You're Lucky to Know What I Think: What I Think about Week 7 2015

Welcome to the halfway point of the 2015 FF season! What a weekend. The kind of weekend that makes you want to quit FF, to recognize that maybe you don't have the skills to compete even after playing for 16 years. Maybe. But, I won't quit mid-season, I promise, and I sure won't stop this blog just yet. Although, I'm very tired tonight so no promises what will come out of my fingers.

A tough week for the losers. Berk, Tom, Mike and I each got destroyed in our matchups by an average of 43 points. Yes, you read that right. 43 points.
I could take comfort from another stat, I suppose. On average, in week 7 every team in the league had 2.5 players on bye week (Tom was the only team without a player on bye). Berk and I both had 5 players on bye. Is that an excuse for our failure? No, but perhaps it eases the blow knowing that we got schalacked using our backup crews. I guess we'll see how the matchups go in Week 8 to really tell if we're just that bad or not.
So the Duoviri are averaging 125.11 points a week. Assuming they keep that average up (and no reason to think they won't at this point), that would put their regular season point total at 1626.43, shattering the current record held by Nathan (solo) by 185.47 points. Holy shit that's a good year. No pressure this week, Barry.
Speaking of the Duoviri, gotta question the decision to bench Barnidge for Thomas this weekend. Sure, you didn't need the points to win your matchup, but Barnidge is hot right now, smoking hot, and Thomas has yet to prove his role in the Jags offense. Going to armchair QB that one and say bad call.
Speaking of the Jags, how long has it been since they were relevant in FF? Harks back to the days of Jimmy Smith and Maurice Jones-Drew and the not so bright days they were. When you look at the impact of the Jags this past week, players like Bortles (Barry), Hurns (Mike) and Robinson (Duoviri) are having a significant impact in our matchups. Good call to those owners who bought, picked up and started those players.
Speaking of solid FF players, how about those resurgent Dolphins? Another huge week for Barry (Miller), Rich (Tannehill) and the Duoviri (Landry). This next weekend against the Patriots will either cool those FF jets or set the Dolphins as the surprise FF team of the season. Stay tuned.
Kevin, good call listening to my advice and starting Cam. I would say the question should never be whether or not you should start Eli, but whether Cam will be hot or cold that particular week. So far, I would have a hard time saying Cam is going to do poorly against most of the teams in the NFL. Regardless, as I look at the league standings and upcoming schedules halfway through the season, Kevin has a great shot at making the playoffs. Losing Arian Foster this week didn't help him, sure, but he has a vast WR corps to fill the flex spots and push his team to the finish line. I still think a lot hinges on whether or not he beats the Duoviri in Week 9. Good stuff.
Speaking of making the playoffs, at this point Tony P and Marshall each have a 50/50 shot at that 6th seed spot. I think it's too early to say for sure who will get it, but like I said last week, I think Marshall has the advantage based on his roster and his upcoming schedule. Tony P has a history of nudging his way into the playoffs despite the odds, so no guarantees. But considering Tony has to beat Mike, Kevin and Nathan to keep up with Marshall's team record, it's going to be a tough battle ahead in the league standings for Tony.
Speaking of Tony P, I'd take a good hard look at starting Diggs from now on, especially this week against the Bears. You wouldn't think the guy would be this hot with such a shitty FF QB, but the numbers don't lie.
Tom, you've got plenty of season and life left in you. Don't give up just yet. I see you as the spoiler for one of the top 6 teams to keep them out of the playoffs. Perhaps another win against the Duoviri in Week 11? We'd all thank you for that.
So Berk is riding a 6-game losing streak, which now puts him on the EW record board for longest losing streak. Considering his next 2 matchups are against the #2 and #3 teams in the league, that could push the streak up to 8 (#3 longest in EW history). The record is 10 games. There's a decent chance the streak could end against Barry in Week 10, but it will be close. His best shot to end the streak will be in Week 12 against me. By then he'll have tied the record for the longest streak, and a win against me would prevent him from earning that horrible top spot all for himself.

THE LAWRENCE PHILIPS AWARD

I'll be honest, I've been avoiding giving out the LPA this year. After reading the letters that LP sent to his friends and family about the conditions he was living in, and then the death of his cellmate under circumstances that I have to believe involved self-defense, I find it hard to rag on the guy. In case you forgot, the LPA has always been awarded to players, coaches, refs, administrators, etc. who do something to squander the amazing opportunity they have been given to play in the NFL. (I thought about giving it to the players who lost limbs to fireworks over the summer.) But this past week I saw one player just mess up so badly, I had to dust off the LPA and hand it out.

Ryan Mallett, you had the starting QB job on a premier NFL team, primed and ready for a run at the AFC playoffs. You blew it. You never set yourself as the team leader. You never worked hard enough to get the job done. You let your team down time and time again. And then you missed your flight. I just don't understand that lack of discipline at this level. I doubt you'd see Rodgers, Brady or a Manning do anything like that. You missed your flight to be with your team as they hit the road. You clearly didn't think much of your team, and now they're not your team anymore. Welcome to the ranks of Lawrence Philips. Good luck in NFL Europe (chuckle).

In your honor, Mallett, a meme ...

WHAT I THINK ABOUT THE HUSKERS

I know you all have your own thoughts on the subject, but I offer my thoughts here for comparison and perspective. I also offer them here for myself, to quantify in verbage just how dire things are but also how there is the glimmer of hope in the near and distant future, and that my Huskers, no matter how bad things are now, will never get as bad as Nathan's Hurricanes are today.

Firing Mike Riley will not solve anything. It will make things worse. It will kill us in recruiting. It will kill us in the media. It will drive players away from our team, players we actually might want to keep and develop. It's hard not to compare Riley to the success that Harbough is enjoying up in Ann Arbor, but we can't let ourselves get mired down in the comparison. There are far too many differences in coaching styles and player talent to consider those 2 programs as equals. We have to give Coach Riley the chance to build his program his way. 10 months and 8 games isn't enough time to do that, for anybody.
Even if our coaching staff were rock solid (which based on our losses to Illinois and Wisconsin due to coaching mistakes, we are not), we are HIGHLY DEFICIENT in talent at several key positions. I don't care if you're Tom Osborne, if you don't have the players to make the plays, you're not going to win the games.
We don't have a premiere RB who is a threat on any down. Newby is hesitant, conservative, lumbering and has poor vision to identify running lanes as a play develops. He lacks the speed and talent of an Ameer, Helu, Ahman Green or even LP. Newby is below average at best and easily stopped for 2-3 yard gains. How can any offense at any level thrive if the running game can be so easily stopped?
Simply put, we have ZERO talent in our secondary. While we have a couple of LB that show potential, and 1 safety that is good about 75% of the time, there's good reasons our pass defense is the worst in the nation. We just don't have any talented players in our secondary. It's important to note that because in my heart I don't believe that Pelini and Papouchis could have done more to develop those kids than Riley's staff has. Sadly, I'm not enough of a football expert to say for certain whether it's right to have our DB's 10-15 yards off of receivers on every down. Perhaps the coaches know they can't keep up with receivers in tight man coverage and setup the buffer to prevent the big plays. Perhaps our formations would work better with faster DB's. I don't know. All I know is those kids are not going to get better between now and my birthday, so there's no point in beating them up anymore than we do. We have to hope that there is a long-term plan for those positions, Hopefully with new recruits or different approaches to coaching. Regardless, we have little hope against the pass-heavy teams of the Big 10 in the weeks ahead. Michigan State is going to be a very painful game.
Our QB just isn't developing into the premier player that we need. He makes more mistakes than successes. While he's done his honest-to-God-best to adjust to Riley's program, he is not and never will be a perfect fit for it. I'm not saying bench him. I'm saying that we should be developing the QB of the future now. Please, do not let it be Fife. At least Tommy is not making the moronic mistakes that T-Magic made not so long ago. He can win the games for us, given time and confidence, but he needs lots more help around him to make it happen. Our WR are dropping far too many passes. He's scrambling away from the pass rush too much because our RB and TE can't block worth a damn.
Mindi reminds me that Riley hasn't implemented more than 50% of his offense with the players he has today. Imagine what he could do with 100% of his playbook and a team to deploy it? Well, based on his previous teams, achieve a .500 record consistently. Hopefully he'll do more in Lincoln. Right now we're not even one-dimensional on offense. We're horribly inconsistent. The play calling has been suspect too, but I have seen improvement there.
By the way, it's worth noting that Tim Beck isn't having much success over at the #1 team in the nation with his own inconsistent offensive identity. It is also worth noting that Beck is not running the offense with his playbook that he used at Nebraska, but with Meyer's playbook.
We must give credit to Pelini and Riley's staffs for recruiting and developing a top-notch offensive and defensive line worthy of Nebraska. Our rush defense is the part of the 2015 Huskers to be most proud of, and the credit for that success must go around to many parties, present and otherwise. What I love most about our D-line? They're YOUNG. Oh, the amazing things that defensive line will do in the seasons to come! If we can develop a blitz package that doesn't leave us totally vulnerable downfield, the Blackshirts will be a team to fear any Saturday, anywhere.
In summary, we must give Riley time to develop his team, with his playbook, with his recruits, with his leaders. This is still very much Pelini's roster, but it is now Riley's team. You can tell by how they have fought back in several games so far this season that under Pelini they would have simply surrendered. You can see how they play differently, better, more like Huskers. There's plenty to be proud of our boys. It only hurts as much as it does because we want them to win and win NOW. But it's not going to happen. We must trust in the coaches and the process.
But I'll tell ya, if we have made no progress on any of the areas I've talked about in the next 365 days, then it's clear that Riley and his staff should be re-evaluated as the Husker staff of the future. Until then, they are my coaches and I have their backs.