HarleyQuinn

Are there any EPL teams that play more of an attacking/up tempo game? I'm trying to do the follow one team thing (through the Fox Soccer channel on Verizon FIOS). As an extension, which teams in general (World Cup, other leagues) play that style of football/soccer? I tend to favor teams that have an up tempo/attacking style as opposed to the defensive, ball control style that most (?) teams seem to employ from what I've watched. As a note, I enjoyed watching Argentina (IIRC) during the World Cup for that reason.

In.... Hi!... Here...

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2009/0...rs-fire-lofton/ Oakland fired WR Coach James Lofton.

Draft News... Shrine game which will be played at 4 PM ET on Saturday (01/17) with coverage supplied by ESPN2. Notable names to watch for East: QB Chase Daniel, RB Tyrell Sutton, RB Marlon Lucky, OL Alex Boone West: WR Sammie Stroughter, RB Ian Johnson, WR Jarett Dillard

Wow... a little surprised at this. Massachusetts head football coach Don Brown resigned his post with the school Friday to take the defensive coordinator's position with the University of Maryland. Brown led the Minutemen to their best stretch in the program's history during his five-year tenure as coach, accumulating a 43-19 record and a pair of FCS playoff appearances, including a trip to the NCAA title game in 2006. My early spotlight games... A lot of intriguing "mid major" games against very solid competition next year. A lot of mid majors could get some points in the polls if they can beat their opposition. Auburn vs. Ball State Utah vs. Oregon TCU vs. Virginia BYU vs. Oklahoma BYU vs. Florida State Air Force vs. Minnesota Boise State vs. Oregon Fresno State vs. Wisconsin Fresno State vs. Cincinnati Central Michigan vs. Arizona Western Michigan vs. Michigan Houston vs. Texas Tech Houston vs. Oklahoma State Buffalo vs. Pittsburgh

I think the offense will be fine under McDaniels... Cutler has a rocket for an arm so he can take advantage of the deep throws but also did fine in 2008 (When Shanahan tried to emulate the 2007 Patriots scheme). Brandon Marshall, Tony Scheffler, and Eddie Royal all have the ability to gain YAC so they can be utilized on the quick short routes of the 6-8 yard strikes. The biggest question mark is the running game. Tatum Bell flashes speed but not much else and may not be able to block well enough to be a 3rd down back. Peyton Hillis could be used in a Heath Evans role as an H-Back and Andre Hall/Selvin Young have both flashed talent despite constant injuries. I could see McDaniels going with a similar 4 headed RBBC as he did in New England. - Ryan Torain: 6'0" and 222 - Selvin Young: 5'11" and 215 - Andre Hall: 5'9" and 205 (3rd Down Back?) - PJ Pope: 5'9" and 212 (3rd Down Back?)

Daaaaa Bears get some help... NFL Network's Adam Schefter reports the Bears have hired ex-Lions coach Rod Marinelli as assistant head coach/defensive line.

Technically, Eric Crouch was a redshirt in 1997 when Nebraska did win the National Championship but thanks for the heads up.

Yeah, its almost every day we see a player win a Heisman and two national championships in his first three years at the school. And say what you will, but the Gators don't win either national title without Tebow. What Tebow brings to the field and to the team can't be measured by stats (although they are still pretty damn impressive.) Fair enough (although I'd argue the Heisman thing since IIRC he was the 1st Sophomore to win it and in the past, there was a bias to give it to the best Senior/Junior). As for his credentials... Most of the following played only 3 seasons, usually sitting their freshman year behind a QB. Matt Leinart: 37-2 as Starter. Won 2 National Championships (Lost Another). Won 1 Heisman Trophy. Vince Young: 30-2 as Starter. Won 1 National Championship. Tim Tebow: 22-5 as Starter. Won 2 National Championships (Though 1 was largely as a part time QB). Won 1 Heisman Trophy. Danny Wuerffel: 45-6-1 as Starter. Won 1 National Championship. Won 1 Heisman Trophy. Tommie Frazier: 33-3 as Starter. Won 2 National Championships (Lost Another). Sammy Baugh: 29-7-2 as Starter. Won 2 Bowl Games (Sugar and Cotton). Eric Crouch: 39-9 as Starter. Won 1 Heisman Trophy. I'd argue he's a Top 50-40 player of all time right now but I can't argue that he's in the Top 10 college football players ever at this time (including defensive players). The highly decorated RBs alone would bump him down to around 9 or 10 at best.

... Seriously, what is the "love" behind Tim Tebow? I understand the 2 NC (though that's more a team achievement) and that he won 1 Heisman (As have many other players). But what's the big deal?!? It can't be the statistics... He didn't even throw for 3,000+ yards this year and hasn't even run for 1,000 yards in a season. Steve Young at BYU threw for 3,900 yards, 30+ TD, and ran for almost 550 yards all while completing 71% of his passes in one year. 1998: Daunte Culpepper threw for 3,690 yards with 28 TD vs. 7 INT and ran for 463 yards and 12 TD. He also completed 73.6% of his passes and threw the ball 402 times. 2008: Tim Tebow threw for 2,747 yards with 30 TD vs. 4 INT and ran for 673 yards and 12 TD. He also completed 64.4 % of his passes and only threw it 298 times (explaining the low INT totals). Can anybody logically explain to me why Tim Tebow is being heralded in the Top 10 college football players of all time? He ran for 23 TD in 2007? Of course... he carried the ball 210 times (and a season long of 25). Vince Young ran for 11, 14, and 12 TD in his college career and his carry high was only 167. Pat White carried the ball 165 times in 2006 and still scored 18 TD (also threw for 1,600 yards and 13 TD). Is it the 30-20 thing from 2007? The 2 National Championships? It can't be the 1 Heisman (despite being a Soph when he won) because numerous others have 1 Heisman to their credit.

Seattle signed WR Billy McMullen (Had 7 catches for 124 yards last year with Seattle) and TE John Tereshinski (At one time a project at TE for San Diego) Tampa Bay signed WR Kelly Campbell. He had 25 catches for 522 yards in 2003 with Minnesota. Some really minor "camp bodies" news - Philadelphia signed WR Danny Amendola (Texas Tech) to their practice squad. He was originally signed by the Dallas Cowboys. - St. Louis signed WR Joel Filani (Texas Tech). He was released by the Tennessee Titans early last year.

Not to mention, most college stars that make it into the NFL put on a ton of weight/muscle thanks to working with training professionals. Many players often put on at least 5 pounds after entering the NFL and presumably have much lower body fat percentages too. Also they can study film and don't have to worry about attending classes so the mental ability to diagnose plays alone dwarfs that of most college players.

Some coaching news... - Rob Ryan was hired as the Cleveland Browns DC. He was in Oakland the past few seasons (and IIRC, made the "memorable" TO against the Patriots in 2007). - Tom Rathman has been hired as the 49ers RB Coach. He was formerly with Oakland and a mainstay at FB during the Steve Young era. - New Orleans fired DC Gary Gibbs - Seattle will hire Greg Knapp (famously with Atlanta during the late Vick era) to be their new OC

Matthew Broderick as Col. Robert Gould Shaw

Speaking of Matthew Stafford... I thought this was interesting (from Football Outsiders) especially given the dominance of shotgun spread quarterbacks in the college game trying to make the transition to the NFL. "In 2007, offenses gained 5.9 yards per play from shotgun, but just 5.1 yards per play with the quarterback under center. In 2006, the difference was even greater, with 6.4 yards per play from shotgun and just under 5.0 yards per play with the quarterback under center. This wide split exists even if you analyze the data to try to weed out biases like teams using shotgun more often on third-and-long, or against prevent defenses in the fourth quarter. Shotgun offense is more efficient if you only look at the first half, on every down, and even if you only look at running back carries rather than passes and scrambles. Clearly, NFL teams have figured the importance of the shotgun out for themselves. In 2007, for the first time, every single team ran at least eight percent of their plays from shotgun, and the average team used shotgun 27 percent of the time, a huge jump over the 19 percent average of 2006. The 2007 Patriots were the first team in our records to use shotgun on more than half their offensive plays. It is likely that if teams continue to increase their usage of the shotgun, defenses will adapt and the benefit of the formation will become less pronounced." New Orleans, Indianapolis, and New England all predominantly use the shotgun spread (in the Colts case at least a 3 wide with TE variant) to success through the air. KC improved dramatically after switching over to the shotgun spread (Topped 20 points 7 times down the stretch). I'm curious how this stretches to the college QBs coming in from shotgun heavy teams (i.e. Chase Daniels out of Missouri, Graham Harrell out of Texas Tech, Tim Tebow out of Florida) and whether the team that drafts them will try to mesh some sort of a shotgun style to help them adapt quicker or hope that they can fit a square into a round hole.

Some interesting non-MLB news... - According to the Kyodo News, the Lotte Mariners of Japan's Pacific League have offered free agent infielder Tadahito Iguchi a three-year contract. He had two really good years at age 28/29 in Japan and parlayed that into playing for the White Sox but seemed otherwise pedestrian. Do the Japanese leagues look at the really lower tier MLB free agents or do they really focus on home grown players whilst adding 1-2 gaijin a year, if that?

- A week after firing Bruce Read as special teams coach, Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips has found a replacement in Joe DeCamillis, KTVT-TV (Ch. 11) reported. DeCamillis, the son-in-law of former Cowboys player and assistant Dan Reeves, spent the last two seasons as Jacksonville's special teams coach and had been an assistant with Phillips in Denver and Atlanta. DeCamillis has run special teams units since 1993, with the New York Giants (1993-96) and Atlanta (1997-2006) under Reeves before moving on to the Jaguars. 2008: Jaguars top 2 punt returners averaged 10.88 yards per return and Brian Witherspoon averaged 24 yards per kick return. Josh Scobee was 19/25 on FG and P Adam Podlesh averaged over 43 yards per punt. Dallas should be much improved punt return wise and it'll be curious to see how kick returns go with a healthy Felix Jones (27.1 on 16 last year).

I thought this was interesting given the dominance of the shotgun spread in New England and in KC from roughly Week 8-17. Kansas City Chiefs Carries From Shotgun Formation (RB/WR only): 113 carries for 648 yards (5.73) and 0 TD Carries From Other Formation (and QB Runs): 266 carries for 1,162 yards (4.37) and 9 TD As an aside, Tyler Thigpen threw 16 TD vs. 8 INT (Weeks 8-17). Interesting that the Chiefs gained almost 1.5 more yards out of the shotgun. I know most shotgun runs occur when the opponent is expecting pass (2nd & long or 3rd down) but other teams (off the top of my head: Baltimore, Denver, Giants, Patriots, and St. Louis) all had a ton of success running out of the shotgun during the season. Kansas City finished 16th in rushing but 4th in YPC.

People thought Cassel was better than Brady?!? Seriously? Most Pats fans I knew thought Cassel was a solid one year stop gap until Brady got healthy and thought he was very good but not quite MVP worthy (although many of them thought Belichick should've gotten COTY so meh).

I'd be surprised if he netted a 2nd round pick and think if traded, he'll net a 3rd at best but then again, teams don't just find a franchise QB lying around (hi Tyler Thigpen, Brady, Hasselbeck, etc.) so somebody may overpay. He should be a decent to good starter in the mold of a Matt Schaub down in Houston but I think he was bailed out a lot by Welker/Faulk and he had at least 4 passes in games that were dropped when they should have been intercepted. I could see him being productive in an offense where he's asked to roll out or make quick throws on 3 step drops. He has a poor deep ball and is erratic at times in making decisions. He seems to be ideal with the short/intermediate range of throws but hesitates throwing it deep and holds onto the ball resulting in sacks.

Jeez... http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?i...ce=NFLHeadlines "Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski has been told he will be fired if he interviews for the head coaching vacancy with the New York Jets, according to sources. The interview is scheduled for Monday. Despite the threat from athletic director Gene DeFilippo, Jagodzinski plans to do the interview with the Jets, the sources said. Those sources said that in the event Jagodzinski is fired, BC would promote offensive coordinator Steve Logan to head coach." Sounds like the athletic director is a moron. What if JJ doesn't get the job? So you fire him and essentially let him leave to go to another college instead of having him for another season or two? http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers/2009/0...up-the-gut.html Here's the top teams by run side... ranked by YPC, no idea on the actual totals though. Left End: St. Louis Rams (!?!?!) Left Tackle: New York Giants Left Guard: New York Giants Center: New York Giants Right Guard: Dallas Cowboys Right Tackle: Carolina Panthers Right End: Baltimore Ravens Really surprised at St. Louis ranking well with the left end spot and it's no surprise that the Giants could run left at will. Although I'll be sure to watch any running plays off right tackle now in the Carolina game next week.

Just for going for "famous" characters now... Kevin McAllister

Glad to see the Colts knocked out... now if only the Chargers/Steelers both get knocked out. It's the dislike of those teams from a Pats fan POV but... Darren Sproles is for real. I could watch him play any Sunday... the only guy I like on the Chargers.

Glad to see the NFL players can continue appearing on the police blotter! http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=502737 Buffalo Bills S Ko Simpson was arrested outside a bar in South Carolina after he refused to leave officers alone as they arrested another man, according to a police report. Simpson was in a car that was speeding through the parking lot of the Celebrations bar around 2 a.m. New Year's Day. The driver and another passenger in the car were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after they yelled and cursed at police, according to the report. Simpson than began yelling at officers, saying "I'm Ko Simpson with the Buffalo Bills. I am worth millions!" several times. The officers asked Simpson to leave the parking lot and he began to walk away, but turned around and started yelling at officers again, police said.

Taking my favorite Ninja Turtle now... Donatello