There’s so much to say since last week that I can’t quite focus on any one thing. There’s the ascendancy of the Giants, the bumbling of the Jets in just about every way, the end of Brett Favre’s starting streak and, for many of us, there are the fantasy football playoffs.
I should first say that I’m not a Jets fan anymore. Everybody seems to think I am. It bugs me. Brett Favre and Eric Mangini pretty much killed any feeling I may have had for them. When they rid themselves of those two clowns, they still had Tannenbaum running things and Woody Johnson at the helm so the Jets are just a team that I can’t root for.
I do like Rex Ryan, of course, and how could I not like Mark Sanchez and LaDainian Tomlinson and even Santonio Holmes? The rest of that bunch you can have, from Braylon Edwards and Jason Taylor to Shonn Greene and Jericho Cotchery.
Contrast them with the Giants. They’re a lot easier on my psyche. I mean, what’s not to like about the Maras? They’ve owned the team forever, they treat everybody with respect and they didn’t even make the taxpayers fund their new stadium.
Of course, sometimes I take issue with how slow they are to react to obvious bad things. That horrible defensive coordinator of last year, for example, should have been dumped around the middle of the season along with some of the horrible non-coverage people in their secondary.
But giving people an entire year to prove or disprove their competence is all wrapped up with showing consideration and respect. You have to take the good with the bad. It’s part and parcel of stability.
I hate to say it but stability is exactly what the Jets seem to be missing right now. It was understandable that they would lose to the Patriots, especially playing without their defensive stalwart Leonhard, but one could have expected them to bounce back against the Dolphins, even a Dolphins team playing for their playoffs lives.
They did not come remotely close to bouncing back, not unless you take only the narrowest possible definition of bouncing back. Their defense wasn’t bad at all. It was just everything else about their game that was lacking. Their running game was non-existent, that ballyhooed offensive line seemed lacking, their receivers stunk out the joint and the game plan in general seemed discordant. I defy anyone to tell me what their plan was.
Then there are the other disturbing signs, the behavioral issues of not just their players but the management as well. More and more it seems that, as a head coach, Rex makes one hell of a defensive coordinator. He still seems to accept overall responsibility for the whole team only grudgingly.
Don’t expect the Jets to beat the Steelers this Sunday. I certainly don’t. I’ll bet the Steelers don’t either, which, come to think of it, might be the only thing working in the Jets favor. The Steelers aren’t impervious to problems either. They have their own offensive problems. The Jets chances will hinge on their ability to run the ball and Santonio Holmes, the discarded Steeler who may just love to stick it to his old team.
As for the G-Men, they really have their work cut out for them with Mike Vick and the high-flying Eagles on tap. It wasn’t a good sign that the Cowboys couldn’t run against what had been a suspect run defense before their game. If the Giants can’t get impressive numbers from the Bradshaw-Jacobs duo, it could be all over but the shouting. But if they can run, they’ll keep Vick off the field, not to mention DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy.
It always comes down to those two things, running and stopping the run, especially in December. Not even the great ones at quarterback can overcome those deficiencies consistently. And the fact that the G-Men just shut down Adrian Peterson bodes well for their chances on Sunday. But the Eagles have an offensive line that the Vikings did not.
But, and this is significant, one can expect the Giants to overcome their problems, whatever they may be. They have already dealt with the secondary, the pass rush, defending the run, and changed their offensive tactics to incorporate more running and the heavy use of the tight end.
But their resiliency has never included coaches tripping up opponents on the sidelines. You get the feeling they are rock solid in every way.
Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And Ryan may be able to salvage his situation, much as he did last year when he used red and green colors to easily direct his rookie QB in avoiding turnovers. I’m rooting for him to do it too.
But there may be only so many rabbits in his hat. And his other problem players may not be as responsive as was Mark Sanchez. You get the feeling they’ll break if you press them.
I might be firmly in the Giants corner but my heart lies with my fantasy team this weekend. My Crabs have an up-hill battle too as Drew Brees will be facing the tough Ravens, Ahmad Bradshaw has a hurt wrist, Knowshon Moreno has a new coach and Miles Austin can’t seem to get on Jon Kitna’s good side. Vernon Davis, my tight end, should continue getting good numbers. Those are my definite starters. It gets tougher after that.
Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin are really talented receivers but, with Tarvaris Jackson on the other end, things are really iffy. But Austin Collie may not play, Jahvid Best seems to never get the ball, and Tashard Choice may still be starry-eyed over Michael Vick. The usually reliable Brandon Lloyd has been decidedly less so as defenses have adapted to the Broncos long passing game.
Things will clear up by Sunday morning though. They always do. As a team, these Crabs are solid.
Showing posts with label favre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label favre. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
That Fickle Finger of Fate
I know it’s finally Super Bowl week because I’m actually watching the Saints de-plane at Miami International. Oooh Boyy! There’s Jeremy Shockey and Reggie Bush…woohoo! And there’s the fabulous Benson family. And I can look forward to more hours hearing about Katrina.
Well, in at least one respect, it’s good. At least one team has shown up. That indicates there indeed will be a game…eventually. But it won’t be before a zillion interviews and about 5 zillion clichés. And I can only hope that wild and crazy guy, Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, will kinda keep to himself this week.
This game, when it’s finally played, will hinge on Dwight Freeney’s leg hinge, his sprained ankle. When you think of offense, you think Peyton Manning. When you think of defense, you think of Dwight Freeney. If Freeney, whose main asset is speed, is hampered by an ankle sprain, he becomes just another guy who takes up a lot of space.
The Colts have been the best team in football this season. I really don’t think there can be any question about that. Manning is the real fly in the ointment for opponents. That fact was characterized most perfectly against New England, whose coach of coaches Bill Belichick elected to go for a fourth and one in his own territory with the time winding down rather than have to watch Manning drive the length of the field to beat him. Of course it didn’t work, Belichick’s Pats had to give Manning the ball about 40 yards closer to the endzone than they would have otherwise, and it was all over but the shouting (speaking of clichés).
The Saints had been undefeated too. But with each successive win, they won less convincingly. They did it with unlikely interceptions and forced fumbles and it seemed every win was an act of God. Yes, they had Drew Brees and Marques Colston, Shockey and Meacham, but they also had unlikely heroes almost all the time, guys like Devery Henderson and Pierre Thomas.
But what ultimately stopped the Saints was defensive injuries, in the secondary and defensive line. It seemed those turnovers just weren’t coming anymore, putting more pressure on the offense to outscore the opponent. And it just didn’t happen those last three games of the season.
The Colts had a very different ending to their regular season. They just gave it up, their perfect record, their chance at NFL history, their opportunity to put a lid on Don Shula and those Miami Dolphins of yesteryear, Csonka and Mercury Morris and Jim Kiick, and that feared 53 defense. They gave it up to avoid injuries for the playoffs.
So, as luck would have it, the fickle finger of fate landed on Dwight Freeney’s foot in the playoffs. Those 13 ½ sacks he had in the regular season would be meaningless. He came out of that Jets win with either a bad ankle sprain or some kind of ligament injuty, take your pick, but either one is pretty bad for a guy who depends on speed for his game.
The Colts were awesome in the playoffs though. They looked anxious to prove a point in thrashing the one-dimensional offenses of both the Ravens and the Jets, even though the Jets surprised them early with a passing game they really hadn’t shown all season.
While the Colts had it easy, the Saints had to face Arizona and Minnesota. There would be no Joe Flacco or Mark Sanchez barking out signals on the other side of the line from that opportunistic Saints defense. They had to face Kurt Warner and Brett Favre, two sure future Hall of Famers. But they came out on top, absolutely pulverizing Warner and the Cards while just squeaking by the much tougher and more versatile Vikings.
While it could be argued that the Vikings gave the game away, Childress and then Favre having found imaginative ways to throw the game away in the final minute, the Saints had to deal with the best running back in the NFL, Adrian Peterson, and their craftiest quarterback, who they may have forced into retirement.
The Vikings had a fearsome defense too. The Vikes had everything. The Vikes held the Saints offense to one of their lowest outputs of the season. But they couldn’t win the game. They fumbled the ball time after time and kept giving the Saints life when things looked the darkest for the black and gold. That fickle finger kept pointing at Peterson and Berrian and, in the final analysis, pointed straight at Childress and Favre.
If the Colts weren’t the best team in the NFL, the Vikings were. But they couldn’t beat the Saints. That same fickle finger made all those Saints injuries go away. It seemed to poke the ball out of Vikings’ hands and, down the stretch, that finger maybe even stuck itself through Favre’s ear right into his cerebrum.
And now Freeney’s hurt. While the injury could be just a ruse, I don’t think the Colts’ braintrust is that imaginative. There is no Belichick to mislead, confound and confusticate, just earnest Jim Caldwell and his hard-working band of real football players, which is still saying a lot, Freeney or not.
Without Freeney, Brees will have time to find all those receivers down the field, and pass defense was never the strength of the Colts, not this year anyway. The Saints could score early and often, putting enormous pressure on Manning, a master of pressure situations if there ever was one.
But when will enough become too much for Manning? He has already complained of being tired, after the Jets game, when the New Yorkers had taken that early lead that Manning had to take back. And he was brilliant, finding Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie and that elusive tight end of theirs.
It’s still early but even the great Manning may have trouble scoring at will against pesky veteran defenders who always seem to come up with the ball.
Well, in at least one respect, it’s good. At least one team has shown up. That indicates there indeed will be a game…eventually. But it won’t be before a zillion interviews and about 5 zillion clichés. And I can only hope that wild and crazy guy, Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, will kinda keep to himself this week.
This game, when it’s finally played, will hinge on Dwight Freeney’s leg hinge, his sprained ankle. When you think of offense, you think Peyton Manning. When you think of defense, you think of Dwight Freeney. If Freeney, whose main asset is speed, is hampered by an ankle sprain, he becomes just another guy who takes up a lot of space.
The Colts have been the best team in football this season. I really don’t think there can be any question about that. Manning is the real fly in the ointment for opponents. That fact was characterized most perfectly against New England, whose coach of coaches Bill Belichick elected to go for a fourth and one in his own territory with the time winding down rather than have to watch Manning drive the length of the field to beat him. Of course it didn’t work, Belichick’s Pats had to give Manning the ball about 40 yards closer to the endzone than they would have otherwise, and it was all over but the shouting (speaking of clichés).
The Saints had been undefeated too. But with each successive win, they won less convincingly. They did it with unlikely interceptions and forced fumbles and it seemed every win was an act of God. Yes, they had Drew Brees and Marques Colston, Shockey and Meacham, but they also had unlikely heroes almost all the time, guys like Devery Henderson and Pierre Thomas.
But what ultimately stopped the Saints was defensive injuries, in the secondary and defensive line. It seemed those turnovers just weren’t coming anymore, putting more pressure on the offense to outscore the opponent. And it just didn’t happen those last three games of the season.
The Colts had a very different ending to their regular season. They just gave it up, their perfect record, their chance at NFL history, their opportunity to put a lid on Don Shula and those Miami Dolphins of yesteryear, Csonka and Mercury Morris and Jim Kiick, and that feared 53 defense. They gave it up to avoid injuries for the playoffs.
So, as luck would have it, the fickle finger of fate landed on Dwight Freeney’s foot in the playoffs. Those 13 ½ sacks he had in the regular season would be meaningless. He came out of that Jets win with either a bad ankle sprain or some kind of ligament injuty, take your pick, but either one is pretty bad for a guy who depends on speed for his game.
The Colts were awesome in the playoffs though. They looked anxious to prove a point in thrashing the one-dimensional offenses of both the Ravens and the Jets, even though the Jets surprised them early with a passing game they really hadn’t shown all season.
While the Colts had it easy, the Saints had to face Arizona and Minnesota. There would be no Joe Flacco or Mark Sanchez barking out signals on the other side of the line from that opportunistic Saints defense. They had to face Kurt Warner and Brett Favre, two sure future Hall of Famers. But they came out on top, absolutely pulverizing Warner and the Cards while just squeaking by the much tougher and more versatile Vikings.
While it could be argued that the Vikings gave the game away, Childress and then Favre having found imaginative ways to throw the game away in the final minute, the Saints had to deal with the best running back in the NFL, Adrian Peterson, and their craftiest quarterback, who they may have forced into retirement.
The Vikings had a fearsome defense too. The Vikes had everything. The Vikes held the Saints offense to one of their lowest outputs of the season. But they couldn’t win the game. They fumbled the ball time after time and kept giving the Saints life when things looked the darkest for the black and gold. That fickle finger kept pointing at Peterson and Berrian and, in the final analysis, pointed straight at Childress and Favre.
If the Colts weren’t the best team in the NFL, the Vikings were. But they couldn’t beat the Saints. That same fickle finger made all those Saints injuries go away. It seemed to poke the ball out of Vikings’ hands and, down the stretch, that finger maybe even stuck itself through Favre’s ear right into his cerebrum.
And now Freeney’s hurt. While the injury could be just a ruse, I don’t think the Colts’ braintrust is that imaginative. There is no Belichick to mislead, confound and confusticate, just earnest Jim Caldwell and his hard-working band of real football players, which is still saying a lot, Freeney or not.
Without Freeney, Brees will have time to find all those receivers down the field, and pass defense was never the strength of the Colts, not this year anyway. The Saints could score early and often, putting enormous pressure on Manning, a master of pressure situations if there ever was one.
But when will enough become too much for Manning? He has already complained of being tired, after the Jets game, when the New Yorkers had taken that early lead that Manning had to take back. And he was brilliant, finding Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie and that elusive tight end of theirs.
It’s still early but even the great Manning may have trouble scoring at will against pesky veteran defenders who always seem to come up with the ball.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Ridiculous to Absurd to Tawdry
Well, those Divisional Championships came out more or less as I had expected, in result if not in content. The Jets lost but didn’t really stay as close as I had thought. The Vikings, although they lost, did manage to cover the 3 ½ point spread.
That the way the Jets lost it was really painful is beside the point. I’d never have expected either a 45-yarder out of the wildcat or an 80-yard Sanchez to Edwards bomb. Neither did the Colts, for sure. I hadn’t expected a Jets lead at all, at any point in the game. But then I didn’t expect the Jets secondary to look like the Giants for long stretches.
Jets fans are filled with hope now for next year, and everywhere it seems there is already talk of how great Sanchez will be next year. Although I’d have to agree that he’ll be better, I don’t think he’ll ever be much better than he was down the stretch this year. He looked good and played about as well as a quarterback could play….including yesterday. He’s got great feet, a good brain, and an accurate arm.
Remember Dwight Gooden? He was absolutely great early on, and everybody drooled about how much better he’d become. It never happened. Drugs happened. Same thing with Strawberry. My only point with this is to be happy with what you have. Don’t expect much more. If every Jet had played like Mark Sanchez yesterday, they’d have come out on top.
The same optimism is being shown for the Jets in general….how a pass rusher would obviate the need to blitz so much, how another cover guy like Revis would shore up that unit, how a healthy Kris Chambers would solidify the run defense, how another wide-out would provide some better targets for the rookie.
Well, the game is football. Anybody can get hurt and they usually do. Shonn Greene is a perfect example. Joe Namath is another. He was way better as a young QB than he was later on as his knees got taken out in Detroit, I think it was. Then he became rather stationary.
I’m just saying that what makes Sanchez so exciting is his feet, which are attached to his legs, and he already sports a brace on one knee. I’m certainly not wishing him ill but unless he has the luck of Brett Favre or Fran Tarkenton, or even Peyton Manning for that matter, he really can’t be much better than he was in the playoffs this season. He could certainly get more opportunities to shine. That wouldn’t be hard, but I won’t count on him getting much better in absolute terms. He’s been great.
When I heard that Lito Sheppard wasn’t starting yesterday, I cringed. I gave up hope that the Jets could win. The Colts had Lowery for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pierre friggin’ Garcon made him look very bad. I can’t stomach corners who don’t look for the ball. That’s Lowery. I know the Jets were concerned about Sheppard against Manning, but give me a break….Lowery’s better?
The Saints-Vikings game was just ridiculous. The Vikings were better in every respect except for the turnovers. But you really can’t say that…turnovers are the biggest part of the game. So now we get to see the Saints play the Colts in the Super Bowl, the second-best NFC team for sure.
The only solace I can take from this game is that Favre got hit about a million times and looked bad in the game, especially down the stretch. I loved his cross-the-field INT to put an end to the regulation game. And I loved seeing him talk about retirement again…and his allusion to talking it over with his family. When you’ve already gone from ridiculous to absurd, what’s left…tawdry?
Let’s look at the game itself and Favre’s part in it. Favre blew a hand-off to Peterson from the ten-yard line that would have just about destroyed the Saints after Reggie Bush’s fumbled punt. Favre must’ve sensed Adrian may have scored on the play, meaning somebody besides him may have become the star. As it was, Peterson got three scores. Favre’s 2nd INT, as I’ve mentioned, closed any chance Minnesota may have had in regulation to win the game. His first INT was also in New Orleans territory just outside their 30-yard line. His QB rating for the day was 70.
Brad Childress deserved no better fate either as he managed to get too many men on the field at the critical juncture of the game, when the Vikings were in field goal range, only to be pushed out again, shortly followed by Favre’s INT. Furthermore, he never was able to control Favre.
New Orleans took the day and nobody was ever happier for that result than I was. But they didn’t do much against that great purple defense. They did take advantage of every opportunity though, or so it seemed. They won the turnover battle; they gave Brees time to throw; they played better than the Vikings on special teams overall, and they definitely held together as a team, something the Vikings can only wish for this Monday.
The Colts are currently 4 ½ point favorites to beat the Saints in the Bowl and I suspect that spread will only increase, especially if people start really analyzing these games. The Colts have everything, although you may say they have no running game. I think they elect to have no running game. They run only well enough to enable Manning’s play action passes. They have a terrific offensive line, a very good defensive line, and fast linebackers and secondary. All those assets are in addition to some very fine wide receivers, Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon. The Colts are very similar to the Vikings in that they have all that versatility.
What the Colts don’t have, though, is personality. And, if I see any more colorless quotes from that coach of theirs…..UGH!!
That the way the Jets lost it was really painful is beside the point. I’d never have expected either a 45-yarder out of the wildcat or an 80-yard Sanchez to Edwards bomb. Neither did the Colts, for sure. I hadn’t expected a Jets lead at all, at any point in the game. But then I didn’t expect the Jets secondary to look like the Giants for long stretches.
Jets fans are filled with hope now for next year, and everywhere it seems there is already talk of how great Sanchez will be next year. Although I’d have to agree that he’ll be better, I don’t think he’ll ever be much better than he was down the stretch this year. He looked good and played about as well as a quarterback could play….including yesterday. He’s got great feet, a good brain, and an accurate arm.
Remember Dwight Gooden? He was absolutely great early on, and everybody drooled about how much better he’d become. It never happened. Drugs happened. Same thing with Strawberry. My only point with this is to be happy with what you have. Don’t expect much more. If every Jet had played like Mark Sanchez yesterday, they’d have come out on top.
The same optimism is being shown for the Jets in general….how a pass rusher would obviate the need to blitz so much, how another cover guy like Revis would shore up that unit, how a healthy Kris Chambers would solidify the run defense, how another wide-out would provide some better targets for the rookie.
Well, the game is football. Anybody can get hurt and they usually do. Shonn Greene is a perfect example. Joe Namath is another. He was way better as a young QB than he was later on as his knees got taken out in Detroit, I think it was. Then he became rather stationary.
I’m just saying that what makes Sanchez so exciting is his feet, which are attached to his legs, and he already sports a brace on one knee. I’m certainly not wishing him ill but unless he has the luck of Brett Favre or Fran Tarkenton, or even Peyton Manning for that matter, he really can’t be much better than he was in the playoffs this season. He could certainly get more opportunities to shine. That wouldn’t be hard, but I won’t count on him getting much better in absolute terms. He’s been great.
When I heard that Lito Sheppard wasn’t starting yesterday, I cringed. I gave up hope that the Jets could win. The Colts had Lowery for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pierre friggin’ Garcon made him look very bad. I can’t stomach corners who don’t look for the ball. That’s Lowery. I know the Jets were concerned about Sheppard against Manning, but give me a break….Lowery’s better?
The Saints-Vikings game was just ridiculous. The Vikings were better in every respect except for the turnovers. But you really can’t say that…turnovers are the biggest part of the game. So now we get to see the Saints play the Colts in the Super Bowl, the second-best NFC team for sure.
The only solace I can take from this game is that Favre got hit about a million times and looked bad in the game, especially down the stretch. I loved his cross-the-field INT to put an end to the regulation game. And I loved seeing him talk about retirement again…and his allusion to talking it over with his family. When you’ve already gone from ridiculous to absurd, what’s left…tawdry?
Let’s look at the game itself and Favre’s part in it. Favre blew a hand-off to Peterson from the ten-yard line that would have just about destroyed the Saints after Reggie Bush’s fumbled punt. Favre must’ve sensed Adrian may have scored on the play, meaning somebody besides him may have become the star. As it was, Peterson got three scores. Favre’s 2nd INT, as I’ve mentioned, closed any chance Minnesota may have had in regulation to win the game. His first INT was also in New Orleans territory just outside their 30-yard line. His QB rating for the day was 70.
Brad Childress deserved no better fate either as he managed to get too many men on the field at the critical juncture of the game, when the Vikings were in field goal range, only to be pushed out again, shortly followed by Favre’s INT. Furthermore, he never was able to control Favre.
New Orleans took the day and nobody was ever happier for that result than I was. But they didn’t do much against that great purple defense. They did take advantage of every opportunity though, or so it seemed. They won the turnover battle; they gave Brees time to throw; they played better than the Vikings on special teams overall, and they definitely held together as a team, something the Vikings can only wish for this Monday.
The Colts are currently 4 ½ point favorites to beat the Saints in the Bowl and I suspect that spread will only increase, especially if people start really analyzing these games. The Colts have everything, although you may say they have no running game. I think they elect to have no running game. They run only well enough to enable Manning’s play action passes. They have a terrific offensive line, a very good defensive line, and fast linebackers and secondary. All those assets are in addition to some very fine wide receivers, Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon. The Colts are very similar to the Vikings in that they have all that versatility.
What the Colts don’t have, though, is personality. And, if I see any more colorless quotes from that coach of theirs…..UGH!!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Ground and Pound or Lost and Found
Well, these 2010 playoffs continue Sunday afternoon with Jets-Colts at 3 PM followed by the Vikings-Saints at 6:40 PM. I've been doing better than okay with these playoff picks so far, at 5-3 for the two weeks, but that doesn't minimize the effect on me of the surprising nature of some of these games.
Last week I had the Saints and my score prediction was even pretty close but, even though I had joked that it was possible, I didn't expect the enormity of the Saints rout of the Cardinals. I had the Jets to cover but certainly not to win and, of course, they pulled it out. I had the Cowboys and Ravens too and both teams were awful, more awful than I thought possible., the biggest surprises being the ferocity of the Vikings and Colts defenses, against both run and pass.
So here they come again....those very tough defenses facing off against very different teams and very different circumstances too. The Colts were home against the Ravens and they'll still be home for the Jets. The Vikings have to travel to New Orleans to face the Saints.
Sat 6:40PM – New Orleans Superdome
SAINTS -3 1/2 Vikings
The Saints will be at home again but can be had, especially if Darren Sharper is limited. If the Vikings can run the ball all day, the game will be over. If that Saints offense is on the sidelines for long stretches and then, when they do take the field, they find the likes of the Vikings defense facing them, it'll be a very tough day, home or away.
So, for the Saints, they'll need big days from Jonathan Vilma, and no-names Sedrick Ellis and (a real tongue-twister now) and Remi Ayodele in the middle. Somehow, I don't get an extraordinary boost from that lineup, especially if Sharper is limited. (Who knows really with these injury reports)?
I'm pretty sure Reggie Bush won't have quite the success he had last week (vs the Cards) against the Vikings. Brees will do the best he can without a running game, but the pressure from the Vikings, not to mention the situation, will wear on him. And my least favorite quarterback, Brett Favre, won't find the pass rush from the Saints any more troublesome than was that of the Cowboys. He may even have time to throw some kisses to his fans in the stands, yes, even in New Orleans.
The Vikings can run the ball too, bigtime, with a big, strong, fast fellow named Adrian Peterson.
Percy Harvin's supposed to be sick. I believe it but how sick can he really be? Sharper will probably be his old self too, but Favre won't have to throw. Third and three, he can still give it to Adrian. (as in yo). Can we say the same thing for Reggie Bush? I don't think so.
The over-under is at 53, with a 3 1/2 spread, so the great betting populace is saying the score will be around 28-25 in favor of the Saints. I say, "Nah."
The Vikes run and run and run some more. Favre will pass off the run, of course, if just to bolster his stats, and get a couple of TD's. Figure Peterson for two and they might even get a field goal here and there. I'm figuring the Vikes can score 31.
The Saints will have big trouble on the ground, and then there'll be all those big and fast Vikes defensive linemen in his face. I figure they can score 3 TD's tops and a field goal or two. That's 27.
I hope I'm wrong but logic says the Vikings take this game. I hate logic too. I'd love to pick the Saints. But all those Saints I mentioned will have to play better than I give them credit for right now. So, sadly.....it'll be:
Vikings 31-27
Sunday 3PM – Mall of America Field, Minneapolis
COLTS -8 Jets
I saved the best for last. I can't even call them "my Jets" although I would like to. My sorry-ass team is the Giants.
The Jets played their best game of the season Sunday to overtake the Chargers, who couldn't stop the run at all. I'd expect the Colts to do a better job. The pressure will then be on the rook to produce in the face of some very mean defensive linemen that even those big and talented Jets offensive linemen will have trouble handling.
Peyton Manning will be looking at the same situation (trouble running the ball) but he's been through it before. He'll be careful with the ball more often than not, and he may even throw it to some Jets once, but if he limits the INT's to 1, I figure he'll be able to put two in the endzone (to any of his receivers) at least and add a couple of field goals. That'd make 20.
Not that the Jets won't make a lot of stops. They'll have to. I'm expecting a lot of Jets punts because they'll need to pass more than run against these Colts, especially towards the end of the game. They'll run with some success and will most likely get a TD or even two, but only because they are pretty tough in the red zone. I just don't expect that many drives to take them into Colts territory.
I'd figure the Jets to get in scoring position a maximum of five times. But I'd be guilty of over-optimism if I didn't expect either a fumble or INT on one or two of those drives. Shonn Greene hasn't fumbled recently but that could easily change. And Sanchez had just the one pick against the Chargers but these are the Colts.
I figure the Jets for 2 or 3 field goals and 2 or just 1 touchdown. It'll be that kind of day. Figure the Jets to get 20 points tops. That result would take the game into an overtime period. More likely than not, though, there'll be some "lost and found" to go with that "ground and pound." And the Jets will get around 16.
But the game still has to be played and this game is almost eerily similar to the last two playoff games these Jets have played. They were about the same class of dog against the Chargers away and a lesser dog vs. the Bengals away but a dog nonetheless.
But they didn't play like dogs. They just played relentlessly. Ground and pound indeed. The Colts are a little undersized, they say. And I guess they could get ground down by this Jets running game too. But I just think the Colts won't fold. They faced a pretty tough Ravens running game and came out on top.
And then there's the outrageous fortune the Jets have experienced, with the ball bouncing crazily and the field goals going hither and yon. And there's crazy Rex Ryan to turn up the Jets. And I think he's just lucky too.
But, if I had to pick just one team, it'd be the Colts in a close one. Logic says the Jets will cover, as I picked them to cover and not win versus the Bengals and to cover but not win versus the Chargers. Geez, how many times can you roll seven? (And I sure hope they can do it one more time). But my brain says:
Colts 20 - 16
But if it can stay "ground and pound" rather than "lost and found" for the Jets, they'll do it one more laughingly ridiculous time.
Last week I had the Saints and my score prediction was even pretty close but, even though I had joked that it was possible, I didn't expect the enormity of the Saints rout of the Cardinals. I had the Jets to cover but certainly not to win and, of course, they pulled it out. I had the Cowboys and Ravens too and both teams were awful, more awful than I thought possible., the biggest surprises being the ferocity of the Vikings and Colts defenses, against both run and pass.
So here they come again....those very tough defenses facing off against very different teams and very different circumstances too. The Colts were home against the Ravens and they'll still be home for the Jets. The Vikings have to travel to New Orleans to face the Saints.
Sat 6:40PM – New Orleans Superdome
SAINTS -3 1/2 Vikings
The Saints will be at home again but can be had, especially if Darren Sharper is limited. If the Vikings can run the ball all day, the game will be over. If that Saints offense is on the sidelines for long stretches and then, when they do take the field, they find the likes of the Vikings defense facing them, it'll be a very tough day, home or away.
So, for the Saints, they'll need big days from Jonathan Vilma, and no-names Sedrick Ellis and (a real tongue-twister now) and Remi Ayodele in the middle. Somehow, I don't get an extraordinary boost from that lineup, especially if Sharper is limited. (Who knows really with these injury reports)?
I'm pretty sure Reggie Bush won't have quite the success he had last week (vs the Cards) against the Vikings. Brees will do the best he can without a running game, but the pressure from the Vikings, not to mention the situation, will wear on him. And my least favorite quarterback, Brett Favre, won't find the pass rush from the Saints any more troublesome than was that of the Cowboys. He may even have time to throw some kisses to his fans in the stands, yes, even in New Orleans.
The Vikings can run the ball too, bigtime, with a big, strong, fast fellow named Adrian Peterson.
Percy Harvin's supposed to be sick. I believe it but how sick can he really be? Sharper will probably be his old self too, but Favre won't have to throw. Third and three, he can still give it to Adrian. (as in yo). Can we say the same thing for Reggie Bush? I don't think so.
The over-under is at 53, with a 3 1/2 spread, so the great betting populace is saying the score will be around 28-25 in favor of the Saints. I say, "Nah."
The Vikes run and run and run some more. Favre will pass off the run, of course, if just to bolster his stats, and get a couple of TD's. Figure Peterson for two and they might even get a field goal here and there. I'm figuring the Vikes can score 31.
The Saints will have big trouble on the ground, and then there'll be all those big and fast Vikes defensive linemen in his face. I figure they can score 3 TD's tops and a field goal or two. That's 27.
I hope I'm wrong but logic says the Vikings take this game. I hate logic too. I'd love to pick the Saints. But all those Saints I mentioned will have to play better than I give them credit for right now. So, sadly.....it'll be:
Vikings 31-27
Sunday 3PM – Mall of America Field, Minneapolis
COLTS -8 Jets
I saved the best for last. I can't even call them "my Jets" although I would like to. My sorry-ass team is the Giants.
The Jets played their best game of the season Sunday to overtake the Chargers, who couldn't stop the run at all. I'd expect the Colts to do a better job. The pressure will then be on the rook to produce in the face of some very mean defensive linemen that even those big and talented Jets offensive linemen will have trouble handling.
Peyton Manning will be looking at the same situation (trouble running the ball) but he's been through it before. He'll be careful with the ball more often than not, and he may even throw it to some Jets once, but if he limits the INT's to 1, I figure he'll be able to put two in the endzone (to any of his receivers) at least and add a couple of field goals. That'd make 20.
Not that the Jets won't make a lot of stops. They'll have to. I'm expecting a lot of Jets punts because they'll need to pass more than run against these Colts, especially towards the end of the game. They'll run with some success and will most likely get a TD or even two, but only because they are pretty tough in the red zone. I just don't expect that many drives to take them into Colts territory.
I'd figure the Jets to get in scoring position a maximum of five times. But I'd be guilty of over-optimism if I didn't expect either a fumble or INT on one or two of those drives. Shonn Greene hasn't fumbled recently but that could easily change. And Sanchez had just the one pick against the Chargers but these are the Colts.
I figure the Jets for 2 or 3 field goals and 2 or just 1 touchdown. It'll be that kind of day. Figure the Jets to get 20 points tops. That result would take the game into an overtime period. More likely than not, though, there'll be some "lost and found" to go with that "ground and pound." And the Jets will get around 16.
But the game still has to be played and this game is almost eerily similar to the last two playoff games these Jets have played. They were about the same class of dog against the Chargers away and a lesser dog vs. the Bengals away but a dog nonetheless.
But they didn't play like dogs. They just played relentlessly. Ground and pound indeed. The Colts are a little undersized, they say. And I guess they could get ground down by this Jets running game too. But I just think the Colts won't fold. They faced a pretty tough Ravens running game and came out on top.
And then there's the outrageous fortune the Jets have experienced, with the ball bouncing crazily and the field goals going hither and yon. And there's crazy Rex Ryan to turn up the Jets. And I think he's just lucky too.
But, if I had to pick just one team, it'd be the Colts in a close one. Logic says the Jets will cover, as I picked them to cover and not win versus the Bengals and to cover but not win versus the Chargers. Geez, how many times can you roll seven? (And I sure hope they can do it one more time). But my brain says:
Colts 20 - 16
But if it can stay "ground and pound" rather than "lost and found" for the Jets, they'll do it one more laughingly ridiculous time.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
On Football, Radio and Refs
I have to be honest. After visiting my Dad down in Toms River and having watched a particularly uninspiring first half of Jets-Chargers action, if you want to call it that, I got in my car for the long ride home. But for about the first agonizing 25 minutes of my ride home, in a driving rainstorm, mind you, I had station 1050 on my dial blasting so as to hear the game thru the static.
The next hour or so, though, was terrific. You should really try it sometime. Once the signal came in clearly, there’s nothing like a car radio and a slightly-crazed announcer in a playoff game to shorten a ride home (except perhaps for windshield wipers….well, maybe the defroster too). By the time I hit the bridge, the Jets were ahead on an agonizingly drawn out call of Sanchez’s rollout and zing to Dustin Keller in the right corner of the endzone.
Of course it got even better from there as the Jets held and then extended the lead. And the call on Shonn Greene’s blast through the Chargers line and safety for the TD making it 17-7 was outstanding. But I was still in the car for Jackson’s catch down the right sideline and by the time that dust settled, I was all the way to Morris Avenue, thrilled that the Chargers gave the Jets 15 yards back on one of the stupidest, most selfish emotional displays ever.
Well, I won’t replay the entire game. We all know what happened. By the time the much-maligned Kerry Rhodes snatched the onside kick, I was in my driveway and I actually got to watch the 4th down burst by Thomas Jones to ensure a Jets berth in the AFC Championship Game. (I can scarcely believe I get the chance to compose that sentence).
The post-game show was just gravy, marred only by the extraordinary analyses of Norv Turner’s decision to go for the onsides kick and Rex Ryan’s decision to go for the first down on 4th and 1. Although both decisions were similar in kind to me, i.e. making a rather bold move to win the game, Ryan’s decision was lauded and Turner’s was panned, over and over and over….
While I had picked the Jets to cover, I never expected them to win. In fact, if they played that same zone garbage in the second half, they would have lost. But Ryan’s instincts are good. Hell, they’ve been impeccable, which, of course, has been the difference between winning and losing, his handling of Rhodes, his handling of Sanchez, his handling of the media….
I must say, though, Ryan’s instincts notwithstanding, that the Jets have had some incredibly good luck as well. First there were the Colts and Bengals not giving a damn for their last two games, and then they got missed field goals in key situations from two pretty good kickers in both the Bengals and Chargers playoff games.
I’m not even a Jets fan, really, although I used to be, before having to witness Stalag Mangini. While I hate to change allegiances from the Giants, it’s not as if I’d have no justification for it. After all, it took Coughlin forever to drop that automaton of a defensive coordinator, which only served to lose the Giants any chance of a playoffs berth. But it may not have been his call. When have the Giants ever dropped a coach mid-season? I’ll give them one more year.
Besides, who would I root for if not the Jets…Favre and Childress and the Vikings? I don’t think so. I’m firmly on the Saints this weekend, hoping against hope the home field noise at the SuperDome and resultant hard counts from Brees will effectively slow that Vikings defensive line. That alone would boost both the Saints’ running and passing games, both of which would come in handy, to say the very least.
While Favre got all the applause Sunday, it was Sidney Rice who was the real star to me, along with a totally clueless Dallas secondary. The first touchdown was absolutely ridiculous. The corner had his back turned. Any play on the ball whatsoever and that catch isn’t made. On another TD, Rice made a nice block, got up, and still Favre had enough time to deliver the ball to him.
The Saints were awesome versus the sorry Cards, a result I did foresee, what with Shockey’s return along with the rest of their defense. They pressured Warner all day. He never had a chance, much as that sorry Cards defense had no shot against either the running of Reggie Bush or the downfield shots from Brees to Colston and company.
I was wrong on the Ravens , I guess, even though I still feel the refs did them in. The calls went the Colts way all game, huge calls, season-altering calls for both teams. The call against Ray Lewis was the only big call that I gave any credence too. The pass interference call on Reed’s interception was horrible. I hate to say it, but these calls seem like “Manning calls.”
I thought I was watching the NBA. If you’re a star, you’re untouchable. If you’re on the stars team, you have an edge. If your name is Manning (or Jordan or LeBron James, etc.), you are the closest thing to God on earth. The Jets will have no chance if he and his team get the same preferential treatment this Sunday, especially with respect to pass interference and hits on the quarterback.
Even give the horrible calls, the Ravens still might have won if not for some extremely questionable play-calling by the Ravens right before the half. They ran almost no time off the clock, giving Manning all the time he needed to break their backs. That game was virtually over at the half.
I’ll be picking the Saints and Jets, hoping the Jets can get a fair shake from the refs.
The next hour or so, though, was terrific. You should really try it sometime. Once the signal came in clearly, there’s nothing like a car radio and a slightly-crazed announcer in a playoff game to shorten a ride home (except perhaps for windshield wipers….well, maybe the defroster too). By the time I hit the bridge, the Jets were ahead on an agonizingly drawn out call of Sanchez’s rollout and zing to Dustin Keller in the right corner of the endzone.
Of course it got even better from there as the Jets held and then extended the lead. And the call on Shonn Greene’s blast through the Chargers line and safety for the TD making it 17-7 was outstanding. But I was still in the car for Jackson’s catch down the right sideline and by the time that dust settled, I was all the way to Morris Avenue, thrilled that the Chargers gave the Jets 15 yards back on one of the stupidest, most selfish emotional displays ever.
Well, I won’t replay the entire game. We all know what happened. By the time the much-maligned Kerry Rhodes snatched the onside kick, I was in my driveway and I actually got to watch the 4th down burst by Thomas Jones to ensure a Jets berth in the AFC Championship Game. (I can scarcely believe I get the chance to compose that sentence).
The post-game show was just gravy, marred only by the extraordinary analyses of Norv Turner’s decision to go for the onsides kick and Rex Ryan’s decision to go for the first down on 4th and 1. Although both decisions were similar in kind to me, i.e. making a rather bold move to win the game, Ryan’s decision was lauded and Turner’s was panned, over and over and over….
While I had picked the Jets to cover, I never expected them to win. In fact, if they played that same zone garbage in the second half, they would have lost. But Ryan’s instincts are good. Hell, they’ve been impeccable, which, of course, has been the difference between winning and losing, his handling of Rhodes, his handling of Sanchez, his handling of the media….
I must say, though, Ryan’s instincts notwithstanding, that the Jets have had some incredibly good luck as well. First there were the Colts and Bengals not giving a damn for their last two games, and then they got missed field goals in key situations from two pretty good kickers in both the Bengals and Chargers playoff games.
I’m not even a Jets fan, really, although I used to be, before having to witness Stalag Mangini. While I hate to change allegiances from the Giants, it’s not as if I’d have no justification for it. After all, it took Coughlin forever to drop that automaton of a defensive coordinator, which only served to lose the Giants any chance of a playoffs berth. But it may not have been his call. When have the Giants ever dropped a coach mid-season? I’ll give them one more year.
Besides, who would I root for if not the Jets…Favre and Childress and the Vikings? I don’t think so. I’m firmly on the Saints this weekend, hoping against hope the home field noise at the SuperDome and resultant hard counts from Brees will effectively slow that Vikings defensive line. That alone would boost both the Saints’ running and passing games, both of which would come in handy, to say the very least.
While Favre got all the applause Sunday, it was Sidney Rice who was the real star to me, along with a totally clueless Dallas secondary. The first touchdown was absolutely ridiculous. The corner had his back turned. Any play on the ball whatsoever and that catch isn’t made. On another TD, Rice made a nice block, got up, and still Favre had enough time to deliver the ball to him.
The Saints were awesome versus the sorry Cards, a result I did foresee, what with Shockey’s return along with the rest of their defense. They pressured Warner all day. He never had a chance, much as that sorry Cards defense had no shot against either the running of Reggie Bush or the downfield shots from Brees to Colston and company.
I was wrong on the Ravens , I guess, even though I still feel the refs did them in. The calls went the Colts way all game, huge calls, season-altering calls for both teams. The call against Ray Lewis was the only big call that I gave any credence too. The pass interference call on Reed’s interception was horrible. I hate to say it, but these calls seem like “Manning calls.”
I thought I was watching the NBA. If you’re a star, you’re untouchable. If you’re on the stars team, you have an edge. If your name is Manning (or Jordan or LeBron James, etc.), you are the closest thing to God on earth. The Jets will have no chance if he and his team get the same preferential treatment this Sunday, especially with respect to pass interference and hits on the quarterback.
Even give the horrible calls, the Ravens still might have won if not for some extremely questionable play-calling by the Ravens right before the half. They ran almost no time off the clock, giving Manning all the time he needed to break their backs. That game was virtually over at the half.
I’ll be picking the Saints and Jets, hoping the Jets can get a fair shake from the refs.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Worst and Best of 2009
I think I’m going to be sick. Tiger Woods has been named Athlete of the Decade by AP. What timing, huh?
I don’t even care whether he is or not but it seems the AP is trying to get in the good graces of Tiger, amidst all the well-deserved media (and universal) criticism. If not for his good graces, the award was given to make sure he’d return to the game so that AP writers would have something to write about, as if there’re no other good candidates for a little more press.
I’m not a moralist but Tiger has lived a despicable existence for a married man, not because he fooled around but because he fooled around and took almost no pains to disguise the fact. It was okay with Woods to embarrass his wife and his kid…..over and over again.
So spare me if I spit on your award, AP. I’m happy not to be a part of it.
Speaking of despicable human beings, Bret Favre was hailed in a recent Newark Star-Ledger article that boosted him for MVP, as if there were no other candidates, as if there were nobody performing better, not Peyton Manning, not Drew Brees or Philip Rivers, to name just a few.
The writer in question also seemed to think all the criticism was unfounded, a theory that just doesn’t wash.
Let me say it one more time. Favre ruined the Jets season last year by playing hurt. He hid his arm injury to keep his consecutive games record alive. He didn’t care what he did to the Jets season. That he had a perfectly willing Jets management to assist him in that regard isn’t really the point. The man needed an arm operation LAST YEAR, not in the off-season so that he could come back totally healthy with his rocket arm working perfectly well for his old team’s biggest rival.
Favre certainly has been great this year. And he was pretty great for a lot of years. And maybe he would be a viable candidate for NFL MVP this year. But he cheated the Jets and the Jets fans. He took a playoffs season away from them. That’s my problem with Favre. The fact that he never met a camera or microphone he didn’t like has nothing to do with it.
Let’s see….who else can I pick on? Oh, I know, how about Serena Williams, the latest quasi-star to get a break from the U.S. press and the powers that be in tennis.
She deserved a suspension for her ugly emotional display (and arguably, assault upon the lineswoman) at the U.S. Open. She got a fine instead. She now has the green light to ruin everybody’s good time at another major tennis event. Along the way, we can listen to her whine that the whole ugly matter should be put to rest.
She not only ruined the Open, she also robbed the winner, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, of her victory on the court, a hard-fought and decisive victory, one for which Williams had no ready excuse. She hadn’t launched her crippled act. She hadn’t tapped into the trainers-session delays she had used in several important past matches to demoralize opponents who had finer tennis skills but couldn’t match her for gamesmanship and rules-twisting.
There is still some good in the world though. As this is the Christmas season, let me now focus on some positively good people, some people who aren’t just talented but who always seem to personify hard work and class.
How about Mark Teixeira? Teixeira did nothing but good things for the Yankees in 2009, earning every bit of his money and hustling all along the way. I’ll always remember his scoring from first base with the winning run against the Mets on a fly ball that 99.5 % of the time gets caught. But since it was Luis Castillo, the ball wasn’t caught. Teixeira stole one for his Yankees, not with his considerable talent but with his remarkable hustle.
How about Eli Manning? All Eli does is try to win. He can’t quite manage the fine sense of humor his brother has always had. And he doesn’t have his brother’s accuracy to be perfectly honest.
Eli just had exactly the confident but humble demeanor his team needed in 2007, one that he still brought to the table this year and last, no matter that he was robbed first of his wide-outs and then of his defense. You never hear a word of complaint from Eli, although I suspect his receivers hear about their route-running from time to time.
How about Drew Brees? Here’s a true man of stature who lacks only height, a guy who has been “dissed” throughout his lifetime by football experts, a guy who kept Philip Rivers on the bench in San Diego, where he started his pro career, for two full years, a guy who should have won the Heisman in 2000 but lost to the taller Chris Weinke from Florida State (but did finish ahead of LaDainian Tomlinson and a fella named Michael Vick).
When Brees was eligible for free agency in 2006, the Chargers elected to let him go with nary an unkind word from Mr. Brees, to the Saints, who Brees lead to their first NFC Championship Game in his first year.
Ever since his acquisition, Brees has been top notch offensively, starting every game for the Saints and gaining over 4400 yards in his first two years before topping the 5000 yard mark in 2008. This year, Brees is once again among the NFC leaders in yardage and touchdowns, this despite the fact that the Saints are running more than ever in their quest for that elusive Super Bowl victory.
Unlike Peyton and Brady, though, Brees throws to everyone ,usually making sure every wide-out gets his touchdown each game, making household names of Marques Colston, Robert Meachem and Devery Henderson.
He’s the best of 2009 and King of Bacchus too!
I don’t even care whether he is or not but it seems the AP is trying to get in the good graces of Tiger, amidst all the well-deserved media (and universal) criticism. If not for his good graces, the award was given to make sure he’d return to the game so that AP writers would have something to write about, as if there’re no other good candidates for a little more press.
I’m not a moralist but Tiger has lived a despicable existence for a married man, not because he fooled around but because he fooled around and took almost no pains to disguise the fact. It was okay with Woods to embarrass his wife and his kid…..over and over again.
So spare me if I spit on your award, AP. I’m happy not to be a part of it.
Speaking of despicable human beings, Bret Favre was hailed in a recent Newark Star-Ledger article that boosted him for MVP, as if there were no other candidates, as if there were nobody performing better, not Peyton Manning, not Drew Brees or Philip Rivers, to name just a few.
The writer in question also seemed to think all the criticism was unfounded, a theory that just doesn’t wash.
Let me say it one more time. Favre ruined the Jets season last year by playing hurt. He hid his arm injury to keep his consecutive games record alive. He didn’t care what he did to the Jets season. That he had a perfectly willing Jets management to assist him in that regard isn’t really the point. The man needed an arm operation LAST YEAR, not in the off-season so that he could come back totally healthy with his rocket arm working perfectly well for his old team’s biggest rival.
Favre certainly has been great this year. And he was pretty great for a lot of years. And maybe he would be a viable candidate for NFL MVP this year. But he cheated the Jets and the Jets fans. He took a playoffs season away from them. That’s my problem with Favre. The fact that he never met a camera or microphone he didn’t like has nothing to do with it.
Let’s see….who else can I pick on? Oh, I know, how about Serena Williams, the latest quasi-star to get a break from the U.S. press and the powers that be in tennis.
She deserved a suspension for her ugly emotional display (and arguably, assault upon the lineswoman) at the U.S. Open. She got a fine instead. She now has the green light to ruin everybody’s good time at another major tennis event. Along the way, we can listen to her whine that the whole ugly matter should be put to rest.
She not only ruined the Open, she also robbed the winner, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, of her victory on the court, a hard-fought and decisive victory, one for which Williams had no ready excuse. She hadn’t launched her crippled act. She hadn’t tapped into the trainers-session delays she had used in several important past matches to demoralize opponents who had finer tennis skills but couldn’t match her for gamesmanship and rules-twisting.
There is still some good in the world though. As this is the Christmas season, let me now focus on some positively good people, some people who aren’t just talented but who always seem to personify hard work and class.
How about Mark Teixeira? Teixeira did nothing but good things for the Yankees in 2009, earning every bit of his money and hustling all along the way. I’ll always remember his scoring from first base with the winning run against the Mets on a fly ball that 99.5 % of the time gets caught. But since it was Luis Castillo, the ball wasn’t caught. Teixeira stole one for his Yankees, not with his considerable talent but with his remarkable hustle.
How about Eli Manning? All Eli does is try to win. He can’t quite manage the fine sense of humor his brother has always had. And he doesn’t have his brother’s accuracy to be perfectly honest.
Eli just had exactly the confident but humble demeanor his team needed in 2007, one that he still brought to the table this year and last, no matter that he was robbed first of his wide-outs and then of his defense. You never hear a word of complaint from Eli, although I suspect his receivers hear about their route-running from time to time.
How about Drew Brees? Here’s a true man of stature who lacks only height, a guy who has been “dissed” throughout his lifetime by football experts, a guy who kept Philip Rivers on the bench in San Diego, where he started his pro career, for two full years, a guy who should have won the Heisman in 2000 but lost to the taller Chris Weinke from Florida State (but did finish ahead of LaDainian Tomlinson and a fella named Michael Vick).
When Brees was eligible for free agency in 2006, the Chargers elected to let him go with nary an unkind word from Mr. Brees, to the Saints, who Brees lead to their first NFC Championship Game in his first year.
Ever since his acquisition, Brees has been top notch offensively, starting every game for the Saints and gaining over 4400 yards in his first two years before topping the 5000 yard mark in 2008. This year, Brees is once again among the NFC leaders in yardage and touchdowns, this despite the fact that the Saints are running more than ever in their quest for that elusive Super Bowl victory.
Unlike Peyton and Brady, though, Brees throws to everyone ,usually making sure every wide-out gets his touchdown each game, making household names of Marques Colston, Robert Meachem and Devery Henderson.
He’s the best of 2009 and King of Bacchus too!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Two New Guys and an Old Guy
Two new guys and an old guy, that was pretty much the story Sunday in the NFL.
We got to see rook Matt Stafford lead a hungry team to a looooong-awaited victory over the hapless Skins, so embarrassing to the media, if not the team itself, that many sports shows seem to be calling for the ouster of their seemingly unbeleaguered head coach.
And our own Mark Sanchez, who faked the Titans out of their jocks and threw a little looper TD pass to his tight end, then he put his head down on a scramble and forced his way over the goal line. Then he stunk the joint out for a quarter or so as the Titans came back. No problem, Sanchez just didn’t let them take the game away, coming back to thread the needle to Cotchery on a slant.
And, then, we saw ancient Brett Favre thread the needle with two seconds left to a little-used wide receiver at the back of the end zone to beat a deserving young 49er team. We saw it once, we saw it twice, we saw it again and again, and I know I’ll be seeing some more of it before another Sunday blessedly appears.
Taking that last game first, I was rooting for the young 49ers. I’m just coming off a trip to their fair city, I’ve picked them to win their Division crown (so to speak, I never saw the crown but I’m sure it’s a heavily-bejeweled one, at least as valuable as those boxing championship belts), and I have to admit I’m rooting for Mike Singletary.
The Niners played those Vikings really tough for the entire sixty minutes, yes, including even those last two seconds. Adrian Peterson ran hard but didn’t really kill them, their offense was good enough to put some points on the board against a tough Viking defense, and every Niner seemed to be taking care of business, just as you’d expect from a Mike Singletary representative.
But they played the game a little too conservatively at the end, going three and out in those critical two minutes, leaving time for a grizzled old gunslinger to take a good team down the field. They relied on their defense, which had done the job over and over again all day long. But, when you do that, you leave the door open.
Favre snuck in the door. He completed passes to just about everybody, Rice and Harvin, Shiancoe and even Berrian to take them all the way down to the 32 yard line with just about 12 seconds left.
Then the big bad wolf blew the 49ers house in. The play was designed so that he could step up and then slide to his right, and he could fire a line drive that would be harder to defend. He stepped up and slid around and then threw long enough to eat up ten seconds on the clock as Greg Lewis snared that liner with just two seconds on the clock.
“You have nothing to be looking at the floor for!” Singletary shouted after the game. “You didn’t steal anything! You didn’t do anything wrong! OK? We’re going to get better! We’re going to get there! We will see them again in the playoffs, all right? You hold your head up!”
That Mike felt that was necessary is good enough for me. It had to be said. That team just played a great game. Another young quarterback, Shaun Hill, had thrown 2 TD passes to tight end, Vernon Davis. The special teams blocked a field goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown. The special teams did give up a TD on a kickoff though, and that big play alone could be blamed for the loss.
I really don’t like Favre. Giving credit where it’s due though, that was one great drive and one great play. Maybe nobody else in football does it just that way, not either Manning, not Brady, not Rivers, not Roethlisberger. His arm is back this year, and that’s really my biggest problem with him. He was perfectly happy to play last year for the Jets with a torn biceps. After all, he had to save his precious “never missed a game” record.
And really, all these woops retirements, and all the Green Bay-Vikings melodrama, in addition to ruining last season for the Jets. None of any of that sits too well with me. And the sweetest thing that happened last year for me was the Pennington and Dolphins thrashing of the Favre-led Jets to win a playoff spot.
But he was himself on Sunday. His arm is back. He’s still got the same head though and the Vikings will have to take the bad with the good. It might be enough to take them to the playoffs, especially the way Green Bay has been playing. And Chicago might have something to say about the finish as well. I’ll be rooting for anybody but the Vikings.
That the young Sanchez has been able to propel his Jets to the top of the heap in the AFC East, and beat the Pats in the process, is almost doubly sweet because he’s the guy replacing Favre.
Yeah, it’s been nice seeing a young whippersnapper run around and throw bullets and say all the right things too, unlike his ridiculous teammate Scott, But a swashbuckler isn’t exactly what the Jets may need. And that TD run, as much as I liked it, qualifies him as one.
But those USC quarterbacks ain’t too shabby, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart and now Sanchez. You could see them hangin’ with D’Artagnan at the local pub. And Francesa says he’s “cavalier” with the ball.
Finally, you have to like a youngster who can light up an entire city, if just for a day, and that’s what Matt Stafford pulled off in Detroit. That Washington team he beat really isn’t as bad as it looked. Look for Detroit to win a few.
We got to see rook Matt Stafford lead a hungry team to a looooong-awaited victory over the hapless Skins, so embarrassing to the media, if not the team itself, that many sports shows seem to be calling for the ouster of their seemingly unbeleaguered head coach.
And our own Mark Sanchez, who faked the Titans out of their jocks and threw a little looper TD pass to his tight end, then he put his head down on a scramble and forced his way over the goal line. Then he stunk the joint out for a quarter or so as the Titans came back. No problem, Sanchez just didn’t let them take the game away, coming back to thread the needle to Cotchery on a slant.
And, then, we saw ancient Brett Favre thread the needle with two seconds left to a little-used wide receiver at the back of the end zone to beat a deserving young 49er team. We saw it once, we saw it twice, we saw it again and again, and I know I’ll be seeing some more of it before another Sunday blessedly appears.
Taking that last game first, I was rooting for the young 49ers. I’m just coming off a trip to their fair city, I’ve picked them to win their Division crown (so to speak, I never saw the crown but I’m sure it’s a heavily-bejeweled one, at least as valuable as those boxing championship belts), and I have to admit I’m rooting for Mike Singletary.
The Niners played those Vikings really tough for the entire sixty minutes, yes, including even those last two seconds. Adrian Peterson ran hard but didn’t really kill them, their offense was good enough to put some points on the board against a tough Viking defense, and every Niner seemed to be taking care of business, just as you’d expect from a Mike Singletary representative.
But they played the game a little too conservatively at the end, going three and out in those critical two minutes, leaving time for a grizzled old gunslinger to take a good team down the field. They relied on their defense, which had done the job over and over again all day long. But, when you do that, you leave the door open.
Favre snuck in the door. He completed passes to just about everybody, Rice and Harvin, Shiancoe and even Berrian to take them all the way down to the 32 yard line with just about 12 seconds left.
Then the big bad wolf blew the 49ers house in. The play was designed so that he could step up and then slide to his right, and he could fire a line drive that would be harder to defend. He stepped up and slid around and then threw long enough to eat up ten seconds on the clock as Greg Lewis snared that liner with just two seconds on the clock.
“You have nothing to be looking at the floor for!” Singletary shouted after the game. “You didn’t steal anything! You didn’t do anything wrong! OK? We’re going to get better! We’re going to get there! We will see them again in the playoffs, all right? You hold your head up!”
That Mike felt that was necessary is good enough for me. It had to be said. That team just played a great game. Another young quarterback, Shaun Hill, had thrown 2 TD passes to tight end, Vernon Davis. The special teams blocked a field goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown. The special teams did give up a TD on a kickoff though, and that big play alone could be blamed for the loss.
I really don’t like Favre. Giving credit where it’s due though, that was one great drive and one great play. Maybe nobody else in football does it just that way, not either Manning, not Brady, not Rivers, not Roethlisberger. His arm is back this year, and that’s really my biggest problem with him. He was perfectly happy to play last year for the Jets with a torn biceps. After all, he had to save his precious “never missed a game” record.
And really, all these woops retirements, and all the Green Bay-Vikings melodrama, in addition to ruining last season for the Jets. None of any of that sits too well with me. And the sweetest thing that happened last year for me was the Pennington and Dolphins thrashing of the Favre-led Jets to win a playoff spot.
But he was himself on Sunday. His arm is back. He’s still got the same head though and the Vikings will have to take the bad with the good. It might be enough to take them to the playoffs, especially the way Green Bay has been playing. And Chicago might have something to say about the finish as well. I’ll be rooting for anybody but the Vikings.
That the young Sanchez has been able to propel his Jets to the top of the heap in the AFC East, and beat the Pats in the process, is almost doubly sweet because he’s the guy replacing Favre.
Yeah, it’s been nice seeing a young whippersnapper run around and throw bullets and say all the right things too, unlike his ridiculous teammate Scott, But a swashbuckler isn’t exactly what the Jets may need. And that TD run, as much as I liked it, qualifies him as one.
But those USC quarterbacks ain’t too shabby, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart and now Sanchez. You could see them hangin’ with D’Artagnan at the local pub. And Francesa says he’s “cavalier” with the ball.
Finally, you have to like a youngster who can light up an entire city, if just for a day, and that’s what Matt Stafford pulled off in Detroit. That Washington team he beat really isn’t as bad as it looked. Look for Detroit to win a few.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
On Plax and Other Clunkers
Who needs a theme? Isn’t it better to just comment on the things that pop into your head, the things occupying the cerebral bits right now? I think so. It’s an intriguing format, especially at the convergence of seasons. I mean, right off the bat, I’m dying to say some more on Plaxico, on Ryan Church, Michael Vick, Brett Favre….maybe even clunker cars.
I can’t help myself, I feel bad for Plaxico. I just heard he accepted a 2-year jail sentence. I hope all you Giants fans remember who put him there. Bloomberg, nobody else. Burress gets two years for stupidity. Bloomberg gets not even a hand slap for obstructing justice, or dictating justice, just the way he’ll be dictating how your kids are educated.
Meanwhile, Plax goes to jail….as an example. Other perpetrators of the same crime don’t get these kinds of sentences. It doesn’t matter though to our “justice” system.
And Plaxico may never get out. With his attitude, he’ll be in solitary for the entire time. While I’m sure that there are people out there who’ll applaud the verdict, the same kind of people who get upset when somebody else is late for work, or who doesn’t always show up a half-hour early, the same kind of people who hate smokers and drinkers and anybody else who seems to be getting away with anything, the officious people who seem to be everywhere these days.
One thing more I’ll say is that Plaxico was a great wide receiver who did his job well. He caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. He accepted his good fortune with grace and humility. He was also a young and impressionable person who may have also been a bit paranoid of his own security. We know he took advantage of rules he thought were stupid.
Plax didn’t deserve to get two years.
In lighter matters, Ryan Church of course comes to mind because he was recently in a tiff about Jerry Manuel saying that David Wright and Church were two different cases. He seemed to think Jerry was insinuating that Wright tried hard all the time and was anxious to return while Church was just a taker, somebody who’d take your money for two years, play lousy baseball and even forget to touch the bases. I mean, what else could he have been thinking? If Jerry didn’t spell it out, Church certainly did.
Michael Vick is another poster boy for dumb, dumb, dumb, at least mostly dumb rather than cruel. I don’t suppose he ever thought about dogs as living beings, but his actions really only mimicked those of countless English (and other cultures) behaviors over many centuries. Sure, it was illegal, but it wasn’t enforced, was it? Until now. I have less sympathy for Vick than Burress but they’re both being used.
Michael Vick was the best college football player I ever saw. He was also a very good QB in the professional ranks, but he too, like Plax, was somebody who couldn’t really fully utilize his natural abilities in a “system”. Vince Young, Tarvaris Jackson, and yes, even Brett Favre also come immediately to mind as having similar situations, albeit not on the same scale. None of these I mention had the athletic ability of Michael Vick.
Anybody who’s ever read my column knows my feelings on Favre. He’s a taker too. He’ll take it all and drink it up. Painkillers, money, adulation, press conferences….pretty much everything but practice. He doesn’t take to that too well, rather like Allen Iverson really. Like others once hooked on painkillers, he’s equal parts narcissist and paranoid. Ask him if he ever dreamed he’s Jesus. My bet is his answer would be in the affirmative.
Favre stunk out the joint as a Jet. But there he was Sunday after Sunday ruining his team’s chances. He turned a playoff run into a road to perdition. He was outplayed by the man he replaced, Chad Pennington, who handled the reins for a less talented football team. But Chad was a leader, much as Eli had been a leader the year before.
But it’s a symbiotic relationship, this love-in of the Vikings and Favre. The Vikings are selling a lot more tickets. That’s their take. Favre gets an opportunity to fulfill one of his dreams, no doubt, to be the hero while he leads his new team over the Packers to take the Division Championship.
Can he do it? I don’t think so. Even with the best running game in the league and the best running back, Adrian Petersen, Favre will throw the big interception much as he’s done so many times before, as a younger man. But he gets to keep number 4. He already took that from the incumbent Viking inhabiting the jersey. And he’ll make one more tired old retirement speech. He’ll have one more tired old season.
Clunker cars? Yeah, I had two but it’s now down to one. I think everybody should take advantage of this program. Under a 2-party system that usually only rewards big corporations, doctors, lawyers, foreign governments and insurance companies, this is a freebie for you, one of the few freebies you’ll ever see. I got $3500 for my 1993 Jeep on a new Scion and could have gotten $4500 if I had bought a Yaris.
Don’t think for a moment that the U.S. government was trying to help you directly though. This was a measure to help the big automakers while we are just contingent beneficiaries. Until we learn to back independents, this will be our fate. And how many Obama’s do you suppose there are? Bush would have found another way, a more patrician-friendly way, something that would have reduced taxes (on the rich) while adding to the national debt.
And then there’s my Mets. The bloom is firmly off the rose after watching Bobby Parnell get blasted by the Braves. We can only hope it was an aberration; even Halladay had a bad day.
I can’t help myself, I feel bad for Plaxico. I just heard he accepted a 2-year jail sentence. I hope all you Giants fans remember who put him there. Bloomberg, nobody else. Burress gets two years for stupidity. Bloomberg gets not even a hand slap for obstructing justice, or dictating justice, just the way he’ll be dictating how your kids are educated.
Meanwhile, Plax goes to jail….as an example. Other perpetrators of the same crime don’t get these kinds of sentences. It doesn’t matter though to our “justice” system.
And Plaxico may never get out. With his attitude, he’ll be in solitary for the entire time. While I’m sure that there are people out there who’ll applaud the verdict, the same kind of people who get upset when somebody else is late for work, or who doesn’t always show up a half-hour early, the same kind of people who hate smokers and drinkers and anybody else who seems to be getting away with anything, the officious people who seem to be everywhere these days.
One thing more I’ll say is that Plaxico was a great wide receiver who did his job well. He caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. He accepted his good fortune with grace and humility. He was also a young and impressionable person who may have also been a bit paranoid of his own security. We know he took advantage of rules he thought were stupid.
Plax didn’t deserve to get two years.
In lighter matters, Ryan Church of course comes to mind because he was recently in a tiff about Jerry Manuel saying that David Wright and Church were two different cases. He seemed to think Jerry was insinuating that Wright tried hard all the time and was anxious to return while Church was just a taker, somebody who’d take your money for two years, play lousy baseball and even forget to touch the bases. I mean, what else could he have been thinking? If Jerry didn’t spell it out, Church certainly did.
Michael Vick is another poster boy for dumb, dumb, dumb, at least mostly dumb rather than cruel. I don’t suppose he ever thought about dogs as living beings, but his actions really only mimicked those of countless English (and other cultures) behaviors over many centuries. Sure, it was illegal, but it wasn’t enforced, was it? Until now. I have less sympathy for Vick than Burress but they’re both being used.
Michael Vick was the best college football player I ever saw. He was also a very good QB in the professional ranks, but he too, like Plax, was somebody who couldn’t really fully utilize his natural abilities in a “system”. Vince Young, Tarvaris Jackson, and yes, even Brett Favre also come immediately to mind as having similar situations, albeit not on the same scale. None of these I mention had the athletic ability of Michael Vick.
Anybody who’s ever read my column knows my feelings on Favre. He’s a taker too. He’ll take it all and drink it up. Painkillers, money, adulation, press conferences….pretty much everything but practice. He doesn’t take to that too well, rather like Allen Iverson really. Like others once hooked on painkillers, he’s equal parts narcissist and paranoid. Ask him if he ever dreamed he’s Jesus. My bet is his answer would be in the affirmative.
Favre stunk out the joint as a Jet. But there he was Sunday after Sunday ruining his team’s chances. He turned a playoff run into a road to perdition. He was outplayed by the man he replaced, Chad Pennington, who handled the reins for a less talented football team. But Chad was a leader, much as Eli had been a leader the year before.
But it’s a symbiotic relationship, this love-in of the Vikings and Favre. The Vikings are selling a lot more tickets. That’s their take. Favre gets an opportunity to fulfill one of his dreams, no doubt, to be the hero while he leads his new team over the Packers to take the Division Championship.
Can he do it? I don’t think so. Even with the best running game in the league and the best running back, Adrian Petersen, Favre will throw the big interception much as he’s done so many times before, as a younger man. But he gets to keep number 4. He already took that from the incumbent Viking inhabiting the jersey. And he’ll make one more tired old retirement speech. He’ll have one more tired old season.
Clunker cars? Yeah, I had two but it’s now down to one. I think everybody should take advantage of this program. Under a 2-party system that usually only rewards big corporations, doctors, lawyers, foreign governments and insurance companies, this is a freebie for you, one of the few freebies you’ll ever see. I got $3500 for my 1993 Jeep on a new Scion and could have gotten $4500 if I had bought a Yaris.
Don’t think for a moment that the U.S. government was trying to help you directly though. This was a measure to help the big automakers while we are just contingent beneficiaries. Until we learn to back independents, this will be our fate. And how many Obama’s do you suppose there are? Bush would have found another way, a more patrician-friendly way, something that would have reduced taxes (on the rich) while adding to the national debt.
And then there’s my Mets. The bloom is firmly off the rose after watching Bobby Parnell get blasted by the Braves. We can only hope it was an aberration; even Halladay had a bad day.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
On Playoffs and Proverbial Justice
Was there ever a more ridiculous start to the playoffs? Arizona? The team that gave up on national TV against the Pats just a couple of weeks ago? San Diego? The team that had to come back from 4 and 8 to finally finish off the hapless Denver Broncos in the pitiful AFC West?
I wouldn’t have ever picked Arizona to win anything… to beat anyone. My money was on the balanced team, the team with heart, the team with the Rookie of the Year. It was inconceivable that these Arizona quitters would beat a quality team.
That they did beat the Falcons quite handily makes me wonder what the heck they were doing and thinking for the last month or so. It shouldn’t be allowed. No team that lies down as they did against New England deserves any good fortune, especially if it’s true that good teams make their own luck.
Michael Turner would make mincemeat of those quitters, I thought. Then the big Falcons bruiser started skipping around like some demented ballerina. He gained less than 60 yards on the day and he looked bad doing it. He didn’t run hard once.
The Falcons passing game was equally inept. Their receivers can’t catch. Roddy White? A joke. Michael Jenkins? Horrible. No hands at all. Ryan would hit them in the hands and they’d just refuse to make the catch.
Meanwhile, the Falcons gave Kurt Warner all the time in the world. John Abraham? Nothing. Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin just ate them up. In the final analysis, when they finally did fight their way back into the game, their defense let the Cardinal tight end run free up the middle, picking up the first down the Cards so desperately needed.
So much for risk analysis. I have seldom felt more sure about any outcome. The Cards were unreal today. All of a sudden, they had a running game. Where the heck had THAT been all year? When did they learn how to stop the run? Apparently, it was yesterday.
The Falcons made Edgerrin James look like….well….. the old Edgerrin James. Come to think of it, you couldn’t find one player in red who had a bad game. But Edge was great, slashing left, slashing right, then BOOM! Warner to Fitzgerald TD for about 50 yards. Then it was Anquan Boldin racing down the sidelines for another score after catching a 7-yard pass in the flat.
Then it got surreal. Darnell Dockett? Antrel Rolle? Touchdown! Then there was some more Edgerrin. There was Matt Ryan holding the ball too long in the end zone for an easy safety. What a nightmare!
I know I should just be happy for the Cards but it’s tough. They played really terrific football. Offensively, defensively, on special teams, they were just great. So I lost a bet. I’ll get over it, maybe not this year but eventually.
In the Chargers-Colts matchup, the Chargers punter won the game for them. Yeah, there was little Darren Sproles hiding behind his blockers and making the Colts look silly. And yeah, there were the usual suspects, Rivers and a hurt Tomlinson and Gates. Oh yeah, and the Charger corners were pretty much in evidence too.
But the Chargers punter was in a zone, as they say. The Colts were starting all their drives inside their ten-yard line. It’s a long haul, trying to drive a team 90 yards time after time after time. Not even the 2008 MVP, the great Peyton Manning, could do that.
That punter’s name is Mike Scifres. I’ll remember that now, even the rather fluky spelling. Mr. Scifres punted six times for 52.7 yards per pop. The Colts started drives from their 10, 19, 3, 33, 7, 20, 26, 9, 20, 1, 1 again, and then the19-yard line.
When the Chargers finally did enough offensively to tie the game in regulation, you knew the game was over. The Colts had seen enough. It was just the Chargers day.
Oh well, the games continue tomorrow. I’ll be picking the Vikings against the Eagles and the Ravens to take out the Fish, Chad Pennington notwithstanding. How could the Dolphins run the ball against that Ray Lewis and Company? How can they stop those bruising Ravens runners?
How can the Eagles stop Adrian Peterson? And shouldn’t it be a snap for the tough Vikings to take Brian Westbrook out of the game? Who else is a threat on that puny Eagles team? Can a guy who doesn’t know that NFL games can end in a tie really lead his team to victory in the land of Paul Bunyan?
Hmm, this is all sounding strangely familiar. I’ve built up this scenario in my head for the Vikings and the Ravens, and it’s hard to imagine my being totally wrong two days in a row. So, count on it, Donovan McNabb will have the game of his life and Pennington will once again surprise the entire football world by continuing to prevail against the biggest, baddest opponents out there.
As far as I’m concerned, Chad has done quite enough already. His steady performance against the Jets to knock them AND the Patriots out of the playoffs puts him in my good graces until the end of time. Proverbial justice. What a concept.
And, speaking of proverbial justice, why do I get the feeling that, no matter who the Jets pick to succeed Eric Mangini as head coach, it’ll be an abomination. Any owner stupid enough to take his quarterback’s side against his head coach and the rest of the team pretty much deserves anything the fates can conjure up to torture him.
It’s sad, very sad, but in Jets-Land it’s all about the money. The owner not only doesn’t understand football; he doesn’t even understand human nature. He just wants a bunch of sycophants to kiss his pharmaceutically-rich butt. He likes Brett Favre and he’ll be damned if he’ll have anyone tell him differently.
My guess is that he will be damned.
I wouldn’t have ever picked Arizona to win anything… to beat anyone. My money was on the balanced team, the team with heart, the team with the Rookie of the Year. It was inconceivable that these Arizona quitters would beat a quality team.
That they did beat the Falcons quite handily makes me wonder what the heck they were doing and thinking for the last month or so. It shouldn’t be allowed. No team that lies down as they did against New England deserves any good fortune, especially if it’s true that good teams make their own luck.
Michael Turner would make mincemeat of those quitters, I thought. Then the big Falcons bruiser started skipping around like some demented ballerina. He gained less than 60 yards on the day and he looked bad doing it. He didn’t run hard once.
The Falcons passing game was equally inept. Their receivers can’t catch. Roddy White? A joke. Michael Jenkins? Horrible. No hands at all. Ryan would hit them in the hands and they’d just refuse to make the catch.
Meanwhile, the Falcons gave Kurt Warner all the time in the world. John Abraham? Nothing. Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin just ate them up. In the final analysis, when they finally did fight their way back into the game, their defense let the Cardinal tight end run free up the middle, picking up the first down the Cards so desperately needed.
So much for risk analysis. I have seldom felt more sure about any outcome. The Cards were unreal today. All of a sudden, they had a running game. Where the heck had THAT been all year? When did they learn how to stop the run? Apparently, it was yesterday.
The Falcons made Edgerrin James look like….well….. the old Edgerrin James. Come to think of it, you couldn’t find one player in red who had a bad game. But Edge was great, slashing left, slashing right, then BOOM! Warner to Fitzgerald TD for about 50 yards. Then it was Anquan Boldin racing down the sidelines for another score after catching a 7-yard pass in the flat.
Then it got surreal. Darnell Dockett? Antrel Rolle? Touchdown! Then there was some more Edgerrin. There was Matt Ryan holding the ball too long in the end zone for an easy safety. What a nightmare!
I know I should just be happy for the Cards but it’s tough. They played really terrific football. Offensively, defensively, on special teams, they were just great. So I lost a bet. I’ll get over it, maybe not this year but eventually.
In the Chargers-Colts matchup, the Chargers punter won the game for them. Yeah, there was little Darren Sproles hiding behind his blockers and making the Colts look silly. And yeah, there were the usual suspects, Rivers and a hurt Tomlinson and Gates. Oh yeah, and the Charger corners were pretty much in evidence too.
But the Chargers punter was in a zone, as they say. The Colts were starting all their drives inside their ten-yard line. It’s a long haul, trying to drive a team 90 yards time after time after time. Not even the 2008 MVP, the great Peyton Manning, could do that.
That punter’s name is Mike Scifres. I’ll remember that now, even the rather fluky spelling. Mr. Scifres punted six times for 52.7 yards per pop. The Colts started drives from their 10, 19, 3, 33, 7, 20, 26, 9, 20, 1, 1 again, and then the19-yard line.
When the Chargers finally did enough offensively to tie the game in regulation, you knew the game was over. The Colts had seen enough. It was just the Chargers day.
Oh well, the games continue tomorrow. I’ll be picking the Vikings against the Eagles and the Ravens to take out the Fish, Chad Pennington notwithstanding. How could the Dolphins run the ball against that Ray Lewis and Company? How can they stop those bruising Ravens runners?
How can the Eagles stop Adrian Peterson? And shouldn’t it be a snap for the tough Vikings to take Brian Westbrook out of the game? Who else is a threat on that puny Eagles team? Can a guy who doesn’t know that NFL games can end in a tie really lead his team to victory in the land of Paul Bunyan?
Hmm, this is all sounding strangely familiar. I’ve built up this scenario in my head for the Vikings and the Ravens, and it’s hard to imagine my being totally wrong two days in a row. So, count on it, Donovan McNabb will have the game of his life and Pennington will once again surprise the entire football world by continuing to prevail against the biggest, baddest opponents out there.
As far as I’m concerned, Chad has done quite enough already. His steady performance against the Jets to knock them AND the Patriots out of the playoffs puts him in my good graces until the end of time. Proverbial justice. What a concept.
And, speaking of proverbial justice, why do I get the feeling that, no matter who the Jets pick to succeed Eric Mangini as head coach, it’ll be an abomination. Any owner stupid enough to take his quarterback’s side against his head coach and the rest of the team pretty much deserves anything the fates can conjure up to torture him.
It’s sad, very sad, but in Jets-Land it’s all about the money. The owner not only doesn’t understand football; he doesn’t even understand human nature. He just wants a bunch of sycophants to kiss his pharmaceutically-rich butt. He likes Brett Favre and he’ll be damned if he’ll have anyone tell him differently.
My guess is that he will be damned.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sad Ending, New Beginning
Despite the wonders of NFL ticket, I really was only interested in a few games yesterday. All the games paled in interest when compared to the Jets game. I had looked forward to Chad’s kicking the Jets butts since around Week 10.
So it was mostly a good day for me.
I used to be a Jets fan. That was before the Jets played hardball with one of their best offensive linemen last year. That was before Mangini started testing players on their assignments during the week. That was before Tannenbaum finally acquired some really good free agents - guys who would finally make it possible for the loyal Pennington to lead the Jets into the playoffs.
Then in the Jets’ infinite wisdom, they acquired Favre. They held Pennington in such low regard that they just gave him his release. Parcells got him.
At that moment I became a Dolphins fan. Not a diehard Fish enthusiast certainly, but someone who kept an eye on what the men in those crazy teal and orange and white uniforms were doing each week.
And they did mostly good things, smart things. They got Joey Porter and Ricky Williams, and they took a chance on a hard-working coach from Connecticut. They beat the tar out of the Patriots by pulling out their Wildcat, and I watched with glee as the Pats were swiping mostly at air all afternoon.
So it was great watching Favre be himself yesterday and throw INT after INT --and Pennington be himself by throwing two TD’s and no interceptions. What can you say? They needed to win but the Jets lost again. I totally expected it. I anticipated the interceptions and reveled in Chad Pennington’s performance. I enjoyed watching the Fish run their Wildcat again and again against a Jets defense that looked slow and confused. And leaderless.
And now Mangini has been fired. So now the Jets can move forward again. They can start over with a new head coach, and hopefully new coaches. They certainly need a different scheme on defense. It doesn’t seem to work. There’s never any real pressure on the opposing qb’s, something that so many other good teams do successfully. The team just looked totally lifeless. Maybe it was Favre’s ridiculously low-key televised “pep talk” to the team.
It’s probably the best thing for Mangini at this stage of his career. Maybe he went too far too fast. The speed of the firing makes me think Mangini knew he had to win that last game in order to be retained. His physical reactions at his last press conference would seem to confirm that, or at least a suspicion of that.
I wonder now if pulling the plug so quickly on Mangini will save Tannenbaum his job. Somebody should pay for dumping Pennington so unceremoniously, and worse, from a business standpoint, giving him away.
But Tannenbaum has made some good moves too, though. Sure - he had Woody’s budget, but at least he recognized where his team needed help. Most of his moves were more positive than negative. The offensive line moves and the linebacker move he made worked out, by all accounts, so he must be doing some things right. And Jenkins helped them until mid-season. QB is a big place to make a mistake though. Geez.
Maybe I can even become a fan again, but it’ll be tough if Favre’s still the quarterback. They at least have to start developing somebody else long-term, somebody in addition to Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff, somebody who has a reasonable expectation of succeeding.
With or without Favre, the Jets have problems. The Dolphins certainly had their problems last year. But the good leaders found answers for them all. They got people with character. Sparano, Pennington, Porter, and even a kid from Jersey named Fasano.
But a team has no chance without good leadership…..any team. That was obvious in Philadelphia yesterday as the Cowboys got mutilated by the Eagles. It was “Fly, Eagles, Fly” time in Cheesesteak-land. Dallas seems to need some leadership skills too, somewhere. Could Tony Romo alone be the cause of such ineptitude?
Romo looked bad yesterday, bad enough to really warrant a re-inspection of their quarterback position. His fling down the sideline was so poorly thrown and so ill-advised that it made the whole team sick, I think. They lost heart….and then continued to lose heart. What a beating!
Wade Phillips will be kept, according to Jerry Jones’s first remarks after the loss. He sounds as if he’s tired of blaming coaches. I think he should reexamine his position. Wade seems to be another non-starter as a leader, maybe Romo too, but I think there’s still a lot of hope for him.
In a way, Romo’s biggest problem is his elusiveness. He holds the ball too long. He always needs a checkdown guy, but there weren’t any in sight yesterday.
Jones needs to get some guys without character issues too. T.O. wouldn’t be my team’s spokesman. I know he loves it but get a grip, Jerry. Stop picking up big names; they don’t always have big games.
It’s almost unbelievable what the Dolphins have accomplished. Now that situation just reeks of leadership. Sound operations from the top brought a good, maybe great, head coach. His guys played motivated in every game. They were good defensively and good enough on offense. Everything was balanced. Everything seemed well-organized, even when they ran a wildly-imaginative offense nobody had used for a long long time, maybe never.
So leadership seems to mean a lot. A new head coach in New York, even with total uncertainty at the most important football position, quarterback, will be a good start.
They need somebody who’s coached before, somebody who can handle people and be pretty good as a bench coach too, somebody with honest-to-God football instincts who can inspire a good performance or at least an honest one. It’s a tough game and you need tough people at the top.
Let’s go Jets.
So it was mostly a good day for me.
I used to be a Jets fan. That was before the Jets played hardball with one of their best offensive linemen last year. That was before Mangini started testing players on their assignments during the week. That was before Tannenbaum finally acquired some really good free agents - guys who would finally make it possible for the loyal Pennington to lead the Jets into the playoffs.
Then in the Jets’ infinite wisdom, they acquired Favre. They held Pennington in such low regard that they just gave him his release. Parcells got him.
At that moment I became a Dolphins fan. Not a diehard Fish enthusiast certainly, but someone who kept an eye on what the men in those crazy teal and orange and white uniforms were doing each week.
And they did mostly good things, smart things. They got Joey Porter and Ricky Williams, and they took a chance on a hard-working coach from Connecticut. They beat the tar out of the Patriots by pulling out their Wildcat, and I watched with glee as the Pats were swiping mostly at air all afternoon.
So it was great watching Favre be himself yesterday and throw INT after INT --and Pennington be himself by throwing two TD’s and no interceptions. What can you say? They needed to win but the Jets lost again. I totally expected it. I anticipated the interceptions and reveled in Chad Pennington’s performance. I enjoyed watching the Fish run their Wildcat again and again against a Jets defense that looked slow and confused. And leaderless.
And now Mangini has been fired. So now the Jets can move forward again. They can start over with a new head coach, and hopefully new coaches. They certainly need a different scheme on defense. It doesn’t seem to work. There’s never any real pressure on the opposing qb’s, something that so many other good teams do successfully. The team just looked totally lifeless. Maybe it was Favre’s ridiculously low-key televised “pep talk” to the team.
It’s probably the best thing for Mangini at this stage of his career. Maybe he went too far too fast. The speed of the firing makes me think Mangini knew he had to win that last game in order to be retained. His physical reactions at his last press conference would seem to confirm that, or at least a suspicion of that.
I wonder now if pulling the plug so quickly on Mangini will save Tannenbaum his job. Somebody should pay for dumping Pennington so unceremoniously, and worse, from a business standpoint, giving him away.
But Tannenbaum has made some good moves too, though. Sure - he had Woody’s budget, but at least he recognized where his team needed help. Most of his moves were more positive than negative. The offensive line moves and the linebacker move he made worked out, by all accounts, so he must be doing some things right. And Jenkins helped them until mid-season. QB is a big place to make a mistake though. Geez.
Maybe I can even become a fan again, but it’ll be tough if Favre’s still the quarterback. They at least have to start developing somebody else long-term, somebody in addition to Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff, somebody who has a reasonable expectation of succeeding.
With or without Favre, the Jets have problems. The Dolphins certainly had their problems last year. But the good leaders found answers for them all. They got people with character. Sparano, Pennington, Porter, and even a kid from Jersey named Fasano.
But a team has no chance without good leadership…..any team. That was obvious in Philadelphia yesterday as the Cowboys got mutilated by the Eagles. It was “Fly, Eagles, Fly” time in Cheesesteak-land. Dallas seems to need some leadership skills too, somewhere. Could Tony Romo alone be the cause of such ineptitude?
Romo looked bad yesterday, bad enough to really warrant a re-inspection of their quarterback position. His fling down the sideline was so poorly thrown and so ill-advised that it made the whole team sick, I think. They lost heart….and then continued to lose heart. What a beating!
Wade Phillips will be kept, according to Jerry Jones’s first remarks after the loss. He sounds as if he’s tired of blaming coaches. I think he should reexamine his position. Wade seems to be another non-starter as a leader, maybe Romo too, but I think there’s still a lot of hope for him.
In a way, Romo’s biggest problem is his elusiveness. He holds the ball too long. He always needs a checkdown guy, but there weren’t any in sight yesterday.
Jones needs to get some guys without character issues too. T.O. wouldn’t be my team’s spokesman. I know he loves it but get a grip, Jerry. Stop picking up big names; they don’t always have big games.
It’s almost unbelievable what the Dolphins have accomplished. Now that situation just reeks of leadership. Sound operations from the top brought a good, maybe great, head coach. His guys played motivated in every game. They were good defensively and good enough on offense. Everything was balanced. Everything seemed well-organized, even when they ran a wildly-imaginative offense nobody had used for a long long time, maybe never.
So leadership seems to mean a lot. A new head coach in New York, even with total uncertainty at the most important football position, quarterback, will be a good start.
They need somebody who’s coached before, somebody who can handle people and be pretty good as a bench coach too, somebody with honest-to-God football instincts who can inspire a good performance or at least an honest one. It’s a tough game and you need tough people at the top.
Let’s go Jets.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Twas the Night Before.....
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the night
New York teams played football - just one was uptight
The Giants were golden, but the Jets had a care
The Dolphins would soon kick some butt in their lair.
The Giants were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of Super Bowl danced in their heads
Coughlin full of mischief, a bye in his lap
The Vikings were next, but who gave a crap?
Mangini aloof, his season in tatters
He only sees red when his quarterback shatters
His game plan, his processes, all just a mash
His free agents butter, but they’d get their cash.
His team had collapsed on the new-fallen snow
Seattle had proven his receivers slow
Then what to his wondering eyes should appear
The Fish on the schedule, good reason to fear.
That his fickle old driver, once lively and quick
To capture a moment would soon make him sick
His punter not Feagles, his offense so lame
He bristled to think he’d have no one to blame.
Not Bret Favre the Dancer !
He’d sure get his licks in
As fast if not faster
Than Domenick Hixon!
From the podium porch
With his back to the wall
He’d trash away, trash away
Trash away all!
Dry heaves Eric conquered, his stomach a tie
He worked on his game plan, the old college try
His charges, he knew that they’d soon need a clue
When the Dolphins arrived, and Chad Pennington too!
Oh how, in a twinkling, as if Chad needed proof
That Tanenbaum chose to remain quite aloof
Chad managed to turn a lost franchise around
No dummy, the Tuna, he knew what he found.
Dressed orange-blue-green from his head to his foot
Field leader untarnished with ashes and soot
A team full of rookies he flung on his back
Game manager sound, he’d soon get them on track!
His eyes--how they twinkled ! His dimples, how merry !
To leave in his wake, a wideout named Cotcherry
As he went down South, he surely would know
That team managed down in Miami did not blow
In Ron Brown was someone to kick in your teeth
And Ricky, he’d circle the field like a wreath
And if that wasn't reason to turn on the telly
He'd throw to Fasano to make you look smelly!
NOT chubby or plump, a right scary young elf
Not arrogant either, played within himself
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Let all the Fish know they had nothing to dread!
Jets hopes of the finals may turn on his work
If he makes Mangini look like a jerk
Through Ronnie and Ricky his offense it flows
Sparano and Parcells, they smell like a rose!
How good would it play, if Chad lets go a missile
The TD to win, sweet as down on a thistle
And we hear Chad exclaim as he gets on his flight
“HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT ! "
New York teams played football - just one was uptight
The Giants were golden, but the Jets had a care
The Dolphins would soon kick some butt in their lair.
The Giants were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of Super Bowl danced in their heads
Coughlin full of mischief, a bye in his lap
The Vikings were next, but who gave a crap?
Mangini aloof, his season in tatters
He only sees red when his quarterback shatters
His game plan, his processes, all just a mash
His free agents butter, but they’d get their cash.
His team had collapsed on the new-fallen snow
Seattle had proven his receivers slow
Then what to his wondering eyes should appear
The Fish on the schedule, good reason to fear.
That his fickle old driver, once lively and quick
To capture a moment would soon make him sick
His punter not Feagles, his offense so lame
He bristled to think he’d have no one to blame.
Not Bret Favre the Dancer !
He’d sure get his licks in
As fast if not faster
Than Domenick Hixon!
From the podium porch
With his back to the wall
He’d trash away, trash away
Trash away all!
Dry heaves Eric conquered, his stomach a tie
He worked on his game plan, the old college try
His charges, he knew that they’d soon need a clue
When the Dolphins arrived, and Chad Pennington too!
Oh how, in a twinkling, as if Chad needed proof
That Tanenbaum chose to remain quite aloof
Chad managed to turn a lost franchise around
No dummy, the Tuna, he knew what he found.
Dressed orange-blue-green from his head to his foot
Field leader untarnished with ashes and soot
A team full of rookies he flung on his back
Game manager sound, he’d soon get them on track!
His eyes--how they twinkled ! His dimples, how merry !
To leave in his wake, a wideout named Cotcherry
As he went down South, he surely would know
That team managed down in Miami did not blow
In Ron Brown was someone to kick in your teeth
And Ricky, he’d circle the field like a wreath
And if that wasn't reason to turn on the telly
He'd throw to Fasano to make you look smelly!
NOT chubby or plump, a right scary young elf
Not arrogant either, played within himself
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Let all the Fish know they had nothing to dread!
Jets hopes of the finals may turn on his work
If he makes Mangini look like a jerk
Through Ronnie and Ricky his offense it flows
Sparano and Parcells, they smell like a rose!
How good would it play, if Chad lets go a missile
The TD to win, sweet as down on a thistle
And we hear Chad exclaim as he gets on his flight
“HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT ! "
Monday, December 1, 2008
NY Super Bowl My Butt
Thank God the Jets lost to the lowly Broncos yesterday. I was getting a little tired of the all-New York Super Bowl hype I’d been hearing all week ad nauseum. The Jets don’t have the character of a true Super Bowl team as they proved yesterday.
Think of the last few Super Bowl teams. New England, Indianapolis, and our own Giants. QB’s…Brady, Peyton, Eli…..Coaches….Belichick, Dungy, Coughlin. I could go on, traversing every position on the field but the Jets just don’t measure up to those Super Bowl teams.
Not to be unkind but the Jets succumbed to the theories of their own greatness. After beating the Pats and then the Titans, they really thought they were hot. It didn’t occur to them, maybe, that the Broncos were a totally different team, a team with a real live passing game.
It didn’t occur to them that there may have been a big difference from Titans QB Kerry Collins to Broncos QB Jay Cutler. All the way down their respective rosters, the Broncos are superior to the Titans. The Titans are just a running team. Stop the run and you stop the Titans.
The Jets weren’t prepared for any adversity on Sunday. You could tell that from the opening kickoff to the final gun. It was cold and rainy too, and Favre just really wasn’t interested. After all, who would notice a clunker thrown in on the last Sunday in November? It wasn’t a team in the AFC East, they had a cushion in the East on the Pats and the Dolphins, it was time to coast past the Broncos.
Surely, they thought, we could stop their running game. Surely, then they would stop the pass. Well, it didn’t turn out that way, of course, but the Jets didn’t react, even after it became quite apparent that the Broncos weren’t going to be content with just holding the lead in the AFC West. They wouldn’t be making any turnovers this day.
The Jets just weren’t prepared to play. I don’t put the blame on Mangini, although he can’t be held blameless. The same goes for Favre who was pretty dreadful in the rain yesterday. It’s a team responsibility, heart. The Giants have it, clearly. The Steelers have it, the Chargers don’t have it, the Jets don’t have it.
I wouldn’t even mind if the Jets had come back. But they didn’t. They were content to tuck their tails between their knees and go home. They are a seriously-flawed team, not from a talent perspective as from a character point of view.
Chad Pennington, I might add, did not have a character problem and still doesn’t, as evidenced by his bringing the Dolphins back to respectability. His Jets played with a lot of heart but they didn’t have the talent in his time. Now, they clearly have the talent but not the heart. A large part of the heart got shipped to Miami.
You see the lack of character all over the NFL. Plax’s gun incident is a very clear example. How easy it is for a man to go from the heights to the depths when he is conspicuously lacking character. All those physical attributes that make him such a talent on the football field couldn’t save him from the debacle that will be his life from here on.
It’s a good thing that Burress has been such a small part of the Giants’ success this year. The team seems to be carrying on without missing a beat. The beat goes on and it will go on without Burress. But it may not go on against the best teams in the NFL, a team that has a balanced offense and defense, a team such as the Pats were last year before they were beaten by the Giants with Burress.
Is there a team though that meets those qualifications this year? In either the AFC or NFC? I don’t think so.
You could possibly make a case for the Steelers. They have Ben Roethlisberger at QB, and some talent at the receiver position. They have a formidable defense too, and, in the person of Troy Polamalu, they have the most talented player in either league. They can run the ball too, but not as well as a Super Bowl team should. Their offensive line doesn’t seem strong enough to support either part of their overall offense.
Their potential to fulfill that Super Bowl contender position will be seriously challenged next Sunday when the Cowboys come to town. The Cowboys have Romo back, and he does not seem to be the Romo of last year, not from the perspective of character.
Romo seems to have grown into a leader this year, his injury and the subsequent Cowboys demise seems to have challenged his whole being, and his performance in the games since his injury seems to bear that out. He is one of those players who can make everyone around him better, at least this year.
The Colts have always been a team with character. They were hit hard by injuries this year, and seem to be a little slow in coming back from them. Their performance against the Browns yesterday wasn’t that of a playoffs contender though, unless it was the Browns that made them look bad, a Browns team that seems to lift its game against better opponents, as evidenced by their victory over the G-Men this year.
Who else is there? There are Carolina and the Bucs in the AFC, the Panthers with conspicuous talent on both sides of the ball. But I don’t think Carolina has the heart. They are a team much like the Jets. The Bucs may have the character but not as much talent as is required to reach the heights, at least on the offensive side of things.
A team that turned in that performance against the Broncos yesterday could never reach the Super Bowl. Forget about it. They probably already have.
Think of the last few Super Bowl teams. New England, Indianapolis, and our own Giants. QB’s…Brady, Peyton, Eli…..Coaches….Belichick, Dungy, Coughlin. I could go on, traversing every position on the field but the Jets just don’t measure up to those Super Bowl teams.
Not to be unkind but the Jets succumbed to the theories of their own greatness. After beating the Pats and then the Titans, they really thought they were hot. It didn’t occur to them, maybe, that the Broncos were a totally different team, a team with a real live passing game.
It didn’t occur to them that there may have been a big difference from Titans QB Kerry Collins to Broncos QB Jay Cutler. All the way down their respective rosters, the Broncos are superior to the Titans. The Titans are just a running team. Stop the run and you stop the Titans.
The Jets weren’t prepared for any adversity on Sunday. You could tell that from the opening kickoff to the final gun. It was cold and rainy too, and Favre just really wasn’t interested. After all, who would notice a clunker thrown in on the last Sunday in November? It wasn’t a team in the AFC East, they had a cushion in the East on the Pats and the Dolphins, it was time to coast past the Broncos.
Surely, they thought, we could stop their running game. Surely, then they would stop the pass. Well, it didn’t turn out that way, of course, but the Jets didn’t react, even after it became quite apparent that the Broncos weren’t going to be content with just holding the lead in the AFC West. They wouldn’t be making any turnovers this day.
The Jets just weren’t prepared to play. I don’t put the blame on Mangini, although he can’t be held blameless. The same goes for Favre who was pretty dreadful in the rain yesterday. It’s a team responsibility, heart. The Giants have it, clearly. The Steelers have it, the Chargers don’t have it, the Jets don’t have it.
I wouldn’t even mind if the Jets had come back. But they didn’t. They were content to tuck their tails between their knees and go home. They are a seriously-flawed team, not from a talent perspective as from a character point of view.
Chad Pennington, I might add, did not have a character problem and still doesn’t, as evidenced by his bringing the Dolphins back to respectability. His Jets played with a lot of heart but they didn’t have the talent in his time. Now, they clearly have the talent but not the heart. A large part of the heart got shipped to Miami.
You see the lack of character all over the NFL. Plax’s gun incident is a very clear example. How easy it is for a man to go from the heights to the depths when he is conspicuously lacking character. All those physical attributes that make him such a talent on the football field couldn’t save him from the debacle that will be his life from here on.
It’s a good thing that Burress has been such a small part of the Giants’ success this year. The team seems to be carrying on without missing a beat. The beat goes on and it will go on without Burress. But it may not go on against the best teams in the NFL, a team that has a balanced offense and defense, a team such as the Pats were last year before they were beaten by the Giants with Burress.
Is there a team though that meets those qualifications this year? In either the AFC or NFC? I don’t think so.
You could possibly make a case for the Steelers. They have Ben Roethlisberger at QB, and some talent at the receiver position. They have a formidable defense too, and, in the person of Troy Polamalu, they have the most talented player in either league. They can run the ball too, but not as well as a Super Bowl team should. Their offensive line doesn’t seem strong enough to support either part of their overall offense.
Their potential to fulfill that Super Bowl contender position will be seriously challenged next Sunday when the Cowboys come to town. The Cowboys have Romo back, and he does not seem to be the Romo of last year, not from the perspective of character.
Romo seems to have grown into a leader this year, his injury and the subsequent Cowboys demise seems to have challenged his whole being, and his performance in the games since his injury seems to bear that out. He is one of those players who can make everyone around him better, at least this year.
The Colts have always been a team with character. They were hit hard by injuries this year, and seem to be a little slow in coming back from them. Their performance against the Browns yesterday wasn’t that of a playoffs contender though, unless it was the Browns that made them look bad, a Browns team that seems to lift its game against better opponents, as evidenced by their victory over the G-Men this year.
Who else is there? There are Carolina and the Bucs in the AFC, the Panthers with conspicuous talent on both sides of the ball. But I don’t think Carolina has the heart. They are a team much like the Jets. The Bucs may have the character but not as much talent as is required to reach the heights, at least on the offensive side of things.
A team that turned in that performance against the Broncos yesterday could never reach the Super Bowl. Forget about it. They probably already have.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
QB's - Turning On The Jets (and Boyz)
Everybody's talking about the Jets these days, especially after their stomping of the lowly Rams on Sunday leading up to their AFC East showdown with their perennial nemesis, the New England Patriots on Thursday night. Things looked even brighter when it became apparent that the Pats star linebacker Adalius Thomas would be unable to play. And it seemed like piling on when the Jets picked up free agent and former Patriot All-Star veteran cornerback Ty Law.
<>I should preface all my remarks by first telling you that I’ve soured on the Jets for the past two years. There was all that nonsense with the offensive line for starters last year, and then the genius Mangini proved he couldn’t coach. Then I was very impressed with their free agent pickups in the off-season, Faneca and Woody, Calvin Pace and of course Chris Jenkins, the mammoth defensive tackle.
I was so happy for Pennington at the time. Chad would finally get some help, a LOT of help, on both sides of the ball. No more would I wake up on Monday morning to read about Chad’s failures, when it was really a thinly-disguised team failure. No more would Chad have to be humiliated by sitting while a raw Kellen Clemens got the starts. Surely Chad would excel in this new environment.
<>And then they picked up Brett Favre, the aging wonder from Green Bay. Chad went to Miami and has been terrific for them, so he has at least landed on his feet. Favre has been up and down, in and out, as has been his history. He threw six touchdown passes against a pretty good Arizona team but managed to lose to a horrid Oakland team. Then he managed to eke out a narrow victory against the lowly Chiefs (thank God for Herman Edwards and his conservative nonsense down the stretch) but did beat Buffalo pretty soundly before the pounding of the Rams on Sunday.
So Favre has been Favre. But, to me, it’s really been about Jenkins and Pace and that improved Jets defense. The offensive line has been improving each week as further evidenced on Sunday by the running of Thomas Jones over, under, around and through the Rams.
<>But they did lose to New England in Week Two, 19-10. And Favre was instrumental in the loss. A poorly thrown ball and subsequent interception led directly to a Pats score, while Mangini’s obsessive-compulsive decision to run Jones into the sturdy heart of the Pats defense three times in a row from the three made sure the boys in green wouldn’t catch up.
Of course, that was Week 2. The Jets seem to have come a long way since then. And now for the rematch Adalius Thomas is out. That means it’ll be easier for the Jets to run the ball. There will be less pressure on Favre as well. While I don’t think that Ty Law can significantly change the Jets fortunes in this particular contest, his addition certainly bodes well for the future.
<>But the Pats will still be pretty darned good. Theirs is a Bellichick defense, and that means smart. That means tough. If their defense can stand the pounding of Jones and catch up to the shifty scatback, Leon Washington, they’ll probably be able to win again, even if the Pats are stuck with a rookie running back with a whole lot of names.
This game will be the benchmark for Favre, and Mangini too, the game by which both will eventually be measured. Can Favre show that he’s finally learned the offense? Can he lead the team to victory against that determination that Bellichick seems to inspire? Can Mangini out-think Bellichick…..if just for one day?
<>The game will be in Foxboro. That should make things that much tougher. It could possibly rain, another potential roadblock to what has been a very nice running game the past couple of weeks. The team that takes advantage of the conditions will have the edge. Can Mangini think that far ahead? Can he make the in-game adjustments that his coaching mentor surely will? Can they find a hole in Matt Cassell’s game? Mr. Cassell surely didn’t show much weakness against Buffalo.
Whatever the outcome, it should prove to be a very intense game, a very competitive game, one that may ultimately determine the AFC East winner, and maybe even the AFC representative to the Super Bowl. I’m going to thoroughly enjoy the game, hopefully as much as I’m enjoying just the prospects of the game.
<>Once again, I’ve been down on the Jets. I haven’t liked Mangini and I’ve liked Tanenbaum even less. It seems to me that they’ve focused most of their attention on burying their popular players to solidify their hold on this team. The new emperor buries the sword…..
The Jets game will just be the kickoff to an exciting schedule of NFL games this weekend. I’m most looking forward to the return of Tony Romo to the Cowboys fold. I’m hoping his pinkie will hold up against the outstanding defense that the Skins will bring.
<>It had better. If it doesn’t, the Cowboys will be done. Stick a fork in them. That much-ballyhooed team with all the Pro Bowl representatives may as well go home again. It won’t be easy either. They haven’t been able to stop the run, something the Skins like to do, with Clinton Portis doing most of the damage. It’s a bit hard to believe he won’t play, something that is supposedly a distinct possibility as this is written. And then, of course, there is the disturbing news (for Boys fans) of CB DeAngelo Hall, formerly of the Raiders, joining the Redskins.
Can a quarterback change the entire complexion of a football team? I’m betting that he can, that just the Romo presence on the field will boost not just the Cowboys offfense, but the defense and special teams as well.
I’m a little less sure that Favre can do the same this Thursday.
<>I should preface all my remarks by first telling you that I’ve soured on the Jets for the past two years. There was all that nonsense with the offensive line for starters last year, and then the genius Mangini proved he couldn’t coach. Then I was very impressed with their free agent pickups in the off-season, Faneca and Woody, Calvin Pace and of course Chris Jenkins, the mammoth defensive tackle.
I was so happy for Pennington at the time. Chad would finally get some help, a LOT of help, on both sides of the ball. No more would I wake up on Monday morning to read about Chad’s failures, when it was really a thinly-disguised team failure. No more would Chad have to be humiliated by sitting while a raw Kellen Clemens got the starts. Surely Chad would excel in this new environment.
<>And then they picked up Brett Favre, the aging wonder from Green Bay. Chad went to Miami and has been terrific for them, so he has at least landed on his feet. Favre has been up and down, in and out, as has been his history. He threw six touchdown passes against a pretty good Arizona team but managed to lose to a horrid Oakland team. Then he managed to eke out a narrow victory against the lowly Chiefs (thank God for Herman Edwards and his conservative nonsense down the stretch) but did beat Buffalo pretty soundly before the pounding of the Rams on Sunday.
So Favre has been Favre. But, to me, it’s really been about Jenkins and Pace and that improved Jets defense. The offensive line has been improving each week as further evidenced on Sunday by the running of Thomas Jones over, under, around and through the Rams.
<>But they did lose to New England in Week Two, 19-10. And Favre was instrumental in the loss. A poorly thrown ball and subsequent interception led directly to a Pats score, while Mangini’s obsessive-compulsive decision to run Jones into the sturdy heart of the Pats defense three times in a row from the three made sure the boys in green wouldn’t catch up.
Of course, that was Week 2. The Jets seem to have come a long way since then. And now for the rematch Adalius Thomas is out. That means it’ll be easier for the Jets to run the ball. There will be less pressure on Favre as well. While I don’t think that Ty Law can significantly change the Jets fortunes in this particular contest, his addition certainly bodes well for the future.
<>But the Pats will still be pretty darned good. Theirs is a Bellichick defense, and that means smart. That means tough. If their defense can stand the pounding of Jones and catch up to the shifty scatback, Leon Washington, they’ll probably be able to win again, even if the Pats are stuck with a rookie running back with a whole lot of names.
This game will be the benchmark for Favre, and Mangini too, the game by which both will eventually be measured. Can Favre show that he’s finally learned the offense? Can he lead the team to victory against that determination that Bellichick seems to inspire? Can Mangini out-think Bellichick…..if just for one day?
<>The game will be in Foxboro. That should make things that much tougher. It could possibly rain, another potential roadblock to what has been a very nice running game the past couple of weeks. The team that takes advantage of the conditions will have the edge. Can Mangini think that far ahead? Can he make the in-game adjustments that his coaching mentor surely will? Can they find a hole in Matt Cassell’s game? Mr. Cassell surely didn’t show much weakness against Buffalo.
Whatever the outcome, it should prove to be a very intense game, a very competitive game, one that may ultimately determine the AFC East winner, and maybe even the AFC representative to the Super Bowl. I’m going to thoroughly enjoy the game, hopefully as much as I’m enjoying just the prospects of the game.
<>Once again, I’ve been down on the Jets. I haven’t liked Mangini and I’ve liked Tanenbaum even less. It seems to me that they’ve focused most of their attention on burying their popular players to solidify their hold on this team. The new emperor buries the sword…..
The Jets game will just be the kickoff to an exciting schedule of NFL games this weekend. I’m most looking forward to the return of Tony Romo to the Cowboys fold. I’m hoping his pinkie will hold up against the outstanding defense that the Skins will bring.
<>It had better. If it doesn’t, the Cowboys will be done. Stick a fork in them. That much-ballyhooed team with all the Pro Bowl representatives may as well go home again. It won’t be easy either. They haven’t been able to stop the run, something the Skins like to do, with Clinton Portis doing most of the damage. It’s a bit hard to believe he won’t play, something that is supposedly a distinct possibility as this is written. And then, of course, there is the disturbing news (for Boys fans) of CB DeAngelo Hall, formerly of the Raiders, joining the Redskins.
Can a quarterback change the entire complexion of a football team? I’m betting that he can, that just the Romo presence on the field will boost not just the Cowboys offfense, but the defense and special teams as well.
I’m a little less sure that Favre can do the same this Thursday.
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