1---New Years Day shocked me. When I woke up that morning, I said the two must-see bowl games of the day had to be Wisconsin-Arkansas in the Capital One and Michigan-USC in the Rose. After that, there was a bunch of stuff that could be watched with half-interest, but nothing that forced complete attention. How wrong I was. The Capital One was a sloppy game that featured more penalties and turnovers in a top-ten matchup then any other I can remember. The Rose was compelling for a while until USC realized that they had Dwayne Jarrett on their roster and just started lobbing balls up to him.
But the real game of the day, without doubt, was the Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma and Boise State. While I wasn’t one who said that the Broncos had no right being on the same field as the Sooners, I did think that this was a slight mismatch. I figured Adrian Petersen would run for 150 yards and two scores and Oklahoma would win by a touchdown or two. Instead what we got was maybe the most thrilling finish to a bowl game in college football history. I’m not going to go over the entire play-by-play, but just mention three quick things. One, people don’t remember this because of the games last minute and a half and overtime, but Bob Stoops’ team deserves some credit for coming back from 18 points down in the middle of the third quarter. Two, BSU coach Chris Petersen deserves some type of raise for his late game play calling. Calling a hook-and-ladder on 4th and 18 with less then 30 seconds of a bowl game. A halfback pass in overtime. And then going for the victory with a Statue-of-Liberty on the two-point conversion. Just brilliant stuff. And finally number three is that, Boise State should not be ranked number one in the country if Florida beats Ohio State in a few days. Even though they didn’t lose during the season, and they will be the nations only unbeaten, that doesn’t prove that BSU is the best team in the land. If they scheduled some real non-conference games to go along with their WAC matchups, they might have an argument. But not this year. 2---On a scale of one to ten, my worry level for the Bears and more specifically Rex Grossman is a solid eight and moving higher. Though I don’t put much stock into the Green Bay game on New Years Eve, the results against the Packers and the three games preceding that have me nervous. Rex played his worst game of the year (which is saying something) versus a mediocre Green Bay D, and had the look in his eyes of a quarterback that doesn’t trust himself. And when that happens, passes are thrown with carelessness and a defender has an easier time reading the eyes of the passer. In the playoffs, the Bears wont be facing the teams they saw the last month, they’ll be facing top of the line competition. (In fact, the Bears only played four games the entire season that are still playing. They beat the Seahawks, Giants and Jets while losing to the Patriots.) That is why it is so important that Thomas Jones and Cederic Benson establish a big-time running game, the defense step up and start rushing the passer and Devin ‘The Windy City Flyer’ Hester makes some big play, because as of right now, Grossman can’t be trusted to win a playoff game.
3---I thought more so then any that I can remember, this NFL season proved that there are good teams, bad teams, and not much else. Earlier in the season (See the October 28 blog post) I claimed that there were a few mediocre team, a few good ones, but most of the league was average. That was before week eight. Since then, those so-called average squads showed their true colors as either better then I thought or much worse. Because of that, the selection process for choosing my awards was much easier, since I could pretty much eliminate 15 or so teams because they were so bad.
MVP--- LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers
Here’s one that the men of the square table missed. If you score 31 touchdowns in a single seasons, set an NFL record for points in a season (186), and move up from 45th to eleventh on the leagues all-time touchdown list in the span of 16 games, you have to win MVP. Man Law!
Defensive Player of the Year----Shwane Merriman, Chargers
Yeah, he missed four games due to a steroids suspension. That didn’t stop Merriman from recording a league high 17 sacks for San Diego. I imagine that this is one guy that Peyton Manning doesn’t want to see sometime during the playoffs.
Most Improved Player---Frank Gore, 49ers
One of my few award winners who will come from a losing team, but Gore emerging as a superstar was a complete shock to me. After barley reaching the 600-yard mark as a rookie in ’05, I don’t think anybody saw a 2006 where Gore was only five yards away from 1,700. If he can keep it up, Alex Smith keeps getting better and they get some defenders, San Francisco could be a surprise contender next season.
Rookie of the Year---Marques Colston, Saints
Vince Young, Maurice Jones-Drew, Devin Hester and Reggie Bush all could have been justified winners of this award, but I think that Colston tops them all. Not only because he caught 70 passes for just over 1,000 yards and eight scores for the leagues surprise team. But because unlike those other guys, Colston wasn’t picked in the first or second round. Or for that matter, the third, fourth, fifth or sixth round. Yes, I’m giving the ROY to the 44th pick of the seventh round, the third to last player chosen. A good player, but an amazing story.
Coach of the Year---Eric Mangeni, Jets
How’s this for a story. The league youngest coach takes a down-rotten team, leads the, to the playoffs and then defeats his mentor in a highly passionate matchup of teacher versus student. This weekend, that could happen. After being the Patriots defensive coordinator last year, Mangeni has led the Jets to the playoffs versus New England on Sunday. Lets see if he and former boss Bill Bellicheck actually shake hands this time.
4---Is anybody actually surprised at what Nick Saban did by saying no to the University of Alabama, then two weeks later leaving the Miami Dolphins to take the job? Because if you are, please pay attention. When a coach states that they are not interested in another job, especially one that would give them either more control or a fatter paycheck, they are lying. Even if they state a second time that they aren’t interested in the said job, they are stretching the bounds of truth. Money and power are everything in sports, and that applies to both players and coaches. I wish that loyalty meant something, but as Saban proved yesterday by Rolling with the Tide, people don’t always practice what they preach.
5---Time for the picks for the weekend’s four NFL Wild Card games. Instead of just giving a winner like I did for my regular season selections, I will be providing a brief analysis as well as a score for all four of the games.
FYI---Because I was out of town, I wasn’t able to post my Week 17 picks on the blog. It’s a good thing then that I also make identical selections on Yahoo pick em’, so that I can keep track of my record. I went 10-6 in the last week and finished the regular season with a record of 156-100, a 60% victory mark.
Kansas City at Indianapolis---Chief running back Larry Johnson could run wild against the Colts crappy run defense, but I’m not sure if that will matter. Peyton Manning won’t lose a home playoff game, especially against a poor KC D that doesn’t play well away from Arrowhead Stadium. Colts 31-17
Dallas at Seattle----About a month ago, you wouldn’t have found a single person who didn’t think that the Cowboys were the NFC’s best Super Bowl contender. Since then Dallas is 1-3, including a loss at home versus Detroit last Sunday. Tony Romo is struggling, T.O. is frustrated and the pass defense is banged up. Matt Hasselbeck should have a big day, and winning in Seattle, especially at night, is really hard. Seahawks 27-23
New York Jets at New England---The teams were 1-1 versus each other during the regular season, with each winning at the others home field. So that would point towards me picking the J-E-T-S. But I consider myself smart, and smart people don’t bet against Tom Brady, Bill Bellicheck and co. in the playoffs, especially at home. Patriots 24-10
New York Giant at Philadelphia---Another East Coast matchup where the road team won both games during the season series. This one is interesting because on paper, it looks like the Giants should have a good chance. But the Eagles have played so well recently while the Giants, losers of six of their final eight games, backed into the playoffs. I expect the Philly D to come at Eli Manning real hard and force him to make quick decisions. Eagles 17-13I'll be posting again before next Monday to give you my breakdown and prediction for the Ohio State-Florida National Title game.
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