There is one team left in the NFL that has a shot at reaching hallowed heights. It is almost impossible to be perfect in the tough, unpredictable, parity-filled league. But one team has the schedule, the talent, the coaching, the management, and that certain je ne sais quoi to go all the way. I’m talking, of course, about the Detroit Lions. Perfect futility is perhaps tougher to achieve than perfect success, but if any team can pull it off it is the Lions. And if they did I think it would be an even bigger accomplishment than what New England did last year.
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I’m not going to offer a pick or any specific analysis about tonight’s huge NFL game – that’s not what I do here. This is a very interesting game, though, so I do want to take a closer look at it. Here are five different elements to this game that I will be watching closely, and which have factored significantly into my handicapping of the game:
As we get prepared for a busy weekend of sporting action, there are some injury notes that are worth a look:
Greg Oden – The big guy is supposed to return to action tonight for the Trail Blazers. That should be a boost for Portland, but I will hold judgment until I see two different things – how well he is physically, and whether he can last for more than a minute and a half this time. Oden is frustrating and hard to trust at this point, but I can’t wait to see what he can do if he can settle in and get comfortable. This team could use a boost.
Worst NFL Game of the Week – The Monday night game is certainly not going to be a gem – neither Cleveland nor Buffalo are in a particularly good place right now. It’s gets worse, though. Late Sunday afternoon the Niners will play in St. Louis. Two struggling offenses with all sorts of troubles. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Insomniacs rejoice – the cure has been found.
Best NFL Game of the Week – It should be Tennessee at Jacksonville, San Diego at Pittsburgh, or Dallas at Washington, but each of those games features one deeply flawed team that robs the game of some potential. The Jets at New England is a good old fashioned showdown for the division lead. It’s not all it could be, but it should still be compelling. My choice, though, is an unexpected one – Baltimore at the Giants. The Ravens are red hot, and the Giants are probably the best team in the league. It should be a battle of wills.
Game With Teams With The Most To Prove – Cleveland and Buffalo. The Bills need to end their ugly, ugly slide that threatens to rob them of the promise their early season showed. Cleveland lost ugly yet again on Thursday, and they desperately need to do something to get things off to a strong start in the Quinn era.
Matt Holliday appears to be heading to Oakland. I’ll spend more time looking at this one next spring, but my initial reaction is that this is positive – it’s the first time in a long while that the A’s have been a buyer, not a seller. Oakland fans deserve that. Holliday has to be relieved, too – given that he knew he was leaving Colorado there were certainly less hitter friendly places he could have wound up.
1. The Big Ten got lucky. Penn State put up a lousy effort and lost to a team that they never should have lost to. That’s a good thing. I love the Big Ten, but it has been a horrible year for my conference. By losing, Penn State has avoided a third straight ass-kicking for the conference in the national championship game. That will allow the conference to rebuild and strengthen with slightly less scrutiny than they would if they got crushed. The conference will rebuild. There are things to build on – Terrelle Pryor is finding his way, and two of the top three runners in the country are in the conference.
Ohio State (-10.5) at Northwestern – It has been a long time since Northwestern has been even remotely relevant. This will be a good test of whether anything has changed. Northwestern has some disadvantages – most notably QB issues. They also need to prove that they are fast enough on defense to keep up with the Buckeyes. This one could be really interesting, or really, really not. It will also be a good chance for us to see what Terrelle Pryor is made of. He blew the Penn State game with a fumble, and he has been sitting around for two weeks thinking about that. He’ll be angry, but this will tell us if he can channel that anger.
Utah State (+35) at Boise State – This won’t be a close or particularly interesting game. At least, the Broncos hope that it won’t be. After Utah’s win last night (I told you that that would be a game worth watching), Boise State needs to keep winning very impressively to stand a chance of crashing the BCS party. It doesn’t look good for them unless Utah stumbles, but the only thing they can do is keep blowing out their opponents. That’s the only thing they can control.
Every so often when I am reading through the sports news of the day I find myself thinking that a story is important, only to realize that it really isn’t after thinking about it for a while. There are a two that fit into that category today:
Dan Orlovsky is headed to the IR – Detroit’s starting QB is probably going to wind up on the injured reserve after breaking his thumb in two places and damaging a ligament. That means that the Lions are going to be without there starting QB. Normally that matters, but here it doesn’t really. First, Orlovsky isn’t a great player. He’s better than the public gives him credit for, but he’s not a huge improvement over either of the team’s other two options. Second, he probably wasn’t going to play this weekend anyway, or if he was he was going to be on a short leash. The team is desperate enough to try anything that might get them a win – especially at home – and that means that they will put Daunte Culpepper in even if he isn’t ready. At the very least that will appease the home fans for a while. In short, Orlovsky’s injury will have very little impact on the line, and only slightly more on the outcome of the game. Quarterbacking is a problem for the Lions, but so is every other position group. The team could have a quarterback who is a whole lot better than Orlovsky or Culpepper and they would still be in trouble.
Continue reading “Two Stories That Sound Like They Matter, But Don’t”
There is a great football game tonight, and I am not talking about the debut of Brady Quinn. That one will be interesting, and it will be easy to find, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Thursday’s real gem – Utah at home against TCU. Not convinced that this is the game of the night? Here are eight reasons you should be:
Notes from around the sports, and sports betting, world today:
1. I can’t believe what a mess the Raiders are. De Angelo Hall hasn’t been worth the money they are paying him, but anyone with half a brain knew that that would be the case before the deal was done – especially since the Raiders didn’t really need corner help. Cutting him now may save a few bucks, but it has to throw the locker room into turmoil, and it makes the team a laughing stock. Or more of one. Good luck trying to attract free agents to town now. Especially if they cut Javon Walker, too. It is hard to imagine a time when this team is competitive again – at least not until after Al Davis’ funeral. From a betting perspective, it will be a long while until I can imagine seeing any value in them given their woes and the total chaos.
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