Vic Carucci sucks

[Jack of Arcades]

Vic Carucci spits hot fire, but none of it is very accurate of course.

[ QUOTE ]
GOOD IDEA

The Pittsburgh Steelers going back to their power-oriented offensive approach in their 21-9 victory over the Chicago Bears. During a three-game losing streak, the Steelers seemed to forget their identity as a physical, run-first offense. In the last two weeks, when they relied too heavily on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his sore thumb, they wound up with costly turnovers to go along with the big plays he also made with his arm.

[/ QUOTE ]
Gee, Vic, don’t you think that maybe they were passing because they had to? The Steelers couldn’t move the ball on the ground at all in the Indy game–running backs combined for 65 yards on 22 attempts. Let’s see, my long division ain’t so hot but that’s less than 3 ypc, right? The Cincy game wasn’t as bad–Willie Parker was actually able to get some yards on the ground, but he had a bad case of the football flu; one of the symptons is coughing up the football every 8 touches.

[ QUOTE ]
BAD IDEA

The San Diego Chargers attempting to convert four times on fourth down in their 23-21 loss to the Miami Dolphins. The Chargers did convert on three, but it still doesn’t make this any better of an idea. . And the criticism here isn’t entirely based on the one failure, which came when Drew Brees threw incomplete on fourth-and-6 from the Miami 32-yard line. The Chargers could have opted to try a 49-yard field goal that would have given them a 10-0 lead in a game decided by two points.

[/ QUOTE ]

Vic fails to mention Nate Kaeding’s bad hip which has severely limited his kicking power. A 49-yard field goal isn’t exactly a gimme, and when you have a kicker with hip problems–not to mention a pretty good offense–going for 4th-and-6 from the 32 is a pretty good idea.

Vic’s criticism of the fourth down attempts?

[ QUOTE ]
But the larger problem with Marty Schottenheimer’s amazing persistence in going for it on fourth down was that it served as added motivation for the Dolphins, who responded with inspired performances by their defense (which held LaDainian Tomlinson to 75 rushing yards) and by quarterback Gus Frerotte (14 of 22 for 229 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions). “It’s a lack of respect,” Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor said. “I hate to be cocky, but when you do stuff like that and kind of throw it in somebody’s face, that’s what you get.”

[/ QUOTE ]

Not only is Jason Taylor cocky here, Miami’s great defensive performance didn’t have anything to do a lack of respect.

Before the first 4th-down conversion attempt (4-8-MIA33 with 5:14 left in the first), LaDanian Tomlinson had rushed for 9 yards on 6 carries. Even more, extending it to the 2nd 4th-down conversion attempt (4-6-MIA32 with 7:41 left in the first half), LaDanian had rushed for 14 yards on 10 attempts. LaDanian after the first two attempts? 61 yards on 11 attempts. In fact, here are his first five rushes after the first two attempts:

1-10-SD20 (3:34) L.Tomlinson right end to SD 33 for 13 yards (T.Tillman).
2-2-SD41 (2:27) L.Tomlinson left end to MIA 49 for 10 yards (T.Tillman).
1-10-SD28 (10:29) L.Tomlinson up the middle to SD 33 for 5 yards (D.Spragan, C.Crowder).
2-5-SD33 (9:55) L.Tomlinson right end to SD 34 for 1 yard (J.Zgonina).
3-4-SD34 (9:10) L.Tomlinson left tackle to 50 for 16 yards (Z.Thomas, T.Tillman).

Maybe Marty should be patted on the back because his “gutsy” moves showed he had “moxie” and “woke the sleeping giant” that is LDT.

But did Marty also “wake the sleeping giant” that is Gus Frerotte? Well, okay, Vic didn’t get this totally wrong. Frerotte went 12/18 for 220 yards and 2 TDs after the 2nd attempt. Was this caused by Charger “disrespect?” Maybe. I hate it when sportswriters psych 101 athletes and coaches, but maybe there’s some credence to Vic’s assertion, who knows?

Let’s look at the fourth down attempts by San Diego:

4-8-MIA33 (5:14-1st) D.Brees pass to R.Caldwell to MIA 23 for 10 yards (Z.Thomas).
4-6-MIA32 (7:41-2nd) (Shotgun) D.Brees pass incomplete to E.Parker.
4-1-SD24 (4:20-4th) L.Neal up the middle to SD 25 for 1 yard (K.Carter).
4-4-MIA16 (:34-4th) D.Brees pass to A.Gates to MIA 8 for 8 yards (L.Schulters).

The first two were attempted because Nate Kaeding with a bad hip cannot be expected to hit it from 49 yards all too often. Vic criticized the 2nd attempt, which failed. Yet, the first one led to a touchdown, so it’s not mentioned. Despite Vic’s assertion of not being results-oriented, his analysis reveals he is. More of this in the next quote.

And why didn’t Vic mention the last two attempts? Because they were no-brainer attempts! Four attempts sounds a lot more outrageous than two, doesn’t it? But they have nothing to do with “disrespect”; Vic’s either stirring up controversy or he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Either one is horrible journalism.

[ QUOTE ]
[BAD IDEA]

The Detroit Lions sending Jeff Garcia on an unsuccessful quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 7:07 remaining in regulation of their 16-13 overtime loss against the Green Bay Packers. Granted, the Lions had nothing to lose — nor did the Packers, for that matter — and should have gone for broke.

[/ QUOTE ]

Translation: “They did what they should have done, but it was a bad idea because they ended up losing.”

Ugh.

[thatpfunk]

good post.

[McGahee]

I'm familiar with him because he used to be a local writer in Buffalo. Yeah, he sucks. I really didn't like him because he seemed to be King of the Obvious and really didn't bring anything to the table with vanilla opinions. I see he's more opinionated now, but whatever, most sports writers suck.

[jedi]

Vic Carucci needs to read Gregg Easterbrook (Tuesday morning Quarterback)

[Jack of Arcades]

TMQ does the same thing. He has his axioms and points out when teams go against them and fail and go with them and succeed. However, he doesn't point out when they use them and fail or go against them and succeed. Well, this week he talked about the blitz actually working, which is the first time I've seen it in three years.

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
TMQ does the same thing. He has his axioms and points out when teams go against them and fail and go with them and succeed. However, he doesn't point out when they use them and fail or go against them and succeed. Well, this week he talked about the blitz actually working, which is the first time I've seen it in three years.

[/ QUOTE ]

I meant the part about going for it on 4th down.

[Jack of Arcades]

of course, it's not exactly like TMQ started the idea. that idea's been around for decades.

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]
of course, it's not exactly like TMQ started the idea. that idea's been around for decades.

[/ QUOTE ]

True, but it's on the same damn webpage.