Four Downs with Dang & Doc
by Brian Davis and Paul Hopkins
1/4/2010
The Diner's resident duo are back after a post-season breather and settle back in the booth to chew the fat over free agency, changes to the post-season overtime rule, how the draft is looking just a month away and the continued controversy over Ben Roethlisberger.
 What have you made of Free Agency thus far?
DOC – Not a lot really truth be told. I know that nobody really knew what we were to expect given the uncertain future teams face as we enter this bold new world ahead of us. But to me there hasn't been that one marquee move that got everyone talking, like we've had in recent years. Even early on. The highlights so far for me has to include the Ravens finally getting a top drawer wide receiver after making do with the greatness of Derrick Mason and precious little else. Adding Boldin is a great move. I also think that Thomas Jones to Kansas City is an excellent move for the Chiefs. He grinds it out, and will provide leadership. Look at the disappointment in his offensive line in New York that he moved on, and he certainly cost a similar sum to the guy who replaces him at the Jets, in LT. And I consider that to be a strange move by the Jets, he'll do ok but he is diminishing considerably now. And staying on running backs, the Redskins' acquisition of Larry Johnson is one that has completely perplexed me. Granted the move is incentive laden but I am really not sure why you would want to take on all that baggage, particularly when they already have an ageing outspoken RB in Clinton Portis. However, as I blogged last week the Charlie Whitehurst trade is arguably the most intriguing of the lot, in effect handing the keys to the Seahawks to a guy who's not played yet despite being in the league years. Obviously he hasn't been helped by being behind Philip Rivers, but still a most interesting time lays ahead there.
DANG. Pretty much agree with that to be honest. I knew my team (49ers) weren't going to be overly active this year with the little that was about. Having two #1 overall picks, both at Quarterback is quite interesting if you're into following the careers of average Quarterbacks! Carr won't get a sniff unless Smith goes down, but Smith enters this year with the same Offensive Coordinator for the first time in his career and with a fully repaired shoulder, could this really be his year? Chester Pitts is an intriguing guy who we've had in for visits, I'd like to see him signed up to keep Baas and Rachal on their toes and then look at picking up another position in the middle rounds. In terms of everybody else, I actually think Tomlinson to the Jets can work, Yeah, I hear you all hating, saying he's done, but look where he's at, look at how dominant their Offensive Line is. If that doesn't propel him to a half decent season then I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan. If a 31 year old Thomas Jones can have a 1400 yard 14 TD season, then a 31 year old Tomlinson (when the season starts) can at least match his 730 yard, 12 TD performance of 2009, his last in San Diego.
I fancy him to split carries with Shonn Green who will be the #1 in 2010 and I think they'll compliment each other nicely and let's not forget Leon Washington as well who provides game breaking ability.
Back to average Quarterbacks though and the new battles in Seattle (Whitehurst v Hasselbeck), Arizona (Anderson v Leinart) and Denver (Orton v Quinn) will be interesting to follow over the off season. I've never been a fan of Leinart, another average USC Quarterback who's playing on that reason alone, Derek Anderson has a shot at starting there, call me mad, but it could happen. Orton "should" win out, but the Browns have been brave by pretty much trading him away for a Full Back!
 The NFL have changed overtime rules for the post-season, is that a good thing?
DOC – Should have done more and changed it for all season, rather than just the playoffs. Don't get me wrong this is a good move and one I urged owners to do in my blog post this past Sunday. But really, it does no good in the long-term if it only applies to the post-season. When nearly 60% of games are being won by the team that wins the coin toss, if you don't change the rule to also apply in the regular season the old system is still hurting teams in the regular season. It means they won't get to go to the post-season and then won't enjoy the much fairer approach now agreed. That doesn't seem quite right to me. But at the same time, it's a positive move, and it's a good first step. But let's not wait a long time before we roll it out further. I just hope that extending this further doesn't get embroiled in arguments around the labour dispute, players being asked to do too much and what we should do about cutting the number of pre-season games. It's the best thing to do for the game, so do it. Simple as that.
DANG: Ahh so the untouchables and Golden boys get beat in the playoffs without touching the ball and all of a sudden we have a rule change. I wonder if this ruling would've come in had say, Alex Smith or Vince Young had lost playoff games without touching the ball? OK, so yes, it would have come, but I do wonder whether they would have pushed it through so quickly? I don't know why they haven't brought it in full stop though. It doesn't make sense to me to have one rule for the playoffs and one rule for regular season, I hope it's just going to be a quick trial for one season, we will see its benefits and then providing we have football in 2011, they can implement it across the board, so for me it gets a thumbs up.
 With just over a month to go, what are you thinking about who the #1 overall pick will be?
DOC – Well it seems like at this point in time, following the combine the first overall pick is Sam Bradford's to lose. I'm not certain he's the best prospect in the draft, and truth be told I'm not definite on him even being the best quarterback in the draft. But that being said, I'm really not sure who would be. They're a pretty uninspiring bunch. Surely Jake Locker must be thinking about how much he could have made declaring this year? He'd be an absolute lock at #1 if the Rams are so determined to take the face of their franchise with this pick. So it looks like Bradford, dodgy shoulder and all. I'm not his number one fan, frankly I think he was made to look good by a dominant Sooners offensive line in 2008 that when it wasn't as strong in 2009 exposed his weaknesses. It also exposed his frailty with injuries to the same shoulder in games against BYU and Texas on hits that really weren't overly violent, but just took him to the ground. These demonstrated that he just does not know how to fall and not hurt himself. Given some of the hits he's going to take from defensive ends and outside linebackers in the NFL, if he is taken by the Rams and does start at any point ahead of AJ Feeley I would put my money right now on him finishing the season on IR. I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again, the pick the Rams should make – unless they can trade out – is Ndamukong Suh. Talent like his doesn't come along too often so when you can get someone who'll be a centrepiece for a decade you don't pass it over for a flaky, over-rated QB like Sam Bradford. But there is time yet, so we shall see what happens…
DANG. I thought it would be Ndamukong Suh for a long, long time, he did nothing than massively impress me with what I saw in 2009, but it looks like Gerald McCoy is going to be on a level, maybe even above him now. Neither, I feel though will be the Number 1 pick overall. Our previous mocks had Suh to the Rams, but with the way that it's looking right now, I have to again agree with you, it's looking more and more like it's going to be Sam Bradford. Keith Null, Marc Bulger and AJ Feeley are a feeble bunch of Quarterbacks and with all the will in the world and 5 Hall of Fame Offensive linemen in their prime in front of them (which is far from what the Rams have) you still won't win very much. I saw a fair bit of Bradford in 2008 and I like the look of him, he has the accuracy to succeed at the next level I'm sure of it. OK so yes, he did have a superb line to work behind in 08 and as soon as he lost 4 of them it didn't take him long to go down in 2009, but I truly believe that if the Rams can give him time, once their O line is ready, then he will succeed. In 2010 they have to give him time to learn though. Given his injury history, they can't afford him going down before he's even got going so for me, as harsh as it sounds, use the others as Cannon fodder as Bradford learns his trade then give him the 2011 keys.
 With continued controversy, how many more chances is Ben Roethlisberger going to get in Pittsburgh?
DOC – This is such a hard question to answer as this is a two-time Superbowl winning quarterback in just over half a decade. These kinds of players simply do not grow on trees. But at the same time, despite his toughness and brilliance on the field Roethlisberger is courting the kind of controversy that does no good whatsoever. It's clearly distracting his Head Coach, the fans in the city are uneasy about it. And there's even been mutterings of whether they might look to move him on! Move him on? A two-time Superbowl winning quarterback! The thing I have is that he just doesn't appear to learn from any of these instances. Whether he is guilty of this latest accusation (and bear in mind he's faced things like this before), at the very least it indicates a naivety of judgement in Roethlisberger that even goes back to his infamous motorcycle crash that nearly killed him. There has to be questions over, regardless of if he is found guilty or not or whether he is even charged with anything, whether he is going to face a ban from Random Roger (he should in my book) but whether he will is down to more arbitrary roulette play from Goodell. The Steelers themselves, who have a long history of being respected in this league, may not take too kindly to having their name dragged through the mud. Without wanting to pre-judge these things, I can't see how Ben isn't on his last chance now. The Steelers aren't going to put up with this kind of behaviour for much longer. They have a lot of money invested in him and need him focused. Headlines like we have seen in recent weeks all those involved can do without.
DANG. I'm a Big Roethlisberger fan and I score him on a par with Brees and Rivers, but slightly behind the skirt wearing Tom Brady and the greatest of the modern era Peyton Manning, but incidents like those he has been accused of again recently and the motorbike incident just smacks to me of someone who doesn't quite have his head screwed on properly still, despite how well he comes over on TV and in interviews. I don't understand why these football players put themselves in the position to get caught out by being in nightclubs, where bad stuff usually happens late into the night. My view is that the charges will be dropped, nothing will come of it, but Mike Tomlin and Mr Rooney need to sit down and have a chat in the young man's ears and put it straight that he can't afford to keep getting into these situations and we'll see him play out a few more years in Pittsburgh still yet and maybe even another ring or two on his hand. No pun intended!
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