Rome is Burning

Well, let him.

Jim Rome did an entire segment of his show on Tony Romo, having "It". No word on if this is the same "It" possessed by David Eckstein, used car salesmen, and comedians. Anyway, this was before his 5 interception, 6 turnover performance. Fine, everyone makes mistakes. Today, he clarified:

Most of the time, when someone turns it over six times, people lose respect for him, Rom explains.

GOOD. I totally agree. BRAVO! What, you have more to say? Please, continue. I'm sure you're probably going to say that it was just a bad game, and that Romo will probably recover in the future, although the media's fellatio of him was clearly premature.

At this point, Rome explains that he is still convinced Romo has "It". He goes so far as to say (approximately, and double-negatively), "not only have I not lost respect for Romo, I would say that this only adds to the legend. That he can give the game away like that and still win."

What...the...fuck? You respect him MORE because he sucked but won? Kyle Orton played 14 real games (excluding the week 17 dive the Bears took to the Vikings) in 2005. The Bears won 10. Behold the legend that is Kyle Orton.

So Romo won the game. It couldn't possibly be that the Cowboys won because of their other players, you know, the ones who DIDN'T turn the ball over six times. Nor could be that Bills are really, really bad, and scored NO OFFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS.


Let me also attach some props to Trey Wingo. Although, I'm not sure this was him and not bad closed captioning, since I was working out to Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" at the time, apparently Brett Favre's birthday is "already a National holiday in Wisconsin." I always knew Wisconsin was a strange state.

Similarly, Gator Sorority Girls have a "National" holiday in Rex Grossman's honor.

Welcome to Dr. Z's house of madness

So, we haven't updated for a while, but Dr. Z's first power ratings of the season came out, so it's hard not to feel like a kid in a candy store. Let's take a look at this:

10. Chicago Bears (0-1)
San Diego LB Matt Wilhelm on the instructions his position coach Ron Rivera gave about trash talking to Rex Grossman: "He told us that Rex was kind of a mental midget so you can get into his head and create that doubt." Careful, there's not much room.

Hmmm. Nice little anecdote to lead into the analysis. Oh, that's all? I guess Ron Rivera could be decently familiar with Rex, since he was in the same building very often in his tenure with the Bears. Didn't really deal with the offensive players much, so it might just be some bold talk he used to fire up his team...nah, football coaches never do that. Anyway, Dr. Z decided to put the Bears, 2 time defending NFC North Champions 10th, behind the Titans, Panthers, Bengals, Cowboys (whose defense allowed Manning to throw for 312 yards and 4 touchdowns in a partial game, and allowed Derrick -fucking- Ward to hang a 6.8 average for 89 yards rushing) and the Broncos who barely scraped by the Bills. His supporting evidence for this? Ron Rivera says Grossman is a mental midget. That is why the Bears lost to a team with Philip Rivers, LT, Antonio Gates, and Shawn "Gigantour" Merriman. Not the three lost fumbles, or Benson's ineffectiveness, or the Chargers getting all kinds of pressure.

Besides, how is it insulting to say that Grossman's head isn't full of a lot of space? That's just an inept insult. If he's dumb, his head should be ALL space. Unless Dr. Z was just saying that Grossman's head is unusually small (the Juan Pierre of quarterbacks? nope, just wrong).

Quarterback Accused of Heinous Crimes

Of course, I'm referring to Rex Grossman. As ESPN has astutely pointed out dozens of times since last October, Grossman's being ranked 24th in passer rating in his first full season is reason for his immediately dismissal and banishment. Even though most quarterbacks don't really achieve above replacement without experience (by FootballOutsider's measurement he did perform above replacement level).

Granted Grossman was not very good this past year, but what exactly makes ESPN's Gary Horton say, "his rope may be short with solid nine-year veteran Brian Griese waiting in the wings". This is particularly befuddling when you consider that Griese was there last year, and Lovie Smith refused to bench Grossman for any length of time. I believe the exact words were "Rex is our quarterback".

PS: (SMALL SAMPLE SIZE ALERT!!!!!!!!) when Griese did play last year, though it was mostly in blow outs, he put up a rating 62. Not really anything to draw a conclusion, but I'm just putting that out there.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

Todd McShay and me in a very one sided debate!

I feel like a fighter right before the heavyweight title.

Heeeelllllloooo, Todd.

Todd McShay: Hello, SportsNation. Less than three weeks until the draft and it's still snowing in many parts of the country... We might as well talk shop, right?

Colby (South Jersey): In your latest mock you have Quinn going to the Vikings at the seven spot. I've also heard names like Peterson or Ginn Jr. Sounds like they are focusing on the offense in the draft. What do you think their biggest need is and can they compete if they fill it?

SportsNation Todd McShay: I would rank the Vikings needs as follows: WR, DE, CB, TE, QB. If Quinn falls to them at No. 7 I think they could take advantage of the value. Otherwise, I think they'd be better served addressing some of those other needs. There isn't a WR worth drafting at No. 7 after C. Johnson, and the same can be said for DE after Gaines Adams. My first priority would be to trade out. If they can't get a deal done (which is more likely than not), I think they should take DS LaRon Landry or CB Leon Hall.

Todd, I paid big money to your employer so I could hear you do idiotic and baseless things like deem Brady Quinn overrated, and now I hear some blasphemy like the Vikings could actually get value for him at seven?

For shame, Todd!

But at least you didn't disappoint me with that list of needs. That, my friend, is some freakin horrible analysis. Good work.

The Vikings don't need a DE. They took DEs in the first round in 04 and 05. These guys have turned out to be very good players, but you wouldn't know that because you are too busy getting your panties in a bunch over sack totals. It isn't going to matter who is playing WR if Tavaris Jackson is their QB. You could have gotten away easy if you just said "they could really use a QB (factual statement)", instead of some garbage about how they should be looking for WR, DE, CB, TE, and QB IN THAT ORDER DAMN IT!

Seriously though, if the Vikings land Quinn at 7, it would be the duty of Jerry Angelo, Ted Thompson, and Matt Millen to track down Phil Savage and rip his vocal chords out as punishment for passing on Quinn. Millen would deserve the same treatment, but lets face it, the Bears and Packers are much better off as long as Millen calls the shots in Detroit.

Rob, Somewhere,TN: Am I the only one thinking that the Raiders may be trying to move down to #4 and take Quinn?

SportsNation Todd McShay: That's a bad idea. If you can get an elite WR like Calvin Johnson or an exceptionally gifted QB like Russell, why trade down to take an overrated QB like Quinn?

Oh Todd, no you didn't.

First of all, the correct answer to the question would be yes, Rob from somewhere in Tennessee is the only one thinking the Raiders might do that.

But you, Todd McShay, are bad at your job. See, the whole idea behind a scout is to actively try to do everything necessary to discover who the best prospects really are. Not to try to justify hype by falling in love with skills that Russell shares with Leaf and Akili Smith and Cade McNown and all those busts.

Also, you are getting paid a king's ransom to have a TV/Interweb Chat gig where you answer people's questions with some degree of accuracy. Your job is NOT to perpetuate the hype of Russell/Johnson, it's to dismiss it when it isn't necessary.

Calvin Johnson: 34 NCAA Starts
JaMarcus Russell: 29 NCAA Starts

Dwayne Bowe: 35 NCAA Starts
Brady Quinn: 45 NCAA Starts

Then again, if anyone in the league didn't think Todd McShay was a lazy-ass, worthless scout, he'd be working for a team right now and not ESPN.

Darryl (Oakland, CA):: I've seen that Trent Edwards has moved up to either the Raiders or the Lions in the second round. If the Raiders take Calvin Johnson, will the first pick of the second round be Edwards?

SportsNation Todd McShay: I've heard some of the same rumors, Darryl. There are also rumblings of the Lions' interest in Edwards with the second pick of the second round. I'll be honest; I like Edwards as a developmental type, but not that early. I still think Drew Stanton has better pro potential.

You know, Trent Edwards has college stats, Todd. It really wouldn't be that hard to do some background research since its only your freakin job.

WTF is a developmental type? Is that code for "not a good prospect, but if you let him reach his prime before he reaches the field, he might appear better than he really is"? Because if so, that would be a point worth making.

Somehow, I get the feeling that Todd McShay actually believes that with the right coaching and the same damn amount of practice time as every other player in the league, Trent Edwards will actually exceed his career path! Woot, he developed differently than every other QB in the history of the game! I'm Todd McShay bitches!

Josh (Philly): Todd-This isn't a "why do you hate on Notre Dame" type of question, but what about Quinn's game makes you so quick to slap the "overrated" label on the guy? I know he underperformed in big games in college, but couldn't that just as easily have been a product of the quality of the talent around him when matched up against teams with elite talent?

SportsNation Todd McShay: I think Quinn is a good prospect and he's worth a mid-to-late first round pick in most drafts. But I don't think he's worth a top-five pick. In addition to his big game woes, he's not accurate enough for my liking. I think playing at ND and under Weis, as well as being a part of a 2007 class that lacks a lot of elite prospects, has really skewed Quinn's value.

Josh in Philly, I love you.

Todd, why don't you explain to the nice people why Quinn projects as a mid round pick and Russell as a top 5 pick guy?

Russells Draft Projection Comparibles:

1. Rex Grossman
2. Kellen Clemens
3. Cade McNown

Quinn's Draft Projection Comparibles:

1. Donovan McNabb
2. Carson Palmer
3. Jay Cutler

Todd McShay has access to the same information I do. Either he hates Notre Dame and has a bias against Quinn, or he's a lazy scout who does little actual work and gets paid a lot to be wrong.

I'm betting on the latter.

And WTF does a statement like Charlie Weis "has really skewed Quinn's value" mean? Holy fuckin a Todd McShay, you are both biased AND a moron. Do you really expect Quinn to reject the teachings of Charlie Weis once he hits the pro level?

Kevin (Berkeley): I've heard rumors that because of "character issues" and fumbling issues, Marshawn Lynch's stock has dropped to late-first round status. Is there any truth to this? Also, when exactly will Daymeion Hughes get drafted? I haven't seen two mock drafts where he goes in the same place.

SportsNation Todd McShay: The character stuff is hard to assess on Lynch because he was never charged or convicted with anything, although his ex-girlfriend did get a restraining order against him. I think he could drop to the bottom-half of the first round, but more due to his fumbling issues, nagging back injury and concerns about his inexperience as a fulltime load-carrying back.

You are ignorant. You don't need a conviction to have character issues. You need a conviction to be a criminal. I think you are confusing the two terms.

Someone will draft Marshawn Lynch in the top half of the round for need, I promise you.

J (Maryland): Hey Todd, do the Ravens draft a QB?

SportsNation Todd McShay: At some point in the middle rounds it would be a good idea. Someone with developmental upside such as Beck or Houston's Kevin Kolb. But they have other needs to address early on, including CB, OT and LB.


Developmental, developmental, developmental, upside, upside, upside. I, too, Todd, think that the Ravens would be better off with the next Giovanni Carmazzi or Chris Redman than with someone at another position who can actually play in this league.

Oh wait, no I don't. I just don't like the Ravens all that much.

Aric- Columbus,Oh: Todd, people are saying the Browns should draft Troy in the Second Round because he is a town favorite and compares him to Drew Brees. What do you think?

SportsNation Todd McShay: Most importantly, the Browns aren't going to draft a player because he's a hometown favorite. It just doesn't work that way.

McShay-English translation: Brady Quinn is overrated.

You know what, this debate is over.