Football, football, football

(originally from 11.21.06)

“Are you ready for some football?” A Sunday Night Party! Is Sunday Night Football the new Monday night? Has there been even one good game on a Monday this season? I mean who picks these match-ups? Next week is Green Bay and Seattle…oooh, can’t wait. Last week it was Oakland and Seattle. The week before that it was like Tampa Bay versus one of the Arena Football League wildcard teams. These games are booooring! The Giants and Jaguars was actually one of the few games this year that should have been good (but of course wasn’t). Sunday clearly has the advantage in their masterful arrangement where they get to pick enticing games down the stretch. Look at the sweet showcases they’ve had in recent weeks: Patriots vs. Colts… Giants vs. Bears…Chargers vs. Broncos! These games are clearly worthy of being prime-time games.

The Raiders, on the other hand, who seem to be on every other week, haven’t been good since their first tenure at the Oakland Coliseum (okay, maybe not that long…but it sure feels that way). ESPN has to find a way to make these games more interesting. They already have a major obstacle to overcome in that they can’t match NBC’s dynamic broadcasting duo of John Madden and Al Michaels. I realize that it’s challenging having a flexible schedule on a Monday night, but maybe the NFL should put their best minds together [clunk—insert coconut sound here] and see if they can figure something out by the next television renegotiation. They need to make Monday night matter again! Otherwise, the aura of Monday Night Football might be a thing of the past. As is, viewers are already switching channels in time to catch HEROES… An Insider’s Peak Into My Own Notes Following the 10am Football Games on Sunday…and Then Again Monday Night:

• You know, I was just about to write how the inconsistent Aaron Brooks gets a bad rap. How despite his occasional mishap….his occasional interception…his seemingly occasional lackadaisical appearance on the field, that he also shows some occasional brilliance. His scrambling abilities, his arm and the way the Raiders seem to believe they have a chance when he‘s marching them down the field to win the game in the closing seconds against the Chiefs…

Then he goes ahead and throws an interception in the end zone (after a great drive) to seal yet another defeat for the silver and black. (Great effort btw from Randy Moss and his T-rex arm impersonation on the last play!) I was actually rooting for the Raiders (no, not a sign of the Apocalypse…just a repercussion of holding my breath too long as I ventured into a port-a-potty at my last music festival) considering Oakland is a hapless bunch and of no immediate threat to the Chargers’ playoff run; contrasting of course, with the Chief, a pesky tribe…that just won’t go away. A loss would have dropped them to 5-5 and provided the Chargers some breathing room down the stretch in what is clearly the best division in football. (Geesh…only 30 or so seconds away from an upset. Typical of the Silver and Yak) And by the way, if you’ve been doing something more productive…like washing your hair during Raider games this year (like most of us do), then you might not have noticed, but
Oakland’s defense has quietly morphed into one of the League’s top units. Seriously. Maybe even a threat to crack the top 5 or 6 overall. Too bad their offense may very well be the League’s worst. How many of you would take Ohio State’s offense over
Oakland’s? Come on, admit it. I’m serious – how many of you?

• Speaking of “D”…this was the weekend of the shutout!
  Chicago, Carolina and New England all flexed their defensive muscles. No word yet if their entire defensive squads will be suspended for four games for violating the League’s Offense Abuse Policy.

So while on the topic of top defenses…let’s do a defensive power ranking. This will be fun! TOP DEFENSES: (as of week 11)

1. Denver : it’s all about points allowed. Yardage-allowed is highly overrated as an indicator of defensive strength. But man, if the Broncos are this good on ‘D’, what does that say about SD’s ‘O’?

2. Chicago: probably the scariest defense in the league. 3. Baltimore: despite the addition of Steve McNair, the defense is still the team.

4. Carolina. Still the strength of this team…along with Steve Smith. That Julius Peppers cat stinks though He’s terrible

5. New England: Strong on D and still have the best coach in all of football. Don’t think they have enough this year to win it all…but would you want to face them comes playoff time?

The Best of the Rest:

6. Oakland 7. Jacksonville: should be much higher… two losses to
Texas, and a shootout loss versus the ‘Skins take their toll on the respect level. Getting defensive tackle Marcus Stroud back will help though. They looked solid Monday night.

8. Chargers: the bright side of playing without your best players? Improved depth. When the SD ‘D’ has been full strength—they’ve been lethal. Hurry back! When they do, SD’s defense could be ranked back in the top 5…until then, they should probably be ranked closer to like 22.

9. NY Giants: before the losses of Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Levar Arrington the Giants were playing as good as any team in the NFL.

10. Kansas City : reversal of identity. This year it’s their defense that is carrying them.

11. Atlanta: the whole team is inconsistent. The loss of John Abraham at the start of the season hurt.

12. Indianapolis: not dominant. Not strong against the run. But, let’s face it, Manning isn’t the only reason they have the best record in football.

13. Dallas: any team that has the audacity to call themselves “
America’s Team” doesn’t deserve a comment. Oh wait, whoops!

But holding the Mighty Colts to 14 points is impressive.

14. Pittsburgh: a definite drop off from years past…but still solid…and their rep is still worth something (I’m not sure what, but something).

On the Outskirts of Jumping up to the Best of the Rest:
Miami: Miami might have turned the corner a bit of late.
Seattle: not dominating, but could very well end up much higher as the season continues to unfold. Thus far though, very up and down. NY Jets: Eric Mangini should garner some Coach of the Year votes.
Minnesota: boring team. Average at best. But defense keeps games close.
Philadelphia: started off strong.

Respectable:

Cleveland: not dominant. Not flashy. Just smart, well-coached and hard-working.
New Orleans: just good enough…though the last two weeks weren’t good examples.Tampa Bay: Again, not as strong as in years past…but still holding their own.
St. Louis Rams: Giving them the benefit of the doubt here…they have shown flashes of being good. Then again, they’ve obviously shown lots more flashes of being not so good. Terrible against the run.

Washington: I told everyone who would listen, they were over-rated going into the season. But even I thought their defense would be better. If your team didn’t make this list…then they aren’t good enough. Sorry to break it to you. Feel free to write in your complaints or rationales for why you think
San Francisco or Arizona should crack the “Top D-list”…

• Is it too little too late for Miami? At one point, in the fourth quarter, their defense led the Vikings whole team 14-13. Yes, they’re closing in on respectability with yet another victory over an NFC North foe. But in the superior AFC conference, even if they didn’t lose again this entire season, they’d likely find themselves on the outside looking in.

• Drew Brees threw for over 500 yards! Wouldn’t it be cool if he could take the Saints to the Super Bowl? I don’t think his team is good enough…but they’re definitely the Cinderella team this year. And yes, he is the BEST free-agent signing of this off-season. Just slightly edging out
  Miami’s Daunte Culpepper. Ha ha lol. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (tissue please)

• Chargers 3-0 w/o Shawne Merrimen…who woulda thunk it?

MORE WHO WOULDA THUNK IT’S:

• Chargers 2-0 without both Merrimen and Luis Castillo.

• Chargers 2-0 when trailing by 17 or more points in the second half.

• Chargers undefeated in the Powder Blues.

• Chargers undefeated at home (the sign of a championship caliber team)

• Chargers scoring average thru 10 games played is well over 33 points per game. According to the SD Union Tribune, this is higher than the best scoring year of the Air Coryell days (30/game).

• New York has two football teams that don’t even play in
  New York …and a third, which plays upstate and dons one of the league’s ugliest uniforms. Hey Buffalo – go back to your past…you had much cooler uni’s then!!

• Today’s blog is coming to an end…

Ps. To my Readers: Yes, I know Oakland didn’t play
Seattle last week…and yes, I know Tampa didn’t actually square off against a wildcard team from another sport. It’s called Ironic-funniness people! Okay, it really isn’t called that…but that’s what it is