The NFC Championship Game this year featured the Arizona Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams barely played above .500 football in the regular season. Philadelphia didn't even win its division finishing just 9-6-1. The Arizona Cardinals suffered one of the worst beatings of the regular season, 47-7 in its second-to-last game against a team that didn't even make the playoffs. One of those teams was bound to be among the final two standing in the NFL's so-called championship. Yet people want this for college football?
The BCS has all kinds of flaws that need to be worked on, but looking at the NFL playoffs points to why there isn't a legitimate solution for college football. Let me put something on the table right away. Whatever playoff format is chosen, if and when we come to that day, won't remain intact. If we're talking a plus-one, eventually and in fairly rapid order you can count on that expanding to an eight team tournament, and in all likelihood a 16-team tournament. This expansion is inevitable and there's no way to stop it. A plus one won't stay that way because someone will sue and demand their place at the table, and eventually every conference champion will need to be included, not just of BCS schools but non-BCS schools. Theoretically this isn't such a problem since the best teams should advance, but in reality that's not how it works.
You see there isn't a Cardinals fan alive who, with a straight face at the end of the regular season, would have said they had the best or second-best team in the NFL. The playoffs should in theory advance the most superior teams, but instead because they're played with just one game between teams, anything can and usually does happen. Instead of order and something that promotes superiority and the best possible championship, you get what amounts to a roll of the dice.
I once read a book titled "The Hidden Game of Baseball", this book once calculated that the difference in baseball due to skill is about one run a game, while the average difference due to luck is about four runs a game. Over a long season the luck evens out, and the skill shines through. But in a series of three out of five or even four out of seven, anything can happen. In a five-game series, the worst team in baseball will beat the best about 15% of the time. Which explains why two teams not among the NFL super elite and certainly not among the elite of the entire NFL, found themselves within 60 minutes of a Super Bowl appearance.
Don't get me wrong the NFL playoffs are exciting and mean well, but are not structured to reward superior play and ability. If you played this year's playoff out again, the outcome would likely be remarkably different within the same assemblage of teams. And if you played it again, same thing. Luck and circumstance overriding actual ability.
One thing I enjoy about college football is that while it may not get the exact one or two teams right at the end of the season, it will bring together two of the three or four best teams out there, as evidenced by 12 games worth of play instead of performance in just one. Neither model is perfect, but college football's gets much closer to answering that nagging question "who is best?".
A college football playoff could potentially seat for example the 2008 ACC or Big East champions, Virginia Tech and Cincinnati as its so-called best teams, given just how much variance is introduced through a playoff. To me that makes the whole process meaningless and random. In exchange you also end up carving into the greatest regular season in all of sport to accommodate the inevitable playoff expansion because I enjoy the fact that every game during the season matters. This is a horrible trade-off that doesn't really come any closer to determining a legitimate champion than the BCS.
At some point the critics who argue for a playoff have to step back and take a look at how college football is structured and realize just how near-impossible it is to legitimately and fairly crown a champion. There are 119 teams of varied ability and style, some of whom are in 12-team divisions, playing a 12-game regular season including anywhere from three to five non-conference games. The one way to strengthen a playoff is to have teams play a lengthy series of games between themselves. This is impossible for college football given the academic limitations and demands in place.
It's unfortunate, but in the meantime the game has done about as well as it can to determine a championship and does it without eroding the only truly compelling regular season in all of major sport. So my apologies, but people like our new President Barack Obama couldn't be more wrong about a need for a playoff in college football. I understand their concerns, but it won't work how we would want it to work, and it would take away from the best part of the game.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
It's Pol-a-ma-lu...Polamalu...do...do do do
Wow, I can't believe I'm about to do this. I quite simply love my Minnesota Vikings, and always try to find new ways to loathe the team in my current hometown, the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, I can no longer ignore this one simple fact: Troy Polamalu is absolutely unreal.
The Steelers 23-14 victory over the Baltimore Ravens was representative of how the Steelers seem to win each week - Offense struggles at times (mainly their offensive line), only to be bailed out by their insane defense. Don't get me wrong, the Steelers defense has studs all over the field, but I don't think anyone is important to their team like Polamalu is. The guy absolutely changes what an offense wants to do on any given play. The Steelers have almost the same team they did last year and they struggled down the stretch and were immediately bounced from the playoffs the first weekend. Why? Because Polamalu was out for a few of those games and not 100% in the playoff loss to the Jaguars. Now they find themselves in Super Bowl 43 because of...well...because of #43.
Polamalu came out and did what he's so special at doing - make timely plays in all sorts of different situations, including in two of the game's more critical moments. The 4th and one stop of Joe Flacco and the pick six that iced the game at the end. However, I think Troy's impact goes beyond the plays that everyone sees over and over again.
During the 3rd quarter of yesterday's game, Ray Rice of the Ravens took a handoff from Flacco and started going outside - At least a 1o yard gain was about to happen until..wait a second...why is he cutting back towards the middle of the field...right into the arms of two Steeler defenders, well nevermind...two yard gain. You see, I realized something right there. The reason why Ray Rice didn't take it outside? Because he wasn't sure where Troy was. Ray Rice knows that if he's the one with the ball, then chances are Polamalu is looming somewhere close by. The problem was on this particular play, Troy was nowhere in site. He was clear on the other side of the field, but instinct took over for Ray Rice, so he wanted to avoid the best defender in the league and settle for a two yard gain. Now how many players have that kind of impact on any given play? I saw at least 5 or 6 more plays just like this one throughout the game where running backs and receivers changed their direction based solely on one player.
Polamalu makes those kinds of plays, the ones where he closes in on players the way a screen door slams shut in a wind storm, but this year he started using the same instincts and explosiveness to close in on balls thrown by opposing quarterbacks. This resulted in an NFL-leading seven interceptions.
Thinking about Troy Polamalu's impact on this defense when he's healthy makes me wonder if he's not the most valuable player in the entire league. I can confidently say this though, Steelers fans will never see anything quite like him ever again at the safety position.
Yes there will be other greats in the years to come. Some might even have more consistent or longer careers. But nobody will have that kind of impact that he does every game.
The Steelers 23-14 victory over the Baltimore Ravens was representative of how the Steelers seem to win each week - Offense struggles at times (mainly their offensive line), only to be bailed out by their insane defense. Don't get me wrong, the Steelers defense has studs all over the field, but I don't think anyone is important to their team like Polamalu is. The guy absolutely changes what an offense wants to do on any given play. The Steelers have almost the same team they did last year and they struggled down the stretch and were immediately bounced from the playoffs the first weekend. Why? Because Polamalu was out for a few of those games and not 100% in the playoff loss to the Jaguars. Now they find themselves in Super Bowl 43 because of...well...because of #43.
Polamalu came out and did what he's so special at doing - make timely plays in all sorts of different situations, including in two of the game's more critical moments. The 4th and one stop of Joe Flacco and the pick six that iced the game at the end. However, I think Troy's impact goes beyond the plays that everyone sees over and over again.
During the 3rd quarter of yesterday's game, Ray Rice of the Ravens took a handoff from Flacco and started going outside - At least a 1o yard gain was about to happen until..wait a second...why is he cutting back towards the middle of the field...right into the arms of two Steeler defenders, well nevermind...two yard gain. You see, I realized something right there. The reason why Ray Rice didn't take it outside? Because he wasn't sure where Troy was. Ray Rice knows that if he's the one with the ball, then chances are Polamalu is looming somewhere close by. The problem was on this particular play, Troy was nowhere in site. He was clear on the other side of the field, but instinct took over for Ray Rice, so he wanted to avoid the best defender in the league and settle for a two yard gain. Now how many players have that kind of impact on any given play? I saw at least 5 or 6 more plays just like this one throughout the game where running backs and receivers changed their direction based solely on one player.
Polamalu makes those kinds of plays, the ones where he closes in on players the way a screen door slams shut in a wind storm, but this year he started using the same instincts and explosiveness to close in on balls thrown by opposing quarterbacks. This resulted in an NFL-leading seven interceptions.
Thinking about Troy Polamalu's impact on this defense when he's healthy makes me wonder if he's not the most valuable player in the entire league. I can confidently say this though, Steelers fans will never see anything quite like him ever again at the safety position.
Yes there will be other greats in the years to come. Some might even have more consistent or longer careers. But nobody will have that kind of impact that he does every game.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Sorry, I'm not a Yinzer....
It’s always interesting to me to hear how fans grew to love the teams they do. Most stories revolve around growing up watching local teams on TV with fathers. But some vary slightly, especially for those that may have moved around a few times when they were younger, like myself.
Sure, everyone in Pittsburgh should be a Steelers fan. It’s only natural. That’s the team you can go see consistently in person and so that’s who you should root for. By that regard, it makes sense to waive those stupid terrible towels every Sunday. But what if they stunk consistently for a decade? Then what?
Logically, die hard fans would say it doesn’t matter if your team is terrible for a century, it’s still your team. I agree with that completely, trust me. Since 1990, I’ve seen the downfall of nearly every one of my favorite teams. But here’s where I, and several sports fans around the nation, are different: I don’t root for the home team.
That doesn’t mean I root against our local teams. I enjoy attending Penguin and Pirate games and I root just as hard for them as anyone else in attendance, just not when they’re playing my boys. And somehow, I feel like I'm forced to feel guilty about that. And I shouldn’t.
I’ve been a Minnesota Vikings fan since I was a child. I’ve never been to Minnesota once, though. It started with a trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame with my old neighbor from Youngstown (Raiders Fan fyi) and his brother (a Vikings fan). My dad was trying, unsuccessfully as it turns out, to raise me to be a Redskins fan, so my neighbor's brother thought it would be a great idea to get under my dad's skin by showering me with gifts for the purple and yellow. Well, keeping in mind I was only 6 years old, I loved the tough looking Viking mascot and the nice little hat with the horns and pigtails, so I was instantly hooked. So I was the only Vikings fan I knew for years growing up, and that made me that much more of a die-hard. Knowing that the Vikings were MY team, and the rest of my surrounding world was against me, made me yearn for their victories that much more.
I’ve been an Atlanta Braves fan since I even understood fully what baseball was. This was quite simply the fact that I saw them each and every day on TBS, not really much to add to this because that's about the only reason I rooted for them. After perfecting the art of choking in the 90's this team made me realize they were destined to be MY team. My stubbornness has kept me a fan to this day.
Now as you can see so far I'm not a frontrunner, but I will admit that the sole reason I became a Chicago Blackhawks fan was because of the year they made their run to the Stanley Cup Finals back in 1992. This was only a year after I moved here to PA and before that I didn't even know what hockey was (Growing up in Oklahoma and Ohio will do that to a person). So, I didn't have a team obviously and going with the trend of rooting for teams outside of the local teams, I chose to root for Chicago in the hopes they could beat the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Well, four games later that proved to be way off, and for the subsequent seasons after (years of failure for the Hawks), I realized this team was just like my others. Loveable losers! Chicago is finally on the brink of being great again, but I know my teams, they'll find a way to break my heart.
I root for Michigan and Oklahoma in college sports. Did I go to either school? No. I went to Slippery Rock University.....for 3 years. My passion for Michigan began about 2 years after I started rooting for the Vikings. I believe it was an Ohio State-Michigan game that my Dad was watching, when I noticed how "cool" the helmets were that Michigan had on. I thought the horns somewhat resembled those my beloved Vikings had on theirs, so I asked my Dad who that team was. He looked at me and said, "Don't you ever root for Meeechigan" Well...so much for that..ha ha! Oklahoma allegiance is strictly because they are the only original hometown team of mine, so I cheer them on whenever possible. Should OU and Big Blue ever meet, well go Wolverines!
I could rattle off the teams I have a soft spot for even further, but you get the gist. I’m not a true hometown fan, bottom line. Why would I make a switch based solely on where I live? Am I supposed to "switch" teams everytime I move? That would totally demean everything that sports is supposed to be about.
So what's the problem rooting for any team you want? Why do you automatically have to be for your hometown's team? What if you don't like your hometown? What if the hometown team is full of druggies and thugs? After all, nobody has any control over where they're born. They don't get to choose their country and certainly not their town or city. This is why I've never understood why I get blasted for not rooting for the Steelers? Why, because I was actually man enough to do something on my own without following what everyone else is doing?
I've never understood the "reasoning" behind rooting for the team geographically closest. If you're an American you can root for whoever you want. I just don't get it. Geographic proximity makes no sense in regard to allegiance to sports teams. If you live in Alaska, are you going to be for the Russian national hockey team in the Winter Olympics instead of the American team? Well, if you follow the principle of geographic proximity you sure will.
Sure, everyone in Pittsburgh should be a Steelers fan. It’s only natural. That’s the team you can go see consistently in person and so that’s who you should root for. By that regard, it makes sense to waive those stupid terrible towels every Sunday. But what if they stunk consistently for a decade? Then what?
Logically, die hard fans would say it doesn’t matter if your team is terrible for a century, it’s still your team. I agree with that completely, trust me. Since 1990, I’ve seen the downfall of nearly every one of my favorite teams. But here’s where I, and several sports fans around the nation, are different: I don’t root for the home team.
That doesn’t mean I root against our local teams. I enjoy attending Penguin and Pirate games and I root just as hard for them as anyone else in attendance, just not when they’re playing my boys. And somehow, I feel like I'm forced to feel guilty about that. And I shouldn’t.
I’ve been a Minnesota Vikings fan since I was a child. I’ve never been to Minnesota once, though. It started with a trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame with my old neighbor from Youngstown (Raiders Fan fyi) and his brother (a Vikings fan). My dad was trying, unsuccessfully as it turns out, to raise me to be a Redskins fan, so my neighbor's brother thought it would be a great idea to get under my dad's skin by showering me with gifts for the purple and yellow. Well, keeping in mind I was only 6 years old, I loved the tough looking Viking mascot and the nice little hat with the horns and pigtails, so I was instantly hooked. So I was the only Vikings fan I knew for years growing up, and that made me that much more of a die-hard. Knowing that the Vikings were MY team, and the rest of my surrounding world was against me, made me yearn for their victories that much more.
I’ve been an Atlanta Braves fan since I even understood fully what baseball was. This was quite simply the fact that I saw them each and every day on TBS, not really much to add to this because that's about the only reason I rooted for them. After perfecting the art of choking in the 90's this team made me realize they were destined to be MY team. My stubbornness has kept me a fan to this day.
Now as you can see so far I'm not a frontrunner, but I will admit that the sole reason I became a Chicago Blackhawks fan was because of the year they made their run to the Stanley Cup Finals back in 1992. This was only a year after I moved here to PA and before that I didn't even know what hockey was (Growing up in Oklahoma and Ohio will do that to a person). So, I didn't have a team obviously and going with the trend of rooting for teams outside of the local teams, I chose to root for Chicago in the hopes they could beat the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Well, four games later that proved to be way off, and for the subsequent seasons after (years of failure for the Hawks), I realized this team was just like my others. Loveable losers! Chicago is finally on the brink of being great again, but I know my teams, they'll find a way to break my heart.
I root for Michigan and Oklahoma in college sports. Did I go to either school? No. I went to Slippery Rock University.....for 3 years. My passion for Michigan began about 2 years after I started rooting for the Vikings. I believe it was an Ohio State-Michigan game that my Dad was watching, when I noticed how "cool" the helmets were that Michigan had on. I thought the horns somewhat resembled those my beloved Vikings had on theirs, so I asked my Dad who that team was. He looked at me and said, "Don't you ever root for Meeechigan" Well...so much for that..ha ha! Oklahoma allegiance is strictly because they are the only original hometown team of mine, so I cheer them on whenever possible. Should OU and Big Blue ever meet, well go Wolverines!
I could rattle off the teams I have a soft spot for even further, but you get the gist. I’m not a true hometown fan, bottom line. Why would I make a switch based solely on where I live? Am I supposed to "switch" teams everytime I move? That would totally demean everything that sports is supposed to be about.
So what's the problem rooting for any team you want? Why do you automatically have to be for your hometown's team? What if you don't like your hometown? What if the hometown team is full of druggies and thugs? After all, nobody has any control over where they're born. They don't get to choose their country and certainly not their town or city. This is why I've never understood why I get blasted for not rooting for the Steelers? Why, because I was actually man enough to do something on my own without following what everyone else is doing?
I've never understood the "reasoning" behind rooting for the team geographically closest. If you're an American you can root for whoever you want. I just don't get it. Geographic proximity makes no sense in regard to allegiance to sports teams. If you live in Alaska, are you going to be for the Russian national hockey team in the Winter Olympics instead of the American team? Well, if you follow the principle of geographic proximity you sure will.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Final Morning After Pill of 2008 season...
My plan for this entry was to write a well-organized, articulate blog about the game on Sunday, our season in general, and some advice for next season. I have a lot of thoughts on the game, but I'm not far enough removed from the annual heartbreak dealt out by my favorite team to make much sense. So you're getting all my opinions in "ramblings" form.
Here goes... I might end up with a lengthy post here so bear with me. Since I follow this team too closely to objectively analyze anything, I fully reserve the right to change the following opinions at any time.
First of all, that was an excellent crowd in the Metrodome Sunday. The sports talk world would have led you to believe that the stadium would be half-full of green-clad Eagles fans and we pathetic Vikings fans that barely sold the game out would be indifferent and not confident enough to make any noise. As usual, the sports talk world was proved wrong. The Dome was LOUD until the stake-in-the-heart Westbrook TD.
Remember Mike Tyson's Punch Out on Nintendo? One of the greatest video games of my lifetime, but beating it didn't exactly require you to be a Rhodes Scholar. For each fighter, you'd find their pattern, and as soon as you figured out what their little "tick" was (like King Hippo showing his belly), you could anticipate what was coming and have your Little Mac beat the hell out of them. What does any of this have to do with the Vikings? Tarvaris Jackson has a "tick" that's easier to beat than Glass Joe. He completely locked on and stared down each and every receiver he threw to Sunday! His head didn't turn away from his primary target; his eyes didn't try to lead anyone off the ball; he didn't even consider pump faking someone off a route. Before you wonder why none of the receivers could get open yesterday, realize that most of the time the guy was open..... at first. But by the time the TV cameras got to the receiver, it looked like T-Jax was throwing into coverage every time. With corners like Asante Samuel that love to jump routes to begin with, the "tick" (or as some might call it, "crappy quarterbacking") was the perfect recipe for the pick-six that changed the game for good.
Like we've seen most of the season, the defense looked great for the most part. I can't fault them for allowing only one offensive touchdown late when they were tired. The defense did what they could with the mostly poor field position they were given. They gave the offense a solid handful of chances to take the lead with the score frozen at 16-14 in the second half. They got a couple big turnovers, tackled well, and shut down Westbrook except for the knockout punch. That said: a couple big third down stops EARLY in drives could have at least helped our inept offense with field position. Not saying that T-Jax and the Childress Braintrust would have done anything with it, but it would have helped the odds a bit.
Oh, the special teams. Where do I start? Using the obvious "they're special like retarded" joke is an insult to retarded people everywhere. Kluwe needs more air on those punts. He's got a hell of a leg, but our coverage team is obviously taking a little longer to get to the returner than they're anticipating. When the returner does get that ball with all that space, can they at least make sure the runner has to juke someone for a big return? I don't know how many returns I saw by the opposition this year where the guy avoided zero to two defenders then simply ran STRAIGHT FORWARD for huge yardage. Sprinters running the 200 meter dash had to change directions more than DeSean Jackson had to on his big punt return yesterday.
Speaking of straight forward, I'm pretty sure someone needs to show Hicks what one of those "jukes" is. Make him play a game of Madden or something. "See what happens when you move the right thumbstick Maurice? You can do that in real life! Really, I'm not kidding!" Not once the entire season did it feel like the Vikings were a threat to break a big return. Our pedestrian performance on both sides of the return game made a BIG difference this year.
Regarding AP/AD/Purple Jesus/The Main Reason the Vikings were There in the First Place: you did what you could. You didn't fumble, even though every analyst on the planet was certain you had turned football into a game of hot potato. You made the only big play of the game on offense. You were responsible for all of the scoring. You dealt with unimaginative play calling. Just one future note that will help you become one of the best running backs ever instead of just the best running back right now: watch how Chester Taylor always makes one cut and then barrels forward. I will always drink the Purple Jesus Juice because of what you have already brought to my favorite team, but you still dance a bit too much at the line of scrimmage.
After the Fox locker room incident, I never thought I'd say this: I really wanted to see more of Visanthe Shiancoe! He became our second biggest weapon down the stretch, and he had one catch for seven yards?! Inexcusable, especially against a blitz-heavy defense where the TE should have been our main target for quick passes.
Hopefully this game made our front office realize what I've been saying all year, regardless of QB performance and regardless of game outcome: the Vikings won the NFC North with two very serviceable backup QBs. If they don't address this issue in the offseason, 10-6 and one-and-done is the Vikings' ceiling. End of story. I won't go into who the Vikings should get here, but there are A LOT of options available that are better than both Gus and T-Jax.
Childress isn't going to be fired. Would I love Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher combing the sidelines instead of Col. Klink? Of course! But Zygi isn't going to get rid of him after a division championship. If he does, I'd never be happier about being wrong in my life, but I'm not holding my breath. Besides, what would 90% of Vikings fans complain about if we had someone we all liked?
"Mom, can we keep him? Pleeeeeeease can we keep our defensive coordinator?! Please please pleeeeeease?! I'll take care of him, promise! I don't WANT another defensive coordinator! I love Leslie Frazier! You already made me get rid of Mike Tomlin and Tony Dungy!
Matt Birk and Darren Sharper are still good players, but they aren't worth what they'll cost next year. I love both of these guys, but it's time to move on. Birk has been the league's biggest voice for retired players and is an overall great guy by all accounts, even if he fired the last meaningful snap of the season into Tarvaris' ankles. Sharper will make a great talking head some day, and it was great to see him do so well after the Packers got rid of him. Thanks for everything guys, and I wish you nothing but the best, unless of course you land on another NFC North team.
The Berrian acquisition worked out pretty well. He added a deep threat and he made some YUGE, Jarvis Redwine worthy plays throughout the season. Now we need a true possession WR that can make AT LEAST 60+ catches and pile up some yards. A 100% healthy Sidney Rice may be that guy, but I'm starting to think that the Vikings should probably stay away from South Carolina WRs in the future. They haven't exactly panned out thus far.
Jared Allen worked big time. Nobody worked harder this year, except maybe his barber. With a healthy EJ Henderson back, a solid secondary, and a hopefully-still-not-suspended Williams Wall, our defense looks scary in 2009.
Ten wins and seven losses isn't anything to be ashamed of. Only 1/4 of the teams in the NFL (the 8 teams left in the playoffs) can claim they had a better season than we did. And guess what, we had a better season than Bears or Packers fans can say they had.
If you actually read all this, thanks for letting me vent. I feel slightly better. Now I'll head to my local batting cage and take 90-mph fastballs to the head, Happy Gilmore style, to prepare for the inevitable torture that awaits us in the 2009 season.
Only 364 more days until the Vikings break our hearts in a new creative way!
Here goes... I might end up with a lengthy post here so bear with me. Since I follow this team too closely to objectively analyze anything, I fully reserve the right to change the following opinions at any time.
First of all, that was an excellent crowd in the Metrodome Sunday. The sports talk world would have led you to believe that the stadium would be half-full of green-clad Eagles fans and we pathetic Vikings fans that barely sold the game out would be indifferent and not confident enough to make any noise. As usual, the sports talk world was proved wrong. The Dome was LOUD until the stake-in-the-heart Westbrook TD.
Remember Mike Tyson's Punch Out on Nintendo? One of the greatest video games of my lifetime, but beating it didn't exactly require you to be a Rhodes Scholar. For each fighter, you'd find their pattern, and as soon as you figured out what their little "tick" was (like King Hippo showing his belly), you could anticipate what was coming and have your Little Mac beat the hell out of them. What does any of this have to do with the Vikings? Tarvaris Jackson has a "tick" that's easier to beat than Glass Joe. He completely locked on and stared down each and every receiver he threw to Sunday! His head didn't turn away from his primary target; his eyes didn't try to lead anyone off the ball; he didn't even consider pump faking someone off a route. Before you wonder why none of the receivers could get open yesterday, realize that most of the time the guy was open..... at first. But by the time the TV cameras got to the receiver, it looked like T-Jax was throwing into coverage every time. With corners like Asante Samuel that love to jump routes to begin with, the "tick" (or as some might call it, "crappy quarterbacking") was the perfect recipe for the pick-six that changed the game for good.
Like we've seen most of the season, the defense looked great for the most part. I can't fault them for allowing only one offensive touchdown late when they were tired. The defense did what they could with the mostly poor field position they were given. They gave the offense a solid handful of chances to take the lead with the score frozen at 16-14 in the second half. They got a couple big turnovers, tackled well, and shut down Westbrook except for the knockout punch. That said: a couple big third down stops EARLY in drives could have at least helped our inept offense with field position. Not saying that T-Jax and the Childress Braintrust would have done anything with it, but it would have helped the odds a bit.
Oh, the special teams. Where do I start? Using the obvious "they're special like retarded" joke is an insult to retarded people everywhere. Kluwe needs more air on those punts. He's got a hell of a leg, but our coverage team is obviously taking a little longer to get to the returner than they're anticipating. When the returner does get that ball with all that space, can they at least make sure the runner has to juke someone for a big return? I don't know how many returns I saw by the opposition this year where the guy avoided zero to two defenders then simply ran STRAIGHT FORWARD for huge yardage. Sprinters running the 200 meter dash had to change directions more than DeSean Jackson had to on his big punt return yesterday.
Speaking of straight forward, I'm pretty sure someone needs to show Hicks what one of those "jukes" is. Make him play a game of Madden or something. "See what happens when you move the right thumbstick Maurice? You can do that in real life! Really, I'm not kidding!" Not once the entire season did it feel like the Vikings were a threat to break a big return. Our pedestrian performance on both sides of the return game made a BIG difference this year.
Regarding AP/AD/Purple Jesus/The Main Reason the Vikings were There in the First Place: you did what you could. You didn't fumble, even though every analyst on the planet was certain you had turned football into a game of hot potato. You made the only big play of the game on offense. You were responsible for all of the scoring. You dealt with unimaginative play calling. Just one future note that will help you become one of the best running backs ever instead of just the best running back right now: watch how Chester Taylor always makes one cut and then barrels forward. I will always drink the Purple Jesus Juice because of what you have already brought to my favorite team, but you still dance a bit too much at the line of scrimmage.
After the Fox locker room incident, I never thought I'd say this: I really wanted to see more of Visanthe Shiancoe! He became our second biggest weapon down the stretch, and he had one catch for seven yards?! Inexcusable, especially against a blitz-heavy defense where the TE should have been our main target for quick passes.
Hopefully this game made our front office realize what I've been saying all year, regardless of QB performance and regardless of game outcome: the Vikings won the NFC North with two very serviceable backup QBs. If they don't address this issue in the offseason, 10-6 and one-and-done is the Vikings' ceiling. End of story. I won't go into who the Vikings should get here, but there are A LOT of options available that are better than both Gus and T-Jax.
Childress isn't going to be fired. Would I love Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher combing the sidelines instead of Col. Klink? Of course! But Zygi isn't going to get rid of him after a division championship. If he does, I'd never be happier about being wrong in my life, but I'm not holding my breath. Besides, what would 90% of Vikings fans complain about if we had someone we all liked?
"Mom, can we keep him? Pleeeeeeease can we keep our defensive coordinator?! Please please pleeeeeease?! I'll take care of him, promise! I don't WANT another defensive coordinator! I love Leslie Frazier! You already made me get rid of Mike Tomlin and Tony Dungy!
Matt Birk and Darren Sharper are still good players, but they aren't worth what they'll cost next year. I love both of these guys, but it's time to move on. Birk has been the league's biggest voice for retired players and is an overall great guy by all accounts, even if he fired the last meaningful snap of the season into Tarvaris' ankles. Sharper will make a great talking head some day, and it was great to see him do so well after the Packers got rid of him. Thanks for everything guys, and I wish you nothing but the best, unless of course you land on another NFC North team.
The Berrian acquisition worked out pretty well. He added a deep threat and he made some YUGE, Jarvis Redwine worthy plays throughout the season. Now we need a true possession WR that can make AT LEAST 60+ catches and pile up some yards. A 100% healthy Sidney Rice may be that guy, but I'm starting to think that the Vikings should probably stay away from South Carolina WRs in the future. They haven't exactly panned out thus far.
Jared Allen worked big time. Nobody worked harder this year, except maybe his barber. With a healthy EJ Henderson back, a solid secondary, and a hopefully-still-not-suspended Williams Wall, our defense looks scary in 2009.
Ten wins and seven losses isn't anything to be ashamed of. Only 1/4 of the teams in the NFL (the 8 teams left in the playoffs) can claim they had a better season than we did. And guess what, we had a better season than Bears or Packers fans can say they had.
If you actually read all this, thanks for letting me vent. I feel slightly better. Now I'll head to my local batting cage and take 90-mph fastballs to the head, Happy Gilmore style, to prepare for the inevitable torture that awaits us in the 2009 season.
Only 364 more days until the Vikings break our hearts in a new creative way!
Friday, January 2, 2009
It's time to go, Joe!
There are two main reasons why Penn State fans show up 110,000 strong for football games at Beaver Stadium.
The first, and most obvious, is to support their beloved Nittany Lions like few college fan bases do.
The second is to hold a lovefest for coach Joe Paterno, who has been there 43 years.
Around there, the 81-year-old Paterno is everyone's grandfather. He's adored, admired and he's got a college football-record 380 wins.
He's not only Penn State football, Joe Paterno is Penn State University.
After injuring his hip and leg in the first week of the season demonstrating an onside kick, Paterno spent the rest of the season coaching from the press box, rather than pace the sidelines. He doesn't even go down to the locker room during halftime, and every game except for yesterday's Rose Bowl, he never even had a headset on.
Paterno also says he can coach "another couple years." And judging by the 3 year extension he received, apparently the University feels he can as well. It's funny though that earlier this decade, when Paterno had records of 5-7, 5-6, 3-9 and 4-7, the very same Penn State fans who now adore him didn't want him around any more.
Now it's no secret that because I'm a Michigan fan, I hate Penn State. So yeah, I'm bothered by Penn State's success this year. However, what bothers me about Penn State's current success is that Paterno is getting credit for it. It's his staff and the tradition of the program that have the Nittany Lions in the running for another national title.
Don't get me wrong, the guy has done more than any other college football coach to hold his job at Penn State as long as he cares to. But it has become obvious to me that Penn State's football past and Paterno's capable assistants now run the show on the sideline, and they're the real reasons for the Nittany Lions' return to the national championship picture. I think it's an absolute joke that both JoePa and Bobby Bowden continue to rack up coaching wins as they try to outlast, or should I say outlive the other.
Here's hoping Paterno continues to enjoy apparently 3 more years of success in State College. And then, for the overall good of Penn State, and its continued success, he sails into the sunset.
The first, and most obvious, is to support their beloved Nittany Lions like few college fan bases do.
The second is to hold a lovefest for coach Joe Paterno, who has been there 43 years.
Around there, the 81-year-old Paterno is everyone's grandfather. He's adored, admired and he's got a college football-record 380 wins.
He's not only Penn State football, Joe Paterno is Penn State University.
After injuring his hip and leg in the first week of the season demonstrating an onside kick, Paterno spent the rest of the season coaching from the press box, rather than pace the sidelines. He doesn't even go down to the locker room during halftime, and every game except for yesterday's Rose Bowl, he never even had a headset on.
Paterno also says he can coach "another couple years." And judging by the 3 year extension he received, apparently the University feels he can as well. It's funny though that earlier this decade, when Paterno had records of 5-7, 5-6, 3-9 and 4-7, the very same Penn State fans who now adore him didn't want him around any more.
Now it's no secret that because I'm a Michigan fan, I hate Penn State. So yeah, I'm bothered by Penn State's success this year. However, what bothers me about Penn State's current success is that Paterno is getting credit for it. It's his staff and the tradition of the program that have the Nittany Lions in the running for another national title.
Don't get me wrong, the guy has done more than any other college football coach to hold his job at Penn State as long as he cares to. But it has become obvious to me that Penn State's football past and Paterno's capable assistants now run the show on the sideline, and they're the real reasons for the Nittany Lions' return to the national championship picture. I think it's an absolute joke that both JoePa and Bobby Bowden continue to rack up coaching wins as they try to outlast, or should I say outlive the other.
Here's hoping Paterno continues to enjoy apparently 3 more years of success in State College. And then, for the overall good of Penn State, and its continued success, he sails into the sunset.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
