Checkdown Chatter

Yes, the title is two years two old, and well past its humour expiration date… but give me a break, I haven’t written anything in 6 months and I’m easing my way back in with a well used line.

It took a little longer than usual this year, life has been busy, work sucks, the usual, but I’ve fully caught NFL fever just in time for fantasy draft season and the opener on Thursday night.

As always, the 2011 NFL season is bringing with it lots of intrigue, and there are lots of interesting storylines to keep up with. I’ve decided today to enlighten you with a list of those things I’m looking forward to most.

• Fantasy Football.
  This is an obvious for most true fans, but it seems to me like the fantasy football hype is higher than ever, and most leagues are trying interesting new things, PPR, IDP, I’m in my first keeper league (first season where we keep guys, that is) this year and there are some interesting rule tweaks in all my leagues to really get you thinking.
• The 2011 rookie class.
  There are lots of potential impact players at all positions, but I’m particularly interested in seeing how RBs Jahvid Best and Ryan Mathews fare, (sorry, Montario, your hype is on hold). Mathews has some big shoes to fill in San Diego, replacing inner circle Hall of Fame candidate LaDainian Tomlinson, but he’s been handed the starting job for a reason, and Norv has a way of producing successful running backs. Then there is Best, who, I admit I’ve only seen about 5 minutes of in preseason, but I loved every minute of it. This guy can run, and is part of a young nucleus of players in Detroit that has a real chance to make some noise. Make no mistake, I’m not calling for the Lions in the playoffs, but I’m predicting them to be in a lot more games than they are out this year.

How big of an impact Jahvid Best will have in Detroit is still unknown, but he's a definite upgrade over Kevin Smith.

• Division races.
  Of course, it’s every team’s goal to improve in the offseason, but it sure seems to me like a lot of the middle ground teams are making some big leaps heading into ‘11 while the top tier is sticking with status quo. I’m not ready to hand division titles to anyone at the outset of the season. Well… lets be honest, its hard to pick any of the lowly AFC West gang to upset the Chargers, but, all other titles are up for grabs. Of particular interest, the AFC East with both the Jets (assuming they can welcome back Revis, and even still if not) and Dolphins making big leaps. I love me some Patriots, but that is going to be a tough division to come out of this year. I’d be shocked if the Cardinals manage to hang on in the NFC West too, after losing Warner, and Boldin and many cogs on defense. And even in the NFC East, are the Redskins finally ready to make some noise? If so, and if the Giants defense makes some improvement, we’ve got a legitimate 4 team race.
• The Green Bay Packers.
  Lots to love here, a very exciting football team with skill at every spot. Lots of people picking them early for the SuperBowl, and I’d be inclined to agree – but we have to see some significant steps in QB protection, and overall defense if they are going to get there. Still, this team is ready and every game will be exciting. If nothing else, the Packers will be producing some very watchable football this season.

Packers: contenders or pretenders? Most would side with the former, but either way, there will be 16+ action packed football games featuring the Pack this year.

• My first live game.
  Things are different North of the border, ok? I finally caught my first CFL game this year, and even with its inferior players, inferior rules, and general crapiness by comparison I had an AWESOME time. With passport in hand and the border nearby, I have no excuse not to be in Buffalo on at least one Sunday. Its the Bills, I know, but its still live football.

I doubt I'll be cheering for the home team... but just to be at the game...

That’s not necessarily the top 5, just a random spewing of thoughts, but the point is… I’m excited, like all of you for 2011, and can’t wait to get the season underway!

According to Pro Football Talk, and general common sense, Nick Folk is on his way out in Dallas.

It should come as no surprise that 1 week after surviving a ‘kick-off’ Dallas Cowboys kicker Nick Folk appears to be out in Dallas after nearly blowing their biggest win of the season, and their playoff hopes, on a chip shot vs. the Saints.

Shaun Suisham, who similarly lost his job after blowing a field goal against the Saints that DID end up costing his Redskins the game.

Everyone was (justifiably) ragging on Suisham at the time, but it may surprise you to know: he’s only missed 3 field goals this year. Folk has missed 10 and somehow managed to survive for 15 weeks.

Week 15, though I don’t have any statistics to back me up, had to be the worst week kicking in the NFL this season. The statistics aren’t yet available through profootballreference.com but, through 14 games the league had an 80.5% field goal percentage, already the worst mark in 5 years, and certain to go down after Week 15’s games, still, I was surprised to learn that its by far not the worst in recent memory. Apparently, before my time as a football fan/blogger/living human being, people in the NFL couldn’t kick to save their lives. From the 70’s through early 90’s it was pretty common to see league wide kicking statistics in the 60 and 70 percent range…

All Folk has to do is find a time machine and his 64% will do just fine. However, for now: its completely unacceptable on a pro-football team.

I’ll excuse the occasional missed 40 yarder, and 50s are obviously no gimme, but it amazes me that there aren’t 32 guys in the entire world that cannot routinely hit 30 and 40 yard field goals. I don’t kick in the NFL, and have no idea the talent it takes to do so, or the pressure these guys are under – but, if they were willing to pay me hundreds of thousands of dollars a season to do so, you could be sure I’d try to figure it out…

Sideline scuffle costs Smith. (Photo courtesy of AJC)

While it doesn’t come as a surprise that the league decided to take disciplinary action following last week’s sideline fracas during the Falcons/Redskins game I’ve got some issues with the decision. I’ll admit that I don’t know all the facts, but to the common observer there are a few discrepancies…

For starters: Mike Smith gets fined 15K while DeAngelo Hall walks away scott free. The league should hold its coaches, whom are technically responsible for keeping their players well behaved to a higher standard, so I get the fine of Smith, and I even get that it was a larger sum than the two players who were actually fined in the incident. But it doesn’t make sense to me how Hall, who has a history of ‘misbehavior’ and seemed to be just as heated/involved walks away clean. Hall, of course, knew it all along – according to his twitter account he’s been keeping his nose clean and staying out of trouble.

Perhaps more troubling: with the admission that coaches need to be held to a higher standard the league is continuing to let Tom Cable get away without discipline, despite the fact that while Smith may have said some hurtful things, he didn’t actually break someone’s jaw (nor was he accused of abusing women). Smith is fined immediately, while they hum and haw over disciplining Cable from an incident months ago. I guess the NFL doesn’t play by ’sticks and stones’ rules, which is funny because you’ll recall they let Jerry Jones get away with my other favourite school yard mantra ‘do over’ when deciding how to deal with a punt that hits the big screen.

A common trend in the NFL: WR gets upset, WR gets passes, WR seems happy, everyone else confused as to why whining gets you the ball...

(Please note: the above caption may be a little harsh, good for Romo and Williams getting things clicking, but its just an interesting coincidence).

• The first hook up between Romo and Roy Williams looked good. He hit him in stride over the middle, and Williams cut through Philly for a nice gain.
• Newman deserved that delay of game penalty, at first it looked like he may not have meant to kick the ball, but in slow-mo it was a boot, plain and simple. No matter, the Cowboys picked off McNabb (off the hands of Maclin) on the next play.
• Tashard Choice scored out of the wildcat on a short TD. The Dallas run game is hard to predict, but most often effective.
• McNabb has started 1/5 (0/4) and is facing pressure. So far the Dallas D looks good (sacked on consecutive plays).
• Jason Avant made a great grab, on perfect Cowboy coverage for a 20+ yard gain.
• Choice getting lots of looks out of the direct snap, and is making the most of them. Original Wildcat Michael Vick has yet to see the field.
• At half time, Miles Austin is without a catch. A big surprise here, though he couldn’t be expected to play at the level he was at forever. He’s been thrown too, including in the endzone, but has been well covered and they just aren’t connecting.
• Romo’s first pick in 140+ passes wasn’t a good one. Romo missed on a throw into tight coverage – he shouldn’t have gone to Witten on this one – and it killed a potential scoring drive with the Cowboys down 3.
• Roy Williams made a very nice back shoulder grab. The timing looks good between these two. I don’t think there is reason for Austin owners to be nervous, but, he’s still without a catch and that marks Williams’ 3rd.
• Nice interception by Jenkins, he had Maclin covered all the way and sets up the Cowboys with great field position when they need it.
• LeSean McCoy is over 100 total yards on 14 touches. He still doesn’t look too exciting to me running the football, but he does a good job of evading/breaking tackles.
• The Eagles are challenging a spot, for the 2nd time in the 2nd half. Its a tough play to reverse, didn’t look like McNabb got all that far… one thing that’s worth noting, on both spots Collinsworth and Michaels have provided some pretty solid insight. Both times the refs failed to see their comments in the replay, but they’ve always got something smart to say.
• Going for it on 4th down, and using up your lats time out on the challenge, on the other hand, doesn’t seem all that smart.
• There’s Miles Austin… just as I was about to gripe about the injustice of his 3 targets, he makes the biggest play of the game and Dallas goes up 7 on a 49 yard score. Can’t keep the guy down, what a 4 week run.
• Watching Barber plow through the Eagles D at the end of this one I wonder how foolish the Eagles feel for having no timeouts… and for kicking the late field goal.
• With the win, the Cowboys move into first place in the NFC East. Interestingly, that is the Cowboys first divisional win and the Eagles move to 2-1 (as are the Giants). This could set up an interesting tie break situation, and the Eagles and ‘Boys get each other in Week 17… the Eagles have a tough upcoming road schedule though…
• Romo went over 300 yards, and had a TD and an INT. A pretty strong outing. Barber finished with a solid average, but still hasn’t rushed for more than 53 yards in recent memory. Williams finished with 5 for 75, and Austin only had one grab but he got the game winning score.
• McNabb was 16/30 with a touchdown and was picked off twice. McCoy had a Westbrook like performance, contributing in the pass and run games.

I’m pretty sure I’m getting screwed by the play above. I lead my nfl.com league by 10 points going into the night with David Akers playing against me on MNF. Looking at the field conditions, Akers is probably in for a field goaley night, so 10 points is conceivable.

Romo is credited for 14 rush yards on the above play, and 31 on the day, 3 fantasy points worth. But, that penalty called the play back, right? Thus, those 14 yards don’t count after the hold, and he should have a total of 17 or one fantasy point. I was watching the game, and the live box score looked a lot different than the play on the field. Am I getting screwed here?

All the analysts are telling you that Clinton Portis’ legs are tired after all the mileage, and his body is breaking down on him. Agreed, the game film and his stats clearly show this. (As I write Portis has rushed 13 times for 39 yards on Monday Night Football).

He’s not just running slow, however. Watching him in this game, it seems like he’s stopped looking for holes. Every time I’ve paid attention when he had the ball Portis goes 2 yards and slams into a wall of defenders. Is some of that the fault of the line? play calls? most likely. But I don’t see any lateral movement, he’s just straight into the wall and down…he’s simply not explosive anymore.

In other this running back looks slower than he should news from this game: Brian Westbrook left early with a concussion and LeSean McCoy has failed to impress as the teams de facto feature back. He’s rushed 9 times for 19 at the 13 minute mark in the 4th. McCoy has added 4 grabs for another 19 yards, but again, nothing all that impressive here outside of 1 15 yard gain.

All the analysts are telling you that Clinton Portis’ legs are tired after all the mileage, and his body is breaking down on him. Agreed, the game film and his stats clearly show this. (As I write Portis has rushed 13 times for 39 yards on Monday Night Football).

He’s not just running slow, however. Watching him in this game, it seems like he’s stopped looking for holes. Every time I’ve paid attention when he had the ball Portis goes 2 yards and slams into a wall of defenders. Is some of that the fault of the line? play calls? most likely. But I don’t see any lateral movement, he’s just straight into the wall and down…he’s simply not explosive anymore.

In other this running back looks slower than he should news from this game: Brian Westbrook left early with a concussion and LeSean McCoy has failed to impress as the teams de facto feature back. He’s rushed 9 times for 19 at the 13 minute mark in the 4th. McCoy has added 4 grabs for another 19 yards, but again, nothing all that impressive here outside of 1 15 yard gain.