The Divisional match ups are supposed to feature the top teams but it was just bad football played this weekend. I won't even discuss the no offense Ravens against the Colts. That game was awful to watch, no rhythm by either team offensively. The Saints plowed over the no defense having Cardinals. I think the Saints still having receivers and running backs running free Ken Whisenhut. Sometimes certain teams have your number in Kurt Warner's place its a stadium. Warner is 0-3 in the Superdome for his career. Kurt was the qb with the Rams who gave the Saints their first ever playoff win in franchise history back in 2000 and then the Rams lost to the Patriots in 2001 in the Superdome. If he does retire, he will be happy not to play there anymore.
Cowboy Haze
I wonder did the Cowboys really feel like they were going to beat the Vikings at home? They did not get any pressure on Favre and Sidney Rice was running fly patterns down the field. One of Rice's TD catches, Terence Newman was just running next to him, like he didn't know he caught the ball. The Cowboys looked unprepared and disorganized. I truly believe Philips was so excited about the first playoff win that they ere not prepared to take on the Vikings. Has a player looked better in a uniform but has not done a thing on field like Roy Williams? The Cowboys traded a lot of picks and are paying him a lot of money for him to stay chiseled but not make any plays. Who would have ever said Detroit got the better end of that deal but it sure looks like they did.
Same Old Norv
With that sad, I think there are sometimes a coach can only take a team so far. Take Norv Turner for instance. The Chargers got rid of Marty Schotenheimer for not only conflict with the GM but because he could not win playoff games. Norv Turner comes in and he can't win playoff games either. The Chargers are the regular season champs every year. They had an opportunity to beat the Jets and for some inexplicable reason they didn't. Dumb personal foul penalties and other miscues plagued them yesterday. I am not taking anything away from the Jets, they kept it close and capitalized on the Chargers mistakes. But the Chargers should have never put themselves in those situations. When your field goal kicker has missed two tries and looks very uncomfortable, do you run him back out there so he can miss another field goal and give the momentum back to the Jets? It was 4 and 3 and what was beating the Jets was misdirection plays. As a coach you have to make adjustments at the half and attack the Jets with the same plays that cause them problems until they adjust. The other miscue that Turner did was the onside kick toward the end of the game. You have to kick it deep because the Jets could not move the ball on you. Giving them the short field played right into the Jets hands. Norv has not shown any ability to take the Chargers to the next step and its ashamed with all of the talent they have. I don't think the Chargers will change coaches unless they can get a proven Super Bow winning coach like a Cowher to come there. Since that won't happen, expect the Chargers to win the AFC west and crumble in the playoffs.
Pounding The Rock
I had a post a few weeks ago on why I thought the spread was killing football. I took a couple of jabs for it but I still believe that you need a solid running game to set up the pass. The Jets completely validate my point. The opposing team totally knows what they are going to do but they can't stop it. By having a terrific ground game it pressures the opposing team to crowd the line of scrimmage and Mark Sanchez can make easier throws down field. Of course the Jets don't score a lot points this way but by pounding the ball it keeps the clock moving and it shortens the amount of possessions the opposing offense has. That's why having a dominating ground game is important.
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