It’s funny what triggers the New York media or teams to get upset about something. This week, Chad Pennington was announced as the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year. Five seconds later, if you were the green team in East Rutherford, NJ then you felt cheated. Newsday interviewed an anonymous Jets player who stated, “There was a lot of resentment in the room about [Favre].” The player also called Favre “distant.” Then running back Thomas Jones went on Hot 97 in New York and expressed his feelings about Favre… or so we thought. Jones said, “If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game.” Even safety Kerry Rhodes stated that he is fine with Favre coming back as long as he is not going to “be half-hearted or he doesn’t want to put the time in with us.”
Let me get this straight. This is the same franchise that was willing to replace Chad Pennington with Kellen Clemons? Who in the world would bench Favre if your options on the bench were Eric Ainge and Kellen Clemons? Brett Favre can throw six interceptions and still be a threat in the passing game. That can only help Thomas Jones. Trust me, running against nine in the box in not an easy task. Brett Favre gives the Jets the very best chance to win. Nobody else does, plain and simple. Jealousy is rearing its ugly head in New York. My advice to that franchise is pray that Favre comes back because you wouldn’t even be in the playoff race without him. If he doesn’t come back, well…Jets let me introduce you to the Lions.
….I woke up this morning with a smile on my face. As a fan of the Atlanta Falcons, it’s hard to say that you’re not happy that you made it. You should always want more. Don’t get me wrong, if the Falcons walk out of here as the Super Bowl champions you will here no complaints from me. But if they lay an egg against the Arizona Cardinals, it will just remind that this is step one of building something special. Before you guys watch the wildcard games and wonder what is wrong with the Falcons today (if anything goes wrong), let me list to you our personnel needs:
- Better offensive linemen
- Better linebackers
- Another defensive end
- A tight end
- Another wide receiver
- Defensive backs need more experience
- Another free safety
With all that being said, they have a great chance to win today against the Cardinals. If they do, go Vikings! I would rather play the Giants off of the bye week then play them in the NFC Championship Game.
….I got an interesting e-mail yesterday in response to my column yesterday. Although it had some pretty radical ideas in it, one section caught my attention. I’ll let you guys read it. Since I don’t like to throw people out there without permission, let’s call this person “DemonDeacon:
I agree almost completely with everything you posted, however, with your criteria and guidelines for why you chose Matt Ryan, I have to go with Chad Pennington. Here’s a guy that came onto a 1-15 team (three games worse than the Falcons) with a complete overhaul of coach, general manager, president, and ownership (even worse than the Falcons) in the AFC East (arguably the third toughest division in football with worse weather conditions to have to deal with) that had just lost its two highest profile and strongest leaders (Zach Thomas / Jason Taylor). He was also supported by a weaker running game, no true #1 receiver and another locker room completely void of leadership. Atlanta at least still had Brooking, Lawyer Milloy, and a few others to somewhat keep things together. I bet most people can’t name five Miami Dolphins, period. I will even spot them Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, Chad Pennington, and Joey Porter. I defy most people to name even one more Dolphin player. That’s how no-name that team is this year. Not to mistake name for leadership, but individual success has a lot to do with one’s ability to lead and there isn’t hardly anyone in that Miami locker room that has had any success. In comes Chad Pennington who is playing without a safety net. Chad Henne was probably not about to have a Matt Ryan season, ditto for John Beck, whereas Ryan had Redman behind him. He posts the same record, wins his division, wins 9 of his last 10 games and is looking stronger by the week with passer ratings over 100 each of the last 4 games. Compare this to Ryan who has had his two worst games of the year in the last three games of the season and is starting to look like a rookie or coordinators are starting to figure him out. I’m not saying Matt Ryan didn’t do incredible things this year and didn’t deserve to runaway with the rookie of the year trophy (Joe Flacco shouldn’t even be in the same sentence considering the talent around him), but I just think Matt is a year away from being the true driver of that team on and off the field. These last few games, the Falcons won in spite of Matt Ryan, not because of him. The opposite is true for Chad Pennington.
Duly noted. In case you guys haven’t heard the NFL MVP voters went to their security blanket, Peyton Manning, to win the award. I completely agree with DemonDeacon though except for one glaring fact. The Dolphins were 1-15 with one coach. The Falcons were 4-12 with two coaches (one of them quitting midseason to take a college job). That may put the Falcons over the top as worse franchise. Man, I can’t believe I’m trying to down my favorite team so much but trust me DemonDeacon. The Falcons may have had more wins than the Dolphins but they also had more losses. Think about it.
…As of this posting, today’s Falcons/Cardinals game is sold out so it won’t be blacked out. The Vikings/Eagles game just received their second final 24-hour deadline. If they aren’t sold out by 4:30 EST, Minnesota fans better have a radio handy.
…Finally, and I’ll dive deeper into this tomorrow, no matter what happens with the remaining bowl games your 2009 AP national champion in college football is the University of Utah. Mark it down.
…Check out the blog tomorrow and keep on spreading the word. You can comment below or email me at richardlowejr@gmail.com. Go blue!
My sympathies on the Falcons loss.
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