Let's Get Dangerous

Mental health break today.

If there is a superhero with a better theme song than Darkwing Duck, I would like to meet that superhero.

Armchair Quarterbacking

ESPN columnist Gregg Easterbrook's edition of "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" from last week caught my eye with a couple of really salient points. Among the questions posed in his exegesis:

Is coaching overrated? (Don't know that I agree, but Easterbrook's larger point - that it's easy as hell to second-guess, and just because it's easy doesn't mean you know what the f____ you're talking about - is above dispute.)

Do the football gods have creative ways of punishing those who defy them? (Scroll near the end and see the curious fates of Nebraska & Texas Tech in recent weeks.)

Should we be concerned about the upcoming palindrome day on January 2nd, 2010? (Look at it - 01022010...reverse the numbers and it's still...01022010.)

Most convincing though was the solid debunking of the myth that the "Wildcat offense" currently sweeping the offices of football coaches at every level - heck, even Notre Dame is running it - is some sort of trick-play gimmick.

Why is the Wildcat being called a gimmick? Nobody says it's a gimmick when the Patriots run the shotgun spread. Nobody says it's a gimmick when the Steelers or Packers go with an empty backfield. There's a presumption that only a conventional set with a quarterback standing in the pocket counts as real offense. Offense is yards gained! On Sunday night against the Giants, the Cardinals put defensive back Antrel Rolle behind center in a Wildcat formation. Surely the Cardinals' coaches thought Jersey/A would assume run, and be surprised when Rolle threw. This worked so well that Larry Fitzgerald even seemed surprised when the pass hit him right on the hands, and he dropped the ball. (A penalty wiped Rolle's attempt off the stat sheet.) Had the play worked, that would have been yards gained, plus pretty entertaining. Probably various touts and former jocks in the sports media object to the Wildcat because they didn't think of it first.

And really, what exactly was there to think of? It's a running play! Just because you cut out the middle man and the process of handing off doesn't mystifyingly make it some sort of triple-reverse gadget play. Follow the link for the full series of notes and musings, they're all worth your time.