Worst NFL Game of the Weekend – 2-11 Seattle at 2-11 St. Louis is quite likely the worst game of the season, and perhaps of a few seasons. Both teams have all sorts of problems, neither have anything to play for, and I can’t think of a single interesting storyline to make this one worth watching. I’m far from the only one who thinks this way – betting volume on this game is by far the lowest of any all weekend.
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Month: December 2008
A couple of very interesting things showed up in the news today, and both have a significant impact on my out look of the teams involved:
1. Steve Nash and the Jason Richardson trade. On paper, Richardson makes the Suns better. There’s an interesting angle I had forgotten about until I read it, though – Raja Bell and Steve Nash were best friends and were practically inseparable. According to Nash, the first he heard of the possibility of a trade was when he woke up from his pre-game nap, checked his texts, and saw the news. Bell was already at the airport.
1. Go, go Buffalo. I was thrilled to see the Bulls win the MAC championship on Friday night by beating Ball State. I was there for their first game this year, and I have seen them play a couple other times, too. The team has a couple of nice players, but the big lesson here is that coach Turner Gill is really, really good. He has interviewed for Auburn, and he’ll get looks regularly until he gets hired somewhere else. The guy is going to end up at a top program sooner or later, and he is going to do very well once he gets there.
Colt McCoy says that he is coming back to Texas for his senior year. That’s a bit surprising, but I’m glad. Not that I have any love for Texas at all – their suffering makes me happy. I just like it when guys come back for another year. Not that it makes much sense here, really. This year he is in an ideal situation – no matter what happens in the BCS Championship game he can tell anyone who will listen that they would have been the better team if they were given the chance to prove it. Things can’t get much better for him next year,but they can get worse. Somebody should give McCoy Matt Leinart’s number. Or Brian Brohm’s.
If you have read this blog or any time at all then you know that I bleed Maize and Blue. If you have eyes, you also know that this has been a very, very ugly time to be a Michigan fan. After years of underwhelming futility and disappointment at the end of the Lloyd Carr era, the football team redefined just how bad a season can be in Ann Arbor this year. I am certain that things will get better, but that assertion is more than just a small test of my faith. Same basic story in basketball – Tommy Amaker led us to bland underachievement, then the world imploded last year in the first season under a new coach from West Virginia. We have had many glory days in both sports, but they seem just a distant, practically impossible memory now. Us Michigan fans deserve a break, so you can forgive my gloating now as I say this – Michigan may be the greatest basketball team in the history of the sport!!!
There are some mostly meaningless and uninteresting regular season games to be played today. The interesting ones, though, are obviously the five conference championship games that are being played. One, Buffalo and Ball State for the MAC, is already in the books. Here’s a quick look at the other four, in order of their starting time:
East Carolina (+11.5) vs. Tulsa – This should be a much more interesting game than it actually is. Both teams looked like they had the potential to be giant killers earlier in the season, but neither was able to hold it together. East Carolina has covered just twice in their last 10, while Tulsa has just one cover in their last four and is coming off an incredibly flat game at Marshall last week. One of these teams has to win, but it is pretty hard to care – after all, the prize is only a Liberty Bowl berth.
It’s not yet official, but it appears that USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will replace Ty Willingham at Washington. He has denied it through USC, but that means nothing – the season is still on and USC has a game to prepare for. This move gives us a lot to think about:
Worst NFL Game of the Week – It could be argued that we get this one out of the way tonight when Oakland visit San Diego. That one could be ugly, but there are, sadly, worse. St. Louis at Arizona should be ugly – the Rams were blown out once already by the Cards, and they were better then than they are now. New England at Seattle could be ugly unless we see a much improved Seattle team suddenly. We won’t. The ultimate choice is clear, though – Cleveland at Tennessee. Ken Dorsey against the most ferocious defense in the league. Good luck with that.
A slightly belated look at what transpired in football action over the weekend, and we could be learned from it:
1. Big 12 QB’s non-throwing hands are fragile – Graham Harrell completely shattered his non-throwing hand early in his game against Baylor, yet was somehow able to overcome it and lead a comeback to avoid embarrassment. Sam Bradford hurt his, too. Both guys should be okay by the time they next take the field, but one thing is clear – being a Heisman candidate in the Big 12 is dangerous. If I was Colt McCoy I would be sleeping with one eye open.
Wow, is this ever a terrible Monday night game. If someone paid me to come up with something nice to say about these teams or this game I would have to give the money back. With one exception – Steve Slaton has had a very good game, and that’s becoming a trend for him. The biggest problem is that we are getting exactly the same game that it looked like we would get. I just wish the league would do something about these terrible Monday night matchups – like cancel them.
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