Exile on Waveland

Won't they have to at least pretend to adhere to the Rooney Rule? Would it matter that they tried to interview Leslie Frazier but he declined? Chris Mortensen is saying the same thing about it being a done deal. Anyone else want to start the Saban to USC rumors with me. The top 3 candidates are supposed to be Mike Riley, Jeff Fisher and Jack Del Rio. Jack Del Rio!?!?!?! Don't they realize he's a moron?

Thanks. I hadn't read anything post-game recap about his injury yet. I hated seeing him get hurt like that; it just didn't look like a game-ender (though obviously uneducated "looks" aren't terribly conclusive).

I suppose I should go ahead and predict this week since I complained about other's picks. All four games could conceivably go either way. I think the Bengals win. The Jets have a good defense, but they're a poor playoff team (not that the Bengals are great shakes). I think the Packers win too, they're playing well. I'll take Dallas, but expect this one to be very close (Eagles may not matchup well with the Cowboys, but they'll play much better after last week's embarrassment). I sort of think Baltimore will win looking at it rationally, but it's at New England so I'll take the Pats. So Bengals, Packers, Cowboys, and Patriots.

I am forgetting football rules, but is a shovel pass a live ball if the guy dropped it and it hit the ground? Last night was the first time I have seen a fair catch off a kickoff? Can you even call a fair catch off a kickoff? A shovel pass is a pass, so it would be an incomplete pass. And, yes, you can fair catch a kickoff; it happens sometimes on short kicks like that when an up-back is forced to field the kick.

Is anybody acting that way? I thought the whole point was he was a talented yet inexperienced freshmen who was pressed into action too early, ultimately fell short but should have a nice career. Yes, go back and read the thread. Someone said "this is the best backup QB the biggest team in the homeland of football can get?" (not an exact quote). So, while not everyone is acting that way, some certainly are.

Who's the last one that was worse? I'm honestly drawing a blank thinking of a worse QB to win a title. Troy Smith? Danny Wuerffel? Uh . . .?

Random thoughts. -Impressed with the perseverance Texas showed fighting back into the game with their backup QB. Hats off to them. -This is probably uncouth and should be left unsaid, but why couldn't McCoy come back in the game? -People shouldn't act like Garrett Gilbert is a chump. He was a 5-star, top-20 recruit. He'll end up being a very good QB. I don't think he played poorly, couple receivers didn't make plays for him and Alabama made some great defensive plays as well. -Not kneeling to end the first half was horrible coaching. I'm not terribly conservative, but that was not a good decision. Regroup with your freshman QB at halftime only down a very manageable 17-6. The interception return was a fluke, sure, but the chances of UT scoring were so minimal it wasn't worth the risk. -The last TD scored by Alabama was classless. Shame on them. -I have a feeling Alabama would have won even if McCoy played. Reason being they absolutely went into a hole offensively because they didn't feel threatened by UT's offense anymore. I doubt this would have happened with McCoy; though obviously UT's defense played well. This will likely be a minority opinion, I understand. -Alabama deserved the title. If last night left a sour taste in people's mouth, they should simply recall Bama's demolition of Florida in the SEC Championship Game. That said, I feel this year saw one of the weakest Champions and Heisman winners of recent memory (or even all time).

They're the worst two by far. Why I desperately want the Pats to win. :-&

I just don't think they'll have the weapons to win convincingly with Ocho likely getting shut out by Revis again. Coles/Benson/Caldwell are nice weapons, but not explosive. Yeah, I don't think the Bengals are really capable of blowing the Jets out. But I really, really think the Bengals will win. The Jets are taking an erratic rookie quarterback on the road in the playoffs. Last week's game was completely irrelevant for the Bengals -- I suspect they almost wanted to lose -- and shouldn't be considered predictive at all. The Jets aren't good.

Keep in mind both of those games, I believe, have been in San Diego. This game would be in Indianapolis. In what's been pretty competitive games, that could slide the advantage toward the Colts. San Diego has gotten the best of Indianapolis recently, there is no doubt. However, all have been competitive games that went right down to the wire: 2008 at San Diego: Colts 23, Chargers 20. at San Diego (playoffs): Chargers 23, Colts 17 overtime. 2007 at San Diego: Chargers 23, Colts 21. at Indianapolis (playoffs): Chargers 28, Colts 24. The Colts lost last year's playoff game without seeing the ball in overtime. They were ahead 17-14 late in regulation but couldn't convert a 3rd and 2 which cost them the game (though the Chargers had two turnovers in/around the endzone and likely outplayed the Colts). It should also be noted that Punter Mike Scifres played the game of his life -- he was likely more responsible for the Chargers win than even Darren Sproles, who always goes nuts on the Colts. The 2007 regular season game Manning threw six interceptions, yet if Vinatieri hits a 23-yard field goal, they win. In the 2007 playoff game, the Colts had a late 24-21 lead but rather pathetically couldn't keep San Diego's backups out of the endzone late (caveat: Dwight Freeney got hurt for the year in the 2007 regular season game against San Diego and obviously didn't play this game. The Colts had no pass rush without him, which was key in the loss -- despite the Colts having two (three?) red zone turnovers). The Chargers have won three of the last four, but they're about as close as games could be played. The Colts actually match-up a little better with San Diego this year than they have in the past. The Chargers don't run the ball very well anymore, the Colts special teams coverage units are much improved, and with San Diego missing Jamal Williams (and I think his two backups) they don't stuff the run quite as well. They still have the taller receivers to trouble the Colts, though (Indy was missing Gary Bracket in last year's playoff game, who is key to slowing Antonio Gates). If the two teams meet -- I expect they will -- it's likely to be another close game that goes right down to the wire. Hopefully the Colts will get the breaks they haven't in years past.

Voice of Reason is a complete USC homer, and Big 10 hater, just ignore everything he says. Ignoring him is good advice; however, I don't think anyone can fault USC's scheduling. They have no control over how good or bad the Pacific 10 is, and they consistently schedule strongly out of conference.

Oh man, that's brutal. Sorry.

More names: OT Bruce Campbell, Maryland OT Anthony Davis, Rutgers DE Everson Griffen, USC RB Ryan Matthews, Fresno State DT Brian Price, UCLA CB Donovan Warren, Michigan WR Damien Williams, USC Davis could be the top offensive lineman selected. Griffen and Price should be first rounders. Yes, please. I hope he goes higher than that but I'll be happy as long as he doesn't end up in the NFC North. I don't really expect him to be around either. Though he might get close.

More names: OT Bruce Campbell, Maryland OT Anthony Davis, Rutgers DE Everson Griffen, USC RB Ryan Matthews, Fresno State DT Brian Price, UCLA CB Donovan Warren, Michigan WR Damien Williams, USC Davis could be the top offensive lineman selected. Griffen and Price should be first rounders. Yes, please.

I was thinking of 2004-05. The previous year wasn't back-to-back weeks since they played in week 16, not 17. Yup, I was just putting all the Colts-Broncos info out there.

The game wasn't that meaningful for the Bengals, I'd be surprised if they showed much of their gameplan last night. I agree but trying or not there's no excuse for your starting QB to go 1-11 for 0 bet yards or for your entire offense to gain the least amount of net yards in franchise history. Combine that with how poor they've been playing as of late and things aren't great in Bengal land heading into the playoffs. the bengals played pretty well against the chargers and chiefs. I didn't watch the Chiefs game but my impression from Bengals fans that I talked to was that it was a mediocre game by the Bengals. The Chargers game I'll give you but before that they got destroyed by the Colts. I think the Bengals are better than people give them credit for. This Jets/Bengals game reeks of the type of game where the media all jumps on the Jets everyone writes off the Bengals forgetting the kind of football they played to get into the playoffs, and the Bengals come out at home and dominate. I think the Bengals will win too.

Says the Colts fan :) Knew that was coming. :) I think I have a pretty decent reading of the Colts. I remember being about the only person who thought the Chargers could/would beat the Colts last year.

Not to call either set of picks out, but I'll be shocked if the Colts only manage 23 points against the Bengals or beat the Jets by only four. If they play either, that is.

It's definitely happened more than a handful of times. I am drawing a blank on examples but it's happened multiple times in the last maybe 10 years (1 rematch that is) NFL Network said last night it has happened 9 times and the team that won the final week matchup is 4-5 the following week. I remember one year that the Colts lost big to the Broncos in week 17 (the usual Peyton Manning one-series-and-done), then turned around and beat the Broncos (and I don't think it was even close) the next week in the playoffs. 2003 Week 16: Broncos 31, Colts 17 (full participation). 2003-04 Wild Card Game: Colts 41, Broncos 10. 2004 Week 17: Broncos 33, Colts 14 (with Manning, et al, resting). 2004-05 Wild Card Game: Colts 49, Broncos 24.

Enjoying the meltdown? Meltdown's over; rebuilding has commenced. To answer your question, though, yes. I thoroughly enjoyed the enema. Sorry, was talking about us, I was thinking we had Iowa Saturday. And we're not even on the road when we play Iowa. I'm out of it. Ha ha. No worries. It may take an abysmal showing, but I was hoping for that Saturday from Illinois (Pomeroy has it a four-point spread with a 35% of IU winning, but that, of course, doesn't take into account Creek's absence). I only root for that to benefit IU, not to see you Illini fans suffer. I have no case of schadenfreude towards Illinois (though you Illini fans have fatalistic tendencies, I'll say that).

Enjoying the meltdown? Meltdown's over; rebuilding has commenced. To answer your question, though, yes. I thoroughly enjoyed the enema.

Please have an abysmal showing on the road against one of the weaker conference opponents on Saturday.

If the Bengals were smart, they didn't even want to win last night's game.

Until Grass, I thought Lilly was being unfairly overlooked. His 2009 was pretty great. And, having watched Matt Clement pitch, I would probably be inclined to take any of Lilly's three years over him.

Oh, and, um: Go Patriots against the Ravens ( :-& ). Second time I rooted for that; worked out pretty well the first time.