AKC

You don't know me very well- Bart carried the stash for that crew.

I was a year old when Morten Anderson was conceived.

It's tough to bet on a subjective proposition- I've suggested that if the Pittsburgh Steelers come out flat as they did last week there's little chance of them winning Sunday, yet if the history of their head coach- a guy who's arguable strength is in getting the team up emotionally for games on many occasions- proves Sunday to be a week Cowher accomplished exactly that, the Pat's will get their butts handed to them. In the interest of your propostion though, I'd take a "bet" on it if we allowed a measure, such as a fan who watches the Steelers most Sundays, to judge whether the Steelers had their adrenaline in order as I've suggested or whether they come out like they're visiting their mother-in-law for New Year's Eve- like they did last week.

I'm no Cowher fan but there's some serious precedent for a Steeler's win this weekend based upon Cowher's teams of the past. While Bill Belichick is the analytical coach who trains his fighters to play smart and play together- buying their mental emotion in the vast majority of circumstances, Cowher is a guy who has many times bought his fighter's adrenaline with toughness instead of smarts. As sporting as it is to watch the smart fighter beat the tough guy in many circumstances, this time we have a coach who lives on predicting the other team's tendencies and confusing the opposition. It's proven effective in the immediate past. On Sunday the outcome will come down to this: If Bill Cowher found himself in a physical confrontation with the analytical Bill Belichick the fighting would end with Belichick on the floor with his hands covering his face screaming STOP! STOP! SOMEONE STOP HIM! Cowher would knock the stuffing out of Belichick mainly because his fight would be from a deeper emotion, a more basic instinct than logic, one fed by adrenalin and coaxed on by a hunger that logic is unable to compete with. Cowher's trick Sunday will be exploiting the same thing- to bring out the animal element of his players to consume the logical coach, logical QB and logical defensive strategy the Pats will no doubt unveil as the game unfolds. Twice this season the logical QB of the Pats faced pressure, and twice this season that same logical QB folded like a Galloping Gourmet episode filmed at a girl's school. Over the course of the Cowher career he's displayed plenty of reasons to assume he'll fall to a far more intellectual strategy. There's plenty of reason to believe the same will happen Sunday, hence the Vegas line on the game. But the one element the Vegas line can miss, a line established by cold logic and analysis, is the same element of emotion that Cowher has successfully called out at times in the past. It won't take long to determine whether there'll be a game Sunday in Pitt- Belichick will no doubt have his troops arrive with the emotion of logic ready to win a road game- the key is the Steelers. Do they show up with the look of a guy whose wife just told him about an affair and he's got an address he wants to visit or do they come out flat like they did against the Jets? I'd be less inclined to buy the logical Vegas line since the Jet's game appeared to be a "looked past" Sunday. The Steeler tone will be obvious early- they come out to play or they simply don't have it. It's tough to bet that their coach can't find another week of emotion out of a talented group who must realize just how emotionless they played last week.

Our local premium sports programming in Los Angeles is on Fox Sports Net West. FSN appears to be by far the largest overall network with affiliates in at least 17 areas of the U.S.

You're in for a treat- Clark is way under the radar in this episode, and like some of the classics it's not the regulars who carry the hour- it's the guest roles. I'd rate two of the guest roles from this episode as good as any I ever recall seeing.

Actually, in '03 he led all NFL running backs with over 300 carries in fumbles to carry ratio. The simple fact is he doesn't hold the football well and has shown no sign that he ever will.

Of course Rita had her new blonde sidekick bust the cousin for an overnighter to keep her from being part of the Atlantic City setup. Chances of this not being part of a continuing storyline? 0%- Which means word gets back to the squad about it-

I've never watched much of Cleeland's blocking, what I have seen he didn't strike me as a reliable every down TE. He's a big kid for sure, but his receiving numbers have declined evey year he's been in the league. Becht strikes me as a workhorse guy who fell out of their offense this past season- based on his big season in '03 he could arguably fill both skills. For some reason though he's never struck me as a difference maker and being a FA out of NY he may get a bigger payday than he's due. On the other hand, if he comes in at half of the Bubba Franks FA deal he might be a better choice for us. The intrigue about Franks though is that he is a true double threat and he has better than average skills after the catch for a big man. Bubba is the type of guy contemplated in the saying that "all the great TEs are playing power forward in the NBA".

Williams benefitted greatly by having Chris Villarial at his side- his game went south against Pitt the moment Villarial left the field (although no one should have to suffer covering for Mike Pucillo's sorry ass). Williams probably ended the season in about the shape he should have entered camp. Hopefully his unfortunate '04 offseason will be nothing more than a curve in his maturity process and he gives us a far better season next year- I expect him to. On TEs wouldn't I love to see Bubba Franks in a Bills uni next year ;-) Even a player like Ken Dilger would be a big positive on our roster assuming Campbell is back and healthy. Campbell IMO doesn't get anywhere near enough credit for his HUGELY improved blocking skills before the injury.

I agree with you there's a chance to get a 2nd for him also, he has value to teams who can don't need a receiving option as a primary skill of their #1 RB and where reliability holding onto the ball isn't paramount. I've been saying since the middle of the '04 season that Denny Green in Arizona was one of the three or four best fits for Travis in the NFL, and a #2 from them is not out of the question. What we can hope for is that they salivate over the yardage stats and ignore the intangibles, something Denny Green has a LONG track record of doing. And as far as Martin is concerned, Larry Holmes once made a comment about Rocky Marciano that is more applicable in the Martin/Henry comparison than it was in the original.

Absolutely. I thing I'll be more surprised to see Jennings stay versus leaving simply because his value in a pure passing offense is so much higher than his value to us in the play action passing scheme we ran this past year. Jonas has maybe as fine a slide as there is in football, a huge asset in a pass first O, but he plays to high in the run game and that makes it tough for him to clear running space for his RBs. If Williams can keep all his marbles in one jar this off-season (read that come into camp in shape), it seems a logical scenario would be moving the LT-paid Williams to that side and finding a much better value in a RT FA or draft pick, allowing some more of the wealth to be spread at positions like TE where we don't have an NFL quality depth chart, in fact after #1 we have for all intents and purposes no depth at all and our #1 is no lock to come back 100%.

>>1) He cannot/will not block. ...not a factor for a team without a statue QB Right, other teams in the NFL don't even bother blocking pass rushers from positions other than the OLine because their QBs are so fleet of foot! >>2) He cant even figure out simple pass patterns. ...he's a runningback Oh yeah, I forgot that other teams don't bother throwing the ball to anyone who doesn't wear a jersey in the 80s. >>3) He has been known to cough up the football. ...that was now 3 years ago And of course other teams don't mind that Henry has the CAREER worst fumbles to touches ratio among all active feature backs, about one fumble every 37 carries, putting him "ahead" of even the Ahman Greens and Tiki Barbers. FYI- the great backs like Curtis Martin lose the ball at a rate more like every 75 carries.

And I'd add that at least in Ogden's case he was the "most important player" on the Raven's offense, the single most responsible for their ability to compete due to his owning the opposition's best athlete on most Sundays and virtually never requiring help, allowing the Ravens to focus the balance of their offensive line on stopping 3 or 4 defenders in pass coverage while giving them a reliable place to punch out the running game over Ogden's back. Ogden was/is the real deal at OT, a guy who plays both the run and pass with equal excellence. Pace is tilted towards excellent pass blocking while offering less in the running game, not unlike our own Jonas Jennings, a superior pass blocker with far more limited skills in the run game.

I was errant in excluding the context of the Chevy Chase/Bochco interview- Chase said there was "no longer any television programming of redeeming value" when Bochco brought up the Chase record.

I thought last nights NYPD Blue was the best they've put in the can in 3 or 4 years and a perfect showcase of the things that have made it such a great show over the course of its run. The guest roles were nearly all flawlessly pulled off, the storylines- especially the diner family murder- were as good as any true crime feature film in recent memory and one of the regulars stepped big time into a pile that is sure to bite her very excellent ass next week. It reminds of the time Bochco was on Chevey Chase's awful late night show and Chase asked him why TV was so awful anymore- right before Bochco rattled off a list of Chase's "lesser" accomplishments like Three Amigos and Invisible Man.

Since any potential suitor would be turned off by an admission that "I could be a top 25 back in this league", his public positioning appears to be reasonable to me. His statement, suprisingly, is probably a little better thought out than it's being given credit for.

The appeal of the under 16 girl's football team appears to play heavy in their interest level. Henry was overheard sharing with his agent "That's one bench I wouldn't mind riding".

Let's see- you've thrown away your life and now your Broncos are gone too. Go get 'em Snake! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Playbook has matured this season and even the previously too full of himself Sterling Sharpe has gotten more comfortable in his role and more tolerable, at least for me. And Access is simply awful, I have to believe Eisen is to be married to somebody very importants daughter. At least the '03 addition of Access had loose cannon Seth Joyner on it who didn't flinch on calling out ANYONE. He'd have been great this week with a Randy Moss interview- "Well Randy, don't you think your acting like a little punkass makes other players want to knock the head right off your skinny little neck?"

And to what do we owe this stain on the carpet? At least you're batting 1000, you've never been right about a quarterback in your life! But hang around, we've got three or four other Quarterback obsessives just like you who will never get it right either! RL Flutie= Roland Lymangrover, the original TSW QB Obsessive

Who'd you steal that from?

Half the fan and media base? That's the ludicrous portion. Never be mistaken by a few loudmouths who tried to hijack the complete conversation that it represented at anytime "over half our fan and media base". Less than 10% is more likely- loud, poorly informed, and even traitorous in some cases, but never anywhere close to half the base.

Many are waiting anxiously for you to contribute your first post with a unique perspective or a hint that you know what happens on a football field. I on the other hand expect to never be disappointed if I see your name in a string! So far I'm batting 100%!

Outside of the obvious, the offense Gruden wants to play is best handled by a #1 who can take passes over the shoulder, a major Henry weakness.