Retweet of the Day - October 4, 2013

The Cleveland Browns caught a very tough break as quarterback Brian Hoyer (615 yds, 5 TD, 3 INT, 59% comp.) was injured in last night's Thursday Night Football game against the Buffalo Bills. This morning, ESPN Radio reported that Hoyer has a torn ACL in his knee and is out for the season.

Hoyer replaced Brandon Weeden (715 yds., 2 TD, 3 INT, 55% comp.) in Week three and the Browns have not lost a game since. While rough around the edges at times, Hoyer had been effective, in contrast to a horrendous start to the year for Weeden.

Other coaches have had to deal with the loss of a budding young, effective starting QB. The controversy surrounding the handling by Washington Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan of QB Robert Griffin, III following a late regular season knee injury last year (which was aggravated when Shanahan stared Griffin in the first round of the playoffs) has been well documented. His decision to start Griffin in Week 1 in spite of Griffin not being 100% following the rehab of his torn ACL was also called into question by fans and media outlets.

Today's retweet, from Faux John Madden (‏@FauxJohnMadden) puts a glib spin on coaches risking long-term health for short-term gains:

"Brian Hoyer has torn ACL, though Mike Shanahan thinks he'll be ready in time for Week 6."  

Mike Shanahan, right, (A.K.A. "The Red Lobster") can't get out of his own way regarding the management of Griffin, left.

Images from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Griffin to Start in Week 1

1

ESPN Radio reported that Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin, III will start in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. Griffin suffered a knee injury late last season that has limited his activity in training camp and kept him from playing in the preseason. Griffin has publicly expressed his wishes to get back on the field as quickly as possible in recent media appearances.

Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan is in a lose-lose situation. Griffin's backup, Kirk Cousins, is fully capable of steering the ship, for a limited time, in a direction that can give the Redskins a chance to win. Griffin, when healthy, gives the Skins the best chance to win, without dispute. The coach can only play one guy.

Shanahan caught a lot of heat for playing Griffin in their first round playoff loss against the Seattle Seahawks last January. Griffin aggravated his ailing knee in that game and it has been widely speculated that his knee went from "sprained" to "torn" (ligament) in that game.

For Shanahan's sake, I hope Griffin truly is medically ready to play two Mondays from now. I also hope, regardless of Griffin's health, that Griffin does not suffer any injuries to that knee this season. Whether Griffin really recovered or not, Shanahan will get the blame for any near term problems with Griffin's knee.

Shanahan hopes Griffin will celebrate more from a standing position that this sitting one. 2

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Dysfunction Junction

Today we are going to discuss dysfunctional pro sports teams. One of the more sensational headlines of the past week was the revelation by Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy that center Dwight Howard, the team’s star player, allegedly approached Magic management and asked that Van Gundy be fired. This incident occurred during a press conference, a press conference in which Howard was in the room. Howard later denied approaching management with such a request.

Stan Van Gundy: A.K.A. "Stan Van Jeremy" and (according to Shaq) "The Master of Panic" 1

AWK-WARD!!!

If “awkward” is the new funny, then the Magic organization must be in stitches right now! This is the latest in an increasing trend of dysfunctional relationships among players, coaches, and management in professional sports organizations. This latest chapter for the Magic comes after most of the season was spent speculating, in a circus-like atmosphere, whether or not Howard would stay with the team next year and, if not, where he wanted to be traded.

The interesting dynamic is that the Magic will be in the playoffs and are only one game back of the Indiana Pacers for third place in the Eastern Conference. Most teams in similar situations are not so fortunate. Perhaps that is a testament to Van Gundy’s coaching ability and/or Howard’s dominance on the court. Perhaps the wheels have simply not come off yet.

Van Gundy, left, has a pair for stepping into the square with Dwight "Superman" Howard, right. 2

D.C. CAROUSEL

The Washington Redskins are the reigning kings of dysfunction in the NFL, though they have some close competition from the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders. The Redskins have won 15 games in the last three years. The Redskins only have two playoff appearances in this century and only one in the past 35 years if one excludes the teams of the 1980s and early 1990s coached by Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, who came out of retirement from 2004-2007 in an attempt to salvage some respectability for the franchise.

The Redskins are known for having an owner in Dan Snyder who is willing to spend it all to win. He has simply spends it all wrong! Transactional debacles since Snyder has owned the team include Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, Deion Sanders, Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth, the gold standard for wasteful free agency spending. Last month, McNabb, whose reputation as a class act and a team player preceded him after a career in Philadelphia (perhaps the toughest and most fan-critical environment for a high profile athlete), threw the Redskins under the bus as a difficult place for a young quarterback to develop. McNabb last played for the Redskins in 2010.

Perhaps, when he was a child, someone told Snyder his money would rot if he didn't spend it. 3

But the most dysfunctional and disturbing element of this organization has been its inability to hire and retain coaches. In the 19 seasons since Gibbs’ first retirement, following the 1992 season (in which Gibbs unsuccessfully attempted to defend the Redskins last championship from Super Bowl XXVI), the Redskins have had seven different head coaches (including Gibbs’ second stint as coach). That staggering number includes coaches who have had success with teams other than the Redskins, including Norv Turner, whose Chargers are regulars in the playoffs, Marty Schottenheimer, arguably the best coach in NFL history to never reach a Super Bowl, college coaching legend Steve Spurrier, and two time Super Bowl champion coach Mike Shanahan.

Shanahan’s reputation was impeccable before coming to Washington. Since then, his inability to win and well documented conflicts with Haynesworth and McNabb have cast a shadow over his coaching legacy. Somehow, I doubt Shanahan forgot how to coach. I think he is coaching with a team for which “up” often becomes “down”.

Everything was good in the worlds of Shanahan and McNabb until they got mixed up with the Redskins. 4

AMAZING MESS

After losing Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series, it has been all downhill for the Mets. After blowing huge September leads in consecutive years, 2007 and 2008, to miss the playoffs, the Mets went from fighting for first to fighting off the cellar. This team has finished in fourth place in the five-team National League East in the last three consecutive years.

The Mets have now missed the playoffs in five consecutive years. Since last winning the World Series in 1986, the Mets have only made the playoffs four times. They only have seven playoff appearances in their 51 year history. In contrast, the Arizona Diamondbacks did not exist until 1998, yet have been to the playoffs five times and won the 2001 World Series.

Winning futility aside, the organization is in peril. The Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz were ordered to pay in excess of $150 million of ill-gotten gains from the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme to Madoff’s fraud victims. Neither public sentiment nor the baseball gods have smiled upon the Mets.

The Mets also have trouble keeping personnel in place. Current manager Terry Collins is the Mets’ fourth skipper since 2008. This is a team that ran off former All-Stars Carlos Beltran and Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez in the same year. Fortunately, Mets fans have had ample time to become accustomed to disappointment. That is a good thing because the losing will continue.

Mets Manager (for this year) Terry Collins. The NFL's Houston Texans made "Next Man Up" their mantra during this past season. The Mets have a different variation on that same expression. 5

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The Cutler Did It

Sports offer us real life theater. The excitement of sports, such as NFL football, always goes beyond the action on the football field, in some manner. This is a big part of what captivates us.

Sports often produce stars who elicit mixed reactions, controversy. There are characters that we, generally, either love or hate. Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has fully evolved into one of those characters.


BUCKED THE BRONCOS

Cutler was drafted 11th overall in the first round of the 2006 draft by the Denver Broncos. He arrived with high expectations as an eventual replacement for incumbent signal caller Jake Plummer, who has just guided the Broncos to a 13-3 records and hosting the AFC Championship game the year before.

Controversy attached to Cutler from the beginning. The Broncos started 7-4 in 2006, though Plummer struggled. Then Broncos Head Coach Mike Shanahan benched Plummer and replaced him with rookie Jay Cutler.

The Broncos would only win two games for the rest of the year and the Broncos missed the playoffs. Cutler, statistically, outplayed Plummer, but the win/loss record is the only stat that counts after Week 17 and Cutler and the Broncos fell woefully short. Plummer would retire after the season, rather than agree to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to whom he was traded in the following offseason.

Shanahan was fired after the 2008 season and replaced with Josh McDaniels. Allegedly, McDaniels covertly made attempts to bring in free agent Matt Cassell to replace Cutler. Cassell signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, Cutler got wind of want happened, and Cutler, the franchise quarterback, demanded out of Denver.

The Cutler flap forced a QB swap with the Chicago Bears for their serviceable but unspectacular quarterback, Kyle Orton. The Broncos would suffer two consecutive, and wrenching, losing season and McDaniels was fired after his second season as coach. The Cutler Carnage continued.
    

The Internet has endless rips on Cutler. He may not be the NFL QB with whom fans would most like to drink a beer. 1



JAY THE JERK

Jake Plummer…Mike Shanahan…Josh McDaniels…future employment is not something one may easily associate with colleagues of Jay Cutler. Nonetheless, the arrival of Cutler before the 2009 season was celebrated in Chicago. The Bears acquired a player who appeared to be a long term solution at the quarterback position, something the team has not had for any extended period since local legend Jim McMahon was with the team in the late 1980s.



Cutler has received a myriad of criticisms since arriving in Chicago. He has been criticized for his body language during games. Reporters have said teammates described Cutler as “distant” in the locker room.



He was accused by NFL players on other teams of not being tough enough and checking out the NFC title game, this past January, with an injury he could have played through (which turned out to be a torn knee ligament). He was even made into the bad guy for the alleged manner in which he (supposedly) dumped ex-fiancé and reality starlet Kristin Cavallari over the summer. The label “Jay the Jerk” has stuck with Cutler among many in the public eye.

Cutler's ex, Kristin Cavallari. He must be doing something right if he can dump her. 2



CHICAGO CUTLERY

Bad luck…lightning rod…controversial…jerk. Every unflattering descriptor under the sun could be tossed at Cutler. Since arriving in Chicago, though, he has been a leader on the field. The guy wins, sometimes having to do so the hard way.

Through 34 starts in Chicago, Cutler has been sacked 101 times, and hit countless other times. The Bears offensive line has been Swiss cheese. In a (offensive coordinator) Mike Martz scheme that relies heavily on deep, downfield passes, this is a recipe for quarterback stew. Cutler has only missed one start since coming to the Bears.

The bottom line, in the NFL, is winning. The goal is to reach the Super Bowl. The Bears failed to reach the playoffs in the two seasons after their appearance in Super Bowl XLI and before Cutler’s arrival in 2009. The Bears did not have a winning record in those two seasons, combined, prior to Cutler’s tenure.

Since Cutler’s arrival, the Bears have won more games than they have lost. They won a division title last season, and hosted the 2010 NFC Championship Game. Cutler continues to be a high profile member of the “Eat Grass Club”, having been sacked 14 times this season through three games. Yet he often finds way to turn broken plays into gains and the Bears have had an opportunity to win each week because of Cutler’s quick decisions, having never trailed by more than 7 points at halftime in 2010.

Cutler celebrates with teammates during the Bears' divisional round playoff win over the Seattle Seahawks last year. 3

IF YOU CAN’T HAVE BRADY

Jay Cutler is not in the same class of quarterbacks as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. However, only Brady and Manning are in the class of Brady or Manning. Still, Cutler has fulfilled his role of leading the offense and putting his team in position to win, better than the majority of starting quarterbacks in the NFL.

You can love him. You can hate him (and a lot of people do). But the Bears are better off with him than without him.

Cutler's time in Denver was just a boot camp for what he would experience in Chicago. 4

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The Daily Hat Trick 2010 NFL Good, Bad, and Ugly Awards

"It's the most...wonderful...time...of the (NFL's) year!!! With the playoffs a-coming and analysts humming; the Super Bowl's near! It's the most wonderful time of the year!"
Too bad I could not find a musical accompaniment. The NFL's regular season is over, the playoffs are upon us. There are four more weeks of National Football League action (plus the Pro Bowl) remaining. The Daily Hat Trick will dive in and give you the in-depth, top-secret analysis of the playoffs later this week. First, I would like to take a moment, before the Associated Press steals my spotlight, and recognize the best, worst, and most hideous of the 2010 regular season in the National Football League.

Good, Bad, and Ugly Awards

The Good - Michael Vick from pariah to premier quarterback. From monster to MVP. From insufferable to inspirational. In three decades of watching this sport, I have never seen a comeback story that measures up to this one. Vick's Philadelphia Eagles team not only has a dog in the hunt, but he, single handedly is responsible for the NFC's top-seeded Bears and Falcons being on the run from said dog. Nobody but nobody wants to face this team and Eagles Coach Andy Reid and Eagles fans have Vick to thank for that (and dogs).

From sporting a "Mean Machine" jersey to this jersey,
which was sent to the Hall of Fame after a
record setting Monday Night Football performance. 3

Honorable mention deserves to go to a few people. Andy Reid for having to step out of his comfort zone (both on the field and in the media) to take the risk of giving Vick the opportunity to excel.... Peyton Manning for succeeding in the equivalent of racing in NASCAR with two bad cylinders and four bald, spare tires and STILL winning the AFC South and reaching the playoffs for a post-merger record tying ninth consecutive season (Dallas Cowboys 1975-1983).... The Detroit Lions for fighting every week, in spite of losing some extremely close games under some very questionable circumstances.


The biggest honorable mention goes to Tom Brady, the probable NFL MVP in 2010. Brady, assuming there are no spycams involved, is having one of the best all-around (decision making, passing, leadership, improving the performance of his teammates, adjusting to adverse changes, etc.) seasons that any quarterback can have. "Wes Welker is coming off a knee injury? No problem. I've got Moss. Randy Moss is traded? No problem, bring Deion Branch back. Deion is washed up and I can't move the offense with him? Watch me. Danny Woodhead is too small? The defense will see me coming from a mile away? I hope they can play with binoculars so they can see us housing it from 50 yards away. "

Perhaps UGG should start making fluffy, furry cleats? 4

The Bad - The Carolina Panthers were not expected to be Super Bowl contenders, but this franchise is expected to be a well prepared challenge for its opponent, no matter who the opponent is, every week. John Fox has been one of the best coaches of his time, which goes back to 2002. So what do the Panthers do? They make Jake Delhomme into the scapegoat for its underachieving and cut him, paying Delhomme $13 million in the process. 1 Whether that was fair or not, they replace him with a completely unproven and untested Matt Moore and rookie Jimmy Clausen, who, all knew going into the season, had a LOT to learn and would not be ready to start effectively in 2010.

And John Fox, the best coach in the team's history? Fired. I think of it as euthanasia.

Fox: FIRED?!? I thought I'd never get to leave! BYE! 5 

There is not too much honorable mention to mention. Many of the NFL stories in 2010 that were "not good" were so "bad" that they were "ugly" (see below). The Houston Texans were bad. Explosive offense...possibly the worst team defense in the history of the National Football league, in spite of the presence of DE Mario Williams and LB Brian Cushing. The expectations after 2009, the first winning season in franchise history, were high and the potential for Toro the Bull to gore Blue the Colt in the AFC South was at its peek, heading into the 2010 season. After Jaxson de Ville (Jaguars) shredded Toro's hopes and dreams on a flukish Hail Mary in Week 10, the Texans became bull jerky.

FAIL! 6

Toro to 2010: "Goodbye and
good riddance! NO MORE TEXANS!" 7





The Ugly - This was the toughest Hat Trick award to decide upon. With so much to choose from - the Minnesota Vikings Favre/Chilly/Moss drama, the Vince Young/Jeff Fisher fiasco in Tennessee, the Dallas Cowboys/Wade Phillips catastrophe, the woeful and disappointing underachieving of the Cincinnati Bengals (in spite of T.O. more than pulling his weight and keeping uncharacteristically quiet) - there was PLENTY of "ugly" to choose from in the NFL in 2010. The only shock is that the Oakland Raiders are nowhere near making this season's list, yet their coach, Tom Cable, may still get the ax.

The Vikings, with Dong-gate/Text-gate/Sterger-gate (or whatever sensational label you prefer), the Chilly schism, and trading a second day draft pick to acquire Randy Moss for a MONTH and CUTTING HIM (REALLY??)...seemed to be a run away for the 2010 Hat Trick Ugly award at one point. However, even Grace Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, and Amy Winehouse had to stand, in shock and awe, at the ugliness that became the 2010 Washington Redskins.

NOT UGLY: The first Jenn Sterger photo of 2011. Sterger (right) and who really cares about the name of girl on the left? She's hot.
Who didn't see this photo coming after the word "Sterger" appeared? 8

Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan must have understood that owner Daniel Snyder had a long, time honored tradition of throwing money down the toilet after overpriced, underachieving free agents. But guys with gambling addictions, followers of the Wesely Snipes tax plan, and graduates of the Bernie Madoff School of Investments were sending mail to Redskins Park offering financial advice to Snyder in the wake of the $40 million Albert Haynesworth write-off. To make matters worse, Shanahan attempted to "shame" Haynesworth, for not participating in voluntary offseason mini-camps, by requiring Fat Albert to pass a conditioning test for which Usain Bolt would need to rigorously train. Fat Albert flunked his "conditioning tests" and sat his fat butt on the sidelines since he was not "allowed" to practice. Oh yeah! They sure taught him a lesson!

Ugly 9

Snyder is a known spend thrift. Haynesworth is a known attitude problem. Shanahan, while I think he handled the Haynesworth situation poorly, had a stellar reputation, going into the 2010 season. So while the situation was ugly, it was not superlative. The comic-tragic manner in which Mike Shanahan and offensive coordinator, and Mike's son, Kyle Shanahan treated and handled possible future Hall of Fame quarterback Donovan McNabb, whose reputation is that of the consummate team player, leader, and class act, created one of the most unfortunate and ugly situations I have ever seen on an NFL team.

Uglier 10

McNabb was brought over from Philadelphia to help lead the Redskins back into contention. Mike Shanahan and McNabb were never on the same page. The Shanahans insulted the intelligence of McNabb, football fans, and any creature with an IQ greater than that of a walnut by trying...badly...to whitewash McNabb's benching, in favor of Rex Grossman, in the closing minutes of a loss to the Detroit Lions as a "cardiovascular" issue. Fired Vikings coach Brad Childress, who said he cut Randy Moss because he was a "programmatic non-fit", called "B.S." on that move. The Redskins appear to reward McNabb for his professionalism and patience with, what was announced to the media, as a lucrative contract extension, only for the public to find out, within 24 hours, that McNabb signed up for some magic beans and fool's gold. The final insult: McNabb is effectively made inactive (emergency QB) for the final games of the season.

Ugliest 11

A lot of media outlets have had fun, affectionately, comparing Broncos QB Tim Tebow to Jesus Christ because of Tebow's well publicized, strong Christian faith. I am not the strongest person on Bible knowledge, but turning the other cheek, enduring undeserved tribulations, perseverance, standing upright in the face of indignity...many of these themes recur in the Bible and are thought of as Christ-like characteristics. After 2010, maybe the press should give McNabb just a little "Jesus ink" like Tebow. More power to Tebow, for trying to carry out God's mission, but McNabb has certainly endured a missionary-like persecution!

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WWJD? 2   

1) Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/04/371139/panthers-cut-delhomme.html
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10) Image from redskins.com

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