Quick Slants - Week 7
This just in: Rob Bironas has just kicked another field goal.
If Week 6 was completely unpredictable, Week 7 was about statements being made.
Up first: Bears at Eagles.
Both teams HAD to have this game.
As in, the winner gets to keep hope alive. The loser is already on the clock.
The Illadelph was crushing the Chi for the better part of four quarters, but field goals ain't touchdowns. A game that should have been a blowout was within the reach of a team as desperate as themselves.
And then: blessed silence.
1:52 remaining. 97 yards between the Bears and victory. And Brian Griese's helmet audio stopped functioning.
Some might call that convenient.
I call it provident.
Like the veteran that he is, Griese confidently and methodically moved his team down the field, bereft of any direction other than the innate sense of north-and-south that he had to have inherited a portion of from his Hall-Of-Fame dad. The defense, stupidly believing the Bears capable of the big strike, left its underbelly open. Griese and his receivers gladly savaged that underbelly, taking huge chunks of yards at a time.
Then, the inevitable: Griese found Muhsin Muhammad in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead score that the Eagles had feared from Griese's first completion at the beginning of the drive.
The remaining 9 seconds dribbled off the clock, and the Bears were the team coming out of the coma.
The Eagles? Downgraded from critical to grave...
Statement Game 2: Titans at Texans.
Houston had every reason to lose this game. They were without their stud receiver. Their quarterback went down early. They were behind by a bushel of points. Everything said 'run out the clock and don't let the bleeding get any worse.'
Instead, they went to their backup, and he took them to the end zone.
Again. And again. And again.
And all of a sudden, Houston is in position for the upset of the season.
Except that Tennessee went to the well one more time.
Rob Bironas had already made seven (7) (!!) field goals in the game, from all distances. He was called upon once more.
Of course, he answered.
Eight (8) (WHAT THE HELL?!!) field goals later, Tennessee wins a game that they had both won and lost. Houston lost a game that they lost and won...and then lost again.
And the Titans remain a force to be reckoned with.
Statement Game 3: Patriots at Dolphins.
They were clearly the better team going in. No one took the Dolphins seriously. This could have been a classic trap game...but these ain't your granddad's Patriots.
The Patriots treated these guys like hazardous waste, and disposed of them early and properly.
They might be the most focused team in the league, except for...
Statement Game 4: Colts at Jaguars.
Anyone else remember that 44-17 butt beating that Indy took last year in the swamp?
Apparently, the Colts hold a grudge as long as the Patriots do, because they exorcized more than a few demons this time around in what can only be described as a complete thrashing of a playoff-bound team.
If New England's handling of Dallas in Dallas told us anything about the Patriots, then Indianapolis' handling of Jacksonville in Jacksonville should tell us exactly the same thing about the Colts.
The Colts are making a simple statement.
They do not consider themselves 1a to the Patriots' 1.
They believe that they are the 1, and that the Patriots are the team with something to prove, ESPN sloppy wet kisses for the Patriots notwithstanding.
And, at last check, as I have LOOONG maintained, the Colts are the team with the shiniest new hardware on display at team HQ. The Colts are the team that won the last Super Bowl.
The Colts are looking every bit as super as the Patriots.
And I will say it again and again until I'm paid to keep saying or sued to stop:
One of these two teams will go undefeated, out of necessity.
Whoever wins that titanic clash in Indy in a little less than a fortnight will have the inside track on home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
By the slimmest of margins: one game.
One misstep, one failure to focus, one badly-executed game plan, and now we're thrown into the lap of chance, where the obscure rules of NFL tie-breakers come into play.
Neither team wants that.
Neither team wants their destiny decided by something as undeserving of the moment as a ruling that was largely suggested in a hypothetical situation in the first place.
No, one team will go 16-0 because the other will hound them there.
And the great part for football fans is that it might not matter where the game is played.
If Week 6 was completely unpredictable, Week 7 was about statements being made.
Up first: Bears at Eagles.
Both teams HAD to have this game.
As in, the winner gets to keep hope alive. The loser is already on the clock.
The Illadelph was crushing the Chi for the better part of four quarters, but field goals ain't touchdowns. A game that should have been a blowout was within the reach of a team as desperate as themselves.
And then: blessed silence.
1:52 remaining. 97 yards between the Bears and victory. And Brian Griese's helmet audio stopped functioning.
Some might call that convenient.
I call it provident.
Like the veteran that he is, Griese confidently and methodically moved his team down the field, bereft of any direction other than the innate sense of north-and-south that he had to have inherited a portion of from his Hall-Of-Fame dad. The defense, stupidly believing the Bears capable of the big strike, left its underbelly open. Griese and his receivers gladly savaged that underbelly, taking huge chunks of yards at a time.
Then, the inevitable: Griese found Muhsin Muhammad in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead score that the Eagles had feared from Griese's first completion at the beginning of the drive.
The remaining 9 seconds dribbled off the clock, and the Bears were the team coming out of the coma.
The Eagles? Downgraded from critical to grave...
Statement Game 2: Titans at Texans.
Houston had every reason to lose this game. They were without their stud receiver. Their quarterback went down early. They were behind by a bushel of points. Everything said 'run out the clock and don't let the bleeding get any worse.'
Instead, they went to their backup, and he took them to the end zone.
Again. And again. And again.
And all of a sudden, Houston is in position for the upset of the season.
Except that Tennessee went to the well one more time.
Rob Bironas had already made seven (7) (!!) field goals in the game, from all distances. He was called upon once more.
Of course, he answered.
Eight (8) (WHAT THE HELL?!!) field goals later, Tennessee wins a game that they had both won and lost. Houston lost a game that they lost and won...and then lost again.
And the Titans remain a force to be reckoned with.
Statement Game 3: Patriots at Dolphins.
They were clearly the better team going in. No one took the Dolphins seriously. This could have been a classic trap game...but these ain't your granddad's Patriots.
The Patriots treated these guys like hazardous waste, and disposed of them early and properly.
They might be the most focused team in the league, except for...
Statement Game 4: Colts at Jaguars.
Anyone else remember that 44-17 butt beating that Indy took last year in the swamp?
Apparently, the Colts hold a grudge as long as the Patriots do, because they exorcized more than a few demons this time around in what can only be described as a complete thrashing of a playoff-bound team.
If New England's handling of Dallas in Dallas told us anything about the Patriots, then Indianapolis' handling of Jacksonville in Jacksonville should tell us exactly the same thing about the Colts.
The Colts are making a simple statement.
They do not consider themselves 1a to the Patriots' 1.
They believe that they are the 1, and that the Patriots are the team with something to prove, ESPN sloppy wet kisses for the Patriots notwithstanding.
And, at last check, as I have LOOONG maintained, the Colts are the team with the shiniest new hardware on display at team HQ. The Colts are the team that won the last Super Bowl.
The Colts are looking every bit as super as the Patriots.
And I will say it again and again until I'm paid to keep saying or sued to stop:
One of these two teams will go undefeated, out of necessity.
Whoever wins that titanic clash in Indy in a little less than a fortnight will have the inside track on home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
By the slimmest of margins: one game.
One misstep, one failure to focus, one badly-executed game plan, and now we're thrown into the lap of chance, where the obscure rules of NFL tie-breakers come into play.
Neither team wants that.
Neither team wants their destiny decided by something as undeserving of the moment as a ruling that was largely suggested in a hypothetical situation in the first place.
No, one team will go 16-0 because the other will hound them there.
And the great part for football fans is that it might not matter where the game is played.
Labels: Bears, Colts, New England Patriots, NFL, Titans
posted by van walker | 8:41 AM
1 Comments:
My greatest fear is that somewhere in the Murphy's law/Gene Rodenberry alternate universe realm, a possibility exists that the New England/Indy game will end in a 56-56 tie.
Either that, or in an unprecedented move the computer system messes up and the Superbowl is announced to be a matchup between South Florida and Ohio State.
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