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Knee-jerk Reactions: And now for something completely different...

(The infamous "Fail Whale" can't even compete with everyone's favorite ESPN figure)

One of the great joys in my life, however pathetic it may be, is reading and listening to comments from ESPN hosts and other sporting outlets simply to laugh at their ignorance, and blatant jock riding/apologizing. My favorite (least favorite?) is the fool on the right side of ESPN's "First Take" program, Mr. Skip Bayless. Obviously it's his job to make bold claims to get fans riled up, make them angry, and bring them back for more nonsense the next day. In that way, Skip succeeds with flying colors. Where he fails horribly is his lack of consistency when making his arguments, letting his imaginary vendetta's against certain players and unreasonable love of others cloud his judgment. Don't get me wrong, what he says doesn't upset me, make me want to throw a chair through the TV and make a b-line to my computer to fire off 30 e-mails to his ESPN address. Not at all; in fact, the only thing he does for me is give me some good laughs to start the day. That said, I'm breaking from the usual format of my weekend recap to some of his more humorous, and foolish, statements made on his Twitter account (@RealSkipBayless, if you want to share in my joy).


1) "Yesterday, Michigan had to be glad that Les Miles was not its coach. Are that you can pin a loss directly on head coach, but Miles lost it." - First off, what? The second sentence is barely coherent even by 140-character Twitter standards. Despite it looking like he fell asleep and bashed his head on the keyboard, I think the basic idea is pretty clear. Because Les Miles made one mistake by mismanaging the clock against Ole Miss, Michigan should be thanking it's lucky stars that a National Championship winning coach isn't wandering their sidelines.

Again, what?

The same Michigan team that might be in the market for a new head coach just two years after breaking the bank to get Rich Rodriguez should be grateful Les Miles isn't their coach? This one is pretty easy to rip on just for the shear lack of insight and thoughtfulness. LSU and Michigan are both huge programs with incredible histories of success which means they almost recruit themselves. With that said, Miles manages to recruit much better players than Rich Rod does at Michigan, and he's competing against Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Mark Richt, Houston Nutt, and now Lane Kiffin. Who has Rich Rod ever had to really recruit against? Jim Tressell, Kirk Ferentz, and Greg Schiano from his West Virginia days? The two aren't even comparable to be completely honest. I don't even really have to get in to this next part too much, but who faces tougher competition on a week to week basis, and who ends up with a better record at the end of the season?

It's a bit embarrassing that people who call themselves sports writers start declaring coaches to be completely inept after one brutal mistake. Everyone wanted Belichick's head for going for the 4th and 2 against the Colts, conveniently forgetting the 3 Super Bowls he won for the Pats. One bad mistake by Les Miles, who will have his LSU team in the top 25 with a winning record and season's end, should make Wolverines fans across America feel better about their second straight losing season in a pretty lame Big Ten? Whatever you say, Skip.

2) "If Rashean Mathis hadn't been out for Jags, no way TOld puts up any #s. Beat backup and held up index finger last 20 yds. Pathetic. Buff 3-7" - See what I mean when I say he holds grudges and can't give credit when it's due. There is absoultely no way Terrell Owens can win with this man. Skip's constant undeserved bashing of T.O. is actually pushing me to root for him, which I never thought would be possible. Because Owens put up monster numbers (9 rec., 198 yards and a TD) against a backup, he's pathetic. Anyone care to guess what would have been said about him if Rashean Mathis' replacement had shut him down yesterday? If you thought to yourself something along the lines of, He's all washed up. TOld has lost more than one step, and proved it by getting shut down by a backup corner. The Bills are 3-7 and T.O. should take all the blame, you deserve a gold star for the day.

Is T.O. completely blameless in the Bills' struggles this season? Not at all. Is he the reason they lose the majority of their games? That depends, does he play QB, any offensive line position, outside linebacker, or any secondary position not occupied by Jairus Byrd? If he doesn't, you might want to look at those areas before you even get to T.O. on the "Why the Bills are awful" list. It is fairly easy to see that Trent Edwards trying to get the ball to Owens just isn't going to work, and the fact is the problem rests with Edwards in this case. It's no coincidence that Owens' numbers have gone up since Ryan Fitzpatrick has gotten the snaps with the first team. Fitzpatrick is leaps and bounds ahead of Edwards in terms of reading defenses, maintaining pocket composure, and working through his progressions downfield. Trent Edwards' progression goes #1 receiver, then straight to his check down target who is usually his running back. When Edwards does try to throw it down the field, his decision making is lacking to the point where he tries to force a ball to Owens in triple coverage. But of course, that's on T.O. to beat that triple coverage, elevate 4 feet, and come down with the ball.

Anyone who watched the Bills game against Jacksonville yesterday knows that T.O. was out of his mind intense trying to motivate his team. Unfortunately, the defense couldn't match his intensity and stop the Jags from taking the lead late. Considering how predictable it is that T.O. is going to get smashed by Skip Bayless regardless of how well he performs in a losing effort, I'm seriously coming around on T.O. If at all possible, it appears that he has been humbled a bit by this experience in Buffalo, but that's beyond the realm of understanding for those who just refuse to put aside their old images of someone and trust what their eyes are telling them.

3) "I am sick and tired of people bashing JCutler. Yes, immature gunslinger. Yes, takes too many chances. But he's stuck in terrible offense!" - Hurry, call the whaaaambulance that Chris Crocker is driving! LEAVE JAY CUTLER ALONE! I'm declaring that I have free range to shred Jay Cutler anytime I want because it was very obvious to me the minute the Broncos traded him that the Bears' offense was terrible, and Cutler wasn't going to make it any better. Skip Bayless on the other hand is never allowed to use the "Bears have no receivers" excuse because he claimed that Cutler is an elite QB and would be a star for Chicago.

It's a fact, Jay Cutler has been an unparalleled disaster for the Bears this season. Everyone knew he would throw some interceptions simply because of the way he likes to play. But for him to lead the league in picks (18) on a team with a depleted defense is unacceptable for an "elite" QB. It's true, he doesn't have a true #1 receiver to throw to, but don't elite QB's elevate the level of play around them? Who were Tom Brady's best receivers during the Patriots' Super Bowl seasons? David Patten, Deion Branch, J.R. Redmond, and Troy Brown? Not exactly the greatest receiving core, but Brady made them better and won 3 championships with them. If Cutler is as good as Skip and every other sports writer thinks he is, he should have no problem getting good results out of Johnny Knox, Devin Hester, and Greg Olsen.

The problem with Jay Cutler isn't so much his receivers and offensive line as it is his mechanics and mentality. Cutler is one of the worst perpetrators of throwing off his back foot instead of setting his feet and then throwing the ball. He also gets antsy in the pocket when he feels the rush and tries to force passes in to coverage because of his powerful arm, the arm he uses to overthrow wide open receivers on multiple occasions every game. But maybe the biggest thing he does wrong is when he gets behind, he starts pressing too much. If the Bears are behind, which they usually are, he tries to bring them back with big plays down the field and makes bad throws in to coverage. Part of it has to do with their lack of a running game, but the biggest factor is his ego telling him he has to singlehandedly win the game with his arm. The criticism is justified Skip, and only an apologist for a fellow Vanderbilt alum wouldn't be able to see that.

3) (Half Tweet) "NE still little better than Indy and Minn. clearly better than N.O..." - I don't even know where to begin with this one. A team in New England, with losses to the Jets, Broncos, and COLTS, is better than Indianapolis? Yes, the Patriots out gained the Colts, but who ended up with the win? Belichick made a bad decision against Indy, but guess what, coaching is part of what makes a team better than another. On that night, Jim Caldwell out coached Belichick and the Colts BEAT the Patriots. 10-0>>>7-3, end of discussion.

Minnesota is CLEARLY better than the Saints? Is that why the Saints are undefeated and have only struggled in 2 or 3 games all season? The Vikings are very good and a CLEARLY one of the best teams in the NFC, but they still suffer from taking full quarters, and sometimes halves, off in every game. Minnesota has beaten equally horrific teams as New Orleans, but they also have the glarring "1" in the loss column. Until the Saints grace their loss column with a crooked number, it's just foolish to say a 1-loss team is CLEARLY better than an unbeaten one. Only college football voters are allowed to be that stupid (USC above Oregon 1 week after Oregon blew them out).

4) (Second half tweet) Right now, Favre MVP. 21 TDs, 3 INT?! Not even debatable - Hmm, not debatable? *Throws the red challenge flag*. I beg to differ on this one. Favre has been incredible, as much as it pains me to say that. He has completely changed the way he plays the game because he finally has a running back to take the pressure off him. His numbers this season have him in the conversation for MVP, that is not even debatable. Where I see a problem is that there are two other QB's out there with undefeated squads that are being neglected for some reason. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning have both led their teams to 10-and-0 starts, largely on their passing prowess. Their interception numbers may be higher, but it clearly hasn't taken their team out of a game and cause their respective team to lose. That's the deal breaker right now for Brett Favre. Cry, whine and moan all you want about what happened in Pittsburgh, but Favre lost that game for them. Two turnovers inside the Steelers 25 yard line, both returned for touchdowns. But...but, Chester Taylor should've caught it. Boo hoo; the pass was high and woobly and it got picked off for a TD, end of story. Can he still win it? Sure, why not. No one expects the Saints and Colts to go undefeated, so if he can stave off the typical Brett Favre end of the season collapse and start lobbing 2-3 picks a game, he could win it. But to say he is a slam dunk right now just isnt' right.

p.s., I've got it 1) Manning 2) Brees 3) Favre. Manning to Wayne against the Pats = Favre to Greg Lewis vs. the 49ers. Stop the worship, look at the facts

5) "From what I keep seeing of NSuh's Nebraska defense, Texas is in for a long, hard B12 title game. Suh easy No. 1 overall pick." - TRUTH. Smartest thing I've seen/heard from this man maybe ever. Every weekend I legitimately lament the fact that I don't get to see Ndamukong Suh play. Whenever I do get to watch him, I can't even pay attention to the offense because I'm just blown away by what he can do. He looks like Reggie White with his disruptive abilities, but from the defensive tackle position, which is even more impressive because it causes more havoc for the offensive line. Think Shaun Rogers, but exponentially faster. He's going to need a wheelbarrow to carry all the awards he's going to win at season's end. On the number 1 pick thing though, he's not necessarily a lock to go number 1. Right now the 3 worst teams in the NFL are the Rams, Browns, and Bucs, in that order. The Browns wouldn't take Suh unless they moved Shaun Rogers in a trade before the draft. Cleveland plays the 3-4 and as good as Suh is, he wouldn't play over Rogers. If either the Rams or Bucs get the first pick, he would almost assuredly go #1 as their defensive line situations are pretty abysmal. St. Louis starts a defensive end at left defensive tackle, and the Bucs start Chris Hovan on their line. Personally, I would love to see him end up with the Rams, especially if they considered moving to a 3-4 base defense. A defensive front of Leonard Little, Ndamukong Suh, and Chris Long would be pretty intimidating for opposing offenses.

It's a shame Suh suffers a bit from the "big fish, small pond" situation because if he played at Florida, USC, Texas, etc, he would be in serious consideration for the Heisman. If the Heisman voters actually followed what's going on and didn't just give the trophy to Colt McCoy or Tim Tebow as a legacy award, he probably would be a near landslide winner because he is best player in college football this season.