Divisional Judgements: Phillips is one lucky man
1. Wade Phillips can thank his lucky stars he has Jerry Jones for an owner. He got torched by Philadelphia in the 2008 season finale and kept his job. Now he gets torched by Minnesota and keeps his job. Sometimes it pays to be lucky, and yes, I mean that literally.
2. Good news for New Orleans: NFC home teams are unbeaten in the playoffs.
3. Let's see, three missed field goals, 10 penalties, four personal fouls and two interceptions. Yep, the San Diego Chargers can tell themselves they were beaten by two clubs Sunday -- the New York Jets and themselves.
4. One year later, the Jets and Brett Favre are in conference championship games. Eric Mangini must be wondering where it all went wrong.
5. Time for the San Diego Chargers to draft a running back. It's not that they need a successor to LaDainian Tomlinson; it's that they need a replacement. Tomlinson has simply run out of gas. He had no rush longer than 5 yards against the Jets, and that was his first carry. Worse, six of his 12 rushes were for no more than 1 yard each. He had a magnificent career, but I wouldn't be surprised if that career -- at least in San Diego -- is over.
6. Tell me again how Favre created "a schism" in the Minnesota locker room. Maybe someone should've created one in the Cowboys' locker room.
7. The biggest loser this weekend was the NFL office. It wants to encourage teams to play starters through all 16 games of the regular season, but any hope it had of gaining support for the idea vanished with the divisional round of the playoffs. New Orleans and Indianapolis, teams that rested their starters, are still alive. New England, a team that lost Wes Welker in Game 16, is not. In fact, it was blown to smithereens a week ago. It's time to get off the bandwagon and let teams do what they think is necessary to reach the Super Bowl. Period.
8. Now that we have that out of the way, I have a question. Since we agree that New Orleans did the right thing by resting its starters the last game of the season, how come it didn't rest Drew Brees in the fourth quarter of Saturday's blowout? I mean, one mistake ... one twisted ankle ... one cheap shot ... and you're looking at Mark Brunell in the conference championship game.
9. So much for NFL parity. The average margin of victory in this season's playoffs is 16.1, with two games decided by 31 each and only two decided by fewer than 10. Good thing games haven't been all that close. Kickers haven't been much help in the playoffs, and here's the evidence: They hit 15 of 26 attempts, with four misses inside the 40.
10. Leslie Frazier's chances of getting hired as a head coach (psssst, Buffalo) just went up. Way up.
11. The more I see of Early Doucet the more I'm convinced the Cardinals can afford to get rid of Anquan Boldin.
12. From all accounts, Cincinnati's Ken Zampese and Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler hit it off when Zampese went in last week to interview for the Bears' offensive coordinator's job. But I can't see Zampese making the move, and here's why: He could be on a one-year leash there. If Lovie Smith doesn't turn that thing around next year, he's gone ... and, in all likelihood, so are all his assistants. Zampese has a nice deal in Cincinnati, where coaches have security. That counts for a lot.
13. The unsung hero in Marvin Lewis winning Coach of the Year is his boss, Cincinnati owner Mike Brown. Yeah, I know, he has a reputation for being cheap, but he also kept Lewis and his staff around when nobody else would have. I guarantee you that after three straight non-winning seasons (with a record of 19-28-1) Lewis would have been canned in 31 cities. Not in Cincinnati, and, I know what you're thinking: He stuck around only because Brown didn't want to pay a fired coach. It doesn't matter. He stuck around. Here's to continuity, Mike.
14. Sorry but the Arizona Cardinals must find another kicker. If you don't have the leg to hit a 50-yard field goal in successive tries ... indoors, no less ... it's time to move on. Adios, Neil Rackers.
15. Now that the season is over, I have a suggestion for Arizona's Bill Bidwill: Draw up a contract extension for Ken Whisenhunt. The guy did more than return your club to the playoffs; he brought dignity to a franchise that had none.
Five guys I wouldn't want to be
1. San Diego kicker Nate Kaeding -- So he's an All-Pro. He can't beat the Jets. He missed a 40-yarder that would have sunk them in the 2004 playoffs, and he blew all three kicks Sunday. Asked what went wrong he said, "I didn't kick it between the uprights." Thanks for enlightening us, Nate. Oh, and by the way, when you get around to it you might try explaining this: Kaeding is 8 for 15 on field goals in his playoff career.
2. San Diego head coach Norv Turner -- He wins 13 games, including the last 11 of the regular season, but loses his only playoff game. Uh-oh, get ready for seven months of Norv bashing.3. Arizona defensive coordinator Bill Davis -- Giving up 70 points in the second half of the Green Bay win and the first half of the New Orleans loss is not how you win friends and influence enemies.
4. Dallas owner Jerry Jones -- I want to see you sell the return of Wade Phillips after that 34-3 embarrassment. That makes Phillips 1-5 in the playoffs, including 1-2 with Dallas, and that will be hard to sell in Plano.
5. Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett -- His resume just took a hit. In 43 previous playoff games the Vikings never prevented an opponent from producing a touchdown. Then this happens. He may be somebody's candidate for a head-coaching job, but he just lost the adjective "hot."
Five things I like
1. New York Jets CB Darrelle Revis -- The more I see him the better he becomes. How in the world did this guy not win the Defensive Player of the Year? I know a lot of Chargers who would vote for him, starting with Philip Rivers.
2. Everything about Reggie Bush. I swear, sometimes he looks downright unstoppable, and this weekend he looked like the guy who should have been the No. 1 draft pick in 2006. I remember a story last year alleging that coach Sean Payton was fed up with him and the Saints were considering moving on without him in 2010. Uh-huh, and the NFL will be in Los Angeles next year, too.
3. Brett Favre at the Metrodome. Not only didn't he lose there; he had 25 touchdown passes and two interceptions this season.
4. Ed Reed in the playoffs. He has seven interceptions in seven games, including three the last two postseason games vs. Peyton Manning.
5. Minnesota DE Ray Edwards. He doesn't get as much attention as the other Minnesota defensive end, Jared Allen, and I'm talking not just about the pub; I'm talking about blockers. So Edwards produces five tackles, three sacks, four tackles for losses and one forced fumble.
Five things I don't
1. Arizona's tackling. What tackling? I haven't seen that many whiffs since Mark Reynolds picked up a bat.
2. Keith Brooking chewing out the Vikings' sideline after Brett Favre's last touchdown pass. I agree with Brooking when he said the move was "classless," but don't whine; do something about it. Just my opinion, Keith, but I'd have kept the hard feelings to myself and filed them away for next time.
3. San Diego trying an onside kick with 2:14 left. It made no sense. The Bolts had one timeout, with the two-minute warning to serve as a second. So put the ball deep into Jets' territory, make the stops, use the clock wisely and force them to punt. People tell me that, yeah, well, it doesn't matter because the Jets got the first down anyway. OK, but there's one difference: There's no way they go for fourth-and-1 bottled up in their own end. Sorry, but I just don't get that one, Norv.
4. Wade Phillips passing up a fourth-and-1 to have Shaun Suisham try a 48-yard field goal. He couldn't hit a 23-yarder when he could've put away New Orleans earlier this season. So why would you think he could hit this one?
5. Walt Anderson vs. home teams. He calls more penalties on them than he does the visitors, and let the trend continue. Minnesota had eight; Dallas two. Pray that Walt doesn't appear in your town next.
Just asking but ...
• Drew Brees or Brett Favre?
• Who winds up with more sequels, Rocky or
• What are the chances Kurt Warner retires?
• Anyone get that APB on Roy Williams?
• What happened to the Dallas pass protection?
Significant numbers
• 1 -- Arizona losses when it rushes for 100 yards. That one loss? It was Saturday.
• 1.7 -- Baltimore's rushing average vs. Indianapolis
• 6 -- Minnesota sacks, a franchise record
• 10 -- San Diego penalties
• 69 -- Consecutive field goals for Nate Kaeding inside 40 yards ... until Sunday's miss
• 92.2 -- Mark Sanchez's playoff rating
• 134.4 -- Brett Favre's passer rating vs. Dallas
• 0-3 -- Kurt Warner's playoff record in the Superdome
• 169-61 -- Jets advantage in rushing yards vs. San Diego
