Crabtree's A Player, I Just Crush A Lot

(Video NSFW)

Oh, there they go. There they go! Every time I start talking about Crabtree, a Chiefs fan gotta pull Matt Millen out they ass. That’s they one. That’s they one!

Rocky Marciano, Rocky Marciano, Rocky Marciano…

Matt Millen, Matt Millen, Matt Millen…

Blah, blah, blah….

At least the old Jewish man from Coming to America made some sense.

Pulling out Matt Millen in a futile attempt to discredit Michael Crabtree as a potential draft option for the Chiefs at No. 3 is a joke.

First off, Mike Williams and Roy Williams were picked 10th and seventh respectively. That makes them more like Jeremy Maclin and Percy Harvin than Michal Crabtree.

Mike was lazy; his weight ballooned up to 271 pounds, a weight he reported to the Titans at. Even his former teammate LenDale White thought he was fat.

Roy has always had serious attitude problems, problems which I thought he had in college. He made the Pro Bowl in 2006, despite all Detroit’s other issues, and brought them in a helluva haul in a recent trade with Dallas.

Now, Charles Rogers is where Millen really screwed up. But where are the similarities? Rogers was a frail kid with a drug problem. His drug problem (three NFL violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policy; recently got arrested for domestic abuse hopped up on vicodin) might have surprised some people, but not me. Hell, the guy even looked like Chris Tucker. He was a quack and Millen should have known better. Scott Pioli would have never drafted him that high. Not in a million years. Personally, I’d run personality tests and psychological evaluations to avoid another Rogers…and reaching on a linebacker.

Then there is Calvin Johnson. Megatron. Say what you will about Johnson, but despite playing alongside basically zero talent, he put up ridiculous numbers this season and at least gave his team the opportunity to win a couple of games. His 12 receiving TDs led the NFL last season. If the Lions can put some talent around this kid, we’ll be talking about him the same way we do Larry Fitzgerald now. He’s only 23 years old, people. That’s scary.

Most of all, where Scott Pioli is arguably the best football exec in the business, Millen was the undisputed worst.  Period.

I love how the Old Chief can gloat about how he was right about Santonio Holmes, a recent first-round pick, being Super Bowl MVP, then trash Crabtree in the same paragraph. I love seeing stuff like “receivers don’t win championships” in the comment threads. Really? That’s news to me. I thought I just saw Santonio Holmes making the late show rounds because he was named Super Bowl MVP for catching the game-winner. A catch that kept the other team’s first-round superstar receiver, the Cardinals’ Fitzgerald, from making a game-winning catch of his own. Without Holmes’ performance and late touchdown, James Harrison’s long pick six would have been the longest meaningless defensive TD return in Super Bowl history.

Seriously, why do people always have to pull the Detroit Lions out of their ass to refute Crabtree? Stop playing the Matt Millen fear card!

In 2007, the Patriots put together a team that was one miracle David Tyree helmet-trap catch away from being the greatest team of all-time because they added two star receivers (Oh, and who do you think put that together, by the way?). The Cardinals finally made the Super Bowl because of their two superstar receivers. Hell, the Steelers vaunted defense was bailed out in the Super Bowl by one of the team’s two star receivers. What about Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne helping Peyton Manning win it all in 2006? Let’s talk about these things — not just the most prominent example of when it didn’t work.

The NFL is becoming even more of a passing league. Defenders are simply too big, fast and strong nowadays to play smash-mouth football. You can’t just power it down opponents’ throats with the running game in this day and age.

Why do you think it was the Steelers that emerged from the AFC, not the Ravens or Titans? The Steelers possessing a legitimate passing game was the difference. Why do you think the Giants flaked out in the playoffs? They desperately missed the big-play capability of Plaxico Burress. I mean, just look at what the Chiefs had to move to this year to stay competitive. The marginal success they enjoyed periodically was due to them moving away from Herm Edwards “two yards and a cloud of dust twice then a screen on third down, you play the game to not get blown out but end up getting blown out anyway” football. Even teams that try and control the ball, like Pittsburgh, do a lot of that through the air.

So, please, stop bringing up the Lions when we talk Michael Crabtree. If you want to call him a slower, more polished and physical Calvin Johnson — that’s fine. But don’t insult Crabtree by comparing him to “Cannibus” Carlos or Mike “And Ike,” or even Mr. Malcontent himself Roy Williams. Most of all, don’t insult Scott Pioli by comparing him to that mental midget Matt Millen. That’s “nonsense” that needs to be knocked off.

One last note for those of you who don’t think Pioli drafts skill players early. Two names: Chad Jackson and Laurence Maroney.