In 1978, Bob Ryan of NFL Films coined the term ‘America’s Team’ in reference to the Dallas Cowboys in their Season Highlight Film. Since that time there have been several other teams that have tried to argue that they are in fact really America’s Team, however with the state of our country today they should cease their arguments and accept the claim of the Cowboys.
The United States of 1978 is much like the United States of 2009, out of control unemployment, an economy rivaling the Great Depression and a spineless foreign policy agenda remind of us a day when we elected a new and exciting leader who gave us promises of a greater day. This is the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo and Jerry Jones are the leaders that have received more hype than warranted for their accomplishments. They have a stadium that was estimated to cost $650 Million but actually cost closer to $1.15 Billion, much like the overspending by the average American. Of course the rich in this case were ‘bailed out’ by the local Government raising taxes in Arlington on Hotel stays and car rentals.
How about investments? While Americans watch their 401k’s and other accounts decline in value, the Dallas Cowboys have made one terrible investment after another. Trading a first and third round pick for Roy Williams, and then giving him $26 million in guaranteed money for someone who has not proven himself in this league is akin to hitching your wagon to Enron. Both situations also show their basic lack of understanding of the situation they are in. The Cowboys think they can ride Tony Romo and Marion Barber to victory, failing to notice that neither one has won a playoff game. It’s been so long since either has had a significant victory, one starts to wonder if they ever will again.
This is a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since 1996 and much like America, thinks they are on the cusp of greatness with little proof or evidence to support it. Of course this can be turned around, but it will take a fundamental shift in attitude and a lot of hard work plus an acceptance that it is no longer the past and each cannot tout their past accomplishments as guarantees of future success. Time will tell how each situation ends up, let’s just hope a year from now we aren’t calling America’s Team the Detroit Lions.
The clock hadn’t hit 0:00 on Sunday night before many in the press corps were falling over themselves in praise of the ‘genius’ Bill Belichick. Despite going for it on a 4th and 2 from his own 28 with the game on the line, many New England apologists tried to justify this decision using words such as gutsy or courageous. The word that should be used however is idiotic.
We all know the situation and the outcome so there is no need to describe why this inexplicable call was made, but why would the so called ‘smartest man in football’ do such a thing? In a word, arrogance. Coach Belichick knew the situation, he knows Tom Brady is capable of getting him the 2 yards he needs to seal the game. He also knew that Peyton Manning had been carving up his defense, the same defense that was lauded just weeks ago as returning to greatness by many of these same talking heads who are prepared to defend him for any call whatsoever. More importantly, he knew a few simple facts that made this call quite possibly the worst he had ever made in his coaching career. Despite giving up 379 yards at that point, he knew that while his defense had given up 4 scores, they had stopped the Colts a total of 9 times (7 punts and 2 interceptions). In fact, it was just 3:32 earlier that they had intercepted Manning in Colts territory to set up a field goal giving them a seemingly insurmountable 13 point lead with 4 minutes to play.
This is where his ego took over. Following the touchback, 1 first down would have sealed this game for all intents and purposes. In the blink of an eye it’s 4th and 2 and time to send the punt team in pin them back and play defense, the same defense we were used to hearing all night was elite and in the upper echelon of the league. No, not the ‘mastermind’, he takes his final timeout (yet another blunder) and calls a play that doesn’t yield enough yards. The rest is history.
Granted, many pundits have not given him the free pass. They have discussed how it was a terrible call and the mistakes made that led to the 1 point loss. However they fail to recognize how they got in this position in the first place. Most notably, is how truly awful this defense is. While the stats say they are #8 in yards per game allowed on the year, we all know how they feasted on the pathetic offenses of Buffalo, Tennessee and Tampa Bay. Further, when they face a more dynamic offense such as Indianapolis or Miami you see the yards against rise 25% and 10% respectively. Belichick has always been regarded as a defensive ‘genius’ first, so why this turnaround? It appears the players are not of the same caliber, and while most were praising the moves to jettison Seymour, Vrabel and ultimately Bruschi it appears their leadership actually counted for something in the huddle. This was a major miscalculation by Belichick. Granted, with 2 minutes left there is no time to point fingers so instead of proving to his defense that he has the ultimate faith in them he sells them out. And in another arrogant blunder, he assumes he can regain their trust later in the season when he will need to count on them in a crucial situation.
Those of us who accept the reality of the Patriots winning years and are not willing to give them a free pass on Spygate realize how they have gotten to this point. Long story short, those years of feasting on lesser opponents with a vast array of knowledge about the other teams playbook has led them to be cocky and arrogant, thus causing them to make seemingly puzzling decisions. While the so called experts at ESPN are willing to grant a pass to their anointed savior, the fans of the Patriots may start to see an alarming trend as the years progress. As the competition stiffens and the Patriots don’t have their pick of Grade A talent to go along with their game plans, they will fall closer to the middle of the pack. They are lucky for now that the three other teams in their division happen to be incompetent and continue to hand New England a division title on an annual basis.
The future is not bright for this organization, and Sunday night pointed out a great many flaws in the vaunted New England empire. The erosion of talent and arrogance on the part of the coaching staff and players will lead this team to their ultimate demise unless they realize who they are and what they have. Much like the fall of other dynasties, the decline begins before people are ready to accept or recognize the warning signs. I believe in this instance, the collapse has already begun.
Another thrilling week in the NFL this past weekend, punctuated with a great Monday Night matchup. But what did we learn from watching the games this week? The Pro Football Realist will be happy to tell you.
- Falcons played well enough to dump the Redskins, although at this point who isn’t beating the slumping boys from DC. Things aren’t getting any easier for Washington with a home game against Denver and consecutive road matches against Dallas and Philly. Atlanta shook off their first two game losing streak under Mike Smith and let Michael Turner run wild to the tune of 9.2 yards per carry.
- The Cardinals are who we thought they were (funny little skit by Ken Whisenhunt at the press conference). After Kurt Warner played so poorly the week before, he came back to throw 5 touchdown passes. The Bears are in disarray, it turns out Jay Cutler wasn’t the answer he was touted to be and the defense isn’t helping giving up 438 yards of total offense to the Cardinals.
- Bengals are looking like the real deal after sweeping the Ravens. Tough to lose Chris Henry for the season, but Cedric Benson is playing well and the Defense is making plays. Their next match against the Steelers will truly show how far they have come.
- Speaking of the Steelers, their second half offensive explosion against the previously #1 rated Denver Defense was quite impressive. As for the Broncos, it’s back to the drawing board. Josh McDaniels needs to do something to make the offense less one dimensional, it appears they are struggling with blitzing physical defenses.
- A team the Broncos should be concerned with, the surging Chargers. A great comeback by Philip Rivers and the Bolts to send the Giants to their 4th consecutive loss. If I’m a Giants fan, I am concerned with the coaching of Tom Coughlin. With a chance to seal the game late he took the easy FG and a 6 point lead which came back to bite them in the end. At this point they need to use the weapons they have to put these games away.
- The Saints again find a way to win downing the Panthers 30-20. I love their never give up attitude, but I think their defense is showing signs of wear. 371 total yards to the Panthers is 25% more than their usual output. They have 2 weeks to correct this with the Rams and Bucs on the schedule before welcoming in the Patriots.
- Is there any other team that gets more hype than the Patriots? I think they are a fine team, and at 6-2 are definitely one of the better teams in the league but the teams they have beaten lately haven’t shown me much. Let’s talk after their next 3 games when they have to travel to Indy and New Orleans with a rematch against the Jets in between.
- What a terrible loss by the Packers in Tampa Bay, especially while wearing those hideous throwbacks. The amazing thing about the Packers is that they are #3 in Team Defense and #7 in team offense, however they are constantly losing the field position battle. Aaron Rodgers is taking too many sacks by refusing to throw the ball away and they are dead last in Net Yards punting. Constantly giving your opponent short fields like this will not help you as the season goes on.
- A great comeback by the Texans, but Indy is still the class of the AFC South. With a full 3.5 game lead on the Texans this race could be over by Thanksgiving. Houston matches up well with the Colts, but a win could have reduced their deficit to only one game with the win in hand. Houston is making strides though and is definitely in the running for a wild card berth, a fact not lost on the Colts if they should meet in the playoffs.
- SOL – Same Old Lions. To snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is just another way they have lost 24 out of their last 25. Up 17-0 at the end of the first quarter, they proceeded to be outscored 32-3 down the stretch. And even late in the game only down 5, they couldn’t muster any offense while Matthew Stafford threw a pick 6 to seal the loss, his 5th interception of the game. Give Seattle credit though for never getting down and fighting back. They have a big matchup to go with the Cardinals next week, win that and the NFC West race becomes somewhat interesting.
- Titan fans have to be pleased with Vince Young coming in and making some plays to win. Over the last two weeks he has completed 73% of his passes and compiled a 105.3 QB rating in 2 consecutive victories. He may not prove to be the game changer he was drafted to be but he could game manage 4 more down the stretch and turn what was looking to be an awful year into a slightly better one and possibly disrupt some opponents playoffs plans down the stretch.
- The Chiefs attempted a furious comeback down the stretch scoring 14 points in 91 seconds, however it still wasn’t enough. Jacksonville is in a comfortable spot with a 4-4 record with Maurice Jones-Drew having a very quiet, yet spectacular season averaging 5.1 ypc with 11 touchdowns. If they shake off their on-again off-again nature from the first 8 games, I could see them winning 5 or 6 games and possibly qualifying as a wild card.
- The Cowboys have quietly ascended to first place in the NFC East with a hard fought victory in Philadelphia. Sure, Brian Westbrook was missing, but they had several opportunities to win this game and didn’t capitalize. Donovan McNabb’s 2 Interceptions led to 10 Dallas points and proved to be the difference. Unless New York decides to get back in the race, it looks like these 2 teams will battle for the division crown to quite possibly be decided January 3rd in Dallas for their rematch.
1:07 PM
|
Broncos,
Indianapolis Colts,
New Orleans Saints,
NFL,
Patriots,
Pro Football,
Steelers,
Week 9
|
0
comments
Another great week of football. We’ll cover our top 10 and bottom 5.
1. New Orleans – Their offense is putting up record numbers, and if they secure Homefield Advantage they may be punching their ticket to Miami.
2. Indianapolis – Not a pretty win, but sometime you have to win ugly.
3. Minnesota – Brett Favre has now beat his former team twice, you could almost hear Ted Thompson’s teeth grinding.
4. Denver – We knew they wouldn’t win them all, but Josh McDaniels needs to work on that blitz pickup with the Steelers coming to town next week.
5. Cincinnati – A bye week, but they still remain atop the AFC North.
6. Pittsburgh – Also enjoying their bye week, they had 2 weeks to prepare for Denver. I’m guessing Dick LeBeau saw what Baltimore did this past weekend.
7. Philadelphia – The way they dismantled the Giants shows they are ready to compete for the NFC East.
8. New England – the PFR was not impressed by thumping 2 teams with no wins. Remember, they are one bonehead play and 2 bad calls from being 3-4.
9. Houston – 5-3 at the midpoint of the season helps them crack the top 10. Let’s see what they can do against the Colts this week.
10. New York Giants – Barely clinging to the top 10. That;s what 3 straight losses will do to you, but their next 2 (SD and ATL) will show what this team is made of.
Poised to spring into the Top 10 – Dallas, Atlanta, Green Bay
Bottom 5
28. St. Louis – Way to end that 17 game losing streak, but remember you did that against a team that has lost 22 out of 23.
29. Kansas City – It’s hard to believe this team was in the playoffs in 2006. It’s even harder to believe they have actually won a game this year!
30. Cleveland – Firing your General Manager is a start, but is it too late to now fire the coach and all the players who have quit also?
31. Detroit – Familiar territory for the Lions. Losing at home to a terrible Rams team is not progressing. That one win seems like it was years ago,
32. Tampa Bay – The bye week can’t make us forget that they are now the only winless team in the league. However, the throwbacks this weekend can’t hurt!
Teams trying to avoid slipping in - Tennessee, Oakland, Washington
