Recapping the Weekend in Sports (Because the NBA Lockout Has Finally Struck Games)

Obviously, I have to start this post about the weekend in sports by discussing the (1) LSU vs (2) Alabama game on Saturday which was hyped to unbelievable proportions as being the "Game of the Century." Well, the so-called game of the century ended up with a final score of 9-6, decided by a game-winning field goal in overtime. As far as LSU was, they were as good as they could have been against Alabama's impressive defense, scoring only because of their impressive kicker. On the other hand, Alabama's kickers cost them the game, only getting 2 field goals out of 6 attempts, their longest tries from the 46 and 34 yard lines. You can bet that the 2 kickers from Alabama, especially Cade Foster, cost any slim chance of them making it to the NFL with such a piss-poor performance. Yet somehow, the new BCS rankings revealed that Alabama only fell to #3 behind Oklahoma State, staying ahead of Stanford. You know, last time I checked, scoring no touchdowns and whiffing 4 field goals is incredibly bad and much worse than two teams that have perfect records in Stanford and Boise State. Once again, the BCS shows their bias by keeping an undeserving SEC team alive.

In the NFL, there were 2 big games that were overhyped to monstrous proportions: the New York Giants facing the New England Patriots for the first time since 18-1 and the 2nd meeting of the season between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. In the Revenge Bowl game, we were granted the pleasure of watching a game that was 0-0 at halftime, the first time the Patriots have been held scoreless at halftime since the early 90s. The 2nd half was a much different game, led by Tom Brady leading quite the impressive drive in less than 3 minutes to secure a 3-point lead with less than 2 minutes left. Eli Manning has been talking this whole season about how he is one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL and should be considered every bit as good as his brother or Tom Brady. Most in the land of ESPN scoffed at this comment since Tom Brady is their God, but Eli Manning led an even more impressive game-winning drive to win by 4 points with 15 seconds left. Tom Brady threw 2 interceptions; Brady is quite possibly having his worst season as of yet. The Giants victory snaps a 35-game winning streak by the Patriots at home and delays Tom Brady and Bill Belichick from passing Don Shula and Dan Marino by 1 more game. The rate the Patriots are playing though, they may have to wait a while longer since they have the Jets at New York next week.

The game of the night was between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in their first meeting since Week 1. Going into the game, you'd be hard-pressed to find a neutral sports journalist who could easily name the best team in the AFC. I'll get into more on that later. In Week 1, the Ravens demolished the Steelers and many were wondering what was wrong with the Steelers. As they won more games and beat the Patriots however, many fools believed the Steelers had righted their ship while the Ravens had an idiotic loss against the Jaguars and nearly imploded against the Cardinals, two of the worst teams in the league. At the end of the day however, the Steelers played the role of the Patriots and the Ravens played the role of the Giants, with both games ending in eerily similar fashion.


The top 3 AFC teams, the Patriots, Ravens, and Steelers, are all terrible teams. Yes, they are the best in the AFC, but compared to the Packers, 49ers, Giants, and Lions, these AFC teams are a joke. The Patriots have the 32nd rated defense in the league, a weak offensive line, and only one reliable wide receiver, even though they have on of the top 10 quarterbacks of all time. The Ravens have the 2nd best defense in the NFL, but their offense is just plain terrible. Joe Flacco is an average quarterback who regularly makes boneheaded decisions and can't seem to understand when it's better to rush or pass. The Steelers have the #1 rated defense in the league (for now) and a strong offense, but once they get to the red zone, they choke. When the Steelers run into a team that doesn't allow rushing touchdowns, like say the 49ers, they won't be getting easy points.


How bad is the AFC this year? The team with the best record in the AFC for the next week.... are the Cincinnati Bengals with a 6-2 record. The Houston Texans are in 2nd place with a 6-3 record. The Ravens and Steelers are the 2 wild card teams, with the Patriots at #3 and the Chiefs at the default position of #4 leading the incredibly bad AFC West with a 4-4 record. The Bengals, a team led by 2 rookies, are the best team in the AFC. Wrap your head around that. The Jets are in 7th place, with their only hope of a playoff berth coming with games against the Bills and Patriots, while also hoping the Dolphins don't start becoming serious now that they've beat the Chiefs. The Bills have been exposed now as been pretenders, losing games one after another after initially being one of the 3 undefeated teams alongside the Lions and Packers.


Compare that to the vastly superior NFC with the Packers in 1st place with a perfect 8-0 record, the 49ers in 2nd place with a 7-1 record, the Giants in 3rd place at 6-2, the Saints in 4th at 6-3, with the wild card spots belonging to the Lions and Falcons at 6-2 and 5-3, respectively.


It's pretty obvious at this point, but the NFC is all but assured the Super Bowl this year.


Oh, Thursday Night Football has its first game this week between the Raiders and Chargers in what should prove to be an incredible lulz-fest. The Chiefs tied the division last week, but with the Chiefs, Chargers, and Raiders all losing today, Thursday will prove to be crucial to winning the AFC West, especially since Denver is fucking everything up with their big win against the rebuilding Raiders. This AFC West non-drama-drama is like last year's NFC West drama all over again!