One More Thing

I forget one last thing for this week:

Am I the only one who thinks it is ridiculous that recently retired Tony LaRussa is going to be managing the NL All-Stars next year? Look, if the game meant nothing then it would be a great idea to have some of the games greatest coaches come back for a day. But the thing is, this game means something. It is for home field advantage in the World Series. We can debate until we are blue whether determining home field in this manner is a good thing (here are my thoughts), but I don't think anyone can argue with me on this one.

No matter how informed LaRussa stays during his retirement he won't know as much about all the players as he did if he was coaching. It just doesn't work like that. He won't be able to monitor everyone from the opposing dugout. He won't be able to have access to the same scouting reports. He won't get to physically see on the field. AND he won't have anything at stake. If he loses it's no big deal: he can go home and put his feet up (btw - the thought of LaRussa at home is an equally boring, equally curmudgeonly thought) and watch the World Series on tv. It just won't be the same. If my team makes it to the World Series and they don't have home field advantage because some retired manager made an uninformed decision, I would be pissed. This is ridiculous.

I'm Back...Again

Ok, I'm back again. I'm starting to think that a weekly post might be completely doable. Who knows, we'll see how it goes. For now, though, let's get to it.

• When I was growing up, Rutgers football was a laughin stock. You wouldn't admit to liking them because the reality was, there was no way you could like them. It wasn't that they were bad, they were terrible.
  
  In 2001 when Greg Schiano was hired to be their new head coach, I was stoked. The truth is - I was excited because he is a Bucknell alum. That was it - I knew nothing of him besides that he was the Miami DC at the time. I always assumed that if he was successful in his first few years that he would leave for a bigger program and he never did. Even when the Miami and Penn St jobs became available, he didn't bite.
  
  He turned the program into a winner and actually made it cool to support Rutgers. When they beat Louisville on national TV a few years ago I openly bragged about being from Jersey. It was a great moment - one that I never thought I would see. Anyways, in his 11 years in Piscataway, Schiano was 68-67. In his past 7 years, he had 6 winning seasons, 5 bowl victories and a .629 winning percentage.
  
  I have nothing good to say about Schiano. And yet, I can't help but think that his decision to become the Tampa Bay Bucs coach is bad one on so many levels. First, college coaches never succeed in the NFL. And most of those who have tried are/were better coaches than Schiano. Second, Rutgers is now in a really bad positoin. They are coming off a 9 win year when they predicted to finish last in the Big East. They have a good recruiting class and have kept the best two Jersey high schoolers in state. They suddenly had some positive momentum AND were playing in a depleted Big East. Winning the conference would not have been sexy, but it would have gotten them a BCS birth. Now, a week away from Signing Day, Rutgers is without their coach. That sucking sound you hear coming from jersey is the sound of rival programs sucking out the talent. The timing just sucked. You can't fault him for taking the opp, but wow, it could have come at a better time.
  

• When I was in college, I would occasionally stay up to watch the midnight WCC game between Gonzaga and Pepperdine (who at the time was their big rival). I really loved those Zags teams. Now I love that I don't have to stay up until midnight to watch them anymore - thank you West Coast!
• Bucknell is now 6-0 in the conference with only one test remaining. I'm not gonna say what I'm thinking, because I'm sure you know what it is.
• I feel like the Winter X Games were a competition put together to simply make Americans feel better about themselves. I mean, seriously, freestyle snowmobiling? What other country than the US would that be popular in?
• Jeff Parke got his first cap for the US Men's National Team on Wednesday. He came off the bench for 35 minutes of action. I don't think that he is in their long-term plans, but definitely deserved a look. Good for him.
• Here is some news that I know you are unaware of. In an attempt to get younger, the Seattle Storm recently traded Swin Cash and Camille Little to Chicago for the 2nd pick in the WNBA Draft. There is a very good chance that Delaware's Elena Della Donne will be the pick. She is leading the nation with 29.8 points a game and can do it all. It would be an amazing pick...or would it? Della Donne signed with UConn after being the top ranked recruit but only stayed on campus for 2 days before going home. Some people called her a spoiled quitter with emotional problems. The real reason was that she missed her family and her sister Lizzie who is blind and deaf and has cerebral palsy. It truly is a great story. I respect her for that and think she is probably a quality person. BUT, if living in Connecticut was too much for her, how the hell would she handle living in Seattle? I'm not sure that the Storm can take that chance.
  
• I have not watched Sportscenter since Sunday. I simply don't want to watch the Tyree catch or listen to all the hype surrounding the Super Bowl.
• UW hoops picked up a nice win on Thursday. It wasn't as convincing as most Dawgs fans would like, but at the end of the day, it is a win. I really like what Seferian-Jenkins has brought to the team and if they can just get CJ Wilcox back to full strength then suddenly they will have a bench. They still have long road ahead of them if they want to make the tourney, but finishing 7-3 down the stretch (13-5 overall) might get it done.
• Last year, the NHL thought outside of the box and came up with the very creative idea of having two captains pick their teams for the All-Star Game. Even though certain players and GM's spoke out against the idea, it was one that was met with very positive reactions from the fans. I was certainly one to applaud the idea, but now a year later it seems old and boring. I don't know what it is, but after watching 2 minutes of the Fantasy Draft last night, I was ready to go to sleep. Maybe it was the lame attempt to bring in some hot blond to discuss what was trending on Twitter or maybe it was seeing hockey players in suite, but something was just wrong. Oh wait, I know what it is. I just can't get behind something where Erik Carlsson and Jason Spezza were the first two picks for one of the teams. I understand that these two fine gentleman were teammates of the Captain and I understand that they represent the hometown team, but come on. That just throws credibility out the window. I want the captains to put together the best possible teams, not to be loyal. (an interesting fact - Alfredsson then picked another teammate in the 12th round. Apparently Milan Michalek doesn't mean as much to Alfredsson as the other two...)
• Have I ever told you how much I love Maria Sharapova?
• I don't have tons of time to discuss all the new international signings in the MLS, but I definitely see a positive trend. In an effort to improve the quality of their roster, MLS teams are really hitting Central and South America hard these days. While some may say that it is unfair for the league to be poaching talent from the Colombian League in light of the countries financial problems (6 signings alone this year to go with established stars like Fredy Montero, David Ferreira and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado), but the simple truth is that soccer players will go where the money is. MLS can't afford to lure rising European talent, but it can certainly flex some muscle in this part of the world. Getting the big names like Beckham, Henry and Keane might be good from the publicity side of things, but it is going to be young players from North, Central and South America that really improve the quality of this league. I am very happy about this.
• Let me see if I have this right. Victor Martinez is out for the year, so the Tigers decided to sign Prince Fielder...for 9 years?!? Forget 5 years from now, he hasn't even played a game yet and it is a bad contract. Oh well, at least he isn't in Pinstripes.
• By the way, the Mets signed ... um, they signed ... hmph. They signed no one. They trimmed about $50 million off their payroll.
• To follow up from before, from 1987 to 1997, aka my informative years, Rutgers won an average of 4 games a season including 0-11 in 1997. Now that I actually did the math, it doesn't seem too bad.
• Speaking of not seeming too bad, I looked at realtimerpi.com today and found out that none of UW's losses this year were against teams with RPIs>100. Yes, amazingly, St Louis (42), Nevada (72), South Dakota St (66), and Colorado (69) are all below 100.
• Let's get this Tim Thomas controversy out of the way. I won't lie - I had no problem with Theo Epstein skipping his version with Bush a few years back, so I'm not overly objective on this one. I have two issues. First, how can you say this isn't about politics and then rail on the politicians and big government? Second, sometimes you just have to do shit that you don't want to. That's life. You and your teammates were being honored for something you accomplished together. The president of the US was taking time out of his amazingly busy schedule to get together. If you can't give the president sometime, at least go with your teammates to be honored. You might never get that moment back.
  

Ok, I'm out. Have a great weekend and enjoy the pro Bowl. Oh, speaking of Pro Bowl, check out my post from last year when I gave Roger Goodell some ways to fix it.

I'm An Addict

It's been 10 days since my last post. I have missed it, but at the same time feel a little free. It has been nice not to force out posts just to stay current. Of course, that doesn't mean I haven't had stuff on my mind. In fact, it is the exact opposite. All I continue to think about all day long is sports. I'm an addict.

• All the talk on KJR in recent weeks has been what the Seahawks are going to do at the QB spot. Will they trade up to get Robert Griffin III in the NFL Draft? Will they throw a boatload of money at free agent Matt Flynn? Or will they stick with Tavaris Jackson for another year? I have listened to all the considerations and I think the decision is an easy one: they need to throw the money at Matt Flynn. Now I realize it is risky to put that much faith in someone who is a back-up QB and has started only 2 , albeit really successful, games in his career. I mean, the dude is a back-up for a reason. Given the situation each of his monster games occurred in, I am not going to put too much faith into either. The thing is though - we don't know what he could be. Sure, he could be the next Rob Johnson...but he could also be the next Matt Hasselback. They need to take the risk because it could be better than what they already have. Here's the biggest thing though - if they trade up to get RG3 they will be mortgaging their future. They are really really close to being a playoff team. They CANNOT trade away any draft picks to get the right to draft RG3. If Flynn fails, the team is out of money. If RG3 fails, they are out money and picks. Whiffing on a rookie QB will put them back years. They won't be able to recover. They need to go the Flynn route.
  
  
• I have no problem with the M's trading pitching for hitting, but I'm not quite sure that Jesus Montero is the answer for their struggling lineup. Look, I know that Montero is one of the top prospects in the game, but a prospect is a prospect until they become a star. He has only played 18 games so far and while the results have been good, I'm not sure how they will extrapolate to an entire year.
  
  Now I get the risk that Jack Z took might be a good one. He traded away a strength to strengthen his weakness. They have a shitload of pitching in the organization - I just thought that trading King Felix and building around Michael Pineda might have been the better move. Obviously that is crazy talk because of what King Felix means to this team, but you know Boston and the Yanks would have given an arm, a leg, a kidney and a liver to get his services. They would have hurt the fans, but helped the team.
  
  Ok, so they didn't trade Felix. They traded Pineda instead. I think the Yanks actually won the trade - not because I think Montero will be a bust but because they simply had to move him. He isn't a catcher - he is a hitter. The only thing is that he can't DH for the Yanks because of A-Rod and Tex. Instead of sitting in the minors, he gets to play every day AND the Yanks get a damn good pitcher. Here is the thing though - I think there is a good chance he throws out his arm. He is only 22 years old and he threw 171 innings last year. He needs to be on an inning count this coming year - something I don't think the Yanks will be willing to do. Do you actually think that they will shut him down in September if he gives them the chance to beat the Red Sox for the division title? I'm calling it now - he blows out his arm
  
  
• Let's talk a little Hall of Fame. One of the guys on ESPN.com suggested that Mike Piazza won't make it in next year on his first year of eligibility. He felt that he will get in eventually but that the writers will make a statement in year 1. Let me tell you something - that is absolutely crazy. If Piazza, the greatest hitting catcher in baseball history, doesn't make it in on his first try, then the voters are assholes. I don't care about his admission of PED's early in his career...hands down, he was the best player at his position during his career (not to mention that he 'captained' a NY team before and after 911).
  
  Speaking of being the best at his position, Edgar Martinez, the best player at his position, got only 36.5% of votes in his 3rd year of eligibility. It is not looking too good. This is a tough one for me. I mean, I'm an NL guy who doesn't believe in the DH. I don't think you should be able to hit if you can't play the field. It just goes against everything you are taught in the schoolyard. BUT, I can't argue that it is a legitimate position. And Edgar was the best at it. You might not believe that kickers or punters belong in the NFL Hall of Fame, but they are pro athletes who play an important position. They deserve some credit...and unfortunately the same holds for the DH. Put Edgar in.
  
  
• I don't know who will make the Super Bowl (although I claim the Giants to be the favorites), but all 4 possibilities are going to be the media's dream. Giants-Pats is obviously the most intriguing because of the Super Bowl from 3 years ago. Giants-Ravens is another Super Bowl rematch. Ravens-49ers will be the Harbaugh Bowl. Pats-49ers will be a match-up of the Team of the 80's vs the Team of the 2000's. I will get sick of all the build-up, but know they will be happy.
  
  
• The Nets suck. Really Suck. D-Will is as good as gone. Howard is not coming. They will win 8 games this season and go to Brookyln as the worst team in the league.
  
  
• I applaud both the USSF and CONCACAF for the changes to the US Open Cup and Champions League. The Open cup will now consist of 32 teams including all 16 domestic MLS teams and home field will now be based on a random draw. The best part though is knowing the dates of each round prior to the season. Champions League has also changed for the better, eliminating 2 games from the round robin part. Now instead of a 2 game playoff for 16 teams followed by 4 groups of 4, the 24 qualifying teams will be placed into 8 groups of 3. Only the winner of each group will advance. Whereas before the Sounders were playing 8 total games (4 home, 4 road) they will now play 4. Flying from Dallas to Central America might not be terrible, but Seattle to Central America was killing us. I also like that in order to advance to the Quarterfinals, teams must be the best team in at least 3 of the 4 games. If you advance, you know you earned it
  
  
• Finally, terrible job by MLS in scheduling the Sounders on the road for 4 Cascadia Cup games in 2012. I find it completely unfathomable that in a year when they want to promote local rivalries, they allow 1 Cascadia team, regardless of whether it was Seattle or not, to have to be on the road for 4 of 6. This wasn't rocket science guys - it could go one of two ways: 1. Seattle home twice vs PTL, PTL home twice vs VAN, VAN home twice vs Seattle OR 2. PTL home twice vs Seattle, Seattle home twice vs VAN, VAN home twice vs PTL. Ok, two simple ways. Way to eff it up.
  

I think that's it for now. Hope everyone is doing well.

The End...or Close to It

I think the time has come to take a much needed vacation from the blog. Ok, that's not really the truth. A vacation would imply that this is my job and that it is something I need a break from. Really, that's not the case. I try to blog on the side because I enjoy writing and frankly, because I don't have the opportunity to sit around, watch games with my buddies and then discuss them at the caf the next day. This was my way of expressing my thoughts on whatever sports item I was interested in at the time.

When I started the blog back in April 2010, I didn't exactly know where it would go. I had hoped that it would not only be a place for me, but a place for my friends too. Ultimately, that didn't work out. I found that it was one thing to send emails back and forth about the Mets, but when it came to actually posting something on the blog, no one besides my faithful Devils blogger Jay Walker-Martin was actually interested. And you know what, that turned out to be fine. Instead of having this blog be something that a lot of strangers read, it quickly became apparent that this was something that only a handful of my close friends read.

So to all of you who have read and provided comments, I thank you. Nothing made me happier than seeing a message in my inbox saying that someone commented on one of my posts. I always appreciated that.

The fact is that I am not only watching less sports these days but I just don't have the disposable time I once did. I can find time to blog, but it means I am taking away from my sleep. And it means that I am just getting sloppy. Last week I posted something on UW and made 2 mistakes. It obviously wasn't a huge deal, but it was to me. I simply didn't take the time to do any research because I wanted to get to bed at a reasonable hour. (to be fair, forgetting UW was at Qwest next year was simply an oversight - no research should have been needed for that).

I could simply continue to throw opinions around without anything to back them up, but then I would become a blowhard. Part of the reason I enjoy writing about sports is that I am a stats junkie and I love spending random Thursday nights on baseballreference.com to research a story on whether Justin Turner deserves to be the Mets everyday second baseman. I want my writing to be passionate. I am not a fan of errors.

But this isn't about one simple entry with mistakes. Nah, it's just that this is becoming more a chore than it is fun. I think I still will want to blog when something big happens with the Sounders or Mets, but having 4-5 unique columns a week just isn't going to happen. So if you're reading this and want to check in occasionally to see if anything new is up, then great...I would love it. But if not, then I appreciate the time you have spent reading.

The bottom line - I have other things going on in my life. So for the time being, I am going to step away from blogging. But like all the previous times I have done so, I expect to be back. Why? Well, because I always come back. I just can't stay away.

No Excuses for UW

Here's a little secret for ya - The Wife and I like to watch The Biggest Loser. Yeah, I probably shouldn't be proud of it, but whatever - I'm old and have a kid. Anyways...this season's theme is No Excuses, which was exactly what I thought when I saw the newly released 2012 UW football schedule. For those who haven't seen, the 12 game schedule contains non-conference games against Div 1-AA Portland St, San Diego St and likely defending national champion LSU on the road. As for the conference schedule, the Huskies play all teams except Arizona St and UCLA (with new coach, former Husky Jim Mora Jr). The actual schedule is as follows:

Sat Sept. 1 --- San Diego State
Sat Sept. 8 --- at LSU
Sat Sept. 15 --- Portland State
Thu Sept. 27 --- Stanford
Sat Oct. 6 --- at Oregon
Sat Oct. 13 --- USC
Sat Oct. 20 --- at Arizona
Sat Oct. 27 --- Oregon State
Fri Nov. 2 --- at Cal
Sat Nov. 10 --- Utah
Sat Nov. 17 --- at Colorado
Fri Nov. 23 --- at Washington State

The 2012 schedule presents an absolute BRUTAL opening set of games, with 4 of the first 6 opponents likely to finish in the Top 10 this year. I know it will be easy to complain about how the Dawgs open up, but I think it is time to put all excuses aside. I don't know what it is like to be in this town when the Huskies are a ranked team, but I can't imagine that the 1991 team backed down from a challenge. If the Huskies are really back - and I mean 9 or 10 wins - then they need to get the job done. It's simple as that. This isn't the SEC West where a team like Ole Miss will have to play Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Auburn and rival Miss St every year and then Georgia or Florida every other year. No, this is the Pac-12, where currently there are only 3 ranked teams. I don't want to rip on the league, but after Stanford and Oregon, we had Washington, UCLA and Arizona st playing in bowls. Not exactly Murderers Row.

No excuses. Get the job done. And you know what? I think the Dawgs might actually have a shot at 9 wins. I'm going to assume wins against San Diego st and Portland St (although the latter won't count towards Bowl eligibility) and a loss on the road against LSU. At 2-1 the Dawgs then open up the conference schedule at home against Stanford on a Thursday night. Stanford is a damn good team but they will be losing not only Andrew Luck but two lineman who are projected to be top 10 picks, a highly rated TE and 6 other starters. They are going to be good (projected top 10 in 2012), but not 10-1 good. The Cardinal will also be coming off a BYE week, but I think they will be ripe for the picking. I think coming into a rowdy, raucous Husky Stadium on a Thursday night will be a tough go for the Cardinal. The atmosphere will be ridiculous and I think the Huskies get the upset win.

The next two weeks will be tough but the USC game will be at home as well. They have won 2 of 3 against the Trojans, so who knows. After USC, the Dawgs won't play another ranked opponent the rest of the year, although road games at Colorado and WSU to end the year could be trap games.

Here is the other thing - if the Huskies do end up at 9-3, it probably means that they won 6 in a row to end the season. That would be good enough for a Top 25 ranking and a birth in another quality bowl game.

I know it is wayyy to early to talk about the upcoming season (especially with a new defensive coordinator coming in and a less than favorable recruiting class), but it doesn't hurt to see what the team is in for. It will be a rough go at first, but this is the type of thing that separates good teams from special teams. If the Huskies want to become an elite program again, it must take the bad with the good and just get the job done. It is that simple. No excuses.

Hate for the 2012 Winter Classic

Boys and girls across Canada and the northern US grow up shoveling off snow from frozen lakes and playing hockey every night until the sun sets. That is why the yearly outdoor NHL game is a perfect idea...it is the closest the players will ever come to going back to simpler times.

For the past 4 years the NHL Winter Classic has provided not only the players but the fans the opportunity to go back to their childhood. They might not be played on random lakes in the middle of the wilderness, but they are played in some pretty cool locales. first it was Ralph Willard Stadium in Buffalo. Then Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Heinz Field. It has all been perfect..until now.

See, this year, they decided to not only go to Philadelphia for Ranger v Flyers. It is a match-up that was going to happen at some time (after all, New York-Philly is one of the fiercest rivalries in sports), but one that just pisses me off. In almost every other sport, I would value this is an awesome match-up, but when you are a Devils fan, this game just doesn't do it for you. I don't want either team to win - I want them all to get a 24-hour bug and not be able to play.

I know I am off my rocker in suggesting that the match-up should be any different. It will be great for tv ratings and really, it is a match-up of top 5 teams. It should be great, but really...Flyers-Rangers?? They aren't even the biggest rivals. Maybe twenty years ago, but now? Nah, I'm pretty certain both Flyers and Rangers fans would rather beat the Devils.

The reason? It's because the Devils have been the alpha dog for the past 15 years. Since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, the Devils have made the playoffs for 14 of 16 seasons with 9 division titles and 3 Stanley Cups. The Flyers have made the playoffs 15 times with 2 Stanley Cup losses and the Rangers have made the playoffs only 8 times. During that stretch, the Devils played the Flyers 4 times in the playoffs and the Rangers thrice. Meanwhile, the Flyers and Rangers have played only twice in the playoffs.

So the Devils have not only played the Flyers and Rangers more times in the playoffs, but they have been the most successful of the three. They need to be in the Winter Classic. But here is the problem - they are the New Jersey Devils, the team that killed the NHL, the team with less than 30 years of history, the team that no one wants to watch.

It's the reason why the Devils have been on NBC 0 times over the past three years while the Rangers and Flyers have combined to be on NBC 24 times. It's no different on Versus - the Devils have averaged 6.3 appearances over the past three seasons compared to 12 for the Rangers and 9.3 for the Flyers. The national media and the NHL hates the Devils. Last year might have been a down year, but the Devils are a playoff team again this year and would have been a great participant.

When the Winter Classic inevitably moves to Yankee Stadium in a year or two, I expect the Devils to be involved. It is only right (and it is much better than having to go to the city of Philadelphia to breath the air). As for this year, I will not watch a single second of the game and hope that it not only rains but that the ice conditions are terrible. Oh, and maybe the Philly fans will throw crap on the ice. That would be amazing and terrible at the same time.

Great NFL Weekend

I might be wrong, but I feel like this season's NFL playoff picture was clearer going into Week 17 than it has been in a long time. Of a total of 12 playoff spots, only 3 were still up for grabs - the AFC West, AFC Wild Card and the NFC East. Pretty tame if you ask me...and yet we were treated to a week rich with storylines.

The biggest story to me didn't even involve a team gunning for a playoff spot, but rather the team with the worst record in the league. The Indianapolis Colts, with a 2-13 record, needed to win and a Rams loss to avoid the distinction of being a division winner in 2010 and holding the top pick in the 2012 draft. Going into the week, we had heard that the veterans on the team were playing to win. They were not in it to Suck for Luck but rather were playing for their injured leader, Peyton Manning. By losing to the hapless 4-11 Jacksonville Jaguars, they clinched the worst record in the league.

Now the good times begin. The Colts have a 35 year old QB who has had 3 neck surgeries in the past 18 months. He is not getting any younger and who knows if he will ever be the same. A lot of experts suggest that Peyton was the reason for the significant drop-off in record, but the truth is that it was a perfect storm. Yes, losing Peyton hurt, but this team is a mess. They were not going to win the Super Bowl even if he had been there. Their ceiling with Manning is a few more 10-6 records over the next few years, followed by another drop-off and then rebuilding. I think they would be crazy not to draft Luck and start rebuilding now. They will never get this chance again. They have to do it now - they have to let go of Manning. He might not deserve to be dropped because of an injury, but sports is a cruel business.

The second biggest story is that of Mr Tim Tebow. I recently wrote how I was a full-fledged member of the Church of Tebow. It just seemed crazy to think a player with below than average skill could go 6-1 in his first seven starts and put his team on the brink of the playoffs if not for something divine. After a two game losing streak, the recently released Kyle Orton was back in Denver to try to knock out the man who replaced him. It was a perfect scenario that would have made for great revenge. At the end of the day, Orton didn't have a great day but got the win because Tebow couldn't help his team score more than 6 points. I honestly can't believe it - after making me believe, he dropped the ball in the most important game of the season. Luckily for him, Oakland couldn't beat San Diego and the Broncos are in the playoffs. however, if they can't beat Poittsburgh this coming weekend, I think Elway and Co need to really re-think this Tebow thing. Who would have thought that possible four weeks ago?

And there were a lot of other great stories:

• The Jets joined the Eagles as pre-season Super Bowl favorites who are outside the playoffs looking in. What a pathetic collapse and one that will undoubtedly lead to tons of debate over the next few months.
• The Bengals, a team I pegged for 2 wins this season, made the playoffs with a 9-7 record. A simply amazing coaching job by Marvin Lewis. They won the tiebreaker over the Tennessee Titans who somehow won 9 games with Chris Johnson being absolutely terrible. Kudos to Mike Munchak on the job he did but now the question remains where they go at the QB position next year. Will Hasselbeck be back to lead a possible playoff team or do they give the reigns to Jake Locker and hope he doesn't blow it?
• I don't want to take anything away from Aaron Rodgers, but his back-up Matt Flynn just threw for 400+ yards and 6 td's against the Lions. I'm not ready to suggest that he is ready to lead a team, but does this help the "Aaron Rodgers is Not the best QB ever" debate.
• The Giants got a huge win over their key rivals. The Cowboys have go in another direction, right? Romo can't possibly be their guy moving forward.
• The passing records set this year are just insane. The NFL saw not 1, not 2, but 3 QB's throw for more than 5000 yards (Brees, Brady, Stafford) and 3 threw more than 40 TD's (Rodgers, Brees, Stafford) Can someone help me understand why this is happening? My father-in-law suggests that it is because no one is allowed to hit anyone any more...it can't be that simple can it?
• Finally, what is going to happen to the Seahawks? I feel like they are actually pretty close to being relevant again, but they have a major decision to make, not just about Tarvaris (who I don't think is going anywhere in the offseason) abut about Marshawn Lynch. I know that his situation is a lot different than Shaun Alexander's, but I have to wonder whether it would be wise to spend a shit ton of money on him. I am just weary of guys in contract years and who take a ton of hits. It is going to be interesting to see what they do.