NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

So Brad Childress addressed the Brett Favre issue today terms that can be described most easily as… ummm… well… they're kind of… I don't know. ESPN transcribed the whole presser:

Why were you considering taking Favre out of the game?

Brad Childress: It was more of a stream of consciousness, where he comes of the field, I'm watching what I'm watching, and I said, "Hey, you know what? I'm thinking about taking you out of the game here. I mean, you're getting your rear end kicked" through not a lot of fault of his own. As I'm watching that and as I'm watching that occur, I'm giving him a stream of consciousness.

Obviously, he didn't want anything to do with that, which I certainly appreciate from his standpoint. From any quarterback. He wasn't like, "OK, let me get my hat on." That wasn't in his makeup. So I appreciate that from his standpoint.

You guys can characterize it as heated. There was pretty good communication going on back and forth. I didn't see it as heated. I didn't see it as any different from the conversation that I had with him at Arizona after the game by his locker. There was a back and forth of information and feelings.

This game is an emotional game, particularly when you're right in the middle of it. So I appreciate his wanting to stick to it. I know that people talk about pulling the quarterback. We're not talking about maiming the quarterback. It's what happens with quarterbacks. They play, they come out, they stay in. So, that's what it is. It happens in a team sport and it happens in football.

Did you feel like Tarvaris Jackson may have given your team a better chance to win?

BC: In my stream of consciousness? Well, I certainly was thinking about that. But more my stream was of the nature that he's taking a beating here. So I know the next part of that. But that wasn't part of it right then when I was speaking to him.

What were your feelings on Favre telling his side with the media Sunday night?

BC: I think he probably gave you a stream of consciousness from the best of his recollection, wouldn't you say? Yeah. The great thing about telling the truth is you can tell it over and over again. I know exactly how it happened. What I said was, 'It has nothing to do with how you're playing. It has to do with what's happening to you out there.' And again, there's volatility and emotion involved.

Did you approach him to give him the option to come out?

BC: If he wanted to tap out? … Yeah, and that's a good question. I don't know if I knew at the time what I thought was going to happen from that. I wasn't looking for a "Are you looking to get out? Are you looking to stay in?"

Again, it was a stream of consciousness. It was the thought that I was having at the time. Usually children do that. They give you the straight stream of consciousness all the time, appropriate or inappropriate. Mine was more communicative. It was to stimulate some dialogue. I wasn't trying to get a goat. I was just telling him what I was seeing.

So he didn't defy you by refusing to come out?

BC: Not at all. Not at all. It was something that was talked through. I wish I could remember how it finished. It wasn't a "so there." It wasn't like that. Things like that generally don't happen on the sideline. Somebody may have come up with a book of pictures or another quarterback may have wandered up or something like that. I don't even know what it looked like on TV….

Will you be different the next time you give him your stream of consciousness?

BC: I suppose it's a learning experience. I'm generally not great about parsing my words. I think usually before I say them, but in a stream of consciousness setting, it was kind of, what I was watching, what I saw the last series, what I had watched in how many ever plays we had played. That's what it was. I can't tell you how I'll act if there is a next time.

Have you approached him with the same sort of thoughts previously this season?

BC: Where I approached him? No.

Was there any game where you thought about doing it?

BC: Now we're going deep. I'm going to let you guys go deep with however you want.

Do you need to remind him that it's not always about winning the game, that it's also about winning in the playoffs?

BC: I think that's a fair point. One of his replies last night was "Hey, we're struggling, we need to win this game. That's what we need to do." We weren't thinking ahead to the Giants or the Bears or anything. He was staying in the moment. His competitive zeal is there, always. So, yeah, that's fair. You could tell where he was there with that.

So there you have it folks. All your questions answered. Childress has child-like streams of consciousness, Brett Favre and him were not watching the same game, Childress has no interest in goats, and NBC was broadcasting the game in picture books rather than HD.

Clear?

That's what I thought.

Meanwhile, Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press describes a very interesting scene following Favre’s presser. Apparently Childress went nutzo after hearing what Favre had said about their sideline conversation:

Later on, I caught up with Childress as he returned from the shower and was walking into the visiting coach’s office. It was just me, Childress and his towel. Standing in the doorway, I basically asked for a comment with regards to Favre announcing that he refused to come out of the game. Before Childress could answer, Bob Hagan, the team’s director of public relations, pushed past me and slammed the door.

A couple of minutes later, a previously docile Childress stormed out of the office like a wild man, still clutching the towel around his waist. He made a sharp turn into the assistant coaches’ office and went ballistic. I don’t know who was in there or what he said. But by the decibel level, it was clear he was furious.

It was about then that I got the bum’s rush out of the locker room. Several minutes later, Hagan told me he could “pretty much guarantee” Childress wasn’t going to speak with me. I’d prefer that the coach tell me that and therefore waited outside for perhaps 30 minutes. Nobody came out.

The Cleveland Browns announced today that Mike Holmgren has agreed to become club President. The team also has announced that Mike Keenan will transition to the role of Chief Financial Officer.

"We are pleased to announce that Mike Holmgren has agreed to join the Cleveland Browns," said Owner Randy Lerner. "We will spend the rest of the week finalizing the details of the agreement and will make a formal announcement next week, at which time we will make him available to the media."

The question that will likely to be asked first is of the future of head coach Eric Mangini. The Browns are 3-11 under him, but have won two straight, including a shocking home win over the Super Bowl champion Steelers a week ago Thursday.

"I'm really focused on the group and getting them ready to play," Mangini said. "As far as a timeline or any of the other things, it's not what I'm doing or concentrating on. It's not what the coaches are concentrating on and not what the players are concentrating on. What I'm looking to do is coach the team. That's it."

Replacing a hall of fame QB is never easy. The broncos thought they had their heir apparent to legend John Elway three times. All three proved to end in disaster and embarrassment. However, the broncos search may have finally ended this season with the most unlikely of candidates, Kyle Orton.

Orton did not arrive in Denver as a highly touted first round draft pick nor did he arrive as a prized free agent acquisition. Orton was merely filler in a much maligned off-season trade stemming from the surprising firing of long time head coach Mike Shanahan and the soap opera like events that followed. While nobody is wowed by Orton's arm strength or elusive scrambling ability, he has proven to be a what-you-see-is what-you get QB with smart play and steady leadership.

To fully understand to the bronco's long and sometimes desperate search for a new Duke of Denver one must go back to the '99 season. In what was sort of a bombshell at the time, Shanahan named Brian Griese the starter over veteran Bubby Brister.

Shanahan drafted Griese in the third round of the '98 draft. Griese served as the third-string QB behind Elway and Brister during the bronco's championship season of '98. Brister started 5 games for the injured Elway that year and went 5-0 behind an extremely talented team. All signs pointed to Brister taking over the helm as Elway's successor. Shanahan decided to go with Griese feeling he would make safer decisions with the football as Brister had a long reputation as an erratic gunslinger.

The Broncos would finish '99 with a 6-10 record and Griese battled injuries as well a losing Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe for the year early in the season. Griese would return as the starter in 2000 and have a pro-bowl season despite being injured late in the season and missing the wild-card playoff game against the eventual Super Bowl champion Ravens.

Griese seemed to be the QB of the future. Unfortunately for Griese, he could not repeat that success and finished with a combined 16-13 record as a starter in '01&'02 with no return to the playoffs. While no one doubted Griese's heart, his sub-par arm strength, docile demeanor and knack for throwing untimely interceptions led to his teammates, and more importantly Shanahan, to lose faith in the 28 year-old signal caller.

Prior to the '03 season the broncos released Griese and signed prized free agent Jake "the Snake" Plummer. Plummer had played six years with the perennial doormat Arizona Cardinals, leading them to one playoff berth amidst a slew of losing seasons. Many felt with the tutelage of Shanahan, Plummer had the tools to be very successful.

With the instruction of Shanahan, Plummer had his best season to date, finishing the season with a career high 91.2 rating, a 9-2 record as a starter and first playoff berth since 2000. The following season Plummer again would lead the broncos to the playoffs and even have one of the best seasons statistically in bronco's history matching Elway's record of 27 TD passes in a season and surpassing Elway's passing yardage for a season record.

In '05, Plummer experienced his best season as a professional. Most notable was his streak of 229 passes without an interception, the longest such streak of his career. Plummer helped the Broncos compile a 13–3 record, making the Broncos the #2 team in the AFC, earning the Broncos a first-round bye. The Broncos’ first game was against the defending champion Patriots. Plummer’s performance helped the Broncos to become the first team to defeat the Patriots in the past 11 postseason games.

The following week the broncos played the Steelers in the AFC championship game. Broncos' fans will forever remember this game as when the clock struck 12 for the bearded QB who donned the #16. Plummer committed 4 turnovers and looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a cement truck. It was evident to broncos' fans, more importantly Shanahan, that Plummer would not be able to handle the pressure of a big game with the championship on the line. During the '06 Draft the broncos traded up to select Jay Cutler with the 11th overall choice. It was obvious, Plummer especially, Shanahan was in love with the cannon armed Cutler.

11 games into the '06 season Shanahan benched Plummer in favor of Cutler despite the 7-4 record at the time. Cutler, although putting up gaudy numbers, would fail the next two seasons to lead the broncos into the playoffs. After Shanahan was fired, Cutler disrespected bronco's owner Pat Bowlen and was sent packing in a trade with the Chicago Bears. Enter Kyle Orton. After serving as the bears on again-off again starter for three years he arrived in Denver with absolutely no hoopla.

Orton quickly became acclimated with new head coach Josh McDaniels intricate offensive scheme and secured the starting job over journeyman Chris Simms. Orton has the broncos poised for a playoff spot (first since 2005) and has the whole broncos' team playing like 53 unselfish, hardworking and overachieving men.

Of course only time will tell us If Kyle Orton will be the broncos QB for years to come and it goes without saying that Orton's skill set will never make broncos fans forget about Elway but maybe the search for a cannon armed one man gang of a QB can finally be put to rest and we can settle for a hard working, overachieving and most importantly consistently good QB.

Raise your hand if you saw that loss to the Cowboys coming. Anyone?

After a few close calls the last couple of weeks, the Cowboys put together a complete game against the Saints and gave them their first loss of the season. Why? How did the struggling Cowboys come to the Superdome and beat the mighty Saints?

It basically came down to two things-

1. The injury bug finally caught up with the Saints.
2. Dallas finished what the Redskins and Falcons couldn’t do. All three teams knew how to beat the Saints, but Dallas had the right personnel and finished the job they started.

Of course we all know the Saints have been hit pretty hard by the injury bug all season. This has changed the way the Saints have had to play, especially on defense.

For example, losing Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter has effected the way the Saints have had to play defense completely. Both Porter and Greer are excellent one on one defenders. Malcolm Jenkins, Mike McKenzie, Chris McAlister, Pierson Prioleau, and Randall Gay have been good enough at times, but they all have their faults. Jenkins is a rookie. McKenzie, McAlister, and Prioleau have been slowed by age and injury. Gay is getting back into game shape after losing time with a hamstring injury. To cover up for his battered secondary, Gregg Williams has called for a lot more Cover 2 than he had earlier in the season. What does that mean for the safeties? It means they are no longer allowed to be ball hawks, to run more freely in the secondary, dissect the play and break to the ball. They now have to play more like centerfeilders back there, waiting and watching for the action to come their way before they can make a play. That does not play to Darren Sharpers’ strengths. He can not sit back and watch and make plays like he used to. Is it a coincidence that he only has one interception (against NE) since Greer went down?

Starting DT Sedrick Ellis did not play against the Cowboys Saturday due to the lingering affects of an MCL sprain earlier in the season. The Cowboys ran well between the tackles, or right where Big Sedrick would have lined up. Ellis is by far the Saints’ best run stuffer and athletic tackle. He demands an opposing teams’ attention because he can be a productive blitzer as well. Double teaming Ellis means that there is one less lineman to protect the quarterback, which helps a blitz happy defense like the Saints. Is it a coincidence as well that the Saints run defense has allowed more yards in the five games Ellis has missed this season than in the eight games Ellis finished? In the five games Ellis has sat out, the Saints have allowed 748 yards rushing, or 149.6 per game. In the 8 games Ellis has played (not including the Miami game he got injured in), the Saints have given up 716 yards, or only 89.5 yards per game.

The loss of Jeremy Shockey affected some of the things the Saints could do offensively. A tight end like Shockey who can block and catch can help break down a 3-4 defense like the Cowboys. A 3-4 defense depends on linebackers to create pressure on the quarterback. If the tight end has the ability to run routes and catch the ball effectively, it is often a linebacker who has to cover the tight end. The Saints love running plays out of a two tight end set because they have the personnel to do almost anything with the formation. The tight ends can both be extra blockers on a run or recievers on a pass or one can go for the pass while the other stays in protection. They missed the big physical Shockey in the running game. Once the Saints fell into an early hole, they got away from the running game. This meant the Cowboys could come after Drew Brees with the Saints becoming one-dimensional. Again Shockey was missed in pass protection. He provides help for OT Jermon Bushrod, the weak link on the offensive line. It was Bushrod who was beaten by DeMarcus Ware on Ware’s sacks of Brees.

The other element to the Saints’ loss was the solid game plan and its execution from start to finish by the Cowboys. At this point of the season, every aspect of every team has been looked at and analyzed. By now, we know what every team’s strengths and weaknesses are. The Saints are no different. The Cowboys, Falcons, and Redskins knew how to beat the Saints-keep Brees and the offense off the feild by establishing the run, find the holes in the depleted secondary and keep Brees and the passing game off balance. Only the Cowboys had the personnel to keep the pressure up for the entire sixty minutes.

The Cowboys’ offensive and defensive lines dominated the Saints lines for most of the game. Dallas boasts the biggest offensive line in the NFL and they were able to get a good push in the interior of the Saints’ defensive line. This opened up holes for Marion Barber between the tackles and were able to seal the edges for Felix Jones to run free in the open field.

Often times, Tony Romo looked like the All-Pro quarterback in the Dome. His line’s play allowed him to torch the Saints for 312 yards and time to make several key third down conversions. For the game, the Cowboys converted 8 of 15 third down attempts. By comparison, the Saints only converted 1 of 7 third down conversions on the night.

The Cowboys jumped on the Saints early and forced them to depend on the pass to get back in the game. This allowed for more opportunities for the Cowboys’ rushers to get after Brees. The Cowboys’ secondary did a good job of jamming the Saints’ recievers and disrupting the passing game. By the time the Saints figured out the Cowboys’ secondary by throwing short in the second half, it was too late. Together, the Cowboys defense held the Saints passing attack in check.

The Saints did not execute well in all three phases of the game. The Saints completed 0 of 8 passes of 15 or more yards, including several dropped balls. They committed more penalties than usual. The defense missed to many tackles or were just a step out of position. However, despite all the mistakes the Saints had made, they still had a chance to tie at the end.

Should we worry about this loss? Not really. True, the Cowboys have developed a gameplan to beat the Saints, which will no doubt be copied by other teams around the league. But I don’t think any other team in the NFC has the team the Cowboys has.

At least now, the pressure of going undefeated is off the team’s shoulders. Often times I felt the Saints played not to lose last night. Now, the team can refocus on the next game and not worry about the media circus surrounding the pursuit of perfection.

And I feel pretty good about our team if it can get healthy. The healthy team we saw at the start of the season is a championship caliber team. A Saints win next week assures them of home field advantage throught the NFC playoffs, which means the Saints might be able to rest more players earlier to get them fully healthy for the playoff run.

Next up for the Saints..the Tampa Bay Bucanneers..and that just may be what the doctor ordered.