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F-d,

You just clearly stated the tendency of prima donna in # 1 WRs, Marvin Harrison and Isaac Bruce (a little old now)nonwithstanding. TO, Moss (I'm not sure why people thought him washed up considering he couldn't throw to himself in Oakland), Smith (anger management issues), Chad Johnson, etc. These guys NEED to be interally convinced that nobody can stop them no matter what and that that skill set offers them some perks. I think it goes with the job. Jerry Rice was an arrogant fuck (didn't show it obviously but got all whiny when it was clear he wasn't the same player). Michael Irving. The trend is seemingly obvious. Now you have to get Reid to know how to manage what he can't wrap his mind around (a non-mormon elite player).

I'd say GET Chad Johnson. Clearly, they've done a spectacularly shitty job at getting a #1.

As for Curtis and thinking he is a #1, are you fucking kidding me? Why not even TRY to sign Softserve back? Didn't even offer him a contract. Curtis is smallish and played as a #3 with two pretty good WRs in Bruce and Holt.

I think they've invested too much in Curtis and Brown to take on Chad Johnson.

Honestly.

I'd love to be wrong, but they'd have the most expensive receiving corps in the game.

Absolutely. If they get a top WR in the next few years it will be because they got lucky on a mid-round pick in the draft.

When is the last time a true number 1 WR hit the market as a free agent or in trade with no strings attached?

Are you referring to injury history as the "strings" for Stallworth?

I wouldn't call Stallworth a #1, either.

He's a very good player, but he's only lead his team in receiving once in his 6 year career and currently serves as the 3rd option in the Pats offense.

I like Stallworth, but he's not a #1. Now, if the injuries and

Hit the wrong button...

If the injuries were never an issue, he could probably develop into a number 1 type guy, but it's a thing he's going to deal with his entire career.

He's more of a #1 than any receive in the Reid era barring Owens. By far.

Eh...kinda.

I like him, he's been int eh league 6 years, has been on 3 different teams, has never had 1,000 yards, and hasn't ever had more than 8 TDs (his rookie year).

He's good, but not a number 1 by my definition. he was a number one on the Birds, but that's like being the world's tallest midget.

Seeing how comfortable McNabb was with him instantly told me something about him. I don't see that with Curtis at all. As for him being the # 3 option for the Pats, well, he has Randy Moss and Wes Welker ahead of him. Softserve had Reggie I-can't-beat-press-coverage Brown and Duckfeet as his wing men. That's like getting a slovenly, nasty guy and hoping he'll help you pick up the POA with his witless yet creepy conversation. He won't, and they didn't.

I disagree with you, F-d, regardless of their investment with Curtis, I'd take a chance in really upgrading the WRs.

Chad Johnson would be excellent for McNabb or Kolb or whomever.

Jules, I think McNabb and Stallworth only played 4 games together last year.

he played a total of 5 games with Stallworth and Stallworth's numbers were:

21 catches
442 yards
3 TDs

Through 7 games with Curtis, his numbers are:

32 catches
582 yards
4 TDs

The numbers are almost identical on a per game basis.

In my opinion, Stallworth is a better deep receiver and a more dangerous receiver, while Curtis is more consistent week in and week out and better in the middle of the field.

I really think Stallworth is a better player simply because the ability to get deep can't be taught, but I wouldn't consider him a true number 1 in the mold of:

- Chad Johnson
- Harrison
- Holt
- T.O.
- Roy Williams
- Randy Moss
- Steve smith
etc.

I'd call him a great deep threat and a really good #2 type receiver who can beat man coverage.

I think those stats are decieving because Curtis had his inflated by the Detroit game. Also it seemed that Stallworth made many more tough 3rd down catchs. Not sure if there is a way to look at catches for 1st downs but I bet Stallworth lead the team last year in that stat.

Haven't seen a 3rd down catch for 1st down stat, yet. Still looking.

Just looking at 3rd down catches, GLew had 13, Stallworth had 11. L.J. had 10 with a 17 ypc average. That's damn nice

I think those stats are decieving because Curtis had his inflated by the Detroit game. Also it seemed that Stallworth made many more tough 3rd down catchs. Not sure if there is a way to look at catches for 1st downs but I bet Stallworth lead the team last year in that stat.

That fair...the Detroit game.

However, don't forget that Stallworth's yards came in bunches, too. He had a 141 yard game and a 138 yard game with the rest of his games in the average range (21 yards, 56 yards, etc.). Through the time periods presented, both had 2 100 yard games (Curtis had a 200). The big difference is Curtis got 3 of his 4 touches down in the Lions game.

HOW EVA, it also took Cocksuckerfaceworth until week 10 to play his 5th game.

I'm not killing Stallworth and I still think it was a mistake to let him go. They should have a chance to re-sign him again next year and I hope they take it (unless a better option presents itself).

I just think the differences between Stallworth and Curtis in terms of production will be non-existant or in favor of Curtis.

The thing the Eagles will really miss is that gear Stallworth has going for the deep ball.

I just think the differences between Stallworth and Curtis in terms of production will be non-existant or in favor of Curtis.

But that suggests it had to be an "either/or" scenario. My point is they should have kept Stallworth AND signed Curtis. Stallworth Brown & Curtis looks a lot better than Brown Curtis Fill In THe Blank.

That's like $800 million tied up in 3 solid, but not spectacular WR's, then.

Yet somehow NE can afford Moss Stallworth and Welker.

My point is that none of those guys is a #1, so they're all complementary WR's with nobody to complement.

It works in NE b/c they have the #1, and then the two other threats.

Plus, NE hadn't just tried to take on a head case WR and have it backfire on them.

I don't know how you can look your Black friends in the eye when you make excuses for the front office like that.

hehe.

Valid point though.

Besides, New Englanders get what ever they want

Yet somehow NE can afford Moss Stallworth and Welker.

Call them thrifty/smart.

Welker gets $3 million per.

Stallworth is on a one year deal for a max of $3.75 million (if he meets all his incentives).

Moss makes $9.75 million this year.

In total, they are paying their top 3 WRs a total of about $16 million this year, but they are only on the hook for the salary of Welker, whom they gave an $8 million bonus.

Moss is essentially on a 2 year deal without any ramifications if they cut him and Stallworth is on a one year deal.

The Eagles traded a 4th round pick in 2007 for Stallworth before last season and the Patriots traded a 4th round pick in 2007 for Moss before this season. One move paid a few more dividends than the other.

The 4th round pick th Birds dealt turned out to be Jurmon Bushrod. The 4th rounder the Pats dealt turned out to be John Bowie.

The moral of that story is sometimes the precious aren't quite as value as "Proven veterans".

Kinda like bombing an abortion clinic and killing the doctors to save the lives of fetuses who could turn out to be the Jena 6.

Heck, sometimes it's worth gambling a few "precious" to gain the upper hand using other tactics, too.

Running up the score nothing new in the NFL
By Tom Danyluk (danyluk1@yahoo.com)
Nov. 1, 2007


Somebody asked Redskins assistant Gregg Williams if he was upset that the Patriots had shoved it so far up his defense’s … um, throat, and he said, “No. Even when we knew where they were going (i.e., QB sneaks, fake spike-throw), we couldn’t stop it.”

From Joe Gibbs, three-time Super Bowl champ and a 52-7 loser, “I have no problem with anything [the Patriots] did.”

You did hear pockets of griping from some Redskins players, about how New England had turned bush-league, with its late fourth-down attempts and flinging it deep after the contest had already been decided. Classless, they said. At least show Gibbs some respect; he’s in the Hall of Fame, for God’s sake. But the majority of the victims kept a firm lip, the mano-a-mano posture. At least for the cameras.

Said LB London Fletcher, “That’s what they chose to do with the ball. It’s our job to stop them,” etc.

“This is football,” added safety Pierson Prioleau. “If they want to get 100 points, that’s up to them.”

Every couple years you’ll see a team blatantly roll it up on another. The reasons vary.

Occasionally it’s a revenge factor. In 1985, the Jets exploded on poor Tampa Bay, one season after the Bucs had tried a couple of onside kicks with a comfortable lead, all in an attempt to help RB James Wilder set a yardage record. 62-28 was the final in the rematch. Several New York players winked and denied retaliation was ever a motive.

“This sport isn’t meant to rub anybody’s nose in the dirt,” said Jets defensive lineman Marty Lyons, who mysteriously took a finger in the eye during the game.

Sometimes it’s a personal venom, the juices of hatred. Late in the ’89 season, Cincinnati poured it on against the Oilers in response to the alleged punkish, cheap-shot style of play being stirred by Houston coach, Jerry Glanville. It was 45-0 in the third quarter and the Bengals were still firing off squib kicks on their way to a 61-7 victory. The postgame quotes were full of fireworks and you wanted to somehow be in both locker rooms at the same time.

“We were going for the jugular right from the start,” Bengals coach Sam Wyche said afterward. “We don’t like their team. We don’t like their people. And when you get a chance to do it, you do it. I wish it was a five-quarter game.”

“It’s like getting the bully in high school, the guy who points in your face and taunts you,” said Cincy QB Boomer Esiason, who tossed four TD passes. “You finally give him a shot in the teeth and he shuts up and runs away.”

More Wyche, on Glanville: “Drop me a note if you find somebody who thinks the world of this guy. Honest to God, he’s the biggest phony in pro football.”

“I don’t know what their message was,” Oilers DB Cris Dishman said, “but they got it across.”

More often than not it’s simply an imbalance of talent on the field that triggers these mega-blowouts, a good team getting hot against a bad one. Thoroughbreds trampling the ragtags.

Dave Rowe was a defensive tackle on the ’72 Patriots, which lost to the famous Miami Unbeatens, 52-0. He remembers it being a day spent trying to block Dolphins point-after attempts.

“We were a pretty bad team,” Rowe said. “Outclassed. Our coach was John Mazur, and he tried like heck but the game turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. We were behind 31-nothing at the half and Mazur walks to the front of the locker room and says, ‘Hey guys, look here! … Everybody! … I want everybody’s attention. I’ve had it. I’m outta here.” And he quit right there on the spot. Walked right out. And I never saw him again after that halftime. I mean, never! Dinners or golf outings or anything.”

A defensive assistant named Dick Evans took charge for the rest of the game. Before the Patriots went back on the field, Evans wanted to address the team. “Men,” he said, “there were only five plays that really hurt us in the first half.”

“Yeah, and four of them were touchdowns,” Rowe thought.

The Dolphins pulled their starters but the points kept coming. 38-0 … 45-0 …

“With a minute and a half to go,” Rowe recalled, “Evans called for a backup defensive end named Ron Berger and sent him into the game. Berger had been benched the week before, so he was a little jaded. So he looks at Evans and said, ‘You want me to go for the win, or play for the tie?’ ”

You wonder why Bill Belichick has suddenly become no-quarter with the rest of the league. Why the lust to squash teams with his heel and grind them into the ground?

Two weeks ago, he pulled Tom Brady with a 28-point lead, then sent him back in after the Dolphins scored a fluky touchdown. Last Sunday, Brady had a 38-0 lead and was still running fourth-down sneaks near the Washington goal line. And who knows what horrors await Eric Mangini and his post-Spygate Jets on Dec. 16?

“New England’s attitude reminds me of my years with the Raiders,” Rowe said. “1976. We were playing Tampa Bay, an expansion team, and absolutely killing them. (Coach John) Madden finally pulls (Ken) Stabler and puts in Mike Rae, the backup quarterback. Rae immediately throws a deep pass to Mike Siani for a touchdown. Now it’s 49-16.

“In the locker room, I was standing behind Madden as he was talking to the press. They asked him why he was still trying to put up points in a blowout. He didn’t like the question.

"I didn’t see any white flag being waived on the Tampa sideline," he said. "They were still playing hard and so were we. When I see a white flag then I’ll tell our guys to stop playing.’ ”

I think there’s probably another reason why teams run up the score. Because they can. It’s called ego. Belichick’s first three champions were all nice teams. Pedestrian types and last-minute wins and, oh, those brainy Patriots.

Now he has the blitzkrieg. One for the history books. And Belichick knows football history. He knows all about Gibbs. He’ll tell you about Vince Lombardi’s whip-cracking and Don Shula’s instincts, and that Paul Brown once said if you have a big gun, shoot it.

Now Belichick has the big gun. The plan is to keep firing. Five quarters a game.

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