NFL Quick Hits – Week 14
By Doug Upstone
Josh McDaniels was fired Monday by Denver as another piece of fruit from the Bill Belichick coaching tree proved to be distasteful. Hopefully, McDaniels is willing to eat humble pie as reports of his indecorous behavior at many levels are documented. McDaniels closed 5-17 and 6-16 ATS in the Mile High experiment. Of course this is not good news for the equally inept Arizona Cardinals, who have to host the Broncos this Sunday, since teams changing coaches are 5-1 and 6-0 ATS this year.
Hey, I took this team to Super Bowl – Cards coach Ken Whisenhunt has seen the gloves come off from local reporters after his team lost their seventh in a row. The Valley of the Sun media will never be compared to New York or Philadelphia concerning asking tough questions, but more than one scribe asked “Wizz” why his team didn't run the ball more after having early success against St. Louis.
Arizona will play their final four games with third string quarterback John Skelton out of Fordham which means every opponent will have blitz packages deluxe for signal caller even the organization acknowledges is not ready to play at this level. Whisenhunt has to hire offensive coordinator for next year and be less involved with personnel decisions.
Quick Hit No. 1 – Since winning the AFC North last year, Cincinnati is 2-12 and 6-8 ATS.
When the Saints come marching in – After New Orleans pulled the ruse the Bengals defense that led to them to winning the game in the Queen City, coach Sean Payton paid the Cincinnati equipment manager $1,000 to have every Cincy locker fitted for a “whoopee” cushion in memory of Lesley Nielsen and the entire Cincinnati team fell for it.
Just wondering, has any defending Super Bowl champion at 9-3 at this point of the season received less talk than the Saints? Any number of .500 or below teams is more regularly discussed.
Quick Hit No. 2 – Despite playing at home, Tennessee and San Diego were outrushed by 431 yards combined this past Sunday as favorites.
Not what they seem – The San Diego Chargers might have been lacking emotion after hammering Indianapolis on the road and looking forward to hosting Kansas City this upcoming week, but no excuse for losing to Oakland. At 6-6, the only real way to assess the Chargers is they are average team being carried by a quarterback who is having MVP season. No matter how you want to view it, when the Bolts start so poorly year after year, they leave themselves no margin of error. Even if they beat the Chiefs this week, they need help, still trailing by a game and having 2-3 division record.
It's almost impossible to believe a Jeff Fisher coached team would be just going thru the motions like Tennessee did in being man-handled by Jacksonville. The Vince Young episode in the locker room a few weeks ago caused one bit of confusion and offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer was another hit to Titans squad that is clearly lost.
Quick Hit No. 3 – With Carolina's loss last week, teams traveling three time zones are 4-8 ATS and Oakland plays in Jacksonville this week.
The real Vanilla Ice – Matt Ryan is known as “Matty Ice” for his always cool under pressure demeanor and it showed again in come from behind win over Tampa Bay. The Falcons have flown to six straight victories (5-1 ATS) and will be favored in last four ball games.
Let's get physical – Without a doubt the Pittsburgh and Baltimore game was the most physical game of the season. Forget Faith Hill for a week, Olivia Newton-John should have brought back for this division matchup. (For those who don't know who that is Google the name) Every offensive yard was incredibly difficult to earn for both teams and as NBC's Cris Collinsworth correctly pointed out, the defensive schemes were a marvel. The best player for week 13 was Terrell Suggs who was 100 percent un-blockable and unstoppable.
You might think such hard-nose give no-quarter battles would leave both squads exhausted for next week, but each has reacted differently. The Steelers are 8-3 and 7-4 ATS after facing the Edgar Allen Poe's and Baltimore is 5-6 and 3-8 ATS in next outing.
Quick Hit No. 4 - Green Bay heads to Detroit and is 7-0 ATS vs. teams that commit 60 or more penalty yards per game over the last two seasons, winning by 16.9 points per game.
Sheer genius, Randy who? – It was Hard Knocks –Part 2, for the New York Jets who were pummeled by New England 45-3. All the bluster and bravado of Rex Ryan only served to make him seem like a buffoon against Bill Belichick. New England's offensive and defensive execution proved the Jets didn't use their extra time off for preparation as wisely as the Pats. A couple of personal favorites were Danny Woodhead lined up in backfield, with trips right. Woodhead goes into motion and Jets defense goes to Cover Zero (no safety help) and Tom Brady throws slant to Deion Branch for six.
The other smooth move was having Woodhead and Wes Welker in backfield as supposedly blitz pickup blockers (most 14-year olds are bigger), but Woodhead went up the middle and made 90 degree cut and Brady hit him with short pass that ended up being 35-yard gain and the only New York player on the television screen (HD wide format included) was DE Mike DeVito (he of 305 pounds) trying to chase down the diminutive former Jet.
All those close calls this season come more into focus, suggesting the Flyboys are not as advertised and are 1-3 SU and ATS vs. opponents that presently have winning records (8-0, 6-2 ATS vs. everyone else).