At the Request of my friend Bar here is some news about that other Oregon school the Beavers of Oregon State. Well really more of an update on the best quarter back to come out of OSU in a long, long time. Nope I'm not talking about the much beloved Jonathan Smith, who's coaching at the University of Idaho, but the much maligned Derek Anderson! Yep I said it back then and I'll say it now Beaver Nation he is the best Quarterback to ever grace your campus. Did he make you want to cringe and cower throwing over the middle late in a losing game. Yes! He made mistakes but many of his mistakes were due to receivers dropping the ball and worse yet deflecting the ball to the defense. His numbers would be out of this world and he would own every record if his receivers would have just caught 1/4 of the balls they dropped. Now on the one point I think everyone saw and agreed on was that he was slow and had trouble moving out of the way. Well we were all wrong! In the last 5 games of his Senior season he moved the ball really well with his legs. Did we forget that this guy was the Oregon High School Player of the year in both Football and Basketball? Oh yeah he was also on the track team in High School, go figure. But I figured it out he's not so good at the side to side speed but once he gets moving North and South he just lopes out there. He beat my Ducks his senior year by running not by passing. I thought he'd make a good to above average NFL QB. Look at his size and arm strength and there are not many that match up to him in the NFL. Now the biggest issue with him is his ability to forget what happened before. All Beaver fans remember that Junior year where he'd get one Pick, his fault or not, and he'd end up turning the ball over more or just being so damn tentative it just made you want to close your eyes. His Senior season he won me over in the department as the year went on he seemed to mature vastly in this department.
Last season due to injuries to Charlie Frye Derek was given his shot at leading the team. He didn't put up great numbers but he did lead his team to a comeback victory with his running ability against Kansas City. After that he struggled much like he did at times in his college career. And that brings us to the present.
Now in his third season in the NFL he finally was given the reins to the Browns. After game one the Browns unloaded their starting quarterback....Huh? Who does that? Weird but it was a move that has payed great dividends for the Browns. In his first game as a starter this season he went 20 of 33 for 328 yards 5 TDs and 1 Int against the Bengals in a match up featuring a couple of Great and I mean Great OSU receivers in Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh! He since has still put up good numbers while still having a huge INT day especially on the road, he's thrown 5 of his 8 picks in 2 road games. So far his total stats for the season are 7 games 6 Starts 119 of 209 (56.9%) 1,744 Yards 8.3 Average Yards per Completion 17 TDs 8 Ints and a QB rating of 95.5 for the Cleveland Browns of all teams!! Now I'm not saying he's made it but he sure has proven he belongs and should be able to hold off Brady Quinn for a while if he keeps playing like this. I've watched almost all his games this season, as I have Sunday Ticket, and have been greatly impressed with him even in the bad games. He seems to just shake it off and continues to sling them in there. Maybe that's why I like him is he's a big QB who just rifles it in there even when he shouldn't. So far his receiving core in Cleveland (Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow and Joe Jurevicius) are making the plays for him to keep him able to thread the needle. I hope he can continue his play and will be able to play for a couple of years with this team to see if he settles in or has a fall back to earth. In either case he's still making plays and leading his team 4-3 (4-2 as a starter) and in second place by one game in the AFC North.
Note: If Matt Lienart were healthy and playing still we would have 3 of the top 5 QBs from the same High School Recruiting Class starting this week with Clemens getting the nod with the Jets. Anderson and Clemens were the top two QBs that year. And I believe they were the top two QBs in the Pac-10 during their tenure as well.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Ducks Rock USC!
Whoot Ducks finally beat USC again. It's been a few years. So now that USC is no longer a National Title contender and more then likely out of Pac-10 but not really yet. It's time to move on to our next challenge taking on ASU. ASU usually gives the Ducks fits. Which like Cal has had an ex-offensive Duck Coordinator as their head coach. But now it's that wiley guy who wins everywhere but the NFL, Dennis "the Menace" Erikson. Welcome back to the Pac-10 and a nice ride his teams had. No one knew what to expect from them but they've played really well and look like they are for real. I'm not sure how their defense will stack against or offense only USC has really stopped us. Cal did an Ok job but the Ducks stopped themselves mostly in that game and couldn't get a stop when needed against Cal. But since that game the Ducks have been on a scoring tear all be it against the bottomfeeders. But even the USC game we moved the ball at will and should have had another 100+ yards of offense but we went conservative with the lead and it almost cost us. And this against one of the best Defenses in the Nation. So we'll see how this goes could be a big shootout like in past years with the score up in the 40's for both teams. Should be a good game and luckily it's at home!
Well the 9ers lost yet again. With Norv gone and the injury bug going on the team just isn't playing well. The Defense even seems to have taken a step back as the seasons gone on. But that's probably due to the Offense being bad. Alex is back and if he stays healthy maybe they can get something back, but that's a big if as he looked like he reagrivated the shoulder again. Adam Snyder has been playing lately and doing an Ok job as you don't hear his name mentioned much after the introduction of the starters. Which is a good thing for an 0-line as he's not making the big mistakes.
Well the 9ers lost yet again. With Norv gone and the injury bug going on the team just isn't playing well. The Defense even seems to have taken a step back as the seasons gone on. But that's probably due to the Offense being bad. Alex is back and if he stays healthy maybe they can get something back, but that's a big if as he looked like he reagrivated the shoulder again. Adam Snyder has been playing lately and doing an Ok job as you don't hear his name mentioned much after the introduction of the starters. Which is a good thing for an 0-line as he's not making the big mistakes.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Some news I can post finally.....
Well after letting family and close friends in on the news I can finally post that I'm going to be a first time Father around April. This has been a long and tiring process as my wife and I have been trying for quite some time and have had some issues.
For a long time I just wanted to live out my life with my wife and felt no need for a child. After many years of reflecting on this issue one day out of no where I just felt that I was willing to try. I'm still not sure what caused my change of heart maybe just the thought of not having anyone to call my own to pass things along too. Don't get me wrong I love my little guys and gals, children of close friends, and would have loved passing that information on to them but something changed one day. Maybe it was the fact I was no longer being told to make a child by others. Or maybe it was the reflection on the sense of loss I've had in the past finally coming into play. Hmmm guess I could keep on guessing but the final notice is I did change my mind.
After having the talk with my Wife about this change we made a decision to try. Well after a frustrating year of no luck we did have one success that was marred by complications that required surgery. Needless to say my worst fears had come to life and I'm a worrier by nature so that was tough. After that little setback we had to take a short break before trying again. In the meantime we moved down South to the Bay Area, I left my job and boom we've hit the jack pot coming out of the gates when we start trying again. Weird that you try for so long then have a stroke of bad luck and then things just go like clockwork.
Now we're past that initial safety mark that we felt comfortable sharing the news with friends and family. Now we're just on to the rest of the pregnancy which hopefully goes as smooth as the first part has. *knock* on wood!
When my wife first told me she scared the hell out of me, mostly because I was asleep and it was damn early in the morning. Then I freaked out a little bit. We were in temporary housing and it was still unknown what was going to happen with me, still is. Just so many things up in the air and then this it was just a little much. But now we've moved, I wouldn't quite say settled yet but getting there, into our town house and things are getting somewhat back to normal. So now it's just the normal fears: Will the baby be healthy? Will my Wife have any issues? I hope these are all normal and just not me being me.
For me I really don't want to know what the sex of the baby will be and I'm not sure if I can put into words why. Am I afraid of knowing 'til their here because I'm scarred that something might happen still and knowing might make it worse? Or is it just I just want a healthy kid and don't care to know until the happy day? The Psyche sure can play tricks on you can't it. It just seems sometimes I never know the real reason for a decision I make.
But if asked what I hope for and the quick, easy and first thing that comes to mind is a little girl. Now my Aunts on my Mom's side of the family should find that quite hilarious as I used to complain to them that they were 0-x because they had girl(s) and no boys. When my brother came along I would also add that my Mom was 2-0! LOL! Speaking of my Mom when thinking upon why I'd like a girl I think it comes down to her and wanting to give her a girl from her son. I know that sounds weird and probably even stupid but it is the only answer I can seem to find.
On a more where we are note so far we've had 3 ultra-sounds and everything is looking good so far. *knock* *knock* The Wife is still not feeling all that well as food just does not treat her well at all. We're hoping that passes soon as it's making her life very unpleasant right now. I'm also hoping her aversion to Peanut Butter stops soon as it's one of my favorite things! We also heard that she needs to eat some spicy food so that the kid will like it. Ugh that will be hard as my Wife is a wimp when it comes to spicy. I love things hot and spicy can't get enough really.
Well that's it for now will write more as we have more to pass along.
For a long time I just wanted to live out my life with my wife and felt no need for a child. After many years of reflecting on this issue one day out of no where I just felt that I was willing to try. I'm still not sure what caused my change of heart maybe just the thought of not having anyone to call my own to pass things along too. Don't get me wrong I love my little guys and gals, children of close friends, and would have loved passing that information on to them but something changed one day. Maybe it was the fact I was no longer being told to make a child by others. Or maybe it was the reflection on the sense of loss I've had in the past finally coming into play. Hmmm guess I could keep on guessing but the final notice is I did change my mind.
After having the talk with my Wife about this change we made a decision to try. Well after a frustrating year of no luck we did have one success that was marred by complications that required surgery. Needless to say my worst fears had come to life and I'm a worrier by nature so that was tough. After that little setback we had to take a short break before trying again. In the meantime we moved down South to the Bay Area, I left my job and boom we've hit the jack pot coming out of the gates when we start trying again. Weird that you try for so long then have a stroke of bad luck and then things just go like clockwork.
Now we're past that initial safety mark that we felt comfortable sharing the news with friends and family. Now we're just on to the rest of the pregnancy which hopefully goes as smooth as the first part has. *knock* on wood!
When my wife first told me she scared the hell out of me, mostly because I was asleep and it was damn early in the morning. Then I freaked out a little bit. We were in temporary housing and it was still unknown what was going to happen with me, still is. Just so many things up in the air and then this it was just a little much. But now we've moved, I wouldn't quite say settled yet but getting there, into our town house and things are getting somewhat back to normal. So now it's just the normal fears: Will the baby be healthy? Will my Wife have any issues? I hope these are all normal and just not me being me.
For me I really don't want to know what the sex of the baby will be and I'm not sure if I can put into words why. Am I afraid of knowing 'til their here because I'm scarred that something might happen still and knowing might make it worse? Or is it just I just want a healthy kid and don't care to know until the happy day? The Psyche sure can play tricks on you can't it. It just seems sometimes I never know the real reason for a decision I make.
But if asked what I hope for and the quick, easy and first thing that comes to mind is a little girl. Now my Aunts on my Mom's side of the family should find that quite hilarious as I used to complain to them that they were 0-x because they had girl(s) and no boys. When my brother came along I would also add that my Mom was 2-0! LOL! Speaking of my Mom when thinking upon why I'd like a girl I think it comes down to her and wanting to give her a girl from her son. I know that sounds weird and probably even stupid but it is the only answer I can seem to find.
On a more where we are note so far we've had 3 ultra-sounds and everything is looking good so far. *knock* *knock* The Wife is still not feeling all that well as food just does not treat her well at all. We're hoping that passes soon as it's making her life very unpleasant right now. I'm also hoping her aversion to Peanut Butter stops soon as it's one of my favorite things! We also heard that she needs to eat some spicy food so that the kid will like it. Ugh that will be hard as my Wife is a wimp when it comes to spicy. I love things hot and spicy can't get enough really.
Well that's it for now will write more as we have more to pass along.
Ducks Stumble
Well the Ducks finally stumbled and while I'm upset about that for losing. The good thing to take from it is we lost not necessarily to a better team but to one that we're on an even par with really. The Cal Bears won by a narrow margin and even if we had finished the game without imploding I would still say what I was saying before the game that it is a coin flip between the two. Now let's see if we can win out which will be tough as pointed out by the UW (ugh)/USC game this past week. USC is going to have real problems winning out I think as they have both us and Cal on the road. Cal could win out but with USC, at UCLA and at UW might be tough. For the Ducks they have a tough road with USC, at UW and at UCLA (where the scores always tight it seems).
Well I'm hoping that last year's 4-0 stumble doesn't repeat this year. Hopefully the team is in a better place mentally and will recover and play well again.
Well I'm hoping that last year's 4-0 stumble doesn't repeat this year. Hopefully the team is in a better place mentally and will recover and play well again.
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