Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Hicks losing confidence in Hart?

Hicks doesn’t commit on Hart coming back


Hicks confirmed Tuesday that he will meet with Hart next week to discuss "what's best for the organization." Hicks said the meeting has been a yearly event, but when asked if he anticipated Hart returning for a fifth season as general manager, Hicks could not provide an answer.

"We have a gentlemen's understanding to sit down at the end of the year and see where we are going," Hicks said. "This has been going on for a while. It's not new."


Here are the week 3 turnover numbers, with the winners listed followed by the turnover differential in that given game. This week, the turnover winner was only 6-4-4, taking the record for the season to 27-10-9 or only 73% so far. 73% is the lowest win percentage I have seen since we started this bit in 2003.

ATL E, CIN +5, IND -1, MIA +2, TB +3, STL -1, PHI -2, JAX E, MIN +4, SEA +2, DAL E, NE -2, SD E, DEN +1

Records for teams that finish:

+5 = 6-0
+4 = 3-0
+3 = 3-0
+2 = 6-3
+1 = 9-7

Very unconvincing numbers so far. I assure you that it will get over 80% by the end of the year, like it always does.

And now, on to some quickhits from some of the NFL Games I reviewed last night:

New England 23, Pittsburgh 20

James Farrior looks tremendous for Pittsburgh…Rodney Harrison’s injury was sickening. He is done for a long time…Antwan Randel El’s stupid lateral to Hines Ward is the early leader for “dumbest play of the year”…Richard Seymour is not just good, he is dominant, and approaching great…Willie Parker was an undrafted free agent in 2004 if you were wondering where he came from…Both teams left plenty of points on the field with horrible red zone turnovers…Heath Miller will be a great TE for Pittsburgh. Big time blocker and catcher…Tim Dwight makes New England dangerous on special teams, too….

Tampa Bay 17, Green Bay 16

Al Harris is one of the more solid defenders on a defense without many…Cadillac Williams is great, but the rest of that Tampa Bay offense is very average…Left Tackle may cost the Bucs before long, if you consider Brian Griese getting hurt a huge loss…Tampa got the ball with 5:10 left and a 1-point lead and never gave the ball up again…Green Bay really didn’t look that bad on either side of the ball, except for turnovers. You will never turn the ball over 4 times in the NFL and win. Favre cannot take chances with this team. But, he can’t help himself…

Cincinnati 24, Chicago 7

Odell Thurman is a great looking rookie LB for the Bengals…The Bears DL is still very good and gets constant pressure on the QB while playing well against the run…Carson Palmer looks so comfortable in the pocket…Deltha O’Neal sure doesn’t look like that failed bit in Denver anymore…The Bears having Muhsin Muhammad is like a fish owning a bicycle, they really have no use for him and can’t get him the ball…Kyle Orton is realizing this is not Purdue anymore…After 3 Q, the Bears had more yards, but 5 turnovers…Thomas Jones looks really strong, and Cedric Benson is not even getting a look yet. Nor should he, I suppose…Chad Johnson is so good right now that it is scary…The Bengals are no joke…

Indianapolis 13, Cleveland 6

Dennis Northcutt had a great punt return called back. He has developed into a nice weapon…Rueben Droughns is running hard and keeping himself above Lee Suggs and William Green in rotation…Colts having a hard time being patient. The Browns never put more than 7 in the box, forcing Manning to take the short gains…Dwight Freeney is still unblockable…Dallas Clark did not make any tough catches, in fact, demonstrated some drops in the first half…Edge James is just an absolute workhorse now for the Colts. On one 3rd Q FG drive, he got the ball almost every play of 8 minute drive…With Braylon Edwards, Antonio Bryant, and Northcutt, the Browns have a decent WR group…In 3 games, the Colts have given up a total of 16 points!...Colts OL is very underrated. Manning never gets touched…

Philadelphia 23, Oakland 20

Lamont Jordan may be fine, but when I see #34 in Oakland colors, I am looking for Bo Jackson still…This Eagles defense is still the best in the business if you ask me, and it starts with Trotter and Dawkins…The Woodsen versus Owens battle was entertaining all day, and neither guy had a huge edge. In fact, Owens has had two good battles this season, after opening night with DeAngelo Hall…Warren Sapp very active…Raiders TE Courtney Anderson is another weapon made better with the Randy Moss deep threat. Kind of like Jermaine Wiggins last year in Minnesota…Eagles deep threat on Sunday? Bryant Westbrook, when they get him isolated against a LB it is too easy…Robert Gallery, solid RT, Penalty machine, though…Kerry Collins will still throw the “up for grabs” pass without warning…

Dolphins 27, Panthers 24

Do not like those Carolina Blue Jerseys…Frerotte threw it to Chambers 4 straight plays on opening drive…Ronnie Brown runs strong and scores 1st TD in NFL …What a performance by Frerotte in 1Q, Dolphins up 14-3…Ricky Proehl still a bigger target than Kerry Colbert? Why?...Unintentional comedy play of the day is the Panthers at the Dolphins 1, with Stephen Davis turning around to call timeout while Delhomme is trying to hand him the ball, and is subsequently mauled by a confused Dolphins defender who commits a face mask Personal Foul in the process…Wes Welker caught a kickoff with one foot out of bounds, using a rule that moves the ball to the 40, despite the ball being in bounds (I had no idea)…Chris Chambers burned Chris Gamble for big TD…Deshaun Foster not being used enough, I think…Steve Smith is quite the weapon when healthy…Zach Thomas still the centerpiece of Miami’s defense…Sam Madison has 2 PF’s in 2 minutes in 2nd half…Miami drive early in 4th is all Ronnie Brown, WOW!...Delhomme with killer INT at 2:00 warning to cost Carolina the game…

Links:

The Biggest game of the Day? That’s right Liverpool attempts to teach Chelsea (Chelski) another lesson in football …Wish us luck, we are going to need it…

Lebreton on the Congressional Hearings

Aggies need more from their defense


Texas A&M enters Big 12 play ranked last in the conference in total defense after allowing 493 yards to Division I-AA Texas State on Thursday.

"It starts with me," said defensive coordinator Carl Torbush, who added that the Aggies "have not gotten better-than-average play from any position. That's disappointing for me because I felt like we would be better at this point than we have been."

Coach Dennis Franchione backed his staff, noting that its 2002 Alabama team ranked third in the nation in total defense.

"I know what this group can do," he said, "and I'm not shaken at all."

A&M is young defensively, with five sophomores starting vs. Texas State. But the Aggies are experienced, returning nine players who started at least four games last season. Torbush said talent, leadership and effort are not the problem.


Forgive me, but, something must be said about this: The Brew Crew is over .500


Don't look now, but the Brewers are one game above .500 with five games to go, seemingly poised to end their string of 12 consecutive losing seasons.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Hicks comments got me to thinking.

The Astros are heading for another October date with Atlanta, while the Rangers have looked Gawd Awful.

You think the Houston fans would put up with Hicks if he owned the Astros?

Since this blog does address our local college teams, here are the AttnyDan locks of the week:

A&M 56 Baylor 6
OU 16 K State 9
Tech 45 Kansas 29
Mizzou 38 UT 23 ($%#@ it!!)

Anonymous said...

Oh, the unbelieveably delicious meltdown of Texas Fan if they lose to Missouri would be so good and strong. The "Brad Smith For Heisman" campaign starts this weekend!

Anonymous said...

You had better hope that Texas loses pretty soon because they sure won't have any problems later in the year against the likes of TT or A&M.

If it doesn't happen either this weekend against Mizzou or next weekend against OU, it won't happen at all...well, till maybe in the Rose Bowl against USC anyway that is...

Anonymous said...

You're probably right about this being the one "ambush" game for UT.

I would like to see them win out (except for Tech), but UT seems to ALWAYS have one or two complete brain fart games. This could be it.

Just curious, wonder what the line would be right now in a USC-UT game. 18? 24?

Anonymous said...

USC struggled with a few average teams last year and nobody gets on them for having mental lapses throughout the season

Anonymous said...

I'd be much more confident of a potential ambush game for the Longhorns in Columbia this weekend if Missouri actually had a defense, but unfortunately for them, they don't. They will have a very hard time holding Texas under 40, and I just don't see Brad Smith putting up 40+ against that same Texas defense that basically shut down Ohio State.

Anonymous said...

I will wish Liverpool good luck tonight, but just because I want to see Jose lose that smug grin for a night. I predicted heavy defeats for all of Liverpool's knock-out stage games last season, so I'm not making any comments this time around. Let's see if Liverpool can actually get one to cross the line tonight...

What? No ManU / Benfica match report on the blog today?

Anonymous said...

If USC and UT played right now, Texas would keep the score closer than OU did last year in the Orange Bowl, but aside from that, all bets are off. USC would probably be about a 10-14 point favorite I would think, but the potential matchup isn't until January anyway.

Either way though, the way things are shaping up so far, unless Florida, Michigan State or VA Tech goes undefeated, USC and Texas will both still end up in the Rose Bowl, even if one or both of them suffer a loss along the way. If Texas loses this weekend but wins out the rest of the way, they'll still make it with one loss because they won in Columbus. Same goes for USC based on what they've done the past 2 years.

Anonymous said...

Quick Hits around NFL --- NICE!

Anonymous said...

Baylor - 45
cow college - 2

Rich Maclone said...

Cadillac Williams is "great" but Richard Seymout is only "approaching great." Come on now Bob.

Anonymous said...

"USC struggled with a few average teams last year and nobody gets on them for having mental lapses throughout the season"

Probably because they've actually won a National Championship or two.

When the Horns win one, they'll get that pass, too.

Anonymous said...

The Horns actually have "won a national championship or two" but I know what you meant (referring to the current team). They'll prove an awful lot to me if they get past OU next Saturday. Obviously they have a far superior team to OU this year, but they still have to clear that one final mental hurdle. Beating both Michigan and Ohio State proves that they aren't to be taken lightly anymore, but they still have to beat OU in order to put all of their past ghosts behind them.

Anonymous said...

rumors swirling right now about Adrian Peterson

He is now listed as questionable-personal reasons in the USA Today injury report

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Peterson had better look out, big bad Stoops might actually hold him out of an entire series for skipping classes next time!

BK in Plano said...

The Horns actually have "won a national championship or two"

Yeah back there were leather helmets and no facemasks

Anonymous said...

It was a little more recently than that, but not by much: I believe the '69 Texas squad was the last all-white national champ.

Anonymous said...

according to Judy, White is Wright.

Anonymous said...

And when was A&M's last national championship again???