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Week 16--Well...They're In

The Giants are in the playoffs by virtue of their 38-21 win over the Buffalo Bills. That's the good news. The bad news is, Eli Manning did nothing to give us Giants fans hope with yet another sub-par performance. The other Manning went just 7-15 for 11 yards and two interceptions...not to mention his 20 fumbles and countless faces of frustration. Before fans of Big Blue even sat down with their beers, Buffalo had raced out to a 14-0 lead. Which team was the one that HAD to have the game? Which team was playing with urgency? It certainly didn't look like Tom Coughlin's bunch, that's for sure. However, as is usually the case, the Giants scraped their way back into it and actually had a lead at halftime courtesy of a couple of Brandon Jacobs runs and a Tynes FG. So, you'd figure the Giants would carry the momentum into the second half and Buffalo would be ready to pack it in having given their all in the first 30 minutes. Such was not the case. Despite running the ball effectively and despite passing the ball...not so effectively, the Giants came out throwing and sure enough, Manning threw an interception to set the Bills up with a first and ten from the Giants' 31. Obviously the defense wasn't mentally ready to begin the second stanza as Marshawn Lynch took the first down carry 28 yards, to the Giants' 3 and waltzed in for a TD on the next play. Bills 21, Giants 17. All of the work to take the lead after spotting the Bills a 14-point lead, gone. All the momentum, gone. But the Giants were set to regain the lead and that momentum on the very next drive, taking it from their own 35 down to the Bills' one yard line. However, Ruben Droughns and Ahmad Bradshaw could not get the ball into the end zone on four tries and the Giants turned it over on downs. Where was Brandon Jacobs? I have no idea. Apparently you cannot be the main ballcarrier and get the goal line carries under Tom Coughlin. I'm not sure what needs to happen for Goughlin to realize that Droughns isn't going to get it done, but one would think this embarrassing series of futile goal line efforts would do it. How can a team who runs the ball so effectively have NO IDEA how to punch it in from inside the five? EVERY time. When they DO score on the ground from close range, it seems to be a fluke. Can we get Jacobs, who is a POWER runner, in the game next time, Tom?

The Giants D held and the offense got the ball back on the Buffalo side of the field. OK--they're in good shape. Jacobs was running all over Buffalo, but on third and one, Manning fumbled. Again. Buffalo ball. I mean, are you kidding? How many ways can Eli Manning deflate this team? Interceptions aren't enough, now he's fumbling the ball like David Krieg! Is it psychological? Is it that he's never going to be more than the 13th best QB in the league? Whatever the reason, he's killing this team. It's one thing to not live up to being the number one pick...but it's quite another to look like you don't have a clue out there. Manning is fast becoming a disaster and after three seasons, it may be time to--gulp--start thinking of other options to the guy with the cool last name. I know he's under contract and the salary cap this and the fact it's ONLY been three seasons...but think about it--the guy isn't getting any better, in fact he's getting worse! At what point do you admit your mistake? At what point do you confess to your fans and yourself that a new QB is needed if this team is going to win anything? These are questions for the offseason...back to the game.

After the Manning fumble, the defense realized it needed to make a big play--that giving Manning the ball back wasn't enough...so Kawika Mitchell took Trent Edwards' pass and returned it for a TD giving the Giants a lead which they would never relinquish. Ahmad Bradshaw added a scintillating 88-yard TD dash--making all of us wonder--why he hasn't seen more action--and the game was over. It happened quickly, and only by the grace of Trent Edwards' ineptitude, but the Giants somehow got the win they needed. On the road, after falling behind 14-0. Is that all that matters? Perhaps in the short term. However, the glaring weakness at the QB position MUST be a cause for concern. There is no way Eli Manning is capable of putting three consecutive good games together, and that's what's needed right now. The defense has played well enough--they made Edwards look almost as bad as Manning, no easy task--and the running game has looked solid, even if Jacobs can't seem to stay of the field for a whole game...but it all comes back to Manning. He's got his chance--the team is in the playoffs...despite him. What will he do with this chance? If the Manning excuse-makers want to blame his horrific play on the bad playing conditions over the past few games, I'll accept that. I'll say this to those three people: what are you going to say when he screws it up in Tampa? It'll be 70 degrees and he'll be playing against a beatable defense. When he tosses another 12-27 for 140 and two INTs out there, what will the excuse be? The sun got in his eyes? I hope he can turn it around and simply keep the Giants in the game in Tampa...and when that's the most you can expect from a number one draft pick...when you cross your fingers every time your "franchise" QB drops back to pass, praying that he doesn't turn it over...that says it all.

Tampa Bay is the best possible match-up for Big Blue...can they take advantage of it? Can they run the ball effectively against a defense that will not hesitate to put eight in the box? Can Manning rise above his past performances and force the Bucs to respect the pass? All he'll have to do is look across the field at the ultimate "game manager" in Jeff Garcia. The Bucs will be in the game for 60 minutes because he won't make a big mistake. Sure, he won't throw the ball 70 yards in the air, but he will take what's given to him and the Giants will have to be patient on defense...something I think they CAN be. It will be a close game, one which I'll get into further next week after the final game against New England, and it'll be one which the Giants will be in a position to win. Will Eli Manning be able to overcome himself? THAT is the question. If he wins a playoff game or two, all will be forgiven. If he fails to do so, I fear the hole will be too deep to climb out of. More next week.

As for the other team that plays in Giants Stadium, everything happened as expected: they played hard and lost. Thomas Jones continued his season of futility by rushing for 58 yards on 21 carries. You wanna blame it on the offensive line, fine. But the bottom line is--the Jets still don't have a gamebreaker on offense and will continue to lose 10 games a season until they get one. Whether it;s a QB, a RB or a WR--they've got to get someone that instills fear on opposing defenses! Honestly--to play a game in decent conditions and not score a TD? Unacceptable. Is Darren McFadden the answer? Perhaps. But my feeling is even with a dynamic back, the offensive line needs a huge upgrade...free agent-to-be Alan Faneca would be a nice start, but why oh why would he want to go to a rebuilding project like the Jets? Good luck Gang Green, you're gonna need it. As for the Titans, once again we see that they are not to be taken seriously. Vince Young had another game with an INT and no TDs and they barely escaped with a win in a game against the Jets--a team they should have steamrolled under the circumstances. If Tennessee wins their last game in Indy, they're in the playoffs...and the three seed will be extremely happy. But who will be the three seed?

Pittsburgh and San Diego are still fighting it out for that position, and while some may say it's no big deal--as long as you're not getting that bye, there's little difference. Those who subscribe to that line of thinking are dead wrong. Who would you rather play--Tennessee or a red hot Jacksonville? Believe me when I say San Diego will throttle Oakland in their season finale, making the Steelers the four seed and sending Jacksonville to Pittsburgh for round one against a Parker-less Steelers team who lost at home to the Jags just two weeks ago. The Chargers are playing well on both sides of the ball, and will welcome whichever non-Jacksonville team they have to face...and welcome the lack of New England as an opponent until the Conference Championship game. The Steelers can look back in anger to the game they lost to the Jets for their current predicament. That game has cost them any chance of reaching the Conference Championship--for even if they somehow manage to avenge their loss the the Jags, it will come at a heavy price. The Jags physically punish whomever they play, and going into New England beaten up is not the way you're going to beat the Pats. So congrats Pittsburgh. Enjoy your off-season knowing a loss to the lowly Jets deflated your season. Guh.

Elsewhere in the AFC, the Browns may be joining the Steelers in a "kicking themselves" off-season. Losing a must-win to the disorganized enigma known as the Bengals will do that to a team. The Browns had chance after chance to win this game--Cincy didn't want it. But time and again, Cleveland QB Derek Anderson threw pick after pick until the game was over and the scoreboard read Cincy 19 Cleveland 14. What a bad loss for Cleveland and a continuation of frustration for fans in Cleveland. As if the lead squandered to the Red Sox wasn't enough, their football team had visions of winning the division one week ago...and now they're scrambling to simply make the playoffs. Make no mistake--if they DO make the playoffs, which is probable because Manning or not, the Titans don't have it in them to win in Indy, it'll be a successful season of growth for Romeo's guys by the lake. I'd love to see Cleveland play San Diego--when you play Norv Turner, you've always got a shot!

The Colts beat a pretty good Texans team, and anyone who sleeps on Indy and thinks they have no shot against the Pats in the playoffs--wake up. This is a team getting their health back and thirsting for revenge. It's a complete reversal--the Colts are the underdog, the Pats the favorite. The Pats are the team everyone is rooting against. Do you think the Colts are sick of hearing about how great the Patriots are when THEY, the Colts, are the defending Super Bowl Champs? I do. I know it's eons away, but it is nice to see each team playing well heading toward that game of destiny.

A few quick shots in the AFC: Denver is atrocious and the jury is still out on Jay Cutler. I see flashes, but nothing that makes me say, "Wow--this guy WAS the best QB in that draft." And Mike Shanahan--when are we all going to get over this guy? Without Elway, he's just a smug bastard with teams that throw nasty blocks and underachieve. Sorry Denver--you may want to call him a genius with his amazing zone blocking and ability to plug any back into his "system" but if you think about it, what exactly has this "system" done? Enough of this guy already! Nice effort on Monday night.

Speaking of so-called geniuses, do I even need to comment on Brian Billick at this point? Didn't think so.

The Tuna is back (surprise, surprise) in Miami. Can he play QB? No? Hell, he's not even going to coach, so what's the big deal? The guy is a decent talent evaluator, sure...but he's not going to turn the Dolphins from 1-15 to a playoff team in a couple of years. He'll leave before he produces anything worth mentioning...and he'll jilt a couple of more teams before he does. I'm just glad the Giants had him when they did. Good luck Miami.

I'd also like to wish good luck to Herm Edwards and JaMarcus Russell. First, Herm...wherever you end up as a defensive coordinator, I wish you the best. You, like so many other coordinators, are not a head coach. You're a coordinator. There's NO shame in that. Accept it, own it. Move on. As for the newbie, Russell. Wow. His first start HAS to be better than what he did last week, doesn't it? DOESN'T IT? I'll check out the fist couple of possessions in the Raiders/Chargers game...this guy should have been playing weeks ago. Now the first half of NEXT season is a waste. Just win baby, right?

In the NFC, things are getting interesting. Dallas won, but Romo didn't seem right and TO banged his ankle up. TO should be OK in a few weeks--yet another reason the bye week rocks...but Romo is another story. I don't like what I've seen out of him in past few games, and if it's his thumb, fine...that could heal. But if I'm a Dallas fan, I don't have the confidence I had a few weeks ago. They don't scare me the way a number one seed should. Similarly, Green Bay doesn't scare me the way a bye-week team should. Losing to Chicago is one thing...getting blown out of the stadium is quite another. This was a disconcerting loss for Cheesehead nation--I don't have the same confidence in them I had a few weeks ago. Which begs the question--what the hell is going on in the NFC? Am I left with Tampa, Seattle and the wild cards? Who is going to challenge the AFC Champ? I fear we're headed for another boring Super Bowl blowout, when three weeks ago we were all dreaming of a Favre/New England finale, or a match-up between the upstart Romo and America's team against the team America loves to hate...now? Both of those NFC representatives have been exposed. I couldn't imagine them losing to another NFC team a couple of weeks ago; now, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

However, it WOULD surprise me if the team to beat one of the top two was Minnesota. I've been screaming about this team for weeks and I'm glad I was. The Redskins went into the dome and absolutely kicked the crap out of the Vikings. Minnesota--on a big winning streak, at home, facing a backup QB, needing only to win to make the playoffs...and they lay that egg on national TV? Next case. You can't win with JUST a dynamic RB. You have to have a QB that isn't making stupid decisions the whole game. You have to have a coach who knows what he's doing. In both instances, the Redskins came up trumps where the Vikes were left scratching their heads. Those who have been crying for Joe Gibbs to step down, you need to do the stepping. He coached a brilliant game, and relied on Todd Collins to implement it. The career backup did EXACTLY that, going 22-29 with 2 TDs and most importantly NO INTs. When they needed the ground game, Portis and Betts did their jobs and the Skins defense played inspired football--easy to do when you're facing Tavaris Jackson, whose stats looked better than they were because the Vikes were running the hurry-up, playing against a soft D for most of the second half. Now, the Skins hold all the cards--if they beat a Dallas team which will surely be resting up, they're in the playoffs and will give Seattle a hard time to say the least. Minnesota had everything a team could ask for--a home game with a playoff berth on the line...and they didn't just lose, they were crushed. That says all that needs to be said about that team.

I'm sorry to say, the same can be said for the Saints. After everyting they went through this season, it was right there for them--win at home and you're in the driver's seat. But the defense once again let them down as the Eagles ran riot. Something needs to happen with New Orleans' defense--at this point, the Saints are nothing more than the Bengals without the rap sheets.

As for the aforementioned Seahawks, they destroyed the already-on-vacation Ravens. Nevermore indeed. Seattle will have its chance to shut me and my "they're soft" posse up in round one, but until then--hey Seattle! You're soft!

So it's come down to this--the Skins win, they're in. The Skins lose, and the Vikes win, the purple team with no QB is in...if they both lose and New Orleans wins, the defenseless Crescent City crew are in at 8-8. This one should be easy--the Skins should win against Dallas...SHOULD be easy. Then again, the "shoulds" are never guarantees--that's what makes it fun. Enjoy the games, and meet me back here for some fearless playoff predictions next week.

R

Week 15--Back to Reality

Well, I’m not surprised. It took only one week for the Giants to slap the positive outlook out of me as they once again played a horrendous home game. The G-Men were nice enough to share their lump of coal—a 22-10 loss to the Skins—with everyone and I just wanted to thank those who gave the gift that keeps on annoying. Tom Coughlin—you’re killing me. I could tell what kind of night it was going to be by the Giants’ first offensive series. Jacobs rumbles for 17 yards, giving Big Blue a first down in Washington territory…and Coughlin follows that up by throwing three times, all of them incompletions. Why? On a night like that, throwing with an inaccurate QB is what you consider a good idea? The next offensive series started in Redskins’ territory. Faced with a fourth and one from the Washington 39, Coughlin—and he’s been consistent with this all season—runs Ruben Droughns, who gets stopped cold. They turn it over on downs. I don’t know what the fascination is with Droughns, but hey—keep trying it. After a Manning fumble on the next series, the Giants had a second and one in their next series. They were on their own 21 and Manning was 2-6 for 13 yards, so naturally Coughlin thinks throwing is a good idea. Running for a first down would have been a good idea. Throwing the ball was obviously NOT a good idea. So of course, Manning throws incomplete and when Jacobs is stopped on third and one, another punt is forced. These play calls aren’t crazy, but what they do is create a sense of frustration for the players and for the fans. There’s no attitude on offense, no confidence and I have a constant feeling of “don’t screw up” when I watch them try to execute. I watch other teams and see them attack in a positive way. Teams like New Orleans, Pittsburgh, hell, even Jacksonville and Cleveland—not to mention Indy and New England—come to the offensive table with a positive attitude. It’s an attitude which says, “Watch what we can do—you can’t stop this!” These teams’ offenses look like they ENJOY executing their game plans and they look prepared offensively; you cannot say that about the Giants. Their offense has not clicked all season, and the coaching staff needs to take some responsibility for it, but not all of it—not by a longshot.

The defense is next on the list of who was naughty, not nice. They allowed Todd Collins to complete too many deep passes, never put adequate pressure on him, and of course—failed to get the big stop when it was necessary. A 14-yard TD run by Ladell Betts? A 31-yard run by Portis that led to a FG when the Skins were simply trying to run out the half? Visions of the Bears game on that one, right? And of course, to start the second half, they let the Redskins go right down the (albeit short) field for a TD to make the game 22-3. ANYONE watching at that point knew it was over. At least it was a collaborative effort. Oh, and I don’t want to leave out others who did their part—the WRs, especially Amani Toomer…nice drops. And who could forget Lawrence Tynes, who missed a 38-yard FG? Did anyone think he was going to make that kick? But I saved the best for last…

Oh, Eli. Your lack of emotion is matched only by the inaccuracy of your arm. No one, and I mean this from the bottom of my holiday heart, can do what YOU do. To go 18-52 (no, that’s not a typo) for a whopping 152 yards…it’s really quite remarkable. To average 3.5 yards per attempt...I don’t know if we’ll ever see a performance quite like that again. Sure, the WRs dropped a bunch of Manning flutterballs, and sure it was windy…but Eli—18 for 52!??!?! 34 incompletions? That’s insane! Ron Jaworski said it last night on MNF—the most underrated attribute of a QB is accuracy. Eli Manning’s completion percentage is just under 56 percent this season, and he has an even lower percentage for his career. This isn’t a rookie struggling any longer—this is a bust of a trade which is becoming a disaster of a draft pick. I have seen ZERO improvement in Eli Manning’s game over his career and within this season. He still throws wildly, still looks lost, still fails to inspire his team, and clearly still lacks the confidence of his teammates and his coaches. Is it possible that a change of coaches will help? Well, I have a feeling we’re going to find out. However, I think it’s more likely that Manning simply doesn’t have “it”. This week, I’ve heard more than a few people say, “The Giants would be better off with Chad Pennington than they are with Manning” and the sad thing is, they’re right. Relax Chad, it’s not a compliment, it’s a condemnation of your fellow, maligned NY QB. Manning has a chance to temporarily silence his detractors this weekend in Buffalo—all the Giants need is A win. However, if he fails to do so and the Giants fail to win either of their last two games, firing Coughlin won’t be enough to satiate bloodthirsty Giants fans. It’ll be over for Manning—three years of way-more-bad-than-good is enough. He has time left on his contract, I know that…but he’ll be a dead man walking for a couple of seasons and the Giants will have to start all over again. That thought—the thought that Manning isn’t what we were told he would be, namely a franchise QB—is what leads us Giants fans to treat Eli the way we do…Nice? No…but this is our TEAM he’s screwing up, and when your performances are compared to people like Richard Todd’s, you deserve nothing more. So now the Giants shuffle off to Buffalo. I want to believe they’ll continue their winning road ways…

As for the other NY team, they gave it a good effort against the Pats. They pretty much shut the Pats’ offense down, well, them and the weather. New England’s scoring came from their defense—a Kellen Clemens interception, and their special teams—a clocked punt inside the Jets’ five. That was essentially it. Unfortunately, the Jets’ offense was no better and its defense couldn’t turn New England over…essentially, New England found a way to win when one of its components wasn’t functioning. That’s why they’re New England, and that’s why the Jets are, well…the Jets. Gang Green had its chances, but once again we see the problem with Chad Pennington—you have to move the ball down the field three yards at a time with this guy. The conditions and opposition made that pretty close to impossible Sunday, which is why Coach Mangini thought using Brad Smith at QB in some crucial situations. Just because you WANT Smith to be a versatile player who can play QB in some offensive sets, doesn’t make it reality. Smith is useful in some RUNNING scenarios, but he should never throw the ball again. Ever. Truthfully, I don’t see where this team is going. They have no QB—don’t fool yourself Jets fans, Clemens isn’t any good—no RB…it’s as I said from day 1—this team has no game breaking players, and that’s what you need to win. So they don’t…win. New England does, and they’re going to do it two more times to go 16-0. But it may end there. What we saw Sunday was an extension of exactly what I brought up last week—the Pats rely on deep passes and big plays to win games, at least to win them by the outrageous scores they had been. However, as the weather refuses to cooperate, we see that the lack of a reliable running game and the…dislike of a short passing game could hurt the Pats when they face a REAL team. Sure, Maroney ran 26 times for a 4 yard average, but it was against the Jets. When he faces Jacksonville or San Diego—what then? I’m saying it right now—if they face Jacksonville in their first playoff game, the Pats will lose…and it’s possible that they will face them, as the Jags will most certainly be the five seed. The Jags will face the worst division winner, which will be San Diego, Pittsburgh or (!) Cleveland. The six seed, which will most likely be Cleveland, will have to travel to San Diego or Pittsburgh—I don’t like those odds. So—we’ll have a three seed in San Diego and a five seed (assuming Jacksonville wins, which IS a big assumption) with the three seed playing in Indy and the five playing in New England. Believe me when I tell you—the Pats want absolutely no part of Jacksonville in the wind and snow of the northeast. The Jags will punish them, and ironically, New England would probably rather play that game (if not all of their games) on the road, in sunny weather where their offense could flourish. New England, despite their unbeaten record and deification, doesn’t have a good match-up against certain teams in a bad weather situation. Should they come up against San Diego, Jacksonville, or yes, the Colts—teams which can run and smack you in the mouth—they will have trouble. Big trouble. I can’t wait for the playoffs!

This brings up a point I was discussing with some fellow fans the other day—should the team with the best record be able to choose where it plays its playoff games? I wasn’t kidding at all when I said that the Pats would rather play their game against Jacksonville IN Jacksonville. Should they be able to if they want to? I say “yes.” Why not? They have the best record—why should they be put at a disadvantage if they feel their game is better served by playing in decent weather? They won the necessary games, they should have the choice. What’s the downside of letting them choose? They can always say, “No, we’ll stay at home” if they want to. Of course, it’ll never happen because of the fans and the “travel arrangements” the NFL has to make…baseball does something like this and to be behind baseball in anything isn’t something to be proud of. Laugh now, but remember this when the Pats lose 16-13 at home, in the wind and freezing rain.

Speaking of my, err, the Jags…what a great win at Pittsburgh. They played their game for three-plus quarters—opportunistic offense and bone-crunching defense—and led the Steelers, 22-7. But the Steelers summoned the moxie to fight back and tie the score late in the fourth quarter. So…the Jags have squandered a big lead, they’re on the road in a hostile environment, it’s snowing, and they have the ball with under six minutes to go…not many teams would have gone 73 yards for the winning TD in that situation. The Giants would have been thinking, “Let’s not make a mistake…there’s always overtime.”

I won’t really get into the non-Sunday games other than to say: Houston is building something that will soon be worth watching and Cincinnati is a disgrace. That’s all I took from those two games.

Riddle me this—how the hell does Seattle expect to be taken seriously? Alllll week long I hear the mouthpieces saying, “Oooh, don’t forget abut Mike Holmgren’s bunch in the northwest!” Yeah—I’ll forget about them. Losing to Carolina? Come on. 44 yards rushing? Come on. ZERO points through three quarters? Come on. I couldn’t help but snicker when I saw that final score. Softer than Air Supply are they.

Go Cleveland. 8-0 is a weird score, but the Browns’ faithful will take it…well, eight days a week. They’re 9-5 and not only are they thinking playoffs, they’re thinking DIVISION! Wow. Buffalo just ran into some bad weather and tough circumstances, but the playoff-worthy teams overcome that instead of wallowing in it. Will there be a letdown in Orchard Park this weekend, now that Bills are essentially out of it? I think so.

Miami won a game. Wooo-Hooo!!!! They were celebrating, and that’s all fine and well…but when the celebration ends, they look in the mirror and guess what? They’re 1-13, and they still suck. The infamy was avoided, but when THAT is your high water mark, it ain’t good. As for the Ravens—they need a complete overhaul. I’d get rid of the QBs and the coach for starters. This “offensive genius” has plodded along with a terrible offense for far too long in my opinion. Give someone else a shot there—he and that defense won a Super Bowl, but that was a while ago and the defense and the coach are almost done living off of that…aren’t they?

Tennessee and New Orleans both won. However I fear for them it’s a case of too little, too late. You can’t screw around all season and, in Tennessee’s case, lose back to back games to Denver and Cincinnati and expect them not to come back and ruin you. You can’t, in New Orleans’ case, start the season 0-4, lose to a harmless Rams team and expect any sympathy. These teams will be looking back at what should have been. However, next season, with the good coaches they each have, look for them to rebound and each make the playoffs. Yeah—I make predictions that far ahead! Behold!

The Bays continued their winning ways (that rhymed) Sunday. Green took care of business with a thorough beatdown of the Rams, while Tampa did its best to put the Falcon out of their misery…no, it’s not an accident that I didn’t include the “s” in Falcons…I left of the last “s” for embarraSSing, because my friends—that’s what they are. Green Bay could sneak into the top seed in the NFC if Dallas has any more visits from Jessica Simpson. Green bay finishes with a trip to Chicago and home against the finished Lions. After watching the Bears last night, it’s hard to imagine them beating the Packers and I won’t even give the Lions consideration. As for Dallas, the loss to Philadelphia was a costly one. The ‘Boys have two on the road remaining—first at Carolina, which should be no problem if Romo’s thumb is OK, but then they have a trip to DC for one of those “throw out the records” games against the Redskins. I actually think Dallas will lose that game, so to me it’s a question of whether or not Green Bay can win both of its games. Tampa could sneak into the three seed…but I don’t know what difference that will make. I’d rather play Seattle if I’m the 5 or 6 seed.

Indianapolis made it exciting in beating Oakland 21-14. It’s almost as if they’re moping about having to suffer the indignation of being, gasp…the number 2 seed in the AFC. They’ll wake up once the playoffs start, but I’d expect sluggish performances before then. The Chargers are anything but sluggish these days—they look to be peaking at just the right time. Philip Rivers looked OK…and the running game rocked Detroit to the point where Derrick Sproles ran all over them. The Chargers clinched the AFC Worst and will be difficult to deal with in the post-season. They will be in a hurry to erase the sting of last year’s playoff disaster against New England and won’t be afraid of the Pats…did I mention I can’t wait for the playoffs?

And speaking of playoffs, the Vikings appear headed that way…but all this talk about how “you don’t wanna face them” is making me laugh. Why wouldn’t anyone want to face them? They’re a one dimensional team with an overrated defense and no QB—anyone would want to face them. Sure, they’ve won a bunch of games in a row, but once the playoffs come around—is Tavaris Jackson going to win a game for them when Tampa Bay decides they’re going to play eight in the box to stop AD? No, he’s not. The Vikings this, the Vikings that…please. I watched the game last night. The Vikings offense is a joke, and you will not…can not win in the playoffs with a bad QB. So, to all you palookas out there trying to start-up the bandwagon: keep hyping the Norsemen because they can stop the run and have a flashy rookie RB…I’ll be the one betting against them in round 1.

Enjoy the games.

R

Week 14--Taking the Focus OFF the Negative

As I sat there watching the Eagles go right down the field on their opening drive, my phone rang. It was, of course, my mother. She made one of her startlingly observant statements about the Giants being terrible and I calmly said, “It’s still early.” Forget the fact that I was correct…the more important thing here is that I actually thought it. Usually I’m the first to dismiss the Giants, one of the first to condemn their performances…but these days, I am having a problem focusing my (ahem) giant Giants negativity. It doesn’t come as…as naturally as it used to. I don’t know where or when this something-like-faith in the Giants came from, and quite frankly I don’t want to know. The G-Men gutted out another win on the road—they’ve won six in a row in their travels—and now sit at 9-4, almost certainly headed to the playoffs. I have been a non-believer for months—thinking that they were getting lucky, or…something. But I’ve now realized several things: 1) the rest of the NFL is not very good. Really—who is so great? The Pats and Colts…and that’s it. The Giants won’t have to face them until the Super Bowl. The drop-off from those two is cast…and everyone in the NFC is beatable. Would I expect the Giants to win in Dallas or Green Bay? No. But I wouldn’t be shocked. Other than that, they will beat whomever they face in the playoffs, especially if it’s the over-hyped Vikings. 2) The Giants defense is actually playing very well as a unit. They lead the league in sacks and that stat matters…a lot. Getting pressure on the QB is what wins games on defense, and the Giants excel in that department. Go look at the bottom of the “sacks” list. You’ll see teams like Cincinnati, Oakland, Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans, the Jets…see a pattern? Sure, they give up too many big plays in the secondary but when you combine the Giants’ ability to get to the QB with the fact that the Giants are yielding less than 100 yards a game on the ground…and you have yourself a defense you can win playoff games with. As for this week’s win, a few things of note…Pierce and Burress deserve major props for playing injured and producing. Everyone is quick to give Burress a hard time—where are they now when they should be praising him? Let me get this right—the Eagles are up 7-0, they went right down the field in their first drive…the Giants have gone three and out twice to start the game…you have a second and six from the Giants’ 43…you’re almost to FG range at least…and you decide, despite the ease with which you’ve moved the ball, to have a WR throw a pass on a trick play? It didn’t work, the next pass was incomplete and you’re forced to punt. The Giants took the next possession, went down to the one and got right back into the flow of the game. Why Andy Reid felt the need to get cute when his offense was fine is beyond me. When something is working, why screw with it? Add to that McNabb’s 3^rd down plays: on third and seven, a six-yard pass…on third and 10, a scramble for two…on third and nine, a scramble for five…and finally, on fourth and six, an incomplete pass that McNabb wanted pass interference on…and he should have gotten the call, but ya know what? Maybe when the refs saw that he threw that fourth and six pass only four yards, they decided the borderline call wasn’t worth making. Too many times the Eagles’ offense, and McNabb in particular, failed to recognize the game situation—you don’t throw a pass for four yards on third and eight. This Eagles team, as we’ve come to know it, has ceased to exist. I only wonder who will be running it next season. On the Giants side, I really can’t complain about Eli Manning…yes, he overthrew a ton of passes—most notably to Shockey in the end zone, but he produced when it was necessary and kept his game mistake-free. He threw incompletions instead of interceptions. Manning hit Burress for big plays and if not for Brandon Jacobs fumbling 10 times, the game wouldn’t have been in doubt as late as it was. To me, two of the most important attributes of a running back are durability and reliability, and Jacobs is seemingly always hurt, and can’t hold on to the ball…what good are his 20-yard rambles if they are punctuated by turnovers? I’m starting to look at running backs that will be available in the off-season, which the Giants need to do as well, if Jacobs’ fumbles continue. But again—this is a 9-4 team! I didn’t think they’d win this many games, and now I’m thinking they’re going to be a tough out in the playoffs…winning on the road will turn your mind around. At lunch today, my friend and fellow Giants fan Dave said, “Dude, the Giants suck…” I responded by asking him, “Why? They’re 9-4 and a lock for the playoffs!” He thought about it for a second and came back with, “Well, Dallas beat them badly…” Yeah, the Giants lost twice to Dallas, and would probably lose again if they played this week. But Dave needs to realize: there’s a long way between “Losing to Dallas” and “Sucking” and the Giants are much closer to the good side of that chasm. I’m washing my hands of the negativity—bring on the playoffs and whatever comes with them!

New England used that “guarantee” by Pittsburgh’s Anthony Smith pretty well, I’d say. They throttled the Steelers, 34-13 and seemed to go out of their way to abuse Smith and stick it to the Steelers. Smith was victimized more than a few times and the Pats used a trick-play literally out of the Steelers’ playbook as part of their assault. Add to that a defense which refused to give up a point to the Steelers in the second half. You think the Pats and their coach didn’t care about the idiotic guarantee? Here’s what Belichick said after the game when talking about Smith, “We've played against a lot better safeties than him.” Coaches, especially this one, rarely say anything negative about an opposing player, so um…Note to all Pats’ opponents—shut up and worry about the game. If you’re playing New England, it’s hard enough to stay within three TDs as it is—why give them anything to seize upon? The bottom line is, this New England team is going 16-0 and if they lose in the playoffs, it’ll be a shock. We all know how great Brady and his band of weapons are, and we know how determined this team is…they will be tough to beat, but if you even want to consider beating them, you need to score at least 28 points; you’re not beating them 17-14. Any team that can’t score over 24 on a regular basis has NO CHANCE against them. So it’s the Jets, Miami, and the Giants left. I see no obstacles in that troika, not for a team who has won IN Dallas and Indianapolis. “But the Colts could have beaten New England” you say…well, they didn’t. THEY DIDN’T BEAT THEM!!! See, it matters whether you actually win—no one cares if you should have won. It’s like Floyd Mayweather—everyone’s always saying they “could have” and “should have” beaten him, but Pretty Boy is still without a loss. Champions, REAL champions, raise their game when the pressure is on. That’s why they will always be the best and why guys like McNabb, Jason Hanson, and Neil Rackers, and Trevor Hoffman, etc. will be good in May, but fold when it matters—they can’t all be champions.

The Jets made me think, and then they lost. Usually I only get the latter, so I thank them for my bonus. People are wondering what Eric Mangini was doing at the end of that game, and I (of all people) am here to tell them all—Mangini made three decisions; two of them were correct and one was questionable, but not necessarily wrong. In any event, those saying all three were blunders are quite simply idiots. First example: Down by five, with less than two minutes left and all three timeouts left, the Jets were faced with a fourth and 10 from the Browns’ 20. Coach Mangini opted for a field goal instead of trying his luck on fourth and 10. I wouldn’t have done that, but it’s not THAT crazy, not by Mangini’s standards. I would have gone for it—at worst you fail to make it, leave the Browns deep in their own territory, use your timeouts and get the ball back with 1:30 left and a chance to score the TD you need. Anyway, the Nugent field goal made it a two-point deficit. However, the next decision was questionable and is the only one which Mangini deserves to take some heat for…even still, I understand his thought process: With three timeouts, you’d figure Mangini would kick it deep and use them—after all, the Browns would surely run-run-run, and make sure the Jets used up their precious timeouts. Instead, Mangini opted for another onside kick! The Browns are trying to run the clock out—why give them the ball inside your own 40? Even if you stop them in three plays, they’re gonna punt and leave you with the whole field to traverse and no timeouts. If you kick it deep, they get the ball at the 20, run three plays and you get the ball 40 yards closer to where you need to be! Of course, when you allow Jamal Lewis to run for a 31-yard TD to make it a nine-point game with 1:22 left that point almost becomes moot…almost. But I see what he was thinking—we have a chance to get the ball back right away with the onside kick, Nugent had already kicked a perfect one, and even if you don’t recover it you still have three timeouts and if you hold them, you’ll get a chance. The third example, the one that makes me wonder about these “writers”. With 37 seconds left, and a first down on the Browns’ 17, Mangini RIGHTLY decided to kick the field goal. They had just gotten into FG range on a 32-yard Cotchery reception and the decision to kick the FG immediately was CORRECT. I’ve read at least five articles about how Mangini fell into the “Herm Edwards School of Time Management”. It makes me sick to read that…what would these idiots have Mangini do? The Jets are down NINE points with 37 seconds left! They need two scores. You want him to waste half of that time trying to score a TD? If he gets the TD with 15 seconds left, and it’s a big IF, then there’s no time to score even if you do recover the subsequent onside kick! By kicking it with 37 seconds left, he gave his team a chance to recover the kick with enough time left to throw a few passes. To ask questions about this is fine—but to say he was wrong to do it is silly. So the Browns' fight for the Wild Card continues and the Jets fight for a top draft pick continues. Browns/Bills!! Catch the spirit!

Hats off to the Redskins' Todd Collins. Yes, THAT Todd Collins. He went 15-20 for 224 and two TDs subbing for the injured Jason Campbell, and led the Skins to win over the reeling Bears. But that's not the impressive part...Collins hadn't thrown a TD pass in five years, and hadn't thrown a pass of any kind in THREE YEARS! Talk about coming in cold! The Skins are 6-7, only one game out of the Wild Card, AND they play the Vikings in two weeks. If the Skins can get past the Giants, that game will be a biggie in the Dome.

Speaking of improbable playoff teams, how about those Buffalo Bills? They dispatched Miami Jr. High 38-17 and clicked on all cylinders. I'm not sure how much you can praise the Bills for beating Miami, but the bottom line is they're 7-6 with an enormous game against Cleveland this weekend. Neither of these teams has displayed big game moxie in their history—will the ghost of Scott Norwood rear its wide-right head, or will Earnest Byner “drop” in to jinx the Browns?

Cincy Beat St. Louis. Yawn.

Green Bay thrashed the Raiders and Ryan Grant is fast becoming a running maniac! Next.

Dallas came from behind to defeat the Lions, who will not go 10-6. Jason Witten fumbled at the Detroit one-yard-line in what seemed like Dallas' last chance, but the Lions simply pissed the game away. Jason Hanson performed worse under pressure than the terrible band that bears his name. How do you miss a game-clinching 35-yard FG inside and call yourself a kicker? Pffft. What a joker. After the missed FG and the Witten fumble, the Lions killed three minutes, punting back to Dallas with 2:15 left. Tony Romo, who is making a habit out of these improbable comebacks, took the Cowboys 83 yards in less than two minutes and threw the game-winning TD to, you guessed it, Jason Witten. The terrific tight end had 15 catches for 138 yards and that TD. However, had the Cowboys lost, he'd have been the goat because of his uncharacteristic fumble. Witten and Marion Barber, III became the focal points of the Dallas offense because the Lions were determined to remove the TO threat and although the Lions were successful in shutting down TO, Witten and Barber gutted them—with this offense, it's pick your poison. Detorit had this game won so many times—the Hanson FG, the fumble by Romo that they had 10 chances to recover...but some teams are simply not winners, and some teams are...Buffalo learned from their meltdown to Dallas and have rebounded nicely. We'll see if Detroit has it in them.

There were a few too many non-competitive games this past week. I mentioned the Packers above, but the Vikings, Broncos, Colts, Seahawks, and Jaguars all destroyed their opposition. These lopsided match-ups may have been caused by the losing teams' realizations that their seasons were over. OK, the Raiders and Niners stink and are liable to be crushed on any week, but the Chiefs, Ravens, Cardinals, and Panthers woke up last week and realized they'd blown their seasons...and played like it. The Cardinals are the only one of this bunch that has even a chance to make the post-season, and even that's a stretch now. I think everyone expected the Ravens to come out and play poorly after their whine-fest against the Pats, especially with their two starting corners out injured, but when oh when is this team going to get a quarterback? How many times can you send Kyle Boller out there? The answer, I feel, is no more. Carolina is going to be playing under a different coach next season, and who knows what KC is doing—is Brody Croyle REALLY an NFL QB?

Antonio Gates and Philip Rivers both left the Chargers' contest against the Titans with injuries...but both returned to lead their team to a win and a crushing blow to the Titans. The Bolts have won three in a row and seven of nine (she was hot) while the Titans will be kicking themselves over this one. Tennessee led this smash-mouth contest 17-3 in the fourth quarter at home...and lost in overtime. Tomlinson and Rivers connected on a seven-yard TD to cut the deficit to seven, Tennessee attempted to run-run-run the clock out, they succeeded to a point. That point was a third and four, when Vince Young was faced with a third and four from the San Diego 46—convert it, and the game was virtually over. He couldn't, which was the story all day with Young, and pretty much his whole career. The Chargers took over with 2:24 left, trailing by seven and the game should have ended when Rivers' pass to Chris Chambers hit the ground...but good old instant replay showed nothing conclusive, and the 19-yard gain was allowed to stand. San Diego would, of course, score on that drive—a two-yard flip from Rivers to Gates. Overtime. The Chargers got the ball first, but their drive stalled at midfield. A great punt put the Titans at their own two and Jeff Fisher was justifiably fearful of throwing with the inaccurate Young...so they ran on first and second down. The Chargers knew they were going to run and when Young threw incomplete on third and seven, field position was on the Chargers' side. Taking control at the Tennessee 48, it took Rivers and the Bolts offense a mere six plays to score the winning TD in a game which saw the teams pass each other going in opposite directions. How the Titans are even in the playoff discussions with a QB who typically has the kind of game he did on Sunday--13-21 for 121, no Tds and two INTs—is a credit to the Titans' defense and running attack. However, that loss will sting for a long time—perhaps the whole off-season if they fail to make the playoffs. As for the Chargers, it was a terrific win and they appear to be peaking at the right time. Just out of curiosity—what would happen if TO got up from the bench and dissed Tony Romo the way Tomlinson did Rivers? Oh, what's that? You didn't even hear about the Tomlinson thing? Imagine that. Some players get a pass, but should Tomlinson? He whined like a child when the Pats beat them last season, whined about their cheating, and got off the bench when his QB came to sit next to him. A chink in the armor of Mr. Superstar? Perhaps...I'm only saying—some players get a pass.

The Texans continue to impress, beating the Bucs 28-14 behind the arm of journeyman Sage Rosenfels. Luke McCown played well again in Jeff Garcia's stead, but Tampa slipped to 8-5 and lost a game to the Saints this week. The Texans sit at 6-7 and have a difficult schedule to say the least with Indy and Jacksonville remaining. However—it is possible that both of those teams will be secure in their playoff slots when the Texans play them, so don't count the upstarts out. If they run the table and finish at 9-7 it will be a very successful season for the team from Houston. As for Tampa, they could afford to drop this out of conference game with patsies Atlanta, San Francisco and Carolina remaining on their schedule and a two game lead in the division. Garcia will return, and they will be a feisty bunch come round one.

Speaking of round one, can someone tell me why I should be THAT impressed with the Vikings? Sure, they've won four in a row and crushed the Giants, but look at who they beat other than the Giants: San Francisco, Detroit and Oakland. Wow. Very impressive. We all saw the gift-wrapped job the Giants did for them, and with all the hype Mimmy is getting—they're still only 7-6! You'd think they were 10-3 or something the way everyone is piling on the bandwagon! They may make the playoffs, but no team with Tavaris Jackson at QB is winning a playoff game. They can run and stop the run—great. But that isn't enough—you need to play on the road, and other than the Giants game, they've been woeful there. Chicago, Washington, at Denver is how their season finishes. They'd best win that Redskins game or all the hype will be for nothing.

The Saints finally look like the offensive juggernaut we all thought they were...and it happened with Reggie Bush sidelined. Hmmmm. Is anyone else ready to say the emperor has no clothes? For all the crap the Texans took for drafting Mario Williams, HE has 9.5 sacks this season—what has Reggie Bush done? Averaging 3.7 yards per carry, and an even more incredible 5.7 per reception, Bush has been dreadful. DREADFUL. Yet, no one says it. Why? Does the NFL not allow its broadcasts to tell the truth? There's no other reason—when a player comes into the league with this much fanfare, he's gotta take a hit when he, to say the least, under-performs! No? Apparently not. Speaking of under-performing, did you hear Arthur Blank's statement that Michael Vick should avoid eating “fried chicken” while incarcerated? Whoa. I was waiting for the Southwest “Wanna get away?” ad to come up on the screen after he said that! But no comment from anyone thus-far...but the simple allegation of a ref calling a player “boy” made headlines. I guess if you OWN the team, you can say what you want. I'm not saying Mr. Blank is a racist...I'm saying someone needs to make him clarify what he said. Why isn't he accountable? He's a friggin' OWNER! Not the best year for the Falcons, huh? Meanwhile, the Saints are creeping up on people...6-7 with three winnable games remaining. I'd like to see them finish 9-7, but I wouldn't like to face them in the playoffs with that passing attack.

And DOWN the stretch they come! December in the NFL...ya gotta love it!

R

Week 13--the Good, the Bad, and the Replay

Whether you saw it as “sweet redemption” for Eli Manning, or felt that “it’s about friggin’ time” that Manning did something…you saw the giant performance as one thing: a much-needed win for the entire Giants organization. Manning overcame yet another dismal beginning by leading the Giants to two fourth quarter TD-drives and a 21-16 win in Chicago. Manning needed only two passes to pick up where he left off against the Vikings—hitting Brian Urlacher (who doesn’t play for the Giants) with a pass on the Giants’ first drive. Less than two minutes into the game. Nice. If the game were at the Meadowlands, Manning may not have made it out alive for the second series! But he did—and that was where I noticed the problem with the Giants on this day. The Giants had a third and six from their own 43…and they ran the ball. OK…perhaps the coaches were a bit gun-shy with Manning, but who could blame them after last week and the first series against the Bears? Still—it’s not good when your coaching staff is afraid to throw the ball from midfield on a third and six…Again there was a third and six, and again, the play call was a run. This time it was from the Giants’ 38 with four minutes left in the first half. Why? How is being overprotective helping? The Giants “brain-trust” was making Manning obsess about it. He must be thinking, “They don’t want me to throw on 3rd and 6? That’s not good…I guess I’ll have to show them I deserve to throw more…” Meanwhile, he’s not thinking about the GAME. What he WAS doing, was throwing terrible interceptions and coughing up the ball. Three turnovers before he hooked up with Amani Toomer for the rally-starting TD, then a couple of passes to David Tyree, one big one to Burress, and the Giants were primed to win the game. Which they did…despite their coach’s indefensible decision to NOT take three knees then have Tynes boot a 20 yarder to win it. There are a couple of reasons Coughlin was wrong to score a TD there—

1) There was a ton of time left and the Bears had a time out left—plenty of time to score.
2) He would have to kick to Devin Hester after the TD.

Why not let the clock run down, make the Bears burn their time out, take another two knees and kick the FG with no time left? Are you telling me Coughlin thought, “There’s a better chance of Tynes missing from 20 yards than there is in having Hester bust a return or at least giving the Bears good enough field position to score a TD.”??? If that’s true—he needs to cut Tynes immediately. If a coach doesn’t think his kicker can make an extra point to win the game, then how can he justify having that kicker on the roster? He cannot. And how many times does Coughlin need to see Hester work his magic before he realizes kicking to him is suicidal? We all saw Coughlin jumping up and down on the sidelines, all nervous and using body English to make the tackle on Hester (at the 41)—would he have been as jumpy awaiting a 20 yard FG try? I don’t think so. This decision was one of many that are leading me to believe that Eli Manning needs a new coach. When Manning got into a rhythm, when he was allowed to throw in the no-huddle, he was inspired and effective. Which begs the question—since it’s CRYSTAL clear to all Giants fans and announcers that Manning is more effective in a no-huddle scenario—why not use it more? The bottom line is the Giants are 8-4. I didn’t think they would win that game yesterday, but the defense stepped up—especially Michael Johnson. His open-field tackle on Adrian Peterson during the last Bears’ drive saved the game. Peterson had acres set up in front of him and may have scored. Coughlin should kiss Johnson’s ass for rescuing him—imagine how much stick Coughlin would have taken if he passed on the FG only to have the Bears score a TD? More impressive was the fact that Johnson was injured in the game—he went to the locker-room for X-rays before returning. The defense earned praise for once; they were banged up in the secondary, but made the plays when they had to, and Strahan & Co. kept the pressure on the surprisingly effective Rex Grossman. But we all knew that the Bears would have four throws into the end zone in the end, didn’t we? It wouldn’t be the Giants without that.

The other team in New York had a nice vacation in South Florida. The winless Dolphins were favored over the Jets…and apparently it upset the Jets to no end. Motivated by this Vegas slighting, Gang Green—or should I say “Gang-whatever-the-hell-those-uniforms-were”—slaughtered the hapless fish, 40-13. John Beck’s five turnovers combined with Leon Washington’s two TDs (why haven’t they been using him more?) made Sunday an easy day for the 3-9 Jets. Kellen Clemens threw for a TD, the team rushed for over 160 yards…hell—Thomas Jones finally got into the end zone for the first time all season. This WAS a one TD game in the third quarter, so let’s not get carried away Jets fans…after all, as 0-12 comedian Jason Taylor said, “They (stink) too,” Taylor said. “They beat us. They'll go home happy, and their fans will be happy that they got three wins this year. Good for them.” Shut it, Jason. Really. When you’re 0-12, just stop talking. The Jets played a solid game and deserve to feel good for a week, at least. However, the Jets and their fans best not think they’re on some sort of road to recovery. The reality is, they’re 3-9 and have playoff-hungry Cleveland and Kansas City at home, and trips to New England and Tennessee left on their schedule. 4-12? 3-13? Either way, it’s a dismal season—one which proved only negatives: that the 3-4 alignment has been a failure, that they don’t really have a QB, that their RB isn’t anything special, that their offensive line has been terrible. This isn’t something that’s going to turn around in a year, or even two. The team’s record last season was a mirage and while it’s nice to win a game, even if it IS against a winless team, there is a ton of work to be done for the Jets before they’re a contender…they should start by burning those hideous uniforms.

Dallas beat Green Bay Thursday night, and prompted several talking heads to claim, “Dallas has proven they’re the class of the NFC…” I disagree. The game I watched had Dallas barely hanging on to beat a back-up quarterback, at home, and showed vulnerability in doing so. You think Green bay left that game thinking, “Wow—those guys are better than us. I hope we don’t have to play them again.” Not a chance. They left saying, “Wow” alright…but it was, “Wow—those guys are pretty good…but we played poorly, lost our QB, had a couple of key injuries on defense, yet still hung in there and almost came back. I can’t wait to face them again when we’re healthy!” Who would have thought that Aaron Rodgers would perform so well? I was shocked—the guy has skills. He went 18-26 for 201 and a TD and ran for 30 yards, but more than that—he was a spark. Brett Favre was having one of his “bad Favre” games where he gets impatient and just throws the ball deep, often into triple coverage. Rodgers stabilized the game and ran the offense to perfection and unlike Favre, he committed no turnovers. Dallas did what they had to do—Tony Romo played his usual stellar game: 19-30 for 301 and 4 TDs/1 INT, the defense got early pressure on Favre and caused a couple of turnovers that the offense turned into points, and Marion Barber III ran effectively—when Dallas gets all three of those things going, they’re not going to lose. However, if Romo to Owens for 12 yards was instead Romo to Owens…stripped by Harris as it should have been, the game would have played out differently. This horrific non-reversal is the perfect example of why instant replay is a joke. It doesn’t work. Owens’ forward progress hadn’t been stopped, that’s a bail out for the officials. He caught the pass and was IMMEDIATELY stripped of the ball. There wasn’t time for Owens’ progress to be stopped, but the referees’ gutlessness was rewarded by the so-called whistle. Replays backed up the Packers claim, but there was no overturn to be had. Dallas went down and kicked a field goal, tying the score 3-3. No big deal? I think it was. Green Bay had driven down the field and gotten points on its opening drive. With that fumble-that-should-have-been, they would have had the ball on the Dallas side of the field and a good chance to go up 10-0. Instead, Dallas ended up kicking a field goal that tied the game at that point.

I’m not saying the Packers would have won, I’m saying that I shouldn’t be able to discuss several blown replay calls EVERY WEEK. Amani Toomer’s TD was ruled incomplete on the field, only to be reversed via replay. I am a Giants fan and I’ll say this with no hesitation: that play should never have been overturned, not in a million years. There is no way anyone can tell me there was clear evidence that Toomer caught that ball. Did it SEEM like he did? Sure. Did he catch it? Probably…but “probably” isn’t “definitely” and the latter is required to overturn a call. I mentioned the call involving TO in which the refs claimed his forward progress was stopped…well, if that was the case, why is it subjected to replay? Why was Green Bay even allowed to challenge it? And then, there was the call in New England last night. I guess I need to be more specific—I meant the Gaffney TD catch to win the game for New England. The one Baltimore challenged. Gaffney definitely had both feet in-bounds…but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was whether or not he was in possession of the ball. To me, and I was rooting for New England, he did NOT have possession. The ball was not secure until Gaffney was out of bounds. Did the refs even look at that aspect of the play, or were they focused only on the feet being in-bounds? These three, and believe me—I could come up with 20 more, incidents are the tip of the Replay-Doesn’t-Work iceberg. If you’re going to use replay, it must be used correctly. I’m not even mentioning the fact that replay ruins the flow of the game, kills teams’ momentum, leads to more commercials, is subject to the same human errors that the on-field calls are…I don’t care if 100 analysts say, “Well, that’s what instant replay is for—to get it right!” But it does so arbitrarily, and ineffectively. There wasn’t a problem without replay—the NFL somehow made it through decades without it…yet now, every week, there are ridiculous mistakes, bullshit excuses, lazy referees…all on account of replay. It’s annoying, and needs to be fixed.

OK—back to the games…

The Jags came close, but fell to the Colts in Indy. Instant replay reversed a recovery decision on a fumble by the Jags’ David Garrard. Let me explain that: it was determined by the officials that Jacksonville had recovered the Garrard fumble…but upon further review, there was CONCLUSIVE evidence that the Colts had in fact recovered the fumble…conclusive evidence that someone had possession on a fumble. OK. Indy took possession at the Jacksonville 11 and scored the game’s first TD three plays later. Here’s what Tony Dungy had to say about the challenge, “I never thought there was a question," Dungy said. “I saw Raheem get the ball. He was down. Then someone knocked into him and knocked it loose.” Wow—someone recovered a fumble, but lost it in the pile? That’s never happened before, I’m sure. The refs saw who had the ball and made a call…then a replay determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that someone else had the ball? Jacksonville could have overcome that ridiculous call, but why should they have to? After a missed FG, the Colts took a 14-0 lead and Jacksonville was faced with a must-score situation. They drove 84 yards on 16 plays, taking over 10 minutes off the clock in cutting the Colts’ lead to 14-7. The Colts answered with a long drive of their own, and went into halftime with a 21-7 lead. The second quarter had essentially two possessions-- one long drive by each team. I’m not sure what that means, I just thought it was interesting. The tennis-match continued in the 3rd quarter as Jacksonville took the opening possession and marched 69 yards to cut the Indy lead to 21-14. After a Manning interception, the Jags were in a position to tie the game…but their drive stalled after a 15-yard penalty and a FG was all the Jags could muster. The teams exchanged TDs after that and the Colts got the first downs they needed to win the game, 28-25. The Jags played hard and tough, but showed that they aren’t ready to dethrone the defending champs. They blew their chance by taking stupid penalties throughout the game, especially in the 4th quarter…but this was a really good game. One of several this weekend—I’ll get to the rest of the good games after touching on the not-so-good ones…

Carolina finally won a game at home, destroying the disappointing 49ers, 31-14. The Panthers are finished but they finally seem to understand that playing DeAngelo Williams is the smart thing to do. He is electrifying and a game-breaker—can he play every down? That’s what the Panthers need to find out, but it’s tough for a coach to play a “kid” when his job is on the line. Is it fair that John Fox’s job is probably lost? After all, Jake Delhomme went down with a season-ending injury and how many teams can perform up to expectations with a backup QB? Especially when that QB is David Carr (now 3rd string) or Abe Lincoln, er, I mean Vinny Testaverde. I mean, come on. I love Vincenzo, but the man’s career should be brought to someone’s farm “upstate” if you know what I’m saying. As for the Niners, what can you say? They’re a huge disappointment—Frank Gore should be arrested for murder…murder of every fantasy team he was drafted by! Alex Smith didn’t progress then got injured, the defense is terrible, and the coaches seem clueless. Add it all up and you get the Jets of the NFC. Not good.

Tomlinson beat KC 21-10. I’m sorry—I meant the Chargers beat KC. Other than the rushes of #21, this game was a snoozefest, as most games involving the Chiefs are. Philip Rivers threw for 157 yards, one TD, one INT, and completed less than half his passes, while Damon Huard was hardly better with a lackluster 19-34 effort for 186, one TD and two INTs. The Chargers moved to 7-5, enough to take command of the AFC West while the Chiefs fell to 4-8 after losing their fifth in a row. Enough said.

Gus Frerotte went off for the Rams, who defeated the Falcons 28-16. The one-time wall basher threw for over 300 yards and 3 TDs and Steven Jackson had 167 total yards and a TD to lead the way, while Atlanta was led by Joey Harrington, so they lost. Again. Like Carolina, the Falcons may have finally learned that their young RB should be getting the bulk of the carries. Jerious Norwood ran for 94 yards on only 8 carries. Warrick Dunn, on the other hand, managed only 17 yards on 10 carries. I know Coach Petrino’s system calls for a larger running back, but how can you argue with Norwood’s production? Give the kid the ball 25 times a game! You’re 3-9, going nowhere—what’s stopping you from seeing what you have?

Buffalo came from behind to defeat the Redskins, 17-16. Joe Gibbs used his magic to turn a 51-yard FG into a 36-yarder by calling a timeout after the Skins had already taken a timeout. You can’t do that. I guess 100 years in the league weren’t enough to teach Gibbs the rules. Buffalo couldn’t score a TD, but five FGs and a safety were enough—17 the hard way. Trent Edwards played well enough, and Freddie Jackson filled in admirably for Marshawn Lynch with 82 yards on 16 carries. Buffalo is now 6-6 and in the thick of things in the AFC wild card chase. They take on Cleveland in two weeks—who would have thought that would be a huge game when the season started?

It was a great day to be a McCown. Josh led the Raiders to a rare win over the spiraling Broncos and Luke spearheaded the Bucs’ win over the Saints. The Raiders signal-caller went 14-21 for 141 and three TDs—very efficient. Justin Fargas continued his improbable season by adding 146 yards on the ground for the Silver & Black and (gasp) JaMarcus Russell made his debut and both the fans and his teammates seemed energized by his mere presence. Hmmm. As for the Broncos…they are in trouble. Jay Cutler had another disastrous game: 16-32 for 214, no TDs, 2 INTs and a fumble. Uh-oh. Denver’s skid has them at 5-7, two games behind San Diego with only four remaining. See ya.

Like his older brother, Luke McCown had a dream day at QB. Tampa pretty much locked up the NFC South as they gladly accepted the Saints gift—a 27-23 win. McCown, filling in for the efficient Jeff Garcia, took a page out of the first-stringer’s book—completing 29 out of 37 passes for 313 yards to go with his 2 TDs and only 1 INT. He linked up with Joey Galloway seven times for 159 yards. Not bad for a backup. But the Bucs were lucky to win this one. Here’s the deal: The Saints had the ball with three minutes left, up by three points, the ball at their own 49. Run the ball, kill the clock…but don’t make a mistake. At worst, the Saints should have punted back to Tampa with a little over two minutes left and the Bucs would have had poor field position. Instead, Sean Payton decides to run a trick play! Reggie Bush took a handoff then handed off to WR Devery Henderson…who fumbled. Tampa recovered and went right down the field for the winning score…Season over for N’awlins. There’s a time to be cute—that wasn’t it.

Tennessee beat Houston to stay in the playoff hunt. Vince Young played very well—21-31 for 248, 2 TDs and 1 INT, to go with his 44 rushing yards. But it was the Titans Defense which was the difference for Tennessee as they KO’ed Texans QB Matt Schaub for the second time this season. Last week the D embarrassed themselves against Cincinnati—but not this week. Albert Haynesworth returned and inspired his teammates, who, with trips to KC and Indy and San Diego left on the schedule, will need every ounce of inspiration they can find…can Vince Young play well in all three of those games? He’ll have to if the Titans expect to make the playoffs.

Break up the Vikings! With Adrian Peterson back (for now) and the Defense cranked up…this team is looking like a playoff team that no one is going to want to play. They’ve even managed to get decent play out of Tavaris Jackson, who threw more TDs than interceptions. AD, meanwhile, ran for 116 yards and two TDs on only 15 carries in his return. Chester Taylor chipped in with 70 yards and a TD on only 14 totes—clearly the Lions have a clawless defense. They allowed 443 yards of offense to Minnesota, while the Vikes D yielded only 10 points to the supposedly potent Detroit offense. The Norsemen finish their season with a road game against the Niners, home games versus Chicago and Washington, and a road game in Denver, where the Broncos will already have the stamps put on their season…The Vikings could actually finish 10-6. However they finish, with that run defense and that running attack, there ain’t a team around that wants to face them in the playoffs.

The Seahawks finally showed me some guts this weekend by defeating the Eagles in Philly. True, it was A. J. Feeley not McNabb, but still—it’s a road game against a decent team. Baby steps. Matt Hasselbeck was decent, Maurice Morris (not Shaun Alexander) ran well, and Lofa Tatupu had a hat tick of interceptions to lead the 8-4 Hawks. The Seattle D also held Brian Westbrook in check, or as close to in check as you can—limiting him to 139 yards of total offense, focusing on making Feeley nervous in the pocket. Seattle can put the division away by beating Arizona this Sunday. Philadelphia, at 5-7, can start formulating their plans for next season. Will McNabb be back? If not, where will he go? Will Andy Reid be back? This team will have some major decisions to make…I’m sure their fans will be patient as usual.

Arizona absolutely stole one from Cleveland Sunday. This was a fun game to watch, but the refs managed to ruin it in the end. Yes—the Browns did themselves in by committing atrocious turnovers (4), penalties (10), and allowing defensive TDs, but at the end of the game, Kellen Winslow, Jr. caught a pass from Derrick Anderson. He got one foot down and was CLEARLY forced out before he could get his other foot down. The refs said “out of bounds”. The Browns challenged the play and the refs humored them—knowing full well that you cannot challenge a force out call. We all saw Winslow’s feet weren’t both in-bounds, and we also saw that he was forced out. In the heat of the moment, I’m fairly certain the refs were focused only on the feet, not the fact that he was being forced out. Either allow replay to view this or, as I’ve said before, change the rule itself—if you don’t have two feet down, you’re out of bounds regardless of how you got there. Less judgment for the refs is needed, not more. As a result of this blown call, the Browns are 7-5 and in a fight for a playoff slot. Arizona raised their record to 6-6 and got back into the chase.

Ben Roethlisberger tossed two TDs to Hines Ward and ran for another to lead the Steelers to a “blah” win over the sad sack Bengals. Woops—Willie Parker fumbled again. Are you kidding me? The defense did enough to frustrate Carson Palmer and his receivers, and Rudi Johnson looks shot…the Bengals are not, uh…they’re not good. Why their coach still has a job is beyond me. Pittsburgh has a trip to New England this week, and if they play like they have the last three weeks, they’re going to get smoked. It looks like the Steelers will be the three seed, and that means no bye week in the playoffs…Cleveland would love another crack at their rivals. Other than the Browns, I can’t see a six-seed scaring the Black & Gold in the first round. Yes, I can see that far ahead.

Speaking of seeing things…who the hell saw last night’s thriller coming? Not I. I’ve been sour on the Ravens all season…I didn’t know they had last night in them after a five-game skid. Kyle Boller looked like a real QB last night—that’s two mediocre (at best) NFL QBs that the Patriots have turned into gutsy, productive performers in the past two weeks. Boller and Feeley have one other thing in common: they both threw terrible interceptions which cost their team a win. Leading 24-17, a Yamon Figurs punt return set the Ravens up on the Pats’ 26-yard line with 12 minutes left. A field goal puts them up two scores. Two runs and a penalty put the Ravens at 3rd and 14. A couple of yards and it’s an easy FG for Matt Stover, but Boller wanted to be a hero and uncorked his only terrible pass of the day…right into the arms of James Sanders who returned his gift, not to the customer service department, but to the Pats’ 43. That set up a Gostkowski FG and brought the Pats to within four, 24-20, with 8:41 left. The Ravens would not get another first down. After a punting exchange, the Pats ended up with the ball on their own 27 with 3:30 left in the game. They went on a 13-play drive, and only one play didn’t involve Brady passing or running. Brady and the Pats faced two fourth downs, converting each. My favorite play on the drive was Brady’s 12-yard scramble on fourth and six. The guy is so calm, so poised…and his team feeds off of it. There wasn’t one member of the Patriots, from the coaching staff to the back-up RB, who showed anything other than grace under pressure. That is a champion. Sure, they were down. Sure, they played like crap. But ya know what—they won. You want to tell me that wasn’t holding on fourth down, fine. I think it was. You want to tell me Gaffney didn’t catch the ball? I agree…but that was only first down! You can’t tell me that Brady doesn’t get them into the end zone in the next three downs. Well, you could, but you’d be delusional. Brady was going to get the job done. And hats off to the Ravens—they played a great game, especially Willis McGahee, who ran for 138 tough yards and a TD. That being said, some of the Ravens embarrassed themselves, led by class act Brian Billick who thought it was cool to blow some taunting kisses at Rodney Harrison during the game. The guy is a clown. I don’t know about you, but I want my coach to be a rock, not a jester blowing kisses at the other team. Bart Scott was a bit frustrated about some refereeing decisions so he figured the best way to deal with it would be to pick up the flag and throw it into the crowd. Classy. And after the game, all the Ravens could do was whine about calls not going their way, and how the league wants the Patriots to win because Brady sells tickets…and how they had to play the Pats AND the refs. I know you think you got jobbed, and that you’ve lost six in a row, but how about shutting up and considering how YOU blew the game! Boller threw that interception…Ed Reed fumbled away a Brady interception…your assistant coach called a time out before the fourth and one play...you went three and out the last two times you had the ball and the lead—when you have the Champ on the mat, you have to finish him. If you wanna BE the man…woooooo…you’ve gotta BEAT the man. Sweep the knee and get them a bodybag. Otherwise, the Champ will rise up and leave you crying in your helmet, wondering what the hell happened on that rainy night in Baltimore.

Week 12--who's Manning the controls?!?

Sharper, Smith, and Greenway…it sounds like an accounting firm. But the only things they accounted for this past weekend were touchdowns—three of them—gift-wrapped by Eli Manning. The Giants, and Manning in particular, put forth an absolutely disgraceful effort on Sunday as they were whipped by the Vikings, 41-17. The only good thing about this pathetic display is: no matter whom you want to blame on the Giants, you’re right. From the front office, to the quarterback, from the offensive line, to the head coach—everyone takes a hit this week. Eli Manning’s line was: 21-49 for 234 yards, one TD (a garbage time TD) and four INTs. Manning’s throws were tentative and often off of his back foot—he stepped up and threw with authority once (to Amani Toomer) the entire game. Sure—the Giants were playing with a 3rd string running back and that put more pressure on Manning, but come on. How many times are we all going to see this guy take two steps backward and no steps forward? His performance was amateurish and unacceptable for a number one pick in his third full season at the helm. However, his performance wasn’t the thing that bothered me the most…that would be his demeanor and how he handled his performance. Here’s what I said after the Dallas game:

“Manning mopes, sulks, and indifferently plays his way through these games and I, for one, am getting tired of it. I'm getting tired of him looking like a deer in the headlights. I'm getting tired of hearing how "unflappable" he is, and how New York won't affect him. Does ANYTHING affect this guy?”

Well, yesterday, I got my answer: No. Nothing affects him. During the game, he carried himself with zero professionalism, zero leadership--watching his “poor me” face for 60 minutes made me embarrassed to be a Giants fan. The lack of any emotion other than self-pity is something that cannot be underestimated; did Tony Romo wallow in his failure in Buffalo? He threw 5 INTs on national TV and his team was about to lose a game in which they were heavily favored…but Romo was seen on the sidelines clapping, still fired up—insisting to his teammates that he would make up for it all by leading them back. And they believed him. THAT is the problem with Eli Manning—his teammates know the deal. He’s an immature kid who’s always had everything go his way. Now, in the Big Show, things aren’t so easy and Eli doesn’t like it. So, like any spoiled child who doesn’t get what he wants, he pouts. I don’t want a quarterback and “franchise” player who pouts. If you think the rest of the team believes, really BELIEVES in Eli Manning…you’ve got another thing coming. I hate to say it, and it doesn’t change the fact that he was a Class A jackass…but Tiki may have been right about Eli. There’s no leadership. There’s only self-pity, and that’s not Tom Coughlin’s fault. Here are Manning’s comments after the game:

“It wasn’t good,” Manning said in his typically calm, flat tone. “When you throw four interceptions, it is never a good day. They took advantage of it and scored on three of them. Every one has its own story. One of them was a tipped ball at the line of scrimmage where I was throwing to Shockey for a touchdown. That is just the way things go sometimes.”

No, Eli, that’s not the way things go sometimes. I think the last time it happened was in the 70s and the QB who did it was in the first and only start of his career! He most certainly was not a top draft pick playing in a city that wants explanations for its disasters, and demands its heroes accept responsibility. You know why Joe Torre is a hero to New Yorkers—because even when his team lost, he never lost them. He owned up to more than his share of responsibility for all of the Yankees’ shortcomings; same with Jeter, same with Bernie, same with Mo. THOSE are the guys we want running our teams, not the whining, excuse-making Mike Mussinas, not the “it’s everyone else’s fault” Isiah Thomases. We want our QB to say, “Ya know what? I was terrible. My play was unacceptable and I’m going to do whatever I have to do to improve because my teammates deserve better…the fans who pay good money deserve better.” Show me you care. Show me you’re not just out there, sleepwalking through it all. Eli…bubbala…you just threw three picks that were returned for TDs. You can’t explain it away by saying, “That’s just the way things go…” Every interception DID have its own story—but each story began with the words, “Eli Manning threw an interception to…” I particularly enjoyed how he took the interception which was tipped and focused on that one—as if providing us with that example explains all of the other ones away. Eli, get your act together or I promise you—together, us Giants fans will run you out of town on a rail.

Oh—coach Coughlin, did you think you were escaping my wrath? Well think again. You are only second on my list because you will not be here next season—we’re not married to you…hell, we aren’t even going steady. You were a bad mistake at a party. You had a lot of interesting things to say and after a few martinis you looked and sounded pretty good…but now? Now we’re sober. As sober as that stupid face you make on the sidelines EVERY time your team commits a stupid penalty. We’re alert and we know your M.O. You talk a good game, ranting about discipline and playing smart…but when your teams continually play without smarts or discipline, where are you? How about benching the next guy who lines up in an illegal formation? How about cutting a lineman the next time he false-starts for the fourth time in a game? Your message, dear Tom, is not getting through and there’s either going to be a new message or a new messenger next season—it’s really up to you. If you keep on making faces instead of actually doing something about the same old Giants and their mistakes, you’ll be embarrassing yourself on the NFL Network as an analyst next year…if you can somehow get through to these guys and hold them accountable for their mental lapses, then we’ll talk. When you make an in game adjustment, like, say, compensating for Minnesota’s constant attack on the middle of your offensive line…then we can discuss your future. At some point, you have to realize that what you’re doing now isn’t helping to curtail the mistakes which have plagued Big Blue for your tenure here. Change, or leave—them’s the choices.

You want to tell me, “Dude! Chill! They’re 7-4 and in front in the wild card race!” I’ll tell you this—the Giants are 9-18 in the second halves of Coughlin’s seasons in charge. This season, they are 1-2 so far. I’ll also tell you this—once again, when the defense needed a stop (in this game, it was in the third quarter) they failed to get it. Instead, the Vikings went on a 9-minute drive. Game over. I’d also urge you to take a peek at what’s upcoming on the schedule…yeah—at Chicago, at Philly, Washington, at Buffalo, at New England. If you can’t imagine the G-Men losing 5 of those 6, you haven’t been paying attention. Sure, they could win 3 or 4, but my money is on the Giants finishing 9-7 at best. However, making predictions in this case isn’t exactly fair—I’ve seen this act before.

I was debating which to lead this column with—Giants or Pats. I decided that I was sick of everyone making such a big deal out of the Pats’ narrow escape and that putting that second would be my little way of saying, “So what?” to those who are yelling, “Oh my God!!! The Pats are beatable!!!” Ugh. I think football fans who don’t get their information from the first 10 minutes of SportsCenter know that New England could lose a game…but they DIDN’T! Everyone is acting as if they had won 1,000 games in a row and Philly finally ended it. Dude—the Pats WON! They beat a fired up team with a good game plan and a coach who proved once again that he can’t make a play call when the game is on the line. The Pats didn’t play poorly…they played arrogant and complacent. How else do you explain not running the ball at all? How else do you explain the failure to adjust to the immortal A. J. Feeley ripping them apart on inside pass routes? Philly played a near-perfect game offensively…until for some reason, on second and four, Reid called for a deep pass. Why? Feeley had been shredding the Pats with medium and short passes all game! Westbrook for 6, Curtis for 13, Smith for 18…it was there, in the middle of the field, all…game…long. There was no need for that play call. Now, it’s a loss…just the same as if it was 34-10. People can go on and on about “moral victories” but last I checked, “moral victories” aren’t part of the playoff tiebreaker process. Congrats to New England for surviving a tough one—there’s always a tough one, isn’t there?

Thanksgiving roundup: Green Bay handled Detroit, but it almost got away from them. Favre was doing his thing and the Pack was up 34-12. But then they went into the infamous shell and let the Lions back into the game. Kitna to Johnson made it 34-19, and Green Bay, who was successfully throwing the ball all over the field, decides that running the ball is a good idea. How many times do we have to see this? I’m aware that the clock is your friend when you’re winning in the fourth quarter, but when you can’t be stopped and are scoring at will—SCORE MORE POINTS! When teams try to put games in their pockets by running the clock out, bad things are bound to happen. The other team gains a bit of momentum and before you know it, it’s a one-score game and you’re out of your offensive rhythm. Green Bay answered the Johnson TD with a run-run-incomplete-punt series and when Detroit scored following the punt, it was a 34-26 game with over six minutes left! That’s not how a good team finishes a game. Have the Packers learned from this? We may find out Thursday when they battle the Cowboys in Dallas (Irving). Dallas barely got a scrimmage-level challenge out of the Jets, who clearly played their Super Bowl against the Steelers and came out with nothing on either side of the ball. This game was over after the first drive! The Jets did the following with their first five offensive possessions: 4 plays and a punt, 3 plays and a punt, 4 plays and a punt, 3 plays and a punt, 3 plays and an interception returned for a TD. By that time, it was 21-0 and the stamp had been put on the mail the Jets were sending in. Gone is the Steelers game, back is the reality check—this team flat out stinks and is going to be the first team to lose to the Dolphins. Write it down. The Thanksgiving finale, for those of us who are lucky enough to GET the NFL Network, was Indy at Atlanta. The Falcons busted out to a 3-0 lead…and by “busted out” I mean went on a mind-boggling 19-play, 8-minute drive…which yielded all of a FG. Nevertheless, they had kept Manning and Co. off the field for more than half of the first quarter. When Indy got the ball, they went three-and-out, Atlanta responded with a TD and the Colts were down 10-0. Well, that woke them up on both sides of the ball and they outscored the Falcons 31-3 the rest of the way, coasting to their ninth win. The Colts played an average game, which was more than enough to beat Joey Harrington and his cast of droppers. Atlanta’s receivers must have dropped 10 passes. When your team is struggling for wins and your QB is struggling for…everything, dropping passes isn’t helping. Ask Eli Manning. So essentially, nothing surprising happened on Thanksgiving, football-wise.

On to Sunday…New Orleans and Cincinnati won easily, 31-6 and 35-6 respectively. Carolina could manage only 195 total yards against New Orleans’ defense, while Tennessee had a meager 61 on the ground against the Bengals, of all teams. New Orleans, behind Drew Brees’ efficient performance, finds itself 5-6 and smack in the middle of a muddled wild card chase. Carolina will find itself looking for a new team and possibly a new coach this off-season. Vince Young was his usual overrated self, going 19-31 for 246 with no TDs and 1 INT against a dreadful defense. We’ve seen the “real” Tennessee the past three weeks. I don’t care if the fools on TV say, “Vince Young is a winner” or “the Tennessee Titans are a solid team”, I know what I see. I am not impressed.

Speaking of what I see, I love what I’m seeing out of the Cleveland Browns. After their convincing performance against the Texans, they now sit at 7-4, have won 5 out of 6 (the one loss that heartbreaker to Pittsburgh) and are primed to make the playoffs. They’re doing it with a balanced offense. Winslow, Anderson, Lewis, Edwards, Dawson—they all play different positions and they all contribute on a weekly basis. You can’t take them all out of the game—the Browns have been held under 24 points just twice this season. And yeah, the defense is not the best in the league, but Sunday, when they needed a stop, they got it. When they needed a turnover, they got it. Opportunistic is the cliché that fits their D. This team is going to win at least 9 games—get on board the Browns Bandwagon now…seats are filling up fast.

Seats are all gone on the Jaguars Bandwagon. After they buffaloed the Bills 36-14, they have solidified their playoff position and will be ready to rumble with the well-rested Colts in Indianapolis this week. The Jags know—if they win this very difficult game, they could win the division. Not bad considering they began the season in embarrassing form. Once again, David Garrard put forth a solid game—296 yards with a TD and no interceptions giving him—let me add this up—ZERO interceptions on the season. But keep talking pundits…keep flapping about Vince Young and his 5/13 TD/INT ratio and (scrolling down) 65 QB-rating. I’ll keep talking about Garrard’s 9/0 ratio and 103 QB-rating and his 8-3 team. I’ll tell you, as a Giants fan, it’s nice to watch a team like Jacksonville. They had only one penalty against Buffalo. They allowed only one sack. They only punted once. Eight players caught a pass. They have two number one RBs and either one will hurt you, depending on the week. They have a defense which gives up less than 18 points and less than 100 yards a game on the ground, but can you name ONE of their defensive players? They are efficient. They are a TEAM. Digging it.

In boring news, Oakland beat KC for their first division win since the Harding administration. KC fell to 4-7 and we now don’t have to discuss them. As for Oaktown, I would like to know what they’re waiting for with JaMarcus Russell. Put him in—better he should learn now, right? Sometimes when two boring teams play, excitement is formed. San Francisco and Arizona locked up in one of those crazy games. It ended with Kurt Warner—surprise—fumbling in the end zone, the Niners winning by recovering for an OT TD. However, the REAL story came earlier in the OT when Neil Rackers gagged on a 32-yarder. Here’s what I wrote after week 7 when Rackers missed another big FG:

Cardinals kickers don't face that many pressure kicks, but if you remember back to last season when the Bears had that otherworldly comeback against the Cards (the Dennis Green meltdown game), Rackers had a 41-yard attempt with less than a minute left to salvage the win for Arizona...but he missed it. He seems to be the Trevor Hoffman of kickers—he does great until it actually matters.

If you’re on the Cards’ coaching staff, and you want to move forward as a franchise…you need to get a kicker who makes those kicks. If Rackers makes both of those kicks—which a decent kicker would—the Cards would be 7-4. They’re a good team, one that needs to learn how to win—and having a reliable kicker is part of that. I still think they can catch the Seahawks.

San Diego took care of business against Baltimore, marking the official end of the Ravens’ season. Philip Rivers had 3 TDs and no INTs, throwing for 249 yards. Can put the “Ravens are a great defense” myth to bed yet? San Diego moved to 6-5, a game ahead of the Broncos in the AFC West. I’d be shocked if the Bolts didn’t win that division because…wait...I’ve just been handed this update: Denver stinks. Despite having a 34-20 lead in the fourth quarter, they managed to give up two TDs to the anemic Bears’ offense in the last five minutes, surrendering their lead. What makes it worse is the fact that the Donkeys gave up two return TDs to Devin Hester. I mean, one is bad, but I can understand it—even though anyone who kicks to him under any circumstances is an idiot—but the second time? Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice? Shame on Shanahan. But even WITH those two Hester specials, the Broncs had a two-TD lead late in the game. Check it—with 9 minutes left, Denver, leading 34-20, recovered a Grossman fumble on the Bears’ 36. Run for minus 8, run for minus 3, incomplete pass…blocked punt. Nice special teams. Now Denver is 5-6 and on the outside looking in, while Chicago’s 5-6 is good enough to get them to the wild card dance—whether someone asks them to mambo, that’s another story. It will be a big game this Sunday as the Giants journey to the second city.

Seattle lucked out against St. Louis as Gus Frerotte fumbled the snap on a fourth and goal with seconds remaining, handing a win to the Charmin-hawks. The Hawks needed a kick return, Mark Bulger’s injury, and the Frerotte follies to beat a 2-8 team. How am I supposed to take them seriously? Against the Rams’ defense, they could muster all of 87 yards rushing? Please. Man I want the Cardinals to catch them.

Tampa beat Washington as the Skins lost fumbles on two of their first three plays, continuing their pattern of sloppiness. With this shoddy performance, the Redskins fell into the morass of the NFC wild card race and the Bucs solidified their position atop the NFC South. I think it might be time for coach Gibbs to leave. This team has done nothing but underachieve since his return.

Enjoy the awesome game Thursday night—and no, I didn’t forget the Steelers’ 3-0 win. I’m just so sickened by the fact that 1) that field was in that condition and 2) that they played the game. The Steelers, who I like, should be fined $1 million for allowing their field to be in such ridiculous condition. It was embarrassing to think that a professional team had their field in that shape for a national game. The weather, the 20 other games that have been played on that field recently, blah, blah, blah…how is there no drainage? How can a class organization allow its field to get to that point? I mean, they almost ruined their season because of it. If they’d lost that game, and they very-well could have, forget about catching the Colts—the Steelers would have been tied with Cleveland for the division lead. As for the game being played at all, it was laughable. I know there are people who planned their week around going to the game, but you know what? That’s not as important as the integrity of the league, and the well-being of its players. It’s a wonder no one blew a knee out last night. The game should have been postponed until the field was playable. They couldn’t wait a day? Why? If the Steelers have a problem with the short rest, too bad—it’s their own fault. And who cares what an oh-and-ten team thinks, if anyone wanted their opinion, they’d beat it out of them…oh wait, everyone already has. Seriously—anyone who watched that game knows that it shouldn’t have been played. Come on NFL—take some time out from fining players for celebrating too much and put some focus on the GAMES. Grow a pair and do what’s right next time. And Gene Upshaw—you should have demanded that the game be postponed for the safety of your players. Do you think for ONE SECOND that baseball’s union would have let their players to play in that quagmire? Not a chance. As I was saying—enjoy the games this week.

R

RIP Sean Taylor—your hard hits will be missed.

We're number three!!! The Week 11 rambles.

It’s the short week, Thanksgiving week…a time to give thanks. I’d like to thank the Giants for being 7-3. Phew. The Giants won a game they needed to in Detroit. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t impressive, and didn’t tell us anything other than this: The Giants are the third best team in the NFC. Yay. They yawned their way to a 16-10 win in a turnover-filled game where the two teams COMBINED for less than 100 yards rushing. Eli Manning played well enough—28-39 for 283 with a TD and no picks…but he only led the team to one TD against the Lions. Get the team into the end zone! Settling for FGs is all fine and well when you’re A) playing a team that is worse than you with a sputtering offense, and B) playing inside where your dreadful kicker doesn’t have to be concerned with any of the elements…But this game did do one important thing—it stopped the losing. I’m not talking about the one-game losing streak hey had going after being blown out by Dallas, but the losing the Giants went through at this time last season. Had they dropped this game in Detroit, and it almost seemed that they tried to at the end, everyone—fans, media, players, coaches—would have been thinking, “here we go again…” and a self-fulfilling prophecy would have commenced. Instead, the Giants sit at 7-3 with separation between them and the other lesser NFC playoff wanna-bes. They have a 1 ½ game lead on the Lions, and a 2-game lead on Philly, Washington, and Arizona. The Giants should make the playoffs and host a wild card game. SHOULD. Five of their last six games are winnable and while I don’t expect them to win all five, they SHOULD win at least four which would give them 11 for the season. They host the Adrian Peterson-less Vikings, travel to Chicago and Philly—talk about two overrated and thoroughly disappointing teams—then games against Washington and Buffalo before the week 17 match-up against New England that’s going to be hyped beyond belief as the Pats will be going for 16-0. 11-5 and a #5 seed—to me, that’s exactly what they should be. To wit, they’re not as good as Dallas (I don’t think anyone but the Pats are) or Green Bay and they’re better than the remaining rabble. Does 11-5 allow Coughlin to keep his job? I hate to say this but, how can it not? The team started off like a train wreck on both sides of the ball but ya know what? They’re now playing well on both of those sides, perhaps better on defense than they have in a long time…much of the credit has to go to new DC, Steve Spagnuolo, but Coughlin is the head man and when they play poorly he takes the blame, so now—he deserves some of the credit. Fair is fair…even in New York. Offensively, this team still doesn’t convince me, but there’s time for that. The injury to Brandon Jacobs is going to hurt if it’s long-term, even though Derrick Ward may return as soon as this week. They need the big back in the winter months. Period. As for Eli, he’s just kind of there—he’s not the guy who will make the amazing play; not the guy who can improvise…I guess I’d sum it up this way: Eli Manning is a quarterback, not a football player. And there’s a huge difference. Brett Favre is a football player…Romo, Brady, Roethlisberger—football players. Is it a coincidence that those teams are the four favorites to reach the Super Bowl (sorry Peyton, your team has too many injuries)? It all harkens back to what I mentioned last week—I wanna see Eli get fired up, rally the team, make them better...Will I ever see it? Moving on...

The Jets and their fans are thankful for a win. Any win. So they must be extra happy this week as they defeated the Steelers, 19-16 in OT, thus diminishing their chance for the top draft pick. Sunshine seems to always come with a dark cloud with this team, doesn’t it? Or perhaps I just don’t like them and their overrated tattletale of a coach. Either way, the win was a good one, but one which will hurt them in the end—sure you want to win some games, but 2-14 or 3-13, what’s the difference? A lower draft pick, that’s the difference—Glenn Dorsey or Sedrick Ellis. You college fans know what I’m saying. The Jets played a terrific defensive game, confusing Roethlisberger, stymieing Willie Parker, and holding the explosive Steelers offense to field goals instead of touchdowns. Offensively, Thomas “4.0” Jones got the ball enough so that his 3.9 yards a carry could be effective and Kellen Clemens played a decent game. But who was it that essentially won the game for the Jets? My guy—Leon Washington, the most underutilized man on the team—with his 33 yard punt return. Look, I’m sure Brad Smith is a nice guy and it’s cool that he used to play QB, but he drops passes all the time and isn’t anything more than a guy the coaches like to say, “look what we did—we drafted a QB then turned him into a WR! How cool are we?” about. I don’t know about you Jets fans, but I’d rather see Washington get some of those touches, be it split out or out of the backfield. The guy makes things happen, and the Jets don’t really have anyone else offensively who you can say that about. A good, and a bad win for the J-E-T-S. As for you, Pittsburgh, that’s a bad one. You were outgained, outscored and worst of all—outplayed by a bad team. This always seems to happen to the Steelers at least once a season…come to think of it—I’m a bit nervous about this team’s chances. Take a look at who they’ve beaten this season—no one that good. Seattle? Denver? Cleveland? Hmmm. I guess we’ll find out if they lost a game they shouldn’t have to the Jets, or if they’re simply beating up on crap teams. After hosting a bye (Miami) and Cincinnati, they go to New England and then play Jacksonville. As always, we’ll find out what a team is made of.

Did anyone see that Browns game? I’m sure you’ve all heard about it by now—the game with the bizarre field goal at the end of regulation? Well, I have to ask—why haven’t the two referees who were standing under the goalposts been fired yet? They should be thankful for having a job. It was abundantly clear that both of them saw the ball go through the uprights, then hit behind the crossbar and bounce back through. Why didn’t they signal that the kick was good? Didn’t they know the rules? If not, they should be fired. Didn’t they have the sack to make a tough call, one which they knew would infuriate a team? If not, they should be fired. This is a perfect illustration of the cowardice of NFL referees—they never have the guts to make a tough call, or non-call. They just think, “Replay will get it.” Well, when you’re gutless, replay doesn’t make up for it, even when it overturns your errors: When you call pass interference because it’s the easy way out, replay can’t make up for it. When you don’t see a guy’s foot land out of bounds and say the catch was good, replay may atone for your transgression, but a coach has to waste a challenge because of your laziness/incompetence. When that field goal went through and back, the refs just looked at each other, and I didn’t need them to be miked to know they said, while looking at each other, “Ummm…I think that’s no good, right?” Fired! That controversy distracted from the fact that the Browns are now 6-4, behind only Jacksonville and tied with Tennessee for an AFC wild card spot. And from what I saw from the Titans last night, they’re not going anywhere. Cleveland did it with their usual combination of exciting offense and special teams, and even threw a 100-yard interception return in for good measure. They’re easily one of the most entertaining teams to watch and I’d love to see them in the playoffs. See ya Ravens. You stink and you’re boring. You can be one of those, but you can’t be both and have me discuss you. Good riddance.

The Tampa Bay Bucs should be thankful for the inconsistency of the rest of their crap division. They actually look like they’re going to win it, which is sort of nutty. They crushed the hapless Falcons 31-7 and are now starting to realize that they’re in charge of the South division of the NFC. Jeff Garcia may not be a thrill a minute, but he doesn’t make mistakes and he has a great chemistry with Joey Galloway, and really, what QB wouldn’t? Combine Garcia’s efficiency with Graham and Pittman literally running the show and ironically you have a decent offense for January’s weather. Every one of T-Bay’s remaining games is winnable. Out of nowhere they’ll finish 11-5 and win a playoff game—wait and see. Atlanta, I’ve got nothing for you. Be thankful for that.

There are quite a few teams I find myself rooting for these days, and one of them is the Cardinals. I’m not sure why…I guess it’s fun to watch Kurt Warner and his bionic-looking arm throw to Fitzgerald and Boldin. It’s fun to watch Antrel Rolle run back two INTs for touchdowns and do a couple of backflips to celebrate…I like the coach too—he seems to understand that the first thing he had to do was eliminate the losing feeling this franchise ahs had for…for…well, forever. He’s done it and Arizona should be thankful for him. His team had a mere 50 yards rushing and less than 200 yards passing, gave up 27 points, were out-gained by over 100 yards, and had 11 penalties. But they won. How? Turnovers: They didn’t have any, while Cincinnati had 5, including two that were returned for TDs by the aforementioned Rolle. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cards edged out the Softhawks for the NFC West title. This is yet another team which has six winnable games remaining—but December 9th will determine their fate as they travel to Seattle. If they win, they sweep the Hawks and will win the West. If they lose, they will most likely not make the playoffs. It’ll be hard for Whisenhunt to keep his team focused on the games leading up to that one…Cincy can be thankful that the season has only six games left. What a disappointment…it couldn’t happen to a better bunch of guys.

The Packers can be thankful that number 4 didn’t retire. The Pack is back—now 9-1 after a beat-down of the Panthers. I had them winning the division, but did not think they would be THIS good. Wow. Favre is hitting everyone for TDs and the whole team is having a blast out there, feeding off of his love for the game and raw emotion…if you think raw emotion doesn’t matter, you’re crazy. Do you think anyone wants to go to Lambeau in January? It’s a huge battle between the Packers and Cowboys to see who gets home field for their seemingly inevitable NFC Championship showdown. November 29th—Green Bay at Dallas and if the green and gold want to avoid another trip to Texas, they’d best win that one…and they could. They have a better defense and when Favre is on, he can beat anyone. The NFL is praying for a Favre/Brady Super Bowl, remember that. I’m not saying anything…I’m just saying. Oh yeah, the Panthers are a joke with Vinny back there. Vinny, it was a nice try, but come on. Leave. I’ll be thankful.

Another one of those teams I like is the Texans, who moved to .500 with a win over the annoyingly inconsistent Saints. Matt Schaub outplayed Drew Brees and Andre Johnson proved he’s one of the most underrated players in the league, coming back from an injury to post 120 receiving yards—73 of them on a TD pass from Schaub. It’s too bad he’s missed 7 games or the Texans would be leading the wild card chase instead of trying to make up ground. Yes, Johnson and Schaub are a big reason for this team finding some success, but the main reason to me is their defense. Mario Williams didn’t look like someone who should have been picked behind Reggie Bush on Sunday—he sacked Brees and forced a fumble. Bush barely had 100 yards rushing and receiving and averaged 2.3 yards per carry. The bottom line is this: Bush is averaging the same yards per carry as he did last year—3.6. Not a success by any standard. Williams has already eclipsed his sack total from last season with six games to go. Sure, Bush gets his receiving yards too, but he is averaging less than six yards per reception—again, not a successful number. So those who were laughing at the Texans when they passed on the USC guy, you may want to check yourselves and wait for the final votes to be counted. Bush and his Saints are, at least thus far, nothing but hype.

I know that the Colts have injuries, but come on. Barely beating the Chiefs at HOME after a gut-wrenching loss to San Diego the week before? Seriously? They should be thankful they won and be thankful for the fact thath they racked up a bunch of early season wins, because they look like crap. Is Vinatieri hurt? I sure hope so because if he’s not, he’s turned into a bad kicker. He missed two more kicks! Is Manning hurt? Is Addai hurt? No? Manning: 16 for 32 and an INT…Addai: 21 for 72. Look in the mirror guys. They should have throttled the Chiefs, who had a rookie starting at QB. I think Indianapolis should zip it—after all, wasn’t it the Chiefs who were missing Larry Johnson? He’s not too bad. Manning has Wayne, Addai, and Dallas Clark—that’s more than most teams have. So he was missing his big hookup, so what? They should have won that game easily, but they didn’t. Freeney was out? So what? Everyone has injuries boys—act like World Champs, at least for the couple of months you still own that title. Watching this game, it was pretty clear that the Colts were feeling sorry for themselves—for losing that game last week and for all the injuries they’re suffering through right now. Waaaaah. They’d better get it straight—they have Atlanta on Thanksgiving, then (thanks to the league and their desire to see the Colts win) have some extra time to rest before they entertain the Jags in what could be a meaningful game. KC should be thankful they’re even in a discussion where their name appears with the word “playoffs.” PLAYOFFS? That Mora clip never gets old.

The Eagles can be thankful they were playing the Dolphins. They escaped with a 10 point win but couldn’t have looked worse doing it. McNabb went out with an injury, but not before he managed to go 3-11 for a whopping 34 yards and two terrible interceptions. He played for a quarter and a half, but could manage only 3 points at home, against a winless team, in a game his team absolutely HAD to win. When he got hurt, the Eagles were somehow losing to the 0-fer Fish. OK, he’ll miss a series and get x-rayed and then come back in—he knows how vital this game is! No. He would not return. "It's a little sore. I'll be fine," McNabb said. "Could I have played? I don't think so." Wow. So you didn’t think you could play? Were you guessing? How about taking it out for a test drive and playing a series, or at least giving it a try for ONE PLAY? I know I hammer this guy week in and week out, but come on already—would any of the top QBs in this league, and McNabb is most certainly NOT one of them—have not at least TRIED to play in a game like that? This isn’t a game where you have a 10-1 record and a 30 point lead; this was a game in which your team is 4-5, the team you like to think is YOURS is losing, can’t move the ball, and you’ve already played terribly. Does he want to TRY to lead the team back? Or does he want to call it a day because he “doesn’t think” he can play? People were calling for McNabb to be benched before this game. What are they saying now? I’m sorry—you’ve GOT TO make an effort to play in that game. But I’m sure the reason he didn’t was Terrell Owens’ fault…it’s allllll TO’s fault, right Donovan? Miami will win a game, don’t worry about them. I am actually interested to see if Ricky Williams is still a good runner. He’d better hurry up and get into a game—he’s gonna smoke weed and get caught again, it’s just a matter of time, isn’t it? Go Ricky!

Cardinals, Browns and Texans, as much as I like you guys, I find myself liking the Jags a bit more. No, they’re not explosive offensively, they’re not a crazy-good defense like the Bears of 06…they’re just a solid, solid football team that will take your best punch then deliver theirs. Your punch might be harder or better than theirs, but they’re tougher than you, so YOU will be the one who goes down and stays down. Yeah!!! I love the Jags!!! OK, OK…they beat the…I don’t know how to describe San Diego anymore. Enigmatic? Yeah, we’ll use that for now. They beat the enigmatic Chargers pretty easily and improved to 7-3. This, after they gave up 1,000,000 yards on the ground in losing their opening game of the season to division rival Tennessee. Jacksonville is kind of like Tampa Bay, but with better backs, a better defense, and a very similar QB who doesn’t make mistakes and produces when called upon. Jacksonville = Rich Man’s Tampa Bay. The Jags held Tomlinson to 62 yards rushing—no easy feat. Meanwhile, the Jags scored on their first three possessions—that’s the way you keep a team who is feeling down, down. Kick them in the teeth right away. David Garrard returned from injury to post modest numbers: 15 for 24 for 189 yards with two TDs and, as usual, no INTs. His return meant a lot to the team, and the offense in particular. I’ll let one of his teammates say it, “That's why he's our leader," receiver Ernest Wilford said. "He's one of the guys who's moving the chains and making plays and making everyone else look better. That's what you look for in your quarterback, to make everyone around him better." THAT is what I want my team saying about my quarterback.

Jimmy crack corn, and I don’t care. So imagine how I feel about Oakland and Minnesota! This was an entertaining albeit meaningless affair which proved that neither team is any good and that I wanted to see Adrian Peterson play, and was pissed he’s hurt. Oh, and it was cool to see Visanthe Shiancoe roll up 79 yards in one reception. Like a Yankees World Series title, we shan’t see it again anytime soon.

Dallas beat Washington. Or should I say my man TO beat Washington! Four TDs! Man, he’s having fun out there, and who wouldn’t when they went for four TDs? Better for Dallas is that everyone else is catching TO’s enthusiasm and they’ve finally figured out how to handle him—don’t. When he’s left alone, he’s a productive receiver AND a good teammate. His teammates know he’s a nut, but he’s THEIR nut and they’ve embraced him, led by Tony Romo. This guy—even as a Giants fan, I have to tip my cap to him…he’s exciting, has fun, does what he has to, isn’t afraid of anything…sigh. Why can’t we have a Tony Romo. As if his 9-1 record wasn’t enough, I’m told the magnificent bastard makes some mean ribs! Is there no end to what you can do, Tony Romo!!?!?! Washington might slip into the playoffs, and that’s where they should be. They’re decent on both sides of the ball. They beat the bad teams and lose to the good ones. Mediocre, thy name is Washington. I like Jason Campbell and have seen him improve steadily on a weekly basis…but he can’t hang with Tony Romo and his gang. Dallas hosts Green Bay in a couple of weeks, but they better not sleep on Thanksgiving, lest the Jets steal their 2nd big name scalp in two games. It can’t happen. Lay the wood.

In other news, the Niners are still atrocious and the Rams aren’t much better…They should both be thankful that no one watched their display of ineptitude. Bah. “Hey SF—race me to the first draft pick?” “OK—but Miami has a huge lead on us…” “Don’t worry they’ll screw it up somehow.”

I don’t care if they won, when a team allows Cedric “Charmin” Benson to run amok, I can give it no props. Seattle, who is the Fool’s Gold of the NFL, beat the reeling Bears in Seattle to improve to 6-4. Matt Hasselbeck, who is actually damn good despite his team’s softness, had another outstanding game, and Maurice Morris had another good effort himself. On the softer side, the Hawks yielded 345 yards of offense to the Bears. THE BEARS! With Rex Grossman at the helm! How is that acceptable? Man, I can’t wait for this team to get smoked. Paper Tiger, smoke and mirrors, however you wanna term it, Seattle is going to be the victim of one of those blowout playoff games if they can hang on to win the division. Don’t feel sorry for Chicago, you can’t fool everyone every season. We haven’t heard much from Devin Hester lately. I guess those who were touting him for the Hall of Fame have found something else to hype.

I am running out of compliments for the Patriots. Brady is a stud, Moss is sick, blah, blah, blah. I’ll say this: that camera incident was the best thing that could have ever happened to them, and to the NFL. Now everyone is polarized—you either love them or hate them. You’re either from New England and/or like to root for the bad guy, or you are an unappreciative person who believes heroes wear white hats and always get the girl. Fools—Tom Brady gets the girl, not anyone else! Have you learned nothing? When New England is driving for 16, 17, 18, and finally 19-0—how “upset” will the NFL be about that old Cameragate story? That’s the story that gave the Pats the extra “us against the world” motivation to not just beat, but to crush all comers. AND, it’s the story that made people hate the Pats like we all used to hate the dynasties of the 70s and 80s, in all sports. Man, I used to hate the Cowboys and Niners…and the Celtics…and the Bulls…and the Islanders…now? Now I admire them, and admire the Pats. Remember—we might be living through sports history this season, and that’s pretty cool.

Denver is going to win the AFC West. And people go on about how GREAT the AFC is? Shut it, all of you. Denver is no better than Washington and they’re going to win a division. It’s weak sauce. Everyone was thinking San Diego was the 2nd best team in the league, right there with New England, ahead of even Indy! But they’re not, it’s time to admit it and move on. Who’s really good in the AFC other than the Pats? Pittsburgh? They just lost to the Jets! Jacksonville—I wish, but they aren’t that good…who? Tell me? Indy? They’re banged up, but they apparently have no depth. I see Green Bay and Dallas playing much better than anyone this side of Belichick-ville…MUCH better. So stop the presses—the NFC is coming on strong. Will they win the Super Bowl? Maybe. All I know is, it’s the NFC representative that’s going to make the Super Bowl a story. Whether it’s TO, Romo and the Cowboys, or Favre’s last chance for a title in a storybook season…the NFL should stop their Peyton Manning hype machine and move it over to the NFC, at least at 9-1, those teams deserve it. For now.

Remember—the games are on Thursday, so get your picks in and set your fantasy lineups early this week! Happy Thanksgiving to all—be thankful for what you have.