Conference Championship Round
Checking Down:
-Where was Troy Polamalu? He’s clearly not right, and while the extra week will help, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him be a non factor in the Super Bowl, like Dwight Freeney last year for the Colts.
-Big Ben, what was that? Again a terrible performance covered by good running, good D, and one good play at the end.
-Mendenhall did a good job controlling the game, but they for some reason couldn’t use him to end the game quicker. Taking away the 35 yard run he had 26 carries for 86 yards, a not good average. And he had almost nothing in the second half. They need to work on that.
-Hines Ward and Mike Wallace pulled disappearing acts, though that might have been because of Ben. They will need to play better, but Tramon is up to covering Wallace and Charles Woodson will erase Hines Ward.
-Woodson is a little slower and less reliable than he was a few years ago, but he’s perfect for Ward, who could be described the same way.
-Ben needs to take less hits. Clay Matthews is going to be all over him. Ben is strong enough to get through him though.
-The injury to Pouncey might be devastating. BJ Raji is going to have a field day. Of course, we have said that the Steelers were going to fall because of offensive line injuries, and they continue to move along and succeed.
-James Harrison was quiet other than one big tackle. That won’t last.
-Another weird Passer Rating game. Mark Sanchez has a good game on paper, 20-33 for 233 and 2 TDs, but overall he flew passes wide and long, and had two bad fumbles. He could have played so much better.
-Braylon Edwards’ amazing disappearing act for most of the game didn’t help Sanchez though.
-I applaud Jerricho’s efforts to fight through a hamstring injury, but he clearly wasn’t right.
-I don’t particularly like Shonn Greene and even I admit he should be playing. I know LT is the vet and big guy on campus. However, he got 16 yards on 9 carries. Greene got 52 on 9 carries. Give him the damn ball next year Rex. Let LT be the Kevin Faulk for this team.
-Green Bay dominated that game but somehow scored only 21 points. It should have been more. I am sure they will fix that, but it is still challenging and perplexing.
-Starks is nice but needs to run for a better average against the Steelers or the Pack might as well pass all the time.
-Greg Jennings is severely underrated. My elite receivers are White, Wayne, Andre Johnson, and Calvin Johnson, but Jennings is right there. He reminds me so much of pre-gun-wielding Marvin Harrison. Not tall or long or really fast but precise and great at running every route, good hands, in tune with his QB. Same height and body type as Marvin. Not sure Ike Taylor can cover him.
-Rodgers had an average game and still won. Just saying.
-B.J. Raji. Best. Dance. Ever.
-Forte had a great game. He was average running the ball but had 10 catches for 90 yards, moving the Bears down the field again and again.
-What are the odds someone offers Chicago a second round pick for Caleb Hanie this offseason? Like 80%? I mean if Charlie freaking Whitehurst causes such an offer….
-I came away impressed with the play of GB Safety Nick Collins, who I had never really looked for before. He will get to know Heath Miller very well most likely. I’m calling that early as a key matchup because it will affect Ben’s security blanket. But, I get ahead of myself. We have two weeks.
Going Deep:
At this point we only have two teams left. The two teams eliminated in the championship round are very good teams and shouldn’t have a bunch to work on. The Jets are far more likely than the Bears to repeat their success next year. This is both because of the luck factor that got them here and the quality of their roster. However, both teams could stand to improve.
-The Bears need to do a few things. First, a scat back would be nice. Chester is nice but not a long term solution and his skill set doubles over Forte’s. Either Hester needs to develop further or they need to get a real WR. Vincent Jackson? However the overriding need is for some offensive lineman. That would help out tremendously.
Otherwise, the offense needs time to gel. Martz can continue to help Cutler grow and better utilize Knox and Olsen. He needs to understand the offense better and get the reads down. A backup would also be good for the inevitable games Cutler gets killed.
-The Jets need to work on a few things. Getting Mark Sanchez to understand not to sail passes and how to go side to side on reads while still staying accurate would be great. Choosing an offensive identity is important (they were better when they were a running deep streak team, I’m not sure what they were this playoffs, despite still being pretty good.
They do need a dominant pass rusher to make that defense truly scary. I don’t know if you can just find one, but because that defense relies on blitzing so much, they do get compromised sometimes. A Julius Peppers would make that team horrific to play.
In the next two weeks, I am going to examine the key matchups for the Super Bowl, make my picks, and round out my examinations for all the non playoff teams. I am going to almost completely ignore the Pro Bowl, you know, like the rest of America.
BLISS
No comments:
Post a Comment