The NFL's Final Four remains...as every win from here on out gets you a trophy. Next week, the AFC and NFC champions will be crowned with the Vince Lombardi trophy getting handed out two weeks later.
For the first time in a long time...you can actually fathom any four of these participants able to win the Super Bowl. And all of these teams were preseason picks as a Super Bowl caliber team early on. So, why the surprise??
NO COLTS. The team that went 13-0 to start the season went 1-3 to end it....with the only win coming due to a goal line fumble in the closing seconds against Arizona. This is the ultimate shock since, again, this team was 13-0 and deemed unstoppable. While not many people will come down on coach Tony Dungy after the tragedy that hit his family, it will be noted in the history books that the Colts certainly did not benefit from their "rest" in the final two games and then subsequent bye week.
NO PATRIOTS. For only the second time in the last 5 years, a team other than New England will be celebrating on sport's biggest stage. No Tom Brady theatrics. No Adam Vinatieri late game kicks. No Bill Billichick roaming the sideline with his "going to the store at 2am to get my pregnant wife some ice-cream" wardrobe.
NO EAGLES. We all have come to deal with this for a while now....but this is the first NFC Championship game since January 2001 that doesn't have the Philadelphia Eagles competing in the game. So, we are missing that zest that Sal Palantonio gets discussing the Eagles [the same one that Peter Gammons gets when discussing either the Red Sox or Pedro Martinez] and those stories of Philly-fan threatening the fans of their opponent.
JAKE DELHOMME IS THE MAN! Take this for what it is worth....but Jake Delhomme may as well be Joe Montana out there. He leads all four NFL quarterbacks with an impressive 5-1 record....which only one of those games being in Charlotte. Delhomme has been in two postseasons...and both times he's been in the NFC title tilt [of course, he got to the Super Bowl last time too]. In fact, add all the wins the other three QBs have in the postseason....and it equals the 5 that Delhomme has.
THOSE LOW SEEDS ARE GOOD AFTER ALL. I threw up a blog entry about how no #5 or #6 seed has gotten to the Super Bowl under the current format. Now, Carolina [#5] and Pittsburgh [#6] are trying to buck that trend.
BUT TECHNICALLY, THE ARE ALL SORT OF CHAMPIONS. While Seattle and Denver will be known as NFC and AFC West champions, respectively.....the Panthers and Steelers weren't that far off. Both teams actually tied for their division championships...but due to tiebreakers [division records] they both fell a tad bit short. For Carolina, the opening week loss to the Saints sunk their division hopes....while a bad loss to the Ravens dropped the Steelers to 2nd place. Of course, if you look right now....both of these teams are 13-5 [with the playoff games added in] while those division winners [Bengals and Buccaneers] finished 11-6.
AND THOSE TEAMS ARE HOT. Sure are. The Steelers are on a 6 game winning streak that has seen them beat the Bengals and Colts on the road....both teams that the Steelers lost to in the regular season. The Panthers have won 8 of their last 9 road games...with their only loss coming in Chicago a few months ago and, well, we saw them take revenge.
BUT, FOR THE 13TH STRAIGHT YEAR, BOTH #1 SEEDS WON'T MEET. The last time the #1 seed in the AFC and the #1 seed in the NFC met in the Super Bowl was waaaaay back in 1993 when the Cowboys and Bills tangled. It hasn't happened since...and won't happen this year since Indianapolis fell.
THERE ARE FOUR GREAT COACHES. You have Mike Holmgren, who was a postseason regular with both Green Bay and Seattle....including a Super Bowl win and a Super Bowl loss. You have Mike Shanahan who won two Super Bowls at the end of the 1990s. You have John Fox, who like Delhomme is 5-1 in the postseason as head coach. Before that, he took a rag tag Giants defense and took them to a Super Bowl. And you have Bill Cowher who seems to always end up in the AFC Championship game despite key free agent defections every single year [this year, it was Plaxico Burress].
EXPERIENCE PAYS. As I just noted...all four coaches remaining have led teams to the Super Bowl [a combined 6 Super Bowls with 3 wins]. Heading into the postseason, the only starting QB with more than one win in the playoffs was Jake Delhomme [Big Ben got one win last year]. All these QBs have suffered tough letdowns in their last postseason game [Delhomme barely lost Super Bowl XXXVIII, Plummer was run out of Indy, Big Ben was flustered at home against the Pats, Hasselbeck lost a heartbreaker last year]. And the key stat of these playoffs is that the 5 quarterbacks who made their first ever postseason start [Leftwich, Simms, Grossman, Palmer, Eli Manning] went a combined 0-5.
1 comment:
Hello. I love your journal. Great reading. I just wanted to make a few comments. EXPERIENCE PAYS. How true a statement. The coaches have experience as you noted. The teams with QB's with FIRST ever postseason challenges went 0-5. That's a true testament to experience making a difference.
You mention your previous blog about #5 & #6 teams never making it to the Superbowl under the current format & that the Steelers (#6) and Panthers (#5) are looking to change that. The games this past weekend were really exciting to watch. The bad calls, the QB's making their excuses for terrible play, teams winning that weren't expected to win. I'll even admit that on my picks for the weekend I went 0-4. I personally don't like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. I admire their ability and respect them as individuals- but think they are highly over rated QB's. They are only as good as the key players that surround them.
Gina
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