<\/p>\n
Thies’ Statements: Shawne Merriman, Pete Carroll, Football! Ryan Thies is back for the second part of this week’s Thies’ Statements\u2014today’s is an all-football edition! Things I think\u2026 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\u2019s knee. <\/span>The pass rush, and the entire defense- and the entire team- all depend on his gimpy knee That Seahawks fans don\u2019t quite get the 12th<\/sup> Man concept. <\/span>You see, that\u2019s not a good rallying cry when you\u2019re on the road guys That more than his championships or charity work, Pete Carroll\u2019s tweet to all his incoming freshmen offering to help them move finally made me start to like the coach That I can\u2019t put my finger on it, but I just don\u2019t trust Rick Neuheisel- as a coach or otherwise <\/span> That there is never a good time to be on the 405. <\/span>Not sports related I know but I just felt like sharing That Tim Tebow won\u2019t be a good NFL QB That Mike and I have both said it repeatedly, but the 4th<\/sup> quarter of a preseason NFL game is the most exciting 15 minutes in all of sports. <\/span>An NFL player trying to make the 53 man roster is literally playing for his livelihood. <\/span>He makes the team, he makes $300k; he gets cut, he\u2019s sleeping on his mom\u2019s couch. <\/span>What would you do if you had 15 minutes to try and make $300k? That Norm Chow at UCLA is the poor-man\u2019s Brett Favre to the Vikings That that will be the last time I mention #4 by name (and I don\u2019t 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. <\/span>Seriously there\u2019s a strong history of no-mistake QBs winning Super Bowls, why would you go after the<\/em><\/span> mistake QB? <\/span> That the giant TVs aren\u2019t the biggest mistake the Cowboys are making in their new stadium, the 20,000 standing room only tickets are. <\/span>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. <\/span>Dallas security\u2019s 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<\/em><\/span> guy that will force the issue. <\/span>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 <\/span> That no rookie QB has as much success this year as either Flacco or Ryan did last year <\/span> 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\u2019s accent from Inglourious Basterds in all his Press Conferences. <\/span>So should Lane Kiffin That no one has worse off-seasons after they\u2019ve 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<\/em><\/span> good That the Colts won\u2019t 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\u2019t win a playoff game That Green Bay will really surprise some people. <\/span>So will Houston That the team that wins the Super Bowl this year won\u2019t have made the playoffs in \u201908 That I am ready for football season (editor’s note: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ryan Thies is back for the second part of this week’s Thies’ 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