Mule or Ox, Same Difference

This theme of this week's football seems to have been stubbornness. My personal favorite (because it's funny, not because it was fun to watch) was the mulish devotion to kicking from the Bengals. Mike Nugent kicked FIVE field goals in their win over the Ravens (okay, maybe the Bengals weren't so much "being stubborn", as "unable to score").

The award for individual stubbornness coming back to bite a player in the butt has to go to Brett Favre. Brett continued to do his now-rote"will-I or won't-I retire" dance, in a shameless ploy to avoid training camp. At first, I argued in his favor. He's Brett Favre. Why on earth does he need to go to training camp? What could he possibly learn. Turns out, he might have learned how to handle the football. In two games, Favre has turned the ball over FIVE times, including one terrible fumble in his own endzone. And let's not forget the innumerable missed passes. Favre hasn't been playing like a Hall of Fame quarterback, he's been playing like a rookie who missed training camp.

Sure, there can be a positive side to being stubborn. Halfway through the third quarter, Houston was down to the Redskins 27 to 10. For most teams, that would be the end of it. Unless you're the Colts, or you're playing the Browns, most teams can't come back from three scores down. But the Texans stuck with it, buckled down, and scored 13 unanswered points to win in overtime. It's possible the Texans just might be for real (a Dallas/Houston Super Bowl would be this Texas girl's greatest dream come true).

But sometimes stubborn coaches lose games, too. As I've pointed out before, no one can lose like the Lions. This week was no exception. However, unlike last week, where they were robbed by the application of a ridiculous rule, this week they managed to lose through shockingly bad coaching. Imagine: The Lions are down 11 points, with 12 minutes left. They're at the 29 yard line. It's third down and a yard. Instead of letting the highly-accurate kicker take the field goal that THEY NEED ANYWAY, they stubbornly decide to go for it on fourth down, running the exact same play that had gained them no yards on third down. So now they're still behind by 11 points, and they've turned it over on downs.

Fastforward. It's the last two minutes of the game. Against all odds, the Lions have scored twice (including one two point conversion), held the Eagles to three and out, and have MIRACULOUSLY recovered an onside kick. The score is 35-32. There is 1:50 left in the game, and only 55 yards to the endzone. Instead of taking things careful and precise, like a logical and reasonable person might do, the Lions stubbornly decide to have a back up quarterback bomb it down the field twice, and miss two easy short passes, in less than 24 seconds, to once again turn the ball over on downs, and lose the game by a heartbreaking three points. Stubborn, and stupid.

And for yet another stubborn coaching decision, Andy Reid, coach of the Eagles, has decided to bench Michael Vick, who, despite what you might think of him personally, played an amazing game of football against the Lions (284 yds, 2 TDs, no turnovers) and had a pretty good game against the Packers the week before (even though the Eagles lost). Reid has given no explanation as to why he's benching a winning quarterback for the unproven Kevin Kolb. Maybe the stubborn is catching?