Bleacher Report - Articles by Nathan Davis

Wish Granted...Jay Cutler On The Move

Nathan Davis — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:09:28 -0400

So the Broncos traded Jay Cutler. Just like he asked to be. Whether he really wanted them to or not, we'll never know.

''I was surprised they decided to trade me this soon,'' Cutler told Foxsports.com. ''I didn't want to get traded. This wasn't me. They had been going back and forth saying things, wanting me to be their quarterback, and then they didn't. I really didn't want this. I love Denver. I really like my teammates. I didn't want it to get this far.''

At this point, I think the Broncos got the better deal. The bottom line is they got rid of the temperamental Cutler. Aside from that, grabbing TWO first round picks from the Bears for the guy is grand larceny. It is hard to believe they got that much for him. Considering players like Randy Moss, L.T., Matt Cassel, etc., had trade values set at ONE 2nd, 3rd or 4th round pick, TWO first rounders is alot for a guy who has never been in or won a playoff game. Talk about steep. (We're not exactly talking about Peyton Manning here.)

Personally, I think the Bears would have been better off keeping Orton and keeping the continuity at QB, and then building the parts of their team that they need. Like wide receivers...or even just one decent one...or an offensive line. I guess the Bears REALLY wanted to be able to say that not having a respected QB wasn't their problem anymore. But TWO first rounders? Talk about overpaying.

Even before his latest antics, Jay Cutler was wearing thin on even some Broncos fans. And I can understand why. Seeing Cutler play in the AFC West every year, he reminds me of Jeff George. No, really. Strong arm, soft head...and emotionally temperamental. His passing stats are as high as they are because of the team throwing on nearly every down. Much like Texas Tech's QB's numbers are so gaudy, the same goes for Jay's numbers. But when it counts, he often looks disinterested, indifferent, and often times makes ill-advised throws that result in turnovers because he's so enamored with his own arm strength. Again, Jeff George.

The stat that he is 13-1 when his defense holds the other team to less than 21 points is ridiculous. Last season, 24 teams averaged 21 or more points a game. Of course a team that holds two-thirds of the league under their average points scored per game is going to be successful. Its like saying "If we score more points than the other team, we'll win most of our games."

My guess is that as long as Cutler is happy in Chicago, they'll get good enough play out of him to have it be an upgrade over Orton. But at what cost?

It has been interesting to read the Bears fan's comments around the web after this trade. It doesn't sound like they thought the trade was a good one. I for one think most of them are right.

LaDanian Tomlinson...and the Chargers...Two Separate Things Now?

Nathan Davis — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:35:55 -0400

L.T.’s future with the Chargers looks pretty tentative these days, unfortunately. Before anything officially happens, I’d like to address two things...One ridiculous theory and a certain factor that can’t be coincidental.

First off, the idea that L.T. “cannot carry the load” anymore is ridiculous. Any of us who follow the team know that last offseason the “genius” A.J. Smith cut loose the No. 1 and No. 2 fullbacks on the team (Lorenzo Neal and Andrew Pinnock).

He replaced those two guys with two rookies...one who was UNDRAFTED (Mike Tolbert from Coastal Carolina) and the other is undersized and was being groomed as a running back in the Charger’s system until midseason (Jacob Hester).

So you replace a Hall-of-Fame fullback AND his backup with two rookies and don’t expect there to be any drop off in running game production? A.J. made a FOOLISH move here. L.T. had virtually ZERO running lanes opened up by his fullbacks. And to add to it, our offensive line simply wasn’t that good this past year.

Secondly, A.J. has systematically run off EVERY SINGLE PLAYER who is represented by Tom Condon and REFUSES TO SPEAK TO THE AGENT IN ANY FASHION. The same problem existed in the past with players like Drew Brees, Donnie Edwards, Rodney Harrison, now LaDanian Tomlinson.

The list is LONG. These players are ALL represented by Tom Condon and are no longer with the Chargers following less-than-cordial separations from the Charger’s organization.

How is A.J.’s behavior even remotely objective and in the interest of the Charger’s organization? Personally, I think that A.J.’s ego is the biggest problem facing the Chargers today.

Yes, L.T. is entering the final years of his brilliant career. But we can’t forget that he is still arguably the best back in the league right now...at least top three. It just makes no sense to me to run the guy off and not have a legitimate plan to fill the void left when he’s gone.

That would be a big void to fill on and off the field. L.T’s the reason the Chargers are even relevant in the league these days. We can’t forget that. Let’s hope by some miracle general manager A.J. Smith somehow remembers that.

So, you may ask, what has A.J. Smith done that makes him so “omnipotent"?

A.J. came to San Diego as an Assistant GM when he followed John Butler from Buffalo to San Diego. A.J. took over as General Manager a few years back when John passed away after losing a battle with cancer.

His first couple of drafts were pretty good. He’s mostly known for his playing hardball with the Giants in drafting Eli Manning and then getting Rivers, Merriman, and Kaeding out of the deal. Great move.

It got him the NFL Executive of the Year award. That and a few good draft picks has fostered the mindset with some that he has restored the Chargers franchise to relevance (although that really happened when Butler drafted L.T. and hired Marty Schottenheimer).

But since then, A.J.’s had quite a few draft busts and has become absolutely Stalin-like with free agents or anyone on his team who he doesn’t favor.

Meanwhile, the team has suffered from a total disregard for adding talent to the team through free agency.

It’s a vital part of filling out a 63-man roster but he just doesn’t see it that way...and it doesn’t help that lots of free agents won’t bother negotiating any deals to come to San Diego because A.J. is such a blowhard.

That’s probably why most of the personnel he brings in to fill holes are rookies, or first and second-year guys...because no veteran would put up with it.

The team just lost one of the better defensive linemen in Igor Olshansky because A.J. didn’t like that he and his agent asked for a contract extension before he became a free agent this offseason. How dare he do that, huh?

A.J. just decided that he didn’t like that and that he could simply replace him in the draft. He thinks he has the “midas touch" on anything he does so why not think he can simply draft a replacement? Yeah, that really worked out with the Fullbacks you drafted this past year, didn’t it A.J.?

What an egotistical jerk.

We’re also about to lose one of our best athletes on the team in Kassim Osgood. A hometown SDSU player who’s made the pro bowl many times over on special teams. The reason he’s being let go?

Kassim asked too often to be given an opportunity to play wide receiver...which was his natural position prior to the Chargers. The guy’s an exceptional athlete. What could it hurt to let him try and apply that to your offense?

A.J.’s tenure is full of questionable calls. Personally, I think his biggest blunder has to do with coaching. In 2001, the team fired Head Coach Mike Riley and Offensive Coordinator Norv Turner after a 5-11 season (Mike Riley was 14-34 overall).

John Butler hired Marty Schottenheimer (the fifth winningest NFL Head coach ever) to restore the franchise to respectability. Before Marty, the Chargers had only three winning seasons during a span of 21 years.

Marty did his job. After some rebuilding, the Chargers got to the playoffs two years in a row after a 10-year absence and were becoming an elite team. But A.J. didn’t like that Marty had an opinion of his own on anything...especially when it differed from his.

A.J. fought Marty on everything...and even went as far as openly mocking him in front office meetings.

After the 2006 season was over, Marty had 1 year left on his contract and it was time to renew or extend it before going into the final year of the contract. There was some back and forth about whether or not it was going to get done and the owner came out (press conference) and said unequivocally that Marty would “be back next year."

A.J. offered him an extension contract worth the same $4 million a year as he was currently getting but with a $500,000 buyout. Basically, a joke of a contract. So Marty politely declined and said he’ll honor the contact they already had and they could work out an extension next year.

So, as January ended and teams filled their coaching needs and prepped for the offseason and draft, our assistant coaches began to field offers for jobs. Given the situation, it makes sense to accept a job offer now or face the likeliness of being fired a year from now when Marty’s contract expires.

I don’t blame them. Wade Phillips went from Chargers Defensive Coordinator to Head Coach at Dallas. Cam Cameron went from Offensive Coordinator to Head Coach in Miami. In all, six coaches took better job offers.

It was during the Chargers’ process of replacing these coaches that Marty met his demise. Marty had a list of guys that he wanted to bring in to fill out his staff and A.J. disagreed with every one of them wanting to bring in his own guys.

It got to a point where Marty asked for a sit down meeting with the owner and A.J. to try and work through the personal conflicts. A.J. declined.

The impasse got so big that the owner had to step in and “fix" the dysfunctional situation by removing one of them. It was Marty who was let go…two weeks after the owner had said he’d be back.

So, A.J. got his way...and brought in his coaches. He brought in two “YES" men in Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell. Norv was in his sixth job in seven years in San Francisco and Ted was out of coaching after being fired from his last two Defensive Coordinator jobs (the last having been two years prior at the time).

A.J. liked these guys from working with them in the past and knew that neither would challenge him on anything. He worked with Ted in Buffalo and Norv in S.D. when he was our offensive coordinator for one year...the year before Marty came in to replace that coaching staff.

I understand that we cannot roll back time and fix this mistake, nor am I advocating living in the past. This is simply a great example of a glaring problem of ego and obstructionism on A.J.'s behalf and it is highly counterproductive to a franchise trying to win.

So, as you may have guessed, there’s not a lot of love in my household for Mr. A.J. Smith. I believe he’s destroying my franchise...and quite a few Chargers fans feel the same way.

San Diego Chargers Fans Left To Ponder Season and the What If's

Nathan Davis — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:20:49 -0500

As the offseason begins, fans and writers alike begin to pontificate on the season that was and what could have been or should have been, etc. Yesterday, someone tried to make the argument that they would still take this year’s team over the 14-2 team that we had a couple of years ago that lost in its first playoff game of the postseason.

He tried to support his argument with statements like “at least we won a playoff game” or “at least we shut the Peyton worshipers up.” It got me thinking about the subject. I guess none of us are immune to the desire to chime in with their thoughts on their team, so allow me to wade in while the water is warm.

For me, I’d easily rather watch a 14-2 team for a whole season than a 4-8/8-8 team. At least the season would have been enjoyable (at 14-2). This season simply wasn’t.

So what if we played one more game than the 14-2 team did a few years ago. This season was a train wreck to watch and game after game was simply a test of how much of a fan you were.

With the exception of maybe three games, we didn’t play well for four quarters in any games. Quite frankly, it was hard to watch this team most of the season. So the Broncos completed their colossal failure and we snuck into the playoffs.

I personally had a much more enjoyable season watching the team that went 14-2. You knew you’d see some good football each game and you knew the Chargers were likely going to win.

They played well, with passion and intensity and dominated most of the season. More importantly, they did it over the course of 14 out of 16 games. It made you proud to be a Chargers fan.

It made you cheer and smile to watch a team play well and be something worth your praise and admiration.

Completely different story with this year’s 8-8 team. They were pathetic in most phases of the game almost the entire season. You had no idea if they were going to come out and completely embarrass themselves (which they did at times) or play well.

More importantly, you had no idea if they even had a chance to win each game. With maybe two exceptions, every game had something that was not going well at any given time (even in the games we DID win).

There were entire quarters or entire half's that we were just plain awful. Whether it was poor play, poor play-calling, offense or defense, it happened all season long.

So, would you rather have an entire season of watching excellently executed winning football and have one tough loss in the second round of the playoffs? Or would you rather watch an entire season of disorganized and poorly played losing football and sneak into the playoffs and win one playoff game only to get blown out in the second round of the playoffs?

For me, that’s an easy choice.

Khalil Greene Trade Is Good For The Cardinals...and Greene.

Nathan Davis — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:28:37 -0500

The San Diego Padres have agreed to trade shortstop Khalil Greene to the St. Louis Cardinals for two players, according to media reports. The Padres are likely to get pitching in return for Greene, but more importantly, they will shed the $6.5 million salary he is due next season.

Honestly, I’m a Padres fan (hard to say these days), and I believe the Cards got a good deal in this trade.

For those of you who do not follow the Padres, let me share something you probably don't know about. I'm sure that most of you haven't heard about the franchise’s ridiculous hitting “philosophy” that CEO Sandy (Moron) Alderson has been force-feeding the team.

Offense in San Diego has plummeted since Sandy came on board with this nonsense. Essentially, his “philosophy” mandates hitters to simply focus on the count and the situational statistical probabilities ONLY during an at-bat.

This means in certain counts and situations the players are instructed to IGNORE what the pitcher throws them. It's a completely bogus plan and has not worked even in the slightest. It has players completely baffled at the plate trying to process too much information and then try to “turn on” their hitting ability when the count and situation say its O.K.

I know this sounds absolutely hard to believe, but its true. Three hitting coaches in the past three years (two fired, one resigned), and countless examples of veteran and rookie players looking absolutely confused with a bat shows it.

Watching the team stare down straight fastballs for called strike three 6-8 times a game certainly says the plan isn't working. The whole “philosophy” is absurd.

That said, I think Khalil being traded to the Cardinals and getting to go back to the major leagues is a good thing for him and the Cards. He can go back to being a real big-league baseball player, and approach hitting the way every real team does…except for the Padres.