Monday, February 05, 2007
Super Bowl Thoughts ...
... You have to give so much credit to the Colts’ game plan for last night’s win. Throughout the last two weeks, I kept reading about how Urlacher made the Bears’ defense go because he was able to get so deep in the two-deep zone and take away the middle of the field. The Colt’s conceded that and passed beneath Urlacher. The result was 10 tackles for Urlacher and 13 for Lance Briggs, but also 10 catches for Joseph Addai (for a mere 65 yards, but still), 24 first downs (to 11 for the Bears), 81 plays (to 49 for the Bears) and a Colts’ offense that held the ball for 38 minutes. Moreover, the Colts had an astonishing 42 rushes and 25 pass completions, allowing them to completely control the game.
-) I guess I’m OK with Peyton Manning getting the MVP, but that’s largely because everyone on the Colts played well without anyone standing out. Addai has 10 catches, Dominic Rhodes rushes for 113 yards, the Colts’ dimeback (Hayden) returns an INT for a touchdown (a backbreaker and an awful, awful throw by Rex Grossman) and Bob Sanders gets a pick. The Colts’ defense, overall, was terrific. I can’t ever remember a defense turning it around from regular season to postseason like that.
-) The Bears have some real concern heading into next season. Thomas Jones (unquestionably the Bears’ MVP last night) is not going to be happy platooning with Cedric Benson for another year, and Benson is getting paid a lot of money to be a backup. Something has to give there (of course, this could depend on the severity of Benson’s knee injury).
Also, Grossman was terrible last night—and it’s not the first time this season. I’ve been one of the few who thought Lovie Smith did the right thing by leaving him as the starter. It’s his first full year as a starter, and if you benched him this year, you were essentially writing Grossman off. But maybe they should. A lot of first-time starters in similar situations have played pretty well—Chad Pennington, Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Tony Romo—and Grossman simply did not. Maybe he will mature, but the Bears have to be worried.
-) Who would have thought that, in the two biggest football games of the year, a team would return the opening kickoff for a touchdown—and lose by double digits? Weird.
-) I guess I’m OK with Peyton Manning getting the MVP, but that’s largely because everyone on the Colts played well without anyone standing out. Addai has 10 catches, Dominic Rhodes rushes for 113 yards, the Colts’ dimeback (Hayden) returns an INT for a touchdown (a backbreaker and an awful, awful throw by Rex Grossman) and Bob Sanders gets a pick. The Colts’ defense, overall, was terrific. I can’t ever remember a defense turning it around from regular season to postseason like that.
-) The Bears have some real concern heading into next season. Thomas Jones (unquestionably the Bears’ MVP last night) is not going to be happy platooning with Cedric Benson for another year, and Benson is getting paid a lot of money to be a backup. Something has to give there (of course, this could depend on the severity of Benson’s knee injury).
Also, Grossman was terrible last night—and it’s not the first time this season. I’ve been one of the few who thought Lovie Smith did the right thing by leaving him as the starter. It’s his first full year as a starter, and if you benched him this year, you were essentially writing Grossman off. But maybe they should. A lot of first-time starters in similar situations have played pretty well—Chad Pennington, Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Tony Romo—and Grossman simply did not. Maybe he will mature, but the Bears have to be worried.
-) Who would have thought that, in the two biggest football games of the year, a team would return the opening kickoff for a touchdown—and lose by double digits? Weird.
# posted by EJ @ 9:17 AM 
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Also worth noting: If Hunter Smith had handled the snap on the Colts' first extra point, Big Thunder would have predicted the exact score in the Super Bowl.
That's right, Budds. The one factor that I didn't consider when analyzing this game was Hunter Smith's hands, which, as everyone knows, are notoriously bad in night games broadcast by CBS against NFC North opponents in stadiums south of the Mason-Dixon line while kicking toward the south end of the stadium in the rain. Why didn't I realize that??
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