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Hi Folks, Here's what happens when you sit an NFL Junkie down in front of multiple big screens with Sunday Ticket and fresh batteries in the remote… Seattle's Jerramy Stevens joins fellow Seahawk Jerheme Urban and Pittsburgh's Jerame Tuman in the "Another Funky Way To Spell 'Jeremy' Club". New drinking game for you: Every time ESPN's Paul Maguire says some version of "Let me tell you something", you take a shot. Acceptable entries will be "Let me tell you what", "Let me tell you", "I gotta tell you" and "I'll tell you what." Do NOT plan on driving after this game. You probably won't stay vertical through halftime… Credit where credit is due department. I've ripped Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks regularly in this column. At one point in the first half, he was sacked on four of five consecutive plays. He'd thrown for just 38 yards at halftime and looked well on his way to another loss. He battled back against a tough Tampa defense and came alive in the 4th quarter with two late touchdowns. Baltimore's Jamal Lewis was visibly limited by his injured ankle in the 2nd quarter. I thought he might not come back out after the half. Instead, he looked good as new. I bet he took a Tylenol or "something" in the locker room… Along those lines, here's my radical thought for the day: I think you can make
an argument that pain killing injections are at least in the same ball park
as steroids. They both offer an artificial chemical advantage. Don't misunderstand
- I'm not saying they're the same. I'm saying I think you can make an argument
they're in the same ball park. Just something to chew on. Drew Bennett. Wow. Over the last three games, he's posted 8 touchdowns. With the Titans decimated by injury, they looked for a guy to step up and Bennett fit that bill. Funny story to share with you. Back in week 14, I had a subscriber email me asking me if I'd help him choose between Isaac Bruce and Drew Bennett. We had Bruce ranked one spot ahead of Bennett. I replied that most importantly, he should go with his thinking, not mine. I always tell folks it's a lot more fun that way. I then told him that if it were me, I'd stick to the cheatsheets and go with Bruce. I thought of him a few days later as Bennett rolled up a couple hundred yards in the first half. (He finished with 233 yards and 3 touchdowns). As I expected, he had an email waiting for me Tuesday morning. I reluctantly opened it. He said, "I took your advice." I'm thinking, "Great'. His next sentence was, "And followed my gut to start Bennett." Whew. Anyone else find it interesting to see San Diego and Houston play great in the cold and snow? Speaking of San Diego, Drew Brees attempted 6 passes Sunday completing 4 of them. Yikes. But the Chargers won handily and that's the bottom line. At least for the Chargers it is. Here's what Houston's David Carr said, "I've never been anywhere near something this cold. As far as weather and conditions, the guys responded. There were some guys who were freezing and wanted to go home early, but they toughed it out for me. The ball was like throwing an ice cube." Cool move Sunday night. Indianapolis intercepted a Kyle Boller pass giving the Colts 1st and goal from the Ravens' 4. There was :59 left on the clock and the Colts were leading 20-10. Peyton Manning was one passing TD from tying Dan Marino's record. It appeared that the Indy coaching staff had called a pass. Instead, Manning audibled out and took a kneel down. You could see some confusion among the Indianapolis coaching staff on the sidelines. The crowd booed as Manning closed the game out with a second kneel down. Afterwards, Manning said, "That's just how you play. Now if they'd have called a timeout, it might have been different." Detroit's Joey Harrington played the game of his life completing 25 of 44 passes for 361 yards and two touchdowns. All while suffering from the flu. Isn't it always that way? Guy drags himself out of bed with a 103 degree temperature and plays lights out. Harrington looked like death warmed over after the game though. Who could blame him after losing the game with a botched extra point attempt. What do Tyrone Calico, Musa Smith and Terrell Owens all have in common? They suffered severe lower leg injuries after a Roy Williams "Horse Collar" type tackle where Williams grabbed the player's shoulder pad collar from behind and then rolled up on him. Musa Smith's season ending leg fracture was probably the most graphic example (warning - link is not for those with a weak stomach). The Terrell Owens play was similar as well with Williams grabbing Owens' shoulder pad collar and pulling him off balance and down. I see no way you'd ever legislate this type of tackling. And I'm not saying Williams is intentionally trying to take people out. I'm just suggesting that three instances in one season may be more than coincidence. Intentional or not, you'll be hard pressed to deny that it's not effective. Tampa's Simeon Rice said the Bucs don't have the same accountability and focus on detail they did with former coach Tony Dungy. In a slap to Jon Gruden, Rice said, "Now we're under a certain level of discipline where a mistake is cool. … There has to be (accountability). I remember when I first got here, if you fumbled, you're not playing. That's what I remember." Rice played for one year under Tony Dungy. I understand frustration. But there's not a bright future in calling Jon Gruden out publicly. On the flip side, Tampa's lost 14 games over the last two years by one touchdown or less. That's enough to make anyone frustrated. Rams coach Mike Martz didn't hold back on his criticism of Chris Chandler: "I had no idea what he was doing." Another argument supporting my contention that it's all about takeaways. Buffalo managed 18 takeaways for the entire 2003 season. They have 22 over the last 5 games. Green Bay in the playoffs after last week's loss? How'd that happen? Interesting thought. Terrell Owens and Todd Pinkston form one of the best WR corps in the league. Todd Pinkston and Freddie Mitchell might be the worst WR corps in the league. Speaking of Pinkston. His alligator arms are almost becoming comical. NFL Network's Sterling Sharpe said he was one more bad play from officially calling Pinkston out as a coward. Ouch. I asked our message board guys what I thought was an interesting question. Given all that Terrell Owens means to the Eagles, would Philadelphia fans rather have a healthy T.O. or a healthy Donovan McNabb if they could only choose one? Owens is a great player but I think you go McNabb there. Introducing your AFC West Champion San Diego Chargers… That sounds pretty good. This has been beaten to death so I'll be brief. I'm amazed by the college football post season debacle and the refusal to adopt a playoff. It's rare to see something shot down that has such widespread support from the customers (fans) and the media, and is a lock to make everyone involved ridiculously wealthy? The powers that be are inches away from having one of the coolest events in all of sports yet they refuse to reach out and grab the opportunity. Unbelievable. New York's Curtis Martin said he went as far as his offensive line would take him. "I think the offensive line challenged us. They came in and said, 'What're you going to do today, Curt?'. I said, 'I'm going to do what you do.' " Last week, Vikings coach Mike Tice said he would give offensive coordinator Scott Linehan $5,000 if he opened Sunday's game with the same reverse pass play that might have cost the Vikings a victory over Seattle the previous week. Instead of having Randy Moss try throwing the ball, Linehan called for a fake reverse to Moss on the Vikings' first offensive play Sunday. After Daunte Culpepper faked to Moss, he threw incomplete to running back Michael Bennett. "Did you think it was coming?'' Linehan said of the fake reverse to Moss. "When you saw him coming, were you like, 'He's going to... ah.' '' As effective as Indianapolis is at the goal line throwing the ball, they almost have a "play action run" thing going where they surprise the defense with a run. This was Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs' first win in San Francisco. That surprised me. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis had plenty of blame to spread around after Sunday's loss: "We didn't play well enough as a team offensively to win the game. We didn't protect him. We didn't complete passes when we had guys open, and we weren't always right on a route running. Jon, by no means, played very well." I love the NFL House commercials. The new one features Torry Holt crashing into Plaxico Burress' flower garden. Burress throws the flowers into Holt's chest and yells "I can't keep NOTHING nice around here." That kills me. You gotta like Joey Galloway's TD dance flexing those 15 inch biceps… Baltimore offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh has interviewed for the head coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh. Cavanaugh, who is in his sixth season with the Ravens, was the quarterback on Pittsburgh's 1976 national championship team. Coach Brian Billick was very cool about it. "We're excited for Matt," Billick said. "When you have an opportunity to go home, and that's home for Matt, in a very special way, you have to support that all you can, and we do, obviously. ... I've never been around a coach any more ready to be a head coach than Matt Cavanaugh." I know St. Louis is a passing team, but I'm having a tough time understanding how they only rush the ball 10 times against the #30 rush defense. Seattle's Darrel Jackson was asked if he had anything to say to the fans of Seattle. "Thanks for supporting me, keep it up and don't boo me no more when I drop the ball," he said. Good luck with that, Darrell… Buffalo linebacker Takeo Spikes said teammate London Fletcher wasn't surprised to see Spikes score a touchdown. "Fletch told me, 'Spikes, I visualized you (Saturday) night running one back.' I said, 'To be honest Fletch, I thought about that on Wednesday' ". Cleveland's Terry Robiskie seemed genuinely embarrassed. "I want to say I'm sorry, I really do. Not just for the game, but for the season." Think the Chargers lean on LaDainian Tomlinson? Check out this series:
And then later in the day, he posted this series:
FOX's new "reality" show is called "Who's Your Daddy?" There's apparently no end in sight for this drivel. Does Willis McGahee have some kind of contractual obligation to be shaken up early in every single game? Cleveland coach Terry Robiskie gave his version of the John Heisman "It would have been better to die as a small boy than to fumble this football" speech Sunday. Robiskie said, "The young guys have got to understand, there's more to it than your ability. This thing in my hand, this football, you have got to cherish it. You've got to protect it. It is your life. It is your livelihood. And at that position, and again, I know there's always a theory with this business, that you got to be careful with your quarterbacks. You don't want to blow his confidence. You don't want to screw with his psyche. I don't want to do any of them things. But I want to get my message: That this (football) is the most important thing in the world, this ball in my hand. Glitch in the Matrix: Green Bay's Brett Favre and Jacksonville's Byron Leftwich both injured their left wrists within minutes of each other. Byron Leftwich's injury had him writhing in pain. The words the announcers used were "in agony". I thought they might need to amputate his arm judging from the way he was acting. And then two plays later (without any visible pain killing shot), he's fine. I took a friend to the emergency room once. While we were there, they wheeled a girl into the ER who'd injured her ankle somehow. She was screaming bloody murder. They wheeled her back to a room and you could hear her all the way down the hall shrieking for a doctor. I figured it had to be a compound fracture or something. From the way she was carrying on, I'm thinking it's wheelchair for life for her. Twenty minutes later, she walked past me out the door. I'm not saying she was wearing a #7 jersey, I'm just sayin'… Catching up one we missed last week: Towards the end of the week Kansas City - Tennessee Monday night football game, the refs made that questionable penalty roughing the passer call against Tennessee. The camera panned to the sidelines to show Jeff Fisher yelling at the officials. What you also could see was an assistant couch in the background making the universal "he's drunk" sign ala John Candy in Planes, Trains & Automobiles. That's pretty funny. Southwest Airlines should make a new commercial this week featuring Don Muhlbach, the Lion's Long Snapper. I can't think of anyone who would 'Want to Get Away' more than he does. Everything seems to be going the Colts way these days. Down 13-3 at the end of the 3rd quarter, Baltimore kicker Matt Stover kicked a line-drive FG into the back of center Joe Maese's helmet. The kick was recovered by Indy and they ran the ball back 24 more yards. 5 plays later, the Colts scored a TD and put the game away. Al Michaels is the most prepared play by play guy in sports. Tom Brady had a pass batted down Monday night and before the ball landed on the turf, Michaels noted that it was Brady's first pass of the season to be blocked. Baltimore's Ed Reed shouted to his teammates Sunday night that he thought Peyton Manning was scared. Reed said, "He's got fear in his heart. I can smell it!". I'm not sure what Reed was smelling, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't fear. The whole Raven "We Hunters!" thing is getting a little tired. It was good in October. In December, not so much. Watch the Colts closely and you'll see that down and distance seem to have zero impact on what play they call. Everyone saw the Donovan Darius hit on Robert Ferguson Sunday. It was a vicious clothesline that left Ferguson unconscious while his legs convulsed. You could hear a pin drop in the stadium as the crowd looked on and players gathered. What you might not have seen was Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio laughing about something on the sidelines. I'm sure he wasn't laughing about the hit but when your player just laid out the opponent with a hit illegal enough to warrant an ejection, you wipe that laugh off your face and at least give the impression you care the guy's unconscious with his legs convulsing out there. Where can I get one of those white referee hats with the ear flaps like Ed Hochuli was sporting Sunday? Hard Luck Awards
Sometimes it's better to just not know. Thanks for playing along and I hope that you and yours have an outstanding Holiday. Best wishes to you and we'll see you next week. Here's to Football. Thanks to Bob Harris, Todd Anderson, Steve Tourek and Will Grant for the help
on this one. |
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