If Prince Amukamara Runs Good, he will be Great

Prince Amukamara, a cornerback for the University of Nebraska is my favorite cornerback in this year's draft.  The only thing that needs to be seen is if he can run with NFL wide receivers.  You might be able to get by at the college level with 4.5 speed, but that won't work at this level no matter how good your hips are.  The draft experts like Patrick Peterson, who I think is solid, but I think he is too tall to be a great cornerback.  Much like Antonio Cromartie, tall cornerbacks have the speed and height to cover taller receivers with more straight line speed such as Randy Moss or Mike Wallace of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but have trouble covering shifty guys such as Desean Jackson of the Eagles.  One of the main reasons for this is the rapid shift in what the NFL was looking for in wide receivers.  Just a few years ago, it seemed that unless you were 6'5" and ran at least a 4.4, you weren't getting a look in the draft.  Now, with the success of guys like Wes Welker and Steve Smith of the Panthers, teams have been shifting back to these types, which has been a problem for taller cornerbacks.  Prince Amukamara, who is close to 6 feet, does not play as tall as Patrick Peterson and has better hips.  Peterson seems to rely mostly on his speed, which with out proper coaching could hurt at the next level.  Mark my words, if Prince can run a good forty, he could become an instant starter much like Devin McCourty of the Patriots did this past season.  Any coach would be happy to have that kind of result.

Sean Payton not Going to Dallas

I will make this one short and sweet.  There is a lot of rumbling about the recent move of Sean Payton's family to Dallas.  This shouldn't really even be news, as in my opinion they are simply moving some where that they have always wanted to live.  It is not that far from New Orleans and Payton has a lot of leverage as to his work schedule.  Payton has an organization that has backed him at every turn, a quarterback he loves and a team that will compete for the next few years as an elite team.  If he was ever to become head coach of the Cowboys it would have happened a while ago.  Please stop trying to make news stories out of everything.

I Feel Bad for Rashard Mendenhall

After watching the Super Bowl, I could only help but wonder what people will think about when it came to Rashard Mendenhall's performance.  Most likely it will be the fumble he had in the third quarter, which ended up being the biggest play of the game.  The Steelers were driving with all the momentum, as they were on a 14-0 run at the moment, Mendenhall seems to stand straight up and basically hand the ball to the Packers.  This ultimately led to the Packers scoring a touchdown and an 11 point lead and ultimately the game.  Mendenhall had fumble problems early in has career and has since seemed to have it under control, up until the most crucial moment of one of the biggest games of his career.  The part that bothers me, is that Mendenhall had been running strong and hard all game, against a very tough defense.  He was very impressive and most people will likely forget all about it due to that one play.  He was very good during the  playoff run in general and in my opinion was the key to them getting to the Super Bowl, not Ben Roethlisberger.  Big Ben could have made everybody forget about his 2 picks as well as the Mendenhall fumble had he been able to lead the Steelers for one last touchdown drive in the waning minutes of the game.  It was not to be and the Packers are Super Bowl champs, which is also well deserved.

Let Me Clear Something up

Big Ben looks for his 3rd
Super Bowl ring vs the Packers

If Ben Roethlisberger wins his third Super Bowl tonight, this will not make him an equal to Tom Brady.  I have always thought Big Ben was underrated because he never got a ton of credit, but with all of these crazy articles stating a win would put him in this class is asinine.  Now, I would very much state that he is highly overrated because of these statements.  For the same reason, people do not equate Terry Bradshaw with Montana, the same can be said about this comparison. I also don't think that Brady's three Super Bowl rings make him a better quarterback than Peyton Manning.  Much like Montana, Brady has had a great coach by his side, which makes things a little bit easier.  I would be happy with either, as I could make a case for either of them depending on which fan I am arguing with.  Big Ben is a good quarterback, but let us not get ahead of ourselves.  I also think this article is irrelevant after tonight because I don't think the Steelers win anyway.  Let me repeat, Big Ben has largely been underrated in the past and is a solid quarterback, but he is not a top quarterback because of them possibly winning tonight.

Gambler's Corner Roundup

It is time for the allthingpigskin Super Bowl prediction.  Although, I did go 3 for 3 in my first weekend of making picks, I can not promise you anything.  The Packers are giving 2.5 points this Sunday and despite the Steelers being more experienced in this role and usually coming up big in these games and Aaron Rodgers not coming up big in these games, I am going to put my money on the Green Bay Packers.  I feel strange doing it, but there are two main reasons.  The first, which I have mentioned in an earlier post, is that Maurkice Pouncey will be out against one of the best defenses in the league, which will essentially kill the Steelers ability to run.  Second the Steeler secondary will not be able to stick around with the Green Bay receivers, plain and simple.  I don't expect to see the Packers run more the ball on more than 12 downs.  The most running will be done by Aaron Rodgers, who will probably throw for about 265 yards and 2 touchdown but also run for another 45 yards and a score.  Those runs will be big ones most likely, too.  Roethlisberger does usually come up big and I think Polamalu is a top 5 player in the league, but the stars aren't aligning for me on this one.  Take the Packers giving the points in this one.

Peter Keating Gets It

In his latest Next Level column from ESPN the Magazine, Peter Keating nails it on the head when he talks about the exaggeration of mid year coaching changes.  This is something that I preach especially when it comes to the recent Cowboy head coaching change.  This is a good Cowboy team that regressed to the mean, which essentially states that they were the normal Cowboy team in the second half of the season and it wasn't any great coaching going on.  At any rate, it is a very good read that I recommend.

Troy Polamalu Wins Defensive Player of the Year?

Defensive Player of the year,
Troy Polamalu of the
Pittsburgh Steelers

I am conflicted over this, as much as I love this guy and realize how much he does for his team, I am not sure if I would give him the award this season.  He is definitely the most important difference maker on defense as I have never seen a team lose a guy on defense and their team plays as if they lost their starting quarterback.  In fact, I will go a step further as Ben Roethlisberger missed the first four games this year and they went 3-1 losing a tight game to Baltimore 17-14.  When Polamalu didn't play this year, they went 1-1 and in years past it was a lot worse.  There were a few games this year when he made game saving plays, which I have discussed in the past, especially at the biggest moments of the season.  The Steelers are back in the Super Bowl again.  He was one of the leaders in interceptions, even though, he spends a ton of time around the line of scrimmage to help stop the run or blitz off the edge to add pressure.  Is there more that he could have done though?  No, not really.  This guy is insanely good and deserves the award I was just messing around, nobody impacts a team on the defensive side of the ball like this guy does.  Case closed.