Monday Morning Cornerback: Week 22

Yo, what’s good, how are you good people doing today? Good I hope.

Here are my quick cuts and jukes from this weekend.

College

Senior Bowl

The last game of the 2009-2010 college game was played this weekend—the Senior Bowl. It is supposed to comprise the best seniors in college football, and in a way it did, but the game play was poor for one side at least. The South offensive and defensive lines were completely dominated, which led to a lopsided game.

The East-West Shrine Game last week (Poor Man’s Senior Bowl) was far more entertaining.

A few people did catch my eye:

Tim Tebow, of course. I mean, how could he not? He started the game, and they didn’t stop talking about him. All people talked about were his mechanics and footwork, which do need a lot of work. He was 8-for-12 for 57 yards, which isn’t bad for an all-star game, but he lost two fumbles. I’d rather have him lose two fumbles than throw two interceptions.

Mardy Gilyard balled out. Did you see the TD catch over Javier Arenas of Bama?

The MVP was Brandon Graham of Michigan. He had two sacks and a forced fumble. He also has a very colorful personality. He should make the NFL entertaining while he’s in the league if he has success.

Dexter McCluster has wheels, and he showed them off against the best seniors in the country.

It was great to see LeGarrette Blount playing in the game, and he scored a touchdown. Shout-out to Oregon head coach Chip Kelly for the way he handled that situation.

Dan LeFevour also showed he could hang with the big boys.

Competition vs. Future Earnings

I was disappointed that C.J. Spiller or Ndamukong Suh didn’t play in the game. Funny how in high school every kid dreams of playing in the US Army All-American Bowl or Under Armour All-America Game. They play in it and have the time of their lives.

At this stage in their lives the kids are all natural competitors and want to compete with the best. It’s funny when you get to college and the pros, all of the competitiveness goes out the window, and it’s all about the money.

Spiller and Suh were both healthy but did not play because they don’t need to. Both are sure-fire first round picks, and playing in this game could hurt their stock with scouts discovering something they didn’t know before, or they could suffer an injury, which is always likely.

I understand why they made their decisions, but I love it when people compete. For example, Mark Sanchez threw at the combine last year while Matthew Stafford did not. Stafford was still the first quarterback selected, but it’s just something about people that compete that I really admire.

NFL

Pro Bowl

The Pro Bowl was on this weekend, duh! They got an 8.7 rating, which was great considering that it was flooded with replacement players, some of which had no business playing in the game, and it was going up against the Grammy Awards.

The Pro Bowl is hated by many and liked by a few. I like it—I love to see the best go up against the best, even though we didn’t quite get that this year. It was still a good game and a sellout of 70k plus.

I don’t know why people who watch the game expect to see lights-out football in an all-star game where people could get hurt. Just chill out and watch the athletes do their thing. DeSean Jackson really showed out. Matt Schaub, a replacement player, won the MVP award.

My only complaint from the game was that Norv Turner didn’t let Chad Ochocinco kick. It’s the Pro Bowl—come on dogg!

Random Other Thoughts

Hall of Fame

Super Bowl week means Hall of Fame induction selections. My guess for this year is Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice, Shannon Sharpe, Dick LeBeau (senior candidate), Rickey Jackson, and Cris Carter.

The big names also eligible this year include Andre Reed, Tim Brown, Richard Dent, Floyd Little, Cortez Kennedy, Roger Craig, John Randle, Charles Haley, Dermontti Dawson, Don Coryell, and Russ Grimm.

Shut up T.O.

Speaking of Jerry Rice making the Hall of Fame, someone decided to ask Terrell Owens a question and got an idiotic answer, which I assume they were hoping for. T.O. was quoted as saying:

“I know hands-down I’d be close to Jerry Rice’s records if I had been with quality quarterbacks like he had. He had Joe Montana and he finished with Steve Young. That wasn’t a drop-off. Say I had been with a guy like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Drew Brees all of my career. Are you kidding me?”

Gosh, T.O., why? He has to be one of the most sensitive and self-centered players of all time in any league. He’s also not humble at all and has to have the attention. The question was about Jerry Rice, but he made it about himself.

Another thing is that he never takes the blame for anything. Adrian Peterson fumbles his life away in the NFC championship game and is openly apologetic about his performance to his coaches, teammates, fans, and the organization. T.O. drops so many balls and finds a way for it not to be his fault.

Yes, Jerry Rice played with Joe Montana and Steve Young, two great Hall of Famers, but Jerry also succeeded with Rich Gannon, who is a Pro Bowler but not a Hall of Famer.

Owens played with Young, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, and Tony Romo before he was sentenced to one of the worst teams in the league in the Buffalo Bills. All four of those quarterbacks I mentioned for Owens are all Pro Bowlers. GTFOH, and give me a break T.O., foreal dogg, please give me a break.

Maybe if those QBs played with a better wideout they might have won a Super Bowl. Who knows? I certainly think that if you kept your mouth shut in Philly, you and D-Mac would have won a championship.

You are a great player and entitled to your opinion, but how hard is it to say Jerry Rice is a great player that I had the privilege to play with and learn a lot from? I don’t know dogg; you’re a Hall of Famer, and no one can take that away from you, but...eh, forget it. There's no point. You're 30-plus, so no matter what anyone says, you’re not going to change.

The Warner Wave goodbye followed by the Whisenhunt Wailing

Kurt Warner retired this past week. Damn shame too, because Matt Leinart isn’t half the QB Warner is. Let’s hope he can develop into that premier QB. The stories of Warner and Johnny Unitas are similar. Both came from nothing to something and won championships their way.

I believe Warner is a Hall of Famer. People will mention his five-year disappearing act where he was merely a backup for younger QBs. That wasn’t Warner’s fault; it was management’s fault who were dumb enough not to believe in him.

As fans we often only look at the player’s mistakes, but no one ever looks at management’s decisions—not as much as they need to. It was simple: Marc Bulger, Eli Manning, and Matt Leinart were all young, hot, upstart QBs that management felt needed to be developed over Warner, who was in his mid-30s and thought to be declining. So his five-year disappearance is by no fault of his own.

He’s a Hall of Famer, point blank. Look at the numbers: three-time MVP, Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, fastest ever to reach 10k passing yards and 30k passing yards, and QB rating of 93.7.

Bird Flippage

Rex Ryan flipped off a heckling fan. Big deal to me? Nope, not really. I don’t care. It’s Rex Ryan—did you expect something else? Yes, he’s an NFL coach, but he was Rex Ryan before he was an NFL coach, so don’t expect much to change now that he’s an NFL head man.

Yes, he is supposed to carry himself in a more professional manner, yes, he should be fined, and yes, it looks bad. You get what you pay for, people; Rex Ryan is your coach, not Tony Dungy. The bird flippage was not right, but it’s better than putting his hands on players or locking them in closets like what’s been going on recently.

That’s all I got,

Ricky Writer