Forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, they're old news. The new most dangerous team in the playoffs is the Jacksonville Jaguars. They went on the road and beat the Steelers in the snow, then dominated the Raiders at home. They have all the elements you are supposed to need to win in the playoffs, in the cold weather, even though they are a Florida team. They have a great running game, a stout defensive line that can stop the run and a quarterback who doesn't make mistakes. David Garrard has 18 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions this year. Interesting Garrard stat: If you think about his season you'd probably say his performance against the Steelers was his best of the year. But according to passer ratings (excluding the Colts game in which he got hurt), the win over the Steelers was his worst game of the season. He completed only 17 of 33 passes for 197 yards and threw an interception. But even though he had 3 TDs it was his lowest passer rating of the season. That may say more about the ridiculousness of passer ratings, but I thought it was a cool stat.
I think the Jags will be a tough first round opponent for the Steelers or Chargers and maybe they could win that game, but I don't seem them beating the Patriots in the divisional round, which they'd have to do unless the 6 seed won on wild card weekend also.
Maybe the Strongest Sign of Domination Yet
Turnovers: Patriots 4 Dolphins 0
Score: Patriots 28 Dolphins 7
I'd venture to guess that this was the largest margin of victory in NFL history by a team that was minus 4 in turnovers .
The Patriots should have covered the spread but Belichick went for it on a 4th and 8 late in the game instead of kicking.
If the Patriots have a weakness everyone says it is their running game. Lawrence Maroney had runs of 51 and 59 yards in this game, the two longest runs of his career.
The Patriots had exactly 400 total yards in this game, 204 passing and 196 rushing.
Something Else May Ruin Romo
Turns out the weak effort by Panthers fans to distract Tony Romo with Jessica Simpson masks didn't work. Romo didn't play great, but the Cowboys did win the game. But of even graver concern for Romo is the fact that T.O. has a high ankle sprain. He definitely won't play against the Redskins this week (yay!) but he'll probably be back after the bye week for the first Cowboys' playoff game. And for the next three weeks we will hear what a tough guy he is because he plays with injuries. To which I will say (quoting Harry Doyle on Jack Parkman) "he's still a dick."
Game of the Week
Arizona Cardinals 30 Atlanta Falcons 27
Two teams who were out of it put on the best show of the week. How does Kurt Warner do it? 36 for 53, 361 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. And his counterpart Chris Redman didn't do too poorly either, 315 yards and 2 TDs. Each of them latched onto a wide receiver, Anquan Boldin caught 13 passes for 162 and Roddy White had 12 for 141. The Falcons had the ball 3 times in the 4th quarter. They held it for more than 10 minutes and scored all 3 times, putting up 13 points and turning a 24-14 deficit into a 27-24 lead. But they kicked a field goal with 1:38 left and never got the ball back. Kurt Warner led the Cardinals on two long drives for two field goals, and the win.
Game of Next Week
New England Patriots at New York Giants
Two other games (Dallas at Washington and Tennessee at Indianapolis) have major playoff implications but both those games features great teams that have nothing to play for. History will be on the line when the Giants play the Patriots. The Giants have nothing to play for and I don't think they should use their best players for any significant amount of time. But the Patriots should go all out after perfection. Every year a team wins a Super Bowl but it takes much longer than that to find an undefeated team. And the crowd at Giants Stadium could be very pro-Patriots as Giants fans may take it easy and dump their tickets on excited New Englanders.
Cheerleader of the Week
Mandy of the ROAR of the Jaguars
The Jags don't want us to know very much about their ladies. But Mandy was a nursing student now she is in grad school studying nuclear medicine.
A Brief Rant About the Redskins
Win or go home. The Redskins showed me something against the Vikings shutting down the league's best running game and putting the game in the incapable hands of Tarvaris Jackson. I love the way Todd Collins is playing. I know he is not the quarterback of the future but as the quarterback of right now he is making every play that needs to be made. Watch how cool he is as the pressure bears down on him and he dumps off screen passes to Portis and Sellers. Watch how adeptly he runs the playaction fake, and see his beautifully thrown balls to Santana Moss who had been invisible until Collins came around. And someone woke up Joe Gibbs. Brilliant game saving challenge on the 12 men on the field rule, although I'm sure he had help from above, but he didn't hesitate to fire that thing. Childress should have challenged the Moss catch that preceded the fumble that preceded the 12 men on the field penalty, but he who hesitates is lost. I'd love to see the Redskins pound the Cowboys' second stringers and I'd take my chances in Seattle for a playoff game for the second time in 3 years.
If The Super Bowl Were Played Today
New England Patriots 28 Dallas Cowboys 14
We're on a collision course for a rematch. I'd love to see the Patriots have to beat the Jaguars, the Colts and the Chargers but they'll only have to face two of tose teams, so the Cowboys loom as the last stop on the way to history, assuming they get by the first two roadblocks.
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