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Tuesday Morning Overreactions

With apologies to all those annoying songs and carols, I must disagree with Christmas being referred to as "the most wonderful time of the year." The most wonderful time of the year begins on Week 17 and lasts for 5 or 6 weeks, all the way through to the advertising extravaganza, Roman numeral fest known as the Super Bowl. Now why would I include Week 17 in with the playoffs? Simply because of the great action that you get during the final week of the season. For many teams it is an extension of the playoffs, win and continue, lose and go home. For others they have to win, and hope for help, so fans of those teams invariably get tied up in watching a game between two teams they normally don't care all that much about.

Granted there are also lots of teams who have nothing left to play for, having either been eliminated, or having clinched everything they can. But the 2003 Arizona Cardinals had the fun of playing spoiler to a team who must win to make the playoffs. It is also this let's not get hurt attitude by some of the better teams, that allows fans of not so good teams to enjoy a possible victory they normally wouldn't get.

Once the final gun sounds in week 17 the playoffs then begin. 12 Teams. Each in a single elimination tournament to decide who will be the best in the League. Once a team makes it into the playoffs, the rest of the year is wiped clean. It doesn't matter if you were 8-8, or 15-1. A victory moves you on, a loss sends you home. Everyone starts out 0-0, and the winner is the team that goes undefeated. The hits get harder, the intensity is taken up 3 new levels, the joys are greater, and the disappointment is more disheartening. A mistake means more than it used to, but so does a great play. The playoffs are why we have the regular season. It's why the games are played.

I missed the playoffs, Someone needs to fix the system.

Inevitably every year one team misses out on making the playoffs by a single game. Every year the owner of said team complains about a broken system and lobbies for it to be changed. In 2002 after his 8-8 Chiefs were left out of the playoffs by a single game, their owner lobbied in the offseason to have the playoff field expanded. Wisely, the competition committee understood this to be a stupid idea, and left the field as is.

This season the big gripe is that a 9-7 team in the AFC, 3 of them actually (Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Baltimore), have missed the playoffs while in the NFC an 8-8 team, 2 of them actually (St. Louis, and Minnesota) have made the playoffs. So of course many people are proclaiming the system to be broken, or that a great injustice has been done. Methinks that all the whiners need to clam up. Though it is not a good thing to have mediocre 8-8 teams in the playoffs, this is nowhere near as bad an injustice as what happened last year.

Last season the Miami Dolphins achieved a record of 10-6, but they failed to make the playoffs because the Baltimore Ravens won their division, despite having a worse record at 9-7. So unlike this year where a better team sits home because of a lesser team in a different conference, the Dolphins sat home for a lesser team in their own conference. While this is a greater injustice than what is happening this year, neither one of them are truly great disasters. Baltimore got in because they won their division. Miami did not win their division. It would be truly catastrophic for a team who won their division to not make the playoffs.

This year St. Louis and Minnesota were the 5^th and 6^th best teams in their conference, while Baltimore, Jacksonville, and Buffalo were the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th best teams in theirs. Though this does speak poorly of the NFC, the NFL rules clearly state that the top 6 teams from each conference make the playoffs. If Baltimore, Jacksonville, and Buffalo, are truly upset over not making the playoffs, they need not look at the Rams or Vikings, they simply need to look at themselves for not getting the job done and winning enough games to qualify in their own conference. Especially Buffalo, who was leading the Steelers entering the 4^th quarter. The Steelers started the game with many starters in street clothes as they weren't playing. As the 4^th quarter began the Steelers inserted what amounted to 3^rd and 4^th stringers to finish the game against Buffalo's starters. The end result was a 4^th Quarter comeback as the Steelers won the game.

Besides in the cyclical nature of the NFL in 3 or 4 years a better NFC team will miss the playoffs while a lesser AFC team qualifies.

Dishonoring the memory of Reggie White

On the 26^th of December former NFL DL, and future hall of famer Reggie White died due to a heart attack. The next day and on Monday, CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN all did tributes to Reggie during their pre-game show. However in their hurry to honor the man, they all decided to gloss over a 1998 incident. In 1998 Reggie White, who was a deeply religious man, made comments denouncing homesexuality as a sin, and traded in ethnic stereotypes during a speech at Wisconsin State Assembly.

The networks never once made mention of the incident, instead offerring glossed over, idealized saintly views of a man in a violent sport who reached out to those he sacked, and to others.

Reggie later in his life apologized for the ehtnic stereotypes and referred to the speech as one of his greatest mistakes. Now the mistakes did not make Reggie an evil person, nor does it change all the things that he did both on the field, and off of it in his communities. Reggie White was a charitable, god fearing man.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to point out the good things from Reggie's life. If, though, they are going to talk about his life, they need to talk about all of it. The speech can be mentioned without shaming the man. However, for the networks to ignore parts of the man's life that do not agree with the saintly vision they wanted to make him out to be, is a dishonor to that man.

Who cares about the Touchdowns..

During week 16 Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning threw two TD passes that helped him break Dan Marino's 20 year old single season TD record. Manning ended the game, and eventually the season, with 49 TD's, compared to a meager 48 for Dan Marino in 1984. That record though is trivial compared to the record Manning finished breaking in week 17.

On 3^rd and 12 Peyton Manning passed to the right side and completed a pass to WR Marvin Harrison. The play was stopped short of the first down, and Manning didn't play the rest of the game. It gave Manning a season worst QB rating of 56.3 for the game. Thus Manning finished the season with an astonishing 121.1 QB rating for the entire season. Not only was this a new record but it smashed the previous record of 112.8 held by Steve Young for the 1994 season.

Manning's final numbers for the season were 336/497 (67.6%) 4557 yards, 49 TD's, 10 Int's, and a rating of 121.1. Undoubtedly this was the greatest regular season by a QB in NFL history. Manning however is unsatisfied as he would rather have his post season in the way Young's record season did, with a Super Bowl win, as opposed to Dan Marino's record 1984 season, Marino's Dolphins lost in the Super Bowl.

Manning most likely will win his second MVP this season, first outright. Last season he managed to shed the, has never won a post season game, monkey that was on his back. Now though, he is starting to have the "Dan Marino" never won the big one monkey placed firmly there instead.

Does baby need a bottle?

Can you name the rushing champs of the last 5 years in the NFL without looking them up? Many people can't. This year's rushing champ is Curtis Martin with 1,697 yards. Right behind him is Shaun Alexander with 1,696 yards. Martin played an early game so Alexander knew exactly how many yards he would have needed to surpass him. Entering Sunday's game the Seahawks had already clinched a playoff berth, but needed a win to win the division and secure a home game in the playoffs. A couple weeks ago Shaun Alexander fumbled in a goal line dive after the Jets had stacked the line to stop him. The Seahawks had the ball on the Atlanta 1 yard line. There were over 4 and a half minutes left in the game. Holmgren, apparently thinking Atlanta, who has a top 10 rushing defense, would stack the line expecting a hand off to Alexander called for a QB sneak. QB Matt Hasselbeck took the handoff and was able to score a TD that turned out to be the gamewinner. With 4 and a half minutes left in the game there was still plenty of time for the Defense to stop Atlanta and get the ball back for Alexander to get his yard to tie Martin.

Instead Seattle's Defense allowed Atlanta to use up the entire clock and they scored a TD with no time left on the clock. Thanks to Seattle stopping Atlanta's two point conversion and avoiding overtime Alexander never got another carry with the ball.

Alexander responded to this by saying he was "stabbed in the back." That he was betrayed. Saying that the ball should have been given to him and not to Hasselbeck. The play still ended up in a TD, and the Seahawks still won the game, but apparently Shaun believes that he is more important than the game. Yet still I ask does anyone remember who the previous 5 rushing champions are? Will anyone remember next year that Curtis Martin won it this year? So to Shaun Alexander I say shut up and go suck on your bottle in the corner like a good baby.

Shaun Alexander wasn't the only player who felt he was above his team, or the game this past week. In the Minnesota/Washington game, Minnesota scored to make it 21-18 with 2 second left in the game. The Vikings lined up for a miracle onside kick. Granted the chances of the Vikings being able to score were very very slim, but the interesting thing about the shape of a football is it sometimes causes weird bounces. A Viking could have recovered the onside kick and then started the Cal Band multiple latteral play. Or their could have been a penalty that extended the quarter for one play. Who knows, but that's why they play till the clock reads all zeroes.

Also keep in mind that if Minnesota lost the game, they would no longer control their own destiny and would require help in order to make the playoffs. Rather than go out for the play though, star head case WR Randy Moss walked off the field while the rest of his team went out to try and make something happen. In essence he quit on his teammates. This is not the first time Moss has been a head case, as he has a history of such behavior. Randy Moss thinks that he is bigger than his team or the game. It doesn't help when the team refuses to discipline Moss for such actions. Methinks, however, that Moss should take his bottle and go sit next to Mr. Alexander.

Still Chuggin' Along

Quick! name the NFL's 4^th leading rusher in history. 1^st is Emmitt Smith, 2^nd is Walter Payton, and 3^rd is Barry Sanders, but can you name the 4^th. Here's a hint: Earlier this year I referred to him as a "super RB you never hear about." This past Sunday he passed the refurbished Bus, Jerome Bettis, to become the 4^th leading rusher in NFL history. It's Jets' RB Curtis Martin.

Going into this season Martin was 11^th in NFL history, but thanks to a league leading 1,697 yards, which also made him the only RB in NFL history passed the age of 30 to win the rushing crown, Martin passed 7 guys to land in the #4 spot. Curtis Martin is no longer just a "super RB you never hear about", he is now the Greatest RB nobody knows about!

Sideshow's Playoff Preview

Now the tournament begins with some interesting matchups. In 2003 the Denver Donkeys (Due to a hatred of the Denver Franchise they will always be referred to as Donkeys) went into Indianapolis during week 16 and rolled the Colts by a score of 31-17. 2 Weeks later the same two teams met. Again the matchup was in Indianapolis, and again it was a bit of a blowout. This time however it was the Colts who were blowing out the Donkeys 41-10. Fast forward one year. Week 17 of the 2004 season. The Donkeys and the Colts are once again squaring off, this time in Denver though, and once again the Donkeys manage to roll over the Colts 33-14. Once again in the first round of the playoffs these two teams will meet up for their 4^th matchup in a rolling year. I suspect similar results to last year's playoff matchup.

The other AFC game matches up the Jets who started out the seaon 5-0, before finishing the season 10-6, meet up with this year's front runner for the Cinderella Team award, the San Diego Chargers. The Jets have stumbled down the stretch and was taken to overtime in their last game of the year. A quick turnaround to a Saturday game will benefit the Chargers who should easily move on.

The other conference features a pair of divisional rematches. Both the rematches features a chance for one team to get a rare 3 games in a year sweep. Twice this year the Packers and Vikings met only to have the game decided by a Ryan Longwell field goal. The score in both games? 34-31. Vikings once again started the season hot before collapsing and backing into the playoffs. Methinks they will go ahead and back right out of the playoffs.

Meanwhile no team this year has been haunted by a single opponent more than the Seahawks have been haunted by the Rams. The Seahawks entered the season as a favorite of many bobble-heads to go to the Super Bowl. They started out 3-0 and looked well on their way to 4-0 leading the Rams by 17 points with 6 minutes to go in the 4^th quarter of their week 5 matchup.

The Rams came back and won that game in overtime, and easily handled the Seahawks 5 weeks later. The loss began a slide that lasted the entire season for the Seahawks. Now once again they get a chance to prove they have earned the NFC West crown, and try to take the torch from the Rams. Once again methinks they will fail.

Sideshow's Final Top 14

Here is the final ranking of the Top 14 teams in the entire NFL. From here on out I will only rank playoff teams. The first ranking of playoff teams will be later in this article. Due to the holidays the last week referred to in the rankings are from 12-21-04.

Rank (LW)	Team	Record	Last Week's Result	Comments
1 (1)	Pittsburgh	15-1	Won 29-24 vs. Buf	Steelers 14 consecutive single season victories ties 72 Dolphins. Steelers hope their streak makes it to 17 total games.
2 (2)	New England	14-2	Won 21-7 vs. S.F.	Patriots finish this year with same regular season record as last year.
3 (3)	Indianapolis	12-4	Lost 33-14 vs. Den	Playing scrubs entire game basically means Indy chose their playoff opponent.
4 (4)	San Diego	12-4	Won 24-17 vs. K.C.	Rookie Philip Rivers even got to throw a TD pass versus K.C.
5 (6)	Atlanta	11-5	Lost 28-26 vs. Sea	Even though they had nothing to play for, losing last two games might mess up momentum
6 (5)	Philadelphia	13-1	Lost 38-10 vs. Cin	Should have worried more about establishing offensive rythym without T.O. the last two weeks.
7 (9)	Green Bay	10-6	Won 31-14 vs. Chi	Avenged week 2 loss by thumping rivals to prepare for playoffs.
8 (8)	Buffalo	9-7	Lost 29-24 vs. Pit	Hottest team in second half of the season but unable to finish job against Pittsburgh Scrubs.
9 (7)	N.Y. Jets	10-6	Lost 32-29 vs. StL	Lost game despite having +3 Turnover margin, better rushing yards, 1 Special Teams TD, and 1 Defensive TD.
10 (NR)	New Orleans	8-8	Won 21-18 vs. Car	4-0 in last 4 games, but even in winning they manage to get eliminated from playoffs.
11 (14)	Denver	10-6	Won 33-14 vs. Ind	Denver's victory over Indy second team secures them a playoff rematch.
12 (tie)	Seattle	9-7	Won 28-26 vs. Atl	Seattle's win got them the division...
12 (tie)	St. Louis	8-8	Won 32-29 vs. N.Y. Jets	... but St. Louis' haunting of the team makes them even.
14 (11)	Minnesota	8-8	Lost 21-18 vs. Was	Self proclaimed Coach Collapse Mike Tice watched a very close repeat to 2003's season end.

Sideshow's Playoff Ranking

Here is my ranking of the teams that are in the Playoff and where I would rank their chances to advance all the way.

Rank	Team	Record	First Round Matchup	Comment
1	Pittsburgh	15-1	Bye	Home Field Advantage means all teams must come through them, but Rookie QB, could be problem in playoffs.
2	New England	14-2	Bye	Bill Belichek has got to be most feared coach in playoff field.
3	Indianapolis	12-4	vs. Denver	Probably would have to go to both Pittsburgh and New England, but a Second round victory over New England could possibly propel them all the way
4	Atlanta	11-5	Bye	Lack of downfield passing game could be big problem for Falcons. Mike Vick could be big problem for everyone else.
5	Green Bay	10-6	vs. Minnesota	Brett Favre's been there before, and would like another ring to solidify status with all time greats
6	San Diego	12-4	vs. N.Y. Jets	Definitely better than all NFC teams, but they are coached by Marty Chokenheimer, whose teams always seem to falter in the playoffs.
7	Philadelphia	13-3	Bye	By time of first playoff game will not have played meaningful game in 4 weeks. Will not have played well in 6 weeks.
8	St. Louis	8-8	@ Seattle	High powered offense still scares many teams. Leaky hole defense, and quizical coach still scars themselves.
9	N.Y. Jets	10-6	@ San Diego	Stumbling through second half of season leaves team with big questions.
10	Denver	10-6	@ Indianapolis	Can the real Jake Plummer avoid showing up for the next 4 games?
11	Seattle	9-7	vs. St. Louis	Win against Rams would lay demons to rest, but there seems to be dissension in Seahawks locker room
12	Minnesota	8-8	vs. Green Bay	Once the season passes the 8^th week this team seems to give up. Expect more of the same.

The Cellar Watch

Well the final 3 teams have been figured, and the draft picks assigned. As predicted earlier in the year the Niners end up with the #1 overall pick, followed by Miami than Cleveland. But here's how I rank the bottom 3 teams.

Rank (LW)	Team	Record	Last Week's Results	Comment
30 (30)	Miami	4-12	Lost 23-30 vs. Bal	Only team not to have a 100 yard rusher during a game big reason for poor record.
31 (31)	Cleveland	4-12	Won 22-14 vs. Hou	Finally won a game for interim coach Terry Robiskie
32 (32)	San Francisco	2-14	Lost 21-7 vs. N.E.	Niners petitioning league for more games against Cardinals in 2005.