Punter Donnie Jones and FS OJ Atogwe are the newest additions to RamView's all-time St. Louis Rams team. I may be jumping the gun on Atogwe a little; then again, he only had to beat out Adam Archuleta. OJ's 8 INTs last year were one of the team's rare bright spots and identify him as one of the league's breakout young players.
Naturally, there's a lot more activity on the all-worst St. Louis Rams team after 2007. The all-worst team welcomes Drew Bennett, Claude Terrell, Richard Owens and John David Washington (practice squad). It may be too early to put Bennett on this team, but his 2007 season was a train wreck to behold. Joe Klopfenstein almost made it, but I relented because he's badly miscast as a blocking TE. I hate to put players on the all-worst team when they're so misused or out of position. That helped get John St. Clair off the roster, and kept Milford Brown off. Brown turned in the worst tackle play this franchise has ever seen in 2007, but to be fair, he's really a second-string-at-best guard, not a starting tackle.
And the biggest move on the all-worst team takes place on the sideline, where Scott Linehan (11-21 in two years) steps in for Rich Brooks (13-19). You could argue that's too soon, since Dick Vermeil started 9-23; of course, that would make you John Shaw. You'd be better off arguing that I'm being unfair to Linehan because he's so out of position as the HC. My argument: Linehan's record's worse than Brooks'; Brooks' offense was more entertaining; and Linehan's had much better roster talent his first two years than either Brooks or Vermeil did.
And I reallllllly don't like Linehan's chances of playing his way off the all-worst team in 2008 if Al Saunders doesn't come here and save his bacon.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Georgia Frontiere 1927-2008
Here in
The team will be run by actual football people one day, but even so, Georgia Frontiere deserves to stand with the pioneering women in sports. She deserves credit she never seemed to get as a woman competing in an industry dominated by men. Most of all, she deserves credit for making a city whole again, and bringing far more football success and happiness here in 12 years than worthless Bill Bidwill subjected us to for 30 years.
Bless you, Georgia; your hometown will remember you fondly and always.
Retrospectives on Georgia Frontiere:
Georgia gave us an NFL title, and more - Bernie Miklasz
Frontiere not only survived, but thrived in NFL's boys club - Len Pasquarelli
NFC Championship: Giants 23, Packers 20 (OT)
We're getting ready for Ice Bowl II between the Packers and Giants, for the right to meet the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Game time temperature is supposed to be 0.
And I have never seen anything sillier in my life than Jimmy Johnson in that stupid earmuff-headband thing he has on. Honestly, he's trying to re-live Olivia Newton-John in the "Physical" video.
An uneventful first quarter ends with the Giants ahead, 3-0. Brandon Jacobs KILLED Charles Woodson on his first run of the game. I'm impressed Woodson even got back up. Neither offense seems to want to throw the ball downfield more than 5 yards. It took the Giants a little bit to pick up on the Packers doing that, but they have shut down the Pack after a couple of initial first downs. The Packers have to stretch the field better than that, but they aren't even trying.
The Giants are running better than the Pack, which seems to be the main difference right now. Green Bay's getting pressure on Eli, but didn't really get to him till the end of their first-quarter FG drive. After a quarter, I gotta say I like what I see out of the Giant offense more than I do the Packers'.
Also, Fox sucks. Remember when Green Bay was in St. Louis and they showed 1,000 crowd shots of Packers fans? I have seen TWO tonight, when they're in Green Bay. There is no better entertainment than watching the hardy Packer fans in their orange deer hunting hats and camouflage and snowmobile suits. The guy with the dead fox on his head was awesome. More crowd shots, Fox!
Early in the 2nd, Jacobs rumbles outside left for 12. Giants at the GB45. Burress posts up Al Harris for 7. Eli Manning next hits Burress quick up the seam for a nice gain, which is lengthened when he fumbles out of bounds. Giants at the Packer 17 now. False start on Hedgecock moves it back to the 22. Bradshaw gains about 3, then Steve Smith hears footsteps on a 2nd-and-12 whiff. Confusion for the Giants forces a TO on 3rd-and-12. When we return, Eli lobs one up for David Tyree down the sideline, but he can't come down with it; Tramond Williams broke up the catch. Lawrence Tynes, like Nate Kaeding, not known as a clutch kicker, hits from 37 nonetheless to put the Giants up 6-0.
Well, the Packers have been behind farther than this this postseason, but you'd sure like them to find a gear beyond first. Koren Robinson flounders after the short kickoff like he's drunk again, and Green Bay is just lucky to recover the thing at their 10. Then, OH WHAT A PLAY by Donald Driver. Favre fakes another crap quick screen left, then finds Driver, who had flung Corey Webster to the ground when he attempted to jam him at the line, down the sideline behind the Giant secondary. Driver outruns Webster and Gibril Wilson's bad angle all the way down the sideline for a 90-yard TD.
Just like that, the Packers are winning 7-6. Keeping cool should be no problem for the Giants here; let's see if they can stay composed.
Hixon returns a short kick to the 29. Bradshaw wriggles up the middle for 7. The Packers stop him for no gain on 2nd down. 3rd-down, play-action rollout by Eli, and Burress hangs on to the 8-yard pass after taking a MONSTER hit from Atari Bigby. Giants at their 45. Eli wobbles a pass out of bounds under heavy pressure on 1st down. Eli overthrows Kevin Boss on 2nd down. Joe Buck and the Giants bench want a DPI but don't get it. Woodson breaks up a too-short pass to Toomer on 3rd down. No, Toomer dropped it. That's at least two for him. Williams nearly blows the punt but covers it up at the GB22.
Let's see if the Giant defense steps back up here. Ryan Grant gains a couple. Favre hits Donald Lee with a seeing-eye pass for 18. Jennings is wide open in the flat and dekes Wilson for 14. Favre lobs a sideline pass up for James Jones, who fights Webster to a draw for an incompletion. Packers are succeeding here, though, by stretching the field. Justin Tuck deflects the 2nd down pass incomplete and nearly picked it off. 3rd-and-10. Favre finds Ruvell Martin deep over the middle but the ball's off his hands. Ouch. McQuarters DANGEROUSLY grabs the punt after a Packer tips it down, but the Giants still have to start from their 7.
Jacob forces Nick Barnett backwards for six yards of a 9-yard run, and sweeps left again for 6 on 2nd down. No, the Giants held on the play, creating 2nd-and-9 from the 8. Delay to Jacobs gains little. 3rd-and-7. Eli fumbles a bad snap and is lucky just to get away with an incomplete pass. Feagles hits a 40-yard punt, which is a monster for him tonight, with no return.
Packers from the NY47. 4:28 left in the half. Grant gains nothing on a stretch-type handoff. After 201 against Seattle, Grant has 9 rushing yards tonight. Quick slant to Driver is WAY over his head and incomplete. 3rd-and-10, Giants blitz and Michael Johnson (not the sprinter) breaks up a pass to Driver but got a crap illegal contact call. Driver made more contact on the route than Johnson did. Blitz probably hurt NY there by giving Driver such a favorable matchup. Grant runs right for maybe 1. Packer run game isn't doing a damn thing tonight. 2nd-9, Favre gets all night and hits Driver over the middle for about 20. Draw play to Grant gains a couple, and Driver is being treated for some kind of elbow problem, at the 2:00 warning.
Jennings and Madison both go sprawling after an endzone pass that falls incomplete on 2nd down. 3rd-8. The bubble screen looked like it was going to hit big, but Antonio Pierce did a fantastic job to fight through Jason Spitz to drag Grant down for no gain. Mason Crosby hits from 37 to put the Packers ahead 10-6 with 1:30 left in the half.
Hixon's return is stopped at the 23. Bradshaw draws for 9. Eli goes up top for Burress, who makes a two-handed catch over his head for 32. From the 36, Eli goes up top for Burress again, who catches it at the two, which is where the Giants should get the ball because the fumble was caused by the ground. The call is that Burress didn't maintain possession on the way down to the ground. Huh. NY's out of timeouts, so they can't call one to inspire a challenge. With about 30 sec left, Eli has to scramble but is caught by Barnett. 3rd-8, 16 sec left, Manning can't hit Steve Smith. This would be a 51-52 yard FG attempt for Tynes. Giants go for it, and Eli gets a long time to throw, but AJ Hawk gets to him for a sack. Green Bay will kneel out the half.
=======Green Bay 10, New York Giants 6 at halftime=======
I still think Burress controlled that ball down at the two-yard line. I don't see at all that it's obvious he didn't control it as Buck and Aikman seem to be thinking.
Burress is about the only thing the Giant offense has had going for it in the first half, despite the fact that Jacobs is running like a bull when he gets the ball. I don't see any reason they can't take over this game with some good old-fashioned cold-weather playoff power-rushing football. That would also counter the fact that the Packers had to blitz more to get to Eli as the half wore on.
Like how the Packers stretched the field in the 2nd quarter; don't like how they have been unable to run the ball at all. But the Packers have the matchup advantages in the passing game, and unless the Giants do a better of job getting to Favre, there won't be any pressure on them to run.
The second half for me comes down to how well the Giants run and how well the Packers pass-protect.
Hixon opens the second half with a return out to the 31. Jacobs gains a couple up the middle. Eli hits Burress for 9, in front of Harris. His eighth catch. About a yard left for Jacobs. Eli gets all night to throw on 2nd down, but the throw is well behind a very open Steve Smith. On 3rd-9, the Giants are slow lining up and have to burn a timeout. Ouch. After the break, Al Harris picks off a sideline pass intended for Burress, who's flat on the ground, and it's no big mystery what happened there. Illegal contact; first down, Giants. Jacobs gets a couple left out to the 50, then goes up the middle for 3. 3rd-and-5, the Packers bring a delayed blitz and knock down the pass, but the blitzer was ridiculously late hitting Eli, for a pretty easy roughing penalty. Aikman questions the calll - C'mon, Troy, he took a five-step run at him after the pass! Jacobs sweeps right for 3 down to the 29. Crowd's unhappy, but this game's being refereed pretty well by Terry McAulay and crew. Eli hits Burress at the 12; Plaxico barely even got turned around on the route. Jacobs surges up the middle for 5. Jacobs goes off left guard and comes up just short of the first down. On third down, Jacobs lost the ball but Kevin Boss alertly spotted it and recovered it to save the day for New York and also get a first down. 1st-goal, Corey Williams is WAY offsides. Ball goes to the half-yard line. Then Green Bay jumps offsides again, which technically puts the ball at the nine-inch line. Jacobs bursts in for the TD to put the Giants ahead 13-10.
One thing Troy's right about, the Packers really need to find an answer to Burress. The Giants aren't doing a thing on offense outside of him. That was a super drive by the Giants, btw; took almost half the third quarter.
Yeah, I doubt Peyton Manning's latest priceless pep talk is going over very well in Indy.
Big kick return by Tramond Williams, who reverses field and brings it all the way back to the Giants 39. Quick slant to Driver for 8. Stretch handoff to Grant for 2 and the 1st. Incomplete over the middle on 1st down. Packers want defensive holding but don't get it. Screen to Vernand Morency for maybe 2. Tip ball ends up in Driver's hands, well short of a 1st, but a stupid personal foul on Sam Madison gives the Packers a free first down. 1st down, Packers, at the NY12. Donald Lee's open the whole way, and Favre lobs it up to him for the TD. Buck and Aikman idiotically question the call when Lee's feet were in bounds by five feet. Madison cost his team four points there; 17-13, Green Bay.
My God, there are women in BIKINIS in the crowd? Viva alcohol. You'll need a lot more of it after the 23-below wind chill turns your nipples black and makes them fall off. And Troy, whether or not there are bikini-clad women in the stands at frozen Lambeau Field, you're still a wuss.
Big kick return by Hixon now, out to the 42. Eight to Burress, then Bradshaw cuts back up the middle for 4. Big hole for Bradshaw on the right side for 10 or 11. Buck and Aikman are patting themselves on the back for saying Bradshaw should replace Jacobs, while ignoring the blocking. On 1st down, Toomer gets away with a huge pushoff but the pass is incomplete. From the GB35, sweet diving catch by Toomer for 23 yards, as he gets away with another pushoff. Packers barely get the challenge in before the next snap, but it looks like a good catch to me. McAulay will go under the hood. I'm still stunned that he and Jeff Freaking Triplette were picked to be head referees today.
Giants from the Packer 12. Eli rolls right and hits Toomer at the sideline at the 4. Bradshaw gets drug into the end zone by one of his linemen for the TD and a 20-17 Giant lead. Whatever happened to the assisting-the-runner penalty?
Williams lets the kickoff bounce into the end zone. Packers take over at their 20 with about 2:00 left in the 3rd. Favre fakes the quick screen and hits Robinson downfield instead for 16. Packers no-huddle. Grant hits a seam on the left side for 12, which about doubles his yardage for the night. Pack's already at their 49. Grant is stopped for no gain. Favre gets all night to throw and gets away with a ridiculous bomb into triple coverage. He overthrew everybody. We head to the 4th quarter with Green Bay facing a 3rd-and-10.
=======NY Giants 20, Packers 17 after 3=======
Man, we're already down to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the Super Bowl halftime show? Who's doing SB XLIII, Bob Seger?
To open the 4th, the Giants bring a blitz on 3rd-and-10 and get burned, as Favre hits the clutch Driver for 20. Don't like the blitz on that down and distance. Favre then gets away with a TERRIBLE play, a forced, off-balance throw that's picked off pretty easily by RW McQuarters, who then goes down in Giants infamy when Ryan Grant strips him on the return and it goes right into the breadbasket of a hustling Mark Tauscher. Holy cats. Packers retain possession at the Giant 19. Quick screen to Robinson gains nothing. Grant crashes off the right side for 7. On 3rd-and-3, Webster absolutely blows up Donald Lee and drops Grant for a 7-yard loss on the intended screen pass. Superb play. Good composure by Crosby, though, who hits his 2nd FG to tie the game at 20.
Boy, the kickoff coverage has been awful tonight. Hixon pops outside at the 20 and returns the kick to the 40. Eli stares down Toomer and hits him for 5. Bradshaw off right guard for 3. Giants have a lineman down. 3rd-and-3 when we return from the break. Manning rolls out and improvises a designed short pass into a sideline pass to Burress for 10, and I cannot, do not, believe he kept his feet in, but there's no challenge coming. I guess he got his left knee and his right foot down. Bradshaw sweeps right for 6, and we have a Packer injury now. Safety Collins knocked himself silly with a helmet-to-helmet hit. No flag. After that break, Corey Williams stuffs a Bradshaw sweep left for a big loss. On 3rd-and-5, Manning tries to audible and ends up blowing a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game. Back from that, it's ANOTHER drop by Toomer, who also finally got flagged for the brutal pushing off he's been getting away with all quarter. Green Bay takes the penalty to push the Giants out of FG range. 3rd-and-15, Bradshaw squirts away from a couple of tackles for 10 on a screen pass. Like the last time they were in this territory, the Giants go for it on 4th-and-5, despite Joe and Troy's surprise. Oh man. The pass for Toomer is tipped, and Steve Smith appears to corral it at the first-down mark. The spot's academic, though, as DPI was called on Charles Woodson. Fair enough call. Still, give Smith credit for an alert play, and I wish Buck would shut the hell up, again making a very close play sound like it would have been definitively short of the first down. In fact, Smith gains possession on the first down line. 1st-and-10 at the 28 now, and Harris breaks up an end zone pass for Burress. Funny that Harris didn't try more to intercept that. Bradshaw muscles off the right side for 3. 3rd-and-7 from the 35. Harris is cramping up and is off the field for this play. Green Bay now has to blow a timeout on D. Harris returns to the field, and you can bet Plaxico just told Eli in the huddle to throw it to him. Eli instead ends up trying to hit Steve Smith and misses him. That's a crucial miss, because Tynes misses the 43-yard FG attempt by about a foot and the game is still tied. Coughlin chews out Tynes all the way back to the sideline.
From his 33, Favre's first pass is deflected and incomplete. Next he throws way high for Jennings, who just misses making a circus catch. Troy stole my line there. Morency's open at the 40 on 3rd down, but that's too short. Green Bay didn't need a 3-and-out there. McQuarters returns a bad punt to the 37. With 5:53 left, I'm fully expecting the Giants to wear the Packers down here and score. The Packer D has been on the field almost the whole second half.
Jacobs runs right for 5. I hope TiVo's going to catch this whole thing. Jacobs bobs right and weaves left for 5 more. 5:05 left, but more importantly, less than 18 minutes left on the TiVo. Gulp. Jacobs got slightly less than 5; it's third and inches. Eli gets the Bush Push from a lineman for the 1st down. Ball at the NY48. Green Bay's got everything covered on 1st down and Eli chucks it to the ground. 2nd-10, they try to misdirect with a draw to Jacobs but Bigby and Poppinga foil it. 3rd-and-9. Huge jump by a possibly-offsides KG-B results in a sack. I think he just timed it perfectly, but it's hard to tell. Williams nearly muffs the punt but maintains possession at the GB17 with 2:48 left.
Favre Time.
Downfield screen for Grant is way incomplete, though probably for the best. Giants have been all over the short stuff today. Chad Clifton jumps on 2nd down to create 2nd-15. Less than 12 minutes left on TiVo. Pass for Lee is low. Favre wouldn't 3-and-out here, would he? I say go to Greg Jennings on a double-move. Nah, they go short to Lee over the middle for 5. The Giants take a TO to stop the clock at 2:30. Those were two straight fubar possessions by the Packers. What happened to going downfield?
Oh my freaking god, McQuarters fumbles the punt return, and TWO Packers have chances to recover it but let it bounce away. Dominic Hixon makes the play of the game for New York by falling on it at the Packer 48. 2:15 left. A holding penalty erases what would have been a TD run by Bradshaw. The Packer defense quit when they saw the flag even though the play was live. Lucky for them the penalty was what it was. At the 2:00 warning, Eli hits Tyree for 5.
I have certainly failed to record the end of this game; I have under 4 minutes on the TiVo. Grr. 1:59 left, Eli hits Smith over the middle for 14. 3rd and less than a yard. No, we stop for a measurement, and the Giants are awarded the first down. NOW they're going to review the catch, and the stupid damn referees are going to eat up the rest of my TiVo time. GRRR. Football games that take over 3:30 are running too long, I'm not taking the blame for this. Looks like a catch by Smith to me, which'll be the last thing I see about this game. What the review does do is move the ball back a little and force the 3rd-and-1 I originally thought there would be. Clock running inside 1:30. Bradshaw shakes and bakes off left tackle for sevenish, as my TiVo clocks out with 1:09 left in the game.
#@$!%@#%&@!!! @$^%*(%(()*!
I would have thought the Giants would have won the thing at the gun, but after Eli drove the Giants inside the 20, Tynes yakked another FG attempt to send the game to OT. Watching the highlights on NFL Network, it wasn't even close. Mike Vanderjagt didn't choke that bad when he muffed it a couple of years ago against Pittsburgh. If I'm Tom Coughlin, I'm looking for a new kicker. Right now. The Packers opened OT with the ball, but their offense continued to implode. Favre made an awful throw that Webster picked off on the second play, and Tynes, illogically after blowing two shorter attempts, hits from 47 to send the Giants to Super Bowl XLII, a rematch of their week 17 classic.
Plaxico Burress is player of the game; he dominated offensively against one of the league's best secondaries. He made Al Harris look like, well, Fakhir Brown.
Disappointing finish for the Packers, who ironically were done in by their home field advantage, the cold weather impacting their passing game and the Giants shutting down the running game you need to have in cold weather in the playoffs. The Packer offense isn't built for Packer weather; how can that be? If there's a good young DB or DE available when they draft, I'd pounce, but one way or another, they'd better get serious about establishing a running game on Lombardi Drive.
Scarily, this Giant team reminds me of the Patriots. Not the current team; I mean the Patriots that won Super Bowl XXXVI. They got hot late in the season, don't do any one thing great but play very well as a team, and won on the road in the playoffs. They just go out and win and don't beat themselves. With the Patriots doing their best GSOE impression throughout the season, it's tempting to take the Giants, who'll likely be a 2 TD dog just like the '01 Patriots were, in the mondo upset of the century. They didn't do anything today that they can't also do against the Pats in Glendale.
I just question, though, that their secondary can keep up with the Patriot WRs as well as the Chargers did, and whether a lot of their success against the Packer WRs today wasn't because of the non-pass-friendly weather. The climate control at the Pink Taco Dome will likely be the worst thing to happen to the Giants this postseason, and I expect Tom Brady and Randy Moss to thrive in that environment, though I'm definitely rooting for Eli and company.
And I have never seen anything sillier in my life than Jimmy Johnson in that stupid earmuff-headband thing he has on. Honestly, he's trying to re-live Olivia Newton-John in the "Physical" video.
An uneventful first quarter ends with the Giants ahead, 3-0. Brandon Jacobs KILLED Charles Woodson on his first run of the game. I'm impressed Woodson even got back up. Neither offense seems to want to throw the ball downfield more than 5 yards. It took the Giants a little bit to pick up on the Packers doing that, but they have shut down the Pack after a couple of initial first downs. The Packers have to stretch the field better than that, but they aren't even trying.
The Giants are running better than the Pack, which seems to be the main difference right now. Green Bay's getting pressure on Eli, but didn't really get to him till the end of their first-quarter FG drive. After a quarter, I gotta say I like what I see out of the Giant offense more than I do the Packers'.
Also, Fox sucks. Remember when Green Bay was in St. Louis and they showed 1,000 crowd shots of Packers fans? I have seen TWO tonight, when they're in Green Bay. There is no better entertainment than watching the hardy Packer fans in their orange deer hunting hats and camouflage and snowmobile suits. The guy with the dead fox on his head was awesome. More crowd shots, Fox!
Early in the 2nd, Jacobs rumbles outside left for 12. Giants at the GB45. Burress posts up Al Harris for 7. Eli Manning next hits Burress quick up the seam for a nice gain, which is lengthened when he fumbles out of bounds. Giants at the Packer 17 now. False start on Hedgecock moves it back to the 22. Bradshaw gains about 3, then Steve Smith hears footsteps on a 2nd-and-12 whiff. Confusion for the Giants forces a TO on 3rd-and-12. When we return, Eli lobs one up for David Tyree down the sideline, but he can't come down with it; Tramond Williams broke up the catch. Lawrence Tynes, like Nate Kaeding, not known as a clutch kicker, hits from 37 nonetheless to put the Giants up 6-0.
Well, the Packers have been behind farther than this this postseason, but you'd sure like them to find a gear beyond first. Koren Robinson flounders after the short kickoff like he's drunk again, and Green Bay is just lucky to recover the thing at their 10. Then, OH WHAT A PLAY by Donald Driver. Favre fakes another crap quick screen left, then finds Driver, who had flung Corey Webster to the ground when he attempted to jam him at the line, down the sideline behind the Giant secondary. Driver outruns Webster and Gibril Wilson's bad angle all the way down the sideline for a 90-yard TD.
Just like that, the Packers are winning 7-6. Keeping cool should be no problem for the Giants here; let's see if they can stay composed.
Hixon returns a short kick to the 29. Bradshaw wriggles up the middle for 7. The Packers stop him for no gain on 2nd down. 3rd-down, play-action rollout by Eli, and Burress hangs on to the 8-yard pass after taking a MONSTER hit from Atari Bigby. Giants at their 45. Eli wobbles a pass out of bounds under heavy pressure on 1st down. Eli overthrows Kevin Boss on 2nd down. Joe Buck and the Giants bench want a DPI but don't get it. Woodson breaks up a too-short pass to Toomer on 3rd down. No, Toomer dropped it. That's at least two for him. Williams nearly blows the punt but covers it up at the GB22.
Let's see if the Giant defense steps back up here. Ryan Grant gains a couple. Favre hits Donald Lee with a seeing-eye pass for 18. Jennings is wide open in the flat and dekes Wilson for 14. Favre lobs a sideline pass up for James Jones, who fights Webster to a draw for an incompletion. Packers are succeeding here, though, by stretching the field. Justin Tuck deflects the 2nd down pass incomplete and nearly picked it off. 3rd-and-10. Favre finds Ruvell Martin deep over the middle but the ball's off his hands. Ouch. McQuarters DANGEROUSLY grabs the punt after a Packer tips it down, but the Giants still have to start from their 7.
Jacob forces Nick Barnett backwards for six yards of a 9-yard run, and sweeps left again for 6 on 2nd down. No, the Giants held on the play, creating 2nd-and-9 from the 8. Delay to Jacobs gains little. 3rd-and-7. Eli fumbles a bad snap and is lucky just to get away with an incomplete pass. Feagles hits a 40-yard punt, which is a monster for him tonight, with no return.
Packers from the NY47. 4:28 left in the half. Grant gains nothing on a stretch-type handoff. After 201 against Seattle, Grant has 9 rushing yards tonight. Quick slant to Driver is WAY over his head and incomplete. 3rd-and-10, Giants blitz and Michael Johnson (not the sprinter) breaks up a pass to Driver but got a crap illegal contact call. Driver made more contact on the route than Johnson did. Blitz probably hurt NY there by giving Driver such a favorable matchup. Grant runs right for maybe 1. Packer run game isn't doing a damn thing tonight. 2nd-9, Favre gets all night and hits Driver over the middle for about 20. Draw play to Grant gains a couple, and Driver is being treated for some kind of elbow problem, at the 2:00 warning.
Jennings and Madison both go sprawling after an endzone pass that falls incomplete on 2nd down. 3rd-8. The bubble screen looked like it was going to hit big, but Antonio Pierce did a fantastic job to fight through Jason Spitz to drag Grant down for no gain. Mason Crosby hits from 37 to put the Packers ahead 10-6 with 1:30 left in the half.
Hixon's return is stopped at the 23. Bradshaw draws for 9. Eli goes up top for Burress, who makes a two-handed catch over his head for 32. From the 36, Eli goes up top for Burress again, who catches it at the two, which is where the Giants should get the ball because the fumble was caused by the ground. The call is that Burress didn't maintain possession on the way down to the ground. Huh. NY's out of timeouts, so they can't call one to inspire a challenge. With about 30 sec left, Eli has to scramble but is caught by Barnett. 3rd-8, 16 sec left, Manning can't hit Steve Smith. This would be a 51-52 yard FG attempt for Tynes. Giants go for it, and Eli gets a long time to throw, but AJ Hawk gets to him for a sack. Green Bay will kneel out the half.
=======Green Bay 10, New York Giants 6 at halftime=======
I still think Burress controlled that ball down at the two-yard line. I don't see at all that it's obvious he didn't control it as Buck and Aikman seem to be thinking.
Burress is about the only thing the Giant offense has had going for it in the first half, despite the fact that Jacobs is running like a bull when he gets the ball. I don't see any reason they can't take over this game with some good old-fashioned cold-weather playoff power-rushing football. That would also counter the fact that the Packers had to blitz more to get to Eli as the half wore on.
Like how the Packers stretched the field in the 2nd quarter; don't like how they have been unable to run the ball at all. But the Packers have the matchup advantages in the passing game, and unless the Giants do a better of job getting to Favre, there won't be any pressure on them to run.
The second half for me comes down to how well the Giants run and how well the Packers pass-protect.
Hixon opens the second half with a return out to the 31. Jacobs gains a couple up the middle. Eli hits Burress for 9, in front of Harris. His eighth catch. About a yard left for Jacobs. Eli gets all night to throw on 2nd down, but the throw is well behind a very open Steve Smith. On 3rd-9, the Giants are slow lining up and have to burn a timeout. Ouch. After the break, Al Harris picks off a sideline pass intended for Burress, who's flat on the ground, and it's no big mystery what happened there. Illegal contact; first down, Giants. Jacobs gets a couple left out to the 50, then goes up the middle for 3. 3rd-and-5, the Packers bring a delayed blitz and knock down the pass, but the blitzer was ridiculously late hitting Eli, for a pretty easy roughing penalty. Aikman questions the calll - C'mon, Troy, he took a five-step run at him after the pass! Jacobs sweeps right for 3 down to the 29. Crowd's unhappy, but this game's being refereed pretty well by Terry McAulay and crew. Eli hits Burress at the 12; Plaxico barely even got turned around on the route. Jacobs surges up the middle for 5. Jacobs goes off left guard and comes up just short of the first down. On third down, Jacobs lost the ball but Kevin Boss alertly spotted it and recovered it to save the day for New York and also get a first down. 1st-goal, Corey Williams is WAY offsides. Ball goes to the half-yard line. Then Green Bay jumps offsides again, which technically puts the ball at the nine-inch line. Jacobs bursts in for the TD to put the Giants ahead 13-10.
One thing Troy's right about, the Packers really need to find an answer to Burress. The Giants aren't doing a thing on offense outside of him. That was a super drive by the Giants, btw; took almost half the third quarter.
Yeah, I doubt Peyton Manning's latest priceless pep talk is going over very well in Indy.
Big kick return by Tramond Williams, who reverses field and brings it all the way back to the Giants 39. Quick slant to Driver for 8. Stretch handoff to Grant for 2 and the 1st. Incomplete over the middle on 1st down. Packers want defensive holding but don't get it. Screen to Vernand Morency for maybe 2. Tip ball ends up in Driver's hands, well short of a 1st, but a stupid personal foul on Sam Madison gives the Packers a free first down. 1st down, Packers, at the NY12. Donald Lee's open the whole way, and Favre lobs it up to him for the TD. Buck and Aikman idiotically question the call when Lee's feet were in bounds by five feet. Madison cost his team four points there; 17-13, Green Bay.
My God, there are women in BIKINIS in the crowd? Viva alcohol. You'll need a lot more of it after the 23-below wind chill turns your nipples black and makes them fall off. And Troy, whether or not there are bikini-clad women in the stands at frozen Lambeau Field, you're still a wuss.
Big kick return by Hixon now, out to the 42. Eight to Burress, then Bradshaw cuts back up the middle for 4. Big hole for Bradshaw on the right side for 10 or 11. Buck and Aikman are patting themselves on the back for saying Bradshaw should replace Jacobs, while ignoring the blocking. On 1st down, Toomer gets away with a huge pushoff but the pass is incomplete. From the GB35, sweet diving catch by Toomer for 23 yards, as he gets away with another pushoff. Packers barely get the challenge in before the next snap, but it looks like a good catch to me. McAulay will go under the hood. I'm still stunned that he and Jeff Freaking Triplette were picked to be head referees today.
Giants from the Packer 12. Eli rolls right and hits Toomer at the sideline at the 4. Bradshaw gets drug into the end zone by one of his linemen for the TD and a 20-17 Giant lead. Whatever happened to the assisting-the-runner penalty?
Williams lets the kickoff bounce into the end zone. Packers take over at their 20 with about 2:00 left in the 3rd. Favre fakes the quick screen and hits Robinson downfield instead for 16. Packers no-huddle. Grant hits a seam on the left side for 12, which about doubles his yardage for the night. Pack's already at their 49. Grant is stopped for no gain. Favre gets all night to throw and gets away with a ridiculous bomb into triple coverage. He overthrew everybody. We head to the 4th quarter with Green Bay facing a 3rd-and-10.
=======NY Giants 20, Packers 17 after 3=======
Man, we're already down to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the Super Bowl halftime show? Who's doing SB XLIII, Bob Seger?
To open the 4th, the Giants bring a blitz on 3rd-and-10 and get burned, as Favre hits the clutch Driver for 20. Don't like the blitz on that down and distance. Favre then gets away with a TERRIBLE play, a forced, off-balance throw that's picked off pretty easily by RW McQuarters, who then goes down in Giants infamy when Ryan Grant strips him on the return and it goes right into the breadbasket of a hustling Mark Tauscher. Holy cats. Packers retain possession at the Giant 19. Quick screen to Robinson gains nothing. Grant crashes off the right side for 7. On 3rd-and-3, Webster absolutely blows up Donald Lee and drops Grant for a 7-yard loss on the intended screen pass. Superb play. Good composure by Crosby, though, who hits his 2nd FG to tie the game at 20.
Boy, the kickoff coverage has been awful tonight. Hixon pops outside at the 20 and returns the kick to the 40. Eli stares down Toomer and hits him for 5. Bradshaw off right guard for 3. Giants have a lineman down. 3rd-and-3 when we return from the break. Manning rolls out and improvises a designed short pass into a sideline pass to Burress for 10, and I cannot, do not, believe he kept his feet in, but there's no challenge coming. I guess he got his left knee and his right foot down. Bradshaw sweeps right for 6, and we have a Packer injury now. Safety Collins knocked himself silly with a helmet-to-helmet hit. No flag. After that break, Corey Williams stuffs a Bradshaw sweep left for a big loss. On 3rd-and-5, Manning tries to audible and ends up blowing a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game. Back from that, it's ANOTHER drop by Toomer, who also finally got flagged for the brutal pushing off he's been getting away with all quarter. Green Bay takes the penalty to push the Giants out of FG range. 3rd-and-15, Bradshaw squirts away from a couple of tackles for 10 on a screen pass. Like the last time they were in this territory, the Giants go for it on 4th-and-5, despite Joe and Troy's surprise. Oh man. The pass for Toomer is tipped, and Steve Smith appears to corral it at the first-down mark. The spot's academic, though, as DPI was called on Charles Woodson. Fair enough call. Still, give Smith credit for an alert play, and I wish Buck would shut the hell up, again making a very close play sound like it would have been definitively short of the first down. In fact, Smith gains possession on the first down line. 1st-and-10 at the 28 now, and Harris breaks up an end zone pass for Burress. Funny that Harris didn't try more to intercept that. Bradshaw muscles off the right side for 3. 3rd-and-7 from the 35. Harris is cramping up and is off the field for this play. Green Bay now has to blow a timeout on D. Harris returns to the field, and you can bet Plaxico just told Eli in the huddle to throw it to him. Eli instead ends up trying to hit Steve Smith and misses him. That's a crucial miss, because Tynes misses the 43-yard FG attempt by about a foot and the game is still tied. Coughlin chews out Tynes all the way back to the sideline.
From his 33, Favre's first pass is deflected and incomplete. Next he throws way high for Jennings, who just misses making a circus catch. Troy stole my line there. Morency's open at the 40 on 3rd down, but that's too short. Green Bay didn't need a 3-and-out there. McQuarters returns a bad punt to the 37. With 5:53 left, I'm fully expecting the Giants to wear the Packers down here and score. The Packer D has been on the field almost the whole second half.
Jacobs runs right for 5. I hope TiVo's going to catch this whole thing. Jacobs bobs right and weaves left for 5 more. 5:05 left, but more importantly, less than 18 minutes left on the TiVo. Gulp. Jacobs got slightly less than 5; it's third and inches. Eli gets the Bush Push from a lineman for the 1st down. Ball at the NY48. Green Bay's got everything covered on 1st down and Eli chucks it to the ground. 2nd-10, they try to misdirect with a draw to Jacobs but Bigby and Poppinga foil it. 3rd-and-9. Huge jump by a possibly-offsides KG-B results in a sack. I think he just timed it perfectly, but it's hard to tell. Williams nearly muffs the punt but maintains possession at the GB17 with 2:48 left.
Favre Time.
Downfield screen for Grant is way incomplete, though probably for the best. Giants have been all over the short stuff today. Chad Clifton jumps on 2nd down to create 2nd-15. Less than 12 minutes left on TiVo. Pass for Lee is low. Favre wouldn't 3-and-out here, would he? I say go to Greg Jennings on a double-move. Nah, they go short to Lee over the middle for 5. The Giants take a TO to stop the clock at 2:30. Those were two straight fubar possessions by the Packers. What happened to going downfield?
Oh my freaking god, McQuarters fumbles the punt return, and TWO Packers have chances to recover it but let it bounce away. Dominic Hixon makes the play of the game for New York by falling on it at the Packer 48. 2:15 left. A holding penalty erases what would have been a TD run by Bradshaw. The Packer defense quit when they saw the flag even though the play was live. Lucky for them the penalty was what it was. At the 2:00 warning, Eli hits Tyree for 5.
I have certainly failed to record the end of this game; I have under 4 minutes on the TiVo. Grr. 1:59 left, Eli hits Smith over the middle for 14. 3rd and less than a yard. No, we stop for a measurement, and the Giants are awarded the first down. NOW they're going to review the catch, and the stupid damn referees are going to eat up the rest of my TiVo time. GRRR. Football games that take over 3:30 are running too long, I'm not taking the blame for this. Looks like a catch by Smith to me, which'll be the last thing I see about this game. What the review does do is move the ball back a little and force the 3rd-and-1 I originally thought there would be. Clock running inside 1:30. Bradshaw shakes and bakes off left tackle for sevenish, as my TiVo clocks out with 1:09 left in the game.
#@$!%@#%&@!!! @$^%*(%(()*!
I would have thought the Giants would have won the thing at the gun, but after Eli drove the Giants inside the 20, Tynes yakked another FG attempt to send the game to OT. Watching the highlights on NFL Network, it wasn't even close. Mike Vanderjagt didn't choke that bad when he muffed it a couple of years ago against Pittsburgh. If I'm Tom Coughlin, I'm looking for a new kicker. Right now. The Packers opened OT with the ball, but their offense continued to implode. Favre made an awful throw that Webster picked off on the second play, and Tynes, illogically after blowing two shorter attempts, hits from 47 to send the Giants to Super Bowl XLII, a rematch of their week 17 classic.
Plaxico Burress is player of the game; he dominated offensively against one of the league's best secondaries. He made Al Harris look like, well, Fakhir Brown.
Disappointing finish for the Packers, who ironically were done in by their home field advantage, the cold weather impacting their passing game and the Giants shutting down the running game you need to have in cold weather in the playoffs. The Packer offense isn't built for Packer weather; how can that be? If there's a good young DB or DE available when they draft, I'd pounce, but one way or another, they'd better get serious about establishing a running game on Lombardi Drive.
Scarily, this Giant team reminds me of the Patriots. Not the current team; I mean the Patriots that won Super Bowl XXXVI. They got hot late in the season, don't do any one thing great but play very well as a team, and won on the road in the playoffs. They just go out and win and don't beat themselves. With the Patriots doing their best GSOE impression throughout the season, it's tempting to take the Giants, who'll likely be a 2 TD dog just like the '01 Patriots were, in the mondo upset of the century. They didn't do anything today that they can't also do against the Pats in Glendale.
I just question, though, that their secondary can keep up with the Patriot WRs as well as the Chargers did, and whether a lot of their success against the Packer WRs today wasn't because of the non-pass-friendly weather. The climate control at the Pink Taco Dome will likely be the worst thing to happen to the Giants this postseason, and I expect Tom Brady and Randy Moss to thrive in that environment, though I'm definitely rooting for Eli and company.
AFC Championship: Patriots 21, Chargers 12
Lotsa luck to what's left of the San Diego Chargers. Your opponent is the undefeated Patriots, you'll be playing with injuries to your three key offensive players, and gametime wind chill is an un-SoCal-like ten degrees...
Darren Sproles is out to the 25 with the opening kickoff. Philip Rivers will start with the bad right knee, which must have a glowing-neon target on it as far as worthless piece of shit Rodney Harrison is concerned. LaDainian Tomlinson up the middle for 3. 2nd down, highly uncreatively, exactly the same play for 2. 3rd-and-5, Rivers throws a poor short pass low for Sproles that never would have made the 1st anyway. I don't think Rivers pushed off AT ALL on that throw. It was funky, even for him. The Patriots run into punter Mike Scifres. It won't be enough for a first but gives San Diego a chance to rekick a poor punt. On the retry, fair catch by Wes Welker at the 27.
Patriots take over. Is it too early to say this is a must-stop for the Charger defense? Chargers rush five, and Tom Brady's pass for Kyle Brady is well incomplete. Chargers bring just 4 on 2nd down but hold Laurence Maroney to 2 up the middle. 3rd-and-8, Chargers bring 5 again, Brady gets bumped in the pocket and throws it away for the 123-out. Five-man rush paying nice dividends so far. Sproles muffs the punt out of bounds around the 25.
The Chargers have absorbed the Patriots' first punch.
Holy Christ, JEFF TRIPLETTE is refereeing a conference championship game? How far have officiating standards fallen for this to happen?
Sweet sideline throw from Rivers to Chris Chambers for 20 to open the next series, as we find out that LT is staying out of the game with his vaginal injury. 5 for Michael Turner gets San Diego to midfield. 2nd down, Rivers gets all day to throw, bypasses his checkdown and hits Chambers for 8. 1st down at the Patriot 43. Play action pass for Vincent Jackson broken up by Assante Samuel. Screen to LT, who wusses out for 1. 3rd-and-9. Worthless piece of shit blitzes on 3rd down, LT completely fails to block him and forces an incomplete pass for Legedu Naanee. I swear, Tomlinson is having one of the least clutch postseasons ever and is getting zero heat for it. Patriots fair catch the punt at the 10, I don't think it was Welker that time.
Marlon McCree flashes in and drops Maroney for -1 as we return to action. But the Chargers let Welker squirt through their zone for 12 and a first. Chargers are giving the vaunted Patriot offensive line a real battle, but NE will get a first down on Quentin Jammer's illegal contact penalty. Maroney shut down again for no gain outside left tackle. On 2nd-long, SD only rushes 3 and Brady hits Ben Watson for most of the yardage. 3rd-and-2. Blitz comes, and Brady bails like a little bitch and throws an awful pass for Welker. Brady had time to hang in there; that was a less-than-courageous play. 4th down. Sproles returns a poor punt 12 yards to the 39.
The St. Louis affiliate comes back late and nearly misses a brief tribute to Georgia Frontiere. Nice. Turner breaks a tackle to gain 10, then 3, and he has been 10X the player LT has this postseason. I believe the Patriots brought five there on 2nd down, forcing a Rivers throwaway. 3rd-and-7. BIG rush off the edges by both DEs forces Rivers up into classless Junior Seau for a sack. Give Adalius Thomas credit for the QB pressure. Punt bounces into the end zone.
Not sure anybody was expecting an all-out defensive battle here, but the Chargers are hanging tough.
Patriots at their 20, and JAMMER PICKS OFF BRADY. Chargers take over just outside the Patriot 40. Next play, Vince Wilfork grabs Turner's face mask to put the Chargers at the NE20. Wow. 1st down, nothing for Turner around left end. Rivers hits Chambers on the sideline to set up first-and-goal at the 9. Turner up the middle for 1. Rivers rushes a throw for Lorenzo Neal, who wasn't turned for it, for an incompletion. Pats rushed just 4 there. 3rd-goal, Pats rush only 3, Rivers hits Chambers high in the back of the end zone, but he's ruled out of bounds. He stepped across the end line before he caught the ball; why isn't that an illegal touch? That non-penalty might have mattered, as Nate Kaeding's chippie BARELY slips inside the right upright to put the Chargers ahead 3-0.
3-0 with 3:00 left in the first quarter, and the Patriots haven't figured out the Charger D yet; they're not even close.
Maroney nearly runs over up man Willie Andrews fielding a VERY short kickoff, which Andrews hangs on to and brings back to the 35. Chargers bring only 4 and cover soft; no surprise, Brady to Welker for 9. 3-man rush, and Brady's throw is TERRIBLE, a mile over Randy Moss' head. I think that was the first throw to Moss. On 3rd-and-1, Heath Evans bangs off his blocker's back and surges through for 4. Big play. Patriots at their 47. Play-action end-around to Moss, who cuts it back inside for 14. Key block by Nick Kaczur. Quick screen to Kevin Faulk is nearly wild, but he catches it nicely and breaks a tackle to gain 14. Shaun Phillips blew the tackle. Pats are at the SD 25. Another quick screen to Faulk, for 4. Brady hits Donte Stallworth for 4 more as we end the first quarter.
=======San Diego 3, New England 0 after 1=======
3-0 Chargers after one, facing a very big 3rd-down play to start the 2nd.
Maroney pops outside left and gets the first down with no problem. Super block by FULLBACK Evans. Patriots are inside the 10. Brady gets all day, hits Faulk down to the 1. Maroney plunges in over right guard for the TD. Patriots lead 7-3. The Chargers screwed themselves with that awful kickoff, and NE cashed in on the decent field position. And Evans was huge that drive, with the gain on 3rd-and-1 at midfield and the big block on Maroney's 3rd-down conversion.
San Diego had better be ready to fire back, and they have to realize they can't be as soft on defense as they were this possession if they're going to go to Glendale.
Sproles is out to the 30 with the kick return. LT remains on the sideline with menstrual cramps. Rivers guns it to Vincent Jackson for 15. Rivers rolls out right off play-action and hits Jackson for a leaping 17-yard sideline catch. Chargers at the NE39. Turner up the middle for 3. Rivers hangs in against pressure and hits Turner over the middle for 6. The line gets him time again and he hits Jackson inside the 10. 21-yard gain over the middle. Here come the Chargers! Maybe a yard left for Turner. 2nd-goal, good coverage forces Rivers to roll out and Tedy Bruschi breaks up a goal line pass for Antonio Gates. First time I've called Gates' name today. Chargers take a timeout on 3rd-and-goal, 10:00 left in the half. Even if they settle for a FG here, this has been a big drive for them.
3rd-goal from the 9. Pats rush 4, Rivers sprints up and hits Chambers with a dumpoff for about 3, missing Jackson breaking free in the back of the end zone. Kaeding hits the 26-yarder to make it 7-6.
That was a major missed opportunity for Rivers, but on one good knee, he's playing better than he ever did for my FFL team, and he's outplaying Brady right now.
Let's see how the Charger defense responds to NE's previous TD drive.
By the way, if you want a website for looking up rosters and stuff, use something like sports.yahoo.com. Don't even try nfl.com today, it is a complete dog.
Another TERRIBLE kickoff by Kaeding brought across the 40 by Ellis Hobbs. I mean, what the hell is that, Kaeding? You've got the wind at your BACK! A kickoff with the wind at your BACK should NOT be coming down at the 15! Faulk wide open on the sideline for a quick pass for 13. The breakdowns kicking off are killing the Chargers. Maroney pounds right for 5 to put the Patriots at the SD42. Quick hitch to Welker for a couple. 3rd-3, huge play for San Diego, and Jammer makes it, swatting down a quick slant for Moss, who still doesn't have a catch. Kelley Washington makes a super play at the goal line to tip Chris Hanson's punt back in to pin the Chargers at the 4.
Turner drives up the middle for 4, then again for 3-4 more. LT is on the bench due to "coach's decision". Hopefully Norv identified that Turner is gutting it out and LT is playing like a wuss. 3rd-3. Pats rush 4, Samuels STICKS Sproles after a short catch but he's out of bounds for 4 yards and the 1st. From the 15, Turner back up the middle again for 2. Major misplay, though, on 2nd-and-8. Mike Vrabel goes down on the rush, but kicks Rivers' foot as he throws, and Samuel jumps Chambers for the pick. Major play for the Patriots, who take over at the Charger 23. Samuel came over Chambers' shoulder, tipped the ball and came away with it.
Phil Simms is calling #22 of the Patriots "Assante Samuels". I didn't realize Phil was from Missouri. He must have loved Sally Fields in Smokey and the Bandit.
The Chargers have no solution for the quick pass to Faulk, which works here for 12 and puts the Patriots at the Charger 13. Plenty of time for Brady on first down, and he hits Jabar Gaffney, who splits the Charger defense for a TD. I think they had both WRs on the left side running drag patterns. Gaffney came through 2nd, Shaun Phillips slipped and fell, play over. Phillips is having an atypically-poor game.
The Chargers were shutting the Pats down in the 1st by coming after Brady; they have inexplicably quit doing it, dropping into soft coverages, and they're getting burned.
New England leads 14-6 with 3:51 left in the half. San Diego must at least score again before halftime. They try Sproles off right tackle, for no gain. Ball is at the Charger 27. Rivers hits Chambers on the square out for 15. 1st down, TERRIBLE throw downfield by Rivers is picked off easily by Ellis Hobbs. That was WELL underthrown, and the wind's at San Diego's back! Hobbs fumbled but the Patriots still recover. That may be a killer.
Pats take over at their 23. Brady goes deep for Gaffney down the sideline but it's broken up. Faulk, who's vying for POTG, breaks a tackle and bounces outside right for 8. Randy Moss knocked down two Chargers on that play, so some credit to him for staying in the game even though he's not getting the ball. 3rd-and-2 for NE at the 2:00 warning. San Diego absolutely HAS to keep them from scoring again before halftime.
Chargers rush 4; Brady's pass is through Welker's hands to force a punt. Sproles returns Hanson's punt to the 35.
Shotgun draw to Sproles is good for 7. Chargers are NOT hurrying here. Another inside handoff to Sproles works big as he squirts through the line for 26. Man, that guy needs almost no space to get up to full speed. The ball came loose at the end of the play, and replay wants to review for a fumble. 0:49 left. Pretty easy call here that the ground caused the fumble. At least Triplette doesn't screw that up. 1st-and-10 Chargers at the NE32. Pats bluff a blitz and rush 5; Rivers hits Gates for 8. Chargers have been letting the clock run the whole drive and finally call TO here with :26 left. Another 5-man rush, swing pass to Sproles gains only 1 thanks to Brandon Merriweather's tackle. Rivers spends his last TO with 0:18 left. On 3rd-and-1, the Patriots use a timeout. There's probably time for a play, a spike and a FG attempt. A fake spike would be cool. Rivers, though, has to bail under pressure on a third-down pass attempt (I'd have been running) and chucks it out of bounds. On comes Kaeding on 4th down. NE calls a TO to freeze him, which may actually happen on a day this cold. But Kaeding, who's been unusually steady today, squeezes it in from 40 to bring the Chargers within 14-9.
=======New England 14, San Diego 9 at the half=======
Chargers are hanging in there nicely. Norv should stay with what he's doing on offense, but that defense needs to start coming after Brady again. Have Turner and Sproles ready to run when New England starts the inevitable blitzing in the 4th quarter. The main thing that's not working for the Pats is their third-down offense. They've blown a couple of third-and-shorts passing where they might have been better off power running.
Both Cowher the Chin and Shannon not-so-Sharpe are calling for Billy Volek to start the 2nd half. Two terrible INTs by Rivers, yes, but the Pats have only cashed one of them, and aside from those, I still say Rivers is outplaying Brady. He's hanging much tougher against pressure. On-the-field leadership isn't overrated.
Patriots start the second half from their 40 after another TERRIBLE kickoff by Kaeding, which is the untold story of this game. Moss whiffs on a sideline pass, 2nd down. Welker fields a lowball and hops forward for 9. Evans converts the 1st down. From the Charger 48, Maroney runs right for a yard. Luis Castillo sacks Brady on 2nd down. 3rd-12, huge play. Kaczur tries to chop block Phillips and misses badly, forcing Brady to rush his throw a little bit. A crossing Stallworth can only get one hand on it, and he DOH! tips the ball up and to Drayton Florence for an INT to the Patriot 49.
What'd I say about pressuring Brady!
Turner plows up the middle for 4. Play action on 2nd down, Rivers hits Vinny Jack for 17. Play action again, Rivers limps away from the rush and throws it away. 2nd-10 from the NE28. Rivers boldly limps out right, hangs in against a big rush from Rashad Moore and Chris Chambers makes a spectacular sideline catch at the 13, falling out of bounds but with all his toes in. 6 to Vinny Jack. Jackson is the breakout player of the 2007 postseason. Turner gets about 3 up the middle. 3rd-and-1 at the 4-yard line, San Diego calls timeout. 3rd-and-a LONG 1, classless Seau makes a huge play to slash behind the Charger line and take Turner down for a 1-yard loss. That forces the Chargers to retreat into FG formation, and Kaeding hits from 24 to bring San Diego within 14-12. See if that loss on 3rd-and-1 isn't a game-turner.
Simms has been ripping the CBS studio crew up one side and down the other for suggesting Volek should have gone in for Rivers. I love it.
Maroney out to the 33 with the kick. There's no wind now, and Kaeding can still only get it down to the 12. Nice run by Maroney, who cuts it back left, breaks a poor tackle by Cromartie and breaks it open for 18. Pats have to blow a timeout at the Charger 49, though. After the TO, Maroney tries to sweep right but can't get any room. Big pump fake by Brady on 2nd down, and Moss is all alone down the sideline for 18. Again with the soft coverage crap, SD. Another nice cutback left by Maroney, who runs right through Clinton Hart for 11. Patriots at the SD 20. Uh-oh, Maroney is taking over. Nice hesitation run left for 6. He appears to have the first down on another cutback run. 1st-goal at the 10. Nothing for Maroney over the right side. Chargers rush 4 and Brady hits Welker at the 2. 3rd-and-goal, it looks like Brady's going to have Watson for a game-clinching TD but Antonio Cromartie pops out of the weeds to pick it off in the end zone and return it to the 4. Chargers' soft defensive scheme was justified there. Too bad Cromartie didn't think to kneel in the end zone, but the Charger D continues to give the Patriots all they can handle.
Turner busts for 12 off the left side. 3 more on 1st down. 2:00 left in the 3rd. Rivers throws it away on 2nd down. Vrabel appeared to get a good rush because he jumped offsides with no call. All the same, it looks like Triplette and co. have called a clean game, which would be an even bigger upset than the Chargers pulling out a win today. Pats blitz Harrison and Rivers misses connections with MANU to force a punt. Scifres gets lucky when his poor punt rolls down to the 33.
Evans wide open in the soft zone for 13. Maroney cuts back up the middle for 3 out to midfield. The Patriots let the quarter run out.
=======New England 14, San Diego 12 after 3=======
Full credit to the Chargers for making a game out of this thing. We've seen the Patriots start to turn up the blitz a little; I'd like to see them draw to Sproles on one of these big 3rd downs - could break the game open. Power running game is working for New England, but the Chargers have a sack, three picks and are holding the Pats well below their season averages. I'm not a fan of their soft coverages, but really, they shouldn't change a thing. At least if you do blitz, pick a good spot.
Brady opens the 4th with a quick screen to Welker for 10. That's been there all day. 1st down at the SD40. Maroney pops through a big hole, breaks Hart's AWFUL diving one-handed tackle attempt and breaks it back across the field for 20. That may have been a backbreaker. Screen to Maroney for 9, as he bowls McCree out of bounds. Hart is the one who's down injured, though, and we take a break. On 2nd-and-1, Maroney pounds down to the 7 to make it 1st-and-goal. Lawrence up the middle again for 1. He comes out on 2nd down. Chargers blitz but Brady has enough time to find Welker for the TD. Nobody picked up Welker coming across the middle; Florence's pursuit was VERY half-hearted, and the Patriots go up 21-12.
Maroney's been the story in the 2nd half, though; great credit to the Patriot sideline for the adjustments to their game plan.
Gostkowski's kick is FIVE YARDS DEEP in the end zone, and Sproles can only bring it out to the 16. Why don't more teams use the tried, true and amazingly simple strategy of KICKING IT DEEP? Rivers to Chambers for 16. Patriots blitz and force a poor incompletion behind Chambers. On 2nd down, the Pats blow up a screen; Rivers smartly bounces it toward Sproles to avoid a sack or a big loss. 3rd down, spectacular leaping catch by Vinny Jack at the 50 for the 1st. Rivers finds Gates in the flat for 9. Ball at the NE40. Turner hesitates but is not lost, slipping through the hole for 4. Pats blitz big, and Gates does not expect the pass, which bounces off him incomplete. 2nd-10, Wilfork tips the pass at the line and worthless piece of shit Harrison nearly picks it off. 3rd-10. Pats blitz big, which seems a poor call, but Rivers has to unload quickly and can't find anyone. I would have loved a run there. WHY IS SAN DIEGO PUNTING? Scifres "pins" the Patriots at the 12. I don't like that call at all.
Patriots from their 12. Maroney sweeps right for 12 but goes out of bounds. Chargers blitz big up the middle next and drop Brady for an 8-yard loss. Brady never had a chance. Funny what happens when you go after him, eh? 2nd-18. Faulk gets 7 on an underneath screen. 3rd-11. Look for Welker! Splendid diving catch by Faulk for the 1st. Brady immediately saw him open when the safety Weddle, who was supposed to cover him, ran into a pick. Major major play there. Maroney gains 1 to the left. LaDainian sure looks cozy on the bench. Hopefully for San Diego, he won't be on his period all of the next postseason they make. Chargers blow a timeout on defense; they have one left. Stallworth gains 6 with a quick screen, spinning out of a tackle for loss. 3rd-3 from the NE42. 5:20 left; San Diego's got to have a stop. No, Faulk's open over the middle and gains 14. Maroney over left tackle for 2, then up the middle for 4 more. Chargers use their final timeout at 3:36. 3rd-3, Maroney blasts over left tackle for 6. That basically ends this one. 3 more for Laurence. 2nd-6 at the SD28. Maroney cuts it inside for a couple as we hit the 2:00 warning.
Norv must sure be glad he punted. Maroney ends the game with another run right for 4.
So, the Patriots are 18-0 and the obvious favorite to win Super Bowl XLII. Scarily, they won with Brady having far from his best game. It's got to feel good to know Maroney can carry the offense in a big game if they need him to. Maroney is the obvious player of the game, with runner up going to Matt Light, who Maroney ran behind a lot of the game.
Thumbs up to San Diego for the superior effort. A fully healthy team as good as San Diego on paper very well could have gotten the Pats today. This is a team that can mostly stand pat in the offseason. They need to make sure they don't screw up their team chemistry, and could maybe come up with a better tackler or two in the secondary. Maybe also somebody who can KICK DEEP.
As for SB42, the Packers have the secondary and the rush up front to make Brady look as ordinary as he looked today. I'd pick the Packers to cover, at least. I don't see the banged-up Giant secondary hanging with the Patriot receivers, though they too have a disruptive pass rush. The Patriots I saw today were beatable; the Packers have a good shot at it.
I'm going to have several interruptions while trying to blog the NFC Championship, but I'll give it a shot.
Darren Sproles is out to the 25 with the opening kickoff. Philip Rivers will start with the bad right knee, which must have a glowing-neon target on it as far as worthless piece of shit Rodney Harrison is concerned. LaDainian Tomlinson up the middle for 3. 2nd down, highly uncreatively, exactly the same play for 2. 3rd-and-5, Rivers throws a poor short pass low for Sproles that never would have made the 1st anyway. I don't think Rivers pushed off AT ALL on that throw. It was funky, even for him. The Patriots run into punter Mike Scifres. It won't be enough for a first but gives San Diego a chance to rekick a poor punt. On the retry, fair catch by Wes Welker at the 27.
Patriots take over. Is it too early to say this is a must-stop for the Charger defense? Chargers rush five, and Tom Brady's pass for Kyle Brady is well incomplete. Chargers bring just 4 on 2nd down but hold Laurence Maroney to 2 up the middle. 3rd-and-8, Chargers bring 5 again, Brady gets bumped in the pocket and throws it away for the 123-out. Five-man rush paying nice dividends so far. Sproles muffs the punt out of bounds around the 25.
The Chargers have absorbed the Patriots' first punch.
Holy Christ, JEFF TRIPLETTE is refereeing a conference championship game? How far have officiating standards fallen for this to happen?
Sweet sideline throw from Rivers to Chris Chambers for 20 to open the next series, as we find out that LT is staying out of the game with his vaginal injury. 5 for Michael Turner gets San Diego to midfield. 2nd down, Rivers gets all day to throw, bypasses his checkdown and hits Chambers for 8. 1st down at the Patriot 43. Play action pass for Vincent Jackson broken up by Assante Samuel. Screen to LT, who wusses out for 1. 3rd-and-9. Worthless piece of shit blitzes on 3rd down, LT completely fails to block him and forces an incomplete pass for Legedu Naanee. I swear, Tomlinson is having one of the least clutch postseasons ever and is getting zero heat for it. Patriots fair catch the punt at the 10, I don't think it was Welker that time.
Marlon McCree flashes in and drops Maroney for -1 as we return to action. But the Chargers let Welker squirt through their zone for 12 and a first. Chargers are giving the vaunted Patriot offensive line a real battle, but NE will get a first down on Quentin Jammer's illegal contact penalty. Maroney shut down again for no gain outside left tackle. On 2nd-long, SD only rushes 3 and Brady hits Ben Watson for most of the yardage. 3rd-and-2. Blitz comes, and Brady bails like a little bitch and throws an awful pass for Welker. Brady had time to hang in there; that was a less-than-courageous play. 4th down. Sproles returns a poor punt 12 yards to the 39.
The St. Louis affiliate comes back late and nearly misses a brief tribute to Georgia Frontiere. Nice. Turner breaks a tackle to gain 10, then 3, and he has been 10X the player LT has this postseason. I believe the Patriots brought five there on 2nd down, forcing a Rivers throwaway. 3rd-and-7. BIG rush off the edges by both DEs forces Rivers up into classless Junior Seau for a sack. Give Adalius Thomas credit for the QB pressure. Punt bounces into the end zone.
Not sure anybody was expecting an all-out defensive battle here, but the Chargers are hanging tough.
Patriots at their 20, and JAMMER PICKS OFF BRADY. Chargers take over just outside the Patriot 40. Next play, Vince Wilfork grabs Turner's face mask to put the Chargers at the NE20. Wow. 1st down, nothing for Turner around left end. Rivers hits Chambers on the sideline to set up first-and-goal at the 9. Turner up the middle for 1. Rivers rushes a throw for Lorenzo Neal, who wasn't turned for it, for an incompletion. Pats rushed just 4 there. 3rd-goal, Pats rush only 3, Rivers hits Chambers high in the back of the end zone, but he's ruled out of bounds. He stepped across the end line before he caught the ball; why isn't that an illegal touch? That non-penalty might have mattered, as Nate Kaeding's chippie BARELY slips inside the right upright to put the Chargers ahead 3-0.
3-0 with 3:00 left in the first quarter, and the Patriots haven't figured out the Charger D yet; they're not even close.
Maroney nearly runs over up man Willie Andrews fielding a VERY short kickoff, which Andrews hangs on to and brings back to the 35. Chargers bring only 4 and cover soft; no surprise, Brady to Welker for 9. 3-man rush, and Brady's throw is TERRIBLE, a mile over Randy Moss' head. I think that was the first throw to Moss. On 3rd-and-1, Heath Evans bangs off his blocker's back and surges through for 4. Big play. Patriots at their 47. Play-action end-around to Moss, who cuts it back inside for 14. Key block by Nick Kaczur. Quick screen to Kevin Faulk is nearly wild, but he catches it nicely and breaks a tackle to gain 14. Shaun Phillips blew the tackle. Pats are at the SD 25. Another quick screen to Faulk, for 4. Brady hits Donte Stallworth for 4 more as we end the first quarter.
=======San Diego 3, New England 0 after 1=======
3-0 Chargers after one, facing a very big 3rd-down play to start the 2nd.
Maroney pops outside left and gets the first down with no problem. Super block by FULLBACK Evans. Patriots are inside the 10. Brady gets all day, hits Faulk down to the 1. Maroney plunges in over right guard for the TD. Patriots lead 7-3. The Chargers screwed themselves with that awful kickoff, and NE cashed in on the decent field position. And Evans was huge that drive, with the gain on 3rd-and-1 at midfield and the big block on Maroney's 3rd-down conversion.
San Diego had better be ready to fire back, and they have to realize they can't be as soft on defense as they were this possession if they're going to go to Glendale.
Sproles is out to the 30 with the kick return. LT remains on the sideline with menstrual cramps. Rivers guns it to Vincent Jackson for 15. Rivers rolls out right off play-action and hits Jackson for a leaping 17-yard sideline catch. Chargers at the NE39. Turner up the middle for 3. Rivers hangs in against pressure and hits Turner over the middle for 6. The line gets him time again and he hits Jackson inside the 10. 21-yard gain over the middle. Here come the Chargers! Maybe a yard left for Turner. 2nd-goal, good coverage forces Rivers to roll out and Tedy Bruschi breaks up a goal line pass for Antonio Gates. First time I've called Gates' name today. Chargers take a timeout on 3rd-and-goal, 10:00 left in the half. Even if they settle for a FG here, this has been a big drive for them.
3rd-goal from the 9. Pats rush 4, Rivers sprints up and hits Chambers with a dumpoff for about 3, missing Jackson breaking free in the back of the end zone. Kaeding hits the 26-yarder to make it 7-6.
That was a major missed opportunity for Rivers, but on one good knee, he's playing better than he ever did for my FFL team, and he's outplaying Brady right now.
Let's see how the Charger defense responds to NE's previous TD drive.
By the way, if you want a website for looking up rosters and stuff, use something like sports.yahoo.com. Don't even try nfl.com today, it is a complete dog.
Another TERRIBLE kickoff by Kaeding brought across the 40 by Ellis Hobbs. I mean, what the hell is that, Kaeding? You've got the wind at your BACK! A kickoff with the wind at your BACK should NOT be coming down at the 15! Faulk wide open on the sideline for a quick pass for 13. The breakdowns kicking off are killing the Chargers. Maroney pounds right for 5 to put the Patriots at the SD42. Quick hitch to Welker for a couple. 3rd-3, huge play for San Diego, and Jammer makes it, swatting down a quick slant for Moss, who still doesn't have a catch. Kelley Washington makes a super play at the goal line to tip Chris Hanson's punt back in to pin the Chargers at the 4.
Turner drives up the middle for 4, then again for 3-4 more. LT is on the bench due to "coach's decision". Hopefully Norv identified that Turner is gutting it out and LT is playing like a wuss. 3rd-3. Pats rush 4, Samuels STICKS Sproles after a short catch but he's out of bounds for 4 yards and the 1st. From the 15, Turner back up the middle again for 2. Major misplay, though, on 2nd-and-8. Mike Vrabel goes down on the rush, but kicks Rivers' foot as he throws, and Samuel jumps Chambers for the pick. Major play for the Patriots, who take over at the Charger 23. Samuel came over Chambers' shoulder, tipped the ball and came away with it.
Phil Simms is calling #22 of the Patriots "Assante Samuels". I didn't realize Phil was from Missouri. He must have loved Sally Fields in Smokey and the Bandit.
The Chargers have no solution for the quick pass to Faulk, which works here for 12 and puts the Patriots at the Charger 13. Plenty of time for Brady on first down, and he hits Jabar Gaffney, who splits the Charger defense for a TD. I think they had both WRs on the left side running drag patterns. Gaffney came through 2nd, Shaun Phillips slipped and fell, play over. Phillips is having an atypically-poor game.
The Chargers were shutting the Pats down in the 1st by coming after Brady; they have inexplicably quit doing it, dropping into soft coverages, and they're getting burned.
New England leads 14-6 with 3:51 left in the half. San Diego must at least score again before halftime. They try Sproles off right tackle, for no gain. Ball is at the Charger 27. Rivers hits Chambers on the square out for 15. 1st down, TERRIBLE throw downfield by Rivers is picked off easily by Ellis Hobbs. That was WELL underthrown, and the wind's at San Diego's back! Hobbs fumbled but the Patriots still recover. That may be a killer.
Pats take over at their 23. Brady goes deep for Gaffney down the sideline but it's broken up. Faulk, who's vying for POTG, breaks a tackle and bounces outside right for 8. Randy Moss knocked down two Chargers on that play, so some credit to him for staying in the game even though he's not getting the ball. 3rd-and-2 for NE at the 2:00 warning. San Diego absolutely HAS to keep them from scoring again before halftime.
Chargers rush 4; Brady's pass is through Welker's hands to force a punt. Sproles returns Hanson's punt to the 35.
Shotgun draw to Sproles is good for 7. Chargers are NOT hurrying here. Another inside handoff to Sproles works big as he squirts through the line for 26. Man, that guy needs almost no space to get up to full speed. The ball came loose at the end of the play, and replay wants to review for a fumble. 0:49 left. Pretty easy call here that the ground caused the fumble. At least Triplette doesn't screw that up. 1st-and-10 Chargers at the NE32. Pats bluff a blitz and rush 5; Rivers hits Gates for 8. Chargers have been letting the clock run the whole drive and finally call TO here with :26 left. Another 5-man rush, swing pass to Sproles gains only 1 thanks to Brandon Merriweather's tackle. Rivers spends his last TO with 0:18 left. On 3rd-and-1, the Patriots use a timeout. There's probably time for a play, a spike and a FG attempt. A fake spike would be cool. Rivers, though, has to bail under pressure on a third-down pass attempt (I'd have been running) and chucks it out of bounds. On comes Kaeding on 4th down. NE calls a TO to freeze him, which may actually happen on a day this cold. But Kaeding, who's been unusually steady today, squeezes it in from 40 to bring the Chargers within 14-9.
=======New England 14, San Diego 9 at the half=======
Chargers are hanging in there nicely. Norv should stay with what he's doing on offense, but that defense needs to start coming after Brady again. Have Turner and Sproles ready to run when New England starts the inevitable blitzing in the 4th quarter. The main thing that's not working for the Pats is their third-down offense. They've blown a couple of third-and-shorts passing where they might have been better off power running.
Both Cowher the Chin and Shannon not-so-Sharpe are calling for Billy Volek to start the 2nd half. Two terrible INTs by Rivers, yes, but the Pats have only cashed one of them, and aside from those, I still say Rivers is outplaying Brady. He's hanging much tougher against pressure. On-the-field leadership isn't overrated.
Patriots start the second half from their 40 after another TERRIBLE kickoff by Kaeding, which is the untold story of this game. Moss whiffs on a sideline pass, 2nd down. Welker fields a lowball and hops forward for 9. Evans converts the 1st down. From the Charger 48, Maroney runs right for a yard. Luis Castillo sacks Brady on 2nd down. 3rd-12, huge play. Kaczur tries to chop block Phillips and misses badly, forcing Brady to rush his throw a little bit. A crossing Stallworth can only get one hand on it, and he DOH! tips the ball up and to Drayton Florence for an INT to the Patriot 49.
What'd I say about pressuring Brady!
Turner plows up the middle for 4. Play action on 2nd down, Rivers hits Vinny Jack for 17. Play action again, Rivers limps away from the rush and throws it away. 2nd-10 from the NE28. Rivers boldly limps out right, hangs in against a big rush from Rashad Moore and Chris Chambers makes a spectacular sideline catch at the 13, falling out of bounds but with all his toes in. 6 to Vinny Jack. Jackson is the breakout player of the 2007 postseason. Turner gets about 3 up the middle. 3rd-and-1 at the 4-yard line, San Diego calls timeout. 3rd-and-a LONG 1, classless Seau makes a huge play to slash behind the Charger line and take Turner down for a 1-yard loss. That forces the Chargers to retreat into FG formation, and Kaeding hits from 24 to bring San Diego within 14-12. See if that loss on 3rd-and-1 isn't a game-turner.
Simms has been ripping the CBS studio crew up one side and down the other for suggesting Volek should have gone in for Rivers. I love it.
Maroney out to the 33 with the kick. There's no wind now, and Kaeding can still only get it down to the 12. Nice run by Maroney, who cuts it back left, breaks a poor tackle by Cromartie and breaks it open for 18. Pats have to blow a timeout at the Charger 49, though. After the TO, Maroney tries to sweep right but can't get any room. Big pump fake by Brady on 2nd down, and Moss is all alone down the sideline for 18. Again with the soft coverage crap, SD. Another nice cutback left by Maroney, who runs right through Clinton Hart for 11. Patriots at the SD 20. Uh-oh, Maroney is taking over. Nice hesitation run left for 6. He appears to have the first down on another cutback run. 1st-goal at the 10. Nothing for Maroney over the right side. Chargers rush 4 and Brady hits Welker at the 2. 3rd-and-goal, it looks like Brady's going to have Watson for a game-clinching TD but Antonio Cromartie pops out of the weeds to pick it off in the end zone and return it to the 4. Chargers' soft defensive scheme was justified there. Too bad Cromartie didn't think to kneel in the end zone, but the Charger D continues to give the Patriots all they can handle.
Turner busts for 12 off the left side. 3 more on 1st down. 2:00 left in the 3rd. Rivers throws it away on 2nd down. Vrabel appeared to get a good rush because he jumped offsides with no call. All the same, it looks like Triplette and co. have called a clean game, which would be an even bigger upset than the Chargers pulling out a win today. Pats blitz Harrison and Rivers misses connections with MANU to force a punt. Scifres gets lucky when his poor punt rolls down to the 33.
Evans wide open in the soft zone for 13. Maroney cuts back up the middle for 3 out to midfield. The Patriots let the quarter run out.
=======New England 14, San Diego 12 after 3=======
Full credit to the Chargers for making a game out of this thing. We've seen the Patriots start to turn up the blitz a little; I'd like to see them draw to Sproles on one of these big 3rd downs - could break the game open. Power running game is working for New England, but the Chargers have a sack, three picks and are holding the Pats well below their season averages. I'm not a fan of their soft coverages, but really, they shouldn't change a thing. At least if you do blitz, pick a good spot.
Brady opens the 4th with a quick screen to Welker for 10. That's been there all day. 1st down at the SD40. Maroney pops through a big hole, breaks Hart's AWFUL diving one-handed tackle attempt and breaks it back across the field for 20. That may have been a backbreaker. Screen to Maroney for 9, as he bowls McCree out of bounds. Hart is the one who's down injured, though, and we take a break. On 2nd-and-1, Maroney pounds down to the 7 to make it 1st-and-goal. Lawrence up the middle again for 1. He comes out on 2nd down. Chargers blitz but Brady has enough time to find Welker for the TD. Nobody picked up Welker coming across the middle; Florence's pursuit was VERY half-hearted, and the Patriots go up 21-12.
Maroney's been the story in the 2nd half, though; great credit to the Patriot sideline for the adjustments to their game plan.
Gostkowski's kick is FIVE YARDS DEEP in the end zone, and Sproles can only bring it out to the 16. Why don't more teams use the tried, true and amazingly simple strategy of KICKING IT DEEP? Rivers to Chambers for 16. Patriots blitz and force a poor incompletion behind Chambers. On 2nd down, the Pats blow up a screen; Rivers smartly bounces it toward Sproles to avoid a sack or a big loss. 3rd down, spectacular leaping catch by Vinny Jack at the 50 for the 1st. Rivers finds Gates in the flat for 9. Ball at the NE40. Turner hesitates but is not lost, slipping through the hole for 4. Pats blitz big, and Gates does not expect the pass, which bounces off him incomplete. 2nd-10, Wilfork tips the pass at the line and worthless piece of shit Harrison nearly picks it off. 3rd-10. Pats blitz big, which seems a poor call, but Rivers has to unload quickly and can't find anyone. I would have loved a run there. WHY IS SAN DIEGO PUNTING? Scifres "pins" the Patriots at the 12. I don't like that call at all.
Patriots from their 12. Maroney sweeps right for 12 but goes out of bounds. Chargers blitz big up the middle next and drop Brady for an 8-yard loss. Brady never had a chance. Funny what happens when you go after him, eh? 2nd-18. Faulk gets 7 on an underneath screen. 3rd-11. Look for Welker! Splendid diving catch by Faulk for the 1st. Brady immediately saw him open when the safety Weddle, who was supposed to cover him, ran into a pick. Major major play there. Maroney gains 1 to the left. LaDainian sure looks cozy on the bench. Hopefully for San Diego, he won't be on his period all of the next postseason they make. Chargers blow a timeout on defense; they have one left. Stallworth gains 6 with a quick screen, spinning out of a tackle for loss. 3rd-3 from the NE42. 5:20 left; San Diego's got to have a stop. No, Faulk's open over the middle and gains 14. Maroney over left tackle for 2, then up the middle for 4 more. Chargers use their final timeout at 3:36. 3rd-3, Maroney blasts over left tackle for 6. That basically ends this one. 3 more for Laurence. 2nd-6 at the SD28. Maroney cuts it inside for a couple as we hit the 2:00 warning.
Norv must sure be glad he punted. Maroney ends the game with another run right for 4.
So, the Patriots are 18-0 and the obvious favorite to win Super Bowl XLII. Scarily, they won with Brady having far from his best game. It's got to feel good to know Maroney can carry the offense in a big game if they need him to. Maroney is the obvious player of the game, with runner up going to Matt Light, who Maroney ran behind a lot of the game.
Thumbs up to San Diego for the superior effort. A fully healthy team as good as San Diego on paper very well could have gotten the Pats today. This is a team that can mostly stand pat in the offseason. They need to make sure they don't screw up their team chemistry, and could maybe come up with a better tackler or two in the secondary. Maybe also somebody who can KICK DEEP.
As for SB42, the Packers have the secondary and the rush up front to make Brady look as ordinary as he looked today. I'd pick the Packers to cover, at least. I don't see the banged-up Giant secondary hanging with the Patriot receivers, though they too have a disruptive pass rush. The Patriots I saw today were beatable; the Packers have a good shot at it.
I'm going to have several interruptions while trying to blog the NFC Championship, but I'll give it a shot.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
NFC Divisional Playoff: Giants 21, Cowboys 17
We're getting ready, eventually, for the final playoff game of the weekend from Texas Stadium with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman for Fox.
Cowboys will kick off as soon as that sideline cameraman is done taking shots of Pam Oliver's ass. Seriously, what was he shooting while she gave her pregame report? Giants fake a reverse on the kick return; Hixon returns to the 23. Brandon Jacobs cuts back and gains 5. Stretch handoff left to Jacobs for 9. Eli back to pass with a LB blitzing up the middle; he throws it long and incomplete. 2nd-10. Jacobs works outside and right for 4. Pass broken up on the sideline, but what looked like a super jump by Demarcus Ware was called an offsides penalty. 3rd-and-1. Manning tries to sneak for the 1st and probably has it. Cowboys then fall asleep on 1st down, fatally. Toomer ran a hook and made Anthony Henry look silly, then spun away from about three guys and shot up the sideline for a 52-yard TD.
Giants lead 7-0.
Stone Cold Miles Austin returns the kick to the 23 to give Dallas the ball for the first time.
Oh great, it's Eyebrow Guy again.
Facemask by Mitchell on Barber on the opening play will put Dallas at their 38. NY blitzes, Romo double-pumps and fires one through TO's hands on the sideline. 2nd-10. Stretch handoff left to Barber gains nothing. Giants blitz two and force a wacky throw from Romo that falls incomplete. McBriar's punt is downed at the 9, and this game is going perfectly for the Giants so far.
Peter Morelli is the last of the eight mostly-mediocre referees to get playoff assignments this year.
Manning hits Toomer at the 20, and Henry looks mostly helpless against the old, slow, #2 WR. Stretch handoff left to Jacobs is shut down by Ware with authority. Jacobs cracks the next run open up the middle for 9. Giants line up Bradshaw behind Hedgecock, then put Bradshaw in motion and hit him with a quick hitch for 6. 1st down. Bradshaw knifes it up inside for a 12-yard gain. Cowboys defense is showing me nothing so far. Bomb for Burress is just incomplete. Bradshaw surges for 8 to the Dallas 45. 3rd-and-2, they run outside and Dallas holds Bradshaw short. Giants will punt. Really question the selection of run play there, given how well they were running up the gut. Feagles' punt is fielded by Giant gunner David Tyree at the 2. That is an awesome freaking special teams play.
From apparently the 4, Barber cuts back up the middle for 6. Corey Webster has TO perfectly covered up the sideline but Romo throws a perfect pass for 13. Quick hitch to Crayton loses three thanks to Aaron Ross. Big run by Barber into Giant territory, just running through a bunch of arm tackles before hitting the open field for 36. Romo hits Crayton for 12, and the smack is really flying between the teams. Barber gets a gigantic hole up the middle for 11. Cowboys no-huddle and go 4-wide. TE flinches, though. 1st-15 from the NY24. Barber bounces outside and gets down to the 3 behind drive blocking from TO. They beat a blitz there and Umenyiora overplaying. Giants stuff Barber on first-and-goal for a loss as the first quarter ends.
=======Giants 7, Cowboys 0 after 1=======
Jumper: the movie for people who think they just aren't paying enough to watch Heroes.
Back from the break, Romo floats a fade for TO, who I'm not so sure actually gained possession in bounds for an apparent TD. Coughlin challenges, and I don't blame him. Aikman is so pro-Cowboy in his commentary as to be worthless. TO's catch here is not obvious at all, and he's already whined about a couple of non-calls that didn't go the Cowboys' way.
The TD stands, though, and we're tied at 7.
Hixon picks his way out to the 32 with the return. Eli calls an audible and hits Burress for 5. Dallas shuts down Jacobs to force 3rd-and-5. Toomer dropped a pass wide open over the middle, but it looks like Greg Ellis jumped. Second time Dallas has tried to time the snap. 1st down NY at their 42. Jacobs saves Eli from getting killed by a blitzing Ayodele, but Ayodele trips Eli by his shoestrings after a 2-yard scramble. Maybe one more for Jacobs off the left side. 3rd-and-7, Eli is brought down for a sack by Chris Canty, who took advantage of a double-team on Ware. Holding during the punt will push Dallas back inside their 10.
Dallas from their 9. Barber gains 8-9 around right end, running right over and through Ross. The Rams NEVER get Steven Jackson that open on a sweep. Barber's inches short on 2nd down. Ross is down on the play and has to come off. Barber bounces outside for the first. Romo dodges a sack and slides for 6. Romo took a pretty late hit there. Julius Jones up the middle for about 2. 3rd-and-1, Barber runs right over Antonio Pierce for 5. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for from Steven Jackson. Play action screen to Barber. They benefit from the drop; the play would have lost yardage. 2nd-10. 2 for Barber leads to 3rd-and-8. Quick comeback to Terry Glenn, who makes a nifty jump cut and gains 11-12. From the Dallas 49, play action deep ball for TO is well out of bounds. Barber goes up the middle for about 3. Romo escapes the rush and hits TO on the sideline for another first down. Big play here: Play action, and Terry Glenn fell, but Webster miffed the EASY pick. IDIOT. 2nd-10 Dallas. Barber's hauled down from behind for maybe a yard. As Troy's mentioning, the Giants are blitzing a ton today. Maybe the only team we've seen do it this weekend. 3rd down, Romo's got ALL DAY and hits TO open over the middle for 20. Jones up the middle for 4. This first half is really moving; we're hitting the 2:00 warning already with Dallas at the Giant 17.
Play action rollout to Witten gets Dallas down to the 2. McQuarters jams TO perfectly to avoid the fade pass TD on 1st-and-goal. Barber grinds down to the 1. The next play is the twentieth of this drive. 3rd-and-goal, Barber appears to power in for the TD, and he does. 14-7, Dallas.
Bradshaw returns the kickoff to the 29 with :45 left in the half. 1st down pass bounces to Toomer. 2nd down. Deep lob to Steve Smith at midfield for 22. The Giants use their second timeout. They'd lost one on the challenged TO TD earlier. 11 to Smith at the sideline. :28 left and the Giants get big help from Reeves with a face mask penalty. They're at the Dallas 23. Eli steps out of the rush but throws way too high for Plax in the end zone. Canty slaps down the 2nd-down pass. Sweet pass to Kevin Boss at the 4. :11 left. TD pass to Toomer again, in front of Ken Hamlin, as a skirmish breaks out back upfield. Some confusion in the secondary before the snap. Stupidly, they're in zone coverage with both feet in the end zone. Super, super drive by Eli and the G-men. 14-14.
Cowboys return the squib out almost to the forty but there's just :01 left. Dallas kneels and we're going to halftime.
=======Cowboys 14, Giants 14 after 2=======
Both teams seem to be doing whatever they want on offense, which I think is playing into Dallas' favor in the second half. They have a big time of possession advantage on the Giants and are wearing them down. Both pass rushes have to do a better job of keeping the QBs in the pocket. New York has to stop Barber early in some of these drives or they're probably done. It's ridiculous how badly Dallas is letting Toomer beat them, which is obscuring the good job they're doing against Burress. We'll see what kind of adjustment they make for the 2nd half there.
Dallas opens the 2nd half at their 22. Barber up the middle for a couple. Giants show blitz; Barber picks it up and Romo hits Witten for 8 and a 1st. Barber bangs for 3. Romo hits Fasano in the flat for 5. It's 3rd and a long 2. I thought the fullback, actually Witten, jumped, but Barber just barely dodges a big loss in the backfield and gains about 10 to midfield. Barber again, bouncing outside left for 5. That was a Marshall-Faulk-like reversal of field. Pitch right to Barber loses a couple. 3rd-and-7. Romo steps up and hits Glenn up the sideline between 2 DBs at the 28. Sweet pass. The Giants once again are failing to get Dallas off the field. Jones jumps inside for a couple. Romo now breaks a couple of tackles and scrambles upfield for 11. 1st-10 at the NY14. Barber for 3 around right end. Ross has gamely tried to keep playing but has to come off due to his shoulder again. Play action pass to Fasano at the goal line broken up nicely by Gibril Wilson. Huge play here for the Giants. False start, Flozell. 3rd-12 from the 16. With the pocket quickly collapsing, Romo wobbles one way over TO's head and incomplete. Big stop for the Giants. Nick Folk hits from 34 to give Dallas a 17-14 lead. Eight minute drive for the Cowboys; Giants need to answer with at least a score, a time-consuming score would be perfect.
Hixon has a convoy in front of him and brings the kickoff back nearly to midfield. Jacobs busts off left tackle for 8. Running high, Jacobs hits through the middle for 4. Eli drops back to pass but Ware ENGULFS him for a 9-yard loss. Ware completely outquicked Kareem McKenzie. Jacobs around left end for only a couple. 3rd-17. Screen to Jacobs doesn't gain much; Ellis tripped him. Dallas is screwed up on who's supposed to be on the field and burns a timeout on the punt. Ouch. Feagles does a Donnie Jones and the punt rolls into the end zone.
Dallas from their 20. Barber fights for 3. Romo wings it to Witten at the sideline for 10, but a late hit on Leonard Davis will bring it back. Big break for the Giants. 2nd-18 from the 11. Screen to Witten for about 5. Romo makes a great play to buy time, rolling right, and sidearms one to Patrick Crayton, who DROPS a sure first down. Cowboys are punting now. Pretty short punt by McBriar, and McQuarters returns it 25 yards, breaking a couple of tackles. Giants will start at the Dallas 37. Golden opportunity here.
Toomer's WIDE OPEN AGAIN for the first down and gains 12. Anthony Henry is as bad a DB as I've seen all year. Eli goes to the end zone for Boss, but Roy Williams covers it well and doesn't horse collar anybody, for an incompletion. About a 4-yard catch by Steve Smith as the 3rd quarter ends.
=======Dallas 17, Giants 14 after 3=======
Giants have a 3rd-and-6 to open the 4th. Eli finds Smith again, at the 9. 1st and goal, Bradshaw sweeps right, leaps and gets clocked by Roy Williams, who didn't horse-collar anybody, down at the 1. Jacobs powers in from the 1 to give the Giants a 21-17 lead. Giants have the lead with 13:29 left.
Penalty on the kick return pushes Dallas back to the 13. Barber loses yardage on 1st down. Pass to Crayton in traffic is dropped. 3rd-and-11, Romo's hit and throws a jump hook to Witten for 14. Huge play by Romo; you see why they make the Favre comparisons. Bomb up the sideline appears to be just tipped by Webster and is incomplete. Leaping catch on the sideline by Crayton for 15. Barber up the middle for a couple. 2nd-8, Romo can't scramble away from a huge Giants blitz and gets taken down for a 5-yard loss. I don't think any of four Giants were blocked on that play. Giants bring almost the same blitz on 3rd down and force a crossfield incompletion off his back foot. Bobby Carpenter downs McBriar's 58-yard punt at the NY2.
Jacobs rumbles for 6 or 7 to give the G-Men some room. Couple more for Jacobs on 2nd. 3rd-and-2; big play here. Toss to Jacobs left, and Henry does a nice job to shoulder him short on the ground. Big stand by the Dallas D. Crayton muffs the punt but recovers at the Dallas 44. 7:00 left in the game.
Cutback by Barber for 4. 2nd down pass is incomplete but Crayton was hauled down downfield. Holding on McQuarters. 1st-10 from the N47. Giants blow up a screen and Romo is hauled down for a GIGANTIC loss, FOURTEEN yards. We complain about Bulger around here, but Romo is really stupid about throwing the ball away. So then Romo hits Witten for 20 to set up 3rd-and-4. Romo spears Witten again for the first down at the 30. Illegal formation on Dallas makes it 3rd-and-9. Romo goes deep for TO from the 47 but Webster breaks it up. HUGE penalty, though, as Webster hit TO in the face on the jam. 1st-10 from the 41. Romo throws it away with no one open, but he's not out of the pocket this time and gets a delayed flag for grounding. 2nd-20 from the Dallas 49. The 3rd down throw is wacky and out of bounds, as Romo was hit. 3rd-20, Dallas has to use a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game. They go 4-wide and Romo bombs for the end zone but the throw is short. I imagine Dallas has to punt here, but we'll see. Giants take over at their 12 with 3:46 left.
Bradshaw up the middle for 4. The Cowboys bottle him up on 2nd down for 1. 3rd-and-5. Manning attempts to scramble under pressure but is sacked by TANK JOHNSON. The Giants will punt when we come back from the 2:00 warning.
Crayton brings the punt back to the Giant 47. Dallas has 1:50 and needs a TD. Dumpoff to Barber, who breaks a tackle and gains 9. Inside handoff to Barber gains squat. 3rd-and-2. :52 left. Romo scrambles all over the place and underhands it to Witten for a big first down, down to the 20. Also big, Justin Tuck is injured and the clock has to stop for him. 31 seconds left and Dallas still has a timeout. Ball's at the 22. RT Colombo jumped. 1st-15 at the 27. Witten can't really get out of bounds at the 24 or so and Dallas has to blow their last timeout at 0:26. 2nd-11 at the 23. Good tackle by the Giants that last play kept the clock moving and forced the timeout. Romo wings it out of bounds as Umenyiora hits him. 3rd-11. Overthrown for Crayton in the end zone. Man, I question these deep throws on 3rd and 4th down down the stretch. Here's the ball game. I think Romo was looking for Glenn in the end zone, but he was double covered and RW McQuarters picked it off. The Giants have won their second straight road playoff game and will go to Green Bay next week. Dallas' playoff losing streak continues.
Do the Giants have enough players left in the secondary to survive Green Bay next week, though? I doubt that, and I also doubt they'll be able to do a thing against the Packer running game, either, though they did stop the Dallas running game in the 2nd half. Since the Giants can run the ball, they should give the Packers a lot better challenge than Seattle did yesterday, but the Super Bowl looks like it's going to be Favre vs. Brady to me.
Once again I'm hard-pressed to name a single player of the game. I'm inclined to go with Corey Webster, because TO contributed just about nothing, Corey broke up some big plays to him, and he was about the only regular left in their secondary by the end of the game.
Tony Soprano's offensive line wasn't very impressive for the Cowboys in the 2nd half, certainly not to the point where he ought to be anointed for a HC job like he apparently is by Parcells in Miami. But there probably wasn't anything wrong with Dallas today that a little better health wouldn't fix. They need WR depth, o-line depth, but especially need an alternative to the awful Anthony Henry in their secondary.
I think the Patriots will roll next Sunday, but the NFC game has a chance to be a good one.
Cowboys will kick off as soon as that sideline cameraman is done taking shots of Pam Oliver's ass. Seriously, what was he shooting while she gave her pregame report? Giants fake a reverse on the kick return; Hixon returns to the 23. Brandon Jacobs cuts back and gains 5. Stretch handoff left to Jacobs for 9. Eli back to pass with a LB blitzing up the middle; he throws it long and incomplete. 2nd-10. Jacobs works outside and right for 4. Pass broken up on the sideline, but what looked like a super jump by Demarcus Ware was called an offsides penalty. 3rd-and-1. Manning tries to sneak for the 1st and probably has it. Cowboys then fall asleep on 1st down, fatally. Toomer ran a hook and made Anthony Henry look silly, then spun away from about three guys and shot up the sideline for a 52-yard TD.
Giants lead 7-0.
Stone Cold Miles Austin returns the kick to the 23 to give Dallas the ball for the first time.
Oh great, it's Eyebrow Guy again.
Facemask by Mitchell on Barber on the opening play will put Dallas at their 38. NY blitzes, Romo double-pumps and fires one through TO's hands on the sideline. 2nd-10. Stretch handoff left to Barber gains nothing. Giants blitz two and force a wacky throw from Romo that falls incomplete. McBriar's punt is downed at the 9, and this game is going perfectly for the Giants so far.
Peter Morelli is the last of the eight mostly-mediocre referees to get playoff assignments this year.
Manning hits Toomer at the 20, and Henry looks mostly helpless against the old, slow, #2 WR. Stretch handoff left to Jacobs is shut down by Ware with authority. Jacobs cracks the next run open up the middle for 9. Giants line up Bradshaw behind Hedgecock, then put Bradshaw in motion and hit him with a quick hitch for 6. 1st down. Bradshaw knifes it up inside for a 12-yard gain. Cowboys defense is showing me nothing so far. Bomb for Burress is just incomplete. Bradshaw surges for 8 to the Dallas 45. 3rd-and-2, they run outside and Dallas holds Bradshaw short. Giants will punt. Really question the selection of run play there, given how well they were running up the gut. Feagles' punt is fielded by Giant gunner David Tyree at the 2. That is an awesome freaking special teams play.
From apparently the 4, Barber cuts back up the middle for 6. Corey Webster has TO perfectly covered up the sideline but Romo throws a perfect pass for 13. Quick hitch to Crayton loses three thanks to Aaron Ross. Big run by Barber into Giant territory, just running through a bunch of arm tackles before hitting the open field for 36. Romo hits Crayton for 12, and the smack is really flying between the teams. Barber gets a gigantic hole up the middle for 11. Cowboys no-huddle and go 4-wide. TE flinches, though. 1st-15 from the NY24. Barber bounces outside and gets down to the 3 behind drive blocking from TO. They beat a blitz there and Umenyiora overplaying. Giants stuff Barber on first-and-goal for a loss as the first quarter ends.
=======Giants 7, Cowboys 0 after 1=======
Jumper: the movie for people who think they just aren't paying enough to watch Heroes.
Back from the break, Romo floats a fade for TO, who I'm not so sure actually gained possession in bounds for an apparent TD. Coughlin challenges, and I don't blame him. Aikman is so pro-Cowboy in his commentary as to be worthless. TO's catch here is not obvious at all, and he's already whined about a couple of non-calls that didn't go the Cowboys' way.
The TD stands, though, and we're tied at 7.
Hixon picks his way out to the 32 with the return. Eli calls an audible and hits Burress for 5. Dallas shuts down Jacobs to force 3rd-and-5. Toomer dropped a pass wide open over the middle, but it looks like Greg Ellis jumped. Second time Dallas has tried to time the snap. 1st down NY at their 42. Jacobs saves Eli from getting killed by a blitzing Ayodele, but Ayodele trips Eli by his shoestrings after a 2-yard scramble. Maybe one more for Jacobs off the left side. 3rd-and-7, Eli is brought down for a sack by Chris Canty, who took advantage of a double-team on Ware. Holding during the punt will push Dallas back inside their 10.
Dallas from their 9. Barber gains 8-9 around right end, running right over and through Ross. The Rams NEVER get Steven Jackson that open on a sweep. Barber's inches short on 2nd down. Ross is down on the play and has to come off. Barber bounces outside for the first. Romo dodges a sack and slides for 6. Romo took a pretty late hit there. Julius Jones up the middle for about 2. 3rd-and-1, Barber runs right over Antonio Pierce for 5. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for from Steven Jackson. Play action screen to Barber. They benefit from the drop; the play would have lost yardage. 2nd-10. 2 for Barber leads to 3rd-and-8. Quick comeback to Terry Glenn, who makes a nifty jump cut and gains 11-12. From the Dallas 49, play action deep ball for TO is well out of bounds. Barber goes up the middle for about 3. Romo escapes the rush and hits TO on the sideline for another first down. Big play here: Play action, and Terry Glenn fell, but Webster miffed the EASY pick. IDIOT. 2nd-10 Dallas. Barber's hauled down from behind for maybe a yard. As Troy's mentioning, the Giants are blitzing a ton today. Maybe the only team we've seen do it this weekend. 3rd down, Romo's got ALL DAY and hits TO open over the middle for 20. Jones up the middle for 4. This first half is really moving; we're hitting the 2:00 warning already with Dallas at the Giant 17.
Play action rollout to Witten gets Dallas down to the 2. McQuarters jams TO perfectly to avoid the fade pass TD on 1st-and-goal. Barber grinds down to the 1. The next play is the twentieth of this drive. 3rd-and-goal, Barber appears to power in for the TD, and he does. 14-7, Dallas.
Bradshaw returns the kickoff to the 29 with :45 left in the half. 1st down pass bounces to Toomer. 2nd down. Deep lob to Steve Smith at midfield for 22. The Giants use their second timeout. They'd lost one on the challenged TO TD earlier. 11 to Smith at the sideline. :28 left and the Giants get big help from Reeves with a face mask penalty. They're at the Dallas 23. Eli steps out of the rush but throws way too high for Plax in the end zone. Canty slaps down the 2nd-down pass. Sweet pass to Kevin Boss at the 4. :11 left. TD pass to Toomer again, in front of Ken Hamlin, as a skirmish breaks out back upfield. Some confusion in the secondary before the snap. Stupidly, they're in zone coverage with both feet in the end zone. Super, super drive by Eli and the G-men. 14-14.
Cowboys return the squib out almost to the forty but there's just :01 left. Dallas kneels and we're going to halftime.
=======Cowboys 14, Giants 14 after 2=======
Both teams seem to be doing whatever they want on offense, which I think is playing into Dallas' favor in the second half. They have a big time of possession advantage on the Giants and are wearing them down. Both pass rushes have to do a better job of keeping the QBs in the pocket. New York has to stop Barber early in some of these drives or they're probably done. It's ridiculous how badly Dallas is letting Toomer beat them, which is obscuring the good job they're doing against Burress. We'll see what kind of adjustment they make for the 2nd half there.
Dallas opens the 2nd half at their 22. Barber up the middle for a couple. Giants show blitz; Barber picks it up and Romo hits Witten for 8 and a 1st. Barber bangs for 3. Romo hits Fasano in the flat for 5. It's 3rd and a long 2. I thought the fullback, actually Witten, jumped, but Barber just barely dodges a big loss in the backfield and gains about 10 to midfield. Barber again, bouncing outside left for 5. That was a Marshall-Faulk-like reversal of field. Pitch right to Barber loses a couple. 3rd-and-7. Romo steps up and hits Glenn up the sideline between 2 DBs at the 28. Sweet pass. The Giants once again are failing to get Dallas off the field. Jones jumps inside for a couple. Romo now breaks a couple of tackles and scrambles upfield for 11. 1st-10 at the NY14. Barber for 3 around right end. Ross has gamely tried to keep playing but has to come off due to his shoulder again. Play action pass to Fasano at the goal line broken up nicely by Gibril Wilson. Huge play here for the Giants. False start, Flozell. 3rd-12 from the 16. With the pocket quickly collapsing, Romo wobbles one way over TO's head and incomplete. Big stop for the Giants. Nick Folk hits from 34 to give Dallas a 17-14 lead. Eight minute drive for the Cowboys; Giants need to answer with at least a score, a time-consuming score would be perfect.
Hixon has a convoy in front of him and brings the kickoff back nearly to midfield. Jacobs busts off left tackle for 8. Running high, Jacobs hits through the middle for 4. Eli drops back to pass but Ware ENGULFS him for a 9-yard loss. Ware completely outquicked Kareem McKenzie. Jacobs around left end for only a couple. 3rd-17. Screen to Jacobs doesn't gain much; Ellis tripped him. Dallas is screwed up on who's supposed to be on the field and burns a timeout on the punt. Ouch. Feagles does a Donnie Jones and the punt rolls into the end zone.
Dallas from their 20. Barber fights for 3. Romo wings it to Witten at the sideline for 10, but a late hit on Leonard Davis will bring it back. Big break for the Giants. 2nd-18 from the 11. Screen to Witten for about 5. Romo makes a great play to buy time, rolling right, and sidearms one to Patrick Crayton, who DROPS a sure first down. Cowboys are punting now. Pretty short punt by McBriar, and McQuarters returns it 25 yards, breaking a couple of tackles. Giants will start at the Dallas 37. Golden opportunity here.
Toomer's WIDE OPEN AGAIN for the first down and gains 12. Anthony Henry is as bad a DB as I've seen all year. Eli goes to the end zone for Boss, but Roy Williams covers it well and doesn't horse collar anybody, for an incompletion. About a 4-yard catch by Steve Smith as the 3rd quarter ends.
=======Dallas 17, Giants 14 after 3=======
Giants have a 3rd-and-6 to open the 4th. Eli finds Smith again, at the 9. 1st and goal, Bradshaw sweeps right, leaps and gets clocked by Roy Williams, who didn't horse-collar anybody, down at the 1. Jacobs powers in from the 1 to give the Giants a 21-17 lead. Giants have the lead with 13:29 left.
Penalty on the kick return pushes Dallas back to the 13. Barber loses yardage on 1st down. Pass to Crayton in traffic is dropped. 3rd-and-11, Romo's hit and throws a jump hook to Witten for 14. Huge play by Romo; you see why they make the Favre comparisons. Bomb up the sideline appears to be just tipped by Webster and is incomplete. Leaping catch on the sideline by Crayton for 15. Barber up the middle for a couple. 2nd-8, Romo can't scramble away from a huge Giants blitz and gets taken down for a 5-yard loss. I don't think any of four Giants were blocked on that play. Giants bring almost the same blitz on 3rd down and force a crossfield incompletion off his back foot. Bobby Carpenter downs McBriar's 58-yard punt at the NY2.
Jacobs rumbles for 6 or 7 to give the G-Men some room. Couple more for Jacobs on 2nd. 3rd-and-2; big play here. Toss to Jacobs left, and Henry does a nice job to shoulder him short on the ground. Big stand by the Dallas D. Crayton muffs the punt but recovers at the Dallas 44. 7:00 left in the game.
Cutback by Barber for 4. 2nd down pass is incomplete but Crayton was hauled down downfield. Holding on McQuarters. 1st-10 from the N47. Giants blow up a screen and Romo is hauled down for a GIGANTIC loss, FOURTEEN yards. We complain about Bulger around here, but Romo is really stupid about throwing the ball away. So then Romo hits Witten for 20 to set up 3rd-and-4. Romo spears Witten again for the first down at the 30. Illegal formation on Dallas makes it 3rd-and-9. Romo goes deep for TO from the 47 but Webster breaks it up. HUGE penalty, though, as Webster hit TO in the face on the jam. 1st-10 from the 41. Romo throws it away with no one open, but he's not out of the pocket this time and gets a delayed flag for grounding. 2nd-20 from the Dallas 49. The 3rd down throw is wacky and out of bounds, as Romo was hit. 3rd-20, Dallas has to use a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game. They go 4-wide and Romo bombs for the end zone but the throw is short. I imagine Dallas has to punt here, but we'll see. Giants take over at their 12 with 3:46 left.
Bradshaw up the middle for 4. The Cowboys bottle him up on 2nd down for 1. 3rd-and-5. Manning attempts to scramble under pressure but is sacked by TANK JOHNSON. The Giants will punt when we come back from the 2:00 warning.
Crayton brings the punt back to the Giant 47. Dallas has 1:50 and needs a TD. Dumpoff to Barber, who breaks a tackle and gains 9. Inside handoff to Barber gains squat. 3rd-and-2. :52 left. Romo scrambles all over the place and underhands it to Witten for a big first down, down to the 20. Also big, Justin Tuck is injured and the clock has to stop for him. 31 seconds left and Dallas still has a timeout. Ball's at the 22. RT Colombo jumped. 1st-15 at the 27. Witten can't really get out of bounds at the 24 or so and Dallas has to blow their last timeout at 0:26. 2nd-11 at the 23. Good tackle by the Giants that last play kept the clock moving and forced the timeout. Romo wings it out of bounds as Umenyiora hits him. 3rd-11. Overthrown for Crayton in the end zone. Man, I question these deep throws on 3rd and 4th down down the stretch. Here's the ball game. I think Romo was looking for Glenn in the end zone, but he was double covered and RW McQuarters picked it off. The Giants have won their second straight road playoff game and will go to Green Bay next week. Dallas' playoff losing streak continues.
Do the Giants have enough players left in the secondary to survive Green Bay next week, though? I doubt that, and I also doubt they'll be able to do a thing against the Packer running game, either, though they did stop the Dallas running game in the 2nd half. Since the Giants can run the ball, they should give the Packers a lot better challenge than Seattle did yesterday, but the Super Bowl looks like it's going to be Favre vs. Brady to me.
Once again I'm hard-pressed to name a single player of the game. I'm inclined to go with Corey Webster, because TO contributed just about nothing, Corey broke up some big plays to him, and he was about the only regular left in their secondary by the end of the game.
Tony Soprano's offensive line wasn't very impressive for the Cowboys in the 2nd half, certainly not to the point where he ought to be anointed for a HC job like he apparently is by Parcells in Miami. But there probably wasn't anything wrong with Dallas today that a little better health wouldn't fix. They need WR depth, o-line depth, but especially need an alternative to the awful Anthony Henry in their secondary.
I think the Patriots will roll next Sunday, but the NFC game has a chance to be a good one.
AFC Divisional Playoff: Chargers 28, Colts 24
We're getting under way in Indy, with Greg (Don't Blame Me, I'm Just His Brother) Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf calling it for CBS.
Chargers kick off and TJ Rushing brings it back to the 24. Colts take the field with Marvin Harrison in the starting lineup. Quick circle route pass to Addai gains 12. Luis Castillo is down for the Chargers. That would be a major loss if he can't return. He walks off the field; good news for San Diego. More good news after they stuff Joseph Addai for a 1-yard loss. Peyton changes plays with a blitz coming and hits Ben Utecht in the right seam for 20 across midfield. About 5 to Addai on 1st down. The sound for this game is terrible. It sounds like there's a biplane flying around in Indy's dome. The Colts screw up a draw play, and Merriman drops Manning for a big loss and puts on an obnoxious, crowd-taunting celebration. That should have been a 15-yard penalty. 3rd-11, Manning hits Addai again, but Joe only gains about 9. Crowd gets their way and the Colts go for it on 4th-and-2, where Manning hits Reggie Wayne on a slant for 8. They're at the SD29 now. Addai runs strong over left tackle for 4. Play-action, and a split second before being hit by Shaun Phillips, Manning hits Dallas Clark in the end zone for a 25-yard TD. Safety fell to leave Clark wide open. Just like the commercial. Who's breaking hot? Who's my hot? "Clark". 7-0, Colts.
Indy's kickoff is DEEP, AL ROBERTS, and Darren Sproles can't return it. Chargers start from their 20. LT gets nothing around left end on 1st down. 3 on 2nd down over left tackle. 3rd-and-6, Rivers quickly hits Vincent Jackson for 21. Screen to LT with fake end-around gains another 20. From the Colt 35, Kelvin Hayden appears to pick off a sideline pass intended for Davis. CBS goes to commercial without a replay; TiVoing the main angle, it does look like he possessed it and kept his feet in. Disastrous start for San Diego if the call holds up. Norv challenges, and Gumbel and Dierdorf don't think he secured the ball. I think he did, against his stomach.
WTF - GERRY AUSTIN GOT ASSIGNED TO A PLAYOFF GAME? SO YOU CAN BLOW A GAME AS BADLY AS HE DID WHEN THE BIG DEAD WON HERE IN OCTOBER AND STILL QUALIFY FOR A PLAYOFF GIG? MY GOD NFL OFFICIATING IS PISS POOR.
Austin agrees with my call, and Indy takes over from their 24. Addai up the middle for a couple, and a pass to him gains almost 9. Addai powers over right guard again for 3 and the 1st. Clark takes a sideline pass, breaks a tackle and dives for 11 out to the I47. Addai finds a seam on the right side for 6. Manning hits Wayne at the sideline for 7 and his 9th straight completion. From the SD40, Phillips catches the dreaded Kenton Keith in the backfield for a 2-yard loss. Keith took off but his knee was down. Swing pass to Brian Fletcher gains just 2, as Phillips is all over the place. 3rd-10. Peyton hits Marvin cutting across the middle for 18, but Marvin rustily fumbles it away and Marlon McCree recovers. Big Big play for the Chargers. Still 7-0.
That biplane flying around inside the RCA Dome is really giving me a headache.
Chargers from their 22. LT's tripped in the backfield for no gain. He breaks a tackle in the backfield and gains about 5 on 2nd down as the first quarter runs out.
=======Colts 7, Chargers 0 after one=======
3rd-and-5 for San Diego. Rivers is nearly sacked but hits Jackson on a cross for 9 for the 1st. The Chargers call a timeout but both Rivers and Norv appear surprised. Who called it, Schottenheimer? LT up the middle for 6. Michael Turner's in to vulture LT but he loses ground. 3rd-3. They gave Turner a yard? No matter; delay of game moves it back. 3rd-8. Empty backfield, and though the snap comes with 0 on the play clock again, Rivers steps up and hits Davis for 18. From the Colt 44, Rivers hits Antonio Gates in the left seam for 23. Colts left him wide open. Play action to Jackson on the sideline for 9 puts them at the Colt 12. Chargers will take a 1st down at the 16 after a ludicrous illegal contact call on Hayden, who was pushed around by Jackson more on the catch than the other way round. LT bounces up the middle for 4. At the Colt 12, Rivers uses the Chargers' last timeout. Back from timeout, the RG false starts. 2nd-11. LT takes a draw for 8. The ball popped out at the end, but he was clearly down. I take it back; he did fumble, but Mike Goff, the RG who just false-started, recovered. Then, apparently going for the Alex Barron Award, Goff false-starts again. 3rd-and-8 from the 14, Rivers throws it into the corner of the end zone for the apparently uncoverable Vincent Jackson, who scores the TD and is having his second consecutive monster week in the playoffs. Kaeding ties it at 7 with 8:38 left in the half.
Colts return the kickoff to the 28. Bubble screen to Addai gains 22. 10 to Harrison to the Charger 40. I switched off of DirecTV and the biplane noise seems to have gone away some. Addai sweeps left for 1. Wayne drags Drayton Florence around like a weak-ass DB for 9 and another 1st. Play-action pass is nearly picked off by Merriman for Peyton's first incompletion after 14 straight. Shovel pass to Addai gains basically nothing, and Addai drops a short pass on 3rd down. Vinatieri hits from past 40 for the FIRST time all season to put Indy ahead 10-7.
Sproles returns to the 28. LT is out with some kind of leg injury. Play action to MANU for 3. This is really echoing last night's AFC game. Both QBs are getting forever to throw and are killing the opposing defenses with short passes. Turner drives over left guard for 5. Big cutback run by Turner for 19. Ball at the Colt 45. Play-action sideline pass to the unstoppable Jackson for 13. Chased by Brock, Rivers "scrambles" for a couple. 2nd and a long 8 from the Colt 31 at the 2:00 warning.
Rivers pukes the next pass up out of bounds under very heavy pressure. 3rd down. Tim Jennings knocks down the pass with his hand on the receiver; that is ALWAYS called DPI. OK, not this time, the crowd appears to have cowed the refs into retracting the illegal contact call because Rivers was out of the pocket. A bad call gets worse for San Diego when Kaeding DOINKS the 48-yard FG attempt. Worst. Clutch. Playoff. Kicker. EVER. OK, maybe Mike Vanderjagt.
Bob Sanders was called for taunting after the FG miss so Indy starts from their 24. 10 to Clark, then 20 more, and Indy's across midfield at 1:06. About 7 to sliding Anthony Gonzalez. Replay official wants to review the catch. It looks good. 2nd-2, :45 left. Colts have all 3 TOs. Handoff to Addai gains only a yard and costs a timeout at 0:35. About 4 more for Joe and another TO. :30 left at the SD35. Manning fires incomplete. :25. DISASTER FOR INDY, as Wayne deflects a high pass from Manning to the ever-dangerous Antonio Cromartie, who brings it back all the way for a TD. One of the diving Colt linemen nearly tackled him by his towel, but he cuts back crossfield, gets two lead blockers on Peyton, and it's pretty much all over. Scratch that; it's called back for a hold on Weddell. There was also a hold committed on Gonzalez at the beginning of the return. Big break for the Colts. Chargers kneel and run out the clock.
=======Halftime score: Colts 10, Chargers 7=======
At halftime, Esiason joins Dierdorf in complaining about the holding call that erased the Cromartie TD.
Neither team did a good job getting to the QB in the first half, and the Colts have got to come up with a solution to Vincent Jackson.
San Diego tries an end around on the 2nd half kickoff return but Cromartie only gets out to the 17. LT remains on the bench. Turner up the middle for 4. VJ stays on fire with a 17-yard catch. Rivers hits Jackson again, left sideline this time, at midfield for 13. LT is out with a bruised knee. Meanwhile, Turner's running better than LT has so far this preseason, cutting back up the middle for 7. Turner weaves over left tackle for 7 more. Colts are in major trouble if they can't get the run shut down. Rivers has Gates iso'ed down the sideline on a LB, but Hagler stays with him well and the pass is incomplete. 2nd-10, beautiful pass by Rivers up the sideline to Chambers for a 36-yard TD. Chargers take a 14-10 lead as Indy is showing no sign they can even slow them down a little right now. If only Rivers EVER played like this for my fantasy team.
Rushing breaks the kick return out to the 37. Manning fires to Wayne for 10, and then 21 more to the SD32. Draw to Addai gains 6, a rare successful run for the Colts today. Addai up the middle for the 1st down. From the SD21, stretch handoff to Addai, who has all kinds of room for a gain of 10, but gets his bell rung at the end. They go right to Keith, who motors his way down to the 6. Keith up the middle for 2 more. 3rd-and-3 from the Charger 4.
AND ANOTHER DISASTER FOR THE COLTS. Sloppy screen pass by Manning is tipped by Keith and INTERCEPTED by Weddle at the 1. Throw was well behind Keith. Manning was under heavy pressure, threw it funny, and threw off KEith's timing.
I had this nagging feeling all week that the Chargers would win this game, but I decided their internal clocks would be off, playing at noon Eastern time. Looks like they woke up on time, huh.
Turner gets stuffed for no gain on 1st-down from the 1, then advances to the 5 on 2nd down, and UH OH, Bob Sanders is injured at the end of the play. Injury timeout.
Rivers rolls out of trouble and throws a dangerous pass incomplete for Sproles. San Diego will make what I believe is the first punt of this game. With room to return, Rushing brings Scifres' terrific punt back across to the 50.
Play action pass to Keith gains 18; nobody picked him up out of the backfield. Slant to Gonzalez for 10-11, and the Colts are right back in business again. Addai may be out with a concussion. 1st-10 from the SD21. They'll barely miss Addai as little as they've run today anyway. Keith gains 2 up the middle. Play action to Keith again but just for 4. Colts hurry the 3rd-down play and catch SD offside. That's all Peyton. 1st and goal at the 9, as Addai surprisingly re-enters the game. Pass in the flat to Wayne, who makes a sick cut on Florence and CLEARLY dives into the end zone, though it's not called for some inexplicable reason by the "all-star" crew of refs. Dungy challenges the call, and the Colts should move ahead here 17-14.
Austin reverses the call to TD and the Colts do indeed take the lead. 2:53 left in the 3rd.
Sproles brings the kick back from 5 yards deep, fakes a reverse to Cromartie, gets pounded at the 20 but gets out to the 26. Sanders returns for Indy. Huddle violation on SD moves them back to the 21. Rivers rolls right and hits Gates for 5. Rivers audibles but the handoff to Turner gets squat. 3rd-and-10. Chargers moved twice with no flag, and the clock ended up running out on them for delay of game. More awful refereeing. 3rd-15 all the same. Rivers, though, steps up under heavy pressure and flips it out to Chambers at the 44. Both secondaries are awful today. 1st down pass is deflected incomplete. On 2nd down, WOW, as Sproles takes a screen, turns the corner and takes off like a freaking shot for a 56-YARD TOUCHDOWN. 21-17, Chargers, as we head into the 4th quarter of a playoff classic.
Couple of thoughts: a ton of Ram fans wanted to draft Darren Sproles a few years ago for just the role he played right here, but NO, we're assured he's too small. I'll have to look up who Martz took instead.
And if I'm a Charger fan, I am not thrilled AT ALL with LaDainian Tomlinson's 2nd straight playoff game where he barely even shows up. I'll be interested to learn the extent of his injury. They're saying bruised knee, but a bruise isn't ordinarily a problem until the next game, when it's had time to stiffen up. And LT's standing up over there on the sidelines. As far as I'm concerned, if he can stand, he can play.
For crying out loud, now Rivers is going to the locker room for San Diego. If they go on to win this game, it'll be epic.
Rushing powers out to the 30 with the kick return to start the 4th quarter. Play action bomb misses Wayne, but there's a VERY late flag. At this point, Charger fans have got to wonder if the NFL has already ordered Colts at Patriots for next week. DPI call there is TERRIBLE. The ball wasn't catchable! 25 yards for Indy instead. Manning drills it to Clark, who weaves inside the Charger 20, but illegal hands to the head is called on Ryan Diem instead. 1st-25 from the Colt 40. HUGE reversal of fortune there, and a legitimate call. Manning rolls out of trouble, and Wayne gets another gift from the zebras, a defensive hold that sets Indy back up with 1st-10 at their 45. 4 to Addai. The hold by Florence on Wayne was a legitimate call. Dangerous bubble screen to Addai for maybe 1. 3rd-and-5. Looks like a blitz from San Diego, and a short pass for Wayne is blanketed by Florence, and the Colts have to punt. It's their first punt, but that's a big stop for San Diego. The Colt gunner puts his toe on the goal line trying to down the punt and the Chargers will start at their 20.
BTW, the Rams passed on Darren Sproles in the 4th round of the 2005 draft so they could take injured safety Jerome Carter, who was never a good pro safety and in fact missed most of this past season with an injury. Nice pick, Martz.
Stop by the Colts is mandatory here. The Charger backfield is now Michael Turner, Andrew Pinnock and BILLY VOLEK. Turner gains a couple off left tackle. Rivers will return, but not this possession. Handoff to Sproles gains maybe 1. Third down pass for Gates is low and incomplete. Colts got what they needed there. Scifres' moon shot well outkicks the coverage, and Rushing returns it 23 to the Colt 45. About 11 minutes left.
Addai gets spun down for 1. 2nd-9, Jammer has Marvin Harrison blanketed, and Manning barely avoids a crushing INT. 3rd-9. Next, here's why you don't blitz Peyton Manning on 3rd-and-long. Manning finds Gonzalez down the sideline, he breaks another poor tackle by McCree, barely keeping his left foot in bounds, and sprints away for a 50-plus-yard TD. Weddle, normally safety help on that play, was blitzing. Norv will challenge whether Gonzalez stayed in bounds, but it should hold up, and Indy should take a 24-21 lead.
What a game. Super play by Gonzalez to break the tackle and stay in bounds, going down to one hand. Colts lead, 24-21.
Chargers returned the kick to the 22, and what do you know, VOLEK is still in. He hits Chambers in a crowd for 15. Jackson turns a short flare into a 6-yard gain as two Colts collided. Turner's dropped for no gain to set up 3rd-and-4. Volek gets plenty of time and just misses Sproles deep, well-covered by Sanders. Marlin Jackson commits a CRITICAL 15-yard face mask, though. That puts the Chargers at the Colt 42. Screen to LEGEDU NAANEE (!) gains 27 down to the 15. Turner cuts back up the middle for 9 to the 6. That face mask was a KILLER. Turner again, for 2 and a 1st-and-goal. This game is unbelievable. Turner bounces down to the goal line; the ball comes out, but he was down. 2nd-and-inches. Volek sneaks it in (heard of that play, SCOTT LINEHAN?) for a TD and a 28-24 Charger lead with about 4:50 left.
Indy's crowd has been outstanding all game, but their hearts are in their throats now.
Kick return's out to just the 22. Manning to Clark for 15. Over the middle to Wayne for 11. Manning next guns it to Aromashodu for about 11. Slant to Gonzalez for 5. They're at the SD34. Manning escapes trouble and goes long for Aromashodu, but it's too deep. 3rd-and-5. 3:10 left. Manning, with ALL DAY, can't connect deep with Wayne, and it's 4th-and-5. 3:02 left. They're near the edge of Vinatieri's range; traditionally, this would be a 51 yard attempt, though Dierdorf pronounces it as 53 for some reason. After a Charger timeout, Indy will go for it. Manning gets ALL DAY again and GUNS it to Dallas Clark inside the 20. How freaking clutch is Dallas Clark? Add a face mask penalty on Phillips at the beginning of the play, and the Colts are inside the 10. Addai gains a couple with 2:45 left. Colts go five-wide. Manning's flushed and throws a dangerous pass that LB Cooper knocks down. 3rd-and-goal from the 7. Blitz look from San Diego - Addai drops a pass at the 2, Phillips deflected it. Colts go for it on 4th-and-goal. Shawn Merriman, who'd had a very quiet half, smokes Tony Ugoh and forces an off-balance incompletion. Even if it had been caught, it could have been well short.
2:01 left. Turner gains 1 to the 8. 2:00 warning. I believe the Colts have all 3 TOs.
Turner takes the next run outside for about 5 as Indy uses TO#1 at 1:49. 3rd-and-4. Turner gets nothing, and the Colts should get the ball back with over 1:30 and a timeout left. Scifres blasts a 66 yard punt; Rushing returns it to the 32.
1:30. Colts 32. 5 to Addai over the middle.
1:13. Incomplete throwaway. Colts already facing 3rd-and-5.
1:08. 20-yard pass to Wayne down the right seam incomplete after McCree's big hit.
4th-and-5, 1:03 left. Wayne was injured on the last play, which will consume Indy's last timeout.
Dierdorf's exactly right; the Patriots have to be loving how these two teams have beaten each other up today. Chargers better look for Dallas Clark. Manning finds Clark open, but the throw is too high; Chargers put on good pressure, and they're going to Foxborough.
And the freaking Chargers also stick a fork in my football pool for the week.
I HATE THE FREAKING CHARGERS.
Still, what an epic win; they lost Tomlinson, they lost Rivers, they barely had Gates, and they go East and beat a team that hadn't lost at home all year. Guess we'd all better shut up about Norv now, huh?
The Patriots are going to score triple digits on the Chargers, though, the way their secondary played today. Sad exit to the season for Marvin Harrison, who was left off the field most of the first half in favor of Aromashadu. Gonzalez is a good bet to grow into that role, but the Colts need to get deeper at WR, better at corner and probably also deeper on the o-line.
It's hard to pick a single player of the game for this classic. I almost want to give it to Norv. Volek, Turner and Sproles all deserve a hand, though the key play of the game was the stupid face mask penalty on Marlin Jackson.
I'm going to give it to Norv Turner. The Chargers had no business holding it together with Rivers and Tomlinson on the bench and Gates hobbled and a non-factor. He'll get slaughtered next week, but right now, he's king for a week.
Chargers kick off and TJ Rushing brings it back to the 24. Colts take the field with Marvin Harrison in the starting lineup. Quick circle route pass to Addai gains 12. Luis Castillo is down for the Chargers. That would be a major loss if he can't return. He walks off the field; good news for San Diego. More good news after they stuff Joseph Addai for a 1-yard loss. Peyton changes plays with a blitz coming and hits Ben Utecht in the right seam for 20 across midfield. About 5 to Addai on 1st down. The sound for this game is terrible. It sounds like there's a biplane flying around in Indy's dome. The Colts screw up a draw play, and Merriman drops Manning for a big loss and puts on an obnoxious, crowd-taunting celebration. That should have been a 15-yard penalty. 3rd-11, Manning hits Addai again, but Joe only gains about 9. Crowd gets their way and the Colts go for it on 4th-and-2, where Manning hits Reggie Wayne on a slant for 8. They're at the SD29 now. Addai runs strong over left tackle for 4. Play-action, and a split second before being hit by Shaun Phillips, Manning hits Dallas Clark in the end zone for a 25-yard TD. Safety fell to leave Clark wide open. Just like the commercial. Who's breaking hot? Who's my hot? "Clark". 7-0, Colts.
Indy's kickoff is DEEP, AL ROBERTS, and Darren Sproles can't return it. Chargers start from their 20. LT gets nothing around left end on 1st down. 3 on 2nd down over left tackle. 3rd-and-6, Rivers quickly hits Vincent Jackson for 21. Screen to LT with fake end-around gains another 20. From the Colt 35, Kelvin Hayden appears to pick off a sideline pass intended for Davis. CBS goes to commercial without a replay; TiVoing the main angle, it does look like he possessed it and kept his feet in. Disastrous start for San Diego if the call holds up. Norv challenges, and Gumbel and Dierdorf don't think he secured the ball. I think he did, against his stomach.
WTF - GERRY AUSTIN GOT ASSIGNED TO A PLAYOFF GAME? SO YOU CAN BLOW A GAME AS BADLY AS HE DID WHEN THE BIG DEAD WON HERE IN OCTOBER AND STILL QUALIFY FOR A PLAYOFF GIG? MY GOD NFL OFFICIATING IS PISS POOR.
Austin agrees with my call, and Indy takes over from their 24. Addai up the middle for a couple, and a pass to him gains almost 9. Addai powers over right guard again for 3 and the 1st. Clark takes a sideline pass, breaks a tackle and dives for 11 out to the I47. Addai finds a seam on the right side for 6. Manning hits Wayne at the sideline for 7 and his 9th straight completion. From the SD40, Phillips catches the dreaded Kenton Keith in the backfield for a 2-yard loss. Keith took off but his knee was down. Swing pass to Brian Fletcher gains just 2, as Phillips is all over the place. 3rd-10. Peyton hits Marvin cutting across the middle for 18, but Marvin rustily fumbles it away and Marlon McCree recovers. Big Big play for the Chargers. Still 7-0.
That biplane flying around inside the RCA Dome is really giving me a headache.
Chargers from their 22. LT's tripped in the backfield for no gain. He breaks a tackle in the backfield and gains about 5 on 2nd down as the first quarter runs out.
=======Colts 7, Chargers 0 after one=======
3rd-and-5 for San Diego. Rivers is nearly sacked but hits Jackson on a cross for 9 for the 1st. The Chargers call a timeout but both Rivers and Norv appear surprised. Who called it, Schottenheimer? LT up the middle for 6. Michael Turner's in to vulture LT but he loses ground. 3rd-3. They gave Turner a yard? No matter; delay of game moves it back. 3rd-8. Empty backfield, and though the snap comes with 0 on the play clock again, Rivers steps up and hits Davis for 18. From the Colt 44, Rivers hits Antonio Gates in the left seam for 23. Colts left him wide open. Play action to Jackson on the sideline for 9 puts them at the Colt 12. Chargers will take a 1st down at the 16 after a ludicrous illegal contact call on Hayden, who was pushed around by Jackson more on the catch than the other way round. LT bounces up the middle for 4. At the Colt 12, Rivers uses the Chargers' last timeout. Back from timeout, the RG false starts. 2nd-11. LT takes a draw for 8. The ball popped out at the end, but he was clearly down. I take it back; he did fumble, but Mike Goff, the RG who just false-started, recovered. Then, apparently going for the Alex Barron Award, Goff false-starts again. 3rd-and-8 from the 14, Rivers throws it into the corner of the end zone for the apparently uncoverable Vincent Jackson, who scores the TD and is having his second consecutive monster week in the playoffs. Kaeding ties it at 7 with 8:38 left in the half.
Colts return the kickoff to the 28. Bubble screen to Addai gains 22. 10 to Harrison to the Charger 40. I switched off of DirecTV and the biplane noise seems to have gone away some. Addai sweeps left for 1. Wayne drags Drayton Florence around like a weak-ass DB for 9 and another 1st. Play-action pass is nearly picked off by Merriman for Peyton's first incompletion after 14 straight. Shovel pass to Addai gains basically nothing, and Addai drops a short pass on 3rd down. Vinatieri hits from past 40 for the FIRST time all season to put Indy ahead 10-7.
Sproles returns to the 28. LT is out with some kind of leg injury. Play action to MANU for 3. This is really echoing last night's AFC game. Both QBs are getting forever to throw and are killing the opposing defenses with short passes. Turner drives over left guard for 5. Big cutback run by Turner for 19. Ball at the Colt 45. Play-action sideline pass to the unstoppable Jackson for 13. Chased by Brock, Rivers "scrambles" for a couple. 2nd and a long 8 from the Colt 31 at the 2:00 warning.
Rivers pukes the next pass up out of bounds under very heavy pressure. 3rd down. Tim Jennings knocks down the pass with his hand on the receiver; that is ALWAYS called DPI. OK, not this time, the crowd appears to have cowed the refs into retracting the illegal contact call because Rivers was out of the pocket. A bad call gets worse for San Diego when Kaeding DOINKS the 48-yard FG attempt. Worst. Clutch. Playoff. Kicker. EVER. OK, maybe Mike Vanderjagt.
Bob Sanders was called for taunting after the FG miss so Indy starts from their 24. 10 to Clark, then 20 more, and Indy's across midfield at 1:06. About 7 to sliding Anthony Gonzalez. Replay official wants to review the catch. It looks good. 2nd-2, :45 left. Colts have all 3 TOs. Handoff to Addai gains only a yard and costs a timeout at 0:35. About 4 more for Joe and another TO. :30 left at the SD35. Manning fires incomplete. :25. DISASTER FOR INDY, as Wayne deflects a high pass from Manning to the ever-dangerous Antonio Cromartie, who brings it back all the way for a TD. One of the diving Colt linemen nearly tackled him by his towel, but he cuts back crossfield, gets two lead blockers on Peyton, and it's pretty much all over. Scratch that; it's called back for a hold on Weddell. There was also a hold committed on Gonzalez at the beginning of the return. Big break for the Colts. Chargers kneel and run out the clock.
=======Halftime score: Colts 10, Chargers 7=======
At halftime, Esiason joins Dierdorf in complaining about the holding call that erased the Cromartie TD.
Neither team did a good job getting to the QB in the first half, and the Colts have got to come up with a solution to Vincent Jackson.
San Diego tries an end around on the 2nd half kickoff return but Cromartie only gets out to the 17. LT remains on the bench. Turner up the middle for 4. VJ stays on fire with a 17-yard catch. Rivers hits Jackson again, left sideline this time, at midfield for 13. LT is out with a bruised knee. Meanwhile, Turner's running better than LT has so far this preseason, cutting back up the middle for 7. Turner weaves over left tackle for 7 more. Colts are in major trouble if they can't get the run shut down. Rivers has Gates iso'ed down the sideline on a LB, but Hagler stays with him well and the pass is incomplete. 2nd-10, beautiful pass by Rivers up the sideline to Chambers for a 36-yard TD. Chargers take a 14-10 lead as Indy is showing no sign they can even slow them down a little right now. If only Rivers EVER played like this for my fantasy team.
Rushing breaks the kick return out to the 37. Manning fires to Wayne for 10, and then 21 more to the SD32. Draw to Addai gains 6, a rare successful run for the Colts today. Addai up the middle for the 1st down. From the SD21, stretch handoff to Addai, who has all kinds of room for a gain of 10, but gets his bell rung at the end. They go right to Keith, who motors his way down to the 6. Keith up the middle for 2 more. 3rd-and-3 from the Charger 4.
AND ANOTHER DISASTER FOR THE COLTS. Sloppy screen pass by Manning is tipped by Keith and INTERCEPTED by Weddle at the 1. Throw was well behind Keith. Manning was under heavy pressure, threw it funny, and threw off KEith's timing.
I had this nagging feeling all week that the Chargers would win this game, but I decided their internal clocks would be off, playing at noon Eastern time. Looks like they woke up on time, huh.
Turner gets stuffed for no gain on 1st-down from the 1, then advances to the 5 on 2nd down, and UH OH, Bob Sanders is injured at the end of the play. Injury timeout.
Rivers rolls out of trouble and throws a dangerous pass incomplete for Sproles. San Diego will make what I believe is the first punt of this game. With room to return, Rushing brings Scifres' terrific punt back across to the 50.
Play action pass to Keith gains 18; nobody picked him up out of the backfield. Slant to Gonzalez for 10-11, and the Colts are right back in business again. Addai may be out with a concussion. 1st-10 from the SD21. They'll barely miss Addai as little as they've run today anyway. Keith gains 2 up the middle. Play action to Keith again but just for 4. Colts hurry the 3rd-down play and catch SD offside. That's all Peyton. 1st and goal at the 9, as Addai surprisingly re-enters the game. Pass in the flat to Wayne, who makes a sick cut on Florence and CLEARLY dives into the end zone, though it's not called for some inexplicable reason by the "all-star" crew of refs. Dungy challenges the call, and the Colts should move ahead here 17-14.
Austin reverses the call to TD and the Colts do indeed take the lead. 2:53 left in the 3rd.
Sproles brings the kick back from 5 yards deep, fakes a reverse to Cromartie, gets pounded at the 20 but gets out to the 26. Sanders returns for Indy. Huddle violation on SD moves them back to the 21. Rivers rolls right and hits Gates for 5. Rivers audibles but the handoff to Turner gets squat. 3rd-and-10. Chargers moved twice with no flag, and the clock ended up running out on them for delay of game. More awful refereeing. 3rd-15 all the same. Rivers, though, steps up under heavy pressure and flips it out to Chambers at the 44. Both secondaries are awful today. 1st down pass is deflected incomplete. On 2nd down, WOW, as Sproles takes a screen, turns the corner and takes off like a freaking shot for a 56-YARD TOUCHDOWN. 21-17, Chargers, as we head into the 4th quarter of a playoff classic.
Couple of thoughts: a ton of Ram fans wanted to draft Darren Sproles a few years ago for just the role he played right here, but NO, we're assured he's too small. I'll have to look up who Martz took instead.
And if I'm a Charger fan, I am not thrilled AT ALL with LaDainian Tomlinson's 2nd straight playoff game where he barely even shows up. I'll be interested to learn the extent of his injury. They're saying bruised knee, but a bruise isn't ordinarily a problem until the next game, when it's had time to stiffen up. And LT's standing up over there on the sidelines. As far as I'm concerned, if he can stand, he can play.
For crying out loud, now Rivers is going to the locker room for San Diego. If they go on to win this game, it'll be epic.
Rushing powers out to the 30 with the kick return to start the 4th quarter. Play action bomb misses Wayne, but there's a VERY late flag. At this point, Charger fans have got to wonder if the NFL has already ordered Colts at Patriots for next week. DPI call there is TERRIBLE. The ball wasn't catchable! 25 yards for Indy instead. Manning drills it to Clark, who weaves inside the Charger 20, but illegal hands to the head is called on Ryan Diem instead. 1st-25 from the Colt 40. HUGE reversal of fortune there, and a legitimate call. Manning rolls out of trouble, and Wayne gets another gift from the zebras, a defensive hold that sets Indy back up with 1st-10 at their 45. 4 to Addai. The hold by Florence on Wayne was a legitimate call. Dangerous bubble screen to Addai for maybe 1. 3rd-and-5. Looks like a blitz from San Diego, and a short pass for Wayne is blanketed by Florence, and the Colts have to punt. It's their first punt, but that's a big stop for San Diego. The Colt gunner puts his toe on the goal line trying to down the punt and the Chargers will start at their 20.
BTW, the Rams passed on Darren Sproles in the 4th round of the 2005 draft so they could take injured safety Jerome Carter, who was never a good pro safety and in fact missed most of this past season with an injury. Nice pick, Martz.
Stop by the Colts is mandatory here. The Charger backfield is now Michael Turner, Andrew Pinnock and BILLY VOLEK. Turner gains a couple off left tackle. Rivers will return, but not this possession. Handoff to Sproles gains maybe 1. Third down pass for Gates is low and incomplete. Colts got what they needed there. Scifres' moon shot well outkicks the coverage, and Rushing returns it 23 to the Colt 45. About 11 minutes left.
Addai gets spun down for 1. 2nd-9, Jammer has Marvin Harrison blanketed, and Manning barely avoids a crushing INT. 3rd-9. Next, here's why you don't blitz Peyton Manning on 3rd-and-long. Manning finds Gonzalez down the sideline, he breaks another poor tackle by McCree, barely keeping his left foot in bounds, and sprints away for a 50-plus-yard TD. Weddle, normally safety help on that play, was blitzing. Norv will challenge whether Gonzalez stayed in bounds, but it should hold up, and Indy should take a 24-21 lead.
What a game. Super play by Gonzalez to break the tackle and stay in bounds, going down to one hand. Colts lead, 24-21.
Chargers returned the kick to the 22, and what do you know, VOLEK is still in. He hits Chambers in a crowd for 15. Jackson turns a short flare into a 6-yard gain as two Colts collided. Turner's dropped for no gain to set up 3rd-and-4. Volek gets plenty of time and just misses Sproles deep, well-covered by Sanders. Marlin Jackson commits a CRITICAL 15-yard face mask, though. That puts the Chargers at the Colt 42. Screen to LEGEDU NAANEE (!) gains 27 down to the 15. Turner cuts back up the middle for 9 to the 6. That face mask was a KILLER. Turner again, for 2 and a 1st-and-goal. This game is unbelievable. Turner bounces down to the goal line; the ball comes out, but he was down. 2nd-and-inches. Volek sneaks it in (heard of that play, SCOTT LINEHAN?) for a TD and a 28-24 Charger lead with about 4:50 left.
Indy's crowd has been outstanding all game, but their hearts are in their throats now.
Kick return's out to just the 22. Manning to Clark for 15. Over the middle to Wayne for 11. Manning next guns it to Aromashodu for about 11. Slant to Gonzalez for 5. They're at the SD34. Manning escapes trouble and goes long for Aromashodu, but it's too deep. 3rd-and-5. 3:10 left. Manning, with ALL DAY, can't connect deep with Wayne, and it's 4th-and-5. 3:02 left. They're near the edge of Vinatieri's range; traditionally, this would be a 51 yard attempt, though Dierdorf pronounces it as 53 for some reason. After a Charger timeout, Indy will go for it. Manning gets ALL DAY again and GUNS it to Dallas Clark inside the 20. How freaking clutch is Dallas Clark? Add a face mask penalty on Phillips at the beginning of the play, and the Colts are inside the 10. Addai gains a couple with 2:45 left. Colts go five-wide. Manning's flushed and throws a dangerous pass that LB Cooper knocks down. 3rd-and-goal from the 7. Blitz look from San Diego - Addai drops a pass at the 2, Phillips deflected it. Colts go for it on 4th-and-goal. Shawn Merriman, who'd had a very quiet half, smokes Tony Ugoh and forces an off-balance incompletion. Even if it had been caught, it could have been well short.
2:01 left. Turner gains 1 to the 8. 2:00 warning. I believe the Colts have all 3 TOs.
Turner takes the next run outside for about 5 as Indy uses TO#1 at 1:49. 3rd-and-4. Turner gets nothing, and the Colts should get the ball back with over 1:30 and a timeout left. Scifres blasts a 66 yard punt; Rushing returns it to the 32.
1:30. Colts 32. 5 to Addai over the middle.
1:13. Incomplete throwaway. Colts already facing 3rd-and-5.
1:08. 20-yard pass to Wayne down the right seam incomplete after McCree's big hit.
4th-and-5, 1:03 left. Wayne was injured on the last play, which will consume Indy's last timeout.
Dierdorf's exactly right; the Patriots have to be loving how these two teams have beaten each other up today. Chargers better look for Dallas Clark. Manning finds Clark open, but the throw is too high; Chargers put on good pressure, and they're going to Foxborough.
And the freaking Chargers also stick a fork in my football pool for the week.
I HATE THE FREAKING CHARGERS.
Still, what an epic win; they lost Tomlinson, they lost Rivers, they barely had Gates, and they go East and beat a team that hadn't lost at home all year. Guess we'd all better shut up about Norv now, huh?
The Patriots are going to score triple digits on the Chargers, though, the way their secondary played today. Sad exit to the season for Marvin Harrison, who was left off the field most of the first half in favor of Aromashadu. Gonzalez is a good bet to grow into that role, but the Colts need to get deeper at WR, better at corner and probably also deeper on the o-line.
It's hard to pick a single player of the game for this classic. I almost want to give it to Norv. Volek, Turner and Sproles all deserve a hand, though the key play of the game was the stupid face mask penalty on Marlin Jackson.
I'm going to give it to Norv Turner. The Chargers had no business holding it together with Rivers and Tomlinson on the bench and Gates hobbled and a non-factor. He'll get slaughtered next week, but right now, he's king for a week.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
AFC Divisional Playoff: Patriots 31, Jagwires 20
Well, do the Jagwires have it in them? We're about to find out. Nantz and Simms with the call for CBS. In the pregame, Bill Cowher gave his opinion that it was ok for Tony Romo to go on vacation with Jessica Simmons during the bye week because "he had a chance to get off".
I'll say.
Patriots kick deep, and MoJo takes a knee. So the Jags don't start on an aggressive note. Taylor gains 5 on a delay up the middle. Patriots then leave Lewis the TE WIDE OPEN over the middle, he spins out of a tackle and gains 23. Stretch handoff to Taylor loses 3. Tackle and gloat by the classless Junior Seau. Sideline pass to Northcutt gains 9 into NE territory. 3rd-3 from the NE46. Straight 4-man rush on 3rd down, and James Sanders makes a nice play, forcing MoJo straight out of bounds for just a 2-yard gain on the sideline pass. JAGWIRES GOING FOR IT ON 4TH AND 1. Garrard PLAY ACTIONS, rolls right and hits Lewis deep on the sideline behind Assante Samuel, who thought Garrard was going to tuck and run. BEAUTIFUL, AGGRESSIVE CALL. 1st-goal, Taylor is stuffed. Garrard has all night to throw on 2nd down but throws it away. 3rd-and-goal, HOO, WHAT A PLAY by Garrard, if it counts. He hangs very tough in the pocket, steps up, and as he's on the way down and being sacked, he unloads a wobbler for a WIDE OPEN Matt Jones(!) for an opening drive TD. Replay shows Garrard barely got the ball away before being sacked, if at all.
7-0, Jacksonville. Patriots are getting the run stuffed but their secondary is an amazing mess to open up the gain. Three times they left receivers WIDE WIDE open.
Patriot kick return comes out to the 26. John Henderson overpowers Mankins to open the game with a sack of Brady. 2nd-14. Screen to Maroney, the only LB out there gets blocked, and he's got a lot of running room, a 33-yard gain across midfield. With all night to throw, Brady ultimately scrambles for 2. Maroney powers off right tackle for about 6. On 3rd-2, Rob Meier STUFFS Kevin Faulk for a 2-yard loss. Now New England is going for it. Brady guns it to Randy Moss for 15. Patriots immediately go no-huddle. Dumpoff to Faulk over the middle is good for about 8, then Maroney bounces around left end for 5. 1st down at the 14. Gaffney takes a quick out pass, breaks a tackle and gets down to the 3. 1st-goal, Brady, who's in shotgun as always, absolutely blisters a pass to Ben Watson in the back of the end zone. He could only throw that because he saw Sammy Knight still had his back turned to the play, and he made sure to put it up high where Watson would be the only one who could grab it. Amazing throw ties the game at 7, and WE ARE ON in Foxborough.
Simms and Nantz are completely right to question why Belichick the genius didn't challenge the TD pass by Garrard. By rule, he should have been called down when his shin hit the ground, before he released the ball. Excellent analysis of the play.
Jags hold on the kickoff return, and we learn how truly and desperately bad off the NFL is for officiating when JEROME BOGER is good enough to call a playoff game.
Seriously. That Eyebrow Guy from the Budweiser commercials has got to go away. Now.
Jags from their 18. Ty Warren drops MoJo for no gain. Garrard gets time on a short drop and hits Northcutt WIDE OPEN in front of the secondary for 19. Garrard, again with all night to throw, eventually gets hit by Ty Warren, forcing a fumble recovered by Vrabel. Maurice Williams got beat on the play, but they gave Garrard plenty of time.
New England has it at the J29. Play action, Brady steps up and hits Faulk for 5. Faulk gains 5 off left tackle for the 1st. Another pass to Faulk for 9, with the Jags just rushing 3. 2nd down, Maroney up the middle for half a yard. 3rd down and the other half. Maroney gets the 1st off left tackle and drags a pile of Jags with him down to the 1. Maroney is met hard at the goal line as the first quarter, which took barely half an hour to play, expires with the game tied at 7.
=======Patriots 7, Jagwires 7 after 1=======
Maroney opens the 2nd quarter by driving in from a yard out to put New England up 14-7. Jagwires HAVE to answer with their next drive. They can't turn another one over.
Gostkowski's kick, though, dies like it was hit with a pitching wedge, MoJo adjusts to it poorly and flubs it, barely avoiding a turnover. But Jax will start from their own 5.
Drew pounds for 2. Garrard stands tall at the goal line and hits Lewis at the sideline. He jumps over Randall Gay, and the ball comes loose, but it would have been called as forced by the ground. MoJo fell on it anyway. Someone named Isaac Smolko gains 8 on a catch out to the 24. MoJo surges up the middle for 11. Lewis was hurt on his earlier catch and replaced by ROBERT ANGULO. Garrard again hangs tough, steps up and hits MoJo ALL ALONE in the middle for an 18-yard catch-and-run. Jax is across midfield. Super second-effort run by Taylor for 15. Taylor up the middle again for 6-7. Face mask on Seau will move the Jags to the Patriot 14. MoJo catches a tipped ball and still gains 5. Taylor snakes his way down to the Patriot 2. Jags go jumbo and Taylor gets 1. 2nd-goal from the 1. Big penalty; false start on my Illini boy Tony Pashos. But, getting all night to throw from the 6, Garrard hits ER-nest WIL-ford breaking to the left sideline for the tying TD, beating Assante Samuel.
14-14. What an AWESOME drive by the Jagwires; we are watching Ali vs. Frazier here.
Jackson's kick return is only out to the 19, though that probably doesn't bother the Pats a lot. Maroney breaks a couple of tackles on a screen and gains 7. Faulk gains 4. 1st-10, Maroney's stuffed for a loss. Wes Welker gets his first catch of the night, and it's third and a long one. Gaffney has the first down on an out pattern. 1-10 from the NE42. Brady (Tom)'s getting a lot of time to throw; he hits Brady (Kyle) now for 12. Maroney hits a nice hole on the right side for 7. Another handoff to Maroney for 5 or 6. Reverse, NOT an end-around, to Welker, who jukes his way for 13. Patriots have 1st-and-10 at the Jax21 as we reach the 2:00 warning. Faulk gains 3 left. Jax was blitzing there, but from the right. This is a HUGE defensive sequence for the Jagwires, with NE getting the ball back after halftime. Brady scrambles away from a sack but the Patriots are called for a chop block. It's 2nd-and-23 from the J34. Maroney bounces outside for a very significant 9 yards. 3rd-14. Brady goes short to Welker for about 7, and Jax uses a TO with 0:57 left. Gostkowski then BIFFS it from 35.
Jax gets it back at their 25, and they take forever for an 8-yard pass to Lewis and an incompletion over Northcutt's head. 3rd-and-2 with :26 left. Drew tries to bounce outside and gains nothing. What a disappointing, fouled-up possession by the Jags there. 3-and-out? NE takes a TO with :21 left and Jax punting. Welker weaves out to the 31 with the punt return, but NE has just 0:09 left.
Pats kneel on it to end the half, and I swear I heard home fans BOOING their SIXTEEN-AND-0 team at a home playoff game.
=======Patriots 14, Jagwires 14 at halftime=======
I love what both these teams are doing on offense and doubt either has to change a thing. What about defense? I'd like to see Jax bring more heat, and they were doing more blitzing at the end of the half; I'm looking for that to continue. The Pats ought to be thinking the same way. They're not doing a great job of getting to Garrard, and their secondary is getting its heads beaten in.
It is notable that Randy Moss had only one catch in the first half. Then again, I don't think Brady has an incomplete pass.
New England has a weakness; it's kickoff returns. This one again doesn't even get out to the 20. Brady steps up and hits Welker for 9.5. Maroney gets 2 and the 1st. Quick hitch to Welker for 2. Phil Simms is DEAD WRONG about Jax "not blitzing a single time in the first half". They were bringing the CB off the edge in the last 2:00. I do agree they blitzed very little. Shotgun draw to Maroney for 5. 3rd-3, well-drawn up play goes to Faulk for 8. He ran a short route into an area Gaffney had vacated with motion. Quick screen to Welker for 8. Brady is 16-for-16. Jax blitzed a couple of plays ago, and they show it again here, but Maroney busts a counter left open for 22. Nice hold by Moss on the play. They're at the Jax26. Brady's first incompletion of the night comes on a drop by Ben Watson. Faulk follows that with a one-handed catch for 8-9. None of the halftime analysts agreed with me, but Simms doesn't like the lack of pass pressure by Jax and appears to be calling for some blitzing. Brady hits Gaffney over the middle down to the 6. First and goal, the Patriots fake the Statue of Liberty play and Brady hits Welker in the back of the end zone. Superb drive. Patriots lead 21-14.
SHORT kick to Drew, who returns it from the 10 to the 32. Taylor up the middle a couple of times for 7. HUGE 3rd-and-3 coming up. Who the hell dug up Matt Jones' career? Garrard hits him on a slant for 11 and a big, big 1st down. Taylor gets a couple up the middle. Garrard steps up and hits MATT JONES again, over the middle and burning Randall Gay for about 30. Jags at the NE20. False start - Pashos again - bumps them back to the 25. Taylor squirts through the line for 4. Jax calls a timeout and forces me to look at Eyebrow Guy again. Rodney Harrison blitzes, and the Patriots blow up the intended screen, but Vrabel, also blitzing, knocks down Garrard's wild pass attempt, or it would have been grounding or worse. Pats blitz again, but Garrard gets free and fires it to Dennis Northcutt at the goal line...... and he DROPS it because he's worried about getting hit by Assante Samuel. I'm going to boldly call that play the turning point of the game. Josh Scobee gets the consolation 3 to make it 21-17, but that drop by Northcutt was a game-breaker. And note New England's successful stop of the Jags because they BLITZED, like I was calling for at halftime.
You know, there's an art to writing commercials as cheesily bad as the Just For Men commercials are. I envy those writers. BTW, Lambeau Field today looked like Keith Hernandez' coffee table circa 1979.
Jackson returns the kick to the 24. Brady to Welker for 5. I think the Pats are trying to bore the Jags into submission with all these short passes. One of last week's Jag heroes, Derek Landri, screws up here with a late hit on Brady. Pats are out to their 45. Maroney hits it outside for 29 behind super blocks from Steven Neal and Randy Moss, legal this time. Maroney then hits them with 12 the other way, to the right. Simms is begging Jax to blitz. Word. Quick hitch to Welker for nothing. 2nd-10 from the J15. About 6 to Welker. Brady, with forever to throw AGAIN against ANOTHER vanilla rush, hits Watson in the middle of the end zone to put NE up 28-17. Watson's man slipped at the goal line. I have got to ask Del Rio what the hell is the danger of at least blitzing when the Pats are inside your 20? The danger of doing nothing, like you've been doing, is what you got - another Patriot TD. I'm not saying to go all Jim-Haslett on their asses, but at least pick your spot once!
Drew's return gets nowhere, and there's a penalty, so Jax will start from their 6, and the momentum of this game is all with New England. MoJo gains maybe 1. The third quarter runs out.
=======New England 28, Jacksonville 17 after 3=======
5 to Northcutt leaves 3rd and 5. Super leaping catch by Wil-ford gains 15, and a spearing penalty on Rodney WPOS Harrison adds 15 more. Garrard scrambles for 9 across midfield. Taylor bounces for 3. Play-action, and Garrard hits it deep again, to Reggie Williams for 25. His first catch. Blitzing WPOS flushes Garrard outside and he throws it away. 2nd-10 from the NE21. Drew bounces a draw outside and gets 3. On 3rd down, NE blitzes big, but Drew beats Seau and Ellis Hobbs outside for 8. 1st-and-goal from the 9. 2 tough yards for Drew. 2nd-goal, Garrard throws into triple coverage in the end zone and gets lucky WPOS Harrison doesn't pick it off. 3rd-and-goal. NE blitzes Vrabel, and Matt Jones can't come down with the fade pass over Gay. Would have been a very tough catch. Scobee chips it in from 25 to bring Jax within a score, 28-20.
Jackson gets driven FAR out of bounds at the 20, but there's no flag. Great, something for Bill Simmons to whine about. 9:39 left. A run BLITZ catches Maroney for a couple. Another Jag blitz blows up a screen, but Brady improvises, and Donte Stallworth never quit running upfield, while Rashean Mathis did, and it's good for a MONSTER gain of about 53 yards, which Nantz miscalculates as 48. Sure, now the blitz'll get blamed for that big play, but really it was A - superb play by Brady; B - sensational catch by Stallworth; C - negligence of duty by Mathis. Mathis letting Stallworth behind him deep wasn't the blitz's fault. Maroney hunts and pecks for 2 to the J24. Brady gets forever to throw again and spears a sliding Stallworth at the sideline for six. Good thing my keyboard doesn't lisp. Welker drops the 3rd-and-TWO, NOT 1, pass, forcing a FG attempt at 6:43. Gostkowski hits it, and New England has a 31-20 lead.
Jags are probably in hurry-up mode and could use a big kick return. Trickery in the form of a reverse on the return fails badly, though, and they're stuck at their 15. 12 to Drew, though, who nearly broke it for a lot more. Broken play ends up with Garrard getting taken down after a yard. Garrard stands up under heavy pressure and dumps it off to Drew for 4. 3rd-and-5, Vrabel flushes Garrard right, and the throw's off Northcutt's fingertips for force 4th down. The disorganized Jags take their second TO. 4th-and-5, Northcutt makes a super sideline catch for 8 and gets hit way out of bounds to tack on another 15. Great, Simmons'll be whining again. Oh, imagine that, a roughing penalty on worthless piece of shit Harrison. Jags are at the NE45. Thomas tips away a pass. 2nd-10. 4:30 left. Garrard, under major heat, weaves all over the field for a four-yard gain. Seau was blitzing there. 3rd-6. Lewis blows a catch over the middle to force 4th down. I guess 58 yards is out of Scobee's range, so the Jags will go for it again. And, the worthless piece of shit picks it off. Bad pass by Garrard; Matt Jones was blanketed by two defenders. The Pats will take over at their 31, and basically just need a first down to clinch it. Jags have only one TO.
Maroney stuffed for -1. 3 off left tackle. Jags let the clock run. At 2:38 left, Brady bizarrely calls a timeout. Call must have been a pass, and he saw something he didn't like. 3rd down, Brady throws a 1-yard hitch to Stallworth, and Mathis makes a TERRIBLE FREAKING tackle, and Stallworth goes right through him for the first down. Jags use their last timeout at 2:18. Pats should be able to fall on it twice and let the clock run out.
YES! THE CARDINALS ARE GETTING RID OF SCOTT ROLEN!
Sorry, back to the game. Pats made it 3rd-and-3 while I was celebrating the Rolen dump, er, trade. The Cards actually got Troy Glaus for him? Good luck, Toronto; enjoy Scott blowing routine ground balls at the worst possible moment, hitting into double plays and striking out with men on base. And enjoy the 80 games you might get out of him before he inevitably gets injured. The most overrated Cardinal, possibly ever, certainly of the last ten years.
Doesn't really matter; the Cards will be lucky to top 4th, even in the mediocre NL Central, in 2008.
My clock math was way off: Jax got the ball back at 0:22. Drew gains 12; why were they throwing up the middle there? You go through the effort to preserve the clock then call a dumb play up the middle?
New England's through to the AFC Championship, but if I'm them, I'm rooting for San Diego tomorrow. The way Jagwire receivers were getting open in their secondary, Peyton would throw for 400 against them. The Colts also figure in the Jagwires' future; for this fine young team to take the next step, they're going to have to add players who can help them beat the Colts. Their secondary's good, but they can always afford to get deeper. And their d-line is deep and has solid players, but they need an elite pass rusher. It'll be interesting to see how they develop.
Oh, yeah, Player of the Game. I'll have to be uncreative and pick Brady. Eye-popping stats: 26-for-28, and though 262 isn't a ton of yards, the 1st TD to Watson was a brilliant throw, the fake Statue of Liberty pass to Welker was, well, brilliant, and the long late bomb to Stallworth was, well, ok, another brilliant play. When they needed a big play, Brady made the difference.
Looking forward to more playoff action, and Scott Rolen's good-bye parade, tomorrow.
I'll say.
Patriots kick deep, and MoJo takes a knee. So the Jags don't start on an aggressive note. Taylor gains 5 on a delay up the middle. Patriots then leave Lewis the TE WIDE OPEN over the middle, he spins out of a tackle and gains 23. Stretch handoff to Taylor loses 3. Tackle and gloat by the classless Junior Seau. Sideline pass to Northcutt gains 9 into NE territory. 3rd-3 from the NE46. Straight 4-man rush on 3rd down, and James Sanders makes a nice play, forcing MoJo straight out of bounds for just a 2-yard gain on the sideline pass. JAGWIRES GOING FOR IT ON 4TH AND 1. Garrard PLAY ACTIONS, rolls right and hits Lewis deep on the sideline behind Assante Samuel, who thought Garrard was going to tuck and run. BEAUTIFUL, AGGRESSIVE CALL. 1st-goal, Taylor is stuffed. Garrard has all night to throw on 2nd down but throws it away. 3rd-and-goal, HOO, WHAT A PLAY by Garrard, if it counts. He hangs very tough in the pocket, steps up, and as he's on the way down and being sacked, he unloads a wobbler for a WIDE OPEN Matt Jones(!) for an opening drive TD. Replay shows Garrard barely got the ball away before being sacked, if at all.
7-0, Jacksonville. Patriots are getting the run stuffed but their secondary is an amazing mess to open up the gain. Three times they left receivers WIDE WIDE open.
Patriot kick return comes out to the 26. John Henderson overpowers Mankins to open the game with a sack of Brady. 2nd-14. Screen to Maroney, the only LB out there gets blocked, and he's got a lot of running room, a 33-yard gain across midfield. With all night to throw, Brady ultimately scrambles for 2. Maroney powers off right tackle for about 6. On 3rd-2, Rob Meier STUFFS Kevin Faulk for a 2-yard loss. Now New England is going for it. Brady guns it to Randy Moss for 15. Patriots immediately go no-huddle. Dumpoff to Faulk over the middle is good for about 8, then Maroney bounces around left end for 5. 1st down at the 14. Gaffney takes a quick out pass, breaks a tackle and gets down to the 3. 1st-goal, Brady, who's in shotgun as always, absolutely blisters a pass to Ben Watson in the back of the end zone. He could only throw that because he saw Sammy Knight still had his back turned to the play, and he made sure to put it up high where Watson would be the only one who could grab it. Amazing throw ties the game at 7, and WE ARE ON in Foxborough.
Simms and Nantz are completely right to question why Belichick the genius didn't challenge the TD pass by Garrard. By rule, he should have been called down when his shin hit the ground, before he released the ball. Excellent analysis of the play.
Jags hold on the kickoff return, and we learn how truly and desperately bad off the NFL is for officiating when JEROME BOGER is good enough to call a playoff game.
Seriously. That Eyebrow Guy from the Budweiser commercials has got to go away. Now.
Jags from their 18. Ty Warren drops MoJo for no gain. Garrard gets time on a short drop and hits Northcutt WIDE OPEN in front of the secondary for 19. Garrard, again with all night to throw, eventually gets hit by Ty Warren, forcing a fumble recovered by Vrabel. Maurice Williams got beat on the play, but they gave Garrard plenty of time.
New England has it at the J29. Play action, Brady steps up and hits Faulk for 5. Faulk gains 5 off left tackle for the 1st. Another pass to Faulk for 9, with the Jags just rushing 3. 2nd down, Maroney up the middle for half a yard. 3rd down and the other half. Maroney gets the 1st off left tackle and drags a pile of Jags with him down to the 1. Maroney is met hard at the goal line as the first quarter, which took barely half an hour to play, expires with the game tied at 7.
=======Patriots 7, Jagwires 7 after 1=======
Maroney opens the 2nd quarter by driving in from a yard out to put New England up 14-7. Jagwires HAVE to answer with their next drive. They can't turn another one over.
Gostkowski's kick, though, dies like it was hit with a pitching wedge, MoJo adjusts to it poorly and flubs it, barely avoiding a turnover. But Jax will start from their own 5.
Drew pounds for 2. Garrard stands tall at the goal line and hits Lewis at the sideline. He jumps over Randall Gay, and the ball comes loose, but it would have been called as forced by the ground. MoJo fell on it anyway. Someone named Isaac Smolko gains 8 on a catch out to the 24. MoJo surges up the middle for 11. Lewis was hurt on his earlier catch and replaced by ROBERT ANGULO. Garrard again hangs tough, steps up and hits MoJo ALL ALONE in the middle for an 18-yard catch-and-run. Jax is across midfield. Super second-effort run by Taylor for 15. Taylor up the middle again for 6-7. Face mask on Seau will move the Jags to the Patriot 14. MoJo catches a tipped ball and still gains 5. Taylor snakes his way down to the Patriot 2. Jags go jumbo and Taylor gets 1. 2nd-goal from the 1. Big penalty; false start on my Illini boy Tony Pashos. But, getting all night to throw from the 6, Garrard hits ER-nest WIL-ford breaking to the left sideline for the tying TD, beating Assante Samuel.
14-14. What an AWESOME drive by the Jagwires; we are watching Ali vs. Frazier here.
Jackson's kick return is only out to the 19, though that probably doesn't bother the Pats a lot. Maroney breaks a couple of tackles on a screen and gains 7. Faulk gains 4. 1st-10, Maroney's stuffed for a loss. Wes Welker gets his first catch of the night, and it's third and a long one. Gaffney has the first down on an out pattern. 1-10 from the NE42. Brady (Tom)'s getting a lot of time to throw; he hits Brady (Kyle) now for 12. Maroney hits a nice hole on the right side for 7. Another handoff to Maroney for 5 or 6. Reverse, NOT an end-around, to Welker, who jukes his way for 13. Patriots have 1st-and-10 at the Jax21 as we reach the 2:00 warning. Faulk gains 3 left. Jax was blitzing there, but from the right. This is a HUGE defensive sequence for the Jagwires, with NE getting the ball back after halftime. Brady scrambles away from a sack but the Patriots are called for a chop block. It's 2nd-and-23 from the J34. Maroney bounces outside for a very significant 9 yards. 3rd-14. Brady goes short to Welker for about 7, and Jax uses a TO with 0:57 left. Gostkowski then BIFFS it from 35.
Jax gets it back at their 25, and they take forever for an 8-yard pass to Lewis and an incompletion over Northcutt's head. 3rd-and-2 with :26 left. Drew tries to bounce outside and gains nothing. What a disappointing, fouled-up possession by the Jags there. 3-and-out? NE takes a TO with :21 left and Jax punting. Welker weaves out to the 31 with the punt return, but NE has just 0:09 left.
Pats kneel on it to end the half, and I swear I heard home fans BOOING their SIXTEEN-AND-0 team at a home playoff game.
=======Patriots 14, Jagwires 14 at halftime=======
I love what both these teams are doing on offense and doubt either has to change a thing. What about defense? I'd like to see Jax bring more heat, and they were doing more blitzing at the end of the half; I'm looking for that to continue. The Pats ought to be thinking the same way. They're not doing a great job of getting to Garrard, and their secondary is getting its heads beaten in.
It is notable that Randy Moss had only one catch in the first half. Then again, I don't think Brady has an incomplete pass.
New England has a weakness; it's kickoff returns. This one again doesn't even get out to the 20. Brady steps up and hits Welker for 9.5. Maroney gets 2 and the 1st. Quick hitch to Welker for 2. Phil Simms is DEAD WRONG about Jax "not blitzing a single time in the first half". They were bringing the CB off the edge in the last 2:00. I do agree they blitzed very little. Shotgun draw to Maroney for 5. 3rd-3, well-drawn up play goes to Faulk for 8. He ran a short route into an area Gaffney had vacated with motion. Quick screen to Welker for 8. Brady is 16-for-16. Jax blitzed a couple of plays ago, and they show it again here, but Maroney busts a counter left open for 22.
SHORT kick to Drew, who returns it from the 10 to the 32. Taylor up the middle a couple of times for 7. HUGE 3rd-and-3 coming up. Who the hell dug up Matt Jones' career? Garrard hits him on a slant for 11 and a big, big 1st down. Taylor gets a couple up the middle. Garrard steps up and hits MATT JONES again, over the middle and burning Randall Gay for about 30. Jags at the NE20. False start - Pashos again - bumps them back to the 25. Taylor squirts through the line for 4. Jax calls a timeout and forces me to look at Eyebrow Guy again. Rodney Harrison blitzes, and the Patriots blow up the intended screen, but Vrabel, also blitzing, knocks down Garrard's wild pass attempt, or it would have been grounding or worse. Pats blitz again, but Garrard gets free and fires it to Dennis Northcutt at the goal line...... and he DROPS it because he's worried about getting hit by Assante Samuel. I'm going to boldly call that play the turning point of the game. Josh Scobee gets the consolation 3 to make it 21-17, but that drop by Northcutt was a game-breaker. And note New England's successful stop of the Jags because they BLITZED, like I was calling for at halftime.
You know, there's an art to writing commercials as cheesily bad as the Just For Men commercials are. I envy those writers. BTW, Lambeau Field today looked like Keith Hernandez' coffee table circa 1979.
Jackson returns the kick to the 24. Brady to Welker for 5. I think the Pats are trying to bore the Jags into submission with all these short passes. One of last week's Jag heroes, Derek Landri, screws up here with a late hit on Brady. Pats are out to their 45. Maroney hits it outside for 29 behind super blocks from Steven Neal and Randy Moss, legal this time. Maroney then hits them with 12 the other way, to the right. Simms is begging Jax to blitz. Word. Quick hitch to Welker for nothing. 2nd-10 from the J15. About 6 to Welker. Brady, with forever to throw AGAIN against ANOTHER vanilla rush, hits Watson in the middle of the end zone to put NE up 28-17. Watson's man slipped at the goal line. I have got to ask Del Rio what the hell is the danger of at least blitzing when the Pats are inside your 20? The danger of doing nothing, like you've been doing, is what you got - another Patriot TD. I'm not saying to go all Jim-Haslett on their asses, but at least pick your spot once!
Drew's return gets nowhere, and there's a penalty, so Jax will start from their 6, and the momentum of this game is all with New England. MoJo gains maybe 1. The third quarter runs out.
=======New England 28, Jacksonville 17 after 3=======
5 to Northcutt leaves 3rd and 5. Super leaping catch by Wil-ford gains 15, and a spearing penalty on Rodney WPOS Harrison adds 15 more. Garrard scrambles for 9 across midfield. Taylor bounces for 3. Play-action, and Garrard hits it deep again, to Reggie Williams for 25. His first catch. Blitzing WPOS flushes Garrard outside and he throws it away. 2nd-10 from the NE21. Drew bounces a draw outside and gets 3. On 3rd down, NE blitzes big, but Drew beats Seau and Ellis Hobbs outside for 8. 1st-and-goal from the 9. 2 tough yards for Drew. 2nd-goal, Garrard throws into triple coverage in the end zone and gets lucky WPOS Harrison doesn't pick it off. 3rd-and-goal. NE blitzes Vrabel, and Matt Jones can't come down with the fade pass over Gay. Would have been a very tough catch. Scobee chips it in from 25 to bring Jax within a score, 28-20.
Jackson gets driven FAR out of bounds at the 20, but there's no flag. Great, something for Bill Simmons to whine about. 9:39 left. A run BLITZ catches Maroney for a couple. Another Jag blitz blows up a screen, but Brady improvises, and Donte Stallworth never quit running upfield, while Rashean Mathis did, and it's good for a MONSTER gain of about 53 yards, which Nantz miscalculates as 48. Sure, now the blitz'll get blamed for that big play, but really it was A - superb play by Brady; B - sensational catch by Stallworth; C - negligence of duty by Mathis. Mathis letting Stallworth behind him deep wasn't the blitz's fault. Maroney hunts and pecks for 2 to the J24. Brady gets forever to throw again and spears a sliding Stallworth at the sideline for six. Good thing my keyboard doesn't lisp. Welker drops the 3rd-and-TWO, NOT 1, pass, forcing a FG attempt at 6:43. Gostkowski hits it, and New England has a 31-20 lead.
Jags are probably in hurry-up mode and could use a big kick return. Trickery in the form of a reverse on the return fails badly, though, and they're stuck at their 15. 12 to Drew, though, who nearly broke it for a lot more. Broken play ends up with Garrard getting taken down after a yard. Garrard stands up under heavy pressure and dumps it off to Drew for 4. 3rd-and-5, Vrabel flushes Garrard right, and the throw's off Northcutt's fingertips for force 4th down. The disorganized Jags take their second TO. 4th-and-5, Northcutt makes a super sideline catch for 8 and gets hit way out of bounds to tack on another 15. Great, Simmons'll be whining again. Oh, imagine that, a roughing penalty on worthless piece of shit Harrison. Jags are at the NE45. Thomas tips away a pass. 2nd-10. 4:30 left. Garrard, under major heat, weaves all over the field for a four-yard gain. Seau was blitzing there. 3rd-6. Lewis blows a catch over the middle to force 4th down. I guess 58 yards is out of Scobee's range, so the Jags will go for it again. And, the worthless piece of shit picks it off. Bad pass by Garrard; Matt Jones was blanketed by two defenders. The Pats will take over at their 31, and basically just need a first down to clinch it. Jags have only one TO.
Maroney stuffed for -1. 3 off left tackle. Jags let the clock run. At 2:38 left, Brady bizarrely calls a timeout. Call must have been a pass, and he saw something he didn't like. 3rd down, Brady throws a 1-yard hitch to Stallworth, and Mathis makes a TERRIBLE FREAKING tackle, and Stallworth goes right through him for the first down. Jags use their last timeout at 2:18. Pats should be able to fall on it twice and let the clock run out.
YES! THE CARDINALS ARE GETTING RID OF SCOTT ROLEN!
Sorry, back to the game. Pats made it 3rd-and-3 while I was celebrating the Rolen dump, er, trade. The Cards actually got Troy Glaus for him? Good luck, Toronto; enjoy Scott blowing routine ground balls at the worst possible moment, hitting into double plays and striking out with men on base. And enjoy the 80 games you might get out of him before he inevitably gets injured. The most overrated Cardinal, possibly ever, certainly of the last ten years.
Doesn't really matter; the Cards will be lucky to top 4th, even in the mediocre NL Central, in 2008.
My clock math was way off: Jax got the ball back at 0:22. Drew gains 12; why were they throwing up the middle there? You go through the effort to preserve the clock then call a dumb play up the middle?
New England's through to the AFC Championship, but if I'm them, I'm rooting for San Diego tomorrow. The way Jagwire receivers were getting open in their secondary, Peyton would throw for 400 against them. The Colts also figure in the Jagwires' future; for this fine young team to take the next step, they're going to have to add players who can help them beat the Colts. Their secondary's good, but they can always afford to get deeper. And their d-line is deep and has solid players, but they need an elite pass rusher. It'll be interesting to see how they develop.
Oh, yeah, Player of the Game. I'll have to be uncreative and pick Brady. Eye-popping stats: 26-for-28, and though 262 isn't a ton of yards, the 1st TD to Watson was a brilliant throw, the fake Statue of Liberty pass to Welker was, well, brilliant, and the long late bomb to Stallworth was, well, ok, another brilliant play. When they needed a big play, Brady made the difference.
Looking forward to more playoff action, and Scott Rolen's good-bye parade, tomorrow.
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