Sportsfrog.com

(I know that I can’t replace TB, but I can only hope to be exponentially better. Here’s what I hope is a comparable replacement for the normal NFL wrapup)

– The onside kick call is named “Ambush.” Who’s going to be the first person to say “don’t feel sorry for Hank Baskett, he’s married to a Playboy Playmate.”?

–I was kind of surprised that the Super Bowl record for completions was only 32. And of course, I thought for sure that Brees was going to break it, not tie it.

–We are on one hell of a run of Super Bowls lately, and of course, all good things must come to an end. Hopefully not, but it’s there.

–Oh, Tracy Porter was a ZERO star recruit coming out of high school.

–Peyton Manning now has a 9-9 record in the playoffs. I would have given someone 6-1 odds that we would have seen the Manning face last night.

–Even if Sean Payton really is as much of a dick as Mike Freeman of CBS Sports says he is, you have to love his willingness to not always make the traditional football decision when he thinks the odds are in his favor.

–Alright McLovin, I love you on Dan Patrick, but I gotta rip this one apart:

1. No, the Super Bowl did not need a certain quarterback not participating in the game. If the eight yard pass is too easy, then defenses need to commit to stopping the eight yard pass. Guess what? The long passes would be back with a vengeance when that happened. NFL defenses are conditioned to not give up the big play. That’s the whole basis of the Cover 2 scheme that Indy runs.

2. I really don’t know what the onside kick has to do with the Saints having the NFL’s best offense. It impacts the defense much much more, because you’re giving the one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history only 40 yards to score.

3. I can agree with this post much more than the previous two, but that Saints line isn’t shabby. Plus, as you mentioned earlier, Dwight Freeney was hurt.

4. The Saints need Reggie Bush and Reggie Bush needs the Saints. Pierre Thomas is a very good running back for New Orleans’ system, but Bush can break it every time he touches the football. He’s not going to make as much as he did with his rookie contract, so the Saints should re-sign him.

6. Mike Leach.

–Tom Morestead was “terrified.”

–Brett Favre has now ended his tenures–this of course assumes that he’s retiring or not playing for the Vikings next year–with the last three of his teams with interceptions.

–Favre was wearing jeans in his postgame presser while Sidney Rice came to the podium after Favre in a suit. I hope those were Wranglers Brett had on.

–On the Reggie Bush touchdown that was originally not ruled a touchdown, that wasn’t the first interesting playoff call for the head linesman who was right on top of the play. He’s the man who in the Seahawks-Steelers Super Bowl originally ran in to stop play after Ben Roethlisberger’s ever so close dive to the end zone, and then on the way to mark the ball, signaled touchdown. And most importantly, I see him at the gym a few times a week. I’ll have to ask about what he originally saw on the Bush play sometime…

–Can there be any argument that we’re not seeing the two best quarterbacks in football in the Super Bowl?

–In a NFL note unrelated to the conference championships, the NFL is looking into the possibility of mandatory heart scans. My first reaction is that all of the NFL’s medical attention should be devoted to head injuries, but if this may prevent a few players from dying too early, then it’s worth a shot if it can be worked out.

–This will be the first time in NFL history that two domed teams will meet in the Super Bowl.

–If the New York Jets can pick up another corner through the draft or free agency to complement Darrelle Revis, they’re going to be one of the favorites in the AFC next year. Peyton Manning and Tom Moore had a field day staying away from Revis’s side of the field. Of course that also assumes that the Thomas Jones will be able to sustain his current level of production or the Jets find a comparable replacement unless Leon Washington has no better offers and comes back to New York on a discount. Yes, Shonn Greene is obviously the Jets’ #1 back of the future, but given the current state of running the ball in the NFL and the Jets’ offense, they’re going to need a capable #2 back just as much as that #2 corner.

The Colts are responsible only to themselves. And if the powers-that-be in that organization think that protecting the key starters against injury is the best approach, then that is what they should do. People are hopping mad now, and Adam Schefter and Eric Kusilias on Mike and Mike this morning are leading that charge, but the Colts left that game healthy yesterday. And will be healthy when they play whomever they are going to play three weeks from now. The focus is Manning’s absence, which makes sense, but keeping Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne injury-free was perhaps nearly as important. Or Dwight Freeny for that matter. So, yeah, it blows something awful for teams that needed the Colts to give a full effort yesterday, but such are the vagaries of the end of the NFL schedule.

The NFL is begging for a repeat of that next Sunday night too. Shifting the Bengals/Jets game to prime time should only, if the Bengals are smart (which they often are not), make it extra simple to rest anyone of consequence. The game will be essentially meaningless to Cincinnati, and will be that way even if the Pats lose earlier in the day in Houston. And thanks to the prime time road game, the earliest that the team will be back in Cincinnati and in bed is around 4:00 am on Monday morning heading into a playoff week. So, yeah. Sit anyone and everyone. Treat it like a bye week. Get as healthy as possible for whatever team waits in the playoffs.

As for the talking heads this morning, the focus is where you would expect it to be:

—Don Banks at si.com with this thought among others in Snap Judgments:

And so it has come to this for the Denver Broncos. After 16 weeks of being in control of their own fate and playing almost an entire season with a lead of some sort to protect, they must now accept the hard, cold realization that the easier part of their ride is over. As the new year beckons and we stare down the final seven days of the NFL’s regular season, the Broncos, for the first time, need help. Their long-forgotten 6-0 start assures them nothing. Their weeks and weeks spent occupying one of the six slots in the AFC playoff field is meaningless.

You can now almost smell the desperation in Denver. The Broncos (8-7) have to win next week’s home finale against Kansas City (3-12) and hope the Jets (8-7) lose to the already-clinched Bengals in the final game at Giants Stadium or the Ravens (8-7) fall for the second week in a row, this time at Oakland, against the hated Raiders. The very Oakland that last week helped put Denver in this dire situation with a last-second upset at Invesco Field. Oh, the football fates can be cruel indeed.

Yes. I suppose the fates can be cruel. But so can self-inflicted wounds. More so, in fact. Denver had their foot on the throat of that game after having tied it, and had Philly pinned back deep with a 3rd and 25 late in the 4th quarter. Hold, take the punt with good field postion, and have a real good chance to win the game. Or, lose site of the aged Donovan McNabb and let him scramble for 27 yards and the first down. Flipped field position, and ultimately led to the Eagles win. Denver, even when 6-0, had a real thin margin for error, and it remains so as they come off a 2-7 run.

—Clark Judge at sportsline.com with Judgements and this note:

For the first time since taking over as the Giants’ full-time starter, Eli Manning will not make the playoffs — and, pardon me, but don’t blame it on him. The Giants defense had holes the size of the Delaware Water Gap, allowing 40 or more points four times this season, and if I’m Tom Coughlin the first move I make is hiring a new defensive coordinator. The Giants weren’t just bad on defense this season; they stunk. If John Fox doesn’t return as head coach of Carolina I know a club that could use him back coaching its defense.

Or something. And while we’re here, what the fuck, Carolina? Where was that back in the first half of the season? Was it as simple as finally getting Jake Delhomme out of the game? If so, shame on John Fox.

—John Clayton with Last Call at espn.com and this:

Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth summed up a weird AFC Sunday in which teams fighting for playoff spots didn’t play like playoff teams. “Missed opportunities is the moral of this story,” Foxworth said after Baltimore’s loss to the Steelers. The recurring theme for the Ravens was penalties. Remember the three defensive penalties that allowed the Bengals to orchestrate a game-winning touchdown drive in Baltimore earlier this season? Sunday’s mistakes were worse. The Ravens had 11 penalties for 113 yards, compared to four for 20 charged to the Steelers. Less than six minutes after a Foxworth interception return for a touchdown was called back because of linebacker Terrell Suggs’ illegal block, the Ravens had a 15-yard touchdown run by Willis McGahee called back because of a Kelley Washington holding penalty. If that wasn’t bad enough, Derrick Mason dropped a sure touchdown pass in the end zone, and the Ravens had back-to-back penalties early in the fourth quarter — including a stupid personal foul by tackle Oniel Cousins — that pushed Baltimore out of field-goal range with the score tied at 20.

And yet, after the game, the usual bullshit from John Harbaugh about how the Ravens fight and no one can question their intesity. Well shit, coach, people are getting a little tired of that strawman. NO ONE questions Baltimore’s intensity. Ever. They DO question their discipline. And that leads back to you and your coaching staff. The next time that Harbaugh meaningfully addresses the criticism actually being made will be the first time.

As for the rest of my thoughts, ntyc, read on:

—The Bengals have wrung just about everything they could have out of that team, and if they can win one more in the playoffs, it will have been a ridiculously successful year relative to expectations. Hell, it already is. But the injuries they have sustained (particularly on defense) make any more than that a pipe dream. The latest was losing rookie Rey Maulaluga to a broken ankle on a dirty block early in the game yesterday. Still, no complaints about where this year has gone from this Bengals fan. A fun and completely unexpected ride.

—The Seahawks focus for the draft should be simple. Find a quarterback and draft him. At the least, do that.

—Eric Mangini has the Browns playing hard, no easy trick with a team as overmatched talent-wise as Cleveland is. I still assume Mike Holmgren will let him go, but perhaps Mangini has saved a tiny bit of his reptuation in the last month. A smidge.

—If Carolina does not move heaven and earth to get Bill Cowher to their sideline, it redefines stupid. That team has talent and would immediately benefit from marrying what it does well with Cowher’s intensity and focus.

—If the Bears get rolled tonight, can Lovie Smith hold his job? I don’t think so. And I think they get rolled. Give me Minnesota 23 Chicago 7.

Yeah Peyton, I can understand why you look like that right now. In fact, I’d probably be making a face like that too.

By now, you all know that the Colts’ perfect regular season is over, and they did it–in large part–because they benched Manning, among others.

And by now, you all know that the Colts have made it a habit of doing this when there’s nothing really on the line late in the seaon.

And yes, by know you all know that the Colts didn’t rest any starters when they won the Super Bowl.

While their decision to worry about injuries rather than a perfect season against a team fighting for their playoff lives is puzzling, there’s also a precedent. In the last game of the 2007 regular season, the Titans traveled to Indianapolis needing a win to make the playoffs, while the Colts entered the game 12-3 with the #2 seed in hand. (And you all know that 2007 was the year that the Patriots were undefeated)

That game, Manning and the starters played a half, and the only Colts TD of the game wasn’t from Manning to Wayne, but rather Jim Sorgi to Crap Thorpe.

The Titans won 16-10, and made the playoffs over the Cleveland Browns.

But a precedent doesn’t make it right.

On general principle, I’ve got no problem with a team resting players to get ready for the playoffs, especially if it’s against a team that’s not in the playoff hunt. (Yes, I realize that it’s probably hypocritical as a game against a lesser opponent could affect draft position. But playoffs > draft position)

When it affects the playoffs for more than themselves is when it gets dicey. We all know that the Jets’ odds of winning that game today are very small if Manning stays in the game. Instead, they’re 8-7 and potentially a win away from the playoffs because they played the Colts when the Colts apparently didn’t care anymore.

With 9:16 left in the fourth quarter at Arrowhead, the Chargers had just failed on a fourth and two attempt at the Chiefs 39 yard line. They were down two scores and were about to give the ball back to Kansas City. A loss meant the official elimination from the playoffs, but really, their hopes were pretty dim. After the Broncos had beaten the Chiefs the week before, all Denver needed was one more win in their final three games to clinch the AFC West.

Essentially, the Chargers were being left for dead. Up until that point, Philip Rivers – the only consistent offensive weapon for the Chargers this season – had under 200 yards passing, no touchdowns, one interception and a lost fumble.

As we know, San Diego got the ball back on their own 11 yard line with 4:55 left and lumbered 89 yards in 15 plays against a prevent defense to score six points. They recovered the onside kick with 1:11 left and on that ensuing first play from scrimmage – made the playoffs. It was a 42 yard laser from Rivers to Vincent Jackson. And it just seemed to turn everything around.
Read the rest of this entry »