The Crystal Ball 2007 Week 9

The NFL season is officially, with this weekend, half over. I am having those mid season regrets again. I didn’t watch enough, obsess enough, and bathe in the nonsensical world of the NFL enough. No, it can’t be half over. I am not ready to deal with it. No no no! I will not accept this. I will hold my breath until someone takes it back and I know there is at least three quarters of the season left!

Ok, enough of that nonsense. This week we witnessed some record breaking performances, and yes Brett Favre was involved.

Tony Dungy is now the winningest coach in Colt history. Couldn’t have happened to a better person

Peyton Manning became the 1st quarterback to beat 31 different teams.

Hours later Tom Brady became the 2nd quarterback to beat 31 teams.

Peyton Manning also broke the all time Colt touchdown record previously held by Johnny Unitas.

Sebastian Janikowski became the all time tops Raider kicker with 165 field goals and gave hope to overweight beer drinkers worldwide who want to become professional athletes.

Brett Favre tied the record for the second longest touchdown to win a game in overtime.

The Packers/Broncos overtime game was second shortest overtime game of all time.

With their third straight victory, the Saints have climbed to 3-4 and into the hunt for the NFC South title against the 4-3 Panthers, the 4-4 Buccaneers and the 1-6 Falcons.

The Patriots record of 331 points through the first 8 games is the best all time.

The Browns scored back to back victories for the 1st time since 2003.

Braylon Edwards’ 9 touchdowns tied the record for most touchdowns in a season for a modern era Cleveland receiver. That’s scary that no one has had more than 9 in a season up until now.

The Browns also lead the AFC North with 23 total touchdowns and are only three behind the defending Super Bowl champion Colts.

Ben Roethlisberger as a pro is undefeated in Ohio at 9-0.

Monday night’s win was Brett Favre’s first in Denver.

That win was also the first win in Denver by a Packer team.

The Colts starting 3 straight seasons at 7-0 is tops all time.

The Steelers at the midway point can boast the #1 defense and the #1 rushing attack in league. Ok, full disclosure, this is not really a record, but I wanted to throw that out there just because.


Recap

To really honor the people of San Diego and give them something to cheer about, the Chargers should have worn their powder blues for the game. Although I imagine their dominating victory over the Texans probably did enough to help for at least a few hours.

Which team was it in San Diego Sunday that was distracted by a long week of personal and community tragedy and unsure status of their venue and homes? From the look of things it certainly was not the home team.

How did the Chargers destroy the Texans when Tomlinson only had 90 yards rushing and 0 touchdowns?

By praying to Crom! Antonio Cromartie that is. Stellar defensive performance turned in by Crom who had two, count ‘em two, two defensive touchdowns during the game.

Super impressive drive executed by the Panthers to open their tilt against the Colts. The drive consisted of 18 plays, took 11:01 minutes and resulted in a touchdown and an early lead against the Colts. Unfortunately, it was their only impressive drive.

It sure was nice of the Colts to take it easy at first on the Panthers, and just as nice to remind Carolina exactly who the Colts were. Did they decide to spot The Panthers the first half, just for fun? Kind of looked like it after they blew the doors off the place.

JP Losman came off bench to become hero for Bills. I like the Bills; they play tough and find ways to win. Only two last second field goals are keeping them from being 5-2 right now.

Awesome catch by Lee Evans who out muscled the Jet defensive backs for the big TD.

Kevin Curtis had a wicked one handed grab for the Eagles.

Poor Kelly Holcomb almost had head shoved down throat. Quarterback woes continue for the Vikings.

The Bears need to excise those garish orange jerseys. Ditka is not pleased.

Was the Lions defense really that good or is the Bears offense that bad? I think it’s a push.

Boy are the Bears suffering the Super Bowl loser curse mightily. If it weren’t for Devin Hester, they’d have no hope at all.

Eli Manning was 8-22 for 59 yards in the scintillating contest held in London. Glad we gave the Brits something exciting to watch to whet their NFL appetite.

Stephen Jackson returned, started flashing something good for the Rams and then promptly left with a back injury. Some days it does not pay for one to even cut the eyeholes out of their paper bag.

I will repeat this once again, in case anyone missed it the first time and obviously the Redskin brain trust did. If Mike Vrabel is in on offense, the ball most likely is going to him. Seriously, this is not hard to decipher. The man has 10 receptions in his career, and ALL OF THEM ARE FOR TOUCHDOWNS!

Speaking of Vrabel, on Sunday he had a touchdown catch, 13 tackles, 3 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. Letting this guy go may turn out to be the dumbest thing Bill Cowher ever did.

Patriots starters on offense and defense were still in game well into the 4th quarter, when the team was up 45-0. Why? What kind of behavior is this? Belichick, I’m trying to help you now, stop doing that or karma will make you pay.

By the way, a small compliment for the Patriots. I know, seems almost nutty, but it’s true. I LOVED the fake spike pass for a touchdown play. You just don’t see that call very often and it is a highly successful play. Excellent game plan.

Rams and Dolphins – You’re halfway home. Don’t lose sight of the goal now.


Steelers 24 – Bengals 13

This game represented the 7th straight win by Steelers over Bungles in Cincinnati. Hee hee.

This was an excellent dominating performance. The score does not reflect game at all, as it was never that close. Just the salve I needed. Thanks guys!

Hines Ward proved he was back from injury and had big day out with 2 touchdowns.

Willie had big day out as well. The Steelers are 17-1 when Willie has 100+ yards rushing. You know what that means? It means they are in control of the game and letting Willie do his thing. I love that most of all.

On Ward’s first touchdown, the Bungles only had ten defenders on the field. If any team cannot afford to be a man short on defense, it’s the Bungles. The Patriots might be able to get away with such things, but not the defensively challenged bungles. Boy they are dumb.

Even though I have liked what he did at first in Cincinnati, I am beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that Marvin Lewis is a terrible coach. Down 14-3 in the second quarter, his Bungles had the ball on a 4th and 1 from the Steelers 3 yard line. They need a big play to get back into the game and get the crowd back on their side. Their running back is having some success this day. What does Lewis do? He chickens out and kicks the field goal. Such a bad move and the crowd knew it as they lustily booed the Bungles.

At this point you need to take a chance, do something dramatic not only to get into the game, but the season as well. The Bungles needed to play fearless here to have a chance to right their ship. All they did was take a chicken route. What happened after that? Pittsburgh got the ball back and drove for a touchdown to make it 21-6 at halftime and essentially ending the game and dropping the lowly Bungles to 2-5.

Then later in the game Lewis decided to go for it on 4th and 8. This made the previous call even nuttier, since why would you risk it on a low percentage play and not on a high percentage play like 4th and 1?

85 had wicked good sideline catch. About the only one he had all day.

Ok, something needs clarification. Everyone has been touting lately that the Steelers are 32-3 when Big Ben attempts less than 30 passes. They’re saying he is not a big time quarterback because they lose when he airs it out. This is just wrong. The real info behind this number is that when Ben has fewer attempts, it’s because they are controlling the tempo of the game, have built a lead and are putting the ball on the ground. When Ben has to light it up, it’s because they have managed in some way to get behind, and he is whipping things around to get them back in it. Of course, everyone would shut up about such things if for once the team would win a shoot out, but that is immaterial at the moment.

What I Liked From Pittsburgh: Ball control, effective running game, excellent passing and Hines Ward.

What I Did Not Like From Pittsburgh: Giving up long 3rd down conversions. Tendency of Roethlisberger in desperation to make something happen and then giving up a bad interception. Zero recorded sacks for the entire game.


Packers 19 – Broncos 13 in overtime

Pregame – was I watching the MNF opening or an A&E biography on Favre? I’m still not sure.

If I were a Bronco fan, I’d be pissed seeing that. I thought I was watching my city host Monday Night Football, not the Brett Favre show.

You knew it would be a tough game when even an official gets taken out with a hamstring injury.

The Denver offensive line gave Cutler good time in first half to throw. It took the Packer pass rush until the second half to figure out their line. Now if they could only sustain that for 60 minutes, they’d have something.

Atari Bigby, and yes he will go in the future segment of great names in football, killed the Packer defense with stupid penalties. In a sloppy game that had a total of 23 penalties called, he had four himself including two defensive pass interference calls and a delay of game. And he gave up the only Bronco touchdown. Bigby has been good thus far this season, but he needs to be more disciplined and keep his head about him before he misses that beer barrel rolling down the ladder right on top of him.

But the blame cannot be placed on him alone. The Packer defense needs some better discipline overall. This is merely a side effect of their youth, but it could hurt them in the long run.

Cutler made a terrible rookie QB mistake by fumbling the ball on the 1 yard line. Cutler will be good one day, as that zip on his ball shows, but he still has ways to go. You can blame the pulling guard for knocking the ball or messing up the timing, but at the end of the day it still is Cutler’s responsibility to take care of football no matter what.

The fumble changed the momentum of the game. After that, it became the Broncos who were making stupid mistakes, including twice having 12 men on the field on defense.

Greg Jennings had a few bad drops during the game, and needs to work on his hands. But he sure did make up for it in overtime.

The weak Bronco run defense made the Packer running game look strong. I gotta ask again, why oh why did we not run the ball more last week? Yeesh.

The loss of John Lynch hamstrung the Bronco defense severely.

The Loss of Travis Henry before the game hamstrung Bronco offense severely, although their rookie did perform admirably.

The Packers need to improve on their ability to finish drives. Marching 98 yards and settling for a field goal because you cannot get that yard and the touchdown will not cut it in the long run. It’s been said a million times and a million more will not hurt. They need a reliable running game.

This week we had the pleasure of having two celebrities in the booth. I was tingling with excitement. Or was that annoyance?

Deanna Favre was the first in the booth, discussing her book, cancer and her life with Brett. She is a great subject for an interview, fascinating and interesting and personally I would love to hear more from her regarding her life and how she overcame personal tragedies. I believe she has an interesting perspective on such things. But not when I, and the rest of the country are trying to watch the game. Hell, even she would go silent for stretches because she’d rather watch the game. What does that tell you about this idiotic premise when the guest would rather watch the action unfold?

Then later we were treated to a dose of Vince Vaughan. Mind you I find Vaughan funny and engaging, just not during the fourth quarter of a close football game. If ESPN wants to do a celebrity talk show, then do it. They have already created a sports themed rip off of 60 Minutes. Why not rip off Oprah and put a talk show on NFLN? You could get Michele Tafoya to host it would be fabulous. Just stop trying to do it during a football game.

During the Broncos last drive, Al Harris was burned badly twice for big Bronco gains. Harris is usually much better than that.

Jason Elam is amazing. How is he not the MVP of the 07 Broncos?

As Broncos headed for a score, our talking heads in the booth kept saying how the Pack was 0-5 in Denver all time. When the game went into overtime, the mentioned that the Packers last overtime road win was in Tampa, on a Monday night, in 1983 which turned out to be the last game Howard Cossell ever broadcast.

Brett took care of scratching out those records but toot sweet.

Overtime lasted one play, an 82 yard touchdown bomb from Favre to Jennings. The ball was in the air for about 50 yards. At this point, I think I can safely say that everyone, including myself, was terribly wrong about Brett needing to retire.


NFL, the alternative Universe

Just a thought, but wouldn’t it bring a little bit of joy to the game, and a sad situation, if the NFL injury carts were made to look funky and team oriented like the bullpen carts of yesteryear? I think so too. More to come on this next week.

San Francisco kicker Joe Nedney was fined $7,500 by the league for giving an obscene gesture to fans during their last home game. Two things stick in my head about this. One, how come this incident was barely reported and not blown out of proportion like the Michael Vick obscene gesture incident? Was it due to fame, race, money or some other factor? And two, things must be really bad when the kicker is giving fans the bird.

Cha-Ching Tony Romo hit the Cowboy lottery. 6 years, 67.5 million dollar contract with 31 million of that guaranteed. The Tony Lamas are on him.

The only cities Favre has never recorded a win in are Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

John Kitna and his wife dressed up for the Lions Halloween party as a naked guy and a Wendy’s drive thru employee, in jest of defensive line coach Joe Cullen’s off season antics of going through the Wendy’s drive thru naked from the waist down. The Detroit media, upon getting wind of it, had a hissy about it. Message to all media people in Detroit, Kitna has led your team to a 5-2 record at the halfway point and brought some much needed relevancy to the Lions. If he wants to dress up as a gaping head wound JFK, not only should you let him but also applaud him for his creativity. Besides that, get over yourselves. It’s Halloween, you’re supposed to dress up goofy and poke fun at things. Loosen up you uptight biddies.

In an ever saddening drama, two of Eagles coach Andy Reid’s sons were sentenced to jail this week. Both Britt and Garrett Reid were sentenced to 8-23 months in prison for various charges, ranging from drug possession and distribution and reckless endangerment when Garrett hit another motorist when high on heroin.

This is a very sad tale, and I feel for the Reid family. I’m sure the humiliation, embarrassment and feelings of failing their sons was not helped by the judge using the sentencing as a pulpit for his own condemning commentary on the Reid household and the state of their family.

One could make a comment on how the intense time demands of being a head coach has effected Reid’s ability as a parent. True, but how is that any different from folks with normal jobs that keep them away from home? What difference is it between Andy Reid who is dedicated to his job to succeed and make a better life for his family and Joe Three Piece Suit who spends 60-70 hours a week in the office and takes numerous business trips? Everyone, from the judge to the media to the man on the street, who has vilified Reid during these tumultuous times and said his job took away from his family should stop, step back and take a look at their own families. If everything is perfect, and their children are future Rhodes scholars who play multiple musical instruments and volunteer at the homeless shelter during the weekends then they can throw stones. Otherwise, shut up and recognize how difficult raising a child can be.

We all have to make sacrifices to make a living in this world, and we always hope they do not have such dire consequences. Being a parent in our modern society may be the most difficult, harrowing and emotionally draining job one could ever have, and one of the most important as well. This situation shows all of us that no matter who you are, it is tough and everyone struggles to do it right. You do your best and hope it is enough. Sometimes it is, and others not as much. And sometimes, no matter what you do, you will have one or two that stray from the herd. There’s nothing you can do about it.

I hope the Reid family finds a way to help get these boys back on track after serving their punishment, and back to being a family again. Another reminder of how low football really ranks on the priority list of life.


Upon Further Review

Leading 38-0 and facing a 4th and 1 from the Redskins seven yard line in the fourth quarter, the Patriots went for it with Tom Brady running for two yards and the first down. This play set up Brady’s third touchdown pass of the day two plays later.

When asked about this sequence in post game interviews, Bill Belichick said this in response.

''What do you want us to do, kick a field goal?''

How about showing some dignity and class? Perhaps showing a modicum of respect to the hall of fame coach on the other sideline? Or more importantly, how about showing something that has almost disappeared from existence, sportsmanship?

Sportsmanship can be defined as conduct and attitude considered as befitting participants in sports, especially fair play, courtesy, striving spirit, and grace in losing. Unfortunately we see little of this in our world. Ironically, a Google search on the definition of sportsmanship gave links to poor sportsmanship and good sportsmanship. The poor sportsmanship link had a definition, the good sportsmanship had none. Quite telling if you ask me.

Despite how little we may see of it, or because of that fact, we desperately need to see more good sportsmanship. We especially need to see it in our world where winning a game has become a dangerous obsession to the point of violence. Too many crazy parents put immense pressure on their children to perform at high levels, imparting on them how much it means to win and how much their future will depend on them winning. This is way too much to unload on kids who do not even know what they want to be when they grow up. All this does is give children huge complexes regarding winning and losing, performance anxiety and a desperate need to appease their parents because they feel if they fail, they will disappoint the parent and potentially lose their love. Many of these kids grow up twisted emotionally and scarred for life, with very few ever succeeding in the sporting world. The Todd Marinovich story is a perfect example of how this kind of pressure can destroy a young man. And of the few that do succeed, some become emotionally crippled and broken human beings, unable to successfully live in society when their athletic abilities no longer can sustain them or bring on the fame and adulation they have equated with love and caring. No wonder sports psychiatrists are so in demand.

Team sports and sports in general provide many good things for kids. They promote an active lifestyle, healthy living, learning to work with others, foster camaraderie and friendships, setting and achieving goals, working as a team to accomplish a goal and provide lessons on winning and losing that can be applied to real life. Lessons they learn through sports on both how to enjoy and savor the wins and accept and deal with the losses. And all of these things are important for kids when they grow up and make their way through the world. And there is nothing quite like seeing the joy a child has in victory. It’s never brought on by money, power, fame, accolades or trophies. It is brought on by the pure unadulterated thrill of setting your mind and body to a task and accomplishing it successfully.

But how you win is as important as winning itself and this seems to have been lost somewhere along the way. We speak of the need to teach kids from a young age that it is important to show class, dignity and humility in victory and be gracious and complimentary in defeat. Not that you have to like, or get used to losing, but show that you can respect those that get the best of you. And when you get the best of someone else, show that you respect them as well, and do not use the opportunity to destroy or humiliate someone just because you bested them this day.

And to be fair, most parents and many coaches do take these important lessons to heart. But more and more we see too many cases of parents going off the deep end at coaches who lose games because of fairness instead of teaching children win at all costs or at referees who make calls they think are bad or hurting their children’s chance at victory. How many times have we heard of a fight breaking out because a parent confronted another parent about excessive profanity and poor behavior during a game? Or we hear about a parent getting into a scuffle with a coach because they did not like how they utilized their child or how they coached a game? Or we hear of coaches instructing players to injure opposing team members in desperate bids to win?

If we really believe in teaching children these things, we need to make it more than just talk. Coaches and parents, at all levels, need to live by example. Belichick and many players from many teams have stated that at the pro level, you accept defeat as it comes and if you cannot stop an opponent that is your own problem and fault. But what kind of message does this send? If kids see this behavior and think it is not only acceptable but encouraged to humiliate your opponent, then how can we possibly expect them to follow the rules of sportsmanship themselves?

Kids are fairly intuitive, and will sense the hypocrisy of the situation faster than any adult can find a way to explain away poor behavior. They will not buy into a concept that being a good sport and using those lessons to become great members of society and upstanding people is what matters. They will want to score, win and celebrate as their favorite pros do, even if that means beating the stuffing out of someone else in the process. Do as I say not as I do has never been an effective stance by any adult to a child on any subject.

One man who has lived by this example for his entire illustrious career is Joe Paterno. At this stage of his career and life, a lot of negatives can and have been said about the man. He’s over the hill, past his prime, hanging on too long, his best coaching was years ago. But one thing you can always say is that he strives to be a class act on and off the field and always shows sportsmanship in games. He also works tirelessly to instill these lessons and behaviors in the young men that have been his charges over the last 42 seasons as a head coach. He would never, and never has, intentionally run up the score on inferior opponents. Even though the college football landscape has changed to reward humiliating and demoralizing opponents with ridiculous scores in order to impress pollsters, Paterno has never wavered or accepted this behavior. If he has a lead in the fourth quarter, you better believe that the Nittany Lion running game will be in full force to keep the clock moving, the ball on the ground and potentially out of the end zone. He has never seen a need for ridiculous grandstanding on the scoreboard. There have been times when, running with backups and a strict running game, the Lions have still scored late in the game. When this has happened, he actually apologized to the opposing coach. Who does that any more? Not enough coaches at any level.

How you win, and lose, say a lot about who you are as a person and the kind of man or woman you are and will be your entire life. And if we, as a society, truly believe in the importance of good sportsmanship then we need to not merely talk the talk, but also walk the walk at all levels of sports. This means starting in pee wee leagues and moving up through the ranks all the way to the highest peaks of the professional levels. Setting a good example does far more to illustrate a point than merely paying lip service to a theoretical concept. And we can see crystal clear nowadays who follows the walks the walk and who plays lip service, and who are good men and who are merely immature boys.

Taking your starters out in the fourth quarter when you are up 31-7, and they happily secede to their backups, tells me a lot about Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning as men. Leaving your starters in well into the fourth quarter up 38-0, desperately trying to score, and watching your starting quarterback have a cursing hissy fit because of a false start penalty tells me a lot about Bill Belichick and Tom Brady as men also. I know who I would invite to my house for dinner, and who I would leave to their own devices if I found them trapped in a cave facing down a hungry grizzly bear.

But that would not be very sporting of me, now would it?


Steelers Around the World

Once again Steelers Around The World is on a bye week. What’s that? A complaint? Hey, you try flying all over the world and playing football games every week and then come complaining. There’s a ton of jet lag here and the boys need a break.

Plus, I put in a few extra things this week and I’m running way long. I figured by this point you, the gentle reader, could use a break as well. And you’re welcome.


A Dark Force Among Us

There is evil running through the NFL, and it is coming to the forefront. This evil has reared its ugly head before, but disappeared. Now again it gains strength and is preparing to put forth a push to change the NFL landscape. While this evil cannot be stopped, it has been defeated. But as it amasses power, it is obvious it’s time is once again at hand, and the next few years in the NFL will be infected by its terrible presence.

This evil rules through the dark side of the force. It harnesses power from hate, terror and pain. This evil is a Sith Lord. And its name is Mike Martz.

Now, I know you think this is an absurd idea. How could the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator really be a dark lord? But if you look closely at his track record, it all starts to make a disturbing amount of sense.

Martz came on the scene as an offensive coordinator with the Rams in the late nineties. After finishing the 1998 campaign with a paltry 3-13 record, the Rams became unnaturally good overnight. Their offense set records all season including points scored and were almost unstoppable. They were nicknamed the Greatest Show on Turf. Martz’s influence over this offensive juggernaut took them to a 13-3 regular season record and a Super Bowl triumph for the team and head coach Dick Vermeil, something neither had ever done previously.

Martz’s evil ways also turned a never was backup quarterback and former stock boy named Kurt Warner into a Super Bowl and league MVP.

The following year, Martz ascended to the head coaching job, but missed the Super Bowl. During this time he was still working to consolidate power, and Warner was injured. This would affect both in times to come. It also revealed the first real chink in Martz’s Sith armor. He was not powerful enough of an evil Sith to be the head guy. The administrative duties of the position weaken him and diluted his power.

2001 the Rams returned to being unnaturally good, posting a 14-2 regular season record, and once again made it to the Super Bowl as a heavy favorite. But the lengthy season as head coach further weakened Martz and his powers were low during the big game. This caused his offense to falter and lose a close game.

This situation proved how weak Martz was as a head coach. The dilution of power over the entire team, executive offices and team personnel takes away from his ability to dictate on a whim offensive dominance. This would plague Martz repeatedly over the next few years.

To overcompensate, the evil Jedi began pushing too hard, and this caused a previously unrealized problem. In an effort to get back to the Greatest Show on Turf, Martz’s control pushed Warner too hard and broke him. It happened previously in 2000, but Martz never put the pieces together then, his mind too clouded by hate, rage and the grasp at power. Without his favorite toy, he pulled away from Warner and used is powers to create his next great quarterback, Marc Bulger. He used the lessons he learned with Warner wisely and never pushed too much mental influence on Bulger. It succeeded to a degree, but Bulger never became the ridiculous power Martz knew he could conjure. Warner, without Martz’s evil influence, slid rapidly into mediocrity and bounced around the league, never to be the same again.

Martz himself was weakened by the position and the drain on his strength it took to lead. He lost his own health due to his thinly spread power. When he left on medical leave, his connection to the team was broken. They did poorly without his influence, and without this connection to the team, and more importantly the executive offices, Martz was blamed for the team’s failure. Oh, if only they had known it was him who kept things together. Since the departure of their hidden Sith, the Rams have once again fallen into mediocrity with a record of 8-16.

Martz, with lessons and limitations learned, seethed at an opportunity to once again impose his evil will. He latched onto the Detroit Lions intent on showing all how powerful he can be. The team initially took some time to come under his diabolical spell, but only a season. Now the lowly Lions, long an NFL doormat, are ascending again. And there can be no other explanation than the Sith lord that roams their sidelines.

Martz is much craftier this time, never stretching himself too thin. He remains happily the offensive coordinator, a position big enough to wield his power, but not one where he gets spread thin by administration, press and the million other things a head coach can be distracted by. But it will only be a matter of time until he is not satisfied with this alone and will make a grab for more power.

You think I’m wrong? Look at the Lions this year. The team is 5-2 for the first time in 7 years. The have a stranglehold on second place in the division, only behind the storming Packers. They are 14th overall in total offense, yet 28th in total defense and still winning. See? Martz made the offense better with his dark force ways, but the defense is not yet under his spell. Still he commands the team to win. Last year, his first with the team, the offense was 22nd in the league. The year before that, right before his arrival, they were 27th. That is an impressive increase over less than two full seasons. Most impressive.

Still not convinced then explain these things. Kitna goes out of a game this season with a concussion, but somehow it disappears and he is able to not only come back, but lead the lions to victory.

Sounds like some sort of mystical healing to me.

The Lions sweeping the season series against defending NFC champion Bears?

Kevin Jones infecting a new dimension into the offense, one not seen since the days of Barry Sanders?

Matt Millen still continues to hold a job?

The Lions are no longer a punch line in the NFL, something that has not happened in years.

These things like the influence of someone evil to me. Someone who knows the ways of the dark side of the force. Beware he will spread again, to take a position of ultimate power as a head coach. And with the lessons learned from the past, he will not fail again.


Idiot of the week

Eric Mangini gets the honors this week. He spent most of the game last week, yet another lackluster loss, looking annoyed, constipated and nervous like he bet Tony Soprano money on the game, and knew his knees might be broken in the parking lot after the game.

Plus his poor coaching once again killed the Jets. He should have gone with Clemmons earlier, like a few games earlier, but did not. If only to try to shake up the team, it would have been a prudent gambit. But he misfired badly again. Then during the game, he took zero notice of the fact that Thomas Jones was decimating the Bills defense in a very close game. Yet he kept putting the ball, and the game, into Pennington’s beyond shaky hands. Perhaps he should not have squealed on Belichick. Nobody likes a tattle tale Eric.


Taking The Week Off

Chicago – Lovie Smith will experiment with Devin Hester, to see if he has any proficiency at both quarterback and linebacker.

St. Louis – What can they do? Keep their heads down and hope no one in local grocery stores and Blockbusters notices they play for the Rams.

Miami – Getting secret offensive weapon John Beck ready to carry the team to a second half explosion. Or is it implosion? I get confused sometimes.

New York Giants – For the umpteenth year, the team will gather around and have a champagne toast to celebrate their success and 6-2 record. Once again forgetting that the season is 16 games long.


On Tap This Week

I must say, overall I had an excellent week wearing the ol’ prognostication hat. The only problem is that everyone else had a pretty good one as well, and a few had a better week. But I cannot worry about what they do only what I do. What I did though was score another second place finish. That’s me, always a bridesmaid never a bride.

Last week 11-2
Season to date 73-43

Now, in case you did not notice, and I doubt you did considering the media coverage this week, there are a total of 14 games being played this weekend in the NFL. I know, you only heard of one. But trust me on this, there are 14. Mind you, a good portion of those games are not worth watching, but they’re being played nonetheless. And at least three games have epic potential as all three hold keys for the victor to gain some sort of vital control. I am only watching three games this week from start to finish, and it will be these three. The rest, well, show me something and we’ll talk.


San Francisco (2-5) at Atlanta (1-6)

Still recovering Alex Smith and an injured Frank Gore versus Joey Harrington. Yeah, it’s almost too close to call. Mind you, this is one of those games people will skip, including Falcon fans. Ok, down to business. Ummm, well, Atlanta is at home and rested. Yeah, that sounds good.

Falcons over 49ers


Cincinnati (2-5) at Buffalo (3-4)

How long will Trent Edwards be out? Will he even be out? I’m sorry; I’m going with the hot team here. And it’s not the one from Ohio.

Bills over Bengals


Denver (3-5) at Detroit (5-2)

John Lynch could be out longer than expected with the neck injury suffered last week. This does not bode well for an already struggling team. Evil triumphs.

Lions over Broncos


Carolina (4-3) at Tennessee (5-2)

I don’t trust David Carr at home. Like I’m going to trust him on the road. I don’t care how bad Vince Young is playing; he can still beat David Carr.

Titans over Panthers


Green Bay (6-1) at Kansas City (4-3)

Favre has his chance to post wins against 31 teams this week. Ahhh that Brett, he loves the spotlight all to himself. What an impish character. I bet he loves the game too. Sure, KC had the week off and is rested at home. And the Packers are on a short week after playing on Monday Night. I don’t care. I’m going Pack until they fall apart.

Packers over Kansas City


San Diego (4-3) at Minnesota (2-5)

The San Diego offense did not look all that stellar last week, but their defense sure did. All they have to do this week is stop Adrian Peterson. No need to worry about a passing game.

Chargers over Vikings


Jacksonville (5-2) at New Orleans (3-4)

Jacksonville squeaked one out last week, mainly due to some serious errors by Tampa Bay. Quinn Gray got lucky, mostly thanks to a tenacious defense and an excellent running game. But can they hold up on the road against a hot New Orleans squad? Time will tell, but I say no.

Saints over Jaguars


Washington (4-3) at New York Jets (1-7)

The Redskins will take out their frustration from last week on another AFC East team. The Jets are starting Clemmons, but it will not matter who they start at quarterback. Sorry Mangini, way too little way too late.

Redskins over Jets


Arizona (3-4) at Tampa Bay (4-4)

I like Warner and his grit, especially with that elbow. I think he’ll have trouble with the Tampa defense though. Garcia should not, however. If he does, I’m giving up on the Bucs.

Buccaneers over Cardinals


Seattle (4-3) at Cleveland (4-3)

If Cleveland wins and Pittsburgh loses, the Browns will find themselves somewhere they have never been, in first place of the AFC North. That’s right, if those things should happen, Cleveland would be in a three-way tie for first in the AFC North, holding a tiebreaker over Baltimore. Shudder the thought. Tight one here, I’ll go with the hot home team. But if Charlie Frye gets in the game, all bets are off.

Browns over Seahawks


Houston (3-5) at Oakland (2-5)

We have the epic battle of Sage Rosenfels versus Josh McCown. As if anyone were watching this game to begin with. What a dog. Someone has to win, and since the Texans are having some trouble at the moment due to injury, and had a tough loss last week, I’ll take the Raiders at home. *Shudder* I can’t believe I said that.

Raiders over Texans


New England (8-0) at Indianapolis (7-0)

Everyone has been saying this is the game of the season. We shall see, but the setup for a potentially monumental clash is here. This is the first of three big games and definitely the biggest, with control of the AFC, playoff implications and an unblemished record on the line. One thing is for sure, for once the Pats finally face some real competition. The teams are evenly matched, excellently coached, driven, talented and on fire. The losses of Sammie Morris and potentially Marvin Harrison will be irrelevant. Each team will pick up the slack. So who to pick? There will be one team I pick to win, and one team I root to win and never the twain shall meet. I am either getting the win or getting satisfaction.

Patriots over Colts


Dallas (6-1) at Philadelphia (3-4)

This is the second huge game on the slate per my calculations. Philly can climb to 500 and strike at Dallas’ hold on the NFC East, throwing them into a tie with the Giants and pushing themselves into the hunt for the division. The Cowboys can vanquish a difficult division opponent and keep pace with the Packers in the arms race for best record in the NFC.

Cowboys over Eagles


Monday

Baltimore (4-3) at Pittsburgh (5-2)

The third big game on the slate for the weekend and this one contains division ramifications as well. The victor of this tilt will have control of the AFC North. Pittsburgh battled one such game last week, destroying the Bengals attempt to gain ground in the division. We know how that turned out. And those were the same Bungles that beat the Ravens in week 1. This is a heated division rivalry with no love lost between either opponent. That alone should make this tilt worth watching, let alone the division and playoff ramifications it holds. Warning to all, there is nothing wrong with your television, Pittsburgh’s helmets are gold.

Steelers over Ravens