Does Sean Taylor deserve Ring of Fame Honors?

Sean Taylor was officially inducted into the Washington Redskins Ring of Fame today (November 30, 2008.) Taylor was a very good player in his three-and-a-half year NFL career with the Redskins, but had he not been tragically murdered – had he instead retired or suffered a career ending injury – would he have a Ring of Fame caliber resume?

Sean Taylor recorded 299 tackles, 2 sacks, 8 forced fumbles and 12 interceptions in 55 games from ’04-‘07. Those are good stats for a starting NFL safety, but how good?

Let’s look at how some other noteworthy safeties played during that span of time:

Brian Dawkins played in 57 games from ’04-’07. He recorded 276 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 11 forced fumbles and 12 interceptions in that span.

Ed Reed had 211 tackles, 2 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 22 interceptions in 58 games during that span of time.

John Lynch had 271 tackles, 7 sacks, 9 forced fumbles and 3 interceptions in 60 games from ’04-’07.

Bob Sanders has only played in 43 career games, but he already has 279 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 5 interceptions.

Darren Sharper played in 61 games from ’04-’07, recording 254 tackles, 1 sack, 5 forced fumbles and 21 interceptions.

Ed Reed and Darren Sharper are running away with the interception category. Dawkins and Lynch have a substantial lead in sacks. The only stats that Taylor matches up well in are tackles - which may be inflated due to the fact that he spent the first two or three seasons playing on a poor defense – and forced fumbles.

It should also be noted that Dawkins, Lynch and Sharper all recorded better stretches of play than from’04 through ’07. If you take their best 4 consecutive seasons they look more like this:

Brian Dawkins ’99-’02: 315 tackles, 8 sacks, 14 forced fumbles and 12 interceptions.

John Lynch ’96-’99: 420 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and 9 interceptions.

Darren Sharper ’00-’03: 339 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 27 interceptions.

I would take all three of those guys over Taylor during their prime. Ultimately, the ‘Skins organization can induct anyone they want into their Ring of Fame, and Taylor may be one of the best safeties to play in Washington, but if he had not been killed he would not have been honored in this way.

Sadly, we’ll never really know what Taylor was truly capable of. He was a very talented player and finally seemed to be putting everything together. Not just on the field, but in his personal life as well. Teammates credited the birth of his daughter with turning his life around. Suddenly he had something in his life that forced him to be responsible.

Taylor had the tools and potential to put together a Hall of Fame career, but thanks to a senseless act of violence fans will never get a chance to see that, friends will never get a chance to enjoy his company, and a young girl will grow up without her father. Sad.

Burress Shoots Self in Leg

Giants WR Plaxico Burress has committed the gaffe of all gaffes in his tumultuous career, accidentally shooting himself in the leg on Friday night. He spent the night in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Burress was ruled out of this Sunday's game with a hamstring injury anyway, but he's in danger of missing several more games. Apparently the gun accidentally discharged when he was in the midtown nightclub the Latin Quarter. Is it legal to take a gun into a nightclub? I know everyone in the NFL seems to do it, I'm just wondering if it's legal. Or is it possible that there are going to be charges in the future?

I'm sick of the thug culture in professional sports. If you really think you need protection as a high profile athlete, and the fact that you're 6'5" and 200+ pounds isn't imposing enough, then just hire a bodyguard to stand around and look tough. That way if a gun ends up accidentally discharging the chances of it hitting you are limited. This guy's a moron.

Honestly, the Giants aren't going to miss him. They use their powerful three-man rushing attack to take a lot of pressure of Manning and the wide receivers, and I think this team is better off without Burress. He may be a talented player, but his selfish, me-first attitude drags everyone down, and when he does stupid things like berate refs and throw footballs into the stand he harms your team way more than he helps. I think the Giants should part ways with him the way they did with Shockey last season. Addition by subtraction.

Burress is on my short list of players that have worn out their welcome in the league. He's one notch below Pacman Jones and Michael Vick - neither of which should play another down in the NFL. Ever. Burress, on the other hand, deserves a suspension. The Giants should be proactive and tell him he's not welcome until he cleans up his act, and I half expect Tom Coughlin to do it.

Scapegoating McNabb was Shameful

I reread the text message my father had sent me, but I still didn’t understand. “Kolb is starting 2nd Half. As faras I can tell McNabb is healthy – just benched.” It read. Even after forgiving the typo I couldn’t understand the reason Andy Reid would bench McNabb in favor of second year man Kolb, who has done absolutely nothing positive in his pro career to this point. I just couldn’t believe it.

I wasn’t watching the game because it wasn’t televised out here in Los Angeles, but my father was watching it back home in Syracuse. The thought crossed my mind that he might be playing a trick on me. We had been exchanging frustrated text messages throughout the first half, and neither of us liked the way the offense was looking. I checked the NFL Gamecast and, sure enough, Kolb was starting the second half.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. That’s it. That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. Andy Reid is inventing amazing new ways to lose football games. Why on Earth would you bench your five-time pro bowl quarterback in a three point game? Even if he had committed three turnovers in the first half. What Andy Reid did was shameful, embarrassing and cowardly.

I can’t begin to explain how misguided the decision to bench Donovan McNabb is. The turnovers aren't an excuse to pull him, considering Donovan McNabb has spent his whole career flirting with Neil O’Donnell for lowest interception percentage in NFL history. Not to mention the fact that the Baltimore Ravens have an outstanding defense that ranks near the top of the league in forcing turnovers.

Then there was the unbalanced playcalling. Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg called another pass-happy game this Sunday. The Eagles attempted 41 passes, versus 21 rushes. Four of those rushes were by a quarterback, which means they likely started as pass plays. If you add in the two Baltimore sacks you have roughly 47 pass plays versus 17 run plays for the game. That’s nearly three-to-one!

The Eagles ground game has been nonexistent all season long. A team can’t win if they can’t run the ball. For some reason Reid continues to lean on an unhealthy Brian Westbrook instead of giving carries to a capable reserve in Buckhalter. In the NFL a strong running attack is used to set up the passing game. You get guys creeping up to the line of scrimmage and then you can hit them with play action and go over the top. If teams aren’t respecting the Eagles’ rush then they’re going to play the pass and four interception games will occur.

As far as I’m concerned, Donovan McNabb was the only player on this offense that was actually going out there and doing his job. He is the only player that has played well week in and week out. The offensive line has been offensive. They’ve been terrible in run blocking all season. The wide receivers have been erratic catching the football; the Eagles’ led the league in dropped passes going into Baltimore. That’s dropped passes, not incompletions. That means the ball was on target and hit the receiver’s hands, but they didn’t haul it in. The running backs have ripped off a lot of two-yard gains and not much else. McNabb was the lone bright spot on this team, even after committing seven turnovers in two weeks.

Reid should have benched every other offensive starter except for McNabb. But in the bizarro world Andy inhabits the onus was on McNabb and McNabb alone. When are you going to take some of the blame Andy? Your playcalling is hanging McNabb out to dry. He’s bound to throw a few interceptions when he averages 40 passes a game and he’s up against the league’s number two defense. When is it time to bench your gameplan? Reid can’t commit to a balanced attack or surrounding McNabb with reliable veteran receivers, but he has no problem committing to crapulence.

Let’s face it; Reid was outcoached by Jim Harbaugh in this game. Harbaugh had been with the Eagles for the last decade as an assistant and he knew Andy Reid’s gameplan inside and out. He coached his team to perfection to take advantage of all of Philly’s flaws. Andy Reid is getting too predictable. The only unpredictable thing that he manages to do is find mind-blowing new ways to lose games.

And for the coup de grace, Reid didn’t even inform McNabb of the benching; he had his quarterback coach do it. Andy, scapegoating your star quarterback instead of accepting responsibility for your failures as a coach was shameful. If McNabb weren’t such a class act you would have alienated your only chance at playoff salvation this season. Bottom line: This team’s failings are your fault, Andy.

Syracuse DT Arthur Jones will be a Stud NFL Defender

Syracuse University Defensive Tackle Arthur Jones is a stud defender. He's one of the few bright spots on a miserable defense.

This guy's NFL draft stock is probably going to be hurt because of the terrible play of his teammates, but he's going to be a game-changing NFL player. Think Albert Haynesworth - except better. He's a classic 3 down line player. He's strong against the pass, absolutely dominant against the run. I expect to see him go to the 1st team that needs interior line help.

If Jones lasts until the second round then someone's going to get the steal of the draft.

Dallas Places Rookie RB Felix Jones on Injured Reserve

The Dallas Cowboys placed first round pick Felix Jones on injured reserve. Jones suffered a season ending toe injury while rehabbing an early season hamstring injury.

This is a big blow to the Cowboy's playoff hopes. I have said repeatedly I don't think the Cowboys are going to make the playoffs this year. If they do manage to pull it off they'll certainly be the 6th seed in the NFC. Felix Jones wasn't their primary rusher, but he was the lightning to Marion Barber's thunder.

Jones was also an excellent kick returner with gamechanging ability. He had a 98 yard touchdown in week two against the Eagles.

The only shot the Cowboys had at making the playoffs was bringing Felix Jones back to improve the offense and special teams, because Lord knows their defense isn't going to get them into the post season. Now that shot is dead. Sorry Cowboys fans.

Jason Whitlock is the Smartest Working Sportswriter

Jason Whitlock is the smartest working sportswriter. This guy just has a solid, intelligent head on his shoulder.

When everyone else in the sports media community is exaggerating (Don Imus) or outright manufacturing controversy (Donovan McNabb) he constantly steps in to be the level-headed voice of reason. Jason Whitlock can write engaging and memorable articles without creating a false brouhaha.

Whitlock wrote an article this week partially defending Donovan McNabb for not knowing the overtime rules. Let's be honest, the outcome of this game was no different than if McNabb had known that the game ends after one overtime. It's not like McNabb squandered the clock on a last-second scoring drive. The defense was not able to get the ball back, Cincinnati missed a field goal, and the Eagles had just enough time for a Hail Mary. If McNabb had scrambled on several plays in a row, or not played with urgency it may have been a different matter.

While we're on the topic of "not knowing the rule book." Let's throw some pressure on Al Michaels and John Madden, for not knowing the illegal forward pass rule during the Eagles game against the Giants. Madden was once an NFL head coach and these guys have been calling football games as long as I have been alive! Neither of them knew that the quarterback's entire body had to be past the line of scrimmage for a penalty? Really? I knew that that was the rule. And I would argue that broadcasters need to know the rules more than players.

Are there any other players in the NFL that have to deal with the scrutiny Donovan McNabb does? Any other players in American sports? I don't think so. T.O. and Joey Porter create the controversy on purpose. Pacman also brings it on himself because he can't help from breaking the law. There really isn't a professional athlete that takes more flak over nothing than Donovan McNabb. And all he does is go out every week, and perform at an elite level at one of the toughest positions in any sport.

Jason Whitlock is like the Donovan McNabb of writers. He does nothing but go out and write intelligent social commentary in his sports articles and somehow seems to find himself in controversy once-in-a-while. (Check out the Playboy article he wrote that editorial director Chris Napolitano retitled "The Black KKK," amongst others.) Keep on doin' what you're doin' Whitlock. You're my favorite writer and I'll stick by you through thick and thin.

Countdown to Pacman's Next Arrest

Pacman Jones was reinstated by the NFL again today, though he's not going to play this Sunday for the Cowboys.

The NFL is being very generous, giving Pacman another chance. Mark my words, he's going to screw it up. This guy hasn't changed. He has no interest in cleaning up his act. He couldn't even keep his nose clean when he had a team bodyguards who were hired specifically to keep it clean for him. If the NFL (and the Cowboys) keep giving this guy chances he has no incentive to straighten up and fly right.

Well, Pacman's back and without the bodyguards. We all know he's going to relapse. The question is: "When?" I'm putting my money on the week after the regular season ends. If the Cowboys somehow manage to make the playoffs they're going to be without his services at the most critical point of the year.

There is no doubt in my mind that Pacman Jones will not get the chance to retire voluntarily. He is going to get kicked out of this league. I just hope that this is his last go-around, because he's never going to change his act, no matter what he or Jerry Jones might say.

Goodell, grow some balls and take a stand. Send Pacman packing for good next time! Lord knows he's earned it.