Posted on September 15th, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
For their own sake, NFL players must tune out incessant chatter to the best of their ability.
The non-stop chirping from fans, columnists, radio show hosts and TV analysts could become a full-time obsession if players aren’t careful. But turning deaf ears doesn’t stop the noise, and there was plenty surrounding Washington’s NFL team during the preseason.
Especially regarding the quarterback position.
In case you missed it, there were rumblings that the backup might be better than the starter. Former great Joe Theismann and ESPN’s Herm Edwards intimated as much. So did unnamed sources on the New England Patriots and assorted media types around the country. A segment of Washington fans wondered the same thing, except they’re not as vocal about it.
But these things usually have a way of working out. So everybody who wanted Kirk Cousins now gets Kirk Cousins, at least for the foreseeable future.
Washington’s backup-turned-starter didn’t disappoint his fans Sunday when he replaced Robert Griffin III on the team’s ninth play from scrimmage. Cousins’ first pass attempt went for a touchdown and Washington never looked back in a 41-10 rout against Jacksonville at FedEx Field.
Early reports on RG3’s left ankle suggest it might be a while before we see him under center again. Just like that, Cousins has a long-term starting assignment, though no one wanted it to happen this way.
But if every defense plays as well as Jacksonville, the Hall of Fame is in Cousins’ future and RG3 will have to resurrect his career elsewhere.
Cousins wants no part of such talk.
“This is Robert’s team,” he said after completing 22 of 32 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns. “My job is to be the backup quarterback. If called upon to come in and play, I better play and help this team win. That job doesn’t change.”
The job hasn’t changed but the terms are totally different.
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Posted on September 11th, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
College football is full of traditions and they’re great … as long as you’re on the right side of them.
South Carolina State trailed Clemson, 73-0, last week before rallying for a 73-7 defeat. But the Bulldogs fared better than some fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference brethren recently. Last season, the Florida A&M Rattlers were smoked by Ohio State, 76-0. In 2012, Savannah State opened the season with visits to Oklahoma State and Florida State, who combined to score 139 points while yielding none.
The practice of pitting black colleges against powerhouses has its benefits, though, namely in the large checks that are cashed. Howard University, in the midst of three-game series with Rutgers, is receiving a total of $1 million total for its trouble. The Bison put up a respectable effort last week in falling to the Scarlet Knights, 38-25, after suffering a 26-0 defeat in 2012.
A more-pleasant tradition resumes Saturday at RFK Stadium, when Howard faces Morehouse College for the fourth consecutive year in the AT&T Nation’s Football Classic. The rivalry between the schools, two of the nation’s preeminent Historically Black Colleges & Universities, dates to 1923, with Howard leading the all-time series, 24-10-2.
For Howard coach Gary “Flea” Harrell, it’s his first game in D.C. since the 2012 season finale, a 41-34 victory against Delaware State at Greene Stadium. He took a leave of absence last year for undisclosed personal reasons and he’s anxious to resume his rebuilding project.
Before Harrell led his alma mater to a 7-4 mark in 2012, his second season on the job, Howard’s last winning record was in 2004.
“We started three years ago on the ‘Road to Redemption,’” Harrell said during the MEAC’s media day. “Now I want to get on the ‘Road to Glory.’”
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Posted on September 8th, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
If you predicted a 6-10 record for Washington’s inaugural season under coach Jay Gruden, you witnessed enough evidence Sunday afternoon to feel secure in that prognostication.
If you foresaw a 10-6 campaign as Robert Griffin III rebounds from a forgettable sophomore experience, you can point to encouraging signs that bolster the forecast,
That’s the beauty of Week 1. You usually can see whatever you choose – good or bad – to reinforce your thoughts entering the season. Ammunition exists for pessimists and optimists alike.
The two-way vision doesn’t work in every case. Dallas fans can try to turn Tony Romo’s three interceptions into a lemonade stand, but most aren’t buying. Those lemons have been too sour for too long to hope for a sweet outcome.
Teams that were victorious can check off a list of negatives, too, which their coaches gladly share each week. Philadelphia got the win against Jacksonville, but surely coach Chip Kelly’s script didn’t include a 17-0 halftime deficit.
Likewise, coach Mike Tomlin will temper Pittsburgh’s victory by alluding to the 24 consecutive points Cleveland scored to tie the game before Ben Roethlisberger directed a last-gasp drive for the winning field goal.
Highlighting the things that went wrong when you’re 1-0 is a luxury. Looking to accentuate the positive when you’re 0-1 is a necessity. Jacksonville and Washington will enter Sunday’s game at FedEx Field with a half-full approach; but one will depart with a completely empty win column.
Even the fans who predicted 6-10 for the home team counted the Jaguars as a win, so let’s start with their rosy viewpoint.
Here’s the most promising indicator that Sunday will be different: J.J. Watt will be in Oakland instead of Washington’s backfield.
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Posted on September 4th, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
There were way too many instances of a couple of things during the NFL preseason: penalty flags and Johnny Manziel mentions.
Here’s hoping for a sharp decline in at least one of them.
It’s not that I crave additional coverage of Cleveland’s much-ballyhooed backup QB. There’s already been more than enough for no good reason. Johnny Football has morphed into Johnny Ad Nauseam.
But that’s not as sickening as the ticky-tacky penalties officials called on seemingly every pass attempt. With the league’s new emphasis on defensive-contact rules, exhibition games turned into an ugly form of flag football.
Blame it on the “Legion of Boom” Seattle laid on NFL cover boy Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl. Blame it on the league acquiescing to the stranglehold of fantasy football. Blame it on TV executives’ belief that offense sizzles and defense fizzles.
Whatever the reason, covering receivers under preseason conditions was harder than swatting flies without using your hands.
Through the first two weeks there were 56 illegal contact penalties; through the entire 2013 regular season there were 54.
“We expected (the increase),” NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said on NFL Network. “I think there’s an adjustment period for our officials, for the coaches and our players. When the regular season rolls around, I think everybody will be on the same page and I think you’ll see those foul totals go down.”
They better, because the league is walking a thin line between thrill and overkill. As much as fans like touchdowns and electrifying plays, they don’t want the NFL to resemble Arena football played outdoors.
The Cleveland Gladiators scored 32 points in ArenaBowl XXVII last month. The Arizona Rattlers scored 72.
It’s one thing to crack down on the vicious hits that lead to broken necks and scrambled brains. Old-timers can complain about modern players wearing ballerina dresses all they want, but the sport has evolved to err on the side of safety (except when it comes to more Thursday night contests and the push for 18 regular-season games).
Defensive backs already have a near-impossible task at times, trying to hit receivers below the helmet as the receivers duck their heads … all of which happens in fractions of seconds while both players are moving fast. But at least the goal is honorable, an attempt to protect the athletes from themselves and each other.
That’s not the case with this new focus on the jostling, bumping and hand-fighting that’s typical during the course of pass routes. And wideouts are just as “guilty” as DBs. But the league seems hellbent on making the latter group totally passive in pass coverage, to the point where no yards after catch becomes the new standard for good defense.
It’s not like we were slogging through a bunch of 17-10 contests and the rules needed a tweak. Of the top 11 single-season passing marks, all but two occurred between 2011 and 2013. There were 46.8 points scored in the average NFL game last season, an all-time high.
When is enough enough?
Speaking of knowing when to say when, that brings us back to Johnny.
Manziel has been the eye of a Tebowsian media storm ever since the draft. See Johnny run (off to Las Vegas to unwind). See Johnny laugh (with hangers-on in countless selfies). See Johnny score (time with the pretty ladies around him).
We just haven’t seen Johnny play (well enough to justify the hype).
I really don’t care what he does off the field as long as no laws are broken. He can tweet 100 pictures daily as far as I’m concerned. If he wants to be the second coming of Joe Namath, hanging out in nightclubs and embracing the playboy lifestyle, so be it.
Whether that image can work for today’s quarterbacks, who are more like CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, is subject for debate. Personally, I don’t think a little more personality at the position would hurt. But it’s all moot if Manziel gets on the field and demonstrates the transcendent playmaking ability that was so dazzling at Texas A&M.
Hearing more won’t bother me if it’s accompanied by seeing more.
Can he be the freewheeling, improvisational gunslinger who reminds us of a young Bret Favre? Can he further the cause of read-option QBs such as Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick and RG3? Can he supplant Cleveland’s journeyman starter Brian Hoyer before season’s end?
Let’s hope so. Because that would be fun
Certainly more fun than a flurry of yellow flags and defenseless DBs.
Posted on September 3rd, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
For the most part, there is no quarterback controversy inside the Beltway. Robert Griffin III is Washington’s starter, face of the franchise, championship cornerstone and future Ring of Famer.
But that’s not the case outside the DMV.
Everywhere else in the continental 48 – the Rust Belt, Bible Belt, Great Plains, Northeast Corridor and Wild Wild West – RG3 is simply a leading character in the national entertainment show known as NFL football. Whether he fails or succeeds is irrelevant at the moment.
Viewers are thoroughly engrossed because he remains an interesting story line. And nothing spices up a drama like a little contention – imagined or not.
Nine other quarterbacks were selected in the 2012 draft after Andrew Luck and RG3 went one-two at the top. One even landed in the same locker room with Griffin, an unusual and intriguing twist that drew extra attention from the start.
First-rounders Ryan Tannehill (middling) and Brandon Weeden (a bust) landed starting jobs immediately with Miami and Cleveland, respectively. But other QBs faded into the background as quickly as their names were called.
Second-rounder Brock Osweiler remains gainfully employed in Denver as Peyton Manning’s seldom-used backup. Sixth-rounder Ryan Lindley recently was cut by Arizona, his original team, and signed to San Diego’s practice squad. Seventh-rounders Chandler Harnish and B.J. Coleman are out of the league, having never seen regular-season action.
Boring.
But two other quarterbacks in that draft have expanded beyond their third-round status and individual markets to become national characters in their own right. They have joined Griffin on the stage he set when he followed up his Heisman Trophy with the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
One, Russell Wilson, won the Super Bowl last season and leads Seattle as it kicks off the NFL season Thursday night against Green Bay. The other, Nick Foles, threw 27 touchdowns and two interceptions last year while leading Philadelphia to the NFC East title, a feat they’re widely expected to repeat.
Can RG3 keep up? Can he recapture the magic? Can he retain his job? Tune in next season!
Read more…
Posted on September 2nd, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
The NFL doesn’t kick off until Thursday but the season’s first result is in.
“Congratulations Ray McDonald! You just won the league’s “Bad Timing” Award!
Maybe the 49ers defensive tackle never heard the hubbub surrounding Ray Rice this summer. Maybe McDonald was unaware of San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh’s thoughts on domestic violence.
McDonald certainly must’ve missed last week’s news on NFL discipline for that offense.
Other than sheer stupidity, there are no other explanations for McDonald’s arrest on suspicion of felony domestic abuse early Sunday morning.
According to The Sacramento Bee and other media reports, McDonald was involved in an altercation with his fiancée at his birthday party. She showed police minor bruises on her neck and arms and he was arrested without incident, charged with “inflicting injury on a spouse or cohabitant.”
What was he thinking?
Just two days earlier, commissioner Roger Goodell issued a mea culpa for the league’s handling of Rice, who in late July received a measly two-game suspension for a domestic violence incident. “I didn’t get it right,” Goodell wrote in a letter to the owners. “Simply put, we have to do better. And we will.
“… My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment, and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families. I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values.”
The letter included information on “enhanced discipline,” effective immediately. Little did we know Goodell would have a chance to back up his words so soon.
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Posted on August 28th, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
We took Princess No. 1 to college a couple of Saturdays ago and looked forward to returning for some football games, as she successfully auditioned to be a dancer in the marching band.
Like most parents, we’re simultaneously excited and worried about our 18-year-old freshman being off on her own. Some of the folks she meets on campus will become like siblings to her and more offspring for us. Which means our emotions will be spread and invested in new vessels.
Well, there was a death in the family this week.
None of us knew the young man but it hurts just the same.
Morgan State defensive tackle Marquese Meadow was an 18-year-old freshman who graduated from Friendship Collegiate Academy in northeast D.C. He had cracked the Bears’ two-deep roster and was expected to make the travel team. But he became disoriented after an Aug. 10 practice and died Sunday.
“This is a very difficult time for our football family,” coach Lee Hull said Tuesday on the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s weekly teleconference. “We are very heartbroken by the death of Marquese Meadow. We offer our deepest condolences to Marquese’s family in the wake of this tragedy.
“Marquese was a great young man and a member of this family and was highly respected and loved by his teammates and the coaching staff. He was an unselfish kid and had an incredible gift and a bright future, and he will be deeply missed.”
I can’t shake the feeling that Meadow’s tragic death was totally unnecessary.
He didn’t die from brain trauma like Will McKamey, the 19-year-old Navy freshman who passed away after practice in March. He didn’t die from a genetic heart condition like Jake West, the 17-year-old LaPorte (Ind.) High junior who passed away after practice in September. He didn’t die from asthma, a broken neck, an abdominal injury or a sudden blow to the chest, all of which have claimed the lives of young football players in recent years.
According to the state medical examiner’s office, Meadow died from heatstroke.
That’s the easiest cause of death to defend against, yet it continues to be problematic.
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Posted on August 25th, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
The Jackie Robinson West All-Stars and the Taney Dragons’ Mo’ne Davis have returned home and are preparing for another school year.
Now it’s back to real life.
No more close-ups on national TV. No more cover shots for national magazines. No more interviews from hordes of journalists. The Little League World Series is over and the tournament’s most-talked about sensations can recede from the limelight and resume their lives as ordinary schoolchildren.
Meanwhile, the rest of us return to stark realities that are unchanged and likely to remain static, despite the thrilling exploits that enthralled much of the nation.
Girls all over the country gained a new hero in Mo’ne, the flame-throwing 13-year-old who is the youngest athlete ever featured on Sports Illustrated’s cover. But she wouldn’t have become an overnight sensation and helped ESPN capture record ratings if she was mowing down females instead of males. The pecking order is still in place.
Chicago, home of the all-black JRW All-Stars, is still fraught with danger for those African-American boys, who likely know victims of the city’s rampant gun violence. Even if the players make it out, the threat of racial profiling and over-aggressive policing is a concern that poses another type of health risk.
Major League Baseball is still losing the fight to draw more Jackie Robinsons, Hank Aarons and Ken Griffeys to the sport. Only 8.3 percent of players on Opening Day rosters this season were African-American; according to research by Mark Armour of the Society of American Baseball Research, that number reached an all-time high of 19 percent in 1986.
Maybe you want to argue that JRW and Mo’ne at least are steps in the right direction.
In winning the U.S. championship before falling to international champ South Korea, JRW resembled a flashback to pre-integration days. The team showed what’s possible for youngsters who embrace the game at an early age.
Likewise, Mo’ne stretched the limits of our imagination regarding the fairer sex, as she became the first female to pitch a shutout in the LLWS. In her final outing, a loss against offensive juggernaut Nevada, she struck out six batters in 2-1/3 innings. Her poise and presence was remarkable for any young player, any gender.
So plaudits for JRW and Mo’ne are well-deserved.
But they’re also part of a larger problem – the overemphasis, glorification and commercialization of youth sports.
Read more…
Posted on August 20th, 2014
Maryland AD Kevin Anderson
By DERON SNYDER
The football program has failed to blast off under fourth-year coach Randy Edsall and the men’s basketball program has a shaky trajectory under fourth-year coach Mark Turgeon.
The women’s basketball team has excelled in 12 seasons under coach Brenda Frese, with a national title, two Final Fours, four Elite Eights and seven Sweet 16s in the books.
It’s too bad that owning dominant women’s hoops program doesn’t earn much cred at the Power 5 table in college sports.
But the University of Maryland elevated its stature to become a big-time player Tuesday, in an area that’s more important than won-loss records and unrelated to championships. In one bold move, the Terrapins jumped to the forefront of intercollegiate athletics.
Suddenly, the Terps are helping to lead the discussion in the midst of an evolving landscape.
The national conversation rarely includes any sports outside of football and basketball. But Maryland has gone all-in on all of them. Not just the revenue producers, but also the other 16 sports (six for men, 10 for women) that athletic director Kevin Anderson shepherds.
“When we got together and developed the strategic plan for our department, it was very clear from the beginning that we’re committed to all of our student-athletes,” Anderson said in a phone interview after Maryland announced it will offer guaranteed athletic scholarships for life beginning next year.
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Posted on August 18th, 2014
By DERON SNYDER
One form of cheating in school has been around forever.
“Hey, I don’t have last night’s homework. Can I copy yours?”
Another old favorite entails whispering across the aisle during a test: “Psst, what’s the answer to No. 5?”
The student who neglects to complete his work or properly prepare for an exam might have a good excuse for being in that situation. But those remedies are all wrong. Meanwhile, the other pupil faces a moral crossroad, with the option to bail him out or let him sink.
When classmates are caught in the act of accepting or offering lifelines, the consequence should be identical.
“If two students want to share the same work, then they can share the same grade,” says my lovely wife, Vanessa, a 15-year veteran teacher who gives both participants an ‘F’ under those circumstances. Her approach, not uncommon among educators, is included in some schools’ official code of conduct.
We have no idea how often such peer-to-peer assistance goes undetected in education. But it’s a good bet that athletes are involved when cases come to light on college campuses. Academic cheating can have devastating effects on athletic departments, leading to postseason bans, loss of scholarships and vacated wins.
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