The Bell Tolls for Thee

Dr. X posts this from Don Shula's champagne cellar:

"The Laird laments Dr. X's tendency to quote himself, but this is inevitable as I am so clever and observant. Take for instance, the IAYPA analysis of opening day quarterback performance which ran in this space in early September. In that note we pointed out that two men - Bledsoe and Plummer - had notably poor opening day performances and backups who looked notably good in preseason. Now both men are notably benched.

"We also noted the stellar opening day play of Rex Grossman, and contrasted it with his weak pre-season performance. Brian Griese, we observed, played awfully well in pre-season, and may have provided some motivation.

"The motivation has perhaps worn off. Grossman came out like the second coming of Johnny Unitas, so much so that John Madden likened him to Bret Favre.

"Yeah, well Madden like Daunte Culpepper, too. Grossman's IAYPAs, by game: 8.2, 10.7, 4.3, 7.5, 6.7 (this is about where Madden's comment was made - average so far: an elite-level 7.5), then -1.5, 8.7 (vs. SF), 1.4, 6.5, 5.4, 0.8, -6.1.

"The average since Madden's comment: 2.2.

"I know what you're going to ask: is he worse than Kyle Orton? Oh God no, not yet anyway. On the strength of those early performances, Grossman still has a season-to-date IAYPA of 4.3 going into the Monday night game. That's not terrible. Orton was 3.3 for the full year last year.

"Still, Brian Griese is warming up on the sidelines. The linked article has a scary quote from Grossman. 'I just am so confused why I do some of the things I do,' he says - 'what is making me do these things?' Um, dunno. Satan?

"Look for the quick hook Monday night."