My Fantasy Superbowl – Harbaugh Bowl Two

Now that the final two teams have battled their way to the top of the NFC and AFC Divisions for the honor of meeting in Indianapolis for the Superbowl, my fantasy of an inner family sibling rivalry remains just that. For the record, I’m neither a San Francisco 49ers fan nor a Baltimore Ravens fan. When it comes to the NFL, I’m a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan. So it wasn’t about my team reaching the biggest game on the planet, it was about me being a fan of family.


How cool would it be if you and your sib were on opposite sides of the field leading the two most successful teams in America’s favorite sport in front of its largest audience? I could only imagine how fun it would be to go on a ride like that with my sister. Are you kidding? There aren’t many things that could be better than that! I love the imaginary and implied dynamic of these two obviously close brothers having to pull from pillow fights on bunk beds or a race for the front seat of the car to reinvent their competitive ire. And it would have been a totally different scenario from Harbaugh Bowl One when they played against each other on Thanksgiving. This is the Superbowl!
 
Yes, I’m sure I’d be nauseous from how much the media spun this story into a sickening channel switcher. But minus the sports talk hype, I would have enjoyed watching this battle for bragging rights around Jack and Jackie Harbaugh’s dinner table like no other Superbowl before. Can you imagine the parental pride? Can you picture the wives and children of the two opposing coaches preparing for the game? What about their poor sister who may have to wear one of those hybrid team jerseys, you know…the kind that is split and sewn right down the middle with one half black and purple and the other red and gold? How I wish my fantasy could have become a reality just for the family fun of it.

Don’t get me wrong. I think it would have also been a great football game between these two defensive minded teams. One thing about Jim and John Harbaugh, they coach a fierce game. Of course then I’d be challenged with the decision of who I would cheer for, most likely John. I just like him better. Although there is something about Jim’s rough around the edges persona that makes me want to root for him. He’s done amazing things in San Francisco this year that I totally and completely respect. But I still think I’d lean toward Baltimore since they’ve got this group of veteran players that have poured their hearts out this year for what could have been a grand finale.
Nonetheless, on Sunday February 5th it will be the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in the Superbowl. Been there, done that football. And in my musing it is not my intent to take anything from what these two teams have accomplished because this will be a great game. Oh, don’t get it twisted; this will be one mean, sick fight between these two teams and these two towns who live in a constant state of sports rivalry. But for just one moment, I would have cherished seeing two brothers who love each other, love their jobs, love their players, and love this game dueling for the Lombardi trophy. Somehow, I think despite the competition it would have truly been all love when the clock ran down and in the most endearing fashion; somehow they both would have been winners.

Helen Little

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Playoffs! We're talking about playoffs

Last week’s OT win in Kansas made the idea of going to the Raiders game Sunday a great way to start the New Year. We were a shoe in or so I thought. I get to the Coliseum and as usual the fans were out and ready. They even had a punching bag with Rivers face on it in the parking lot. I hit it, I couldn’t resist.

What a game! The road to the playoffs is on the line and we lose. To be honest, I can’t really be mad at Sundays game, the Raiders should have locked the division WEEKS ago. Instead we are hoping that KC wins and Denver loses or Cin loses and Jets and Titans win… All of which should have been unnecessary. The Raiders came out playing as if they knew what was at stake. As the Chargers moved down the field Giordano intercepts it. Moving the ball well with short passes and runs, Oakland was first on the board. While Bush is a good back I miss DMC and his speed and ability to cut and move outside.

The Chargers came to be little playoff spoilers but the Raiders were determined to not let that happen. SD run game wasn’t given much of a chance by the Oakland defense and that’s when Rivers took it to the air abusing our secondary and Oakland gets burned for a touchdown. After a Raiders 3 and out SD scores again, this time from one but you want to know what set that up. A series of terrible coverage by the secondary and a PI call on yours truly Stanford Routt. The next possession Oakland should have put 7 on the board an instead settled for 3. Janikowski kicks to Brinkley and what does he do? He goes 105 yards for a touchdown. The stadium was quiet. There was no flag on the play and no tackling either. He went straight up the middle and was gone. Oak and SD would exchange field goals and as Oakland is in the last possession before the half Palmer throws it to Murphy and he STAYS IN BOUNDS... I can’t believe it him staying inbounds leaves no time for the FG unit or for Palmer to spike the ball. Oak enters the half down 24-13

While Oakland is kicking FG the Chargers are putting up touchdowns. These are the things that shouldn’t be taking place when you’re fighting for a playoff spot. Just as I’m screaming about some defense Special teams makes a huge play. Seeing it live you thought that the Raiders pinned Brinkley for a safety but after the replay he was down right at the one. Rivers moved his team down the field and while Oakland had been terrible on 3rd down San Diego was unable to convert and the FG takes the field. Special Teams comes up HUGE with a blocked FG. It’s the 4th quarter and Oakland is scratching to comeback. Palmer to Heyward Bey for a big gain that ultimately sets ups a TD by the TE Kevin Boss who has been as quiet as a church mouse this season. By this time people in the section where I was sitting finally saw that KC beat DEN and all we needed was a stop and score. The scoring wasn’t the issue it was the stops that Oakland was having a problem with. Blitzing and not getting one sack and the secondary being exposed.

The score is 26-31 in favor of the Chargers. The defense needs to hold on. Special teams had bailed out both the offense and the defense and it’s time to not let them down. TUH! Child Please. Litto & branch lost their minds. Both players giving up plays for more than 50 yards combined. Not the type of defense you want to display when you’re come from 3 scores down to just one. Not when you need one touchdown to advance to playoffs. Too see the post season... What happens? Rivers to Floyd for a touchdown is what happened. Game over but most importantly SEASON over. KC handled business and it was up to the Raiders to seal the deal and they couldn’t. It wasn’t for a lack of trying it was really just terrible defense. The Chargers found the weakness and took advantage of it.

In all honesty the Raiders shouldn’t have been in this position. The division should have been won weeks ago. Costly mistakes and penalties attributed to the failure of reaching the post season. Yeah a healthy Mc Fadden and a Palmer that had a full season, who knows what could have happened but the fact that we had tools and opportunities several times makes that statement meaningless. 8-8 without a 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th round pick and a suspect secondary is what the Raiders have to look forward to in the off season. Seeing the way Hue Jackson worked with what he had given the players lost in Free Agency and the injuries to the team he did a good job. I’m sure the Raiders will be fine for the 2012-2013 season.

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Do You Still Believe? Eagles Ground the Jets

There is freedom in a lack of expectations. When you are expecting something and don't get it, the result is disappointment. Yet, when you have no expectation and you get something, it's a welcome gift or a surprise. The collective fandom of the Philadelphia Eagles had great expectations at the start of this season and as the franchise faltered we pulled our lenses back for a more realistic view of our team. The disappointment turned many fans sour while the diehards continued to root for the home team because that's just what you do.

Perhaps below the epidermis there was still hope brewing beneath the pigskin's surface and certainly welled up in our hearts. But disappoint can hurt so we detached ourselves from any lofty expectations and began projecting next year thoughts sooner than we had done in years past and quite some time ago. Then they started to win again.

There is no argument, winning always feels great. On this Upset Sunday, many fans felt the warm fuzzy feeling of winning that they had not felt, not like this. The winless Colts won again against a division rival. The Chiefs took down the undefeated Superbowl Champion Green Bay Packers. The Redskins stopped the Giants for the second time this year. The Panthers beat the Texans in a shocker and the Eagles showed the Jets how it's done. It could be called the day of the underdog if nothing else!

Neither of former Eagles coach Buddy Ryan's boys have been able to best the Birds this year and Rex got to taste what Rob had for lunch a couple of weeks ago. It seems now that the season is near done, the Eagles are playing like a team on fire. The defense got things started in the first quarter forcing a turnover that became a touchdown when LB Casey Mathews forced a fumble after Jets WR Santonio Holmes made the catch. DE Juqua Parker was there to scoop up the ball and run it into the end zone for the first score of the game. Throughout the game the defense made us proud with four forced turnovers that resulted in 21 points in the first half and three sacks on Jets QB Mark Sanchez from DE Jason Babin alone.

On offense they got the job done too. TE Brent Celek and RB LeSean McCoy both had record breaking days. McCoy with three touchdowns set a new Eagles rushing touchdown record for a season and Celek registered his most receiving yards after snagging five catches for 156 yards in a single game. QB Michael Vick also had a great afternoon with his first rushing touchdown this year and 274 passing yards. There were still some sloppy plays on offense with a couple of fumbles that gave the ball back to the Jets but the Eagles' overall performance more than made up for it. The Jets are 0-9 against Philadelphia and were sent back up the New Jersey turnpike with a brutal loss.

Final score, Eagles 45 - Jets 19.

After this win, coupled with a Giants loss the questions remains do you believe? Do you believe the stars will align and the Eagles win the division and make the playoffs after one horrific season? With no shot at a wild card berth, that means the Eagles have to win out and especially must beat Dallas next week. It means that the battle for Gotham between the Jets and the Giants has to result in big apple bragging rights for the Jets. And it means that the Giants have to beat the Cowboys in their last home game of the season. That's a whole lot of conditions having to be just right. But if you believe, who knows what will happen. Remember, on any given Sunday, and team can beat another. I've seen it happen with this team before. And yes, I still believe.

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Birds Thaw In Miami

It's been a winter of discontent this fall in Philadelphia for Eagles fans. A cloud of disgust has hung over Lincoln Financial Field as chants and t-shirts calling for the coach's head is more the norm than team jerseys and the fight song. Quite frankly, it's been real ugly. We're an extremely passionate bunch and when things aren't going well the passion can take a sour turn down Broad Street. But our wants are simple. We want to win and win big! Maybe Santa will bring us our wish.

At this point in the season, after a string of defeats and injuries created a nice batch of Loser Stew, most of us are watching because we like the game of football.  And yes, we still love our team, just not how they have played this year. Going into Miami this week our expectations were non-existent after we had expected wins against Seattle and Arizona. The Dolphins have been playing with heart and winning. So this week it was just about watching football on a Sunday afternoon.

This game started with a disaster induced feel to it. It seemed like it was going to be another one of "those" games. You know, the embarrassingly awful performance type of game that we saw last week and the week before. Since I was numb from the previous losses and the 4-8 record, it didn't sting nearly as much as it has over the past several weeks after an interception on our first drive put Miami in great field position and they made it work. The Dolphins put up the first points as our high priced CB Nnmadi Asomugha got burnt, no torched by Miami's WR Brandon Marshall on a touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. I went and got something to drink and decided to play Words With Friends since I had seen this movie before.



As I juggled multiple opponents via my favorite time burn app, the TV played in the background and suddenly things got interesting. It turns out this wasn't the same movie. Oh, that's Michael Vick starring as The Quarterback, not Vince Young. Ok, maybe this is worth the price of admission. Look, there's Desean Jackson. He's actually playing! And who is that? Brent Celek? He's been included in the offense this week along with some running plays from Andy Reid? Ok...I think I'm interested in this football game more than the Words game so I put my iPad down and focused on the field.

After a shaky start things began to cook as our defense forced turnovers and our offense put up points. RB Lesean McCoy struck first and yielded two rushing touchdowns before the half and the Vick-Jackson connection returned as Michael threw a 34 yard bomb to WR Desean Jackson for another score. Add in a field goal and we had a halftime lead of 24-7. The defense was there to play hard, holding the Dolphins to only one touchdown, a field goal and garnering our only score of the second half. They forced three turnovers in the first half, added a safety after the halftime break, and those takeaways resulted in 17 points. Although there were no offensive points scored in second half, it was clear this team met the challenge to change what needed to change and work together for a win.

Final score 26-10.

No one is looking at this win like we just defeated the Packers since Miami had the same pitifully poor record that the Eagles had, but a win is a win. I could go into the crazy mathematics that still keep the playoff hopes for this team alive but I view that as a mild form of torture. Instead I'll just mention next weeks opponents, the NY Jets who will be in a must win situation in order for them to stay in playoff contention. This will be one nasty, messy match up between two teams battle to be Green supreme. Spoiler or not. A win still fares well for Philadelphia.

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America's Team: Top of the Division

It's what happens when everyone is telling old "Romo" jokes...laughing at Rob Ryan's defense, and "Red Headed Jesus'" play calling...




It's what happens when nobody expects your team to be much more than what they were this time last year at 3-8



Dallas Cowboys...America's Team...quietly...cautiously...at the top of the NFC East Division.





Chels

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SD Got Bolted UP!

What did I tell yall?! The Raiders came out with a 1-2 punch for that a**. Talk about a rebound! No NBA pun intended LOL. The Raiders claim the number one spot in the AFC West after smashing the Chargers on Thursday in their own home. This was a game the Raiders needed after having two ghastly back to back losses.


McFadden sat out once again but Bush, in his absence did a great job. He ran for 242yards and took a 2 yard leap for a touchdown. His performance was a lot better than previous weeks. He was unable to score from just 2 yards out a couple of weeks ago. A back his size should be unstoppable 80% of the time. Palmer had 299 yards with only one interception & he threw two TDs. His target wasn’t Jacoby Ford (who subsequently left the game with a foot injury) or DHB it was Denarius Moore and he had a stellar performance! 123 yards & two TDs. He was Palmers go to guy & he made big plays when needed.

A few people have been asking about Bey. He hasn’t shown up on an injury report but hasn’t seen much action. Like I said before, I think it is because he gave up on a play when Oakland played KC. Palmer did not overthrow him, he slowed down.... moving along.

Rivers had been playing nasty and so had the Raiders defense. Not to excuse Oakland’s offense but they did have a few new pieces added to the mix that requires longer than 2 weeks to get used to. In any case it was time for somebody to put up or shut up. The injuries to SD didn’t make it easy for Rivers and the help from his rookie WR just wasn’t enough to stop the offensive charge and defensive force of the Oakland Raiders. The team was in a zone, the defense wouldn’t let Rivers breath as he was sacked 6 times and the Chargers couldn’t do too much with their run game with Matthews, Tolbert or Brinkley at less than 100%. So what did Rivers do? He put that pigskin in the air. Our CB are so much shorter than their WR, I knew before the game started that the advantage would go to San Diego. It was a good thing the defense was suffocating Rivers preventing him from getting his WR involved.

I was all over the place crazy. I went from watching it in the house to listening in the car as I drove my daughter to her grandparents so they see her off to homecoming. While she was eating I was watching and back to listening as I dropped her off at the dance. I was minutes away from home and I heard them say "Matt Giordano intercepts the ball" I was screaming like it was the Super Bowl.

The Chargers were threatening to tie the game with just under 4 minutes left and I did not want a repeat of the Denver game. This win puts us in the number one spot in the AFC West and gives us a good boost heading into next week. Palmer and the offense should feel good and our defense should feel even better. This one a great show they put on. The offensive line gave Palmer enough time to throw and the receivers were making room in order to be open. A very good sign heading into next week game in Minnesota.

I called the Raiders regualr season record ending at 10-6 and right now we are 5-4. I have the nerve to say we can win out but anything can happen. Next week we hand another L to the Vikings.

11/27 I will be watching the Raiders vs Bears in Paris. So excited!

LETS GO RAIDERS

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The Broncos Tho?

When KC thrashed us I didn’t jump all over Palmer because all of this was new to him. The playbook, players and the staff are unfamiliar so I couldnt be too hard on him. But today?! Today he threw THREE picks. One of them happened to be converted into a TD and in my mind that changed the way of the game. What can I say about this Bronco game? What CANT I say about this Bronco game? Little Timmy came into the Coliseum with these Pop Warner run plays and murdered our defense towards the end of the game. These are plays my 10 year Defensive End can defend. What in the HELL was going on?



I know it still hasn’t been that long but I figured week would have helped Palmer out not to mention the Raiders went out and signed TJ ‘drop the ball” Houshmandzadeh. The time did help, I just expected him to come out and play like he has had a relationship with the players since day 1. How Stan-ish of me. In his defense, he threw 3 lovely touchdowns. He hit the players’ right in their numbers, including TJ. He worked the pocket and made decent pass/run choices for the majority of the game.

Bush did a great job moving the ball for the Raiders on the ground along with Reece. A healthy McFadden would have helped but the job that Reece and Bush were doing wasn’t bad at all. They gave us our first two touchdowns both in the 2nd quarter. Jacoby Ford would also add a touchdown to the score giving the Raiders a 10 point lead in the third. There was one WR that I hadn’t seen much of and that was DHB. He wasn’t injured and was only targeted one time with no receptions. The only thing I could think of was that play last week in OAK when Palmer aired the ball out and DHB stopped running causing the ball to appear to be over thrown and giving up a TD. After that Carson didn’t look for him and it looked as if it carried over into the following week and I don’t blame Carson. You’re never bigger than the movement. Give it the Wide outs that want to contribute. That’s what he did.

The Raiders looked to be on the road to victory before Carson Palmers pass was intercepted at the end of the third ultimately setting up the score to tie the game. To start the 4yth quarter off The Broncos Eddie Royal ran a punt back for a touchdown. It’s like you heard the whole stadium sigh. I know I did. That was two TD back to back. It was two TD that both could have been prevented. What do I know? I just watch the game. So now the Broncos are up and here is where the BS starts. We aren’t able to buy a first down!! In the 4th quarter when the opposition is up a tub and WE CAN’T BUY A FIRST DOWN! We kick it back to young Timmy and as he takes the snap and the play unfolds, I scream WTF is this? The defense looked shocked. Four 1st downs in a row off this Mickey Mouse shotgun formation. That same Mickey Mouse formation set McGahee up for the score that put the nails in the Raiders coffin.

Broncos win 38-24. 3 unanswered scores topped off with a 3rd Palmer interception. This was heart breaking. The last Den possession the Oak defense lined up to defend the run perfectly and still got ran over. This was a game we needed to win. No ifs, ands or buts about it. It was very disappointing that we gave this game away.
Next week we play the Chargers. Rivers has been TERRIBLE, they are banged up and our defense needs redemption. This is a game we will win. Palmer will have his head on straight and correct the errors from the Bronco game. The division lead depends on it. Denver will beat KC and that will leave SD, KC and Den in a 3way tie for 2nd. The Raiders will be all alone in the top spot.

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