The Dime: Week 6

We Don't Trust You Guys At All: Initially, I thought about naming Norv Turner’s agent, and then making a joke about how great this guy is to be able to keep Norv Turner employed. But I decided that it really isn’t about Turner’s agent. It’s about the team. Last night was ridiculous and not simply because the Chargers were on the wrong side of a historic comeback. It was ridiculous because of how they played that second half and how this loss sorta sums up an entire era for this franchise. The so-called East Coast Bias works in reverse for the San Diego Chargers. Far away, out of the picture and overshadowed nationally by Los Angeles, their demise hasn’t been picked apart with nearly the aggressiveness it deserves. In the last five or six years no team has underachieved like these guys. They’ve had two Hall of Fame guys in LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates. Not to mention stars in guys like Philip Rivers, Shawne Merriman, Antonio Cromartie and Darren Sproles. The list of names goes on. They’ve never gotten over the hump, never went to a Super Bowl and routinely stink up the joint. We obsess about coaches and QBs being replaced, but SD seems to skate by unscathed. Last night, the whole world was watching, if there was ever a time to blow this whole thing up, it's now.

 

Attack Of The Turf Monster: The Bronco did a lot of amazing things last night, but this wasn’t one of them.

 

Lock Them Up and Throw Away The Key: Every time I hear about a story of an altercation taking place at a game, it sickens my stomach. There are families here and people who just want to escape for a few hours. Trash talking is part of the experience and I’m fine with that, but the violence has to stop. I’d like to see a law that says, if you’re convicted of serious violence, you are banned for life from ever setting foot in a stadium again. Any stadium.  On Sunday, a man was stabbed at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park for wearing the wrong jersey. Crazy thing is, he wasn’t even wearing a Giants jersey. He was rocking a Dallas Cowboys joint.

 

Just Don’t Get Hurt: It’s not fair for everyone to vacilitate back and forth each week in regards to Robert Griffin III. We criticize him one week and say he needs to run out of bounds more often and avoid contact, and then the next week we're ready to throw a parade in honor of his heart and brilliance. It’s ridiculous. I still say he shouldn’t run between tackles like a running back, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a moment like this.

 

Yeah, But Do It Again: Evidently Mario Williams and the rest of the Bill defense are tired of giving up historic numbers to the rest of the National Football League.  After being the first team to EVER surrender 300 yards on both the ground and through the air, they held Arizona to 16 points. Fluke? I would venture to say not even the Bills themselves can answer that.

 

People Askin' Questions: How is it possible that 58-year old Ronde Barber is still making impact plays?  Is he on a juice diet? What’s his secret? People askin questions.

 

Don’t Act Surprised: The Philadelphia Eagles had little choice but to dismiss Defensive Coordinator Luis Castillo. After the Eagles loss to Detroit, cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha openly questioned Castillo’s blitzing schemes. Bringing Castillo back was a controversial move by Coach Andy Reid anyway, and with the pressure mounting, something had to change.

 

We Don’t Know What To Think: Nobody — and I mean nobody — predicted that the Miami Dolphins would be tied for first place in the AFC East in October (granted the whole division is at 3-3, but still). Watching Hard Knocks, they looked like the most talent-less team in the league. Somehow they’re getting it done with a rookie QB and non-descript playmakers.

 

You Need More People: Undefeated or not, I’m still not ready to buy into the Atlanta Falcons. I can’t pretend that the offense isn’t playing out of their minds, but it just seems like fool’s gold. What I need them to do is go play on the road in a chilly stadium, where the wind is blowing and that passing game isn’t lifted by indoor climate control.  Do that and then we can talk.

 

Off Topic, But Important: University of Kansas Head Coach Charlie Weis isn’t a man. Not at all, sorry but you can’t carry around the title of a full-grown man when you seek to intimidate college newspaper writers. The Jayhawks are not having a good season  (record is 1-4) by any standard and the school paper, as school paper's are apt to, has made note of this. So what does Weis do? He has the football team’s communication director issue a warning to one of the paper’s writers. This is one of the most cowardly, weak-minded things I’ve seen in a long time. Charlie Weis is supposed to be a leader of men and is tasked with the job of teacher, as well as coach. That’s what college is about on some level, even if we all know it’s a business. They can’t totally abandon the idea of character-building. 

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