Week 13 — 6 Dec 2004
From: Jeff To: mnf@fat.doobie.com
Subject: It's Monday...
...and did California really need another reason to hate Texas?
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1939401
This week, the NFL went on about the business of parity. It now appears that one of the playoff bound teams is going to go 8-8.
AFC:
Essentially In: New England, NY Jets, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, San Diego
Fighting to Get In: Baltimore, Denver
Could be a spolier: Jacksonville
Fooling themselves: Buffalo, Cincinnati
NFC:
In: Philadelphia
Essentially In: Atlanta, Green Bay, Minnesota
Fighting to Stay In: Seattle, St. Louis
Trying to Get In: Chicago, Carolina, Dallas
Fooling themselves: NY Giants, Tampa Bay, Detroit
There were a number of interesting games this week:
San Diego beat Denver by three points, and in doing so, essentially assured that the Chargers will win the division, unless they fall apart spectaularly. This is San Diego, anything is possible.
Cincinnati scored 24 points in the fourth quarter to beat Baltimore 27-26, which should embarass the Ravens, and threatens their playoff chances. The Bengals, at 6-6, are statistically still in the running for a wild card, but they're the Bengals.
Minnesota and Green Bay both lost, so they're still tied in their division. Both were pretty big losses (the Packers got crushed 47-17, though it was 44-3 when the coaches put the second-string players in... The Vikings lost 24-14 in a suprising showing by the Bears' new quarterback (Stanford Alum Chad Hutchinson, who also briefly played for the St Louis Baseball Cardinals, and in NFL Europe). Four vikings turnovers didn't help either.
Tampa Bay SHUT OUT Atlanta. Nobody saw that one coming. The Falcons will clinch a playoff berth with their next win, and could've done it yesterday, had the Bucs not gotten in the way (actually, it was Michael Vick's FIVE turnovers (3 fumbles, 2 int) that really lost this game)
The (really, rather bad) Washington Redskins beat the struggling NY Giants. This was the Giants' fifth consecutive loss, and it more or less ends their playoff hopes. The peanut vendors at the Meadowlands are still hopeful about the Jets. Joe Gibbs has had a history of teams that finish strong. Those of us who are looking at the draft aren't sure if that's an asset right now.
The Game:
Tonight, we might have ourselves a game, when the 4-7 Dallas Cowboys go to Seattle to take on the 6-5 Seahawks, at the 68,000 seat, U-Shaped Quest Field (the open end of the stadium affords spectacular views). The FieldTurf FTOS1S installed in 2002 (and still under warranty) has been voted the best artificial field in the NFL, and only two fields were rated higher by the NFL players (the natural surfaces in Arizona and Tampa Bay).
For the Seahawks, this game (and really the rest of the season) is vital to their playoff hopes. A win tonight puts them one game ahead of St. Louis. Chances are good that both the Seahawks, and the 6-6 Rams will both get in the playoffs (one of them will win the NFC West, and the other is likely to get a wild card)... but both of them need to keep winning.
Dallas is rebuilding this year. In truth, the team is better than their 4-7 record, but fortunately for them, 5-7 isn't a bad place to be in the 2004 NFC. Dallas, with a win tonight, stays in the running for a wild card. It's unlikely that they'll get it, but if they lose tonight, their playoff aspirations are history.
Dallas has a history of playing well on mondays. That, and the playoff pictures will combine to put them at the top of their game... which should make them just about competitive with the Seahawks.
The Line:
The Seahawks are favored by seven. The over/under is 43.5.
Last week, the Smart Money split. It is now 7-7. Tonight, the Smart Money takes the over.
The Bar:
Broadway Joe's 2550 Van Ness Ave (b/w Union and Filbert) Steps from the 76,49,47,41 and 45 busses One block or so from the 19 polk.
Kickoff is at 6:00 See you there?