Thies’ Statements: Shawne Merriman, Pete Carroll, Football!
Ryan Thies is back for the second part of this week’s Thies’ Statements—today’s is an all-football edition!
Things I think…
That drunk driving and drunkenly carrying an unlicensed firearm are equally dangerous, so why does one get you 30 days in jail and the other get you 2 years?
That the Denver Broncos raised the dysfunctional ante but the Raiders coaching staff decided to re-raise pre-flop
That Chargers fans need to seriously worry about Shawne Merriman’s knee. The pass rush, and the entire defense- and the entire team- all depend on his gimpy knee
That Seahawks fans don’t quite get the 12th Man concept. You see, that’s not a good rallying cry when you’re on the road guys
That more than his championships or charity work, Pete Carroll’s tweet to all his incoming freshmen offering to help them move finally made me start to like the coach
That I can’t put my finger on it, but I just don’t trust Rick Neuheisel- as a coach or otherwise
That there is never a good time to be on the 405. Not sports related I know but I just felt like sharing
That Tim Tebow won’t be a good NFL QB
That Mike and I have both said it repeatedly, but the 4th quarter of a preseason NFL game is the most exciting 15 minutes in all of sports. An NFL player trying to make the 53 man roster is literally playing for his livelihood. He makes the team, he makes $300k; he gets cut, he’s sleeping on his mom’s couch. What would you do if you had 15 minutes to try and make $300k?
That Norm Chow at UCLA is the poor-man’s Brett Favre to the Vikings
That that will be the last time I mention #4 by name (and I don’t just mean in this column)
That Brad Childress growing his wispy mustache out into a full beard made him trust him 100% more
That Brad Childress thinking that #4 would be a good QB for a team that has a good D and a good running game makes me trust him 1000% less
That Brad Childress must not have ever heard of Brad Johnson, Trent Dilfer, Jim McMahon. Seriously there’s a strong history of no-mistake QBs winning Super Bowls, why would you go after the mistake QB?
That the giant TVs aren’t the biggest mistake the Cowboys are making in their new stadium, the 20,000 standing room only tickets are. As an NFL season-ticket-holder, I can tell you that having someone steal your seat every time you get up will get old fast. Dallas security’s going to have their hands full
That my favorite thing about the punts-hitting-the-TVs issue is that every punter mentions Mike Scifres as the guy that will force the issue. Scifres has long been a less-than-secret weapon for the Chargers (and a personal favorite of mine) but to hear that every other punter/special teams coach in the league knows it just made my day
That Polamalu and Fitzgerald both will feel the wrath of Madden
That Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan both will regress slightly this year
That no rookie QB has as much success this year as either Flacco or Ryan did last year
That Orton struggles in Denver and that Cutler struggles in Chicago- but the Bears still make the playoffs anyway
That the Bengals, again, disappoint
That Jim Mora Jr should be required to use Brad Pitt’s accent from Inglourious Basterds in all his Press Conferences. So should Lane Kiffin
That no one has worse off-seasons after they’ve won the Super Bowl than Ben Roethlisberger
That the Steelers too will regress and but win the Central by default
That the Patriots will be good, but not that good
That the Colts won’t miss Dungy too much and will have a typical Colts season- 12 wins, 1 in the playoffs, ultimately fall short
That the Lions will win 4 games this year
That there are things you notice by going to preseason games year-after-year, and so I am qualified to tell you that the Chargers will cut Charly Martin, someone will pick him up, and he will then officially become the next Wes Welker (whom the Chargers also had, then cut)
That the Cowboys will make the playoffs but won’t win a playoff game
That Green Bay will really surprise some people. So will Houston
That the team that wins the Super Bowl this year won’t have made the playoffs in ’08
That I am ready for football season (editor’s note: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)