The Extra Point

So who is your NFL MVP for 2006?  As the regular season draws to an end, I think there is only one two.  Drew Brees is slightly off pace of Dan Marino’s single season record for passing yards (5,084 yards).  He plays on a new team that was expected to be bad, and just happy to have a home again.  He has already thrown 55 passes more than 20+ yards, shattering his personal best of 46 with three games to go.  Of those passes, 17 were 40+ yards, nearly double his previous best of 9.  And of course his team is winning.

On the other hand LaDanian Tomlinson has already broken the single season TD record and still has 3 games to go.  He is set to shatter the record.  His team was also supposed to be rebuilding after losing their Pro-Bowl QB (mentioned above) and going with a new quaterback.  Instead they have command of the AFC and thanks to Tomlinson are poised to have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  Tomlinson with his current mark of 29 TDs has never had more than 18.

 So in my mind they are co-MVP…what do you think?  Leave a comment.

Indy - Not only do their coach and QB not inspire the team with their wishy-washy leadership, but their fans don’t care that much either.  After their showing yesterday, you would think the blogs would be a little harsher.

San Diego - As a true believer that Walter Payton was the best all-around NFL RB ever, this guy is making me possibly re-think that.

Jacksonville - I almost fell out of my chair when I heard this stat yesterday (look at this list for Taylor, Fred).  How can this be?  He almost single-handedly killed 3 separate fantasy teams for me, and now he is 21st all-time, passing Hall-of-Famers and about to go over 10,000 yards??!!

Detroit - I have a friend who is a Lions fan, and my only question to him is “Why?”  

Tennessee - Is it too early to bestow the greatest accolade known to football QB’s on to Vince Young? 

Denver - As much as I don’t like Plummer, I am starting to think maybe it wasn’t all his fault…  Good thing Shanahan is a genius (seriously, how long is he going to be able to survive on that label and winning 2 SB’s with Elway and Davis).

Chicago - And finally, let me steal a page from Kornheiser (boy, that is a phrase you just don’t say every day).  I need a big day from Grossman to win my playoff game this week.  Which Grossman will we see tonight - the stud of the early season, or the mass of suckitude of late?

Tom Brady, apparently is not happy enough being the NFL superstar, 3 time Superbowl champ, and basically the lock for Hall of Fame QB even if he quit the NFL today.  He is now suing Yahoo! for their use of his likeness in some Fantasy Football ads.  Oh Yahoo, will you ever learn. 

Seen on The Smoking Gun, Web Pro News, Deadspin 

Watching football yesterday, I saw a ton of mistakes that really boggle the mind when you realize most of the people playing and/or coaching have been around football for at least 10-20 years, and countless games.  I can’t believe some of these people still have jobs.

Case in point, in Sunday night’s Denver/Seattle game, what happened to Denver coaches at the end of the 1st Half?  Here’s the breakdown:

Denver is driving, holding a 3-point lead.

Cutler passes to Jackson for a 9-yard gain to the Seattle 25.  It is now 4th-and-1 with about :47 seconds left on the clock.  Denver still has 2 timeouts left.  So, naturally, the Denver coaches and players just look around at each other for the next 20-something seconds - then call time out.  Coaching genius move #1.  So now there are :24 seconds left, and they send in the FG unit for a 43-yard FG, well within Elam’s range.  Except Elam and Plummer run the fake!  Elam gains 2 yards, stays in bounds, and hurts himself in the process (genius move #2).  They then wait to take their last timeout until there was 1 second on the clock, and Elam kicks a 41-yards FG.  Genius move #3.

I honestly couldn’t beleive what I saw.  Someone should lose a job.  Al Michaels suggested maybe Plummer/Elam made an automatic fake call based on the defense, which maybe is true, but I just don’t see it.  You are telling me that Denver has an auto-call to run outside with a 36-year old K with hamstring and calf problems?!!  Plus, nobody is talking about it!  Why isn’t anyone in the press asking what the hell happened?  Also, given Denver’s defensive problems of late in the 2nd Half, trying to do something with the ball on the Seattle 25 with :48 seconds left and 2 timeouts might make sense.  Either Shanahan, the Special Teams Coordinator, or Plummer/Elam were at fault on this play, and someone should be taking the blame.   

  Which one is Cris?

Many expected Bryant ‘Gumball’ to be bad at calling games, and he hasn’t disappointed.  Most people thought Cris Collinsworth would make up for it, though, as in his other network duties, he usually seems to be the smartest ex-player in the room, bar none.  Plus, he has done booth duty before.  That is why his gaffes have been perplexing. 

He seemed to not know the down again last night, after making this same error last week.  At the end of the 1st Half, Steve McNair spiked the ball on 3rd and 1 with :13 seconds remaining, ball on the Cincy 11.  Collinsworth then said that they had time for one more try at the end zone, they had to do it, blah blah blah, etc., etc.  Obviously, the only problem with this was that it was now 4th AND 1!!  They had to try for the FG, as they had no more downs left for one more TD try.  C’mon!!  That is a Madden-type move, and Collinsworth should be better. 

It has been confirmed - Drew Brees announced today that he indeed has sold his soul to the Devil.  People (and fantasy owners of teams that did not draft him) have long suspected this to be true of the 6 foot tall, weak-armed QB who in his first couple of seasons couldn’t do much of anything.  Brees announced the deal was actually signed way back in high school, allowing him to become a state champion, college stud, and now NFL multi-millionaire.  Brees and the Devil decided to go public with the information this week after Brees passed for over 500 yards on Sunday less than a year after having 12 surgical screws put into his throwing shoulder.  Lucifer, King of Darkness, stated “I said, screw it (pardon the pun), I am just going to make him incredible this year even though he should be barely able to lift his arm.  It was my idea to put him on pace for 5,000 yards - Drew didn’t think he could do it”.  Apparently, the only negative for Brees, asides from an eternity of pain and suffering once his career is over, is that the Devil made him wear a mark of some kind.  Neither the Devil nor Brees explained why they chose a caterpillar on his right cheek as the distinguishing mark.   

I was always a big fan of the concept of parity, but has the NFL ever really had parity?  New England won 3 Super Bowls when the landscape in the NFL was not supposed to allow for that anymore.  Now, there doesn’t seem to be any team (with 6 games to go in the season) that someone can look at and say ‘that’s a lock for the SB’.  I actually kind of miss the days of knowing from about week 4 that the Niners or Cowboys were going to be in (and win) the Super Bowl.  Well, I guess that’s not all bad, having 5 or 6 teams that can win it all (of course, those same 5 or 6 teams can also crap the bed on any given Sunday to teams like the Raiders or the Texans).

Besides the games being generally dreadful, MNF is becoming fast unwatchable.  I know it has been said many times, many ways (sorry, ’tis the season), but ESPN is truly ruining the broadcast.  I never thought this would be possible.  Last night, I was truly grateful for the amount of time they had Ronde Barber on just because it saved us from listening to one of the stars of Lost or having the booth guys talk about Dancing With the Stars.  Uggh!!  On the bright side, I at least know that Jay-Z is a Dallas fan (of course, didn’t want to have the announcers actually talking about the game at that point!!).  AWFUL!!! 

In a recent parody on life with New England Patriots, The Onion makes a joke about Tom Brady learning the names of his wideouts is not worth his time.  My problem is that in this case funny is really just the truth.  Many good QBs in their career have proven they make the WR great.  What do you think?

 

Tom Brady To Learn Receivers’ Names By End Of Month