It was a great mix of upsets and traditional NFL powers advancing through this weekend's playoff games. Saturday was as expected with New England and Green Bay winning at home, while Sunday was the opposite, with Indianapolis and Dallas upset. The hobbling Chargers have won eight straight games, but would appear to have little chance of hanging a loss on the Patriots. The Giants will give the Packers a run for their money though, with a fierce pass rush, a snow plow type running back in Brandon Jacobs, and having won nine consecutive road games.
No, the Dallas Cowboys did not lose because Tony Romo went to Mexico with Jessica Simpson. He played no worse than the rest of his teammates, and nobody gave tight end, Jason Witten any grief for going on the same trip. Still, it showed an incredible lack of public relations judgement by everybody involved to put the quarterback into a position to have to defend himself. And now, Jessica has firmly entrenched herself as the Yoko Ono of the NFC's top seeded team. Still can't figure out Terrell Owens, who has gone from laughing at Romo's relationship with Simpson to now crying in defense of his teammate.
My college football insider pals, Mel Kiper Jr. from espn.com and Dennis Dodd from cbssportsline.com both tell me that we will never see a college football playoff. They say it's too involved with each conference and each bowl locked into seperate multi-year deals. In the interim, a final four of sorts with the plus-one format would be a positive step. While matching up the top two teams for a BCS title game is better than what we had 10 years ago, it's becoming increasingly difficult to decide who the two should be. I think Southern Cal would have beaten either LSU or Ohio State.
I don't think the Panthers are that far off from being a post-season caliber team again in 2008. Both lines need help, along with a quality second wide receiver, a banging running back to team with DeAngelo Williams and safety help should all be on the list. If Jake Delhomme is indeed recovered from elbow surgery, the biggest problem will have been addressed. For John Fox haters, the Giants' Tom Coughlin was in similar standing at the beginning of the season, and now look where they are. Patience.
Sandra and I drove to my hometown in Northeast Ohio this past weekend. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is literally right off I-77 in Canton, Ohio. I had forgotten how unimpressive the building was to look at from the outside. My junior high school has more curb appeal. Despite having grown up 30 minutes from the hall and broadcasting the Panthers first-ever preseason game from there, I still have not been inside. If I can trick Sandra into thinking their is a Coach outlet store inside the gift shop, I might get to actually stop one of these times.
Comments