NFL Playoffs Update
Players
Jerome Bettis, RB - Pittsburgh: This Week: 17 rush for 64 yd and 1 TD, 1 fumble lost. Total: 44 rush for 165 yards and 2 TDs, and 1 lost fumble. 1 rec for 21 yd.
Brennan Curtin, OT, Green Bay: Team total: 105 rushing yards, 2 sacks given up.
Vontez Duff, CB, Pittsburgh:
Tony Fisher, RB - Green Bay: Total: 1 rush for 4 yards, 2 receptions for 1 yard, and 1 drop.
David Givens, WR - New England: This week: 3 receptions for 31 yards and 1 TD. Total: 12 receptions for 116 yards and 3 TD. 1 rush for -1 yards.
Joey Goodspeed, FB - St. Louis: Total: Thrown at once (screen pass), 0 receptions.
Paul Grasmanis, DT - Philadelphia:
Jim Jones, OG - Pittsburgh: Team this week: 163 rushing yards, 1 sack given up. Team total: 356 rushing yards, 2 sacks given up.
Mike Rosenthal, OL, Minnesota: Team total: 98 rushing yards 2 sacks given up.
Allen Rossum, PR - Atlanta: This week: 4 kickoff returns for 102 yards, 2 punt returns for 20 yards. Total: 8 kickoff returns for 182 yards, 5 punt returns for 172 yards and 1 TD.
Gerome Sapp, S - Indianapolis: Total: 2 special teams tackles.
Hunter Smith, P - Indianapolis: Total: 8 punts, 40 yard average, 5 inside 20, long of 54 yards.
Bobby Taylor, CB - Seattle:
Coaches
(Former ND assistants or ND alumni)Pete Bercich, Linebackers Assistant, Minnesota: Linebackers total: 26 tackles, 1 forced fumble.
Kirk Doll, Special Teams, Denver: Team total: 23.5 kick return average, -1.0 punt return average. 18.0 kick return average and 9.0 punt return average given up.
Bishop Harris, Running Backs, New York Jets: Team total: 226 rushing yards.
Jim Johnson, Defensive Coordinator, Philadelphia: Team this week: 24 points , 236 passing yards, 113 rushing yards given up. Team total: 48 points, 688 passing yards, 319 rushing yards given up. 3 interceptions.
Dean Pees, Linebackers, New England: Linebackers this week: 19 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 INT. Linebackers total: 54 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 INT.
Johnny Roland, Running Backs, Green Bay: Team total: 105 rushing yards, 1 TD.
Kurt Schottenheimer, Defensive Backs, Green Bay: Team total: 284 passing yards, 4 TD given up.
George Stewart, Receivers, Atlanta: Team this week: 136 receiving yards. Team total: 220 receiving yards, 2 TD.
Mike Stock, Special Teams, St. Louis: Team this week: 17.4 kick return average, no punt returns. 20.0 kick return average and 50.7 punt return average given up (including 1 punt return TD). Team total: 20.3 kick return average, 4.7 punt return average. 18.9 kick return average and 40.3 punt return average given up, with 1 punt return TD.
Trent Walters, Secondary, Philadelphia: Team this week: 236 passing yards. Team total: 688 passing yards and 3 TD given up. 3 interceptions.
Charlie Weis, Offensive Coordinator, New England: Team this week: 24 points, 236 passing yards, and 113 rushing yards. Team total: 85 points, 597 passing yards, 449 rushing yards.
Transaction Wire
- Tigers sign Magglio Ordonez. Catcher? Check. Right fielder? Check. Hey, only 7 more years until they're contenders!
- Devil Rays trade Jose Cruz Jr. for Casey Fossum. Will they have good years? Will they underacheive again? Who knows! It's baseball time again in Phoenix and Tampa!
- Browns sign Romeo Crennel to a 5 year deal worth $11mil.
- NBA All-Stars of note: Vince Carter (starter), LeBron James (starter), Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Rashard Lewis.
- ND Trustee Dave Duerson resigns his post facing charges of domestic battery. Lucas Sayre of Daily Contentions calls the resignation "telling." Don't forget, though, that Duerson was a big Malloy backer, and that Monk's camp is noted for over-control of public image.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Nothing says "impending sense of doom" like Tim Higgins' crew doing a Syracuse-ND. Now, he shouldn't get all the blame this time - after all, he wasn't the one who went 5-17 from the free throw line.
- Seeing Dennis Lattimore at the free throw line running the "high" of the high-low offense against Syracuse's 2-3 zone, was I the only one who missed Tom Timmermans' shooting and passing ability from that spot on the floor?
- On to that football game. I made a point of not watching any pregame... or so I thought. When will I learn that a 6pm start on Fox really means 6:35?
- You have to love Alicia Keys for her respect of the legends who came before her, or at least her manager for making her look like she does. Playing with Stevie Wonder at an awards show, and now the tribute to Ray Charles with his alma mater. There's someone with her head on straight. (And yes, I do now officially have a thing for girls named "Alicia." I hate you guys.
- Early on in the pregame, I made a wishful comment about the Anthem being sung the right way - by a military choir. Who knew that I would get my wish? Well done, NFL.
- Speaking of well done, my dad and I both incredibly 'ppreciated the tribute to the WWII vets. A big salute to bringing class to sports instead of going for ratings.
- Very early in the game, I could tell Romeo Crennel was a great choice as Cleveland's new head coach. The Browns' defense has been incredibly inconsistent these past few years. This year, it boiled down to sloppy tackling. The Patriots, meanwhile, rarely missed a tackle early on (there were maybe two in the first half, one by Troy Brown). Instead, they wrapped up, held on, and drove back. The Browns can start with a fundamentally sound defense and build from there.
- Not a great game from Givens, but of course he came up with a key touchdown. Next time, though, don't do your mocking celebration right next to the ref. Have you learned nothing from Bobby Brown?
- Hey, a quality halftime show that everyone could enjoy. It was odd, though, seeing people of all ages, and even families, rocking out in the SRO area around the stage - an area normally reserved for groupies and "beautiful people."
- What happened to the Eagles halfway through the final quarter? I started seeing the Eagles of last year's NFC championship - a team that blatantly didn't show up. That team was a team that didn't want to go over the middle, ole'd balls for fear of getting hit, and didn't fight for the extra yards. This team was patient to a fault, getting way to cautious at a time when they didn't need to be.
- OK, OK, so Terrell Owens had a great game. Was he even hurt? I was expecting a Byron Leftwich-esque "looks great during the play and drastically worse after the whistle" performance where his teammates would have to carry him down the field by the end of the game.
- Speaking of receivers with great games - would Deion Branch be getting the proper attention for tearing up the great Eagle pass defense if he was a big talker?
- My dad loved the group hug by Belichick, Crennel, and Weis. I wouldn't be surprised to find a framed picture of it in our living room one day. It may be a while, though - I just tried to find it using Google with no luck (let me know if you see it).
- I don't know how much Fox contributed to the pregame, but they definitely could have done better with the postgame. Hey, this is a great moment in sports - let's bring in Darryl Waltrip to advertise the Daytona 500 for the 300th time tonight!
- Cleveland GM Phil Savage said he was going to offer Crennel the head coaching spot shortly after the game. He wasted no time - Crennel's cell phone rang at 10:30 and he accepted the job. Rumor has it that Maurice Carthon of Dallas will be the Offensive Coordinator.
- The new man of the hour, meanwhile, is Patriots DB coach Eric Mangini. Mangini is supposed to be offered the Defensive Coordinator position in both New England and Cleveland (and is expected to pick Cleveland due to a bigger offer). Can he handle it? Well, he was the Patriots DB coach this year. Meanwhile, with a few more years' experience, Patriots DLine coach and former Browns linebacker Pepper Johnson is due to be a popular choice as someone's Defensive Coordinator.
