Observations and Ruminations

What Have We Learned This Week?

  There is a reason why they play the game.  How many times does that phrase get brought out after a game like the Seahawks/Saints game?  But it’s deserved after a week of the national media treating the Seahawks like an eight-seed in a six-team tournament.  When NFL segments got into picks throughout the week, the hosts and analysts would just breeze through this matchup that really was not worth discussion to get on to other “real” contests.

  I mean, it’s not like we should take into consideration that a good quarterback might have a stellar performance at least one more time in his career.  We could discount the fact that the stronger defense might leave holes in coverage that the above quarterback could pick apart.  That strong defense of the defending world champions just might not bring it for 60 minutes and at the end allow one of the most impressive runs in NFL playoff history because eight players missed tackles.

 No, this one did not play out “like it should have” on paper.  But the Seahawks did win that game.  It might mean a thing in Sunday’s matchup in Chicago, but for now at least, a team that still has a losing record is alive and well in the NFL playoffs.

Return of the Predictions

  It’s been awhile since we’ve done predictions here at Outside the Arc, so let’s start the new year with some NFL Wild Card picks.

• New Orleans at Seattle   Well, I really hate to pick against my Seahawks … so I won’t.  The Saints have lost another running back and they will be hurting without Pierre Thomas.  Sure Reggie Bush will likely score his first rushing TD of the season, but it won’t be enough.  The NFC West champs, complete with the return of Matt Hasselbeck, will play inspired ball in front of the home crowd. > ‘Hawks 26, Saints 24

• N.Y. Jets at Indianapolis   Is there anything that can make Rex Ryan shutup?  I’d say Kryptonite, but he’s no Superman.  Peyton Manning, on the other hand…

Manning’s skill and ability to control a game + Jets’ secondary issues = another Colts victory over Rex Ryan. >  Indy 38, N.Y. 21

• Baltimore at Kansas City   Baltimore doesn’t seem to garner the same attention that Indianapolis and New England do.  Manning and Tom Brady have something to do with that, as well.  But the Ravens are steady on offense and solid on defense.

  Kansas City has surprised many people this season. They won’t surprise Baltimore, even in Arrowhead. > Ravens 20, Chiefs 13

• Green Bay at Philadelphia   Seriously, does anyone really believe the rumors that Michael Vick is going to be benched for this playoff game?  Barring a traumatic injury or being sacked 8-9 time in the first half, this just isn’t going to happen.

  The way the games have fallen, the league (and networks) have given us as the final game of the weekend what will likely be a shootout.  Vick and Aaron Rodgers both have led their teams well this season and both offenses can score.  The Eagles will score just a little bit more at home and avenge their early season loss to the Packers. > Philly 41, G.B. 38

Observations and Ruminations

What Have We Learned This Week?
• There is no question now (and really never should have been) that TCU can play with the “Big Boys”.  It was a close win, but a win nonetheless.  And though Andy Dalton and the offense get a lot of deserved credit for what the Horned Frogs do on the field, the performance of the defense on New Year’s Day was impressive. A Wisconsin team that had been very hot at the end of the season, scoring 48.2 ppg in their final 7 games (all wins), was held to just 19 points in the Rose Bowl.

  It’s a shame that this school felt the need to ignore geography and join the Big East just to get a chance to play for a national title.

• The Big Ten started off 2011 with a complete thud!  Oh-fer five on Jan.1.   Wow.

  Hey, Nebraska, how inviting does that league look right now?  Well, I suppose with the loss to a mediocre Washington team in a rematch it makes you feel right at home.

  If you’re a Big Ten fan, you have to feel at least a little better about the fact that Ohio State finally got over its fear of the Big Bad SEC and won a bowl game against them for the first time in school history.

• In an effort to make the final week of the season mean more than just a week for playoff-bound teams to rest their starters, the NFL set up the schedule so that all of the Game 17 matchups would be between division rivals.  It was a good decision.

  Yes, there were games in which first-stringers (read here Dallas) took on second- and third-stringers (read here Philadelphia).  But it also gave us the Seattle/St. Louis matchup for a division title and the final playoff spot in the season’s final game.  And likely will bring more intrigue in future seasons if they decide to stick with this format.

7-9 Was All It Took

  I have cheered for the Seahawks for more than 25 years, but I know the difference between a good Seattle team and one that is not so good.  The 2010 Seahawks fall into the latter category.  The losses that have mounted against them in the late part of this season have been documented on this website.

  St. Louis is an up and coming team with a very good rookie quarterback.  They have found momentum as the season has gone on and their coach is doing well with what he has this year.  Everything about this scenario says that the Rams should win this matchup going away.

  And yet…  Seattle 16, St. Louis 6.

  Somehow this Seattle team, complete with a backup quarterback leading what could kindly be described as a miserable offense, managed to come out victorious tonight.  Granted, there was a horrible spot on third down in the fourth quarter that really favored the Seahawks.   And the Rams dropped some very catchable Bradford passes.  But the worst rushing team in the league got yard

  Olindo Mare was 3-3 in field goal attempts, but actually it turned out the Whitehurst to Williams touchdown on the first drive of the game would prove to be the game-winner.

  The Seahawks now own the distinct honor of being the NFL’s first-ever division winner to have a losing record.  And it’s an honor that, for tonight and this week at least, they are happy to have.

  Wild Card Weekend vs. the defending Super Bowl champions in six days… 

Largest Viewing Audience Ever To Watch "The Who"

#5 > New Orleans Saints 31, Indianapolis Colts 17 Feb. 7

Super Bowl XLIV was the most watched program in television history. (Yes, something finally surpassed the series finale of M*A*S*H back in 1983.) And it really was a game worth watching.

At this point, the Department of Full Disclosure here at Outside The Arc mandates that we let you know that we were cheering for Indy at our house. My wife and I have been Peyton Manning fans since his days at the University of Tennessee and would like to have seen him get his second ring. But Drew Brees is a pretty good guy himself and he led his team admirably throughout the game.

When the Colts got out to a 10-0 lead, it looked like this could be another Super Bowl blowout. Then the Indianapolis offense went silent and two Saints’ field goals kept the game close with a 10-6 halftime score.

Surely the Colts could get things going when they would receive the ball to start the second half, but that kickoff proved to be the turning point in the game. Coach Sean Payton’s decision to attempt an onside kick was gutsy and ultimately successful. And the Saints capitalized on this big play with a six play touchdown drive that gave New Orleans its first lead.

Indianapolis regained the lead on the next possession and held on to it, going into the fourth quarter up 17-16. The Saints went back on top for good on Brees’ second TD pass, capped off with an amazing catch by Lance Moore to complete the two-point conversion. A 74-yard interception return for a touchdown by Larry Porter sealed the deal for the Saints, who captured the first Super Bowl victory in team history.

The All-Powerful NFC West

My beloved Seahawks are 6-9, have lost 5 of their last 6 (while being outscored 202-128), and lost 7 of their last 9 (and outscored 294-174). And STILL... if they win next Sunday against Sam Bradford and the Rams, Seattle will win their division and grab the #4 seed in the NFC playoffs.

There are many people who are displeased with the fact that a team with a non-winning record will be in the playoffs, but that's just the way that the rules are set up. Deal!

Outside The Arc's First Countdown

#10 > Arizona Cardinals 51, Green Bay Packers 45 [OT] Jan. 10

Outside the Arc would like to close out 2010 with some actual blog entries and also get ready for 2011. As there are in each calendar year, there were in 2010 some spectacular moments in the world of sports. OTA would like to submit a Top 10 worth of games that really were worth watching during the past 12 months. If you saw any one of these contests, you knew when it was done that you had seen something worth remembering. So let’s kick this off…

At #10, we take you back to the January and the highest scoring game in NFL playoff history. The Arizona Cardinals took a 17-0 lead into the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers, but quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Aaron Rodgers made watching the rest of the game like viewing a tennis match with all of back-and-forth scoring and momentum changes that followed. Warner actually had more touchdown passes (5) than he had passes fall incomplete (4).

Rodgers' touchdown pass to Spencer Havner with less than two minutes remaining tied the game at 45 and allowed for an overtime session. However, although the Packers won the toss and got the ball first, three plays into the extra period, Rodgers fumbled the ball and Karlos Dansby ran it in for the score. (Somewhere in the northwest, Seahawks fans were celebrating the poetic justice of the playoff loss for the Packers.)

And in a postscript, if there was any question as to the impact that Warner made during his tenure with the Cardinals, we submit to you Exhibit A: The 2010 Arizona season, complete with the blazing disarray at the quarterback position.

Seriously?!?!

Normally, I hate to pile on and kick a team when they're down (unless maybe it's Duke or some other ridiculously overconfident, overhyped, and media-pampered collection of egocentric talents), but the disaster in Philadelphia today can't go by without some discussion. The Dallas Cowboys completely imploded and were humiliated at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, 44-6, thereby eliminating themselves from the playoffs that just mere weeks ago this team was thought to be a lock to win.

Let this be a warning to all other teams out there: I don't care how highly touted your assemblage of talent is, unless it is a TEAM, it's just that - an assemblage of talent.

The Cowboys are a group of folks with an abundance of distractions that nobody seems to be able to get a handle on. The owner, however good-intentioned, always comes across as wanting to be the coach. He will almost always hire a coach (like the current one) whose personality will be meeker than his and therefore be run all over by him. The aforementioned current coach will also therefore be run over by many of his players. The players' individual interests are continually coming before the interests of the whole. And the local and national media delight in watching this pot boil over time and time again.

Something has to change.

Now, I don't blame all of those turnovers today on the coaches, but the coaching staff is always the first place that people will point the finger. Today, I will be in that group. Tony Romo was right: the Cowboys were exposed. Something has to change.

Not everything that T.O. does is detrimental to his team, just most of it. His very presence is a constant source of talk that distract his teammates and management away from the game at which all of them say they are trying to succeed. Something has to change.

Do I have all of the answers today? No, of course not. But I know that I am not the only one of the opinion that something has to change. And likely more things than one.

And incidentally... For as much anti-Duke sentiment as I usually have, at least Coach K always has his boys playing like a Team.

Observations and Ruminations

What have we learned this week?

► Oklahoma is the hottest team in the country. There was no question as to who was the better team on Saturday night. The Sooners were far superior on offense and on defense. Even the special teams managed the game when they needed to. The bottom line of 65-21 really doesn’t even do the game justice. You really had to watch it to understand the total domination of one team over another.
Sure Texas is still ahead in the BCS rankings, and maybe rightfully so for now, due to the Longhorns’ win in October. But OU is the hottest team in the country. Let’s see what happens this weekend.

► Abilene Christian is the Division II counterpart to the Sooners in that they are also their division’s hottest team. The only difference is that the Wildcats are still undefeated. And they are coming off the first of two rematches in the playoffs. ACU beat West Texas A&M 52-35 in the regular season, but that was nothing compared to the record-setting 93-68 beatdown in Shotwell Stadium on Saturday. 93-68??!! Are you kidding?
I had a chance to see Billy Malone, Bernard Scott, Johnny Knox, and company in person this season. They were ranked #4 in the country then and then I said that I would like to see any three teams in DII that are better than the Wildcats. I still would. I don’t believe that such a team exists in 2008.
The big rematch comes this weekend when ACU faces Northwest Missouri. Abilene dispatched the then-#3 Bearcats 44-27, back in August. Take note: the biggest game in Texas this weekend doesn’t involve Longhorns, Aggies, or Red Raiders.

► The face paint and ridiculous make up and hairdo sure do look a lot better when your team is winning. It just looks really dumb when your team is getting beaten 65-21, and you can’t do a thing about it. Isn’t that right, Brandon Carter? (#76, Texas Tech OL)


The Soapbox

I know that I waited a week for this one, I just didn’t have the time to write last week. So here goes…
Why should I care whether or not Donovan McNabb knows the rules about overtime in the NFL and when games are allowed to end in a tie? Does his blazing ignorance of his own game make those rules somehow invalid?
McNabb has been in the League for 10 years. There was a tie six years ago in 2002. (Pittsburgh vs. Atlanta, 34-34) Did he not keep track of any schedules or scores during this time? Was he in his own little world in Philadelphia and no other of the teams in the NFL mattered to him? And it’s not like when he was in college, where there are over 100 teams in DI alone. There are only 32 teams in the NFL! This makes for, at MOST, 16 games per week; and even less when teams have byes. This is not hard to keep up with.
And, of course this is only for the regular season. There was a classic game back in 2004 when Carolina and St. Louis and fought through regulation and the first overtime and couldn’t settle it. A second extra period was needed. It was Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith for 69 yards and the score, which ended the fifth-longest game in NFL history, 29-23 F/2OT. Did he forget about this game, too? It was a contest that was even more recent and incredibly exciting.
So, even bypassing these two games, (which clearly meant nothing to the star QB of the Eagles) McNabb seems to be dismissive of the fact that ties have happened in the NFL numerous times. This really isn’t even what bothers me.
A] It is his apparent disdain for the ending of a ballgame, when he did not know the rules.
Win the ballgame Big Guy in the sixty minutes that you have and you won’t need an extra 15 or more. And then you won’t garner for yourself a stage to show that you haven’t learned any lessons from Abraham Lincoln: It’s better to be silent and thought a fool…
B] It is also that the media seem to have become enablers to the knowledge-challenged quarterback. Many outlets have played his comments over and over again and seem to be trying to spark debate as to whether or not there should be ties in the NFL now.
You should be having this conversation now? Now? If you didn’t like the rule, did you all collectively think that it would go away or that every ballgame until the end of time would from Steelers/Falcons on out end within 75 minutes? Why does an ignorant, albeit frustrated, second-tier QB push your buttons to decide that this issue really warrants revision?
If you really need to change the rule (and give the Rules Committee members something to do, and therefore justify them being on this committee), do it because it needs to be done. [Quite frankly, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with a tie in the regular season. If a game is hard-fought and after a reasonable amount of time (75 minutes, including a sudden death period!), end it and go on to the next matchup.] Just don’t alter the rulebook just because someone who has been around long enough to know what he’s talking about finds a venue to dispel that notion.