The Case For Clausen, Cocky Or Not

Apparently, Jimmy Clausen is too cocky.

Whatever that means.

Todd McShay says so, and that's the big rap going around now about the Notre Dame quarterback ahead of April's draft.

Too cocky.

Like what, exactly? Ryan Leaf cocky? Jay Cutler cocky?

I don't want my QB to be timid, that's for sure. So if that's the only real knock on Clausen, I will say I have no fears or qualms about my Redskins drafting him with the 4th overall pick.

Excuse me for a moment, but this is NOW a problem, when last year cocky-ass Mark Sanchez was instead re-labelled "presidential."

Let's just back up a minute, and ask ourselves: who had a better college career? Sanchez or Clausen?

Uh, huh. Right.

Emailer Tim Mudd from Highland, MD chimes in with the following...

TO: Czabe
FROM: Tim
RE: Clausen and 1st Round QBs

Czabe,

I heard your discussion yesterday on drafting a QB in the first round. Bradford will be gone so we are really discussing Clausen. Full Disclosure – I am a big ND fan. You can take that as a negative or think about the fact that I saw about 90% of his college passes. He is amazingly accurate – AMAZING! Think about Golden Tate. He went from being a running back to a descent WR to a Heisman Trophy Candidate on a team that was 6-6.

In fact that 6-6 team had 2 Heisman Trophy Candidates with Clausen being the other. Tate has good strong hands and the ability to get open but what made him special was his Yards After Catch. Clausen made this possible through his accuracy and hitting Tate in stride rather than throwing slightly behind him or making him dive. To me this is what separates him from many. Turing a 6 yard slant into a 12 yard gain. Turning a 12 yard out into a crucial 3rd and 9 conversion. Hitting that 40 yard bomb in stride for a 60 yard TD!

Rather than a 1st and 10 from the 20 and settling for a FG. This is what makes a difference in the NFL – moving the chains and scoring TDs. Not settling for a FG or coming up a yard short on 3rd and 7. This accuracy will lead to that extra yard on 3rd down and lead to the big time pass on 3rd and long. Clausen had little to no running attack. There were no 1,000 yard RBs during his tenure.

In his first 2 years the longest run from scrimmage was 27 yards. His OL?? Gave up 58 sacks his freshman year. He matured and learned the mental clock and when to throw the ball away.

His Sophomore year he threw them away to the other team – 17 INTs and his Junior year he threw them out of bounds – only 4 INTs. I don’t have a stat on this one, but I would bet that he threw at least 3-5 balls out of bounds a game. Why is this important? 289 completions in 425 attempts. 68%!! If he threw 4 balls away a game (I would bet it was higher) then only 377 of the attempts were really intended for a receiver. That translates into 77% completion rate!

Thinking back to his Sophomore year with those 17 Interceptions. He had 25 TDs, 17 INTs for 3172 yards on 60.8% completion percentage and a passer rating of 132.49.

Here are Matt Ryan’s SENIOR year stats. 31 TDs, 19 INTs, 4507 yards, 59.3% and a 127.04 passer rating. He threw the ball 624 times – Clausen only 440 so that is the big difference in yards. Remember – I am comparing Clausen’s Sophomore numbers to Ryan’s Senior numbers. Clausen’s Junior numbers are ridiculous when compared to these. 28 TDs, 4 INTs, 3722 yards, 68% and 161.43 passer rating.

All this on 15 fewer passes than his Sophomore year.

Clausen is the real deal.

The Redskins are not going to turn this thing around in a year. Campbell is not the answer and neither is a rookie QB. So I look to 2011. Clausen will have a year under his belt. He will have a younger and healthier and better OL around him through this year’s draft and next year’s draft. Our WR core will be a little stronger and perhaps we will have a young RB as well. If we build the OL this year and draft Jake Locker next year for example to be our guy…we will be looking at 2012 as we cannot expect much from a rookie QB in 2011.

Now is the time to grab a franchise QB. How often do you get to pick in the top 5? I hope not a lot.

You cannot be gun shy because you busted on Shuler. Look at Manning, Brees, Favre, McNabb, Rivers, Palmer, Rogers, Sanchez and Flacco – All playoff QBs – 9 of the 12 playoff QBs were drafted 33rd or higher – in fact 4 of these guys were drafted in the top 5. Seize the moment.

It is time to get a QB for the next decade.

REACT: Sober, thoughtful analysis. I'm ready to pull the trigger. Let's do this.

Groggy, I Am Very, Very Groggy

That's pretty much how I feel right now, and we are a full 24 hours after leaving Vegas!

I'm still recovering, so bear with me, people.

What a weekend. Absolutely A++ in my book, and I have been going to Vegas for March Madness now for 12 years straight.

There's a BIG update here coming with even more photos, but I wanted to start with something to get everybody going.

Let me start by thanking profusely Michael Larragueta of the Palazzo, and his right hand man Roger Reveyrand for hosting our Czabe.com excursion for Year #2 of hopefully many more to come. Also, thanks to Juliet Huong for being our VIP Hostess-With-The-Mostess and PR specialist Ashley Farkas for arranging Bobby Knight and Billy Packer to stop by for interviews. Also, I can't say enough about John Feld at Cramer-Krasselt Public Relations for bringing AirTran on board for flights. Thanks to Joe Sands for providing top flight engineering for our radio broadcasts.

Soooo... what happened?

Nothing. You don't need to know... NOTHING!

Just kidding.

If you want good stories, well then, you'll just have to join us next year and make some of your own!


No, not the Nevada House of Ho's, that would be someplace else. I bet they get plenty of crank calls.

The caption for this picture should read: "Czabe angrily asks Gitter: 'Who the hell said we should play 72 holes of golf!!? Brian Thiet in the middle says: 'Don't look at me, it was you two golf nerds!'"

Andy Pollin and Scott Linn (backround) watch a game of pool in the VIP room where we watched the games. Andy went 3-1 on his NCAA wagers! Sweet action!

Scott "Mayor" Quimby and his crew take in the fact that mom and dad do not follow you around Vegas asking: "How much have you had to drink?"

AND MORE TO COME.... bear with me!

(TOP PHOTO: Bobby Knight and Billy Packer join Czabe and Andy at Lagasse's Sportsbook for some pre-game analysis.)

A Rule Only Phil Luckett Will Love

Good to know that with the NFL's billion-dollar-gravy-train heading for a lockout cliff in a mere 11 months, the owners and competition committee have agreed to change the menu in the dining car to include a new soup appetizer called "Overtime Reform."

I can see how satisfied fans will be in 2011, with no games on Sunday, saying: "Well, at least these games which we are definitely NOT watching right now, won't be determined by some bogus overtime where a soccer-style fairy kicks a winning field goal after a decidedly un-manly 35 yard drive by the team that won the coin flip."

The rule has been in place for 36 years. Between 1974 and 1993, 46.8 percent of overtime games were won by the coin-flip winner. Since 1994, it's 59.8 percent.

What happened in 1994? The kickoff was moved from the 35 back to the 30, and kickers became wicked accurate over the years.

Well, so what?

How do we know this trend of coin-flip winners won't swing back to the middle again on it's own? Averaging the before and after numbers, it's a 54-46 split which isn't any great outrage.

Besides, the overtime sample of total games is too small, in my opinion to know for sure what has caused the trend.

So now, we have a convoluted, post-season only (for now), "solution" to something that wasn't really a "problem" in anybody's mind but Peter King and aggrieved Viking fans on message boards.

Speaking of King, the guy is amazing. He's super connected, right? He's one of the "premiere" NFL journalists out there, right? He's got a good bead on what's happening, yes?

Not exactly.

On Tuesday, (that would be, um, ONE DAY earlier) King said the proposal wouldn't pass. King: "I don't think this is the year. McKay's making progress, but I spoke to three team officials at the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes who aren't ready to support change."

Wide right, Pete. Good work.

Funny thing is, the coaches are apparently pissed about this. Why? For one, they weren't really consulted, which they seldom are on competition issues. Secondly, it will add another layer of "This Coach Is A Mouth Breathing Idiot!" decisions that will haunt coaches on sports radio and TV.

Example: Team A drives ball in overtime down to the 5 yard line. 1st and goal. Three runs later, ball is still at the two. Kick field goal, and hold? Throw for touchdown and go-home-everybody win? What if it's 3rd and goal and you pass, and your QB throws a pick? What if you kick a field goal, and the other team marches down and scores a touchdown to win and shove it up your pussy coach's ass?

The answer to all of these scenarios is: "The coach is an idiot."

No wonder they hate it. We here in "Couch Nation" always know the right decision.

Because we make it on Monday.

I must also point out, that Team B, which did not win coin-flip, but sees Team A kick field goal (fucking cowards!) now has FOUR downs to play with all the way down the field until they too must decide if they want to kick a field goal to tie and extend game further (fucking pussies, you better go for it!).

Let's say Team B is coached by the biggest pussy ever. (Norv). He kicks field goal to extend game. Teams then trade halting, futile drives that end in four consecutive punts.

They are now holding the following playoff game from starting, because we are 14:53 into extended overtime which (with injuries and timeouts and Viagra commercial #732 on the day) has translated into an extra hour. You have been drinking all day at the stadium, are freezing your ass off, and ready to rip the other teams heads off, and we're all waiting for Norv to call a semi-risky deep pass to win the damn game.

Super.

If they stupidly apply this to the regular season, I can easily see TIES going up. That should make Donovan McNabb unhappy, and a little bit confused.

I can also predict something else: much more boring end-of-regulation strategy. A team with the ball and :53 left on their own 40, will likely knees (if allowed by lack of timeouts on the other side) than risk crushing turnover.

Since overtime now ensures you will at least touch the ball, this allows coaches (wussies) to kick the "Don't Be An Idiot" can down the road a little.

Lastly, how about this. What if - for reasons we can't untangle - coin flip winners under the new rule, actually INCREASE their winning percentage!

Can't happen? You don't know, and neither do I.

In the meantime, even Morely Safer is tapping his wrist watch, and looking pretty pissed off.

A dumb idea all around, but hey, the league is going to self-destruct in a year anyway. Why should I care?

It's their league. I just bet on it.