Stuff On My Mind, Vol II

Last night was a bad sign for the Eagles.  Not because they lost the game, but because it looks like Vick is beginning to regress.  Perhaps it is the long draw of the season that he wasn't prepared for because of the time away from football.  Perhaps it is all the abuse his body takes on each hit he suffers from much larger men.  Or perhaps...he is taking his on field success to the head and having flashbacks of Atlanta.  His primary flaw while on the Falcons was his propensity to run before pass, and over the past few games he has displayed that again.  Even in the fourth quarter comeback against the Giants he showed a lack of confidence in his offensive line and broke the pocket to run down field.  It certainly work in that game, but only for the last eight minutes and with every Giants defender playing undisciplined and losing contain.  He was not so lucky against the Vikings. 
Early in the season, Vick went through his receiver progressions and stood tall in the pocket until he absolutely had to run.  I didn't see that last night.  I saw a guy who, in a five step drop, was looking for a lane to run by the 4th step.  If he did throw the ball, it was never from a passing stance but while he was scrambling in the pocket.  Had the Vikings defenders been capable of holding on to anything (I believe Collinsworth said it best: "Any group of high-schoolers would catch those 99 out of 100 times"), he'd have thrown four picks.  A 10 point loss would have been a moral victory rather than a disappointment.

This is just as much an indictment on Vick as it is the offensive line.  When it falls apart, so does the play.  We all know that some of Vick's greatest plays come when he scrambles, but more often than not lately he gets tackled hard and comes up limping or loses the ball.  I have been afraid of this type of regression from him all season, and maybe it's just an anomaly because of some factor or another, but it's worrisome all the same.  The best thing the coaches can do for Vick at this point is sit him down and show him game tape from one of his more impressive performances like @Jacksonville or @Washington.  Show him what people have lauded him for this season and what has kept him, if only slightly, in the MVP race: Patience.

Let's see what else is on my mind.

1.  Since this round of the baseball HOF vote is coming up very quickly, all of the writers with votes are looking to express their frustration/confusion/final decisions.  For those of you who haven't heard of him, Joe Posnanski at Sports Illustrated is documenting his thinking heading in to the vote and it's a good read.  It's structured creatively by highlighting a few players each day in different categories: should be in, on the bubble, etc.  Joe is one of my favorite writers, but his main idol is Bill James, creator of Sabermetrics(specific statistical analysis).  I don't necessarily agree with looking at sabermetrics to determining Hall of Famers, but it is interesting to see Joe and Bill compare potential HOFers by their sabermetrics.  With my relatively brief exposure to baseball it is shocking to see guys who I thought were legends broken down as just above average guys (see: Mattingly).

2.  LeBron James was wrong when he suggested the NBA would be better of if it got rid of a few teams.  He speculated that the league would be less watered down and the talent level would be higher.  Basketball Final Solution?  Anyway, as much as I think he is a spoiled jerk and needs to shut up, he was right that power teams are a good thing.  In that vein, I want Carmelo Anthony to join A'm'ar'e on the Knicks.  How cool would it be to see the three most historic teams at the top of the power pyramid?  Boston and L.A. are already there and it can only be good for basketball to have the New York market excited again.  I want this despite the most certain further postponement of an 76ers return to prominence.

3.  Roger Goodell has yet again missed the mark.  He's batting worse than Mario Mendoza this year.  I wrote a few weeks ago about the fight and subsequent lack of punishment between Andre Johnson and Courtland Finnegan, but I guess the Comish didn't read my post.  Brett Favre was fined $50,000 today for sending nudie pictures to Jenn Sterger's phone after getting the number from a Jets employee.  Sterger obviously didn't like it and brought it to the attention of the NFL.  Darren Rovell of CNBC said that 50k is roughly 4 1/2 minutes of pay for Favre, which is nothing more than a love tap on the wrist. Goodell waited and waited and waited on the evidence until he was sure that Favre would not play again this year or ever.  He is protecting guys he likes, and punishing the rest.  Roethlisberger was suspended FOUR GAMES for a similar crime with less evidence.  Goodell is delusional if he thinks his regime is a fair one.

4.  The Winter Classic is coming up!  New Year's Day marks the 4th annual outdoor hockey event and I couldn't be more excited (about a hockey game).  The NHL has done a fantastic job of matching rival teams, pitting top stars against one another, and selecting excellent locations like this year at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.  Occasionally snow flakes sprinkle the ice which is a fun sight to see.  The game is played on NBC and they generally do a good job with highly marketed events like this one.  This is the kind of thing that different leagues can do to garner interest from casual to rare spectators.  Maybe the NBA can take a hint and re-pave Rucker Park for a Streetball Classic*.  Hey, even if it doesn't work, the new court could be promoted as community service.

5.  Every sport is better on an HDTV.  If you are one of the few people left who refuse to switch, shut your stupid mouth.  HDTV's are astonishingly cheap compared to what they were when they first entered the market.  They are affordable and freakin' awesome.

*I fully expect to receive royalties if the Streetball Classic name/idea is ever put in place.