Monday, November 29, 2010

11/29: Football Wrap!

Greetings... Briefly hitting the key football games from Saturday and Sunday... NFL First...

  • Falcons 20, Packers 17 - Huge win for the Birds... 17 points allowed is big (against a bad matchup for them), and Matt Ryan continues to make plays late in games, especially at home... and they did it all without a very good performance from their best player (Roddy White)... what does it mean? Not a whole lot other than confirming suspicions that this team can play with anyone, and that they aren't going away... had to match pace with New Orleans, and they've done that... 9-2...
  • Steelers 19, Bills 16 (OT) - Brutal for the Bills... Steve Johnson drops a TD pass that would've won it, and Pittsburgh finishes them off... that being said, Buffalo is clearly out of the running for the "worst team" montra (Carolina in a landslide) and they are playing well...
  • NY Giants 24, Jags 20 - Key game here (somehow) for playoff positioning... Giants get to 7-4 behind a late rally, and are now tied with Philly (we'll get there in a second)... I'm not scared of the Giants at all to begin with, and now without Nicks and Smith, I'm not sure how they are winning... For the Jags? Nobody thinks they are a playoff team... and this is a game they needed to win to be one...
  • Texans 20, Titans 0 - I recap this game for 2 reasons... 1) The Johnson/Finnegan fight was epic... best slapfight turned brawl since David Boston and Charles Woodson... even if Andre is getting suspended (he has to right?)... and 2) To put the Titans to bed... Rusty Smith... Rusty Smith... Rusty Smith....

  • Chiefs 42, Seahawks 24 - This one surprised me... Seattle is always good at home, but KC took it to them... Dwayne Bowe is a monster isn't he? 3 more TDs and 170 yards... the Chiefs did whatever they wanted offensively... and the NFC West is a jumbled mess (5-6 leads now)...

  • Bears 31, Eagles 26 - I give up... the Bears keep winning and I'll quit fighting it... in fairness, I was openly rooting for the Bears as a Falcons fan because well, I'm terrified of the Eagles in the playoffs, but Cutler was good (dare I say, efficient), and that defense is legit... Vick didn't play badly (333 and 2 tds) but that's also an indication of the game... no team with Vick wants him just bombing away...

  • Ravens 17, Bucs 10 - Ravens are 5-0... 8-3 overall... and this was a "ho-hum" Ravens game.... grind, grind, grind, and make enough plays late... a key to Baltimore for me? Todd Heap being alive and well this year... we forget how good he was early in his career, and he's healthy for the first time since then... for TB, they haven't beaten a team with a winning record this year... and it's tough to expect the youngest team in the league to go on the road and win here...

  • Chargers 36, Colts 14 - What a weird game... Manning throws 4 INTs (2 for TDs)... The Chargers score 36 points without Rivers (the leading QB in the league this year) throwing a single TD pass... the return of the Peyton Manning face... and the Chargers (again!) showing everyone how filthy they are in November and December... Does anyone think the Chargers (who don't lead the division right now) aren't winning the AFC West? Anyone?....

College...

  • Arkansas 31, LSU 23 - Les Miles alert! Arkansas hit a cross-field bomb TD at the end of the half (LSU somehow letting a guy get behind them, lol)... Les burned a timeout on defense when he was down late in the 4th (naaa we don't need that timeout), and was generally Les-like throughout... it's funny because of how much talent LSU has... but on the other hand, I genuinely dislike Bobby Petrino (and Ryan Mallett, too) so this was kinda tough to see...

  • Oklahoma 47, OK State 41 - The Cowboys just can't seem to win one of these... playing at home as the favorite doesn't work for them either, as Landry Jones (despite 3 INTs) leads OU to a 47 point explosion including scoring at will for the entire 4th quarter... OU/Nebraska in an old-school Big 12 title game matchup... that's nice...

  • The Big 10 title is decided... Wisconsin wins it on the BCS tiebreaker, but it finishes in a 3-way tie after the Badgers dominated (70-23) Northwestern, Mich. State hung on against Penn State, and Ohio State... yeah... Congrats to the Badgers, who I think are the best 1-loss team in the country....

THE PICKS WRAP! (35-30-2 entering)

  • Texas +3... Loss

  • Nevada +14.5... Win (Outright even!)

  • Michigan +17... sigh, loss

  • Northwestern +23... Whoops

  • Arizona +19.5... Win!

  • Pats -6.... Win!

  • Eagles -3... Loss!

  • Niners -1... Pending!
38-34-2 pending the Niners game...


And this gets its own section...

Ohio State 37, Michigan 7 - Well that was embarrassing... I could write 5,000 words on this (and I probably have in edits) but let's break it down simply...
  • 1) Ohio State is much, much more talented... the disparity in talent on the Ohio State defense vs. the Michigan defense is top-10 vs. MAC-level and I'm not exaggerating... Michigan has 1 all-Big 10 defender (DT Mike Martin), and 3 Michigan-level players (Van Bergen, Demens, and Mouton)... the other 7? True freshman or woefully under-talented upperclassmen who have no business...

  • 2) Ohio State is better coached... I'm on record that I think Jim Tressel is the best coach in America... done right?... Even if you ignore that, Greg Robinson is, at best, incompetent, and at worst, a grease fire...

  • 3) Terrelle Pryor is better than Denard Robinson.... that's not a shot at denard... a first-year starter who is still raw, but Pryor calmly dissected the Michigan defense, made every play (the 30-yard run-around scramble was back-breaking) and showed why everyone loves him... Denard? Made some plays... but was ultimately uninspiring...

And now a word on the future....

  • I would NOT fire Rich Rodriguez... hear me out... I would instantly fire Greg Robinson and rid themselves of that atrocious 3-3-5 stack look... but ultimately Rich Rodriguez has done similar work to what I thought he'd do... he's transformed the offense (Ohio State not withstanding) and made it into an elite-ish unit with a dynamic QB, functional and quick RBs, short receivers, and a solid O-line... also, the talent level was flat-out bad upon Lloyd's departure (check out the 2005-2007 recruiting classes, wow), and the biggest point of all?.... If you fire Rich Rodriguez, you're guaranteeing at least 2 more years of losing... even if Jim Harbaugh agreed to come, he'd need to overhaul the personnel completely (he wants a pro-style QB, big RB, etc.) and the majority of the offensive personnel on the roster can't run a conventional offense... so please Michigan fans... know what you're asking for if you want him gone...


::Takes a deep breath::



What to watch for....

  • 49ers/Cardinals - MNF - ESPN 8:30 - Such an ugly game... but anyone who plays fantasy probably has something on the line... so I'm in just for that...

  • Rockets/Mavs - NBA TV 8:30 - Houston beat OKC last night... Dallas beat Miami on Saturday... Texas wars are always entertaining...

  • Virginia @ Minnesota - Hoops - ESPN2 7:00 - If you're into this...


Enjoy it...

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