How We Saw The Conference Round

How many "degrees of separation" were the Houston Texans from beating Oakland this year?  Answer below.

Jim and I have shaken our heads for years at the plays some coaches call, and some quarterbacks run, on third down.  Case in point, the Titans had the ball and a 3rd & six.  What does quarterback Steve McNair do?  He throws the ball four yards to a double-covered receiver.  The result:  no first down.  At that point, you might as well have just thrown the ball seven yards, taken the shot, and watched it go incomplete.  I just don't understand it.

Here's another genius call by the Titans coaching staff.  You're up by three with two minutes left in the first half.  I can imagine  "Hmmm . . . let's take pro bowler Eddie George out of the game and have back-up Robert Holcombe run the ball.  Yeah, great idea."  Result:  seven point halftime deficit.  Moral of the story:  don't get cutesy.

At least Jeff Fischer can now shave his mountain man beard.

At different times over the last six months, I have called both the Raiders and the Bucs "idiots" for the deal that sent Jon Gruden from Oakland to Tampa Bay.  Now, they have the last laugh.  The truth of the matter is, just as the 2001 draft trade between San Diego and Atlanta did for those teams, both teams benefited immensely from the deal.  Hopefully, more teams will see that making smart, aggressive moves in the off-season can turn a team into a Super Bowl contender.  

After watching the games, I watched a bit of the Golden Globes.  I can't get into these shows anymore; they're just so . . . false.  Instead of men and women playing for a trophy with their own hands, these awards are given out based on how popular someone is, or whether they've gotten an award before or not, or whether you cried in their movie.  Give me a score with a definitive outcome DETERMINED BY THE PEOPLE AIMING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP any day over those award shows.

Jim and I couldn't have been more wrong about the Raiders before the beginning of the season.  Jim:  "The Raiders have a brutal schedule and it will be surprising if QB Rich Gannon can thrive without Gruden;" Cyd: "this team is simply cursed - and they let the man with the talisman go."  We followed up those comments by picking the Raiders to finish last in their division.

Answer to the question above:  Three - Houston beat Jacksonville who beat Kansas City who beat Oakland. 

--It was a surprise to see the Philadelphia Eagles fall apart at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When Philly scored a minute in to go up 7-0, you had the sense that maybe people felt the game was over. For some reason, Eagle coach Andy Reid got ultraconservative (running Dorsey Levens on a sweep on 3rd and 9, for example) and Tampa Bay stayed in the game. Once the Bucs pulled ahead, it seemed the Eagles had no answer.

--Reid may have been regular season coach of the year, but he's getting hammered in the Greater Philadelphia area for coming up lame in a big game. It will be a long offseason. I think the hangover from this loss will carry over to next year and think Philly will be lucky to even win its division. This has happened before with home playoff teams everyone thought would win (KC in 1997, Jacksonville in 1999, Tennessee in 2000 and St. Louis in 2001); the following year, all of these teams underperformed.

--Hats off to the Bucs, a team I thought was overrated. They showed grit and creativity and deserved their win.

--The Nike "soccer streaker" commercial is cute the first time I saw it. It gets old fast, though, and I was sick of it by the fifth time it aired.

--Tennessee battled hard against Oakland, but the Raiders simply had the better team. The Titans only hope was to play turnover-free ball, but two fumbles in the last minute of the first half was all she wrote.

--Loved the live shot of the Raider crazy in his pirate garb. The camera and mike zoom in, and he drops a very loud "f-bomb." CBS couldn't shut the mike off quickly enough.

--Early Super Bowl take: Oakland's vets have what it takes and get their revenge on Chucky. Raiders 23, Bucs 14.

Week's Hot Players

Tampa Bay CB Ronde Barber made big plays all year, but none were bigger than his 92-yard interception return for a touchdown with 3:12 left in the game that iced the Eagle's chances of coming back against Tampa Bay.