Football Notes and Rants

1. Anyone watching Monday Night Football? I think Al Michaels is on 'repeat', as he's said "Remember, no 50 yard field goal has ever been kicked here in Heinz Field" about a hundred times.

Now, I know it's a tough field to kick in, with the swirling winds and all. But sheesh, this stadium has only been in use for four years. When Al says it, he makes it sound as though 50 yards is impossible, like the stadium has been haunting kickers for decades. Have some freaking perspective!

I wonder how many 50-yard kicks have even been tried there in four years. For the record, Stover just hit a 49-yarder. But it's not 50, so Michaels can keep flapping his yap.

2. Related to point one: I'm waiting for the revolutionary tactic of broadcasting a football game without announcers. Just extra shots of pretty cheerleaders, roudy fans, and vapid sideline female reporters. Couldn't be any less informative than what we have now, and at least we could do away with all the over-emphasizing stupid stats.

3. A lot of Titans fans are morons...like...the need-help-eating type of morons. There is a difference between a player's personality and his playing ability.

I am not going to defend Pac Man's punk attitude. I think he's nothing but a jerk. In fact, according to USAToday, he challenged a critical fan to a fist fight after his poor tackle on Porter's second TD yesterday (though this story was not carried in the local media). Now, let's forget for a second that Jeff Fisher says Pac should never have been left alone to make that tackle anyway, meaning someone else on defense screwed up coverage. Forget that. Let's say Pac screwed up the tackle.

And callers to talk radio (and many local talk hosts) were bashing the dude today with gems such as, "He makes millions....he has to make that tackle."

Well...he's a rookie still, right? I mean, Brad Hopkins makes millions...he has to not make false starts and not hold, right?

McNair is due $50 million next year, he has to not make poor passes.

We forgive the poor play of players we like...who are not jerks. But with Pac Man...because he's a bit of a hot head...we not only don't forgive the few bad plays...we forget he's in his first year.

I dislike Pac Man the man...but I'm actually high on the prospects of Pac Man the player. He's shown some great flashes lately, including his two run-backs yesterday (which were, by the way, called back by penalties committed by non-Pac Titans).

Don't confuse the off-the-field attitude with talent. He has raw talent, as a lot of rookies do. We have to be patient to see that talent bear fruit. Rip on Pac for trying to fight fans and nightclub owners...not because he made mistakes on the field. He's far from our team's biggest problem this year.

Don't make me come to your house to explain this.

4. Brace yourself for a week's worth of over-hyping on the Colts/Pats game. It's coming, people. And I wonder how many in the media who over-hype the game will bring up how lousy they looked against the Bills. I say again for emphasis: this game means 10% of what it would mean were both teams undefeated. Even with a loss, the Colts are in the driver's seat in the AFC.

5. Edgerrin James is on pace to be the NFL's rushing leader. I was checking out Yahoo stats today and saw that he's in first place for rushing yards for all players. Two of the next closest few players have played more games than James (MaGahee and Tomlinson).

Now, I know LT is a machine, and I know he's thrown more TDs than a few starting QBs have this year (he's beaten me in fantasy because of them). But let's not lose our perspective. While he's good... and maybe the best TD threat among backs...or even the best all-around back in the league...he's not THAT much better than Edge. Edge is making a strong case for himself to be the best this year, and I hope he gets it. He is, after all, only 28.

6. Come on Baltimore...win this game please. Every loss by an AFC title-hopeful is another step towards home-field advantage for the Colts. Baltimore is currently up by 2 with 3 minutes left. Never thought I'd say this sentence: Go Ravens.

7. I'm almost sad that the season is half over. I love the NFL and I hate to see it go in a couple months. But hey...at least I'll stlil have hockey.