Monday Night Quarterback

So here we are in the midst of college football bowl season and in the vital week between the end of the regular NFL season and the first round (aka 'Wild Card' round) of the playoffs.

Like my man DJ Premiere once said (okay, so he's not my man, but still) - "It doesn't get any realer than this."

I know I've been hitting the pigskin-related stuff hard lately, but football to me is like white powder to Frank Lucas in the 70s. It's hard to ever say I've gotten enough of it. I and every other football fanatic is joyful for this time of year, but also mournful that after another 5 weeks or so, we trudge into the dark period that is the seven months without any AMERICAN FOOTBALL. Oh and let's not even begin to get into the fact that there might be a work stoppage, leaving us with no 2011 NFL season. Commish Roger Goodell said earlier today that the league 'can and will' work out the collective bargaining agreement so that the greatest league in all leagues man has ever known will continue on uninterrupted (alright, so I editorialized a little, but he DID say the part about working things out with the CBA).

I know you, like I, am hoping everyone involved who has even a fart's worth of greed in his or her bones smartens up and does what's right for the greater good of all the rabid football fans out there. Pay these guys what they deserve, owners and league reps. And take care of them with better benefits after they retire. I don't want to keep elevating upward on the old high horse here, but it's getting ridiculous. You want to implement an 18-game regular season schedule (horrible idea, by the way), but you can't get straight what constitutes an illegal hit and what doesn't (or you just choose to head-hunt and fine certain players because of their reputation), and worst of all, you don't have any plan in place to help these modern-day gladiators out when they're 42 years old, 6 years retired from the game but can't even bend over to play ball with their kids anymore because of "God-knows-what" aches and pains they have going on. Oh and this is all because you only paid them a pittance compared to what certain NBA players make, leaving them unable to afford the best medical care in their declining years, all so that the kajillionaire owners can continue to pocket what amounts to an extra few dollar bills by their standards.

And now give me a moment to descend off the soapbox. Okay, almost down now. Just a moment. There. Thank you.

But seriously, I love the game as much as anyone, and I recognize that you get what you sign up for in terms of some of the nasty injuries that come along with it. But please, that's all the more reason to protect these guys. They're like pieces of meat right now. The game chews them up and spits them out, knowing full well that the next Brett Favre or Maurice Jones-Drew is coming down the pike to entertain us all for years to come. So who cares about the guys that just put their bodies through about 25 years worth of trauma in a brutal 7-10 year stretch, right? Who would sign up for this? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are guys who leave the game all the time and are fine. But there's a whole lot that aren't so lucky, and the years of service they gave to the league and for our enjoyment doesn't amount to so much as a stack of illegally forged pain pill prescription slips because nobody is there to help these guys. I really hope that changes, or else the premiere athletes in our country in the coming years are going to start gravitating toward anything (baseball, soccer, basketball, hockey, olympics, etc.) that isn't football. And who can blame them? No amount of money in someone's bank account can fix years worth of damage done by concussions or vicious helmet-to-body hits. Please NFL, take better care of these guys, any way you can. I don't have the answers for sure, but I think that more time ought to be spent trying to figure them out.

Now that I've started 2011 off like a real Debbie Downer, on to the fun stuff, shall we? I promise next entry I'll hit up more entertainment or other-sports type topics, but for now, College football and the NFL rolls on.

COLLEGE

The Bowl Season thus far has been, I don't know, seemingly not as memorable as in other years. Can anyone recall any other season that featured so many 'who cares' bowls or such a lack of star-power at the college level? Or maybe I'm just paying less attention, I'm not sure. Either way, it seems like the 2010-11 college football season has been just as much about scandals, athletes being disciplined and how hypocritical and laughable an organization the NCAA has become to most of us. Between the Cam Newton stuff, Reggie Bush being guilted into giving back his Heisman Trophy (with the NCAA playing the role of the 100-percent effective guilt-tripping Jewish mother), and the five Ohio State starters getting in trouble for selling off some awards that they won, it's hard for me to respect what this game is about anymore. I still enjoy the actual football and the general pageantry of it all, but the NCAA needs an overhaul with its whole "You can make millions of dollars for your universities, but you can't profit from or lay your hands on a damn thing that isn't ours" mentality. And forget it if you think you're seeing a playoff instituted anytime soon, but that's a whole separate issue I don't even want to get into now.

Anyway, let's try to focus on the positive for a change. What's been notable as the 2010 season is coming to a close, either in terms of teams' overall performances or the Bowl Games? Well the Rose Bowl was quite entertaining. No. 3 TCU, from one of the supposedly 'inferior' conferences, stopped fifth-ranked Wisconsin 21-19 in Pasadena to finish unbeaten at 12-0 and raise all kinds of questions about whether the Horned Frogs could hang with Auburn and/or Oregon, the two top-ranked schools that will face off for the BCS National Championship on Jan. 10th in Glendale, Ariz. Without a playoff, the controversy will continue year in and year out. Fun for some, maddening for others. Detractors will point out that the Big 10 Conference went 0-5 in New Year's Day Bowl Games in an effort to diminish TCU's accomplishment (never mind that Wisconsin had one of the top scoring offenses in the nation statistically).

Basically, this one is simple folks. The TCU's and Boise's of the world can play with anyone. Have we really not learned this by now? Do we not have enough of a body of evidence to support this yet? Boise upset Oklahoma a few years back during bowl season. Utah crushed Alabama on New Year's Day two years ago, the season before the Crimson Tide won the national title. TCU just held off Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Is this not enough to end the superiority complex of the 'major' conferences? Give it a rest already. If this was one of those years where Auburn or Oregon would have lost in the last couple of weeks, TCU just may have had its shot at a title. But it just didn't work out that way. Ironically, two of the best teams from the 'inferior conference' schools met in December when Boise State whacked Utah 26-3 in the MAACO Bowl in Las Vegas. Some redemption for the Broncos after blowing that overtime thriller against Nevada that effectively crushed BSU's national title hopes. There were a few other upsets here and there, but nothing so shocking that it's worth recapping.

Enjoy that Stanford-Virginia Tech matchup in the Orange Bowl tonight. Stanford's all-everything QB Andrew Luck apparently might stay put for another year. Can you imagine if he declares himself eligible for the 2011 NFL Draft, gets taken as the first overall pick (like many are predicting) and then there's a season-long lockout? Talk about some Cardinal fans sitting around next year wondering what could have been. I'm pretty sure I know what Stanford supporters are hoping he chooses to do.

NFL

Wild-card round Playoff matchups are set. Here we go!

NFC - No. 5 New Orleans Saints (11-5) at No. 4 Seattle Seahawks (7-9), Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST, NBC

Unfortunately, that's no misprint. The Seahawks are the first team with a losing record to make it to the playoffs, a dubious distinction to be sure. And they did it with an inspired Sunday night win over the St. Louis Rams, being led by backup QB Charlie Whitehurst no less, the one and only Clipboard Jesus. I was stunned at how well Seattle played. The crowd was loud, the defense did its job (holding the Rams to just two field goals), and Seattle moved the ball when it needed to do so. The Saints of course rested some key starters in a 23-13 loss to Tampa Bay knowing that Atlanta was well on its way to beating Carolina by halftime and clinching the NFC South and No. 1 overall seed, making the Bucs-Saints outcome meaningless for N.O.

I know everyone assumes the defending SB champ Saints are going to roll in this one. In fact, the line is currently at -10.5 Saints. And yes, they probably are going to win. But don't be surprised if Seattle doesn't only easily cover the spread, but possibly look like its capable of winning this game. I don't want to over-rate Seattle based on one impressive win over the Rams. Yeah, the Seahawks have had some stinkers this year. But it's clear that this is a whole different team with a different mentality, and it's also clear that they recognize how big this moment is given that dominating "win-to-get-in" St. Louis victory. They will come out with some fight, absolutely. The crowd will be deafening, it'll possibly be cold and rainy, and the Saints haven't had to win very many do-or-die, crappy-weather road games where they can't even hear themselves think. N.O.'s superior talent and edge in big-game experience will likely give them a win here (Drew Brees is quite unflappable), but I do not expect it to be a cakewalk.

NFC - No. 6 Green Bay Packers (10-6) at No. 3 Philadelphia Eagles (10-6), Sunday, 4:30 p.m. EST, FOX

I'll try not to let my Eagle fan-dom influence me here (in fact I can honestly say that it won't). Why you ask? Because I'm not all that confident that the Eagles will win this game. It's not reverse psychology either, so you can throw that theory out the window. It's actually simple. Whenever I'm predicting who might win a game, I usually examine the most recent performances by the two teams, unless there are some other mitigating or extenuating circumstances going on that warrant being mentioned.

So let's go back and look at the last two games for each of these teams. The Eagles dropped a 14-13 decision to Dallas in a Week 17 game where the Birds were mostly resting key starters. So that's not terrible. But I'll tell you what WAS terrible. Philly's 24-14 loss five days prior to the Vikings at the Linc. Not the kind of note you want to go out on when the next time your starters all take the field will be in a playoff game against a team that beat you on that very same field to open the season. Now yes, these are two very different teams now. But that's not necessarily better for the Eagles. Against Minnesota, Eagles QB Michael Vick looked very un-Vick like as he was pressured all night, turned the ball over twice and generally made poor decisions. On the other side of the ball, Philly's defense made Vikings' third-stringer Joe Webb look like a young Donovan McNabb back in his glory days with the Eagles. It's not going to get any easier with this Green Bay team coming to town.

 

The Packers, on the other hand, scraped by division rival Chicago in a tough 10-3 victory yesterday that Green Bay needed to make the playoffs, a week after a Lambeau-Field thrashing of the N.Y. Giants to the tune of 45-17, which is way better than the Eagles did against the G-Men in either of their two wins over New York this season (you remember that 'Miracle' the Birds needed to win one of those two games?)

So it's going to be no easy task for Philly, even though they are one of the more dangerous teams in the NFL when they're clicking on all cylinders. Hopefully the rest that some of the banged-up key starters got this past weekend will show in the form of a more focused effort by the Birds. We all know how easy they can make it look when Vick uncorks a few early bombs to DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin to give Philly an early 14 or 17-point lead, and then they just have to play in 'Don't eff up' mode for three quarters. On the other hand, we've all seen these games where they get off to a bad jump from the starting gun, and just can't ever seem to regain their composure.

Green Bay seems less prone to sloppy play, dumb mistakes and turning the ball over. Aaron Rodgers has the confidence of a veteran, and it's obvious his teammates love him. Defensively the Packers do have holes and I think the Birds will be able to take advantage of that, but they've also shown the ability to rise to the occasion when necessary (holding a frighteningly capable Bears offense to 3 points on Sunday - and the Bears were in that one to win it, playing all the starters for the whole game). I can see Green Bay going into the Linc and winning this one. They're playing better right now, and generally they are more disciplined and probably have an overall better defense. Certainly a better overall offensive line. Expect Vick to have to continue to run for his life back there. If Philly can put some points up early, get a lead and maintain it - that's their best shot. I'm not confident they can emerge victorious in a slug-fest where both teams are counter-punching for four quarters. And if the Eagles fall behind early? You can pretty much forget it. I am officially nervous for this game. Would much rather see Tampa Bay coming to town, or perhaps even a Giants matchup for the third time.

AFC - No. 5 Baltimore Ravens (12-4) at No. 4 Kansas City Chiefs (10-6), Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS

What in hell's name was that terrible outing by the Chiefs Sunday against the Oakland Raiders in a game that KC needed to secure the No. 3 seed? That doesn't inspire confidence at all. Arrowhead Stadium will be rocking without a doubt, but Baltimore has won plenty of road playoff games the past couple of seasons. If there's any team that doesn't get intimidated easily, it's them.

Chiefs signal-caller Matt Cassel has had quite an impressive season. He'll be the key to this game. Jamaal Charles will get some yards here and there, but no back can completely dust this B'more defense. Cassel will need to get it done through the air, and that will be tough with the likes of Haloti Ngata, Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and company bearing down on a Chiefs offense that looked completely disoriented against Oakland. The fact that the Ravens' offense is quite inconsistent will keep the Chiefs in this one though. KC's run defense has shown a tendency to get burned against a solid attack, so look for Ray Rice to go nuts if Baltimore hopes to score a lot of points and put the Chiefs away in a hostile environment. The Chiefs have been a nice story this year, first playoff appearance in 8 seasons. But I think Baltimore will rise to the occasion and get it done.

AFC - No. 6 New York Jets (11-5) at No. 3 Indianapolis Colts (10-6), Saturday, 8 p.m. EST, NBC

Look out, Rex Ryan insists this is 'personal.' I remember the last time he had to repeatedly answer questions about a matter he considered to be 'personal.' I hope for his sake on Saturday night that he's not left feeling as embarrassed as he was over that other incident.

As most recall by now, this is a rematch of last year's AFC Championship game in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, a tense affair in which the Jets hung in there, even having led by three scores at one point in the first half, until Peyton Manning, as he so often does, found a way to solve that defense and guide the Colts to their second Super Bowl appearance in four seasons.

It was a tough loss for the Jets, who looked for all the world at halftime of that game like they could be playing for a Super Bowl.

Well, the way things have unraveled for the Jets this year hasn't been as fortuitous. After a 9-2 start in their first 11 games, they were routed on national TV in a highly anticipated Monday Night Football showdown in Foxboro by New England, a team the Jets defeated at the New Meadowlands earlier this year. Rex Ryan's crew proceeded to go 2-2 in their last four games to grab the final wild card spot when it looked after 11 games like they may have a shot at a No. 1 or No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. My how quickly the tide can turn.

Meanwhile, the Colts have struggled mightily this year. There they stood at 6-6 after 12 games, with a lot of folks writing them out of the playoffs, saying they were done. So they rattled off four straight wins, three of them against AFC South foes, to remove any doubt and earn themselves a seemingly improbable No. 3 seed (thanks to KC's meltdown against Oakland).

No question that Indy has all the momentum heading into this one. But the Jets do have a ton of talent, and came damn near close to pulling off an unlikely road win against the Bears in Chicago a couple weeks back, falling 38-34.

It seems fairly straightforward here. If the Jets can look at last year's AFC title game as a template and figure out how to best Manning, they certainly have a shot. Indy's defense is capable, but not outstanding, so the Jets can and should put points on the board. Obviously, they also need to avoid dumb mistakes (penalties, turnovers, special teams lapses, etc.) for which they've shown a tendency at times. But the real key matchup here is Colts' O vs. Jets' D. Can Rex Ryan's defensive unit keep Peyton off the field as much as possible, and minimize those long, sustained drives that inevitably chew up 5-6 minutes and result in 6 points for Indy. The Jets will certainly have to be creative, mix up their blitz packages and schemes to throw Manning off. It will be much easier if they can get penetration and rattle Manning into making quick, ill-advised decisions. But that's much easier said than done, considering that the Colts' offensive line protects Manning much in the same way that Andy Reid protects his cookie jar.

It pains me to say it, but it feels like Indy is going to move on (hope I'm wrong). It could be by a razor-thin margin, but the Colts have been clicking lately (four straight wins), and shown the ability to win a close one on their own field not even 24 hours ago (even though it was against Tennessee, which was actually playing quite well). The Jets have looked more like their season has been one of lots of talk and potential, but not enough actual impressive results. Let's see if they can win a tough game, do-or-die style, on the road against a wily veteran, one of the best quarterbacks of his generation, in the playoffs, in a loud stadium. If they can do that, I, and others, will officially believe they've regained their mojo - at least temporarily.