It amazes me how much of a homer you guys can be. Love the Rockets, love UT, but jeez be a little more realistic with your expectations of your favorite teams.
What does that mean really? Be realistic as in, believe just like you expect someone to believe. LOL - be realistic in your expectations of other people. DD
I'm pretty sure they ran a study about factors for success for QB in NFL, and the highest correlations were # of starts (or wins?) in college and pass completion %, but then again correlation does not imply causation...
That is absolute horse****. Just look at how many QBs who won the Heisman turned out to be below average NFL QBs. (Hint: its almost all of them)
Great article on Colt. It's not just the Longhorn homers that think he is doing a good job. http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/11/colt-mccoy-rapidly-winning-over-success-starved-cleveland/ BEREA, Ohio -- The hoopla about Colt McCoy has hit fever pitch in Cleveland, where the kid from Texas is being lauded as the future and the next Brian Sipe, who in 1980, was the last Cleveland Browns player to win the MVP. The comparisons are obvious. McCoy and Sipe are short, were not drafted high (if the third round is "not high") and feature Elway-like arm strength. Both have intangibles like smarts and poise and the ability to make the right throw at the right time. Sipe, though, was MVP after being with the Browns for seven years. McCoy has started three games. So before folks in win-starved and beat-up Cleveland go too overboard, two things might be worth mentioning: McCoy threw for 85 yards in a win over New Orleans; and he threw five passes in the second half of a win over New England. Those numbers indicate how much the Browns have relied on McCoy to win, which is to say not a great deal. But they also indicate the truth of the old bromide: Stats are for losers. Because with McCoy taking the snaps, the Browns beat two of the better teams in the league, and more importantly, did not beat themselves. Cleveland has suddenly (and shockingly) brought itself from the brink of the abyss at 1-5, to as close to relevant as they have been at any time in the past five seasons. There are many reasons for the resurgence, but one big one is the steady and solid play of McCoy, who has been solid at a position where the Browns have been searching for years. "He's doing what's asked of him," said fullback Lawrence Vickers, "and we've won as a team." "He's doing the job they want him to do. Nobody's asking him to be a leader, nobody's asking him to do anything. ... Do your job. You have a supporting cast." -- Browns FB Lawrence Vickers Despite that, coach Eric Mangini continues to insist he has not decided if McCoy or Seneca Wallace will start Sunday against the Jets. Wallace returned to practice for the first time since spraining his ankle Oct. 10 and participated in 25 percent of the work. Mangini, who believes it gives his team an edge to hide the starter's identity as long as possible, would not commit -- prompting Jets coach Rex Ryan to poke fun at the situation. "I don't know if he (McCoy) is going to be the starting quarterback," Ryan said, the jokingly added: "I think there's a good chance that Frank Ryan will be back this week, and of course, Frank Ryan is the guy who led them to their last championship in 1964. He's probably better known for having a PhD in Math." Ryan did get serious when he talked about how McCoy has been poised and prepared and succeeded against New England, New Orleans and Pittsburgh. His numbers: 67.6 percent of his throws for 529 yards, one TD, two interceptions and two wins. "Now you throw the Jets in the mix," Ryan said. "Those are four of the toughest teams in the league." If McCoy can complete the trifecta with a win Sunday, it would be time to take a serious step back. Already eyebrows are being raised about the guy who wasn't supposed to start a game this season. By beating the Patriots, McCoy joined Ben Roethlisberger and Mark Sanchez as the only rookies to beat Bill Belichick. By winning twice, he is within two games of the Browns' record for wins by a rookie quarterback. Against New England, McCoy quarterbacked the offense to season highs in points, first downs, total yards and time of possession. Running back Peyton Hillis got a lot of carries, but McCoy finished without a turnover and with a rushing TD. He's doing it by doing what has been asked. Since McCoy took over, the Browns have scaled back their game-plans a bit, but they have not gone bare bones the way some teams do with rookies. McCoy came out throwing against both Pittsburgh (an 8-yard completion to Brian Robiskie) and New England (21 yards to Mohammed Massaquoi). "He's doing the job that they want him to do," Vickers said. "Nobody's asking him to be a leader, nobody's asking him to do anything. Everybody is saying, do your job, and that's what he's doing. It's the exact same thing that they are preaching to everybody every day. Do your job. You have a supporting cast. Everybody do their job and together we can do good things. So he's doing what they're asking of him and in that fashion he's making plays." Which means when McCoy is asked to throw only five times in a half, he's making the most of those five throws. He completed all five in the third and fourth quarters against the Patriots, two on the run when he escaped a rush. And when a pass was not there, he took off and ran and scored on a 16-yard touchdown. Against New Orleans, he was asked to catch a pass on a halfback option, and he made the catch for a first down. In some ways, that he's been successful should not be surprising. McCoy started for four years and 53 games at Texas and won more games (45) than any quarterback in NCAA history. He played in a visible program, in front of packed stadiums. That he can handle the next step seems logical. "He also came behind one hell of a guy in Vince Young, and he still made his own name and became a great player," Vickers said. "That's no fluke." When McCoy speaks to the media, he speaks with the respect of a rookie and the aura of a veteran. Asked if he'll start, he goes back to the "preparing as if I'm the starter" well. Asked if he wants to start, he says "if I play, I'm going to go out there and do the best I can to help this team win." Asked if anything has been surprisingly tougher in the pros, he acknowledged that he knew it would be tough, but then soliloquized about how good it was for the team to win the past two games. Browns do-everything athlete Joshua Cribbs said the most impressive thing about McCoy has been his ability to deal with adversity, to accept being the four-year star at Texas to the third quarterback in Cleveland and then step right in when needed. "Put in a situation like that, not even taking reps with the first-team offense and coming right in and stepping in ... he's doing a great job," Cribbs said. Things do not get easier Sunday. As good as the Saints and Patriots are, they do not present the challenges that the Jets defense presents. New York has two outstanding cover corners in Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie. It has aggressive blitz packages with nasty linebackers, and ranks third in the league in scoring defense (16.2) and fourth in rushing defense (87.4). "The Jets will be the toughest defense we play so far," McCoy said. What does he do with a guy like Revis, who when healthy can single-handedly shut down the game's best receivers, let alone the Browns pedestrian duo? "I don't know," McCoy said. "I've never played a guy like that" That is the kind of awareness coaches appreciate, especially a close-to-the-vest coach like Eric Mangini. McCoy has shown the same awareness on the field, to the point of breaking down New England's coverage on his 16-yard TD scamper and explaining why he knew he could run on the play. He also lamented a corner route to tight end Ben Watson that was almost a touchdown, saying he wanted to watch it on film. What he probably saw was a near-perfect pass just past the reach of Watson that could have been caught by Watson or nobody. McCoy's strengths have been his poise, his awareness and his ability to carry himself beyond his inexperience. He has years of being the starter in college, but just three starts in the NFL. Tough times will arrive, perhaps this weekend. But the fact that McCoy has handled his first three starts as well as he has has at long last kindled hope in Cleveland, where the only consistent thing about the Browns over the years has been that inconsistency at quarterback. "He doesn't claim to be anything that he isn't," Cribbs said. "He assumes all mistakes, even when it's our mistake. That's one key in leadership. ... He takes full pride in his job and he wants to win."
Meaning don't EXPECT your team to be in title contention every single year and make every single player on that team sound like a super hero or the best player in the league. Everyone has their up and down years but when the Rox or Horns have one all hell breaks loose here. Same goes when a player experiences some success in their respective leagues, they're put in the SAVIOUR role.
That was a great read...Not sure they can get past the Jets, but IMHO, why wouldn't Colt start...but if Seneca gives you the best chance to win, similar to the Vick/Kolb, you go with that...
Jim Plunkett was a bust for the most part until he went to the Raiders and managed to play well enough to win a couple Super Bowls. His career stats are nothing to write home about.
The bust rate of the Heisman QBs is probably about the same as regular QBs.... David Carr, JeMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, Jeff George...etc...etc...etc... DD
? From 1960-2006 there were 19 heisman winning QBs. Only 5 of them amounted to a hill of beans (and that is including Plunkett and Flutie, who really weren't all that great, but had long careers). What does it take for a "regular" QB to be a bust...?
That was my point. Moes is saying most QB's that won the Heisman sucked as pros, I think their failure rate is about the same as any other QB. DD
I guess if people have some expectations about Heisman winners and the pros. I realize that the trophy is meaningless as far as a pro career goes....I figured most fans did as well. Guess I was wrong. DD
