Shanking the Weekend: A Retrospective

GM,

Let's focus on the losers today. Let's talk about the disappointment that we have and that four other fan bases should be feeling. Let's ignore the fact that each of us went 1-3 in our predictions.

How bad has kicking been in the NFL this year?! The league percentage, 81.7, isn't much lower than the usual of 83 percent, but clutch kicking has been nearly non-existent. If kicking really is almost entirely mental, then Nate Kaeding's performance yesterday reminded me of Paula Abdul's clapping. I've already heard the "Jets win it or Chargers lose it?" nonsense on ESPN three times today, and it's not even close. The Chargers, specifically Kaeding, lost that game. He was one of the most reliable kickers in the league all season, connecting on 91.4 percent of his attempts. He was at home. The weather was fine. Still, he missed all three of his tries against the Jets, setting up what will surely be a forgettable AFC Championship Game. Thanks, Nate. Take some Valium and hit the beach.

Kurt Warner looked as old as he's ever looked. I think he intentionally grew that gray goatee just so our last thought of him would be, "Yes, despite his strong numbers, he's definitely ready to retire." NOTE: Neil Rackers missed his only field goal attempt.

More kicking woes in Minnesota, not that it mattered this time. Shaun Suisham was 1-for-3, including a 48-yarder on 4th-and-2 that Wade Phillips shouldn't have let him try. More important, though, was that Tony Romo couldn't hold on to the football. Two of his three fumbles were lost, and Dallas never had a chance. For some reason, people like to blame QB fumbles on bad protection and, in this case, Flozell Adams's injury. But the great quarterbacks, much like Favre taking his first sack in that game, know how to hit the deck quickly and maintain possession.

Baltimore's offense just didn't show up, and the Colts' touchdown in the final seconds of the first half was completely deflating. When there are 7 seconds left on 3rd-and-goal and the other team has no timeouts (thus has to throw quickly), how do you not jam Reggie Wayne at the line?! That was the game.

-JW

JW,

Forget kicking! The Cowboys are retaining Wade Phillips, and Chan Gailey is the front-runner for the Bills job. I don't know what's worse--the Bills settling for a guy who couldn't keep his coordinator job through Kansas City's entire preseason or the Cowboys sticking with a coach whose central accomplishment, according to Tony Romo, was "keeping together" a team that badly needs to be blown up. Either way, the only coaching-related move that would shock me more than these two did would be the Chargers allowing Norv Turner to stick around for another wasted season. He's more likely to be the president of the United States next year than to work in San Diego.

As for the games themselves, they left the prognosticator in me confused and unsatisfied. Arizona managed to lose without giving us a bit of insight into how good the Saints really are (do they hang forty-five on anybody with that effort, or just the Cardinals?), and Baltimore failed to capitalize on a first-half Colts team that was every bit as baffled and uninspiring as I anticipated--you know, since they had to interrupt their vacations for that game and all. Dallas forgot to show up for what should have been the best matchup of the playoffs, and the contest that should have sucked--Jets/Chargers--turned out to be the only one worth watching to its conclusion.

This would be a good time, then, to make a promise or two about not underestimating the Jets going forward--about acknowledging that the pass in all its glamour still can't compete with a solid defense, a solid run. Screw that. The Jets will lose by fifty this Sunday, and I'll laugh all the way to the bank. I hear Nate Kaeding's a teller.

-GM