Football

9-25 10:35 am

Amy and I are having a bit of an NFL Pick Challenge. I want to see if Amy, who hates football and only knows about it from the cursory information she picks up when it is on the house, can still pick just as well as a guy like me who sorta knows what’s going on. She has to put up with me watching Sunday night and Monday night games as she usually works on Sunday. She is guessing in pure speculation. But as you know in the NFL, any team can beat any team on any given day. Look at Philadelphia today—their kicker David Akers gets hurt and somehow they don’t have a good backup. They can’t kick and even extra points are not automatic. That is definitely an edge. (Digression—why isn’t the Eagle punter kicking field goals?)

Here are Amy’s picks from before kickoff this morning:

Browns vs. Colts--WIN
Tennessee vs. St. Louis--loss
Jacksonville vs. Jets--WIN
Carolina vs. Miami--loss
Atlanta vs. Buffalo--loss
Tampa Bay vs. Green Bay--loss
New Orleans vs. Minnesota--WIN
Kansas City vs. Denver
Dallas vs. San Francisco--loss
Pittsburgh vs. New England--loss
Cardinals vs. Seattle--loss
Giants vs. Chargers
Philadelphia vs. Oakland--WIN
Bears vs. Cincinnati--loss

And here are my picks:

Browns vs. Colts--WIN
Tennessee vs. St. Louis--WIN
Jacksonville vs. Jets--loss
Carolina vs. Miami--loss
Atlanta vs. Buffalo--loss
Tampa Bay vs. Green Bay--WIN
New Orleans vs. Minnesota--loss
Kansas City vs. Denver
Dallas vs. San Francisco--WIN
Pittsburgh vs. New England--loss
Cardinals vs. Seattle--WIN
Giants vs. Chargers
Philadelphia vs. Oakland--WIN
Bears vs. Cincinnati--WIN



Digression:
Bears—Kyle Orton throws four interceptions in the first half.
Can somebody please tell me how in a country of millions and a world of 6 billion that there are not 32 really good quarterbacks? Why is this such a problem? 32—for the 32 teams in the NFL. Just 32 really great quarterbacks. There are better than 32 really good golfers. There are better than 32 quality pitchers in MLB. They screw with the confidence of these young guys by drafting them and then making them sit on the bench for a year or two (or more) and keep telling them that they aren’t ready. If I were told for a year or more that I wasn’t ready after a good college tour, and especially behind a mediocre quarterback, I would question myself. Look at Tom Brady. The only reason he got to play was after an injury—and nobody can tell me that he shouldn’t have been playing after three Superbowl rings. Ben Roethlisberger was the same way and he becomes NFL offensive player of the year.

Eagles—Donovan McNabb is playing injured. He is obviously struggling, cannot run and cannot pass very well. Why is the backup not in? Hello? Wouldn’t a healthy backup be better than a hurt starter? Shouldn’t he be?

Eagles end of game—I watched the last few minutes with next-door neighbor Patrick as he was holding his baby daughter Dorothy. He came over after Janikowski missed that last field goal. The Raiders were losing 20-13 with about 4 minutes left, at the Eagles 20 yard line, and they come out and try a field goal. Help me here—what would losing 20-16 do for your team? You still need a touchdown. Hopefully you stop them and get the ball back, but you are banking on stopping Donovan McNabb, Terrell Owens and the Philadelphia Eagles. And then you still need a touchdown. If you kick it and make it, you have to kick off again. If you go for a first down, and miss, you give them the ball at the 20-yard line. (If you kick and miss, according to the rules, you actually give the ball to the other team at the spot of the kick, or in this case the 37-yard line—better position for this other team. Is that a gamble you want to take?) Either way, you still need a touchdown to tie or win. And honestly it should have been a moot point because Akers got hurt and Simoneau missed that extra point, that’s why the Eagles only had 20 instead of 21. So I do not understand the Raider thinking on this. With four minutes to go, you play to tie, not to kick a field goal, stop them, and then come back to score a go-ahead touchdown. Not with only four minutes left.

So the Raiders do stop them, get the ball back, and score a touchdown. This ties the game. First of all, the Eagles should have run the ball to run off clock, but no, they throw incomplete passes and stop the clock and hardly run off any time. Oakland scores with a little over two minutes left. 20-20.

So what do the Raiders do? All game long they have been stopping the Eagles pretty much, especially the run. They just did it. So now they go into a prevent defense. Apparently this prevents your team from stopping the other team. Eagles gobbled up ten to fifteen yard pass plays and moved down the field, with all three timeouts and the two-minute warning. Eagles get to within the five-yard line and Akers, hurt and all, is able to chip the ball in for a game-winning field goal.

Patrick, by the way, predicted all of this. Every second. He knew exactly how the game was going to end. Oakland should be ashamed of this game.