Keep the faith, Detroit Lions fans
In writing about the hope Detroit Lions fans should still have (even after an 0-16 season), Robert Weintraub looks at the smart moves the Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins made to make major turnarounds from 2007.
He does make a bad assumption, though, when he compares Lions owner William Clay Ford to the Falcons' and Dolphins' owners.
Slate, December 31: Hey, Lions fans! No need to fret. Sure, your team just completed the worst professional football season of all time, including the CFL, the World League, even the XFL. But this is the NFL, where waiting until next year actually works. Check out the playoff-bound Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons. In 2007, both franchises suffered through near-Detroit levels of decrepitude. Miami was 1-15. Meanwhile, Atlanta's rookie head coach bailed on the team for the University of Arkansas, and the team's dog-killing star quarterback was escorted to Leavenworth. ... The NFL is a top-down league, and owners have more influence than in other sports. In Arthur Blank and Wayne Huizenga, the Falcons and Dolphins are run by a pair of men who inserted their egos into team operations, found out the hard way it was a mistake, and backed off this season to let a football man run the show. Bill Parcells, a master renovator who should have his own show on HGTV, was the first choice of both teams. Atlanta thought it had the Tuna signed, but Parcells wiggled free and headed for South Florida instead. Atlanta settled for a canny personnel man from the Parcells tree, Thomas Dimitroff, late of the Patriots' omniscient scouting department. Both men set about remaking their organizations to prize toughness, accountability, and smarts.
(c)2009 mlive.com
The Chargers Are Ready For a Deep Playoff Run
When the Chargers went 4-8, I was stunned, truly stunned. A team with their kind of talent was just playing horribly, and I believed that they were over and done with. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson did not have the spark he once had, whether it was due to injury or age.
Quarterback Philip Rivers, however, really impressed me. For a team that is thought to rely solely on the running game, it was throwing a lot of touchdowns. Philip Rivers threw for more touchdowns in a single season than Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts did. Fouts had 33 touchdowns with a team that had a passing attack of another world at that time. Philip Rivers comes in and throws 34 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions compared to Fout's 17.
Philip Rivers was not even selected to the Pro Bowl, which shows how much this Chargers team was seen as a failure because LaDainian Tomlinson was not tearing up the field.
In a stunning rout of the Denver Broncos, the Chargers make the playoffs three years in a row, and I don't think that they are leaving so soon.
This team is much better than their record. What I saw on Sunday Night Football last night is a team that is ready to do the unthinkable. End San Diego's championship drought.
I saw a LaDainian Tomlinson at his elite level again. I saw a Philip Rivers that could release a deep ball accurately and powerfully. I saw a team that is determined to prove everyone under the sun in the United States wrong.
I think they will.
I'm making a Super Bowl pick, that I may or may not regret. My pick for the AFC is the San Diego Chargers. I think they will run over the Colts next week, and they will take it from there. I hope they do. I can't think of a greater athlete in the NFL that does not have a Super Bowl ring other than LaDainian Tomlinson.
Tomlinson's Alma mater, Texas Christian University, won a bowl game in San Diego a few days ago, and Tomlinson was there cheering them on to victory. I think that their victory has added gasoline to his fire. Combine him with other running backs Darren Sproles, and Jacob Hester, this team has a superb running game.
The Chargers have been burned so many times. Two years ago they go 14-2 and are upset by the New England Patriots in the first round. Last year they lose to the Patriots because of failure in the red zone, and the fact that Philip Rivers was playing on two injured legs. This team has had nothing but struggle especially since Pro Bowl linebacker Shawn Merriman had to go on injured reserve.
Then the takeaway defense went away itself. After having a +24 in turnovers, they have a +4, and one of the worst pass defenses in the league. They even fired the defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell during the season. The new one, Ron Rivera, has done a much better job helping this team win the division.
They deal with a miracle pass in week one, and a blown call in week two. After constant battling they become 4-8, and not one of the games they lost was a blow out. The highest margin of loss was nine points to the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo.
Head Coach Norv Turner has to make a deep run in playoffs if he expects to keep his job. This team barely made it in on an 8-8 record, and a gift like that cannot be squandered.
This team is much better than that, and I think we will see why in the playoffs.
Copyright (c) 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc.
In the NFL, There Are Bounties Out Every Week on Everybody
There was a controversy in the NFL this season when Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs suggested that his team had a bounty out on Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, and then backed off those comments. But anyone who thinks bounties aren't a part of life in the NFL should talk to Jim McMahon.
Best known for winning a Super Bowl with the 1985 Bears, McMahon was once injured by a player on the Packers, Charles Martin, who openly talked about having a bounty on McMahon and other players on the Bears. And at an ESPN-sponsored event today to promote tonight's Bears-Packers game, McMahon said bounties are an everyday part of pro football.
Asked if he knew about bounties in the NFL, McMahon said, "Every week." He added, "I played for seven different teams. There are bounties out every week on everybody."
That's certainly not the image NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell likes to project of his league. So the question becomes: Has the NFL changed significantly since McMahon retired? Or do teams just do a good job of keeping their bounties quiet?
(c)2007 AOL LLC
Panthers hungry for more home cookin'
Ends and beginnings.
That's what Sunday was about for the Carolina Panthers, who blasted Denver 30-10 and added another jewel to a season that could end up as their crowning glory.
It was the end of the Panthers' regular season at home. They finished a perfect 8-0 at Bank of America Stadium. That's incredibly hard to do, but Carolina (11-3) managed it for only the second time in franchise history. The Panthers haven't secured a home playoff game yet, but I think their odds of doing that are 90 percent.
It was the beginning of the Panthers' final push for playoff seeding. Their final two games are on the road. The upcoming Sunday nighter on the road against the New York Giants is one of those games that will acquire adjectives like a Christmas sweater picks up lint. Suffice to say it is important - the winner gets the NFC's No.1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
It was the end of a short week for the Panthers, who had whipped Tampa Bay 38-23 only six days before on Monday Night Football. This could have been a trap game for the Panthers, but they refused to allow it.
Said quarterback Jake Delhomme: "If we come in here and lay an egg today, it's all 'Woe is us' and 'We can't handle prosperity' and things like that."
Instead, Carolina looked inventive once more - switching to a no-huddle offense on the third play, scoring at least 28 points for the fifth game in a row and punishing a decent Denver team that likely will make the playoffs.
It was the beginning of us all seeing Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson in a new light. Richardson, now on a heart-transplant wait list, showed up and sat in his owner's box, surrounded by family. He seemed more vulnerable. Less intimidating.
The team owner had a Panthers blanket wrapped around him. Running back DeAngelo Williams was among those who noticed Richardson's wife Rosalind tenderly re-arranging the blanket for him once.
"Kind of cute," Williams said.
Delhomme spent some time with Richardson on Friday and said the owner still seemed like the "Big Cat" to him, which is the players' affectionate nickname for Richardson. Added Delhomme: "I think the best medicine for him right now is us winning."
It was the end of the Panthers' defensive slump. Carolina had given up 22, 45, 31 and 23 during the past four games, then allowed 10 points on Denver's first two first-quarter drives Sunday. After that, though, the Panthers remembered how to play brutal and effective defense.
Denver - the No.2 offense in the NFL entering the game - came up with zero points on its final nine drives.
And Carolina's defense wasn't a star-driven system Sunday. The Panthers had three sacks - the first Denver had allowed in 15 quarters - and Julius Peppers didn't have any. Carolina got plays from everywhere, including Tyler Brayton, Charles Johnson and Charles Godfrey. The Panthers looked again on defense like they looked during early October - a promising sign for January.
It was the end - almost - of the division race in the NFC South. Carolina holds a two-game lead on Atlanta and Tampa Bay (both 9-5) with just two games to play. If the Panthers win once - and surely they'll beat New Orleans on Dec.28 - they will host at least one playoff game. Beat the Giants on Sunday and they could host two.
It was the beginning of ... well, so much is possible right now for Carolina in this wondrous season, it's impossible to say.
Even though this was technically the final home game of the season for Carolina, we all know the 2008 Panthers aren't done with this town yet.
charlotteobserver.com
Buccaneers, Panthers fight for 1st place tonight
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Sole possession of first place in the NFC South will be on the line tonight in Charlotte. That's where the Carolina Panthers lay in wait for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's a matchup of 9-3 teams.
If the Bucs win, they'd have what amounts to a game and a half lead thanks to their 27-3 win over the Panthers in Tampa on Oct. 12.
To get that victory, Tampa Bay will have to find a way to stop Steve Smith. Carolina's veteran wideout has amassed 273 receiving yards over the past two games. He had fourth-quarter receptions of 36 and 54 yards to set up scores in last week's 35-31 come-from-behind win over Green Bay. And Smith had six catches for 112 yards in that earlier loss to the Buccaneers.
The Bucs secondary would appear to be up for the challenge. Tampa Bay intercepted Drew Brees three times in last week's 23-20 victory over New Orleans.
(c)Copyright 1995-2008 Union-Tribune Publishing Co
Super Jersey
For much of the season, Brett Favre has been the shiny object that has kept New York sports fans occupied while the Giants put together the most dominating regular season in their history. Favre brought out our Joe Namath superstar fantasies, and the Giants went through the drudgery of actually winning games. Now the paths of our two teams are converging. The Giants have looked like the best team in the NFC all year, and with their wins over the Patriots and previously undefeated Titans in successive weeks, the Jets now look like the best in the AFC. Not to get ahead of ourselves - though, of course, to get ahead of yourself is the very point of being a New York sports fan - but ... what's the football equivalent of the Subway Series? Meadowlands Melee? East Rutherford Rumble? The, um, Jersey Bowl? There's already a blog set up promoting the notion of a Broadway Bowl, which has the obligatory Namath touch, and it feels like ours more than Jersey's. Even if the game would be in Tampa.
The possibility of both teams playing in the Super Bowl is more real now than it's been since 1986, when the Jets came within two games of a Super Bowl the Giants ultimately won. (George Burns performed at halftime.) It's so real, in fact, that the NFL is concerned that both could end up with home field in their respective conference-championship games. Those games are on the same day, right after each other, which would be "logistically impossible," according to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
That the Giants would be major contenders this year has been evident from the beginning of the season, when they erupted with the kind of vigorous defense of their championship that's increasingly rare in today's era of roster turnover. But the Jets' emergence has been a shock to everyone, perhaps most of all to their quarterback, who openly mused at the beginning of the year about whether he'd made the right decision to come here. But Favre and the Jets grew together this year, and he actually looks better than he did for most of the past decade in Green Bay.
The downside to the realization that a Broadway Bowl could happen is that it puts more pressure on both teams. They've both succeeded partly because of reduced expectations this year. But now a very big expectation has been raised.
It's less clear whether it would be good for football: The 2000 Mets-Yankees World Series ratings were the lowest on record. Even with the drama of Brett Favre against Eli Manning ... Eric Mangini against Tom Coughlin ... the Super Bowl champs against Fireman Ed. But what do we care? The Super Bowl can be ours.
Copyright (c) 2008, New York Media LLC. All Rights Reserved
More Broncos Mistakes Lead To Crushing Loss
Games like today challenge your fandom. They challenge mine as well. The Broncos got beat, no, blown out by a hated rival, an Oakland Raider team that is as low as low can be. On the surface the defense will get killed, and much of it is deserved. The injuries are starting to take their toll, and the Raiders made some plays. What we have learned in 2008 about this Broncos team is simple -- they simply aren't good enough on defense to make up for mistakes on offense.
We have talked all year about the team being built around Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal and the offense. They need to make big plays and protect the football. When they have, the Broncos have won. When they haven't, well, you have games like today. The Broncos held the Raiders to a 3-and-out on their first possession and took the ball all the way down the field. What happens next has happened in other games this year. Games in Kansas City and against Jacksonville. The Broncos fumbled the football. Red Zone turnovers will kill you. A mis-direction play, the Broncos got a bit cute on a run call to Peyton Hillis and he and Cutler couldn't complete the QB/RB exchange.
Some might say that a play like that is ok because it leaves the Raiders in bad field position. It isn't a good thing. Turning the ball over in the red zone is never a good thing. It turned out to be a sign of things to come. There is plenty of blame to lay everywhere -- questionable play calling during most of the 2nd quarter, a special team's TD allowed, a close second to red zone turnovers in terms of being an absolute no-no, and of course, the Matt Prater misses. They were longer field goals, yes, but in a game like today's, when the game is close, each mistake you make is a confidence boost to the opponent.
The Broncos gave the Raiders all sorts of confidence today and the Raiders went out and won the football game, plain and simple.
It's too early to think about next week, and at this point, who really wants to. Again this year, the Broncos will have all off-season to live with what happened against Oakland, and a bitter taste it is. The Broncos need to regroup and think about what they want the rest of this year to be. The Chargers have the opportunity to gain a game tonight against the Colts, so much of what happens the rest of this year likely depends on that result.
Copyright 2008 Sportsblogs, Inc.
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