Santa thinks the Lions are looking nice

Santa and his reindeer showed up in Motown early.  It has been a rough decade in Detroit, so Santa had to double and triple check his list to make sure that Lions should get some sparkle over coal.  Despite all of the naughtiness from Ndamukong Suh, Santa decided that overall the Lions were nice. 

I agree.  The Lions are really nice.  They only needed to win on Saturday to clinch their first playoff spot since 1999.  With that in mind, they demolished the San Diego Chargers and extinguished their hopes of going to the playoffs.  Lions QB Matthew Stafford, had three touchdown passes with three different receivers, tight end Brandon Pettigrew, running back Kevin Smith and super star wide receiver Calvin Johnson, known as Megatron.  The Lions are so nice that Megatron matched a single-team record with 15 touchdown receptions.

So, after years of coal in December, Santa finally gave Lions fans a little sparkle during the holidays.  It must feel like the most wonderful time of the year in Detroit.

Ciao! 

Heels & Helmets®

Eagles v. Jets is like Man v. Nature

The Philadelphia Eagles playing the New York Jets at home was like an episode of “Man vs. Nature.”  Man is smart, but you know what happens every time he truly encounters nature?  A natural disaster.

That is exactly what happened yesterday.  The Jets’ came flying in to The Linc with their man-made engines and wings hoping to improve their playoff chances.  Unfortunately, for Jets fans the speed and power of Rex Ryan’s team was simply no match for what nature unleashed on the gridiron in South Philadelphia. 

The Eagles with its natural wings spanning 90 inches soared high and controlled both sides of the ball.  On defense, fumbles and interceptions led to 21 points putting Philadelphia up 28 – 0 in the second quarter.  Like an American Bald Eagle, Michael Vick’s vision of the field was sharp.  He made good decisions on passing and running the ball.  He rushed and scored one touchdown by stretching into the end zone.

Man attempted a valiant attempt to come back, but after halftime it was over.  There was nothing the Jets could do to stop the Eagles.  They kept the Jets offense off of the field and ran up the score.  At the end it was all nature and the Eagles wiped out the Jets 45 – 19.  Yes, a natural disaster. 

Ciao!

Heels & Helmets®

The Tebow difference

Eight weeks ago the Denver Broncos looked lifeless.  They had only won one game and sat last in their division, the AFC West.  After their bye week (Week 6), they returned with a new starting quarterback and transformed into a new team.  The new leader on the Broncos’ offense is Tim Tebow.

I was asked if the difference in Denver’s performance was because Tebow’s style was similar to the wildcat.  While many people refer to wildcat as an offense, it is not actually an offense system.  It is a formation used in an offense system.  In this formation, the ball is snapped directly to the running back.  Tebow can play in a wildcat formation because he is athletic and runs well.  He can throw defenses off by taking the snap and running or lining up as a receiver. 

Denver uses an option offense.  Tebow is a dual threat to defenses because he can pass or rush.  As a result, Denver has an "option" to allow Tebow to rush like a running back.

Tebow is good, but there are a lot of good QBs in the NFL.  Not many of them have completely turned their teams around as a new starter in the middle of the season.  The difference is that he believes that he can win.  It is clear that his belief is contagious in the Broncos locker room.  Since he took over Denver has only lost one game and are now in first in their division. 

All of the wins were not pretty.  Five of them came when the game was tied or the Broncos were down entering the fourth quarter.  Tebow fights until the end and keeps his teammates fired up to get the win.  That is the difference he brought to Denver.

Ciao!

Heels & Helmets®

BCS bowl selections stir up annual controversy

December is here and college bowl game season is officially upon us.  Yesterday, the BCS selected its bowl games participants and like every year the controversy began.  The two big debates are over the rematch that will happen between LSU Tigers (#1) and Alabama Crimson Tide (#2) in the Allstate BCS National Championship Game and the Michigan Wolverines trip to the AllState Sugar Bowl to play Virginia Tech Hokies.  

The championship game will feature schools from the same conference for the first time.  Everyone outside of the Southeastern Conference wanted to see any one-loss team in the championship game except Alabama.  While, I understand the frustration I get the selection.  Alabama only lost one game.  That lost was to LSU and the game was really close.  Neither team scored a touchdown showing how tough their defenses are.  Their defenses got them in the national championship and it will be a good rematch.

I am a B1G TEN girl and this reminds me of 2006 when Ohio State and Michigan were #1 and  #2 respectively.  It was dubbed, the Game of the Century.  Michigan lost by one field goal and did not play Ohio State in the national championship.  Naturally, I wanted that rematch.  I am glad that Alabama will have a chance to see their rival again. 

As for the Sugar Bowl, the major dissension is Michigan representing the B1G TEN in a BCS bowl and not the Michigan State Spartans.  Both schools had two losses during the regular season, but Michigan lost to Michigan State.  The Spartans played for the conference title but lost to the Wisconsin Badgers.  In the minds of some, the Spartans should have been the obvious choice to a BCS game.  The problem is that they lost the B1G TEN title to a team that they previously beat.  Last year, I said that Michigan State got robbed because they shared the title with Ohio State and Wisconsin, but after beating Wisconsin they were not selected to play in the Rose Bowl.  This year they had a chance to be the outright B1G TEN champ and did not deliver.  It does not look favorable to the committee to lose at the end of the year.

I will not pretend that this is only football.  The BCS is not the NCAA.  They are not reserved about their desire to have good games, schools with passionate fans and great experiences for the cities.  The reality is schools like LSU, Alabama, Michigan and Virginia Tech will help the BCS achieve all of their objectives over Boise State. 

I am not in love with the BCS.  I am not even a fan of the arrangement.  I think that it is complex and at times arbitrary.  I would love to see a playoff system that allows us to truly get a college football champion by action on the gridiron.

Check out all of the BCS and non-BCS bowl games.

Ciao!

Heels & Helmets®