Jonathan Mathis

Randy Moss Is Toxic Wasteland, Not Welcomed In NFL

by Jonathan Mathis on February 15, 2012 · 0 comments

Word is he’s not done. But then who would’ve thought it would have publicly escalated into a feud with Randy Moss and Cris Carter? Upon hearing the news that Moss suddenly isn’t quitting on his NFL career, Carter offered his take this morning on “Mike & Mike in the Morning” on ESPN Radio. Carter, now sitting in a television studio to analyze the NFL for ESPN, weighed in and had strong remarks on Moss’ potential return that obviously infuriated the Pro-Bowl receiver.

“The one thing you have to address with Randy Moss is not a conditioning thing,” Carter said. “It’s not an age thing. It needs to be addressed. I believe it’s the elephant in the room. It’s that thing called quit.”

“And Randy, not like any other superstar I’ve met, he has more quit in him than any of those other players. So I need to addresses that. That’s what [New England Patriots coach Bill] Belichick did when he brought him over from Oakland. He told him he wasn’t going to have it.

“But Randy, when things don’t go well, like no other player I’ve ever been around or associated with, he has a quit mechanism in him that’s huge. That needs to be addressed before he signs with any team.”

I’m with Carter on this. I couldn’t agree more.

He can blame it on anything but himself, such as unsupportive teammates, injuries, stubborn coaches or not enough touches – but we shouldn’t buy into his ignorance and unnecessary pouting, abruptly quitting when things don’t go his way. It’s not stunning to hear he’s returning, well, supposedly.

The question now is, how long will it last before he changes his mind again, a volatile wideout in a state of confusion, easily choosing the escape hatch when he’s unhappy or furious with the franchise itself? So we must figure, when and if he bonds with an NFL team before next season, that he won’t reasonably have loyalty and will bail out on teammates and coaches to leave behind unfinished business.

It’s always easy to blame critics, but in truth, Moss has brought all of these criticisms on himself for griping to the media and quitting on the field. With all the endless speculations on where he could land an NFL job AGAIN — one almost believes he’s a no-good, worthless, pitiful quitter – callously turning his back on previous teams he played for whenever he was discontent with each organization.

A wide-ranging belief that he’s a rebellious problem-child is the truth in a sense – a notion that even a dumb person would fathom, regarding a troubled wide receiver with too much baggage – which is generally more drama than daytime soap operas. When he’s on the field, playing for a franchise that took a risk in bringing in the cancerous wideout, it feels as if the masses are watching an episode of Young and the Restless or Bold and the Beautiful – and trust me – there’s nothing beautiful about Moss’ bad attitude or constant mood swings.

Very seldom, especially in the NFL, you hear that a player is coming out of retirement to resume a career of hell. For now, he’s the biggest problem in pro sports. He’s a little boy who has become an absolute nuisance in sports and has a psyche like an idiotic kid who can’t tell the difference from right or wrong – including stupidity or intelligence. If there were ever an award given to NFL divas, without a doubt – seeking all attention for behaving like an annoying jerk – Moss would win it every time.  As with Moss announcing his intention of returning to the NFL after spending an entire season away from the game he says he so desperately enjoys, the belief here is that he never quit, when in reality, he fled after 13 seasons as he didn’t have many attractive offers from teams.

Nevermind that he failed to catch more than five passes and couldn’t gain 80 yards receiving in his final 12 games with the Patriots. Nevermind that he was a toxic malcontent who damaged team chemistry and aspiration everywhere he’s been – no team interested in his availability or services, even if he has the intangibles to be a downfield threat. Nevermind that he was the kind of diva who could transform the spirits of teammates and coaches with his laziness, cockiness and apathy in his role as a veteran receiver. All of this, of course, overshadowed his 954 receptions, 14,858 yards receiving and 153 touchdowns – he is the most completed athlete to some degree and is a future Hall of Famer, but no one will ever dismiss that he is NFL’s most unsatisfied and selfish player.

All of a sudden, he’s trying to play in the league again, tired of burning bridges at last and begging for an NFL team to make him an employee. It’s uncertain whether he has matured and become a changed man after a brief retirement, or whether he’s still a spoiled ass brat with defiance and an oversized ego that has left Moss unemployed, when he could have had a home somewhere in the league last season. Is it just me, or is Moss a risk?

Because of Moss’ history, he is a heavy burden and could be too much for any team to handle. It’s not even worth the try, not even worth the hassle, although a team would be stupid enough to give him a chance – and then in the end – will be screwed once he childishly has a hissy fit and begins to pout, mistreating a team that gave him an opportunity to renounce his ego and pompous nature.

There he was, on the day of his 35th birthday Monday, seen in an Internet video acknowledging that he plans on returning to the NFL, changing his freakin’ mind about retirement with the world wondering if and what team he’ll be playing for soon. Consider him now to have made it through an entire season without grabbing our attention, disturbing our senses and hijacking headlines by publicly creating madness each week. Ah, that sounds like Moss. And, indeed, he is seeking our attention.

“I wanna play football,” Moss said on a Ustream video. “Your boy is going to come back here and play some football, so I’m really excited. I had some things I had to adjust in my life. … Faith, family, and football, that’s my MO, bro.”

The truly frightening issue is that the New England Patriots could express interest to renew their vows with Moss, giving Tom Brady another weapon in one of the deepest receiving cores. The scariest issue is that the Philadelphia Eagles could be in the bidding for his services, but the team already has problems of its own with Andy Reid and the so-called “Dream Team” experiment that fizzled ever so miserably. The shameful thought of this absurdity is that the New York Jets wouldn’t mind adding to the Hard Knock drama within a dysfunctional franchise as players and coaches are feuding in Gotham City.

This all sounds preposterous for teams in the running for a man with a badass personality and a brain like Jell-O. Before turning into a petulant and moody player in the NFL, for many years as we witnessed him on highlight reels and making unbelievable catches, Moss was the most talented receiver until he stained his talent by his stupidity and unhappiness. It’s realistic enough to know he’s coming back to expunge the dreadful memories of 2010, the most humiliating season of his 13-year career. So now, he’s longing to respond to his critics, and when he announced his un-retirement intentions, he elaborated on his love for the game.

Is he sure? He is, from his actions and body language, a wishy-washy, elusive player and can never make up his damn mind – the equivalent to Brett Favre, who took us on a crazy retiring/un-retiring saga that turned old instantly. They should have known Moss wasn’t to be trusted, when he abandoned the dysfunctional Raiders with his lazy and uninspired effort, killing morale and hope in Oakland.

It’s not rocket science that he was unproductive and had declined with the Patriots unhappy he wasn’t given full power, which forced New England to trade him after four games to Minnesota, where he was released after another four games. It was no different in Tennessee where, in fact, he was just as bad if not worse. During his stint with the Titans in 2010, he was a waste and finished that season with a career-low 28 catches for 393 yards. That’s the year he only had five touchdowns, the second-lowest in his troubled career.

As much as he’d like to return, Moss is unwelcomed.

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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Carlos Boozer Is Not Right Choice For Bulls

by Jonathan Mathis on February 14, 2012 · 0 comments

In the wake of Sunday’s devastating, humiliating beatdown to the Boston Celtics — stunning as the winds strongly howls through the Windy City — we’ve fathom the reason for the Chicago Bulls’ woes of late. When Carlos Boozer joined the Bulls, migrating feasibly to America’s most enthusiastic sports towns, he was expected to be the consolation prize, expected to act as a primary force in the interior, expected to be a benefactor, not a non-factor.

As it turns out, he was never the remedy to dismiss all the misery for this disoriented franchise ever since Michael Jordan had his bronze statue unveiled outside of the United Center, ever since he left town and ever since he retired. But, as of now, Boozer is largely the reason why the Bulls are struggling. It’s one thing to demand and imagine that a player comes into the scene and become the second scoring option behind point guard sensation Derrick Rose, entirely another to bring him in when, in fact, much is excepted of Boozer and instead has done nothing but disappoint and increasingly exposed his failures.

He’s not what people thought he would materialize into, and more than ever, he has yet to develop consistency – weight still heavy on Rose’s shoulder. The mere thought here is that he’s not productive without a pass-first point guard, and as long as Rose continues to shoot first and distribute the ball as an alternative, the criticism won’t subside and Boozer will struggle in the Bulls’ system. Ok, perhaps you can recall the moment he played with Deron Williams in Utah, getting 10 to 15 touches each quarter. The point here is, with frequently more touches, he had numerous shot opportunities and was a dynamic force in the paint, whereas he’s not such an instrumental piece in the Bulls offense, overshadowed and irrelevant by Rose’s craft and talent.

The dirty little secret is that Rose knows Boozer is merely limited, knows he can’t bring much to the offense – whether he lacks determination, character and will when, all considering, he is supposedly the best low-scoring presence in the league. But that’s not true. It can’t be the truth if Boozer is not aggressive enough, not demanding the ball and not driving strong to the basket. With the Bulls – a team considered to dominate the East — we haven’t seen his capabilities, let alone seen him perform at his best this season.

The thing is, while he spent two inept seasons in Chicago after signing an enormous five-year, $76 million deal, the Bulls wastefully invested in an overpaid bum. The sudden underachievement involving Boozer is lingering in Chicago — and let’s be real, given his porous season – he’s fallen in love with the jump shot, attempting more jumpers than usual and has the size and strength to drive the ball to the rim instead. For all the odd reasons, he’s now a shooter after the Bulls signed him to be a pesky scorer inside.

He’s not – not what the Bulls thought they were getting.

Boozer – particularly his awkward offensive style – doesn’t fit with the organization and, for most nights, he’s been missing in action. He looks dazed, helpless and confused, unsure of himself and his teammates. If they are in any trade talks to deal Boozer, it would be very difficult for someone who doesn’t have much trade value around the league, in which the Bulls would more less have to try using an amnesty clause on him over the next few seasons.

Watching an entirely inconsistent Boozer, albeit he possibly can turn it around by demanding touches and working in the paint as he has recently, is painful – offensively and defensively. It is like he’s a lost kid sitting in lost and found, then seeing him opponents blow by him in the paint for the basket is rampant. It just so turns out the Bulls have someone who can’t defend underneath the rim, playing atrociously on defense as well, just as Boozer does on offense. In other words, he’s being bullied instead of being the bully that he once was advertised.

You see, Boozer is more like Boo-Boozer!

What he is in the midst of his pathetic play on the court is a player who can’t exceed any expectations with limited talent, or maybe he just refuses to play assertively. But, on the inverse, he had a more efficient performance Sunday, despite the lost to the Celtics, finishing with 22 points and seven rebounds. Will he ever play this consistent all the time? No, because he’s not a consistent player. Talking about Boozer, one of the most underachieving players in the NBA, will always be a head-scratcher in a sense that he’s either good or average but never great. For what it seems now, he’s playing much better lately, pouring in 24 points in a win over the New Jersey Nets and double-digit points on the Celtics in a loss.

I’m still not sold on Boozer. Not just yet.

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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Jeremy Lin Comes From Out of Nowhere to Jolt NBA

by Jonathan Mathis on February 11, 2012 · 0 comments


He is absolutely for real. Real as he is advertised by the local media and New York tabloids. By now, the world is glued to Jeremy Lin — the man of the hour, the latest phenomenon in the NBA — scoring a career-high 38 points and leading the New York Knicks to a 92-85 victory Friday night.

When he made the grander statement than Kobe Bryant, arguably the greatest ballplayer of our generation, the roars were earsplitting and electrifying in the world’s most famous arena — the Madison Square Garden, of course, where he intrigued the world with a Linsanity masterpiece. The more he smiled and the further I was impressed with Lin’s striking performance, I am left to believe that the swirling hype of Linsanity is not a fluke but real after all.

Everyone was standing on their feet in the Garden — including the celebrities courtside, and witnessed the emergence of the latest commodity in the league. Uh, yeah, a star was born in New York. That star, indeed, was Lin, the first ever Taiwanese American to play in the NBA. If you didn’t know Lin, you know him now after last night’s surprising shot making and playmaking in front of a national audience to remarkably overawe us under the lights of the world’s most renowned venue. But, as hard as it is to believe, Lin is coming into his own, not afraid to step into the spotlight for a demanding sports city that expects much from its star players.

If any superstar underachieves, well, then, the local media won’t hesitate to criticize a struggling athlete, which places a tremendous amount of pressure on him as expectations largely are there. Playing in a city where much weight is on athletes’ shoulders, the pressure and ridiculous hype has not bothered Lin — the NBA standout from Harvard University, an Ivy League school best known for the starting point of U.S. presidency, or even the foundation for a career in the law offices of Jacoby & Meyers. The drama on Broadway, also known as Linsanity, is far from over. It’s actually about Lin right now, if no one else, appreciated for turning around an underachieving team, doing it without an injured Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, who left the team on Monday after his older brother, Hazell, was tragically killed in a car crash.

Anybody who doesn’t believe in Lin, that he’s not convincing and nothing but hype because of his ethic background, wasn’t watching him in the fast break or him burying mid-range shots Friday night. This is what I call his breakout performance, coming against a winning franchise with one of the all-time greats, the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe. Tempted as you are to doubt him, refusing to refer to him as a superstar or an authentic hero who could possibly save the Knicks disastrous season from suffocating, Lin is now everyone’s new talking point. He deserves credit for 28.5 points and 8.3 assists during the Knicks current four-game winning streak, essentially doing it without Anthony and Stoudemire in three games.

He wanted to play in the NBA — very, very much, obviously, and now he is soaring after he was given an opportunity in New York, where he’s found a home and has been welcomed. So now, here is Lin, an Asian-American, who couldn’t find a role in the league and had been cut twice before the Knicks picked him up. What Lin has done the past few weeks is unbelievable, which makes this such a sweet NBA novelty, capturing everyone’s attention, seizing the fame on Broadway. When the suitors came calling — and his services were useful to the Knicks as a fruitless team trying to find ways to reduce the misery and win games — Lin was the kid, living the NBA dream. It’s the best fit for him, able to start at point guard and prove to us nationally that he’s an NBA star on the rise.


There’s no doubt in our minds his Harvard classmates are studying the complex academic work in law school, but Lin is soaring in the NBA — providing hope and much promise for the Knicks as we, by now, believe in the best story happening in basketball. All of a sudden, the Knicks are optimistic they can dismiss a bleak season of injuries and inconsistencies on defense, with the aid of Lin, who is now running the back court, setting up plays for his Knicks’ teammates in which everyone around him is more efficient and better in coach Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo offense.

In recent weeks, he has taken the whole world by surprise, no doubt, the center of attention in New York, particularly after Friday night when he climbed from anonymity to stardom. What’s not to love about Lin — an exceptional player with finesse and a gift to play basketball? His presence alone, being that he’s the first Asian American to play professionally, can inspire many Asian Americans to chase a lifelong dream in the NBA. For most cultures, as is always the case, it normally influence more kids to participate and become involve with the sport by sticking with it and never giving up.

It’s been fun to watch Lin emerge in a game where many Asians haven’t gained significant prosperity, but as we know now, he may have changed it for the better. There is not much talent in New York, without Carmelo or Amar’e, but Lin has brought energy and aspiration that was missing for the depleted Knicks, who were having an awful season until Lin arrived to rescue them from absolute destruction. Lin, ladies and gentlemen, is more than just a sensation and could very well be the next valuable point guard in the Knicks future, if he continues his impressive scoring and abilities to dominate flawlessly as the team’s floor general.

This is all from a guy who was waived twice after the enduring lockout. This is all from a guy who came from nowhere and was in the fourth spot on the Knicks’ point guard depth chart, but always refused to quit and found a home on the East Coast. The sudden rise has captivated Asian Americans and the NBA in general, the one player featured in headlines across the country for making the claim that he is worthy of establishing a foundation in the competitive market of pro basketball. He’s dribbling the ball, shooting the ball, creating scoring opportunities, and before you know it, he’ll be seen on the next label of an endorsement deal — whether it’s Nike or McDonald’s.

And if he continues to play impressively, he could even be noticed globally and outside of America where he is now the talk all over, not only in New York but also nationally. What a night in the Garden, as roaring fans raised signs of him, quickly becoming obsess with the humbled 23-year-old guard, making a vintage Lin feel right at home. The noise of thunderous roars echoed through the building and fans shouted MVP chants, while he gave the spectators something to watch, something to be amazed by, something to cheer for when New Yorkers witnessed a revolutionary ballplayer, an assassin stunningly outscoring Kobe in a surprising duel. He finished the night — and you can shake your head and blink your eyes in disbelief — with 38 points and seven assists in a statement game.

This was supposed to be the night that Bryant have a shooting display at the Garden, where he once settled for 61 points to break Bernard King’s scoring record for the most points ever scored by a player in that arena. This was supposed to be the night that Bryant outduel Lin. But on this evening, Lin exceeded all the hype on national television, averaging 76 points in his previous three games before meeting the Lakers. The Knicks, after winning four straight games, improved to 12-15 and certainly are in the playoff picture, as long as they keep climbing with Lin largely leading the team. All of this happened when he saw action against the New Jersey Nets on Feb. for which the Knicks had ran out of options at the point guard position.

And, indeed, Lin made the best of that opportunity, by scoring 25 points and amassing seven assists and responded rather strikingly that earned him a spot in the starting lineup. It’s amazing to have to admit that he has scored 89 points, the most points among any NBA player in his first three starts since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976-77. Although he’s an NBA player working hard of late, he spends most of his nights on the couch of his brother’s, a graduate dental student at New York University, but if he keeps delivering soft jump shots, spinning drives and skilled passes, Lin could potentially be signed to a long-term, million-dollar deal.

What we have seen is Linsane, a Lin-ing streak that has the New York folks buzzing in this empire state of excitement and surprises. There’s so much hype, and buzz, the kind of attention surrounding a player for drilling 13 of 23 field goals Friday, including 2 of 4 from three point range. It’s suddenly a good vibe at the Madison Square Garden, as Lin, the league’s sensation who came out of nowhere, stunned Bryant on a night he finished with 34 points, hitting just 11 of 29 shots.

“I think it’s a great story,” Bryant said. “It’s a testament to perseverance, hard work, and I think it’s a good example for kids everywhere. I’m sure he’s certainly put a great deal of work in. He’s always had that belief in himself, and he just now has the opportunity to do it. I think it’ll be fun for the city here, obviously. Once they get Melo back and Amar’e back, it should be a lot of fun here.”

This is a great story, a tale of superstardom.

Early on, Lin scored nine of the Knicks’ first 13 points, either scoring or passing on their first 15. As we’ve seen so often from the Lakers, they can’t defend the pick-and-roll. The Lakers tried everything to disrupt him, but couldn’t stop Lin’s hot shooting in the Garden, bringing much fun to the spectators — including director Spike Lee sitting courtside. By the fourth quarter, Bryant started to find his swagger and hit jumpers from every angle on the floor, but it wasn’t enough to slow down Lin. He wasn’t given a chance with the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets, but was given that chance with the Knicks, coming from out of nowhere to excite us, alarm us, and entertain us. The Rockets and Warriors now realize they both made bad moves by cutting Lin loose.

“He’s not a fluke,” Knicks center Tyson Chandler said.

No, he’s not. He’s on the rise. That’s for damn sure.

When it was a bit too late, Bryant buried a double-clutch fallaway jumper and was foul for a three-point play that reduced the lead to 86-78 with four minutes left, but then came Lin attacking like a wild animal on the prowl.

After the Lakers had beaten the Celtics in overtime, Bryant said, “no idea what you guys are talking about” referring to Lin, who he played against last night.

I’m sure Bryant, including the whole world, knows who the hell Lin is now.
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Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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Austin Rivers Hits Thrilling Shot, But Still Bearing Growing Pains

by Jonathan Mathis on February 10, 2012 · 0 comments


Austin Rivers, at the end of a college hoops spectacular, was mobbed by his teammates, his father, Doc Rivers, among them, went nuts watching his son drill a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to beat rivals North Carolina 85-84 Wednesday night in Chapel Hill.

As the clock trickled, he pulled up, launched a rainbow three-pointer and stunned the Tar Heel folks, taking the air out of a building that suddenly went silent — an instant classic to send the Duke Blue Devils right back to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference. He is, indeed, a true freshman with much promise, choosing to play for an institution where basketball is truly a tradition on Tobacco Road in Carolina.

He could have chosen North Carolina, a school eight miles away from Duke, but he had the motive to play behind legends, the popular athlete on campus until he eventually ventures off for the NBA. As of now, Rivers has NBA qualities, drilling threes from professional range with guard capabilities — scoring a career-high 29 points after providing the unbelievable finishing touches.

“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had on the basketball court,” Rivers said. “This is the best feeling I’ve ever had.”

And yes, this is one of the best finishes we’ve ever witnessed in college hoops. This appears to be more relevant, all because it happened during rivalry week, a moment when Duke and North Carolina– the best rivalry in college basketball — battled in an epic theater on a night that Rivers generated much buzz after making magic happen in a hostile territory where Duke is always unwelcome on their rival’s home court.

And now, after that incredible buzzer-beater, he is most believed for developing into an athletic sensation and perhaps the top young player in the nation. Fitting enough, he plays for a school that produces artistic, admirable guards. The growth of Rivers, a more polarizing player in the nation maybe for the uniform and colors he wears, has led to an abundance of progression in Duke’s sudden rise — in position to be an overweighing factor in March.

In the meantime, he is playing his best basketball and might be the fundamental piece if Duke is indeed in contention during the madness in March. For this young group of guys, it could either turn out as March Happiness or March Sadness, but as we all know, anything is possible in a tourney of underdogs and spectacular basketball. It’s a month of surprises, a time that we pencil in our teams on those elusive brackets, predicting on what teams are worthy of the Final Four. The rare athleticism is what separates Rivers from most players, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he leads Duke in the NCAA tournament.

Without a doubt in our minds, he is a scorer and that alone tells us he’s a star player at a prestigious university, where Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and a well-known basketball program have produced many NBA stars. It’s hard to ignore weaknesses, as it might be a mistake not to address Rivers’ fundamental flaws often underestimating his deficiencies as a player.

This, then, means he must learn to play within a team and not individually and mature over time. If so, and imagine if he does, Rivers will become the most dynamic offensive player in the nation and will generate buzz all over the country — maybe even more so that he wears a Duke uniform when the vast majority of its games are broadcast nationally for the world to embrace and see.

What if he does forgo his college career after this season? This is a sampling of a future NBA star aiming for the professional ranks, and Duke suddenly has become a school of one-and-dones. He’s the most terrifying and supernatural 18-year-old, reaching his potential at a school where the expectations are largely vital and where losing is considered a failure in the business of tradition and an abundance of legendary athletes who once played for Duke amid historically a few incredible runs. But I have to wonder about Rivers, because in truth, he’s a pull up shooter and hogs the ball.

If you can pinpoint his downside, it would be his lack of commitment to play defense, and without him working diligently on defense, Duke is not such a well-balanced, skilled team. There’s no denying that he’s a flourishing player. The flaws, though he won it remarkably for the Blue Devils, eclipse his strengths, an almost punitive measure to keep him from excelling as the best player in the country.

It’s that one shot, the game-winner that might be historic and go down as one of the exciting classics in sports. Good as he is, Rivers must mature a bit if he desires to become an efficient and complete ballplayer in Duke history, taking over for Kyrie Irving as the best athlete on the court. While the product of Duke is exhilarating and fun to watch, in the perfect atmosphere being in the presence of Coach K — who is a teacher of the game and has cultivated his kids over the years with his craft and brilliance of coaching the game, Rivers still has to improve his shot selection and decision making. The excitement and emotion of Rivers’ style on the court is from him pushing the tempo, driving to the rim, and distributing the ball to his teammates for open shots — a dimensional guard to Duke’s offense.

Without him, the Blue Devils are only, at best, an average basketball program. In most ways, he plays the role as a combo guard and his maturation has gently polished. The electrifying shot that everyone raved about immediately after Wednesday night when it took many by surprise — reducing the volume in a noisy environment — created enough buzz for one night. And everyone is waiting to see how he produces in March, in what would be Rivers’ first NCAA tourney, a chance for him to strive for an NBA livelihood. Or he can opt to stay in school and elevate his collegiate status at Duke, as many before him have done in previous years. It’s all up to him. It’s his call. But, even though he’s somewhat NBA-caliber, he still needs much improvement before he jumps into the NBA.

One shot doesn’t confirm that he’s ready to take on a tougher, harder task on the professional level. Maybe considering he’s ultra-talented player who is a scorer and has ultimately a unique shooting stroke in his arsenal. And that’s fine. But he’s just inexperienced and an undersized shooting guard at 6-foot-4 who has to play more aggressively on defense. He’s far from it, not even close to being a complete shooting guard, nonetheless, a work in progress as a freshman. He has to be more than just a deep-range shooter, if anything, and be well-rounded in every department — performing through the emotions and getting past the challenges of stiff competition.

It’s not the lack of potential or skill that is slowing down his process of establishing himself as the best player in the country, but it’s the thought that he hasn’t fulfilled much experience and defended his opponents, giving up too many points to the opposing team. Clearly, he committed to the right program and now is playing for Krzyzewski, who has built a bond with his players giving them unconditional love and opportunities to grow as he cultivate and groom his players.

There’s undoubtedly a reason that Rivers decided to commit to Duke, not only for the education, but also for the noteworthy program where he can expand his style of play with one of the well-respected basketball coaches. While folks are reliving that thrilling, game-winning buzzer-beater — Rivers — and Duke as a whole — are bearing with growing pains as they adjust to a completely new style. But he may have had his signature moment with a come-from-behind victory over No. 5 North Carolina — trailing by as many as 13 points in the second-half.

The Blue Devils were on the brink of dropping a conference game against their rivals, but never stopped playing and continued to battle, pulling off a miraculous rally near the end that led to a gratifying finish with 13 seconds left. When North Carolina’s Tyler Zeller missed a free throw for what would have been a three-point advantage, it was Rivers who received the ball, and certainly, he hurried down the floor and launched it from the perimeter. Sure enough, it dropped in. This happened after his teammate Seth Curry, who had 15 points, scored a three that cut the lead within four with 1:48 left. And then, moments later, Ryan Kelly hit a jump shot off his own missed three that made it 82-80. That created magic of a celebrated rivalry.

“Obviously this is my favorite win I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Rivers said. “And it’s because we were down the whole game. The whole game, we were down. They just kept it on us – 10-point lead, 10-point lead. And then there was 3 minutes left and probably everybody thought we were going to lose, and we just kept fighting. To get a W, it’s amazing.”

However, he’s still a work in progress.
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Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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New England Patriots: Wes Welker Is Bill Buckner?

by Jonathan Mathis on February 8, 2012 · 0 comments

In the aftermath of the Patriots loss in Super Bowl XLVI, Wes Welker is the scapegoat critics are pointing their fingers at directly, giving him the evil eye. It’s bad enough the Patriots lost, yes, but to describe Welker as Bill Buckner is more than an insult. It’s ignorance, plain and simple, to compare him to the embattled Red Sox first baseman who blundered years ago to ground a ball.

Need I remind you that Buckner’s mistake tortured the Red Sox on baseball’s grandest stage when Mookie Wilson of the ’86 New York Mets hit a grounder to him at first base and when the ball rolled under Buckner’s glove and between his legs into right field? Need I remind you the Mets were two outs away in the 10th inning from winning the World Series? Need I remind you that one error forced a Game 7 and the Mets, without a doubt, won the pennant?

It’s nonsense to compare a reliable wideout to the clumsy Buckner, and label him, if you possibly can, as the most disliked athlete in New England since Buckner. I realize New England fans are frustrated, angry, crestfallen and unhappy — reluctant to bemoan or express sympathy for Welker who is on everyone’s bad list and portrayed as a the Villain of Beantown, after his costly drop in the fourth quarter. It’s a catch you must make in critical situations, and because he couldn’t bring in the ball, he’s being vilified for it.

It’s common for the media or even the fans in Boston to play the blame game, as we’ve seen often last fall during the Red Sox debacle — former Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who took much of the blame and lost his job for the mess that transpired within a divided organization. Much has been made about Welker’s regrettable drop with the Patriots leading late in the fourth quarter, and he has ridiculously become Buckner.

That’s a bit too harsh, though Welker failed catching what could have possibly been a game-changing pass at the 21-yard line with four minutes left. That was enough to make New Englanders angry? Sure.

But in my mind, it takes a total team effort and is wrong to blame one person, describing him as Buckner — a play that wasn’t even close to Buckner’s gaffe. The magnitude of Buckner’s mistake was much more painful, unfortunate and embarrassing. As for the Patriots, the entire team was an embarrassment and painful to watch in the Super Bowl, losing their second Super Bowl to the damn New York Giants when they had a shot to redeem themselves and vindicate greatness among one of NFL’s finest franchises. If you glance at the replay and stare at the misery repeatedly, you’d see it was humanly impossible to make the catch.

This means it was never, ever really a drop if he never had possession or control of the ball. Had he caught an awful pass from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, then he would have been praised heavily today and embraced for catching the ball to secure an unimaginable catch. The generally sure-handed Welker, in a pivotal moment on the brightest stage, couldn’t corral a throw that was behind him and slipped off his hands for a miss opportunity. In most cases, Welker makes that catch.

And when it was over, he took the blame, handled his failures like a man, with tears in his eyes. In his lifetime, he has produced at an All-Pro level in New England, catching over 100 passes and accumulating more than 1,100 in every season. The lowest came in 2010, catching only 89 balls for 848 yards, but other than that, he has been a definite target for Brady.

It wasn’t so much that he was disliked, well, maybe for the time being, but it’s that someone has to be blamed and unfortunately it happens to be Welker. As for Buckner, he was a solid hitter, just as Welker is a trusty receiver.

Way back in his career, Buckner hit .300 or better seven times and finished with 2,715 hits in 22 seasons. Long before this boo-boo, we had nothing but good things to say about Welker, but now after one mistake, we are ripping him, treating him like a bad guy from hell. The circumstances are not exactly similar, but they are a pair of mistakes in Boston sports history.

If he’s Buckner, why isn’t he wearing a Red Sox uniform, huh? Why is he having a better career than Buckner in his prime? The pass, which Brady tried to deliver perfectly to Welker, was badly thrown. Here we are, blaming a receiver who has the ball thrown to him and comparing him to a first baseman who couldn’t field a ball that was grounded to him. You see where I’m coming from? Hopefully, this put things into perspective. It’s absurd to call him Buckner when his name is Welker.

It was too high and wide, but he twisted his body and made an effort to reel in the pass in a game that he caught six passes for 70 yards, although it was eclipsed by one drop. This was a tough position to be in — having to adjust to the ball after Brady put a little air on the pass. There is nothing easy about catching a ball, while sprinting and turning around in mid-air to attempt a circus catch that would have likely been more spectacular than Giants receiver Mario Manningham’s dazzling grab.

Keep in mind, he’s not effective in vertical routes, and hell, he’s not even an acrobatic wideout. He is, by definition, an explosive receiver, one of the best in the league, and unfortunately, he didn’t catch a back-shoulder throw.

And now, it’s much more difficult to define him as the goat. Buckner, yes. Welker, no. This is nothing new. Fans and the media in Boston have picked on players for years, but out of all players to blame, Welker is not one of them.

All this publicity for comparisons — in all honesty — is silliness and mistreatment of a player who has been an asset in the Patriots offense, a receiver folks have grown to cherish but now have turned on him, angry at Welker after dropping the ball in the closing minutes.

Don’t blame him. Blame the pass. It was terribly a bad throw, one of Brady’s worst passes in the Super Bowl. And Welker, unfortunately, is jeered and booed, getting the Bill Buckner treatment for not catching a fourth-quarter pass from Brady that could have won the game for New England.

Buckner made his own mistake. That was all on him. Brady made a costly mistake that was intended for his receiver, who is now taking the blame for someone else’s miscue.

It amazes me that there’s another Buckner in New England.
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Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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Brady’s Legacy Takes Gigantic Fall

by Jonathan Mathis on February 6, 2012

There he was, the American profile, leaving the field with his head down, speechless, distraught and disenchanted as the Giants celebrated a comeback victory in Super Bowl XLVI Sunday night. Tom Brady was the hottest commodity in sports for a long time, mainly because he’s the coolest, sexiest athlete who featured in People’s magazine 50 most beautiful people.

In what was not his best performance, he wasn’t perfect, unsuccessful in tying Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw with a fourth Super Bowl ring, leaving Indianapolis empty handed of the Lombardi Trophy, a prize he had on his mind all week — since arriving to Indianapolis to play in a Super Bowl, a familiar event for him after owning three Super Bowl titles. It was one of those scenes that he led the New England Patriots on a remarkable dynasty last decade, but now it seems winning Super Bowl championships are on decline for Brady and his Bunch, losing twice to the New York Giants in a span of four years.

This 21-17 loss to the Giants, in such a hyped rematch after the Pats were beaten by the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, is another calamity for a celebrity/athlete as famous as Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore when paparazzi gazes at Brady arriving to his supermodel’s place. Later, after the demoralizing defeat, he sat near his locker, he had his head down in distress and all he could do was dwell upon the letdown that he and the Patriots let slip away to New York again. This was surely the end of the New England Patriots, a prime example on why Brady needs to grow the hair and beard again, like a survivor marooned on a shipwrecked island.

The last time, when he channeled the Geico caveman, the Patriots were Super Bowl-caliber in an unreal dynasty that the vast majority despised, simply for the Spygate scandal of coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots videotaping opponent’s defensive signals and practices. But those days are long over, and now is the time we are dwelling about Brady, as to where his place in NFL history lies — whether he’s worthy of proclaiming himself as the greatest quarterback ever.

What does this mean for Brady’s and Belichick’s legacies?

Twice now, Giants quarterback Eli Manning has performed better than Brady in substantial games where much is at stake. He’s now, unbelievably so, 2-0 against Brady in Super Bowls. It took another fourth-quarter comeback by Manning, pulling off a dramatic come-from-behind win against the Patriots when he directed an 88-yard touchdown drive that led to an unchallenged 6-yard touchdown run by Ahmad Bradshaw with 1:04 remaining.

Eventually, when it all ended, Brady’s wife and supermodel, Gisele Bundchen, chased him in the hallway, where she caught up to the disillusioned quarterback and caressed him in a prolonged hug. He wore his emotions, his body language was murky, and he had watery eyes and an unsettled stare in his eyes, emotionally hurt following the mortality of Super Bowl pathos. This will hurt Brady and the Patriots for awhile, coming away with nothing, leaving for New England without the trophy that he had his eyes on the entire time in Indianapolis.

Brady, considered among the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, wasn’t so wonderful on this night and was outdueled by Manning, a gunslinger who now deserves credit for leading the Giants to a pair of Super Bowl victories. Trailing 17-15 with just 3 minutes remaining, the Giants started at their own 12-yard line and Manning managed to find Mario Manningham, who made an incredible circus catch down the sideline for 38 yards. With some nice clock management, the Giants killed the clock to force the Patriots to use timeouts in what was a tight, tense Super Bowl.

The suspense had slowly faded when Manning outperformed Brady by throwing that miraculous pass to Manningham, a highlight that restored memories of David Tyree’s awesome grab four years ago. And, once again, the Giants came back to win the game and Manning raised the Vince Lombardi Trophy as confetti dropped. Now, with that in mind, Tom Coughlin is one of 13 coaches with multiple Super Bowl rings. He was smiling and holding the trophy, as well, becoming the oldest coach to win one at age 65 and turning things around after the Giants sputtered to 7-7 but found ways to stay alive as their playoff hopes were uncertain.

This is the agony of defeat, and without much thought, this sort of hurts Belichick’s and Brady’s legacies. Sure, he might be one of the best coaches in NFL history, or at least this decade, but Belichick has been out-coached twice by Coughlin — just as much as Brady has been outdone by Manning. This time, meanwhile, the loss was more agonizing, painful and tougher than the first pratfall. After that win, the Giants became the first 9-7 team to win a Super Bowl. After that loss, the Patriots became the biggest bust in Super Bowl history, faltering at the worst possible time by not winning the BIG ONE!

It couldn’t have been worse for the Patriots, a team that never seemed prepared or aware as the Giants were ready for the challenge, striking us again with another comeback to beat the Pats. The moment of truth unveiled surprisingly when the Patriots had a foolish 12-men penalty early, when safeties Sterling Moore and Patrick Chung couldn’t read Manning’s play and were blown in a two-double zone, or when Patriots’ receiver Wes Welker dropped Brady’s pass that was behind him forcing him to leap and reach for an awful pass with more than four minutes left.

As a matter of fact, with all the Montana comparisons, Brady is not nearly on Montana’s level. For one, Montana won in the Super Bowl. Secondly, Brady had Adam Venateri bail him out with clutch field goals. The Giants are tough, very tough. The Patriots are built with marquee players and legends, but can’t win the Super Bowl. Entering the contest, the Giants weren’t intimidated or terrified by the Patriots — weren’t annoyed or scare to fight Brady or the all-powerful tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, who played with a high-ankle sprain.

The story behind the Giants is that they played smash-mouth, tough-minded football, coming in with the mentality that they can beat the Patriots, after talking all week with confidence and poise and getting inside the mind’s of the Patriots’ success. The compassion was felt tremendously from Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who Brady wanted this fourth Super Bowl for so badly. Across the way in the locker room, he spoke to him softly and hugged him, embracing his franchise quarterback, win or lose.

It’s always easy to blame the quarterback, but in all, Brady performed well — no it wasn’t pretty or his best performance — passing 27 for 41, 276 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Late in the game, he was in the pocket looking for one of his reliable tight ends or receivers, then he saw the pass rush and stumbled, staying balance and releasing a pass that was intended for Gronkowski.

Before you knew it, Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn jumped in front of Gronkowski to pick off Brady for a great catch that shifted the momentum. It’s apparent, however, that Brady has withered as Manning has blossomed. If Brady is as advertised and great as we’ve all alleged, it shouldn’t be any truth to that — at least not at this moment, until he can finally win another Super Bowl to validate his place in NFL history.

For now, once again, Brady has to wait before capturing glory. Again, the Giants defeated Brady and Belichick. By now, Brady and the rest of the Patriots are shaking their heads. They were all so close, but not close enough to being great.

—-

Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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No Worries: Rob Gronkowski Healthy Enough to Make Impact

by Jonathan Mathis on February 5, 2012 · 1 comment

He said he’ll be ready to play, against the New York Giants, with his usual intensity and toughness in running routes and grabbing Tom Brady’s passes — a chance to become a Super Bowl hero. That is, if Rob Gronkowski has a signature game-winning catch, similar to four years ago when Eli Manning delivered a spectacular pass that was caught, even more unbelievably by David Tyree.

So is this the moment the Patriots return the favor in the rematch of Super Bowl XXII? The issue here is, Gronkowski has a sprained left ankle that has garnered so much attention, hijacking any thoughts of Manning surpassing big brother or discussions on whether Brady can beat the Giants.

All week, there has been much dialogue on Gronkowski’s injury, more than enough medical reports, one that leaves Bill Belichick scratching his head, even though he sticks to his standards by keeping quiet and not providing enough clarity on his health status.

For Gronkowski, a 22-year-old almighty tight end from Connecticut, this would be a time in his career that he emerges from the tunnel and play in his first ever Super Bowl to make a huge impact for the Patriots, when he has vividly sprouted into an All-Pro tight end.

Two days away from the Super Bowl, Gronkowski, who suffered a high-ankle sprain in the AFC Championship, has been nursing the severe sprain and been wearing a walking boot since being injured.

Already, he is listed as questionable by the New England Patriots. Any comparisons to Terrell Owens’ ankle at Super Bowl XXXIX and Dwight Freeney’s injured ankle at Super Bowl XLIV, which reminds us of the pain Gronkowski must be feeling this week while anxious to suit up and play, are identical to the prior injuries that had fans speculating an entire week on whether they’d be active to perform in the national scene. It’s a huge loss for the Patriots, if Gronkowski is a non-factor and inactive for the Super Bowl, an event that New England earnestly wants to win, angling to avenge an upsetting defeat four years ago.

It’s a nervous time right now, but because he’s limited in practice after suffering the injury 11 days ago doesn’t mean he won’t be healthy in time for Sunday’s epic rematch. And as of Friday, he was seen walking without a limp as the Patriots were routinely running schemes in their offensive plays.

If Gronkowski, while he has proved to be a dominant tight end and deemed as one of the most important players for New England, is making progress each day and not a medical risk, it would surely be simple to assume that he’ll be available by kick off Sunday. But sometimes, when a player is recuperating from an unbending injury, there is a sense he won’t effectively motion to the right, create separation and run clean routes.

“He practiced yesterday. He didn’t do anything today,” Belichick said. “We’ll see where he’s at on Sunday, but hopefully (he’ll play). I saw no setbacks. He’s still making progress.”

If Belichick calls for him, despite his body language at media day Tuesday that may have indicated he’s unhealthy before the big game, Gronkowski will be ready to play and, no doubt in our minds, he will likely be a vital factor to dictate how well the Patriots are offensively. The mantle of painstaking craft and toughness is what defines a skilled megastar that scored the second most touchdowns in the NFL this season.

But as you and I know, this is the Patriots, a team that psychologically use a strategy approach on injuries, as it is normally unclear when a Patriots’ player suffers an injury.

In other words, Belichick and the Patriots are never open publicly or specific about a player’s illness — declining to speak on every players’ health, refusing to say anything to the media. It’s been that way for years, at least for what I know.

And it’s not changing anytime soon. As long as Belichick is the coach, and if one of his main players fall to an injury, the Patriots will reserve judgment without even saying anything. And that is exactly why Gronkowski hasn’t disclosed further detail of interest pertaining to the Patriots organization, which would be the sprained ankle he damaged. He has been an instrumental presence and, according to Gronkowski, his ankle is improving every day.

We shall see Sunday.

He is, however, the offensive weapon on the field, a primary target for Brady to complete a record-setting night in passing at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. Without Gronkowski, there’s no telling whether the Patriots would be here or watching the game at home.

Without Gronkowski, the Patriots would be maybe an average team. He has been a key essential, both in an influential and physical perspective, for the Patriots prolific offense that has been dangerous and inevitably difficult to defend — the groundwork of New England’s success this season.

And because the Patriots chose to not discuss injuries, it’s hard to confirm a player’s status when it’s uncertain. This, right here is ambiguity, as no one really knows if Gronkowski is going to play, and if so, how effective he’ll be by the time he steps onto the field.

He has been working hard with trainers all week, taking rehabilitation assignments every day to return to form, then staying focus on regaining good health, at least enough to run with the ball at a high level.

If he does step onto the field, Gronkowski greatest strength lies within him — the evolution to become a wide receiver, in which he has played like a receiver, able to perfectly run in the slot and sprint in a passing route that creates space for him to grab the ball for a significant chunk of yards. The fortitude and energy with which he plays offensively has capped a sensational season for the 6-foot-5, 265-pound beast called “Gronk” had 90 catches for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns — setting an NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end this season.

So what in the world would the Patriots be like without Gronk?

It would probably be a challenge overpowering the Giants. From a real perspective, Gronkowski is the key to beating the New York Football Giants, if nothing else. In less than 24 hours, we’ll know if he’s well enough to play a role in the game. It’s rather eye-opening that he is strong and physically built.

By now, every opponent — including the Giants realize he’s their worst nightmare. There’s no doubt in my mind, as well as most of you, that he will play Sunday. I expect to see him in the game, just as much as you expect it. But what comes to mind is that he won’t be 100 percent at game time.

The question is, as of now, how effective will he be for the game?
—-

Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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For Brady, Super Bowl Victory Validates All

by Jonathan Mathis on February 4, 2012

We knew he was one of the magazine’s 50 most beautiful people before he led the Patriots to Super Bowl XLVI. We knew he was a lucky man, married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen. We knew he was the greatest quarterback of all-time in NFL history.

But as we are less than 24 hours away from the Super Bowl, although his legacy is cemented as one of the best passers in the game, Tom Brady can win his fourth title to validate his legacy for which he’ll tie Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw with the most Super Bowl wins for a quarterback.

It’s obvious what the New England Patriots intentions are, in a game larger than just individual achievements but also about revenge, after the upsetting loss against the New York Giants four years ago. It’s not of surprise that he’s in conversations for becoming not only the best quarterback of this generation, but also for legitimizing a place in history.

By now, of course, it’s a no-brainer that Brady is a future Hall of Famer, on his way to defying every sense of supremacy and marvel. The storyline of a noteworthy player who is the hallmark of football sent the world into delirium over all the publicity surrounding his position in NFL history.

If the Patriots are to lose, unable to avenge an unfortunate loss from four years ago, then Brady won’t tie Montana and will fail twice again the Giants. The entire thing could be a sign of fineness and perfection in a dramatic rematch for Brady, who has three Super Bowl rings and five appearances in 10 seasons.

What’s most telling is that he’s so instrumental in the Patriots dominant offense. The state of Brady is what seems relevant here, in his attempt to capture a win to historically solidify hierarchy.

Everyone knows, which he has laid the foundation for a dynasty last decade, Brady is a two-time Super Bowl MVP with a 141-40 lifetime record and a 17-5 postseason mark. The chances of him measuring up to idealism in a game of such magnitude is likely, and now is the moment for Brady to lead his Bunch to a Super Bowl title, overdue of transcending beyond greatness.

Again, he has his eyes on the prize, surrounded by offensive weapons with an advantage to find tight ends Aaron Hernandez and All-Pro Rob Gronkowski running in the slot and Wes Welker cutting the middle to position himself for a downfield pass.

Absolutely Brady is as advertised, and the most fascinating thing about him is that he’s the hottest, sexiest product in the NFL, a celebrity, the epitome of an old-school-like quarterback with the arm strength to fire throws to his intended receivers.

For years now, you and I have watched Brady. We’ve been amazed by his craft and perfection, soaring to new heights ever since he — as an inexperienced passer — replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe at quarterback for the Patriots.

Only a female reporter shows up to media day in a wedding dress and proposes to Brady. Only he turns decent receivers into perennial receivers. He owns three rings, but gave one to his dad.

By the end of Sunday night, we’ll know a bit more about Brady, and if the Pats win, owner Robert Craft will call him the fifth son. If he becomes the fifth son, Brady will go down as one of the finest quarterbacks, if not already.

That’s the way the Patriots became the Brady Bunch.
—-

Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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Being Disruptive Force, Pierre-Paul Has Much to Offer Giants

by Jonathan Mathis on February 3, 2012

The raw and ferociously competitive mind of Jason Pierre-Paul, or JPP as fans prefer to call him, is turning the disruptive force into an athletic, beastlike American phenomenon. Pretty soon, as you and I know, the Giants No. 90 jersey can become a top selling consumer product, when Pierre-Paul is hastily soaring as a primary defensive star in New York.

Because of his athletic prodigies that have made an immediate impact in his brief NFL career, which Pierre-Paul is a fulfilled aggressor with tremendous promise in the Giants’ future, he’s an impending All-Pro defensive end and helped the New York Giants secure a playoff spot.

And then, in pursuit of stunning the world to renew familiarity for one of the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history, it finally happened that Pierre-Paul was an indomitable factor to the Giants by playing a predominant role defensively. The Giants returned to the Super Bowl for the first time in four years, the last time they raised the Lombardi Trophy, the last time they met the Patriots in a meaningful game. This is a rematch of Super Bowl XLII — and playing in his first ever NFL title game — is Pierre-Paul himself.

This is a whole new scene for him, and ever since his arrival to Indianapolis, he has truly relished the moment, knowing he has an opportunity, a grand opportunity to win his first ring on the field set for an epic rematch of what should be an inerasable event that will forever firmly ingrain in our minds. He sort of reminds you of a wild stampede or an almighty giant stomping all over his opponents, as if they are tiny and much smaller than him.

What a way to begin your career, instantly as an instrumental piece – and later in the season – in conversations to possibly win Defensive Player of the Year. When you think about it, he does have the speed, the strength, the body, the size and the mental toughness, all the ingredients obligatory to depict an all-rounded defensive end in the NFL, one that have all the qualities of a well-balanced defender – someone who can dismay and fearfully stop the run that terrorize opposing players with bone-jarring, legal hits.

Pierre-Paul, the 6-foot-5, 275-pound, dynamic defensive end, creates a scare and problems for New England. I can’t think of one player who is more of an issue for the Patriots. Then again, I can think of his defensive counterpart and captain Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora.

It’s no secret that the Giants are scheming to brutally send Patriots quarterback Tom Brady down to the field for Super Bowl XLVI. The quarterback who is married to a Brazilian supermodel is the favorable target in this game, and the Giants could hinder the flashy Patriots’ offense by committing to the run-stopping, blitz-style, pass-rushing onslaught.

This, I thought, was bold of Pierre-Paul, especially when he announced in front of reporters and cameramen that Tom Brady is not God. This, from a pass rusher that admittedly said Brady was only human during the Giants’ regular-season victory over the Patriots. From the way he described it, the real pressure is on Brady and his bunch, not the Giants themselves.

“Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but at the end of the day he is just a quarterback,” Pierre-Paul said Wednesday. “It’s not like he is God, he can’t be touched. We’ve just got to get to him, and going into this game we know what’s at stake and we’ve got to get there fast enough … We’ve just got to get to him. We know it all starts up front no matter what.”

The Giants are favorites and not underdogs to the Patriots because odd makers finally figured out, as the game of football has been for years, that defense wins games. The point is, if anything, the Giants are deeply armed with weapons defensively, which tells us why they’ve advanced to this point, one win away from immortality. If anything, they are silencing the whisperers, partly when a discounted, disrespected defense is a fundamental service for the Giants’ achievements thus far.

But, nonetheless, the Giants haven’t earned their nod respectively, even after the fearsome foursome had a few signature plays and stops in the playoffs. If there’s one team that can disrupt and irritate Brady, as the Patriots veteran thrower was 28 for 49 for 342 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in the November loss, it’s the Giants and that tenacious, voracious defense.

“I think it won’t have much impact on his performance, because … if you look at Week 9 when we played them, it’s like he felt us,” Pierre-Paul said. “We went back on the film, we watched the film and we didn’t really rush as we can as a defense.”

At first glance, in fact, Pierre-Paul seems so much alarmed and largely the influential name on the field – in terms of him speaking undauntedly about Brady. With that in mind, as expected, he’ll try everything to his power to deface and stifle Brady. It’s amazing, really, how fast he’s grown and matured in the league, already a vital element with a striking body of work this season alone.

Each time, he has arose to the occasion, stepping into a huge role and making big plays when it mattered the most, now eligible for a long-term, enormous contract as his money-making days are near. It wouldn’t be the best solution to dismiss the Giants when Tuck said they have to take down Brady, only to articulate with a creative analogy.

“The way to kill a snake is to take off its head,” he said. “The way to kill an offense as potent as that one is, is making sure you take care of Brady.”

And his bunch, too, right?

The fact of the matter is that the Patriots, a team that comprise of a prolific receiving core, where head coach Bill Belichick runs a system for which he plays a pair of tight ends like receivers, has an army of route runners and tight ends. That would be Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, who is expected to play Sunday with a sprained ankle. The blueprint to defeating the Patriots is attacking the quarterback, not allowing him enough time to deliver a pass, not allowing him to connect with his propitious receivers, like Wes Welker or Deion Branch.

“I always say the keys to football are the same: stop the run and get to the quarterback,” Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said. “Maybe they don’t have as strong a run game as other teams do, but they are very effective passing the ball and that ball comes out quick. If we do our job up front and get to him, it will make everybody’s job easier.”

It’s much easier to respectively give him credit for such a late run that the Giants rode for quite some time to reach the Super Bowl and compete for the prize, of course. There’s something else cool about this story, and perhaps incredible. It’s Pierre-Paul quickly turning into a leader on defense, unafraid to take on a team that can intimidate its opponent, undaunted enough to play the role as the dominant force.

He has become almost an unstoppable, durable aggressor – a tough-minded, driven defensive end doing whatever it takes to get inside the quarterback’s head and bring him down to the grass. That’s the dynamic, fundamental, all-around defensive player he has blossomed into, a sizable talent with simply the bull-rush and nifty footwork. He is quick and has developed into one of the relentless All-Pro defensive ends in the game. Just like that, he has altered into an unstoppable, powerful pass rusher, and as Pierre-Paul has improved this year, so did the Giants defense.

This is what New York owns – a formidable player getting meaner and more forceful.
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Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

Facebook Twitter 

Eli Manning On Verge of Rising Above Big Brother

by Jonathan Mathis on February 1, 2012

More than thousands of reporters and photographers crowded at Super Bowl media day – the wildest circus where reporters from all over the world gathered around Eli Manning’s table. There is a suggestion here that he might clearly be the best quarterback in Super Bowl XLVI, or for that matter, on the verge of winning his second Super Bowl title to surpass his brother, Peyton.

The media gathering largely, turning all the attention to Manning himself for leading the Giants and having a MVP-like season, waited for him to arrive at his table. If the Giants are to win the Lombardi Trophy, Manning emerges as the elite passer of the family, despite that he’s the little brother. Until now, he’s lived in the shadows of his brother, and not only is he arising as a stud for the Giants but growing higher than ever on the Manning family tree, a star that was born in the Manning household.

There’s no denying Eli is the most relentless and toughest player at his position, maybe even more staunch and strong-willed than his nemesis Tom Brady, who is on a mission to win a fourth ring in his fifth trip to the Super Bowl where he’s honed vividly a priceless legacy. The allure of a franchise quarterback or a brand inevitably hard to ignore in such a national scene is the buzz heard this week in Indianapolis, where Manning is playing in his brother’s house on Sunday for a chance to win his second title.

This season is only a breakout year, which Eli is well on his way that amounts to supremacy among premier quarterbacks in the NFL, a debate sweeping the whole country this week as folks pontificate and discuss whether he’s an NFL megastar. There’s no secret – a realistic premise, mind you, that he’s nearly rising to a level of brilliance and superiority.

At the beginning of the season, he had proclaimed himself among the top quarterbacks in the league. It’s no secret, it’s no lie – after all – he really is projected to be better than his brother and be verified as one of the gifted passers in the league, especially if he can again beat the Patriots and Brady to validate his legacy. You know he’s tired of playing considerably in the shadows of his brother, exhausted of impending drama, when he intrigued the crowd with his family stories during Super Bowl XLVI media day at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Tuesday afternoon.

“I am five years younger than Peyton, but growing up we would always compete,” said Manning. “When I got a little bit older, 15 or 16 years old, we could finally start being on the same level and compete in playing basketball, ping pong or pool. There is that competition.”

He should have been a national topic, an admired star of many accomplishments, when Eli has become the brand-name quarterback in American sports building a successful NFL career, much like his brother. But as expected, at his Super Bowl news conference, Manning was bombarded by Peyton questions.

It’s the week when a rematch of one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history returns, drawing the public’s interest with a topic that wouldn’t disappear on media day. If this were a script, Manning certainly was in the center of a much dramatic event, asking 13 questions during his session, six of them referring to his older brother, the Colts quarterback who missed this season because of neck surgery. It’s not surprising, considering that Peyton’s NFL future is uncertain. Now that he’s a high-profile name, he is admired more than his brother it seems.

What makes this such an epic event – absolute hype surrounding two brothers who are quarterbacks – is the name on the back of the jersey, sons of the legend himself Archie Manning. Asked how he felt about possibly winning a Super Bowl in Peyton’s place, in his brother’s house, he said – “It’s just a matter of trying to get ready for the Patriots, trying to get ready to play this game, uh, getting prepared for their defense and we’ll look back on, on the fact on playing in the Super Bowl in Peyton’s uh … in the town where he played his NFL … uh … plays, you know, play for the Colts … we’ll look on that later.”

Please, because this is supposed to be Eli’s week, not a moment that Peyton, his older brother, hijacks the spotlight. Just like the rest of us, Eli is unsure about his brother’s health status, and maybe, just maybe, he has information regarding the state of Peyton’s health. The thing is, however, this is not about Peyton. This is about Eli. It’s little brother who is playing in the Super Bowl, it’s not big brother. Guided by an old-school, impassioned Hall of Fame coach, Tom Coughlin, Manning is aware and realize that he plays a factor in the Super Bowl having been here before.

“I’m excited about being here,” said Manning. “My mindset is I’m here to play a game. This is just a Super Bowl venue. I’m not looking at the fact that this is where Peyton has played his career. I’m just trying to go out there and play my best football – and try to get a championship for the New York Giants.”

As we are hearing, of course, Manning has finesse and big game experience. You thought it was impossible for him to get back to the biggest game in pro football, followed by the criticisms that he’d never measure up to greatness or become a dynamic star player in today’s game. But he knows, you know – and I know – that he fooled us all by leading the Giants to new heights and, with that in mind, he morphed into a reliable element in New York’s surging offense.

Thankfully, he’s surrounded by a deep receiver core. Armed with weapons on each side of the field – and with that in mind – his favorite target is Victor Cruz — who has had a major impact on the Giants pulling off the late resurgence, Manning has been able to benefit with a profound supporting cast around him. He is, without much question, the rising star of football right now.

It happened at the right possible time, at a moment when the Giants are possibly the hottest team in the Super Bowl, stunning the world to return to the biggest game as underdogs, even though in reality – they can likely beat the Patriots with their fearsome, ferocious defense. For his first time ever, All-Pro Jason Pierre-Paul will play in the Super Bowl on Sunday. The formula of the Giants’ defense is stopping the run and forcing opponents to pass the ball, an advantage this team has with the best front four in the league, led by defensive end and captain Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora.

“We have the mindset that this is a new game,” said Manning. “It’s the same teams, but a lot of different make-up. What happened in the last Super Bowl doesn’t matter.”

Because he plays on a team that predominantly claims a place in NFL history, the Giants that is, Manning is simply the most dignified player behind his brother and he’s seemingly hyped for leading his team to this point, a rematch with the Patriots, a date that can define his image as a player in the league if he can again pull off the victory against New England. If this haven’t refreshed our memories of when he tossed a few breathtaking passes in the final minutes to defeat the unbeaten Patriots in Super Bowl 46 four years ago, it definitely has now.

“It’s the same teams, but in our mindset, a lot of new players,” said Manning. “We had 16 guys and New England only has seven guys who were on that team. A lot of guys who are going be key factors in this game did not play in that last Super Bowl.”

He is, without doubt, tougher mentally and physically, shoved around and slammed to the turf. That is Manning, who is always hit by a storming pass rush or either escaping the bull-rush. Back in the day, he was picked 198 spot, and wasn’t pleased when San Diego selected him, so he forced a trade to the high-market Giants, where he has grown as virtually a matured, motivational leader on and off the field.

And now, he is considered the best quarterback in Super Bowl XLVI.
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Written by Jonathan Mathis, Columnist (Archive/RSS)

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for three sports sites. Sports Judge is all sports. Follow @Jon9685

An aspiring sports journalist, a sports columnist for FootBasket, Gridiron Grit, Hardcourt Mayhem, and more. Sports Judge is all sports.

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