Rush needs more OC..stat!

I wish I could say that we just witnessed and exciting and heart pounding weekend of football but save for one game, it was all pretty boring and disapointing. The Jets-Steelers was exactly what you would expect a playoff game to be, with big plays being made in all phases of the game. Herm Edwards and the Jets had to be sick yesterday, knowing that they let a HUGE opportunity (not just for them but for the whole franchise) slip by them.

Santana Moss may be the quickest player in the league...he made four Steelers miss with one cut on his punt return. He almost had his second game altering, long TD catch in as many weeks if it hadn't been for a GREAT play by Willie Williams.

Ben Roethlisberger certainly played like a rookie and it is a testament to the rest of that Pittsburgh team, that they were able to play through his mistakes and still come away with a victory. Big Ben was 17-30 but would've had much worse stats were it not for about 5-6 fantastic catches by Hines Ward...its hard to call a guy underrated when he's made four Pro Bowls but that's exactly what I'd call Ward, just a big time player.

The announcers were talking about Duce Staley on Saturday when they mentioned that he goes 5'11" 242 lbs. To put this in perspective, Jerome Bettis is 5'11" 255 lbs. I knew Duce was solid but I had no idea that he weighed nearly as much as Bettis. He certainly carries it much better than the Bus.

Michael Vick had 82 yards passing on Saturday night...he has the innate ability to make an NFL game look like a high school football game when he's on the field. That's not an insult, he just always looks like that great high school athlete who is put under center because the head coach wants the ball in his hands as much as possible, pretty amazing to do that in the NFL.

If you pontificate on sports in any manner, you are required to dispense some sort of opinion on yesterday's Patriots-Colts snooze-a-thon, not my rule but a rule nonetheless.

Peyton Manning may be a heck of a QB and a very smart guy but he has some of the worst body language that you'll ever see from a big time QB. He exuded little to no leadership qualities when his team needed him the most yesterday. When things started going badly, he didn't react the way you NEED your franchise player to, it was actually much more reminiscent of my niece when she doesn't get to watch her favorite Clifford video. It easy to be calm and classy when you're blowing a team out, but the true test of a leader is when everything is going wrong and your team is falling apart before your very eyes, that time separates the great from the all-timers. One of the most important, and overlooked, qualities in a championship QB (at all levels of play) is his ability to lead and inspire confidence in his teammates in the most daunting of situations...when things got rough for the Colts yesterday, all Manning could do was make faces and whine to officials. One last note, Tennessee won a national title the year after Peyton left with Tee Martin as its QB (with less overall talent than the year before as well)...when evaluating them as QBs, one would have to give the edge to Peyton in all but two categories: mobility and leadership abilities. Its the little things that mean the difference between winning and losing and right now, Manning is deficient in these areas.

After the Pats-Colts game, Boomer Esiasion said that, "Peyton Manning might be this generation's Dan Marino, a great palyer who couldn't make it to the Super Bowl." Mind you, Marino was sitting about four feet away from Boomer at the time. After he punched a whole in the CBS desk, Marino pointed out that he had been to a Super Bowl and then he proceeded to stare holes in to Boomer's head for the next five minutes. Judging by the look in Marino's eyes, I wouldn't be surprised if Gunnar Esiason woke up with a horses head in his bed this morning.

The strength of the Patriots defense is their linebackers...because of this, a game plan that relies on underneath routes and the screen pass to beat them seems horribly flawed in its conception.

Corey Dillon is really damn good...can you imagine how many Pro Bowls he would have under his belt if he had been playing in New York his whole career, or even Miami? His performance yesterday was the best display of patience as a runner that I can ever remember seeing...if Michael Pittman had half of that, he would challenge for the league rushing title every year. Well, he needs to stop beating his wife during the off-season too.

Tedy Bruschi is the very definition of a playmaker. In basketball, some guys just have a "nose for the ball", getting their hands on loose balls whether it be through deflections, rebounds whatever. Bruschi is just like that...right places, right times, and when he's in one of those spots, he ALWAYS makes a play. Name one linebacker in the last ten years who has had as many game changing plays as Bruschi has had in the last four years...maybe Derrick Brooks but I give the edge to Bruschi because he has been on the winning end of so many big games, playoffs and regular season.

If you predicted that Willie McGinest would still be this good of an every down player 5 years ago, then you are a much better evaluator of football talent than I...though that itsn't saying much.

Who else thinks that ESPN should bring back Rush Limbaugh for next week so he can tell us all about how the liberal media and its need to praise black QBs is the reason McNabb and Vick will be squaring off in the NFC Championship game? I can't be the only one.