A Tale of Two Sophomores

After this weekend's 56-45 home loss to the #8 Clemson Tigers the question still beckons for the Terps. Danny O'Brien or C.J. Brown?

O'Brien, once deemed the savior of Maryland football after his cinderella freshman season, started the season leading the Terps to a big season opening win against Miami only to be benched by new head coach Randy Edsall after two embarrassing losses to West Virginia and Temple which were followed by a sub-par performance in a win over Towson two weeks ago.

The last straw came against Georgia Tech in Atlanta last week when he was replaced by Brown after going 1 for 6 for 17 yards and an interception while Maryland was mired in a 21-3 hole on the road against the #13 team in the country. Brown brought the Terps back with two touchdown scoring drives to make it 21-16 (including a 77 yard run by the elusive quarterback) but was eventually stopped on the final drive of the game.

The performances of the two sophomores has split Maryland fans in half as to whom the starting Quarterback should be. Some believe coach Edsall should stick with O'Brien through his bad stretch stating that his recent run of bad form is a result of trying to understand new offensive coordinator Gary Crowton's complex new system. But wouldn't this be a reason to justify O'Brien's benching, seeing as Brown has had just as much time to adapt to the new system yet has embraced it and played magnificently as a result.

Maybe playing O'Brien is the equivalent of trying to put a square peg in a round hole, when Brown is the round peg that fits perfectly. Brown is just the right quarterback for Crowton's spread option system with his ability not only as a passer (17 for 35, 177 yds, 3 TD's vs Clemson) but as a decision maker and weapon in Crowton's option run game (22 carries, 162 yds, 1 TD vs Clemson). O'Brien, who is purely a pocket passer, may have the tools to succeed in the new offense but not to take it to it's full potential. He would be the right choice in any form of the pro offense but unfortunately for all of those Maryland fans who went out and bought #5 jerseys during the offseason, the Terps are going to be running the new spread option for some time.

The problem is getting the fans on board with their new starting quarterback and convincing them he is the right man for the job. Maryland's new marketing campaign was spearheaded by the wildly popular O'Brien, printing his image on posters all over College Park, declaring him the best quarterback in the ACC, and featuring him on radio shows all offseason. Now C.J. Brown will have to look into the stands at Byrd Stadium on saturdays and see countless #5 jerseys staring right back at him, reminding him of the expectations and who he'll be compared to this season. The only thing that will quell the cheers for O'Brien to be reinstated as the starter is, you guessed it, WINS. Brown is yet to win a game where he has received a majority of the snaps, which though it can be blamed on the Terps porous defense this season, is not going to help him convince the naysayers that he's the right man for the job.

The Terps get another chance to make a statement next weekend when they travel to Tallahassee to play the preseason ACC favorite Florida State Seminoles in a matchup which has lost its luster after poor starts to the season by both teams. This will not diminish the importance of the game for either team, as Maryland looks to salvage any hopes it has for a bowl bid and Florida State tries to right the ship and keep pace with division leaders Clemson and Wake Forest for a place in the ACC championship game. A win in Tallahassee, one of the nation's toughest places to play, on national television would go a long way in convincing C.J. Brown's detractors that Maryland's coaching staff made the right decision in picking him as the starter.

NFL First Bite

Two weeks of NFL football have passed, Fantasy Football is in full swing, and all is right in the world. As usual there have been surprises (e.g. Bills, Lions, Redskins) and disappointments (e.g. Vikings, Chiefs) and though no one can officially be counted out of the playoff race just yet some teams have taken significant steps forward or backward from their ultimate goals. In just two weeks we have witnessed the Baltimore Ravens being crowned Super Bowl contenders in their week one blowout of the Pittsburgh Steelers, only to see them peter out with a lackluster display against the Tennessee Titans the very next week.

The defense, which was heralded as being back to its good old impenetrable ways of the early and mid-2000's after its 7 turnover performance and methodical shutting down of the rival Pittsburgh Steelers came out flat against a Tennessee Titans team that (lets be honest) has no where near the same ambitions as the Ravens and was considered altogether a class below in the AFC hierarchy. The Titans, from numerous hours of film study, found the cracks in the defense that could even been seen last week against the Steelers when wide receiver Mike Wallace achieved his lone goal of taking the top off the defense on deep passes, racking up 108 yards against the otherwise solid Baltimore defense. The Titans then proceeded to put pressure on this crack by throwing to star wide receiver Kenny Britt for 9 receptions, 135 yards and touchdown.

Tennessee targeted Britt 13 times, showing their overall intent on offense of whose hands they wanted the ball, meanwhile the Ravens were left focusing on the wrong guy, holding Titans star running back Chris Johnson to 53 yards on 24 carries. That's a 2.2 yards per carry average people. When considering Chris Johnson is an All Pro running back who is one season removed from a 2,000 yard season and runs a 4.24 second 40 yard dash then yea, it's pretty safe to assume the Raven's defensive goal on the day was to contain Johnson. Sadly, the corners who were left with the unenviable task of covering Britt and Titan's 2nd string receiver Nate Washington (7 receptions, 99 yards on 11 targets) one-on-one the whole afternoon couldn't achieve their near impossible mission with NFL veteran Matt Hasselbeck pulling the strings. The result was too many men in the box, Hasselbeck shredding the few players left in the secondary for 358 yards and a touchdown, and a disappointing Raven's loss.

Is the defense entirely to blame for the loss? of course not when your offense puts up a total of 229 yards and turns the ball over 3 times. Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron got away from what worked so well against the Steelers in week one when the Ravens ran the ball 31 times for 170 yards helping to set up the play action pass. This time around, the Ravens offense ran the ball only 17 times for 45 yards and subsequently the passing game faltered under the pressure of having to compensate for the lack of run support. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco went 15 for 32 with 197 yards a touchdown and two costly interceptions, while being pummeled by the Titans blitz all day. It's obvious that this offensive line thrives when the focus is on the run rather then the pass, and the same can be said for Flacco who has always been at his most effective on the play action pass.

As a number of NFL offenses have begun to shy away from the run in an effort to keep the ball in their playmaking quarterback's hands (Packers, Patriots, Saints, etc) the Ravens need to realize that going with the trend would be a disastrous mistake. This team is not built to throw the ball 40+ times a game, while giving the running back the odd hand off here or there. It is built to pound opponents with their workhorse running backs who, given their chances, will eventually take their opportunities while setting up Flacco for play action passes. Swimming against the current is never easy, but if the Ravens want to get to the Indianapolis next february they will have to make it their motto.

Finally, Liam Regan knows absolutely nothing about sports.

You See I Actually Named the Blog that Because.....

So you may be wondering, "Alex, why such a strange blog name? What was your inspiration?" Well that's an excellent question coming from an obviously puzzled group of followers (though I may not currently have many).

I have many influences that have driven me toward the decision of starting my own blog, Bill Simmons of ESPN.com being one (and certainly the biggest) of those. I acknowledged a long, long time ago that I do not possess such a fortunate pair of initials in which to name my blog with, so I've gone with the alter ego angle. When it comes to giving you my analysis on the world of sports as we know it, leave it up to the Axel to give you the spin. Hopefully people will get the whole Axel/Axle reference and how Axles spin.......yea I get it, not the funniest thing you've ever heard.

I am no Bill Simmons, but that still doesn't mean I can't attempt to combine my sports knowledge with my sarcastic sense of humor! My writing style is nowhere near as polished as Mr. Simmons', and I am no where near as witty as he is. But some may detect a sprinkling of his sarcastic tone in my writing, which I promise you is genuine and not forced in the slightest. Being from a middle class background of Irish descent and moving to the United States from London in 1999, sarcasm has always been a part of my every day life and sense of humor. So if there is ever a puzzling statement that may not seem clear to you, I urge you to please shoot me an email so I can either change my diction or explain the point I was trying to make. I don't wish for anyone to take any statement I may make or argue to come off the wrong way.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading this blog as much as I hope to enjoy writing it. I'm aiming at publishing at least one article per month, hopefully more, depending on how busy I am with school work, my family, and my A'capella group. But when a hot-button sports topic pops up on espn.com or any other leading sports news site, you can bet I'll be furiously writing a new article or two.

Remember whenever you need the spin, look no further then the Axel. (Hopefully I don't get too much flack for that one......)