Merrill Hoge
by request, here is what i think of merrill hoge: he's an idiot.
he's carved himself a little niche by being generally contrarian and making controversial statements, but really he's the bill walton of nfl analysts. virtually everything that comes out of his mouth is worthless.
i try not to pay attention to him. remember, this is a guy who predicted the eagles would go 8-8 their superbowl season and then picked them to lose almost every game the entire season. this is also the guy who said that matt leinart should be a 3rd round pick and that vince young should be a second day pick (two guys who are going to be stars in this league).
think about it this way. jaws is the best nfl analyst today (footballoutsiders.com, bill parcells, ray didinger, et al). merrill hoge disagrees with just about everything jaws says. ergo, hoge is wrong just about every time he opens his mouth.
my advice, pretend like he doesn't exist.
he's carved himself a little niche by being generally contrarian and making controversial statements, but really he's the bill walton of nfl analysts. virtually everything that comes out of his mouth is worthless.
i try not to pay attention to him. remember, this is a guy who predicted the eagles would go 8-8 their superbowl season and then picked them to lose almost every game the entire season. this is also the guy who said that matt leinart should be a 3rd round pick and that vince young should be a second day pick (two guys who are going to be stars in this league).
think about it this way. jaws is the best nfl analyst today (footballoutsiders.com, bill parcells, ray didinger, et al). merrill hoge disagrees with just about everything jaws says. ergo, hoge is wrong just about every time he opens his mouth.
my advice, pretend like he doesn't exist.
Labels: football
posted by The Mean Guy at 5:17 PM
9 Comments:
Thanks for the post. I'm the requester and I just needed to complain to someone about this idiot. I was dumbfounded when he recently called the Cowboys (and the Giants) the class of the NFC East. The Giants, sure they've got the record, but Dallas, give me a break. BY the way I found this juicy tidbit on Wikipedia (Its Wiki, not gospel)
"On September 18, 2006, on the late NFL Primetime program, which followed the late Sportscenter, after the Steelers-Jaguars Monday Night Football game, he got away with a profanity on the little-watched early morning broadcast. At approximately 1:15 A.M. EST, during the highlights of the previous Sunday's Giants-Eagles game, when Eagles' kicker David Akers got into a fight on the Giants sideline, Hoge clearly states in paraphrasing Akers' actions, "He said, 'f--k that sh--'!" One supposes that there must have been so few people watching ESPN at that early morning hour, that censors allowed the profanity to hit the air. Although ESPN is cable, generally those words wouldn't be allowed."
Can anyone confirm this?
Oh yeah, the pre-season prediction in 2004 was not a problem, just the fact that he stuck to it week after week when it was obvious the Eagles were Super Bowl bound.
Jaws may be the best analyst, but he simply needs to stop wearing women's eyeglasses unless he plans to get a job at McMaster-Carr.
Ben
ben, i never thanked you for the comprehensive preview of the breeders cup.
Mean Guy,
You're welcome for the Breeders' Cup preview. I wish I could have been more prescient.
Unfortunately, you haven't addressed the issue with Jaws' glasses, and I think you're obligated to say something after such a ringing endorsement.
Personally, I count Aikman as an "analyst" and think he does a much better job than Jaws. I'm not sure if you lumped him into the same bag with Jaws or not, but if you did, call me unpersuaded.
Ben
Personally, I count Aikman as an "analyst" and think he does a much better job than Jaws. I'm not sure if you lumped him into the same bag with Jaws or not, but if you did, call me unpersuaded.
i like aikman. i think he's the best color analyst there is in football, but i don't believe he understands football as well as jaws based on a few factors:
- in dallas, aikman struggled learning the pro game and reading defenses. he didn't start to get better until dallas brought in norv turner, who immediately simplified the offense for him. dallas, and aikman himself has said this, basically ran the same 12 plays every game. they just had better personnel than the other teams. aikman had no audible responsibilities or protection calls.
- ray didinger doesn't like troy aikman. i've heard that ray thinks troy acts like he invented the game of football but he often doesn't know what he's talking about.
- bill parcells has said that jaws is the best analyst in any sport at any time.
- the way jaws breaks down a game is like nothing else i've seen. i've been watching the NFL matchup show on ESPN for years, and jaws breaks down the reasons why things are happening better than anyone else who's ever been on that show.
Unfortunately, you haven't addressed the issue with Jaws' glasses, and I think you're obligated to say something after such a ringing endorsement.
his glasses are kind of funny looking though, aren't they?
Are we completely sure that Hoge is an idiot and not a tool? An idiot would spew nonsense and flip-flop positions continually since, well - he's an idiot. A tool would continue to parrot the same garbage (you must run to set up the pass, etc.) until his handler gave him new garbage to spew. I posit the latter is clearly the case with Merrill Hoge and not the former.
thinking about it more, you're probably right about that, phil.
Mean guy,
Well argued with respect to Jaws' recent work. It's hard to find fault with his abilities or the professionalism he's shown breaking things down on ESPN.
A couple of sore loser comments from me.
- In Philadelphia, Jaws struggled to learn the professional game. You're too young to remember this, but Jaws developed a reputation for being a little slow out of the shoot and wee of brain. Granted, he has overcome this with maturity (just as Aikman has).
- I love Ray as much as the next guy, but for him to accuse ANYONE of thinking he invented the game of football is ironic to say the least.
- I can't stand Bill Parcells (primarily because I grew tired of listening to Mike Francesa blow him again and again).
Welcome back; I certainly won't grow tired of your voice!
Ben
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