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.

Tuesday Ramblings - Worst Coach in the NFL?

Wow, so yesterday was among the better sports viewing days in recent memory. We get two walk-offs in baseball and a solid comeback to stay unbeaten in the NFL. Can you remember another day that had that many dramatic finishes in games of serious consequences?

The Angels got right back in the series, but need to continue their roll against CC tonight. The Phillies put their foot on the Dodger’s throats by taking out their vaunted bullpen. And while Josh McDaniels didn’t repeat the fist-pumping victory celebration, might the Broncos actually be a Super Bowl contender!?!
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Why is the NY media jumping on Joe Girardi so hard for changing pitchers last night? Yes, the move didn’t work out, but he had logic behind the move. He went to a guy that doesn’t rely on his fastball and uses curves and off-speed pitches to get guys out against a hitter that doesn’t hit curves and off-speed pitches well. So it didn’t work out. But his decision made sense before the hit. If he would have left Robertson in the game and he would have given up the hit, Girardi would have been roasted more than Grady Little. So it was basically a no-win situation. And these are the same idiotic fans/media that said Torre stayed with guys too long and didn’t do enough. Guys like Mike Vaccaro of the NY Post seem to think they have more baseball knowledge than a guy like Joe Girardi. Vaccaro would be better suited to tell the story of the game and not ramble on about strategy like some drunken Vinny from Queens.
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Who is the worst coach in the NFL? There are some really poor teams, but who are the worst head coaches? Not just a bad record can contribute to who is the worst coach, and it says something about the sorry state of coaches when a guy like Eric Mangini, hated by his own players, doesn’t even crack the top (bottom?) 5 worst coaches. Here’s my list……….

1. Jim Zorn – almost doesn’t qualify because it is the worst kept secret in the world that he’s getting fired. They’re basically treating him like Milton in Office Space – having him move his desk to the basement, and taking away his Swingline stapler. The guy was woefully under qualified for the position in the first place. Adding a “consultant” that then takes over play-calling within 2 weeks is a precursor to “Your Ass is Getting Canned” as soon as they decide who can be the interim coach.

2. Norv Turner – Mr. Roper has always done less with more. He has a pro bowl QB, a hall of fame RB, a pro bowl returner/backup RB, 2 pro bowl LBs and a pro bowl CB. Yet his teams start every year with a losing record by week 7 and scramble to get to the playoffs, where they will fizzle and become a disappointment. This is his third head coaching job, and he has been awful at all of them – career record of 79-98-1. And he was 58-82-1 when he got the job in San Diego – what did they expect?

3. Wade Phillips – The Son of Bum is a bum. Similar to Norv Roper, this guy always flops when it matters or when he has talent. Also in his 3rd head coaching stint, he does have an overall winning record of 73-51, but he has NEVER won a playoff game in 8 full seasons as the head coach, with an 0-4 record. Pathetic.

4. Tom Cable – Similar to Zorn, he was sadly under qualified for the position. But then again, someone had to say yes to Al Davis. However, someone didn’t have to (allegedly) do something to an assistant coach that resulted in the assistant coach having a broken jaw. Also similar to Zorn, he’s working in a terrible situation with an owner that is his own worst enemy and doesn’t know it.

5. Dick Jauron – We know Jauron is a smart guy – he has the Ivy league degree from Princeton to prove it. But that does not make him a good head coach. I’m not sure how he ever got the job in Buffalo. He has a career record of 59-80, and was 35-45 in 4 years in Chicago and 1-4 in relief in Detroit prior to the Bills job. In his 10 seasons as a head coach, his teams have only ranked higher than 23rd in the league in points once. And only once higher than 23rd in yards, and that was his first year in Chicago in 1999. So why are we surprised that the Bills offense is awful this year and they don’t know how to use Terrell Owens?

Honorable Mention:
Eric Mangini – flamed out in NY, and somehow got another gig immediately with Cleveland and managed to alienate his team and fan base before the half way point of the season. Think he’s jealous of the way Josh McDaniels is performing?

Raheem Morris – compared to Mike Tomlin when he got the job, he has a serious lack of talent on the Bucs, so he gets a short-term pass.

Todd Haley – has the youngest team in the league with the Chiefs, so he also gets a pass.

Not on the list of worst coaches but will be fired this year or this off season:
John Fox, Jeff Fisher, Gary Kubiak and Jack Del Rio (though his owner’s struggles with ticket sales and tight wallet might save his job)