Lofty

Explaining (not defending) Jauron

10:49 AM ET 11.15

Views: 913
Comments: 1

I started writing this as a response to an article comments thread but felt myself getting long-winded and decided a blog post might be more appropriate. The thread involved reaction to the Buffalo Bills' playcalling, which some people felt was less than creative in its 17-16 loss at Indianapolis.My point was that sometimes the situation dictates that a team stay conservative. As it was, Buffalo was missing a lot of key players to injury and was playing a very good defense on the road. Losing by one is hardly a bad result.Now, injuries are a fact of life in the NFL, but only the…

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Enough hand-wringing over the Steelers

06:20 PM ET 11.08

Views: 471
Comments: 5

First of all, Steelers fans, don't take this the wrong way. I enjoyed the run to the title last year. The Steelers got hot at the right time, and everything fell into place. It's moments like that that make sports fun. They had character; they played hard; they overcame long odds. Congrats.Now can we stop gnashing our teeth over their demise this year? It was far too optimistic to believe that this season would look more like the last two months of last season than like the first three months. They never adequately replaced Bettis or Randle El, and they…

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Belichick does it again

10:12 AM ET 10.31

Views: 476
Comments: 1

Monday night provided yet another example of the genius of Patriots coach Bill Belichick. New England has an emerging star at running back in rookie Laurence Maroney, a solid offensive line and has been struggling at receiver since losing both Deion Branch and David Givens from last year's team. The Vikings, meanwhile, feature two of the best run-stuffing defensive tackles in the game in Pat Williams and Kevin Williams and a decent secondary playing the keep-everything-in-front-of-you Cover 2.So I sat down Monday night to watch strength vs. strength, figuring the Pats would try…

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