Well... Damn

For the past three days I've been writing my Year in Review, adding categories and thoughts as they pop into my head. By 9:30 this morning I was pretty much done, except for a few tweaks here and some editing there.
I wrote the entry not in Word, but in Firefox on the Blogger "Create Post" page. Why I did this, I know not, as Word automatically saves files every few minutes while the page in Firefox is just a regular Web site. Plus the Word spellcheck is better and it's just a better program overall. I write in Word 80% of the time and almost always when it's a long entry like today's. But I think I wrote in Firefox because on Tuesday I got an idea and opened up the create page, typed it and just kept adding on from there. Either way, that's what I did and it came back to bite me in the ass.
I brought my Powerbook over to the kitchen this morning so I could write as I drank my morning coffee. Long story short - A few hours later the battery ran out when I was on the phone and the computer shut down. Everything is gone. (It's my own fault for many reasons; namely because I disabled the computer's automatic sleep mode when using battery power because I was reading the paper in between typing and didn't want to keep "waking" the computer up.)
For the time being, I'm way too pissed off to even think about starting over, so my Year in Review is temporarily postponed... maybe indefinitely. We'll see. After yelling "you m*****f*****!" at the top of my lungs at my computer about 25 times, I think I need to decompress.
Check back later though anyway, just in case.

Swofford's Folly

This is coming a few weeks late, but it was sure nice to see all the empty seats at the ACC Championship Game earlier this month. John Swofford and his minions at the ACC offices in Greensboro ruined the best basketball conference in the country specifically for that one game, and they couldn't even sell the place out?
Well, at least the ACC brought in three upstanding and well-respected universities to join the league. The reputations of the ACC's new institutions are sterling, what with Virginia Tech's football roster having more arrests than the members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Miami admitting known felons under the guise of rehabilitation and Boston College allowing football players to miss court dates for bowl games and reinstating all-world power forwards after getting permission from District Court judges. (Don't you love how BC, thought to be the class of the new members, is the dirtiest school of them all?)
But it's OK; the ACC got their money, so no amount of drunk driving arrests, rape allegations or empty stadiums will bring them down off their cash-fueled high. I'm just wondering why they didn't just go for the gusto and let in Cincinnati, Connecticut and Memphis also? At least those schools don't pretend to be anything but shady sports factories.
Here's hoping the next time Jeff Burns decides to drive drunk, he has John Swofford in the passenger seat with him.

The Chaz Rankings: Week 16

1) Indianapolis Colts (13-2, Last Week: #1)
2) Seattle Seahawks (13-2, #2)
3) Denver Broncos (12-3, #3)
4) Pittsburgh Steelers (10-5, #5)
5) Chicago Bears (11-4, #6)
6) New England Patriots (10-5, #9)
7) Cincinnati Bengals (10-5, #4)
8) Carolina Panthers (10-5, #8)
9) Washington Redskins (9-6, #11)
10) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-5, #12)
11) New York Giants (10-5, #10)
12) Dallas Cowboys (9-6, #15)
13) Kansas City Chiefs (9-6, #14)
14) San Diego Chargers (9-6, #7)
15) Jacksonville Jaguars (11-4, #13)
16) Miami Dolphins (8-7, #16)
17) Atlanta Falcons (8-7, #18)
18) Baltimore Ravens (6-9, #21)
19) Minnesota Vikings (8-7, #17)
20) Philadelphia Eagles (6-9, #19)
21) Arizona Cardinals (5-10, #23)
22) Cleveland Browns (5-10, #20)
23) Tennessee Titans (4-11, #24)
24) Buffalo Bills (4-11, #25)
25) St. Louis Rams (5-10, #22)
26) Oakland Raiders (4-11, #26)
27) Houston Texans (2-13, #27)
28) San Francisco 49ers (3-12, #31)
29) Detroit Lions (5-10, #32)
30) New York Jets (3-12, #28)
31) New Orleans Saints (3-12, #30)
32) Green Bay Packers (3-12, #29)

Frank Stallone Say Relax

Hmmm... How big does that ninth home game the NFL handed the Giants look now?
Taking it easy on the posts this holiday week; check back tomorrow for The Chaz Rankings, Thursday for Week 16 picks and Friday for Chris's Sports Blog Year in Review.

'Twas The Night Before Week 16

'Twas the day before Christmas
and all through the league,
teams were preparing
for playoff intrigue.
Will Santa see Pittsburgh,
or fly west to Cali?
Will he leave coal for Danie
in the Chargers pre-finale?

Will that boyish fop Eli
get a Barbie so nifty
or will his completion percentage
climb as high as fifty?

Will Chad get to dance,
or will his bravado be muffled?
And what are the chances of
an Ickey Shuffle?

Which friend of Irvin
will have his weed taken
to be soon smoked by Michael
with hippie Jamaicans.

These are the questions,
my friends and my dears,
that Santa will answer
so never you fear.

Dallas is reeling,
and they'll soon need consoling,
cause the Panthers will win
and keep right on rolling.

So will the Bucs,
as they'll end Mike Vick's year,
I hope his next outbreak
is not too severe.

The Bills have no shot
against the Bengals, you see,
and the Dolphins of Florida
will rout Tenneesee.

The Browns play the Steelers
expect the margin real thin.
Pick Cleveland to cover,
but Pittsburgh to win.

In Houston they'll ask,
for a Bush in their stocking,
Not George, they want Reggie,
but he better have blocking.

'Cause the Texans have none,
their o-line is a sieve,
regardless of that,
a Jags loss, they will give.

St. Louis tops San Fran,
this much is true,
while Philly, Seattle
and Denver win too.

The Chargers and Chiefs game
will come down to one play.
Who makes it? No clue.
But Derek Jeter's gay.

And that's not an insult,
it's not an attack,
I'm just saying D.J.
spends time at Brokeback.

But back to the games,
I think that the Bolts
will top Kansas City
after besting the Colts.

Lions vs. Saints,
who gives a real hoot?
Well, maybe Matt Millen
since he'll get the boot.

On Christmas two teams
with rich history play,
the Ravens and Vikings
are neither of they.

I speak of the Bears
and the team from Green Bay,
Brett Favre might be old,
but he sure loves to play!

What youthful exuberance
that hillbilly shows!
With picks, bad decisions
and huge overthrows!

Forget that he has,
more picks than TD's,
he's a god, he's a legend
in the land of the cheese.

Brett Favre, we do love you.
Me and The Wolfman, you thrill.
But the Bears get the sweep,
now go pop a pill.

In the late game on Christmas,
the Birds will prevail,
now call up the whores,
Fred Smoot can set sail!

The big game of the weekend
takes place in D.C.
(well, it's really in Mar'land...
Thanks, S. Pratt Kelly.)

That mayor fought often
with an old man named Jack.
She forced out the Redskins
and does not enjoy crack.

Unlike M. Barry,
I'll drink from his cup,
my hero was innocent,
the bitch set him up.

If that crack-smokin' fool,
had still been in power,
the Redskins new ballpark
would not take four hours

to get to on Sundays,
it's really a mess,
the whole thing is too big,
a tribute to excess.

The 'Skins do control,
their own playoff lives
but need a win vs. the Giants
to keep hope alive.

Last time they played,
the result was not pretty
New York won by six squared
in their home by the city.

But this time is different,
the 'Skins play at home,
and they'll be pounding the ball
with sir Southeast Jerome.

The loss of R. Thomas
won't be easy to fix,
but Miss Manning will make up
for it with nine picks.

So Santa, I'll level,
please throw my old list away.
A win by the Redskins,
is all I want from your sleigh.

And if have you time,
you'll get no objection from me,
if my main man LaVar
should break Eli's knee.

So if you can help me
see an Xmas eve win,
I'll leave Rudolph some carrots,
and you, pal, some gin.

Merry Christmas to all
(or your respective delight),
a good Saturday of football,
and to all, goodnight.

Still Struggllliiiiiiiinnng

Five days and I still don't feel any better; I think I'm actually regressing. Eli Manning can relate.
I am no fan of Len Pasquarelli, but his column about the death of Tony Dungy's son is excellent and a must-read.

An Open Letter to Johnny Damon

(Reports out of Boston indicate Johnny Damon has signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the New York Yankees. Upon hearing this news, I broke out a paper and pen and jotted down a note to one of my favorite former players.)

Dear Johnny,
I'd say I'd miss you, but how can I really miss anybody who does a scum-sucking thing like signing with the Yankees. Why don't you just move to North Korea, change your name to Benedict and sign over your checks to Bin Laden? The Yankees? The Mets, I can see. Even the Orioles or Blue Jays. But you signed with the Yankees? Voluntarily? You see, this is why I hate hippies so much.
For your sake, I hope this was a Johnny Damon decision, not a Scott Boras one. Your new teammate, Alex Rodriguez, can tell you all about what happens when you let Scott Boras talk you into something.
Sorry buddy, but I'm not seeing you in pinstripes. It doesn't quite fit. You're too laid back to be on the Yankees. Who are you going to kid around with in the Bronx? Hideki Matsui? That dude smiles about as often as Eli Manning throws a completion. That's your new city's QB, by the way. Tom Brady he ain't.
Why New York, Johnny? Did the press get to you in Boston? They're not any better in New York, but you know that. Boston was offering you that fourth year too, why not stay there and be adored for the rest of your career? Sure, Boras will have played up the marketing opportunities in New York and how much money there is to be made there, but how marketable is a clean shaven, short-haired Johnny Damon, which is what you'll be as per George Steinbrenner's grooming rules. And don't think you'll be above the law; Georgie-Boy made Don Mattingly cut his hair and Donnie Baseball was his favorite. You're just some long-haired caveman who hit two homeruns in a Game 7 at Yankee Stadium.
Maybe you left Boston because you'll miss Manny when the Sox stupidly trade him. The team you're going to will have a better lineup, if that's the case. With you leading off, Jeter batting second and A. Rod, Sheffield and Matsui to follow, the Yankees lineup is more formidable than ever. Of course, they haven't won since 2000 so maybe you could show A. Rod your ring... You know, so he knows what one looks like. Also, be sure to bring some hypodermic needles, that'll give you an in with Giambi.
Oh, who am I kidding. I will miss you Johnny, not because you won't be on the Red Sox any longer, but because you have now sided with evil and can never return to goodness again. Had you gone elsewhere, we could have still been friends, but not now. Derek Jeter will take care of that; I'm sure he's thrilled to have some new meat in the locker room.
I hope you break your leg this season on the same sprinkler-head that did Mickey Mantle in. May your bank account keep you happy and warm at night. Have fun walking your ass to work.

- Chris

The Chaz Rankings: Week 15

Apparently the whole "mind over matter" technique failed to cure my cold yesterday (damn hippie mantras), so once again I'm struggling through the day in a congested stupor and pseudoephedrine haze. That my clogged sinuses make me look like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer is simply a pleasant side-effect.
I had planned on riffing on a whole number of topics during these rankings, but when I had trouble coming up with the proper words to mock and belittle Bono's selection as Time's Man of the Year, I knew it was time to shut down the computer, pop a Cold-Eeze and resume my countdown until the end of the day. Me not being able to rip on Bono and his pretentious, self-serving charity work is like, is like... Well, it's like something. Anyway, I'm keeping it low-key today. It's tough to be sarcastic when your curled up in a blanket, drinking hot chocolate and wearing snowman sweatpants.
Onto the rankings:

1) Indianapolis Colts (13-1, Last Week: #1)
2) Seattle Seahawks (12-2, #2)
3) Denver Broncos (11-3, #3)
4) Cincinnati Bengals (10-4, #4)
Despite contrary proclamations from SI.com's Richard Deitsch, Sean Salisbury is an idiot. (This, in turn, makes Deitsch, who once wrote that Paul McGuire was the best NFL color man on TV, an idiot as well. I love how Deitsch writes in his 2005 awards that except for fighting with John Clayton and talking like a jock, Salisbury is awesome. That's kind of like saying, "other than the dialogue, plot and special effects, Battlefield Earth ruled!")
Salisbury, who had less touchdown passes in his career than Peyton Manning has this season, says that the Colts loss is terrible and how, for the first time, their vulnerability was exposed. Actually, it wasn't just Salisbury saying this, some other people did too.
But what about the Jags game they won 10-3? Or how the Bengals put up 35+ on them? Wasn't the Colts vulnerability shown then too?
The Colts aren't perfect, but they're very good. The loss to San Diego just proves that they're not invincible, which everyone knew already. Contrary to popular opinion, losing a game was exactly what Indy needed. They're still the team to beat in the AFC and still the favorites to win the Super Bowl no matter who says what.
Seattle isn't the second best team in the NFL, but a ten-game winning streak deserves to be rewarded. Cincy's defense is a sieve and that will kill them in the playoffs. Marvin Lewis is just another in a long line of ex-coordinators to take over a team and has success in large part due to the other side of the ball. Brian Billick and Tony Dungy know all about this. And that's why he shouldn't be coach of the year. (It's Lovie's world, baby.)

5) Pittsburgh Steelers (9-5, #5)
6) Chicago Bears (10-4, #6)
7) San Diego Chargers (9-5, #13)
8) Carolina Panthers (10-4, #8)
Few changes atop the rankings; San Diego jumps back into the top 10 (they've been on a rankings roller coaster all season) after defeating Indy. Man, that Miami loss was so terrible. Of course, they probably don't beat Indy if they knock off Miami... If that makes any sense. And the Bears defense absolutely manhandled Atlanta. It's tough to imagine Chicago losing at home in the playoffs, particularly to a team from the NFC South, should that match-up occur.

9) New England Patriots (9-5, #14)
10) New York Giants (10-4, #11)
11) Washington Redskins (8-6, #15)
12) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-5, #7)
The Pats move back up and certainly should be feared in the playoffs, but I don't know how guys like Peter King can rank them #2. So they shut down Tampa, whoop-dee-do. Warm weather teams don't play well in the cold. And Tampa isn't that good to begin with.
The Pats have done exactly what they've needed to do this season: Beat the bad teams. Every Pats loss (Panthers, Chargers, Broncos, Colts, Chiefs) has been to good teams, while every win (with the exception of one against Pittsburgh) has been over mediocre ones. And that's fine. But just because New England is beating up on the Jets, Bills and Bucs, let's not start booking trips to Detroit just yet.
The Redskins are ahead of the Bucs based on the fact that they beat them earlier this year.

13) Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4, #9)
14) Kansas City Chiefs (8-6, #10)
15) Dallas Cowboys (8-6, #12)
16) Miami Dolphins (7-7, #18)
I've been on the Jags bandwagon for a while now. In the preseason, I predicted them to make the playoffs and I've had them very high on these rankings throughout this year. But sneaking out one point wins at home against the 49ers, backup quarterback or not, doesn't bode well for Jack Del Rio's squad. Maybe they deserve to be ahead of Washington and Tampa, but frankly I think both those teams would beat Jacksonville on a neutral field if they played today.

17) Minnesota Vikings (8-6, #16)
18) Atlanta Falcons (8-6, #17)
19) Philadelphia Eagles (6-8, #19)
20) Cleveland Browns (5-9, #22)
I was seriously tempted to put the Eagles ahead of the Falcons. And the Vikings will lose on Christmas night in Baltimore.

21) Baltimore Ravens (5-9, #23)
22) St. Louis Rams (5-9, #21)
23) Arizona Cardinals (4-10, #20)
24) Tennessee Titans (4-10, #24)
25) Buffalo Bills (4-10, #25)
26) Oakland Raiders (4-10, #26)
27) Houston Texans (2-12, #32)
28) New York Jets (3-11, #27)
29) Green Bay Packers (3-11, #28)
30) New Orleans Saints (3-11, #30)
31) San Francisco 49ers (2-12, #31)
32) Detroit Lions (4-10, #29)
Houston takes a big jump thanks to their win and the fact they've been competitive over the past month, unlike the Lions who have totally given up on their season. Is there any way the Ford family can bring back Matt Millen? The Browns are the best of the bads, while Baltimore has shown some life of late. Steve McNair showed Tennessee can still hang with the big boys and Willis McGahee (17 carries, 39 yards in his last two games) showed he can't. And neither can I. It's nap time.

PLAYoffs??!

I didn't catch my cold at yesterday's Redskins-Cowboys game, but standing in the 32 degree weather for six straight hours certainly didn't help matters along.
But it's all good, even a brutal head cold can't take me down off this high. (I watched the sunrise at Liza's!) It was an unbelievable afternoon yesterday at FedEx Field; easily one of the best two or three games I've ever been to in my life. The Redskins absolutely dismantled the Cowboys, posting the biggest win in series history. And thanks to help from the Steelers and Bears, Washington moved into the 2nd Wild Card spot and now controls its own playoff destiny.
Normally the words would be flowing right now, but I'm struggling like the Cowboys offense, so I'm going to shut it down for the afternoon, sweat out the day at school, eat some soup, crawl into bed and watch me some Die Hard II.
I plan on feeling better tomorrow (my stubbornness knows no bounds), so I'll catch up with the NFL Sunday then. A few quick thoughts before that though:

- Of course I'm excited about the 'Skins and their playoff hopes and think they have a great shot of playing in their first postseason since 2000, but it's worth noting: The Redskins followed up a blowout win with a blowout loss to the Giants already this year.

- Darrell Armstrong is my new favorite NBA player.

- Mike Wise is still an idiot, but damn if the man doesn't know how to utilize a great quote:

Cooley knew it was going to be a good day the moment he and Brian Kozlowski, Cooley's best friend on the team, cruised into the parking lot blaring the unforgettable sounds of Great White. "Me and Kos just turned (it) up as loud as we could and rolled down the windows when we rolled into the stadium. They must have thought we were idiots."

Not that I didn't love Chris Cooley before, or especially after, yesterday's game, but knowing he was listening to Great White before the biggest game of his career nearly vaults him into the hallowed Art Monk territory.

- To listen to Troy Aikman call a Cowboys game, you would never guess he played for that team his entire career. To listen to Phil Simms call a Giants game, you would never guess he and Eli Manning weren't married.

- Seeing as how Eli has already been bailed out by his defense, Champ Bailey, the officials, Chiefs defenders and Tiki Barber this season, I half expect to see A.C. Cowlings in uniform next week.

- Just two Monday Night Football telecasts on ABC remain; Green Bay at Baltimore tonight and New England at the Jets next week. Way to go out with a bang. Baltimore takes the series penultimate contest, 20-12.

NFL Picks: Week 15

Tampa Bay at New England
Boston is currently in the midst of a nasty wintry mix, which doesn't bode well for the Bucs in tomorrow's game. They'll soon discover what I know all too well thanks to my 2002 cavalcade of tree-halted spin-outs and Winston-Salem fender-benders: Cadillac's don't do well in the snow but, baby, they look damn good not doing it.
Pick: New England

Kansas City at New York Giants
During negotiations with the New York transit workers, the city government briefly considered hiring Eli Manning figuring he could easily overthrow the union.
Pick: Kansas City

Denver at Buffalo
The NFL scheduled Saturday games this week in cold weather locales like New England, New York and Buffalo and games on Christmas Day in Green Bay and Baltimore. Jeez, if they wanted snow that badly they could have just turned Michael Irvin upside-down and shaken.
Pick: Denver

San Francisco at Jacksonville
Did Jacksonville make a move from the AFC South to the Big East without telling anyone? How did they get such an easy schedule? Did they hire Jim Boeheim and John Thompson as consultants?
Pick: Jacksonville

Philadelphia at St. Louis
Networks often move late-season games originally scheduled for 1:00 to the national 4:15 slot if the game is of great interest. The Redskins/Cowboys game this weekend was one such contest. When FOX or CBS does this, however, they usually leave the originally scheduled 4:15 game in that time slot and just broadcast the switched game to the national audience. It's rare that the originally scheduled 4:15 is shifted to 1:00 and it usually only happens when the two teams initially in the national time-slot perform way below expectations, like the Eagles and Rams. This mid-season change is known by TV execs as "The Billick Corollary".
Pick: Philadelphia

San Diego at Indianapolis
I've always found the '72 Dolphins a little, what's the word... supercilious. But all the criticism of them in the past few weeks seems a little much to me. What's wrong with guys like Nick Buoniconti wanting their record to stand? I'd rather see players act real like that than disingenuously congratulating someone who bests their mark. Do you think Hank Aaron really wants Barry Bonds to break his homerun record, particularly knowing Bonds was on the juice for about 300 of those homeruns? Of course not. But Hank will be there when he does, acting graciously, which is nice, but completely fake.
No competitor ever wants to be beat. A guy like Don Shula will say all the right things if the Colts should go 19-0, because he's a classy man, but that doesn't mean he wants the Colts to succeed. There's no way.
Good for the Dolphins. I'd be rooting for San Diego too if I were them. And if the Colts do it, I expect them to be gracious. But there's nothing wrong with popping some champagne if they don't. And they will next week because Indy is going down.
Pick: San Diego

Arizona at Houston
My mom always told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
Pick: Houston

New York Jets at Miami
Actually, my mom never said that. I think that wisdom was imparted to me by Claire Huxtable, but I could be wrong.
Pick: Miami

Carolina at New Orleans
After a season of bitching, moaning and generally lacking any sort of perspective on how easy they have it compared to 99% of Katrina-affected Americans, every Saints player received an extra $40,000 from the NFL in "unusual condition" pay. But what's so unusual about the Jim Haslett Saints underachieving and blaming everyone else but themselves? This seems totally usual to me.
Pick: Carolina

Seattle at Tennessee
Everyone's talking about the Colts, but if Seattle should clinch homefield advantage this weekend, Mike Holmgren's decision on whether to let the selfish Shaun Alexander make a run at the record books will arguably be a more important story. Despite media reports, I have a hard time believing Edgerrin James and company care more about the 16-0 record than they do the Super Bowl. But Shaun Alexander is all about Shaun Alexander, as evidenced by his temper tantrum in last year's finale, so this could be a incendiary situation in Seattle, particularly with high playoff expectations and Alexander due to hit the free agent market in March.
Pick: Seattle

Pittsburgh at Minnesota
While Daunte Culpepper, Moe Williams, Bryant McKinnie and Fred Smoot all face the same charges of indecent, lewd and disorderly conduct, Smoot also faces three additional counts of aggravated suckitude.
Pick: Pittsburgh

Cleveland at Oakland
Beleaguered Browns fan and "Jungleland" enthusiast John Ake writes: "Chase, Every time something big happens on The Tony Danza Show, the audience shouts "ExtravaDANZA!!" I'm not sure if this happens all the time because I usually have to work during the one hour of television that truly matters, but they did it four times this morning."
Let's just say I have a new season pass on my TiVo.
Pick: Oakland

Cincinnati at Detroit
OK, I really don't have a TiVo. I have a Comcast DVR. But "let's just say I set up a new scheduled recording on my Motorola DVR set-top digital cable box" doesn't have the same cachet.
Pick: Cincinnati

Dallas at Washington
I have two wishes for this weekend: The Giants lose and the Redskins win, which would lead to the two teams playing for the NFC East lead on Christmas Eve. But just like my Christmas request for a car and some tube socks, only one of those wishes will come true.
Pick: Dallas

Atlanta at Chicago
If having cold sores has a positive effect on playing in cold weather, then watch out for Michael Vick and the Falcons in this one.
Pick: Chicago

Last Week: 9-7
Season: 146-62

Donovan McNabb Is Black. And He Plays Quarterback.

Did you hear?
A few thoughts on the newest McNabb controversy:
1) Since the headline of this story could also be "Black Eagles Fan Thinks McNabb Is Racial Sellout," why is everyone making such a big deal about it? Couldn't this story be just as easily used in The Onion? How is this different than the satire paper's old news brief headlined, "All Y'All Urged To Go F*** Yo' Selves". They're both "crazy man makes crazy statement." This is news? You don't think J. Whyatt Mondesire's views are repeated in black family rooms across Philadelphia on Donovan's bad days? Things like this happen every day. He's a frustrated fan who doesn't like his team's quarterback. Stop the presses! Just because he publishes his own newspaper doesn't make him a figure worthy of attention. (I have my own blog. Seattle Seahawks linebacker Niko Koutouvides, like myself, is of Greek descent, to which I say, "Niko Koutouvides is an overrated, greasy, goat-loving, feta-eating malaka." There. Where's the outrage?)
2) And don't say it's because Mondesire is the president of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP. Not even the Vice-President of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP could have told you that two weeks ago. In the comment section Zac makes the point, "If he was any other black editorial writer this wouldn't have caused that much attention but since he is President of Philly's NAACP, his public opinions are meant to represent the NAACP."
I agree, and disagree. Mondesire's opinions are more important than a black editorial writer, but Mondesire made those comments as a black editorial writer, not at an NAACP event or function. Fine line? Perhaps. The counter-argument is that Mondesire always represents the NAACP no matter what he does. Either way, he's a moron and should be considered nothing but. (Granted, he's right about McNabb being mediocre, but Stalin loved vodka, thus proving that even the cruelest tyrants get some stuff right.)
3) Are we even sure J. Whyatt Mondesire is black? That's perhaps the least black name ever. It's not even a white name. He sounds like the bad guy in an episode of Scooby-Doo.
4) What Mondesire said is about fifty times more offensive than Rush Limbaugh's comments from a few years back. Limbaugh was canned from his ESPN job because he made an accurate statement: Donovan McNabb is overrated because he's black. (Limbaugh's hiring was a ridiculous one to begin with; the network hired him to create controversy. He did, then they threw him under the bus.)
Mondesire, on the other hand, made an absolutely ridiculous statement that has actually provoked serious discussion when it should have been immediately dismissed as the pontificating swill it is. Limbaugh's comment actually deserved analysis and conversation, but all anyone did was eviscerate him and call for his firing because of it.
Much like the Fisher DeBarry statement from earlier this year, people automatically assumed Limbaugh's comment was racist because it dealt with race. But Limbaugh's points were all valid:

[McNabb is] overrated... what we have here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well — black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.
There's a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team.

Football geeks can argue all day long about whether McNabb is overrated, but consider: Brad Johnson has a higher career QB rating than McNabb and one more Super Bowl ring, but you'll never hear anyone consider Johnson anything more than a serviceable NFL quarterback.
But it wasn't the "overrated" comment that got Limbaugh in trouble. It was bringing up race. But what did Limbaugh really say? All he stated was that the media wants McNabb to succeed because he's black and perhaps have overrated him a little bit because of it.
Sportswriters have been making a huge deal about black quarterbacks since the 1980's. That they haven't had much success in the league is an incontrovertible fact. (Doug Williams is still the only black quarterback to win a Super Bowl ring, and he did that back in 1988.) It's only natural for anyone to want black players to succeed in an area where they haven't had much success in the past. It's the same principle that causes everyone to root for a white sprinter in the Olympics. A few years ago on Slate, Allen Barra wrote:

[It's absurd] to say that the sports media haven't overrated Donovan McNabb because he's black. I'm sorry to have to say it; he is the quarterback for a team I root for. Instead of calling him overrated, I wish I could be admiring his Super Bowl rings. But the truth is that I and a great many other sportswriters have chosen for the past few years to see McNabb as a better player than he has been because we want him to be.
Rush Limbaugh didn't say Donovan McNabb was a bad quarterback because he is black. He said that the media have overrated McNabb because he is black, and Limbaugh is right. He didn't say anything that he shouldn't have said, and in fact he said things that other commentators should have been saying for some time now. I should have said them myself. I mean, if they didn't hire Rush Limbaugh to say things like this, what did they hire him for? To talk about the prevent defense?

There's nothing wrong with saying Donovan McNabb is overrated because he's black. Just like there's nothing wrong with believing Jason Sehorn, John Lynch and Mike Alstott are all overrated because they're white. Those guys succeeded at positions dominated by black players, the same way Donovan has succeeded at a position dominated by white players. But none of them are great, they're all just pretty good. We make them great because we want them to be great. That's why it took Eminem so long to gain acceptance in the rap community; nobody knew if he was just another white guy capitalizing on his skin color. HBO's Real Sports did a piece on a black fencer a few months ago and he discussed the same phenomenon.
We've become so sensitive these days that nobody can even mention race without being called a racist. It's a serious issue that should be discussed seriously. But when people get hyper-defensive about racial issues, no matter what is being said, such conversations are nearly impossible to have.
5) I really don't like Donovan McNabb. I think he is a classless fool who plays up his role as a martyr in situations that he has brought upon himself. He's one of those guys who winces when the camera is on him but will instinctually do a high-kick touchdown celebration after a TD on the very leg he was limping on. He really should have gone to Duke.
Donovan chokes in big games, doesn't seem to have the respect of his teammates, tries to make light of bad situations in an awkward, wince-inducing way and often tip-toes on the wrong side of the humor/bad taste line.
When he was at Syracuse, his Orangemen played undefeated, 18th ranked Army at the Carrier Dome in a nationally televised late-season Saturday night contest. ESPN College Gameday was in Syracuse for the game and all the attention, of course, was on an Army team who hadn't been to a bowl in a decade. Apparently Donovan wanted the spotlight on him, because after he scored the go-ahead touchdown in the 3rd quarter, McNabb ran up to the Army student section, stood at attention and saluted the cadets, a move infinitely more classless than Mike Vrabel taunting opposing fans with the ball, something I ripped earlier this year, yet was dismissed by Pats-sycophants like Peter King).
The men and women McNabb mocked are now defending our country overseas, making little money, while McNabb gets paid millions to play-up his sports hernia injuries and choke in the Super Bowl. (To this day my mom can't stand McNabb because of this, as my sister attended West Point at the time. He could be the Redskins quarterback and she'd still hold a grudge.)
Shades of that McNabb come out every time I see him play. He seems to think he's above everyone else. He has the swagger of a champion, not a three-time NFC Championship loser. He was supposed to beat Army that day, just as he was supposed to win the NFC when he had the best team. The Orangemen held off the Cadets that night, but the Eagles won just one out of four NFC Championships against inferior teams.
To watch and listen to Donovan, you'd think he'd won four Super Bowls, not failed to get there thrice and choked when he did.
A fawning media and soup commercials don't make you great, Donovan. Winning does.
6) My favorite part of this story: Mondesire's column was published November 27, a full 17 days before this current controversy started. And it appeared in his paper, The Phildelphia Sunday Sun, a weekly publication with a circulation of 20,000. (Philly's two main papers, The Inquirer and Daily News have daily circulations of 714,000 and 129,000, respectively.) Until the AP put out a wire story about Mondesire's comment, nobody had heard or cared about his comments. This is an entirely media-driven story. My buddy Falkow says nobody in Philly even cares about it. They hadn't heard about it until the AP story too.
7) Conclusions: Donovan McNabb is overrated for many reasons, including his skin color. And J. Whyatt Mondesire is just a blathering idiot who deserves none of the attention he has been afforded. It's time we move back to serious issues concerning the Eagles, like whether or not Jevon Kearse will show up at Terrell Owens' Christmas party.

Wednesday Thoughts

- I'm getting a kick out of people like Dan Shanoff thinking Michael Vick's injury Monday night will serve as a cautionary tale for the Colts. They seem to think that after Vick's rib injury, Indy will all of a sudden change their gameplan headed into the playoffs.
Two things:
1) Michael Vick gets hurt all the time. He gets hurt while dropping back to pass. He gets hurt while scrambling out of the pocket. He gets hurt putting on his socks. He gets hurt while waiting in line at the pharmacy to refill his Valtrax. Since 2002 Vick has missed nearly one-quarter of the Falcons' games due to injury. That he got hurt against the Saints is right behind Michael Irvin's recent arrest on the list of least surprising things ever.
Dungy will look at Vick's injury the same way he views death and taxes: As inevitable. I suppose when Fred Taylor goes down next week Shanoff will advise Dungy to put Edgerrin James into protective custody until the middle of January.
2) Even if it was a durable, marquee player that went down, the notion that it would take such an incident to open Dungy's eyes to the risks of playing his guys through week 17 is laughable. What, Dungy hasn't been around the NFL for three decades? He needs an injury to another player to remind him that sometimes players get hurt?
Haven't people been talking about this very subject for the past three weeks? Isn't this debated on SportsCenter every night? Why would a Michael Vick injury cause an "oh crap, my guys might get hurt if I play them" epiphany for Dungy? As if this very thought hasn't been on his mind since before Thanksgiving. As if this is not something he discusses with his coaches at every meeting. As if he hasn't been questioned by the media about this every day for the past month?
Keep in mind, I'm all for Dungy pulling his starters in week 16 and 17 (maybe have them play a half in week 16 and a series or two in week 17), but if he does, it won't be because a player more fragile than a Faberge egg went down.

- Man, that was a bad loss for Wake Forest last night. A real bad loss. To end a 21-game home winning streak against a bottom-rung Big East team that has lost to Northern Illinois, Bradley and at home to Bucknell (which is actually not that bad a loss) is inexcusable. DePaul will likely be an NIT-bubble team which doesn't bode well for Wake come selection time in March. The committee gets its jollies off bad losses, and this certainly qualifies as one.
Skip Prosser will look at his team's poor free throw shooting, non-existent range and porous defense as reasons for the defeat, and while all those certainly played a part, Prosser's finger should be squarely pointed at himself. In what has become the norm at Wake Forest, Prosser was thoroughly outcoached by a less-heralded staff, which caused his team to lose a game that had no business being close.
(Actually, for as bad as Prosser is, this is actually the first really bad regular season loss he's suffered at Wake. The only non-conference contests the Deacs have dropped since Prosser took over have been road games against top 25 teams. This is the first non-ACC home loss since a top-10 Cincinnati team rolled into Winston back in 2001. But it didn't have to be.)
After Eric Williams started the game 6-6 from the floor, I made a drink-bet that the Deacs would stop going to him. The non-Wake fans I was watching with eagerly took said bet. How could Wake stop going to a guy that looked, well, unstoppable, they reasoned?
Years of having my heart broken by Prosser paid off whiskeyly, because the Deacs did exactly that; Williams barely got a touch the rest of the first half.
This was likely due to Prosser's curious decision to move Justin Gray back to the point after starting the game with freshman Harvey Hale at the position, a switch that would sort of be like Romeo Crennel benching Charlie Frye for Trent Dilfer after the Akron rookie got the Browns an early lead over the Bengals last weekend. When Gray is playing the 1, he is so focused on distributing and not turning the ball over, he doesn't think about his own shot. And because he lacks the quickness and handling skills to effectively penetrate, defenses don't take him seriously and bring in big lineups to triple-team Williams. You would think that someone on the Wake bench would realize said triple-teams (which sometimes were quadruple-teams) tend to leave shooters open on the perimeter, but only once did the Deacs feed the ball into Williams for a quick kick-out and three-point attempt. Once. AAU All-Star teams have a better grasp of fundamentals than Wake Forest.
Prosser's lack of coaching accumen was on further display late in the second half. After a three-pointer by DePaul, Wake faced its biggest deficit of the game. Prosser immediately called a timeout to set his offense. When the Deacs emerged from the huddle, both Gray and Williams were inexplicably on the bench. On his team's biggest possession of the game, Prosser had three freshman, Trent Strickland and Kyle Visser on the court while his two All-America candidates sat. Not surprisingly, Wake came out of the TO without a play and held the ball at the top of the key until the shot clock ran down to 5, when Strickland promptly drove into the lane and took an off-balance runner through a triple-team. Lete me reiterate: This came off a timeout.
After the next TV timeout, with Gray and Williams finally back on the court, the same sort of thing happened. Thirty seconds of waiting, with little movement away from the ball, followed by a 22-foot shot that the other four players stood around watching.
Wake's lack of offensive strategy is nothing new. But to have nothing set-up after a timeout is a new low for the already barrel-bottom scraping Prosser.
Maybe it's Gray's fault that the Deacs can't get anything going offensively. But if it is, then it's Prosser's fault because it doesn't take John Wooden to figure out that Justin Gray isn't a point guard. This was evident in the team's first two games and has only become clearer since then. He doesn't have the skills of a point guard, first of all, but as he showed at the end of the game, Gray doesn't possess the instinct of one either.
Down four with 12 seconds left, Gray took the inbounds pass and run upcourt. DePaul was defending the perimeter, essentially giving Gray an unchallenged layup. Any point guard would take the easy bucket to cut the deficit to two and hope DePaul missed their foul shots (they were still in a 1-and-1 situation at the time). Chris Paul was the master of this play. Instead, Gray pulled up for a contested three, which predictably bricked, and lost the game for the Deacs. If he had made it, Gray would have been a hero and Wake might have forced overtime. But that doesn't change the fact that it was a terrible decision. Any point guard would know that. And that's why Gray cannot continue to run the show in Winston-Salem. He is the quintessential #2 guard; he can create his own shot running off screens and curls and draws attention towards the perimeter, which frees up Big E inside. At the #1, Gray is simply ineffective. You can teach a guy how to play the point (you can, Skip Prosser, of course, cannot), but you can't teach instinct.

- Great feature in today's Washington Post about Redskins return specialist Antonio Brown. Here's hoping Brown can hold on to both the ball and his roster spot.

- The annual story about the NBA's top-selling jersey is always the most overrated apparel news of the year. Every time the league releases its sales figures for jerseys, news outlets infer that the player with the top-selling jersey is the most popular one in the NBA. Maybe that's the case, or maybe the player (Dwyane Wade) is new to the scene and nobody had his jersey yet.

The Chaz Rankings: Week 14

I'm sick and tired of hearing about how NFL officials have it so tough. Every time a ref screws up and changes the outcome of a game, defenders crawl out of the woodwork and mention how the game is so fast and how amazing it is that the officials make as many good calls as they do. "Being a ref is so difficult," they say. "Cut them a break."
To these people, I say: Working in a coalmine is difficult. Teaching kindergarten is difficult. Being a drug mule is difficult. Getting paid $125,000 to arbitrarily decide when to throw a flag for holding is not difficult.
NFL officials make great money to work 51 hours per year yet only get about 70% of their calls correct. (Sure, the NFL boasts about an accuracy of 97%, but those numbers are about as reliable as Kim Jong-Il's golf score.) There is no excuse for this.
Granted, it's only natural that refs will make some bad calls; they're human, after all. But this season has seen such poor officiating, some of which has altered the outcome of crucial games, that the simple "human error" argument is no longer valid. Humans err; ref's f*** up all the time.
In last night's game, Ron White's crew, one of the best in the NFL, missed five easy calls, two of which were overturned via the inane replay system (I won't even get started on that). Among the missed calls: Michael Vick clearly breaking the plane of the endzone on a run, a ruled fumble despite the player clearly being down and a reception where the receiver had not one, but two feet out of bounds. It was an atrocious display of officiating. Yet later this week, NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira will likely defend this crew and all others on the NFL Network.
Yes, he's stuck in a Catch-22: If he acknowledges that his officials often miss calls, the validity of all NFL games comes into question. But if he publicly supports them, no matter what the circumstance (ie, the Tampa/Washington and New York/Seattle games), Pereira comes off as a zebra shill and looks like that crazy Iraqi information guy from a few years back.
In addition to making terrible calls, officials have been misidentifying players, throwing make-up flags (yesterday the Falcons were twice flagged for roughing the passer. On the subsequent plays, the refs called holding on the Saints) and ruining any sort of flow a game might have by showering the field in an orgy of flags. The 4th quarter of last night's game began at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time; almost 2:50 after it started. Michael Vick and Aaron Brooks' incompletion carnival didn't help, but neither did Ron White and his crew.
There's only one way to improve NFL officiating: Get rid of instant replay in its current form. But that's a topic for another day.
The Chaz Rankings see a lot of movement this week. Indy, of course, is still #1, and will stay there even when they lose to San Diego or Seattle. Despite not being at all sold on those very Seahawks, they still belong up at #2 after an impressive run. Denver moves back into the top 3 despite struggling with the lowly Ravens and Cincy finally cracks the top 5 despite all my better judgment.
The Bengals are a weird team. I like Carson Palmer. I like Marvin Lewis. I love Chad Johnson. But I really don't like the Bengals all that much. I guess this is like when I was collectively a huge fan of all the members of N'Sync, but preferred the Backstreet Boys. Or something like that.
Chicago probably will take a big hit in the ESPN.com rankings, but there are worse things than losing on the road in the snow at Pittsburgh against a team with a tuned-up Bus. And dropping a pivotal game at home to Miami is one of those worse things, which is why the Chargers take the most precipitous drop in the brief history of The Chaz Rankings.
As you can tell, I'm still not sold on the Giants, and am reluctant to give any teams from the NFC South too much love. Look at those team's NFC records: They're all just pretty good. Just because they each beat up on the pathetic AFC East (the record of the top three South teams against the AFC is a combined 8-3. The top three in the NFC East, a division matched-up with the stacked AFC West, are 3-7 in interconference games) doesn't mean they're better than the Giants, Cowboys and Redskins.
Minnesota still hasn't knocked off a good team this season; and while I called their run to the playoffs back when they moved to 3-5, it will take a win over Pittsburgh for them to jump up in the rankings. (And they'll be in the top 5 if they do that, by the way.)
A plethora of upsets shook-up the bottom of the rankings this week, but Houston still remains in the cellar, much to the chagrin of Reggie Bush who faces the prospect of running behind one of the worst offensive lines in history next season. If they keep this up, Reggie Bush will have a chance to show Eli Manning how a real man is supposed to be drafted. Then afterwards he can maybe show Eli how not to throw three interceptions in the 4th quarter and overtime of his team's biggest game of the season.

1) Indianapolis Colts (13-0, #1)
2) Seattle Seahawks (11-2, #3)
3) Denver Broncos (10-3, #6)
4) Cincinnati Bengals (9-4, #7)
5) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5, #13)
6) Chicago Bears (9-4, #4)
7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-4, #11)
8) Carolina Panthers (9-4, #5)
9) Jacksonville Jaguars (9-4, #8)
10) Kansas City Chiefs (8-5, #9)
11) New York Giants (9-4, #10)
12) Dallas Cowboys (8-5, #12)
13) San Diego Chargers (8-5, #2)
14) New England Patriots (8-5, #15)
15) Washington Redskins (7-6, #14)
16) Minnesota Vikings (8-5, #17)
17) Atlanta Falcons (8-5, #16)
18) Miami Dolphins (6-7, #18)
19) Philadelphia Eagles (5-8, #19)
20) Arizona Cardinals (4-9, #21)
21) St. Louis Rams (5-8, #20)
22) Cleveland Browns (4-9, #26)
23) Baltimore Ravens (4-9, #25)
24) Tennessee Titans (4-9, #28)
25) Buffalo Bills (4-9, #22)
26) Oakland Raiders (4-9, #23)
27) New York Jets (3-10, #30)
28) Green Bay Packers (3-10, #29)
29) Detroit Lions (4-9, #24)
30) New Orleans Saints (3-10, #27)
31) San Francisco 49ers (2-11, #31)
32) Houston Texans (1-12, #32)

Monday Afternoon Cornerback

Paul Tagliabue's mailbox will be overflowing with Christmas cards this season from NFC teams thanks to a bizarre year which has seen the NFL gift-wrap three games for playoff contenders.
The Giants, who were given an unprecedented ninth home game by the league, will send a picture of Eli Manning sitting on Santa's lap (presumably asking him for a QB rating higher than David Carr's).
Tampa, now at the top of their division thanks to a non-two point conversion by Mike Alstott, will send a simple note scribbled quickly by Jon Gruden in between his 3:34 and 3:35 a.m. film sessions.
And Dallas, who had two favorable decisions go their way in the final seconds of their crucial home game versus the Chiefs yesterday, will send the league office a few coupons for a free consult with Dr. Mark McGuire, the personal plastic surgeon of Jerry Jones.
These three teams could likely make the playoffs thanks to the victories, a disconcerting fact for the Vikings, Redskins, Falcons and other NFC teams vying for a playoff spot without the aid of the suits and stripes.
The latest atrocity took place yesterday in Dallas. On 3rd and goal from the six-yard line, Cowboys QB Drew Bledsoe rolled out right and was chased by a Chiefs defender. At the exact moment the Chiefs player grabbed Bledsoe, poised to sack him, thus putting Dallas in a difficult 4th and 17 situation, Marco Rivera tackled him from behind. Seriously. He tackled him. In the open field. The referee, watching the play intently, reached for his flag to call the blatant holding but decided against it as Bledsoe threw an incompletion, which set up 4th and goal from the 7.
Let me reiterate, and I'm not exaggerating here: This was as obvious as holding gets. It took place in the middle of the field right in front of the referee. There is zero doubt Bledsoe would have been sacked had the Chiefs defender not been tackled from behind. Yet, the ref decided to hold his flag. Maybe he didn't want a penalty to be the biggest play of the contest.
On the next play, however, the officials had no such qualms about deciding the game via a flag; they called defensive holding on the Chiefs after the Cowboys failed to convert on 4th down. The call gave Dallas an automatic first down. They scored two plays later.
I had no problem with the defensive holding call on 4th down, mind you. There was holding (albeit it was much less obvious than on the play before). But you can't call a penalty on 4th if you're going to make the conscious decision not to call one on 3rd. As my buddy Ben put it yesterday, "if you're gonna [wimp] out on third down, you have to [wimp] out on fourth down too."
Even with the penalty, Dallas still could have scored from the 17. But it would have been a lot less likely. That extra W will be key when the playoff spots are decided on New Year's Day, not just for the Cowboys, but for the teams fighting them for a wild card spot. (Unlike the Bucs call, which could end up ruining Washington's season, the Cowboys call has little effect on the Redskins. The only way a Chiefs win yesterday would really help the 'Skins is if they lose to the Cowboys next week. Then, the Redskins could theoretically win out and make the playoffs at 9-7. But Joe Gibbs' team really needs to beat Dallas next week anyway. If they do, they'll hold a tiebreaker over them, and that's really all that matters to them.)

Sunday Thoughts
- Now that Elisha Manning has blown up the "he's great in the 4th quarter" argument, what are his lovers in the media going to hang their hat on now? His ability to grow stubble in just 96 short hours?

- Prediction: Tony Dungy will play his starters in weeks 15 and 16, but rest them for most of week 17, regardless of the team's record. But I still say they're not going undefeated.

Sunday Superlatives
Game of the Day: Dallas 31 - Kansas City 28
Reason #87 why dissecting playoff races four weeks out is worthless: 24 hours ago, the Steelers were left for dead in the AFC Wild Card chase. Today, they'd be the 6th seed.

Upset of the Day: Miami 23 - San Diego 21
Good to know Chargers fans are getting to know the real Marty Schottenheimer. How does LaDainian Tomlinson only get 22 touches in a game where Drew Brees throws the ball 52 times? This has to be a candidate for worst loss of the year.

Player of the Day: Jerome Bettis, RB, Pittsburgh
The Bus is back. And so are the Steelers.

Faulk Fantasy Player of the Day: Larry Johnson - 143 rsh yds, 28 rec yds, 3 TD - 34 fantasy points
The best thing that could have happened to anyone with Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson on their roster was Priest going down with a season-ending injury. Now getting all the carries, Johnson has been the best and most consistent fantasy player since Halloween.

Boldin Fantasy Player of the Day: Ryan Moats - 114 rsh yds, 2 TD - 25 fantasy points
Moats did that on only 11 carries, by the way. Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Tom Coughlin once again decided to run Brandon Jacobs on goal-to-go from the 1, and - shockingly - he failed on two attempts. This is the at least the fourth time this season the supposedly bruising Jacobs has failed to get in on two consecutive attempts on the goal line. What the hell are they thinking in New York? I've said it before, but I seriously think the Giants coaches believe the New York media and have bought into the fact that:
a) Eli Manning is good.
b) Brandon Jacobs is a goal line back.
There is no doubt Tiki Barber would have made it on two attempts from the one, so why is Jacobs in there? Other than his press clippings, there is no evidence to suggest Jacobs is an effective goal line back. It's unbelievable and just one of many reasons why the Giants are the most overrated team in football.

Fantasy Bust of the Day: LaMont Jordan - 49 rsh yds, 30 rec yds - 7 fantasy points
Seven points is OK if it came against a solid defense. But against the Jets? I just hope you weren't relying on Jordan to win in your fantasy playoffs.

Predictions
Ouch. 8-7 on the afternoon. Sadly, those seven losses weren't the worst decisions I made yesterday.

Who I Like On Monday Night And I Don't Mean My Decision To Start Joe Horn Over Bobby "18 Points" Engram In My Fantasy Football Playoffs
Question: Is an onside kick recovery considered a fumble recovery? Because according to Fanball, the Web site that hosts my fantasy football league, it is. But the NFL says it's not.
This is a pertinent issue because I am currently down ten points in my fantasy game with Joe Horn left to play. Had I started Bobby Engram, I would have already advanced, but since there's no use crying over unstarted receivers, I have to focus on the now.
According to the official NFL stats, Jacksonville had zero fumble recoveries against Indy. I assume this means that a recovered onside kick is not ruled as a fumble. And it really shouldn't be. One can only fumble if one has possession. A ball that deflects off a player and into the hands of the opposing team was never possesed, therefore can't be a fumble. But Fanball says it is, and since it seems they've made their scoring adjustments for the day, I guess I'm down ten instead of nine. So, go Joe Horn. You haven't caught a TD pass since September, but I have faith. Falcons 30 - Saints 20. JoeHo - 6 catches, 67 yards, no TDs. My fantasy team: A premature exit from the No More Kleindinst playoffs.

NFL Picks: Week 14

Many fantasy football leagues begin their playoffs this week. To commemorate this special event, today's picks will dabble in the world of fantasy. Sort of like every preseason publication's Arizona Cardinals preview.

Indianapolis at Jacksonville
Screw the 16-0 record, if Tony Dungy rests his starters in weeks 15 and 16, the most important byproduct will be the impact said decision will have on fantasy football playoffs nationwide. Can you start Peyton Manning if you think there’s a chance he could only play a half? If you picked up Dominic Rhodes as an insurance policy for Edgerrin, who do you start if Dungy publicly announces the two will split carries?
Think about it this way: A player who ignored the pundits and picked Edge over backs like Willis McGahee and Domanick Davis could lose in his/her fantasy Super Bowl to an idiot who drafted Brandon Stokely, kept him on the bench the entire year, then lucked out because Tony Dungy decided to sit Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne in week 16. This should be a jailable offense.
(Weeks ago I wrote Jacksonville would be the team to end Indy’s undefeated season. That was before Byron Leftwich went down, however. For now, I’m taking the Colts, but check back Sunday morning because I often change around some picks after getting up. I find that hangovers have a profound effect on my football prognostication skills.)
Pick: Indianapolis

Cleveland at Cincinnati
I’m playing both Rudi Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh in my first-round playoff game this week, which makes this the first ever Browns/Bengals game I will ever have any rooting interest in whatsoever. Logic dictates that Houshmandzadeh (and Chris Chambers, my opponent’s other WR) can’t duplicate their success of last week, but logic also dictates that my opponent, Antzo, should have been considered for the lead in the new King Kong movie and he got nary a consideration.
Pick: Cincinnati

St. Louis at Minnesota
Back in August I wrote about a disease entitled Thrashophobia which afflicts many mediocre receivers suddenly thrust into a featured role in an offense due to the departure of a team’s top receiver. After describing the origins of the disease (how James Thrash went from solid possession receiver in Washington to in-over-his-head top dog in Philly), I wrote:

This brings up to Nate Burleson, who put up the best numbers for a receiver playing with Randy Moss since Cris Carter retired, but now finds himself “the man” in Minnesota. Without the luxury of playing against the Mike Rumph’s and Nick Harper’s of the NFL, Burleson will have a rude awakening.

The man who was the ninth receiver taken in my 12-team fantasy draft currently is the fifth-best fantasy receiver on his own team and 97th overall.
Pick: St. Louis

Houston at Tennessee
Then I wrote this:

After this season, I fully expect to rename Thrashophobia Bennettrrhea.
The following factors will contribute to a huge decline in Bennett’s numbers this season: Steve McNair regaining his starting job, the loss of Derrick Mason, the departure of Derrick Mason, Derrick Mason’s absence, the fact that Derrick Mason will be playing in Baltimore and the loss of Derrick Mason.
Every year I identify the most overrated player headed into the fantasy football season. Last August I accurately determined Kevan Barlow, a guy many had in their top five, would be that player in 2004, and he and his 822 rushing yards didn’t disappoint.
This year, Drew Bennett is the most overrated player in fantasy football. (I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I still can’t get over it… Bennett went TWENTY-FREAKIN-NINTH in one of my drafts this weekend. Overall! That’s like playing a pick-up game at the NBA All-Star weekend and, being a captain with your choice of any NBA player or celebrity in attendance, picking Justin Timberlake over LeBron.)
Last year Drew was going up against nickel corners and getting white-boy love from Billy Volek. This year he will draw top coverage and catch balls from the chronically injured Steve McNair.
The wheels are going to fall off the Titans this year and the same will happen to your team if you put any faith in Drew Bennett.

Yes, that’s right… Someone took Drew Bennett 29th in one of my fantasy leagues. He is now the 47th ranked receiver. Among the undrafted players currently ahead of the man who went, again, TWENTY-NINTH OVERALL: Joe Jurevicius, Brandon Lloyd, Amani Toomer, Marcus Robinson, Ernest Wilford, Eric Parker, Chris Henry, Antwaan Randle-El, Brian Finneran and Antonio Chatman.
Pick: Tennessee

New England at Buffalo
Brady should get his 15-20 points, but J.P. Losman will outscore him.
Pick: Buffalo

Oakland at New York Jets
Guys like Domanick Davis (16th RB overall), Willis McGahee (17), Corey Dillon (21), Julius Jones (26), Jamal Lewis (28) and Kevin Jones (31) were all ahead of Raiders RB LaMont Jordan on many draft boards, but none are within 50 fantasy points of him today. Which is why, chances are, if you have any of those backs on your team, your season is over. And if you were prescient enough to take Jordan, you’re probably still alive.
Pick: Oakland

Tampa Bay at Carolina
Steve Smith is the LaMont Jordan of wide receivers. I would love to see some stats on whether team’s with either of these two players (or, in my buddy Jaffe’s case, both players) are having more success than average teams. Of course they will, to some degree, because Smith and Jordan are ranked 1st and 5th at their positions, respectively. But, more than that, I think owners who drafted these two players are probably just better fantasy football players overall. Smith probably went in the middle of a lot of third and fourth rounds, while Jordan was probably slightly higher. But there were other similar players on the board, and many people probably passed those two guys up.
Sure, maybe the owner in your league with Jordan got lucky and there’s a great chance whoever has Smith did, in fact, luck out. But they ended up being great picks, and making one great pick usually indicates that a few more good picks were made during the course of the draft also.
Case in point, the guy with the 47th pick in my 12-team league had the choice between Smith and Larry Fitzgerald. He took Drew Bennett (which isn’t nearly as bad as taking him at TWENTY-NINE. Smith went next at 48 (I took Fitzgerald with my next pick, #54.) The guy who passed them both up is the #1 seed in our playoffs, but only had the 6th most points overall. Had he taken Smith, he would have had the most and would be the favorite, by far, in the playoffs.
Pick: Carolina

Chicago at Pittsburgh
For teams with a combined 16-8 record, this match-up has little fantasy implications. Chances are you’re not going to start an injured Ben Roethlisberger against the Bears unbelievable defense, and if you are relying on Thomas Jones for big fantasy points, your season is probably already over.
Pick: Chicago

New York Giants at Philadelphia
I like Tiki Barber. I like Tiki Barber a lot. I like him as a player (he’s vastly underrated), a person (he seems like a genuinely good guy) and as a dude who sort of looks like an alien (he sort of looks like an alien).
I’ve had Tiki on one of my two fantasy teams in each of the past four seasons. And now, with the playoffs upon us, I have to root for Tiki to score, while at the same time hoping his team loses 49-14 every week, with their two touchdowns coming, of course, from Mr. Barber. This accurately sums up my love/hate relationship with fantasy football.
Pick: New York Giants

Washington at Arizona
It gets worse though… I’m playing Clinton Portis this week in the playoffs. And Larry Fitzgerald is my #1 WR.
Obviously, Portis and the Redskins take precedence over my fantasy game. I’d rather C.P. runs well, the Redskins win and I lose my playoff game than C.P. have a bad outing, the Redskins lose and I win my playoff game. There’s no question about that. The Redskins are much more important. But there is still a conflict of interest, no matter where my rooting allegiances lie.
Scenario #1: The ‘Skins are up 21-6 early in the 4th quarter and have a 1st and goal from the two. Is it wrong if I hope deep-down they’ll run a bootleg and throw to Chris Cooley? The game is, for all intents and purposes over. I wouldn’t be rooting against Portis per se, I’d be hoping someone else scores so I can experience the best of both worlds. I was in this situation last time I played Portis (which was the week the ‘Skins played Tampa and he scored twice) and when he touched the ball near the endzone I never hoped he wouldn’t get in. It was more that I hoped the play would go to someone else beforehand. Does this make me a bad person?
Scenario #2: The Redskins are up 28-10 with under two minutes left in the game. What should my emotions be if Kurt Warner throws a 45-yard TD to Larry Fitzgerald? Clearly I wouldn’t celebrate, but considering it’s a garbage time TD, can I be a little pleased? Or should the fact that Carlos Rogers gave up a late touchdown unnerve me no matter how much it benefits my fantasy team?
In a close game, I’d always be happy if Portis does something well and Fitzgerald does nothing. Always. But in a game that’s already decided, what is the fan decorum? Thoughts?
Pick: Washington

San Francisco at Seattle
The Seahawks defense scored 46 fantasy points against the Eagles. In the first six weeks of the season they scored a total of 44.
Pick: Seattle

Baltimore at Denver
Even if I had Mike Anderson, Jake Plummer and Jamal Lewis on my fantasy team, you couldn’t pay me to watch this game.
Pick: Denver

Miami at San Diego
It say a lot about the all-around beauty of LaDanian Tomlinson’s game when Shaun Alexander can out-rush him by 216 yards and five touchdowns, yet only have three more fantasy points.
Pick: San Diego

Kansas City at Dallas
From Chris’s Sports Blog NFL Preview: Day 1 – Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet: Running Backs (this is my last self-tooting, I promise… That sounded bad):

I was glad I wasn’t in a position to draft Priest in either of my leagues; not because I don’t like him, because I do, but because I think the knee injury that kept him out of the last half of the 2004 season will continue to plague him in 2005.
If you’re in a position to draft Priest, use caution. And be sure to pick Larry Johnson by round 5.

Pick: Kansas City

Detroit at Green Bay
And, because 50 Cent once said, “joy wouldn’t feel so good it if wasn’t for pain”:

For those of you worried that the departure of Randy Moss will hinder Daunte Culpepper’s fantasy performance, don’t.
In the five games Moss missed last season, Daunte threw for 9 TD against only 2 INT and completed a higher percentage of passes than he did with Moss in the lineup.
Clearly, Daunte’s numbers won’t be as stellar with Nate Burleson and Marcus Robinson lining up, but he’s still one of those rare fantasy players who can carry a team each and every week.
Pick him sometime after Peyton and the top five or six backs and enjoy his 25 points per week.

Initially, I had planned to use my old blurb for Kevin Jones here (since this it the Lions/Packers preview) but even though I had Jones 6th on my RB draft board (behind Willis McGahee), I apparently included enough caveats to give myself an out in the event that he was a bust. My Daunte prediction, however, contains no such provisos.
Pick: Green Bay

Last Week: 13-3
Season: 137-55

Big Daddy Leaves the Building

Late last night the owner-less Washington Nationals made the biggest splash of the winter meetings so far, acquiring All-Star second baseman Alfonso Soriano in exchange for leadoff hitter Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge and minor league pitcher Armando Galarraga.
The deal, set in motion by the Cubs acquisition of Juan Pierre, was surprising since many figured the ownership and stadium limbo the Nationals are in would hinder the team's ability to make any major moves before the team was sold.
A relatively thin crop of free agent outfielders coupled with Scott Boras demanding a 36-year, $900 million deal for Johnny Damon with incentive clauses based on length of his hair and Google stock options, made Wilkerson a hot commodity on the trade market. For a time, it appeared he would head to Chicago, but after Pierre was dealt by Florida, thus completing their liquidation sale, Texas came in and acquired three players for one, while cutting salary at the same time.
Washington was able to make the deal after pitchers Esteban Loaiza and Hector Carrasco signed elsewhere, thus freeing up money within the team's set $60 million payroll. Pitching is still a problem for the Nats, but with Soriano in uniform, the offense looks set. But did the Nats give up too much to get him?
Soriano is a clear upgrade over Wilkerson, but by how much remains to be seen. Compare their numbers from last year, and it appears Soriano is a drastic improvement over the oft-injured Wilkerson. But Soriano played in a much better hitter's park and had protection in the lineup, where Wilkerson hit in an extreme pitcher's park and often had Jamey Carroll batting behind him.
Despite the difference in renown and salary, Soranio and Wilkerson are actually fairly similar players. it could be said Wikerson is a poor-man's Soriano. Compare:

Wilkerson      2B   HR   RBI   SO   BB    AVG   OBP   OPS
2003           34   19    77  155   89   .268  .380  .844
2004           39   32    67  152  106   .255  .374  .872
2005           42   11    57  147   84   .248  .351  .756 

Soriano        2B   HR   RBI   SO   BB    AVG   OBP   OPS
2003           36   38    91  130   38   .290  .338  .863
2004           32   28    91  121   33   .280  .324  .808
2005           43   36   104  125   33   .268  .309  .821 

Both hit for power, have middling averages, strikeout far too often, walk far too rarely and have nice, if unspectacular OPSs. For their career Wilkerson and Soriano actually have an identical OPS+ (111).
Soriano's speed (30 stolen bases in 2005, just 15 fewer than the Nats had as a team) is negated by his inability to draw a walk. Everyone makes a big deal about his strikeouts (Wilkerson's too), but with his power numbers, the strikeouts are tolerable. The ridiculously low OBP is another story. Soriano has averaged 34 walks per season since 2003, a miniscule total for someone with such high homerun and strikeout totals.
Essentially, the Nats got rid of one power-hitting, strikeout-happy, walkaphobic outfielder and replaced him with another, albeit with slightly better numbers and a lot more speed. To look at it another way, the Nats traded Terrmel Sledge and Armando Gallaraga for a minor power upgrade (Soriano's slugging numbers will plummet at RFK), a stolen base threat and a marquee name.
Wilkerson's numbers will improve in Texas with protection in the lineup and because he won't be forced to hit leadoff, which might cause some to say the Rangers got the better end of the deal. That may be the case, but today it looks like a pretty even trade and one that the Washington Nationals had to make. Barring injury, they'll have a formidable middle part of the order (Vidro, Guillen, Johnson, Soriano, Zimmerman) and a star to market the team around. Plus, Soriano's ability to move up on the basepaths is key for a team that plays as many close games as the Nats.
Still, Soriano is expensive (he will likely earn $10 million through arbitration), but Wilkerson figured to be down the road as well with Scott Boras as his agent. If the Nats new owner decides to try to ink Soriano to a long-term deal, this deal makes sense. If he is just a one-year rental, then it probably was an impulsive, irrational move. And if he doesn't want to play the outfield (he refused in both New York and Texas), then this move will be Jim Bowden's death knell in baseball.
Bowden now needs to turn his attention to the Nationals' depleted pitching staff. At the moment, the team only has two viable starters (Livan Hernandez and John Patterson) and nobody in the bullpen except Chad Cordero. If the front office continues to be hampered by the uncertainty surrounding the Nationals franchise, Soriano will likely just be going from one solid-hitting, pitching starved team to another.

Wednesday Thoughts

- Sports Illustrated named Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as their 2005 Sportsman of the Year earlier this week, a distinction awarded to Brady based primarily on the events of three games back in late January and early February.
Giving this honor to Brady reeks of a make-up for last year when Brady could have won the award had it not been for a certain crosstown baseball team. In that year, Brady was magnificent in a Super Bowl victory and led his team to a 14-2 record in the following regular season. If the Sox hadn't won the World Series, Brady would have been a fine choice. This year, however, Brady isn't even among the ten most deserving athletes.
Instead, his selection has more of a "lifetime achievement award" feel, because 2005 has arguably been Brady's worst calendar year since 2000.
Sure, the Pats won the Super Bowl, but this time it was mainly because Donovan McNabb chokes like a Hokie in big games and because the Pats defense was top-notch. So far this season, Brady has been good, not great, under center for the Patriots. If Sports Illustrated gave a "Sportsman of the AFC" for this season, Brady might come in seventh. Maybe.
So why did they give the yearly award to him? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they thought that "Sporstman of the Year" actually meant "Sportsman of last January". Surely they couldn't have taken this season into account. Because in 2005 Brady has two fewer wins than Kyle Orton! He has a lower QB rating this season than Jake Plummer! The man has thrown more interceptions than David Carr! Kurt Warner completes a higher percentage of his passes! And the clefted-one's league-leading 3,301 passing yards are made less impressive by his 6th ranked yards-per attempt.
But if the award is strictly for the three games back in January, then why weren't other Pats included? Rodney Harrison came up huge for New England in the playoffs. Bill Belichick and Charlie Weis were the architects of the team. Troy Brown played both ways. Tedy Bruschi came back from a stroke!
Granted, it's tough to give Sportsman of the Year to a football player since the Super Bowl is played ten months before the award comes out. Playoff heroes are largely forgotten during the next NFL season, so unless a player backs up a great postseason with a torrid start, SI can be forgiven for ignoring them. This is likely why Brady is the first NFL recipient of the award since Joe Montana in 1990. But in that year, Montana won his third Super Bowl in January, then had the 49ers at 14-1 when he was honored by Sports Illustrated. That, my friends, was a solid year of football. (Just like Brady's 2004.)
Brady, conversely, has played pretty lousy in 2005, at least for a player of his stature. Whether that's his fault or not is irrelevant. In giving him this award, it's almost as if Sports Illustrated decided on Brady last January, 2005 season be damned. The Wolfman agrees and imagined that the Sportsman of the Year decision was made by a committee of one: Peter King. If Elisha Manning gets it next year, we'll know if that guess is right.

- USC quarterback Matt Leinart would have received my vote for Sportsman of the Year. Like Brady, Leinart had a great postseason back in January. Unlike Brady, however, Leinart backed that up with an equally great regular season this fall. That, coupled with his decision to return to school when he likely would have been the first pick of April's NFL Draft, would have made Leinart an excellent selection for Sports Illustrated. Plus, he would have been the first ever college football player ever to win the award.

- Not that we need any more proof that the college sports polls are a total joke, but Duke remaining at #1 after narrowly escaping Virginia 'Freakin Tech at home is absurd. Anyone who honestly believes the Blue Devils are the best team in the country right now is either a moron or Dick Vitale (or both). This just shows that voters value precedence and stubbornness over ability and logic and is just another reason why no polls should be released until the middle of the season. (And how were Bucknell and Houston left unranked this week?)

- Forty bucks says Saddam's beard is an homage to Jake Plummer.

- Gary Barnett will reportedly be fired as Colorado head football coach later this afternoon. It's a sad state of affairs when a state university fires a man of such good taste and eloquence. Shakespeare himself couldn't have said it any better than this:

Well, it was obvious that Katie was not very good. She was awful, OK? And so guy, you know what guys do? They respect your ability. I mean you can be 90 years old, but if you can go out and play, they respect you. Well, Katie was, Katie was a girl. And not only was she a girl, she was terrible.

We'll miss you Gary Barnett. Not only were you a coach, you were a hero.

- A belated congratulations to Wake Forest running back Chris Barclay who last week became the first Demon Deacon football player in 26 years to be named ACC Player of the Year. Imagine if my preseason ACC Basketball Player of the Year, Miami's Guillermo Diaz, should end up winning that award. A football POY from Wake and a basketball POY from Miami? Talk about an unanticipated sports role reversal. What's next, Virginia Tech not choking in an important football game?

- Speaking of bastardized ACC teams, good thing they didn't let BC in last week's ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

- Toronto's five-year, $55 million deal for A.J. Burnett is funny, but not "ha-ha" funny like B.J. Ryan's new $47 million contract. Burnett is a good pitcher, but five years at more than $10 million per for a guy who visits the D.L. like Ruben Patterson hits up the head shop, is a risky and costly move for a franchise refamiliarizing itself with the concept of free agency. Burnett has the heat, to be sure, but just like his ex-teammate Josh Beckett, he benefited from pitching home games in the expansive Joe Robbie Stadium, or whatever the hell they're calling it these days. (Over the last three seasons, both pitcher's ERAs are more than one run higher on the road than at home.)
If the Blue Jays think Burnett and Ryan will help them catch the Yankees and Red Sox, they're just as delusional as Peter Angelos and the Orioles, who believed Sammy Sosa and Javy Lopez were the answer to competing with the Yanks and Sox. Teams like the Blue Jays always try to make big splashes in free agency, when a few well-timed dips in the pool is all they really need. $20 million per year total for a nice, not-so-young power pitcher and a bust waiting to happen is fine for big-market teams, but not for the Blue Jays who will be looking back at these deals in 2010 and wonder what the hell GM J.P. Ricciardi was thinking back in aught-five.
If they dig deep enough, they'll likely discover that J.P. had an inherent bias towards those with double-initialed first names, particularly after his 2006 signings of C.J. Nitkowski and D.J. Carrasco. Even those alphabetical signings weren't enough to fire J.P. though. It was his failed attempt to lure D.J. Tanner out of retirement that would be his eventual Waterloo.

The Chaz Rankings: Week 13

1) Indianapolis Colts (12-0, Last week #1)
Why Ranked Here: Only the fourth team in NFL history to begin the season 12-0, the Colts can earn homefield advantage this weekend with a win at Jacksonville.

2) San Diego Chargers (8-4, #4)
Why Ranked Here: Their early-season troubles far behind them, the Chargers have won five in-a-row, including a victory over the Chiefs that looks more impressive every week. Their recent slate of victims (the Jets, Bills, Redskins and Raiders) isn't exactly an NFL murderer's row, but San Diego has outscored them by a total of 73 points.

3) Seattle Seahawks (10-2, #3)
Why Ranked Here: It's been a long time since I've seen a game where both teams had their reserves in five minutes into the second-half. Still, it's very difficult for me to get excited about the Seahawks. They lost to the Redskins, needed wins over the Cowboys and Giants gift-wrapped by Drew Bledsoe and Jay Feely, respectively, were a failed two-point conversion away from overtime against the lowly 49ers and have a quarterback who during a playoff game once uttered the immortal words, "we want the ball, we're gonna score."

4) Chicago Bears (9-3, #5)
Why Ranked Here: Like I wrote yesterday, looking ahead to playoff scenarios is fun and eats up time on Sportscenter, but is pretty much pointless. There's no way to predict game-results for two or three separate teams while at the same time keeping an eye on tiebreakers and such. That being said, if the Bears can get a first-round bye and home playoff game at Soldier Field, watch out. I don't think Seattle is making it to the NFC Championship game, even if they have home-field, meaning if the Bears get to play that game at home and the Colts continue to run the table, we could have one of the more interesting Super Bowl match-ups in recent memory. Somewhere, The Wolfman just swore under his breath at me.

5) Carolina Panthers (9-3, #8)
Why Ranked Here: Carolina lost to Chicago a few weeks back, hence their lower ranking. At this point in the season, they're still my pick to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl against the Colts (which is what I predicted back in September).

6) Denver Broncos (9-3, #2)
Why Ranked Here: You know how at the end of the Pierce Brosnan/Rene Russo version of The Thomas Crown Affair, Crown has to put the stolen Monet back in the museum with the entire NYPD watching him and, after a bunch of misdirection and tomfoolery, the fire sprinklers go on which washes away the watercolor on the painting Crown donated to replace the Monet and it's revealed that underneath that watercolor was the actual Monet which had really been there all along? Remember that?
Jake Plummer is the Monet, the watercolor was the first-half of his season and the last two weeks have been the sprinklers.

7) Cincinnati Bengals (9-3, #7)
Why Ranked Here: They finally got their marquee win, but can't feel comfortable after watching a Steelers offense that looked remarkably inept against the Colts still manage to put up 31 points with a clearly injured Ben Roethlisberger under center.

8) Jacksonville Jaguars (9-3, #)
Why Ranked Here: Under the circumstances, the Jags win against the Browns was probably their most impressive of the season. With the little-used David Garrard filling in for an injured Byron Leftwich, Jacksonville left their warm Florida town to play in the brutal weather of Cleveland, the week before their biggest game in years, at home against the undefeated Colts. Sunday could have been a textbook example of a letdown game, but the Jags still held on and will give the Colts fits this week.

9) Kansas City Chiefs (8-4, #12)
Why Ranked Here: Peter King doesn't want to reward the Chiefs for beating the Broncos, nor does he want to punish the Broncos for losing to the Chiefs. I concur with the latter, but would counter the former and will also apologize for writing a paragraph so confusing you'll probably have to read it four times before it makes sense.

10) New York Giants (8-4, #14)
Why Ranked Here: You hear that sound? Those are the hushed whispers of the New York-loving media as it slowly dawns on them that Eli Manning isn't nearly as good as they once believed.
Incidentally, yesterday was the first time all season I heard people on ESPN question Eli Manning's abilities. On PTI, Jaws said what I've been writing for weeks: That New York is way too dependent on Manning and abandons Tiki Barber far too early in the game.

11) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-4, #11)
Why Ranked Here: Because the Bucs are 8-4 on their way to 9-7.

12) Dallas Cowboys (7-5, #10)
Why Ranked Here: Due to the NFL's arcane television blackout rules, I didn't get to see the Cowboys/Giants game, but from the AP's game recap and Primetime highlights, it appeared that the Giants thoroughly dominated Dallas and the only reason it was close at the end was because John Hufnagel is a terrible offensive coordinator and Elisha Manning is an overrated bum.

13) Pittsburgh Steelers (7-5, #6)
Why Ranked Here: They're the biggest question mark in the league right now. Ben Roethlisberger isn't supposed to be throwing the ball 41 times a game, especially not with a hurt thumb on his throwing finger. But if 86 yards on 26 carries is all the Steelers much-heralded rushing attack can do against a less-than-mediocre Bengals defense, maybe there's not much else they can do.

14) Washington Redskins (6-6, #17)
Why Ranked Here: The 'Skins have beat both the Seahawks and Bears this season, and had a win stolen from them in Tampa. With the second-toughest schedule in the league so far, Washington's final four games set-up surprisingly nicely (road games at Arizona and the suddenly not-at-all imposing Lincoln Financial Field and home games against division rivals Dallas and New York).

15) New England Patriots (7-5, #16)
Why Ranked Here: The offense of golden boy Tom Brady could only muster one touchdown at home against a team that was coming off a loss to the freakin' Saints. More on Brady tomorrow, by the way.

16) Atlanta Falcons (7-5, #13)
Why Ranked Here: Michael Vick is awfully cocky for a guy who's 1-3 in his last four starts, has a 56% completion percentage, a 4:3 TD to INT ratio and just got beat-down by a division rival in his team's most important game of the season. Maybe he's just gloating over the success of his alma mater's football program.

17) Minnesota Vikings (7-5, #15)
Why Ranked Here: Whoop-dee-doo, the Vikings have won five in-a-row and are 7-5 on the season. That's a nice accomplishment, but should we really be praising the Vikings for pretty much being were we thought they'd be at the beginning of December? Or did they lower everyone's expectations so much that being two games over .500 is cause for celebration? Sure, I'm impressed by the win streak, but not at all surprised. Other than the freak win in New York, where they became the first team in NFL history to return a punt, kick and interception for a touchdown, the Vikings have won four of their five win-streak games against teams with a combined 14-36 record. They should win those four games. And they will lose two of their last four to end the year 9-7.

18) Miami Dolphins (5-7, #20)
Why Ranked Here: Since Nick Saban said he didn't care whether the Dolphins won or lost this year, Miami has won two straight. Maybe this will catch on like Cartman's "you can't come" promotion for Cartmanland a few years back.

19) Philadelphia Eagles (5-7, #18)
Why Ranked Here: There's a large temptation to drop the Eagles a lot lower in these rankings following last night's utter debacle but, with the possible exception of the Rams, is there any team from here on in that deserves to be ahead of Philly?
And, by the way, how truly bad was that McNabb-to-Williams interception in the Cowboys game? Has one interception ever led to a team's sudden downfall like that one did? Thoughts?

20) St. Louis Rams (5-7, #19)
Why Ranked Here: Words can't properly describe NFL analyst Brian Baldinger, but they can damn sure try. During the Rams/Redskins game this past Sunday, Baldinger spoke reverently about Mike Martz, acting as if Martz was the greatest football mind since Lombardi and how his absence from the team was nothing short of a disgrace, even while acting like Martz had been there to tutor Ryan Fitzgerald over the past six weeks. FOX also kept showing a graphic of all the great QBs Martz has tutored; a list that, except for Kurt Warner, was above-average at best. I mean, I like Trent Green more than most people, but let's keep things in perspective here... He's still Trent Green. And Marc Bulger is a fine QB, but he's nothing more than a system guy. Nobody doubts MIke Martz's system works, they just doubt his sanity and good judgment.
Baldinger failed to mention that Martz hasn't won a Super Bowl as a head coach, and hasn't even gotten his team to the NFC Championship game since 2002. Heaven forbid he mention that Martz single-handedly lost the Super Bowl for the Rams in that season, when he refused to run Marshall Faulk against the Patriots. Revisionist history has turned that game into a Bill Belichick masterpiece when it was actually a Mike Martz fiasco.

21) Arizona Cardinals (4-8, #25)
Why Ranked Here: The Cardinals have the #1 passing offense in the league. Of course, they also have the 32nd ranked rushing attack, but I only like to accentuate the positives.

22) Buffalo Bills (4-8, #22)
Why Ranked Here: Buffalo is two plays away from being 6-6 and just one game behind the Patriots in the AFC East.

23) Oakland Raiders (4-8, #21)
Why Ranked Here: The Raiders have exactly one "bad" loss on their resume (home to Miami), which is probably more indicative of their tough schedule than anything else. If there were more Cleveland's and less San Diego's on their slate, Oakland would probably still be 4-8, it'd just be a lot easier to rip on Norv Turner.

24) Detroit Lions (4-8, #24)
Why Ranked Here: Because they beat the Ravens, but make no mistake: The Lions are so bad. Peter Warrick must thank God every night that Charles Rogers came along, thus no longer making Warrick the biggest WR bust in NFL history.

25) Baltimore Ravens (4-8, #27)
Why Ranked Here: Parity, this is the terror you hath wrought: There are currently seven teams in the NFL worse than the Baltimore Ravens.

26) Cleveland Browns (4-8, #23)
Why Ranked Here: First the Ryan Fitzgerald quote, now this awesome blurb from the front page of CNN.com:

As court was adjourning for the day in his trial, Saddam Hussein suddenly shouted that he would not attend Wednesday's session. "I will not be in a court without justice. Go to hell, all you agents of America," he said. He also complained that he had been wearing the same shirt and underwear for three days.

Talk about lining all your ducks up in a row. How do you think Saddam brought up the dirty drawers? Was it an casual afterthought to his anti-American tirade ("by the way, if you're wondering where the B.O. was coming from, it was me") or was it part of his rant ("this court has no jurisdiction in the Iraq of which I am ruler. All of you American infidels can burn in hell; as can Fruit of the Loom Inspector #6 who clearly shirked his responsibilities when checking out my v-neck undershirt. This thread didn't bear itself! Praise be to Allah and to anyone who can hook a brotha' up with some Tide."

27) New Orleans Saints (3-9, #26)
Why Ranked Here: Only because they got screwed by the NFL in week 2. The Saints were still flying high from their opening day victory over the Panthers. If they had put that Giants game in the Alamodome or at some college stadium in the deep south, the Saints would have won.

28) Tennessee Titans (3-9, #28)
Why Ranked Here: Because Steve McNair plays hurt every week but doesn't bitch and moan about it like Donovan McNabb did.

29) Green Bay Packers (2-10, #29)
Why Ranked Here: The mere fact that the Packers are in most games they play without any sort of offensive line or rushing game is actually pretty remarkable. How big does letting Marco Rivera go look now, by the way?

30) New York Jets (2-10, #31)
Why Ranked Here: I hope the Jets fire Herm Edwards because of a season that saw Chad Pennington go down and 3,500 carries finally catch-up with Curtis Martin. Then, when Herm is a success elsewhere, they'll realize how short-sighted they really were. (Plus, is it Edward's fault the Jets let LaMont Jordan go?)

31) San Francisco 49ers (2-10, #30)
Why Ranked Here: Those "Mike Nolan is turning it around in the Bay Area" stories seem to have dissipated of late. Only Reggie Bush can save them now. Well him, or Bono, cause he can save the world. From untuned guitars.

32) Houston Texans (1-11, #32)
Why Ranked Here: Because talking about the Texans is about the only thing more painful than watching them, I won't. Instead, read this, which is just the latest proof that coaches' polls are the most worthless things in sports. Besides NFL Power Rankings, of course.

Monday Afternoon Cornerback

Breaking down the NFL playoff picture with four games left to play is a worthless endeavor. So much can happen in the final quarter of the season that making baseless predictions now is a lot like making mock brackets for the NCAA Tournament in January. Sure, it's fun to speculate, but the results almost never match-up with expectations.
Two weeks ago, who would have thought the Pittsburgh Steelers would be in serious jeopardy of missing the playoffs? Conversely, did anybody imagine Kansas City controlling its own postseason destiny?
Today you'll hear analysts declare the Bucs a lock for the playoffs while, at the same time, counting out the Falcons because of their 4-4 conference record. But with Atlanta playing a battered Saints team the day after Tampa matches up with the South-leading Panthers, they could very well have identical records next week.
Ditto for the Redskins and Vikings, Giants and Cowboys and a multitude of other teams whose playoff stories are not yet written. Anything can happen in the NFL. And it usually does.

Sunday Thoughts
- If the Giants win the NFC East, Tom Coughlin will get a lot of support for NFC Coach of the Year. But after watching Coughlin destroy any shred of confidence kicker Jay Feely still had yesterday, the New York coach should feel lucky if he gets a single vote.
Up seven early in the fourth quarter, after settling for two Eli Manning incompletions instead of running Tiki Barber (as per usual), the Giants faced a 4th-and-6 from the Dallas 29. A made field goal would have put the Giants up two scores, a seemingly insurmountable lead with the Dallas offense sputtering through the game's first 45 minutes. But, for some reason, Tom Coughlin decided to go for it on 4th down and, predictably, Eli Manning threw his eighth incompletion in nine throws.
Clearly, Coughlin didn't make the decision to go for it on 4th down because he was riding his quarterback's hot hand (Manning finished an Elisha-esque 12/31 with 2 INT). He went for it because he had no trust in Feely to make the kick. And maybe he wouldn't have.
After making 23 of his first 25 field goals on the season, Feely had missed three in a row before converting on a 29-yarder earlier in the game. Perhaps he would have shanked the 47-yarder and given Dallas good field position. But Tom Coughlin can't think like that. He has to assume his kicker is going to make it. In his brief career, Feely has a 78% success rate on field goals, 65% from over 40-yards. He's on the roster to make kicks, not watch Eli Manning throw another dead duck of a pass.
In showing zero confidence in his kicker, Coughlin not only jeopardized the game for the Giants, but also ruined whatever was left of Feely's fragile ego following his meltdown against the Seahawks.
The Giants players did an admirable job of not putting any public blame on Feely last week, instead calling their chokejob against Seattle a "team effort". Surely that picked up the kicker a little, as did his successful kick earlier in the game. Had he attempted, and made, the 47-yarder, the bitter memories of Seattle would have been erased. The moment Coughlin made the decision to go for the first down, however, they all came flooding back.
Not surprisingly, Feely missed his next kick following the snub (a 33-yarder that hit off the right upright). The Giants ended up holding on, but if Dallas had comeback to tie the game on their final possession, you know the New York media would have feasted on Feely. The blame, however, would have lay squarely on Tom Coughlin.

- Of teams currently at .500 or better, the Washington Redskins have the best strength of victory in the NFL. And except for the Texans, who have played the 12-0 Colts twice, Washington's schedule has been the most difficult in the league.
There are some recurring NFL themes that I often mention on this site; the difference between 10-6 and 6-10 can be found in four or five plays, Eli Manning is worse than mediocre, the Patriots are the worst dynasty in the history of sports and this one: With the current divisional format, scheduling is more important than ever and is one of the most crucial factors when determining a team's playoff hopes.
The NFC East had pre-determined match-ups against both western divisions in 2005, which ensured four long road trips during the season. Throw in the fact that the AFC West is the best division in football, and the four East teams were at a decided disadvantage before the season even started.
Compare that to the NFC South, a division that faced off against the miserable NFC North and the worst division in football, the AFC East. If the Panthers, Bucs and Falcons all make the playoffs, look no further than their cream-puff schedules.
This is not a criticism of those teams, mind you. You have to play the schedule that's given to you. I'm just saying that a 10-6 record in one division and an 8-8 record in another might not be as different as the numbers indicate. This is hardly mentioned during game telecasts or on ESPN, but it's unbelievably important. If you disagree, look at the Jags and Chargers schedules.
Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs will be roundly criticized if they once again miss out on the postseason, but with games against San Diego, Kansas City and Denver instead of Buffalo, Miami and the Jets, what do you expect?

- New England (7-5) has been outscored by 23 points this season.
Green Bay (2-10) has been outscored by 3 points this season.

Sunday Superlatives
Game of the Week: Kansas City 31 - Denver 27
Reason #539 why instant NFL Draft analysis is dumber than Brian Baldinger: The Saints, Bills and Chiefs were roundly criticized for "wasting" first-round picks on Deuce McCallister, Willis McGahee and Larry Johnson, respectively, when those teams already had a solid running back on their rosters.
Now, those same critics are probably saying that if the Chiefs hadn't selected Johnson three years ago, their season would be over. And they're right. With Priest Holmes down, if the Chiefs were without LJ, they'd be done. With him, they are a serious contender for the AFC West.

Player of the Day: Carson Palmer, QB, Cincinnati
Peyton Manning is the best quarterback in the NFL. Carson Palmer is second. After them, the drop-off is huge.
The only downside to Palmer's success is the unrealistic expectations that will be placed on his successor at USC, Matt Leinart. As good as Leinart is, it's nearly impossible to imagine him being this good in just his second season as an NFL starter.

Faulk Fantasy Player of the Day: DeShaun Foster - 131 rsh yds, 49 rec yds, 2 TD - 29 fantasy points
Years ago, my buddy Redemer gave a 15-minute dissertation on why Foster was the greatest player in college football. Then he gave himself a brand and kicked a girl out of his room so he could watch cartoons.

Boldin Fantasy Player of the Day: Lee Evans - 117 rec yds, 3 TD - 33 fantasy points
Raise your hands if you drafted Lee Evans, then cut him in week four to pick up Shaun McDonald? Anyone... Anyone... Bueller...? So wait, it was just me?

Fantasy Bust of the Day: Elisha Manning - 152 pass yds, 2 INT - 3 fantasy points
I wonder if ESPN.com fantasy expert Eric Karabell still thinks Elisha is a better play than his brother?

Predictions
Sunday morning changes to the Giants, Bengals and Lions games (2-1) gave me a one-game turn-around, but my day was saved by Kyle Boller and Sage Rosenfels, of all people, whose last-second comebacks helped propel me to 13-2 on the afternoon.

The Chaz Rankings: Top Two
1) Indianapolis Colts - Before Byron Leftwich went down, I predicted the Colts run would end against the Jaguars. It still might.
2) San Diego Chargers - It's snowing outside; I guess Michael Irvin's in town.

Who I Like Monday Night And I Certainly Don't Mean The Stars Of Prison Break
As Ed and Jim have shown, guys named McMahon always shine in primetime. Eagles 27-26.

NFL Picks: Week 13

Atlanta at Carolina
If Atlanta loses this game, their playoff chances could go up in flames. Luckily, Michael Vick knows all about how to deal with burning sensations.
Pick: Carolina

Green Bay at Chicago
If Brett Favre can lead the Packers to victory this Sunday at Soldier Field, it will be his 13th victory in 14 trips to the Windy City. When told that Favre was challenging her reign as the ruler of Chicago, Oprah promptly put out a hit on him.
Pick: Chicago

Houston at Baltimore
I never make Oprah jokes for fear of her wrath, which I imagine involves her sending Stedman to put a car bomb in my ride so the next time I stick the key in the ignition I blow up Casino-style. But since Oprah and Dave kissed and made up last night, I figure Oprah needs a new enemy. And a guy who writes a blog that gets 250 hits a day is probably just what she’s looking for.
Pick: Baltimore

Minnesota at Detroit
Matt Millen must either have
a) pictures of William Clay Ford on the Vikings sex cruise
or
b) a patent for a flying car that he’s threatening to take to Toyota if Ford ever fires him.
These are the only two possible explanations for Millen still having a job. The only two.
Pick: Detroit

Jacksonville at Cleveland
Is it just me, or does this seem like the third consecutive week the Jags are playing the Browns?
Pick: Jacksonville

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
If Chad Johnson’s much-anticipated touchdown celebration is anything other than him putting on a Troy Polamalu wig and playing the rest of the game with it streaming out from underneath his helmet, I’m going to be very disappointed.
Pick: Cincinnati

Tennessee at Indianapolis
About midway through the Duke-Indiana game earlier this week, I commented about how J.J. Redick didn’t seem to be doing as much crowd-taunting and showboating as he usually does. I couldn’t figure out why. Then, at the start of the second half, ESPN showed Edgerrin James sitting in the crowd with one of his boys, in all their ghettofied, gold-toothed glory, and suddenly everything made sense. It also explained why J.J. Redick had a round wet-spot on his drawers after he hit his first three.
Pick: Indianapolis

Buffalo at Miami
One quick thought about the Colts run at a perfect season: Everyone seems to be assuming the quest ends if Indy finishes 16-0, forgetting that it takes 19 wins to get to a perfect season. So the Colts aren’t five games away from perfection, they’re eight, a half-season.
A 16-0 record is worthless if you don’t win the Super Bowl. Think of it this way; if the Colts go 16-0 and don't win the Super Bowl, people will call it the greatest choke-job of all-time. Tony Dungy seems to realize this, and it’s why he’s said he won’t play his starters much in the final regular season game if the team is 15-0 at the time. (It will be interesting to see if he buckles under the pressure and plays his guys if that scenario should unfold. Dungy doesn’t seem to be that kind of guy, though.)
Ask any player or coach in the league which feat they’d rather accomplish – finishing 16-0 and losing in the playoffs or finishing 8-8 and winning the Super Bowl – and 100% would choose the latter. A perfect season is nice; winning the Super Bowl is the reason you play the game.
In reality, a loss is the best thing that can happen to the Colts in the next five weeks. It will take a good bit of pressure off headed into the playoffs, where the weight of a possible perfect season, in addition to the standard “can Peyton win in January” questions, would be quite intense. Still, this will all become a moot point when Indy loses before week 17 anyway.
Pick: Miami

Dallas at New York Giants
Yesterday, while in line at the grocery store I helped an old lady pick up the dog food she had under her cart. After thanking me profusely, she dug in her purse and gave me a $20 Starbucks gift card she said she wouldn’t use because she doesn’t drink coffee. Then, I went to get some hot & sour soup from the nearby Chinese restaurant and my man inside told me it was on the house. Later that night, I won $70 playing poker and on the drive home hit every single green light from D.C. to Bethesda. And about five minutes ago, while perusing the slim beverage offerings in my refrigerator (expired milk and nearly-expired half-and-half), I remembered that I had perspicaciously hidden a Diet Mountain Dew in the vegetable crisper about two weeks ago for just such an occasion.
Still, the highlight of my day was hearing Tiki Barber refer to his quarterback as Elisha during “Five Good Minutes” on PTI.
Pick: New York Giants

Tampa Bay at New Orleans
Awesome facts about Ed Hochuli I learned from his appearance on the NFL Network’s fantastic Six Days to Sunday: His nickname is “Big Guns”, he shaves his arms and legs, his boss, NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira, is a moron and referee apologist, Hochuli loves it when the players talk about his massive forearms, Hochuli’s family enjoys Thanksgiving dinner with fellow ref Mike Carey and, finally, there’s a chance Hochuli’s forearms could do for world hunger what Jake Plummer’s mustache did for rising gas prices.
Pick: New Orleans

Denver at Kansas City
Who do you think would win in a fight between Ed Hochuli’s forearms and Jake Plummer’s mustache? The ‘stache would be the Inigo Montaya of the battle; smooth-talking, deceptive and quick, while Hochuli’s guns would have the raw strength of an Andre the Giant. Even though the forearms would be the prohibitive favorite, Plummer’s upper-lip hair would likely win because it’d have no scruples about fighting dirty and breaking out a pair of brass knuckles or razor blade. Hochuli’s guns are just too damn classy for that. Of course, both would lose to the man in black anyway, so I guess it’s a good thing Jerry Glanville is retired.
Pick: Kansas City

New York Jets at New England
This week, Tom Brady (right) tried to get his mind off his four interception performance by taking the Titanic out for a late-night jaunt in the Boston Harbor.
Pick: New England

Arizona at San Francisco
Initially the NFL wanted to play both Cardinals/49ers games in Mexico City this season, but that plan was nixed when it was discovered a second international contest between these two miserable teams would somehow violate 18 provisions of the NAFTA agreement.
Pick: Arizona

Washington at St. Louis
To prepare for playing against Washington cornerback Walt Harris, Rams rookie QB Ryan Fitzpatrick went back to Harvard and played a flag football game against the chess club.
(I'm finding it hard not to like Fitzpatrick, especially with quotes like this from today's Redskins Notebook in The Washington Post:

Teammates expect me to know every answer to every question. During training camp, some guys were in a big, heated discussion, so I walked over to see what they were talking about. They said, 'Fitz, you can answer this question, you're from Harvard.' I said, 'Okay, maybe it's some trivial question, some history, something.' They said, 'What do you think would hurt more, getting hit in the face by the trunk of an elephant or being kicked in the face by a donkey?'

I don't know what's funnier. The fact that NFL players were discussing what sort of animal contact would be more painful or that they thought those were the sort of questions being discussed within the hallowed ivy-covered walls of Harvard.)
Pick: Washington

Oakland at San Diego
Glitter, glisten, gloss, floss;
Todd Heap has more catches than Randy Moss.
Pick: San Diego

Last Week: 13-3
Season: 124-52

Thursday Thoughts

- Dick Vitale was actually surprisingly reserved last night during the Duke/Indiana game. But reserved for Vitale is a relative term, so it’s not as if he wasn’t drooling like one of Pavlov’s dogs every time J.J. Redick hit a jumpshot.
And it wouldn’t be a Duke game if Vitale didn’t make an absolutely ridiculous statement of opinion that he tries to pass off as fact: Near the beginning of the game, Dan Schulman made sure to mention the absence of Indiana’s D.J. White, the Big Ten’s reigning Freshman of the Year. White, one of the Hoosiers most valuable players, is still recovering from a broken hand that has sidelined him for the whole season.
Immediately after Schulman finished his comment about White being out, Vitale jumped in and noted how Indiana wasn’t the only team missing an important player as Duke was missing DeMarcus Nelson.
Now, Nelson isn’t terrible. But he’s not that good either (6.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg). Most importantly, he doesn’t start. Yet Vitale, in his infinite Dukiedom, couldn’t leave White’s injury alone. Even though Nelson isn’t nearly as important to Duke as White is to Indiana, Vitale simply had to counter Schulman’s point and mention a Duke injury as well. And to many people watching the game, they automatically would assume Nelson’s absence meant as much as White’s. But, oh, it gets better.
During his rant, Vitale slipped the following little nugget in: “ without Nelson, Duke is without their best defensive player.”
That’s right. Despite having the National Defensive Player of the Year on their roster, Vitale said Duke’s best defender is DeMarcus Flippin’ Nelson. Nelson isn’t bad defensively, per se, but Williams was, again, the National Defensive Player of the Year. Now, I think Williams is an overrated defender (only overrated in his greatness, because he is very, very good) who gets many of his blocks by being out of position and has gaudy rebound totals because, in addition to being a good rebounder, he clears out the lane with his elbow at every opportunity and never gets called for it. (Marco Killingsworth absolutely destroyed Williams last night in the middle, by the way, further proving my point. But not about Nelson, about Williams. Alright, now I’m confusing myself.) But there’s no doubting William’s is Duke’s best defender, by far (the Killingsworth show notwithstanding) and any other opinion is either absurd or Dick Vitale’s. Not that those two things are mutually exclusive.

- Wilbon on Juan Dixon, who made his return to the D.C. area last night. Read it, even if you don't love Juan like I do.

- My old buddy Zac Cooper wrote in to ask if I thought there was a difference between the Redskins early in the season, when they were winning close games, and the Redskins now, when they are losing close games.
I asked the same question on Sunday. I just think these games hinge on one or two plays, and in those early games, the Redskins either made the play, or were fortunate the other team didn't, and the opposite is happening now. I don't think the team is any worse now then they were then, nor do I think they were any better then than they are now. They could just as easily be 8-3 as 3-8. As it is, they're 5-6 and would be 6-5 if not for the blown call against the Bucs. And that seems about right.
Against the Bears, Washington had a late interception that sealed the game when Chicago looked like they were driving for the game-winning score. The next week in Dallas, Roy Williams missed an easy pick on one play and was burned on two subsequent ones, after perfect passes from Mark Brunell. Versus Seattle, the 'Skins got fairly lucky that Mike Holmgren played for a 40-yard FG instead of trying to get closer. Josh Brown missed and the Redskins won in overtime. Then, in the Philly game, the 'Skins sacked Donovan McNabb on a 4th down play near the goal line when a touchdown would have given the Eagles the win.
Four games, four crucial plays, four wins.
But then there's these:
Broncos: Robert Royal trips, clogging up the passing lane he was supposed to have cleared, which left Ian Gold in position to deflect Brunell's pass on the potential game-tying two-point conversion.
Chiefs: Brunell's late 4th quarter 4th-down pass to Santana Moss is just off his fingertips.
Bucs: Mike Alstott is stuffed on the goal line, yet the ref on the other side of the field signals touchdown. The play before, the Redskins were ruled off-sides on a blocked extra point, when replays conclusively show the Tampa long snapper shifted the ball, thus inducing the Washington players' encroachment.
Raiders: Brunell gets sacked and fumbles with under 30 seconds as the Redskins are driving for a game-tying FG.
Chargers: Casey Rabach stupidly tackles a trailing defender, incurs a 10-yard penalty, thus knocking the Redskins out of field goal range.
Five games, five crucial plays, five losses.
Like I wrote on Monday, people want to read so much into these wins and losses. And sure, there are dozens of important plays in a game that eventually determine the outcome. The Redskins shouldn't have let Chris Simms and Kerry Collins torch them through the air. They could have converted on 3rd and short in both the Bucs and Chargers games to seal a victory. They could have filled their gaps on Tatum Bell's two long TD runs in the Denver game. This is all true, but so is the fact that even with these mistakes, Washington was within one play of winning all those games. They didn't, so they lost. Is this a reflection on the direction of the organization or Joe Gibbs coaching abilities? I don't think so. The trendy stat to know around D.C. these days is that Steve Spurrier's record through his first 27 games with the Redskins is identical to that of Joe Gibbs during his second-time around. But anyone who honestly thinks this Redskins team isn't a much better team than Spurrier's squad doesn't know what they're talking about.
Put it this way; if the NFC East were matched up against, say, the AFC East this season instead of the AFC West, the Redskins probably would have been 2-2 in interconference games, instead of 0-4 and would be in prime position for a playoff spot.
Scheduling is so crucial in the NFL, yet is always overlooked when discussing a team's season. If the Jacksonville Jaguars make the playoffs it will be entirely due to their weak schedule, while the Chargers might miss out because of their brutal one. You have to play the hand that's dealt, but that doesn't make it any less important.
Back to the Redskins, they are 1-1 in two blowouts this year (they dominated the Niners and got killed by the Giants) and 4-5 in games that you can seriously look at and say, "if one play turns out differently, things could go the other way." And that's the NFL season in a nutshell. You have to make plays. You have to execute. You have to get calls. And sometimes you have to get a little lucky.
I think the 'Skins luck evening out is sort of the law of averages in effect, but in a 16-game schedule, that doesn't always happen.
The Washington Nationals know all about it. They had a ridiculous record in one-run games before the All-Star break and an abysmal record in those games afterwards. Statistics showed the Nats couldn't be as good as they were early or as bad as they were late. Things just evened out. Just like the Redskins record.

- The NBA season is still in the early stages of its seemingly endless season, but that doesn’t make the following fact any less remarkable: If the playoffs began today, the New Orleans Hornets would be the 8th seed in the West.
This won’t last, of course, but for the Hornets to be at .500 through 14 games is a remarkable achievement in itself. Forced to Oklahoma City because of Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets were picked by nearly all NBA analysts to be the worst team in the Western Conference this season. And those that didn’t pick New Orleans/Oklahoma City to finish last had them second-to-last, at best.
The one reason for the Hornets torrid start: Chris Paul. The rookie point guard out of Wake Forest has been the team’s primary playmaker and is making the Hawks and Jazz sorry they passed him over in the June NBA Draft.
Paul leads all rookies in points, assists and steals and is 11th in the league in assists and 6th in steals as well. He is the Hornets MVP and if Paul can keep them at or near .500, there’s a great chance the Rookie/Sophomore Shootout won’t be his only game on All-Star weekend.

- If I were picking college games this weekend, there's little doubt I'd choose USC and Texas to win their respective contests. Yet, I can't help but think one of them is going to lose. Yes, the smart money is on USC and Texas to meet in the Rose Bowl. I'm hoping it happens too. But I'm not going to assume they will until it's official. Strange things happen in college football, especially when everybody pencils two teams in for a game months in advance, like nearly everyone has done with Texas and USC. Both teams are overwhelming favorites on Saturday and will likely win, but why nobody in even considering the fact that one of them could lose is absurd. Consider:
1) Doesn't this always seem to happen?
2) How many times in the past seven years has a huge favorite been upset in the Big 12 title game (remember when everyone said Oklahoma was the best team in college football history and they then proceeded to lose by 28 points to Kansas State)?
3) How often has the BCS worked as perfectly as it's on track to this year?
4) And how many times has a Mack Brown team lost a huge game they're supposed to win.
5) Vince Young is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.
6) The story inside SI is a fawning profile of Brown that essentially says he's finally gotten Texas over the hump.
Jeez, even Shakespeare plays don't contain this much foreshadowing.