Comments on Dan Shanoff: Monday 11/26 A.M. Quickie:Pats, Mizzou, Hester, 85...

Jamario.....Mooooon! He was in the CBA with the A...

2007-11-26T16:11:00.000-05:00

Jamario.....Mooooon! He was in the CBA with the Albany Patroons this time a year ago...he was fun as hell to watch and one of the best players in the league. Don't know how he wasn't found before this, though I can't imagine he's really anything close to this good at the NBA level.

paging Derek Anderson, Donovan McNabb or some rook...

2007-11-26T16:05:00.000-05:00

paging Derek Anderson, Donovan McNabb or some rookie to replace Eli Manning next season.

Prayers for Sean Taylor...

2007-11-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

Prayers for Sean Taylor...

But then, the Patriots nearly lost the game AT HOM...

2007-11-26T15:18:00.000-05:00

But then, the Patriots nearly lost the game AT HOME against a 3rd place NFC East team playing a backup quarterback.

Blueprint or not, it shows the Patriots can lose a game, though I don't think that will happen in the regular season unless they start resting players.

CMFost, it's funny how when its your team who almo...

2007-11-26T15:07:00.000-05:00

CMFost, it's funny how when its your team who almost gets beat, the other team suddenly played the best they possibly could and your team played the worst they possibly could.

Now in 2004 when the Red Sox beat the Yankees in 7, I bet you weren't saying "Oh, the Red Sox played about as well as they could and everything went their way and the Yankees played about as bad as they could".

Give credit where its due, it doesn't matter how good you think the Eagles played and how bad you think the Patriots played. The fact is, you were scared shitless and the Eagles preparation had a lot to do with the Patriots poor play. It wasn't some fluke bad game.

Would it be against the rules of Fandom to take a ...

2007-11-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

Would it be against the rules of Fandom to take a 'straight up' bet against your favorite team?

At 80-1, i couldn't resist putting down 50 bucks on the Eagles, which made for some curious moments near the end of the game.

Either way, I would've been happy.

Over 51 was a guarantee.

Although the Tennessee-Kentucky game was certainly...

2007-11-26T14:49:00.000-05:00

Although the Tennessee-Kentucky game was certainly exciting, what with quadruple overtime, etc., I was glad that CBS switched to the UF-FSU game in Florida at the time it started, even though UT-UK was nowhere near complete. There were plenty of updates on UT-UK while those of us in Florida got to watch Tebow and company put on a clinic! Aside from the overwhelming victory on the field, what I liked best about the UF-FSU game was that because of the aforementioned clinic, we didn't have to listen to the incessant Seminole warchant!! (Doesn't the FSU band play anything else??)

I thought some of you might be interested in this ...

2007-11-26T14:41:00.000-05:00

I thought some of you might be interested in this scenario someone broke down on his blog today as the ultimate punch in the mouth possibility for the BCS: BYU and Hawai'i both qualify for BCS and a free-for-all for the NC.

http://furiouswedge.blogspot.com/

The Saskatchewan Roughriders won the CFL Grey Cup ...

2007-11-26T14:36:00.000-05:00

The Saskatchewan Roughriders won the CFL Grey Cup yesterday. Home to the best CFL fans in the country (think Packers fans in the NFL; small market and intensely loyal), but very little success (only 2 championships before last night, none for the last 19 years, in an 8 team league). They were led by Kerry Joseph, a former NFL safety who left to fulfill his dream of playing quarterback.

I don't know--count me among those who isn't sold ...

2007-11-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

I don't know--count me among those who isn't sold on the idea of the Eagles providing a "blueprint" for how to stop the Pats. The fact is that New England still scored 31 points. 31! And yet there are people somehow pointing to this game as proof that the Pats offense can be stopped. Such is the universe Brady and Co. have created. The Eagles defense looked very busy, and I'll give them credit for actually, you know, touching Brady, which not a lot of teams can claim, but the fact is NE still racked up 410 yards of total offense and had no turnovers.

Now, I'll give Robut this: maybe the Eagles did provide a template for how to score on the Patriots. John Madden was right: Philadelphia's offense was destroying the Pats secondary on the in-cuts all night. And the protection for Feeley was top-notch. Have you ever seen so many third-and-long completions?

I fely icky last night, I was actually rooting for...

2007-11-26T14:22:00.000-05:00

I fely icky last night, I was actually rooting for the Eagles to be the Pats. Is that totally against the rules of Fandom?

pre-season preview---that was kind of repetitive.

2007-11-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

pre-season preview---that was kind of repetitive.

Chase Daniel shouldn't be "in the mix" for the Hei...

2007-11-26T14:10:00.000-05:00

Chase Daniel shouldn't be "in the mix" for the Heisman. He should be the front runner. 40 of 49? That is better than Tecmo Bowl stats.

Dan said in his pre-season preview:Here's my prese...

2007-11-26T14:03:00.000-05:00

Dan said in his pre-season preview:

Here's my preseason Heisman ranking:

1. Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
2. Colt Brennan, QB, Hawaii
3. Pat White, QB, West Virginia
4. Brian Brohm, QB, Louisville
5. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

That's why you have no problem with McFadden beating out Tebow, you picked him in the beginning. You know you don't think McFadden should win it over Tebow, but this way it is a win win for you.

@ natsfanI understand that Dixon being gone has sh...

2007-11-26T13:46:00.000-05:00

@ natsfan

I understand that Dixon being gone has shown how valuable he is to Oregon, but what do you think would happen if Daniels, McFadden, or Tebow went out. The argument that we know how valuable he his now so he must be the Heisman is one that absolutely slays me because there are probably a dozen players that have that status. It think instead the Ducks criminally poor play should reflect on what an awful job these coaches have done t preparing Leak when they have known for at least 3 weeks that Dixon had a bad knee. If I am an oregon fan I am amazed at the ineptitude of what I have seen in the last 7 quarters of football.

My Heisman Ballot
- Tebow (51 touchdowns!, 4,000 total yards)
- Chase Daniel (if he wins next week)
- McFadden (#2 if Mizzou loses)
- Dixon
- Brennan

Explain to me how the Big10 would suddenly have st...

2007-11-26T13:41:00.000-05:00

Explain to me how the Big10 would suddenly have street cred if they add any random crap midwest team like S. Illinois so they can have a championship game?

So torn. Have tix to the Rose Bowl to see OSU, but want to play WVU in the NC. But also want to see OSU smack USC around, and put another nail in the coffin of the BCS.

Update:Gailey out at Georgia Tech...

2007-11-26T12:58:00.000-05:00

Update:

Gailey out at Georgia Tech...

Turner Gill is definitely a good candidate for the...

2007-11-26T12:53:00.000-05:00

Turner Gill is definitely a good candidate for the Nebraska job. Yes, he coaches University of Buffalo now but in his few years in Buffalo, he finally led the Bulls to a winning record in the conference. This is a team that never won more than 1-2 games a season for a few years. He has done the best he can with the kind of recruits Buffalo gets. at UB, academics >>>>>>>>>>>>> Sports, so I say he's done well.

Mr. Nixon, The standard Tampa 2 doesn't work agai...

2007-11-26T12:33:00.000-05:00

Mr. Nixon,
The standard Tampa 2 doesn't work against the Pats because all three receivers have enough speed to split the safeties.
Buffalo tried to play the Tampa 2 last week.
The Eagles had success for three reasons.
1. The Pats didn't try to run (very stupid, because they CAN run).
2. The Eagles exotic blitzing schemes were reasonably effective.
3. The Eagles DBs did an excellent job (yet still gave up almost 400 yards passing). However, I did notice several borderline holds (lots of tugging on shirt sleeves) and illegal contacts (much bumping past 5 years).

Regarding Pats. Feely had a great game (aside fro...

2007-11-26T12:29:00.000-05:00

Regarding Pats.

Feely had a great game (aside from his second throw and the last 3+ minutes of course).
All three of his TD passes were stuck in there perfectly with solid coverage each time.
As far as a "blue print" for beating the Pats, I just don't see it.
The Pats played a poor scheme on both sides of the ball all game, blitzing Feely too much (he proved he wasn't going to get rattled, despite throwing a pick 6 early) and playing that ridiculous spread the whole game when Maroney apparently was not hurt (he must be in the dog house or something).
The Pats also left a lot of plays on the field;
1. A dropped bomb by Moss, which almost never happens.
2. A ticky tack PA penalty on Moss, negating a TD, followed by a missed FG which replay seemed to show was good.
3. A dropped Int by Samuel which looked destine for another 6.
4. 3 dropped passes in a row during an early 4th quarter drive.

Yet, despite all this, they still won.

@toddNo way that WVU goes down to Pitt next weeken...

2007-11-26T12:28:00.000-05:00

@todd

No way that WVU goes down to Pitt next weekend at home. No chance.

All your Rich Rod are belong to us.

Dan,I don't know why you keep saying only three he...

2007-11-26T12:27:00.000-05:00

Dan,

I don't know why you keep saying only three heisman finalists can be invited. Only have to go back to 2005 to find 5 finalists. (http://www.heisman.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/120804aaa.html)
I think they can invite as many legitimate contenders as they think they have.

Nixon,The Pats defense ranks 3rd in yards per game...

2007-11-26T12:18:00.000-05:00

Nixon,
The Pats defense ranks 3rd in yards per game and is tied for 5th in points per game.

In the end, this so-called blueprint resulted in another loss for the opposition and probably serves as a wake-up call for the Pats. And while all the blueprint people are talking about other teams employing the same strategy, don't you think Belichick and his staff are busy preparing for how to perform better against that kind of attack?

That was not a blueprint on how to beat the patrio...

2007-11-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

That was not a blueprint on how to beat the patriots. The Eagles played the absolute best game they could and the Patriots played there worst game of the season. And robut, Brady kills tampa-2 teams.

In order to do what philly did against the patriots, 1st you need the players (big o line, one great cover corner with a good cover safety). 2nd you need to execute the game plan to perfection any mistakes and you can not beat the pats. 3rd - you need to find a way to shut down the pats offense which the philly really did not do.

The Pats scored on 4 of the 8 drives they had and should of been five of 8 if not for a missed FG and it is really 4 of 7 since the last drive they where just trying to kill the clock.

McFadden is a better QB than Tebow anyway

2007-11-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

McFadden is a better QB than Tebow anyway