Against The Grain -- Week 16

2008-12-24T18:05:03-05:00

2008-12-21T23:49:09-05:00

2008-12-21T23:49:08-05:00

2008-12-24T18:05:03-05:00

Bowdoin

Brunswick 642664

42 The Steelers are lucky that Roethlisberger downed that ball; had they called timeout, the catch would've been overturned. 3766272

2008-12-23T11:37:58-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/751/86/thumb/BigHat.jpg 12 SC

pairof9s

75486

41 "Sparano does not deserve Coach Of The Year. Everyone knows Parcells is doing the coaching down there and Sparano is just his figurehead" Yeah, just like Belichick is Kraft's lapdog. Where do you get these crazy ideas?!! Have you watched a Dolphins' game this year?!! Sparano is on the sideline coaching his arss off while Bill is chugging a beer in the box seat. 3747546

2008-12-23T10:49:03-05:00

SikRik69

Cranston 346771

40 Sparano does not deserve Coach Of The Year. Everyone knows Parcells is doing the coaching down there and Sparano is just his figurehead 3746723

2008-12-22T22:38:33-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/115/839/thumb/kasparaitis.jpg 508 VA

Nikolai

116139

39 Some of you are forgetting that the award is called Coach of the Year, not Biggest Surprise Performance by a Coach. My order: 1. Sparano - Turned the Dolphins around and re-introduced the Wildcat formation. 2. Belichick - Lost the franchise quarterback and MVP on opening day plus other huge injuries and will have at least 10 wins. 3. Dungy - Coaching one resilient football team. 4. Harbaugh - The forgotten coaching performance. 5. Smith - Great job bringing a moribund team back to life. 3742871

2008-12-22T11:08:11-05:00

ArdenPats

Los Angeles 476327

25 ChrisA, strength of schedule is a completely misleading stat because it's based on the previous year's standings. The Jets are 9-6 and the Dolphins are 10-5. The AFC East has 3 teams over .500, the only division in the AFC with 3 winning teams. I don't think anyone is claiming the Pats wouldn't be good, but I suspect that if a more popular coach like Tony Dungy were winning without Manning, Addai and Rhodes, Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeny (who is the rush end in the 4-3, comparable to Adailus Thomas in the 3-4), he'd be getting serious consideration for Coach of the Year. At the moment, Belichick isn't even on the list. I think that's Perloff's point and it's a valid one. 3734304

2008-12-22T22:22:25-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/621/807/thumb/150px-IU-logo.jpg 4 IN

Maedhros

Indianapolis 622447

ChrisA, strength of schedule is a completely misleading stat because it's based on the previous year's standings... The AFC East has 3 teams over .500, the only division in the AFC with 3 winning teams.

38 Don't you think that might have something to do with strength of schedule? I'll grant you the premise that the Jets and Dolphins are both improved teams this year. (Fine, though they didn't exactly have anywhere else to go but up, winning a combined three games outside the division in 2007.) But the AFC East has been lucky enough to play the AFC and NFC Wests this year, and there isn't a single team in either of those divisions that I trust. In the eight games that each AFC East team has had against those teams, the Dolphins and Pats have both gone 7-1, while only the Jets have disappointed and gone 3-5. Even the Bills have gone 6-2 against those teams. The strength of schedule factor is very real, and it's why the case for Belichick as COY is overstated. It's tough to claim his team has overachieved at 10-6, or even 11-5, when there have been very few games in 2008 that the Patriots were not expected to win. 3742787

2008-12-22T19:31:40-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/498/539/thumb/ir_boh.gif 7 MD

macbrak

Severn 498979

37 <cough>cheater</cough> The Football Gods disaprove 3741449

2008-12-22T17:49:36-05:00

370

Shadows

Rosedale 617979

36 Harbaugh should be coach of the year. They have a fourth string rookie quarterback from a division II college. They have sixteen players on IR. The Ravens will probably be 11-5 and were picked for last place in their division. They lost to the Steelers twice and the Titans once by no more than 4 points, all three losses were with the help of horrible officiating. Their best receiver has a dislocated shoulder and still beat Dallas. One of their right tackles they had to drag off a construction site to fill in. Pretty much all the coaching staff is new. They did not have a bye week and will play 15 straight games. Harbaugh has kept his cool and not mention what type of butt heads the referees are. The NFL doesn't want the Ravens in the playoffs and more than likely they will get in next week. 3740789

2008-12-22T16:53:09-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/751/86/thumb/BigHat.jpg 12 SC

pairof9s

75486

35 "But will that pass be in the front office's mind when they think about who they really want at quarterback in the future?" No, I'd imagine the fumble and interception from the 2 previous possessions will weigh heavier on their minds. It's not so hard to throw a 78-yd TD when you're down 47-0 late in the 4th and the opposing defense is either asleep or playing "one hand behind my back" with you!! Leinart is a prima donna bomb, not a prime bomb thrower. 3740223

2008-12-22T16:49:28-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/751/86/thumb/BigHat.jpg 12 SC

pairof9s

75486

34 "But will that pass be in the front office's mind when they think about who they really want at quarterback in the future?" No, I'd imagine the fumble and the interception from the 2 previous possessions will weigh heavier. It's not so hard to throw a 78-yd TD when you're trailing 47-0 late in the 4th and the opposing D is about to fall asleep or is playing "one hand behind my back" with you!! Leinart is a bomb...not a bomb thrower. 3740134

2008-12-22T16:11:29-05:00

http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/642/4/thumb/images.jpg 78 CT

Gang Green

Northford 6444

33 I have been saying this since his first season when the jets went 10-6, that he makes to many bad decisons during the game. It seems like no matter if we win or lose we see too many "what the hell r u thinking!" type of calls. They go out and spend money to win a Super Bowl, and all we get is a collaspe at the end of the season. The front office for the jets should not make the same mistake the the mets made at the end of 2007 when they brought back randolph, they need to let mangini go now! 3739372

<div class="photo_container image_right"> <div class="photo"><img src="http://img.fannation.com/upload/si_blog_post_images/bill-belichick.4.jpg" alt="Bill-belichick" width="298" height="295" /></div> <div class="photo_attributes" style="text-align:right;">Ho-hum, yet another 10-win season for Bill Belichick. AP</div> </div> A weekly NFL breakdown that heads in the opposite direction of your average pro football analysis. 1. Even if the Patriots don't make the playoffs, Bill Belichick deserves Coach of the Year. If the Pats finish 11-5 without Tom Brady, Rodney Harrison and Adalius Thomas, this season has to be right there with New England's 2001 Super Bowl season as Belichick's crowning achievement. Bring it on Mike Smith, Tony Sparano and John Harbaugh fans. 2. One ordinary play symbolized everything wrong with the Cowboys this season. Roy E. Williams caught a 6-yard pass on third-and-3 when Dallas was trailing in the second half and did one of his animated first-down gestures. Nothing unusual, but celebrating a 6-yard gain on a night you had three catches for 12 yards screams "I am a loser." At that moment, I knew the Ravens would win. This year's Cowboys are the perfect example of a team that tried to collect talent instead of character. 3. Williams was by no means alone unnecessarily celebrating. Fellow Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton got a first down later in the game and threw the ball 25 yards away from the line of scrimmage as the Cowboys were hustling to beat the clock. Tennessee's Chris Johnson started high-stepping with the ball in one hand at the 8-yard line against the Steelers and almost lost it en route to the end zone. And the normally humble Wes Welker was flagged for doing snow angels against the Cardinals. Not that snow angels ever hurt anyone, but against the Cardinals in bad weather? That's like doing a victory dance after beating your 8-year-old kid in one-on-one. 4. How can Chad Pennington accumulate 3,453 passing yards without throwing one pass farther than 14 yards? While the Dolphins' QB deserves a ton of credit, that style had its limits in the postseason when Pennington was with the Jets. Opposing defenses might be able to tighten up on the short stuff in the playoffs. 5. Brett Favre has looked tired and ready for retirement the last few weeks. If he does decide to come back, the Jets should only take him if he commits immediately and spends the whole offseason in New Jersey. They need to stop messing around with half-measures. Part of the problem, however, is New York doesn't really have the receiving corps Favre needs to excel. Favre loves to let guys make plays on jump balls and the Jets don't have that kind of receiver. But I hear Plaxico Burress may be available. 6. New York fans will call for Eric Mangini's head since the Jets spent so much money in the offseason and likely won't make the playoffs. But Mangini has had a winning record in two of his first three seasons and seems like he could improve with more experience. One thing the Jets coaching staff deserves to get ripped for is getting so conservative on defense. They had one of the best pass rushes in the NFL, but got burned downfield a few times a few weeks ago and stopped blitzing as much. They didn't get to Seattle's Seneca Wallace once on Sunday even though the Seahawks had no healthy starters on their offensive line. 7. Last March the owners considered reseeding the playoffs so a wild-card team could host a playoff game against a team with a better record. They shot it down, but the Cardinals' recent meltdown might help convince the league it's a good idea. Arizona, which will probably finish at 8-8, has no right to host a playoff game. 8. One of the biggest plays of Week 16 might have been one of the most insignificant passes of the day. Trailing 47-0, Arizona's Matt Leinart tossed a beautiful 78-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald. Considering Kurt Warner is an MVP candidate, you'd think the job is his next year. But will that pass be in the front office's mind when they think about who they really want at quarterback in the future? 9. The Falcons will end the season playing 10 of 16 games indoors, and they totally avoided any cold weather all season. If the Vikings franchise had any guts and played outdoors like a real football team, they probably would have beaten Atlanta this week. And the Falcons very may return to Minnesota for the wild-card round. 10. In honor of Peter King, the last item will be more than one item, but all in question form: a. What percentage of people watching the Browns-Bengals game wondered if they could do just as good a job as Ken Dorsey? b. Who's a better candidate for executive of the year -- Miami's Bill Parcells or Atlanta's Thomas Dimitroff? I'd vote for Dimitroff, for bringing in head coach Mike Smith, running back Michael Turner and a sick rookie class. c. Why do Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers keep downing the ball to stop the clock in their two-minute offense when it's totally unnecessary? Not a good sign for a team in a lot of close games. d. Is Tennessee's Alge Crumpler just big or fat? I kept wondering why that guard-eligible was catching the ball so far downfield. e. Who is the NFL equivalent, talent-wise, of the soon to be ridiculously overpaid Mark Teixeira? Clinton Portis? Reggie Wayne? If anyone around the NFL questions the salary cap, just read any story on Teixeira and Scott Boras. 34642 http://img.fannation.com/upload/user_profile/image/397/2/thumb/Perloff.jpg 546 NY

Andrew Perloff

New York 3992