The Chat House
Michael Wilbon
Washington Post Sports Columnist
Monday, November 01, 2004; 1:00 p.m. ET
Welcome to another edition of The Chat House where Post columnist Michael Wilbon talks about the latest in sports. The Red Sox reverse their curse by winning their first World Series since 1918. On Sunday, The Redskins lost to Green Bay, 20-14. Washington's biggest play for a touchdown was overturned when officials called an illegal motion penalty against wide receiver James Thrash.
Join Wilbon online Monday, Oct. 25, at 1:00 p.m. ET to talk about the latest about baseball in the nation's capital, this weekend's NFL games and all things sports.
Submit your questions and comments any time, before or during today's discussion.
Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
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Michael Wilbon: Good Afternoon Everybody...What a surprise; there are 100 questions about Mark Brunell and Patrick Ramsey and the Redskins quarterback situation! I'll do several related to that general topic, but we'll try to hit as many topics as are possible.
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Chris - San Diego, Calif.:
Hi Mike.
Tomorrow: Dubya or Flip-flop?
Peace.
Michael Wilbon: I don't get into politics, normally, in The Chat House. But let's just say I doubt I share your side of the isle. I'm primarily a Democrat and proud of it. Damn proud. So your labels are your labels. If Flip Flopping was the worst thing about Dubya, I'd fall to my knees and thank God.
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Gaithersburg, Md.:
Mike, I know your a Bears fan since your from Chicago, so what do you think of Krenzel's first start last night?
Michael Wilbon: Don't worry, we're warming up to Skins QB Issues with a few appetizers...I did see Krenzel's first start and I'm fairly happy with it. He did fumble away a touchdown and throw a bad pick that could have lost the game. But he at least got the ball down the field, he can move a little. He's damn smart, and the reports I've read from Chicago are that his teammates love him. So, that's pretty good for a town and a franchise that tries, historically, to win despite the position of quarterback, as if the position is just marginally important.
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Eric in Atlanta, Ga.:
Michael,
An off topic but timely question, during halftime of Maryland's win over FSU, the basketball team was honored for last year's ACC Championship. With so many top 25 teams in the ACC this year, do you believe Maryland will be more consistent and challenge for the ACC regular season crown.
Thanks,
Eric
Michael Wilbon: Maryland will challenge everybody in the ACC and be challenged as well. Wake, Tech, North Carolina and Duke are all ranked in the preseason poll ahead of Maryland, which is unthinkable considering the way last year ended. But...this is also the kind of situation that brings out the very best in Gary Williams as a coach...when he can walk into that locker room and show his kids they are behind all those other conference teams in the first poll of the year...when he can tell them they're getting "no respect" following an ACC Tournament championship...It's going to be a whole lot of fun come January as it involves the Terpies and the ups and downs of the ACC season.
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Rockville, Md.:
Mr. Wilbon!
What about Mr. Vick??? If Vick can run 12-15 times a game and stay HEALTHY, I would put Atlanta has the most feared team in the league!
What he did yesterday was amazing, however he can do it week in and week out! Not to mention when Vick breaks a 20 yard or more run it gets his confidence up and becomes a better passer.
2 questions: Will Mora realize this is the type of offensive game play he needs to call every week or will he try to stick with the "west coast offense"
2nd question, when will vick be mentioned for MVP!?
Michael Wilbon: You can't build an MVP campaign off one season, not when Daunte Culpepper and Donovan McNabb have been better more consistently. But OH MY Vick was great yesterday. He doesn't have to do that every week. Hell, he can't do that every week. Nobody can...nobody ever has. Steve Young, is had many of the attributes Vick had, only 15 years earlier, says it took him 2 1/2 years to get comfortable in the west coast offense, and I think that means it's going to take Vick until the end of next season before we can judge what he'll be as a quarterback. But Atlanta is going to be damn tough to beat if Vick can average 220 yards passing, 65 to 70 yards rushing, and stay healthy.
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Arlington, Va.:
Are the skins cursed in a way I have never seen any team cursed: BY THE REFS?!
Is it just me or have the Skins been on the wrong side of key controversial calls over the last four years or so.
Michael Wilbon: Cursed by the refs? You think this team went 6-10 and 5-11 and 8-8 before that because of the refs? You really need to watch some football games not involving the Redskins. Bad calls happen every week. Every Single Week.
Was the illegal motion call on the play that nullified the touchdown pass to Portis a bad call? Maybe. Thrash did violate the rule, if you study the replay. Do the zebras let that call go a lot? Damn right they do. It's like "traveling" in the NBA, which is to say it's more subjective than it probably ought to be. But this can be found in every game. I thought the 49ers, playing in my home town against my team--the Bears--got screwed on a call and maybe two calls that influenced the outcome, one on a play that resulted in a touchdown for the Bears late in the fourth quarter...So, please don't tell me the Redskins have missed the playoffs 11 times the last 12 years, or whatever it is, because of the refs.
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Washington, D.C.:
Mike-
I'm not ready to turn on Brunnell just yet. But I saw Coles split the safeties, who were in a cover 2, at least 4 times and was wide open for a long gain. Brunnell just doesn't have the confidence to make that throw like a Manning or a Farve. If we can't throw deep, it's put 8 in the box and stop Portis. How much longer does he have as the starter.
Michael Wilbon: Okay, let's get to Brunell through a very smart question and observation. Coles, as you point out, ran great routes yesterday down after down after down, and Brunell couldn't hit him, particularly on a couple of third down plays when drives could have been sustained. Read my column in The Post today (or on our web-site) and you'll see comments from Darren Sharper, the Packers safety who is one of my favorite players to talk to after games in the entire NFL. His comments suggest Brunell simply cannot make the throws anymore, or not the ones he used to make when Sharper played against him five and six years ago.
I don't know how long he'll be the starter; that's up to Joe Gibbs, who apparently doesn't have a whole lot of confidence in backup Patrick Ramsey. Also, let me point out that defensive players I've talked to think that while Brunell can see the field but not make the throws, they say Ramsey can make the throws but not see the field. Neither is a good combination.
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Chris, Chicago in the Loop:
Hey Mike, did you watch the Bears game last night? I think Lovie Smith will get this team on the right track in the next few years. They may not be that talented, but they play hard. What do you think? BTW, have you been to the new Millenium Park yet? Its really cool, especially with that giant metal bean in the middle of it..
Thanks
Michael Wilbon: Millenium Park is great, isn't it? I hope Lovie Smith is the right guy because I'm tired of having the wrong guy (Wannstedt, Jauron). The defense is talented and does play hard, but they need to be together for awhile and add another pass rush monster...
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Annapolis Junction, MD:
Hello,
Do you think the NHL lockout will end before Christmas?
How many teams do you think will go under? Not the Caps, I hope.
Lara
Michael Wilbon: I've talked to one owner and one star player privately and both say they don't see the lockout ending anytime soon. And the player is a former union rep, I think, so he ought to have some feel for this. It's insane, to me...I can't believe the NHL might just go away for a longer time than either side--labor or management--might want to admit.
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New York City:
Why is Sally Jenkins always right?
Michael Wilbon: If Sally Jenkins, or any other sportswriter, is always right, he or she had better go to Vegas quick, fast and in a hurry. Sally is a fine, fine columnist. But "always right" isn't something I'd put before her name, or mine, or Tony's, or Boz'. We all get on rolls sometimes, then go cold for a stretch. Trust me, sportswriters keep sort of a "friendly: scoreboard on each other, especially people on the same staff. We know...
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Brooklyn, NY:
Steroids and baseball has been talked about a lot over the past years, with things like BALCO and beefed up ball players hitting 60 homeruns like its nothing. Whether or not it’s not drugs, there’s no questions these players are definitely getting stronger.
So what I want to know is why, in the past couple of decades, hasn’t any pitcher thrown a ball faster than that skinny guy Nolan Ryan? I would expect with Bonds blasting 73 homers, some bull of a pitcher would be tossing 105 to 110 MPH fastballs. What gives?
Michael Wilbon: Great question: The answer lies, in part, in that we don't know all the effects of steroids. Steroids aren't known to improve specific skills, like hand-eye coordination or how to locate a pitch. They don't make you smarter, or improve one's instincts. Steroids can't help you locate a slider on a 3-2 pitch in the 9th inning of a tie ballgame in Game 7 of a playoff series. Do steroids help a pitcher's balance, his alignment, or change the length of his fingers...all of which go into the speed with which you can propell a baseball?
There's a whole lot of stuff steroids do help, primarily strength and health, and I guess therefore explosion. But there's so much steroids don't necessarily enhance. And for every study completed, there are so many more questions. I am just reluctant to come to many conclusions about steroids how how much, or when, they enhance performance...
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Miami, FL:
Hi Mike - Here's a different question I'd be
interested to hear your view on. Is it conceivable
that the league and/or officials have it in for the
Skins? That may sound radical, but let's face it -
both the Green Bay and the Dallas games had
egregiously bad calls which decided the
outcomes. Skins have not gotten many calls this
year, but its different when there have been
consistent howlers which referees simply cannot
explain. Is it reasonable to suspect a bias?
Michael Wilbon: No.
In every town that has a football team, on Monday morning when that team loses, people want to say the refs cheated them.
Please stop.
It's embarassing.
You people who believe this are embarassing yourselves.
Do you watch other football games besides the one your team is involved in?
Please.
No more of this.
Stop the Madness
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NYC:
Hi Mike, Just wanted to say thank you for doing this chat every week. You make a lot of people's weeks, including mine, more enjoyable. Also, I thoroughly enjoy your column.
Michael Wilbon: Thank you very, very much.
Ah, sanity prevails!
By the way, I'm happy to do it, to get the week started with a little spirited conversation. Oh, did I mention it helps me write columns and do PTI.
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Arlington, Va.:
Favre was hitting 40-50 yard passes for big plays in the game. Brunell's longest pass was for 17. Missed Cooley in the endzone on a pass that could've been floated--he was wide open. Instead Brunell put too much zip on it. Ramsey has the arm. He can make the hard throws. He can put touch on his passes. I'd rather be disappointed every week by a young quarterback who is growing than a vet that is past his prime. We've got to find out about Ramsey now in time to decide if we need to draft another QB in the offseason or get another through free agency.
Michael Wilbon: There's growing sentiment in exactly what you're saying. I don't know about Ramsey having "touch" on his passes. He's got the gun, however. But there's more involved with playing quarterback than throwing, like reading defenses and leading...I can't say Ramsey is missing all those things, but let's not turn him into Joe Montana just yet...Last time we saw Ramsey wasn't he in the process of throwing three interceptions in little more than one quarter? There's no easy solution here, boys and girls. Unless going to Hasselbeck, the No. 3 guy, is what you want to do. And let me ask you this: How often has moving up the No. 3 guy worked out in NFL history. Ocassionally, yes, but what are the odds?
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Dallas, TX:
Hey Wilbon great article.
You gotta admit, T.O. doing Ray Lewis' dance in the endzone was pretty funny.
Are the Chargers quietly moving up in the NFL ranks? Drew Breeze has started San Diego on a great start. His play ( 5 TD's)was over shadowed by Big Ben and Pitts win over N.E. How do u think Philip Rivers and his agent are feeling right now about the long hold out? How impressed are u with the coaching and playing of SD?
Michael Wilbon: The T.O. dance was brilliant, brilliant. And as for the Chargers what in the world are going to do now that they've got Phillip Rivers locked up for $40 million and Brees is a free agent? How about that? To keep Brees they've got to trade Rivers, and how will they get full value when every team in the NFL knows the Chargers have to make a deal?
And don't start asking (yet) whether the Redskins will sign Brees (hmmmmm!) or deal for Rivers. Though, Brees is 25 years old and obviously can be coached up! Am I opening a can of works here, a big fat can of worms?
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Dupont:
The Redskins are still sucking it up. Luckily we have DC United romping through the playoffs.
Your thoughts on Freddy Adu's first season as a pro?
Michael Wilbon: Adu didn't play enough. The league and all the promotions promised Adu would bring the casual fan to American soccer, particularly MLS. Fact is, he was getting into games in the 60th minute, the 85th minute. Now, that's fine from a coaching perspective...BUT IT'S NOT TRUTH IN ADVERTISING. That's not what we were promised at every turn. So my take on this is not the same as you'd hear from a huge soccer guy who follows every game.
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Allison Park, PA:
Michael - is Philly vs. Pittsburgh the game of the week next Sunday? Actually, I know the answer to that one. But who wins - Donovan or Big Ben?
Michael Wilbon: Yes, BIG BIG BIG BIG game. A lot bigger nationally than Redskins-Lions in Detroit. Pittsburgh is on a roll with a great young quarterback, as is Philly. I can't wait to see it, which means I might have to duck back in the TV room at Ford Field or whatever it's called to watch a litte Eagles-Steelers
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Michael Wilbon: Okay, gotta run and prepare to do PTI, plus write a column for tomorrow's editions of The Post on the upcoming NBA season, which I hope you'll all read. Thanks, and we'll chat next week. Same Chat Time, Same Chat Channel!
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