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 17 RECAP

The 2008 NFL season is over.

Congratulations to Chad Pennington on winning the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins. I was reminded watching the game of the Jets' last division championship, which they clinched on the final day of the 2002 season, when Pennington beat the Packers (led by quarterback Brett Favre) at the Meadowlands. I thought that was kind of funny. Anyway, it couldn't happen to a better guy. Of course, Pennington handled it with class...though I wouldn't have blamed him if he had flipped off the crowd on his way off the field. I hope he wins the Super Bowl.

Before we get to the playoffs this week, though, a look at the week's final season:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 17: A couple of games came down to a final field goal - but all involved teams that had most everything wrapped up. I guess the Panthers-Saints goes as the best, because the Panthers earned themselves a bye with the win, after the Saints came back in a huge way in the game, and Carolina still managed to pull off a last-second win.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 17: The Ravens went out and took care of business - I'll give the nod to either Joe Flacco or Le'Ron McClain - Flacco had 297 yards passing, McClain had 70 yards rushing and scored twice.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 17: The Dallas Cowboys laid an absolute egg against the Eagles with everything on the line. (The Broncos didn't play much better controlling their own destiny, nor did the Buccaneers, but the Cowboys were the worst.) The Eagles did a nice job, but the Cowboys did worse than the Eagles did well.

BEST GAME IN PLAYOFFS: Next week I think the best matchup might be Eagles-Vikings, though there's something intriguing about that Chargers-Colts game too. I think the Chargers have the potential to be the Colts of two years ago - a very average regular season, getting hot at the right time and making their championship run. This is the same team, after all, that has been a playoff threat then disappointment in recent years - maybe this is the year they turn it around. Not that I want them to...but it might happen.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN PLAYOFFS: There's not much here to predict - this prediction stuff is all over (though I will pick playoff games again starting Friday/Saturday). I will say this though - I'm in a playoff player pool, where you pick players with the hope that they get lots of points and go deep into the playoffs. My friend who I'm doing it with and I were talking about who would be a good quarterback pick, because there's really no obvious choice, the way Kurt Warner has fallen apart and with no other clear cut great quarterback out there this year. It occurred to me this weekend that Matt Ryan might be the choice - because I bet Atlanta upsets Arizona next week, and he puts up good numbers.
-Last Week: I said a 24-10 win by the Dolphins (off by 7 points there), on a 19-23, 279-yard day, 1 throwing, 1 rushing touchdown for Chad Pennington. He was 22-30 for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. Just another solid Pennington day...and my prediction was close enough for me.

**UPDATE** - Eric Mangini has just been fired by the Jets. I would have fired him last week, after the Seahawks loss, but that was totally reactive. After what I read about Woody Johnson (Jets owner) this morning, I suspect that this was a reactionary move. Maybe they should have taken a week to cool off. I don't love the idea of starting over with a new coach. I just hope a replacement is named quickly...and I hope the other reports recently that Brett Favre did not like playing for Mangini did not factor into this decision.

So here we are again, the Jets looking for another head coach. Same old Jets.

REFLECTIONS ON WEEK 12

This is not to be confused with the recap of Week 12, which will come tomorrow. But rather, it's a quick touch-base, based on what I wrote last week, about the teams the Jets (and Jets fans) need to worry about.

Titans: Well, the Titans just aren't very good. They're good, but they're not your typical 10-0 type of team. They're kind of like the Jaguars have been the past couple of years, where you see them in the playoffs, and you wonder how they went 12-4...a solid team, but they're not going to win the Super Bowl. Not sure they'll win a playoff game. They might still get the number-one seed in the AFC, though.

Steelers: The Steelers have a tiebreaker over the Jets, so they're still the number two seed right now. And they're kind of up and down - because their quarterback is so up and down. They're the playoff-tried team that probably poses the biggest threat to the Jets the rest of the way (assuming, as I will throughout this entry, that the Jets do what they need to do).

Broncos: I'll still worry about them until I see the Jets beat them next Sunday with my own two eyes (the Jets do not have a history of success against Denver), but I'm not too scared of them. I wrote about them earlier in the year as having one of the seemingly easier schedules in the league, and they haven't done much better than .500 with that schedule. So I think that pretty much sums things up about the Broncos.

Ravens: Until proven otherwise, I'm going to maintain that the Ravens' big win was more a reflection of the disaster that the Eagles have become than an accurate portrait of Baltimore. I think the Ravens are more the team that led 10-7 at the half (good, but not great), than the team that outscored their opponent 26-0 in the second half. But that win has them sitting pretty this week.

Patriots/Dolphins: A big win for New England, beating Miami. The Patriots also helped out the Jets by handing the Dolphins their second division loss. The Patriots moved themselves a notch ahead of Miami, but that can change back next week.

Colts: I think the Colts may have finished off San Diego Sunday night, and they're certainly playing themselves back into contention the past couple of weeks. Still, they're not looking like they used to look.

Bills: The Bills won a game they had to have, but they might have sealed their fate by losing to Cleveland last week.

RIP: Jaguars, Chargers: The Chargers, sadly, might still have a shot at their division, but I think they're done. The Jaguars are no longer a team to worry about - just playing out the string of a very disappointing season.

MID-SEASON UPDATE

With the season half-over (more so now, I guess, that the Denver-Cleveland game is well underway), I'm breaking out the baseball season analysis tools to break down the mid-year point of the NFL season. And the Jets.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: I think the Jets secondary deserves this nod - the likes of Kerry Rhodes and Darrelle Revis have been playing very well. The Jets aren't getting beat long - it's the short stuff that turns into big plays that ends up getting them. And the secondary has pulled down its share of interceptions.

MOST SURPRISING: Maybe the fact that the Jets have a legit shot at winning the division. And in Week 9 and 10 it's in their hands. A win against the Rams sets them up for a shot at taking over first place by themselves the week they play New England. Not sure even in my best-case-scenario that I saw that coming.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: I'm not sure this is least impressive or most frustrating, but it's the tackling on defense. This seems to plague the Jets year after year (and truth be told, it's other teams too that I see week in and week out where the tackling is poor), but with the Jets it seems worse. It seems like the game-changing plays could be stopped if someone could just wrap up the opposing player.

MOST DISAPPOINTING: Definitely the offensive line. The reason the Jets no longer have Chad Pennington is because they couldn't protect him and he nearly died playing quarterback for the New York Jets. Brett Favre is the QB now, and the only difference is he's more durable. He's taken the same amount of hits, if not more, and is getting very little protection. You would have hoped the line would gel by now - that doesn't seem to have happened.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: The New York Giants, easily. Yes, they're Super Bowl champs, but did anyone think they'd come out of the gates at 7-1? I picked them for the post-season, so I'm not shocked they're holding their own in the division, I'm just shocked at how well they've been doing that.

MOST SURPRISING: The most surprising teams are the Tennessee Titans and the Atlanta Falcons. Neither team, the Falcons mostly, did I expect to be in any sort of playoff run, let alone have the Titans be 8-0 and the Falcons a game off the pace in their division. That NFC South is pretty wild from year to year - I love how the last place team nearly always finishes in first place the next year. That's reason enough to root for continued success for the Falcons.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: The obvious answers are the winless Lions, at 0-8, and the 1-8 Bengals. Or the injury-riddled Colts or Seahawks. But the winner is a team that hasn't dealt with much of that and is still struggling in a year where it's there's for the taking - the San Diego Chargers. And that's why that Jets loss to them looks worse and worse every week.

MOST DISAPPOINTING: A lot of people will probably tell you the Cleveland Browns are the biggest disappointment, but I wasn't buying into them this year. Were you? Though (obviously, since this is a mid-season update) we're only halfway through, the 3-5 posted by the Jacksonville Jaguars has to be the most disappointing thing about the NFL so far. The way they ended last year was so promising - I thought they were a lock for a playoff spot. The fact that the Jets are two games better than them is surprising to me.

COMING UP: Before the games get underway on Sunday I'll preview the Jets' second half.

NFL WEEK 6 RECAP

Weird week of NFL action, wasn't it? Lots of upsets and near-upsets. After the way Sunday went, I kind of sensed the Browns might pull it off on Monday night. But without having put any money where my mouth is on that one, I have no proof. So we'll move on:

BEST GAME OF WEEK SIX: By far the Cardinals-Cowboys game, which is the first time (I think) the game I called would be the best was actually the best. I missed the first half of this game because of how long it took to get back from the Jets game, but I heard from a couple of different sources that it was intense right from the beginning. The Cardinals just beat up the Cowboys (final tally: the star quarterback, the starting punter, and the second-string running back/kick returner, among other injuries), and pulled out a huge win. All told, as bad as the Jets' losses to the Chargers and Patriots are looking right now, the win against the Cardinals is looking pretty impressive.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK SIX: The Colts looked like the Colts again, and in particular, Peyton Manning had a typical day. Manning was 19-28 for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns, as the Colts blew out the Ravens 31-3.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK SIX: I've already mentioned the disappointing week Brett Favre had, and the same could be said of the Vikings (Adrian Peterson in particular) and Bears (the Vikings barely got by the Lions, the Bears lost to Atlanta). But the Redskins laid the biggest egg. A week after being declared by everyone an up-and-comer in the tough NFC East, the Redskins showed why they're the team people are picking in that division to NOT make the playoffs. They gave the Rams their first win of the season, 19-17 St. Louis. (Similarly, the Panthers got crushed by the Buccaneers just when people were buying into them. I still think Carolina will win their division.)

BEST GAME IN WEEK SEVEN: I like a few on the schedule - Indy at Green Bay, Monday night's Pats-Broncos matchup, and New Orleans-Carolina. But the big matchup, I think, is San Diego at Buffalo. Big measuring stick game for each team, what with the Bills 4-1 (coming off the loss to Arizona) and the Chargers coming off their win against New England, unpredictable all season. The Bills' starting quarterback, Trent Edwards, has a concussion, so they might have to go with J.P. Losman - but they're home, and the way the Chargers have played defense this season, Losman would probably be OK. An interesting AFC matchup, with potentially huge ramifications for the Jets.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK SEVEN: Going on kind of a hunch here, I'm thinking the Giants bounce back huge against the 49ers at home next week. I think they'll be led by Brandon Jacobs, who will have 3 touchdowns on the ground, and maybe 117 rushing yards.
-Last Week: I said Jason Campbell would bounce back from a mediocre stat week to have 298 yards passing with 2 touchdowns by air, one on the ground. He threw for 208 yards in the Redskins' disappointing loss, and had 0 touchdowns.

NFL WEEK 5 RECAP

A bye week for the Jets, which meant I was able to give less than 100% focus to more than just the usual 2 to 3 games (that's the kind of respect I show the Jets):

BEST GAME OF WEEK 5: I really enjoyed watching the Miami Dolphins beat the San Diego Chargers, 17-10. It's looking more and more like the Jets were lucky to beat Miami in Week 1, and their loss to San Diego is just going to kill them come playoff time. The Dolphins were very good, and Chad Pennington was typical Pennington. His arm looked strong enough, and he didn't make any mistakes. A great game for him, and a great win for Miami. And there's something really screwy going on when I'm rooting wholeheartedly for the Miami Dolphins - I don't think I hate an NFL franchise more. There's the power of Pennington for you.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 5: Kudos to the Arizona Cardinals. You want to talk about a bounceback win - after getting embarrassed by the Jets (while still putting up 35 points themselves) they showed they can hang with the AFC East by beating the Bills handily. That's a good win, especially when you consider.....

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 5: ...the Seattle Seahawks absolutely laid an egg in their game against the Giants. I mean, the Giants look better than I think most of us expected - but they crushed Seattle. The Seahawks are supposed to be the best team out of that division....I think they've shown they are not, and the Cardinals, flaws and all, might be.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 6: How about another measuring stick for those aforementioned Arizona Cardinals? The Cardinals play the Cowboys in Arizona. Arizona is coming off a huge win, the Cowboys are coming off a disappointing performance at home against Cincinnati.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 6: Following a week where he threw for just 176 yards and no scores, I think Jason Campbell bounces back pretty good for Washington against St. Louis. Campbell is putting together a nice little season for himself, and Week 5 was more the aberration than the norm. That was some win for Washington, by the way, beating Philadelphia. They'll crush the Rams next week to go to 5-1, behind 298 yards from Campbell, with 3 TD's (one rushing).
-Last Week: I said Matt Forte would have a big game. Chicago had itself a big game, beating Detroit 34-7, but Forte had just 36 yards on 15 carries. He did catch 4 passes for 25 yards, with a touchdown receiving and rushing, but that's not really close to the 145 yards I predicted...though I did call for 2 TD's. This was my worst prediction of the season so far.

DO OR DIE

The MLB calendar says the playoffs don't start until next week. Except that for the Mets, for the second straight year, they've turned the final week of the season into must-win playoff scenarios.

There's a positive to this, I guess. If they make it in, they've earned it (unless Milwaukee continues to go backwards, allowing the Mets to back their way in). And they'll have played good baseball, so there's no downtime to re-adjust to meaningful games once the playoff games start. The Mets will end up going right from intense baseball to intense baseball, with no lag time in between.

The downsides, though, are more stark. The Mets - already strapped for pitchers - won't be able to set things up the way they want to...Especially considering that with Johan Santana going against Chicago tonight, he'll be pitching the season finale on Sunday with regular rest, with everything on the line. So he then wouldn't be available until the middle of the first round of the playoffs.

Another downside is the incredible pressure the Mets have put on themselves. To play this way with the Phillies breathing down your neck is understandable, I guess. It's a high-pressure situation. But to do it for the second year in a row ramps up that pressure a huge notch, and then to have to face the best team in the National League, followed by a team in the Marlins who would love nothing better to knock you out for the second year in a row....that's a little much.

Though I'm stressing these downsides, I'm not feeling sympathy for the Mets. They deserve what they get. They put themselves in this situation by playing terrible baseball for a month and a half early in the year, and not making the right moves to improve their situation in the bullpen all year long. So if they don't make the playoffs, I won't be surprised.

If they do make it though, it's a playoff spot well-earned. If they win the division, they did so because they won enough games to do it - not because Philadelphia choked (the Phillies have played too well until this point to consider anything from this point out a choke). If the Mets get the wild card spot, they'll probably have beaten the Cubs to get it, and then will have a chance against the Cubs in the first round of the playoffs.

For the Mets, the playoffs have begun. It's a six-game series from this point out. The Mets need to take five of six (five of seven before last night) to win the pre-first round.

(I thought what I was writing sounded awfully familiar.......)

Meanwhile, the Jets looked terrible last night against the Chargers on Monday Night Football. I honestly thought the Jets would take one of these two games (home against New England, at San Diego). Now that they've lost both (both games they could have won, with Cassel at QB and if their defense had stopped one play by San Diego last night), they need to go on a tear.

Arizona is looking like a tough draw this year. The Jets have them at home on Sunday - it's a short week for the Jets, but a long road trip for Arizona (they stayed on the East Coast after playing in Washington last week).

All I know is - if the Mets season comes down to Sunday, and the Mets and Jets both lay an egg like last year in the same situation - I don't know if I can handle that happening two years in a row.

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.

WHAT A DAY!

Wow, did it feel good to have a full day of NFL Football. All that other stuff I wrote about on Sunday as taking place took a back seat to the football games. That was fun. Some good games, too. Here's my weekly recap:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 1: It might not have been the best game overall, and I certainly didn't watch the whole thing, but I saw the final couple of minutes of the Panthers-Chargers game, and I think it gets the award.

As you saw in my picks, I'm a believer in Carolina this year. I just didn't think they'd come out and win this game, in Week 1, in San Diego, without Steve Smith. But they did. It can only get better for them.

Also, on their final drive, they looked great, but when it got to fourth down, I didn't think they'd get it in the end zone. Just a great pass from Delhomme, a great catch, and a tough loss for the Chargers. No sympathy from me, though...and I'm sure no sympathy from Patriots fans.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF WEEK 1: This disappointment part won't appear every week, but I mentioned Patriots fans, so I had to mention Tom Brady. That's really too bad. I don't wish injury on anyone - let's get that out of the way first. I hope this doesn't come out sounding wrong in writing, but I also don't feel bad for the Patriots or their fans. Brady has seemed invincible for so long that it was incredible to see him limping off the field. I couldn't believe it. And it's really too bad. As I've said many times before, he's hard not to like. I'm sure the Patriots will be fine, and win their share of games without Brady...but they won't win it all. He's just too important to them. And now Patriots fans will get a taste of what it's been like to root for the Jets, with replacement quarterbacks, for much of the past few years.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 1: For a team, it's got to be the Falcons, because no one expected what they did. But for an individual player, it's got to be Michael Turner, going for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns as the feature back for those Falcons. Turner was great backing up LaDainian Tomlinson, and you had every reason to believe he was going to put up good numbers for Atlanta. But with their question marks everywhere else, it's fair to have not expected that much that soon. I wonder if they'll keep that up and become that surprise team out of the NFC South that comes out of nowhere to make it deep into the playoffs....

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 1: The Colts looked pretty sorry Sunday night, huh? I mean, the Bears played pretty well, but the Colts looked like they finally lost that step that you've been expecting them to lose the past couple of years. It could just be rustiness, with Peyton Manning coming back from surgery. But I'm not so sure...that looked like the Colts could be in for a long season.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 2: The Jets-Patriots game was on the schedule for so long looking like a measuring stick game for the Jets - just how good would they be? Now, it's a measuring stick game for Matt Cassel - sure, he beat the Chiefs....but can he win a divisional game?

There are a couple of other games to watch for - next Monday night, with the Eagles against the Cowboys, and Sunday night, where the Browns play the Steelers. The Steelers looked so good, and the Browns looked so bad in Week 1. If the Browns put up another stinker, people will be bailing from that bandwagon in droves.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED WEEK 2: Perhaps this is wishful thinking from a desperate (after one week) fantasy owner, but based on what I saw from Matt Forte on Sunday night, I think Adrian Peterson will slice up the Colts in Week 2. I'm going to say 150 yards, two scores, and at least one long one - maybe a 75-yarder.

A WORD ON THE JETS: I need to comment on the Jets-Dolphins game. That was the most entertaining Jets game I've seen in at least four years. Even the long stretches where nothing was happening were interesting.

Brett Favre is the reason why. He set the tone by going long for Cotchery early on, made a smart play on the fourth down toss up to the goal line that ended up being a Stuckey touchdown, and didn't make any mistakes.

Even the good though, comes with the feeling that there still might be some "Same Ol' Jets" mixed in...The ending of that game was torturous. While it was hard to be terribly disappointed because Chad Pennington looked so good in leading the Dolphins back, the Jets sat on the lead in typical "Take this game and win it" fashion.

Still, they won. And their chances of getting to 2-0 are looking a lot brighter.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES RECAP

That was an exciting day of football. The bad news: I lost my bet, so I'm out of my pool. The good news: I feel like this NFL season was worth it - we've got ourselves a new Super Bowl matchup. My thoughts:

PATRIOTS 21, CHARGERS 12
The Chargers blew this opportunity. When Tom Brady looks as bad as he looked in the early part of this game, you need to pounce, and pounce quick. All the Chargers could muster were field goals...and that's not going to do it. LaDainian Tomlinson may have been hurt - but continues to be invisible in playoff games. I need to stress this - he does get yards in playoff games - but he hasn't changed a playoff game, and he hasn't put up a super performance in a playoff game. And he was a non-factor (again, albeit with an injury) in this game. But the Chargers put up a fight with the likes of Michael Turner and Darren Sproles...and Phillip Rivers played but could not get the ball into the end zone.

One other thing worth commenting on - did you happen to see when Nate Kaeding made his third field goal - just before the half, which made it 14-9 Pats? He started celebrating like the Chargers had just taken the lead or won the game. Take it easy Kaeding...maybe if you had kicked like that in your other playoff games, a 14-9 deficit at halftime of the AFC Championship Game wouldn't feel like such a big deal.

GIANTS 23, PACKERS 20 OT
The only thing wrong with this game was that it hit the over. And I'll tell you why before I go any further. The third quarter - both teams got drives sustained (after defensive stops) by penalties. The penalty on the Packers, which seemed legit, leading to the Giants' TD, and then the Sam Madison penalty, which I've never seen a replay of, which seemed like payback for the Packers' penalty on the Giants' drive. I maintain had those penalties not happened, the game would have been 13-13 going into overtime, and I'd be sitting pretty in my pool. But I digress (I really am taking the loss in the pool a lot better than I thought I would).

The Giants pulled off the upset in another fantastic game by Eli Manning. I can't believe the maturing of Eli Manning that we're watching this post-season. And I'm surprisingly happy for him. I should clarify - I've never hated the Giants. I certainly dislike certain people involved with the Giants (not a Coughlin fan), but I'm pretty indifferent to the Giants. I'll root for them, I'll root against them, depending on the situation, but I'm indifferent. Mostly, usually, (not lately), I find them boring to watch, so I don't even bother. But I've jumped on their bandwagon, and I'm rooting for them this post-season. And I'm really happy for them and for Eli Manning. (And other than the Super Bowl matchup thing, I couldn't lose with this NFC Championship, because I like Favre and the Packers a lot, too.)

The Super Bowl matchup now is one that has never happened before (YES!). And it's interesting, because I'm willing to bet that never before has there been a Super Bowl matchup not where both teams played in the regular season (that's happened many times before), but where they played in the last week of the regular season. And if that's the case (and they have played in the last week of the regular season), I bet it wasn't as intense as Giants-Patriots in Week 17 of this past season. I wonder a couple of things right away:

1) Who does it benefit more? The Patriots, who game plan so well, or the Giants, who now have not only a recent game plan against this team, but a game plan that worked, and just needs a little tweaking?

2) The teams battled hard just a few weeks ago. Is there any carryover into the big game?

3) Don't you get the feeling the Patriots would rather not play the Giants? New York is a team that knows them, having already played them, and is hot. 10 straight wins on the road. Playing its best football. Things seem to be breaking for them. If I were New England, I'd rather be playing the Packers, with their old quarterback, instead of the Giants, with their young quarterback playing the best football of their career.

One last point - I wrote this week about the Giants being a better team without Jeremy Shockey (or, at least, Eli Manning being a better quarterback without him). I can't believe I totally forgot about Tiki Barber. What a difference it must make for the Giants to not have him badmouthing the coach, putting down the quarterback. He must be steaming over at NBC watching the Giants do this....and I kind of like that.

THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

For a change, I am 100% going with my head over my heart. And I'm devoting myself fully to it. Last week, I said I was sure about the Giants, but I still put a little bit of money in my pool into all of the games, and as a result, instead of being in first place by a large margin, I'm in first place by a small margin: only $100. I still turned $650 into $900...but I should have had $1300 or so. As a result, this week I'm putting it all on the one bet I'm sure of - The under in the Green Bay-Giants game. If I lose it all, so be it. I'm going with my gut. And even though I don't want the Super Bowl to be Packers-Patriots, because it will be a repeat matchup, and though I might not be rooting for that matchup, that's what my head says will happen. Here are my picks (remember, the spreads are from officefootballpool.com):

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS AT NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (NE -13.5, 47.5)
I don't have a strong feeling either way in this game, but I suspect the Patriots' feelings that the Chargers have wronged them with all their talking will outweigh the Chargers' feelings that they were wronged by the Patriots in last year's playoff loss. After all, San Diego had a chance to avenge the loss in Week 2 and got smoked, when the incident was fresher in their minds. So I think it's Patriots, pretty big. I'm not sure how weather is going to factor into this game, but I hear cold and windy, and if that's the case, the Patriots will have to run the ball a little bit, and maybe the Chargers can beat them in a ground game...if LT decides to show up for a playoff game...but that's my heart talking. Also, they'd better start Billy Volek. But the reason I bring up weather is that might curb the scoring, so I say:

NEW YORK GIANTS AT GREEN BAY PACKERS (GB -7.5, 41.5)
Here's what I'm sure of - this game will be a defensive struggle. Both teams will have trouble getting their offense going. But I think Eli Manning's run of good games will end, and Brett Favre's playoff experience will shine through, and the Packers will run away late...but not score very many points. Therefore, with the under being my lock this week, I say:

The standings didn't change much as far as the picks, but the over/unders shifted a little bit:

We'll see how dedicated Dave in Brighton is, and whether he gets a pick in from a vacation in Spain. My cousin weighed in this week, taking the Giants with the points (Green Bay winning), and New England minus the points. Make your picks in the comments section. Enjoy the championship weekend.

WHO DO YOU LIKE?

I'm in a no-win situation in the AFC Championship. While it works out better for me to have the Chargers win (Super Bowl matchups-wise, since the only Super Bowl they've been in was against the 49ers, so we'd get a new one no matter who won the NFC), I don't think I like the Chargers at all.

First of all, it seems like every time the cameras cut away to the Chargers' bench, it looks like Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson are fighting. I don't really care if those guys don't like each other (and maybe they do, I just don't know), but at least pretend like you do in public.

Then there's Rivers specifically. Doesn't he just look like a punk? I don't know if it was just looking at him mouthing off to the fans in Indianapolis, and maybe they were giving him a hard time and making his life miserable, but he looked like a punk.

And I still hold a grudge against the Chargers for the way they nearly made my heart stop when the Jets faced them in the playoffs a few years back. Remember, the Eric Barton roughing the passer, and the Nate Kaeding missed field goal? (I still hold a special place in my heart for Kaeding...but the man can't go much longer with a job in the NFL performing the way he has been in the playoffs.) It may not be right, but it's the way I feel.

I hinted at the fact a week or so ago that I find this Patriots team particularly hard to root for. I mentioned that at least their first few teams had players you could single out and recognize as good character guys. Now, there's Junior (Me) Seau, and Randy (Me) Moss, and especially Rodney (Me) Harrison. Harrison is the main culprit, but the Patriots keep taking cheap shots - they're almost becoming a dirty team. It's hard to watch them do well when those things are happening. (And I don't know that there's another place for this, so I'll throw it in parenthetically - I know the Jaguars played him hard, but Randy Moss had a nothing game last week. He's had nothing post-seasons for good teams before - see the 1998 Vikings and the 2000 Vikings. Is it possible he could have another great regular season with a disappointing playoff finish this year?)

So I don't want to root for the Patriots, but I don't want to root for the Chargers either. The Chargers are also sore losers, reacting the way they did after the Patriots beat them in San Diego last year. Ultimately, though, that one big chip on their shoulder (losing to New England at home in the post-season last year), which has probably been motivating them all year, is probably the one thing they have going for them entering this year's playoffs. Good for them...but I don't think it's enough.

And I don't think I'm happy about it...because I think the Chargers are the lesser of two evils.

VOLEK FOR VICTORY?

Earl Morrall....Jeff Hostetler....Frank Reich....Tom Brady....Billy Volek?

All of the above are men who didn't start the season as their team's starting quarterback, but due to injury took over and led their team to great things (Morrall is '72 Dolphins Morrall, not '68 Colts, and Reich advanced to a Super Bowl, not winning it - but did have the great comeback against the Oilers). Could Billy Volek join their ranks?

The best chance for the Chargers to win the AFC Championship just might be their backup quarterback. Personally, seeing Volek in the game might give me reason to root harder for San Diego - I don't think I like Philip Rivers (more on that later in the week). But the Patriots are familiar with Rivers, and Volek brings an element of the unknown that could help San Diego's cause. (I am also familiar with Rivers, having been a fantasy owner of him in the 2006 NFL season, and I know what he is capable of...or, rather, not capable of. He's been playing much better than he really is...that's got to catch up with him sooner or later. Speaking of underachieving....LaDainian Tomlinson and the playoffs continue to be a mystery. Injury or underperforming....he needs to show up Sunday too. But I digress.)

I wrote on Sunday that I remember Volek making news in another part of his career. Could have been I was thinking of the fact that when he got some playing time with the Titans in 2004, he set a record for most passing yards in his first seven starts, throwing for more than any quarterback in NFL history in that situation. Now, that's mostly because the team he was playing for stunk, and that's how he had the playing time, and they were throwing the ball alot...but the fact remains, he did it. And he's capable of leading a team and getting the ball downfield. That's significant. If he has a healthy Antonio Gates, if Vincent Jackson plays as well as he's been playing, and if Chris Chambers continues to be the sparkplug he has been since joining the Chargers, maybe the Chargers can pull out the unlikely win.

But I think a change of face at quarterback might be the key for San Diego...I think Volek can take advantage of those weapons in a way that Philip Rivers can't continue doing.

AND IN THE NFC: Funny that Eli Manning and Philip Rivers are having all this success. Recently, over the Christmas holiday, I got into an argument with one of my uncles about Rivers vs. Manning. He's fed up with Manning (although, probably not anymore), and started railing about him and how he's no good, and the Giants should have kept Rivers instead of swapping draft picks with the Chargers a few years back. (This is the same uncle who hated Joe Torre, and thought he was an awful manager. I can't stand it, because the Yankees won championships under Torre - how can you not be happy with him?!)

I went off on Rivers, mostly based on my fantasy football experience, where Rivers cost me so many wins (and a playoff win, most notably) by playing awful games most of the season, with a couple of great games sprinkled in. I think Manning is going to end up being the better quarterback, I said, because I think the only reason Rivers does better is because he has LaDainian Tomlinson. Anyway, this was before the Patriots-Giants game, before Manning played horribly in that second half.

Of course, Eli played great against Tampa, and was good enough against the Cowboys...but I didn't think he was great. I think he gets nervous in tight situations, and that's deadly for an NFL quarterback. When all the Giants had to do was run out the clock, Manning got happy feet, and threw an incompletion on a big third down, giving the Cowboys the ball back. Same situation as against the Patriots. At least the Giants were ahead...I don't know that Manning could lead the Giants from behind in a situation like that, where the game is tight, in the playoffs. (I think he's done it in the regular season, but the stakes are different.) I hope I'm wrong, because I like Eli, and like seeing him do well...but I have my doubts when the game is on the line. Especially with a guy like Brett Favre on the other side.

PLAYOFFS ROUND TWO ROUNDUP

The conference championship matchups are set. Basically, with the Colts' loss, it's going to be the Patriots against either the Packers or the Giants in the Super Bowl...and that means I have to root against the Packers, which stinks, since they are my secondary team again this year (for matchup reasons - Packers-Patriots has already happened, but you should know that if you're reading this). I think it's unlikely the Patriots will lose...but at least they're the early game next Sunday, and if they do, I can root for Green Bay late. (Truth be told, I wouldn't mind rooting for the Giants, either - they've grown on me this year - I'll get more into that later in the week.) Here's the recap:

That Green Bay game went sort of how last week's playoff games went. It turned out the way I expected (Green Bay blowout), but took a little while to develop. The Seahawks jumped out to the 14-0 lead, and I started to think there was something to all of these people picking Seattle to win in Green Bay. Then the Packers came back, and Brett Favre just looked like there was no way he was going to lose. It was like the dominant Packers of old. Favre has never won in Dallas, so he and the Packers look like the biggest beneficiaries of the Giants win.

I was disappointed by the Jaguars' performance. Their offense played much better than I expected, and their defense was underwhelming. I thought they would beat up the Patriots more than they did...and now the Patriots head into the conference championship game against a weak opponent, and they're sitting pretty. There's also a chance there might be a storm in New England next week, though I don't know the details. San Diego in New England, and possibly in a storm...I don't like their chances there.

The Colts ought to be ashamed of themselves. There's no call for losing this game. I know Antonio Gates played, which makes a difference for Philip Rivers, but this was a game they should have won. You know what it is? It's bad karma because Bob Sanders acted like a jerk to Nate Kaeding after he missed that field goal (how bad is Kaeding in the post-season - kicking like that in New England isn't going to get you to the Super Bowl). I don't care if you did go to college together - that's bad sportsmanship. (And I should know - I won my Little League sportsmanship award a few times.) I'm not surprised Billy Volek was effective - hasn't he done this type of thing before, at least in the regular season? I feel like he may have even done it in the playoffs - but I can't remember right now and I have more pressing concerns before bed than looking that up. This type of game makes gambling on games (or participating in the type of pool I'm in) a bummer, because I'm sitting there rooting for different scenarios to work out so I can win a bet...and then I realize at the end that while that was going on, I missed a pretty good football game. One last thing about San Diego - they had some legitimate gripes about some of the officials' calls in that game. It seemed Norv Turner was complaining about every call - but I think he had the right to.

The Giants did what I thought they could do. Towards the end of this game, I was actually rooting for the Cowboys to score a touchdown, so the Giants could come back and kick a field goal, force overtime, and I could get the over....then they showed Jerry Jones on the sideline. And I wanted the Giants to win........bad. And there was nothing more rewarding for me, someone who lost his over/under bet, so see Jerry Jones standing there at the end of the game, with his arms crossed, looking like a loser. That was great. I don't know that the Giants continue their Pittsburgh Steelers-type wild card run next week in Green Bay - but I think it will be an entertaining game.

Here's who did what this week (though you may have picked winners, I'm counting everyone's results against the spread, because that's how we do it around here):

PICKS
Johnnymets: 2-2
Justin from NYC: 1-3
Southern Bureau: 1-3
The Wife: 1-3
Dave in Brighton: 0-4

OVER/UNDER
Southern Bureau: 3-1
Dave in Brighton: 2-2
The Wife: 2-2
Johnnymets: 1-3

Chargers-Patriots, Giants-Packers in the conference championship games. Interesting matchups. Make your picks in the comments section on Friday.

THE PICKS - PLAYOFFS WEEK 2

Have you seen this week's spreads? I don't know what to make of them, except for the fact that when I look at them, it convinces me that for the most part, as far as putting down money, I'm going to be sticking to the over/unders this weekend. (Remember, when I say "putting down money, I'm referring to my participation in the pool on officefootballpool.com, where I am in first place after one week, incidentally, and from where I am taking these spreads. I earned my week in first by turning $250 into $650 last week - fake dollars.)

Here's what I think will happen this week:

SEATTLE AT GREEN BAY (GB - 7.5, 41.5)
Seattle was less-than-convincing last week at home against the Redskins. No chance on the road in Green Bay this week. Their running game is awful, and the Packers defense is pretty good. I can see this game going a few different ways. I could see 24-17, or 24-20 Packers, where the Pack just squeak by. (Therefore, I won't put money on that spread...I do like the over.) I think it might be close, then the Packers will pull away late:


JACKSONVILLE AT NEW ENGLAND (NE - 13.5, 49.5)
I've been saying it for weeks. The Patriots are ripe for the picking. They haven't been beaten yet, though, and the near losses have probably just made them stronger. The bye week helps, too. And I don't think the Jaguars are the team to get over the "Beating the Patriots" threshold. They'll pound New England. They'll beat them up. The Patriots will lose some players to injury. And I wouldn't be shocked if they lost...but I think the Jaguars will soften them up enough for the Colts next week. All that said, I don't think I'm going to touch this game at all with money, unless I win huge in the early game. Here's my pick:


SAN DIEGO AT INDIANAPOLIS (IND -8.5, 46.5)
This is sort of a tune-up game for the Colts. I see no way San Diego can win, with the way they've been playing, and then throw in the fact that Phillip Rivers doesn't have Antonio Gates. I think the Colts win easy, though I don't know how confident I am in that spread and over/under (although I did give this game my favorite football picking score of all time):


NEW YORK AT DALLAS (DAL -7.5, 47.5)
I hate that this is the last game, because it's the only one I'm positive about putting money on and getting a win. I think this is a 3-point game either way, so I love the Giants getting more than a touchdown. Love it. I think they're playing great football - and they've been proving me wrong all year, so I've finally jumped on the bandwagon (and since this is the Giants we're talking about, that means it's time for them to crap the bed). Eli Manning suddenly has one more playoff win than Tony Romo, Terrell Owens isn't a hundred percent - everything looks like it's pointing to a Giants upset. I know the Cowboys put up lots of points on the Giants this year when they took both games...but it's the Giants' turn. Watch it happen (or at least watch them cover):


Here's where we stand in the picks after last week - if anyone new wants to jump on board, leave your picks in the 'comments' section, and I'll extend the graph to include winning percentage.


Enjoy the football.

A QUICK RECAP

Do you feel like I do? Did those playoff games turn out the way you expected them to, except not really go the way you expected them to?

I'll break it down winner-by-winner:

In my opinion, Seattle should have dominated this game from the get-go. Instead, they controlled the game, though they couldn't get anything huge going, until the Redskins shocked them with two quick scores to take the lead in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks then turned it into the rout it should have been from the beginning of the game, with a couple of defensive scores (and a back-door cover and back-door over).

A lot of people were high on Jacksonville going into this game - I just never got that way. If Pittsburgh had kicked an extra point or two, there would have been overtime, and who knows what would have happened (they at least would have covered the point-and-a-half with one extra point - my only loss against the spread this weekend). I will say this, with the Chargers win, the fact that Jacksonville now goes to New England gives the Patriots a tougher matchup than if it had been Tennessee.

The Giants game was, surprisingly, the least surprising game of the weekend. It was pretty straightforward - after the Buccaneers scored early in the game, the Giants rattled off 24 unanswered, and never looked back. I just didn't buy this Tampa team, and the way the Giants had played on the road, it seemed likely they would get the win. I don't want to tip my hand too soon...but with the Giants going to Dallas, a division foe they are familiar with, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Giants advance.

If you are a Chargers fan, you are breathing a tremendous sigh of relief right now. That did not go according to plan. The Chargers were lucky to win the game, let alone cover the 9-and-a-half point spread. A disgusting effort by San Diego at home. LaDainian Tomlinson is becoming an Alex Rodriguez type - he just doesn't perform in the post-season.

There was no picture to illustrate my point, so I'll just throw this out there here - Jack Del Rio of the Jaguars gets the "Best Dressed" award for the coaches this week. That leather jacket was sharp on Saturday night. (You might remember that Del Rio cares how he looks - he appealed to the NFL along with Mike Nolan for the coaches to be able to wear suits on the sidelines like the old days.)

Thanks for making your picks - here's the way it stands (I'll break it down into picks and over/unders, because apparently Justin from NYC doesn't 'do' over/unders):

PICKS
Justin from NYC: 4-0
Johnnymets: 3-1
Southern Bureau: 3-1
Dave in Brighton: 2-2
The Brother-in-Law: 2-2
The Wife: 1-3

OVER/UNDER
Dave in Brighton: 2-2
Johnnymets: 2-2
Southern Bureau: 2-2
The Wife: 2-2
The Brother-in-Law: 1-3

(I'll see if I can get a spreadsheet or something for next week.)

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

It doesn't make much sense for me to even be writing this, since 90% of the people who read it will be at my house talking to me this weekend, but here are my picks anyway:

New Orleans at Chicago: I really think the Saints are better than the Bears, but I really think home field advantage makes this much of a difference. The Saints are a dome team, and there's a reason so few dome teams have been in the Super Bowl. They lose the championship games outdoors. I'm rooting for the story of the Saints, but I'm thinking the Bears will win. Bears 27, Saints 17

New England at Indianapolis: I realize I seem biased against the Patriots, because I'm always picking against them, but I'm doing it again. They didn't necessarily win last week, the Chargers lost. They played an awful final few minutes, the Chargers did. But the Patriots get credit for pulling out the win, can't take that away from them. I don't hate Peyton Manning. Whenever the Jets aren't in his way, I root for him to win, so that people can stop talking about him not winning the big games. So I'm rooting for him this year. And I fully believe that if he doesn't win Sunday, he's never going to win a Super Bowl. It's this year or never. That's my thought. And if the Colts lose on Sunday, I'm going to start building an argument that Marvin Harrison is the worst post-season player on the Colts - not Peyton Manning. Hopefully I won't have to write that. Colts 31, Patriots 21

As for the Super Bowl matchup sheet, anything but Patriots-Bears works for me.

If I was a New England Patriots fan, I'd be pretty worried about the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. As it is, though, I'm a New York Jets fan, and I'm pretty worried about the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, so I've got my own problems.

The Steelers are clearly better than the Chargers. Even their newspaper writers are better. After just reading through the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's sports pages for the first time, they put Southern California's papers to shame. (Good article on how the Steelers bonded during Hurricane Jeanne at a Miami hotel during the season's opening weekend.)

My concerns include: the Jets playing two straight overtime games - and not overtime games where you take the overtime-opening kickoff and kick a field goal to win the game. Two straight pretty greuling overtime games. And Saturday's win over the Chargers came just six days after the game against the Rams. At least the Jets now have a week before they play Pittsburgh.

Also, the Steelers, obviously, are coming off a bye week, and Ben Roethlisberger has now had two straight weeks of rest. Maybe, just maybe, that could work in the Jets' favor. But I'm not counting on that. More on that throughout the week.

Let's go to the mailbag:

Dear JohnnyJets,

The latest odds are PIT -9, Atlanta -7, Philly -9.5, and NE -2. Aside from the Pats, do you think the league is really that imbalanced? How can a league with such parity have 9 point favorites in the second round of the playoffs?

Around the league...Favre threw 4 INTs against 1 TD, for a 55 QB rating against the Vikings yesterday. Has he jumped the shark?

The last time the Patriots lost to the Colts was Oct. 22, 2000. Don't the Colts have to win one eventually? What were you doing Oct. 22, 2000?

Dave in Brighton"

Dave - I love the fact that the Jets are 9-point underdogs. Philly and Minnesota will probably be closer than 9-and-a-half points as well. I do think the league is imbalanced...but not with the teams remaining in the playoffs. I think the Rams will play the Falcons tight in the dome, the Jets have a real shot at upsetting Pittsburgh (more on that throughout the week...and come on, did you think I would think any differently), and the Vikings, if they can beat the Packers in Green Bay, can beat the Eagles in Philly. I might go on a limb and say they will beat the Eagles. I don't like the Vikes, but the Eagles are weak. They won't win the NFC Championship Game, I'll say that for sure - and I'm not sure they'll even make it past this week.

Brett Favre is a tough read. The past few seasons he's good enough to get the Packers into the playoffs, but then their season comes to an end because he plays an absolutely horrid game. I think he probably could play a couple of more playoff-caliber seasons (based on the people around him - receivers, backs, etc.), but I don't think he'll win any more Super Bowls.

As for the Colts, I do think they are bound to win one against the Patriots. And I think they catch the Pats at a time prime for the beating. I think it'll come this week. And I do believe on October 22, 2000, if it was a Sunday, I was watching Game 2 of the Subway Series. That's a total guess. If it was a Monday-nighter, I was waiting anxiously for Game 3. And I was working at Channel 7.

Speaking of Channel 7 - former sports intern Kevin weighs in:

"JJDBSDC....

Is football season over yet?? It is for my Panthers (no Super Bowl for me this year), so lets switch to baseball for a bit....

As a Mets fan...when they make big free agent signings, do you have early 90s flashbacks? Beltran = Bonilla?? Pedro = Gooden?? Koo = Franco?? (Koo??)

I know you are distracted with the Jets, but deep down you're a baseball guy, and I'm sure you've thought about these things.

Also...good comments on the Samuel L Jackson intros. They're obnoxious.

kevin
Wilmington, NC"

Kevin - I'm saving my baseball stuff for our sister station, johnnymets.blogspot.com, but I will comment real quick. Gooden was never a Mets' free agent, so I equate Pedro more to a Saberhagen or a Viola. I do cringe, though, whenever they make a free agent signing. But I do always give new management (in this case, Omar Minaya), the benefit of the doubt.

Sorry about your Panthers. Let me know if they send you to Jacksonville to cover this year's game. Or if the Jets make it, and you want to do a great feature story on an excited Jets fan and his dad who make the trip to sunny Florida for the event of a lifetime.....

Jets 20, Chargers 17 OT

That was either the most exciting Jets game I've ever seen in my life, or the most frustrating. Parts of it made me want to run down the street screaming at the top of my lungs, and other parts made me want to roll up into a ball and cry.

It got off on the wrong foot, courtesy of Doug Brien's foot. On the opening drive, the Jets moved the ball right down the field, only to have Brien miss a 33-yard field goal.

The defense played well, holding San Diego scoreless in the first quarter - the Chargers defense was able to do the same to the Jets offense.

The Chargers got on the board first when Drew Brees hit Keenan McCardell with a bomb for a 7-0 lead. I'm not convinced, after seeing a few replays, that McCardell didn't bobble that ball. The original camera angle showed the ball juggling around, I'm sure of it. ABC kept showing the reverse angle, which showed McCardell's feet were clearly in bounds, but there was never a non-reverse angle close-up to see whether McCardell had control of the ball. Nevertheless, 7-0 San Diego.

The Jets answered later in the second. After Jon McGraw came within inches of blocking a San Diego punt (he came within inches of blocking a couple of other punts Saturday night), Marty Schottenheimer charged onto the field to yell at the refs. That gave the Jets 15 extra penalty yards, and the Jets made Marty pay. Chad Pennington called an audible from the 13-yard line, and hit Anthony Becht for a touchdown. Becht was so wide open he walked into the end zone...but geez, Anthony, act like you been there before. (Most likely for Becht, he'll never be there again...as a Jet.) Becht - I knew they were saving him as a big secret playoff weapon.

The score was 7-7 at halftime, and the Jets blew a couple of chances to get at least three before the break. At halftime, Steve Young talked about how the Jets owned the third quarter - scoring nearly three times as many points in the third quarter as their opponents. This game was no different. It started on a 47-yard bomb by Pennington to Santana Moss for a 14-7 Jets lead.

Allow me to say a few words here on Pennington. He looked amazing. He was throwing the ball about as good as he has all season - long, on the 47-yarder to Moss, and short, on screens to Curtis Martin. He was also making great decisions - no turnovers, and the great audible call to Becht for the touchdown. If Pennington plays like this all post-season, the Jets will be hard to beat.

The defense played well too - although there were times when they made you scratch your head. First of all, only the Jets defense falls for the hard count on 4th and 1 in the Chargers' own territory. Dewayne Robertson was the guilty party on Saturday. And only the Jets would have 10 guys on the field - FOR CONSECUTIVE PLAYS - late in the game. Come on guys. Robertson, by the way, made up for jumping offsides with a great play on the next play, driving LaDainian Tomlinson backwards for a loss. The penalty wasn't costly, but Robertson could have been the goat. More on possible goats later.

It was in the third quarter, on the drive where the Jets ended up kicking a field goal to go up 17-7, that Herman Edwards and running backs coach Bishop Harris got into an animated argument on the sideline. Edwards says it was a "family argument", and stays in the family. The Jets won, so it isn't an issue...but those guys better not crack the deeper they get into the playoffs.

The Jets held a 17-7 lead into the fourth quarter, and things are looking good, right? Wrong. The Chargers kick a field goal to make it 17-10, and then the Jets have a chance to put the game away late. They get the biggest gift ever - a Jets-like 12-men on the field penalty on a Jets punt by the Chargers!! - gives the Jets the first down. They can run out the clock...........no they can't. The Jets can't run out the clock ever. And they're too far out for a field goal. So they kick it back to the Chargers, who proceed to go 78 yards to the Jets 2. The Jets defense has been really good this year inside the 5-yard line, so I legitimately thought the Jets would stop the Chargers and win the game. Until Eric Barton threw an elbow at Drew Brees' head on a fourth down incomplete pass to allow the Chargers another set of downs to tie the game at 17. Barton. Leave it to a former Raider to try to cheat. Unreal. Another possible goat saved by his teammates.

The Jets called heads for the overtime coin toss...of course, it's tails. The Chargers get the ball back, it looks like there's no way the Jets can get it back together and win. They stop the Chargers. Then the Jets go three and out. Again, no way the Jets stop San Diego. Until the Chargers get down near the Jets' 25, and run three straight plays, going nowhere. And then Nate Kaeding misses!!!!!!! the 40-ish yard field goal. I made promises to God before that field goal that I'm never going to be able to keep.

The Jets finally, finally capitalized. They drove right down the field, thanks to a great catch by Santana Moss to get it across the 50, then some great runs by LaMont Jordan to get the Jets to the 9 yard line. Ironic that the (lately) inconsistent foot of Doug Brien now controlled the Jets' destiny. And it was only fitting that Schottenheimer called a timeout right before the snap, essentially making Brien kick the field goal twice. But Brien did it, and the Jets are advancing. This is the type of game the Jets usually lose. I wish they'd just win a blowup so I can enjoy a playoff game without feeling like I'm going to throw up for four quarters and overtime.

A couple of other personal notes. I hate when ABC shows stats such as: Curtis Martin has fumbled the fewest times per carry of any NFL back ever (minimum however many carries). I feel like they're just setting him up to drop the ball at the 1-yard line.

I wonder how much it costs ABC to pay Samuel L. Jackson to do their intro and spots during the game. Probably way too much. And I saw FOX doing the same on Sunday with Keifer Sutherland. I'm getting tired of these actors...including the guy from the Practics (I think) and Don Cheadle (I think) doing the playoffs commercials. Great, we get it. You guys are actors AND you like sports. Wonderful. I don't want to see any more of those...unless they start using hot actresses.

I love when everyone picks against the Jets. It makes me feel like they're going to win. I don't know why, that's just the way the Jets operate (and the way my mind operates).

So the Jets are headed to the Divisional Round. And thanks to the Indianapolis Colts' win today over the Denver Broncos, I better learn how to spell Roethlisberger. More on the Jets preps for Pittsburgh throughout the week. E-mails tomorrow.

I'll write a recap on Sunday in the afternoon. I can't do it right now - I'm too emotionally "Charged". No pun intended. Yes, actually, pun intended.