Victorious

I was more relieved than impressed with Missouri's 30-23 overtime win over Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl. All year Missouri backers have had to answer the question "Is this team really that good?" We found out conclusively that they were not as good as advertised. Chase Daniel engineered his first comeback victory at Missouri. That was surprising. That the team settled for a fairly long field goal at the end of regulation instead of trying to get closer was a little shocking. Jeff Wolfert may be the most accurate kicker in NCAA history, but we're talking a lot of extra points. He hadn't missed a kick in Big 12 play until this year.

Having a 10-win season is good, although there were 14 total games. Until Monday night's triumph, Missouri's best 2008 wins are at Nebraska and at home against Nevada and Buffalo. Every team with a better or even record beat the Tigers.

Who's coming back for 2009? The Tigers will have an experienced offensive line. Linebacker Sean Witherspoon says he is coming back, which is a good thing on a defense with few playmakers. There are 22 departing seniors. Michael Egnew and Andrew Jones will take over for Chase Coffman. Blaine Gabbert is the heir apparent at QB with little to no competition. Jared Perry and Tommy Saunders will have to hold their wideout spots with youngsters Wes Kemp, Jerrell Jackson, and Forrest Shock needing to step up. Losing William Moore at safety is huge. Wolfert graduating means that we could be back to the days when any field goal attempt for the Tigers was an adventure.

Next year's schedule looks like the usual Illinois plus three scrubs. Going to Reno won't be easy. Other than that, it's the same conference schedule (even the same order of games) as last year. Don't expect Missouri to be on any preseason magazines next summer.

For the last

In a They Might Be Giants tribute song to the Homestar Runner character Strongbad, the prickly character hears the first few words of the song and replies "Vomit inducing. My favorite."

Welcome to the 2008 Alamo sponsored by a company no one's ever heard of. It's sickeningly familiar to watch Missouri's offense struggle and the defense give up chunks of yardage. Chase Daniel threw two interceptions, one on a play in which two receivers ended up at the same spot and deflected the ball to a defender. There were three neutral zone infractions. The running game was a joke. Only Jeremy Maclin, soon to be the player the Dolphins thought Ted Ginn would be, saved the half with a breathtaking punt return. I think he traveled the 75 yards on two seconds.

Naturally, the man with a 40 time on par with Chris Johnson has averaged about five yards a touch outside of the punt return TD. Missouri is known for the dink and dunk approach. I'd like to see a few downfield attempts.

It's a jersey thing

A chat with one of my co-workers faded from NFL playoff talk to the jerseys that we both own. I am not terribly proud that as a 34-year-old sports fan that I own about 20 different jerseys. Nearly all of them are "out of date."

Yesterday I wore my authentic red practice Vince Young jersey to the Don Funk Sports Bar. It's a sweet looking jersey and I kind of with the Titans would go with the red jersey look (as long as they don't wear the matching pants like the Texans). The problem is, he might as well be an ex-Titan. At this point there's about a 10% chance that he's either going to wrest the starting job from Collins next year or that he'll take over after Collins retires in a year or two. Yeah, I see the Titans giving Collins a two-year extension.

My Chase Daniel Missouri Tigers jersey is about 12 hours from being obsolete. I may wear it now and again like my Brad Smith (pretty much gathering dust). I do have a Kellen Winslow jersey from the 1979 Liberty Bowl that's still kind of appropriate. At least with college guys you know when they're going to leave. With the pros, you could have a trade, release, or demotion.

Will there be a Blaine Gabbert jersey in my future? The Smith/Daniel era is a rare one in college with two starting quarterbacks spanning seven years. Daniel pretty much obliterated all of Smith's records short of the rushing ones. The team didn't reach preseason hopes, but all in all, a potential 30 wins in three years ain't bad.

One

One of my favorite college basketball rules is the one and one. When a guy is forced to make his first free throw in order to get the second, there's extra pressure on the first shot. That's where the Titans stand, except there's is a one and one and one (or one, one, and one).

Today's game was a farce. I think the NFL should offer partial refunds for these preseason-esque games. Fans pay top dollar to see Manning and Chris Johnson and even Kerry Collins. When they get the Jim Sorgi show and the Titans don't care show, it's a shame. Sure, you can look at the Steelers, who collectively swallowed their tongues as Roethisberger was carted off the field on their pointless win over the Browns. There's too much at stake to take chances, but the fans deserve better.

It lines up like this. The Titans will play the Ravens, the Colts, or the Chargers. I don't see the Broncos making a rally in tonight's game. Bringing in the Ravens will remind fans of the terrible divisional playoff loss in 2001. We all should have known in that moment that 2001 was not going to be a good year. The Colts last lost a game to the Titans in late October, so a rematch would be perfect. The Chargers ended the Titans' season last year. So there's a lot on the line.

It was an enjoyable final regular season day at the Don Funk Sports Bar. The games were not all they could be. The Bears blew a shot at a playoff game thanks to epic chokes by the Cowboys and Bucs. The Titans were shut out for the first time in a long time. I wonder when was the last time a Super Bowl champ was shut out in its final regular season game. Ugh.

I really think that the division champ shouldn't get an automatic home game. If the Chargers have four fewer wins than the Colts, the Chargers should travel. So should the Cardinals in their game against the Falcons. The Colts are going to be one of the best Wild Card teams since, uh oh, the Ravens in 2001. The Titans in 2000 weren't too shabby either. Note that the last three Super Bowl champs have played on Wild Card weekend.

Congratulations to Chris Henry for being active in a game for the first time since last year. Hold on to your game jersey, because it's doubtful that will happen again.

It's official. The Titans will host the afternoon game on January 10. I prefer a little sun to no sun at all. Speaking of playoff memories, the last time the Titans hosted a divisional playoff game, it was the late afternoon game against the Steelers. That's the kind of memory I'd like to keep with me.

The end is near

This weekend represents the last full weekend of NFL football in 2008. Let's take a moment for a collective sigh. For true NFL fans, this weekend will trigger flashbacks. We will be reminded of week four of the preseason. The Lions were undefeated and most teams played scrub-ball for full price. The same thing's going to happen in a lot of NFL stadia this weekend.

Titans/Colts will not be a replay of last year's game. Last year, much was made over the Colts playing second stringers for most of the game. Browns fans in particular were incensed. Hey Browns fans, remember losing to the Bengals? You should remember since the Bengals doubled their win total against you last week. I know, I wouldn't wish Ken Dorsey on my worst enemy. In short, starters may play in this game, but they won't finish. Vince Young will play against the same defense that Kerry Collins moved on last January. Chris Henry might see the field. The defensive line backup team will play the entire game. Tony Brown might be the only DL starter to play.

Actually six of this weekend's games have zero playoff potential. Ten out of 16 ain't so bad. Out of the ten, only three feature both teams with playoff potential. We'll all be watching Miami/New York, Dallas/Philadelphia, and Denver/San Diego. Only the night game features two teams that know if they win, they're in.

I expect that at the Don Funk Sports Bar we're going to see a lot of Giants/Vikings and Bears/Texans. Hey Bears, take it easy on Forte. I need him next year. This could be a rare tripleheader at casa de Funk. As we all know, after this weekend there are 11 games left. Sigh.

Walking up the hill

It's the hill that gets you. Walking up the hill heading away from LP Field in Nashville can go one of two ways. If the Titans lose, it's the longest half mile of your life. If the Titans win, it feels like you're walking downhill.

The hill had a second benefit yesterday. It let me get feeling back into my feet. In the coldest football game I attended since the 2003 Divisional Playoffs, the Titans stood tall and told the ranking maven sportswriters to stuff it. We learned again on Sunday that teams who play well in December will play deep into January.

Ben Roethlisberger is a great quarterback. He's the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl and was the clear favorite by Steeler nation yesterday. He can't do it by himself. Don't get me wrong, he has some great receivers. His running backs aren't going to win any playoff games. I would take the University of Oklahoma's offensive line over the one the Steelers trotted out 30 hours ago. I will give their OL credit. They're pretty good at recovering Roethlisberger's fumbles. And Michael Griffin was tackled by an offensive lineman on one of his two interceptions.

When Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward to take a 14-10 lead, Titan fans were a little nervous. There were 10,000 Terrible Towels in the stadium. Steeler Nation didn't have Titan fans outnumbered, but they certainly had them outliquored and outweighed. At that point in the game, the Steelers were a missed field goal and an ill-advised Roethlisberger scramble from a 20-10 lead.

This is familiar territory. The Titans scored 21 straight points. The offense was the first to exceed 300 yards against the Steelers. Chris Johnson and LenDale White combined for 80 second-half rushing yards and two critical touchdowns. Johnson's 20-yard scamper on fourth down and White's two-yard run after a Steeler penalty on fourth down were the plays of the second half. Griffin picked two passes off and ran about 120 yards on his statistical 82-yard return that finally iced the game.

Let's sidestep the obvious. The Titans' D-line is deep. Kerry Collins can make plays when he's accurate. Justin Gage is capable of not dropping the ball. Chris Johnson is wicked quick. The secondary was the key unit in the game. Most of the sacks and fumbles on Roethlisberger were of the coverage variety. Pressure increased as the Titans took the lead and the offensive line tired. Griffin, Hope, Harper, and Finnegan were the MVPs. Roethlisberger threw for more than 300 yards but no one cheering for Pittsburgh cared. He made mistakes and the Titans benefited. It was because of the back-end coverage.

At this point, I don't care who the Titans play in a very likely Saturday night prime-time affair on January 10. The wild-card winner will have to hit hard and early, because once this team gets momentum, it's game over.

It was cold and it was windy. The sun went behind the stands in the second half. It's all so much more tolerable with a win.

I have a 33-point lead in my z17 matchup. My opponent has Matt Forte, Greg Olsen, Adewale Ogunleye, and A.J. Hawk. I have Greg Jennings and Lance Briggs. I could use a solid 20 points from my guys to feel good. In the AUFL, my team is losing by 58 by the team that finished with the worst record in the league. It's time to regroup for 2009.

Titans/Steelers Weekend

This weekend will represent my fourth Titans/Steelers contest in Nashville. In 1999 there were 17 family and friends attending the game. I wore Steelers colors and it was odd that my parents decided to cheer for the Titans. It was a good move as the Titans prevailed. In 2002 I watched the Titans destroy Tommy Maddox and the Steelers. Maddox had that horrific neck injury and Kordell Stewart came off the bench to score some garbage points.

The playoff game later that year was the classic. The Titans roared to a 14-0 lead but typical Fisher ball let the Steelers back in the game. I got into my first argument with a fellow fan after Eddie George fumbled. He clearly was knocked out on the play but the other fan thought he should have held onto the ball while unconscious. It was the coldest game I had ever attended. Day turned into night and Joe Nedney missed two field goals before making the third for the win. My wife to be got bronchitis.

There is a lot at stake in this week’s game. The winner is likely the home field advantage holder in the AFC. I ask NFL fans, though. Do you want to see games like during the Patriots’ heyday, when their field was little better than a muddy ice rink designed to shut down the Colts? That’s what Heinz Field will be in January. The Pats moved on to Field Turf and hopefully the Steelers will follow suit. I don’t know about the rest of you but I like it when football players have traction. I don’t expect LP Field to be similar to the greens at Augusta. I think running backs will be able to cut and Titan receivers will be able to round off their routes like they always do.

We’ve been in the 60s here in Atlanta for three days. On Sunday in Nashville it’s going to be in the 30s with wind and possibly snow. The wife is not going to attend. I don’t blame her, and am a little jealous. It’s the last home regular season game of the year. I watched last year’s terrible yet victorious finale against the Jets. Could this year’s game be a repeat? I kind of hope so.

The one that got away

Jeff Fisher is a genius. He purposely didn't go for the game-winning field goal in the waning moments of the Texans game to accomplish two goals. Goal one was to make next week's game against the Steelers mean something. Goal two was to give the Steelers that little bit extra needed to somehow score the game-winning touchdown pass. Hey Ravens fans, did that look a little bit like what the Titans did to you earlier this year? I'm just sayin'.

There is no good explanation why Fisher passed on the field goal when Bironas made an even longer kick earlier in the game. In fact, had Bironas attempted and made the kick, he would have kicked 13 field goals in the past two games against the Texans.

Fisher said that he regretted passing on having the wind at the Titans' back for the fourth quarter. I guess the kick was out of Bironas's range from his point of view. OK, but throwing a streak to Justin McCareins wasn't the best play in the book. The Texans must have seen what the Titans have seen all year, and left McCareins open all day. He didn't come through that often.

It's weird how the team abandons the run when they're behind. Chris Johnson was stuffed at times yet averaged 5 yards a carry. I thought he'd be a bigger part of the offense down the stretch, especially when the Titans had the ball at the Texan 40 with three minutes to go.

The season's going one of two ways. Either we're in the midst of a season-ending collapse that we'll second-guess for the rest of our lives. I mean seriously, how many more times will the Titans be in this position. The other option is that like the 2005 White Sox, the Titans will come close to blowing it, only to persevere in the end. Lose to the Steelers next week and we're looking at the former.

Albert Haynesworth could miss some time, and that's not going to help. The Titans might be able to get pressure on Roethlisberger even without Haynesworth and VandenBosch. I'll be at the game, and much less confident than I was before today's game.

It's always hard losing games like this. Teams on "magical" runs don't lose games like this.

Feeling Forte's pain

It only took one carry for Matt Forte to make me feel the pain that fantasy football has brought to me all year. Forte left the game after the first Bear offensive play of the game. I only have Forte in one league's loser bracket, but it's important. I'm trying to avoid the last-place game for the fourth straight year. My loser playoff skills have been as apparent as the Eagles hosting the NFC Championship game.

Forte returned in the second quarter and scored a touchdown. I should be safe, since my opponent is currently starting Matt Hasselback at quarterback. This is the same team that finished with one more win than me, yet lost by an average of 47 points a game. I defeated this team by 54 points, and that was my only out of division victory all year. In order to ensure my victory (my team is favored by 39 points by the ever-drunk CBS Sportsline preview machine), I had to protest two roster moves that our Commish made this week. Yes, I was afraid of Seneca Wallace and Reggie Williams.

Lance Moore is one guy in his starting lineup this week. During the game Chris Collinsworth mentioned how Moore and Pierre Thomas were undrafted free agents who are now starters for the Saints. Doesn't that just mean that the guys they drafted suck? The Saints took Robert Meachem at wideout, and I like them wasted a first round draft pick on him. The Saints also drafted Antonio Pittman at running back in the fourth round, and released him at the end of last year's training camp to keep Thomas.

So far the Saints look like a team that wins every other game and is a very different team on the road. Their only TD was on a one-yard drive. I don't think the winner of this game is a playoff team no matter who wins.

I have one team left in the fantasy playoffs. That means I need to focus on, sigh, the real games. I expect the Titans to struggle in Houston, but as usual, they will pull out the victory. I do want next week's showdown with the Steelers to mean something. Fisher won't bench his starters even if the Titans clinch a playoff spot, but he may end up not playing them very long.

It's funny that the sportswriters insisted that the Yankees should try to develop young players rather than go with the quick fix through free agency. The first thing they do is overpay C.C. Sabathia, who wanted another team to make a competitive offer. Seven years, $160 million. So much for the economy.

I'll end by shouting out to the Don Funk Sports Bar. Don refused to start the Bears defense this week in a critical playoff matchup. Remember this, Don, when you draft in the middle of the first round next year and complain because I have a high draft pick due to my amazing suckitude.

Matt Forte has eleven total yards of offense, yet I am confident that he will score 20 points for me tonight. That's my final answer.

Loss Leader

For the fourth consecutive year, I will not be in the AUFL playoffs. After crowing about how my team was in the top half of points scored in the league, I finished in 8th, which represents the last playoff spot. I didn't lose my final game due to starting the Giants D over the Colts or by starting Brett Favre over Philip Rivers. I lost by 18 and those moves would have netted me 16 and 17 points, respectively. Like in most alternative history novels, it's a bit much to ask for two major changes.

I did get lucky by matching up with the worst team in the league in the "opening round" of our loser playoffs. The "winner" of these playoffs gets the number one draft pick next year. The "loser" gets their team renamed. It's not pretty.

What did we learn this week in the NFL? December is tough. The Jets were the league's darlings and then tanked two in a row. The Giants were clearly the best team in the league and had no answers for the Eagles and Brian Westbrook. The Falcons couldn't win in New Orleans. The Cowboys choked away a winnable game. The Titans are the class of the AFC. I can't vouch for whether they will play that way in the playoffs. The Steelers and Ravens look like the toughest possible opponents. It's good that they get to beat up on each other next weekend.

Sadly, it's almost time to start thinking about 2009. I can't wait for the "when are the Titans going to have a bona fide receiver?" stories.

One final note on why pro is better than college: It's never clear who the best team in college football. The most frustrating item, the polls, is what makes the sport so compelling. The writers contribute to the polls, and what they compose leaves an impression that helps influence the polls. In the NFL, every half-rate writer comes up with a league "power ranking". The best part is those rankings mean nothing besides creating water-cooler discussions. The best team is the team that wins. There are no style points. No coach feels like he has to score that extra touchdown in garbage time. Just win. Mike Tomlin called yesterday's win over the Cowboys "beautiful football" and he was right.

Champions at last

The Titans are the AFC South champs. It was a dominating victory over the team that competed with the Titans for last year's final playoff berth.

It was the third dual-100 yard game of the year (SI box score says White had 99 rushing yards). LenDale White and Chris Johnson have an outside chance of being the first dual 1000-yard rushers for an NFL team in more than 20 years. Johnson became the third 1,000-yard rushing rookie in franchise history. Both Eddie George and Earl Campbell finished their careers north of 10,000 career rushing yards. Have we seen the next one?

It was a sloppy victory. The Browns led 6-0 due to two Collins' inteceptions and a White fumble. Collins hit eight different receivers. The defense stood up and didn't give up a touchdown. Ken Dorsey never had a chance.

Most "division champs" merchandise is premature at best, since the real goal is winning a league championship. It has been six years, so I might get a shirt. I want to commemorate this season that's far from over.

Thank you, distraction

In the middle of another Missouri meltdown, the holiday party I attended shifted to playing Scene It on the football TV. I was grateful.

I will give Gary Pinkel credit for not wearing the visor at the Big 12 Championship game. Let's be honest, the only Big 12 title game that would have been worth a crap was Texas/Oklahoma. Sometimes the best two teams in a conference are not the division champs. Alabama and Florida were clearly the best in the SEC. Boston College and Virginia Tech were the best in their divisions for a week and that's enough for the ACC. I'm pretty sure that Ball State was the best team in the MAC to a level that a championship game was mostly superfluous. No one told Buffalo.

Sam Bradford is really good, but I think a dozen quarterbacks in the country could put up similar numbers with that offensive line. I don't think any other QB could do what Tim Teabow has done at Florida.

Even though Oklahoma has scored on everyone, it hurt to see that level of destruction. I hope that they get a bowl matchup that's more favorable than anyone on par with a Big 12 school.

Best Distraction Ever

I'll keep saying that my best athletic achievement in the past month was beating Sweden 18-6 in Nintendo Ice Hockey. We made a family purchase of a Wii system last weekend. The first thing I did was go online and load the game to my system. It's pretty cool that you can get these games, and another revenue stream for Wii, which is inventing new ways to get lots of money from users. Every game has its own controller or control extension.

The "genius" of the Wii is the ability to mimic real action. Naturally I wanted to play the old-school game that nearly tore my thumb off. I must have had calluses back in the day. I had a few heated contests with the Czechs before finally prevailing. Then I turned up the heat by moving the game speed up to "2" and crushed the poor Swedes.

I was halfway through setting my playoff lineup in z17 before realizing that I had a bye week. Oh well. I'm trying to finish my AUFL season with a three-game winning streak. Sweeping my division opponents will give me a small measure of satisfaction. If I can follow that up with a Colt .45 (losers bracket) title that would be a five-game streak going into 2009. I'd be unstoppable.

I think it's funny how in z34, next to Shaun Alexander's name is "bye." He was released by the Redskins and his maroon jersey should be available as a throwback curiosity one of these days. Marion Barber's my top RB and he's injured. Not only that, he faces the Steelers. I may pass on Barber and start Peyton Hillis and Sammy Morris. Hillis was the last of four Denver running backs on my roster. One finally panned out.

One downside of having a dynasty roster is that you have too many players. I have 14 running backs so naturally I set a lineup without Matt Forte. He might be able to help me this week. I dunno. This is the last time I try to make serious fantasy decisions after working, taking a three-hour class at Emory, having an hour of Wii to wind down and then sitting in front of the computer. Good night, all.

In hopes of a speedy recovery

I'll start with a quick tidings of all things healthy to Angela Amann. She is the wife of Jason, who is my boss. Jason was on the Colorado State football team that decimated Missouri in the 1997 Holiday Bowl. I do not hold a grudge. Angela's going to have a surgical procedure tomorrow. Jason and I know there is no such thing as a minor surgical procedure. He gets to take care of his wife and I get to do all his work. I think that's an even trade.

The owner of the Don Funk Sports bar is about to complete an unhappy weekend of football. Sunday was unusual in that neither of our teams played while we watched the early and late afternoon games. Don watched as all of his fantasy players let him down. Don suffers from late-season overthink. This happens when you've been through a few tough losses and start making wacky roster moves. I am often guilty of this. In the last minute, I substituted Santonio Holmes for Donald Driver. Driver outscored Holmes by seven points. I'm losing by nine. Andre Johnson should get the nine, but it could have been so much easier.

Thanks to a bunch of stinking computers, Missouri gets to play Oklahoma this week. After discussing the issue all day via e-mail with my no-good lawyer friend, we decided that Missouri should be 11-1 at this point. An 11-1 Missouri team that had pulled out tough victories against Oklahoma State and Kansas would be able to compete with Oklahoma. This team will struggle early and if so Oklahoma could put up the kind of offensive showcase that will compare with a sad October evening in Austin. Derek Washington needs to be prominently involved. Oklahoma's starting their third different MLB, and QB Sam Bradford has torn ligaments in his non-throwing hand. The Sooners will be playing for a national title shot, so there will be no quarter if the score is 35-10 at halftime.

I have made the playoffs in my two zealots leagues. In z17 I needed two straight losses by the Vikings to win home-field advantage and it happened. I only need to win two games to claim my second consecutive title. In z34 I will be the wild card team and will play the top scoring team in the league next week.

It seems like the Titans played two weeks ago. The Browns lost Derek Anderson and Kellen Winslow for next week's game. I don't think the Titans needed the help, but they will take it.