NFLFan's Journal: NFL Super Bowl Bye Weekend Edition!!!

The Fan's Six Pack:

1. Here are my thoughts on the two conference championship games:
   • The Steelers were not going to be denied. They could have played any team anywhere this past Sunday and win.
   • Wow, Polamalu is crazy. That guy seemed unblockable at times. Just wills his body to do things it should not. The guy is only going to get better, this is only his third year in the NFL and his second year to start.
   • I sort of feel sorry for Jake Plummer. That first interception was a duck and that second one was a bad decision but I thought he actually was throwing the ball better than he did against the Patriots. That second fumble should not count, it was a sack on fourth down.
   • Bill Cowher knows how to coach.
   • Joey Porter is playing like a man possessed. I questioned him being named to the Pro Bowl but ever since he has been tearing it up.
   • So that is how you cover Steve Smith.
   • Monster hit Nick Goings took. Thought the game was over right then.
   • Wow, Shaun Alexander had a big day. No surprise really. Sooner or later the guy was bound to have a big post-season day.
   • When it was all said and done, Carolina looked like a 5 seed, who was out of gas because they were playing their third straight road game, going against a rested 1 seed.
2. My thoughts on the things occurring in the coaching realm:
   • Wow, Washington may have just gotten a lot better by hiring Al Saunders. Just last week I wrote that the Redskins would have been very dangerous if they had an offense. Lots of cooks for the soup though.
   • I have said that I am not crazy about the Rams shifting focus from defense to offense like they did but it is sounds like they did it for the right reason-- Linehan just interviewed a lot better than anybody else. I like what he did with Minnesota so lets see what he can do. I do not know what to make of Jim Haslett as the defensive coordinator.
   • I do not know why, but I do not like the Bills hiring Dick Jauron. I would have been okay with the Lions hiring Jauron but I just do not think he fits with the Bills.
   • The Texans need an offense, they could use a defense also, so I like the hire of Gary Kubiak. Look what Denver was able to do with an ordinary offensive line and Jake Plummer at quarterback. Like the Rams, they need a good defensive coordinator now.
   • I do not know what to make of the Lions' Rod Marinelli. Something of an unknown. The owner is said to have really like this guy. Either a great hire or a mediocre one.
   • I understand the Raiders and Al Davis like no-name coaches who they can low-ball but what are they thinking? There is probably a reason why Davis goes through coaches like he does.
   • Glad to hear that Tony Dungy will be return next year to the Colts. The NFL needs more people like him. People are saying the Steelers out-coached Dungy and the Colts, and maybe they did, but Dungy gets a free pass in book.
   • I do not see what the Jets see in Mike Heimerdinger but if they really wanted him then he should have honored his contract. Personally, I think Heimerdinger is something of a running back/quarterback killer. Wore out Eddie George and Steve McNair with his run first vertical passing game. Then he came to the Jets and declared the Jets were going to feature a vertical passing game even though Pennington was said to have the weakest arm of all the NFL starting quarterbacks and was coming off of major shoulder surgery. Good coordinators adapt.
3. This is from Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback: New York Giants (11-6). Just a hunch, but I bet the Giants would take Ben Roethlisberger, Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding instead of Eli Manning right now. Ouch. I have read about the front office of the Giants coming out this week and saying that do not regret that Eli Manning trade but they have too much invested in him to say otherwise. Yes, Eli will likely improve and could be better than Roethlisberger someday but Merriman is a stud linebacker that really hurts losing.
4. Sports Illustrated has really good articles about Bill Cowher and Mike Holmgren. Here is the one about Bill Cowher and here is the only about Mike Holmgren. I found the one about Bill Cowher particularly good.
5. I do not know what to make of all this news about Daunte Culpepper. The only thing I can say about him as a quarterback is that he was very good when he had Randy Moss. The guy does not deserve a new contract and the rumored trades involving him make some sense but are also comical. Culpepper to Oakland makes sense because it would re-unite him with Randy Moss but it was just this past summer that Moss was saying he was happy to finally have a quarterback who can really throw the deep ball and I reason Culpepper said some anti-Moss stuff as well. Culpepper to Baltimore makes sense because Baltimore needs a quarterback and Culpepper is probably familiar with Billick's offense but with Culpepper facing those criminal charges and the Ravens being known for harboring criminals-- well let the jokes begin. Culpepper to Arizona makes sense because it reunites Culpepper with his old coach and the Cardinals need a quarterback but Culpepper is looking for big money which he is not likely to find in Arizona.
6. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell should be ashamed of themselves. What sort of sports bet only involves a bushel of Washington apples, a Steelers "Terrible Towel", a big box of hotdogs and Heinz condiments, and a "12th man flag"? I am sure it really helps that Rendell is a die-hard Eagles fan. I have some pocket lint and an extra button, anybody want to make a bet?

   About the picks from last week:
   Last week I went 2-0!!! So for the playoffs I am 8-2 (.800).

   The Barely Scratching the Surface Super Bowl XL Preview
   I am not going to make my Super Bowl prediction just yet but it will be the Steelers unless something really terrible happens like Roethlisberger being hit by a car and breaking his leg. I seem to know more about the Seahawks than anybody I have talked to and sadly I do not know very much about them; last week is the first time this year I have watched a full game featuring Seattle.

   I think it is interesting that Seattle's quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, will be the starter for the NFC in the Pro Bowl and yet Pittsburgh's quarterback, Ben Roethlisberber, is regarded as the better quarterback even though he was unable to even make the AFC Pro Bowl squad as an alternate. Perhaps the AFC has become the dominant conference because it has more depth at quarterback.

   For weeks I have been saying that Shaun Alexander does not deserve that "soft" label. I came away from that Carolina game with something of a surprising thought: Shaun Alexander is a bigger, perhaps slightly stronger, version of the Steelers' Willie Parker but Alexander has the benefit of probably the best offensive line in football. I am not knocking Alexander, but rather saying that he and Parker are surprisingly similar. Both backs seem to eat up a lot of yards in a hurry when they get moving but easily stopped before they start moving. Guess that sounds like almost every back in the NFL. What I mean is that both of them, but more so Parker, seem more likely to get a 6+ yard run or get stopped for negative or zero gain. They do not grind out the hard short 2-4 yard gains.

   I have to think that the Steelers will send Bettis out in class and give him the start just like they did in their regular season finale in Pittsburgh. Towards the end of the Steelers at Broncos game, I turned to my friend and started to explain that the Steelers had to be the favorites going into the Super Bowl and that Bettis had to be penciled in for at least 2 touchdowns. I stand by that. If I was Cowher I would take it one step further and feature Bettis! I think the guy proved last year that he can still rumble for 100 in spot duty, I also think he wore down as he got the call each week. Bettis is the sort of back capable of grinding out those hard 2-4 yard runs and I have to think the Seahawks would not be expecting it.

   I think it is interesting that both teams employ full-time full backs. The full back position is said to be a dying position in the NFL with teams bringing in some big nasty player from an another position when they are faced with short yardage situations. The good thing about a real full back is that they know what they are doing and how to protect themselves, remember the Patriots' Richard Seymour injuring his knee while he was playing full back, but using other position players as a full back confuses defenses and allows for some roster flexibility.

   Offense vs. defense I think both of these teams are pretty similar. Both defenses seem to stop the run well and are a little suspect defending the pass, the Seahawks are more suspect there. So right now I am thinking the running games will be about even. The Steelers might have the better pass defense but the Seahawks possess the better passing game on paper so things are pretty even on the passing game front also. Where things become unclear for me is how the Seahawks operate their offense-- are they a run first team that can pass, are they a pass first team that can run, or are they a truly balanced team? I guess the same question could be asked about the Steelers anymore but I feel more confident with their offense for some reason.

   I think the Seahawks defense is very similar in many ways to the Broncos, who the Steelers just faced. The Seahawks, like the majority of the NFL, deploy a 4-3 defense. Scheme-wise I think the 4-3 is a little more limited so the Steelers probably will have already seen whatever the Seahawks will throw at them. The Seahawks led the league in sacks which should be a concern for the Steelers because their offensive line has seem sort of porous at times but when healthy the Steelers have handled the best 4-3 defenses thrown at them.

   I do not know if the Seahawks have seen a defense like the Steelers yet this year. The Steelers deploy the less common 3-4 defense. Now the Seahawks have already played a few 3-4 teams this year but those defenses were more vanilla 3-4's. Houston runs a 3-4 but they stink and the same can be said about San Francisco who are in transition and were using mostly 4-3 personnel. So that leaves the Cowboys, who did not have the ideal personnel for the 3-4 and were limited scheme-wise because of the numbers of rookies they were starting (I know they pretty much eliminated stunting to minimize confusion). The Seahawks will probably be seeing something new but because they have that great offensive line they should be able to cope and adjust.