mississippi 23-17
#4 Oklahoma lost to #25 TCU 37-33
#6 Texas A&M lost to #12 Mississippi St. 48-31
#8 UCLA lost to Utah 30-28
#16 USC lost to Arizona St. 38-34
#17 Wisconsin lost to Northwestern 20-14
#18 BYU lost to Utah St, 35-20  BYU also lost their terrific QB.

Shake up in the Top-10. Biggest winners were the Mississippi schools. The new polls have them tied at #3. Mississippi St. even received a couple of votes for #1. Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott has to be in Heisman discussions.

#5 Auburn destroyed #15 LSU 41-7. #14 Stanford lost to to #9 Notre Dame. #19 Nebraska lost to #10 Michigan St.

A lot of losses in the top-25.

HGH testing begins today in the NFL. We'll see how that goes.