HarleyQuinn

I-AA Football: Home to the Shootouts... #7 James Madison is leading #3 UMass 45-37 with 2:25 left in the 4th quarter. New Hampshire's R.J. Toman tried his best Max Hall impression: 309 yards and 5 TD. Rhode Island's Derek Cassidy threw for 436 yards and 3 TD. Also Wyoming barely held off North Dakota State 16-13. Wyoming made a 29 yard FG with 4 seconds left. *Sigh*

#10 New Hampshire held off Rhode Island in a roller coaster 51-43 victory. Both teams combined for 60 points in the 2nd half.

Hmm... This is mainly sticking around the 1993-1995 era. Keep in mind that if we were being realistic, to expect The Clique coming about/NWO still happening would be bullshit because things would've been radically, radically different. WWF Thoughts - Owen Hart never would have rose to prominance as his feud with Bret was largely built around being in the shadow/Bret being WWF Champion. He probably would've gotten over enough to be at the IC Title level resulting in feuds with Razor & Michaels but he wouldn't have a chance at the WWF Title. - Shawn Michaels & Razor Ramon probably would've either stayed around the IC Title level or eventually have gotten over enough to have a one off with Hogan but they'd likely be those upper tier pushed into the ME but never staying there kinda guys (Think Kane during the late 90's). - I could've seen Diesel coming in and immediately being pushed into a feud with Hogan although I don't think the HBK Bodyguard angle would've come about. Odds are, Diesel would've been seen as another King Kong Bundy style opponent to feud with. - The WWF probably would've stayed in the cartoonish era into and possibly through 1996/1997 with Hogan at the helm. I could see Hogan attempting to turn heel and the WWF trying out a feud with Bret as face but don't think it would work more than a couple PPVs. Could be done during the tail end of 1994 (King of the Ring or Survivor Series). - Yokozuna would've been feuding with Hogan for most of 1993 and possibly into 1994. I think the ME scene would've revolved around the following players: Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Randy Savage possibly, Bret Hart at times, Yokozuna, Undertaker at times, and Diesel when he likely comes in later on. Remember that Hogan has always, always loved taking on the big monster bad guys so a Diesel/Yokozuna would've received good pushes so that Hogan could vanquish them. We also could've seen an exodus of talent jumping to WCW to escape their lack of a push. Guys like Owen, Shawn Michaels, and possibly even Bret could've jumped ship to WCW. IIRC at the time, Davey Boy Smith was in WCW during 1993 so it would've made sense for Owen to jump. Bret could've followed him if he figured that he'd be stuck playing the sidekick to Hogan's run.

In terms of early Monday Night Raw periods... May 1993 - July 1993: You get the "classic" HBK/Jannetty (2 matches in May and July) & Kid/Razor matches. You also get the KOTR build up for the 1st ever tournament and Yokozuna & Hogan. For the most part, this period features the growing heel HBK as IC Champion, Yokozuna starting his dominance post WrestleMania, and the engaging Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid feud. February 1994 - April 1994: Heel Owen before & during WrestleMania. You also have The Quebecers & Johnny Polo dominating the tag scene along with HBK & Diesel further cementing themselves as heels. You also have the Bret/Luger/Yoko saga up to WrestleMania. May 1995 - August 1995: Shawn Michaels starting to really come on in the ring as a face. You have Diesel as WWF Champ along with the Tag reign of Yokozuna & Owen Hart.

This is a team that takes the lightest slight personally and uses it to motivate themselves. Now they're hearing about how the freakin' New York Jets could win the division over them or that the Patriots will not make the Super Bowl period and could struggle to make the playoffs. If they need to bust out the "We don't get no respect" angle to fuel themselves and win games, I won't be the least bit shocked. Do I think that statement is a bit stupid on a general level? Absolutely but at the same time, you can't argue the fact that many immediately seemed to write off the Patriots as a major threat (i.e. Super Bowl/AFC Championship) once Brady went down and basically are saying that the Patriots are Brady as if the other 52 players were riding the coattails. I don't agree with that sentiment but can understand the perceived slight that the Patriots players have taken over that message.

I think my big issue with your offense is that you have absolutely no passing game. Michael Vick can run... and pass decently in the modern era with pass happy rules. You think he'd survive a hit from a Jack Lambert when he was getting injured scrambling nowadays? Also you'd be relying on solid pass catching (but slow) targets in Ben Coates and Billy Cannon. All a defense would need to do would be to stack 7 in the box (Maybe bring the WLB and SLB up to the line of scrimmage and leave MLB in zone coverage) to shut down your run game/take out your TEs and go man with safety help to cover Hewitt.

I'll make the mention of Raven in WCW (97-98). Maybe not "faded" but he's never really reached that pinnacle that a guy like him should have. He wasn't that memorable in his ECW return (His feud/team with Dreamer & Sandman just lacked the same spark) and bounced to WWE and then TNA. He was getting plenty of heat and had solid, lengthy feuds with Diamond Dallas Page just before/during DDP's takeoff into main event status and with Chris Benoit that also included Page in it at points. Even into 1999 there was the memorable three way tag feud b/w Benoit & Malenko, Raven & Saturn, and Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. I think what hurt Raven were his own demons (drugs & alcohol) and the fact that he never really had that chance to be around the major players. I remember his debut when he hopped the railing and stared down Scott Hall and absolutely nothing was done... just boring stuff around legal contracts & employment and crap. Here is a former ECW Champion that could've come in right into the scene (Maybe a brief feud with Hall) acting like the rebel he is while leading The Flock, his personal group of rebels almost like WCW vs. NWO vs. Them.

Being a Boston sports fan, it's always been about the jersey name over the player name for me. For the Patriots history, my earliest memory was the 1990 season because it was the year of the scandal and the fact that the first game I saw on TV was their week 2 win. I remember loving the WRs during most of my early fandom with the Pats (Irving Fryar & Vincent Brisby in particular) and also really, really liking FB Sam Gash but I'm pretty sure it was just because he had a great last name. The first real Patriots draft I remember was 1993 (I liked Chris Slade and Brisby but really disliked Bledsoe).

Fits that the closets are both in California... Pats Fan: As much as it sucks Brady's out, I'm really intrigued to see how the team does with a schedule that, on paper, is very easy.

Biiiig AFC East matchup this week... and fuck the Jets. Here's to the Pats dominating them and picking Favre off 4 times. Pure coincidence on all the road picks too. Patriots: 27 Chicago at Carolina (3.5) Tennessee at Cincinnati (1.5) (3.5) Green Bay at Detroit Buffalo at Jacksonville (5.5) Oakland at Kansas City (3.5) (2.5) Indianapolis at Minnesota (8.5) N.Y. Giants at St. Louis New Orleans at Washington (0.5) San Francisco at Seattle (7.5) Atlanta at Tampa Bay (7.5) Miami at Arizona (6.5) (1.5) San Diego at Denver Baltimore at Houston (4.5) New England at N.Y. Jets (1.5) (6.5) Pittsburgh at Cleveland Philadelphia at Dallas (6.5)

Umm.. read my post again. I mentioned all this... well not the bench part but when I say he only started 6 games in the first two years, that's naturally assumed. That's why I combined his first two years, because those two years can give you a better comparison to VY's one rookie year. And Vince Young was 24 when he first assumed full time starting role. Even still, that's a poor comparison. The first radical difference is that Young started at least double the number of games that McNair did... a huge difference in the NFL in terms of experience. Another radical difference is that Young didn't sit on the bench except for his first game whereas McNair largely sat on the bench for most of his first two seasons. It's like comparing Carson Palmer who sat on the bench for his first year to David Carr who was virtually thrown to the wolves as a rookie. The experience required to adapt to the NFL alone makes such a comparison virtually worthless. I understand why the comparison is being made (Same team, same abilities as a QB, similar age, etc.) but the circumstances are just too radical. If you want to do a true comparison, you have to take into account the environment that the QB is undergoing. If you compare the numbers between Young and David Carr or Joey Harrington, you'll see that they are fairly similar with similar conditions. First 2 Years (All three were essentially thrown in as saviors of their franchise while a rookie) Vince Young (28 Starts): 4,745 yards with 21 TD vs. 30 INT David Carr (27 Starts): 4,605 yards with 18 TD vs. 28 INT Joey Harrington (28 Starts): 5,174 yards with 29 TD vs. 38 INT

Which brings back into question the 6 that Young managed on the Wonderlic coming out of college. At the time the results were basically disregarded aside from a bit of mocking on boards like this one. Now it appears that the Titans should have paid more attention to it. Given his struggles with digesting the playbook, I've read rumors that there may be a learning disability here too. For those curious... here are other QB wonderlic scores. Alex Smith: 40 Aaron Rodgers: 39 Eli Manning: 39 Akili Smith: 37 (2nd Try IIRC) and 15 (1st Try) Drew Bledsoe: 37 Tom Brady: 33 Steve Young: 33 Joey Harrington: 32 Philip Rivers: 30 Matt Schaub: 30 Tony Romo: 30 Rex Grossman: 29 Marc Bulger: 29 Troy Aikman: 29 Drew Brees: 28 Kyle Boller: 27 Carson Palmer: 26 Kyle Orton: 25 and 27 Ben Roethlisberger: 25 Byron Leftwich: 25 Chad Pennington: 25 David Carr: 24 Mark Brunell: 22 Brett Favre: 22 Michael Vick: 20 Daunte Culpepper: 18, 21, and 15 Aaron Brooks: 17 Jeff Blake: 17 Donovan McNabb: 16 and 12 Derek Anderson: 15 and 23 Steve McNair: 15 Randall Cunningham: 15 Jason Campbell: 14, 27, and 28 David Garrard: 14 Dan Marino: 14 Neil O'Donnell: 13 Kordell Stewart: 12 Jeff George: 10 Notable Names turned WR Ronald Curry: 22 Antwaan Randle El: 17 Woodrow Dantzler: 17

Next USC #55... McNair didn't start until year 3 and he was 24 years old at the time largely sitting on the bench for 2 years. Year 1, he threw 27-27-26 passes in his 3 games. In Year 2 he never threw more than 18 passes but for 2 games (37 and 24) and even then only played in 8. In Year 3 when he started, McNair threw the ball more than 29 times in only 4 games. McNair had the luxury of sitting behind Chris Chandler in 1995 and 1996. Young gets drafted and is largely touted as the "Savior" of the Titans before he's even played a game. He gets thrown into the fire in Week 2 on and asked to throw a ton of passes when everyone and their mother could tell you that isn't his strong point (He had 5 games with 29+ attempts). He had 7 INT in 3 of those games. Young's second year when asked to throw 30+ times he ends up throwing 9 INT in those 5 games. The more apt comparison I would make to Vince Young would be a guy like David Carr or Joey Harrington. Essentially a QB asked to carry a team from year 1 on with high expectations that they could turn around the franchise in 3-4 seasons.

I not only focused on overall teams but also focused on the write ups too. EHME - I simply liked his write up better. SP seemed to waver between "career" accomplishments and peak accomplishments and didn't really treat his team as a team. It came off as "Players X, Y, Z, and W will win me the games!" VX - Relying on a special teams weapon, run game, and defense doesn't make me think that'll take you far because almost every team short of maybe mine is game planning for that type of style. I liked that VX also pointed out some weaknesses of his team... good knowledge of strength and weakness. - Skipped my game but I should get a bonus for working in the point that my kicker did have 5 punts! JustJohn - I like his team more overall and think pairing Jimmy Johnson with Brady & a power run game is genius. I also like that his team is focused on smart defense rather than just big hits or big plays like almost every other D write up mentioned. Kahran Ramsus - Close game but I liked Kahran's write up better overall and especially the fact that he pointed out Pete Retzlaff at TE. I also like the mixture of old school players with modern day players that are at least older than 2-3 years in the league. jwest27 - I liked the write up better and again liked that he was willing to point out his team's deficiency. I also think this is one of the more underrated teams possibly in the league. TheOriginalOrangeGoblin - Loved the write up as he came off as really understanding and devising the strengths of his team. Another one of the more underrated teams in the league and he connected Dungy to the 70's Steelers D... awesome. Also he wasn't hyping Bob Sanders as a great player at his position (I'm sorry. The guy can be great at times when not injured but seriously? You're trying to hype Bob Freakin' Sanders against some of these other defenses?). Fokai - Really, really like Peyton in the WCO and the fact that as was pointed out, he can use his RB as essentially a 3rd or 4th receiver on plays. Yeah, all these defenses are nightmarish but teams have proven that a quick screen can dismantle the blitz/pass rush. I also like the defensive depth and the fact that George Blanda can come in and play backup QB (Although I question the Mad Bomber's skill in a WCO).

Was bored and decided to look at the defenses of Super Bowl Champions from 1985 - 2007. Regular season numbers only and yards are per game totals. - Only 6 teams allowed more than 100 yards rushing. The 2006 Colts allowed 173 rushing yards per game - Only 8 teams allowed more than 300 total yards per game (1987 Redskins, 1994 49ers, 1995 Cowboys, 1998 Broncos, 2001 Patriots, 2004 Patriots, 2006 Colts, and 2007 Giants) - Only 2 teams allowed fewer than 160 yards passing. The 2002 Buccaneers (97 rushing) and 2006 Colts (173 rushing) - Only 4 teams had fewer than 30 turnovers on defense (1993 Cowboys, 1995 Cowboys, 2006 Colts, and 2007 Giants) - Only 5 teams had more than 40 turnovers on defense (1985 Bears, 1986 Giants, 1991 Redskins, 2000 Ravens, and 2003 Patriots) The "Worst" Super Bowl Defenses - 1995 Dallas Cowboys (316 total yards and 25 TO) - 2006 Indianapolis Colts (332 total yards and 26 TO) - 2007 New York Giants (305 total yards and 25 TO) Note: The 1987 Redskins had 34 TO and the 2001 Patriots had 35 TO The "Best" Super Bowl Defenses - 1985 Chicago Bears (258 total yards and 54 TO) - 1992 Dallas Cowboys (246 total yards and 31 TO) - 2000 Baltimore Ravens (248 total yards and 49 TO) - 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (253 total yards and 38 TO)

I made it an hour and switched over to Eureka... Several things bugged me. 1: The main female lead seems to wear "serious" face for the whole hour that I saw. 2: The dialogue just wasn't there for me... outside of the "preamble and kicker" line, nothing impressed me dialogue wise. 3: The writing of the places was annoying.as.fuck! Seriously jarring and made me "forget" I was watching a show and totally took me out of the moment/scenes.

Some points of interest about the Atlanta vs. Tampa Bay match up... - Tampa Bay allowed 86 more yards than their offense put up - Tampa Bay had the same turnover differential (1 - 1) - Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush combined for 103 yards on 24 carries (4.29) - Atlanta had 166 more yards on offense than their opponents - Atlanta had a slightly better turnover differential (1 - 0) but also forced Detroit into a fumble they didn't lose - Kevin Smith and Rudi Johnson combined for 62 yards on 19 carries (3.26) Teams need two things to win in the NFL: Outgain the defense in yards and get more turnovers on defense than offense. What worries me about Tampa is that, yes they played a good team, yet Jeff Garcia completed 1 pass more than Drew Brees but had 122 fewer yards. Another thing that worried me was the play calling. Earnest Graham finished the game with 10 carries for 91 yards so why wasn't he featured more? 1st Quarter: 3 Carries 2nd Quarter: 4 Carries 3rd Quarter: 2 Carries (1 was for 46 yards...) 4th Quarter: 1 Carry In the 4th quarter by drive... 1st Drive: Jeff Garcia passed 8 times (including TD) compared to 2 carries (17 yards) 2nd Drive: Jeff Garcia passed 5 times compared to 2 carries (13 yards) 3rd Drive: Jeff Garcia passed 7 times compared to 0 carries (Note: This was the final, go for the win drive) 20 Passes vs. 4 Carries (30 Yards) and they were only down 17-13 at the start of the 4th quarter.

I'm sure the Chargers are glad he risked possibly his career for 2 freakin' tackles and wasted a spot on the 53 man roster for last week's game just to decide to do what every freakin' person in the world was telling him to do first.

Well... I predict I go something like 4-1 in the AFC and 2-3 in the NFC as per past seasons by the end of the year. Although it's nice to know that my ability to play big (PF) has carried over.

Use one of those wacky online computer random generator things... like here: http://www.fftoolbox.com/draft_order_generator.cfm

That's what I get for not following my own go with your gut advice. I debated b/w Ricky Williams and Chris Johnson and stuck with Ricky despite the nagging feeling that I should start CJ. I promptly lost week 1 when CJ would've been an easy win, bah.

1. Whose big-win momentum carries through to this weekend-Chicago or Carolina? Chicago. They have proven that they can have a great defense and they seem to have the running game figured out for now. As long as Kyle Orton does his impression of Trent Dilfer circa 2000, they should win. 2. How well will rookie Matt Ryan and a running game that left footprints on every Detroit defender perform against the best defense in the NFC last season? I'll be the one to say that Atlanta is for real. Tampa Bay was 17th against the run (yards) last season... eww. They were 7th in YPC but Atlanta boasts some good speed in Turner/Norwood and Matt Ryan isn't Michael Vick. He can actually complete his passes and throw it deep when a guy actually gets open. The only concern for Atlanta is the injury to Abraham (3 sacks last week) but I don't expect this to be a 20-7 blowout or anything. I'll go Tampa Bay wins but barely, 24-20 or 20-17. 3. Can New England circle the wagons after the most catastrophic loss in recent memory against their division rivals? They still have a decent to good defense and they still have offensive weapons outside of the QB. If the line can give Cassel time, he'll be fine and the Patriots running back committee looked good (that was with Faulk being out. He'll return this week). The Jets are solid but I don't know if they'll have enough to beat the Patriots. Did you see Favre's flutter touchdown? Against most defenses, that gets picked off or at the least, knocked down. The Patriots may not have a name secondary but they do stay with their men most of the time and don't allow the deep, big plays. The KC big pass was largely because the safety overran, otherwise it'd have been a regular 25-30 yard completion. 4. Will the clowns that said "Anybody could shoot the lights out behind that line with those receivers!" finally realize that they're retarded? I said 10-6... but in all reality, I think we'll see more of the 2003-2004 form of the Patriots which may be even more dangerous. Heavy reliance on a great defense coupled with pounding the ball down the throat of their opponents and taking advantage of a few big plays through the air. Cassel did throw a rifle of a TD pass and a beauty of a 50+ yard pass out of his own end zone. The guy has some talent... not like he's the next coming of Ryan Leaf. 5. Can Cleveland rebound in a huge divisional game? Pittsburgh will kill them dead. Cleveland has a decent but not great defense and their offense... really isn't as good as the numbers indicate. Braylon Edwards can't seem to catch a cold and if the running game stalls at all, Derek Anderson doesn't have the ability to pull a Peyton Manning/Tom Brady and throw 2-3 TD while avoiding an interception. DA only had 4 games without an INT last year and in 2 of them he threw for less than 140 yards.

The obligatory notable I-AA games that only I care about post... 1: Montana State @ Minnesota (Big Ten Network). Minnesota seems to have a thing for getting upset/nearly losing to I-AA teams. That alone makes this intriguing. Watch For: RB Demetrius Crawford 2: #11 Southern Illinois @ Northwestern (Big Ten Network) Watch For: RB Larry Warner 3: #2 North Dakota State @ Wyoming 4: #3 UMass @ #7 James Madison (CN8) Watch For: QB Liam Coen, QB Rodney Landers, RB Eugene Holloman 5: #15 Western Illinois @ #13 South Dakota State 6: #14 Cal Poly @ #8 McNeese State

What struck me about Atlanta's performance was their overall dominance on the ground. Turner ran for 220 yards but Jerious Norwood also ran for 93 yards (6.6 YPC). I think Atlanta's offense could surprise some of the better defenses this season and if they protect Ryan like Pittsburgh did with Roethlisberger (Run heavy with 15-20 pass attempts a game) then I can see Atlanta snooping around the wild card spot.

THURSDAY North Carolina at Rutgers FRIDAY Kansas at South Florida SATURDAY Navy at Duke Washington State at Baylor Michigan at Notre Dame Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech Oregon at Purdue UCLA at BYU Air Force at Houston Hawaii at Oregon State Southern Miss at Arkansas State Virginia at Connecticut Ohio State at USC Wisconsin at Fresno State Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Ohio State/USC game? 56 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will BYU's Max Hall have against UCLA? 319