Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 553 of 1503)

      Vikings’ pass rush key to beating Brees, Saints

      January 19, 2010 /

      How does a team beat an opponent that had not been beaten in its last 18 games, that had averaged over 36 points and over 410 yards of total offense a game?

      The quick answer to the proposed question above is a potent pass-rush. Along with the last-minute heroics of Eli Manning and David Tyree, that’s how the Giants beat the undefeated Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. And that’s also how the Vikings can beat the Saints this Sunday in the NFC Championship Game.

      Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson and the rest of the Minnesota offense will get a lot of attention heading into this weekend – and rightfully so. Led by Favre and AP, the Vikings have the fifth best overall and the second best scoring offense in the league. But it’ll be the play of Jared Allen and the rest of Minnesota’s pass rush that will be crucial to the Vikings’ Super Bowl hopes.

      The Vikings trail the Saints in terms of total offense and points scored. New Orleans has the best offense in the NFL, led by quarterback Drew Brees and a plethora of weapons ranging from Reggie Bush to Marques Colston and Jeremy Shockey. There’s a reason why the Saints earned the No. 1 seed – they put points on the board, especially at home.

      But the Cowboys proved in Week 15 that Brees and the rest of the Saints’ offense could be neutralized by a defense that can pressure the quarterback. In that game, DeMarcus Ware treated Jermon Bushrod like a revolving door to Brees, while racking up two of the Cowboys’ four sacks that night. Brees had limited time to throw and was often swallowed up by Dallas’ pressure.

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      Does Peyton Manning own Rex Ryan?

      January 19, 2010 /

      If previous history has anything to say, it’s Rex Ryan that should have a sleepless Saturday night leading up the AFC Championship Game, not Peyton Manning. Because for all intents and purposes, Manning has owned Ryan over the past five years.

      2005 was the first year Manning faced a Ryan-led defense, which he promptly shredded for 254 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-7 Colts’ victory. He completed 21-of-36 pass attempts against the Ravens that day, and didn’t throw a single interception.

      In the 2006 playoffs, Manning struggled while completing 15-of-30 pass attempts for 170 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. But his Colts still prevailed, beating the Ravens 15-6 to eventually advance to the Super Bowl.

      Manning would beat Ryan’s Ravens two more times in 2007 and 2008, combining to throw for 520 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. Indy beat Baltimore 44-20 in 2007 and 31-3 in 2008 to give Manning a 4-0 record against Ryan-led defenses.

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      Report: Chan Gailey to become Bills next coach

      January 19, 2010 /

      ESPN.com is reporting that the Bills could introduce Chan Gailey as their next head coach as soon as today.

      The Bills are said to be impressed with how Gailey has brought teams to the playoffs with quarterbacks such as Mike Tomczak, Kordell Stewart and Jay Fiedler. In fact, Bill Cowher — whom the Bills had been courting to replace the fired Dick Jauron — highly recommended Gailey to the Bills.

      Cowher planned to make Gailey his assistant head coach/offensive coordinator if he came back. Gailey has coached in four Super Bowls and has had his teams go to the playoffs in 11 of his 15 NFL seasons.

      If I were a Bills fan, this would be my concern. Gailey has a sharp, creative offensive mind and likes to mix things up to keep defenses guessing. But the reason he was fired in Dallas was because he failed to play to the strengths of his personnel (i.e. Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith). His play calling would either be too radical or too conservative, which doesn’t bode well for a Bills team that is short on talent and needs a disciplined approach on both sides of the ball.

      Of course throughout his career, none of his teams finished below .500 and most of his teams won 10-plus games. He’s a good football coach and knows what it takes to win, so maybe Buffalo did make the right choice. Time will tell obviously.

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      Lucky? Yes, but Jets are good, too.

      January 18, 2010 /

      Following an ugly Week 15 loss at home to the Falcons, a game in which they botched three field goal attempts and had their head coach mistakenly announce that they were out of the playoffs, the Jets’ season appeared to be over.

      The Jets needed several things to happen over the final two weeks of the season to keep their postseason hopes alive, one of which was to beat the 14-0 Colts in Indianapolis. Then they had to hope that the Jaguars would lose to the Patriots and the Dolphins to lose to the Texans.

      Well wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what happened.

      Jim Caldwell decided to pull his starters in the second half and the Jets cruised to a 29-15 victory over the Colts in Week 16. The Jaguars and Dolphins both lost, meaning a win over the Bengals in Week 17 meant that the Jets would make the postseason as the fifth seed.

      With little to play for, Cincinnati gave a pathetic effort in a blowout loss to New York in Week 17, which allowed a once dead team a chance at a second life. And with that second life, Rex Ryan’s Jets have taken full advantage of their opportunities.

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      Forget about running up the score – the Vikings’ decision was just stupid

      January 18, 2010 /

      After his team ran up the score in yesterday’s 34-3 win over the Cowboys, I found it comical what Vikings head coach Brad Childress said in his post game presser:

      “As Lou Holtz used to say, ‘It’s our job to score points. It’s their job to stop us from scoring points.’ That happens. It wasn’t rubbing it in. It’s just taking care of business and being aggressive at the end of the game.”

      After spending some time reading people’s opinions on this topic, it appears that many Minnesota fans are taking Childress’ stance. Hey, the Cowboys’ defenders are paid to stop opponents’ offenses. So if they didn’t want to be scored on, then they shouldn’t have quit on that final play. Also, Keith Brooking is a crybaby whiner that should go back to his crybaby whiner mother and have her feed him out of a bottle labeled: My Little Crybaby.

      The other stance that Minnesota fans seem to be taking is that Brett Favre should now be treated like a baby bird and protected at all cost. With the way they’re backing Favre’s every move right now, I wouldn’t be shocked if a group of Viking fans attempted to eat some food and regurgitate it back into Brett’s mouth.

      Of course, there are a great deal of people that think the Vikings are classless for what they did, or at the very least displayed poor sportsmanship.

      But regardless of what stance you’ve taken on this topic, it’s hard to deny that it was an unnecessary move for the Vikings. The Cowboys were out of timeouts, they couldn’t stop the clock following the two-minute warning and therefore it was virtually impossible that they were going to erase a 24-point deficit at that point. It’s not like this is the BCS and the Vikings needed style points – the game was over and therefore there was no need for a pass in that situation.

      I wonder how Minnesota fans that have fully endorsed what the Vikings did would have acted if Favre snapped his femur while dropping back to pass. Think about the outrage that would have ensued had the Vikings’ Super Bowl hopes been dashed on a meaningless play late in a game that they already had locked up. Fans would have been calling for Childress’ head instead of wanting a picture of him and Favre re-painted to resemble “The Creation of Adam” on the Metrodome’s ceiling.

      Forget the fact that Brooking and the Cowboys should have stopped the Vikings if they didn’t want to be embarrassed. It was a flat out stupid decision and an unnecessary risk by Childress and Favre to throw in that situation and they’re fortunate that something disastrous didn’t happen.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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