In case you missed the Emmys last night (and I don't blame you for skipping through typical Hollywood blather even with 1000% more Neil Patrick Harris), the Dr. Horrible bit. Even at a modest 2:30, it's more than I was expecting.
Halftime of Chefs-Oakland was first time I yelled in frustration yesterday, but I promise you it wasn't the last. I expected better from Todd Haley, but honestly, I expected better from anyone who'd ever played half a season of Madden before. It's Hermtastic.
That said, I still don't know that he did a worse job than Bring Me the Skull of Norv Turner. Any other team in the league I might forgive you for going for the easy points, but these are the Ravens, and few teams are as synonymous with defense as the Baltimore bunch, and with good reason. When you have the weapons you have on offense -- Rivers, Sproles, Gates, Jackson, et al. -- and your defense is missing key components, I don't think you settle for the field goal every time inside the ten, and certainly not inside five minutes.
But then there's that roughing-the-passer penalty on the Chefs that essentially lost them the game -- where JaMarcus "NyQuil" Russell hadn't been touched by a single Chief and had two fall on him while he was prone. Unless there a subparagraph of the rule book protecting down QBs I'm not aware of (and knowing the competition committee, that's always possible), that was just a bad call; the play was still going. It was a cheap call in a bad game with a few brilliant moments -- Dwayne Bowe's catch was one of them, though.
And I'd forgotten you'd gotten to go to yesterday's game -- I admit, when I saw "vs. Oak" on the schedule, that meant an automatic "W" to me. It never occurred to me that...well, you know. I'm glad you got to go to the new 'Head, but full of sorrow that you got the game that you did.
This year, or at least this half of this year, I'm willing to write Todd Haley a pass. He knew they screwed up, and he knew how. From what I've seen from the guy, I'm going to guess it won't happen again, and the guy is learning the head coaching ropes. Herm, on the other hand, was an "experienced" head coach when he joined the team. He should have already known better.
Other than the halftime bungling, I really liked the playcalling. Particularly that first 4th down call and the subsequent onside kick. Cassell could have been better, but he was already better than Russell (7 of 24), and other than the picks, he looked pretty solid there. He didn't get rattled, he could move in the pocket, he didn't mind running and taking the hit to get the first down. The guy's not a wuss, which is more than I can say for Brodie Croyle.
I forgot the onside kick -- if whoever'd had the ball kicked right the hell to him hadn't gone all skillet-mitts that second, it'd been a whole new ball-game. And Cassell had one play I remember where he moved out of the pocket directly toward a blitzer like he was the whale falling toward the ground in Hitchhiker's Guide to the point I was beginning to think he had LT's smoked visor snapped in or something, and he still would've been better than JaMarcus "Muscle Relaxant" Russell (Jesus, 7/24 and it was worse than that). LJ decided to play a few downs, apparently keeping some in the tank for a free-agency showing later in the season, I guess -- he can still go either way, but it's up to him to decide to show the hell up.
Still a lot of potential. They shouldn't be 1-1, much less 0-2, but them's the breaks.
And we have a monster non-con draw this year. Cripes, the NFC East back-to-back (the tour starts this weekend in Philly) and the Steelers, but luckily we finish out the season with the not-so-killer-B's: Broncos, Bills, Browns, Bengals, and Broncos again. It's definitely a trial-by-fire season for Haley and Cassell.
Maurice Leggett had the ball on that onside, but was apparently the first victim of the new push-out rules, or that's what it looked like from the upper deck.
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From:
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That said, I still don't know that he did a worse job than Bring Me the Skull of Norv Turner. Any other team in the league I might forgive you for going for the easy points, but these are the Ravens, and few teams are as synonymous with defense as the Baltimore bunch, and with good reason. When you have the weapons you have on offense -- Rivers, Sproles, Gates, Jackson, et al. -- and your defense is missing key components, I don't think you settle for the field goal every time inside the ten, and certainly not inside five minutes.
But then there's that roughing-the-passer penalty on the Chefs that essentially lost them the game -- where JaMarcus "NyQuil" Russell hadn't been touched by a single Chief and had two fall on him while he was prone. Unless there a subparagraph of the rule book protecting down QBs I'm not aware of (and knowing the competition committee, that's always possible), that was just a bad call; the play was still going. It was a cheap call in a bad game with a few brilliant moments -- Dwayne Bowe's catch was one of them, though.
And I'd forgotten you'd gotten to go to yesterday's game -- I admit, when I saw "vs. Oak" on the schedule, that meant an automatic "W" to me. It never occurred to me that...well, you know. I'm glad you got to go to the new 'Head, but full of sorrow that you got the game that you did.
From:
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Other than the halftime bungling, I really liked the playcalling. Particularly that first 4th down call and the subsequent onside kick. Cassell could have been better, but he was already better than Russell (7 of 24), and other than the picks, he looked pretty solid there. He didn't get rattled, he could move in the pocket, he didn't mind running and taking the hit to get the first down. The guy's not a wuss, which is more than I can say for Brodie Croyle.
From:
no subject
Still a lot of potential. They shouldn't be 1-1, much less 0-2, but them's the breaks.
From:
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Maurice Leggett had the ball on that onside, but was apparently the first victim of the new push-out rules, or that's what it looked like from the upper deck.