Sports Talk, Rumors and Other Contrarian Insights

This past weekend, the NFL Network began showing workouts of more than 300 athletes that will be eligible for this years NFL Draft. The athletes are put through a series of physical tests and mental exercises by various NFL teams in order to assess each players aptitude for the NFL.

I fear that we might have gone too far.

And this is coming from me. The one who love’s completely benign and pointless sports news.

In years past, I have been a staunch defender of the NFL Draft as good television. The draft provides a small fix for the NFL fan in the middle of the offseason, with the first sign of training camp still months out on the horizon.

The draft, much like the Olympics, has a ‘pick up and put down’ nature to it. After the first round, as the recognizable names start to dwindle, one can watch for 15 minutes and come back and check back again hours later.

Also, the NFL Draft mixes college football into it’s core, by allowing people to watch and see where their favorite players from their alma mater will continue their football careers.

Lastly, the NFL Draft provides an element of hope that makes it fun. There is always something fun about wildly throwing your franchises hopes and dreams onto the shoulders of a 21-year-old quarterback.

In sum, the NFL Draft is fun.

Well, it was until the NFL decided to begin milking every benign element of the NFL scouting process for their own nascent network.

Now, we have to watch the first round of the draft on Thursday evenings, the second and third rounds on Friday nights, and the remainder on Saturday afternoons. Gone are the draft parties of old, where friends could assemble around pizza and spend 5 hours enjoying the last Saturday afternoon of April discussing the upcoming prospects of their teams future players.

And now…we have the combine.

We are showing the combine on tv?

The combine lacks the hopeful nature of the NFL Draft. Our teams are not about to select their future investments that will hopefully lead them into the promised land. Rather, we are just watching them work out.

It’s not even the full process because we aren’t privy to the interviews that NFL teams conduct with each prospect; interviews that hold as much, if not more weight than the physical workouts will hold.

Instead the combine is just another mistep in the direction that the NFL is taking toward oversaturation. The combine will just continue to make fantasy football players believe that they really are GM’s and talk about wonderlic tests and 40 times when evaluating their upcoming fantasy seasons.

This is not what the NFL needs.

I am all for the NFL marketing their products and trying to reach the broadest audience as possible, but to help the misinformed become more misinformed is something I fear will happen as the NFL continues to branch out to wider audiences.

Making the draft evaluation process something that seems as easy as watching the NFL scouting combine on tv is such a thing. The process is so much more involved. There are 1,000’s of hours spent investigating these kids before the teams even set their draft boards. The NFL is attempting to make the scouting process more transparent, but it really is just making the average fan believe it is easier than it really is.

It isn’t so simple as looking at some workout numbers and taking the best numbers on the board (except if your the Raiders).

The last thing this NFL fan wants is more useless converage that fuels annoying fantasy team talk. I take the side of old NFL guys on this one, fantasy is annoying.

So, NFL, please stop showing us stuff that is totally worthless and instead go back to showing us things that matter, maybe the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations?

Unfortunately, that would require some real substance to the reporting and some real transperency, which the NFL isn’t about to offer.

Remember this guy?

Well, maybe most Ravens fans remember this guy:

The Ravens drafted Kyle Boller in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft 19th overall, giving up a future no.1 draft pick to get him. It is rumored that then-Ravens coach Brian Billick fell in love with Boller during workouts, where boller threw a ball 50 yards through the uprights from his knees.

Read this article excerpt from the California college newspaper (the school Boller attended) from the Spring of 2003:

“I didn’t want people to see me,” Boller said. “I would get really sarcastic comments like, `Hey, you going to win a game, buddy?’ But when you have that record, you have to expect people to say that stuff.”

Even after a senior year that saw his numbers improve dramatically under new coach Jeff Tedford, Boller was considered a borderline first-day pick. An impressive performance at the Senior Bowl in January put him in the second round. After proving to be the most athletic of the top quarterbacks in the draft at the NFL Combine in February, he moved into first-round territory.

–Read the Entire article here.

Boller was considered to be a below average quarterback at his own school back in 2003. Even after his rise with Jeff Tedford in the fall of 2002, people still considered him a reach for a first day pick. I clearly remember reading Mel Kiper, ranking Boller a 4th rounder, after the Senior Bowl.

Then it happened.

The NFL Combine.

After its over, Boller is a FIRST ROUND PICK!

WHAT?!

How does a quarterback, who was considered average at best and heckeled on his OWN campus, go from being a second-day draft pick to a top 20 selection in ONE weekend! It’s because the NFL Combine is the place where all the GM’s get together and try to pretend to be the smartest guy in the room.

Let’s not be naive here, all of the GM’s in the National Football League are looking for that next diamond in the rough. They all want to be the guy who saw what someone else didn’t.

The other end of it is that it can lead to catastrophic decisions that set franchises back for decades. The decision to draft Boller hamstrung the Ravens for 5 years. The Ravens were a good team during that stretch for the most part, but just think if they hadn’t had missed so bad on Boller.

Instead Billick fell in love with the 50 yard throw from Boller’s knees thru the uprights. When did throwing from your knees matter? AREN’T YOU DOWN? What Billick did ignore was the horrible track record of college QB’s who have a lifetime completion percentage of less than 60% in the NFL. Boller’s was 53%.

It’s not just the Ravens that do it, some team will do the same thing every year. In 2008, the New York Jets fell in love with the potential that the measurables of Vernon Gholston showed. Well guess what? All those measurables like the standing long-jump and bench press statistics have translated into Gholston being one of the worst draft picks from the 2008 draft.

In two years he has barely contributed to the Jets defense; He hasn’t even recorded a sack!

Guess what his combine numbers were? 4.58 40-yard dash time and a 455 bench press. Impressive, but the NFL isn’t a weight lifting competition.

The point is that there is no science to drafting NFL players, but every year there will be one player that will make a meteroic rise to the top of the draft based on work-outs, while the college production was not there.

This years unfortunate culprit is Jason Pierre-Paul of South Florida. Pierre-Paul was productive as a first year junior college palyer at the College of the Canyons in 2007 at South Florida amassing 14 sacks, then as a second year player at Fort Hood Community College gaining another 10, but as teams schemed to stop him this past season, he was only able to produce 6.5 sacks.

Pierre-Paul was considered a second rounder until his Senior Bowl workouts wowed scouts. Now he will go to the combine and wow them again. All the while, people will forget that when people tried to take him out of the game in college they were able too.

If he can’t break free of college blocking schemes, how will he beat those schemes in the the NFL?

Scouting directors forget what the guy did in college and look at the workouts because they all believe they can milk that potential. What happens is that leads to mistakes and lost money and draft picks. While productive players get ignored and get drafted much later due to their lack of measurable statistics.

Two of the best teams at ignoring the workout-hype and drafting on the production in college are the Chargers and Colts. So, is it any surprise that these two teams are two of the best in the AFC year after year?

No!

It is because GM Bill Polian of the Colts and GM AJ Smith of the Chargers avoid the temptation of looking at the numbers in a workout sheet and remember that producing in college matters too. If they couldn’t catch a football in college, it doesn’t matter how fast they are, but they probably aren’t going to be able to hold onto it in the NFL either.

It’s when they take guys like Austin Collie of BYU, that you see the difference in maximizing the efficiency of draft picks. Collie was incredibly productive at BYU, and led the nation in may receiving categories. On the other hand, Darius Heyward-Bey was oftened schemed out of Maryland’s offense in 2008. Bey went 7th and Collie in the 4th round.

Collie was the slot receiver for a Super Bowl team, Heyward-Bey was on a milk carton.

Pay attention to what you see with your eyes sometimes, or you just might fool yourself.

As a life long Raider fan I have come accustomed to bad contracts, (no negative enough adjective available in English language) draft picks, questionable hirings, and a staunch commitment to mediocrity.

I mean Jamarcus Russell made over $13 million last year, that is about $100,000 per yard or $4 million per touchdown, in other words it was the worst contract for the worst quarterback of all-time. But this signing is a little different and I am not mad in anyway about Janikowski’s new contract. I heard that it will create a bad dynamic on the team because some of the guys who bust their asses everyday will see Janikowski walk on the field ten times a game and make $4 million dollars a year, but who cares about this team’s dynamic, what are they gonna do…lose more. Last year they went 5-11, 2008 they went 5-11, 2007 they went 4-12, 2006 the went 2-14, and in 2005 they went 4-12 so a bad dynamic can’t make things worse, plus if anyway gives Janikowski crap Tom Cable will punch them in the face and threaten to kill them.

I’m not an Al Davis fan and never will be, I don’t wish death upon anyone but when he dies lets say I won’t mourn very long, but the one thing he does is pay. And if you look at this from an organizational stand point Janikowski is the third best player on the team, 1. Shane Lechler P 2. Nnamdi Asomugha CB 3. Sebastian Janikowski K, so he deserves a big long term contract. Everyone knows how important a good kicker can be, do you think that the Patriots would have won all those Super Bowls had it not been for Vinatieri, and Shane Graham didn’t exactly help the Bengals cause this year in the playoffs (missing two field goals), and there are countless more examples of how important kickers are (redskins fans?). Janikowski has been solid his entire career being in my opinion the most accurate kicker of all time, I know that Nate Kaeding is statistically the most accurate kicker but his team doesn’t have him kicking 58 – 65 yarders every other game (plus he blew three kicks against the Jets this postseason in their loss). This season Janikowski was 26 of 29 but the only kicks he missed were from 45, 57, and 65!!!, he also made a 61 yarder that is the third longest in NFL history. My point is that if the only good players you have are kickers then you might as well pay them, I hope they give a similar deal to Lechler, he is the best punter ever, book it, he will break every single important record for punters. I love Janikowski and because the rest of the team sucks and I know that he will be with the team for four more years I might trade in my Russell jersey for a number 11 jersey. There are only two all time Raiders from my generation that I like more than him, 1. Kerry Collins 2. Tim Brown so congratulations to my third favorite Raider of all time Sebastian Janikowski…I bet you he is drunk right now.

Since the Chuckdizzle has decided to ignore the facts and add Brett Favre to his awesome table, I felt the need to make a post reminding everyone of the reality, Brett Favre is not that great.  We all know about his records.  Sure he has the most TD passes ever, the most yards ever and the most passes completed ever.  We all know this.  It’s mentioned every single football game whether he is playing in it or not.  I would argue that the player with the most pass attempts of all time (favre) should have all these records.  And it isn’t like he doesn’t make mistakes.  He also is the all time leader in interceptions.  Of course all you Favre loving losers will say the person with the most passed should also have the most picks, basically the flip side of my argument against his records.  I would say you are right, on the average, the person who has the most attempts should lead in all things including picks… proving my point, he is average.  He has had a very long career, i’ll give him that, but for those to argue he is the greatest ever is just absurd.  But we at lost in the boxes have made it a point not be lost in box scores and examine other things, so lets do just that.  Favre is an ego maniac who only cares about himself and wants to win only to glorify himself.  The consecutive game streak is proof of that.  He forces himself to play under the guise of “wanting to win so bad” and “loving football” when really it costs his teams games.  If he really wanted to win he would keep himself fresh.  Take for example the 2008 season.  He plays well early leading the Jets to an 8-3 record and a demolition of the best team in the league Tennessee.  Then all of a sudden his shoulder acts up and he can’t complete a pass.  He should have taken a seat the last few games and they would’ve made the playoffs.  He could’ve gotten his rest and played better.  But instead he insisted on playing and keeping his streak alive costing the Jets wins… but his streak stayed alive so his ego stayed in check.  Then to no one’s surprise, he comes back in 2009 to play for the Vikings.  He does not go to training camp and just shows up with a mandate to be the starter.  Everyone has questions thanks to his terrible performance the year before which he answers by claiming he wasn’t healthy at the end of the year.  NOT HEALTHY BRETT, then why the %$&# were you playing?  Oh yea, cause you are an extreme ego maniac who desperately needs distance in your meaningless games started streak to validate yourself because of your lack of Super Bowls.  Lets also examine the way he has handled signings these past couple of years.  He makes sure to say he doesn’t know if he is coming back then shows up after camp is over ready to start.  How does this help anyone?  If he really cared about winning he’d announce his plans now and get with his team and be ready for the season.  Not show up late without the rigors of camp fresh so he can start every game whether he knows the offense or not to keep the streak alive.  Furthermore, last year he just bullied his coach into letting him throw more when they have the best RB in the NFC.  Am I surprised?  Heck no.  Childress all but handed him all of the leverage when he let him miss training camp and show up and start on his terms.  I think Favre was angling for that all along.  Even on Green Bay he was a terrible person.  A few years back, Javon Walker puts up a huge year while playing for the league minimum.  During the off season, he wanted a new contract which he deserved.  The Packers said no so a hold out ensued.  In the NFL contracts are not guaranteed so if a player gets hurt, he gets nothing.  So Walker wanted some sort of investment from the team to make sure he is taken care of for life.  People do this every year in football as well as in the real world.  The difference is in football you have to get it while you are still young.  If you play out a 5 year deal making the minimum and come back to negotiate at 30, you will not earn based on what you’ve done, you’ll earn based on what 30 year old receivers do, which is very little.  So he holds out until Bret Favre calls him out.  The man who just signed a 100 million dollar contract comes out in public to criticize someone making less than 1/10 of what he made to guilt him into coming into camp.  And of course, Walker blew out his knee in a preseason game and never got the contract from the Packers (though he was saved by the Raiders).  Walker had no choice.  The football god himself proclaimed him selfish if he didn’t play when he was only doing it to protect himself from the exact situation that happened.  If Favre was such a great guy, why didn’t he come out and say “we need to pay this guy, we need him to win.  The organization is being selfish.”  So fast forward to this year, he angles his way on to a really good team and has a good year and everyone craps themselves.  I refuse to be impressed that he was able to lob a ball into double coverage at the end of a game against the 49ers that was caught.  Lost in all that was the unbelievable play Sidney Rice made, not the throw.  I really hope Favre makes up his mind soon about playing next year cause I will not be able to handle Sportscenter Updates from Hatesburg MS.  If it ends this year I will always remember Favre as the ego maniac who loved himself more than his teams and did not belong with the names on the Dizzles list.  It has also needs to be pointed out that Favre’s last 3 games ended like this:

2007-2008 NFC Championship game – Threw pick in OT, Giants score on ensuing drive

2008-2009 season – Favre throws pick 6 to end the game against the Dolphins keeping the Jets home for the playoffs

2009-20010 NFC Championship Game – Favre fails to be a leader and keep only 11 men on the field resulting in a penalty, then bullies his leverage-less coach into throwing the ball, which he promptly does to the other team, Saints win on 1st ot possession.

Greatness…I think not.

                                                                                    

I know D-Dolla feels me on this, after winning a Super Bowl (something Dan Marino never did, Favre and Manning only did once) can we now say that Drew Brees should be in the conversation as one of the best quarterbacks of our generation. A quick list of four quarterbacks from our generation that arguably are the best is Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, and Dan Marino. This year was Drew’s ninth year in the league so I looked at the statistics for the previous four’s in their first nine or so seasons as pros (really it was however many years in their career’s it took to get to around 122 games played). Here is what I found:

Quarterback	Games Played	Cmp	Attempts	Cmp %	Yds	Tds	Ints	QB Rating
	122	2,697	4,164	64.8	30,646	202	110	91.9
	128	2,769	4,333	63.9	33,189	244	130	101
	129	2,672	4,218	63.3	30,844	225	99	93.3
	129	2,659	4,351	61.1	30,894	235	141	86.6
	119	2,480	4,181	59.3	31,416	241	136	86.4

So as you can see other than touchdowns, which is down about 20 to 30 than the other four, Drew’s numbers stack up to the greatest of our generation. So what happens if he has yet another good year next year and maybe the saints repeat, and then he wins one more before he retires? If he keeps on pace with his stats so far and remains on a good team he will end up with numbers equal to the best ever and could be a multiple Super Bowl winning quarterback. I’m not saying that he is the best ever, I just think it is time we include him in the conversation is all.