Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Washington Post: Tom Boswell: Yankees Are Monuments To Baseball Success
(www.washingtonpost.com)
posted 5 days ago by The Yankee Clapper to aging, great baseball players, injuries, pennant race, veteran leadership, yankees
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15 comment(s)
Boz pays homage to the gritty, gutsy, scrappy, first place 2013 underdog Yankees:
Read More...Perhaps for the first time in their history, the Yankees now epitomize exactly the kind of team that always used to try to beat them: a group of inspired-by-adversity, too-old-or-too-young, one-last-chance players who band together to prove that baseball is a team game, not just an aggregation of talent and fat contracts.
Put a few all-star seasons, such as Cano’s 31 RBI, Kiroda’s 1.99 ERA and Rivera’s 16 ...
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1 2 3 4 >"This time it counts!"
There is no "comparison." Griffin was hurt. Strasburg wasn't.
Why people are confused about this is anyone's guess.
And he got hurt reaching back for a fumble; if he wasn't healthy enough to do that, he shouldn't have been out there.
But yes, even as a game strategy it was horrid. Shanahan thought his best chance to win was with a peg leg quarterback who couldn't do what he needed to be able to do?
Why people are confused about this is anyone's guess.
Um, because the comparison is over usage and handling. The Nationals had an injured pitcher that they then developed a rehab plan for, a plan that called for their star pitcher to be shut down at the end of the season and not play again until next season come hell or high water. The Redskins had an injured QB that they then sat for a game and then ran out there week after week for the rest of the season come hell or high water.
I'd guess that the main reason they are being compared is because they play in the same city.
The fact that there are fans and people within the game making the decisions that think doing this is a "non-controversy" is what makes it so controversial.
Reed scored like 4 points, Gibson had one at-bat. If they wanted to bring RGIII on the field for a 2 point conversion, it would be similar. They wanted him out there as QB all the time, in the most violent team sport we have. I don't see how you can compare those situations.
I don't know what Terrell Owens situation you're referring to.
Nothing big. Played in the Super Bowl with a broken leg, had a great game, team still lost because Donovan McNabb literally threw up all over himself.
Because of his dumb comments after the game about how he was "stepping up and being a man" by playing, and how he was the team's best option, and how he was hurt but not injured (whatever that means), and because he played even though he knew he was putting himself more at risk by being out there.
Everyone gushes about how smart Griffin is; perhaps that's the case, but these comments were very dumb.
Strasburg in August of 2012 was not injured.
They sprinted out to a 14-0 lead and only fell behind with seven minutes left in the game. Cousins came in and sailed the ball all over the place on the way to 3 for 10. Are you so sure he was wrong?
Every football game has the genuine risk of a career-threatening injury, yes being compromised ups that risk but it's the playoffs. Unlike baseball, the better team generally wins, you have to at least try.
For the most part Terrell is the outlier for the playing hurt group. For starters his injury happened 7 weeks earlier and by the time the Super Bowl came around a shot of pain killer basically removed any obstacle to Terrell playing normally. That isn't to say Terrell didn't have to work his butt off to get back into playing shape and his healing process didn't require a ton of medical treatments.
So? That isn't the point. Again, the Nationals had their star pitcher get hurt. They then decided that the best way for their star pitcher to heal from the injury was to take on a light load even if that meant he wouldn't play in playoff games or in crucial games at the end of the season. The Redskins had their star QB get hurt. They then decided that the best thing for the team this season was to sit RGIII, which I believe they were required to do by NFL rules, for a game and then send him back out there for the rest of the season and the playoffs regardless of his health or at the very least not giving his long term health any kind of real thought.
Each team was faced with a similar situation and they chose to go down different paths.
Cousins threw for 31 yards, more than Griffin had after the first quarter.
If they were going to win, it wasn't because of RGIII. You don't win in the NFL with 14 points, and Griffin passed for a total of 84 yards. How was he effective?
Your mistake is assuming the NFL campaign is anything other than empty PR and CYA attempts to ward off future lawsuits from players. The funny thing about all of this to me is the fact that Griffin's knee was the secondary injury of that game. On the second scoring drive, two plays before passing for his second TD and a 14-0 lead, Griffin scrambled to the weak side sideline. He wasn't tackled hard, but tripped backwards, sort of weebled to the ground, and in the process slammed the back of his helmet into the frozen turf. He was "slow getting up," a fact that the announcers talked around by suggesting that his knee brace had slipped. It was clear to anyone watching, though, that he was slightly concussed from the helmet to ground contact, to the point where you could actually see one of the referees near the chains look at the Redskins sideline and point at Griffin with this "you need to check him for concussions" look on his face.
Of course, the NFL is far too deep into the "concussions and CTE are caused by vicious hits from Ed Reed and James Harrison" PR campaign to have something so simple as falling over and bumping the helmet on the ground be "dangerous." They can paper over "illegal hits" to "defenseless receivers" no problem, turning safeties and linebackers into the Bad Men Who Hurt Others. And those hits are so vicious it just makes sense to the fans and advertisers invested in there not being an existential problem with football. But the facts are that the little hits like the one that concussed Griffin on that play are just as dangerous as a flying helmet to helmet tackle over the middle. But football can't have that be "true," because that *is* and existential problem for the game.
Cousins came into the game down 10+ with no reps and no rhythm. He should have been playing every snap after the second TD.
Are you sure you watched the game? The offensive line completely crapped the bed from at very least the botched RGIII snap to the end of the game. Hell, even Cousins was a victim of a botched snap. Cousins came in with a little over 5 minutes to go and down by two scores. The Redskins attempted no rushing plays and what's more Seattle knew they weren't going to be rushing. Seattle blitzed him like crazy and the offensive line completely folded under the pressure. There aren't too many QBs on the planet that are going to come off smelling like roses in that kind of environment. Cousins, when the line held, looked more than competent to pilot the offense yesterday* and if the refs and his receiver were a little bit better at their jobs he would have done even better than he did despite the line folding.
*obvious 12 play sample size caveat.
Yes. Cousins came in to a panic game that was in disarray in the final minutes.
Agreed. Also, he could've used some recievers with hands instead of cast iron pans.
And on at least one play, his receiver was tackled before the ball got there.
Because he's RG3 and teams have to account for what he brings to the table. They came out and went 80 yards-touchdown, 54 yards-touchdown. Of course at some point, the jig is up. He's not moving, there is no reason to worry about him running so the adjustments get made. The Redskins didn't have any answers at that point.
Still, they nearly pulled it off. They weren't going to beat a rolling Sea Hawks team with Cousins anyway.
Cousins came into the game down 10+ with no reps and no rhythm.
So what. You either do it or you don't. Joe Webb got all the reps and had all the rhythm. He still sucked. These guys are backups for a reason.
It was nothing short of a miracle that the Skins didn't fall behind until then. Even though the Seahawks did not score in the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, the offense was driving down the field every time they got the ball.
The fact that there are fans and people within the game making the decisions that think doing this is a "non-controversy" is what makes it so controversial.
Well, "non-controversial" decisions like Shanahan's actually do become controversial, but only after the player goes out and gets re-injured and his team loses the game. Otherwise it was just "Win one for the Gipper" and "Nah, it only grazed an artery, no big deal, who do we play next?"
But this has been the prevailing football ethic ever since the game began, and every time anyone tries to change it, you get an enormous backlash that says "They're trying to make this the Flag Football League". It's going to take a long and uphill fight before injuries like Griffin's are taken seriously by both the coaches and the players.
Where is the evidence of that? The defense held them to 13 points through 3 quarters with 3 of those points coming off of a RGIII int. After the first two scoring drives RGIII and the Redskin offense did absolutely nothing and another 3 points were scored because of the botched snap fumble. Could a team that could actually threaten to complete a pass and have Morris as RB score 18 points or so? Don't know but I think the chances of that happening were much better than expecting an RGIII led team to score 25 or more points.
I honestly think its going to take an on-field death before we see any real change, unfortunately.
Because they drafted RGIII in the first round?
You know who else was a backup QB? Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme, and a whole host of other QBs that would prove to be good enough to be starting QBs.
Yeah, the only way that the Redskins were ever going to win that game would have been if Griffin had been 100% the whole way. If Cousins had come in after Griffin slammed his helmet against the turf, they might have been able to pull it out, but without a healthy Griffin, the entire psychology of the Redskins is different, and without Griffin, the Seahawks are a clearly superior team.
I think it's a case of, if someone goes out of their way to contsantly remind you of something about themselves...I'd be a bit suspicious.
That all said, you wonder what Russell Wilson is going to have to do to be the guy that people are talking about, and not be overshadowed by the other rookie quarterbacks. Maybe if he can be the last rookie starter whose team is alive in the playoffs....oh, wait.
Add to that Johnny Unitas and Russell Wilson, who was thought to be a backup to a backup when he first arrived at camp.
Right, if you take out the scoring drives they were quite ineffective. Thanks for the insight.
Where is the evidence of that?
Because he's Kirk Cousins, a seventh round rookie who's barely played. What's the evidence that a player like that would be good in a situation like this? What's that? It's difficult to provide evidence of some hypothetical? Then don't ask me to do the same.
We've got the Joe Webb example, and the T.J. Yates example, and the whatever-the-name-of-that-guy-was-that-stepped-in-for-Cutler-in-Chicago example. These things don't generally go well (unless you've got Frank Reich).
No, Andy. The Twitter-verse was lit up with calls to remove Griffin from the game, before [his career ended] he got hurt.
Or a fourth round rookie, with a complete game win and a fourth quarter comeback win.
I think he looked good in the 1st quarter because Seattle played him as if they were expecting him to be fully functional. Once they realized he wasn't it was curtains for them.
According to Fred Smoot, its a torn ACL/PCL. Rub some dirt on it, it'll be fine.
I can't tell if this is serious or not. He threw two passes in that game.
Or a fourth round rookie, with a complete game win and a fourth quarter comeback win.
I stand corrected. Fourth round.
Because he's Kirk Cousins, a seventh round rookie who's barely played. What's the evidence that a player like that would be good in a situation like this?
Cousins came in at the end of the Baltimore game and led the tying scoring drive in a game the Redskins won in OT. He then had a very good game (26-37, 329 yards and 2 TDs) against a Browns team that had been on a hot streak in the previous month. He finished the regular season with a 101.6 QB rating, a small sample size but still pretty damn impressive. Obviously he's not on the level of a healthy Griffin, but at the point that Griffin walked limping off the field in the 2nd quarter, it was clear that Griffin was a shell of his healthy self.
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