It's Handegg Season

Dare Ogunbowale is a running back kicker:

First since Wes Welker in 2004. Almost 20 years!

College football right now.

During his winning years I gave him a lot of credit. He was defensive coordinator on the NYG when they won two Super Bowls. Then he won six more with New England. Whenever he actually gave a proper interview about football, the man put a ridiculous level of knowledge on display. He could remember plays they ran in the college days in great detail. It was so clear that he was the all-time greatest mind and coach in the sport.

At the same time he always had these great players. The man was defensive coordinator of Lawrence Taylor. He was head coach of Tom Brady. It was really hard to say how much of the team success was a result of his coaching, and how much was a result of the players being talented.

Then Tom Brady left New England, and we could finally get our answer. Tom won the Super Bowl in Tampa. Of course, he only has 7 total to Billā€™s 8, but without Tom, Bill shat the bed. In the four seasons since then, Bill only made the playoffs once, and lost in the first round. This season, the Patriots are extra stinky, and it will be Billā€™s last with the team. End of the era and such.

As much as I donā€™t really like either one of them as humans, itā€™s pretty clear now. Tom Brady is the GOAT. Did Belichickā€™s coaching matter? Sure, but I think itā€™s safe to say that any other halfway decent coach would have won a few Super Bowls if they were in that same spot. Maybe less, but also maybe more?!

If Bill doesnā€™t retire, Iā€™m sure another team will take a chance on him. Thatā€™s how they do. That will be his one more chance to prove that his coaching brings success, and he wasnā€™t just fortunate to have the best players on his team all the time. Or maybe he retires.

Either way, until then, I consider the question answered. As far as handegg goes, the quarterback really does matter the most, and the coach doesnā€™t matter nearly as much as I once thought.

Whoops right thread now

As a NYG fan I basically stopped watching and caring about handegg at the end of the Eli Manning era. All I really know about the Giants since then is that they sucked. They tried to go with Tommy DeVito(Tommy Cutlets) last season which was fun but ultimately not much better. Looks like theyā€™re out of ideas and are going to try Tommy again for the remainder of what is yet another failed season.

In this one case I have to give credit to the fans. Even the crazy fans that call into sports radio got it right. The media that rated players was also right. The Giants got it wrong. Very wrong.

I donā€™t criticize the Giants that much. Itā€™s not entirely their fault. The NFL and the NHL both suffer from the same problem, the NFL even moreso. They are team sports where one position is so much more important than the others. In the NHL itā€™s the goalie and in the NFL itā€™s the quarterback.

Both leagues have 32 teams. Are there 32 elite level NHL goalies in the world? No. Are there 32 elite level NFL quarterbacks in the world? Hell no. There are arguably fewer than ten at any point in time.

There are only three options available for NFL teams. They can draft an elite QB setting up their team for success for many years to come. They can acquire an elite QB in free agency and hope that they arenā€™t washed up. They can play without an elite QB and lose. Thatā€™s it.

The NY Giants only had Eli Manning because Eli forced his way onto the team. The Chargers selected him with the first overall pick, but he forced them to trade him to the Giants. The Chargers got Philip Rivers who was actually decent. But Eli won the Super Bowl twice. Philip Rivers never played in the Super Bowl in his seventeen NFL seasons.

When Eli was nearing the end of his career there was no elite level QB available via draft or free agency. What could the Giants do? Drafting Jones was a mistake, but keeping him was the bigger mistake. I think they fell into the sunk cost fallacy.

The other problem with the NFL is that they have no real development system like other sports. NFL players develop in high school and college football. NFL teams canā€™t try to train an NFL QB in the minor leagues. They just have to pray that an elite college QB will exist and declare themselves for the draft in the year that they have a high first round pick. Players like that donā€™t come around every year.

I think the NFL would actually do well for themselves if they changed the sport to make the quarterback less important. Donā€™t ask me how to do that. All I can say is Iā€™m pretty confident that the NY Giants are going to continue to suck ass for some time to come.