The
unbearable pregame shows.
The NFL pregame shoes on ESPN and Fox are now officially
unwatchable. While ESPN has a limited amount of substance
coming from Ron Jaworski or Steve Young, they are completely
overshadowed by Mike Ditka and Michael Irvin making
jackasses of themselves, yucking it up for the cameras.
Fox's pregame show is without redemption. When I'm home from
noon to 1pm on game days, I end up tuning into CBS'
broadcast, which seems the sanest and most informative. It's
not surprising that the ratings for CBS' pregame show are up
more than those for Fox.
QBs in
pink skirts.
Before CBS' pregame show comes on at noon, however, I'm
stuck with ESPN. This week, the guys were yucking it up with
Bears quarterback Rex Grossman about how the referees
protect the quarterbacks from hard hits. The ever-tough Mike
Ditka offered this gem to the discussion: "We're gonna
protect the quarterbacks real well, because I got a thing
from the NFL office: We're gonna put pink skirts on all you
guys."
It's not the coach's
fault. I don't know if I'm just noticing it now, but it
seems that coaches are getting blamed for everything more
than they ever did before. It's Denny Green's fault that his
team gave up three defensive and special-teams touchdowns to
the Bears; It's Andy Reid's fault that the opposing kicker
kicked the third longest field goal in NFL history; It's
Brian Billick's fault his starting quarterback went down in
the first quarter against the Panthers and did not return.
It just seems like many
times, when a team that's "supposed" to win ends up losing a
close one, the blame game focuses on the coach. But Reid
didn't throw two interceptions that were returned for
touchdowns; and Green didn't fumble the ball or blow his
kick-return assignment.
The coaches have become
convenient scapegoats for players making bad mistakes.
Sometimes coaches do bonehead things, to be sure; But often,
when a favored team loses, it's because the players on the
field simply got outplayed.
Newsflash: There is a homefield advantage.
All week long, I thought the Pittsburgh-Atlanta game was in
Pittsburgh because literally every "expert" was picking the
Steelers to win the game. I just assumed it was a home game
for them. It was equally odd to hear how the Jaguars,
Chargers and Panthers simply had to show up for gametime and
they'd be handed road victories this week. Home teams this
season are 58-41, and some good teams have been beaten on
the road by bad or mediocre teams. What will next week's
trap game be, where too many people pick the road team to
win? My guess: The New York Jets, who visit the Cleveland
Browns. It'll be a meeting of former Patriot defensive
coordinators; We'll see who learned the most from Bill
Belichick: The Brown's Romeo Crennel or the Jets' Eric
Mangini.
Who's the league MVP? On some of
the pregame shows, a couple commentators were anointing
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith as the NFL MVP.
Of course, they were handing the Panthers their fifth win of
the season, which they failed to achieve against the Bengals.
The Panthers are now 4-1 with Smith and 0-2 without him. A
quick look at five guys I'd put in the running for MVP:
1) Donovan McNabb. Without McNabb,
the Eagles are quite possibly a winless team. No team relies
on their quarterback more than Philadelphia and it shows;
McNabb is on pace for over 4,900 yards passing, which would
put him second all-time for a season. He also leads the
league in passing touchdowns per game with 2.3.
2) Chester Taylor. Crazy, you
might say. But, the Minnesota Vikings running back leagues
the lead in rushing with 590 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per
carry, and is on pace for over 1,900 yards rushing and
receiving on 421 touches. He is carrying that team, and he
is looking better and better doing it.
3) Brian Urlacher. He's got 54
tackles and a strip of Edgerrin James that helped keep the
Bears undefeated. Any team would kill to have a guy who
contributes regularly and makes big plays when you need it.
4) Champ Bailey. Ditto. His
interception against the Raiders was quite possibly the
difference-maker in that game. Someone from the Broncos'
defense has to be on this list, and he's had the best season
thus far.
5) Drew Brees. How tough has Drew
Brees' job been this year? He came into a new system, onto a
team that has sucked for years, into a community that has
been splintered since Labor Day 2005.
The name
missing from my list that most would expect is Peyton
Manning. It's so hard to gauge Manning, to me. I think with
any great player, at some point, you almost start to tune
out their great playing. He's a very good player during the
regular season, no doubt. What has made his job harder this
year is the departure of Edgerrin James and the addition of
a rookie running back, and he's met that with, again, some
very good numbers. Right now, I'd keep Manning out of the
top five; but, if the Colts lead the league in scoring
again, you've got to put him in.
Reason Number 742 to hate living in New York.
First, many landlords and co-ops make it very difficult to
get a satellite dish. It's a huge problem for an NFL fan,
and next week is the epitome of it. While virtually all of
the rest of the country will be watching the Colts at Denver
next Sunday at 4:15 p.m., New Yorkers will be held hostage
to the Jets at Cleveland. Just 800 days until I move back to
SoCal.
My Top
Five (which is the same as last week):
1) Chicago. They did not look good
in their game last Monday. But, with that defense and an
average margin of victory of 20 points this season, they'll
stay perched here until someone knocks them off.
2) New England. They beat Buffalo
at home thanks to a safety in Week 1; They go into Buffalo
six weeks later and pound them, 28-6. Their next two games
(at Minnesota and vs. Indy) will give us a real glimpse into
how good this team is.
3) Denver. I keep assuming that
their offense will have a breakout game. But it's just not
happening. One thing is for sure: Unless it's an incredible
overtime struggle, either Denver or Indy is falling next
week.
4) Indianapolis. Their offense
played great in the second half against Washington. But they
still don't look like the Colts of last year. I just haven't
seen much improvement from this team since Week 1. They are
on the road at Denver and at New England in the next two
weeks; Winning either of those would be impressive.
5) New Orleans. Will this be the
last harrah for the surprise Saints? Six of their last 10
opponents presently have winning records.
The
Philip Marie Giants steal a win
After
being gone for three weeks, I was finally back for a
football game in the gay league here in New York. While I
was gone, my team lost to the only remaining undefeated team
in the league. The team we played this week, the B52s, had
improved while I was away, and we were down, 25-20, with
about 10 minutes left in the game until I ran the ball down
the left sideline about 35 yards for a score.
"Damn, I
had no idea you had some speed," one of my teammates from
the New York Warriors, the league's traveling told me, after
that run. Truth be told, it was the blocking that got the
touchdown. When you have a group of guys who don't mind
being a little physical and know how to seal a lane, in flag
football that's a big advantage over most other teams.
We won
the game, 26-25, and now face another one-loss team this
Saturday.
High
drama: One of the great things about sports are their
unpredictability. Compared to other forms of entertainment
-- books, movies, theater – there is no script and no one
knows what will happen. Hence, there is more inherent drama
in a great sports event than in a dozen Hollywood
blockbusters.
We saw
such drama in Tampa Bay, where the Buccaneers stunned the
Philadelphia Eagles, 23-21, when Matt Bryant kicked a
62-yard field goal with no time left. In NFL history, the
only longer field goal was 63 yards (by New Orleans’ Tom
Dempsey and Denver’s Jason Elam). Bryant was the least
likely kicker to drill on that far. He was 0 for 3 from 40
yards or more this season and had only kicked one longer
than 50 yards in his career.
"You
know what was funny was," Bryant said, "as I was lining up
to kick it, [holder Josh] Bidwell turns around and says,
'Man, just have fun.' And that's what I did."
Bryant’s
kick wiped out a great Eagles comeback that saw them rally
from 17-0 down to take a 21-20 lead with 33 seconds left on
a 56-yard catch and run by the terrific Brian Westbrook. The
running back took a short pass and managed to break five
tackles on his way to the score. His heroics, though, were
all but forgotten a few seconds later when Bryant made his
kick. "I'm thinking, it's over, man," Eagles linebacker
Jeremiah Trotter said. "Give him credit for making a big
kick when the team needed it."
Fans pissed: I
imagine that this post by Joe in Philly on our
message board sums it up for every Birds' backer: "Kind
of a typical loss for the Eagles. Stupid mistakes, dropped
passes, loss of composure (Jerome McDougle kicking the flag
-- if [Andy] Reid wanted to send a message to the rest of
the team he'd cut McDougle and not even let him fly back
here on the plane, clock mismanagement at the end of the
first half, etc.
They've wasted the "easy" early part of the schedule by
going 4-3. It's unacceptable.
Bonehead: Eagles coach Andy Reid is a crappy coach as we
see time and time again when it comes to managing the clock.
We had another example when Eagles quarterback Donovan
McNabb threw a completion short of the end zone with four
seconds left in the first half and Philly out of timeouts;
the clock ran out and the Eagles missed a chance for an easy
field goal. Why even bother to call a play in that
situation? Reid made the same kind of call last year against
San Diego, but the Eagles won the game by returning a
blocked field goal for a late touchdown.
Bonehead II: What was Jake Delhomme thinking? The
Carolina Panthers had the ball at the Cincinnati Bengals’ 10
with 3:57 left and down 17-14. The Panthers quarterback went
back to pass and it was obvious he had no one open. Instead
of throwing it away and kicking what would have been an easy
field goal, Delhomme tried to force the ball and wound up
having it intercepted by Kevin Kaesviharn. "When I let it
go, I thought it was going to be a touchdown. It was a bad
throw on my part," Delhomme said.
Game
of the day: The wildest game was in Atlanta, where the
Falcons beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 41-38, in an overtime
shootout. The only bummer was the NFL’s dopey overtime
rules, which allowed the Falcons to win the game without
their defense ever having to take the field. Atlanta’s
Morten Andersen kicked a 32-yard field goal on the first
possession of overtime for the win.
The end
of regulation was bizarre. Atlanta’s Michael Koenen nailed a
56-yard field goal, which was waved off after Pittsburgh
coach Bill Coher called a time out a split second before the
snap. Koenen’s second attempt was no good, but Pittsburgh
was penalized five yards for running into the kicker. The
third try from 51 yards out was missed by Andersen. Whew.
Big
Ben banged up: The game also saw Steeler quarterback Ben
Roethlisberger leave after being Ko’d on a sack. Big Ben has
had a rough four months, getting badly hurt in a motorcycle
crash in June and having his appendix removed in September.
Shoeless Hines: Steelers receiver Hines Ward had a play
for the highlight reel when he caught a 70-yard touchdown
pass, running the final 30 yards with one shoe.
Kiss
of the week: I got a screen capture of Bengals offensive
lineman Willie Anderson giving a smooch to wide receiver
Chad Johnson after Cincinnati got a huge 17-14 win over
Carolina.
Bad
team, man: The Arizona Cardinals dropped to 1-6 after
becoming the first team to lose to Oakland. It finished a
nightmare week for the Cardinals, who blew a 20-point Monday
night lead against Chicago. Expect coach Denny Green to be
fired, possibly during the season.
The
Cardinals made a big splash by paying a guaranteed $20
million in the offseason to former Colts running back
Edgerrin James. Edge is a terrific back but even he can’t
run behind a lousy offensive line. James had 13 carries for
a paltry 34 yards.
The
Colts drafted Joseph Addai as James’ replacement, and he had
his coming out (figuratively speaking) with 85 yards on 11
carries in the Colts’ 36-22 win over Washington. James looks
frustrated with Arizona, but I imagine he smiles a lot when
he cashes his checks.
Deeeee-fense: The Denver Broncos are 5-1 and have
allowed only 44 total points, and two touchdowns.
Offensively, the Broncos are no great shakes, averaging only
16 points a game. Next week promises to be a true barometer
of how good the Broncos’ defense is, when they host the
Colts, who average 28 points a game.
Puzzling: There are times when it seems that San
Diego is the best team in the league. The Chargers have an
explosive offense and dominating defense. Then they go out a
few weeks ago and blow a game at Baltimore they had
dominated. On Sunday, the Chargers inexplicably lost to the
mediocre Kansas City Chiefs, 30-27. San Diego did rally from
being down 20-3, but were run over by the Chiefs’ Larry
Johnson (132 yards rushing and two touchdowns) and hurt by
three turnovers. These Chargers look a lot like the 2005
version, good enough to snap the Colts’ winning streak one
week, but inconsistent enough to go 9-7 and miss the
playoffs.
Dirty: It was no surprise that New England Patriots
safety Rodney Harrison was voted the league’s dirtiest play
in a poll of his peers by Sports Illustrated. Harrison is
the ultimate cheap-shot artist and the most fined player in
league history. But one player named Patriots quarterback
Tom Brady as the dirtiest, the only QB to get a vote. Brady
never even looks dirty, even if he plays in mud, so
why the vote?
"I don't
know who I [ticked] off," Brady told the Boston Herald with
a laugh. "I can't do anything dirty out there. I don't get
to touch anyone. I don't know what they're talking about. It
must be a Jet or a Dolphin or something who hates me. I bet
it was (Dolphins defensive end) Jason Taylor." The Herald
noted that Brady and Taylor are good friends.
Top 5
1.
Indianapolis (6-0): The Colts finally put up a complete
game in blasting the Redskins. Up next: at Denver and at New
England.
2.
New England (5-1): All of a sudden, next week’s Monday
nighter at Minnesota looks interesting.
3.
Chicago (6-0): I still can’t shake the idea of how
Arizona totally dominated the Bears and wonder if it’s a
sign of things to come.
4.
Denver (5-1): The Broncos have become a very boring team
to watch this season.
5.
San Diego (4-2): Philip Rivers finally looked Sunday
like a quarterback in his first season as a starter. He
looked rattled and tentative most of the day.
Kiss
of the week: I got a screen capture of Bengals offensive
lineman Willie Anderson giving a smooch to wide receiver
Chad Johnson after Cincinnati got a huge 17-14 win over
Carolina. 