Sunday, March 18, 2012

WTF Dolphins and 9ers, WTF

Times like this I'm glad that I'm a life long fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

There are two teams in the NFL who could be completely screwing themselves over and while I'm happy to see any non-Steelers team screw themselves (would prefer in division, you hear me Baltimore?) I can't help but wonder if the people in charge really know what they are doing sometimes.

Lets look at the San Francisco 49ers to start.  Last year though a huge dominating defense and good play by Alex Smith they went to the NFC Championship game and barely lost.  A young player made some young-player-in-big-game-mistakes that ultimately cost them the chance to face New England to determine the NFL's best team.
So, this off season Coach Harbaugh said that he believes in Smith and that Smith is his man even though Alex Smith is a free agent.  The '9ers never locked him up and now he is out and about whoring himself to other teams trying to find someone interested so that he can look forward to his future.
Meanwhile the '9ers were secretly courting and working out Peyton Manning who has narrowed his search down to 3 teams that he will play for next year; Titans, Bronco's and 49ers.

Here's the tricky part, the 49ers could be shooting themselves in the foot because they never locked up Alex Smith.  Smith is out visiting with the Dolphins and sleeping with their Cheerleaders to see if he'd be comfortable in the humidity in Miami playing for retired folks, the 3 remaining Dolphins from '72 and assorted swamp gators (meanwhile the Florida Gators seem to manage to draw in 200x the amount of fans as they have the young hipster crowds).
So, If Alex Smith and the Dolphins wrap things up and reach an agreement come Monday and sometime by the end of the week (hopefully Peyton doesn't drag this out like that f'n Lebron saga sports fans had to endure) Peyton decides he's going to continue to play in the AFC and not join the 49ers then they are left holding their crotches and praying for divine intervention because Kaepernick is NOT going to be the guy who gets them over the hump into the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile over in the other fish pond (oh aren't I so clever?) the Dolphins were working their arses off to try and secure Peyton Manning, going as far as to dumping their best WR who is a trouble maker and would probably struggle in the Peyton Offense.
Peyton tells them to pound salt and the Phins are left going after Matt Flynn who everyone thought would be a shoe-in because of recent coaching changes (guy defected from Green Bay to Miami).  However Flynn gave the Phins a by FU by signing with the Seahawks in a move that saw the 3 surviving members of the '72 Phins (and all their fans everywhere) opening bottles of booze and drinking heavily enough that they can hibernate till the season starts when they'll wake up and feel like they are watching re-runs when Matt Moore takes the snaps.
However, after being left at the alter for the 3rd time in two seasons (remember they got ditched by Harbaugh who choose San Fran over Miami) they turned their focus to Alex Smith.  Whether or not Smith ends up playing for the Phins or elsewhere is another matter, but they are running out of options to go after this off season.
Lets say that Smith does sign elsewhere (we'll say Tennessee for simplicity sake) that leave the Dolphins turning to Matt Moore again.
If you are Matt Moore, how good to you feel about life?  You took over after Henne stunk the joint up and gave the team a spark and let them to multiple victories.  In fact, at one point, some of the finer folk on that ESPN network were saying you were playing as one of the best QB's in the league (but need to get better consistency to stay there instead of just peaking there and dropping back down ala the other Manning, Eli).
You just watched the spot you thought you earned, starter, Be offered to 3 other players who were not even on the roster last year before they finally turned to you and say "well, no one else will fuck us, looks like we're stuck with you."

Confidence? I think not.
And that's the other side of the pigskin!

9 comments:

  1. "Times like this I'm glad that I'm a life long fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers."

    As I mentioned to you in Vegas, there's a 12 step program for that :)

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    1. Step 1: get to 7 before anyone else even gets to 6
      Step 2: convert Cowboy deserters :)

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  2. In the beginning, I thought that SanFran was the spot for Manning. Great D, solid o-line and running game. Top three TE, but they needed help at WR. But they just vanished from the Manning Sweapstakes. I will give them credit for that...they played it cool.

    But I agree that they are in a tough,spot now. If their starter is not named Smith or Manning, they went from SuperBowl contender to "also ran." Thru are seriously rolling the dice.

    Splitter

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    1. Because of everything you stated I think that San Fran is a great place for Manning to end his career (and a funny dichotomy of sending Montana off elsewhere for his final few but bringing in Manning for his final glory days) and try to win another championship or two.

      Davis is great, if Moss plays like a man possessed just to get some rings he will be great again, and I'm sure they'd add Reggie Wayne to the other side to give Manning some old familiarity.

      But, they could be setting themselves up something fierce by gambling that they are going to land him and allowing Smith to hunt elsewhere

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  3. At last report, Manning had authorized his agent to negotiate with Denver. I am back to being wrong lol.

    I TOTALLY understand it from Denver's point of view: They get a good QB AND get out from under Tebow-mania which the coach and Elway clearly hate.

    I do not get this from Manning's side. I just do not see a SuperBowl contender there. I see a team that won a bunch of games because of...well, I am still not sure how Tebow did it.

    That means that Denver will get rid of Tebow. Who will pick him up? What team wants that pressure to play him? What team wants to have every other sideline shot be of Tebow holding a clipboard?

    I actually feel sorry for the young man. He might not be the prototypical NFL QB, but he deserves better than what is probably in store for him.

    Splitter

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    1. Splitter,
      I don't think it's a question of what team wants the pressure to play Tebow - it's more of What team needs more fan support and are willing to take the Tebow risk.
      Wherever Tebow goes, he will get big support. Dolphins might actually be a great team for him because they used to run the wild cat and a run heavy offense.
      However, if I were the Jags I would take my shot at him because 1) - I don't think Gabbert is the answer. He didn't improve at all last year.
      2) - Tebow will bring asses to the seats, he will create more revenue and he will help the team move towards being profitable and maybe take them off the "This team has to move locations because their fan base sucks" conversation. However, I don't know if they're willing to do that.

      Mannings side? Denver had a really good defense and that is the reason that they kept winning. Their D kept them in their games (New England aside).
      Their offensive line is pretty good, obviously great run blockers but still good. They have a good core back unit though McGahee is a bit old at this point.
      They need help in the WR side but a HoF QB can make weak WR's better.
      Plus, it keeps him in the AFC to live out the dream of a Manning on Manning Super Bowl.

      I'd love to hear the real reason he chose Denver over even Tenn.
      Now a question of what happens with Alex Smith - do the '9ers throw some more money at him to get him back and build on what they had or does he give the middle finger salute and go elsewhere?

      Delete
  4. Amazing how NFL conversations can still dominate even with the men's college basketball championship going on, hockey nearing playoffs, and baseball's spring training beginning.

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    1. I personally am just an NFL kinda guy.
      That's pretty much all I'm into. I'll kinda follow basketball only when it reaches the playoffs.
      Hockey I'll follow after the 180 game pre-season is over and will always root for my Penguins.
      Baseball I gave up on years ago (Pirates fan) because the team has not made a good decision in 2 decades.

      So, what else is there? I love football and everything else is secondary!

      Delete
    2. I've never been a basketball fan. It's too frantic and the only part that really matters is the last two minutes which can take a half hour to play.

      Hockey is fun to watch, but call me when the playoffs start.

      I used to love baseball. O's fan here. Then, as my became pathetic, the games got looooonger. Call a real strike zone and don't let the batters take a stroll aftet every single pitch. A game can be played in just over two hours, not three. And I hate the Yankees...let's have a salary cap.

      Football is the American sport now. It goes 12 months per year. They have done a great job marketing the game on and off the field.

      Face it, we are like junkies lol.

      Splitter

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