The Regression of Robert Griffin III

Robert Griffin III has become a baby. He's become self-absorbed, self-pitying, and all in all, preoccupied with himself over anyone else. During his time in the NFL, RG3 has regressed from a poised team-oriented leader to a self-centered star whose commercials are more impressive than his on-field play.

Following RG3 through Baylor, I never expected him to get to this point, during his time in college, he was a fantastic leader, a responsible kid, and everything you'd want in a franchise quarterback.

But the regression started on April 3rd, when RG3 "respectfully" refused to workout for the Indianapolis Colts on account of their infatuation with Andrew Luck. Understandable to a certain extent, if Jim Irsay called ME and asked me to workout when I knew he had little interest, I would have said no too.

However, when you snowball, everything seems like a warning sign, but things continued to get worse.

Over the offseason, RG3 made everything about him, he pitted himself against his head coach by allowing them to take responsibility for putting him in harms way. At some point, RG3 even had the audacity to say he wanted to be used more like Peyton Manning and sent a message of "I don't want to run for you, I want to throw."

It hasn't worked. RG3 has thrown twice as many interceptions than last year through ten games. His QB rating went from 73.2 to an unimpressive 45.2 and his completion percentage has taken a 6 point dip.

Robert Griffin Jr. is starting to look pretty stupid for all the criticism for Shanahan opting to use a player his organization pays millions of dollars the way he pleases.

Even without RG3 having many designed runs, he's still succeeded to do the reckless plays surrounding this paragraph.

RG3 seems to have developed Michael "rag-doll" Vick syndrome. He holds onto the ball for a while, and is a little guy, who gets beat up.

The difference between Michael Vick and RG3 you ask? Maturity and ownership. Michael Vick has never so much as said a single negative word pertaining to his offensive line, or his receivers, but RG3 has:

The problem
I wasn't sure if I was the only one who scratched my head Sunday evening when RG3 said the reason he threw a gift-wrapped floater to defensive back Brandon Boykin in the endzone on a huge third down while down by eight late in the fourth was "nobody got open, and I was backing up...."

So here you are, throwing a lame duck into the middle of the endzone, on third down, and you don't say "I should've made a better play, you say "nobody got open."

RG3 went on to say that the Eagles knew their plays, basically insinuating that his team was out-coached in addition to his receivers and offensive line screwing him over.

Ironically enough, Tom Brady threw a late game interception the next night, and while sports fan worldwide are screaming about a picked up defensive holding/PI flag, Brady didn't see a need to throw shade on others.

Brady took complete ownership, almost to the point of unnecessary nature.

"We shot ourselves in the foot sometimes... I wish it wouldn't have come down to [the call]." Brady went on to take complete ownership for the play, "That was a big play in the game and we didn't come up with it... I was a little indecisive and it wasn't a great throw, no excuses, it should have been a better throw."

Tom Brady gets hosed by a blown call, and when he gets up on that podium, he focuses on the team (notice the constant use of the word we in any of Brady's interviews) and then he takes ownership for not putting his team in the best position to win the game.

RG3 throws a terrible pass in the middle of the endzone and gets picked off to end a season, and all he can do is blame his receivers.

For the record:

Griffin did have a receiver open according to anybody watching the tape.

Santana Moss is sick and tired of RG3 calling him out on a local radio station.

"If we're going to win games, we need to win games with our guy saying, 'At the end of the day, I didn't make a play,' regardless of if it wasn't him," Moss told D.C. radio station 106.7 The Fan in an interview with hosts LaVar Arrington and Chad Dukes. "And that's how I feel. Because that's what we're out there to do."

It's safe to say Mike Shanahan can personally thank RG3 for his early retirement at the end of this season.

5 reasons why I want Richard Sherman on MY team

Stanford Grad, All-Pro Cornerback Richard Sherman is-well- polarizing. He's a loudmouth, arrogant, physical cornerback who can, and will, dominate any receiver in the league. The problem: he isn't afraid to let ya know it. He's a more talented version of former Raven, current Eagle, Cary Williams. The difference between him and every other chippy corner, he can back this talk up better than Nick Foles can back up Michael Vick right now.

The first reason you want Sherman is obvious, he's the best in the league. In two seasons and eleven games, Sherman has 16 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles and countless angry opponents. He achieves something not many can, he cuts the field in half. Wanna be a stupid quarterback? Throw it to Richard Sherman.



The second reason requires no words:

Any man bad enough to go toe-to-toe with a 320 pound offensive tackle and say "do it then, boy" to his angry "I'm gunna punch you in the f****** face" is somebody who I want on my team, but the fact that he had the audacity to laugh three seconds after recieving the haymaker would make "hypothetical GM version of me" willing to trade an entire draft for this superhuman defensive back.





The third reason:

You might think Richard Sherman is ignorant judging by his on-the-field antics, but you'd be wrong with that assumption. Mr. Sherman has an undergraduate degree in Communications from Stanford University. Sherman's good friends? They include Andrew Luck, the newest golden boy of the NFL. He has been quoted using words such as "perspicacious" and "vernacular" in interviews- so yeah- he's no dummy.

Number four?
He proudly identifies himself as a member of the "Legion of Boom" and while the nickname is badass in and of itself, he backs it up. Sherman isn't just a great cover corner, he's not just a perfectly physical guy on the edge in addition to great trash talking skills- Sherman will hit ya, and he'll hit ya hard.

Number Five:

He doesn't give a damn about what anyone thinks about him. During super bowl weekend, Sherman took a stroll through New Orleans with a camera crew, asking unsuspecting fans who was better "Revis or Sherman" as countless fans unknowingly told Sherman that he was "on that adderall" and "a pumpkinhead" he laughed and waited for his moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi_ly7HTSzk

Unpopular Opinion

Andy Reid Still Hasn't Impressed Me

So here's the thing. Andy Reid inhereted a 4-12 football team with SIX pro bowlers and the best running back in the NFL. I'm not saying he's a bad coach, but I am saying that just because he's beaten 9 sub-.500 teams and a slew of backup quarterbacks, doesn't make him fit to sit in with the company people are throwing him into. It wasn't a tough formula to crack, coach a team with six pro bowlers, trade for an unwanted quarterback with a solid ability to NOT lose games, and play a weak schedule!

If you want to crown Andy Reid, wait until the post season, or until the end of this Broncos game if you can't contain yourself. But just some food for thought: Andy Reid's biggest knock in Philly was he drafted poorly, he drafted stiff after stiff after stiff (Nate Allen in the 2nd round? Casey Matthews? Kurt Coleman? DANNY WATKINS 23rd OVERALL) and while his ability to run the ball more than 15 times a game and winning games has changed, his drafting incompetency hasn't ceased to exist. Erik Fischer wasn't just the first pick in the draft, he's the only influencial player from that draft on the team right now. Do you know anything remarkable about Travis Kelce other than his Philadelphia Eagle brother Jason's beard? Didn't think so. How about Knile Davis or Nico Johnson? No? Okay. Then let's pump the brakes on this appraisal.

When I've brought this up with people, they always say "numbers don't lie," "nine and zero is nine and zero" but that is like saying "65 downhill is the same as 65 uphill". It's wrong. One requires a lot of hard work and battling and incapability to take your foot off the gas, the other requires the ability to stay on the gas just long enough to maintain your goal.

The bottom line, that we all need to remember is that Andy Reid isn't a terrible coach, did he misuse Michael Vick? yeah. But at the end of the day Andy Reid is the equivalent of Joe Flacco, not good enough to be considered elite, but good enough to demand elite conversations and privileges. Andy Reid is a great coach, when he isn't drafting players. If you go get a smart guy who knows a sure thing when he sees one to pick the players (Joe Banner) and tell Andy Reid to focus on his offense and let a great defensive coordinator take care of that side of the ball (Jim Johnson, may God rest his soul) you can go to four straight championships, or start an easy schedule off flawlessly. It's when you give him full personnel control and marry him for five years, you're going to pay more than the shocks on the front passenger side of a Reid family car.

The Art of a Sideline Tantrum

Peyton Manning storms off the field after succumbing to a goal line stand, throwing three consecutive incomplete passes, and forcing his team to settle for a late-game field goal in a Monday showdown against the Rams. His emphatic "Dammit" can probably be heard from the expensive seats by the end zone, and every single viewer of the NFL Films special published a few months later. Moments later, any skilled cameraman in the building has their eyes on Peyton screaming at pro bowl center Jeff Saturday. "Quit calling the f****** plays", Peyton's NFL Films mic picks up, and his enraged demonstrations affirms any doubts that he's pretty pissed off.

This is considered leadership.

Tom Brady lights into then Offensive Coordinator Bill O'brien for criticizing an interception in a 34-27 win.

This is considered competitive spirit.

Dez Bryant flails his arms in encouragement at Tony Romo and his offensive coordinator, passionately begging for them to run plays toward him and quoted as saying "that's what we do, we're the best in the league at that" and "they can't stop us".

This is considered a tantrum.

The difference between Tom Brady/Peyton Manning and Dez Bryant is obvious, two of them are clean cut, well spoken men who are future hall of famers, the other is a flashy receiver with an attitude problem and a checkered past. However, if we put this in a social vacuum, and discount all previous accounts of super  bowl greatness, prostitute mothers and illegitimate dinners with the best defensive back in NFL history, are we singing the same song?

Dez has a temper issue, sure. So does Tom Brady, but when he blows up on a receiver who dropped a pass we smile and commend him for his intensity and love for the game. Dez is just what the Cowboys should be asking for, somebody who wants to win more than he wants to go on one more date with Jessica Simpson. Dez is somebody who is more impressive on the field than in a fantasy league, and somebody who doesn't just want-but will perform with- the ball in his hands in the defining moments of a game. Before the tantrum, did you catch the freakish one handed grab with a defender draped all over him? That was one of the few targets he received all game.

Think about it: You, a confident receiver, a freak of nature, a BEAST, are watching one of the only players in this league get double-digit targets and set records in front you, while you're having an average game and aren't getting the respect you deserve. Sucks right? Now add that the guy on the other side just helped his team rip your heart out, and take the game out of your hands. You'd be pretty pissed.

If Tom Brady watches Peyton Manning formulate a game-winning drive while he hasn't so much as touched the ball for an entire quarter, he'd be throwing a water cooler, cursing out a teammate, and divorcing Giselle for another woman to procreate with and divorce.

But he'd be a hero for it.

Introduction

This Blog started when I was 15 years-old, I didn't know a thing about grammar (view below) but now I'm an Editor-in-Chief of a college newspaper, and a paid intern at a local newspaper. I've come a long way, but the passion I still possess the same passion for sports.

From 2009:

Hey this is EJ, i am a teenage boy who wants to be a sportwriter one day, i was told by a sportswriter that blogging is a great way to become better at being a sportswrier, and a radiohost (another dream of mine). If you know what your talking about it'd be an honor to talk about things with you, my first subject is, what is your view on the BCS, i hope this is the beginning of a fantastic experience.