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Second Place Is Just The First Loser, Part II

I was reading an article by ESPN.com’s Jamison Hensley and Mike Sando about the best and worst Super Bowl losers of all-time. It’s a great piece and I really suggest you all checking it out. You can click here to do that. As I was reading this I was thinking how great to re-do their list. I’m guessing you guys would have a different list than theirs and mine, too.

Yesterday, we looked at the 10 best teams to lose a Super Bowl. Click here for Part 1. Today we are looking at the 5 worst teams to lose in the Super Bowl today. Also, we will go over the 1 Super Bowl that was played on February 4th. So, let’s get crackin’.

The Flab Five: The Five Worst Teams to Grace The Super Bowl

  1. 1979 Los Angeles Rams - Until 2008 and this year, the ’79 Rams had the worst record of any team to make the Super Bowl. Just think about that. For the first 42 Super Bowls, the Rams were the only team to have gone to “the show” with a 9-7 record. That’s just bad. Then the Cardinals, and now this year’s Giants have followed up the Rams mediocrity. Now, I was about to pick one of those teams, but they have studs, the Rams didn’t. Plus, the Giants were riddled with injuries for the first 2/3s of the year. The Rams had legendary Vince Ferragamo quarterbacking the team. Actually, the only stars of the team were the Youngblood brothers. To their credit they played a great game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV. Now, look at that Super Bowl logo…beautiful…now look at the teamsbeautiful…all of this in the Rose Bowl? Thank God those mediocre Rams got there, because they gave us the most eye-pleasing game the Super Bowl has seen. That’s about the best compliment I can give them.
  2. 1994 San Diego Chargers - Do you remember this game? The 49ers not only had the quickest 1st score in Super Bowl history(at that time), they also had the quickest 2nd score. Before 5 minutes expired the game was OVAH, O-V-A-H, OVAH! Seriously, the NFL should have called it right there. This Chargers team had a couple of good-great players: Junior Seau, Natrone Means…and the list stops there. Remember Stan Humphries? Yeah, this team was so overmatched going into it that even Charger fans were putting money on the Niners.
  3. 1985 New England Patriots - Tony Eason and Steve Grogan…that’s who the Patriots were bringing into battle with them against the 17-1 Chicago Bears…yeah that Bears team! This isn’t your brothers Patriots that you see today…these were your father’s Patriots. The only team in NFL history to make awesome uniforms look like clowns clothes because their play was so horrendous. Now, this team did have some talent: Irving Fryar, Andre Tippett, Craig James…heck, their head coach was none other than Hall of Famer Raymond Berry. Too bad he couldn’t have played this one for them.
  4. 2008 Arizona Cardinals - I tried Arizona, I tried…but you’re team just should not have been there. Now, this is why to many people Kurt Warner deserves to be in the Hall of Fame (I believe he should have been in even before this one). The Cardinals had talent: Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Adrian Wilson, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. So, placing them in this list was hard and they really should have won the game. Heck, Warner and Fitzgerald almost single-handedly won the game for them…but the Cardinals defense just wouldn’t let that be.
  5. 1986 Denver Broncos - I tried to pick teams that weren’t on ESPN’s list, but I just have to agree with them. Obviously, I don’t have them in the same order, but I do agree with the 5. This team…well, the 80′s Broncos were basically all John Elway. Just go back and look at those teams. Elway’s stature gets raised even higher in my opinion because he took 3 Broncos teams that were anywhere from average to bad without him, to Super Bowls. This team was just too bad on defense. They are on par with this year’s New England D…the only difference being that New England has been picking up their play as of late. 

Now we need to get to the Super Bowl that was played on this day 5 years ago. The Colts were hoping this is how they would end this year in their home stadium, but fate would have something to say about that.

February 4, 2007 – Indianapolis Colts 29, Chicago Bears 17 – Dolphin Stadium, Miami, FL - The first Super Bowl to have rain. I still believe Rhodes and Addai should have been co-MVP’s, but Manning earned that honor with 25-38 passing for 247 yards and a touchdown. It was astounding that Lovie Smith and the Bears took the ball out of Thomas Jones‘ hands, 112 yards rushing on only 15 carries, and put it in Rex Grossman’s hands. And Tony Dungy laughed. The Colts won their 2nd Super Bowl title, the first for them in Indianapolis.

Tomorrow I will do my preview and picks for Super Bowl XLVI. Enjoy Super Bowl Eve…yeah, it’s going to be a trend!

 

The Road to Super Bowl XLVI

AFC Championship Game Recap – Patriots 23, Ravens 20

What a game! I thought for a minute that it would be extended into overtime. How does a kicker miss a 32 yard chip shot? Even though he blew it for the Ravens to head into overtime, they had 3 straight drives at the end of that game. Three chances to get into the endzone, or at the very least get a field goal to tie it up. The Ravens have no one to blame but themselves. You pick Tom Brady off 2 times in 1 game and can’t win? The defense didn’t play great, but played well enough to have won.

My analysis on Joe Flacco is pretty positive. He started off horribly but turned it around quickly and it looked like a man growing into an elite QB in this league. Outside of a really bad interception, he really played well. 22/36 306 yds. 2 td 1 int. A solid day for Flacco, but there’s one problem. They did not finish the way a championship level team does. This is the difference between the Ravens and the upper-crust of the NFL. The Patriots, though playing very subpar, showed why they are going to their 5th Super Bowl in 11 years. Just think about that…5 Super Bowls in just 11 years. Only the ’70′s Dallas Cowboys went to as many in fewer years, going to 5 in 9 years. Of course, the Patriots have already won more than those Cowboys did. The Patriots have, so far, won 3 Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) while losing 1 (XLII), while the Cowboys won 2 (VI, XII) and lost 3 (V, X, XIII). So, even if you’re rooting against the Patriots on Sunday, February 5th, at least respect what they have done for the past decade and a year. Tom Brady will have a chance to tie both Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana at the top with 4 Super Bowl titles each as starting QB’s. But, back to Joe Flacco. I think Baltimore will go into next year pretty solidly behind Joe Flacco. He showed that, while he does have some more room to grow, he is very capable of becoming an elite QB. I really think Tom Brady dodged a bullet, here. If the Ravens had taken care of business, I think it would diminish (very slightly) his resume. It wouldn’t take away from his Hall-of-Fame career but it would definitely get the media (basically ESPN) to stop acting like he’s invincible.

The Patriots will now move on to their 7th Super Bowl overall (only 1 short of a tie for most Super Bowl appearances by a team at 8 with Dallas and Pittsburgh). The Patriots, in addition to those mentioned above, lost in 1985 – Super Bowl XX to the Chicago Bears and in 1996 – Super Bowl XXXI to the Green Bay Packers. And now to wrap up this recap. Since, the school year is back in session I will give out my grades for each team. First the losing side. The Ravens offense receives a C+, defense receives a B+ (graded up for the 3 turnovers they caused) and the special teams a D. And now for the victors. The Patriots offense receives a B-, the defense receives a B- and the special teams an A+.

NFC Championship Game Recap – Giants 20, 49ers 17 OT

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, in comes the NFC Championship Game. A game that was so good it just had to go into extra time. What was even better was that, just like Baltimore had a 32 yard field goal to send it into overtime, the Giants had a 31 yard field goal to win the game in OT. The difference? The Giants made their kick. But,this game was a defensive struggle throughout. I have to say, as big as Eli Manning came through, he had many passes that should have been picked off. Many of those passes where you thought Eli was trying too hard to make something happen. But, I guess that’s what happens when you throw the ball 58 times (which is one thing that disgusts me about pro football these days). On the other side of the field Alex Smith didn’t have the numbers and definitely looks like the lesser of the two quarterbacks, but he had a nice game too. He did have way too many throws at the feet of his receivers, but most of those were when he was rolling out (which is not the type of QB he is). But you definitely felt that these two teams deserved to be here and deserved a shot at the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. But it was the Giants who took advantage of it and will be playing in a rematch of Super Bowl XLII.

The real stars of this game were the defenses. Both defenses were in the faces of each quarterback all night long. The Giants didn’t shut the run game down like the 49ers did, but they definitely managed it. Outside of Vernon Davis’ 2 TD’s, the Giants D really showed up and has had a nice hot streak now. They made Alex Smith do what he just cannot do and that is throw on the run. A great game with a great ending.

I mentioned the defenses as the stars of the night, but there was one player that towered over everybody (including everyone in the AFC Championship Game too) and that was Victor Cruz. WOW! He had 115 yards before halftime. He ended with 142 yards on 10 receptions. The only thing the man didn’t do was score a touchdown, but in this defensive game it can’t be that big of a negative. I have to admit, with every Victor Cruz catch while Carlos Rogers “tried” to cover him (while looking like he truly wanted/needed help). After seeing Rogers finally learn how to catch a ball (seriously, why couldn’t he had caught JUST ONE FREAKING INT in DC?) it was with great pleasure I saw him get carved up.

Oh, yeah before I get to the grades I just have one observation. I know most of you guys won’t care about this and will probably laugh, but I thought it was kind of weird. I don’t have any photo showing it, but I noticed that what was supposed to be the NFC Championship logo (click here to see what it’s supposed to look like) became the NFL Championship. Instead of the NFC logo in the middle, they put the NFL logo. So, are they saying the true NFL Championship is between San Fran and New York? Are we going back to pre-merger days? Maybe, New England should have put the old AFL logo (or this one) in the middle of their Championship logo. Just an observation. Now for the grades. For the losing side, San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offense receives a B, defense receives an A- and special teams a C (sorry, but I have to grade them down for that last fumble that set up the game winning field goal). For the victors, the New York Giants offense receives a B+, the defense receives an A and the special teams receive an A.

The New York Football Giants will be going back to the Super Bowl for the 2nd time in 5 years. The Giants will be making their 5th trip to the Super Bowl in franchise history. They have won 3 times (XXI, XXV, XLII) and have lost once (XXXV). Oh, and one last word to all of you Giants fans. You don’t deserve a great head coach that is Tom Coughlin but feel lucky you have him. Are you going to try and get him fired next year if you begin the season 0-3? Congrats Coughlin, if you win one more I think it’s a slam dunk into Canton for you! And you do deserve that trip, sir.

Yesterday, I posted a little request at the end of the post to pray for Joe Paterno and his family. Well, just hours after that posted we all got word that Joe Paterno had passed away. Please, continue to keep his family in your thoughts and prayers and (I should have mentioned this yesterday, too) keep those boys who Jerry Sandusky preyed upon and their families in your thoughts and prayers as they have to continue to live with the evil that happened to them.

 

Revisiting the 2007 NFL Draft, Part Deux

Ok, ok so Tom Brady wasn’t in the 2007 draft. But, I just couldn’t resist. I mean seriously…who would have ever looked at that and said, “Franchise QB! This is gonna be the next great one!” I mean, even Michigan was happy to see him go. But props to Brady for allowing his coach to cheat with a video camera to win 3 Super Bowls using his low pick to motivate him into becoming probably the best QB of the past decade. So with all of this inside information I am giving you here, let’s move along to the 2nd half of the 2007 NFL Draft. (If you didn’t catch the first part you can scroll down to the post before this one or click here)

  1. Denver Broncos - Jarvis Moss, DE, Florida – A lot of talent and a lot of waste of said talent. Moss has not only struggled at DE but also when Mike Nolan, then DC for the Broncos, moved him to Outside Linebacker. He has struggled so much that he himself even contemplated retiring. So who picks him up after being released…you guessed it: Oakland, the last stop for busts in the NFL. F-
  2. Cincinnati Bengals - Leon Hall, CB, Michigan – A solid pick for an unstable franchise. Leon Hall gets absolutely no press but he is a solid starting corner in this league. Is he worth the #17 pick? Probably a little high but a good pick nonetheless. B
  3. Tennessee Titans - Michael Griffin, S, Texas – I would say that this was a good pick. I think Griffin is a really good safety in this league. Some would say he’s overrated but I would disagree. The man makes plays and was a 2nd team All-Pro in 2010. There are a lot of great safeties in this league and I think Griffin qualifies to be in the discussion. A
  4. New York Giants - Aaron Ross, CB, Texas – Another Longhorn DB being picked in the 1st round. Ross at times has been good but has definitely not been good enough to qualify a 1st round pick. C-
  5. Jacksonville Jaguars - Reggie Nelson, S, Florida – This makes 4, count them 4 straight DB picks in this draft. It kind of feels like these teams were in a fantasy draft…once a position starts coming off the board, everybody’s got to jump in and take that position so they won’t be left behind. I have to say I liked this pick when the Jags made it, but boy were they wrong on this guy. Whew! D
  6. Cleveland Browns - Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame – Remember when Quinn was in free-fall? The NFL Network and ESPN were freaking out!! The Browns had already picked up OT Joe Thomas and traded up to pick the QB of their future. I thought this was a good pick. I thought Quinn falling was the best thing for him. But…all you have to know about this pick is Quinn is now sitting behind Tim Tebow. Yeah! D-
  7. Kansas City Chiefs - Dwayne Bowe, WR, LSU – Absolute stud! Bowe started out his career as a talented yet lazy player. Bowe was the biggest benefactor to Todd Haley being in KC. Haley pushed Bowe into being a star WR with a great work ethic. Bowe has been one of the best WR in the league and maybe one of the most underrated. A+
  8. New England Patriots Brandon Meriweather, S, Miami – What is it with Bill Belicheat taking problem childs and thinking he can turn them around in his system? Meriweather was nothing but trouble at “The U” and has been nothing but a waste of talent. D-
  9.  Carolina Panthers - Jon Beason, LB, Miami – The Pats should have taken Beason with this pick. Maybe their D would look a little better right now. Beason has been a great linebacker for Carolina. This is another underrated player but at least he is getting a nod in the Pro Bowl. A
  10. Dallas Cowboys - Anthony Spencer, LB, Purdue – Spencer has been an average linebacker for the Cowboys. I don’t think he is worth a 1st round pick but it is a lower pick in the round. Spencer also plays on a D that is nothing much outside of DeMarcus Ware (who is probably the best defensive lineman in the NFL). C-
  11. New Orleans Saints - Robert Meachem, WR, Tennessee – I can’t stand Meacham!!!! It never seems to fail that I get stuck with him on my fantasy team. One of these days I will have a WR group that won’t suffer injuries and I can laugh at the tool that ends up with him. Ok, I am going to put away my bias now and say Meachem is a good WR in a great passing system. He is a very up and down receiver. He’ll have 3 quiet games and then break out with 150 yds. and 2 TD’s. Not a great pick but could have been worse. C+
  12. San Francisco 49ers - Joe Staley, OT, Central Michigan – Now here is a great Chippewa! Staley is finally getting some credit on a really good Niner offensive line. Staley is a very solid lineman who anchors a line that helps the 49ers running game go. A
  13. Baltimore Ravens - Ben Grubbs, G, Auburn – Grubbs is a solid pro and a pretty good pick in the 1st round. A
  14. San Diego Chargers - Craig “Buster” Douglas Davis, WR, LSU – Yeah, all you have to know is he isn’t playing in the NFL right now. F
  15. Chicago Bears - Greg Olsen, TE, Miami – I don’t know why the Bears didn’t want him and traded Olsen away to the Panthers. This was a really good pick by the Bears who never seemed to realize what they had. Hey Chicago, not every good TE is just a receiver the best of them block too. Olsen does it all…in Carolina now and that’s why the grade isn’t as high (not because of what Olsen is) C+
  16. Indianapolis Colts - Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Ohio St. – I’m not buying it. Gonzalez is the biggest benefactor of Peyton Manning. He is a very average #3 WR that is in the best passing system in the league…maybe ever! D-

So, that does it for the ’07 Draft. Let me know where I was right and/or right wrong. Tomorrow is ALL NFL baby! You have New Orleans @ San Fran (you can’t get a better contrast of styles than this game) and Denver @ New England (can Jesus, er…Tebow upset Brady and the Patriots?). I’ll have more coverage of these games tomorrow.

 

Revisiting the 2007 NFL Draft

Yesterday, I was perusing around some sports websites when I stumbled upon ESPN’s own Mel Kiper, Jr.’s piece re-grading every NFL team on the 2011 NFL Draft. First, let me say how absolutely stupid this is. How in the world are you going to judge any player on just 1 season? Especially, when all rookies didn’t even have a full training camp and pre-season. I know why they did this, it’s a little slow right now in the sports world…yes, it will pick up this weekend but how many times are you going to analyze the Divisional Round of the playoffs? So, I will spare you all from critiquing Kiper’s grades but it got me thinking…how about looking back 5 years and critiquing each team’s 1st round picks. So, let’s go back to the 2007 NFL Draft and look at how these players are doing after finishing their 5th season in the league. I’ll post the 1st 16 picks today and the other 1/2 of the 1st Round tomorrow. Here we go…

  1. Oakland Raiders - JaMarcus Russell, QB, LSU – Wow! What can we say about Mr. Russell?!?! To think a lot of pundits raved about Russell because of one game where he carved up one of the worst defenses to play in South Bend on his way to winning the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame. Notre Dame shouldn’t have been anywhere near a BCS bowl game that year. Hey, at least the man got paid…which he has already devoured (pun intended). F-
  2. Detroit Lions - Calvin Johnson, WR, Georgia Tech – Matt Millen can thank Oakland for this one. Millen had a thing for picking WR’s in the 1st round but this one was the only one to pan out. Megatron has been a BEAST for Motown. Great pick for Millen. A+
  3. Cleveland Browns - Joe Thomas, OT, Wisconsin – Another great pick! Joe Thomas has been/will be the cornerstone in Cleveland for more than a decade. If he isn’t the top Offensive Tackle in the NFL he is right up there. A+
  4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Gaines Adams, DE, Clemson –  Really sad story. The late Adams had tons of talent that never got much of a chance to show it. He only played 2 1/2 seasons for the Bucs before being traded to the Bears in October of 2009. Unfortunately, his life was cut short in January of 2010. I can’t give out a grade on this one. N/A
  5. Arizona Cardinals - Levi Brown, OT, Penn State – While Levi Brown has not been a bad offensive lineman for the Cards, he certainly does not deserve a Top 5 pick. This was a huge reach for the Cardinals, but hey…it’s the Cardinals and they are who they are because they continue to reach. C-
  6. Washington Redskins - LaRon Landry, S, LSU – If this piece was done 2 or so years ago I would have graded this pick pretty low. Since, I am a Skins fan I have seen every game LaRon Landry has played in the pros. Landry has plenty of talent but got absolutely scorched time-after-time in his first few seasons. Since Haslett has come to town he moved Landry to SS where he belongs and Landry has been an absolute stud on the football field. The only problem is he hasn’t been on there much the past couple of seasons. C+
  7. Minnesota Vikings - Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma – I wish my Skins had made this pick. Peterson was a BEAST in college but prone to injuries (which shied me away from him in ’07). But from his first game on he has been nothing short of the Best Runningback in football! A+
  8. Atlanta Falcons - Jamaal Anderson, DE, Arkansas – Eh. Not that good of a pick by the Falcons. Maybe they thought they we re-picking the “Dirty Birds” Jamaal Anderson??They released him before this season and he has been an integral part of the Indianapolis Colts’ 2-14 season this year….I kid, I kid. F
  9. Miami Dolphins - Ted Ginn, Jr, WR, Ohio State – What were they thinking?? At least the Fins only kept Ginn around for 3 years. I think the Dolphins look back at this pick and think “we should have taken Dwayne Bowe”. D
  10. Houston Texans - Amobi Okoye, DT, Louisville – Okoye has been a pretty good Defensive Tackle but worth a 10th pick? Let’s just say this: Houston let him walk to Chicago before this season started. Nice player, a reach of a pick. C-
  11. San Francisco 49ers - Patrick Willis, LB, Ole Miss – The BEST Linebacker in the game today. Have you seen this machine play? He will end his career as one of the best Linebackers to play the game. San Fran absolutely hit it out-of-the-park with this pick. A+
  12. Buffalo Bills - Marshawn Lynch, RB, California – After shooting of the gates and posting back-to-back 1,000 yd. seasons his first 2 years. Skittles then got into various off the field problems and had a couple of injuries before being traded to Seattle. Since then he has kind of rejuvenated his career. New Orleans might be able to tell you a little more about that! B
  13. St. Louis Rams - Adam Carriker, DE/DT, Nebraska – I don’t know what St. Louis saw in Carriker by moving him to Defensive Tackle but it didn’t work. He was then traded to Washington where he was switched back to Defensive End and has been a pleasant surprise. He definitely is not a Top 15 pick though he does show flashes of that from time to time. D+ (this low because they used him as a DT)
  14. New York Jets - Darelle Revis, CB, Pittsburgh – Does anyone not know about Revis Island? He is the best shutdown corner in the league. Really doesn’t need anymore explaining. A+
  15. Pittsburgh Steelers - Lawrence Timmons, LB, Florida State – Until 2011, Timmons had been getting better and better. Was it the contract or the short pre-season that resulted in a decent but not great season? Timmons has shown to be a very good Linebacker but I don’t know if a Top 15 pick is where he should have been drafted. Only time will tell which way this one goes. I think he’ll be a pretty good starter for another 5-10 years but nothing too special. C+
  16. Green Bay PackersJustin Harrell, DT, Tennessee – This is a very hard pick to evaluate. Harrell, who is a Free Agent right now, has been constantly hampered by injuries. This last one in 2010 was a major knee injury that looks like it might have ended his pro career. I have to give a low grade on this pick since he was coming off of a pretty big biceps tear at Tennessee but to be fair the Packers couldn’t have totally seen this coming. D-

So, there we have the first 1/2 of the 1st Round of the 2007 NFL Draft. A lot of reaches, a HUGE bust and a few future Hall-of-Famers. I hear JaMarcus Russell has been signed to a huge deal for a starring role in one of TV’s biggest shows. Good for him!

 
 
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