The biggest weekend in the NFL and the favorites held sway. No upsets, no road victories, nothing. Home teams 4 Road Teams 0. Sure some people (who will merely refer to as I. Goldberg or Ivan G.) went with the team du jure (read the Colts). However I did not budge. Much like Laz at an all-you-can-eat-buffet, I never wavered or moved, no matter the odds. At the begining of the season I called KC v. Philly in the Super Bowl. Well that pick turned out to be semi-prophetic (much like this article is semi-funny. its not exactly funny but it doesn't drive people into fits of rage like Sean Salisbury). When I was first picking the great decision was between KC and New England. Its tough to repeat but here is what New England has in its favor that everyone (read Ivan) overlooked.
1) Corey Dillon - New England punished the Colts in the trenches and Dillon smacked the Colts linebackers around. He's an explosive runner and a HUGE upgrade over last years running back (I think they used Hugh Grant last year)
2) Schemes - I'm not sure who calls the schemes (whether its Belichek or Crennel) but New England's D got better as the game went on. Not only are they prepared but they make the adjustments during the game which I consider the hallmark of good coaching. The question on every Brown's fan's mind is how much does Crennel influence the D since its looking like Crennel is choice number 1 for the Browns abandoned coaching post.
3) Rest - New England had its bye in week 3. That is a whole lot football played with very little rest. The week off had New England rested and focused. Speaking of rest all those knuckleheads who cried out about Andy Reid resting its players for a month should publicly apologize. Reid is undefeated coming off a bye week and boy did Philly have time off. Minnesota was never in that game either.
Next week has some close games but I'm sticking with the horses I rode in on . Just remember its not as important whether you absolutely win or lose but that you beat your co-host whether its John Clayton and Sean Salisbury, Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon, Ivan Goldberg and Michael Cohen or George Bush and a pretzel.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I certainly learned my lesson. Never turn your back on great coaching or great defenses. Seriously, the only time Dungy won a non-1st round game, was when he was matched up w/ the Chiefs last year, but they were using a high school team to play defense.
Don't worry, with this miscalculation, I only gather more data, and with more data, I get stronger. Like SkyNet in the Terminator.
Post a Comment