One team’s season ended right after another team’s season had began a week earlier.
It’s sad to see the competitiveness in the NFC is so weak, but some teams are slowly emerging by the halfway point.
The league’s impact on heavy hits seems to have had an immediate effect, but its impact on proper officiating has once again come back to haunt us.
**It was in the 2nd quarter of the Monday Night Football game. The pass was completed to Miles Austin for a 1st down, and then the crowd goes silent. FB Chris Gronkowski turns around to see QB Tony Romo on the ground holding his shoulder with Giants LB Michael Boley walking away from him.
I don’t know what happened in that locker room afterwards, but I can bet after seeing his missed block, Gronkowski has to be the saddest man in Texas.
Gronkowski’s assignment was to pick up any additional rushers and then spread out to the flat for a check down route in case of pressure. Instead of holding in for that extra second, he dumps out quickly and completely misses Boley rushing in untouched. Due to that missed block, you can pretty much sum up Dallas’s playoff chances snapped with Tony Romo’s clavicle.
Romo is said to be out for at least 6-8 weeks. The good part? He won’t need surgery. I don’t think I need to state the bad part, since it’s pretty obvious what playing half the season without your starting QB will do to a team that was a thread away from being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
I think this team might be in the running for most disappointing team in 2010. From going 11-5 last year and winning their first post season game, this team was an early front runner to be the first team to host the Super Bowl in their own stadium. Outside of dropping that dud in Minnesota, this team defensively looked to be one of the surest units in the NFL.
This season, they’ve literally imploded from the inside. Starting out the season, penalties have buried this team in more than a couple meeting with opponents. When it wasn’t penalties killing them, their supposed “shut down” defense would cave on more than a few occasions. This team hadn’t given up a 100 down rusher since 2008, and then gives up back to back 100+ yard performances to Arian Foster in Houston and Chris Johnson from Tennessee.
To add to this mayhem, their pass defense finally got exposed as a very vulnerable unit. Last year, the Dallas pass defense was actually decent, but I believe those numbers have been inflated due to having such a dominating pass rush. When you have guys like Demarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, and Anthony Spencer bearing down on you, it’s easy to get an interception on a hurried pass. I think this unit was given more credit than it deserved, which seems to be a running trend with this entire team.
With Romo gone for almost the rest of the season and backup QB Jon Kitna taking the reins, I think we can close the book on this team for the 2010 season. Wade Phillips ultimately will be let go in the offseason and this team’s coaching staff will be overhauled. It just depends on if Jerry Jones will finally step back and hire a GM or if he’ll continue to be the harboring owner/GM/hindrance on getting this team into true playoff contention.
This is a team of personalities and great talent. They won’t win a thing with a “yes man” coach. This team was ultimately built by Bill Parcells, a man who needed full control to make the roster moves necessary to build a winning team. If Jerry wants to see his team as a real contender, he needs to step back and let an architect take over. Until then, Dallas will be a team that is surrounded by hype but falls short.
**Speaking of teams that they’re seasons ended, Pittsburgh’s seemed to just start off with Ben Roethlisberger back in the starting lineup. His initial first start last week against Cleveland seemed a bit rusty, but he’s slowly working the kinks out. Although, he almost cost the Steelers the game but the referees gave him a gift to end the Dolphins’ chances of pulling off a big home win.
With the ball within 5 yards of the end zone, Ben scrambles to the right to sneak in for a TD. As he dives for the end zone, a Miami defender knocks the ball out of his hands before it breaks the plane and causes a scrum for the ball in the end zone, which a Miami player comes out of the pile with the ball. With the officials initially ruling it a touchdown, they essentially ruined Miami’s chances of getting the turnover due to play being whistled dead.
This is one rule that the NFL has that I can’t seem to fully comprehend. I understand that the referee can rule the play dead, but reviewing what is an obvious fumble and recovery is not a reviewable play. Due to the fact that there’s a pile, essentially that kills any chance of instant replay because they state they can not officially see who’s coming up with the ball. When watching the replay on this issue, you can clearly see a Miami defender fall on it, a pile ensues, and then a Miami defender comes up with the ball.
Ben got bailed out thanks to the refs, so I think there needs to be an extra Christmas present in the mail this year when the holidays come around. Not every call is going to go Ben’s way, so hopefully the errors aren’t a sign of anything bad, and just working off the extended preseason rust.
**Adding to the story of blown calls, the Sunday Night Football game of Minnesota going into Lambeau Field to play a depleted Green Bay Packers team was another prime example of officiating dictating how a game plays out.
Brett Favre, for as reckless as he played, gave Minnesota the chance to win the game, and essentially, did just that. He found Visanthe Shiancoe in the end zone for a TD. When Packers coach Mike McCarthy challenged the play, the referee looked and saw the bottom of the ball hit the ground. What he must have missed was that the ball was secured and did not move when impacting the ground, therefore it should have been ruled a touchdown. Instead, the play was overturned and the Vikings ultimately lost 28-24. Doesn’t that 7 points look important now?
I understand the human element to the game and every referee wants to get the call right the first time, but this is why instant replay is used. If you make certain crucial plays non-reviewable, then why have it? I understand that the NFL thinks it would slow the game down, but I think teams, coaches, fans, etc… would all have the game called right rather than called quickly. If the post season comes down to Pittsburgh and Miami both fighting for a wild card spot, that blown call could ultimately keep Miami out of the playoffs.
Same thing goes with Minnesota as well. Minnesota would be 3-3 instead of 2-4 right now, in what looks like a very slack NFC North. That 1 division win could make the difference between home field advantage, or even just seeing the post season. It might not seem like it’s a big deal currently, but wait until week 16 or 17 when the playoff teams are filtered out and see how it unfolds. One of these bad calls, might be one of the 2 listed, or another, will impact the playoffs somehow. I understand that they are not as common as last year, but there are some truly obvious ones being missed which makes me question what exactly are the refs looking at under the hood??
**To add to this wild 2010 season, it looks like a couple teams are finally starting to appear out of the NFC as potential playoff attendees. Now I’m not saying that they’re playing on the caliber of the top AFC teams, but you can see some of the cream rising to the top.
The New York Giants are slowly looking like they might run away with the NFC East. With their front defensive line playing like 2007, they could be an easy division winner in a watered down NFC “Least”.
Atlanta, although stumbled against Philadelphia, seem to have a good balance which is making them more and more of a clear pick to be one of the top seeds in the NFC. While they don’t truly do anything “great”, they have a solid balance and with all the inconsistency in the NFC, that’s a great thing to have going for you. They consistently can move the ball and play good defense. They are playing like they really want something, and it could very possibly happen this year with so many teams having question marks all over them.
Can you believe that Seattle is 4-2 right now and leading the NFC West? Granted, it’s not much of an accomplishment since that is a very questionable decision, but what division in the NFC isn’t? Seattle went into Soldier Field and beat up on Chicago. They seem to slowly be learning how to win on the road, which is a huge thing for them. They always play great at home, so this can only help them lock in a high spot when January comes.
**With more than a couple good games lined up on the card this weekend, it’s going to be hard which will end up better than others. A lot of rivalry games this weekend, including some you’d least expect. You’ll want to be near your TV this weekend, as I think this will be one of the best weekends for games this entire season.
SCREAMERS!!!
Minnesota Vikings at New England Patriots
Randy Moss returns to the scene of the, well, last place he basically just gave up on. He’s playing mum to the media, and there’s probably a good reason. Slowly, Moss and Favre are getting a connection, but the issues surrounding the Vikings between Chilly and Favre, Sterger and Favre, you name it and Favre, well you get the idea. New England is great at home, and they don’t have lingering drama in the locker room. That will be more than enough to keep Tom Brady focused.
New England wins in control 30-21.
Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts
Revenge game for Peyton and company. They were handled considerably in the first game when Houston looked like a true contender for the division title. Houston since then has slumped a bit and seems weak to the pass rush. Peyton won’t let this team lose twice to a division rival. Come to think of it, I can’t remember when the last time Peyton was swept by a division opponent in the same season…do you?
Peyton pays Houston back for the embarrassing start to the season in good fashion 34-20.
Sleepers…
Jacksonville Jaguars at Dallas Cowboys
The Jags are just beat up on defense. They recently benched their 2008 top prospect, Derrick Harvey for not even being a factor since being drafted. Dallas just lost Romo for most of the season and journeyman Jon Kitna will be running the reins. Dallas’ offense will sputter, but Jags defense is just awful so don’t expect to take much away from this game.
I think Dallas wins this almost by default because Jacksonville can’t do much of anything well. 17-9.
Denver Broncos at San Francisco 49ers
After taking that absolute pounding at the hands of the Raiders, Denver’s looking at just trying to save face in the NFL, or save Josh McDaniels’ job at least. San Fran has Troy Smith running the show this weekend with Alex Smith injured. On top of that, this is the game that the NFL is bringing to England for its annual international game. I feel so bad for the British this week. If we continue to give them games like this, they won’t ask for us to come back.
Denver wins because San Fran won’t be able to get anything rolling 24-13.
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