Five Quick Hits
* Soap opera-level drama with this whole Terrell Owens/Ed Werder conflict. Owens sure isn't mincing any words.
* Interesting exchange on NFL Network, with Rich Eisen defending Werder: "I worked with Ed Werder for seven years. He's not a liar." Deion Sanders comes back and basically says, yes he is, then Steve Mariucci chimes in: "Well, I worked with T.O. for six years." Intense.
* Man, Tony Romo just can't play in December, can he? What a choker.
* I don't follow Arena League Football, but I was sad to see that they've suspended the 2009 season. Here's hoping for a full comeback in 2010.
* Two very good NFC teams are going to miss the playoffs. The Buccaneers, Cowboys, Eagles, and Falcons are fighting over two spots.
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I don't know whether Walt Coleman is incompetent or evil. Until this week, Coleman was most famous as the referee of a snowy postseason game played in New England on January 19, 2002. More generally, fans who care about this sort of thing frequently mention him as the worst referee in the NFL. I tend to agree with that, mostly (but not exclusively) because Coleman has very strange ideas about what does and does not constitute "indisputable visual evidence."
Early in the Ravens/Steelers game, Baltimore challenged the spot of a play that resulted in a Steeler first down. The television announcers, Jim Nance and Phil Simms, were in absolute agreement that the spot would be overturned. They were wrong, and at the time, I was dumbfounded that Coleman thought the tuck rule was indisputable, but this was not.
Coleman wasn't finished, though. He had saved the grand finale, which you've probably seen by now. With 50 second remaining in the game, the Ravens were up 9-6. Pittsburgh had a third down on the four-yard line, with one timeout remaining. Ben Roethlisberger, after some scrambling, tossed a pass to Santonio Holmes. The receiver caught the ball with both feet clearly in the end zone, but he was leaning out of the end zone to catch the pass, and fell forward as he made it. The line judges on both sides of the field ran in, each one signaling the ball down at the ½-yard line.
The replay booth correctly initiated a replay challenge, but multiple replays didn't show clearly whether Holmes had possession with the ball breaking the plane of the end zone. It was a textbook case of a replay that did not constitute "indisputable visual evidence" — whatever the call on the field was, it had to stand. Not in Coleman's world. I've seen the replay two or three dozen times, and I still don't know if the ball broke the plane — it's very, very close. Reasonable people can disagree about the correct call. What was not reasonable was to overturn the call made by a line judge who initially ruled the ball down in the field of play.
The notion that the goal line play at the end of the game featured indisputable visual evidence, and the replay in the first half did not is absolutely not credible. To make matters even worse, when Coleman announced that he was overturning the call on the field, he didn't mention anything about the ball breaking the plane. It raised questions about whether Coleman even knew the rules. I don't know whether Walt Coleman is incompetent or evil, but he's at least one or the other. This man has no business being a referee in the NFL.
Brackets indicate previous rank.
1. Pittsburgh Steelers [3] — I am really uncomfortable with ranking them first after a game they might or might not have deserved to win. But I don't know who else to put here, and in the last three weeks, Pittsburgh has beaten three 9-5 teams. Plus, this defense deserves to be mentioned among the best of all time.
2. Baltimore Ravens [5] — What a game from punter Sam Koch, who put four punts down inside Pittsburgh's 10-yard line. Koch is on my short list of all-pro punter possibilities. The Ravens play at Dallas on Saturday night, and if they lose, they probably won't make the playoffs. That would be a shame, because this is a very good team. It's certainly better than anyone from the AFC East or West.
3. Indianapolis Colts [4] — NFL-best seven-game win streak, but they've mostly been beating up on weak competition since their victory in Pittsburgh at the beginning of November. Peyton Manning has posted a passer rating over 90 in six of those seven games. It's a little disconcerting that Indianapolis was the only team all season not to record a sack when playing the Lions.
4. Carolina Panthers [6] — Based on the last two weeks, they could be ranked first, and I suspect a lot of other power rankings will put them there. But can they do it on the road? Carolina was 8-0 at home this season, outscoring opponents 234-111. On the road, the Panthers are 3-3 and have been outscored 153-119. Their best road win was at San Diego in Week 1. If they beat the Giants in New Jersey next week, I'll put them in the top two.
5. Dallas Cowboys [8] — The defense has been fantastic recently. The Cowboys had eight sacks on Sunday night, their most in 11 years. DeMarcus Ware posted his second 3-sack game in the last three weeks. He now has 19 sacks and a realistic shot at the single-season record of 22.5. I really think it would be a mistake not to keep Wade Phillips as head coach.
6. Philadelphia Eagles [9] — Wow. Chris Berman thinks Donovan McNabb is better than Norm Van Brocklin, Joe Namath, and Brett Favre. He's the "greatest quarterback ever to wear green and white?" Van Brocklin was a nine-time Pro Bowler, Hall of Famer, and league MVP. I have always liked McNabb, but there is absolutely no way that (as both Mike Tirico and Berman said on Monday night) he is the best QB ever to play for the Eagles. Van Brocklin is.
7. New York Giants [1] — If you look at successful teams through NFL history, most of them stay unusually healthy, and for most of this season, the Giants were really healthy, with no significant injuries since the start of the regular season. Now they're missing Brandon Jacobs, Plaxico Burress, and Fred Robbins. They lost two starting offensive linemen on Sunday night. Speaking of that, why on earth didn't the Giants give some help to poor Kevin Boothe, who got repeatedly schooled? Eli Manning has been sacked 23 times this year, more than half of those against the Cowboys.
8. Tennessee Titans [2] — I heard Jeff Fisher explaining that windy conditions influenced his decision to go for it on 4th-and-3 instead of trying a game-winning 50-yard field goal. But Tennessee's offense had struggled all day, and they tried a high-risk pass instead of giving a shot to one of the best kickers in the league, who had already nailed a 51-yarder earlier. Still, I might have ranked them as high as first if Albert Haynesworth were healthy. Reports say that Haynesworth sprained his MCL, and will miss the last two games, but should be ready for the playoffs.
9. Atlanta Falcons [12] — Third triple-sack performance of the year for John Abraham, who has a career-best 15 for the season. Running back Michael Turner had another huge game (32 att., 152 yards, TD), but I remain concerned about his workload. The Falcons should prioritize finding a secondary back this offseason. They need someone who can be for Turner what Turner was to LaDainian Tomlinson.
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [7] — Run defense got burned for the second week in a row, and now ranks 20th in the NFL. That's going to be a real problem if the Bucs make the playoffs. Tampa can still win the NFC South by winning its last two games, both at home, against the Chargers and Raiders. Carolina would have to lose its last two games, at the Giants and Saints. That's not out of the question.
11. Minnesota Vikings [15] — This could be a really dangerous team in the playoffs. Minnesota is 6-1 since its bye, and in the last four games, the Vikings are 4-0 and have more than doubled their opponents' score. Jared Allen has three straight games with multiple sacks. It will be interesting to see how much the injury to DT Pat Williams affects Allen and his teammates.
12. New England Patriots [13] — Wonderful performance by Matt Cassel, whose father passed away earlier in the week. The Patriots will make the playoffs if they win their remaining games (against Arizona and at Buffalo), and Baltimore loses to Dallas. If the Ravens win in Week 16, New England's path to the postseason is more complicated and much less likely. The Pats are not going to make the playoffs if they finish 10-6, but they could miss out even at 11-5.
13. New York Jets [11] — Horrendous tackling in their near-loss against Buffalo. The Jets had a really good three-game run (Weeks 10-12) and haven't looked particularly strong since. Kris Jenkins, after his huge start to the season, has really slowed down, and the rest of New York's defense has gone with him.
14. Miami Dolphins [16] — The masters of close, unimpressive victories. The Dolphins have won seven of their last eight games. Four of the wins have been by less than a touchdown, and only one was by double-digits. Against the 49ers, Miami had fewer yards, barely half as much time of possession, and fewer than half as many first downs as their opponent.
15. Houston Texans [20] — They have a very real chance to finish this season with a six-game winning streak. Houston has won four in a row, including their first defeat of the Titans since 2004. Andre Johnson leads the NFL in receptions (103) and receiving yards (1,408).
16. Arizona Cardinals [10] — Tim Hightower averages 2.9 yards per carry, the lowest of anyone with at least 125 attempts. J.J. Arrington is averaging 5.9 yards per carry. Forgive my stating the obvious, but that's more than twice as much. He should be starting ahead of Hightower.
17. Chicago Bears [18] — Impressive performance from Devin Hester as a receiver on Thursday night. He only had 4 catches for 46 yards, but drew 2 penalties for 77 yards, setting up a touchdown and the game-winning field goal. With Matt Forte banged up, Hester was the difference for Chicago's offense.
18. New Orleans Saints [14] — They're 5-1 at home and 1-6 on the road (plus 1-0 in London, which I refuse to count as a home game). I don't understand how a team's play can change so dramatically based on the setting.
19. Denver Broncos [17] — Offense ranks second in yards and 15th in scoring. That's a really nasty failure to turn yards into points. The Broncos commit too many turnovers, and they seldom get good field position because their defense and special teams aren't any good. They can clinch the AFC West with a win against Buffalo in Week 16, or a Chargers loss in Tampa.
20. San Diego Chargers [19] — Beat Kansas City by one point again. This was San Diego's fifth game this season decided by 1-2 points. With Tomlinson useless (15 carries, 39 yards), quarterback Philip Rivers put San Diego's offense on his back and led them to a must-have comeback victory. Rivers actually has a decent argument to be this year's all-pro QB. He's fifth in passing yards (3,515), tied for first in TDs (28), and leads the NFL in passer rating (101.4). With Drew Brees and Kurt Warner coming back to the pack a little bit, Rivers deserves real consideration.
21. San Francisco 49ers [22] — One of the few teams that seemed to deal pretty well with that much-hyped West-to-East travel this season. Granted, the Niners were 1-4 outside the Pacific Time Zone (pending this week's visit to St. Louis), but they had pretty close games against decent teams.
22. Jacksonville Jaguars [26] — Where has Dennis Northcutt been all season? With leading receiver Matt Jones suspended for the rest of the season, Northcutt filled in by leading the team with 127 yards and a touchdown, plus 1 carry for 9 yards. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams reportedly will not be retained next season, which is not surprising when you consider his recent performance, but is a pretty shocking fall from grace for a guy considered one of the top two or three HC prospects in the league three years ago.
23. Green Bay Packers [21] — Officially eliminated from playoff contention, and they've lost four straight after starting 5-5. If the Packers drop their last two games, at arch-rival Chicago and home to Detroit, I think Mike McCarthy may need to look for a new job in 2009.
24. Buffalo Bills [25] — See, this is why I couldn't be a head coach. Up by three with 2:06 remaining, the Bills were running out the clock on an upset victory. They were running the ball effectively, not for 15 and 20 yards, but they were picking up first downs and the Jets couldn't stop them. Then, inexplicably, they put the ball in the hands of backup QB/turnover machine J.P. Losman. He fumbled, and the Jets ran back the recovery for a game-winning TD. I couldn't be a head coach, because I would have fired whoever called that play on the spot. Actual head coach Dick Jauron took the responsibility himself.
25. Washington Redskins [23] — The inmates are running the asylum. Clinton Portis has more influence, both in the locker room and with the owner, than head coach Jim Zorn. Santana Moss did a showy touchdown celebration while his team was losing to the Bengals by double-digits. It's about the individual personalities here, rather than the team. The defense continues to perform decently, but I don't think the offensive players respect their coaches.
26. Cleveland Browns [24] — I did about three double-takes on Monday night before I got used to hearing Tirico call Cleveland's quarterback "Kenny Dorsey." Whether you call him Ken or Kenny, Dorsey did not have a good night. For the season, his completion percentage is 47.8%, but even more remarkable is his dismal 3.3 yards per pass attempt. Dorsey's passer rating is 37.4. In comparison, Josh Cribbs, whose one pass attempt was incomplete, has a rating of 39.6.
27. Kansas City Chiefs [27] — Carl Peterson, who runs the team's football operations, will leave the team at the end of this season. That could also spell the end of the line for head coach Herm Edwards, with whom Peterson had a very good relationship. Whoever coaches this team next year will have a promising, but very young, group of players.
28. Seattle Seahawks [28] — Got their third win of the season, but only one of those three wasn't against the Rams. It will be really interesting to see whether the Seahawks field a real team in 2009. Injuries aside, this is basically the same group that won a playoff game last season.
29. Cincinnati Bengals [30] — They're 1-2-1 against the NFC East, and 1-9 against everyone else. Even the two losses were close. They took the Giants to overtime in Week 3, and scared the Cowboys in Week 5, trailing by just one point halfway through the fourth quarter.
30. Oakland Raiders [29] — Lane Kiffin's role model among ex-Raider coaches is obviously Mike Shanahan. Kiffin hired away Oakland's offensive line coach, James Cregg, for his staff at the University of Tennessee, and Kiffin's replacement, Tom Cable, is — in his own words — "pissed." Contrast this with the graciousness which has surrounded Doug Marrone's exit from New Orleans. Marrone, the Saints' offensive coordinator, is leaving to become head coach at Syracuse, and the good will between Marrone and the organization he leaves behind is enough to make you a little nauseous. Dallas is a poor imitation of Oakland, the NFL's real dysfunctional family.
31. St. Louis Rams [31] — Donnie Jones is averaging a gross of 50.2 yards per punt, which would be the second-highest single-season mark in history, but Jones is not one of the ten best punters in the NFL this year. He kicks in a dome, which is a huge advantage, and Jones has absolutely no hang time. Of his 70 punts, only six have been fair caught, worst of any regular punter in the league. His punts get returned an average of 10.8 yards, which is also one of the worst figures in the league. The goal is to get good field position, not to hit line drives that look good in the statistics.
32. Detroit Lions [32] — Calvin Johnson had a hand injury this week and was listed as questionable on the injury report. He did end up playing, though, and had a pretty nice game: 9 catches, 110 yards, and a touchdown. Steve Mariucci said on Sunday night, "Calvin Johnson's gonna be a great player." Mooch, he's already a great player. Johnson is one of the 10 best wide receivers in the NFL.
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