I don’t watch college football. Sometimes I wish I did, but there is only so much time in a day. When I started writing about college basketball, even my casual watching of college football fell off. I know the games are just as exciting (if not more than) the NFL, but I never had a connection to any particular team (none of the three schools I attended had football teams – that was a coincidence). Sometimes I wish I did [...]

Big plays play a bigger part in football than in baseball and basketball. In football, a team can be playing marginally better than the opponent, but a key turnover or missed tackle can swing the entire game. While that may not have been true in the two games I concentrate on over the weekend (Steelers pummeling the Titans, Lions outplaying the Bears – I also watched the majority of the Pats-Jets), the first game of the weekend surely was tilted [...]

We are month into the season and offensive lines are starting to coalesce, even if they did not have the benefit of offseason activities. Injuries have taken their toll and lines have adjusted. In the games that I watched this weekend, it seemed like there were some odd coaching decisions, but maybe the lines played into them. Let’s get right to the action. For the fourth week in a row, I watched the Saints (I am in Louisiana, so I [...]

It’s easy to forget things. One year ago, I wrote about the death of the running game. As recently as last week, I was chiding teams like the New Orleans Saints for their lack of balance in their offensive attack. Offensive balance is a thing of the past. In baseball, why would a team use a bunt to sacrifice an out when that it often just what the other team wants. It is better for the batter to swing away. [...]

When I am feeling pretty good, I like to write like I am cranky. Today my writing might come out as cranky (and maybe some of that has to do with watching the Bears get shellacked, but that is ancient history) and the first thing I’d like to take issue with is people in the media trying to figure out how the lock-out and lack of offseason practice has affected the first two weeks of the season. A lot of [...]

Here’s how part of the perfect Sunday goes for me. I watch a little of the Ravens-Steelers game to get a taste of how those teams look, then I play with my daughter for awhile. She’s an amiable little person who deserves my time. Lo and behold, just as 2:30 PM comes rolling around, she starts yawning and soon nods off for a nice afternoon nap. I take in the Bear-Falcon game, much of which made me smile, and she [...]

Tomorrow there will be meaningful football and this weekend will seem like an overflowing cornucopia of NFL action. Yes, we had some college and preseason football last weekend, but I have to admit that they don’t count in my book. There have been a number of significant moves along the offensive lines of some premier teams this week, so let’s take a look at a few teams that picked up big name players (at least big name in my offensive [...]

Preseason football is almost over and it couldn’t come soon enough. Whereas I once looked upon preseason football as a pleasant distraction from the doldrums of August baseball, I now look at it with disdain. Why are people watching it? I think they should play preseason football like soccer leagues with four-year-olds: only the parents keep score. It is glorified practice games. However, we are almost to the real season – just one week away. Last week, I took a [...]

The fantasy football season is almost upon us. How do I know? It isn’t because of preseason football (which I still refuse to acknowledge), but the many fantasy drafts that happening here, there, and everywhere. Just imagine what the end of August would be like if the lockout had continued. The lockout had nary an effect on fantasy football, but it might have some effect on offensive lines around the league. Offensive line play emphasizes precision, which comes via repetitive [...]

People define themselves in many ways. Some do it by profession, some by family, and some by social media status. When I introduced myself last year at this time to the Oasis audience, I wrote that one of life tenets was “rooting against the Green Bay Packers.” By the way, my stance in that article that preseason football is not worth watching in terms of fantasy football still stands. “Fantasy football experts” will tell you that they unearth players that [...]