A FEW NFL LOOSE ENDS & TODAY'S WILDLIFE MOMENT
Not long after I wrote the divisional playoff wrap-up last night I went to bed, but as I lay there rehashing the games thoughts start popping into my feeble brain, stuff I should have put in the original post. So after an hour conversation with my sister in New Jersey, I thought I'd take a few minutes to complete my thoughts.
In the Packer-Falcons' game, a big part of Green Bay's success stemmed from QB Aaron Rodgers' ability to avoid being sacked, he was almost Michael Vick-like with his "escapability." I still like the Packers to win in Chicago, but I doubt you'll see Rodgers running free outside the pocke too often. The Bears have a great defense & above all, they tackle as well as any team in the league, if a Chicago defender gets a hand on you, most likely you're going down. By the same token, Jake Cutler's gaudy stats, 2 touchdown passes, 2 touchdown runs & zero turnovers, were against Seattle, not Green Bay. There's a world of difference in the two defenses, Green Bay has an elite defense. For that matter all four teams still in the Super Bowl tournament have elite defenses.
Another thing I forgot to mention(I need to go back to using the digital recorder during the games) was an important one, Green Bay never punted Saturday night. Playing on the road for the second week in a row, against the NFC's #1 playoff seed, Aaron Rodgers goes 31 of 36 for 366 yards & the team doesn't punt even once. Don't look for a repeat of this on Sunday either, regardless of the stats, Atlanta's defense is no better than middle of the pack & they were exposed big time Saturday night. This team has a long way to go with their defense before they are truly Super Bowl-ready.
I've picked on Jets' quarterback Mark Sanchez for two years. I'm going to have this kid his due, he's played very well within Brian Schottenheimer's system & most importantly, he hasn't turned the ball over in the playoffs. Schottenheimer doesn't ask his 2nd year QB to carry the load, he asks him to protect the ball & make the plays that are called, as they are called. No varying from the called play, no freewheeling, don't force a throw. To his credit, he has done exactly what he been asked to do & his team is still playing.
I'm really growing tired of two types of post game interviews we hear from athletes. The "God was with us" one & the "Rodney Dangerfield" type. Guys who claim God or Jesus was on their side really ignore what people of faith believe, God or Jesus is with all of us, not just one team in a football game. I find it offensive to hear players claiming their win was made possible because "God was with us." If you want to praise your Lord for keeping you safe, giving you inspiration or for making a major impact on your life, I think that's a wonderful sentiment. But don't go dragging the Lord's name into your win because an opponent, who might also be a Christian, fumbled the ball setting up your winning touchdown. Sorry, that's just how I feel.
The "we can't get no respect" card is played so often it's really become tedious. A few times it's applicable, like last week in the Saints-Seahawks' game, no one gave Seattle a snowball's chance in hell of winning that game, but they did, they used that thinking to their advantage & it worked. But to listen to Bart Scott yell & scream at ESPN's Sal Palentonio after the Jets' win at Foxboro was ludicrous. "No one respected us, no thought we could beat Tom Brady, he was invincible. I'm mad because we are good & no one gave us a chance to come in here & do what we did" Scott hollered in Sal Pal's face. Bart, if you didn't lay a few gigantic eggs against playoff teams during the regular season, people would take your chances to win in these games more seriously. But you got hammered 45-3 by the Pats, Chicago hung 38 on you, the Packers shut you out at the Meadowlands, the Ravens & Miami held you without a touchdown in losses also on your home field & Cleveland & Detroit took you to overtime. For the second year in a row, you didn't win you division, you had to play Wildcard weekend, you'll have to win 3 straight on the road. That's why people, myself included, pick the other side. Gimme a break already.
If you watched the Seahawk-Bear game yesterday, you saw two Seattle players, tight end John Carlson & cornerback Marcus Trufant, get carted off the field after they were knocked out. Carlson went airborne to avoid a tackle, a Bear caught his foot upending him & he landed face first on a frozen sideline. It was like banging your head on a sidewalk, but it was a clean hit. Trufant was knocked out going low on Bear tight end Kellen Davis. Davis doesn't wear thigh or knee pads & the collision of his knee with Trufant's helmet did the damage. Once again, a clean hit, but when you stick your head in there, bad things can happen, especially when the blow isn't cushioned by a pliable pad. I told you months ago I thought the NFL would once again make knee & thigh pads mandatory for all players for just this reason. Let's hope they do it sooner rather than later.
The New England Patriots have 2 #1's, 2 #2's & 2 #3's in April's draft. I think there's little doubt Bill Belichick will make a concerted effort to make his team faster. Since the departure of Randy Moss, the Pats don't have any kind of a deep threat. Their gameplans have camouflaged their lack of speed, but it was clearly exposed for everyone to see yesterday. While it's true not everyone has a secondary capable of clamping down on every single short & intermediate route like the Jets did yesterday, nevertheless, the Patriots' lack of team speed was on display for the whole world to see. When your receivers can't get separation, unless your QB is Vick or Rodgers, they're going to get sacked & worse, they're going to get injured. I expect Belichick to take at least one speedy wide receiver & an everydown running back very early in this draft.
As some of you know we live in rural Missouri, on the Lake of the Ozarks. Being in the middle of nowhere has it's disadvantages to be sure but it also provides us with sights we never would have seen living in Las Vegas or Kansas City. We see a lot of wildlife on a daily basis, deer, fox, woodchucks, bald eagles, armadillos, cranes, vultures, skunks, possum, squirrels, hawks, wild turkey, some really big snakes & even an occasional bobcat. We have a group of deer, 8 or 9 of them, that are on our property daily, we have a fox den within 200-yards of our house & a couple of big fat woodchucks call this home as well. Today as I was sitting on our 4-seasons porch I watched the male fox walk between our house & the lake. With snow on the ground it's much easier to see the animals, especially in the really dense woods like we have on the southside of our property. I watched this fox start creeping along, almost in stalk mode & as I looked into the woods, I saw 6 deer spread out over the hill foraging for something to eat. The fox disappeared over an embankment & as he did I saw a tiny fawn slowly walk up the hill. I thought is this fox going after this deer? I know food is scarce, but I'd never seen one of our fox go after a fawn. All of a sudden 4 deer came tearing down the hill to defend the tiny fawn, they disappeared for a second & here comes the fox at full sprint followed by four angry deer. They stopped after chasing him about 50-yards, but the fox was still moving at full speed when he went out of sight. That was my Animal Planet moment of the day.
One more football note, Brett Favre filed his retirement papers with the league office today, it's finally over. Or is it?
In the Packer-Falcons' game, a big part of Green Bay's success stemmed from QB Aaron Rodgers' ability to avoid being sacked, he was almost Michael Vick-like with his "escapability." I still like the Packers to win in Chicago, but I doubt you'll see Rodgers running free outside the pocke too often. The Bears have a great defense & above all, they tackle as well as any team in the league, if a Chicago defender gets a hand on you, most likely you're going down. By the same token, Jake Cutler's gaudy stats, 2 touchdown passes, 2 touchdown runs & zero turnovers, were against Seattle, not Green Bay. There's a world of difference in the two defenses, Green Bay has an elite defense. For that matter all four teams still in the Super Bowl tournament have elite defenses.
Another thing I forgot to mention(I need to go back to using the digital recorder during the games) was an important one, Green Bay never punted Saturday night. Playing on the road for the second week in a row, against the NFC's #1 playoff seed, Aaron Rodgers goes 31 of 36 for 366 yards & the team doesn't punt even once. Don't look for a repeat of this on Sunday either, regardless of the stats, Atlanta's defense is no better than middle of the pack & they were exposed big time Saturday night. This team has a long way to go with their defense before they are truly Super Bowl-ready.
I've picked on Jets' quarterback Mark Sanchez for two years. I'm going to have this kid his due, he's played very well within Brian Schottenheimer's system & most importantly, he hasn't turned the ball over in the playoffs. Schottenheimer doesn't ask his 2nd year QB to carry the load, he asks him to protect the ball & make the plays that are called, as they are called. No varying from the called play, no freewheeling, don't force a throw. To his credit, he has done exactly what he been asked to do & his team is still playing.
I'm really growing tired of two types of post game interviews we hear from athletes. The "God was with us" one & the "Rodney Dangerfield" type. Guys who claim God or Jesus was on their side really ignore what people of faith believe, God or Jesus is with all of us, not just one team in a football game. I find it offensive to hear players claiming their win was made possible because "God was with us." If you want to praise your Lord for keeping you safe, giving you inspiration or for making a major impact on your life, I think that's a wonderful sentiment. But don't go dragging the Lord's name into your win because an opponent, who might also be a Christian, fumbled the ball setting up your winning touchdown. Sorry, that's just how I feel.
The "we can't get no respect" card is played so often it's really become tedious. A few times it's applicable, like last week in the Saints-Seahawks' game, no one gave Seattle a snowball's chance in hell of winning that game, but they did, they used that thinking to their advantage & it worked. But to listen to Bart Scott yell & scream at ESPN's Sal Palentonio after the Jets' win at Foxboro was ludicrous. "No one respected us, no thought we could beat Tom Brady, he was invincible. I'm mad because we are good & no one gave us a chance to come in here & do what we did" Scott hollered in Sal Pal's face. Bart, if you didn't lay a few gigantic eggs against playoff teams during the regular season, people would take your chances to win in these games more seriously. But you got hammered 45-3 by the Pats, Chicago hung 38 on you, the Packers shut you out at the Meadowlands, the Ravens & Miami held you without a touchdown in losses also on your home field & Cleveland & Detroit took you to overtime. For the second year in a row, you didn't win you division, you had to play Wildcard weekend, you'll have to win 3 straight on the road. That's why people, myself included, pick the other side. Gimme a break already.
If you watched the Seahawk-Bear game yesterday, you saw two Seattle players, tight end John Carlson & cornerback Marcus Trufant, get carted off the field after they were knocked out. Carlson went airborne to avoid a tackle, a Bear caught his foot upending him & he landed face first on a frozen sideline. It was like banging your head on a sidewalk, but it was a clean hit. Trufant was knocked out going low on Bear tight end Kellen Davis. Davis doesn't wear thigh or knee pads & the collision of his knee with Trufant's helmet did the damage. Once again, a clean hit, but when you stick your head in there, bad things can happen, especially when the blow isn't cushioned by a pliable pad. I told you months ago I thought the NFL would once again make knee & thigh pads mandatory for all players for just this reason. Let's hope they do it sooner rather than later.
The New England Patriots have 2 #1's, 2 #2's & 2 #3's in April's draft. I think there's little doubt Bill Belichick will make a concerted effort to make his team faster. Since the departure of Randy Moss, the Pats don't have any kind of a deep threat. Their gameplans have camouflaged their lack of speed, but it was clearly exposed for everyone to see yesterday. While it's true not everyone has a secondary capable of clamping down on every single short & intermediate route like the Jets did yesterday, nevertheless, the Patriots' lack of team speed was on display for the whole world to see. When your receivers can't get separation, unless your QB is Vick or Rodgers, they're going to get sacked & worse, they're going to get injured. I expect Belichick to take at least one speedy wide receiver & an everydown running back very early in this draft.
As some of you know we live in rural Missouri, on the Lake of the Ozarks. Being in the middle of nowhere has it's disadvantages to be sure but it also provides us with sights we never would have seen living in Las Vegas or Kansas City. We see a lot of wildlife on a daily basis, deer, fox, woodchucks, bald eagles, armadillos, cranes, vultures, skunks, possum, squirrels, hawks, wild turkey, some really big snakes & even an occasional bobcat. We have a group of deer, 8 or 9 of them, that are on our property daily, we have a fox den within 200-yards of our house & a couple of big fat woodchucks call this home as well. Today as I was sitting on our 4-seasons porch I watched the male fox walk between our house & the lake. With snow on the ground it's much easier to see the animals, especially in the really dense woods like we have on the southside of our property. I watched this fox start creeping along, almost in stalk mode & as I looked into the woods, I saw 6 deer spread out over the hill foraging for something to eat. The fox disappeared over an embankment & as he did I saw a tiny fawn slowly walk up the hill. I thought is this fox going after this deer? I know food is scarce, but I'd never seen one of our fox go after a fawn. All of a sudden 4 deer came tearing down the hill to defend the tiny fawn, they disappeared for a second & here comes the fox at full sprint followed by four angry deer. They stopped after chasing him about 50-yards, but the fox was still moving at full speed when he went out of sight. That was my Animal Planet moment of the day.
One more football note, Brett Favre filed his retirement papers with the league office today, it's finally over. Or is it?
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