Three Things

I used to be so carefree. Now, I often feel like that bitter old man on the porch yelling at kids. Here are three things that have been annoying me for much of this football season.

1. The Dak Prescott-Tony Romo debate.
There probably isn't a single media talking head that hasn't thrown his/her opinion into this debate. Rich Eisen asks every guest that appears on his show how he/she sees this playing out. The debate started with whispers after Prescott's excellent play in the preseason and it's only gotten louder with each passing week of the regular season. The debate was tiresome about the moment it started. Especially when it started in August. That was at least three months before the Cowboys even had to consider a decision. Honestly, it doesn't matter which quarterback is under center. Nearly any quarterback would succeed behind the Cowboys offensive line and in front of Ezekiel Elliott. It's just about the perfect situation for a quarterback. The debate isn't even relevant until the Cowboys are forced to make the decision. The fact that it hasn't really mattered for the past three months is why the constant debate has gotten so annoying. Personally, I think that Cowboys would be better off with Tony Romo starting. His experience alone would allow the offense to do more. But, that's just my opinion.

2. The "why isn't Jared Goff starting" debate.
Eisen asks this of every damn guest as well. "Why isn't Jared Goff starting." Only the Los Angeles Rams know the answer to this. The people asked have no idea. They aren't in the Rams temporary offices. They aren't at the practices. So, it's a pointless question. If it weren't for injuries, Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz probably wouldn't be playing as rookies either. The best thing about none of that scenario is that Annoyance #1 would no longer be an annoyance. Prescott would just be that talented, forth-round draft pick holding a clipboard. The difference between Prescott and Wentz possibly sitting their rookie seasons is that Tony Romo and Sam Bradford would have been starting ahead of them. The Cowboys and Eagles wouldn't be as offensively inept as the Rams. There wouldn't be a reason for Prescott and Wentz starting. Personally, I think that Goff is ready to start. The Rams are simply choosing not to start him. I watched Goff play all three years at Cal. He started as a true freshman on a terrible team, behind a shaky offensive line, and for a new head coach that didn't recruit him. He struggled often but had several moments of brilliance. Through it all the game was never too big or too fast for him. Most importantly, his confidence never wavered. He's ready for the NFL. The Rams have simply settled for another mediocre Jeff Fisher season.

3. Air Raid Offenses. In particular Cal's Bear Raid Offense. These point-a-minute, up-tempo offenses are still the rage in some pockets of college football. Some fans might love the 60-59 shootouts that come with these offensive schemes. Games that come with a sad absence of anything resembling a defense. I find these games tough to watch. Sonny Dykes brought his version of the Air Raid Offense to Berkeley in 2013. It didn't take long for Dykes' Cal version of the offense to be labeled the "Bear Raid Offense." The name was a natural. With true freshman Jared Goff leading the way that first year the offense scored a lot of points. The up-tempo offense did Cal's defense no favors. They routinely gave up more points than the offense could score. The defense never got a chance to rest. Almost as soon as they came of the field they were back on it because their offense either scored, punted, or turned the ball over so quickly. Even long scoring scoring drives routinely took less than two minutes. The defense got no rest and they weren't all that great even if they had rest. It should also come as no surprise that defenders, especially defensive backs, were dropping every game. Cal has had serious injury issues in each of the last four seasons. In Cal's overtime defeat of Oregon (another up-tempo team) a few weeks ago it felt like at least one player from either team was helped off the field after every play. At least those injury timeouts afforded the players that were still standing a little bit of a breather. I just don't think that the bodies of football players were built to handle the 100 plays that these ridiculous offenses inflict upon them. In that Cal-Oregon game, Oregon's offense ran 85 offensive plays and Cal's offense ran a whopping 118 plays. Each team had 14 penalties so there was as many as 28 additional plays that didn't factor into those offensive totals. Many of the defensive players were running a five hour sprint. No wonder players were dropping throughout the game.

It should be pointed out that Sonny Dykes has done a lot of great things for Cal's football program. He inherited a mess. He cleaned it up and turned it around quickly. The academic progress of the football team was at the bottom of the conference when he arrived in 2013. It's now near the top. Where it should be. A lot of people love his thrilling offense. I'm just not one of them.

There. I feel better already.