“NFL Preseason Games-Needed but Awful”

The games do not mean a thing in the standings, but they mean alot to the players and the coaches.

These NFL preseason ‘money grab’ games, run by the owners, sanctioned by the league, you know, the ones who charge fans full price to see bad football with guys about to be cut.

Oh the NFL keeps preaching about cutting back the schedule of exhibition games, but when was the last time the NFL gave back money to its fans.

Exhibition games are where you can find a Brandon Oliver, who flashed enough to become a key component of the Chargers running game last season, when they really needed him. But for every good player from some far off college you find, fans have to watch 30-other guys struggle to play at this next level.

Cleveland-Buffalo was really unwatchable last night. Sure there might have been the glitter of watching Johnny Manziel try to resurrect his career coming out of rehab, or to see if Bills QB-EJ Manuel could impress enough to hang onto a roster spot after two years of struggles.

By early in the 4th quarter, with the game tied at (3-3), we had more penalty flags than first downs. The total offense was almost even-steven, 231 for one team, 232 for the other.

Frantic was the style of play of the two struggling quarterbacks, playing behind bad offensive lines, and whose coaches Rex Ryan and Mike Pettine seemed destined to blitz all night, creating havoc.

Manziel threw a TD pass late; Manuel threw one also, and Buffalo wound up with an (11-10) win. When they were finished, the quarterbacks were sacked 8-times, and there were 17-penalties marched off, and that did not include off-setting penalties that wiped out plays.

Coaches need to see players on tape, to see how they held up in individual battles. They saw linemen get beat time and time again, quarterbacks running for their lives, overthrows, pitiful run games, plus flags and sacks. I don’t know what type of video you get from watching chaos.

I know the Browns Stadium had lots of empty seats and no one could be pleased by the quality of the game they saw.

Thank goodness there’s just two more weeks of this, though the third games of the preseason schedule, are when the starters play the most, if the coaches play their starters.

The continuing saga of losing players to injuries continues to be a preseason problem too.

You don’t want to get your starters hurt, just ask Redskins QB-Robert Griffin III, who went down last nite again. You don’t see a good game either, when third and fourth stringers play the most, guys who are about to get cut next weekend.

The NFL realizes it has a problem, but won’t-can’t do anything about it. Coaches need to see players. Teams want to make money. The quality be damned, buy my tickets.

No solution, just waiting for Labor Day weekend when the real games and real players get on the field for something meaningful.

-0-

“The More things Change-the more they stay the same”

It was quite a road trip I took…my 11-day saga to the Canadian Rockies. You know some of the names, Banff, Jasper. Some you really wouldn’t like Prince Rupert-Port Hardy-Kamloops.

Took a close up view of where I had been before, hockey stops in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver.

It was hard to keep up with things day-to-day from such a long distance with spotty phone service and limited internet access, and Canadian TV that is interested in running wall to wall Blue Jays coverage, English Premiere soccer, and talking hockey history.

But back in town, good to see, the more things change, the more they stayed the same.

The Padres continued to spin their wheels, wiping out their playoff hopes, losing three straight at home to the Fighting Phillies. So much for the (90-72) season I projected. I am not sure how we should view this team if they sprint to the finish line, missing the playoffs, but closing the season with an upbeat record. If you don’t play in October then I don’t think your season was a success, especially with this roster and payroll.

This is going to be some off season of scrutiny of Padres leadership. They failed didn’t they?.

The Chargers camp is open, the clock continues to tick on the Stadium situation. Another day, another dose of poison venom from Mark Fabiani on behalf of owner Dean Spanos.

Philip Rivers gets rewarded with the superstar deal, a superstar quarterback deserves. Wonder if he and his family will enjoy LA?

The offensive roster seems promising, the defense has much to prove, and I take nothing from the win over Dallas, considering there was no sighting of Tony Romo, Dez Bryant or other marquee names on the field. .

Was surprised to learn San Diego State still does not have a starting quarterback, though they have a bunch on the roster. Still believe the Kentucky transfer Maxwell Smith will be better than advertised, and that SDSU defense will be robust. Maybe Rocky Long is just taking time to give lots of lst team snaps to his freshman thrower with the lst teamers. Smith still seems the real deal for this final season.

USD doesn’t have a quarterback and that’s a problem, not just for playing in the Pioneer League, but because they open against State in a game that should not be played. You know 85-scholarship school vs non-scholarship team.

The Gulls will likely introduce their new coach next week, but I know lots about them. Building something really solid from the goal out, and now the parent Ducks are signing all these insurance policy forwards, who will likely be spending time here in the AHL. Just have to come up with some young goal scoring snipers for coach Dallas Eakins.

It was fun to be away. Got stopped by lots of people asking me about the Bolts future, the Friars failures, and hockey returning to this market.

The calendar changed, the storylines with the teams really didn’t, just the scenery as I was tramping around British Columbia and Alberta.

-O-

Hacksaw’s on holiday….
Thanks for following us daily.
We return August 20th.

 
 
You mention his name, you remember his number, and you have such mixed emotions.

If I mention #55….you know what I am referring to in San Diego. Much like when I mention #19.

They gave us such great joy, they left us too early. The smiles they possessed, the swagger they showed, will forever be San Diego.

Much like standing in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and looking at the light shining on the Gold Plaque for Tony Gwynn, this weekends Hall of Fame induction in Canton for Junior Seau, when they unveil that bust, will forever be something to remember.

And sadly, we cannot forget how it all ended. The cancer that ravaged and took away Gwynn’s life. And how horribly it ended with the suicide by Seau.

The debate will forever rage, why Gwynn could not kick the chewing tobacco habit, especially, as smart as he was, knowing full well what it had done to other modern players, and the players he grew up following. Tony knew about Nellie Fox and Bill Tuttle and so many more.

The debate is not to be over either about the NFL concussion crisis, the head injuries, the degraded health, then the deaths that followed. Tackles, Interceptions, Sacks and fumbles have now been replaced in the conversation by things like CTE, Tao protein, Alzheimers, Dementia, ALS.

We never knew how sick Seau was, nor how hurt he ever was. It’s assumed he went outside the circle of Chargers-Dolphins and Patriots doctors to get treated for possible concussions.

And then it was over, his normal life. Sleep disorders, depression, mood swings, anger, erratic behavior. It is disturbing those closest to him, family and inner circle friends, didn’t see this, or try to do something about it. Of course, we will never really know, because Seau was his own man, and may have fought any type of intervention, professionally or personally.

I will remember Seau for his enormous athleticism. He was Ray Lewis before there was a Ray Lewis. He was a violent version of Dick Butkus. A charismatic version of Mike Singletary. He was a Jack Lambert sideline to sideline.

He had that ‘fist pump’ lightning bolt signature after a sack. A terror to jump the gap, beat lineman, and bury running backs. Vaulting tall building tackles, leaping onto quarterbacks, he could come at your from any direction. He played like Superman.

He was a wildman in practice. Coaches knew an undisciplined Seau could make plays, might screw up your scheme, but would blowup the other guys play call.

I close my eyes, and I see him jump a gap, tackle Seattle running back Chris Warren, whom he thought had the ball off play-action, and then run Warren right over his own quarterback Dave Kreig-who had yet to setup in the pocket. It was dominance. It was fierce. It was typical Seau mayhem

It was Seau bolting thru a gap and crushing a Bengals running back. It was Junior showing blitz, backing out into the passing lane and picking one off against the Steelers. It was Seau over the top on a goal line stand, crashing into the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage.

If there was ever anybody ‘all in’ it was Seau. If he was good at USC, he was great in the NFL.

Sadly it had to end this way. Brain injuries always take a toll. This time, Seau took his own life. He shot himself in the heart, but his face will now be attached to the NFL concussion lawsuit for the betterment of those still living and for players in the future.

There will be a pang in my heart come Saturday night. The bronze bust will be spectacular to see, but there will be smiles and sadness too.

Remember the greatness of the player, the dedication of the person, the boyhood love in a grown man. I don’t know that Oceanside emotionally has ever recovered from what happened to him. Chargers fans will never forget either.

His four kids will be there when they unveil the bust. We will be there in spirit too, remembering how much he cared, and what he gave on game-day and his this community with his charities. And even in death, his Foundation yesterday donated 500,000 to Rady Children’s Hospital in the North County for a construction project.

Junior Seau lived to play football. Football took his life. The Hall of Fame bust will give us a chance to remember his specialness forever and forever.

 
 
So camp opens today at San Diego State, with the Aztecs picked to the win the Mountain West Division race.

The coach is Rocky Long, headed into his fifth year Old school as they come. His game of football hasn’t changed since the days he was a quarterback at New Mexico, or John Heisman and Alonzo Amos Stagg were coaches..

Run the football and play defense. Plain and simple. Make them stop us, after we stop them.

Back in the day, college football was all about control of real estate and the clock. Three yards and a cloud of dust Woody Hayes would say. Further back in the day, it was the single wing.

Rocky Long isn’t quite that far back in time, though he has seen alot of 3rd and long plays in his career.

He embarks on the 2015-season loaded at the spots he thinks are most important, running back and on defense.

They’re going to run it, no doubt about that, with Donnell Pumphrey back as a third year starter, coming off an 1800-yard all purpose season, running and catching. But SDSU is not a 1-man team, though it may lean to 1-dimensional.

Chase Price returns as the backup tailback, backed by two more young pups, Rashard Penny and Marcus Stamps, each of who has shown some real flashes.

And yes, Dakota Gordon returns as a fullback, something you hardly ever see in the college game these days, where most everybody else throws the ball everywhere. Not so much on Montezuma Mesa.

It is amazing, with so many high school programs throwing the ball in California, SDSU just has not recruited well at quarterback in the Long era. They come in, stay, fail to get a starting job, then leave. The turnover is like Grand Central Station.

Not since home-grown products Ryan Lindley and Kevin O’Connell were making big plays a few years back, has SDSU scared anyone at the position.

Maxwell Smith, a transfer from Kentucky, a former starter, has arrived as a grad student, and will play immediately, for just 1-year.

Prior to that Long was looking at JUCO transfers, and transfers from Oregon and Oregon State. The Quinn Kaehler’s of the world haven’t lit it up. SDSU, with its great reputation of throwing the ball, dating back to the Dennis Shaw-Brian Sipe era, thru David Lowrey and Tim Gutierrez record seasons, just doesn’t get access to throwers any more.

What they do have is defense, lots of it, and that is who Rocky Long is, and what he is all about.

His 3-3-5, his 3-up-8 back, his blitz schemes, are amazing to watch. How he teaches so much in such a short learning curve of time for players, in impressive. And you thought Bill Belichick and New England’s defense was exotic.

Linebackers-R-Us, is the catch phrase about what SDSU has become. Kirk Morrison would be forever proud. This year’s star is Calvin Munson, who was everywhere, making all kinds of plays last season.

The Aztecs bring back a ton on that side of the ball, including 5th year player JJ Whitaker and linebacker Jake Fely, given an extraordinary 6th year to play because of multiple past injuries. 7-veterans return from the linebacker to secondary corps.

The schedule is a hodge-podge. Shameful they open with USD, a non-scholarship program, because they couldn’t find a 12th opponent. Yes there are road games at Penn State and California. The toughest games will be against Fresno and Utah State. The road game at Colorado State will be the hardest. You still get a sense of non-attachment from the community though towards Aztecs football.

It just has never been the same since the Marshall Faulk era, and that was nearly 25-years ago. SDSU will never be in the Pac 12. Thank goodness, somebody scuttled the bad Big East idea. But unless they can configure a rivalry where USC and UCLA do home and home schedules with State, SDSU will be on the outer edge of BCS-interest.

But there’s a bowl game to shoot for, and a conference championship game against possibly Boise State coming out of the Mountain Division.

Rocky Long doesn’t worry much about things out of his control. No Trojans nor Bruins to play. Lots of empty seats. Nah, let’s just go run the football and take the football away from the other guy. He even laughed at himself talking about the new Aztecs uniforms with the Aztecs calendar logo embossed on helmets-“players think they’re cool-I’m not cool-let’s just go play”.

It’s fun to watch. We’re going to pound it. And we’re coming after your quarterback, and what the hell are you going to do about that?

Who are they? Rocky Ball isn’t bad at all.

You just wish a major league sports town like San Diego and its fans, would pay attention to how good a coach, and how good a program the man has built.