Green Bay wins the toss, made by referee Mike Carey, who seems like a good choice for a playoff game. Not as sure about Fox doing the game with Kenny Albert, Moose and Goose. Really? That's the #2 crew? Huh.
You know, I'm sick of "We're taking the ball, and we're going to score," and I'm not remotely a Seahawk fan. That's going to be like Buckner booting the grounder in '86 till Seattle wins one.
Seattle kicks short to avoid apparently-dangerous drunk Koren, and Green Bay will start from their 18. It'll take a while to get going because Josh Scobey has to be carted off. That'll hurt Seattle on special teams.
WOW. How Not To Start A Playoff Game 101. Ryan Grant bobbles the screen pass, Leroy Hill punches it out, Lofa Tatupu returns the loose ball to the 1. TD, Shaun Alexander with 14:40 left in the first quarter.
Huh, coin toss, Seattle took the ball, they scored. Karma?
Tramond Williams slips outside and gets to the 35 on the kick return. Packers go right back to Grant, who gains 8 off left tackle. Packers run the next play out of an unusual set, go to Grant up the middle, he gets to midfield AND FUMBLES AGAIN, and it's Seattle's ball. Fumble forced by Brian Russell. Grant is making Ahman Green look like Marshall Faulk right now.
Seattle from the GB 49. Barnett blatantly blasts Burleson to the ground for a 6-yard DPI. Matt hits Burleson for 7 on a mirror of that play. 2nd-3. Alexander up the middle for 4 and a 1st. Pass outside to Hackett for 6-7. Deon Branch went down on the play like he'd been shot. Seahawks are getting great turnover luck but terrible injury luck so far. He at least walks off. Alexander tries to cut back a stretch handoff but gains nothing. 3rd-3. Ben Obamanu is left WIDE OPEN in the Packer zone and gets down to the Packer 11. Play action TD to Bobby Engram, who makes a nice catch between 3 Packers. Packers want to challenge, but I'm pretty sure Engram was ruled out by contact. Looked like a fine call to me, and Seattle is off to a FINE start, 14-to-0. Best news for Green Bay is there's still 55 minutes left to catch up, assuming Ryan Grant wants to stop handing Seattle the ball.
Williams returns across the 30, as Seattle continues to avoid Koren Robinson like MADD. Play action pass to Jennings for 14. From the 45, Grant gains 3, outside right, and WITHOUT FUMBLING! Snow starting to come down heavily at Lambeau. Favre scrambles right, has no one open, Hill hauls him down for no gain. 3rd-and-7, Seattle blitzes, probably unnecessarily, and Favre finds James Jones on a drag behind the MLB for a 31-yard gain. Seattle SCREWED themselves with the blitz there. Play-action, roll right pass to Donald Lee, who should have gotten credit for a 9-yard catch but only got 5. No matter, from the Sea15, Favre lobs one up for Jennings, who could have gotten an OPI but gets free of Jennings for a TD catch. That's Greg scoring on Kelly. Crosby PAT makes it 14-7. That blitz call by Seattle was really stupid; it put Green Bay right back in the game.
Seattle fans have got to love Fox playing Green Bay's TD song on the way to commercial.
The "frozen tundra" is now covered with a thin coat of snow. Burleson gingerly returns the kickoff to the 31. 1st down, Burleson's covered tightly by Hawk, pass incomplete. 2nd down, Hasselbeck and Engram were not on the same page; Engram pulled up, Matt threw downfield. 3rd-10. Hasselbeck frantically scrambles around trying to call an audible. The Seattle center moved at least twice but Green Bay got called for offside. 3rd-5, Cullen Jenkins stunted left around great surge from the DTs and dropped Hasselbeck for the sack. Pass, pass, sack... NOT the possession Seattle needed there. It's like they're doing everything they can to make sure the Packers still have hope. Hell, Green Bay may tie this thing up before the first quarter ends.
Packers from their 36. Quick hitch to Driver for 3. Peterson blitz forces a quick pass on 2nd, which soaps through Jennings' hands and should have been picked off by Babineaux. Timeout GB on 3rd-and-7. Bubble screen to Bubba Franks is stopped nicely by Hill and Tatupu, but Franks makes a sweet play to extend it across the line. Whether or not the yellow line is official, MOOSE, the spot of the ball is off by a good two feet. They spotted it like Franks never extended his arm. Green Bay does challenge the spot, at Favre's behest. Carey reviews and calls for a re-spot. They replace it almost exactly correctly - on the inside corner of the first "F" in "PLAYOFFS" - and Green Bay gets the 1st down by a nose. Grant for 7 off left tackle and into Seattle territory. Quick slant to Jennings for 5. 1st-10 at the Sea42. Grant pops up the middle behind a solid block from Franks, breaks a tackle upfield and gains 26. From the 16, he pops outside, hurdles Marcus Trufant and rolls down to the 2. 1st-and-goal, Hill SLAMS Grant for no gain. But on 2nd-goal, they switch directions and run left, and Grant goes in standing up. So they fall behind 14-0 and tie it back up before the first quarter even ends.
14-14, and Seattle better think about running the ball some their next possession. Burleson brings the kick out just to the 24. Seattle does start with a run, but Maurice Morris can only get 1 up the middle. Holding on Sims pulls back a Morris 7-yard run. 2nd-19 as the first quarter expires.
Who'd have thunk the Seahawks could take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, and the quarter would still be a disaster for them?
======= Green Bay 14, Seattle 14 after 1 =======
Seahawks open the 2nd disastrously, a play-action screen to the rarely-used Marcus Pollard, who fumbles after a big hit from Atari Bigby. Packers take over inside the Seattle 20. Favre screens to Grant, who runs down to the 6. Grant is playing like his life is on the line after those two fumbles; good for him. First and goal. Grant off left tackle, out of that weird double-fullback formation, down to the 3. That formation needs a name but I don't have one. Seattle calls a timeout, possibly to try to slow Green Bay's momentum. Packers come out in a 4-WR set, Jennings is slot right, runs a fade to the right corner, and you know it's a TD as soon as Favre lays up the pretty pass.
21-14, Packers. Amazing response by them to the early adversity. Will Seattle now realize there's about 45 minutes left, still plenty of time? Or are they shell-shocked?
The snow is making the yard lines and numbers hard to see. Burleson returns the kick to the 27. They wouldn't mind some good play from Alexander, but he gets stuffed on 1st down. Seattle beats a 4-man rush on 2nd down and Matt hits Engram for 7. Engram gets CLOCKED at the end by Bigby. The snap on 3rd down is poor and Hasselbeck comes up just short of a 1st. 123-kick, NOT what they needed. A stupid Packer (Brandon Jackson) runs into Plackemeier on the punt, though, and while he tries for the Emmy acting hurt, Seattle will get the ball back. That was roughing, btw, and puts Seattle in Green Bay territory. Plackemeier wins the Emmy. Bubble screen to Alexander gains 3 to the GB44. Burleson breaks two tackles after a sideline catch to gain 23. Albert, who's usually lousy at spotting the yard line on a clear day, seems to be nailing his spots now that the field's snow-covered. Bigby breaks up a long pass for Pollard beautifully, but Engram picks up 12 with a quick hitch on 2nd down. 1st and 10 at the 13. Alexander spins at the end of a sweep right to gain 4. Idiot Moose says he's running well today. I think he may have 6 yards on 5 rushes. And he loses a yard the next play. Hackett hears Bigby coming on 3rd down and drops a pass at the first-down line. Bigby's the defensive player of the game so far, but Josh Brown strokes a 29-yarder to pull Seattle within 21-17.
Charo's doing Cadillac commercials?
Williams returns to the 30 as my TiVo wigs out, freezing with an image of Goose mid-screen puckering up. I just threw up in my mouth a little. Grant sweeps left for 7 and gains the first in the meantime. Jennings is open on a quick hook but drops the pass. 2nd-10. Grant over left tackle for 3. Jennings makes a sliding catch at the Seattle 45 for a 1st. Nice play. Again in the double-fullback alignment, GB runs Jackson up the middle 7. Quick hitch to Driver, who breaks a tackle and gains 11. 1st down from the Sea 27. The Rams NEVER have anyone that open on quick hitches. Four more on another quickie to Driver. Favre, in shotgun, pulls the ball down to dodge a Peterson blitz and throws it away into the endzone. Sure looked like Driver was held up. 3rd-6, Seattle rushes 4, Favre has plenty of time and hits Jones on a cross; he runs for 8 and a first. GB has first down at the Seattle 16 at the 2:00 warning.
I now have picture on the TiVo but no sound. Grant gains a couple as the Packers decide to burn a little clock. 2nd down pass is out of Jennings' reach at 1:19. Huge play here for Seattle.
OMG, Vintage Freaking Favre. He somehow spins out of a sack, stumbles to his right and pitches it underhand to Lee for the first down. Grant plunges in for the TD the next play, and as far as I'm concerned, this game is over. Brett just Favred them. 28-17 with 0:26 in the half.
Looks like DirecTV has lost all the St. Louis channels. Good thing the US government's allowing me to get by with rabbit ears for another year or so.
VERY short kick is fielded by Josh Wilson, who tries to reverse field but loses five-plus yards. You just KNOW that would have been returned for a TD against the Rams. Seattle falls on it to end the half. They opened with a 14-0 lead, and it has been nothing but a disaster for them ever since.
======= Green Bay 28 Seattle 17 at the half =======
Seattle's got to try to get the Packer running game under control in the 2nd half. Grant's running all over them and opening up the rest of the Packer offense. 91 yards, 2 TDs. They're in big trouble on offense, because they wouldn't be running well if it were a clear day outside, and their passing game isn't going to run very smoothly in the snow. But they're going to have to try to stretch the field if they can.
The weather has effectively neutralized Burleson, whose return to start the 3rd is only out to the 24. Quick slant pass is behind Engram and hits Woodson in the face mask. 2nd down. Woodson should have gotten the illegal contact, as Matt is complaining. He grabbed Engram's facemask. Another quick pass is only good for 3 thanks to a good open-field tackle. Hasselbeck steps out of trouble on 3rd down and goes deep for Burleson, but Al Harris knocks the jump ball away from him. 123-kick, again, NOT what Seattle needed. Williams gets schmeared at the 34 on the punt return.
Grant off left tackle for 6, to the 40. Off right tackle, Seattle finally shuts down a run, forcing 3rd-and-5. Under pressure from Peterson, Favre forces one down the sideline to Jennings for 23. From the Sea37, Grant gets a HUGE hole on counter left and advances it inside the Seahawk 15. Seattle shuts down a sweep left on 1st-10. Next play is just a little dumpoff to Brandon Jackson, but Hill loses him, misses a tackle, and this one is OVER, 35-17. Seattle's defense can't stop anything the Packers want to do right now.
Remember when the GSOE Rams used to get derided as being a "finesse team"? That's EXACTLY Seattle's problem today. When they're on defense, the Packers are just running it down their throats; their offense can't respond in kind, and they're getting outhit all over the field.
Burleson tries to weave across the field with the kickoff return but only gets out to the 21. Alexander busts up the middle for 6. That's what Seattle needs. Drop by Weaver on a circle route, 3rd-4. Hasselbeck hits Hackett for a first down and then hits Obamanu deep over the middle for 23. TWO holding penalties on Green Bay are turned down on that play. Screen to Burleson for 3, to the GB41. No, holding call on Engram pushes it back. First and 18. Draw to Alexander goes nowhere, but he gains 8 over the middle on a short pass to set up a 3rd-and-10. Seattle goes 5-wide, Green Bay rushes 3, Matt steps up and hits Engram for 19. Alexander gets 3 off right tackle to get inside the 20. The snow is coming down REALLY heavy now. Penalty on Green Bay for 12 men on the field. 1st-5 from the 17, Hasselbeck to Obamanu for 4. 3 up the middle for Weaver to set 1st-and-10 from just outside the 10. Morris gets stuffed for -2 in the middle. Pollard drops a very likely TD pass in the corner after Hasselbeck does a good job getting out of trouble. Short pass to Burleson doesn't gain much, and Seattle settles for a 27-yard FG from Brown. 35-20 Green Bay. 2nd time Seattle has had to settle for a FG thanks to a dropped pass.
Williams breaks a tackle and returns the kick to the 40? Hell if I know, if Albert won't say. The snow has intensified to the point where you can barely see the Seahawks in their mostly white uniforms.
THIS. IS. FOOTBALL.
Packers from their 35. Fox has had to go to sideline cameras because the snow is coming down so hard. Goose hilariously has some kind of dead animal on his head to keep it warm. No, I'm serious, a dead animal. A Jennings catch and a Grant run get us to 3rd-and-4, and Grant is almost gone on 3rd down, steaming around the left corner with no Seahawk there to great him. Only a diving tackle by Babineaux saves a TD on the 41-yard run up the sideline. Jackson breaks a bunch of tackles for 10 and Green Bay is inside the 5 as the third quarter ends.
=======Green Bay 35, Seattle 20 after 3=======
Seahawks stuff Grant off left tackle on 1st down. Favre's pass on 2nd down is incomplete, but Hill gets called for roughing him on a play where he wasn't even knocked to the ground. Sure, the hit was late, because Hill put his head down and didn't look to see if Favre threw it, but come on. Grant's in in a couple of tries to put this one away at 42-20. Seattle's not scoring three TDs in this mess.
I hate snow, but I sure like watching football games played in it. Instead of moving any more regular season games to Europe, let's move a few a year to Alaska.
Seattle's 3-and-out after Williams makes a nice pass deflection 1-on-1 against Engram up the sideline on 3rd-and-2.
I guess it's OK to call that double-fullback formation a "T", though that's not the way a T formation traditionally sets up. Grant cuts back for a 20+yard gain; nearly broke it all the way. They only gain five yards on 3 rushes after that run, and punt.
That was the first drive Green Bay didn't score on since the first quarter. The punt was their first of the day. Seattle crossed midfield on a 20-yarder to Obamanu up the sideline and a questionable 15-yard (s/h/b 5) facemask on Green Bay, but Pollard lets ANOTHER pass go through his hands on 4th-and-10 to turn the ball back over to the Packers.
Green Bay runs twice and punts after an incomplete sideline bomb. Seattle takes over at their 20.
5:26 left. Jenkins and KGB smoke Hasselbeck for a huge loss. KGB stuffs the run on 2nd-22. Now it's 3rd-and-25. Um, Not. Where. Seattle. Wanted. To Be. Quick slant to Engram for 10, and Seattle might as well go for it, even from here, but they're punting. There's no next week, fellas.
This game has been over ever since Seattle blitzed on that 3rd-and-7 in the 1st quarter and James Jones got loose for 31. Green Bay went on to score and cut the Seattle lead to 14-7 and pretty much showed that they were only going to stop themselves today; Seattle wasn't going to do it.
While acknowledging Favre, Greg Jennings, and Atari Bigby's contributions, and the great run blocking of the Packer offensive line, Player of the Game goes to Ryan Grant, who ran for over 200 yards and scored 3 TDs, after fumbling twice to give Seattle their two TDs.
As for the Seahawks, they've got enough to win the pathetically weak NFC West, but they're clearly not built to be a championship team. They've got to improve up the middle on the lines and they've got to get an RB who can power run when they need it. If that team's smart, they'll remake their running game in the offseason, and if the rest of the league is unlucky, somebody like Kevin Smith slips to them in the first round of this year's draft, and we're all looking up at Seattle again next year and beyond.
Final score: Packers 42, Seahawks 20
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
The Art Vandelay Era begins
Apparently, there's nothing wrong with the Rams coaching staff that can't be fixed by hiring on MORE Scott Linehan cronies. The St. Louis Rams welcome Art Vandelay, ER, Valero, hired apparently on the strength of having worked on the Louisville staff with Linehan from 1999-2001 as offensive line coach. You know, that legendary Louisville program that went 1-1 in Liberty Bowls with Linehan at OC.
I crunched some numbers from the UofL football website: though quite subject to error, my findings were that Louisville gave up a sack every 16 pass attempts and averaged a sack-adjusted 4.52 yards a rush under Linehan and Vandelay. You'd take 4.5 a rush in the pros any day; the rough average is 4.0. A sack per 16 attempts is pretty average in the NFL, though Marc Bulger will take it; he was dropped once every 11 dropbacks last year. Of course, how well college numbers translate to the pros in the first place is a whole other issue.
Also subject to error, going through NFL draft history at nfl.com, (what happened to the awesome drafthistory.com site? Is it dead?), I found no Louisville offensive linemen coached by Vandelay who were drafted, and only found two linemen he's ever coached who were drafted. (Karl Nelson and Bruce Reimers at Iowa State, where he coached in 1983.)
So, let's say you're Scott Linehan, browsing monster.com for offensive line coach candidates. Do you go after Mike Solari, whose Chiefs line was one of the top two or three of this decade? Do you go after Hudson Houck, an offensive line coaching legend who coached Hall-of-Famers at USC? Who built the dominant Rams offensive line of the 80s and the dominant Cowboys offensive line of the 90s?
Or do you hire a coach who's never coached offensive line in the pros, never really developed a pro lineman prospect in college, and hasn't coached offensive line at any level in six years?
Sigh. From his resume (which probably won't be at buccaneers.com much longer), Art Vandelay sounds like he'd be a fine tight ends and fullbacks coach, and God knows the Rams need help in those areas. But he's here to coach offensive line, despite an overwhelming lack of evidence he'd be any improvement over the unjustifiably-fired Paul Boudreau. His main qualification? FOSL.
I'd just as soon he stick to imports and exports myself.
I crunched some numbers from the UofL football website: though quite subject to error, my findings were that Louisville gave up a sack every 16 pass attempts and averaged a sack-adjusted 4.52 yards a rush under Linehan and Vandelay. You'd take 4.5 a rush in the pros any day; the rough average is 4.0. A sack per 16 attempts is pretty average in the NFL, though Marc Bulger will take it; he was dropped once every 11 dropbacks last year. Of course, how well college numbers translate to the pros in the first place is a whole other issue.
Also subject to error, going through NFL draft history at nfl.com, (what happened to the awesome drafthistory.com site? Is it dead?), I found no Louisville offensive linemen coached by Vandelay who were drafted, and only found two linemen he's ever coached who were drafted. (Karl Nelson and Bruce Reimers at Iowa State, where he coached in 1983.)
So, let's say you're Scott Linehan, browsing monster.com for offensive line coach candidates. Do you go after Mike Solari, whose Chiefs line was one of the top two or three of this decade? Do you go after Hudson Houck, an offensive line coaching legend who coached Hall-of-Famers at USC? Who built the dominant Rams offensive line of the 80s and the dominant Cowboys offensive line of the 90s?
Or do you hire a coach who's never coached offensive line in the pros, never really developed a pro lineman prospect in college, and hasn't coached offensive line at any level in six years?
Sigh. From his resume (which probably won't be at buccaneers.com much longer), Art Vandelay sounds like he'd be a fine tight ends and fullbacks coach, and God knows the Rams need help in those areas. But he's here to coach offensive line, despite an overwhelming lack of evidence he'd be any improvement over the unjustifiably-fired Paul Boudreau. His main qualification? FOSL.
I'd just as soon he stick to imports and exports myself.
Not so fast on McFadden
Some reasons to be against the Rams drafting Arkansas RB Darren McFadden #2 overall (other than the obvious, i.e. holes everywhere on the roster except RB, where the Rams HAVE a Pro Bowl-quality player in Steven Jackson):
He's no Adrian Peterson (Brian Baldinger for Sporting News);
and the guy likes his bar fights. (AP) Don't miss the part at the end of the article that mentions he "severely injured his toe" in a bar fight last year.
There's who the Rams need to draft: a knucklehead who plays one of the few positions the team doesn't need.
Then again, he'd fit in great with Byrd and Wroten.
He's no Adrian Peterson (Brian Baldinger for Sporting News);
and the guy likes his bar fights. (AP) Don't miss the part at the end of the article that mentions he "severely injured his toe" in a bar fight last year.
There's who the Rams need to draft: a knucklehead who plays one of the few positions the team doesn't need.
Then again, he'd fit in great with Byrd and Wroten.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Mike Martz to 49ers and the impending doom
The Rams are going to be in last place in the NFC West for a very, very long time. They've lost six in a row to Seattle. They've lost 3-of-4 to the Big Dead, who appear to be a team on the rise on both sides of the ball under Ken Whisenhunt. They do not have the pass rush to threaten an offense like Seattle's, and they do not have the DBs of size to slow down the big Arizona WRs, and haven't done that much to accomplish those objectives.
Now, Mike Martz has been picked by the 49ers to turn around their moribund offense. Let me pull out some of my remarks from the Rams' 41-34 win over Martz's Lion offense in 2006. Bear in mind this was week 4 and Martz hadn't been with the Lions all that long.
"Martz just about kicked Jim Haslett's ass up and down the field."
"Mike Martz [came] back and coach[ed] like a genius again."
"If Mike Martz ever becomes a head coach again, please let it be an NCAA or CFL. I never want to see these guys attempt to defend his offense ever again."
In that game, Jon Kitna threw for 280, Roy Williams had 9 catches for 139, and of course, Mike Freaking Furrey had 8 catches for 82 and 2 TDs. The only saving graces for the Rams were Kitna's 3 turnovers and that Detroit's D was even worse than the Rams' was.
And now the Rams will face Martz twice a year? Think he'll be fired up about either of those games? He was always fired up about the Ram-49er rivalry anyway; now you add the revenge factor? The 49ers have held the Rams to 20 points or less the last FIVE meetings, anybody think that'll be near enough with Martz running the 49er O? The only good news out of this is that the Rams don't have to worry about Vernon Davis any more. Martz has a great gift for making TEs useless.
Nonetheless, it really looks like the Rams are going to top 2006's 2-4 and 2007's 1-5 by going 0-6 in the NFC West in 2008.
Hey, maybe that means Mike Martz will help get rid of Linehan!
Now, Mike Martz has been picked by the 49ers to turn around their moribund offense. Let me pull out some of my remarks from the Rams' 41-34 win over Martz's Lion offense in 2006. Bear in mind this was week 4 and Martz hadn't been with the Lions all that long.
"Martz just about kicked Jim Haslett's ass up and down the field."
"Mike Martz [came] back and coach[ed] like a genius again."
"If Mike Martz ever becomes a head coach again, please let it be an NCAA or CFL. I never want to see these guys attempt to defend his offense ever again."
In that game, Jon Kitna threw for 280, Roy Williams had 9 catches for 139, and of course, Mike Freaking Furrey had 8 catches for 82 and 2 TDs. The only saving graces for the Rams were Kitna's 3 turnovers and that Detroit's D was even worse than the Rams' was.
And now the Rams will face Martz twice a year? Think he'll be fired up about either of those games? He was always fired up about the Ram-49er rivalry anyway; now you add the revenge factor? The 49ers have held the Rams to 20 points or less the last FIVE meetings, anybody think that'll be near enough with Martz running the 49er O? The only good news out of this is that the Rams don't have to worry about Vernon Davis any more. Martz has a great gift for making TEs useless.
Nonetheless, it really looks like the Rams are going to top 2006's 2-4 and 2007's 1-5 by going 0-6 in the NFC West in 2008.
Hey, maybe that means Mike Martz will help get rid of Linehan!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Good move, awful move
After getting to watch good football all weekend, it's back to bad football with some Rams news.
Reports are that erstwhile OC Greg Olson has been let go. That's an overdue move, although I thought Scott Linehan actually took over the playcalling very early this season and don't recall any report that he'd given Olson any of the reins back.
So there's a scapegoat firing.
The other coach being cut loose? You'd think it'd be the special teams coach, but no, it's one of the team's few genuinely good unit coaches, offensive line coach Paul Boudreau.
Let me get this right. Linehan gets a pass as head coach because there were so many injuries on the offensive line, but that same condition doesn't grant forgiveness to an offensive line coach who did a superb job last year, and has proven himself in the NFL at his position?
That is a stupid, stupid move. Just what this organization needs; a mediocre-at-best head coach consolidating his power by getting rid of a very good assistant coach.
It's widely assumed the Rams are going to go after Cam Cameron, freshly fired as Dolphin HC, as their new OC. I'll have to study up on that idea, but I have NO ENTHUSIASM WHATSOEVER for that move based on how Cameron ran things in Miami this year. He and his offense were a total joke from day one, though he'll have better talent here in St. Louis.
How about the notion that the Rams bring in Cameron and ex-Dolphin line coach Hudson Houck to fill the new staff openings? Can Linehan look outside Miami for ANY acquisition for this team? Are the Rams really going to attempt to improve by raiding the former staff of the only team worse than them this past year?
Oy.
Reports are that erstwhile OC Greg Olson has been let go. That's an overdue move, although I thought Scott Linehan actually took over the playcalling very early this season and don't recall any report that he'd given Olson any of the reins back.
So there's a scapegoat firing.
The other coach being cut loose? You'd think it'd be the special teams coach, but no, it's one of the team's few genuinely good unit coaches, offensive line coach Paul Boudreau.
Let me get this right. Linehan gets a pass as head coach because there were so many injuries on the offensive line, but that same condition doesn't grant forgiveness to an offensive line coach who did a superb job last year, and has proven himself in the NFL at his position?
That is a stupid, stupid move. Just what this organization needs; a mediocre-at-best head coach consolidating his power by getting rid of a very good assistant coach.
It's widely assumed the Rams are going to go after Cam Cameron, freshly fired as Dolphin HC, as their new OC. I'll have to study up on that idea, but I have NO ENTHUSIASM WHATSOEVER for that move based on how Cameron ran things in Miami this year. He and his offense were a total joke from day one, though he'll have better talent here in St. Louis.
How about the notion that the Rams bring in Cameron and ex-Dolphin line coach Hudson Houck to fill the new staff openings? Can Linehan look outside Miami for ANY acquisition for this team? Are the Rams really going to attempt to improve by raiding the former staff of the only team worse than them this past year?
Oy.
AFC Wild Card Playoff: Chargers 17, Titans 6
I'll start by admitting no team pissed me off more this year than the San Diego Chargers. Not even the Rams, though that became more of a shell-shock thing. Philip Rivers single-handedly KILLED my FFL team. I took Clinton Portis, a nice player this year, but I took him over Tom Brady because my genius plan was to take Rivers 3-4 rounds later. Rivers SUCKED ASS almost every week, and I kept starting him instead of picking up David Garrard, who finally got me the consolation championship, because I kept telling myself Rivers was due for a big week. Like the week he threw for like 100 yards at Minnesota, the league's WORST pass defense, while the Charger D gave up a billion yards to Adrian Peterson and got me knocked out of the survivor pool the week I was afraid to go with Tampa at home over the Big Dead.
I. Hate. The. F@cking. Chargers. Nothing would make me superficially happier than to see them go down in flames in the playoffs yet again. Scratch that. The Patriots losing would make me happier, but not actually by that much more.
Let's see how it goes; Tennessee's always been well-coached under Jeff Fisher (who's outlasted Dick Vermeil, Mike Martz and will probably outlast Scott Linehan), but their work's cut out for them today.
CBS is showing all these great games Rivers had? When the hell were they? The guy sucked eggs for 13 weeks; he's going to take them anywhere now?
It is raining in San Diego - I wonder if that's any kind of sign. Chris Henry returns the kick for Tennessee out to the 27. Tennessee opens the game with a quick WR screen behind a bizarre line overshift, but the WR drops the pass. Another drop by Gage on 2nd down, or broken up by Antonio Cromartie. The fullback then gains 16 on a screen. Lendale White gains 3 or 4. San Diego hasn't liked taking on very physical backs in the past. Titans could exploit that today. They are so far. Big hole for White for 5. 3rd-and-1 near midfield, Vince Young has to call Tennessee's first TO. The Titans then huddle up with 12 and get a penalty for 3rd-and-6. Young wheels left and scrambles for 8 and the first down anyway. Young rolls right this time and hits Gage for 20. San Diego's leaving receivers wide open on the sideline, which gets Tennessee inside the Charger 20, but they've now got 3rd-and-7. Titans can't get anyone open, and Vince has to ditch it to avoid the sack. Bironas chips it in from 30 to give Tennessee the early lead. A 6:00 FG drive isn't a terrible way to start.
Quick word on Antonio Cromartie. With 50-50 hindsight, he's the DB the Rams should have picked in the first round of the 2006 draft. He's the big, physical, playmaking CB the Rams clearly lack against teams with huge WRs like Arizona.
But that's not to say Tye Hill was a poor pick, which is what a lot of people are saying. Hill has done a fine job and is the Rams' best cover back at times. As Bernie Miklasz points out today, the percentage of the time he does get beat is actually quite good, expecially for a young back. And the Ram defense was so awful going into 2006 they could hardly afford to take a chance on Cromartie's recovery from a torn ACL, though I imagine between him and Willis McGahee, the league's collective attitude toward drafting some injured players is going to change.
Hill was a good pick; Cromartie just would have been better, and would have solved an area the Rams are pathetically weak at now.
Anyway, 3-0, Titans. Sproles returns to the 27. LT for 1 or 2. Titans blitz Rivers, who fumbles the ball but it's recovered by LT. Good rush by TN again forces a useless 5-yard dumpoff.
Bwa-ha-ha, go, Titans! TN will take over at their 35. Chris Brown up the middle for 3. Young gets plenty of time to throw but gets taken down by Cesaire on 2nd down. 3rd-9, big blitz on Vince forces a throwaway. Young is down and looks like he's been in a car wreck. Sproles fair catches the punt at the 23.
Quick hitch to Chambers for 5. Comes back due to a chop block, though; SD will have 1st-and-21. LT for 3. This is awesome for Tennessee; make Rivers beat you. 2nd-18, overthrown for Gates at the sidelines. Dumpoff to MANU for 9. I think this game is going exactly how Tennessee wants. Punt's returned to the 30.
Powerful run by White for 8. They only give him 1 on 2nd down. White bounces off his own blocker and stumbles up the middle for 4. Vince hits Troupe off play-action for 13. They're at the SD 45. 2 more for White. Tennessee has had the ball almost the whole first quarter. 1:00 left. White up the middle and WOW, he drives a whole pile for almost 8. Third and very short again. Fullback Hall takes the carry for 3 as the first quarter ends.
Wow, Brady Quinn's got more commercials than career pass attempts. How stupid is that?
From the Charger 34, Brown ignores a big hole and bangs down to the 30. 5 more for Brown. On 3rd-and-1, White busts out for 13 down to the 12. Titan o-line is dominating the LOS. Short gain for White this time. See, San Diego loves to come after your QB, but hit them in the mouth in the running game and they shrink up like George Costanza. Aw, crap. Super play by Merriman to pop the ball out of Brown's hand and force a fumble I believe is recovered by Shawn Philips. HUGE play for San Diego.
Chargers from their 9. They try to sweep LT left, but the Titans string it out for a 3-yard loss. Off a short drop, Rivers hits Chambers for 7. 3rd-6. Square out to Gates, and he takes it up the sideline for 16. LT gains 2. Play-action and a nice pass over the middle to Chambers for 30. Great run support by Michael Griffin again stuffs an attempted LT sweep for a loss. 2nd-13, Rivers throws it away with nobody open. They try a sideline bomb to Vincent Jackson but he can't bring it down. Another punt for San Diego; Titans will take over at their 12.
Funny thing about the Charger offense here; Rivers is actually doing a decent job - it's LT and the running game that have been all but complete crap. I don't think LT even has positive yardage at this point.
Today's referee is Ed Hochuli, who's average enough that he probably looks great in the NFL's eyes.
White gains a couple. They screen to him on 2nd down, but he falls down and takes a big loss. 3rd-12. Davis can't handle a tough sideline pass and Tennessee will punt. Sproles catches the punt over his shoulder at the 48 and brings it to the TN 43.
Though they've just picked up a big advantage in the field position game, the Chargers stupidly go for the whole enchilada on 1st down, and early POTG candidate Cortland Finnegan picks it off in the end zone, covering Chambers 1-on-1. Nice call, NORV.
What's Rivers pissed off about? That he sucks?
Tennessee starts from their 20 with an incomplete and a 2-yard White run. Vince wings it long on 3rd down but it goes off the hands of a falling Gage, who was shoved to the ground by Cromartie without a call. That was NOT incidental contact. But Tennessee's punting. Hentrich only gets it to the SD 45.
Again, proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy in the form of the Charger cheerleaders.
LT gets a hole this time but still only gains 3. Another false start for the Chargers, who I'll remind everyone is the HOME team. 2nd-long, Rivers barely avoids a sack and almost gets his dump pass picked off. 3rd-12, Jackson's WIDE open and gets the Chargers down to the 36. HUGE hole in the Titan zone that time. But they shut down LT for no gain. 7 carries, 6 yards. Dumb short rollout pass to Gates not only loses yardage, Gates gets hurt. His left foot got bent back and is apparently broken; they're bringing out the cart. Lord help the Chargers if MANU has to carry their passing offense. Gates rides out on the cart, and I hate to be crass, but Tennessee couldn't have dreamed the game would be going this well for them 3:00 before halftime. Griffin saves a TD by knocking down an end zone pass for Chambers, and Nate Kaeding's 45-yard FG attempt is MISERABLE and barely even gets off the ground. More playoff non-magic from Kaeding.
Tennessee from their 35. White gains 4, but gets little or nothing on 2nd down. Clock runs down to 2:00. Nice throw by Vince on 3rd-5 to someone named Byron Ely? at the 50. Big hole on the left for Brown, who CRASHES off one of his WRs for 10, but a hold on Troupe drags it back. 1st-20. Vince scrambles for about 3. Both teams let the clock run. This is dumb on San Diego's part; they have Tennessee where they want them right now. 10 to Moulds on the sidelines and the clock stops anyway. Here's Ely again, with a 1st down at the 38. 2 catches today when he had 1 all season. Moulds gets out of bounds after gaining 6. 5 to Troupe for another 1st. Young spikes at 0:15. Titans have been picking up the Charger blitz without much trouble. Handoff to White for 4 sets up Bironas for a 45-yard attempt with :03 left. He strokes it, and Tennessee leads 6-0 at halftime as the Chargers get BOOED off the field by their fans at a home playoff game.
Just about a perfect first half for Tennessee. The Chargers have got to play stronger run defense in the 2nd half and force Young into more predictable passing situations. And it's pathetic that Tomlinson has like six yards rushing in the first half. Tennessee owns this game in the trenches. Hilariously to me as a Charger-hater, they're going to have to rely on Rivers and come out firing after halftime to get things loosened up for LT. It's possible, but lotsa luck with that, Norv.
What have we learned coming out of halftime? Jim Nantz and Phil Simms have the worst hair of any broadcast crew, and San Diego's first half highlights were clearly from their cheerleaders.
Illegal block will start San Diego in a hole. LT gains 4, then nothing, and the Charger crowd is nothing if not restless. 3rd-6 from the 16. Rivers emerges from a collapsed pocket and drills one to Chambers for 19. Huge play by Rivers. After a Titan injury timeout, LT dances around for 1. Rivers is hit as he throws for a 2nd-down incomplete. 3rd-9, Jackson is WIDE OPEN down the sideline for a big gain. Worse yet for Tennessee, Griffin is injured on the tackle. 34-yard gain for Jackson. San Diego's around the Titan 30. Pitch to LT looks good at first but Tennessee is quick to get back and Finnegan shuts it down for no gain. Rivers hits Chambers on the sideline for 19. 1-10 from the T11. 7 to Chambers, but LT is SHUT DOWN AGAIN at the 4. 3rd-and-3. Norv wants a time out, because it looks like a play never came in. Quick pass to Jackson gains only a couple; it looked like LT was all alone in the flat, but the play wasn't designed to go that way. Norv settles for a FG, much to the home crowd's disgust. 6-3, Tennessee.
Henry brings the kick back to the 24. Play-action rollout to Davis at the sideline for 4. White up the middle for 4 more. 3rd-2, Young quickly guns it to Ben Hartsock(!) for 4. Charger rush is just not getting there. White gets about 5 over left tackle. Charger blitz is right on this time, meeting Henry in the hole for a loss on 2nd down. 3rd-and-6. Young and his WR aren't on the same page and a long pass is incomplete. Sproles only gets 2 on the punt return out to the 21.
Boy, the Titans have no answer for Vincent Jackson today, who Rivers hits for 20. From the 41, swing pass to LT, his FIRST reception, gains about 5. That play's long overdue. Big hole left for LT but Tulloch drags him down after 2 yards. 3rd-3. LT gets a quick pass and breaks Griffin's tackle for a first down. Important play. 1-10 at the T48. Michael Turner up the middle for 3. What, LT's tired out after gaining a whole 10 yards? Now Albert Haynesworth makes a FREAKING STUPID PLAY. He jumps offside and knocks Rivers on his ass, a blatant roughing penalty. What a damn idiot. Chargers are now at the Titan 29. LT up the middle for 4. On play action, Rivers gets all day, rolls right and finds the apparently unstoppable Jackson at the 3. He embarrasses the overrunning DB with a quick cut and dives into the end zone.
San Diego leads, 10-6. Rivers is winning the game for them with his arm.
Rest assured I'd be losing a lot of money on a day where Philip Rivers and Eli Manning are the reasons their respective teams are winning playoff games. Days like today are exactly why gambling shouldn't be legal.
Tennesse starts from their 26 with 2:30 left in the 3rd. Troupe makes a pretty catch up the sideline at midfield. Chris Davis gets DRILLED by Jammer on an end around, but not until he gains 11. Tenn at the SD 37. 5 to Hartsock. White plows left and is about a yard short. Crazy run by the fullback Hall. He's extremely tentative with the handoff and looks like he's going to lose 2. Then he spins and bounces off a tackle and stumbles around the right edge for 11. First down, Titans, inside the SD 20 as we start the 4th quarter.
Phillips EATS UP a slow developing run for White for -3. Poor pass by Young on 2nd down should have been picked off by Hart. 3rd-13. Pass is short and behind Hall in the flat, and he never would have gotten a 1st down anyway. On comes Bironas. The best kicker in the league hooks it left, and San Diego holds their 4-point lead.
Chargers from their 28; LT gains 1. Great run D by Tennessee today, but they're getting killed by Jackson. Now finally, LT breaks loose, for 11 off the right side. LT runs right for 5. Long ball for Chambers is nowhere close; Titans had it covered. 3rd-5, a Titan safety gets faked out in the flat by MANU, who gains 7. San Diego's already across midfield. THROWING AGAIN, pass is way high and out of bounds. How 'bout chewing a little clock, Chargers? Three straight passes after LT had run twice for 16 yards. And now here's another pass, incomplete for Jackson in the face of heavy pressure. 3rd-and-10. With ALL DAY to throw, Rivers finds Chambers ALL ALONE for a pass inside the 10. Second HUGE leak the Titan zone has sprung today, and as a result, the Chargers may have this one all but put away. They use a TO to prevent a delay of game. Tennessee's all over the 1st down run. LT can't bounce it outside, and it loses 2. Rivers has to throw away the 2nd down pass. 3rd-and-goal from the 10. Quick slant to Tomlinson, who gets WHACKED at the one. He falls into the end zone but is ruled down before he got there. Great call, his butt hits down before the ball's across the goal line. Look at that mouthpiece bouncing around on the ground. Don't know whose it was, but what a great replay. Norv challenges the call, but I believe he's going to lose it, and his last timeout with it.
Challenge fails as expected. 4th and goal from a foot and a half. I'm stunned they're going for it here when they went for the FG before. A FG gives you a touchdown lead! Tomlinson leaps high and is met in midair by a Titan, but he extends the ball across the line for the TD, with a Bush Push, I believe from Manu. Fisher challenges, but he's not going to get it. Super smart play by LT to extend the ball across the plane, and Manu's push saved the day for San Diego. Super play by Tulloch to meet LT in midair, but it just wasn't enough. 17-6, San Diego.
Titans still have enough time to run, but they go incomplete, Merriman sack, Castillo sack, and the Chargers are sticking a big ol' fork in this one.
Shaun Phillips is having a super game for San Diego. Have I ever mentioned I wanted to pick him a few years ago when the Rams took stupid freaking Anthony Hargrove?
Chargers from their 43, 7:28 left. After a no-gainer, LT bounces outside for 12 and smartly slides in bounds to keep the clock running. Turner gains 11 with a hesitation run. No gain for Turner from the Titan 35. Looks like LT's done for the day? Helmet's not even on with 4:40 left. Turner gets a big hole and slips a tackle in the backfield for 11, but it comes back for a hold. 2nd-16 from the 40. Turner fights mightily for 1. Titans use a timeout at 4:13. They have one left. Turner gains 4 after breaking about half-a-dozen tackles on 3rd down. TN uses its final TO at 4:03. They nearly block the punt, but Scifres finds the COFFIN CORNER at the 5.
Play action, roll left pass to Moulds for 13, but he'd stepped out of bounds first. 1st-12 from the 3. False start, and it's now 1st-14 from the 1. 8 to Hartsock. 2nd down, Young throws a poor pass off his back foot, Florence picks it off, and returns it to the 19. Illegal block will move it back, but this game's over for sure now.
Might as well go for the Daily Double of Metaphysical Unlikeliness and give Philip Rivers and Eli Manning Player of the Game awards on the same day. LT didn't do squat until late in the game. This one was on Rivers' shoulders all the way, and he pulled his team through. Without Gates, Chambers and Jackson were both over 100 yards receiving.
That'll send the Chargers to Indianapolis next week, more than likely without Gates. They have had Indy's number in the past, but that'll be a lot harder without Gates, in Indy's place, against a team that's had a week off. They picked off Manning SIX times earlier this year, but needed Adam Vinatieri to miff from 29 to hang on for the win. Colt Nation is probably concerned about their tackles holding up against the Charger rush, but they'll be smart to do just what the Titans did. Hit San Diego in the mouth early and get Addai going. Indy's passing game is a much better followup to that than Tennessee's, plus I don't expect all the coverage breakdowns in the Colt secondary that the Titans had today.
So I'm going with all the home teams next weekend (if T.O. is healthy), even though that didn't exactly work out too well this weekend.
Good weekend of football & congratulations to everybody who advanced.
I. Hate. The. F@cking. Chargers. Nothing would make me superficially happier than to see them go down in flames in the playoffs yet again. Scratch that. The Patriots losing would make me happier, but not actually by that much more.
Let's see how it goes; Tennessee's always been well-coached under Jeff Fisher (who's outlasted Dick Vermeil, Mike Martz and will probably outlast Scott Linehan), but their work's cut out for them today.
CBS is showing all these great games Rivers had? When the hell were they? The guy sucked eggs for 13 weeks; he's going to take them anywhere now?
It is raining in San Diego - I wonder if that's any kind of sign. Chris Henry returns the kick for Tennessee out to the 27. Tennessee opens the game with a quick WR screen behind a bizarre line overshift, but the WR drops the pass. Another drop by Gage on 2nd down, or broken up by Antonio Cromartie. The fullback then gains 16 on a screen. Lendale White gains 3 or 4. San Diego hasn't liked taking on very physical backs in the past. Titans could exploit that today. They are so far. Big hole for White for 5. 3rd-and-1 near midfield, Vince Young has to call Tennessee's first TO. The Titans then huddle up with 12 and get a penalty for 3rd-and-6. Young wheels left and scrambles for 8 and the first down anyway. Young rolls right this time and hits Gage for 20. San Diego's leaving receivers wide open on the sideline, which gets Tennessee inside the Charger 20, but they've now got 3rd-and-7. Titans can't get anyone open, and Vince has to ditch it to avoid the sack. Bironas chips it in from 30 to give Tennessee the early lead. A 6:00 FG drive isn't a terrible way to start.
Quick word on Antonio Cromartie. With 50-50 hindsight, he's the DB the Rams should have picked in the first round of the 2006 draft. He's the big, physical, playmaking CB the Rams clearly lack against teams with huge WRs like Arizona.
But that's not to say Tye Hill was a poor pick, which is what a lot of people are saying. Hill has done a fine job and is the Rams' best cover back at times. As Bernie Miklasz points out today, the percentage of the time he does get beat is actually quite good, expecially for a young back. And the Ram defense was so awful going into 2006 they could hardly afford to take a chance on Cromartie's recovery from a torn ACL, though I imagine between him and Willis McGahee, the league's collective attitude toward drafting some injured players is going to change.
Hill was a good pick; Cromartie just would have been better, and would have solved an area the Rams are pathetically weak at now.
Anyway, 3-0, Titans. Sproles returns to the 27. LT for 1 or 2. Titans blitz Rivers, who fumbles the ball but it's recovered by LT. Good rush by TN again forces a useless 5-yard dumpoff.
Bwa-ha-ha, go, Titans! TN will take over at their 35. Chris Brown up the middle for 3. Young gets plenty of time to throw but gets taken down by Cesaire on 2nd down. 3rd-9, big blitz on Vince forces a throwaway. Young is down and looks like he's been in a car wreck. Sproles fair catches the punt at the 23.
Quick hitch to Chambers for 5. Comes back due to a chop block, though; SD will have 1st-and-21. LT for 3. This is awesome for Tennessee; make Rivers beat you. 2nd-18, overthrown for Gates at the sidelines. Dumpoff to MANU for 9. I think this game is going exactly how Tennessee wants. Punt's returned to the 30.
Powerful run by White for 8. They only give him 1 on 2nd down. White bounces off his own blocker and stumbles up the middle for 4. Vince hits Troupe off play-action for 13. They're at the SD 45. 2 more for White. Tennessee has had the ball almost the whole first quarter. 1:00 left. White up the middle and WOW, he drives a whole pile for almost 8. Third and very short again. Fullback Hall takes the carry for 3 as the first quarter ends.
Wow, Brady Quinn's got more commercials than career pass attempts. How stupid is that?
From the Charger 34, Brown ignores a big hole and bangs down to the 30. 5 more for Brown. On 3rd-and-1, White busts out for 13 down to the 12. Titan o-line is dominating the LOS. Short gain for White this time. See, San Diego loves to come after your QB, but hit them in the mouth in the running game and they shrink up like George Costanza. Aw, crap. Super play by Merriman to pop the ball out of Brown's hand and force a fumble I believe is recovered by Shawn Philips. HUGE play for San Diego.
Chargers from their 9. They try to sweep LT left, but the Titans string it out for a 3-yard loss. Off a short drop, Rivers hits Chambers for 7. 3rd-6. Square out to Gates, and he takes it up the sideline for 16. LT gains 2. Play-action and a nice pass over the middle to Chambers for 30. Great run support by Michael Griffin again stuffs an attempted LT sweep for a loss. 2nd-13, Rivers throws it away with nobody open. They try a sideline bomb to Vincent Jackson but he can't bring it down. Another punt for San Diego; Titans will take over at their 12.
Funny thing about the Charger offense here; Rivers is actually doing a decent job - it's LT and the running game that have been all but complete crap. I don't think LT even has positive yardage at this point.
Today's referee is Ed Hochuli, who's average enough that he probably looks great in the NFL's eyes.
White gains a couple. They screen to him on 2nd down, but he falls down and takes a big loss. 3rd-12. Davis can't handle a tough sideline pass and Tennessee will punt. Sproles catches the punt over his shoulder at the 48 and brings it to the TN 43.
Though they've just picked up a big advantage in the field position game, the Chargers stupidly go for the whole enchilada on 1st down, and early POTG candidate Cortland Finnegan picks it off in the end zone, covering Chambers 1-on-1. Nice call, NORV.
What's Rivers pissed off about? That he sucks?
Tennessee starts from their 20 with an incomplete and a 2-yard White run. Vince wings it long on 3rd down but it goes off the hands of a falling Gage, who was shoved to the ground by Cromartie without a call. That was NOT incidental contact. But Tennessee's punting. Hentrich only gets it to the SD 45.
Again, proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy in the form of the Charger cheerleaders.
LT gets a hole this time but still only gains 3. Another false start for the Chargers, who I'll remind everyone is the HOME team. 2nd-long, Rivers barely avoids a sack and almost gets his dump pass picked off. 3rd-12, Jackson's WIDE open and gets the Chargers down to the 36. HUGE hole in the Titan zone that time. But they shut down LT for no gain. 7 carries, 6 yards. Dumb short rollout pass to Gates not only loses yardage, Gates gets hurt. His left foot got bent back and is apparently broken; they're bringing out the cart. Lord help the Chargers if MANU has to carry their passing offense. Gates rides out on the cart, and I hate to be crass, but Tennessee couldn't have dreamed the game would be going this well for them 3:00 before halftime. Griffin saves a TD by knocking down an end zone pass for Chambers, and Nate Kaeding's 45-yard FG attempt is MISERABLE and barely even gets off the ground. More playoff non-magic from Kaeding.
Tennessee from their 35. White gains 4, but gets little or nothing on 2nd down. Clock runs down to 2:00. Nice throw by Vince on 3rd-5 to someone named Byron Ely? at the 50. Big hole on the left for Brown, who CRASHES off one of his WRs for 10, but a hold on Troupe drags it back. 1st-20. Vince scrambles for about 3. Both teams let the clock run. This is dumb on San Diego's part; they have Tennessee where they want them right now. 10 to Moulds on the sidelines and the clock stops anyway. Here's Ely again, with a 1st down at the 38. 2 catches today when he had 1 all season. Moulds gets out of bounds after gaining 6. 5 to Troupe for another 1st. Young spikes at 0:15. Titans have been picking up the Charger blitz without much trouble. Handoff to White for 4 sets up Bironas for a 45-yard attempt with :03 left. He strokes it, and Tennessee leads 6-0 at halftime as the Chargers get BOOED off the field by their fans at a home playoff game.
Just about a perfect first half for Tennessee. The Chargers have got to play stronger run defense in the 2nd half and force Young into more predictable passing situations. And it's pathetic that Tomlinson has like six yards rushing in the first half. Tennessee owns this game in the trenches. Hilariously to me as a Charger-hater, they're going to have to rely on Rivers and come out firing after halftime to get things loosened up for LT. It's possible, but lotsa luck with that, Norv.
What have we learned coming out of halftime? Jim Nantz and Phil Simms have the worst hair of any broadcast crew, and San Diego's first half highlights were clearly from their cheerleaders.
Illegal block will start San Diego in a hole. LT gains 4, then nothing, and the Charger crowd is nothing if not restless. 3rd-6 from the 16. Rivers emerges from a collapsed pocket and drills one to Chambers for 19. Huge play by Rivers. After a Titan injury timeout, LT dances around for 1. Rivers is hit as he throws for a 2nd-down incomplete. 3rd-9, Jackson is WIDE OPEN down the sideline for a big gain. Worse yet for Tennessee, Griffin is injured on the tackle. 34-yard gain for Jackson. San Diego's around the Titan 30. Pitch to LT looks good at first but Tennessee is quick to get back and Finnegan shuts it down for no gain. Rivers hits Chambers on the sideline for 19. 1-10 from the T11. 7 to Chambers, but LT is SHUT DOWN AGAIN at the 4. 3rd-and-3. Norv wants a time out, because it looks like a play never came in. Quick pass to Jackson gains only a couple; it looked like LT was all alone in the flat, but the play wasn't designed to go that way. Norv settles for a FG, much to the home crowd's disgust. 6-3, Tennessee.
Henry brings the kick back to the 24. Play-action rollout to Davis at the sideline for 4. White up the middle for 4 more. 3rd-2, Young quickly guns it to Ben Hartsock(!) for 4. Charger rush is just not getting there. White gets about 5 over left tackle. Charger blitz is right on this time, meeting Henry in the hole for a loss on 2nd down. 3rd-and-6. Young and his WR aren't on the same page and a long pass is incomplete. Sproles only gets 2 on the punt return out to the 21.
Boy, the Titans have no answer for Vincent Jackson today, who Rivers hits for 20. From the 41, swing pass to LT, his FIRST reception, gains about 5. That play's long overdue. Big hole left for LT but Tulloch drags him down after 2 yards. 3rd-3. LT gets a quick pass and breaks Griffin's tackle for a first down. Important play. 1-10 at the T48. Michael Turner up the middle for 3. What, LT's tired out after gaining a whole 10 yards? Now Albert Haynesworth makes a FREAKING STUPID PLAY. He jumps offside and knocks Rivers on his ass, a blatant roughing penalty. What a damn idiot. Chargers are now at the Titan 29. LT up the middle for 4. On play action, Rivers gets all day, rolls right and finds the apparently unstoppable Jackson at the 3. He embarrasses the overrunning DB with a quick cut and dives into the end zone.
San Diego leads, 10-6. Rivers is winning the game for them with his arm.
Rest assured I'd be losing a lot of money on a day where Philip Rivers and Eli Manning are the reasons their respective teams are winning playoff games. Days like today are exactly why gambling shouldn't be legal.
Tennesse starts from their 26 with 2:30 left in the 3rd. Troupe makes a pretty catch up the sideline at midfield. Chris Davis gets DRILLED by Jammer on an end around, but not until he gains 11. Tenn at the SD 37. 5 to Hartsock. White plows left and is about a yard short. Crazy run by the fullback Hall. He's extremely tentative with the handoff and looks like he's going to lose 2. Then he spins and bounces off a tackle and stumbles around the right edge for 11. First down, Titans, inside the SD 20 as we start the 4th quarter.
Phillips EATS UP a slow developing run for White for -3. Poor pass by Young on 2nd down should have been picked off by Hart. 3rd-13. Pass is short and behind Hall in the flat, and he never would have gotten a 1st down anyway. On comes Bironas. The best kicker in the league hooks it left, and San Diego holds their 4-point lead.
Chargers from their 28; LT gains 1. Great run D by Tennessee today, but they're getting killed by Jackson. Now finally, LT breaks loose, for 11 off the right side. LT runs right for 5. Long ball for Chambers is nowhere close; Titans had it covered. 3rd-5, a Titan safety gets faked out in the flat by MANU, who gains 7. San Diego's already across midfield. THROWING AGAIN, pass is way high and out of bounds. How 'bout chewing a little clock, Chargers? Three straight passes after LT had run twice for 16 yards. And now here's another pass, incomplete for Jackson in the face of heavy pressure. 3rd-and-10. With ALL DAY to throw, Rivers finds Chambers ALL ALONE for a pass inside the 10. Second HUGE leak the Titan zone has sprung today, and as a result, the Chargers may have this one all but put away. They use a TO to prevent a delay of game. Tennessee's all over the 1st down run. LT can't bounce it outside, and it loses 2. Rivers has to throw away the 2nd down pass. 3rd-and-goal from the 10. Quick slant to Tomlinson, who gets WHACKED at the one. He falls into the end zone but is ruled down before he got there. Great call, his butt hits down before the ball's across the goal line. Look at that mouthpiece bouncing around on the ground. Don't know whose it was, but what a great replay. Norv challenges the call, but I believe he's going to lose it, and his last timeout with it.
Challenge fails as expected. 4th and goal from a foot and a half. I'm stunned they're going for it here when they went for the FG before. A FG gives you a touchdown lead! Tomlinson leaps high and is met in midair by a Titan, but he extends the ball across the line for the TD, with a Bush Push, I believe from Manu. Fisher challenges, but he's not going to get it. Super smart play by LT to extend the ball across the plane, and Manu's push saved the day for San Diego. Super play by Tulloch to meet LT in midair, but it just wasn't enough. 17-6, San Diego.
Titans still have enough time to run, but they go incomplete, Merriman sack, Castillo sack, and the Chargers are sticking a big ol' fork in this one.
Shaun Phillips is having a super game for San Diego. Have I ever mentioned I wanted to pick him a few years ago when the Rams took stupid freaking Anthony Hargrove?
Chargers from their 43, 7:28 left. After a no-gainer, LT bounces outside for 12 and smartly slides in bounds to keep the clock running. Turner gains 11 with a hesitation run. No gain for Turner from the Titan 35. Looks like LT's done for the day? Helmet's not even on with 4:40 left. Turner gets a big hole and slips a tackle in the backfield for 11, but it comes back for a hold. 2nd-16 from the 40. Turner fights mightily for 1. Titans use a timeout at 4:13. They have one left. Turner gains 4 after breaking about half-a-dozen tackles on 3rd down. TN uses its final TO at 4:03. They nearly block the punt, but Scifres finds the COFFIN CORNER at the 5.
Play action, roll left pass to Moulds for 13, but he'd stepped out of bounds first. 1st-12 from the 3. False start, and it's now 1st-14 from the 1. 8 to Hartsock. 2nd down, Young throws a poor pass off his back foot, Florence picks it off, and returns it to the 19. Illegal block will move it back, but this game's over for sure now.
Might as well go for the Daily Double of Metaphysical Unlikeliness and give Philip Rivers and Eli Manning Player of the Game awards on the same day. LT didn't do squat until late in the game. This one was on Rivers' shoulders all the way, and he pulled his team through. Without Gates, Chambers and Jackson were both over 100 yards receiving.
That'll send the Chargers to Indianapolis next week, more than likely without Gates. They have had Indy's number in the past, but that'll be a lot harder without Gates, in Indy's place, against a team that's had a week off. They picked off Manning SIX times earlier this year, but needed Adam Vinatieri to miff from 29 to hang on for the win. Colt Nation is probably concerned about their tackles holding up against the Charger rush, but they'll be smart to do just what the Titans did. Hit San Diego in the mouth early and get Addai going. Indy's passing game is a much better followup to that than Tennessee's, plus I don't expect all the coverage breakdowns in the Colt secondary that the Titans had today.
So I'm going with all the home teams next weekend (if T.O. is healthy), even though that didn't exactly work out too well this weekend.
Good weekend of football & congratulations to everybody who advanced.
NFC Wild Card Playoff: Giants 24, Buccaneers 14
@#$@#$!! playoff schedule! When did this game start?
Looks like I haven't missed much. The Giants' first position went nowhere. Tampa's first drive moved the sticks once before they sunk themselves with a dumb delay of game penalty.
Getting the ball back at their 14, NY gets to third-and-1, but Chris Hovan pushes deep into the backfield to drop Brandon Jacobs for loss. Tampa will start the next drive near midfield.
And Tampa's cheerleaders are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Walt Anderson is the ref today, but these are "all-star" crews, so we can't speculate whether the rest of the crew will ignore DPI the way they did when the Steelers were in St. Louis.
Earnest Graham breaks tackles for a 10-yard run on 2nd down, and Michael Clayton follows with an 11-yard catch. That's interesting because Clayton's face has been on milk cartons for two years, but that's already his second touch. Two more physical runs by Graham gain nine yards, 35 inches. Hey, here's a novel play on third and inches... the QB takes the snap and just drives forward with the ball! Yeah, he didn't hand off to anybody; he kept it! Wonder what they call THAT play, SCOTT LINEHAN! At the Giant 20, Graham's stopped for no gain, and there's an injury timeout. Garcia hangs tough in the pocket and hits Graham out of the backfield down to the 6. Graham crashes down to the goal line on 1st and goal. Tampa's only inches away. Graham gets in the second time, with a second effort and good blocking on the left side.
Tampa 7, Giants 0, with 1:49 left in the 1st. OK, I'm caught up now.
Giants take over at their 25. Joe Buck announces the Giants have one yard rushing, which Javon Haye makes a negative number with a TFL on 1st down. And Eli has to call timeout. The Giants look little like the team that gave New England everything it could handle last week. Gaines Adams jumps offsides to help the Giants a little bit. 2nd-9. Forced pass for triple-covered Steve Smith incomplete. On 3rd down, Gaines Adams circles in on Eli practically untouched for a sack, whipping Kareem McKenzie badly. Tampa will take over from their 30 after the punt.
James Butler blitzes in and nearly steals the handoff from Garcia. Graham loses three as the first quarter of this defensive battle ends.
Garcia avoids the blitz on 3rd down, but can't throw a decent pass on the move and forces a punt. McQuarters sets the Giants up near midfield with the return.
Eli finds Burress on 1st down, and Toomer breaks tackles on 2nd down to gain about 20. About time the Giants got away from rushing in predictable situations. Jacobs gains 3. Another first down to Toomer, who gets NY inside the 20. They try to sweep Jacobs right but get very little. 2nd down pass incomplete. The Bucs take a timeout on 3rd-and-9.
Eli finds TOOMER AGAIN inside the 5. How is it the Bucs can't cover that guy? First and goal, Jacobs breaks a tackle on a middle screen and evens the score at 7. 2nd time this weekend we've seen the screen pass used down on the goal line.
Game tied at 7.
Kickoff brought back to about the 21. Antonio Pierce breaks up a pass. Tampa is in the no-huddle. With the backfield empty, Strahan overpowers Trueblood for a sack. 3rd-15, Strahan is all over the screen pass and it's only a short gain. Punt is to the 35.
Shockingly, the tide of this game has turned by Coughlin putting the game in... Eli's hands.
Bradshaw runs through the Tampa D for 8. Eli hits Plaxico across midfield for a 1st, then for 9 more. You know, if you're going to call it "cover"-2, maybe you ought to actually cover somebody. Bradshaw gets stopped, leaving 3rd-and-1. I'd play-action and go deep. Eli makes a sweet play - pump-fakes and hits Smith with a tight pass - for a 21-yard gain. Now a 9-yard pass to Bradshaw. 2nd-2 inside the 10, Jacobs knifes through the Tampa D like hot butter for a TD behind Madison Hedgecock's block. That just proves Scott Linehan doesn't know how to use a fullback, because Hedgecock never made a block like that in his Ram career, nor was he ever really set up TO make a block like that.
14-7, Giants. And before everybody start saying this is Eli Manning's star turn, that this is the day he became a stud NFL QB, all he's had to do so far is mostly hit wide-open receivers that Tampa is too stupid to cover. Monte Kiffin is way overdue to adjust what they're doing on D.
After the kickoff, 3 up the middle for Graham. About 3:30 till halftime. Blitz gets to Garcia on 2nd down but Askew makes a nifty shoetop grab for a 5-yard gain. Full dropback for Garcia on 3rd down; he gets in trouble but finds Pittman over the middle for a 1st at the 40. Wacky 1st down pass incomplete at 2:04. Flip pass to Graham in heavy traffic gains only a little as the 2:00 warning arrives.
The Claritin commercial, where the sculptor says, if I sneeze, this guy could lose his nose? Would be far funnier if the speaker were a plastic surgeon.
Tough sliding catch by Ike Hilliard for a first down at midfield. After a short pass, the Giants, who are blitzing a lot, break up the 2nd down pass. Protection is solid on 3rd down, but Garcia's got nobody open. Good coverage by Ross on Hilliard. 1:14 left and another shot coming for the Giants, who take over near their 20.
Jacobs gains 9 up the middle but it looks like the Giants are happy to run out the clock. Troy and Joe are criticizing NY for not going for it, but that far in your own end, against the Tampa defense, you don't want to take any crazy chances. I'm fine with the strategy.
Giants take a 14-7 lead into halftime.
Let's start the 2nd half. It's a half where the Bucs better start putting some pressure on Manning.
Ugh. Spurlock fumbles away the opening kickoff and Corey Webster recovers it to start the half out with a golden opportunity for New York. Jacobs gains 7 up the middle. They're at the TB23. 4 more for Jacobs running right. Jacobs right for 1. 2nd down, Eli wheels away after Kevin Carter falls, and flings it up into the end zone, tipped and almost picked off. 3rd-and-9, NY gets away with the middle screen to Jacobs, it's set up well and he gains a first down inside the 10. Jump ball for Plax on 1st and goal is nowhere close. False start moves NY back to the 13. Tough pass to Toomer between three guys gets them back inside the 5. Refs deserve a delay of game penalty for their slowness calling delay of game. 3rd-and-goal now from the 9. Only a couple to Smith, and NY will try the FG. Tynes hits from 25 to make it 17-7, but the Bucs may have won that exchange considering how and where the Giants got the ball.
Kick return out to the 30. Graham muscles for 6 and powers for almost 4 more to set up 3rd-and-inches. He dives for the 1st down and follows with a 5-yard catch from Garcia. Cofield appears to catch Garcia helmet-to-helmet after the throw to give Tampa their biggest play since the 1st quarter. Bucs are at the NY40. Graham draws for 10. 2 more left for Graham. From the 28, TERRIBLE throw by Garcia is picked off in the end zone by Webster. Joey Galloway wasn't remotely open. That may have been the killer for Tampa, their second turnover of the quarter.
Tampa stuffs the first down run, and the Giants hold on 2nd down, putting them in a 2nd-18 hole from their 12. Bradshaw draws for maybe 3. 3rd down, a fake draw, then a pump fake by Eli, then a throw into the ground for a wide open Bradshaw. Doh. Tampa dodges a bullet there and takes over from their 33.
Bucs need something here. Graham is stuffed for 1, but Tampa beats a blitz with a screen to Askew for 7. Huge 3rd-and-2. It's a pass, a tight throw to Alex Smith between two guys. Great throw by Garcia puts Tampa at the NY43. Maybe 1 again for Graham. 2nd-9, Garcia wants to go long but throws it away. Bad shotgun snap screws up the timing of the next play. Garcia tries to rush it to the hot read and nearly gets picked off. Bucs punt again, and Eli will take over at the 8.
Dumpoff to Hedgecock for 4. Long sideline pass is not only well covered by Philip Buchanon, he draws an OPI from Plaxico. Giants retreat to their 6. Jacobs runs right for 5. 3rd-7. Another pump fake by Eli, who hits Toomer over the middle for 11 and a HUGE first down as the third quarter ends.
Giants from their 22. Bradshaw loses his helmet but still cuts back for 7. Play-action and nice throw by Eli to Toomer at the 40. Bradshaw's running hard and hits it up the middle for 6. Bradshaw again, running patiently for 8. NY's across midfield and sticking a fork in this thing. Play action to Kevin Boss for 11. Tampa's D is missing tackles, falling by the wayside due to their own hometown heat, and the wheels are steadily coming off. Eli just misses a sideline pass to stop the clock at 11:30. No problem, Manning hits Burress for 12. Tampa needs to make a play NOW. Bradshaw dances out of a big loss and gains 6. Tampa is near toast. 6 more for Bradshaw up the middle, and they're inside the 10, and Tampa has no hope. Tampa blitzes this time and Barber stops Bradshaw for 1. Ronde's name hasn't been called a lot today. Neither has Derrick Brooks, except when he whiffed trying to knock down the TD pass to Jacobs in the 2nd. Bradshaw slips down to the 4. The Rams don't have anyone remotely like Bradshaw who can come off the bench and pound away at a defense like this. Eli ends the drive, the game and Tampa's season with a fine TD pass to Amani Toomer. It's 24-7 and the Giants can start planning for Dallas.
Penalty on the kickoff will put Tampa in lousy field position. Bucs from the 12. Dockery swats down a lame short slant to Hilliard. Quick slant downfield to Hilliard works this time for 9. Graham squirts through for 4 on 3rd-and-1. 5 to the TE crossing. This drive is pretty funny. Tampa's going to use up the rest of the clock to score once at this rate with 6:30 left. 5 to Graham, after a penalty, leaves Garcia with 3rd-and-5. Garcia rolls and hits Pittman for 10. Strahan is slow getting up, stopping the clock for Tampa. Garcia barely gets the 1st down pass away before he's taken down by Stahan's replacement. Then he scrambles right and hits Pittman for a 25-yard play, their biggest of the day. About 15 more to Clayton. 9 more to Hilliard at the 11. Draw to Pittman for 5; first and goal at the 6. Slant pass to Smith for the TD makes it 24-14 with 3:25 left. The Giants achieved everything they wanted to this drive, though. They didn't give up a long play, forced the Bucs to dink, dunk and burn 3+ minutes off the clock just to get within 10.
Onside kick should be coming here. The Giants play 10 men up, and Tampa squibs it to Reuben Droughns, who brings it out to the 30. You know, if you're not onsiding there, DON'T kick it straight to the deep man, HEH?!? Bradshaw gains 8 and nearly broke it for a monster gain. The illusion of the Tampa defense has been shattered again by an opponent smart enough not to run their offense right into where they're loaded up. Bucs letting the clock run inside 3:00, but they stop Bradshaw short here and use one. 3rd-and-3 with 2:20-ish left. Hovan stuffs Bradshaw to force NY into punting. Tampa uses TO#2 with 2:19 left. After the punt, Bucs will take over at their 27.
LOVELY, my worthless computer ate the last half of the post. Basically, McQuarters picks off a long pass to put the game away, then Troy wet-dreams all over himself about how Eli "has grown up today". Sure, when the opponent plays a crappy scheme and the Giants run as well as they did, Eli's great. And I'll give him star of the game today, because it's no mean feat to win a playoff game on the road, and he didn't make the big screwup he often makes. (Though the real star of the game is the Tampa coaching staff for crappy game-planning on both sides of the ball.) But Dallas will get after him next week a lot better than Tampa did. If he falls apart under some actual defensive pressure, Dallas will beat the Giants for the third time. But, if T.O. can't go, there's every reason to think the Giant defense can look as good in Dallas as they did in Tampa today. So the Giants could win in Dallas even if Eli sucks.
Keep an eye on the injury lists.
Looks like I haven't missed much. The Giants' first position went nowhere. Tampa's first drive moved the sticks once before they sunk themselves with a dumb delay of game penalty.
Getting the ball back at their 14, NY gets to third-and-1, but Chris Hovan pushes deep into the backfield to drop Brandon Jacobs for loss. Tampa will start the next drive near midfield.
And Tampa's cheerleaders are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Walt Anderson is the ref today, but these are "all-star" crews, so we can't speculate whether the rest of the crew will ignore DPI the way they did when the Steelers were in St. Louis.
Earnest Graham breaks tackles for a 10-yard run on 2nd down, and Michael Clayton follows with an 11-yard catch. That's interesting because Clayton's face has been on milk cartons for two years, but that's already his second touch. Two more physical runs by Graham gain nine yards, 35 inches. Hey, here's a novel play on third and inches... the QB takes the snap and just drives forward with the ball! Yeah, he didn't hand off to anybody; he kept it! Wonder what they call THAT play, SCOTT LINEHAN! At the Giant 20, Graham's stopped for no gain, and there's an injury timeout. Garcia hangs tough in the pocket and hits Graham out of the backfield down to the 6. Graham crashes down to the goal line on 1st and goal. Tampa's only inches away. Graham gets in the second time, with a second effort and good blocking on the left side.
Tampa 7, Giants 0, with 1:49 left in the 1st. OK, I'm caught up now.
Giants take over at their 25. Joe Buck announces the Giants have one yard rushing, which Javon Haye makes a negative number with a TFL on 1st down. And Eli has to call timeout. The Giants look little like the team that gave New England everything it could handle last week. Gaines Adams jumps offsides to help the Giants a little bit. 2nd-9. Forced pass for triple-covered Steve Smith incomplete. On 3rd down, Gaines Adams circles in on Eli practically untouched for a sack, whipping Kareem McKenzie badly. Tampa will take over from their 30 after the punt.
James Butler blitzes in and nearly steals the handoff from Garcia. Graham loses three as the first quarter of this defensive battle ends.
Garcia avoids the blitz on 3rd down, but can't throw a decent pass on the move and forces a punt. McQuarters sets the Giants up near midfield with the return.
Eli finds Burress on 1st down, and Toomer breaks tackles on 2nd down to gain about 20. About time the Giants got away from rushing in predictable situations. Jacobs gains 3. Another first down to Toomer, who gets NY inside the 20. They try to sweep Jacobs right but get very little. 2nd down pass incomplete. The Bucs take a timeout on 3rd-and-9.
Eli finds TOOMER AGAIN inside the 5. How is it the Bucs can't cover that guy? First and goal, Jacobs breaks a tackle on a middle screen and evens the score at 7. 2nd time this weekend we've seen the screen pass used down on the goal line.
Game tied at 7.
Kickoff brought back to about the 21. Antonio Pierce breaks up a pass. Tampa is in the no-huddle. With the backfield empty, Strahan overpowers Trueblood for a sack. 3rd-15, Strahan is all over the screen pass and it's only a short gain. Punt is to the 35.
Shockingly, the tide of this game has turned by Coughlin putting the game in... Eli's hands.
Bradshaw runs through the Tampa D for 8. Eli hits Plaxico across midfield for a 1st, then for 9 more. You know, if you're going to call it "cover"-2, maybe you ought to actually cover somebody. Bradshaw gets stopped, leaving 3rd-and-1. I'd play-action and go deep. Eli makes a sweet play - pump-fakes and hits Smith with a tight pass - for a 21-yard gain. Now a 9-yard pass to Bradshaw. 2nd-2 inside the 10, Jacobs knifes through the Tampa D like hot butter for a TD behind Madison Hedgecock's block. That just proves Scott Linehan doesn't know how to use a fullback, because Hedgecock never made a block like that in his Ram career, nor was he ever really set up TO make a block like that.
14-7, Giants. And before everybody start saying this is Eli Manning's star turn, that this is the day he became a stud NFL QB, all he's had to do so far is mostly hit wide-open receivers that Tampa is too stupid to cover. Monte Kiffin is way overdue to adjust what they're doing on D.
After the kickoff, 3 up the middle for Graham. About 3:30 till halftime. Blitz gets to Garcia on 2nd down but Askew makes a nifty shoetop grab for a 5-yard gain. Full dropback for Garcia on 3rd down; he gets in trouble but finds Pittman over the middle for a 1st at the 40. Wacky 1st down pass incomplete at 2:04. Flip pass to Graham in heavy traffic gains only a little as the 2:00 warning arrives.
The Claritin commercial, where the sculptor says, if I sneeze, this guy could lose his nose? Would be far funnier if the speaker were a plastic surgeon.
Tough sliding catch by Ike Hilliard for a first down at midfield. After a short pass, the Giants, who are blitzing a lot, break up the 2nd down pass. Protection is solid on 3rd down, but Garcia's got nobody open. Good coverage by Ross on Hilliard. 1:14 left and another shot coming for the Giants, who take over near their 20.
Jacobs gains 9 up the middle but it looks like the Giants are happy to run out the clock. Troy and Joe are criticizing NY for not going for it, but that far in your own end, against the Tampa defense, you don't want to take any crazy chances. I'm fine with the strategy.
Giants take a 14-7 lead into halftime.
Let's start the 2nd half. It's a half where the Bucs better start putting some pressure on Manning.
Ugh. Spurlock fumbles away the opening kickoff and Corey Webster recovers it to start the half out with a golden opportunity for New York. Jacobs gains 7 up the middle. They're at the TB23. 4 more for Jacobs running right. Jacobs right for 1. 2nd down, Eli wheels away after Kevin Carter falls, and flings it up into the end zone, tipped and almost picked off. 3rd-and-9, NY gets away with the middle screen to Jacobs, it's set up well and he gains a first down inside the 10. Jump ball for Plax on 1st and goal is nowhere close. False start moves NY back to the 13. Tough pass to Toomer between three guys gets them back inside the 5. Refs deserve a delay of game penalty for their slowness calling delay of game. 3rd-and-goal now from the 9. Only a couple to Smith, and NY will try the FG. Tynes hits from 25 to make it 17-7, but the Bucs may have won that exchange considering how and where the Giants got the ball.
Kick return out to the 30. Graham muscles for 6 and powers for almost 4 more to set up 3rd-and-inches. He dives for the 1st down and follows with a 5-yard catch from Garcia. Cofield appears to catch Garcia helmet-to-helmet after the throw to give Tampa their biggest play since the 1st quarter. Bucs are at the NY40. Graham draws for 10. 2 more left for Graham. From the 28, TERRIBLE throw by Garcia is picked off in the end zone by Webster. Joey Galloway wasn't remotely open. That may have been the killer for Tampa, their second turnover of the quarter.
Tampa stuffs the first down run, and the Giants hold on 2nd down, putting them in a 2nd-18 hole from their 12. Bradshaw draws for maybe 3. 3rd down, a fake draw, then a pump fake by Eli, then a throw into the ground for a wide open Bradshaw. Doh. Tampa dodges a bullet there and takes over from their 33.
Bucs need something here. Graham is stuffed for 1, but Tampa beats a blitz with a screen to Askew for 7. Huge 3rd-and-2. It's a pass, a tight throw to Alex Smith between two guys. Great throw by Garcia puts Tampa at the NY43. Maybe 1 again for Graham. 2nd-9, Garcia wants to go long but throws it away. Bad shotgun snap screws up the timing of the next play. Garcia tries to rush it to the hot read and nearly gets picked off. Bucs punt again, and Eli will take over at the 8.
Dumpoff to Hedgecock for 4. Long sideline pass is not only well covered by Philip Buchanon, he draws an OPI from Plaxico. Giants retreat to their 6. Jacobs runs right for 5. 3rd-7. Another pump fake by Eli, who hits Toomer over the middle for 11 and a HUGE first down as the third quarter ends.
Giants from their 22. Bradshaw loses his helmet but still cuts back for 7. Play-action and nice throw by Eli to Toomer at the 40. Bradshaw's running hard and hits it up the middle for 6. Bradshaw again, running patiently for 8. NY's across midfield and sticking a fork in this thing. Play action to Kevin Boss for 11. Tampa's D is missing tackles, falling by the wayside due to their own hometown heat, and the wheels are steadily coming off. Eli just misses a sideline pass to stop the clock at 11:30. No problem, Manning hits Burress for 12. Tampa needs to make a play NOW. Bradshaw dances out of a big loss and gains 6. Tampa is near toast. 6 more for Bradshaw up the middle, and they're inside the 10, and Tampa has no hope. Tampa blitzes this time and Barber stops Bradshaw for 1. Ronde's name hasn't been called a lot today. Neither has Derrick Brooks, except when he whiffed trying to knock down the TD pass to Jacobs in the 2nd. Bradshaw slips down to the 4. The Rams don't have anyone remotely like Bradshaw who can come off the bench and pound away at a defense like this. Eli ends the drive, the game and Tampa's season with a fine TD pass to Amani Toomer. It's 24-7 and the Giants can start planning for Dallas.
Penalty on the kickoff will put Tampa in lousy field position. Bucs from the 12. Dockery swats down a lame short slant to Hilliard. Quick slant downfield to Hilliard works this time for 9. Graham squirts through for 4 on 3rd-and-1. 5 to the TE crossing. This drive is pretty funny. Tampa's going to use up the rest of the clock to score once at this rate with 6:30 left. 5 to Graham, after a penalty, leaves Garcia with 3rd-and-5. Garcia rolls and hits Pittman for 10. Strahan is slow getting up, stopping the clock for Tampa. Garcia barely gets the 1st down pass away before he's taken down by Stahan's replacement. Then he scrambles right and hits Pittman for a 25-yard play, their biggest of the day. About 15 more to Clayton. 9 more to Hilliard at the 11. Draw to Pittman for 5; first and goal at the 6. Slant pass to Smith for the TD makes it 24-14 with 3:25 left. The Giants achieved everything they wanted to this drive, though. They didn't give up a long play, forced the Bucs to dink, dunk and burn 3+ minutes off the clock just to get within 10.
Onside kick should be coming here. The Giants play 10 men up, and Tampa squibs it to Reuben Droughns, who brings it out to the 30. You know, if you're not onsiding there, DON'T kick it straight to the deep man, HEH?!? Bradshaw gains 8 and nearly broke it for a monster gain. The illusion of the Tampa defense has been shattered again by an opponent smart enough not to run their offense right into where they're loaded up. Bucs letting the clock run inside 3:00, but they stop Bradshaw short here and use one. 3rd-and-3 with 2:20-ish left. Hovan stuffs Bradshaw to force NY into punting. Tampa uses TO#2 with 2:19 left. After the punt, Bucs will take over at their 27.
LOVELY, my worthless computer ate the last half of the post. Basically, McQuarters picks off a long pass to put the game away, then Troy wet-dreams all over himself about how Eli "has grown up today". Sure, when the opponent plays a crappy scheme and the Giants run as well as they did, Eli's great. And I'll give him star of the game today, because it's no mean feat to win a playoff game on the road, and he didn't make the big screwup he often makes. (Though the real star of the game is the Tampa coaching staff for crappy game-planning on both sides of the ball.) But Dallas will get after him next week a lot better than Tampa did. If he falls apart under some actual defensive pressure, Dallas will beat the Giants for the third time. But, if T.O. can't go, there's every reason to think the Giant defense can look as good in Dallas as they did in Tampa today. So the Giants could win in Dallas even if Eli sucks.
Keep an eye on the injury lists.
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