In professional sports, the margin between winning and losing is razor thin. Often, it is the team that plays to win versus not to lose, that ends up on top. And it is this characteristic that makes the Superbowl win of the New Orleans Saints so impressive.
Head Coach Sean Payton (shown here) and Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams earned my admiration and respect with the go for it attitude they showed. Payton’s on side kick call to open the 2nd half was the call of the season! And don’t give me any of that lucky bounce nonsense. Luck is the combination of preparation and opportunity arriving at the same time. I may buy into a little bit of karmic intervention as well, but it’s interesting that unprepared and/or bad teams never seem to get the breaks. Payton’s Saints practiced that onsides kick for two weeks before succeeding and Williams’ blitzing defense resulted in the winning pick six only after weeks of watching tendencies in film study. The Saints were supposed to get worn down by Colt perfection, instead they outscored Indy 31-7 in quarters 2, 3 and 4 and are partying on Bourbon Street!
On the flip side, the other Peyton is getting destroyed. What is it with people these days?!? Don’t get me wrong, I took some pleasure in watching the four time MVP, golden boy quarterback throw the interception that sealed the game for the Saints, but don’t blame it all on Manning. Peyton Manning is a GREAT quarterback, will go down as one of the best ever and every team in the NFL (except maybe New England) whether they’re led by Brees, McNabb, Romo or Rivers would trade their QB straight up for Manning. The Colts were undone by being conservative and playing not to lose. They’ll spend the offseason kicking themselves and wondering what might have been.
Play to win folks; there’s a reason they say, “to the aggressor go the spoils!”
For those of you who looked at the 13 and 0 Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints and 11 and 1 Minnesota Vikings and claimed NFL parody was dead, not so fast my friends! The NFL playoff picture is a wild ride as we go into Week 17 with only one seed set in the NFC race and with multiple 8 win teams battling for the two AFC wild card slots. In addition, three games this week, the Eagles-Cowboys, Cardinals-Packers and Jets-Bengals could be preludes to first round playoff match-ups.
In between taking swipes at Tiger Woods and his nine, I mean eleven, man is it up to an even dozen women?!?, pundits are expounding on the annual December swoon that descends upon the Dallas Cowboys. Swoon, shwoon; I’m not buying it at all! Last season the Cowboys went 1-3 in December, horrible right? Of course all four of the teams they played were playoff teams and three made their respective Conference Championships. This year the Boys are oh and 2 losing to the New York Giants in the Meadowlands and the San Diego Chargers yesterday. Both teams were expected to contend this year and the Chargers are riding an eight game winning streak. On the horizon for the Cowboys are the 13 and oh New Orleans Saints in the Superdome which doesn’t look real good for the Cowboys either. Long story short, I look at the schedule the Cowboys are playing and don’t buy into the swoon theory.
The news out of Dallas these days is getting to be concerning and as usual, it centers around Tony Romo. Last year, after getting lathered by the Eagles in the season finale, Romo stated he would be okay if he never got to a Super Bowl. This year, after hearing he needed to get in better shape from Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett, Romo responded that the meeting never occurred and that the concern with his being in playing shape was “silly”.
We all have our fondest game memories of our beloved Philadelphia Eagles but I would like to share some of my off the field, unique and sometimes bizarre happenings involving Eagle games. Many of you will remember some of the events because they received national attention.
Stephen McGee, QB, Texas A&M–4th Round, Dallas Cowboys. McGee comes to Dallas as a raw talent but will develop quickly under Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett and with the guidance of Tony Romo and Jon Kitna. He graduated before his junior season and will earn his MBA in May. The prediction here is that McGee will make his presence known well in advance of expectations. McGee will turn out to be the best pick the Cowboys made and could be the consummate leader this team sorely needs. While Romo is jet-setting with Jessica Simpson, McGee will be in the film room.
predict it’s future success. 
The Carolina Panthers gave Jack Delhomme a five-year, $45MM contract extension today that comes with $20MM in guaranteed money. Can I just say WOW!? That is A LOT of money for a 34-year old quarterback who is serviceable at best. Delhomme did orchestrate 12 wins during the 2008 season but his 5 interceptions were the sole reason the Panthers were bounced in the divisional round against the Cardinals. His stats from 2008 were not impressive while throwing for 3,200 yards, 15 TDs and 12 INTs. Those are Ben Roethlisberger type numbers but with two very big differences. Roethlisberger is seven years younger and wears two Super Bowl rings. Ben is elite, Jake is serviceable.
When the NFL released its 2009 regular season schedule on Tuesday, I immediately looked at the schedule of my beloved Philadelphia Eagles. After a quick glance at the prime time games and the divisional match ups, my mind quickly wonder to the topic of Super Bowl. Can we win the Super Bowl this year?
