That's the premise of David George's article in the Palm Beach Post.

Now, before I launch into some stats let me say that this is one of those arguments where the only way to be wrong is to insist that your right.

To write so casually about Seau's "career being so much better than Porter's shows a total lack of knowledge. I fully admit to being a fan of J-Peezy. I defended his down season last year.

My business partner is a Steeler's fan and I watched him plenty in the Black & Gold making plays. The has had a very good career. So has Seau. Neither are sure-fire HOF guys. That's just the stats talking.

Here's why it's ridiculous to think Seau is better than Joey Porter. Tackles are not accurate because the NFL apparently is not listing them prior to 2001 (I seem to remember there being tackle stats prior to 2000 before).

Junior Seau - 18 Seasons

509 Tackles (354 Solo)
56.5 Sacks
21 Passes defended
18 Interceptions

Joey Porter - 10th Season (being played now)

455 Tackles (334 Solo)
70.5 Sacks
36 Passes defended
12 Interceptions

Joey also has a Super Bowl ring.

I think there is a reason for this kind of article getting written. It's simple. People love to say Joey Porter is overrated (to the point where they underrate him) and at the same time they love to think of Junior Seau as one of the all-time greats (top ten - something I think he is not).

Joey brings it on himself. His barking makes moderate people dislike him. Meanwhile, I think the world is better with dogs in it.

Holla back, now ya hear?

 

 

 

This is selection from something I wrote elsewhere, but thought would add to the community here. If any of this refers to something previous it is because it belongs to a longer article.

After two games shaping up the way they did, I was pretty down on the line and the performance of the backs. Then I remembered something and decided to do a little research.

I wanted to shed light on some confusion over the Dolphins running game. So here it goes:

So far this season...

Ronnie Brown has carried the ball 17 times for 48 yards. Earning him a 2.8 yard average.

Ricky Williams has carried the ball 21 times for 52 yards. Earning him a 2.5 yard average.

Ronnie has carried the ball more times than Ricky in the 3rd and fourth quarters. Both of these guys are big backs that need to wear down defenses to start getting longer runs.

Ricky's numbers look bad right now. I couldn't possibly argue against that idea. The bottom line is that Ronnie isn't setting the world on fire either. So that leads me to the newspapermen and radio hosts (790 The Ticket's Sid Rosenberg, I am looking at you). These stalwarts of suspect statistical awareness have pronounced that the running game will be either completely lost this year or that switching the roles will solve the problem.

So, let's look at the Dolphins overall situation before we go off the deep end and join them.

Maurice Jones-Drew has carried the ball 12 times this year for 30 yards in his first two games. Good for a 2.5 yard average. That includes a 22 yard run.

Fred Taylor has carried the ball 23 times for 67 yards. That's a 2.9 yard average.

Larry Johnson has carried the ball 34 times for 96 yards. That's only a 2.8 yard average and he too has a 22 yard run in there.

All of them have logged two games. Their teams need a solid rushing attack to win and both teams have, like the Dolphins, lost their first two games.

None of them are impressing, but does anyone actually think that Maurice Jones-Drew will average 2.5 yards a carry this year? I hope not.

So the season has started slowly for some running backs. So why is it in the case of Ricky and Ronnie that it is less an issue of a slow start and more of a possible loss of ability. It's only natural, I guess. Ronnie Brown is coming off knee surgery and Ricky is not a spring chicken and, despite his physical gifts seeming undiminished, he may have lost a step.

There is also the chance that it is just a slow start. What if?

There is an aspect to this discourse that casts the fans and media's responses to early failure in a somewhat poor light.

The issue is looking at the ball carriers over their careers.

In 2005, when Ricky was reinstated he carried the ball 5 times for 8 yards in his first game. He followed up that break out day with a 6 carries/ -1 yard performance. Negative one yard. He finished the season with a 4.4 yard average, multiple hundred yard games and was a key component in that team's 6 game winning streak that closed out the season.

Ricky's prior stats from 2002 and 2003 are ridiculously impressive. In 2002 he was averaging over 5.5 yards per carry after two games and over 4 yards per carry in 2003. So he might not be fully explained here.

How about Ronnie Brown? If this guy is consistent at something it is certainly that he starts slow. Fantasy vultures ought to memorize these numbers.

Ronnie Brown in 2005: Carried the ball 22 times for 57 yards in the first game. That's a 2.6 yard average. He followed that up with a breakout 12 carry/35 yard masterpiece. Lifting his first two game average to 2.75 yards per carry.

Ronnie Brown in 2006: Carried the ball 15 times week one. He got 30 yards. I won't do the math for you on that one. The next weekend he had a respectable game. Carrying the ball 15 times for 70 yards. Good for a very healthy 4.7 yard average. Still, he averaged 3.33 yards per carry over the first two games.

Ronnie Brown in 2007: Game 1 against Washington Brown carried the ball 11 times for 32 yards. That's a 2.9 yards per carry average. The following game was a much improved 11 carries for 33 yards. Yes, 11 multiplied by 3 is 33.

My point here is that you can't write off players or a whole team (even a team with as many struggles as the Dolphins) by week 3. Yes, they're going north this week to face the New England Patriots. Yes they just got blown out by the Cardinals. No, Ronnie and Ricky won't continue to play poorly. No, I'm not crazy (hopefully) and yes, the numbers tend not to lie.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this as a breakout game for one of the two running backs. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the Dolphins lose anyway. They've been pretty good at finding ways to do that despite breakout performances at the running back position.

Ah, fellow Dolphins fans, I hope you're all ready. You especially Rzayo and Left Coast. The ultimate mind-bender of them all is about to descend on the noble Phinsider's website.

Are you ready?

Can you possibly fathom how difficult the answer is to obtain?

Do you believe there is even a proper method to determining the right answer?

Here you go:

Who would be a better running back?Ricky Brown or Ronnie Williams?

 

Poll

Who is the better running back - Ricky Brown or Ronnie Williams?

62%

Ricky Brown

25 votes

37%

Ronnie Williams

15 votes

40 votes | Poll has closed

I am sure this is make-believe but nontheless I will place it as an official rumor.

Usain Bolt as a WR is not as crazy as making Christian Okoye a RB. Durability was the concern there as it would be for someone like Usain.

Still, I honestly would not put this kind of stunt beyond Bill Parcells. Parcells chief scouting technique is a player's measurables, followed by production and then finally experience.

Usain Bolt certainly fits into one of those categories.

Okay, a lot of the above was just BS to fill the word requirement. Enjoy the story.

Enjoy the Parcells & Usain Bolt nonsense.

Or is it?

 

 

I though I'd share this with ya'll. This is absolutely great.

Taken from the Jaguars official site's live blog. Read it and enjoy.

 

8/16/08 at 8:41 PM Henne to Ginn. What a throw by Henne. Now they're calling it incomplete. We might get a challenge on this one.


8/16/08 at 8:42 PM Tony Sparano is challenging. He got em both down. It would be out of bounds at the Jaguars 25. It's all a matter of establishing possession, I think.


8/16/08 at 8:43 PM The ruling stands. Ginn didn't establish possession. He beat Mathis.

8/16/08 at 8:14 PM Pennington looks pretty good. He still can't break a pane of glass but he can nibble a little and hit the slant.

8/16/08 at 8:14 PM Witherspoon does it again. He's out to the 43. He's the star of this game for the Jaguars so far.

8/16/08 at 8:18 PM The Jags are going for it on fourth and two at midfield.

8/16/08 at 8:19 PM Garrard had Walker wide open deep and overthrew him. Miami takes over at its 49.

8/16/08 at 8:19 PM It was a very aggressive play-call by offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter and it should've been an easy touchdown throw. Hey, if you're gonna have a bad night, the preseason is the right time to have one.

8/16/08 at 8:20 PM Chad Henne has replaced Pennington, who was five of six for 55 yards.

8/16/08 at 8:22 PM Henne can break a pane of glass; a pane of plexiglass.

THEN LATER

8/16/08 at 8:41 PM Henne to Ginn. What a throw by Henne. Now they're calling it incomplete. We might get a challenge on this one.

8/16/08 at 8:42 PM Tony Sparano is challenging. He got em both down. It would be out of bounds at the Jaguars 25. It's all a matter of establishing possession, I think.

8/16/08 at 8:43 PM The ruling stands. Ginn didn't establish possession. He beat Mathis.


Great hearing it from the other guy for once (again - we did win once upon a time). Don't you think?

via www.chrisrue.com

The Phinisher

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser /> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->

Deep breath. 1,2, 3, 4...

This is ridiculous! Have any of you (who cry hypocrisy and point fingers at Parcells & Co for signing Pennington) paid attention to Parcells career? At all?

Vinny Testeverde, for crying-out-loud, went everywhere he did.

Drew Bledsoe, who was essentially a JUGS machine at the end of his career, was staving off Tony Romo for weeks before Parcells (probably Jerry Jones) put Romo in.

In fact, I'm not surprised Keyshawn Johnson and Drew Beldsoe weren't getting into fights in the Dolphins locker room on the first day of camp.

BILL PARCELLS DOES THIS. This is what we got when he signed on. A stubborn but hihgly effective personell manager.

The youth movement is intact. Signing Chad Pennington does nothing to hurt that movement. He is simply better than the current vet they have. It's a simple issue of upgrade.

Josh McCown was a waste of money, in my opinion. He would have started too, something I've maintained for a while. Those in the John Beck fan club had better wake up to the fact that he had an extremely unfair hill to climb. He had to be much better, not just somewhat better or equal, in order to start for this team.

With Henne pushing him already and Beck's inability to blast McCown out of the water has put his career as a Dolphin in jeopardy. 

That said, here's my top reasons why signing Pennington was a brilliant, not just good, decision.

1. Josh McCown and Chad Pennington are not in the same league. McCown is injury prone, albeit not like Pennington, and is a far inferior player. McCown's best season is like Pennington's worst. End of conversation.

2. Chad Pennington is a game manager. His historically best completion percentage and substatial intellect will make him a very good tutor to Chad Henne. Josh "too country" McCown was only informing Henne about the finer points of chain saws and collard greens (which I like).

The Dolphins will be a running team. Dan Henning's offense is an extremely conservative power offense. The QB is in charge of not losing the game. That is it. The league has moved away from this era, which was exempligfied by the Super Bowl teams of the early 2000's.

3. I didn't like Chad Pennington. He was 7-1 against the Phins and more than once made me look like an idiot. I'd be explaining to my friend about how Pennington had a noodle arm and then he'd light up the Dolphins with pass after well thrown pass. See December 2006.

4. Pennington will have a presence. Henne already seems to have that "it" that good leaders have. Players already respect him for what he's done as well as his presence on the field. McCown has never had this trait. John Beck is too shook from last year (and may not be a good leader in general) to have this quality.

Chad Pennington will be able to talk in the huddle like a guy who's had success before. Players will respect him. Did I mention he's 7-1 against the Dolphins?

5. The Vets like Joey Porter, Vonnie Holliday and Will Allen will appreciate the upgrade, even if the fans do not. They want to win soon. 

6. In the style of Little Nicky's Beck Facts, here is a misconception about Pennington that seems to floating around.

He will only stand in the way of the youth movement.

Reality: He was signed for a two-year contract. He is injury prone. Chad Henne will see the field sooner than later.

7. He is a competitive guy who has been mistreated by his old franchise. A franchise that he will get a chance to upstage on game one. Do any of you remember Joey Harrington's best game as a Dolphin? Or how about Daunte Culpepper's best game as a Raider?

Vengeance is sweeter than honey.

8. Another misconception: Chad Pennington showed last year that he can't play anymore. The Jets had a terrible line last year. Absolutely terrible. They had no running game last year either.

The Dolphins have a better offensive line and running game, by far, that the Jets. Pennington should have a good season if he can stay healthy. (This improved Dolphins line is completely contingent upon David Martin's never seeing a snap again).

Mangini is an idiot and wants to pretend that he is a part of the Parcells and Belichick genius. He is not and he has never liked Pennington.

9. This one is sad. The Dolphins wide receivers are not Duper and Clayton. They have trouble catching consistently and Chad Pennington's "touch" might be a good thing.

Okay, this last one was a stretch.

In the end I think this has more to do with the John Beck fanclub. Ernest Hemingway once said that the most important thing a writer needs is a built-in *#%@ detector.

Mine starting beeping last year during the Eagles game. The alarm sounded two weeks later against the Jets.

Give Pennington a chance.

 

www.thephinisher.com

Okay. Thought I'd lay it all out here.

First, there's the little fact that the Phins are the winningest team since the AFL/NFL merger, with the Steelers nipping at our heels.

That aside. Let's talk success.

The Miami Dolphins

League Championships: 2
Super Bowl Championships: 2
Conference Championships: 5
Division Championships: 12

The Toronto Bills (and their historical Buffalo franchise)

League Championships: 2
AFL Championships: 2
Conference Championships: 4
Division Championships: 10

The AFL thing is so cute and old timey. Super Bowls? Only one team has not won a Super Bowl in the AFC East.

Any takers on who that team is?

I think if they don’t win a Super Bowl in the next eight years they should be demoted to the CFL. I mean, seriously, they are really dragging down the AFC East.

www.thephinisher.com

Cam Cameron is a name that inspires paper bags to become wet.

It also is a name that vaguely reminds us of 1950's doo wop and evangelical tv hosts.

But I ask you, can you remember when Cam Cameron roamed the sideline? Were you there when Samkon Gado carried the rock home? Did you witness with your own eyes the time when Cleo Lemon perfectly executed a play-action fake from a formation with an open backfield?

If you somehow can't remember and need something to recall the tender memories of 2007, well  then the NFL has just that.

Honestly. This has to be the worst depth chart in Miami Dolphins history. I can't wait until they take it down.

http://www.nfl.com/teams/depthchart?team=MIA

Enjoy everyone. Things simply must be better.

 

www.thephinisher.com

I know Anderson is working out there now, but something tells me that if JT is truly done with the Dolphins and no new players arrive then Quentin Moses should have the inside track.

Moses was a guy who was considered to be a steal (he slipped very far) for the Raiders in the 2007 draft.

The Raiders, ever insane, cut the third round pick and he was picked up by the Cardinals. There too he was cut and midway through the season the Dolphins picked him up.

Moses was heralded as a prototypical pass rushing linebacker in a 3-4 and the only knock on him was that he'd have to work harder from a training standpoint. Particularly concerning his overall strength.

Work ethic has been a knock on him, which could be undeserved, and that could also get him cut from Sparano's hard-work Dolphins.

Still, he showed a lot of potential in very limited action last year. Evening racking up 1.5 sacks.

Here's SI's video from his draft profile. He looks great. You all may have seen this from last year.

Just thought you-all might like a refresher.

 

www.thephinisher.com

NFL analyst Pat Kirwan has a really nice article about how some teams, particularly the Dolphins, will move away from a spread offense and bring back the meat and potatoes.

The power rushing game has been absent from the league for some time and because of the spread offense teams are fielding smaller, quicker defenders.

Kirwan thinks that Parcells is going to remind the NFL of its roots.

Anyone know if Larry Csonka has any gas left in the tank?

Kirwan Article

 

www.thephinisher.com