Only one team gets an A+

It is a fact that only one first-round draft pick has signed up to this point.  Dez Bryant agreed to a 5-year $11.8 million contract.  Good for him!  Tony Romo needs a solid target outside of Miles Austin.  No one could ever accuse Jerry Jones of being a follower!

However, other teams are close to deals with draft picks and this will likely open the flood gates for contracts getting done.  Of the three teams listed in this column–St. Louis, Buffalo, and Cleveland–only one is smart.  Only one made a good move, and you’ll be surprised which one it is.

It’s not every day that two quarterbacks and a running back–each one a household name–can produce two bad choices and only one smart choice.  However, that’s what we have here.

The Rams Reached Too Far On This One

Every time the Rams reach they set themselves back 5 years.

I’ve heard rumor after rumor that the Rams are prepared to give Sam Bradford–the #1 overall pick in 2010–an unprecedented contract.  More money guaranteed than ever, and more money overall than ever.

Sam Bradford looked great at Oklahoma in 2008.  He won the Heisman Trophy.  He ran a juggernaut offense that steamrolled Big 12 defenses left and right.  Bradford also had a cannon for an arm.

Then Bradford’s throwing arm was injured at the beginning of the 2009 season.  He missed the rest of the season.  He was still on the “#1 watch” because St. Louis tanked the season early.

When Bradford started working out for NFL teams his arm was declared “healed” and everything was ok.  Hell, the Rams even cut Marc Bulger so there wouldn’t be a competition for the starting quarterback job.

Everyone on the planet knew where Bradford was going with a recently injured throwing arm.  Now, he’s landed in St. Louis and the Rams are going to guarantee him–if the rumors are true–more money than anybody.  Don’t you think that’s a reach?

For every Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, and Matt Ryan there’s 5 Akili Smiths, Ryan Leafs, or Jamarcus Russells.  You can’t deny that there are more misses than hits in the QB draft market.

So for the Rams to give a #1 overall draft pick at quarterback who has a recently injured throwing arm, unprecedented money is just foolish.

You could give him a fairly large contract, but save some of that “unprecedented money” to sign players to go around Bradford.  Plus, wouldn’t you want to be cautious with the guy who missed all of last season?

The Sam Bradford pick–as of right now–was stupid.  His impending contract is stupid.  The Rams are just being stupid.

I thought getting rid of Marc Bulger was smart, but not for an unproven kid with a potentially bad arm!  They could have made a play for Donovan McNabb.  They could have made a play for Derek Anderson.  They could have done anything but this.

He’ll have to start right away and he’ll either break the “sacked” record held by David Carr, or he’ll lose all his confidence in a couple of  bad games.  I don’t want Sam Bradford to fail, but when it’s all said and done he might be right up there in the “failure” category with Jamarcus Russell.

Buffalo Drafted The Wrong “Skill” Player

All that glitters is not gold.

Buffalo spent the #9 overall pick on C.J. Spiller.  He’s an all-world running back from Clemson.  He holds so many ACC and Clemson offensive records that I’m not going to even bother to list them.

C.J. Spiller is a fantastic player, but the Bills have other needs, don’t they?

I know that Trent Edwards at QB is a nice guy, but can he really do something there?  The Bills could have had Colt McCoy, Jimmy Clausen, or Tim Tebow.  For a while, I thought Tebow was going to Buffalo.

The Buffalo defense isn’t fantastic either.  The Bills could have had Earl Thomas, Brandon Graham, Derrick Morgan, Dan Williams, or Jared Odrick in the first round alone.

Oops!

I consider “skill” positions to be quarterback, running back, receiver, and everyone on defense.  There were 18 players taken after Spiller who fit that bill.  Buffalo didn’t look at any of these other guys?

Do they really think that a smallish running back who can’t run between the tackles is going to make their team “dazzling”?  How in the world does this make sense?

C.J. Spiller, unfortunately, won’t do even a fraction of what he did in college.  Playing in Buffalo–in the freezing cold–is not conducive to his kind of game.  Plus, that is not what the Bills are all about.

When Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, and Thurman Thomas went to four straight Super Bowls they weren’t flashy–they were effective.  C. J. Spiller will be flashy, but not effective.

Cleveland Just Made A Killing

Cleveland made a killing in the draft.

The Browns are close to a deal with Colt McCoy.  Remember when they drafted McCoy?  In the third round.  Colt McCoy took Texas to the BCS National title game and his arm went “dead” on a fluke play.  I felt bad for him, but that kind of thing happens.

He went on the same kind of “rehab tour” that Sam Bradford went on.  Every major news outlet had someone following McCoy around every second of every day.  McCoy wasn’t very forthcoming, but one day his arm was declared “healed” just like Sam Bradford.

McCoy fell all the way to the third round where Cleveland scooped him up.  They traded Brady Quinn and let Derek Anderson go.  They signed Jake Delhomme to a short contract and cleared the way for McCoy to become “the man”.

Plus, the contract on the table for McCoy is a four year deal worth about $5 million.  That’s plenty of money–we know McCoy won’t complain–and he’ll capitalize on the opportunity to become “the man” in Cleveland.

Cleveland took DB Joe Haden–out of Florida no less–in the 1st Round and waited patiently for the QB of the future.  Instead of throwing all their money away on a kid who will have to start now, they can save their money and develop a young quarterback.

All that “saved money” will go to players who will play around McCoy.   When–and if–he proves himself, the team around him will be whole.  We can’t say the same for Sam Bradford.  I never thought I’d say this, but the Cleveland Browns made a smart play.  They’re definitely going places this time around.

Additional Reading on GenXXL:

• JaMarcus Russell Falls: Raiders Rise
• NFL: Potentially Great Teams With Stupid Players
• Terrell Owens Suitors: Patriots, Seahawks, and More

Photo from: Nittany White Out

It seems like so long ago. Vince Young was the star of the 2006 Rose Bowl.  He led his Texas Longhorn team to a BCS National Championship—accounting for 467 yards of total offense.  He rushed for 200 yards alone in that game.

In 2007 he made his first start in October and led a once-floundering Tennessee Titans team to the playoffs.  The very next year he was injured and Kerry Collins was in at Quarterback.  The Titans had a spectacular season without Young and we started to see the signs.

Vince Young may not have been the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but maybe he has something deeper going on upstairs.  Maybe he’s so messed up he can’t help himself.

Vince Starts a Fight in a Strip Club

At least we know Vince isn't gay. Photo from: Deuce of Davenport

Yes, Vince Young started a fight in a Dallas-area strip club.  If you watch the video you’ll see that Vince seems to be telling this man to “hook his own horns.”

Though Vince was not arrested, he was cited by the police for a Class C Assault—which equates to a traffic ticket.  However, I think there’s a lot more to this than just a fight.

When you’re still at a strip club at 3:30 a.m., you’ve got issues.  I’m sorry, but this dude could walk into a room and have his pick of any woman he wanted, right?

So, does he really have to pay for a “shoe show?”  Doesn’t this say something about what’s going on in his head?

I think Vince Young is so messed up that he can’t get a woman to come near him—even though he’s filthy rich.  Or he takes them out once and they’re like, “Uh, don’t call me, I’ll call you.”

He’s so scatter-brained that he can’t keep a chick on his arm and he’s drinking all night in a strip club.  Then some joker makes fun of Texas and I feel like I’m watching Spongebob.

“You don’t make fun of Texas!”

This is the most childish and pathetic reason to punch someone I’ve ever heard.  You would think that Vince watches the news and knows that Roger Goodell is probably not in a forgiving mood.  He’s already dealt with Big Ben, and now this.

Remember the Wonderlic

Photo from: Path to the Draft

When players enter the NFL Draft and attend the Indianapolis Combine, they are given a test called the Wonderlic.  It is scored out of 50 points and is supposed to gauge cognitive abilities.  Basically it tells you if a guy can learn the playbook.

Vince Young took the Wonderlic at the 2006 Combine and scored a 6 out of 50 points.  Now, to be fair, Dan Marino only scored a 16, Donovan McNabb scored 14, and Kordell Stewart scored 13.5.   You can check them out if you want, but you get the idea—I’m trying to be nice.

This test doesn’t diagnose mental illness, but let’s face it, it’s not rocket science.  If you can’t handle a simple test like this, something’s not right.

Plus, a new formula has come out suggesting that you can guess IQ through a Wonderlic score.  Using this equation, Vince has an estimated IQ of 72.

A dude with an estimated IQ of 72 isn’t going to realize that the commissioner of the NFL might be a little upset about a strip club fight at 3:30 a.m.

Is He Mental?

Why did Vince leave his house with a gun in September 2008? Photo by: Virtual Globetrotting

In September 2008 Vince left his home in Nashville without his phone and the story that he was missing and suicidal hit the airwaves almost immediately.  His camp denied these reports, but Vince’s mother told the media her “baby was hurting.”

Rumors immediately began to swirl about Vince being depressed or mentally unstable.  All reports indicated that Vince’s therapist told Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher that Vince had mentioned suicide—and left the house with a gun.

We’ll never know if Vince kept a gun in his car for protection—which alone is a stupid idea—or if he was really contemplating suicide.  However, we do know that Vince is not a very good decision-maker.

He has to know that he’s a high-profile athlete whose every move is scrutinized and picked apart with a fine-tooth comb.  Still, he left his house with a gun and mentioned suicide to his therapist?

Vince Young may be mental—he may not—but he obviously isn’t very smart.  He had just been booed mercilessly by the Titans fans and took it all very badly.

He managed to create the perception that allows me to write this column—Vince Young is screwed up in the head.   He did that all by himself, but that doesn’t make him crazy—it makes him stupid.

What’s Vince’s Real Problem?

Photo from: Game Set Watch

You know, I can’t believe that Vince’s Wonderlic score gets brought up all the time, but when he went missing, no one mentioned it at all. His Wonderlic score became a stat on a chart for a TV broadcast.

Why didn’t anybody mention his score and bring up the fact that someone of “low intelligence” might also be emotionally immature?

Here’s what I think happened. I know, I’m starting my own rumor, but hear me out. Vince left his home in Nashville in September 2008 to blow off steam.

I bet he was going to fire off some rounds at a beer can.  I bet he didn’t have any other way to deal with the fact that he was sucking and the fans in Tennessee were booing him.   He’s not very smart—what did you expect from him?

Did anybody really think he was going to “work through his anger?”   So, when a dude in a strip club blasphemes the state of Texas, what do you expect from Vince Young?

I fully expect a punch to be thrown. Vince isn’t going to think about having to deal with the Commissioner.  Vince isn’t going to give a retort in response to this man’s “critique” of the University of Texas.

He’s going to get physical.

I kind of feel sorry for Vince Young.  He’s an incredibly gifted athlete who is not mentally equipped to handle the rigors of playing in the NFL or being a public figure.

He went to a strip club and stayed until 3:30 a.m. because he probably can’t hold a conversation with a woman.  If anything he’s angry, very angry.

Wouldn’t you be angry if you had millions of dollars and had no idea what to do with them?  Or if you had everyone in America thinking you were a mental case?

What’s the Real Rumor?

Photo from: Chron.com

Vince Young hates his life.  You heard it here first—Vince hates his life.  He hates the fact that he isn’t very smart.  He hates the fact that everyone thinks he’s a nut case.  He hates the fact that he can’t be consistent with the Titans.

Look at who they replaced him with in Tennessee—Kerry Collins.   At the time Collins was 36 and seemingly over-the-hill. Then he led the Titans to a 13-3 record.

Now Vince Young used to be the stud who won the 2006 Rose Bowl basically all by himself.  He used to be the guy who brought glory back to ‘ole Texas.

Now he’s the guy who hangs out in the strip club until 3:30 a.m. even though has enough money to build his own strip club at home.  He’s just pathetic right now, and Roger Goodell won’t care when he hands down his punishment.

If that doesn’t stir up hate and anger, I don’t know what will.

Additional Reading on GenXXL:

• Chiefs Are “Bringing In” The Chicks
• Brian Cushing Injects the Rumors with Truth
• NFL is Not One Entity, Supreme Court Rules
  

Photo by Aaron Vasquez

An interesting thing is happening in the Western Conference playoffs.  The San Antonio Spurs–excuse me, the old-decrepit-on-their-last-leg Spurs–downed the Dallas Mavericks like it was no big deal.

How can a relatively young team like the Mavs lose to a team stuck in middle age?  Everyone had their money on Dallas at the beginning of this season and now that money is being wasted.

We could go back to the 2006 NBA Finals.  The Mavs lost that series to the Heat after being up 2-0 and leading in the 4th Quarter of Game 3.  However, I don’t think that’s the problem.

The Mavs have much deeper issues than a playoff loss.  They believe their own hype, they think they’ve risen permanently from their own ashes, and they love to say “Luxury Tax.”

Who let the softies out in Dallas?  Let’s blame a few people/things for the atrocity that is Dallas’ “playoff disaster.”

Dirk Pits Himself in a Hole

Photo by Keith Allison

We keep saying that Dirk is one of the best players in the league.  We keep saying he’s a “7-foot wonder.”  He can shoot the 3, take it to the rack, and play defense.

Dirk has gotten into the bad habit of believing his own hype.  He plays the game with a little less “verve” than is required.

He’s taking the same attitude that has kept the Lakers from sweeping the Thunder.  They take games off.

You can’t tell me that a dude who is 7-feet tall can only muster a career average of 8.5 assists per game.  He isn’t crashing the boards and his numbers demonstrate that.

This same “7-foot wonder” only averages 2.7 assists per game over his career.  You can explain that away with the “Steve Nash effect,” but after Nash left for Phoenix, Dirk should have stepped up his game.

I know that he isn’t a Point Guard, but he certainly isn’t playing like he’s the best player on his team.  He’s got Jason Kidd distributing the ball–which is very helpful.

However, Dirk must not be driving the lane enough if he only has 2.7 assists per game over his career.  Or, he never passes once he makes an inside move.

Don’t you think that he would be kicking the ball out for more assists if he were driving to the basket?  Dirk’s playing “Zydrunas Ilgauskas” and taking too many outside shots.  He isn’t creating offense–he’s taking offense.

This explains his lack of rebounding–not enough inside play.  This explains his lack of assists–too many trips inside without a pass.  This doesn’t explain him never averaging 40 minutes a game in his career.

If you’re the best player on the team, you need to stay on the floor.  Some of that should be blamed on the coach, but part of that is Dirk needing to be taken out due to his own weakness.

Dirk is the best player on his team, he doesn’t create enough offense, and his numbers don’t indicate toughness.  He’s easily to blame for Dallas’ woes.  One could even say he’s “derelict” in his duty.

Rick Carlisle = Wrong Place, Wrong Time

I think there’s a reason that Rick Carlisle got fired in Detroit. There must have been something about him that made the Pistons want Larry Brown more.

Larry Brown has had 13 jobs since he started in coaching. You could put his picture next to “unreliable” in the dictionary, but the Pistons fired Carlisle to get Brown.

Rick Carlisle was Larry Bird‘s “offensive coordinator” in Indiana when the Pacers got killed in the Finals by the Lakers.  This proved Carlisle’s offensive prowess, but not his leadership ability.

Carlisle took the Pacers to the NBA’s best record, but couldn’t close the deal in the playoffs. He then went to Dallas.

The problem is that Dallas already had offense.  They had just fired Avery Johnson for coaching “too much” defense, and threw Carlisle into a pressure cooker.

Now Carlisle has to come to an offensive team to fix something that isn’t broken.  Clearly, at this stage, his idea of offense and the team’s are clashing.

Carlisle’s leadership ability–or lack thereof–is being tested because expectations in Dallas are high.  He’s never been a “successful” coach, and Mark Cuban doesn’t mess around.

The combination of those things would make any coach jittery, and most coaches ineffective.  Rick Carlisle’s personality and “lack of success” are dragging down the Mavs.

Some of these players have got to be thinking, “This guy can’t handle this” while Carlisle is thinking, “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! What do I do?” That’s enough to make you lose to a middle-aged San Antonio team any day of the week.

Mark Smokes More than Cubans

Mark Cuban is outspoken, but definitely has his heart in the right place.  He wants the Mavs to be good and he wants to do right by the fans.  I can appreciate that. However, he’s so outspoken that it distracts from the team–a very fragile team.

If Mark Cuban were Kobe’s, MJ’s or LeBron‘s owner, it wouldn’t matter.  They have enough personality to outshine him. Dirk doesn’t have that kind of personality.  Add to that his lack of toughness and you’ve got a real problem.

Cuban also likes to say “luxury tax.”  That’s his rallying cry for  spending money to make the team better.  However, it hasn’t resulted in a title, and that 2006 Finals loss comes back to haunt them again.

Mark Cuban has resurrected the Mavericks, but he can’t take center-stage.  He criticizes officials, pisses off everyone around him, and makes the Mavs an easy target.

If you were a player on the Mavs wouldn’t you just kind of throw up your hands?  Personally, I’d say, “What the hell is the difference?  He’d complain even if we did win.  No one will respect us anyway, AND I’m getting paid.  Eff it all!”

So, Who Let the Softies Out?

Photo by Keith Allison

Mark Cuban let the softies out.  He fired Avery Johnson for coaching defense.  He let Steve Nash go.  He allows Dirk to play soft.

Cuban cries about the “luxury tax,” but hired an offensive coach for a non-defensive team.  Cuban pisses off everyone in the league–even people he pays.

His attitude will result in a locker-room mutiny that Rick Carlisle doesn’t deserve.  Oh, and his attitude has half the officials in the league gunning for his team.

That 2006 Finals meltdown against the Heat is the evidence, but the culprit is Mark Cuban.  His “trigger finger” needs a lock and key, because he’s already shot too many people as it is.

Cuban made his team the pariah–and they may never be able to wash that label off.

Is Mike "Doing His Best" or is he a pawn in "Pointless Offseason Moves"? Photo from: Zimbio

We’ve got teams scrambling left and right to make moves in this offseason that will benefit them.  Are they really doing the “right thing” –as Spike Lee would say?

My take on all of this can be summed up in a sentence:  Don’t rock the boat unless you have to.

Teams always tell the media things like, “We’re evaluating every part of organization” and “Anything less than a Championship is a failure”.  Are those things always true?

Have we really become such a “Succubae Sports Fan Base” that we need to have teams fall on the sword every year when we don’t get our way?  Do they really have to cater to us that much?

I remember the days when the teams:  Did their best, the coaches coached their best, and the chips fell where they might.  Archie Manning is a Hall of Famer and he played on pitiful Saints teams, but they really were—I believe—doing their best.

At what point did “doing your best” simply become “not enough”?  And why do a couple teams still operate the “old way” while everyone else operates the “new way”?

What makes the “old fashioned” teams different that the “hip” teams?  I bet we can find many of our answers in the words of Coaches and Team Executives.

Cowboys May Move Jones Ahead of Barber

Jerry Jones moves for the sake of moving. Photo from: Morris.com

Jerry Jones spoke to the media the other day.  Don’t forget that he’s the Cowboys’ Owner, President, and General Manager.  He made some comments about the depth chart.

Jerry was asked if Felix Jones might start over Marion Barber and he said, “That has been a consideration, and it certainly is a consideration.”

For me that sounds like code for “We didn’t win the Super Bowl so we’ve GOT to do something”.  Coaches and GM’s talk like this all the time for no reason.

In Atlanta, Jim Mora started the whole “The Entire Organization Is Subject To Review” thing.  That ultimately got him fired.  Plus, it meant moving pieces around and causing a regression from his NFC Title Game rookie campaign to 7-9.

Jerry Jones putting Felix Jones ahead of Marion Barber only does two things:

1.    It pisses off Marion Barber, and
2.    Makes everyone on the team unsure of their status.

Don’t the Ravens have 3 viable running backs just like the Cowboys?  Are they shuffling their depth chart?  They didn’t win the Super Bowl either.  What’s the difference?

The only reason to say you are “Re-evaluating the whole organization” is to get the media and fans off your back.  It would be a lot more profitable to say, “We’re going work hard on the draft and in free-agency to make the team better”.

This doesn’t involve hurt feelings or shuffling players you already have.  If someone isn’t working out you deal with them individually—not in this corporate “Everybody’s on the chopping block” fashion.

Jerry Jones is making a move on his own players just to make a move.  If it were more calculated—like the Steelers—then it might work.

Steelers Give Backup Batch 2-year Deal

Charlie has a purpose in Pittsburgh. Photo by: Marc Serotta @ Getty Images

The Steelers signed backup Quarterback Charlie Batch to a two-year deal.  He supposed to be competing with Dennis Dixon to be the #2 to Ben Roethlisberger.

Not only has Batch been with Pittsburgh since 2003, but he’s also their player representative.  If something happens and Big Ben is suspended or worse the Steelers will have done their best to make sure they are ok at the QB position.

They didn’t go into crisis/panic mode.  They didn’t spend a ton of money on a free-agent or leverage their future on a draft pick.  They just kept everything close to the vest and did their best.

By the way their “best” in Pittsburgh has netted them 6 Super Bowl titles in 7 appearances.  More than any other franchise.  Do we hear them jumping up to the mic every offseason ranting and raving about retooling the whole team and that “anything less than a title is a failure”?

No.  They know these things and the players convey that disappointment when they lose.  However, they also say they’re going to work hard next year and do their best.

Nobody does their “best” like the Steelers.  Jim Mora could have taken a lesson here in Atlanta.  Instead of trying to placate the media and fans he could have just said, “We’ll do our darnedest”.

Sometimes, that’s all the fans want.  Look at all the teams that aren’t even trying, but copy the “big moves” of a Dallas.

Oakland, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland—this pretty much says it all.  They’re copying the wrong team.  Each of these franchises thinks saying the right thing and spending money makes fans happy.  They’re wrong.

Genuine concerted effort, wise decision-making and fiscal responsibility makes fans happy.  Cleveland had to revamp almost its whole team.  Oakland needs to be sold.  K.C. leveraged their future on a damaged QB, and Detroit fans staged a walkout.

Need I say more?

49ers and McClaughan Have a “Mutual Parting”

They just wanted to own a team--too bad they suck at it! Photo from: JAMD

Then there are the teams who used to know what to do and then they got stupid.  This brand of team completely ignores what WAS working and tries to do something else in spite of itself.

The 49ers were taken over by these York jackasses and they screwed it up—royally.  When they got Mike Singletary and things started to turn around they decided they didn’t like their GM.

So, instead of keeping the team stable they are pulling the rug out from underneath their coach because of front office “squabble”.

The Denver Broncos worked fine under Mike Shanahan—then they brought in Josh McDaniels and let him set fire to Jay Cutler.  He undermined the integrity of their entire team as he “tried” to mimic the actions of Bill Belichick.

Why would you change everything around when this franchise has been just fine for about 30 years?

Do you ever wonder if the 49ers look around and say, “Where did we go wrong”?  They had it all.  They WERE the dynasty.  Now they’re just trying to make the playoffs.

They weren’t doing their “best” after the DiBartolos were kicked out.  The Yorks were happy the won and never once thought about how much work Eddie DiBartolo and Carmen Policy put into this team.

In 12 months they undid 20 years worth of work.  The DiBartolos and Policy did what the Rooneys are doing in Pittsburgh.  The Yorks just wanted to own a team.

Dan Snyder is the same way.  He isn’t truly doing his best.  He just wanted to own a team.  He wanted to have his ego stroked.

Spending money—per the Steelers—doesn’t just “work” on its own.  You have to make smart decisions.  Dan Snyder saw the Florida Marlins and said “I want that”.

What he—and his ilk—don’t realize is that their “best” also includes hiring good decision-makers.  Snyder finally did that when he hired Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan.

But…

Clausen Visits

Jimmy might be a "pointless move" Photo from: NFL Draft Blog

Jimmy Clausen is going to visit with Buffalo, Jacksonville, Cleveland, St. Louis, AND Washington.

Why in the hell does Jimmy Clausen need to visit with the Redskins?  Does Mike Shanahan think his “best” is scrapping Jason Campbell and drafting ANOTHER 1st Round QB?

If Clausen goes to the Rams, Bills, or Browns that would be their best effort.  Their smartest move to help reshape and re-energize their franchises.

If Jacksonville takes him they aren’t trying—they’re just saying they don’t like David Garrard.  Plus, they’ll be throwing money away.

This makes all the difference folks.  Cleveland, St. Louis, and Buffalo NEED a Quarterback.  That’s their best move.  That’s a smart option.

Jacksonville and Washington WANT a Quarterback.  That isn’t their best move—it’s just a move.

The Steelers don’t take what they want—they take what they need.  Doing your best is using what you need and staying away from your wants.

The Steelers NEED stability at Quarterback.  The Redskins WANT a new Quarterback.  Jerry Jones WANTS to shake-up his running back corps.  The Rams NEED a new Quarterback.  The Chiefs WANTED a new Quarterback.

Wants and needs are different.  For every workshop the NFL gives players on how to handle their money they should give one for executives too.

They should call it “How to control your urges”.  Wouldn’t it be funny if the presenter was Dan Rooney?

A "break" is not an awards show appearance! Photo from: The Basketball Blogger

So, the Lakers and the Heat were tangling the other day and the Lakers were down pretty much most of the game.  The game went into overtime and Twitter exploded with tweets of every kind talking about the game.

Some guys were going nuts that the Lakers might lose.  Others were going crazy because the Heat might win.  Me—I wasn’t THAT concerned.  I started yapping:

let’s reserve the smack talk for the #lakers until the playoffs when it really matters

Then I took a shot across my bow that really made me think:

Lets hope the Lakers keep playing like it doesn’t matter until the playoffs

So, do any teams in the NBA have the luxury of playing like it doesn’t matter until the playoffs?  Are there any teams that CAN’T afford to lose?  Are there teams where it doesn’t matter one way or the other?

The “shot” was intended as an insult for the Lakers.  Basically, “Let’s hope they keep sucking so they’ll suck in the playoffs”, but they clearly deliver just fine in the playoffs.

Let’s look at a few groups of teams that fall into different categories of the “needing to win NOW” debate.

We Have No Business Being Here

Even Jay-Z has no excuse here. Photo from: The Starting Five

This class has no business even fielding a team—much less caring whether they win.  Could you imagine a scenario in which any of these teams–New Jersey, Minnesota, New York, Sacramento, Indy, Detroit, Golden State, the Clippers, Milwaukee, Philly, or Washington—can even have full-confidence that they could beat a college team?

I’m being serious.  These teams don’t mean a thing in the landscape of playoff basketball—other than desperately-stupid trades.

Let’s take a vote.  Would any of you miss any of these teams if they were contracted today?  Yes, even the Knicks and the Pistons.

Joe Dumars has run Detroit into the ground and the Knicks will NEVER be the same.  Neither has a chance at LeBron and each is poorly managed.

Tanking wouldn’t make any difference because the lottery is so screwed up anyways—and possibly rigged—so why do they even bother trying?  For personal pride?  I might be able to live with the “personal pride thing”.

Not only do they have no business being in the gym, but I can’t even get myself up to fight for them on the basis of playing “for the love of the game”.  That’s how bad these teams suck!

We Want This But We Don’t NEED It

Jordan Rules still apply Photo from: We Are The Postmen

These teams would LIKE to keep winning, but it doesn’t really matter.  The playoffs might mean a “little” something to a few, but it just isn’t that serious.

Houston, Miami, Charlotte, Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago, and Toronto are ALL in the unique position of not desperately needing anything.  These teams will somehow subsist on nothingness for decades to come.

The Bulls can live on MJ’s 6 titles FOREVER.  Miami can survive on the one “steal” they got against the Mavs in The Finals.

Memphis will ALWAYS be just intriguing enough to not have to actually win anything.  New Orleans will live on CP3 for the foreseeable decade, and Toronto will always sign a big name and hate Canada at the same time.

Oh, the Rockets, they’ll ALWAYS be linked to Hakeem’s back-to-back titles while Jordan was playing baseball—or whatever he was doing.

True, they may want it, but they don’t NEED it.  Daryl Morey can crunch all the numbers he wants in Houston, but he doesn’t really need to.  He could do half the work he’s doing now and he’d be just fine.

Charlotte just needs to have Jordan as their owner.  That’s all.  David Stern already pushed this thing through without a thought.  So, as long as he stays there then it’s all good.

You see how easy this is?  That’s why the league gets so top-heavy.  There are so many teams that just DON’T need it that bad.

We MUST Keep Winning

KD is the new LBJ. Photo from: OTR Sports

This is an intriguing group.  They can’t take a break and—for different reasons—they need to keep winning consistently.

San Antonio, Portland, Boston, Atlanta, OKC, and Utah are all in the position where they HAVE TO keep winning.  There are no options.

If San Antonio falls behind even a little they’ll get stuck in a bad playoff seeding and their “window” will close pretty fast.  Boston’s the same way.  They’ve got to do this now or else.

In both cases the Spurs and Celtics are one bad playoff loss away from blowing up their teams.  If they stop winning it’s OVER.

Atlanta, OKC, and Utah need to keep winning so they can keep improving.  Atlanta has improved every year under Mike Woodson.  Utah is this odd mix of young and old that can stay together for a long time.

OKC has Kevin Durant.  As long as his team keeps improving—he will too.  Let him improve long enough and he’ll probably reel off a few titles in a row.  Believe it.

Portland…Portland.  They drafted Greg Oden like idiots.  They had to rebuild around him.  They have to keep winning or the Rose Garden is going to be taken over by the Sierra Club and turned into a REAL Rose Garden.

They rehabilitated their “Jailblazers” image, but if they start losing they’ll piss off all their fans REALLY fast.  They don’t have to win titles, but they damn-well better be competitive.

The pressure for some of these teams to perform is intense.  For others it’s a motivation to get better.  What a strange league we watch!

We’re (Should Be) Taking A Fiver

Take a lesson LeBron. Photo from: Slam Online

The Lakers, Orlando, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix and Cleveland should all be taking a break.  These teams HAVE the luxury.  The luxury of taking a break.

Phoenix won’t take it because they’re still stinging over the breakdown in the ’93 Finals.

By the way, did you know Kevin Johnson is the Mayor of Sacramento?  I follow him on Twitter.  Always liked him!

Anyways, Phoenix can take a break because they’re Phoenix.  They play well.  They’ll win a playoff series if they get the right draw, but until then they can coast.

The Suns sort of straddle the “We Don’t Need It” category and this one.  Sure, they hate the ’93 Finals loss, but they can handle it.  Because they don’t NEED it they’ll take a break.

Orlando CAN hit a slump, not really care and be fine.  I was about tow rite them off when they let Atlanta catch up to them, but they keep coming on strong.  It’s impressive.  They get a break whenever they want.

Dallas can take a similar break to Phoenix, but they NEED it.  They can slack off for a few games, but they BETTER win something.  Mark Cuban is STILL pissed about losing the ’06 Finals.

You think he doesn’t remind them?

However, to counteract the pressure they’re good enough to relax every now and then.

Denver can pretty do anything they want.  They’ll play just fine and lose the Conference Finals to the Lakers again.  It doesn’t really matter what they do in the regular season.  We know their limits.

Then there are the odds-on favorites to play the Finals:  Cleveland and L.A.  The Lakers can take a break whenever.  It DOESN’T matter yet.  They get out in front early and coast to the playoffs.

Then they coast through the playoffs.  Scare some unwitting fans in the 2^nd Round and everything’s fine.

The Cavs SHOULD be taking a break.  Every time LeBron puts up MVP numbers—which he is—then he looks even MORE like the Buffalo Bills/Atlanta Braves of basketball.

He was out the other night and this team couldn’t play AT ALL.  They sucked, and there he was wearing jeans and a sportcoat on the bench.  It made him look like he has a bad attitude.

He needs to relax every now and then or he will NEVER have it in the playoffs.  He’s carrying this whole team and we wonder why he can’t finish?  He’s doing everything else too.

Honestly, I might have a bad attitude too if I did it all AND didn’t let up.  LeBron let’s up a little or the Cavs don’t make it to the Finals.

He only let’s up once and they make it to the Finals and get BLOWN OUT.  He takes my advice and the Finals will go 7.

Period.

The NFL Draft is a couple months away, but after the Super Bowl everyone gets into “Draft Mode”.  This “Draft Mode” leads teams to cut players, open up cap space, and start making their “needs” known.

I could sit here and do a complete “Mock Draft”, but some teams require little discussion, and others “just plain suck”.  However, there are 5 MAJOR needs that I think should be addressed.  Those needs are to follow.

True, all 32 teams will be mentioned, but only 5 things MUST get done in April for the “uncapped” 2010 season to be any fun.

Things are already getting fun because the Dolphins cut Joey Porter, but had to put him back on the roster.  The Falcons re-signed Brian Finneran.  Brett Favre is still in limbo, and the Bengals auditioned Pacman Jones.

Can we say “stupid, stupid, and stupider”?  I hope we see a little “bitchassness” from some teams, but too much might be a little overwhelming.

Let’s do this in draft order as if it were April 22^nd.

With the first selection in the 2010 NFL Draft the:

1.  St. Louis Rams select:

A New Quarterback.  The Rams seem to have given up on the Marc Bulger experiment and I say, “FINALLY”!  I don’t really care if they take Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, or Tim Tebow—they just NEED a QB.

Personally, they could select me and that would make the season more fun.  Why, because I’d be starting from “Day #1”.  When the Rams put a rookie QB on the field behind an offensive line filled with high draft choices it’s gonna get ugly.

Whichever QB they take will be dead by the end of the season, and in 4 years will be David Carr 2.0.  I can’t wait for the fallout!

Detroit Lions select:  Who cares?  They’re the Lions and they’ll blow it.  Can we rename them “The Clippers” and get it over with?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers select:  It doesn’t matter.  They suckered us with that phony Super Bowl win against the joke-worthy Raiders.  Crawl back into your hole already.

2.  Washington Redskins select:

An offensive lineman who can anchor Mike Shanahan’s new offense.  No more “Cracker Jack” crap.  He should take a 10-12-year lineman that he can build a zone-blocking line around.  He does that and Bill Clinton could run for 1000 yards.

Kansas City Chiefs select:  Who cares?  They royally suck.

Seattle Seahawks select:  I used to think this should be Tim Tebow, but he clearly can’t take a snap from center or pass.  So, they could do anything and it won’t matter.  If Pete Carroll has total control he’ll have to wait a whole year to use it.

Cleveland Browns select:  They need a new Quarterback but they won’t admit it.  This franchise is so pathetic.

Oakland Raiders select:  Someone they don’t need, who can’t play, and isn’t proven.  He’ll also make too much money and suck the life out of the “Raider Nation”.

Buffalo Bills select:  Some guy Chan Gailey will be overly loyal to until said player gets Chan fired.

3.  Jacksonville Jaguars select:

Everyone wants them to take Tim Tebow, but if they take Tebow he’d better be NOT a Quarterback.  If the Jags select Tebow and sell tickets I’m fine with that.

However, if they select him and try to replace David Garrard with Tebow I’ll be laughing because we’ve already seen that Tebow can’t throw and can’t take a snap.

You can say that Drew Brees doesn’t take many snaps under Center, but he can throw.  Everyone keeps forgetting that!

Denver Broncos select:  It doesn’t matter.  They’ll make it work.  Joshie had a good first season and only good things can come in the future.

Miami Dolphins select:  Hopefully a Linebacker to replace Joey Porter after they figure out how to get rid of him.

San Francisco 49ers select:  Somebody to keep Alex Smith upright?

Seattle Seahawks select:  I suppose they could take Tebow here and play it off like, “Oh, well that was our OTHER 1^st rounder.  We can screw that one up and it’s ok.”

New York Giants select:  Someone to keep Eli Manning upright…please!

Tennessee Titans select:  A new running-mate for Kyle Vanden Bosch.  For all that is holy; that poor man is lonely up front!

San Francisco 49ers select:  A bruising safety would be nice: Perhaps Major Wright for his sheer “ballhogness”.

4. The Smart Kids

Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston, Cincinnati, New England, Green Bay, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Arizona, Dallas, New York Jets, Indianapolis, and New Orleans select:  Somebody who will pay dividends.

I think it’s clear that each of these teams have good management and will make a smart choice.  If someone in this group made a bad choice I think I might cry.

5.  I only left out two teams

The San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings select:  The future.  These two teams select the future or they burn.  It’s that simple.

LDT is finished in San Diego and Darren Sproles does more special teams than he should.  They find a new Running Back or they perish even more painfully than they did this season.

The Vikings need to decide who their future at Quarterback is.  Forget Brett Favre for a minute.  Are Sage Rosenfels and Tavarus Jackson really your future?  Really?

Honestly, look at QB’s that fall this low and take someone whom you can mold into “the future”.  You might lose a year of productivity, but you’ll gain 10 years of success on the backend.

It only takes one false move for either one of these teams to find themselves on the “outside looking in”, and fast.

In The End

Someone will walk away a winner, but everyone will say they got what they wanted.  That’s the funniest thing in sports.  Watching guys act happy when you know they’re disappointed.

For my money the “pick of the day” is the Jags at #10.  If they take Tebow they set their franchise back AT LEAST 5 years.  Tim Tebow seems like a nice kid, but we all know he can’t hack it.

If those broadcasters in Jacksonville think David Garrard sucks, just wait until they get a whiff of someone who can’t take a snap.

Yes, I said it, the Saints are NOT “Worst to First”.  The Saints were a good team before this season and will be after this season.  We need to stop fawning over the Saints like they just rebuilt New Orleans all by themselves.

The New Orleans Saints have been playing good football for a couple years now and Drew Brees is not a new acquisition.  Perhaps the good folks of the sports world just wanted an underdog to pull for.

Personally, I’m not buying what the Saints are selling and I have my reasons.

The Mastermind

The “evil mastermind” behind the Saints’ attack is Sean Payton, and he’s not famous for just coaching the Saints.

Sean Payton was also at the center of Bill Parcells’ “No offense to the Orientals” comment when he was with the Cowboys.  Parcells called Payton by name and said “we” come up with these “Jap plays”.

I know that everyone has said or will say something inappropriate, but Sean Payton was involved in a firestorm that indirectly implicated him in making racially defaming remarks to the Cowboys coaching staff.

Who do you think was drawing up those “Jap plays”?  Oh yeah, Sean Payton was.

Now Sean Payton is in New Orleans drawing up an entire offense and looking like a fiend at the same time.  Take a look at this dude and tell me he seems even remotely likable.

My wife took one look at him and said, “That guy scares me”.  I rest my case.

The Reality

Hurricane Katrina was bad.  I remember watching the coverage of the landfall and the aftermath.  However, it didn’t happen yesterday.

The Saints team didn’t rebuild the city by themselves.  In fact, the Saints went 3-13 in 2005.  That’s nothing short of a “not-feelgood” story.  If the Saints were going to “save the city” that would have happened in ’05.

Today we can say that they are “bringing to city together” or “making everyone believe”.  But…

…let’s please STOP acting like the Saints Offensive Line stood guard in front of the city to beat up Katrina.

Flip their 2005 record around and you have their 2009 record:  13-3.  The Saints are a great story and have a very good team, but they are not the saviors of the city.

As much as I hate the Patriots–and find them to be a classless organization– they won the Super Bowl after 9/11…and they are called THE PATRIOTS!  Now THAT is a defining moment.

The Patriots brought an entire country together.  They did “save the nation’s psyche” in a sense.

That’s the reality of the situation.  The Saints are nice, but this isn’t a defining moment.

What Does “Worst to First” Look Like?

When the Braves went to the World Series in 1991 they were truly a “Worst to First” team.  They were the doormat of the league and hadn’t played well in FOREVER.

No one gave a rat’s ass about the Braves because there was no reason too.  The Braves had to wait to see the results of a Dodgers game on the last day of the season to get into the playoffs.

They beat the Pirates in dramatic fashion, and came within one Kent Hrbek “pull of Ron Gant off first base” of winning the World Series.

The Braves were the story of the season.  The Twins won the World Series, but the Braves were still a bigger deal.

The Braves went 65-97 in 1990 to finish last in the old NL West.  In 1991 they finished 94-68 to win the old NL West.

True, the Saints were in last place in the NFC South in 2008, but they were NOT the doormats of the league.  They hadn’t been since they “unsaved the city” in 2005.

The Owner

This is my final rant on this topic.  Tom Benson has threatened to move this team a thousand times, and I’m sick of it.

Now that the Saints are in the Super Bowl Tom Benson is milking this for everything that it’s worth.

We’re forgetting what a jackass he was in dealing with the city in negotiating to keep the team in New Orleans.

Basically he hijacked the city of New Orleans in making waves to keep the team there.  If he had moved the team to Los Angeles or San Antonio we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Now, Tom Benson is going to get rich (again) off a team that he wanted to move from its home.

Nothing is more disgusting than his smug grin.  It’s as if he believes HE saved the city.

The Comparison

The Atlanta Falcons went to the Super Bowl in 1998 after beating the Vikings on a field goal.  Sound familiar?

Then all hell broke loose.  Eugene Robinson got pinched while trying to pick up a hooker in Miami, and the entire team spent the night with him instead of sleeping…before the Super Bowl.

The Falcons got trounced by a superior team and a superior Quarterback.  Do we see the similarities?

The Super Bowl is in Miami.  New Orleans is a “party city” and that “partyness” is going to Miami.  I’m not saying that anyone from the Saints will get arrested, but they’re too hyped up.

The night before the Super Bowl the Saints will be loving it.  The Colts will be sleeping.

Check in next Friday and we’ll see if the “superior” Quarterback–Peyton Manning–can repeat the previous Miami Super Bowl triumph of an AFC team over the NFC South Champion.

You see where I’m going with this, but I still need time to think.

The Cavs swept their season series with the Lakers, but LeBron says it doesn’t mean anything. Is he being coy or does he actually get it this time?

There hasn’t been much of a change in the Top 10—for me—since we last talked about this, but there are some interesting subplots brewing in the NBA.

The Suns and Rockets have gone on MONSTER slumps since our last edition and that means there is a place for the Jazz, Spurs, and the Grizzlies. I know it’s complicated, but I can make 11 teams into 10…I promise.

Let’s work our way up from the bottom.

10. San Antonio/Memphis: Memphis Is Boxing Out The Spurs

This could get a bit confusing, but for me it’s simple. The Spurs aren’t living up to preseason expectations.

They brought in Richard Jefferson while Manu Ginobli and Tim Duncan got healthy. Well, they got healthy, but they don’t crack 40 minutes a night.

Plus, Richard Jefferson is a nice piece, but I think everyone in San Antonio thought he would save them. Richard Jefferson is not a savior.

Richard Jefferson plays great with other great players, but he doesn’t LEAD those great players(as seen above). Tim Duncan still has to lead, but when he’s spending 15-20 minutes a night on the bench that’s kind of hard.

Manu’s legs are starting to leave him and Tony Parker can only play the “token European with a good inside move” for so long.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies have a worse record than the Spurs, but they are much hotter. At 23-19 the Grizzlies are poised to scare some teams after the All-Star Break.

Based purely on the math I had to put the Spurs at #10, but I can feel a tug at me to put the Grizzlies here. They have the Lakers, Cavs, Spurs, and Magic in 4 of their next 6 games. They can prove a lot. Let’s hope they can handle the pressure.

9. Portland Trailblazers: Young Talent That Must Stay Strong

It appears that the Blazers are doing fine without Greg Oden–and the only way he could make waves was by taking unflattering pictures of himself on his phone.

Jerryd Bayless is slowly coming into his own with 18, 12, and 12 points in his last 3 games on limited minutes. He’s not the answer today, but he is the answer for the future.

With Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge leading the charge and Joel Przybilla mopping up the glass the Blazers have a really nice team on their hands.

Unfortunately, if the playoffs ended today the Blazers would be the 5 seed and they would have to play Utah who they trail in their own division. It seems like Portland is sitting tight while Utah is “upwardly mobile”.

Something’s got to give and it will either be the Jazz or the Blazers in the middle of the Western Conference. The problem is that right now I’d bet on the Blazers to back off. Nobody is playing Deron Williams’ part for Portland—and that’s making all the difference right now.

8. Utah Jazz: Inching Closer To The Nuggets And Celtics

The Jazz are bolstering their midseason charge by winning 3-in-a-row and 8 of their last 10. This is mainly due to Deron Williams.

Williams is playing more minutes than anyone on the team and their second leading scorer along with dishing almost 10 dimes a game. I’m not saying Deron Williams is the best player in the league, but I am saying that he the most valuable to his team right now besides LeBron.

Without Deron Williams where is Carlos Boozer going to get the ball from? Where will AK-47 get a kick-out for a long 3? Where will Mehmet Okur get those same kick-outs for HIS long 3’s?

The Jazz are stacked with relatively young talent. The signing of Sundiata Gaines simply adds to the young nucleus, but Deron Williams is the straw that stirs this young drink.

I see no reason why they won’t catch up to Denver in the Northwest.

7. Denver Nuggets: I Don’t Trust Them

The Nuggets are 30-14 so I can’t say they stink. In fact, it would irresponsible of me to say they are anything but very, very good.

Melo is leading the league in scoring at 29.7 points a game. Chauncey Billups is running a tight ship that provides Carmelo with those 30 points a night. Nene, Chris “The Birdman” Andersen and Kenyon Martin mop up the glass, and Ty Lawson is learning to be the new “CP3” from Chauncey.

There isn’t any way you can say that the nuggets will stumble. They are #2 in the West and don’t really look to budge. But…

George Karl is their coach and I have a problem with George Karl like I have a problem with Norv Turner.

George Karl doesn’t seem like the most inspiring guy on the sideline. He looks uninterested most of the time, and I wonder if the Nuggets enjoy playing for him.

You can praise him to the sky for being a great “basketball mind”, but it never bears any fruit. Plus…

They’ve got all these angry guys on their team (Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, Chris Andersen) and I’m wondering when there will be a “Latrell Spreewell-type” incident in Denver. I can just taste it.

When Spree tried to choke out P.J. Carlesimo?  We would have all agreed that P.J. was a good coach, but he probably wasn’t the most inspiring guy.  Sound familiar?

The Nuggets will only fail because of George Karl…it will NOT be the player’s fault. Put someone like Del Harris in there and we’ve got a winner.

Del would respect the players, be “in to” the games, and find a way to beat the Lakers. He just would.

I don’t want the Lakers to lose, but Del Harris in Denver would be nice…

6. Boston Celtics: Falling Back To The Jazz

The Celtics are old as dirt, but they’re still here!

However, they are still making a slight fall backwards into the arms of the Jazz. As the Jazz surge the Celtics search for their way.

They’ve gone 5-5 in their last 10, but that only holds .500. The Celtics need to stay close to the Cavs all season and .500 ain’t doing it.

Paul Pierce is scoring about 19 a night, and Ray Allen/KG are giving another 30 combined. The “Three Amigos” are not scoring 60-70 points combined anymore.

They’ve got to give the team over to Rajon Rondo completely if they want to stop this very slow downward spiral. Rondo is capable of scoring 20, dishing 15, and getting a couple steals if they’ll let him.

Every little inch they give away only translates to less momentum going into the playoffs.

This time they won’t be so lucky to get a “happy to be there” Bulls team. They’d get the Bobcats if the playoffs started today.

Do you think Larry Brown would “let them of the hook”? No, me neither.

5. Orlando Magic: Have They Lost That Magic Feeling?

The Magic have fallen a game behind the Hawks in the Southeast Division.

I know it’s only a game, but this is the team that stunned the Cavs last season. You would think that the Hawks have no business jumping them in the standings.

Well, you see, they let Hedo go and traded the Courtney Lee-Rafer Alston-Tony Battie trio to get Vince Carter.

They don’t have a Jamal Crawford-type coming off the bench to fix all their problems. Last season Hedo was doing that from the “Point Forward” position, remember?

Without Hedo they are left to lean on Jameer Nelson and pray that Vince Carter stays consistent.

Vince is putting up 16 and Dwight Howard is scoring 17 a night. Somebody needs to take control! If Dwight is taking the “offense” to the paint then he should be scoring like Shaq used to when he was younger.

If Vince is taking all the “offense” from the outside then he should be scoring like a Kobe or a LeBron.

Stan Van needs to decide quick before they lose more ground to the Hawks and end up losing to the Heat in the 1st Round.

4. Dallas Mavericks: I Don’t Trust Them, But Dirk Is On Fire

I’ll keep this simple. The Mavs are hot, but they have never delivered on “hotness” since Mark Cuban bought the team and fixed it.

They’re #3 in the West and playing great. Dirk is great. Jason Terry is great. Jason Kidd is great. Josh Howard is great. But…

I hate to say this because I like this guy. Rick Carlisle is the “Hall of Fame” Offensive Coordinator that I keep saying Norv Turner is.

Rick Carlisle did an amazing job being the “offensive coordinator” for Larry Bird and the Pacers back in the late 90’s. I mean, they got to the Finals with his offense. The problem is that he isn’t the best head coach.

He isn’t horrible, but Rick can’t take a team “over the top”.  Avery Johnson took the Mavs to the Finals. Rick Carlisle isn’t Avery Johnson…

3. Atlanta Hawks: Learning How To Win

The Hawks jumped the Magic in in the Southeast Division and they are playing “lights out” basketball, but they’ve got a showdown with the Celtics on the 29th.

Because they are currently ½ game behind the Celtics in the East it’s conceivable that the Hawks could be the #2 team in the East by the end of the night on Friday.

The Hawks are learning on a nightly basis how to control their own destiny in the NBA, IT was only a few years ago that they were lucky to be the #8 seed.

Now they are “this close” to besting the Celtics for #2 in the East. We would have all laughed at this idea just a couple years ago.

Now we’re not laughing. The Hawks are young and the Celts are old. One thing is coming and one thing is going. Next season it won’t even be THIS close.

The best part of this situation is that Jamal Crawford has YET to start a game. As far as I’m concerned I was right about J.C. coming off the bench.

2. Los Angeles Lakers: Bynum Needs More Time

Andrew Bynum is getting 32 minutes a night and scoring 16 points. That just isn’t enough. I’ve watched him START games with a nice little move inside or a cute “baby skyhook”, but that’s not translating for the rest of the game.

Kobe has given up a lot of the offense to Bynum to further the Lakers’ chances of repeating. However, other guys on the Lakers need to be going to Bynum as well.

It’s hard when you have Odom, Gasol, and Bynum, but Bynum is the future. He can be slowly nurtured by Gasol–who can live without some points–into the “big man” he needs to be.

To be fair, Gasol is an AMAZING player, but Bynum is still supposed to be the future. He is also the thing that will keep teams from beating the Lakers 4 out of 7 games.

Everyone keeps saying that no one can beat the Lakers that many times in a series. I understand their logic, but I get nervous when I see no growth “on paper” from Bynum.

Kobe is still nearly leading the league in scoring, but if he goes on too long like this the playoffs will be rough.

This is a warning: Be careful Lakers…

1. Cleveland Cavaliers: It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t In June

The Cavs swept their season series with the Lakers last week and LeBron James admitted that that means almost nothing.

The Cavs are playing great basketball, but the loss of Mo Williams for 4-6 weeks isn’t going to help.

Coach Mike Brown even said they are “force-feeding” Shaq the ball. This also means Shaq’s ego is multiplying daily.

I will respect the Cavs’ game, but I will stay “on message”.

Shaq will ruin this team if you let him. LeBron has a good head on his shoulders, but Shaq is an ego-maniac.

LeBron knows they probably have no chance of beating the Lakers 4 out of 7 times in the Finals. Why? It’s just their luck.

The Cavs look more and more like the Braves of basketball every time they destroy someone.

From 1991-2005 the Braves won: 94, 98, 104, 90, 96, 101, 106, 103, 95, 88, 101, 96, and 90 games not counting the ‘94 strike season. That’s 1262 games!

They only have one World Series Title to show for it. Anyone see the comparison there? It’s a little eerie if you asked me.

Just a warning: LeBron is right.  This means nothing without 4 wins in June.

If the Jazz and Hawks keep pushing we’re going to have some major shake-ups at the Top of the NBA.  Plus, the harder those teams push up the more other teams are pushed down.

The Magic, Celtics, Blazers, and Spurs need to be careful or they’ll find themselves on the outside looking in.

8 teams are playing for 4 spots in the AFC and NFC Championship Games on January 24^th.  Don’t you want to know who’s going to win?  I promise to tell if you can stick with me through my unorthodox reasoning!

My colleague Tony also has his picks coming for this weekend and in briefly discussing the games we managed to disagree on 75% of this weekend’s matchups.  It just cracked me up to see two completely different opinions “in house”.  I guess that’s why we play the games!

I started thinking about this weekend the moment that the Ravens were definitely going to play the Colts and I was immediately torn.  How can I pick against the Colts?  How can I bet against Peyton Manning (who is now a 4-time MVP)?

How do I justify the Cowboys?  How do I ignore Brett Favre’s recent “playoff transgressions”?  How do I ignore the Saints “backing in” to the playoffs?  Let’s find out!

Baltimore @ Indianapolis

Baltimore and Indianapolis meet courtesy of Baltimore’s destruction of New England last weekend in which the Ravens looked perfect and the Patriots looked unprepared.  I know the first argument I’ll get is “…but the Colts will come prepared!” While I agree I think this game goes deeper.

Indy will run out Peyton Manning, who is calling his own game, and he’ll throw the ball to Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Pierre Garcon and company for most of the game.  Why,  because the Colts can’t run the ball!

If you look at their Running Back corps it goes 4-deep:  Joseph Addai, Donald Brown, Mike Hart, and Chad Simpson.  While I think Joseph Addai is “o.k.” and I think Donald Brown could be really good, “could be” isn’t helping right now.

Without a solid running attack what incentive do the Ravens have for respecting the line of scrimmage?  You could end up with Ray Lewis crushing slot receivers and Ed Reed having enough time to jump routes.

If Ed Reed is jumping routes interceptions WILL happen, and if Ray Lewis is tackling slot receivers someone is going to get hurt!

Look at the Ravens going 4-deep at running back:  Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, LeRon McClain, and Jalen Parmele.  Granted, I don’t even know who Jalen Parmele is, but I’ll bet you he’s learned something from Rice, McGahee and McClain.

Let’s put it this way.  If this corps of runners stays together (which is unlikely given free agency) they could all run for 1000 yards in a season at the same time.  Yes, even McClain as a Fullback.

Why would the Ravens run the ball all day?  Joe Flacco has some kind of mystery thigh injury and he’s not been very accurate this season.  Yes, he could hit Derrick Mason for a couple bombs, but he won’t sling the ball all over the field.

If the Ravens run the ball the way they should they’ll hold the ball for about 40 minutes.  Given Indy’s propensity to pass the Colts will be stuck with short possessions.  This rests the Baltimore defense and gives the Baltimore offense a chance to take a breather as they continually run the ball…and the clock.

I’m not saying the Colts will have a bad game, but they won’t have the ball long enough for the “quality” of their game to matter.

BAL – 34   IND – 21

Arizona @ New Orleans

Arizona travels to the Superdome with the idea that this is Kurt Warner’s last “hurrah”.  New Orleans is hoping they don’t screw up since they backed into the playoffs.  When you start 13-0 and finish 13-3 that says something.

With Kurt Warner, apparently, retiring after these playoffs I wonder if there is a little extra motivation to get him another ring.  I remember when Ben Roethlisberger told Jerome Bettis he was going to win him a Super Bowl in 2006 before he retired.  Perhaps the same is true for the Cardinals.

Because the Cards had such a hefty lead that they gave away against the Packers I only have one question.  Is the Cardinals offense better than advertised?  They totally abused the “great” Packer defense that I was so in love with last week.

Here’s my concern.  I start talking about Darren Sharper and this incredible Saints defense and they don’t live up to the hype.  It would be just my luck!  Randall Gay, Jabari Greer, Malcolm Jenkins, Darren Sharper, Johnathan Vilma, and Sedrick Ellis make for a scary defense, but that didn’t mean anything last week so why should it matter this week?

Did anybody notice Tim Hightower last week for Arizona?  He ran for 19 yards on 7 carries and caught 3 passes for 21 yards.  But those 40 yards were a TOUGH 40 yards.  When the crunch is on they can flip the ball to this kid and let him run somebody over for a First Down.

The Cardinals also have Steve Breaston in their back pocket.  With Larry Fitzgerald getting double-covered Breaston caught 7 passes for 125 yards last week.  He made one catch in particular with a defender basically lying on top of him!  Who needs Anquan Bolden anyways?

You could make the same kind of arguments for the Saints offense, but they can only say they have Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, and Reggie Bush.  The weapons are there, but there’s no one for “tough yardage situations”.  Do we really expect Reggie Bush to run downhill and pick up 3 yards on 3^rd down?

I think this is why the Saints dropped 3-in-a-row after going 13-0.  Everyone figured out how to make them work for their conversions.  Teams were willing to give them all the passing yards in the world as long as New Orleans’ 3^rd down conversion rate was low.

This is why they lost their final 3 games 67-44.  They couldn’t get the extra conversions they needed to run down the field and answer their opponent.

Without an “answer” for the Cardinals the Saints will fall behind and never catch up.

ARI – 48   NO – 31

Jets @ San Diego

If you’ve been following me all season you know that I don’t trust the Chargers and I still don’t.  I’m willing to make some concessions before I make the pick.

First, Phillip Rivers is incredible.  Second, so is Antonio Gates.  Third, so is LDT.  Fourth, so is their defense.  (Oh, and Darren Sproles too!)  So, what makes me distrust the Chargers?

Norv Turner.  Yes, he’s taken the Chargers to the AFC Title Game and I can respect that, but there’s something about him that makes me think he’s the “Les Miles of the NFL”.  He’ll make a dumb decision or call the wrong play and that’ll be that.  I can just feel it.

To counter that you have the New York Jets and Rex Ryan.  He believes 100% in his team and has even said “Why shouldn’t we be favored in all our playoff games?”

Combine his belief with Mark Sanchez, Braylon Edwards, Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene to get the maximum offensive output.  Yes, the Chargers have Quentin Jammer and Antonio Cromartie, but Braylon Edwards is 6’3”.  Jammer measures 6’ and Cromartie at 6’2”.  That inch is all it takes for Edwards to catch “the big one” at the right moment.

All the Chargers have is Vincent Jackson, and who will be covering him?  Darelle Revis.  I think we’ve all seen the stats.  Revis has held Andre Johnson, Randy Moss, Marques Colston, T.O (twice)., Davone Bess, Steve Smith, Antonio Bryant, Roddy White, and Chad Johnson under 35 yards receiving.  I think the same will hold true for Jackson.

Dinking and dunking to Gates all night will not solve the Chargers’ problems and running LDT and Sproles all night will only complicate matters.  Why?

Because this is a “passing” team!

Add to that Doug Plank coaching a version of the “46 defense” for the Jets, and the Chargers’ next stop is horror.  (In case you didn’t know, Doug Plank IS #46, spawned this defense for Mike Ditka and is a darned good coach!)  San Diego can score, but not enough.

NYJ -  27   SD -  17

Dallas @ Minnesota

Dallas and Minnesota, I guess, could be considered the “marquee matchup” of the weekend.  Tony Romo’s on a hot streak and Brett Favre is…Brett Favre.

The Cowboys has finally won a playoff game after a 14 year drought and now they can prove themselves.  The Vikings backed into the playoffs and are hoping to not screw this one up.

The Vikings lost 3 of the final 5 games by a combined total of 109-128.  I know!  They lost 3 of 5 and they won the point differential.  Personally, I think the difference is the 44-7 blowout of the Giants in the final week of the season.  Take that game out and the total is 102-84.

The Vikings feature Favre, Adrian Peterson, Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin.  Their defense has Jared Allen as an anchor with Chad Greenway and the Williams “not brothers” up front.

If the Cowboys intend to score they have to run Marion Barber and Felix Jones up the middle for some respect.  They’ll most definitely get said “respect” from the aforementioned linemen.

Now, the Dallas passing game MUST work.  Miles Austin is turning into a superstar before our very eyes, Roy Williams is available if he “shows up”, but Jason Witten and Tashard Choice are easy targets on the outside.

Tony Romo can afford to “dink and dunk” to Witten and company and just wait for Austin to get open.  Do we really expect Antoine Winfield or Cedric Griffin to cover Miles Austin?  I don’t, and it only takes a couple bombs to rip the hearts out of the Vikings and their fans.

If the Cowboys take the fans out of this then home field advantage is gone.  Now the Vikings are relying on Brett Favre to make the crucial throws.  Do I trust him?  No.

Brett Favre won’t throw 5 interceptions, but he’ll throw the wrong interception at the wrong time and the Vikings’ season will be over.  I fully expect him to end things for Minnesota the way he did for Green Bay in 2007…with an interception.

Once again, the Vikings can score, but not enough.  Plus, they CANNOT avoid the inevitability of a colossal “Favre error”.  Sorry Vikes fans.  Maybe next year.

DAL -  31   MIN -  27

I know you may not agree with all of these picks, but you can’t deny my logic.  The only thing we have to do is wait and see if I’m right.

I really don’t think I’m “drinking the kool aid” on the Jets, and I certainly don’t believe in Norv Turner.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!  As always, please feel free to love me or hate me with your comments at genxxl.com!

The General’s NBA Nothing But Ten is a place where I will rank the Top 10 teams in the NBA in my not so humble opinion.  No I don’t use a formula, I just call it like I see it. If you like formulas you can explain to me how one pundit’s formula has the Spurs as the 3^rd best team in the league.  Also included will be an “honorable mention” and a “dishonorable mention” for teams that require special attention but are not fit for the “Top 10”.

I’m not really sure where the season has gone or how it can take this long, but has anyone noticed that most teams in the NBA have played about 37 games and that puts everyone 4 games away from the halfway-point of their regular season?  Has anyone else realized that this season will last until mid-June when we FINALLY get the NBA Finals?

Honestly, how much work did it take for David Stern and his cronies to figure out how to stretch the season this long?

I suppose it would also be helpful to mention that the league is chock full of teams that could be “median teams”.  Like, if you’re better than them you’re good and if you’re not better than them you’re bad. This is where the NBA Top 10 came from.

I have no desire to pull apart a bunch of mid-range teams and try to figure out who is the “median bearer” and who isn’t.  When I said that the Packers were the “middle of the hourglass” in the NFL that was easy to figure out, but the NBA is not so clear cut.   Please don’t cite power rankings when you disagree.  I love comments, I don’t use a formula.

10.  Houston Rockets  -  Running on Avery

Houston is the best team in the history of sports at walking right through major injuries, bad trades, and using no-names to relative

success.  At the moment they are running Avery Brooks every night and letting Tracy McGrady beg for a trade while Yao Ming learns how to walk again (after marrying a hot Chinese basketball player no less) and Trevor Ariza attempts to live up to his contract.

There could not have been a worse trade than Artest for Ariza.  I know Artest is banged up in L.A., but he’s not supposed to be the man. When Houston gave Ariza all that money it immediately shined the spotlight on Ariza as if to say “Ok, you’re the new golden boy” and he isn’t really living up to his “golden boy” contract.

I really think they’re better off allowing Avery Brooks to be the star every night from the “1” and let the chips fall where they may.

At 21-16 and 3^rd place in the Southwest Division the Rockets hardly seem like a team that can afford to “let the chips fall where they may” but if they don’t do it now then when?   Is there some kind of equation that Senor Daryl is going to use to figure out which undrafted free agent to pick to run the team? NO!

Avery Brooks is “the man” right now!

This may sound stupid to some of you, but Avery Brooks can easily be the star in Houston, the face of the franchise, the golden boy, everything they need. Trade McGrady, dump Yao, and start over with Avery Brooks at the center of your team kicking the ball out to Ariza for clutch 3’s and watch the W’s roll in. Keep waiting for Ariza to be “the man” and you’ll be waiting all season (and all 3 years of his contract.)

9.  Denver Nuggets -  Chauncey’s Holding The Fort

Denver is the team that no one gets.  George Karl coaches them to modest success (not surprising) but they can’t do a whole lot in the playoffs.

Chauncey is working the floor like a general (I know, I like the General reference too) and he’s looking like an MVP, though no one would ever vote for him.  ‘Melo is playing inconsistently (as usual) so the best player on their team is a “game time decision” every single day.

Does it shock anybody else that the most consistent play of ‘Melo’s entire basketball career occurred during his freshman year of college when he led Syracuse to a National Title?  I thought the whole point of going to the NBA was to get better and it seems Melo has stagnated this whole time.

To be fair, he has improved, but not at the rate of some of his draftmates.  (D-Wade won a championship in Miami and LeBron is the “Prince” of Basketball.)

Here’s where I have to blame someone. I think George Karl is stunting Anthony’s growth.  There’s something about Karl that makes me think “Does he even care and therefore do his players care?”

If you look at the smug look on Karl’s face most nights you see a face that looks more like the Principal standing outside his office waiting for a bad kid.  If you’re Carmelo Anthony and you have to look at that face everyday wouldn’t you get a little discouraged?

If you’re Chauncey Billups wouldn’t you care less because you have more rings than Karl does?  Isn’t that why Chauncey is running the show and the team instantly improved when he got there?

8.  Atlanta Hawks -  Jamal Crawford Makes All The Difference

Atlanta just beat Boston AGAIN and I had to put them ahead of Denver because I think the difference may be slight in players but

large in coaching. Jamal Crawford has been a God-send for this team.   He makes clutch assists, steals, 3’s, everything on a nightly basis.

Jamal’s the perfect foil for someone like Joe Johnson who has no desire to be “the man” the way that guys like Kobe and LeBron are. Crawford is like the other half of “the man” so we really have like a “Transformer”-type star leading this team.  Take the two of them, put them together and you get one Superstar who can play 96 minutes a game if need be.

Plus, I think Mike Woodson has really done well to earn the trust of his players, his staff, and the whole organization.  This team has gotten better every year since he arrived in Atlanta from Detroit and Woody even convinced Josh Smith to be a “team player”.  Who knew that was possible?

Josh Childress left for Greece and everyone said “This team is SO unattractive” and now Childress has been reported to be BEGGING to get back into Atlanta.  Unfortunately for him, there’s no room at the inn.  Mike Woodson wins the coaching war over George Karl because at least his players are true believers in Mike Woodson’s ways.

7. Phoenix Suns -  They Don’t Miss D’Antoni Anymore

Steve Nash is finally having another “breakout” kind of year and now it seems like he’s not missing Mike D’Antoni so much.  The ironic part is that D’Antoni MUST be missing Nash and there’s nothing he can do about it up in New York. I  remember all the arguments about how Mike D’Antoni made Steve Nash.  Maybe, as others have suggested, Steve Nash made Mike D’Antoni.

If Alvin Gentry keeps this up he’ll be challenging the Lakers all season (which is fun for me because I love to watch the Lakers and Suns go toe-to-toe.)  Oh, and getting rid of Shaq was the smartest thing they ever did.

6.  Dallas Mavericks -  This Is An Ensemble Cast

Dallas just lost a heart breaker to the Jazz on the same day that the Cowboys won their first playoff game in forever, but that doesn’t mean they suck.  It means they lost to Deron Williams’ Utah Jazz.  Dallas is a solid team that uses all of its pieces well and does well to feature Dirk as “the man”.

Jason Kidd hides very well in this club making good passes and clutch shots on a nightly basis.  He finally figured out that he’s old and that he’s a role player.  As a result, the Mavs are playing very well.

If they stay on top of the Southwest all season (which will be hard with Houston behind them) they could make a run in the playoffs.  For me, the equation that makes the Mavs work has finally fallen into place.  As much as I want to harp on the ’06 Finals (because it still hurts them), I can’t deny that this formula pretty much works:

Dirk + JT + .5(Jason Kidd) x Mark Cuban = Success. (How far that success goes remains to be seen).

5.  Portland Trailblazers -  Jerryd Bayless is Growing Up

Yes, I have the Blazers all the way up here even though they lost to the Cavs the other night, but why?  The Blazers have made some important decisions in the past few months.

First, they decided to give up on the “Greg Oden Experiment” and shelve him for the entire year.  This means, in my opinion, that they are ready to keep him as a backup but not to build their team around him.

I remember when Oden came out, Portland won the lottery and everyone was asking Kevin Pritchard who he was going to pick.   He just sort of wrote off all those questions and said “We’re evaluating a lot of prospects” or something like that.

It was as if he didn’t even think about it and he just said “We’re taking Oden!” (Can you imagine the looks on his assistant’s faces?  Then they all turn to each other and say “How can we pick a 19 year old whose legs don’t work?”)  I hope he’s rethinking his scouting efforts now that Oden has turned out to be the most injury-prone player in recent memory.

You know what’s funny?  Oden seems like he’s hurting himself the same way Patrick Ewing did, but Ewing kept playing.

Second, they decided to run Jerryd Bayless out there and work him to death as he fills in for Andre Miller.  I listened to a large portion of the Blazers/Cavs game this weekend and if the announcer said Bayless once he said it a thousand times.

Bayless is capable of running this team RIGHT NOW and I think he might be the future in Portland with Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge.  I’m going to call it the “Avery Brooks Effect”.  Small guy comes in to sub for superstar and proves he’s better than superstar and franchise has to rethink its direction.

4.  Boston Celtics -  Old, But Good

Why do I have Boston up here?  Well, they keep winning.  It’s a balance of power thing more than anything else.  As much as we can

talk about the East being the stronger conference we all know that it isn’t the deepest.

True, there are bad teams in both conferences, but the worst of the worst are still in the East.  Boston’s only true threats are Cleveland, Orlando and (now) Atlanta.  If they were in the West they would have threats going all the way down to the 10^th or 11^th seed.

Why don’t I rank them lower if I think they’re so coddled?  They’re winning!

They are older than dirt and it will show late in the season and in the playoffs, but right now they’re winning and I have to respect that.  If I didn’t respect Ray Allen’s incessant clutch shooting, or knack for squaring his shoulders (even if he isn’t facing the basket) I’d be playing with fire.

3.  Orlando Magic -  Is Vince Carter Enough?

If Dwight Howard learns how to make free throws this team could be really dangerous, but they are running on fumes in the injury

department. Jameer Nelson still isn’t right and Vince Carter is banged up so they’re relying heavily on J.J. Redick, Matt Barnes, and Jason Williams.

Now, I’m not saying any of these guys are bad players, but they aren’t great either.  Vince is one stubbed toe away from losing his mind, Jameer is supposed to make things tick but isn’t, their points leader is Vince Carter (serious ego problem coming here), and their assist leader is Jason Williams (who Vince will demand the ball from.)

Either they learn how to make this work or it all crumbles at the wrong time with some hurt feelings like it did last year with Rafer Alston.  Orlando is playing well, but this is a tenuous “well” at the moment.

2.  Los Angeles Lakers -  It’s Slump Time

The Lakers had the best record in the NBA before hitting a dry spell that included injuries to Kobe, Pau, and Artest.  The defense is getting lax (in part because Artest and Kobe are hurt) so all of the people saying that the defense left the Forum need to slow down.  If coaching is as big a deal as I say it is then Phil can right the ship.

Will I get over the Christmas Day loss to Cleveland?  Yes.  Will I get over some defensive mishaps?  Yes.  Why?  Because I don’t care about 70 wins and neither should the Lakers.  Everyone expects them to ride at the top of the league all season and it just isn’t going to happen.   When it takes from October to April to play the regular season there’s bound to be bumps in the road.

Here’s difference with the Lakers–they recover from bumps in the road.  Orlando may not be able to recover from an “ego explosion”, the Celtics can’t stop the aging process, and the Blazers can’t stop Bayless from being green, but the Lakers can stop a skid and come back from injuries.

Look at what they did after they lost the ’08 Finals only to come back and win it all in ’09.  This team is resilient AND has hardware.  This should count for something and we’ll have to see if I’m right, but I really think I am.

1.  Cleveland Cavaliers -  I Don’t Buy It

The Cavs are on a roll at 30-10, but I still must ask questions.   Yes, I respect how they’re playing and I can’t deny the fact that they

are playing really good basketball right now.  Hooooowever, don’t we all find it a little bit odd that Anderson Varejao is leading the team in Blocks and Rebounds while LeBron leads in Assists and Points but Shaq is nowhere to be found?

Shaq’s averaging 10 points, a block, and 7 rebounds a game in 23 minutes.  First off, he can say that he knows his role, but that’s a lie…eventually he’ll be OVER THIS!   Second, LeBron pretty much has a block per game too.  Don’t you think that burns Shaq up inside?

Why am I picking on Shaq?  Easy…he’s left the Magic, Lakers, Heat and Suns ALL on bad terms and those are the only teams he’s ever played for besides the Cavs.  He’s got to know that the Cavs have been the Braves/Bills of the NBA and he wants to take them to the Promised Land.

Well, on 22 minutes, 10 points, 7 boards, and a block Shaq isn’t taking the team around the corner.    He’s got to sit back and let LeBron play and I KNOW that he can only stand that for so long.  As soon as he saw Kobe becoming the man in L.A. he got himself traded by acting like a fool and pissing off Kobe enough for Kobe to say “It’s him or me”.

Next, he left the Heat when everyone credited D-Wade with their championship.  In Phoenix when Steve Nash wouldn’t just hand the ball over Shaq got pissed and now we’re here in Cleveland thinking Shaq is the Answer.  There’s only one Answer, by the way, and that is AI.

I think the Cavs will be #1, #2, or #3 all season, but in the playoffs this little charade will slowly crumble and it may not happen until the Finals.  This charade will cease to exist because Shaq’s ego is NOT in check, it never has been and it never will be.   Take Shaq off this team and replace him with Nene or Zaza Pachulia and you’ve got something going, but leave Shaq on this team and he will infect everyone before the season is over.

A volatile guy like Delonte West can’t be around a guy like Shaq all year before Shaq’s attitude, overt or not, makes West think he can be the man.  That attitude spills over to Mo Williams, and then it’s on Jamario Moon, and then Ilgauskas starts jacking up 3’s for no reason, and the season’s over in a heartbeat like it was last season in Orlando.

They will repeat their recent history, but it will sting more because all eyes will be on Shaq.  Everyone will know he was the cancer and there won’t be anything he can do about it.

Beware Cavs fans…there’s a snake in the grass.

Honorable Mention – Oklahoma City Thunder -  Cinderella’s At The Ball

Okie City has the next superstar on the verge of going completely insane (he’s averaging 32 points a game in his last 10 games)

playing alongside Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook.  They’re fielding James Harden and Nick Collison as well and I don’t see how I can go wrong here.

At 20-16, they have all the makings of a Cinderella and none of the baggage.  In the infamous “If the playoffs started today” scenario the Thunder would be the #8 playing the Lakers.  My Lakers!

Trust me when I say that though I have full confidence that the Lakers can win another title, I WOULD NOT want to start off as the #1 playing #8 Oklahoma City.  This team is scary and it’s not just Durant.  He’s raising up a whole army of players who will fight to the death with him.  Just watch.  I’ll bet you anything they beat the Spurs and the Mavs in their next two.

Dishonorable Mention – Chicago Bulls -  They Aren’t Babies And They Stink

Chicago came within a hair of beating Boston in the best 1^st Round Playoff Series ever last year and now they can’t even buy a win.

They’re 16-20 and 12 games out in the Central (ALREADY)!  Derrick Rose leads the team in points but he’s only scoring 18 a night.  That just isn’t enough!

If you’re this far behind in a weak Eastern Conference then what are we supposed to do with you?  The beat down they issued to the Pistons isn’t a defense either.  Detroit is just as disappointing as the Bulls, but at least we thought the Bulls were going somewhere.

They aren’t the “baby bulls” anymore and their level of expectation needs to shoot through the roof before someone comes in and cleans house.   BTW,  this isn’t Vinny Del Negro’s fault.

Vinny’s got Luol Deng making $10 million this year and scoring 17 a night.  That’s pathetic given all the hype that surrounded Deng.  If the Bulls paid me $10 million a year to play basketball and I wasn’t scoring AT LEAST 20 a night I’d be stricken.

Kirk Hinrich is making $9 million and he’s a nice little shooter but he isn’t making the team GO anywhere.  Brad Miller’s the highest-paid player on the team at $12 million and he’s too old to run up and down the court consistently.  That’s why he only gets 21 minutes a game!

To wrap it up let me say that I still have faith in my Lakers.  I will respect the Cavs and Celtics.  I will not respect the Bulls or the Pistons, and I’m on the lookout for KD and the Thunder.

I could sit here and say that I’ve got it all figured out, but there are more questions than answers.  As we play into the A;;-Star Game hopefully somebody will make a statement that brings us clarity.  Until then we can only watch and wait.

Well, well, I had a wonderful time live-blogging the BCS National Championship Game on Twitter (yes, I have a Twitter account : genxxlgeneral) and I just had some major revelations during the game that not only have implications in college football but I think these revelations have MAJOR implications for the NFL Wildcard round this weekend.  There’s a lot that we can say about the teams playing this weekend, but what happened in between Texas and Alabama speaks volumes about what CAN happen between the Eagles & Cowboys, Cardinals & Packers, Bengals & Jets, and the Patriots & Ravens.  Let’s talk first about the National Title Game (because it was really good.)

Not the Fairy Tale Matchup We Were Looking For:

The BCS National Title Game was not the fairy tale matchup we were looking for between Colt McCoy and the dude who snuck up and took the Heisman from him, Mark Ingram.  Colt McCoy played a nice game and inched the Horns to a 6-0 lead.  (To be fair, it should have been 14-0, but the Bama defense was just too much and [as I suspected] Texas couldn’t run the ball to save their lives.)

Well, in the middle of Texas not really being able to punch it in Nick Saban made an idiotic call to fake a punt on 4th Down deep in their own end which solicited this Twitter update:

i cannot say nick saban is an idiot but that was idiotic

Then McCoy took the most meaningless-looking hit I’ve ever seen and he had to take himself out of the game in the 1st Quarter.  I still cannot figure out for the life of me what happened to him, but whatever happened it really hurt him because he didn’t come back.  I think my Twitter feed says it best.  Right after McCoy got hurt:

if mccoy is truly hurt texas is screwed but i think he’s sandbagging

mack brown just saw his best chance at 6 get flushed down the toilet

and

bama has butterfingers but texas cannot run to save their lives

When McCoy left the game the air left Texas’ tires and they showed no signs of getting it back.  I think Texas looked around and said “This cannot be happening to us now.  Not now” and I’m certainly didn’t believe that Texas would have any fire in them at all when True Freshman QB Garrett Gilbert came into the game and got thrown into the fire in, of all games, the National Championship Game.  Gilbert looked absolutely horrible in the 1st half and he even handed a shovel-pass to Alabama right at the end of the half to put the Tide up 24-6.  When Gilbert started sitting in a collapsing pocket every down without being able to read the defense so that he could hold the ball too long I was getting very concerned about how out of control the game would get.  Then Mark Ingram busted a nice run and I thought he was hitting his stride.  Once again, my Twitter feed says it all:

1. my wife says the bama defense thinks garrett gilbert is a gnat (he couldn’t have looked worse getting thrown to the ground trying to tackle the guy he JUST gave the ball to)
2. ole two name just screwed the pooch (he handed the ball to Bama)
3. son you go to school for free you got to catch that (inexplicably, Malcolm Williams can’t catch)
4. goodnight texas (I thought they were already dead)
5. texas needs a bionic qb (I thought they were going to have to go to their 3rd-stringer)
6. mark ingram…….hello!!! (Ingram finally busts a good run)
7. like my dad says “you gotta get rid of the ball son” (Gilbert must like getting hit and throwing the ball away)

Yep, I was pretty hard on Texas and not because I picked them to lose, but because they were playing so badly.  They looked just awful.  My favorite is my Dad’s saying “You gotta get rid of the ball, son.”  That’s something I’ve been hearing since I was 5 (since I can remember really) and it rings true today just like it did in 1983.  Gilbert was completely shocked to be in the game and he just couldn’t pull himself together.  (I did get tired of hearing Kirk Herbstreit talk about how the game was going too fast for Gilbert, but he was right.)  All of that “patheticness” culminated in the idiotic shovel-pass that resulted in a Bama TD right at the end of the first half.

The Second Half Changed Everything:

At halftime my wife started talking about Garrett Gilbert because she felt so bad for him after that disgusting shovel-pass at the end of the first half.  He looked so dejected and depressed after that play that my wife became his biggest fan.  She didn’t care who won the game but she just wanted him to do something right (which I can understand.)  Then, because she was VERY tired, she started talking about football like she knew what she was talking about and she said the following (once again, from my Twitter feed):

my wife thinks ole garrett will grow into it…

She said that jokingly because she just was being silly, but then she fell asleep and I watched the rest of the game and I don’t think she had any idea how prophetic she was.

About halfway through the 3rd Quarter Gilbert figured out how to read the Bama defense and he learned how to work with Jordan Shipley such that he started completing some possession routes to Shipley and started getting rid of the ball instead of holding it all day.  Then, out of nowhere, he hits Jordan Shipley on a LONG Touchdown pass in which he threw the ball where only Shipley could have caught it.  Not only that but he hit Shipley in-stride and gave the Horns an easy score.  When Gilbert threw that ball he looked like Peyton Manning as if he were 8 feet tall and he was throwing downhill.  It was amazing!  At some point ole Garrett really did “grow into it” (on national television in the biggest game of his life.)

He didn’t win the game but he showed us what Texas has to work with for the next 3 years.  You’re fooling yourself if you think Texas isn’t STACKED for the future.  This kid holds the Texas High School record for passing yards (over 12,000) and he learned how to be “the man” in front of the whole world in a game that he had no chance at winning.  He even scared Bama fans into thinking they might actually end up losing.  Here’s a portion of a status update from a friend of mine who went to Bama:

(Name is deleted to protect the innocent) Is sooooo happy Bama won….. HOWEVER….. When Texas scored and went for 2….. I collapsed behind my boyfriend on the couch

If you think this girl wasn’t scared out of her mind you are dead wrong.  I am ALL OVER the Garrett Gilbert bandwagon because he did something that I didn’t even think Colt McCoy could do…make the Alabama Nation sweat.  Garrett Gilbert had his “coming out party” and even though it was in a loss we should all shake his hand and say “Good job!”

Read after the jump to see what this has to do with the NFL playoffs…

Garrett Gilbert came into his own in an impossible situation and came out looking pretty good in the end then certainly another Quarterback from Texas can come into his own in an impossible situation.  Who is this Quarterback?  Tony Romo!

Tony Romo has kicked the Cowboys “sucking in December habit” this season and now he’s got a chance to do what Garrett Gilbert did last night.  Tony Romo is in an impossible situation.  He’s got the QB job that is most scrutinized in all of football and he plays for the craziest owner in all of football.  Can any of you imagine going to work everyday with EVERY eye in your industry on you and your boss is Jerry Jones?  I can’t and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.  So, yes, he is a rich athlete, but he is in an impossible situation and he has had very public missteps in playoffs past, but now he’s righting the ship and has a chance to stand the ship straight up against the Eagles this weekend.

Tony Romo takes his Cowboys team into this weekend’s Wildcard game hot, at home, and believing that they can win.  They are rematching the Eagles whom they pummeled last weekend and I don’t see any way that the Cowboys are going to slow down (and the Eagles cannot slow down the ‘Boys themselves.)  Romo is coming into his own in an impossible situation, but he has a distinct advantage that Garrett Gilbert did not…he’s played before.  This isn’t a newer/faster game for Romo.  He’s been doing this for a few years now and he’s in a groove that he may not get out of.  If anything happens to the Cowboys these entire playoffs it will have to be the defense betraying their offense (and I don’t see that happening with Demarcus Ware on the D-Line.)  Plus, I’ve hung my hat on the whole “you can’t beat a team 3 times in one season thing” and gotten burned so I’m over that.  Ah, let’s just call it.

DAL – 35   PHI – 13

Joe Flacco takes his Baltimore Ravens to Foxboro for a playoff matchup against the Patriots and he too sits in an impossible situation.  He plays in the same division as Ben Roethlisberger, has the task of making his offense as sexy as the Ravens defense, and has already had a disappointing showing in the playoffs (last year in the AFC Title Game.)  Joe Flacco has a lot to prove because he’s playing Tom Brady’s Patriots and no matter what happens Flacco is screwed.  If he loses then everyone will say “Well, you see, Joe just couldn’t run his offense like Tom runs the Patriots” and if he wins everyone will say “Well, there’s something wrong with Tom Brady so the Ravens got the right team at the right time.”

What do I think Joe Flacco WILL do this weekend?  I think Joe Flacco is going to bring his Ravens offense up to Foxboro and watch as Tom Brady yells at Randy Moss and Bill Belichick on the sideline.  The Patriots haven’t been themselves all season and we all know it.  I’ve compared them to a serial killer’s family on this very column and I’m not taking any of that back.  The Patriots are dysfunctional in that they are frustrated by losing and that losing has exposed how abrasive Belichick is.  I can still remember Tom Brady shouting at Belichick at the beginning of the season “What the f*** do you want from me!?” on the bench.  You could read his lips plain as day and things have only gotten worse.

Joe Flacco is in the perfect situation to build on last year AND defeat a behemoth like the Patriots.  Without Wes Welker the Patriots will have to listen to Randy Moss’ insipid whining about not getting the ball and Tom Brady will have more than a few words for his coach who he clearly has issues with.

BAL – 27   NE – 17

Jets @ Bengals:

I wish I could say the same glowing things about Mark Sanchez (even though I think he will be a great player) because he’s up against a team on a mission.  Marvin Lewis has to have his Bengals club super-focused because they took such a beating against the Jets last week.  I know that the Jets put a major beatdown on the Bengals in the last week of the season, but that doesn’t mean that they can repeat it.  This isn’t NEARLY the same as trying to beat a tem 3 times in one season.  When you’re trying to beat someone “thrice” you’re playing a division opponent and you know those teams so well that it is highly conceivable that you can have their “number” and really get on a roll against them.  When the team is outside your division and you have to rematch it’s not the best thing in the world for you.

Look at the Patriots and the Giants in the Super Bowl.  The Patriots has already beaten the Giants in the last game of that season to finish 16-0 and then they had to play them AGAIN in the Super Bowl only to lose and finish 18-1.  The same paradigm is true here.  The Bengals were already in and they clearly had no reason to go “all in” against the Jets.  The Giants knew they were the #5 seed in 2007 so they didn’t mind losing to the Patriots.  The second time around everybody isn’t so nice.

If you combine Carson Palmer with Chad Johnson and Cedric Benson you’ve got a powerful offense.  Take into account the extra focus and the fact that the Jets are missing Kris Jenkins then I don’t see how the Bengals will let this one get away.  You could say that there are equal amounts of weapons on the field (Thomas Jones, Braylon Edwards and Mark Sanchez for the Jets) and I admit that that’s partially true, but even so you would have to boil down the game to coaching.  Who are you taking?  Rex Ryan?  A guy who’s daddy never won a playoff game in Philly or Marvin Lewis (the guy who resurrected the Bengals.)  I’m taking Lewis.

CIN – 24   NYJ – 14

Green Bay @ Arizona:

Arizona was off when they took a whooping against the Packers and now they have to do this thing all over again.  This game goes against my better judgment (a.k.a. – my “non-divisional opponent rule”) which I have stated as “You can beat someone three times because they’re in your division, but two times outside your division is not so certain.”

Arizona, by all rights, should come back and have an amazing game in which Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald play catch for 4 Quarters, but as much as I can say that there’s Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver on the other side.  When Aaron Rodgers is on he looks like Joe Montana (I know I’ve said that before, but I really believe it) and Donald Driver is no push-over.

Who am I to pick?

As much as I want to say that Arizona is going to make a comeback I just don’t think that they can do that when Green Bay is fielding Charles Woodson, B.J. Raji, A.J. Hawk, Aaron Kampman, and all the other non-household names on that defense.  I’ve been harping on how good this defense is for a few weeks and I would be a fool to stop now.  Both teams will score, but Arizona won’t be able to score ENOUGH.  Sorry Cards…

GB – 38   ARI – 24

As always, love me or hate me at genxxlgeneral@gmail.com.  I enjoy your comments and feedback or you can follow me on Twitter @genxxlgeneral.

Peace…

In throwing this idea out to one of my superiors here at genxxl.com I said “And I’ve got this great idea for a column on players playing within themselves” and his response was simply “LMAO”.  Honestly, I didn’t really that sounded as bad as it did when it wasn’t being said by a professional athlete so I just want to ask you to hold your laughter as I honestly (and seriously) try to delve into my explanation for this oft used phrase.  {I’m hoping that we don’t run into a situation like in “The Usual Suspects” where all 5 men are in the police line-up and they can’t stop laughing at each other.  You see, originally, that wasn’t in the script.  During the filming they just couldn’t stop laughing and Brian Singer can be found in the extra interviews for the DVD version of the movie talking about how he was fuming off-camera and thinking “These guys are f***ing up my damn movie!”  Please don’t eff up my damn column by laughing before you’re done reading…I promise I have a good point.

You can hear this one in halftime interviews and postgame press conferences.  The reporter always says something like “What does your team need to do to improve on (fill in the blank)?” and the player ALWAYS says something like “Well, (fill in he reporter’s name), we just need to keep working hard, play within ourselves, and stick to the plan.”  You know, they’re giving the Phil-Jackson-non-answer-answer every time and we just accept it without even thinking about those 3 little words right in the middle of the “non-answer-answer”.

Play within ourselves.

(Suspend your laughter please…I know it sounds bad when you can’t watch it in an interview.)

Pro athletes throw this one out there all the time and we just dismiss it because we either:

a)  Don’t know exactly what they mean and don’t care
b)  Think we know what they mean and just assume it means “We need to stop sucking”
or
c)  Don’t’ pay attention to what the athletes and coaches are saying because we assume they’re giving us the “non-answer-answer” and automatically write it off

I’ve done all of these things in all the years I’ve closely followed sports and I think I’ve finally figured out what this one means.  When athletes and coaches say they need to “play within themselves what they really mean is this:

Sports are just games and we all too often reminded that they are just games by tragedy (like the recent passing of Chris Henry) and then we get right back into the “Winning isn’t everything it’s the only thing” mode that Vince Lombardi is so famous for espousing.  Well, games are supposed to be fun, and these players honestly want to have fun (well, except for someone like Stephon Marbury, but that’s different.)  So, “playing within yourself” means:  We’re going to have fun, not look ahead and live in the moment all game long.

Some franchises have had great success doing just that (granted this is easier when you’re winning) but just look at some good examples of teams playing within themselves.

The 1981-88 San Francisco 49ers:  This team won 4 Super Bowls in very short order and played in the NFC Title Game more times than that.  They routinely plowed over the competition and scored insane amounts of points at will.  They beat up teams like there was no tomorrow, but there was something they started doing in Bill Walsh’s new “West Coast Offense” that started a trend that still lives on today.  They scripted their first 15 plays of every game regardless of the situation.  They ran those 15 plays in order no matter what happened.  Now that’s playing within yourself if you asked me.  If you’re running 15 plays in order no matter what happens you better be determined to have fun and not look ahead because if you don’t your mind will go immediately to all the bad things that can happen to you if even one play doesn’t work.  There’s no looking ahead, there’s no “What happens if this defense does “so and so”, and definitely no “Oh no, how is this going to work?”  You just do it.  They did it and won 4 Super Bowls (and took that same premise to a 5th title with Steve Young under Center and it made both him and Joe Montana (along with Jerry Rice and a whole bunch of linemen) into Hall of Famers.

The 1996-2000 Yankees:  As much as I dislike the Yankees I have to give credit where credit is due.  This team played their brand of baseball with total disregard for their opponents on their way to 4 titles in 5 years.  They cultivated a style of play that took them to the playoffs over and over and supplied Yankees like Derek Jeter with early success that can’t be matched.  How can you say the Yankees were doing anything BUT having fun?  It has to be fun to know you’ve got it in the bag because everyone’s afraid of you and you’re just going out and playing your game everyday.  Very good team those were.

The 1999 St. Louis Rams:  This one is obvious.  Kurt Warner slung the ball all over the field all season and they really didn’t care what defense they were up against because they had already decided that they wanted to just outscore their opponents.  You don’t call yourself “The Greatest Show on Turf” unless you’re having FUN and not caring about anything but living in the moment.

Showtime:  The Lakers of the 1980’s won 5 Championships under Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Green and Cooper and (much like the aforementioned ’99 Rams) you don’t call yourself “Showtime” unless you’re having the time of your life.  In the 80s they went to The Finals 8 time.  Yes, I said EIGHT TIMES!  (And we thought the Pistons were cool when they went to the East Finals 5 times in a row.  Yeah, not really.  If you’re having fun, playing your game no matter what your opponent shows you, and living in the moment you go the NBA Finals 8 times in one decade…that’s just what happens.

So, you see “playing within yourself” isn’t just about the “philosophy” of playing within yourself but it’s a higher calling of success.  Think about it now.  When you hear someone from the Raiders or the Browns or the Chiefs or the Clippers or the Warriors say they need to play “within themselves” they’re talking about something they can’t achieve.  Is a championship in the remote future of any of those teams?  Nope.  However, that is what “playing within yourself” brings.  Now, teams that are contenders can play within themselves all day long because on some level they are capable of that or they wouldn’t be contenders in the first place.

Look at the Tennessee Titans.  They started the season playing outside themselves and went a nasty 0-6.  Right after that they went on a tear and were very close to making the playoffs until a hurtful loss against the Chargers on Christmas Day.  Somewhere in there when Chris Johnson said they could go 10-6 and make the playoffs they put Vince Young back in as their starting QB and they starting playing their game without regard for the other team.  They started to “play within themselves” but they just couldn’t sustain it.  They knew their calling but they couldn’t keep it up.

You could say that the Saints and Colts have been playing “within themselves” all season because they’ve done their “we’ll outscore you no matter what” game all season long.  Then the Colts started resting starters and gave up a game to the Jets because that’s their game (I still can’t believe I bought into the undefeated hype.)  The Colts rest people late in the season.  The Saints score thousands of points every game…that’s just what they do.  Nobody’s going to stop them from doing that.

This brings up an interesting question:  Who has the advantage then?  A team that just plays their game or the team that copies the “blueprint” to beat each one of their opponents every week?

I say the team that “plays their game…within themselves” has the advantage.  Look at the teams I mentioned above.  15 Championships between them.  We could add the Bulls of the 90’s to this list, the Lakers of the 2000’s and the Spurs of the 2000’s and you’ve got (just in the NBA) 14 Championships belonging to 3 teams in an 18 year period.  Yeah…playing within yourself works.

Well, let’s see if some teams can play within themselves long enough to get into the playoffs….the picks right after the jump.

Indy @ Buffalo:

It’ll be cold in Buffalo but the Bills have nothing to play for and the Colts are clearly resting for the playoffs.  This is our last chance this season to see if Turrull will get angry enough to blow his top before his season ends.  He’s already got a thousand catches and that’s probably enough for him.  Even with 2nd teamers in the game I just don’t see how the Colts could lose because the Bills are just so bad right now (really they’re in disarray which is making them bad and it’s a shame because I like it when the Bills are good.)

IND – 20   BUF – 3

Jacksonville @ Cleveland:

Because of the resurgence (that I still think impacts Eric Mangini’s job security negatively) that the Browns are having and the fact that the Jags are basically out of the playoff picture I’m going to take the Browns here.  Jack Del Rio had a good thing going, but losing their last game and pushing themselves to 7-8 showed me why the Jacksonville media doesn’t trust David Garrard.  They’ve leaned on him too much and they need to re-orient their offense in a way that features Maurice Jones-Drew more heavily and tasks David Garrard with managing the game and not winning it.

Jerome Harrison is writing himself a nice check right now and I don’t think he’ll stop.  It doesn’t matter who signs him because he’s going to be very productive in this league (and hopefully the Browns get better or he goes to a better team.)

The Jags could make the playoffs if I were picking them to win this game, but the shot is pretty long.  They would have to win and then 3 of these (Baltimore, Jets, Houston and Denver) would all have to lose.  That’s pretty thin (Then again, in “Lethal Weapon” they thought Dixie being involved in Amanda Huntsecker’s murder was thin and then Dixie’s house blew up, but I don’t foresee any exploding houses this Sunday.)

CLE – 27   JAC – 13

Chicago @ Detroit:

Here’s two teams that have little to nothing going for them.  Detroit is sans Matthew Stafford and Chicago is still playing Jay Cutler and hoping he’ll stop losing games for them by throwing 500 interceptions a game.  The good news for Detroit is they are looking up from their “defeated” season of 2008 and they definitely have all the tools on offense if they can just get Stafford some protection bolster their defense.

Chicago’s defense is slowly dying and we can see it in the decreased productivity and injury-prone nature of guys like Tommie Harris and Brian Urlacher.  At one time this was the most feared defense in the NFL and quite reminiscent of the Bears defenses of the 80’s but they’ve become a shell of themselves and when they took Jay Cutler they basically said they were trying to make a shift from defense-focus to offense-focus and that change in focus doesn’t work for this franchise.  (We’re seeing it kind of work for the Steelers, but I don’t think it can last forever) and the same can be said here.  The Bears need to run the ball and stop the run.  Right now they can do neither and that’s just a shame.

DET – 13   CHI – 6

San Francisco @ St. Louis:

St. Louis, with one win, is well on their way to doing what I’ve been hoping they would do all season (something I TOTALLY got right) and that is rebuilding their team by first moving Marc Bulger out and drafting a stud to fix their offense.  In much the same way that the Bears and Steelers run and stop the run the Rams are a team that slings the ball around and they need a Colt McCoy for that.  I know no one wants to throw a game, but they won’t have to because they 49ers are going to play for pride.

Mike Singletary is not messing around with this 49ers team and he’s going to squeeze every last ounce of play out of this team until the very last second of the season in preparation for next season.  It’s really quite amazing that they’ve had as many ups and downs as they’ve had with a coach like Singletary, but I suppose that is to be expected.  They’re still learning how to deal with such a hard ass when Singletary himself has said that many of his players were pretty lazy.  Add to that the reformation of Alex Smith and you’ve got some really big potential for 2010.  I’m excited (though I wish we were going to the playoffs) I am excited for the future and perhaps the future can start this Sunday.

SF – 27   STL – 3

Pittsburgh @ Miami:

The Steelers can make the playoffs if they beat the Dolphins and 2 of these (Baltimore, Jets, and Houston) lose this coming Sunday.  The Dolphins make the playoffs if they beat the Steelers and the Ravens, Jets, Texans, Jags all lose.

Personally, I think the Steelers’ transformation into a passing team will last long enough for them to win this game.  The Dolphins took a loss they shouldn’t have last week and I just don’t think they have the gas to finish this season off right.  They have lot of the right stuff down in South Beach, but it’s just not ready.  Ricky Williams looks like he could run until he’s 40, Chad Henne could be the answer at Quarterback, Ted Ginn Jr. can catch and return kicks like a monster, and their defense is learning.  I just don’t see it happening right now.

A 4000 yard passer, 1000 yard rusher and two 1000 yard receivers is enough (combined with James Harrison and the Steeler defense) is enough for a Steeler win.  Both the Steelers and the Dolphins are playing for next season at the same time, but that makes this game all the more interesting.

PIT – 34   MIA – 27

Giants @ Minnesota:

The Giants are out of it after closing the season in disappointing fashion.  The Vikings can be #1 or #2 in the NFC.  If they win against the Giants AND New Orleans loses to Carolina then they’re the #1 seed.  If that doesn’t work out then they’ll be the #2 in the NFC.  Here’s the question:  Are the Giants playing for pride or are they just done AND is Brett Favre over his little tiff with Brad Childress where Brad Childress conceded control of the franchise to Favre.  (Didn’t you see that an undisclosed former Vikings player said that Favre runs that organization anyways?)

The Vikings just have more to play for and I don’t think Favre is fading as much as his ego is getting in the way, but even his gigantic ego is going to mess this one up.  Right now all the Giants have is Eli Manning to Mario Manningham followed by Brandon Jacobs running up the middle.  Their secondary is like Swiss cheese and you can bet that Brett Favre will take advantage of it.

MIN – 35   NYG – 13

Atlanta @ Tampa:

The Bucs stunned the Saints this past Sunday in a way that I still cannot fully describe.  Because I was visiting my wife’s side of the family I wasn’t near an NFL package and the local game in Ohio was the Bengals then I only saw that they Saints lost to the Bucs.  Upon telling both my brothers-in-law and my Father-in-law they all responded the same way “Huh?”  It was as if I was playing a joke because the Saints lost to a pretty good Cowboys team and that was ok but there was no way in the world that they would lose to the Bucs so “You’re kidding, right?”  Nope.  Not kidding.

Now, Atlanta actually needs this win MORE than the Saints needed their win from last Sunday.  If the Falcons can finish 9-7 then they will have wrapped up the stat that only I care about…their first set of back-to-back winning seasons in franchise history.  They MUST have this because everyone thought this was a foregone conclusion at the beginning of the season when everyone thought the only offense in the league that would be better than the Falcons was the Saints.  With dreams of the playoffs gone the Falcons need SOMETHING and this is their something to build next season on.  Plus, if the fans in Atlanta have to wait another two seasons to get back-to-back winning season there might be riots in the streets down here because this will be a bigger letdown to the fans than any of the Braves’ failing…I can guarantee you that.

ATL – 27   TB – 17

New England @ Houston:

Here’s another in a long line of games that has playoff implications.  The Patriots might jostle back and forth with the Bengals between the 3rd and 4th seed in the AFC, but they essentially have everything wrapped up and I don’t think that this team is going to bring all their guns blazing.  I still think they’re stinging from the 2007 Super Bowl and they don’t want to go into the playoffs cold, but they don’t want to be too hot either.  They’ll play it safe.

Houston HAS to win if they want the rest of their playoff scenario to play out for them.  They have to beat the Patriots and 2 of the following teams has to lose (Baltimore, Jets and Denver.)

With Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson and a pretty nice defense they can make this thing happen.  I know Randy Moss had a couple good games to come back from his “quit game” after he got sent home from practice, but I think he was putting on a show because he can just turn the switch on and off at will.  He’s waiting for the playoffs because he is still “sans ring” and I know that drives him nuts.  Once again, he’s still stinging from the 2007 Super Bowl and a guy like Randy Moss will never REALLY get over that loss.  He’s packing it up for the playoffs and that will make him a little easier to defend.

HOU – 35   NE – 28 (A lot of those points will come from the heavy use of Wes Welker who is a shorter, whiter, faster, smarter, better teammate version of Moss.)

Philly @ Dallas:

These two teams are playing for the NFC East, and that’s Door #1…the winner of this game wins the NFC East.  Now, if Philly wins they also clinch the #3 seed in the NFC.  If Dallas wins AND Arizona loses then Dallas is the #3 seed in the NFC.

Let’s look at what’s going on here.  I watched the end of the Redskins “quitfest” against Dallas and Dallas looked pretty nice (even though the Redskins are really bad) and I’m thinking that we might be over the whole “The Cowboys suck in December thing”.  Tony Romo looked good, Wade Phillips didn’t look like a deer in the headlights, and the Cowboys defense made some sick plays (I mean, it was like they weren’t even being blocked…well they might not have been, but you get the idea.)

Philly is coming into this game hot as well.  They’ve got everything to play for and they are the team that “came out of nowhere” and lots of people (including me) are wondering where they came from and if I can get the number of the truck they just ran me over with.

Well, if you take two hot teams with hot defenses, hot QB’s and put them in a steel cage and let them fight it out for the toughest division in the NFL what does the game come down to?

Brian Westbrook.  He’s been cleared to play but not a world-beater anymore and he’s just so beat up that if I gave you the choice between Marion Barber and Brian Westbrook I think most of us would take Marion Barber.

I’m leaving this game up to the legs of Marion Barber to slowly wear down the Eagles defense and win the Cowboys the NFC East.  I’ve already said he was a beast and I’m not taking that one back.

DAL – 24   PHI – 14

Kansas City @ Denver:

KC needs some serious rethought around their entire organization and that starts at the top with Scott Pioli.  I posited earlier this season that just about every coach in Bill Belichick’s coaching tree is an embarrassment to him and Pioli isn’t making things any easier.  He took Matt Cassel off the Patriots’ hands and now Cassel isn’t producing for the Chefs.  Todd Haley just had too much of a job to do this season to even consider the fact that his defense is pretty bad too.  I’m not sure at what point the Chefs begin to fix their team but I AM willing to concede that an offense can be fashioned for Matt Cassel that will work as long as he has protection.  I say the draft a lineman high (Defensive or Offensive, it doesn’t matter.)  I bet they could take just about everything they have on offense and do something with it.  Dwayne Bowe to catch the ball (he could easily be a 1000 yard receiver), they take a late 1st day running back, let Tim Castille block for him/run in short scores, and they’re set.  Losing Tony Gonzalez was NOT the end of the world for the Chiefs, but they acted like it was and their offense hasn’t performed all year.  If they get out of the mindset that they need him to survive then they will play much better next year.

With this game upcoming I don’t see any way that the Chefs defense can stop Kyle Orton from picking them apart and throwing the ball in Brandon Marshall’s direction at least 15 times, and who’s going to stop him from catching it?  Donald Washington, Mike Richardson, Ricky Price, Maurice Leggett, Brandon Flowers or Brandon Carr?  No way.  Denver’s going to pick this KC defense apart.

Denver’s road to playoff glory is a little more complicated than most teams because they were already in and then they lost last week and made the whole thing more complicated by not sewing up a playoff spot in Week 16.  If the Broncos beat the Chefs and 2 of 3 lose (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and the Jets) lose then they’re in OR they beat the Chefs, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston win OR they lose to the Chefs and Pittsburgh loses and 3 of 4 lose (Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville, and Jets) OR they lose to the Chefs and Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville, the Jets ALL lose.  (Yeah, that’s a lot.  Thank goodness I didn’t have to figure it out.  Thank the folks at FanHouse Newwire for this information…I know I do.)

DEN – 31   KC – 10

Baltimore @ Oakland:

Baltimore and Oakland are both in interesting positions.  Baltimore’s in if they beat the Raiders so they are the other pivotal game in this weekend’s set because if they lose they could set into motion a host of other things that will allow the playoff picture to go down to the wire.  If they win then things get less interesting.

Here’s the problem…the Raiders have played in spurts this season and that includes against good teams so I have to ask myself if I think the Raiders will have a spurt during the Baltimore game.  Here’s the thing:  I bet on the Ravens in the AFC Title Game last year and they lost, and I decided last weekend to not allow myself to get sucked in by them again and it worked because they lost and I was right.  I know Oakland is depleted but there’s something going on in Oakland.  I don’t know if Tom Cable has rallied the troops, or if they rallied themselves or what but they seem to have a purpose.  Look at it this way…Okaland’s 5-10.  Did anybody think they’d have 5 wins going into the final weekend of the season?  Especially after the whole “Tom Cable alledgedly tried to kill on his assistants and broke him jaw” incident?  I didn’t.  Heck, I almost thought about branding them the next “defeated” Lions before the Rams came in and sucked all the suck right out of the league and kept it for themselves.  Jamarcus Russell may be an expensive backup but he isn’t playing horribly and maybe the Raiders can sneak up on the Ravens.

I just have a hard time trusting the Ravens enough to think that they can win a game that they MUST have.

OAK – 21   BAL – 20

Green Bay @ Arizona:

This could be a shootout because when Aaron Rodgers is on he’s on and Kurt Warner is slowly building a hefty Hall of Fame resume.  For me this one comes down to defense and I don’t see any reason why the Green Bay defense won’t prevail.  I’ve listed all their names before:  Hawk, Raji, Kampman, Woodson, etc.  They are just too much and it’s not that the Cards won’t score, it’s just that they won’t score enough.  I know they’re “hot” and everything but if you want to see hot you should look it up in the dictionary and see the picture of a Packers helmet next to the definition.  Aaron Rodgers still has a steady target in Donald Driver and Ryan Grant is a monster out there.  That’s more than enough convincing for me.

GB – 34  ARI – 27

Washington @ San Diego:

Ok, I have no desire to actually believe in the Chargers (so I won’t) but they’re playing the Redskins and after witnessing their quitfest (which spurned the first entry in the General’s Sports Dictionary I would think that they are totally done.  I’m not even sure they’ll make it onto the field for this one…plus the Chargers want to go into the playoffs with a bang.

SD – 28 (because they’ll take their foot off the gas after the first half)   WAS – 0 (because they are pitiful)

Tennessee @ Seattle:

The Titans are out of the playoff hunt after that tough loss they took to the Chargers, but I think they’re playing for pride this time around.  They want to make sure that this season was all about turning things around and for them that means finishing 8-8.  If they finish at .500 after starting 0-6 that is a momentous acheivement and one that is noteworthy.

The Seahwaks are in disarray and I don’t know that Jim Mora is the problem but the early word is that the Seahawks may be looking to make a change and I don’t really that’s very fair to Mora.  A good comparison would be when Mike Vick broke his leg and Dan Reeves got fired because he was missing the best player on the team.  In Mora’s case the best player on the team is Matt Hasselbeck and he’s a timebomb waiting to retire because he’s too beat up to continue.

If I had to choose someone here it would be the Titans for both team’s own good.  The Titans need the
“pick me up” and the Seahawks need a higher draft pick to pick a lineman on either side of the ball (and I know Walter Jones plays for Seattle but Hasselbeck needs more protection than that.)

TEN – 31   SEA – 14
Cincinnati @ Jets:

Here’s the final part of the scenario.  If the Jets win they’re in.  If the Bengals win AND the Patriots lose then the Bengals take the #3 seed in the AFC.  If the Jets lose then they could also contribute to the endless number of possibilities in the AFC playoff situation.

The Jets have Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan.  The Bengals are fired up over Chris Henry’s death, they are coached by Marvin Lewis who said something to the effect of “Enjoy this win and clinching the AFC North, but get over it because now we have another championship on our minds…the AFC.”  Well, if that isn’t dogged determination I don’t know what is.  I think this might play right into my hands here.  The Bengals are going to play their game and to hell with the Jets.

The Jets will play it tight but I don’t think they can beat such an inspired team as the Bengals.  Have you seen the kind of player Chad Johnson has been since Chris Henry’s death.  He’s a man on a mission.  He’s making catches that we all knew he could make but I think he was just too lazy or ego-ridden to care before.  NOW he’s on top of it.  If this game comes down to the wire Chad Johnson will catch the game-winner…let it be written (oh, it just was )

CIN – 28   NYJ – 27

According to my picks I have the Steelers, Texans and Broncos in.  Now, we must apply tiebreakers:

In case you didn’t know them, when all three teams are in different divisions you check:

Head to Head:  The Steelers beat the Broncos in the Regular Season.  Neither one played Houston so there’s no head to head sweep.

The Broncos are 6-5 in conference so they’re in because the Texans and Steelers are both 5-6 in conference.

If you take the common game thread and flesh that one out the Steelers have a better record in common games and they would make the playoffs (a miracle if you asked me!)

That means the AFC (for me) is:

Indy

New England

Cincinnati

San Diego

Denver

and

Pittsburgh

(I could be totally wrong, but we’ll see.)

As always…love me or hate me at genxxlgeneral@gmail.com or by commenting right here on genxxl.com

Tune in next time for a look at more college bowls and how the national championship chase should shake out.

The NFL provides us with enough ups and downs that we can call it the “ultimate reality television” but I don’t think for a second that I could have been so up on one thing, hen down on it, and right back “up” on it again in the span of a few weeks.  For example:  the idea of the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals all making the playoffs from the AFC North was a reasonable (yet crazy) idea a few weeks ago.  After I made such a bold statement the Steelers continued a long losing streak (in losing to the Browns) and I thought my theory was done for.  Now two weeks later those same Steelers (whose coach’s 8-year old thought he made a bad move) have beaten the Packers with a miracle final drive and had a solid win against the Ravens this Sunday.  I can’t say that I understand the tiebreakers and I know that the Steelers have to pray for lots of losses from teams like the Jets, Texans and Ravens in order to get into the playoffs.  The mere notion of the Steelers making the playoffs after they starting hemorrhaging W’s a few weeks ago is almost surreal because they had seemingly thrown away their season and so many pundits were wondering if Mike Tomlin had lost this team that won the Super Bowl a season ago.

All in all that’s a pretty funny way to describe a team that has a 4000 yard passer, two 1000 yard receivers and a 1000 yard rusher in the same season for the first time in its rich history.

I can hear the catcalls already “What about ‘joy’ Mr. Man?  Huh?  What about the ‘joy’ that was going to take the Colts to 16-0.  Where’s that joy now that they’ve dropped a game to the Jets and the best they can do is 15-1?  Huh!?”  All I can say to that is:  If you though the Colts were going to lose and you didn’t give in to the hype then you were right…I was wrong.  I bought in (even after I said they were smart enough to drop a game so they wouldn’t do it in the playoffs)  and was prepared to ride them to the 19-0 season that would have left me laughing at the Patriots if 2007.  (However, I can take solace in the fact that these Colts could go 18-1.  Yes, the same 18-1 that the Patriots did in 2007, but this 18-1 would result in a championship that those Patriots could not close the deal on.)

Oh, the joy thing.  Well, where’s the joy?  Just watch their press conferences today.  They’re still upbeat:  no grunting, heavy sighs or groan and moans.  They’re disappointed (don’t get me wrong) but they aren’t going to take that out on us during their press time.  They aren’t playing for the camera.  If you wanted a good comparison I think we could make one to the 2004 Red Sox who said they were just a bunch of idiots on the way to a World Series title.  These Colts know that the Patriots are pretty cold and that has won them 3 Super Bowls, but these Colts might just be dumb enough to grin in the face of trouble and power through.  (Although I feel sort of silly calling a team led by a guy who audibles every time he comes to the line [sometimes more than once] an idiot, but what can I do?  The comparison works.)  This joy won’t take them to 19-0, but I still believe it can win them a ring.

Denver and Philly tangled in a game where the Eagles had a chance to get a stranglehold on the NFC East and perhaps inch a little closer to catching the Vikings or the Saints and stealing away with a 1st round bye in the playoffs.  I know it sounds crazy because just a couple weeks ago we were all wishing for an “undefeated Super Bowl” between the Saints and the Colts.  Even so, when the Saints lost last week to the Cowboys that was a solid win for the Boys and I assumed (as did most) that the Saints probably wouldn’t lose again since the Vikings were nipping at their heels(until the Vikings lost to the Bears in OT on MNF.)  (I really didn’t think the Saints would lose to the Bucs, but here we are.)   The Saints have shown how vulnerable they are and they have answered my own question “Did the Cowboys draw us a blueprint?” I think they did my dears.  Now, with the Saints 13-2 they could only tie the Vikings for the best record in the NFC and then it would go to tiebreakers, but if the lose and go to 11-4 (the same record as the Eagles) then we have a fight on for that other 1st round bye where the Eagles could potentially come out of nowhere and snatch it away from the Vikings.  Would you have guessed that a couple weeks ago?  I know I wouldn’t have!)

In a note that probably only interest me because I live in Atlanta the Falcons beat the tar out of the Bills 31-3 on Sunday and pushed themselves to 8-7.  One more win next week and they have their first set of consecutive winning seasons in franchise history.  (That stat still gets me every time!)

Cleveland beat Oakland in an effort to prove that Eric Mangini (I don’t know, I’m no feeling Doofgini right now) was completely derelict in his duties up until last weekend when he unleashed Jerome Harrison on the NFL and Mr. Harrison ran for 286 yards in one game.  If there was ever a way to seal your own fate by winning that would be it.  Sit the wrong skill-position player for most of the season, start him due to an injury, he breaks a team record held by Jim Brown, then you go out and kill the next week too.  That has “I was stupid the majority of the season” written all over it.  Sorry, Eric.  This is the NFL and they don’t call it the No Fun League for nothing.

Miami lost by a touchdown to Houston in what I would call a watershed game for the Texans.  Now the Texans are 8-7 with the Jets, Ravens and Broncos and they’re all vying for two playoff spots.  {The part that makes this most interesting is the current wildcard teams losing (Baltimore and Denver.)  Because both the Broncos and the Ravens lost they allowed ALL of the teams at 7-8 to still have a remote chance because losses by certain teams could cause an 8-8 team to make the playoffs.}  However, the “Straight No Chaser” of it is:  Jets win and they’re in and the Ravens win and they’re in.

I’m particularly proud of the Texans because I’ve been hard on them this season since they’ve been on an upward trend but they’ve never been able to finish the deal and make the playoffs.  Then with the talk of Gary Kubiak being on the “hot seat” and Mike Shanahan’s name being bandied about for Kubiak’s job I thought surely they’d fold up their tents again.  Alas!  The Houston Texans are in playoff contention with very good teams like the Dolphins (who they just beat), Ravens, Broncos and Steelers.  What’s more impressive is that the Texans held a 27-0 lead, were outscored 20-0 in the last 20 or so minutes of the game and held on for the win.  Texans teams of the past would have given up the final two scores to surrender a loss…but not today.  This might be a new day in Houston football.

This is one of those times I wish I could convey tone on a blog (maybe they’ll start letting me do podcasts?  That would be cool!)  Anyways, the Arizona Cardinals pounded the Rams today and I have to say “The Cards are getting hot at the right time!”  They’ve a near-lock Hall of Famer under Center, two Hall of Fame-caliber receivers and just enough of a run game to make the defense honest.  What more can you ask for (plus, Ken Whisenhunt’s danced this routine before.)  Would I be shocked if the Cards rolled through the NFC in the playoffs?  No.  Am I betting on it?  No.  The NFC’s a tough nut to crack this year.

As the strokes of the pen (or the keyboard) are made on this column the Cowboys are well on their way to beating the Redskins and clinching the final playoff spot in the NFC.  This would make “Les Six” in the NFC:  New Orleans, Minnesota, Arizona, Philly, Dallas, and Green Bay.  We have literally no idea what order they’ll be in, but we do know that pretty much ANY order is going to yield some very compelling football.  (On a side note:  Marion Barber is a beast.  He runs like a wrecking ball.  Those dreds, the long gate he has, the angry style in which he runs…it makes him a true “power back”.)

I’m note going to start kvetching (as Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth were just saying) about playoff matchups just yet, but I will say that I REALLY want to see Aaron Rodgers rematch Brett Favre in the playoffs.  Man that would be a good game!

{The Cowboys/Redskins game isn’t quite over yet and the Redskins are down 17-0.  They miss a 3rd down conversion and with about 6 minutes left they’re down 3 scores and you figure they need to go for it on 4th down, right?  Nope.  They punted the ball away.  I know they have little chance of winning the game, but you have to at least TRY.  They could have run down, scored, recovered and onside kick, scored again, rinsed and repeated and tied the game.  I know that sounds INSANE, but anything is possible.  Instead of dreaming they punted.  This has just brought to mind a new feature here on the column:  The General’s Sports Dictionary.} The first entry in the General’s Sports Dictionary is:

Coach-quit:  verb;  1.  Bobby Petrino leaves the Falcons after Week 13 and is singing “ooh Pig suey” that same night in Fayetteville.  2.  Jim Zorn, down 17-0 with 6 minutes left in the game punts on 4th down when he really had no choice but to go for it.

Check me after the jump for some New Year’s Day Bowl picks…

Capital One Bowl – Penn State and LSU pony up for a battle of two teams who had good season, but were standing behind better teams in their conferences.  LSU had Florida and Alabama’s shadow to stand in whilst the Nittany Lions were hard up to get past a depleted Ohio State squad.  Even though this isn’t the bowl Penn State was looking for you have to feel good for Joe Pa for getting his team to yet another New Year’s Day bowl and playing strong after the controversy that swirled around him a few years ago as his age came into question.

LSU’s Les Miles is one of the oddest coaches in college football because we’re always left to wonder if they win because of the coaching or in spite of the coaching.  Both teams have pretty nice offenses and strong defenses, but the game is only left up to a couple factors:

1.  Daryll Clark has a good game and Penn State is hard to beat.
2.  If LSU’s defense can produce turnovers like they did in 2008 they are nearly unstoppable.
3.  If Les Miles doesn’t make any stupid decisions that Tigers are always dangerous.

I’ll take the Nittany Lions because I don’t think Les Miles can help himself…

The Rose Bowl – Ohio State and Oregon tangle in my favorite bowl game every year…the Rose Bowl.  I love the Rose Bowl because it conjures images of players holding roses in their teeth after leading their teams to glory.  Vince Young played one of the best games in the history of college football and won Texas a national title in that very stadium.  The Rose Bowl signifies tradition, glory, elegance, all that is right and good in college football.

Ohio State is a sentimental favorite for me because my wife is from Ohio (so I’ve got an entire side of the family that is Buckeye-faithful) and Oregon is a fun pick because Chip Kelly is a great coach and he drug them from the abyss (the LeGarrette Blount punch game against Boise State) to a near loss at Oregon State for a chance to play in this very game.

The problem is that as much as I like the Buckeyes they are carrying an underperforming Quarterback who has yet to live up to even a fraction of his own hype.  Let’s not forget that Terrelle Pryor brought this on himself by having his own little press conference to announce where he was going to school like it was newsworthy.  (In essence, he’s getting every bit of criticism he deserves.  I know he’s a kid, but he’s a kid who’s going to school for free {who doesn’t want that for their kid} who wanted the spotlight and now that he’s got it he isn’t performing.)

There’s something about the scrappy nature of the Ducks that makes me want to pick them.  I’ve ridden the Buckeyes to shame in the past (especially that humiliating loss to Florida in 2006 when EVERYONE thought they were going to win their 2nd national title since 2002) and I just can’t bring myself to ignore their recent failings in bowl games.  You combine that with the intensity and “scrappiness” of Oregon under Chip Kelly and you’ve got the makings of an Oregon blowout.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl – Two lame duck teams in Florida and Cincinnati take the field in disappointment on both sides.  The Gators have a coach who’s going on indefinite leave and Cincinnati’s former coach Brian Kelly already ticked off every player on the team when he sprung the “I’m bouncing for Notre Dame” speech on them.  This is Tim Tebow’s final college game and it will be under Urban Meyer whose life Tebow has clearly changed.  (Meyer cried when describing Tebow’s impact on his life for Pete’s sake!)  Tim Tebow will be emotional, ready to end with a bang, and ready to prove to the NFL that he’s worthy.)

The Cincinnati players are ready to back up the talk they gave to the media after Brian Kelly broke them down with the Notre Dame news.  Mardy Gilyard was the most vocal when he basically told the press that the players made the plays and they were going to show Brian Kelly that they don’t need him.

Here you have a clash of the titans with a team ready to usher out one of their greatest players with a win and a team angry and ready to spit nails.  I still don’t think Tebow was “all there” during the SEC Title Game and I have no idea if he’ll be “there” on New Year’s Day, but I DO know that he has a lot to prove and he’s a fighter.  Disgruntled players (like the ones at Cincinnati) play well in spurts, but I don’t know if they can overcome such a good player as Tebow when they are playing purely on emotion (emotions they’ve had bottled up for about a month.)  I don’t think it’s wise to try to beat a team as good as Florida like that so I’ll have to take Florida because the spurts of emotion you get form Cincinnati will not be enough for a very good/well-seasoned/veteran team like the Gators.

Tim Tebow is a life-changer and though he did not deserve to be in New York for the Heisman ceremony he is STILL a great player and over-looking him is a bad deal.  Remember, the Crimson Tide had to stop HIM in order to win the SEC.  Nobody else, just Tebow.  That says a lot. and I’m not tangling with a dude like that, are you?

Tune in Thursday for the picks for the final week of the NFL Regular Season, a look at how the playoff races will shake out (yes, I figured out all the tiebreakers by myself) and what that means for the race to the Super Bowl…as always, love me or hate me at genxxlgeneral@gmail.com

I want to break the NBA into a few categories that I think best describes where all the teams are. This is the best way to get similar teams into similar groups even if they don’t have similar records. For example, just because the Celtics are 21-5 doesn’t mean they belong in the same group as the Lakers (and so on.) You’ll see….let’s start at the bottom:

The Eternal Pit of Suck

Alone in the Eternal Pit of Suck are the lowly New Jersey Nyets. They haven’t been any good in quite a while and it’s quite painful to even know someone who is a Nets fan. I’m at a Christmas party the other day and a kid (19 to be exact) tells me he’s a Nets fan and I immediately apologized (and he immediately accepted)…yep that’s how bad it is.

Really, what are the Nets working with right now? Kiki Vandeweghe is their Head Coach (just because you’re a Hall of Famer doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good coach, but he’s a safe bet.) They also have 3 players from Orlando’s Finals team from last season (Tony Battie, Courtney Lee, and Rafer Alston.) Tony Battie plays garbage minutes (so that doesn’t really count), Rafer Alston had attitude problems in Orlando (so imagine what it’s like in New Jersey), and Courtney Lee missed the gimme layup to end all gimme layups in last season’s Finals. This doesn’t really = crappy to me. You take 3 guys who SHOULD play pretty well together, add Brook Lopez (who is supposed to be good) and have Kiki coach them and you should get better than 2-26. If you want to go a step further (if you already aren’t hurting from the knowledge that they have plenty of legitimate talent on their team) they also have CDR (Chris Douglas-Roberts)…you know, 1^st team All-American who almost took Memphis to a title(who also took the SAT himself)? Yeah, they’ve got him too. Yep, they’re still 2-26.

I don’t’ get it either, but they made a coaching change to get a new approach…is Kiki’s approach working? I don’t think so. THIS is the kind of team that could benefit immensely from someone like Mike Woodson (down here in Atlanta) who meets players where they’re at, preaches defense, and can field a team with no superstars and play progressively better from season to season. Sorry Kiki, but you need to go back to the front office so they can find someone more like Mike Woodson.

Hanging on the Edge of the Pit

Minnesota, Philly, Washington, Golden State and Indiana are all hanging right on the edge of the “Eternal Pit of Suck” with records that are better than the Nyets, but not by much. The all-white crew of the Pacers isn’t working out the way they wanted it to because (big surprise) Tyler Hansbrough is averaging 9 points and 4.5 rebounds a game. I don’t think this is what the Pacers signed up for but they certainly can’t act surprised that he can’t really get it done in the NBA.

Minnesota suffers from a severe lack of brainpower in their front office and that pretty much accounts for all of their problems. Only KG could’ve gotten them to the 60 wins they had a few years ago and it’ll never happen again. Don Nelson doesn’t coach defense, but I think he’s starting to forget that his team has to score in order to counteract their lack of defense (I mean, I suppose senility is a possibility at this point.) Washington has a conceited superstar (Gilbert Arenas, who I REFUSE to refer to as “Agent Zero”) who writes his blog better than he plays basketball and Philly can only lean on AI9 for so long because the emotional return of the original AI was nice, but it wasn’t enough to win them any games. I mean, AI9 hit a shot at the buzzer the other night that just barely didn’t count…they can’t even buy one right now (so, they’re hanging onto the edge of the pit.)

Peering over the Edge of the Pit in a Scrum

Toronto, the Knicks, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, Charlotte, Milwaukee, OKC, the Clippers, the Kings, the Spurs, the Hornets, and Memphis are all peering over the edge of the Pit of Eternal Suck and wondering how long before they end up in there. The Raptors signed Hedo thinking he could do something for them, but when his only option is Chris Bosh that isn’t enough for him to be a “Point Forward” and be effective. The Knicks just handle their organization badly. As much as I detest Stephon Marbury I have to think that he was the one in the right in his little tussle with the Knicks because now Nate Robinson’s agent has asked for his client to be traded. Basically, New York is the Oakland of Basketball…NO ONE wants to be there and they run the organization so badly that I have to wonder if Donnie Walsh talks to people who aren’t there just like Al Davis.

Detroit is suffering because Joe Dumars thinks he’s the second-coming (literally) and Miami is still dealing with the baby-like behavior (that he no doubt had refined under Shaq.) Charlotte is actually doing pretty well to be where they’re at so I guess I should (holding back the pre-vomit) applaud Larry Brown for doing a pretty good job with a sub-standard team. OKC is in the same boat…for where they were they’re doing pretty well. I can’t be mad at them for being at .500. The Clippers SHOULD be 2-26 because they’re the Clippers and their owner doesn’t care, but somehow they’re not TOO horrible…go figure (and all that without Blake Griffin.) The Kings need to move to Vegas, the Spurs are still shocked that they didn’t win the NBA title the last two seasons (yes, their egos are THAT big), the Hornets need to get CP3 some help before he bails, and Memphis is actually pretty good.

The idea of Memphis being pretty good is the thing that gets me the most. I even heard Hubie Brown (yes I know he coached Memphis, but he doesn’t B.S. with anybody) talking about how “right on track” the Grizzlies are. There’s something about having Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo on the floor that works. Add to that a VERY raw Hasheem Thabeet (size), Marko Jaric (a.k.a. – the luckiest bastard on the planet [he’s married to Adriana Lima]), Zach Randolph (power), and Sam Young (previously well-taught) and you’ve got something going on. You could read through the rosters of these teams that are “not so good” and see TONS of talent on each team and wonder how these teams can be this bad. Well, I think it’s pretty obvious…there’s finally enough talent to fill all the rosters in the league. This means we have some parity and that’s good. I like reading a roster of a team that is 2-26 and seeing good player after good player. It makes you realize how CRUCIAL front office work is because those front office people have to “formulate” a team that can win. You can’t just load up on talent like you do in the NCAA and win.

This is the same reason why I’ve already crapped on Danny Ferry this season because he’s got talent on his team in Cleveland but it doesn’t gel so they aren’t cruising like they should be. Many of that team’s faults are due to his poor management of the roster. I could sit here all day and talk about the GM’s in the league and who sucks and who doesn’t, but let me say this from “up-front” experience. The Hawks hired Rick Sund, he made some deals, they won a playoff series last season and now they are NOT ONLY the “token 4 seed” but they are fighting Cleveland and Orlando for #2 or #3. THAT’S the difference it makes…

How The Hell Did They Get Here?

Phoenix and Houston sit alone in this little teacup just off the edge of the put where they get to sit back, spin around and frolic like little pixies and wonder how they’re not standing over the edge of the pit like “the scrum” is. Houston just brought Tracy McGrady back and they have no Yao. They traded Ron Artest for Trevor Ariza, Avery Brooks is a good little player and they just have a bunch of “stuff” (also known as marginal players) that equals a team that works. It’s not Yao’s fault that he’s just too tall and too frail, but they can live without him.

Steve Nash is back in form and he’s making Alvin Gentry look really good. Now we all have to wonder (as others have) if Steve Nash made Mike D’Antoni instead of Mike D’Antoni making Steve Nash…hmm….. I can tell you this…they were so freaking happy to get rid of Shaq in Phoenix that the weight that was lifted from their shoulders alone was probably worth 5 wins at the beginning of the season and probably worth 20 for the balance of the season.

I don’t trust these people…so let’s put them over here

Utah, Portland, Cleveland, Denver, and Dallas sit alone in this room that’s kind of quarantined from the rest of the league. These teams embody good stats that never amount to anything. Remember last season when Portland was “so dangerous” and everybody should be afraid of them? Yeah, that didn’t work out. Dallas had Miami 0-2 in the 2006 Finals and they STILL haven’t recovered. Utah can’t beat the Lakers in the playoffs and they’re STILL smarting from losing the Finals twice to the Bulls in the 90’s. Denver can’t be trusted because George Karl is their coach and they’re Denver. Then there’s Cleveland…

I’ve already mentioned how ineffective they are offensively when Shaq is on the floor and how I think LeBron is the Atlanta Braves/Buffalo Bills of Basketball so that isn’t going to change. If the league ran only on mojo no one would want to shake LeBron’s hand (then again, he doesn’t like shaking hands either) because they’d be afraid he would give them cooties. (Yeah, I just said cooties1)

The True Contenders

The Lakers, Celtics, Magic and Hawks are the true contenders as of December in the NBA. Yes, the Hawks are in this group. They play like a different team (like the Pistons teams that went to the East Finals 4 gillion times in a row) and they win games they’re supposed to win (which is very un-Hawk-like.) The Magic are slightly better in percentages than the Hawks but these two teams are equal because as the Hawks took a step up the Magic took a step back by letting Hedo go, bringing in Vince Carter, moving Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston, and Tony Battie and relying too much on Jameer Nelson. That means they are in the same position as the Hawks right now. This is the same team that went to the Finals last year and now I have them on the same playing field as the Hawks? Yep. The Magic are slightly broken in the front office and we can all see it. (That’s why I harped so hard on front office work.)

That leaves the Celtics and the Lakers. The Celtics are OLD. I mean O.L.D.!!!!!! I know they have an incredible record right now, but I STILL saw Paul Pierce NOT being able to get around a pick at the beginning of the season. I know the Celtics are playing well, but they are led by old, old, and old. Rajon Rondo is stirring the drink, but when he only has water to stir at the end of the season because Ray Allen can barely move, KG can’t walk, and Paul Pierce can’t push it to the rim it’ll still taste like water. How long before the syrup in the machine goes dry and all he’s getting is that nasty carbonated-water taste?

Then there’s the Lakers…They sit alone in the:

No one can beat them 4 times pool

Here’s the difference between the Lakers and the Celtics. Kobe gave up the offense to everyone and he’s officially branded himself the “enforcer” who gets the ball when the game is on the line, but otherwise this whole team can win games on any given night. He can still make it to the basket and Paul Pierce cannot. Right now (and I know they’re my team, but can you disagree with this?) they are the only team I can see lasting all the way through the Finals to win a Championship. The Celtics might get there by luck like they did in ’07 by beating the Hawks in the 1^st Round, and last year by beating the Bulls in the 1^st Round) but how gassed will the Celtics be when they get there?

I called this category “No one can beat them 4 times” because Alvin Gentry played all the good teams in the league in a short stretch and when asked about the Lakers he said “I don’t see anyone beating them 4 times.”  You think he’d know!

The Shakedown is pretty clear. We have 4 really good contenders, but only one team, I trust to win a title. Now, there is some Christmas Basketball to be played that includes the Lakers taking on the Cavs. The Cavs can prove a lot by:

1. Sitting Shaq a lot

2. Letting someone other than LeBron score

3. Beating the Lakers

I don’t think they’ll do any of these things, but if they wanted to make a statement there is no better day and no better opponent to make the statement on or against than the Lakers on Christmas Day.

We’ll have to see if the Yuletide Spirit hits LeBron on Friday…if so, we might have to rewrite these rankings…

]]> http://genxxl.com/uncategorized/the-generals-nba-shakedowndecember-23-2009/feed/ 0 http://genxxl.com/sports/the-home-stretch-is-here/ http://genxxl.com/sports/the-home-stretch-is-here/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:32:50 +0000 The General http://mayobrain.com/genxxl.com/?p=2757 Alright, we’re in the homestretch…3 weeks to go and TONS of teams need miracles, solid wins, losses from other teams, miracles, (to keep losing), to rest players, an easier schedule, to not be pushed so hard, to find their offense, to find their defense, to find both, to stop vicious cycles, to show us what they’re made of, to pray for some good luck, to get back some injured players, to fight for a better playoff seeding, to get a home game in the playoffs, to fight for home field throughout the playoffs, and in some cases…just stop sucking.

I know that’s a lot to ask for, but with 3 games left on everyone’s schedule we have a lot to talk about and I’ve definitely learned some lessons this season (and before the season is over…man I’m a fast learner!) I had a pretty bad week last week and I am in serious need of some redemption.  (Although I’m still 133-71.)

Plus, I’ve made a decision. Come playoff time I’m going to start picking games AND picking the spread. Why in the playoffs you ask? Well, in the playoffs, it’s do or die. There’s no moral victories, there’s no running up the score. As soon as you think you have the game in hand you shut down and get ready for next week. Period. No coach in his right mind is going to keep Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Drew Brees on the field so they can win a playoff game 52-0 when they were already going to win it 38-0. There’s no chance. That also means that the spread is KEY in the direction that many of those games go in. If you’ve got a team that is a 6 point underdog… in the playoffs…they take that as an insult. “How in the hell can you give them 6 points over us when we both GOT HERE?” (Since that IS the whole point of the regular season anyways. [Unless you’re the Browns, Lions Bucs or Rams…in which case the whole point of the regular season is getting the highest draft pick possible.]) If the line comes out for a playoff game featuring the Saints or the Colts and they DON’T cover…then you know something’s going on. Picking the spread between two good teams is easy…and it’s probably pretty true. So keep your eyes open when we hit playoff time because I can’t wait to get into all the speculation the spread brings to a game preview.

Ok…since there’s so much to get to…let’s do this!

Indy @ Jacksonville: Thursday Night

Ok, this one’s crucial in terms of the Colts unbeaten status and the Jags desired playoff status. They’re at 7-6 and tied with Baltimore, Miami, and the Jets for the 2nd wildcard spot in the conference. I’m not going to get into the specifics of the tiebreakers because I think most coaches in the NFL don’t understand all of the rules, but suffice it to say that Jacksonville NEEDS this win desperately. Why? Jacksonville gets to finish with Cleveland. That’s good for them because they have the Patriots the week before that and the Colts right now. If they can somehow break the Colts’ streak and then catch the Patriots off-guard all they have to do is wait for the Ravens, Jets, and Dolphins to stumble. Will that be difficult? Yes, because the Jags have the hardest closing schedule of any of the aforementioned playoff contenders.

On to the Colts… Do I think they can keep this up? Yes. Am I rooting for an undefeated Super Bowl between the Saints and Colts? Yes. Do I think this is a “trap” game for the Colts? Yes. If they have Jacksonville (in Jacksonville) and Jacksonville NEEDS a win and the Colts are very close to resting people because they have home field throughout the playoffs locked up then yeah, you might get some “looking ahead” coming from the Colts. No matter how good a leader Peyton Manning is there’s no accounting for letdowns on the team. Receivers drop balls all the time, people miss blocking assignments, people miss tackles, and return guys get tackled behind the 10 yard line and Peyton can’t fix all of that.

So that brings up the question: How influential IS Peyton Manning on this franchise? Well, I think that in the end he will go down as the greatest Colt of all time (yes, better than Johnny Unitas) and when he’s done this franchise will hit a MAJOR slump while they search for a suitable replacement (not Jim Sorgi, although I do like him.) Sooooo, since I’m saying that Peyton Manning will go down in lore as the greatest Colt then it stands to reason that he can have an affect on the whole team, right? Yes. In short, Peyton can go to anyone on this team and say “Get it together or die!” and the response from that player will be “You got it, man!” or “Yes Sir!” Do you really think Jim Caldwell is in control of this team? Nope, Peyton Manning is. Jim Caldwell is enjoying something I’d like to call the “George Seifert Effect”. George Seifert inherited one of the greatest teams of all time from Bill Walsh and won a Super Bowl with that team. Then he hit a dry patch until Steve Young became the Hall of Famer that he is. Jim Caldwell will do the same thing. He’ll win a title (at some point) with Peyton, hit a dry patch, replace Peyton with another Hall of Famer and win another title. You just wait and see. The “Seifert Effect” is… in effect!

IND – 42 JAC – 20

Dallas @ New Orleans: Saturday Night

Dallas took a bad loss to the Chargers and let the Eagles jump out in front of them in the NFC East. I could say that I’m surprised, but like I’ve said for a few weeks now, I’m just waiting for the Cowboys to stab me in the back. Well, since I didn’t get too close to Dallas to begin with they couldn’t actually reach ME to stab me in the back, but they’re taking pretty big swipes at their fans right now. A couple weeks ago everyone on the planet had written off the rest of the NFC East and crowned the Cowboys a contender. Now, they look like they’ll have to take a wildcard berth and play someone they don’t want in the first round of the playoffs (like the Cardinals.) This game with New Orleans doesn’t help because, unlike the Colts, the Saints HAVE to keep winning or they lose home field in the playoffs because the Vikings keep winning. As long as the Vikes keep winning the fire is squarely under the Saints’ rear end…if you know what I mean.

The Saints haven’t looked stellar in the past couple weeks and I have to wonder out loud if the season is starting to get to them. It’s hard to go undefeated and it’s even harder to be the new kids on the block AND have the hottest offense in the league AND be in the harder conference. I said a few weeks ago that Drew Brees looked like Kenny Stabler from “way back when”. Now, he’s starting to look a little worn down. I don’t know if he’s or he just gets that way at the end of the season (like, he gets more serious so the “happy go lucky” look fades away.) I’m not sure, but I know that if he plans on continuing to win he needs to pep it up a little bit. The good news is that they close with Tampa and Carolina. If they can’t win those games I don’t know what to say to that. If they can’t beat the Cowboys I don’t know what to say either. Demarcus Ware is hurt, the Cowboys are in a slide and Wade Phillips is their coach. Do I need to say more? (Oh, and Tony Romo’s December QB rating is something like 12.)

NO – 45 DAL – 21

Cleveland @ Kansas City: Sunday

Alright, I wrote off the Browns last week and they beat the Steelers. I wrote off the Chiefs and they lost. (I guess I learned my lesson.) This game is still crap vs. crap, but I have to be honest in my assessment of how bad these teams are.

Todd Haley in KC is a good coach and he has players on his team. Granted, Matt Cassel won’t be the world-beater they were looking for, but he IS serviceable and that should be enough if they get good pieces around him. They cut Larry Johnson loose because he had character issues and that was a good move because it kept him from infecting their locker room more and it made the fans happy. The Chefs have a couple wins this season and each one was earned rightfully.

Cleveland is looking for a “Football Czar” because their franchise is a total wreck. I could go back over my column from yesterday, but I don’t think it’s worth it. They have 3 players and a bunch of garbage. In essence, they need to start all over. There are TONS of players who would work in Cleveland if they would just return to their AFC Central roots and build a team that looks like the teams of old.

Now, the reason I missed on the Pittsburgh/Cleveland pick last week was because I didn’t realize that the Steelers’ malaise was THAT bad. I also didn’t realize that 3 good players on a team would constitute a win against the defending Super Bowl Champs. However, that doesn’t mean that they can just on winning games ad nauseum. The Chefs are a better team at their core and that means that the Browns already had their 1-time out of 10. Now it’s time for the other 9 times to catch up with them.

KC – 17 CLE – 9 (Phil Dawson rocks!)

Atlanta @ Jets

The Falcons have already GRAVELY endangered their shot at a 2 winning season in a row (something they’ve never had…it’s one of the weirdest stats in sports.) They’re 6-7 with 3 games to go and the only way they can have a winning season is to win out (too bad they aren’t the Titans, right?)

Matt Ryan has turf toe (which ended Jack Lambert’s career, and we KNOW how tough he was), Michael Turner has too many miles on him, Brian Finneran’s career is over, and the defense is a sieve. It’s bad down here in Atlanta.

The Jets, conversely, are in the playoff hunt in the AFC at 7-6. They are in that gigantic traffic jam of teams at 7-6, but they end here with the Falcons, Bengals and Colts. They DESPERATELY need this win if they want to get into the playoffs. Honestly, how many of us think they can beat the Bengals or the Colts? Anyone? Nobody? Just what I thought. So, they need this game MORE than the Falcons because the Falcons are out of the playoffs, snakebitten and not ready for that second consecutive winning season. The Jets have had consecutive winning seasons, won a Super bowl, have a healthier team (not healthy, just healthier) and a stronger coach. (Oh, and Braylon Edwards roaming around in the Falcons’ gosh-awful Secondary.) Need I say more?

Sorry Atlantans, but you’re going to have to wait til 2011 to see if the Falcons can put back-to-back winning seasons together.

NYJ – 24 ATL – 10

Miami @ Tennessee

Miami is in the traffic jam at 7-6 with the Jets and they also desperately need this win to stay in it. Since that traffic jam is all fighting for one playoff spot (since I think the Broncos can hold on to the other wildcard berth) then the Dolphins are playing for their lives every week. Tennessee is right behind the pack at 6-7. Now, I know I counted out the Falcons at 6-7 in the NFC, but the NFC is much stronger then the AFC so it stands to reason that some teams in the “traffic jam” could falter and if the Titans keep winning they could somehow sneak into the playoffs.

The Titans get to close with Miami, San Diego (a.k.a. – the team I don’t trust) and the Seahawks. Are you telling me they can’t win all of those games and some of these other teams won’t slip up? I’ll bet you anything that the Titans are going 9-7 and that somehow they can squeak into the playoffs. In order for them to do that they need to refer to the beginning of my column where they will need to pray and get a miracle, but they can do it.

I see no reason why the Titans would stop winning now. Granted, the Dolphins are good, Tony Sparano is good and Chad Henne is coming on strong, but would you bet against the Titans right now? I wouldn’t. In much the same way that I stopped picking the Skins I will NOT pick against the Titans until I can’t pick them anymore. It would be foolhardy to assume that they will lose when they’ve been playing as well as they have AND they have a shot at the playoffs. This one should be called the “Vince Young Factor”. If a team puts in a prized QB halfway through the season and starts winning the “Vince Young Factor” comes into play and you have no business picking against that team or that Quarterback. Period.

TEN – 30 MIA – 24

Houston @ St. Louis

In accordance with my plan for the Rams to fix their franchise I need to make clear that I will NOT waiver. They need to keep losing and get the 1st pick in April locked up so they can find the right QB and replace Mark Bulger. They already have a prized Lineman and now they need new blood getting the ball every offensive snap. Houston is a good little team that cannot make the playoffs, but they will certainly die trying. Just because they rely too much on Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson it doesn’t mean they suck…it only means they’re 1-dimensional. I can live with that. I think they know they can’t make the playoffs like this, but maybe, just maybe, if they tweak their offense a little they might have something going into next year. Plus, losing right now doesn’t segue very well INTO next year. Teams like this need momentum to take into next season where they can say “Look how strong we finished…let’s pick up where we left off.” The Rams have no need for momentum because they’re about to have to pull a Cleveland and blow the stadium and start from scratch. Good luck Rams….Good luck…

HOU – 35 STL – 3

Arizona @ Detroit

I know Arizona laid a MAJOR egg against the 49ers (and I spent a lot of time talking about it) but they have GOT to get it together against the Lions. First, it’s undignified to lose to Detroit as it is…even if you’re Cleveland, but it’s another thing to lose to Detroit when you have a good thing going, you just appeared in the Super Bowl, and other teams should be afraid of you. As always, I have the Gunther Cunningham Rule which does not allow me to pick the Lions, but I wouldn’t anyways. The Cardinals have Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald…that should be enough to get through this one. However, they close with St. Louis (a probable blowout) and Green Bay. That Green Bay game is going to be for playoff positioning because the Packers and Cards are both looking for SOMETHING to hold on to. Now, the Cards will win their division and get a home game out of that, but the Packers will be PRAYING that they can get a better seed out of a win against them, so the Cards need to be on their A-Game every week until the end of the season. The best way to do that is to get the kinks out against a really bad Detroit team. Somehow, I think they can manage…

ARI – 48 DET – 3

San Francisco @ Philly

Folks can tell me all day long how they think the 49ers are coming on strong, but I’m REALLY hesitant to brand them “up and comers” after the ups and down they’ve had this season. I’ve heard people say that Alex Smith looks 10,000 times better than he did earlier in his career, but I’m not buying it yet. I have expectations, but I’m not buying that all of the juice in the Bay Area should come from the offense. Frank Gore isn’t 100% and Michael Crabtree signed yesterday…how can I TRULY trust the offense? I can’t.

The defense, however, is VERY good and capable of big things. If they prep right for Michael Vick and keep Donovan CONTAINED then they won’t have a problem with the Eagles. If the 49ers give up one big play I think they’re just not mentally ready to recover from that. It’s a shame, but it’s true. Just let me enjoy the fact that we have the slimmest of chances, but I don’t see how this can work out well. I know I screwed up and picked against them with Arizona, but how will they pull off a miracle like that twice in a row? Yeah, I don’t know either.

PHI – 21 SF – 14

New England @ Buffalo

Here’s the deal…I don’t think the Bills can really DO anything with the Patriots, but let’s just talk a minute about how fractured the Patriots are.

Did anybody see all the drops Randy Moss had this past weekend? Let me give you a little background. Randy was late to a meeting this week and he got sent home along with 3 other guys. This was the beginning of the end for Randy. He saw an opportunity to shut down and he did. He started doing his “whiny pouting” thing again and it transferred into his performance on Sunday. He dropped balls that I could have caught (granted, I’m pretty quick and have good hands, but I’m not Randy Moss either.) He wasn’t even trying. Watch the film and tell me he even “cared” to try to catch any of those balls. (Oh, and when I say I could have caught those passes I DO mean that I could have run that route, gotten in front of the defender AND caught the ball…something Randy didn’t do.) He quit. Period. Will everyone stop trying to defend him already? He quit on the Vikings and they shipped him to Oakland and then he quit on the Raiders and that’s why the Patriots even have him to begin with…because he’s a quitter. If he wasn’t a quitter he’d probably still be in Minnesota, but he isn’t because he’s (you guessed it) a quitter.

How long will this last? I say until the end of the season. We’ve already got Tom Brady throwing the F-bomb at Bill Belichick and Adaleus Thomas running his mouth about being sent home so it isn’t much of a stretch to assume that Randy will continue to quit until the end of the season…is it? How wrong would I be to say that Randy gets traded this offseason because he’s quitting right now? I don’t think that’s a stretch either. You can’t tell me that this team is crumbling…because it is. Fortunately for them, they’re the Patriots, Bill Belichick is still their coach and they still have gobs and gobs of talent. That’s enough to beat the Bills, but beware Bostonites…this ship is about to run aground…and soon.

NE – 24 BUF – 14

Chicago @ Baltimore

Chicago has such a hard road to hoe just to GET THROUGH the rest of the season, and they’re just going to get pummeled in the NFC North by the Packers and Vikings. Jay Cutler is looking like “The Biggest Loser” (not the good kind) and he’s only got a “Coach on the hot seat” and a young receiver (Johnny Knox” to show for his year in Chicago.

He was a good “get” when the Bears traded Kyle Orton (a busted Heisman finalist) to the Broncos in a trade that looked like the Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown trade. I mean, Kyle Orton was the flaming pile of crap and Jay Cutler was the Knight in Shining Armor. Yeah, we got that one wrong! How do you get a flaming pile of crap that looks like a white knight on a white horse in shining silver armor? (I mean, how do you not smell it? How did I not smell it? I don’t get it…I said Cutler was a baby and all that, but I was content to hang on to the fact that he’s a Pro-Bowler. *slapping my forehead* Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!)

Baltimore NEEDS this game to get away from the Steelers and get out of the “jam” in the AFC for the final wildcard slot. I don’t see how the Bears can win this one and I can’t see how the Ravens will lose this one. It’s a double-whammy for Lovie Smith (who is close to getting fired anyways.)

BAL – 31 CHI – 10

Join me after the jump and I’ll pick the rest of this weekend’s games…

Oakland @ Denver

Another thing I learned is to not write-off the Raiders without first seeing who’s starting at Quarterback. When Bruce Gradkowski is in this team has a chance. (I didn’t say they’ll win (so don’t get it twisted) but I did say they have a chance.) BruGrad has made Jamarcus Russell into the most expensive backup in history (and we thought Billy Volek wanted a lot of money a few years ago) and now he’s showing that the way to go in the Raider Nation is with a Quarterback that you wouldn’t pick first to play on your team. Anybody remember Rich Gannon from their Super Bowl run? When my Dad told me Rich Gannon was starting for the Raiders I was like “Rich Gannon? You mean the career backup?” Yep, that guy. Well, BruGrad was unwanted in Tampa of all places so he ended up in Oakland and look at him now…pretty good eats for a dude with no pedigree who got cut by a pathetic team.  (This week BruGrad is out, but he proves my point.  Even with Charlie Frye in there the Raiders have a better chance to win than with Russell.)

Denver is sitting pretty in the 1st wildcard spot in the AFC and I don’t think they’ll mess it up. Even though they’re only one game ahead of the “jam” for the second wildcard spot they’ve shown that they can play well enough to lock up a playoff spot. They have a good QB, a pretty good running game and a very nice defense. Are they stellar? No. Are they going to win a playoff game? Probably not. But will they make it look interesting? Yes. The Raiders just can’t hang. As much as I want them to be better now is not the time. If they take their wins from this season and use that momentum to start next season they might have something, but something isn’t here yet.

DEN – 24 OAK – 17

Cincinnati @ San Diego

Ok, this is a battle of two teams that I want to like. A battle of two teams who SHOULD do well but I’m afraid to pick. I don’t trust the Chargers at all (I know, the Norv Turner thing) and I’m afraid that any minute the Bengals will become, well, the Bengals.

At the end of the day they’re about the same team and I can’t sit here and argue with my distrust of Norv Turner. Let’s call it a day and say that I have the “Norv Turner Rule” where I don’t pick teams coached by Norv Turner unless the team Norv is facing is pathetic. I’ll just leave it at that.

CIN – 31    SD – 30 (The one point spread accounts for bad decisions made by Norv Turner…not by the Bengals.)

Tampa @ Seattle

Ok, here’s another one that I find easy but I won’t just mail it in because I’ve learned my lesson. Tampa has Josh Freeman at QB and he’s currently the only rookie QB starting this year from the highly touted draft class we just had. He could be a nice and serviceable QB in Tampa (that’s what Brad Johnson was when they won the Super Bowl you know) and he could last a really long time…if he doesn’t die first.

Matt Hasselbeck is on his last leg, but he does have some weapons and Walter Jones on the O-Line. Let’s say Freeman puts in a good show and Hasselbeck is off (or gets breathed on the wrong way by a Tampa defender) then the Bucs MIGHT have a shot. However, I don’t think the Bucs defense can get to Hasselbeck because they’re still trying to live on the “Tampa 2” and all of that stuff that left with Monte Kiffin when he left for Knoxville. Because of their refusal to change defenses like they should have I have to pick against Tampa even though I think the better QB for the game might end up being Josh Freeman.

SEA – 17 TB – 14

Green Bay @ Pittsburgh

The Packers are fighting for playoff positioning and the Steelers threw their season away with a horrible loss to the Browns. Troy Polamalu is out. Big Ben is banged up. The running game is stodgy at best. Hines Ward has a beef with Big Ben that we can’t define. The Steelers are having a classic “bad year for a good team” and will no doubt rebound next year. Right now…they just aren’t that good. I put so much stock in them going to the playoffs with the Bengals and the Ravens that I totally looked past the fact that they were on a skid that they couldn’t stop. I had no idea they would keep losing and losing and losing for no apparent reason other than they are having a “bad year for a good team”. That’s all the explanation I’ve got.

Aaron Rodgers can look so good when he wants to and he’s brought this team to the playoffs on his back. Ryan Grant blowing through holes in opposing D-Lines is becoming a norm on highlight packages all over the place and Donald Driver is 57 and STILL a dynamic receiver in the NFL. (Did I mention they have this nasty/old-school defense that looks like it came out of 1966?) That defense alone is enough to stop a very down and slow Steeler offense. When Pittsburgh can’t run the ball they can’t do anything. It’s a shame, but everyone has a bad year and I guess this is Pittsburgh’s until they have another one in about 2018.

GB – 27 PIT – 9

Minnesota @ Carolina

Here’s the deal. Minnesota is a REALLY good team that features monsters all over the place (Brett Favre, Percy Harvin, AP, #17, and Jared Allen) and they have no place to go but on the opponent’s side to kill them. It’s like the Vikings are compressed air just waiting to explode all over someone. Every week we think they’ll just lie dormant and then they throttle someone with a burst of energy that we can hardly fathom.

Carolina has 1 good player…Julius Peppers. There are other nice ones like DeAngelo Williams and Steve Smith (not Jake Delhomme), but there is only 1 GOOD player and that is a Defensive Lineman. With no offense and the Vikings defense opposing them how do the Panthers expect to score? I have no idea either.

Besides, Minnesota has to keep winning to make sure they keep the heat on the Saints. Do you think that’s motivation enough? I do. (And for all the people who think Brett Favre is going to start doing “Brett Favre stuff” think again. He hasn’t really done anything this year. The best player on the field is AP and Brett Favre is kicking back and sipping a cocktail…he’ll be fine.)

MIN – 38 CAR – 12

Giants @ Washington

Alright, once again we’ve run into a game where I cannot justify picking the weaker team. However, I’ve learned to not just write people off without first giving them their due. Washington has a really rich D-Lineman (Haynesworth) with no partner, a young QB who’s changed offenses and coordinators more than I change socks, and a “cracker jack” offense as I have heard many former players call it. Plus, I said I wasn’t picking the Redskins under any circumstances and I can’t rightfully change my mind. How nuts would I be to pick a team with the traits I just described against a team fighting for a playoff spot with a Super Bowl Champion Quarterback and good pieces all over the field? I would basically have no right to pick against the Giants and I won’t. I said I wouldn’t pick the Skins and they have given me no reason to. Getting further in-depth will only put you to sleep (or make you hungry for Cracker Jacks.)

NYG – 27 WAS – 6

Enjoy your week of Football and hit me up at genxxlgeneral@gmail.com (I welcome comments, opinions, anything you’ve got to say…I’m all ears!  I totally need feedback!)

The Phillies made a pretty shrewd deal in a 3-way trade that sent Cliff Lee to the Mariners but brought Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays to the Phillies.  Here’s the deal…Cliff Lee is one of the best pitchers in Baseball…so good for the Mariners because they already DON’T suck anymore, but now they totally don’t suck because they have Felix Hernandez AND Cliff Lee.  I think they just got the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels’ attention.

However, Cliff Lee played extremely well for the Phillies so on one hand you could easily say that the Phillies are stupid to move Lee for Halladay because Halladay is looking like a vigilante right now.  However, as I just said, Lee is not as good as Halladay.  Halladay is one the best to ever do it.  Period.  This dude’s already in the Hall of Fame and he has yet to face non-DH teams consistently.  Imagine what he’s going to do to teams that have to bat their Pitchers all the time?  I think that equals destruction.

Then, John Lackey took a walk from L.A. to Boston and the Red Sox made a big score getting another big Pitcher.  Lackey left the Angels…but why?  Does he think he has a better chance of winning a championship in Boston than he does in Anaheim?  I would bet that he does considering how the Angels have been faring in the playoffs lately.  I’d hardly think that I could count on the Angels in the playoffs right now.  Moreover, the World Series they won was kind of a fluke because they sort of tripped on their “elite” status and though they play well during the regular season they are looking more and more like the Braves every season.  (Mind you, that isn’t ALL bad, but I did just break up with the Braves…my hometown team.  So, it IS possible to outstay your welcome even if you are winning on a consistent basis because, as we saw in Atlanta, all good things must come to an end.)

Now that I’ve spent a couple hundred words trashing the Angels I need to bring up their signing of Hideki Matsui.  This guy was the MVP of the World Series just a couple months ago and now he’s jetting New York for sunny Los Angeles.  Frankly, I don’t get it.  I mean, I get it if you’re the Angels because they lost Chone Figgins and they need to make a move, but what about the Yankees?  They’ve got all the money in the world and they didn’t want to keep this guy?  This is one where I have to ask myself…”Does Brian Cashman know something I don’t, or is he a complete idiot?”  Only time will tell, but we know two things  1)  Hideki ain’t no spring chicken, and 2)  He just had the best season he’s ever going to have.  So, if you’re the Yankees you let him go now thinking he’s only going downhill from here and if you’re the Angels you’re hoping he can pick up where he left off.  For my money I think he’s got a few more good years left in him, but nothing like what just happened.

Then, the Red Sox picked up Mike Cameron.  Now, Mike Cameron doesn’t sound like a sexy move to make, but he just gets things done.  He hits when he needs to and fields pretty well.  His stats probably DO NOT back up what I’m saying, but he’s a solid player to add to an already very good Red Sox club.  I feel like I’m talking about Mike Cameron the same way I was lauding Derek Fisher to my buddy during Game 4 of the NBA Finals.  He kept asking me why D-Fish was on the floor and I said “He’ll hit a 3 at the buzzer everytime…even if he misses everything else he takes all night.”  Well, you know how many 3′s he hit that night and they basically won the Lakers a title.  I’m not saying Mike Cameron’s going to win the Sox a title, but I AM saying that he can help get them in good position during a really long season.  (BTW- can we work on shortening it already?)

Then there’s the Cards who are looking like they want to sign Matt Holliday to a long-term deal.  The number I heard today on the way home was 8 years and about $16 million a year.  That’s a $128 million contract.  Apparently, he’s been holding out.  Well, Senor Holliday, if you don’t sign that thing freaking immediately you are a freaking idiot because you know you’ll see every damn penny of that contract.  So sign it ALREADY!!!

Moving on to the All-Americans

Colt McCoy is definitely the best QB in the country…so no big deal.  Toby Gerhart and Mark Ingram (1 and 2 in the Heisman voting) work in my backfield….in yours too I would assume, wit Golden Tate and Jordan Shipley to throw the ball to.  Yeah, that works, and Aaron Hernandez (the only effective offensive player for Florida in the SEC Title Game) is perfect at Tight End.

Now, they put C.J. Spiller on the team as an all-purpose player.  I think that’s great since he’s got like 4 million runbacks for touchdowns and all these insane records concerning return distance and return TD’s, but then I hear someone say  that he could have easily been put on the team as a running back, and this brings me back to my original question from the Heisman ceremony:

Is the Heisman a career award or a yearly award?  According to the logic that C.J. Spiller should be an All-American Running Back you think the Heisman is a yearly award (because C.J. Spiller didn’t go to New York and he could have only won the Heisman based on career stats) and that also means that the #1 and #2 vote-getters (running backs) deserve the two running back spots because All-American spots are also yearly awards.  So, basically that logic is flawed.  He’s a great player, but he’s a flash, a slash…not a downhill everydown running back like Ingram and Gerhart…hence, they get the spots at RUNNING BACK!  Not wingback, not splitback, not slotback…RUNNING BACK!

Then we hit the defense where I think the NFL is about to be supplied with a GIRTH of massively good defensive players.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that the offensive renaissance we’re seeing in the NFL right now is going to die when all of these players hit the league and then hit their prime (Oooh, scary!)

Terrence Cody, Ndamukong Suh, Eric Berry, Rolando McClain, Derrick Morgan, Eric Norwood, Joe Haden, and Javier Arenas.  (And one of my favorites from last season who is not an All-American this season:  Major Wright from Florida.)  What do you think is going to happen to the NFL when all of these guys hit the league (all on different teams probably) and they are all anchoring a defense?  MAYHEM!  It only takes one to start a defensive renaissance on an NFL club (Ray Lewis was the first to get to Baltimore and DeMarcus Ware was the first to get to the Cowboys, etc.)  So, all of these Quarterbacks that we’re in love with are going to DIE when they try to tangle with these beasts.  I mean, these dudes are MONSTERS.  How in the world does anyone expect to stop them?  I know I don’t.

Monday Night…

There was an abomination wherein the Cardinals committed SEVEN turnovers in a loss to the 49ers.  I mean, I’m glad I was wrong because I really thought the 49ers were going to lose, but how in the world can the Cards play so well last week and beat the Vikings (of all teams) and this week they go in and play a sub-.500 team like the 49ers and get beat?  (And cough-up the ball 7 times.  Did I mention that?)  If they had only turned over the ball maybe 5 times they would have won, but 7 times?  How inconsistent can you be?

Kurt Warner’s so over it that he mentioned at his meeting with the press after the game where he said something like “I don’t know when we’re going to get over this one week on one week off thing.”  You know if he’s pissed then there’s a problem.  Kurt Warner doesn’t get mad (to my knowledge) and he certainly doesn’t take his gripes to the media (his wife does that, but I think she’s mellowed with age.)

Now, this doesn’t mean much, but the 49ers have the Rams and the Lions at the end of the season.  I can see how they might be able to sneak up on the Cards if the Cards stay inconsistent.  (It probably won’t happen, but stranger things have happened and probably will happen this season.)

(My Picks are coming soon so we’ll have to see how many crazy things I’m going to predict.)

And now…

The Browns want Mike Holmgren to be (I didn’t make this up) their “Czar of Football Operations”.  WTF is that?  I love Mike Holmgren…he’s a Hall of Famer, he’s got like 500 Super Bowl Rings, but why in the hell would you go to the Browns and try to fix that train wreck (and don’t you think a hard ass like Holmgren is going to get in there and the first thing he’s going to do is fire Doofgini?)  Doesn’t that compound their other problems (no QB, no RB, no Receivers, no Defense and no Special Teams)?  How would you even begin to fix the Browns?  They have nothing on the table at all.  I mean, at least my plan for the Rams to tank this season so they can draft a QB high makes sense because they have good players on their team, but there aren’t any on the Browns.  Wouldn’t you literally have to implode to stadium and start all over?

I’m reading their roster trying to find the good players on their team…here’s what I found:

Mohamed Massaquoi (who was better in college, but he’s pretty good now)

Robaire Smith is pretty good

and

Phil Dawson (one of the best and most tenured kicker/punters in the league)

That’s it….a VERY young Receiver with no QB to throw him the ball, an older D-Lineman, and a kicker.  So, you can run a good route, take up space, and kick the ball if it ever gets to you.  That’s the sum total of the Cleveland Browns. I’d ask to be the GM of the Browns, but my wife’s from Dayton and my Brother-in-law is a Steelers fan (and it’s cold in Cleveland this time of year.)

If you want that job you’re out of your mind and if they ever turn it around I will be so shocked.  I still don’t know how they went 10-6 a couple years ago.  Did they have pictures of their opponents with little boys or something because that season makes no sense.  Look at it:

2003 – 5-11

2004 – 4-12

2005 – 6-10

2006- 4-12

2007 – 10-6

2008- 4-12

2009 – 3-13 (probably)

I didn’t need to put the 10-6 record in bold italics to make it stand out, but you get the idea.  How in the hell did that happen and did that luck-ass season put them in the position they’re in now?  Yes, they would have fired Romeo Crennel after 2007 had it been bad and they would NOT have hired Doofgini and they wouldn’t have had to deal with the whole Savage thing and then they might be 7-9 or something like that.  Heck, with the AFC heading into the Doldrums like it is they could be playoff contenders (especially since the Ravens and Steelers have been losing such stupid games.)  It’s a damn shame really…I liked it better when the Browns were good and Bernie Kosar was the Quarterback by the lake.

There’s just one other thing

There’s this league called the NBA…you might have heard of it, and their Commissioner (this little short Hitler-wannabe) named David Stern just spent the last couple years vilifying Tim Donaghy for betting on games he was officiating.  (That probably wasn’t the best idea.)

THEN, this Donaghy guy claims the refs were steered toward calling fouls in favor of teams that were behind in Playoff series during tape sessions.  THEN, Hitler-wannabe comes out and says gambling probably isn’t that bad.  Huh?

I know the Maloofs are ALL OVER this because their family already owns the Palms and they could easily move the Kings to Vegas, but does David Stern think we’re all stupid?  I mean, he just spent forever and a day going OFF on Tim Donaghy and NOW he thinks gambling is ok?  All the more reason for me to think that the NBA fixes games.  Period.  I said it.  I think the NBA might be fixing games (and that’s a shame because I really want to think my Lakers won ALL of their titles legitimately, but I get real nervous every time I think about this…)

That’s all.  I think positing that a major sports league might fix games is pretty big.

Picks to come soon.  I had a bad week and I need a rebound BAD!

We’re all set with the BCS bowl line-up and now all we have to do is wait to see how these games will shake out (and if Brian Kelly is going to Notre Dame.)

Rose Bowl – Oregon vs. Ohio State: Well, Ohio State’s in the BCS for the 5th time in a row and it’s about time they played a good game in the BCS.  Oregon is probably really happy to be here after they almost threw away their chance at the Rose Bowl against Oregon State.  Even though it’s the Pac-10 and the Big 10 I think this game can be really exciting.  Besides the fact that Oregon has like 60 different uniform combinations I think they can really get after Ohio State and sling the ball around and show the boys from Ohio how it’s done.

Hooooowever, Terrell Pryor has yet another chance to show everyone why they wasted their time watching his “I’m a High School Kid and I Should Just Pick a School” press conference.  This kid spurned Michigan to go to Ohio State and he hasn’t produced the way everyone thought he would.  He was supposed to be a college-aged Mike Vick crossed with Joe Montana with the swagger of Broadway Joe and all the Buckeyes have to show for it right now is a (relatively) disappointing season and questions upon question about whether this kid should be getting anymore hype.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s ever going to be anything special.  This isn’t one of those cases where a kid doesn’t play in college, but he’s got a “pro” arm and he takes off in the NFL.  If Terrell Pryor is supposed to be able to move like crazy AND have a great arm then Ohio State should be blowing out everyone they play…period.  there’s no other way to put it.  I can’t imagine a situation in which Pryor comes on and puts up 350 yards and runs for another 75 or 100.  He’s past that stage by now.  He needs to be solid and portray himself as solid so that we will at least think he’s pretty good, because right now I think everybody (including me) is jumping on the “let’s dump Terrell Pryor” bandwagon.

Fiesta Bowl – Boise State vs. TCU: This is the game everyone didn’t want to see.  No one wants to see two teams from non-BCS conferences play each other in a BCS bowl.  We want to see them play big-time programs to see how they would fair.  Heck, Boise State pulled the “Statue of Liberty” on Oklahoma a couple years ago (and I thought that play only worked in cartoons!) and since then all the big-wigs (who were pounding their stogies over whether Nebraska was going to beat Texas) have decided that it’s easier to make these two teams sit at the kid’s table at Thanksgiving dinner when they CLEARLY deserve to be at the grown-up table.  I smell fear.

To the game itself…I really hope that this is a Holiday Bowl in the making…where each team kind of forgets how to play defense and they just shoot it out.  I’d much rather see a 52-51 game than a 10-9 defensive stand-off.  Plus, if they light it up and the ratings are through the roof then perhaps this MIGHT pave the way for other teams from non-BCS conferences to squeak into the BCS in future…we can only hope.

Sugar Bowl – Cincinnati vs. Florida: The real question here is whether Brian Kelly will be the coach at Notre Dame by the time this game happens.  It’s the biggest letdown in history.  Florida was going for all-time status and Cincinnati was trying to crack the BCS code without success.  If Brian Kelly goes to ND then the Bearcats have no chance.  If he stays in Cincinnati then they can easily beat Florida and really put their stamp on College Football going into next season.

Orange Bowl – Iowa vs. Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech gets another chance to cap off a very good season…this time in Miami against the Hawkeyes.  Both of these teams run the ball like crazy and it will be a power game, but I don’t think for one second that Paul Johnson’s club is going to fall victim to the letdown they had last year in getting hammered by LSU in their bowl game.  If a blowout happens it’s going to be GT blowing out Iowa.  They’ll hold the ball for a year and Iowa will be wondering what happened at the end of the game.  To think anything else would be foolish when you see how angry Paul Johnson can get…I’m just saying…

Join me after the jump for my NFL picks….YAY!

I’m 121-67 and NOT happy about it.  Between Green Bay deciding to be other-worldly against Baltimore, the Falcons laying down against the Eagles, and the Steelers losing to the Raiders I had a bad weekend…let’s just leave it at that.

Pittsburgh @ Cleveland: Ok, on Thursday night I’m hoping that I can trust the Steelers enough to beat the Browns.  Is that asking too much?

PIT – 13   CLE – 3

New Orleans @ Atlanta: It doesn’t matter that this game is in Atlanta because the Falcons are in a tailspin.  I tweeted right after they lost on Sunday that they could kiss consecutive winning seasons goodbye and a chance at the playoffs too.  Now, they get the juggernaut of all juggernauts in the Saints at home.  With Matt Ryan iffy and Michael Turner not in his 2008 form how am I to expect that this team can score against the Saints defense (which is VERY good) when they couldn’t put anything up on the Iggles?

The Saints, on the other hand, have to keep winning or they lose homefield in the playoffs.  With that in mind what do you think Sean Payton is going to say to his team?  Something like “Get out there and kill them!”?  Yeah, you’re right…the Falcons are dead.

NO – 45   ATL – 6

Seattle @ Houston: These are two confusing teams.  The Seahawks took my beloved 49ers out of the playoff hunt on Sunday and the Texans were looking good earlier this season and now they just look listless.  How does one explain the demise of the Texans and the sudden rise of the Seahawks?  Coaching?  QB play?  I think it’s both.  Matt Hasselbeck was the reason Seattle wasn’t winning (because he wasn’t playing) but when he plays well it seems everyone in Seattle plays well (even the Janitor) whereas it seems in Houston like everyone expects Matt Schaub to pass to Andre Johnson 500 times a game and that’ll be that.  As we’ve seen that is not enough to beat teams like the Colts and the Titans.  With the Titans coming on strong and Vince Young looking like a leader we have to expect that Matt Schaub step up and get his WHOLE TEAM to play better.

Seattle needs to keep pushing because they only have so much time left before they are going to have to do this thing without Hasselbeck (because one man can only last so long) and then what do they do?  If he’s the driving force in Seattle (and I think he is) then what are they going to do after he HAS to retire…because it will come down to that eventually.  Then what?  Suck for a year and then draft a QB in the top 3 the next year like St. Louis is going to need to do?  Man I hope not.  It kinda feels wrong when the Seahawks aren’t any good…you know?  They can’t catch the Cardinals…but they can at least make it look like they can.

SEA – 27   HOU – 24

Buffalo @ KC: This is one of those that I usually hate because it’s bad against bad, but now that Buffalo has a new coach it seems like things are looking up in the “Land of no Sunlight”.  {Did you know about SAD?  Seasonal Affective Disorder?  Where people get…sad…depressed because they don’t get enough sunlight?  And we thought it was because of the 4 Super Bowl losses in a row.}

Buffalo is actually getting something done now.  I remember when Dick Jauron fired his Offensive Coordinator right before the season started and that Coordinator came out and said Jauron was an idiot.  Anybody else remember that?  Well, it appears that the OC was right because as soon as they got Jauron out of there the Bills starting playing like they belonged in the NFL.  We haven’t heard from T.O. at all this season because the Bills haven’t really done anything so maybe now that they are looking up a little we can get some entertainment from Turrull.

Kansas City is just pathetic.  I’m not sure if Todd Haley is just hoping for this season to be over so they can fix this thing for next year, but they have issues all over the place and it seems like they will never get out of their own way.  They’re 3-9 and rank 24th or lower in all the major offensive statistical categories.  Yikes!  (And I thought the Raiders sucked.)  They’ve got Matt Cassel out there (who was a bad pick-up to begin with) and he is hurt.  Do I know exactly what’s wrong with him?  No, I have no idea, but I do know that he has something wrong with him that is making him play even worse than he normally would be considering the situation.  How in the world can I justify picking the Chefs when they just seem like they can’t do anything.  (Frankly, I’m surprised they’ve won 3 games!) {You know what’s worse?  They rank 27th or lower in all the major defensive categories…yeah…that’s the Chefs.)

BUF – 28   KC – 10

Green Bay @ Chicago: This is one of those gritty NFC Central matchups from the good old days where they play in freezing weather, snow, and sleet and never complain.  Well, that was back when both teams were good at the same time (which was all the time.)  Nowadays it seems that one team or another is in a funk.  Chicago’s 5-7 after everyone thought they got the “Steal of the Century” when they picked up Jay Cutler from the Broncos for Kyle Orton.  Everyone on Earth said they got the good end of the deal, but now the Broncos are in playoff contention and the Bears are sucking with a better QB than they had. Rex Grossman took this team to the Super Bowl a couple years ago.  REX GROSSMAN!  You know, “eye-liner boy”?  Now they’ve upgraded and they’re getting trounced by the Packers and the Vikings in their own division.  It’s pathetic really.

The Packers decided on Monday Night that it was time to play well against the Ravens.  Right after I had posited that 3 teams from the AFC North could make the playoffs the Steelers lose to the Raiders and the Ravens lose to the Packers.  I’m not shocked that the Packers won, but the way in which they won was so indicative of why I had them in the middle of my “Hourglass Theory” to begin with.  You never know what you’re going to get with this team.  Aaron Rodgers looks like Joe Montana one week and Tony Eason the next.  He just needs to make up his mind.  If he decides that he wants to be good on a more permanent basis than he could easily become a Superstar in this league.  That’s the kind of potential he has…but sometimes he doesn’t show it.  With the Packers in the playoff hunt maybe Aaron can get in the playoffs and show what he’s made of.

GB – 31   CHI – 10

Jets @ Tampa Bay: The Jets disappointed me so greatly when they started losing for no reason and then I didn’t know what to think of them, well now I know.  They’re 6-6 and they’re under a rookie head coach and a rookie QB…of course they were going to be inconsistent!!!  (Stupid, stupid, stupid!)  I fell all in love with them and I was like “Mark Sanchez is the man!” and I totally forgot that at some point we’d see all the “rookieness” (because the seasons that Joe Flacco/John Harbaugh and Matt Ryan/Mike Smith had last year ARE complete anomalies.)  Well, the “rookieness” came out and the Jets sit at 6-6 in a very winnable division.  They’re tied with Miami and the Patriots are only 7-5 (the Mitchells are having a bad Thanksgiving dinner) so who’s to say that they can’t pick it up and get it together?  I’m not gonna say they can’t…not yet.

Tampa is just bad.  I’d feel bad for Raheem Morris, but he fired his Offensive Coordinator right before the season started so he pretty much brought this on himself.  He’s probably wishing he had Bruce Gradkowski right now because at least Gradkowski is doing something right in Oakland.  We could sit here all day and go over every single little problem that Tampa has, but at the end of the day they just flat stink and I have no inclination to pick them anytime soon.

NYJ – 17   TB – 0

Miami @ Jacksonville: Now this is a good one.  Miami is trying to stick with the Jets and Patriots in the AFC East and the Jags are trying to hold their “stiff arm” out to keep the Titans behind them so each team has alot to play for.

I talked last week about hearing the Jacksonville broadcast of their games and how the broadcast team was all over them about EVERYTHING.  Well, they need to stay on them because Miami is coming to town with a newly-confident Chad Henne.  They haven’t abandoned the “wildcat” but when Chad Henne throws the ball 52 times in one game you know that the “wildcat” got put on the back-burner.  Add that to Ricky Williams running the ball like he did when he won a Heisman at Texas and you HAVE to believe that the Dolphins are really dangerous.

The question then comes down to Jacksonville’s defense.  Here’s my problem:  Jack Del Rio is a Defensive guy.  His team bailed on him last season.  We’re getting late in this season.  If something goes it will be the defense first because he has his hands in that more than anything else.  How long before the Jacksonville defense checks out?  With only 4 games left to play they need to get on that or Jack might actually keep his team together (but I don’t buy it…there are leadership issues there and I think that’s what the broadcasters in Jacksonville are REALLY complaining about.)

MIA – 30   JAC – 14

Cincinnati @ Minnesota: Mwa hahahahahaha.  I love this one.  This time last year this would have been the “sigh game” to end all of them.  This year it’s the leader of the North divisions in both conferences.  How cool is that!?  Minnesota has to keep winning so they can keep the Saints on edge knowing that they will also have to keep winning.  Cincinnati cannot show any blood at all or the Steelers and Ravens will smell it from a mile away.  So what are we to do?

The way I see it the Vikes have playoff “positioning” issues and they also have to keep winning whereas the Bengals can afford a loss here or there because the chances of them getting caught by the Ravens and/or Steelers is pretty small.  I like the Cinderella story that is the Bengals, but I’m torn because I know how badly the Vikings need every game and how focused Brett Favre is right now.  Both defenses are good, both offenses are good, but the Vikings NEED it more…so I have to go with want.  When it gets this late in the season in a game as violent as football you have to go with animal instincts at the end of the day.

MIN – 45   CIN – 35

Detroit @ Baltimore: Baltimore just took a bad loss to the Packers when they really needed to pounce on the Steelers’ loss from Sunday to the Raiders and they crapped out.  Detroit just isn’t any good.  This is one of those where the Ravens get lucky because of the schedule and get the right team at the right time.  What can I say (I know what the Steelers are saying…”Those lucky bastards!”)

BAL – 28   DET – 7

Carolina @ New England: This one’s hard because the Panthers are coming on strong late in the season and the Patriots are having (by their standards) a pretty crappy year.  Carolina’s 5-7 and New England is 7-5.  From where I’m standing it doesn’t seem like there’s much difference between the two records.  The two teams are massively different though.  The Panthers CAN run the ball when they are “with it” whereas the Patriots have troubles running the ball (which is bad with Julius Peppers and all the other beastly threats on the Panthers defense.)  The Patriots can pass the ball, but more to Wes Welker in possession situations than to Randy Moss.  (This is the part where I say that we have seen the best of Randy Moss and it is all downhill from here.  For one thing he just isn’t the same.  Second, he’s still the lazy guy who walked off the field in Minnesota before the end of a game, and third he’s playing with Wes Welker who is the best possession receiver in football and if he keeps it up he’s going to the Hall as such.)

With Carolina becoming united and the Patriots looking divided (that’s why I like the comparison to the Mitchells) then I have no choice but to pick the more united team.  (Like I said, animal instincts mean alot this time of the season.)

CAR – 31   NE – 21

Denver @ Indy: I know I said the Colts would drop a game, but then they beat the Titans (who really needed that win) and now I’m starting to reconsider.  Jim Caldwell is a Tony Dungy disciple, but I think he’s a little different.  I saw Mike Ditka on the 4-letter network say that if someone isn’t trying all the way to the end of the season to be undefeated then “shame on them”.  You know what?  I think that resonates with someone like Jim Caldwell.  I think he’s a little harder-nosed than Tony Dungy and I’m starting to think they’re going for it.

Denver is coasting at this point in the season with a shot at the playoffs.  They’re 8-4 and if the season ended today then they’d be a wildcard.  Honestly, I’m interested to see whether they can catch the Chargers (who I still don’t buy…yeah, it’s the Norv Turner thing) and I bet they can do it.  Now the question is…will they help their cause by ending Indy’s undefeated run?

No.  In short, Josh McDaniels is firey and not entirely like his mentor Bill Belichick, but I think he’s smart and he’s trying to hit a home run at this point in the season when there’s still 4 games to go and he has a 2-game cushion on anyone who would jump up and challenge for a wildcard berth.  Because he’s sitting back a little and waiting for the game to come to him I think the Colts will just take and it’ll never get that far.  Now it’s a coaching decision.  (Kind of like betting on pre-season football…you bet on the teams whose coaches you KNOW want to win even if it’s a preseason game.)  Here, I KNOW (at least I think I do) that Jim Caldwell is going for it and Josh McDaniels is not.

IND – 38   DEN – 27

Washington @ Oakland: Oakland may have had some business beating the Steelers last week, but the Redskins had no business being in overtime against the Saints.  I think it speaks more to the nature of the game than any goodness the Redskins exhibited.   Oakland is coming on strong and what better way for them to keep it up than to play the Skins…yep…those lucky bastards!

OAK – 24   WAS – 9

St. Louis @ Tennessee: The Rams suck…the end.

Tennessee needs to keep winning so they can go 9-7 and try to jump into the playoffs.  It would basically kill this run they’re on if they lost to the pathetic Rams (who need to keep losing so they can rebuild anyways.)  Come on Vince…you can do this!

TEN – 31   STL – 3

San Diego @ Dallas: Two teams I don’t buy at all.  Mathis (the Cowboys) started to show his colors by losing to the Giants in a game he should have won.  (I’m just waiting for the Chargers to collapse by the way.)  So, I’m not sure who to go with.  Do I pick the team that I’m afraid to get killed by or the team that I just dislike?

I’ll take dislike thank you very much…(and LDT.  He was never the problem for me to begin with…just the Norv Turner thing.)

SD – 35   DAL – 28

Philly @ Giants: The Giants snuck up and beat the cowboys last weel, but can they honestly sneak up on teams in their own division two weeks in a row?  I don’t think so.  The Giants are ok, but they’ve figured out what to do with Mike Vick and that makes them dangerous.  The Giants have a traditional look in Eli Manning to Mario Manningham…that may not be enough.

PHI – 31   NYG – 21

Arizona @ San Francisco: Well, since my 49ers are out of the playoffs and the Cardinals have been in the playoffs (for me anyways) for quite a while then it makes sense to pick the Cards.  Kurt Warner’s the man…not Alex Smith (I’m sorry to say.)

ARI – 27   SF – 13

Tune in Friday (maybe Saturday..with the Christmas season heating up who knows…) for my thoughts on the week in sports as we grow closer to the end of the NFL season and into the heart of the NBA season…

Reflecting on the weekend that was in sports I’d have to say that I learned a few lessons about sports and I’m going to share them with you today…not because I think you don’t know them, but just in case you don’t know them (or at the very least so you can laugh at me for not knowing this sooner. Come on, I’ve got to be entertaining here!) The lessons were hard, sometimes painful, amusing, horrifying, and sobering all at the same time. It’s not every weekend in sports that you have everything blow up in your face all at once AND learn why you have the allegiances you have…I learned a lot about myself this weekend. Let me share:

The SEC Title Game was COMPLETELY outside the realm of “we’ve got this pinned down” like everyone thought they did and I LOVED it. I picked Bama because I thought that all the pundits who said “take Tebow out of the game and Bama wins” were right. However, I only picked on the possibility that they MIGHT be able to slow him down or something. I spent a lot of time this weekend talking about how 3 teams from the AFC North could make the playoffs…not because I am 100%-bet-my-life sure about it, but I am certain that the possibility exists.

So, the possibility of Tim Tebow being human was intriguing and I thought if anyone could make him look human it was Nick Saban. Let’s face it…Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are the two best coaches in college football: Followed closely by Chris Petersen, Gary Patterson and Brian Kelly. No one earth can argue that. There are other good coaches, but these are the best. Well, when you call Nick Saban the best you also have to realize that he is a Defensive guy and that means he can do just about anything with his defense to stop someone. Honestly, I thought maybe they’d just slow down Tebow and outright stop him, but stop him they did.

I learned, in no uncertain terms, that defense DOES win championships. That was the epitome of a defense stepping up and saying “If we stop this guy their offense stops and we win.” The Tide knew that with Deonte Thompson and Percy Harvin that Tebow wouldn’t have all the outs he used to have and that would give him problems all day. They were ready for the dive plays that Florida had to start running after Tebow’s concussion. They were ready for the quick outs and they adjusted at halftime to all the passes that Tebow was able to get off to Hernandez. In essence, they shut Florida down after they figured out what Florida was doing…that’s why all 13 points the Gators scored were scored in the 1^st half of that game.

I have to say that I was a little shocked by the 32-13 final score because I thought Florida had something left in the tank to make a comeback, but when Tebow threw that interception in the endzone I knew they were done. Mark Ingram had already broken a 66 yard run (prancing down the sideline to stay inbounds) and now this for the Gators? They just fell apart at the worst time. They had the “2007 Patriots we’ve won too many games in a row” thing hanging over their heads and the “Tim Tebow is a demi-god but will the Tide care?” thing hanging over their heads and it proved to be too much. The Bama saved the day by keeping the Bama offense on the field long enough to score 32 points. It’s that simple.

Another thing that I hope this game did was solidify that Tim Tebow will NOT win the Heisman this year. I’m still thinking he probably should’ve won it last year, because he was just that good last year, but this year he just hasn’t been the same. CBS got a good shot of him standing up after a tackle and he looked right into the camera and at that moment I tweeted “Look into Tebow’s eyes and tell me he’s 100% there.” He just didn’t look like he was all there which is a complete shame but he’s one of the best (but not the best) and not this year. If we’re looking for the best player in college football then we need to look to Toby Gerhart out at Stanford who probably won his team 3 or 4 games and Mark Ingram at Alabama. Ingram broke the run that sealed this SEC Title and he’s been solid all year. Gerhart won a few games for Stanford. If I had to pick one I’d go with Ingram because he was solid all year and now his club is on the cusp of a National Title (and he was better than Colt McCoy and Gerhart and Tebow.)

Speaking of being on the cusp of a National Title… the Longhorns almost lost to Nebraska (and I honestly think Colt McCoy let the clock run out and the NCAA gave Texas that one second as a gift. Did you see how upset Bo Pellini was? He should’ve been.

At any rate, Texas barely beat Nebraska (who Pellini has on the map, but not THAT on the map yet) and Bama just ran all over Florida. Do you mean to tell me that Texas can even put up a fight against Alabama? Honestly, if the Tide can come up with a way to stop a totally unpredictable QB like Tebow how in the world is a totally predictable QB like McCoy going to fair? Not very well I’m afraid. Unless there’s a catastrophic injury or arrest I’m picking it now. Bama – 30 UT – 13

You know what else I learned this weekend? Paul Johnson is a master coach. He’s got a bunch of kids who don’t really fit into his system that well and he’s running this insane triple-option and winning. Tech barely beat C.J. Spiller (I’d say Clemson, but the only thing they had was Spiller on Saturday) for the ACC Title and a berth in the Orange Bowl. At times I thought the Tech players were still a little agog about what to do in Johnson’s offense (and that’s because he doesn’t have a full group of “his guys”) and that leads to some problems. Plus, his defense doesn’t get the best looks during the week because they run such a weird offense. Imagine if he had ALL his own people in there and the defense learns how to adapt to the “not getting enough good looks” thing. How good is Tech going to be next year? WOW. I’ll tell you this…they got destroyed by LSU last year in their bowl game, but Iowa better look out because I think ole Paul’s got somethin’ special waitin’ for ‘em.

In the NFL I learned a few really annoying things and one eye-opener.

First, I learned that my Dad (a Falcons fan) doesn’t watch the Falcons. Wanna know why? He told me “Son, I don’t watch the Falcons anymore because when you were little I used to get so upset watching them that I’d literally be sick.” Now, I know a lot of you out there can understand that sentiment and since I’m 31 that also says how long the Falcons have been annoying my Dad. A LONG F****** TIME! With that said I learned something about the Falcons.

They aren’t lazy like I said they were a few weeks ago. No, they’re just snake-bitten. They’re on their way to a second winning season in a row (something they’ve never done) and Matt Ryan goes down and Chris Redman comes in and shines…then the next week they lose to the Eagles 34-7. That’s snake-bitten if you asked me. You get just close enough and them “BAM!” back to the mat you go. I can pick the Falcons to win games and playoff games all I want but I will NEVER pick them to win the Super Bowl unless they are the only team left in the league.

- I learned that the Saints are just about as invincible as you can get and we’re getting really close to an “undefeated Super Bowl” between the Colts and the Saints. (I don’t think Jim Caldwell’s going to let up like I predicted.)

- I learned that Pittsburgh wants to make my “3 teams from one division making the playoffs” scenario hard to do. Why in the hell did they lose to the Raiders? Was it Gradkowski? Blast! I praise him once and he screws a perfectly-well-thought-out theory.

- I learned that the Patriots have more chinks in their armor than I thought. (They really are the Mitchells!)

- I learned that the Titans aren’t perfect, Chris Johnson won’t be right about their record, but they still have an outside shot of making the playoffs.

- I learned that my 49ers are NOT going to the playoffs this year. I can’t say I’m surprised, but my expectations have risen significantly.

- I learned that I was right not to trust the Cowboys after they just handed a win to the Giants

- And we all learned that Brett Favre is not invincible and that Kurt Warner still has it too. The question is: Who cracks first of old age?

What Else Did The General Learn This Weekend?

Well, I learned some things about Soccer. (Keep in mind that I’m a Soccer-lover, always have been.) They drew for the World Cup and the U.S. got a “favorable draw”, but the U.S. hasn’t done anything in the World Cup since they beat England in 1966. Yeah…1996. As a reference point, my parents got married in 1964…that’s how old that news is. The best part about that “pivotal win” in ’66 is that they didn’t beat England for the Cup…they just beat England. I might’ve been able to do that myself…have you seen their Armada lately?

So, the U.S. has to get by England, Algeria and Slovenia. I turn on the 4-letter network and see Alexi Lalas flapping his yap about this. Apparently, a retired English “footballer” as they call them over there said that it wasn’t a worry because they were just “playin’ the Yanks” and Alexi Lalas took offense to that. Listen up Lexi. First, you never did anything on the U.S. team…Except have red hair. The only reason you play in Italy was because you were a spectacle, AND you know no one feared you back then. Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and all those guys are way better than you could ever DREAM of being…so shut up! PLEASE…shut up…

Overall, the French got screwed because they screwed the Irish to get into the Tournament and Argentina got a nice draw as well. The only team we’re not talking about is Brazil because they’re probably going to win the whole thing anyways. There you go…Brazil wins on aggregate 52-2 ;o)

You know, they played Basketball this weekend too…

The Lakers cruised to their 9^th straight win and maintained the best record in the league. The “best record” would seem to be short-lived because they’ve played a couple less games than some other teams and there are teams with really good records (Denver, Cleveland, Boston, Phoenix, Dallas, Orlando, Atlanta, etc.) At some point there will be some separation amongst the true contenders and the teams that “could only hang for a minute”.

I imagine the teams that won’t be able to hang forever are Phoenix (I like Alvin Gentry, but I just don’t see it), Dallas (they’re STILL reeling from losing the ’06 Finals after being up 2-0), and Boston (they’re old…that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!) That leaves Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, and Denver and my Lakers.

Personally, I have no problem with seeing Denver and L.A. in the West Finals again and I’d LOVE to see Cleveland and Orlando do it again in the East Finals (find out if LeBron learned anything last year.)

I don’t hate LeBron, but I do think he’s the Buffalo Bills/Atlanta Braves of basketball. He’s going to get 1 title or none. He’s a great regular-season player and he could conceivably win the MVP from no until the cows come home, but that doesn’t make him a champ (it didn’t make Steve Nash or Kobe champs.) When Kobe gave the offense (for the most part) then the Lakers cruised to a championship. If Danny Ferry ever finds someone for LeBron to give the offense up to then I’ll believe. Right now…I just don’t see that happening. Danny Ferry looks like he’s Pete Babcock right now…never going to get fired and nobody knows why he’s still there. They need to pay off his contract (or move him higher in the front office), pat him on the back, tell him “good job” and find someone who will fill this team with GOOD role-players. If Danny Ferry has to be Tony Dungy (like, Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay setting things up for Jon Gruden) then fine…but they need to do SOMETHING, because Shaq (refuse his cute little nicknames) isn’t working. He’s slow, fat and out of shape…and he has a bad hip. (Did I mention he’s 37? “Warren Moon played at 40”…I know, but Warren Moon took fewer hits than Shaq, is shorter than Shaq, and never had a bad hip.) I rest my case.

AI comes back tonight as a starter for the Sixers against the Nuggets (a.k.a. – the team that didn’t use him effectively) and after he cried at his press conference I’m really starting to think this can only go one of two ways:

You know how when they show the freak on American Idol that is all like “If I can’t express myself through music or I’ll die” the whole time you’re thinking “This is either going to suck beyond sucking or be some of the best singing I’ve ever heard”? You know? Yeah, that’s AI for me right now. He’s going in the Hall on the first ballot either way, but after “sobgate” he’s either going to come out with automatic weapons in each hand and take out everybody in one spray or he’s going to be awful and they’ll do a retrospective on the 4-letter network about the “AI that was”. (You know the ones they do like he just died even though he’s healthy and in his 30’s?)

I’m hoping for an AI breakout party today, but I can’t expect anything because he’s on a bad Sixers team and he’s playing Nuggets and you never know what you’ll get from them.

What can I say…I’m a little out of sorts. Check out The Smorgasbord Part 2 and see if I can get myself back on track with my picks.

Peace.

Who WOULD win in a fight between the Saints and Colts? I don’t mean to discount other teams that are playing very well (namely the Bengals and the Vikings) but all indications would point to a New Orleans/Indy Super Bowl that will be played outside in sunny South Florida (on my birthday no less.) Just imagine the scene with Peyton Manning and Drew Brees taking turns slinging the ball all over the place. Each team running because it looks good to have balance but only running so they can just throw the ball more. Each team’s defense standing back in awe saying “How in the hell do we defend against this madness?” Each team’s coach stalking the sideline in stoic grandeur as his team racks up points and then their opponent racks up points and they just take turns until the 60 minutes are up and one team doesn’t have enough time to make one more drive to score yet again.

If I had to pick who’s going to the Super Bowl right now I’d have to pick the Saints and the Colts because I think that they can be there (and pretty easily) but then I got into a debate yesterday with a friend over who would win the game and why. We were actually in violent agreement…I mean, we were talking about the same thing (and we had a teenager there who agreed with us too) but we were all taking different perspectives of the same argument…the Colts would win.

My buddy’s take was that Peyton can just control the game. He can come to the line of scrimmage EVERY DOWN and audible something somewhere to somebody and confuse the hell out of the Saints defense.

The teenager’s take was that Drew Brees is great but he has no experience running through the playoffs like we all think he’ll be doing this year. Yeah, it sounds great to say he would just sweep into the Super Bowl and take it home, but he has no experience DOING that and that will be his Achilles heel.

My take is simple…when Peyton Manning throws the ball it looks like he’s throwing downhill. Literally downhill. It’s as if he’s 20 feet tall and he’s pitching the ball down to the little ants on the field. You see, when Drew Brees slings the ball all over the field it doesn’t take very long, but when Peyton does the exact same thing it can take forever. My buddy’s right. Peyton can control the tempo of a game in a way that no other Quarterback since Joe Montana can. I know both teams would score a lot of points and it would be a bloody match, but in the end I just don’t think that the Saints would have enough time to score enough points to keep up with the Colts.

Now, you could take my words and turn them around on me and say “Well, if the Saints don’t take that long to score then they’ll just zip down the field and score a lot, get one stop on defense and the game is over because the Colts will take too long to score.” Well, that’s a really good argument and you’ve just totally blown up my theory…except for this one thing:

If Peyton Manning can control the tempo of the game that means he can go faster if he needs to. He can take 8 minutes to go 88 yards on a scoring drive or he can take 45 seconds. Therein lies the difference. Drew Brees only knows how to do it one way. Peyton Manning can do it all ways and all at once if necessary. Right now…I’m taking the Colts on tempo alone…but the score would be something like:

IND – 56 NO – 48

There’s a Real Fight Around the Corner Too!

You know, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has agreed to fight Manny Pacquiao and I’m jazzed for this one. (Oh, I guess I should give you some background since I’ve never talking about Boxing here before.) I remember the old Tuesday Night Fights that featured smaller fighters (like Pacquiao and Mayweather) and this was on EVERY week. I remember when the Heavyweights were great and all, but everyone wanted to see Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns, and “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler more than they wanted to see the new breed of Heavyweights. I mean, even when Mike Tyson ascended to glory when he was but a wee tot the smaller weight classes didn’t suffer. Sugar Ray Leonard came out of retirement to fight Hagler and Hearns fought long past his prime, but everybody loved these guys and watched them constantly.

I have lamented to my Dad on NUMEROUS occasions the lack of good Boxing in the 90’s and 2000’s (the oughts…whatever) and everytime he says “Son, little fighters don’t sell anymore.” Now, you can argue for Ricky Hatton and Oscar de la Hoya and guys like that, but they weren’t transcendent. Not like Pacquiao.

I’ve heard some people talk about Roy Jones Jr. as one of the greatest pound for pound and I would agree, but he didn’t capture our attention. I mean, he also has a huge collection of Jordans, plays basketball, medaled at the Olympics, and fought in larger weight classes. He never captured our attention the way that guys like Leonard, Hearns and Hagler did. I wish he had, but he just didn’t. I can’t explain…I just know that’s the way it is.

Then comes along this Pacquiao guy. I remember thinking that Ricky Hatton (a salty Brit who is ALL “bruiser”. I mean, this guy walks around with scars from bar fights on him everyday, right?) was going to DESTROY a skinny little dude like Pacquiao. I mean, kill him like Drago did to Apollo Creed in “Rocky 4”. I mean, look at Manny Pacquiao and tell me that he looks like he’s a fighter anyways. He looks like Mark Anthony (only Filipino) and he SINGS TOO. THIS GUY CANNOT BE A PRIZE-FIGHTER! So, I went around all week before the Hatton/Pacquiao fight saying “This is Ricky Hatton’s day and Manny Pacquiao is going to die.” Then…

I watched the fight. Pacquiao looks like he’s jumping when he punches. No really, it’s like a video game. Remember “Double Dragon”? Remember how on that game all the kicks and punches shot your character forward on the screen and if you kept doing that you could push the bad guys off the screen? Yeah, that’s what Pacquiao does. He jumps forward when he punches and pushes you back to the ropes. I had no idea he was THAT powerful. Anyways, he beat the ever-loving mess out of Hatton and I was proven wrong. Then he fought Miguel Cotto and beat the hell out of him too. Now, we have this Mayweather/Pacquiao fight in the works and I love this conversation we have to have.

People all over the place are going to say that Mayweather is one of the best to ever do it and I would tend to agree, but how can you pick Mayweather to win a fight like this at 147 lbs. where Pacquiao is playing a video game and Mayweather is playing real life. This kind of disbelief in the power of Pacquiao has been proven to be unwise so many times that I don’t know how in the world you can say he will lose.

Listen, Mayweather’s going to flap his yap and he’s going to work like a dog to get ready for this thing, but at the end of the day he’s going to be sitting on the ropes right where Pacquiao put him with his “jump-punching” or jupunching if you like. I know they haven’t even really agreed on it yet, and Jerry Jones is trying to get the fight in Dallas, but this one need to go down at Caesar’s in Vegas like a fight of this magnitude should.

I even heard that each fighter might make $40 million of this thing. This could be the fight of the decade if it goes right…man I hope it does.

There’s Not Enough Fighting in the NFL…

Who would win in a fight between the Ravens and the Steelers? Both teams are 6-5, both teams are in kind of a funk (although Baltimore went a long way in getting out of theirs by coming back on the Steelers last week) but the Steelers were looking ok until they gave that game away against the Ravens. They’re going to have to do this all over again on Dec. 27^th and that may be the game that decides who gets a wildcard spot and who doesn’t. Yes, they’re still in contention with Jacksonville and Denver for the 2 wildcard slots in the AFC, but I really think that will be the deciding game in the AFC for one of the wildcard berths.

Who wins the fight? You want me to tell you? Well, given that the Steelers are having issues with Big Ben (he gets hurt a lot and now Dennis Dixon is filling in for him) and the Ravens have their team fairly well intact then I would have to pick the Ravens. Now, I did this last year for the AFC Title Game and the Ravens lost that one, but if I HAD to do it right now I’d take the Ravens just based on momentum and the current makeup of their team. (They’re using Haloti Ngata on power running sets on offense. For all that is holy!!! Tell me this isn’t true because if it is and the Ravens get in the playoffs and they meet the Colts this might be an issue for my whole Colts/Saints Super Bowl argument.)

I know I said earlier in the season that I thought it might be remotely possible for 3 teams from the same division (the AFC North) to make the playoffs and I guess it’s possible, but:

The Broncos are going to have to stall because they are currently at 7-4 and the Ravens and Steelers are currently at 6-5. I don’t know how that would all work since Denver gets to play K.C. and Oakland 3 out of their last 5 games (I mean, don’t those all sound like guaranteed wins?) Then again, the Ravens get to play Detroit, Chicago, and Oakland in 3 of their last 5 games and the Steelers get Oakland, Cleveland and Miami in 3 of their last 5. Don’t the Broncos sound like they have the easiest road to mess up my “3 teams from one division can make the playoffs” scenario? Yeah, they do. We also thought they were going 14-2 after they started so strong this season. Once again, that’s why I don’t bet on sports…

In the NFC it’s the Giants, Philly, Atlanta, Green Bay and San Francisco all doing a “Royal Cage Match” to decide who’s getting the two coveted wildcard spots. For me, it gets down to this. If the Falcons lose to the Eagles this weekend (which I don’t foresee, but I have been wrong…every now and then ;o) then the Falcons are done.

If the 49ers go on a tear and everyone else starts to falter they might have a chance (their chance would begin with the Falcons losing this Sunday to the Eagles.) Philly gets to play the 49ers and the Giants in their last 5 games so guess what Iggles fans? If you can win those two games you’re probably in…why? Because you’ll have the tiebreaker on the Giants PLUS the Packers have to play the Steelers AND the Ravens in their last 5 games. The Steelers and Ravens know there is a slim chance of both of them getting into the playoffs with Cincy ahead of them so they’re going to claw someone’s (the Packers) eyeballs out to get there. So, that means Green Bay is done…stick a fork in ‘em.

Who did that leave? My 49ers: Who I think can go on a tear and put themselves in the playoffs. They get Seattle, Detroit, St. Louis and a safe Iggles team in 4 of their last 5. Who’s the 5^th game? Against the Cardinals who they aren’t going to catch anyways…

So, there you have it. The General says:

The Steelers and Ravens take the wildcards in the AFC

And

The Iggles and 49ers take the wildcards in the NFC

Whew!!

Just one more thing…

You know Columbo would be asking himself “What if the Bama beats Florida and Texas loses to Nebraska on Saturday?”

You know what’s going to happen? Everything is going to be jacked to Jesus. Imagine the implications of a Texas loss and a Bama win. That means Cincinnati HAS to beat Pitt and then they have to pray like they’ve never prayed that the computers put them ahead of TCU in the final BCS standings. Both TCU and Cincinnati will have a case for why they should be in the Title Game. Those who like the current format will argue that the team with the tougher schedule should get in because they “played better competition” and those who hate this system will start screaming for a playoff so we can settle this thing.

Let’s say Cincinnati (on that day that would for SURE live in infamy) lost (like idiots) to Pitt. Then you have TCU (undefeated) and Bama (undefeated) playing in the National Title game.

Why have I not brought up the prospect of Florida winning the SEC Title Game? Well, it’s quite simple. If Florida wins the SEC Title all of this stuff would play out with Florida in Bama’s place. But…

If Bama wins and all of this other stuff happens who’s to say that the BCS wouldn’t just put Florida and Bama in the BCS Title Game and let them play ANOTHER rematch? Would you put that past the BCS? I wouldn’t. Not in a million years.

What’s more likely to happen? Texas wins and the winner of the SEC Title plays them in the BCS Title Game, but oh how I want this to get cosmically screwed up so badly. The image of sweaty college presidents pounding pack after pack of cigs trying to figure out where they went wrong is just too alluring for me to pass up.

Patheticism

Derek Jeter made MLB history, this week. He is the first NY Yankee to win Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year Award.

The NJ Nets have disgraced themselves down to an 0-18 record. The Nets head coach Kiki Vandeweghe had high hopes of shortening practice time for the team. Practice time is now standing at three hours and there are not any immediate plans to shorten it. The winless and disgraceful bunch of dejected and nearly rejected bunch of backless-ball players…. are too sorry to be called professionals. Let’s recruit some high school basketball players (girls and boys) to replace them. The kids would, at least, win ONE DAMNED GAME !