Game Day Thoughts

"Mr. Slingin' Sammy Baugh can chunk that cabbage."-Grantland Rice

It's a real shame that we no longer see sports writing like that. How about SMU's star halfback of the 1930s Bobby Wilson being described as "a lizard-legged little bundle of mobile murder." That writing would keep me reading.

Win and in. The Minnesota Vikings host the Green Bay Packers today for a chance to clinch a spot in the playoffs. It's all on the Vikings today. They win. They play next week. For a team that finished the 2011 season at the bottom of the NFC North with at 3-13, a shot at the playoffs in 2012 is a shock to nearly everyone outside of Minneapolis. Actually, there's a huge slice of the Vikings fan base that expected something closer to last year. You gotta believe!

I'm not sure that I can handle the 1:35 PST start of the Vikings-Packers game. I'm so used to the Vikings playing at 10:00. I may need medical attention sometime between 10:30 and noon.

I'm surprised that all six AFC playoff spots are set before the final weekend. Maybe it's not all that unuusual but it feels that way. The only suspense is the seeding. The Denver Broncos will likely secure one of the byes. The Houston Texans have the edge for the other. The Texans are something of a puzzle. As soon as they look like the dominant team of the league they get throttled by a solid team. They've bounced back nicely from their three losses. That bodes well for today but all the teams in the playoffs are good and you don't get a chance to bounce back.

Four of the teams are set in the NFC. The winner of tonight's Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins game claims one of the open spots as the NFC East champ. The Vikings can claim the final Wild Card with a win. It's that simple. All the teams that are still alive for a shot at the playoffs are heavy Packer fans today. The hope here is that they hate the Packers after today.

It was great to see Vikings kicker Blair Walsh and fullback Jerome Felton make the Pro Bowl. Walsh has been simply dynamite as a rookie. Felton was signed as a free agent this past offseason. The Vikings didn't make a big splash in free agency. It was really barely a ripple. Felton was one of those free agents. He'd bounced from the Detroit Lions to the Carolina Panthers to the Indianapolis Colts in his previous four years. He's found a home in Minnesota. Running back Adrian Peterson hasn't had a decent lead blocker since his rookie year with Tony Richardson. He has one now. Felton has been an excellent find.

Earlier this season there was all kinds of gossip that exiled New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was going to jump to the Dallas Cowboys. Supposedly there was a loop hole in his contract that would allow him to essentially become of a free agent. His Dallas home made the Cowboys the likely landing spot. It was all a ridiculous bag of guesses, hunches and assumptions. It was another example of the idiots in the media trying to make a story where none existed. This past Friday the Saints and Payton agreed to a contract extension. So much for those jackass rumors.

"Their best offensive play is calling timeout."-Michael Rosenberg on the less than stellar New York Jets offense.

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl (nice name) was a great game. Texas Tech defeated Minnesota 34-31. It was probably the best bowl game that I've seen so far this year. It looked like Minnesota had the game secured late but Texas Tech scored a touchdown with just under two minutes left to tie. Then later intercepted a pass to set up the winning field goal. I had my doubts that Minnesota could keep up with the wide open Texas Tech offense but they controlled that game before they gave it up late.

The Alamo Bowl matching Texas and Oregon St sounded terrific but I missed it. Michigan St.-TCU in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (another nice name) was a good one as well. Looked like it. I missed that one too. I only saw parts of the blowouts yesterday. Too many of those.

Sports Illustrated recently ranked the top 8 performances in bowl game history. I liked #7 best.
7. Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama
    1963 Orange Bowl
Some math: Oklahoma ran 60 plays from scrimmage. Four were incomplete passes and zero were for scores, meaning a Sooner was tackled 56 times. Jordan had 31 of them.
Incredible.

Go Vikings!!!