PLAYOFF WEEK 1 REACTION

I think the biggest surprise of Week 1 of the NFL playoffs is the fact that four road teams were the favorites, and 2 of those actually won. Home field advantage in the playoffs is so important, and Arizona and San Diego were able to take advantage of that. But Baltimore clearly overwhelmed Miami in Miami, and Philadelphia beat Minnesota in Minnesota...I feel like anytime you win a playoff game on the road, it's quite an accomplishment.

The real feat, though, is if you can win on the road in Week 2.
A couple of other reactions:

SATURDAY
Atlanta at Arizona
-I totally did not see Arizona winning this game. Good for them - I didn't particularly enjoy rooting against them (I did want to see Atlanta win). But I think their run will be short-lived, coming east.
-The Cardinals do have this working in their favor - it's not like they're heading east for a 1pm game - they have the Saturday night game, so the time shouldn't be a factor, at least. Playing a really good team will probably be a bigger factor.
-My final thought on this game is that it was amazing how fast things swung Arizona's way after the fumble on the handoff at the start of the second half. Everything fell apart for the Falcons fast.

Indianapolis at San Diego
-Definitely the pick of the weekend.
The game was a lot closer than I expected - I really thought San Diego would pour it on the Colts...and they probably would have won in regulation if Peyton Manning had not caught the Chargers napping on that long touchdown to Reggie Wayne.
-I put a lot of stock into the Chargers this post-season - our post-season player pool roster has Philip Rivers and Vincent Jackson (both posted 0's on Saturday) - but the game turned out the way I hoped....I think next week's matchup with Pittsburgh is going to also be the best game of the weekend.

SUNDAY
Baltimore at Miami
-I was shocked to see Ed Hochuli as referee in this game, after the start to the year he had. I guess he turned it around after the early errors. I'm also glad, after we saw Hochuli once or twice early in the game, CBS addressed why he was doing the game.
-Chad Pennington has never matched up well against a defense like Baltimore's.
-Speaking of the referees, I had never seen the guy who did the Arizona-Atlanta game before, but he was pretty good. I'm not sure what his name was.

Philadelphia at Vikings
-Maybe I was saving up for next weekend's games, where I'm going to be fully interested from 4pm Saturday through 8pm Sunday, but I really tuned out when this game came on. I watched a little, but I was more concerned with getting stuff done around the house. Again - this will not be the case next Sunday at the same time - I'll be glued to San Diego-Pittsburgh.

I'll have picks by late Friday or early Saturday.

Inspired by the Southern Bureau, I might try to get into some baseball this week. I also might touch on the Jets' coaching situation. Apparently Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski is putting his job on the line just to interview with the Jets. I might advise him that it's not really worth it.

NFL WEEK 13 RECAP

A disappointing week for the Jets, but besides losing the game to the Steelers in the AFC standings, the Jets didn't suffer much damage. The rest of the week:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 13: I'm surprised to say it was the Panthers-Packers. Just didn't expect that. I also didn't see the game, so it could have been a clunker of a 35-31 game, but it seems like it was back and forth, with the winning touchdown coming late. So I think it earns this title. I'm also surprised that the winning team in that game was the road team.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 13: It came on Thursday, but that doesn't diminish the impressiveness. Brian Westbrook's four touchdowns and 110 yards rushing were pretty dominant. I also thought he and Jason Witten would be too hurt to do much this week - Witten also turned in a good game. I can't figure out NFL injuries.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 13: The Colts played pretty poorly at Cleveland, but still managed to improve their record to 8-4. Winning ugly is still winning, and the thing about Indianapolis is that their schedule shapes up quite favorably the final four weeks (starting with Cincinnati and Detroit in the next two weeks). So they are looking like a Jacksonville-type 12-4, where you wonder how they got there. Anyway, the way they played Sunday in Cleveland I suspect they have a clunker in the next couple of weeks, because they looked terrible (which tells you a little bit about how terrible the Browns were).

BEST GAME IN WEEK 14: Well, it certainly isn't Thursday night's Chargers-Raiders matchup. Yikes. Dallas-Pittsburgh on Sunday and Tampa Bay-Carolina are the ones that catch my eye coming up.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 14: There are two NFC South matchups. New Orleans hosts Atlanta and Carolina hosts Tampa Bay. I'm going to predict two wins for the home teams in those games, as I've learned that the home team in the NFC South meetings comes out on top most of the time, and I'm going to say a week after throwing 2 touchdowns (and 3 INT's) and 296 yards in rough weather in Tampa, Drew Brees comes back with 400 yards passing and 4 TD's at home in the dome.
-Last Week: I was way off picking the Lions to upset the Titans. Boy, are they terrible.

NFL WEEK 11 RECAP

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Browns-Bills tilt tonight will not factor in to this week's recap as one of the best of Week 11 of the NFL season. So I'm going to go ahead and do the recap without waiting for that game to finish:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 11: We go back to Thursday night for the best of the week - it never got better in Week 11 than the Jets-Patriots, and there might not be a better game all season. It should have been a blowout, so that's a strike against the Jets, but factor in the comeback by the Patriots, the last-second touchdown, and then the overtime win, and it's got all the elements of a great game.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 11: Kurt Warner has been putting up some sick numbers this year - Sunday he led the Cardinals to a win in Seattle, throwing for 395 yards on 32-44 passing. He had 1 touchdown and an interception. His receivers had great games, too - Larry Fitzgerald had 151 yards and Anquan Boldin had 186, but it all starts with Warner getting them the ball.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 11: I would say the Eagles in general, and maybe Donovan McNabb specifically. Sure, they didn't lose, so it could be worse, I guess, but a tie against the Bengals is pretty bad. McNabb's numbers were not good - three interceptions, and he was missing receivers all over the field as he threw 30 incompletions. The Eagles blew a chance to keep pace with other teams taking care of what they needed to do...and not to mention they messed things up for newspapers that had saved space in their sports pages by not printing the 'tie' column.

And then today it comes out that McNabb and a bunch of other Eagles didn't know that NFL games could end in ties. I hate when I know more about the rules of the game than the people who get paid to play the games.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 12: Since the Jets are now among the best in the league (at least for another week), my bias is going to start factoring in here - but no matter what, I think Jets-Titans is the best game in the coming week. There are other interesting ones - Dolphins-Patriots, Giants-Cardinals, Colts-Chargers - but I do think New York-Tennessee is the best.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 12: Tony Romo kept it together in Washington Sunday night in his return, getting a win for Dallas against the Redskins. I think next week he regains stellar form - 303 yards passing, 2 TD - against the 49ers at home.
-Last Week: I was all wrong about the Philly defense. They didn't get a shutout (the 13-13 tie). They had 8 sacks, 0 interceptions, and a fumble recovered. I had called for at least 5 sacks, a 'couple of' turnovers, and one returned for a touchdown. One out of three there.

NFL WEEK 10 RECAP

Obviously, the best game of the week for me was the Jets picking apart the St. Louis Rams, 47-3. But I'm biased. So we'll take most of that game out of the equation. Here's the recap from Week 10, which ended last night with Arizona beating an inept San Francisco - from what I saw of the highlights at the end of the game, San Francisco managed the clock worse than Herman Edwards with the Jets:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 10: There were a lot of close games, some of which shouldn't have been close. (Incidentally, I picked these games all wrong - I though the Jaguars would barely get by the Lions, and the Chargers would take out their underachieving aggression on the Chiefs. Obviously, I had those reversed.) I guess the best games were Giants-Eagles, though some controversy marred that one (I didn't see the end - just the highlights - was that a Brandon Jacobs touchdown or not?), and the Packers-Vikings came down to a last-second field goal, but that game never grabbed my interest.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 10: The Jets can't be ignored here - but specifically, Thomas Jones is having a very good year, and he set the tone on Sunday for the Jets against the Rams. He had 149 yards and 3 touchdowns.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 10: The Panthers won in Oakland despite an awful outing by Jake Delhomme. The QB threw 4 interceptions, was just 7-for-27 overall, and had just 72 yards (one touchdown).

BEST GAME IN WEEK 11: Look no further than Thursday night's Jets-Patriots matchup. Althought another highlight of Week 11 is no more bye weeks - a full slate on Thursday through Monday.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 11: I'm going with the Philadelphia defense against Cincinnati. At least 5 sacks, a couple of turnovers, one returned for a touchdown, and quite possibly a shutout.
-Last Week: I said Ronnie Brown would go for 110 yards and a touchdown as Miami beats Seattle 33-14. Brown had a touchdown, and Miami won, but I wasn't very close. It was a 21-19 win, and Brown had just 39 rushing yards (I was closer to Ricky Williams' numbers).

NFL WEEK 3 RECAP

First, a word on the Jets. They play the Chargers tonight, out in San Diego, where they have had an inordinate amount of success in recent years - winning games you might not have expected them to (the blowout win that started the Jets' streak under Pennington in 2002 and the playoff win in 2004 come to mind).

I don't know that the Jets will have that same kind of success under Favre. But I do know that a Jets win will bury San Diego at 0-3 in a very tough AFC. And that would be awesome.

Luckily, since the baby was born this weekend, I do not have to worry about waking up for school tomorrow...so I'm up for the entire Monday Night football game. And the Mets-Cubs, of much more immediate importance (the rest of the week will focus on the Mets). Here's my Week 3 recap:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 3: OK - I didn't see all of the football games on Sunday, with the new baby and all. I did see a lot, just not my usual hectic watching of many channels at once (I had guests, and we watched most of the Giants and most of the Mets games. The channel-flipping isn't for everyone.). But the best of Week 3 just might have been Jacksonville beating Indianapolis on a last-second field goal, 23-21. The Colts looked much better Sunday than they had, especially in the second half, and Jacksonville looked impressive marching down to the win. To be honest, there were a lot of close games on Sunday, but none that were great. I think this was the best of those.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN WEEK 3: I think this would have to be the Miami Dolphins. First of all, they said all week they were going to attack the first-time starter, Matt Cassel, then they came out and did it. The Jets' defense sat back and waited for him to beat them. The Dolphins went out and got him. Good for them. But even more than that, they used a creative offensive game plan to put up some points, and then they blew the Patriots out. If the Dolphins had been that creative on offense against the Jets in Week 1, they would have blown the Jets out too. Chad Pennington managed the game well, but it was Ronnie Brown who torched the Patriots' defense, and shares the credit with the Miami defense for the upset win.

WORST PERFORMANCE IN WEEK 3: Again, a lot of close games in Week 3 - and a lot of them shouldn't have been close. But I think the worst performance was the Pittsburgh offense against the Eagles. You have to give the Eagles' defense credit, because they put up some great numbers (2 forced fumbles, one interception, 9 sacks). But Ben Roethlisberger looked like the bad-decision-making Roethlisberger of a couple of years ago instead of the one who put up impressive numbers last year, and Willie Parker ran for just 20 yards. All they managed was 6 points on two field goals. The Steelers should never be the team that scores the lowest amount of points in the NFL in a given week...but they were in Week 3.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 4: Bye weeks start next week, so there's a smaller schedule...and nothing is jumping out at me in a huge way...but I'm thinking I'll keep an eye on Minnesota at Tennessee. The Titans are 3-0. The Vikings are lucky to be 1-2 - the Panthers looked bad on Sunday, and sort of handed the Vikings one. The Vikings were everyone's (except me) favorite dark horse entering the season, and now Gus Frerotte is their quarterback. A win and everyone's back on their bandwagon. The Titans now have Kerry Collins instead of Vince Young, and a 4-0 start would put some distance between them and second place. Tennessee is a tough place to play. I bet the Titans win. Also, the Bills should go to 4-0 in St. Louis.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 4: Carolina, as I mentioned above, looked bad against Minnesota. Jake Delhomme was 17-29 for 191 yards. I think he and the Panthers rebound in a blowout of Atlanta, in Carolina. I'll go with 265 yards and four passing touchdowns for Delhomme in a 38-13 win.
-Last Week: I gave you Eli Manning for 320 yards and 3 TD's. I also went extra and gave you the Giants, Bills and Patriots going to 3-0. I should have stayed away from New England...and the Bills and Giants games were much closer than I expected. Manning was good, but his receivers didn't have the days I though they would - he had just 1 touchdown and 289 yards.

NFL WEEK 2 RECAP

I think I might pride myself on being the last recap of the week in the NFL. Here it is, Tuesday night, and I'm just getting to it. It allows for plenty of reflection, so I've got that in my corner.

Different than last week, I'm going to start with the Jets. That was disappointing. I'm taking nothing away from the Patriots, because their defense played very well, and a win's a win...but that was a game the Jets should have won.

The Patriots came out looking like a team unsure of itself after losing their star...and the Jets gave them time to figure themselves out. They practically administered CPR by marching down the field and promptly missing a chip shot field goal. (Wonder why Jay Feely was available in Week 2 of the NFL season? Wonder no more.)

The kicking game as a whole was awful - so it's only slightly surprising that there is a report right now that the Jets waived punter Ben Graham. Graham gave the Patriots excellent field position all day - another way the Jets handed the game to New England.

And the offense looked lackadaisacal. After that opening drive, they just didn't move the ball (again, credit New England's defense there). Just a frustrating game to watch overall - and the frustration was amplified by the Mets' disturbing loss right around kickoff.

The afternoon definitely took my excitement over the football season down a notch...but only a notch. There was a lot going on elsewhere:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 2: Well, since we're doing this on a Tuesday, we should include the Monday night game, because it definitely was the best. Philadelphia and Dallas scored on each other at will. I didn't stay up for the whole game - I went to sleep shortly after the half - but I had a feeling that when I woke up the score would be drastically different. It was - Dallas came back to win.

One thought on this game, though - after DeSean Jackson pulled that idiotic move, dropping the ball on the one-yard-line to celebrate - Andy Reid should have benched him. What other way is there to discourage that idiocy? I would have benched him, and made him realize how responsible he was for the loss. This is why players get away with so much - there's no discipline. I don't know what went on behind closed doors - but I suspect not enough.

BEST PERFORMANCE WEEK 2: A few to choose from - Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers both lit it up in Denver, but Aaron Rodgers had another great week, throwing for 3 touchdowns and 328 yards (0 interceptions) in a 48-25 win over the Lions. Coming out of the gates like this has probably only put more pressure on him - but he's a good quarterback. He looked good last year when he came on a couple of times in relief of Favre - the Packers didn't miss a step then, and they're not missing one now. I'm thinking, though, that in my pre-season predictions, I undervalued Green Bay.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 2: I like Ed Hochuli. He's one of those high-profile referees who doesn't really try to steal the show...he calls a good game usually. He's better known because he's a good ref than for anything else. But he dropped the ball on Sunday. Jay Cutler clearly fumbled in front of him and he missed it. But that's where the story should end.

He did the right thing with the 'inadvertant whistle' ruling. There's not much more that you can do in that situation. The inadvertant whistle ruling is that things can't change drastically because once the whistle blows, some players stop playing, and others saw what should have been called and play through the whistle. I don't know what can change in the offseason if the NFL indeed looks at the rule.

And here's something that hasn't been mentioned at all - the whole DeSean Jackson thing was an inadvertant whistle too. The ball was down, the Cowboys could have recovered it, but the Eagles would have still gotten the ball on the 1 because the play was "dead". So where's the anger in Dallas over that inadvertant whistle?

BEST GAME IN WEEK 3: I don't want to sound like a homer, but it's the Jets again. Monday night, Jets-Chargers in San Diego. The Jets' recent success in San Diego was with Chad Pennington at quarterback, so I'm not sure they still have the ability to win there. It's even tougher with the Chargers 0-2, coming off two very very difficult losses (last-second to the Panthers and then the Denver game last week). I'm hoping the Jets can win - but they need to improve on last week's performance. One thing seems for sure - the Jets should be able to put up some points on San Diego - they haven't looked like they can stop anyone.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 3: Eli Manning and the Giants will go to 3-0 against Cincinnati. I bet Manning throws for 320 yards, with 3 TD's. Also going to 3-0 - Buffalo hosting Oakland, the Patriots hosting Miami, and either the Packers or Cowboys (OK, one of them has to - they're playing each other).
Last Week - I gave you Adrian Peterson for 150 yards, 2 scores, and a long one - 75 yards, I said. His long was just 29 yards, but he did have 160 yards. Like his teammates, he couldn't find the end zone.
-By the way - enough of the Vikings talk already. They're 0-2, they couldn't score on the Colts, and they let the Colts back into a game they had no business being in. That's not a team that should be favored to win anything.

Earlier this week, I promised surprising comments from an unlikely Jet. The comments came from unrestricted free agent tight end Anthony Becht, who went off (sort of) on Monday or Tuesday when the team was cleaning out its lockers.

Becht said something to the effect of he feels he was underutilized with the Jets, and feels he'll be used better somewhere else. He says the only reason other tight ends have been having better careers is the way they are used. He acknowledges he's not as fast as some of those other guys, but says he could match their production if he was given the ball more. He wrapped up by saying when all is said and done, people are going to say Anthony Becht had a great career.

I think Becht was waaay underused with the Jets. When the Jets made their run to the playoffs in 2001, he was one of their clutch guys - catching game-winning touchdown passes against Cincinnati and Indianapolis (and a key 2-point conversion along the way). Lately he has become known for his drops, and he only saw one pass thrown his way (if any) in most games this season. I think his final numbers were 13 catches for 100 yards in the regular season. Becht saw his production increase a bit in the post-season, but nowhere near the elite tight ends of the NFL. The Jets started to use Chris Baker a lot more this season, but he showed a tendency to fumble, and did not have more reliable hands catching the ball than Becht did. Becht was also very valuable blocking in the running game.

So, long story short, Becht will most likely be playing for another team next year. Whether he will have a "great" career when it's all said and done, I doubt...but I wish him well. He was one of my all-time favorite Jets (a list that includes tight end Mickey Shuler, who, by the way, Becht compared himself to).

As for Sunday's AFC and NFC Championship games (for entertainment purposes only):

I really like the Falcons. I can't tell you why...perhaps it's because I've been saying since Terrell Owens went down that the Eagles wouldn't go to the Super Bowl. Perhaps it's because Michael Vick beat the Packers in the playoffs in 2002, and can win in cold Philly this year. Perhaps it's just because I'm an idiot, and the Eagles are going to win, but I'm picking Atlanta. I don't know. But I pick Atlanta, at least to cover. Their defense is bad, but I think they can outscore Philadelphia, if it's just going to be a cold day, and the running game takes over, I think Atlanta matches up quite well.

In the AFC, I can't go against the Patriots. The Steelers played poorly last week, and I think Ben Roethlisberger's success runs out before Tom Brady's. The Patriots are just too good....and the Steelers are too flawed. The only stat I was going to hang my hat on in this matchup was Tom Brady's lack of success against Pittsburgh. I was basing this on the fact that Brady lost in Pittsburgh this season, and was injured in the AFC Championship in 2001. Brady left that game ahead 7-3, but hadn't done much on offense (the touchdown was a punt return). But Brady did light up Pittsburgh in the 2002 season opener (at Gillette Stadium), so this stat is worthless. Unless you want to believe that Brady can't win in Pittsburgh. We'll find out on Sunday. But my pick is the Patriots, because you can't pick against them until they show you they can't win. I give up on picking against them (at least for this season).

Enjoy the games.

Not much to talk about with the Patriots playing as I write this. The only development I will get to tonight is Chad Pennington being ornery.

Pennington, after Sunday's game, tried to walk out of the lockerroom without speaking to the media, but he was held up by a Jets PR guy. Pennington stuck around, spoke for about a minute and a half, and then bolted. He was very short and terse with the media on Sunday. Teammates said, "Chad had something to prove".

On Monday, Pennington apparently ripped into reporters because of the things they wrote leading up to the Seahawks game...or more accurately, following the Pittsburgh game. I have not seen or read these quotes, but I will write more about this scenario tomorrow. All I'll say for right now is that if Pennington was playing angry on Sunday, keep playing angry....he played one of his better games of the season on Sunday.

One e-mail to get to (thankfully Dave is no longer charading as a Brighton resident during his Christmas holiday):

"Dear Johnnyjets,
Is it possible that the AFC East could provide three (3) playoffs teams?
Is there a scenario where the Jets and Bills would win both wild cards?
Is this unprecedented?
Would that make the AFC East the best division in football?
Would it make it the bet division insports?
What do you think the best division in sports is? NL East,probably, you jamoke.

Signed,Dave in Mauldin, SC...home of the flourescent orange Mauldin Mavs visor."

Well, Dave, it's a shame the Dolphins tanked this year, because the AFC East would definitely be the best division in sports if the Dolphins were the slightest bit competitive. Well, since Miami is competitive right now with the Patriots, I'll go along with it. Sure, the AFC East is the best division in sports...and definitely the NFL. I think the Bills have a real shot at the wild card - having won 8 of their last 10 games. Here's the breakdown of the 4 wild card potentials (not counting the Jets, who hopefully get in even at 10-6):

BUF: at SF, vs. PIT
BAL: at PIT, vs. MIA
JAX: vs. HOU, at OAK
DEN: at TEN, vs. IND

I think all of those teams will lose one of their final two games, except for Jacksonville. So I think the Jaguars get into the playoffs, proving you, Dave from Mauldin, SC, quite prescient, picking Jacksonville to do something big early in the year.

One other note I wanted to touch on before I go to bed - the Eagles are so screwed. Even if they've proven they can win without Terrell Owens, which I don't think is the case, I think his broken leg is going to mess with their heads so much that they might lose their first playoff game -not even making it to the NFC Championship game. Just a thought. Look for Atlanta (or an even crappier team) to make it to the Super Bowl out of the NFC.