Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Hair Of The Dog, Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

82%

That is Aaron Rodgers' completion percentage. The game plan was a bit conservative and there were penalties galore, but Rodgers played a great game, especially considering that Tony Moll cost him a touchdown on a perfectly thrown ball to Donald Driver. Moreover, the defense played pretty well. I'm still worried about Atari Bigby who was exploited all night, but he seems to be a bit of a ball magnet in 2-minute situations, and he was again tonight.

Throw in a game-changing run by Ryan Grant, (eventually leading to a scoring run from Rodgers) and you have a very solid opening game.

It was good to see Aaron get off on the right note. It was easy to imagine a situation where he played poorly, was booed mercilessly, and saw the season spiral out of control. He looked confident, made good throws, threw a nice deep ball, and didn't do anything stupid.

As for the Vikings, Tarvaris Jackson really is a big problem for them. The stout defense did not live up to its billing, but he was under 50%, was not efficient, and threw a game killing interception. This all leads to the important question: Who's better, Kyle Orton, or Tarvaris Jackson?

Brewers Now Officially In Choke Mode


Look out below! The Brewers farted away a solid outing from David Bush, and wasted a HR by Jason Kendall of all people, as Philly pulled to within 3 games of the Wild Card.

Just as they did to Cubs' closer Kerry Wood a night ago, the Reds were able to get to Solomon Torres in the 9th and steal one. The Brewer offense continued to struggle as they managed only 6 hits all night. Even worse, they wasted an opportunity to beat the excellent Edinson Volquez. On the plus side, he's the best they'll see all series.

All In The Family

You can add nepotism to the list of what's wrong with the Detroit Lions.

Freakonomics Meets The Blind Side

Steve Levitt has an interesting post about Michael Lewis's excellent book, The Blind Side.

Today's HOTD is brought to you by...

MGD 64. It's just this side of water.

9 comments:

DannyNoonan said...

And what's with the F-ing Astros?

E.S.K. said...

I don't honestly think that Orton v. Jackson is a question. Orton is much much better. I saw him play in that December drubbing of the Packers last year. Impressive.

He has the ability to know he is mediocre at best, and simply manages the game. Jackson is completely unable to manage a football game.

PaulNoonan said...

The Astros do this every year. On teh one hand it's scary, but on the other hand it causes them to think they're better than they really are. They've really got nothing in the farm system, and Carlos Lee and Miggy aren't going to last much longer.

I'm still not sure about the Orton/Jackson debate. I'd probably go with Orton too. Which is really sad for the Vikings.

E.S.K. said...

Just read the little NYT blurb. I'm surprised that Leavitt is surprised about RB salaries. They are practically a commodity at this point.

DannyNoonan said...

RBs are usually the flashy, big-name players. They are often carrying the ball when touchdowns are scored afterall. I think most people do overestimate their worth.

E.S.K. said...

people do, but clearly GM's do not

E.S.K. said...

also, teams carry a lot of running backs because they are fast and relatively big (so good special teams guys) and because injuries happen at the position. That large pool at the bottom of the salary range will lower the RB mean.

DannyNoonan said...

When he referred to QBs and LTs, he was talking about the mean for starters. I assume he also meant the mean for starters, rather than all running backs.

E.S.K. said...

oh, that could be, I scanned it and may have missed that detail.