They Must Be Hard Up For Time on "SportsCenter"
This past week, whenever I tune into SportsCenter, they're making predictions on the NFL season. No, football has not started yet. No, there haven't even been any pre-season games played. Yet, they concluded last night, that the Carolina Panthers will beat the New England Patriots in next year's Super Bowl. They spoke about it like the game was a certainty. "When this game comes up, then..." When it does? How about the first pre-season game of the season? How about week 3 of the regular season? At this point in the season, the Houston Texans have an equal record to the Indianapolis Colts. That's how much we know about this upcoming season in football. Have television ratings for baseball games fallen some? Is that the problem? People are more interested in hearing some "experts" give us their predictions of the season that hasn't begun yet than hearing analysts speak about a season that is more than half over, showing highlights before and after the analysis? The football highlights they'd have to show would be from last year. Oh, I'm sorry, there may be some training camp highlights. Those are always exciting.
What really made me laugh was how they claimed Carolina had the most balanced team in all of football. They've got a very stout defense and a solid passing game. Their special teams are allright and their running game is anything but proven with the aged Stephen Davis, the hopeful DeShaun Foster, and the in-coming rookie DeAngelo Williams. There is talent in the run game, but not a proven NFL player like a LaDanian Tomlinson or an Edgerrin James. Meanwhile, these "experts" bashed on the Patriots' running game, saying that Corey Dillon has aged and isn't the back he once was Neither is Stephen Davis. Like Carolina drafted a tailback with their first pick, New England did likewise, in drafting Minnesota halfback Laurence Maroney. The two teams running attacks almost mirror one another's, yet the "experts" bashed the Patriots and stated that the Panthers had the best all around, most balanced team in all of football. There is no most balanced team in all of football.
Carolina- decent special teams, not a proven running attack
Tampa Bay- aging defense, inexperienced quarterback
Atlanta- decent special teams, lack of a vertical threat in the passing game
New Orleans- defense, the oft injured tailback Deuce McCallister
Detroit- underachieving wide receivers, uncertainty about starting quarterback
Minnesota- aging quarterback, not many offensive weapons
Green Bay- aging team (Favre and Green), not much depth
Chicago- the quarterback position, not utilizing talent at receiver
Philadelphia- no running game, lack of a vertical threat in the passing game
NY Giants- Eli's youthful mistakes and inconsistency, aging some at some spots on defense
Dallas- aging quarterback, special teams
Washington- quarterback situation, not utilizing Portis in the backfield
Arizona- the offensive line, quarterback situation (aging Warner and rookie Leinart)
St. Louis- aging receivers, defense
San Francisco- offense, defense
Seattle- secondary, too heavy a reliance on Shaun Alexander scoring touchdowns
Buffalo- young and unproven quarterback, inconsistent defense
Miami- quarterback situation (Culpepper coming back from injury), aging on defense
New England- aging tailback, lack of a vertical threat in the passing game
NY Jets- oft injured quarterback, aging tailback
Kansas City- lack of a vertical threat in the passing game, defense
Oakland- lack of a running game, inconsistent at quarterback
Denver- inconsistent at quarterback, inconsistent defensively
San Diego- the secondary, young and unproven quarterback
Indianapolis- young and unproven tailback, too heavy a reliance on Peyton Manning's passing
Houston- the offensive line, the defense
Tennessee- the quarterback situation, the defense
Jacksonville- oft injured tailback, unproven receiving corps
Pittsburgh- leadership question marks, special teams
Cincinnati- defense, confidence in big games
Cleveland- quarterback situation, lack of a vertical threat in the passing game
Baltimore- aging some on defense, Jamal Lewis and the running game is a question mark
There you have it. I have listed two potential weaknesses or question marks for each and every team in the NFL. If there is a most balanced team in football, it may be the Pittsburgh Steelers. They have a decent passing game with Big Ben leading the charge. Proven veteran Hines Ward is at receiver along with tight end Heath Miller. Willie Parker is the tailback. As usual, they should have a very stingy and tough defense. But, again, they have question marks. They lost Antwan Randle-El in the off-season, which will hurt their special teams and versatility on offense. They also lost Jerome Bettis, which could hurt their leadership if the team ever gets down on itself. Hines Ward is one of the best receivers in the game, but does not provide the same vertical threat to defenses as Randle-El did. There are many teams who could end up being the most balanced club in the league, but that all depends on the progressions and regressions of clubs through the course of the season. Will Cincinnati's defense finally gel under Marvin Lewis? Will Atlanta finally find a deep threat in Michael Jenkins or Roddy White? Will the Colts be able to replace Pro Bowl halfback Edgerrin James with Dominick Rhodes and Joseph Addai? Will Philly be able to return to their glory days without the drama of Terrell Owens? Will Dallas be able to go through an entire season without the T.O. drama? Can Seattle prove that they can score 6 by ground or through the air consistently? Can Jake "The Snake" play anywhere close to how he performed last year (until the playoffs)? Can someone in the Patriots' offense take some of that heavy load off of Tom Brady's shoulders for a change? Can Carolina's running game be somewhat consistent and reliable? All these questions and more will need to be answered this season in order to determine who the best all-around and most balanced team is this upcoming season. Newsflash for all those "experts" out there. We're only in the training camp portion of the season. The pre-season begins in about a month. We're about two months away from the start of the regular season. We won't know for another half year or so who will be heading to next year's Super Bowl. So, relax. At this point in the season, all 32 teams have an equal chance of representing their respective leagues in the next Super Bowl. Whether it's Carolina or Detroit in the NFC, New England or Cleveland in the AFC, we're not going to know for another 6 months or so. Until then, it's time to let the coaches handle their clubs, let the teams play the games out, and enjoy the season while all this and more transpires.
2 Comments:
What you say about the sportcasters being a little early is true, but remember there is relatively little for them to talk about this time of year. Football, basketball, and hockey are all in their off seasons, which leaves us with what? Baseball - yes there are a lot of teams and many games everyday, but at a certain point, how much can you really say about a specific game? Tennis - sorry tennis fans, but the majority of the population in the US really doesn't care. Worldcup - the US is out, and there is only one game left, which isn't unitl Sunday, and like tennis most of the population doesn't care. Racing - the only interesting parts are the crashes (assuming no one is seriously hurt) and the final lap - total time: about 1 minute, 30 seconds.
At least football has something going on. The draft has happened and players are getting signed and traded on a daily basis. Training camps start in a couple of weeks. The first preseason game is less than a month off. They make these predictions this far out because people are starting to get excited about the coming season and they want to be able to have time to change their opinions before preseason starts. So, chill. Lets face it, in many ways, football is now "America's pasttime" and Sportscenter is just giving them what they want.
Thanks for the comment. While I agree that football has taken over as "America's Pastime" and that the people may want to hear about football before the season starts, I can't for a second believe that what they've displayed on their show of late is what the people want to see.
I'm about as big of a football fan as there is. I suffer from withdrawal once the Pro Bowl is over, because that means there will be no more football for about 6 months. The draft, off-season moves, and even training camp reports excite me, because for one, it tells me that the season is drawing near and two, gives me actual input on how a team will be constructed going into the upcoming season. I've heard complaints from many other football nuts out there, because they can't believe what SportsCenter is airing anymore in regard to the sport. Is it fun and exciting for two buddies of mine and I to talk football and make some early predictions? Yeah, but we also don't have 10-15 minutes of national air time to make these silly predictions. How are the pre-preseason predictions of Trey Wingo, Merrill Hoge, Sean Salisbury, and Mike Golic lend any help or insight to the football fan? There aren't training camp reports. There aren't interviews with actual coaches or players. There aren't question and answer sessions between they and the fans. All that occurs is four guys sitting around, closing their eyes, playing meteorologist, and picking pieces of paper out of a hat to predict the chance of precipitation for a certain club, the chance of storms, snow, sleet, and sunshine. Like meteorologists, they'll change their predictions throughout the course of the season countless times.
They even had a mock draft on ESPN, predicting the draft picks of the teams. How many did they get right? I don't know off hand, but I can't imagine very many, considering they definitely had Bush going first and not Mario Williams. But, who cares? What affect did their draft predictions have on the actual draft? None. Did it give any teams insight on who they should pick? No. Judging by the small percentage of picks they predicted accurately, did it help the fans at all in anticipating a certain pick? Again, no.
Same thing with these most recent predictions holds true. What affect do they have over the season? None. What impact do they have on a team's chemistry, their coaching, their maturing, and a team's injuries throughout the course of a season? None. At this point in the season, a pre-schooler by the name of Joe has as much the ability to go on television, draw a team name out of a hat and say on national television that they're going to win the Super Bowl. But, I'm not going to ask little Joe to do that.
None of what they're doing is lending any new insight to the football fan. They are attempting to be meteorological "scientists" as opposed to empirically-based ones. What I, as a football fan, want to know deals with what's actually going on, as opposed to what a few stooges predict. I'd rather hear the actual news than let a video game predict for me what the outcome will be. Give me team training camp reports. Give me updates on potential trades in the works, rumors, and other potential wavings or acquisitions. I can hear these silly predictions anywhere I go. I watch SportsCenter for news and humor, not for reality television and biased opinions.
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