Once again we saw another week of desperate teams coming up short, when playing teams with nothing at stake. You had the Bears losing to the Texans, and the Bucs losing at home to the Raiders. How does this happen? Rare for a final week of the season but there were 3 games where both teams needed to win to get in. The Dolphins beat the Jets (thanks to Brett Favre) but the other two were complete blowouts. The Cowboys lost to the Eagles 44-6 and the Chargers demolished the Broncos 52-21. Not the way you should play with your season on the line.
Choke Jobs
Those final week losses completed 3 historic chokes by 3 teams that were sitting pretty just a few weeks ago.
The Jets: After beating New England and previously undefeated Tennessee (on the road) the Jets were 8-3 and in 2nd playoff position. Then they lost 4 out of 5 (and got lucky to win the other one) to finish 9-7 and out of the playoffs.
The Broncos: After beating the Jets and the Chiefs, the Broncos were 8-5 with a 3-game lead in a horrible division. They dropped their next three getting embarrassed by the Chargers on national TV to end the seaseon.
The Buccanneers: They were 9-3 heading into a Monday night game against the Panthers. They got destroyed that night, lost a squeaker the next week then laid down like dogs and got booted out of the playoffs.
I think the biggest choke here actually belongs to the Jets. The Bucs are tempting because they lost 4 in a row, the last one to the Raiders, but their other 3 losses were to playoff teams (Carolina, Atlanta, San Diego).
The Jets on the other hand lost to San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Miami. But as it turned out the Jets probably would have needed to win two of those games to get in.
Whereas the Broncos could have used just one victory, but expectations for them were never that high anyway.
So congratulations to New York Jets fans, another bitter pill to swallow.
Insult to Injury
As if the city of Detroit is not suffering enough, they now have to endure the dignity of the Lions completing the first 0-16 season in NFL history. Now there may be some hope in the front office which was almost completely cleaned out (starting with Matt Millen and ending with Rod Marinelli) but on the field, I don't see much hope for the future.
Since 1978 when the NFL went to a 31 game schedule no team had ever won 16 games in the regular season, until last year, and no team and lost all 16 games, until this year.
Game of the Week
New England Patriots 13 Buffalo Bills 0
The gale-force winds (up to 70 miles an hour) made this game one for the history books. The winds were show strong they literally blew over the goal posts. When it came to kick towards one end they had to have a crew with ropes hold the goal posts in place. The Patriots tried 47 running plays and only 8 passes. The Bills ran it 35 times and threw it 25 times, but only because they had to. The longest pass play was 19 yards.
Game of Next Week
Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings
The Eagles are such a difficult team to predict. The tie the Bengals and hit rock bottom in a loss to the Ravens. Then they win 3 straight and look like world beaters. Following a loss to the Redskins in which they scored only 3 points, all hope seemed lost. But everything broke their way and they destroyed Dallas to earn the playoff spot and a date with Adrian Peterson and the Vikings. And they're actually favored in this one. I think Donovan McNabb's future with the team is at stake here. Maybe Andy Reid's too.
Cheerleader of the Week
Marlina Moreno of the San Diego Charger Girls
Marlina is in her 3rd year with the Charger girls and was one of 12 NFL Cheerleaders photographed for the SI Swimsuit issue (pictures below). When not cheering she runs her own cleaning business, with environmentally friendly practices.
A Brief Rant About the Redskins
A disappointing season comes to a disappointing end with another bad loss to an inferior team. They lost to the Bengals, Rams and 49ers this year, all horrible losses. I still think they have the basis of a really good team here, but they need to keep working with Campbell and make some improvements on defense. But really the talent is not the problem here. The inability to make the key play (on both sides of the ball) was the difference between winning and losing several games this year for this team.
If the Super Bowl Were Played Today
New York Giants 24 Tennessee Titans 13
I'm throwing out those week 17 performances for both teams, but the Colts and the Steelers are right on Tennessee's heels. The Giants seem to have an easier road unless Carolina is emboldened by that late season loss the way the Giants themselves were last year.
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