Those Special Players

Every good team has one or more special players, players who aren’t only terrific players by themselves at their position, but whose talent and effort inspire greater play from all the players around them. If one of these players is hurt, you wonder how his team can win without him. If he’s on the field, you spend a week trying to figure out how to take him out of the action.

The eight teams playing this weekend have their own special players. Some of them are hurt, allegedly at least….you can never really tell with the scarceness of information available to the public. You thus can’t gauge how effective that player will be in the game, how long he’ll play and whether he’ll become just a normal player in terms of effectiveness. It’s usually a question mark whether his replacement is any good.

Take Kevin Mawae, for example. He’s “just” the center for the Titans, but on a team as run-oriented they are, it’s a big hit on them if they lose Mawae, especially if his replacement can’t play. As it turns out, Mawae’s just been officially listed as “out”, very bad news for the Titans.

Tennessee wasn’t able to run on 12/28 against the Colts, losing 23-0. They had a bye for the first week of the playoffs. Against a Ravens defense that stuffs the run, you have to like the Ravens chances for an upset. The Ravens have at least two special players on defense, LB Ray Lewis and S Ed Reed, and they’re healthy.

Of course Tennessee also has a big-time defense, featuring linemen Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vandenbosch. But they’re coming off recent injuries and their performance on Saturday is thus open to question. All in all, I’d say it’ll be bye-bye Titans in a relatively low-scoring affair. The Ravens will pound the ball and dominate time of possession, which ordinarily would be the Titans type of game. But not tomorrow. Ravens 16-13.

The 4:30 game tomorrow pits the surprising Arizona Cards against the tough Carolina Panthers at Carolina. Special players abound for the Panthers and they’re all healthy. Those two tough running backs, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, and Steve Smith, wide receiver extraordinaire, are all ready to go. On defense, they have Julius Peppers ready for bear, or, um, bird.

The Cards looked special last week against the Falcons but they could be without Anquan Boldin, or he’ll play somewhat nicked-up. That’s a huge hit, the Panthers will just concentrate on stopping Fitzgerald. The Cards have Breaston too but he’s not Boldin. And Edgerrin James won’t make the difference either. Look for the Panthers to score a lot and the Cards to try keeping up all game, unsuccessfully. It’ll be Panthers 30-20. Pray that Kurt Warner lasts the entire game.

Sunday’s first game has our G-Men facing the Eagles at Giants Stadium. The most special Giants players are gone for one reason or another. The real superstar, Osi Umenyiora, is the guy who made Eagles tackle Winston Justice look so bad last year. He may not look so bad against a nicked-up Justin Tuck.

The Eagles have their own special guys, McNabb and Westbrook, of course, but you might add DeSean Jackson to that list. They’re all healthy and coming off some very big wins, one of which was against the Giants. The Eagles also sport some very nice secondary people, big-hitter Brian Dawkins and a guy named Asante Samuel.

The Giants only special feature is their running game. As impressive as it can be, I don’t think it will be on Sunday. The Eagles will put eight in the box all afternoon. They’ll force Manning to pass to those workmanlike receivers, Toomer and Smith and Hixon.

Although you could make a case for Brandon Jacobs and that offensive line being very special, it won’t be enough against a team playing run. I don’t see anybody stretching the field for the Giants. Sunday will make the loss of Plaxico very apparent indeed.

The Giants inability to exert any pressure on McNabb will create more than a few opportunities for long (and usually boring) Eagles drives. The Eagles should be able to take the lead and then probably force some turnovers from Eli and those wide-outs in the second half. The Eagles inability to score in the red zone will continue though, thus depressing the score somewhat, but it’ll still be Eagles 26-20.

The Chargers face the Steelers in Sunday’s late game. The Chargers have some special players in their quarterback, Philip Rivers, and their tight end, Antonio Gates. They’ll be without LaDainian though, and Darren Sproles may find the Steelers a harder bunch to hide from than were the Falcons.

The Steelers have Troy Polamalu who has been just unbelievable all year. He stops everything, the run, the pass, you name it. Then there’s that Defensive MVP James Harrison and a fella named Farrior who’s usually quite good, especially against the pass.

I just can’t imagine the Chargers winning this one. Rivers has been great this year, but he’ll have less time than he’s used to getting, and his receivers will be covered. Sproles will be stopped. The Steelers behind Roethlisberger will display some long, boring drives of their own. The Chargers won’t be able to stop it, despite having a couple of good corners. Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward will catch their share of short ones and that should set up the running game.

Especially considering that the weather will be horrible, cold and windy in Pittsburgh, it’s all over but the shouting, except for Steelers fans, of course, who should be raising quite a ruckus most of the day. This one could even get ugly, depending upon how much poise the Chargers can muster late in the game. All things considered, I’d think it’ll be about 35-20 in the Steelers favor, the 35 to include a couple of defensive TD’s off Chargers fumbles and interceptions.

Then it’ll be Eagles-Panthers and Ravens-Steelers. Those will be wars.