TURNOVERS IN THE PLAYOFFS ARE DEATH & A FEW OTHER NOTES
You hear the pundits on every pregame show talking about them, head coaches talk about them all the time & the TV broadcast teams tell you game after game, week after week, they'll kill you. Of course I'm talking about the dreaded turnover. Lose the turnover battle & you'll almost always lose the game. This has proven to be even more true in the playoffs. This weekend was a perfect example of turnovers wrecking a great season in one game.
The Saints committed 5 turnovers yesterday, the Forty-Niners only one. Houston turned the ball over 4 times & the Ravens converted 3 of them into 17 of their 20-points. Green Bay lost 3 fumbles & Aaron Rodgers threw a pick & those turnovers helped the Giants beat them 37-20. Green Bay was 15-1 during the regular season & had home field advantage thruout the playoffs. Now they're out, done, see ya.
There were other factors involved in these losses, but turnovers were a major contributor. Green Bay couldn't block the Giants defensive line, they flushed Rodgers out of the pocket time after time. The Packers converted just 6 of 12 on third down, five of those were when Rodgers ran for the needed yardage, not the way they normally operate. Green Bay receivers dropped 6-7 passes & Rodgers missed several wide open shots downfield. The Packers defense, especially their secondary, tackled very poorly today. They gave up the dreaded Hail mary for a touchdown on the last play of the first half. Green Bay even benefited from a blown replay review on a Greg Jennings fumble that should have gone to New York for turnover #5. The Pack was out of sync, out of sorts, very much like the day Kansas City beat them. Oh, the Giants deserve a lot of credit for the way things went today, they made the most of the Packers stumbles. They were never behind in a stadium that's very, very tough on road teams, their defense kept coming & Eli manning & his receivers were on fire.
Houston fell into the same turnover trap. A fumble on a punt return & three picks thrown by rookie QB T.J. Yates. The Baltimore secondary jumped so many routes & Yates couldn't anticipate their movement with his pre-snap reads. The Ravens seemed to know what routes were coming before the Texans ran them. It's a damn good thing Baltimore got 4 turnovers because their offense was awful for the most part. If not for three short fields, I think they might have very lost the game. Joe Flacco was sacked 5 times & kncked down another 6. Ray Rice, who normally makes the Ravens offense go, was held to 60-yards on 21-carries & another 20 catching the ball, hardly his normal output. Wade Phillips returned to the Texans sideline & he had his young defense flying all over the place. Just 227-yards of total offense is terrible & if it doesn't get a helluva lot better, they won't have a chance next Sunday in Foxboro.
Minimizing penalties is a good indicator of a disciplined team. Of the eight teams that played this weekend, only the Broncos had more than 3 penalties & they had but 5, which isn't that bad really. Baltimore & New Orleans weren't penalized at all. That's part of the reason these teams are playing the second weekend of the playoffs. These eight teams committed a total of 20-penalties, the Raiders do that by themselves in a game & a half.
I'm glad the Office Pool Picks competition is over, in two playoff weekends I'm just 5-3, losing 3 upsets, Pittsburgh, New Orleans & Green Bay. If you read my preview, I almost pulled the trigger on the Giants & once again they played some great football. They could very easily win in San Francisco if the Niners stumble at all.
As to the AFC Championship, if Baltimore doesn't find some offense, they're gonna get beat. I expect the Ravens defense to play a lot better than Denver's did last night, but I don't know if they hold Brady & Company under 27-points. They failed to sack T.J. Yates today & if Brady is allowed to stand back there for 5-6 seconds like Yates did, he'll tear them up next Sunday. I'll have more on both games as the weekend approaches.
I mentioned Saints guard Carl Nicks in my post regarding my thoughts on what the Chiefs/Scott Pioli should do this off-season. I like Nicks a lot, he made the All-Pro team along with his running mate Jahri Evans. The Saints early exit from the playoffs should jump start the Drew Brees contract negotiations, he will be an unrestricted free agent. The Saints have other high impact players in the same boat, WR Marques Colston & Nicks to name a few. New Orleans' management can't do anything with the others until they get Brees under contract. They signed a Evans to a big contract last season, so between Brees & Colston, Nicks could be very well left outside looking in contract-wise. I hope Scott Pioli gives strong consideration to Nicks. He's the type of physical mauler the Chiefs need. He's only 26-years old.
Offensive guard Carl Nicks
Miami & the Raiders are the only teams left without a head coach. I don't know about the Dolphins, but I expect Oakland to have a new man in place within a week at the most. I like their new GM Reggie McKenzie. Now that the Saints are out, I expect defensive coordinator Greg Williams to move on to St. Louis to work for his bestest buddy, Jeff Fisher. Supposedly the Rams have offered Brian Schottenheimer the offensive coordinator job. The Saints & Falcons will do battle over two defensive coordinators, Steve Spagnuolo & Mike Nolan. Spags could be in demand elsewhere too. Atlanta signed Dirk Koetter to be their new offensive coordinator.
If you're a Kansas City Chiefs fan & have not read Sunday's edition of the Kansas City Star, I hope you read the quite lengthy article written by Chiefs' beat writer Kent Babb. In a piece that might affect his access to the Chiefs, Babb writes about the paranoia out at One Arrowhead Drive. He tells of discussions with Todd Haley in his final days. Discussions that had to be moved all over the building because Haley thought his office was bugged. He told Babb the reason he hadn't answered his cell phone was because he thought it had been tampered with. Not all the paranoia comes from Haley. Windows that face the practice facility are required to be shuttered during all practices. Security checks every office facing the practice facility daily to make sure the blinds are closed. Most employees are restricted to certain floors of the stadium offices. Their parking spaces are monitored to document their comings & goings. I'm just scratching the surface, you absolutely need to read the article. If you didn't get the Sunday paper, try the online version at www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs Then scroll down to click on "Chiefs." The name of the article is "Arrowhead Anxiety." I highly recommend it, it's a very interesting piece Babb has written.
The Saints committed 5 turnovers yesterday, the Forty-Niners only one. Houston turned the ball over 4 times & the Ravens converted 3 of them into 17 of their 20-points. Green Bay lost 3 fumbles & Aaron Rodgers threw a pick & those turnovers helped the Giants beat them 37-20. Green Bay was 15-1 during the regular season & had home field advantage thruout the playoffs. Now they're out, done, see ya.
There were other factors involved in these losses, but turnovers were a major contributor. Green Bay couldn't block the Giants defensive line, they flushed Rodgers out of the pocket time after time. The Packers converted just 6 of 12 on third down, five of those were when Rodgers ran for the needed yardage, not the way they normally operate. Green Bay receivers dropped 6-7 passes & Rodgers missed several wide open shots downfield. The Packers defense, especially their secondary, tackled very poorly today. They gave up the dreaded Hail mary for a touchdown on the last play of the first half. Green Bay even benefited from a blown replay review on a Greg Jennings fumble that should have gone to New York for turnover #5. The Pack was out of sync, out of sorts, very much like the day Kansas City beat them. Oh, the Giants deserve a lot of credit for the way things went today, they made the most of the Packers stumbles. They were never behind in a stadium that's very, very tough on road teams, their defense kept coming & Eli manning & his receivers were on fire.
Houston fell into the same turnover trap. A fumble on a punt return & three picks thrown by rookie QB T.J. Yates. The Baltimore secondary jumped so many routes & Yates couldn't anticipate their movement with his pre-snap reads. The Ravens seemed to know what routes were coming before the Texans ran them. It's a damn good thing Baltimore got 4 turnovers because their offense was awful for the most part. If not for three short fields, I think they might have very lost the game. Joe Flacco was sacked 5 times & kncked down another 6. Ray Rice, who normally makes the Ravens offense go, was held to 60-yards on 21-carries & another 20 catching the ball, hardly his normal output. Wade Phillips returned to the Texans sideline & he had his young defense flying all over the place. Just 227-yards of total offense is terrible & if it doesn't get a helluva lot better, they won't have a chance next Sunday in Foxboro.
Minimizing penalties is a good indicator of a disciplined team. Of the eight teams that played this weekend, only the Broncos had more than 3 penalties & they had but 5, which isn't that bad really. Baltimore & New Orleans weren't penalized at all. That's part of the reason these teams are playing the second weekend of the playoffs. These eight teams committed a total of 20-penalties, the Raiders do that by themselves in a game & a half.
I'm glad the Office Pool Picks competition is over, in two playoff weekends I'm just 5-3, losing 3 upsets, Pittsburgh, New Orleans & Green Bay. If you read my preview, I almost pulled the trigger on the Giants & once again they played some great football. They could very easily win in San Francisco if the Niners stumble at all.
As to the AFC Championship, if Baltimore doesn't find some offense, they're gonna get beat. I expect the Ravens defense to play a lot better than Denver's did last night, but I don't know if they hold Brady & Company under 27-points. They failed to sack T.J. Yates today & if Brady is allowed to stand back there for 5-6 seconds like Yates did, he'll tear them up next Sunday. I'll have more on both games as the weekend approaches.
I mentioned Saints guard Carl Nicks in my post regarding my thoughts on what the Chiefs/Scott Pioli should do this off-season. I like Nicks a lot, he made the All-Pro team along with his running mate Jahri Evans. The Saints early exit from the playoffs should jump start the Drew Brees contract negotiations, he will be an unrestricted free agent. The Saints have other high impact players in the same boat, WR Marques Colston & Nicks to name a few. New Orleans' management can't do anything with the others until they get Brees under contract. They signed a Evans to a big contract last season, so between Brees & Colston, Nicks could be very well left outside looking in contract-wise. I hope Scott Pioli gives strong consideration to Nicks. He's the type of physical mauler the Chiefs need. He's only 26-years old.
Offensive guard Carl Nicks
Miami & the Raiders are the only teams left without a head coach. I don't know about the Dolphins, but I expect Oakland to have a new man in place within a week at the most. I like their new GM Reggie McKenzie. Now that the Saints are out, I expect defensive coordinator Greg Williams to move on to St. Louis to work for his bestest buddy, Jeff Fisher. Supposedly the Rams have offered Brian Schottenheimer the offensive coordinator job. The Saints & Falcons will do battle over two defensive coordinators, Steve Spagnuolo & Mike Nolan. Spags could be in demand elsewhere too. Atlanta signed Dirk Koetter to be their new offensive coordinator.
If you're a Kansas City Chiefs fan & have not read Sunday's edition of the Kansas City Star, I hope you read the quite lengthy article written by Chiefs' beat writer Kent Babb. In a piece that might affect his access to the Chiefs, Babb writes about the paranoia out at One Arrowhead Drive. He tells of discussions with Todd Haley in his final days. Discussions that had to be moved all over the building because Haley thought his office was bugged. He told Babb the reason he hadn't answered his cell phone was because he thought it had been tampered with. Not all the paranoia comes from Haley. Windows that face the practice facility are required to be shuttered during all practices. Security checks every office facing the practice facility daily to make sure the blinds are closed. Most employees are restricted to certain floors of the stadium offices. Their parking spaces are monitored to document their comings & goings. I'm just scratching the surface, you absolutely need to read the article. If you didn't get the Sunday paper, try the online version at www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs Then scroll down to click on "Chiefs." The name of the article is "Arrowhead Anxiety." I highly recommend it, it's a very interesting piece Babb has written.
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