On Bad Coaches and Players and Good Games

As I finally get to watch a college bowl game that I’ve heard of, the Cotton Bowl, my thoughts turn to some of the crazy happenings this week in sports.

Giants defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan’s responses to questions regarding his job status, Broncos’ head coach Josh McDaniel’s decision to bench Brandon Marshall for the finale and Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni’s decision to take Nate Robinson off the bench against the Hawks, come immediately to mind.

First there is the remarkable story of Bill Sheridan, Giants defensive coordinator.

He benched Osi Umenyiora, arguably the best defensive player on the team. He never rushed the passer despite having the worst secondary in the league. His players never showed any heart despite having shown pretty unequivocally two years ago that they had huge heart when playing for Steve Spagnuolo. He’s big on losing the forest for the trees.

But Sheridan thinks he should be retained. He actually said the following earlier this week:
“One thing at least we will get credit for is we stuck to our plan of how we’re going to coach and how we’re going to teach and gameplan….We’ve done that every single week and, like they say, the proof will be in hindsight.”

Excuse me, Bill, but……this year’s Giants defense has performed worse than just about any Giants defense in the long and mostly illustrious history of that great franchise. They have allowed 49 touchdowns in 15 forgettable contests, 20 on the ground, 27 through the air and 2 special teams TD’s.

The best defensive team also resides in New York, or actually New Jersey, if you want to be technical. That would be the New York Jets. They actually have a meaningful game tomorrow. Anyway, they have allowed just 26 (vs. 49) touchdowns, 11 rushing (vs. 20), just 8 (vs. 27) through the air, and a comparatively bad 7 on special teams. Compare….8 receiving touchdowns to the Giants 27!

Sheridan is a man who tried to get himself situated in the booth rather than the sidelines for games. His responses the other day to questions as to his job status tell you why. They are suggestive as to his personality. He is an automaton.

Football is an emotional game. Maybe Sheridan would fit better at Toyota.
I’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief when he is gone.

I actually have mixed feelings on the Josh McDaniels/Brandon Marshall showdown number 2. On Marshall’s side is the fact that an injury is an injury. On the coach’s side is the fact that an MRI showed nothing wrong. Coach also is sitting Tony Scheffler, his tight end, who has grumbled about game plans. Good for him. They should take the measure of Kansas City without those two malcontents.

Then there’s the curious case of Nate Robinson, the nutcase Knicks guard with a lot of talent and…..well, that’s all. He scored 41 last night to beat the Hawks but the Knicks record without Robinson in the lineup was 9-6. Nate doesn’t defend, doesn’t listen to his coach… or anybody for that matter, and doesn’t seem to really care who wins the game.

I’m almost sorry Robinson impressed last night. The Knicks are better without him. Good for Mike D’Antoni for having the guts to sit him, and the guts to play him as a last resort. But Robinson won’t change. In the long run, he’ll be a detriment to winning. Bring him in when you need some scoring and then sit him along with his other clueless friend Mr. Curry.

I’ve pretty much had it with selfish players. And clueless coaches too.

In this same vein, in a new book by Bob McGinn, “The Ultimate Super Bowl Book”, there are some real gems, including stats from the games and other things you’d expect, but also some interviews and quotes from coaches and players in hindsight on the games. I highly recommend it.

For Giants fans, there are several tidbits of “inside the game” type material, such as Bill Belichick’s take on the game, details as to the defensive calls and big plays, and a re-hash of the big catch by Tyree and the double-move and fade by Plaxico for the game-winner.

There are also quotes from Spagnuolo, such as his recollection of the long Patriots drive that preceded the winning Giants drive…..”It was max-protection, they kept the tight end in. They were in a pressure situation needing to score and they executed their offense…..We should have pressured more.”

It’s also worth noting that Rex Ryan’s Dad Buddy coached the defensive line for the Jets in Super Bowl III, and that Don Maynard was hurt pretty badly, which was why George Sauer caught all the passes that day from Broadway Joe. I was also reminded that, after the AFL Kansas City Chiefs whipped the NFL’s Vikings the very next year, 1970, there was the merger.

Each one of those first four NFL-AFL games was truly more than a game. Ever since, each Super Bowl has pretty much just been another game.

Not that each game doesn’t have its own excitement though; tomorrow’s Jets game will certainly go a long way towards defining the Jets stature in New York, along with that of Rex Ryan and those defensive stars, Revis and Scott and Harris, and whether Ochocinco will make good on his web-site promises.

There’s the Cowboys-Eagles game too. Will McNabb and that wondrous group of wide-outs dictate against a Cowboys defense that sparkles, especially against the run. (When I was foaming at the mouth about the Eagles earlier, I hadn’t considered that the Boyz defense had only allowed 7 rushing touchdowns all year and just 19 through the air….the Eagles numbers are 10 and 25…quite a difference).

The Pats – Texans will also be a big one. The Texans have a decent shot at the playoffs still, and the 1 PM start guarantees they won’t know in advance how the Ravens and Broncos and Jets are doing.

The Steelers have about the same shot. Stay tuned.

Of Mets Follies and Football Too!

You're probably asking yourself how anybody could be writing about baseball when there are so many exciting things happening in football, and even basketball. I'm wondering myself actually. My only excuse is that I'm worried bigtime that Mets GM Omar Minaya will make another "brilliant" move, one on the order of his Moises Alou or Luis Castillo ploys.

Who knows if it's true but I keep hearing rumors that the Mets will trade Carlos Beltran and are listening to proposals concerning the Mets great centerfielder. Not only that but I hear the suitors are the Yankees and the principal Yankee for the Mets would be Robinson Cano and a couple of relief pitchers. What a mistake that would be, but just the kind of mistake for which Minaya has become famous.

GM’s sometimes lose the forest for the trees. The Mets need two relief pitchers and a closer. Period. There is Kerry Wood of the Cubs. There is Brian Fuentes. There are a few other short relievers in free agency.

The Mets have second basemen. Damion Easley plays second base as does Luis Castillo and an exciting fellow named Argenis Reyes, all of whom are already on the roster. Second base, while not a comparative strength, was not the reason the Mets folded again.

Need I remind anyone? It was relief pitching. We need relief pitching. Hello Omar, are you there? We need those guys who come out after the starter and before the end of the game. For most teams, Omar, the end of the game was not coincident with the appearance of the first relief pitcher.

To lose Beltran at all would be a grievous loss but to lose him for a disgruntled attitude problem such as Cano would be unforgivable. I'd stop rooting for the Mets. That would be one step over the line for even this stout fan. If Beltran is requesting a trade, I'd be surprised. But, if he indeed is requesting a trade, I'd like to at least be aware of it.

It's not outrageous to think that Beltran may have had enough of Mets fans. He may be ready to move on. And the Mets do have an outfielder down in the minors who's probably ready. If this is the case, if Beltran is begging for a trade, I'd try to accommodate him, if just because the Mets do have a young fellow they've been bragging about for years.

But I'd only accommodate him if we could get equal value, or even nearly equal value. Robinson Cano is a Yankees problem they're trying to unload. Carlos Beltran is a legitimate star, the best all-around centerfielder in Major League Baseball. Equal value would mean a position player acknowledged to be one of the best in the game. Pitchers are too fragile.

The only player out there I'd seriously consider would be the Rockies Matt Holliday. Now he's a star. Not a centerfielder but a star. Holliday could provide even more than Beltran at the plate and adequately cover left field. He could be the clutch hitter the Mets have so desperately needed. There are no second basemen who could compare to Beltran at the plate, certainly not Cano.

It would be totally unacceptable to watch Carlos Beltran cruising around in centerfield for the Yankees, especially knowing that we received Robinson Cano in return. It would be a constant reminder of the Mets incompetence. I couldn't root for a team that had no brains whatsoever at the top.

Okay, enough about the Mets. After all, it’s November. The Giants play the Eagles Sunday night. It should be a nice game, totally different from the first Thursday night game we witnessed last night on NFL Network.

While we did get to witness the remarkable debut of Browns’ quarterback Brady Quinn last night, it was accomplished against a very suspect Broncos defense. That the Broncos managed to win the game was not so much a tribute to the Broncos as it was an indicator of how truly bad is the Browns defense. It was dramatic, though, and a kick in the face for Quinn in his Browns debut.

If you like defense, though, tune in to the Giants game Sunday night. Unlike the Browns-Broncos debacle, the quarterbacks won’t have ten seconds or so to get rid of the ball. There will be plenty of blitzes and plenty of scrambling by McNabb and Manning.

There will be legitimate running games displayed too. Both teams feature huge offensive lines and either powerful running backs, in the Giants case Brandon Jacobs and Derrek Ward, or shifty running backs such as the Eagles Brian Westbrook.

I keep remembering last year’s second game with the Eagles though, a totally boring affair, boring because McNabb had Giants linemen in his face all night long. But the most omnipresent of all was Osi Umenyiora, and he will not be on the field Sunday. That’s why I am picking the Eagles on Sunday to beat the Giants.

The Eagles will stop Jacobs and Ward, the self-styled Thunder and Lightning or Earth, Wind and Fire (with Ahmad Bradshaw). The Giants will try to stop everything the Eagles and McNabb do, but alas, they’ll come up short, if only because the Eagles will be hungrier, and have vivid memories of last year fresh in their minds. Oh, and did I mention the new Eagles cornerback from the Pats, a fellow named Samuel?

Oh, and let me not forget basketball entirely. The Knicks have been just as expected. Playing unevenly, playing out of control many times but they are moving the ball, going nowhere very quickly. The Nets can’t even say that much, at this juncture anyway, with all those young fellows.

Yes sirree…it’ll be a nice November and December, if you don’t expect too much. Most of the football action will center around the Cowboys, what with Tony Romo returning, but the real action will be right here in New York down the stretch.