Dear HoustonTexans.com: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9acRrOEleC8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9acRrOEleC8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
That one play won them the game. He put that texas team on his back and took them to the promise land and for that I will forever be a VY fan.
You draft players for seasons and careers -- not one individual regular season game. I will too -- I hope he does well. But the NFL and college football are two entirely different entities, and despite years and decades of evidence, people seem to struggle understanding that dominance at one level doesn't directly equate to dominance at the other.
Pshaw. Give me Danny Weurfel, Andre Ware, David Klingler, Troy Smith, and David Carr, and kick all of y'all's asses.
Really? All during that draft I heard people saying that Vince wouldn't be able to read NFL defenses. Those who liked Vince acknowledged that the NFL was harder but that Vince would be able to adapt. Why do you always use straw men in your arguments? And why is your point always that sports fans (except you) are stupid? The people who thought Vince would excel in the NFL didn't base their arguments on the idea that the NFL is as easy as college. They based it on Vince's talent and potential. If you want to be a good journalist, you should respect your audience.
What am I supposed to do, take a tape recorder everywhere I go and record every talk radio comment and upload it online? Should I make a running file, copied and pasted, of every message board thread I've ever read? Should I take my digital recorder when I go out and upload every comment anyone ever makes to me? This is a fan message board, dude -- it's not the front page of The New York Times. We're all allowed a license to discuss our own experiences, even when we don't have them recorded and uploaded in a digital format. And since we're asking questions, why do you seem to correlate my opinions of "fans" as a whole with fans on this message board? The majority of people, in life as a whole, who call themselves "fans" are dumb -- when it comes to sports. The majority of people on this message board are NOT. There are exceptions in both cases, sure, but they're the minority. Casual fans don't think about the speed of defenses at each level, and they sure as hell don't think about playbooks, schemes or all the work that goes into a sport outside of the day of the game. I've talked to a lot of people about Mario/Bush/VY. The consensus, by far, has been: "OMG didn't you watch all the Sportscenter highlights?!?! Those two are SICK!!! That Rose Bowl was crazy, how can you not take at least one of them! They're the best players I've ever seen!" Maybe that's not how the majority of fans on this message board feel, but I never said it was. I was making an observation about people in general, and no, I'm not going to always have a link. (Funny how last week I was criticized for using too many links and having too much evidence, and this week I'm criticized for having to little.) As for the draft, what I heard from the majority was "how can you not take one of the two most dominant players ever to play!" As for good journalism, one of the biggest keys to journalism is identifying blind spots -- both your own and your audience's -- and taking the steps to educate.
I would not say proven. Vince's stats have yet to plateau. He improved last year while playing hurt and still having very little at receiver. I don't expect him to ever put up Manning like numbers passing, but he should still get better. The better a passer he is, the better a runner he'll be.
Eh, he actually regressed from year one to year two -- that's the only reason I'm worried a little. Normally, you can't judge an NFL QB until starting in his third season -- learning curve is that steep. But the fact that he went backward is a little worrisome. With that said, Vince has cited the quad injury as limiting his performance (last year) in a few interviews I've seen of late, so maybe that was a bigger factor than we thought. We'll soon see...
Completion percentage up nearly 10%. YPA up nearly 0.5 yards. Passing rating up. TDs, Int, and rushing were disappointing, but all his other passing stats suggest he is reading defenses better.
The cat, you should just wear a wire underneath your dress shirt. Just make sure it's taped correctly because duct tape can be painful.
Good point... my mistake. I had forgotten how well he played against the Chiefs and Colts late in the year -- I knew for much of the season he was under his 2006 performance, but those two games made his season look better than I remembered off-hand.
Holding, #85, that penalty is declined. Holding, #76, 10 yard penalty. Repeat 3rd down. Bah, who cares. Anyway,
Back on Mario....He is a beast. I remember watching NC State with a friend to see Manny Lawson because he was looking like a stud 3-4 OLB. There was always this big guy on the other side of the line making plays. I was disappointed to see this 4-3 DE making all these plays since he wouldn't fit the Texans system and was a better rusher. End of Season. Kubiak hired. Texans switch to a 4-3. Draft Mario. I've been happy ever since.
It wasn't just the casual "dumb" fan that was saying Bush and VY should be the top picks. It was also the scouts, and in fact, most NFL teams. Just about everyone had Bush rated as the top pick, and VY was steadily moving up the rankings. So, the opinions of fans and experts actually correlated in this case. I'm not criticizing you for not having evidence, but for going to the "fans are dumb" card. It's great to educate people, but the people who are going to be reading your column arent the stupid fans anyways.
