Bleacher Report - Articles by Reuben Cohen

The Top 10 NFL Wide Receivers

Reuben Cohen — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:37:46 -0500

The WR position has been the most tumultuous position in the NFL of late, with guys like Plaxico Burress going and shooting their careers in the foot (or, in Burress' case, the thigh). But it is still overlooked that the WR position is one of the deepest, most talented pool of players in the National Football League. So I'll count down from the 10th best in the league to #1. I won't tell you who that is, but it's not Brandon Marshall, despite my having his picture (Marshall is on the list somewhere, though.) Enjoy!

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When Will They Ever Learn? Oft-Forgotten Facts About Brett Favre

Reuben Cohen — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:09:06 -0500

The New York Jets should have played closer attention to the photo above before they traded for waffling QB Brett Favre during training camp. The photo was shot after one of Favre many picks thrown in the 16 years he wore the Green and Gold. 286 regular season interceptions, to be exact. He never threw fewer than 13 in a season, and once he actually got 29, in 2005.

Many onlookers were stunned by Favre's apparent resurrection in 2007 after a few years preceding it similar to and including that horrendous '05 campaign (in that season Favre threw more interceptions than any quarterback except for Carson Palmer threw touchdowns—Palmer had 32).

These onlookers must have included Jets management.

Because apparently the guys in charge in New York forgot that Favre was almost 39 years old.

They must have overlooked that Favre had thrown more interceptions than any player in NFL history.

And they ignored the fact that Favre had not played for any team other than the Green Bay Packers for 16 years.

No wonder the Jets' Favre experiment was a failure.

And whichever teams are interested in picking up Favre this time (because I guarantee you he won't be back on the Jets if he plays at all) will need to take into account that he's 39 years old and he's added to his interception total.

They will need to decide if the PR gained by getting a future Hall of Famer is worth playing with a sub-par starting quarterback.

Stop the Name-Changing: An Appeal on Behalf of Family Values

Reuben Cohen — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:19:31 -0500

These days when we mention family values, we tend to think of gay marriage and abortion rights. The family values that I'm talking about are about maintaining the pride and integrity of families and their names.

Before the 2008 NFL season began, Cincinnati Bengals WR Chad Johnson (pictured above) made big news by legally changing his last name to his nickname, Ocho Cinco.

He implied it was for the purpose of selling jerseys.

I find this behavior despicable. One's name is something that should be taken very seriously, and changing it on a whim is, I believe, immoral and should not be allowed to happen.

This was not the only incident of an NFL player changing his name on a faulty premise just in this season.

In December, little known Tampa Bay defensive end Greg White announced his intentions to change his name to Stylez G. White. The incident was probably inspired by Johnson's similar announcement in August.

What White did also angers me. By changing your first name, you disgrace your parents who christened you when you were born and raised you with that one name.

However, what Johnson did is even worse.

By changing his last name, he is effectively shunning his entire ancestry who lived their lives with the name Johnson.

Johnson will also be burdening his future descendants by making them have the incredibly stupid last name of Ocho Cinco all because of one man's selfishness.

Names can carry a lot of power. Changing them suddenly as a publicity stunt is an abuse of one's own identity. To me, it shows that these men do not take life very seriously, as they're in their teams' multi-million dollar bubble while the rest of the world suffers from economic hardship.

Names can be, and hopefully are, things to respect. But as for myself, I find it difficult to respect people who willingly made their names by Chad Ocho Cinco and Stylez G. White.

In Defense of the BCS: Why the System Works, and How to Find a Compromise

Reuben Cohen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:35:57 -0500

One of the largest current controversies in sports right now is college football's Bowl Championship Series system. As MLB's Roger Clemens scandal and the NFL's Spygate died down, the BCS debate has taken over the country, with "pundits" and "experts" taking sides in a gruesome war of words and ideas.

The already red-hot issue escalated further in October when President-elect Barack Obama advocated for a playoff system. I'd hate to go against the President-elect, but when it all comes down to it, the BCS is the best we can get.

While the National Championship game often turns out to be a dud, there is nothing to suggest that different teams should have been in it. Take the last two years. Is there anything to suggest that any other team would have done better than Ohio State against Florida and LSU, even though they got routed in both games? No.

Had there been a tournament in 2006, Ohio State would have beaten Michigan and USC and any other contenders just as soundly as they had in every game of their undefeated regular season.

This year is a good example as well, although you still can make cases for USC and Utah (pictured above after winning Allstate Sugar Bowl). Oklahoma dominated teams all year except for one misstep to Texas. Florida showed excellent poise in the quarterback position and across the team, coming back from a bad loss better than ever. Both teams had Heisman candidates, with Oklahoma's Sam Bradford eventually winning the award.

When the National Championship was first announced, many were concerned about Texas not getting a chance to play for the prestigious title. But now it seems that the selection committee got it right. Texas, selected to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, pretty much laid a goose egg against a previously struggling Ohio State team. The Longhorns only won by three points. I can only imagine how much worse they would do against Oklahoma or Florida.

I'm not going to make the arguments "with the BCS the entire season's a playoff" and "the kids have so much fun going to the bowls." You've heard those before. I am trying to show you that the BCS gets the games right, something that they have quite a good record with, actually.

While I have been a much stauncher defender of the BCS in the past, my faith in the system did waver slightly this year after I saw the team that I root for, USC, rout Penn State in the Rose Bowl and not get a chance to contend for the National Championship. This got me thinking about possible compromises between a bowl system and a playoff system.

I promised I wouldn't mention that the players enjoy the bowl experience, but it is widely accepted as fact now. So in my plans I incorporated that issue.

My rough plan includes an eight-team playoff in place of the major BCS bowls. When the tournament is concluded, there will be a first place game, a third place game, a fifth place game, and a seventh place game to determine the final order. These would be the BCS bowls, but they would serve as conclusions to the tournament.

This plan would include all minor bowls continuing as they do currently.

There are issues with that plan. The most notable one that I would be quick to point out is the same problem as we have now, with snubs. How could one choose eight teams to vie for a championship any better than one could choose two now? Originally, I advocated for a 16-game playoff, but this would only push more into a season already shortened by a four-round tournament.

There is no right answer to this question. Every possibility has its own advantages and its own flaws. But I believe that we need to keep some semblance of the BCS system in place, because that was what college football was built upon and, as they say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Unthinkable! Why We Could Have Two No. 6 Seeds in Super Bowl XLII

Reuben Cohen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:27:29 -0500

This season has been a historic one for the National Football League. We saw a team coming off a nearly undefeated season lose its division title to the team with the previous first overall pick.

We saw a collegiate formation wreak its havoc upon some of the league's top defenses. And we saw two rookie quarterbacks take the starting reins from day one and lead their teams to the playoffs.

But the remarkability may not yet be over. Both six seeds won their opening playoff games for the first time since 2006, and they both won in a strong fashion. We all watched as the Baltimore Ravens dismantled upstart Miami early Sunday afternoon and switched the channel to see the Philadelphia Eagles tear up the Minnesota Vikings.

Both of these teams are led by strong running games and hot defenses. In fact, some would call Baltimore's Rex Ryan and Philly's Jim Johnson the top two defensive coordinators in the NFL. But beyond JJ and RR, the Eagles and Ravens have strong personnel on the defensive side of the ball.

The Eagles are led by the best group of cornerbacks in the NFL, Pro Bowler Asante Samuel, Sheldon Brown, and, everybody seems to be forgetting this year, Lito Sheppard is still there. Past Pro Bowler Trent Cole highlights the defensive line and the entire front seven.

The Ravens have even more talent on defense. Ed Reed has been playing better than anybody of late, intercepting six passes in his last three games. Reed has four games in the regular season with at least two interceptions. And even with Reed, the front seven is much stronger than the secondary.

Haloti Ngata has developed into one of the premier linemen in the NFL in his short career, and veterans Ray Lewis and Bart Scott headline a stellar linebacking corps.

When discussing the Eagles, nobody can leave out the name of one man: Brian Westbrook. Westbrook had 1,338 total yards this season, despite missing two games due to injury. When the Eagles use Westbrook the way they've been using him the past few weeks, their entire offense rolls.

The Ravens can also run the ball like nobody's business. Their three-headed monster tandem of Willis McGahee, Ray Rice, and Le'Ron McClain challenged the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers as top running attacks in the NFL.

The difference is, of course, that the Giants, Panthers, and the Tennessee Titans, who also have a very respectable running game with Chris Johnson and LenDale White, all have one of the top two seeds in their conferences.

The Ravens' upcoming game in Tennessee should be an exciting one. The teams played earlier in the year in Baltimore, the outcome being a 13-10 Titans win. In that game, Ravens QB Joe Flacco threw for only 153 yards and threw two interceptions. However, that game was back in Week Four of the season.

The Ravens have certainly heated up since then, particularly Flacco, who was at the time playing in only his third NFL game. If Ngata and his linemates, with a little help from Lewis, can shut down Johnson and White, the Ravens should have no trouble winning this game. After all, it's a given that Reed will be heckling Titans QB Kerry Collins all day from back deep.

The Eagles also have some experience playing their next opponent, their division rival New York Giants. The first time the teams played, in Philadelphia, the Eagles had a chance to win but the Giants defense stopped them short and the game ended with with a New York victory, 36-31.

Later in the season, though, the Eagles went into the Meadowlands and stunned the Giants on their home turf. Westbrook exploited a bad matchup to run (and catch) wild over a healthy Giants defense. The game ended only 20-14, but the Giants' 14 points did not come when they could have counted.

Only one sixth seed has ever even made it to the Super Bowl (2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, they defeated NFC No. 1 seed Seattle in the game itself) making the possibility of having two this year all the more extraordinary.

Although, I wouldn't go so far as to predict it this year, I certainly would not be surprised if we find the Eagles and the Ravens in playing for it all in Tampa this Feb. 1.