Monthly Archives: December 2011

by | December 29, 2011 · 7:39 am

The NFL Conundrum (With LOTS OF LINKS!)

There’s a conundrum in professional football. I don’t know the source, and I don’t know the solution, so this article won’t be very productive in fixing the issue. But it will highlight it, and raise the general question, “What the fuck, man?”

Like "C'mon Man" except without the soul-sucking vapidness of Keyshawn Johnson

Here’s the conundrum.

Football players are tough. They’re mean. They feed off of aggression. It’s not only found on the field. It’s in vicious hits. It’s in interviews. There is an overwhelming impression that football players are meatheads who only delight in physical violence and sour demeanors. And the urge to find a vicious hit to link to every word of this paragraph was almost too strong to ignore. Even four seems too few. The point is, there’s a lot of evidence that football players are tough.

But then there’s the other side to that. And on the side is a soft underbelly of a baby whining for milk. Because when they’re not being tough, football players cry a whole lot. They cry about contracts. They cry about dirty players. They cry about officiating. And now, in the face of a record-breaking performance by Drew Brees on Monday Night Football, an unnamed Falcons player is crying about running up the score.

Don't be mad, Atlanta: you're a part of history!

I mean, I guess we should be happy, because the football players are showing they are round people (most of them figuratively, BJ Raji literally) with complex emotions and wants and needs. So I guess that makes sense. But when you have a mean linebacker who is the most fined person in recent era for vicious hits, who says he wouldn’t pee on the commissioner if he was on fire, and then he complains about a fine from that same commissioner, it just seems odd.

How can these people be mean, angry monsters and babies at the same time? How can we take a stomping Ndamakong Suh seriously when he complains about why he stomped, then tries to sell us a 5 dollar foot long?

The official sandwich of curbstomping!

It seems like football players are coming from both sides of the spectrum. So many times we hear about the sensitivity of players. This week on Mike and Mike in the morning, Kordell Stewart blasted Rex Ryan for hypothetically choosing Peyton Manning over Mark Sanchez in a draft. His reasons? Sanchez is “fragile,” and he doesn’t want to hurt his quarterback’s feelings.

Are you kidding me?

Look, that whole hypothetical situation was ridiculous for several reasons. Firstly, no draft would have both Manning and Sanchez, because Manning is like 47 years older. Secondly, OF COURSE YOU DRAFT MANNING FIRST! What moron wouldn’t? Rex Ryan would be accused of lying if he said otherwise. Thirdly, if Mark Sanchez gets upset at a situation that doesn’t have any chance of ever happening because he’s sensitive, then maybe he shouldn’t be a starting quarterback.

Because at the end of the day, despite this conundrum, the NFL is a man’s league. It’s a league for people who are mentally tough. And if you’re going to cry about running up the score, maybe you should work on your defensive stops. If you’re going to cry about being hypothetically replaced by a player without a neck, maybe you should put in a few extra reps at practice (or learn how to hit your wide open receivers). If you’re going to play a sport that is renowned for its hard hits, physical nature, and Ray Lewis-inspired off-the-wall insanity, you need to concentrate more on your job and less on letting the world know your feelings are hurt.

But if you’re going to continue to complain, NFL players, you should write for our blog! After all, we do have “bawl” in the title. I eagerly await the guest piece from Chris Kluwe on how terrible it is that punters aren’t respected!

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by | December 28, 2011 · 10:00 am

Head Coach Hot Seats

It is inevitable at this time of the year that the term “hot seat” starts getting mentioned entirely too often.  Tis’ the season for owner overreactions and angry radio station call-ins.  With that in mind I thought I’d take a look at all the coaches that are in danger of losing their jobs and decide whether or not I would fire them.  I don’t want to make the case that I should be an owner however, because let’s face it; I’m always at risk of going on a bender and renaming my franchise the Dung Beetles.  (Note: I’m excluding interim coaches as I’m making the assumption that they will be replaced.) 

Raheem Morris, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: It seems like I’m in the minority here, but I wouldn’t fire Raheem.  Keep in mind that this is his third year on the job.  The second year he lead the Bucs to a 10-6 record and got some buzz as a coach of the year candidate.  In the last year did he forget how to coach?  I doubt it.  Could he have coached better?  Of course.  But I’m almost never in favor of firing a coach a year removed from a good season unless there is an extreme situation.  Now if they come out and go 3-13 next year?  Fine, fire him.  Either 2010 or 2011 was a fluke and I’d like to find out which one before I make a coaching change.

Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys owner has already given Jason a vote of confidence.  But guess what?  Jerry Jones is fucking crazy!  Garrett could mishandle the defensive line rotation this week and end up without a job.  I realize that this is Jerry’s football team and  by all means he can do whatever he likes with his money, but until he lets his head coach look like an authority figure to his players that coach will never be truly effective.  Just the same, Jason has made some mistakes this season but a firing here would be hasty.

Sure seems like a long time ago

Tom Coughlin, New York Giants: I think that in order for Coughlin to save his job he might have to take this Giants team to the Super Bowl.  Fast starts and late season slides have become an alarming trend.  I will blame individual seasons on the players not producing, but over a longer timeline you have to start looking elsewhere, you have to start looking at the coaching staff.  I think Tom is a good coach and will land a head coaching gig for a younger team, but this New York job just doesn’t seem right for him anymore.

Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles: I will have to agree with the “Fire Andy” chants.  To me the Juan Castillo defensive coordinator hiring is so bad by itself that it constitutes termination.  Andy has won a lot in the city of Philadelphia but with all the pieces in place to have a truly dominant team, how on earth do you put this high priced defense in the hands of an offensive line coach?  There will never be an answer to this question that makes sense. 

Mike Shanahan, Washington Redskins: The entire NFC East made it! Nate and I disagree about this, but I think Shanahan is still a brilliant coach.  Should he really be on this list?  I’m not sure, but he has the crazy owner factor.  Daniel Snyder likes to fire head coaches because he has the patience of an infant.  He’s always whining and crying for reasons that he can’t really articulate because he doesn’t actually know anything about football.  If Shanahan is fired two years in to this experiment it will be a mistake, but nothing really surprises me anymore.

Steve Spagnuolo, St. Louis Rams: It’s not even worth speculating whether he should or shouldn’t be, because it is such a certainty at this point.  I’ve always wanted to go to work on my last day knowing I was going to be fired before they tell me.  My advice for Steve is to poop somewhere inappropriate, or call flea flickers every single play of the season finale.  But in all seriousness, this guy is a great defensive mind and will be a coordinator somewhere.

Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts: Jim Caldwell’s timeout in the wildcard round last year against the Jets was once of the worst coaching errors I have seen in all my time watching pro football.  His explanation was even worse.  This game alone is not why Caldwell should be fired, but its at least part of the evidence.  He had a chance this season to prove that Peyton Manning was not the only reason for this team’s success the last several seasons, and he fell flat on his face.  It seemed to me that Jim Caldwell was always a place holder until they found their next long term coach after Dungy, and he just blended in and stuck around too long.  It’s time to start that search.

Norv Turner, San Diego Chargers: Tom Coughlin and Norv Turner should be co-head coaches somewhere.  Tom starts fast and ends slow, while Norv has the opposite problem.  I’m not sure whether they’d go 16-0 or 0-16, but I’m willing to give the experiment a shot.  And oh yeah, fire this guy.  Please.

Rex Ryan, New York Jets: I don’t think Rex is actually on the hot seat, but I will call it a mildly warm seat.  I’m making up that term because I want to say a few disparaging things about the Jets leader.  There is a danger with coaches like Rex Ryan that rely on mind games and trash talk to constantly motivate their players.  Eventually players stop listening and it just because a bunch of ridiculous noise.  The Jets were lucky to even make it into the playoffs the last few years and then won a few road games.  This is not a recipe for success.  The team has a falsely inflated sense of confidence because of their coach’s bravado, and they haven’t done all that much to earn it.  Perhaps the biggest victim is Mark Sanchez, a guy that we expect entirely too much out of because of his head coach’s comments.  It is slowly destroying chipping away at his confidence.  Rex Ryan should not be fired, but he should think about changing his methods before it is too late.

Someone I forgot?  Someone I was too hard on?  Let me know in the comments section.

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by | December 22, 2011 · 11:08 pm

Christmas Lists: NFC Edition

I already covered the AFC, and now the National Football Conference gets the same treatment.  No need to wait in line at the mall, Jerry Jones.  I will tell Santa what you want.

"I'll take a bigger stadium! Cause I'm crazy!"

NFC North

Chicago Bears: a “Seattle Seahawks #1” foam finger.  It may be hard to cheer for Seattle the week after they embarrassed the Bears in their own stadium, but Chicago’s best chance at the playoffs appears to be Seattle upsetting the 49ers.  If that happens the Packers will wrap-up home field throughout the playoffs before they host the Bears on Christmas night and will not technically have anything to play for.  Even if that is the case and the Packers do rest some starters, Matt Flynn is a better QB than McCown.  Maybe I should have changed this gift idea to “a miracle”.

Detroit Lions: a jar.  Instead of putting in a dollar every time they swear, Lions players can put in fifty grand each time they commit a personal foul after the whistle.

Green Bay Packers: jewelry.  Yep, that is all that will suffice.  It is rare to have a team that truly is “Super Bowl or bust”.  Sure every team says that it is their ultimate goal and I believe them, but a lot of teams that fall short are able to sit around and say “you know, that was still a pretty good season”.  The doubters have arrived just in time, as well.  Today on ESPN I saw more than one analyst say that it is the Saints, and not the Packers, that are the best team in the NFC.  It was repeated on the NFL Network’s pregame show this evening.  They won’t talk about it publicly, but you can guarantee that someone from the team saw it.  Despite all of their recent success, they still have a chip on their shoulder.

Minnesota Vikings: a hand full of Xanax.  There are rumors floating around that the Vikings might take a QB in the first round of the NFL draft, to which I say SETTLE THE FUCK DOWN.  Ponder is a young developing player who hasn’t even gone through a full training camp yet.  He has turned the ball over, but it’s hard to find a young QB that doesn’t.  Let’s just take a deep breath, Vikings.  You aren’t going to be a playoff team next year anyway.

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys: the next step.  With last year being a disastrous exception, the Cowboys have been stuck in this “good but not great” area for a few years.  No one thinks they can win a track meet in New Orleans or a cold weather game in Green Bay, but Tony Romo needs a signature playoff win in the worst way to show the fans that this is going somewhere.  Making it to the NFC Championship game would be a huge deal for this team, if only just to show that there is progress being made.

New York Giants: Super Bowl XLII clips.  Seriously, someone should sit these guys down and make them watch this game.  There was a time when Eli Manning was able to play more than 2 or 3 good games in a row without laying an egg, the defense got after the quarterback, and Tom Coughlin looked less like a victim and more like a football coach.

Philadelphia Eagles: a defensive coordinator who has experience coaching defense in the NFL.  That sounds pretty simple, right?  Well apparently it wasn’t all that simple this last offseason.  Castillo has been thrown under the bus all year, but this one falls into the lap of Andy Reid.  Normally whenever people start calling for the firing of a successful coach with a long tenure I’m quick to defend that coach, but this decision was bad on a level that I’m not sure my brain can even comprehend it.  On a side note I don’t think the Eagles late season rally is really making Eagles fans feel all that warm and fuzzy.  It’s like going to a party, drinking too much and throwing up all over the place.  It’s nice that you’re helping clean up in the morning, but you’re still an asshole.

Washington Redskins: a blood pact with Satan.  Really, whatever it takes to make sure that Rex Grossman is not your starting quarterback going into the next season.  In defense of Rex (never thought I’d start a sentence like that) he has looked better than expected at times this year.  But then again my expectations were him dropping back, spinning around three times, and fumbling every play so it wasn’t all that hard.

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals: a chance.  The phrase “this is a team no one wants to play” is overused in pro sports, but it is dead on right here.  If this team can find a way to maneuver into the playoffs (which is possible as Detroit finishes against San Diego and Green Bay) I think they can win a first round game.  I really want the first product that this website sells one day to be a t-shirt that says “JOHN SKELTON JUST WINS FOOTBALL GAMES”.

Seattle Seahawks: see previous write-up.  Except their t-shirt says “Marshawn Lynch will kill you”.  As a side note, if three teams from the NFC West make the playoffs I will never write about football again.

San Francisco 49ers: a healthy Patrick Willis.  The 49ers defense looked very good on Monday without Willis.  They have some young players that are playing out of their minds, but in the same way that the Ravens defense just doesn’t look or feel the same without Ray Lewis, the 49ers need Willis for the stretch run.

St. Louis Rams: see Minnesota Vikings.  The Rams are also considering drafting a QB, which seems even more insane.  Sam Bradford had a very productive rookie season, coming within a game of making the playoffs.  His second season has been full of struggles and injuries, but for goodness sake he’s less than two years removed from being selected number 1 overall.  There are other holes that need to be filled before the quarterback position.

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons: Matt Ryan sheds the “game manager” term.  There probably isn’t a quarterback in the league that needs a big playoff win more than Matty Ice.  At least Romo has won one before.

Carolina Panthers: big(ger) offseason pockets.  I’m not saying that the Panthers need to, or even could, spend the kind of money the Eagles did on their defense in the offseason.  But if you are the Carolina Panthers, your Christmas wish has got to be for some defensive free agents.  With a stingier defense, and a few less mistakes from Cam Newton, the Panthers could possibly compete for this division next year.  The offense is really that good, and Steve Smith isn’t getting any younger.  If he ever does start getting younger though, we will be the first to write about it.  The article will be called “holy crap, Steve Smith is younger now”.  This joke has gone too far.

New Orleans Saints: revert to 2009 formula.  What I’m referring to is running the ball and forcing turnovers.  We all know Drew Brees is going to get his yards, but he isn’t going to throw for 400 in Lambeau in late January and if they want to play in the Super Bowl again it is very possible that they will have to make the trip up north.  But the way that offense is playing right now, I can’t imagine them stumbling indoors or in warm weather climates like San Francisco.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: special uniforms that shock their players whenever they do something dumb.  How about it, science?

Merry Christmas from all of us at The Footbawl Blog!

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by | · 10:20 am

Christmas Lists: AFC Edition

It is our obligation as citizens of the internet to combine our regular articles with cutesy holiday themes.  In this case it is actually bailing me out cause I had no idea what to write about.  So without further ado, here are the hypothetical Christmas lists of AFC teams.  I tried to limit the requests to one per team because if there is one thing that hypothetical football Santa hates, it’s greed.  If this whole concept doesn’t make you hate us, stop back tomorrow for the NFC lists!

Seriously, google image search?

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens: a Patriots loss.  The Baltimore Ravens, probably more so than any team in the league this year, are a completely different team at home.  If they can clinch home field throughout they are going to be a lot of people’s pick to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.  If not?  Count on a disappointing loss followed by an entire offseason of analysts speculating if Joe Flacco is the QB of the future.  Spoiler alert…he’s not.

Cincinnati Bengals: divisional re-alignment. Honestly these guys just can’t beat the Ravens/Steelers right now.

Cleveland Browns: Matt Barkely.  Much like Matt Leinart, he lead a potent USC attack in college and if he comes out should be drafted very highly.  But unlike Leinart he is right handed…and good!

Pittsburgh Steelers: a healthy Big Ben.  I had no problem with Tomlin starting a gimpy Roethlisberger on Monday, but I’m still trying to figure out how in the world he still had him in the game in the fourth quarter down by 3 scores in the midst of a complete offensive line meltdown.  Sitting him against the Rams seems like a no-brainer as Charlie Batch (who is still alive, apparently) should be able to put his game manager hat on and win a 20 to 10 snoozefest.  Even if they do stumble down the stretch, having your two-time Super Bowl winning QB on the field is more important than hosting a game or two, especially when you are as experienced in hostile playoff environments as this team.

AFC East

Buffalo Bills: a time machine.  I bet most of the Buffalo roster would like to go back in time and relive their week 3 victory over the New England Patriots.  And for good reason…it was fucking awesome.  I can’t even imagine how fired up that locker room was.  Almost everything that has happened since has been forgettable.

Miami Dolphins: a muzzle.  And then you put that muzzle around Mercury Morris.  Forever.

New England Patriots: a legitimate deep threat. Originally I was going to put “the defense shows up” but who are we kidding here?  This offense is already frightening, but unlike most high powered pass offenses they don’t really have anyone to go long.  Price and Ochocinco don’t need to be amazing, but they have to be able to get behind the secondary now and again or some of the more talented AFC defenses might be able to shrink the field and take away the short passes to Welker and those tight ends.

New York Jets: substitute in “playoff Sanchez” a few weeks early.  In the playoffs Mark Sanchez magically changes from a QB with average skills who turns the ball over to a QB with average skills who does not turn the ball over.  They should really see about channeling that guy earlier, or they may not even make it this year.  Unlike a few years ago they are not going to get the luxury of beating two teams who have nothing to play for to squeak into the playoffs.  They have a Giants team that is fighting for their own playoff lives, then the unpredictable and hungry Dolphins who would LOVE to spoil their rival’s season.

AFC West

Denver Broncos: bad weather.  I’m glad I picked something that psychos still have the option to label “divine intervention”.  It’s looking almost guaranteed that Denver will be hosting a game in the first round of the playoffs, and all the cities that they’d have the potential to travel to in the next round (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New England) can have some pretty cold weather this time of the year.  Despite Tebow never starting a game in the college or pros under 40 degrees, I think the worse the conditions get the better off the Broncos are simply because the game should be low scoring and close.

Kansas City Chiefs: lose the last two.  I’m certainly not advocating trying to lose, simply that it would be the best thing for them.  After one win a lot of football people are talking about Romeo Crennel and Kyle Orton being the solution going forward, and that chatter should probably stop.  I’ve always thought that Orton has gotten a bum rap his entire career, and Romeo probably didn’t get a fair shake in Cleveland…but this pairing seems a little knee jerk.  Matt Cassel is one year removed from a season with 27 touchdowns and 7 interceptions and there might be better coaching candidates out there.  None of these “better coaching candidates” are named Josh McDaniels, by the way.

Oakland Raiders: another time machine.  This one is for going back in time and un-making that deal for Carson Palmer.  He has had some good games to be sure, but you can’t tell me the team is all that much better with him under center next year than Jason Campbell.  As I predicted, they aren’t going to be making any waves this postseason so now you’ve basically given up a couple first round picks out of sheer panic.

San Diego Chargers: a new head coach.  These December winning streaks are cute and all, but you can probably find a coach that can dig his head out of his ass other three months of the season somewhere.

AFC South

Houston Texans: a rabbit’s foot.  This has been one of the single most unlucky seasons for a division winner in recent memory.

Indianapolis Colts: a different kind of “Luck”.  See what I did there?  A lot has been made of whether or not Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck on the same team is going to work, and I think both men are professional enough that when this becomes a reality (and I think it will) there won’t be any issues.  Manning’s legacy would look even nicer if he manages to groom a successful successor.

Jacksonville Jaguars: the offseason to happen, like right now.  Blaine Gabbert looks like a shell-shocked war vet on the field, flinching at every loud noise.  I have been hard on him this season, and perhaps too hard.  It’s been so long since the lockout that we still manage to forget that not having the whole offseason to work with their team has hurt some rookies far more than others. Jacksonville will probably not be able to make definitive plans at the QB position until they see how he looks next season.

Tennessee Titans: I have no fucking idea.  From week to week, this team remains the biggest mystery in the league in my opinion.  Figure it out, Titans.

Stop back tomorrow for the NFC edition.

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by | December 21, 2011 · 10:10 am

Next Man Up

I can't believe I'm saying this, but some teams could learn from the Texans

“Next Man Up.”

It’s a popular term in football, almost to the point of nausea. It’s also a term that, at its fundamental core, football takes to heart. If you look at every team in the NFL, there are 31 players who do not start on either side of the ball (we could include kickers and punters as starters, but I think we’d be creating a dangerous standard in regarding them as football players). The “next man up” mantra covers two different realities about football: anything can happen to anyone at any time, and that when things do happen someone has to be ready to step up and take over.

Some teams must have missed this memo.

There are a few things to acknowledge before I attack the teams on my list. Obviously the depth on your team will not be as talented as the starters. That’s completely understandable. This is not an indictment of the lack of talent behind those starters, but more a lack of preparation. There are two ways that the “next man up” mantra works properly: front office decisions and coaching. You need to find the right players to fit your system, and the right coaches that will keep them knowledgeable and prepared for whatever happens.

Unfortunately, not all teams are built the right way, and when players go down it highlights these flaws. Two teams, more than any others this season, have looked completely lost when struck by the injury bug.

First we’ll talk about the Indianapolis Colts.

I live in Indianapolis. As you can clearly tell from that bit of information, I like causing myself misery. As a result, I sometimes listen to 1070 AM: The Fan, a ESPN-hosted radio station dedicated to Indiana sports, or more specifically this year, dedicated to whining about the Colts being terrible. I’ve learned a lot from my drive home every day. Mainly, I learned that Colts fans have been spoiled, and now they act like little babies.

But more than that, I learned that Colts fans are skewering their front office for being so unprepared to deal with Peyton Manning’s injury. And as crazy as it sounds, I think their complaints have some merit. The Colts aren’t supposed to be this bad, with or without Manning. Yes, Peyton Manning is obviously a great player, and the Colts were not going to win the AFC South with him sulking on the sideline. But did anyone really think they’d be 1-13?

I sure as hell didn’t. An injury like that highlights the two things I mentioned earlier: your coaching and your front office decisions. And from the looks of things, the Colts lack both. They made a bold move to sign Kerry Collins to a contract, but he took one big hit and decided that he liked the taste of alcohol more than his own blood, and he retired again. That left the Colts with Curtis Painter, Dan Orlovsky, and the tutelage of Jim Caldwell to prepare them for battle.

Needless to say, they weren’t fucking prepared.

The bad side of building a team around one player is watching what happens when that one player isn’t there. Clearly the Polians and Jim Caldwell never accounted for the possibility that Manning’s neck would tire from carrying around that enormous oversized head of his. Here’s why it falls onto the GM and coaches in this sort of situation: when you know that only one player can rule a particular offense, you need to have a backup plan in place. Another offense that the other players can run just in case something happens. Either that, or you have to draft the right personnel that can run the offense you have in place. You don’t just teach your starters a system and hope they don’t get hurt; you do something that all 53 of your employees can understand and execute. If not, you set yourself up for a big disappointment if one of your players go down. And imagine if more than one go down.

Wait. You don’t have to imagine. Because the Bears showed us exactly what happens.

First Jay Cutler went down. Then Matt Forte went down. Then the Bears lost four straight and pretty much destroyed their chances at the playoffs. Caleb Hanie is more than underprepared; he’s underqualified. Hell, he’s undereverything. He has looked worse than Painter or Orlovsky. And again, this is something that goes back to the front office. They knew that Mike Martz was running a complex system. They knew that not every quarterback thrives in this offense. But they decided to stand pat and see what they had with Hanie. I know that twice on this site I said that they shouldn’t sign particular quarterbacks, but there was an available quarterback who knew the offense. And you’d have to think that Marc Bulger could have gotten this team farther than Hanie.

The coaching fails for the Bears are a bit harder to argue, but God dammit I’m going to try my best! Marion Barber has always been a serviceable running back. He has a bruising run style and no fear, and I think a lot of people were excited when he signed with the Bears. And when Forte went down, I don’t think people were necessarily worried about the talent gap at running back. Barber started in Dallas, after all.

But then that game against Denver happened.

Barber made two mental mistakes that led to a Denver Bronco comeback. You can blame this on Barber if you want, and you’d be right; he was the one who made those mistakes. He was the one who deserves blame. But there’s another philosophy in the NFL that goes something like this: if a seven-year veteran makes two mental mistakes in the same game, it goes back to coaching and preparedness. You’d have to think that someone told Barber: “Hey. You. Don’t go out of bounds under any circumstances.” If they didn’t, that’s just poor coaching. And, fair or not, coaches get the blame for fumbles too. Because fumbles show a lack of discipline, and discipline comes from coaches.

Those two teams failed in the face of adversity, but rather than let this article end on such a sad note I’m going to show what happens when the “Next Man Up” philosophy is done right. It’s also going to serve as an example of how to shut anyone up when whining about injuries to their favorite team.

The 2010 Green Bay Packers may have been the most decimated team in the league last year. Nick Barnett, Morgan Burnett, Jermichael Finley, Mark Tauscher, Ryan Grant, and several other starters were placed on injured reserve as the season went on. But they had the right depth and coaching to keep going in the face of adversity. Super Bowl 45 was a microcosm of the Packers’ entire season: Sam Shields, Donald Driver, and Charles Woodson all went out with injury. But the Packers didn’t fold, they didn’t make mental mistakes, and they didn’t make excuses. They just got better, and they kept winning. The next man up was James Starks, Bryan Bulaga, Desmond Bishop, and even some guy named Zombo. It didn’t matter who went down; the Packers were able to rise above it and win the Lombardi Trophy.

So it’s obvious that “Next Man Up” isn’t just a cute little saying to put in locker rooms. It’s a philosophy that can either make you or break you. It made the Packers last year, and this season it’s breaking the Bears and Colts.

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