Category Archives: 2011 NFL Regular Season

Indianapolis Colts Fire Bill Polian

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Bill Polian

In a move that will have the Colts transition into a rebuilding stage, they fired Bill Polian and the entire front office. This move seriously casts a shadow of doubt that Peyton Manning will ever be under center again in Indianapolis. A stunning development to say the least yet head coach Jim Caldwell will be retained.

Polian is the personnel director who made the decision to draft Peyton Manning instead of Ryan Leaf in 1998. This set the course for the Colts to join the league’s elite for more than a decade. He also was the impetus for the Colts to draft Edgerrin James in 1999 over Heisman winner Ricky Williams. James ran for more nearly 12,000 yards and helped 2 teams reach the Super Bowl.

His astute player personnel skills built the Colts to a contender with 115 wins in the 2000s. He did this after building the Buffalo Bills into a 4 time Super Bowl participant who won over 100 games in the 1990s. In fact he maybe the only man to be a part of two teams achieving this feat.

We know the Colts will have to rebuild yet why move forward without the man who drafted 4 hall of famers, acquired another, and another 4 who will see consideration? Manning, Marvin Harrison, Andre Reed, Reggie Wayne will validate his picks.

Nevertheless, the history of the Indianapolis Colts was secured through his moves. Doubtful Lucas Oil Stadium would exist without his personnel decisions and Peyton Manning’s onfield success.

We believe a clean sweep will be made and Peyton Manning, if he doesn’t retire, will be a free agent this offseason. Why send such a clear message to rebuild with a pillar of the outgoing regime still in house? They will draft Andrew Luck and move into a new era of Colts football.

When Tracy Porter returned that Manning interception to clinch Super Bowl XLIV for New Orleans, I knew it was the end of an era. It’s certainly official now.

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Taylor Blitz Times 2011 Report: Published by WordPress

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 22,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 8 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Let me say thanks on behalf of the Taylor Blitz Times and we have more in store for 2012. We have our video archives being digitized as we speak and have a ton of articles coming up. We’re about to heat up with the NFL playoffs. Get your friends to sign up as we will be picking all the games in the race to Super Bowl XLVI, and hope to expand to Blog Talk Radio and broadcast from Super Bowl XLVII. Yet we need your help in sharing the stories and articles with those you know who love football. Of course we have a few campaigns underway to spread the word but think about it for a second… The total number is over 23,895 as of this morning and we didn’t really start this in earnest until May. So in actuality these are totals for just over 7 months.

We will make it to 100,000 views by next football season and I thought I would share this with everyone that has viewed my blog and wish to extend a thank you.  It’s at this point we hope you understand our mission statement is to cover the game as it is played today with a nod to great players, teams, and forgotten stories of yesteryear to keep fans excited about football. Cover it in a positive way. In one place talk about the games and players with a museum off to the side to check out historical pieces. Coming up for those that are football coaches and fans of playbooks we will introduce Coaches Corner where we will look and have tutorials on plays and formations. Many of which were of my own design based off work by Sid Gillman, Bill Walsh, Fritz Schurmur, Buddy Ryan and John Madden.

Again, I thank you for reading the Taylor Blitz Times and feel free to comment. The feedback is what we would like to see more from those of you reading. It fuels us to do more and give you more. Get ready, because a lot will happen in 2012 including liberating this blog from WordPress and turning it into a full website.

Jef A Taylor

 

Chancellor of Football

NFL Week 17: Assault On the Record Book With an Asterisk

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Now that Christmas break is over it’s time to get down to the end of the NFL season and the all out assault on the record books. Last Monday night,  Drew Brees became the all time single season passing yardage leader, breaking the mark of Dan Marino with 5,087 yards. A tremendous feat until one reminds you that Tom Brady can actually surpass him with 191 yards against Buffalo, if the Saints rest Brees.

A deeper look and if Matthew Stafford throws for 482 (a longshot), Eli Manning throws for 413, and Aaron Rodgers throws for 357 in the final week, we will have FIVE passers with over 5,000 yards in one season. Seriously?? When there has only been one 5,000 yard passer in the 92 year history of the NFL?? Something is definitely wrong.

In fact, for the 2011 NFL season, we have a legitimate chance of having TEN 4,000 yard passers in one season. The problem is the league is legislating defense out of football. Head to head shots on defenseless receivers is an important step to player safety which we are all for, but hitting still has to be a part of the game, right??

In fact, the next time you watch an NFL game, notice how many wide receivers wear NO leg pads as they sprint upfield. Of course this is a byproduct of receivers trying to get downfield faster but they truly don’t expect to get hit. Not even bumped within the first 5 yards off of the scrimmage line.

This is the Mel Blount rule… yes the famous former Pittsburgh Steeler. Before 1978, defenders were able to beat receivers up all the way down the field. A defender could pop a receiver running a route as long as the pass hadn’t left the quarterback’s hand. So being “checked” by a linebacker and sometimes a safety wasn’t uncommon. Yet there was a point where re-emphasis to receivers running without interruption took place.

It came in the aftermath of the 2003 AFC Championship Game when the Colts lost 20-7 to New England. NFL and media darling Peyton Manning and the Colts, accused the Patriots of abusing the 5 yard chuck rule. This led to talks throughout Super Bowl week as the Patriots prepared to play the Carolina Panthers that the league would crack down on defensive holding / illegal chucks.

Don’t know if it had an affect but Super Bowl XXXVIII was the first league championship game in history with both teams scoring 3 times in the 4th quarter. Fireworks galore. As the 2004 season approached the league was still talking about re-emphasizing the 5 yard chuck rule and yardage and points rang up in the ensuing years. In fact 2004 was the year Peyton Manning broke Marino’s single season TD record with 49. Did you know in his 6 previous seasons he hadn’t been within 15 TDs of Marino’s former record of 48?? Take a look: Manning

In 2003, only Peyton Manning and Trent Green crossed the 4,000 yard threshold. Then 5 quarterbacks crossed the mark in 2004. Now we’re up to possibly 10??

Couple this with the league cracking down with new penalties upon hitting a defenseless receivers downfield and monstrously large pass interference penalties, defensive players are scared to touch receivers now. Now as we watch the game, a defender that is rushing the passer, in an attempt to knock down the pass will get a 15 yard penalty if his hand grazes the quarterbacks head. This is all complete nonsense and the NFL is turning itself into basketball on grass with the intimidation factor taken away from defenses. The only rule adjusted to help defenses in the last 15 years is when they removed the “force out” rule in 2010. There need to be a few more.

So what has happened is teams are realizing opponents can’t play defense and are lining up in 4 and 5 receivers like never before. The advent of the bubble screen is an effective ploy that has led to inflated passing numbers but not like the rules downfield.

So why an asterisk?? It’s as though the league pushed for this to happen instead of it taking place naturally. When Dan Marino broke the all time mark with 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns. He was head and shoulders above everyone else, he didn’t have 4 other quarterbacks poised to break it with him. He obliterated the old touchdown mark of 36 that had stood from 1963 until 1984. It was the mark of a great quarterback at the zenith of his game and it made the moment he broke those records special. What happened last Monday night was just Drew Brees got to Marino’s record against watered down defenses first before Brady did. Forgive us but the sense of accomplishment just wasn’t there. With the rules in place now, a young Marino would hit 6,000 and 60 TDs easily.

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Week 15 Monday Night Football: Pittsburgh Steelers @ San Francisco 49ers

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"Did you hear?? Baltimore lost to San Diego last night!"

Well doesn’t this have a good ring to it?? These teams are coming in with a ton of NFL playoff implications tied to this football game. The first is the San Francisco 49ers are trying to catch the Green Bay Packers, for homefield advantage on the NFC side of the ledger. Although they have won their division, they have been caught by the New Orleans Saints who are 1/2 a game up on the 49ers for the #2 seed. In other words, the 49ers need this game in more ways than one. They need it for playoff positioning and also to prove they can stand up to the best AFC teams. They were handled in Balitmore Thanksgiving Night 16-6, and being new to the league’s elite they need to prove to themselves they can beat an established team. The Niners come into this game 10-3 and face the 10-3 Steelers.

The Steelers come into this game without their enforcer in linebacker James Harrison who is serving a one game suspension. However this team had to deal with his missing four games from an orbital bone fracture earlier in the year. With Lawrence Timmons & Larry Foote, the Steelers are able to rotate linebackers to continue playing the same defense and rush the passer along with stopping the run. This year’s edition hasn’t forced the turnovers of previous editions yet comes in with the #1 defense. Thanks to early injuries to this defense, which is one of the eldest in all of football, they are healthy on defense at the right time and they’re rested.

Unsung versatile linebacker Larry Foote

They also have to rally around an injured Ben Roethlisberger who has a high ankle sprain but this is the type of rock ’em sock ’em game the  Steelers thrive in. It may be hard for Roethlisberger to move around and make plays but he plays with grit and has to will his offense down the field. For the season he’s completed 64.5% of his passes for 3,526 yards 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He’s on pace for another 4,000 yard season and people have to get over the illusion that the Steelers are a running team. Sure they are a running team first, but Ben is what makes this offense go. They say it’s a game time decision but Big Ben, sitting out this game?? Stop, he’ll be under center tonight bank on it. Especially with Baltimore stumbling last night in San Diego, now the Steelers are in control of the AFC North, the second seed in the AFC playoffs or possibly home field throughout.

Yet coming in with the league’s #4 defense is the San Francisco 49ers. Did you know they haven’t given up a rushing touchdown all year?? They are trying to become the first team in league history not to give up a rushing touchdown for the season. Now that is a record. Furthermore did you know that in the Super Bowl era, for every team that didn’t give up a rushing touchdown in the first 10 games, all of which made it to at least the conference championship?? So take a guess who is #1 against the run in the NFL?? Getting the picture??

Underappreciated as the #1 rushing defense in football. Folks will learn of Justin Smith and the rest of the defense. It's more than Patrick Willis.

Frank Gore and Rashard Mendenhall better have on their big boy pads tonight.  Frank Gore “Didn’t he ask to be traded?? Oh that was pre-season!” has 1,054 yards and 6 touchdowns and has to be at his best for San Francisco to win. He currently ranks 6th but should end tonight as the league’s #3 rusher.  Suprisingly Rashard Mendenhall is 24th in the league in rushing with 710 yards yet he has 8 touchdowns. Can Mendenhall and company break the rushing touchdown drought of the Niners?? Well they better get their pad lower than they did on the goal line at home versus Cleveland.

In the end, Big Ben is going to win this game with a few plays out of the pocket. Alex Smith is enjoying a good season but will see ghosts of that Thanksgiving Game as Lamarr Woodley will come off the corner as Terrell Suggs did in that one. The difference is going to be the quarterback… Big Ben will win it where Alex Smith will try to manage it.  You don’t manage against Blitzburgh. Yet the 49ers aren’t battle tested enough to knock off Pittsburgh.

OUR PICK: STEELERS 20-13 OVER 49ERS

Armchair General Manager: Cleveland Browns

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In the NFL, Monday and Thursday night games are opportunities to showcase your top players and units. Two weeks ago was no exceptions as the Cleveland Browns lethal defense stood toe to toe with the Pittsburgh Steelers in Heinz Field. Anyone that watched that goal line stand, where the Steelers took four shots from the two, had to come away impressed.  They ran away from leading tackler D’Qwell Jackson then Chris Gocong and the rest of the Browns slammed Rashard Mendenhall violently to the turf. If the thought didn’t hit you “How good would the Browns be if they had some offense?” You had to be a Steelers fan. So with a 4-10 record, where do they go from here??

They need an immediate offensive boost at the quarterbacking position. So at first glance you have to ask if Colt McCoy is the future. We don’t think so and you have to make moves now to take advantage of their immediate defensive excellence.  So what would we do??

Exhibit A: Make a move for Peyton Manning. Would offer our 2012 first rounder and a 1st rounder in 2013, and secure the future Hall of Famer knowing we had a two year window with him on the field. With him in tow there would be the selling point as to why we’d be able to secure a free agent RB and first rate WR to produce some immediate offense. Convincing of the Indianapolis Colts that they have to rebuild now that Manning won’t be there is why we’d offer the two #1s.  If they bit, it would be a coup to possibly challenge for the Super Bowl in the next two years. Isn’t that worth the risk for a team that has only made the playoffs one time since 1999?? Think about it…

Exhibit B: Trade their number 1 pick in 2013, if they have to, to secure Robert Griffin III, along with getting a mid range receiver. They can lean on Griffin III’s ability to run and stretch the defense with half rolls and shotgun rolls to open running lanes for Peyton Hillis or a total dual threat Josh Cribbs in the backfield with him. The attention on the short game will open up the passing lanes 15 yards downfield.  What free agent running backs and receivers can they attract after drafting the Heisman trophy winner??

D'Qwell Jackson leads a new pack of Dawgs in Cleveland.

Remember this team has given up only the 7th most points thus far this season with 274. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2011.htm Right now they have the most unsung star in football in D’Qwell Jackson who has outplayed Ray Lewis and Patrick Willis this year at Middle Linebacker. He is second in total tackles to London Fletcher (146) with 138 yet has 17 more solo tackles than Fletcher. Of all the top ten tacklers, he’s the only one with at least 3.5 sacks along with an interception, a forced fumble and 3 fumble recoveries. The Browns have slipped to 14th in defense but for most of the year they were a top five defense. This could be the start of the rebirth of the Cleveland Browns. What could they have been had they had a little offense this year?? Doesn’t matter. This can be the turn around team of 2012. We thought we’d volunteer who we thought would be catalytic acquisitions to turn around a moribund offense.

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NFL Week 16 AFC West: Interesting Turn of Events

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Lost in all the Tebow talk is the play of the defense led by Von Miller's 11.5 sacks and 50 total tackles.

Everyone is still trying to wrap their heads around the topsy turvy AFC West or mainly the Tim Tebow led Denver Broncos. We, at Taylor Blitz Times figured out the Oakland Raiders are a season away from full potential with Carson Palmer. With a full offseason to work the kinks out and get him a grade A receiver, they look to be the division front runner for 2012. We forwarned you the San Diego Chargers would underachieve with that talented roster and are waiting for the Chargers to dismiss Norv Turner to get a jump on 2012 now that Kansas City has made the switch. Huh, oh Tebow Magic?? We’ll be getting to that but first…

Haley's offense scored 10 or fewer points in 8 of 13 games leading to his dismissal after a 4-9 record.

In an effort to get a jump on the 2012 season, the Chiefs dismissed Todd Haley. Did he deserve it?? His team has tanked this year from the very outset and the offensive performance of his Chiefs has been, well, offensive. Remember they lost their first two games 41-7 and 48-3 respectively… This from the offensive mastermind that got the Cardinals to Super Bowl XLIII just 3 years back?? Chiefs brass drafted WR Jonathon Baldwin in the first round and signed his former receiver with Arizona in Steve Breaston to join Pro Bowl WR DeWayne Bowe. We know they lost Charlie Weiss as co-ordinator but should this offense have slipped THIS far??  How in the hell did Matt Cassel regress from 27 TDs /7 int’s to 10 TDs/9 int’s before Tyler Palko’s 2TDs/7 ints since Cassel’s injury?? Sure they lost Jamaal Charles to a season ending injury but they still had Thomas Jones in house who ran for almost 1,000 yards last year. Then couple that with his reported inability to get along with Scott Pioli, he had to go. You can’t say the front office didn’t get him the pieces he needed for even moderate success and they ranked 31st in offense. Yes it was a just firing. Here let’s take a look at the standings…

AFC WEST W L T PCT HOME ROAD DIV CONF PF PA DIFF STRK
Denver 8 5 0 .615 3-3-0 5-2-0 3-2-0 6-3-0 269 302 -33 Won 6
Oakland 7 6 0 .538 3-3-0 4-3-0 2-2-0 5-5-0 290 354 -64 Lost 2
San Diego 6 7 0 .462 4-3-0 2-4-0 2-3-0 5-5-0 324 299 +25 Won 2
Kansas City 5 8 0 .385 2-4-0 3-4-0 2-2-0 3-7-0 173 305 -132 Lost 1

Marching toward the playoffs are the Denver Broncos who just vanquished the Chicago Bears 13-10 in overtime. “Tebow Magic” strikes again and much like “Mile High Magic” in the 1980’s, teams play those last few minutes in total fear and make mistakes. However it’s the stellar play of the defense that is being totally overlooked that is giving Tebow the chance to win it in the end. Although they’re ranked 19th overall they have kept 4 of their last 5 opponents to 13 or fewer points.  Von Miller is one of 4 bloodthirsty linebackers who are making plays all over the field. Wesley Woodward leads the way with 78 tackles followed by DJ Williams (74),  Joe Mays (64), and Miller with 63. They’re making timely plays when they need it more than anything else. With their top 4 tacklers being their linebackers , they are executing their defensive play calls to perfection.

Right now there is no way to quantify what is taking place in Denver outside they are doing just enough to win. During the 7-1 record that Tebow has engineered, the Broncos are dead even in the turnover ratio. Tebow has not been efficient at the beginning of games when the full playbook is being used. It’s when the Broncos are running from spread formations and the hurry up offense that he can see the openings. It might be time for Denver to open with this in the first half. Especially with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots coming to town. Prepare for some exotic looks and delayed blitzes on the part of the Patriots if the Broncos try to line up traditionally.  If they don’t counter what New England game plans for the Broncos are headed for a loss. They will not slow the Patriots offense down like Chicago’s or the Chargers. Don’t forget this coming week, the Patriots are eyeing a first round bye and need this win.

Still in the hunt are the Oakland Raiders who have have one of the most tumultuous season in their history. They have seen better days than last week’s 46-16 drubbing from the Super Bowl champion Packers. Yet the defense couldn’t sustain the load over the course of this season and that’s before the injuries to Jason Campbell and Darren McFadden. Do you realize the Raiders have allowed 20 or more in 11 of 13 games including 30 or more points allowed in 3 of their previous 6?? Right now the Raiders are 29th in the NFL against the run so we’re not talking about the loss of Namedi Asougmha either. Somewhere this team lost it’s defensive focus yet will come out of 2011 with a real quarterback in Carson Palmer and can focus on a true number one receiver and solidify their defense. They may have enough gas to catch the Broncos in the waning weeks due to schedule (Lions, Chiefs, Chargers) but that would take a monumental collapse on Denver’s part (Patriots, Bills, Chiefs) in remaining games.

The Broncos and Raiders are works in progress. Although the Broncos are in the midst of Tebow hysteria, it’s the Raiders who have made some strides and are in place to really challenge for the AFC championship next year. From an X’s and O’s standpoint a book is being established against Tebow and you’ll see it in the up coming weeks in the form of delayed blitzes.  Teams are going to rush hard outside, get him to where he commits to dart up in the pocket to run through holes, then send delayed blitzers there. Keep your eyes on this… The book on how to stop Tebow was written over 25 years ago. Its the same one that was designed to stop young John Elway. Yet a team had better have willing hitters when they arrive.

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