Did anyone else not leave the house all weekend? Just checking. I watched all four games and was thrilled to do so. The Jaguars hung in there, but the Patriots were too much.
Peyton Manning reminded us why he had the reputation of a bad playoff quarterback before he finally won it all last year. The Chargers battled on without their starting quarterback, Hall of Fame running back and a badly banged up star tight end. The Seahawks showed me again why I don’t like them. And to top it all off, the Cowboys showed what a myriad of stupid mistakes can do to your Super Bowl hopes. Let’s take a look at the games:
Seahawks 20, Packers 42
My pick was: Seahawks 13, Packers 28
I was close? Ok, not really. But the Pack did win by a favorable margin. How can you not love the snow in Lambeau? I felt bad for the two fumbles to start Ryan Grant’s playoff career, but after that he settled down and did the damage. I couldn’t see so well in the snow and could have sworn that mauling #25 was Dorsey Levens.
As far as Favre, yes, I know, we get it, he’s great. I just can’t even listen to the announcers anymore with this guy. He chucked the ball side arm as he was falling down and completed a pass to Donald Lee. It was a really nice play. But stop with the “no one else in the history of mankind could have made that play” nonsense. When they give Favre’s stats during the game, they should just say “Passer Rating: God.” You’d think this guy cures sick kids in Africa or something. Then again, maybe he does and Darryl Johnston is the only one who knows about it.
The Seahawks need some re-tooling in the offseason. They could use another receiver or two. They have a group of nice receivers, but no one that scares you. And I’m including you too, Deion Branch. He’s an above average receiver, but he doesn’t scare me. Especially when he’s hurt all the time. There is word that they will let cornerback Marcus Trufant leave, so they’ll have to fill his void as well. And here is a memo to Mike Holmgren: It’s time to let Shaun Alexander go. He’s cooked.
Jaguars 20, Patriots 31
My pick was: Jaguars 23, Patriots 35
Not bad, right? I was close. I also have a memo for Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith: The Patriots have more weapons than just Randy Moss. Where was the pressure? He seemed content to let Tom Brady dink and dunk, and that’s just what Brady did. The Jags played them tough, but where were the defensive adjustments?
As for the Patriots, well they just keep on rolling. And they should continue to roll, because…
Chargers 28, Colts 24
My pick was: Chargers 13, Colts 28
Show’s what I know! The toughest test for the Patriots is gone. I think Antonio Cromartie is in Peyton Manning’s head (is he one of the Dolphins swimming around Harrison inside that one room?). How good is this guy? He is a physical phenomenon and all he does is make big plays. He slipped in the first round of the 2006 draft because he was coming off a college injury. I had heard that he should have been a top-five pick. Well, I believe it. This guy is a major league stud who picked off Manning three times in their regular season meeting, and then came back to get him again this past weekend.
Was it me or did Manning remind us of the pre-Super Bowl playoff Manning? This was the guy that would get railed on for not being able to win in the post-season. He moved the ball all over the field but couldn’t avoid the killer pick.
As for the Chargers, I will admit it: I was wrong. I slammed Rivers and he shut me up. He played very well before getting injured (but dude, c’mon. Stop with the trash talking the fans. You look like a petulant child). When Volek came in, I had a feeling he’d do a nice job. He had been superb years ago in relief appearances for Steve McNair in Tennessee.
And I’m calling out everyone else too, because we were all on the same page. Raise your hand if you thought they still had a chance after Ladainian Tomlinson went down? Didn’t think so. Throw in their all-world tight end having a bum toe and it was curtains for the Chargers, right? But that wasn’t the case, job well done to Norv Turner and the Chargers. And how about Darren Sproles? I’ve always loved that guy. What a set of wheels on him.
Giants 21, Cowboys 17
My pick was: Giants 21 (got that part right), Cowboys 27
G. Cobb took this game down. He called it. I chickened out and took the Cowboys. Well, the Cowboys melted down. This wasn’t on Romo and I’m going to be the first to say that his Mexican vacation had nothing to do with it (make you feel any better, Terrell?) They took bad penalty after bad penalty. Then they dropped key passes. I don’t want to name the guy that dropped the most important pass, but I’ll give you his initials: Patrick Crayton.
I enjoyed watching Tony Romo get frustrated and turning red from screaming so much. His o-line, which has really been great all year, couldn’t pick up the blitz in the fourth quarter (which made me scratch my head as to why Marion Barber and Whitten were going out for passes. Protecting the QB is priority #1). And why in the world did he chuck that ball out of bounds? He had time, and instead took an intentional grounding penalty. This angered Romo.
Moving forward, the Giants did a nice job of playing relatively mistake free and they won the game. But it will take more than that next week in Green Bay. I’ll get into that more later in the week, but it must be noted that their safeties are going to have to play better. They couldn’t cover. They took awful angles all day. They tackled poorly. That has to change.
micahw@feverpitchmedia.com
