This week’s AFC Championship game between the Jets and Colts is only the second time these two teams have met in the playoffs since Super Bowl III.That game turned out to be one of the biggest upsets in NFL history as the underdog Jets won the Super Bowl and the first title for the AFL.Unfortunately for the Colts, the similarities between that matchup 41 years ago, and the one this week, are eerily ripe for an upset.
“Broadway Joe” Namath was a flamboyant young qb for the Jets, with some strange sideline behavior and a 1-0 playoff record going into the game. Mark “Hot Dog Eating, GQ” Sanchez is 2-0 in the playoffs so far in his rookie season.
Meanwhile, the Colts of the 60’s were led by Johnny Unitas, a clean cut, four time league MVP. No difference with current Colt passer PeytonManning.
The Jets were only in their eighth season of existence and making their first playoff appearance that year, while the Colts had two titles in the previous ten seasons.Likewise the Jets of the modern area have only two playoff wins in the past ten seasons, compared to the Colts nine appearances and one title in that span. Therefore there was an 18-point spread in favor of the Colts in Super Bowl III and a 7.5 spread for the Colts this Sunday.
Lastly and most importantly, Namath made the 1969 game famous by boldly guaranteeing a Jets victory. Meanwhile current Jets coach Rex Ryan has been brashly predicting victories for his team during this playoff run, including stating in a press conference earlier this week “I’d be shocked if we don’t [win]. I absolutely would be.”
While it’s not actually a guarantee, I do not want anymore microphones around Ryan or Sanchez leading up to the game this week.
Is it just me or is it a little strange or coincidence that days after Peyton Manning won his fourth MVP, Charles Woodson won the defensive player of the year. Twelve years ago, Woodson upset Manning to win the Heisman becoming the first and only defensive player to win the award.After eleven good, but not great seasons in Oakland and Green Bay, it was looking like the Heisman Committee made a Shakespeare in Love/Saving Private Ryanmistake. But after leading the league in interceptions, returning 3 for TDS, with 63 tackles and 4 forced fumbles this year, it appears that the 921 voters weren’t that far off after all.Good thing I had them both on my fantasy team this year.
Now that Mike Shanahan has officially been named head coach and executive vice president of the Redskins, the city is abuzz with high expectations.A couple weeks ago, there was similar optimism in Cleveland when the Browns hired Mike Holmgren as president of football operations.Both men are Super Bowl winning coaches from the mid 90’s, however there is reason for concern.
Shanahan took over the Denver Broncos in ’95 and led them to back to back titles in ’97 and ’98 with Hall of Famers John Elway, Gary Zimmerman, and 8 other Pro Bowlers including MVP Terrell Davis.But after Elway retired, in the subsequent 10 seasons, Shanahan only produced a 55% winning percentage, one divisional title, four playoff appearances, and one close playoff win. At least he somehow maintained a tan in Colorado during those years.
Likewise in Green Bay, Holmgren joined the Packers and was very successful as a coach, with a Super Bowl title, six straight playoff appearances, and a 66% winning percentage. However, Ron Wolf, the general manager at the time, traded for Favre before Holmgren arrived, and signed Reggie White, the cornerstones of their Super Bowl run. Then Holmgren took over the head coaching and GM job in Seattle in ’99 with mixed results.While he drafted Shaun Alexander, Steve Hutchinson, and brought in Matt Hasslebeck the backbones of their later Super Bowl run, he also drafted Koren Robinson and Jerramy Stevens, who had run-ins with the law. After four seasons with both positions, a 47% winning percentage and only one playoff appearance, the Seahawks removed him from the GM position. Now as just the coach, Holmgren went on a five year playoff run including their Super Bowl appearance.
Whether Shanahan’s recent unsuccessful coaching record and lack of GM experience, and Holmgren’s mediocre seasons as a GM will help the Skins and Browns rise to prominence, is yet to be seen. One thing’s for sure, they will miss these two.
After the Pro Bowl teams are announced there are always snubs and debate, but this one seemed strange. Which QB should have made the Pro Bowl roster in the AFC?
QB 1:
4,467 yards (Leading the NFL)
68.9% completion percentage (#3 in the league)
8.21 yards per attempt (#4)
27 TDs (#6)
14 INTs
99.1 rating (#6)
QB 2:
4,212 yards (#4)
65.7% completion percentage (#7)
7.81 yards per attempt (#10)
28 TDs (#5)
12 INTs
97.4 rating (#8)
Both QBs have Pro Bowl WR's, average running games, and are on winning teams. But of course, QB2 was selected over QB1.
I didn't know women were stuffing the ballots. Come on!
This week against the New York Jets, Jim Caldwell, coach of the undefeated Indianapolis Colts, benched his starters in the second half to rest up for the playoffs. With homefield advantage wrapped up, the Colts had nothing to play for except for the undefeated season and history. Of course the Colts lost, creating a creating a bighubbub over history or health. Here are the generic arguments for and against benching your starters and the ESPN versions.
However, the Colts situation provides some interesting side notes. Peyton Manning has never missed a start in his career, and has only missed one snap ever due to injury. Meanwhile, Anthony Gonzalez, the #2 WR going into the year, tore up his knee in week 1 without even being touched.
The Colts recent playoff history itself is ripe with contradictions to these arguments. In 2008 and 2007, they finished the seasons on long winning streaks, but rested their starters in the last weeks, only to lose in their first playoff game. 2005 and 2004 were similar situations, either 8 game winning streaks or starting 13-0, but neither year did they get to the AFC Championship game after resting their starters in the last week.The exception was in 2006, which after starting 9-0, the Colts stumbled down the stretch and had to win to secure the 3rd seed, in route to their Super Bowl victory.
Therefore, looking at Indy’s past they should have played it out, but the recent undefeated run by the Patriots proves an example otherwise.New England went for the undefeated season and were a miracle catch away from going 19-0, but will just be known as a Super Bowl runner up.Speaking of Tom Brady, even if Caldwell is proven right, and Indy wins the Super Bowl, Brady will still have 3 Super Bowls to Peyton’s 2. However, if they went undefeated, Peyton could claim something pretty boy Brady cannot, and have a piece of history with the ’72 Dolphins.
At least my fantasy team didn't suffer for it this year.
ri·val·ry (rÄ«'vÉ™l-rÄ“)noun : one of two or more striving to reach or obtain something that only one can possess
Never underestimate the power of a rivalry.
"It means everything," Browns do-it-all wide receiver Josh Cribbs said. "There are a lot of Steelers fans around the city so I hope people go to work and kick those Steelers fans."
As witnessed in the Steelers/Browns game, rivalry games mean more than records and can change the outcome of seasons.Pittsburgh was defending Super Bowl champs and coming off a four-game losing streak, went into Cleveland to face the lowly 1-11 Browns.However, with nothing on the line except pride against its rival, the Browns pulled off the upset, beating the Steelers for the first time in 12 tries, sending Pittsburgh’s record to 6-7, and most likely out of the playoff race.
Some rivalries become dormant or one-sided, due one team’s dominance, like the Steelers.It has happened in other rivalries too, since USC has owned Notre Dame recently, as has Ohio State over Michigan. However, this should not end the rivalry, but merely lessen its greatness for the time being. So, what factors help maintain a great rivalry?
Here are some of the top rivalries I can think of in the major American sports to explain the criteria:
Here are the criteria to consider (in no particular order):
Standings – The rivalry should mean something on a championship level for the sport.While Army/Navy is a historic rivalry, neither team has won a title since 1945. Many other college football rivalries are heated within the state, but are not noticed outside the state since it usually does not influence national titles (Oregon/OSU, Alabama/Auburn, VT/UVA, Cal/Stanford, USC/UCLA, Texas/T A&M). Meanwhile Ohio State/UMich has affected the Big Ten Title/Rose Bowl berth 47 times and the two teams have combined for 18 national titles. The USC/ND game contributed to 22 titles and the Red River Shootout hosts combined 11 titles between Texas/Oklahoma.In NCAA Basketball, the UNC/Duke rivalry has two of the winningest programs, but since they rarely, if ever, meet in the NCAA tourney, the national title implications are limited when they play. In the professional rivalries, most teams are in the same division so they meet often in the regular season, but their rare nationally significant meetings are in the conference championship games (Yanks/Sox, Colts/Pats), with the exception of Celtics/Lakers in the Finals.
History-A good rivalry has lasted for generations and can date back to the origins of the game. The college rivalries mentioned all started from 1890-1926. Yankees/Sox started in 1901, Packers/Bears in 1922, while Canadians/Maple Leafs were part of the “original six”.
Geography- Rivalries are fueled by constant interaction and proximity.The campuses of Duke and UNC are only separated by 8 miles.OSU/UMich and Oklahoma/UT share state borders. This is an important argument for the lesser college rivalries mentioned earlier since these in-state rivals could grow up together, recruited together, see each other in the workplace/streets every day. Most professional rivalries share similar geographies, for the exception of the Cowboys and Celtics/Lakers.In fact, if you drew a map, by conference in the NFL, each division’s team’s city locations would not overlap. USC/ND does not fit in this category.
Current – Great rivalries need to pass the test of time as well, similar to standings earlier.If the newest generation doesn’t know or see the rivalry then it can fade away.This is also true of the “top ten rivalries of the 2000’s” types. The Colts/Pats are a great rivalry and can top this category (4 Super Bowls, 4 MVPS, met in AFC playoffs 3 times in 4 years), but it didn’t really exist before Brady and Manning. The OSU/UMich game in 06 with the teams meeting as #1 and #2 and the two classic Sox/Yanks series in 03 and 04 help their causes as well.But in the “what have you done for me lately” culture in sports you can say the OSU/UMich rivalry as lost its luster recently since the Buckeyes have won 6 straight. The current one sided nature of some of the other rivalries also contributes, since Notre Dame, Redskins, and Browns have not held up their end of their important rivalries in the past 10-15 years. The rest of the NFC East and AFC North teams have combined to win 4 Super Bowls in the 2000’s, so most of those rivalries have stayed relevant. The Lakers and Celtics met two years ago in the Finals renewing their old rivalry and maintain the best records this year.
Memorable Games- Similar to current play and standings, rivalries will attract more national attention and gain in greatness due to “instant classic” type games. Obviously each rivalry has plenty to choose from: Aaron “bleeping” Boone, The Red Sox 3-0 ALCS comeback, Bucky Dent, OSU/UMich 06 shootout, Howard Heisman, Bush Push, Baby Hook, No K, on and on.If you look at the Colts/Pats, in their 10 meetings since 2003, only 2 were decided by more than 10 points. Meanwhile some of these rivalries have produced clunkers over the years.
Frequency-Going hand and hand with memorable games is the frequency these rivalries occur. The Red Sox and Yanks played each other 18 times in the 2009 regular season, making each one more memorable.The college football rivalries mentioned have played 18 times since 1991. UNC/Duke and the NFL rivalries play at least two but no more than a possible three-four times a year. Therefore, one individual game has drastically different significance depending on the rivalry. 44% of the time UMich and OSU play it is for the Big Ten title. Meanwhile, only 26 out of 2,064 times the Yankees/Red Sox have played has it been for the American League title (3 ALCSs, a play in game, and 2 regular-season ending series).
Background Stories-The last factor going into a great rivalry is the background stories that sports writers love.The most famous in this group could be the Curse of the Bambino, fueling the Sox/Yanks for so many decades. These also include individual rivalries like Magic/Bird, Brady/Manning, Woody/Bo, past betrayals, like Ravens/Browns, or controversial plays that come up every year like the Bush Push.
If you can think of more criteria or rivalries, let me know.
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