Halelujah!

What can I say. I'm happy. Patriots lose the Super Bowl. Those are fun words to read.

NFL 2007: The Season that wasn't.

So the playoffs are here and that's just dandy. With the Patriots seemingly unstoppable please excuse me if I don't get giddy. For me this season has been the worst season to follow the NFL in well....since I've been following football. There are two main reasons for this (see below):

1. My Rams sucked donkeys. After at least having a sliver of hope that the Rams could make the playoffs for the past few years, they finally hit rock bottom (I hope) and within the first few games it was obvious that this season was going to be a nightmare. Their offensive line was decimated; Bulger was hurt and when he did play he looked awful; Linehan looks lost as a head coach and I'm not excited about his progression in the future. That about sums up an awful season.

2. The Patriots sucked the life out of the 2007 season. They are so good that it seems like we ought to just hand them the Vince Lombardi trophy right now and save us all the sickening sight of having to watch them win it. They are disgustingly arrogant with a coach and QB that I can't stand. To me Brady is the best QB of all time and I'm mad as hell at the Raiders and Dolphins for giving him valuable targets like Moss and Welker for basically nothing in return. The Dolphins move is inexcusable because they are in the same freaking division! Anyway if next season is like this season with the Pats I'm giving up on the NFL. I'll need anger management classes and I'm pretty sure my insurance doesn't cover that.


---As for the playoffs I'll be rooting for the Colts and anyone playing the Pats and in the NFC I would like to see the Packers get back to the Super Bowl.

NFL Thoughts:Week 15

---I'm happy for the Dolphins. I really am. With the way they were celebrating you would have thought they won the Super Bowl. But the smashing potential of a winless season does tend to make you giddy.

---San Diego is loaded at RB. When Tomlinson goes out of the game (rarely) Turner and Sproles are not a significant drop off.

---Seattle is in the playoffs and New Orleans might not get there. Yet I would definitely say the Saints are the better team. That's how it works though when you have a division as weak as the NFC West.

----If the Jets had any kind of an offense they could have won that game against New England.

---I thought the Colts might have been taking the Raiders for granted. Oakland played them pretty tough.

NFL Thoughts: Week 14

--- I hope those teams with a solid QB really count their blessings. My Rams started Brock Berlin on Sunday. There is no way to appropriately discuss how I feel about that.

----Won't it be weird to have one team go undefeated in the same year a team goes winless? I wish I'd put money down on that one.

---It's good to see Drew Brees have another good game. But if the Saints miss the playoffs by one game they will kick themselves for blowing the first month of the season. Also, I would really like to see Reggie Bush return to his amazing self someday but there is a good chance he is just not good enough to be a feature back in the NFL. Obviously he has elusiveness, good hands, speed, and some toughness (despite being out for the rest of the season with injury). But I think he lacks a key element that a RB needs. That is: great vision between the tackles. Time and time again he makes the wrong decision about which hole to take, which block to stay behind and when to accelerate or slow down. Adrian Peterson on the other tends to do all these things right.

NFL Thoughts: Week 13

---After the way David Garrard diced up the Indy secondary today I'm not too hopeful of the Colts chances of stopping the Pats in the playoffs if they meet.


---Just when you think Vince Young might turn into Michael Vick (all legs, no accuracy) he goes and has himself a nice couple of weekends in a row. We need to remember he is only a second year guy. If 2 years from now he is still as inconsistent as...oh say... Eli Manning...well, then he will deserve significant criticism....like Eli Manning .


---And yeah Eli engineered a good drive to win the game for the Giants today but his mistakes earlier in the game would have sealed New York's fate had they not been playing a punchless Chicago team.


---The Rams won at home this year for the first time! I'm microwaving popcorn tonight to celebrate. Yeah, I go all out.



---If Marvin Lewis keeps his job after this year then somebody ought to arrest the Bengals owner (in keeping with Cincy tradition).




---Cleveland was robbed at the end of their game against Arizona. If Winslow isn't pushed out then he comes down in bounds with a TD to win the game. Having said that, I don't blame the ref for not calling it the Browns way. It's one of the hardest judgement calls to make in real time and besides isn't everyone whining about Refs making iffy calls that decide the game. Maybe they ought to add that to the replay rules.





---Speaking of the Cardinals, they are only .500 this year but they seem a lot tougher under Whisenhunt. He brings a bit of the Steeler grit and guts to a team that was in desperate need of some testicular fortitude.


---I'm tempted to bash Sean Payton for a stupid called reverse that went bad and cost the Saints the game. But you know, on second thought, I've been ripping him all year for times when he gets conservative at the end of games or in 4th and short situations. I mean what if the reverse had gone great and they would have picked up the first down? Then he's be a gutsy coach who had the nuts to do something the other team would never expect. It went bad for the Saints but really what hasn't gone wrong for them this year? I look for them to rebound in 08 and become a contender again.




---The Cowboys looked good again. It would have been nice to see Favre healthy for the whole game but even had he played the whole game I'm not sure the result would have been different. Dallas might just be the second best team in the NFL. If Tony Romo wasn't so damn likable I would be horrified at that thought.


--- You know, I was a Cowboy fan from age 8 to age 25. So that partly explains my ability to get off the Dallas hate-wagon for a little while. When you have roots that go back that many years it's tough to completely shed them. I mean during the 1980s, Tony Dorsett was only topped by Daisy Dukes in my mind. I've really only been anti-Cowboy for the past ten years. The distastefulness of Jerry Jones and the attraction of a wide open St. Louis passing offense were mostly to blame for my traitorous turn away from Big D. Bringing Terrell Owens was like the cherry on top. But come to think of it, Terrell Owens hasn't made much noise this year at all. That in turn may also be affecting my willingness to let go of the hate. After being a major drama queen for 3 solid years (and a minor one for years prior to his Eagles stint) suddenly he has become a good teammate. I've listened to post-game interviews and he actually says all the right kind of cliches. Whats up with that? Maybe the winning is a big part of it. If things were to go bad for the Cowboys then we might see the old T.O. again. At any rate, I don't think I'm ready to return to my former loyalties, but lets just say if they were to play the Pats (a team that will always be on my crapola list) in the Super Bowl I'd break out the Dorsett jersey again. Although it might be a little tight considering I wore it in the 5th grade.

NFL Thoughts: Week 12

---The Rams/Seahawks game just perfectly captures the theme for St. Louis the past couple of years. Down on the goal line they fumbled a perfectly winnable game away just like they've squandered an opportunity to dominate a weak division the past two years. It's pathetic.

----I've got to agree with Don Banks for Si.com about Eli Manning. He's mediocre and likely will never rise above that label. This a guy who every once in a while can put together a great game and make people think, "oh yeah that's why we drafted him....that and because his last name is Manning". The Vikings ought to send Eli a busload of roses for handing them this week's game.

----I'm pretty sure the Broncos Mike Shannahan should never have the word genius attached to his name again. Devin Hester's two TDs prove that. Didn't you get the memo Mike that nobody is kicking to this guy anymore?

---In the past Brett Favre passing too much has led to disaster. Not this year. His running game isn't as atrocious as rumored but it's still up to him to win games and this year it's happening. I like it.

---I like the three games on Thanksgiving. My wife is like, "what ? football again? You've been watching it all day" . I'm like, "yeah, so? It's Thanksgiving". End of discussion.


--damn the Patriots. Eagles almost had them.
---

NFL Thoughts: Week 11

This being Thanksgiving week and all, I should be thankful for a few things.

---I'm thankful for the Patriots. Seriously. I mean I hate them and all but at least they have helped me define true evil.

---I'm thankful the Rams beat the 49ers. We still get to count it as victory right?

---I'm thankful for the Packers. At least there is one team in the NFC I can be happy about.

---This isn't NFL related, but I'm thankful for the season Alabama is having. Looked good in the beginning but now the wheels are falling off. Couldn't happen to a bigger dork---unless it was Belichick---Congrats on really bringing your pizazz to the SEC this year Nick Saban. Here's hoping you destroy that program like you destroyed the Dolphins.

---I'm thankful for Tony Romo. Being the hater I am, usually the Cowboys rate pretty high on my "wishing for all bad things to happen to them" scale. Romo actually has me watching him play sometimes and currently the Cowboys are only at "slightly dislike".

---I'm thankful for Willie Parker. Draft picks can be overrated.

--I'm thankful for pie. Whoever invented pie should automatically make it to Heaven no questions asked. Oh and whoever made pie a Thanksgiving staple should also be given serious consideration at the pearly gates. I love Thanksgiving.