No AutoText Was Used In The Writing Of This Blog

So Vince Young is now the best quarterback in NFL history, better than Montana, Brady, Favre, and Manning combined! The Titans will surely go to the Super Bowl and win 198-8 on and Young will own the passing record in the first quarter! NOT SO FAST. In case you hadn't heard, the Titans beat the Cardinals 20-17. Vince Young took the Titans on a game-winning, 99-yard, game-winning drive. What was lost was Chris Johnson's 154 yards rushing on a mere 18 carries. Man, are the Titans looking good, and probably all it was attributed to Vince Young getting the start. He may not be the smartest, most cerebral guy, but he is one great athlete. In other NFL news, the Colts clinched the AFC South division because the Jaguars loss - in embarrassing fashion, to the 49ers. And Jake Delhomme, second in the league in interceptions, threw four more, bringing his total to 18. One again, I attribute it to Cat's coaches calling too many passes. They radioed in 38 of them (sacks plus attempts) to 25 rushes. Plus, the Cats only gained 176 yards of offense and six points.

There's been some talk about changing the rules about the Thanksgiving NFL games to include the "hot" teams at the time. Remember, NFL skeds are decided at least five years in advance. Besides, it's tradition, the Lions always play on Thanksgiving and they've been bad for years. I doubt that viewers pay that close of attention (the productions people surely don't) because most of them are with families. And by halftime of the second game, viewers are more concerned about stuffing their faces and not football. As for the third game, nobody can watch so I can't speak of it.

Useless Stats Section:

#1: The Colts have won 20 straight regular season games mostly with receivers named Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie

#2: The Titans finished a winless, eight-game streak with five-straight wins.

#3: Chris Johnson of the Titans is on pace to rush for over 2,000 yards

#4: Brett Favre has still only thrown three interceptions.

#5: Are the Bengals really winning the AFC North?

#6: Are the Steelers really only 6-5?

#7: The 49ers rushed for 52 yards and won.

#8: A Mike Singletary-coached team threw 42 passes and won. Note: no 49er quarterback was sacked.

#9: The Browns have scored seven or less points in seven games this season.

#10: The Cowboys gave up their first touchdown on Thanksgiving in four years - against the Raiders.

Worst Plays in a 36-10 Blowout Win: On the last play of the first quarter, Brett Favre was sacked for a 14 yard lost - the line of scrimmage was the Bears' one. On the said play, the Vikings sent a tight end split wide - a dead give-away to the defense that the play was going to be a pass, the play was a rollout right and then when Brett Favre saw a rusher coming, he dropped back more! Al Afalava, a defensive back, came in for the sack. Now, fast forward to the fourth quarter. Adrian Peterson scores to give the Vikings a 36-10 lead and the Vikings go for two! Why? Could it possibly be to run up the score? If I were TMQ, I'd say the Football Gods would have their revenge.

Reasons Why The Lions Are 2-9: In the fourth quarter, the Lions punted on fourth and three and Jason Hanson kicked a 22-yard field goal later on. Oy vey!

College Football Scores From Programs You've Never Hear Of:

Score #1: Saint Thomas 34, Coe 7 (D-III Quarterfinals)

Score #2: California of Pennsylvania 57, West Liberty State 35 (D-II Quarterfinals)

Score #3: Albright 27, Delaware Valley 3 (D-II Football Championship - Second Round)

Wha-huh?: Burger King touts that their 1/4 lb Double Cheeseburger is bigger than McDonald's flagship Quarter Pounder With Cheese.

Congratulations are in order for Marc Trestman, a down-and-out college and NFL coordinator who has compiled a 26-10 record in the CFL, with two Grey Cup appearances (and one victory, which took place last Sunday with the Montreal Alouettes). Trestman was the play-caller for some of the most prolific NFL offenses of the last 25 years, beginning with the Browns in 1989, who went all the way to the AFC Championship and receiver Webster Slaughter set the franchise record in receiving yards. After holding the position of quarterbacks coach in Minnesota for two seasons, Trestman left football until 1995 where he became the 49ers offensive coordinator. The '95 49ers were the league's best offense. 49er quarterbacks compiled nearly 4,800 yards passing and Jerry Rice had his best season ever, where he caught 122 balls for 1,848 yards and 15 touchdowns. The next season, the 49ers again made the playoffs with Trestman radioing-in the plays. Although, the 49ers playoff shortcomings undoubtedly led to his firing, along with head coach George Seifert. Immediately, Trestman was hired by Detroit at the same position. Barry Sanders rushed for 2,053 yards, Herman Moore caught 108 passes for 1,293 yards, and quasi-quarterback Scott Mitchell had his last season as one. The Lions had a quick playoff exit that season and Trestman was shipped to Arizona, where he radioed-in plays for the first Cardinals team to reach the playoffs in 25 years. The coach held that position until 2000, after two seasons where the Cardinals were the second-worst and worst offenses in the league. In 2001 he was on Oakland's staff where he reunited with Jerry Rice and Rich Gannon (Trestman was his quarterbacks coach in Minnesota), but when Jon Gruden was "traded" to the Buccaneers, Trestman was promoted to the offensive coordinator position. The 2002 Raiders were the league's best offense, Rich Gannon was the league MVP and Jerry Rice had his first Pro Bowl season since '98, although you have to believe that Oakland's success was attributed to their superior offensive line play, which is also what cost them the Super Bowl. Oakland had a 4-12, injury-plagued season in 2003, after which the entire coaching staff was let go and Trestman would never again be an NFL coordinator. For two seasons beginning in 2005, Trestman was the offensive coordinator of the North Carolina State Wolfpack (with a 2005 Meineke Car Care Bowl victory to boot). And then in 2008, Trestman was hired on as the head coach of the CFL's Montreal Alouettes, where they lost the Grey Cup and then this year they won the collision, by a point, 28-27.

"Tuesday Morning Quarterback" Spoof

This whole blog was sort of inspired by TMQ a.k.a. Gregg Easterbrook (you can read it on ESPN.com Page 2). I enjoy reading his columns a lot but it's easy to poke some fun at him because he's so unique.

Here we go:

Verily, the football Gods wept because Bill Belichick once again kept his starters in as the Flying Elvii took a 17-point lead with 12:53 left in the fourth quarter. Surely, the football gods will have their revenge! Clearly, no NFL coaches or managers read TMQ. How dare they? And the Saints once again called 53 passes to only 11 runs in a game where they never trailed. In fact, they won it by 14! Once again, I will go to war with local affiliates, as I pretend to relate to you, even though I have DirecTV in seven rooms of my house, all with the obnoxious NFL Sunday Ticket available to them. KFKS in Glendive, Montana showed every coma-inducing snap of the woofer Raiders-Colts game as the more exciting Flying Elvii-Marine Mammals collision was going on when they had the rights to the game.

Four games went into overtime on Sunday and all of them were won by the home team, who won the coin toss. It is so unfair to the losing team because they never get the ball!

Ye Gods.

Stat of the Week No. 1: Excluding losses, the Cardinals have won 441 straight games.

Stat of the Week No. 2: The Colts, Raiders, Eagles, Dolphins, Browns 49ers, Chiefs, and Broncos have a combined record of 29-65.

Stat of the Week No. 3: The thrilling 58-57 Bengals-Chargers collision had a combined 1,284 yards passing and 54 yards rushing. Ye gods!

Stat of the Week No. 4: Barack Obama has made 176 speeches since he became president.

Sweet Play of the Week: Vikings have second and goal with a three-point lead in the third quarter and come out with four-wide receivers, Brett Favre takes the snap and pitches left to Adrian Peterson who goes into the end zone untouched by human hands. TMQ likes this because too many teams try to power run up the middle on goal-to-go situations.

Soul Play of the Week: Who-dat receiver Devery Henderson scores a 46-touchdown to give the Saints a five-point lead against the Redskins. Highly over-paid defensive back DeAngelo Hall "looked into the backfield" like the middle-schoolers I coach, trying to guess the play and got burnt by the underpaid, who-dat Henderson.

Sweet 'n' Sour Play of the Week: Brett Favre play-faked the run and threw a pass to Sidney Rice for a 23-yard touchdown. The play-fake was sweet. The fact that the defense was comprised mainly of men who did not graduate from their respective colleges, and therefore do not understand the nuances of the play fake as TMQ does, was sour.

80% Of This Column Was Written Using Autotext!: DirecTV has a monopoly! There is "dark matter" in the universe! CEO's who fly private planes are fucking assholes! Coaches only make decisions that will make them look good! No one touched the running back on that run! He shouldn't get any credit! Official child of TMQ, Spenser is very advanced and will ruin the curve for your unintelligent child!

Why Are You Punting?: Trailing by three in the first and having a fourth and 10 from their own one, the Seahawks bommed a mincing, fraidy-cat punt. TMQ guessed what happened next, the Bucs ran 13 plays for a touchdown and TMQ wrote the words "Game over." in his notebook.

'Tis Better to Have Rushed And Lost, Then Never to Have Rushed at All: Game tied at zero with 14:56 left to go in the first, run out the clock and victory is secure. The Cardinals go pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, run, pass, pass, pass, pass, run, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, run, pass pass, and I think you know the rest. Kurt Warner went 18 of 35, for 277 yards in the first half. They led by nine at halftime but because I hate it when teams are one-dimensional I played to the football gods for revenge. In the endgame the Titans won by a point because the Cardinals only had 14 yards rushing and can't possibly think about running out the clock. Ye gods.

Fortune Favors The Bold!: The Bills, whose punter broke his leg in pre-game stretches, went for it on all two of their fourth down attempts and they won by 28! Surely, the football gods smiled.

Stop Me Before I Blitz Again!: The Packers had third and five. It's a blitz! Five Green Men Group gentlemen cross the line and Aaron Rodgers hits Donald Driver for barely a first down!

TMQ Exclusive: Tuesday Morning Quarterback has exclusively learned on an exclusive basis that Marvin Lewis's playbook contains runs and passes. Remember, this is a TMQ exclusive.

Coaching Is Overrated: Even though Bill Parcells is (for the time being) not a head coach, I still like to complain because I don't like him and he's not a good person. First, it's long been clear that (Bill) Parcells is an egomaniac in both the casual and, perhaps, clinical senses of that word. Lately he's gone downhill to simply becoming a nasty person, spitting and snarling at everyone around him. What's Parcells going to do next, demand worship? When I look at Parcells, the phrase that comes to mind is "failed human being." (A failed human being who has won two championships and will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame one day. But has he ever discussed free trade agreements? TMQ does not like equating succeeding with success.). TMQ coaches middle-schoolers, where Official Child of TMQ, Gunnar, plays quarterback. We never blitz on third down, never punt and we've won 20 straight games (excluding losses). TMQ is clearly smarter than all 32 NFL head coaches combined.

Running Up The Score Watch: The Patriots had a 10-point lead against Marine Mammals in the fourth. Why is Tom Brady still in the game! And then he throws a pass to Randy Moss for a touchdown even though the defender fell down. Surely, Moss could've just run out of bounds! The Football Gods will surely have their revenge. If you're leading by, say, 17 at halftime, a coach should bench their starters and just kneel down for the rest of the game.

Why Everybody Else But Me Contribute To Global Warming: TMQ thinks that global warming is a myth, but still motorists should still turn off their engines while stopped at stoplights to save .000000019939489 gallons of gas because TMQ does.

Obscure College Score of the Week: Pittsburg of Kansas 2, California of Pennsylvania 0 (10OT). In the most exciting game TMQ has ever seen, TMQ's two-favorite obscure schools battled it out and in the endgame the score was TMQ's favorite, 2-0.

TMQ writes for six magazines you've never heard of, all about different things. And Gregg Easterbrook is clearly a Christian because he's said time and time again that I'm anti-gambling but I like boobs. And you are inferior to me if you don't have obligations to your Maker and your fellow men and women; it's best not to lose sight of that because remember, football is about teaching and having fun, and not the competition.

Evolution of the Shotgun Spread

The Shotgun spread is taking the NFL by storm. This is the first year where I have seen nearly every team go with five-wide receivers on a consistant basis. Although, the Shotgun has been around for years, it hasn't been so prevalent until recently.

The Shotgun has it roots in San Francisco, where 49ers coach Red Hickey introduced the formation into the offense in 1960 because he figured that using time or energy to drop back was a waste so he figured that he would have his quarterback already dropped back! Although, in the beginning, the same personnel was on the field whether the quarterback was under center or not (two running backs, two wide receivers and a tight end). Also, the formation was only used on obvious "passing" downs. No other NFL teams used it until 1971, when the New York Jets, with the immobile Joe Namath began to use it. In 1975, Cowboys coach Tom Landry introduced it to help out his young offensive line give Roger Staubach more time and to use it as a "change-up" because they sometimes used it on downs other than third. When Bill Walsh's trademarked West Coast Offense came into use, he did not put it in his playbook because he said that it forced the quarterback to look at the ball and not the defense.

In the 80s, most teams used the Shotgun spread, with either three or four receivers on third down and other passing situations. Even ball control teams like the Bills of the early-80s, Mike Ditka's Bears and Bill Parcells's Giants used it to pass more effectively, while "passing" teams like the Packers, 49ers, Bengals and Vikings didn't (mainly because their offenses and some of their roots with either Walsh or Paul Brown). There were two other holdouts, too. Namely, the Chargers' "Air Coryell" offense and Joe Gibbs' two-tight end offense.

Even though the West Coast Offense is stereotyped as a pass-happy system, it really wasn't. Just check out pro-football-reference.com and look at the 49ers in the 80s, they either passed the same amount as they rushed or even rushed more than passed. Walsh theorized that if a team throws the ball early, that the opposing defense will tire and that will open up holes for the running game.

Nearly every NFL offense in the 90s and some West Coast aspects in it and teams used the Shotgun less and less. The Patriots in 1994 threw 699 passes, all of which were from under center and both Super Bowl teams (Chargers and 49ers) didn't use it, either. Then there's the Run & Shoot, an offense whose teams did not have any tight ends on their rosters. It was a fad that came and went after the Oilers honked three playoff games after building up seemingly insurmountable leads where they scored too quickly and kept passing in to the second half, allowing the other team time to come back. Despite all this passing and four-wide receiver sets, they didn't use the Shotgun (although the offense lives on at the college level where you'd be hard-pressed to find a play where the offense isn't in the Shotgun).

In to the 2000s the Shotgun began to make a comeback. The West Coast Offense was becoming old and teams looked more toward ball control schemes. Even conservative coaches like Marty Schottenheimer and Dan Reeves used the Shotgun spread in passing situations and to "throw a change-up". But still, only a handful of teams had five-wide receivers, most used four and kept a running back in to block or run a short, safety valve pattern on passing situations.

Super Bowl XXXVII was the last Super Bowl to see no Shotgun snaps (because both team's offenses were the same) and the Seahawks of 2005 were the last Super Bowl team to not use the Shotgun. Nowadays, many teams used the Shotgun spread on either non-passing downs or on third and short. I always enjoy it when teams use misdirection near the goal line. Not too many teams do it and try to score by pounding it up the middle from "Big" or "Jumbo" formations with multiple tight ends and blockers. In 2001, the Browns came out Shotgun spread on a goal-to-go situation against the Ravens and sent a receiver in motion and put him in the backfield. The call went to the motion man and he scored. The next week, the conservative Falcons did the same thing with fullback Bob Christian in a goal-to-go situation and he scored a touchdown.

TheDood thinks it would be cool if an NFL offense were to completely get rid of the Shotgun all together just for old time's sake. Some of the NFL's all-time great offenses didn't use it like the '98 Vikings. Even Mike Martz's Rams seldomly used it and scored over 500 points in three straight seasons.

This Weekend Was Painful....

The NFL week must've been pretty bad when the most exciting game was played between the Browns and the Lions. They totaled 913 yards, 48 first downs and 75 points. And how painful was it watching the Raiders-Bengals collision? Either the Bengals relaxed because they heard they were playing the Raiders, or the Raiders are playing really, really well, ever since Bruce Gradowski was put in at quarterback. Or maybe it was that cross-country flight, where the Bengals were fed an in-flight meal of Ambien and warm milk (at least it seemed like it). In other NFL news, two games on Sunday went into overtime and the home team won. In other NFL news, the Saints and Colts remain unbeaten (still) and should be destined for a meeting in Miami in February, but one only hopes. Interestingly, 10 games this week were decided by a touchdown or less.

Useless Stats Section:

Stat #1: The AFC North went 0-4 on Sunday.

Stat #2: The AFC West went 3-1 on Sunday and the one loss was in a intradivisional game.

Stat #3: The NFC East went 3-1 on Sunday and the one loss was in a intradivisional game.

Stat #4: The Colts have won 19 straight regular season games.

Stat #5: The Saints are on-pace to score 590 points this season, which is only one more than the NFL record set by the '07 Patriots.

Adventures in Officiation: On Matt Stafford's last-second heave-ho, where the Browns' Hank Poteat was called for pass interference. Stafford was injured on a legal hit by a Browns' lineman and came off the field. The refs charged a timeout to the Lions. One problem: the Lions didn't have any timeouts? Would this have changed the outcome of the game? No, because a game can't end on a defensive penalty and the Lions had the ball put at the one (because the penalty was in the end zone).

Coaching Pressure Analysis - Browns-Lions: After the said play above, the Lions lined-up at the one with Daunte Culpepper in at quarterback. As the Lions were ready to snap it, Eric Mangini called a timeout, which allowed Matt Stafford to come back in! Daunte Culpepper came into the game cold and the play was shaping up to be a run up the middle that would be undoubtably stuffed, the game would end and the Browns would win. I know Eric Mangini has taken a lot of criticism, but what was exactly was the point of that timeout, Mr. Mangini?

More Useless Stats:

Stat #6: Matt Stafford is the first rookie quarterback to throw five touchdown passes in a game.

Stat #7: Brett Favre has become the Toyota Prius of quarterbacks, it only took him 18 years, but he's there. He's only thrown three interceptions and 21 touchdowns, has the league low interception percentage (1%), and leads the league in quarterback rating. Brett's said that this is the most talented team he's ever been a part of (even though he played with Sterling Sharpe in the early part of his career) and I don't doubt that even though he's been to two Super Bowls.

Stat #8: Cleveland's 37 points are the most for that franchise since they put up 41 against the Dolphins on October 14, 2007. To point out how bad the Browns' offense has been over the past season and a half, they haven't even scored more than 20 since they played the Bills on November 17th of last year and they scored more touchdowns in the first quarter than they had scored in the entire season.

College Football Scores From Schools You've Never Heard Of (Note: We're Now In The Playoffs):

Score #1: Central Washington 27, Tarleton State 6.

Score #2: California of Pennsylvania 26, Shippensburg 21.

Score #3/Running Up the Score Watch: Delaware Valley 66, Susquehanna 7. DV score 21-points in the fourth quarter.

CFSFSYNHO Basketball/Football Score: West Liberty State 84, Edinboro 63.

CFSFSYNHO Blowout Special: Wisconsin Whitewater 70, Lakeland 7. Whitewater scored no points in the fourth quarter.

Cupcake Watch: As a scrimmage before their bout with Florida State, the number one-ranked Florida Gators whipped up on Florida International 62-3, where the Gators scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter on passes of 16 and 31 yards. Additionally, Chattanooga was embarrassed by number two-ranked Alabama 45-0.

What Happened To Oklahoma?: This season, the University of Oklahoma Sooners were supposed to be stocked with NFL-caliber players and put up a fight against Texas for a share of the Big 12 title. Instead, this season was very underwhelming, which saw quarterback Sam Bradford get hurt and saw losses to BYU, Nebraska and Texas Tech. Now, Texas Tech has been an interesting team, TheDood enjoys their pass-wacky offensive scheme and that Mike Leach can take a seemingly nobody quarterback and make him a star. It seems like they have a couple games a year where they have games where they play better than their record shows. And this season was no different, where they beat Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and dealt with a tight loss to secondplace Oklahoma State.

Week X

So, did you hear that Bill Belichick went for it on fourth and two from the Pats' own 28 and they didn't convert? By the way, Bill Belichick went for it on fourth and two from the Pats' own 28 and they didn't make it. That was the story that was all over ESPN and chided by sports bobbleheads all across this nation. See, whenever a coach goes for it on fourth and loses, the coach typically gets a cascade of "I told you sos" by the commentators of the game, ESPN's ex-jocks and ex-coaches, and sports bobbleheads on sports radio all across the country. Am I the only one who feels that Bill Belichick's decision was defensible? I think so. You have to break it down: the Patriots had no momentum whatsoever in the second half and Peyton Manning was torching the Pats defense in that time span, as well. However, I feel that the play was poorly executed. They could've easily ran an outside run or even faked the punt to succeed. I also believe that that play showed how much Bill Belichick has changed; it seems since their mythical season in 2007, they've been running more and more plays from the Shotgun formation that any other team in the NFL. In case you didn't see it, Tom Brady threw a junky, safety valve pass to Kevin Faulk from a five-wide receiver set who had a defender practically stuck to him, and he was immediately taken down and was thrown backwards across the first down line.


The Patriots under Bill Belichick have always been a head-scratcher to me, it seems in big games they win, they get outplayed (all of the 2001 playoffs) and in games in which they outplay the other team they lose (the 2005 playoff game that they lost against the Broncos, the 2006 AFC Championship and last night). In fact, in Super Bowl XXXVI, Tom Brady did not have 100-yards passing until "The Drive". Bill Belichick's defensive game plan last night was very similar to any games where he plays a high-octane offense, he'll routinely play five or more defensive backs play very tight coverage on the opposing receivers and rarely blitz.


In other NFL news, Josh McDaniels is the worst NFL coach, and the Cowboys suck, right? Not so fast, the Cowboys have always been a willy-nilly team and we knew the Broncos had a tough schedule in the second half of the season (although, the Redskins are hardly tough. More on that later.) How 'bout them Bengals? Every week a different part of their team shines and carries the team to victory, in this case, their kicking game. Stud/running back Cedric Benson was out and the offense clearly struggled, obviously they did not score an offensive touchdown, although they were able to get into field goal range five times throughout the game (they converted four of those). The Bengals are clearly play the best football as a team, while they have a few superstars (namely Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco), most of their team consists of who-dats and young guys who are playing well. Plus, Marvin Lewis is one hell of a head coach, who carried his team through all of last year's debacle and managed to not get fired.


You've got to feel bad for Brian Westbrook, who played a bit on Sunday, after recovering from a concussion, and suffered another one on Sunday.


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Useless Stats Section:


Stat #1: Donovan McNabb passed for 450-yards and 55 attempts and the Eagles lost


Stat #2: Steven Jackson alone ran for 131-yards and the Rams lost.


Stat #3: In Week 10, six of the 10-leading passers lost their games


Stat #4: In Week 10, six of the 10-leading rushers won their games


Stat #5: The Colts have won 18-straight regular season games


Stat #6: Peyton Manning had a perfect passer rating against the blitz in the second half of the Colts-Patriots collision


Stat #7: The Bengals have sweeped both the Steelers and Ravens this season and need to beat the Browns next week to be undefeated in the division.


Stat #8: The last time the Bengals sweeped the Steelers was 1998

Stat #9: The Ravens scored two touchdowns in 15-seconds


Cat-Stat #1: In 1998, the Bengals two wins against the Steelers encompassed 66% of their wins (their only other win was against the Lions in Week 2


Cat-Stat #2: Neil O'Donnell, who owns the lowest interception percentage in NFL history, played in 13 games for the '98 Bengals and tossed a mere four interceptions.


Cat-Stat #3: Corey Dillion rushed for 1130-yards for the '98 Bengals. He only had four rushing touchdowns, though.


Cat-Stat #4: The Bengals have swept the Ravens only four times since the Browns moved to Baltimore: 1996, 2005, 2007, and this season.


Fake Punt/Figgie = Victory (Again): For the second-straight week, a team with nothing to lose decided to go for a fake punt for field goal and won the game. In this case, it was the Redskins who went for a fake punt in the fourth quarter to ice the game against the Broncos. Hunter Smith took the snap and rolled to his right and threw a heave-ho to fullback Mike Sellers who walked in for the touchdown.


Who-Dat Guy Play: Colts receiver Pierre Garcon, from Division III powerhouse Mount Union, scored a touchdown to begin the Colts comeback on Sunday Night. The Pats came on a delayed blitz, a fifth rusher "shot the gap" to pressure Peyton Manning and he fired the pass in Garcon's direction. He was smothered by a Pats' defender, but managed to make a one-handed catch for the touchdown.


Cool Play: Colts ball on the Pats' 14 with a minute-20 remaining and after huddling up, normally in this situation a team would try to run as many passes and plays as possible, but instead, Joseph Addai scampered up the middle for a 13-yard gain, bringing the ball to the one.


Sour Play #1: On the next play from the one listed above, Joseph Addai was stuffed for no gain. A play-action pass would've worked nicely. And on the next play, the Colts scored on one of my most hated plays: a fade route at the goal line.


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TNF Analysis: I don't get NFL Network so I can't tell you much. It was a really woofer matchup pitting sputtering teams, seems just the game for NFLN, doesn't it? Yeah, the 49ers picked off five passes, but they gave up a boat-load of yards and allowed the Bears to move up and down the field despite this. It was a really, really ugly game for both teams.


College Football Scores From Schools You've Never Heard Of:

Score #1: Lewis & Clark 30, Puget Sound 27

Score #2: Adrian 45, Olivet College 20

Score #3: Washington & Jefferson 35, Waynesburg 12

Bonus CFSFSYNHO Basketball/Football Score of the Week:

Tarleton State 57, Texas A&M-Kingsville 56 (OT, NCAA D-II playoff)

Bonus CFSFSYNHO Blowout of the Week/Running Up The Score Watch:

Coe 56, Cornell 7. Coe scored 21-points in the fourth quarter.

Cupcake Watch: This Saturday, number one-ranked Florida will face Florida International and number two-ranked Arkansas will face Southern conference-cupcake Chattanooga for automatic, 50-point wins for both clubs. All in the name of bowl eligibility, right? This and the prevalence of spread offenses lead many to think that scoring is up in college football. Trust me, it isn't. Remember the Texas-Oklahoma collision from earlier this season? The final score was 16-13. Also, big, powerhouse programs will schedule their out-of-conference games against D-IAA cupcakes for an auto 50-point win all in the name of bowl eligibility and not their pride, not to mention the cupcake school will get a nice payment for their athletic boosters, so it all works out in the end. Two weeks ago, LSU throttled Tulane, a D-IAA, Conference USA school, 42-0. Ohio State swept up New Mexico State, a WAC cupcake, 45-0, and Arkansas whipped up on D-IAA Eastern Michigan 63-27. Oy vey!

Hooray To Teams With Who-Dats And Nobodies

What a week in the NFL: City of Tampa is off the schnide, the Giants honked another game (see below), the Bengals have their best record in 20-years, the Titans won their second straight, and the Browns were off. Whoo-hoo!

Coaching Pressure Analysis Part One - Cowboys @ Eagles: The Eagles actually had a balanced offense, even after they began to trail. However Andy Reid managed to use up all of his timeout in the third and early-fourth quarters. At the end of the game, he crawled into his little conservative hole as many coaches do when it's late in the game and down by 10 or less with five, or so minutes left and the other team has momentum. With just over five minutes to go, trailing 20-14 the Eagles faced third and 10 at the Dallas 43 and Donovan McNabb was sacked, although it was just for a loss of one. Andy Reid figured that he could kick a figgie and let his defense stop one of the best rushing offenses. Well, he did, on fourth and 11 from the Dallas 44 and David Akers' 52-yard field goal was good, which was a mistake. The way things usually go, when a team goes for it on fourth down the opposing defense will big-blitz, and boom, a big play for the offense. If they scored a touchdown they would've been ahead by one. Even if they don't convert, they would've put the Cowboys in bad field position. However, ever thing seemed to go the Eagles' way when Akers' kickoff boomed 69-yards, which pitted the Cowboys around their own 20. Because the Eagles had used up all their timeouts, the Cowboys were able to milk away the remaining 4:27 for the "W".

Sweet Play #1: The Cowboys faced third and 14 near midfield. Tony Romo threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to the pride of Monmouth, who-dat receiver Miles Austin, with three Eagle defenders sucking wind after him. Even though the Eagles are typically a big-blitz team, they didn't blitz on this play, so Austin wasn't necessarily wide-open.

Sweet Play #2: DeAngelo Williams' 66-yard touchdown on only the second play of the game. He blazed through New Orleans' five-man front and four linebackers.

Sour Play #1: Seldom-used Bengal fullback Jeremi Johnson was so shocked that he was wide-open on the Bengals' first drive of the game that he dropped a touchdown pass like the ball was a live ferret.

Sour Play #2: The Ravens faced third and three near midfield in the first quarter and Bengals defensive back Leon Hall ran a better route than Derrick Mason and dropped a interception like Joe Flacco's pass was a live ferret. Despite these two sour plays the Bengals had a huge, gigantic win against the Ravens and are 6-2 for the first time since 1988, their last Super Bowl season.

Coaching Pressure Analysis Part Two - Chargers @ Giants: Now that it's the middle of the season, the Chargers slow start is over and now they'll roar back to maybe (make that an iffy-maybe) earn a wildcard spot. However, Tom Coughlin went into his little conservative coaching shell at the end of the game leading by a field goal, the Giants took the ball on San Diego four-yard line. Surely they'll score, right? Wrong! On first down, Brandon Jacobs ran to about the one-inch line but it was called back by a hold on Chris Snee. So, first and 14, now. Eli Manning threw a junky, safety valve pass to Hakim Nicks for no gain. On second and 14, Brandon Jacobs ran up the middle for five yards. On third and nine (remember we're at the nine), Jacobs ran again and it was stuffed. On fourth down, the figgie boomed and all the Bolts had to do was score a touchdown to win and that's exactly what they did.

Careful: I really wonder about ESPN bobblehead/analyst Ron Jaworski. While he can analyze tape until his eyes bleed, he gets things wrong a lot: like calling reverses "double reverses" and swearing that Miami had added new plays to the Wildcat. Well, he's done it again by saying something to the effect of"Remember back in 2002 when the Patriots and Josh McDaniels called like 25 straight passes against the Steelers." While the Pats did call 25 straight passes against the Steelers in the Monday Night opener that year, Charlie Weis, not Josh McDaniels called plays for the Flying Elvii. In fact, McDaniels was a defensive coaching assistant for the Pats in 2002. D'oh!

Useless Stats Section:

#1: The Colts have won 17-straight regular-season games.

#2: The Cardinals are the most lopsided team in the NFL on offense. They've throw 325 passes and have 169 rushing attempts. Yet they keep annoying the football purists and are 5-3.

#3: Last week Kurt Warner had one of the worst games of his career, going 27-for-46 for 242-yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions. This week, he bounced back to have one of the best games of his career, going 22-for-31 for 261-yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. TheDood has always liked Warner, he came from a tiny, D-IAA school and made it in the NFL based on smarts and a lightning-quick, low (almost sidearm in some cases) release in an era where quarterbacks from powerhouse schools with cannons for arms are the sexy choice (like his backup Matt Leinart).

#4: The Giants are on an 0-3 steak, while the Titans are on a 2-0 streak.

#5: Ever since over-paid, diva/wide receiver Michael Crabtree came to the 49ers, they've lost every game (working on an 0-4 streak after starting 3-1). And get Shaun Hill back on the field! Alex Smith is going back to his usual ways of throwing a more interceptions than touchdowns.

#6: The bye week were +4 over the Browns (OK, they weren't but they should've).

#7: The 8-0 Saints have scored 303-points this season. They're on pace to score 606 points this season. The NFL record is 589 points by the 2007 Patriots.

#8: The City of Tampa won their first game since November 30th, 2008.

College Football Scores From Schools You've Never Heard Of:

Score #1: Coe 31, Buena Vista 20.

Score #2: Colorado School of Mines 69, New Mexico Highlands 27. TheDoods favorite obscure school, Colorado School of Mines, now at 8-3, beat New Mexico Highlands, now at 1-10. Only Nebraska-Kearney has better record in their division than CSM.

Score #3: St. Olaf 20, Gustavus Adolphus 7. I've found out that many of these really, really obscure schools happen to be rated as some of the highest in the U.S., and St. Olaf, located in Northfield, Minnesota, is no different.

CFSFSYNO Blowout of the Week: Valdosta State 70, Edward Waters 6. Well, of course an entire team would beat up on a single guy.

CFSFSYNHO Basketball/Football Score of the Week: Crown College 69, Eureka College 63.

Christmas Creep: There are two FM radio stations in the Colubmus, Ohio markets that play Christams music beginning the first of November. Beginning at midnight on December 26th, they go back to their usual "Soft Rock" lineup. Oy, vey.