A Rose by Any Other Number

When two players on the same team have the same last name, why does the team add the first initial to the jersey? Isn't that what the number is for, to tell the players apart?

Hello? Competition Committee?

If the NFL wants to add excitement to its many lackluster match ups (49ers @ Cardinals on MNF, anyone?), then they oughtta undo all these crapola changes they've made to make things "fair," and then change the most ridiculous play in the game: the PAT.

Let's get the easy stuff out of the way. During the last few years the No Fun League changed some rules that haven't done anything to make games more fair, as they were intended to, and have made the games less exciting.

For example, allowing offenses to wait out excessive fan noise is bullshit. Fan noise is part of home-field advantage, it's the 12th player and this is supposed to be the fans' game. Letting coaches call time out is garbage. It gives them too much control, just like the radio helmet communication system. The game is supposed to be played on the field and be spontaneous. Talk about killing drama.

Teams aren't allowed to place more than six cover guys on either side of the kicker during a kickoff. It might give them an unfair advantage during an onside kick. No shit, NFL, that's the point of the onside kick. In the old days (two years ago) the receiving team was free to put 10 guys to one side if that's how the opposition lined up. What's unfair about that?

On field goal tries, PATs and punts the defense isn't allowed to position a lineman head-up across from the center. The D player has to be offset to one side or the other, ostensibly to protect the center who is snapping with his head down. Bullshit. I was a long snapper and even in high school, centers are taught how to hit the holder (or punter) with the ball while keeping their heads up. You look back for the hand signal, then pick your head up so you can see the D (and not get your neck broken), and let it fly. With enough reps, it's pretty easy. Centers do the same thing in shotgun formation, yet this rule doesn't apply to that situation.

Head up or head down, the center is always the weak link in the special teams line. Let the D take advantage of that. The blocked punt or field goal is one of the great game-changing moments in any contest.

Now for the PAT. Worst play in football. The NFL added the 2-point conversion in 1994 to try to add some variability to the scoring and offset the fact that the PAT is virtually automatic. Guess what? It hasn't worked. Teams kick the PAT approximately 96% of the time. That's right from the NFL itself.

There are approximately 1100 - 1200 touchdowns scored in the NFL annually. The 2-point conversion is used 4% of the time. Using the higher number estimate, that means there are just 48 tries for 2 attempted each season. There are 32 teams in the league. That's 1.5 attempts per team, per year! Beyond that, the success rate is about 45% league-wide, that's just 23 conversions - far less than 1 per team, per year. I think it's fair to call this "test" an abject failure.

Why not leave the 2-point option in place and move the PAT to the 20 yard line? That would make it a 37 yard kick. While this distance for field goals is still converted more than 90% of the time, at least this isn't a 19-yard gimme. More missed PATs would also convince more teams to go for 2, which is what the league wanted in the first place. Hello? Competition Committee? Are you listening?

Hey Al, try a mirror

So the Raiders lose a close one to the Bills yesterday, 24-23, on a last second field goal. Today, reports surface that Oakland owner Al Davis is going to fire coach Lane Kiffin. Granted the two never really clicked in the personality department. One of the root causes of the whole mess is the relationship between defensive coordinatior Rob Ryan and Kifflin. Interestingly enough, yesterday's loss came after the Raider defense allowed 17 points in the final 8 minutes of the game. Sabatoge? Considering Ryan's pedigree, it's not as improbable as it sounds.

But Al Davis needs to look in the mirror. It's there he'll see the man who refused to backup his head coach when Kifflin asked to fire Ryan before the start of this season. As a result, you have a defensive coordinator who refuses to listen to the head coach. It's no wonder the defense blew a 17-point lead with 8 minutes left. You're to blame Al, one else.

Screwed or blown?

Ed Hoculi's call in the Chargers' Bronco's game was horrendous. It was so big that the NFL's competition committee will probably change the rule that caused him to erroneously blow the play dead.

But my high school football coach had a saying that is still apropos low these many years later: "If you win the game, there's no call that can take it away from you."

I still believe in that sentiment. Did the Chargers get screwed on that call? Yes. But if they had gone out and dominated that game and won it before the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, one bad call wouldn't have made any difference. The Chargers blew the game and have only their on-field performance to blame.

He's nothing if not consistant

Consistently an asshole. Only Belechick, given the opportunity to inure sympathy even from his biggest detractors, maintains his arrogant asshole attitude (alliteration!) by not releasing the details of Tom Brady's injury.

Does Belechick need sympathy? Not personally, no, nor does he deserve it. But one year after a massive cheating scandal and a horrible collapse to a Giant underdog (pun intended) in the Superbowl, the Patriots organization could use a little good PR.

In building the closest thing to an NFL dynasty since the Cowboy's-Aikman run, the Patriots, despite their Americana nickname, have not become the new version of America's Team.

You don't see fans in other regions across the country wearing Patriots merchandise the way you did with the Cowboys and before them the "other dynasty teams" the Giants, Steelers and Raiders.

In fact, the Patriots have earned a bullseye on their backs, thoughtlessly placed there by their own Machiavellian leader. (For anyone who doesn't know what "Machiavellian" means, just substitute the word, "douchecanoe.")

This is where truly great coaches, like Parcells and Madden, realized that the game - and the team - are much bigger than any one person.

And it's only the first week

This part of RallyCap is pissed off. I mean really PISSED OFF.

Wanna know why? Cause I spent my f-ing weekend (Friday included) passing a #%#%%%^ kidney stone. When I wasn’t passing it, I was puking. When I wasn’t puking I was walking the pain off. Hell, I even tried rubbing dirt on it. Didn’t work. It still hurt. (Ok, it wasn't as bad as this guy, but damn!).

So today is the wrong day to get this part of RC rolling.

Then I watch some of the NFL action on Sunday (kudos to me for going with NE in the suicide pool) and have to listen to the crap on Monday about the NFL being weaker because little Tommy Brady got hurt. Pussies!

No, not Brady, I’m talking to those of you who think the league is diminished because he’s not playing any more. You’re probably New England fans who think it’s your birthright to win championships. Well wake the hell up! Other people want what you have (or had . . . when was the last time you won again, oh yeah, 2004 . . .).

Is the league any more diminished that Montana, Staubach, Rice, Starr, Unitas, Brown, Simpson, Butkus, Taylor, Upshaw (maybe an argument here), Biletnikoff, Nagurski, Page, Shell, etc. aren’t playing. No. So shut the hell up. Or better yet, get your hands on a copy of North Dallas Forty and try to learn something. Not a better movie exists showing you how the real world of professional sports (circa 1979) works.

I don’t think the league is diminished at all. I think Brady’s getting hurt is just a continuation of the conspiracy that gave the Super Bowl to the NY Giants! That’s what I think.

New Model Carr?

Desert dwellers have got to suddenly be putting a lot more credence in the Heisman curse. (Charlie Ward, Danny Wuerffel, anyone?) Sophomore coach Ken Wisenhunt is postponing the inevitable, waiting to name Kurt Warner his starter after Matt Leinart accumulated a 2.8 QB rating in two quarters against the woeful Raiders. I say forget the Heisman, worry about the fact that Leinart was a first round draft choice. Remember David Carr? He wasn't a Heisman winner, but he was the first overall pick in the 2002 draft. Which raises the question, Is 2006's 10th overall pick the next David Carr?

Being patient and allowing your high-paid first rounder to learn the game is one thing, but after two years in the league shouldn't the light-throwing Leinart be ready to step up? Isn't that why he was a Top 10 pick? Is it okay for a kid who has never really been a starter going into his third season to go 4-for-12 for 24 yards? With 3 INTs? How about those numbers against a team defense ranked 22 last year? Not in my book.

To be fair to David Carr, he was thrown into the starting job as a rookie on a very bad Houston team. It's not the same thing as Leinart's situation. Don't get me wrong: Carr was, without doubt, an over-hyped media product who was never as talented as his Heisman campaign made him out to be. Just look at what he's (not) done since leaving Houston. A rookie Troy Aikman (pick 1) was also made the starter on a very bad Texas team going 1-15 in his first year, but I think we all know how that turned out.

But Leinart has been given the time to mature. He has two of the best receivers in the game. He has Emmitt Smith's leadership and JJ Arrington, a good looking 4th year back. The line isn't bad either: Mike Gandy, Reggie Wells and Levi Brown are a solid core. So the finger keeps pointing back to the boy with the ball.

For his 17 game career Leinart has 13 TDs and 16 INTs, which doesn't say much of anything. but what might be more revealing is this: Quarterbacks selected in the first round of the NFL draft more often end up as busts not franchise saviors. Consider this list:

• Tim Couch, pick 1
• Ryan Leaf, pick 2
• Rick Mirer, pick 2
• Heath Shuler, pick 3
• Akili Smith, pick 3
  
• Joey Harrington, pick 3
  
• David Klingler, pick 6
• Andre Ware, pick 7
• Cade McNown, pick 12
• Dan McGwire, pick 16
• Todd Marinovich, pick 24
• Tommy Maddox, pick 25
  
• Jim Druckenmiller pick 26
  

And most observers are ready to add Alex Smith (pick 1), Kyle Boller (pick 19), Rex Grossman (pick 22) and Patrick Ramsey (pick 32) to this inglorious list.

Yes, there have been very successful (Peyton Manning, pick 1) and moderately successful (Steve McNair, pick 3) first-round QB picks. But don't forget: the Cardinals used their 1987 first-round pick (#6 overall) on their QB of the future – Kelly Stouffer – and we all know how that turned out.

The next hanging Chad?

Ok, just wondering. There was a lot, I mean a lot, of hoopla about Favre’s return to the Packers. A lot. Hell, even Greta van Susteren or whatever her name is, “covered” the issue for a week. Yes, she dedicated her nightly show for a full week to Brett Favre. And it was excruciating to watch even a few minutes.

So now the dust has settled, Favre is planting roots in NY and his immediate predecessor there, Chad Pennington, was named the Dolphins starting quarterback today.

Now, I’m not a naysayer, really, and could care less about the Jets and Favre or even the Dolphins/Pennington/Parcells etc. But wouldn’t it be interesting if Pennington posts a higher QB rating than the Hall of Famer Favre?

Here is an interesting tidbit to bolster that potential scenario: according to the Associated Press, “Pennington ranks first in NFL history among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 attempts with a 65.6 completion percentage.”

And he did that with the Jets. Yeah, it’s a stretch for him to come anywhere near that with the Dolphins, but it could happen.

I’m not saying, I’m just saying, know what I’m saying?

Falcons ask Ryan to rub Vicks away

The Falcons made Matt Ryan their starting QB this year. Ryan will make his debut against the Detroit Lions a week from Sunday. Ryan is a local product. He hails from Exton, Pa., not far from the world headquarters of Wearing the Rally Cap. So naturally, we’re keeping an eye on him.

Of course, competing against the likes of Joey Harrington, Chris Redman and D.J. Shockley, makes it that much easier for the third overall pick to earn the starting spot. But that's nitpicking.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has more. . . .

Paging Michael Strahan

Hey Strahan,
Answer the damn phone. It' s Coughlin on the line and he has an idea . . .

Osi goes down . . .

Dead or Alive - Gene Upshaw?

Dead. As of yesterday.

Upshaw, head of the NFL players union, died last night.

Upshaw played his entire 15-year, hall-of-fame career as an offensive guard with the Oakland Raiders. In recent years Upshaw drew criticism for his seemingly hard core stance against aiding retired NFL and AFL players who were struggling financially after leaving the game, particularly older players from past eras of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

He was 63.

Tiki Torches NBC Colleague

As Rally Cap continues to evolve, you will learn more about us, where we stand on teams and issues (trust me when I say we’re different) and other important character traits. It will be a slow process, or maybe not. . .

Tiki Barber. . . loved him as a Giants running back, dislike him immensely since he retired. Talking out against his coach and teammates last year was unnecessary and achieved nothing, except perhaps raising Tiki's rather diminutive profile. Seeing the Giants win the Super Bowl without him was pure joy.

Tiki has put his foot in his mouth again, this time during NBC TV’s coverage of the Olympics. I have not seen any of his broadcasts, having to hold down a FT job leaves little room for morning TV. But if this clip is accurate, someone at NBC may have to reevaluate Tiki’s future with the Peacock.

Clip is via Awful Announcing