Chargers over Colts: I missed most of this game, but tuned in to see L.T. and Philip Rivers on the sidelines and San Diego ahead. How cool was the upset? Two years ago the No. 1 seed Colts lost to Pittsburgh in the first round, and today with homefield they again lost their first playoff game. So you'd say they choke, except last year they won the Super Bowl. Still, which one is the fluke? And do you think Peyton will ever make it back to THE big game?
Giants over Cowboys: This was a good game, too (a great weekend for football all in all), though I found my mind wandering by the end. It was a weird upset, because the No. 1-seeded Cowboys didn't really play that badly. They did have a few plays that seemed bigger in retrospect, things like dropped passes, but it's impressive that the Giants were able to knock them off on the road.
My favorite thing about this weekend was how well most teams were passing the ball-pretty much every team had some success through the air, which helped keep the games from looking sloppy. Just made it feel like high-quality football. Tony Romo's 18-for-36 game gave him the worst completion percentage of the weekend, though. He's weird to watch because, as always, a few of his passes were just perfectly on target, but then sometimes he'll toss one while he's moving around and it just gets away from him. Last year, I felt his share of the blame for Dallas' loss was too big. But it'll be interesting to see what the public and media response is this off-season, which for the second straight year will be longer than most Dallas fans anticipated.
6 comments:
Payton looked like his old self yesterday - throwing interceptions in the red zone during a playoff game. It is an interesting question as to whether he will make it back to the Super Bowl. I am inclined to think not: his team managed to catch lightning in a bottle last year, and he just doesn't have the goods to get it done when it matters most. Last year's Super Bowl run reminded me of the run the Steelers had a couple of years ago - a few lucky breaks, but nothing that really impressed me.
Plus, what kind of defense gives up a game-winning drive to Billy Volek?
As for the Giants, they played reasonably well, and I was surprised at how error-free Eli played . . . it was alomst like the game came down to mistakes, and the Cowboys made more of them.
But by far the best moment was T.O.'s Hillary Clinton moment in the postgame press conference - there is nothing like tears to compensate for a substandard performance. But now no one can beat up on Romo without looking like a jerk, so I think he will get a pass on this one.
I agree with John, yesterday the Colts' looked more like the Colts of two years ago...failing to get it done when it really counts. For as much hype as the Colts' D has been receiving, they looked really soft yesterday. Who would've thought the Chargers could win a game without Philips, LT, and a healthy Gates. I'm disappointed that the Chargers won, because that makes out for a terrible AFC championship game, but after yesterday, maybe it doesn't really matter who won because the Colts would get steamroller by the Pats if they played like they did yesterday.
I thought the Giants' D played out of their minds yesterday. They put pressure on Romeo on almost every single snap in the second half. My favorite part of yesterday was when Michael Strahan said in an interview "We just hope T.O. has the popcorn ready. Maybe he and Crayton can sit in his home theater and watch us."
Blaine, I wouldn't give up on the AFC title game just yet. The fact is any game with the Patriots has the potential to be an historic upset-if the Chargers win, it's the game of the decade, right? It'd be the biggest upset since AT LEAST Pats over Rams in the Super Bowl, and honestly probably bigger.
And a few teams gave the Pats a game this year. Don't get me wrong, I think New England is going to win, but the drama should be awesome.
I noticed the media was quick to blame the cowboys coaching staff for not having the team ready for the game, which is probably deserved. But what about the Colts? It sure didn't look like Dungy had them ready to play. The defense looked especially unprepared, which is suppose to be Dungy's specialty. I don't think it would necessarily be a bad thing for the Colts if Dungy decides to retire.
I agree that Dungy deserves a chunk of blame for the loss, even though he never really seems to get any blame, which helps the Colts (see below). I don't think he deserves enough that he should be fired or anything, but you're right, there are rumors he'll soon retire.
Normally I'd say there is no way the Colts would be better without Dungy, who certainly seems to be a fantastic coach. But the Colts job seems to be one of the best in the NFL, considering they're the defending champions and Peyton Manning is either in or very near his prime. Plus I think Indianapolis would be a pretty easy place to coach (look how often Dungy gets blamed when things go bad-never), but you'd still be on national TV all the time because of Peyton.
That means the Colts should be able to hire anyone-not just the Jason Garretts of the world, but even a Bill Parcells type. Except not Bill Parcells, obviously, but maybe Bill Cowher or someone else who's proven? (Of course, Cowher would probably have a mental breakdown going from coaching the hard-nosed Steelers to the tissuey Colts. "Just hit him! You're allowed to!") Hmmm. So I'm not thinking of a candidate right away, but I am very interested to see how this plays out.
I agree, that would be an easy head coaching job. Peyton is basically the offensive coordinator, so they really just need a coach that won't try to control everything on offensive and screw up what they already have. I think they are planning on making Jim Caldwell, the assistant head coach the new head coach if he retires. They already seem to have a good thing going, especially with their improved defense, they really just need a coach who is already familiar with the team and, like I said before, won't screw things up so I think that would be a good fit for them.
I agree that the loss to the Chargers doesn't merit a firing for Dungy, but he has largely underachieved with really good teams both with the Colts and the Bucs. He seems to struggle getting his team ready for big games in the playoffs. Even in the Superbowl last year, I didn't think the Colts played all that well, the Bears just played so bad that pretty much any AFC playoff team would've beat them. The year after he left Tampa Gruden took the same team and won the Superbowl.
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