On Good and Bad Coaches

I kept wondering yesterday as I watched the Arizona-Green Bay match, “how many times could I hit Mike McCarthy in the head with a 2x4 before he covered up”? After Warner’s first TD pass, I would have been thinking, “maybe I should rush this guy”. After the second, it would have been, “ok, the very next TD he throws, I’m going to start putting the heat on this sonova gun”.

And then I would have really started bringing linebackers, safeties, corners at Warner…..and you know what? Maybe he beats the blitz a couple of times but maybe he doesn’t finish the game either. In no event does he continue carving up my defense with absolutely no ramifications.

If I knew McCarthy was going to sit back, rush three and play a friggin’ zone, there is absolutely no way I would have picked Green Bay to win that game. You couldn’t have given me enough points. The NFL makes teams divulge injuries but not gameplans. There is no reporting requirement for stupidity.

It was painful for me to watch the heroic effort of Aaron Rodgers in the face of a rush, scrambling around, making impossible throws to an almost equally adept group of receivers. That Jennings catch on the sidelines was one of the best I’ve ever seen. Green Bay did not deserve to lose. Only McCarthy did.

So Mike McCarthy joins my list of bad coaches, along with the memorable Herm Edwards, Rich Kotite and other numbskulls from the past. Thankfully for me, he was not on the Jets sideline. We had a guy who isn’t a real deep thinker. He’s just a guy who reacts to what’s right there in front of him.

And what was in front of Rex Ryan Saturday were the Cincinnati Bengals….those poor bastards. They didn’t stand a chance. Ryan’s pound-the-rock offense and his grinding defense made the Bengals paper tigers. And, while I had picked the Jets to cover, I thought that they’d lose in the end; I thought they’d lose to a veteran quarterback, Carson Palmer, while their rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez would finally succumb to the gravity of the moment and throw a pick or two.

But it wasn’t just pounding that ground down the Bengals. It was misdirection. The Jets watched the films, DVD’s probably….whatever. They saw a pursuing defense, some might have said an over-pursuing defense, and they took advantage. They took the lead and held it. But you can’t misdirect without the threat of pounding. And that threat was taken very seriously by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Of course, much of that strategy went unreported. That telecast was one of the worst ever on television. Joe Gibbs is a color guy? I still can’t remember anything the play-by-play fella said; in fact, I still can’t remember his name. (I looked it up..Tom Hammond?) The color guy was Joe Theisman. To most football fans, I’ll have to say no more. Somebody called him the human filibuster. He was being kind. Theisman didn’t even know the rules for a catch. It was either that or his mouth was moving waay faster than his brain could kick in.

Of course, none of that’s important. The Jets won. They romped. And they talked. Then they talked some more. But that’s okay. Rex is strong on visualization. What the hell, it seems to be working. I can see him at work behind the scenes, “Now, Mark, I want you to picture Dustin Keller all alone behind the defense, you’re running right with nobody in your face and all you have to do is throw the ball to him.” If anything like that did in fact happen, I wouldn’t be surprised.
The Pats lost, of course, to a Ravens team that used a lot of the same Jets tactics to overwhelm their opponent. This was another game that I picked for the Ravens to cover but not win. I gave too much credit to Brady and Belichick and the Pats being home and all that meant absolutely nothing, nada, zilch to the Ravens. They just kicked butt. And it surely was a sweet thing to see.
Those Ravens were ready and the readiest Raven was Ray Rice. (Say that 5 times fast). Ray just started off by scooting through an opening and then turning on the jets for an 83-yard touchdown. Then their defensive end on just a 3-man front gets around his blocker and swipes the ball out of Brady’s hand resulting in another touchdown. And that was pretty much all she wrote.

I must say though that I’m somewhat surprised that some people are thinking that that game might mark the end of the Patriots dominance. That’s pretty crazy. Belichick will analyze and measure to the nth degree, make the changes he must, and the Pats will be back. Then the Pats fans will say, “Geez, it’s so nice not to have Vrabel and Seau and……”.

I’m working backwards here somewhat as the game I cared about most, except for the Jets game, is the one I’m covering last. It wasn’t much of a game though. McNabb had no time to throw and his fleet of fleet receivers never got open. DeSean Jackson…erased, Jeremy Maclin…who?, Brent Celek….huh? The Cowboys made them disappear.

I have to admit that Wade Phillips used to be on my list of horrible coaches, stemming mostly from his alleged contention that he could devise a defense that could consist of nobodies….that his brilliant strategy of spacing and discipline could totally frustrate any opponent. No stars would be required. I guess years of failure at Denver may have changed his mind. His defense now seems to have been adapted so that his stars are used in his defense to fully showcase their abilities…..but within the scheme of his overall strategy. It was his defense that beat Philadelphia. And it was his defense that got the Cowboys into the game at all.

J-E-T-S….Jets…..Jets….JETS!! Next stop San Diego and more later on that.