Sunday, January 22, 2012

Conference Championship Game Day Bits

Some say that Championship Sunday is the most exciting day in football. I suppose those sentiments came about because until recently the Super Bowl was rarely competitive. In the last decade the Super Bowls have been super. Championship Sunday has always been an exciting day. Its a chance for the Super Bowl for four teams. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this day is more exciting than the Super Bowl but it sure is fun.

With a Super Bowl win and another serious run, I don't understand why Tom Coughlin's job is often in jeopardy.

Some of the finest players in the games are playing today. Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Vince Wilfork, Ray Rice, Anquan Boldin, Haloti Ngata, Terrell Suggs, Ed Reed, Ray Rice, Eli Manning, Justin Tuck, Jason-Pierre Paul, Osi Umenyiora, Patrick Willis, Justin Smith. You can expect a lot of talent with the final four teams and they don't disappoint.

Four great coaches too.

Ed Reed and Ray Lewis get all of the attention on the Ravens defense but Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata are fantastic.

I would love to see former Vikings and current Ravens center Matt Birk get a Super Bowl ring. He's had a great career. Not bad for a late round, Harvard guy.

I've never liked the playing of a regular season game in London. Its not fair to the season ticket holders of the team that gives up a home game. I can't understand why any team would volunteer for this game. The St. Louis Rams volunteered for the next three. Clearly the Rams are putting their fans in the back seat. Are they already on their way out of town?

The Oakland Raiders are looking to hire their eighth coach this century. Jon Gruden, Bill Calahan, Norv Turner, Art Shell, Lane Kiffin, Tom Cable and Hue Jackson preceded the poor soul that's next. I always thought that former Detroit Lions head coach Marty Mornhinweg would be perfect for the Raiders. Kind of a rebellious sort.

Word around the campfire is that Vikings runningback Adrian Peterson is considering swithing from his #28. New knee, new uniform number.

Surprisingly, I found an interesting football article on Yahoo. The web browser actually has a couple of very good football writers in Mike Silver and Jason Cole. Plus, Silver's a Cal guy. Anyway, Cole wrote about how the New England Patriots use of talented tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Anthony Hernandez isn't so novel. Its been done before and, of course, it involved Bill Belichick. In the mid '70s, Belichick was just starting his coaching career with the Detroit Lions. Lacking in overall talent the team was blessed with two incredibly talented tight ends. Charlie Sanders was heading to the end of his Hall of Fame career. David Hill was drafted as Sanders' eventual replacement. A mediocre Lions team decided it best to take advantage of the surplus of talent at the one position. They didn't have much else going for them so they got both players on the field at the same time. What we see the Patriots doing with Gronkowski and Hernandez now the Lions were doing with Sanders and Hill nearly 40 years ago.

It was fairly shocking to see former Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress coaching at the East-West Shrine Game. I hear he interviewed for the now open Indianapolis Colts head coach position. If I was a Colts fan, I'd be hoping that either Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael or Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer gets the job. Childress is terrific at putting a talented team on the field but he has some serious control issues.

Speaking of the Shrine Game, Tennessee-Chattanooga quarterback looked good. Threw and moved like he's ready for an NFL offense. He didn't look like one of those poor college quarterbacks that's saddled with the spread offense in college.

Fresno St. receiver Devon Wylie has crazy moves. He could nail down an NFL punt return job the first day of training camp. You can't teach moves like that.

Thanks to NFL Network's extensive coverage of the Senior Bowl some of the other college all-star games are forgotten.

My playoff predictions have been a mess so far. I won't let that stop me. The Flea Flicker says we're getting a Patriots-49ers Super Bowl.

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