SportsGirl

I had to turn the volume up a bit on my tv today as I was preparing to watch the first day of the NFL draft. I couldn’t hear over the birds chirping and the song in my heart. Football, folks. Any day where the focus is football is a great day. And today was no exception… Lest you think that I wore the rose colored glasses while viewing the draft, there were a few things I was disappointed about. But we’ll get to that.

Let’s start, for proximity’s sake, with the picks made by the Dallas Cowboys. Overall, I’m pleased. I had a feeling they’d take Felix Jones and I’m glad that they didn’t trade up to get Darren McFadden. I know he’ll be an impact player, but the Boys already have Marion Barber and Jones will fill the role that Julius Jones was playing. I also had a suspicion that they’d look to take Mike Jenkins if he were still on the board when they had their second pick. The only thing that taints this pick is knowing that Jenkins will be playing along side Pacman Jones, assuming he’s reinstated. I questioned the Tank Johnson signing and things have seemed to work out so far on that deal. This one though? Whole other ball game. I don’t trust when Jones says he’s learned his lesson. I don’t trust that he’ll stay out of trouble.  The third player they drafted today was Martellus Bennett, the TE out of Texas A&M.  When I first heard his name called, I thought it was odd that they were drafting at that position in the second round, as they have quite a few options to go to. But then I remembered that they struck a deal with Miami to send Akin Ayodele and Anthony Fasano for the second and fourth round picks. And that got me thinking. Where is Jerry Jones’ head?

First he loses Tony Sparano to the Dolphins which, I suppose, is easy enough to defend because you can’t really hold a guy back from an opportunity to be a head coach. But wouldn’t you naturally be suspicious when the man who was coaching your team last year is now the VP of Operations there in Miami and he seems to be systematically stealing your staff and players? Does Jerry really have so little regard for Parcells’ football acumen that he honestly thinks he’s getting the better end of the deal on his stuff? I was impressed with Fasano this season. I think he’s going to grow into a really good player. And to only get two picks for those two players? Something seems strange. With the way Miami drafted today, and the players they’ve acquired this off-season, I honestly think things could be turning around for them. And Henne and Long are Michigan guys so I may just have to start paying attention to the Dolphins!    

For only having two picks in this first day of the draft, I think New England fared pretty well, which is par for the course for that franchise. With their first pick, they got Jerod Mayo, which led to one of my favorite moments of the draft. Chris Berman did his best deadpan when asking what other teams would get flagged for next season. The answer? 15 yards for holding the Mayo…classic. This is why I love Boomer! Everyone has mentioned that New England needs to get younger on defense so I’m not going to point that out. But I think Mayo is a versatile player who will work well in the New England defensive scheme. They also selected Terrance Wheatley who will compete to replace Asante Samuel, which is not a small set of shoes to fill. Ok, well, maybe size-wise they’re small shoes, I mean Samuel isn’t exactly the biggest guy, but still, you get my drift…All in all, it was a rather unremarkable draft for the Pats, but that’s just how they roll, so we’ll just have to wait until the season begins before we can evaluate if they made the right choices.  

A few miscellaneous highlights from Day 1. I was really pleased to see Arizona select Rodgers-Cromartie. I think he’ll be a good player and AZ could use some help on defense. I like Ken Whisenhunt and want to see him succeed. And there seem to be so many good pieces in place for them that I’d loved to see that all gel. There will be a debate raging up until the season begins, and likely well into it, on whether or not Matt Ryan was the right selection for Atlanta. I think Atl couldn’t win with that pick. If they didn’t draft a QB, who are they going to pick up to lead that team? If it wasn’t Matt Ryan, who would be a better fit for that franchise? Brian Brohm? Um, no. And with them drafting a QB to replace Vick, they have no room for error because they already failed once in that department. So really, because that franchise has suffered enough, I’m hoping Ryan pans out. I liked him at BC, I thought the drive he engineered to come back and beat Va Tech was fantastic, and all you hear on him is that he possesses the intangibles needed to win games on the field. I think Baltimore got it right taking Joe Flacco at the 18-spot and good riddance to Brian Brohm in Green Bay. That was maybe my least favorite move of yesterday’s action. He’s no better than Aaron Rogers. So now you’ve got two so-so QB’s vying to replace a legend. Great move Green Bay. 

And now, the things I didn’t like from yesterday’s coverage. I didn’t like how ESPN essentially ruined the element of surprise on some of these picks. When Matt Ryan was taken, about 2 minutes before the announcement the cameras were focused on him as he was taking a call on his cell phone, then he hung up, hugged his mother (who was tearing up) and hugged his dad. Gee, let’s see, maybe he just saved a bunch of money by switching his car insurance to Geico, but I’m thinking the more realistic answer in that case is that the Falcons called and said they were taking him. So then we had to wait another 2 minutes while the analysts pretended to debate who Atlanta was going to take.  And this happened on quite a few occasions. I was already disappointed that we knew who the #1 pick was, even though I was ecstatic that it was a Michigan guy. For ESPN to ruin the picks multiple times was poor. They even managed to do that with players that weren’t sitting in the green room! I would think to retain maximum viewership, you’d hold everyone in suspense as long as possible. But alas… 

I also was nearly blinded by the atrocity that was Keyshawn Johnson’s outfit. It was bad enough that I had to text my best friend to see if he was watching and was as blown away as I was. And the combined verdict was that Keyshawn has lost it. I’m all for pushing the fashion envelope, but that green checked shirt was just bad, no doubts about it. We did however both  enjoy the hostility between Keyshawn and Steve Young. The dislike between the two is palpable and makes for quite an interesting time. Keeps things lively! On a separate note, I am officially hoping that we had a preview to next season’s MNF booth combination with ESPN pairing Tirico and Jaws with Kirk Herbstreit. Don’t know if Herbie would leave college ball to step up to the pros, but I think it would be a great combo. Anything would be an improvement over Kornheiser, but Herbs would really be a good addition. 

Who knows what Day 2 has in store. Mario Manningham is still on the board so I’d like to see where he ends up. We’ll see if the Cowboys pick anyone up to improve their offensive line. Day 2 is never as exciting as Day 1, but at least when the draft is done we can start looking ahead to the new season. It’s definitely going to be a good day! 

I was already planning on blogging about the NFL playoffs this weekend, but was trying to find the time to not give short shrift to the topic. However, since my dad (and possibly other readers?) is growing impatient, here we go. My thoughts on the action from the weekend.

Where to start? I confess that I didn’t watch too much of the Green Bay-Seattle game. I’ve been on record before stating that I’m not honestly sure who even likes Seattle. The curse of that city is that their fan base, while I’m sure passionate at home games, is not extensive enough to really create a presence for their pro teams. Hence the reason the new owners are looking to move the Supersonics to Oklahoma City. How low does the interest threshold have to be when OKC is the more attractive location for your professional basketball team? And my gut told me that Green Bay was going to win. Seattle is so blah, and Brett Farve has magically turned back the clock on his game so it seemed like an inevitable outcome.

What wasn’t predictable was the Giants-Cowboys match-up. Sure, there was a lot of chatter as the game day drew near about how the G-Men had the momentum. And there there was that run for the border that Romo and Jessica Simpson made. If ever a headline could garner attention, this was it. And boy, did the media have fun with it! Did that actually contribute to Romo’s mindset on game day? We won’t ever know. If you were dating Jessica Simpson, would you publicly blame her for your lack of production on offense? Personally, I think that Romo’s own belief in his ability is what contributed to the poor performance on Sunday. He has enough talent that often times, when his protection is breaking down, he can hang onto the ball and make a huge play. But he lacks the experience to do this consistently so he makes bad decisions in the pocket, like not throwing the ball away when you’re about to be sacked. As for the decision to head south for a quick trip, I blame Wade Phillips for not having a tighter leash on the team. I know, it’s a balancing act of keeping your players happy and keeping them prepared. But you’re the coach; you function much like a parent in this regard. Phillips’ team did not show up ready to play. The defense looked awful. When you can’t stop the pass, and you can’t stop the run, you’re pretty much done. The receivers just didn’t look sharp on the field, and no, Romo didn’t appear to have “it” that day. Maybe his “it” was still in Mexico, sunning “it”self on the beach. Who knows. But one thing we do know is that Bill Parcells was basically shown the door in Big D after failing to win a playoff game. Lord knows, TO has been on record numerous times this season spouting off about how much better of a coach Wade Phillips is and how much happier of a player TO is to play for someone who knows how to use him in the offense. Fat lot of good that did! It does no good to lock up the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs when you lose in your first game. So that’s great that the players like the coach better and feel like maybe they can all knit some lovely sweaters together in the off-season. But when it comes down to it, they still lost.

So what now? You overhauled the coaching staff last year, and your roster needs some tweaking but probably doesn’t need a Jones-esque face lift. It’s looking more and more likely that Jason Garrett at a minimum will be offered a head coaching position in either Baltimore or Atlanta. Personally, I think he ought to take a pass at this time and come back to hone his skills. He will get the most recognition out of helping develop Tony Romo and Romo will make progress in the off-season this year. So if I were Garrett, I’d definitely hang around and watch my stock rise a bit more before accepting the position down in ATL. The Ravens is an interesting proposition because their offense could use some work and Garrett has a knack with the quarterbacks, so it might be a good fit.

Oh, and yada, yada, yada, Eli Manning didn’t have a great game but they did enough to squeak out the win and now they have all the mo’ heading into the contest at Lambeau Field this weekend. I think Green Bay crushes them. I know Ryan Grant had a few fumbles early in the game last weekend but once he regained his composure–and kudos to him for being able to do that–he had a great game, even in the snow. That was the piece that the Green Bay offense had been missing to take some of the pressure off Farve and since then Farve has stopped trying to force every throw into triple coverage. I’m predicting a score of 31-20 in this weekend’s game.

So let’s talk a bit about the Colts game. Let me start by stating that I think Philip Rivers is completely classless. Not only did he taunt fellow newbie QB Jay Cutler in the Broncos-Chargers game, he also taunted the home crowd during the playoff match at Indy. Does he realize he’s not that great of a QB? He’s not bad, mind you, but he’s certainly not Peyton Manning. Frankly, these days I would take Eli Manning over him, which the Chargers technically did in his draft class. So note to Phil, rack up some more wins before you try the whole taunting thing.

As for the game itself, it was actually a disappointing viewing experience. Indianapolis just wasn’t clicking. It’s like bringing back Marvin Harrison, when they had been finding ways to win without him, was a bad move. And that’s not normally a move you would categorize as bad. I know the Chargers caught fire (I will avoid the obvious lightening in a bottle pun here) at the right time and maybe we’re going to start seeing a trend develop after these divisional rounds. Seems like getting a bye week heading into the playoffs isn’t always a good thing. And maybe Tony Dungy will regret once again resting his starters in the last game of the season. Maybe there’s something to the notion that you really don’t want to lose momentum by taking off that last game mentally. But how uncharacteristic is it that Manning had a chance to win the game on 4th down in the 4th quarter and the pass was incomplete? If it had been Brady…well, you know where I stand on that issue. And Billy Volek getting the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard QB sneak? Really? So let me get this straight. Antonio Gates was a hobbled version of himself when he did play and was basically a non-factor. “Big Phil” left the game with a sprained MCL and LDT left as well, and yet the Bolts still recorded the W in their column? Money says that Tony Dungy retires after this season. He won the ring and proved he had what it took. I think he’s mentally done and maybe that’s a good thing. He’s a heck of a coach and might even come back at some point but I think he’s done for now.

Now here’s something that will shock any of my semi-devout readers. I’m not going to spend any appreciable length of time discussing the New England-Jacksonville game. There’s not much to be said! It looked like it would be a contest through the first half, as New England’s defense didn’t appear to be able to stop David Garrad and the Jax offense. Side note here: does David Garrad have the thickest lower half of any quarterback in the NFL or what? Seriously, the guy is like 260 lbs and at least 200 of that has to be in his lower half. No wonder no one can tackle the guy! I watched 3 NE defenders try to bring him down on different plays with no success. What an asset, pardon the pun…

The second half of that game was much more enjoyable for me. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I cannot watch the Patriots lose. Luckily, things have worked out well for me in that department this season. When the 11-point lead was established in the third quarter, it was fairly clear that Jax had been worn down and wasn’t going to win. I still clutched my couch pillow until the final second ticked off the clock, but at least we had the lead and it was our game to lose. And lose we did not.

So this weeks Championship match ups are Green Bay versus New York and Patriots vs. Chargers. I’m picking Green Bay and New England for the Super Bowl. I won’t make a Super Bowl pick until I see the games themselves but I’m betting even a casual reader knows where I’m headed with that…

So, the regular season in the NFL has come to a close. My Patriots completed the season with a perfect record, 16-0, and now have a first-round bye in the playoffs. Honestly, I am torn on whether or not I think that’s a good thing. I think momentum is huge, especially with a team built like they are. But given the collective age of that defense, a brief respite might not be a bad thing. Knowing Belichick, (because I know him well, don’t you know) he’ll have them convinced by next Sunday that they’re the underdog by 20 points, regardless of who the opponent is, so I hope we’re ok on this. The perfect regular season is great, but to truly accomplish what the Pats are going for, we need to remove the word “regular” from that description.

The Cowboys also have a first-round playoff bye, and with them, that’s definitely a good thing. Romo is still off his game, TO is hurt, Terry Glenn left the game after 1 play yesterday, and they do not look like themselves. This could be the best possible scenario. Now all the analysts are commenting on how the NFC is wide open again, whereas before the the chatter was on whether Dallas fans were booking first class or coach tickets to Arizona in February. Some of that goes to your head unless you have a super-genius coach like Belichick, which Wade Phillips is not.

I know I shouldn’t put this in print, for fear the local Dallas sporting nation will hunt me down, but I’m actually glad the Boys lost yesterday. I know we never want to lose to the Redskins but the game meant nothing to Dallas, unless you count momentum. But it meant everything in the world to a Redskins team still coping with the loss of Sean Taylor. It’s been pointed out that the Skins margin of victory last night was 21 points, Taylor’s old number. I love that the team was galvanized by this tragic shooting and frankly I would actually root for them to go far in the playoffs. Let’s leave it at that…

My condolences go out to the Cleveland Browns fans, though they should be quite proud of the 10-win season they pieced together. They didn’t even need the proverbial two hands and a flashlight! They won most of the games they were supposed to win and looked pretty sharp with Anderson taking the snaps. We’ll see what next season holds for them but they and their fan base should not be disappointed for long about missing the playoffs. Take solace in knowing that the Titans will get man-handled by the Chargers in the first round and that will be that. And honestly, that probably would happen to Cleveland as well, so we’re talking about 1 extra game, really.

Hey, we even had Brett Favre high-fiving the ref in his game yesterday. Surprised he didn’t get fined for a brutal attack on the officiating crew…

You know the greatest thing about the holidays, besides the whole togetherness, love your fellow man feeling? The fact that there’s football on almost every single day. The college bowl season is helping to make me forget that I don’t have any pro football on until Saturday. That truly makes this the most wonderful time of the year.

So that’s a wrap on the Sports Girl Blog for 2007. Look for some discussion of the Rich Rodriguez hiring at Michigan in 2008. Peace, love and Patriots my dear readers!

Every year, the college coaching carousel begins to make another spin around the park. Some coaches hop off, or are pushed off depending on the school, and some hop on to take a ride. Every year I think, man that’s a lot of coaching changes, but seriously, this year there seems to be an inordinate amount of changes being made. It will come as no surprise to anyone who has read this blog before that the change I’m most interested in is the vacancy in Ann Arbor, MI.

It’s been reported that LSU has granted Les Miles permission to interview with U of M after the SEC Championship game this weekend. It’s also being said that LSU will hold their own set of talks with Miles to convince him to stay put in Baton Rouge. Personally, I hope he ends up making the move north. With the lack of success that Nick Saban is having at ‘Bama (which I don’t entirely blame on him in his first season) I think it’s become clear that, while Saban is a good coach, maybe he wasn’t the only reason LSU found success. I think Miles could bring some needed passion back into U of M football, though I think anyone could do that after Lloyd Carr. Nothing against Carr, I just think he had lost his spark. Probably stayed on a season too long, maybe two. So reviving the excitement around that program hopefully won’t prove too arduous a task for his successor.

One thing you know Miles learned from watching Saban flounder in the press is that Miles has NOT denied that he’s interested in the Michigan job. Smart man. Judging by the fact that there’s a clause in his current contract that explicitly lists U of M as the one school he cannot leave to go coach lest he want to pay a $1.25 mil buyout, it sounds like LSU must have known that the Michigan job was one that would always be on Miles’ radar.  

On a separate note, I feel the need to reiterate my growing excitement over tonight’s contest between Green Bay and Dallas. As predicted, I have heard countless details about the comparison between Favre and Romo and how everyone respects the hell out of Favre, yada, yada, yada. Enough with the chit chat. I am ready for the game. I think it’s going to be a close, high-scoring game, but I really think Dallas will come out on top. Not because I’m a homer, which I am quickly becoming when it pertains to the Boys, but because I just think Dallas has the better team. I think Marion Barber will have a phenomenal game and I’m betting on at least two touchdowns thrown to TO. Final score? Green Bay 31, Dallas 38. Here’s hoping I’m right!

This year, I’ve got a lot to be thankful about, in terms of sports. The BCS title of #1 seems to be a curse more than a blessing, the way it’s been passed from team to team to team. The Patriots are 11-0 on the season and I believe locked up the AFC East division with Buffalo losing today. The Peyton Manning “Priceless Pep Talk” commercials from Master Card continue to make me laugh. And the Cowboys have not-so-quietly achieved their best start in franchise history at this point in the season. I say not-so-quitely as a jab at all the sports talking heads that like to say things like “Seattle has quietly taken the lead in their division”, like that’s some sort of indication that Seattle is actually good this year. Really that’s more of an indication that they’re in a crappy division because, for goodness sake, a team like Seattle is tops!

But Seattle is not the point today. Today, the Boys are the point. I’d love to discuss the Thanksgiving day game between the Jets and the Cowboys, but that would take up all of about 2 words–Boys win. That’s all you need to know. It was a one-sided contest, as it should have been, where Terrance Newman returned an interception for a touchdown and Romo had a decent game. I know most would say he didn’t have a great game, but to say that would almost be to forget that last year, Jerry Jones was mad that Romo was getting playing time ahead of Drew Bledsoe. So I won’t go that far…

And that’s really the story on the Jets game. And I, like most, am already setting my DVR to record what should be an excellent match-up on Thursday night between the Packers and the Cowboys. I’m guessing that there will be clip after quote after sound-bite of Tony Romo confessing how much he admires Brett Favre and how he grew up loving the Packers. This will likely get spun into the “Past vs. Future” game between the quarterbacks. The gunslinger veteran vs. the gritty newbie. I just think it will be good football. The two offenses are ranked #1 and #2 in the NFC, with the edge going to the Cowboys. The Boys have a better defense, but the Packers aren’t too far down there. And I think this will be the NFC version of the Patriots-Colts game with similar stakes. Homefield advantage, mental advantage, etc.

So the fact that I have this game to look forward to is what I’m thankful for. This, and the fact that TO was actually quoted as having said that it’s ok that he didn’t continue his recent 100-yard receiving streak because the most important thing is that the team won. What?! Seriously? And I thought Bill Belichick was the only coach in the league known for taming the savage beast. Wade Phillips may have given me a new reason to like him. Or really maybe the credit goes to Tony Romo and the Cowboys overall record. Maybe I’m still ok with my quiet dislike/distrust for Wade.

I’m jones-ing today for some good football. I was traveling yesterday so I did not get watch as much football as I was hoping. The game I did watch was the Texans versus the Saints, which was good because the Texans won. But bad because both teams are not what I would call great so the football itself wasn’t all that watchable, save for the Ron Dayne resurgence that I have been waiting for. Then I was in transit to the airport for most of the Cowboys game so I had to listen to it on the radio. I had forgotten how enjoyable it can be to simply listen to a game on the radio. It’s been about 6 years since I had to listen to a game instead of watch and there is a certain attractive quality to “seeing” the game that way. The only thing that ruined it for me was Dan Reeves being one of the broadcasters. Terrible commentator and half the time I can’t understand a word he’s uttering! The few plays I did actually get to watch were the plays in the sequence that led Wade Phillips to call for a 50-some odd yard field goal attempt in the first quarter on the first drive. Seriously, Wade, are you that confident now that you’ll pull a stunt like that? That was like toying with the other team. “Hey, if we miss and turn the ball over around mid-field? No big deal. We’ve got this one in the bag”. Now, I am all for that kind of confidence when deserved. And I think the Boys are on a roll and are probably only going to be seriously challenged when they meet Green Bay in the NFC Championship game. But that seemed like a stupid call. And the Redskins scored on the ensuing possession, most likely because they had a short field!

The one pleasant spot last night was when I powered my phone on, after landing in Dallas again, I got a text message from the ESPN mobile service letting me know the Cowboys beat the Redskins 28-23. That was nice. Knew the outcome before stepping off the plane. Lovely! But there was one problem I had with that game. Isn’t Cowboys-Redskins supposed to be on Thanksgiving day? Isn’t that written in stone somewhere around the ”Do unto others as they would do unto you?” kind of thing? It’s like Packers-Lions. I don’t care if both teams suck, I want to see that game on Thanksgiving day. And I want to see John Madden passing out the turducken after the game. It just needs to be that way. Can someone work on that?

So I’m gearing up for a great week of extended football viewing. Lots of games spread across lots of days. My version of heaven!

Here it is, another Monday, and we are getting set to wrap up Week 10 in the NFL. I can’t say that I’m particularly jazzed for tonight’s match-up between the 49′ers and the Seahawks, but hey, it’s football, so I’ll be watching. My condolences go out to Mike Nolan and his family at the loss of his father, and hats off to Mike for deciding to coach tonight’s game, even while coping with the grief. I know it will be said a million times tonight, so let me be one of the first, that it’s probably a decision his dad would support.

I stayed up and watched the entire San Diego/Indy game. Most people probably quit in the first half, thinking it was a sloppy, one-sided game. And it was. I’m not going to say that Indy had no business coming that close to winning the game because I actually think the opposite is true; San Diego had no business beating the Colts. It shouldn’t have even been a contest! The Chargers are not the better team. They played better than the Colts last night, but they are not the better team. They are the team that allowed one rookie phenom to gain almost 300 yards by himself against their defense last week. They are the team whose quarterback barely managed 100 yards passing in victory last night, even with a weapon like Antonio Gates at his disposal. So all the talk about Indy “not deserving” to get a win last night is bull to me. They absolutely deserved a win and I’m still shaking my head that they didn’t get it!

One interesting note that I observed while watching the NFL games yesterday. During the Dallas-NY game, one of the Dallas defenders got flagged for unsportsman-like conduct for after he taunted the Giant he had just tackled. I thought it was a little ticky-tacky, but whatever. Just make your tackles and move on and quit jawing on the field. Then I’m watching the Chargers game and Marques Harris makes a tackle and proceeds to literally do a back-flip on the field like he’s going for the Gold at the Olympics. Was there a flag? Nah. You know, to possibly have a slight bit of consistency throughout the officiating crews would be nice. Maybe too much to ask for? Especially when we have things like “inadvertent whistles” happening that can truly affect the outcome of the game. A big thumbs-up to Clint Sessions for knowing what the ref apparently missed–that the ball never hit the ground on that 4th quarter almost-incomplete pass by Rivers and that it was a live football ready to be run back the other way for a touchdown. You could argue that this botched whistle blowing by the officials severely impacted the game. Because with the ball on the SD 7 yard line instead of on their own 20 yard line is a completely different scenario for the Colts. And really if you think about it, Sessions may have run a little harder in that last section of field to try to score if he hadn’t been hearing all the whistles blowing, signaling that the play was dead when it wasn’t. Even Al Michaels was commenting “This is all for show, of course, as the call on the field is that it was an incomplete pass”. Um, no Al, it wasn’t.

I must say, I was crabby watching the first half of the Cowboys game. Too many penalties, not enough catches, not enough explosive running from Barber, etc. And FYI, to Patrick Crayton. When you’re freakin’ untouched by a defender and you’re streaking towards the end zone? Cross the bleeping line into the end zone before you set that ball down. That is hardly a novel concept. You know what, if you want to make a statement by firmly placing the ball on the turf once you’ve scored, fine. But people who want to showboat and high-step it into the end zone, holding the ball out in front of them as they clown around or who want to not cross into the end zone, just extend the ball across the plane and then plant it into the turf? Give me a break. Even when you’re on my team, I’m rooting for you to botch the play and end up getting the ball stripped or have the officials review and tell you the ball didn’t actually break the plane. I am a fan of end zone dances and celebrations. I think it’s a shame that Ocho Cinco can’t perform his any more, though I guess he’d have to score a touch down for my disappointment to really count. But only after you’ve run into the end zone, ball tucked firmly in your arm should you make your “I’m awesome” statement. Is that so hard? Please.

A look ahead to next week reveals that announcers and analysts are already trying to create some hype behind a New England/Buffalo game that, by all accounts, should be a fairly one-sided contest. Wait, wasn’t that what last night’s game was supposed to be? In the NFL today, you just can’t keep it straight on which team is supposed to be crushing which.

I have been told in the past that I’m forbidden from blogging about college football on a Monday. That the NFL trumps college any day, especially on Mondays. And to a certain extent, I agree. Between the Pats-Colts game and the Cowboys-Eagles game, there’s plenty of NFL action to discuss. But for anyone wanting to get my thoughts on the BCS mess that I see brewing this season, tune in tomorrow. I’m not pleased with the ranking of LSU at #2 this week.

For now though, let’s delve into the NFL action, shall we? As I said to my boss, who is a devout Browns fan, did you ever think that the Cleveland Browns would be described as an offensive juggernaut? His response of course was “Uh…no”. Who would think that in Week 9 the Browns would be able to rally from a 21-6 deficit against the Seattle Seahawks, a team that most analysts are far too reluctant to label as mediocre, force over-time and then win?! And that just hours before that, the San Diego defense would give up 296 rushing yards to rookie phenom Adrian Peterson? San Diego having defensive issues while Cleveland out-slugs their opponent offensively? Did I miss the message that yesterday was backwards day in the NFL?

But one thing that was not backwards was the Patriots win over the Colts in a game that lived up to the hype for me, though in a different way than I was expecting. That was a tough game for me to watch. Between the questionable officiating (could NE have gotten slapped with a few more bogus pass interference calls while Indy mugged the NE receivers sans flags?) and Brady having a very un-Brady day, I was a nervous wreck. I don’t have too many deeply-held interests in the games I watch. But New England is one of two teams that I can’t watch lose, with U of M being the other team. I have a growing affinity for the Dallas Cowboys, especially with Romo at the helm which I’ll discuss in a second, but if they lose I’ll get over it. With New England losing, I was not a fun person to be around yesterday. Sure it was exciting when Randy Moss reeled in that sick, one-handed catch in the middle of the field and maintained possession without ever securing the ball with his other hand. That man is a freak of nature. Thank God he’s on our team! But watching Dwight Freeney fly around putting pressure on Brady is not my idea of a good time. It wasn’t until the Pats scored in the 4th to bring the score to 17-20 that I started to feel the color return to my cheeks. I started to remember, hey, we’ve imposed our will on all the other teams we’ve played this season, why not on the Colts? Then the strike to Kevin Faulk came with a few minutes to go in the game and now the color in my cheeks was accompanied by a smile. Albeit a tight-lipped smile, but a smile none-the-less. But it wasn’t until the Patriots stopped the Colts on their final possession and got the ball back with about 2 minutes remaining that I actually relaxed. Even as they took a knee to end the game, I was a little tense. What if something happens and Brady drops the ball before his knee goes down and the Colts recover…you never know these days in the NFL. Stranger things, i.e. Antonio Cromarti returning a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown, have happened!

Still feeling euphoric from the Patriots win, I settled in to watch the Boys versus the Eagles in what I was hoping would be an entertaining Sunday night game. Considering the Cowboys won in decisive fashion, it was entertaining in that regard. But the Eagles got manhandled, starting with their first play from the line of scrimmage, and sloppy football is rarely fun to watch, even when it’s your team benefiting from the mistakes. The eventual score of 35-17 Cowboys tells the tale. Philly could never really get things going on offense. McNabb was picked off twice, and had the above-mentioned fumble on the first play. Their defense didn’t even manage to sack Tony Romo, which was a first for them. And you just sort of knew when the game started that Philly lacked the pizzazz needed to beat the Cowboys coming off a bye week and Romo coming off his monster contract negotiations. A fresh team and an underdog QB who now needs to prove he’s worth the cash his owner just promised to shell out? Unbeatable unless you bring your A+ game.

So the Eagles fell by the wayside, a fate which I’m hoping more Dallas opponents face in the coming weeks. Now I begin my stewing over what will happen if the Super Bowl is a match-up between the Cowboys and the Patriots. No matter where I watch the game, here in Dallas I’ll be a hated spectator rooting for New England, but would get lambasted even more if I played both sides of the fence and said I didn’t care who won. What’s a SportsGirl to do?

My immediate thanks to ESPN’s John Clayton for using that phrase in his recounting of yesterday’s Dallas-New England matchup. What a great way to describe the team they’ve assembled up there in Bean Town. And my immediate apologies to the devout Dallas Cowboy fans that are still smarting from the loss and who will think me a traitor for being excited over the Patriots win. But seriously, what football fan isn’t gaga over what the Pats are doing so far this season?! They’ve been amazing and yesterday truly wasn’t even their best game.

Sunday’s game was the kind I like; I honestly would have been happy if either team had won. I obviously love the Patriots because of Brady being a Michigan guy, and also because he was a late-round pick that gives us all hope that the “little guy” or the diamond in the rough can actually make something of himself. But I really do like this Cowboys team, more-so than any team in years past, despite my lack of affection for Wade Phillips. I love Romo (see little guy reference above), I don’t hate TO with the passion I felt last season, and I think this team is going to do some good things this season. But I grew up loving anything U of M; I didn’t grow up loving the Boys. So yesterday’s outcome thrilled me to death!

One thing that killed me from the game? Romo taking a knee with about 30 seconds left at the end of the fourth quarter. I know, there was no prayer of them winning at that point. Even if he threw for a touchdown and they recovered an on-side kick and immediately returned that for a touchdown then recovered another on-side kick…you see where I’m going. But by the same token, the game was done, so what’s the harm in risking an interception by throwing a bomb down the field? Are you going to be more demoralized at that point with an incompletion or a pick? Probably not. But to just give up and take a knee and concede defeat was horrible to me. I want to go down fighting, leaving everything on the field. I just thought the action lacked spirit and sent a message to that team that their coaching staff didn’t care at that point. I know, I know, the risk of injury on every play is real and if you’ve lost the game why continue with the risk. I didn’t like it.

Up next for the Cowboys is Minnesota. I’m back and forth on how I think that game will go. Adrian Peterson is paying huge dividends to any fantasy owner who took a chance and drafted him. However, the Boys did at least stop the Patriots run game, albeit with Sammy Morris and Lawrence Maroney on the sidelines. I think Dallas will bounce back, get their wits about them after two weeks of under-performing.

Next up for New England are the Miami Dolphins. No game is a gimme in my book, but good golly if the Pats don’t win this one it better be because Brady has the first known human strain of the bird flu and Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Dante Stallworth all have double broken legs. Miami is that bad.

If week 2’s game was the Patriots making a statement that they can win without the use of any “visual aids”, this week was their follow-up to that statement to remind us that there is not a stop to their dominance in sight, until possibly Week 9 when they meet Indy. I’m already popping the popcorn for that match-up!

The city of Dallas has fallen in love. You might not think that it’s possible for an entire city to collectively fall in love, but it’s happened. The object of our affection? Tony Romo. I know it’s only the fourth game of the season but he is quickly ascending to “legend” status, and his performance in yesterday’s game against the Rams helped tremendously.

If you didn’t watch the game you might not have recognized the sound of the city’s fan base simultaneously sucking in their breath as Andre Gurode snapped the ball way above Romo’s head and sent it rolling the wrong direction towards the Cowboys’ end zone. If the rest of the fans are like me they were thinking for God’s sake just fall on the ball Romo, don’t make it worse! And then he managed to gain control and ran over 30 yards to pick up the first down. Further down the field and later in the game, Romo had the presence to see the open field and took off running to score a touchdown and officially lit the fire in the Cowboys’ bellies. They went on to thump the Rams 35-7 and avoided the pitfall of playing a bad team without properly game planning the week of the game.

If this continues, Troy Aikmen might start getting quite defensive in the booth while announcing the Cowboys’ games. The city may have found their new football darling. I have complete faith that Jerry Jones will lock Romo up in a long-term contract one of these days, probably once we’ve crossed the half-way point in the season. And then this city can continue to stare, starry eyed, at their television screens every week just hoping for a glimpse of their man, Tony Romo.

Side note: I cannot stand Joe Buck as an announcer in any sport. I can’t designate him the worst commentator in the NFL because that special moniker is reserved for Joe Theismann. I just don’t find him insightful or funny. He was ragging on Terry Bradshaw for a shirt that Bradshaw was wearing and it just came out sounding like he was bitter somehow about this shirt-wearing. The humor of his “Hey Terry, the 70’s called and they want their shirt back” joke was lost on me. Don’t like him. Think we need to pull him from the booth. Any objections?