Nevermore, Nevermore talent?

The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in the AFC Championship game. This game can be summed up by looking at the second half. Anytime you get outscored 24 to 3 in the second half, your chances are not good. Pittsburgh Steelers outplayed the Ravens with youth and speed and now gives Mike Tomlin's team a chance at 3 Super Bowls since 2006. 

How does Big Ben continue to escape out of tight situations? I know there is a joke there.  Ozzie Newsome's first priority should be rebuilding with young players that can contribute minutes to the team. The NFL mock draft boards will be blowing up with various strategies of the direction.

I look for the Ravens to rebuild with speed next year and at CB. Brandon Harris, Miami, is the typical athlete the Ravens draft. Harris has good speed and a prototypical 5'10 1/2 corner, 193 lbs, and his father was named the USA Today National Coach of the Year in 2007. Harris being a coaches son and has played in all 26 games during his first two years at Miami has the ability to be a leader. The Ravens with many multiple "UUUUUUUU" connections, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Tavares Gooden, it would come no surprise if Harris' name is called out by Baltimore on draft day. 

Ravens pride themselves on having a tough defense and that was what destroyed them in the end. They blew up, gave up or just flat out got old in front of us as we watched. It is amazing how a team can get old in one year or even one half. Just ask the 2009 Dallas Cowboys or the 2009 Brett Favre about that.    

Second prize is a set of steak knives

In the 1992, independent dramatic film Glengarry Glen Ross, the character Blake, played by Alec Baldwin, is an arrogant, cocky, hot shot sales strategist. Blake is brought in to motivate the under performing sales force and has a very insightful quote regarding second prize in the monthly sales contest or for in our case the second seed in the playoffs.

Alec Baldwin as Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross

Blake: "We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize?"

[Holds up prize]

Blake: "Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired."

Since 2001, the 2nd overall seed coming off a bye week playing in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, has not been all it's cracked up to be. The 2nd seed in both the NFC and AFC have a 10-8 record. 5 out of the past 6 years at least one of the 2nd seeds has lost this game. The only year during that span that this didn't happen was in 2004.

In 2004, The New England Patriots (AFC #2 seed) defeated the Indianapolis Colts and the Atlanta Falcons (NFC #2 seed) defeated the St. Louis Rams. The New England Patriots would defeat the Philadelphia Eagles (NFC #1 seed) for their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years.

This is looking good for the tough minded Baltimore Ravens and the Seattle Seahawks who just defeated the past Super Bowl Champion, the New Orleans Saints. The Baltimore Ravens face a Pittsburgh Steelers team that has faced an uphill battle all year with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Pittsburgh started 3-1 with Ben Roethlisberger on a six game suspension that would be reduced to 4 games. The only loss during that span came from the Baltimore Ravens (17-14). Roethlisberger would later break his fifth metatarsal in Week 12 against the Buffalo Bills. This was a pre-existing injury from seven or eight years ago would not be enough to keep Roethlisberger from playing in Week 13 versus the Ravens. In that game, Roethlisberger would break his nose and still pulled out a win despite already wearing a special boot. The Ravens losing at home to Pittsburgh (13-10) ended up the deciding factor in a home field advantage in the playoffs.

Both Baltimore and Pittsburgh are running on all cylinders. This will be a hard fought game that comes down to one statistic; Time of Possession. Steelers and Ravens will take care of the ball, both teams will limit themselves on penalties. This game will come down to only one stat, total time of possession. The last time Baltimore and Pittsburgh played each other in the playoffs was in the 2008-2009 season.

Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens

In the 2008-2009 season, Baltimore's rookie quarterback, Joe Flacco, was only the eighth rookie quarterback in the NFL to start a playoff game. Joe Flacco that season managed to be the first rookie quarterback to win two road games, during the playoffs. Flacco and his Ravens would go on the road and defeat the Dolphins 27-9 and then traveled to Tennessee to take down the Titans 13-10. That is where the magical season for the Ravens would end. Flacco would throw 3 INTs against the Steelers and send Pittsburgh to face Arizona in the Super Bowl. 

 Pittsburgh dominated the Time of Possession back in the 2008-2009 AFC Championship game with help from all of the turnovers. This time will be different with a more experienced Flacco, who has a better understanding of the game. Ravens will control the clock, hold on to the ball, and will win this match up. Once again the second seed will be sent home with only a set of steak knives. I hope they are at least a nice set of Wusthof's  

Next up, Chicago Bears against the Seattle Seahawks.  Can you think of four ways that the Seahawks will defeat the Bears?  I can.      

Turkeys Don't Roar



It's Turkey Time! What is it about the magical games over the Thanksgiving break? There is nothing quite like the smell of fresh rolls coming out of the oven and the Lions usually down by 18 points by 1:00 pm. Every year we are blessed by the Three Stooges like performance of Detroit "No-Town" Lions. Detroit was looking at possibility losing seven straight Thanksgiving classic games. How can one team be so bad for so long?

This year it was the Tale of Two Halves on display. The game began with Patriots leading 3-0 after a Shane Graham 19 yard field goal. Calvin Johnson caught a pass for 19 yards from Hill to give the lead at the end of the first quarter, 3-7. Maurice Morris gave the Lions a 10-3 lead with a one yard run into the end zone. All was looking up to break the Turkey Day losing streak with Lions leading the Patriots at the half, 17-10.

The second half the Patriots made the proper adjustments and didn't look back. They would go on to score 14 in the third and 21 in the forth. That would be enough to add another loss to the Lions and take their record to 2-9.

It's rumored G.A. Richards, first owners of the Lions, started the Thanksgiving Classic as a gimmick to people to attend a Lions game. The paid attendance of this game was 60,965 and only needing about 4,000 more for a sell out. The Lions are positioning for the NFL draft and it does not look to be getting better. The Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

How can you not enjoy this time of the year.

Hard hat days and honky-tonk nights

Here at Week 11 of a 16 week season of the 2010 NFL season and for the first time this last Wednesday the Dallas Cowboys practiced with full pads according to Rowan Kavner, staff writer for the Dallas Cowboys. What? What is wrong with this picture? They were sitting at a 1-7 record and off to their worse start since 1989. This Dallas Cowboy's team is on it's way to an early round selection in the 2011 NFL draft. I can hear Roger Goodall, "with the 4th pick in the NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys select ....." We will have to pick that up at another time. Comparing the 1989 team with the 2010 is not right, right? This past week Jason Garrett is trying to instill hard working values in a team use to having a domino break after lunch.

The Dallas "Urban" Cowboys are a tough team to evaluate. This team managed to win a playoff game last year against Philadelphia. This playoff win was the first playoff win for Dallas in thirteen years. The "Urban" Cowboys managed to look good in one playoff game and they were given 2010's title. In Urban Cowboy, staring John Travolta as Bud and Sissy played by Debra Winger. Sissy approaches Bud to question if he is a real cowboy. Just like any real cowboy would do, Bud shows off his dancing abilities and his great skills of looking like a real cowboy. Just like all of those real "cowboys" that ride mechanical bulls to real "cowboy" music like Dan Fogelberg singing Times Like These. Sing with me, " In times like these, It's hard to keep a man on his knees, In times like these, It's hard to keep a man on his knees."

The Dallas "Urban" Cowboys are just like Bud in Urban Cowboy. This team managed to win a playoff game last year against Philadelphia. They look great in their cowboy gear but at the end of the day it's all just smoke and mirrors. This current team if you can even call it that, doesn't work hard and is more concerned about entertainment than hard work. Jason Garrett was able to lead them to a 33-20 against the NFC East leading New York Giants. No one doubts the amount of talent that resides in those locker rooms each and every Sunday. They have the talent to match with any team in this league. When we think back to the toughest cowboys of all time, we don't think about John Travolta. Tough cowboys are not dancing across the floor of their local community center. The real cowboys I think of are working the ranch everyday. They have long hours, they keep their mouths shut and don't celebrate a first down.

Johnny Cash has a way of summing of what a real cowboy does. When I listening to this song it makes me think back to great Dallas Cowboys like Tom Landry, Roger Staubach, or Troy Aikman.

"The greatest cowboy of them all"

"The trail he rides is narrow but it's straighter than an arrow
and he rides point for all the great and small
He will take us through the wire onto the plain that's higher
He's the greatest cowboy of them all, once he rode into sunset....
He's the greatest cowboy of them all."

Carrying Your Love With Me

George Strait was topping charts in 1997 with "Carrying Your Love With Me". The average price of gas was $1.23 per gallon, President Bill Clinton was serving his second term, and on September 13, 1997, Texas was beat down by UCLA 66-3. That game known as "Rout 66" would be the turning point in the career of John Mackovic. Texas finished 4-7 season that season and just one year before they won the inaugural Big 12 Championship in 1996. That same year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Mack Brown was leading the University of North Carolina to a new birth in football. The Tarheels went on to their second straight 10 win season and a Gator Bowl bid. Brown would leave to take the University of Texas head coaching job. Now in 2010, Brown may be looking to repeat what John Mackovic did in 1997.

September 25, 2010, The Longhorns, who were favored, would lose to UCLA, 34-12. Following this disappointing defeat, Mack has seem to lose his team with eerily similarity to the Mackovic team. Both Brown and Mackovic won Big 12 titles the previous year and after all they both have Mack in their names. Since Brown arrived in Austin he has managed to reach a bowl game every year. His first year in 1998, Texas would finish 9-3 with a victory in the Cotton Bowl against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and would continue a bowling every year since.

1999- Cotton Bowl, Arkansas (lost 27-6)
2000- Holiday Bowl, Oregon (lost 35-30)
2001- Holiday Bowl, Washington (won 47-43)
2002- Cotton Bowl, LSU (won 35-20)
2003- Holiday Bowl, Washington State (lost 28-20)
2004- Rose Bowl, Michigan (won 38-37)
2005- Rose Bowl, USC (won 41-38). National Champions
2006- Alamo Bowl, Iowa (won 26-24)
2007- Holiday Bowl, Arizona State (won 52-34)
2008- Fiesta Bowl, Ohio State (won 24-21)
2009- BCS National Championship Game, Alabama (lost 37-21)

Texas is sitting at 4-5 record with 3 games remaining. If they can't manage to win two of their remaining three games it will mark the first time since 1997 they are not bowl eligible. The three remaining game are all in Austin but, still have to play the #10 ranked Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic (3-5), and the #25 Texas A&M Aggies. Where will the two wins come from?

Mack Brown has managed to mirror John Mackovic's 1997 season. The question is what will the final result be?