The Weekend That Was

Starting with Friday night's Utah-Alabama game, we were treated to some very good football games over the weekend and there were a lot interesting happenings in these matchups. Perhaps this wasn't an abnormally strong weekend of football, being that none of the games stood out as all-time greats, but we got a good collection of close games on Friday and Saturday and two dominant performances on Sunday.

Let's start with Friday night's Sugar Bowl. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm three for three against the spread in the BCS bowls so far, but I was wrong on the winner in this one. As a Mountain West graduate and fan, I was optimistic that the Utes would be able to at least keep the game close against an Alabama team that I believed was physically superior. Instead it was the Utah team imposing its will on the Crimson Tide in the first quarter, jumping out 21-0 and never really looking back. The most impressive aspect, in addition to Brian Johnson's 300-yard passing day, for Utah was their total dominance defensively. While Alabama scored 17 points, their TDs came on a short field and on a punt return, neither on long, controlled drives. Now Tide fans are arguing (and rightly so) that they were handicapped by the suspension of star left tackle Andre Smith, possibly the best offensive lineman in the country and a key cog in the Alabama running attack. This certainly made things more difficult on the Alabama offense, but I'd hardly call this the difference in the game. Utah was dominant on both offense and defense, and clearly has made a case for being the #1 team in the country, finishing as the lone unbeaten.

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Next let's look at the Arizona Cardinals win over the Atlanta Falcons. As I patted myself on the back for the BCS bowl picks, I'll admit I was just 1 for 4 on the weekend in picking the NFL. The funny thing is, none of the results I was incorrect on were particularly surprising. First, the Cardinals win was one I missed, and I regretted this pick Saturday as I started watching the game. I can't believe I bought into the hype of a rookie quarterback being favored on the road. Not so smart. This isn't to say that Atlanta's Matt Ryan was the reason the Falcons lost. On the contrary, it was inspired play by the Cardinals defense, particularly their run defense, that was the stunner of this game. Just three weeks after being gashed by Adrian Peterson in a 35-14 home loss and two weeks after giving up over 200 yards rushing to the Pats on the road, the Cards used the crowd to fuel an impressive performance and shut down the league's #2 rusher. Michael Turner was stuck in his backfield all game, finding no room to run and even being in the middle of a Cardinals touchdown when he and Ryan were hit before they could even complete the exchange on a handoff. Maybe the Cardinals still aren't the better team, but they stepped up to the challenge while the Falcons failed to execute.

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The late game Saturday was brutal. Absolutely brutal. I'm a big Peyton Manning fan. Let's get that out in the air right now. I also have a more-than-slight dislike for the Chargers, considering that I'm a Broncos fan. That said, the Colts kind of gave this one away, and the Chargers can completely thank punter Mike Scifres for this victory. First, the Colts: where is your vaunted offense? Come on! Indianapolis failed to get any real productive drives going late in the game when they were protecting a 3-point lead. On their final possession, with just over two minutes left and a chance to seal a victory with a first down, the Colts managed to give up a sack. Maybe Peyton Manning isn't the one that struggles with the 3-4 defense; maybe it's the Indy offensive line and their coaches that are the problem. How a team missing its best pass rusher could get constant pressure on Manning AND shut down the Colts running game is beyond me. There's no doubt in my mind that the Colts' offensive struggles were the reason they ultimately lost, because their defense seemed like it was on the field the entire second half.

Second, Mike Scifres may have had the best day of any punter in NFL history. All six of his punts pinned the Colts inside their 20 yard line, and four of those put the Colts inside their own five. This includes the most crucial punt, pinning the Colts at their own 1 late in the fourth quarter when the Chargers were still trailing and needed to get the ball back with good field position to have a chance. An absolutely incredible performance.

Last point on this one, and I won't dwell on it because things like this usually come off sounding like sour grapes, but what game, exactly, were the officials watching? Seriously. How in the world could the Chargers only be flagged three times, and only once on offense, while the Colts were flagged three times on the Chargers' game-winning drive ALONE. Indy was penalized a total of nine times, to the aforementioned three against the Chargers. This cannot possibly be accurate, and may well have been the difference in the game. I don't necessarily ask that the refs keep the flags in their pocket all game, but at least TRY to call the game evenly, and maybe not throw the flag on close calls late in a tight game (like the crushing defensive holding on 3rd and 8 on San Diego's final drive).

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The Miami-Baltimore game is probably the one pick I most wish I had back. I had the feeling that this game would turn out exactly the way it did, but I hoped the Dolphins would prove me wrong. Yes, I said I thought that Chad Pennington would be the difference in the game, and I was right, in the wrong sense. Pennington struggled to deal with the constant pressure that Baltimore put on him, making poor throws and questionable decisions throughout the game. The reason for this was that the Ravens completely shut down the Dolphins' running game early on, and then they put together a lead that made the Phins have to pass to try and come back. This, of course, was the ultimate recipe for disaster. As good as Pennington and Miami's offense have been this year, they have never shown the ability to put up points quickly or in bunches, so any kind of a significant deficit (two scores or more) was likely to spell doom for the Dolphins. Indeed, I could well have called it game over as soon as Baltimore's Ed Reed made his first pick and took it back for a score. At this point, you just had to have the feeling that the Dolphins weren't going to be able to come from behind in that game, and quickly the mistakes and turnovers piled up and the game was out of reach.

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The game I got right! Yay! The Eagles-Vikings tilt was rather easy to call, and the only thing that might have changed the equation was if the Vikings had done the smart thing and played Gus Frerotte instead of Tarvaris Jackson. With the Vikings missing two starting defensive linemen, and Donovan McNabb playing extremely well toward the end of the season, the Vikings were behind the eight-ball to begin with. As good as Adrian Peterson is, he cannot carry the team if there is absolutely no threat of a passing game, which was the case for most of the game for Minnesota. The Eagles led early and the Asante Samuel TAINT (TD after INT; copyright Bill Simmons, ESPN.com) took the Metrodome crowd largely out of the game, something the Eagles had to do to really have a chance. In the end, after Brian Westbrook had successfully proven that he's the best receiving back in football with a 71-yard catch and run on a screen pass, Jackson was asked to win the game for the Vikings and this just wasn't going to happen. All told, the Eagles may be the "scary team" in the NFC playoffs this year, so maybe the Vikings were just victim #1.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the blog, please post below or I can be reached at chrisf884@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.