Steelers-Chargers
NFL's dirty little secret is that the US public gambles on the NFL and that the popularity of the league is increased by gambling. The crawl on the bottom of the screen during the game is for gamblers who need to know what's going on in all the games that they may have money on. Yesterday's Steelers-Chargers game was a test for the NFL to see how they handle public scrutiny and their implicit admission that they know about gambling on the games. You know what happened - Steelers were giving 5 points and were ahead by 1 with 11 seconds left. Chargers threw a short pass and hoped to lateral the ball back and forth a few times, hoped that the Cal marching band would walk on the field and someone would break free for a TD. Instead, Polamalu picked up a loose ball on one of these laterals and scored a TD, which would have given the Steelers the win by 8, more than the 5 they were laying. The refs reviewed the play and first called it a TD, then changed their mind and overruled the TD, leaving the final margin 1 point, so those that bet on the Chargers got the win. NFL tried to backtrack, explain what happened, that it should have been, shouldn't have been, backpedaling as fast as NFL cornerback. Why was the NFL concerned - if nobody bets on the games, nobody cares. NFL is not saying why they are so concerned, but it is obvious that they want to protect the integrity of the game, but also want to protect the confidence of the betting public in the honest results of the game. No truth to the rumor that Tim Donaghy was the referee.
McNabb
Donovan McNabb had an interview after their tie with the Bengals that was absolutely stunning to me. McNabb was asked about the tie and he said that he expected the game to continue until someone scored and a winner was declared. When he found out this was not the case, he said in the interview:
"I didn't know that. I've never been part of a tie. I never even knew it was in the rule book. I was looking forward to getting the opportunity to get out there and try to drive to win the game. But unfortunately with the rules we settled for a tie"
Yep, old Donovan is a real student of the game. Please see my posts after the Giants-Eagles game when I delicately describe Donovan as not a perfect match to the Giants cerebral approach to the game. Put it this way - if McNabb were not a world class athlete able to play professional football at a high level, his alternate job would probably not be neurosurgery or rocket science. McNabb threw 3 INTs and lost a fumble which set up 10 of Bengals' 13 points. His turnovers also undermined the significant advantage that the Eagles had in yardage over the Bengals. He's a great athlete but not a great passer or quarterback.
Titans
Titans are a good team and have a fairly easy schedule the rest of the way. They have a good chance to go undefeated this year.
Redskins-Cowboys
I was really rooting for the Redsksins to beat the Cowboys on Sunday night. Cowboys are a dangerous team. I think they are a little overrated and they have some weak spots on their team, but they do have a lot of talent, especially at the skill positions on offense. They have two games coming up against weak opponents, 49ers and Seahawks both in Dallas and they will surely be 8-4 and right back in the mix. After those next two games, Dallas plays at Pittsburgh, home with the Giants, home against Baltimore and they close in Philadelphia. Cowboys could beat the Giants in Dallas and if they do, they could win all 6 and make the playoffs or even challenge the Giants for the division, if the Giants lose a game that they shouldn't. Cowboys have 4 of the last 6 at home, Giants have 4 of the last 6 on the road. Even though the Giants are good and are playing well, they have a tougher schedule. It's not inconceivable that the Giants could lose at Arizona, and lose any of the three remaining NFC East games. Even though Giants are 9-1, I don't think the division is completely locked up. If Dallas wins the next two against the NFC West opponents, they will be 8-4 and only have to split their last 4 to get to 10 wins, which probably gets them in the playoffs.
2 comments:
Pretty amazing stuff with McNabb. This coming ironically, the week after Eli uses his rulebook knowledge to save the day for the Gmen. I'm not sure what's more shocking--the fact that he didn't know that a football game can result in a tie, or that he actually blurted that to the media.
Lack of knowledge of the rules is more amazing to me. This is more than an esoteric rule - it is basic part of the game and in fact may have affected his play during the overtime period. Perhaps he was more cautious than he should have been on an Eagle's possession as time was ticking away later in the OT, thinking that his defense would hold them, so he should not take a chance becasue he would get the ball back later.
Actually the really funny part of the interview came a bit later, when McNabb was ridiculing the stupid NFl rulemakers. He said how stupid it was for a football game to end in a tie and said - "what if that happened in a Superbowl or even a playoff game". You can't make this stuff up.
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