Like many other Penn State fans I’m very disappointed in the choice of Bill O’Brien as head football coach. First I should say I’m probably very biased. I’ve been a PSU fan since 1968 when Lydell Mitchell, Franco Harris and Jack Ham were playing and I was a 10 year kid following an undefeated team. By the way, that’s almost as long as Joe Paterno has been head coach (1966). Following those great teams was Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti, a local guy from Delaware County and Monsignor Bonner High School. By the end of Cappy’s career the Penn State and JoePa legacy was well on it’s way to being built and the fan and alumni base was growing rapidly. I continued to follow closely as the Linebacker U legacy was being a built and tailbacks were becoming all-americans every few years. Once I became a high school coach in Florida I started attending the Penn State football camp as a coach for several weeks each summer. During that time I had the opportunity to work with and become friends with Tom Bradley, Larry Johnson, Bill Kenney, Dick Anderson, Jay Paterno, Bob White, Fran Ganter, Kenny Jackson, Joe Serra, Kenny Carter, Brian Norwood and yes Jerry Sandusky. Kermit Buggs was a high school coach when I first met him and Mike McQueary was a GA. I also had the privelage to meet Joe Paterno on several occassions. That association lasted for 12 summers and I remain friends with Bradley, Johnson, Kenney, Anderson and White to this day. Later, once moving back to Pennsylvania I’ve been a season ticket holder to “The Greatest Show in College Football” and have thoroughly enjoyed the weekly trips to Happy Valley where I’ve met and become friends with some great Penn State Alumni and just regular fans like myself. That brings us to the hiring of Bill O’Brien and the handling of the situation by acting AD Dave Joyner and PSU Board of Trustees. Not to make light in any way of what happened to the alleged victims of Sandusky, his crimes, if proven, are atrocious and his day will come if he’s proven guilty, but that doesn’t make the PSU football program broken. JoePa spent over 60 years building the tradition that is PSU football and the developement and implementation of the “Grand Experiment”. Even this years data that was just releaed showed Penn State with the Number 1 graduation rate in all of college football. Paterno has recruited quality kids that were not only good football players (black or white) but good students (black or white) that would graduate from college and and be good people in the world outside of football. With that he passed on many great high school football players if he didn’t feel they could cut the academics required to graduate from Penn State University. To me that philosophy isn’t broken and would have been carried on by Bradley with the support of all of those that came before him. That brings us to the alumni players and fans, this is a very tight knit group of people that know that they all went through the same things to get where they are today and with that became a “brotherhood” like no other. That brings us to Bill O’Brien. O’Brien may be a fine coach and a fine person but what does he know about Penn state Fottball? The first comment I read about his hiring was that since he was from Jersey it would be great to spend the summers at the Jersey Shore. Are you kidding me!! All of the film clips you see of him on the sidelenes he’s screaming and hollering and ranting at his players. That’s one way of motivating but not one that ever worked on me. Well he’s from the Patriots and works with Tom Brady. That means nothing to me. Brady and Bill Belicheck have made a lot of assistants look good and get promoted. That doesn’t mean success. Charlie Weis, Josh McDaniels, Eric Mangini and Romeo Cremell haven’t worked out very well in their endevours after New England. It will be a long road for Coach O’Brien as he takes over a program that wants to cut all ties from the 60 year tradition that’s been built by Coach Paterno and doesn’t have the support of the Letterman’s Club and he alumni. Of course this is not Coach O’Brien’s fault, he applied for a job and got it which is great but he has his hands full. For me, I’m a Tom Bradley guy. I hope one day I will again be able to say “WE ARE PENN STATE”!!!
Archive for January, 2012|Monthly archive page
A Comparison Of The ’05, ’07 ’11 Eagles Losing Seasons
In Philadelphia Eagles on January 4, 2012 at 10:31 pmThe last time the NFL season ended on January 1 was 2005, the last time the Eagles had a losing record (6-10). That season also ended at home against the Washington Redskins and a 31-20 loss. The last time the Eagles ended 8-8 was 2007 and they finished that season with a 3 game winning streak. Of course the ’11 team was also 8-8. It’s interesting to compare the three season but lets throw some names and numbers around. Obviously Andy Reid was the Head Coach. Offensive coordinator in ’05 was Brad Childress, former Head Coach of the Vikings. In ’07 and ’11 it was Marty Morninweg. The ’05 offense scored 310 points and ranked 18th in the league. Donovan McNabb passed for 2507 yards and 16 TD’s while Brian Westbrook rushed for 617 yards and received another 616 yards. Terrell Owens also caught 47 passes for 763 yards. The ’07 offense scored 336 points and ranked 17th in the league. McNabb and AJ Feeley combined for 4005 yards passing. Westbrrok combined for 2104 yards of total offense and Kevin Curtis caught 77 balls for 1110 yards. The ’11 offense scored 396 points and ranked 8th in the league. Michael Vick passed for 3303 yards and 18 TD’s. LeSean McCoy rushed for 1309 yards and DeSean Jackson had 961 receiving yards while Jeremy Macklin added 859 yards and Brent Celek 811 yards. The interesting statistic is that the ’05 team finished 23rd in giveaway/takeaways, the ’07 team was 25th while the ’11 team finished 30th. The years in between, all winning seasons, were as follows” ’06 – 9th, ‘ 08 – 14th, ’09 – 2nd and ’10 – 5th. The offensive statistics bear out a simple fact that if you turnover the football in the NFL you will not win games.
The defenses are also interesting. The ’05 team under the direction of Jim Johnson gave up 388 points while finishing 28th in the league. The top 3 tacklers on that team were Jeremiah Trotter, Michael Lewis and Brian Dawkins. The ’07 team, also coordinated by Johnson, gave up 300 points and ranked 9th in the league. The top 3 tacklers were Omar Gaither, Takeo Spikes and Sheldon Brown. The ’11 team under Juan Castillo gave up 328 points and ranked 10th in the league. The leading tacklers were Jamar Chaney, Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen. What’s the most intersting is that of the 9 tacklers lsited for these years 5 of them are defensive backs. Whether that points to the play of the defensive line, linbackers or both can be argued. The years in between consistently had Quintin Mickel as a leading tackler but also had Stewart Bradley (MLB) and Trent Cole (DE) in the Top 3. What we do know is that the defense plays a big part in the giveaway/takeaway ratio discussed above. If the offense turns the ball over too much or the defense deosn’t create turnovers it plays a major part in the teams success.
Final analysis for improving in 2012 is simple, don’t turn the ball over on offense and create turnovers on defense. Pretty simple don’t you think???
LURIE DOES THE RIGHT THING
In Philadelphia Eagles on January 3, 2012 at 10:23 pmI really enjoyed listening to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie tell the Philly media sharks that Head Coach Andy Reid and the rest of the Eagles administration would be back. I don’t really care about Joe Banner and Howie Roseman because Andy is the guy that pushes all of the buttons. There were two things I enjoyed the most about this decision. First, Lurie actually does understand football and realizes that the pieces are in place for a championship and it’s the players that have to be held accountable as well as the coaches. 39 turnovers to lead the league is an embarrassment and that’s on the players. Jumping offsides at the most critical part of the game that cost another win. Asomugha lining up offsides on a 3 and 11 incompletion that gave Arizona another chance, made the first down and drove down for the winning score. Alex Henery missing FG’s that ultimately cost the 49’ers game. AT SOME POINT THE PLAYERS MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!!!!! Coaches at the professional level have nothing to do with these crucial mistakes. Players have to make plays! Secondly, Lurie showed he has the stomach to stand up to the garbage that is sports radio and the media in Philadelphia. Enough said on that subject. Let the big mouths that have never worn a uniform, been in a locker room and surely never been in a coaches meeting do there best to ruin sports in the best sports city in America.
Looking forward to next year the priorities should be simple, sign Desean, get Linebacker help through the draft or free agency, sign a quality back up QB, sign an experienced third WR and tackle to back up Peters and Herremans incase one goes down, unload Samuel, Smith and the othr dead weight. The O-Line has improved with the two rookies, TE’s are solid, WR’s with Jackson are solid, Shady and Schmidt are solid, Vick is good when healthy but a back up is needed. The defense is solid up front, the LB’s got better but are very young and some help is needed. The DB’s are decent but I sure expected much more from Asomugha. Every team in the league couldn’t have been wrong on this guy. The young guys will continue to get better. The kicking game is solid with the two rookies.
My glass is half full for the 2012 Eagles and Jeff Lurie’s press conference today solidified my thinking. THE PLAYERS WILL PLAY!
Philly Fans Are 1st Class
In Misc Philly Sports on January 1, 2012 at 10:23 amYesterdays Winter Classic Flyers verses Rangers Alumni Game gave the world another opportunity to see the real class of the Philly sports fans. Many bad things have been written over the years about the “Best Fans in Sports in America” in a negative way but the love affair for five decades of hockey showed bright at Citizens Bank Park. From Parent and Clarke to Lindros and LeClair to Recchi and Tochett it was truly a special day highlighted by the Lauren Hart and Kate Smith singing God Bless America. It was truly an electric celebration at The Bank.
Over the years I’ve seen some of the bad, I was actually an 8-year-old kid at Franklin Field when the fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus. I was there when a mannequin of Joe Kuharik was hung from the upper deck and planes flew over the stadium pulling “Joe Must Go” signs. Those things really did happen! I was also at The Vet when WE threw snowballs at Jimmy Johnson and the hated Cowboys. I saw the signs that said “Paul the Pope and Danny the Dope” in the late 70’s referencing Paul Owens and Danny Ozark of the Phillies. More importantly I’ve been at every venue in this city over the last 45 years and have seen the passion and knowledge that makes Philly fans the best. When it’s all said and done, what separates Philly fans from the rest is that they recognize greatness in the game and the players whether they are our players (Clarke, Dr. J, Schmidt, Carlton, Parent, Bergey, Wilbert, AI, Big E, B-Dawk and on and on) or our opponents. (Magic, MJ, Kareem, Emmitt, The Great One, Messier, Brady, Montana, Mario)
New Years Eve at The Bank was just the latest opportunity for the Philly fans to show the National and Canadian TV world what it’s like to be “The Greatest Sports Fans in America” and be 1st Class!
LET’S GO FLYERS!!!!
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