Nicely done…
Category: External Sports (Page 284 of 821)
One day after being named head coach of the Tennessee Titans, Mike Munchak’s first order of business? Fire offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, one of the four men who interviewed for the position that the Titans ultimately gave to Munchak.
It seems strange to some that Heimerdinger wasn’t retained as offensive coordinator when the team viewed him worthy of being hired as head coach. But interviewing Heimerdinger for the head coaching position was vice president Steve Underwood and GM Mike Reinfeldt’s decision – not Munchak. And it’s clear by the firing of Heimerdinger that Munchak is putting his stamp on the Titans right away.
Heimerdinger was a warrior this year. Even though he was diagnosed with cancer during the season, he barely missed any time and didn’t want his situation to be a distraction for the team even though nobody viewed it as such.
But there’s no doubt he had a rough year as coordinator. He failed to use Chris Johnson to exploit opponents’ weaknesses and his handling of Randy Moss was absolutely puzzling. How he and Jeff Fisher never devised a plan to get both Moss and Kenny Britt on the field at the same time is beyond me. Heimerdinger may have been worthy of being interviewed for the head coaching position, but it’s understandable that Munchak wanted to break ties with someone he competed with for his job. Throw in the fact that the Titans finished 27th offensively last year and it’s not surprising that Munchak wanted to go in a new direction.
His next decision is even more important than his last, however. Munchak now has to find a coordinator that will design his offense around Johnson, who is easily the team’s best player. Who a first year head coach chooses as his coordinators is arguably the biggest decision he’ll make.
The Nielsen Co. said on Monday that an estimated 111 million people watched the Packers beat the Steelers on Sunday night. But while the FOX network and advertisers cashed in, the Nevada sportsbooks did not.
According to Covers.com (via the Nevada Gaming Control Broad), Nevada sportsbooks won “just” $724,176 on Super Bowl wagers this year. In comparison, the sportsbooks raked in over $6 million in each of the last two Super Bowls.
At kickoff, the Packers were 3-point favorites over the Steelers, while the over/under total was set anywhere from 44.5 to 46 points. A total of $87,491,098 was wagered on the Super Bowl, which was the most since 2008.
While the sportsbooks in Nevada still recorded a profit, it was the lowest win in the past 10 years. In fact, MGM Mirage sportsbook manager Jay Rood told Covers that the Packers’ win was the worst Super Bowl loss he’d seen in 25 years. That’s surprising considering the Giants’ win over the Patriots in 2008 cost the books over $2 million, which was their largest loss ever.
Of course, no one will be shedding a tear for the books any time soon. Since 2002, Nevada sportsbooks are up approximately $70 million on the Super Bowl. Most of us won’t ever see $1 million, so I certainly won’t lose sleep tonight thinking about their “losses.”
I just listened to Bill Simmons’ post-Super Bowl podcast and he said that if the Giants had held on to beat the Eagles in Week 15, the Packers wouldn’t have made the playoffs. Peter King also said that the Packers have the Eagles to thank for their playoff berth.
Green Bay finished 10-6, the last Wild Card team and sixth seed in the NFC, by virtue of winning tiebreakers with the 10-6 Giants and 10-6 Bucs. We all know the Giants story: Up 31-10 over Philly at home with eight minutes left in the game, the Giants gave up 28 points in the last half of the fourth quarter and lost 38-31. The killer was punter Matt Dodge blowing the game and keeping a punt to DeSean Jackson inbounds with 14 seconds left in a 31-all game. Jackson returned it 65 yards for a touchdown. Who knows what would have happened if that game went to overtime, but that’ll stay a mystery.
Maybe I’m missing something here because, clearly, I’m not in the same league as Bill Simmons and Peter King. It appears that Simmons and King are counting the Giants’ win in Week 15, but aren’t considering the Eagles’ loss. If the Eagles lose that game in Week 15, they don’t win the East. The Giants win it at 11-5. Assuming Philly beats Dallas in Week 17 (a reasonable assumption since they didn’t play many of their starters in a 14-13 loss), the Eagles would have finished 10-6 and would have been tied with Tampa Bay and Green Bay for the 6th and final spot in the NFC. This assumes the Eagles would have still lost to the Vikings in Week 16, which is a fair assumption since they played their starters.
The first tiebraker between three teams is a head-to-head sweep, which isn’t applicable because the Bucs didn’t play either the Packers or the Eagles. The second tiebraker is conference record. The Bucs and Packers went 8-4 while the Eagles would have gone 7-5 (with a loss against NYG but a win against DAL), so the Eagles would have been eliminated at this point.
The next tiebraker is record in common games. Both teams were 2-3 in common games. The Packers beat the 49ers and the Lions, and lost to the Lions, Redskins and Falcons. The Bucs beat the 49ers and Redskins, and lost to the Falcons twice and the Lions.
The next tiebraker is strength of victory. I’m not sure how this is calculated or where I can find it, but acccording to CBSSports.com, that was the tiebraker that gave the Packers the No. 6 seed over the Giants and Bucs:
Green Bay is the No. 6 seed over the N.Y. Giants and Tampa Bay based on strength of victory (.475 to the Giants’ .400 and the Buccaneers’ .344).
So the Packers would have gotten the No. 6 seed over the Bucs. They would have played the Giants in the first round of the playoffs. Maybe they would have won or maybe they would have lost, but either way, they would have made the postseason.
So Bill Simmons and Peter King (and anyone else), please stop talking about the Week 15 Giants/Eagles game with regard to the Packers’ Super Bowl win. Thank you.
Breaking news on the story that will never die: The Minnesota State Court of Appeals has sided with the NFL in the 2008 StarCaps case against Vikings’ defensive tackle Kevin Williams.
The other players that were impacted by the ruling were Pat Williams, Will Smith, Charles Grant and Grady Jackson. The latter two players are out of football and Pat Williams is a free agent. This means Kevin Williams and Smith could be on the reserve/suspended list for the first four games in 2011 (assuming there even is a season, that is).
StarCaps was a dietary supplement the players took that is banned under the league’s substance abuse policy. The supplement can be used as a masking agent for steroid use, which is obviously what the NFL was most concerned with. Of course, cough drops are probably banned under the league’s substance abuse policy, so what isn’t the NFL concerned with? (Not that I’m complaining about the league wanting to be drug-free.)
This has to be one of the most annoying stories in sports and here’s hoping that it finally has an ending. It would be nice if the league were just as motivated and relentless in its efforts to sign a new CBA deal as it is trying to suspend these four players.
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