KimoTherapy and Other Thoughts:
- No way in hell the play that took out Carson Palmer was malicious, deliberate, dirty, unsportsmanlike, or deserving of a penalty. No way. It�s called �football�, and the Bungles didn�t come to play, plain and simple. If there is a fine given out, it is a sure sign the republicans have taken over the commish�s office.
- People raved about how well Big Ben played yesterday. Trap doesn�t see it. He played decent, don�t get Trap wrong, but he could do MUCH better. He constantly underthrows long passes. Wilson has had to sit and wait for many of these passes throughout the season, instead of being led, the way strongarm QB�s do to their receivers. Ben has a strong arm, which is why this nonsense should not be happening in week 18, the same way it happened in early weeks of the season. What is Whipple doing in terms of coaching? Trap also doesn�t like the way Ben tries to �feather� the ball on medium routes. He needs to be gunning some of these, the way he does on the slant to Hines in the endzone. It minimizes the risk of INT�s. Ben managed the game extremely well, and this is what Cowherd asks of him. It�s time Ben stepped up to the next level, and threw all his passes with the confidence he does at the goal line.
- Trap is listening for all the Simmons-haters on the website�? Where are they? Kendall is stepping up, and proving Trap right � he is not the weaklink on this line, MaxiPad Starks is. And to my greatly esteemed colleague Steel Phantom: Starks is not as good a run-blocker as you think. He rarely gets to the second level � Simmons consistently does on running plays.
- James Farrior is a handicap to the Stiller D, plain and simple. If you�re looking for a reason the Dolts will torch us with the tight end, Clark and Utech, next week, look no further than Farrior. He is totally awful, despite his �gift� INT yesterday. He has clearly lost his quick feet of a year ago, and Trap can�t help wonder if he hit the weights so hard in the offseason that he became musclebound, particularly with his �quick-twitch� muscles�? Nonetheless, the Stillers� coaching staff have done themselves a huge disservice by not calling a spade a spade, and replacing him on third downs. Leaving Farrior in charge of open space coverage in the middle of the field, is like leaving the republicans in charge of fiscal responsibility � it ain�t gonna happen.
- Is it Trap, or is Verron Haynes rounding into one helluva running back to have on the roster�?
- Losing Harrison to the high ankle sprain will hurt the Stillers on special teams this week, especially on the artificial turf. Harrison is consistently one of the first men down in coverage. Ouch.
- Worth watching: isolate on Fat Casey Hampton this week against Jeff Saturday. Hampton should have a field day. Saturday made the Pro Bowl only because there are no centers worth a damn in the AFC, and because Manning never gets sacked. Saturday is no match for Hampton. Or Hoke, for that matter.
- Trap listened to radio station 700, WLW, the flagship of Bungle football last night. What a crock of shit!?!? Bungle fans repeatedly called the show and said that Kimo�s hit was dirty and illegal. They claimed that they got screwed the whole game by the refs. They claimed that Troy Polamolu �punched� their center, when he shoved a football in his face, and that Troy should have been ejected. They claimed that if Carson is not hurt, they run away with that game. What do they smoke in Cincinnati???? The whole thing was preposterous. After listening to this retarded stupidity, Trap now thinks that Cincinnati should re-elect Jerry Springer as mayor, open up more stores for Larry Flynt, and commission a new Maplethorpe museum.
- If the Bungles want a scapegoat, they need to look no further than former Stiller WR coach, and present Bungle offensive coordinator, Bob Bratkowski. Stubbornly sticking to the no-huddle gameplan with Jon Klitna as your quarterback backfired in a strange and mysterious way. Sure, Klitna had success early. Most every team does against LeBeau�s defense�until LeBeau adjusts. All the Bungles accomplished in going no-huddle was to lengthen the game, take no time off the board, and take Rudi out of the gameplan. Most of the league knows better than to lengthen a game against a team that notoriously plays better the longer the game goes. At the same time, Bratkowski watched as his own team ran out of gas. Bob, you�re a fool! Good luck getting a head coaching job now!
- If Quincy Morgan is out, and Nate Washington is not the answer, the Stillers better sign a WR�if they even can at this late date.
- As Trap stated early in the season, Chris Hope is no keeper at free safety. He is unrestricted, and Trap says �good riddance�. He rarely makes plays on the ball, and his tackling is far from sure. He makes a big hit now and then, but misses a heckuva lot of easy ones. No sense in spending the extra money.
- That said, Troy Polamolu has raised Trap�s ire many a time during the season, and yesterday was no exception. Simply put, this man misses a lot of tackles. Obvioulsy, this is far outweighed by what he brings every game, but this young man has a lot to work on, and a long way to go to be as consistent as Ed Reed. Sometimes, he hurdles himself so much, he takes himself out of tackles, and other times, he just flails, and the runner goes right through his arms.
- Trap sees a tough day in the Dome. Stillers will need to scratch and claw for everything. This game is close the whole way, and Trap sees the Stillers pulling it out in overtime, 24-21.