On the 1994 Penn State football team (again)

I realize this is becoming more of a football blog, but with football season nearing its end, that should change.

In the meantime, more football.

TMQ did not print my email in this week's reader feedback column, so I'm putting it here just so I am on record pointing out that he made a pretty ridiculous point in this week's column.

Here is his relevant quote from this article:

Last night on "Monday Night Football," the Jaguars played no fewer than four first-round draft choice receivers: Kyle Brady, Matt Jones, Mercedes Lewis and Reggie Williams. The Jags also played two fourth-round draft choice receivers, George Wrighster and TMQ favorite Ernest Wilford, plus undrafted free agent receiver Cortez Hankton. Bottom line? The four first-round big-bonus glamour boys combined for three receptions for 63 yards; the three little-known nonglamour receivers combined for 11 catches for 154 yards. And this wasn't because the Giants defense was choking up on the first-round guys, that's for sure. Last night's "Monday Night Football" game was a great object lesson in the reality that high-drafted players often expend much of their energy sulking, complaining and demanding the ball, while low-drafted and undrafted players expend their energy working to earn the ball.

Here is my response:

You lumped Kyle Brady in with your description of highly drafted receivers for Jax who spend their time "sulking, complaining and demanding the ball". I'd like to point out that he should by no means be included with that group. If you look at his career statistics, he had a peak of 729 yards on 64 catches in 2000, but since then, he has seen a steady decline in both his receptions and yards as Jax has turned him into a blocking TE, essentially an extra tackle. I have not heard one sportscaster ever imply that he has ever protested about this role, but instead have heard that he is a team player willing to sacrifice any glory statistics like receptions, yards, and TDs by blocking for the good of the team. I would think that you would laud him for his selflessness, not accuse him of being a diva.

I guess at some point I will give up on my personal crusade of defending the honor of PSU players in the NFL, but since they seem to wind up getting more than their fair share of criticism, I don't know if it will happen anytime soon.

As long as I'm on yet another NFL kick, I should point out for those of you who don't follow the NFL transaction wire, Scott Paxson got picked up and released by the Packers, but Matt Rice got picked up and seems to be hanging on with the Giants.