What Do You Give Me For? Bill Russell and Morgan Freeman

George Stephanopoulos made a major fuckup during the inauguration coverage. The camera panned to an older black man with a white beard. Stephanopoulos said "that's Morgan Freeman, I think" but it was Bill Russell. Live TV is tough, and this certainly doesn't make him a racist, but does it make him bad at this game?

Mrs. Poop is a Douche

We have two credit cards, a Discover we use most often and another we use in places where Discover is not accepted. We almost never use that backup card. So Mrs. Poop was shocked to see an $18 charge on the backup card at McDonald's from a town about 20 miles away. She was sure this was not her. We very seldom eat McDonald's, and neither of us could remember the last time we did. And if we did ever eat there we would certainly pay cash. And if we were going to use a credit card, we'd use Discover. So she had me call up and protest the claim. A few days after I did that she remembered one time she did go to Mickey D's, when she had no cash and they wouldn't accept Discover. Our claim was denied anyway so we have to pay our rightful debt. But Mrs. Poop is still a douche.

The NFL is Poop - Conference Championships

Har-Bowl
This is going to be the big story this week. Two brothers facing each other in the Super Bowl. It really is remarkable. As amazing as if it were Eli vs. Peyton. I have no idea who the Harbaughs are going to root for, must be an incredibly weird feeling knowing one of your children is going to have the ultimate triumph, but it has to come at the expense of the other who will feel the ultimate disappointment.

Ray's Last Dance
I attributed no weight to the emotional lift Ray Lewis would give his team by coming back from injury and announcing he would retire after the season. I still don't buy into it, but they certainly are playing great right now, though more so on offense than defense. Regardless of how or why it's happening (Lewis might say God is great and allows no weapon raised against hm to prosper) but it will certainly be fun to watch him one more time.

Blueprint for Brady
As great as Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are, individually and certainly together, one of the greatest coach/QB duos in NFL history. But in the past 8 years they have lost 7 playoff games (vs. 8 wins) and missed the playoffs in 2008 when Brady had his knee shredded in the opening game of the season. Here are the Patriots point totals in those 7 losses: 13, 34, 14, 14, 21, 17, 13. Now I don't claim to be an expert in defenses but clearly there's a blueprint developing for how to beat the Patriots, pressure Brady, hit him, and force a few turnovers (and get a little lucky).

Bernard Pollard, Patriot Killer
I wrote this last year in this very column about Ravens safety Bernard Pollard:
"If there is one name that strikes fear in the hearts of the New England Patriots it is Bernard Pollard. Pollard, then on the Kanas City Chiefs, is the guy whose hit tore Tom Brady’s ACL on the first play of the 2008 season. A year later while playing for the Texans, Pollard dragged down Wes Welker, injuring his knee. Now on the Baltimore Ravens, Pollard tackled Rob Gronkowski and rolled over his ankle. Gronk was able to return, though he didn’t catch any passes after the injury, and he is expected to play in the Super Bowl. But maybe the biggest atrocity committed by Pollard is his famous locker room dance from Hard Knocks."
Pollard now adding one more incident to his lore, forcing Stevan Ridley to fumble near midfield in the third quarter. At that point the Patriots were trailing 21-13, and driving. That fumble gave the Ravens the ball in good field position and they scored a touchdown to take the decisive 28-13 lead.

Falcons Choked
No other way to describe, the Atlanta Falcons choked, for the second week in a row. In their two playoff games they scored 44 points in the first half, and 10 in the second half (while allowing 42 second half points). It's hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong in these games, but they lost their aggressiveness on both sides of the ball, and it cost them.

Worth It
I dealt with this a lot when the Redskins traded for Robert Griffin III but in light of the great performance of Julio Jones (11 catches, 182 yards) it might be worth repeating: you can't judge a trade by the value of what you gave up, only by the value of what you got. The Falcons got the game-breaking receiver they needed, so the trade was certainly worth it.

Bill Belichick is a Lowlife
You'd think being a professional coach with years of experience would teach someone how to lose with class, grace and dignity. Didn't happen for Bill Belichick. He refused to make himself available for an interview with CBS after the game, sending Devin McCourty in his stead. And when he did appear for the league mandated press conference he said "we gave up too many points and we didn't score enough points." What a complete classless, petulant primadonna.

Kaepernicking is Here To Stay
We knew Colin Kaepernick wasn't going to be able to recreate his rushing performance but he showed himself to be a versatile quarterback who can beat teams with his arm and his legs. He throws hard, and he's accurate and as long as he can stay away from getting too aggressive and throwing into coverage, I think he will be a good quarterback for a long time to come.

If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
San Francisco 49ers 21 Baltimore Ravens 16
I think the 49ers defense is better and I really love the way Kaepernick is playing. Obviously Flacco has been on fire recently too, but I just have the feeling this is the 9ers year.

Weekly Picks

Too little too late but it was nice to have a perfect week.

NEW ENGLAND -8 baltimore
This sometimes happens after upsets, a mismatch in the next round. I do not see the Patriots losing this game so I would have a hard time picking Baltimore to cover.

BEST BET
san francisco -3 1/2 ATLANTA
I think this spread is out of line because of what Kaepernick did last week. He is not going to be able to do that again. I am very worried about this pick but I thought the 9ers would make the Super Bowl before the playoffs and I have seen nothing that would make me change my mind.
Note: Spread edited with permission of Papa Poop.

Last Week: 4-0 (5 point)
Season: 42-51 (33 points)
Best Bets: 1-0 (5-14)
Home Favorites: 2-0 (15-22)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (6-4)
Road Favorites: 0-0 (11-15)
Road Underdogs: 2-0 (10-10)

A Lot of Dirt Being Kicked in Heaven Tonight

Former Orioles manager Earl Weaver died today at the age of 82. He was on the Orioles fantasy cruise in the Caribbean and he collapsed in his room in the middle of the night, doctors could not revive him.
Weaver won 4 American League pennants, winning the World Series 1970 and losing 3 (1969, 1971 & 1979) [CORRECTED]. He did not manage the Orioles in 1983 when they won the Series. That was one of the answers I got wrong in my appearance on "Stump the Schwab."
Weaver is best known for his arguments with umpires when he kicked dirt on them and evidently curse up a storm. Here is the full unedited argument with Bill Haller in 1980 after Haller called a balk on Mike Flanagan.

Lying Lance

Lance Armstrong finally confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career in which he won 7 Tours De France. His admission doesn’t surprise me, what shocked me is that he made the admission at all. It was a huge mistake for Armstrong to confess, and an even bigger mistake for him to do it for Oprah.
For years Armstrong lied about his doping/cheating and he didn’t just go into a shell and refuse to talk about it, he viciously went after anyone who told the truth about him. Armstrong’s admission now creates a ton of legal problems for him.
First of all, he could go to jail. Federal authorities decline to prosecute him but now they could pursue him with renewed vigor because he lied to them during the course of the investigation.
Then there are all the civil suits. Everyone he called a liar, everyone who gave him money under false pretenses, from Nike to the United States Postal Service, could sue him to recoup some of the money.
So why did Lance do this? An attack of conscience? Unlikely because if that were the case it would have been much more prudent to confess to authorities, and try to get leniency under the law. And perhaps try to settle some of the civil suits.
I think Lance Armstrong is such a sociopath he really doesn't understand how his actions are received by others. He needs the adoration so badly that he can't understand how badly his comments and actions really are. Perfect example, during this interview, his big admission, he makes a fat joke, to Oprah. No one laughs.

I can't embed it yet so just watch the awkward moment here.

The Best Promotion for "Catfish" There Could Ever Be

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, and all of us, were the victims of a hoax. Te’o evidently believed some hot chick from Stanford he met online was his girlfriend. And we believed the story that she had gotten into a horrible car accident, the doctors discovered she had leukemia, which eventually killed her. And that death happened around the same time Te’o’s grandmother died. Which happened around the same time Te’o lead Notre Dame to a big win over Michigan State using the two deaths as inspiration.

Now we know there is no such person as Lennay Kekua. Someone else was operating a Twitter account in her name. Pictures of her were actually pictures of someone else. The voice he heard on the phone was someone else.
Te’o says he was duped and didn’t find out she never existed until December 6th and didn't tell the University until December 26th. There’s almost no way this could possibly be true, but it seems like Te’o was very careful not to say he ever met her in person, though his father certainly implied it. Deadspin, which did a great job uncovering the story, very neatly lays out all the evidence.
Maybe the biggest villain/dupe in all of this is Pete Thamel who really made this a national story when his piece on Te’o for Sports Illustrated centered on this tragic loss. He never asked for a picture of them together. He thought it odd that he couldn’t find an obituary for her online, but didn’t ask enough questions.
The story is too long and sordid for me to examine every single detail but I will say that my suspicion is that initially Te’o got duped. Eventually he figured it out but was too embarrassed about his phony girlfriend to come clean. So he conspired with the liar to kill off the fake girlfriend and hope it would go away.
Maybe he was duped the entire time, but told lies and omissions to make it seem less creepy that he had an online friend whom he had never met. I doubt that, but it is possible. It’s also possible Te’o was in on this the entire time, maybe to get publicity, maybe just because he’s young and dumb. But I doubt that too. Here's why: I read where a former Stanford player said Te'o asked the Stanford players if they knew his girl. So that's why I'm going with my suspicion that he was duped at first but got in too deep.
But I may get burned because you can't trust a liar.

Ladies, You Can Protect Yourself From Disease

A once dreaded disease has now been nearly eradicated thanks to the beautiful young women who have protected themselves from this dreaded ailment.

Pubic lice, more commonly known as "crabs", are now basically an endangered species. Doctors think the popularity of bikini waxing may be to blame (or thank). In Australia, no women have been seen with crabs at Sydney's main sexual health clinic since 2008, and male cases have fallen 80% over the past 10 years.

So-called Brazilian waxes, in particular, are seen as contributing to the downfall of pubic lice, since nearly all the pubic hair —the habitat, in this case— is removed in that procedure. All in all, more than 80% of US college students remove some or all of their pubic hair these days, Bloomberg reports. It's arguably a nicer way of dealing with the crabs problem, than the typical treatment, which is a topical insecticide.

Song of the Week

"I Do Love You" - Billy Stewart
Just a beautiful, awesome mid-60s R&B song. I love the harmonies, which are sung with his brother on backup. Billy Stewart died 43 years ago tomorrow in a car accident.



There is an awesome cover version of "I Do Love You" by Barbara Mason. It's good in it's own right and because the lyrics, the style, and especially the voice, are so different, it doesn't detract from the original, it actually adds to it.

Everyone Does Stupid Things in College

After beating NC State beat Duke by 8 points (as Damino correctly predicted) NC State students stormed the court. They did it because their team has just defeated the #1 team in the country, and because it's fun. I have stormed a few courts and a football field in my dad and it's really cool, it's exciting and it's nice to have that experience.



Will Privette is a senior at NC State, studying communications. He is a huge sports fan, has been to every home basketball game but one in his four years and even did statistical work for the basketball team. Privette was born with leg deformities and has been in a wheelchair his entire life. As this game was ending he wheeled courtside and a friend offered to push him onto the court. It seemed like a good idea at the time but when the crowd came Privette got plowed out of his chair and went flying. Guard CJ Leslie found him, picked him up and held him until he could be reunited with his chair.

Privette was not hurt, but his phone was cracked and his chair was damaged. "But I don't regret it at all", he says.
"It was the dumbest thing I've done in college but it was awesome."
"I'm glad this happened my senior year. It's a great way to go out."

Normally, I would criticize someone for doing something so dumb that could jeopardize his safety. But in this case I don't blame Privette one bit for wanting to feel like a normal college student.

You Have Time For This

I used to think it was borderline racist to make fun of black people like Antoine Dodson and those in Alabama who thought there was a leprechaun in their neighborhood either by autotuning their comments or simply passing the video around the internet.
But thanks to Pres. Obama and the enlightened people who voted him to not one but two terms, I don't think America is racist anymore. This is actually a sign of progress, black people can be made fun of for being stupid just like any other racial or ethnic group.
With that said, and with a clear conscience I present to you Sweet Brown:



Mrs. Poop has played that video so many times that if I ask her to do something, no matter what it is, she says "ain't nobody got time for that." And Chase is running around the house screaming "oh lord Jesus it's a firrrrre."

But if you are a little more enlightened, a little more politically correct and would prefer to laugh with as opposed to laugh at your African-American brothers, here is Billy's favorite video, the actual funeral for Willie McCoy who sang the Chili's baby-back ribs jingle:



"I'm not sure if having pigs at the funeral was the brightest idea."

Big Breast Theory

Kaley Cuoco wins this year's "check out those golden globes" award. And good thing because maybe it'll take attention away from her face, makeup and hair.

The NFL is Poop - Divisional Playoffs

Some Quick Thoughts on Baltimore-Denver
Remember when Peyton Manning used to have the reputation as a choker? He beat a bad Bears team in one Super Bowl and that got completely wiped out. But he absolutely positively cost his team this game with a horrible throw that got picked off, basically gifting the Ravens the win.
I thought a double overtime playoff game was pretty remarkable. Apparently CBS didn't. They didn't show a graphic, or even mention, to my recollection, how many 2OT games there had been (5) and how many longer than this one (3). The most famous and the longest being Kansas City-Miami in 1971.
Maybe their lips were frozen shut but the crowd didn't seem to be very noisy at all. I could hear all of Peyton Manning's line calls including "hurry! hurry!" before every snap. I don't know who was less coherent in that postgame interview, Ray Lewis or Solomon Wilcots. "What made you believe you could win?" Really? Not, can you believe Peyton Manning threw that horrible pass? Or have you ever played in a better game? This is why sideline reporters are usually hot chicks. They can't get anything good anyway, might as well just be hot.
Yes the officiating was poor and I disagreed with several calls and no-calls. But I think this was just one of those games were there was an unbelievably high number of very close calls.
An amazing number of big plays in this one, the two kick returns by Denver, the two big passes early to Torrey Smith, and several other patterns where he got past Champ Bailey. But if this game has to have one indelible image it will be the 70-yard TD from Flacco to Jacoby Jones with 30 seconds left in regulation to tie the game. Just an unbelievable throw by Flacco, but how did the Denver defense let him get that wide open.

Prevent Defense Prevents You From Winning
Despite what happened to Denver on that Jacoby Jones pass I still think teams are much more likely to lose when they get away from their normal defensive aggressive and sit back in soft zones and dare their opponents to beat them. NFL quarterbacks and receivers, given enough time can always come free for receptions.
Atlanta's soft defense allowed 3 Seattle touchdowns on drives of 80, 62 and 60 yards. But the Seahawks didn't learn anything. They didn't pressure the QB, they didn't give Atlanta only short routes. Two passes, 41 yards and then a field goal.
Its certainly easier said than done, and on two passes anything can happen, but certainly the Falcons nearly cost themselves a shot at the Super Bowl with their bend and break strategy.

Questioning Carroll
Two big fuckups in the first half could have eventually cost the Seahawks this game. First, Pete Carroll went for it on 4th and 1 from the Falcons 11 down 13-0 in the middle of the second quarter. I like this call. Obviously, it turned out they could have used those three points, but given the information at the time, it was a worthwhile gamble. Though I would have put the ball in Russell Wilson's hands.
Second, Russell Wilson got sacked right before the half (at the 11 yard line again!) and the Seahawks couldn't get set quickly enough to get another snap off, costing them a chance at the field goal. Wilson has to get rid of the ball there.
I understand the game changes completely based on the score, especially the way the Falcons sat on the lead, but it's interesting to go back and wonder what might have happened.

Tom Brady is Good
Sometimes it really amazes me that the Patriots haven't won the Super Bowl in 8 years. It seems like every time Tom Brady is in a big game he just slices up the opposing defense with short passes, then hits a few big ones. And the Patriots don't tighten up when they get a lead. Yes 18 points is a big 4th quarter lead, but right after the Texans turned it over on downs, the Patriots threw for the end zone of first down, hit a 33-yard TD to Ben Vereen to essentially end the game.
As for the Texans, they have so many good players, at important positions, Schaub, Foster, Johnson, Watt, etc. But they still can't win the big game. They have to keep trying with this group, but this should have been their year. Had they not let home-field slip through their fingers who knows what might have happened.

Coming Out Parties
I have been writing about Michael Crabtree on this blog for years and he finally made his mark on the league with 119 yards and 2 TDs.

But the unquestioned star of this game was Colin Kaepernick.
It was just an unbelievable performance. Other than one bad decision early in the game which got intercepted and returned for a TD, he did everything right. He passed when he should have passed, he ran when he should have run, and he slid or got out of bounds every time he should have, and the Packers never put a spy on him to keep him in the backfield. It was a legendary performance, calling to mind a young Michael Vick going into Green Bay and beating the Packers with a similar style.
I really think we are seeing the evolution of the quarterback. Guys like Manning, Brady and Brees are so last century. Now guys like Wilson, RG3 and Kaepernick can throw and run and one sets up the other. They are almost impossible to defend and they are incredibly fun to watch. Kaepernick's 56-yard TD was a thing of beauty.

A Brief Rant About the Redskins
Why is a Redskins fan ranting this week? The Redskins are out of it, move on. Yes, but I couldn't help get very sad watching Colin Kaepernick and thinking "that's supposed to be RG3, that's supposed to be me, that's supposed to be us."
He is just as fast, if not faster, has just as good an arm, maybe more accurate, is just as exciting, and I think even a better decision maker. But injuries robbed him and us of that this year. I just hope eventually, he will have his time. And I will have mine.

Picture of the Week
I am a sucker for a good picture of a sweaty, steaming head on a cold day. Thanks, Ma'ake Kemoeatu.

The Best Weekend of the Year
It's pretty much common knowledge among football fans that this is the best weekend of the year. It's better than the first round of playoffs because the best teams are playing, its better than the conference championship weekend because there are twice as many games and it's better than the Super Bowl because the game is often (but not much recently) a letdown. And this weekend was one of the best ever. Two really great games, one that wasn't close but very fun to watch, and the last one wasn't much of a game, but we were so spent at that point that who cared.

What Happened to Parity?
The NFL often brags about its parity and that anyone can win at any time, thanks to the salary cap which tends to level the playing field. But 3 of the 4 conference finalists from last year are back this year. But since the Giants aren't, the NFL will have its 5th different champion in the last 5 years.

Cereal Offender

Kevin Garnett is a well-known trash talker who will say anything to get under an opponent's skin. His tactics worked on Carmelo Anthony who completely lost his cool because of Garnett's physical and verbal assault.
Melo tried to confront Garnett after the game, waiting in the tunnel for him to board the Celtics team bus.



Why was Melo so angry? KG reportedly told him that his wife, LaLa tastes like Honey Nut Cheerios. Melo got a one-game suspension for this which I felt was totally unjustified. Melo didn't actually do anything. He may have contemplated something, or attempted something, but like attempted murder, it's unfair to punish someone for a crime they didn't commit. If anything, for infractions actually committed, Garnett should have been whacked.

But at least LaLa has a good sense of humor about it, suggesting on Twitter that they all deserve a check from Honey Nut Cheerios for all the free advertising.

Weekly Picks

Another week, another ill-fated best bet. What else is new?

baltimore +9 DENVER
I think Denver will win. I think they are the eventual Super Bowl champions, I just think this game could be a little more difficult than we expect.

SAN FRANCISCO -3 green bay
This is probably the toughest game of the weekend to call but I'll go with the home team and the better defense.

seattle +2 1/2 ATLANTA
The Seahawks might be a team of destiny. They're really good and Atlanta seems to be one of those teams we've seen recently, really hot start to the season, coast down the stretch and never reach that level of play in the playoffs. Plus, they may not have been that good to begin with.

BEST BET
NEW ENGLAND -9 1/2 houston
The Patriots killed the Texans when they played in the regular season and that was only 1 month ago. It's been proven that blowouts in the regular season don't have a correlation to the playoffs but everything about this game says New England blowout to me.

Last Week: 2-2 (1 point)
Season: 38-51 (28 points)
Best Bets: 0-1 (4-14)
Home Favorites: 1-0 (13-22)
Home Underdogs: 0-0 (6-4)
Road Favorites: 1-0 (11-15)
Road Underdogs: 0-2 (8-10)

I Wanted to Punch Him Too

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is a professional shit-stirrer. Redskins lineman Trent Williams had enough of his shit by the end of the playoff game last week. Sherman was miked up for NFL Films, you can see him throughout the game being a dick to opposing players, the referees, and even the fans.



I'm surprised that Sherman didn't retaliate, and that a punch from a guy as big and strong as Williams didn't hurt more.

Song of the Week

"My Ship is Comin' In" - Jimmy Radcliffe
"You can throw away that shabby dress
Buy yourself the finest things in town girl.
Dry your eyes, we're celebratin'
Oh there's so much happiness waitin'
Baby, my ship is coming in"

A Few Things On Which Murray Chass and I Agree

My dislike for baseball writer Murray Chass is now well-known. It started in 1997, when I asked him if steroids were a big part of baseball and he dismissed me with a sneer. Now Chass is taking my position (a position I have grown into) steroids users should not be in the Hall of Fame. He also agrees that he shouldn’t have a vote, he’s giving his up. But not before he casts one – or two – defiant votes in favor of Jack Morris.
Let’s start with the steroid users. I’ve made a minor adjustment in my position and I would seek to ban all steroid users from the Hall of Fame. I admit that’s is hard-line, and my strict adherence to this principle may end up being capricious and unfair but it’s better than any other way of voting.
Some voters just say let everyone in, forget steroids, just judge based on performance whether it was steroid-aided or not. I can’t stomach that.
Others say vote in the guys who would have been Hall of Famers based on their pre-steroid performance.
Others want to punish anyone linked to steroids but not cast aspersions on those whose names (if not their bodies) have remained clean.
Here’s why I feel so absolute: It’s impossible to know when players started taking steroids. They’re liars, we can’t believe them. It’s impossible to know how their careers would have turned out fir not for steroids keeping them healthy and prolonging their primes.
It’s not fair to allow those who didn’t get caught or admit it while other better players who did the same thing got left out. If anything, we should let in the admitted users, in hopes to smoke everyone out and to get a better understanding of what exactly went on.
Please don’t tell me: players in the 50s and 60s were using amphetamines. It’s not even close to being the same thing in terms of effect on performance.
Steroids weren’t against the rules. Yes they were. They were against the law. Using illicit drugs was against baseball’s rules. Failure to enforce those rules is shameful, but it doesn’t absolve the rule breakers.

So here’s what I’ve got: Bonds and Clemens are out because they’re known steroids users.

Palmeiro and Manny are out because they failed tests.
Sosa, Bagwell and Piazza are out because of serious suspicions about them. I put Craig Biggio in that group too.
So that could result in an entire era of players, stars from the 90s and 00s, pretty much wiped out of the Hall. I’m ok with that. Hopefully a new breed of stars like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Buster Posey will fill those vacancies in the Hall and in our hearts.

Now, if I had a ballot for this year I would cast one vote: for Tim Raines. He was one of the greatest players at his position during his time period. No he wasn’t Rickey Henderson but he was close enough that he warrants induction as well. I would never vote for Jack Morris. His 3.90 ERA would be one of the worst of any pitcher in the Hall. His career ERA+ (adjusted for park and run-scoring environment) of 105 means he was barely an above-average pitcher. Yes he had a few great postseason games which is nice, but not enough to elevate an above-average pitcher to greatness.

The Best Part of the BCS Title Game

If you watched the BCS National Championship between Alabama and Notre Dame you probably turned it off at some point as Alabama kicked Notre Dame's ass. But I hope you stuck around long enough to see this:

The ESPN crew shows AJ McCarron's incredibly hot beauty queen, model girlfriend, Katherine Webb in the stands. No problem there. The problem came when Brent Musburger who is legit 50 years older than Webb started fawning all over her.

"When you're the quarterback at Alabama, you see that lovely lady there. She does go to Auburn, don't admit that but she's also Miss Alabama and that's AJ McCarron's girlfriend. "You quarterbacks, you get all the good looking women. What a beautiful woman."
"Wow!" Herbstreit said.
"Whoa!" Musburger chimed in.
"AJ's doing some things right down in Tuscaloosa," Herbstreit said.
"If you're a youngster in Alabama, start getting the football out and throw it around the backyard with pop," Musburger said.

The NFL is Poop - Wild Card Playoffs

Good Enough, But Not Good
I don't think the Houston Texans proved anything to anyone with this performance. They put together plenty of drives but could not finish, kicking four field goals instead of touchdowns. And that almost cost them the game. The Bengals had that one final drive that stalled late, after which Houston ran out the clock.
I actually think the Bengals should have gone for it. 4th and 11 is very unlikely. I like their chances better had they kicked a 54-yarder (no gimme) and with 3 minutes left tried to stop them and get the ball back for a final drive for a game-tying field goal.

Over Before It's Begun
You knew the Vikings had no chance to win this game once we found out Christian Ponder wasn't playing. It wasn't just the Joe Webb was bad (which he was) but that any real threat of the passing game was taken away and the Packers were able to key on Peterson, even more than they normally would have. I have been saying this about backup/young quarterbacks for a while now, their offensive coordinators are often their worst enemies. They go to incredibly conservative game plans which force the inexperienced QB to pass only in obvious passing situations, making it harder, because the defense knows he's going to pass.
With the way Aaron Rodgers played it was very possible the Packers would win this game no matter whom the Vikings started, but it seemed right from the outset the Vikings had no chance.

A Tangled Webb
I hate comparing all black quarterbacks to Michael Vick but in this case the comparison is incredibly apt. Webb is fast, and had some great runs. He has a wonderfully strong arm. Did you see the pass to Jerome Simpson over the middle, overthrown by ten yards? Or the one down the sidelines intercepted by Sam Shields, which was only overthrown by 5? It wasn't just the strong arm that was completely inaccurate, it was his uncertainty in the pocket, waiting, waiting, waiting for a receiver to come open, and taking sacks. And at least two ridiculous passes where Webb flung the ball up in the air, in the middle of the field, instead of taking a sack. Neither was picked off, but both could have been. In all it was a positively Vick-ian performance from a QB who like Vick has all the physical tools but not of the intangibles needed to be a winning quarterback, especially in the playoffs.

Someone Cover Anquan Boldin
Despite some terrible offense and many failures in the red zone the Indianapolis Colts were actually in this game until they let Anquan Boldin run wild in the second half.
Here were his catches:
50 yards on 3rd and 19 (when it was still 10-6)
10 yards on 1st and 10 (to start a drive)
46 yards (to set up the TD that put the Ravens up 17-6)
21 yards (keying another promising drive that was short circuited by a Ray Rice fumble on the next play)
18 yards for a touchdown to seal the victory
5 catches, 145 yards, all in the second half, many of them incredible catches.
Andrew Luck wasn't good and he didn't make the plays that needed to be made the way Joe Flacco and especially Anquan Boldin did.

It Can't End Like This
Ray Lewis is one of the greatest players in NFL history and his career is almost over. He missed a big chunk of the season with a triceps injury but made a comeback for the playoffs, one final hurrah in front of the home crowd. But this wasn’t Willie Mays limping around during the 1973 World Series. Lewis though diminished, (2000 Ray never would have dropped that interception) still had 13 tackles and was a major force on defense, and I suppose more of an inspirational leader for his defense than I thought he could be.

In fact, they love him so much in Baltimore they gave him one last chance to perform his dance, even at the risk of being bad sports. On the final play, the kneeldown, Lewis took the position as deep back behind the quarterback. And after Flacco took a knee, Lewis launched into his famous dance, wowing the home crowd for one final time. If he decides to stick to his retirement promise.



A Brief Rant About the Redskins
Why must my teams not only lose, but do so in the most painful fashion possible? Not just a loss, a playoff loss at home. And not just a playoff loss at home, a playoff loss at home, after blowing a 14-0 lead. And not just a playoff loss at home after blowing a 14-0 lead, the star quarterback also got hurt, who knows how seriously.
Let’s start with the game. There is no question Mike Shanahan should have taken RG3 out. There were plenty of chances to do it. The first time he got hurt, after that run when he limped to the sidelines, after the offense became ineffective because Seattle knew he couldn’t scramble, after he got sacked because he couldn’t run through the wide-open lane. If Shanahan has some balls he takes RG3 out then and Cousins at least gives the Redskins a chance to win.
I don’t blame RG3 for wanting to stay in, I blame Shanahan for not doing what was best for the team.
And now not only did we lose that game, there’s a possibility he could have suffered an even more serious injury that could affect him next year and perhaps beyond.
Maybe this is the downside of having a quarterback who plays this style, he’s going to get hurt, and we just have to live with it. But where there was once so much promise, now there is just a lot of worry.