Into the breach

   Been a while, I appologize.  But lets jump right into the meat of the discussion, the NFL Draft.  I'm going to avoid doing mocks, or giving generalizations, but instead I'll try to look at some of the sub top-15 prospects, and give my take on how they played, their strengths and weaknesses, and where they may end up going (and how they may end up doing).  I'm going to start with one Felix Jones, runningback, Arkansas.  Jones sat behind Darren McFadden on the depth chart for two seasons, but put up impressive numbers.  He has had over 1,150 yards two seasons running.  However, he has only carried the ball 387 times in his career.  Two running backs put up the same number of rushing attempts this season in college football (Ray Rice and Kevin Smith), in fact over 120 runningbacks had more carries this season than Jones.  Even in the NFL, a prototypical split-back like Julius Jones had 46 more carries this season than Jones.

Felix Jones

   With that being said, Felix Jones is no slouch.  His nearly 3,000 yards as a backup is impressive, and Jones also returned kicks and punts, a demanding activity.  With the return success of Maurice Jones Drew (another <6'0'' <210 lbs running back), its likely that Jones will get some views in returning kicks on the next level.  Jones has also shown his stride to be great, he's able to really put the speed on when he needs it and use what height he has coming out of the pile.  That being said, he needs to show he get hit and come back from it.  He played in the SEC, which is a bonus, but he played in the Wild Hogs formation where he wasn't even the most focused target.  He bounces off tackles rather than plowing through them, and makes a better outside guy than inside guy.

    Jones impressed with a solid 4.47 40' and a great 20' drill.  I think Jones will be a change of pace back, and if he can prove that he can catch in the NFL, a 3rd down back.  Like Reggie Bush, and Adrian Peterson, Jones runs upright a lot.  He has a whole lot of power coming from his legs and can move like lightning in the open field.  But in the redzone or against tough front sevens, I think he will have problems.  Jones will not be drafted to be a primary back, but he will probably be drafted 2nd-3rd round, maybe the first if a team like Dallas really wants him.  Dallas would be fine to pair him up with Barber, especially given Dallas' plethora of picks and lack of need.  A team like St. Louis or Kansas City could use him as well, as both teams need to lighten the load on their primary runner (who is a between the tackles guy).  Unfortunately for both teams, they have more important needs, and secondary runners can be found in the later rounds.

  My prediction is that Jones goes to Dallas, either in the late first, or early second.  He will probably play out 4 years or so in Dallas, possibly earning the starting spot.  But I do not think he will be able to lead a team in carries, at least not for a long time.  Whever he goes, he will add an excellent special teams boost and a great split-back situational guy.

  There we sat, a world of fans and football watches, casual observers and die hards alike.  It was a moment of silence, a single moment in history when we knew not what to say.  Tom Brady, hero of a hundred games and MVP, stepped back, and lobbed it deep.  Here and now, the hail marry to end it all.  It was simple, these were the Patriots.  Moss was going to catch it, shake a safety and trot into the endzone. The cannons would sound, the confetti would fall and the champions would revel.  It was all planned out, the hats were ready, the books printed the papers fresh off the press.  It was all as was ordained.  The Perfect Patriots, the champions of the world, the heroes of the NFL universe.  We all were to bask in the perfection of their season.  The perfect franchise, the greatest dynasty.

 And then something happened, the ball fell to the ground, no flag, no mystery calls.  Silence, for just a moment.  New England was defeated, the monster lay slain.  As one second ticked off, and then back on, the clock, the game ended.  Three fourth quarter changes in the lead, one amazing helmet-pinned catch.  Like the Tackle, and the Catch, this moment is forever.  Eli Manning dropping back, the pressure, the pass the catch.  It wasn't a touchdown, it wasn't the last play of the game, but it was symbolic of everything that happened this Sunday.  It was improbable, impossible and no one believed it happened.  I was on my feet, floored.  And there you have it, 17-14, the Giants win.  You'll hear the lamentations for a hundred years, and you'll remember that catch forever.  But what does it mean?

18 and Done

  No other Super Bowl, and no other team, seemed to be as ordained as this Patriots team was.  From the brutal

Wilie Coyote

  Tom Brady holds the record for most touchdowns in a season by a quarterback.  He is the youngest ever back to reach four Super Bowls, and until Sunday, he was the youngest ever Quarterback to win four Super Bowls.  Randy Moss stood triumphant over Jerry Rice's 22 touchdowns, cruising his way to immortality as the man who made the Patriots perfect.  Even the 'scrappy-do' of the Patriots, Wes Welker, whose amazing 11 catches tied a Super Bowl record, was ordained to become great.  But then it all faded away.  Perhaps it was karma, because the Patriots broke the rules.  Maybe it was fate, because nothing perfect was built to last, who knows.  Was this the Tower of football Babel?  Did the gods of football strike down those impudent men, seeking to reach the unseen heights of perfection?  They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Well, perhaps the road to failure this season was paved with perfection.

  Now this season stands as a lament, a forgotten song.  19-0 is gone forever.  The most potent offense in the history of football, stronger than the Browns of the 50's, more powerful than the Cowboys of the 90's or the Greatest Show on Turf in St. Louis, this New England team was unstoppable.  Moss was amazing, and when you shut him down, Stallworth stepped up.  When neither was there, Wes Welker appeared to be a safety valve.   We fans got to see one of the greatest teams in the history of sports play.  Every pass was perfect, every down used and treasured.  Brady's long list of accomplishments was dotted with perhaps the most perfect performance in playoff history, when against the Jaguars brutal defense he went 26 of 28 for three touchdowns and 262 yards.  Lawrence Maroney appeared out of no where to give the Pats a run game, and suddenly, in the cold and in the 4th quarter and when it mattered most, the Patriots re-emerged into their traditional, no-nonsense self.  And then, to finalize their season, they came up short.  Perfection was just inches away, and they missed it.  Back to Tantalus, stuck between the Super Bowl and perfection, both pulled away once more.  Does the season end without meaning?  In some ways, yes.  18-1 is nothing, not if that -1 came when it mattered most.  But this season was amazing for the Patriots.  let us not deny that this game was an upset.  This New England team was the strongest team I have ever seen.  But even the strongest team, can fail, that is why we watch the sport.

David slays Goliath

Miracle

   The Band is on the Field, the Kick is Good, the game is over.  Victory, over defeat.  The scrappy band of nobodies upset the giants.  It's so sweet it could be a movie.  But what does it mean?  Beyond capping a miracle 11-road win season in which the Giants, picked by certain bloggers to not even make the post season and loose their head coach in the offseason, reached the Super Bowl, this game was it.  This game was the Miracle on Ice, where the West beat the East, where the Giant fell and the little team that could managed to shock the world.  This is why we watch the game, to see the unbelievable, the unexpected, and the amazing.  Like Iron Mike Tyson going down, and the Titans coming up short, this ending was one for a lifetime.  The Giants will be remembered not just as the winners of Super Bowl XLII, but as the team that succeeded where 18 others, including themselves, had failed.

  The Giants played the part of justice, blindly bringing about the end of a season of anger, frustration and hatred.  The Pats ran up the score, they rubbed it in, they were cocky, superior and 'the best'.  The Giants were an afterthought.  Come on, the AFC Championship was the Super Bowl right?  I myself considered not even turning the game on unless it came close.  Boy was I wrong.  The irony of all of this was, it wasn't like the Giants got lucky, or the ball bounced their way.  Occasionally (like when a fumbled hand-off got flat out robbed by the Giants) luck titled for the Giants, but overall there was nothing spectacular.  It was the Giants who first coughed up a turn over, and the Giants who failed twice in the redzone.  It wasn't luck that let the 4-down linemen of New York abuse the Patriots O-line and for the first time since 1/2 of the Dallas game, make Tom Brady earn his plays.  In the most impressive O-line, D-line battle I've ever seen, the Patriots flat out lost. The one tool that has forever been the key to the New England success, finally failed, and it failed gloriously. 

  The Giants defensive effort is the best I have ever seen.  It was better than the 70's Steelers, who towered over lesser opponents and ground their way to 4 rings.  It was better than the 85 Bears, whose defense not only stopped the Patriots, but put them in reverse.  It was even better than the Ravens defense, whose supremely physical style set the standard for defenses in the modern league.  The Giants, with young corners and old linebackers, managed to stop an offense that had not put up fewer that 20 points all season, and in fact had averaged 36.8 points per game.  37 points a game!  And the Giants held this monster to 14.  They did it by pressing the line, making (most) tackles and covering down the field.  Brady got pressured, so Brady had to throw early.  His receivers, so used to having the time to run routes, had to improvise, and too often it didn't work.  5 sacks and tons of hits left the Patriots breathless, and the Giants victors.  So, I apologize to Tom Coughlin, who I disregarded, and Eli Manning, who I doubted.   I was wrong, and never have I ever been more glad.

 Really, there is only one image you need to see to remember this game forever.

The Great Escape

  It was the Great Escape, and the Catch IV. 
  It was Giants 17, Patriots 14.

 And I loved it. This is why we watch the game.

  In the course of NFL history, there have been 6 'dynasties'.  Now, dynasty is a word filled with a lot of meaning.  A dynasty is more than just a great football team, a dynasty is a team that has a year-in year-out impact on the league, and wins consistantly.  Perhaps the greatest sports dynasty of all time, the Boston Celtics of the the 50's and 60's, won 11 championships.  Likewise the Yankee's of the 40's and 50's, or the UCLA Bruins of the 60's and 70's, were teams that defined and shaped the league in which they existed.  Each team had its famous icon, its Babe Ruth, or Bill Russell; and each was defined and shaped by some dynamic and exciting coach, like John Wooden of the Bruins, or Al Arbour of the Islanders. In their own way, these teams shaped the modern world of sports.

  But too often, the great dynasties of sports overshadow their competitors, with good reason.  But for ever Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls team, there was also a Patrick Ewing lead New York Knicks, the teams that were great, but not great enough.  And so, I'd like to dedicate this post, my first in a long time (sorry!) to those almost teams.  In the NFL, the great dynasties are remembered like this:

        1950's- Cleveland Browns (7 championship appearances, 3 wins) (Had to plug my Brownies!)
        1960's- Green Bay Packers (6 championship appearances, 5 wins)
        1970's- Pittsburgh Steelers (4 Championship appearances, 4 wins)
        1980's- San Francisco 49ers (4 Championship appearances, 4 wins)
        1990's- Dallas Cowboys (3 Championships appearances, 3 wins)
        2000's- New England Patriots (4 Championship appearances, 3 wins)

  These teams will always be remembered as the great ones, the definers of what it means to be football.  But right next to them should be listed the following teams.

        2000's- Philadelphia Eagles (4 NFC Title appearances, 1 Super Bowl loss)
        1990's- Buffalo Bills (4 straight Super Bowl losses)
        1980's- Denver Broncos (3 Super Bowl losses)
        1970's- Minnesota Vikings (3 Super Bowl losses, 1 NFL Championship loss)
        1960's- New York Giants (3 straight NFL Championship losses, plus 2 in the late 50's)

  For every world champion team, these guys had one almost-world champion.  Heartbreak and failure seemed to follow each franchise year in and year out.  For each team, the chance to make the biggest win on the biggest stage eluded them.  And, briefly, I'd like to look back on them and see how, and why, they failed.  This is by no means a critique of those teams, but merely a mention to the forgotten heroes of the dynasties we well remember.  From the Purple People Eaters to the K-gun Bills, these teams are the almost-theres.

The Philadelphia Eagles:
Divisional Titles: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006
NFC Title appearances: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Super Bowl appearances: 2004
 

Donovan McNabb

  I fondly rememer watching McNabb put together a 14.1 second scramble against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night, and get a huge win over a division foe.  But, along with McNabb, this team will always be remembered as the one Terrell Owens sank.  Forgotten are guys like Brian Westbrook, Jeremiah Trotter, and Brian Dawkins, who made up the heart and soul of this near-dynasty.  The Eagles were on the verge of greatness, but could never get their foot across that line.

The Buffalo Bills
Divisional Titles: 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995
Conference Titles: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993
Super Bowl Appearances: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993

  When one thinks of th

Superbowl XXV Giants VS Bills Final Drive

  In 1992, the chance came again, and after the largest comeback in NFL history against the Houston Oilers, only to be destroyed by the Cowboys.  The chance at revenge came again when the Bills took to the Cowboys in 1993, but again came up short.  Imagine how different things would have been if that kick had gone through the uprights instead of wide right?  By their fourth trip, the curse of the Bills was real in the minds of the players and fans, 4 straight losses was too much, and the greatest dynasty that never was faded into the background.

The Denver Broncos:
Divisional Titles: 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989
AFC Championship Appearances: 1986, 1987, 1989
Super Bowl Appearances: 1986, 1987, 1989

 The 1990's would be the turning point for this franchise, but the 1980's was a stretch of futility for the Denver Broncos.

Earnest Byner

  1989 was all about the defense.  With a great D-line and tough corners, the Broncos hoped to turn the tables and get a win.  Unfortunately for the Broncos, the 49ers were ready.  Jerry Rice and Joe Montana cruised over the Broncos and won by a resounding margin, 55-10.  Elway couldn't get anything going and turned the ball over constantly.  With a young running back, and very little help in the receiving corp, Elway's attempt to win the game himself failed.  But for Broncos fans, this didn't hurt too much, beacuse by the end of the next decade, the Broncos showed up to play, and defeated the Packers and Falcons to win two rings before retiring.

Minnesota Vikings:
Divisional Titles: 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978
Conference Titles: 1973, 1974, 1976
Super Bowl Losses: 1973, 1974, 1976 (Also lost 1969)

   Led by Fran Tarkenton, John Gilliam, Churck Foreman and the great Alan Page, the Vikings were the almost team of the 1970's.  In an era dominated by the Steel Curtain, the Vikings with their Purple People Eaters, were one step behind.  The Vikings dominated their division, but struggled to get out of the conference, winning only 3 (appearing in 4).  Unfortunately for the Vikings, when they did get to the big game they struggled.  Despite having an awesome defense, Larry Csonka had 145 yards and 2 touchdowns, carrying the Dolphins to a Super Bowl win in 1973.  The very next year, the great defense of the Steelers came up against the Purple People Eaters, and came up victorious.  This time it was Franco Harris who had the yards, and the Steelers dominated both sides of the line.  Despite having the hall of fame O-lineman Ron Yary, the Vikings couldn't get started, and the Steelers struck first with a safety.  With one last shot at victory, the Vikings came up against the Raiders in Super Bowl 11, and once more, the Vikings came up flat loosing 32-14 to the Black Hole.

New York Giants:
Conference Titles: 1961, 1962, 1963
Championship Losses: 1961, 1962, 1963

  After "The Greatest Game Ever Played" in 1958, the Giants looked ready to roar into the 60's as one of the most dominant teams in the young NFL.  With an offense led by the hall of famer Y.A. Tittle, and Del Shofner, the Giants came ready to play. In 1961 the Giants collapsed in front of the Green Bay Packers, loosing 31-0.  The very next year Green Bay repeated and squeaked by the Giants with a second win.  To round out their three years of loosing, the Giants fell to the Bears 14-10.  After this loss in 1963, the Giants would go 23 years without a championship appearance, and then win two, drubbing both the Broncos and Bills enroute to their third appearance this year.
~~

 So, we must ask ourselves briefly, what makes a dynasty a dynasty?  Its not just success, because lots of teams get to the top only to come up short.  And its not just championships, because Denver won two in the 90's, and are rarely considered the team of the decade.  Why these dynasties come together seems complicated, but there are some trends.  The Patriots won two Super Bowls on the leg of their kicker, the same player who cost the Bills their first shot.  The Cowboys drilled the Bills in their first two meeting, leaving the Boys to win 3 Super Bowls and the Bills to loose four, the Giants were destroyed by the Packers twice as well.  When Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw suffered, the rest of the team stepped up, John Elway did not have that luxury with his Broncos.  And sometimes, despite having all the pieces in place and the team reved up and ready, like the 49'ers of the 80's, you just come up short and never get to reach that final goal.

 With the year over, the cards are on the table and the only thing to look forward too for all but 12 teams is the post season, the draft and training camp next year.  With the season done, its time to look back on last year and see how things came and went.  Also, with the next series of posts I'll be introducing some new things I want to try over the off-season and into the next year. First, is a "stock market" of teams.  In essence this will be a running tally of the team's strength, success, and moves in my opinion.  The scale runs from zero, which in essence means that the Franchise has left the town and no longer exists, to 100, which is a Super Bowl win.

  So, without further adeu.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (10-6)

Pittsburgh Steelers

+20 (playoff berth)
Total- 70

  The Pittsburgh Steelers have reached the post season for the 3rd time in 4 years.  The Steelers won a much abused AFC North this year after pulling ahead of the Browns and watching the Browns stumble against the Cardinals and Bengals.  That being said, there are some serious O-Line problems for this team in the near future as Alan Faneca wants out and the rest of the line is struggling.  Big Ben played very well coming off last year's awful season, but he was sacked 47 times, which is 2nd worst in the league.  And with a high draft pick, the Steelers likely won land a top tier O-lineman.  Regardless, they won their division and are going to the post season.  That is a good season.

The Cleveland Browns (10-6)

Dawg Pound

Stock +10 (10 win season)
Total- 60

  Easily the biggest surprise of the season, the Cleveland Browns went from 4-12 to 10-6.  Although they were aided by an easy schedule (only faced 3 playoff teams), winning in the NFL is big regardless of who you play.  Now, at  10-6 but just outside the playoff bubble, thanks to a mysteriously bad game by Derek Anderson, the Browns are at a crossroads.  On the one hand, the switch to Brady Quinn could open up a lot of potential for the Browns, he is also unproven, so he could flop.  The Browns ended up, rather ironically, with pick #22 going to Dallas, an equal trade for Quinn at #22 last year.  Now the Browns need to improve their defensive line and try to compete with the 7 playoff teams (total of 8 games) they will face next year.


The Cincinnati Bengals (7-9)

Warren Correctional Institution

Stock - 10 (sub .500 season)
Total- 40

  The Bengals are two years removed from winning the AFC North, but seemed to have lost direction.  Was the K von O hit the one that changed the destiny of this team forever?  With Palmer in, the Bengals may have won, and this would be a very different league.  Now the Bengals have lost their top O-linemen to an instate rival, they are going to risk loosing their top D-lineman this off season and are trying to radically shift both offensive (pass to run) and defensive (4-3 to 3-4) identities.  That is not a situation I want to be in.  Despite the fact that I like Marv Lewis, I think he has one more year before he's cut loose.


The Baltimore Ravens (5-11)

Baltimore Ravens

Stock - 15 (Coaching change and sub .500 season)
Total- 25

  The Baltimore Ravens are a team on the edge.  It would not take much for this team, which had 13 wins last season, to collapse.   McNair is done, and Boller isn't going to be the long term answer.  Much as I like Smith, he wont fit in this offense when the line gets old and the receivers regress.  I see a lot of shifting and trading this offseason.  This team is going to be rebuilding, and I think it might be a painful process.  I think the Ravens are going to replace the Browns at the bottom of the AFC North pile, and with their long time coach gone, this team is on very rocky ground.

 If only the Titans and Colts had played two weeks ago

 CNN's NFL front page had the single worst picture of Bill Parcells ever.

Parcells