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Cyd Zeigler
It may have taken 30 minutes,
but the New England Patriots found their offense at
half time Sunday and ran away with a victory over the
Baltimore Ravens, 24-3. While the defenses in Baltimore
and Pittsburgh are getting all of the press right now, the
New England defense played stellarly, outscoring the
Baltimore offense, 6-3.
The
Patriots and Steelers are still two games up on a
first-round playoff bye. With only five games left, that bye
is starting to look more and more likely.
Wow, the
AFC certainly is better than the NFC. Consider this. If the
St. Louis Rams lose to the Green Bay Packers
Monday night, seven NFC teams presently at 4-7 will be one
game out of a playoff spot. THAT is bad. And, the AFC went
5-1 against the junior division this week, including the
AFC’s worst (Miami) winning on the road against the
NFC’s worst (San Francisco) and the lowly Buffalo
Bills took it to the Seattle Seahawks, billed before the
season as a Super Bowl favorite.
Seahawks
coach Mike Holmgren needs to be fired immediately.
Now. Don’t wait. The writing on the wall does not get more
clear. When they run the ball, they win. When they pass,
they lose. This humiliating loss to the Buffalo Bills
included 38 passing plays and only 13 running plays for the
league’s leading rusher, Shaun Alexander. Quarterback
Matt Hasselbeck’s yards-per-attempt average: under
4.9. Plus, their defense gave up 38 points to a team that
has had trouble scoring this season. They are winning the
NFC North right now despite the worst coaching job of the
year; if they were in the AFC East, they would be battling
the Miami Dolphins for the bottom of the division. Fire him
now.
A cute face
aside, Eli Manning looks TERRIBLE! What is coach
Tom Coughlin thinking? The New York Giants were
5-4 and in control of a playoff spot when he traded in
Kurt Warner for Manning. Since then, they’ve been
dominated for two straight games. Defenses can key on MVP
candidate Tiki Barber and now his effectiveness is
diminished. And when the Giants had the ball first-and-goal
inside the Eagles’ five-yard line, the Giants called a fade
to Jeremy Shockey. Shocker: interception. Unless
Coughlin is a complete ego maniac, don’t be surprised to see
Warner behind center in their next game.
FIVE
WORST COACHING JOBS OF THE YEAR:
1)
Mike Holmgren, Seattle Seahawks –
I’ve been calling for his head since about week 4; 2)
Mike Martz, St. Louis Rams – Rarely has anyone done so
little with so much; 3) Dick Vermeil, Kansas City Chiefs
– His biggest blunder was not signing any new defensive
players in the offseason; 4) Dennis Erickson, San
Francisco 49ers – I don’t care who he has playing for
him. 1-10 in the Bay Area sucks; 5) Jon Gruden, Tampa Bay
Buccaneers – He may have done a good job getting them
back into playoff contention, but it was some bad offseason
moves, a feud with a star player and bonehead coaching that
got them off to a bad start. |
Jim Buzinski
--It was a
very happy Thanksgiving as Phil Simms gave me one
more comment to add to the list of his
homoerotic remarks during NFL games.
Simms was
analyzing the Turkey Day game between the Indianapolis Colts
and Detroit Lions and CBS’ new super-slo-mo camera had a
shot of Lions QB Joey Harrington getting drilled.
Simms:
“When you look at it that way, that looks a lot more
painful.”
Partner Jim Nantz: “Oh, man.”
Simms: "Well, Jim, you like a little pain. You could
have taken those shots.”
Nantz: As long as I had a helmet on.”
--At game’s
end, Simms handed out his “All-Iron Award.” Nantz
said the award was so named, “Because of your fetish for
ironing and pressing clothes.”
Fetish? Pain? Look for Simms
in a gay.com S&M chatroom near you.
--Late
season football is fun to watch as weather becomes a
factor. We saw a mud bath in New England, slop in Pittsburgh
and a snowstorm in Denver.
--For those
of you on the East Coast you had already turned in, you
missed the most exciting quarter of football played
this season, as Denver and Oakland combined for four TDs in
the snow in the final period.
There was a
touchdown run, two touchdown passes, an interception return
for a touchdown and a blocked field goal attempt. It all
added up to a wild 25-24 Raiders upset win in the snow. It
was more remarkable because the interception return gave the
host Broncos what appeared to be an insurmountable 24-13
lead early in the final period.
The
Raiders, though, came back in the final six minutes on the
arm of Kerry Collins, who threw for 334 yards and
four scores, the final on fourth down with less than two
minutes left to Jerry Porter. Denver got into field
goal range, but a bad snap caused Jason Elam to kick
the ball low and it was blocked. Pretty amazing stuff.
--The
Raiders’ Ronald Curry made a remarkable one-handed
touchdown catch in the end zone in the fourth quarter, made
more special considering it was 17 degrees and snowing.
Catch this one on the highlights.
--The San
Diego Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 34-31, in a wild
game that was the Bolts’ first at Arrowhead Stadium since
1996. Chiefs returned Dante Hall was a huge factor.
He returned one kickoff 90+ yards and was going to score
when he fumbled the ball while trying to switch it to his
other hand. He got a measure of redemption later when he
returned a kickoff and this time took it the distance.
 --At 8-3
the Chargers are the surprise of the league. Quarterback
Drew Brees (right), who appeared headed to the bench before the
season after the Chargers drafted Phillip Rivers No.
1, is the league’s comeback player. Brees was 28-for-37 for
378 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday and has thrown 18
touchdown passes and only one interception in his last eight
games.
--Photographer Brent Mullins shot Charges camp last
year and was impressed by how patient Brees was with fans
clamoring for his autograph. He came across as a very
accessible, down-to-earth guy, so it's nice to see him
succeed. For more images of Brees from camp,
click here.
--Week 12
showed again just how dominant the AFC is. The AFC
won five of six this week and now have a 32-18 edge for the
year. The Philadelphia Eagles may be 10-1, but only because
they play in such a weak conference. They are 2-1 vs. the
AFC, but the two wins came by eight points total (one in
overtime), while the loss was by 24. The Eagles are good,
but not as good as their record would imply.
--Buffalo’s
38-9 rout of Seattle perfectly summed up the AFC’s
dominance. The Bills won on the road for the first time this
year and are 3-0 vs. the NFC West. At 5-6, the Bills would
be in the middle of the playoff hunt in the NFC, but in the
AFC Buffalo has little chance, being two games behind for
a wild card slot.
--Back to
the woeful NFC: Six teams are 4-7, but all of these
are no more than two games out of a wild card spot.
--My play
of the week came from the Bills. They had a 4th-and-1
at the Seattle 30. Quarterback Drew Bledsoe took the
snap and ran forward like it was a sneak. The entire Seattle
defense converged, then Bledsoe stood up and threw it back
to running back Willis McGahee, who took the ball and
ran 30 yards for a touchdown. Pretty cool.
--Bonehead
call of the week came from the New York Giants in their
loss to Philadelphia. The Giants, with rookie quarterback
Eli Manning, had first-and-goal at the Eagles 5 and
trailed only 7-6. Smart coaching would have to played it
safe with a rookie and gotten at least a field goal. The
Giants, though, called a fade pass to tight end Jeremy
Shockey that Manning badly underthrew for an
interception. The play seemed to take the air out of the
Giants and the Eagles rolled.
--At 10-1,
the Eagles have clinched the NFC East, only the third
team since the 1970 merger to clinch a division after only
11 games. The Eagles next challenge will be to stay focused
as they get ready for the playoffs.
--Cincinnati beat Cleveland, 58-48, in the second
highest scoring game ever. Only the Redskins' 72-41 win over
the Giants in 1966 was higher.
The teams
went back and forth, with Bengals QB Carson Palmer
throwing four touchdowns and his Browns’ counterpart
Kelly Holcomb five. But defense decided the game, as
Cincinnati’s Deltha O’Neal intercepted a Holcomb pass
late and ran it back for the game-clinching touchdown.
--``You
just can't explain the second half, and there's no need to
try to,'' Bengals linebacker Brian Simmons said. ``It
was a great game for the fans, I guess.''
--Peyton
Manning threw six touchdown passes Thanksgiving Day to
give him 41 for the season, seven behind Dan Marino’s
record 48. The amazing thing, though, is that in the last
two games--both Colts romps--Manning has sat the fourth
quarter.
--Speaking
of Manning, CBS aired some cute home movie footage of Peyton
at 3-years-old playing backyard football with older brother
Cooper. Peyton got tackled by Cooper and got up
bawling his eyes out. Quipped CBS' Nantz: “He hated being
sacked even then.”
--In
beating woeful Washington, 16-7, the Pittsburgh Steelers ran
their record to 10-1 and won their ninth straight game. The
Steelers will win their division and look to be either the
No. 1 or 2 seed. But it is clear that rookie quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger has slumped a bit the past few weeks.
Pittsburgh has scored only four offensive touchdowns the
past three games and Big Ben has been sacked 11 times in two
games.
This is not
a knock on Roethlisberger; rookies will make mistakes, but
the lack of offensive punch should be a cause of concern for
the Steelers in the playoffs. In a January matchup against
the Colts, for example, one offensive touchdown won’t get it
done. |
