Welcome back, everybody!!! Well, it's finally here. The last week of the season. Many of us will be saying goodbye until August to some of our teams. *clears throat* The Chiefs. While the fans of 12 teams will be looking forward to the playoffs. This has been a rather unique season. Playoff stalwarts like Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers will be watching from home a changing of the guard as a possible 4 rookies have opportunities to shine in the playoffs- Robert Griffin, III, Colin Kaepernick, Andrew Luck, and Russell Wilson. Not to mention they will each battle to see who will be the Rookie of the Year.
Comeback players of the year Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson have simply gone about business as usual. Peyton has established his reign as the new boss of the AFC West, which wasn't difficult considering the Raiders, Chargers, and Chiefs don't really pose a threat to anyone. Peyton is well on his way to another MVP as he and the Broncos fight for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Adrian Peterson is returning from major knee surgery with an opportunity to not only break Eric Dickerson 28 year old rushing record of 2,105 yards but a slight possibility of making the playoffs. He is 208 yards from completing that task. Good luck to the voters choosing Comeback player of the year. Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice's record of single-season receiving yards last week by amassing 1,892 yards. He has a really good chance today of becoming the first receiver to hit the 2,000 yard mark and to take down Michael Irvin's record of 12 games with 100 receiving. Good Luck, Megatron.
For this fan, I finally had the chance to see my Chiefs play live, and they had an amazing come from behind victory against the New Orleans Saints. They proceeded to win 1 more total game, and considering they are playing Peyton Manning today, I don't really see them winning one more. It has been an all-around bad year for the Chiefs. Two wins on the season, fans wanting to revolt, and I won't even discuss the events of December 1. Clark Hunt is going to have to take a long hard look at his team going into next season. The Chiefs are in need of many things including a head coach, general manager, and quarterback, and I don't see the draft helping with the quarterback issue. Ah, well...Thanks guys for a great first game from this fan. I'll see you in August! The Chiefs will be better next year!
I also had the chance to see my favorite player Tony Gonzalez play live this year as well, during what was arguably his best game of the season with 15 receptions, 122 yards, and 2 touchdowns (#100 and #101). TG has been selected to his 13th Pro Bowl, but he is looking forward to the playoffs with his Atlanta Falcons. He has 88 receptions, 889 yards, and 8 touchdowns (He loves those 8s doesn't he?). They have locked up homefield throughout the playoffs, and TG is looking forward to dancing into the sunset down Bourbon Street. Who can blame him? Sixteen seasons in the NFL. He holds the tight-end records in receptions-1,237 (#2 all-time), touchdowns-103 (#6 all-time), receiving yards-14,227 (#7 all-time), 100 yard games-30, 1,000 yard seasons-4, and Pro Bowls-13. A Super Bowl win is what he is looking for to cap off his storied career. Good luck, TG!!!
Now for the picks. Last week, I went 13-3 (Tampa Bay, Houston, and San Francisco, y'all couldn't help a sister out?). My record for the season is 122-77. Let's pad that total... Sunday, December 30
Houston Texans vs. Indianapolis Colts: Indianapolis
Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals: Cincinnati
New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills: Buffalo
Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Pittsburgh
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans: Tennessee
Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions: Chicago
Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants: New York (C'mon, Eli!!!)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons: Atlanta
Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints: New Orleans (Congrats, Sean Payton on your contract extension!)
Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots: New England
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos: Denver (Although it would be wonderful if the Chiefs could pull this one out.)
Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers: San Diego
Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings: Green Bay
St. Louis Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks: Seattle
Arizona Cardinals vs. San Francisco 49ers: San Francisco
Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins: Washington So that's all, y'all. Until next week, "Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good."~Joe Paterno
Welcome back, everybody! Sorry, it's been so long...There have just been a few things happening that I thought were a little more important than making my picks. Because I'm a teacher-blogger, I decided to honor the Students and Teachers of Sandy Hook Elementary School by not blogging last week.
It's the next to the last week of the season, and all through the league, coaches and players are wondering just where they will be celebrating the playoff season. I know where my Chiefs will be...loading U-hauls like they did last year. Sigh...every year I think that my Chiefs will finally get over the hump, and like Sisyphus' rock, they come rolling back down the hill to the basement. As much as I would like to empathize with Romeo Crennel and Scott Pioli after what happened to them, truth be told, they are not the answer, nor is Matt Cassel or Brady Quinn or Tim Tebow or Mark Sanchez. I don't know where to begin to fix the Chiefs but HC, GM, and QB are at the top of the list.
So, the New York Jets have found a way to make themselves relevant after playing themselves out of the playoffs. Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez have turned mediocrity into a hot media commodity. Seriously, what is the fascination with the Jets? Rex is a loud windbag. Mark, most recently, is a model with a football, and Tim Tebow was whining about not getting a chance. Tim, dude, YOU chose to go to this team. You could have gone to Jacksonville where, who is there quarterback? Exactly!!! You wanted to hop-frog Sanchez like you did in Denver. I have little to no sympathy for you buddy.
Like Jerry Glanville said, the NFL stands for Not-for-long, and I honestly wish you both the best of luck in whatever career you manage to find that does not involve my having to see or listen to either of you.
Any who...the last Monday Night Football game of the year is taking place on...Saturday. It involves the 12-2 Falcons and Detroit. Has a 12-2 team ever been more invisible than the Falcons? I would dwell, but they are not my team. Good luck to Tony Gonzalez and the Falcons. At least one of my picks is looking legitimate...
My last set of picks left me at 8-8 which brings my record to date to 109-74. Here are my picks for the week: Saturday, December 22
Atlanta Falcons vs. Detroit Lions: Atlanta Sunday, December 23
New Orleans Saints vs. Dallas Cowboys: New Orleans
Washington Redskins vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Washington
Minnesota Vikings vs. Houston Texans: Houston
St. Louis Rams vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tampa Bay
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Cincinnati
Tennessee Titans vs. Green Bay Packers: Green Bay
New England Patriots vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: New England
San Diego Chargers vs. New York Jets: San Diego
Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Indianapolis
Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins: Miami
Oakland Raiders vs. Carolina Panthers: Carolina
Cleveland Browns vs. Denver Broncos: Denver
New York Giants vs. Baltimore Ravens: Baltimore
Chicago Bears vs. Arizona Cardinals: Chicago
San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks: San Francisco There you go! Here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!! Until next time, "You play to win the game!"-Herm Edwards. Good luck to all the playoff bound teams. The rest of you good luck in the draft.
Hello, everyone. Not a lot of flair this morning. Another tragedy in the NFL happened yesterday. This time the result of drunk driving. I don't do well with drunk driving. I lost my one of my best friends and a student to drunk driving. I myself do not drink. I have never understood the need to drink, but I don't begrudge people the right to have adult beverages. I do have a problem with people who don't have enough respect for themselves and their passengers to surrender their keys, especially someone who has been caught doing this before. I not getting on my soapbox today. I just don't have in me today. I pray for the family of Jerry Brown, and I pray for Josh Brent who is going to have to live with the fact his lack of judgment cost his friend and teammate his life and is going to cost possibly cost Trent a significant loss of freedom. People, keep in mind. There are over 2000 players employed by the NFL. It seems like an abnormal portion of them get in trouble, but stop for a moment before you judge the whole league. If your company consisted of 2000 relatively famous people, how often would it be big news when one of your co-workers were arrested for any reason. I'm a teacher, and you know, I see at least 3 articles a day about a teacher being arrested. That doesn't mean every teacher is a thug or incompetent. People are human. I didn't make picks last week. My week 12 record was 9-5 bringing my record for the year to 101-66. My picks for the week:
Sunday, December 9
Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings: Chicago
Dallas Cowboys vs. Cincinnati Bengals: Cincinnati
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Tampa Bay
Atlanta Falcons vs. Carolina Panthers: Atlanta
St. Louis Rams vs. Buffalo Bills: Buffalo
San Diego Chargers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Pittsburgh
Baltimore Ravens vs. Washington Redskins: Washington
New York Jets vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: New York Jets
Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts: Indianapolis
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cleveland Browns: Kansas City
Miami Dolphins vs. San Francisco 49ers: San Francisco
New Orleans Saints vs. New York Giants: New York Giants
Arizona Cardinals vs. Seattle Seahawks: Seattle Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers: Green Bay
Monday, December 10
Houston Texans vs. New England Patriots: New England
Thursday, December 13
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Cincinnati
Until next week, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you
pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be
measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye,
but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say
to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is
the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother's eye."~Matthew 7: 1-5
Good evening, everybody...I almost didn't write a post tonight. By now, everyone has heard about the tragedy that happen in Kansas City early this morning. LB Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins in their home before driving to the Chiefs practice facility where he killed himself in front of head coach Romeo Crennel and GM Scott Pioli. It really hit home with me that this 25 year old young man would end his life and the life of his girlfriend in such a manner. I've lost too many people in my life to suicide. Since high school, I've lost five people I've known and loved to suicide, and I've lost three to murder. It is never easy to deal with; there are going to always be unanswered questions. Too many whys that will never have a just answer. As tragic as this morning events were, a larger tragedy lies in the fact that a 3 month old little girl will never know her mother, will never know her father, and will have to live with the fact that her father killed himself and her mother. She doesn't know now, it will be years before she will be able to understand it, and even then, it will not make sense to her, just as it doesn't make sense to me. I didn't really know Jovan Belcher. He wasn't a favorite player, but I did get to see him play this year. That's neither here nor there. He was a troubled human being. I don't know why he did what he did. You don't know why he did what he did. It is simply an unspeakable tragedy...I'm not going to judge him. It's not my place; nor is it yours.
I couldn't imagine witnessing these events. As much grief as we have given Pioli and Crennel over the past few weeks about the state of the franchise, I wouldn't wish what happened to them this morning on my worst enemy. To see a young man that you have been grooming for the last few years stand a few feet away from you, thank you for your help, and then kill himself in front of you...Or his mother who witness him kill his girlfriend. His teammates who were in the building who are now getting ready to play a football game...a football game. Because ultimately, that's all it is a game.
Last week, I lamented how disastrous a year the Chiefs were having. That 1-10 record matters so little at a time like this. I'm not doing picks this week. I understand that the Chiefs and Panthers will suit up tomorrow and play yards away from where this young man died. I don't want to think about it. I don't even plan on watching games tomorrow. So, I'm not picking this week. I just don't want to. Winning and losing seem so irrelevant right now...I can't get that little girl out of my mind. I can't get his mom out of my mind. I can't get Romeo Crennel, Scott Pioli, and those others that witness this out of my mind. I can't get my students out of my mind. It's too close. Y'all enjoy the games tomorrow. As for me, I think I'll pass.My condolences and prayers go out to the family of Kasandra Perkins, the family of Jovan Belcher, especially his mother and daughter, to the Kansas City Chiefs organization, especially those who witnessed today's events. Remember, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem...there are people willing to help, please don't allow that darkness to overtake you. You can call the National Suicide Prevention hotline at
1-800-273-TALK (8255). If you feel that you are a victim of Domestic Abuse, don't hesitate to try to remove yourself from a toxic environment, you can call the National Domestic Violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
Until next week, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a
manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes
me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know
for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
―
John Donne
