NFL RECAP – WEEK SEVENTEEN
STATE OF THE GAME
The morning after. Less than twenty-four hours after the regular
season ended the axe was swinging fast and furious in the NFL. Coaches and players were dropping like soccer
players in KC, San Diego, Cleveland, Jacksonville, New York, Buffalo, Chicago,
Arizona, and Philadelphia. I do not wish
the loss of a job on anybody, but this annual purging is part of what makes the
NFL so competitive, in my opinion.
The Bears were 10-6 but no
playoffs again so Lovie Smith is out.
Andy Reid guided the Eagles to more wins than any coach in Philadelphia
history but what has he done lately.
Norv Turner's team constantly under achieved in San Diego. Finally accountability has knocked on his
door. Ken Whisenhunt got the CARDINALS
to the Super Bowl. Thanks Ken, have a
nice life.
The beauty of the NFL is that
success touches so few. 37.5% of the
teams make the playoffs. 62.5% of the
teams therefore bring shame and hand wringing about what went wrong to their
fan base. Owners react and coaches and
GMs pay the price. It would be a shame
to lessen the accountability the NFL demands by upping the number of playoff
teams as the Commissioner has suggested.
I don't know about you, but I don't think the Steelers or Dolphins or
Chargers (I don't care to do the brain damage to figure out who wins a tie
breaker between the 7-9 Chargers and Fins) deserve to be in the playoffs. I could make a better case for the Bears and
the Giants in the NFC, but the playoffs are richer for all of these teams not
being in the mix.
Coaches run their cycles and
then it is time to move on. Let's keep
the game fresh by keeping organizations accountable. Diluting the playoff gene pool will only lead
to more franchises excusing poor performance.
5-10 MUSINGS FROM THE GAMES
Welcome Back
Joe Pagano returned to the
sidelines for the Colts and the team rewarded him with a resounding victory
over the Texans. The Colts could have
mailed this one in as winning or losing had no impact on their playoff seeding
or first round opponent. Instead they
played it like a playoff game. The loss
dropped the reeling Texans from the #1 seed and home field advantage throughout
the playoffs, to the #3 seed and a wild card meeting next week with the
Bengals.
Minna Thrilla
I name the Green Bay
Minnesota game the NFL's game of the year.
The Vikes needed the win to secure the final playoff spot. The Packers needed a win to get a first round
bye and avoid a rematch with the Vikings next week. Adrian Peterson needed 208 yards to break the
NFL's single season rushing mark.
The Vikings jumped to a lead
and the Packers kept answering, finally drawing even with five minutes
left. From there Peterson gained the
tough yards setting up a field goal win on the game's last play. Peterson fell nine yards short of breaking
the record, but the Vikings live to play another week.
Tony (does in) Dallas
The game was there for the
taking for the Cowboys on Sunday Night.
They trailed the Redskins by three and had possession with 3:30 left in
the game. It was time for Romo to put
his mark on a come from behind victory that would lead Dallas to the
playoffs. It didn't happen that
way. Romo threw a terrible interception, his third of the night, which sealed defeat
and playoff exclusion. It seems to be an
annual occurrence that Romo falls short in the one game the Cowboys need
most. He is fun to watch, but that won't
win you any playoff games.
Change of Scenery
One thing I don't like about
the NFL coaching changes is that often time the league just rearranges the deck
chairs. Instead of new faces we get old
faces in new places. I was not cheering
when the Broncos hired John Fox. I
thought Mike Shanahan had lost his mojo and that the Redskins had made a huge
and costly mistake. Yes, each coach is
blessed to have a star under center that helped turn the fortunes of their
teams around. Still, one can't argue
that each man is a great fit for the current incarnations of his team. The Redskins and the Broncos each ride into
the playoffs on long winning streaks.
Let the Debate Begin
Time to pick the regular
season award winners. I actually always
thought it was kind of silly that the playoffs don't count for these awards --
isn't a guy who takes his team deep into the playoffs a better candidate for
MVP than one who doesn't? But I digress
-- so here are my picks:
Rookie of the year -- This
award is a three-way toss-up between
Wilson, Luck, and RGIII. The slimmest of
nods to Luck and his flair for the dramatic win. The Colts were also the most improved of the
three teams. I could make a case for
either of these QBs and will feel good about the winner.
Coach of the Year - I don't see how it could be anybody other than Bruce Arians in
Indy. He pushed the right
buttons all season long. The team seemed
to play with just the right amount of emotion each week to get an edge but not
lose focus. He stepped in, managed his
own ego, and gave the Colts stability and purpose.
Defensive
Player of the Year - JJ Watt of the
Texans dominated from the first game of the season. He was consistently the most disruptive
defensive player in the league.
Offensive Player of the Year - Adrian Peterson was at least one level above every
other running back in the league. Seldom
do you see a player perform at such a superior level to his peers at a
position. Manning has Rogers and Brady. Watt had Smith and Miller in his league. Peterson?
He was in a league of his own and created highlights every week it
seemed.
MVP - Forget
the surgeries and the fact that he missed all last season. Just evaluate Peyton Manning on what he did
this year. The Broncos were pretty much
the same offense as last year except for the guy at QB. John Elway's gamble to bring in Manning paid
off big. Manning got better each week
and so did the Broncos - -all the way to the number one seed in the AFC. It sounds silly to say with all the things
Manning ahs accomplished in his career, but he is even better than I thought he
was.
No comments:
Post a Comment