Are Running Backs Running Out of Time?

With health worker strikes occurring across the globe, from the New York State Nurses Association to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, it feels a bit dirty writing about the pay treatment that NFL running backs are “running” into.

However, this is The CornerCube and “dirty” is our middle name! We’re back, people!

To summarize the uproar raging across the NFL’s million dollar employees is the fact that three of its running backs – Las Vegas’ Josh Jacobs and Dallas’ Tony Pollard – failed to reach contract extensions with their respective teams and were franchise tagged, while another, New York Giant’s Saquon Barkley just recently inked out a one year contract (which is really a glorified franchise tag). To provide even more clarity, the franchise tag is a one-year contract that every NFL team is permitted to use once per offseason and, along with a few other factors, the value of the franchise tag salary is determined from the average of the top-five salaries of a position. In this case, each of the three aforementioned running backs are set to make 10.1 million dollars under the franchise tag this year. Generally a franchise tag is something that benefits a team more than the player who receives such franchise tag, as the player is unable to negotiate the terms and the owner/team avoid any long-term obligations in case the player is hurt or under performs.

Saquon Barkley Trying to Find a Contract

To add insult to even more injury is the fact that the NFL running back market has seen a few notable playmakers either released by their current team or not re-signed. For instance, Ezekial Elliot, who prior to being released by the Dallas Cowboys was the highest paid active NFL running back, and Dalvin Cook, of the Minnesota Vikings, are both currently free agents without too many, if any, takers knocking.

Where Will He Land?

Christian McCaffrey, a running back for the San Francisco 49ers and who currently holds the second highest valued running back contract per Spotrac,  took to Twitter to protest  the “criminal” treatment his fellow running backs are receiving. However, this protest should have been acted on  much sooner,  as the downfall in running back pay has been coming at us like Nick Chubb steaming out of the back field for years. 

The first factor is the very sense that the way the game of football in the NFL is being played is changing drastically from a smash mouth, power running style to a more spread, fast pace, and pass first game. Bill Barnwell, at ESPN, noted that , the number of running backs selected in the NFL Draft’s first round peaked between 1986-1990 at 55%, and has bottomed out of late at 26.5% between 2016-2022. This is significant because where one is drafted in the NFL Draft establishes their initial contract pay. In the case of a first-round draft pick, their pay is typically much higher than those selected in later rounds and also is usually fully guaranteed. The initial higher pay that a first draft pick receives permits them, presuming they play well, to have a greater bargaining chip when asking for more pay when their second contract comes about (Ezekial Elliot is a good example).

The change of play style can also be visualized through the average position salary that players have received between 2013 and 2022 (Figure 1). The running back’s pay, aside from the punter, has increased the least at only 20%, while it is also the third lowest average position salary at $1.833M. This average only beats out the fullback, punter, and long snapper. An average NFL kicker makes more than an average NFL running back.

 

Offensively it is telling to see where the money has been flowing since 2013 and continues to flow – the quarterback, his edge protectors (tackles) and pass catchers (tight ends and wide receivers). All this is evidence that the pass is the preferred method of offense in the NFL. Moreover, the fact that quarterbacks are more involved in the run game (Justin Fields, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Jalen Hurts) takes value and purpose away from the running back’s primary purpose and diverts it to the most important position on the field. As Barnwell noted, “from 2006 to 2010, quarterbacks accounted for 9.6% of the league’s rush attempts, including kneel-downs and scrambles. Over the past five years, that mark has risen to 14.5%.”

Other factors that have contributed to the running back’s value decrease are the fact that teams are increasing the use of analytics and teams no longer require a lead back, but instead are primarily using a “running back by committee” method. The analytics have shown that teams should rotate their running backs throughout the game to maintain their run efficiency. For further evidence to this effect, Barnwell’s analysis indicates that starting running backs have rushed on average 4.26 yards per carry between 2006 and 2010, while over the past five years that number has increased, despite the starting rusher having less carrying attempts, to 4.42 yards per attempt. In other words, if starting running backs are running less but the run game is becoming more efficient, the lead back’s need for higher pay is reduced.

So aside from no more running backs coming into the NFL and causing a reduce supply of running backs, what can NFL running backs do to either increase their pay or avoid being released/franchise tagged?

The first is that the modern NFL running back must be able to do more than run and take hand offs. They must be able to run pass routes, not only out of the back field but also from the line of scrimmage. The reason why Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffery, and Alvin Kamara are ranked as some of the highest- earning running backs in the NFL is because they don’t just run – they are each an extreme threat in the passing game. The second, but much harder obstacle to achieve, is for running backs to demand that their initial entry salaries be raised to that of what they would expect to receive in their second contract. The idea here is that if owners believe that a running back’s production depletes as they age, and therefore are worth less, then a running back should be paid the most when they are expected to perform their best – when they initially enter the NFL. However, the issue here is that this (i) does nothing for the veteran running backs currently trying to sign with a team or reach an extension and (ii) it would require the owners to renegotiate the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, which seems even more unlikely than the Browns winning the Super Bowl anytime soon.

However, like many things, I think over time the game of football will evolve again. As NFL defenses adjust to the spread, pass happy offenses, the NFL offenses will evolve (or maybe revert) to a run first operation, similar to years long ago. Although, like all creative destruction, it does nothing to relieve  the pain that the current veteran NFL running backs are feeling. Sorry.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL DOES IN FACT HAVE BALLS!

Major League Baseball has always been America’s sweetheart as much as it's been America’s pastime. The sport is associated with all things American - apple pie, hot dogs and, now, (anti) voting legislation.  

Rob Manfred, Taking Names

When Rob Mandfred, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) commissioner, unilaterally decided to remove the MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta, it was shocking only because this was the most overt act MLB, America’s sweetheart, has taken in, well, maybe ever. The Georgia law, SB 202, despite being advertised as a law needed to “restore confidence in elections”, is intended to instill several voting restrictions that will have a disproportionate impact on Georgia’s minorities who vote predominantly Democrat. In turn, it would be no surprise if the NFL with its kneeling or the NBA with its boycotts would have opted to express displeasure with the law, but to have the MLB, with its romanticized Americano look - “play ball”, rush in to take a stand is  more patriotic than the condiment races between innings.

Despite Manfred stating that the MLB “fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restriction to the ballot box”, Manfred’s decision to remove the All-Star Game from Atlanta has as much to do with promoting democratic values as it does having to do with the survival of the baseball industry.   

Baseball, as it is now, is watched by mainly older white individuals. The average age of a baseball television viewer, according to a 2017 Sports Business Journal study, is 57 years old. 83% of baseball’s television audience is white, while Blacks and Hispanics make up roughly 9% of viewership each. These metrics compare poorly with America’s ongoing demographic shift from a white majority country to a much more heavily diverse population. According to William H. Frey, a Senior Fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program, the “2010 to 2020 decade will be the first in the nation’s history in which the white population declined in number.” Additionally, Frey found that in 2019 half of the nation’s population under the age of 16 identified as a racial or ethnic minority.

 

Diverse Group of Guys Right There...

Both MLB and the Georgia legislature want to reach the same goal - stay alive. MLB has done this by recognizing that the nation is changing both in age and in race. A business can only survive if it has consumers willing to purchase its products. In MLB’s case it needs viewership to increase among the young and ethinic. Granted that MLB’s rule changes to help raise viewership with the youth  (pitch clock, extra inning rule changes) have not been effective, it would be business suicide to try and attract minorities while also promoting an All-Star Game in a state that is desperately trying to inhibit its minority citizens’ right to vote. 

On the other hand, the Georgia Republican legislature, which is predominantly  white men, have decided that the only way they will lose power is if too many of a certain kind of people (i.e. minorities) turn out to vote. This is what happened in last year’s elections when Georgia’s minorities turned out in droves and propelled both Biden and two Democratic senators to Washington. The Republican’s  strategy is (1) illegal and (2) an admission of guilt from that their political platform and beliefs cannot compete fairly to win a majority of their constituents (all of them- not just white people). 

If this was happening in any other country, America would be boycotting that country similar to how the MLB is boycotting Georgia, because, well, America has done just that many times. America boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in response to the Soviet Union's violations of human rights through its invasion of Afghanistan. Moreover the U.S. is strongly considering boycotting the 2022 Winter Olympics, which are to be held in Beijing, over China’s human rights abuses of its Uyghurs citizens, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group. In fact, many Republicans in Congress are pushing for the U.S. to boycott the Beijing games (ironic). 

Additionally, in the private realm, the NBA, in a rejection of North Carolina’s law that mandated transgender people use the public bathroom of their matching gender assigned at birth, removed the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte. Likewise amid pressure from the Southeastern Conference, a collegiate athletic conference composed of several southeastern U.S. schools, and the NCAA, college athletics’ governing body, who refused to hold any championship events in states with flags in which the Confederate flag had a “prominent presence”, Mississippi’s state legislature voted to change its state flag in 2020. Boycotts through sports have brought change and made life painful for those who promote injustices for personal gains. 

History of Sports Boycotts Out of Ethical Concerns

While the Georgia Republicans cling to survival by denying its citizens freedoms and claiming anyone who opposes them is supporting “cancel culture”, MLB has sought survival by making those citizens’ freedoms be heard. For the sake of this nation we can only hope that Major League Baseball wins this ballgame and the Republicans strike out.

MINNESOTA'S MISSTEP

 

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ hiring of its new head coach, Chris Finch, was strange. Plenty of teams have fired their coaches midway through the season, especially, like in Minnesota’s case, when the team has more than three times the number of losses than it does wins. However, it is rare for teams to name a new head coach in the middle of the season, especially in less than twenty-four hours of firing their previous head coach - Ryan Saunders. Yet this is exactly what Minnesota did. Minnesota’s hiring of Chris Finch was rushed and portrays the organization as being poorly led.

Although both Finch and Saunders are white, there is a level of hiring due diligence that is expected in professional sports. Part of this due diligence is the expectation and, in some cases like the NFL with  the rule, that teams will interview a diverse panel of candidates for head coaching and front office positions. Minnesota failed to conform with that industry standard. The National Basketball Coaches’ Association stated, in response to Minnesota’s hiring process, “[I]t is our responsibility to point out when an organization fails to conduct a thorough and transparent search of candidates from a wide range of diverse backgrounds.”

This failure for Minnesota to conduct a proper hiring is shocking due to the climate that the NBA has built. According to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (“TIDES”), the NBA, in 2019, scored an A+ in terms of their head coach diversity, with 26.6% of NBA head coaches being non-white.  For comparison, the NFL scored a dismal D+ in the same TIDES report. The Timberwolve’s rushed hiring of Chris Finch puts into question the true efficacy of the NBA’s TIDES grade and by extension the NBA’s true feelings towards ensuring equity in their hiring practices.

The NBA is also the most vocal league in terms of social justice awareness. In the 2020 Playoffs, which were held exclusively in Orlando due to COVID-19, the players in Orlando voluntarily and abruptly forfeited a day of playoff games in order to bring awareness to the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Subsequently the NBA’s players and owners worked together to start social justice initiatives, such as allowing NBA arenas to be used as voting centers during the 2020 Presidential Election. The fact that a league that promoted social and racial equality failed to properly ensure that one of its franchises follow proper hiring protocols dampens the message league is claiming to portray.

Before moving any further it is important to note that your correspondent is not trying to suggest that Finch is not worthy of being an NBA head coach. He was a finalist for the Timberwolves head coaching position in 2018 before Minnesota chose to go with Saunders. Finch also has vast NBA experience. He spent  time as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Pelicans and Toronto Raptors. What your correspondent is trying to suggest is that the NBA failed to uphold the values, such as diversity, that it has aggressively marketed and that the Timberwolves unnecessarily moved too fast in making their head coaching hire.

The Timberwolves are a young team with a high ceiling. Their team is built around “do-it all” big-man, Karl-Anthony Towns and a highly talented point guard, D'Angelo Russel. Minnesota also has the extremely young and extremely talented rookie, Anthony Edwards. Furthermore, the Timberwolves are likely to have a top five lottery selection in the upcoming NBA Draft. The Timberwolves have assets to create a competitive head coaching hiring process.

Moreover, the Timberwolves would have been able to get a full view of the available and well-suited head coaching candidates if they waited until season’s end to hire a coach. In the meantime, the Timberwolves could have promoted an assistant coach, such as David Vanterpool, whom Portland Trail Blazers’ guard, Daminan Lillard, thought should have been given the nod. The promotion of an interim head coach, who was previously an assistant coach under the terminated head coach, is par for the course. J.B. Bickerstaff was promoted as the interim head coach after the Cleveland Cavaliers fired John Beilein during the season. Nate McMillan was named the interim head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, just this week, after the Hawks let Lloyd Pierce go.

The promotion of an interim head coach, especially in a season that is a lost cause like the Timberwolves are experiencing is an act of responsibility. The promotion of an interim head coach clearly shows that the organization is sending a message that they wish to exhaust all of their avenues before naming a new head coach. Additionally, naming an interim head coach is a way for the organization to, odd as it sounds, salute their now terminated head coach. In promoting an interim head coach, the organization is also showing that they were fully committed to the team and head coach and had no other choice but to terminate the head coach. The Timberwolves’ firing of Saunders was needed, but the subsequent record pace at which the Timberwolves hired Chris Finch smelled the same as a husband divorcing his wife of five years in the morning and posting selfies with his new “bae” by dinner.

Like adultery, an organization “cheating” on its head coach doesn’t just affect the head coach, but also inadvertently creates collateral damage. The collateral damage in this case is, first and foremost, the young players who compose the Timberwolves and by extension the value of diversity and equality that the NBA puts so much effort into promoting.

THE DIVORCE OF CARSON WENTZ AND PHILADELPHIA, AND WHY INDIANA IS THE OTHER WOMAN

 

That's The Look of a Franchise QB

The marriage between the Philadelphia Eagles and their quarterback, Carson Wentz, looks to be on thinning ice. After the Eagles’ 23-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, it appeared that Carson Wentz’s beheading would commence on the steps of City Hall within twelve hours (please don’t take “beheading” literally). ESPN, the broadcaster of the game, was perplexed that Jalen Hurts, the rookie quarterback whom the Eagles drafted in the second round, did not replace Carson Wentz (partially this was ESPN’s fault for overblowing the potential that Hurts would replace Wentz).

Wentz is recording career lows in completion percentage (58.1%), yards thrown (2,541), quarterback rating (73.4), but is recording career highs in interceptions thrown (15). Granted, Wentz’s demise is a team effort. Lane Johnson, Eagles’ star right tackle, is out for the remainder of the season and the offensive line was in their tenth iteration when appearing in Monday‘s game. No surprise that Wentz leads the leagues in sacks received – 46.

But not all the blame can be laid at the thick calves’ of the Eagles offensive line or on the immense shoulders of Wentz but also should be laid at the hands of the Eagles’ receiving corps. Wentz has been given, on average, 2.9 seconds to pass the ball, which, according to Next Gen Stats, makes Wentz the seventh highest quarterback with Time to Throw. However, the sacks are coming from a receiving corps that cannot separate themselves from the defense. Richard Rogers has the best average separation, according to Next Gen Stats, on the Philadelphia Eagles at 3.5 yards of separation on average. However, Richard Rogers is a tight end and so the Eagles best receiver at gaining separation is Greg Ward – 3.3 yards on average. The latter is below the league average. Finally, the offense has been sliding since the departure of Frank Reich, the Eagles former offensive coordinator and now the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. In 2017, the Eagles finished with the third best offense in the league, per profootballreference.com, and have steadily declined further – 18, 12, and currently ranked 25. Offensive declines over numerous seasons start to point more towards the head coach than any one player. In turn, the Eagles’ head coach, Doug Pederson, deserves some blame for his team’s decline.

 

At Least Wentz Has 3 Linemen to Help Him Up

Despite all the reasons why Carson Wentz is not the reason for the Eagles troubles, the Eagles should still look to trade Wentz and they should trade him to the Indianapolis Colts. The Cornercube cannot take responsibility for this idea and does wish to credit Boomer Esiason for birthing this idea on Boomer’s radio show. Regardless, the idea makes some sense. First, Wentz was prolific while Frank Reich was the Eagles offensive coordinator especially during the 2017 season. In that 2017 season and before Wentz was injured, Wentz had career highs in completion percentage (69.6%), and quarterback rating (102.2). So, a Reich and Wentz reunion looks to be a better marriage than the one presently between Wentz and the abusive city of Philadelphia. Second, the Colts are looking to be a team that is a quarterback away from being a serious Super Bowl contender. The Colts have a great offensive line, a steady receiving corps and a top ten defense. Additionally, with the Philip Rivers experience looking to be more of a blunder than not and the fact both quarterbacks (Philip Rivers and Jacoby Brissett) on Indy will be free agents next off season, it seems likely the Colts will be looking for suitors at the position. Third, because the Eagles signed Wentz to an enormous $128 million extension back in 2018, their only option, should they want to part ways with Wentz, is via trade. However, because of Wentz’s high price tag there are only a few teams that (1) need a quarterback and (2) have the cap space to pay Wentz. Luckily for the Eagles, Indianapolis fits both those requirements. In 2021, the Colts will have a cap space of $65 million, according to overthecap.com.

The metrics and reasoning are there but are the Eagles willing to file the divorce papers? It does not seem likely. This is because if the Wentz ship was set to sail, Jalen Hurts, the Eagles backup quarterback taken in the second round of this year’s draft, would have started. The Eagles would want to see what they have in their rookie, granted he’d face the same disaster of an offense that Wentz has been getting clobbered in.

Frank Reich Wants Neither QB, only Wentz

The media repeatedly touts that the reason why the Eagles are not looking to move on from Wentz is due to the amount of money they have invested in him.  This is partially true, but the longer the Eagles wait to move on from Wentz, the more money they have to pay him and the chances that Wentz’s value decreases. For instance, if next year Wentz’s demise on the Eagles continues, the likelihood a team would be willing to take him off the Eagles’ books becomes less likely. More importantly, the Eagles are less likely to receive something meaningful in a trade. Whereas if the Eagles trade Wentz now, when his decline is early, they may be able to get a third and fourth round draft pick from a willing team (i.e. Colts) and most importantly, get a major expense off their books.

The more obvious reason that the Eagles will not move on from Wentz this year is because of pride. The Eagles traded up to the number two spots in the 2016 draft in order to get Wentz. In 2018 Wentz had a Pro Bowl year and helped lead his team into Super Bowl contention and by extension a Super Bowl win. The organization has pride in their pick and would hate to trade something they spent so much on, both in terms of salary and in terms of draft capital. Keeping Wentz could prove this pride to be poisonous and result in not only Wentz losing his job but also the organization’s general manager, Howie Roseman, and Doug Pederson losing theirs.

 

TEXAS ISN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE TWO OF US

 

Originally, in a COVID free world (what was that like again?), the Longhorns would be welcoming the chance to slaughter the Big 12’s bottom feeder, the University of Kansas, but this year the game has been postponed until December 12, due to Kansas’ team being infected by COVID.  Postponement is the last thing that Tom Herman, the head football coach at the University of Texas at Austin, wanted to hear and he has heard a lot this week. With the postponement, Texas will have another off week and when they do play again, presumably on November 27 against Iowa State, it will have been three weeks since they last competed.

On Monday of this week, Herman was asked about the possibility that Urban Meyer will replace him at the end of this season. An awkward question to have to answer in any work setting, but even more so when asked in front of the media. Surprisingly, Herman did not give a Bill Belichick “grumble”.  Instead, he provided a litany of reasons how this sort of rumor hurts the Texas football program. After Herman first addressed how he believes “unnamed sources” cannot be factual (Deep Throat in Watergate takes offence), he then provided a more reasonable consequence in that the rumor hurts recruiting.

Herman has lost several top recruits this year and has been lagging behind his peers in gaining the top tier recruits from the football rich state of Texas. In late October Quinn Ewers, the number one recruit in the 2022 ESPN 300 and a Texas native, de-committed from the Longhorns (and just committed to The Ohio State University).  According to Rivals.com, a college football and basketball recruiting database, the Longhorns have received commitments from just ten of the top 100 Texas football recruits. Although many are undecided, the Longhorns have only received one commitment from any of the top ten Texas state recruits. Despite all of this, Herman’s 2021 recruiting class is ranked 17^th in the nation and his previous three recruiting classes (2020, 2019, and 2018) have all ranked in the top 15 in the nation, including two in the top 5 – 2018 and 2019.

Texas’ play on the field has been better than compared to years past, but at a university that expects to be in the national championship conversation each year, and with the hype that came with Herman’s hiring, Herman’s successful recruiting has not translated into credible wins. “Credible Wins” at a university that expects to be top tier are as follows: rivalries, top 25 wins, conference championship appearances/wins, team progression and The College Football Playoff appearances/wins. The latter category still alludes Herman and his Longhorns and so it will not be discussed in the analysis.

ANALYSIS

Rivalries

According to Wikipedia, the University of Texas has three active football rivalries (three are dormant as Nebraska, Arkansas, and Texas A&M no longer playing in the same conference as Texas), which are TCU, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma. Oklahoma, of course, has been ruling the Big 12 nearly every year for the past decade. Herman, with over four years of coaching at Texas, has a combined record of 5-8 against his rivals, having gone 1-3 and 1-4 against TCU and Oklahoma, respectively. If Baylor, another Big 12 Texas school, is included in this analysis then Herman would have a record of 8-9. Not awful, but for standards expected at a Blue Blood football school like Texas, this is not tolerable over four seasons.

Top 25 Victories

Texas has a 9-9 record against Top 25 teams, while Herman has been the head coach. Granted that Texas’ worst sustained losses against top 25 schools came in Herman’s first year at the helm – going 1-4. In order to make it to the Big 12 Championship Game and to be considered for the College Football Playoffs a team must regularly win against top 25 teams.

Conference Championship Appearances

Herman has a lone Big 12 Conference Championship appearance, which occurred during the 2018 season, losing to their archrival – the Oklahoma Sooners. What adds some level of distain is that Oklahoma had lost to Texas in their regular season head-to-head matchup. Fans were left feeling disappointment at the loss but also hopeful towards the future. It had not been since 2009 that Texas had a ten-win season and made a Conference Championship appearance.

Herman and the Texas Longhorns had high hopes entering the 2019 football campaign. After coming off a spectacular Sugar Bowl victory over the University of Georgia, the AP Poll had them ranked tenth in the nation. The Longhorns had a brutal schedule, losing to LSU (ranked 6^th at the time) and Oklahoma (ranked 6^th at the time) by just a touchdown. However, the wheels fully came off when Texas lost to unranked TCU and Iowa State. Herman would roll to an 8-5 finish. Suffice to say expectations were not met.

In response to the disappointing 2019 campaign, Herman decided to overhaul his coaching staff by replacing both coordinators and several other assistant coaches. The team was ranked 14^th in the nation at the beginning of the year, Herman’s 2018 (top 4) recruiting class were nearly all starters, and the media had his team pegged to be in the College Football Playoff hunt. That would be all but washed away when Herman’s 9^th ranked squad was upset by unranked and their rival TCU.  

There is still hope that Texas can make and win the Big 12 Championship game. Texas faces 17^th ranked Iowa State next week, followed by Kansas State and Kansas. All of these are winnable games for the Longhorns. Additionally, assuming Texas makes the Big 12 Championship Game, Texas has a credible chance of defeating whichever Oklahoma team they face.  Oklahoma State lost to Texas in the regular season (Oklahoma State’s only loss) and it took Oklahoma four overtimes to defeat Texas in the regular season. From there Texas needs to hope that either one of the other Power Five schools’ conference champions has two losses or more, the Playoff Committee looks down on conferences that play only eight or seven games (i.e. Big Ten, PAC-12), and/or the Playoff Committee ignores probable undefeated Cincinnati and BYU. The last reason seems most likely simply because the NCAA is greedy.

Progression

Herman’s recruiting woes certainly are not assisted by the unverified rumors that Urban Meyer is going to replace him at the end of the season, but it may be due to the lack of progression Herman has overseen at Texas. From 2017 to 2020, Herman’s defenses, in terms of points allowed per game, have worsened year to year. In 2017 Texas allowed 1.36 points per game on average, then 4.4 per game in 2018, 8.5 in 2019 and now 18.73 in 2020 (granted this season has not fully completed). Texas’ pass defense has been giving up on average five yards per pass over Herman’s tenure.

Lack of progression is Herman’s issue and is why rumors are swirling around him. At his only previous head coaching stop, two years at the University of Houston, Herman didn’t stay long enough to evaluate his first class of recruits. Herman went in his first year at Houston 13-1, while finishing his second and last year 9-3. Although 9-3 is not a bad record at all, but it is a drop off. Two years is not enough time to determine if a coach can develop his players and it probably would have served Texas to deliberate more judiciously before snatching up Herman.

CONCLUSION

Players want to play for a coach that will make them better. Until Herman does that, the rumors of his replacement will keep coming. Progression starts in the spring with conditioning, fundamentals, and practices, but is graded during rivalry games, top 25 victories, and conference championship games. Rumor clouds are formed when the latter three are unmet and will continue swirling until they are.

 

 

Ted Cruz Chooses Racism Over Facts. Pathetic.

Ted Cruz Still Bitter For Being Repeatedly Picked Last During Recess Basketball

Imagine a world in which a U.S. Senator deliberately goes out of his way to announce, with a stroke of glee, that because an organization chose to stand against racism, it drove away its American viewership. This synopsis is exactly what the Texas Republican Senator, Ted Cruz, blasted on Twitter when Cruz tweeted, “Not surprising. Personally speaking, this is the first time in years that I haven’t watched a single game in the NBA Finals. #GoWokeGoBroke”. Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, responded to Cruz’s tweet with, “A US Senator with 3 @NBA teams in his state, employing thousands of people and he is rooting for their business to do poorly. This is who you are @tedcruz. Every minute of your life, this is exactly who you are.”

In a year in which mass protests erupted across the U.S., primarily due to multiple innocent unarmed black people being killed by police, the NBA chose to be a guiding light. After Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, was shot by Kenosha, Wisconsin police, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted their NBA playoff game which resulted in the rest of the NBA following as well as additional sports across the nation. The players did not choose to cancel the season, but rather worked with the owners to devise a three point plan to help bring an end to police brutality and a greater awareness to systemic racism, which included NBA arenas to be used as polling stations for the 2020 presidential election. The arenas would be utilized as a safe polling place for communities that were significantly hit by COVID-19. In addition, several players conducted their own initiatives to increase civic engagement, such as Lebron James who created the organization “More Than a Vote” that is ensuring there are enough poll workers.

Sad That the NBA Took A Larger Stand Against Racism Than the Federal Government

In light of these great initiatives that both the NBA and players are making to guarantee that people’s votes are able to be made and to be made safely, it’s bewildering that Cruz would find this sort of “wokeness”, a term used, according to dictionary.com, “to describe a person who is alert to injustice in society, especially racism”, to be the sole reason that the NBA Finals had low ratings.

To Ted Cruz’s misfortune the demographics between the 2020 NBA Playoffs and the 2019 NBA Playoffs hardly changed. According to SportsMedia Watch, in 2020 45% of viewers were white and 55% were nonwhite, while in 2019 the percentages were 46% and 54%, respectively. This is hardly an indicator that a certain population was turned off due to the NBA standing against racism (just writing that sentence seems so odd).

There is a much more obvious and substantiated reason for why the NBA playoffs had low ratings – COVID-19. The pandemic forced nearly all major sporting events, apart from the NFL, to alter their seasons. The NBA canceled their regular season in March after Rudy Gobert, a player for the Utah Jazz, tested positive for COVID.  Many other leagues followed suit or postponed the start of their seasons, like Major League Baseball.

The NBA Finals typically has the month of June to themselves, other than regular season baseball. However, with the NBA Finals being conducted four months later, the NBA faced off against Major League Baseball playoffs, NFL, and college football. Yet despite this added competition and despite the 2020 NBA Finals being the lowest rated Finals in NBA history, its first three games rank among the five most watched non-NFL live sporting events since the wave of cancellations took place due to COVID.  

Additionally, the NBA’s downturn was a symptom that all sporting events felt. While the NBA Finals had a 49% decrease in viewership compared to last year, the Stanley Cup Finals saw a 61% decrease and the final round of golf’s U.S. Open had a 56% drop off. MLB’s divisional round of their playoffs saw a decrease of 40% compared to the year prior. While the NFL has seen a decrease, it’s only 10%. College football finally had its first game that reached a 3.0 Nielsen Rating when Tennessee faced Georgia this past weekend.

The 2020 presidential election has also lent a hand in decreasing sports viewership.  MSNBC, CNN, and the fascist news network – Fox News – have all seen a rise in viewership.

Ted Cruz’s illogical fallacy that the NBA Finals’ lack of viewership was a direct consequence of the NBA’s stance against racism, is wholly disproved. The irony is that Ted Cruz’s racist dog whistling is a strategy that his entire Republican Party has been using in 2020 to maintain its slipping hold on power. Rather than face the obvious facts – such as climate change is real - they choose to use baseless premises as the sole reason for certain results. Donald Trump does this better than anyone, especially when he insists that should he lose the election it is because of ballot fraud, not the simple fact that the majority of Americans dislike him.

Ted Cruz represents a state that reelected him by only a few percentage points in 2018 and it is quickly becoming a minority-majority state.  It would be prudent of him to recognize the obvious fact that it is wrong to stand on the side of racism.

 

References

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/10/nba-playoff-ratings-decline-finals-record-low-sports-viewership/

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/10/mlb-postseason-ratings-alcs-record-lows-nlcs/

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/10/college-football-ratings-sec-season-high-viewership/

The O'Brien Tumor Was Removed, But Was It Too Late?

 

Billy O, Searching For His Draft Picks

Bill O’Brien lasted longer as the general manager of the Houston Texans than Kim Kardashian lasted married to Kris Humphries. That’s probably far from Bill O’Brien’s mind as this week he was terminated from his duties as both the Texans’ head coach and general manager. Bill O’Brien’s firing was a culmination of a man who gained so much power, he was unable to point the finger when the team started the season 0-4. The question really becomes which Bill O’Brien ended his tenure in the Lone Star state – Bill O’Brien The Head Coach, Bill O’Brien The General Manager, or Bill O’Brien The Man?

Part 1: Bill O’Brien: The Head Coach

The Texans hired Bill O’Brien in 2014 after he completed his second year as Penn State’s head coach. Although the Texans were a 2-14 team the year prior, they held the first overall pick and used that to pick up stellar defensive end, Jadeveon Clowney, who would then lineup with the already stellar, J.J. Watt.  The Bill O’Brien turnaround was on as his team went 9-7. O’Brien would go on to a 52-48 record as the leader of the Texans, win the AFC South title (a mostly dismal division) four out of his six full seasons, and only had one losing season when his 2017 team finished 4-12.

Easy to tell which team scored zero points

Despite his ability to turnaround a depleted team, it more or less felt that O’Brien’s coaching abilities plateaued, especially when his team’s entered the playoffs. In each of his four playoff appearances his teams were unable to get over the “hump.” In 2016, at home, Bill O’Brien’s team was the first team in a decade to be shutout in a playoff game – 30-0 against the wildcard Chiefs. 2016’s Divisional Round, against the AFC’s power team, the New England Patriots, O’Brien’s team failed to be competitive and lost 34-16. This game was to be the “great leap forward” as the Texans would overthrow the Patriots and assert their dominance across the AFC. Instead, the Houston Texans looked more like a paper tiger who were able to wallop on their weak AFC South opponents but could not muster the right stuff against the Patriots. The 2019 AFC Wild Card game was another no show for O’Brien’s team as his, on paper, favored team was trampled at home by their division rival, and less superior, Indianapolis Colts – 21-7. Finally, and where the train really got derailed, was in the 2020 Divisional Round when Bill O’Brien’s team gave up a 24-0 lead to the Kansas City Chiefs.

For all the greatness that made up O’Brien’s Houston Texans – DeShaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, Jadeveon Clowney, J.J. Watt – he was never able to overcome mediocrity. In many respects, Coach O’Brien most resembled the former Cincinnati Bengal’s head coach, Marvin Lewis. Both Lewis and O’Brien excelled at maintaining winning records, but never brought their respective franchises any lasting glory.

Part 2: Bill O’Brien: The General Manager

Technically, Bill O’Brien wasn’t the Texans’ “official” general manager until they bestowed him the title in January of 2020. However, his fingerprints and demands for certain players were in every transaction.

The Brock Osweiller signing should have been exactly the point in which the Texans fired O’Brien. Osweiller played only eight games for the Denver Broncos before signing a four-year $72 million contract in 2016, with O’Brien’s club. Even O’Brien discussed how the two, paired together, would lead to great success for the organization. Osweiller was quickly traded when his play did not add up to his worth, but O’Brien’s spending left a damaging hole in the Texan’s cap space. This hole only grew stronger as O’Brien was allowed to make further front office decisions.

In 2019 O’Brien let his once lauded over defensive end, Jadeveon Clowney, walk and then immediately sent two first round draft picks to Miami. The Texans received offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil and then decided to pay him $22 million per year. Tunsil was supposed to give DeShaun Watson, the all-pro quarterback for the Texans, extra protection. This failed. Watson remains one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the NFL. In addition it’s no surprise that after Clowney left, the Texans are ranked last against the run and 26^th for most points allowed.

In his first move as the “official” general manager of the Texans, O’Brien traded his future Hall of Fame receiver, DeAndre Hopkins, to the Arizona Cardinals for a beat up running back, David Johnson, and a second-round pick. It was obvious which team won this trade. Johnson currently ranks 35^th for yards per carry, but then again Johnson’s offensive line is atrocious (remember Watson is the most pressured quarterback in the NFL). Despite all these earth-shattering signings and trades, O’Brien wasn’t finished making his mark. He traded a second and fourth round pick to the Rams in order to acquire the nearly always banged up wide receiver, Brandin Cooks.

The general manager left to clean up Bill O’Brien’s mess will have an arduous time just to rebuild. The Texans have absolutely no cap space to sign players. Thanks to O’Brien’s dealings, his team spends the most per year on player salaries ($255million). The new GM will also be hindered trying to build through the draft as Miami holds the Texans’ first round draft picks and the Texans won’t pick until the third round.

Part Three: Bill O’Brien: The Man

Bill O’Brien advanced to the top of an organization through a strategy known as “failing up.” O’Brien successfully blamed Rick Smith, the general manager who was able to get Brock Osweiller off Houston’s books, for not providing him with adequate talent. It was reported the relationship between Rick Smith and Bill O’Brien was “toxic.” Smith would be shown the door at the end of the 2017 season.

Even the most ardent romances result in the most acrimonious divorces

Brian Gaine would then be the next general manager to run afoul of Czar O’Brien. This time it was reported that Gaine and O’Brien’s relationship had “eroded”. Gaine would be let go at the end of the 2019 season which is where O’Brien successfully “failed up” to become the Texans’ “official general manager.”

Brian Gaine was Billy O's guy, until he wasn't

Not only did O’Brien fail to get along with front office personnel but he also failed to have good relations with his players. In his “negotiations” with DeAndre Hopkins, which led to Hopkins’ trade, O’Brien thought it best to compare Hopkins to murderer Aaron Hernandez and then later made a joke about Hopkins’ “baby mamas [all] being around.” It’s not clear if ever insulting the other party personally is an intelligent negotiation strategy. In light of this information, it should come as no surprise that rumors are coming out that many Houston players have a “feeling of relief” after O’Brien’s departure.

Part Four: Conclusion

In every mob movie there is some cheesy line that suggests that business really is personal. Bill O’Brien makes that notion entirely true. Each of his moves – Osweiller, Hopkins, Clowney – was made through his own personal instincts. The football logic is hard to see because the football logic wasn’t there. The more alarming factor is how this rampage and malfeasance was able to get out of hand. Each person who attempted to rail O’Brien in (Smith and Gaine) were shown the door.

The Texans’ ownership, the last safeguard of a promising franchise, allowed O’Brien to turn a once promising franchise into a broke, cashless, dumpster fire of a team.

Shame on Bill O’Brien but even greater shame on Cal McNair for allowing this gross negligence to continue for far too long.

Sources

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2020/10/6/21503681/bill-obrien-texans-coach-fired

https://www.battleredblog.com/2017/12/30/16833736/aaron-wilson-obrien-smith-relationship-toxic

https://africa.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30048456/the-texans-fired-bill-obrien-now-barnwell-strange-timing-rocky-tenure-houston-future