Posts tagged DavidGarrard at FanHouse

Yesterday, Steelers linebacker James Harrison learned a $20,000 lesson, courtesy of the NFL Collections Department: please don't criticize officials publicly, no matter how blatantly obvious it is that they blew a call. Oh, and also don't suggest they wager on the games -- this isn't the NBA.

So while the league office frowns on such behavior, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has Harrison's metaphorical back.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who has been on the other side of many such hits, did not think Harrison should have been penalized.

"It is hard to stop a guy who is that strong, powerful and fast. It's hard to comment on it because you have to be careful of what you say. My personal opinion: I didn't think it was a late hit and I usually stand up for quarterbacks. I think if you ask David Garrard, I don't think he would tell you it was a late hit. But they called it, and that is what it is."

Although I don't disagree that "it's hard to stop a guy who is that strong, powerful and fast," like I mentioned at the time, none of that matters because, well, IT WASN'T A LATE HIT. Harrison didn't lead with his helmet, or drive Garrard to the ground.

Whatever, he message received; when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette asked Harrison about the fine, the Pro Bowl linebacker refused to comment. This makes Commissar Goodell very happy.

As for Mike Pereira, the head of officials, he might have to either cancel his weekly "see, this is what happened" mea culpas on NFL Total Access, or bring on staff to handle the additional workload.

During Sunday night's Steelers-Jaguars tilt, Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison was flagged for a late hit on quarterback David Garrard. One problem: it wasn't late. Harrison also didn't lead with his helmet, and in case you're wondering, he wasn't guilty of driving Garrard to the turf, either. No matter, referee Ron Winter still called the penalty, extending the fourth-quarter drive.

After the game, Harrison, who also answers to "Silverback" and "Deebo" (presumably due to his sunny on-field disposition), pretty much guaranteed he'd be receiving one of those "please pay by" letters from the league office when he told the media:

"It was the most unbelievable penalty I've ever seen in my life... If they're going to go and send me a letter saying they're going to fine me for unnecessary-whatever he called, I believe that is not a penalty. And when it comes down to it these refs should start getting fined for making bad calls. ...

You don't make a call like that. Unless (the official) might have money on it."

I'm guessing it was that last quote that led to the eventual garnish-ying of Harrison's wages; FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer writes that Harrison is out $20,000 after his post-game suggestions.

Occasionally FanHouse's resident referee will chime in with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report.

The most difficult calls for an official are judgment calls. Unfortunately in football that covers pretty much everything. Rarely is there a call as easy as an upper deck home run or a ball going into a hoop. This is simply the nature of officiating football. One call which carries a ton of discretion is roughing the passer, and it has been controversial for years. As Bruce Ciskie said this past week on an email chain,

"(I've seen) defensive players rushing with their arms up to try to block a pass, grazing the QB's helmet with a hand on the way by, and drawing a flag for it. I mean, it's one thing to tell these guys they can't hit the QB, but to tell them they can't try to knock a ball down because they might touch the QB's helmet is just ridiculous."

I agree. Let's take a look at some plays from this past week.

We kind of had the idea the Jags would run wild on the Colts. Matt Forte and Adrian Peterson had their fun against the Colts' porous run defense in the first two weeks, and then Bob Sanders -- one of the leagues most respected run-stuffers -- went down with an injury.

Well, after 236 rushing yards and a downright absurd advantage in time of possession (41:35 - 18:25), the Jags came away with a much needed road victory. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor, behind quality work from their offensive line, simply owned the game and kept the Colts' offense off the field.

The result was a 70-49 advantage for the Jags in offensive plays, and a game-winning 51 yard field goal for Josh Scobee.

It's hard to draw many conclusions about the Colts' offense, which looked stellar on the first and last drives of the game, with this small a sample against a quality defense. It was so long between possessions all game that it had to be damn near impossible to develop any sort of continuity, though two picks from Peyton Manning is not really included in the usual game-plan.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time

The 1's

Kansas City at Atlanta: It's a game featuring a team with a rookie quarterback taking on a team with no quarterback. Falcons signal-caller Matt Ryan had a dreadful week two, missing on his first nine passes, while the Chiefs are still playing musical chairs with Damon Huard and Tyler Thigpen. Larry Johnson isn't impressed by any of it.

Oakland at Buffalo: The Buffalo Bills haven't started a season 3-0 since 1992, and that's exactly what they'll do if they can defeat an Oakland team that has spent this week worrying about who its coach will be, as opposed to the task at hand in Buffalo. If the Bills get that 3-0 start, there's a strong chance Raiders' head coach Lane Kiffin will be searching for a new job on Monday morning. Seeing as how they're likely without Justin Fargas, Darren McFadden is fighting some turf toe and Javon Walker can't make it through practice, there's a good chance that happens.

Value Machine checks the current value of non-obvious names -- no Tony Romo or Brian Westbrook here -- for owners looking to scope out the trade market.

For the record, the most egregious thing about Ed Hochuli's snafu is being overlooked by everyone. I officiate high school -- I understand I'm far less qualified to complain than an NFL official, but this does make me more qualified than someone sitting at their computer claiming the "refs cheated" -- and the worst part about the call was the fact that the ball went backwards. Even if Hochuli thought, in real time, Jay Cutler's arm went forward, the ball still went backwards. A backwards pass is a loose ball. How the referee can't see that from even with the QB is beyond me. People keep talking about the whistle, but it's not acceptable to blow it there. I still respect him as an official, because human error is part of the game. Human error like this, though, shouldn't happen in such a high level game.

Even without the extra points, that he never should have accrued, Cutler had another big game. With two young, studly receiving speedsters and a reliable tight end, this isn't likely to change anytime soon. This time, the Broncos actually played a legitimate defense. You don't want to expect around 30 points a week, but it's very reasonable to start expecting 20. Jay Cutler is your top for week two.

In fairness to Jacksonville, their offensive line really is beat up. Like, badly. But in fairness to Buffalo, they looked absolutely spectacular -- again -- on Sunday. This was a week after thumping Seattle and being kind of cast off (I think making them five and a half point dogs works, no?) against a Jaguar team that was considered to be a Super Bowl contender.

Then Trent Edwards decided to do his best David Garrard impersonation, going 20/25 for 239 yards and a touchdown, and Marshawn Lynch was his usual reliable self, posting 59 yards with a score on 19 carries, most of which came in the first half.

Edwards found eight different receivers, including rookie James Hardy, who recorded his first career regular season NFL trip to the end zone with a seven yard strike from Edwards in the fourth quarter.

It was bizarre though, because despite being heavily outplayed -- Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor combined for 67 yards on only 21 attempts and Garrard was a putrid 17/28 for 165 and a pick -- the Jaguars really should have won the game. They held the lead, mostly as a result of nice red zone defense, with as little as four minutes remaining in the game.

But a sharp offensive performance and a strong set of defensive stands got the Bills the win. And because the Bills are 2-0 and there's no more Tom Brady, well, it might be about time to start recognizing them as a viable playoff threat. I don't necessarily think they're going win the division, and they have gotten two beat up teams so far, but who else, outside Pittsburgh, has looked that much better in the AFC so far this year?

Certainly not Jacksonville.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Tennessee at Cincinnati: Well if this isn't the best matchup of crazy stories so far in the short NFL season I don't know what is. So far we've had a Bengals squad that showed next to zero life against the Ravens hosting a Titans team that upset the Jaguars last week. With Vince Young out two-to-four weeks, Kerry Collins will be the guy burdened with handing off to one of the hottest rookie running backs in the league, Chris Johnson (93 yards on the ground, 34 in the air with a TD). Hey, at least the Bengals announcers have learned they don't have to touch up on their Spanish!

Prediction: Titans

Green Bay at Detroit: Hey everyone, it's the Matt Millen Amusement Park Ride! Climb aboard, but we should tell you, the harness might fail and the ride hasn't been properly greased for eight years. No worries, the experience will most likely either start off strong and fail at the end, or not even get out of the gate. Yeah, tickets are high and the experience might stink, but if you don't get on the ride, you don't get to see the end result. Guys? Hey guys, where are you going?

Prediction: Packers

You've got questions. I've got answers. If not, I'll make them up. Each Thursday at 1 p.m. EST, I answer your queries on all things related to the NFL. If you have a question, send it over to NFLMailbag@aol.com. Don't forget to include your name and location. Click here for the archives. Rock'n'roll.

How will the Jacksonvile offensive be affected by the loss of both starting offensive guards? Is the running force with Freddie and MJD gonna be slowed down?
- Michael Gus, Kissimmee, FL

It, um, doesn't really look good now that Vince Manuwai and Maurice Williams have both been placed on the IR. I really like Fred Taylor, and was glad to see him get the recognition he's deserved last year, but he is 32, and he and Maurice Jones-Drew really struggled against a physical Titans team. Which is a troublesome sign, as the Jaguars have built an identity on being a physical team on both sides of the ball. But if you take away that dimension to their offense, things don't look very good, especially if Jerry Porter's bum hammy keeps rearing its ugly head. Do you really trust David Garrard to carry a team for an entire season if the Jaguars can't get their run game figured out? I certainly don't. And the Jags face some physical defenses this year in Buffalo, Tennessee again, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Chicago, Green Bay, and Baltimore.

But there are other players whose value just changed with these injuries as well. They're not replacing the player in question, but the loss of that guy changes their own value – some in good ways, others in bad. Let's take a look.

Tom Brady's knee: And sure, Cassel gets himself a gig. But another first round fantasy pick also loses a decent amount of value in Randy Moss, who will now be trying to catch passes from a guy who has never had a starting job since high school. Wes Welker, ranked at or near the top-10 in WR himself, also loses value – though presumably less because he tends to run shorter routes that should be easier on what amounts to a rookie QB.

Vince Young's knee: Unless you play in the deepest of leagues, you don't own, nor did you really even consider, starting WRs Justin Gage and Justin McCareins. In fact, you may have been unaware that starters share the same first name. In truth, Collins is a better quarterback than the injured Young, so the two Justins both get a bump, albeit a small one in value. At RB, Chris Johnson's value spiked up with his performance in Week One, and there's no reason for that to come down without Young behind center. LenDale White also probably deserves to get a bit more love, since there should continue to be plenty of carries to go around.