Unverified Voracity Needs A Madden-a-holic
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FOR SCIENCE! Bakers And Best compiled 36 different combinations of cereal and gatorade into POWER RANKINGS:
1. Trix with Cool Blue - This was the second one we tried and unfortunately it was all downhill from there. We had both assumed the ‘fruit’ flavored cereals would taste best and for the post part this was true. I’m not going to start eating this for breakfast, but if you asked me to eat a bowl of it I wouldn’t protest.
…
36. Frosted Cheerios with Strawberry Lemonade - We kept notes as we tasted. I ended up with 2.5 pages single spaced. My notes for this were relatively short, because we wanted to forget it ever happened and move on. They read, “NO. NOPE NOPE NOPE.”. It so grotesquely intensified the taste of the strawberry lemonade, which yes, as you’ll notice according to the rankings is worse than rotten chocolate yogurt.
Now you know. Interestingly, the "Cool Blue" flavor—blue is not a flavor—scored three of the top four combinations but finished 33rd when paired with Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Anyone who wants to remain un-banned will agree Cinnamon Toast Crunch is the king of breakfast cereals.
Hey… uh… nevermind. Ace dutifully compiled a commitment post for three-star CA WR Deontay Burnette after various outlets reported he'd flipped his commitment to Michigan. That is apparently not happening.
WTF happened? Nobody really knows, but Sam Webb says that there was a "miscommunication"($) and that Michigan won't actually take a commit from him. If that sounds weird… yeah, it's weird. You'd think by this point anyone coming in with a pulse who wants to commit would be greenlit.
Hopefully that's a sign that Signing Day is going to be fruitful. Michigan does have an option in its back pocket in case things go south and they want to pick up a three-star-ish WR: Brother Rice's Grant Perry, an Alex Malzone teammate currently committed to Northwestern.
WHAT. So… the Super Bowl. I understand the nation is aghast at the decision to throw the ball from the one on second and goal when you have Beast Mode, but let's not forget that Bill Belichick—indisputably the greatest coach of his generation—had two timeouts in his pocket and was content to take them to the locker room if that's what it came to. He was bailed out by a terrific play, but it truly boggles that there is literally no football team in the universe that would not be improved by importing a 14-year-old who plays Madden 16 hours a day to work clock strategy.
That is no longer hypothesis, but fact. Yeesh.
Looked pretty good though. Can't really blame Wilson for the decision.
The thing about the INT is Seattle got what it wanted with play-call. Unbelievable break on the ball by Butler. pic.twitter.com/zNEfTn8NfZ
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) February 2, 2015 What was bad was the placement: Wilson put the ball a yard behind his guy instead of a yard in front, allowing the DB to make a play on the ball. If the ball is out front the DB has zero chance at an INT no matter how well he reads the play. At best he breaks it up. But that's why not everybody is Tom Brady.
Not many options? Harbaugh's first game is against Utah, which is a much more interesting opener than they usually are. Utah underwent a spasm of turmoil last month, losing both coordinators and almost their head coach. They've found a new DC: Brent Pease, who's exiting retirement for the second time to take the job.
Hello: Partridge family. Michigan hires former Paramus Catholic head coach Chris Partridge for that job a previous UV speculated was right up his alley. Partridge was apparently in Ann Arbor interviewing for four days before getting officially hired. NJ DT Rashan Gary, by some accounts the #1 kid in the 2016 class, is currently at Paramus:
Paramus Catholic features one of the top recruits in the country next year in junior defensive tackle Rashan Gary.
Not surprisingly, Gary recently received a scholarship offer from Michigan.
“Chris would never steer him to a school,” Russo said. “Rashan is going to go visit places in the spring. He has a lot of things set up. At the end of the day, if Rashan’s mom and him and his support staff here at Paramus Catholic feel like [Michigan] is the best place for him, then it is. He will do great wherever he goes.”
Hopefully that's in Ann Arbor.
Tom Brady, 2000. Via Dr. Sap:
Etc.: Left Shark is today's internet fave-rave. Michigan was unlucky at acquiring TOs last year, so that should help Harbaugh unless it doesn't. Chris Webber interviewed about his film projects. Josh Gordon writes a reply to his critics. Werenski 8, Connor 13 in TSN's mock draft.
The Seahawks pulled no punches talking about the NCAA.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^
Tom almost looks geeky/nerdy in this interview. Amazing what a new hairdo, great clothes, and swag will do for a guy.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^
Right Shark looks to be very enthusiastic about his job. Left Shark looks like "I can't fucking believe I'm reduced to dancing in a shark suit at the Super Bowl."
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:18 PM ^
Wilson put the ball a yard in front of the WR. A slant should be low and to the back shoulder when a CB is coming over the top. The throw was a yard in front and high, meaning the CB didn't have to work through the body of the WR but could cut off the WR when breaking down. If it's low (waist high) and on the back hip then the CB has no play on the ball other than going through the WR.
In contrast, if the CB is in trail technique, you want the aiming point to be the upfield shoulder, pretty much where Wilson put the ball. Not sure if Wilson was confused by the coverage (if he though banjo) or just misplaced the ball with his throw, but he clearly didn't think the CB could break down on it as well as he did.
Still great recognition of the situation and of the "pick" to break down on that football. Saved Bill what was otherwise a terrible non-use of TOs at the end.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
that not calling a TO totally mind fucked the seahawks as the entire staff was (reasonably) assuming there would be a time out.
Is there any way they got flustered and made a poor choice on that call because they were rushed (relative to what they were expected) to make a decision? You have to get a playcall in because using your timeout b/c of an expiring play clock would be as shameful as their playcall ended up being.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^
Don't know if it's true,bit that's exactly what it looked like.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^
It may have worked out for the Pats in that way, but I don't think you ever go into a situation hoping the opponent screws that up; you tend to want to control things yourself, and giving Brady a minute left was probably the wiser choice (I actually thought they were going to call a TO immediately and then let them score the next play on purpose).
I tend to think they just over thought the situation. It gets back to one of the complaints I had about Hermann at OSU at times, in that he always wanted to call the "perfect" play call instead of the right play call. Throwing in that situation was the "perfect" play call, because the Pats were in their GL formation and you had 3 WRs out there and they were playing run heavy. Schematically it was perfect. But you have to account for execution and risk aversion and those things, and the "right" playcall was to run inside zone. The defense executed perfectly and the offense executed very poorly (not just average, but very poorly, from the placement of the ball, to the pick run by the first WR).
I've read some say they had to run a pass play to maintain the run/pass threat, but I don't buy it. Even after letting the clock run down, they can run inside zone, hurry to the line with the same personnel, and run inside zone again immediately, and then call a TO with 5 seconds or so left and a 4th down play. I think they just over-thought the situation, wanted to call the perfect play, instead of what was simply the right play, which is giving it to Beast Mode to score the TD.
Now, granted, a great play needed to be made by the defense and a misplaced ball by the offense and a lot of other factors needed to come together for that situation to happen. But it did happen. Those things do happen. And they are more likely to happen then a lost fumble from Lynch. The upside of running an inside slant in no way make up for the risk. It's like OSU throwing a vert on their last drive vs Bama. It's like Weiss throwing a fade to milk the clock. This isn't going for the TD at the end of the first half (which was the right call and terrible CB play by the Pats). This potential reward in no way made up for the risk. And I really don't think it's even close, even if the pass went for a TD or incomplete.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
What gets lost in the whole goal line play issue is this- the vaunted Seahawks defense gave up 2 touchdowns in the 4th quarter. Everyone likes to blame one play for a loss (like a field goal miss), but if the Seahawk defense doesn't allow one of those touchdowns, then it is either a victory or at worst a tie and OT (FG instead of TD).
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
Preventing a Seattle score before half time. Brady not throwing the first INT. The Seahawks CB not breaking his arm. Lynch breaking one more tackle to score a TD. A great play to break up the pass on the corner route when Seattle was still up 10 (I believe was the score).
The thing about that game was that the Pats, and their gameplan, had so little room for error. Both sides (the Seattle defense and NE offense) were pretty much doing what they wanted. NE was in a ton of third down situations, Seattle kept almost everything in front, but the Pats and Brady just kept executing, executing with accuracy and with pace. That's what made it such a great game to watch. It was a matter of inches and fractions of seconds on pretty much every play. A fraction late and the Seahawks stop first downs. A half step quicker and Seattle gets off the field. But perfect execution on offense should win every time, and damn, the Pats executed to an amazing degree.
Even a lot of the "mistakes" were because of great execution of some sort. The final INT. Brady's second INT was a great play by an ILB. It was really just a great overall game where inches and fractions of seconds on many multiple plays made the difference in the end.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^
The offense didn't help by going 3-and-out twice in the 4th quarter until that final drive, netting a total of 0 yards on those 6 plays. Get evena FD one of those drives and who knows.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:15 PM ^
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
Carroll said that they were trying to waste a play, to keep the last timeout and run it later. So, yeah, mind fucked by Bellichek sounds about right. http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/seattle-seahawks-super-bowl-pete-carroll-russell-wilson-bruce-irvin-020115
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^
I would love this to be the case, but I think Bellicheck just blew clock management. He nearly did the same thing against Baltimore; instead of running a play one any of the last 3 plays of the game he took a knee, allowing Baltimore to get a punt return and one final heave to the endzone, where even a couple of short runs probably bleeds the clock down much more.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^
I was surprised that all the heat went on Carroll and credit went to the defender. It looks to me like Lockette got pretty easily muscled off his route by a Div II rookie he outweighed by 20 pounds. On replay I don't think he saw it coming; he was running tall and bounced off Butler. I mean, mistakes were made and all that but his number came up on the final play. At some point it's a Jimmies & Joes thing and Seattle's guy lost.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:46 PM ^
had Butler not been there. It was about one foot in front of the in-stride Ricardo Lockette, exactly where you'd want to hit an open receiver so he can catch it with his hands.
Unfortunately for the Seahawks, Lockette was not open. I bet neither Wilson nor Lockette ever saw Butler until the moment of the interception. IMO, the screen that Kearse set for Lockette ended up hiding Butler from Wilson until the ball had been thrown.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^
in a vacuum. If he would have been wide open, then yes it's a perfect pass placement.
But considering the coverage it was not a good spot to put it, as space coyote pointed out.
You put that ball where only he could possibly catch it--low.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^
The throw is perfect if it's trail coverage and you need catch and run for a successful play. Against zone or over the top coverae, the ball shouldn't be placed where it was. Wilson likely didn't see the CB, that means he should have thrown it in a safe spot. And one thing he knew is that it wasn't trail technique and he didn't need run after the catch, so the ball was not placed where it should have been.
And still it required a great play to make the INT.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:19 PM ^
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:34 PM ^
Looking at the replay I think he could have placed the ball in either spot though. But it's a bit hard to tell. Does he need to change his arm slot to do that? Does he need to correct his feet to do that? Is he afraid of the OLB being athletic enough to get a tip if he throws closer to him (he split the DE and OLB)? All those are possibilities and he very well could have thrown the ball exactly where he intended to throw the ball.
My guess, is based off of the pre-snap look and the design of the play, he thought it was either banjo or straight man, and with the press at the LOS, he thought either way the coverage was going to get caught trailing the play. I think he trusted his pre-snap read and threw exactly where he wanted to and didn't see Butler playing over the top.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
In contrast, if the CB is in trail technique, you want the aiming point to be the upfield shoulder, pretty much where Wilson put the ball. Not sure if Wilson was confused by the coverage (if he though banjo) or just misplaced the ball with his throw, but he clearly didn't think the CB could break down on it as well as he did. -SpaceCoyoteI'm saying I think Wilson placed the ball exactly where he intended. I'm also guessing that he didn't see Butler. It's just terminology, but a throw that goes exactly where you intended into the hands of a defender you didn't see isn't an inaccurate throw, it's a misread.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:36 PM ^
fair enough.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^
Yeah, that's how I read it as well. The DB was coming in from the side of the WR and could beat him to the ball; had the ball between a bit behind at worst it's an incompletion and maybe even a PI (not that it would have mattered much given the distance), but no way it gets picked.
Again, I didn't have any skin in the game but I don't think the pass in that situation was terrible. It wasn't the best decision by any means, but it gave Seattle options a run there might not have (burning your last TO, you only can pass unless you are certain you can get lined up and run two plays in 20s, which seems unlikely). Of course, you have a stud RB so why mess around with future plays, but it wasn't this abomination that some people are making it out to be, and had it been merely an incompletion instead of a pick nobody is talking about it now.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:52 PM ^
But I also think you can defend the situation and I think you can understand the thought process and reason for doing it is you can have empathy. I think people get caught up in not wanting to see that, because then things get muddled, but I think you can certainly make a case for it, although I don't agree with it.
Again, think it's the difference between the "perfect" play call and the "right" play call. But even in this situation, it ultimately came down to the difference in execution (pick receiver did a poor job; slant receiver did not fight to get to the ball first and was not strong on contact, Wilson did not place the ball well; the Pats jammed the first WR really well, Butler came down on the ball extremely well; just different ends of the spectrum in terms of execution is what changes this play call from a "bad decision" to "one of the worst in Super Bowl history"; execution).
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:58 PM ^
to some degree.
Nothing is black and white, because nobody punts on 2nd down or runs 3 plays in a row from their own 20 in a two minute drill. And yes, some of the reaction is in part revisionist history.
But, given the context, I still maintain that it was an unforgiveably bad decision.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^
Cinnamon toast crunch is good but for me Waffle crisp is the top dog of cereals.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^
CTC>every other food on the planet.
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February 2nd, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^
I'm partial to Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, myself. So good, they're beyond your imagination!
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:14 PM ^
If you can chew in such a way that it doesn't mutilate your upper mouth, its absolutely sublime.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^
Which flavor of berry would you say is your favorite? I think purple is by far the best of the berries.
February 2nd, 2015 at 2:31 PM ^
I've always theorized that Capn Crunch Peanut Butter is made with fine bits of fiberglass that slice up your gums allowing for direct injection of peanut butter into your bloodstream.
It is this fleeting but powerful high that keeps you coming back for more rather than the taste.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^
Bolivia..... It'll take Heartland Granola cereal with whole milk.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:20 PM ^
February 2nd, 2015 at 4:30 PM ^
because I realized today how long it's been since I last enjoyed a bowl.
#Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs!
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:31 PM ^
This post, with your name & avatar, is so freaking hillarious coming at the end of a long debate over the late interception last night. Reading from the beginning there's a long debate over the call, the ball placement and time management and then, out of nowhere comes:
"Cinnamon toast crunch is good but for me Waffle crisp is the top dog of cereals."
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
I'm not looking to get banned Brian, let's just say I enjoy Cinnamon Toast Crunch every so often.
Reminded me of this, one of the funnier Deadspin posts I've seen.
I don't particularly have a problem with Carroll throwing a pass at some point in that series, and I don't even mind the quick slant route...ball is thrown accurately and that's either a touchdown or safely incomplete most of the time. I do think it's ridiculous that on 2nd and 1, you put 3 wide receivers on the field and pretty much destroy your ability to check into a run or, if you originally called a run, out of it into a play action or quick pass. Seattle's TEs are definitely not great, but you need bodies in the box anyway to have the option to pound it in. Hell, I'd have put 6 OL out there.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
It will be forgotten to history that Belichick made almost an equally stupid decision by not calling a timeout there
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
He looks like the robot in Lost in Space.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
What if Left Shark was actually doing it right, and Right Shark was just making up a ton of fake moves??
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:02 PM ^
Right shark is clearly just a show boat and wanted the spotlight all to himself at the expense of poor left shark who was just being a team player.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:03 PM ^
Let's not get political.
February 2nd, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^
The Super Bowl needs a third party shark to end some of this confusion.
February 2nd, 2015 at 1:41 PM ^
as Left Shark and the Beach Balls. What a trippy segment.
February 2nd, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
Poor left shark. Here's a well-written defense of him from Slate.
February 3rd, 2015 at 10:35 AM ^
Maybe the author of that piece is, in fact, LEFT SHARK!
February 2nd, 2015 at 6:39 PM ^
Just watching either one is cracking me up uncontrollably. Honestly neither one looks like they know what they're doing
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:24 PM ^
Bill Belichick—indisputably the greatest coach of his generation—had two timeouts in his pocket and was content to take them to the locker room if that's what it came to.
He's the most successful coach of his generation, but is it possible that Belichick is actually just an ordinary coach that has been bailed out by having Tom Brady for most of his career?
Belichick went 36-44 as Cleveland's head coach and was fired. He was hired a few years later at New England and went 5-11 in his first year, before having to start Brady in 2001 due to injury. The rest is history.
February 2nd, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
He also went 11-5 without Brady and with Matt Cassell in 2008.
Yes, it obviously helps to have the greatest QB in NFL history on your team. But to say that Belichick would be average without Brady is not smart at all.
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