The Crystal Ball 2012 Week 12

Ok, quick quiz. Which will still be around come January, Twinkies or Andy Reid as Eagles head coach?

Opening Kickoff

The NFL suspended notorious dirty player Ed Reed for repeated head shots to defenseless receivers based on his punishing hit on Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders. Reed appealed the decision and won, and will not face suspension. How come the appeal process never works for James Harrison?

The Way It Was

I have to ask, did every team watch the 49ers/Rams game and say, yeah, I wanna play in overtime too!

Philadelphia lost its sixth game in a row, a record during the Andy Reid era. I'm thinking maybe the team has given up.

So much for Nick Foles, the savior of Philadelphia's season. Come on Eagle fans, Brett Favre in his prime couldn't survive behind that offensive line.

Looks like RGIII got his mojo back. Well, playing the Eagles tends to do that to a team. Does Pittsburgh play them? We already did? Dang.

Are Chicago and Philadelphia in a secret competition to see who has the worst offensive line?

Boy, is it just me or do the Texans have a few issues playing at home? Perhaps they should avoid a top seed.

Hmmm, scratch that, they seem to have some trouble playing on the road as well.

I didn't think that the Jaguars had such life left in them.

Wait a minute, who's that in Jacksonville? Oh my goodness, it's the triumphant return of Chad Henne! If Henne can almost lead the Jags to win on the road against one of the best teams in the AFC, then perhaps Jacksonville needs to question its future with Blaine Gabbert.

Congratulations Mark Sanchez, you played just well enough to keep your job for the next few weeks and bolster Rex Ryan's blind loyalty. And way to ruin said confidence during an absolutely humiliating game on Thanksgiving.

Matt Ryan. (sung to the tune of Love Machine) He's a pick machine! Hey Arizona, how do you let that one slip away? Oh yeah you stink. I forgot.

Well that and Cardinals starting quarterback Ryan Lindley. Seriously, are they just pulling people off the street now? And I thought Pittsburgh had quarterback problems. I need to talk with Larry Fitzgerald to find out what real quarterback issues are.

I was going to make a tremendous amount of fun at Dallas' expense for needing overtime at home to defeat the Browns. Then I looked at the schedule and saw Pittsburgh plays Cleveland this week and realized we need all the good karma we can get. So, good job Cowboys, way to tough out a solid win with an exciting 4th quarter comeback.

Despite the efforts of CBS, the NFL and advertisers everywhere, the supposed continued rivalry between the Patriots and Colts went over like a wet sack of flour. Tom Brady gave Andrew Luck and his plucky Colts their welcome to the NFL beat down. Considering the final score, it's pretty obvious that Bill Belichick is not Chuckstrong.

Although Belichick must be happy that Aqib Talib trade worked out pretty well. Now, tell me again why we don't see more in season NFL trades?

At this point, Andrew Luck is not ready for prime time. It's ok Andrew, you're still having a better rookie season than Peyton did.

The Steel Pit

Steelers 10 - Ravens 13

Typically a team's post game analysis of a loss in the NFL consists of asking many questions. What went wrong, where did it go wrong, who was responsible, when did the tide turn, how can these mistakes be rectified, and so on. Mistakes are always a part of any endeavor, but sometimes a few errors are the ones that determine the success or failure of said endeavor, and the questioning occurs to get to the root of the problem. For me, and many other Steeler fans, every question regarding this game starts with Why.

To Todd Haley: Why, with a sputtering offense all night, did you not run Jonathan Dwyer twice on 3rd and 2 from the Ravens 4 yard line and go for the touchdown? Why did you call a fade pass, a difficult pass for a franchise quarterback, when you knew your quarterback had no touch on the ball and was injured? Why didn't you stick with one back, in this case Dwyer who was tearing up the Ravens defense, instead of running an oddball rotation? And why, when you have a backup quarterback playing who has serious limitations, did he throw 39 times instead of going with a run heavy package to limit Leftwich getting hit and take advantage of your opponents weakness, run defense? Why do I feel your supposed "recommitment to the running game" was mere lip service to get a job?

To Mike Tomlin: Why was Byron Leftwich not replaced with a better backup quarterback option before the season, when he's been injured after one game the past two seasons? Why was a run heavy game plan that could exploit Baltimore's biggest weakness not enacted? Why, when it was obvious he was playing hurt, was Leftwich not removed from the game? Why is an injured Leftwich a seemingly better option at quarterback than a healthy Charlie Batch? If the previous question is true, then Why is Batch still on the roster?

To Antonio Brown: Why were you on the field palling around with Ed Reed, when your receiving corps mate was laid out on the field injured by one of Reed's teammates? Why weren't you showing any concerned for your injured teammate? Why weren't you getting in Reed's or Pollard's face about their dirty hits? Why were you on the field at all?

To Ryan Clark: Why were you in the Ravens' locker room after the game, yucking it up with Ed Reed? Why weren't you over their confronting him on his dirty hit on Sanders? Why weren't you with your teammates after a devastating loss to a supposed bitter division foe?

To Emmanuel Sanders: Why are you defending Reed and saying he shouldn't get suspended for trying to separate your head from your body? Why not just let your supposed bitter division foe just get punished, that helps out your team?

And most importantly, why do I need to ask these questions? Boy, that felt good to get that off my chest. I feel better now.

As for the game itself, the defense represented itself tremendously, with my only critique being they need to find a way to generate turnovers. I'm not sure how, but greater minds than mine need to solve this riddle. The unit itself only gave up 2 field goals, which is fantastic considering Baltimore hung 55 points the previous week on Oakland.

But mistakes kill. Yet another fumble by Mike "No Hands" Wallace set Baltimore up deep in Steeler territory and that they walked away with only a field goal was due to a tremendous defensive stand. Leftwich's interception led to the only other Raven offensive score. The winning margin was provided by Baltimore's special teams unit on a punt return for a touchdown. Maybe firing the special teams coordinator right before the season wasn't the way to go. And Leftwich burning two timeouts in the second half in the span of less than a minute dramatically altered the end game. Leftwich is a 10 year veteran, he cannot make those mistakes

On the injury front, at this point it's moved past frustrating, upsetting, troubling and exasperating to comical. Seriously, it's beyond nutty. Isaac Redman, Jericho Cotchery and Byron Leftwich were all injured and none will play this week.

In response, to fill out the depleted receiving and quarterback corps, the team signed this week free agents quarterback Brian Hoyer, formerly of New England, and wide receiver Plaxico Burress, formerly of the Jets, Riker's Island, Giants and Steelers. No offense to Plax, its good to have some sure hands back, but I would have signed Hines Ward. At least he could play emergency quarterback. The team did look into signing former backup Dennis Dixon, but he kindly told the Steelers thanks but no thanks.

And no offense to Hoyer, I know little about the man. But in a situation like this, the team should have went big. They should have went crazy. They should have went with outside the box thinking. They should have called Brett Favre. Oh God, what am I saying????

Only In Faux NFL Reality…

Tom Brady stated the newly relevant running game has saved the Patriots. See Ben and Todd Haley, even Tom Brady thinks its ok to run the ball.

The NFL will review the obscure rule that Lions head coach Jim Schwartz screwed himself with and caused Detroit to ultimately lose the game. I'm sorry, but as a coach, it's your job to know the rules. I knew this obscure rule. But even if a coach doesn't know this unintelligible rule, he should at least know that ALL SCORING PLAYS ARE REVIEWED. That's standard, and had been for several seasons now.

Jets linebacker Bart Scott attempted to cut off the media of anything but the most basic quotes from any player after the Jets win in St. Louis. Scott marched through the locker room instructing teammates not to give the media anything. Obviously, this didn't work since some players told him to shut up. I wonder what Scott's reaction was after they were pasted by the Patriots.

Patriots all world tight end Rob Gronkowski broke his arm at the end of New England's humiliation of Indianapolis. This has impacted the Patriots offense in no way, much to the chagrin of the Jets.

An anonymous fan sent Tim Tebow a balloon bouquet that said Tebow's special. I bet Tebow wishes attached to the bouquet was a one way ticket to anywhere.

Feeling good about Chuck Pagano fighting cancer and want to support the cause? Perhaps a Chuck On Three t-shirt would make a great Christmas present.

Even the Colts cheerleaders are getting into the act and supporting the Chuckstrong movement. One cheerleader agreed to shave her head if the mascot could raise $10,000 for leukemia research. Don't you just love it when people step out of their comfort zones for good causes? I'm thankful the world had people like this.

A Kansas City Chiefs fan's obituary listed one of his causes of death was heartbreaking disappointment caused by the team. Things just keep getting worse in the heartland.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his wife Ashley welcomed their first son into the world on Wednesday, young Benjamin Jr. Congratulations to family Roethlisberger who now have something amazing for which to be thankful on Thanksgiving.

Upon Further Review

More often this season we have seen teams taking the bull by the horns and going for it on fourth down. In my opinion this is great. Why surrender the ball when you have 4 tries to go 10 yards. Gregg Easterbrook of ESPN has long been an advocate of 4th down conversions, to the point where this season he has followed the exploits of a high school that has eschewed punting altogether and won the state championship last season with this strategy.

As Easterbrook has noted time and again, this is not a risky proposition. Statistics show it is more of a gamble to surrender the ball to the opposition via punting than to risk turning it over on downs with a 4th down attempt. And while I am a proponent of this aggressive approach, I wonder if attempting a 4th down conversion becomes the rule rather than the exception, what will this do to the success rate of this approach?

True change only occurs when conventional thinking undergoes a sea change. At present, far too many coaches at multiple levels are entrenched in the idea of surrendering the ball to gain field position rather than risk a failed play that would give their opponent better field position and open the coach to post game criticism. So a massive turn toward 4th down conversions is unlikely.

But younger coaches looking to make a name for themselves and move up the ranks will be less afraid and more likely to take a chance when they start seeing the successes of early adopters and use it as a tactical advantage. We could see in the next 5 years a dramatic increase in the number of coaches and teams willing to go for it on 4th down, even in high risk areas such as long distance (over 3 yards) or field position (deep within the team's own territory). If this potential explosion happens, coaches who would have been previously afraid to risk taking such chances (after all if the play fails the coach is blamed) will be forced or enticed to change tactics.

if these tactics change, what will that mean in the future? Will the success rates of 4th down conversions adjust to look similar to those on other downs? Will teams eschew the punter position, the punt returner and punt teams? Will special teams mean just kickoff, kick return and extra point units? Will we see the return of the hybrid player, such as George Blanda, who played for years as a successful quarterback/punter. Even well into his 40s, George was a serviceable backup quarterback and the team's punter. Are we looking at career extensions for players like Charlie Batch, John Kitna, or maybe the return of the kicking throwing foot slinger Brett Favre? He already wears a single digit number, it could work.

With potentially more rules coming down the pike to protect quarterbacks, the idea of the extinction of the pure punter and the birth of the punter/backup quarterback could also be upon us. It should make for one crazy NFL future.

He Said He Said

"I usually tend to go with the guy that has the hot hand and we have two quarterbacks that have a hot hand." - 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh trying to explain his plans to bench his healthy starting quarterback for his backup QB.

My ultimate wish here is Kaepernick doesn't work out and Harbaugh's stupidity destroys Smith's confidence to the point where the team collapses. That would be great.

“I am thankful for the Pittsburgh Steelers letting me go to be here. Truthfully, I couldn’t think of a better place to be at this point in time and to have felt more needed probably in my entire life. So, thank you Pittsburgh.” - Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians on what he's thankful for

How about being thankful that Chuck Pagano's cancer is in remission instead of throwing out a veiled dig at Pittsburgh? You stay classy B.A.

"We were trying to catch up and win the game" - Eagles head coach Andy Reid on why LeSean McCoy was still playing late in an unwinnable game

Translation: I'm trying to keep my job and reducing the margin of defeat may help that cause.

"At this point, talking about the playoffs seems inappropriate."- Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers

You're saying it wrong! It goes, Playoffs?!?!? Don't talk about playoffs!!!

"Patriots fans booing Adam Vinatieri. You kidding me? Your team chose not to sign him when he got too expensive. He saved your bacon in gigantic playoff game after gigantic playoff game. Stop it. Just stop it." - Si.com's Peter King

King, now perhaps you see that Patriot fans are the most unappreciative, arrogant and classless fans in football. They can't even show respect or admiration to the man who won them 2 Super Bowls singlehandedly.

“No one has lined up and just beat us. No, it’s just mental mistakes.” - Eagles cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

Whatever helps you sleep at night Dominique.

“It was not a reviewable play so I didn’t review it” - NFL referee Ed Hochuli during an explanation of a break in play.

With Ed, you always know where you stand. Tremendous.

“I went back to my old number so (fans) wouldn’t have to go out and buy jerseys,” Burress said. “A lot of my friends and family went through their closets and knocked the dust off and put it back on.” - Steelers receiver Plaxico Burress on wearing number 80 on his return to the Steelers

I am officially rooting for Burress for the rest of the season based on this quote alone.

"I really don't have anything to say about that play or that person." - Texans quarterback Matt Schaub on questions regarding Ndamukong Suh kicking Schaub in the groin

Oh, I bet he has plenty to say, just nothing that can be printed in family publications.

Idiot of the Week

Oh jeez, who to go with this week. Ndamukong Suh, for once again showing why he's been voted the league's dirtiest player during a primetime Thanksgiving Day game? His impending suspension will be enough.

How about Lions head coach Jim Schwartz, for not knowing the most basic rules of professional football and challenging an automatically reviewed play? I think yet another loss will be sufficient punishment.

Perhaps 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, for throwing quarterback Alex Smith under the bus yet again. No, the destruction of team chemistry will be fine.

Nope, this week, shamefully, I bequeath the award of idiot to Ryan Clark and Antonio Brown, for their complete lack of professional and, more importantly, Steeler pride when they decided during and after the game that Pittsburgh lost were good times to show their undying love and affection for Ed Reed.

Look, as fans we all understand that players from other teams are friends, they hang out and work out together in the offseason, and it's one big buddy system now. The real spit in your face hatred of rivalries in years gone by has went the way of the cassette tape and soon, all hits to the quarterback. So as fans we only ask for a level of professionalism and to maintain the air of a rivalry on the day of the game. You two couldn't even do that.

Like every Steeler fan, I hate losing to Baltimore more than losing to any other team, combined. Our hope as fans is that the players that don the Black and Gold feel exactly the same way. Unfortunately anymore, it doesn't seem to be that way. Even Casey Hampton said last year that the Ravens seem to hate the Steelers more than the Steelers hate them. That laissez faire attitude is probably the reason Baltimore has won 4 of the past 5 games against Pittsburgh. But it wasn't always this way, there were some tremendous players who frothed at the mouth on Ravens game day, and one of the most notorious was Joey Porter.

I would love for someone to interview Joey Porter about this. Porter once famously went to the Ravens team bus after a game to challenge Ray Lewis, who at the time was in his physical prime, to a fight! Porter would have started a fight on the field with Bernard Pollard when he saw what Pollard did to Cotchery, not went over and gushed to Ed Reed. And if Porter were still around and found out one of his teammates was in the Ravens locker room having a gab fest, he would have marched over there, punched Reed in the face and drug said teammate back to his own locker room by the scruff of his neck. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I miss Joey Porter.

So for blatantly fraternizing with the enemy, showing no concern with the impression it gives to fans, and basically looking like Baltimore's bitches, Clark and Brown you are both idiots.

And a runner up idiot award goes to James Harrison, Brett Keisel and Casey Hampton. Hey, you guys are defensive leaders, why didn't you guys take those two and clunk their heads together until they showed some common sense?

On Tap This Week

Me? I'm thankful I've finally got some sort of bead on this season and am picking slightly better than a blindfolded baseball fan throwing darts in the dark.

Last week: 11-2

Thursday: 3-1

Season to Date: 103-60

With a bit of a successful run going, I think it's time to break out a few seemingly nutty picks.

Sitting at home….

No one. All hands are on deck for the remainder of the season.

Sunday

Oakland (3-7) at Cincinnati (5-5)

Funny, no Al Davis, but same results.

Bengals over Raiders

Atlanta (9-1) at Tampa Bay (6-4)

Tampa Bay is coming on strong, and Atlanta has hit a few speed bumps and a bit of a lull lately. It's time for a wake up call game for the boys from the ATL.

Buccaneers over Falcons

Pittsburgh (6-4) at Cleveland (2-8)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Charlie Batch! I keep trying not to think of the fact that Pittsburgh's two hits away from new starting quarterback Heath Miller. Terrifying.

Steelers over Browns

Tennessee (4-6) at Jacksonville (1-9)

Ok, with Chad Henne at the helm, I'm willing to give Jacksonville a chance to win their first home game of the season. Of course, come Sunday night I may regret this choice on an epic level.

Jaguars over Titans

Seattle (6-4) at Miami (4-6)

I know Seattle hasn't shown a tremendous ability to win on the road. But my faith in Miami is even lower.

Seahawks over Dolphins

Buffalo (4-6) at Indianapolis (6-4)

Ok boys, let's get this Chuckstrong train back on track! No better way to get healthy record wise than smacking around the inconsistent Bills.

Colts over Bills

Minnesota (6-4) at Chicago (7-3)

Woof, boy does Chicago's defense need a good game to get the stink of that 49ers bomb off of them.

Bears over Vikings

Denver (7-3) at Kansas City (1-9)

Wow, now Denver gets two division games against the lowly Chiefs? Coupling that with a strong defense, his arm strength returning, a fat contract, an ideal place to restart and then buying a bunch of pizza franchises right before Colorado legalizes marijuana, Peyton Manning really does have the Midas touch this year.

Broncos over Chiefs

Baltimore (8-2) at San Diego (4-6)

I not only want, but need, Norv Turner to pull is crap together and coach a great game. But depending on Norv Turner would be only slightly more insane than showering with a toaster.

Ravens over Chargers

St. Louis (3-6-1) at Arizona (4-6)

Ooooh, this will be fun. I wonder who will start at quarterback in Arizona this week. Let's make guesses. How about, the ghost of Kurt Warner? Maybe Neil Lomax. Jake Plummer. Shane Falco!

Rams over Cardinals

San Francisco (7-2-1) at New Orleans (5-5)

Alex Smith flirted with the Dolphins in the off season, mainly in response to his head coach rabidly pursuing Peyton Manning. Smith decided what he had was better than supposedly greener pastures. Now his backup has one good game, and Harbaugh throws Smith under the bus, again. Boy I hope this backfires just so I can make fun of Harbaugh for being a finicky douche and creating a problem where he had none.

Saints over 49ers

Green Bay (7-3) at New York Giants (6-4)

It's still November. Not quite time for New York to start gearing up for another improbable playoff run. Let's check back with them next week after a the New York press has spent a week hysterically proclaiming the Giants as finished and calling for Coughlin's head.

Packers over Giants

Monday

Carolina (2-8) at Philadelphia (3-7)

And here's where Philadelphia's season comes to an ignoble end.

Panthers over Eagles