Favre needs two and two thirds touchdown passes per game over the final three to top Marino's carreer mark. It'll be awfully tight, but ultimately won't matter since he's not going to retire.
This is a very well reasoned opinion as to why a college football playoff system is unnecessary.
Holy crap the Saints dismantled "America's Team" last night.
I had enough of Al Michaels saying "anointing oils" when talking about Tony Romo.
However, it was great when he went on his (brief) anti-pyrotechnics tirade after halftime. "Halftime garbage...", hilarious.
Green Bay: wins out (San Francisco, Detroit, Minnesota, Chicago - resting dudes since they've got home field locked up)
Minnesota : loses to Detroit, the Jets, and the Packers, and beats St. Louis
The Giants: lose to Carolina, beat Philadelphia, lose to New Orleans and Washington
Philadelphia: loses to Washington, the Giants, and Dallas, and beat Atlanta
Atlanta: loses to Tampa Bay and Dallas, beats Carolina, and loses to Philadelphia
Carolina: beats the Giants, then loses out (Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and New Orleans)
St. Louis: loses to Chicago and Oakland, beats Washington, and loses to Minnesota
Washington: beats Philadelphia, loses to New Orleans and St. Louis, and beats the Giants.
Then, Green Bay gets the first wild card spot (8-8), and either the Giants, Eagles, Falcons, or Panthers (7-9) get the second spot. (I took the time to figure out how the Packers could make the playoffs, but I don't feel like figuring out the tie breakers for the second spot. Sue me.)
As you can see, it'd be almost impossible for the Packers to miss the playoffs!
The big stories this N.F.L. (hey, look at that fancy New York Times style...that's enough of that) season have primarily involved quarterback changes: Bledsoe out, Tony Romo in, of course; Vince Young and Leinart adjusting to the pro game after Collins' and Warner's combined age of 240 catches up to them; Garrard and Harrington stepping in for injured "franchise" quarterbacks; and, most recently, Jake Plummer being benched for Jay Cutler.
My boy Matt and I discussed JP sitting for JC yesterday via email (eff you, work!). Here's an excerpt summing up my opinion:
The Broncos are still in the playoff hunt (a five way tie for one of the two wild card spots), so Cutler's got a lot more weight on his shoulders.
Frankly, I think Shanahan should have ridden out the season with Plummer. Yeah, he's been inconsistent (for his entire career), but he'd gone 7-4 so far this season.
Cutler obviously dropped his debut. Now he's going to have to at least split the final four games to have a shot at the wild card. Those games are:
@ San Diego
@ Arizona
v. Cincinnati
v. San Francisco
Two of those games are definitely winable. In order to have a better than average shot at the wild card, they'll need to take either San Diego on the road and Cincinnati at home, both of which are tall orders.
It just seems like a ton of pressure to put on a rookie quarterback that hasn't really ever been in a media spotlight before.
There are also a few interesting quarterback situations in the NFC North, namely, Sexy Rexy in Chicago, and Old Man Johnson in Minnesota. Grossman's been all over the place this season, and, as was show in a graphic on ESPN yesterday afternoon, has more turnovers by himself (14 ints, 4 fumbles) than all but one team (the Steelers have turned it over 21 times) since October 15th. Yipes. No matter how good the Bears' defense is (which is really, really), they aren't going to get to (much less past) the NFC Championship game with quarterback play this inconsistent.
Rex had a quarterback rating of 0.0 with three interceptions in the first half of Sunday's game against the Vikings and Lovie Smith still didn't put Brian Griese into the game. Even if Grossman bounces back and plays like an all-pro, Griese has got to get some reps (preferably in a game situation) with the first team offense before the playoffs so he isn't rusty in a must win game in the (probable) event that Grossman tosses a stinker. Chicago's saving grace is that they've got a two game lead for home field advantage throughout the playoffs in the NFC. Their remaining games are at St. Louis, versus Tampa Bay, at Detroit, and versus Green Bay. If they drop the game to the Rams, they should be able to seal up home field with wins agains the Bucs and Lions. Then, Griese can get some solid reps against the Packers. Of course, the pooch would really be screwed if A.J. Hawk broke Griese's leg or something.
The Vikings are in a pretty tight spot in that going 1-5 after a 4-2 start has left them with the outsidest of chances at a wild card spot. Brad Johnson obviously couldn't maintain the momentum he had at the end of last season through this one. What's more, Brooks Bollinger hurt his non-throwing shoulder after Brad Childress made a move that Lovie Smith shoulda and benched his starter. The only quarterback they've got left is Tarvaris Jackson who got his first regular season action against the Bears defense. I think Childress should give Jackson the start against the Lions next week. I saw Jackson play in the preseason, and the kid has got some serious talent. He's got a strong arm and great mobility. Unlike the Broncos, the Vikings can write off the postseason and start focusing on next year. Since Brad Johnson's going to turn 54 next year, best to see what you can get out of your rookie. Oh, and as far as Bollinger's concerned, even though I'll always have a special place in my heart for all former Badgers, I've never felt he had pro starter skills. He's a smart enough kid to be a career back up, but that's about it. Sorry.
I'm not really going to get into whether or not there should be a playoff system in college football. (Okay, real quick: It seems to work pretty well for 1AA, but I like bowl games. Granted, there are way too many, and eligibility should be limited to a winning percentage of .600 or higher. Some sort of playoff/bowl game hybrid could work, but there'd be a lot of bullshit to work out. Anyway.)
This guy makes a pretty good point about the "two teams from a conference" rule. Reading this article, though, made me wonder if he's got an editor. He seems to say "I'm not saying Wisconsin deserves a bid over Notre Dame," and "This rule doesn't make any sense," about a dozen times each. I don't object to his sentiment regarding Wisconsin and Notre Dame - played on a neutral field, I'd give the edge in a Wisco/ND match up to Big Fat, Sunken Eyed Charlie and Touchdown Jesus; ND has a big play offense and a much improved defense, and I've seen Wisconsin give up a lot of big plays and get stymied on offense this year - but the article reads like something in a high school newspaper.
Of course, the big news from this weekend's games were UCLA over USC and Florida over Arkansas ushering the Gators into the NC. I'm happy with these results for three reasons:
1. I got sick of Southern Cal in the Championship game. I won't be upset to see them back next year, though. Pete Carroll seems like a good guy. After the game, instead of bellyaching about the game, he stressed how excited they were for the Rose Bowl.
2. Speaking of bellyaching, the reason I'm glad the Gators are playing the Buckeyes is that I'm almost positive Urban Meyer is going to have his ass handed to him. Getting blown out this year will hopefully keep his lip zipped regarding the BCS next year. What is it with pissy pantsed SEC coaches (*coughtommytubervillecough*)?
3. Florida over Arkansas locked up the Razorbacks to face Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. My girlfriend's mom's family has Arkansas roots, so it'll add a level of interest to the game. It should be a good'n, too. Arkansas has been uneven at quarterback, but can run balls out. If Wisconsin's front seven keeps their heads on straight they can handle the run, and their offense should be able to strike at the Razorbacks defense. Hopefully it'll be a game.
So like I said, I think Florida is going to get owned by Ohio State. The game of the bowl season will likely be the Rose Bowl. USC's going to be playing to show the loss to UCLA was a fluke and Michigan's going to be playing to show that they should have had another shot at Ohio State for the Championship.
