Posted on December 12th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
When a big-boy school welcomes Bobby Petrino as the new football coach, in a year or two, it can thank Western Kentucky for paving the way. Until then, the Hilltoppers can thank Tennessee, Auburn and Kentucky for being phonies, hypocrites and cowards.
Such schools won’t mind being fired upon in the near future, but only because WKU stepped forward to take the first hail of bullets.
Petrino’s previous sins won’t be less egregious a couple of seasons from now. He’ll be the same former Arkansas coach who hired his mistress and lied about her presence on his Harley when they crashed. He’ll be the same former Atlanta Falcons coach who left a note in each player’s locker before fleeing in the midst of his first season. And he’ll be the same former Louisville coach who interviewed for a job that his mentor still held, got a big raise from the Cardinals and still bolted for the NFL.
None of that will matter when the next major school hires him; there was no reason to pretend that it matters now. Petrino has been called a lot of things (sleazeball, jerk, bad guy), but he enjoys universal acclaim for his coaching prowess, good for top-10 rankings at Arkansas and Louisville and a career record of 75-26.
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Posted on December 10th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Losing back-to-back games — on the final play of regulation last week and in overtime on Sunday — is no way to begin your stretch run. It’s also no way to bolster your argument for consideration as an elite quarterback.
That’s where the Baltimore Ravens and Joe Flacco find themselves after a 31-28 loss to the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field on Sunday. They’re good enough to be contenders and good enough to be on the verge of victory, but not good enough to seal the deal, at least not lately.
In a game heavy on playoff atmosphere and postseason implications, the seasoned Ravens figured to have the edge. These situations are as normal to them beginning contests with midfield coin tosses. But it was the upstart Redskins who found a way to win, while the more-experienced Ravens failed late for the second consecutive week.
“It’s how you start, not how you finish,” said halfback Ray Rice, who rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown that gave Baltimore an 8-point lead with 4:47 left. “I don’t want to be known as ‘If we get them close in the fourth quarter, the Ravens will give it away.’ That’s never been us and it’s not going to be us.”
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Posted on December 5th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Santana Moss reached the playoffs in three of his first four NFL seasons, all with the New York Jets. After Washington acquired him in 2005 for Laveranues Coles, via a straight-up trade, Moss advanced to the postseason in two of his first three years with the Redskins. He was accustomed to such success, having lost just eight times in three seasons at Miami, going 3-0 in bowl games.
But he hasn’t been part of a winning team since Washington went 9-7 in 2007. With a good chance to end that streak over the next four weeks, Moss says this season felt the same as his others in D.C., whether the coach was Joe Gibbs, Jim Zorn or Mike Shanahan, and whether the quarterback was Mark Brunell, Jason Campbell or Donovan McNabb.
“Every team, I’ve felt like we had enough players to go out and compete against anybody and be one of those teams that goes to the postseason,” Moss said Monday after Washington’s 17-16 win against the New York Giants. “When [Shanahan] came and we didn’t go the first two years, my mindset was still the same. I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I knew something was going to be different this year.”
There would be more flash and pizzazz with Robert Griffin III at quarterback, though that wouldn’t necessarily translate into more wins. Cam Newton dazzled while setting rookie records for rushing and passing last season, yet the Carolina Panthers finished 6-10. Considering the Redskins’ concerns on the offensive line and in the secondary, a similar record with RG3 wasn’t out of the question; it actually would be an improvement from the Rex Grossman/John Beck campaign (5-11).
But RG3 is the Redskins’ most obvious upgrade and most significant factor in Washington’s resurrection from 3-6 afterthought to 6-6 contender. The only thing more impressive than his ridiculous numbers (17 touchdowns, 4 interceptions and a 67 percent completion rate) is the way his presence inspires and energizes the team. The results are more evident now, after three consecutive victories, but the raised expectations were in effect even before that.
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Posted on December 4th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The won-lost column doesn’t include moral victories, which allegedly are nonexistent if you ask coaches and players. But most of us can find some satisfaction in defeats, especially when your team exceeds expectations. If it plays well and remains competitive throughout a game against a championship-caliber opponent, that often suffices if it’s more than you imagined.
The Washington Redskins were in that position Monday night, playing on the NFL’s prime-time stage, facing the defending Super Bowl champions in a December game with postseason implications. Only the wildly optimistic could have envisioned those circumstances three weeks ago, let alone three months ago when the season began.
In that sense, the Mike Shanahan era was vindicated before kickoff at FedEx Field. Entering his 44th game as Washington’s coach and grand pooh bah, Shanahan had led the Redskins to late-season relevance for the first time in his tenure and the first time since they 2008, when they finished 8-8 under Jim Zorn.
So beating the New York Giants and moving into the thick of the playoff race was gravy. The 80,246 fans who chanted “RG3!” throughout the game were able to carry the cheer into the parking lot after Robert Griffin III engineered a 17-16 victory
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Posted on December 2nd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
We don’t know what drove Jovan Belcher to kill his girlfriend, in front of their infant daughter and his mother, before heading to the Kansas City Chiefs‘ practice facility and killing himself, in front of coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli.
It could be a simple case of domestic violence. Or undiagnosed mental illness. Or football-induced brain trauma. Belcher’s teammates on the Chiefs and from his days at the University of Maine say the actions were uncharacteristic of the 25-year-old man they knew.
Like others, I wonder what led him to commit such a heinous act against 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, who gave birth to his child less than three months ago. I wonder how he could behave so horrifically in the presence of his mother, who was in town to help the couple care for her granddaughter. I wonder why Belcher was compelled to speak one last time with Crennel and Pioli, who tried to stop him from harming himself.
But in the wake of this tragedy, I find myself pondering another question, too: Whose death would be enough to alter the NFL’s almighty schedule?
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