Lessons Learned in Week 13

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Turkey day in Detroit. The Lions had about 47 ways they could have lost this game in the last few minutes (How about Harrington throwing that pass in the flat on the Packers’ 13 yard line with 3:44 left in the game which was almost intercepted? If it had been, it would have been a Green Bay touchdown), but they didn’t. Now, with four wins and a possible couple more, maybe Mariucci is on the way.

Chris Collinsworth said it better than I can. They stopped the Packers’ running game, and while Favre is a superstar, he nonetheless needs the balance in order to be effective.

Now Green Bay plays the Bears at home and the Chargers away. Meanwhile, the Vikings play the Seahawks at home and the Bears in Chicago. My guess is that after it all shakes out over the next three weeks, we will have a tie in the NFC North.

Has Jay Fielder saved Dave Wannstedt’s job? I’d say so, but I never thought his job ought to be in jeopardy to begin with.

Don’t be fooled by the play of the Cowboys in this game. While this may not be a fantastic football team, it is the kind of team that Bill Parcells can motivate. There is a difference between the first twelve games or so and the remainder of the schedule (including possible playoff games). Games from here on out are “individual games,” one-on-one matchups that stand apart from the week-to-week of the season. For a team that has a chance to get into the playoffs, each one of these games is a war, and as previously stated in this column, Parcells is the master at preparing a team for this kind of games.

Continuing this thought for just a moment, Parcells was very “un-Parcells-like” after the win over the Panthers. The team commented on how emotional he was in complimenting them for that victory. My guess is that he will now begin talking about how much this team has accomplished and that “well, they’re really not that talented a team … they’ve played way above their heads…” He’ll mix that with disappointment and even anger or frustration when they WIN. He is not trying to psych out the other team; he is working on the heads and hearts of his own team.

They’re gonna talk about Parcells and Marvin Lewis and others when the Coach of the Year award is mentioned. Please add Brian Billick to the list.

44 points this week. 44 points last week. St. Louis, Seattle, Indianapolis, Kansas City … and Baltimore? Those teams and a couple of others have scored the most points in the NFL. Baltimore!

The Ravens have a real chance of winning their last four games (against the Bengals, Steelers, Raiders, and Browns). With all the focus on the Chiefs, Colts, Patriots, Titans, and even the Bengals, is this the team that is going to creep up on everyone? They could be a very tough playoff team.

There were seven games this weekend involving teams that had identical records, or records that were within one game of each other (e.g. 7-4 vs. 8-3). That’s probably a by-product of the NFL’s never-ending quest for parity. I think they’ve achieved it!

This may have been a preview of two teams that have a very good chance of meeting each other again in the playoffs. If so I would bet on McNabb over Delhomme, probably about 99 times out of a hundred.

Carolina fans have nothing to worry about. The Panthers play the Falcons, Cardinals, Lions, and Giants in their remaining four games. If they lose more than one of those games, they don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.

They’ve won four of six and two in a row. They play the Packers and Vikings in the next two weeks. They are two games behind the division leading Vikings with four games left to play. Wouldn’t the Chicago Bears be the most fun team to win the NFC North?

The Bears owe a debt of gratitude to Chris Chandler for once more risking serious injury (Chandler is the Concussion King of the NFL) for the good of the team. He’ll never make the Hall of Fame, but he has been a trouper and has kept the Bears from a totally disastrous season. Let’s see if Kordell can pick up the mantle from here.

Boy, I bet the Falcons wish that the wide receiver kid from Pittsburgh (Fitzgerald) was able to join the draft.

OK, so using Vick at this point probably does make some sense. He’s pretty much healed and with only four games left to go it prepares him for next year. However, what is the logic in using Texans QB David Carr? He’s clearly hurt, the Texans are going nowhere … I don’t get it. Wouldn’t this have been a good time to break out rookie Dave Ragone?

While they still have a long way to go, Capers has got to be feeling pretty good about his team. They have a long-term quarterback, they have found a running back that looks like a keeper, and their receiving corps is young and getting better every day. This could be a nine or ten game winner next season. But then again, who would have thought that the manufacturer of all great electronic equipment know to man, the country of Japan, can’t get a rocket to go up in the air?

What a great football matchup! Throughout the game you just knew that Manning would bring it down to the wire.

Manning claims that the Colts were hampered because they did not have their power run scheme available to them. With TE Dallas Clark out, the first team fullback down, and an offensive lineman out of the game, they inadvertently called a running play on fourth down. Now, I know it gets pretty hectic, but they had just called a timeout to think about the kind of play they wanted to use. Don’t these teams have enough coaches to pick up on this kind of thing? Dungy has fifteen assistants.

Did anyone other than me see the Patriots’ #50, LB Mike Vrabel, running up the middle of the field with his helmet in his hand after the 4th down goal line stop? The rule calls for a 15-yard penalty for “any player who removes his helmet after a play while on the field.” Am I missing something here?

Jim Fassel was once a player/coach for the Hawaii Hawaiians (real name) of the World Football League. Unfortunately for him, Jim’s next stop may be as head coach for the Des Moines Des Moinesians.

The book on Fassel is that he knows how to develop quarterbacks. I would say he’s done a pretty good job with Kerry Collins. We tend to forget the reclamation project that Collins was.

Bledsoe was reported to be feeling “fuzzy” all week long. After a Bills victory in which he passed for 252 yards (19 for 29) with two touchdowns and no interceptions, the Bills announced today that they will continue to “smack Drew upside the head” on a weekly basis.

What will you offer me for Carson Palmer? The Bengals may be the only team in the NFL that has the #1 pick in the draft on the bench playing behind an undrafted free agent QB.

Ironically, what with Marvin Lewis being the defensive guru he is, the Bengals are fifth in the AFC in points scored and 12th in points allowed.

Next week’s game with the Ravens should be a beauty. Everything the Ravens do on defense Lewis taught them. Please, please don’t mike up Ray Lewis again. I know he’s a great football player, it’s just that I would prefer to continue in the fantasy that those big guys out there on my TV screen are not rabid dogs. Call me crazy, it just allows me to continue to watch this stuff and still sleep at night.

The Vikings have the worst 7-5 record in the NFL. Baltimore, Cincinnati, and the Broncos (the other 7-5 teams) could all kick their butts right now. Yet, I’m hoping that Mike Tice can turn them around. Tice appears to be a genuine stand-up kind of guy, kinda like the big kid you went to school with – when you made fun of him for his beguiling slowness, you usually did so as you were running away.

Coach Tice is best of friends with his defensive coordinator, George O’Leary (he of the lost Notre Dame job fame). This is the problem when you hire friends and/or relatives. What do you do when they can’t squeeze the ole lemon anymore? O’Leary’s defense is rated 29th in the NFL.

Mike Tice’s “Danny Boy aka Georgie Boy,” as sung to O’Leary:

“Oh, Georgie boy, the yipes, the yipes are growin’ … from South Bend … and down the weak side.
The season’s gone … and all your followers are dyin’ … ’tis you, ’tis you must go and I must decide.”

I know, I know, the yoga lessons are not working.

Oh, yeah, the Rams. Good to have Marshall back. Bulger looked good. This team is an entirely different team in a dome. Three of their last four games are indoors which means that this team could end up with 11-12 wins. If that happens, they will likely end up with home advantage through the playoffs. Under those circumstances they will be hard to beat. Keep in mind that this year’s Super Bowl will be played in Reliant Stadium in Houston (a retractable roof stadium).

The city of New Orleans wishes to become the new quick marriage center of the United States, wrestling that “honor” away from Las Vegas. Said another way, New Orleans is attempting to lure more losers to its fine city, as if the Saints weren’t enough.

“When you run and don’t go very far, you wish you’d passed. When you pass and don’t go anywhere, you wish you’d run.” God, we’re gonna miss Steve Spurrier if he retreats with his tail between his legs back to a world that he can control, college football.

Never being one for those “death” videos (Faces of Death, Vol. 1-999), it was therefore terribly disconcerting to watch Coach Callahan pull the pin and swallow his own hand grenade in his post-game interview. Calling your players “dumb” may have a degree of accuracy attached to it in selected circumstances (”Charlie Woodson, please put your hand down”), yet it’s probably never a good idea to say these things into a microphone while looking at a camera.

As far as Charles Woodson is concerned, don’t you think that after back-to-back plays where you get a little flag thrown at you for being a little too harsh with the quarterback and for trying to do a Moe & Larry eye gouge on a wide receiver you might just be … a little restrained?

Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Green Bay. Three of the last four opponents for the Broncos. Can you say “8-8″?

No doubt the Chiefs are a very good football team. But … is anyone else beginning to sense moist fingers on the pinnacle ledge? 27-24 over Oakland? 28-24 over the Chargers? And lest we forget, three weeks ago was the 19-24 loss to the Bengals. Well, it may simply be a bit of complacency or midseason lethargy, but at least you’ve got to admit they sure have a thing for the number 24. Does Kiefer Sutherland have anything to do with this?

Brian Schottenheimer, Marty’s son and the Chargers’ quarterback coach, was backup QB for Danny Wuerffel at the University of Florida. I don’t know why I’m sharing that with you, but it seems to say something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Talking about unfinished thoughts: what’s your take on Lawrence (don’t call me LT) Taylor and Eric Dickerson coaching the pay-for-view Super Bowl half-time “Lingerie Bowl”? I ain’t kidding, check it out.

The Seahawks are 11 for 17 on third down conversions and have 21 more offensive plays than Cleveland. The Browns are limited to 47 yards rushing and get inside their opponent’s 20-yard line once. Oh, William Green, William Green where are you?

Reminder: the Seahawks (1-4 on the road) play three of their remaining four games … guess where? ON THE ROAD! Think about this: the Seahawks have played five games on the road; one of those games was a 38-0 shutout in Arizona; in the four remaining road games the Seahawks have given up 133 points (33 points per game). Now, contrast that with allowing 15 points per game while at home.

All right, enough already. How many times can we relish the agony that is Jon Gruden? What is it about Gruden that seems to bring such glee to so many in the face of Jon’s anguish? Is it that we’re jealous of his boyish good looks? Do we think that he’s too young to be too successful? Is it because we wonder where the H went in his first name, and we secretly think that he looks like every other “Jon” we’ve seen in our lives? Do we think that he has that strut of the kid in high school who was recruited to the local upscale country club when he was 16? Do we think, “too much, too soon, too easy”? Well … maybe, but come on, the poor guy is dying out there – how about a little empathy? Naaaaaaaa!

Del Rio probably saved his job with this game. Most importantly, he did not cave in to those who wanted him to bench Leftwich. Way to go Jack!

If the Jets can win three of their last four (which is entirely possible), the New York faithful can have an off-season of sweet anticipation.

Guys like Curtis Martin deserve a tip of our hats. Curtis, at this stage of his career, is essentially relegated to running into a wall of defensive mammoths in order to cause hesitation in the narrow minds of the pass-rushing herd. Sure, he’s had a few very good games this year, but he’s clearly on the downside of his career. This is his ninth season, and he has always played hard, never complains, and has been a credit to this league. Do you think any of the football networks (Fox, CBS, ABC/ESPN) would hire Curtis rather than the Michael Irwins, Deion Sanders, and Keyshawn Johnsons of this world?

 
Ted Whiteside’s Lessons Learned column, featuring his sharp eye for football and equally sharp wit, is a weekly feature at the Cafe.