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Fourth and Long: Any Given Sunday by Joel 'DiG' DiGiacomo Confidence. Such a critical component of success in the NFL. But there is a fine line between confidence and overconfidence, especially in professional football where the difference between winning and losing truly comes down to inches. The Green Bay Packers, the youngest team in the NFL even with aged Brett Favre at the helm, is playing with a growing confidence that has elevated them from a lucky win over the Eagles in week one to powerful and impressive victories over the Vikings and the Panthers in the last two weeks. The Pittsburgh Steelers, on the other hand, have grown overconfident over the same time period as the media has fallen out of love with the Indianapolis Colts and embraced the AFC's latest contender. Only two and a half weeks ago, the defending world champions led the 'greatest team in NFL history' by 10 points in the fourth quarter without their number one receiver and starting left tackle. But a loss in the final minutes and a subsequent loss to the Chargers after Adam Vinatieri, in his own crisis of confidence, missed a 29-yard field goal at the end of the game has caused the media to go looking for another challenger to the mighty Patriots. The Steelers, after an impressive win over the Ravens and an impressive comeback against the Browns, became the fashionable choice to unseat the Colts as the #2 seed in the AFC. Maybe, pundits whispered, this is the team and not the Colts who can beat the Patriots in a cold-weather classic. Unfortunately for the Steelers, it seems they began to believe their own press clippings. Especially when facing a team with only one win going into Sunday. A team with a full-blown QB controversy magnified under the bright lights of the New York media. But a team come Sunday night, with an overtime victory over the mighty Steelers. One might think the Jets lucked their way to the 19-16 victory. That the ball bounced their way a few times. But that would be a disservice to the Jets. They manhandled the Steelers, sacking Ben Roethlisberger seven times. Thomas Jones gouged the Steelers defense for 117 yards on the ground, the first 100-yard rusher the Steelers have allowed in 34 games. And the Steelers still had a chance to win the game, getting the ball first in overtime. But most NFL games aren't won on Sundays. The are won during the week. Through a committment to excellence. Through hard work. Through preparation. While much of football is about the skill of the players on the team, if you haven't studied hard enough, if you didn't figure out how to get that extra edge, you are setting yourself up for failure in this league. The Steelers got overconfident and they paid the price. This loss may be the margin of error the Colts need to secure that #2 seed in the AFC. That extra week that the top two seed gets may be just enough time for Marvin Harrison to return to action. And the media in their rush to crown another challenger forgot that on any given Sunday any NFL team can beat any other NFL team. Perhaps the seeming invincibility of the New England Patriots juggernaut this season has caused the media to forgot that this concept exists every single season without fail. Suddenly, the high-flying Steelers have three losses on the road against only two wins. Suddenly the Steelers are in a team in crisis, a team that might lack confidence. Good think for the Steelers their next game is at home against the winless Dolphins. Of course, if the Steelers manage to lose that one, then we will really be talking about a crisis of confidence. 'Larry King' Ramblings Being a referee is a thankless job. They are cursed on a regular basis by fans, coaches and media alike no matter what calls they make. Imagine have to cast split-second judgments in front of 80,000 rabid fans, irate 300-pound athletes and apoplectic coaches who scream at you over something that happened in a tenth of a second. So it gives me great joy to be able to compliment these much-maligned referees on making the right call during the Browns-Ravens game. Browns kicker Phil Dawson lined up for a 51-yard game-tying field goal one week after falling short on a game-tying 52-yard field goal against the Steeler. What happened next may have been a first in an NFL or even major college football game. The kick bounced off the left upright, then hit the curved center support post behind the crossbar and, against all laws of physics, rebounded back through the goal post. As everyone stared in disbelief, one back judge finally signaled that the kick was no good. The Ravens, with no time left on the clock, left the field to celebrate their hard-earned victory. But a moment later, referee Pete Morelli announced that he would take another look at the play. The only problem? Field goals are not reviewable under the instant replay rules. So Morelli discussed it with his crew for several minutes and took the word of back judge Keith Ferguson that the ball had indeed crossed over and through the goal post before bouncing back. Morelli returned to the field and explained in detail why the field goal was now being ruled good. The Ravens, celebrating in their locker room, were told to return to the field and the game continued in overtime where, as fate would have it, Phil Dawson kicked the game-winner. Replays show that the referees got the call right. And that is what rules and instant replay are there for, to get the call right. So bravo to Pete Morelli and his crew for taking the time to determine the correct ruling, one that could decide the playoff fate of the Cleveland Browns. The AFC West race just got a whole lot more interesting. The Denver Broncos are suddenly a team to be reckoned with after back-to-back victories over the Chiefs and the Titans. And the Chargers continue to implode after an especially soft performance against the Jaguars. The Broncos-Chargers matchup in San Diego on Christmas Eve may end up being the determiner. Has anyone noticed that the Eagles are 5-3 in their last eight games? And now that they've climbed back to .500, will any of Andy Reid's vociferous detractors give him credit for keeping this team together in spite of all his personal issues? The media is so quick to criticize, so quick to pass judgment and cast the first stone. Perhaps these professional critics should be just as quick to acknowledge that they might have gone a little overboard in the first place. I understand that the Cowboys are 9-1. I also understand that Wade Phillips has displayed just the right touch to keep this team happy and rolling. But asking his team to sign a pledge to not commit penalties? Are you kidding me? Can you imagine Vince Lombardi or Bill Parcells employing this tactic? What is this league coming to? 'Heidi' Chronicles As promised, I watched the 7:30pm edition of GameDay on the NFL Network Sunday, a telecast that runs for one hour, timed to end just as the Sunday Night Football game kicks off. If one can get past the horrible gameshow-style set of cylindrical podiums peppered with enormous coffee mugs emblazoned with the NFL Network logo, one will find a tremendously entertaining NFL highlights show. Halfway through the telecast, one even forgets that Rich Eisen, Deion Sanders and Steve Mariucci are hosting as the highlights are so visually dominating, kicking in immediately from commercial breaks. It's as if the producers realize that we are there to watch highlights and not mindless prattle between hosts. That said, Rich Eisen is terrific narrating the highlights and the surprisingly low-key Deion Sanders adds strong comments only when necessary. Steve Mariucci, on the other hand, is so low-key that one hardly notices he is a part of the team. So, perhaps, I have finally found my Sunday evening highlights show. Not quite to the level of the classic ESPN NFL Primetime, but GameDay certainly is head and shoulders above NBC's Football Night in America and FOX's The OT. Playoffs?!? Don't Talk About Playoffs?!? With apologies to Jim Mora, it's never too early to talk playoffs... AFC Playoff Seeds NFC Playoff Seeds 'John Madden' Wayback Machine The New England Patriots have notched their tenth straight win of the season and have begun to move, officially, into rarefied company. Only 16 other NFL teams have started the season 10-0, 17 if you count the old AFL days. Of those 17 teams, surprisingly only seven went on to win championships. 10-0 Starts: 11-0 Starts: 12-0 Starts: 13-0 Starts: The Perfect Season Battle for Brian Brohm (or Matt Ryan or Whoever the #1 Pick Will Be) The Miami Dolphins have now extended their lead to two-games for the #1 pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. And don't forget that the undefeated New England Patriots own San Francisco's first round draft choice. Yes, the Patriots are looking at a top five pick in next year's draft. #1 - Miami Dolphins (0-10): The John Beck era begins no differently from than the Trent Green and Cleo Lemon eras this season. This Website Stinks! A few weeks back I stated that CBS Sports featured the absolute best NFL scoreboards on the web. Well, something happen on the way to the Internet Sunday that makes me question by previous opinion. Over the weekend, the CBS Sports scoreboards were shocking slow and consistently fell behind the updates provided by the NFL.com scoreboards. At times the CBS Sports scoreboards stopped auto-updating completely just hung there as I tried to manually refresh my browser. And as I mentioned before, the continued intrusiveness of their new interstitial ads have degraded the website's experience to such a degree that I no longer use them for game recaps on the Football for Breakfast website. All that said, CBS Sports still boast the best scoreboards online, but only when they work. But this past weekend has demonstrated that NFL.com may end up being the best choice for getting up-to-the-minute and reliable game updates. As alway, please let me know what you think by emailing me at DiG@FootballForBreakfast.com. And Now for Something Completely Different... If there was ever any doubt that the 1960s was a weird decade, look no further than Leonard Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins during a guest appearance on Malibu U, July 28, 1967. Previously... 11/14: Fascinating optical illusions in people photographs. We'll see you all next time on Fourth and Long! Tell a Friend About Us | Add Us As a Friend on MySpace | Submit Us to Del.icio.us Email Comments, Tips, Stories, Link to Me at DiG@FootballforBreakfast.com. © Copyright 2007 Typing Monkeys. All rights reserved. |
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