Just Football Talk
If you're not interested in football, you won't be interested in my post tonight. I love football and love talking about football, so my blog would not be complete without a healthy dose of my football chatter.
How about the Vikings? I had the day off, so I was able to watch the whole game and it was well worth watching. Beth made Buffalo chicken dip for the game (a recipe from my sister-in-law Mel, who is the world’s greatest cook) and I had the pleasure of sitting in front of my big screen t.v., munching on chips and dip and watching Vikings RB Adrian Peterson set the NFL single game rushing record today… against the Chargers defense of all teams. Korey went to the game today, so it was cool he got to see history being made.
Yeah, Peterson’s pretty good. I’m not ready to declare him the best running back in the league yet, but I definitely smell a changing of the guard in the air. However, in front of every great running back there is a great offensive line (unless your name is Barry Sanders). So before we heap tons of praise on Peterson, let’s remember it all starts up front. We paid offensive guard Steve Hutchinson a bunch of money to lure him away from Seattle. At the time, all the “experts” were ridiculing the Vikings for doing so. However, Hutchinson is a big reason why the Vikings O-line is blasting craters through the line of scrimmage. Seems like a pretty good investment now, doesn’t it?
So the Colts and Patriots played the Super Bowl today and the Patriots won. I’m not sure what they are going to do in Phoenix on February 3, 2008. I am sure they had been planning for the big game for a couple years now -- there’s a lot to get ready for: logistics, security, lodging, etc. But now that the Colts and Patriots have settled the championship just halfway through the regular season, there’s not much left to get excited about. In fact, I heard that Roger Goodell was going order the NFL to play all the remaining games in London, Paris and Tokyo, because they just love American football so much overseas. Not.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen a more overly-hyped game this early in the regular season before. Yes, it is true this was a big game between two undefeated teams, and it almost certainly has playoff implications, but I think the sports world went just “a little” overboard with the hype. It is probable that these two teams will meet again in the playoffs. THEN they can hype the heck out of the game, because THEN the game has overwhelming significance. What I'm trying to say here is that it isn't important who won the first game; whoever wins the second game is all that matters.
At the end of the day, the Patriots won a regular season game. That’s all it means. There are still seven more regular season games to go. Don’t forget, this is football and absolutely anything can happen (which is why I love the sport so much), so let’s not get too excited over a regular season game in early November. The Patriots seem invincible right now, but that can change. I’m not ready to name them Super Bowl champions yet, but I might be the only one who feels that way?!
Best play of the day: Dallas tight end Jason Witten caught a ball over the middle, took a helmet-to-helmet hit from an Eagles defender, his helmet popped off, and he continued to run without a helmet for another 25 yards.
I wish the NFL would make good use of their rules committee and implement a rule making all intentional helmet-to-helmet hits illegal. To me, that’s not how football is supposed to be played. In fact, when I played ball in high school, leading with your helmet was illegal -- it was called “spearing,” but this rule seems to have fallen by the wayside over the last 20 years. Not only could this hit have severely injured Witten, but the Philadelphia defender made no attempt to drive his shoulders and wrap his arms (i.e. use proper tackling technique), and he simply fell to the ground and watched Witten sprint up the field. There have been many head and neck injuries this year from helmet-to-helmet hits, and almost all of them were unnecessary. Buffalo’s tight end Kevin Everett sustained a broken neck and is lucky he’s not a quadriplegic. A kid from Brainerd’s football team was flown to the Cities with a bleed on his brain from a helmet-to-helmet hit last week. Another high school kid in Wisconsin is in a coma on life support after a helmet-to-helmet hit. Football is a rough sport without a doubt, but the helmet is meant to protect the head, not to be used as a weapon, which I think is a foreign concept for most kids these days.
There is a reason why concussions are on the rise in football and it is not because players are hitting harder. It is because they are using their helmets instead of their heads.
How about the Vikings? I had the day off, so I was able to watch the whole game and it was well worth watching. Beth made Buffalo chicken dip for the game (a recipe from my sister-in-law Mel, who is the world’s greatest cook) and I had the pleasure of sitting in front of my big screen t.v., munching on chips and dip and watching Vikings RB Adrian Peterson set the NFL single game rushing record today… against the Chargers defense of all teams. Korey went to the game today, so it was cool he got to see history being made.
Yeah, Peterson’s pretty good. I’m not ready to declare him the best running back in the league yet, but I definitely smell a changing of the guard in the air. However, in front of every great running back there is a great offensive line (unless your name is Barry Sanders). So before we heap tons of praise on Peterson, let’s remember it all starts up front. We paid offensive guard Steve Hutchinson a bunch of money to lure him away from Seattle. At the time, all the “experts” were ridiculing the Vikings for doing so. However, Hutchinson is a big reason why the Vikings O-line is blasting craters through the line of scrimmage. Seems like a pretty good investment now, doesn’t it?
So the Colts and Patriots played the Super Bowl today and the Patriots won. I’m not sure what they are going to do in Phoenix on February 3, 2008. I am sure they had been planning for the big game for a couple years now -- there’s a lot to get ready for: logistics, security, lodging, etc. But now that the Colts and Patriots have settled the championship just halfway through the regular season, there’s not much left to get excited about. In fact, I heard that Roger Goodell was going order the NFL to play all the remaining games in London, Paris and Tokyo, because they just love American football so much overseas. Not.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen a more overly-hyped game this early in the regular season before. Yes, it is true this was a big game between two undefeated teams, and it almost certainly has playoff implications, but I think the sports world went just “a little” overboard with the hype. It is probable that these two teams will meet again in the playoffs. THEN they can hype the heck out of the game, because THEN the game has overwhelming significance. What I'm trying to say here is that it isn't important who won the first game; whoever wins the second game is all that matters.
At the end of the day, the Patriots won a regular season game. That’s all it means. There are still seven more regular season games to go. Don’t forget, this is football and absolutely anything can happen (which is why I love the sport so much), so let’s not get too excited over a regular season game in early November. The Patriots seem invincible right now, but that can change. I’m not ready to name them Super Bowl champions yet, but I might be the only one who feels that way?!
Best play of the day: Dallas tight end Jason Witten caught a ball over the middle, took a helmet-to-helmet hit from an Eagles defender, his helmet popped off, and he continued to run without a helmet for another 25 yards.
I wish the NFL would make good use of their rules committee and implement a rule making all intentional helmet-to-helmet hits illegal. To me, that’s not how football is supposed to be played. In fact, when I played ball in high school, leading with your helmet was illegal -- it was called “spearing,” but this rule seems to have fallen by the wayside over the last 20 years. Not only could this hit have severely injured Witten, but the Philadelphia defender made no attempt to drive his shoulders and wrap his arms (i.e. use proper tackling technique), and he simply fell to the ground and watched Witten sprint up the field. There have been many head and neck injuries this year from helmet-to-helmet hits, and almost all of them were unnecessary. Buffalo’s tight end Kevin Everett sustained a broken neck and is lucky he’s not a quadriplegic. A kid from Brainerd’s football team was flown to the Cities with a bleed on his brain from a helmet-to-helmet hit last week. Another high school kid in Wisconsin is in a coma on life support after a helmet-to-helmet hit. Football is a rough sport without a doubt, but the helmet is meant to protect the head, not to be used as a weapon, which I think is a foreign concept for most kids these days.
There is a reason why concussions are on the rise in football and it is not because players are hitting harder. It is because they are using their helmets instead of their heads.
