Will the Saints come
marching in? The biggest beneficiaries of the Eagles'
win on Monday night: The New Orleans Saints. With the
Panthers losing, the Saints now have a two-game lead on the
division lead with four games to go. They are also 4-1
within the division with a matchup against the Panthers (who
beat the Saints earlier in the season) looming in week 17.
If the Saints can win two of their next three (@ Dallas,
Washington, @ NY Giants), they will likely have the division
locked up before their final regular-season game.
Misguided
focus in New York. It's really a shame for me to hear all of the idiotic voices clamoring
for New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin's job. Right
now, the Giants are sitting in a playoff spot! That's right.
Despite all of the nonsense you keep hearing from the
chattering heads on ESPN and Fox and CBS, and despite all of
the crab the New York media is putting out, if the season
ended right now, the #5 Giants would play a road playoff
game at the #4, you guessed it, Dallas Cowboys.
I think
most fans actually understand this. They understand that
teams go up and down and up and down. The Giants' remaining
schedule has only one team (New Orleans, whom they play at
the Meadowlands) with a winning record.
So shut up and let Coughlin do his job.
And start focusing on the positive story in New York: The
Jets. If the playoffs started today, they would actually not
be in them! But, they've got a great shot of making it.
Their last four games don't feature any team better than
5-7.
How easy
to the Jets have it? Of all
the teams in contention for a wild card spot in the AFC, the
Jets may have the best chance. Their last four opponents are
a combined 17-31.
Onside
Fair catch.
Despite not being able to watch the game because it was on
the exclusive NFL Network, I saw something in the highlights
for the Ravens-Bengals game that I had never seen before. In
the waning moments of the game, Bengal Keiwan Ratliff fair
caught an onside kick. Most onside kicks in the NFL hit the
ground right after coming off the tee, making them
ineligible to be fair caught. This one went straight up in
the air. Ratliff waved his arm, signaling a fair catch and
preventing any Ravens from attempting to interrupt his
ability to cleanly catch the ball. A smart move, and one I'd
never seen before.
Chances of winning Super bowl XLI:
1) New England Patriots (5:1).
They have looked ugly at home, but they've been flawless on
the road. And lucky for them, they'll likely get a maximum
of one home playoff game.
2) Seattle Seahawks (7:1).
What I like about the Seahawks is they haven't yet peaked.
We haven't seen their best ball, and they're 8-4. After two
months of rest for Shaun Alexander, expect him to be the
engine this team rides to the Super Bowl.
3) San Diego Chargers (8:1).
This just might be the team that Marty Schottenheimer breaks
through with. But even with LT, that's a big "might."
4t) Baltimore Ravens (9:1).
I still think that a solid defense is the way to the
promised land, and nobody has a better defense than the
Baltimore Ravens. With a serviceable offense, they'll be
right in the thick of it.
4t) Indianapolis Colts (9:1).
I think the loss to the Titans was an aberration. But it was
an eye-opening aberration.
4t) Dallas Cowboys (9:1).
They'd probably be .500 in the AFC, but they play in a
conference that that is much weaker, and that almost
guarantees them a spot in the divisional round.
Outcoached:
There was a brilliant piece of coaching that helped the
Tennessee Titans pull the year's biggest upset in beating
the Indianapolis Colts 20-17.
The
situation -- The game was tied 17-17 and the Titans had the
ball on the Colts' 42-yard-line, facing fourth and 11 with
12 seconds left. Titans coach Jeff Fisher called his field
goal unit on the field, but before the ball was snapped used
his last timeout. He then sent in the punt unit, figuring
that if Rob Bironas missed the 60-yard kick, the Colts would
have the ball near midfield with one timeout left, plenty of
time for Peyton Manning to get the Colts in range.
With the
punt team lining up, the Colts – for some inexplicable
reason – then called their final timeout. With the odds now
more in his favor, Fisher sent the field goal unit back on
the field. A miss would still have given the Colts the ball
in good position but without a timeout, it would made it
much harder for them to get into field goal range. It all
became a moot point as Bironas nailed the 60-yarder and the
Titans won a shocker.
"The
timeout was the issue," Fisher said. "If we don’t make the
kick, there are seven seconds left and they’ve got a
timeout. [Manning] completes a pass of 15 yards, they are
taking a shot at the field goal. I am not going to do that.
"I sent the
punt team out there. [Colts coach Tony Dungy] called a
timeout. It’s an easy decision. You can take that chance
where there is no timeouts left. So, it was a great hold and
a great kick."
Dungy
admitted the Colts were confused. "I called the timeout
because we were trying to get [the defense] situated and
that’s probably my fault. We should have had time to just
match up and I didn’t want to have 12 men on the field and
give [Tennessee] five more yards [with a penalty]," he
said.
The
strategy is one reason I think Fisher is one of the top
coaches in the game. Even when outmanned, he always has his
teams prepared and the Titans are 5-2 after starting the
season 0-5. The two losses were each by one point to
Indianapolis and Baltimore, a combined 19-5.
Breakout
efforts:
Sunday marked the official coming out party for the Nos. 2
and 3 picks in this year's draft.
In the
Tennessee win, Titans quarterback Vince Young (the third
pick overall) was brilliant in leading his team back from a
14-0 deficit. A week ago, Young and the Titans came back
from 21-0 to beat the New York Giants.
Young is
still not a great passer, but is such a smart and elusive
runner that he gave the Colts fits all day. A key stat –
Young ran for seven first downs, six of them on third down.
He had 78 yards rushing and was not sacked once. Once he
gets the passing game down, he will become a force.
In New
Orleans, Reggie Bush, the second player taken, scored four
touchdowns in the Saints' 34-10 win over San Francisco.
Bush, a running back, gained only 37 yards rushing, but he
ran for three scores. He was more dynamic as a receiver,
with seven catches for 131 yards and a touchdown. I can
imagine every Houston Texans fan is still scratching his
head wondering on how the team passed on Bush and chose
defensive lineman Mario Williams instead. Williams has
played OK and leads his team in sacks, but he is not the
difference-maker that Bush is.
Leaky:
If the Colts flame out in the playoffs again, the culprit
will be their run defense, the worst in the league. The
Titans ran for 219 yards and one play symbolized the Colts
ineptitude. They had the Titans pinned back on their 5-yard
line and Travis Henry took a handoff. He was swarmed by
three defenders and looked primed for a 2-yard loss.
Instead, he broke out of the tackles and ran 21 yards. It
kick-started a 95-yard drive that led to a fourth quarter
touchdown.
Long ball:
Seeing a 60-yard field goal is rare. Seeing two of the them
for game-winners in one season is unprecedented. Bironas'
kick that beat Indy followed a 62-yarder earlier this year
that lifted Tampa Bay over Philadelphia.
Who's No.
1?
Be glad the NFL does not use college football's dopey BCS
system to pick the top to teams to play for the title
because it would be just as big a mess. Coming into the
week, the Colts had the best record (10-1). They lost.
Baltimore was on a roll at 9-2, but the Ravens lost to
Cincinnati. Chicago (10-2) was underwhelming in beating the
Vikings, and quarterback Rex Grossman was a hideous 6 for 19
for 34 yards with three interceptions (a QB rating of 1.3).
San Diego
(10-2) led Buffalo 17-0 but held on for a 24-21, while New
England (9-3) fell behind horrible Detroit 21-13 before
getting it together in the fourth quarter to pull out the
win. Kansas City (7-5) came in hot, but blew a 14-point
fourth-quarter lead to lose at Cleveland. The bottom line?
There is no dominant team this season and hard to pick a
clear favorite heading into the final month.
Tight:
In the AFC, nine teams are in contention for the six playoff
spots. Indianapolis, San Diego, New England and Baltimore
are all but in, while the two wild card spots are being
fought over by Denver, Kansas City, Jacksonville, New York
and Cincinnati. In the NFC, only Chicago has clinched a
spot, with 10 other teams in contention. Pencil in New
Orleans, Dallas and Seattle, then it's anyone's guess.
Quotable I:
Detroit Lions wide receiver Roy Williams is nothing if not
an optimist. He's delusional but an optimist nonetheless.
"Look, we're 2-10. It's a good 2-10," Williams said, "but we
always figure out a way to lose." I would hate to see what a
bad 2-10 team looks like.
Quotable
II:
LaDainian Tomlinson also looked at the bright side of
things, though he had more reason to. Playing in cold,
windy, snowy Buffalo actually excited the San Diego Chargers
running back. "You see NFL games like in Chicago ... and the
guys playing in snow and it's cold. And it kind of looks
cool," Tomlinson said. "You look forward to games like this
because they don't happen much." All L.T. did was rush for
178 yards and two touchdowns; he has 26 TDs on the season,
two shy of the NFL record set last year by Shaun Alexander.
Fashion
disaster:
It was so cold in Buffalo that the refs wore their new
winter pants – black with a white strip down the side. They
looked pretty awful, like something you'd wear at a
jazzercize class. The NFL stuck Ed "Guns" Hochuli (pictured)
at the game and he looked miserable having to wear long
sleeves.
Top 5
1. San
Diego (10-2):
The Chargers have the best back in football, a terrific
young quarterback, an awesome tight end and a defense that's
getting healthy. Downside? Marty Schottenheimer is 5-12 as a
playoff coach.
2.
Indianapolis (10-2):
The loss Sunday was the type the Colts could have in the
playoffs. Blowing a 14-point lead to a mediocre team is not
what champions do.Upside?
They still have the game's best offense.
3. New
England (9-3):
The Patriots have really struggled at home and were lucky to
beat the Lions. Upside? The Pats are 5-0 on the road, a
place they'll likely be for most of the playoffs.
4. Chicago
(10-2):
The Bears defense and special teams outscored their offense
on Sunday, not a good sign heading into the
playoffs. Upside? Chicago has the league's best defense and
plays in the weak NFC.
5. Dallas
(8-4):
Bill Parcells looks like a genius in cutting Mike Vanderjagt
and signing Martin Gramatica, who was three for four in
field goals, including the 46-yard game-winner to beat the
Giants. Downside? Parcells still needs to lose some weight.
Fashion
disaster: