Senser81
VSN Poster of the Year
Was super busy on Sunday, so I didn't get to watch much of the NFL. I did spend a good deal of time watching college games on Saturday, so my thoughts will be NCAA heavy this week...
NFL
*Watched an uninspiring Packers-Lions game. The only consistent offense for either side was Stafford lobbing the ball up to Calvin Johnson, but after initial success Detroit inexplicable got away from that, and in the process probably cost themselves the season. The Packers are still trying to find some balance on offense. I was impressed with their defense considering so many of their players are out with injury. With idiot teams like New Orleans and Tampa sneaking up in the NFC playoff picture, and that horrible tie-breaker loss to Seattle, GB will have to continue to win to make the postseason.
*Chad Henne was better in college than Blaine Gabbert. Chad Henne is better in the NFL than Blaine Gabbert. Chad Henne has been effective at the NFL level. So why has he been sitting on the bench in Jacksonville all year? The biggest beneficiary of Henne's insertion in the lineup is #1 pick Justin Blackmon...who went from his typical 2 catch, 24 yards statline to a 275 yard game. If Jacksonville had any sense and had played Henne all year long, they could still be in the AFC wildcard hunt considering how poor the conference is this year.
*Side note from that Texans-Jags game, Matt Schaub threw for 527 yards but was still 27 yards short of the single game record...set back in 1951 by Norm Van Brocklin. Of all the old records still on the books, this one is the most amazing to me. With teams regularly throwing 75-80% of the time, you'd think Van Brocklin's record would have fallen by now. BTW, Van Brocklin is still the only starting QB in history to win titles with two different franchises, which is another weird thing to me.
NCAA
*Baylor usually plays them tough, but KSU got destroyed by Baylor. I couldn't believe how bad KSU's defense was. I've only seen KSU play one other time, and that was against Oklahoma. It seemed like KSU couldn't account for Baylor's running QB, whereas Oklahoma's QB isn't the running thread.
*Big10 football is pretty messed up. They won't have the normal allotment of bowl eligible teams, and that includes Minnesota somehow being bowl eligible. Michigan State might not end up with enough wins, and even if they do, after such a disappointing season, what MSU fan would travel to the Beef O'Brady Bowl? I think if Wisconsin loses their next game, they'll still play in the conference title game, and if they win they'll automatically go to the Rose Bowl, even though they'll be 7-5. Its kind of funny in a way, because with their 2 best teams on probation (PSU and OSU), all the other Big10 bowl spots get moved up 2 notches, meaning an overachieving Northwestern team might get the #2 or #3 bowl bid, where they would have to face an Alabama or an LSU. In sum, the Big10 is going to get killed in their bowl games this year.
*West Virginia might not even be bowl eligible if they lose to Iowa State. What a terrible way to end the year.
*Stanford-Oregon was a great game. Stanford's defense was very disciplined and didn't give Oregon any open running lanes. One of the big plays of the game was early on when the Oregon QB appeared to have an open lane for a 90-yard TD run, but the Oregon WR decided not to block the last remaining Stanford defender, and instead was running about 5 yards in front of the QB. The Stanford guy made the tackle, the Oregon coach decided to forgo a FG and was stopped on 4th down, and Oregon left with no points. Stanford was dicing up Oregon's defense, then they decided to have their unathletic QB run some option plays. He was blasted a few plays in a row, and his passing wasn't the same afterwards. I still don't understand how the officials could have overturned the late Stanford TD/incompletion, but I guess even if it were incomplete Stanford still would have had a couple more downs to score.
*Oregon had the double-whammy put on them...they somehow dropped below other one loss teams like Alabama (!), Georgia (!!), and unbelieveably Florida (!!!), and their next opponent is another physical team, Oregon State. Could be a tough uphill climb for Oregon to get back into the national championship picture.
NFL
*Watched an uninspiring Packers-Lions game. The only consistent offense for either side was Stafford lobbing the ball up to Calvin Johnson, but after initial success Detroit inexplicable got away from that, and in the process probably cost themselves the season. The Packers are still trying to find some balance on offense. I was impressed with their defense considering so many of their players are out with injury. With idiot teams like New Orleans and Tampa sneaking up in the NFC playoff picture, and that horrible tie-breaker loss to Seattle, GB will have to continue to win to make the postseason.
*Chad Henne was better in college than Blaine Gabbert. Chad Henne is better in the NFL than Blaine Gabbert. Chad Henne has been effective at the NFL level. So why has he been sitting on the bench in Jacksonville all year? The biggest beneficiary of Henne's insertion in the lineup is #1 pick Justin Blackmon...who went from his typical 2 catch, 24 yards statline to a 275 yard game. If Jacksonville had any sense and had played Henne all year long, they could still be in the AFC wildcard hunt considering how poor the conference is this year.
*Side note from that Texans-Jags game, Matt Schaub threw for 527 yards but was still 27 yards short of the single game record...set back in 1951 by Norm Van Brocklin. Of all the old records still on the books, this one is the most amazing to me. With teams regularly throwing 75-80% of the time, you'd think Van Brocklin's record would have fallen by now. BTW, Van Brocklin is still the only starting QB in history to win titles with two different franchises, which is another weird thing to me.
NCAA
*Baylor usually plays them tough, but KSU got destroyed by Baylor. I couldn't believe how bad KSU's defense was. I've only seen KSU play one other time, and that was against Oklahoma. It seemed like KSU couldn't account for Baylor's running QB, whereas Oklahoma's QB isn't the running thread.
*Big10 football is pretty messed up. They won't have the normal allotment of bowl eligible teams, and that includes Minnesota somehow being bowl eligible. Michigan State might not end up with enough wins, and even if they do, after such a disappointing season, what MSU fan would travel to the Beef O'Brady Bowl? I think if Wisconsin loses their next game, they'll still play in the conference title game, and if they win they'll automatically go to the Rose Bowl, even though they'll be 7-5. Its kind of funny in a way, because with their 2 best teams on probation (PSU and OSU), all the other Big10 bowl spots get moved up 2 notches, meaning an overachieving Northwestern team might get the #2 or #3 bowl bid, where they would have to face an Alabama or an LSU. In sum, the Big10 is going to get killed in their bowl games this year.
*West Virginia might not even be bowl eligible if they lose to Iowa State. What a terrible way to end the year.
*Stanford-Oregon was a great game. Stanford's defense was very disciplined and didn't give Oregon any open running lanes. One of the big plays of the game was early on when the Oregon QB appeared to have an open lane for a 90-yard TD run, but the Oregon WR decided not to block the last remaining Stanford defender, and instead was running about 5 yards in front of the QB. The Stanford guy made the tackle, the Oregon coach decided to forgo a FG and was stopped on 4th down, and Oregon left with no points. Stanford was dicing up Oregon's defense, then they decided to have their unathletic QB run some option plays. He was blasted a few plays in a row, and his passing wasn't the same afterwards. I still don't understand how the officials could have overturned the late Stanford TD/incompletion, but I guess even if it were incomplete Stanford still would have had a couple more downs to score.
*Oregon had the double-whammy put on them...they somehow dropped below other one loss teams like Alabama (!), Georgia (!!), and unbelieveably Florida (!!!), and their next opponent is another physical team, Oregon State. Could be a tough uphill climb for Oregon to get back into the national championship picture.
