MVN - Most Valuable Network

Ravens and Eagles, birds of a feather

EPILOGUE:  The Indianapolis Colts are unfair to prognosticators.  It should be illegal to unveil defensive capabilities not shown in the regular season.  Where have they been hiding it?  That Baltimore would shut down Manning and company is no surprise, but when the Colts can stop Jamal Lewis and Steve McNair from producing a single touchdown. That’s news.  It’s also been the missing ingredient in the Colts previous playoff runs.

The Iggles put up a good fight at New Orleans.  Andy Reid, the man who should be coach of the year, lost to Sean Peyton, the man named COTY.  That one turned out pretty much as expected.

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With the Redskin fans - and bloggers - having little to do but wonder how the chief honchos could blow the season, we turn to two nearby teams for football action. The Baltimore Ravens show if there’s any such thing as football karma, while the Eagles carry the flag for the NFC East.

Indianapolis Colts (12-4) at Baltimore Ravens (13-3), CBS, 4:30 PM, EST
Time to pay honor to our neighboring team to the north. Finally, coach Billick did the right thing and got a real quarterback to lead the offense. Billick took a direct hand in calling his offense instead of having his friend (ex-friend, perhaps) Jim Fassel call Billick’s offense. The result was a surprising 13-3 record and number two seed in the AFC. As luck, chance, or Karma would have it, that brings the disreputable Indianapolis Colts to town.

The cliche is that a good defense will beat a good offense. If that applies to great defenses and great offenses, the Baltimore’s great defense will best Indianapolis’ third ranked offense. There. That’s my prediction. The Ravens will win on defense. We can tun our attention to the real issue here, retribution against the Irsays visited by the fans of Baltimore’ old and new football team.

The Colts are Baltimore’s team just as the Ravens are really Cleveland’s team. Art Modell had the decency, at least, to say that he would move the Browns if Cleveland and Ohio failed to build him a stadium. Cleveland and Ohio refused to waste tax dollars for Modell, but gladly spent it to get a new football franchise to replace the old Browns that became the Ravens. Robert Irsay, the volatile, boorish new owner simply packed up in the cloak of darkness and set up shop in Indianapolis. The time was Midnight, March 28, 1984. Sure, he owned the franchise, but he stole Baltimore’s team. (Of course, the always liberal Maryland Legislature passed a law the day before allowing Baltimore to seize the team by eminent domain.)

And that’s the point of this screed. Owners own the franchise - the marketing rights, the TV revenue, the colors and logo. Fans own the team. Why else does the ownership class attempt to extort stadium deals from the public sector? When GE does a public deal, they can point to new job creation, new tax revenue, tangible economic benefits. Sports franchises can’t make so strong a case. No, their claim is their hold on the fans and the fans hold on the team. You think the “Love Boat” case was just about bad behavior? It was about public offense just as the Vikings were lobbying for a new stadium deal.

Owners have certain duties: manage the team well; try to build a sustaining, winning franchise; community partnership. That requires openness and a certain transparency, as required by a public commission. In considering a franchise move, Art Modell came closer to the standard than Bob Irsay, with apologies to Cleveland fans who do not agree. Irsay didn’t have the nuts to be up front and say “I’m leaving.” He held a press conference - in Indianapolis - to say “I’m here.” That violated the unwritten code and there’s a price to pay.

Indianapolis is not going to win an NFL championship, certainly not in Baltimore. Talk about Tony Dungy folding in the post-season. Call Peyton Manning a choke artist. The real reason is the curse of Bob Irsay. The Colts left Baltimore in ‘84. They won’t win a Lombardi Trophy for eighty-four years. Unless the Irsays sell out first.

Karma.

Philadelphia (10-6) at New Orleans (10-6), FOX, 8:00 PM EST
I like that old school, east coast, snot-knocking football we play in the NFC East. So, what happens? The team with the west coast offense wins the division and moves on. Wonder what TO is doing today?

Tell me the forecaster who predicted New Orleans and Philadelphia would have the league’s number one and number two offense. Both teams put up 49 touchdowns for the season. The defense for both teams are close in points allowed per game, 20.1 for the Saints, 20.5 for the Eagles. This is going to be one close game.

Drew Brees continues his feel good story by proving the soundness of his shoulder and the soundness of his skills. His season was so good that he drove Nick Saban back to college football. (Saban took a shot with Daunte Culpepper out of concern for Brees’ shoulder.) The Saints boast two solid rookies, Reggie Bush, whom everybody knew about, and Marques Colston, unknown this year, but a top ten fantasy pick next year. Deuce McAllister put up a thousand yards and ten scores on the year. Joe Horn is questionable.

The Eagles aren’t supposed to be here. Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb are irreplaceable, anywhere but Philadelphia where they always maintained they had enough talent to win without Owens. Winning without McNabb is a tribute to the front office.

Jeff Garcia’s west coast heritage makes him the ideal sub for Andy Reid’s offense. The grossly under-publicized Brian Westbrook can be a scoring machine if he’s not contained. The Eagles balance makes them as hard to defend as New Orlean’s offense.

The Eagles loss of Lito Shepard is a concern. Drew Brees will pick at CB Rod Hood early to see if he breaks. Count that as one more break for the Saints. With home field, good health and an explosive offense, the Saints go marching on.

Art Monk, Russ Grimm named Hall of Fame finalists

Redskins greats Art Monk (WR) and Russ Grim (OL) are among the 17 finalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Both players were stalwarts on the great Joe Gibbs Redskins teams if the 1980s. 

Monk is long overdue for the Hall.  At his retirement, he had the highest number of pass receptions of all receivers.  His 940 catches are higher than anyone now in the Hall, however the number has since been eclipsed by Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Andre Reed and Marvin Harrison.  Andre Reed is also a Hall of Fame finalist.

In denying admission to the Hall, voters cited an impression that Monk was known only for reception of short, “safe” passes over the middle of the field.  Monk, in fact, was the prototype possession receiver.  But, the label denied Monk’s reputation as an iron man with the speed to go deep.  He was always reliable in the clutch and played major roles in positioning the Redskins for a Super Bowl run. 

Sports Illustrated writer Peter King, a Hall voter, was in the camp of “Monk is only a short yardage receiver.”  He recently pledged to support Monk’s election to the Hall.

www.monk4thehall.com carries a link to a video of Art Monk’s heroics in an effort to refute the rationale used to deny Monk’s admission. 

Russ Grimm was one of the original Hogs offensive linemen of Redskins powerhouse teams of the Eighties.  He was the pulling guard in the Redskins signature counter-trey running play leading the blocking for so many John Riggins’ runs.  In 1987 Grimm moved from guard to center.  Joe Gibbs is famous for winning three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks and three different running backs.  Grimm was the constant in all of those games.

Grimm is now assistant head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers and a frequent candidate for a head coaching position.

ESPN Podcast on how the Redskins can improve. Brunell out ’til June.

Jeremy Green of scouts.com did a podcast on 1st and 15 on espn.com where he looks at what the Redskins and the Arizona Cardinals need to do to improve in 2007. There was no new news in the podcast, but you may want to hop over to give it a listen.

Unlike most teams whose owner won’t spend money on the team, Green says the Skins spend money on talent that does not have time to jell. The Skins could use young talent on defense and could trade Clinton Portis to get the picks needed to restock, although Green believes that two backs are needed to win.

You can hear Green’s comments on ESPN here. The Redskin segment begins at 6:37 into the podcast. You need a media player for the podcast.

Two comments:

Who is Jermeny Green?

We’ve sunk low to be mentioned in the same breath as the Cardinals.

ESPN reporter Len Pasquarelli writes that QB Mark Brunell might miss the entire offseason program as he rehabilitates from his surgery. He might not be able to throw until June. Brunell just had surgery to repair the labrum in his throwing shoulder.

A labrum injury is closely associatied with a rotator cuff injury. You can read up on a labrum by looking here.

Skins quietly adding players

There are scattered reports that The Washington Redskins have signed players to the roster. The Marion Chronical Tribune reported that O-lineman Will Whitticker signed a three year deal with the team. Sports blog harryhogfootball.com reported that the Skins signed CFL players DE Chris Wilson and D-back Chip Cox. They repeated news of the Whitticker signing.

There is no announcement on redskins.com of these signings and major news sources have not picked up the report.

The Redskins have announced that long snapper Ethan Albright has re-signed with the team.  The 11 year veteran has played for the Redskins for the past six years.