September 12, 2006 Column: NFL Debut, Birds Up, Pirates Down

If you listen carefully, you can hear the Texas alums who have relocated to Tampa chanting "Major, Major, Major....."

I am scheduled to be a guest on the George Rogers Show this morning. Yes, the former Heisman Trophy winner. The show should be available for a free podcast download on itunes or on the Internet later in the week. I will keep you posted with instructions if you want to listen.

It is great for football to be back. It was with pride and excitement that I dressed my kids up in their pink and green #5 Donovan McNabb jerseys on Sunday in anticipation of the Birds opener. The optimism that marks the beginning of the season is like an 8th grade boy at the school dance that thinks he has a chance with the cute girl. Little does he know that she is already dating a 10th grader who already drives a motorcycle. But for that moment before he asks her if she wants to dance, anything is possible. Here’s to hoping the Eagles are that 10th grader this season….

The beginning of football season is so exciting that I could not even pay attention to the Phillies game. This is the same Phillies team that is more likable than any since the ’93 bunch of renegades that went to the World Series. This is the same Phillies team that is theoretically still in the playoff hunt. This is the same Phillies team that boasts one of the best young arms in the game in Cole Hamels, and one of the truly up and coming stars in Chase Utley. This is the same Phillies team that boasts Ryan Howard, the man with the chance to be the first player since Roger Maris 45 years ago to legitimately hit for 60+ home runs in a season. Despite all that, I could not focus on Hamels taking on Dontrelle Willis. Not while the NFL was kicking off its first full slate of games of the season.

We are 6 years into the 21st century. We have figured out how to put a man on the moon, how to beam images into hundreds of millions of households around the world, and how to send emails to a cell phone. But somehow, the NFL cannot figure out how to implement a challenge system in which red handkerchiefs are not prominently involved. Not once, but twice this weekend teams (Dolphins and Cowboys) threw the challenge flag before the ball was snapped for the next platy but were not allowed to challenge the plays because the officials did not see it in time. It is pretty amusing that college seemks to have figured this out right away; have a guy in the booth reviewing every play as it happens, and if it is close, buzz the officials and have them review. It is easy to implement and has been proven to work on the college level. If the NFL could implement the USFL’s two point rule, surely they can swallow their pride and copy the NCAA on this one.

Another thing the NFL has to fix is this emphasis on making the game into touch football. Not only do they flag anyone who dares to touch the quarterback, but now they are calling unnecessary roughness flags when defenders are hitting receivers, and not even on helmet-to-helmet shots. The penalty they called on Shawn Taylor last night was just ridiculous. It’s football! That means a certain level of violence. Stop the madness; let them play. (Note here: I thought the Monday Night crew, who I am always quick to blast, especially Tirico and Theisman, handled this situation very well last night, with good insight, nice analysis and appropriate criticism of the league).

This Deion Branch trade just absolutely blows me out of the water. New England traded him to Seattle for a first round draft choice. In the meantime, Seattle gave him a new contract for something like 6 years, $39 million. This is a guy who, in his four full seasons in the league, has never caught as many as 80 passes, and has never had a 1,000 yard receiving season. In addition, he has never caught more than 5 touchdowns in a season, and averages a modest 12.9 yards per catch for his career. In contrast, Donte Stallworth has a few less career catches (201 vs. 213), more touchdowns (24 to 14) and a higher yards per catch average (14.4 vs. 12.9). The Eagles gave up a 4th round pick (that could become a 3rd), a linebacker that may or may not have made their team as a back up, and no $6.5 million per year contract. What is Seattle thinking? This is just a horrible trade. Belicheck must be laughing his ass off as he begins rooting for the Seahags to be as bad as they looked yesterday in barely beating the Motor City Kitties. Don’t get me wrong: Branch is a pretty good receiver who will help Seattle. But they "way" overpaid for him.

As long as we mentioned Stallworth, he outperformed my expectations, looking great in Week 1. I enjoyed the fact that the anti-T.O (#18 vs 81) was superior in performance, at least for a week. The Eagles, as a whole, looked very solid yesterday, although that tends to happen when you play triple-A level competition. The real test will come this week when a desperate (as desperate as a team can be after only one week) and very good New York Giant team comes into the Linc for the home opener.

Breaking down specifics, the Eagles lines, both offensive and defensive, looked very solid. Offensively, the running game looked great, you just want to see Andy Reid utilize it more often. Reid views running the football kind of like a root canal, it’s something he may have to do for his overall health, but he dreads it every step of the way. McNabb looked like he has no ill effects from his injury of a year ago, or his T.O. of a year ago. He threw well (with the exception of a couple of his famous worm burners), hit different receivers, and even showed some willingness to run when nothing was available. Again, if they can find a way to win this week, they have several winnable games lined up, so they could well be the talk of the league after 5 or 6 weeks.

As far as other teams that looked better than most expected, I thought the Giants, despite losing, showed that they can play with and beat anyone. In fact, if it weren’t for some horrible dropped interceptions and the usual questionable officiating that promises to haunt this league until they force their refs to become full-time officials, the Giants really should have walked away with a win. Manning just has too many weapons for this team not to score a ton of points, and the strength of their defensive line should be enough to keep their defense respectable. Their fellow Giant Stadium tenants, the J-E-T-S, JETS JETS JETS, looked better than expected (especially if you don’t count their brain fart for half the 4th quarter when they almost gave the game away). Chad Pennington looked great (Stitzer’s comment was that it is the BEST he has ever seen him play), and the defense looked strong for most of the game led by Vilma and Shaun Ellis. Too early to tell whether the Jets will be better than people think (thus validating Stitzer’s 8-8 pre-season prediction) or whether yesterday’s result was just because they played Tennessee. Finally, props go out to the St. Louis Rams, a team that everyone thought would be awful this year, and who handled Denver, a team that many people thought could go to the Super Bowl. The Scott Linehan era starts on a better note than the Mike Martz era ended on….

On the flip side, do you think the Atlanta Falcons General Manager from 1991, who has probably been unemployed ever since, was in a sports bar yesterday, telling someone “I knew this Favre kid was going to suck. Can you believe I got a first rounder for this guy?” Not much else to say, except that Favre has to be regretting his decision to come back and, as bad as Cleveland looked yesterday by losing at home to the dreadful Saints, is making my prediction of the Browns getting the first draft choice next year look dubious. I cannot see how they can possibly keep Aaron Rodgers out of the lineup for more than about 4 more weeks. Monday Night 10/2 in Philly may be the last start of Brett Favre’s career. Just remember, you heard it here first. Finally, Oakland last night, may have laid the biggest egg of all. Clearly, the Art Shell era, part deux, is not going to end well.

On the fantasy front, Frank Gore, Pennington, and Stallworth were the RB, QB, and WR that exceeded expectations by the most, while Shaun Alexander, Chris Chambers and Chris Simms/Jake Plummer had to be the biggest disappointments. Maybe Tampa Bay can bring Major Applewhite off the bench to rally the troops. It has worked before! "MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR........"