MYTH: Vince Young went off the deep end, plain and simple.
FACTS: Nobody knows what went on, and a lot of speculation has been quoted as "fact."
What we really know from WKRN-TV, who ESPN credits as having first broken the story, is this much: http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?s=8976169 1. Vince Young left his house without a cell phone 2. He had an unloaded gun in his car, which is legal in Tennessee. 3. Someone close to him was "concerned" about him, yet to this day nobody's elaborated on why they were concerned 4. His family notified the Titans, who notified police 5. The police had negotiators on standby, which is common practice according to Nashville Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron. 6. The police eventually found him at a friend's house 7. He then met with Titans officials and went home in his own vehicle.
Quite honestly, out of those seven facts, number 2 worries me the most about his mental state. After what happened to Sean Taylor last year, that thing should've been loaded! If I were a high-profile celebrity with a lot of money traveling alone, I'd have a loaded gun with me. Even if a would-be robber didn't recognize Young, I'd be willing to bet Young has a really expensive car, which would draw attention. It's only common sense that you should protect yourself. Despite all this, the media acts like it's a bad thing when someone famous has a gun.
Given these facts, one can conlude that this was overblown. Later on that week, things really got crazy when ESPN published that Young's the#### was "suicidal." My comment on this was "If Justin McCareins was my #1 receiver, I'd want to jump out of a window too." Then I realized that the####s have to take every mention of suicide seriously, even ones like the comment I had just made. It's not that difficult to imagine someone saying "I played terribly yesterday, I need to hop in front of a moving train," and not really meaning it.
Unfortunately, due to these incindents many formerly reasonable "journalists" hopped on the anti-Vince-Young bandwagon. The most shameful of these was Adam Schefter, who out of the blue declared that Vince Young asked to be taken out of the playoff game against the Chargers. At halftime of that game, ther Titans were winning by 6 points. They weren't losing at that point, so it's not like he felt bummed by being down. But they also weren't winning by enough points where you could pull your starting quarterback. Merril Hoge came up with some crazy stuff too, but I can respect him at least because he's been against Young since before Young was drafted. Schefter either needs to come up with some real sources backing him up, or just admit he was wrong and apologize to Young. http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/09/14/young-as ked-out-of-titans-playoff-game/
All in all, this should serve as a reminder to all of us that we should think before we judge someone based on hearsay.
OK, this post was
written based on my personal opinion from watching games, not based on
stats. In my opinion, stats can only tell tell so much. I'd rather
hear about an amazing play someone made or see a video clip of that
play, I'd rather see that than just "so-and-so has a higher YPC average,
so you're wrong." Please feel free to share who your favorite players
are at this position; I enjoy debate. Also, my list of top QBs is here: http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/Football_Guru /2008/08/08/Football_Mythbusters_Whos_The_Best_QB
Also, just so you guys know, this is only a list of the best RBs who are playing today.
MYTH: (Insert a RB's name here) is the best running back in the league.
FACT: In my opinion, these are some of the best.
1.
1. LaDainian Tomlinson (Chargers) – As much as I
absolutely despise the Chargers, LaDainian Tomlinson is simply the best in the
league today, without a doubt.
2.
2. Adrian Peterson (Vikings) – If he plays
throughout his career as well as he did last year in his rookie season, he’ll
end up better than LaDainian Tomlinson in a year or two.
3.
3. Brian Westbrook (Eagles) – Amazing runner, and
he catches the ball excellently. He’s
awesome.
Most overrated: Reggie Bush
(Saints) – Gets praise, when he’s terrible.
Simply said, he’s fast, with no football skills and will not be any good
for at least three more years.
Honorable Mention: Maurice Jones-Drew, Fred Taylor, Lawrence
Maroney, Willie Parker, LenDale White, Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Clinton
Portis, Frank Gore, Larry Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Chester Taylor, Stephen Jackson
Could Be On This List
In a Few Years: Darren McFadden, Felix
Jones, Rashard Mendenhall, Chris Johnson (Titans) , Marshawn ####, Mike Hart, Michael Turner
OK, this post was written based on my personal opinion from watching games, not based on stats. In my opinion, stats can only tell tell so much. I'd rather hear about an amazing play someone made or see a video clip of that play, I'd rather see that than just "so-and-so has a higher QB rating, so you're wrong." Please feel free to share who your favorite players are at this position; I enjoy debate.
MYTH: (Insert a QB's name here) is the best quarterback in the league.
FACT: In my opinion, these are some of the best.
1.
1. Tom Brady (Patriots) – Dominates the league like
no other, and has great receivers to throw to.
2. 2.
Peyton Manning (Colts) – Second only to Brady,
also has good receivers. He’s getting a
tiny bit worse, but he’s still one of the best.
Not as good as he was a couple years ago.
3. 3.
Brett Favre (Jets) – He’s still great,
despite his theatrics
Most overrated: Eli Manning
(Giants) – Has shown flashes of greatness, but is completely inconsistent. He may have been Super Bowl MVP, but the
Giants won the Super Bowl because everybody else on the team played
exceptionally while Eli played mediocrely.
Most underrated: Vince Young
(Titans) – Has bad stats, so don’t take him for fantasy. However, he can throw the ball AND run it,
but the Titans’ offensive woes have been blamed on him when the problems were
really due to underacheivement by his wide receivers.
With a new receiver and new tight end, along with a rookie running back
who is fast AND catches well, the Titans’ offense will improve tremendously,
mainly due to the Titans’ management surrounding Vince with decent players to
help him realize his true potential.
Honorable mention: Drew Brees, Ben
Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer, Donovan McNabb, Tony Romo, David Garrard
Could Be On This List In a Few Years: Tarvaris Jackson, Colt Brennan, Matt Schaub, J.P. Losman, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, JaMarcus Russell, Jay Cutler, Dennis Dixon... Should I risk mentioning Aaron Rodgers?
MYTH: Reggie Bush is the reason the New Orleans Saints went from being last place in the NFC South one year, to making it to the NFC Championship game the next year. He is also the key to whether or not they will be successful this upcoming season.
FACT: Reggie who? The real key to that team's success is Deuce McAllister. In 2005, he was placed on IR in the beginning of October, which ended his season. The Saints then went 3-13. The next year, Reggie Bush came along, and the Saints made it to the NFC Championship game. Therefore, many people thought Reggie Bush made the team successful. In the 2007 season, McAllister suffered a season-ending injury against the Titans in September. The team finished third place in the talentless NFC South, winning only seven games. Two of those wins were against the Falcons, and the other five were against the Seahawks, 49ers, Rams, Panthers, and Jaguars. Except for the Jaguars (an 11-5 who they somehow crushed 41-24), none of those games were wins against tough teams. With the possibility of six easy wins a year coming from the Panthers, Falcons, and Buccanneers, as long as McAllister stays healthy, and Drew Brees throws for at least 3,000 yards like he has done every year since 2004, the Saints will have a strong chance of making it to the playoffs and being a force in the NFC.
EDIT: Just a little housekeeping. First off, I am NOT a Patriots fan, so this post was written from an objective standpoint. Second of all, if anybody has suggestions for topics I should write about in my Football Mythbusters blog, please leave a comment and let me know. This is my first blog, and while I have quite a few ideas to write about, I'd like to do 1 or 2 posts a week, and I don't want to run out of fresh ideas.
MYTH: The New England Patriots are a bad team, they only won so much
because they cheated, and losing Super Bowl XLII takes away from what
their accomplishments in the 2007-08 season.
FACTS: This one needs to be broken down into several parts.
First part: The New England Patriots are a bad team.
OK,
this is ridiculous. On offense, the Patriots have Tom Brady, Randy
Moss, Wes Welker, Laurence Maroney, and a pretty good offensive line.
Their running game is VERY strong, but they rarely run because they can
usually pass their way to countless wins. Brady is the king of
fourth-quarter comebacks, and is smart, accurate, and fast enough to
occasionally avoid the sack by either scrambling out of the way, or,
more often, releasing the ball the second he is touched by a defensive
player. Moss is one of the best receivers in the game, and Welker is an
amazing number 2 option. If Maroney were playing for a team that didn't
pass as well as the Patriots do, he'd be the star of the offense. On
defense, they're good (but not great) at every position. All in all,
the Patriots are a good team.
Second part: But they wouldn't win as much if they didn't cheat.
They
went 16-0 in the regular season. This was after having their tapes
confiscated before halftime of their first game of the season. The
tapes don't help until halftime, and after being caught, there is no
way anyone would be so bold as tape signals again at any time in the
season. Therefore, it can be stated with confidence that the Patriots
went 16-0 without cheating. Also, the Patriots are NOT the only team to
ever film the other team. Just think about it: there's obviously a
reason coaches cover their mouths when they're calling plays. While
this doesn't make it OK, people need to stop with the holier-than-thou
attitude, because their team probably does it too. Also, Congress needs
to get out of this Spygate business: cheating in the NFL is NOT
equivalent to committing a crime, and I'm sure their are more pressing
national issues than whether the Patriots cheated or not.
Third part: Losing the Super Bowl takes away from their accomplishments throughout the whole season.
Facts:
Um, I'm not sure this part of the myth should even be dignified by a
response. I fail to comprehend how people think that the outcome of
Super Bowl XLII "proves" anything about the Patriots. They still went
undefeated up until the Super Bowl, which hasn't been done since 1972.
The Patriots played their worst game of the season, and the Giants
played their best game of the season. Don't get me wrong, I wanted the
Giants to win, but the Patriots are still amazing for all that they did
this past season, and the Super Bowl just goes to show that any given
Sunday, any team can win, and any team can lose. There is no way to
predict a football game with 100% accuracy.
