The Cowboys are the beast of the East and other NFL thoughts

(1) The most impressive victory of the last weekend of regular season football had to be the 24-0 beat down administered by the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are erasing their reputation for being chokers in big games right before our very eyes. They have now won three consecutive games in December/January and have the look of a team that is peaking at exactly the right moment. In the last three weeks, they have won two showdowns and one trap game, which enabled them to steal the NFC East division title and the number three seed in the NFC playoffs. Their reward is another meeting with divisional rival Philadelphia. I’m pretty sure that Dallas is licking their chops to get another crack at the Eagles after what they did to them on Sunday. The Cowboys put on a clinic against Philadelphia in a game that many folks anticipated would be the best game of the day. Instead, Dallas held the Eagles to only 228 total yards and posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time in team history. It was the first time that the Eagles had been shutout since week 13 of the 2005 season and it was especially surprising to see Philadelphia go scoreless when you consider how explosive they have been on offense this season. The Cowboys were hitting on all cylinders as they sacked Donovan McNabb four times, held the Eagles to a mere 37 yards rushing and made sure that McNabb would not hurt them from the pocket holding him to only 223 yards passing. On offense, Dallas completely dominated with 474 total yards and more than 40 minutes of time of possession. The Cowboys basically cruised to victory after 17 points in the first half. The Eagles missed a 52-yard field goal following their first drive of the second half and didn’t get any closer than the Dallas 43-yard line the rest of the game. The Cowboys have been the hottest team down the stretch led by the heady play of the much-maligned Tony Romo and the devastating play from their defense. I fully expected the Cowboys to cave at some point during their last three games, but they seem to be maturing as a football team. Since I have criticized the Cowboys for so long, I feel that it is only fair to give credit where credit is due. The good times are finally rolling in Big D. They finished with a winning record after December 1st for the first time since 1996 and ended a nine-game losing streak in season finales. Romo finished with the most attempts, completions and passing yards every by a Cowboys quarterback and Dallas established a new standard for yards in a single season. Finally, their back-to-back shutouts hadn’t been done in the NFL since 2000 and it was only the third time in Dallas history that they had posted two shutouts in a single year. With everything seemingly going their way, perhaps the Cowboys can finally win a playoff game for the first time since 1996.

(2) The most devastating event of the day has to be the severe knee injury suffered by Wes Welker. Short of the Patriots losing Tom Brady or the Colts losing Peyton Manning, I can’t think of a more crippling injury than Welker’s for a team on the way to the playoffs. Welker is not only Brady’s security blanket, but he is the spark plug for New England. He is their toughest player and he sets the tone for the rest of the team. He has a relationship with Brady that is unparalleled among any other quarterback-wide receiver tandem in the NFL. He is the substance to the flash provided by Randy Moss. He also happens to have more receptions over the last three seasons than any other player and his NFL-high 123 receptions this season are tied with Herman Moore for the second most in NFL history. When Welker went down in a heap, it was clear from the beginning that he had suffered a significant injury. He was helped off the field and his emotional response on the sideline left little doubt that he had experienced a catastrophic injury to his knee. After the game, sources close to the team were releasing information that Welker had suffered a tear of his ACL and MCL. His season is most definitely over and now the Patriots are left to look for answers as they prepare to host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Julian Edelman had a career-high 10 receptions in the game, but, let’s be honest, Edelman is nowhere near the caliber of player that Welker is. With Welker out for the season, you can be sure that the Ravens, as well as any other future opponents, will happily let Edelman and Sam Aiken get single coverage while they ensure that Randy Moss does not beat them. The Patriots needed Moss and Welker to have a chance to make some noise in the playoffs. Now, New England better hope that their defense plays very well against the Ravens and creates some favorable scoring opportunities for the offense.

The big question that will be debated in light of Welker’s injury will be whether or not he should have been playing at all. I’m sure at least a few armchair quarterbacks are going to criticize Bill Belichick for playing Welker, as well as many other regulars, with so little at stake. I, for one, applaud Belichick’s decision to uphold the integrity of the game by playing his starters and ensuring that Houston had to “earn” the victory. In referring to the Indianapolis decision to pull their starters last week, I heard one of the talking heads say that you can’t play football scared. The Colts play the game scared of injury, which is why they have never been rewarded for resting their players at the end of the season. The Patriots don’t seem to have this “philosophy” and they always seem to be pretty sharp when playoff time comes around. New England got burned this time, but there is nothing you can do about a freak injury. Welker was not getting hit; he was merely making a cut that he probably has made a million times in his football life. Non-contact injuries like the one suffered by Welker can happen while taking a shower or walking down the stairs or practicing during the week. These words won’t make any Patriots’ fan any happier, but I hope that they appreciate the type of coach that they have. He has too big of an ego and he tends to be too curmudgeonly for his own good, but he does not fear being criticized, which frees him to take risks that other coaches would never take. There are a lot of things that I don’t personally like about Belichick, but his confidence and aggression on the field are things that I appreciate. For his sake, let’s hope that Edelman aka Mini-Welker can replicate his performance against the Texans in the wild card round.
(3) The most curious coaching decision of the day has to be Sean Payton’s decision to not play Drew Brees not even one second against the Carolina Panthers. Did Payton truly believe that the Saints were playing so well down the stretch that he could afford to rest Brees the entire game? It appears that Payton has quickly forgotten that the Saints have not played a good game since dismantling the New England Patriots back on November 30th. Since that game, the Saints needed a miracle to beat the Redskins, struggled with the Falcons and have lost three straight games to end the season after their 13-0 start. After not scoring less than 24 points all season, New Orleans has not scored more than 17 points in four weeks. Instead of trying to create some momentum for the playoffs, the Saints decided to feed their back-ups to the wolves, which did as much good as not showing up for the game at all. After his performance against the mediocre Panthers defense, does anyone still think that Mark Brunell should be on an NFL roster? Brunell completed 15 of 29 passes for a mere 102 yards and looked like he belonged in an old timer’s game. It also didn’t help the Saints that Jeremy Shockey never set foot on the field or that Reggie Bush was limited to five carries or that most of their defensive starters spent the second half holding their helmets on the sideline. Once again, an NFL team decided to play the game scared and they will probably pay the price come playoff time. The Saints have been listless for the entire month of December and I don’t think that turning Week 17 into a glorified preseason game is going to help them flip the switch in two weeks. In fact, the Saints became the first top seed in NFL history to finish a season on a three-game losing streak. Neither Brees nor Payton thought it was worth the risk to play the starters in this game, but I definitely disagree with them. We will see in two weeks who is right.

While we are on the topic of teams that have taken the last few weeks off, can I get on my soapbox one more time regarding the Indianapolis Colts? Actually, I really need to take Bill Polian to task for his asinine comments about a perfect season and their subsequent behavior in the season finale. On the NFL Network a couple of days ago, Polian told Rich Eisen that the Colts did not feel that a perfect season was a historic achievement. At the same time, Polian said that winning more games than any team in a decade and winning the most consecutive regular season games are “historical milestones that were worth going out there and risking everything for.” Is Polian smoking crack or something? While I would agree that winning more games than any team in a decade or winning the most consecutive regular season games are worthy milestones, there is no way that they trump a perfect season. Does anyone know or care about which team won the most games in the 1990’s or the 1980’s? Of course, we all know that the 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only team to complete an entire season undefeated. For God’s sake, people that were not born until the 90’s know that the Dolphins are the only team to achieve perfection. It is a topic that comes up each and every season in the NFL. How can Polian say with a straight face that perfection is not a historic achievement? I think someone should rush him to the hospital because he must have hit his head recently. Polian’s comments become even more ridiculous after you consider the Colts’ curious decisions on Sunday. Despite the fact that the game had no meaning for the team, the Colts risked injury to allow Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark to pursue the personal goal of 100 catches. It doesn’t really send a good message to your fans when you brush off a historic team goal, but, at the same time, you allow your players to pursue individual goals. As successful as the Colts have been this decade, I think they have completely missed the boat regarding their handling of these late season situations. I will not be surprised if the Colts, and for that matter the Saints, get bounced early in the playoffs.

(4) The biggest flop of the day has to be the blowout loss suffered by the playoff-contending Denver Broncos against the three-win Kansas City Chiefs. Actually, the Broncos were the biggest flops of the 2009 season. It wasn’t that long ago that the Broncos were 6-0 and sitting on top of the NFL world. Their coach was being hailed as a genius, their defense looked like the second coming of the Orange Crush and their maligned quarterback looked like he was gaining redemption in the Mile High City. Unfortunately, McDaniels’ first season in Denver ended the same way Mike Shanahan’s last one did: with a late season flop and an embarrassing blowout that wasted a strong start and kept the Broncos out of the playoffs. Last year, they were blown out by the San Diego Chargers with a playoff berth on the line and this year they were destroyed by Kansas City, who got their first victory in nine tries at Invesco Field. The Broncos lost eight out of 10 games after their sizzling start and failed to win a home divisional game for the first time in their history. They also joined the 1978 Redskins and the 2003 Vikings as the only teams since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to miss the playoffs after a 6-0 start.

There are so many reasons for the Broncos’ failure to make the playoffs. None is bigger than the collapse of their defense. After giving up 20+ points just once during their undefeated start, Denver’s defense gave up 20+ points eight times in their final 10 games. It seemed pretty clear that the Broncos lost steam on the defensive side of the ball. We can also point to unrest in the locker room to explain why the Broncos finished the season on the outside looking in. Coach McDaniels’ made it clear from the beginning that it was his way or the highway, which he proved when he shipped Jay Cutler and his insolent attitude to the Chicago Bears. He further showed who the boss was when he refused to give in to Brandon Marshall’s attempts to get traded as well. McDaniels’ explosive relationship with Marshall came to a head once again when he publicly questioned the extent of Marshall’s hamstring injury. The MRI showed no sign of damage, but Marshall continued to complain about discomfort, which led McDaniels to insinuate that the player was embellishing the injury. As a result, McDaniels deactivated Marshall for the biggest game of the Broncos’ season. McDaniels also chose to leave Tony Scheffler in street clothes for disciplinary reasons. We all know that Marshall and Scheffler were not going to be able to help the Broncos tackle Jamaal Charles or stop Kyle Orton from throwing two back-breaking pick sixes to Derek Johnson, but it certainly didn’t help Denver’s cause to have this kind of turmoil leading up to the game. It will be interesting to see where the Broncos go from here. Has Marshall played his last game in Denver? Do they realize the Orton is merely a caretaker and not a franchise quarterback? Regardless of their next move, owner Pat Bowlen must understand that they have a ways to go to catch the cream of the crop in the NFC West, the San Diego Chargers.

(5) I have to commend the Seahawks for playing their most spirited game since they beat the San Francisco 49ers five weeks ago. It was clear that the prospect of Chris Johnson surpassing 2,000 yards rushing or possibly breaking Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season rushing record woke up the Seahawks’ defense. For most of the afternoon, they made Johnson work for every yard that he gained. They hit him hard and hit him often. There were at least two or three hits from Will Herring that stand out. The only time that Johnson really shook free was a 66-yard touchdown run that was called back on a sketchy holding penalty on Ahmard Hall. If that play had stood, then Johnson would have had a tremendous opportunity to break Dickerson’s record. Instead, Johnson had to settle for becoming the sixth man to surpass the mythical 2,000 yard barrier and breaking Marshall Faulk’s NFL record for total yards from scrimmage in a single season (2,509 yards). Johnson also registered his 11th straight 100-yard game, which tied the second longest streak in NFL history. Despite the fact that he reached a number of milestones, I thought that the Seahawks defense played extremely well against Johnson. His longest run was only 12 yards and the Hawks made him feel every yard that he gained. I was actually kind of proud of the Hawks defense. They only gave up one scoring drive longer than 50 yards. They only allowed 17 points and seven of those points came after the Titans were set-up at the Hawks’ 28-yard line after John Ryan inexplicably dropped a snap that hit him directly in the hands. The Hawks only allowed 304 total yards, played pretty well on third down and forced two turnovers. All in all, it was one of their better performances of the season.

Unfortunately, the offense could not uphold their part of the bargain. If only the Hawks could score points as well as they mouth off on the radio. The Hawks actually ran the ball very well, but they couldn’t sustain drives because they were awful on third down (four conversions in 13 opportunities) and Matt Hasselbeck submitted another mediocre performance. I’m not really sure what to do with Hasselbeck. As the only quarterback in franchise history to deliver a Super Bowl appearance, Hasselbeck has earned some leeway with the fans. It doesn’t hurt that he is a stand-up guy off the field and a warrior on the field. He is definitely playing hurt, but in the NFL you can’t complain about an injury if you are trying to play through it. Deep in my heart, I still think that he can be a productive NFL quarterback, but the Hawks have to get him a better offensive line and more playmakers. The Hawks need to identify who the keepers are along the front-line and get rid of the rest the bums. They also need to find more explosive options at wide receiver and running back. It is imperative that the Hawks find someone like Chris Johnson or DeSean Jackson to instill fear in their opponents. It will be up to the new General Manager to find this talent. Let’s not forget that the Hawks need plenty of help on defense as well. Can we find a Brian Orakpo or Elvis Dumervil in the draft? Can we find more physical cornerbacks like Johnathan Joseph or Leon Hall to match-up against the imposing wide receivers in the NFC West? Can our linebackers stay healthy and play to their potential? The Hawks have so much work to do that it almost seems impossible that we can accomplish it all in one off-season. Nonetheless, the Miami Dolphins have given us a recent example that the NFL system allows teams to go from the outhouse to the penthouse relatively quickly. I hope that 2010 brings more success for Seattle because I don’t think I can take another losing season.