Eagles and Goats

I know I am pretty late with this Super Bowl wrap-up, especially in this day and age of live tweets and instant highlights, especially in these days of breaking news, especially in these days of big news every hour in the NBA and other leagues. Life just got busy and I figured it's better late than ever. First off, congrats to the Eagles for convincingly defeating the GOAT QB and the GOAT coach. They showed us that only NFC East teams can beat the Pats in the big game. The thing that stood out from the very first snap of this game is, how the Eagles offense and Nick Foles were fearless! They didn't give a rat's you know what about the enormity of the Super Bowl or the greatness on the other sideline. That kind of attitude had to have percolated down from the coaching staff. And then the QB and the players had to make sure they were not overwhelmed by the situation. Kudos to the entire organization for pulling this off in style.

The crazy trick pass play to Foles in the end zone on 4th and goal was a microcosm of how the Philly approached, coached, and executed in this Super Bowl. Eagles went for it on fourth down again in their own side of the field and converted in the fourth quarter for another pivotal play after they fell behind for the first time in the game. Another gutsy decision when the momentum appeared to be shifting, but Todd Peterson and the Eagles wrested it back with a vengeance. That drive ended in a Zack Ertz TD and bled the clock to a point where Pats ran out of time. By the way, if NFL ever needed proof that it’s catch/no-catch rule is completely messed up, the fact that even Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth were totally clueless on that Ertz TD catch was it. How can that catch even be in doubt after Ertz took like 28 steps with the ball is beyond me. I don’t blame the announcers, but the NFL for letting it get to this point.

We could say the Eagles were aggressive. Or, we could also say this is the only way you can beat the Pats and the Goats. They don't die easy and they never take the foot off the gas. Unless you match that aggression both strategically and execution wise, it's going to be very hard to beat them. And the fact that the Eagles were the underdogs playing with their backup QB made it easy for them to be super aggressive and play like they had nothing to lose because they really didn't. Going in, I thought like many others that the Eagles defense will provide some resistance to the Pats offense and that will be the difference in the game. I actually thought the Eagles had a decent shot. But the Eagles D provided even less resistance than the Pats D, which was horrible. It was Eagles offense that dominated the game. Luckily, the Eagles defense made one play at the end of the game that saved the day for them. Without that strip-sack-fumble on Brady, did any of us have any doubt the Goat was going to drive down and score? 

My only hope for the Eagles when Brady got the ball with more than 2 minutes left on the clock and down by just 5 was that he would leave some time on the clock for the Eagles to win it on offense. Eagles defense didn't do anything to bother Brady the entire second half. However, that fumble clinched it, though I would say the play of the game still was the 4^th and goal trick play. Pats offense deserve a lot of credit for neutralizing a pretty decent Eagles defense, but on the flip side, Pats defense gave themselves no shot against the Eagles with the way they played. Neither did Foles who played a great game and won a deserving trip to Disney World with his MVP hardware. Fans always love it if offense and scoring dominates the game and this Super Bowl was a treat to watch.

The offensive efficiency and some of the offensive numbers in this Super Bowl were ridiculous from the start. My jaw dropped sometime during the game when I saw the stat that there were 9 different players who had plays of 20 yards or more in the game. That’s insane! I also literally jumped out of my comfortable seat to celebrate that crazy trick play by the Eagles for a TD. The ball was just moving up and down the field and the game went rather effortlessly from featuring the most yards in the Super Bowl to most yards in any NFL post-season game to most yards ever in a NFL game in history  as the quarters rolled on. Tom Brady was flawless with 505 yards and lost. The Patriots never punted in this game and still lost! The game went against all expectations and all kinds of conventional wisdom, but was a lot of fun. It was even more fun for guys like me who never mind the Hoodie and Brady losing. 

What makes the Pats defensive futility even more interesting is the one controversy that erupted in this game. Hoodie and the Pats benched Malcolm Butler and didn't even put him in to play defense all game. This guy is no Deion Sanders and hard to say if he would have won it for the Pats, but he did play 98% of their defensive snaps all season! How bad can he be if he is good enough to play 98% of your defensive snaps? He may not be great, but that stat at least proves he is better than his backups who played in the Super Bowl. Even if he is not better, he probably has more familiarity, feel, and chemistry with his defensive buddies on the field. Just on that account, I have to say he would have made a difference. I am convinced this benching decision by Hoodie and the coaching staff was costly. Hoodie will never tell us what Butler did, but in a game that was this close and where Eagles offense was unstoppable, a play here or there by Butler might have made a big difference.

Pats fans and apologists like The Ringer's Bill Simmons are saying Butler is not great and he would not have made a difference because the defensive front 7 didn't put any pressure on Foles. To that I say thats exactly why Butler might have made a difference. When your defense is worthless and doing nothing, why weaken it further by benching a player who played 98% of your plays? Hoodie better have a good reason for it. Unless Butler knocked on Hoodie's hotel room door at 2 AM on Super Bowl Sunday with a stripper in one arm and a bag of cocaine on another, you figure out a way to put Butler in that game. Especially in the second half when it was obvious they had no answer to Foles and the offense. Hope we hear the really story some day. I also wonder if Brady is upset with the Hoodie for costing him the 6th ring with this benching. Overall, great Super Bowl to cap a solid NFL season. Can't wait for next season, though NBA will keep us busy the next 5 months.

NFL needs some elbow room

2 straight weeks in the NFL, 2 tragic deaths with serious collateral damage. Kansas City Chiefs' Jevon Belcher killed his girlfriend last weekend before taking his own life and orphaning his baby daughter. This weekend, Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Brown, a practice squad linebacker was killed in a car crash. The driver was Josh Brent, who ended up in jail for intoxication manslaughter. But the NFL kept playing like nothing ever happened. Games were not even postponed for an hour, let alone canceled for the weekend. Football is big business and every game is like an event of epic proportion. Aside from the national TV impact of these games, there are many other problems with postponing any single game. There are a lot of people who travel long distances for watching these games. The travel impact for regular season baseball and basketball should be so trivial compared to football, though I would guess baseball travelers out-number the basketball travelers. Fantasy football is a huge part of football's popularity whether or not the NFL wants to accept it and missing a game this time of the year will screw up a whole lot of fantasy playoff races too. Of course, the fantasizers have to handle it like the player was injured or the team was on a bye and I think it's manageable.

The biggest problem NFL has when it comes to postponing these games is that, at this point of the season, the schedule has absolutely no slack. The bye weeks are over and it's wall to wall games until the hype week leading into the Super Bowl. I suggest they give up the hype week and introduce an extra bye week between week 17 and the playoffs.  That way, NFL can postpone some games to "week 18" if need be and the Super Bowl will still be on the same weekend and the season doesn't have to stretch further out. The hype week is overdone anyways. The Super Bowl guests can afford to have one less playboy party during that week. NFL needs that extra week in-season. I believe they should have rescheduled both the games affected by deaths the last 2 weekends. It's just basic decency to do so. Especially last week when Belcher killed himself in the parking lot of the stadium in Kansas City. I was surprised the NFL didn't postpone that game to Monday night. That would have at least been minimally symbolic and NFL didn't even extend that courtesy. In the NBA, they could play games on back to back nights and in MLB, they could even play 2 on the same day. And there are empty days during their long seasons to squeeze games when necessary. NFL season is just 17 weeks and is a brutally physical game. It's impossible to play more than once a week and there are no slack weeks in the schedule. Time to introduce that slack at the end of the season.

As for the on-field action, the Cowboys won the game against the Bengals on a last second field goal on this emotional day and I could only imagine the pressure the kicker was in as he lined up for that kick under those strange circumstances.The Cowboys continue to be one of those enigmatic teams and they win when they should lose and vice versa. The New York Giants, the other enigmatic team from the same division crushed the New Orleans Saints and pretty much confirmed that Drew Brees won't be in the playoffs this season. RG III has a knee problem which threatens his status for the next game. Not a great news for yours truly who was counting on him for the fantasy playoff run. The Redskins definitely need him to continue the magical run as well in the nation's capital, where he is being rightfully accused of single handedly reviving football. The other rookie who is making magic in Indy won again. It's going to be an interesting rookie of the year contest between Andrew Luck and RG III. The MVP contest is also going to be tight the way Adrian Peterson has been performing lately. He is an amazing specimen. He is going to give Peyton Manning a serious run for his money. Coincidentally, both are eligible for the comeback player of the year too since they are both back from serious injuries. After 14 weeks, I would split the vote between those 2. I pick Peterson for the MVP and Manning for the comeback player, though the final vote, I suspect, will go the other way.

Mid-season wrap

The NBA all-star weekend is now in the books. The all-star game and even the dunk contest was not too bad this time. The contestants came up with some creative dunks for a change and made it slightly interesting. Blake Griffin even brought a car in to jump over with Baron Davis sitting in it. Now the stars can go back to their teams for the second half push and playoffs. This is a good time to look back at the first half and also hand out some interesting awards. Most teams have played 54 or 56 games and that makes up about 68% of the season. So we are way past the halfway mark of the season though we consider this the official mid-season. Everybody and their grand moms are handing out mid-season awards and here's my list.

MVP:
There's a lot of momentum building for LeBron James for MVP despite the pre-season projection that his days as a MVP candidate are over. Even LeBron himself said it would be difficult for both himself and Dwayne Wade to win MVPs from now on since they have joined forces. Surprisingly, LeBron has managed to distinguish himself both through his individual brilliance the last several weeks and through the great run the Heat is on. Even more than the Heat's record, it's the Cavs record thats helping Bron's MVP candidature. The Cavs are 10-46 and they are basically the same team as last year, minus LeBron. Yes, they have had a couple of injuries, but with LeBron, they would still be winning 60 games. That just shows how important and unique a player he is. With all that said, my MVP is Derrick Rose. He is scoring almost 25 points and dishing 8 assists per game and has the Bulls just 2 games behind the Heat and the Celtics. And he is doing all this with injuries to Boozer and Noah. The Bulls may not be better than the Celtics, but don't be surprised if they shock us with a deep playoffs run. LeBron is great, but I am going to hold Wade against him. Though he is clearly emerging as the biggest of the big 3 in Miami, Wade isn't exactly chopped liver. Wade is still averaging 25.4 PPG and thats no joke. Also, keep an eye on Kevin Durant in the second half. He could steal the MVP if the Thunder make a major push in the West.

Coach of the Year:
Chicago's Tom Thibodeau is a top candidate in many people's eyes for the coach of the year. I would instead give the MVP to D-Rose and give him most of the credit for the Bulls' season. Thibodeau has done a great job, but that Bulls roster does have some talent. If anything, they were expected to breakout the last couple of years and it has taken D-Rose's brilliance for them to take off this year. My coach of the year is actually Gregg Popovich. Not only does he have the Spurs leading the league with a ridiculous 46-10 record, but he is doing it with pretty much the same team as last year. But he has reinvented their style and approach and has convinced Tim Duncan to take a backseat on offense. I have never seen such a seamless adjustment by a coach with the same roster. Risky, dangerous and brilliant strategy all at the same time and he deserves an award for it.

Rookie of the Year:
Easiest award of them all, unless you are disputing the fact that Blake Griffin is even a rookie. Blake Griffin is averaging 27.6 points and 14.4 rebounds per game and brings a load of excitement to every Clipper game with his effort and power, not to mention the monstrous dunks he is known for.

Executive of the Year:
I guess this is an easy award too, considering all that has happened in Miami. Pat Riley deserves this award for buying LeBron and Bosh to run with Wade. I don't think they will win the championship this year, but Riles should still pat himself on the back for bringing arguably the best player in all of basketball to Miami. Speaking of, Reggie Miller during the all-star broadcast on TV referred to Kevin Durant as the guy who is going to be the best player in the NBA in 2 years. Barkley immediately responded like only he can by saying "you better hope LeBron is dead for it to be true". Thats would be a "LOL" moment if I was a teenager, but that's exactly what I am grappling with as well. I totally see Durant becoming an absolute monster, especially as a scorer in a year or two, but I don't know how anyone can be more complete or better than this LeBron James dude. It's going to be great watching those 2 grow into their NBA greatness.

Most Improved Player:
Another award for which Derrick Rose can actually qualify, though I won't give it to him. This goes to Dorell Wright from the Warriors over Russell Westbrook of the Thunder. Westbrook has become a legitimate second option behind Durant and a force to reckon with, but he was still good last year. Also, I think he is still slightly over-rated. But Dorell Wright has been lighting it up for the Warriors with 16.5-5.7-3.2 per game. Thats impressive for a guy who barely left the pine in his previous stop. The Warriors GM not only found the right guy, but also found a way to use him.

Defensive player of the year:
At almost 14 boards and 2 blocks per game, it's hard not to give this award to Dwight. He definitely makes his presence felt on the defensive end and he needs to play like a defensive player of the year the rest of the way to keep the Magic in it and then take them further in the playoffs.

Power Rankings:
Here are my NBA power rankings - just the top 8. Who cares which is the 18-Th best team in the NBA - not even a hard-core Suns fan like me.

1) San Antonio Spurs - Their record is real, their lead over the Lakers is legit. I think it's going to be a Spurs-Celtics finals.
2) Boston Celtics - The East is not going to be a bed of roses, but these veterans can handle any thorns on their way.
3) LA Lakers - The Lakers are slipping, but the Black Mamba is still lethal.
4) Dallas Mavericks - The Mavs should probably be ranked higher, but they have disappointed us too many times in the past.
5) Miami Heat - I am not a believer yet, definitely not against the big, talented playoff teams.
6) Chicago Bulls - With a healthy Noah and Boozer, this team has everything you could ask for.
7) Orlando Magic - Good team, but too much going on in the East these days. They might fall short.
8) Oklahoma City Thunder - Durant's next step may not happen this year.