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Why Expanded Replay Will Not Fix NFL Officiating

Sunday, September 8th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

IR

This year will be the 20th anniversary of the NFL using replay to “get the call right”.

I don’t know anyone old enough to remember officiating before the installation of replay who thinks that it has improved the game. And yet, in no small measure to the tipping point of the Saints getting “jobbed” out of a Super Bowl appearance, the league is not only set to expand replay, but expand it in a way that second guesses the previously sacred “judgement calls”.

Last March, teams voted 31-1 to adopt a rule that will make pass interference reviewable. Based on that margin, the NFL has no idea of the Pandora’s Box it is opening.

The only thing for sure, I believe, is that this will lead to longer games.

The fundamental problem is one of mis-diagnosis. Sure, there are bad calls, and nothing can completely eliminate those. The more specific problems are the “No-calls”, which is what happened in last year’s NFC title game, and almost certainly sent the wrong team to the Super Bowl.

When the diagnosis is wrong, so too will be the treatment.

I’ll go as far as to say that expanded NFL replay will not only fail to improve officiating, but that replay in and of itself has made officiating worst.

To understand my contention, we should leave the realm of football and consider entertainers of another type:

The Flying Wallendas.

As many of you know, the Wallenda family has been walking high wires for years. One of the things that attract many to their exploits is the lack of a safety net. Either they get it right or they could literally die, as was the case with Karl Wallenda in 1978. As tragic as that was, given that there have been seven generations tempting fate, it is beyond remarkable that there haven’t been more fatalities. I attribute that to the conditions and environment in which they perform. Because there is no safety net, there is no place for complacency. Focus is not optional but is a lifesaving necessity.

In the NFL, instant replay has become a safety net for officials. I don’t necessarily believe this to be a conscious thing. In fact, I believe that the subconscious is even more intractable. Just as I do not believe the Wallendas would be as focused if they knew that there was not a safety net below them, I do not believe that NFL officials would miss as much if they did not have instant replay.

To put it another way, I do not believe that Prince would have taught himself how to play 27 different instruments had the technology of today existed when he came up. Necessity and conditions greatly influence performance.

Add to this the fact that officials were emboldened during their last work stoppage by how abysmal their replacements were and the embarrassment it caused the league. There is a correlation between one’s notion of how much he is needed and his complacency.

In the case of many, such as recently retired Ed Hochuli, who is an attorney and worth about $6 million, officiating was never vital to his financial wellbeing.

So how do we fix NFL officiating?

 

  • I believe the answer is counter-intuitive. We don’t need to expand replay, we need to reduce replay. It should be limited to inbounds, scoring, and turnovers. That is it. Some may contend that first downs should be included. If you do you are extending the game;
  • Fire the bad ones. A $200K a year weekend gig in which you keep your league paid travel miles and only work 6 months out of the year is a privilege, not a right. Most officials are like Hochuli and have day jobs. They will survive.
  • Understand that perfection is not the enemy of the good. No system is going to eliminate all bad and missed calls. If you want to make EVERYTHING reviewable within the last 2 minutes of the game, fine. That would have corrected the missed call between LA/NO.

An acronym for the NFL is “not for long”. Players and coaches have long known this if they did not perform. It should have the exact same meaning for officials.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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Giving Credit…Even if Grudgingly…Where Credit is Due

Wednesday, February 6th, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of DesigningSports.com

Photo courtesy of DesigningSports.com

Let us cut right to the chase: I hate the New England Patriots with a passion impossible to describe in words.

I am sure that I speak for most folks in America outside of the Northeastern part of the country.

It is a team on my short list of most hated, along with Notre Dame Football, Duke Basketball, the Celtics, and the Dodgers.

Contrary to popular belief, there is a method to the madness of hate. For me, within the larger American sports media culture, any team portrayed as the “good guys”, I hate. It is similar to the epiphany the great James Baldwin had when reflecting on how he grew up rooting for the cowboys in their conflicts with Native Americans. Either gradually or via a light bulb moment, he came to realize that there was no significant difference in how the cowboys, portrayed as the “good guys”, were treating Native Americans, and how America treated Black folks.

Simply put, any Black folks who root for the Cowboys are confused. I will allow you to determine of which Cowboys I speak.

It is within that context that I typically root for the “Villains”.

Having said all of that, if you are still one of the holdouts that cannot bring him or herself to acknowledge the greatness of the Belichik/Brady era New England Patriots, there is something seriously wrong with you.

With Sunday’s win, albeit boring, the Patriots have now tied my Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl titles with six.  Their 3 postseason wins this year give them 37, which allowed them to pass the Dallas Cowboys, who have 35, and my Steelers, with 36, for most of all time.

From an organizational consistency standpoint, a case can still be made for my Steelers, given that their level of greatness stretches back to the 70’s, over the span of multiple coaches and QB’s. From a sustained standpoint, the Niners still have a case, going from Montana/Walsh to Young/Siefert 1981-1994, and hardly skipping a beat. Those Niner teams missed the playoffs twice, had only one losing season, and a flawless 5-0 Super Bowl record.

However, for longevity of a single defining QB/Coach core, it is the New England Patriots and then everyone else. Over 18 years they have NEVER had a losing season and have missed the playoffs only twice. One of those missed playoffs seasons occurred when Brady went down with an injury for the season in the opening game. The team still won 11 games.

Still yet, their haters cling to three primary suggested asterisks: they cheat, they have had a weak division, and the owner, Bob Kraft, is a Trump supporter.

Even if all of this were true, the cumulative effect would not account for nine Super Bowl appearances and six wins in an 18-year span.

Let’s look at the cheating with so called “Spygate”. There is definitely an advantage in football if you know what your opponent is going to do. However, that was exposed before the 2007 season. They went 18-1 that year and have won three more Super Bowls since. To suggest that this has been the primary reason for their success is like saying steroids were the primary reason for Roger Clemons and Barry Bonds’ success. Both suppositions are ludicrous.

The “Deflategate” nonsense does not even warrant the space or time to dismiss.

Then there is “they have been in a weak division”. Has anyone ever considered that the 9-7 Bills, Jets, or Dolphins team would have been 10-6 and a likely playoff team if they just could manage a split with the Patriots? Furthermore, while the Broncos have held their own overall, as well as the Ravens in the playoffs, the Patriots have been as dominant over the best AFC teams over that era as they have been within their own division. During the past 18 years, against the other 4 AFC teams to win Super Bowls, which are the Broncos, Ravens, Steelers, and Colts, the Patriots are 44-20, which is a .687 winning percentage.

DTThe last one is not even football based: The owner, Robert Kraft, is a Trump supporter. This is likely true of most of the other owners as well. They are “Made Men”, even among the 1%, and with that makeup, the single demographic that can cite a tangible reason to have supported Trump: HE PROTECTS THEIR LOOT!

One of the more amazing things about the Patriots is that there has only been one year when one can say that they were clearly the most talented team and that was the 2007/18-1 team.

That team DID NOT win the Super Bowl.

One of the signs of emotional maturity is the capacity to lay aside one’s passions to engage in a reality-based assessment of a situation. Anyone who does this and looks at the Patriots’ body of work over the past 18 years can only come to one conclusion: they are some bad MF’s.

If you cannot do this, it says much more about you than it does them. My suggestion: GROW UP, and give credit where credit is due!

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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The 10-Year Super Bowl Rematch Rule

Sunday, February 3rd, 2019

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

SB

Tonight will be the 8th Super Bowl rematch.

There is an interesting pattern that may be a predictor of tonight’s winner.

I call it the 10-year rematch rule, which shows that when the two franchises meet again, at least 10 years later, the loser of the first meeting wins the second meeting.

There are 3 precedents: Washington lost to Miami after the 1972 season, but won after the 1982 season. Pittsburgh beat Dallas after the 1978 season, but lost to the Cowboys after the 1995 season. Philly lost to New England after the 2004 season, but won last year.

When the rematch is inside 10 years, the same team wins both: Steelers over Cowboys after the 1975 and 1978 seasons, Niners over Bengals after the 1981 and 1988 seasons, Cowboys over Bills after the 1992 and 1993 seasons, and the Giants over the Patriots after the 2007 and 2011 seasons.

SB XXXVI (Getty Images/Ringer Illustration)

SB XXXVI (Getty Images/Ringer Illustration)

So, according to this pattern, the Rams will win tonight.

Yes, I’m grasping at straws. It’s been a tough year for #SteelerNation and I have no interest in it being topped off by the Patriots joining us on top of the Super Bowl ring mountain.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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The Crap Shoot Called the NFL Draft

Tuesday, May 1st, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

2011 NFL Draft

That annual rite of sports passage is mercifully over.

I am referring to the National Football League draft, which is quite possibly the single most over-analyzed, unscientific spectacle in American society.
Without even going into the aspect that has an undeniable slave auction feel and optics, can you think of any other event in America that has produced more self-appointed experts with less reliable outcomes than the NFL draft?

It’s not that the Mel Kipers of the world don’t do their homework. Most of them do. It’s not that the information provided is useless. Some of it is valuable.

The reason why the draft is largely a crap shoot is because no matter how sound the information gathered about a player, it is impossible to predict, with any degree of certainty how a 21-22 year old man will react to the NFL cultural environment. It’s bigger than just the football itself. First round picks become instant millionaires. In college, none have an abundance of expendable cash. In college, he must study subject matter he may not care about for the sake of staying eligible. In college, he did not have a multitude of parasitic people around him, some of whom are his own family. He will have that in addition to opportunistic women in the NFL. Lottery winners twice their age do not have a good track record of handling such a situation and we actually believe that we can forecast how a 20-something who has not even reached full brain maturity will?

Human behavior and performance is actually relatively predictable based on past behavior and performance. The wildcard caveat to such forecasts is that one must be able to replicate the environment and circumstances under which that past behavior and performance occurred. The best college football programs cannot replicate the NFL culture for their players.

This is why so few teams have a long track record of quality drafting. As a matter of fact, only one team comes to mind that has mastered this process over multiple generations and it is not the New England Patriots. The Patriots’ success is almost exclusively a function of the Tom Brady/ Bill Belichick era and let’s be honest, they got lucky with Brady. How else can you describe it when they waited until the 6th round to pick him? Do you really believe they would have waited that long had they had any inkling he would be what he has been? The other side draft benefit to having this sustained greatness for nearly 20 years at OB is that they have not had to take a QB in the first round. First round QBs are the most expensive picks and therefore the Patriots have had more cap space to pursue other players.

Call it “homerism” if you’d like, but the team that has had the most sustained draft success since the 1970 merger has been my own PITTSBURGH STEELERS!

That year was the last time the Steelers had the overall number 1 pick, which the team used on Terry Bradshaw. He is now in the Hall of Fame! Since then:

  • The Steelers have been the only team that has won at least 5 games every year. The Cowboys have hit rock bottom (4-28 in 1988-89). The 49ers have hit rock bottom (4-28 in 1978-79) and recently. The Patriots hit rock bottom on multiple occasions (9-39 from 1990-92 and 2-14 in 1981) prior to their current run. The Steelers have never hit rock bottom;
    • Four of their first 5 picks in 1974 (Swann, Lambert, Stallworth and Webster) are all in the Hall of Fame. Safety Donnie Shell was a free agent from that same class, signed out of HBCU South Carolina State and went on to become a perennial Pro-Bowler and may have his Hall of Fame name called soon;
    • The entire 1979 Super Bowl Champions roster were made up completely of their own draft picks. That had not happened before or since; and
    • The Steelers have won the most post season games (36), games overall, and of course Super Bowls (6) since the merger in 1970.

The term we card-carrying members of Steeler Nation use to describe our draft acumen is “STEEL CERTAIN!” And still yet, even with our great history and success, in 1983 we took Gabe Rivera out of Texas Tech instead of homegrown Dan Marino. It took the organization about 10 years to become a consistent playoff team again and about 20 before Big Ben’s arrival put us back on the top. No team is above blowing it in the draft.

So the next time you find yourself watching the draft “analysts” pontificating about the grades of each team’s draft before any of the picks have put on the team pads and uniform, take it with a grain of salt. Enjoy it for the entertainment it may be and nothing else.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

 

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The Trouble with G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) Debates

Sunday, February 12th, 2017

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Image via KnowYourMeme.com

Image via KnowYourMeme.com

About a week ago, BEFORE the outcome of the Super Bowl, I made the case against Tom Brady being the G.O.A.T. …or more specifically, against the overly simplistic criteria of Super Bowl rings so many use to come to such a conclusion. Since the Patriots’ improbable comeback, social media has been inundated with claims that it validated his G.O.A.T. status.

 

Even before last week’s win, Brady was well within the conversation…even if the conversation itself is inherently flawed and incomplete. Why? Consider Joe Montana’s response to the question about Tom Brady.

 

“I think that it’s really hard to put anyone in that bucket,” he said. “Even before he got five-you look back to some of the guys some people don’t even know, Sammy Baugh or Otto Graham, I can’t remember which one but one of them won like seven or nine championships and was so far ahead of their time. It’s so hard to compare guys from then to now, how they would compare here and how we would compare back then.”

 

Maybe this is merely one competitor’s refusal to surrender the mythical throne to another, but even if it is, can it be denied that he has a point?

 

Here is the trouble with G.O.A.T. debates: 1) they wreak with recency bias; 2) they lack consideration for era context; and 3) its participants have no way to factor in the eye test.

 

Why are they subject to recency bias? Because it is a natural tendency of human memory. That is precisely why those running for political office try to get the last positive idea about themselves and/or negative idea about their opponent out before the actual election. Whatever is most recent is often deemed “better” or at the very least, most reliable. This is compounded as time goes by. As hard as it might be to comprehend, in 30-40 years some very knowledgeable basketball fans will be having a G.O.A.T. debate and it will not be open and shut that such a title will go to Michael Jordan. In fact, some will not even give MJ proper consideration. As ridiculous as that sounds, trust me, it will happen.

 

Then there is the lack of consideration for the context of eras. Regardless of the sport, different rules and circumstances provide for different challenges. So essentially, the comparisons are next to never “apples to apples”. For example, for most of Mel Blount’s career as the best corner of the 1970s, he could literally maul receivers all over the field until 1978 when the “one chuck within 5 yards” rule was implemented. Add that to the fact that he didn’t have to cover long playing on the back end of the Steelers “Steal Curtain” defense and pass rush. So as great as he was, how does one compare him to Deion Sanders as a cover corner?

 

How does one compare Johnny Unitas to Tom Brady, who faced the same 11 guys on defenses that were far less sophisticated when compared to today’s defenses? But Unitas also had to use receivers that had a much more difficult time getting open then any that Brady has had. Finally, defenders could actually rough up Unitas without getting the flag that they would get today against Brady.

 

The differences cannot be limited to sports factors alone. Our food supplies are different, one could argue for both the better and worst of that supply, I contend has led to bigger and stronger athletes, if not necessarily better. Thus, the more recent era produced a 300+ pounder named Shaquille O’Neal. It’s often said he would have knocked Bill Russel into the second row. But would he have been 300 pounds had he come along during Russel’s era? Would Russel have been a mere 215 pounds had he come up during Shaq’s era? Unless an adjustment is made for both, it’s as a ridiculous comparison as it would be comparing the production of a secretary with a typewriter with one that has a computer. Or the closure rate of a homicide detective with DNA with one before DNA.

 

The last factor in the flawed GOAT debates is the lack of the eye test. This is what stat junkies fall for all the time. Statistics alone do not provide the nuance that only actually watching an athlete does. In other words, consider sports greatness the same as the Supreme Court considers pornography: you may not be able to define it, but you know it when you SEE it.

 

Statistically, some will make the case for Andy Petite being a viable Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) candidate over other lefthanders such as Mickey Lolich, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, Vida Blue, or David Wells; none of whom are or ever will get into the HOF. I remember all five of them and trust me; Andy Petite, though a very good pitcher for many years, was not as good as any of them.

 

So how can we continue these flawed, but highly entertaining debates? One simple adjustment; instead of declaring who is the G.O.A.T., how about we simply limit it to the G.O.Y.T. or Greatest of Your Time? Under this banner, we are all qualified. Recency bias is not a factor, we can all speak to era context and we limit our assessment to those we have actually seen play.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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City of Atlanta Top 5 Sports Meltdowns

Tuesday, February 7th, 2017

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Devonta Freeman #24 of the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Bosher #5 react after losing to the New England Patriots 34-28 during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

HOUSTON, TX – FEBRUARY 05: Devonta Freeman #24 of the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Bosher #5 react after losing to the New England Patriots 34-28 during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Honorable mention: 1981 Falcons had a 2-touchdown, 4th quarter lead on the Cowboys at home in the NFC playoffs, only to give up 20 4th quarter points and lose 30-27.

 

Honorable mention: 2012 Falcons blow a 17-point lead at home in the NFC championship game, losing to the San Francisco 49ers

 

5) Twins outlast Braves in 7 games of the 1991 World Series on Jack Morris’ 10-inning, 1-0 shutout

ATL #5
4) 1996 Braves bring a 2-0 World Series lead over the “Stankees” back to Atlanta and proceed to lose 4 straight, as the defending champs

ATL #4

 

3) 1998 Falcons lose Super Bowl XXXIII to the Denver Broncos after their safety and NFL Man of the Year gets busted in a prostitution sting on South Beach in Miami, the night before the game

ATL #3

 

2) After winning game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semis in Boston, the 1988 Hawks bring a 3-2 lead back to Atlanta, only to lose in game 6 and then game 7 in Boston, overshadowing one of the greatest basketball duels ever, between Dominique Wilkins and Larry Bird

ATL #2

 

 

And the top Atlanta Sports meltdown of all time is……you know. LOL

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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The New England Patriots are Super Bowl Champions for a 5th Time!!!

Monday, February 6th, 2017

TB

For New England Patriots Super Bowl LI gear, click HERE or click the link below.
New England Patriots Super Bowl Championship Gear

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Why Tom Brady is NOT the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time)

Sunday, February 5th, 2017

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

TB

Tom Brady is a beast: a straight up mercenary of NFL defenses.

 

Don’t give me all the Spygate, Deflategate, or any other gate asterisks. As much as I would like to cite these factors as the reason he has tormented my Steelers so much, it just does not stand up to scrutiny.

 

Before the spying was revealed in 2007, the Patriots were 4-1 with him under center, including two playoff wins in Pittsburgh, against my Steelers. His touchdown to interception ratio was 7:3 and his QB rating was 97.9. Pretty damn good, right?

 

Since the spying was revealed, the Patriots are 5-1 with Brady under center, including scoring 55 points against my team in 2013, most ever against a Pittsburgh team. His TD/Interception ratio is 19:0 and his QB rating is 127.3.

 

No typos there, folks.

 

If they were spying before, I wish they would go back to spying today.

 

He is indeed on my Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks.

The case here isn’t that he is not on the shortlist of greatest of all time. Only that he is not THE greatest of all time, and that isn’t as much due to him as it is us. The primary thing we use to put Brady over say Aaron Rogers is Super Bowl rings. Why is that flawed? Because the “how many rings you got?” is the most superficial and intellectually lazy argument in sports.

 

If it’s all about the rings, then Jim Plunkett and Doug Williams were both better than Dan Fouts, right? Mark Rypien and Trent Dilfer were better than Dan Marino, right? Of course not, GTFOHWTBS!!!!

 

Likewise, Tom Brady is not better than Aaron Rogers or Joe Montana, just as Bill Russell was not better than Wilt Chamberlain or Mickey Mantle was not better than Willie Mays.

 

Football is the ultimate team sport. So how silly is it that we assign credit for winning Super Bowls to one position in these debates? Brady has been instrumental in the Patriots great run. He has not won Super Bowls by himself.

 

And even if we were inclined to credit him based on individual performances, Brady has been a shadow of his regular season self in the Super Bowls. Consider them one by one: against the Rams he was still in the game manager mold. His MVP in that game was as much based on sports writers’ anti-kicker and defense bias as it was Brady’s performance. Everyone knows Vinatieri was as or more valuable in that game. Against the Panthers he threw 3 interceptions. In other words, he kept both teams in the game.

 

Against the Eagles, Deion Branch won MVP. Any time a receiver, not named Jerry Rice, wins Super Bowl MVP, it’s an indictment of the QB performance. And don’t let me start on who the real MVP was that game, playing on a barely-heeled broken leg. Hint: the writers are still dissing him in HOF voting and his initials are T.O.!

 

Granted he torched Seattle, arguably the best defense that he has faced in any Super Bowl. But we all know that but for the worst call in football history (not just NFL but AFL, USFL, College, and High School), the Patriots don’t beat Seattle and Brady would be a .500 QB in Super Bowls going into tonight’s game. As a matter of fact, both he and Belichick are a few plays here and there from being 0-6 in SB’s.

 

By contrast, Joe Montana’s TD/Interception ratio in 4 Super Bowls is 11:0! That too, is not a typo.

 

So win or lose tonight, Tom Brady is not the greatest QB of all time.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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MY ATLANTA FALCONS ARE GOING BACK TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!

Monday, January 23rd, 2017

by Nwaji Jibunoh

Nwaji Blog

 

 

 

 

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn gets the infamous Gatorade bath.

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn gets the infamous Gatorade bath.

The date was January 17, 1999. I was in the West Towers Dormitory of Howard University. It was my sophomore year and The Atlanta Falcons had risen as the formidable force in the NFC. They had beaten the 49ers and were coming off a regular season 14-2 and were getting ready to go up against The No.1 seeded Vikings. The game went back and forth and The Vikings were keen on showing why they were pretty much unstoppable that season. When the game went into overtime, I felt as though this might be it. Two plays later and that man [Morten] Andersen kicked a FG that sent the Dirty Birds to the Super Bowl. “Elation” cannot explain the feeling I experienced until that elation quickly turned into despair only 2 weeks later, when the Falcons got a hiding at the hands of John Elway. Very painful…..let’s move on.

After that Super Bowl, the Dirty Birds became a regular NFL team that really didn’t accomplish much. We went from season to season just coasting along and remaining relevant in the NFL. It wasn’t until we drafted Michael Vick in 2001 that we began to see a resurgence of Atlanta magic at the Georgia Dome. Those years of having a deeply athletic elite QB made a big difference in some foundation work of where the Falcons would eventually end up. Then, the dog fight situation happened (grrrr), Vick gets suspended, and then we get a number 3 draft pick with Matt Ryan in 2008.

When Ryan joined the Falcons, I was optimistic given what he had done at Boston College. Since he joined, The Falcons have been to the playoffs 5 times where Matt was only able to record 1 win. Matt Ryan went from “Matty Ice” to “Matty can’t win in January”. 2012 was promising because we saw the Falcons go 13-3 in the regular season and then make it to the Conference Championship Game, only to be ousted by the San Francisco 49ers, even though the Falcons started off the game 17-0.

From that point up until now, we have barely broken .500 and not even gone to the playoffs. Last season, long time coach Mike Smith was replaced by Dan Quinn; a no nonsense thoroughbred Defensive coach that came up through the Seattle system. Immediately we saw a turnaround in the way the team played by starting out the 2015-2016 season 5-0, only to be hampered by injuries, bad situations on penalties costing us vital plays, and overall sloppiness. The season ended 8-8 and most fans were wondering what next and how do we build on these mistakes.

2016 started out promising.  Flashes of the previous season prevailed in certain games, but it wasn’t until the game against the Philadelphia Eagles in November that we began to see the Falcons firing on all cylinders, only losing one game from that point up until now, making it a 7-game winning streak going into the Super Bowl.

The last two games of the playoffs have been nothing short of a phenomenal display of the ability of this team. Beating teams with powerhouse quarterbacks such as [Russell] Wilson and [Aaron] Rogers shows just how far and how prepared this quad is. The offensive weaponry at the disposal of Matt Ryan justifies why he leads the league in touchdowns to several different receivers. Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu Jr are having epic seasons and the ground game controlled by [Tevin] Coleman and [Devonta] Freeman are just gems to watch. Then you have the mostly rookie defense who get stronger by the day.

All in all, it has been a fairytale story for the Falcons. From relative obscurity to playing in the Super Bowl for the second time in their history remains remarkable for fans like me that were introduced to this franchise via association, by living in the city.

Sunday, February 5th, the Dirty Birds will have the opportunity to take us back to the days of Jamal Anderson and the antics that defined the Dirty Bird, but this time flying away sky high in Texas.

 

Nwaji Jibunoh, International Correspondent for War Room Sports

Located in Lagos, Nigeria, Nwaji Jibunoh is War Room Sports’ International Soccer Contributor.  Nwaji also contributes commentary on U.S. sports from an international perspective.  He’s an Atlanta Falcons fan, Howard University alum, and former tight end for the North Atlanta High School Warriors.

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Dear Steeler Nation Mike Tomlin Ingrates: Take a Seat and Shut the F#%& up!!!!

Sunday, January 15th, 2017

Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

MT

The divisional round of the NFL playoffs are underway this weekend.  If your team is still alive with the hope of reaching and winning a super bowl, be grateful.

 

After all, you could be a Bills, Vikings, or Browns fan.

 

This brings me to the baffling criticism more than a few of my fellow members of Steeler Nation have for head coach Mike Tomlin. Yes, that Mike Tomlin.  The Super Bowl winning coach with a 64% lifetime winning percentage; the same one who has not had a losing season in his first ten.

 

A summary of the critique is that he was a token fast-track hire due to the Rooney Rule, which is the NFL rule that mandates a minority coach be interviewed for all head-coaching jobs; 2) he inherited a great team, and situation with an upper echelon QB in Ben Roethlisberger; and 3) that he has lost to a lot of bad teams.

 

Let’s address them all from the last forward:

 

Under Tomlin the Pittsburgh Steelers have absolutely loss to a lot of bad teams.  There is no way around this.  Even if we overlook losses in 2012 and 2013 when the team was only 8-8 itself, there is still more than enough of a sample of mind boggling losses to include 3 in 2009 as defending champs to the likes of a 4-12 Chiefs team, and 5-11 Raiders and Browns teams.  (The Raiders loss was especially appalling, given it was at home to a career backup journeyman QB.  Tomlin has gone 1-3 to very bad Raider teams).  In 2014 there was the home loss to the 2-14 Buccaneers and another loss to a 4-12 Jets team.  And who can forget the playoff loss to a Denver team in 2011 as defending AFC champs?   Yes, by definition that Denver team was not a bad team, by virtue of making it to the playoffs.  But you still can’t lose to a team led by Tim Tebow.

 

So that criticism is valid and is on Tomlin.

 

The other two are crap!

 

Was Tomlin handed a great situation, team, and upper echelon QB?  The answer to that is mixed:  yes, great situation for the stability the Steelers management provides but Ben was hardly an upper echelon QB at the time.  As matter of fact, he was coming off his worst year as a pro, throwing 23 picks in 2006.  Upon Tomlin’s arrival in 2007 he had one of his best two years of his career.  Has it ever occurred to any of Tomlin’s haters that just maybe he has had as much of a hand in Ben’s success as the other way around?

 

Sure, the team was a year removed from winning it all in 2005, but went 8-8 and missed the playoffs in Bill Cowher’s last year of 2006.  I would not call that great.

 

Has it occurred to you that Tomlin might know something about coaching, even without Ben?  After all, in the 17 games Ben did not start under Tomlin, the Steelers actually have a winning record (9-8), including a 3-1 start in 2010, when Ben was suspended.  When Bill Belichick started this year at 3-1 without Tom Brady, it was lauded as evidence of his coaching brilliance.  Why not the same for Tomlin?

 

I am not suggesting that he is as good a coach as Belichick.  He is not!  I only insist that our critiques have a semblance of consistency.  The fact is that over his career, Belichick is 50-53 in games not started by Tom Brady.  Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy is 3-5-1 when Aaron Rogers does not start. Sean Peyton is 0-2 without Drew Brees for the Saints.  Winning consistently with or without an upper echelon QB is nowhere near as easy as this faction of Steeler Nation would have you believe.

 

How have others done who have inherited even better situations?  Let’s look at when George Seifert took over the reins from Bill Walsh for the 49ers, and when Barry Switzer took over for Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys.  Both inherited SB champs and HOF QBs in Montana and Aikman, much further along in their development than was Ben when Tomlin took over the Steelers.  Seifert would repeat in ’89 and win yet again in ’94.  After 8 years, he won over 70% of his games.

 

A cautionary tale for Steeler nation is that it wasn’t enough for the 49er faithful and they ran him out of town.

 

They have not won a SB since.

 

Switzer won in his second year in 1995, then presided over the gradual decline of the Cowboys to become an afterthought by the late 1990s.  Only now are they beginning to emerge from the wilderness.

 

I ask you Steeler Nation: would you rather have had Barry Switzer?

 

Winning consistently in the NFL is never a sure thing.

 

Winning Super Bowls, even with a HOF caliber coach and QB is even less of a sure thing.

 

There have been a total of 5 such combinations over this era to include Shula/Unitas, Allen/Juergensen, Grant/Tarkenton, Shula/Marino and Levy/Kelly that NEVER won a Super Bowl.  This group of 5 has a cumulative record in the super bowl of 0-10!!!!!!

 

Sure, Shula won when paired with Griese, but the point remains that they don’t grow Super Bowl winning coaches on trees, nor are they bottled and sold.

 

The last suggestion (which is that Tomlin’s hire was tokenism) is as insulting to the Rooneys as it is to Tomlin.

 

If any organization in sports deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to which coach to hire, it is the Pittsburgh Steelers.  When they picked Tomlin to be their coach, they had only two for the better part of the previous 40 years.  Both won Super Bowls.  Tomlin has won a Super Bowl.  They got this!

 

If those of the football world were only as outraged by the reasons for the Rooney Rule as they are about the Rooney Rule, we may not need a Rooney Rule!

 

On an even larger level, the snipes at Tomlin reflect a larger, uglier American reality reaffirmed by the recent presidential election.  The simmering narrative that anyone Black who ascends to a position of prestige and or privilege did so without merit and at the expense of “hard-working Americans”, which is dog-whistle-code for “White folks.”

 

When Ronald Reagan employed his brand of the “Southern Strategy” to lure what would become known as “Reagan Democrats,” ground zero for this demographic was the greater Pittsburgh, PA region. As the steel mills of the area closed, Steeler fans spread all over the country, which is what in part makes up Steeler Nation today, but that mindset is as prevalent today as it was when Reagan won the White House in 1980.   Donald Trump used the same formula, only on steroids, to win the same office in November.

 

As for solutions, within football alone, there aren’t any.  If Tomlin continues to win, it’s what he is supposed to do with all that was “given” to him.  If he does not, it’s validation that he is not a good coach and should have never gotten the job.  He could walk on water and his critics will complain that his feet got wet.

 

This solution is above and beyond football and requires the critics to look at themselves in the mirror and reassess their expectations. This requires rational self-assessment…..a quality that fanatics (fans) have very little history of displaying.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

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