Quarterback debate....again?

Offense? The Notre Dame Fightin' Irish football team doesn't play offense. Not in 2007 anyway. Or do they?

In a 33-19 loss to in-state rival Purdue this past Saturday, the Irish put up 426 yards of total offense. This was an every week occurrence for the 2005 and 2006 Irish offense but things have changed in the A.B.Q (After Brady Quinn) era. Saturday was the first sign of life all season for a sputtering offense.

With an injury to starting quarterback Jimmy Clausen, junior backup Evan Sharpley completed 16 of 26 pass attempts for 208 yards and two touchdowns. The offense seemed much more organized with Sharpley calling the signals and the play of his teammates made it seem as if they were responding.

Here we go again. Another quarterback debate is underway in South Bend, similar to the one just before the start of the season. Some still think benching a highly recruited freshman quarterback in Clausen will hurt his confidence. Others believe that an 0-5 Notre Dame team needs a senior leader such as Sharley taking the snaps.

This is why Charlie Weis is paid the big bucks. Weis will choose between Sharpley and Clausen to lead the Notre Dame offense before next Saturday's game against UCLA in Pasadena, Calif. The game will be nationally televised at 8 o'clock eastern standard time on ABC.

Good call?....Bad call?

The question that has been argued since the Broncos loss on Sunday to the Jacksonville Jaguars is whether or not Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan should have or should not have gone for it on fourth down from inside his own 10 yard-line with four minutes and ten seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Shanahan went for it and Broncos tight end Daniel Graham dropped a pass across the middle that would have been enough for the first down. The Broncos went on to lose the game 14-23.

"I just had a gut feeling with the way they were controlling the tempo of the game that that would give us the best chance to win," Shanahan said. "And it almost turned out good."

Let the criticism and debate begin.

I will go ahead and say that Shanahan made the right decision. Some would disagree but he absolutely had to go for it. If the Broncos would have punted the Jags would have taken over possession around mid-field and the Broncos had no time outs. With the way the Broncos had been stopping the run, or should I say not stopping the run, the Jags would have got in field goal range and finished off the Broncos anyway.

Others will argue that Shanahan should have given his defense a chance to stop the Jags and force a punt. Yeah, that same Broncos rush defense that is ranked 29Th out of 32 teams in the National Football League.

I still say that even if Denver would have stopped them on three downs, the Broncos wouldn't have taken over possession until close to a minute left. At that point, the Broncos would have had to travel the length of the field with no timeouts.

If you have any opinion on Shanahan's decision, please let me know. I would love to hear what you have to say.

Notre Dame hits all time low

For the first time in the 119 year history of Notre Dame football, the Irish have started a season with an 0-4 record.

Notre Dame lost its second home game of the season to long time rival Michigan State 14-31 Saturday afternoon. The Irish went into the locker room at halftime only down 14-17 and feeling good about the offensive production. The sputtering Notre Dame offense had finally scored their first two offensive touchdowns of the season.

The second half didn't go as expected as the Spartans scored 14 unanswered points.

The fourth straight loss started to raise questions about whether or not head coach Charlie Weis should be fired. The intriguing thing about all these questions is that they are being raised by the media, not Notre Dame faithful. Writers and TV annalist have started reminding everyone that Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame head coach before Charlie Weis took over, was fired after a 6-6 record in his third season with Notre Dame . Weis more than likely will not come close to winning six games in his third season.

So why isn't Notre Dame fans breathing down Weis' neck? In Weis' first two years at Notre Dame, he had already led the team to more Bowl Championship Series (BCS) appearances than the team had ever been to before. Two years, two BCS appearances. Everything was good and as bad as it looks right now, Notre Dame believes everything is still good.

If the media did their research they would see that the team is young, they just acquired a top 15 recruiting class this season and as of right now the Irish are ranked number one in the recruiting race of 2008. Good things are coming for "my boys" so enjoy it now if you are a Notre Dame hater.

I stand by you Charlie.

Ugly win leaves concern

You can chalk the Denver Broncos up for another win but it was not a pretty one. Again the leg of Jason Elam bailed out the Broncos as they beat their division rival Oakland Raiders 23-20 in overtime.

Bronco fans are thankful or should be thankful their team is 2-0 but I am here to say their is a bit of concern.

The offense has looked impressive in the first two week of the season. In fact, the team has averaged 455 yards of offense in the first two games. So whats the problem? The Broncos have only scored 38 points. For the second year in a row, fans are grumbling about the red-zone offense. Cecil Sapp left, Travis Henry right and Travis Henry up the middle on first and goal from the nine just isn't working.

Another concern Bronco fans have is the run defense. The team gave up a career high of 159 yards rushing to Raiders running back LaMont Jordan. It basically looked like the Bronco's defensive linemen were on roller skates.

The whole idea of bringing in 350 pound defensive tackle Sam Adams was to pug running holes and allow the linebackers to make the tackles. This has yet to be scene.

The Broncos look to improve the rush defense Sunday afternoon when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars at Invesco Field at Mile High.

A big (house) step backwards

The offense, defense, special team and anything else that could go wrong for a football team did for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday as the win less Michigan Wolverines embarrassed the Irish 38-0 in the Big House.

The embarrassment began on the first snap of the game as Notre Dame center John Sullivan snapped the ball over the head of freshman running back Armando Allen. Allen jumped on the ball at the Irish one-yard-line. Let the circus show begin.

The Irish lost 14 yards on the play and the negative rushing yards on the season continued to add up.

By the end of the game, highly talented freshman Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen was pulled from the game probably in hopes to save his life. The Michigan defense battered the young signal caller all day long.

After the game, head coach Charlie Weis said he was embarrassed.

You are not alone Charlie. I am embarrassed too but I stand next to you and the rest of the young men you take to battle next week against Michigan State.

Keep working hard and things will get better.

Broncos win but game put into perspective again

The Denver Broncos squeaked out an exciting win in week one of the NFL season.

With 14 seconds left in opener at Buffalo, Bronco quarterback Jay Cutler completed a pass down to the Buffalo 23 yard line to wide receiver Javon Walker. The offense rushed off the field as the field-goal unit of the Broncos rushed on the field. What a fiasco I must say it was. Bronco coaches, players and fans back in Denver had a abnormally high heart rate as the snap got off with one second remaining and kicker Jason Elam kicked a game winning 40-yard field goal as time expired. The Broncos won the game 15-14.

The win was spectacular for the Broncos organization and fans but once again, even after the murder of Bronco cornerback Darrent Williams and passing of running back Damian Nash in the offseason, the game of football was put into perspective.

On the opening kick-off of the second half, tight end Kevin Everett of the Buffalo Bills suffered a spinal cord injury. Everett was carted off the field and was rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery. Initial reports said that Everett would never walk again but progress has been made in recent hours. Everett has moved his arms and legs under his own power in the last 24 hours.

It just shows, once again, that football is a game and it can be taken from you at any moment.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Kevin Everett, his family, and the rest of the Buffalo Bills organization.

Positive losses....If there is such a thing

Now I know I have explained to you that I love Notre Dame football with my life but I don't think you all really understand the extent of my obsession. When I talk about the Irish, I use the word "we" as if I am apart of the team. I am not one of those fair weather fans that will say "we" won and then turn around the next week referring to the Irish and say "they" lost. When my boys lose, I lose. When my boys win, I win.

We are now two weeks into the college football season and yes, my beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is 0-2. Did I expect this? Yeah, kind of. I knew we were going to struggle. I mean how can you lose the most prolific passer in Notre Dame history and first round draft pick in Brady Quinn and not have some what of a let down the next season.

I don't want to make excuses for being winless so far this season and I am not going to. I am just stating the fact that we lost some fire power and we have work to do but the Irish will improve.

It started this past week with finally settling on a starting quarterback to replace Quinn. Highly recruited freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen took over the reigns against Penn State this past Saturday and head coach Charlie Weis says he will be the man the rest of the way. In the opening game loss to Georgia Tech, Weis started sophmore quarterback Demetrius Jones, then shuffled in junior Evan Sharpley and Clausen.

Clausen looked posed in his first start in front of 110,078 Penn State fans even though the Nittany Lions won the game 31-10. Watching Clausen gave me a reason to believe my boys have a positive future ahead.

We will go through rough times as Clausen and the rest of this young Irish team gains experience but I can promise you the Irish will be back.

Defense upgrades before Week 1

We are only a few days away until Bronco fans jump in a spaceship and blast off for the 2007 NFL season.

With bad performances late in the season by the Denver Broncos defense, coach Mike Shanahan spent the off-season revamping their defensive scheme. He hired Jim Bates away from the Miami Dolphins, a coach considered by many as a defensive genius. Bates has installed a 3-4 defense which is not familiar to current Denver Bronco defenders who usually have run the traditional 4-3 defense.

The defense that Bates wants to run requires two cornerbacks that can cover man-to-man coverage, and do it well. Champ Bailey is arguably the best "shut down" cornerback in the league. With the murder of Broncos cornerback, Darrent Williams, the Broncos needed another corner. So what did Bates and the Broncos do? Traded for arguably the second best cover man in the NFL, Dre Bly.

The defense is designed for defensive ends to let loose and get after the quarterback. There is one little problem with that: the Broncos don't have anyone that has proven themselves as a consistent pass rusher. The team is excited about first-round draft pick Jarvis Moss and second year player Elvis Dumervil, but neither of them are experienced nor proven.

Don't worry Bronco fans, Shanahan and owner Pat Bowlen had another trick up their sleeve this week. The team has signed 11-year veteran and sack specialist Simeon Rice to a one year deal. Rice practiced with the team today for the first time but the team is unsure whether Rice will contribute in the season opener on Sunday at Buffalo.

Rice has 121 career sacks but is returning from off-season shoulder surgery. Lets just hope the new defensive scheme and the addition of Rice is the missing piece of the Super Bowl puzzle for the Broncos.