5 comments Gregg Easterbrook Says the Broncos-Seahawks Rematch May or May Not End Up Like the Super Bowl Did

Gregg Easterbrook continued repeating topics from past TMQ's in last week's column. He also continued to get a little confused about whether O.J. Simpson was found guilty or liable in the civil suit brought against him by Ron Goldman's family. This week he talks about how Super Bowl rematches are so rare, criticizes how television shows portray the government as villains, and continues his bare-bones knowledge of football to give his shitty analysis of why blitzing is bad except when it isn't. I still can't believe Gregg gets paid to write a weekly NFL column.

Next Sunday, the Denver Broncos travel to Seattle for a Super Bowl rematch. Are the Broncos happy to have another chance to slay the dragon, or dismayed that stretching back to last season, two of four games that count will be against the league's best defense?

They will probably try not to worry about it too much and just win the game. There is always that option too. I don't know too much, but I do know NFL teams aren't generally worried about going back to last season to whine about how many games they have had to play against teams with a great defense, especially when one of those games was the Super Bowl. No team is dismayed about playing in the Super Bowl.

On only five occasions following the 47 previous Super Bowls -- or V times following the XLVII previous Super Bowls -- has the next regular season seen a rematch. So far teams that lost the Super Bowl are 2-3 against the victors in regular-season rematches the following season. 

When Gregg says "Super Bowl rematches" it makes it sound like it is a rematch of two teams in the Super Bowl, who played against each other in the Super Bowl the previous year. That's not what Gregg means. He means a regular season matchup of the two teams that played in the Super Bowl. His phrasing is confusing.

The most recent Super Bowl rematch, Green Bay versus New England, occurred in 1997, so it's been nearly two decades since a regular-season rematch.

Riveting. When it comes to putting together facts or stats I don't care about, Gregg is unparalleled.

Considering the beatdown the Bluish Men Group defense put on the Broncs' high-tech offense in the Super Bowl, the odds would seem to favor another Seattle win. So would the Seahawks' league-best 18-1 stretch at home. So would Russell Wilson's sterling record versus the NFL's quarterbacking old guard. Wilson is 7-0 in starts against Tom Brady, Drew Brees, the Manning brothers and Aaron Rodgers. By comparison, he's 3-2 versus young guns Colin Kaepernick and Andrew Luck.

Russell Wilson isn't really 3-2 or 7-0 against these quarterbacks. It's his team that has these records against these quarterbacks' teams. Football is a team game.

When John Fox coached the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII at Houston, the neutral crowd didn't make much noise.

Yes, the neutral crowd of Patriots and Panthers fans didn't make any noise. Because no one team dominated the attendance, every fan in the stadium was quiet as a result and didn't make noise cheering for their team. Sure, I bet that happened.

When preparing the Broncos for Super Bowl XLVIII, Fox assumed the neutral crowd at Snoopy Stadium would be similar, like they were watching Masterpiece Theatre. Assuming this, Fox had the noise generators turned off at the Jets' practice facility where Denver prepared for the big game.

The Broncos assumed the crowd would be completely silent! This is a real thing that Gregg believes happened. Peyton Manning has never played in a loud stadium before, so naturally he was confused to hear all of that noise coming from the stands. The difference in the Seahawks and Broncos in the Super Bowl was that the Broncos didn't expect crowd noise and the Seahawks did. This is what Gregg would have you believe.

Denver seemed discombobulated by the noise level. ("Wow it's loud in here," one of my kids, attending with me, said a moment before the safety.)

Unlike the Super Bowl between the Patriots and Panthers where there was little noise during the game. John Fox just assumed no one would be cheering at the next Super Bowl and his players certainly had never played in a loud stadium before.

Some coaches tailor everything to specific places and opponents, others say they approach every game the same. Seattle coach Pete Carroll is in the former group, Fox in the latter. Example: Going into the Super Bowl, Carroll had the Seahawks prepare for a long halftime. Fox did not have the Broncos practice this.

The reason the Ravens won the Super Bowl the year before is John Harbaugh practiced the Ravens resting during halftime AND planned for the lights to go out during the game causing a further delay. Harbaugh had his players just sit around for 35 minutes, after they had rested at a simulated halftime, at every practice leading up to the Super Bowl and that is why the Ravens beat the 49ers. The 49ers just planned for a halftime, but failed to plan for the lights to go out.

When the New Orleans Saints onside kicked to start the second half of their Super Bowl collision with Indianapolis, Colts on the receiving team seemed unfocused. Some were checking out the double cheerleader squads both dancing at the Colts' end of the field.

It certainly sounds like somebody else (ummm...Gregg?) was checking out the double cheerleader squads dancing at the Colts' end of the field. Also notice how Gregg is capable of checking out these cheerleaders and still paying enough attention to the game to have talked about the onside kick that occurred after halftime, but he assumes the Colts' receiving team isn't capable of doing this as well.

I would also like to know how good of vision does Gregg Easterbrook have? He can see from where he was sitting at the Super Bowl the exact direction that the Colts players were looking, despite the fact they had helmets covering their face? He has to have the eyesight of an eagle, and yet, he wears glasses. He must wear super-powered glasses that give him vision even Superman would be jealous of.

Some were watching the final sets for The Who to be rolled off. The Colts weren't prepared for keeping focus during the unusually long halftime.

I know the Colts players were probably terribly interested in The Who's equipment being rolled off the field. See Gregg knows the Colts weren't prepared to focus, because along with superior eyesight, he also has the ability to read minds.

To prepare the Seahawks for the unusually long halftime, Carroll had them run plays, then go back to the locker room for half an hour of twiddling thumbs, then go back out and run plays at game tempo. Rich Cimini provides the details. Denver did not do any special halftime rehearsal. Result? The Broncs' special teams looked drowsy, too many players bunched on the same side, as Seattle ran the second-half opening kickoff back for a touchdown, turning the game into a rout.

While as an NFL head coach I would probably do the same thing Pete Carroll did, the game was already a rout at halftime anyway. It's not like if John Fox had changed his usual process (which he won't do, simply because he's a great coach but very conservative and can be set in his ways) then the Broncos would have won the Super Bowl.

One would think that in Sunday's rematch there's no way the Denver Broncos will repeat the mistakes they made in the Super Bowl. Yet history has a way of repeating itself.

Peyton Manning may throw another interception against the Seahawks, or he may not, either way history may or may not repeat itself.

Ongoing settlement talks for the main NFL concussion lawsuit last week led to a league-financed study roughly estimating that one former NFL player in three will develop later-life neurological damage. Since there are around 18,000 former NFL players, that estimate suggests 6,000 face neurological problems. A terrible number -- but nothing compared to what the estimate foretells about the larger football universe. About 3.7 million boys play youth and high school football, according to USA Football. If one-third of them face later-life neurological decay caused by football, that comes to 1.2 million cases of crippling head harm. 

Except this number may not change because the same 6,000 NFL players that suffer neurological harm also played youth and high school football. It's not like these players just showed up one day on a college campus and started playing football. The 18,000 former NFL players also had teammates who played youth, high school and college football. So the data is even more convoluted because it leaves out those boys who played youth and high school football that didn't play in college and suffer from neurological problems. Then there would need to be information on those boys who played youth and high school football, plus college football, to see how many of them eventually faced neurological problems. Basically, Gregg's 1.2 million number isn't correct and he knows that.

Of course most youth and high school players never participate in as much football as those who go on to make the pros, and thus experience fewer head impacts. Cut the NFL rate in half, and that's still more than 500,000 cases of serious neurological harm caused by football. Cut the NFL rate to a tenth, and that's still more than 100,000 cases.

Okay, fine. But what if the 6,000 number is only indicative of those players who play football in the NFL? What if the rate of neurological problems for those who only played youth and high school football is much lower? After all, the 18,000 former NFL players are also part of an unknown million dollar figure of boys who played youth and high school football. So, while including these boys who played football at a lower level would increase the overall number of ex-football players suffering from neurological issues, it's possible the rate of neurological harm decreases as the level of competition decreases. After all, an NFL player takes much harder hits to the brain and body than a youth or high school football player. So 100,000 cases may still be an overestimation.

There's so much data here, it's almost impossible and misleading to throw out 100,000 cases of neurological damage and feel like you are telling your readers anything concrete. In order to have a reasonable number among the 3.7 million boys who will suffer neurological damage caused by football, Gregg would have to know how many boys played youth and high school football over a specific time period that a subset of the 18,000 former NFL players played. The 18,000 former NFL players could span 40-45 years of youth and high school football, while Gregg is taking his numbers from how many boys are playing youth and high school this year.

In other sports news, what if your team scored 68 points and lost?

I would say my basketball team needs to score more points.

I'm not talking about your basketball team; I'm talking about your NCAA college football team.

The twist! What a shocking turn of events! I hope there is more below about this.

See below.

Thank God. This is a very intriguing tease that I care deeply about.

I like how Gregg treats MMQB like a newscast where he teases items he writes about below. Just write what you are intending to write and quit with the tease crap in order to kill space.

Stats of the Week No. 1: During the regular season, the Cincinnati Bengals are on a 10-0 streak at home; during the playoffs, they are on an 0-3 streak at home.

Of course one streak spans less than a year and the other streak spans multiple years with completely different Bengals teams, but Gregg isn't interested in things like this. He prefers to throw facts out and hope his less-mindful readers think he's a genius.

College offensive tactics are the NFL trend of the moment, and the hosts showed a lot of Stanford's Four Horsepersons backfield, a run-first set. The result of these tactics? A 17-7 Santa Clara lead at intermission.

So during halftime, Bears defensive coordinator Mel Tucker changed tactics, switching to the Tampa 2 front that Brian Urlacher excelled in.

Santa Clara had plenty of blame to go around -- 16 accepted penalties (two more declined), including two automatic first-down fouls on Chicago third-down incompletions, one of which sustained a touchdown drive. The Niners dropped three interceptions. (After Jay Cutler threw two dropped interceptions on the same second-quarter possession, the Bears seemed so doomed the NBC announcers were talking about whether Jimmy Clausen -- 1-9 in his career -- would take over in the second half.)

It's almost like the three dropped interceptions and 16 accepted penalties had more to do with the 49ers losing than the change in tactics. After all, if the 49ers grab those interceptions and don't commit so many penalties than the Bears comeback probably isn't possible.

Jonathan Marin was horrible at right tackle, surrendering two "olé!" sacks on which he barely slowed Young.

Well, no wonder. None of these Jonathan Marin's look like they could play right tackle in the NFL. Why would the 49ers start Jonathan Marin when they have a guy like Jonathan Martin who has experience playing tackle in the NFL?

So does this mean Gregg will send out a correction or can I say, a la Gregg, that in TMQ Gregg Easterbrook got 49ers right tackle Jonathan Martin confused with various businessmen named "Jonathan Marin"?

Three touchdown passes for Chicago went to its very tall wide receivers when they were covered by 5-foot-10 Jimmie Ward. Cutler was looking for whomever was matched up against Ward, and Niners coaches did not give Ward help.

Who would have thought that the Bears would go after the rookie safety? Also, Ward is a safety. Oftentimes he IS the help and not the one requiring the help. Safeties when matched up with a receiver often don't get additional safety help over the top. I don't think that's very normal because it is usually the safety providing help to a linebacker or cornerback. Of course Gregg would expect the 49ers to provide their safety additional safety help.

Then there's Kaepernick. He is a gifted athlete who has an engaging personal story, and he looks great naked. (In consecutive offseasons, Kaepernick has stripped to pose for magazine covers.)

And yet, you still could have left this out since it wasn't relevant to the discussion of Kaepernick's performance against the Bears.

But increasingly it seems he is in over his head as an NFL quarterback. He had four turnovers versus the Bears, two coming when Kaepernick forced the ball toward Michael Crabtree. Attention Niners coaches: The entire league knows Kaepernick forces the ball to Crabtree; make him stop!

I'm sure the 49ers coaches never thought to do this. What a great idea!

Maybe the game will "slow down" for him (Drew Brees made a lot of mistakes at this point in his career, too).

Except the talent level of the Chargers team around Brees was much different from the talent level of the 49ers team around Kaepernick. By "different" I mean "not as good on defense" and Brees figured it out his third full year in the NFL. I'm sure Kaepernick will figure it out and I like to hear Gregg is writing Kaepernick off a bit for when the 49ers go on a 10-4 run to end the year. You know, similar to what happened last year after Gregg declared the zone-read as having been figured out by NFL defenses.

At Jersey/A, the Arizona Cardinals faced third-and-17. A false start stops the play, but New York Giants defender Jameel McClain ignores the whistle and runs several steps to drill backup quarterback Drew Stanton. With a first down via personal foul, the Cardinals go on to score a touchdown on the possession and continue on for the victory.

Doesn't Gregg mean "undrafted, hard-working Jameel McClain"? Wait, that doesn't fit his narrative that highly-paid, highly-paid glory boys drag their team down, while undrafted free agents work hard and don't make mistakes like this. Gotta keep that narrative going.

The conventional wisdom is that Hollywood roots for Barack Obama and expansion of government. Maybe so. Yet Tinseltown simultaneously indoctrinates audiences to believe government is evil. 

It's almost like movies are considered to be entertainment and don't necessarily always reflect the beliefs of those screenwriters, producers, and directors who worked on the movie.

As recently as a decade ago, when "24" became a ratings monster, its interpretation of high-level government was quite unusual, and attributed to Surnow's politics. Now this worldview dominates network action fare.

Hey, remember when this was a football column and not a study of how the federal government is portrayed in fictional television shows and movies? You don't? Yeah, me neither, but it would be nice. A column about the NFL, not written by Gregg Easterbrook. That sounds good.

On CBS's "Hawaii Five-0," the CIA is assisting Chinese gangsters in their plot to destroy the U.S. economy. When Danno questions CIA motives, the agency takes him captive and tortures him; the CIA officer who helps Danno escape a U.S. government black-site prison is immediately executed by the agency. This is presented as standard CIA behavior.

No, it is presented as behavior that the CIA officers assisting the Chinese gangsters take part in. If it were standard CIA behavior then the CIA officer who helped Danno escape would not have helped Danno escape.

On the FX prime-time show "Justified," the FBI is helping mobsters bring heroin into the country; on the FX prime-time show "The Bridge," the CIA is helping Mexican cartels smuggle in heroin.

On "The Bridge" the CIA is not helping Mexican cartels smuggle in heroin, they are simply helping to choose the leadership of those cartels in an effort to control the drug trade between the United States and the Mexico. By the way, the CIA has helped "choose" new leaders of unstable countries in the past, so it's not an entirely far-fetched idea they would exert influence to get Mexican cartels to choose a head of that cartel they (the CIA) could control.

And if it's true that the Hollywood establishment wants voters to support Barack Obama, the prime-time worldview of traitors running Washington is not likely to help.

If somebody is influenced politically by watching "Hawaii Five-O," then...you know what, I am sure people are influenced politically in some fashion by these shows because people are idiots. Still, I would prefer Hollywood write the scripts they want to write instead of only writing television shows and movies that would influence voters to support one political party over another.

The defending champion Florida State program graduates just 58 percent of its players. That's okeydokey with the NCAA. But heaven forbid there should be telephone calls or text messages!

But Florida State is very good at mixing academics and athletics, because they are 6th in ESPN Grade. That's very impressive, isn't it? Florida State is the 6th best university in the Top 25 at combining academics and football. I don't see how Gregg can criticize them while also thinking ESPN Grade is such an excellent metric. It's almost like Gregg wants it both ways.

Latest Nutty Sports Contract: Over the weekend Robert Quinn signed a mega extension with about $41 million guaranteed. The Rams want to lock him up, contractually speaking, because he was second in sacks in 2013. But Les Mouflons were mediocre on defense in 2013, and since the start of that season, have allowed at least 30 points on six occasions. If Quinn is a franchise-quality defender, why is the St. Louis defense unimpressive?

Why? Because an NFL defense consists of more than one player, part of the reason a team may give up a lot of points is because they don't have an offense that can score points and keep the opposing team's offense off the field, the Rams were 15th in yards allowed per game and 13th in points allowed per game (which I don't think is mediocre, but average), and the Rams secondary isn't very good which impacts how many points the team gives up. Robert Quinn is 1 of 11 defenders. He can be a franchise-quality defender and the Rams can still give up 30 points six times in 18 games.

In Week 1, the Saints seemed to have the Falcons dead to rights, leading by 3 with Atlanta on its 20 with 1:20 remaining. Then New Orleans shifted into the prevent defense, and you don't need to know anything more about the contest.

They shouldn't have gone to a prevent defense. Start blitzing!

Sunday, the Saints seemed to have the Browns dead to rights, leading by a point with low-voltage Cleveland back at its 4 with 2:46 remaining. This time the Saints went to the opposite extreme, with too much blitzing. Third-and-3 on the Cleveland 24 with 1:34 remaining, New Orleans blitzed seven, easy first-down conversion.

They shouldn't have started blitzing. Lay back and rush only four!

Five-man blitz results in a short sack, which only seemed to encourage Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.

I can't believe Rob Ryan saw a positive result and then tried to duplicate this result. Don't they say that madness is "Doing the same thing over and over again when you are getting a positive result." I don't know why Ryan would be encouraged to blitz more when blitzing worked.

Cleveland has first-and-10 on its 48 with 19 seconds remaining, holding a timeout. Ryan called a big blitz; quick 13-yard completion. Second-and-10 on the New Orleans 39 with 13 ticks remaining, Ryan called another big blitz. Wide receiver Andrew Hawkins ran up the field uncovered by anyone -- an uncovered guy going deep with 13 seconds remaining in the game! Hawkins caught a 28-yard pass that positioned the hosts for the winning field goal as time expired.

This would never have happened if Ryan had rushed four and made sure his safeties played deep, you know, like he did last week against the Falcons and Gregg criticized this move. 

Consecutive late defensive collapses: Rob Ryan just can't seem to call the defense that is appropriate to the situation. That fourth-place New Orleans finish for defense last season? Maybe it was a misprint.

So what's your suggestion then, Gregg? Other than "Do whatever ends up working." Gregg rips the Saints for playing a passive prevent-type defense one week, then he rips them for blitzing the next week. Sure, the Saints should call whatever plays end up working, but what defensive plays would that be which wouldn't cause Gregg to use hindsight to criticize the result?

Leading ninth-ranked USC by six points, mega-underdog Boston College had first-and-goal on the Trojans' 6-yard line with about 30 seconds remaining. Rather than try for an extra touchdown to run up the score, coach Steve Addazio did the dignified thing and had his charges kneel.

It also happens that kneeling the ball down was the safe move in this situation. It's less likely for there to be a fumble on a kneel-down than there is to hand the ball off with the USC defenders trying to rip the ball away from the running back.

Peyton Manning and Julius Thomas got into an (uncharacteristic for Peyton) sideline shouting match over Thomas' allergy to blocking. With Seattle losing and Denver not sharp, perhaps both teams were looking ahead to their rematch.

And here I thought Jay Cutler was the only NFL quarterback who showed a lack of leadership by yelling at his offensive teammates for not blocking. I'm sure when Peyton Manning does it, he is showing leadership, while Cutler is just being an asshole that nobody likes.

Will the Mega-Trade For RG III Be Seen As a Mega-Blunder?

So it seems Gregg thinks both the Rams and the Redskins screwed up in this trade. How can the Redskins screw up by trading for Griffin while the Rams screwed up by trading the pick and not drafting Griffin?

Gregg from two weeks ago:

Chose Bradford over
Griffin: Regrets begin now.
The St. Louis Rams.
Forecast finish: 4-12

Gregg from a year ago:

Left RG III on
the table; can they rebound?
The St. Louis Rams.
Forecast finish: 4-12

I guess at this point the Rams should regret not drafting Griffin, while the Redskins should regret drafting Griffin?

During the contest, Cousins completed eight passes, including a touchdown pass, to the little-used Niles Paul. Because Cousins and Paul are backups, they are accustomed to tossing the ball around with each other. When a backup quarterback unexpectedly enters a game, defenders should be wary of any backup receiver who also enters.

Paul actually played a lot the previous week when Jordan Reed got injured, so he didn't enter the game when Kirk Cousins did. Also, Paul is a tight end, not a receiver. But these are just simple facts that shouldn't get in the way of Gregg's assertions being very correct. Why would reality impact what Gregg thinks to be true?

Week 1 fantasy-stats star Allen Hurns of Jacksonville was all by his lonesome when he dropped what would have been a 76-yard touchdown. Persons cornerback DeAngelo Hall was making the high school mistake of looking into the backfield trying to guess the play, and let Hurns run right past him.

Gregg can see from his television set where DeAngelo Hall was looking. I need to either find a set of glasses that give Gregg such great vision or have Gregg invite me over to use his 125 inch television set on Sundays.

I didn't see this play, but I would guess that what Gregg perceives as "looking into the backfield trying to guess the play" was actually the Redskins running zone coverage. This usually is the type of defense a team is running when Gregg accuses a cornerback of looking in the backfield. Gregg seems to think every NFL team runs man coverage, either that or he doesn't understand how zone coverage works.

Tesla's agreement with Nevada to build a battery factory is expected to create about 6,000 jobs in exchange for $1.25 billion in tax favors. That's about $208,000 per job. More jobs are always good. But typical Nevada residents with a median household income of $54,000 per year will be taxed to create very expensive jobs for others.

The way it usually works is a company creates more revenue for an area than just the pay the workers at that factory would receive. New jobs brings new spending, which brings more tax revenue.

Monday night's game had all kinds of tactical fun -- unbalanced lines, triple-tight end sets, lots of double-A blitzing. But the exhaustion effect of the quick snap was most prominent. Teams that face the Eagles may do well in the first half and think, "This Blur Offense isn't so hot, we're controlling them." Then it's the second half.

That's sort of the point isn't it? Chip Kelly keeps his team in good shape and ready to put constant pressure on the opposing team throughout the game in the hopes of wearing the opposing defense down.

TMQ's alternative-jersey Super Bowl picks were Denver over New Orleans or Seattle over Indianapolis. Two of my four predicted Super Bowl entrants opened 0-2, and the Colts just lost Robert Mathis for the season. Being wrong in front of the entire nation is not for the faint of heart!

Only 10 of my predicted 16 predicted Super Bowl entrants are doing well this season. But hey, I picked 16 teams to be in the Super Bowl, so just like Gregg, I can't wait to brag about how I was right about the Super Bowl matchup.

But I am sticking with my hand. The Tuesday Morning Quarterback Law of Panic holds: Don't panic now; there will be plenty of time for that later.

It's good to hear that Gregg isn't going to make another Super Bowl pick in the desperate attempt to be correct...yet. I'm sure by the end of the 2014 NFL season he will have made another Super Bowl pick unofficially. Probably around Week 13 when he will write, "I think Team X and Team Y will meet in the Super Bowl this year," then posit an obvious theory about why this is. That way Gregg has a Super Bowl pick he's made while having more information and two other Super Bowl picks he made at the beginning of the season.

The Packers-Jets contest tied in the third quarter, on first down Jersey/B run-blitzed seven defenders. Jordy Nelson ran a stop-and-go -- which TMQ thinks is football's most effective pass pattern -- and blew past a press corner, 80-yard catch-and-run for the winning points.

A stop-and-go is the most effective pass pattern. It also takes time to develop, so teams with bad pass protection probably should be wary of running a bunch of stop-and-go routes. Plus, a stop-and-go doesn't do much good if the corner isn't pressing the receiver or doesn't fall for the "stop" portion of the route.

I know, I know. How dare I point out the problem with Gregg just saying "This is football's most effective pass pattern." It's an effective pass pattern if run during certain circumstances.

Also, you can't see the route Nelson ran, but the guy in the NFL.com studio referred to it as a "double move," not a stop-and-go route.

Hidden Play Of The Week: Hidden plays are ones that never make highlight reels but sustain or stop drives. Carolina leading 3-0, Calvin Johnson dropped a well-thrown touchdown pass on third down, then the Lions missed the field goal try. The Cats went on to win by the new economy score of 24-7.

I'll go with the usual disclaimer: A play isn't hidden because it doesn't make a highlight reel. The term "highlight" refers to only the most important parts of the game being shown, and doesn't mean there aren't important plays that weren't shown, and usually a highlight is only 45 seconds to a minute or so long. A dropped touchdown pass is never really a hidden play for anyone who watched the game. If a person relies on a highlight to show him/her all of the important plays in a game, and assumes the highlight will show all of the important plays in a game, then that person is an idiot.  

Oh, and check out what happens at the :10 second mark of this video. I guess this is a hidden play that doesn't show up in the highlights, but showed up in the highlights?

Adventures In Officiating: Late at Denver, Alex Smith appeared to fumble, with the Broncos recovering to ice the contest. On review, officials correctly determined that because his arm came forward with control of the ball, the down was an incompletion. Smith was in the pocket and the pass did not travel toward a receiver, so why wasn't it intentional grounding? The result was not intentional; Smith's arm was hit as he tried to throw.

Smith's arm was clearly moving forward and he was attempting a forward pass when he was hit by the defender. Therefore, it was an incompletion, not a forward pass. It wasn't intentional grounding because Smith didn't intentionally throw the ball into the fucking ground. This question doesn't need to asked, simply because it's so stupid and nonsensical. A pass isn't considered intentional grounding if the quarterback doesn't intentionally throw the ball to an area where there is no receiver and he is still in the pocket.

Why was Smith's arm hit? Chiefs tackle Eric Fisher, first overall choice of the 2013 draft, did an "olé!" block on DeMarcus Ware.

Oh, so a highly-drafted, highly-paid glory boy beat Fisher to get to Smith? Notice how Gregg points out Fisher's draft position, but conveniently leaves Ware's draft position out.

Les Mouflons leading 19-17, City of Tampa's Mike Evans caught a pass that put the Buccaneers in field goal range with 8 seconds showing. But Evans was hurt on the down, and Tampa was out of timeouts. Dazed, Evans tried to stagger off the field; he should have tried to line up, so Josh McCown could spike the ball.

Says the middle-aged, out-of-shape guy sitting on his couch drinking beer and eating chips who didn't just get hit hard by a world class athlete.

Santa Clara leading Chicago 10-0, the Bears completed a third-down pass deep into 49ers territory. Officials called the catch good on the field; Harbaugh/West challenged and the call was reversed, leading to a Bears punt. It sure seemed that a correct call on the field was made into an error by replay review. Even if the original call was wrong, it wasn't indisputably wrong -- unless the call on the field is so clearly wrong the referee has to look at it only once, the call on the field should stand.

Notice how Gregg states the officials got this call wrong based on his own belief on how replay should be handled by the NFL. This wasn't a bad call by the officials simply because they failed to meet Gregg's own standard for when a call should be overturned. Besides, officials and those who review challenged calls look at the play from more than one angle, so every call needs to be looked at more than once simply for confirmation the initial conclusion is correct. The idea an official or review official should only look at a call once in any situation is fallacy on Gregg's part.

The Football Gods Chortled: Iowa and Iowa State were tied with two seconds remaining in their annual rivalry contest. Iowa State launched a field goal attempt, which missed. But Iowa called timeout an instant before the snap, hoping to ice the kicker -- who hit on his second try, giving Iowa State the victory.

But Peter King said in this week's MMQB this type of thing (a coach call a timeout that ruins a scoring play by his team) can only happen in New York! My world is spinning now. Peter King couldn't be wrong or have excessive belief that certain things only happen in the city he lives in, could he? 

Next Week: Will the Super Bowl rematch be true to form?

I don't know, but I'm sure the game will be decided by a highly-drafted glory boy doing something wrong (while Gregg ignores a good play by a player who is highly-drafted) or a cornerback looking in the backfield trying to guess the play. 

5 comments The Idea of Derek Jeter Not Being in the Playoffs During His Final Season Sends Kevin Kernan Into an Emo-Depression

There has been a lot of gritting of teeth and overall sadness among sportswriters that the 2014 season is Derek Jeter's last season. There has been a lot of commenting about how the game won't find another anti-PED face of baseball, the Yankee dynasty is over, and various other complaints about how baseball will never be the same again until it is the same again. Kevin Kernan takes a different approach. He tries a little emo-whining about how it JUST CAN'T end like this for Derek Jeter. It's not possible (kicks a wall), it's not fair (grits his teeth while fighting back tears) and this just can't be the end (puts on a Cure shirt and lights up a cheap cigarette while smoking silently on the curb).

IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!

It can’t end like this for Derek Jeter.

IT CAN'T! This isn't right.

Why God, why???????

The way the Yankees are playing, there will be no October in Jeter’s final season.

Cancel the upcoming MLB season. It's bad enough Jeter isn't playing baseball for the Yankees anymore after this season, but for Jeter to not make the playoffs in his last season? It's like God has punched Kevin Kernan in the balls and then torn up all the Derek Jeter posters that line the poorly-lit room that no one knows about behind Kernan's study, which has a bookcase sitting in front of it in order to block anyone from seeing there is a false wall there. It feels not good, like all of Kernan's dreams have been cruelly mocked.

The Yankees have lost four straight heading into Friday night’s game against the Rays at Tropicana Field. In those losses, they’ve managed to score seven runs.

Derek Jeter was 2 for 16 in those four games with two strikeouts and zero walks. I can't imagine how it could be partly his fault the Yankees had lost four straight games. It can't end like this. Jeter's teammates need to pick him up and help him make one last postseason. How can they let Jeter down like this while he's out there grinding and having the worst statistical year of his career? IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS! Kevin Kernan craves more Jeter mediocrity.

They are the world’s most expensive mediocre baseball team.

Led by their mediocre hitting shortstop who Kernan is bemoaning won't get an opportunity to play in one last postseason. Of course, through this entire article where Kernan bemoans how the Yankees won't make one last playoffs with Jeter as the starting shortstop, at no point does he point to Jeter's own performance as a possible reason for this. The Jeter is to be praised, not criticized.

They are eight games back of the Orioles in the AL East, that race is over. In the watered-down wild card, the Yankees are 4 behind and must jump three teams to make it to the “survivor’’ version of playoff baseball.

And of course, where does the blame lie? With Jeter's teammates who aren't doing a good job of playing well enough to get Jeter into the postseason one last time. If this article were about the unfortunate nature of Jeter's career ending like it is ending statistically, it would make sense. Unfortunately, it's an article of emo-whining about what a great player Jeter is in the playoffs and how he needs one last chance to be the ultimate October (and November, don't forget November!) hero.

Jeter has played 16 Octobers and knows something about November baseball as well. October is his time. In his first five Octobers the Yankees won four World Series championships, and Jeter was the MVP of the 2000 World Series win over the Mets.

Much like a pro-Jack Morris for the Hall of Fame article, a "Derek Jeter is retiring" article has to have the same key elements every time. It must mention The Flip, it must mention how super-clutchy great he was in the World Series, it must mention what a great guy he is, must bemoan he is leaving as if his performance hasn't declined, and it must completely ignore saying anything negative about Jeter in any fashion.

Not that I expect an article about Jeter retiring to be negative throughout it's entire contents. Any "Chipper Jones is retiring" article left out his rendezvous with a Hooters waitress in Michigan, but at least that's an off-the-field thing, while any article on Jeter doesn't seem to contain the truth that it's probably good he's leaving after this year if his on-the-field performance is any indication.

The Captain is at his best in October, where he carries a lifetime .308 postseason batting average.

Yes, but unfortunately The Captain and his team have to play well enough during the regular season to be in the postseason.

The Flip was made on Oct. 13, 2001. No play better exemplifies Jeter’s winning approach, his creativeness and his ability to be in the right place at the right time.

What if Jeter was planning on creating The Flip 2 in the 2014 playoffs? THIS CAN'T BE ALL THERE IS!

Instead of The Flip, here in 2014, the Yankees are giving us The Flop.

They can’t stand up to the challenge.

The challenge of what? Making the playoffs? The challenge of supporting a shortstop who may have made a great baseball play 13 years ago, but is now just a singles hitter who doesn't hit as many singles as he used to? The Yankees didn't make the playoffs during Mariano Rivera's last season either. Somehow, the world continued turning.

At the age of 40, Jeter was supposed to go out the right way, playing October baseball and letting the chips fall where they may.

So many emotions. That's how Kevin Kernan feels right now. It's turning him into a sad little Derek Jeter fan-boy. Jeter was supposed to go out the right way, with his team being eliminated by a superior team in the Wild Card playoff (which I still hate) or during the ALDS. No other legend, unless you want to count the majority of Hall of Famers, went out not being at the top of their game and winning a World Series. Derek Jeter deserves better than the fate he laid out for himself by choosing to play one more season for the Yankees.

Yankees fans dreamed of him going out the way he came in — his first full season in 1996 — a champion.

Very astute observation by Kernan. Yankees fans dreamed of winning the World Series this year. This is very different from past seasons when they didn't care if the Yankees won the World Series or not.

The Steinbrenners put a fortune on the table this past offseason to try to bring the Yankees and Jeter one more October after the lost season of 2013.

DEREK JETER WOULD NEVER HAVE HAD TO RETIRE WITHOUT ANOTHER WORLD SERIES VICTORY THIS YEAR IF GEORGE STEINBRENNER WERE STILL ALIVE!

Jeter has played in 158 postseason games, essentially another entire season, and has accumulated 650 at-bats and a nice round Jeterian number of hits, 200, and a .374 on-base percentage in the biggest games of them all.

I've never seen Jeter's statistics recited before. How come no other sportswriter has ever done this? But wait, there's more! Jeter isn't just about tangibles, he's also completely about intangibles. Those things you can't measure that he has more of than other baseball players. Those immeasurable attributes the sportswriters find a way to measure and explain Jeter has more of than others.

His game, though, always has been about heart and hustle and finding ways to win, not cold numbers. As he said last week, it’s not about “formula baseball,” it’s about winning.

Except, maybe not ironically, Jeter is all about winning and this entire column is written about how Jeter can't win enough to make the playoffs in his final year. So maybe Jeter is about the statistics he has put up and his team as a whole is about winning. But that's right, sportswriters manage to give Jeter credit for the Yankees winning games, but dismiss the idea any credit should be taken away from Jeter when the Yankees lose games. He's a winner, but this whole column is based on him not being enough of a winner this year to make the playoffs one last time.

It can’t end like this for Derek Jeter.

IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!

Jeter has been at his best in the ALDS, where he has a lifetime .343 average over 66 games. In seven World Series, he has hit .321.

Boy, for someone who doesn't think Jeter has always been about cold numbers, Kevin Kernan sure is reciting a lot of cold numbers that Jeter has accumulated through the years.

Will Jeter suffer the same fate as Mariano Rivera, who did not have one final October last season, when the Yankees finished third in the AL East?

If there is a God or any spiritual being watching over the world, then no, it will not end that way. By the way, Chipper Jones' career ended (partly) on an infield fly that was a routine Texas Leaguer to left field in a one game Wild Card playoff after the Braves had a better record over 162 games than the Cardinals (the team they were playing). I guess Jones was such a piece of shit and wasn't enough about winning that this doesn't really matter nor does it serve as evidence Hall of Famers don't always have their career end in fairly tale fashion.

Rivera had his long goodbye that night. He did not bother to pick up a baseball that final series in Houston.
 
It was over for Mo.

Exactly, Derek Jeter isn't above Mariano Rivera and there is no grand law that says Derek Jeter must be granted one last playoff appearance before he retires.

After Jeter played in just 17 games last season, this year was supposed to be different — with the addition of expensive bats of Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran, plus the monster signing of Masahiro Tanaka and the re-signing of Hiroki Kuroda. Brian Cashman spent $465 million on those parts.

Tanaka went down with an elbow injury and the punchless Yankees have managed to win just three more games than they have lost.

Tanaka was really, really good when he was healthy. Ellsbury hasn't been terrible. Otherwise, I think there is plenty of information that says signing players on the wrong side of 30 to long-term contracts isn't the most brilliant idea (McCann) and Carlos Beltran is 37 years old. Three years and $45 million for a 36 year old, how could that not work out?

I would also add once again that Derek Jeter isn't exactly hitting the cover off the ball and he's making $12 million this year.

The last October memory of Jeter is a painful one, his left ankle breaking as he screamed out on the infield dirt at Yankee Stadium. Jeter had to be carried off the field that night by trainer Steve Donohue and manager Joe Girardi in the 12th inning of Game 1 of the ALCS, a 6-4 loss to the Tigers.

Well, then don't remember Jeter's postseason career that way. Remember him as the guy who helped (and that's the key word, "helped") his team win five World Series. It's not hard, you just have to be less of a fan-boy about it.

That was Oct. 13, 2012. Exactly 11 years to the day of The Flip.

What symmetry! This must mean something! If not, let's make it mean something.

As Jeter was helped off, fans began to chant his name, making it the saddest of chants.

That is the final memory of Jeter and October baseball.

Would Kevin Kernan rather the final memory of Derek Jeter be him sitting in his dugout or standing on the edge of the railing in the dugout as the Yankees lose their final game in the playoffs? Would it better for that to be the final memory of Jeter in the postseason? I'm betting Kevin Kernan doesn't want Jeter's career to end, no matter what...well, unless Jeter's career ended with the Yankees winning the World Series.

It can’t end like this for Derek Jeter.

IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS! It isn't fair!

This article just felt like it was worthy of a gif-heavy post to me. A sportswriter acting like a fan-boy throwing a tantrum that Derek Jeter may end up retiring without making one last playoff appearance. One would think a professional writer would be above this, but Kevin Kernan proves me wrong. He states multiple times that "it can't end like this" referencing Derek Jeter. There has to be more to this article than some whiny fan-boy writing. This article can't end like this.

0 comments A Look Back: Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals

There was a time when LeBron James was supposed to revitalize Cleveland and bridge the gap between Michael Jordan and the present. It was an exciting time. Alright fine, I was giddy. We all claim to want parody in the NBA, but it’s nice to hate, revere and adore. Of course I want my Knicks to win, but I want to see records broken, epic upsets and the like. I want stories to tell my grandchildren, not endless drivel about monotony. It’s these wildly outlandish emotions and memories that make basketball true and relevant. Sure, the game has no pragmatic value to un-basketball-enlightened folk, aside from providing an excuse to drink beer and rearrange your schedule, but it’s relaxing and stimulating. Satisfying and depressing. It’s a chance lay down the weapons of nine to five warfare and be a part of something bigger, something out of our slimy, selfishly motivated grasp.

That’s why basketball is about more than ball in hoop. It’s about relationships and progression – people and the game. The disappearance and reemergence of the center position, the emotional maturity of 20-something millionaires, the lack of regard or honor with which some of these kids treat the game. It gets us riled up, arguing and caring. It compels us to forge one-way relationships with NBA stars – you like them, you hate them, whatever. Either way, they don’t feel back. Yet it’s still tangible and surreptitiously alters your mood. Constantly. Anything that makes chucking a working remote at an expensive TV seem like a good idea is plenty real, I think.

So back to LeBron. He came on the scene, ready to be a memories guy – a can’t miss star and the quintessential example of an era of athleticism. We watched him dominate his rookie season, explode onto the playoff scene, and eventually into the 2007 Conference Finals against Detroit. Game 5, specifically. Looking back, I tossed and turned, aimlessly combing through my unkempt and limitless basketball imaginings - LeBron, Cleveland, loyalty, dynasties, star power, etc. Ultimately my mind kept reverting to one question: what the hell happened?

Wherever you stand on him now – whether you think he’s some ominous sign of the devil or God’s gift to the earth, we can all reminisce about his past, together. Just think about his journey. He lived up to the enlightened path we bequeathed him. I mean, seriously. Look at the squad that he eventually rolled out with against Detroit in that epic Game 5. Drew Gooden, Big Z, Sasha Pavlovic, Larry Hughes, Anderson Varejao, Donyell Marshall, Daniel Gibson, Damon Jones. Yet somehow he still managed to prevail against the battle-tested Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell.

The man was unconscious that night. 48 points, 29 of Cleveland’s last 30. It would be dishonorable to deflower such basketball sovereignty with words, so I won’t. Check out the SportsCenter highlights below instead and draw your own conclusions. I will, however, reflect on a feeling. Even though I’m not a Clevelander, nor a bandwagoner, I presume, I was swept off my feet by The King. I mean, how could you not be. Take away the court vision, the ball-handling, and other basketball skills. Just the athleticism, the dominance, the fun, the maturity, and most of all, the kindness. It had been a long time since I had openly rooted for a superstar. Cleveland’s annual playoff elimination was only a few degrees worse than the mundane but easily anticipated Knicks’ meltdown (for me, that is). When a guy does it the right way, says all the right things, manages to avoid the media’s relentless barrage of goading and prodding, it’s nice. Even more, he avoided the oft-followed superstar path - dig in, ignore media perception, become selfish and, frankly, kind of an a**hole. Eventually LeBron followed that path – it’s the only way we allow greatness. He tried to have it both ways, but couldn’t. We swallowed him up, spat him out and were unhappy with the results.

So when you’re watching the video below, put aside your present day emotions and perceptions. Just go back to the days when we were on the brink of something so beyond extraordinary that we had no problem shouting about our man-crush from the rooftops. It was natural, even obligatory. Why? Because of nights like these. When, in a near must-win game, those vessels they call defenders never stood a goddamn chance.

If you come at The King, you best not miss.