Sunday, January 28, 2007
NFL: one week to the Big Game
Super Bowl thoughts and NFL Conference Championship games follow-up...
The Clarion could have hardly been more wrong last week with the Patriots and the Saints.
In the Saints-Bears game, we tried to run with the better quarterback theory one more time. (Watch out for this again.) Instead of thinking dome team on the road, in a game where weather conditions may matter. Plus, minimal playoff experience, rookie head coach, rookie’s contributing at several skill positions on offense. Bears didn’t even play an “A” game, Saints got a sniff in the second quarter, didn’t do anything with it, and wham it was over.
The Patriots-Colts was just the opposite. The Clarion thought the Patriots were going to win the whole way. 98.9% of the country did at 21-3. Sure 21-6 and down only two scores made us nervous, but it was Manning and Dungy vs. Brady and Belichek. The Clarion had faith, confidence, little fear, all the way, right up to the final interception. Even then, there was a minute or two of shock where, it had to be digested, it wasn’t going to be the Patriots. The Colts had beaten their nemesis. Remove one monkey each from the backs of Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy.
Now it wouldn’t be a great idea for either of their reputations to lay a huge egg in the Super Bowl. A close loss, well the pundits will say what they will, but it wouldn’t do to get killed.
Clearly, on better quarterback theory you’d taken Peyton and the Colts. Rex Grossman gives no one confidence. Will he turn the ball over? How many times? However, the Colts run defense sucks. Don’t be fooled by the last couple of weeks. Bob Sanders is good, but one man on an undersized unit. The Bears are a running team with two good backs. The Bears defense is pretty stought, though this week they will miss injured safety and playmaker Mike Brown. But Peyton Manning...The Bears have the special teams edge. Devin Hester, from the U, could own this game, in Miami. Remember, the Colts coverage teams are no better than average.
The Patriots were the preseason AFC pick. The preseason NFC pick, the Panthers, are long gone. For the first time in a long time, it is a Super Bowl where the Clarion will be happy for the winner either way. Manning is a great player, he could win one. Both coaches seem like genuinely nice men. Happy to see further success for either of them. The state of Indiana has never had a major sports championship, aside from the Pacers winning the 2nd best league of the time, the ABA. Chicago, a great sports town, enjoyed the Sox, but 'da Bears have been without for 20 long years
At the start of the playoffs, the Clarion told you the proposition we liked best was the generic AFC winner minus six over the generic NFC winner. Why not stick with that?
As a follow-up on some of our commentary on the NFL coaching hires of the past couple of weeks, check out this Len Pasquarelli article on the trend toward younger coaches in the NFL. Super Bowl coaches Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are 48 and 51 respectively. The two young guys most responsible for firing up the latest trend are Eric Mangini of the Jets and Sean Payton of the Saints.
Also check out a fascinating site featured in the New York Times, invest in your team's future at Ticketreserve.com
The Clarion could have hardly been more wrong last week with the Patriots and the Saints.
In the Saints-Bears game, we tried to run with the better quarterback theory one more time. (Watch out for this again.) Instead of thinking dome team on the road, in a game where weather conditions may matter. Plus, minimal playoff experience, rookie head coach, rookie’s contributing at several skill positions on offense. Bears didn’t even play an “A” game, Saints got a sniff in the second quarter, didn’t do anything with it, and wham it was over.
The Patriots-Colts was just the opposite. The Clarion thought the Patriots were going to win the whole way. 98.9% of the country did at 21-3. Sure 21-6 and down only two scores made us nervous, but it was Manning and Dungy vs. Brady and Belichek. The Clarion had faith, confidence, little fear, all the way, right up to the final interception. Even then, there was a minute or two of shock where, it had to be digested, it wasn’t going to be the Patriots. The Colts had beaten their nemesis. Remove one monkey each from the backs of Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy.
Now it wouldn’t be a great idea for either of their reputations to lay a huge egg in the Super Bowl. A close loss, well the pundits will say what they will, but it wouldn’t do to get killed.
Clearly, on better quarterback theory you’d taken Peyton and the Colts. Rex Grossman gives no one confidence. Will he turn the ball over? How many times? However, the Colts run defense sucks. Don’t be fooled by the last couple of weeks. Bob Sanders is good, but one man on an undersized unit. The Bears are a running team with two good backs. The Bears defense is pretty stought, though this week they will miss injured safety and playmaker Mike Brown. But Peyton Manning...The Bears have the special teams edge. Devin Hester, from the U, could own this game, in Miami. Remember, the Colts coverage teams are no better than average.
The Patriots were the preseason AFC pick. The preseason NFC pick, the Panthers, are long gone. For the first time in a long time, it is a Super Bowl where the Clarion will be happy for the winner either way. Manning is a great player, he could win one. Both coaches seem like genuinely nice men. Happy to see further success for either of them. The state of Indiana has never had a major sports championship, aside from the Pacers winning the 2nd best league of the time, the ABA. Chicago, a great sports town, enjoyed the Sox, but 'da Bears have been without for 20 long years
At the start of the playoffs, the Clarion told you the proposition we liked best was the generic AFC winner minus six over the generic NFC winner. Why not stick with that?
As a follow-up on some of our commentary on the NFL coaching hires of the past couple of weeks, check out this Len Pasquarelli article on the trend toward younger coaches in the NFL. Super Bowl coaches Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are 48 and 51 respectively. The two young guys most responsible for firing up the latest trend are Eric Mangini of the Jets and Sean Payton of the Saints.
Also check out a fascinating site featured in the New York Times, invest in your team's future at Ticketreserve.com
Labels: NFL, Predictions, sports
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