motife
10-04-2006, 06:12 PM
Great players win games, and bad players lose games
Posted: Oct. 3, 2006
Cliff Christl
E-MAIL
It's not only quarterbacks that can make the difference between a winning team and a losing team.
Wide receiver Steve Smith, one of the biggest playmakers in the game, was inactive the first two weeks of the season with a hamstring injury and Carolina lost twice by a total of 17 points. In the two games since Smith returned, he has drawn enough attention to create opportunities for the offense, made plays and the Panthers have won two games by a total of five points.
With Smith, Carolina has a chance to win the NFC championship and get to the Super Bowl. Without him, despite some studs on its defensive line, the Panthers probably would fall short of making the playoffs.
Running back Clinton Portis, one of the top three or four running backs in the league and one of Washington's two playmakers along with wide receiver Santana Moss, injured his shoulder in the exhibition season, played sparingly in the opener and the Redskins' offense struggled and scored just 16 points in a loss to Minnesota. With Portis inactive the next week against Dallas, the Redskins looked even worse on offense, scored a mere 10 points and lost again.
Portis returned the next week, scored two touchdowns, including a 30-yard run with one second left in the first half, and the Redskins scored 31 points and won. On Sunday, Portis rushed for more than 100 yards, the Redskins scored 36 and beat one of the best defensive teams in the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Again, with Portis, the Redskins are a playoff contender and maybe more. Without him, they probably aren't a .500 team.
Running back Brian Westbrook maybe doesn't mean as much to the Philadelphia Eagles as Smith does to Carolina or Portis to Washington. Westbrook plays with a better quarterback in Donovan McNabb. And Westbrook is an unusual back in that he's more dangerous as a receiver than a runner. But he, too, is one of those rare players that opposing defenses have to design their scheme around and account for on every play.
"He's made for big plays," is how Dallas coach Bill Parcells once described Westbrook.
When the Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 2004, they had three of the biggest playmakers in the game: McNabb, Westbrook and wide receiver Terrell Owens.
Last year, the Eagles lost Owens after seven games; McNabb after nine, although he wasn't the same quarterback after suffering a painful chest injury in the opener and a sports hernia in the third week; and Westbrook at halftime of the 11th game.
The Eagles started out 4-2 and were tied for the lead in the NFC East at that point. After their playmakers started falling by the wayside, they crumbled and finished 6-10. Over the last five games, including the one in which Westbrook was lost for the season, the Eagles were 1-4.
So forget the 11½-point spread before Monday's game against Philadelphia. Once Westbrook became a late scratch, the Packers had a real shot at winning and that was bore out in the first half when they took a 9-7 lead.
Keep in mind, the Eagles also were without perhaps their biggest playmaker on defense, end Jevon Kearse, and Lito Sheppard, a Pro Bowl cornerback in 2004, although he slipped so badly last year that Pro Football Weekly, with assistance from general managers, personnel directors and scouts, didn't rate him among the top 25 players at the position coming into this season. Still, the Eagles were down to a third-string cornerback, 5-foot-9, 170-pound Joselio Hanson, who wasn't even in the league last year.
The Eagles also lost Donte' Stallworth, their biggest threat at wide receiver, in the second half.
Yes, the Eagles are solid across the offensive line, unlike the Packers with their rookie guards. Even without Kearse, they have better depth on the defensive line, although their starting ends now are no better than the tandem of Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and Aaron Kampman, and their best tackle, Darwin Walker, is no better than Ryan Pickett. And the Eagles might have the best safety tandem in the league.
But the team they fielded Monday night - minus Westbrook, minus Kearse, minus a starting corner and his top backup - wouldn't be a threat to win the Super Bowl any more than last year's Eagles were.
Still, the Packers couldn't score a touchdown. Even though Westbrook's backup, Correll Buckhalter, gave them two gifts with fumbles inside the Packers' 5-yard line, they couldn't seize the opportunity.
So the Eagles' one remaining playmaker, McNabb, was able to keep a scoring drive alive with runs of 14 and 12 yards in third-and-10 situations; and threw strikes for touchdowns covering 45 and 30 yards to wide receiver Greg Lewis, who is third on the Eagles' pecking order at wide receiver.
And, once again, the Packers lost for the same reason that all bad teams lose more than they win.
They had nobody who could make a game-turning play on offense or defense even against a team that was without two of its three best players. And the Packers' worst player was exposed in a way that the Eagles' worst player wasn't.
With Westbrook and Ahman Green out, both teams started backup running backs. Buckhalter cost the Eagles 14 points. Vernand Morency, who was making only his second pro start, cost the Packers 14 points with a fumble and a dropped pass.
That was a wash.
But at cornerback, Ahmad Carroll was burned for the 45-yard touchdown, was called for pass interference to set up the 30-yard touchdown and allowed a 23-yard reception on another scoring drive. Hanson, as much as the Packers tried to pick on him, never allowed the big play that might have turned the game.
Great players win games. Bad players lose games.
When your best players are an aging Brett Favre and Donald Driver and maybe Kampman on defense, you're not going to win many games even against shorthanded opponents. And, once again, one of the Packers' weakest links, Carroll, was exploited on the Eagles' biggest plays.
Posted: Oct. 3, 2006
Cliff Christl
It's not only quarterbacks that can make the difference between a winning team and a losing team.
Wide receiver Steve Smith, one of the biggest playmakers in the game, was inactive the first two weeks of the season with a hamstring injury and Carolina lost twice by a total of 17 points. In the two games since Smith returned, he has drawn enough attention to create opportunities for the offense, made plays and the Panthers have won two games by a total of five points.
With Smith, Carolina has a chance to win the NFC championship and get to the Super Bowl. Without him, despite some studs on its defensive line, the Panthers probably would fall short of making the playoffs.
Running back Clinton Portis, one of the top three or four running backs in the league and one of Washington's two playmakers along with wide receiver Santana Moss, injured his shoulder in the exhibition season, played sparingly in the opener and the Redskins' offense struggled and scored just 16 points in a loss to Minnesota. With Portis inactive the next week against Dallas, the Redskins looked even worse on offense, scored a mere 10 points and lost again.
Portis returned the next week, scored two touchdowns, including a 30-yard run with one second left in the first half, and the Redskins scored 31 points and won. On Sunday, Portis rushed for more than 100 yards, the Redskins scored 36 and beat one of the best defensive teams in the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Again, with Portis, the Redskins are a playoff contender and maybe more. Without him, they probably aren't a .500 team.
Running back Brian Westbrook maybe doesn't mean as much to the Philadelphia Eagles as Smith does to Carolina or Portis to Washington. Westbrook plays with a better quarterback in Donovan McNabb. And Westbrook is an unusual back in that he's more dangerous as a receiver than a runner. But he, too, is one of those rare players that opposing defenses have to design their scheme around and account for on every play.
"He's made for big plays," is how Dallas coach Bill Parcells once described Westbrook.
When the Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 2004, they had three of the biggest playmakers in the game: McNabb, Westbrook and wide receiver Terrell Owens.
Last year, the Eagles lost Owens after seven games; McNabb after nine, although he wasn't the same quarterback after suffering a painful chest injury in the opener and a sports hernia in the third week; and Westbrook at halftime of the 11th game.
The Eagles started out 4-2 and were tied for the lead in the NFC East at that point. After their playmakers started falling by the wayside, they crumbled and finished 6-10. Over the last five games, including the one in which Westbrook was lost for the season, the Eagles were 1-4.
So forget the 11½-point spread before Monday's game against Philadelphia. Once Westbrook became a late scratch, the Packers had a real shot at winning and that was bore out in the first half when they took a 9-7 lead.
Keep in mind, the Eagles also were without perhaps their biggest playmaker on defense, end Jevon Kearse, and Lito Sheppard, a Pro Bowl cornerback in 2004, although he slipped so badly last year that Pro Football Weekly, with assistance from general managers, personnel directors and scouts, didn't rate him among the top 25 players at the position coming into this season. Still, the Eagles were down to a third-string cornerback, 5-foot-9, 170-pound Joselio Hanson, who wasn't even in the league last year.
The Eagles also lost Donte' Stallworth, their biggest threat at wide receiver, in the second half.
Yes, the Eagles are solid across the offensive line, unlike the Packers with their rookie guards. Even without Kearse, they have better depth on the defensive line, although their starting ends now are no better than the tandem of Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and Aaron Kampman, and their best tackle, Darwin Walker, is no better than Ryan Pickett. And the Eagles might have the best safety tandem in the league.
But the team they fielded Monday night - minus Westbrook, minus Kearse, minus a starting corner and his top backup - wouldn't be a threat to win the Super Bowl any more than last year's Eagles were.
Still, the Packers couldn't score a touchdown. Even though Westbrook's backup, Correll Buckhalter, gave them two gifts with fumbles inside the Packers' 5-yard line, they couldn't seize the opportunity.
So the Eagles' one remaining playmaker, McNabb, was able to keep a scoring drive alive with runs of 14 and 12 yards in third-and-10 situations; and threw strikes for touchdowns covering 45 and 30 yards to wide receiver Greg Lewis, who is third on the Eagles' pecking order at wide receiver.
And, once again, the Packers lost for the same reason that all bad teams lose more than they win.
They had nobody who could make a game-turning play on offense or defense even against a team that was without two of its three best players. And the Packers' worst player was exposed in a way that the Eagles' worst player wasn't.
With Westbrook and Ahman Green out, both teams started backup running backs. Buckhalter cost the Eagles 14 points. Vernand Morency, who was making only his second pro start, cost the Packers 14 points with a fumble and a dropped pass.
That was a wash.
But at cornerback, Ahmad Carroll was burned for the 45-yard touchdown, was called for pass interference to set up the 30-yard touchdown and allowed a 23-yard reception on another scoring drive. Hanson, as much as the Packers tried to pick on him, never allowed the big play that might have turned the game.
Great players win games. Bad players lose games.
When your best players are an aging Brett Favre and Donald Driver and maybe Kampman on defense, you're not going to win many games even against shorthanded opponents. And, once again, one of the Packers' weakest links, Carroll, was exploited on the Eagles' biggest plays.