Managing expectations: Mark today as the day that the world’s opinion of Tim Tebow changes (in fact CBS is still trying to pry announcer Gus Johnson off of Tebow’s leg). I won't be joining the bandwagon quite yet.
Josh McDaniel’s golden child played hard and didn’t make big mistakes. He had one rushing and one passing touchdown. He looked far better throwing the ball than expected and did his best to keep the Broncos in the game despite the Broncos having one of the worst defenses ever assembled. But before the Denver writers proclaim him the next John Elway lets get to the reality of the situation: His one touchdown pass was a short version of Doug Flutie’s hail mary to Gerard Phelan that bounced off of two defenders before magically falling into Brandon Lloyds hands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmauv8ps_Zs
(that being said Lance Ball dropped another nicely thrown ball that should have been a touchdown). He wasn’t trusted to make plays late in the game. This could mean a lot of things but most likely either A)the coordinators were trying to keep it simple for him in his first start or B) he hasn’t been able to execute an expanded playbook in practice. Hard to say. But late in the game when time was waning, the plays were still predominantly run oriented.
Final thoughts: Nice job, Tim. No Denver QB will look good when Zane Beadles is on the offensive line. The Broncos probably need a second play besides the quarterback draw on 3rd down and long. The Lions, Bengals, and Panthers lost moving Denver closer to the number 1 or 2 draft pick.
Containing Cam: Mitch Sherman from the Omaha World Herald reported this weekend that Nebraska Cornhusker linebacker Lavonte David had 18 tackles on Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton in last years JuCo National Title Game. I believe that means that David tackled Newton more times in one game than the entire SEC has this season.
The Rookie/Miracle/Invincible: This is my formal announcement that I will be taking a sabbatical from medicine to write a screenplay for the next Disney sports too-good- to-be-true-but-it-is movie- Woody: the Danny Woodhead story. Here is a brief synopsis
-too small: not recruited by big school in his home state: University of Nebraska and coach Bill Callahan
-sets NCAA career rushing record at Chadron State in 2007
- too small: not invited to NFL combine, goes undrafted
-2008 invited to New York Jets camp but gets injured and misses season
-2009, reinvited to NY Jets camp and runs for 158 yards and 2 TDs in a preseason game and becomes the 53rd and last player to make the teams roster
-Too small: gets cut the next day
-2010: Gets cut again by the Jets only to be signed by the New England Patriots. This was widely felt to be a spygate-esque move, as the Pats were playing the Jets that week and wanted information on game planning. Ultimately goes on to become an important part of Patriots successful season.
-2011: Scores winning touchdown in the Super Bowl; Disney is in negotiations with the NFL to arrange this.Beau Bridges is currently attached to the project as evil former University of Nebraska head coach and current New York Jets offensive line coach Bill Callahan.
The Frozen Tundra: The Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears are set to play their game tonight outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium in frigid Minneapolis. The field conditions have been the topic of much conversation even sending the Minnesota Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe, onto Twitter to voice his concerns about the safety of the field.
This raises two questions: Who cares enough about what a punter says to follow them on Twitter? But also-what has happened to the excitement derived from playing a game on the “Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field” (cue the voice of the late Harry Kalas-NFL films announcer). This is what the NFL used to be all about.
Frankly, the conditions will probably be better at TCF than they are at the stadiums that are insistent on maintaining a natural grass field (translation: painted green dirt patch). Heinz Field, Oakland Coliseum, and Arrowhead stadium pose a greater threat to players every single week.
Both the Broncos and Raiders kickers slipped and fell on kickoff attempts due to the absence of any appreciable grass to plant their foot and kick off of on sunday. The NFL needs to seriously consider a more to Fieldturf in all stadiums if they are serious about moving to an 18 game schedule and actually having healthy players when they reach the Super Bowl.
Lincoln drives you to drink or vice versa: The Huskers unfortunately had their second DUI arrest this month. Senior Rickey Thenarse who had graduated earlier in the day was busted Sunday morning. Apparently, Thenarse, who lost his starting job after multiple missed tackles in the Texas game, clearly finds it easier to wrap his hands around a drink and a steering wheel than a Longhorn.
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