By Paul Gotham
There’s more to the picture…
“…than meets the eye.”
Week 17 became the question of timing versus rust, or for some health versus injury.
One week after turning their back on perfection, Indy’s Colts feigned deference as did Arizona, Cincinnati and New Orleans.
New England, on the other hand, did not.
With home field advantage in hand for the playoffs, Peyton Manning stayed in the game just long enough to get Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne 100 receptions each for 
the season. Clark joined Tony Gonzalez as the only tight ends to reach the century mark.
From there the trio took their place on the snowy sidelines at Ralph Wilson Stadium and watched Curtis “I’m no Picasso” Painter take the ball.
Buffalo’s Ryan Fitzpatrick threw two more touchdowns, and the Bills went on to a 30-7 victory. Terrell Owens finished with four catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. Fred Jackson picked his own milestone passing the 1,000 yard rushing mark with 212 yards for the day.
While the Colts treated the game like a pre-season exhibition (Dwight Freeney, Joseph Addai, and Robert Mathis did not play at all), the Bills might have been going through a try out. Buddy Nix was hired just last week as the team’s new general manager.
Arizona and Green Bay both knew they had a game next week. Ken Whisenhunt opted to play possum. Mike McCarthy kept the foot on the pedal. Whisenhunt sat Kurt Wrner on the bench, and the result was the worst home loss in Whisenhunt tenure with the Cardinals, 33-7.
With Warner pickin’ splinters for the day, Matt Leinart got his big chance. “He was a big man. He never thought to do things twice.” Leinart went 13-21 for 96 yards and two interceptions. At least Leinart did better than “I’m no Picasso.” Of course, “I’m no Picasso” never won a Heisman either.
If Marvin Lewis was Bill BeliCHICK, nobody would bother with the result of yesterday’s game between the Bengals and Jets. But Marvin Lewis is NOT Bill BeliCHICK, and losing to the Jets, 37-0 is a head-scratcher. Yeah, okay so the Bengals knew they would play the Jets next week. Caution would serve the better part of valor…or something like that. There is a difference between caution and apathy. The Patriots could stem the momentum generated by the Jets yesterday. Can the Bengals?
As for the Saints…HELLO!?!? You now have a three-game losing streak! What in the love of cajun country are you thinking? You needed overtime to beat the Washington ‘No-hearts’! You beat the Falcons by three. Neither of those teams are in the playoffs. That is all you have to speak for in the last month of the season. Now you get two weeks to dwell on that. Enjoy the friggin’ Pro Bowl!
Somewhere, there is a New England Patriot fan that wants to slap me for suggesting that the above teams should have played rather than rested their players. Here’s the thing – if there is a coach that can figure out how to recover from the loss of Wes Welker and Tom Brady’ rib injury (did I forget any), Bill BeliCHICK is the guy. Who figured out how to stop the K-Gun in Super XXV? Ding! Ding! BeliCHICK. Who schemed a way to beat “The Best Show On Turf?” Ding! Ding! BeliCHICK.
“It’s better to burn out than it is to rust.”
Please pass the salt
If I am going to eat crow, it might as well have some taste. Okay, I have made slaggin’ the Cowpokes my job for the last…oh…decade. Make that two decades. Somehow, Jerra Jones stayed out of the way enough to let Ol’ Wade and crew get in the playoffs.
What the heck happened to the Eagles? Did they want to play in Jerra’s palace?
While I’m at it
I am going to take Tom Coughlin’s lead and make no excuses for the Giants. After watching the midgets fall behind 17-0, spending two and a half hours behind a snow blower in sub-zero wind chills seemed a better way to spend my time. When did the Giants sign the sponsorship contract with the Hoover Vacuum Co? Because they sure do SUCK!
Before I forget, while snow blowing I popped on the IPod. Turned the volume up LOUD and listened to ‘The Rising.’ Convenient amnesia is a beautiful thing. Especially when the Giants lose 44-7.
Decisions, decisions
Has an NFL coach ever been fired after winning four consecutive games? That is the decision that new Cleveland Brown General Manager, Mike Holmgren, has to consider. Eric Mangini who has been smacked around more than a pinata at a birthday party got his guys to win the last four games of the season. The Browns rushed for 214 yards and downed the Jacksonville Jaguars, 23-17. Mangini’s guys even honored him with a Gatorade bath…in Cleveland…during the month of January. Now that is love. I think.
Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out
Jim Zorn should have been fired at halftime of the Redskins game with the Giants. There is no other response to that silly fake field goal. Has anybody figured out a rationalization yet for that play? But like some evil torture treatment, Daniel Snyder kept Zorn around for the finish. All the while Snyder was making overtures to other coaches – in particular Mike Shanahan. Man, Tiger should be happy Elin is not Snyder’s daughter. She might take that whole scorned woman thing to new heights.
Buddy Nix did not spend any time getting to know the Bills’ coaches. The new Buffalo GM sent the entire staff ‘shuffling off from Buffalo.’
Bill Sheridan’s time as the defensive coordinator of the Giants came to an end. Hey Bill! Next time, when coaching defense, make sure your guys can TACKLE! Geez! If Casper the friendly ghost appeared on the field, your guys would run the other way.
Get off my cloud
A record ten quarterbacks threw for 4,000 or more yards this year: Eli Manning, Old Man Favre, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Peyton Manning. But number one on the list belongs to none other than (drum roll please) Houston’s Matt Schaub. Schaub helped the Texans to their first winning season going 396-583 for 4,770 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Schaub’s teammate, Andre Johnson, finished third in receiving with 101 catches for 1,569 yards.
“A voice says, Hi, Hello, How are you? Well I guess I’m doing fine.”
Reason to Believe
It does not matter that the Jets scored 37 points and Mark Sanchez threw for a mere 67 yards. The Jets are in the playoffs. Just a couple of weeks ago, Rex Ryan declared his team out of the playoffs. Now Gang Green is alive.
“At the end of hard earned day, people find some reason to believe.”
Familiarity breeds contempt
Four games this weekend, and in three of those contests, the teams played each other this weekend. Ooh, this could get wild. Pun intended.
Got any NFL splinters? Share them here.
Did you happen to notice that 7 of the 10 QBs who passed for more than 4000 yards this year are in the playoffs including the QBs from all 4 of the 1 seeds.
The 3 that aren’t –
1) Ben. Super Bowl last year, consistently good, no need to spend too much time on the obvious.
1) Eli. The Giants as a team were bad, bad RBs, Awful Defense, bad WRs minus Plaxico. He continues to be a top QB in this league, at least good enough to win a Super Bowl which you can’t say about all QBs including the QBs of the Redskins, Raiders, Browns, Rams, Bills.
Notice a trend…All of those teams SUCK.
2) Schaub. Texans finished above .500 for the first time ever after years of 8-8 mediocrity. Think having the leading passer in the league didn’t help? This is a team and a franchise that still hasn’t created a solid identity but after this season, I think they will become a team like the Colts and the Patriots and the Saints who say Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass and just try to stop the best player on the field, our QB…and in Houston’s case, our WR (Andre Johnson).
The QB is obviously the most important position on the field. If you don’t have one, you will SUCK!!!
Why can’t the Bills figure this out?? At least the Raiders tried.
Redskins haven’t tried either and look where they are…5th coach in 9 years or something like that.
Anyone feel bad for Zorn? Remember, he was hired to be a coordinator originally and just kind of fell into the head coach position in a move that Snyder sure isn’t proud of. Zorn knew at the time he wasn’t ready and so did the rest of the NFL.
When are owners going to learn that “they don’t know football!” These teams that are hiring guys like Holmgren and Parcells are realizing this. Look what the Dolphins have done since Parcells took over. They have an identity, a strong minded and exuberant coach, and a reenergized fan base.
As the Bills new GM says, “It’s not rocket science.” He’s admittedly not the smartest guy out there, but hopefully he’ll be the “football guy” the Bills need to get out of this 10 year funk…(man I miss Flutie).
Lots of tangents and transitions there. Sorry, just typing very train of thought and one thing leads to the next. Make of it what you will.
Might be the difference between the horse and the cart – but 7 of the top 11 (3 tied for ninth) receivers are on teams that qualified for the playoffs: Wes Welker, Miles Austin, Sidney Rice, Randy Moss, Reggie Wayne, DeSean Jackson, Vincent Jackson. Guess it all comes down to how you look at it.
While individual rushing statistics are different – 7 of the top ten rushing teams are in the playoffs: Packers, Vikings, Cowboys, Ravens, Bengals, Jets, Eagles.
After my recovered from my initial shock/anger/ fists of fury towards Casey – I calmly remembered that the Pats still have Bill Belichick to guide them. “In Bill We Trust”… As Brady said earlier this week, the offense must evolve without Welker and I expect to see them run the ball more. I also believe that Julian Edelman will fill in for the missing Welker. He won’t replace him, but he will do his part. Other guys are going to have to step up and that includes Fred Taylor, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris.
Plus – we have Tom Brady.. Tom “Freakin” Brady.. If the man can make Jabar Gaffney look like Fred Blinekoff – he can make Sam Aiken look like second coming of Cliff Branch.
Speaking of the Raiders… Al Davis is ready to fire Tom Cable – partly because of Cable’s insistence that the Raiders would have made playoffs – if Jamarcus Russell hadn’t started… Davis disagrees. Hmmmm, maybe Davis should fire himself. Then again, the Pats have a nice first round draft pick in 2010 thanks to the Raiders. Maybe he should stick around.
As for Jim Zorn – I feel for the guy. Dan Snyder is an embarassment to the NFL. He should have either fired Zorn during the season or waited until the end of the season to do anything. But bringing in Sherman Lewis to call the offensive plays was borderline stupid. Having Zorn’s assistants interview for the job DURING the season is implorable. Can you imagine this kinda conversation:
Zorn: “Hey Sherm, are you coming to the coaches meeting? ”
Lewis: ” Ahhh, I can’t. I have an interview.”
Zorn: “Cool. Well good luck.. For what job ? ”
Sherm: “Ahhhhh.. Hmmmm.. The head coaching position for the Washington Redskins ?”
Zorn: “Wow.. well good luck.. Hey wait a second… ”
I think the last couple of games, Zorn was going through the motions. “Let’s see what will happen if we do this.. ” It was like watching Britney Spears having producer controls over her own album. Not going to be good situation in the end. I sure hope Mike Shanahan knows what he is doing…
As for the Bills. I think they are moving in the right direction. My thought is that Bill Cowher is the next head coach. I think because of the collective bargaining dilemma that looms in 2011, I think alot of teams are going to stand pat with their coaches. We have already seen it with the Chicago Bears. Lovie Smith is still the coach? I think Cowher is going to realize that there aren’t alot of positions available and the Blue Collar city of Buffalo is starving for a guy like him. Ralph Wilson will be writing some big checks.
Plus Buddy Nix’s last two picks at QB – Drew Brees and Philip Rivers (ultimately.. after trade of Eli Manning). He was instrumental in drafting Antonio Cromartie – All Pro Cornerback for the Chargers.. In other words, I think the man knows what he is doing.
Speaking of Eli.. I still contend that Eli Manning is overrated. But the Giants fall from grace starts and ends with one area – the line. Both their offensive and defensive lines were putrid the last half of the season. If can’t control the line on either side of the ball – you are asking for problems. The Giants have them.
Okay gotta go.. Voices in my head.
I’d like to know about defenses.
Do you have the stats on that Casey??
So far, all offensive stuff (QB, Receivers, Running the ball)…
Curious…
https://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2009&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=TOTAL_YARDS_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1
https://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=TEAM_PASSING&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2009&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=PASSING_NET_YARDS_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1
https://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=RUSHING&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2009&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=RUSHING_YARDS_PER_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1
Interesting commentary from Mike Ditka about sitting out players (I am paraphrasing) – these guys are not paid millions to sit out. If we are going to panic about injuries this time of year, then we will have to worry about guys slipping while going down the stairs. Welker’s injury could have happened while running non-contact drills in practice.
Ditka did not sit his guys while he coached Chicago.
More on the topic – how about BeliCHICK’s problem with the turf?
Mike and Mike asked Brian Billick his take on Belichick’s comments. Billick agreed with Belichick and said that it was a common problem with that type of playing surface. The consistency with each panel of grass can vary and cause problems.
Does it seem crazy to anyone else that with all the technology we have, consistency of grass panels causes problems?
The biggest travesty of all: reportedly, the Bears are going to retain Lovie “I, too, am bumfuzzled” Smith. Content with mediocrity, cheapskate Bears management will not spend the money to dismiss the incompetent Smith and go after someone like Mike Shanahan. Maybe they’re waiting for Bill Cowher to want to coach again? He’s apparenbtly not interested in getting back into it for 2010.
Anyway, next season, the Bears will again be 7-9 or 8-8 and wonder why they’re golfing during the playoffs.
My guess is with grass panels you have a lot more possibility of problem than consistency. I remember going to a soccer game at the Meadowlands back in the 90’s, and even then they could go from artificial turf to grass in 24 hours. Look at this way – if you had say, 50 shirts, would they always be in the same condition? Some would see little use, some would be abused, etc. Has to be the same with the grass panels. Just my two cents.
Wally,
At least the Bears got rid of their offensive coaches.
The MOST offensive coach was Lovie though.
Remember … the their defense sux too.
Interesting take on the players not playing in Week 17 from Tony Dungy this morning.
” If you are competing for a golf medal, you owe it to yourself to do enough to get through the first two rounds and get yourself in the gold medal round. You don’t owe it to the fans to have a record performance in the quarterfinal heat, you want to have that record breaking performance in the gold medal round. You are there to win the gold medal.”
Another and different take – these players or coaches or management made the decision to sit out when a team record was possible. But several played to accomplish personal goals. Hmmmmm…….
I think that Lovie Smith can be a good coach.
His QB situation still sucks. Refer to the comments above on the importance of a QB.
Shanahan was fired from Denver because of the ineptitude of the same quarterback.
Since you’re calling for Shanahan in Chicago, it seems logical point out that maybe it’s not the coach…
This debate needs to go away in my opinion about playing players. There is no incentive strong enough to make the coaches and players want to go all out. It just doesn’t make sense.
Make the baseball analogy since many people on here are such avid fans…
Were you mad when C.C. Sabathia didn’t pitch the last game of the regular season for the Yankees. One of the last few games was probably his turn in the rotation. I’ve never heard people in an uproar when baseball managers sit players/pitchers to set their lineup for the playoffs. Same thing isn’t it. What about those paying fans at Yankee Stadium, many of whom shell out a hell of a lot more money for one ticket than people do at football games. Aren’t they being robbed having to watch some 6th man in the rotation for the Yankees instead one of their top 3 playoff aces.
Dan – good point about players playing. Not sure I agree, but good point.
Dan – I think Chicago’s defense was so good for so long – it covered up the issues on defense. Chicago’s defense slipped this year and wasn’t that good. It got worse once Brian Urlacher went out.
Shanahan was fired because of the same thing – Defense was one of the worst in the league. They were consistently losing games in which they were scoring 20+ points. That shouldn’t happen. In 2008, the Broncos D allowed 30+ points in 9 games and they were 3-6. They gave up 40+ points twice. Furthermore the offense scored 30+ points 5 times and they were 5-0.
People want to point the finger at Jay Cutler, but there were larger issues in both situations. I am not a Jay Cutler fan – I just don’t think you look at both situations and say Cutler was the problem. i
Smitty!
Impressive research! Helmet sticker! You da man!
I’ve been watching this closely for several years. It IS coaching in Chicago that’s the problem, as well as overall general management/ownership. Lovie’s teams are waaaaaaay toooooooo soft … just like Lovie. He doesn’t command respect and his players can’t block and tackle …they’re wimps, just like their head coach. But Lovie is yet another great example of the Peter Principle at work … he was promoted one level above his capability. He’s no more than a coordinator. (see the Charlie Weis file). I’ve seen more leadership in the head of a pin!!! Plus, he’s just not very bright (see file on Bobby “bumfuzzled” Bowden).
Don’t write Cutler off … I understand there might be some things about his personality thar aren’t great, but he’s still pretty young and he’s got tons of ability. He’s a pretty bright guy, too …. I think he’ll end up being closer to Brett Favre Light than Jeff George. They need some more weapons on offense and of course major improvement in D.
Wally, I love the comparison to Jeff George. I know that isn’t what you were saying but I think that might be perfect. Incredible arm strength, gunslinger’s mentality, but never enough of the intangibles to create a winner. And isn’t that how QB’s and Coaches are ultimately evaluated, winning?
I admittedly do not know as much as you about Lovie. I like the commentary about 1 position up from their capability. I will certainly defer to you on that. Nice point.
Thanks, Dan. Maybe what we’re really seeing is that really good head coaches are hard to come by, so you’re gonna get more than a few who are not good. If living with Lovie for another year means the Bears can get Bill Cowher for 2011, then I’ll just suck it up and wait. Problem is, the cheap Bears ownership/managment probably won’t see it that way … they’re probably under the delusion that Lovie is “the guy”. 😉