Lookin'
Sharp. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mike Nolan! The
San Francisco 49ers head coach wore a suit and tie on the
sidelines for his team's 20-14 win over the Seattle Seahawks
on Sunday, evoking images of Tom Landry. While most of the
other coaches in the NFL look like walking advertisements
for their team's pro shop, Nolan was professional and
classy, and I hope it becomes his weekly outfit of choice.
He has been
petitioning the league for two years to wear a suit. The
league mandates that coaches wear only league-sanctioned
apparel during the games. This weekend, they finally caved
and let him wear the sharp black Reebok suit.
"It's
the league's call,'' Nolan said. "They tell me what I wear
and when I wear it. I just hope they don't put me in a
Speedo.''
On Monday night, Jaguars head coach Jack Del
Rio followed suit (right), pun intended.
Gore
is rolling, as are his balls. With 212 yards rushing on
Sunday (a 49ers record), Frank Gore is one of only four
running backs to break the 1,000-yard mark so far this
season. It's a great accomplishment for the rusher in just
his second year with what was last year a pretty crappy
team.
But Gore
has a fumbling problem, and it almost cost the Niners the
game on Sunday. With 1:53 left on first and 10, nursing a
6-point lead, Gore put the ball on the ground and gave the
ball to the Seahawks at their 35-yard line. Two plays later,
Seattle QB Seneca Wallace threw a pick, and the Niners put
Gore right back into the game. He rewarded them with what
was virtually a game-clinching 17-yard run.
"Frank's our guy," Nolan said
after the game. "It shows the guy that you don't lose
confidence in him. You pull him out, yank him and set him
down and now you have an issue. Frank knows we have
confidence in him and I think it was the right thing to do."
Romo
seals Bledsoe's fate. By beating the Indianapolis Colts
at Peyton Manning's game (i.e., marching the team for a
fourth-quarter comeback), Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony
Romo has officially closed the book on Drew Bledsoe's tenure
with the Cowboys. I have to imagine that Al Davis will look
at bringing Bledsoe's big arm to Oakland. I just can't
imagine anyone else giving Bledsoe another shot.
Top Five Chances to Win the Super Bowl
For the
rest of the year, I'm going to alter my "power rankings."
Instead of ranking the hottest team right now, I'll rank
them according to what I think is their chance of winning
the Super Bowl.
1)
Chicago Bears (4:1). They have a three-game lead on
everyone in the NFC, and they are playing really well again.
They remind me of the 1999 Rams, which is scary.
2)
Baltimore Ravens (6:1). I love teams that just don't get
a lot of attention. The Ravens beat this week's hot pick as
the "best team in football" (the Chargers); that's
something.
3) New
England Patriots (7:1). With the Bears, they are one of
only two teams undefeated on the road, which is scary since
that's where they'll be for most of the playoffs.
4)
Indianapolis Colts (8:1). They'll have homefield
throughout the playoffs. But, this team that lost at home in
the playoffs last year doesn't have as good of an offense or
as good of a defense. Will their kicker make up for it?
We'll see.
5) San
Diego Chargers (13:1). There's a big drop, in my mind,
from the Colts to the Chargers. Given Marty Schottenheimer's
playoff record, I'm tempted to put the Broncos here. But,
for now, the Chargers control the division.
Unbeaten
no more: By losing 21-14 to the Dallas Cowboys, the
Indianapolis Colts became the last team in the league to
lose. It also ended an amazing streak – the Colts had won
their last 30 "meaningful" regular season games going back
to October 2004. Before Sunday, the only time the Colts have
lost in two years was after they already clinched their
playoff seeding.
The Colts
played like crap for a lot of the game. They committed four
turnovers, the most in a regular season game in five years.
Peyton Manning, who had thrown three interceptions in nine
games, threw two against Dallas. One was at the Dallas
1-yard line when tight end Dallas Clark slipped. The other
came early in the third period and was returned 39 yards for
a touchdown by Kevin Burnett and tied the score 7-7. Manning
also threw two incomplete passes on 3rd and 4th-and-2
at the Dallas' 8-yard line late in the game.
The Colts
screwed up by not challenging Burnett's touchdown, since it
might have been overturned had replay shown him down by
contact. The play was close enough and big enough that a
challenge was warranted.
"It's not a
positive when you lose a game," said Manning, whose
quarterback rating of 67.7 was 40 points lower than his
season average. "We're going to dissect the film and find
things we can build on. It's been awhile since while since
lost a regular season game."
On the
other side, new Cowboys quarterback continues to impress. He
was 19 for 23 against Indy and led two terrific second-half
drives, plus a third that ran out the clock. At 6-4 in the
mediocre NFC, the Cowboys have a legitimate Super Bowl
shot.
Vandershank: One amusing sidelight in Dallas was the two
missed field goals by Cowboys kicker Mike Vanderjagt. He was
one of the goats for the Colts last season, when he badly
missed a field goal that would have tied the playoff game
against Pittsburgh.
One poster
on Deadspin described one of Vandy's misses on Sunday:
"Right after Vanderjagoff missed his first field goal
attempt, in the first quarter, the Indy defender standing in
front of him said right to his face, 'Hey Vanderjagt,'
another player walks between, 'you still suck.' I rewinded
three times to watch, I thought it was pretty funny."
Charged
up: Don't look now, but the scariest team in the league
is the San Diego Chargers (8-2). Last week, the Chargers
came back from a 21-0 deficit to beat Cincinnati. Sunday,
the Bolts spotted Denver a 24-7 second-half lead and roared
back for a 35-27 win, led by LaDainian Tomlinson's four
touchdowns. The Chargers, missing their two best defensive
players, won both games on the road, and became the first
team to win four games in a row while giving up 24+ points
in each game. They lead the league in scoring, averaging 33
points a game.
Tomlinson
has been unbelievable, scoring a record 19 touchdowns in his
last six games and is the best back in football. His 22
touchdowns for the season are more than the entire total for
18 NFL teams – that's stunning. I am lucky to have him in my
fantasy football league and he has averaged 40 fantasy
points a game the past four games, unheard of in fantasy
terms.
Blowing
a fuse: The Broncos almost came back to tie the Chargers
on the last drive, with two plays that caused Chargers Coach
Marty Schottenheimer to explode in rage at the two
miscreants. First, lineman Igor Olshansky punched a Broncos
player in front of a ref, getting himself thrown out of the
game. It also gave Denver 15 yards down to midfield and
stopped the clock with 35 seconds left. NBC's cameras caught
Schottenheimer screaming, "What the f*** are you doing?!" to
Olshansky.
On the next
play, Chargers defensive back Drayton Florence kicked the
ball away after a 14-yard gain as a ref went to spot it,
resulting in a five-yard penalty and another clock stoppage.
Fortunately for the Chargers, Jake Plummer was
quarterbacking the Broncos, and he promptly fumbled on the
next play and the game was over.
Clothes
horse: San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Nolan looked
nattily-clad (see
photo) wearing a suit on the sidelines in the 49ers'
20-14 upset win of Seattle. Reebok, which is the official
NFL clothier for coaches, designed the suit jacket. But
Nolan marred the look by wearing Reebok sneakers. Wrote Ann
Killion of the San Jose Mercury News: "Mike Nolan was
wearing a suit and tie on the sideline looking like either
Tom Landry's progeny or an FBI agent."
The 49ers
are a surprising 5-5, have won three in a row and are only
one game behind Seattle for the division lead. Frank Gore
ran for a franchise-record 212 yards, with runs of 51, 20,
23 and 50 yards.
McNabb
out: I always hate to see any player injured. Having
been hurt myself playing sports, being hurt is no fun. That
said, it was a bummer to hear that Philadelphia Eagles
quarterback Donovan McNabb is out for the season after
tearing a knee ligament. This is the second year in a row
that McNabb will miss an appreciable amount of time with an
injury. He hurt himself after being hit while running
towards the sidelines on what seemed like an innocuous play.
McNabb will take as many as 12 months to recover.
Said
Tennessee Titans defender Kyle Vanden Bosch, whose hit took
out McNabb: "I really feel bad for him. You know I never
play with the intent to get anybody hurt and I've been
through two ACL injuries myself and you know my thoughts and
prayers go out to him."
With McNabb
out, the Eagles will either start Jeff "I'm
Not Gay" Garcia or A.J. Feeley. Either way, the
Birds are in trouble.
Hot
player of the day: I had not seen Dallas QB Tony Romo
interviewed until after Sunday's game and have one word –
wow. He is really handsome and came across as very likable.
With Romo and backup Drew Bledsoe, the Boys join the Colts
(Manning and Jim Sorgi) with the best-looking set of
quarterbacks.
Ravens
on a roll: The Baltimore Ravens beat Atlanta, 24-10, for
their fourth win in a row and are 8-2. I just don't buy them
as a serious contender, though. They were lucky to beat
Tennessee, San Diego and Cleveland, three teams that screwed
it up more than Baltimore won it. With games left at
Cincinnati, Kansas City and Pittsburgh, plus a home game
with the Steelers, I see the Ravens losing at least three
more times down the stretch. The playoffs still look likely,
but I see one-and-done in their future.
Not
offensive: The St. Louis Rams lost to Carolina, 15-0,
the first time they have been shut out in eight years. It
was also the Rams' fifth loss in a row. Here is how inept
the Rams were on offense: On 12 possessions, they had nine
punts, an interception, a fumble and a safety and wound up
with 111 yards.
Yards,
not points: The oddest statistic Sunday was New Orleans
Saints quarterback Drew Brees throwing for 510 yards … and
the Saints only scoring 16 points in a loss to the Bengals.
Brees hurt himself big time with three interceptions,
including two in the end zone.
Top 5
1.
Indianapolis (9-1): At least they won't have to hear all
the unbeaten talk any more.
2. San
Diego (8-2): Phillip Rivers has done an amazing job at
quarterback, justifying the decision to let Drew Brees go.
3.
Chicago (9-1): The Bears still don't impress me on
offense, but they are the clear favorite in the NFC.
4.
Denver (7-3): The Broncos defense has been terrific …
until it faced two teams with elite offenses, Indy and San
Diego. The result was 69 points allowed in both losses.
5. New
England (7-3): None of the Patriots' seven victims has a
winning record, but they are a team that will be dangerous
in the playoffs.
"It's
the league's call,'' Nolan said. "They tell me what I wear
and when I wear it. I just hope they don't put me in a
Speedo.''
Hot
player of the day: I had not seen Dallas QB Tony Romo
interviewed until after Sunday's game and have one word –
wow. He is really handsome and came across as very likable.
With Romo and backup Drew Bledsoe, the Boys join the Colts
(Manning and Jim Sorgi) with the best-looking set of
quarterbacks. 
