From Green Bay to Broadway - Favre Is a Jet - NYTimes.com
Brett Favre, who ostensibly retired at the end of last season, is now back in the NFL...and has been traded to the hapless NY Jets.
Be careful what you wish for Brett, you just might get it.
Saints acquire Shockey from Giants - NFL - SI.com
This news just makes me want to chair dance!!
Red Sox Fan Foiled in Attempt to Curse Yanks : NPR
A Red Sox loving Construction worker tried to bury a Sox jersey at the construction site of the new Yankees Stadium. Perhaps its just silly superstition but the Yankees took it seriously.
Foul Ball, Red Sox Fan! No Ceremonial Magic allowed!
New York 17 New England 14
Frak (and in a good way).
I never saw this coming. After playing a bit of Universalis with the IndieGamers, I went over to My Friends the Olsons™ to watch the game, fully expecting my Giants to be sacrificial lambs for Favre and the Frozen Tundra.
Even after a 6-0 lead from my Giants, I figured GB was just waiting to dominate. After GB took a 7-6 lead, and a 10-6 lead, I was doom and gloom going into halftime.
The second half, the Packers were just a little flatter and the see saw battles was a wondrous thing to watch. 13-10 NY. 17-13 GB. 20-17 NYG. When GB tied the game at 20, and the Giants drove down for what would have been a winning FG at the end of regulation, I let myself believe for a few moments.
And when the Giants missed the FG and the game went into OT, I figured GB would right their ship and the Giants dream was over. And GB got the coin toss, and the ball, and started to drive...
And then the interception, and the Giants marched, I was on tenterhooks. The field goal was long and when it passed over the crossbar with yards to spare, I was deliriously happy.
And now the Giants face the Patriots, who they gave a run for the money at the end of the regular season. I don't give the Giants much chance...but you really never know. I never thought they could beat the Cowboys, or the Packers.
The Giants and Packers haven't played each other in the playoffs in 35 years and the Packers have almost always won the contests when they did play in the playoffs. A recap of the history:
Jan. 20 2008 - NFC Championship ?????
Dec. 30, 1962 - NFL Championship - Green Bay 16, N.Y. Giants 7
Dec. 31, 1961 - NFL Championship - Green Bay 37, N.Y. Giants 0
Dec. 17, 1944 - NFL Championship - Green Bay 14, N.Y. Giants 7
Dec. 10, 1939 - NFL Championship - Green Bay 27, N.Y. Giants 0
Dec. 11, 1938 - NFL Championship - N.Y. Giants 23, Green Bay 17
They had a substantial 28-16 lead, but in the end the NYG couldn't keep it up, and fell to the first NFL 16-0 regular season team, the New England Patriots.
Now its on to the playoffs for both teams, with the Patriots now a prohibitive favorite to make it 19-0 and a Super Bowl win. However, as tonight's game proved--it won't necessarily be a cakewalk for Belichick and his team.
The first victory of the season for the Patriots was at Giants Stadium, 38-14 over the Jets, and now their 16th is at the same place, 38-35 over the Giants.
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?season=2007&week=REG15&game_id=29417
Arrgh!
It's true.
If the Giants continue their swoon and lose next week to Buffalo, they could miss the playoffs after starting with a 9-4 record.
These last few years, the Giants and their collapses at the end of the season have made me feel like Charlie Brown and the frakking football.
Curse of the Bambino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I think its safe to say, with its second World series *sweep* in four years, that the Curse of the Bambino is gone from the Red Sox.
Congratulations to the World Series winning Boston Red Sox.
The Mets failure to win the division puts them in the history books as one of the worst late-season collapses in baseball history:
Historic collapses
The largest leads held in September by teams that did not finish in first place in their league (or in divison, 1969 and later). Date of largest lead is listed:
Date Team Lead
9/12/07 New York Mets 7.0
9/1/38 Pittsburgh Pirates 7.0
9/6/34 New York Giants 7.0
9/4/95 California Angels 6.5
9/20/64 Philadelphia Phillies 6.5
9/8/51 Brooklyn Dodgers 6.5
The Dodgers of 1951 lost their division of course, to the Giants, in the "Shot heard around the world.". It was memorialized, in many other places, in a MASH episode.
(And what many people forget is that those same Giants ultimately lost the World Series to the Yankees, 4 games to 2)
One of the games I play is the stat based computer game Front Office Football.
Its a lot of fun, even if its mostly numbers. There is no joystick control a la Madden or its rivals. On the other hand the career mode is deep. You can play year after year of a league of your making and i have done so.
It occurred to me today that I could have fun starting a new league, with a draft for imaginary teams. I briefly flirted with world cities without teams, and then a better idea struck me, one that *you* can help me with.
2 Conferences, 16 teams in each conference. With a little creativity, I can change city names and locations and make imaginary places. And since I could start with a draft so that all teams started equal...
Well, I could have 32 teams taken from fantasy and science fiction.
Where you can help me is with suggestions. Site in a world plus a name for the team would be great.
For example:
The Babylon 5 Starfuries
The Amber Royals
The Traken Keepers
I open the floor for suggestions. Help Populate my league!
The fantasy that's ruining football - Los Angeles Times
Via the NPR Blog, a link to an column by David Zirin, who argues that the individualisitic orientation of Fantasy Football threatens to distort the game of football itself.
He has a point.
Consider if a QB for a team throws 3 TDs and no Ints in a losing effort. Fans of the team are going to be upset; however those who have the QB as a fantasy player are going to be pumping their fists.
Reading between the lines, its clear that Zirin is concerned that the fantasy fans are going to outnumber the real fans, or at the very least devalue the team spirit of football. While one player can and does make or break a game, really, football is a team effort, where 11 people have to execute on every play.
Just seeing if your Running back, on a team you don't even follow, has 100 yards rushing is against the spirit of watching the game. In playing Front Office Football at home, I want my team to win, not just have pretty stats.
And so it is with my beloved Giants. Eli could have a 120 passer rating for all I care, but if the Giants can't win, I am going to be unhappy.
NFL fines Belichick, strips Patriots of draft pick
A camera was confiscated from Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella while he was on the New York Jets' sideline during New England's 38-14 win last Sunday at Giants Stadium
A clear violation of league rules, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell has fined Belichick $500,000 (the maximum under league rules), has fined the team itself an additional $250,000 and the team will lose a draft pick. Most likely, if the Patriots go to the playoffs, they will lose a first round choice. If they should happen to fail to make the playoffs, they will lose a second and third round pick instead.
I think, even if Belichick wasn't suspended, that this is a tough but fair penalty for these shenangians.
On a sidenote, I have to say that the Patriots opponent this weekend, the San Diego Chargers, have to be salivating. With the Patriots in such disarray this weekend, this is a golden opportunity to grab a win if they can rise to the occasion.
.
NFL Game Center: Game Recap - New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys - 2007 1
A wild opening to the 2007 Giants Season, with a 45-35 loss to the hated Cowboys. Due to a late injury, Manning was on the sidelines at the end, unable to bring the Giants back after Romo and company struck them one last time.
This is the most combined points ever scored in a Giants-Cowboys game.
Solecismic Software: Home of Front Office Football
The good people at Solecismic Software, makers of Front Office Football, now have a general news and information site for real football, college and professional. Its called Football Frontier. With ratings, predictions and stats, I look forward to the same quality in the website that they do in their simulation.
NFL Game Center: Game Recap - New Orleans Saints at Indianapolis Colts - 2007 1
Are you ready for some football?
Clearly, in the second half of the game last night, the Colts were, and the Saints weren't. The Colts broke open a 10-10 halftime tie to show, perhaps, that they haven't lost a step since winning the Superbowl earlier this year.
The very definition of a pyrrhic victory. We lost a number of players to injury, including Will Demps, in the already weak secondary.
My funny feeling about how bad this season is going to be is just getting more and more prophetic.
NFL.com - Carolina at New York Game Recap
I know it's just the pre-season, but this was just plain ugly, un NYG like defense.
It could be a real long season for the Boys in Blue.
Whatever you think of him and the allegations of steroid abuse, Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run, surpassing Hank Aaron's record, on Tuesday, August 6th, 2008.
I'm not a big baseball fan except in certain circumstances, so I am not that excited about the record either way. I am glad that it happened in a home game for the Giants, and so he heard cheers rather than the boos which have surrounded him on his quest to beat the record.
2007 Schedule
Sep 9 @Dallas 8:15pm
Sep 16 Green Bay 1:00pm
Sep 23 @Washington 4:15pm
Sep 30 Philadelphia 8:15pm
Oct 7 N.Y. Jets 1:00pm
Oct 15 @Atlanta 8:30pm
Oct 21 San Francisco 1:00pm
Oct 28 @Miami (London) 1:00pm
Week 9 BYE
Nov 11 Dallas 4:15pm
Nov 18 @Detroit 4:15pm
Nov 25 Minnesota 1:00pm
Dec 2 @Chicago 4:15pm
Dec 9 @Philadelphia 1:00pm
Dec 16 Washington 8:15pm
Dec 23 @Buffalo 1:00pm
Dec 29 New England 8:15pm
On October 28th 2007, the NY Giants will be playing the Miami Dolphins...at Wembley Stadium in London.
It's slated as one of the away games for the Giants.
GameCenter: Recap - SuperBowl.com - Official website of Super Bowl XLI
I was right...for one quarter.
Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts, who overcame the first ever opening kickoff returned for a touchdown, and a sloppy game with a first quarter 14-6 Chicago lead to win their first Super Bowl in my lifetime, 29-17 over the Bears.
It was a sloppy, messy, and for that ,entertaining game. Despite their woes outside the first quarter, the Bears hung tough until the fourth quarter, when the Colts finally overcame the weather, and used the Bears own woes, to win.
Yes, I finally have decided to give my prediction. And I've decided to vote my fears rather than my hopes.
I *hope* that Peyton Manning gets his Super Bowl Ring. So many great players have missed their chance--Dan Marino, Barry Sanders, Warren Moon, Tiki Barber. Manning deserves a shot at getting a ring, just like Elway and Favre did.
With that said...the weather could undo Manning's plans. If it is rainy and windy like the weather forecasters say it might be in Miami, that plays into the Bears hands. A sloppy, ground game where a single special teams play or defensive maneuver makes the difference is the sort of game that the Bears can and would win.
So let's go out on a limb and say that it will all break that way...and the Bears win 24-20.
NB: If the Bears do not keep Manning on his heels early, like, say, the Patriots did to the Rams and Kurt Warner a few years back, Manning will make them pay and pay badly. If the Colts can get to 30 points, they'll win this game.
GameCenter: Recap - SuperBowl.com - Official website of Super Bowl XLI
And so, after a promising 6-2 start, the Giants season, and the career of Tiki Barber, are at an end.
My brother asked for them, so I will deliver.
My predictions for the 2006 NFL Playoffs
The NFC is wide open.
The Bears certainly look beatable even as the #1 seed, and the rest of the teams each have weaknesses, from the Saints all the way down to the Giants. This year's NFC representative could be a matter of blind luck and a hot streak than consistency.
So I am going to go on a limb, and say that the Eagles will beat the Giants, go into New Orleans and knock off the Saints and then upset the Bears (who will squash the Cowboys-beating Seahawks) to get to the Super Bowl.
The AFC has a surplus of decent teams, but again, all of these teams can be had for one reason or another.
I hate to do it, but I am going to go with coaching. I can't pick San Diego or the Indianapolis "Paul could run for a 100 yards in a game on them" Colts.
So I see the Patriots knocking off the Jets and the Colts surviving the Chiefs. In the divisional playoffs, the Chargers will shut down the Patsies, and the Ravens will beat the Colts. In the Championship game, the Ravens will exploit Schottenheimer's Curse and use it to propel themselves to their second Super Bowl.
I think we're in for another low scoring game between the Eagles and the Ravens.
The Bird Bowl will go to the Ravens, 24-17
I've been avoiding talking about the Giants, ever since their 6-2 season went really south. They've limped to 8-8 in Tiki's last regular-season game, and yet again, the Giants nearly gave this game away. If not for Tiki's two long touchdown runs, they would have.
Its very unlikely that they will miss the playoffs, the combination of events needed for the Packers in their stead are unlikely at best.
But I love playoff scenarios. In order for the Giants not to get their playoff spot:
Packers clinch strength of victory tiebreaker over NY Giants if all of the following occur:
ARI win, DET win, MIA win, MIN win, SF win, CAR loss, HOU loss, TB loss.
If Green Bay and NY Giants end up tied in strength of victory, then tie will be decided by best strength of schedule.
It could happen and weirder things have happened in the NFL. Heck, in an episode of the show "Coach" (the last season, I believe), Coach's NFL team unexpectedly made the playoffs on the last day of the season because of a series of improbable victories and upsets.
NFL.com - GameCenter : Game Stats
And the Giants lose a fourth straight game and now are completely and utterly in a free fall.
I think the season is heading toward being a lost one.
NFL.com - New York at Tennessee Game Recap
And the Giants, mired by injuries and mediocre play, continue to sink.
NFL.com - Houston at New York Game Recap
An ugly game, one that the Giants should have won by more than 4 points (upset minded bettors probably made a bundle off the bookies on this one!).
Still, this was a bad day for good teams, with the Falcons falling, the Patriots falling, and most pertinently, the previously undefeated Bears fell to the lowly Dolphins (echoes of 1985).
And those newly imperfect Bears are the Giants next opponent, in the featured Sunday Night game. Its going to be tough, the Bears have got to be riled and pissed. If the Giants can beat them, though, then my boys can arguably seat themselves as the best team in the NFC...
NFL.com - New York at Atlanta Game Recap
I didn't get to see this game but I am very proud of my Giants. After early turnovers and a horrible busted blocking 90 yard run by Warrick Dunn to make it 14-3 Falcons, the Giants stayed focused and used the running game to catch up and dominate the rest of the game.
Tiki Tiki Tiki!
NFL.com - New York at Seattle Game Recap
The less said about this debacle, the better. The game was nowhere near as close as the final score.
NFL.com - New York at Philadelphia Game Recap
A stunning 17 point fourth quarter comeback was capped by a TD in overtime to give my boys in blue their first win of the season. I admit that I thought their goose was well and cooked, but they rose to the challenge and pulled out the victory.
NFL.com - Indianapolis at New York Game Recap
When you make mistakes when down only a few points against one of the best teams in the league, its very very difficult to win. A missed field goal, a fumble, and a missed field goal sunk my boys in blue.
And so the season begins.
NFL.com - New England at New York Game Recap
Again, this is the end of the preseason and the game doesn't "count", but the last time the Boys in Blue had a perfect preseason, was their Super Bowl winning year in 1990.
...about Football, that is. Kevin Drum agrees that football coaches don't go for it on fourth down anywhere near the statistical odds suggest, as Gregg Easterbrook has been crowing for years.
They are both right of course, although the analysis Drum cites doesn't take into account the time left in the game, or in the half. Even so, coaches in the NFL are often way too conservative in opponent's territory, especially with the emphasis these days on offense over defense. Those fraidy cat punts which net 10 yards often have the yardage they gain erased in a couple of plays by the other team.
The forty yard line of the opposing team seems to be the sweet spot for going for it no matter what, unless its fourth and forever, unless you have a Morten-Andersen esque kicker who can kick 57 yard field goals consistently.
NFL.com - New York Giants Team Schedule
Its a rough road, starting with games against Indianapolis, Philly and Seattle.
This could be a bad year for my boys in blue.
Broncos-Chiefs to open NFL Network broadcasts
(March 27, 2006) -- The NFL announced its 2006 Kickoff Weekend nationally televised schedule -- including a Monday night doubleheader -- and its Thanksgiving Day national TV tripleheader.
In a tradition instituted in 2004, the Super Bowl champion annually hosts the NFL Thursday night season kickoff the following year. This Sept. 7 at 8:30 p.m. ET, the Super Bowl XL champion Pittsburgh Steelers will oppose the Miami Dolphins as NBC rejoins the NFL's TV family for the first time since 1997. The game will feature a quarterback matchup of Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and the Dolphins' Daunte Culpepper, acquired recently from Minnesota in a trade.
Fans won't have to wait long to see the anticipated 'Manning Bowl'.
On Sunday, Sept. 10, the FOX national doubleheader game at 4:15 p.m. ET will feature the Dallas Cowboys at the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished 12-4 and earned a playoff spot last season
The Sunday night primetime game (8:15 p.m. ET) on NBC can be called the "Manning Bowl" and it will be a history-maker. The AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts will visit the NFC East titlist New York Giants. It will be a matchup of quarterback brothers -- the Colts' 30-year-old Peyton Manning against his sibling, 25-year-old Eli Manning of the Giants. It will be the first time in NFL history that brothers will start at quarterback against each other.
So I was wrong, so very wrong.
Bill Cowher and Jerome Bettis get a long-awaited Super Bowl Victory, winning 21-10 over the Seattle Seahawks.
Some notes:
Pittsburgh won on three plays, really: The long pass on 3rd down that got them close to the goal line to punch it in; The 75 yard rushing play (a Super Bowl record!) by Parker, and the gadget play TD pass by Randle-El.
Seattle kept shooting themselves in the foot. Honestly, Pittsburgh did too with the big interception on Ben Roethlisberger by the Seahawks, just when it looked like Pittsburgh was going to put the game away. However, Pittsburgh recovered from their mistakes. Seattle could not and did not.
Pittsburgh is now only one of three teams, with SF and Dallas, to win five Super Bowls.
This was the lowest scoring Super Bowl in 30 years (31 total points), and Pittsburgh won with the lowest winning score since Super Bowl X, when Pittsburgh beat Dallas 21-17.
For the second consecutive year, a WR has won the MVP Award. Last year it was Deion Branch of the Patriots, and this year Heinz Ward got it. He deserved it because two of the three big plays for the Steelers had him as the receiver. He had a big run on a reverse that was for naught since it immediately was followed by the other Roethlisberger interception.
Its sad, though, that Bettis is now retiring--but he retiring on top, as a Super Bowl Champion.
Congradulations to Pittsburgh.
GameCenter: Recap - Pittsburgh 34 Denver 17
GameCenter: Recap - Seattle 34 Carolina 14
No, not the sequel to Chinatown, but the two Championship games this weekend in the NFL featured the fall of two Jake quarterbacks.
On the AFC side, Jake "The Snake" Plummer could not escape the crushing Pittsburgh defensea s the Steelers break their horrible streak in AFC Championship games (1-4 under Bill Cowher, many of those with them as favorites) with a 34-17 thrashing of Jake's Denver Broncos
On the NFC side, Jake Delhomme looked even worse as Seattle completely dominated the other Jake's Panthers 34-14. The final score, if anything, understates the dominance of Seattle, since one of Carolina's touchdowns was on a late garbage time touchdown, and the other was a on a punt return TD which was originally, and should have been, called back on a penalty.
So, the official BJS prediction for the Super Bowl?
I think that the Bus finally will break down, as the opportunistic and dominant Seattle Seahawks will give Holmgren his first Super Bowl victory since his days with Favre and the Packers, 31-17.
GameCenter: Recap - SuperBowl.com - Official website of Super Bowl XL
And so my Giants end their season not on a bang, but a whimper, one of the most inept playoff performances in their storied history.
The Panthers rightly believed that shutting down Barber was the key to unraveling the Giants, and it worked. It worked like a charm.
Well, I would have been happy at the beginning of the season with a 9-7 record, so an 11-5, division title season is nothing to sneeze at. I just hope Manning straightens up and flies right next year.
I really hope we don't need a new quarterback. We paid too much for him as it is.
Monday Night Football on ABC
Tonight is the 555th episode of Monday Night Football on ABC.
It's also the last. Next season, it moves to ESPN, and the era of it on free TV gone.
The first MNF game was the Cleveland Browns versus the New York Jets.
This last MNF game is the New England Patriots versus...the New York Jets.
(Keep this in mind, it will be in future editions of Trivial Pursuit: What NFL franchise was both in the first and last Monday Night Football game?)
Baltimore gives the Giants a Christmas Present!
By beating the Minnesota Vikings, the Baltimore Ravens have given the NY Giants and their fans a Christmas present--a playoff berth. The Giants can do no worse now than a wildcard, and thus will make the postseason. A division title is still assured with a victory against Oakland next week, but at least a playoff berth is assured no matter what.
Thank you, Baltimore.
Crash and burn. I was so afraid of this, after Washington dismantled the Cows last week.
The Giants can still win the NFC East next week by beating Oakland in Oakland. But dreams of a first round bye are dead, and I don't like the Giants chances in the playoffs against the likes of the Panthers/Bucs, Seahawks and Bears. But we shall see.
For the Giants to lose next week and then lose the NFC East title and the playoffs entirely would be the worst indignity.
NFL.com - Kansas City at New York Game Recap
A game that I thought they were going to lose for sure, but my Giants have made it to the 10 win plateau this year, something else I didn't expect. (I would have been expecting 8-8 this year, frankly).
I still don't like Manning's inconsistency and tendency to throw picks, especially at the worst possible time (there was a near-interception this game that was tailor made to fit that bill). But what can one say except Tiki, Tiki, Tiki? Breaking the Giants single-game rushing record? The most yards out of a single running back since 2003? Sure, a lot of it was Kansas City not being able to tackle to save their lives, but Barber has to get SOME credit.
Now, the Giants are a win away from the division title...and if they win both of their games and Chicago or Carolina falter, they will get the first round bye they need to have any chance at the NFC Championship.
NFL.com - GameCenter : Game Stats
Yes, BJS and SSS.N in general have been down the last few days, but now we are back.
And, in typical, ulcer inducing fashion, my boys had three chances to win the game against the Seahawks (at the end of reg, and two in OT), and could not seal the deal.
As Master Yoda says, "Now, things are worse."
NFL.com - Philadelphia at New York Game Recap
After last week's disaster, my boys in blue stepped up and performed well enough. The Eagles always play us tough, tough enough to make the game tight throughout.
But, still, a win is a win is a win.
NFL.com - Washington at New York Game Recap
The sendoff to the late Wellington Mara was, in the end, a rout of the Redskins. Sure, neither team's quarterbacking was any good...but, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki was all the Giants needed.
And with the Broncos winning, for a week at least, my beloved Boys in Blue are all alone in first in the NFC East.
Whodathought?
White Sox win first World Series since 1917 - Baseball - MSNBC.com
Last year, the Red Sox ended their World Series curse with a sweep of the Cardinals.
This year, the White Sox, who have not gone to the World series since 1959, and not won since the Black Sox scandal back in 1919, have swept the Astros.
Four very different games and wins for the Sox, too. A compleat and dominant victory.
Maybe next year, Cubs fans will get their own relief at long last, too.
NFL.com - New York Giants Team News
Wellington Mara, co-owner of the NY Giants for 70 years, has passed away.
Rest in Peace.
NFL.com - Denver at New York Game Recap
Aka, Who are you and what have you done with my New York Giants?!?
A Game winning touchdown drive running the two minute offense--against the Denver Broncos?
I thought they were toast after missing a field goal and getting intercepted in two consecutive drives in the 4th quarter, but in the end, they managed to come back and win it.
And despite all of that, winning isn't everything, its the only thing.
NFL.com - New York at Dallas Game Recap
Sloppy! Very very sloppy play by the Boys in Blue. I was quite disappointed in that, as much as the loss.
Too many turnovers.
NFL.com - St. Louis at New York Game Recap
Pass Defense was non existent (442 yards for the Rams' Bulger!), but Run Defense, a good outing by the offense, and no turnovers made for a good day for my boys in blue.
A good way to go into the Bye week, on an up note. I just hope they won't come out flat against Parcells' Cowboys!
NFL.com - New York at San Diego Game Recap
And after two very good games, this time the Giants fell flat.
We got close...but San Diego turned it up in the second half, and then it wasn't even close.
0-2 teams can be hungry, and San Diego had good reason to hate Manning and the Giants (since the Chargers had, a couple of years ago, wanted to draft Manning but he said he wouldn't play there).
But it was the Giants defense (especially the running defense, oy!) which really didn't play today.
MSNBC - ICED OUT: NHL cancels entire season
Its now official. For the first time in modern North American sports history, a major professional sports league has canceled its entire season thanks to a labor dispute. Worse than when baseball ended its season prematurely (without a world series), worse than the shortened NFL seasons thanks to labor disputes, worse than the NHL's own last labor dispute, this is unprecedented.
I don't watch hockey, its not my thing. But I feel sort of sad for the loss all the same.
As for me, I'm on sports hiatus for the most part, since Football season is now over.
GameCenter: Recap - SuperBowl.com - Official website of Super Bowl XXXIX
Yesterday, the Patriots routed the Steelers in convincing fashion, and the Eagles, on their 4th consecutive NFC Championship game, finally met a team they could beat...the Atlanta Falcons.
So we have the Eagles versus the Patriots for all the marbles, in two weeks. I predicted at the beginning of the playoffs that the Patriots would beat the Eagles.
Well, at least i have the teams right. We shall see if the Patriots can knock off their biggest foe yet. They've shut down Manning, dismantled the running attack and defense of Pittsburgh...but now they face McNabb and the Eagles own formidable team.
I hope for a good game. I will be in NYC that weekend and might see the game with friends.
Superbowls are best seen in company.
GameCenter: Recap - SuperBowl.com - Official website of Super Bowl XXXIX
The Jets proved that they are truly cursed, missing not just one, but TWO game-winning field goals, in their valiant but ultimately unsuccessful game against the Steelers.
Of course, one might argue the Steelers should never have let the Jets stay so close, but one might say that about the Chargers last week.
Still, though, the Colts or the Patriots (depending on who wins tomorrow) just might be able to knock off the Steelers, if the Jets were able to keep them so close.
WC Weekend lived up to its name this year, as three upsets by visiting teams was paired with yet another magnificent performance by Manning and co. in the other matchup.
Thrills! Chills! Upsets! Next week will bring things back to Earth; traditionally, the bye rested home teams exterminate the winners of Wild Card Weekend.
But, as usual, we shall see. Maybe the Colts CAN score outdoors. Maybe the Eagles can be had by Culpepper and Moss. Maybe the bad luck of the Jets will fall into abeyance another week.
Only the games themselves will tell.
And my not so mighty Giants, end up 6-10 for the year. Not the worst in the league, but a definite downer after starting 5-2.
Tiki, at least, won the yards from scrimmage title, with nearly 2100 yards in total offense. He IS the Giants offense, and if they only had something besides him, the Giants might actually be feared. Someday.
Now, the playoffs.
My prediction for the Super Bowl? As you will recall at the beginning of the season, I predicted the Colts over the Seahawks.
The Seahawks don't look so mighty (even if they are in the playoffs), and the Colts have no defense.
So...my pick: New England over Philadelphia. We'll see how my prediction holds up, or doesn't.
Aside from the Super Bowl itself is right now, when teams are jockeying for playoff spots, and sometimes you need an advanced math degree to figure out all the probabilities of who might and might not get into the playoffs.
This was satirized in an episode of the TV show Coach (the later episodes, when he coached a pro football team). At the end of the season, he headed home to Minnesota, confident his team had not made the playoffs, alas, but a weird concatenation of teams winning and losing gave his team a playoff berth.
I love it when that happens. This year is relatively straightforward, by comparison. My Giants are long since eliminated, of course.
Reggie White, one time NFL sack leader, rival to the immortal Lawrence Taylor, has passed away.
He was only 43 years old, and was playing for Carolina only 4 years ago. And he played for the Packers, too. But I will remember him always as a Philadelphia Eagle, the counterpart and nemesis to my own Giants' Lawrence Taylor.
But a great player, nevertheless. Rest in Peace, and may you play in those fields in the sky, with Johnny Unitas and Walter Payton shuddering in fear as you rip through the OL like tissue paper...
It doesn't take a genius to guess that its none other than Tiki Barber. Responsible for half of the team's offensive output, fumble as much as he does (this year less so), he IS the heart and soul of Big Blue. If anyone was going to get on the Pro Bowl Team from the Giants...it should have been him and I am happy for him.
Ahman Green and Shawn Alexander are the other two RB's for the NFC side, both equally good choices.
MSNBC - Manning 1 shy of TD record as Colts win
The Colts won, and yes, Manning did throw one TD pass, putting him at 47 compared to the record of 48, but it is the class he showed at the end of the game which is important.
Near to the end of the game, the Colts, with the lead, intercepted a pass from Baltimore and ran it back to near the Baltimore goal line. With little time left, all Indy had to do was run the clock out--or they could try and pad Manning's stats by trying to tack on more points.
Manning took a knee twice to end the game. I think its the right decision. The game is not in the end about stats, its about winning or losing.
What if Manning had tried to go for the record and, heavens forbid, been sacked and injured on the play, bad enough to miss the rest of the season and the playoffs? What then?
There are still two more weeks for Manning and his record. And unless something catastrophic happens, he will break Marino's old mark. Neither the Chargers nor the Broncos have the Ravens tough defense to limit Manning's golden arm.
NFL.com - New York at Baltimore Game Recap
Ugly.
And the referees didn't help, either. I never knew that a referee could and should listen to a coach and an "offensive consultant" long enough to throw a penalty long after the fact. But that's what happened, when the Ravens talked a referee into a questionable intentional grounding call against the Giants.
Even with that, though, the Giants once again were pitiful. I don't blame Eli, even if the Giants managed their only offensive score after he was yanked.
That 8-8 that I was hoping for after Strahan and Washingtong were lost is just about out of reach, now.
NFL.com - New York at Washington Game Recap
An even uglier loss for my boys than last week, where at least they showed some fight against the Eagles.
This time, they just rolled over and died. It reminded me a lot of the Super Bowl loss to the Ravens, all the way to the point of ONLY scoring on a kickoff return.
Yesterday was an ugly day all around while watching football at the Olsons--we all lost, and the Packers and Giants in a horrendous fashion.
At least the brats and burgers Scott made were good.
NFL.com - Philadelphia at New York Game Recap
Lesson from yesterday's game:
Your team is only as effective as your offensive and defensive lines. Without one, you are in trouble.
Without both...you are almost surely doomed.
8-8 might be optimistic at this point for my boys in blue. Putting a rookie quarterback behind that OL is a recipe for disaster. They couldn't stop any blitz Philly threw at them.
They did decently in the first half, and should have had a lead instead of field goals, but they simply couldn't keep it up.
:Sigh:
NFL.com - New York at Arizona Game Recap
An even more horrible outing for my boys in Blue, shooting themselves in the foot as they lost to the lowly Cardinals.
The loss of Washington and Strahan has taken all wind and momentum out of this team.
Sad.