Football, Football, Futbol!!!!

Yes it has come time for the NFL playoff and the wrap up of the college bowl season. And no Martin, I am not actually going to talk about soccer. I just thought the word Futbol is funny to say, that is why it is in the title.

- Shaun Alexander won the NFL’s MVP yesterday, and I do have to admit it was well deserved. The guy scored about 3,000 touchdowns this year, and had like 12 100 yard games for the best team in his conference. Now this is a tough pill to swallow since I have an irrational dislike for everything having to do with the Seahawks (like Zoltan’s irrational dislike for Peyton Manning). I do think Tiki Barber and Steve Smith were very deserving candidates, as well as Manning. Barber suffered this season from the Barry Sanders syndrome; he put his team in position all season long only to watch them hand his touchdowns away to rookie Brandon Jacobs. Barber would have 15 touchdowns if he got all of Jacobs, which would still be way short of Alexander, but Barber has meant so much to his team especially over the last 7 weeks of the season. The Giants went 5-2 down the stretch and captured a division title while Barber rushed for 1,005 yards in those last seven games, that’s 143 per game for those keeping score at home.

- Bowl season is finally over. It lasted slightly longer than the Normans rule over England. Unfortunately I found myself watching entirely too much of this crap, but as I found out there are some great teams and great players out there, and the National Championship game was not the only exciting conclusion. A night earlier Florida State and Penn State played a classic, though the game had a lot of mistakes it was and unbelievable finish and the atmosphere was second to none. UCF and Nevada had a shootout in the Hawaii bowl that was won on a missed extra point in overtime. I love the college overtime, because you can win or lose on something like that. For my money the best game was the Motor City bowl with Memphis and Akron. The teams combined for 39 4th quarter points and the best running back in college football not on Southern Cal, DeAngelo Williams, rushed for 233 yards and 3 scores. Fresno State and Tulsa played another classic in the Liberty Bowl, which for some reasons always produces great games. Now I am one person who is perfectly fine with the current state of college football, I somehow will be able to go on living if they don’t come up with a playoff system, unlike Billy Pipher.

WILD CARD WEEKEND PREVIEW

STEELERS vs BENGALS: In Vegas the Bengals are home underdogs, and that is a handicapper’s dream. Home dogs in NFL playoff games are like hookers who like to cook, clean, and does the entire yard work; they don’t come around that often and when they do they’re a keeper. I think the Steelers will be able to run the ball at will against the Bengals, and we all know that is what Cowher wants to do. Can the Bengal offense conjure up the same success they had earlier in the year on offense? Probably not in the playoffs, they will need to take shots down the field to try and exploit the Steelers weak secondary. Experience could be huge, the Steelers have plenty and for just about everyone in Cincinnati’s organization this is their first rodeo. STEELERS- 20 BENGALS- 13

JAGUARS vs PATRIOTS: I do not believe in the Jaguars, and when push comes to shove I am betting on Tom Brady. The Patriots have played some solid ball recently, and their defense is getting healthy and improving. Watching an unhealthy Byron Leftwitch try and play against the Pats Defense will like watching the wounded Wildebeest being hunted by hungry lions. I think the Patriots will roll in this one.
PATRIOTS- 31 JAGUARS- 10

REDSKINS vs BUCCANEERS: On paper this looks to be the most evenly matched game. The two teams played earlier in the season when the Bucs edged the Redskins on a controversial Mike Alstott touchdown. The Redksins Clinton Portis had success in that earlier meeting and I think Coach Gibbs will turn to him again. Tampa Bay has a young offense that will need to mature in a hurry if they want to make some noise in this game, rookie Cadillac Williams has been excellent and Chris Simms has been efficient, but starting receiver Michael Clayton is out. The Redskins only need Mark Brunell not to make mistakes, and Gibbs will have the game plan in place to win.
REDSKINS- 17 BUCCANEERS-7

PANTHERS vs GIANTS: This is a tough one for me to pick, I have had the Panthers going to the Super Bowl since preseason, but I like the Giants so much and they are playing well. The Panthers need Deshaun Foster to show up if they want to have any chance. I have not seen a weather report, but having seen dozens of games in December & January in Giants Stadium I know it will be windy. Steve Smith may be limited at catching passes if the wind is bad and QB Jake Delhomme has been prone to the big mistake this year, and he will have two big black guys in his grill all afternoon. The Giants are going to hand the ball to Tiki Barber, often. And for a guy who takes crap from local and national media everyday about everything from his completion percentage to his choice of underpants I’ll still take Eli Manning in a tough spot. He has learned how to be effective without being great, and he has the ability to be great from time to time in his young career. If Barber gets 120+ yards I think the Giants will win. One side note: the Giants are depleted at linebacker, and the Panthers have two effective but underused weapons in FB Brad Hoover and TE Chris Mangum.
GIANTS- 24 PANTHERS- 17


And lastly, I liked most of the responses to the post earlier this week about my rancid personal life. Things are going well though now, hopefully any day she should be battling a bout with Scurvy. After she is cured of that there is a looming cloud of Crones Disease waiting for her, I think.