By Jim Coffman
The best part of the NFL playoffs has been watching the game-throwers go down. The teams that gave away games in the last week or two of the regular season in a misguided effort to rest key contributors, and therefore better prepare for the playoffs, fell hard and fast. The prime offenders were the Colts and the Buccaneers. The Cowboys didn’t exactly kill themselves in their last pre-playoff game, but at least the legitimate injuries suffered previously by stars Tony Romo and Terrell Owens justified their sitting out either part (the former) or all (the latter) of their 27-6 loss to the Redskins. Then again, maybe they should have tried a little harder to compete in that last game considering their premature playoff demise.
The Colts’ loss to the Titans in their regular season finale was scandalous, and its particulars were scandalously under-reported by major sports media in all its forms (ESPN, prominent sports sections, most-visited sports web sites). First of all, no one characterizes these games properly. When a team substitutes a totally inept back-up quarterback for a perfectly healthy starter with a significant amount of time left in a close game, that team is throwing the game. Perhaps starker terminology might wake up the offenders.
This behavior is especially offensive when the game has playoff implications for the other team (in the Colts finale, the Browns would have gone to the playoffs if the Titans had lost). Clearly it damages the integrity of the process that determines post-season participants. And turning off the effort switch in such a blatant way is also an incredibly bad idea for the team that has its playoff berth sewed-up. This has happened with the Colts before – they have thrown late-season games and then sucked when they returned to action. Why can’t coach Tony Dungy figure out that it is much easier to turn that switch off than it is to turn it back on?
A few other points:
* On the plus side, the Giants, who were locked into the top wild card spot after 15 games, said before the start of their last regular season game against a Patriots team trying to complete an undefeated regular season that their stars would take a seat at halftime. Then, after a scintillatingly competitive first two quarters, the most prominent Giants successfully lobbied their coaches to allow them to finish the game, risk of injury be damned. They lost that thriller 38-35 but then dominated the Buccaneers for the final three quarters of the first round of the playoffs, blasted past the Cowboys last week and won Sunday’s awesome conference final against the Packers to earn a trip to the Super Bowl. Enough said.
* Why shouldn’t ticket-buying fans be given a refund when one of the teams makes it clear it will be mailing it in? And another thing – by my reckoning all of this is a recent development in the NFL. There was no talk of resting starters in 1985 when the Bears certainly had nothing left to play for in the final few weeks of the regular season. The Bears maintained maximum effort because it was the right thing to do (and they wanted to kill everyone) and the smart thing to do (they continued to kill people right on through the post-season).
Speaking of the Bears, they were lucky to squeak past the Seahawks in their playoff opener last year after throwing their regular season finale against the Packers. Hopefully Lovie Smith was paying attention to what happened to the Colts again this year and won’t repeat that mistake in the future.
* As for the Buccaneers, well, the bloom is just about completely knocked off their rose of a coach isn’t it? There was a time when Jon Gruden was looked upon as a near-genius (he led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl championship for goodness sake). And his willingness to spend the absolute maximum number of hours at his workplace was celebrated (it has been a while since I read a detailed profile of the man but I recall a big story that trumpeted the fact that he got up at what, 3:18 a.m. every day?). The only way to look at it now is that maybe if he got a little sleep he would figure out that if a team shuts it down for the last two weeks of the regular season (which the Buccaneers did this season after sewing up their divisional crown), it won’t be on top of its game in the first week of the playoffs.
* And the Cowboys . . . does it occur to the owner at some point that he is a problem, not a solution? Jerry Jones gave each player on his team a pair of NFC championship game tickets in the week leading up to the conference semifinals. He was trying to . . . make sure they were overconfident heading into their game with the Giants? And there he was at the end of the game, down on the sideline, yelling at refs and whoever else. Jerry, the Patriots’ Bob Kraft never leaves his suite during a game, his team has won three of the last six Super Bowls and is about to win a fourth. Maybe you should follow his lead.
Other sports notes:
* Charger running back Michael Turner (who prepped at North Chicago) looked real good in his team’s victory over the Colts, less so in the loss to the Patriots. Many would have the Bears give up a significant draft pick, even a first-rounder, to make him their feature back. That would be a huge mistake. Lower round draft pick backs such as the Giants’ Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs again starred on Sunday. You can get a great back late in the draft or even as a free agent (the Packers’ Ryan Grant immediately springs to mind). Use the first three picks on linemen and a wide receiver.
*The Bulls, the Bulls, the Bulls . . . Here’s an idea. Maybe the next general manager should have extensive experience as a talent evaluator – as a scout perhaps (I know, I know, Jerry Krause was a scout and look what happened with him after Michael Jordan left – OK, but the man did draft/trade for Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant and Dennis Rodman, right?). John Paxson had very little such experience when he got the call to take over the Bulls. The general manager position with the Chicago franchise is one of the top jobs in the NBA. The next one should have GM experience, extensive GM experience, the sort of experience Mr. Paxson did not have. The Bulls should be getting a guy who has proven he can evaluate talent, pull the trigger on trades and manage a salary cap.
* The Blackhawks were tremendously fortunate to pull out a second consecutive shootout victory Saturday evening. But that’s what happens in hockey when the goaltender’s (Patrick Lalime) exceptional play transcends all else. It has been noted before in Beachwood Reporter Sports that the Hawks’ other goalie, Nikolai Khabibulin has never been good enough long enough to carry the Blackhawks to a series of the sorts of offensively-challenged victories teams need to separate themselves from the pack. In this case it must be noted, the Hawks need the wins to catch back up to the Western Conference pack. But maybe Lalime can make the difference his much more highly paid teammate can’t.
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Coffman with your coffee . . . every Monday.
Posted on January 21, 2008