What a great day to Protect the Shield. It's a beautiful late Fall day here in central Ohio, December has begun, Christmas is coming closer... and the NFL is getting into home stretch mode. Oh, and there was that game last night to talk about. We're one week closer to the playoffs, so let's check out the big stories from Week 12. Away we go...
Overrated Story of The Week: Ward, Roethlisberger, Concussions, and the Real Story
So, Hines Ward "called out" Ben Roethlisberger for sitting out Sunday night in the Steelers' OT loss to the Ravens. Dennis Dixon did very well in his first NFL start, but threw a crucial INT in overtime that led to the Baltimore GW FG. But, the biggest news was certainly Ward's interview with Bob Costas that aired during the broadcast. A lot of folks tried to make this into a controversy that Ward was questioning Big Ben's toughness, taking an in-house matter public, yada yada yada. Taking it in context, I don't think there is any controversy here. The Steelers are perhaps the most professional team in sports, Ward was just surprised that Roethlisberger would sit after practicing and let it show in an interview. End of story.
But, the quote from the Ward interview which is striking and needs to be payed attention to is this:
"And then to find out that he's still having some headaches and not playing and it came down to the doctors didn't feel that they were going to clear him or not – it's hard to say. Unless you're the person... I've lied to a couple of doctors saying I'm straight, I feel good when I know that I'm not really straight."
With all of the talk of concussions recently, this is an alarming quote. Fans aren't stupid, we know players and coaches either flat-out lie or tell half-truths to doctors to play hurt, or with head injuries. This is the culture of the NFL that needs changed. Players shouldn't be able to lie about something as serious as a concussion or head injury and play when severe damage can be done. These players see themselves as gladiators, they want to play hurt, their toughness should be admired... but the league has to take the steps to take the decision out of their hands. Make any concussion/head injury a mandatory week off and do something quickly before tragedy strikes.
Underrated Story Of The Week: The Best Regular Season Drive of All-Time?
-Your team is down by 4 points, you need a TD to win the game. You have 2:37 to win the game and you need to drive 99 yards. Sounds like an insurmountable task, right? Not for Vince Young 2.0. The stats of the drive: 18 plays, 99 yards, 3 4th down conversions. Young was 9/16 for 94 yards on the drive including a game-winning 10 yard TD pass as time expired. Of course, it'd be ludicrous to put this up there with THE Drive and other classics, this is a regular season game after all. But, if we look at it from a pure football standpoint, this could be the greatest drive of all-time. Think about it, 99 yards in 18 plays and only 2 and 1/2 minutes, needing a TD to win the game, converting 3 4th downs along the way including a last second win. That drive didn't just keep the Titans' miraculous playoff hopes alive, it was a legendary march down the field. Only more proof that VY could be leading a Titans comeback, and a miraculous comeback of his own. If you've got a single regular-season drive that's any better, come talk to me...
3 Stars:
3rd Star: Mike McKenzie (CB-Saints)
-3 tackles, 3 passes defended, and 1 INT for a man who was sitting at home watching football a week ago. McKenzie's comeback to the Saints after blowing out his knee twice and looking like an ex-NFL cornerback is one of the stories of the week. He played great all night long, and considering it was pressed into action against Randy Moss, his performance is all the more stunning.
2nd Star: Vince Young (QB-Titans)
- He has brought an 0-6 team to 5-6 and in the playoff hunt. But, more importantly, he may have finally established himself as an NFL starting QB. Vince threw for 387 yards on 27/43 passing and 1 TD. What's funny about the whole Young saga is that everyone seems to be rooting for the guy. We're hip and trendy here at RSS, and on Sunday I noticed VY was a Twitter trending topic. (That means a crapton of ppl were tweeting about him) The majority though weren't Titans fans, just people glad to see Vince Young turn his game and his life around.
1st Star: Drew Brees (QB-Saints)
-Just look at the facts from a Monday Night classic: 18/23 371 yards 5 TDs, the third perfect QB rating in the history of MNF. The 2nd man to throw for 350 yds, 5 TDs, and 75% completion in one game (Brady being the other). Team records 9.6 yards per play and 16.1 yards per pass attempt. The first man to throw 3 TDs in a quarter against a Bill Belichick D. Brees was unbelievable last night. Matt Millen said it right after the game, save the tape of last night as quarterbacking at its absolute finest.
Fab 5:
1. Indy
1. New Orleans
3. Minny
4. San Diego
5. Cincy
-A thought about our rankings: The tie at the top remains. Hopefully someone important was reading PTS last week, because Indy and NO are finally getting the respect they deserve. This is the first time that 2 teams have ever started 11-0 in the same season, and only now are folks taking notice to just how good these two teams actually are. The rest of the rankings remain the same after an otherwise unimpactful week.
11 Random Observations:
1) Vince Young's comeback is an amazing story... but Chris Johnson is just as fascinating. He is the first man to have 3 80+ yard TD runs in one year, and 2,000 yards is within striking distance. Can anyone say MVP? CJ also set the record for the most rushing yards ever in the month of November in one season. Someone stop me, I'm starting to sound like Jayson Stark, enough with these stats!
2) Completely lost in the ARZ/TEN game is the ballad of Matt Leinart. Overshadowed and outdueled by Young again, he'll go back to the bench when Kurt Warner is healthy. Young has shown he has what it takes to fight adversity, but does the former Heisman winner? The jury is definitely out on Leinart.
3) The Bears D is putred. The O-Line is putred. The WR's are putred. Their QB is doing all that he can to win games. But, Jay Cutler is not the type of QB that can succeed when his running game produces 43 yards and the D gives up 537. I feel like Cutler is going to run crying out of the stadium the next time he throws an INT.
4) Bigger love fest: Urban Meyer & Tim Tebow, or Buck/Aikman & Favre? It's very close. Meyer/Tebow by a nose. This is an actual quote from Aikman during the game, "I hate to give Brett Favre credit for everything, but..." I forget whether he was talking about utilizing AP in the passing game, or Favre's effort to bring world peace, stop global hunger, and end global warming.
5) By the way, who exactly has Minnesota beaten? The talk was that New Orleans had to prove themselves, but it's actually the Vikings. Take a look at their wins: Cle, Det, SF, GB, St. L, Bal, GB, Det, Sea, Chi... where is there statement win? Baltimore when they lucked out on a missed FG? Green Bay? Detroit? Cleveland? Help me out...
6) Did any intelligent NFL fan actually think the Texans would hold on and beat the Colts, even though they had a 17-0 lead? I didn't think so. Houston needs to blow it up, because that team will never be able to win an important game as it is currently composed. Maybe they should rename it Choke City instead of Clutch City.
7) We told you not to get worked up about the great Quinn & Stafford after their shootout last week. They responded by throwing a combined 35/77 for 313 yards and 4 picks in two ugly losses. If I can be right on one thing every week, that's not so bad!
8) Quietly, the Redskins are playing much, much better. Of course, Jim Zorn is still as good as gone at the end of the year.
9) The best win on Sunday? The Falcons being able to beat a divisional opponent without Matt Ryan at QB. That was a must-win game to stay in Wild Card contention.
10) The worst loss on Sunday? Jacksonville throwing 3 points on the board in a bad loss at SF. Another example of a team that might just be good enough to finish 8-8.
11) Frankly, I wouldn't shed a tear if Detroit and Dallas didn't host Thanksgiving games next year. Please commish, give us some games that are actually worth watching on Turkey Day. Not the crappy Lions, and the crappier Raiders. Get it done Don Goodell.
What Happened In Week 12 That Will Change The Season: The Saints' Statement Game
-You didn't think that I would miss this chance of a lifetime did you? Regular readers will know that I am a die-hard Saints fan and last night was amazing. As a 20 year Saints fan, this was the most important regular season game of my lifetime. I was pacing around the homestead before the game even started, but it was a great ride to watch such an awesome all-around performance in a huge game. Even though I get annoyed with pundits who say that a 10-0 team needed to "prove" something, the Saints played like they had a lot to show the NFL and the country last night.
And, it wasn't just that they won, but how they won. Heck, they made the Hoodie wave the white flag and send out Bryan Hoyer in the 4th Quarter! The makeshift secondary was outstanding, they pressured Brady, they were able to run the ball, and Brees outplayed Brady in every way. Also, Sean Payton called an outstanding game (minus another silly replay challenge). There was an urgency to their play that wasn't seen in the last month. This was the game that everyone in the Saints organization pointed to to make a resounding statement that they are now an elite NFL franchise. The only way to really do that though will be to go all the way this year and consistently contend in the future. But, the journey to greatness had to start somewhere, and it did last night.
Check back for the continuation of the Top 10 Games of the Decade Countdown! Bye for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment