Today's NFL baker's dozen:
1. Just as his critics said back in August: Brett Favre should have stayed retired! Obviously, this overrated clod has nothing left to give an NFL team.
2. The Cowboys and Cardinals were the fashionable picks to advance in the playoffs - so fashionable, in fact, that they were hardly even underdogs despite playing on the road.
The belief was that they were "on a roll" while the teams they'd be playing - the Vikings and Saints - would be rusty after layoffs. Some thought the Colts would fall to the Ravens for the same reason. The Chargers were seen as THE team to beat (including by yours baldly) because they went into the playoffs on an 11-game winning streak.
Sorry, but momentum doesn't work that way.
Favre sure looks finished, the momentum myth and the Gaines Adam tragedy
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Momentum shifts constantly. Games are influenced by what
happens after kickoff, not by what happened the week before or the
month before.
That's why it's especially laughable to hear Lovie Smith talking about momentum the Bears gained for 2010 because they won two meaningless games at the end of 2009.
As Saints coach Sean Payton said after his team pulverized the Cardinals: "We came off a stretch where we had all the advantages of being rested."
Rest is worth something, too. So is good health. If I were an NFL coach - and Mike Holmgren considered hiring me in Cleveland before reluctantly sticking with Eric Mangini - I absolutely would have done what Payton and Jim Caldwell did.
Why risk injuries to my best players in end-of-season games that mean nothing? The only thing that matters is the Super Bowl, and the Colts and Saints have no chance if Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are in traction.
If some teams don't like it - whining that it wasn't "fair" for the Colts and Saints to lie down and affect playoff spots - well, tough spit. Next year, take care of your own interests by being the team that goes 13-2 or 14-1 and gets to choose how to play the final week.
3. Those who fell in love with the Cowboys and Cardinals forgot to take into account how difficult it is to play in a hostile dome environment.
In the weekend's conference semifinals, the only home team to lose - San Diego, inexplicably, to the Jets - was the only one that doesn't call a dome its home.
Domed football stadiums provide the single best homefield advantage in all of sports.
So if you're going to pick a road team at a dome, you'd better have a great reason. And momentum gained from a previous week's game doesn't qualify.
4. We interrupt our football banter to bring you real life ... and sad death:
Gaines Adams, a young, seemingly healthy man who happened to be a defensive end for the Bears, is dead at 26, apparently from a heart attack. Suddenly, the Bears' inability to find the right offensive and defensive coordinators seems something short of a "tragedy."
Condolences to the Gaines family.
5. Percy Harvin is what Devin Hester used to be - except bigger and stronger and more difficult to tackle and better at catching the ball.
6. Turnovers, more than anything else, decide games between good teams. Every team that has lost in these playoffs has done so because it was too generous with the ball.
If you give away the football, you lose in the postseason. Period.
7. NFL refs have no idea how to call pass interference, the most difference-making penalty (or non-penalty) in just about every game.
They miss dozens of calls every contest. Meanwhile, they make numerous calls they shouldn't.
There's no way to use replay to fix the mistakes, either, so it's the classic human-error part of the game everybody has to live with.
8. No matter what Dallas coach Wade Phillips did, he couldn't have changed the outcome because the Cowboys had too many turnovers and the Vikings are too good at home. But I'm still scratching my dome regarding his decision to attempt a 48-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth-and-1 from the 30 early in the game.
He had a chance to actually do something to gain momentum and blew it.
9. Tony Romo was so horrendous, it's hard to believe Jessica Simpson wasn't hiding somewhere inside the Metrodome, drying Terrell Owens' tears.
10. Choker of the Week: Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding.
His wild foot personally cost his team the game against the Jets. And you know it was a choke because he had been one of the most accurate kickers from inside the 40 in NFL history.
11. Those weren't bags under Jimmy Johnson's eyes, they were suitcases. Get some sleep, Jimmy! And get a better makeup artist at Fox, too.
12. Unlike the humorless suits high in the NFL hierarchy, I like TD celebrations - the more imaginative, the better. Watching Marion Barber celebrate a 4-yard run on first down as if the Cowboys were winning the Super Bowl instead of getting pantsed by the Vikings ... well, that's a different story.
What a dope.
13. Brett Favre is still playing. The Packers and Bears aren't.
No additional clever comment necessary.
That's why it's especially laughable to hear Lovie Smith talking about momentum the Bears gained for 2010 because they won two meaningless games at the end of 2009.
As Saints coach Sean Payton said after his team pulverized the Cardinals: "We came off a stretch where we had all the advantages of being rested."
Rest is worth something, too. So is good health. If I were an NFL coach - and Mike Holmgren considered hiring me in Cleveland before reluctantly sticking with Eric Mangini - I absolutely would have done what Payton and Jim Caldwell did.
Why risk injuries to my best players in end-of-season games that mean nothing? The only thing that matters is the Super Bowl, and the Colts and Saints have no chance if Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are in traction.
If some teams don't like it - whining that it wasn't "fair" for the Colts and Saints to lie down and affect playoff spots - well, tough spit. Next year, take care of your own interests by being the team that goes 13-2 or 14-1 and gets to choose how to play the final week.
3. Those who fell in love with the Cowboys and Cardinals forgot to take into account how difficult it is to play in a hostile dome environment.
In the weekend's conference semifinals, the only home team to lose - San Diego, inexplicably, to the Jets - was the only one that doesn't call a dome its home.
Domed football stadiums provide the single best homefield advantage in all of sports.
So if you're going to pick a road team at a dome, you'd better have a great reason. And momentum gained from a previous week's game doesn't qualify.
4. We interrupt our football banter to bring you real life ... and sad death:
Gaines Adams, a young, seemingly healthy man who happened to be a defensive end for the Bears, is dead at 26, apparently from a heart attack. Suddenly, the Bears' inability to find the right offensive and defensive coordinators seems something short of a "tragedy."
Condolences to the Gaines family.
5. Percy Harvin is what Devin Hester used to be - except bigger and stronger and more difficult to tackle and better at catching the ball.
6. Turnovers, more than anything else, decide games between good teams. Every team that has lost in these playoffs has done so because it was too generous with the ball.
If you give away the football, you lose in the postseason. Period.
7. NFL refs have no idea how to call pass interference, the most difference-making penalty (or non-penalty) in just about every game.
They miss dozens of calls every contest. Meanwhile, they make numerous calls they shouldn't.
There's no way to use replay to fix the mistakes, either, so it's the classic human-error part of the game everybody has to live with.
8. No matter what Dallas coach Wade Phillips did, he couldn't have changed the outcome because the Cowboys had too many turnovers and the Vikings are too good at home. But I'm still scratching my dome regarding his decision to attempt a 48-yard field goal instead of going for it on fourth-and-1 from the 30 early in the game.
He had a chance to actually do something to gain momentum and blew it.
9. Tony Romo was so horrendous, it's hard to believe Jessica Simpson wasn't hiding somewhere inside the Metrodome, drying Terrell Owens' tears.
10. Choker of the Week: Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding.
His wild foot personally cost his team the game against the Jets. And you know it was a choke because he had been one of the most accurate kickers from inside the 40 in NFL history.
11. Those weren't bags under Jimmy Johnson's eyes, they were suitcases. Get some sleep, Jimmy! And get a better makeup artist at Fox, too.
12. Unlike the humorless suits high in the NFL hierarchy, I like TD celebrations - the more imaginative, the better. Watching Marion Barber celebrate a 4-yard run on first down as if the Cowboys were winning the Super Bowl instead of getting pantsed by the Vikings ... well, that's a different story.
What a dope.
13. Brett Favre is still playing. The Packers and Bears aren't.
No additional clever comment necessary.
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5 Comments
DrewS said:
I dunno. The ’05 Colts, ’07 Cowboys, ’08 Giants, and ’08 Titans, all of whom who rested players in game 16 due to clinching homefield advantage the week before, and all of whom lost their opening round playoff games that season, might disagree about momentum being important. And let’s not forget the ’06 Bears who put no effort into their final game of the season against the Packers since homefield was assured. They needed overtime to escape their first playoff game. In fact, the only team in the past four years to clinch homefield prior to the last week, take the last game off, and still win their first playoff game without much difficulty was the ’05 Seahawks. One out of six. That’s it. (The ’07 Patriots clinched homefield early but didn’t take any games off, and the ’06 Chargers didn’t clinch homefield until after winning their final game.)
Taking three to four weeks off from serious competition right before engaging in, well, serious competition, just doesn’t seem conducive to success, regardless of rest. Sure, these are professionals. But they’re also playing against professionals. And when you have a hungry team looking to knock you off your pedestal, having that much time to rest, relax, and think about what’s coming has proven in most cases not to be a good thing. Teams like this year’s Colts and Saints are the exceptions, not the rule. If those teams taking off the last week or two of the season are better off, why do they tend to lose early in the playoffs?
(Interesting side note, only once since 1999 has a top seed even won the Super Bowl. Good luck to the Colts and Saints.)
As for Lovie talking about momentum, what else is he supposed to say? He’s fighting for his job, so you’d expect him to extract every last drop of positivity from his situation. Lovie’s playing the angle here, just as anyone in his situation would. Everyone, including Lovie, knows he’s full of it. But for the sake of possible future head coaching gigs, it’s not like he can be completely honest. Prospective employers wouldn’t respond well to that because owners and GMs like to lie to themselves about their chances. They don’t want to hire coaches who aren’t willing to blow sunshine up their skirts.
It’s like listening to politicians. Once they’re out of office and no longer have to worry about ticking off constituents, it’s amazing how honest they can be. But as long as they’re still in the hunt, you know you’re going to have to put up with them putting spin on everything. It’s all about agendas.
Mike Nadel said:
Of course we all know why Lovie blew sunshine up his skirt, but that doesn't mean I can't use it against him!
As for the momentum factor ... I agree with Peyton Manning that it's more coincidence than anything - if they played better and/or had better luck, the rest wouldn't have mattered. Still, your argument citing recent trends can't just be dismissed, either.
I just have a tough time believing that there's much difference between being off 2 weeks (as the teams with the two best records are each year) and being "off" 3 or 4 weeks because a few top players are rested by the best teams. It's hard for me to believe that a Brees or Manning or Favre would suffer from that third week without a game - and, in fact, Brees and Manning didn't this year.
The system is the way the system is. Every coach in the league would rather have the week off. And it says here that the smart ones won't needlessly risk injuries to their stars and/or any players who might be a little nicked up. I'm sticking with that, and I'm glad this year's playoffs backed that up (for a change).
IrishSweetness said:
"5. Percy Harvin is what Devin Hester used to be - except bigger and stronger and more difficult to tackle and better at catching the ball."
LOL ! Harvin had two touchdown returns. TWO ! A bit premature to be comparing him to the best ...
IrishSweetness said:
"9. Tony Romo was so horrendous, it's hard to believe Jessica Simpson wasn't hiding somewhere inside the Metrodome, drying Terrell Owens' tears."
WTF ?
Mike Nadel said:
OK, fair enough ... Hester the rookie had it all over Harvin the rookie as return men. That, of course, is ancient history. Hester hasn't had anything close to a TD return for more than two years. And right now, which is all that matters, Harvin is a far superior receiver and much stronger with the football.
Hester has acknowledged that he needs to get physically stronger and has said he would dedicate his offseason to that. It will be real interesting to see what comes out of that.
Meanwhile, I wonder if there is a single GM in the league who would trade Harvin for Hester straight up today. And I'm including Angelo.
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