Philly Phile | Try drawing your own conclusions outside of Didinger’s

For those who put all their faith into Ray Didinger's football insights, might wanna add in there that Paxton Lynch tore apart the best team he faced in 2015, an Ole Miss squad that finished the season ranked 10th in the country.

Can’t take it anymore.

Sorry, get it. The guy is beloved in the misnamed City of Brotherly Love and recognized across the country for his experience and supposed insight. He’s a nice guy, a Hall of Fame writer and a respected media member for decades, but enough …

Just stop with the anointing of Ray Didinger as this all-knowing, all-encompassing “expert” on everything that is football, from the pro level on down.

He isn’t. Like you, like me, he has his prejudices and blind eyes that cancel out any subjective he may profess to have on a take – pro or con – he offers on certain players or teams or coaches.

The most ridiculous of late – at least that which has pierced the ears attached to the same frame supporting the fingers banging out this little ditty – is what he has to say, seemingly ad infinitum, about the upcoming NFL Draft and one quarterback prospect in particular.

To his credit, Didinger, when asked time and again about the QBs available next month, is quick to point out that he may not be the guy to comment on Paxton Lynch since he only saw the guy play twice this past fall … but then he continues on to do so anyway.

Ugh. Just stop.

Talk about misdirection. As if the Jaws-like flip-flopping on Sam Bradford weren’t enough …

Now, the commentary here will stop short of calling him an idiot, but what Didinger has shared on the Memphis junior in the non-veiled guise of time-tested expertise is absolutely idiotic, and those hanging on his every word with this, which, unfortunately, may be some in the Eagles’ front office, are positively foolish.

The whole basis for Didinger’s beliefs about Lynch rest on the 6-foot-7, 245-pounder’s two worst performances in a 13-game season. The first, ironically, came against Temple, both his alma mater and mine, and, really, Didinger’s newborn-to-a-bottle clinging to that “evidence” against Lynch shows his lack of appreciation for the hometown Owls’ defense and its effort specifically in that game as much as it does anything negative against the player.

The kid completed 25 of 34 passes for 156 yards with no TDs or picks. Impressive? No. Effective? No. But bad? Yeah, not exactly. Especially in a game the Owls and their coaching staff gave their most complete performance.

The second came against Auburn … in a consolation bowl following a season-for-the-ages gone awry, only a month after the coach, Justin Fuente, who brought Lynch to Memphis and built a top-25 team around him bolted for what was highly debatable greener pastures at Virginia Tech.

Really? That’s the condemning intel against Lynch, “aided” by throwaway comments that question the kid’s accuracy and ability to step up against tougher competition?

Wow …

The reality is Lynch has the most arm talent among those eligible in the draft, possessing the biggest gun and softest touch, and is very accurate, and efficient, as his 66.8 completion percentage and 8.52 yards per passing attempt in 2015 will attest. The kid threw for 3,776 yards and 28 TDs in guiding the Tigers to a 9-4 campaign, and only got picked off four times.

The best team Memphis played all last season was neither Auburn nor Temple, but, rather, Mississippi … and all Lynch did in that game was pick apart a Rebels’ defense loaded with NFL talent for 384 yards and three TDs in sparking the Tigers’ 37-24, turn-the-nation-on-its-head upset. Ole Miss, which finished five spots ahead of Auburn in the SEC West, entered the game ranked 13th. It ended the season 10th.

But none of that is ever mentioned.

The feeling here is that Lynch is, by far, the best QB prospect in the draft, yes, even over the insanely hyped Carson Wentz and the actually legit Jared Goff, but that’s not even the point. What is? That Didinger has no business pawning off a blinders-wearing opinion that is not only incredibly limited in its scope but its “facts” to support that opinion … as anything other than just that.

It is not expertise attained from some fountain of information or insight.

So stop viewing it, and proclaiming it, as such.

​- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]
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