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“Pro Football Returns to San Diego”

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It’s surely not the NFL. Definitely not the Chargers.

But it is a roster full of players with dreams.

Here comes the Alliance for American Football and the San Diego Fleet.

They open their season next weekend in San Antonio.

Coaches with NFL and college heritage. Mike Martz, architect of the Greatest Show on turf, with the Rams, heads up the San Diego Fleet. Steve Spurrier is running a franchise. So is Mike Riley. As is Mike Singletary.

They have stocked their coaching staffs with name veteran coaches, with worlds of experience, all of them becoming teachers.

The rosters are really different. It’s not the old USFL, that had the likes of Herschel Walker or Marcus Dupree or Jim Kelly.

The NFL allows each team to have an off season roster of 90-players each. That’s more than 2880 players tied up by the NFL.

What’s left behind are the likes of QB-Mike Bercovicci, the ex Arizona State quarterback, who spent a couple of years in NFL camps, who starts for the Fleet..

It’s a landing spot for an ex-Aztecs tight end Gavin Escobar, who played for three years before injuries over took him., or an aspiring Kam Kelly or Eric Pickens, both former SDSU starts.

It’s going to be home to small college running back from places like Azuza Pacific, Slippery Rock and the likes.

It’s undersized defensive lineman, who are (5’10-295 pounds)….or linebackers and DBs from places like Appalachian State or Western Michigan.

The Fleet, like the other 7-AAF teams, are crash coursing players over a 4-week period to get them ready for this weekends openers on CBS.

You may ask, who are these guys? Not a lot of household names for sure, but more than anything, an opportunity.

Maybe they uncover a quarterback who winds up on a roster. In an NFL that has lots of small college skill guys receivers, kick returners, and cornerbacks, maybe some gems surface this spring from the AAF.

Maybe these players get their doors opened for them in the CFL, because coaches know coaches, and they can help place them.

1-thing for certain, people like Mike Martz, are mad-men when it comes to offense. Expect big point production, big passing plays, and wide open games.

Their first day of workouts, in the rain, featured big TD bombs to former Stanford star Francis Owusu, Kam Kelly, and an 80-yad bomb to Brian Brown from Richmond. That coupled with Aztecs tight end Gavin Escobar, and former SDSU star Kam Kelly, switched to wide receiver, leads you to believe they are going to throw the ball, move the ball, score points.

Their top running back Bishop Sankey, the ex Washington Huskies star, is out for at least s4-weeks with a knee injury. Who knows about his backups. And no one knows about the defense.

Remember history too of other upstart leagues. The USFL, for all its mistakes, delivered a ton of players to the NFL, led by Reggie White, and included the popular Chargers running back Gary Anderson, linebacker Gary Plummer and pass rusher Lee Williams.

And NFL Europe brought 8-quarterbacks to the NFL, led by the Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, and four others who wound up playing in Super Bowls, like Brad Johnson, Jake Delhomme and more..

So never say never about how good the league might be, or at least the individual talent that plays on Saturday and Sunday starting next weekend..

Only time will tell whether they will draw fans in San Diego. Only this weekend will tell us what kind of team they have put together in such a short offseason.

Pro football returns to the city, as we await to see how good it is, and who might become a star. They’ve got the right leaders. Now we see if they have the right players, and if the fans will follow.

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“Last Second Thoughts-Super Bowl”

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Spraying spots all over the field in my post Super Bowl-autopsy.

NEW ENGLAND…The Patriots won because they out-schemed the Rams….They kept adjusting their defensive formations as the play-clock ticked down ….Once the coaches mike turned off with (:15) left, the Pats changed up again causing Jared Goff lots of problems….He had no help from Sean McVay from the sidelines.

PATRIOTS PRESSURE….Not really mentioned much on Sunday but the Pats defensive front beat the crap out of the Rams offensive line. Stunts, twists, gap blitzes, zone blitzes, Goff must have thought there were 13-men on the field on defense.

SECONDARY STARS….the Pats went to zone coverage with each of their DBs patrolling a different part of the secondary. They had never shown that look all season long, but the Rams saw something similar in their regular season game against Detroit. The Pats saw that video. The Rams, they never made the correction.

BIG BOY FOOTBALL….Tom Brady had lots of problems with Wade Philips defense in the first half. Was it zone, was it man, that’s why he struggled. He was jumpy-tentative in the pocket, got hit, got pressured in an erratic opening half. Then New England went to its jumbo package, two tight ends, running back, fullback and one wide receiver. But they spread that formation out, destroying the Rams ability to pressure and cover at the same time. Second half for Brady, no hits, no pressure….five big chunk plays on offense that spelled the difference in the game.

PANIC CITY….The accumulation of hits on Goff led to the critical turnover in the game. He took 4-sacks, 12-hits, 6-pressures, and there 7-tackles for loss. He took so much punishment, that he threw one up for grabs down on the goal line that was a drive killing Stephon Gilmour pick. The Rams first 8-possesions over 3-quarters, they had 3-first downs.

TURNOVER CITY…Interesting stat after the game. For the season Goff threw 1-pick against man coverage. Against zone packages, he finishes the year with 11-interceptions. Belicheck and his analytics people knew this, how come Sean McVay and his staff didn’t.

O LINE BEATDOWN….That’s what happened in front of Goff. The Rams could not handle the edge speed of Dont’a Hightower, and missed blocks time and time again in the 2nd half, when the Patriots stunted, used twists,and scrapes and delayed blitzes. Goff became a punching bag in the final two quarters.

GURLEY MIA…There were no running lanes for Rams RB-Todd Gurley up inside, and the Pats did a tremendous job holding the edge,never letting him get wide. End result, no play action for Goff to use to setup deeper pass plays. New England used a 6-man front at times, then also played press coverage too on receivers. It stymied the Rams run game.

BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE….Marcus Peters-Aqib Talib, it’s on you….Brady picked on them. Peters gave up 6-receptions…Talib three….and LB-David Littleton was beaten four times in coverages. That’s 13-completions against the best the Rams had back there. 5-of-the 6 biggest pass plays came against the best the Rams had to offer in the secondary.

THE REFS….They let them play. There was alot of hand checking down the field, but they didn’t throw flags on anyone. The one pass inteference penalty,a hit on Edelman, called on the Rams, was a hard tackle, but not a helmet hit , just a bang-bang play.

EDELMAN EXCEPTIONAL…..He was fast, he was quick, he found open holes, he had 10-catches adn 141-yards worth of big plays. The headlines read “PED-to-MVP’, a big unfair. he did serve a four game suspension to start the season for using a supplement while recovering from knee surgery that wiped out his 2017-season. But either side of that incident, he has been a big game guy in the biggest Patriots games for years.

GRONK GOES WILD…..He made big catches, he made punishing blocks in the run game, his size caused matchup problems, whether he was the primary receiver or the decoy. The Rams are still looking for ways to cover him..

MC VAY AFTERMATH….The Rams coach was upset, is still upset. He stood there unprepared to help his quarterback. Teacher Belicheck schools the student McVay. Old guard-Brady outgunned new breed Goff. Old school football…defense-sure tackling-adjustments got the Patriots the win. He said he was numb with how bad his team played.

THE FUTURE….The Rams QB will grow, that coaching staff will grow, but the reality is, over the final 7-games of the season, playoff included, they were not the dynamic-dangerous team they were earlier in the year….The Patriots just keep doing it. Look at what they did to the Chargers offense, the Chiefs big plays, you had to believe they’d do it again, and they did to the Rams offense.

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“Super Bowl-Patriots-Heroes Everywhere”

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They earned it, this 6th Super Bowl Trophy, this New England Patriots team.

They deserve it, dismantling 3-top quarterbacks and their offenses in raising the Vince Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night.

The New England (13-3) win over the Rams was workman like, just typical Bill Belicheck football.

Game plans, big plays, tough-physical old school football.

The team that choked off Philip Rivers and the Chargers offense, the team that put a stop to the hi-octane offense of the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, mugged the Rams and their quarterback Jared Goff in the Super Bowl.

Give credit to the Rams, they hung really tough for 56-minutes, but finally wilted late in the fourth quarter.

Give credit to the Pats defense, heroes everywhere on the field.

When they needed it, somebody stepped up. Everybody contributed.

When Tom Brady struggled against the Rams zone and man coverage packages in an anemic first half, his mighty mite WR-Julian Edelman saved the day with key catches to keep the offense on the field. When Edelman was done, he had an MVP trophy in his suitcase, and a 10-catch 141-yard night.

Unable to run, Sonny Michel found enough space late to bust off two key runs to burn the clock, and also score a TD, finishing with 98-yards.

Rob Gronkowski made key catches, and threw crushing blocks in the run game to help Michel and Rex Burkhead combine for nearly 130-yards on the ground.

That offensive front came together, after Brady was banged around in the first half. The QB was not touched in the second half, no hurries, no hits, no pressures.

Dont’a Hightower may have had the best game of his career on this big night. Two huge sacks, lots of pressures on Rams QB-Jared FGoff.

Stephon Gimoure broke up 1-TD pass in the end zone muscling the ball out, and came back on the same series and snuffed out a Rams drive with a pick at the 4-yard line.

Earlier Jason McCourty raced the length of the field to crunch Robert Woods in the end zone, dislodging what surely looked like a TD catch on blown coverage.

It may have been a field goal kicking contest for 54-minutes, but it was a defensive war for sure.

The Patriots finished with a (407-260) yardage advantage. They wore the Rams out whipping them in the first half, which led to total fatigue late in the game.

Stephen Gostkowski hammered home field goals of 41-and-42 that were the difference.

When they were finished, the Pats defense did to Goff, what they did weeks prior to Rivers and Mahomes. Goff was (5-15) at one point throwing the football, for 2-first downs. In the playoff win against Rivers, the Chargers QB was (5-17) during one stretch. Mahomes threw for (228) trying to play catchup with an offense that struggled.

Against an elite Rams offensive unit, New England had 4-sacks, 7-tackles for loss, 12-hits on the QB-6 pressures against the Rams and the young quarterback and his riverboat gambling coach.

From Bar Harbor to Bunker Hill, from Plymouth Rock up to Portland, and across the Green and White Mountains in New Hampshire-Vermont, they are celebrating again.

Another Super Bowl trophy in New England, carried by a legendary coach, his brilliant quarterback and a host of heroes who played great team football to beat the Rams on Sunday night.

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“Super Bowl Sunday-Who-Why”

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Pick any phrase you want, and it probably fits the Patriots-Rams matchup on Super Bowl Sunday.

Old School-vs-New Breed….Bill Belicheck-vs-Sean McCoy.

Young Gun-vs-Old Guard…Jared Goff-vs-Tom Brady

Brute Strength-vs-Speed-Skills…Patriots Offense-vs-Rams Offense

We’ve played all season long, and the two best have earned their way onto the field in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.

The Patriots come in with all their history. The Rams show up with all their glitter.

New England’s ownership is so well regarded and popular. The Rams ownership is reclusive and distant.

The Patriots front office is secretive and combative. The Rams leadership is dynamic and risk taking-dangerous.

The chess game will be fun, how these coaches have used their bye week to get ready.

The Patriots will throw things at Jared Goff he has never seen before, and the challenge will be to survive it.

There’s nothing that the Rams, and Wade Philips can present, that Tom Brady has not conquered in the past.

No arguing about the roads travelled. The Rams are here for the first time, with a roster full of young guys, who have never played this deep into the season.

The Patriots with 36-players, who have been in postseason, many of whom are Super Bowl experienced.

The Rams roster has 33-homegrown players on it, just 11-free agents from the outside.

The Patriots roster has just 23-of their draft picks suiting up, and 14-veteran free agents from other teams.

LA has flash, in Goff and Todd Gurley, Aaron Donald. They have acquired Ndomakong Suh, Aqib Talib, Andrew Whitworth, Marcus Peters, Robert Woods and Branden Cooks in big deals.

New England’s flag carrier is Tom Brady, with a bountiful group of role playing skill players, led by Rob Gronkowski. They have an offensive line of unknown, and not many recognizable names in the defensive front seven.

It’s the LA sizzle vs the Patriots system.

Oh there are questions everywhere.

How does New England block Aaron Donald? Do the Rams move him around inside and out?

Does the Patriots defense committ to take running back Todd Gurley out of the game, negating his big plays, and forcing Goff to win the game with his right arm?

How does LA get to Brady, who negated the entire blitz scheme the Chargers-Chiefs threw at him? He threw 90-passes and was never sacked in the AFC playoffs. When you get the ball out of there in under (2.4) seconds, how do you get pressure that makes a difference.

Whose pocket gets crushed first, and who can make plays if they have to get off their spot quickly? Brady has over the years. Goff not so much.

Does LA have enough people to cover sideline to sideline, because the offense is more than Tom Terrific and the Gronk. Can you cover the 3-running backs, led by James White-Sonny Michel-and Rex Burkhead, and still have enough people to cope with Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Cordarrelle Patterson, Dwaine Allen, Matt Slater and Phil Dorsett?

Can Goff cope with the blitz scheme that derailed Philip Rivers and Patrick Mahomes, the last two victims of the Patriots pass rush package?

Which secondary caves in under the pressure of the pass routes? The group led by Stephon Gilmour and the McCourty brothers, have so much more experience, than the LA secondary which is young, led by Marcus Peters and the grizzled vet Talib?

When New England goes no huddle, can the Rams defense not get fatigued ? Can the Rams cope if Goff has to be play behind the chains in 2nd and 3rd long situations?

For four hours on Sunday we will forget about instant replay, bad officiating, concussion problems, franchise shifts and Colin Kaeperneck. The chess game will be fun to watch.

Brady’s track record vs the unknown Goff will face. Belicheck’s brilliance against McVay’s brashness will take center stage.

Great teams find a way to take away things the other guy wants to do. Great quarterbacks, with lots of history, find a way to win too.

Substance will probably win out over sizzle.

Patriots 27-Rams 17, that’s who and why.

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“NFL-The Commissioner & Me”

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Super Bowl Week…Commissioner Roger Goodell with lots of statements….and my response to them.

..Goodell’s comments….He made statements
–Hacksaw’s response…I gave you substance.

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell…State of NFL Address

..Blown call playoffs-We need a solution
–It is a hard game to officiate…so fast…high impact collisions…continuing to refine instant replay, and expand it, to help the referees is important…Blown calls surely impacted at least 2-games outcome at the most important time of the year, the playoffs. No lip service here please, add to instant replay to be fair to everyone.

..Blown call-Play should have been called
–Nice to admit it in public two weeks after the fact….Biggest issue for me, the culture of the officials, not to show up a fellow official, who might have missed throwing a flag….How could 3-different officials not see anything…interference–helmet hit–launching—hitting a defenseless receiver?

..Replay-Want to address frustrations of teams-fans
–You’ve got technology-use it to help your officials….This was probably the worst year ever for NFL refs…Prime example 2-Chargers wins results of TDs allowed on 3-missed penalty calls that everyone saw accept the officials….

..Replay-We will look to expand it use
–Pass Interference-Helmet Hits-Personal Fouls….Put in in the replay system…Coaches then must decide when to risk a timeout….It won’t elongate games that much…..Coaches will still be cautious when to use red-flag.

..Officials-No movement from owner on adding video official-crews
–An eye in the sky, with each crew sounds right-but would they get gun shy about ordering the crew to either ‘throw late flag’ or ‘pick up bad flag’ you threw…Not sure this is perfect solution.

..Owners-Resistance use review on non penalty calls
–Think ownership in New Orleans-Kansas City-Pittsburgh might change their mind now considering how costly the mistakes were?

..Technology-Not solve all problems of game
–Yes and Black-And-White TV was fine too….You have technology-add it to the equation to get the calls right in critical games…All games are important, opening day thru the AFC-NFC title games.

..Super Bowl-Not tainted by what happened to Saints
–That’s right-there were 85-other snaps the Saints could have done better on-but this was a critical mistake, even if Rams are great team.

..Raiders-San Diego-not an option
–We wouldn’t want to further embarrass the embarrassment that Dean Spanos is as Chargers owner, and fill up the stadium in San Diego with traveling Raiders fans, would we? Shame of Mayor Kevin Faulconer for not being more aggressive to create a 7M revenue stream by trying to lure Raiders. Those fans wearing Silver & Black travel everywhere-they would have come here.

..Raiders-Mark Davis wants to stay in Bay Area
–Makes sense to serve what’s left of loyal Raiders fans, and it could create a crush if the Raiders practiced in the Bay Area and commuted to San Diego for home games-but they’d have a strong following…Good luck in the Giants baseball stadium.

..Denver-NFL might intercede in Bowles Family Trust Dispute
–This is ugly, but the Trust language stipulates who makes the decision on replacing Pat Bowlen as owner-don’t see that changing at all.

..Kareem Hunt-investigation nearly complete-stays on suspended list
–Has already paid a Ray Rice type-price for what he did, losing his salary and half a year in Kansas City…Never charged-don’t think he can be suspended though.

..Reuben Foster-facing suspension despite dropped charges
–Different case in that 49ers linebacker has had multiple incidents dating all the way back to Alabama….Likely 6G-suspension coming for repeat offender.

..Colin Kaeperneck-teams decide who can help them win
–Been out of NFL for so long-don’t know if he can gather his career again….Maybe CFL….He never broke the law, never arrested, why is he unsigned? Maybe doesn’t fit many systems. He has a right to free speech doesn’t he? As unpopular as his topic was, he did walk away from 12M contract with 49ers.

..London-Not ready for full-time team
–The four games sell out and a full time team probably would do well there. But talk about a road trip, how do you come stateside eight times a year? And how do other teams handle that type of road trip?

..London-Must understand competitive issues for teams play there
–The scheduling snafu makes it very hard to execute….even worse than if you put a team in Mexico City, which would still be a tough trip.

..Rooney Rule-Still works despite just 1-minority hire this year
–8-head coaches got fired including Marvin Lewis, Steve Wilkes, Todd Bowles, Hue Jackson. They didn’t get fired because they were black, but just because they had bad seasons, just like legendary Mike McCarthy or Adam Game or Dirk Koetter. I don’t like the attitude we need a balanced quota of white-vs-black head coaches. I do like the NFL pushing an agenda that training minorities to become coordinators, and then put them into the head coaches pool, is a better way to do business. Run a summer camp for minority coaches to learn about being a coordinator, then create the pool where they can get hired.

Roger Goodell made statements. I provided substnace.

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