So it's been a while...

Well it's been a while since I last posted, not that it particularly matters cause no one reads this anyway. But some interesting things have happened since then, such as the Rose Bowl and a few rounds of the playoffs. Here are some random thoughts.

The Rose Bowl was a fantastic game. Everyone knows about Vince Young, and how wonderfully he played, but here are some other things I found interesting:
-Matt Leinart had an absolutely amazing game. He just didn't miss receivers, and showed a ton of poise. I was down on him after the UCLA game, but now I think he does deserve to be a top two draft pick.
-LenDale White looked fantastic too, and deserves to go in the first round. If the Ravens don't resign Jamal hopefully we can get this guy. He may end up being a better NFL RB than you-know-who.
-Speaking of you-know-who, he looked pretty ordinary against a fast Texas Defense, and I don't think that translates well for his future. You have this guy who has sprinter speed, but has only had one game in his collegiate career of over 20 carries. He sounds like the perfect change of pace back (like they have with Parker in Pittsburgh... or at USC now), but I don't think he can be a 35 touch a game guy in the NFL. But he was amazing to watch, and I hope he proves me wrong and does become the next Marshall Faulk.
-Same NFL speed comment goes for Vince Young. He will not be running for 150+ every game in the NFL because the defenses are so fast. However, I feel like he will still be a good pro. If I were a coach, I wouldn't try to change anything about him, he is very accurate, and his running gives defenses fits. Hopefully he can become what everyone hoped Michael Vick would be.

In a comment unrelated to the Rose Bowl, Marcus Vick is an idiot.

I have some comments on the idea that a QB must be a pocket passer to succeed. I think this is total bullshit, and I simply don't understand how this makes any sense at all. I think what is happening when these sportswriters who have been covering football for thirty years say this, is that they are saying this mostly because a quarterback who scrambles first has never been particularly successful in the past. Now this may seem to support them, but I think that this is simply because scrambling quarterbacks are a recent trend, and one of them will come up one day and be just fantastic. Anyways, you could make the argument that Randall Cunningham was pretty successful (but no Super Bowls), and Steve Young did scramble quite a bit, but I cannot think of a pure scrambling qb who has done all that much in the NFL. As I said before, hopefully Vince Young changes this perception. I don't see him pulling a Steve McNair or Donovan McNabb and only using his legs for the first few years he is in the league, and then becoming a pocket passer, I think he has to be scrambling, or bust.

I don't understand why people rag on Peyton Manning so much for choking. I think he played just fine against the Steelers, but they played fantastic on both sides of the ball to win. His stats were fine, or even incredible considering he was getting no more than two seconds to throw the ball every down. The blocking could just not handle the blitzes, and the Steelers had the perfect offensive gameplan. If you want to talk about a QB who choked it up, talk about Tom Brady... if you watched that game he was just dreadful. He missed wide open receivers all the time, with plenty of time in the pocket.

D-CAF *bang bang* D-CAF *bang bang*

I will end by talking about one of the greatest games I have ever seen, and certainly the most touching (and probably the longest). The Orange Bowl between Florida State and Penn State was just wonderful on every level. You see these two coaches who everyone thought could not be successful anymore, for various reasons ranging from not being able to recruit because they don't understand today's youth, to not being able to compete because they don't understand today's offenses and defenses. I think it is wonderful that Paterno and Bowden made the Orange Bowl, and that game signified everything that is right about Amateur Athletics. Both teams ran out as a team, as opposed to getting the starters announced individually, and Florida State actually walked out all holding hands, with Bowden in the middle. After a few field goals were missed and as they walked off the field the camera crews were trying to get a shot of the Florida State kicker crying, but anywhere he was the offensive linemen made a circle around him to shield him from the cameras. The star Penn State linebacker who got severely injured in the fourth quarter got driven back out to the sidelines and watched the game from the back of a cart, because he cared so much about his team. The coaches got together and both said how proud they were of their teams after the games, and they both felt like winners. These are two men who I believe honestly think that teamwork and character building of equal, if not greater, importance than winning and losing. I think either coach would, if given the choice between a perfect season but a group of guys that goes on to having many issues in life, or a mediocre season where everyone tries their best and goes on in life to be successful in all they do, they would chose the latter. Really, you don't think of football as touching, but this game really was.

Oh yeah, the game was damn good also. If I had my way these teams would play every year in a bowl.