The Giants and the Patriots are getting ready to re-enact Super Bowl 42 in a couple of weeks. The combination of a missed field goal by the Ravens and a made field goal by the Giants on Sunday prevented a Har-bowl. Tough day for the Harbaughs, but I ain't shedding a tear for that family. They have it pretty good with both brothers making millions as prestigious head coaches in the NFL. Considering there are only 32 of those jobs in the entire world, the Harbaughs hold 6.25% of all NFL head coaching jobs under the sun. So they will be fine. But life is all perspective and I am sure that entire family is feeling horrible this week given the way both teams lost. Jim Harbaugh made his family's catch-phrase the 49'ers war cry - "who's got better than us?". Well, the real answer is - Tom Brady. The guy got another Super Bowl trip gifted to him by the Ravens. He sure is talented and a great QB and is rarely outplayed by other QBs, but Joe Flacco actually outplayed him and looked good against that horrible Patriots defense. Brady was going against the better defense, but he didn't even have a passing TD in this game - something that's unheard of this season.
Flacco's throw to Lee Evans that would have won the game at the end of the game was just perfect. In fact, it was a little too perfect as it fell on Evans lap and surprised him just enough to let a defender knock it out of his hands. One could still argue that Evans controlled the ball and then fumbled it. And that should have made it a TD because the ball broke the plane. But the zebras thought otherwise. As if that's not enough of a good fortune for Brady, hoody and the Patriots, the Ravens then miss a game tying field goal that would have at least sent the game to OT. Poor kicker Billy Cundiff missed a short, 32 yard field goal and lost the game for his team. I liked how his teammates, especially Ray Lewis stuck up for him and said all the right things. I am beginning to like Ray Lewis more and more as he ages and moves away from the murder scandal back in the day. But I do feel for that team because Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are getting up there in age. They had a great shot at another Super Bowl appearance but Cundiff kicked it away. There is no guarantee they get there back again - not in that division with the Steelers. There is also some talk about how the scoreboard in the Patriots stadium threw Cundiff off with the wrong down and distance information. You can't help but wonder if this is another "hoody-gate" in the making. But the Ravens season is over anyways.
In San Francisco, the game did go to overtime unlike the AFC championship game, but Kyle Williams fumbled a punt and stopped the hearts of the home crowd. It was a shocking moment, but you immediately felt for Kyle because he joined Ravens' Cundiff as the other goat on that day. This was even worse than Cundiff only because he kneed a punt earlier in that game committing a costly turnover. Nothing justifies the stupid fans sending him death threats after the game, but it was a tough day for Williams even otherwise to have turned the ball over twice. Niners pride themselves on their turnover differential, but they were 0-2 in this one with both credited to Kyle. Of course, his teammates came out and stood by him. It is indeed a cliche to say "it's not one man's fault, we win as a team and we lose as a team". Obviously a costly mistake at the end of a game like that has a much greater impact and is harder to recover from, but Kyle's last fumble was truly not the 49'ers main problem. I wouldn't blame him at all for that defeat. They had several opportunities to put that game away and the 49'ers offense couldn't get it done. All they needed was a field goal and Williams would have been in the locker room celebrating instead of fielding that ill-fated punt if only the offense had done it's job.
The way that game ended proved one more time how much of a team game football is and even a mistake of that magnitude exposed more of a team's problem in it's entirety than anything else. In fact, I would say Kyle's first turnover where he kicked a ball that he didn't even catch was more stupid and even more damaging in the big scheme of things. He had no reason to hang around that ball and it was a big momentum changer in the game. The NY Giants hang on and move on to the big game behind some strong performance by their wide receivers. The niners WRs caught one pass for 3 yards the entire overtime game and that was the difference. Credit goes to Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Hakeen Nicks and the blame goes to Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree. The best quote about this game was by Bill Romanowski when he said "Michael Crabtree was an ornament in this game. He might as well have hung out on a Christmas tree." Both defenses were awesome, but the Giants passing offense with Eli Manning is in elite hands - pun intended. It was a disappointing end to a great season for Jim Harbaugh, but they should be proud of what they accomplished this season. Now it's time for them to go get a receiver to help Alex Smith. The challenge for the niners and their fans is that in today's NFL, there are no guarantees that this team - or any other team for that matter, makes it to the Super Bowl or even to the playoffs next year.
The NFL power structure changes every year due to 4 main reasons. First, the player churn is too high in the NFL, thanks to the hard salary cap and non-guaranteed player contracts. Secondly, NFL is a brutal sport with a very high risk of injuries and that's always a factor with many teams every year. Thirdly, NFL schedule is short and a bad stretch here or there can doom a team's playoff dream unlike what happens in the NBA or the MLB where the more talented teams bubble up to the playoffs eventually. Last but not the least, NFL teams play an unbalanced schedule and people don't realize that it's almost like teams play in a different league every year. First place schedule is vastly different from a 4-Th place schedule and niners will have a tougher road next year. So nobody knows where the niners end up next season, but this is a great start and they do have a great coach, which is a great thing to have. The closest thing to a guarantee of consistent success in the NFL is a great quarterback. Even Brady and Manning don't go to the Super Bowl every year, but good QBs like that at least get you enough wins to make the playoffs consistently. The niners don't have that in Alex Smith, but they better stick with him, give him a receiver and see where this thing goes. In Harbaugh they should trust.
More on the Super Bowl soon.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Can I get a Har-bowl!
What I want for the Super Bowl is a Har-bowl, but I think we will end up with a Brady-bowl. I expect the Niners and the Patriots to hold on at home in interesting championship games in the NFC and the AFC respectively. That would lead us to a Brady-bowl where ESPN will feed us a whole lot of Tom Brady for 2 weeks. They don't know this guy named Alex Smith playing out west for the Niners and to be fair to them, Brady is a much bigger star anyways. But not sure if I can handle 24 X 7 Brady love-fest for 2 weeks. Of course what I would like to see instead is a Har-bowl though some people have raised valid concerns about how that would be as bad as the BCS championship game - a repeat game between 2 offensively challenged teams with good defenses. It's not unlikely that we will get this super bowl considering defense wins championships and the Niners and the Ravens have the best defenses in this final 4. I have always liked the Harbaugh brothers and I can totally handle them for 2 weeks leading up to the super bowl. Now that both what I want to happen and what I think will happen are obvious, the NY Giants are the odd team out and ironically, they may be the most complete team left in the dance.
NY Giants definitely have a shot in San Francisco, but I have to go with the home team with the better defense here. And their offense didn't look too shabby either last weekend as Alex Smith sliced and diced the Saints twice in the last 4 minutes. The Giants offense and Eli at QB are better than what the Niners have and their defense is decent too, but everything New York is a little overblown by the predominantly East coast media. I like their front 4 on defense, but the Niners are no slouches either in that department. The NY bandwagon is especially full now since they beat the champions in Green Bay. But the Niners are tougher in every sense of the word. The Niners defense hit people like this is your grand father's NFL, and they know how to deliver those old-school blows without the new-school flags. They routinely knock out running backs and I would be concerned if I was Ahmad Bradshaw. The weather is going to be soggy and I never liked the theory that rain affects the offense. It's hard to play defense too in the rain as defenders have to react and move depending on where the receiver goes. But at the line of scrimmage, the defenders are pushing forward and the offensive line has to back-pedal. So the weather affects both sides and it depends on the position you play. The only added challenge for the offense is holding on to the slick ball in the rain and avoiding turnovers. All things considered, I think the road team is going to be uncomfortable here and the Niners should sneak through.
In the AFC, Joe Flacco is under a lot of stress because of his performance last weekend against a strong Texans defense. He should do a lot better against a weak defense in New England, but the question is, can he match Brady and the New England offense who just look unstoppable? Ravens don't seem to have any answer for Rob Gronkowski - actually no team does, and Gronk is just one of many options at Brady's figer-tips. Add to that the extra motivation the Pats have against the Ravens since they got embarrassed at home by the Ravens in the 2009 playoffs behind Ray Rice's 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Ray Rice might have to pull something that spectacular again to hang with this Pats team. I would give Ravens a better chance if their defense was more consistent and fearsome. They have a good D, but some of it is just good reputation even while their on-field performance has been inconsistent. Never count the team with the better defense out, but all things point to a repeat Super Bowl appearance for the hoody. A NY Giants V NE Patriots Super Bowl will be awesome considering what happened a few years back, but give me Niners this year. And good luck to Ravens who have the unenviable task of preventing the hoody from going to his 18000-Th Super Bowl.
NY Giants definitely have a shot in San Francisco, but I have to go with the home team with the better defense here. And their offense didn't look too shabby either last weekend as Alex Smith sliced and diced the Saints twice in the last 4 minutes. The Giants offense and Eli at QB are better than what the Niners have and their defense is decent too, but everything New York is a little overblown by the predominantly East coast media. I like their front 4 on defense, but the Niners are no slouches either in that department. The NY bandwagon is especially full now since they beat the champions in Green Bay. But the Niners are tougher in every sense of the word. The Niners defense hit people like this is your grand father's NFL, and they know how to deliver those old-school blows without the new-school flags. They routinely knock out running backs and I would be concerned if I was Ahmad Bradshaw. The weather is going to be soggy and I never liked the theory that rain affects the offense. It's hard to play defense too in the rain as defenders have to react and move depending on where the receiver goes. But at the line of scrimmage, the defenders are pushing forward and the offensive line has to back-pedal. So the weather affects both sides and it depends on the position you play. The only added challenge for the offense is holding on to the slick ball in the rain and avoiding turnovers. All things considered, I think the road team is going to be uncomfortable here and the Niners should sneak through.
In the AFC, Joe Flacco is under a lot of stress because of his performance last weekend against a strong Texans defense. He should do a lot better against a weak defense in New England, but the question is, can he match Brady and the New England offense who just look unstoppable? Ravens don't seem to have any answer for Rob Gronkowski - actually no team does, and Gronk is just one of many options at Brady's figer-tips. Add to that the extra motivation the Pats have against the Ravens since they got embarrassed at home by the Ravens in the 2009 playoffs behind Ray Rice's 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Ray Rice might have to pull something that spectacular again to hang with this Pats team. I would give Ravens a better chance if their defense was more consistent and fearsome. They have a good D, but some of it is just good reputation even while their on-field performance has been inconsistent. Never count the team with the better defense out, but all things point to a repeat Super Bowl appearance for the hoody. A NY Giants V NE Patriots Super Bowl will be awesome considering what happened a few years back, but give me Niners this year. And good luck to Ravens who have the unenviable task of preventing the hoody from going to his 18000-Th Super Bowl.
Monday, January 16, 2012
49'ers are the story of this round
The Divisional round of the NFL playoffs are in the books. Many things happened this weekend - some expected, some unexpected, some I like, some I don't. But the best game of the weekend and the most impressive win was San Francisco 49'ers beating the New Orleans Saints in thrilling fashion. The Niners faithful is used to seeing these fantastic finishes orchestrated by Joe Montana and Steve Young. But it was Alex Smith at the wheels this weekend and he drove them right past Drew Brees - the real mayor of New Orleans, to the finish line. There were 4 TDs in the last 4 minutes as both teams exchanged punches, but Alex Smith dealt the final blow as he drilled a pass to Vernon Davis with very little time left for Brees to mount another attack. It was a perfect throw in traffic, very reminiscent of Steve Young's game winner to Terrell Owens back in the day. And just like TO, Davis did great to hold onto the ball in traffic and teared up on the sidelines.
Large, strong, rich, grown men crying like a baby while making a winning play - tells you all you need to know about the drive, passion and effort that these guys put into this game. We may think they are spoiled millionaires and they may even come off as thugs who are "too cool for school" sometimes. But make no mistake about the fact that they didn't become a professional athlete in the NFL without an incredible passion and burning desire to be the best at what they do. Most of them have a winning, genetic lottery ticket in their hands, but it aint as easy as we sometimes think it is to cash that ticket. While years of frustration and disappointment welled up Davis's eyes, it was actually a much greater moment for Alex Smith who has been discarded as a bust by the Niner fan base for a few years now. Jim Harbaugh trusted this guy, invested in him and Alex Smith has more than done his job this year. He is a good guy by all accounts and I am happy for him to have come through twice in the clutch like that. Harbaugh deserves a lot of credit for going for a TD in that final drive when a field goal would have sent the game to OT. That's intelligent aggression from a conservative coach and this is why Harbaugh rocks.
The other big news of the weekend was the elimination of the Green Bay Packers at home. Some people expected it because of how good the Giants have been lately. Others expected it just because somebody has to lose at home and the Niners won the first game of the weekend and it didn't look like the Patriots or the Ravens were going to lose at home. The home teams were 7-0 before the Packers defense decided to play flag football for 3 hours. Their offense was surprisingly not on-point either and that combined with a couple of untimely turnovers killed them. It should be disappointing to be 15-1 in the regular season and not even make it to the NFC championship game. But this goes to show how difficult it is to repeat in the NFL. That defense did not deserve to win though. My first reaction after the season opener between the Saints and the Packers was that neither team looked Super Bowl bound with that defense. This weekend, both of them helped me pat myself on the back for that prediction.
The Packers game also showed why we always say "defense wins championship". It does because offense can have a bad day and you need to stop somebody to win. More importantly, offense controls the ball and some weird things and bad turnovers can happen at random times in games and you need the defense to stop the other team and get the ball back. This is exactly what Packers couldn't do today as Ryan Grant fumbled with about 7 minutes to go and with the Packers trailing by 10. The game was over right there for all practical purposes, but it definitely was over for the Packers with that defense. The Giants now proceed to the NFC title game. There is something about this team, the coach and the QB that results in a lot of wins. None of them get a whole lot of credit, but they win a lot. People can keep doubting Eli Manning all they want, but you can't spell elite without Eli. If he keeps this up, he might have more rings than his big brother. Coach Coughlin is not too shabby either.
In the AFC, both games fell short of expectations. Tebowmania came to a screeching halt at New England as expected. Tom Brady kept finding his favorite tight-ends to the tune of 363 yards and 6 TDs. Proof number 19052 that the NFL is a different sport right now. QBs are throwing for 6 TDs in 3 quarters in playoff games. Of course no such luck for Tebow as his limitations were exposed and his ride stalled. He is still not ready and I am not sure what Elway and Fox are going to do with this runaway train that's not really going anywhere. Ravens now have to try and stop Brady and I don't think that's going to happen either. Joe Flacco just like his draft mate Matt Ryan has many questions hanging over his head and he didn't answer many of them today at home. I doubt if he does on the road. They beat Houston, but didn't look good doing it. I think their defense is overrated too and are now living on reputation more than consistent performance. But the games next week will be a true test for the Ravens. Actually it will be for all the teams involved. When you are playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl, you will be tested.
Large, strong, rich, grown men crying like a baby while making a winning play - tells you all you need to know about the drive, passion and effort that these guys put into this game. We may think they are spoiled millionaires and they may even come off as thugs who are "too cool for school" sometimes. But make no mistake about the fact that they didn't become a professional athlete in the NFL without an incredible passion and burning desire to be the best at what they do. Most of them have a winning, genetic lottery ticket in their hands, but it aint as easy as we sometimes think it is to cash that ticket. While years of frustration and disappointment welled up Davis's eyes, it was actually a much greater moment for Alex Smith who has been discarded as a bust by the Niner fan base for a few years now. Jim Harbaugh trusted this guy, invested in him and Alex Smith has more than done his job this year. He is a good guy by all accounts and I am happy for him to have come through twice in the clutch like that. Harbaugh deserves a lot of credit for going for a TD in that final drive when a field goal would have sent the game to OT. That's intelligent aggression from a conservative coach and this is why Harbaugh rocks.
The other big news of the weekend was the elimination of the Green Bay Packers at home. Some people expected it because of how good the Giants have been lately. Others expected it just because somebody has to lose at home and the Niners won the first game of the weekend and it didn't look like the Patriots or the Ravens were going to lose at home. The home teams were 7-0 before the Packers defense decided to play flag football for 3 hours. Their offense was surprisingly not on-point either and that combined with a couple of untimely turnovers killed them. It should be disappointing to be 15-1 in the regular season and not even make it to the NFC championship game. But this goes to show how difficult it is to repeat in the NFL. That defense did not deserve to win though. My first reaction after the season opener between the Saints and the Packers was that neither team looked Super Bowl bound with that defense. This weekend, both of them helped me pat myself on the back for that prediction.
The Packers game also showed why we always say "defense wins championship". It does because offense can have a bad day and you need to stop somebody to win. More importantly, offense controls the ball and some weird things and bad turnovers can happen at random times in games and you need the defense to stop the other team and get the ball back. This is exactly what Packers couldn't do today as Ryan Grant fumbled with about 7 minutes to go and with the Packers trailing by 10. The game was over right there for all practical purposes, but it definitely was over for the Packers with that defense. The Giants now proceed to the NFC title game. There is something about this team, the coach and the QB that results in a lot of wins. None of them get a whole lot of credit, but they win a lot. People can keep doubting Eli Manning all they want, but you can't spell elite without Eli. If he keeps this up, he might have more rings than his big brother. Coach Coughlin is not too shabby either.
In the AFC, both games fell short of expectations. Tebowmania came to a screeching halt at New England as expected. Tom Brady kept finding his favorite tight-ends to the tune of 363 yards and 6 TDs. Proof number 19052 that the NFL is a different sport right now. QBs are throwing for 6 TDs in 3 quarters in playoff games. Of course no such luck for Tebow as his limitations were exposed and his ride stalled. He is still not ready and I am not sure what Elway and Fox are going to do with this runaway train that's not really going anywhere. Ravens now have to try and stop Brady and I don't think that's going to happen either. Joe Flacco just like his draft mate Matt Ryan has many questions hanging over his head and he didn't answer many of them today at home. I doubt if he does on the road. They beat Houston, but didn't look good doing it. I think their defense is overrated too and are now living on reputation more than consistent performance. But the games next week will be a true test for the Ravens. Actually it will be for all the teams involved. When you are playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl, you will be tested.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Time to Eat Crow
It's not often that I am wrong with 3 out of 4 picks. In fact, it's hard to do. Of course impossible things always seem to happen when we are dealing with Timothy Richard Tebow and he was one of the reasons I was wrong with 3 of my road picks this wild card weekend in the NFL. Tebow has been proving many experts and their theories and pontifications wrong. Today he added one more theory to the list - NFL playoff overtime rules have changed. Not today and not under his watch as Tebow ended the game and the Steelers season in overtime with not just one possession, but just one play. It was a 80 yard bomb down the middle - the middle left vacant by the Steelers secondary as they crowded the line of scrimmage expecting another 1-St down run. Tebow hit Demaryius Thomas in stride and he did the rest. With the new rules, each team gets a possession if the first score is a field goal. But it's still sudden death if that score is a TD or a safety. Tebow time today produced a TD in 11 seconds and made the new rules irrelevant.
The other team still deserves a possession in my opinion and this rule change is a step in the right direction, but only a small step. May be this game will force NFL to expand the new rules even further. But all that's neither here nor there. This game was all about Tim Tebow. He played a superb and complete game. This was not one of those games where he looked like a deer in the headlights for 3 quarters and pulled out some weird magic in the last 3 minutes to win the game. This was almost the opposite and Big Ben actually had to bring the Steelers back from behind to tie it in the 4-Th. Tebow was great from the beginning to the end. He did make some mistakes and missed some throws as always, but he also made some terrific plays - to the tune of 316 passing yards, 50 yards rushing and 3 TDs. Those are some superstar numbers. Coach John Fox deserves a lot of credit. Not only did he finally unleash Tebow and satisfy his boss, John Elway, but he has also been steadily figuring out ways to use him right throughout the season. Not easy considering that his previous QB was very different from Tebow.
In this game, Fox had Tebow throwing long balls almost exclusively. Brilliant strategy as Tebow may not be the best thrower or reader of defenses. So just don't have him throw those intricate, short passes down the crowded middle. Instead, go for the longer routes which are safer, especially since the Steelers like most other teams crowded the line of scrimmage to stop Tebow and the run and most outside receivers were just single covered. And credit Tebow for hitting almost all of those long balls beautifully. 316 yards on 10 completions proves my point. At one stage in the game, I was wondering if Tebow even attempted a pass less than 30 yards. Big Ben was brilliant as always, but was hobbled. In addition to all the injuries coming in, they lost a couple of key players during the game and they couldn't overcome all of that. I could use that and the fact that they still almost won the game as an excuse for my bad pick, but I won't. Honestly, I would have still picked the Steelers even if those injured guys were all out coming into the game. I thought Ben and Troy would be way better than the Tebows and they were not. So I have to eat crow. Speaking of Troy, I am a big Polamalu fan, but he looks done. Was he even in this game?
I picked Atlanta and Cincinnati to win on the road as well. It turns out that all road teams lost and the wild card weekend eliminated all wild card teams too. So both the home court advantage and the playoffs seeding are alive and well up to this point. Atlanta was an abomination today. That team will be going to Green Bay next weekend if only they knew how to rush for a measly yard when they really need it. In a season where the coach got in trouble for going for it on 4-Th and short against the Saints and stalling, he did that twice in this playoff game and the Falcons stalled both times. They can't do 3-Rd or 4-Th and 1 and it's mind boggling given all the talent on the roster. Giants abused them on both sides of the ball and left Matt Ryan and Mike Smith with a lot of questions. Now the Giants get to go challenge the defending champions in Green Bay. It will be a fun game, but that's a tall order for anybody. In the AFC, Cincinnati went into Houston and their immaturity and inexperience got exposed on the road. The Houston rookies outplayed Cincy's rookies and won behind another solid outing by Arian Foster - 153 yards, 2 TDs. How do guys like Arian Foster and Isaac Redman go undrafted?
The 49'ers will be hosting the Saints next weekend in probably the most intriguing of the match-ups. It's all offense versus all defense. Saints and Drew Brees are putting up ridiculous numbers week in and week out. 400 yards is becoming the norm for this guy even in blowout victories. That used to happen once in a while in the old NFL only when good QBs were chasing a big deficit. Now, any decent QB can drop a 400 on you and of course Brees is great. Drew Brees is becoming a legend and civic treasure much like Marino, Elway, Montana and Manning. He might even be ahead of Brady on that front. He is the man behind that offensive machine and that city. But despite all the gaudy numbers, this offense doesn't look to me as special as the "greatest show on turf" Rams or the Vikes with Moss and Carter or even the Patriots when Brady threw for 50 TDs. I feel like the Saints offense is as much a product of today's rules as they are a product of an innovative offense or phenomenal talent. Also the fact that there are 3 or 4 other offenses this year that are not far behind the Saints takes some bloom off of that rose. I look at it as proof number 12551 that the offensive game has changed and gotten a lot easier that this Saints team could put up those kind of numbers. Proof number 12552 would be that Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards in his first playoff game. But let's not suggest anything even remotely critical of Tim Tebow right now.
The other team still deserves a possession in my opinion and this rule change is a step in the right direction, but only a small step. May be this game will force NFL to expand the new rules even further. But all that's neither here nor there. This game was all about Tim Tebow. He played a superb and complete game. This was not one of those games where he looked like a deer in the headlights for 3 quarters and pulled out some weird magic in the last 3 minutes to win the game. This was almost the opposite and Big Ben actually had to bring the Steelers back from behind to tie it in the 4-Th. Tebow was great from the beginning to the end. He did make some mistakes and missed some throws as always, but he also made some terrific plays - to the tune of 316 passing yards, 50 yards rushing and 3 TDs. Those are some superstar numbers. Coach John Fox deserves a lot of credit. Not only did he finally unleash Tebow and satisfy his boss, John Elway, but he has also been steadily figuring out ways to use him right throughout the season. Not easy considering that his previous QB was very different from Tebow.
In this game, Fox had Tebow throwing long balls almost exclusively. Brilliant strategy as Tebow may not be the best thrower or reader of defenses. So just don't have him throw those intricate, short passes down the crowded middle. Instead, go for the longer routes which are safer, especially since the Steelers like most other teams crowded the line of scrimmage to stop Tebow and the run and most outside receivers were just single covered. And credit Tebow for hitting almost all of those long balls beautifully. 316 yards on 10 completions proves my point. At one stage in the game, I was wondering if Tebow even attempted a pass less than 30 yards. Big Ben was brilliant as always, but was hobbled. In addition to all the injuries coming in, they lost a couple of key players during the game and they couldn't overcome all of that. I could use that and the fact that they still almost won the game as an excuse for my bad pick, but I won't. Honestly, I would have still picked the Steelers even if those injured guys were all out coming into the game. I thought Ben and Troy would be way better than the Tebows and they were not. So I have to eat crow. Speaking of Troy, I am a big Polamalu fan, but he looks done. Was he even in this game?
I picked Atlanta and Cincinnati to win on the road as well. It turns out that all road teams lost and the wild card weekend eliminated all wild card teams too. So both the home court advantage and the playoffs seeding are alive and well up to this point. Atlanta was an abomination today. That team will be going to Green Bay next weekend if only they knew how to rush for a measly yard when they really need it. In a season where the coach got in trouble for going for it on 4-Th and short against the Saints and stalling, he did that twice in this playoff game and the Falcons stalled both times. They can't do 3-Rd or 4-Th and 1 and it's mind boggling given all the talent on the roster. Giants abused them on both sides of the ball and left Matt Ryan and Mike Smith with a lot of questions. Now the Giants get to go challenge the defending champions in Green Bay. It will be a fun game, but that's a tall order for anybody. In the AFC, Cincinnati went into Houston and their immaturity and inexperience got exposed on the road. The Houston rookies outplayed Cincy's rookies and won behind another solid outing by Arian Foster - 153 yards, 2 TDs. How do guys like Arian Foster and Isaac Redman go undrafted?
The 49'ers will be hosting the Saints next weekend in probably the most intriguing of the match-ups. It's all offense versus all defense. Saints and Drew Brees are putting up ridiculous numbers week in and week out. 400 yards is becoming the norm for this guy even in blowout victories. That used to happen once in a while in the old NFL only when good QBs were chasing a big deficit. Now, any decent QB can drop a 400 on you and of course Brees is great. Drew Brees is becoming a legend and civic treasure much like Marino, Elway, Montana and Manning. He might even be ahead of Brady on that front. He is the man behind that offensive machine and that city. But despite all the gaudy numbers, this offense doesn't look to me as special as the "greatest show on turf" Rams or the Vikes with Moss and Carter or even the Patriots when Brady threw for 50 TDs. I feel like the Saints offense is as much a product of today's rules as they are a product of an innovative offense or phenomenal talent. Also the fact that there are 3 or 4 other offenses this year that are not far behind the Saints takes some bloom off of that rose. I look at it as proof number 12551 that the offensive game has changed and gotten a lot easier that this Saints team could put up those kind of numbers. Proof number 12552 would be that Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards in his first playoff game. But let's not suggest anything even remotely critical of Tim Tebow right now.
Friday, January 06, 2012
One last bowl
This is the week of the BCS before we transition to the NFL wild card weekend. When the bowl schedule came out, it' didn't look too appetizing this year. Part of the problem was that the BCS championship game is a rematch that really didn't get a whole lot of us excited. There were a couple of good match-ups, but it looked like slim pickings. But the BCS bowls since the New Years day have been pretty good. Wisconsin-Oregon stayed true to form and Oregon won in a thrilling Rose Bowl. Then the best game of the BCS season was as expected the Fiesta Bowl featuring Stanford and Oklahoma state. Andrew Luck had an amazing game, but lost anyways. I like David Shaw - Stanford's coach, but he went far to the right - too conservative on this one. Shaw let a red-shirt freshman decide the game with a 35 yard field goal and sure enough, he kicked it away right in to Oki state's hands.
Given that these are not professional kickers making millions for these field goals, this is equivalent to a 45 yarder by NFL standard. You then add 5 more yards for the high-pressure situation - it should actually be higher for the college kids, but I will keep it at the standard 5 yards for both the NFL and college. I would say this was a 50 yarder for the kid by NFL standards. You should not be depending on 50 yard field goals to win games, not when you have Luck driving your car and navigating it beautifully. Shaw went ultra-conservative at the wrong time and let a lot of plays and timeouts go to waste. One of my pet peeves in football is coaches stalling way too early on their final drive and asking their kickers to boot long, hard field goals. Never made sense to me. And Shaw paid the price. The game went to OT and state won it there with a field goal of their own after the Stanford kid missed another one. Luck should be disappointed, but I think his NFL career is still in good hands.
The Sugar Bowl was also an overtime affair as Va Tech figured out a way to lose after out-gaining Michigan all game. A win in the Sugar Bowl is a great start for the Brady Hoke era for the big blue, but they better get ready for some serious challenges down the road as Urb is coming to Columbus. Hoke is happy to have Denard Robinson on his side though. The Orange Bowl was a rather weird affair where West Virginia scored 70 on the Clemson tigers. Clemson showed us how to score 33 points, win the first quarter, tie the 4-Th, and still lose by 37. If only they figured out how to defend that stupid toss play that West Virginia ran a million times. All this leads us to the title game Monday. It's a rerun and I expect the result to be the same as well. LSU is really the better team though Alabama's Nick Saban is the better coach. Lets just hope it's better than a 9-6 snoozer. By the way, I also expect the Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals to have won their way to the next round of the NFL playoffs by the time this championship game rolls around.
Given that these are not professional kickers making millions for these field goals, this is equivalent to a 45 yarder by NFL standard. You then add 5 more yards for the high-pressure situation - it should actually be higher for the college kids, but I will keep it at the standard 5 yards for both the NFL and college. I would say this was a 50 yarder for the kid by NFL standards. You should not be depending on 50 yard field goals to win games, not when you have Luck driving your car and navigating it beautifully. Shaw went ultra-conservative at the wrong time and let a lot of plays and timeouts go to waste. One of my pet peeves in football is coaches stalling way too early on their final drive and asking their kickers to boot long, hard field goals. Never made sense to me. And Shaw paid the price. The game went to OT and state won it there with a field goal of their own after the Stanford kid missed another one. Luck should be disappointed, but I think his NFL career is still in good hands.
The Sugar Bowl was also an overtime affair as Va Tech figured out a way to lose after out-gaining Michigan all game. A win in the Sugar Bowl is a great start for the Brady Hoke era for the big blue, but they better get ready for some serious challenges down the road as Urb is coming to Columbus. Hoke is happy to have Denard Robinson on his side though. The Orange Bowl was a rather weird affair where West Virginia scored 70 on the Clemson tigers. Clemson showed us how to score 33 points, win the first quarter, tie the 4-Th, and still lose by 37. If only they figured out how to defend that stupid toss play that West Virginia ran a million times. All this leads us to the title game Monday. It's a rerun and I expect the result to be the same as well. LSU is really the better team though Alabama's Nick Saban is the better coach. Lets just hope it's better than a 9-6 snoozer. By the way, I also expect the Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals to have won their way to the next round of the NFL playoffs by the time this championship game rolls around.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
The Season is Over for Some
The first day of the year 2012 was also the last day of the NFL season for a bunch of teams. As the season of giving wound down today, the NFL season also followed suit. It was an interesting feeling having both Christmas and the New Years on a Sunday this year. I liked it more than waking up on New Years and watching the college Bowl games. But not sure if the Raiders and the Cowboys liked what happened today. Both had a "win and you are in" situation and both blew it. Raiders had a set of more complicated options entering the day, but it boiled down to an elimination game as the day progressed. And they got eliminated even after Tebow was exposed and the Broncos lost. The Raiders have had a tough season with the demise of Al Davs, the injuries and renewed hope when they got Carson Palmer, but they just were not good enough to win a bad division. They could not stop the Chargers today on defense and didn't score enough TDs on offense. Palmer threw for a good game, but they still stalled a lot in the red zone. And of course the special teams did it's bit by letting the Chargers score a TD as well. Overall, a tough loss and a rough season for the Raiders given how the other teams in the division gave them all the opening they can to help them.
Raiders had some ugly losses late in the season, but the killer ones were the home losses to bad divisions teams in Kansas City and Denver in the middle of the season, around the bye week, coming off of a season ending injury to Jason Campbell. With Campbell or even with Palmer at practice for a couple of weeks, they win both those games. If they win those "easy" games, they finish the season 10-6 and the story is different. The week 17 Chargers were a lot more challenging than those 2 teams back then, but the Raiders just were not dealt the right hand those 2 games. So after going 6-0 in the division last year, they went 0-3 at home and 3-0 on the road in division. Thats strange and a typical Raiders stat. Speaking of typical Raiders stat, they have to fix the penalty situation. They beat all kinds of records with penalties this season and the top 10 all-time infamous list is littered with Raiders teams from all eras. It's an amazing contrast to see the discipline of the niners under Harbaugh across the bay and this Raiders team, which is probably more talented than the niners on paper. Of course, they need McFadden on the field to prove that. I am excited to see Palmer with a full training camp next year, but there was some karma at work here this season as he refused to suit up for the Bengals and they are now in the playoffs with the rookie Andy Dalton at QB while Palmer will be sitting at home watching.
Denver lost ugly and still backed into the playoffs. Tebow looked horrible and there is just no way Pittsburgh gets beat by him next week - at home, on the road, in Iceland, it don't matter. Denver has a home game due to the weird NFL rules, but Big Ben and Polamalu will be ready. Seattle might have upset New Orleans last year at home, but Pittsburgh V Denver is just too lopsided. If he wins next week, Tebow magic is for real. I am looking forward to a couple of upsets in the playoffs next weekend. Cincinnati Bengals should be able to beat the Texans on the road. Texans are a better team when healthy, but they never are. The Giants eliminated the overrated Cowboys today, but the Atlanta Falcons come into town next week and that will be a whole different ball game. The Falcons are on a roll and if the Giants blink, they will be joining the other New York team - the Jets, at home. It feels good not hearing the loud mouth Rex Ryan and the Jets in the playoffs. They are a overrated team with an overrated quarterback and they better improve and shut up if they want to take the next step. Mark Sanchez is a decent guy, but just not a good QB. Darrelle Revis said he doesn't know who Giants receiver Victor Cruz was a couple of weeks back. Cruz first helped eliminate Revis, Ryan and the Jets. And today, helped kick out Rob Ryan's Dallas Defense out of the playoffs. Now the Ryan brothers should be seeing Victor Cruz in their nightmares all off-season and rightfully so.
The wild card round starts Saturday and I expect the Saints to take care of the Lions at home. The Lions are good, but they have the unenviable task of stopping Brees in his house and that ain't happening. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati should join their division rival Baltimore the week after in AFC's final 4. The other game is a "pick em" for me as I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta wins at NY, though Matt Ryan has trouble on the road. Green Bay will be playing everybody at home down the road, but looking at their defense, I am concerned. I think the Saints can shock them in the NFC championship game, but they have enough offense to beat anybody else including the niners who have the best defense in the NFC. It's more of a tossup in the AFC with the Ravens, Pats and the Steelers. I like the Ravens to join the Packers in the Super Bowl when it's all said and done. A Saints or Patriots appearance there wouldn't shock me either. It's a different playoffs without Manning and the Colts. The Colts locked up the top pick in the draft. Let's minimize the drama and pick Andrew Luck right away. That will give them time to decide what to do with Manning if and when he comes back. He should come back and may be play for another team. The way the game is these days, both Luck and Manning might throw for 5000 yards next season. Two dudes, Brady and Brees beat Marino's mark this season and Stafford threw for more than 5000 yards as well. There were more 5,000-yard passers in the 2011 season than there had been throughout NFL history prior to this season. Rodgers sat out today. Otherwise, there would have been 4 QBs with more than 5000 yards. I'd say Marino's record still stands just like Hank Aaron's in baseball, though for different reasons.
Raiders had some ugly losses late in the season, but the killer ones were the home losses to bad divisions teams in Kansas City and Denver in the middle of the season, around the bye week, coming off of a season ending injury to Jason Campbell. With Campbell or even with Palmer at practice for a couple of weeks, they win both those games. If they win those "easy" games, they finish the season 10-6 and the story is different. The week 17 Chargers were a lot more challenging than those 2 teams back then, but the Raiders just were not dealt the right hand those 2 games. So after going 6-0 in the division last year, they went 0-3 at home and 3-0 on the road in division. Thats strange and a typical Raiders stat. Speaking of typical Raiders stat, they have to fix the penalty situation. They beat all kinds of records with penalties this season and the top 10 all-time infamous list is littered with Raiders teams from all eras. It's an amazing contrast to see the discipline of the niners under Harbaugh across the bay and this Raiders team, which is probably more talented than the niners on paper. Of course, they need McFadden on the field to prove that. I am excited to see Palmer with a full training camp next year, but there was some karma at work here this season as he refused to suit up for the Bengals and they are now in the playoffs with the rookie Andy Dalton at QB while Palmer will be sitting at home watching.
Denver lost ugly and still backed into the playoffs. Tebow looked horrible and there is just no way Pittsburgh gets beat by him next week - at home, on the road, in Iceland, it don't matter. Denver has a home game due to the weird NFL rules, but Big Ben and Polamalu will be ready. Seattle might have upset New Orleans last year at home, but Pittsburgh V Denver is just too lopsided. If he wins next week, Tebow magic is for real. I am looking forward to a couple of upsets in the playoffs next weekend. Cincinnati Bengals should be able to beat the Texans on the road. Texans are a better team when healthy, but they never are. The Giants eliminated the overrated Cowboys today, but the Atlanta Falcons come into town next week and that will be a whole different ball game. The Falcons are on a roll and if the Giants blink, they will be joining the other New York team - the Jets, at home. It feels good not hearing the loud mouth Rex Ryan and the Jets in the playoffs. They are a overrated team with an overrated quarterback and they better improve and shut up if they want to take the next step. Mark Sanchez is a decent guy, but just not a good QB. Darrelle Revis said he doesn't know who Giants receiver Victor Cruz was a couple of weeks back. Cruz first helped eliminate Revis, Ryan and the Jets. And today, helped kick out Rob Ryan's Dallas Defense out of the playoffs. Now the Ryan brothers should be seeing Victor Cruz in their nightmares all off-season and rightfully so.
The wild card round starts Saturday and I expect the Saints to take care of the Lions at home. The Lions are good, but they have the unenviable task of stopping Brees in his house and that ain't happening. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati should join their division rival Baltimore the week after in AFC's final 4. The other game is a "pick em" for me as I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta wins at NY, though Matt Ryan has trouble on the road. Green Bay will be playing everybody at home down the road, but looking at their defense, I am concerned. I think the Saints can shock them in the NFC championship game, but they have enough offense to beat anybody else including the niners who have the best defense in the NFC. It's more of a tossup in the AFC with the Ravens, Pats and the Steelers. I like the Ravens to join the Packers in the Super Bowl when it's all said and done. A Saints or Patriots appearance there wouldn't shock me either. It's a different playoffs without Manning and the Colts. The Colts locked up the top pick in the draft. Let's minimize the drama and pick Andrew Luck right away. That will give them time to decide what to do with Manning if and when he comes back. He should come back and may be play for another team. The way the game is these days, both Luck and Manning might throw for 5000 yards next season. Two dudes, Brady and Brees beat Marino's mark this season and Stafford threw for more than 5000 yards as well. There were more 5,000-yard passers in the 2011 season than there had been throughout NFL history prior to this season. Rodgers sat out today. Otherwise, there would have been 4 QBs with more than 5000 yards. I'd say Marino's record still stands just like Hank Aaron's in baseball, though for different reasons.
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