Large in charge, Wide of mark

  

Being a huge sports fan has been a difficult hobby in the last week of so.  I live on the outskirts of London, I am a Tottenham Hotspur fan first, but a football fan in general. I adore the New England Patriots, but I love the NFL mostly.  This does not make me ignore other sports either, I am passionate about English rugby, praise Andy Murray and Mo Farah to the hilt; cannot wait for the Ryder Cup next weekend. And yet on numerous occasions of late, the people in charge of these sports are letting me and other sports fans down.

Starting with the NFL which has had two high profile suspensions of talented individuals due to off the field incidents. Firstly, last Wednesday, TMZ released the footage of Ray Rice punching his then fiancee (now wife) Janay Palmer in the elevator of an Atlantic City hotel in February.  In response, Rice's team the Baltimore Ravens suspended him and the NFL suspended him indefinitely subject to an appeal. 

The NFL let itself down in this because allegations came to light that the NFL head office, led by Roger Goodell, knew of the footage back in April and did not act upon it; hoping that the video would never surface. In my eyes, this would make Goodell's tenure as questionable at best or at least make him answerable to questions of integrity.

On Friday, another incident hit the NFL fan, when Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was indicted by a court in Texas for child abuse on his own son, where his form of discipline - hitting him with a wooden stick - was apparently so brutal, ESPN has chosen not to air the pictures of the child due to the graphic nature of the imagery.

Whispers were that after Peterson gave himself out and was released on bail, that he would play for the Vikings on Sunday at home to the Patriots (a game they lost 31-7); and yet the Vikings took the correct decision to not play him.  He was then reinstated to team practices on Monday, but then the team late on Tuesday evening/early Wednesday morning chose to put Peterson on the exempt list meaning he cannot be involved in any team activity until the 'due process' has been resolved.

Nevermind due process, Peterson's actions warranted a termination of his contract and an indefinite suspension from the sport. In many ways, Peterson's actions are worse because it was against a defenceless individual in this case a minor; whereas Ms. Palmer is an adult who is capable of defending herself, although Rice did not give her the chance with his surprise attack.


This makes Goodell's position as NFL Commissioner untenable, he is not doing a good job if his players are being arrested for domestic violence, child abuse, drunk driving; and these are not big defensive linemen or special team operators, Rice and Peterson are franchise players in high profile positions with huge contracts of guaranteed money.  Peterson is assured of his income by being put on the exempt list, despite being indicted for child abuse, so he can put his feet up and still be paid; another bizarre twist in the story.

The unsavoury incidents leave a bad taste in the mouth, and the NFL needs to shake it up before they lose the trust of those who matter, the fans whose ticket prices and merchandise sales allow these players to have huge contracts and the belief they are above the law.

On this side of the Atlantice, the Rugby Football Union have made an almighty faux pas by inserting on the new England rugby shirt imagery or design of the Victoria Cross into the jersey worn by hookers.  Now, rugby more than any other sport has done the most for such charities as Help for Heroes; yet this misguided attempt at a tribute to our armed forces is wrong, because it sees the RFU profiting from those who have fallen, and it is worn in a competitive respect by those who may never get close to a battlefield.  Make tributes, praise the dead just do not profit from it.

And finally in cricket, you had the incident last week of Yorkshire Cricket captain Andrew Gale being told he could not celebrate with his team-mates as they celebrated clinching the County Championship last Thursday at Trent Bridge as he is serving a two-match suspension.  This narrow sighted edict marks the English Cricket Board (ECB) as stuffy and out of touch; Gale played in a majority of the games and made telling contributions, he is entitled to celebrate with his team.  If that was the case, why was John Terry allowed to celebrate with his Chelsea team in Munich 2012 even when he did not play; UEFA in that instance did the right thing.  And people think cricket is behind the times. 

All in all as a sports fan it has been a hard week, one of reflection and introspection about where does my loyalties lie.  I love the NFL and like most fans it will only diminish once Tom Brady retires and my Patriots are tanking for the No 1 pick in five years time; as a Tottenham fan I hope to visit the new stadium once it ever gets built and I hope to go to our temporary home be it Milton Keynes or Wembley. 

However, too often the men at the top of the tree are too often out of touch with the general consensus and wide of the mark with their attempts at contrition.  They hope to appeal to the everyman when not every man is going to be happy.

Follow me on twitter @JamieGarwood

NFL Week 7 review

Week 7 was as ever full of surprises, full of dead certs that never came off.  Its Monday morning after a NFL Sunday and twitter has blown up over Robert Griffin III's performance on the road against the New York Giants.

In a sign of things to come over the next few years in the NFC East, a rivalry has been planted between two of the most durable quarterbacks in Eli Manning and RG3.  RG3 kept the Redskins in the game, and gave them a 23-20 lead when he hooked up with Santana Moss for a 30 yard touchdown after scrambling what seemed like an eternity.  You saw the best of him when he evaded two pass rushers out of the pocket on 4th and 10, yet somehow found Logan Paulson for 19 yards which led to the Moss TD a few plays later.  RG3 was ready to celebrate his first statement win.

Yet he - and we for two minutes - forgot that he was facing two-time Superbowl winner Eli Manning who is renowned for running the two minute drill as well as anybody.  And whilst RG3 is a dynamic individual who can pretty much do anything with his offense.  RG3 cannot play defense.  Manning was able to connect with Victor Cruz for the go-ahead TD that ended the scoring at 27-23.

The Redskins might have lost the game yet they remain potentially in a wildcard race from the NFC East and right now they have the second best QB in the NFC East.  The Giants are the cream of this Eastern crop, with Manning again winning, last season they would have lost this game at home.

Time to Buc up
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers conspired to lose a game they should have won.  At home to the New Orleans Saints, the Bucs took a 21-7 point lead thanks to some great passing by Josh Freeman (who seems to get big numbers v the Saints D, then yet again who doesnt) who ended up with a career-high 420 yards and three touchdowns.  Attempting to engineer a game-tying TD drive in the dying seconds, Freeman did connect with Mike Williams to send the home fans into a frenzy, yet Williams had already stepped out of bounds and so by rule cannot be the first receiver to touch the ball.  The penalty resulted in a 35-28 victory for the now 2-4 Saints, who have won two in a row and still have something to play for.

My problem here is that the Bucs had seemed to turn the page in the summer.  They hired a new coach in Greg Schiano, who would plug a leaky defense; they made moves in the off season to get a name receiver in Vincent Jackson who had a 200+ receiving game and one TD.  Jackson should have had two, yet in a 95 yard play was tackled at the one.

The Saints then had a big goal-line stand as the Bucs went for it on fourth and goal, yet it was the play-calling that was mystifying as three times they lined up pack horse, LaGarrett Blount in the backfield and three times they handed it to him.  The Bucs were woefully guilty of naivety here, where was the invention, where was the pick and roll, where were targets Doug Martin and Jackson who went awol.

Instead of being 3-3, the Bucs are now 2-4 along with the Saints, both teams are four behind the Falcons who were on a bye and now need three more wins to tie up the division.  Admittedly, both teams have to face the Falcons twice yet the chance of gaining a wildcard is slipping away due to the impressive starts by teams in the NFC West and North.

Cameron lets down Rice
The Baltimore Ravens are seemingly a different side away from home to the team at M&T Stadium.  The Ravens went to face the only other AFC team with a winning record in the Houston Texans, who were swept aside by a rampant Aaron Rodgers last Sunday night as he threw for 6 TDs in the Texans' first game without Brian Cushing who tore his ACL.

Cam Cameron must have hit upon the idea to try and outshoot the Texans, yet in an advert for selling yourself wrongly, Joe Flacco and the Baltimore offense forgot what it was that made them good, two words: Ray Rice.  Rice was neglected in terms of momentum and usage.  During the first half, Rice had only six carries, whilst Flacco had 20 attempted throws, completing 7 and one pick six.which led to a 29-7 half-time deficit from which they could not recover.

All in all, the Texans outgunned the Ravens by 244 yards in total offense, Rice ended up with 42 yards from just 9 carries.  The Ravens are better engineering plays for Rice from the backfield - screens, tosses, runs - here they thought they could out throw the Texans.  The Texans stuck with a mix of air and rush, Arian Foster had 19 carries for 98 yards and 2 TDs.  Schaub threw 37 times. Flacco threw 43 times.

This was a bad weekend for Baltimore as the Steelers won on the road at the Bengals. Even though they were without two running backs, they stuck to their gameplan and got yardage from Dwyer (17car, 122 yards) and Big Ben threw for 278 yards.  Pittsburgh got the job done, and with the Ravens suffering terrible season-ending injuries to Ray Lewis and DeMarcius Webb, they may have got Terrell Suggs back but morle must be low at the moment.

The Pats almost sent packing
Will the real New England Patriots please stand up, as the reigning AFC champions are struggling with continuity and a lack of finesse on both sides of the ball.  The good defensive work in the first few weeks of the season is being undone by injuries to the worrying secondary, too many long balls are being executed, too many plays of 20+ yards given to receivers.

The offense are thinking they can get by on reputation alone, both tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez are not fully fit, Wes Welker is still get good yards but Brandon Lloyd is letting down his expectation levels, dropping too many passes that a man of his talent has.

Thanks to some dumb play-calling from the New York Jets offense, the defense came up with a recovered fumble to end the game and put a stake in the heart of the Jets.  The Pats sit atop the AFC East at 4-3, and own a tiebreaker over the Jets.  The Bills lost at home to the Titans, and the Dolphins had a bye.

In hindsight, this week will be a good one, yet it could have been far worse for Tom Brady and the Patriots.  Instead of packing their up their hopes of title aspirations, they pack their bags ready to travel to the United Kingdom to face the St.Louis Rams at Wembley Stadium. The Rams lost to the Green Bay Packers at home 20-30.  The Patriots may return to Boston 5-3 and feeling a lot better about themselves.

Follow me on twitter @JamieGarwood

NFL 2012 Week 1 picks

Okay another season, another chance to remove egg from your face and give you my picks for the first Sunday of the NFL season.

This season promises to be good with all teams enjoying a full off-season with no CBA strike and bargaining occuring.  The players asked for less physical practices, yet injuries are still happening.  Some teams have been affected by such injuries such as Minnesota Vikings with Adrian Petersen; yet some teams like Kansas City have those returning like Jamal Charles who will change the balance of a side.

Some teams have been affected by contract hold outs like Maurice Jones-Drew of Jacksonville; or a new star on a new team; Peyton Manning starts for Denver, whilst the man he replaced Tim Tebow lines up in a supposed wildcat offence with the New York Jets.

All in all though I cannot wait for the season to start, and having wrongly predicted a New York Giants victory on opening night, I hope my picks are a bit better this weekend

Week 1, Sunday 9th September
Colts @ BEARS - a baptism of fire for the new star rookie QB Andrew Luck facing a tenacious defence of Chicago even without the questionable Brian Urlacher.  Jay Cutler rekindles his partnership with Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte with his new contract will want to get off to a winning start.  Double digit victory, though Luck should still throw 2 TDs

EAGLES @ Browns - Michael Vick v Brandon Weedon; like John Wayne v Randolph Scott. Who you going to pick? But Eagles have too many other weapons, and Andy Reid has won 63% of his road trips, too much experience for the Browns, though will be good to see how Trent Richardson's knee holds up

Rams @ LIONS - personally I like the Rams and think they will improve to maybe 6-10 this season, although on Detroit's home turf it is asking a lot.  Although Jeff Fisher v Megatron will be good; how will the League combat the best receiver in football. Double digit victory.

PATRIOTS @ Titans - the reigning AFC Champions return with more weapons against a quietly rebuilt Titans with Jake Locker at the helm.  Might be closer than people may think, but on paper the quality shines through.

Falcons @ CHIEFS - this is a great opening match-up; Atlanta are one of the better regular season teams yet have no play-off win yet for Matt Ryan. The Chiefs have rallied for Romeo Crennel, and with a 1-2 punch of Charles and Peyton Hillis at running back, and Dwayne Bowe still at wideout, expect an upset in Kansas.

Jaguars @ VIKINGS - not the most mouth watering of encounters but in terms of quarterback play, Christian Ponder is better than Blaine Gabbert right now, and the Viking will win if Petersen starts.

Redskins @ SAINTS - following the news that Johnathn Vilma and Will Smith will be eligible to play this season, this will give the Saints extra motivation to get off to a winning start.  They may not have Sean Payton, but Drew Brees is this team's true leader.  RG3 debuts and expectations are high.

Bills @ JETS - this one has flipped and flopped for weeks, but I nudge it to the Jets as they have the Tebow option for short yardage and wildcat.  Ryan Fitzpatrick is okay but the Jets sometimes know how to win and have not shown us their full hand yet.

Dolphins @ TEXANS - Ryan Tannehill goes on the road for his rookie start at AFC South favourites Houston.  Houston have weapons on offence, yet in spite of losing defensive options will still have too much for a team very much in transition.

49ers @ PACKERS - what a great game for the first week,the two best regular season teams from NFC face off.  The 49ers are better with more weapons at receiver and added Brandon Jacobs, yet this is still Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau, home field advantage still counts for a lot nowadays.

SEAHAWKS @ Cardinals - Russell Wilson is an explosive QB, he will excite people and Pete Carroll has put his neck on the line; Arizona have one of the best receivers in football in Larry Fitzgerald yet they still cannot find a man good enough to throw to him, they have chosen John Skelton.

Panthers @ BUCCANEERS - the Bucs have changed coach, they traded well getting Vincent Jackson from San Diego, drafted well in getting Doug Martin and have a decent QB in Josh Freeman.  The Panthers do have Cam Newton, but again the home team for me on this occasion. The momentum is in Tampa Bay.

Steelers @ BRONCOS - a great contest with Rothliesberger v Peyton Manning in his regular season debut for Denver.  I fancy Manning to come out of the gate here, throwing to numerous and unheralded receivers (hello Eric Decker) who will become household names.

Bengals @ RAVENS - a tasty divisional rivalry match up for Monday Night Football's opener; expect the Ravens and their new no-huddle offence to create even more points and targets for Ray Rice, under the leadership of Joe Flacco.

CHARGERS @ Raiders - whilst the nudge for the AFC West has been given to the Broncos and Chiefs; the Chargers have flown under the radar whilst the Raiders are in turmoil.  If the Chargers can halt Darren McFadden they win the game.