Many of you know that I have called for Northwestern Football Offensive Coordinator Mick McCall to be fired for at least two years. I have posted here, and I even called Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald’s office after National Signing Day to complain when he brought back every coach on both sides of the ball and special teams.
I assume that Fitzgerald is too busy/too old school to pay attention to social media (even though he has a page on Facebook, but like many famous people, does not allow visitors to post on it). So, after making a comment about “the same people who complained about the defense,” I decided to put a face on the complainers – I sent a written letter, via snail mail to Fitzgerald. I admit that I have cribbed quite a bit from my evilopinion post of February 4th, but I’m plagiarizing myself, so it’s OK. Besides, I’m CERTAIN that Fitzgerald doesn’t read my posts. So, here is a copy of exactly what I sent Fitzgerald.

Dear Coach Fitzgerald:

I recently read your comments on insidenu.com saying that the complaints coming from outsiders about your retaining the offensive coaching staff are “the same people who criticized the defense a couple of years ago.” I realize that it is easy to complain on the Internet or on social media where people can make anonymous comments with no possibility for the object of the criticism to reply. Well, I am here to put a face on the critics. I am stepping forward, front and center. I actually called your office and spoke to your secretary when you announced that you would be retaining all of the coaches after National Signing Day expressing my dismay and disappointment.
Let me start by introducing myself. I am an alum from 1981, so I lived through the “bad old days” of the losing streak and the beatings. I wrote for The Sportswriters on TV and “The Back Table with Chet Coppock” television shows in the 1990s, and I have an Internet blog site: evilopinion.com. After NU, my friends and I went to games on beautiful days when there was nothing better to do. That of course, changed when Gary Barnett came to Evanston and showed that NU could compete. You know better than anyone since you were there. I came to every game of the Rose Bowl year and after that, when tickets became more difficult to get, my friend Tom Watson and I got season tickets. (I say this so that if anyone looks at the records and doesn’t see my name as a season ticket holder, this will show that I am not lying.)
We have had season tickets every year since, and have attended most of the bowl games. While I don’t bleed as much purple as you do, I have certainly bled longer and in tougher days. I admit to being a very vocal fan, yelling all the time, but with clean language and with humor. As such, I have a nice little posse of season ticket holders who sit around me. In my opinion, NU will never be Ohio State, we just aren’t big enough, and we have no PE and other “soft” majors to hide our athletes. I appreciate our high admission standards and graduation rates.
Barnett, Randy Walker and you have shown that we can consistently compete in the Big Ten. I do not expect national championships, but you have done a good job of building a respectable program. As to your insidenu.com comment, I occasionally criticize the defense, but I have said verbally and in writing on my site that your hiring of Mike Hankwitz was the most important hire you have made in your entire tenure. He has stabilized the defense for his entire time here and is, to me, the most valuable coach on the team.
That said, however, for the past three college football seasons, I have called for the firing of Mick McCall. Having been fired, I am very cautious in calling for anyone to be fired. I remember the blow to self-esteem and self-worth as I tried to get another job. Of course, most coaches and players make many orders of magnitude more money than I do; so that certainly makes it a lot easier. However, as hard as it is, when someone is obviously doing a horrible job, at some point, the employer needs to pull the plug. That time is long since past for McCall.
He has been in Evanston since 2008 and in his time, his major move has been to bring in the spread offense. Yes, he coached some good QBs: Persa, Colter, Bacher, Kafka and Siemian, but in my opinion, it has been more the result of the QB’s ability to operate in McCall’s never changing offense than McCall’s coaching.
The best coaches craft their scheme and game plan toward the strengths of the players they have, not try to fit square pegs in round holes forcing players to do things that aren’t natural to them. NU is running essentially the same spread offense whether the QB is mobile and can run the option (Colter, Persa) or more standard drop back passers (Bacher, Kafka and Siemian).
Yes, the Cats went 10-3 this season but the offense, as you well know ranked 115th out of 127 FBS teams. Each year for the past four years, the offensive rank has declined. We went 10-3 because our defense was VERY good – perhaps the best unit we’ve fielded since you were playing middle linebacker.
How much worse would the offense have been without Justin Jackson? Perhaps they would have been 127th? Jackson was the centerpiece of the offense but he carried the ball more than any running back in the nation, and with Solomon Vault moving to wide receiver, one has to wonder if McCall is going to kill the kid. Yes, he’s very good, but a little diversification (along with some help) should make the team better.
This season, McCall anointed red shirt Clayton Thorson as the starter, but the play calling was as vanilla as snow and predictable as a train schedule. Thorson looked good in short stretches, but I had my section, especially my fellow season ticket holders, in stitches as I yell out a dive play up the middle to Justin Jackson on first down, then, like clockwork, that is the play that was run.
Based on his record of fitting players into his scheme regardless of their strengths and weaknesses, it appears to me that McCall believes that the problem is simply execution. ‘We can run the same play; it will work if we block better or run better,’ is the message I see. However, when the defense knows what you are going to run, the best you can expect is a minimal gain and Big Ten defenses are among the best in the country.. Far too often, the offense is faced with a 2nd down and 8 yards to go (or worse) after running the same dive play again and again. A lot of people criticized Thorson but I don’t see an offense suited to him.
Another gripe – quarterbacks get hurt, and almost every season, NU’s starter has lost anywhere from a portion of a game to a game to multiple games due to injury. When this happens, the second string QB never looks ready to play and it takes a couple of games before the kid even appears confident on the field. That is the QB coach’s responsibility and you know better than anyone who the QB coach is?
While Northwestern’s website hails McCall as an offensive innovator, over the past three years, his play calling has become more and more conservative. The playbook has become a pamphlet with the offense running many of the same plays over and over. In the 2014 season, calls for McCall’s job were out there, but you stayed with McCall, citing loyalty. Many alums, myself included, were upset and skeptical.
There is a season ticket holder who sits in front of me who has a radio and listens during the game. Running off the field at one halftime, you told the reporter that the team needed to throw more on first down in the second half. Then the team came out and ran on nearly every first down. Who is running the show, Coach; you or McCall?
During the season I saw comments on insidenu.com that McCall’s play calling is conservative because he doesn’t have confidence in his offense. WHAT??? This is HIS offense. I think it means that he doesn’t have confidence in running his “off-the-shelf” offense, and he is unwilling or unable to adapt to the talent he has.
The Mick McCall era should have ended at the end of 2014. It should have ended at the end of last season, but loyalty and the smokescreen of a 10-3 record appears to have once again blinded you and AD Jim Phillips to the reality – our offense is just not good enough. Our defense deserves an offense it can be proud of.
To conclude, I am a Cats fan. I am a season ticket holder, and I am not hiding behind the Internet. Below is my address and contact information. Give me a call; send me a nasty note; come over and beat me up – you’re younger, stronger and in much better shape. It’s cool – I stand behind my comments. You say that you’re a builder of young men; that your players have to be held accountable for their play on the field and behavior off the field – all noble goals and the correct thing to teach your team. When will Mick McCall and the coaching staff be held accountable to the same degree?
Go Cats!
Tony Fernandez
(Contact Information Included)

This Sunday night, the 88th Academy Awards will be held and in light (no pun intended) of the controversy over the fact that no people of color were nominated, I look forward most to host Chris Rock’s monologue. Since the show is being produced by Reginald Hudlin, who is also African-American, I don’t think there will be many restraints on the jokes told.
But I will not be boycotting the Oscar telecast. Like I said, it should start out funny and go from there. However, there is a tradition at evilopinion to give my thoughts on the awards and who will win. I admit that I haven’t seen all of the nominated films or performances, but that doesn’t stop most of the senior citizens who make up the Motion Picture Academy, so I won’t let it stop me here…

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Let’s start with Supporting Actor – Bale was terrific in one of my favorite films of the year, The Big Short, but it was more of an ensemble picture. Bale was good but won’t win. The same can be said of Mark Ruffalo, who was also terrific in another of my favorite films of 2015, Spotlight. However, Ruffalo played his usual, outraged, forceful character. Not much of a stretch, I thought. I thought that Michael Keaton in the same film was better.
I love Tom Hardy; he is one of the best actors working today. That said, I loved him more in Mad Max: Fury Road, and Legend where he played both Cray brothers. I thought he was good here, but again, won’t win. I recently saw Bridge of Spies on stream and any other year, Mark Rylance would be my pick. He was great In Wolf Hall on PBS and is just as good here as the Russian spy defended by Tom Hanksn (and, ironically, one day older than yours truly). To me, he is the only actor who has a chance of defeating… Sylvester Stallone in Creed. I have not yet seen this film mostly because I had tired of Rocky despite African-Americans Michael B. Jordan (star) and Ryan Coogler (writer/director) reuniting after their first picture together, Fruitvale Station. Oscar loves to give long overlooked and sometimes old “stars” who never gave an award worthy performance before (see James Coburn and Sean Connery) best supporting Oscars. I think this will be what happens here.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Based on the films I have seen, I would pick Jennifer Jason Leigh over Rachel McAdams. Ms. McAdams was very good, but she was in an ensemble film and, as not the lead, was as fine as the rest of the cast, but not better. Ms. Jason Leigh was outstanding in Hateful Eight and would be my pick no doubt, but they won’t choose her, I don’t think. Tarantino’s actors have had success in the male version of this category (mostly Christophe Waltz), but I don’t see her winning. I have not seen the other films, but I’ll weigh in on them anyway. I don’t understand the fascination for Steve Jobs – in print or on film. He was able to imagine products and market them, but he was a miserable person. I have heard that Ms. Winslet is very good as Joanna Hoffman, but since the film was given a general “meh” at the box office and by critics, I don’t think it will win. Alicia Vikander was extremely good in Ex Machina, and I would have been rooting for her to win, but she was nominated for The Danish Girl as the female companion/friend of transsexual Gerta Wegener played by Eddie Redmayne. I just didn’t feel compelled to see this film. I have nothing against films about people with gender issues/problems; I just didn’t care enough to see it.
So that leaves Rooney Mara as the winner for “Carol.” Mara plays the younger woman who finds love with Cate Blanchette’s character in the repressed 1950s. I will probably see this at some point, but again, it just doesn’t grab me much.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Perhaps the easiest category of them all. Mr. Cranston was very good in Trumbo and Oscar generally loves movies about people who make movies, but I don’t think he will win. The same can be said for Matt Damon, again, very good in The Martian, but Academy voters generally don’t vote for science fiction movies. Damon was outstanding being humanity to the story, and if there’s a dark horse, it is Mr. Damon.
Eddie Redmayne once again has a transformative performance as The Danish Girl, but he just won last year for The Theory of Everything playing renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife as he got worse from ALS. Since he just won last year, he would have been a long shot anyway. I love Michael Fassbender, like Tom Hardy, I think he is one of the finest actors working today. Still, my antipathy at the real life Steve Jobs kept me from seeing the film and it was not the big hit many thought. I do believe that both Mr. Hardy and Mr. Fassbender will have their day with Oscar one of these years.
Which leaves me with Leonardo DiCaprio; actor in big pictures for decades, nominated many times but never won, despite playing in several films directed by Martin Scorsese. He wants an Oscar, and this time, he should get his wish. As I wroter last week here in another blog, I wasn’t as big a fan of The Revenant as a film or of Mr. DiCaprio’s performance. It was good, but of the “look at how I suffered for my art” school of Oscar strategy.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Call me sexist, but I have seen none of the films here. I had a chance to see 45 Years at TIFF last year, but a film that I wanted to see more was playing at the same time (I think it may have been Spotlight). Charlotte Rampling has been one of the best actors for a very long time, even as she aged and I have heard that she is quite good in this film, but I don’t know if she would win, especially with her comment that the OscarsSoWhite controversy was discriminating against white actors (a comment she quickly backtracked but not before the damage had been done).
David O. Russell’s latest dramedy “Joy” was the least successful at the box office, centering on the story of the woman who created and patented the “swifter” mop. Jennifer Lawrence has won for Silver Linings Playbook and been nominated for American Hustle, so this is the third time she has been nominated for Best Actress in a Russell film. I don’t think she’ll win this time.
I have not seen Brooklyn, a romantic period piece, which is probably why I haven’t seen it. She is reportedly quite good in it and I have seen Ms. Ronan do quality work in City of Ember, Hanna, Byzantium and best in The Grant Budapest Hotel.
From what I hear, Brie Larson is a shoe-in for Room. I say from what I hear, because I have had the chance to see it, but the story of a young girl kidnapped and held hostage for years, raped and spending time protecting her child from the kidnapper/father is a little too real for me. I admit that films where children, especially girls, come to harm is hard for me. Again, I will probably see it at some point, but not for awhile.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

I know very little about Boy and the World, but I’ve heard its charming. I admit that when the Indignant younger daughter was smaller, she watched Shawn the Sheep and I liked it. She’s too old for it now, so the Shawn the Sheep movie is one of the very few that I was not dragged to over the past 7 years, but it looks funny. I have seen When Marnie Was There, a Studio Ghibli firm directed by Hiromasa Yonebayshi about a distant adolescent girl who become obsessed with an abandoned mansion and the girl who lives there, who may or not be real. This was a very good film in the studio’s tradition.
The battle here is between he kids and the adults. Inside Out was another Pixar Studios triumph which showed how emotions came together in the life of a little girl. It was good for adults and children, which is why it is the favorite to win. However, the very adult Anomolisa directed by Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman is the story of a middle aged man on a business trip who meets up with his former life and a couple of women in the hotel where he is staying. It was a funny, sad, quirky, real movie. I think it has the only chance of beating Inside Out.

DIRECTING
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight
Lenny Abrahamson reportedly did a masterful job of bringing a 10’ X 10’ room to life as a young boy’s universe in Room. Adam McKay was known most as a director of Will Farrell comedies, but he brings the right level of comedy and seriousness to The Big Short. However, I think it’s a race for the other three directors.
Tom McCarthy brought authenticity to Spotlight, which was about the Boston Globe’s investigation into pedophile priests. Mr. McCarthy made research and the potentially banal life of a reporter exciting, even though we know what they uncovered. My biggest rooting interest of the evening is for George Miller, director of Mad Max. The Australian apocalyptic series are among my all time favorites and for decades, I have waited for the next installment while Mr. Miller made kids films about talking pigs (Babe 1 and 2) and talking and dancing animated penguins (Happy Feet 1 and 2). I held my breathe hoping that the new Max film would be good and it surpassed my wildest expectations. Without the aged and controversial Mel Gibson in the lead, replaced by Tom Hardy, with was exciting, action filmmaking on an epic scale. I do hope he wins, but in my heart, I don’t think so.
Alejandro G. Inarritu won last year for Birdman, and this year, he is nominated for The Revenant. Ordinarily, I would say that Mr. Inarritu wining last year would preclude people from voting for him this year, but again, he did direct a good film in terrible conditions.
Since I have to pick a winner, I’ll go with Mr. McCarthy, but wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Inarritu wins, but I’ll be hoping for the George Miller upset.

BEST PICTURE
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

This column and Sunday’s Academy Awards ends with the hardest pick to make – Best Picture. If Leo wins as expected and Inarritu wins for best director, then The Revenant is the pick. Likewise, but more of a long shot, if Ms. Larson wins for best actress as expected and Mr. Abrahamson pulls out the upset of a lifetime and wins best director, then Room will win. Bridge of Spies in directed by Stephen Spielberg, but since he wasn’t nominated for best director, I don’t think that’s happening. Brooklyn, The Martian are fine films but won’t win. I love The Big Short and it could win, but it’s a long shot in my opinion (although a very worthy best picture if it does win) I would LOVE for Mad Max to win and Mr. Miller wins best director, it has a better shot, but I don’t think that will happen.
So that leaves me with Spotlight as my pick of Best Picture. The next best chance is The Revenant.

So, those are my thoughts. Let’s watch Sunday and see what happens…

I am a movie fan – I love them, and try to see as many films as I can. So, last weekend, with the family seeing Kung Fu Panda 3 (I had seen it with the Indignant younger child the night before, but since the Indignant older child having missed out, they all went), so I could have gone home and done something, or I could go to another film. Since the only “big” movie I hadn’t seen was The Revenant, I went to see it.
Everyone is saying that Leonardo DiCaprio is a shoe-in form Best Actor for this film, and they are probably right, but I had several problems with the film. First, it suffered from what I call “the Dances With Wolves syndrome” – the movie is very long filled with LOTS of shots of the scenery/wilderness. Some of this to show where the character was would have been alright, but after awhile, I wanted director Alejandro G. Inarritu to get on with it already.
I hardly ever agree with New York Times critic A.O. Scott, but I do this time – DiCaprio’s performance is in the “look at what I sacrificed to produce my art” school of acting. It follows in the tradition of gaining weight (Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull), losing weight (Christian Bale in The Machinist). It is Method to the 100th power.
What makes this worse than the DeNiro or Bale performances is the desperation factor. DiCaprio has never won an Oscar, despite having appeared in numerous quality and popular films. The truth is that I have never warmed to DiCaprio as an actor. He’s okay, but he’s not a star that brings me in the door on his own even thought he has appeared in many Martin Scorsese films and Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino (two of my all time filmmakers). I liked Inception tooI can’t explain it; I just don’t think much of his performances, and there’s nothing worse than taking roles in an effort to win Oscar.
I call this the Tom Hanks attitude – every film he’s done since winning his second Best Actor award for 1994’s Forrest Gump (I film that I despise, by the way) is a blatant attempt to set the record for Best Actor Awards that he holds with Spencer Tracy. With the exception of the Toy Story movies and the Dan Brown thrillers, Hanks has done everything he can to be in “important films” at the center of attention. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Tom Hanks – I met him back when he was doing Bosom Buddies. He would come to Cubs games and I let him “escape” down the wheel chair ramp – a nicer man you’ll never find (a trait that he still has according to most reports).
I appreciate DiCaprio’s stance on environmental issues, and I do think he’s talented just not one of my favorites, and I did like The Revenant (but not nearly as much as The Big Short or Spotlight). So, I hope that, if this is what he wants, he gets that Oscar monkey off his back and just goes and makes films.

Seldom do you see an official, referee, umpire, etc. face real punishment for his/her actions. Fortunately, the players and coaches have respect for the game and the officials. However, things do seem to be escalating.
Last month, Calgary Flame defenseman Dennis Wideman cross-checked linesman Don Henderson in a game against Nashville on January 27th. Wideman was given a hard check and went after Milkka Salomaki. Supposedly suffering a concussion on the check (and was not given the concussion protocols according to reports), Wideman checked the linesman who hit the ice hard. The NHL has a punishment for such offenses – 20 game suspension without pay. Wideman will lose over $500,000 as a result.
Still, Wideman’s offense is a drop in the bucket compared to what happened in Argentina. We all know that soccer is taken VERY seriously in many countries, but I don’t know if we’ve ever seen this. A soccer player is on the run from the police in Argentina after he allegedly shot and killed a referee who sent him off. A referee gave the man a red card (ejection) for hitting another player during an amateur league match in Cordoba this past Sunday. Acording to police and spectators, the player walked off the pitch, grabbed a gun from his backpack, ran back onto the field of play as the game continued, and allegedly shot 48-year-old official Cesar Flores in the head, chest and neck. The referee was rushed to Cordoba Hospital, but later died.
Another bullet hit 25-year-old player Walter Zarate in the chest. It’s not known whether he was on the same team as the alleged shooter or was an opponent. Fortunately, Zarate was hospitalized but is recovering.
Police believe they have identified the man, but his name has not yet been released to the media. Another police source confirmed to La Voz newspaper the shooting wasn’t related to gang warfare.
Of course, if Wayne LaPierre had his way, this Wild West attitude would be breaking out all over the country. I love sports – I have spent my whole life watching sports, playing sportsand the last 25 years or so writing and covering it formally, but I can say that there is no sport, anywhere, at any time, that is worth killing or being killed over.

I didn’t have a lot of time to post last week with the Super Bowl looming, which is probably for the best because I would have picked the Panthers and be eating a fair share of humble pie. However, part of that is because I try very hard to avoid the pre-game media. Two weeks of hype with thousands of reporters looking to find an angle on every player, coach, owner, grounds keeper, etc., it’s boring overkill.
However, I did feel the bias pointed toward Carolina. There was a story early last week that said that the Panthers were the most “African-American team” in the league last year. Their QB, the face of the team is of course, talented, brash, black Cam Newton. The article said that the team celebrated in a black way, whatever that means. The writer thought they had an black “vibe” I guess, despite the fact that the best players on Denver other than Peyton Manning, are certainly black.
I don think that there was a difference in coverage before, during and after the game. Newton was cocky, said the media, while Peyton Manning is the great white ageing gentlemen. On Facebook, I have gotten some comments about how Newton and his family were paid when he went to Auburn, and his celebratory fade was demeaning. There was, certainly in the press in my opinion, a feeling that the “uppity Negro” needed to be slapped down.
Then after the loss, the press came after him again, putting the young man down for the one word answers he gave amid the disappointment then blasted him when he stormed out of the after game press conference. Well, it turned out that one of the Bronco defenders was being interviewed at the same time and Newton could hear what the defender was saying about shutting down the Panthers’ offense. There was a question about the NFL putting them so close to one another, no matter who had won or lost.
The only complaint I have for Newton was a comment that he made in which he said that the Broncos defense hadn’t done anything special – if he and his teammates had executed well, they would have won. Perhaps, but he should give credit to that defense which performed very well yesterday. I doubt any offense in the NFL could have scored much against the Broncos last night.
Then we have Peyton Manning, who may have played his last game last night. As I did write in the last two weeks, I have problems with him. On television and in commercials, he seems to be a self-effacing guy, a guy you’d like if he was around. But the PED scandal, which would end if he retires, is an albatross on his legacy, especially the way he threw his wife under the bus when shipments of HGH were sent to their house in his wife’s name. I now cannot believe that Manning was all that “clean” and at a minimum, he certainly isn’t a candidate for husband of the year.
And there is the fact that he owns 21 Papa John’s pizza franchises that bothers me. I refuse to give any money to Papa John’s as a result of CEO John Schnatter’s battle against paying his employees a living wage, fighting tooth and nail against an increase in the minimum wage, and his fight against the Affordable Care Act. Schnatter does this while having a 40,000 sq. ft. mansion in Kentucky that includes the following accoutrements:
• 22 car underground garage
• Multiple swimming pools
• Private golf course
• Motorized turntable driveway to park stretch limousines
• 6,000 sq. ft. guest house
• Office for valet parking

Manning used his position to publicize products: when introducing the living MVPs of the 49 previous Super Bowls, they showed Manning drinking Gatorade in the dressing room. After the game, when asked what he would do now (hoping for a retirement announcement), Manning said he would be drinking “lots of Budweisers.” NFL players are prohibited from officially endorsing alcohol, but Manning reportedly owns a stake in two distributors in Louisiana, so the “Golden Boy” was lining his pockets by skirting league rules (which may explain the PED allegations because the rules “don’t apply to him”).
Then there was the “air-kiss” between Manning and Schnatter, who “somehow” found his way on the field at the end of the game. A media consultant said that Gatorade and Budweiser were the big winners of the Super Bowl ad wars just because of Manning’s plugs.
And since Manning had a dreadful Super Bowl, let’s hope this is the last we see of him. Manning went a pedestrian 13 of 23 for 141 yards and an interception. Not exactly a gunslinger type performance from number 18; and the offense went 1-13 on 3rd down conversions. Fortunately, the defense played so well and forced so many turnovers that the offense was superfluous.
We NFL fans will see more of the Panthers and Cam Newton again. Let’s hope he learned something on and off the field. I also hope that Peyton Manning smells the coffee and, faced with investigations of PEDs and greatly diminished skills will retire. We don’t need to see another Willie Mays with the Mets, or Joe Montana in Kansas City – all time greats and first time Hall of Famers playing well beneath their skills trying to fight off Father Time.
It might be mean, but I do hope for financial hard times for Papa John’s Pizza – bring down Schnatter a few hundred pegs. And if Peyton Manning is caught in that too, oh well.

The title here is an old adage, but it’s true – teams with better defense generally defeat great offenses. That is the lesson learned by the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl when they lost to the Denver Broncos. The Broncos stuffed NFL MVP Cam Newton with blitzes and stifling coverage. The defense forced four turnovers that became the 14 point margin of victory.
Let me say that I underestimated the defense: I picked the Broncos to lose to New England in the AFC Championship Game, and then to lose to Carolina in the Super Bowl. I figured that the offense would find a way to overcome and Carolina has quite a good defense themselves. But I was wrong – this defense, coached by Wade Phillips, was the best defense in the league last year: 3rd in passing, 1st in rushing and overall; the Super Bowl performance was no fluke. Von Miller was a worthy MVP and that was all she wrote.
The fact that the Panthers stayed in the game was on account of their defense, who stifled Peyton Manning and the Broncos all day. The Broncos converted 1 of 13 third down conversion attempts, which showed that this was an old fashioned defensive struggle.
I have never liked Denver – I didn’t like them when they were the Orange Crush, I certainly never liked them when John Elway was on the field. I’m not a big fan of them with Elway in the front office and Manning as the starting QB, so I’m not fond of the team that won. However, I do tip my hat to that defense, and as a Chicago football fan, I appreciate stifling defense more than great offense, To Miller, Phillips and the rest of that side of the ball – well done.

For the past three college football seasons, I have called for the firing of Northwestern Offensive Coordinator Mick McCall. With this the week of National Signing Day, Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald addressed the media and announced the worst fears of the NU faithful – he is retaining ALL of the assistant coaches, including the inept McCall.
Having been fired once, I am very cautious in calling for anyone to be fired. I remember the blow to self-esteem and self-worth as I tried to get another job. Of course, most coaches and players make many orders of magnitude more money than I do; so that certainly makes it a lot easier.
However, as hard as it is, when someone is obviously doing a horrible job, at some point, the employer needs to pull the plug. That time is long since past for McCall. Hel has been in Evanston since 2008 and in his tenure, his major move has been to bring in the spread offense. Yes, he coached some good QBs: Persa, Colter, Bacher, Kafka and Siemian, but in my opinion, it has been more the result of the QB’s ability to operate in McCall’s never changing offense than McCall’s coaching.
The best coaches craft their scheme and game plan toward the strengths of the players they have, not try to fit square pegs in round holes forcing players to do things that aren’t natural to them. NU is running essentially the same spread offense whether the QB is mobile and can run the option (Colter, Persa) or more standard drop back passers (Bacher, Kafka and Siemian).
Yes, the Cats went 10-3 this season but the defense was really good – the best unit they’ve fielded since Fitzgerald himself was playing middle linebacker. Northwestern was ranked 115 out of 127 FBS teams in Overall offense this past season. Justin Jackson was the centerpiece of the offense but McCall is going to kill the kid. He had more carries than any running back in the nation last season. Yes, he’s good, but a little diversification (along with some help) should make the team better.
Another gripe – quarterbacks get hurt, and almost every season, NU’s starter has lost anywhere from a portion of a game to a game to multiple games due to injury. When this happens, the second string QB never looks ready to play and it takes a couple of games before the kid even appears confident on the field. That is the QB coach’s responsibility and guess who the QB coach is?.
As Northwestern’s website hails McCall as an offensive innovator, over the past three years, his play calling has become more and more conservative. The playbook has become a pamphlet with the offense running many of the same plays over and over. In the 2014 season, calls for McCall’s job were clearly heard at McGaw Hall, but Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald stayed with McCall, citing loyalty. Many alums, myself included, were upset and skeptical.
This season, McCall anointed red shirt Clayton Thorson as the starter, but the play calling was as vanilla as snow and predictable as a train schedule. Thorson looked good in short stretches, but I had my section, especially my fellow season ticket holders in stitches as I yell out a dive play up the middle to Justin Jackson on first down, then, like clockwork, that is the play that’s run. Based on his record of fitting players into his scheme regardless of their strengths and weaknesses, it appears to me that McCall believes that the problem is simply execution. ‘We can run the same play; it will work if we block better or run better,’ is the message I see. However, when the defense knows what you are going to run, the best you can expect is a minimal gain. Far too often, the offense is faced with a 2nd down and 8 yards to go (or worse) after running the same dive play again and again. A lot of people criticized Thorson but I don’t see an offense suited to him.
As I wrote last October, I’ve seen comments that McCall’s play calling is conservative because he doesn’t have confidence in his offense. WHAT??? This is HIS offense. I think it means that he doesn’t have confidence in running his “off-the-shelf” offense, and he is unwilling or unable to adapt to the talent he has.
The Mick McCall era should have ended at the end of 2014. It should have ended at the end of last season, but loyalty and the smokescreen of a 10-3 record blinded Fitzgeral and AD Jim Phillips to the reality – our offense is just not good enough. Our defense deserves an offense it can be proud of.
I wanted to post this on Fitzgerald’s Facebook page, but it doesn’t allow outside posts. It does however, list the phone number of the football office, so I called. He wasn’t around, but I did speak to his secretary. I asked her how Fitzgerald can say he is teaching young men accountability when the coaches are not being held accountable? A told her that would it take a mass exodus of season ticket holders to get Fitzgerald to listen? And what is AD Phillips doing while all this is going on?
I offered to leave my phone number (I gave her my name) but she wouldn’t take it. Let me say here and now, that if Pat Fitzgerald is out there, I am here, ready and willing to let him know how far too many season ticket holders feel.