Projo Pats Blog

WHAT HAVE THEY SHOWN US? The Arizona Cardinals, who were handled easily yesterday by the Minnesota Vikings, will come into New England next week with a playoff berth secured, but with a 3-6 record against teams other than the 49ers, the Rams and the Seahawks -- their three awful division rivals. The Cardinals are also 0-4 in road games outside the division. Defensive end Darnell Dockett summed it up correctly: "I'll tell you how it is. We play in a division that's weak . . . and we're running out of excuses." (Arizona Republic) Yesterday, the Cards were booed off their home field at halftime, as they headed to the locker room down 28-0 (East Valley Tribune).

NO RUNNING GAME: Arizona also flirted with NFL history by rushing the ball only seven times in the entire game; if not for two late handoffs by backup quarterback Matt Leinart, the Cards would have set a new league record for fewest running plays in a game (projo Fantasy Sports Blog).

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN: The Cardinals clearly have no confidence in their running game, but yesterday served as a reminder that they could have had Adrian Peterson in the first round of the 2007 draft. Arizona passed, though, in favor of Levi Brown, an offensive tackle who was beaten for a sack and called for a holding penalty yesterday (East Valley Tribune). Peterson? He gouged the Cardinals defense for 165 yards rushing.

AND THEY CAN'T DEFEND THE PASS, EITHER: In the last four games, the Arizona secondary has surrendered 12 touchdown passes while collecting only one interception against Eli Manning, Donovan McNabb, Marc Bulger and Tarvaris Jackson.

WELL, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? The Herald's Ron Borges wrote that before yesterday's game he heard a Raiders assistant coach predicting that Oakland would intercept Matt Cassel twice and return one of those for a touchdown because it was "a bad matchup" for Cassel.

WHO WOULD HAVE PREDICTED? Yesterday was the 14th career start for the Raiders' JaMarcus Russell, a former number-one overall draft pick, and the 14th game in which former college bench player Matt Cassel has been the primary quarterback for New England. Russell's numbers through 14 starts are: 189 of 352, 2,263 yards, 10 TDs, 8 INTs, 76.6 quarterback rating. Cassel's numbers this season: 301 of 472, 3,270 yards, 18 TDs, 11 INTs, 87.1 rating.

FALLING STOCK: It seems like every week the highly talented Ben Watson does something that makes you shake your head. Last week it was the ill-advised end-zone celebration that cost his team 15 yards on the subsequent kickoff; this week it was letting a catchable pass bounce off his pads and into the air for what turned out to be the Raiders' only interception of the game.

HE BELIEVES: Commissioner Roger Goodell took in yesterday's game as a guest of the Raiders, and he said that he had confidence Al Davis would turn the franchise around (Sacramento Bee). Goodell also spoke about how the world's economic crisis is making itself felt in the NFL (Boston Globe).

MORE DRAMA COMING? ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported yesterday that Davis might hire Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride as his next head coach. If he did that, would he keep on Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator, since Ryan's father Buddy once got into a physical fight with Gilbride on the Houston Oilers' sideline, and later called Gilbride a "wimp"? (ProFootballTalk.com)

A MOVER AND A SHAKER: Patriots owner Robert Kraft ranks 12th on Sports Business Journal's annual list of the 50 most influential people in sports business. That is actually down a spot from last year. ESPN president George Bodenheimer is the new man at the top spot on the list.

THANKS BILL! Bill Belichick's needless challenge of an official call with less than three minutes left (certainly it was no more needless than Jeff Fisher's challenge of a call late in the Titans-Lions Thanksgiving Day massacre, but it was still needless), a challenge that was denied on review, played a big part in keeping the game going so that local fans were not able to see the dramatic conclusion of yesterday's Ravens-Steelers game, which had big-time playoff implications for New England. And speaking of that game ...

CONTROVERSY FOLLOWS HIM: The referee who overturned the on-field ruling and awarded Pittsburgh its game-winning touchdown yesterday afternoon was Walt Coleman, the same guy who nearly seven years ago made the controversial "Tuck Rule" call on Tom Brady's apparent fumble in the AFC Divisional Playoff game. While the "Tuck Rule" call was the correct one, Baltimore fans seemed to have a legitimate gripe about yesterday's touchdown call. Santonio Holmes clearly got both of his feet down and in the end zone on the play, but the ball didn't seem to break the plane of the goal line. Certainly there was no clear evidence that the ball had broken the plane, as there needs to be to overturn an on-field call of no touchdown. Pittsburgh should have had the ball, fourth and goal from the 1, trailing 9-6, but that's not the way it turned out. Instead, Walt Coleman has once again breathed new life into a Patriots season.

WHAT HE SAW: Coleman insisted after the game that when Holmes made the catch, the ball was across the plane, and then Holmes fell out of the end zone (Baltimore Sun).

EEEWWWW: Ravens-Steelers games are almost always nasty, and yesterday's was no exception. Even so, I'm shocked and disgusted by Pittsburgh punter Mitch Berger's allegation that Baltimore cornerback Frank Walker spit into his mouth during a scrum late in the game (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). "I'm still trying to spit that ... out," Berger said. Yuck.

LOSS-MAN STRIKES AGAIN: Pats fans who are thanking Coleman right now should probably be cursing J.P. Losman, who almost single-handedly kept the Jets in the driver's seat of the AFC East (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle).

CAN WE TAKE IT BACK? Given Buffalo's collapse, you would think that head coach Dick Jauron would be on the hot seat. Yet Jauron signed a contract extension just yesterday that runs through the 2011 season, according to ESPN. The deal apparently was reached a couple months ago, when the Bills were riding high.

IS THEIR MOJO GONE? For the second week in a row, the Giants looked like a different team in their game against the Dallas Cowboys, and they certainly didn't look like the Super Bowl front-runner that we saw most of the season. Now comes news that just last week, as the team was about to enter its skid, team security told longtime fan Sondra Fortunato, known for "delighting and annoying fans at Giants home games with her bodacious physique, rhinestone tiara and skimpy outfits that heat up the frigid stadium" that she should start coming to games "dressed like a regular person." (New York Post)

TOUCHING ... NOT! Last night's postgame love-fest between Tony Romo, Jason Witten and Terrell Owens rang more than a little bit hollow. It's interesting that Owens, who always seems to suggest that he is a team-player at heart who is maligned by the media, once used the "If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, it's a rat" line when trying to question Jeff Garcia's sexuality. Hey T.O.: If it looks like a cancer and smells like a cancer, it's a cancer.

NO WOMEN ALLOWED: Former Giants linebacker Harry Carson admits that he was behind the NFL's decision to bar the wives of former players from a meeting about long-term care for former players. The decision understandably irked Eleanor Perfetto, the wife of severely disabled former player Ralph Wenzel, who could not come to the meeting even though she is Wenzel's only voice on these important issues. Here's Carson's rather ignorant response to Perfetto's situation: "If there's a woman in the room, I have to watch what I say. Maybe we need to go back and make an exception for her and the wives of players with dementia. But then again, men are men and they'll look at that woman and will not say everything they want to say in the manner they want to say it." (New York Times)

MORE OFFICIATING CONTROVERSY: Rams wide receiver Torry Holt alleged that an official used the Jumbotron as the basis for an offensive pass interference penalty that took away St. Louis' biggest offensive play of yesterday's game (projo.com). If true, the official joined millions of other Americans who were not all that interested in watching the Rams play the Seahawks yesterday.

HOLDING THEIR BREATH IN TENNESSEE: The Tennessee Titans' loss at Houston yesterday not only put home-field advantage throughout the playoffs in doubt for Tennessee, it also brought an injury to defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who is perhaps the team's MVP. Haynesworth injured his knee with less than two minutes left; early reports are that Haynesworth suffered a sprained MCL, which would certainly put the rest of the regular season and perhaps the playoffs in jeopardy. Haynesworth is to have an MRI today.

ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR: Longtime Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin confirmed what most observers had already suspected: He's leaving the team after this season to join his son at the University of Tennessee (Tampa Tribune).

 Tags  Arizona Cardinals Football Today Oakland Raiders

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