Monday, February 08, 2010

It's the End of the 2009 Season as We Know It ...

Congratulations to the Saints and New Orleans on their breath-taking Super Bowl 44 victory.

A few random thoughts on the game, its coverage and the NFL ...

Upon further review, I liked that Saints Coach Sean Payton went for it on fourth-and-goal late in the first half. He looks like a genius today for calling for the onside kick to start the second half. Some coaches talk about having confidence in their players. Payton demonstrated it. ...

Payton Manning is catching a lot of flack today over the fourth-quarter interception that Tracy Porter returned for a touchdown. No question that was one of the game-altering players. However, Manning also engineered a Super Bowl-record, 96-yard touchdown drive on the previous Colts series, and he had the Colts in position for a touchdown immediately after the Saints' pick-six.

Manning, of course, doesn't need me to defend him, but there is plenty of blame to go around in Indy:
  • Pierre Garcon not only dropped a key third-down pass that killed a first-half drive, but he committed a red zone penalty late in the fourth quarter.
  • Reggie Wayne dropped a touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter. Wayne also was the intended receiver on the pick six, and I wondered aloud if he could have come back for the pass.
  • The Colts took two other penalties late in the game - one a hold on a kickoff return after Porter's interception return for a touchdown - that cost field position.
...

I have oscillated in my thinking on Deion Sanders' role on NFL Network's usually solid NFL GameDay broadcast.

A few years back, I could neither stand him nor understand him a vast majority of the time.

During the 2008 season, I thought Sanders provided much more insight and intelligent commentary. This past season was another story; I thought he regressed and the show itself lost some luster. He was true to recent form again Sunday night.

Sanders' default now appears to be the need to label most players who commit a postseason turnover a choker - Manning, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers - unless of course that player is Adrian Peterson, whose three touchdowns against the Saints matched his fumbles. (I am of the opinion Peterson's mistakes cost the Vikings a shot at the Super Bowl at least as much as Favre's and probably more).

Sanders' biting remarks - some justified and some not - aren't new. Neither is his overwhelming fixation on money (Pay the man! Don't hurt the money-maker! Blah, blah - insert money, blah).

As a player, I thought Sanders was wildly talented in coverage and very dangerous in the return game, but also something of a front-runner (check out his jumps from team to team).

The money fixation from someone who undoubtedly earned a Brinks truck full of it is puzzling, and it's hurting NFL Network's product. ...

Tough to make out what will happen with the league's labor situation, but you can bet that talk will overshadow everything else during the offseason. I think the NFL HAS to have a new agreement in place before the kickoff of the 2010 season or the specter of a 2011 lockout will cast a pall over the 2010 season. That could result in fan backlash and more less-than-sold-out stadiums (and more blackouts).

I'm also very curious to see how the uncapped year plays out in free agency (which begins less than a month from now), and to a lesser extent in the draft, where rookie money for first-rounders is way out of whack already....

I love pro football, but after what I've seen, heard and experienced in relation to the NFL this past year, maybe a lockout (and severe hit to the bottom line) would be a wake-up call that all parties involved need.

The rhetoric from the players and the owners is tiresome. The constant theme is this: greed.