May 18, 2013

Pre-Super Bowl NFL Notes

January 27, 2010 by 39 Comments

nfl-logoThe Browns have been out of it for what seems like an eternity.  Josh Cribbs is in his hotel in Miami prepping for the Pro Bowl.  All that we really had to cheer for last week was against people.  But I am going to go out on a limb and guess that you are all still watching some NFL.

On Overtime…

The Saints vs. Vikings game went into overtime and all of a sudden the world explodes into “controversy” about whether the current system for deciding tied NFL games is suitable.  Everyone goes to the stats to decide whether it is “fair” or not.  The thing that occurs to me is that it has to be fair because everyone (other than Donovan McNabb) knows the rules that govern the overtime before going into the game.  Don’t want to go to overtime?  Try going for two a couple times during the game.  I honestly don’t really care if the NFL changes the overtime rules or not.  I am willing to listen to anything.  At the same time, I just don’t find the current system to be anywhere near the “travesty” that many are making it out to be.

On Resting…

So, I guess the Colts proved us all wrong by resting their players and then making it to the Super Bowl.  I don’t know what to do about this problem.  I can’t think of any real good solutions for the NFL to put in place either to give teams incentive to play that have nothing left to compete for in the regular season.  Again, I would be willing to listen, but the only thing you can do is win enough games so that you should be lucky enough to choose whether to compete or rest in the last few games.  I still think I would vote for playing every game competitively and only resting truly banged up guys, but maybe that is my own stupidity.

On Mayors’ Bets…

The mayors of NFL cities really need to work on their boring old bets.  Indianapolis and New York mayors bet was a joke.  Indianapolis was putting up a shrimp cocktail appetizer from the “famous” St. Elmo’s Steakhouse in downtown Indianapolis and Bloomberg was putting up New York pizza.  Yawn.  How about the mayors either stop betting or they come up with something less stupid to bet?  How about betting a rock concert featuring musicians from each town?  That seems stupid too, come to think of it.  Maybe it is time to stop these things completely.

On Brett Favre…

You may be tired of his story line.  You may have been happy when he threw that interception.  One thing is for sure and it might not be the popular opinion, but Brett Favre was right to come back and play this year.  His method of getting back and the ESPN coverage were certainly unbelievably annoying, but he was right.  Sure, he didn’t get his team to the Super Bowl, but he did a heck of a lot in getting them within inches of the big game.  I know a lot of the haters out there will even blame Favre for losing it with that interception.  That is kind of silly though.  Favre got his butt whooped all game long and it was amazing that he was even still on the field trying to get his team in a position to go to Miami.  Hopefully Favre will save us the drama this year before making his decision, and hopefully whether he comes back or not, he makes the right decision again.

On the Super Bowl…

No matter who you are rooting for in the game, it has the potential to be VERY exciting.  The Saints were the #1 offensive team in the NFL this season, and the Colts were #7.  The Colts have the #8 defense, while the Saints have the #20, but don’t be fooled.  The Saints also were #1 in defensive touchdowns with 8.  They were also #3 with 26 team interceptions on the year.  Combine those numbers with the fact that there are playmakers all over the field, and it could be one awesome Super Bowl.  Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark and Pierre Garcon vs. Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey and Reggie Bush.

Someday, Browns fans, we will get to talk Browns football up until the last week of the season.  Someday…

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  • http://shakesthesnowglobe.blogspot.com EZ

    While I like to think I would have played my players till the 16th game (just to go for the perfect season) I also don’t think the NFL should create a rule to try to avoid resting. Sure maybe it makes for less exciting games, and it has ramifications on other teams, but honestly the Colts were good enough to put themselves in a position to decide. I may disagree with their decision, but not the fact they they were able to play their way into a situation where they got to decide in the first place.

    I think the mayors should be that the loser has to wear the winning team’s jersey every day until the Superbowl.

    This has been the first year I’ve been interested in the Superbowl in a while. It should be a very exciting game.

  • kyle_b

    On resting…
    Personally, I like the idea of scheduling division games for the last two weeks of the season. While it wouldn’t guarantee that the games are meaningful, I think it would certainly help as it would be much more difficult to clinch your division 12 weeks into the season.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    What controversy? Vikings fans should know that if their stupid QB hadn’t thrown across his body into coverage across the middle, they’d have had a chance to win in regulation with a kick like they should have.

    [update] I should clarify: I was responding to the overtime thing, but while it’s probably easier to blame the loss on the Vikings’ fumbles, the fact remains that Favre had ONE responsibility on that last play: keep them in FG range, and DON’T TURN THE BALL OVER (not sarcasm). In that respect, his ego lost the game. His “gunslinger” menality lost the game. If he’d played smart football with situational awareness, they had a better than 50% chance of making that kick and winning the game.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    Fact: this year’s Super Bowl’s offense is its defense.

    SASHA LIVES!

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig

    Much of the complaining about overtime I read was on Twitter, DP. It wasn’t a lot of Vikings fans either. Just NFL fans in general it seemed to me.

  • http://shakesthesnowglobe.blogspot.com EZ

    @DP

    That’s technically two responsibilities. =p

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    On resting…

    All it will take is for someone like Peyton Manning to get his knee ripped up in a meaningless game right before the playoffs to get everyone to stop griping about it. If you don’t like it, don’t play yourselves into a position where you’re dependent on other teams winning/losing to help your cause, and/or don’t buy season tickets.

    I know it’s a stretch, but put yourselves in the position of the Colts/Colts fans. I understand the 16-0 thing, but if they win the Super Bowl does it really matter? What if the Browns (stifle your laughter and suspend your disbelief) had wrapped up home field, and had two meaningless games left against division opponents (let’s say Baltimore and Pittsburgh) that could not affect the outcome of the Browns’ regular-season standing? Would you seriously want to have them “play hard” for those whole games knowing that one bad hit on your running back or quarterback could legitimately END YOUR SUPER BOWL CHANCES?

    I know I wouldn’t.

  • Swig

    @kyle, I always thought the end of the season should be 3 divisional games (or maybe weeks 14-16). With the middle parity and all it would create more meaningful interesting games. Someone 2 games out entering week 14 still has a legit shot at the divisional title, with out requiring a ton of help.

    Hopefully Favre will save us the drama this year before making his decision
    hahahahaha. And hopefully when he comes back next year he doesn’t end the season with a pick.

    Didn’t Cleveland/Pittsburgh have a wager where the loser went to the winners city and jumped in the relevant body of water Polar Bear Plunge style? That was a cool bet.

  • BB

    kyle_b, I’d take your idea further and schedule all the division games at the end of the season. It works for college.

  • Swig

    @DP, STOP IGNORING THE WES WELKER TRAVESTY!!!

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    EZ, I realized that as soon as I published it. :-)

  • Chris

    I love watching BrittFar throw soul-crushing interceptions. It’s my little slice of heaven. I hope he plays 10 more years.

    Also, Favre will not announce whether he’s coming back until a week before the regular season starts next year. He ain’t dumb, he wants to skip training camp. Maybe he can go play for the Bears next year just to rub it in to the Packer fans some more.

  • http://shakesthesnowglobe.blogspot.com EZ

    @DP

    If the Browns are already at 1 loss when they clinch home field I say rest the players but quite honestly if we’re staring at 16-0 with the chance of the truly perfect season (16-0 and a superbowl victory) I say risk it and take a shot at history. I realize why other people would want to hold the players out but I say go for the brass ring.

  • http://www.moonbattery.com modell2hell

    The best OT alternative I’ve heard is keep sudden death, but it’s the first team who scores 6. Either that or just play a 10 minute OT period, no sudden death. Current system gives too much weight to the coin toss.

    Resting players more often hurts than helps in ultimately winning the Super Bowl. It’s dangerous to dial your team back right when it should be peaking. Any rule to prevent this would be stupid and unenforcable.

    How about if Indy wins, anyone with a Colts jersey drinks free at Mardis Gras? If New Orleans wins, all Saints fans can race any vehicle they can carry into the track in an Indy 500 (yard) race held the night before the real race.

    Favre sold a lot of tickets this year, and he’ll still be a legitmate NFL starter next year if he wants to play.

    Saints will go up early, Colts come back late. Game decided by one pass play at the end.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    Resting players more often hurts than helps in ultimately winning the Super Bowl.

    Not always. For the 2007 Giants? Yes. For the 2009 Colts? Not so much.

  • Mark

    I never understood all angst over Favre; the fans annoyance over the will he or wont he. Who cares? The guy can play. And at 40 he is pretty damned amazing. Favre would certainly be an upgrade over the craptastic bunch of QBs we have here. Bottom line – if a guy can still do it, he should play as long as he wants to.

  • http://shakesthesnowglobe.blogspot.com EZ

    True, Mark.

    If the Browns had picked up Favre for this past season and he’d blown the AFC championship game on that interception do you know what I’d say?

    “Thank God we finally made it to the AFC championship game.”

  • Vare-A-Jay

    Conversly, the Browns rest their players at the BEGINNING of the season. GOOOOOOOOD MOOOOORNIIIIIING!

    /Maxwell’d

  • Swig

    Favre was successful this year because the team relied on defense and the running game (hmmm, just like the time Green Bay won the super bowl). Favre CAN be a piece, but when he feels he needs to step up and make something happen to win he makes ridiculously horrible decisions.

    The annoyance is because Favre doesn’t train, doesn’t watch game, doesn’t mesh with teammates. Yet the media constantly fawns over his love of the game while ignoring all his flaws.

    Yes, over the last couple years I have grown to love hating him. As long as he’s playing for a team I don’t care about (even better one I don’t like) I hope he plays till he’s 50.

  • MrCleaveland

    Here’s what our boy Joe Posnanski of SI had to say about Favre’s ill-fated throw:

    “The play has been dissected to death already — and rightfully so — and there is no shortage of things Favre SHOULD HAVE DONE instead of throwing that pass. Hell, he could have stopped in the middle of the play and started doing an interpretive dance to protest the treatment of Conan O’Brien and THAT would have been smarter than what he did.”

  • http://twitter.com/dj_2 DJ

    @18: +1

    This is going to be a great SB. I would have been happy with either the Saints (great story) or the Vikings (say what you want about Favre, that is a fun team to watch). The next two weeks can’t go by fast enough.

    We also better enjoy this while we have it too, because with the labor strife in the horizon, it could get really depressing soon. And not just NFL either.

    (from my Twitter post earlier today) NBA CBA expires 7/2011. NFL: 3/2011. MLB: 12/2011. NHL: 6/2011 (though NHLPA can extend it). 2011=Sports apocalypse!

  • Anthony

    My Pre-Super Bowl NFL Note: If the Colts win and I hear about any of their fans whining about how they could have had a perfect season, I’m going to scream. However, I am looking forward to a good game.

    @MrCleaveland: Needs more string dance!
    @DJ: /2012 Mayan conspiracy theory’d

  • ClevelandSouth

    I live in New Orleans. It’s great to see a dedicated, long-suffering fan base finally make it to the Superbowl. I’m watching all the Saints fans celebrating around me and thinking ahead to the day we’ll be doing the same thing. And we have to admit that we get some perverse pleasure from being the most tortured sports city in the world, so making the club of teams that haven’t made a Superbowl smaller gives us some joy.

    What will happen if we win a major championship? What will you do the next day? Your sports identity will be destroyed (along with most of the city, I bet).

  • bill-legarm

    Resting players – How about cutting two games from the regular season. It will never happen, but for the most part, teams wouldn’t clinch playoff positioning, etc. w/ 2-3 weeks still left. The less games, the less chance to create separation. Instead, the NFL wants to go the other way.

    Overtime – I don’t care, really. Do the college/high school thing, except instead of starting at the 25, kick the ball off to start things. Basically, just guarantee each team one possession, or something like that.

  • http://www.msblsim.com boogeyman

    That ending for Minnesota and more importantly Brett Favre was so unbelievably fitting it has me smiling to this day. Watching Favre get thrown around like a rag doll and beaten to a pulp on top of finishing off a game with one of his patented lousy decisions by throwing over the middle late was icing on the cake. I kept hoping New Orleans would win and that Favre interception would be the last play of his career. After all of the games he played about retiring and unretiring it just seemed right that he be rewarded like he was last Sunday. Message to Favre: Pick your pants and your career up off the floor and go out with what little dignity you have remaining!

  • MP34

    @DP,

    If the Browns had a shot at 16-0 dear god please let them go for it. What better way to wipe away the filth of the last 15 years than to do something only one other team has ever done.

    The Super Bowl is the ultimate prize for most teams. Most never have the shot at perfection so win the Super Bowl and you are on cloud 9. If Indy wins this year, they are ecstatic but they are still thinking, what it…

  • Swig

    @bill, except Indy would have had 1st seed locked up in week 12, thus the 2 meaningless weeks would have been earlier.

  • MrCleaveland

    @25

    Speaking of pants on the ground, I got a kick out of hearing the Jets fan chanting “Peyton’s on the ground” before the game.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com DP

    16-0 is great. Just ask the Patriots.

  • Roosevelt

    I’m getting a large kick out of people posting about if/when the Browns are 15-0 and clinched their division… I say it depends if the Browns won the Super Bowl the year before.

    The Overtime debate will always be controversial because the rule is stupid. The statistics don’t matter. You can’t give one team an obvious advantage.

  • http://www.60bpm.com Robbie

    Regarding the resting issue, I’m in favor of setting-up the schedule so that the final games are divisional games. For example, the Browns play the Bengals, Ravens and Steelers during the final 3 games of the season. Even if the Browns HAD home field wrapped-up, if they were playing the Steelers and had the ability to play hard and knock them out OR lay down and let them in… that might not be that easy of a decision.

  • http://shakesthesnowglobe.blogspot.com EZ

    The Patriots’ failure is the reason I think the Browns – were they faced with the decision – should go for it. First 20-0 team in one season has a fantastic ring to it.

  • BrianRut4

    EZ, i know this is nitpicking, but an undefeated season would result in a 19-0 record.

  • Anthony

    @BrianRut4: NOT IF THE BROWNS WIN THE PRO BOWL TOO.

  • humboldt

    On the resting issue, I just don’t see how the NFL could take a hard-line stance given the data about head injuries that has risen to prominence this season. Any opportunity to save wear and tear on players should be embraced (or teams should at least have the freedom to make this choice). I also agree w/ the earlier suggestion of reducing preseason games by 2.

    God I love the NFL. Craig, how about hourly draft rumors for your readership?

  • Dave

    I heard the governor of Indiana asked Obama to call the Saints to wish them good luck in the Super Bowl because everything else he supports fails…he called the Kentucky basketball team yesterday to congratulate them for raising so much for Haiti prior to them losing to SC, not to mention MA senate seat, NJ & VA governor races and of course healthcare.

  • http://www.msblsim.com boogeyman

    @28 and after the game the Jets and their fans were left on the ground! Seeing NY’s post-season come to an end was almost as good as seeing Favre’s end, almost.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Denny

    Funny comment from a guy with ‘Pearl Jam’ in his email address. No need to start digging into politics around these here parts. Most importantly, no need to copy/paste that HILARIOUS, FRESH email that was forwarded to you by 7 different people.

  • kirkcheated

    On Overtime….fair is fair until the rule is changed. I would like to see a change where only a touchdown can WIN the game!

    On Resting…..that is the team’s business, if it falls bck on them later…so be it..it’s their business.

    On Mayors’ Bets….I think they have better things to do. Maybe they should do something humiliating…like wash city cars…by hand!!

    On Brett Favre…..Favre is a Loser!! Just go home and stay on the farm, and by the way….thanks for the memories. Seriously, he really muffed the game and I was GLAD to see the defense smash his gunslingerness to the ground. Live by the gun…die by the gun..

    On the Super Bowl….got to go with the Saints, just for the rebuilding aspect.

    On the Future of the Browns….looks much brighter with upcoming draft. GO Browns !!