Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is here and all the hype over the last two weeks is coming to a head. Thankfully they moved the Pro Bowl to the bye week in between the Conference Championships. Because everyone was able to complain about how useless the Pro Bowl is that enabled the media from breaking down the game to the point where the length of the shoelaces of the players will play a factor on crowning a champion, or about Dwight Freeney's ankle, or Peyton Manning taking on the team that his father played for for all those years.

With the two most explosive offences in the league it only stands to reason that this will be an old fashioned shoot out and be end to end rushes. Due to that expect a lower scoring game with surprising defensive stops and uncharacteristic turnovers...by both sides. The Colts are favoured big and by all accounts should win big; therefore it will be a close game and will likely come down to whether veteran kicker Matt Stover makes or misses a field goal.

The Saints defence are not bad by any stretch and if Reggie Bush manages to break a punt or kick return could provide the spark that New Orleans needs to propel them to victory. What they have going against them is the MVP of the league and that is Peyton Manning. He is going to want this win to help build a case for the best QB ever. He probably is already and is a first ballot Hall of Fame player but no matter what he does those whispers from the negative uninformed or ignorant people is still 'he can't win the big game'. Couldn't beat Florida in college, couldn't win this one in the big game, can't win a Super Bowl. Then he wins a Super Bowl and now they say, yeah but he only has one. Can't please everyone I guess.

The Colts Should win 35-24, and control the game all the way. That will not happen.

If the Colts do win it will likely take a comeback as I suspect that New Orleans will come out flying, and get up by 14 early either on a defensive stand or a special teams play that will swing momentum.

The final will probably be 31-28. I'd like to see that score for the Colts so that means that will be the score for the Saints.

I am sure that in any event it will be a good game and at the very least The Who is performing at Half Time and that should be AWESOME...Love THE WHO so even if the game is a bust there will still be Roger Daltrey and Peter Townshend with a little Zack Starkey mixed in for good measure.

ENJOY!

Not So Perfect

If there is any question that Peyton Manning is not only the MVP of the league but he is also a half decent actor. I guess that most of his endorsement commercials have prepared him for yesterdays game. Manning was taken out of the Jets game while the Colts were leading 15-10 in the third quarter and backup Curtis Painter was not up to the challenge and looked like a JV QB or worse, like JaMarcus Russell. Sure he didn’t look pleased but managed to maintain a decent demeanor on the sidelines, unlike Brett Favre and Brad Childresss the week before. You could tell by his face that he was not impressed with being taken but hid it fairly well. It only looked like someone injured his dog but not killed it. In the end he towed the company line and said that he knew it was a possibility that this could happen. Guess he figured that If he was going to come out they would have a greater then a 5 point lead.

Jim Caldwell, Colts Head Coach made the decision to "rest" at least 5 of his top offensive players, Manning included. There were also a few on the defensive side of the ball as well. Ordinarily I would agree with the concept that you won your games and you have the right to play the last 2 however you want. If resting players, you believe is in the best interest of your teams chances to win the Super Bowl then so be it. The only thing is that this was a different set of circumstances this was a 14-0 team that had a legitimate chance on going 16-0 and becoming the first team to do so and win the Super Bowl. New England came within a hair of achieving that a few years ago and would have done so had it not been for one of the luckiest BS catches of all time by David Tyree. Going undefeated in the regular season did not prevent them from winning, the team that was on a roll and got hot at the right time and then they just didn’t play well enough in one game at the end of the season.

I have made it clear in the past that I am a fan of history being made. A great story didn’t even make it off the ground because of a pre-emptive move by a rookie coach. This is a huge deal too, just look at how people remember the Dolphins team from the 70’s. People still talk about that team and how great they were and what they accomplished. Peyton is a guy who understands the history of football and he knows what it would have meant for his team to reach such a record. Caldwell also made the comment that they never had plans of going 16-0. ???????? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, what team doesn’t try to win every game? If you aren’t planning on going 16-0 you are planning on loosing, not the right attitude for one of the elite teams in the league.

With an offence like the Colts, they rely on timing and repetition. Staying in a flow and working like a well oiled unit is what they do, taking that away from them will likely hurt the teams chances going forward. You will have spotty work in the last 2 regular season games and then a bye then you have a rusty team entering a 1 and done elimination game versus a good team... a very dangerous situation, on that the Colts may live to regret.

Just Another Classic

Football and Hockey and NASCAR, Oh My!

This weekend marked a great weekend in sports. There was a good lineup on Saturday with a good spread out schedule of hockey beginning with the Sens game at 2pm and ending with the Canucks game at 10pm with the meat in that sandwich being a Calgary victory over the Leafs. Throw into the mix some very good NCAA college football games where USC was made to look like UC Chattanooga versus Stanford where Stanford was accused of running up the score...since when does USC not do the same thing in that situation??? There was alos a Florida game versus The South Carolina Game Cocks where the Chosen One Tim Tebow was playing.

Where things got the most interesting was that Sunday schedule. Granted the quality is going to ramped up when you have the NFL involved but there were some very compelling storylines throughout the day. There were a lot of games that must be classified as surprises. Either teams that should have won but didn’t, teams that had no right being in the game but making things very interesting and a ton of injuries to some very big name key players. Dallas should not have played so poor versus Green Bay, New Orleans should not have had the difficulty with St.Louis.

The two best events of the weekend without a doubt were of the Championship level. If we can get this much excitement come Super Bowl time we as sports fans will be laughing. Jimmie Johnson took his Lowes 48 Chevy Impala to Phoenix International Raceway and took the race, led the most laps and got max points to extend his lead in the race for the Sprint Cup and his 4th Consecutive Championship. With the win Johnson added to his lead over teammate Mark Martin and the 5 Car. What Johnson needs to do now is finish the race in one piece in 25 place or better at Homestead Miami Speedway in the last race of the season. If he is able to do this he will have to be considered one of the greatest of all time.

Now onto the NFL Game of the year. Not since the Patriots were on their run to go undefeated has there been so much hype for any regular season game. Even the Brett Favre-Green Bay game and storyline wasn’t at this level. This was one of the better games you are going to see, either regular or post season. The game from start to finish was entertaining but it had one of the wildest finishes you are going to see.

The Patriots, who were up 6 in the 4th late in the game when Bill Belichick made the decision to go for a 4th and 2 on the thier own 28 or whatever...deep in thier own end anyway. Instead of punting and putting the Colts probably back on thier on 40 yard line or so, they decided to go for it and came up a few inched short when Kevin Faulk bobbled the ball and was knocked back. The Pats have been slammed since then for that decision. "How can you give the ball to Peyton Manning on the 30 and expect to win?? I have to say I can’t say it was the worst thin in the world. If you actually look at the situation it isn’t as bad a call as it would appear at first glance. The Colts were basicly unstoppable in the 4th quarter, the Patriots defence (who played well all game up to that point) were gassed with hands on thier hips and knees and showing signs of being worn out. The Colts had just scored in under a minute and a half and were rolling. Manning was in a rhythem and carving up a tired defence. Many commentators are saying that Belichick’ showed no confidence in his defence and that would be a bad thing in the lockeroom going forward. I don’t see it like that. I think that he showed the ultimate vote of confidence in his franchise and one day Hall of Fame quarterback (with Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Kevin Faulk) to pick up 2 yards. What I saw was if you give the NFL MVP the ball anywhere on the field you are going to lose. Like Herm Edwards said " YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!" Tom Brady’s arm gives you the best chance to do that, couple that with a tired defence...why not? Maybe they were saying If we can’t get 2 yards then maybe they don’t deserve to win. They can aford the loss in that divison so the risk reward made it woth it.

It is just like in racing do you race for points and go concervative or do you roll the dice and try to win, even if you run the risk of running out of gas on the back stretch. Sometimes you just have to go for the win.

Wild Card Weekend

Atlanta (11-5)

at
Arizona (9-7)

Spread Atlanta -2.5

In the first game I will be jumping on the Falcons bandwagon, or more accurately the Michael Turner/Roddy White/Matt Ryan bandwagon.
The offensive rookie of the year looks cool under the pressure and Turner/Norwood are a 1-2 punch that will not only run the ball strong but keep the ball for a long time and the longer that Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are on the bench the better. Cards have a weak running game and time of possession could prove to be key.

In this game look for Atlanta to prevail over Arizona in the desert.

Indianapolis (12-4)
at
San Diego (8-8)
Spread Indianapolis -2.5

In the Late game Saturday I will stick with the road team. With or without LaDanian Thomlinson the Colts have the edge. With the newly crowned MVP Peyton Manning and his leadership and a Colts defence that is not great but usually shows up in the playoffs look for them to exploit the banged up Chargers. LT is hurt apparently, Antonio Gates is banged up and have been without Shawne Merriman all year. Philip Rivers doesn't get the credit he deserves but he may just bot have the weapons to compete with the Colts at home this week

In this game look for Indi to roll and take this game with relative ease.

Baltimore (11-5)
at
Miami (11-5)
Spread Baltimore -3.5

In the early game, again, it will be a road team special. There may be a wildcat on the loose but it looks like the Ravens will thwart it with great run and pass defence... quote Ray Lewis and Ed Reed NEVER MORE. Joe Flacco will do what needs to be done and get just enough points to snatch the victory on the road. The Dolphins have had a great comeback season after nearly going win less last year but look for the dream season to come to an end this week.

Baltimore will take this in a close game an move into the next round

Philadelphia (11-5)
at
Minnesota (11-5)
Spread Philadelphia -3.5

In the final game, again, it will be a road team and a clean sweep in the wild card week. The Eagles will swarm with a great defence and the veteran presence of Donovan Mcnabb and Brian Westbrook. If the Eagles can contain Adrian Peterson then they will get to whoever the Vikings have at QB whether it be Jackson or Ferrot.

Eagles will leave the Metrodome with a victory and move on.