My NFL Week 18 Powre Rankings: We Are The Champions Edition
M.D. Wright
12.30.08
These are basically playoff rankings, but teams that are in the playoffs are not necessarily going to be ranked higher than teams that missed out. For instance, the Patriots were 11-5 and missed the playoffs. A 9-7 Dallas team also missed the playoffs.
1. New York Football Giants. Even ESPN said it (but had them ranked 2nd?); the Giants are the best team in the NFL.
2. Tennessee Titans. The Titans will be a tough out; but it is REQUIRED for me to say every week: KERRY COLLINS IS THEIR QUARTERBACK. AND VINCE YOUNG IS THE BACKUP RIGHT NOW. REMEMBER THIS. They will NOT win with either one of those guys.
3. Indianapolis Colts. No one wants to face these guys. They ended the season with a very impressive 9 game winning streak over a plethora of playoff-bound teams.
4. Baltimore Ravens. They are rolling right now. Ed Reed is the Defensive Player of the Year, in my book.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers. If Roethlisberger can't play (unlikely he will miss the game) Leftwich is no dropoff in any regard. I still don't fully respect them.
6. Carolina Panthers. Showed vulnerability against a terrible defence on Sunday. They are extremely happy they won that game and didn't have to start the playoffs on the road. They're nearly unbeatable at home (although Atlanta can, and most likely will be the team playing them there -- and can beat them there).
7. Atlanta Falcons. The Fulcons are going to be a tough out also. They're playing well at every level on both sides of the ball.
8. Miami Dolphins. What a turnaround. They have a tough game vs. Baltimore to start the playoffs, however.
9. New England Patriots. You reap what you sow.
10. Philadelphia Eagles. The Iggles are wildly inconsistent. They can beat ANYONE and BADLY, and lose to anyone the same way.
11. San Diego Chargers. WATCH. OUT. They looked like THE Chargers from last year.
12. Minnesota Vikings. The jury is still out on young Tarvaris.
13. Houston Texans. Watch out for these guys next year. Seriously calling for them to win 10 or 11.
14. Arizona Cardinals. They have to right their ship QUICKLY, because they did not finish the second half of the season playing good football.
15. New York Football Jets. Firing Mangini should help them. If Favre is healthy, he MAY have one more round left in the barrel, but much CB Kerry Rhodes says, he has to be 100% into it; he can't come in half-heartedly.
16. Chicago Bears. Naming Kyle Orton as their starting QB for next year is odd. They really need to draft or obtain a GOOD free agent QB for the first time in their history.
17. Dallas Cowboys. What a mess. These guys weren't the most talented team or the best team like people said. Not in 2007 (New England) and DEFINITELY not this year (NY Giants), they are the best THEATRE (and I don't even care to see/hear it) in the NFL however.
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What a collapse. Jon Gruden is SO overrated. He only won that Super Bowl because Tony Dungy had built that team and Gruden just held the steering wheel so they wouldn't off into the ditch. He's done absolutely SQUAT in six years since.
19. New Orleans Saints. They are what their record says they are (8-8, .500).
20. San Francisco 49ers. Expect them to challenge Seattle and Arizona for the NFC West next year. Seriously. Singletary is the man for that job.
21. Denver Broncos. Does the Shanahan firing help them?
22. Washington Redskins. I think they are getting old/battered at the absolute worst-possible positions.
23. Buffalo Bills. The Chargers owe them Rolexes or something.
24. Green Bay Packers. They avoided losing to the Lions; and I think they'll win 9 or 10 next year after addressing the defence.
25. Oakland Raiders. Will Al finally step out of the way and let Cable coach this team?
26. Jacksonville Jaguars. I think they will bounce back next year, but only if Jack Del RIo is gone.
27. Cincinnati Bengals. Well, they finished the season strong (3-0) after starting slowly (1-11-1).
28. Cleveland Browns. Cromeo got fired, so did Phil Savage. What a train wreck. They have too much talent for this.
29. Seattle Seahawks. I am not sold on Jim Mora. But their fans are. We'll see.
30. Kansas City Chiefs. Herm has one more year to fix this mess and get the team into the playoffs or he's gone. Larry Johnson is likely out of there.
31. St. Louis Rams. They are not going anywhere quickly.
32. Detroit Lions. I really do believe if the Lions draft wisely and pick the right free agent(s), they can win 8 or 9 next year. They were a 7 win team last year that was on their way to winning 10 before the bottom fell out.
As politically incorrect as I wanna be.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
ESPN's NFL Week 18 Power Rankings: Wild Card Edition
1 (1) Titans 13-3-0 Coach Jeff Fisher earned the right to play his backups and play vanilla in Indianapolis. (PK)
2 (2) Giants 12-4-0 I know they've lost three of four, but the Giants are still the best team in the league. (MM)
3 (4) Steelers 12-4-0 No one needs a bye week more than QB Ben Roethlisberger. (JW)
4 (3) Panthers 12-4-0 Kicker John Kasay came through to save the division title and the No. 2 seed. That gives a banged-up defensive front some time to heal. (PY)
5 (5) Colts 12-4-0 Can the league's hottest team go to San Diego, beat the Chargers a second time and avenge last season's playoff ouster? (PK)
6 (6) Ravens 11-5-0 Although the Ravens are the No. 6 seed, they like their chances against anybody. (JW)
7 (7) Falcons 11-5-0 The Falcons closed the regular season on a three-game winning streak. That's plenty of momentum, and a road playoff game at Arizona is at least winnable. (PY)
8 (9) Dolphins 11-5-0 The Dolphins pulled off an unprecedented turnaround by beating the Jets to clinch the AFC East title. (TG)
9 (8) Patriots 11-5-0 The Patriots deserved better. They're only the second 11-win team in NFL history not to make the playoffs. (TG)
10 (11) Vikings 10-6-0 The first home playoff game in eight years awaits the Vikings this weekend. (KS)
11 (15) Eagles 9-6-1 What an amazing turn of events Sunday. This team will be dangerous in January. (MM)
12 (16) Chargers 8-8-0 Forget the regular season. The Chargers are in the playoffs and are mighty dangerous. (BW)
13 (19) Cardinals 9-7-0 Only the Lions, Rams, Broncos and Chiefs allowed more points this season. (MS)
14 (10) Cowboys 9-7-0 Jerry Jones will stay the course with a "changed" Wade Phillips. Much rejoicing in the land. (MM)
15 (13) Bears 9-7-0 Coach Lovie Smith needs to take apart his defense before he can put it together again. (KS)
16 (12) Buccaneers 9-7-0 If the Jets and Cowboys weren't in such big markets, people around the country would be talking about Tampa Bay's collapse. As it is, folks in Florida are griping about a team that went from 9-3 to missing the playoffs. (PY)
17 (14) Jets 9-7-0 The nosedive continued even after Sunday's final gun. The Jets need a new coach and maybe a new quarterback. (TG)
18 (21) Texans 8-8-0 Despite the big finish, the Texans have a lot of roster revisions to do. (PK)
19 (17) Saints 8-8-0 Drew Brees threw for 5,000 yards, but it didn't really matter. You must at least be able to run a bit and play some defense to reach the playoffs. (PY)
20 (23) 49ers 7-9-0 The Niners are lamenting that Monday night defeat at Arizona. (MS)
21 (18) Redskins 8-8-0 The hot start is a distant memory. This team has a lot of questions to address heading into 2009. (MM)
22 (20) Broncos 8-8-0 It will be a long, cold winter in Denver as the Broncos chew on their historic collapse. (BW)
23 (22) Bills 7-9-0 For the third straight season, the Bills finished 7-9. How inspiring. (TG)
24 (24) Packers 6-10-0 The Packers will look for help on both lines this offseason. (KS)
25 (25) Jaguars 5-11-0 Last year, the Jaguars made a big trade up to No. 8 in the draft. This time, the Jags earned it all on their own. (PK)
26 (27) Raiders 5-11-0 Are the Raiders on their way up? Well, two wins to end the season won't hurt the Raiders' psyche. (BW)
27 (29) Bengals 4-11-1 A season-ending three-game winning streak provides a ray of hope for 2009. (JW)
28 (26) Seahawks 4-12-0 The Seahawks need to find a pass rush in a hurry. (MS)
29 (28) Browns 4-12-0 The Browns will start from scratch for the fourth time in 10 years. (JW)
30 (30) Chiefs 2-14-0 A season of change is upon us in Kansas City. (BW)
31 (31) Rams 2-14-0 The Rams need to become more physical on both sides of ball. (MS)
32 (32) Lions 0-16-0 Are the Lions actually pushing continuity after finishing 0-16? (KS)
2 (2) Giants 12-4-0 I know they've lost three of four, but the Giants are still the best team in the league. (MM)
3 (4) Steelers 12-4-0 No one needs a bye week more than QB Ben Roethlisberger. (JW)
4 (3) Panthers 12-4-0 Kicker John Kasay came through to save the division title and the No. 2 seed. That gives a banged-up defensive front some time to heal. (PY)
5 (5) Colts 12-4-0 Can the league's hottest team go to San Diego, beat the Chargers a second time and avenge last season's playoff ouster? (PK)
6 (6) Ravens 11-5-0 Although the Ravens are the No. 6 seed, they like their chances against anybody. (JW)
7 (7) Falcons 11-5-0 The Falcons closed the regular season on a three-game winning streak. That's plenty of momentum, and a road playoff game at Arizona is at least winnable. (PY)
8 (9) Dolphins 11-5-0 The Dolphins pulled off an unprecedented turnaround by beating the Jets to clinch the AFC East title. (TG)
9 (8) Patriots 11-5-0 The Patriots deserved better. They're only the second 11-win team in NFL history not to make the playoffs. (TG)
10 (11) Vikings 10-6-0 The first home playoff game in eight years awaits the Vikings this weekend. (KS)
11 (15) Eagles 9-6-1 What an amazing turn of events Sunday. This team will be dangerous in January. (MM)
12 (16) Chargers 8-8-0 Forget the regular season. The Chargers are in the playoffs and are mighty dangerous. (BW)
13 (19) Cardinals 9-7-0 Only the Lions, Rams, Broncos and Chiefs allowed more points this season. (MS)
14 (10) Cowboys 9-7-0 Jerry Jones will stay the course with a "changed" Wade Phillips. Much rejoicing in the land. (MM)
15 (13) Bears 9-7-0 Coach Lovie Smith needs to take apart his defense before he can put it together again. (KS)
16 (12) Buccaneers 9-7-0 If the Jets and Cowboys weren't in such big markets, people around the country would be talking about Tampa Bay's collapse. As it is, folks in Florida are griping about a team that went from 9-3 to missing the playoffs. (PY)
17 (14) Jets 9-7-0 The nosedive continued even after Sunday's final gun. The Jets need a new coach and maybe a new quarterback. (TG)
18 (21) Texans 8-8-0 Despite the big finish, the Texans have a lot of roster revisions to do. (PK)
19 (17) Saints 8-8-0 Drew Brees threw for 5,000 yards, but it didn't really matter. You must at least be able to run a bit and play some defense to reach the playoffs. (PY)
20 (23) 49ers 7-9-0 The Niners are lamenting that Monday night defeat at Arizona. (MS)
21 (18) Redskins 8-8-0 The hot start is a distant memory. This team has a lot of questions to address heading into 2009. (MM)
22 (20) Broncos 8-8-0 It will be a long, cold winter in Denver as the Broncos chew on their historic collapse. (BW)
23 (22) Bills 7-9-0 For the third straight season, the Bills finished 7-9. How inspiring. (TG)
24 (24) Packers 6-10-0 The Packers will look for help on both lines this offseason. (KS)
25 (25) Jaguars 5-11-0 Last year, the Jaguars made a big trade up to No. 8 in the draft. This time, the Jags earned it all on their own. (PK)
26 (27) Raiders 5-11-0 Are the Raiders on their way up? Well, two wins to end the season won't hurt the Raiders' psyche. (BW)
27 (29) Bengals 4-11-1 A season-ending three-game winning streak provides a ray of hope for 2009. (JW)
28 (26) Seahawks 4-12-0 The Seahawks need to find a pass rush in a hurry. (MS)
29 (28) Browns 4-12-0 The Browns will start from scratch for the fourth time in 10 years. (JW)
30 (30) Chiefs 2-14-0 A season of change is upon us in Kansas City. (BW)
31 (31) Rams 2-14-0 The Rams need to become more physical on both sides of ball. (MS)
32 (32) Lions 0-16-0 Are the Lions actually pushing continuity after finishing 0-16? (KS)
Monday, December 29, 2008
2008: A Personal Recap
2008: A Personal Recap
M.D. Wright
12.29.08
Wow, what a year. I will admit that 2008 was much better than 2007 -- which was arguably the worst year of my life. 2006 was topsy turvy, as I have mentioned before, and the beginning of a prolonged downturn in my life. This past year gives me pause for reflection, because there were some things that appeared to give an inkling to restoration of order (i.e. taking back my SPOT). The year certainly began inauspiciously and with tons of ambivalence on my part. Again, coming off 2007, that was understandable. But having endured two near death experiences and continuing to press forward since those massive obstacles, you knew I was not going to quit.
I really miss my grandmother Kathryn R. Robinson Wright. It was very crushing for us to really believe she would make it back home in 2007 after a relatively routine health issue. I probably took the loss harder than anyone outside of her children. Some of my cousins took it rough, but given that I am not a crier, it is assumed it did not rock me to my core. It did. I am not foolish or naive by any stretch, but my grandmother was as strong physically and as active as anyone I have ever known in my life. She was 79 and prior to going into the hospital she was running around and doing heavy lifting and hard work around her house just as she had done when I was little. She had slowed down only VERY LITTLE. Even more crushing to me was the fact that she will not be here to see me graduate from UNCG. If only I had not been so consumed with showing these young cats how to ball (which is some of the STUPIDEST nonsense ever, but I digress -- to you cats who think you are doing it, please move on to something constructive) I would have finished three years ago from St. John's (instead of UNCG). But again, that's another blog.
As a means of preserving my grandmother's memory and continuing to unite our family, which is spread out literally all over the place (and I am going to take the initiative to do research to tie up loose ends, meet cousins and other relatives I've never met both in North Carolina and New York and New Jersey who have been under my nose as I've lived in each state in my life) we began having family gatherings once a month on April 5 (the date my grandmother passed in 2007) at different family members' homes. I have never expressed it, but those were exactly what I needed this year. This summer was DISASTROUS for me on so many levels. Seeing my cousins several times this summer helped save me from going into my self-destructive shell that I have gone into so many times in the past.
I'll just go back through the months and recap the things that have occurred. They will give both myself and my readers a better understanding of what this year was like for me.
JANUARY
The spring 2008 semester began strangely for me. Upon returning to UNCG after Winter Break, I began suffering even more pain in my back (lingering effects of a herniated disk that I had initially suffered in August of 2006 -- made worse by bulking up to 200 lbs last year and trying to execute basketball moves at age 28 that I was doing at age 20 -- in other words, NOT WISE). The pain progressively got worse and I lost tons of mobility and became less and less active as the month went along. My roommate Phil and I had committed to going to the gym and lifting and/or playing basketball a few times a week, but after one week the pain became so great that I could barely walk to class. For those of you who do not know that kind of pain -- do not EVER rupture a disk in your back and don't think for a minute that someone who has that injury is a wimp for sitting down with it. It is only rivaled by the pains of child labor/delivery. Trust me.
Anyway, in the classroom, my grades were B+/A- as usual, but I was unable to focus because of the pain.
FEBRUARY
Things continued more of the same. I was taking six classes, so in my free time I feverishly looked for jobs and applied for jobs both in Greensboro and in New York, as I had been planning to move back since early 2007. I spent just as much time in the doctor's office due to my back as I did in class.
MARCH
Spring Break got here and I couldn't afford to go anywhere. Nonetheless, I made the most out of things by continuing to get my paperwork in order so I could apply to transfer schools and there was March Madness. Still a pretty nondescript year.
APRIL
We had our first gathering, and it was bittersweet, because my cousin Donald was killed and passed away the day we were supposed to meet up. It was surreal. By this point, my schoolwork was wrapping up and I finished up pretty strong, as I usually do. The main objective at this point was trying to ensure that I had a job in place when I moved back to NY. Of course this did not happen, as I have pointed out.
MAY
OK, with the semester ending and warmer weather, I'm pleased because I'm just CERTAIN that my move will be seamless and I will be able to get help for my back; which would allow for me to work. Needless to say that did not happen. The rest of the summer was pretty terrible without the family gatherings, to be perfectly honest. This is not how I planned this year to go. Nothing had gone right by May.
JUNE
I spent the entire month waiting on my IRS rebate check; the delay causing me to miss the Alicia Keys show in Atlantic City -- which was a late birthday present to me from one of my then-friends (to think she got upset with me about something that was out of my hands LOL). I also missed Funk Flex's car show out in Edison!!!
JULY
I was in Harlem for a while, although I wanted to get everything straight at Hunter and City College -- they STILL had not processed all of my documents. This summer was really shaping up to be one of the worst ever. OK, nothing can top 2007 or those summers when I nearly died in high school.
We did have a few family gatherings this month, which REALLY helped me get over the malaise of the year to that point.
AUGUST
School's back in.
We did have a couple of family gatherings, too.
SEPTEMBER
Surgery was a success, and my cousin Leavery got married in Wilmington, DE. I had not been to Wilmington in a couple of years (and that was just by accident with Mikey and AJ last year on our way to New York). What a depressing place. LOL the wedding and reception were awesome though.
OCTOBER
A month full of nothingness.
NOVEMBER
More of the same. Applied for 50 jobs to this point -- no dice.
Thanksgiving restored joy for me.
DECEMBER
This month has been brutal. Finals weren't too bad, although my very last one was a killer. I had three A's, including an A+ and STILL only had a 3.0 this semester because I nearly flunked Stats!!!
Christmas was... different... and I don't mean in a good way. I didn't get to see any of my cousins or other family until the next day and that was only to see my grandparents. I'm still riding high off that.
M.D. Wright
12.29.08
Wow, what a year. I will admit that 2008 was much better than 2007 -- which was arguably the worst year of my life. 2006 was topsy turvy, as I have mentioned before, and the beginning of a prolonged downturn in my life. This past year gives me pause for reflection, because there were some things that appeared to give an inkling to restoration of order (i.e. taking back my SPOT). The year certainly began inauspiciously and with tons of ambivalence on my part. Again, coming off 2007, that was understandable. But having endured two near death experiences and continuing to press forward since those massive obstacles, you knew I was not going to quit.
I really miss my grandmother Kathryn R. Robinson Wright. It was very crushing for us to really believe she would make it back home in 2007 after a relatively routine health issue. I probably took the loss harder than anyone outside of her children. Some of my cousins took it rough, but given that I am not a crier, it is assumed it did not rock me to my core. It did. I am not foolish or naive by any stretch, but my grandmother was as strong physically and as active as anyone I have ever known in my life. She was 79 and prior to going into the hospital she was running around and doing heavy lifting and hard work around her house just as she had done when I was little. She had slowed down only VERY LITTLE. Even more crushing to me was the fact that she will not be here to see me graduate from UNCG. If only I had not been so consumed with showing these young cats how to ball (which is some of the STUPIDEST nonsense ever, but I digress -- to you cats who think you are doing it, please move on to something constructive) I would have finished three years ago from St. John's (instead of UNCG). But again, that's another blog.
As a means of preserving my grandmother's memory and continuing to unite our family, which is spread out literally all over the place (and I am going to take the initiative to do research to tie up loose ends, meet cousins and other relatives I've never met both in North Carolina and New York and New Jersey who have been under my nose as I've lived in each state in my life) we began having family gatherings once a month on April 5 (the date my grandmother passed in 2007) at different family members' homes. I have never expressed it, but those were exactly what I needed this year. This summer was DISASTROUS for me on so many levels. Seeing my cousins several times this summer helped save me from going into my self-destructive shell that I have gone into so many times in the past.
I'll just go back through the months and recap the things that have occurred. They will give both myself and my readers a better understanding of what this year was like for me.
JANUARY
The spring 2008 semester began strangely for me. Upon returning to UNCG after Winter Break, I began suffering even more pain in my back (lingering effects of a herniated disk that I had initially suffered in August of 2006 -- made worse by bulking up to 200 lbs last year and trying to execute basketball moves at age 28 that I was doing at age 20 -- in other words, NOT WISE). The pain progressively got worse and I lost tons of mobility and became less and less active as the month went along. My roommate Phil and I had committed to going to the gym and lifting and/or playing basketball a few times a week, but after one week the pain became so great that I could barely walk to class. For those of you who do not know that kind of pain -- do not EVER rupture a disk in your back and don't think for a minute that someone who has that injury is a wimp for sitting down with it. It is only rivaled by the pains of child labor/delivery. Trust me.
Anyway, in the classroom, my grades were B+/A- as usual, but I was unable to focus because of the pain.
FEBRUARY
Things continued more of the same. I was taking six classes, so in my free time I feverishly looked for jobs and applied for jobs both in Greensboro and in New York, as I had been planning to move back since early 2007. I spent just as much time in the doctor's office due to my back as I did in class.
MARCH
Spring Break got here and I couldn't afford to go anywhere. Nonetheless, I made the most out of things by continuing to get my paperwork in order so I could apply to transfer schools and there was March Madness. Still a pretty nondescript year.
APRIL
We had our first gathering, and it was bittersweet, because my cousin Donald was killed and passed away the day we were supposed to meet up. It was surreal. By this point, my schoolwork was wrapping up and I finished up pretty strong, as I usually do. The main objective at this point was trying to ensure that I had a job in place when I moved back to NY. Of course this did not happen, as I have pointed out.
MAY
OK, with the semester ending and warmer weather, I'm pleased because I'm just CERTAIN that my move will be seamless and I will be able to get help for my back; which would allow for me to work. Needless to say that did not happen. The rest of the summer was pretty terrible without the family gatherings, to be perfectly honest. This is not how I planned this year to go. Nothing had gone right by May.
JUNE
I spent the entire month waiting on my IRS rebate check; the delay causing me to miss the Alicia Keys show in Atlantic City -- which was a late birthday present to me from one of my then-friends (to think she got upset with me about something that was out of my hands LOL). I also missed Funk Flex's car show out in Edison!!!
JULY
I was in Harlem for a while, although I wanted to get everything straight at Hunter and City College -- they STILL had not processed all of my documents. This summer was really shaping up to be one of the worst ever. OK, nothing can top 2007 or those summers when I nearly died in high school.
We did have a few family gatherings this month, which REALLY helped me get over the malaise of the year to that point.
AUGUST
School's back in.
We did have a couple of family gatherings, too.
SEPTEMBER
Surgery was a success, and my cousin Leavery got married in Wilmington, DE. I had not been to Wilmington in a couple of years (and that was just by accident with Mikey and AJ last year on our way to New York). What a depressing place. LOL the wedding and reception were awesome though.
OCTOBER
A month full of nothingness.
NOVEMBER
More of the same. Applied for 50 jobs to this point -- no dice.
Thanksgiving restored joy for me.
DECEMBER
This month has been brutal. Finals weren't too bad, although my very last one was a killer. I had three A's, including an A+ and STILL only had a 3.0 this semester because I nearly flunked Stats!!!
Christmas was... different... and I don't mean in a good way. I didn't get to see any of my cousins or other family until the next day and that was only to see my grandparents. I'm still riding high off that.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
NFL Week 17 Picks: Grand Central Terminal - All Passengers Must Depart; Watch The Closing Doors Please Editions
NFL Week 17 Picks: Grand Central Terminal - All Passengers Must Depart; Watch The Closing Doors Please Edition
M.D. Wright
12.26.08
We have come to the end of the NFL season! I tell you, without football and college basketball, fall/winter would be unbearable. Now that we've had a full season of the NFL and a good two months of college basketball, we'll have something to get us through until it gets warm outside. Meanwhile, it will be warm inside our TV sets as we ready for the playoffs!
And of course, I would be remiss if I did not pay my annual homage to Jim Mora:
"What's that? Ahhhh... PLAYOFFS?!?! Don't talk about... PLAYOFFS?!?! Ya kidding me... PLAYOFFS?!?! I'm just hoping we can win another game... ANOTHER GAME!"
And with that, let's get it in...
Oakland Raiders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Raymond James Stadium
Tampa, Florida
Line: TB -12.5
Over/Under: 39
The Bucs picked the wrong time to lose three straight. They need the Bears, Cowboys AND Falcons to lose Sunday to even be in the playoff conversation. This game almost means nothing. The Raiders are like a 2,500-piece jigsaw puzzle whose pieces have been dumped out of a box and you must put it together in an hour. That's what their season has been like.
One word for Jeff Garcia after getting hit by CB Quentin Jammer last week: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Call:
Oakland 9
Tampa Bay 24
---
Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers
Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconson
Line: GB -10.5
Over/Under: 43
0-16.
Call:
Detroit 17
Green Bay 28
---
Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Lincoln Financial Field
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Line: PHI -1.5
Over/Under: 42.5
The Iggles must win this game to make the playoffs.
The Cowboys must win this game to make the playoffs.
That formula = BLOODBATH. You might see some of everything in this game.
I'm going to go with my gut and take Philly -- homefield non-factor.
Call:
Dallas 26
Philadelphia 31
---
New York Football Giants vs. Minnesota Vikings
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Line: MIN -7
Over/Under: 42
Vegas is giving us 7 points because they figure Coughlin will rest the starters. LOL Well, I dunno how to call this game. My feeling is they will play a half, just to maintain their rhythm, then put the 2nd string in during the 2nd half. The Giants will have a lead and pin back their ears and bring the house at Young Jackson and put 8 in the box against Peterson. Will it be successful? Who knows. They also have Chester Taylor back there. The Giants just need to come out of this game healthy. Minnesota needs to win to ensure they don't have to hope for a STRING of losses from others afterward.
Call:
NY Giants 21
Minnesota 17
---
Chicago Bears vs. Houston Texans
Reliant Stadium
Houston, Texas
Line: HOU -2.5
Over/Under: 46.5
I no longer subscribe to the "Team A needs this game desperately" corollary. I've seen so many teams in that position the past few seasons STINK OUT the joint when they "needed to win". I'm going to take the Texans at home because 1) they are very good there (aside from a couple of hiccups) and still in the Top 5 in scoring in the NFL. The Bears haven't proven they can consistently stop the run and Steve Slaton is bringing that at them. Matt Forte won't find much running room against this young and active (and improving) Texans defence. Bye bye, Bears.
Call:
Chicago 17
Houston 28
---
Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints
The Louisiana Superdome
New Orleans, Louisiana
Line: CAR -2.5
Over/Under: 51.5
That 51.5 is teasing. I hate half-point O/U, because it almost ALWAYS comes down to that one point on either side of the number in a matchup like this. I see this being a shootout for two reasons: 1) New Orleans cannot stop Carolina's running game -- given that Carolina needs to win to ensure they get the 2 spot and a first-round bye in the playoffs -- so they will be playing all out 2) New Orleans will be passing the ball 50+ times because a) they will be trailing and b) Brees is aiming for Dan Marino's passing yardage record (5,084 yards in 1984). Brees is within reach. The Saints aren't going to be a threat to win, however. Their first home loss hah.
Call:
Carolina 37
New Orleans 31
---
St. Louis Rams vs. Atlanta Falcons
The Georgia Dome
Atlanta, Georgia
Line: ATL -14 (Dear god.)
Over/Under: 44
Good lord. Stay away from this game at ALL costs. There will be a Sacrificing Of The Lambs -- despite the Fulcons having nothing to play for other than to secure the 5 seed (preferable) instead of the 6 seed. Backtracking, that IS something to play for. Dear god. God bless Jim Haslett's career.
Call:
St. Louis 10
Atlanta 34
(Kick, Kick, Push)
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Paul Brown Stadium
Cincinnati, Ohio
Line: CIN -3 (How?)
Over/Under: 38.5
Ugly game of the week. Seems like CIN plays in one of these every other week. Mercifully, both teams seasons are over. They have the Mayflower trucks backed up to their respective stadiums ready to leave at 11 pm. What an awful season for both franchises. Sure doesn't bode well for the ratio of black coaches in the NFL. BOTH these guys could very well be gone after the season.
Call:
Kansas City 20
Cincinnati 10
---
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Baltimore Ravens
M&T Bank Stadium
Baltimore, Maryland
Line: BAL -12.5
Over/Under: 37.5
The Jags are listless. Harbaugh has told us his Ravens are going all out to win this game about 74 times this week. That's enough for me.
Call:
Jacksonville 13
Baltimore 28
---
Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts
Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis, Indiana
Line: TEN -3
Over/Under: 38.5
I would write more about this game, except both teams don't want to do too much more than window dressing as they know their respective playoff positions already. Colts should win, however -- and avenge an earlier loss where they gave the game away.
Call:
Tennessee 14
Indianapolis 24
--
Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Heinz Field
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Line: PIT -11
Over/Under: 34
So long, Romeo Crennel. How briefly we knew ye. Crennel is a nice guy -- and smart enough (ESPN.com says his IQ is like 125 or something on those ads at the bottom of the page). He'll get a better job, hopefully. Cleveland can't get out of its own way even with enough talent to definitely win the division. This will be brutal.
Call:
Cleveland 6
Pittsburgh 30
---
Miami Dolphins vs. New York Football Jets
Giants Stadium at the New Jersey Meadowlands
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Line: NYJ -2.5
Over/Under: 42
Mets... uhhh... Jets fans are nervous. I haven't talked to any of the 11 of them that exist (j/k) who isn't. But seriously, if they don't win this game, there will be turmoil. I can't write up anything differently for these teams. Ya are what ya record says ya are -- says a guy who has played a major role with both teams.
Based off all that I've seen this year (and based off the ending of last year), I'm going to RELUCTANTLY take the Jets here. If Mangini does not run the ball with Jones, the Jets will lose and he will lose his job. Notice you have not heard Mike Tannenbaum talk much this month about Mangini's job -- amidst fan uproar. Hmmm.
Call:
Miami 24
NY Jets 26
---
New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills
Ralph Wilson Stadium
Orchard Park, New York
Line: NE -6
Over/Under: 40
Call me naive, but I am taking the Bills here. Yes, I hate the Patriots and would love nothing more to see them miss the playoffs, but the Bills have come back to life with Trent Edwards back in the lineup. I say they pull out an ugly one. And this will be Matt Cassel's last game in a Patriots' uniform.
Call:
New England 21
Buffalo 24
---
Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals
University of Phoenix Stadium
Glendale, Arizona
Line: ARZ -6.5
Over/Under: 45.5
I don't know why Seattle is getting so many points from Vegas. They've played very well of late. The Cards STINK. Yes, they're at home, but if you look as uninspired as they looked Sunday -- and in all their road games in general -- YOU STINK. They better use this game to work on their flaws or they're going to be one and done AT HOME.
Call:
Seattle 27
Arizona 31
---
Washington Redskins vs. San Francisco 49ers
Candlestick Park
San Francisco, California
Line: Pick 'em
Over/Under: 37.5
ZZZZZZZ two teams going in opposite directions, but both looking bad doing so. If that makes sense. Washington is done. Even though they beat Philadelphia last week, they weren't convincing. San Francisco is playing pretty good defence. Washington is making a 2,800-mile trip. I'm taking the Niners.
Call:
Washington 13
San Francisco 24
---
Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers
Qualcomm Stadium
San Diego, California
Line: -8 (I know Vegas is doing this because of the stakes and the number of people wagering -- NO WAY DEN gets this many points all else being equal).
Over/Under: 50.5
The Broncos (or "Bronchoes", as my boy DK calls them), are reeling. I called this matchup in Week 12. You can look in my blog and see. Just on the strength of getting that right -- two bad losses by Denver, three resilient wins by San Diego -- they're at home; Cutler made the Pro Bowl when he shouldn't have -- taking Rivers' spot, effectively. Good day in the morning. Take the Chargers -- WITH THE OVER and leave that SPREAD ALONE!
Call:
Denver 31
San Diego 41
---
PLAYOFFS!!!
M.D. Wright
12.26.08
We have come to the end of the NFL season! I tell you, without football and college basketball, fall/winter would be unbearable. Now that we've had a full season of the NFL and a good two months of college basketball, we'll have something to get us through until it gets warm outside. Meanwhile, it will be warm inside our TV sets as we ready for the playoffs!
And of course, I would be remiss if I did not pay my annual homage to Jim Mora:
"What's that? Ahhhh... PLAYOFFS?!?! Don't talk about... PLAYOFFS?!?! Ya kidding me... PLAYOFFS?!?! I'm just hoping we can win another game... ANOTHER GAME!"
And with that, let's get it in...
Oakland Raiders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Raymond James Stadium
Tampa, Florida
Line: TB -12.5
Over/Under: 39
The Bucs picked the wrong time to lose three straight. They need the Bears, Cowboys AND Falcons to lose Sunday to even be in the playoff conversation. This game almost means nothing. The Raiders are like a 2,500-piece jigsaw puzzle whose pieces have been dumped out of a box and you must put it together in an hour. That's what their season has been like.
One word for Jeff Garcia after getting hit by CB Quentin Jammer last week: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Call:
Oakland 9
Tampa Bay 24
---
Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers
Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconson
Line: GB -10.5
Over/Under: 43
0-16.
Call:
Detroit 17
Green Bay 28
---
Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Lincoln Financial Field
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Line: PHI -1.5
Over/Under: 42.5
The Iggles must win this game to make the playoffs.
The Cowboys must win this game to make the playoffs.
That formula = BLOODBATH. You might see some of everything in this game.
I'm going to go with my gut and take Philly -- homefield non-factor.
Call:
Dallas 26
Philadelphia 31
---
New York Football Giants vs. Minnesota Vikings
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Line: MIN -7
Over/Under: 42
Vegas is giving us 7 points because they figure Coughlin will rest the starters. LOL Well, I dunno how to call this game. My feeling is they will play a half, just to maintain their rhythm, then put the 2nd string in during the 2nd half. The Giants will have a lead and pin back their ears and bring the house at Young Jackson and put 8 in the box against Peterson. Will it be successful? Who knows. They also have Chester Taylor back there. The Giants just need to come out of this game healthy. Minnesota needs to win to ensure they don't have to hope for a STRING of losses from others afterward.
Call:
NY Giants 21
Minnesota 17
---
Chicago Bears vs. Houston Texans
Reliant Stadium
Houston, Texas
Line: HOU -2.5
Over/Under: 46.5
I no longer subscribe to the "Team A needs this game desperately" corollary. I've seen so many teams in that position the past few seasons STINK OUT the joint when they "needed to win". I'm going to take the Texans at home because 1) they are very good there (aside from a couple of hiccups) and still in the Top 5 in scoring in the NFL. The Bears haven't proven they can consistently stop the run and Steve Slaton is bringing that at them. Matt Forte won't find much running room against this young and active (and improving) Texans defence. Bye bye, Bears.
Call:
Chicago 17
Houston 28
---
Carolina Panthers vs. New Orleans Saints
The Louisiana Superdome
New Orleans, Louisiana
Line: CAR -2.5
Over/Under: 51.5
That 51.5 is teasing. I hate half-point O/U, because it almost ALWAYS comes down to that one point on either side of the number in a matchup like this. I see this being a shootout for two reasons: 1) New Orleans cannot stop Carolina's running game -- given that Carolina needs to win to ensure they get the 2 spot and a first-round bye in the playoffs -- so they will be playing all out 2) New Orleans will be passing the ball 50+ times because a) they will be trailing and b) Brees is aiming for Dan Marino's passing yardage record (5,084 yards in 1984). Brees is within reach. The Saints aren't going to be a threat to win, however. Their first home loss hah.
Call:
Carolina 37
New Orleans 31
---
St. Louis Rams vs. Atlanta Falcons
The Georgia Dome
Atlanta, Georgia
Line: ATL -14 (Dear god.)
Over/Under: 44
Good lord. Stay away from this game at ALL costs. There will be a Sacrificing Of The Lambs -- despite the Fulcons having nothing to play for other than to secure the 5 seed (preferable) instead of the 6 seed. Backtracking, that IS something to play for. Dear god. God bless Jim Haslett's career.
Call:
St. Louis 10
Atlanta 34
(Kick, Kick, Push)
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Paul Brown Stadium
Cincinnati, Ohio
Line: CIN -3 (How?)
Over/Under: 38.5
Ugly game of the week. Seems like CIN plays in one of these every other week. Mercifully, both teams seasons are over. They have the Mayflower trucks backed up to their respective stadiums ready to leave at 11 pm. What an awful season for both franchises. Sure doesn't bode well for the ratio of black coaches in the NFL. BOTH these guys could very well be gone after the season.
Call:
Kansas City 20
Cincinnati 10
---
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Baltimore Ravens
M&T Bank Stadium
Baltimore, Maryland
Line: BAL -12.5
Over/Under: 37.5
The Jags are listless. Harbaugh has told us his Ravens are going all out to win this game about 74 times this week. That's enough for me.
Call:
Jacksonville 13
Baltimore 28
---
Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts
Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis, Indiana
Line: TEN -3
Over/Under: 38.5
I would write more about this game, except both teams don't want to do too much more than window dressing as they know their respective playoff positions already. Colts should win, however -- and avenge an earlier loss where they gave the game away.
Call:
Tennessee 14
Indianapolis 24
--
Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Heinz Field
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Line: PIT -11
Over/Under: 34
So long, Romeo Crennel. How briefly we knew ye. Crennel is a nice guy -- and smart enough (ESPN.com says his IQ is like 125 or something on those ads at the bottom of the page). He'll get a better job, hopefully. Cleveland can't get out of its own way even with enough talent to definitely win the division. This will be brutal.
Call:
Cleveland 6
Pittsburgh 30
---
Miami Dolphins vs. New York Football Jets
Giants Stadium at the New Jersey Meadowlands
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Line: NYJ -2.5
Over/Under: 42
Mets... uhhh... Jets fans are nervous. I haven't talked to any of the 11 of them that exist (j/k) who isn't. But seriously, if they don't win this game, there will be turmoil. I can't write up anything differently for these teams. Ya are what ya record says ya are -- says a guy who has played a major role with both teams.
Based off all that I've seen this year (and based off the ending of last year), I'm going to RELUCTANTLY take the Jets here. If Mangini does not run the ball with Jones, the Jets will lose and he will lose his job. Notice you have not heard Mike Tannenbaum talk much this month about Mangini's job -- amidst fan uproar. Hmmm.
Call:
Miami 24
NY Jets 26
---
New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills
Ralph Wilson Stadium
Orchard Park, New York
Line: NE -6
Over/Under: 40
Call me naive, but I am taking the Bills here. Yes, I hate the Patriots and would love nothing more to see them miss the playoffs, but the Bills have come back to life with Trent Edwards back in the lineup. I say they pull out an ugly one. And this will be Matt Cassel's last game in a Patriots' uniform.
Call:
New England 21
Buffalo 24
---
Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals
University of Phoenix Stadium
Glendale, Arizona
Line: ARZ -6.5
Over/Under: 45.5
I don't know why Seattle is getting so many points from Vegas. They've played very well of late. The Cards STINK. Yes, they're at home, but if you look as uninspired as they looked Sunday -- and in all their road games in general -- YOU STINK. They better use this game to work on their flaws or they're going to be one and done AT HOME.
Call:
Seattle 27
Arizona 31
---
Washington Redskins vs. San Francisco 49ers
Candlestick Park
San Francisco, California
Line: Pick 'em
Over/Under: 37.5
ZZZZZZZ two teams going in opposite directions, but both looking bad doing so. If that makes sense. Washington is done. Even though they beat Philadelphia last week, they weren't convincing. San Francisco is playing pretty good defence. Washington is making a 2,800-mile trip. I'm taking the Niners.
Call:
Washington 13
San Francisco 24
---
Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers
Qualcomm Stadium
San Diego, California
Line: -8 (I know Vegas is doing this because of the stakes and the number of people wagering -- NO WAY DEN gets this many points all else being equal).
Over/Under: 50.5
The Broncos (or "Bronchoes", as my boy DK calls them), are reeling. I called this matchup in Week 12. You can look in my blog and see. Just on the strength of getting that right -- two bad losses by Denver, three resilient wins by San Diego -- they're at home; Cutler made the Pro Bowl when he shouldn't have -- taking Rivers' spot, effectively. Good day in the morning. Take the Chargers -- WITH THE OVER and leave that SPREAD ALONE!
Call:
Denver 31
San Diego 41
---
PLAYOFFS!!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
My NFL Week 17 Powre Rankings
My NFL Week 17 Powre Rankings
M.D. Wright
12.23.08
At this point, ya are what your records says ya are. These rankings don't mean anything.
1. New York Football Giants. I don't care what you say. As Steve Schwanda says, I'm right. You're wrong.
2. Tennessee Titans. Impressive win Sunday. They would not be able to do that to the Giants, though.
3. Indianapolis Colts. NO ONE wants to play them. Including the Giants.
4. Carolina Panthers. Second-best team in the NFC, but Jake Delhomme = Kerry Collins 2.0. In the playoffs, that means you'll never win a Super Bowl facing a good-to-great defence. Too bad the rest of the team is Super Bowl calibre.
5. Baltimore Ravens. Bawlamo' is another team no one wants to face. Hopefully Joe Flacco doesn't go Flaccid (nh). Ed Reed = Defensive Player of the Year.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers. Roethlisberger is killing them trying to make the Perfect Play every time he drops back to pass. Look out for this in the playoffs. They could easily slip up against their Divisional Playoff opponent -- which could be Baltimore or Indianapolis.
7. Atlanta Falcons. The Fulcons are a tough team to beat. In fact, unless they draw the Giants (possible) in the Divisional Playoff, they have a pretty good track to the NFC Championship game. The Fulcons can move the ball against anyone with Michael "The Burner" Turner and Matt "Matty Ice" Ryan is outperforming himself. Roddy White had a letdown last week, but he should get huge numbers this week (one week too late for fantasy purposes). The Saints' defence is not impregnable. The Fulcons' offence, however, is.
8. Miami Dolphins. Wow. 1-15 to 11-5 and division winners. Who's your favourite team NOW?
9. Minnesota Vikings. They've earned it. But does anyone really fear this team? No.
10. Dallas Cowboys. They're an enigma. They can win Sunday and make the Super Bowl. They could conceivably lose Sunday (and CHI, TB lose) and miss the playoffs. Dear god.
11. New England Patriots. I hate them. But hey. Poetic Justice will be if the Jets lose and Ravens win on Sunday.
12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wrong time to lose 3 straight.
13. New York Football Jets. The Football Mets... uh... JETS are reeling in the late innings... uh... games. Good lord.
14. Chicago Bears. They don't deserve to go to the playoffs.
15. San Diego Chargers. (puts on Captain QB & The Big Boyz disco song) San Di-e-go... SUPER CHARGERS... San Di-e-go.. CHARRRRRGERS!!! San Di-e-go... SUPER CHARGERS... San Di-e-gooooo CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGERS CHARGE!!!
16. New Orleans Saints. I could not figure this team out all year. But if they beat the Panthers Sunday, they'll at least finish 9-7.
17. Philadelphia Eagles. The Iggles may very well win Sunday, but with no running game, they stand no chance in the playoffs.
18. Houston Texans. A hiccup against Oakland Sunday, but they'll end the Bears' season this Sunday.
19. Arizona Cardinals. Is there a more uninspiring team (amongst those in the playoffs) in the NFL?
20. Washington Redskins. What a train wreck the second half of the season was for them. I expected them to actually finish strong after a bad middle-of-the-season, not vice-versa.
21. Denver Broncos. They blew it. They lost two in a row and now stand to miss the playoffs to losing to the Chargers IN San Diego. They will. Philip Rivers has revenge on his mind for the Ed Hochuli Game and being snubbed in the Pro Bowl voting in favor of Denver's Jay Cutler.
22. Buffalo Bills. The Bills can end the Patriots' season Sunday. With Trent Edwards back, they just might do it.
23. San Francisco 49ers. They are finishing pretty solidly.
24. Seattle Seahawks. They really aren't that bad. Injuries killed their season before it ever began.
25. Green Bay Packers. Ouch.
26. Jacksonville Jaguars. Not even a chance to play spoiler will get this team up to win a game Sunday.
27. Oakland Raiders. Yuck.
28. Kansas City Chiefs. WE CAN BUILD ON THIS!!!
29. Cleveland Browns. P.U.
30. Cincinnati Bengals. Lawdamerrrrcy.
31. St. Louis. Good lord.
32. Detroit Lions. DEAR GOD. The agony will end at Lambeau (meaning, they'll lose -- while the buses never shut off their engines outside). The Lions are pitiful and a disgrace to the NFL.
M.D. Wright
12.23.08
At this point, ya are what your records says ya are. These rankings don't mean anything.
1. New York Football Giants. I don't care what you say. As Steve Schwanda says, I'm right. You're wrong.
2. Tennessee Titans. Impressive win Sunday. They would not be able to do that to the Giants, though.
3. Indianapolis Colts. NO ONE wants to play them. Including the Giants.
4. Carolina Panthers. Second-best team in the NFC, but Jake Delhomme = Kerry Collins 2.0. In the playoffs, that means you'll never win a Super Bowl facing a good-to-great defence. Too bad the rest of the team is Super Bowl calibre.
5. Baltimore Ravens. Bawlamo' is another team no one wants to face. Hopefully Joe Flacco doesn't go Flaccid (nh). Ed Reed = Defensive Player of the Year.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers. Roethlisberger is killing them trying to make the Perfect Play every time he drops back to pass. Look out for this in the playoffs. They could easily slip up against their Divisional Playoff opponent -- which could be Baltimore or Indianapolis.
7. Atlanta Falcons. The Fulcons are a tough team to beat. In fact, unless they draw the Giants (possible) in the Divisional Playoff, they have a pretty good track to the NFC Championship game. The Fulcons can move the ball against anyone with Michael "The Burner" Turner and Matt "Matty Ice" Ryan is outperforming himself. Roddy White had a letdown last week, but he should get huge numbers this week (one week too late for fantasy purposes). The Saints' defence is not impregnable. The Fulcons' offence, however, is.
8. Miami Dolphins. Wow. 1-15 to 11-5 and division winners. Who's your favourite team NOW?
9. Minnesota Vikings. They've earned it. But does anyone really fear this team? No.
10. Dallas Cowboys. They're an enigma. They can win Sunday and make the Super Bowl. They could conceivably lose Sunday (and CHI, TB lose) and miss the playoffs. Dear god.
11. New England Patriots. I hate them. But hey. Poetic Justice will be if the Jets lose and Ravens win on Sunday.
12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wrong time to lose 3 straight.
13. New York Football Jets. The Football Mets... uh... JETS are reeling in the late innings... uh... games. Good lord.
14. Chicago Bears. They don't deserve to go to the playoffs.
15. San Diego Chargers. (puts on Captain QB & The Big Boyz disco song) San Di-e-go... SUPER CHARGERS... San Di-e-go.. CHARRRRRGERS!!! San Di-e-go... SUPER CHARGERS... San Di-e-gooooo CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGERS CHARGE!!!
16. New Orleans Saints. I could not figure this team out all year. But if they beat the Panthers Sunday, they'll at least finish 9-7.
17. Philadelphia Eagles. The Iggles may very well win Sunday, but with no running game, they stand no chance in the playoffs.
18. Houston Texans. A hiccup against Oakland Sunday, but they'll end the Bears' season this Sunday.
19. Arizona Cardinals. Is there a more uninspiring team (amongst those in the playoffs) in the NFL?
20. Washington Redskins. What a train wreck the second half of the season was for them. I expected them to actually finish strong after a bad middle-of-the-season, not vice-versa.
21. Denver Broncos. They blew it. They lost two in a row and now stand to miss the playoffs to losing to the Chargers IN San Diego. They will. Philip Rivers has revenge on his mind for the Ed Hochuli Game and being snubbed in the Pro Bowl voting in favor of Denver's Jay Cutler.
22. Buffalo Bills. The Bills can end the Patriots' season Sunday. With Trent Edwards back, they just might do it.
23. San Francisco 49ers. They are finishing pretty solidly.
24. Seattle Seahawks. They really aren't that bad. Injuries killed their season before it ever began.
25. Green Bay Packers. Ouch.
26. Jacksonville Jaguars. Not even a chance to play spoiler will get this team up to win a game Sunday.
27. Oakland Raiders. Yuck.
28. Kansas City Chiefs. WE CAN BUILD ON THIS!!!
29. Cleveland Browns. P.U.
30. Cincinnati Bengals. Lawdamerrrrcy.
31. St. Louis. Good lord.
32. Detroit Lions. DEAR GOD. The agony will end at Lambeau (meaning, they'll lose -- while the buses never shut off their engines outside). The Lions are pitiful and a disgrace to the NFL.
ESPN's NFL Week 17 Power Rankings
ESPN's NFL Week 17 Power Rankings
12.23.08
RK (LW) TEAM REC COMMENT
1 (2) Titans 13-2-0 The Titans can play the underdog card all they like, but after beating the Steelers, they are the favorite to win the AFC Championship Game. (PK)
2 (4) Giants 12-3-0 The Giants ended their losing skid with a thrilling overtime win over the Panthers. The road to Tampa goes through East Rutherford, N.J. (MM)
3 (3) Panthers 11-4-0 The loss to the Giants cost the Panthers a shot at home-field advantage and exposed flaws in their run defense. But the Panthers still are among the best in the NFC. A No. 2 playoff seed might set up a big rematch in the Meadowlands. (PY)
4 (1) Steelers 11-4-0 A 17-point loss to the Titans showed there is still room for improvement. (JW)
5 (5) Colts 11-4-0 The Colts are waiting to see whether they're going to Denver or San Diego on wild-card weekend. (PK)
6 (7) Ravens 10-5-0 If the Ravens reach the postseason, several teams will hope to avoid this physical group. (JW)
7 (8) Falcons 10-5-0 The big victory over Minnesota gives the Falcons momentum. They still have a shot at the NFC South title. How many teams are more dangerous than the Falcons heading into the playoffs? (PY)
8 (9) Patriots 10-5-0 No AFC East team is playing better, but the Pats still might not make the playoffs. (TG)
9 (11) Dolphins 10-5-0 All they have to do is beat the Jets to make the playoffs. (TG)
10 (6) Cowboys 9-6-0 This might be the luckiest team in the league. Let's see whether the Cowboys can capitalize on their good fortune. (MM)
11 (12) Vikings 9-6-0 The Vikings remain in control of the NFC North. But can they capitalize? (KS)
12 (10) Buccaneers 9-6-0 After three straight losses, the Bucs need help if they're to earn a playoff berth. Start the offseason overhaul now. (PY)
13 (16) Bears 9-6-0 This team is starting to seem blessed. (KS)
14 (14) Jets 9-6-0 That victory in Nashville seems like it was years ago. The Jets' playoff hopes are dim. (TG)
15 (13) Eagles 8-6-1 You can't trust this team. Andy Reid's decision to abandon the run probably ended the Eagles' season. (MM)
16 (21) Chargers 7-8-0 The Chargers owe the Bills a Christmas gift. (BW)
17 (19) Saints 8-7-0 The Saints still have a shot at a winning season and can drop Carolina's playoff seed. But none of that really matters. (PY)
18 (20) Redskins 8-7-0 Good for Jim Zorn. The win over the Eagles proved he could rally his team while facing a lot of personal scrutiny. Let's see whether the Redskins can build on this against a game 49ers team. (MM)
19 (15) Cardinals 8-7-0 The Cardinals are searching for the rip cord while rock bottom fast approaches. (MS)
20 (17) Broncos 8-7-0 The Broncos might become the second team in NFL history to blow a three-game lead in its division. (BW)
21 (18) Texans 7-8-0 If the Texans beat Chicago, they'll finish 8-8 again and can at least say they haven't gone backward. (PK)
22 (22) Bills 7-8-0 With the comeback road win over the Broncos, the Bills showed they won't pack it in. (TG)
23 (24) 49ers 6-9-0 The defense has improved since committing to the 3-4 under Mike Singletary. (MS)
24 (25) Packers 5-10-0 Seven losses of four points or fewer don't lift the sting of 5-10. (KS)
25 (23) Jaguars 5-10-0 How motivating do the Jaguars find the possibility of eliminating the Ravens from the playoff picture? (PK)
26 (27) Seahawks 4-11-0 The Seahawks hope to send a message for 2009 with a victory at Arizona. (MS)
27 (30) Raiders 4-11-0 It might not matter much at this point, but Oakland's offense looked solid Sunday. (BW)
28 (26) Browns 4-11-0 Zero offensive touchdowns in five games. Need we say more? (JW)
29 (29) Bengals 3-11-1 The Bengals' first winning streak of the season came way too late. (JW)
30 (28) Chiefs 2-13-0 At this point, what can be said? (BW)
31 (31) Rams 2-13-0 Organizational overhaul under way with president Jay Zygmunt's firing. (MS)
32 (32) Lions 0-15-0 The Lions already made history at 0-15. Part II could come in Green Bay. (KS)
12.23.08
RK (LW) TEAM REC COMMENT
1 (2) Titans 13-2-0 The Titans can play the underdog card all they like, but after beating the Steelers, they are the favorite to win the AFC Championship Game. (PK)
2 (4) Giants 12-3-0 The Giants ended their losing skid with a thrilling overtime win over the Panthers. The road to Tampa goes through East Rutherford, N.J. (MM)
3 (3) Panthers 11-4-0 The loss to the Giants cost the Panthers a shot at home-field advantage and exposed flaws in their run defense. But the Panthers still are among the best in the NFC. A No. 2 playoff seed might set up a big rematch in the Meadowlands. (PY)
4 (1) Steelers 11-4-0 A 17-point loss to the Titans showed there is still room for improvement. (JW)
5 (5) Colts 11-4-0 The Colts are waiting to see whether they're going to Denver or San Diego on wild-card weekend. (PK)
6 (7) Ravens 10-5-0 If the Ravens reach the postseason, several teams will hope to avoid this physical group. (JW)
7 (8) Falcons 10-5-0 The big victory over Minnesota gives the Falcons momentum. They still have a shot at the NFC South title. How many teams are more dangerous than the Falcons heading into the playoffs? (PY)
8 (9) Patriots 10-5-0 No AFC East team is playing better, but the Pats still might not make the playoffs. (TG)
9 (11) Dolphins 10-5-0 All they have to do is beat the Jets to make the playoffs. (TG)
10 (6) Cowboys 9-6-0 This might be the luckiest team in the league. Let's see whether the Cowboys can capitalize on their good fortune. (MM)
11 (12) Vikings 9-6-0 The Vikings remain in control of the NFC North. But can they capitalize? (KS)
12 (10) Buccaneers 9-6-0 After three straight losses, the Bucs need help if they're to earn a playoff berth. Start the offseason overhaul now. (PY)
13 (16) Bears 9-6-0 This team is starting to seem blessed. (KS)
14 (14) Jets 9-6-0 That victory in Nashville seems like it was years ago. The Jets' playoff hopes are dim. (TG)
15 (13) Eagles 8-6-1 You can't trust this team. Andy Reid's decision to abandon the run probably ended the Eagles' season. (MM)
16 (21) Chargers 7-8-0 The Chargers owe the Bills a Christmas gift. (BW)
17 (19) Saints 8-7-0 The Saints still have a shot at a winning season and can drop Carolina's playoff seed. But none of that really matters. (PY)
18 (20) Redskins 8-7-0 Good for Jim Zorn. The win over the Eagles proved he could rally his team while facing a lot of personal scrutiny. Let's see whether the Redskins can build on this against a game 49ers team. (MM)
19 (15) Cardinals 8-7-0 The Cardinals are searching for the rip cord while rock bottom fast approaches. (MS)
20 (17) Broncos 8-7-0 The Broncos might become the second team in NFL history to blow a three-game lead in its division. (BW)
21 (18) Texans 7-8-0 If the Texans beat Chicago, they'll finish 8-8 again and can at least say they haven't gone backward. (PK)
22 (22) Bills 7-8-0 With the comeback road win over the Broncos, the Bills showed they won't pack it in. (TG)
23 (24) 49ers 6-9-0 The defense has improved since committing to the 3-4 under Mike Singletary. (MS)
24 (25) Packers 5-10-0 Seven losses of four points or fewer don't lift the sting of 5-10. (KS)
25 (23) Jaguars 5-10-0 How motivating do the Jaguars find the possibility of eliminating the Ravens from the playoff picture? (PK)
26 (27) Seahawks 4-11-0 The Seahawks hope to send a message for 2009 with a victory at Arizona. (MS)
27 (30) Raiders 4-11-0 It might not matter much at this point, but Oakland's offense looked solid Sunday. (BW)
28 (26) Browns 4-11-0 Zero offensive touchdowns in five games. Need we say more? (JW)
29 (29) Bengals 3-11-1 The Bengals' first winning streak of the season came way too late. (JW)
30 (28) Chiefs 2-13-0 At this point, what can be said? (BW)
31 (31) Rams 2-13-0 Organizational overhaul under way with president Jay Zygmunt's firing. (MS)
32 (32) Lions 0-15-0 The Lions already made history at 0-15. Part II could come in Green Bay. (KS)
Stand Up And Go To Your Corner
Stand Up And Go To Your Corner
Kris Swiatocho
The Singles Network Ministries
I have been working in singles ministry for most of my adult life, post college. I have had the honor of working with several churches, teaching, leading, guiding and consulting on every topic imaginable.
As I travel, I visit so many churches and simply do not have the time needed to get know all of people I am there to help. So one quick way to help me with this is an exercise I love to do called "a continuum."
A continuum challenges the minds of my participants while allowing me to know them a little better. It's an exercise whereby I ask a serious of questions, allowing the people to move to different corners of the room (or in some cases hold up the answers on cards) that have a yes, no, maybe, sometimes, never, etc., posted on the wall. In most cases it's not only fun, but surprising to each other at the answers people give. I am also amazed at people's willingness to be transparent.
Continuums can be used as an icebreaker with silly questions, such as your "your favorite place to go is the beach," to deeper questions, such as "I love being single," to even deeper, "I have no idea what I am doing in life." It can also sometimes open up a can of worms, exposing strengths and weakness in a ministry, including those of the leaders and pastors.
Recently I decided to do a continuum at my church where I am the singles director. I am also the teacher of a group of singles from the ages of 25 to 35. This class has the most diversity in backgrounds, so I thought it would be interesting to see where they came together on things and where they were apart. I asked them questions about where they were spiritually, if they felt they had made change in regards to sin in their lives, if God expected change. I asked over 20 questions. Almost all the answers were on target with where I felt they were until the last question. I asked them if they thought God expected a lot from them and over 80 percent of my class said “Yes.” Hmmm. Why would they say this? Why would so many say this?
I immediately put this to prayer and some serious thought.
For myself, my struggle has always been in what people expected from me. I have always felt I was a mouse in a wheel running a race to nowhere. That no matter what I did it didn't seem to be enough to please people. I am sure a lot of you can relate to this. I have learned over the years that we do not get our value from man, as man will always let us down. Our value is in Christ. As long as He is OK with what you are doing, saying, achieving, etc., then you are good.
But what if you think God expects more? Then what do you do? There didn't seem to be a corner to go to. My singles just sat there. I could see the dazed look in their eyes as most of them struggled with God approving of them. Approving of their choices, their lifestyles, their work, their friends, and their desires. That they felt they were on the mouse wheel when it came to God.
I needed more prayer on this subject as well as time to think. I moved on into the lesson I had prepared for the class, allowing discussion of the topics of pleasing God. Sure, I sometimes let God down. I don't always do what I say I am going to do. I sin. I fall short. But what I think my singles were really saying is they think God expects more from them than they can produce.
Then it dawned on me. They are making this decision based on a results-focused world. EVERYTHING in our world is based on results. Even with going to church there is the pressure to get numbers up, tithes up, members joining, etc. Our secular jobs require a certain amount of production or you're fired. Why would you keep a car salesman if he didn't sell any cars or a teacher who fails more students than passes them or a doctor whose patients don't get well?
OK, I got it. How in the world do you begin to understand God's grace on our lives when every part of our lives on this earth is results oriented? Sure, God does love results, especially if they are due to making healthy changes. Especially when we let Him make the changes in us.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2, NIV).
Praise the Lord in that He loves us so much that He doesn't keep us where He found us. But, get this: if we didn't do anything—nothing—and if we were the ONLY ONE on this earth, He would have still died for us. He would have still died for us where we are, for the results are from Him—not us. Be obedient and leave the results up to God.
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:20-22, NIV).
Do the best you can with where you are. And when you fail, and you will, it's OK. He is still the same God, Abba Father, and Lord Almighty that made every part of you. His expectation is not our expectation. His expectation is not our bosses’ or pastors’ expectation. He just wants us to choose Him and leave the rest up to Him.
God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay (1 Peter 1:2-4, NLT).
Stand up … are you ready to go to your corner?
Kris Swiatocho is the President and Director of TheSinglesNetwork.org Ministries and FromHisHands.com Ministries. Kris has served in ministry in various capacities for the last 20 years. An accomplished trainer and mentor, Kris has a heart to reach and grow leaders so they will in turn reach and grow others. She is currently working on her third Bible study, From the Manger to the Cross: The Men in Jesus' Life.
Her second Bible study, From the Manger to the Cross: The Women in Jesus' Life, was published last fall and is available on her websites. Her first book, Singles and Relationships: A 31-Day Experiment, was co-authored with Dick Purnell of Single Life Resources.
TheSinglesNetwork.org Ministries helps churches, pastors and single adult leaders evaluate, develop and support their single adult ministries through high-energy speaking engagements, results-oriented consulting and training and leadership development conferences and seminars. Click here to request a FREE "How to Start a Single Adult Ministry" guide.
FromHisHands.com Ministries is Kris's speaking ministry. If you've ever heard her speak, you know that Kris is the kind of speaker who keeps the crowd captivated, shares great information and motivates people to make a difference in the lives of those around them! She speaks to all church audiences on everything from "first impression" ministry to women's topics to singles and young adults. She can speak on a Sunday morning, at a woman's retreat or for a single adults conference. Bring Kris to your church today!
Singles and Relationships by Kris Swiatocho and Dick Purnell
Many singles are Christians who wonder if God will ever bring a mate their way or if they should just stop focusing on a future with a marriage partner and live the single life to the fullest. Kris Swiatocho and Dick Purnell offer solid biblical answers for singles in this newest title in Dick's popular 31-Day Experiment Bible study.
Kris Swiatocho
The Singles Network Ministries
I have been working in singles ministry for most of my adult life, post college. I have had the honor of working with several churches, teaching, leading, guiding and consulting on every topic imaginable.
As I travel, I visit so many churches and simply do not have the time needed to get know all of people I am there to help. So one quick way to help me with this is an exercise I love to do called "a continuum."
A continuum challenges the minds of my participants while allowing me to know them a little better. It's an exercise whereby I ask a serious of questions, allowing the people to move to different corners of the room (or in some cases hold up the answers on cards) that have a yes, no, maybe, sometimes, never, etc., posted on the wall. In most cases it's not only fun, but surprising to each other at the answers people give. I am also amazed at people's willingness to be transparent.
Continuums can be used as an icebreaker with silly questions, such as your "your favorite place to go is the beach," to deeper questions, such as "I love being single," to even deeper, "I have no idea what I am doing in life." It can also sometimes open up a can of worms, exposing strengths and weakness in a ministry, including those of the leaders and pastors.
Recently I decided to do a continuum at my church where I am the singles director. I am also the teacher of a group of singles from the ages of 25 to 35. This class has the most diversity in backgrounds, so I thought it would be interesting to see where they came together on things and where they were apart. I asked them questions about where they were spiritually, if they felt they had made change in regards to sin in their lives, if God expected change. I asked over 20 questions. Almost all the answers were on target with where I felt they were until the last question. I asked them if they thought God expected a lot from them and over 80 percent of my class said “Yes.” Hmmm. Why would they say this? Why would so many say this?
I immediately put this to prayer and some serious thought.
For myself, my struggle has always been in what people expected from me. I have always felt I was a mouse in a wheel running a race to nowhere. That no matter what I did it didn't seem to be enough to please people. I am sure a lot of you can relate to this. I have learned over the years that we do not get our value from man, as man will always let us down. Our value is in Christ. As long as He is OK with what you are doing, saying, achieving, etc., then you are good.
But what if you think God expects more? Then what do you do? There didn't seem to be a corner to go to. My singles just sat there. I could see the dazed look in their eyes as most of them struggled with God approving of them. Approving of their choices, their lifestyles, their work, their friends, and their desires. That they felt they were on the mouse wheel when it came to God.
I needed more prayer on this subject as well as time to think. I moved on into the lesson I had prepared for the class, allowing discussion of the topics of pleasing God. Sure, I sometimes let God down. I don't always do what I say I am going to do. I sin. I fall short. But what I think my singles were really saying is they think God expects more from them than they can produce.
Then it dawned on me. They are making this decision based on a results-focused world. EVERYTHING in our world is based on results. Even with going to church there is the pressure to get numbers up, tithes up, members joining, etc. Our secular jobs require a certain amount of production or you're fired. Why would you keep a car salesman if he didn't sell any cars or a teacher who fails more students than passes them or a doctor whose patients don't get well?
OK, I got it. How in the world do you begin to understand God's grace on our lives when every part of our lives on this earth is results oriented? Sure, God does love results, especially if they are due to making healthy changes. Especially when we let Him make the changes in us.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2, NIV).
Praise the Lord in that He loves us so much that He doesn't keep us where He found us. But, get this: if we didn't do anything—nothing—and if we were the ONLY ONE on this earth, He would have still died for us. He would have still died for us where we are, for the results are from Him—not us. Be obedient and leave the results up to God.
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:20-22, NIV).
Do the best you can with where you are. And when you fail, and you will, it's OK. He is still the same God, Abba Father, and Lord Almighty that made every part of you. His expectation is not our expectation. His expectation is not our bosses’ or pastors’ expectation. He just wants us to choose Him and leave the rest up to Him.
God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay (1 Peter 1:2-4, NLT).
Stand up … are you ready to go to your corner?
Kris Swiatocho is the President and Director of TheSinglesNetwork.org Ministries and FromHisHands.com Ministries. Kris has served in ministry in various capacities for the last 20 years. An accomplished trainer and mentor, Kris has a heart to reach and grow leaders so they will in turn reach and grow others. She is currently working on her third Bible study, From the Manger to the Cross: The Men in Jesus' Life.
Her second Bible study, From the Manger to the Cross: The Women in Jesus' Life, was published last fall and is available on her websites. Her first book, Singles and Relationships: A 31-Day Experiment, was co-authored with Dick Purnell of Single Life Resources.
TheSinglesNetwork.org Ministries helps churches, pastors and single adult leaders evaluate, develop and support their single adult ministries through high-energy speaking engagements, results-oriented consulting and training and leadership development conferences and seminars. Click here to request a FREE "How to Start a Single Adult Ministry" guide.
FromHisHands.com Ministries is Kris's speaking ministry. If you've ever heard her speak, you know that Kris is the kind of speaker who keeps the crowd captivated, shares great information and motivates people to make a difference in the lives of those around them! She speaks to all church audiences on everything from "first impression" ministry to women's topics to singles and young adults. She can speak on a Sunday morning, at a woman's retreat or for a single adults conference. Bring Kris to your church today!
Singles and Relationships by Kris Swiatocho and Dick Purnell
Many singles are Christians who wonder if God will ever bring a mate their way or if they should just stop focusing on a future with a marriage partner and live the single life to the fullest. Kris Swiatocho and Dick Purnell offer solid biblical answers for singles in this newest title in Dick's popular 31-Day Experiment Bible study.
Restoring What The Locusts Have Eaten
Restoring What The Locusts Have Eaten
Kristine Steakley
Author, Child of Divorce, Child of God
Editor's Note: This article was excerpted from Kristine Steakley's new book Child of Divorce, Child of God (InterVarsity Press, 2008).
While I was growing up, I adored my father. Perhaps it was easy to do so since I only saw him for a few weeks each year. But there really was a lot to adore. My father is handsome and charming and witty. He likes to have goofy fun, he has an artistic flair and long ago he acquired an urban sophistication. When I was little, he would take pictures of me from all different angles like I was a model posing for Vogue, then hand over the camera and ham it up while I snapped a few shots of him. He bought me my first tape recorder and encouraged me to record my thoughts and conduct interviews. He was my first interview subject, and I still giggle when I listen to the tape and hear his purposefully silly answers to my very serious questions.
By the time I was a teenager, I knew Dad was not perfect. For one thing, he was a procrastinator and was often late. I remember once running through LAX desperately trying to get to the gate before boarding closed, while Dad waited for my bags to go through security and then ran after me. (I made it, but just barely.) And he was not the most practical guy. One fun day at the beach with him resulted in the two of us lounging in agony in front of fans, our skin the color of just-boiled lobsters because Dad did not bring sunblock and I was too young to think of it myself.
Still, if ever a girl thought her father walked on clouds, it was me. And then he disappeared in the clouds, and I didn’t see him for eight long years. When I did finally see him again, he tried to get me to call him Bill instead of Dad. I remember the first few times I saw him after those eight years, when the walls that had been erected were slowly being dismantled. There were some awkward moments, some tentative conversations. Something in our relationship was broken, shattered, and while we were picking up the pieces and slowly applying glue, there were still a lot of jagged edges and missing parts.
As we began rebuilding our father-daughter relationship, I found myself always wanting more. Every interaction I had with Dad left me disappointed. It was like getting a small sip of water when what I really wanted was to gulp down a full bottle to slake my thirst. Then I read Dr. Kevin Leman’s book Making Sense of the Men in Your Life, and I realized that I was carrying around an expectation of my dad that he was not meeting. I wanted him to be Father of the Year, to suddenly turn into Pa Ingalls or Ward Cleaver.
The pastor of a church I once attended was fond of saying, “The difference between reality and expectation is disappointment.” He was right. Leman put it this way: “You know that latent sense that you’ve always been missing something but you were never sure exactly what it was? Well, this is it. This is the father you’ve always wanted, pitted against the father you’ve always had.”1
Reading those words was a breakthrough for me. I realized that my dad had never been the superstar I had made him out to be. He was not the creature from the black lagoon, but neither was he Ward Cleaver. I needed to stop holding my dad responsible for not being the father I wanted him to be and start appreciating and enjoying the father he is.
My dad is probably never going to engage me in deep conversations about my life, give me fatherly advice about men and ask how my car is running. But he is still a charming and witty man who makes me laugh and encourages my talents.
There is another side to this equation too: I have a stepfather. We do not share the same DNA, but we have history, the memories of our shared family experiences, and I know that he is always more than happy to have those big conversations, to dispense the fatherly advice and to make sure my car is running well. His presence in my life is a comfort and a blessing to me.
Some of the people I talked to as I was writing this book had stepfathers who later disappeared just as their fathers had. Some had mothers who left and never returned.
After Derrick’s parents divorced, his mother remarried, but Derrick did not enjoy a close relationship with either his dad or his stepfather. As he began to approach marriage in his early thirties, Derrick struggled with fear. He felt that he had never had a good model for what a husband should be. But Derrick recognized his fear and decided to do something about it. He began spending time with a Christian man whose family he admired. When Derrick had fears about marriage or questions about how one went about being a good husband or a good father, he had long talks with his mentor. But mostly he spent time observing.
Derrick did purposefully what author Donald Miller did by accident. Miller did not adopt his mentor, John MacMurray. It was the other way around. MacMurray and his wife invited Miller to live in the apartment over their garage. Although he was not looking for an example of godly manhood, Miller got a front-row seat. Reflecting back on the experience, Miller wrote, “For the first time in my life, I saw what a father does, what a father teaches a kid, what a husband does around the house, the way a man interacts with the world around him, the way a man—just as does a woman—holds a family together.”2
Just because we have grown up in homes the world refers to as broken does not mean that we have to remain broken for the rest of our lives. Yes, there have been a lot of broken, shattered things in our lives, and sometimes sharp fragments are still lying around, waiting to prick us in unsuspecting moments. But we do not have to live in a constant and lifelong state of disarray and destruction.
An atomic bomb was dropped on our family, but with time, new green shoots of life can spring up from the charred wreckage.
The Blight of the Locusts
The first chapter of the book written by the Old Testament prophet Joel tells a tale of utter desolation.
“What the locust swarm has left / the great locusts have eaten; / what the great locusts have left / the young locusts have eaten; / what the young locusts have left / other locusts have eaten” (Joel 1:4).
This was no ordinary event. There were locusts on top of locusts on top of locusts. This plague of insects made the Egyptian plague of Moses’ day look like one solitary bug. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder tells the true story of swarms of locusts that obliterated the sun and destroyed two years of wheat in nineteenth-century Minnesota. Over a period of five years, locusts destroyed more than thirteen million bushels of wheat and eleven million bushels of corn and oats.3
Wilder wrote of her own experience: “Huge brown grasshoppers were hitting the ground all around her, hitting her head and her face and her arms. They came thudding down like hail. The cloud was hailing grasshoppers. The cloud was grasshoppers. Their bodies hid the sun and made darkness. Their thin, large wings gleamed and glittered. The rasping whirring of their wings filled the whole air and they hit the ground and the house with the noise of a hailstorm.” 4
Before it was over, Wilder wrote, the wheat and oats—their cash crops—were destroyed that year, their vegetable garden was gone and there was no grass for the milk cows to eat.
Westminster Theological Seminary professor Raymond Dillard writes of the passage in Joel that even today a large swarm of locusts can devastate a region. Once the crops are destroyed, food becomes scarce, lowering the immune systems of the starving people and making them more vulnerable to disease.
The scarcity of food prevents the affected area from trading its surpluses, driving up prices and weakening the economy. Once the locusts die, their rotting carcasses breed typhus and other communicable diseases. Dillard goes on to say that swarms “have even been observed twelve hundred miles at sea. The swarms can reach great sizes: a swarm across the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to cover two thousand square miles. A swarm is estimated to contain up to 120 million insects per mile.”5 Imagine a swarm of locusts roughly the size of Delaware’s land mass! With so many ravenous insects, not a single piece of vegetation would be left. In fact, as Hampton Keathley points out, the locusts Joel talks about would have destroyed even the grain that the Israelites used in their grain offerings to the Lord, meaning “their sacrifices had to stop and their relationship with God was severed.”6 In other words, this proclamation by the prophet Joel tells us everything that mattered had been destroyed.
The loss of our families can make us feel this way—forsaken and utterly destroyed. We can feel like that wheat field next to the Little House on the Prairie, stripped bare and good for nothing. The family we knew is gone, blown apart, obliterated. Maybe more than just our family was gone. For many of us, divorce meant leaving the house we grew up in, leaving our neighborhood, our friends, our school. For some of us, divorce even meant losing our church, either because we felt ashamed that our family did not fit the image we thought everyone expected of us or because we felt and even heard condemnation from those who should have been most concerned for our souls. To use Joel’s metaphor, locusts ate our family, but then other locusts came and ate our friendships and childhood home, and still more locusts ate our church.
But there is more to the book of Joel. We need to keep reading. Joel did not write just one chapter. There was destruction and famine and hopelessness for a time, but God did not leave his people in such a state.
In chapter 2, God offered this promise: I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. (Joel 2:25-26)
What a great promise! God does not promise that we will eke out a living from the dusty earth left behind by the locusts. He says we will have an abundance, that we will eat until we are full. It is like the children’s Sunday school song that says “he feeds me at his banqueting table.” The tables are overflowing with good things to eat, more than we can possibly need, and God invites us to sit down and eat until we cannot eat another bite.
God is not stingy with his blessing. He promises to fully restore the lost years and bring us to a place where we will be completely satisfied. This is a lifeline, a hope we can hold on to when things look bleak.
I cannot tell you what that restoration will look like in your life, nor can I tell you when it will happen. Some of us will see broken relationships with our parents and siblings mended and new ones forged that are stronger and deeper. Others of us will build our own great marriages and loving families that will bring us tremendous joy. And some of us may have to wait for heaven, where all wrongs will be righted, all wounds healed, all tears wiped away.
One man I talked to described the announcement of his parents’ divorce as his family’s own personal 9/11. “We were sitting in the house, secure and safe, watching television, not suspecting a thing; and then suddenly, wham! You turn away from the television for a minute and think, ‘I couldn’t have just seen that; it couldn’t have been real.’ But then you turn back to look and see it all replayed, over and over again.” He is still waiting for the restoration to begin in his life, to see God bring him to a place of feasting after the blight of locusts.
What he has seen, however, is that God has used his ministry to urban youth to teach him about the power of persistent, unconditional love to break down walls of insincerity and falsehood. He is trying to apply this principle to his relationship with his father and hopes that he will one day see his father come clean with him about the real story behind his abandonment of their family.
Like this man, and like most of the people I interviewed for this book, I too am still in the process of healing, of watching the young green shoots poke through the barren soil. I do not have a perfect relationship with my dad, but we talk from time to time, and each time it is less awkward and less stressful. It has not been easy and it has not been quick, but the locusts are not having the last word!
When we are still in the locust-stripped field, we need to remember that God knows where we are. Think about all the great people in the Bible who encountered God or his emissaries:
Abraham, who entertained angels in his tent home (Gen 18); Jacob, who saw the ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending
(Gen 28:10-22); Moses, who saw God in a burning bush (Ex 3); Daniel, whose prayer was answered by a visit from the angel Gabriel (Dan 9); the virgin Mary, who received a special message of her own from Gabriel (Lk 1:26-38).
In not one of these passages do we read that the angel got lost or had to ask around for directions.
God did not burn up ten bushes on random mountains hoping that Moses would stumble across his path. None of the angels says, “Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Even Gabriel, who had to stop and fight a battle on his way to deliver his message to Daniel, knew exactly where to find him. God knows exactly where we are. He knows it geographically, he knows it spiritually, he knows it emotionally. Your bare, locust-eaten field of a heart is no surprise to him, nor has it escaped his notice.
There is an old spiritual that says, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” Part of us is actually glad that nobody knows our deepest trouble. We do not like the vulnerability of letting others see the anguish of our souls laid bare. In many Christian circles, it can be very tempting to paste on a smile and pretend that nothing in the world is troubling us. This is shallow Christianity, and it masks the truth. If we could see into the lives of those other nicely dressed and pressed members of our churches, we would see many wounds and scars as deep as our own. Life does that to us, but sorrow is not all bad. I am convinced that without deep sorrow, deep joy and deep peace are not possible.
Taken from Child of Divorce, Child of God by Kristine Steakley, (c) 2008 by Kristine Steakley. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426. ivpress.com
Kristine Steakley is a freelance writer and a grant-writing consultant living in northern Virginia. She is a graduate of Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, and worked for more than a decade at Prison Fellowship Ministries. She is a blogger for The Point (www.thepoint.breakpoint.org) and also blogs at www.childofdivorce-childofgod.blogspot.com.
Kristine Steakley
Author, Child of Divorce, Child of God
Editor's Note: This article was excerpted from Kristine Steakley's new book Child of Divorce, Child of God (InterVarsity Press, 2008).
While I was growing up, I adored my father. Perhaps it was easy to do so since I only saw him for a few weeks each year. But there really was a lot to adore. My father is handsome and charming and witty. He likes to have goofy fun, he has an artistic flair and long ago he acquired an urban sophistication. When I was little, he would take pictures of me from all different angles like I was a model posing for Vogue, then hand over the camera and ham it up while I snapped a few shots of him. He bought me my first tape recorder and encouraged me to record my thoughts and conduct interviews. He was my first interview subject, and I still giggle when I listen to the tape and hear his purposefully silly answers to my very serious questions.
By the time I was a teenager, I knew Dad was not perfect. For one thing, he was a procrastinator and was often late. I remember once running through LAX desperately trying to get to the gate before boarding closed, while Dad waited for my bags to go through security and then ran after me. (I made it, but just barely.) And he was not the most practical guy. One fun day at the beach with him resulted in the two of us lounging in agony in front of fans, our skin the color of just-boiled lobsters because Dad did not bring sunblock and I was too young to think of it myself.
Still, if ever a girl thought her father walked on clouds, it was me. And then he disappeared in the clouds, and I didn’t see him for eight long years. When I did finally see him again, he tried to get me to call him Bill instead of Dad. I remember the first few times I saw him after those eight years, when the walls that had been erected were slowly being dismantled. There were some awkward moments, some tentative conversations. Something in our relationship was broken, shattered, and while we were picking up the pieces and slowly applying glue, there were still a lot of jagged edges and missing parts.
As we began rebuilding our father-daughter relationship, I found myself always wanting more. Every interaction I had with Dad left me disappointed. It was like getting a small sip of water when what I really wanted was to gulp down a full bottle to slake my thirst. Then I read Dr. Kevin Leman’s book Making Sense of the Men in Your Life, and I realized that I was carrying around an expectation of my dad that he was not meeting. I wanted him to be Father of the Year, to suddenly turn into Pa Ingalls or Ward Cleaver.
The pastor of a church I once attended was fond of saying, “The difference between reality and expectation is disappointment.” He was right. Leman put it this way: “You know that latent sense that you’ve always been missing something but you were never sure exactly what it was? Well, this is it. This is the father you’ve always wanted, pitted against the father you’ve always had.”1
Reading those words was a breakthrough for me. I realized that my dad had never been the superstar I had made him out to be. He was not the creature from the black lagoon, but neither was he Ward Cleaver. I needed to stop holding my dad responsible for not being the father I wanted him to be and start appreciating and enjoying the father he is.
My dad is probably never going to engage me in deep conversations about my life, give me fatherly advice about men and ask how my car is running. But he is still a charming and witty man who makes me laugh and encourages my talents.
There is another side to this equation too: I have a stepfather. We do not share the same DNA, but we have history, the memories of our shared family experiences, and I know that he is always more than happy to have those big conversations, to dispense the fatherly advice and to make sure my car is running well. His presence in my life is a comfort and a blessing to me.
Some of the people I talked to as I was writing this book had stepfathers who later disappeared just as their fathers had. Some had mothers who left and never returned.
After Derrick’s parents divorced, his mother remarried, but Derrick did not enjoy a close relationship with either his dad or his stepfather. As he began to approach marriage in his early thirties, Derrick struggled with fear. He felt that he had never had a good model for what a husband should be. But Derrick recognized his fear and decided to do something about it. He began spending time with a Christian man whose family he admired. When Derrick had fears about marriage or questions about how one went about being a good husband or a good father, he had long talks with his mentor. But mostly he spent time observing.
Derrick did purposefully what author Donald Miller did by accident. Miller did not adopt his mentor, John MacMurray. It was the other way around. MacMurray and his wife invited Miller to live in the apartment over their garage. Although he was not looking for an example of godly manhood, Miller got a front-row seat. Reflecting back on the experience, Miller wrote, “For the first time in my life, I saw what a father does, what a father teaches a kid, what a husband does around the house, the way a man interacts with the world around him, the way a man—just as does a woman—holds a family together.”2
Just because we have grown up in homes the world refers to as broken does not mean that we have to remain broken for the rest of our lives. Yes, there have been a lot of broken, shattered things in our lives, and sometimes sharp fragments are still lying around, waiting to prick us in unsuspecting moments. But we do not have to live in a constant and lifelong state of disarray and destruction.
An atomic bomb was dropped on our family, but with time, new green shoots of life can spring up from the charred wreckage.
The Blight of the Locusts
The first chapter of the book written by the Old Testament prophet Joel tells a tale of utter desolation.
“What the locust swarm has left / the great locusts have eaten; / what the great locusts have left / the young locusts have eaten; / what the young locusts have left / other locusts have eaten” (Joel 1:4).
This was no ordinary event. There were locusts on top of locusts on top of locusts. This plague of insects made the Egyptian plague of Moses’ day look like one solitary bug. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder tells the true story of swarms of locusts that obliterated the sun and destroyed two years of wheat in nineteenth-century Minnesota. Over a period of five years, locusts destroyed more than thirteen million bushels of wheat and eleven million bushels of corn and oats.3
Wilder wrote of her own experience: “Huge brown grasshoppers were hitting the ground all around her, hitting her head and her face and her arms. They came thudding down like hail. The cloud was hailing grasshoppers. The cloud was grasshoppers. Their bodies hid the sun and made darkness. Their thin, large wings gleamed and glittered. The rasping whirring of their wings filled the whole air and they hit the ground and the house with the noise of a hailstorm.” 4
Before it was over, Wilder wrote, the wheat and oats—their cash crops—were destroyed that year, their vegetable garden was gone and there was no grass for the milk cows to eat.
Westminster Theological Seminary professor Raymond Dillard writes of the passage in Joel that even today a large swarm of locusts can devastate a region. Once the crops are destroyed, food becomes scarce, lowering the immune systems of the starving people and making them more vulnerable to disease.
The scarcity of food prevents the affected area from trading its surpluses, driving up prices and weakening the economy. Once the locusts die, their rotting carcasses breed typhus and other communicable diseases. Dillard goes on to say that swarms “have even been observed twelve hundred miles at sea. The swarms can reach great sizes: a swarm across the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to cover two thousand square miles. A swarm is estimated to contain up to 120 million insects per mile.”5 Imagine a swarm of locusts roughly the size of Delaware’s land mass! With so many ravenous insects, not a single piece of vegetation would be left. In fact, as Hampton Keathley points out, the locusts Joel talks about would have destroyed even the grain that the Israelites used in their grain offerings to the Lord, meaning “their sacrifices had to stop and their relationship with God was severed.”6 In other words, this proclamation by the prophet Joel tells us everything that mattered had been destroyed.
The loss of our families can make us feel this way—forsaken and utterly destroyed. We can feel like that wheat field next to the Little House on the Prairie, stripped bare and good for nothing. The family we knew is gone, blown apart, obliterated. Maybe more than just our family was gone. For many of us, divorce meant leaving the house we grew up in, leaving our neighborhood, our friends, our school. For some of us, divorce even meant losing our church, either because we felt ashamed that our family did not fit the image we thought everyone expected of us or because we felt and even heard condemnation from those who should have been most concerned for our souls. To use Joel’s metaphor, locusts ate our family, but then other locusts came and ate our friendships and childhood home, and still more locusts ate our church.
But there is more to the book of Joel. We need to keep reading. Joel did not write just one chapter. There was destruction and famine and hopelessness for a time, but God did not leave his people in such a state.
In chapter 2, God offered this promise: I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. (Joel 2:25-26)
What a great promise! God does not promise that we will eke out a living from the dusty earth left behind by the locusts. He says we will have an abundance, that we will eat until we are full. It is like the children’s Sunday school song that says “he feeds me at his banqueting table.” The tables are overflowing with good things to eat, more than we can possibly need, and God invites us to sit down and eat until we cannot eat another bite.
God is not stingy with his blessing. He promises to fully restore the lost years and bring us to a place where we will be completely satisfied. This is a lifeline, a hope we can hold on to when things look bleak.
I cannot tell you what that restoration will look like in your life, nor can I tell you when it will happen. Some of us will see broken relationships with our parents and siblings mended and new ones forged that are stronger and deeper. Others of us will build our own great marriages and loving families that will bring us tremendous joy. And some of us may have to wait for heaven, where all wrongs will be righted, all wounds healed, all tears wiped away.
One man I talked to described the announcement of his parents’ divorce as his family’s own personal 9/11. “We were sitting in the house, secure and safe, watching television, not suspecting a thing; and then suddenly, wham! You turn away from the television for a minute and think, ‘I couldn’t have just seen that; it couldn’t have been real.’ But then you turn back to look and see it all replayed, over and over again.” He is still waiting for the restoration to begin in his life, to see God bring him to a place of feasting after the blight of locusts.
What he has seen, however, is that God has used his ministry to urban youth to teach him about the power of persistent, unconditional love to break down walls of insincerity and falsehood. He is trying to apply this principle to his relationship with his father and hopes that he will one day see his father come clean with him about the real story behind his abandonment of their family.
Like this man, and like most of the people I interviewed for this book, I too am still in the process of healing, of watching the young green shoots poke through the barren soil. I do not have a perfect relationship with my dad, but we talk from time to time, and each time it is less awkward and less stressful. It has not been easy and it has not been quick, but the locusts are not having the last word!
When we are still in the locust-stripped field, we need to remember that God knows where we are. Think about all the great people in the Bible who encountered God or his emissaries:
Abraham, who entertained angels in his tent home (Gen 18); Jacob, who saw the ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending
(Gen 28:10-22); Moses, who saw God in a burning bush (Ex 3); Daniel, whose prayer was answered by a visit from the angel Gabriel (Dan 9); the virgin Mary, who received a special message of her own from Gabriel (Lk 1:26-38).
In not one of these passages do we read that the angel got lost or had to ask around for directions.
God did not burn up ten bushes on random mountains hoping that Moses would stumble across his path. None of the angels says, “Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Even Gabriel, who had to stop and fight a battle on his way to deliver his message to Daniel, knew exactly where to find him. God knows exactly where we are. He knows it geographically, he knows it spiritually, he knows it emotionally. Your bare, locust-eaten field of a heart is no surprise to him, nor has it escaped his notice.
There is an old spiritual that says, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” Part of us is actually glad that nobody knows our deepest trouble. We do not like the vulnerability of letting others see the anguish of our souls laid bare. In many Christian circles, it can be very tempting to paste on a smile and pretend that nothing in the world is troubling us. This is shallow Christianity, and it masks the truth. If we could see into the lives of those other nicely dressed and pressed members of our churches, we would see many wounds and scars as deep as our own. Life does that to us, but sorrow is not all bad. I am convinced that without deep sorrow, deep joy and deep peace are not possible.
Taken from Child of Divorce, Child of God by Kristine Steakley, (c) 2008 by Kristine Steakley. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426. ivpress.com
Kristine Steakley is a freelance writer and a grant-writing consultant living in northern Virginia. She is a graduate of Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, and worked for more than a decade at Prison Fellowship Ministries. She is a blogger for The Point (www.thepoint.breakpoint.org) and also blogs at www.childofdivorce-childofgod.blogspot.com.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
NFL Week 16 Picks: The Bowling Green/Lexington Avenue Local Edition
NFL Week 16 Picks: The Bowling Green/Lexington Avenue Local Edition
M.D. Wright
12.18.08
I darn near forgot to do my picks. These Thursday games throw me off, even though I have known they were scheduled since April. Sue me.
We have HUGE games this weekend. Not just because the 1-2 teams in both conferences are playing each other -- and the 2 teams are both going to the 1 teams' home stadiums. This is for all the chips. The winner takes all.
However, the other games have playoff implications and the teams who aren't number 1 seeds should NOT be overlooked. There are three legitimate teams that aren't top 2 seeds that have serious shots to make it to the Super Bowl.
BTW, I am rolling out the official spreads and over/unders from Vegas for each game, as I do annually in the playoffs -- a couple of weeks early.
With that, let's commence...
Indianapolis Colts vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Stadium
Jacksonville, Florida
*THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL*
(IND -6)
(O/U 44)
The Colts look to secure a playoff berth with a win tonight. The Jags are done. They are a mess. However, the Colts will not have WR Marvin Harrison tonight. No matter. They win. Easily.
Call:
Indianapolis 31
Jacksonville 14
---
Baltimore Ravens vs. Dallas Cowboys
Texas Stadium
Irving, Texas
*SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL*
(DAL -4)
(O/U 39.5)
This is a HUGE game for both teams. Suddenly, after forfeiting a chance at the AFC North title and losing to PIT, BAL is in a must-win situation. There are three other teams in the AFC with 9-5 records. Knowing before the game whether or not IND has sewn up their playoff berth, the Ravens will know if they are one of at least four teams angling for the last wild card playoff berth.
Dallas is setting themselves up with their contrived drama (as Jerry Jones readily admits) to have the media in their faces regardless of the outcome. If they win, they're in the catbird seat to secure the 5 seed in the playoff hunt. If they lose, questions will abound and they could miss the playoffs altogether. This is not going to be an easy game for either.
DeMarcus Ware is an X-factor. Can the Ravens protect QB Joe Flacco? For the most part, they should. However, it is not whether or not whether Ware WILL get sacks, but WHEN they will occur and how directly will they affect the game. The Ravens will employ more sets with Ray Rice in the backfield and the Cowboys do not have Marion Barber 100% healthy. Ed Reed and Ray Lewis will cause problems for QB Tony Romo. I am going with BAL here.
Call:
Baltimore 27
Dallas 21
---
New Orleans Saints vs. Detroit Lions
Ford Field
Detroit, Michigan
(NO -7)
(O/U 50.5)
Dear god. The Saints should win this easily, considering the Lions do not defend the pass well at all. However, RB Reggie Bush is out for the season. No matter. The Saints have been using Pierre Thomas with great results of late. This should be a laugher.
Call:
New Orleans 38
Detroit 20
---
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Tennessee Titans
LP Field
Nashville, Tennessee
*GAME OF THE WEEK, PT. I*
(PIT -1.5)
(O/U 34)
Two titans facing off. However, this isn't going to be that big of a pick for me. DT Albert Haynesworth's absence is going to hurt TEN. As well as DE Kyle Vanden Bosch's. The Titans will run the ball, but the pressure PIT brings with OLBs James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley (along with the secondary play led by Troy Polamalu and the defencive line led by NT Casey Hampton) and QB Kerry Collins is in for a long day. TEN brings pressure and has solid players in MLB Keith Bulluck and CB Courtland Finnegan, but QB Ben Roethlisberger can move. Along with RB Willie Parker getting healthy at the right time, I am taking PIT in this one.
Call:
Pittsburgh 20
Tennessee 10
---
San Francisco 49ers vs. St. Louis Rams
Edward Jones Dome
St. Louis, Missouri
(SF -5.5)
(O/U 43.5)
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ... plenty of scoring, but who will care?
Call:
San Francisco 31
St. Louis 20
---
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns Stadium
Cleveland, Ohio
(CLE -2.5)
(O/U 32)
Dear god.
Call:
Cincinnati 16
Cleveland 10
---
Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri
(MIA -4)
(O/U 40)
The Dolphins can take a huge step toward their quest to go from worst team in the NFL in 2007 (1-15) to winning the AFC East. It is very much feasible if they win this game. Following this game, they set off to play the New York Football Jets to possibly decide the division in Week 17. However, the Chiefs are no slouches. They just don't close games out. The Fish will pull this out.
Call:
Miami 23
Kansas City 17
---
Arizona Cardinals vs. New England Patriots
Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts
(NE -7.5)
(O/U 44.5)
Usually, I don't take the Cards on the road, but I think they bounce back from two uninspired games in a row. The Patriots are banged up across the board and most IMPORTANTLY -- aren't talented enough in the secondary to stop the Warner to Boldin/Fitzgerald/Breaston attack. I am picking this is a "mild" upset for ARZ.
Call:
Arizona 37
New England 27
---
San Diego Chargers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Raymond James Stadium
Tampa, Florida
(TB -3.5)
(O/U 42.5)
The Chargers are desparate. The Bucs are hurting. QB Jeff Garcia may not play and quite frankly, combined with the fact that the Chargers need to win and are going to be watching to see if DEN loses to BUF -- I am taking SD. Look for RB LaDainian Tomlinson to bounce back from a... well, lackluster SEASON, not just a couple of games.
Call:
San Diego 30
Tampa Bay 21
---
Houston Texans vs. Oakland Raiders
McAfee Coliseum
Oakland, California
(HOU -7)
(O/U 44)
The Texans are on fire. Too little, too late, though. The Raiders have the best CB in the NFL in Nnamdi Asomugha and no one knows him. He won't slow WR Andre Johnson down. And the Raiders do not stuff the run well. RB Steve Slaton will have a field day.
Call:
Houston 34
Oakland 13
---
New York Football Jets vs. Seattle Seahawks
Qwest Field
Seattle, Washington
(NYJ -4)
(O/U 44)
The Jets do not travel well going west, but the Seabags are so bad...
As long as they give the rock to RB Thomas Jones and QB Brett Favre doesn't throw it away, the Jets will win. But they will make it interesting.
Call:
NY Jets 20
Seattle 14
---
Buffalo Bills vs. Denver Broncos
InVesco Field at Mile High Stadium
Denver, Colorado
(DEN -6.5)
(O/U 45)
I had pronounced the Bills dead, but they played with fight at NYJ last week. Plus, DEN is so schizophrenic week in and week out. They do not stop the run well. Even with QB JP Losman in the huddle, BUF SHOULD win this by handing the ball to RB Marshawn Lynch.
Call:
Buffalo 24
Denver 20
---
Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota Vikings
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Minneapolis, Minnesota
(MIN -3.5)
(O/U 43)
I don't know why MIN is favored here. However, I am taking Matty Ice, Michael "The Burner" Turner and "Rowdy" Roddy White. Vikes' DT Pat Williams is out, and while it is worth noting, he's not the entire defensive line. I still believe the Falcons will be able to run the ball effectively. So will RB Adrian Peterson. It will come down to QB play, and despite his 11-17/4 TD performance last week, QB Tarvaris Jackson does not impress me yet. QB Matt Ryan does. Fulcons win.
Call:
Atlanta 27
Minnesota 23
---
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Redskins
FedEx Field
Landover, Maryland
(PHI -5)
(O/U 38.5)
This game looked huge four weeks ago. Now, it doesn't. It's only big for PHI. Warshington is DONE.
Call:
Philadelphia 30
Washington 17
---
Carolina Panthers vs. New York Football Giants
Giants Stadium at The New Jersey Meadowlands
East Rutherford, New Jersey
*GAME OF THE WEEK, PT. II*
*SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL*
(NYG -3)
(O/U 37.5)
Snow+win+Brandon Jacobs starting = Classic Giants Football. As good as the Panthers have been of late, especially with their running game, they DO still have QB Jake Delhomme under center. With that weather, the Panthers can't be totally confident. It should be noted that DT Fred Robbins did not play Sunday vs. Dallas. He is pivotal to the Giants' run defense. The Panthers will not be mustering 300, 200 or 150 yards against the Giants' defence. Jake Delhomme will have to beat them with his arm -- and as great as WR Steve Smith is and as steady as WR Muhsin Muhammad is, I do not need it happening. Close game.
Call:
Carolina 17
NY Giants 23
---
Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears
Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
(CHI -4)
(O/U 41)
Who cares? Anyway, for old times' sake -- the oldest rivalry in the NFL (putting on the vintage John Facenda voice from NFL Films)
"As we renewwwww the old rivalray... the Greeeeeeen Baaaaaay PACKUZZZZZ versus the Chicaaaagoooo Buzzzzzz"
Green Bay's dead. Chicago's playing for their playoff lives. You do the math.
Call:
Green Bay 24
Chicago 28
---
...you already know
M.D. Wright
12.18.08
I darn near forgot to do my picks. These Thursday games throw me off, even though I have known they were scheduled since April. Sue me.
We have HUGE games this weekend. Not just because the 1-2 teams in both conferences are playing each other -- and the 2 teams are both going to the 1 teams' home stadiums. This is for all the chips. The winner takes all.
However, the other games have playoff implications and the teams who aren't number 1 seeds should NOT be overlooked. There are three legitimate teams that aren't top 2 seeds that have serious shots to make it to the Super Bowl.
BTW, I am rolling out the official spreads and over/unders from Vegas for each game, as I do annually in the playoffs -- a couple of weeks early.
With that, let's commence...
Indianapolis Colts vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Stadium
Jacksonville, Florida
*THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL*
(IND -6)
(O/U 44)
The Colts look to secure a playoff berth with a win tonight. The Jags are done. They are a mess. However, the Colts will not have WR Marvin Harrison tonight. No matter. They win. Easily.
Call:
Indianapolis 31
Jacksonville 14
---
Baltimore Ravens vs. Dallas Cowboys
Texas Stadium
Irving, Texas
*SATURDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL*
(DAL -4)
(O/U 39.5)
This is a HUGE game for both teams. Suddenly, after forfeiting a chance at the AFC North title and losing to PIT, BAL is in a must-win situation. There are three other teams in the AFC with 9-5 records. Knowing before the game whether or not IND has sewn up their playoff berth, the Ravens will know if they are one of at least four teams angling for the last wild card playoff berth.
Dallas is setting themselves up with their contrived drama (as Jerry Jones readily admits) to have the media in their faces regardless of the outcome. If they win, they're in the catbird seat to secure the 5 seed in the playoff hunt. If they lose, questions will abound and they could miss the playoffs altogether. This is not going to be an easy game for either.
DeMarcus Ware is an X-factor. Can the Ravens protect QB Joe Flacco? For the most part, they should. However, it is not whether or not whether Ware WILL get sacks, but WHEN they will occur and how directly will they affect the game. The Ravens will employ more sets with Ray Rice in the backfield and the Cowboys do not have Marion Barber 100% healthy. Ed Reed and Ray Lewis will cause problems for QB Tony Romo. I am going with BAL here.
Call:
Baltimore 27
Dallas 21
---
New Orleans Saints vs. Detroit Lions
Ford Field
Detroit, Michigan
(NO -7)
(O/U 50.5)
Dear god. The Saints should win this easily, considering the Lions do not defend the pass well at all. However, RB Reggie Bush is out for the season. No matter. The Saints have been using Pierre Thomas with great results of late. This should be a laugher.
Call:
New Orleans 38
Detroit 20
---
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Tennessee Titans
LP Field
Nashville, Tennessee
*GAME OF THE WEEK, PT. I*
(PIT -1.5)
(O/U 34)
Two titans facing off. However, this isn't going to be that big of a pick for me. DT Albert Haynesworth's absence is going to hurt TEN. As well as DE Kyle Vanden Bosch's. The Titans will run the ball, but the pressure PIT brings with OLBs James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley (along with the secondary play led by Troy Polamalu and the defencive line led by NT Casey Hampton) and QB Kerry Collins is in for a long day. TEN brings pressure and has solid players in MLB Keith Bulluck and CB Courtland Finnegan, but QB Ben Roethlisberger can move. Along with RB Willie Parker getting healthy at the right time, I am taking PIT in this one.
Call:
Pittsburgh 20
Tennessee 10
---
San Francisco 49ers vs. St. Louis Rams
Edward Jones Dome
St. Louis, Missouri
(SF -5.5)
(O/U 43.5)
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ... plenty of scoring, but who will care?
Call:
San Francisco 31
St. Louis 20
---
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns Stadium
Cleveland, Ohio
(CLE -2.5)
(O/U 32)
Dear god.
Call:
Cincinnati 16
Cleveland 10
---
Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri
(MIA -4)
(O/U 40)
The Dolphins can take a huge step toward their quest to go from worst team in the NFL in 2007 (1-15) to winning the AFC East. It is very much feasible if they win this game. Following this game, they set off to play the New York Football Jets to possibly decide the division in Week 17. However, the Chiefs are no slouches. They just don't close games out. The Fish will pull this out.
Call:
Miami 23
Kansas City 17
---
Arizona Cardinals vs. New England Patriots
Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts
(NE -7.5)
(O/U 44.5)
Usually, I don't take the Cards on the road, but I think they bounce back from two uninspired games in a row. The Patriots are banged up across the board and most IMPORTANTLY -- aren't talented enough in the secondary to stop the Warner to Boldin/Fitzgerald/Breaston attack. I am picking this is a "mild" upset for ARZ.
Call:
Arizona 37
New England 27
---
San Diego Chargers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Raymond James Stadium
Tampa, Florida
(TB -3.5)
(O/U 42.5)
The Chargers are desparate. The Bucs are hurting. QB Jeff Garcia may not play and quite frankly, combined with the fact that the Chargers need to win and are going to be watching to see if DEN loses to BUF -- I am taking SD. Look for RB LaDainian Tomlinson to bounce back from a... well, lackluster SEASON, not just a couple of games.
Call:
San Diego 30
Tampa Bay 21
---
Houston Texans vs. Oakland Raiders
McAfee Coliseum
Oakland, California
(HOU -7)
(O/U 44)
The Texans are on fire. Too little, too late, though. The Raiders have the best CB in the NFL in Nnamdi Asomugha and no one knows him. He won't slow WR Andre Johnson down. And the Raiders do not stuff the run well. RB Steve Slaton will have a field day.
Call:
Houston 34
Oakland 13
---
New York Football Jets vs. Seattle Seahawks
Qwest Field
Seattle, Washington
(NYJ -4)
(O/U 44)
The Jets do not travel well going west, but the Seabags are so bad...
As long as they give the rock to RB Thomas Jones and QB Brett Favre doesn't throw it away, the Jets will win. But they will make it interesting.
Call:
NY Jets 20
Seattle 14
---
Buffalo Bills vs. Denver Broncos
InVesco Field at Mile High Stadium
Denver, Colorado
(DEN -6.5)
(O/U 45)
I had pronounced the Bills dead, but they played with fight at NYJ last week. Plus, DEN is so schizophrenic week in and week out. They do not stop the run well. Even with QB JP Losman in the huddle, BUF SHOULD win this by handing the ball to RB Marshawn Lynch.
Call:
Buffalo 24
Denver 20
---
Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota Vikings
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Minneapolis, Minnesota
(MIN -3.5)
(O/U 43)
I don't know why MIN is favored here. However, I am taking Matty Ice, Michael "The Burner" Turner and "Rowdy" Roddy White. Vikes' DT Pat Williams is out, and while it is worth noting, he's not the entire defensive line. I still believe the Falcons will be able to run the ball effectively. So will RB Adrian Peterson. It will come down to QB play, and despite his 11-17/4 TD performance last week, QB Tarvaris Jackson does not impress me yet. QB Matt Ryan does. Fulcons win.
Call:
Atlanta 27
Minnesota 23
---
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Redskins
FedEx Field
Landover, Maryland
(PHI -5)
(O/U 38.5)
This game looked huge four weeks ago. Now, it doesn't. It's only big for PHI. Warshington is DONE.
Call:
Philadelphia 30
Washington 17
---
Carolina Panthers vs. New York Football Giants
Giants Stadium at The New Jersey Meadowlands
East Rutherford, New Jersey
*GAME OF THE WEEK, PT. II*
*SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL*
(NYG -3)
(O/U 37.5)
Snow+win+Brandon Jacobs starting = Classic Giants Football. As good as the Panthers have been of late, especially with their running game, they DO still have QB Jake Delhomme under center. With that weather, the Panthers can't be totally confident. It should be noted that DT Fred Robbins did not play Sunday vs. Dallas. He is pivotal to the Giants' run defense. The Panthers will not be mustering 300, 200 or 150 yards against the Giants' defence. Jake Delhomme will have to beat them with his arm -- and as great as WR Steve Smith is and as steady as WR Muhsin Muhammad is, I do not need it happening. Close game.
Call:
Carolina 17
NY Giants 23
---
Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears
Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
(CHI -4)
(O/U 41)
Who cares? Anyway, for old times' sake -- the oldest rivalry in the NFL (putting on the vintage John Facenda voice from NFL Films)
"As we renewwwww the old rivalray... the Greeeeeeen Baaaaaay PACKUZZZZZ versus the Chicaaaagoooo Buzzzzzz"
Green Bay's dead. Chicago's playing for their playoff lives. You do the math.
Call:
Green Bay 24
Chicago 28
---
...you already know
Real Men Are "Rough Around the Edges"
* - I can get with this. I am rough around the edges and have been saying this for years. I am not changing. I need a woman special enough to accept this fact and keep "prodding" me in the right direction whenever I veer off track as a SUITABLE HELPER SHOULD.
Real Men Are "Rough Around the Edges"
A.J. Kiesling
Author & Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
Could single women be expecting too much of men? Here, the men speak out. ...
Just as women have their hot-button issues with single men, so too have men with women—namely that the Christian women they see around them “expect too much” of men and have ridiculously high standards, spiritually speaking.
As one man lamented in response to my online survey of Christian singles, “Lower your standards. I'm not the Apostle Paul! If I don't look like an evangelical, smell like an evangelical, have unattainable character and charisma, spend all my free time at church, have all my issues settled, have all my prayers answered, know Scripture inside out, love children ... good grief!” I could picture him throwing up his hands in defeat.
When I shared this finding with one Christian man I know who is still looking for a wife, he looked troubled. Could it be his peers, single men who profess faith in Christ, are intimidated by the standards they hear preached from the pulpit? Standards written about in popular books such as Wild at Heart and The Sacred Romance? Evidently so, but the answer is not for us singles to collectively lower our standards, but to prod each other on in the “race of faith”—and have grace for one another along the way.
“Christian women are just plain too picky, especially about finding a man who's spiritual enough,” said another man. “If they find themselves being pursued by a guy they genuinely think is a believer, whom they find reasonably attractive, and who they think would make a decent husband, they should just marry him. Instead, all the women who are still available seem to be holding out for some super-spiritual guy who wants to be an overseas missionary in a Third World country, and whom they feel some kind of amazing ‘click’ or ‘chemistry’ with.”
In defense of my own gender, of the single Christian women I know, most have very realistic spiritual expectations of the men they date and hope to marry. Yes, they long to find someone who shares their faith, but they know that men are humans too—fallible creatures who mess up sometimes and need grace as much as we do. If anything, the women I know err on the side of giving too much latitude to men, sometimes blurring the lines between someone who “believes in God” and a real believer. But that’s not what showed up in the responses from men who took my survey. Quite a few vented their frustration about too-high standards.
“Christian women have been fed a lot of misinformation about what actual men are like,” writes one disgruntled man. “Reality check: there are no white knights or heroes out there. We can't rescue you, sorry. And the ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ thing is a little weird. I am not saying you should lower your expectations. Rather, you need to readjust them. Just as many men need to realize that actual women are not like the airbrushed porn stars of their fantasies. I find that I enjoy the company of non-Christian women far more than that of most Christian women. I just don't think they have bought into the popular tripe about what a man is supposed to be (thank you Wild at Heart/Captivating). Real men are rough around the edges.”
Just what does the book Wild at Heart (by John Eldredge) say about men? The book’s marketing description on Amazon.com reads:
God designed men to be dangerous, says John Eldredge. Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: To be a hero, to be a warrior, to live a life of adventure and risk. Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires—aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a “nice guy.” It is no wonder that many men avoid church, and those who go are often passive and bored to death…. Eldredge gives women a look inside the true heart of a man and gives men permission to be what God designed them to be—dangerous, passionate, alive, and free.
Perhaps it’s the “dangerous, passionate, alive, and free” label that seems like too tall an order for the average Christian male to fill, especially when they feel as if women expect (read: demand) this from them. In reading through the responses of men, I heard plenty of passion and expectations, but also world-weariness. Some seemed even more jaded than women on the state of single Christian America.
“Christians put unrealistic expectations on each other,” said one man in his early thirties who answered that he would like to be married someday if he meets the right person. “There seems to be this feeling that because you are a Christian you must be perfect or more normal than others. Fact is we are all human and imperfect so we need to accept that fact or else we will always be frustrated at being disappointed in our significant other.”
Unrealistic expectations—and modern singles’ propensity to have a checklist of requirements in their ideal mate—actually work against true love. If it looks like love, acts like love, and has the staying power of love, then it’s probably the real deal. “The dating scene is OK as far as it goes,” writes another man in my survey. “It's the progressing-to-marriage scene that's a problem. I wish women didn't feel they need a light shining down from heaven on a man and a voice booming ‘he’s the one’ in order to make a decision. My last girlfriend wouldn't marry me because she felt she wasn't getting a clear signal from God that I was ‘the one.’ It was incredibly frustrating and her breaking up with me broke my heart.” Somewhere out there, I can’t help but think there’s a young woman who realized too late that true love was standing right in front of her, but she let it slip away.
Women who strike a gracious balance between accepting men as they are—admittedly rough around the edges—yet gently prod them to be their best self might find a true knight after all, or at least a knight-in-the-making. We all would do well to learn this lesson about looking for the best in the man or woman right in front of us.
In a chapter titled “Finding True Love,” Jillian Straus, author of Unhooked Generation, tells the stories of several couples who seem to have found what we all yearn for—a love with staying power, a romance that stands the test of time. She tells the story of Clark and Sophia, a couple so right for each other, so madly in love, other people gaze at them with envy. Yet in the early days of their romance, Sophia almost gave up on the relationship, thinking Clark wasn’t her “type.” Paralyzed by making a wrong choice and the fear of divorce, for a long time Sophia resisted how right Clark was for her. After talking with a professional counselor, Sophia realized that while she’d been waiting for Prince Charming, a real man had shown up instead. “Once I got over my fear, I looked at Clark through new eyes,” Sophia told Straus. “Love doesn’t choose you. You choose love. Someone doesn’t just show up on your doorstep, whether it is Tom Cruise or Edward Norton or whomever your fantasy man is, and you fall in love. I truly thought when the perfect man showed up, I would just feel all those things. But we do it for ourselves. If you have your walls up—fear and skepticism—you just won’t fall head over heels. No one can bring it out if you are not open to it. Once I learned that, everything changed.”1
We do ourselves a favor—and open ourselves up to the possibility of true love—when we drop our defenses, shred our checklist, and start seeing people as God does, with all the potential they possess.
1Jillian Straus, Unhooked Generation (New York: Hyperion, 2006), 209-19.
A.J. Kiesling is the author of Where Have All the Good Men Gone? (Harvest House) and the novel Skizzer (Revell). A religion writer for Publishers Weekly, she has written more than a dozen books.
You can reach her at www.ajkiesling.com.
Real Men Are "Rough Around the Edges"
A.J. Kiesling
Author & Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
Could single women be expecting too much of men? Here, the men speak out. ...
Just as women have their hot-button issues with single men, so too have men with women—namely that the Christian women they see around them “expect too much” of men and have ridiculously high standards, spiritually speaking.
As one man lamented in response to my online survey of Christian singles, “Lower your standards. I'm not the Apostle Paul! If I don't look like an evangelical, smell like an evangelical, have unattainable character and charisma, spend all my free time at church, have all my issues settled, have all my prayers answered, know Scripture inside out, love children ... good grief!” I could picture him throwing up his hands in defeat.
When I shared this finding with one Christian man I know who is still looking for a wife, he looked troubled. Could it be his peers, single men who profess faith in Christ, are intimidated by the standards they hear preached from the pulpit? Standards written about in popular books such as Wild at Heart and The Sacred Romance? Evidently so, but the answer is not for us singles to collectively lower our standards, but to prod each other on in the “race of faith”—and have grace for one another along the way.
“Christian women are just plain too picky, especially about finding a man who's spiritual enough,” said another man. “If they find themselves being pursued by a guy they genuinely think is a believer, whom they find reasonably attractive, and who they think would make a decent husband, they should just marry him. Instead, all the women who are still available seem to be holding out for some super-spiritual guy who wants to be an overseas missionary in a Third World country, and whom they feel some kind of amazing ‘click’ or ‘chemistry’ with.”
In defense of my own gender, of the single Christian women I know, most have very realistic spiritual expectations of the men they date and hope to marry. Yes, they long to find someone who shares their faith, but they know that men are humans too—fallible creatures who mess up sometimes and need grace as much as we do. If anything, the women I know err on the side of giving too much latitude to men, sometimes blurring the lines between someone who “believes in God” and a real believer. But that’s not what showed up in the responses from men who took my survey. Quite a few vented their frustration about too-high standards.
“Christian women have been fed a lot of misinformation about what actual men are like,” writes one disgruntled man. “Reality check: there are no white knights or heroes out there. We can't rescue you, sorry. And the ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ thing is a little weird. I am not saying you should lower your expectations. Rather, you need to readjust them. Just as many men need to realize that actual women are not like the airbrushed porn stars of their fantasies. I find that I enjoy the company of non-Christian women far more than that of most Christian women. I just don't think they have bought into the popular tripe about what a man is supposed to be (thank you Wild at Heart/Captivating). Real men are rough around the edges.”
Just what does the book Wild at Heart (by John Eldredge) say about men? The book’s marketing description on Amazon.com reads:
God designed men to be dangerous, says John Eldredge. Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: To be a hero, to be a warrior, to live a life of adventure and risk. Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires—aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a “nice guy.” It is no wonder that many men avoid church, and those who go are often passive and bored to death…. Eldredge gives women a look inside the true heart of a man and gives men permission to be what God designed them to be—dangerous, passionate, alive, and free.
Perhaps it’s the “dangerous, passionate, alive, and free” label that seems like too tall an order for the average Christian male to fill, especially when they feel as if women expect (read: demand) this from them. In reading through the responses of men, I heard plenty of passion and expectations, but also world-weariness. Some seemed even more jaded than women on the state of single Christian America.
“Christians put unrealistic expectations on each other,” said one man in his early thirties who answered that he would like to be married someday if he meets the right person. “There seems to be this feeling that because you are a Christian you must be perfect or more normal than others. Fact is we are all human and imperfect so we need to accept that fact or else we will always be frustrated at being disappointed in our significant other.”
Unrealistic expectations—and modern singles’ propensity to have a checklist of requirements in their ideal mate—actually work against true love. If it looks like love, acts like love, and has the staying power of love, then it’s probably the real deal. “The dating scene is OK as far as it goes,” writes another man in my survey. “It's the progressing-to-marriage scene that's a problem. I wish women didn't feel they need a light shining down from heaven on a man and a voice booming ‘he’s the one’ in order to make a decision. My last girlfriend wouldn't marry me because she felt she wasn't getting a clear signal from God that I was ‘the one.’ It was incredibly frustrating and her breaking up with me broke my heart.” Somewhere out there, I can’t help but think there’s a young woman who realized too late that true love was standing right in front of her, but she let it slip away.
Women who strike a gracious balance between accepting men as they are—admittedly rough around the edges—yet gently prod them to be their best self might find a true knight after all, or at least a knight-in-the-making. We all would do well to learn this lesson about looking for the best in the man or woman right in front of us.
In a chapter titled “Finding True Love,” Jillian Straus, author of Unhooked Generation, tells the stories of several couples who seem to have found what we all yearn for—a love with staying power, a romance that stands the test of time. She tells the story of Clark and Sophia, a couple so right for each other, so madly in love, other people gaze at them with envy. Yet in the early days of their romance, Sophia almost gave up on the relationship, thinking Clark wasn’t her “type.” Paralyzed by making a wrong choice and the fear of divorce, for a long time Sophia resisted how right Clark was for her. After talking with a professional counselor, Sophia realized that while she’d been waiting for Prince Charming, a real man had shown up instead. “Once I got over my fear, I looked at Clark through new eyes,” Sophia told Straus. “Love doesn’t choose you. You choose love. Someone doesn’t just show up on your doorstep, whether it is Tom Cruise or Edward Norton or whomever your fantasy man is, and you fall in love. I truly thought when the perfect man showed up, I would just feel all those things. But we do it for ourselves. If you have your walls up—fear and skepticism—you just won’t fall head over heels. No one can bring it out if you are not open to it. Once I learned that, everything changed.”1
We do ourselves a favor—and open ourselves up to the possibility of true love—when we drop our defenses, shred our checklist, and start seeing people as God does, with all the potential they possess.
1Jillian Straus, Unhooked Generation (New York: Hyperion, 2006), 209-19.
A.J. Kiesling is the author of Where Have All the Good Men Gone? (Harvest House) and the novel Skizzer (Revell). A religion writer for Publishers Weekly, she has written more than a dozen books.
You can reach her at www.ajkiesling.com.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
In Response To Joi Samuels' "Independence Day... What Do You Think?"
In Response To Joi Samuels' "Independence Day... What Do You Think?"
M.D. Wright
12.18.08
I am going to be short with this.
1. I don't know how negative of a connotation as it has with everyone. But when I hear it, my head rolls.
2. There is no such thing as an independent PERSON. PERIOD.
That said, I'll address both those points.
Whenever I have heard women say this, I hear a tinge of resentment; as if it is a jab at the paternal world that we live in. More disturbing are the numbers of supposedly-Christian women who subscribe to this -- knowing that God placed specific importance of the roles of men and women in this world. For those who choose not to accept Christ as their Savior and later Lord -- nor God's Word/Principles, then OK; you believe what you want. However, this is is a spiritual law and there is no way around it, regardless of what you choose to believe or not believe.
We are seeing signs of the chaos that ensues when there is a concerted effort to intentionally insert women as the heads of organizations and other large institutions. Follow me. I am not a chauvinist. God placed man as covering for women. In EVERY arena of life. This can not be avoided. Or else you have a situation similar to what took place when King Ahab's notorious wife Jezebel sought to effectively usurp Ahab's control and do her own thing. I'm not going to preach. If you want the facts on that, go read the Bible.
2. No one is independent. No man. No woman. No person is an island. God did not create people to function on their own so that they could become glory-hogs. One thing that disturbs me (because I am fully secure and supremely confident -- therefore that nonsense about being "intimidated" does not apply to me) is the level of arrogance present in most of the women who utter this foolish phrase. Think about it. Everything is "I have such and such degree"... "I make X-amount of money"... "I am so and so Doctor this, Attorney that" (nothing wrong with titles, but when you use them to define you... and think that for some reason someone should genuflect before you...) and all the other diatribe with them.
Look. I am all for equality. I WANT an educated woman to marry. I can talk intelligibly about almost everything, so I don't want a dummy or someone who is caught up in her hair, nails and how much money I can spend on her. She needs to be able to carry her own weight for sure. But there is a difference between being able to do that and this "independent" foolishness.
Strength and determination aren't defined by how much money you have, how LATE you (intentionally, I might add) put off marriage for the sake of your career and education, instead of juggling both -- and not neglecting your God-given and NOBLE role as chief nurturer (WHEN did this become "insulting" to women, by the way???) solely to prove some sort of needless point. We have been created equal, but to serve distinct and DIFFERENT functions. Or else, why would God have needed to create woman? A homemaker, part-time business owner/homemaker possesses the same strength and determination that it takes to swim amongst the corporate sharks (by whatever motive).
Sadly, too many women equate those qualities with bullheadedness, radical feminism (the converse to male chauvinism -- reforms are still necessary, but radical feminism set women's causes BACK rather than further them).
Only a weakling of a man wants a woman he can dominate or feel needed by 24/7. Only a wuss of a man wants a doormat and a Yes-Woman. But NO self-respecting man wants a bullheaded woman who constantly has a chip on her shoulder about proving her equal weight in glory with men when God already says you are equal. Your job, education, income, etc. attained apart from the "support" of a man does not make you any more equal (or better, as some radicals think) than a man. We are not in competition. We're working together to achieve the same thing.
I saw an interview with a group of women who are in their late 30s and early 40s who have never been married and now all of a sudden want to marry. They're desperate. They realize their window for having children (without serious health risks) has narrowed much like the Phoenix Suns' chances of winning an NBA Championship (sorry, I always have to fit sports in somewhere. Indulge me.) Now they realize they can't just step out and get a man like they could when they were 25. And aside from a few sleazebag men, no one cares about these women's statuses and income, education, etc. But think about it. How many men did these women consciously pass up in their 20s? Being "independent" has its drawbacks. I heard this woman at my church stand up during a forum a few years ago -- bragging about how she has this and that and all this nonsense. She was about 33 or so at the time and she's probably still not married. I don't care who the man is. If he's self-respecting -- he could be a broke college student, a middling employee at a customer service office or a high-ranking man -- he does NOT want to hear all of that if he's looking at you romantically and for marriage. The Proverbs 31 woman is "intimidating" to some women, because it seems like it is "just asking too much" to be all those different things. Indeed, those are qualities that a woman should seek to attain. Just as men (those who are faithful to their families that is -- many aren't. We know that. No need to even bring that up at this point. We hear that ALOT more than we hear men talk about women and this hogwash about "independence") are called to do the same. The Proverbs 31 woman was not independent. Nor did she run around gloating about her exploits. She did her thing and her husband (King Lemuel was to look for a woman possessing those qualities -- it was not describing a real life woman who had done it) apperciates it. They work in tandem. Not in competition or INDEPENDENT of the other.
Regards,
mdw
M.D. Wright
12.18.08
I am going to be short with this.
1. I don't know how negative of a connotation as it has with everyone. But when I hear it, my head rolls.
2. There is no such thing as an independent PERSON. PERIOD.
That said, I'll address both those points.
Whenever I have heard women say this, I hear a tinge of resentment; as if it is a jab at the paternal world that we live in. More disturbing are the numbers of supposedly-Christian women who subscribe to this -- knowing that God placed specific importance of the roles of men and women in this world. For those who choose not to accept Christ as their Savior and later Lord -- nor God's Word/Principles, then OK; you believe what you want. However, this is is a spiritual law and there is no way around it, regardless of what you choose to believe or not believe.
We are seeing signs of the chaos that ensues when there is a concerted effort to intentionally insert women as the heads of organizations and other large institutions. Follow me. I am not a chauvinist. God placed man as covering for women. In EVERY arena of life. This can not be avoided. Or else you have a situation similar to what took place when King Ahab's notorious wife Jezebel sought to effectively usurp Ahab's control and do her own thing. I'm not going to preach. If you want the facts on that, go read the Bible.
2. No one is independent. No man. No woman. No person is an island. God did not create people to function on their own so that they could become glory-hogs. One thing that disturbs me (because I am fully secure and supremely confident -- therefore that nonsense about being "intimidated" does not apply to me) is the level of arrogance present in most of the women who utter this foolish phrase. Think about it. Everything is "I have such and such degree"... "I make X-amount of money"... "I am so and so Doctor this, Attorney that" (nothing wrong with titles, but when you use them to define you... and think that for some reason someone should genuflect before you...) and all the other diatribe with them.
Look. I am all for equality. I WANT an educated woman to marry. I can talk intelligibly about almost everything, so I don't want a dummy or someone who is caught up in her hair, nails and how much money I can spend on her. She needs to be able to carry her own weight for sure. But there is a difference between being able to do that and this "independent" foolishness.
Strength and determination aren't defined by how much money you have, how LATE you (intentionally, I might add) put off marriage for the sake of your career and education, instead of juggling both -- and not neglecting your God-given and NOBLE role as chief nurturer (WHEN did this become "insulting" to women, by the way???) solely to prove some sort of needless point. We have been created equal, but to serve distinct and DIFFERENT functions. Or else, why would God have needed to create woman? A homemaker, part-time business owner/homemaker possesses the same strength and determination that it takes to swim amongst the corporate sharks (by whatever motive).
Sadly, too many women equate those qualities with bullheadedness, radical feminism (the converse to male chauvinism -- reforms are still necessary, but radical feminism set women's causes BACK rather than further them).
Only a weakling of a man wants a woman he can dominate or feel needed by 24/7. Only a wuss of a man wants a doormat and a Yes-Woman. But NO self-respecting man wants a bullheaded woman who constantly has a chip on her shoulder about proving her equal weight in glory with men when God already says you are equal. Your job, education, income, etc. attained apart from the "support" of a man does not make you any more equal (or better, as some radicals think) than a man. We are not in competition. We're working together to achieve the same thing.
I saw an interview with a group of women who are in their late 30s and early 40s who have never been married and now all of a sudden want to marry. They're desperate. They realize their window for having children (without serious health risks) has narrowed much like the Phoenix Suns' chances of winning an NBA Championship (sorry, I always have to fit sports in somewhere. Indulge me.) Now they realize they can't just step out and get a man like they could when they were 25. And aside from a few sleazebag men, no one cares about these women's statuses and income, education, etc. But think about it. How many men did these women consciously pass up in their 20s? Being "independent" has its drawbacks. I heard this woman at my church stand up during a forum a few years ago -- bragging about how she has this and that and all this nonsense. She was about 33 or so at the time and she's probably still not married. I don't care who the man is. If he's self-respecting -- he could be a broke college student, a middling employee at a customer service office or a high-ranking man -- he does NOT want to hear all of that if he's looking at you romantically and for marriage. The Proverbs 31 woman is "intimidating" to some women, because it seems like it is "just asking too much" to be all those different things. Indeed, those are qualities that a woman should seek to attain. Just as men (those who are faithful to their families that is -- many aren't. We know that. No need to even bring that up at this point. We hear that ALOT more than we hear men talk about women and this hogwash about "independence") are called to do the same. The Proverbs 31 woman was not independent. Nor did she run around gloating about her exploits. She did her thing and her husband (King Lemuel was to look for a woman possessing those qualities -- it was not describing a real life woman who had done it) apperciates it. They work in tandem. Not in competition or INDEPENDENT of the other.
Regards,
mdw
2009 Pro Bowl Rosters - WITH ANALYSIS
2009 Pro Bowl Rosters - WITH ANALYSIS
M.D. Wright
12.16.08
* - Denotes STARTER in Pro Bowl Game
National Football Conference (NFC)
OFFENSE
QB - Kurt Warner (ARZ)*
QB - Drew Brees (NO)
QB - Eli Manning (NYG)
Comments: Kurt does not deserve this. Especially with the way they've played five out of their last six games. This is why fan voting should only count for 1/4 (if at all). Brees ONLY deserves a reserve role because of his numbers. He's on a .500 team. Eli is not a Pro Bowler. Without the running game and Burress (the past two games) you see what Eli is. I would actually put Tony Romo as the starting QB here. Look at how Dallas looked without him.
RB - Adrian Peterson (MIN)*
RB - Michael Turner (ATL)
RB - Clinton Portis (WARSH)
Comments: This cannot be argued. Adrian Peterson is the best RB in the NFL. Brandon Jacobs would have had an argument for a reserve spot had he been healthy the past two weeks. Turner has 15 rushing TDs and Portis has been a beast until injuries and poor overall play by the Redskins of late caught up with him.
FB - Mike Sellers (WARSH)*
Comments: Only other viable candidate is Madison Hedgecock.
WR - Larry Fitzgerald (ARZ)*
WR - Anquan Boldin (ARZ)*
WR - Steve Smith (CUR)
WR - Roddy White (ATL)
Comments: I would only put Steve Smith as the starter. This is always a highly argued position, because it is full of prima donnas and the fans argue loudest as well. However, the only other viable argument would have been (potentially) Santana Moss in a reserve role.
TE - Jason Witten (DAL)*
TE - Chris Cooley (WARSH)
Comments: Witten is the best TE in the NFC. Cooley is more of an HB than a true TE. No way he overrides Witten. None of the other TEs in the NFC are consistent or are involved in their teams' offenses as much.
T - Jordan Gross (CUR)*
T - Walter Jones (SEA)* (WILL NOT PLAY - INJURY)
T - Chris Samuels (WARSH)
Comments: I am one of the few football experts who watches offensive and defensive line play and knows what's going on. I can't say take Gross down, nor Jones, but they weren't the best tackles in the NFL. Kareem McKenzie should have gotten one of these. Gross should have been the reserve. Samuels has no business on this list (however it must be noted that Dan Snyder ran a campaign in the Washington, DC area where he had fans vote, vote, vote to increase the fan portion of the voting).
G - Steve Hutchinson (MIN)*
G - Chris Snee(NYG)*
G - Leonard Davis (DAL)
Comments: Look, Hutch is the best left guard in the NFC and Chris Snee is the best right guard in the NFL. Period. He's a road-grader with the running game and is great in pass protection. House Davis has NO BUSINESS on this list with how often he holds (but manages to get away with it -- at least a half dozen times vs. NYG on 12.14.08 by the way). However, there aren't many guys you can put here. Too many teams had revolving doors at guard.
C - Andre Gurode (DAL)*
C - Shaun O'Hara (NYG)
Comments: Reverse this. O'Hara is better than Gurode.
DEFENSE
DE - Julius Peppers (CUR)*
DE - Justin Tuck (NYG)*
DE - Jared Allen (MIN)
Comments: HELLO?!?! DeMarcus Ware has 19 sacks and WON THE GAME SINGLEHANDEDLY Sunday!!! Ware and Tuck are the best DEs in the NFC. WHERE THE HECK IS JOHN ABRAHAM? Allen should be the reserve, if anything at all. I would actually put Abraham there (mostly because he is STILL not stout against the run after 9 years). The other guys are. Peppers would admit this isn't his best season. Not even close. Although he is playing better than last year. He should not be up here.
DT - Kevin Williams (MIN)*
DT - Jay Ratliff (DAL)*
DT - Pat Williams
Comments: Fred Robbins should start over Ratliff (fan voting?) Kevin Williams deserves his spot. Pat Williams and Darnell Dockett (FROM?!?!?!) are the only guys who had arguments. Fat Pat is a reserve, Dockett could've been. Ratliff does not belong here.
OLB - DeMarcus Ware (DAL)*
OLB - Lance Briggs (CHI)*
OLB - Derrick Brooks (TB)
Comments: Brooks is looking long in the tooth. However, there aren't many guys with strong cases aside from him. Bradie James maybe? Danny Clark? Doubtful. Ware is a DE. Why are they listing him as an OLB? Briggs is probably playing better than Urlacher in CHI -- although Urlacher got his fair share of votes at Mike.
ILB - Patrick Willis (SF)*
ILB - Jon Beason (CUR)
Comments: I don't like how the voting is done for linebackers. It does not take into account the schemes that teams run. Barrett Ruud is pretty good. Jonathan Vilma, overshadowed in a PUTRID (suspended and injured, I should add) Saints defense, is playing well. Pierce is indeed overrated. However, no argument here. PAT WILLIS IS A BEAST.
CB - Charles Woodson (GB)*
CB - Antione Winfield (MIN)*
CB - Asante Samuel (PHI)
Comments: Woodson has the numbers, but he has very little impact. Same with his starting CB teammate Al Harris. They're good, not great, anymore. Winfield should have BEEN a Pro Bowler years ago. Corey Webster has had a great year. He deserves the reserve role over Asante Samuel, who has done next to NOTHING before Monday Night Football in Week 15.
FS - Nick Collins (GB)*
FS - Brian Dawkins (PHI)
Comments: Can't argue here. Kenny Phillips came on late. Sean Taylor would've won this spot going away if he were still with us. Actually LaRon Landry played better than Dawkins. This is a legacy pick for Dawkins who is obviously aging (although he does still make plays, don't get me wrong). Darren Sharper even deserved the "legacy" pick more than Dawk did.
SS - Adrian Wilson (ARZ)* -- FROM?!?!?! High Point, NC.
Comments: No reserve here, but there are a couple of guys who played the position at times. Landry (WASH) slid over to SS at times. The Bears have had a revolving door there. However, there are no strong arguments for anyone else.
SPECIAL TEAMS
P - Jeff Feagles (NYG)*
Comments: Feagles is the best punter in the history of the NFL. He invented the coffin corner kick and perfected it.
PK - John Carney (NYG)*
Comments: Nick Folk doesn't miss a kick. However -- JACKIE GLEASON, SHEILA MACRAE, AUDREY MEADOWS, JOHN CARNEY... GOOD NIGHT EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KR - Clifton Smith (TB)*
Comments: Who? Is this the guy who finally ran back a kickoff for Tampa for the first time ever? Otherwise, why isn't DeSean Jackson here?
ST Ace - Sean Morey (ARZ)*
Comments: He only made it for that play at the end of the DAL game.
-----------
American Football Conference (AFC)
OFFENSE
QB - Peyton Manning (IND)*
QB - Brett Favre (NYJ)
QB - Jay Cutler (DEN)
Comments: There are many problems here. None of these guys deserve the spots they got. Manning should be a reserve. Cassel should be starting. Rivers should have the other reserve spot. There is NO WAY Favre belongs in the Pro Bowl with 17 INTs or however many he has -- many of which have led directly to Jet losses to BAD TEAMS. Cutler is still too spotty and inconsistent to be in the Pro Bowl over a guy who leads the NFL in Passer Rating (Rivers). This is one of the few times the rating number gives you an accurate idea of how well the QB has played. The Chargers' fall off has been more attributed to Tomlinson's toe injury and the defense being injured and totally out of synch with a new coordinator.
RB - Thomas Jones (NYJ)*
RB - Chris Johnson (TEN)
RB - Ronnie Brown(MIA)
Comments: Jones is a beast and deserves this. But if you are putting a rookie up here in Johnson (who earned it), Steve Slaton DEFINITELY deserves to be a Pro Bowler. Ronnie Brown does not.
FB - Le'Ron McClain (BAL)*
Comments: Which is he? Half the time, he's been lining up at RB for BAL. Tony Richardson, Lo Neal both deserve merit. Ask Thomas Jones about Richardson.
WR - Andre Johnson (HOU)*
WR - Brandon Marshall (DEN)*
WR - Reggie Wayne (IND)
WR - Wes Welker (NE)
Comments: Let's play "Which One Of These Does Not Belong". Forget the number of catches he has, but HOW do you put Welker on this list? LOL Look. Andre Johnson is the best WR in the NFL. Marshall is going to be unstoppable for the next 10 years. Reggie Wayne has the best hands after Johnson. But Welker is a slot receiver. If starting a team, with the aforementioned WRs, then yes, he's a good fit. But no, he does not belong here. Derrick Mason? Hines Ward. Santonio Holmes? Braylon Edwards? Laveranues Coles? Let's move on. Dear god fan voting.
TE - Tony Gonzalez (KC)*
TE - Antonio Gates (SD)
Comments: The lazy Let's-Go-With-The-Big-Name picks here. Gonzalez has been great, but Gates has been pedestrian at best. Daniels down in Houston has been pretty doggone good. Where is Dallas Clark???
T - Joe Thomas (CLE)*
T - Jason Peters (BUF)*
T - Michael Roos (TEN)
Comments: I can't argue with any of these. Jake Long MAYBE.
G - Alan Faneca (NYJ)*
G - Kris Dielman (SD)*
G - Brian Waters (KC)
Comments: Kudos to Chiefs fans stuffing the box, since Waters is probably going to retire. He definitely does not belong here. Faneca is most of the reason Jones is doing so well with the Jets. Dielman? I dunno...
C - Kevin Mawae (TEN)*
C - Nick Mangold (NYJ)
Comments: I would scream Legacy Pick with Mawae, but he hasn't fallen off. I remember when this guy was in Seattle! Mangold is also responsible for Jones' success in New York.
DEFENSE
DE - Mario Williams (HOU)*
DE - Dwight Freeney (IND)*
DE - Robert Mathis (IND)
Comments: No arguments here. Aaron Smith was a bit too nicked up for PIT. Shaun Ellis has played well for NYJ.
DT - Albert Haynesworth (TEN)*
DT - Kris Jenkins (NYJ)*
DT - Shaun Rogers (CLE)
Comments: No arguments. These guys have all been game changers all year. Where is Hanoti Ngata, though? I've seen that guy run back INTs, chase down WRs and RBs downfield and go downfield in coverage. At 345 lbs, that's impressive. He's making Ray Lewis look like he's still great (he's not). But you can't take any of these guys down. Haynesworth is the best DT in the NFL and it isn't close.
OLB - James Harrison (PIT)*
OLB - Joey Porter (MIA)*
OLB - Terrell Suggs
Comments: I have Suggs listed as a DE, but whatever. Bart Scott is good, too. LaMarr Woodley deserved a shot, but again, their 3-4 defense skews things.
ILB - Ray Lewis (BAL)*
ILB - James Farrior (PIT)
Comments: More legacy picks. Lewis has been better than last year. But I'm too tired to even argue. Where is Keith Bulluck?
CB - Nnamdi Asomugha (OAK)*
CB - Courtland Finnegan (TEN)*
CB - Derrelle Revis (NYJ)
Comments: I actually have no problems with these. Great picks. Nnamdi is the best CB (possibly) in the NFL. Could be the next Deion Sanders. Teams won't even THROW IN HIS DIRECTION anymore. Finnegan is very feisty -- although it gets him in trouble often, he's a beast in coverage. Revis is a playmaker; leading the Jets' secondary.
FS - Ed Reed (BAL)*
Comments: No one else even warrants mentioning. Ed Reed is THE prototypical free safety. If there is a loose ball, a tipped pass, or a big play being made and BAL is playing -- ED REED IS MAKING IT. It is ri-DICULOUS how this guy is OMNIPRESENT when it comes to the football. If you looked up "Raven" or "Ballhawk" in the dictionary, you'd see Ed Reed's profile.
SS - Troy Polamalu (PIT)*
SS - Chris Hope (TEN)
Comments: Polamalu is healthy, but I dunno, I just don't feel it. Chris Hope (FROM?!?!?!) leads that TEN secondary.
SPECIAL TEAMS
P - Shane Lechler (OAK)*
Comments: Who cares?
PK - Stephen Gostkowski (NE)*
Comments: Ditto.
KR - Leon Washington (NYJ)*
Comments: FROM?!?!?!?!?!?! (FLORIDA STATE!!!)
ST - Brendon Ayanbadejo (BAL)*
Comments: Whatever.
M.D. Wright
12.16.08
* - Denotes STARTER in Pro Bowl Game
National Football Conference (NFC)
OFFENSE
QB - Kurt Warner (ARZ)*
QB - Drew Brees (NO)
QB - Eli Manning (NYG)
Comments: Kurt does not deserve this. Especially with the way they've played five out of their last six games. This is why fan voting should only count for 1/4 (if at all). Brees ONLY deserves a reserve role because of his numbers. He's on a .500 team. Eli is not a Pro Bowler. Without the running game and Burress (the past two games) you see what Eli is. I would actually put Tony Romo as the starting QB here. Look at how Dallas looked without him.
RB - Adrian Peterson (MIN)*
RB - Michael Turner (ATL)
RB - Clinton Portis (WARSH)
Comments: This cannot be argued. Adrian Peterson is the best RB in the NFL. Brandon Jacobs would have had an argument for a reserve spot had he been healthy the past two weeks. Turner has 15 rushing TDs and Portis has been a beast until injuries and poor overall play by the Redskins of late caught up with him.
FB - Mike Sellers (WARSH)*
Comments: Only other viable candidate is Madison Hedgecock.
WR - Larry Fitzgerald (ARZ)*
WR - Anquan Boldin (ARZ)*
WR - Steve Smith (CUR)
WR - Roddy White (ATL)
Comments: I would only put Steve Smith as the starter. This is always a highly argued position, because it is full of prima donnas and the fans argue loudest as well. However, the only other viable argument would have been (potentially) Santana Moss in a reserve role.
TE - Jason Witten (DAL)*
TE - Chris Cooley (WARSH)
Comments: Witten is the best TE in the NFC. Cooley is more of an HB than a true TE. No way he overrides Witten. None of the other TEs in the NFC are consistent or are involved in their teams' offenses as much.
T - Jordan Gross (CUR)*
T - Walter Jones (SEA)* (WILL NOT PLAY - INJURY)
T - Chris Samuels (WARSH)
Comments: I am one of the few football experts who watches offensive and defensive line play and knows what's going on. I can't say take Gross down, nor Jones, but they weren't the best tackles in the NFL. Kareem McKenzie should have gotten one of these. Gross should have been the reserve. Samuels has no business on this list (however it must be noted that Dan Snyder ran a campaign in the Washington, DC area where he had fans vote, vote, vote to increase the fan portion of the voting).
G - Steve Hutchinson (MIN)*
G - Chris Snee(NYG)*
G - Leonard Davis (DAL)
Comments: Look, Hutch is the best left guard in the NFC and Chris Snee is the best right guard in the NFL. Period. He's a road-grader with the running game and is great in pass protection. House Davis has NO BUSINESS on this list with how often he holds (but manages to get away with it -- at least a half dozen times vs. NYG on 12.14.08 by the way). However, there aren't many guys you can put here. Too many teams had revolving doors at guard.
C - Andre Gurode (DAL)*
C - Shaun O'Hara (NYG)
Comments: Reverse this. O'Hara is better than Gurode.
DEFENSE
DE - Julius Peppers (CUR)*
DE - Justin Tuck (NYG)*
DE - Jared Allen (MIN)
Comments: HELLO?!?! DeMarcus Ware has 19 sacks and WON THE GAME SINGLEHANDEDLY Sunday!!! Ware and Tuck are the best DEs in the NFC. WHERE THE HECK IS JOHN ABRAHAM? Allen should be the reserve, if anything at all. I would actually put Abraham there (mostly because he is STILL not stout against the run after 9 years). The other guys are. Peppers would admit this isn't his best season. Not even close. Although he is playing better than last year. He should not be up here.
DT - Kevin Williams (MIN)*
DT - Jay Ratliff (DAL)*
DT - Pat Williams
Comments: Fred Robbins should start over Ratliff (fan voting?) Kevin Williams deserves his spot. Pat Williams and Darnell Dockett (FROM?!?!?!) are the only guys who had arguments. Fat Pat is a reserve, Dockett could've been. Ratliff does not belong here.
OLB - DeMarcus Ware (DAL)*
OLB - Lance Briggs (CHI)*
OLB - Derrick Brooks (TB)
Comments: Brooks is looking long in the tooth. However, there aren't many guys with strong cases aside from him. Bradie James maybe? Danny Clark? Doubtful. Ware is a DE. Why are they listing him as an OLB? Briggs is probably playing better than Urlacher in CHI -- although Urlacher got his fair share of votes at Mike.
ILB - Patrick Willis (SF)*
ILB - Jon Beason (CUR)
Comments: I don't like how the voting is done for linebackers. It does not take into account the schemes that teams run. Barrett Ruud is pretty good. Jonathan Vilma, overshadowed in a PUTRID (suspended and injured, I should add) Saints defense, is playing well. Pierce is indeed overrated. However, no argument here. PAT WILLIS IS A BEAST.
CB - Charles Woodson (GB)*
CB - Antione Winfield (MIN)*
CB - Asante Samuel (PHI)
Comments: Woodson has the numbers, but he has very little impact. Same with his starting CB teammate Al Harris. They're good, not great, anymore. Winfield should have BEEN a Pro Bowler years ago. Corey Webster has had a great year. He deserves the reserve role over Asante Samuel, who has done next to NOTHING before Monday Night Football in Week 15.
FS - Nick Collins (GB)*
FS - Brian Dawkins (PHI)
Comments: Can't argue here. Kenny Phillips came on late. Sean Taylor would've won this spot going away if he were still with us. Actually LaRon Landry played better than Dawkins. This is a legacy pick for Dawkins who is obviously aging (although he does still make plays, don't get me wrong). Darren Sharper even deserved the "legacy" pick more than Dawk did.
SS - Adrian Wilson (ARZ)* -- FROM?!?!?! High Point, NC.
Comments: No reserve here, but there are a couple of guys who played the position at times. Landry (WASH) slid over to SS at times. The Bears have had a revolving door there. However, there are no strong arguments for anyone else.
SPECIAL TEAMS
P - Jeff Feagles (NYG)*
Comments: Feagles is the best punter in the history of the NFL. He invented the coffin corner kick and perfected it.
PK - John Carney (NYG)*
Comments: Nick Folk doesn't miss a kick. However -- JACKIE GLEASON, SHEILA MACRAE, AUDREY MEADOWS, JOHN CARNEY... GOOD NIGHT EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KR - Clifton Smith (TB)*
Comments: Who? Is this the guy who finally ran back a kickoff for Tampa for the first time ever? Otherwise, why isn't DeSean Jackson here?
ST Ace - Sean Morey (ARZ)*
Comments: He only made it for that play at the end of the DAL game.
-----------
American Football Conference (AFC)
OFFENSE
QB - Peyton Manning (IND)*
QB - Brett Favre (NYJ)
QB - Jay Cutler (DEN)
Comments: There are many problems here. None of these guys deserve the spots they got. Manning should be a reserve. Cassel should be starting. Rivers should have the other reserve spot. There is NO WAY Favre belongs in the Pro Bowl with 17 INTs or however many he has -- many of which have led directly to Jet losses to BAD TEAMS. Cutler is still too spotty and inconsistent to be in the Pro Bowl over a guy who leads the NFL in Passer Rating (Rivers). This is one of the few times the rating number gives you an accurate idea of how well the QB has played. The Chargers' fall off has been more attributed to Tomlinson's toe injury and the defense being injured and totally out of synch with a new coordinator.
RB - Thomas Jones (NYJ)*
RB - Chris Johnson (TEN)
RB - Ronnie Brown(MIA)
Comments: Jones is a beast and deserves this. But if you are putting a rookie up here in Johnson (who earned it), Steve Slaton DEFINITELY deserves to be a Pro Bowler. Ronnie Brown does not.
FB - Le'Ron McClain (BAL)*
Comments: Which is he? Half the time, he's been lining up at RB for BAL. Tony Richardson, Lo Neal both deserve merit. Ask Thomas Jones about Richardson.
WR - Andre Johnson (HOU)*
WR - Brandon Marshall (DEN)*
WR - Reggie Wayne (IND)
WR - Wes Welker (NE)
Comments: Let's play "Which One Of These Does Not Belong". Forget the number of catches he has, but HOW do you put Welker on this list? LOL Look. Andre Johnson is the best WR in the NFL. Marshall is going to be unstoppable for the next 10 years. Reggie Wayne has the best hands after Johnson. But Welker is a slot receiver. If starting a team, with the aforementioned WRs, then yes, he's a good fit. But no, he does not belong here. Derrick Mason? Hines Ward. Santonio Holmes? Braylon Edwards? Laveranues Coles? Let's move on. Dear god fan voting.
TE - Tony Gonzalez (KC)*
TE - Antonio Gates (SD)
Comments: The lazy Let's-Go-With-The-Big-Name picks here. Gonzalez has been great, but Gates has been pedestrian at best. Daniels down in Houston has been pretty doggone good. Where is Dallas Clark???
T - Joe Thomas (CLE)*
T - Jason Peters (BUF)*
T - Michael Roos (TEN)
Comments: I can't argue with any of these. Jake Long MAYBE.
G - Alan Faneca (NYJ)*
G - Kris Dielman (SD)*
G - Brian Waters (KC)
Comments: Kudos to Chiefs fans stuffing the box, since Waters is probably going to retire. He definitely does not belong here. Faneca is most of the reason Jones is doing so well with the Jets. Dielman? I dunno...
C - Kevin Mawae (TEN)*
C - Nick Mangold (NYJ)
Comments: I would scream Legacy Pick with Mawae, but he hasn't fallen off. I remember when this guy was in Seattle! Mangold is also responsible for Jones' success in New York.
DEFENSE
DE - Mario Williams (HOU)*
DE - Dwight Freeney (IND)*
DE - Robert Mathis (IND)
Comments: No arguments here. Aaron Smith was a bit too nicked up for PIT. Shaun Ellis has played well for NYJ.
DT - Albert Haynesworth (TEN)*
DT - Kris Jenkins (NYJ)*
DT - Shaun Rogers (CLE)
Comments: No arguments. These guys have all been game changers all year. Where is Hanoti Ngata, though? I've seen that guy run back INTs, chase down WRs and RBs downfield and go downfield in coverage. At 345 lbs, that's impressive. He's making Ray Lewis look like he's still great (he's not). But you can't take any of these guys down. Haynesworth is the best DT in the NFL and it isn't close.
OLB - James Harrison (PIT)*
OLB - Joey Porter (MIA)*
OLB - Terrell Suggs
Comments: I have Suggs listed as a DE, but whatever. Bart Scott is good, too. LaMarr Woodley deserved a shot, but again, their 3-4 defense skews things.
ILB - Ray Lewis (BAL)*
ILB - James Farrior (PIT)
Comments: More legacy picks. Lewis has been better than last year. But I'm too tired to even argue. Where is Keith Bulluck?
CB - Nnamdi Asomugha (OAK)*
CB - Courtland Finnegan (TEN)*
CB - Derrelle Revis (NYJ)
Comments: I actually have no problems with these. Great picks. Nnamdi is the best CB (possibly) in the NFL. Could be the next Deion Sanders. Teams won't even THROW IN HIS DIRECTION anymore. Finnegan is very feisty -- although it gets him in trouble often, he's a beast in coverage. Revis is a playmaker; leading the Jets' secondary.
FS - Ed Reed (BAL)*
Comments: No one else even warrants mentioning. Ed Reed is THE prototypical free safety. If there is a loose ball, a tipped pass, or a big play being made and BAL is playing -- ED REED IS MAKING IT. It is ri-DICULOUS how this guy is OMNIPRESENT when it comes to the football. If you looked up "Raven" or "Ballhawk" in the dictionary, you'd see Ed Reed's profile.
SS - Troy Polamalu (PIT)*
SS - Chris Hope (TEN)
Comments: Polamalu is healthy, but I dunno, I just don't feel it. Chris Hope (FROM?!?!?!) leads that TEN secondary.
SPECIAL TEAMS
P - Shane Lechler (OAK)*
Comments: Who cares?
PK - Stephen Gostkowski (NE)*
Comments: Ditto.
KR - Leon Washington (NYJ)*
Comments: FROM?!?!?!?!?!?! (FLORIDA STATE!!!)
ST - Brendon Ayanbadejo (BAL)*
Comments: Whatever.
My NFL Week 16 Power Rankings
My NFL Week 16 Power Rankings
12.16.08
I predicted there would be a great shakeup in the Top 10 this week in the rankings. Too many of the top 15 teams played each other and teams are injured/sliding here at the end of the season. This is why you must love the NFL. The magnitude of every game from here into and through the playoffs -- attention is palpable.
As they are as you await my rankings.
So I will keep you waiting no longer.
1. Indianapolis Colts. I refuse to put PIT any higher than 4, because 1. IND beat them head to head. 2. NYG beat them head to head. 3. BAL would've beaten them without that bogus TD call and 4. they still have to play TEN. If they pull that off, then PIT goes here next week. Until then? No. The Colts are the hottest team in the NFL and NO ONE wants to play them right now.
2. Tennessee Titans. They weren't really "upset" last week. The Texans finally broke out of their early-season malaise in the past few weeks. Too bad it's too little, too late. I had them winning 11 this year and that wasn't a stretch analyzing their roster. The early-season stretch of three straight road games and not having Reliant Stadium fully available due to the hurricane really set them back. They are near the top of the NFL in scoring, mind you. But this is the Titans' block here. I say they're reeling. Kerry Collins is their QB. Time has come today.
3. New York Football Giants. Yes, we missed Burress last week and missed him AND Jacobs vs. Dallas. They aren't the only reason the Giants have lost two straight. But let's not get too hasty here. Carolina is not better than the Giants. If they beat us Sunday, then they are. Pittsburgh lost to us. No way you can put them ahead of us either.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers. Sure, they find ways to win, and it's not about style points, but I GUARANTEE all those points they leave on the field will come back to haunt them in the playoffs. It won't in the regular season. They're one of those teams where the bye in the playoffs may backfire as the team that plays them will potentially have two weeks to (semi) prepare for them. They can be figured out, especially if you have a good slot receiver.
5. Carolina Panthers. Until/IF they beat the Giants, how can you realistically put them any higher? Other than Eli Manning (of late) who has a shakier QB amongst the team with the best records in the NFL than Carolina? Steve Smith is arguably the best all-around WR in the NFL. The Black Cats have a two-headed rushing attack, but the Giants have proven that they can slow that down. Tony Romo (and Witten) effectively beat the Giants. Romo gets rid of the ball and (at least on Sunday Night) doesn't make mistakes. Jake does (7-27, 72 yards, 4 INT vs. OAKLAND???). Panther fans need to real in their enthusiasm and think on that for a while. The Panthers' defense, while solid, will struggle to get consistent pressure on Manning. They'd better hope that Jacobs misses the game. That's their real hope here.
6. Baltimore Ravens. ESPN had Dallas here??? How??? But anyway, this team might be better than their 9-5 record. They've had two games where the refs took the game from them (vs. TEN and Sunday vs. PIT). That would make them 11-3. Who, realistically, other than NYG, PIT and IND -- who all beat them -- can you say is better than them? Not Miami. Although they are not far behind in these rankings, as you will see.
7. Atlanta Falcons. They win pretty. They win ugly. With a rookie QB and a first-year starting RB putting up all-world numbers (Turner: 15 rushing TD) and Roddy White having the season of his life as well. I am looking good in fantasy due to these two guys.
8. Miami Dolphins. The Fish are going to win the AFC East.
9. Dallas Cowboys. Hard to put them any higher. Their backs are against the wall. They defeated a beat-up and DEAD Redskins team (which lost to CIN???) and caught the Giants missing their two top offensive weapons. Let's not get carried away. A TRUE barometer of the Cowboys will come Saturday night when (I am picking, anyway) they lose to BAL.
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They're reeling. But I am not putting any of these other 9-5/8-6 teams ahead of them, either.
11. Minnesota Vikings. I can't justify putting them any higher. They have a shaky QB situation. Great backfield, and great defensive and offensive line. But if you are a bettor, would you take the Vikes on ANY spread right now?
12. New England Patriots. Yes, they beat the Raiders. But they are going to be the odd team out in the AFC East and the last wild card spot. The injuries have caught up to them.
13. New York Football Jets. Jets fans think the Jets are done. I think they have a way to get that last wild card spot. It's going to be tight. Gonna come down to Week 17 and the tiebreakers post-games. I think the Fish will win the division, but the Jets should beat Seattle and if they beat MIA (followed by the Patriots losing out) they will still get in.
14. Arizona Cardinals. That loss Sunday killed their chances to secure higher than a 3 spot in the playoffs. That is huge, because even though they'll be at home, their first game guarantees to be against a team they do not match up well against in Tampa Bay (most likely).
15. Philadelphia Eagles. They're still alive, somehow. No one would want to play them if they made the playoffs, either.
16. Chicago Bears. Yes, they're 8-6, but who fears these guys?
17. Denver Broncos. Ditto.
18. Houston Texans. They let me down, because I picked them to go far this year. Their last three games shows you why I had them winning 11. That win Sunday vs. TEN was NO "upset", either.
19. New Orleans Saints. They have slim hopes, still, but they basically need the Iggles, Cowboys, Tampa Bay and Fulcons to lose out. Is that really going to happen? That's what happens when you have an all-world QB, no running game and a perennially ABYSMAL defence.
20. Washington Redskins. You can call them the name that other NFC East teams' fans call them: DEADSKINS.
21. San Diego Chargers. Underachievers of the year. However, they can win out, have Denver lose out (including a loss to SD in Week 17) and still win their division. They'd have the 4 seed and likely land a rematch with the Colts. Honestly, with a clean slate, does anyone want to play this team in the playoffs when they're semi-healthy?
22. San Francisco 49ers. They will finish 7-9. They were dead in the water before they fired Nolan.
23. Buffalo Bills. JP Losman = YIKES.
24. Jacksonville Jaguars. They beat an equally dead team that has mailed it in (although they will check in to beat DET to finish the season).
25. Green Bay Packers. Yeah, what I said about JAX.
26. Cleveland Browns. Dear god. Romeo Crennel is a (word that rhymes with buckin') soldier like his injured starting tight end to stick in there with this menagerie.
27. Kansas City Chiefs. I keep telling myself they're not this bad. Maybe Carl Peterson's resignation (firing) will spark change.
28. Oakland Raiders. I was actually picking them to beat New England LOL
29. Seattle Seahawks. Just finish the season already, boys.
30. Cincinnati Bengals. Wow, they beat WARSHINGTON.
31. St. Louis Rams. Goodness gracious sakes alive they don't even have a pulse.
32. Detroit Lions. Good lord. They're going 0-16. No doubt about it. They have made their past couple of games interesting, but...
12.16.08
I predicted there would be a great shakeup in the Top 10 this week in the rankings. Too many of the top 15 teams played each other and teams are injured/sliding here at the end of the season. This is why you must love the NFL. The magnitude of every game from here into and through the playoffs -- attention is palpable.
As they are as you await my rankings.
So I will keep you waiting no longer.
1. Indianapolis Colts. I refuse to put PIT any higher than 4, because 1. IND beat them head to head. 2. NYG beat them head to head. 3. BAL would've beaten them without that bogus TD call and 4. they still have to play TEN. If they pull that off, then PIT goes here next week. Until then? No. The Colts are the hottest team in the NFL and NO ONE wants to play them right now.
2. Tennessee Titans. They weren't really "upset" last week. The Texans finally broke out of their early-season malaise in the past few weeks. Too bad it's too little, too late. I had them winning 11 this year and that wasn't a stretch analyzing their roster. The early-season stretch of three straight road games and not having Reliant Stadium fully available due to the hurricane really set them back. They are near the top of the NFL in scoring, mind you. But this is the Titans' block here. I say they're reeling. Kerry Collins is their QB. Time has come today.
3. New York Football Giants. Yes, we missed Burress last week and missed him AND Jacobs vs. Dallas. They aren't the only reason the Giants have lost two straight. But let's not get too hasty here. Carolina is not better than the Giants. If they beat us Sunday, then they are. Pittsburgh lost to us. No way you can put them ahead of us either.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers. Sure, they find ways to win, and it's not about style points, but I GUARANTEE all those points they leave on the field will come back to haunt them in the playoffs. It won't in the regular season. They're one of those teams where the bye in the playoffs may backfire as the team that plays them will potentially have two weeks to (semi) prepare for them. They can be figured out, especially if you have a good slot receiver.
5. Carolina Panthers. Until/IF they beat the Giants, how can you realistically put them any higher? Other than Eli Manning (of late) who has a shakier QB amongst the team with the best records in the NFL than Carolina? Steve Smith is arguably the best all-around WR in the NFL. The Black Cats have a two-headed rushing attack, but the Giants have proven that they can slow that down. Tony Romo (and Witten) effectively beat the Giants. Romo gets rid of the ball and (at least on Sunday Night) doesn't make mistakes. Jake does (7-27, 72 yards, 4 INT vs. OAKLAND???). Panther fans need to real in their enthusiasm and think on that for a while. The Panthers' defense, while solid, will struggle to get consistent pressure on Manning. They'd better hope that Jacobs misses the game. That's their real hope here.
6. Baltimore Ravens. ESPN had Dallas here??? How??? But anyway, this team might be better than their 9-5 record. They've had two games where the refs took the game from them (vs. TEN and Sunday vs. PIT). That would make them 11-3. Who, realistically, other than NYG, PIT and IND -- who all beat them -- can you say is better than them? Not Miami. Although they are not far behind in these rankings, as you will see.
7. Atlanta Falcons. They win pretty. They win ugly. With a rookie QB and a first-year starting RB putting up all-world numbers (Turner: 15 rushing TD) and Roddy White having the season of his life as well. I am looking good in fantasy due to these two guys.
8. Miami Dolphins. The Fish are going to win the AFC East.
9. Dallas Cowboys. Hard to put them any higher. Their backs are against the wall. They defeated a beat-up and DEAD Redskins team (which lost to CIN???) and caught the Giants missing their two top offensive weapons. Let's not get carried away. A TRUE barometer of the Cowboys will come Saturday night when (I am picking, anyway) they lose to BAL.
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They're reeling. But I am not putting any of these other 9-5/8-6 teams ahead of them, either.
11. Minnesota Vikings. I can't justify putting them any higher. They have a shaky QB situation. Great backfield, and great defensive and offensive line. But if you are a bettor, would you take the Vikes on ANY spread right now?
12. New England Patriots. Yes, they beat the Raiders. But they are going to be the odd team out in the AFC East and the last wild card spot. The injuries have caught up to them.
13. New York Football Jets. Jets fans think the Jets are done. I think they have a way to get that last wild card spot. It's going to be tight. Gonna come down to Week 17 and the tiebreakers post-games. I think the Fish will win the division, but the Jets should beat Seattle and if they beat MIA (followed by the Patriots losing out) they will still get in.
14. Arizona Cardinals. That loss Sunday killed their chances to secure higher than a 3 spot in the playoffs. That is huge, because even though they'll be at home, their first game guarantees to be against a team they do not match up well against in Tampa Bay (most likely).
15. Philadelphia Eagles. They're still alive, somehow. No one would want to play them if they made the playoffs, either.
16. Chicago Bears. Yes, they're 8-6, but who fears these guys?
17. Denver Broncos. Ditto.
18. Houston Texans. They let me down, because I picked them to go far this year. Their last three games shows you why I had them winning 11. That win Sunday vs. TEN was NO "upset", either.
19. New Orleans Saints. They have slim hopes, still, but they basically need the Iggles, Cowboys, Tampa Bay and Fulcons to lose out. Is that really going to happen? That's what happens when you have an all-world QB, no running game and a perennially ABYSMAL defence.
20. Washington Redskins. You can call them the name that other NFC East teams' fans call them: DEADSKINS.
21. San Diego Chargers. Underachievers of the year. However, they can win out, have Denver lose out (including a loss to SD in Week 17) and still win their division. They'd have the 4 seed and likely land a rematch with the Colts. Honestly, with a clean slate, does anyone want to play this team in the playoffs when they're semi-healthy?
22. San Francisco 49ers. They will finish 7-9. They were dead in the water before they fired Nolan.
23. Buffalo Bills. JP Losman = YIKES.
24. Jacksonville Jaguars. They beat an equally dead team that has mailed it in (although they will check in to beat DET to finish the season).
25. Green Bay Packers. Yeah, what I said about JAX.
26. Cleveland Browns. Dear god. Romeo Crennel is a (word that rhymes with buckin') soldier like his injured starting tight end to stick in there with this menagerie.
27. Kansas City Chiefs. I keep telling myself they're not this bad. Maybe Carl Peterson's resignation (firing) will spark change.
28. Oakland Raiders. I was actually picking them to beat New England LOL
29. Seattle Seahawks. Just finish the season already, boys.
30. Cincinnati Bengals. Wow, they beat WARSHINGTON.
31. St. Louis Rams. Goodness gracious sakes alive they don't even have a pulse.
32. Detroit Lions. Good lord. They're going 0-16. No doubt about it. They have made their past couple of games interesting, but...
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