The Monday Morning Longsnapper

Credit Where Credit Is Due Edition

Jordan did have this game picked right, but, most people didn't give the Cardinals much of a chance in this game.  Most people didn't give the Cardinals credit a week ago, in Carolina.  Some even doubted their chances to beat the young Falcons, two weeks before that.  And now, for the third week in a row, they've shut us all up.  Except for Jordan.

What most people doubted (if I can confidently speak for the masses) was Arizona's defense.  People questioned whether or not a defense that was in the bottom five in the NFL in points allowed would be able to slow the Eagles.  Now, no one was confusing the Eagles with an offensive juggernaut but for whatever reason, we (at least, I) felt like stopping Atlanta and Carolina in consecutive weeks was merely happenstance.

Crushing DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart (not to mention making Jake Delhomme look like he was 70 years old) just wasn't enough to convince people.  Neither, apparently, was derailing another 2009 elite running back in Michael Turner and forcing 3 turnovers out of Matt Ryan.  Wasn't enough.  

Too soft, not a big game defense.

Then, they went up 21-6 in the first half, forced Donovan McNabb to make throws he didn't want to make, and generally had the heat on the Eagles in that first half.  Things certainly slowed down a bit in that third quarter for the Cards defense, but, the '85 Bears they ain't.  

The simple truth is that the Cardinals, lead by Jesus Christ and his lone disciple Kurt Warner, are a good team.  They weren't a good team all season, they were never the best team at any point in the season.  But, unfortunately for the Panthers and Giants and Eagles and any other team in the NFC, that's just not how it works.  

• Eagles Fans:  That wasn't a missed pass interference call on your second to last pass of the season.  Two things, Kevin Curtis (still my man), was falling down anyway, and McNabb's pass was offline as it was.  Not a PI, sorry.
• Some part of me feels good for the Cardinals.  If I had told you, two years ago, that in the same sports year, the "Devil" Rays would be playing in the World Series, and the Cardinals would be playing in the Super Bowl, there's no way you'd have believed me.  What's next, are the Nationals going to beat the Globetrotters?  Has the world gone completely mad?  Let me guess, the economy's going to tank too, and we're going to have a black president, right?  Sure...
• Brian Westbrook has to be more hurt than he lets on, because when you look back at the three games he played in, he really only had one play of note which was the long screen pass in the Minnesota game.  That was about it.  Average or bad the rest of the way.
• Players that probably wish they didn't play football professionally on Sundays:  Corey Ivy, Willis McGahee (ankle), Willis McGahee (neck)...and anyone else on Troy Polamalu's side of the field at any given time.
• On that note, obviously you hope McGahee comes out OK from the scare he got on the field yesterday.  I've never been a big fan of him, especially after his comments regarding night life in Buffalo, but the kid's tough.  He tore up basically everything possible in his knee in college, was banged up this year, and now this neck injury.  Word was he was moving his arms and legs and speaking easily, so those are obviously good signs.
• The score may have been close, but Baltimore wasn't really in the game as much as it may have seemed.  They seemed to be waiting on a big play, which Joe Flacco has been able to deliver fairly often.  But, against this Steelers D it just wasn't to be.  I expected him to fold completely after the early interception, but to his credit he held it together.  The pressure he never seemed to get a break from, the nearly flawless downfield coverage his receivers faced--it was just too much.  The Steelers D isn't particularly flashy, but they just hit you hard, and often and right in the mouth.
• Lastly, Limas Sweed, if you ever, ever, ever ever ever ever ever (sorry got sick of using commas) drop a pass again like the one at the end of the first half where you're wide open with a chance to blow open the game, I will personally come to Pittsburgh and smack the hell out of you.

Everything You Need To Get Ready For the the NFL's Divisional Round

Philadelphia (+4) @ New York:

Often, it's said that when two teams face each other three times in the same season, it's difficult for one team to win all three of those game. Don't worry about that here.

Often, you can look towards home-field, and handicap a game based on which team has that advantage. Don't look at that here either.

Really, don't look for any sort of cute indicators. Both teams won games during the year on the other's home field, neither game decided by more than a touchdown. The Giants, after a bye week, are just about fully healthy. Justin Tuck is going to play, even if it's only on one leg. The Eagles are nicked up, but, nothing out of the ordinary or not to be expected this deep into the season.

It's going to be absolutely freezing at the Meadowlands today, so expect both teams, despite Andy Reid's wishes, to run the ball, a lot. We all know how tough the Giants run game can be but the Eagles can be just as difficult to handle if only because of their versatility. Keep in mind, Brian Westbrook might not be your prototypical back, but he did have one of his best games on the ground this year in New York (err...New Jersey). Also, as they showed last week, the Eagles don't necessarily have to run the ball to keep Westbrook involved. Screens and short passes to him and my man Kevin Curtis will be the name of the day.

No question, tough game to pick. About a two months ago, it was impossible to predict against the Giants. They were running over people, just ripping up the NFC. Then Plaxico and Pierce did their best Bonnie and Clyde impression, Brandon Jacobs got hurt, and they became human. The Eagles, on the other hand, have been (pardon the corny pun) flying. With the points not being much difference here, I'm taking the Eagles. Jim Johnson's D will have the G-Men scrambling all day, and the Eagles will find a way to keep it simple with Westbrook. Close game, but Eagles and the points.

Scott's Pick: Philly Jordan's Pick:  New York

San Diego (+6) @ Pittsburgh:

Here's my thing, so far as San Diego's concerned: they're playing with house money because they don't have their star running back, and, they know they really shouldn't be in the playoffs. Did they earn their spot? Sure they did. But, most any team worth the fibers stitched on their jerseys (read: not Denver) would've sealed the deal with a 3 game lead and 3 to play. Good for San Diego that Denver stinks.

That all considered, San Diego's got a tough task today.  While it does seem like the ever-frequent image of LT is of one sullen superstar sitting in an over-sized coat on the sidelines come playoff time, fact is, dude is hurt, again.  So, it's up to Darren Sproles.  The odds are supremely stacked against him.  Pittsburgh hasn't allowed a 100 yard rusher all season.  In fact, including this year's preseason, this season and last year's playoffs and season, they've only allowed one 100 yard rusher in the last 27 games.  It was amusing watch Sproles scat his way all over the field last week, such a similar result ain't gonna happen.

So, Philip Rivers, it all falls on you.  Pissed off you didn't make the Pro Bowl (how on Earth did that happen, by the way)?  Show the world (read:  15 people that watch the "joy" that is the NFL's all-star game) that you deserved to be there.  Though, Brett Favre did his best to show he didn't belong in the season's final weeks, and no one seemed to notice.  

While it isn't likely to be raining or snowing Pittsburgh today, the weather, as in New Jersey, will surely be dreadful and close to frostbite inducing (again, read:  not a lot of scoring or enjoyable play).  Low scoring affair that this game seems destined to be, Pittsburgh has to be the way to go.

To go all Winston Churchill on you, it's time that the Iron Curtain closes on the dream that has been the Chargers season. 

Or something like that.

  

Scott's Pick:  Pittsburgh Jordan's Pick: San Diego

The Monday Morning Longsnapper

Worst Player on a Good Team Edition

It's easy to pick on him, but I can't help it:  Tavaris Jackson plain stinks.  He just isn't a good quarterback, and you don't need to be a film coach to see it.  He has awful technique (he drops his arm when he throws, rarely squares up, and often stares down the same receivers), and he's wildly inaccurate.

His only saving graces (only!) are that he can occasionally throw a deep ball, and he can run a bit.  But, he only can do the former so often, and seems unwilling to do the latter enough.  

Yesterday's Wild Card game between TJ's Vikings and the Eagles was difficult to watch at points, if only because you sort of got the feeling that Jackson wasn't ever going to be able to do much.  It was as if he'd lost a bet, and someone told him, for the next few years, you have to go out and embarrass yourself in front of millions of people a year, because we all know you can't play in the NFL.  Even if it's amazingly apparent that you can't play, you can't quit, no matter what.

Now, hear me out (or, in this case, read me out), I'm not solely going off this one game.  I've seen him play before, and, frankly, I couldn't figure out why he was playing those other times.  The pass he threw to Asante Samuels (I have trouble calling it an interception because I'm of the belief that it was intended more for Samuels than Sidney Rice) was just pathetic.  Don't even start with this nonsense that he was hit as he threw, it was just one of his many awful, off-target throws.  That one though, just happened to swing the momentum of the game in the favor of the opponents.

Yesterday, Jackson connected with his receivers at a clip of under 43%.  Come on, already.  Do this kid a favor, find someone else to play quarterback.

• From that same game, the one guy that will likely never get the credit he deserves is Kevin Curtis, for two reasons.  First, he's a wideout on a team that hasn't had a popular one since you-know-who.  Second, he's a white wideout, which makes him quite the rarity, to where he'd need to be as good as, say, Wes Welker, to get a national bit of clout.  Which, he isn't, at least not in the Eagles system.  Point is, Curtis is a solid wideout that most people likely don't pay attention to.  Also, he can do little things, like block downfield.  Just check that Brian Westbrook screen pass run again.  Yes, that is Mr. Curtis flattening a Viking DB downfield (white guy, number 80) to spring Westbrook.
• Ed Reed may not be the best safety ever, but he has to be one of the best ball-hawk safeties ever.  He's a better receiver than about half of the clowns actually playing that position in the league.
• Chad Pennington was simply over matched yesterday.  Chad's a calculated quarterback, one that's made his living in the league with short passes, quick routes, and nearly impossible-to-miss targets.  Occasionally, he'll go more than 15 yards down the field, but, his strong suit is within the first down markers, and letting his wideouts do the rest.  Yesterday, down by a bunch early, he couldn't do that.  The Ravens, a-la what the Eagles would later do to Tavaris Jackson, wouldn't stop picking on Pennington.  Blitzing, applying constant pressure, and making Pennington throw the ball where he didn't (and couldn't) want to.  It was especially rough, when you consider that the entire season, Pennington had only thrown 7 INTs.
• I had it predicted right, at least partially.  I said the Chargers would have success on the ground, I was just wrong about who it was that would have that success.  Backup Darren Sproles, who nearly set a record for most all-purpose yards, just tore it up after LT couldn't go with a groin injury.  Sproles isn't your prototypical back, listed at only 5'6", 181.  But, he can motor, and he's quick on a dime.  Not sure what his future is, but, this is only the beginning of the death knoll for Tomlinson.  His days as a top notch back are over.  He'll have a few good games sprinkled in, here and there, but, elite is now a past tense word for him.