JustSON the Numbers: Jay Cutler's bad night

JustSON friend Dylan Kitzan is fan of the San Francisco 49ers and couldn't be happier about the performance of Jay Cutler during the Chicago Bears 10-6 to the boys from the bay. Here's Cutler's stat line (warning: it's not pretty):

29 for 52, 307 yards, 55.8 percentage, 0 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 33.6 passer rating

Yowza, now all of a sudden Bears fans are missing Kyle Orton.

Seahawk fans, get ready for a season of crappy run defense

Not only did the Seahawks lose last Sunday to the 49ers 23-10 but Frank Gore ran all over them, which is a huge problem. If you want to be successful in the NFL, you've got to be able to stop the run otherwise your offense may never see the ball. However when Seattle gives up a lot of yards to a back, it's usually a bad omen for the rest of the season.

Stopping Gore was Seattle's priority one, two and three, which made the fact the Seahawks failed to get so much as a hand on Gore on those two plays even worse.

"We had too many except-for plays," Mora said. "Like, Frank Gore. We did a good job on him in the run game, except for two plays."

Diagnosing what went wrong on those two plays is easier than discerning exactly what they mean. Is it possible to iron out the deficiencies in the run defense with a little bit of instruction and a lot more discipline?

Well, the Seahawks' history says this just might be the sign of things to come.

Gore finished with 207 yards, the fifth time an opponent has run for more 200 yards in a game against the Seahawks.

The good news? Seattle has never allowed more than 200 yards rushing in two different games in any season. The bad news? In those five seasons that Seattle gave up a two C-note ground game, the Seahawks never finished higher than 21st in the league in rush defense.

So don't expect them to stop anyone on the ground this season. We saw on Monday Night how the Wildcat offense and a well-balanced running attack could keep Peyton Manning off the field for three quarters (but he only needs like two plays to score), now imagine that being implemented against the Seahawks. If you can't stop the run, teams will just bleed you for eight minute drives until your defense cracks.

Get worried Seattle fans, get worried.

Podcasting from JustSON World Headquarters

We've done it again! Dylan Kitzan and I have recorded our second JustSON Podcast for your listening enjoyment.

You can download it here.

Topics this time are:

1. Is baseball in trouble?
2. How much have movies changed in the past 20 years?
3. Is golf a sport?
4. Do you want a low-character guy like Michael Vick playing for your team?
5. Discussing fan bases of certain teams (Dallas Cowboys, LA Lakers, San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the New York Yankees)

Enjoy!

It's lamest time of the year... for the NFL

College football has shut down before it begins it's "Bowl Season" where almost half the mediocre teams in the nation can end their season on a positive note, leaving me without any real meaningful football to be played until the BCS National Championship Game and the NFL Playoffs.

This is still with a couple of games left in the regular season of the pros, but honestly I don't care what 8-8 or 9-7 sneaks into the playoffs, they'll more than likely get their butts handed to them.

Meanwhile the teams that are actually good have already clinched a playoff spot and are fighting for (yawn) home-field advantage. While this is important, probably more important than any other sport, we can expect to see quite a few letdowns by the better teams to either borderline playoff teams actually fighting for something, or really bad teams (other than the Raiders and Lions) looking for a chance to get some pride back. It's basically garbage time football for a few weeks since even if these better teams lose, it really doesn't matter because they'll be playing with a completely different mindset and a completely different intensity once the playoffs start.

And the NFL wants to ADD games? Really? Lets extend this pro football purgatory so I can watch the 5-9 San Francisco 49ers put the smackdown on a playoff team in a game that really doesn't meet anything. Swell! That would be entertaining.

Say what you will about the BCS, but every week in college football is compelling and pretty interesting because one loss can spell the difference between a national championship and playing in the Quizno's Sub Bowl.

Meanwhile in the NFL, I get to watch Seneca Wallace (who looks stoned, all the time) and the 2-11 Seahawks match up against the 2-11 St. Louis Rams with Stephen Jackson (who could probably eat an elephant if he wanted to) in front of roughly 20,000 fans. Whoop-de-do.

At least the Hawks won on a last second field goal, kind of made me forget about my beloved Titans pulling a patented playoff team letdown against the Houston Texans, who are a marginally good squad at 7-7.

Sure, I could have watched that thrilling Steelers-Ravens Game which ended in a 13-9 victory for Pittsburgh. But if I wanted to watch baseball I could watch the Dominican League, not two teams that are going to get knocked out by whatever AFC East and AFC South team they match up against in the playoffs.

(Also don't forget the "who's going to beat the Denver Broncos in the first round of the playoffs" sweepstakes, which should go to Indianapolis at this point.)

When does baseball season start up again?

Epic Video: Why I hate Jim Rome

This is a classic, I was just thinking about Jim Rome today and figured I'd show this wonderful nugget of joy again. Why did Jim Everett get so mad? Here's the explanation from Wikipedia:

Following the 1989 regular season, Everett was reportedly "shellshocked" from the multiple times he was sacked and hit in the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers (the 49ers won, 30-3). At one point in the game, Everett was so rattled that he collapsed to the ground in the pocket merely in anticipation of yet another sack, even though the 49ers' defensive players actually had not yet reached him—a play now known as Everett's "phantom sack".[1] From then on he was perceived to shy away from hits, and later acknowledged that his confidence was never fully restored.

Phantom sack? Isn't that how Brett Favre gave Michael Strahan the single-season sack record? Why doesn't anyone call that guy Chris?