Monday, January 10, 2005
Browner to the NFL
All the speculation has turned into a formal announcement from the university. Brandon Browner has decided to enter the NFL draft. Actually, this doesn't really bother me. I keep reading about how big and fast this guy is. How he has the potential to be great. How Aric Williams got so much work because teams avoided Browner. Ehh... I just don't buy it. Did teams avoid Browner? Yes to a degree. Did teams have success when they through at him? More than he would want to admit. Did it mean a completion? Not necessarily. Browner has an uncanny ability for not locating the ball and as such got caught, quite regulary I might add, grabbing, holding or otherwise interfering with a receiver as the ball passed right over his shoulders. For his career he had 15 passes defended. This season alone he had 17 penalties against him for holding/interference. Heck, in what turned out to be his final collegiate game he turned into Notre Dame's most effective offensive weapon. It went something like this; 3rd and long, throw in the direction of Browner, defensive penalty, 1st down. Potential, maybe, NFL ready, not yet.
Granted the rules in college permit face guarding (being able to raise your arms and deflect a pass without locating the ball), but to think this sort of game will fly in the NFL where face guarding is not permitted is ludicrous. Add in the new stricter rules on DB's and contact with receivers and this guy is toast waiting to be burnt. He would have better served himself by staying another year and really working on his ability to locate the ball while in the air. If he has all the speed it should be no issue for him to run with receivers and locate the ball as they have to in order to catch it. I think he's been getting some bad advice from someone looking to profit from this (agents). I know everyone situation is different and perhaps he has good reason to chase the $ at this point. I just think he is being short sighted and I believe with another year and improved ability he could have greatly improved his value to the NFL. Only time will tell. Best of luck BB.
Granted the rules in college permit face guarding (being able to raise your arms and deflect a pass without locating the ball), but to think this sort of game will fly in the NFL where face guarding is not permitted is ludicrous. Add in the new stricter rules on DB's and contact with receivers and this guy is toast waiting to be burnt. He would have better served himself by staying another year and really working on his ability to locate the ball while in the air. If he has all the speed it should be no issue for him to run with receivers and locate the ball as they have to in order to catch it. I think he's been getting some bad advice from someone looking to profit from this (agents). I know everyone situation is different and perhaps he has good reason to chase the $ at this point. I just think he is being short sighted and I believe with another year and improved ability he could have greatly improved his value to the NFL. Only time will tell. Best of luck BB.
Monday, January 03, 2005
What Game? (Insight Bowl Commentary)
Last Tuesday I tuned in to watch my beloved Beavers play in the Insight bowl but instead was treated to a 3 hour commercial for Notre Dame University. It was really rather touching. Do you remember the movie Rudy? Apparently someone has formed a university based on the school that Rudy played for in the movie. Cute concept. Complete with Gold Helmets and everything. They are even using the same name, Notre Dame. Now like any university they are experiencing those early growing pains, and apparently had some issue with their football coach. I actually felt sorry for these poor guys. Then in the background I saw George Gillett catch a TD pass from DA and it was 7-0 Beavs. Wait a minute this is ND, and we are OSU, this is supposed to be a mismatch. And it was yet again.
A blocked punt and TD catches by Joe Newton and Dan Haines and a mere 10 total yards by ND over the next 15 minutes made it 21-0 Beavs and the mismatch was made clear. Yet again the Beavs were superior in every aspect of the game (OK except for running the ball, but who cares). They knew we were going to pass and still could do nothing about it. If the normally spectacular Mike Hass snags two balls that go off his normally reliable hands this game is even uglier. yet, the blah, blah, blah about ND goes on. How many times did I have to look at that stupid leprechaun? Where was Benny? You know the mascot for the team that was winning. The school that for the first time in school history was in their 3rd consecutive bowl. The team in their 5th bowl in 6 years after being shutout for 38. The team with the QB with the second most yards ever by a Pac-10 QB. Hardly a word about any of this because we were wearing black, not green and gold. For the record the final was 38-21 but the game never really seemed this close.
After playing ND twice in the past four years and outscoring them by a combined 79-30 I have made some observations. First, on both occasions the Beavers were clearly the better team. Second, on both occasions the Beavers got little to no of the commentary and when they did it was mostly negative (2001 Fiesta Bowl). Trust me, there is no better day in my life than that sunny January 1st of '01 as the Beavs embarrassed this historic program, but now I'm done with them. I would be happy to take the 2-0 record and never see ND again. Not because we can't beat them, but there is nothing left to gain. Now, I am not saying that we have passed ND as a program, far from it. But always having to deal with the history of ND and them getting 90% of the focus win or lose won't work. The Fiesta bowl was a monumental game, one that helped propel the program to where it is today. But this latest matchup didn't cut it. I'm elated with the win, but would have rather taken my chances against a better Purdue team and at least get a 60/40 split on the air time. Then maybe if we win at least some of the focus is on our team and institution.
Am I jealous of ND, of course. I would love to have KBEV cover every Beaver game on national TV with homer type announcers. In fact, I'd be first in line for the job. But, ain't gonna happen. So here's hoping to more evenly matched bowl games in the future. I'm referring to exposure of course, still dreaming of blow outs on the scoreboard.
Great finish guys!!! Here's looking forward to 2005.
2005 Projected Starters
A blocked punt and TD catches by Joe Newton and Dan Haines and a mere 10 total yards by ND over the next 15 minutes made it 21-0 Beavs and the mismatch was made clear. Yet again the Beavs were superior in every aspect of the game (OK except for running the ball, but who cares). They knew we were going to pass and still could do nothing about it. If the normally spectacular Mike Hass snags two balls that go off his normally reliable hands this game is even uglier. yet, the blah, blah, blah about ND goes on. How many times did I have to look at that stupid leprechaun? Where was Benny? You know the mascot for the team that was winning. The school that for the first time in school history was in their 3rd consecutive bowl. The team in their 5th bowl in 6 years after being shutout for 38. The team with the QB with the second most yards ever by a Pac-10 QB. Hardly a word about any of this because we were wearing black, not green and gold. For the record the final was 38-21 but the game never really seemed this close.
After playing ND twice in the past four years and outscoring them by a combined 79-30 I have made some observations. First, on both occasions the Beavers were clearly the better team. Second, on both occasions the Beavers got little to no of the commentary and when they did it was mostly negative (2001 Fiesta Bowl). Trust me, there is no better day in my life than that sunny January 1st of '01 as the Beavs embarrassed this historic program, but now I'm done with them. I would be happy to take the 2-0 record and never see ND again. Not because we can't beat them, but there is nothing left to gain. Now, I am not saying that we have passed ND as a program, far from it. But always having to deal with the history of ND and them getting 90% of the focus win or lose won't work. The Fiesta bowl was a monumental game, one that helped propel the program to where it is today. But this latest matchup didn't cut it. I'm elated with the win, but would have rather taken my chances against a better Purdue team and at least get a 60/40 split on the air time. Then maybe if we win at least some of the focus is on our team and institution.
Am I jealous of ND, of course. I would love to have KBEV cover every Beaver game on national TV with homer type announcers. In fact, I'd be first in line for the job. But, ain't gonna happen. So here's hoping to more evenly matched bowl games in the future. I'm referring to exposure of course, still dreaming of blow outs on the scoreboard.
Great finish guys!!! Here's looking forward to 2005.
2005 Projected Starters
