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Spags Is Losing Credibility
By Bernie Miklasz
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Hope you had a good weekend.
1. Incognito is Hurting Spagnuolo’s Cred: I like Steve Spagnuolo. I want to see him succeed as the Rams head coach. Rookie coaches aren’t going to be finished products and I understand that. I also have to remind myself (and others) that Spagnuolo walked into the worst situation in the NFL. He walked into the ruins of the previous regime. Again, I factor all of this in. I try to be fair. But Spagnuolo loses me on this Richie Incognito business.
Yes, Spags did bench Incognito yesterday after the hothead RG drew a second 15-yard penalty for head-butting a Titans player. And that’s good. He also barked at #68 on the sideline. That’s good. But it isn’t enough. And how many chances will Spagnuolo give Incognito? Here’s the deal: Spagnuolo stood by Incognito early this season when Incognito pulled the same kind of stuff at Seattle. Spagnuolo took the hit from fans and media by giving Incognito another chance and by, in so many words, defending him. And how did Incognito repay Spags for that? Well, he basically head-butted Spagnuolo in Nashville. Incognito not only disrespected the game and embarrassed the franchise, he not only put a rookie quarterback in a bad position (with the penalties), but he disrespected a coach who had sided with him, a coach who faithfully stood by him earlier when the town was in an uproar.
If Incognito can’t show more loyalty to Spagnuolo than that, then what does this say about his character? Why would Spagnuolo (and GM Billy Devaney) believe they can win with with this guy? And doesn’t the coach have a responsibility to the other players? Incognito’s penalties have a negative impact on the offense — and that’s especially true of Sunday’s game, when the Rams had a rookie QB at the helm.
Because of Incognito, Spagnuolo comes across as a weak guy who can be taken advantage of by players. Spagnuolo wouldn’t even address the situation after the game yesterday. He refused to explain himself on Incognito. It’s as if the coach didn’t want to hurt Richie’s feelings or embarrass him. Spagnuolo also said — twice — that he wanted to talk about the team instead of Incognito. Yo, coach! Incognito is part of the team. He’s a starting player. A benching is team business. It’s a public move. It isn’t a secret. It isn’t an internal affair. So I think the fans deserve some sort of explanation. I know Spagnuolo is a players’ coach. But at some point he needs to let the customers know that certain conduct is unacceptable. And there is nothing wrong with coming out after a game and stating that publicly: “What Incognito did today was unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it. Period.” That’s all the coach had to say. Instead, he mumbled something about wanting to help Incognito. This damages the coach’s credibility.
Whatever happened to the coach’s ”Four Pillars,” anyway?
I guess Richie head-butted them and knocked ‘em down.
2. Jeff Fisher Revisited: I teased the Titans coach in my Monday column for running up the score on the Rams. I don’t get too worked up about this stuff; if you don’t want a team to run it up, then make a play and keep them out of the end zone. That said, I thought Fisher’s actions were tacky and that’s why I mentioned it. But I thought about this some more while making the 300-mile drive home from Nashville late Sunday night. And I could be off base about this, but here goes: maybe Fisher had seen enough of the Rams’ lack of class. He watched Incognito execute his usual cheap-shot nonsense by head-butting two of his players. Fisher saw a Rams defensive tackle, Clifton Ryan, shove Titans star RB Chris Johnson to the ground when Johnson was well out of bounds. (No flag on the play, but still — think about that from Fisher’s perspective.) Then he saw Ryan jawjacking and getting into the face of Tennessee players on the bench. Wouldn’t you get fed up a little? Wouldn’t you get peeved by Spagnuolo and the Rams’ coaches failing to control their players? I can imagine Fisher thinking something like this: “look, if these guys come in here and act like punks, then to heck with it. If they want to play rough, let’s score another seven points on them.” I don’t know if Fisher believed that, but I could see why he’d come to that opinion.
3. Don’t Be Too Hard on Keith Null: The kid was put into a near impossible situation. He wasn’t ready to be an NFL starter. Before last week, he had taken maybe a dozen snaps with the first-team offense. Having played his entire high school and college career in a spread offense (and shotgun formation), Null still has problems taking the ball under center, and in executing handoffs. He’s a project. In terms of the bottom line, it didn’t go well for him at Tennessee. In fact, according to Elias Sports Bureau, only one other player in NFL history was picked off at least five times in his debut: Tom O’Malley of Green Bay was intercepted six times in his first and last NFL game, a 45–7 loss to the Detroit in the 1950 season opener. But I thought Null handled things well from a composure standpoint. Despite all of the negativity in that game, despite his five interceptions, I never got the feeling that Null was scared or coming apart emotionally. He maintained a steady presence. He didn’t act goofy. He seemed mature. And about the five INTs: it happens. Jay Cutler (Chicago) has had games of 5 and 4 INTs this season, and he’s a veteran. Three first-round picks in the 2009 NFL Draft have thrown five INTs in a game this season. In his last four starts, Josh Freeman (Tampa Bay) has thrown 11 picks, including games of 5 and 3 INTs. Matthew Stafford, the No. 1 overall pick (Detroit), has had games of 5 and 4 INTs. Mark Sanchez (NY Jets) has had games of 5 and 4 INTs. Combined, Stafford, Sanchez and Freeman have thrown 50 interceptions this season. If the bonus babies can throw 5 INTs in a game, it should hardly come as a surprise to see Null get picked off five times by a tough Titans defense on the road.
Stafford, Sanchez and Freeman didn’t play at West Texas A & M, a Division 2 program. They weren’t sixth-round draft picks. No one said “who?” when their names were called out on draft day. They were much more prepared to jump into the NFL. Null’s climb is much more difficult. Null has such a long way to go. In the grand scheme of things, him throwing five INTs is no big deal. Let’s have some perspective.
3. The Status of Steven Jackson: I was surprised to see Jackson still in there late in Sunday’s game, still getting slammed around in a lost cause. He has an aching back, and he’s taking a beating. Is it time for some common sense to come into play here? As Bill Coats reported in Monday’s Post-Dispatch, Jackson has a herniated disc. I don’t think this is a minor condition. Jackson is on a pace for 350 carries this season. That’s a lot. I did some quick research, and since the start of the 2000 season an NFL back has reached 350 carries in a season only 20 times. And some of the guys on that 350 list broke down or burned out earlier than expected in their careers — including Shaun Alexander, Rudi Johnson, Ahman Green, Stephen Davis, Deuce McAllister, Edgerrin James, Eddie George. Some fine running backs there. But they all seemingly lost it in a hurry. The latest example is Larry Johnson, who had 336 rushing attempts in 2005 and 416 rushes in 2006 for the KC Chiefs. He’s never been the same and hasn’t come close to gaining 1,000 yards in a season after being used so much. The question is this: especially considering that Jackson is injured, does it make sense to keep pushing him in such vigorous fashion? We all wanted Jackson to be a workhorse. We all wanted him to be the centerpiece of the Rams offense. And he is. SJ39 has earned a lot of respect this season for playing hard, playing hurt, and never letting up even though the Rams are 1-12 and hopeless. But what about 2010 and beyond? It would be a shame to have Jackson come out of this season in bad shape for the future. I hope the Rams know what they’re doing.
4. I Liked the Fake Punt and Ken Darby’s 51-yard run, but … the score was 33-0. Was it a waste to use it in that situation? Well, I guess we should be grateful for any offense from the Rams. Even when the game already has been lost. The Rams are averaging 11.2 points per game this season, last in the 32-team NFL. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, that scoring rate puts them among the worst offenses in league history. Of the 1,157 offenses ranked from top to bottom in scoring average, the Rams are No. 1,145.
5. About David Freese: Not sure what to say about the Cardinals’ young 3B. I had a DWI in the early 1990s, and so I am always reluctant to throw stones at others who do something as dumb as I did. But from a baseball standpoint, the offseason has been a problem for Freese for two years in a row now. Not good. He has a lot on the line with the Cardinals. He can’t continue to waste opportunities. He’s got to be extra careful and use better judgment. And that judgment applies to his decision-making away from baseball. And calling for a cab or a ride when it’s the responsible thing to do.
Bonus Bernie Bytes: As a Navy football fan, I’ll say this about the Mids’ uncharacteristically lethargic performance on offense in Saturday’s 17-3 win over rival Army: at least it may help make Mizzou overconfident going into the Texas Bowl … WR Randy Moss, dogging it for the New England Patriots? Just shocking. Or maybe not… my friend Peter King at Sports Illustrated also thinks there’s a distinct possibility of the Rams making a run at QB Michael Vick after the season. In his latest Monday Morning Quarterback, King reports that the Rams and Tampa Bay — top contenders for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft — have Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh rated on top of their draft boards. After talking to scouts, King opines that Suh is the best defensive player to come into the draft this decade.
Thanks for reading this …
-Bernie
By Bernie Miklasz
Email this Share this Print this Digg Yahoo! Del.icio.us Facebook Reddit Drudge Google Fark Stumble It!
Hope you had a good weekend.
1. Incognito is Hurting Spagnuolo’s Cred: I like Steve Spagnuolo. I want to see him succeed as the Rams head coach. Rookie coaches aren’t going to be finished products and I understand that. I also have to remind myself (and others) that Spagnuolo walked into the worst situation in the NFL. He walked into the ruins of the previous regime. Again, I factor all of this in. I try to be fair. But Spagnuolo loses me on this Richie Incognito business.
Yes, Spags did bench Incognito yesterday after the hothead RG drew a second 15-yard penalty for head-butting a Titans player. And that’s good. He also barked at #68 on the sideline. That’s good. But it isn’t enough. And how many chances will Spagnuolo give Incognito? Here’s the deal: Spagnuolo stood by Incognito early this season when Incognito pulled the same kind of stuff at Seattle. Spagnuolo took the hit from fans and media by giving Incognito another chance and by, in so many words, defending him. And how did Incognito repay Spags for that? Well, he basically head-butted Spagnuolo in Nashville. Incognito not only disrespected the game and embarrassed the franchise, he not only put a rookie quarterback in a bad position (with the penalties), but he disrespected a coach who had sided with him, a coach who faithfully stood by him earlier when the town was in an uproar.
If Incognito can’t show more loyalty to Spagnuolo than that, then what does this say about his character? Why would Spagnuolo (and GM Billy Devaney) believe they can win with with this guy? And doesn’t the coach have a responsibility to the other players? Incognito’s penalties have a negative impact on the offense — and that’s especially true of Sunday’s game, when the Rams had a rookie QB at the helm.
Because of Incognito, Spagnuolo comes across as a weak guy who can be taken advantage of by players. Spagnuolo wouldn’t even address the situation after the game yesterday. He refused to explain himself on Incognito. It’s as if the coach didn’t want to hurt Richie’s feelings or embarrass him. Spagnuolo also said — twice — that he wanted to talk about the team instead of Incognito. Yo, coach! Incognito is part of the team. He’s a starting player. A benching is team business. It’s a public move. It isn’t a secret. It isn’t an internal affair. So I think the fans deserve some sort of explanation. I know Spagnuolo is a players’ coach. But at some point he needs to let the customers know that certain conduct is unacceptable. And there is nothing wrong with coming out after a game and stating that publicly: “What Incognito did today was unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it. Period.” That’s all the coach had to say. Instead, he mumbled something about wanting to help Incognito. This damages the coach’s credibility.
Whatever happened to the coach’s ”Four Pillars,” anyway?
I guess Richie head-butted them and knocked ‘em down.
2. Jeff Fisher Revisited: I teased the Titans coach in my Monday column for running up the score on the Rams. I don’t get too worked up about this stuff; if you don’t want a team to run it up, then make a play and keep them out of the end zone. That said, I thought Fisher’s actions were tacky and that’s why I mentioned it. But I thought about this some more while making the 300-mile drive home from Nashville late Sunday night. And I could be off base about this, but here goes: maybe Fisher had seen enough of the Rams’ lack of class. He watched Incognito execute his usual cheap-shot nonsense by head-butting two of his players. Fisher saw a Rams defensive tackle, Clifton Ryan, shove Titans star RB Chris Johnson to the ground when Johnson was well out of bounds. (No flag on the play, but still — think about that from Fisher’s perspective.) Then he saw Ryan jawjacking and getting into the face of Tennessee players on the bench. Wouldn’t you get fed up a little? Wouldn’t you get peeved by Spagnuolo and the Rams’ coaches failing to control their players? I can imagine Fisher thinking something like this: “look, if these guys come in here and act like punks, then to heck with it. If they want to play rough, let’s score another seven points on them.” I don’t know if Fisher believed that, but I could see why he’d come to that opinion.
3. Don’t Be Too Hard on Keith Null: The kid was put into a near impossible situation. He wasn’t ready to be an NFL starter. Before last week, he had taken maybe a dozen snaps with the first-team offense. Having played his entire high school and college career in a spread offense (and shotgun formation), Null still has problems taking the ball under center, and in executing handoffs. He’s a project. In terms of the bottom line, it didn’t go well for him at Tennessee. In fact, according to Elias Sports Bureau, only one other player in NFL history was picked off at least five times in his debut: Tom O’Malley of Green Bay was intercepted six times in his first and last NFL game, a 45–7 loss to the Detroit in the 1950 season opener. But I thought Null handled things well from a composure standpoint. Despite all of the negativity in that game, despite his five interceptions, I never got the feeling that Null was scared or coming apart emotionally. He maintained a steady presence. He didn’t act goofy. He seemed mature. And about the five INTs: it happens. Jay Cutler (Chicago) has had games of 5 and 4 INTs this season, and he’s a veteran. Three first-round picks in the 2009 NFL Draft have thrown five INTs in a game this season. In his last four starts, Josh Freeman (Tampa Bay) has thrown 11 picks, including games of 5 and 3 INTs. Matthew Stafford, the No. 1 overall pick (Detroit), has had games of 5 and 4 INTs. Mark Sanchez (NY Jets) has had games of 5 and 4 INTs. Combined, Stafford, Sanchez and Freeman have thrown 50 interceptions this season. If the bonus babies can throw 5 INTs in a game, it should hardly come as a surprise to see Null get picked off five times by a tough Titans defense on the road.
Stafford, Sanchez and Freeman didn’t play at West Texas A & M, a Division 2 program. They weren’t sixth-round draft picks. No one said “who?” when their names were called out on draft day. They were much more prepared to jump into the NFL. Null’s climb is much more difficult. Null has such a long way to go. In the grand scheme of things, him throwing five INTs is no big deal. Let’s have some perspective.
3. The Status of Steven Jackson: I was surprised to see Jackson still in there late in Sunday’s game, still getting slammed around in a lost cause. He has an aching back, and he’s taking a beating. Is it time for some common sense to come into play here? As Bill Coats reported in Monday’s Post-Dispatch, Jackson has a herniated disc. I don’t think this is a minor condition. Jackson is on a pace for 350 carries this season. That’s a lot. I did some quick research, and since the start of the 2000 season an NFL back has reached 350 carries in a season only 20 times. And some of the guys on that 350 list broke down or burned out earlier than expected in their careers — including Shaun Alexander, Rudi Johnson, Ahman Green, Stephen Davis, Deuce McAllister, Edgerrin James, Eddie George. Some fine running backs there. But they all seemingly lost it in a hurry. The latest example is Larry Johnson, who had 336 rushing attempts in 2005 and 416 rushes in 2006 for the KC Chiefs. He’s never been the same and hasn’t come close to gaining 1,000 yards in a season after being used so much. The question is this: especially considering that Jackson is injured, does it make sense to keep pushing him in such vigorous fashion? We all wanted Jackson to be a workhorse. We all wanted him to be the centerpiece of the Rams offense. And he is. SJ39 has earned a lot of respect this season for playing hard, playing hurt, and never letting up even though the Rams are 1-12 and hopeless. But what about 2010 and beyond? It would be a shame to have Jackson come out of this season in bad shape for the future. I hope the Rams know what they’re doing.
4. I Liked the Fake Punt and Ken Darby’s 51-yard run, but … the score was 33-0. Was it a waste to use it in that situation? Well, I guess we should be grateful for any offense from the Rams. Even when the game already has been lost. The Rams are averaging 11.2 points per game this season, last in the 32-team NFL. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, that scoring rate puts them among the worst offenses in league history. Of the 1,157 offenses ranked from top to bottom in scoring average, the Rams are No. 1,145.
5. About David Freese: Not sure what to say about the Cardinals’ young 3B. I had a DWI in the early 1990s, and so I am always reluctant to throw stones at others who do something as dumb as I did. But from a baseball standpoint, the offseason has been a problem for Freese for two years in a row now. Not good. He has a lot on the line with the Cardinals. He can’t continue to waste opportunities. He’s got to be extra careful and use better judgment. And that judgment applies to his decision-making away from baseball. And calling for a cab or a ride when it’s the responsible thing to do.
Bonus Bernie Bytes: As a Navy football fan, I’ll say this about the Mids’ uncharacteristically lethargic performance on offense in Saturday’s 17-3 win over rival Army: at least it may help make Mizzou overconfident going into the Texas Bowl … WR Randy Moss, dogging it for the New England Patriots? Just shocking. Or maybe not… my friend Peter King at Sports Illustrated also thinks there’s a distinct possibility of the Rams making a run at QB Michael Vick after the season. In his latest Monday Morning Quarterback, King reports that the Rams and Tampa Bay — top contenders for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft — have Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh rated on top of their draft boards. After talking to scouts, King opines that Suh is the best defensive player to come into the draft this decade.
Thanks for reading this …
-Bernie
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