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By Kevin O’Neill
Why do some teams in the NFL win and some teams lose? Game management
has a lot to do with it. Up 13-3, New England is 3rd and 4 from
midfield against the Jets with a minute and a half left in the
third quarter. Tom Brady throws to Kevin Faulk, Faulk bobbles
the pass, is hit, the ball bounces around and Faulk falls on
it. It is ruled a completed pass, fumble, fumble recovery, and
a first down for New England. It clearly was an incomplete pass,
which would lead to a Patriots punt. While Herm Edwards and
the Jets bench yell at the ref about the pass being incomplete
the Patriots, who do this better than anyone in the league,
line up and quick snap to Tom Brady, who sneaks forward for
6 or 7 yards. The announcers mentioned the quick snap by the
Pats and how well coached they are, but no mention of how Herm
Edwards didn’t throw the challenge flag when the entire
Jets bench knew that the call was wrong. Instead of a punt the
Pats continued their drive and eventually kicked a field goal
for the final margin of 16-3. While it is unlikely that the
Jets would have found a way to win the game that does illustrate
the substantial difference between having Bill Belichick and
Herm Edwards as your head coach.
This certainly isn’t one of those years where 24 of
32 games are still live for the playoffs with 2 weeks to go.
With four games yet to be played, 9 teams can’t make
the NFL playoffs. The Ravens, Browns, Texans, Packers, Jets,
Raiders, Saints, Niners, and Titans have been mathematically
eliminated from the playoffs. Only the Niners have a young
coach and young team that we know will strive to get better
every week down the stretch. The rest of these teams need
to be judged on the effort on a week-to-week basis by staying
on top of news reports of their practices, game preparation,
and general attitude.
How are your Christmas lights this year? Check out this video
and crank your speakers.
www.czabe.com/mediaclips/index.shtml?a=showclip&id=414
. Fox Sports Radio host Steve Czaban does a great job gathering
some great video that likely haven’t seen.
In Saturday night college hoops consider using Princeton
at home over Wyoming in a “why is this team here”
kind of game. The Cowboys are off of a 38 point win over the
Colorado at Colorado Springs Mountain Lions, but a blowout
win over a Division 2 club doesn’t impress us much,
and Princeton’s loss to Temple has them a little more
battle hardened. Princeton lost in overtime at Laramie last
year and we’ll look for them to get their revenge against
an inexperienced Wyoming team taking an odd trip with a young
team to take on a team that’s tough to match up against.
If Iowa State holds on to beat Kansas and make the Big 12
Championship game, sparing Colorado from annihilation at the
hands of the Longhorns, would Gary Barnett still be employed
in Boulder? With a high level quarterback threatening to renege
on his commitment, Arkansas coach Houston Nutt did what any
sensible coach who makes $1.5 million and has had two consecutive
losing seasons. He hired the high school quarterbacks coach
as offensive coordinator. You can only think that SEC Western
Divisions defensive coordinators are salivating at the thought
of facing off against the Gerry Faust of coordinators.
With the Texans and Titans playing for absolutely nothing,
it would be surprising if it doesn’t shape up to be
a loosely played game. The defenses aren’t likely to
slow anyone down. The Texans give up over 28 points per game
and the Titans aren’t far behind, permitting over 26
points per contest. Factor in some key performers back in
the mix on their offenses and we may see a high scoring game
in Nashville. Consider the over, but check the forecast, as
while it will be sunny and 40 or so there may be winds of
about 15 MPH or so.
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Have a great weekend. Good luck and be careful.
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