Sequels Galore

Last week was one of the great football week over the last several months. First, the college football championship sequel was as good as I had expected it to be. Deshaun Watson and Clemson did what I was hoping as well as expecting from them. Alabama is as legit a team and as solid a program as they come in college football today. They brought everything they had and then some to the table, but I was expecting that the talent and experience of Watson would be the difference maker and would be able to handle it all. That’s what happened, though the Alabama D made it difficult for the kid. The game came down to the last seconds and Watson finished Bama off with a 2-minute drive like an elite NFL QB. I like him at the next level and would draft him high, but then again, we fall easily for great college QBs and some of them don’t translate to the next level. I would trust the GMs on this one instead of making my own call. I liked QBs like Michael Vick and Geno Smith coming into the NFL. Didn’t expect much from Cam Newton or Tim Tebow at the next level. As you can tell, I was right with Vick and Tebow and not so much with Geno or Cam. It’s a tough call and I am definitely not qualified to make it. But I will keep an eye on Watson on the projections of experts like Mel Kuiper, who should be out and about soon.

This college game came right after the start of the NFL playoffs, which had an underwhelming run over the wild-card weekend. Even the much-anticipated Giants-Packers game was a dud, though it’s never boring to watch a great QB like Aaron Rodgers play. He impressed us in the wild-card game and gave us a performance for the ages last weekend in the divisional round in what was one of the best football games I have watched in a long time! The word instant classic is often over-used in sports, especially in the 24-hour ESPN-classic era where they will repeat the so-called classic game just 4 hours after the final buzzer. But this one was a hyper-instant-super-classic. ARod is carving an amazing niche for himself and his career is shining brighter than ever. We all know that his talent has been on display for many moons now and we have seen him do amazing things on the field. He has also been one of those guys with immense confidence in himself and walks the cocky-v-confidence line expertly. Of course, it’s easier to act like the boss once you win a championship. That Super Bowl ring brings you all kinds of credibility that you can’t enjoy without it. And that’s true not just for star players like ARod or Curry or LeBron, but also GMs and coaches too. I always half-joke that the coaches get a free pass for 5 years after a championship and GMs, probably 10 years. Talented players get a pass anyways.

The thing that is really adding onto the legend of ARod is his cool and calm leadership. Few years back, he asked the media and fans to R-E-L-A-X after a bad start to a Packers’ season. And then the Packers had an amazing rest of the season as he had predicted. He had a similar moment this season as the Packers were looking mediocre and struggling in their division, but Rodgers then said they can run the table and save the season. Boy, was he prophetic! They have not lost since. Not only did they run the table, they did it primarily due to ARod’s amazing play. He spoke and then he delivered. That momentum continued well into this Dallas game and it looked like it was over at half-time with the Packers leading comfortably. The only blemish on ARod’s play in this game, probably his entire second half of this season, was an inopportune pick he threw in the third quarter right after Dak threw a horrible pick to give the Packers the ball. Packers could have put the game away in that drive, but instead, handed Dallas the ball back and gave them a lot of life. Dak played great from that point on and was actually the best part of this loss for Dallas. Their future with the new triplets – Dak, Zeke, and Dez, look great.

There were moments in the early parts of the game when I was telling myself, “I know Dak earned this and he has to go through this right of passage. This experience can only help them down the road. But this is the kind of game where Dallas probably needs Tony Romo to hang with Rodgers.”  Dak looked much more impressive later in the game and almost negated my Romo argument. Mind you, I was not saying that Dallas should have started Romo or even put him in mid-way through the game. I was just saying Romo would have played better in this game at this particular juncture of their respective careers. But Dak was not the problem as he tied this game, giving Dallas a chance to win. Dak kept pace with ARod. There were 3 game-tying or tie-breaking field goals in the last 2 minutes of the game. I can’t remember ever seeing something like that. After Dak drove the Boys down for a game-tying field goal, ARod worked his magic with just 35 seconds left while all of us were getting ready for overtime. The final play for the Packers, which led to the game winning field goal, was typical ARod! He scrambled left, danced around forever, and nailed a pass to a spot where only his TE Jared Cook could catch and barely stay inbounds. Cook made a great play to complement Rodgers’ genius.

The other hero for the Packers was Mason Crosby who nailed 3 pressure-packed, 50+ yard field goals in the final seconds, including one that was nullified by a Dallas timeout. That one was right down the middle while the next one that actually counted looked headed wide-left before sneaking in to deprive us of overtime. For a moment, when that ball looked headed wide-left, I thought this may be another heart-breaking OT loss for the Packers. They have had some rough go-arounds and hard luck in the playoffs since they won the Super Bowl 5 years back. They have had impressive seasons and ARod has been mostly great, but playoff dominance has still eluded them lately. That may be over this year as ARod is playing at an HNL (‘hole ‘nother level!) and they look every bit like the proverbial team of destiny. GB and Dallas played a great playoff game just 2 years back that GB won at home. That was the famous “Dez Bryant catch/no-catch” game and this year’s edition was even better. This game was another sequel that didn’t disappoint. The Atlanta-Seattle game was also a sequel from 4 years back, but Atlanta repeated the result this year with an impressive win that was not as close as the earlier one. Seattle was not great this year and they deserved to lose. Of course, both these NFC divisional match-ups and the NFC championship game next weekend are also re-matches from this regular season, which is also great.

Atlanta on the road next weekend is going to be tough for the Packers, though Dallas had the best record in the NFC. I can’t wait for that game! Good luck to the Packers and ARod as there is nothing in the NFL quite like watching a great QB play. Matt Ryan is probably the MVP of this season, but ARod is looking legendary right now. A Brady-ARod (much like the Peyton-ARod) Super Bowl has been eluding us and we need it this year. Brady and the Pats dispatched the Texans last weekend as expected and their real test only starts this weekend with the Steelers coming to town. Can Le'Veon Bell dance and find holes against a hoodie defense is a question I am eagerly awaiting to answer. Pats don’t have a great defense, but they have great coaches who seem to be able to scheme their way to success more than anybody else. What do the Pats do against the killer Bees is a great story for this week. The Steelers rode Bell to the AFC championship game with a win at Kansas City in another great game last Sunday. We finally got 2 great games on Sunday after a week and a half of playoff futility. The Steelers sneaked past the Chiefs in a game where the Chiefs scored all the TDs. Steelers moved the ball up and down and stalled every time, but scored enough field goals to win. Nonetheless, we got a good game and we also got a Steelers @ Pats game we want. Bring it on!

Another sequel that was hyped up was the Cavs at the Warriors game in the NBA on MLK jr day. The dubs took care of business at home and crushed the Cavs. Not much to say here except that we now wait for the finals. We hope these 2 teams make it and continue this rivalry and the sequels. LeBron doesn’t think this is a rivalry and I don’t know why he is so insecure about it. It is every bit a rivalry and the only one of any relevance in the NBA today. A third straight finals will cement it, but nothing is guaranteed in the brutal west. The great Warriors still have to get past the Spurs and/or the Rockets to get to the Finals. Along the way, they may run into the dreaded Westbrook too if the Thunder pull off an upset in the early rounds of the playoffs. All of this will make for an exciting playoffs, but I will trade it all for the Cavs-Warriors version 3. This time, hopefully no injuries and suspensions.  I wouldn’t mind a Spurs-Warriors western conference finals too along the way. That has been eluding us over the last 2 great dubs season as well. After the Packer-Cowboys game last weekend, I am shooting for the moon in the playoffs in all sports!

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NFL Layoffs - Mild-Card Weekend!

The NFL playoffs kicked off this weekend. This is usually the best part of the dog days of winter and the only thing to look for post holidays. This year's wild card matchups however were the most under-whelming I could think of in years. In a QB driven league, the AFC side of the bracket featured 3 backups or backup of backups. Yes, I count Brock Osweiler as a backup of his own backup! Derek Carr could have been a refreshing breath of fresh air in this year's playoffs, but his injury took all the intrigue out of the upstart Raiders. I like Connor Cook, but it was not fair to expect a rookie QB to win a playoff game on the road in his first ever NFL start.

The Raiders at Texans game got the earlier start time on Saturday and those teams are even lucky it was on live TV! The best part of this matchup was the post-game interview on ESPN when Houston's Jadeveon Clowney showed up and physically dwarfed the ex-players on the set including Randy Moss, who is no chopped liver himself at 6' 4". It's just amazing to see how big and strong pro athletes actually are.  Houston did win as expected with Brock looking better than usual. Not sure if we should credit the Raiders D for that, but Brock will remain the starter next weekend at New England. He sure earned it Saturday, but I don't see it happening again for him or the Texans against the Patriots.

Neither the Saturday night matchup between the Lions and the Seahawks nor the early Sunday game between the Dolphins and the Steelers were any better in terms of excitement or intrigue going in. None of these 3 games surprised us as they all stayed true to expectation. The Lions pretended like they were close, but didn't do anything to take advantage of Seattle's weaknesses or the opportunities presented. The best part of the Pittsburgh game was as usual watching Le'Veon Bell, the slowest fast runner in the NFL. This guy's patience and how long he waits behind the line of scrimmage for holes to open up before hitting them at full speed is a sight to behold. I have never seem anything like that. His style is unique.

The best game of the weekend was as expected the Giants at Packers. The final score was a 38-13 blowout, but the game was real close well into the third quarter and the QB play in the form of Aaron Rodgers was well worth the price of admission. A-Rod was on fire starting with that Hail Mary at the end of the first half. The Packers D shut out Odell Beckham Jr.  and now he has got all off season to shoot shirtless selfies on party boats in Miami. What a circus that Miami story was and these tools doubled down with a shirtless workout in the frozen tundra before the game. I don't know what these guys were thinking. But then again, they are not paid to think and are not the sharpest tool in the shed. OBJ is a piece of work and he needs to cleanup his act.

Thus ended the wild card weekend, which was more mild than wild making these playoffs more of a layoff so far before the real contests kickoff next weekend. The Patriots get another bye week with the Texans coming to town, but the other 3 games should be decent. In the meantime, we got the college football championship game tomorrow. This one should be a doozy as Clemson and Alabama hookup for the second year in a row. That rarely happens  in College football and I expect it to be better than even last year when Alabama won 45-40. Vegas thinks Alabama will win easily, but I expect Deshaun Watson to step up and make it hard for Alabama. I am hoping and expecting a close, injury-free contest to cap off a good college season.

Instant Masterpiece!

There are instant classics and then there was the Cards-Packers game last Saturday night. I don't think the term instant classic does this game justice. This was an instant masterpiece. The game featured 2 crazy hail-marys at the end of regulation to send it to OT and an exciting 75-yard play to start the OT. This little commentary will tell you all you need to know about this game. I was re-watching the 4th quarter and with around 4 mins to go in regulation, with all of the end of the game and OT drama yet to play out, analyst Cris Collinsworth already says "I have never seen anything like this game!" And then all the mayhem happened! The reason he said that was because the game already had some wild twists and turns. There was a pick-6 by Patrick Peterson called back in the first half. Also, when Cris made that comment, the Cards had just scored a go-ahead TD where Carson Palmer's pass was tipped in the end zone and somehow the ball ended up in the hands of Michael Floyd. Thats a pass that could have easily been intercepted if the ball had bounced a different way. That drive also featured a couple of passes by Palmer that could have and should have been intercepted and returned to the house the other way.

Palmer didn't have a great game. He was up and down and kept the Cards fans on pins and needles the entire game with every pass he made. But at the end of the night, he made enough great plays to win the game. Fitz was his amazing self as always and dominated the OT to single-handedly carry the Cards home. The big 75 yard pass play in OT was a beauty by both Palmer and Fitz. Aaron Rodgers made some amazing plays as well in that last drive to send the game into OT. I can't believe he completed two hail-mary TD passes at the end of games this season. For all the enjoyment this game gave us Cards fans, if the result was any different, this would have been one of the most painful losses. I am not sure if I would still be calling it a masterpiece. A-Rod completed a 61 yard pass on 4th and 20 from his own end zone with 50 seconds to go in regulation. I encourage you to do a search on Google for "4th and 26" and you will see a play from the 2004 divisional round where Donovan McNabb completes a 4th and 26 pass to Freddie Mitchell to keep a late-game drive alive against the same Packers. The Eagles forced OT and eventually won that game. To this day, thats a signature play and a painful memory for the Packer fans. If the Cards had lost this game, us Cards fans would have had multiple A-Rod plays painfully etched in our memory forever. But the Cards survived those plays behind Fitz's own signature moves.

For the second playoffs in a row, Aaron Rodgers lost in OT where he didn't even get to touch the ball. As excited as I am about this game and happy that the Cards won, I agree with Clay Matthews that they have to change the OT rules. Few years back, NFL changed the rule to make sure a field goal in the first drive of OT didn't end the game right there. That change was good, but didn't go far enough.  Now, a TD in the first drive in OT ends the game. The logic being, football is a team sport and the defense has to do it's job and prevent the TD to be able to continue the game. I don't agree with this and both offenses deserve at least one shot. NFL has a hard salary cap and super star QBs like Aaron Rodgers are paid handsomely, every dollar of which they richly deserve. This means such teams may not have enough money to build a strong defense as much as they may want to. Point being, different teams have different philosophies of team building and different strengths and weaknesses. If a team doesn't have a good enough defense, today they will probably lose the game if they lose the coin flip in OT. Thats not right.

Forget whats right and whats wrong. Purely from a business and entertainment perspective, how does it make sense for the NFL to decide a big playoff game in overtime with Aaron Rodgers, one of the legendary players in the history of the league, standing on the sidelines and not even being allowed to participate? Thats like Cleveland Cavaliers playing the OT of a game 7 in the NBA playoffs and the result being decided by the bench players of the Cavs with LeBron just standing on the sideline and not getting a chance to touch the ball. NFL better fix this. I will add this though. The college type OT rule is better, but it is also flawed. In that scheme, the team playing second has a huge advantage in that they know exactly how much to score and are in 4 down territory the entire way. The team playing first on the other hand, has to pick between a field goal or a TD as they get close to field goal territory. May be we should just have a 10 minute OT period and let the chips fall where they may at the end of it.

This is a good topic for the off-season, though I doubt if the NFL will touch this. For now, the Cards march on and don't have to explain a bunch of crazy events from this game. I loved Bruce Arians throwing on 2nd down towards the end in an attempt to completely keep the ball away from Aaron Rodgers. The throw fell on the ground and they ended up giving A-Rod an extra 35 seconds. A QB like that can do a lot of damage, whether you give him 90 seconds or 120 seconds. So I was fine with them going for the kill there. But if they had lost, that would have been the talk of the town. It turns out it was Palmer's call based on what he saw at the line. Arians would have still had to explain that call, plus he would not have thrown Palmer under the bus if they had lost. All of this is moot now since they won. Now they get to play the scary looking Panthers in Carolina. Panthers dominated the first half against the Seahawks and barely held on to win the game in the second half. Broncos and Pats won at home too. There were 4 good games last weekend, but the other 3 pale in comparison to the masterpiece theatre that was the Packers-Cards featuring the prestigious thespian Larry Fitzgerald.

Bring on the Cards-season, AKA post-season!

There is always what you think is going to happen and then there is what you want to happen. The title of this article probably give it all away, though I am not sure what part of that is what I think versus what I want. My Super Bowl pick is Arizona Cardinals over the New England Patriots, a matchup supposedly America also wants based on a recent poll on the most exciting potential Super Bowl even over the Seahawks-Pats possibility that was awesome last year. I may be biased in favor of the Cards, but they are definitely capable and poised to make a deep run this post-season. It won't be a walk in the park - it never is, especially if they play like they did in week 16 against the Seahawks, but they didn't have much to play for then and they did show us they are way better over the previous 15 weeks. So I am going to cut them some slack. As for the Pats, they have been in a funk too, but I can't imagine the other AFC wannabes unseating Brady and Belichick this season. Thats my prognostication, but thats neither here nor there this weekend because the Super Bowl at Levi is a month away. The first round of the playoffs is kicking off today and these two teams are not even playing this weekend.

The wild card weekend is the best weekend of the NFL playoffs in a lot of ways. We get two games on Saturday and two on Sunday. The divisional round also feature 4 games, but then the well-rested big boys come out and blow fools out sometimes. Wild card weekend on the other hand usually features good, but not great teams and they typically give us closer games. This year's version lacks a little bit of sex appeal due to some new teams and injuries, but the games may be even crazier than usual. This is illustrated by the fact that all four road teams are favored to win this wild card weekend! I am not a gambling junkie, but I really doubt if the lines look like that often. Let's see if Vegas got it right this time, but here are my picks.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Houston Texans: This is probably the toughest game to pick. It involves two teams that have turned their season around and are rolling into the playoffs, but the Chiefs' transformation is a lot more impressive. Neither team has a hall of fame QB and that always makes it hard to dissect, but I pick the Chiefs to win this one on the road. We don't get to see Arian Foster or Jamaal Charles, but we will see a good game here.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cincinnati Bengals: Andy Dalton has been ruled out of this game and I am not even sure if it's a bad thing given his past post-season performances. All kidding aside, the Bengals will miss him and the Steelers should steal this one. Big Ben and Antonio Brown need to be on their A Game, but they are capable of an A+ game any given day. Ben has not consistently been A+ this season, but has been good enough to put the fear of god in most opponents. They are actually a trendy Super Bowl pick due to that reason. I won't go that far, but the Steelers should win this AFC North matchup, a division which more than any other seem to throw an intra-division wild card contest year in and year out. Those 3rd rivalry game of the season are always fun.

Seattle Seahawks @ Minnesota Vikings: Last week, the Vikings went into Green Bay and rudely snatched the NFC North title from the Packers. What do they get in return? A home playoff game and a lot of money for their owners, but possibly a loss to the surging Seattle Seahawks. They probably would have been better off losing a close game and the division last week and going back into Green Bay this week for a wild-card matchup on the road. The Seahawks look scary good on offense and their defense has not dropped off that much. Russell Wilson has absolutely played at a MVP level the last half of the season and he has reinvented this offense behind his arm and Doug Baldwin's legs. I doubt if any amount of Minnesota cold can stop them. I want the Vikes to win, but Seahwaks will win this one.

Green Bay Packers @ Washington No-Namers: Why are the Packers, who started the season 6-0 and have Aaron Rodgers playing QB, going into Washington to play a wild-card game on the road? This defies explanation except the obvious cliche "football games are won in the trenches." The Packers offensive line has been offensive much like their opponent's nicknames that I try to avoid. This O-line has made Rodgers look shaky and Eddie Lacy look fat! I can't believe I am saying this, but Rodgers is going to lose to Kirk Daniel Cousins this weekend. The Washington players and their leader Cousins might be penny pinchers and cheap off the field (what a cute story that is), but their offense has been prolific and confident on the field. I can't see this Packers team dominating them on either side of the ball. Rogers need to play at a hall-of-fame level to win this one and he absolutely can, but I am picking the No-Namers to win.

There you have it. Four more teams will be gone fishing in a couple of days and lets start the countdown to the Super Bowl.

Not so wild weekend.

There is playoff football and then there is good playoff football. Unfortunately we didn't get the later in the NFL this weekend. The best weekends in the playoffs are the wild card and divisional rounds because we get 4 games spread over both Saturday and Sunday with no scheduling conflicts on TV. Of those 2 weekends, I usually prefer the wild card weekend even more than the divisional round. The divisional round usually features better teams, bigger names and more hyped up match-ups, but sometimes those teams are so good and well rested, they end up blowing out the visitors at home. The wild card games tend to be closer and exciting. Not the case this year, though the final scores do look decent in all 4 games. Cincinnati almost beat Houston, but they never seemed like they were in the game. Not with the red-head Andy Dalton throwing for a paltry 127 yards to go with an interception and with Arian Foster running all over them for 140 yards and one "namaste". It was also a repeat of the playoff match-up from last year and this one was even less exciting. I am happy Schaub finally got his first playoff action and earned a victory. Of course the Patriots will put the Texans out of their misery next weekend.

I was personally looking forward to the Saturday night contest between the Packers and the Vikings. While I did expect the Packers to win at home, I expected some fireworks from Adrian Peterson. But just before the game, Christian Ponder was surprisingly declared inactive. Ponder is no Joe Montana, but he a'int no Joe Webb either. Despite some people predicting that such a last minute start for Joe Webb might even be a plus for the Vikings given his running abilities, we were left to ponder if we would have gotten a better game with Ponder behind center. All-Day and Joe Webb started well, but the Packers wrested control soon and poor Joe was clearly over-matched. He tried to donate the ball to the Packers a couple of times early, but the Packers didn't take it. Of course they didn't need it as they won it rather easily. All-Day almost got to 100 yards, but he couldn't get it all done by himself. Webb was no help and we didn't get the marquee matchup I was expecting with 2 MVP candidates - All-Day and A-Rod, in the mix.

Ironically, I thought the closest game of the weekend was the one with the widest margin score-wise. Andrew Luck moved the ball well against the Ravens in Ray Lewis's last home game ever, but the Colts just could not score TDs. 3 field goals can beat Flacco if he is on the road, but not at home. The Colts had another health episode with their offensive coordinator Bruce Arians ending up in the hospital on game day. Tough season for them, but nothing to be ashamed of. Great performance by Luck all year. Let's see where they go from here. More on Ray Lewis later. He probably deserves a separate blog post all by himself. In the final game of the weekend, the story ended up being RG III's knees. He started very well and the Redskins were up 14-0, but the game then deteriorated into a sloppy, no-fun contest for a couple of quarters until Lynch went Beast Mode. He first fumbled at the goal line and then atoned for it with a great TD run. Russell Wilson was great in that game too. He is just solid and always under control. RG III twisted his knee and left for good in the 4-Th quarter after laboring around due to a lesser knee incident in quarter 1.

This happened on the same day when news leaked that the doctor didn't agree with some of the procedures Mike Shanahan followed or did not after RG III got hurt the first time around. So Shanahan didn't handle RGIII right when he first got hurt, then he let him come back a few games earlier than he should have, and then didn't take him out on time when he got hurt again in this game. Thats a trifecta Shanahan doesn't want on his resume. Good to know Shanahan treats the million-dollar, future of his franchise worse than his pet hamster. I know it's not a concussion, but looks like the NFL coaches are still behaving like it's the 70's when it comes to other injuries. The games were so mediocre this knee-gate is the biggest story for this week. Let's hope for better games next weekend. The BCS championship game today sure was no help to starving football fans. Notre Dame lost 14-42 to Alabama showing us all why it should have been Oregon playing in that game. I can't stand the SEC hype, but it's hard to make that argument if SEC teams keep winning the title every year. 7 straight for the SEC and 3 out of 4 for Nick Saban and Bama.  I don't know if nice guys finish last, but bad guys do seem to finish first in the BCS. As you can tell, I am not a big Saban fan, but Congrats anyways.

NFL Replaced!

The thing replacement referees are replacing very effectively is all the on-field stories happening in the NFL. They are the singular story right now in all of sports, especially this Monday night when one of their calls decided and ended the game. Considering this game involved 2 good NFC teams, both looking to be playoff bound, that call could very well have a significant impact on this entire NFL season. With all that said, my summary of this issue is as follows. I am not completely on board with the theory that this call conclusively proves that the replacement refs are responsible for everything that ails our society from cancer to world hunger. The reason I say this is because everybody makes mistakes and this particular "simultaneous possession" call is not that easy where we can assume the regular refs would have nailed it. I can easily see the regulars missing this too. Plus, the replay review didn't help here either due to a variety of reasons. So beating up the replacement refs is not the point of this incident for me. Of course, there are several other calls over the last 3 weeks that are more worthy of beating these refs with than this particular one. But if the point is beating the NFL up at a philosophical level over this whole fiasco, then I am 100% on board.

The important point here is, the referees are a very significant part of this game and the league has woefully underestimated both their importance to the game and the difficulty of their jobs. Today, a call decided a game and possibly playoff positioning and this is what the NFL has been claiming and assuming will never happen. It can no more deny the fact that the referees are way too important and the league has to get it's act together and employ the best referees running their games. It's no different than having the best players playing in this league as opposed to some high-school kids. These replacement referees are trying their best and have the best of intentions, but they are put in a difficult situation. The game is fast, the pressure is unrelenting, and the scrutiny is intense for these referees. They are rookies with no experienced shoulders to lean on.The problem is not them, but it's the league that thinks these refs are more than enough to police these games. Even I thought the concerns over player's health because of these replacement referees were a little over-stated, but the calls they make do decide these games and it's no joke. After seeing how skirmishes are breaking out all over the field because the players think the refs are too scared to throw flags on them, I am coming around on the safety issue too.

In this day and age of twitter and 24 hours talk radio, there is so much negative focus on these guys and the issue is over-hyped. But the underlying message is simple and valid - NFL needs to fix this issue NOW. It is totally taking away from the action on the field, which is always great in the NFL, but has been especially entertaining in the early part of this season. Take for instance this Monday night game. The Seattle Seahawks defense was spectacular and they sacked Aaron Rodgers 8 times in the first half. The Packers offense definitely don't look the same and have some issues. But they showed us why they are still a great team when they came back in the second half and started moving the ball behind a new game-plan - no-huddle and running with Cedric Benson. They went ahead and would have won but for the bad call at the end, which may not have even been  the worst call of the game. There was a roughing the passer and pass interference call - both also against the Packers, that were also controversial. It was a good game culminating an awesome, but now controversial NFL weekend. The NFC West looks like the best division in all of football as Arizona is one of 3 teams in the entire NFL that are still 3-0. The Niners lost a bad one in Minnesota, but they are still good and between them, Arizona and Seattle, it should be a fun, tough, defensive struggle out west. Hopefully we will have real referees calling these games this fall.

Cutler sometimes plays like he deserves to be cut.

Week one of NFL is in the books and now that we have Thursday night football every week, we are already in to week 2. The bad part about Thursday night football is that I seem to be 25 points behind in my fantasy league even before Friday arrives. That used to happen in the second quarter of the first set of Sunday morning games. The only thing worse than losing in fantasy is losing it early on a Thursday. But that apart, Thursday night football is beautiful. Especially this week with Chicago and Green Bay renewing their divisional rivalry. Cutler kicked off the fun by wishing the Packers' secondary "good luck" for stopping his awesome passing game. I don't know if that fired up the Packers defense, but what we saw Thursday was a defensive unit that looked very different from the one Frank Gore and the Niners gashed last week. Clay Matthews and the secondary made Cutler and his offensive line look confused, clueless and mediocre. Cutler threw 4 interceptions and yelled, screamed and bumped J'Marcus Webb, the offensive lineman who was over-matched against Matthews.

While I do think the media is over-reacting to the bump, Cutler's general demeanor and attitude is very objectionable and sometimes his game is even more unacceptable. He has a cannon for an arm and plays like he is the Bears' savior from heaven on some days and then looks like one of those million-dollar arm, 10 cent brain QBs on other days. This Thursday was one of those 10 cent days for Cutler. Green Bay avoided a 0-2 hole and is now sitting much more comfortably than last week. Cutler on the other hand is again on an island with all kinds of question marks hanging over his head. He is over-rated and dumb. He has to fix his mental approach to the game if he ever hopes to maximize his immense physical talents. Green Bay proved they are a good team and their win this week makes the Niners win last week look even better. Of course, the Niners have to beat the Lions this week at home in the original bump-gate contest to cement their status. It's week to week in the NFL and the Thursday game proved that again. We don't know for sure if the Niners are that good or are the Packers got that much better in a week or are the Bears that bad. Time will tell.

Lots of scoring in week 1. That made the fantasy football owners feel good. The Niners, Ravens, Patriots, Texans, Cowboys, Falcons and the Broncos are some of the teams that looked good. The Falcons-Broncos game this Monday is going to be a great one. Speaking of the Broncos, it was good to see Peyton Manning play well and win. I still felt like his arm was not where it used to be, but his mental capacity is so good, he managed the game well and seems to have adjusted to whatever his new physical realities are. The other QB who caused a lot of excitement was RG3 who went into New Orleans and outplayed Drew Brees. Luck threw for 3 interceptions and lost the game in his debut, but I saw some good things from him too. I expect both these rookies to be great by the end of the season. Flacco and the Ravens showed us their no-huddle offense as advertised and it looked great against the Bengals. Great test for them in week 2 at Philly. If they can handle that secondary and that defense, they will join Niners as the other favorite and both teams will try to make Harbowl a reality. But the season is long and I am just happy that the fun has started.

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.

It just takes 2 to win

There are many interesting stories from the sports weekend, but none more fascinating than what happened in the Denver Broncos game at Kansas City. Tim Tebow won a game as the starting quarterback by completing just 2 passes out of 8 attempts. You heard that right and that has never happened in the history of the league. A professional quarterback won a NFL game by completing just 2 passes the entire game. Sure, one of that was for a 56 yard TD, but how do you win a game completing just 2 passes? May be Tebow does have God on his side. May be he has good karma going for him since he seems like a decent human being. Of course it helps the Chiefs just threw for 140 yards themselves and it took 2 QBs to accomplish that as Matt Cassel might be out for the season with an injury. But seriously, even I am beginning to believe in some of that Tebow magic and the supposed intangibles he brings to the table - the "it" factor. That's the only way to explain the stats behind this win. That and the fact that Denver has suddenly become a top-tier rushing offense. They rushed for over 244 yards and Tebow himself ran effectively as always. They have changed their offense to suit Tebow and are now 3-1 with him as the starting QB. He still doesn't look like a NFL quality QB, but does he have to if can beat teams with 2 completions?

Speaking of elite QBs, tonight on MNF, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers dismantled the Vikings as expected to go 9-0. The Packers offense looks as smooth as a hot knife through soft butter and there is no stopping them - at least not yet, definitely not tonight. I didn't expect this game to be competitive and didn't even care to watch it closely and the Packers proved me right. Rodgers is going to shred some records this season and the only question is, which ones. The weather is going to get worse soon on the East coast in general and in Green Bay in particular, but I don't think it's going to matter a whole lot with this offense. They are the exact opposite of the Denver Broncos right now. The Packers don't run the ball all that well, but they don't seem to have any need to. The Niners surprisingly own the second best record in the league after beating the Giants on Sunday. The jury is still out on how elite the Niners are despite their 8-1 record, but they do have a good defense and might end up with a bye week in the playoffs and just one more home win in the playoffs might take them to Lambeau field in January for a NFC championship game. Can Jim Harbaugh and the Niners cash this season in for a date with the Packers deep in the playoffs? This is going to be a very interesting question the rest of the way in the NFC.

In the AFC, the Patriots beat the Jets to shut Rex Ryan up possibly for good this season. They are 5-4 and are not a horrible 3-6 like the "Dream Team" Eagles, but they are looking up at too many teams and may not make it to the big dance if Mark Sanchez keeps playing like this. Their defense is definitely overrated. The AFC is a little messy right now. Ravens seem to be able to beat only the Steelers and the Steelers look great except when they play the Ravens. Patriots had fallen off from their pedestal only to bounce back against the Jets. All this led to some talk about the Houston Texans possibly being the best team in the AFC. Too bad that this talk was followed by the news that Matt Schaub may be done for the season. It seems like the Texans and Schaub are some kind of jinxed. We have been waiting for them to bust out and it seems like they may not make it even this year unless Matt Leinart plays halfway decent. We will find out next week. With the NBA staring at a "nuclear winter", we have to start focusing on college basketball way before March to keep us occupied between the NFL games. Glad there is Thursday night football the rest of the way. Speaking of college, Stanford lost to Oregon in football and that pretty much ends their and Luck's BCS aspirations. Boise State lost as well and we may end up with another LSU-Alabama game for the championship. Nobody wants it, but we might just get it.

Lets get this party started

Today is Christmas day for most sports fans. NFL is back after a tumultuous off-season where we were even threatened that the season may be locked out and we may start losing games. Luckily, better sense prevailed and here we are, on schedule for game 1. The compressed training camp is done, pre-season is all wrapped up, our fantasy teams are all drafted and ready to roll and we are ready for a phenomenal season opening game - Green Bay versus New Orleans. NFL did a lot of things wrong this off-season, but I don't think they could have come up with a better season opener. Even a Green Bay - Chicago matchup, which I am sure they considered given the rivalry and the playoff last year, would not have us all juiced up quite like this matchup. Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers on the same field is what will remind us of why we love the NFL. Elite QBs make the NFL and these two are as good as it's going to get in the NFL these days, especially since the native New Orleanoian and the sheriff of all QBs, Peyton Manning seems to be in real danger of missing the entire season. I will definitely miss watching Peyton - he is one of my favorite players to watch in the NFL. It will also be interesting to see how the Colts do. Kerry Collins is old, but can surprise you once in a while. Lets see how he does with this cast of characters. Peyton's injury is definitely the biggest news in the NFL right now and rightfully so.

But, tonight is all about the Packers, their ring ceremony and a contest between 2 elite QBs, offenses and teams. They are after all the last 2 Super Bowl Champions and they have not fallen off too much like some Super Bowl rosters tend to do, especially 2 years removed like the Saints. Thats the strength of having a good QB. You can stay on top regardless of what happens around him. In fact, I would give the Packers a great shot at repeating this year. Though that doesn't happen that often anymore, this year could be different. Shorter training camps mean lesser chances of those last to first teams, rags to riches stories. Even if some teams upgraded their talent significantly, they may have problems putting it all together due to the shortened off-season. So good teams with continuity may do even better this year and the Super Bowl champion is obviously on top of that shortlist. Plus, as good as Aaron Rodgers has been so far, he is still getting better. Watch him do some amazing things this season now that he is totally out of drama queen Brett Favre's shadow and has a championship ring of his own. Thats going to remove a lot of his inhibitions and unleash him. Philadelphia seems to boast of a dream team, but thats going to be a Miami Heat story all over again, only with a slightly more likable cast of characters. Not to digress, but how badly did LeBron and Heat screw up if I am saying the Eagles with the dog killer Vick are a slightly more likable bunch?

I see Philadelphia, Atlanta and tonight's opponent New Orleans as Green Bay's primary threats. I like what Kolb brings to my team, the Arizona Cardinals and I am sure they will be good. But not sure if they can make it to that top-tier. In the AFC, I like the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots to be up there and the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets fighting them for the top spot. Peyton's injury pretty much eliminates the Colts. It's not just the talent that he takes away, but the way that offense is structured, it's all him and without him, even a talented replacement will take a while to figure out what to do. Peyton Manning is the NFL equivalent of "throw the ball into LeBron and get out of the way" strategy. Football is a lot more structured and coached than other sports, but Peyton pretty much is the one exception to that rule. He took a box of chocolates onto the field and picked one out every play and only he knew what and how to pick it. Now Collins will have to learn the bag of tricks and learn it in a hurry. The Houston Texans have been trying to win the AFC South for 3 years now and they may get their wish this season. Unfortunately, even they may not enjoy this tainted victory as much as they would have liked to without the sheriff watching over that division. Long story short, I like a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl with the Packers winning it all.

NFL is king and today is another proof of that fact. Even President Obama had to play around with the timing of his address to the nation because of the NFL season opener. Even the President cannot compete with a nicely thrown Drew Brees spiral. Fantasy football is a major part of the reason for football's popularity and I can't even imagine what would have happened to millions of American males if the lockout had eliminated a couple of weeks of football, let alone the whole season. May be we would have invested all our energies in college football, which is not a bad plan B, but it aint no NFL. The college season always gets us in the mood by kicking off first. Last weekend was fun since it reintroduced us to football after a challenging 7 month period. There were some good upsets as usual and Notre Dame losing is always fun, but the college season doesn't really kick into top gear until week 3 or 4. Arizona State won last weekend, but they are playing one of the few ranked match-ups this week. They are hosting 19-Th ranked Missouri and hope to improve their own 23-Rd rank. Of course I am going with the USA today ranking because thats the only one ASU has broken into. Coincidentally, Arizona will be going against the 9-Th seeded Oklahoma state and let's hope the Wildcats don't surprise us and themselves by pulling off an upset. Whatever happens, we will be watching and we are all collectively happy to be talking, reading and writing about football again.

Welcome back NFL! We sure missed you