Monday, October 13, 2008

NFL Week 6 Interview

It's a crazy season, and I'm here with a crazy NFL analyst. Welcome, Henry. For a change of pace, I want to occasionally focus on coaching today. But first...

Q. Talk about the little bit of NFL history we saw made this weekend. It was certainly your kind of play.

A blocked punt -- much more common in college than in the NFL -- was returned for a touchdown as Arizona beat Dallas in overtime. When you think about it, it's not very unusual that this never happened before. Blocked punts are really rare, and although there have been a few this season, the chances of one showing up in overtime are astronomical.

Q. Tony Romo -- out for four weeks, broken pinky. Fatal for the Cowboys?

Maybe. Brad Johnson is an OK backup who they signed off the free agent market this offseason, but yes, it will really affect them.

Q. How cool is Kurt Warner? I don't like Matt Leinart, but I actually feel a bit bad for him sitting idle on the bench.

Well, Kurt Warner actually isn't looking too bad. He's been very erratic at some points, and he's also looked really accurate at some other points.

Q. Would you keep starting him, or give Leinart a shot?

Unless he starts doing really badly and the Cardinals start losing, Ken Whisenhunt shouldn't give the job to Matt Leinart. Although he's been on the bench for a while, he still hasn't done anything to prove he should have the job.

Q. Leinart, Tarvaris Jackson, Vince Young... a lot of promising young franchise quarterbacks are getting benched this season. Why?

Mostly because of ineffectiveness. Also, they haven't just been ineffective, they've been inconsistent. That quarterback draft class (2006) hasn't looked as good as they were supposed to be.

Q. The Rams finally picked up a win. Is Jim Haslett making a difference to this team, or was he just lucky?

Well, he might be, but he said himself that the team was practicing hard and really wanted a win -- and they did get it.

Q. Those crazy Dolphins! I know they narrowly lost to the Texans, but they sure looked impressive with all those insane Wildcat variations. Is this Tony Sparano or Bill Parcells?

I don't think it's either of them. Offensive coordinator Dan Henning probably had to run the idea through Parcells and Sparano, but it wasn't him, either. The Dolphins' quarterbacks coach observed the formation while he was at Arkansas.

Q. Go Falcons! Mike Smith is doing a great job, and the fact that he has a neo-Tom-Brady in Matt Ryan sure doesn't hurt. Is this a playoff team?

If they can continue on like this. That was a great 11-second drive by the Falcons offense to set up Jason Elam.

Q. Jaguars and Broncos -- big, muscular teams that can put up a lot of points. I know the Jags got the victory, but are they actually better?

Well, the Broncos didn't really do their best. There was a lot of room for improvement, especially for Jay Cutler. As for the Jaguars, they just took advantage of what was not an outstanding performance.

Q. The Eagles turned it on to beat the Niners, but even so, people are starting to ask pointed questions about Andy Reid. Has the game passed him by?

It doesn't look like that yet. The Eagles had a nice victory over the 49ers, which for some reason doesn't prove to me that Andy Reid should no longer be their head coach.

Q. Indy beat up on Baltimore. I can't figure these Ravens out. You?

They are very inconsistent. Joe Flacco has been really up and down. I thought he was overrated coming out of college, but he has looked OK. The Ravens, however, are going to have to stick to their good side to produce a playoff berth.

Q. Poor Raiders. I wish they'd kept Lane Kiffin. I'm starting to feel like this season is a writeoff.

What season isn't? The Raiders lost a lot of momentum, and it doesn't look like Tom Cable is going to be able to help them much, with little head-coaching experience.

Q. Minnesota-Detroit was a battle of the mediocres. Which of these teams has something to build on?

Both teams. The Vikings had no reason to be needing a last-second field goal to beat the winless Lions, especially the Lions with Dan Orlovsky at quarterback.

Q. The Orlovsky safety -- worst play of the year?

It was not that great. You can't really call Orlovsky an inexperienced quarterback -- he has played for the Lions in several situations over a few seasons.

Q. Once again Jeff Garcia is gunning for the starting job in Tampa. Why won't anyone take this guy seriously?

He doesn't have a great record. His breakout seasons were with the 49ers, then he went to mediocre Browns and Lions teams. He showed some nice flashes as a backup for the Eagles, but hasn't really done anything with the Buccaneers yet.

Q. My Seahawks seem to have a problem with stinking. Can they pull it together?

Well, this game was actually looking kind of promising, but then they got outscored 17-6 after it was 10-10. However, things are looking up a bit, because this was without Matt Hasselbeck and Seneca Wallace.

Q. The Chargers sure made a statement against New England. Are these teams going in opposite directions?

That's a good question. The question is, are the Patriots are going to be the good team without Tom Brady that beat the Chiefs and 49ers, or the bad team that lost to the Dolphins and Chargers?

Q. Who's your Coach of the Year at this point?

At this point, it's hard to tell. There aren't really any emergent Super Bowl favorites yet. There are only two undefeated teams, and one is the Giants, who are trailing Cleveland 35-14 in the fourth quarter. The other, the Titans, have only played five games, not six.

Q. Yes, but what coach is doing the most with the least at this point in the season?

Not to sound evasive, but there are a lot of coaches who could fill that. Mike Smith is one, if the Falcons continue to do well.

Q. Now I hand the keyboard over to Henry to type whatever he wants.

Does Dan Orlovsky have bad vision, or has the end zone suddenly expanded?

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