I love
great teams. Really great teams. Not just teams that happen
to win, but teams that really impress me along the way. I
should say, it isn’t necessarily that I LOVE them, but I
love the respect I feel for them. The Yankees in the late
‘90s. The Patriots of the last few years.
I’ve
disliked the Indianapolis Colts since they drafted
Peyton Manning, mainly because I’ve always viewed him as
an overrated choker. They’re a good team, no doubt. But,
they’ve never impressed me as a great team. They’ve never
done anything I thought was great. And of all of Manning’s
accolades, what has stood out to me has been his debacles in
the playoffs to the Patriots and the Jets in the last three
years.
On Monday
night, they started finally proving themselves to me. It
wasn’t the win, which was certainly a strong statement. It
was that first offensive play. After stopping the Steelers
on their first drive, Peyton Manning threw an 80-yard
touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison on their first
play. The play-call was the kind of fire I saw when the
Colts played in Foxboro earlier this season. It also helped
that Harrison is on my fantasy football team.
I still
want to see Manning and coach Tony Dungy actually win
a couple playoff games. If Dungy’s coaching staff keeps
calling aggressive games and if Manning keeps that fire in
his eyes, we’re going to see it. If they go back into their
shell, they’ll be the biggest chokers of all time.
ESPUgh
ESPN is
borderline unwatchable. Woody Paige, Skip Bayless,
Michael Irvin, Chris Berman, Mike Golic – they all work
consistently to undermine any enjoyment I could have in just
listening to smart sports insight. The gimmicks, the yucks –
I find myself not even watching Monday Night Countdown
anymore (except to see Irvin stumble over explaining why he
had a crack pipe in his car).
Watching
NFL live right now, Golic just came up with the word “trickeration.”
Man, these guys are dumb.
The Lions should have fired
two guys
How the
hell does Detroit Lions General Mis-Manager Matt
Millen still have a job? He fired coach Steve
Mariucci on Monday, pinning yet another losing season on
the head coach he himself hired just over two seasons ago.
Mariucci’s record in Detroit was 15-28. But, Millen’s record
as general manager is an abysmal 20-55.
Mariucci
just isn’t a great coach. He’s a good college coach, but not
a Super Bowl-caliber NFL coach. He wasn’t while he was in
San Francisco, either; he simply inherited a lot more talent
there. Millen, however, has absolutely no record of being
able to manage a team. Under his guidance, the Lions have
been the doormat of their division, finishing last, last,
last, second-to-last and second-to-last the last five
seasons. Hell, they even finished last in the preseason this
year. Millen has got to be sleeping with somebody in the
Ford family, because they shouldn’t even allow their
cars to be made by Matt Millen, let alone their football
team.
Speaking
of keeping their jobs . . .
The
Giants have no one to blame but their coaches this past
weekend. It’s easy to point to some missed field goals; but,
when your coaching staff simply stops coaching during the
game, it’s their own fault when they lose.
Against the
Seattle Seahawks, the Giants were driving at the end
of regulation for the winning score. In just over one
minute, they had gone 25 yards and the ball rested at the
Seattle 25 with 20 seconds left. It was 3rd and
1. Instead of trying to get a couple more yards, the Giants
decided to let the clock wind down to four seconds and try a
field goal. Oh, did I mention they still had three timeouts
left? And did I mention Tiki Barber had run for six
and three yards the previous two plays? Instead of getting a
couple more yards for Jay Feely’s field goal attempt,
they let the clock run down to four seconds. Why try the
kick on third down if you’re going to let the clock run down
to no time so you couldn’t even get a timeout called if it’s
a bad snap? Sure, Feely missed three game-winning field
goals. But, coach Tom Coughlin and his crew aren’t
supposed to stop coaching with 19 seconds left.
My
Rankings:
Nothing
else matters. Colts are No. 1.
Flag Football
This past
weekend, we had no league games here in New York City, but
we had a fun pick-up game with about a dozen guys from the
league and Will Ward from Chicago, who was the Gay
Super Bowl MVP in October. I love playing our league games.
There’s something special about playing with the same
teammates every week. You get to develop a cool bond with
those people.
But,
sometimes it’s just fun to play a pick-up game with nothing
“at stake.” Having played against Will in the Super Bowl, it
was fun to catch a long touchdown pass from him in the cold
of a November night – and have it mean nothing.
Next
weekend, the league has its first two rounds of playoffs. My
team will be seeded #1. We’re going to try to do what the
Colts have done thus far – reach an 11-0 record. I imagine
we won’t stop attacking until we’ve done it.
--I have
never liked the NFL’s overtime rule and this weekend
showed again why: It’s too dependent on which team wins the
coin toss.
Of the four
games that went into overtime, two (Denver-Dallas and San
Diego-Washington) ended on the first possession. Denver
needed only three plays to win, 24-21, on Thanksgiving Day,
while San Diego took two plays to win, 23-17, Sunday. In the
other two OT games (St. Louis-Houston and New York
Giants-Seattle), each team had at least one possession,
which is the way it should be.
I hear all
the time from overtime supporters that the team that kicks
off has only itself to blame if it loses on the first drive.
That team’s defense needs to step up, it is said. But what
about the receiving team’s defense? If its offense scores
first, that D is let off the hook because a coin fell the
right way. And what happens if the receiving team returns
the overtime kickoff for a score? Then neither team’s
offense or defense was challenged.
The system
makes the coin toss, capricious by definition, way too
important. I would make it so that each team gets a
guaranteed possession, then sudden death after that; the
coin toss would still matter but not as much. I suspect the
NFL hates this idea because it would lengthen OT games (bad
for TV if fans are waiting for the second half of a
doubleheader) and might mean more ties. To mitigate the tie
issue, make OT 20 minutes instead of 15. The way it is now
is just too unsatisfying.
--Chad
Johnson caught a pass from Carson Palmer, then made like
Arnold Palmer. I wasn’t wild about Johnson’s “proposal”
celebration last week, but I loved what the Cincinnati
Bengals receiver did Sunday after scoring against the
Baltimore Ravens. He yanked out one of the end zone pylons
and putted the football.
"I'm a big
fan of Tiger [Woods]," Johnson said. "I don't know any other
way to let him know I'm better than him than by showing my
skills after a touchdown. That was a good one -- not one of
my best. I've got a very good one next week to top
everything I've done so far."
--Johnson’s
Bengals have the best offense this side of
Indianapolis and one more victory gets them their first
winning season since 1990. Playoffs are looking very
possible, but the Bengals still need to work on that
defense. They gave up 42 to the Colts, but more shockingly,
29 to the Ravens, a team that hadn’t scored more than 20 all
season.
--Choke of the day was Houston blowing a 24-3 lead
and losing in overtime to St. Louis, 33-27.
The
Rams were playing with backup QB Jaime Martin, then he got
hurt and third-stringer Ryan Fitzpatrick (left) came in.
Fitzpatrick is a rookie. He went to Harvard and became the
first Harvard grad to ever throw an NFL pass.
Houston
led, 27-17, with only 26 seconds remaining in regulation.
And still the Texans lost! Ram touchdown pass on fourth
down, onsides kick recovery, game-tying field goal and we
head to overtime where Fitzpatrick (310 yards passing and
three touchdowns) throws a flanker screen that the uber-hot
Kevin Curtis (right) takes 56 yards for the game-winning
score."I
was so disgusted I wanted to throw up,” Texans center Steve
McKinney said. So did
these fans.
--This
doesn’t qualify as a
Phil Simms homoerotic comment, but a friend,
Charlie, sent me this: CBS announcer Jim Nantz “said on Don
Imus' show Tuesday that Phil Simms ordered the Thanksgiving
football TV crew pink bowling shirts for his annual
impromptu crew bowling tournament Tuesday night. How gay is
that?”
--At
9-2, the Seattle Seahawks have the best record in the
NFC, but call me unimpressed. Their 24-21 overtime win over
the Giants was more a case of the Giants blowing it when
normally reliable kicker Jay Feely missed three field goals
in the final 30 seconds and overtime (only the second time
that has happened in league history). Last week, the
Seahawks avoided overtime against the woeful 49ers when San
Francisco missed a 2-point conversion.
Seattle
will be a solid favorite in three of its final five games
(San Francisco, Tennessee and Green Bay), so home field in
its grasp. This team has the look of one that goes 13-3,
gets a bye, then loses its first playoff game (see Kansas
City in 1995, 1997 and 2003). These kind of fluky regular
season wins seldom carry over into the playoffs.
--On the
other hand, if not Seattle, then who? The NFC has no
team that can be called dominant. The Bears (8-3) have an
excellent defense but an offense that considers 13 points a
success. Carolina (8-3) has scored one touchdown in its last
two games. The Giants (7-4) and Atlanta (7-4) are way too
inconsistent.
This leaves
Dallas (7-4), which might be the best equipped to make a
run. The Cowboys’ four losses are by a combined 13 points
and they have played a much tougher schedule than any of the
NFC contenders. This being the NFC, I may totally change my
mind next week.
--While
the Bears defense has been ferocious (12 sacks in the
last two games), Chicago has played only one team whose
offense is ranked in the Top 12. That team, Cincinnati,
moved the ball well and scored 24 points in an easy win. Of
the Bears last five foes, only Atlanta has a highly ranked
offense.
--Loved
the shot of Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey mugging for
the camera when he thought one of Feely’s field goals was
good. He had a priceless look when he realized the kick
sailed wide.
--The
New England Patriots (6-5) are lucky to be in the AFC
East, where no other team is better than 4-7. The Pats
basically have a bye to the division title, but after
watching their woeful performance at Kansas City, they have
the look of a one-and-done team in the playoffs. Tom Brady
was terrible (four interceptions), but that can be
corrected. What will be hard to fix is an offensive line
that can’t run block and a defense that can’t stop anyone. I
am not sure that even Bill Belichick could conjure up a
title with this group. (Check
out Belichick in his sideline homeless person look.)
--I
caught the last two minutes of the Saints-Jets game
Sunday night and heard one of the ESPN announcers praise how
hard the teams played. Right then, I knew it was a dog of a
game between two teams going nowhere.
--I
agree with those who say Bills quarterback J.P. Losman
needs to have an extra “s” in his last name.
--Not
NFL-related but I enjoyed this note from a reader:
I was just watching CNN Headline
News, when sports reporter Will Selva was talking about the
Arkansas Razorback's quarterback "Casey Dick" and said, "I
just like saying the name!"
--Speaking of Dick, for a hilarious TV screen capture,
check out this from an Arkansas game this season.
--Oh how the mighty have fallen. Weird that the
Packers-Eagles game (a playoff classic two years ago) was
one that came and went Sunday with little notice.
--San Diego Chargers
coach Marty Schottenheimer is not given to hyperbole, so
it was interesting to hear him say this about LaDainian
Tomlinson, whose two late long TD runs lifted the Chargers
over the Redskins:
"I believe
with a certainty, in my opinion, he is the finest running
back I have ever seen in professional football,"
Schottenheimer said. "And I know people say: 'Well what
about Jim Brown? And what about Gale Sayers?' That's all
well and good, but I tell you what, in the era that we're in
now where you have defensive linemen that weigh 300 pounds
and run 4.75, and these mammoth guys that are playing
linebacker, I think with a certainty, in my opinion, he is
the finest running back that I have ever seen."
--The
best performance by a cat this weekend was not a player
with the Lions, Panthers or Bengals. It was the amazing
felines of Gregory Popovich’s
Comedy Pet Theater, which I saw in Long Beach. As
one who has two cats, I know that training them to do
anything but come for dinner is near impossible. But
Popovich, using cats he rescued from animal shelters, had
his dozen or so jump through hoops, climb long poles, walk
high wires and push a dog in a stroller. It sure beat the
Saints and the Jets.
Top 5
1.
Indianapolis (11-0): The Colts physically dominated a
Steelers team used to doing that to other teams.
2. Denver (9-2): Broncos have inside track on a
playoff bye.
3. San
Diego (7-4): Chargers have two very winnable home games
(Oakland and Miami) then head to Indy for that week's Game
of the Year.
4.
Pittsburgh (7-4): The loss to the woeful Ravens in Week
11 will come back to haunt them.
5.
Cincinnati (8-3): I love watching Carson Palmer throw
deep.
The
Rams were playing with backup QB Jaime Martin, then he got
hurt and third-stringer Ryan Fitzpatrick (left) came in.
Fitzpatrick is a rookie. He went to Harvard and became the
first Harvard grad to ever throw an NFL pass. 
Houston
led, 27-17, with only 26 seconds remaining in regulation.
And still the Texans lost! Ram touchdown pass on fourth
down, onsides kick recovery, game-tying field goal and we
head to overtime where Fitzpatrick (310 yards passing and
three touchdowns) throws a flanker screen that the uber-hot
Kevin Curtis (right) takes 56 yards for the game-winning
score.