Sunday, December 21, 2008

Quick Hits from the Primetime Games

Two amazing stats from the Giants-Panthers game.

1. After his last touchdown run, according to NBC, DeAngelo Williams had the second most 30+ yard rushing TDs in one season with 6. Jim Brown had a season with 6 and another with 7. Usually I don't dig stats that require four qualifiers, but every once in a while one of them will appear significant, or at the very least cool. I wish they showed an expanded list so we could see if Barry Sanders was lurking nearby, though I imagine, they probably limited it to the top three because writing "17 players tied with 5" would have devalued it a bit.

2. The holy crap stat of the year: Ken Lucas' 4th quarter end zone pass interference was the first pass interference call on the Panthers all year. I'm sure this includes called PIs that were declined, but that's remarkable nonetheless. I hope someone (Football Outsiders just wrote about PI or Charlotter Observer columnists?) goes deeper on this and can mine the significance.

Three moments from the fourth quarter of the Cowboys-Ravens game that show just how poorly coached the Cowboys are.

1. Why was Dallas still driving for a touchdown from the 21 yard line, with less than two minutes to go and down by two scores? That they scored a touchdown was a happy accident, but someone should explain to Wade that you can try a hail mary from midfiled, but not a field goal. On top of that, he's got Romo back there, the gunslinger junior, who'd already taken a sack just a few plays earlier that had chewed up precious clock and briefly knocked the Cowboys out of FG range.

2. On McClain's nail-in-the-coffin TD run (3:29 mark), here's how the Cowboys tried to bring him down: Anthony Spencer went for the ball strip instead of trying to wrap-up and then Ken Hamlin tried an arm tackle, aka the coward's tackle, and was rightfully emasculated with a stiff arm. It's poor fundamentals that most often betray poor coaching.

3. On the last Cowboy drive - once again down two scores - Patrick Crayton caught a pass on the sideline and after making one guy miss, dove inside instead of stepping out to preserve the clock. I emphasize dove because his move to the inside barely got him an extra yard. If he had an opportunity to juke and possibly make a first down, that'd be one thing, but his dive is indefensible.

Here's Don Banks' November article suggesting the negative effects a "coach in waiting" like Jason Garrett has on a team.

Also, I love the shot of Phillips at the 3:11 mark in the above highlight.

-Agent Easy


  1. i never really felt wade phillips had good credentials and was actually very surprised when dallas hired him awhile ago. what has he actually accomplished in his career?

    i have to disagree that Anthony Spencer was going for the ball. It looked to me that he was just diving and didn't really have a shot at a tackle but was trying to get a hold of something.

  2. yeah - i can dig your Spencer opinion, but I think his dive was a directional one, rather than a helpless flail. This is getting really speculative here but I think he couldve composed himself more and tried to wrap up low, but instead he lazily went for ball.

    As for Wade, I can imagine Jerry Jones' power hunger had something to do with the hiring. Look at is coaching hiring history - if it's not big time hire (Johnson, Parcells), the rest (Switzer, gailey, Campo, Phillips) seem to lack any forcefulness of personality.

  3. I think you're a little hard on them Texas folk---can't blame them for letting off a little steam, sensible or not.

    I do however share your frustration with the media---as shown by your Patrick quote, the media is all too happy to stir the pot rather than actually lend an informed perspective to the issue. ESPN has shown time and again that, in THEIR lowest-common-denominator view, there is no theme as compelling as controversy.

  4. the above comment was meant for the texas whiner story

  5. christ, are you serious?