Do What You Do Well Or Be Prepared To Lose

Every week you see a football team try and win their game in a manner that they're not used to doing. Whether it's getting into a shootout when you're used to grinding it out on the ground, or trying to continually run the ball when your quarterback can air it out at will. At the end of the game, usually one that results in a loss, people wonder why the team didn't stick to doing what it does best. This weekend's team was the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Over the past few season, the Jaguars have been known as a strong running team that uses their running success to set up the playaction pass. Last season, they were tied for 3rd in the NFL in rush attempts per game(32.1), in '05 they were ranked 8th(31.4) and in '04 they were ranked 15th(27.9). So what did they do yesterday with their rushing combo of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew?

They rushed 13 times. Total. For a whopping 48 yards, and no touchdowns.

Instead, they asked David Garrard to throw 30 passes, and to try to win the game through the air. It's no wonder they lost to Tennessee 13-10.

I expect to see significantly more rush attempts for both Taylor and Jones-Drew when they face Atlanta in week 2.

Why Winning Your Season Opener In The NFL Is So Important

With the regular season of the NFL set to kick off tonight, I thought I would check out how the teams that eventually appeared in the Super Bowls over the past ten years did in their season openers. Let's just say that if your team loses on Sunday don't plan your Super Bowl party around them.

Over the past ten years, there have been 20 teams that made Super Bowl appearances(this kind of math is easy and fun!). Their combined season opener record is 16-4. Of those four losses, three were in road games('02 Tampa Bay is the lone home loser to appear in the SB), and two of the four were suffered by the New England Patriots(just another reason to hate Belichick, Brady and Co.!). The only good news is that 3 out of the 4 losers actually defied the odds, made the Super Bowl and ended up winning it. Well, it's good if you're not a fan of the '05 Seahawks(see, they really should have won that game).

So, if your team plays at home this weekend and loses, then you can probably kiss those Super Bowl aspirations goodbye. However, if they play on the road and lose, then things might not be so bad come next February.

Goodbye Curtis Martin, Thanks For The Fantasy Points

With Curtis Martin announcing his retirement today, I thought it might be interesting to see what type of career fantasy football player he was. I've had him on teams in the past, and appreciated his contribution to my FFL teams.

Anyway, I'll be using the scoring system of:
1pt per every 20yds rushed
6pts per every rushing TD
1pt per every 20yds receiving
6pts per every receiving TD
-2pts per every fumble lost

The only stat that I haven't included is two-point conversion total(worth 2pts each), but I don't think it would add too much to the overall total.

So, Martin's 14,101 yards rushing would give him 705pts, his 90 rushing TD's equal 540pts, his 3329 receiving yards would be 166pts(yes, I'm rounding here), his 10 receiving TD's would be 60pts and his 16 fumbles lost would be -32pts.

That's a grand total of 1,439 career fantasy points, or an average of 130pts per season.

He's not up there like some of the backs that don't have quite as many yards, but scored a ton of touchdowns(i.e. Marcus Allen). However, he was still a solid running back and a solid fantasy contributor.

Goodbye C-Mart, and thanks for the points.

If You Can't Beat Up Someone For Breaking Your Windshield, Then When Can You?

Normally, when you hear San Diego Chargers and police mentioned in the same sentence you probably think something like, "ah, the Bengals of the west coast are at it again!"

Well, what if the incident involved a Chargers' player having his windshield broken by some guy in a vehicle in front of him throwing a rock at his car while travelling on the highway? Does that change things?

"San Diego Chargers rookie Anthony Waters was charged with hitting a man who threw a rock at his car on a highway.

The 22-year-old linebacker was arrested last week on a simple assault and battery charge and released on $1,000 bail, Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said Monday. No trial date has been set.

Waters, a former Clemson star, was traveling on Nichols Highway last week when a passenger in a vehicle in front of him threw a rock and broke Waters' windshield, causing about $350 in damages, according to arrest warrants.

It's unclear what happened next, but at some point Waters and another man struck Colby Sarvis, 18, and threatened to kill him, according to warrants. Bourcier said she did not know if the men had lawyers.

Ok, so the "threatening to kill him" part might have been a little over the top, but don't tell me that you've never been pissed about a rock flying back from a semi-truck that almost cracked, or did crack, your windshield. Now imagine if you actually saw someone throw that rock, and you were able to get them pulled over to the side of the road. I don't think that a little "personal justice" is out of line.

At least no one got shot, run over or puked on.

Big Brother 8's "Former Pro Football Player" Contestant

I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of the Big Brother series. I'll usually watch a few episodes during the season just to keep up to speed in case someone asks me about it. However, when I heard that there was a "former professional football player" cast this season my interest level went up a bit.

I didn't think it would be anyone too famous, but was hopeful that it might be someone who was relatively recognizable. After the season premiere last night, I realized that I had no idea who this former pro football player was, and decided to hop online to see what team he had played for.

See, that's the problem with us sportsfans. If something involves sports we feel compelled to dissect it in a thousand different ways, and when we're done we're usually disappointed with the results(though, sometimes they're f@#king sweet!).

Anyway, pretty quickly I was able to track down that the contestant, Nick Starcevic(yes, I'm aware there's a TarHeel football player by the same name), played college ball for the University of Minnesota-Crookston. He was actually a pretty good player for UMN, and was the leading tackler in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

It looked to me like Starcevic's last season for UMN was '04(he wasn't on the roster in '05), so if he was drafted it would have been during the '05 NFL draft. Well, looking at ESPN's '05 Draft Player Tracker you can see that he's not even listed there. Hmmm, that's interesting.

So, I do a few more searches, and can't find any mention of him playing football in the NFL. Then in one of my searches I get directed to the website for the Eurobowl. More specifically, I get to this(.pdf team roster for the Seinajoki Crocodiles). What do you know, Nick Starcevic is up near the top. He's also listed as an "All-Time Crocodile". Yes, that photo up there is of him in his Crocodile gear.

So after all of that, I started thinking. Sure, he does get paid to play American style football, so in that sense he is a professional. However, shouldn't there be some sort criteria that you must meet before being able to call yourself a "pro football player"? Maybe it's just me, but when I hear that I think of the NFL, then either the AFL or CFL. Very quickly I came up with just a few possible conditons that one must meet before calling themselves a "pro football player".

Receive compensation from an NFL team for practicing or playing. The NFL is at the top of the pro football world. If you can get into one of the 32 camps, workout with the team and get paid for it, then I think you should be able to call yourself a pro football player.

Make the roster for an AFL or CFL team. These two leagues aren't quite as competitive so the bar is set a little higher. Just trying out or going through camp isn't enough. You actually have to make the team.

Those are just two quick ones that I thought of off the top of my head. Anybody else have others they wish to contribute?