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Friday TIME: US | UK WEATHER: US | UK HOME THE NEIGHBORHOOD "Life in the UK" American Groups Essential Contacts Money Education Driving WHAT'S ON US Group Events Diary Dates Music Live FEATURES Politics blog SPORTS Features Sideline blog NFL Draft THE AMERICAN MAGAZINE ONLINE |
SIDELINE ARCHIVE Unnecessary Hits To The Pocket / Upset: BYU October 17, 2008 Romo's Pause / Seattle Seahawks October 15, 2008 Weekend Prep: Red River and More October 10, 2008 College Football's 'Crossroads' Weekend October 9, 2008 Gramatical Error October 7, 2008 Turning The Page September 30, 2008 So Cal 'Quizzed — But Who Will Answer? September 26, 2008 3rd Tuesday Panic Button / Forté Yard Dash September 23, 2008 Two and Oh; Oh and Two September 22, 2008 No More NCAAffeine September 11, 2008 Week 1 College Football September 6, 2008 How To Spell Heisman / Chad Ocho Cinco September 1, 2008 Why the Favre story STILL won't go away August 18, 2008 Olympic Notes / Ricky's Still Relevant August 14, 2008 Committee Meetings August 9, 2008 Let the QB Battles Begin August 8, 2008 Slinging The Slinger — More Favre August 6, 2008 Welcome to the 2008 season July 28, 2008 Plus One May 27, 2008 Draft: The Morning After April 28, 2008 Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable April 25, 2008 Draft: Ready For The Long Haul April 23, 2008 Sofa–bound Sport April 16, 2008 Post–Winter Wonderland April 11, 2008 Six Impossible Things February 4, 2008 Brady's Misdirection Play February 3, 2008 Colorful Language January 23, 2008 Let the Romo–bashing begin: Dallas lost January 14, 2008 Bowl Bites: The Wrap January 10, 2008 All About The Coaches January 1, 2008 Bowl Bites 3 and A Communication Breakdown December 29, 2007 Bowl Bites 2 December 27, 2007 Bowl Bites 1 December 23, 2007 The Empty Chair - Coach Situations Vacant December 22, 2007 For Some, The Playoffs Are Now December 15, 2007 A Certain Lack Of Welcome December 13, 2007 Unrelated Notes November 29, 2007 Two Thanksgiving thoughts November 22, 2007 Halftime: NFC November 9, 2007 Halftime: AFC November 8, 2007 London, Part 2 / A Tale of Two Chads / A Game of Intimidation November 4, 2007 Damp Squib / Other London Notes October 29, 2007 Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em / Dolphins – The Aftermath October 23, 2007 The Dolphins Did What? October 18, 2007 Notes on the Defenses October 13, 2007 Habits to be Broken October 12, 2007 Overtime October 13, 2007 This Week's Starters October 6, 2007: USF: Covering The Spread / Fantastic Football September 27, 2007: Grossman: The Final Act? / McNabb, the Epilogue September 24, 2007: Eagles QB in Slight Controversy September 21, 2007: Leftwich's Parting Gift to Jacksonville? / Boos cruise September 18, 2007: Notre Dame M.I.A. September 16, 2007: Looking Beyond NFL Wk. 1 September 12, 2007: Best Hope For Heisman September 10, 2007: Coaching Hot Seats / AP Poll Feeling ’Appy September 7, 2007: The NFL’s Prime Cuts September 5, 2007: Michigan Falls to Killer Apps September 3, 2007: Look Out Couch / The Taint's On You, Bud September 1, 2007: |
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SPORTS SIDELINE 
Observations, Opinion & Occasional Silliness by Richard L Gale Committee Meetings From quarterback controversies to running back rivalries. In these days of platooned backfields, of thunder–and–lightning combinations, or third–down specialists, running backs know they are fighting for a share of the load rather than a single job. Being the main back is probably worth a better contract someday, but there are niche roles to be had. Pittsburgh would probably tell you Willie Parker is still their no.1 back — his 1316 yards were fourth best in the league last season — but if rookie Rashard Mendenhall causes debate amongst Steelers fans, his bosses won't complain. Parker broke the plain of the endzone only twice last season, and looking for more smash to go with Parker's dash, first–round steal Mendenhall may be the answer. The two backs combined for 54 yards on 10 carries Friday night. The speed with which the Steelers rested Mendenhall suggests they saw enough to know it was going well. Their opponents, Philadelphia, did not field their own top–5 RB, Brian Westbrook, but may have been equally happy with the day. Westbrook signed a new 3 year deal, and backup Correll Buckhalter looked very comfortable filling the Westbrook role, in equal parts runner and receiver. A more urgent competition was to be found when Seattle faced Minnesota, the Seahawks starting life without former franchise back and 2005 league rushing champion Shaun Alexander. Back–up Maurice Morris has always looked like a featured back, suffering a background role in Seattle not unlike that of Michael Turner to LaDainian Tomlinson in San Diego, and with all the talk about Julius Jones' arrival from Dallas, Morris had 62 yards from just 6 carries, while Jones managed 15 yards from 4 carries. It was a timely reminder from Morris. Still, there's clearly one more name in the mix here, as former Cal RB Justin Forsett added 58 yards from 13 carries. This could turn into an interesting one. Against San Francisco, Oakland first rounder Darren McFadden rushed 12 times for a respectable 48 yards in his first outing. Forgotten man Michael Bush, on injured reserve all of last season also got into some action for the first time with 27 yards from 8 carries. My draft–day criticism of taking McFadden is still valid even if they do get the yards out of him — his arrival signaled the departure of LaMont Jordan and Dominic Rhodes, and will still make either Bush or Justin Fargas redundant. That's a lot of wasted contracts. But with Bush snagging two passes for 29 yards, I'll admit I'm still excited about what the Raiders backfield may do this season. By the way, why was Andrew Walter the busy quarterback on Friday? Surely Oakland should be getting JaMarcus Russell game–ready after a season of doing not–much. My suspicion: this was just a showcase for Al Davis to show off this year's first–rounder, not last year's. The Domino Effect Okay, Favre bumped Chad, so now let's watch the Pennington part of the story. Chad didn't take long to land in Miami, where the Dolphins seem eager to muddy their quarterbacking waters. Now on the roster: 32–year old veteran Chad Pennington. 29–year old veteran Josh McCown. 27–year old 2nd–year player John Beck. 23–year old rookie Chad Henne. Now, who's going to go? The classic QB depth chart includes the starter at the height of his career, a wily old veteran who can play the mentor role, and the look–see kid who might turn into something. This collection doesn't remotely resemble that. The wily old passer will be the default starter — Chad Pennington. His TD–to–interceptions ratio is not radically dissimilar to the man who replaced him in New York, Brett Favre, and the knock on his career has been the injury rate, a brittleness that stopped him from ever cementing his role as the Jets' franchise passer. Problem is, if (WHEN!) Chad gets injured, who's going in? Beck seemed experienced at 27, but he's had more experience as a missionary than as an NFL quarterback. Henne has no pro experience, but is almost certainly in a duel with Beck to be the QB of the future for Miami. Chad Pennington could be the mentor once Henne is considered ready, in a couple of seasons. By that time, Beck will be 29 and past consideration as the apprentice in the shadows. He might play the 'good soldier' though, and settle into clipboard duty, knowing that with Pennington on the depth chart, the distance from 3 to 1 is never that far. Beck might even replace Pennington as the old clipboard holder one day; quarterbacks of similar ages can support each other — think Gary Kubiak to John Elway. And Josh McCown? Just the next domino to fall. |
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