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 15 RECAP

Another week of NFL action in the books - and only two more of these before we get some playoff action:

BEST GAME OF WEEK 15: Another group of tight games, but none worth really shouting about. A couple shouldn't have turned out the way they did, either. The Jets-Bills was exciting for a neutral observer, I guess, but infuriating in ways, too. Same thing for Titans-Texans and Chargers-Chiefs. All had pretty good endings, but lacked greatness in some form.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 15: I can't believe I'm about to write this, but Tarvaris Jackson and the Vikings proved me wrong - they came out and handled the Cardinals, showing they belong in the playoffs, which they will now inevitably make. (I haven't been a believer in them at all.) Jackson, filling in for the injured Gus Frerotte, outshone MVP-candidate Kurt Warner, throwing for 4 touchdowns (on just 163 yards....but he still cashed them in, so good for him).

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 15: Could be the Cardinals for coming out so flat, and it could be a number of coaches for their poor decision-making that cost them some games. But maybe we'll go with Washington, with everything setting up for them nicely, choking one away against Cincinnati. The Bengals only have nothing to play for, while the Redskins are fighting (and losing) for a playoff spot.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 16: Weird, this. Both the top two teams in the AFC and NFC face off with the winner controlling the number one seed. Steelers-Titans and Giants-Panthers in Week 16. That's really amazing.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 16: I'm going to let my heart get in the way of my head here, and predict a big week from the Arizona Cardinals. Nothing about them playing in the east should lead me to believe anything good from them this week, but I'm looking at what they did last week, and if they want to be considered a legit playoff threat, they need to come back and make a statement this weekend against the Patriots. So I'm calling for it. They get the upset, 28-24 in New England, with Kurt Warner coming back with 338 yards and 3 TD's against the weak New England secondary.
-Last Week: I said 33o yards and 3 TD for Peyton Manning (hmm...sounds familiar). He had 318 with just one passing TD.

NFL WEEK 7 RECAP

The Jets would obviously be one of the most disappointing performance of the week, but since I care so much about them, they get a whole separate dressing-down.

I didn't write it, I guess because I was sidetracked by baseball, but if you had spoken to me over the weekend, you would have heard trepidation in my voice when I spoke about the Jets going to Oakland. Nothing good ever happens to the Jets in Oakland. So even though the Raiders are terrible and secretly I thought the Jets would rebound from the subpar outing against Cincinnati and blow their doors off, in the back of my mind I thought they might lose.

But that doesn't make the fact that they lost any more acceptable.

Brett Favre had a horrendous day. And even though to help my fantasy team I wanted him to keep throwing, I thought it was a horrendous decision to have him keep throwing when Thomas Jones was just having his way with the Raiders defense. The fact that the Jets couldn't score more than a touchdown on the Raiders is horrible.

It's even more horrible for the Raiders that the Jets were able to force overtime. The Jets had no business being in that game in the fourth quarter. The fact that they were able to force OT was a minor miracle. And I guess that's what Brett Favre brings to you - because even though the Jets wouldn't have been in that position were it not for Brett Favre (any other quarterback on Sunday leads the Jets to a blowout win), I'm not sure there are many QB's in that last minute situation who get the Jets to a game-tying field goal.

Bottom line on this Jets game - when I'm thinking, "You know, a tie in this situation is actually going to look pretty good, all things considered", just before the Raiders kick a game-winning field goal....it's just not a good Jets Sunday.

The Jets are making things very hard on themselves as far as the playoffs go. Their only route, after losses to the Chargers and the Raiders, might now be through a division title, and they fell two games behind Buffalo on Sunday. Here's how hard they've made things - they probably have to sweep the rest of their division games (2 vs. Buffalo, 1 more each against Miami and New England), at least, to have a shot.

BEST GAME OF WEEK 7: Not many good ones, to be honest. I guess for entertainment value it could have been the shootout between the Bears and the Vikings, which the Bears won, 48-41.

BEST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 7: I'm thinking Steven Jackson of the Rams. He led the team's offensive charge, with 160 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns, in the 34-14 upset over the Cowboys.

WORST PERFORMANCE OF WEEK 7: The Cowboys. The only loss of the week worse than the Jets' - and the Jets' was pretty bad.

BEST GAME IN WEEK 8: I like Buffalo-Miami, and San Diego-New Orleans (in London) would be intriguing if those two teams weren't so hard to figure out...but Giants-Steelers is the marquee matchup. It's a 4 o'clock game...and should be a good one.

BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN WEEK 8: Oakland, full of false confidence after winning a game they had no business winning against the Jets, heads to Baltimore. The Ravens are coming back home off a good road win in Miami. Doesn't matter what the spread is, take the Ravens. Baltimore 44, Raiders 13.
-Last Week: I said Brandon Jacobs would have 117 yards and 3 touchdowns. I was off by a TD and 48 yards. He had 69 yards on 17 carries, with just 2 touchdowns. I still classify this one as "pretty close".

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.

GOING OUT ON A LIMB

Here are some predictions that didn't really fit in with my final 2008 standings:

-The Giants will not repeat as Super Bowl champions.

-The Patriots will not win the Super Bowl.

-There's a lot of talk about the Vikings. They won't make the playoffs. You just have to view a team like that as 'in trouble' when you see that they cut someone like Brooks Bollinger and you think...that's not a good move. I guess I don't believe in Tavaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte. And here's a telling remark - I don't believe very much in Bollinger either - that's just how much the Vikings are in rough shape at QB.

-The NFC is weak, so I think this one is me going out on a limb, but I'm not buying into all of this Saints hype either. I don't know why - they seem to have a good team. But I'm saying they won't make the playoffs.

And to answer the Southern Bureau's question, here's my quick breakdown of the Jets schedule (remember, I did write that everything there should be considered with a plus/minus two wins...but I'll stand by 12 wins for the Jets):

Week 1: @ Miami - W
Week 2: vs. NE - W
Week 3: @ SD - L (or a loss in Week 2, win in Week 3 - I think the Jets will one at least one of these games)
Week 4: vs ARI - W
Week 5: (BYE)
Week 6: vs CIN - W
Week 7: @ OAK - W
Week 8: vs KC - W
Week 9: @ BUF - L
Week 10: vs STL - W
Week 11: @NE - L (the Jets split with New England this year - it wouldn't shock me if they lost week 2 and won this one)
Week 12: @TEN - W (tough...but I think the Jets will be the better team)
Week 13: vs DEN - L
Week 14: @SF - W
Week 15: vs BUF - W (probably splitting with Buffalo this year)
Week 16: @SEA - W (another tough but winnable game)
Week 17: vs MIA - W

I know 12 wins is a lot - but that's a schedule that can produce 12 wins. And listen, I'm a Jets fan - I've been disappointed many times before. They don't usually get 12 wins when they should. But maybe this year will be different.

Here's how the recap will look per week once the season is in full swing, probably appearing on Mondays, so the Monday night game won't really factor in:

BEST GAME OF THE WEEK JUST COMPLETED
BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK JUST COMPLETED
WORST PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK JUST COMPLETED
BEST GAME IN THE UPCOMING WEEK
BEST PERFORMANCE PREDICTED IN THE UPCOMING WEEK

ONE MORE WEEK

Whether or not the Jets are involved (not, more often than not), I always enjoy the final weeks of the NFL leading up to the playoffs. I enjoy playoff scenarios (this team needs this team to lose, but this team can get in if it just keeps winning....). I enjoy them so much that the one of the biggest reasons I created FAMILEAGUE, my fantasy football league, was so I could keep track of stats and playoff positioning and scenarios. But Sunday of Week 16 of the real NFL was one of those weeks where you almost wished you were a fan of the Titans or the Redskins....because they must have done something right this year.

Both Tennessee and Washington entered Week 16 needing a team to lose, in order to stay alive for the playoffs. For the Titans, it was the Browns, for the Redskins, it was their opponent, the Vikings. Both teams lost, keeping both Tennessee and Washington alive...and not only that, but now they both control their own fate!

Cleveland is in the midst of pulling a minor Detroit job - Detroit was sitting pretty around Thanksgiving, then proceeded to lose 8 games in a row, putting themselves out of contention. The Browns were on the verge of passing Pittsburgh for the division title, and now, after losing a very winnable game in Cincinnati, need Indianapolis to beat Tennessee next week in order to make the playoffs. It doesn't matter what the Browns do against the 49ers - they just need the Titans to lose.

The Jets could have been a major spoiler for the Titans on Sunday - and could have been heroes for the Browns. After the Browns stunk it up in Cincinnati, all the Jets had to do was win, and Cleveland would have had a playoff berth. But the Jets are 3-12 for a reason...as we have documented...and the Titans snuck out a win. (If the Titans are really only a narrow 10-6 victory better than the Jets, by the way, the Browns shouldn't have much to worry about next week when Tennessee plays the Colts. At least Cleveland beat the Jets by six.)

The NFC is a mess...that's how I'll start off talking about the Redskins and Vikings. But the Vikings showed they deserved a playoff spot the past couple of months, and could have clinched one last night at home against the Redskins. Instead, Washington came out and crushed them. So now the Vikings need to beat Denver and hope a Dallas team with everything locked up can beat Washington. Meanwhile, the 'Skins only have to beat a Dallas team that has nothing to play for. If somehow the Redskins and Vikings lose, the Saints, who have no right making the playoffs this year, will get the spot if they beat the Bears.

Obviously, I would love these playoff scenarios a lot more if the Jets were involved. But I like figuring out the ways a team can get in, or out, and I like seeing the unlikeliest scenarios play out. That's fun for me. I guess creating all of these mini-games within the football season is the byproduct of rooting for a team each year that is most likely not going to be playing in January.

I will be updating regularly during the playoffs - at least to give some predictions. I welcome my readers to send me their playoff picks - I think I'm going to predict the over/unders and winners vs. the spread in each game (with a score). That's always fun come playoff time. I challenge all five of you to join me in this venture.

Merry Christmas.

GO COLTS!

Jets 26, Vikings 13 (NYJ: 8-6, MIN: 6-8)

It's been a busy football season, but there's really no excuse for me not writing in so long, especially considering how well the Jets have done. On Sunday, the Jets won again, clinching at the very least an 8-8 record, and moving a step closer to again controlling their own playoff fate.

The Jets looked awful to start this game, letting the Vikings bust through the line on two consecutive plays, the second of which saw Chad Pennington cough up the ball, allowing the Vikings offense to have good field position, and score on their first possession. But that was it. With the Vikings leading 7-0, the Jets scored on six straight possessions, taking a 26-7 lead, en route to a 26-13 win.

I love that the Jets didn't play into the Vikings hands in this one - they play the run well, well, we'll just throw it. Pennington finished with what I believe is a career high 339 yards, throwing for a touchdown and one interception. He's just short of 3,000 yards for the season. I say, get Chad Pennington into the post-season, and anything can happen. The guy knows how to win...he just needs to avoid mistakes.

Now, I have a couple of concerns about this Jets team, that I've been sitting on for a few weeks, since I've last written. The first is their inability to put teams away. Other teams always have one final drive in the last five minutes with a chance to either take the lead or win the game. I would like more games like the one against the Packers, where the Jets just buried them from the start. Even this (sort of) blowout game against Minnesota, the Vikings had a chance late, because the Jets weren't running out the clock well.

The other thing I'm concerned about is the way the Jets have played at home. It doesn't really matter, I suppose, being that the Jets have just one more home game, against the Raiders in two weeks, and that's a very winnable game. (If the Jets make the playoffs, it's very unlikely they will be playing any home games.) And I guess that leads to a huge positive - for the Jets to have a shot at the playoffs next week, they need to win on the road (at Miami), and then for the Jets to do anything in the post-season, they would need to win a few road games. This year, the Jets are 3-4 at home, and 5-2 on the road. I feel VERY good about the Jets' chances in Miami next week, and now that the Steelers have shown people that a Wild Card team can go all the way, maybe something magical will happen for the Jets. At the very least, this young team that they have will have some experience playing in some very meaningful games, rather than just stumbling through a 4-12 or some such season.

Now, here's the disclaimer. I was all set to write this article last week, and then the Jets went out and laid an egg against Buffalo. They're not a perfect team, I know that. But they are a good team, and they can surprise some people. A win in Miami next week, and the Jets are going to the playoffs. A loss next week, and this was just a very entertaining (and another frustrating) year.

NOTES: I had this thought this morning. What if Curtis Martin returns next year, and in order to take less of a beating, becomes another passing option for Chad Pennington as a wide receiver. It would allow Martin to be an important part of the team, without upsetting the young running backs the Jets have now, and it would allow Martin to be less banged-up than he would be as a running back. Just a thought. I'd like to see him back for one more year, and that's about the only capacity I can see him returning where it wouldn't upset what the Jets have going for them this year.

Also, thanks for checking out the site if you're switching over after reading my posting on "The Southern Bureau's" blog, the 'Orange Couch', on the WECT website. If you're one of my (few) readers, check out my posting on the "Southern Bureau"'s blog - it stems from a bet I sort of won back on johnnymets.blogspot.com.

I'm going to try to keep updating this site down the stretch run of the season (this is, after all, why I created this site), but I'm not sure how often that will be, what with the holidays upon us. I am going to try to go to the Jets-Raiders game on New Year's Eve (hopefully the flex schedule won't make that a night game), which could be a playoff clincher.

And GO COLTS - the Jets need the help, and a Cincinnati loss is a huge help. We're looking at a big 8-6 bunch - the Jets, Jaguars, Broncos, and possibly Bengals on Monday night. It's going to come right down to the wire.