Monday, December 14, 2009

Week 14 Hangover - Love/Hate

LOVE

- I thought the NFL was supposed to be a league of parity? If that was really the case, then why are we looking at the distinct possibility that in 3 seasons, we’ll have 3 teams that went undefeated in the regular season and a team that lost all 16 games? That seems to be the antithesis of parity.

The Colts & Saints keep finding ways to win, and the Saints are telling everyone that they plan on going full speed ahead. The Colts appear more likely rest players and coast their way to the end of the season – they don’t play another meaningful game until January 16th. It will be hard to keep your momentum when you don’t play a game with any ramifications for over a month. Get ready for a boatload of analysts telling you that they “know” the best plan for these teams to go undefeated – and almost none of them have any real knowledge since they haven’t done it.

And Mercury Morris, you attention-grabbing-idiot, there are two teams, and they’re on your doorstep, ready to jack you in the face like you’re Snooki from the Jersey Shore.

- Congrats to Mark Ingram for winning the Heisman. You’re now in the exclusive club that includes Gino Toretta, Jason White, Eric Crouch, Chris Weinke, Ron Dayne (that hurt to type), Danny Wuerffel, Andre Ware and Rashaan Salaam. And in other news, the Heisman winner has played in 8 national championship games……and lost 7 times. That’s not good news for Alabama. The only Heisman winner to take the title was Matt Leinart in 2004. Even though Suh, the defensive animal from Nebraska was the best player in the country, Ingram was the best, safe choice.

- The AFC playoff picture is about as messed up as the youngest kid from Family Ties, Brian Bonsoll. Does anyone remember that show for anything other than Michael J. Fox, his sister Mallory, the dad with the beard and Meredith Baxter Burney (who recently came out of the closet)? That could make for an interesting “where are they now” special. Anyway…..back to the AFC playoffs where Jacksonville, the Jets, Baltimore and Miami are all 7-6, tied for the last wildcard spot, and only one game behind the 8-5 Broncos. The Ravens appear to have the inside track, having all losing teams (Chicago, Pittsburgh & Oakland) remaining on their schedule, making them likely to get to 10 wins. The Jags stink, and have the Colts on Thursday, followed by New England (in Foxboro) and Cleveland. That’s 8-8 at absolute best. The Jets have Atlanta, Indy & Cincy, which makes it unlikely they’ll get better than 8-8. And the Dolphins have Tennessee, Houston & Pittsburgh, which I think puts them in line for 9-7. Denver looks likely to get to 10 wins, with Oakland and Kansas City sandwiched around Philly. Based on those schedules, it looks like Denver and Baltimore are most likely to get in.

- Speaking of Baltimore, how impressive has Ray Rice been this year? He’s second in the league in total yards per game (behind Chris Johnson of the Titans), averaging more than 130 yards/game. The guy has been impressive running and receiving and has moved into the discussion of the top 5 running backs in the league.

- Tiger Woods is taking an indefinite leave from golf. That’s in his best interest, so good luck to him in trying to save his marriage and family. Yikes. My guess is that he will not be seen or heard from until 2011. The PGA is scrambling to find another cursing, temper-tantrum-throwing dominant force to lead the tour…….or maybe they’re just going to highlight John Daly’s loss of 100 pounds and ridiculous pants.

HATE

- It’s December. Time for holiday cheer, foreigners cramming into Rockefeller Center, the Chargers winning football games and the Cowboys losing football games. This December has the potential to be absolutely crushing for Dallas, after losing two tough games to the Giants and Chargers; they have to face the Saints and a resilient Redskins team – both on the road. Then they get Philly at home to end the season, and thankfully that game takes place after the calendar turns over to 2010. The real lesson learned has nothing to do with the calendar and everything to do with the Cowboys: they’re just not that good. Romo is a middle of the pack quarterback, their receivers are not explosive, their offensive line is not dominant at all, and their defense is adequate. That is not a recipe for success. Oh, and I forgot to mention that their coach is a better fit as Santa’s helper in the local mall than he is a fit as an NFL coach.

- Tough gambling moments of the weekend: (1) The Cowboys touchdown with 2 seconds left gained a push as the Chargers were favored by 3, and (2) if the Pats could have punched it in for a late TD (Maroney was tackled at the 6 at the two minute warning) instead of taking a few knees to run out the clock, they could have gotten the cover against the Panthers.

- Cue up Dennis Green…….the Bears are who we thought they were. And Jay Cutler is exactly who we thought he was. A brash, strong-armed quarterback with big moxy when thing are going well, but pouts when they aren’t. He’s good enough to make some spectacular plays to keep you in a game, but then he’s bad enough to make some terrible mistakes that cost you the game that he kept you in. And that’s what he did (again) against Green Bay, throwing a horrid interception in the second half (his second of the day), leading to the winning score. He leads the league with 22 picks, and looks likely to keep that dubious title since Jake Delhomme won’t be playing again this season.

- Looks like Randy Moss is ready to resume his role of Bad Santa this year in New England. The guy is a freak of an athletic talent but as soon as he feels even the slightest bit of disappointment or that he has been mistreated, he packs it in. He’s like the little kid on the playground who tries to make up his own rules and then decides that he’s going to take his ball and go home as soon as things don’t go his way. Tom Brady is making the right decisions to just throw to Wes Welker on almost every pass play. Moss is treating the Pats season the same way he treated the goal post in Lambeau Field when he was a member of the Vikings.

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