Patriots in the Super Bowl

Believe it or not, I have less to say about the defending Super Bowl Champions than I did the team they are playing against. New England has been so good over the past 3 seasons there really isn't much I can say about this team that hasn't been said already, or that people don't already know. The team plays well together, is coached well, expects to win, and doesn't make mistakes. What more is there to say?

Well, for starters, let's start out with this Belichick genius thing. Sure, we all know he was a coordinator under Parcells in the '80s and didn't do much of anything being the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991-1995. In fact, he compiled a very pedestrian 36-44 record in those years, and if it wasn't for an 11-5 season in 1994, the record would have been much worse. His start in New England wasn't even that good; he was 5-11 in his first season and got beaten 31-0 in the opening game the next season. Of course, that's when Bledsoe got hurt, Brady stepped in, everything clicked and the team is on the verge of going down in history as one of the greatest. Belichick has surrounded himself with people who can execute his scheme flawlessly. His coordinators come up with great plans and the team follows these plans perfectly and often follows them to victory. Say what you want about the man, but he has gone 48-16 over the past four seasons, including going 8-0 in the playoffs with 2 Super Bowl Titles. We will see if he is the genius people like to call him if the Patriots can win this game and continue their success next season, as both coordinators will be gone.

I know a lot of Packers fans who really do not like Tom Brady. I don't know if it is because he went to Michigan, or if it is because they don't want anyone to be compared to Brett Favre, but for whatever reason, a lot of Packer fans don't like Brady. While I won't call him a great quarterback yet, I will say he has been great when he has needed to be. How can you have bad things to say about a quarterback who is undefeated in the playoffs and has 2 rings already in his career? He doesn't talk about his game and seems content with winning, no matter his stats. On Sunday, he will have to do exactly what he has done in his two previous Super Bowl appearances; take what is given to him and not turn the ball over. The Eagles secondary is very good. They will force Tom Brady to make good decisions and will make him pay if he doesn't. Brady has proved he doesn't easily get flustered by defenses and will just do what he needs to do to get his team a victory. In two Super Bowls, Brady is a combined 48 of 75 for 499 yards, 4 touchdowns and only 1 interception. Good stats for any two game stretch, but great stats for two Super Bowls. Brady needs to throw for over 200 yards to take pressure off of Dillon, get at least 2 touchdowns passing, and no more than 1 interception.

Speaking of Corey Dillon; he will be big in his first Super Bowl. He has been a great addition for this team all season. A much better back than Antowain Smith, and will be a center piece of the Patriots attack. He will be used to keep the Eagles secondary alert for the run, so New England can use the play-action pass effectively. For this to work, Dillon needs over 120 yards for the game; so Brady can focus down-field with the safties hopefully cheating up. Dillon will also probably need to have about 8 catches out of the backfield, because the wide-outs will be covered by the Eagles secondary. Having a gifted receiver out of the backfield will put even more pressure on the Eagles defense, and will allow the Patriots to attack downfield more often. The Patriots also will need at least 1 touchdown running from Dillon to win the game.

As for the defense, I have no doubt this defense will take away the strengths of the Eagles offense (McNabb running, Westbrook, and Owens). Why? Because they always have taken the opponents game plan and thwarted it. Obviously, the defense cannot allow McNabb to sit in the pocket and pick apart an injured secondary, nor can they allow for McNabb to pull the ball down and run all over them. The linebackers are probably across the board the most talented set in the NFL. They need to dominate their area of the field to take away Westbrook and McNabb's ability to run. If they don't allow a rushing touchdown all game, the Patriots will definitely win.

Considering I had a hard time writting this column without just stating how much I think the Patriots are going to win; I will just do that now. They are simply a more talented team. Nothing that has happened this season or the past two weeks makes me think the Eagles will win this game. They could, I just don't see it happening. I'm sick of Freddie Mitchell's untalented thinking he's talented self talking all the time, I'm sick of the T.O. crap, I'm sick of all of the sports reports about and from the Super Bowl, I'm sick of it all; I'm ready for the game.

My early prediction: Patriots 31 Eagles 17.

And yes, the Patriots are a dynasty after Sunday, and no, Brady isn't a lock for Canton after Sunday.

-Until next time...

Eagles in the Super Bowl

Philadelphia is finally back in the Super Bowl. How happy the fans must be, oh wait, they're never happy. To begin, I will say one thing about Terrell Owens. If he doesn't play in the game after all of his talking and all of the journalists talking about it; people will be quite disappointed. Remember in Coyote Ugly when all of the promos had Tyra Banks looking like she was a star in this movie, only to have her be in it for all of about 10 minutes? She was easily the most recognizable name in that movie, and while T.O. isn't necessarily the most recognizable player for the Eagles, this is quite comparable.

Anyway, Philly needs to come out early in this game and hit the Patriots right in the mouth. I'm talking either (depending on who gets the ball first) a 3 and out on defense or a sustained drive, something like 12 plays for 65+ yards and a touchdown. A field goal won't get it done. This will prove to the Patriots that the Eagles are more than just happy to be at the game and expect they can win. What it will also do is prove to the Eagles that they are more than happy to be at the game and expect they can win. After this happens, tough defense and adding at least 10 more points by halftime is going to be key. So, how can they do this?

Andy Reid no doubt knows if he plays his cards right, he can beat this Patriot team. If I was him, I'd say, "I don't care about playing tight in the first quarter to feel them out. We're not expected to win, if we go down, we go down hard." I want to see them going deep, throwing the ball all over the field, taking chances on defense, going for it on fourth down when it is even a little bit reasonable, and pulling out all of their tricks. Sure, they might get destroyed, but everyone expects that will happen anyway, and if they catch the Patriots a little off guard 2 or 3 times, we've got an upset on our hands.

Seriously, doesn't anyone else get the same feelings about this game as they did in 2002, in the Pats/Rams Super Bowl? The Rams were supposed to destroy the Patriots, but New England took a lead, held it, and then had one last drive to win the game. Don't think it can't happen this year.

What do the Eagles need to do to win? It's simple. McNabb needs to have the best game of his career. In the three biggest games of his career (prior to this season), the NFC Championship games, he was a combined 54-101, for 514 yards, 1 touchdown and 5 interceptions. He also only ran the ball 9 times for 53 yards and 1 touchdown. He was a little better this year throwing for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns on 17-26 passing, with 32 yards rushing against the Falcons. He needs to do better than this to beat the Patriots. Anything less than 18-30 for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and the Eagles will go home unhappy.

McNabb is the only player on the Eagles who can single handedly win this game for them. He has become a much better player by learning when to throw the ball, when to run, and when to just throw it away. He needs to pick up a few first downs with his feet to keep the talented Patriots linebackers thinking about him.

Brian Westbrook will be the x-factor for the Eagles. If he can gain over 200 total yards, rushing, receiving, and returning, the Eagles have a good chance of winning the game. He needs to attack the Patriots defense and get to the outside. He can't get discouraged with a few one or two yards runs, because he will eventually break one of over 20 yards, especially if he can get to the secondary, and away from Rodney Harrison.

Obviously the defense can't allow Brady to sit back in the pocket and pick them apart. He also doesn't seem to get flustered when he is pressured heavily (save for that December game at Miami), so it is tough to defense this guy. The biggest thing is for them to stop Corey Dillon. If the Eagles can make the Patriots be one dimensional, and make Brady beat them, Philly has the secondary to make the plays to win. Although, Brady is a two time Super Bowl MVP, so he obviously can beat you.

Do I think Philly can win? Yes. Do I think they will? You'll have to wait until tomorrow for my early prediction, and then Sunday right before the game for my game-time prediction. New England preview tomorrow.

-Until next time...

Final Four

Well, we're a little more than a month away from selection Sunday, so what better time than today for me to unveil the four teams which will meet in St. Louis to decide the Men's Basketball NCAA Champion? I will tell you who will come out of each regional and maybe the few things the team may need to overcome to make its way on the Mighty Mississippi.

Before I begin, I will unfortunately be unable to watch the Duke/Wake Forest game tonight because I will be playing volleyball. It is very tough for me to miss a game of such importance, but luckily, there is a rematch. Go Duke!

Onto the list:

Albuquerque Regional- The Syracuse University Orangemen

I can't say what the Orange will be ranked in this regional, but I like them coming out of this regional. Yes, this is quite a trip for them, and the distance may play a factor, but you will see in the next three picks why Syracuse is in this regional.

The loss at Pitt will in the end help this Syracuse team, I believe. They now know that no team is ever out of a game, that they need to continue attacking and never stop playing at a top level. You would have thought the team learned no team is out of a game after their comeback against Rutgers, but apparently they thought they were the only team which could do such a thing.

Syracuse is led by a great coach in Jim Boheim and has a solid senior leader in Hakim Warrick. With Gerry McNamara hitting everything he puts up, the 'Cuse could make another run at a national title.

I just can't bring myself to give this regional to Boston College, yet. I don't know what it is about that team, but I am not yet a believer. All of this may change when Syracuse plays at BC on February 19. If Syracuse can win that game and McNamara and Warrick continue to play at high levels for 3 weeks in March, this is a tough team to beat. However, if they play a team with tough perimeter defense to negate McNamara's ability and at least one tough inside player to try and get Warrick in foul trouble (his only downfall this season), Syracuse could be an early out.

Syracuse Regional- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels

This is still one of the most talented teams I have seen this year. When this team is playing up to its ability, I don't think they can be beaten. That being said, the team came out in its biggest game of the year (Wake) and didn't play as well as they are able to. The players seemed to get flustered by the hostile crowd and lost some composure when the Deacons came back to take the lead.

Other than that game, this team has been rolling people. Unless they just come out plain flat in a game in the tournament against an inspired team, I don't see them having a game which is decided by less than 13 points in the first 3 rounds. The only thing which will beat this team before St. Louis is itself. No one should beat them in the tourney before they get to the Final Four, they're that good.

Unfortunately for UNC fans, Scorsese will go Oscar-less again this year (if you don't understand what I'm talking about, read this column), so you know what that means for Williams.

Chicago Regional- University of Kansas at Lawrence Jayhawks

Illinois is not coming out of the Chicago Regional basically because they can't. The NCAA Selection committee will probably not put a team that close to its home court. However, if Illinois is in this Regional instead of Kansas, then by all means, it will be Illinois.

Anyway, Kansas is a lot like UNC. The team plays so well together and is so talented that I can't see them losing in the tournament. This team has had a rash of injuries this season, and hopefully the bug won't bite again as the season winds down. The blowout win against Texas showed me this team has already forgotten the non-conference loss at Villanova. A huge step by teams trying to reach the Final Four is forgetting the ugly losses and moving on. Kansas is obviously more talented than Texas, but that was an important win.

Kansas also has tough games left against Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma. Not to mention the last game of the season at Missouri and the Big XII Tournament. We will see just how resilliant this Jayhawks team is during the next 5 weeks. If they can make it through the rest of the season without Simien getting hurt again, losing any more players to injury, or having a devastating loss (first round blowout in the Conference Tournament or something like it), this team should be primed and ready to go for the NCAA's.

Roy Williams couldn't lead Kansas to a title, Bilf Self just might.

Austin Regional- The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Fighting Illini

I have said many things about this team. Here's another; they are a great college basketball team. All you have to know about this team is the wins at Wisconsin and Michigan State. No one in the Big Ten is beating them in the regular season. No one in the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament is beating them. Illini fans may as well make reservations now. I can see no scenario, unless all of their players come down with the same illness right before the start of the NCAA's and they have to forfeit every game, they aren't losing at least until St. Louis, if then. Have I jynxed this team enough yet?

Wildcards

There are a few wildcard teams.

Boston College- don't know much about them, but you can't doubt an undefeated team for too long. The game against Syracuse will provide some answers.

Duke- a great team for coach K, as I have already gone over. This team gets hot at the right time, watch out, they are a confident bunch.

Wake Forest- the enigma of the tournament. The Deacons have looked like the best team in the country at times, and have also looked like a second round upset. If they want to get to St. Louis, 101 points has to win a game. Defense has to get better.

Georgia Tech- we need to see last year's runner-up at full strength for once. BJ Elder coming back 100% healthy will help this team regain the identity it had during last season's run. The win over Wake may be the stepping stone for the Yellow Jackets.

Others which may end up being a 3, 4, 5, or 6 seed to make it on great play and a little luck; Alabama, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Washington, Arizona, and let's go for a long, long, long shot... Louisville.

-Until next time...

Groundhog's Day Update

As mentioned bedfore and unfortunately for those in Pennsylvania, Phil saw his shadow. However, for those of us in Wisconsin; Jimmy the Groundhog, of Sun Prairie, Wis., did not see his shadow, which means we will have an early spring. Our team may not be in the Super Bowl, but at least spring is right around the corner for us. Again, more on this story as it develops.

-Until next time...

Groundhog's Day

Punxsutawney Phil, the most famous groundhog in the world, saw his shadow this morning in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania, letting us know that there will be six more weeks of wintery weather. More on this story as it develops.

-Until next time...

So long Sammy

Something we'll never see again, Sosa pumping up the Cubs crowd.

Duke

Since I am a Duke fan I suppose I should write something about the team. This is a team I cheer for more than any other team in the NCAA besides Wisconsin and Marquette. Needless to say, I was not very optimistic coming into this season. After losing senior Chris Duhon, freshman Luol Deng, and recruit Shawn Livingston to the NBA; Duke was supposed to be in a rebuilding year instead of its usual "reloading" year. Instead, Coach K has this team playing together, everyone is buying into their roles in his system, and the Dookies are a surprising 16-1 so far this season. Sure, they haven't gotten into the tough part of their ACC schedule yet, but ask anyone, and they will tell you this team was supposed to be about 12-5 at best at this point in the season.

Duke doesn't have a standout player this year. They don't have a national player of the year candidate, and don't even really have a conference player of the year candidate. No one on the team garnishes national attention for what they do on or off the court. Although, Duke doesn't ever have players who demand attention off of the court. Coach K's best teams have always had one or two superstars on the team; Johnny Dawkins (1982-1986), Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley (1988-1992), Shane Battier (1997-2001), and Jason Williams (2000-2003), but this team doesn't have any. The Duke team of 2004-2005 is a team of players who know their individual roles and understand how each of these roles fits into a greater part, the team.

The team does have leaders in senior Daniel Ewing, and juniors Sheldon Williams, and J.J. Redick, but no one stands out as being bigger than the team. Other players on the team fill in holes nicely. Sean Dockery is a different type of player than Ewing is at the point, as he is more of a slasher and doesn't shoot quite as well as Ewing, but he can handle the rock and find open players. DeMarcus Nelson is a nice surprise and brings hope for the point guard position for the future. Lee Melchioni is a dead eye from beyond the arch and takes some of the pressure to score off of Redick and Ewing. Finally, if Shavlik Randolph ever becomes a player, Sheldon Williams won't have to worry so much about getting more than 2 fouls per half.

Duke this year is a lot like the cast of Saved by the Bell. You never heard of these people before they came together and put on a solid program. You didn't expect much and were happily surprised by the results. No stars, just a well cast group with supporting characters holding up the two "leads". After the run was over, people remember them for their roles when they were together and each struggles to find an identity of their own. A few have had mild successes and at least one has killed their career. I think this is a lot like this year's Duke team. Supporting characters are holding up the three leaders on the team. If any of these players go onto success in the NBA (it won't be much success) more will find jobs doing anything other than playing basketball, but they will always be remembered as Duke basketball players in the 2004-2005 season. While I don't see any of the players doing something like getting busted for distributing cocaine or something; the equivalent of Elizabeth Berkley killing her career with Showgirls (by the way, how does Gina Gershon get away from that film unscathed. I mean she is by no means getting killer roles, just check out her imbd.com page, but her career is at least still going), none of these players are going to be stars in the NBA.

Coach K is able to coach this team the way he wants to, without having to design gameplans around one or two players. Even though it never really seemed like egos got in the way at Duke, coach K doesn't even have to worry about that at all this season. This team could surprise people in the tourney this year. It's one of those teams which could either get bounced in the second round because Redick and Melchioni aren't shooting well, Williams gets into foul trouble, and Ewing can't carry the team, or they catch a wave and ride hot shooting, great defense, and solid inside play all the way to St. Louis. Unfortunately for Duke, the waves on the Mississippi river aren't that big. Regardless of how far they go in the tournament, this will go down as one of coach K's greatest coaching achievements.

I say all of this the day before Duke goes to Winston Salem and plays a tough Wake Forest team. I guess we'll find out if the team has really drunk the kool-aid or not. I have no doubt coach K has a game plan which could beat the Demon Deacons, let's just wait and see if the team can execute.

One final note; a person I know who I lived with at school once said that coach Bo Ryan of Wisconsin was just as good of a coach as coach K. He argued that if Ryan would have the same player that coach K had, Ryan would do just as well. While I can believe that sure, given a handful of McDonald's All-Americans, any coach would be able to win more games than they lose, isn't that part of the greatness of coach K, that he can get these guys to come from all over the country to play at Duke? Sure people are going to say that the kids go there because it is Duke, but who has built that program into the powerhouse it has become over the past 24 years? Coach K started it all. I'd like to see Bo Ryan have this Duke team at 16-1 right now. I'm not saying Ryan is a bad coach, I think he does a great job at Wisconsin, but I am not putting him up there with coach K just yet. Of course, Duke had final four appearances before 1980, but they weren't a dream destination for the country's top prospects. They are now, and coach K deserves the credit. I understand why people hate Duke, and that's fine. I hated them too. I hated Laettner and Hurley, it wasn't until a kid named Jeff Capel played there and led Duke to double-overtime against a much better UNC team with a half-courter that I started liking them. Now, like the players who have played there before, I have tasted the coach K kool-aid and I believe.

Don't miss Wake Forest vs. Duke on Wednesday night on ESPN at 8:00pm central time.

-Until next time...

Driver thinks Favre is done

It seems as though Brett Favre will not be playing another season in the NFL; at least that's what Donald Driver thinks. The Packers wide receiver made these comments on a Sirius Sattelite radio interview today.

If the 2004 season was Favre's last, I say thanks for the memories and enjoy your retirement. I am not going to get sentimental and start discussing everything I will miss, because Favre hasn't officially said anything yet. However, I will say this, I hope that when he decides to retire (if it isn't before next season) he states something like, "This is my last season" because it will give all of us one more opportunity to watch him play. Plus it would be good for him because he would basically get a free pass from everyone in that season. No matter what he did, people would resist writting bad things about him, because it is his last year, and that could be good or bad for the team, but it would give the fans what they want. Either way (if he comes back or not) they are not going to win another Super Bowl, so if Driver is right, I'm fine with Brett's decision.

Check back for more updates as the information comes in.

-Until next time...

Nate's Weekend

Well gang, I didn't watch any sports this weekend. Actually, I watched quite a bit of middle school basketball, and that's it. I reffed 13 games this weekend and couldn't get to a television to watch much of anything. The only thing I really saw was the Sosa trade on ESPN Friday night while I was sitting in a bar in Germantown, Wisconsin. I immediately called Gaddis and he and I spoke about the deal. Basically whatever he writes about the trade will be the view of both of us, so you won't be getting anything from me about it, unless I realize Gaddis can't write and I need to clear some things up!

Here's what I will be writing about this week;

Tuesday: Don't know yet, probably won't know until about 1:00 on Tuesday.
Wednesday: I will discuss the four teams which at this point I think will make it to St. Louis this March. Since I didn't watch any basketball this weekend, I can't discuss what happened, so that's what you'll get, my final four, and maybe two or three teams more.
Thursday: Philly in the Super Bowl
Firday: New England in the Super Bowl. Also, my pick for who will win.

Sunday: After the game, a diary of the game, and a commercial commentary. A special guest may even stop by and write a thing or two, watch for this.

-Until next time...