The More the NFL Changes...The More It Stays the Same
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by user LastRow
Okay, you’ll have to forgive me...I just woke up from my Pigskin Hangover, so I guessing everything that I’ve put in this piece has already been said, but better late than never...And hey, sitting in front of a computer monitor trying to type with a Pigskin Hangover is easier said than don, Damn It! Anyhow, what a perfect time to celebrate the Martin Luther King holiday than today...Or as some of us refer to it as James Earl Ray Day. Whatever the case may be, I don’t know about anyone else, but I most certainly needed the Doctor to prescribe a day off as like many of us needed around the country as we suffer from Pigskin Hangovers today...Either good or bad, depending upon the individual and what the outcomes of the four games this weekend meant to them and theirs. One things for sure...The more things change, the more they stay the same
So you think you know football? Who are we kidding? Everybody would like to believe they do, but as crazy, old, senile Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend ” Getting back to my ‘`The more things change, the more they stay the same” reference...Lets examine this, shall we? Over this past weekend we learned several things. For one, Marty Ball will always be Marty Ball...Just as Stevie Wonder will never see To think we all thought the term “Marty Ball” was a thing of the past...I mean, why wouldn’t we think this? The Chargers went a league best 14-2 in the varsity conference. LT was, well, playing on a different planet all year...Clearly by far this was the best team in the league. Not only that San Diego made Tom Brady play his worst game as a professional...With all that said, on this MLK Day Marty Schottenheimer is still answering the same questions he’s come accustomed too...And for very good reasons
With all this said about the collapse of the Chargers and pointing the finger at Marty, what is being overlooked is again the Bill Belichek regime. Time and time again they get their shit done no matter what Now I’m not a fan of Coach Sweatshirt homeless man here, but as much as it pains me, credit should be given where credit is do Ho Hum, New England’s in another AFC Championship Game...Should we be surprised? That all depends on how one wants to look at it...Is the glass half full or half empty? During the regular season everybody saw it as half full, but playoff time, one game away from Super Bowl XLI...Well I don’t know about anyone else, but it looks more than half full to me giving this point in the season...And oh yeah, that team their playing this Sunday Aren’t they familiar with them?
Peyton Manning must be loving this...One game away from the Super Bowl again, but to get there he’ll have to stop throwing the ball like Johnny does that morning newspaper right through the window. What’s up with this guy? Did Eli & Peyton pull a switcheroo here in the Playoffs? So here’s Peyton again one game away from the Super Bowl, but once again to get there he’ll have to go through his nemesis in the Patriots. Yes, all this week we’ll be hearing this same storyline...Rekindling the previous matchups for good reasons and the failures that have gone along the Colts demise. Yes, the Colts have won the past two regular season games at Foxboro no less...Yeah, and the San Diego Chargers were 14-2 until yesterday as well and look where that got them. Lets not kid ourselves here, The Brady Bunch will be coming into the RCA Dome without one ounce of pressure...Yet again, all the pressure will be on the Colts and for very good reason Will this be the time Manning gets the John Elway, Steve Young size monkey off his back? Nobody knows the answer to that question...Or will the comparisons between him and Dan Marino live on?
Although, really now, would we want anything less than this in the AFC Championship? Two familiar foes getting reacquainted once again...Not to mention with the two best quarterbacks in the league squaring off with everything on the line. Isn’t this the way it should be? Although, nobody expected this matchup. Brady or Manning...Who’s the better quarterback? The question that everybody has their own opinions about. There’s no clear defined answer...Everybody answers this question differently It all depends on how one defines greatness...Is it defined by rings or numbers? Some say rings...Others say numbers. One thing is for sure, the microscope is certainly on Manning...By finally beating Brady and the Pats and reaching the Super Bowl one burden will finally be off of him. Although to really stake his name as the best quarterback in the league with no questions attached, he’ll have to go the extra mile and win the game on February 4...Which for him will be a monumental task, considering he hasn’t won the big game ever since he was on Rocky Top.
While the teams participating in the AFC Championship might come as a surprise to some...The same can be said about the NFC Championship too. All be it for different reasons. The New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears ....Throughout the year these two were the best two in the Junior Varsity Conference. Surprising? Not so much for Chicago, as they achieved success last season...But it’s the way the Bears wound up at their 13-3 regular season mark. Tagged by many, including myself, as “the worse 13-3 team of all time”...And I’m a Bears fan, too. With question marks too numerous to mention, all can see why this label best described them Even with home-field advantage, what was once a clear path to the Super Bowl became hazier and hazier as the season progressed. Now with the Bears, where everybody that they would be, including Dennis Green as he Mike Tyson’d the podium...The New Orleans Saints are the darlings of not only the NFL, but the entire nation And for good reason With all the question marks the Bears have faced...Nothing can even compare to the Saints saga From 3-13 last year, to one game away from the Super Bowl...The one thing in sports that can compare to what we are watching unfold with the Saints might be the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team No disrespect to those guys and what they accomplished, but the shit the Saints have done...We just don’t see that in sports...Ever.
Now with these two teams being the top two in the NFC, let’s be honest here...Very few saw this matchup taking place six days from now. We all thought at least one would fall flat on their face before getting to this point. However the complete opposite happened...What some thought to be a wide open race in the NFC, turned out to be status quo...As two best teams are still left standing and have a date in Chicago on Sunday to see who punches the first ticket to South Florida. However what should we expect in this matchup? A high-octane offense going outside in the cold wether against a defense that is very suspect at best both in stopping the run, along with the pass? What will Sexy Rex do...Manage the game like for all intensive purposes like he did yesterday or will he gift wrap the NFC Championship Trophy and label the tag “To: The New Orleans Saints & their city”... “From: Yours Truly, Rex Grossman”
I’m not into making predictions, since I was 1-3 over the weekend on four games...But both have their own storylines, their own twists. If it’s anything like this past weekend, a kick is going to be heard around the world....And no, it’s not going to be by David Beckham. A kick huh...I wonder what Adam Viniteri’s going to do on Sunday? Don’t you Patriot fans?
Vote in LastRowSports.com Pick’em Poll this week which asks about “Super Sunday South Beach Showdown?To find out you're choices you have to go to the home page and find out…You’ll be glad you did! Let’s just say voting in this poll is a whole heck of a lot easier than doing that whole “Lights Out” dance bit NOTE: This isn’t a scientific poll, however by not voting in this non-scientific poll we’ll assume that you would rather mock Shawn Merriman, however be careful...You might been seen as “disrespectful”?
If you're marty Schottenheimer and you've got LT, you run the friggin' ball (first of all). Secondly, everyone (myself included), thought the pats would put the game in Phil River's hands, and to some extent they did. Contrary to the numbers, he actually had a good game, but his receivers dropped a god-awful lot of passes.
On another note, did anyone notices that the favorite in every game either didn't win outright (see AFC), or didn't cover (see NFC)... Betters' hell right there...