|
A reader asked me why I wasn't
considering Dick Jauron for Coach of the Year
honors. It's simple: the Chicago Bears
have not won because of Jauron, but despite him. He is
the only coach to win our Bonehead Coach Award twice this
season, and has lost a couple games for his team due to bad
coaching. Don't forget: they are two miracle
plays from losing the division crown.
Another reader ripped me for
ripping Brett Favre last week, demanding that I
retract my statements. The reader obviously didn't
read too carefully - my comments last week were written,
tongue-in-cheek, by Jim. Favre's a good quarterback, I
just don't think he deserves all of the pomp and
circumstance he gets.
How is Kris Brown
still the starting kicker for the Pittsburgh Steelers?
Forget about his 67% field goal percentage - the guy has
missed two PATs (worst in the NFL) - one of which cost them
the game against the Bengals on Sunday. In
fact, Brown has never gone a season (and he's played three)
without missing a PAT. Believe it or not, he has
scored more points than any other kicker this year. Go
figure.
Loved Eddie Kennison's
performance this week - six catches for 126 yards to lead
his new team, the Kansas City Chiefs, to a 30-26
victory at Jacksonville. This was just a month
after he left the Denver Broncos with his former team
saying he was a "quitter" and wouldn't end up with
another team.
 Happened
to see a good shot of Seattle Seahawk TE Christian Fauria up
close. Cute - even cuter than this picture.
There are only three teams
seemingly entering the playoffs with real momentum. In
the AFC, the New England Patriots have won five games
in a row going into Week 17. Plus, they are looking a
lot like last year's Baltimore team: safe
quarterback play, a good running game, and a defense playing
really well. Having Tom Brady at the helm is a
little unnerving, but he is doing what Trent Dilfer did
last year. Right now, the Pats are my pick in the AFC.
In the NFC, both the St.
Louis Rams and Chicago Bears are picking up
steam. If the Bears win, these will be the top two
seeds in the NFC. While the Rams have a five-game win
streak, the Bears have won six of their last seven.
Plus, the Bears have the mojo - their season has been
magical so far and, with the Rams suffering two defeats at
home, a St. Louis home field advantage wouldn't be
impossible for the Bears to overcome.
The officiating this season
has been embarrassing at best. This week, the refs in
the Falcons-Dolphins game got two HUGE calls wrong -
even after reviewing the play. One resulted in a TD
for Miami; the other resulted in a TD taken away from
Atlanta.
My pick for most
disappointing team this season has to be the San Diego
Chargers. They went 5-2 to start the season and
seemed headed to the playoffs. After an emotional last
minute win over Buffalo in October, everything fell apart
and the Chargers went on a nine game losing streak - the
third longest for any team this season.
Did you know that a wide
receiver has never won the NFL MVP Award? A kicker has
won it, but not a wide receiver. Why might that
be? When a receiver has a great year (think Randy
Moss three years ago), the quarterback gets the
credit. There was talk of a Randall Cunningham
MVP that year, but not Moss.
My Top Five MVP candidates
this year: 1) Michael Strahan, DE, New York
Giants; 2) Kordell Stewart, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers;
3) Curtis Martin, RB, New York Jets; 4) Terrell
Owens, WR, San Francisco; 5) Kurt Warner, QB, St.
Louis Rams.
|
What a great ending to the Philadelphia Eagles-New York Giants game, won by Philly 24-21. After the
Eagles took the lead, the Giants had the ball at their own 20 and time for one play. What a
doozy of a play they pulled out. Kerry Collins threw a 14-yard pass to
Tiki Barber in the middle of the field. Barber turned and threw a
lateral to the speedy Ron Dixon, who amazingly kept on running ... 50 ... 40 ... 30 ... 20 ... 10, before
finally being tackled out of bounds at the 6. The Eagles survived and won the NFC East for the first
time since 1988. Said Eagles cornerback Troy Vincent, who was chasing Dixon: ‘‘I just ran and ran. I was
like, ‘‘Please step out of bounds, or God, I’m about to die.’ ’’
Our favorite commercial: the spot for the NFL where two young guys pull up in a pickup and ask cute
Billy if he wants to go into town to talk to some girls. Billy, looking studly in his jeans and flannel
shirt, says he’d rather sit on the porch with grandma and watch the NFL. We think we know what Billy would
really be doing.
Cyd asked me which team would lay down and quit, and I can report we have a winner: the
New Orleans Saints, losers 40-10 to Washington. The Saints have lost three in a row and allowed 122 in those games, most in this
span of time in team history. A bunch of dogs and Jim Haslett gets my Uncoach of the Year award.
Cincinnati Bengals kicker Neil Rackers beat Pittsburgh, 26-23, with an overtime field goal, and
afterwards he appeared to be crying. Those were tears of relief. Rackers missed two easy field goals earlier
and blew what would have been the game-winning extra point at the end of regulation. His teammate
Corey Dillon was asked what he told Rackers after the missed PAT: ‘‘You don’t want to know. It ain’t something you
can print.’’
The Steelers still clinched AFC home field despite losing to the Bengals, but they have to be concerned.
Their kicker, Kris Brown, missed another extra point and their vaunted defense was shredded for more than
400 yards. Not a good way to get ready for the playoffs.
Here comes the annual Jets collapse. If New York loses to Oakland and Seattle wins at home against Kansas
City, the Jets are out. Going into Sunday’s game against underdog Buffalo, the Jets were in a position
to win the No. 2 AFC seed. After choking away the game, they’ll be lucky to even qualify.
Really felt sorry for San Diego Chargers coach Mike
Riley, who saw his team lose 25-22 to Seattle on a 54-yard field goal at the gun. Riley’s Bolts have lost nine in a row, all by 10 or less points and he is
expected to be fired. He did all he could to avoid bawling like a baby as the field goal went through. By
all accounts he is a super nice guy whom the players like (‘‘He’s one of the truly nice people in the
world,’’ Seattle coach Mike Holmgren said). Riley even gets along with the media, telling reporters after his
post-game press conference ended Sunday: ‘‘Hey, listen, I appreciate you folks. Thanks.’’
Don’t cry too much for Riley if he’s fired: He will walk away with $1.5 million, the remainder of his
contract.
Despite their 24-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings, I was not impressed with the
Green Bay Packers. They were outhustled and outcoached (not easy when the opposing coach is
Denny Green) and were lucky that the Vikes’ quarterback was
Spergon Wynn, maybe the worst NFL quarterback I’ve ever seen. The Pack has trouble
stopping the run and this could spell doom in the playoffs.
Think Elvis Grbac is an upgrade at quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens? He’s 9-6 in his last 15 starts. The
guy he replaced, Trent Dilfer, is 14-1 and kept the Seahawks’ playoff chances alive.
Michael Vick, the top draft pick by the Atlanta Falcons, made some great throws that may signal this
guy will be a star in a year or two.
In a weird anomaly, Philadelphia plays at Tampa Bay in the regular season finale. A week later, the same two
teams go to Philly for a playoff game. I say both home teams win.
My Top 5 MVP candidates: 1. Marshall Faulk (20 TDs
and he missed two games). 2. Kordell Stewart (the
biggest reason the Steelers have the AFC's bets record. 3. Kurt
Warner (incredibly accurate and he runs that offense to
perfection). 4. Brett Favre (still makes the plays
when he has to). 5. Rich Gannon (the most consistent
player on a team that has a lot of screwups; without him the
Raiders would be below .500)
|
