Four Downs with Stock & Doc
by Ben Stockwell and Paul Hopkins
16/1/2009
This week Stock and Doc return with a bumper edition, breaking down each of the Divisional playoff games, looking at their implications now and in the future. Elsewhere, teams are filling their coaching vacancies and looking at personnel for 2009. And in the college ranks, can there be any doubt over #1? You bet there can!
 Larry Fitzgerald's playoff performances are showing that he is the best receiver in the NFL.
STOCK – FACT ! – Up to the playoffs he was there in a group of two for my money with Andre Johnson, but those performances in the playoffs thus far have truly elevated him. He isn't just one of these big play guys like Terrell Owens who for all of the big plays they make aren't at all dependable on a down by down basis. Fitzgerald combines the down by down grind with the spectacular ability to make the sort of catches that he brought in on Sunday as well as that special ability to create havoc in a defence after the catch. He's the complete package and he's doing it on the biggest stage at the pressure time in the season and proving he doesn't need Anquan Boldin to help him, Fitzgerald has stood out a level above the last fortnight.
DOC – FACT ! – You do it when it matters the most and in his first run in the playoffs, heck of any kind, he is putting up big numbers, big catches and monster performances. Even with Boldin out this past Saturday, and even when everyone knew he would be the main focus of the Cards offence, he delivered. He brings speed, strength, incredible hands, good smarts and intelligence. The potential has always been there, and he and Boldin have forged a reputation as the best tandem in the league but Fitzgerald has stamped his authority all over the post-season thus far. There are other receivers who perform equally well, most notably Steve Smith, but he was shut down by a rookie in Rodgers-Cromartie. But right now nobody is hotter than Larry Fitzgerald, and this is the time of the year where the cream rises to the top.
 After a nightmare performance on Saturday, Jake Delhomme has played his last game for the Carolina Panthers.
STOCK – FICTION ! – Yes he stunk the joint up, and I mean he really stunk the joint up, that's as bad a QB performance as you're ever likely to see. However they don't have anything better right now, Matt Moore was OK last season at times but you could see how limited he was, he showed flashes but never looked like sustaining anything. The Panthers don't have a first round pick this year and they invested heavily in making this a big year. Next year will be tough to match, but why make it more difficult by shaking the team up completely? They blew a big chance, yes, but they also had a great season, wholesale changes aren't what are needed for the Panthers, a slight bit of tinkering is what's needed to ensure this team doesn't drop away.
DOC – FACT ! – That was truly the biggest nightmare of a performance that I ever have seen in the playoffs. Nothing went right for Jake, but I believe strongly that you make your own luck and something is not quite right with him in Carolina, and hasn't been for a year or two. Let's be honest, the Panthers got where they did with the rushing game and the odd big play to Steve Smith. Credit the Cardinals, they got He looked like a deer in the headlights all night long, and there were questions before then They like Matt Moore who has looked like a good game manager before, and if he hadn't been on IR early this season then there may have been more questions over Jake. It's a gamble for the Panthers to do this, as they were not too far off this year, but as shown with their drafting and trading this past April, John Fox isn't afraid of doing this. I see Delhomme moving onto pastures new this off-season. Who replaces him though, I'm not so sure.
 As demonstrated on Sunday, Eli Manning is a quarterback who cannot deal with pressure and expectation.
STOCK – FICTION ! – He just won a Superbowl didn't he? I'd say that's playing with pressure and expectation, there's no such thing as playing without pressure and expectation when you play for the New York Giants. For all of his criticism, and he's earned some of it, he has led his team to the playoffs in four or his first five seasons in the NFL (post-merger), that is a simply astonishing record and is one of only five quarterbacks to do so along with Bernie Kosar, Donovan McNabb, Ben Roethlisberger and Neil O'Donnell. His critics go over the top, his supporters go over the top, and no-one seems to get the middle ground that Manning occupies. He's an average quarterback and a very streaky one at that. When he's good he tends to be very good and when he's bad he tends to be very bad. That doesn't come with pressure, it doesn't come with anything, he just is what he is, an inconsistent quarterback who won't respond to the same circumstances in the same way, twice.
DOC – FICTION ! – Well, kind of. This to me is a bit of both. I think Eli can cope with pressure in terms of what comes on the field. But I wonder if he can cope with expectation off the field. Last year, nobody expected much of him, and he delivered big time. This time around, he was the number 1 seed, he was expected to win. And he didn't in the post-season when it mattered most. But he did in the regular season, which is when he usually struggled. I understand some Giants fans are already looking ahead and looking past Eli, which to me seems daft. How soon they forget. The Giants' season had been on the skids for a while anyway, and that certainly was triggered by Eli (more Plaxico and Antonio). He wasn't helped by those around him, and the gameplan, and the Eagles D certainly stepped up again against the Giants, but Eli contributed to the downfall of the NFC #1 seed again.
 LaDainian Tomlinson's legacy is forever going to be tainted through being linked to injuries in the post-season.
STOCK – FICTION ! – It might always be talked about but if this does actually happen all it would do is prove how petty the media and some NFL fans truly are. Tomlinson has been unfortunate enough to encounter serious injuries in the last two seasons just when the Chargers looked like they might get over the hump. This year he has a detached muscle in his groin; last year he had a torn ligament in his knee. Those are serious injuries, injuries that affect his ability to make cuts and be effective as a tailback. If he had a back-up who was for example me, or Doc, then yes, he should be playing through those injuries. However with quality backups like Michael Turner (MVP candidate Michael Turner) and Darren Sproles (set the 3rd highest all purpose yardage playoff performance against the Colts), he's doing his team more detriment by trying to play through the injuries, than the detriment he does them by sitting out. All this talk proves is just how petty the media is and just how much people want to talk certain players done.
DOC – FACT ! – Tomlinson is one of the best backs of the modern era and had a magnificent season a few years back in his prime. But in the post-season, he flatters to deceive. That comes down to injuries so it isn't like people are going to knock him for just disappearing. But the facts are when the playoffs come around as I said earlier, the cream rises to the crop. And at this time of year, LT hasn't performed. He cannot escape that unfortunately. He shouldn't be pilloried for being injured, it happens to everyone. It just seems to happen to him at the worst time. But like it or not, like Peyton Manning and his perceived playoff choking, until he proves everyone wrong, its part of him.
OVERTIME!
Having a bye in the first week of the playoffs is a hindrance more than a help.
STOCK – FICTION ! – At least these playoff teams have been playing for two months consecutively without a week off (close to four months if you're the Ravens), that's a lot of knocks and niggles and injuries to be shaking off. The loss of momentum is over stated, it's one week off, if you can't get your team up and ready for a game with a week off and you aren't running tough enough practices that your team isn't ready for game speed then that's your fault. The regular season record post bye week, is extremely good. The post season record post bye week is extremely good since its inception in 1991. It is only a recent fad that teams are now 7-9 in the last 4 years after the bye week. If you play through, the bye week is beneficial, but if you're coasting into the final weeks of the season with a bye week locked up and then taking a week off, it's no wonder you're not ready for the divisional game. That's not the fault of the bye week, that's the fault of teams not playing through their schedule effectively, if used properly there can be no doubt the bye week is beneficial.
DOC – FICTION ! – Well, it shouldn't be. You have a home game, you (in theory) are a better team, and you get a chance to get rested after we hear all season how banged up you are. To lose after enjoying these benefits is unforgiveable. There's no other way of looking at it. The team you are playing will have played a tough game six or seven days before you play them, and you will have 13 or 14 days rest. That the home sides records in Divisional Playoffs of late is simply down to poor coaching, poor mental attitudes from players and nothing more. You can have no excuse. It is still a huge advantage and cannot be a hindrance.
Unlike in Cleveland with Eric Mangini, you need to hire a GM before you hire a Head Coach.
STOCK – FICTION ! – They need to work with each other and GM's tend to have a much longer shelf life than head coaches so there's no real reason to put one in place before the other in a certain order every time. A coach needs to be comfortable with the personnel he's being given and the GM needs to be comfortable that the talent he and his scouts are finding suits the system their coach has in place, it works both ways. Mangini was clearly the man the Browns wanted, I'm not entirely sure why, they wasted absolutely no time going through the formalities, interviewing candidates and then getting the guy they wanted. The powers that be there clearly know what they want, they know what Mangini runs. It shouldn't be too difficult with that sort of focus to get a GM on board to orchestrate the front office in accordance with that direction. The beauty of the shelf life of a GM is that he should be able to get a second chance if Mangini fails by toeing the line that this was Mangini's blue print and not his own.
DOC – FACT ! – The relationship between GM's and Head Coach is arguably the most important in football. I cannot see the logic if you are looking to fill both posts of filling the head coaching position prior to acquiring a General Manager. It's simply illogical, unless you are giving the Head Coach a say in who gets hired to be GM. Kansas City have it the right way around, acquiring Scott Pioli and then looking at what they do with Herm Edwards. To add Mangini and then try and find a GM who will work with him, seems illogical. But hey, that's the Cleveland Browns for you!
Tim Tebow has made a mistake in coming back for his senior season at Florida.
STOCK – FICTION ! – He's going to be a fullback or an H-back in the NFL, if he goes pro there is absolutely no guarantee that he would ever play a meaningful game at quarterback again in his life. He's not going to be a top NFL QB prospect, so why give up the great life he has now? He is a legend on campus in Gainesville, he has the chance to further cement his candidacy as one of the greatest college football players of all time and he has the chance to win a 2nd Heisman Trophy and a 3rd National Championship, something no-one has ever done before. Why pass that up? The money isn't sitting there waiting for him, in spite of being twice the football player Matthew Stafford is right now he's not going to get the $50million rookie contract. He's going to be at best a mid round prospect whether he leaves right now or stays for his senior season, why not enjoy what he has going? He made absolutely the right choice.
DOC – FICTION ! – Why? Because he didn't chase the money? Another year for Tebow allows him to showcase what he can do to an audience that (and this includes me) which is rapidly catching a lot of people up and recognises just how good a football player this guy really is. Another year will do him good in showing he can make this transition as people still doubt him. I can see why, but on a related point I think the NFL is eventually going to have to evolve to players like Tebow, like Pat White, Colt McCoy and so on. College football just does not produce the prototype QB's like they used to. Matt Ryan's will become the exception, and it is already happening. Baltimore had to go to Delaware to get their QB! So, I think Tim comes back, possibly wins a second Heisman, of which he was robbed this year, becomes one of, if not the top all-time great in college football, and possibly guides Florida close to another National title. The only caveat is that hopefully injuries won't take their toll.
At the end of the college season, the #1 ranked team should be:
STOCK – UTAH – They're the only undefeated team and they have as good a résumé as any other team in the nation. They went undefeated with the 32nd ranked schedule of the 120 division 1 FBS programs; Miami had the 33rd ranked schedule in the FBS. Give Utah 5 losses and Miami the undefeated season and are you telling me the Hurricanes wouldn't have been getting a shot at the national title game? I thought not, Utah was allowed into the party but they weren't allowed at the top table because the BCS conferences won't allow them. They demolished Alabama, they were far more convincing against the Tide in what was essentially a home atmosphere for 'bama than Florida were in the SEC title game. The BCS doesn't allow everyone an equal shot at the national title, non-BCS teams have to do much more to earn their shot than BCS conference teams; that is wrong. Utah did more than enough to earn a shot at the title and they looked so well prepared and they just looked more talented than Alabama s well. With a month's preparation I don't think there's a team that would've beaten Utah.
DOC – FLORIDA – The Gators won the National Championship. They lost one game by a point against a team, many were surprised by at the time, but who proved as the season ended, that they are actually a real force. I'm talking about Ole Miss of course. Oklahoma had no right being near the National Title game The USC hype year on year borders on farcical, I wish some of these supposed clued-up journalists would recognise that football isn't played by judging talent on paper. USC perpetually screw up mid-season against teams they should be embarrassed to lose to. Texas lost to a team in the last second to a team that were soundly beaten by the one team that just beat Florida. So it comes down to Florida and Utah. I can sympathise fully with Utah's situation, they can't get access to the big conferences to be taken seriously, and then when they go unbeaten people write it off. So why have I said Florida. Simply, if Florida played Utah I believe the Gators would win. Sadly though, this ludicrous system denies us the opportunity of finding this out.
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