Tuesday, March 30, 2010

03/30 Quickie: Bradford, Stanford, More

I know I said I would have a post about Sam Bradford yesterday afternoon, but it ended up being the lead of today's SN column.

The gist is this: I am willing to stipulate that Bradford has a terrific arm -- hell, he could be the best pure passer in the NFL.

My question is: What evidence is there that the guy can take 8-10 clobberings a game by NFL D-linemen, when mere BYU (or Texas) D-linemen knocked him out of last season?

It's not about whether he can make the throws -- it's whether he can take the hits. And I'm not sure I want to be on the hook for $60 million with that big of an issue left unknown.

Mostly, I don't understand why the draftniks don't make this more of an issue. It seems like a huge risk factor, even for a guy as talented as Bradford.

I'm comfortable with the comparison to Troy Aikman -- but Aikman didn't spend his final season of college football out because his shoulder couldn't take a minimal beating.

More you'll find in today's column:

*I'm not sure there is an ending to a college basketball game as insane as what happened between Stanford and Xavier last night. TWO missed open lay-ups by X, then a baseline-to-baseline buzzer-beater FTW by Stanford -- all to advance to the Final Four.

*I'm totally comfortable with Wall and Cousins as 1st-team All-Americans. Less so for Scottie Reynolds, who feels like an inertia pick. My bigger issue is that they name these teams before the NCAA Tournament -- what's the point?

*Why doesn't Oregon offer Tom Izzo $10 million a year for 10 years, guaranteed? It's not like they can't afford it. Let's see him turn that down. (I'm sure he would, but still. Some marginal raise from his current salary isn't impressive at all.)

There's a lot more in there today. See the whole thing here.

-- D.S.

1 comment:

Biff said...

"Mere"?!?!? As a BYU fan, I'm offended. :)

We did finish ranked #11 last year, and our defense unleashed some terrific hits during the year.

Most teams made comments post-game that BYU was the most physical team they played. Some credit please? :)

That said, I think Bradford will do fine.