With the Yankees out of the playoffs, the NY Daily News says that the team will fire Joe Torre - if he doesn't resign first. Since he has another year on his contract worth $7M, I suspect that things would have to be pretty awful for him there to make him decide to resign without a buyout of some kind, but that's his deal not mine. Naturally, the NY papers are also all over Alex Rodriguez for his "no-show" in the playoff series and there is speculation that the will trade him in the off-season. Excuse me but…
In the final game loss to the Tigers that I watched, I saw the Yankee pitching staff crumble like stale bread. Yes, A-Rod committed an error that allowed an unearned run; now, what about the other seven runs? How was Joe Torre supposed to prevent those moonballs from heading into the stands? Oh, and it isn't as if the Yankees' pitching was spectacular for the two games prior to the final loss either. The Yankees lost because their pitching was significantly inadequate and not because Joe Torre made a few managerial blunders or because Alex Rodriguez didn't hit his weight.
That pitching meltdown brought on a torrent of commentary about how the Yankees need young arms for the playoffs. Interesting, but I wonder if these commentators have ever spoken with all of the other commentators who were pointing out just a couple of weeks ago that the Tigers late season tailspin was because they had too many young arms that were not used to pitching this much in a year. Look, there are pitchers who do not produce positive games in major situations. Some of them are young and some are old. The Yankee pitching staff would be a great staff if all of the pitchers were in their prime. The Yankees' problem is that not one of them is in his prime; and if the Yankee philosophy of signing big name stars continues, they will continue to have pitchers living on reputation as opposed to present-tense ability.
The Cowboys' game in Philly this weekend was so hyped in the media that I expected the game to be a letdown. There was a massive overdose of publicity about Terrell Owens' alleged medicine overdose; adding that to the natural vibe for the game with Owens returning to the "scene of the crime" in Philly and having to confront his arch-enemy/victim from last year turned this into a media circus. What seemed lost in all of that publicity was that Philly was merely the penultimate stop for the T.O. Circus Tour; it had already barnstormed through SF and Baltimore before arriving in Philly and now has a gig in Dallas only because it could not find a suitable venue in Denver. Even with all that hype, this was a very good game full of big plays by both teams on both sides of the ball.
Interestingly, T.O. made none of the big plays that were made in the game. In fact, he made more of an impact on his sideline screaming at the Dallas offensive coordinator - where have we seen that before? - and at others on the offensive unit than he did on the field. He reveled in the McNabb fumble that was returned for a TD, but was surprisingly passive when McNabb completed an 87-yard TD pass and Hank Baskett ran right by the seat that Owens had on the Dallas bench. Owens said all the right things after the game, but his in-game demeanor and behavior might indicate that the "Era of Good Feelings" could be ending in Dallas…
Randy Moss, the other uber-diva of NFL wide receivers, has not said in explicit terms that he wants out of Oakland, but that's the message that just about anyone would take from his comments. The Raiders are awful and he isn't playing with an OL that can keep his QB protected long enough for him to get down the field for his specialty - catching the downfield bomb. From his vantage point, there are so many flaws in this team that it would be a challenge to fix them all in two or three years even if there were a coach and a front office in place that recognized what had to be done and focused solely on those therapeutic actions. Clearly, that's the scene in Oakland; the front office cannot have a clue about what is wrong with this team or they would never have broken camp with this squad; and at the moment, Art Shell's biggest contribution to the Raiders in 2006 is his sideline imitation of one of the Mount Rushmore carvings. I don't know where you look within the Raiders organization right now to find solace if you are a Raider fan.
That leads me to believe that Randy Moss is not so far off base in hinting that he would be willing to ply his trade elsewhere. This is not the same situation as Jerry Porter who is not playing because he has been a pouting and petulant child ever since Art Shell showed up and had the audacity to ask Porter to hang around in Oakland in the off-season to be one of the team leaders in the off-season workouts. How dare a coach do that? In eighteenth century England, that would have been grounds for a duel to the death. Essentially, Shell has sent Porter to his room without dinner for being a child. That's not the case with Moss.
Randy Moss is ready to play the way he always has - which is to say that he will play hard if the play involves him and will loaf if it doesn't - but there isn't any real way for the Raiders to use him effectively or for him to make the Raiders into a break-even team. [Even if the offense magically upgraded itself to "competent", the defense stinks; it gave 34 points to the 49ers yesterday!] Deion Branch brought a first round pick to the Pats just a couple of weeks ago; Randy Moss is a better WR than Deion Branch - albeit one with a whole lot more baggage than Branch. If the Raiders could get a first round pick for Moss sometime this week before the trading deadline passes, they should take it immediately. They need it.
Another NFL loudmouth, Jeremy Shockey, showed in the game on Sunday how poor coaching was indeed the problem for the Giants. Shockey caused a Giants' TD called back for a very obvious offensive pass interference penalty and later nullified a pass play that went inside the Redskins' ten yard line with a holding penalty that looked almost like a WWE takedown. Despite - not because of - Jeremy Shockey, the Giants stifled the Redskins and won the game handily. I am now going to make an observation that will rile up all of the Washington Redskin fanboys and the acolytes of St. Joseph of Gibbs out there…
The Redskins need to get Sean Taylor to gain about 15 lbs and then convert him to linebacker. Sean Taylor can't cover my grandmother - and she's been dead for 30 years now. Sean Taylor's contribution to a defense is "the big hit"; unfortunately, that means that he arrives on the scene of a pass reception after the catch has been made and most of the time that means a big gain or a TD. In the Giants' game yesterday, it was Sean Taylor who was beaten like a drum for the game's only TD and for a long pass that set up one of the Giants' field goals. He can't cover the 50 yard line; he's a long-term liability at safety; he might turn out to be the best linebacker on the Skins' roster. If the Redskins' coaching staff hasn't thought of this, then why are those guys worth the $15-20M that they pull down in combined salaries?
Finally a comment from Frank Fitzpatrick in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the Cowboys/Eagles game:
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"With the return of that prodigal peacock, Terrell Owens, to Philadelphia this weekend, it seems only right that the Cowboys' wide-mouthed wideout be honored in some appropriate fashion. Perhaps some enterprising Ninth Street merchant will come up with a T.O. Cheesesteak - thick slices of tongue, lots of baby Swiss, and imperial onions atop rolls made from unearned dough."
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