| Contributing editor Joel
Buchsbaum discusses what jumped out at him in the Sunday games from Week 17. Jacksonville vs. N.Y. Giants: "It was a crazy game.
It was a low-scoring defensive game until the end when things got wild. I think
Jacksonville was hurt terribly by the loss of Fred Taylor and Jimmy Smith, their two
playmakers. I thought Amani Toomer really bailed the Giants out because some of the throws
he caught from Kerry Collins were poor passes."
San Francisco vs. Denver: "Total domination by
Denver. They were hitting on all cylinders. They looked like the type of team that could
roll into the Super Bowl in this one."
Buffalo vs. Seattle: "Doug Flutie was absolutely
magnificent. He was just a magician out there and it was just vintage Doug Flutie. And
when Doug Flutie plays at that level — wooo! — he’s just unstoppable."
Arizona vs. Washington: "Arizona just
doesn’t have people to play with. Washington wanted to win the game for Terry
Robiskie. The players want him back; he’s a players’ coach."
Chicago vs. Detroit: "Great, gutty effort by the
Bears. And there was no sag when Matthews went out and they had to put in McNown, who the
players don’t like. The bottom line on Detroit is: Let’s be honest, with all the
injuries they’ve had, they’re just not a very good football team. And it’s
very beneficial to the NFL that they’re not in the playoffs because with Batch having
broken ribs and (the Lions) secondary so hurt, they wouldn’t have been
representative."
Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia: "The Eagles wanted
the game so they’d have home field for the first wild-card game at least, and they
got it. This is another case where the Eagles were just the better team. But the problem
that the Eagles have is they really want Chris Warren to emerge as the No. 1 running back,
and all he kept doing was fumble the ball."
Kansas City vs. Atlanta: "The Falcons showed some
life and the Chiefs continued to be a Jekyll-and-Hyde team. One week the Chiefs can beat
Denver, and the next week they lose to Atlanta. You just can’t figure that team
out."
Miami vs. New England: "This was a highly
competitive game. But what it comes down to is New England is a cursed team. Everything
that can go wrong does go wrong for them, and this is the consequence. I mean, they
totally dominated this game for three quarters except for the special teams, which hurt
them earlier in the game."
N.Y. Jets vs. Baltimore: "What came back to bite
the Jets is what they’ve been doing all year. I mean, too many turnovers, poor
special-teams play. They never could get either of those factors fixed. And another thing
you have to consider about the Jets’ slow finish: They played very good teams and
earlier in the year they were winning a lot of very close games against those good teams
when the breaks went their way. In these games, the breaks did not go their way. Their
domination of the game was just astounding from an offense-to-defense standpoint. Their
offense, aside from the turnovers, almost moved the ball at will, and their defense
totally shut down the Ravens and made them look like the Ravens’ team that
couldn’t score a touchdown for a month."
St. Louis vs. New Orleans: "St. Louis really
dominated this game a lot more than the score showed. They did a good job putting pressure
on Brooks, and they finally showed up and played like the defending Super Bowl champion is
supposed to play. But by the same token, right after the game they started talking about
the Super Bowl again, which is the worst possible thing they can do. Because this shows
they’re already looking past New Orleans, who they have a rematch with, and
that’s just what Jim Haslett wants. They played right into Haslett’s hands by
doing that, and I think New Orleans, which should’ve been killed next week, will have
a reasonable chance of pulling an upset because St. Louis’ mindset is off."
Tampa Bay vs. Green Bay: "You just have to give
Green Bay a lot of credit. It was a very gutty, good game on their part. Their defense has
been playing better lately. And they did the little things they had to do, and got a
little lucky when Gramatica missed the kick."
Pittsburgh vs. San Diego: "The Chargers actually
dominated the game. This is another game where special teams kill you. They should’ve
won the game, but their special teams just flat out killed them. I mean, Ryan Leaf did
some bad things, but overall he did a lot of positive things as well in this game."
Carolina vs. Oakland: : "Total domination by the
Raiders. The Raiders just wanted to show the Broncos, ‘Hey, we’re a pretty damn
good team too.’ "
Minnesota vs. Indianapolis: "One team really
needed the game, and the other team wasn’t playing for anything. And what this game
did show is that Minnesota cannot win with Bubby Brister at quarterback if Culpepper is
not healthy."
Dallas vs. Tennessee: "It was total domination by
Tennessee once they stopped self-destructing and turning the ball over. The one scary
thing for the Titans is that the last three games for the Titans were so easy they
weren’t even tested — it’s like playing JV games when they’re going
against Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dallas. And aside from a couple of players on Dallas
such as Greg Ellis, there were more than a few players who I don’t think were playing
with a whole lot of passion. The other thing from the Cowboys’ standpoint is Anthony
Wright looked like a deer in the headlights all night. He just looked totally out of his
element, like he was just panicky. And there’s no way they can go into next year
confident that this kid’s going to be their quarterback of the future. After the
first half of the Giants game, I thought maybe there’s a chance they found lightning
in a bottle in this kid. But then he fell apart in the second half, and he was much worse
tonight." |
