Keefe To The City

Jan 2, 2015

NFL Wild-Card Weekend Picks

The regular season finished with a 127-125-4 record and it’s only going to take a mediocre postseason to finish over .500 for the year.

The picks regular season finished strong and with a final record of 127-125-4. That means I have to go just 5-6 in the playoffs to finish over .500 for the season. That shouldn’t be too hard, but a bad slate of first-round games won’t make it easy.

(Home team in caps)

Arizona +6.5 over CAROLINA
The Panthers finished the season 7-8-1, won their division and received a home game for the first round. Five of the other division winners finished with 12 wins (4.5 more wins than the Panthers) and the other two finished with 11 (3.5 more wins than the Panthers).

The NFL needs to fix the playoff format to avoid ever having a 7-8-1 team hosting a first-round playoff game. Four years ago, when the Seahawks won the NFC West at 7-9, they hosted the defending champion Saints and beat them and everyone let it slide because a 7-9 team had never made the playoffs before and they just figured it would likely never happen again. But it did happen again just four years later. And a 7-9 team didn’t make the playoffs, a 7-8-1 team did.

There needs to be a rule implemented that if an under-.500 team can win their division and get a playoff berth, but they can’t host a first-round playoff game. There’s no reason the 7-8-1 Panthers should be hosting the 11-5 Cardinals this weekend.

PITTSBURGH -3.5 over Baltimore
The Steelers have the best chance of any of the teams in the AFC playoffs of eliminating the Patriots. Normally I wouldn’t root for the Steelers, unless they’re playing the Ravens, but the idea of them going to Gillette and knocking off the Patriots next week is reason enough.

Cincinnati +4 over INDIANAPOLIS
For some unknown reason, I have an irrational confidence in the Bengals. No matter how many times they screw me over, I continue to pick them. But sometimes it works out for me like it did on Monday Night Football in Week 16 when I bet the Bengals +185 to beat the Broncos.

As much as I shouldn’t trust the Bengals is how much I don’t trust the Colts. They already beat up on the Bengals back in Week 7 with a 27-0 win, but that’s what they do, they beat up on other bad teams. This is a battle of bad teams, so I’m taking the points.

Detroit +6.5 over DALLAS
The worst part about the Giants not winning the NFC East and making the playoffs aside from not making the playoffs is that another team has to win the division and make the playoffs. Last year it was the Eagles, this year it’s the Cowboys. Next year it better be the Giants or it will be a fourth straight postseason-less year for them and Tom Coughlin will no longer be the head coach.

I want the Cowboys out of the playoffs and out of them as fast as possible. As long as a Cowboys-Patriots Super Bowl matchup is a possibility (no matter how remote of a possibility it might be, it’s still a possibility) I have to worry about it and I just want to watch the NFL playoffs and have fun doing it and not have to worry about Super Sunday being ruined.

Last week: 8-7-1
Season: 127-125-4

Blogs • NFL

Dec 30, 2014

My Super Bowl XLIX Dilemma

The Giants won’t win Super Bowl XLIX, but some team will, so it’s time to figure out who to root for the in the NFL playoffs.

Someone will win Super Bowl XLIX, but it won’t be the Giants.

With the Giants officially on Day 2 of the offseason (I say “officially” because you could make the case that some of them have been in offseason mode for weeks and some never even left it for the regular season) their season has ended in December for the third year in a row. Without the Giants in the playoffs, it’s time to once again rank the 12 playoff teams in order from which team I would most like to see win Super Bowl XLIX to which team I don’t want to see win at all.

1. Cardinals
In 2013, Bruce Arians’ Cardinals finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs because of the deep NFC West, while the 8-7-1- Packers won their division and hosted a first-round game. This season, Arians lost his starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, for Weeks 2, 3 and 5 (they had a bye in Week 4), and then to a season-ending injury in Week 10. The Cardinals went 6-0 when Palmer was their quarterback and 5-5 when he wasn’t. The Cardinals could have been looking at becoming the first team to win the Super Bowl in their own building if Palmer hadn’t gotten hurt, but now they have to settle for starting either their third- or fourth-string quarterback in the playoffs. Arians has dealt with some bad luck through his first two seasons with the Cardinals that could only be paid off with a miraculous run in the playoffs. It’s not going to happen, but I’m rooting for it.

2. Broncos
I don’t think the Broncos are capable of going to Gillette Stadium and beating the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. I wish they were and I hope they are, but Peyton Manning in that building just isn’t the same guy he would be if the Broncos had earned the 1-seed and would be hosting that potential game. Peyton is going to need a second Super Bowl win to be considered the greatest quarterback ever and not just the greatest regular-season quarterback ever. He had his chance in Super Bowl XLIV and again in XVIII and I hope he gets the chance again in XLIX because that will mean the Patriots won’t be there.

3. Seahawks
Last year, I had the Seahawks ranked eighth in this column because I didn’t want to see Pete Carroll running around the field as a Super Bowl champion. At the time, I said, “In a world where college coaches will do anything and I mean anything to get a better job, Pete Carroll is the poster boy for how to get ahead after he left USC with a two-year bowl ban and the elimination of 30 football scholarships for another shot at the NFL.” But then the Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII and I got over seeing Carroll as a champion and actually grew to like the Seahawks this season, mainly because I believe they are the one true team that can beat the Patriots in a potential Super Bowl matchup.

4. Colts
The Andrew Luck lovefest is too much to take. I understand that he is going to be the face of the league once Peyton Manning and Tom Brady retire and Aaron Rodgers gets older, but can we wait until we get to that point before we anoint him as that player?

Even though I have the Colts ranked fourth, I want them to lose in the first round because they have absolutely no chance of going to Gillette Stadium and beating the Patriots in the divisional round if that is the matchup that happens. The Colts were run out of their own building by the Patriots, well Jonas Gray really in his fourth career game, and that game barely involved Tom Brady and the passing game (19-for-30 with 257 yards), so there’s a 100 percent chance they will get routed on the road.

5. Lions
The lasting image from the sidelines of Super Bowl XLV is Jim Caldwell standing there with the only look he has, which is one of confusion, and that look was only intensified following the Saints’ onside kick to begin the second half in a game the Colts could have put away if Pierre Garcon didn’t drop a would-be touchdown pass from Peyton Manning. Somehow, the Lions thought Jim Caldwell was the right man for the prime of Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson’s career even after watching Caldwell stand speechless and wearing a headset seemingly connected to nothing for three years as the Colts’ head coach. I wouldn’t really mind if the Lions won the Super Bowl because they have been so bad for so long, but thinking of Caldwell as a Super Bowl-winning head coach is hard to fathom and accept.

6. Bengals
Last year, I said the following about the Bengals:

What is there not to like about the Bengals? Or should I say, what is there to not like about the Bengals? Unless you really hate gingers and therefore Andy Dalton or want to see the Bengals playoff win drought endure another year, there’s no reason to care if the Bengals win it all.

Well, this season, the Bengals cost me numerous picks, parlays and teasers, and most of those were the product of Andy Dalton turning the ball over, so there is a reason to care if Dalton and the Bengals win it all.

7. Panthers
Ah, there’s nothing quite like a 7-8-1 team winning their division and getting a first-round home game. I might as well have left the Panthers off this list because without either a strong offense or defense, they are the least likely team to get to the Super Bowl, so spending time writing this paragraph about them has just been a waste of time. And let’s not forget what I wrote about them last year:

I’m still mad at the Panthers for their Super Bowl XXXVIII loss to the Patriots that gave the Patriots their second Super Bowl in three years. And I’m still mad at the Panthers, well mainly just Jake Delhomme, for destroying that divisional round game against the Cardinals in 2008 with five interceptions, costing me the Panthers -10 pick.

8. Packers
Let me remind you of how the Packers’ season have ended in the Aaron Rodgers era:

2008: Missed playoffs
2009: Lost in wild-card round
2010: Won Super Bowl
2011: Lost in divisional round (first game)
2012: Lost in divisional round after beating Joe Webb and the Vikings in the Wild-Card round
2013: Lost in wild-card round

In the last six years with Rodgers as the starter, the Packers have won five playoff games with four of them coming in the same year. And if the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” doesn’t happen, the Packers don’t even make the playoffs in 2010 let alone win the Super Bowl. If the Packers win the Super Bowl, the never-ending praise for Rodgers is only going to get worse.

9. Steelers
Ben Roethislberger a three-time Super Bowl champion? No one wants that. But I do want Big Ben to at least get to the big game (as long as he isn’t facing the Cowboys when he gets there). Because if Roethlisberger is in Arizona then that means the Patriots aren’t and right now, I feel most confident about the Steelers upsetting the Patriots in the AFC playoffs than the Broncos or any other team.

10. Ravens
I spend every season rooting against the Ravens after what happened in Super Bowl XXXV, but this year my anti-Ravens rooting was even more pronounced thanks to their handling of their off-the-field issues and owner Steve Bisciotti’s press conference on the matters. And the cherry on top of it all was Joe Flacco going 21-for-50 for 195 yards and three interceptions (his line was way worse until the fourth quarter) against the Texans and destroying a teaser I had. There is nothing to like about the Ravens and if they win Super Bowl XLIX, Flacco would be a two-time Super Bowl champion.

11. Cowboys
There is only one team I want to win Super Bowl XLIX less than the Cowboys. The Cowboys are part of my most hated sports team group, which also includes the Red Sox, Mets, Cardinals, Eagles, Jets, Flyers and the next team on this list. A Super Bowl win for the Cowboys gives happiness to Jerry Jones and all of the fraud fans around the country, who have never been to Dallas, but are somehow Cowboys fans and gives Tony Romo the validation he needs to solidify his career and clear his name from the No. 1 spot in the Superstar Without A Championship power rankings. Tony Romo as a winner and a champion? I don’t think anyone wants that. Especially Giants fans.

12. Patriots
From the 2010 playoffs:

There is no way I want the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. None at all. I would rather walk across the George Washington Bridge naked, during rush hour, while it’s freezing rain than see the Patriots win.

Without the Giants in the playoffs, I don’t feel confident in any other team’s ability to eliminate the Patriots in the postseason. Last season, I felt confident in the Broncos’ chances at home in the AFC Championship Game and in 2012,

Sure, the Patriots have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, but they were home for the 2012 AFC Championship Game against the Ravens, the 2010 divisional round against the Jets and the 2009 divisional round against the Ravens. They have lost at home in the playoffs and they can lose again. The problem is that out of the other five teams in the AFC playoffs, only the Bengals, Broncos and Colts have played the Patriots this season, going a combined 0-3 and getting outscored 110-58. In other words, the AFC field is bad. Really, really, really bad. The team’s with the best chance of extending the Patriots’ Super Bowl drought to 10 years are all in the NFC, and by the time the Patriots would have to play the NFC, there will be only one game standing between them and winning the Super Bowl and anything can happen in one game.

I’m scared that this is the year the Patriots finish the job after losing two Super Bowls, three AFC Championship Games, two divisional round losses, a wild-card round loss and a missed postseason over the last nine years. But the one thing keeping me from penciling the Patriots in as the Super Bowl XLXI champion is Mike Hurley telling me that he has seen better Patriots team he thought would win the Super Bowl and they didn’t.

The Patriots have to lose.

Blogs • NFL

Dec 29, 2014

The Rex Ryan Love-Hate Relationship

I’m not a Jets fan, but I ended up being a Rex Ryan fan and his New York departure needs a proper goodbye.

I got my wish: Tom Coughlin will be the Giants’ head coach in 2015. I think the final few weeks of the season showed that the Giants’ 6-10 season was more of a product of leading the league with players on injured reserve rather than Coughlin losing the ability to coach overnight. Even without a postseason appearance since 2011 and a postseason game since Super Bowl XLVI, Coughlin still has that and XLII on his resume and that should be enough to keep him around until he decides he longer wants to be. And with Ben McAdoo assisting in the best offensive season of Eli Manning’s career and an Odell Beckham Jr.-Victor Cruz receiving tandem next year, the Giants could be back to where they were three years ago at this time. Unfortunately, if you’re a Jets fan, the future isn’t as bright.

The team that tried to become the King of the City in 2009 and 2010 with back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances fired the man who got them there. Rex Ryan coached his final game as head coach of the Jets and general manager John Idzik watched his final game as the head of the front office on Sunday. Ryan was doomed from the start of the season when Idzik made him make Geno Smith the starting quarterback and when he decided to not spend $20 million that he’ll never get to spend. And Idzik was doomed from the second he went to the podium for the “We Suck, But We’re Trying Hard” press conference that will likely serve as the reason he is never leading a front office again.

I have written a lot of words about Rex Ryan since he became the head coach of the Jets and flip-flopped on whether I liked him or not more times than I have with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. He came to New York as a fat, loud-mouthed defensive coordinator, who called out Bill Belichick in his first days, eliminated his own team from the postseason before a run to the 2009 AFC Championship Game, gave us a memorable season Hard Knocks in the summer of 2010, embarrassed the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in the 2010 divisional round and then came a stop on third-and-6 away from having a chance to win 2010 AFC Championship Game. He leaves New York as a slimmed-down quieter version of himself, who hasn’t seen the playoffs since that 2010 AFC Championship Game and is 26-38 over the last four years.

After going back and forth on Rex Ryan’s personality and abilities, I settled on liking the outspoken Rex, who didn’t want his team to settle for being a “slapd-ck team” and just wanted to eat a snack. The Jets might always be “the same old Jets” but even for a Giants fan like myself, who enjoys watching a good Jets loss, Rex gave outsiders a reason to watch for a few years and a reason to root for his Jets, like I did for that Jets-Patriots divisional game back in January 2011. So in honor, of Rex Ryan, I went back and found five things I wrote about him from August 2010 through January 2011 to look at his best season as Jets head coach.

Rise of the Jets – Aug. 12, 2010
There are going to be a lot of people that watch Hard Knocks simply to see what Rex Ryan is like outside of his comedic press conferences and aside from his extravagant Daily News and Post headlines. After watching Rex freely make fun of his in-laws in the opening minutes of the show, you just knew he was going to make the most of this opportunity to have a camera and censor-free microphone in front of him for training camp.

In the show, Rex Ryan appears to be an actor rather than an amusing and overweight NFL coach. Some of his lines and actions seem a little over the top and rehearsed, the same way that the cast of the Jersey Shore now plays up their personas to fulfill the roles of the celebrities they have become rather than be themselves like they were in the first season when the show gained popularity. (Don’t get me wrong, I will continue to watch Jersey Shore no matter how fake the cast becomes, just like I would watch Hard Knocks even if Rex Ryan were reading off cue cards.)

I think the pre-camp meeting was the best example of Rex being a head coach that knows there is a camera recording him. Rex made it clear that he wants his team to lead the league in the wins, but it was almost as if he was trying force every last swear word he could into this scene, so that fans would come away from Hard Knocks and say, “Wow, Rex Ryan is a badass.” But if you take away Ryan’s HBO vocabulary from that meeting, it definitely wouldn’t have passed through the final cut. A power point presentation on Day 1 of camp for NFL players? What player would pay attention to that? It was almost as if someone recorded the first day of class from each semester of college when the professor would just stand there and read the syllabus word for word before you letting you go early. Not exactly captivating TV without Rex trying to break the South Park movie’s record for most swears in one scene.

Rex has reached a point in my life that not many other people can achieve: the point where I could watch Rex Ryan do just about anything. It’s such an elite club that I can’t even think of another person on this list. Whether it’s trying to drop 37 F-bombs before taking a breath, wearing Chuck Taylor shoes given his body type, eating a lunch big enough for a family of four at Cafe Ryan, throwing footballs, punting footballs or just standing around making small talk, there isn’t anything Rex Ryan can’t do that wouldn’t be compelling. I only wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likeable as Rex Ryan.

Rex will never have trouble finding a job in the football world, which is disappointing, because the man could carry his own reality show. And like a lot of other people, I would watch every second of it.

A Reality Check – Dec. 7, 2010
I didn’t like Rex Ryan at first, then he grew on me and I even wished Tom Coughlin was a little like him when I said, “I only wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likeable as Rex Ryan.” Actually I wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likable as anyone, but I was wrong to think that Coughlin should change his ways to be more like Ryan. After my 180 on Rex, I have done other 180, and now a complete 360 and I am back to my initial stance of not being a fan of Rex Ryan anymore.

There are few, if any, press conferences in sports as entertaining as Rex Ryan’s, but even those are getting old. In two seasons, Rex Ryan has become what The Office has become for me over seven seasons — a show that I was skeptical about at first, and then grew to love before becoming skeptical again.

One day Rex is saying that the Jets are the team to beat and the next he is saying that he knew the AFC East would run through New England. I understand that you have to take a grain of salt with whatever Rex says, but it’s become ridiculous. He wants to come off as this cocky, arrogant and pompous winner when the Jets are winning close games against barely competent teams. And after losses, he becomes an apologetic, sincere and humble the next. It’s an odd act that has made him a favorite of Jets fan, but an immature and unprepared clown to outsiders.

Tom Coughlin might not have a comedic personality or a limit to the amount of snacks he can eat in a day or a twin brother that looks like Sean Connery’s character John Mason at the beginning of The Rock, but he has beaten Bill Belichick in a big game (the biggest of games), and at least with Tom Coughlin you know what you’re getting, whether you like it or not. Oddly enough, I’m thankful that Tom Coughlin is the way he is.

Year in Review, Part 1 – Dec. 29, 2010
I’m not sure who Rex Ryan wants to be. One day he wants to be an NFL coach and the next day he wants to be friends with the players and a class clown with the media. So far his team has underachieved by the standards he set in Hard Knocks (leading the league in wins), but you would never know that from the way he conducts himself.

I was still on the fence about whether or not I liked Rex Ryan and then on Sunday when he was giving his press conference and found out in the middle of it that the Jets made the playoffs because the Jaguars lost, and he started acting like the Jets had decided their own fate with a convincing win, well it was then that I finally decided Rex isn’t for me.

I don’t agree with everything that Bill Belichick does or how he handles the media, but I get why he acts that way, and at least he is consistent. He gave this interview outside the locker room after losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, and had the Patriots won, his postgame interview probably would have been very similar.

Call him smug, or arrogant or pompous, but call him consistent. That is all I ask of Rex. Be consistent. Find a personality and stick with it. Either be an authority figure or a coach that is buddy-buddy with the players. Don’t try to be both because you can’t be both.

A Giants Fan for Jets – Jan. 14, 2011
I once saw Dave Attell do stand-up and the show started at midnight, and Dave had already done two shows that night. Saying he was drunk would be like saying Marisa Miller is good looking. But as the show went on and on and a waiter kept delivering drinks to Dave, the show only got better and better. I’m sure the people at the 8:00 show got a good show, but it was definitely not as good as the people who went to the 10:00 show, and their show definitely was not as good the show that I saw at midnight. This is what’s happening with Rex Ryan.

Rex started off talking trash on the first episode of Hard Knocks, it got better once the regular season started and then once the Jets began to play important games. Then the playoffs started and he began to call out anyone that walked by him leading up to this game where he has used material on Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Just think about some of the crazy things that have come out of Rex’s mouth and then think about this: he has NEVER been the head coach for a team in the Super Bowl. Imagine Rex Ryan with two weeks between the AFC Championship (if the Jets can get there) and the Super Bowl? I think only a two-week marathon of The Office or Friday Night Lights could keep me as entertained.

And the Winner Is … – Jan. 19, 2011
On Sunday night, CBS ran a piece on 60 Minutes about Billy Walters, a sports gambler in Nevada that bets hundreds of thousands of dollars on football and basketball games and won $3.5 million on the Saints in last year’s Super Bowl.

I take back anything bad I have said about Rex Ryan. He’s a hero. And I’m not joking when I say that. He’s the man.

When Rex ran into the end zone to celebrate Shonn Greene’s touchdown with the players, he won me over. For a minute I thought Rex was the one that scored the touchdown and seeing the players celebrating with him and letting him be one of the guys for that moment made you realize that when Bart Scott says he would “die for Rex Ryan” that he probably isn’t the only one on the Jets that would.

When I look at my team, the Giants, I see a team that if Tom Coughlin was fired tomorrow, the players would give remarks like, “football is a business” or “it’s not Tom’s fault” when really the majority of the team probably wouldn’t care and would likely be happy. (And Antrel Rolle verified this on Tuesday.) If Rex were fired, I could see the Jets threatening to not show up and play. That’s the vibe you get from this Jets “team” and it’s something you don’t get from the Giants.

The Jets are Rex Ryan. The entire team has bought into his trash talking system, and during Hard Knocks when he kept reiterating, “Play Like A Jet” I thought, “What is wrong with this guy?” Playing like a Jet meant not winning championships. But what Rex meant was that “Playing Like A Jet” meant “Playing Like A Jet From When I Took Over This Team.” Nothing with the Jets before Rex Ryan matters and like he said, “Same old Jets going to the AFC Championship for the second year in a row.”

Blogs • Giants

Dec 26, 2014

NFL Week 17 Picks

It’s the final week of the regular-season picks and the last week of full-day football Sundays and it always marks a depressing time of the year.

It’s always a little depressing to write the Week 17 Picks. The regular season is coming to an end, as is everything that comes with Football Sundays for four-plus months. This Sunday is the last chance to put together an improbable parlay or teaser, watch the Red Zone channel, justify eating unhealthy and drinking an abundance of alcohol for 12 hours and feel like it’s not a big deal if you order takeout multiple times and don’t step foot outside or see daylight for the entire day. Week 17 means the end of the regular season, but it also means the start of the postseason, and in Week 17, every team falls into one of three categories.

1. Playing for a playoff berth or playoff seeding.

2. Playing with the goal of trying to make sure no one gets injured before the playoffs.

3. Playing for absolutely nothing.

Here is how each team is categorized:

1. Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Carolina, San Diego, Kansas City, Green Bay, Detroit, Seattle, Denver, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati

2. Indianapolis, New England, Dallas,

3. Jacksonville, Tennessee, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York Jets, Miami, Minnesota, Chicago, New York Giants, Philadelphia, Washington, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco, Oakland

So 12 teams need to win on Sunday, three just want to make it through Sunday without a playoff-crushing injury and the remaining 17 teams just want to get through 60 minutes of football and head to offseason and end what has been a lost season.

In both the NFC and AFC only one spot is still up for grabs, but only the NFC South winner as the 4-seed in the NFC and the Patriots as the 1-seed in the AFC are locked into their spots and not one matchup has been set yet. Week 17 is about as perfectly set up as you could want it to be if you’re a Giants fan like me (or a fan of any of the other 16 teams with nothing to play for) whose team is out of it. All I have left are my parlays, teasers and the hope for as much drama as possible to end the regular season.

(Home team in caps)

HOUSTON -9.5 over Jacksonville
Despite a three-game losing streak and being 5-6 at one point, the Texans are still alive for a playoff berth if they can win and Baltimore and San Diego lose. If the playoffs started today, none of the Texans’ eight wins would have come against the playoff team and the only way the 2014 Texans will have beaten a playoff team is if the Ravens find a way in, which of course, the Texans can’t have happen.

INDIANAPOLIS -7 over Tennessee
The Colts are locked into the 4-seed in the AFC and if they can survive Wild-Card Weekend, there’s a good chance they will head to Gillette and serve as the red carpet for the Patriots to the AFC Championship Game. Last week, when talking about the Cowboys-Colts game, I said, “The Colts don’t need it and can focus on staying healthy for the final two weeks before their inevitable first- or second-round playoff loss.” Then the Colts went out and lost 42-7 and proved that if the Colts can get through the first round, which is a big if at this point, they will get rolled in the divisional round on the road. But that doesn’t mean they won’t take the chance to steamroll the Titans here, which the Titans will gladly welcome en route to the No. 1 pick in the draft.

BALTIMORE -10 over Cleveland
Baltimore’s loss last week in Houston cost me a teaser and I wasn’t surprised it did since I have been so adamant about hating the Ravens and wanting them to lose all season. But now they are in a position where they can still make the playoffs if they beat Cleveland and San Diego loses to Kansas City. So I’m fully expecting the Ravens to rout the Browns and for the Chiefs to beat the Chargers, so the Ravens will get in the playoffs.

NEW ENGLAND -5 over Buffalo
The Patriots have nothing to play for. As long as Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Darrelle Revis don’t get hurt, the Patriots will consider Week 17 a win even if they don’t win. The Bills lost their season to the Raiders and I can’t imagine them finding motivation to show up in Gillette with four quarters separating them from the offseason and vacation.

New York Jets +6 over MIAMI
Goodbye, Rex Ryan. It was painful watching you nearly make a team quarterbacked by Mark Sanchez become the Kings of the City in New York and it was relieving to watch you lead the Jets back to mediocrity, but the entire six-year ride was enjoyable from a non-Jets fan’s perspective. You gave me the 2010 divisional round win over the Patriots as 10-point underdogs (and more importantly a huge money line) and jump-started the Giants’ Super Bowl run in 2011 after Victor Cruz’s 99-yard touchdown on Christmas Eve. You gave us the memorable lines in the 2010 season of Hard Knocks and gave me plenty of column material over the last five seasons. I think I owe it to Rex to give him a real farewell next week. Even if he was never my team’s coach, he was still a likeable personality, who helped make the game fun during a time when there was plenty of reasons to believe it might no longer be fun. Thank you, Rex. You returned the Jets to where they should be and hopefully without you they stay there.

ATLANTA -4 over Carolina
If the Falcons win, they win the NFC South at 7-9. If the Panthers win, they win the NFC South at 7-9-1.

Minnesota -6 over CHICAGO
I like how Jay Cutler says he either wants to play in Chicago or Tennessee as if he’s established enough that he can pick and choose where he wants to play. And if the Bears don’t want him, why would the Titans? They are the worst team in the NFL and looking at the No. 1 pick in the draft. Does anyone think the Titans would deal that pick in some sort of package to acquire Cutler when he hasn’t started 16 games in a season since 2009? We know what Cutler is and that’s not going to change when he starts the 2015 season at age 32. But I’m sure the Titans will be jumping at the opportunity for the coveted chance to give up possibly having a franchise quarterback for the next decade in exchange for the quarterback that lost his job to Jimmy Clausen.

San Diego +3 over KANSAS CITY
The Chiefs still haven’t thrown a touchdown pass to a wide receiver this season. In a game that close, I’m going to use that as the reason to take the points at Arrowhead. Zero touchdown passes to wide receivers!

NEW YORK GIANTS -3 over Philadelphia
What would this line have been after Week 13 when the Giants were 3-9 and losers of seven straight and the Eagles were 9-3 and coming off a Thanksgiving Day win in Dallas? Philadelphia -7.5? But four weeks later, the Eagles are three-point underdogs on the road in the season finale after pissing away their near-guaranteed playoff berth at 9-3 thanks to three straight losses in which we were once again reminded why Mark Sanchez was run out of New York and isn’t the answer or future for any team in any city. I wish I cared enough about the Eagle’s demise to listen to Philadelphia sports radio and its callers because I’m sure there aren’t many of either left believing Chip Kelly is a genius, especially after losing a season-ending game to the Redskins, who won for the first time since Oct. 27 when they beat the Tony Romo-less Cowboys. I’m relieved the Eagles were eliminated before January because it’s one less team I have to worry about winning the Super bowl this year.

WASHINGTON +6 over Dallas
The Cowboys essentially have nothing to play for because so many unlikely things need to happen for them to move higher than the 3-seed. So the Cowboys are going to be the 3-seed and host either the Packers, Lions, Seahawks or Cardinals in the first round. (Right now it would be the Cardinals and I’m sure the Cowboys are hoping that it stays that way.) But until then, the Cowboys’ only goal for Week 17 is to be healthy for Wild-Card Weekend and when you’re not really playing to win, it’s hard to cover.

TAMPA BAY +4 over New Orleans
This is one horrible game. Everything I thought I knew about the Saints being unbeatable at the Superdome has been destroyed since they lost their final five home games of the season after having not lost at home during the Sean Payton era since the end of the 2010 season. But after losing 41-10 to the Panthers, the Saints followed that up by losing 30-14 to the Falcons in a win-or-go-home game. That’s 24 points in back-to-back games at the Superdome for the Saints with their season on the line. The Saints as I had known them over the last six year (minus the one year the NFL took away from them) no longer exist.

GREEN BAY -8 over Detroit
When I first thought about this game, I couldn’t see the Packers blowing out the Lions in a game that is the difference between having a first-round bye plus a second-round home game and having to go on the road in the first round. Then I remembered how the Lions played last week in Chicago against an awful team and Jimmy Clausen and it made my decision a lot easier.

SEATTLE -12.5 over St. Louis
When I see what the Jets’ defense was able to do in a game that meant absolutely nothing to them and everything to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, I started to daydream like Lloyd Christmas imagining life with Mary Swanson about the thought of the Seahawks’ defense playing against the Patriots on a neutral field. If the Patriots’ vaunted offense could only put up 17 points in a one-point win at home against the Jets, what are they going to do in a potential Super Bowl matchup against the best defense in the league? The Seahawks have five in a row (and eight of nine) and during the winning streak they have allowed 3, 3, 14, 7 and 6 points. That’s 6.6 points allowed per game in a league that has changed every rule to basically make it so every drive ends in some amount of points.

Arizona +6 over SAN FRANCISCO
I probably shouldn’t be taking the Cardinals here considering they are starting a quarterback (Logan Thomas), who wasn’t good enough a week ago to start over a quarterback (Ryan Lindley), who completed 18 of 44 pass attempts for 216 yards. Granted that start came against the Seahawks and both Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton would have lost as well, but I’m not sure the guy who has completed one pass in nine career attempts is going to be much better.

(UPDATE: Apparently after one practice, Bruce Arians decided Logan Thomas wasn’t the best option and decided to go back to Ryan Lindley.)

DENVER -14 over Oakland
Terrance Knighton probably wishes he didn’t guarantee a Broncos Super Bowl win almost two weeks ago. Sure, I thought the Broncos would at least get to the Super Bowl if they could get the 1-seed and host the AFC Championship Game, but now that that’s not going to happen and with the way they Broncos have played for the last month, I’m not sure they will even win their first playoff game now that their bye is in danger. And on top of the Broncos’ current state of disarray, Peyton Manning is being asked and talking about his plans for 2015. Maybe the Broncos can flip the switch in January and look like the 6-1 team, whose only loss was in Seattle in overtime, but that’s a risky plan to believe in.

PITTSBURGH -3.5 over Cincinnati
I don’t feel good about this one, but I would feel better about the Patriots’ chances of being eliminated in the playoffs if they have to face the Steelers and for the Steelers to get to that point, I need the Steelers to be feeling good about themselves.

Last week: 8-8-0
Season: 119-118-3

Blogs • NHL

Dec 24, 2014

‘Road to the NHL Winter Classic’ Recap, Episode 2: ‘The Russian Machine’

The second episode made me kind of/sort of like Alexander Ovechkin for the first time ever, but I’m sure that will change.

Is Alexander Ovechkin the most popular athlete of the four sports teams in Washington D.C.? That’s the question I kept asking myself after Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said it in the opening minutes of the episode. The Nationals’ most popular player is Bryce Harper, the Redskins’ is Robert Griffin III and the Wizards’ is John Wall. Ovechkin and the other three all have their own individual question marks because Ovechkin hasn’t won the Cup, Harper hasn’t been Mike Trout, RGIII is on the verge of playing himself out of D.C. and the Wizards haven’t been good so no one has paid attention to them. (At least that’s how I see each situation from an outsider’s perspective.)

But when I think about the question on a larger scale, I always come back to the Sidney Crosby-Alexander Ovechkin debate, which began when the two entered the NHL in 2005-06 after the lockout, and will never go away for as long as they play or live. It doesn’t always happen that a great player is linked to another great player for the duration of a career or lifetime and in turn a rivalry (whether real or fake) is created, but when they happen, they are what makes sports great. Crosby-Ovechkin is one of those instances.

I have always been a Crosby guy. He is the best player in the NHL and has been for a decade and likely will be for the next decade. Here’s what I said about the two in the recap of the first 24/7 episode back on Dec. 16, 2010.

These two players will be linked and connected throughout their entire careers, and if you’re a hockey fan, you’re either a Crosby guy or an Ovechkin guy. You can’t be both. You have to pick one. I’m a Crosby guy and have been from Day One, though I am pretty much alone on this among my friends.

When Evgeni Malkin is watching the game against Toronto on TV and laughs while saying, “Sid … Look,” as Crosby joins a scrum in front of the net after a whistle, I couldn’t help, but think of all the cheap shots and slew foots the Penguins committed against the Rangers in the 2006-07 Eastern Conference semifinals. But being able to play that way and get away with it is part of the game and a big part of the Penguins’ game, and it’s what makes them good. And it’s what makes me like them and like watching them play.

Is Crosby chippy and even dirty? Yes. Does he excessively whine to refs and dive? Yes. Does he get into scrums in front of the net after whistles because he knows that he won’t get a penalty and that no one will touch him then? Yes. Is he the best player in the world? Yes.

Capitals assistant coach Dean Evason made it a point to call Ovechkin “the greatest player in the world” during his locker room rant when the Rangers scored more goals against the Capitals than the Jets did points against the Dolphins last Sunday (7-6).

“Our best player is fighting! The greatest player in the world!”

I understand that Evason was trying to make the point that the Capitals were embarrassing themselves and there’s no need for Ovechkin to be fighting when the team is getting shutout, but was it necessary to call Ovechkin “the greatest player in the world?” Sure, that’s Evason’s opinion and he spends every day around Ovechkin, so I would expect his opinion to be skewed, and I’m probably making too big of a deal about nothing, but do you think the Pittsburgh coaching staff is telling Crosby he is the best player in the world? No, because he knows he is.

After watching Ovechkin attend the Wizards game and seeing him act like a normal person and not a four-time 50-plus goal scorer and one-time 65-goal scorer, I actually kind of liked Ovechkin, which is something I never thought I would say. I’m a Crosby guy and always will be, but for the first time, I wasn’t so anti-Ovechkin even after he spent Tuesday night taking shots at every Ranger. I’m sure I will be back to being anti-Ovechkin in March when the Rangers-Capitals play again.

***

Here are the thoughts from the second episode:

– I spend every Capitals scene hoping it ends quickly, so there is more time to focus on the Blackhawks. But I will say, this episode was probably the best Capitals coverage we have gotten after four 24/7 episodes in 2010 and one EPIX episode last week.

– Corey Crawford is either a dick or EPIX picked the wrong time to start to involve the goalie on their show when he freaks out on the media for really no reason. “Oh fuck … What do you want to ask me?” Crawford asks in a snippy and irritated way when reporters try to find out his status and his potential return from injury. Relax, Crawford and just be grateful anyway cares how you are feeling or when you are returning to play hockey.

– The Blackhawks should offer a service where you can pay to watch their games on a different channel where there is a camera and mic on Joel Quenneville the entire time. I already pay for HBO and right now there isn’t a show worth watching on the network and every movie they play either sucks or I have already seen it. This is likely the case for many HBO subscribers and for all the HBO subscribers who are also hockey fans, why wouldn’t they subscribe to this channel? I’m sure the Blackhaws have a “2” or “Plus” channel the way MSG does, so they could just use one of those and then all you need is one camera and one mic. Make it happen.

– After seeing Tom Wilson and Michael Laatta’s apartment in the first episode, I can certainly see how the roommates live the way they do after watching them eat at Ted’s Montana Grill. Unless other players don’t want the cameras involved in their personal lives, there has to be better options to cover on the Capitals. We are now halfway done with the season and we have seen enough of Wilson and Laatta to know that if they are featured any more, it’s likely not going to be entertaining unless they decide to show scenes from their social life.

– The audio of the broadcaster saying, “Metropolitan Division rivals collide tonight,” in reference to the Capitals-Blue Jackets game took me by surprise. The Capitals and Blue Jackets are rivals? Solely because they play in the same division? Are the Rangers and Hurricanes rivals?

– It seems like every team now has a postgame award to give out to that game’s best player following a win and even though I might think the Rangers’ Broadway hat is No. 1, it’s hard to not respect the Abraham Lincoln hat and beard the Capitals use for their player of the game award. Not only does it fit the team’s city, but there’s no one who is going to wear the combination that is going to look anything other than ridiculous while giving a locker room speech.

– Daniel Carcillo didn’t look like Daniel Carcillo at the Blackhawks’ family skate. If EPIX didn’t put up a graphic with his name, I don’t know that I would have known it was him as he looked more like Billy Corgan from his early Smashing Pumpkins days than he looked like the guy that helped the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Final last season.

– I was rooting for Scott Darling to stay on the team over Antti Raanta even though I already knew that Darling had been sent down to Rockford before the episode. It’s hard not to root for someone who played on 13 minor league teams, including playing in the Southern Pro league four years ago, to have a job in the NHL. Even if Darling never makes it back to the league, his journey was an improbable one and it’s unlikely that when he was playing for the Louisiana IceGators in 2010 he could have thought he would one day be playing for the Blackhawks. For a former sixth-round pick, that’s impressive.

– There’s not much to say about Ovechkin’s amazing goal against the Devils other than that if this was 20 years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to see the goal on this show or on YouTube, which is how I originally saw it. Instead I would have to wait for the following year for the latest Don Cherry Rock’em Sock’em video to come out on VHS. I’m obviously happy with the state of technology and being able to watch games on my phone anywhere, but I am nostalgic for that process and growing up watching Cherry commentate on Stephane Richer’s end-to-end goals, which is what Ovechkin’s reminded me of.

– Navy Pier in Chicago is a pretty cool place. The only time I have been there was last January when I was in Chicago for Rangers-Blackhawks and needed to kill time one day, so we spent the day at Navy Pier at the tail end of the Winter WonderFest riding carnival rides. The Blackhawks’ season ticket party definitely looked like a better time at the Pier.

– The final thought of the second episode once again is related to Joel Quenneville: Only one “peanut butter” from Q? Come on, EPIX.