Monday Morning QB on a Sick Day

Today is a scary day in my household. A doctor's appointment is at hand that is requiring I take a whole day off of work. The emotions behind this appointment are probably justifiable enough to take a day off. So with a couple of minutes to spare here, I would like to share my thoughts on several happenings in the world of sports this past weekend.

1. Ohio State (9) v. Penn State (3).......

This game confirms what I have been saying for awhile: This Buckeye team is just not very good. My preseason optimism was quickly crushed after the abysmal showing against USC and once again, this weekend's game was more of the same.

The defense has been in the cross hairs of my criticism most of the season but I am beginning to come around with them. Their showing against Michigan St. impressed me. It was a road game against a good if not great RB in Javon ringer (Ohio Product) and they shut him down. The defensive line which I have been most disappointed in, played great. This led me to an optimistic feeling for the big showdown against border state rival, Penn State.

The defense held their end of the bargain. They were able to contain QB Daryl Clark (Ohio Product) and his potent PSU offense who were averaging around 45 points per game coming in. I still feel good about that. But true freshman Terrelle Pryor (PA product...yeah baby) wasn't able to get in the end zone and in the end, his mistake lost the game for us.

Before you are up in arms over that last sentence, read on. I am NOT about to pile on 19 year old Pryor playing under the lights in a nationally televised game for a top ten team with a fan base as rabid as any. NFL like expectations and pressure pour from the residents of Columbus, Ohio and alumni across the country and even the world. This kid is 19 years old without a full off season to practice, without a full season behind him, with a full course load during the week, only 5 months or so removed from his senior prom. Please, I am not expecting him to be perfect. But the fact is, that fumble lost the game.

It's ok though. It was a freak fumble. A good play by the defender. Pryor was hustling, trying to get a big first down. I can live with that. Like Tressel said, penalties are bad but sometimes a hustle, aggressive penalty is not AS bad. You'd rather a guy get flagged for something that was caused by hustle and effort than a lazy, stupid, mistake. Pryor was looking to win the game. The middle was clogged up. A quick bounce to his right could be free.

It wasn't.

That set up the PSU offense for their only TD of the game. And Pryor still had another shot to tie it. But fell short. Chalk this up to a learning experience. It is hard to say that for Ohio State who's expectations year in and year out is National Championship. In college football today, you can't live with mistakes and maintain those expectations. One loss and you are pretty much out. It is a playoff from week one. So it is very difficult to type those words out. But I need to stick with what I said earlier in the year.

I felt Todd Boeckman, a senior QB who led the Buckeyes to an outright Big Ten title and national title appearance last year and even fielded some Heisman talk from national media types for a week or two, should be benched for Pryor. I fully understood what that meant. It meant we were going to deal with mistakes. It meant there would be freshman, rookie errors that Boeckman wouldn't have. But my reasoning was Pryor's athleticism and ability would outweigh his mistakes. I felt our offensive line is mediocre at best. I felt our WRs were overrated. I felt we needed something else to compensate and Pryor had that.

I also knew this was a risk. With the national title hopes dashed after the USC loss, I felt it was worth it. I didn't foresee Penn State's success though. I thought we would cruise through the weak conference schedule. I am not going to be one of these Sunday morning Johnny come lately's who call in to the radio shows (I am going to be one of the smart ones) and says whatever happened the past game was bad after it failed even though they were calling for it the whole week prior.

Example: "Put Pryor in . Put Pryor in. ....Why isn't Boeckman the QB????!" Hypocrites.

Also, I didn't realize we would have to resort to Tressel ball. Although I respect Tressel ball and I trust Tressel ball (see: 2002 BCS title season), it only works with a shut down defense. Now that the defense is beginning to fulfill that requirement, I was ok with playing that style against PSU. It seemed to be working too. But the sneaky problem with Tressel ball control game plans is that there is very little margin for error. Pryor made that error and it cost us.

I still love Pryor. I still think we will reap the fruits of this season next year. But I am not going to be positive about it anymore. I am going to be rotten, hard-to-watch-games-with Beau again. I know my role. I let you all down this week. I won't let it happen again.

2. Browns v. Jaguars.....

So I was back to my normal self Sunday morning swearing off the Browns and how much they suck. I had no reason to believe they would do anything worth watching later that afternoon and just as it should be, they win. See? I learned my lesson. How do I feel about this win?

Horrible.

That win was probably the worst possible thing that could have happened. Yes, it was a road win. Yes, it was against a legit team. Yes, it brings us to one game under .500 with Baltimore at home next week. Yes, we have a 4-4 record at the half way mark in sight. That win Sunday was better than any win last year. And the Giants game two Mondays ago was the biggest win in several years. Yes, the offense moved the ball. Yes, there were no penalties on the Browns. Yes, D.A. looked good. Yes, they got Lewis the ball. Yes, the offensive play calling of Chudzinski remains a positive. Yes, the defense showed more improvement against the run. Yes, the defensive backfield somehow contained the passing game JUST enough.

But it is all bad.

Derek Anderson had a good game. So that means he will remain the starter and come out next week sucking like he should. Romeo gets another week as coach meaning that will take more to fire him even though he truly isn't that good. Kellen Winslow is watching the team succeed without him and will become more disenchanted causing locker room strife. That will eat away at the team. And most of all, it keeps me coming back hoping on hope that maybe they are really as good as they looked that one game.....even though we all know they really are not.

3. Mike Singletary's Tirade........

Hell yeah!!! It is about time we see a coach take his team by the (expletive) and get control. Vernon Davis slapped an opponent disrespectfully in the face mask after a tackle and received a flag. Davis is one of very few "stars" on the San Fransisco 49ers this year. Even that title could be debated for him as he has under produced for a first round pick receiving millions of dollars for unproven talent. Singletary was ticked off. Not only did he bench Davis, he sent him to the locker room and told not to come back. Then in the post game press conference, he didn't let up. You could see the fire in his eyes and you could see he was determined to create the type of team atmosphere that needs to exist and he wasn't about to bow down to a player because of the money he made or his status on the team.

YES!!!!!!

The NFL is beginning to see more of this and it needs to continue. Kellen Winslow is the type of player that needs a strong kick in the ass like this to be honest, but I am not so sure his recent incident in particular this past week called for it. I am speaking more of the Terrell Owens type of stuff. That guy deserves a Mike Singletary boot up his you know what more than once. Can you imagine how Singletary would have dealt with T.O. when he was chewing out the offensive assistant coach on the 49er sideline several years ago? Oh, I would love to see that. But all these premadonnas need a wake up call.

Here's to people in authoritative positions like coaches (and teachers and principals and parents) taking off the kid gloves and taking back control. The inmates are running the asylum in sports and other arenas. I would love for that to stop.