Monday – 12 November 2007
Another week begins.

The commute wasn’t bad. Not even when I got to Utah County. I was shocked. Wait… I take that back. Just remembered one monkey who apparently didn’t grok the concept of “fast lane” as we were heading into Scipio. Downhill. While we both drove alongside a semi. *sigh* Some peoples’ children…

Yesterday was a lax and lazy day. Highlights included watching football (more on this below) and watching The Boondock Saints, which I had somehow never gotten around to watching before. I liked it. Quite a bit, in fact. This week was my week to cook dinner. I took a page from my mother’s book and made a pineapple bowl mixed fruit appetizer, followed with baked chicken breasts, rice (cooked in cream of mushroom soup) and asparagus. All-around, quick and easy.

Football Update
The Ravens lost to the Bengals yesterday. Again. Congrats, .

I can deal with losses; they’re part of competition. What I don’t get – and here comes the Monday morning quarterbacking – is: Why in the Nine Hells Brian Billick doesn’t do something… ANYTHING… when he sees that the on-field squad isn’t working effectively and/or efficiently!? Steve McNair was the Ravens’ starting QB for the past two games. This followed a multi-game absence due to a groin and back injury, I think. Last week, he didn’t do anything. Yesterday, he didn’t do anything either. In fact, it was so bad that the Ravens were about five minutes away from getting blanked, before Billick rubbed a couple of brian cells together and came up with something that approximated “a clue.”

That clue: Put Kyle Boller in the game.

As ever, it was a case of “too little, too late. BUT… Kyle was effective. Far more so than Steve:

  • McNair: 17/26 for 128 yards
  • Boller: 6/8 for 89 yards

One-third the number of attempts, with a 10% better completion rate. And with his first five (5) completions, Boller had already gained more than half of the total yards that McNair had… in three-and-a-half quarters. Yes, they both had one interception – and McNair did rush for six yards – but come on. He had over three-fourths of the game to do something.

Yes, I’ve been vocal about Kyle as a QB in the past, but I’ve also noted that he has made definite strides in becoming a good, solid and effective quarterback over the past four years. Look at game footage over the past two years and you can see the difference. He’s gone from taking two (or three) quarters to settle into the game to getting right down to brass tacks.

And, didn’t we draft a new Heismann Trophy-winning QB this year, too? We did? I thought so.

But, anyway, congrats to and Cincinnati’s co-MVPs: Brian Billick and Steve McNair.

/rant

Stray Toasters

/lunch

Namaste.