By Dan Nied
Matthew Stafford is not Joey Harrington.
Except that he is. Just like he is Chuck Long, Andre Ware, Rodney Peete and Scott Mitchell.
Among the most difficult tasks in the sporting world these days is to actually distinguish between the latest saviors of the Detroit Lions.
No Lions quarterback has gone to the Pro Bowl since Greg Landry in 1971. The Lions wasted the Barry Sanders era with a revolving door of would-be capable quarterbacks and one playoff win.
The Lions drafted Harrington in 2002 and mangled his development so badly, Harrington replaced Ryan Leaf as the quintessential high draft quarterback bust.
Before Stafford each new Lions quarterback was greeted as the savior and run out of town in shame.
Rusty Hilger, Jeff Komlo, Gary Danielson, Josh McCown, Jeff Garcia. An endless string of names that either buckled under the pressure of reviving a downtrodden franchise or never had enough resources to make such a revival possible.
So here comes Stafford, the top overall pick out of Georgia, another pretty boy savior of a hopeless cause. Why is Stafford any different? Maybe he’s not.
Halfway through his rookie season, Stafford looks like all the rest. A few missed games with injuries, more than a few rookie mistakes, plenty of heat already from a restless fan base.
And during last Sunday’s loss to Seattle, Stafford took a break from throwing five interceptions to get in a shouting match with top receiver Calvin Johnson.
Half a season in, Stafford is Joey Harrington with a little more fire.
Sure, the kid looks like a world-beater at times. A gorgeous scoring pass to Bryant Johnson Sunday made him look like The One.
But when Harrington tossed two perfect touchdown passes to Charles Rogers in the 2003 opener, he looked like The One as well.
It was Harrington’s lone bit of glory and the start of a nasty downward spiral.
It’s not that Stafford should be written off as a Harrington clone. It’s just that we’ve seen this story before. It starts with hope, and it ends with the former golden boy slinking off to a series of backup jobs around the NFL, and the Lions replacing him with the latest doomed quarterback prodigy.
For his part, Stafford seems to have thicker skin than Harrington. And he is definitely more polished than Ware, who couldn’t even win a starting job from Peete and Erik Kramer in the early 1990s.
And maybe that mental toughness will separate Stafford from the rest of this sorry list. Maybe that’s the ingredient that was missing all this time. In Johnson, Stafford has his go-to receiver. In Kevin Smith, he has a serviceable running back. In Jim Schwartz, he has a coach that actually seems to know how to handle a football team.
But the Lions have a way of taking talent out of the equation. A player or coach tends to get dragged into the losing culture, and talent is no match for an overriding sense of failure.
Stafford has eight games left in his rookie season, and sadly he can do nothing in those eight games to relieve the stigma that comes with quarterbacking the Lions.
The answers will come in the next two seasons. He’ll need that thick skin to allow time for the game to slow down, for a porous offensive line to become solidified, to develop a real chemistry with Johnson.
Because the people of Detroit demand results now. And who can blame them after the last 20 years? In Sanders they saw the greatest running back of all time squandered in losing causes. In Harrington, they bought into unrealistic expectations only to see him flounder repeatedly. In Matt Millen, they saw a general manager too inept to learn from his own mistakes and too stubborn to quit.
And then they saw an 0-16 season.
One player can’t change that history. But Stafford is the only one who can lead the charge.
But until he somehow separates himself from the rest of the sorry quarterbacks in Lions history, Stafford will be just another Joey Harrington. Another Andre Ware. Another Scott Mitchell.
Just the latest in a long lineage of losers.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
When will the Raiders ever learn?
By Dan Nied
In the case of the NFL v. Tom Cable, the main culprit is... Well, it’s not Tom Cable.
Maybe the Raiders coach allegedly battered assistant Randy Hansen into jaw-breaking submission. Maybe Cable has a history of domestic violence, as ESPN reported last week. Maybe Cable is obviously in over his head as an NFL head coach – as Oakland’s 2-6 record suggests.
But if a guy has a history of violent activity and uncontrollable outbursts of anger, is it any wonder that pesky behavior would rear its ugly head again?
The Raiders should have known that, with Cable, they were getting an unstable hot head who doesn’t exactly buy into the social contract.
But the Raiders didn’t know. And that’s why the Raiders – not Cable – are deserving of the NFL hammer on this one.
Had owner Al Davis properly vetted his current head coach, he might have found that a guy who supposedly batters women is not fit to be a leader of men.
He might have found that Cable’s history of abuse is not the ideal path for a return to glory.
Oh, but that’s a difficult process, right? All that investigative work, all those messy phone calls and awkward interviews. Davis might have even had to hire an outside company to get the job done right.
Or he could have called Cable’s ex-wife and former girlfriend, who both told ESPN that the coach hit them.
True, he-said-she-said accusations from a potentially-bitter former spouses might not have been enough to disqualify Cable from the job. But at the very least they would have raised some serious red flags. Flags that deserve to be investigated a little bit more.
And then Davis could have gotten Cable’s side of the story, and then maybe, just maybe, Davis might have figured out that Cable wasn’t his man.
It’s not Cable’s fault the Raiders didn’t perform due diligence. It’s the Raiders fault, which is no surprise.
The most barbaric fan might suggest that Cable’s fist-raising ways represent a throwback to the old Raiders mystique. Certainly the burly, crop-topped, take no guff Cable fits the Raiders caricature more than his pretty boy predecessor Lane Kiffin.
But in the reality of modern society, there is no place in leadership for a man who allegedly raised his hand on a woman. And even in the all-testosterone world of the NFL, there is no place to break the jaw of an underling, which is what Hansen says Cable did during training camp in Napa, though the Napa authorities declined to pursue the case.
Though it should be noted that none of these allegations have been proven true, they do create a disturbing trend for a man who has one of the most coveted jobs in America.
Violence at home and in the workplace is as antiquated a notion as separate water fountains for whites and blacks. No matter how perfectly Cable fits the Raiders rough around the edges persona, the team needs to start living in the real world.
Which is why the NFL needs to take control of the once-proud franchise. Since the Super Bowl loss in 2002, Davis has proven himself unable to adapt to the winds of change in both society and the NFL. He has led the Raiders down a putrid path of subservience to the rest of the league, as a 26-78 record since 2003 might suggest. And as though losing wasn’t enough, Davis has turned the Raiders into a football sideshow by stumbling head first into garish controversies and embarrassing disputes.
The team’s executives have had physical confrontations with media members, and the organization seems determined to ban anyone with a critical opinion from its facilities. Just ask Rich Gannon. Currently, the on-field distractions come from Jamarcus Russell, the top-pick quarterback who, in only his third season, is in danger of eating and lounging himself out of the league.
The Cable embarassment – which will almost surely end with him losing his job, and the team performing another comedic coach search – is just the latest illustration of an organization that has spun out of control.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell must wrestle control of the Raiders away from Davis, and restore respect to a formerly proud franchise.
Because, though the Cable controversy will eventually subside, another unnecessary drama will soon take its place.
That’s just the way of the Raiders.
In the case of the NFL v. Tom Cable, the main culprit is... Well, it’s not Tom Cable.
Maybe the Raiders coach allegedly battered assistant Randy Hansen into jaw-breaking submission. Maybe Cable has a history of domestic violence, as ESPN reported last week. Maybe Cable is obviously in over his head as an NFL head coach – as Oakland’s 2-6 record suggests.
But if a guy has a history of violent activity and uncontrollable outbursts of anger, is it any wonder that pesky behavior would rear its ugly head again?
The Raiders should have known that, with Cable, they were getting an unstable hot head who doesn’t exactly buy into the social contract.
But the Raiders didn’t know. And that’s why the Raiders – not Cable – are deserving of the NFL hammer on this one.
Had owner Al Davis properly vetted his current head coach, he might have found that a guy who supposedly batters women is not fit to be a leader of men.
He might have found that Cable’s history of abuse is not the ideal path for a return to glory.
Oh, but that’s a difficult process, right? All that investigative work, all those messy phone calls and awkward interviews. Davis might have even had to hire an outside company to get the job done right.
Or he could have called Cable’s ex-wife and former girlfriend, who both told ESPN that the coach hit them.
True, he-said-she-said accusations from a potentially-bitter former spouses might not have been enough to disqualify Cable from the job. But at the very least they would have raised some serious red flags. Flags that deserve to be investigated a little bit more.
And then Davis could have gotten Cable’s side of the story, and then maybe, just maybe, Davis might have figured out that Cable wasn’t his man.
It’s not Cable’s fault the Raiders didn’t perform due diligence. It’s the Raiders fault, which is no surprise.
The most barbaric fan might suggest that Cable’s fist-raising ways represent a throwback to the old Raiders mystique. Certainly the burly, crop-topped, take no guff Cable fits the Raiders caricature more than his pretty boy predecessor Lane Kiffin.
But in the reality of modern society, there is no place in leadership for a man who allegedly raised his hand on a woman. And even in the all-testosterone world of the NFL, there is no place to break the jaw of an underling, which is what Hansen says Cable did during training camp in Napa, though the Napa authorities declined to pursue the case.
Though it should be noted that none of these allegations have been proven true, they do create a disturbing trend for a man who has one of the most coveted jobs in America.
Violence at home and in the workplace is as antiquated a notion as separate water fountains for whites and blacks. No matter how perfectly Cable fits the Raiders rough around the edges persona, the team needs to start living in the real world.
Which is why the NFL needs to take control of the once-proud franchise. Since the Super Bowl loss in 2002, Davis has proven himself unable to adapt to the winds of change in both society and the NFL. He has led the Raiders down a putrid path of subservience to the rest of the league, as a 26-78 record since 2003 might suggest. And as though losing wasn’t enough, Davis has turned the Raiders into a football sideshow by stumbling head first into garish controversies and embarrassing disputes.
The team’s executives have had physical confrontations with media members, and the organization seems determined to ban anyone with a critical opinion from its facilities. Just ask Rich Gannon. Currently, the on-field distractions come from Jamarcus Russell, the top-pick quarterback who, in only his third season, is in danger of eating and lounging himself out of the league.
The Cable embarassment – which will almost surely end with him losing his job, and the team performing another comedic coach search – is just the latest illustration of an organization that has spun out of control.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell must wrestle control of the Raiders away from Davis, and restore respect to a formerly proud franchise.
Because, though the Cable controversy will eventually subside, another unnecessary drama will soon take its place.
That’s just the way of the Raiders.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Hey! I got a blog
What does Dan Nied think? A lot of things. But here, you'll get mostly thoughts on sports. I wanted to start this blog just to have a central place for my work.
Oh, you don't know about my work? Well let me update you. I am a sports writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I like to spout off about things from time to time.
If you knew me, you'd categorize me as the loudest guy in the room. Since you probably don't know me, I'll just have to be the loudest guy on Blogger.
But that doesn't mean I am just shouting to shout. I have a point to make here. Which, of course, you'll see as we go along. This is the central location for all things that say "Dan Nied" at the top.
If you need some status here, I have worked at newspapers and Web sites around the nation, but settled three years ago in California. I won seven Colorado Press Association awards for features, columns and event stories. I've covered the NFL, MLB, NCAA and NHL, and a ton of high school games.
So yep, that's me. check in from time to time and see what's new on What Dan Nied Thinks.
Oh, you don't know about my work? Well let me update you. I am a sports writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I like to spout off about things from time to time.
If you knew me, you'd categorize me as the loudest guy in the room. Since you probably don't know me, I'll just have to be the loudest guy on Blogger.
But that doesn't mean I am just shouting to shout. I have a point to make here. Which, of course, you'll see as we go along. This is the central location for all things that say "Dan Nied" at the top.
If you need some status here, I have worked at newspapers and Web sites around the nation, but settled three years ago in California. I won seven Colorado Press Association awards for features, columns and event stories. I've covered the NFL, MLB, NCAA and NHL, and a ton of high school games.
So yep, that's me. check in from time to time and see what's new on What Dan Nied Thinks.
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