- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 8,874
Tipsheet: Rams dodged Johnny Football disaster
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_4bc5b2d6-e55e-5a40-bc74-b34246ff1b40.html
Well, it could have been worse for the Rams last season. They could have taken the plunge on Johnny "Manziel" Football.
Jeff Fisher, Les Snead and Co. did their "due diligence" on Johnny Football and opted not to go there. He landed in Cleveland instead and worked 24/7 at becoming the biggest draft bust imaginable.
He never really took the job of quarterbacking the Browns seriously. Against all odds, he found plenty of nightlife in Cleveland.
His two starts went badly, to say the least, and he started his offseason with a coast-to-coast party binge that finally landed him in rehab.
"Brad Beckworth, a friend and advisor to Manziel and his family, has confirmed that Johnny entered treatment on Wednesday,'' a statement from Manziel's publicist read. "Johnny knows there are areas in which he needs to improve in order to be a better family member, friend and teammate, and he thought the offseason was the right time to take this step.
"On behalf of Johnny and his family, we're asking for privacy until he rejoins the team in Cleveland."
The Browns, like the Rams, are committed to upgrading at quarterback for the coming season. Manziel's crash and burn increased the likelihood that the team will reinvest in pending free agent Brian Hoyer.
Will Manziel get another chance with the team? That will depend on whether he can finally reel himself in after seeking professional help.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer have been noncommittal about his future with the team. And new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo will need to be won over as well.
"Johnny has to show on and off the field he can be a professional,'' Haslam said at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards last month, according to Cleveland.com. "He knows that. Everybody in the organization has told him that.
"It'll be up to (DeFilippo) and (Pettine) to decide whether he can be the kind of quarterback we need him to be. He knows what we expect of him on and off the field and it's up to him to prove he can do that.''
Meanwhile, there is plenty of second-guessing up in northeast Ohio.
Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto had this assessment:
When Joe Banner was the CEO, the team spent about $100,000 researching quarterbacks. There weren't just red flags next to Manziel's name, there were warning sirens blaring.
That research recommended Teddy Bridgewater as the best bet in the 2014 draft to be a successful NFL quarterback.
Banner was fired in early February. I'm not sure we'll ever know all that went into the selection of Manziel, but it's not hard to assume that ownership had some influence.
And now ownership has some regret. The Rams, meanwhile, are only too glad to move forward with first-round picks Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald.
The Rams have employed their share of first-round head cases. They are only too glad to let Cleveland have that fun.
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering how the Blues will cope with the loss of offensive catalyst Kevin Shattenkirk:
Can Robert Kraft keep up with Rob Gronkowski on the party scene?
Has Rex Ryan gone "all in" with his commitment to the Buffalo Bills?
Why would Tom Brady get excited about a free trip to Disney World? Doesn't he have better things to do?
QUIPS 'R US
Here is what folks were writing about the Super Bowl:
Mike Tanier, Bleacher Report: "OK, it was just a football game. But it may have been the greatest football game ever. The Patriots' 28-24 victory over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night was a runaway mine-car ride along a roller-coaster track through a waterfall during an earthquake. It was not easily summarized. Sunday's Super Bowl was better than Super Bowl XXXIV (Rams over Titans; Kevin Dyson reaching for the goal line), better than Super Bowl XXIII (Joe Montana sees John Candy) and better than Super Bowl XXV (Giants beat Bills, Scott Norwood implicated). It was better than the two Super Bowls the Patriots won with late field goals and better than Super Bowl XLII, with David Tyree and Plaxico Burress."
Michael Rosenberg, SI.com: "So let’s sum up here: The Seahawks didn’t want to leave any time on the clock. So they waited 33 seconds to run a play. Then they called a pass, which would have stopped the clock if it fell incomplete. It wasn’t any pass, either -- it was a dangerous pass. Meanwhile, (Marshawn) Lynch was running a decoy pass pattern instead of carrying the ball like he should have. Hey, we all second-guess coaches. It’s an American pastime. Usually, the coach has a decent reason for doing what he did, and almost always, we must acknowledge that the coach knows way more about the situation than we do. Pete Carroll is a great football coach who made an incredibly dumb decision, and he learned an incredibly painful lesson. He didn’t just waste a play. He wasted his chance to win another Super Bowl."
Seth Wickersham, ESPN.com: "The two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLIX were probably the strangest of Brady's career. They were certainly the most emotional. He was deeply offended at the notion that he intentionally and illegally deflated footballs, and unlike Spygate -- which was really more of an indictment of (Bill) Belichick than the players -- Deflategate was the first time Brady's personal integrity was up for debate. He was angry and hurt, and his answers -- he privately told friends that he had nothing to hide, and more or less echoed it in public -- seemed to produce only more questions. For the first time anyone can remember, Brady seemed rattled, angry, hurt. But he never played the slighted card, the maxim of his youth. As he's aged, he's learned that it's not healthy to live in a state of constantly having to prove yourself. He hasn't mellowed. Rather, he's improved on his Hall of Fame career not by reminding himself that he was once a sixth-round pick but by accepting the fact that he was a sixth-round pick and obsessively working on his weaknesses. He told friends he wanted to play free, unburdened, fiercely motivated but not angry."
Judy Battista, NFL.com: "But while everybody else ponders Brady's place in history, he had no use for it Sunday night. He will be 38 when next season begins, and a loss might have marked his last, best chance to win another Super Bowl. This victory, though, opens up all kinds of possibilities, considering the well-documented regimen of diet and body maintenance that allows him to keep himself in shape to play. When the Patriots were trailing entering the fourth quarter, it was easy to imagine the beginning of the end for Brady in New England. Now, it is tempting to wonder if he can add one more title before he is finished."
Jason La Canfora, CBSSports.com: "Of the thousands of words Tom Brady uttered Sunday night to the press and on the postgame shows -- after his coronation as the NFL's all-time leader in Super Bowl touchdown passes; after tying his idol Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks to win four Lombardi Trophies; after winning his third Super Bowl MVP trophy -- eight simple words resonated above all else. With the football word scurrying to quantify Brady's place in history and compare his legacy to all those who have come before him, Brady managed to find the proper perspective himself without anyone really noticing. He was asked, in the direct aftermath of another exultant moment, whether he had stopped to contemplate his place in history. 'No,' Brady said, politely but matter-of-factly. 'I've got a lot of football left.' Never has so little said so much. In the rush to proclaim Super Bowl 49 in the pantheon of the game's lore (and surely this 28-24, twisting-and-turning thriller with the bizarre ending at University of Phoenix Stadium ranks way up there), and in the race to place New England's fourth title amid all other dynasties, we forget that Brady is far from finished."
MEGAPHONE
"We beat 'em, bro. We beat 'em. ... I'm speechless. Best back in the league, and the 1-yard-line? It wasn't even the 1 -- it was like half a yard. I will never understand that, bro. I will never understand it. I will never understand. ... When Jermaine caught that ball, I felt it was meant to be for us. Oh, no doubt -- we're gonna score. Beast Mode. Beast Mode! Best back on the (expletive) planet. That's crazy!"
Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin, to NFL. com, on the unhappy Super Bowl ending.
• By Jeff Gordon
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_4bc5b2d6-e55e-5a40-bc74-b34246ff1b40.html
Well, it could have been worse for the Rams last season. They could have taken the plunge on Johnny "Manziel" Football.
Jeff Fisher, Les Snead and Co. did their "due diligence" on Johnny Football and opted not to go there. He landed in Cleveland instead and worked 24/7 at becoming the biggest draft bust imaginable.
He never really took the job of quarterbacking the Browns seriously. Against all odds, he found plenty of nightlife in Cleveland.
His two starts went badly, to say the least, and he started his offseason with a coast-to-coast party binge that finally landed him in rehab.
"Brad Beckworth, a friend and advisor to Manziel and his family, has confirmed that Johnny entered treatment on Wednesday,'' a statement from Manziel's publicist read. "Johnny knows there are areas in which he needs to improve in order to be a better family member, friend and teammate, and he thought the offseason was the right time to take this step.
"On behalf of Johnny and his family, we're asking for privacy until he rejoins the team in Cleveland."
The Browns, like the Rams, are committed to upgrading at quarterback for the coming season. Manziel's crash and burn increased the likelihood that the team will reinvest in pending free agent Brian Hoyer.
Will Manziel get another chance with the team? That will depend on whether he can finally reel himself in after seeking professional help.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer have been noncommittal about his future with the team. And new offensive coordinator John DeFilippo will need to be won over as well.
"Johnny has to show on and off the field he can be a professional,'' Haslam said at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards last month, according to Cleveland.com. "He knows that. Everybody in the organization has told him that.
"It'll be up to (DeFilippo) and (Pettine) to decide whether he can be the kind of quarterback we need him to be. He knows what we expect of him on and off the field and it's up to him to prove he can do that.''
Meanwhile, there is plenty of second-guessing up in northeast Ohio.
Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto had this assessment:
When Joe Banner was the CEO, the team spent about $100,000 researching quarterbacks. There weren't just red flags next to Manziel's name, there were warning sirens blaring.
That research recommended Teddy Bridgewater as the best bet in the 2014 draft to be a successful NFL quarterback.
Banner was fired in early February. I'm not sure we'll ever know all that went into the selection of Manziel, but it's not hard to assume that ownership had some influence.
And now ownership has some regret. The Rams, meanwhile, are only too glad to move forward with first-round picks Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald.
The Rams have employed their share of first-round head cases. They are only too glad to let Cleveland have that fun.
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while wondering how the Blues will cope with the loss of offensive catalyst Kevin Shattenkirk:
Can Robert Kraft keep up with Rob Gronkowski on the party scene?
Has Rex Ryan gone "all in" with his commitment to the Buffalo Bills?
Why would Tom Brady get excited about a free trip to Disney World? Doesn't he have better things to do?
QUIPS 'R US
Here is what folks were writing about the Super Bowl:
Mike Tanier, Bleacher Report: "OK, it was just a football game. But it may have been the greatest football game ever. The Patriots' 28-24 victory over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night was a runaway mine-car ride along a roller-coaster track through a waterfall during an earthquake. It was not easily summarized. Sunday's Super Bowl was better than Super Bowl XXXIV (Rams over Titans; Kevin Dyson reaching for the goal line), better than Super Bowl XXIII (Joe Montana sees John Candy) and better than Super Bowl XXV (Giants beat Bills, Scott Norwood implicated). It was better than the two Super Bowls the Patriots won with late field goals and better than Super Bowl XLII, with David Tyree and Plaxico Burress."
Michael Rosenberg, SI.com: "So let’s sum up here: The Seahawks didn’t want to leave any time on the clock. So they waited 33 seconds to run a play. Then they called a pass, which would have stopped the clock if it fell incomplete. It wasn’t any pass, either -- it was a dangerous pass. Meanwhile, (Marshawn) Lynch was running a decoy pass pattern instead of carrying the ball like he should have. Hey, we all second-guess coaches. It’s an American pastime. Usually, the coach has a decent reason for doing what he did, and almost always, we must acknowledge that the coach knows way more about the situation than we do. Pete Carroll is a great football coach who made an incredibly dumb decision, and he learned an incredibly painful lesson. He didn’t just waste a play. He wasted his chance to win another Super Bowl."
Seth Wickersham, ESPN.com: "The two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLIX were probably the strangest of Brady's career. They were certainly the most emotional. He was deeply offended at the notion that he intentionally and illegally deflated footballs, and unlike Spygate -- which was really more of an indictment of (Bill) Belichick than the players -- Deflategate was the first time Brady's personal integrity was up for debate. He was angry and hurt, and his answers -- he privately told friends that he had nothing to hide, and more or less echoed it in public -- seemed to produce only more questions. For the first time anyone can remember, Brady seemed rattled, angry, hurt. But he never played the slighted card, the maxim of his youth. As he's aged, he's learned that it's not healthy to live in a state of constantly having to prove yourself. He hasn't mellowed. Rather, he's improved on his Hall of Fame career not by reminding himself that he was once a sixth-round pick but by accepting the fact that he was a sixth-round pick and obsessively working on his weaknesses. He told friends he wanted to play free, unburdened, fiercely motivated but not angry."
Judy Battista, NFL.com: "But while everybody else ponders Brady's place in history, he had no use for it Sunday night. He will be 38 when next season begins, and a loss might have marked his last, best chance to win another Super Bowl. This victory, though, opens up all kinds of possibilities, considering the well-documented regimen of diet and body maintenance that allows him to keep himself in shape to play. When the Patriots were trailing entering the fourth quarter, it was easy to imagine the beginning of the end for Brady in New England. Now, it is tempting to wonder if he can add one more title before he is finished."
Jason La Canfora, CBSSports.com: "Of the thousands of words Tom Brady uttered Sunday night to the press and on the postgame shows -- after his coronation as the NFL's all-time leader in Super Bowl touchdown passes; after tying his idol Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks to win four Lombardi Trophies; after winning his third Super Bowl MVP trophy -- eight simple words resonated above all else. With the football word scurrying to quantify Brady's place in history and compare his legacy to all those who have come before him, Brady managed to find the proper perspective himself without anyone really noticing. He was asked, in the direct aftermath of another exultant moment, whether he had stopped to contemplate his place in history. 'No,' Brady said, politely but matter-of-factly. 'I've got a lot of football left.' Never has so little said so much. In the rush to proclaim Super Bowl 49 in the pantheon of the game's lore (and surely this 28-24, twisting-and-turning thriller with the bizarre ending at University of Phoenix Stadium ranks way up there), and in the race to place New England's fourth title amid all other dynasties, we forget that Brady is far from finished."
MEGAPHONE
"We beat 'em, bro. We beat 'em. ... I'm speechless. Best back in the league, and the 1-yard-line? It wasn't even the 1 -- it was like half a yard. I will never understand that, bro. I will never understand it. I will never understand. ... When Jermaine caught that ball, I felt it was meant to be for us. Oh, no doubt -- we're gonna score. Beast Mode. Beast Mode! Best back on the (expletive) planet. That's crazy!"
Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin, to NFL. com, on the unhappy Super Bowl ending.
