December 6th, 2006

Deconstructing the QB Controversy in Chicago

By Brett | 1 Comment »

We’ve been resistant to chiming in publicly on the clusterfuck that is the quarterback situation in Chicago for a couple reasons. First, it seems like every a-hole out there has an opinion on whether the Bears should stick with the struggling (and when we say struggling, we mean in the making fans yearn for the Kordell Stewart era kind of way) Rex Grossman, or hand the reins over to reliable-but-underwhelming back-up Brian Griese. Second, as a Bears fan, we had hoped that if we just ignored this problem, it would eventually go away. It hasn’t, so here we are joining the ‘chattering classes’ of the blogosphere to throw in our $.02. (Editor’s note: we were hoping to work the word ‘truthiness’ into that last sentence, in an effort to cram one more 21st Century buzzword in, but couldn’t quite figure out how to pull it off).

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December 5th, 2006

Jake Delhomme: Single-Handedly Killing Our Playoff Predictions

By Brett | Add a Comment »

Just when we thought the the NFC playoff picture couldn’t become any more muddled –or the conference any more mediocre– the Jeff Garcia led Eagles go out and beat the Panthers on MNF. If the playoffs were to start today, Philly would be in at 6-6 and Carolina would be out. What the hell is that? Thanks for making us look like an idiot, Jake Delhomme.

Over in the AFC, Kansas City is making us look bad, as they let the Browns (the freakin’ Browns) beat them in overtime. It’s well known that Arrowhead Stadium is one of the toughest places to play in the NFL, and the Chiefs have played well at home this year, compiling a 5-1 record. They’re only 2-4 on the road, though. Not so good, Herm. They have two road games left, in San Diego and Oakland in weeks 15 and 16. We gotta think that they’ll split those games, losing in SD and getting the W in Oakland. With Baltimore and Jacksonville at home, though, they may not have enough left in the tank to get into the playoffs. They needed a win in Cleveland.

As it stands the Jets were the only one of our wild card picks to actually get a W in week 13, as Minnesota lost in Chicago. So, you know…we’re feeling not so smart today. Our fantasy team did earn a first round bye in the playoffs, though. So we got that going for us. Which is nice.

December 4th, 2006

Viva Gramatica!

By Brett | Add a Comment »

Forget the 60 yard game winner that Rob Bironas booted to beat the Colts. Forget Josh Brown’s game winner –his record-tying 4th game winning kicker of the season– to beat Denver in the late game. The award for Best Game Winning Field Goal of the Day has to go to Martin Gramatica, the spindly South American who, until last week, was thought to be dead. Two images stand out in our mind from Gramatica’s 15 seconds of fame yesterday:

1. The look of sheer and utter terror on Gramatica’s face before he went out for the kick. We’re pretty sure he pissed himself as he was trotting his 145 pounds out on to the field — and that was before Tom Coughlin called a timeout to ‘ice’ him (by the way, is ‘icing’ the kicker not the most idiotic thing EVER in the history of sports? Just end the damn game already). We loved the fact that Fox pretty much just kept the camera squarely on Gramatica during the ‘ice’ timeout, and that Martin appeared to be praying the entire time. We would have LOVED to hear how that prayer was going, and we can’t help but wonder if the words ’sweet Lord Baby Jesus’ came out of his mouth. He did, after all, play the in Nascar South Division for a several years, so it’s reasonable to think he’s gotta little Ricky Bobby in him. God, we wish that he’d been ‘mic’d up’ during that timeout.

2. The way that Jason Witten basically put Gramatica in sleeper hold after he made the kick, preventing him from going on one his famous, apeshit, ACL-blowing, soccer-style victory laps. We’re pretty sure that Bill Parcells pulled Witten aside before the kick and said something along the lines of: “Look, Jason, I don’t care how you do it, but, if he makes it, you just make sure that squirrely little bastard doesn’t take off running after the kick. We can’t have him blowin’ out his knee, if it turns out that the kid can still kick. If he misses, I want you to whack his knee as hard as you can with a lead pipe in the locker room.”

Turns out that Gramatica can still kick, and is actually pretty clutch in December and January in his career — around 80%. Seems like every move the Cowboys are making these days is paying off, including dumping Mike Vanderjagt for Gramatica. We don’t really feel strongly one way or the other about the Cowboys, but we’ll say this — the world is a better place when Martin Gramatica is kicking in the NFL.

November 30th, 2006

NFC Playoff Picture

By Brett | 2 Comments »

We enjoy the fact that current NFL flavor of the month Tony Romo kind of looks like a filthy drunk in this photo. Can’t really think of a decent segueway from that into our pseudo-analysis of the NFC playoff race, so we’re just going to jump right in.

NFC West

• Who’s going? Seattle . This team is 7-4, plays in a weak division, and is just starting to hit it’s stride. Credit Mike Holmgren for holding this thing together while Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander were hurt. The Seahawks are going to be dangerous in the playoffs.
• Who’s got a shot? St. Louis, just barely. They’re 5-6, and their passing game has been sputtering the last few weeks. They’ve been soft defensively all season. However, they have a pretty weak schedule from here on out, with Arizona, Oakland, and Washington still left to play. If they win those three, they just might sneak in with an 8-8 record. God, the NFC is horrible this year.
• Who’s the spoiler? San Francisco. The 49ers have really been playing some good ball the last few weeks, and would have the inside track on a wild card spot if they had held on last week against the Rams. Mike Nolan has this team pointed in the right direction. They just don’t have quite enough talent to make a serious run this year.
• Who should be going, but won’t? Arizona. The Cards were a chic pre-season pick to make the playoffs, and they’ve got talent at the skill positions and on defense. Frankly, we’re not surprised that they’re not going to the playoffs, because, hey…they’re still the Cards, and they always find a way to disappoint. We think it’s safe to say that they are who we thought they are.

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  Category: NFL News
  Tags: Tony Romo, NFL playoffs, NFC, Chicago Bears, Seattle Seahawks, Steve Smith, Michael Vick, NFL News, Tag Index

November 29th, 2006

Let The Playoff Analysis Begin!

By Brett | 1 Comment »

We were going to start this post with a mention of how the Broncos have made a QB switch, and are hoping to ride Jay Cutler (figuratively) to the playoffs. We did the perfunctory Jay Cutler image search, and this little doozy is what came up. So there you have it. Jay Cutler. Rookie QB. Laser Rocket Arm. Greased up bodybuilder.

Anyway, this is about the time of year when all the talking heads start pouring over all the different potential playoff scenarios. While we’re not going to go into mindnumbing detail on tiebreakers, division records, conference records, etc., we kinda want in on the act.

So, without further ado, here’s our first not-very-scientific playoff analysis:

AFC East

• Who’s going? The Pats are going to win this division, and enter the playoffs as the 3 or 4 seed.
• Who’s got a shot? Amazingly, at 6-5 and with an easy schedule down the stretch, the Jets actually have a shot at earning a wild card berth. If they were in the NFC, they’d probably be winning their divsion right now.
• Who’s the spoiler? Both Miami and Buffalo are playing very good ball right now. Both of these fit the “they’re not gonna make the playoffs, but you don’t want to play them in December” billing.
• Who should be going, but won’t? Miami. This team has a ton of talent, and they’ve finally started to show it. They just came on a little too late.

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  Category: NFL News
  Tags: NFL News, Tag Index

November 27th, 2006

MNF Liveblog: Green Bay vs. Seattle

By Brett | Add a Comment »

Can’t say we’re real intrigued by this one. The Pack going to Seattle, where we’ll undoubtedly hear about two storylines all night long: Brett Favre/Mike Holgrem and How Amazing Brett Favre Is/Will Brett Favre Retire At The End Of This Year. Can’t wait. Here are just a few more things we’re mildly stoked about:

• Watching Brett Favre play behind an offensive line featuring 4 rookies.
• AJ Hawk and Lofa Tatupu, two of the better young linebackers in the NFL.
• Um, yeah…that’s really about it. We have no fantasy implications in this game, have no real rooting interest, and don’t think that it’s going to be a real great game. You should stick around though.

  Check out something resembling a live blog after the jump.

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  Category: NFL News
  Tags: NFL News, Tag Index

November 27th, 2006

Week 12 Wrap

By Brett | Add a Comment »

Alright, we know we’re getting to the party a little late in the day to talk about yesterday’s action, but we have a couple of excuses handy. First, we have a real job, that requires real work…so back off. Second, it’s taken us the better part of 24 hours to get over seeing Tom Brady juke Brian Urlacher in the open field late in the 4th quarter, which left us as speechless as the kid in “Little Miss Sunshine.” What can you say? Tom Brady just finds ways to win.

Here are a few of our other thoughts, leftover from week 12:

• OK, Donovan McNabb goes down, and the Eagles season is shot. We get it. But the way that the Eagles just rolled over for the Colts last night was embarrassing.
• This is the time when big time running backs really start taking games over. Guys like Larry Johnson, Ladanian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson, and Frank Gore are starting to do just that. It’s really pretty impressive to see. With apologies to Joseph Addai, who put up 171 and 4 TDs, we thought that Jackson’s performance against the 49ers was one of the most impressive RB performances we’ve seen this year. Yeah, it was against the 49ers, but that was a clutch performance when his team needed it. Nice job by Scott Linehan, too, of just feeding the ball to Jackson in a game when the passing game just wasn’t there.
• In the interest of full disclosure, we’re going to admit something before this next comment: Here at NFL Logue we’re complete Joey Harrington homers. How can you root for that guy, you ask? Well, he went to high school about two miles from our house, and everyone likes to see the hometown guy make good, right?. When everyone was booing him out of the joint in Detroit, we steadfastly maintained that all the kid needed was a change of scene. Now, we’ll admit that he’s far from being a flawless QB in Miami, but it was nevertheless gratifying to see him stick it to the Lions on Thanksgiving. What a pathetic franchise.
• Alright, we’re three bullet points in and are officially ready to address what happened in New England yesterday. First and foremost, this game had Bill Belichik’s fingerprints all over it. He knew the Bears were going to try to exploit the Pats injury-depleted secondary. With that in mind, the Pats were basically willing to concede yards on the ground (the Bears racked up 145 rushing yards against the #2 rushing D in the league) by keeping a safety deep and playing the run with 7 in the box. It worked to perfection, as the Bears once again proved impatient and unwilling to take what the defense was giving them in the underneath zones. Rex Grossman, he of the 4 turnover game, continues to force balls downfield. In Grossman’s defense, though, none of his interceptions were terrible decisions, although the last one was certainly dubious. His accuracy just wasn’t there, and Asante Samuel did a great job of reading the ball and jumping routes. Finally, just for the record, we’re of the mind that the Bears need to continue to ride Grossman this year. He’s the guy. He either gets it done, or he doesn’t — but putting in Brian Griese at this point sets this franchise back 4 years.
• The Panthers and Jaguars are easily the most confusing teams in the NFL this year. One week, both teams look like Super Bowl contenders. The next, the get beat by teams that have no business beating them. We’re not sure what’s going on over in the Deep South these days, but we’re relatively sure that neither John Fox nor Jack Del Rio will be winning the Coach of the Year award this season.
• Ditto Tom Coughlin, whose team pissed away a 21 point lead in the 4th quarter against one of the worst teams in the league. Hell, if we were Tiki Barber, we’d be retiring too.
• One final note. We read today that the Cowboys have cut Mike Vanderjagt and have signed Martin Gramatica. Look, Vanderjagt is clearly one of the biggest free agent disappointments this season, and he’s also clearly one of the biggest jack-offs in the league. But Martin Gramatica? Are you serious? We can’t help but think that this is going to bite the Cowboys in the ass in January.
  
  Category: NFL News, Weekly Wrap Ups
  Tags: NFL News, Weekly Wrap Ups, Tag Index

November 22nd, 2006

Week 12 Preview: Bears vs. Pats

By Brett | Add a Comment »

We haven’t done a Bears preview post in a while, and with the Thanksgiving games looking less than compelling (with the exception of Denver/KC, which we’re not talking about because we’re bitter as hell that the only game worth watching tomorrow is on the goddam NFL Network), we figured this would be a good time to talk about the biggest game of the week.

What’s at Stake
Both teams are in the driver’s seat in their respective divisions, and given the fact that the Bears have a three game lead over other NFC playoff contenders, one could argue that there really isn’t much at stake in this one. The Pats have lost two of their last three, though, and haven’t been great at home this season. They need a win to keep pace with the other AFC divisional leaders.

Chicago is in the midst of playing three straight road games. After winning the first two, you’d think that they’d be pretty satisfied going 2-1 before heading back to Soldier Field. However, the Bears are going to need to beat some good teams this year –the only halfway decent teams they’ve beaten are the banged up Giants, the banged up Seahawks, and the Vikings– if they’re truly going to be considered an elite team.

Our keys to victory, after the jump.
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November 20th, 2006

MNF Liveblog: Giants vs. Jags

By Brett | Add a Comment »

It’s been a while, but we’re getting back on the livebloggin’ horse. After a hiatus of a few weeks, we’re back and badder than ever…or something like that.

Tonights game should be a good one. What this rivalry lacks in mystique, it should make up for in desperation — both of these teams need this win to keep pace in their respective divisions. New York needs to hold of the surging Cowboys, and Jacksonville needs to keep their playoff hopes alive. They say that the more desperate team usually wins. Guess we’ll find out which team wants it more.

Here are a few of the things we stoked about in tonight’s game:

Tiki Barber and Fred Taylor
These guys have been two of the most consistently solid backs in the NFL for a long time now. Taylor gets a bad rap because he’s injury prone, but he’s a heck of a back when he has the ball in his hands. Barber banged up his thumb last week against the Bears, so it will be interesting to see how well he’s able to protect the ball. Both teams are going to be looking for strong ground games tonight to take the pressure off their struggling quarterbacks.

The Jags Defense
This is a fun group to watch, starting with John Henderson and Marcus Stroud up front. Rashean Mathis is one of the better corners in the NFL, and Donovin Darius always brings the lumber. We admit we have a bit of a rooting interest when it comes to the Jags D — we’re sitting a decent but not insurmountable lead in our fantasy game. Our opponent, the guy running in last place in our league, has both Tiki and Plaxico going tonight. We need the Jags to keep those guys bottled up if we’re going to eek out of this week with a W.

Thanksgiving Week
It’s been a epic weekend of watching football. Frankly, we’re stoked that we get to extend that for one more night, take two days off, and then watch more football on Thursday. And then a little bit more on Saturday. And then more on Sunday. Seriously, is there a better week for watching football than this one? We think not.

Alright, we’ve got all your livebloggin’ needs covered in 30.

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November 20th, 2006

Week 11 Wrap Up

By Brett | Add a Comment »

Before we dive into our reactions on this weekend’s NFL action, we’re going to comment on the Ohio St.-Michigan game. The game was well played, clean, and wasn’t characterized by bad penalties, stupid turnovers or sloppy play. Both teams played with poise, confidence and class. The teams lit up the scoreboard, and the final score was pretty close.

All things considered, it was everything a Game of the Century should be. With one notable exception — the game just wasn’t that exciting. For the last couple days, we’ve been scratching our head, trying to figure what was missing from this game. Here’s the theory: Michigan never really had a chance to win this one, the close score notwithstanding. From our perspective, it seemed like Ohio St. was in clear control of the game for almost the entire 60 minutes, with Michigan’s opening drive and a few series in the 3rd quarter being the exceptions. Now, if Michigan had the ball at the end of the game and was driving into field goal we might feel differently about this whole thing. If it had gone in to overtime, we definitely would have felt differently. Bottom line, though, this game wasn’t nearly as exciting as either of last year’s Games of the Century (USC vs. Notre Dame, and the Rose Bowl). That said, we’re stoked to see a rematch of these two teams in the BCS Championship; in our humble opinion, they’re the two best teams in the country.

Alright, enough college ball. Jump with us if you’re interested in hearing our incessant ramblings on the NFL.

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