drawing board Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Colin Kaepernick

Before this game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers, there was lots of talk in the NFL about whether Jim Harbaugh really made the right decision by switching to Colin Kaepernick from Alex Smith. Alex Smith was playing good football. If I’m not mistaken, his quarterback rating was over 100. He was not turning the ball over. It was not exciting football, but he was winning. I think most, if not all, critics have now been silenced. Wow!

Colin Kaepernick completely and totally exposed the Green Bay Packers defense. He rushed for 181 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. He rushed… 181 yards. From a quarterback. This fact is, in and of itself, mind-boggling. Then, he threw the ball for another 263 yards.

The Green Bay Packers are going to have to go back to the drawing board on defense. On the third down, the money down, the Packers allowed the 49ers to convert 62% of their third downs. The Green Bay Packers gave up 579 yards of total offense. You simply can’t win in the playoffs when your defense is this porous.

The San Francisco 49ers have been one of the best teams in football all year. They were completely dominating and looked fantastic and suddenly, out of nowhere, they would lay an egg. For example, they absolutely clobbered the New England Patriots on national TV. It was a game when you expected Tom Brady, Wes Welker and the rest of the New England Patriots to make a national statement. It didn’t happen. It was another great game for Colin Kaepernick. Then, the following week, the San Francisco 49ers got absolutely manhandled by the Seattle Seahawks.

I do not know if the San Francisco 49ers will put together two more fabulous games and walk away with the Lombardi trophy. I do know that Colin Kaepernick is the real deal.

By ecthompsonmd|2013-11-03T18:19:07-04:00January 13th, 2013|NFL|Comments Off

We can hail China as the world’s superpower or we can kick butt

If we want to win the future, if we want to have the best technology and we want that to be developed right here, we have to get on the stick. How does that happen? Well, we need to invest in education and invest in small ideas today so that they can become big ideas tomorrow.

Now, let’s look at how we have spent the last two years. We argued over a lukewarm healthcare plan for more than 12 months. 12 months and we have very little to show for it. Can the government pay for our healthcare or should we pay private insurance to pay for our healthcare? That’s what we argued about. Other developed countries aren’t wasting their time on this nonsense. They have moved on. We are still debating a woman’s right to decide for herself. Europe and other countries have moved on. We are currently in the middle of the dumbest argument in over 100 years. We are arguing on whether or not it is okay to default on our debts. What? The rest of the world is laughing while we are screwing around with this. They are innovating. They are investing.

The biggest innovation in the last 25 years has to be the internet. The Government funded a university project. The government, our government, invested our money into what is one of the greatest inventions of my lifetime. Back then it was just a university nerd project. No one knew what it was going to become. Yet, if today’s Republicans were in charge, there would be no government investment in projects like this. Hell, the computer that I’m typing on came out the NASA program. Sure, private business played a huge part, but so did NASA. Some of the first integrated circuits were developed for the Apollo and Minuteman projects. It was our money that got these early circuits off the drawing board and into production.

It is time for our government to start investing in university projects and education again. All these budget cuts are doing is killing our future. We are killing the next internet. It is out there. Someone has a weird drawing in his dorm room and is telling his/her friends. This could work. All we need is money and time. As a nation, either we invest in the future or we are going to be the side kick, the second banana to China or Japan or someone else. So we can kick butt or get our butt kicked.

By ecthompsonmd|2011-07-13T17:17:26-04:00July 13th, 2011|Economy, Party Politics|2 Comments

NFL week four – Review: who’s hot?

I would like to take a minute and bow my head. George Blanda passed last week. As I remember him, he was a guy who simply figured out a way to win.

After my amazing week 3, 11-5 record, I was flying high. I had a good feeling for the NFL and and who was hot and who was not. Yet, week four brought me right down to earth. My predictions were worth much less than the toilet paper they were printed on. I went 6-7. Several games that I thought were toss-ups went the other way. Basically, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. So, I thought I’d spend a little time going over a few teams that I thought were hot.

Demarcus Ware

I’m going to start with my Dallas Cowboys. I do not know if they’re hot. Winning one game really doesn’t make a team hot. I know they finally played a decent game and beat the Houston Texans. I think it is anybody’s guess whether the Dallas Cowboys will play well on Sunday or not. Again, I think the key to the Dallas Cowboys is going to be Tony Romo. If he is able to throw the ball effectively, this will open up the run game. From the defensive side of the ball, I think DeMarcus Ware is emerging as a defensive leader. The defense has worked extremely well at stopping the run. In my mind, the Dallas Cowboys remain a huge question mark.

Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to be the class of the AFC. They’re extremely similar teams. They played outstanding defense. Their offense is driven by the run. Ben Roethlisberger has rejoined the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are off this week, giving Ben another week to work with his receivers. It just seems that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to get better. Joe Flacco has played better for the Baltimore Ravens. It is going to be interesting to see how these teams do down the stretch.

I am almost ready to sign off on Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets. He’s played extremely consistently. He has thrown the ball with accuracy and velocity. The Jets get Santonio Holmes back from suspension this week. LaDanian Tomlinson is playing like he did four or five years ago. In my opinion, the Jets are the number one team in the AFC.

The Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots seem to have lots of questions. The Colts offense does not yet seem to be on track. The Colts defense does not seem to be able to make plays when they need to. The New England Patriots just traded away Randy Moss. It is hard for me to see that that’s gonna make their offense better. Their defense seems to have significant issues, especially in the secondary. I’m not saying that these teams can’t fix their problems. I’m saying they have to fix their problems in order for them to get better.

The NFC is currently sad. I don’t see any dominant teams. This, of course, will work in the Cowboys’ favor. The New Orleans Saints present somewhat of a head scratcher. They don’t seem to have any defensive identity. They don’t seem to be particularly good at stopping the run or the pass. Their defense is not forcing turnovers like they did last year. Their offense looks like that beautiful 10-cylinder Mercedes that is only firing on six cylinders.

Brett Farve

The Minnesota Vikings are just like that chili recipe that I made last year. I followed the recipe exactly and the chili looked good. It just didn’t taste so good. It seems like there was just something missing. That’s the Minnesota Vikings. On paper, they look great. On the field, they’re missing the spark that Brett Favre can provide. Brett Favre seems to be missing his receivers. He is not hitting them in stride. His ball location is off. I don’t see how Randy Moss is going to help this. On the other hand, Randy Moss will open up some running lanes for Adrian Peterson. Randy Moss will demand double coverage, which will pull a safety out of the box. This should help open up some running lanes for Adrian Peterson.

Honorable mentions: I’m not sure what’s going on with the Green Bay Packers. They seem to be going through the motions, but can’t get it together. The Atlanta Falcons may be playing somewhat better. The Philadelphia Eagles need Michael Vick. Michael Vick was playing extremely well. I don’t think that Kevin Kolb is this man. The Houston Texans need Andre Johnson to be healthy. He changes the whole complexion of their offense. They need some players to step up.

By ecthompsonmd|2010-10-08T12:26:05-04:00October 8th, 2010|Sports|2 Comments