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01/14/2008: "Sports Rant"

As Chris Berman would say, "that's why they play the games" ...

- The NFL's Divisional Playoffs had the appropriate star cachet, as the leagues top 4 quarterbacks all had a chance to lead their teams to the next round. Two did - but two didn't, and those two will be talked about all off season. Brett Favre and Tom Brady got the job done, leading their teams to easy victories. The Packers' win over the Seahawks looked like an old NFL Classics flick, as Favre got hotter as the snow got deeper. Nothing says cold like seeing snow build up on the bill of a ballcap on the head of a coach. Brady, meanwhile, disassembled a Jaquar team that many thought were likely to pull the upset. The game was never as close as the score would indicate, and the legend continues.

- And then came Sunday. If you told me there would be a Manning playing quarterback next weekend, I wouldn't be surprised - until you told me it was the Giants' Eli and not the Colts' Peyton. Playing with a homefield advantage they'd fought hard to earn, and with the knowledge that a loss could well mark the end of Coach Tony Dungy's career, the Colts played ... flat. It wasn't a terrible performance, just not a winning one. They let the Chargers stay close early, and failed to put distance between them even after key offensive tools (QB Rivers and RB Tomlinson) were knocked out of the game. Frankly, letting a backup QB beat you is just embarassing. Everyone likes to compare Peyton Manning and Tom Brady because they are so similar statistically. But Brady has that "it" that winning QBs all possess - that sense that he is a winner. Bradshaw had it, Montana had it, Favre has it, and Romo may. But Peyton does not. Look for wholesale changes to this team in the offseason/

- Everyone talked about what a statistical longshot it is for a team to beat the same opponent three times in a season, and the Cowboys had already laid two losses on the Giants coming into Sunday's matchup. The Giants are a good team, but with the Jeckyl-and-Hyde performances of QB Eli Manning, you just don't know what'll happen. In the end, though, it was less about offense than defense - good by the Giants and bad by the Cowboys. Tony Romo did throw a pick to end the game, but at least it wasn't a signature loser moment like last year's muffed kick hold. The Cowboys are a good team, but need to figure out how to take it to the next level. Romo, meanwhile, will continue to get BBQ'd over his bye-week trip to Mexico with Chestica Simpson. It's not why they lost, but shows the difference between today's players and yesterdays. When Terry Bradshaw talked about how he would never do such a thing during the season, bit was because he saw playing football as a career. Romo and his ilk just see it as a job - and a stepping stone to the next thing in their lives.

- Just a month until baseball starts spring training!