Monday, October 11, 2004
From what I saw yesterday
The Seattle Seahawks are still quite far away from being a Superbowl contender. This year's essoteric pick in the NFC, their blunder of a loss yesterday against the St. Louis Rams highlighted the two major problems I have with them.
1. Great teams know how to finish. Seattle was ahead 27-10 in the 3rd quarter. They were dominating, suffocating, they looked like they could've scored 40+. But, instead, they sat back on their heels and went into conservative mode (e.g. play not to lose mode rather than play to win) and guess what? They couldn't do anything. Mike Holmgren got outcoached in the second half by Mike Martz of all people (Mike Martz!). He's an offensive wiz, yeah, but the guy can't manage a game to save his life. Seattle thought their 17 point lead with 30 minutes to play was cushy enough. No Superbowl caliber team plays that way. You play hard for 60 minutes. Period.
2. Their defense is still a bit suspect. When you have a lead like they did against St. Louis, um, don't you think that the Rams are going to throw the ball?! I mean, crap, this is the Rams we're talking about. All they know how to do is go for the big score. Knowing full well that the Rams would go that way, the Seattle defense (thought to be vaunted earlier this season) folded like a house of cards. You have to play D if you're going to win, especially with less than five minutes to play. Boom -- Rams touchdown -- Boom -- Rams touchdown -- Boom -- Rams tying field goal -- Boom -- Rams touchdown in OT. It happened that fast. For a team that "knows how to win at home," Seattle really dropped the ball yesterday.
Elsewhere, leave it to the Arizona freaking Cardinals to blow my Four Mortal Locks prediction (posted earlier). I didn't watch this one, but Arizona had a Seattle-style meltdown in allowing San Francisco to come back from 2+ touchdowns behind and clip them in overtime.
Another game that went overtime that highlighted a team as a pretender rather than a contender: Minnesota vs. Houston. Not that I ever believed for the last four years that Minnesota is a contender, but all those Viking honks seem to be out in full force again this season and I can't fathom why. Houston was toast until late in the fourth quarter when they managed an improbable two late touchdown scores in the final three minutes. I mentioned it while shitting on Seattle: 1) Good teams know how to finish. 2) Good teams play tough defense, especially in the final minutes of the game. Minnesota had an effective running game yesterday, too. So I don't want to hear them bitching about any injuries.
How about those New England Patriots? They beat a hapless Miami team yesterday, yes, but it was for a record 19th consecutive victory dating back to last season (counting the playoffs). I'm prepared to give them the Superbowl right now. Guess who they're playing next week? Seattle. I think the Pats are going to rock them.
Raiders... well... it was ugly. Penalties killed them along with more poor play from Kerry Collins. We all saw this wreck coming from a mile away. Indy 35 - Raiders 14.
Oh and by the way, shhhh. These teams are all playing good football under the radar: Pittsburgh, NY Jets, and the NY Giants.
Okay, that was football. On to baseball.
Didn't catch much this weekend, but I saw Houston's golden chance to knock out Atlanta slip through their fingers. Now they'll have to play a decisive game 5. Still like Houston to pull it off.
Dodgers flamed out as I said they would. No one is stopping St. Louis. At least not in the National League.
Fox gets its dream matchup: Red Sox vs. Yankees. I expect this one to go seven games with NY somehow winning. There will be at least three brawls through out the course of the series, two walk-off home runs, and one shutout.
Soccer:
Didn't watch any of these, but just checked some World Cup qualifying scores from this past weekend. South Africa wins (yay!) and so does the US (yay!). Pleased about those.
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1. Great teams know how to finish. Seattle was ahead 27-10 in the 3rd quarter. They were dominating, suffocating, they looked like they could've scored 40+. But, instead, they sat back on their heels and went into conservative mode (e.g. play not to lose mode rather than play to win) and guess what? They couldn't do anything. Mike Holmgren got outcoached in the second half by Mike Martz of all people (Mike Martz!). He's an offensive wiz, yeah, but the guy can't manage a game to save his life. Seattle thought their 17 point lead with 30 minutes to play was cushy enough. No Superbowl caliber team plays that way. You play hard for 60 minutes. Period.
2. Their defense is still a bit suspect. When you have a lead like they did against St. Louis, um, don't you think that the Rams are going to throw the ball?! I mean, crap, this is the Rams we're talking about. All they know how to do is go for the big score. Knowing full well that the Rams would go that way, the Seattle defense (thought to be vaunted earlier this season) folded like a house of cards. You have to play D if you're going to win, especially with less than five minutes to play. Boom -- Rams touchdown -- Boom -- Rams touchdown -- Boom -- Rams tying field goal -- Boom -- Rams touchdown in OT. It happened that fast. For a team that "knows how to win at home," Seattle really dropped the ball yesterday.
Elsewhere, leave it to the Arizona freaking Cardinals to blow my Four Mortal Locks prediction (posted earlier). I didn't watch this one, but Arizona had a Seattle-style meltdown in allowing San Francisco to come back from 2+ touchdowns behind and clip them in overtime.
Another game that went overtime that highlighted a team as a pretender rather than a contender: Minnesota vs. Houston. Not that I ever believed for the last four years that Minnesota is a contender, but all those Viking honks seem to be out in full force again this season and I can't fathom why. Houston was toast until late in the fourth quarter when they managed an improbable two late touchdown scores in the final three minutes. I mentioned it while shitting on Seattle: 1) Good teams know how to finish. 2) Good teams play tough defense, especially in the final minutes of the game. Minnesota had an effective running game yesterday, too. So I don't want to hear them bitching about any injuries.
How about those New England Patriots? They beat a hapless Miami team yesterday, yes, but it was for a record 19th consecutive victory dating back to last season (counting the playoffs). I'm prepared to give them the Superbowl right now. Guess who they're playing next week? Seattle. I think the Pats are going to rock them.
Raiders... well... it was ugly. Penalties killed them along with more poor play from Kerry Collins. We all saw this wreck coming from a mile away. Indy 35 - Raiders 14.
Oh and by the way, shhhh. These teams are all playing good football under the radar: Pittsburgh, NY Jets, and the NY Giants.
Okay, that was football. On to baseball.
Didn't catch much this weekend, but I saw Houston's golden chance to knock out Atlanta slip through their fingers. Now they'll have to play a decisive game 5. Still like Houston to pull it off.
Dodgers flamed out as I said they would. No one is stopping St. Louis. At least not in the National League.
Fox gets its dream matchup: Red Sox vs. Yankees. I expect this one to go seven games with NY somehow winning. There will be at least three brawls through out the course of the series, two walk-off home runs, and one shutout.
Soccer:
Didn't watch any of these, but just checked some World Cup qualifying scores from this past weekend. South Africa wins (yay!) and so does the US (yay!). Pleased about those.
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