Conference Championships

The games today were predictable (AFC) and sloppy (NFC), and only one moment (the Saints' FG) was as cool as Carmelo's OT free throws Saturday, but here are my brief thoughts on what we've learned about the teams:

New York Jets: None of the teams whose seasons are over did more with their potential this year than the New York Jets. Their foundation was less solid than anyone else in the final four. Mark Sanchez is limited as a quarterback, particularly in his rookie season, but the team asked just the right amount of him, especially in the postseason. Their defense and running game are very good; will Sanchez get better quickly enough that the team returns to this point next year? And will teams like the Ravens and Patriots not improve enough to challenge them? It's too early to call next year, but Jets fans have a team to be proud of.

Indianapolis Colts: In the second half of the NFC title game, it hit me: the Colts are almost surely winning the Super Bowl again. I hate that, being as sick as I am of Peyton Manning, who absolutely did not deserve this year's MVP award. Other things I hate? The fact that Bobby Turner, the Broncos' longtime running back coach, has gone to Washington. Not sure how I missed that when it happened, but there goes my weekend. (I recently gave a USC fan some crap about Pete Carroll leaving; I'm barely exaggerating when I say this is just as devastating. Love that guy, way more than Josh.)

Minnesota Vikings: Sad day for Mr. Favre, who played tough through injury, then ended a fantastic year with a boneheaded toss across the middle. The Vikings refused to hang on to the ball today, and while they're clearly very talented, they refused to play up to the moment. They had so many chances they let pass them by.

New Orleans Saints: Classic Reggie Bush-in-a-big-game moment on that muffed punt return. The Saints didn't step up and make today's game their own. Rather, they took advantage of some bad Vikings turnovers, won a coin toss, and made just enough plays to be ahead on the scoreboard at the end. You can call that winning a conference championship if you'd like, but the Colts have been on the game's biggest stage before and gotten it done, as much as it pains me to say. One last thought: the game-winning field goal in OT? That's not the kind of play this franchise makes. Their fans must be going nuts right now. Everybody loves the Saints; let's hope they have enough in them to make this Super Bowl a memorable one.

Shanahan to coach Redskins

Yes, that is seriously a football team’s name. Anyway, it’s official that the greatest coach in Denver Broncos history is heading to the overexposed NFC East. I twittered about this a bunch tonight so you can hit the link to the right if you want to see what I said. I appreciated more the sentiment from my Sunday Ticket host, who texted, “I feel like my ex-gf just got married.”

And go Nuggets! Crazy win against the Warriors tonight.

The Broncos are done. For how long?

You wouldn’t put a fork in them, because you wouldn’t want to consume—you wouldn’t want to savor—you wouldn’t even want to think about this painful season one second more than is necessary. I’ll be brief.

Last season the Broncos ran out to an 8-5 start. Not unstoppable, but dangerous on offense, which for some reason makes a team look a lot better than when they’re just average on both sides of the ball with the same record. Wonder if there’s anything to that. Anyway, we just needed one win—any win—in the last three games to clinch a playoff spot. Instead we fell apart, losing by twenty to Carolina, by a touchdown to Buffalo, and by a ton to San Diego in the last game of the season, a painful and sad loss. That loss was so bad that it felt like a big factor in the dismissal of our Hall of Fame coach, Mike Shanahan, and the team’s overall letdown was surely at play in our trade of Jay Cutler, too.

This year we busted out of the gate to a sparkling 6-0 mark. However, we faltered, and were 8-5 heading into the last three weeks, before we once again lost all three. (We were also 8-4 before losing four, but don’t crush my narrative.) The fact is, we got off to a good start and then lost it all one more time.

Not that making the playoffs is good enough, or the be all end all. I don’t expect the Broncos to win a title every year or even every decade, but I like the team to provide some legitimate excitement, and I liked that Shanahan’s teams were almost always prepared. The six-and-oh start made me gun-shy on new coach Josh McDaniels, but haven’t we just spent a couple of months getting our butts beat up and down the field? And doesn’t it make that 6-0 start seem a bit…flukish?

The Raiders loss two weeks ago was the worst for me. Except for when JaMarcus Russell first stepped on the field, I just knew we were going to lose, because we were getting outplayed by a team with half our talent. Although now, I’m not sure we’re all that talented, especially if we lose Brandon Marshall, only the most or one of the most talented receivers in the game, a beast of a man who saved the Cowboys game and whose talents are wasted on a short-passing team.

Keep Marshall, find a tight end who can catch, get healthy, keep developing Knowshon, keep Elvis and Champ happy whatever the cost, force Shanahan to come back and fulfill his contract, let McDaniels follow his heart to greener pastures, and give Ron Wolf $10 million to pick some quarterbacks in next year’s draft. Do that, and next year maybe we can go 9-7.