Show The The- Therun run down on the last 3 NFL games I Jeff Dixon Editing Supervisor We dont don't typically discuss non-Bruins non sports here at af the Globe but I 1 cant can't help but indulge from time to time and share some observations about one of my true loves American football The past month for fans of both the NFL and what hat they call Division I ball has been ripe with controversy surprises and my special little favorite The end of the NFL regular season has been a welcome relief for us Raiders fans fansin fansin fansin in recent recent years as it means that our beloved Silver Black wont won't have a chance to embarrass' embarrass themselves on the field for the next seven months Which isn't to say I nook look forward to the a sideshow in itself in Alameda Yet even at 5 11 their best record since 2005 the Raiders managed to directly affect the future of a couple other teams Teams which as it happens are olde tyme nemeses Take recently terminated Denver Broncos coach for lif life Mike Shanahan whose winning record against Oakland is unparalleled since he became the Broncos' Broncos head coach i iNot Not only was he 2424 2424 24 1 24 and without a playoff I i appearance over the last three years his apparent i edge over and anger toward i his former fonner boss Raiders I i owner Al Dav Davis s was 1 beginning to dull and not produce the victories that fad had ad been his yearly twice-yearly payback ritual over being i stiffed for thousand after he was fired as the i i Raiders head coach in 1989 Hed He'd suffered two embarrassing defeats to the Raiders in inas as many seasons including a 31 10 mauling in Denver last November Soon after that morale-crushing morale defeat the Broncos blew their theix season- season long lead of the division Their three game lead vaporized in three straight games resulting in one of the biggest implosions EVer Its It's no coincidence that hes he's gone Shanahan had control of that franchises franchise's football operations the final word on coaching and player personnel draft picks defensive and offensive philosophies But with great power comes great responsibility at least when you dont don't own the team outright And responsibility number one in Denver is beati beating tg the Raiders The Themore Themore Themore more he f focused on himself and his power who was making the decisions rather than th the quality and type of decisions being made the more his team and Broncos fans suffered Its It's i the downfall or at least i the impediment to fulfilled potential l in organizations i throughout human history 1 Most ironic of all is that the more he became like his bete noir that paranoid control freak know-it- know all Al Davis the less successful he became asa as asa asa a coach Directly because of this the unthinkable happened and Shanahan got Good Goodone Goodone Goodone one Despite losing to Shanahan with nauseating consistency Im I'm gonna miss seeing that orange face of his nearly pop off his skull whenever things weren't going his way and especially so when his team was getting embarrassed by mine Do I 1 hear a Mike Shanahan for Chiefs head coach in 2010 O The West wont won't be the same without him Also consider the curious case of another former Raiders coach Jon Gruden whose Buccaneers were sitting atop the South at 9 3 and seemed a lock for the they lost four straight Their last loss in a game which would have secured them thema a spot in the playoffs and eliminated the on now-on- the of I Eagles from even having havinga a season post-season was against the since long-since-eliminated Raiders who had nothing it seemed it seemed to play for and no chance to beat the Bucs in Tampa Unless we consider that factor which besides raw speed seems to influence Davis' Davis decisions more than any other vengeance Davis traded Gruden I know to Tampa in February 2002 only to have Tampa beat the Raiders in the SuperB owl less than one year later Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks broke Raiders quarterback Rich Gannons Gannon's neck in the regular season in 2004 ending his career and opening a void under center ever since And Lane Kiffin who couldn't bring his daddy Bucs Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin to the Raiders in 2008 decided to sabotage his way to a season mid-season termination in Oakland in part because of this casting a shadow over the little progress the Raiders made over the rest of the season under Interim Coach Tom Cable Cable beat Gruden Grudens Gruden's now watching the playoffs in a seat that gets hotter by the month and Cable just may have won himself another year at the helm Enough about the Raiders though There are only three games left The conference championship games are this weekend and bring heretofore unseen story storylines lines and intrigue and the could only dream of T Two vo wild card teams Philadelphia see above and Baltimore are in after impressive almost improbable road wins And Arizona yes that Arizona team that as the seed fourth-seed lock by virtue a veal-tenderloin veal tough division early and coasting feet first and face down into the playoffs came out and took it to Atlanta for its first playoff win since who-knows-when who and then went to Charlotte and won its first East-Coast East game all year by taming naw flaw the Panthers What to follow in the Championship Game Will Donovan McNabb be the Phoenix rising from Arizona as Frank Costanza might put it Dude was benched in haste during a game by guy BYU-guy Andy Reid only to come back with a scorned purpose that pushed the Eagles to the finish and into the ticket that was i punched punch d with Wih t a three hours three hours j j long plants down down ants spanking i of the t l Cowboys inthe in the season finale Can he avoid throwing interceptions to Arizona's studious pass defense which knew what Jake Delhomme was was thinking before Jake Delhomme even knew it last Saturday and wound up with five picks McNabb is helped by by a great defense and the games game's best outlet in Brian Westbrook but he will have to throw and he must be accurate Can ANYONE whether it be Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel or ageless man-beast man safety Brian Dawkins keep a alid alid alid lid on Larry Fitzgerald Fitzgera d Fitzgeralds Fitzgerald's bigger than any anyone anyone anyone one of the aforementioned and doesn't at all care if Kurt Warner throws him the ballin ball ballin ballin in double-coverage double he will catch anything So if they cant can't at least slow him down they'd better get fierce and constant pressure on Kurt Warner Otherwise it willbe will willbe willbe be over Brian Westbrook Donovan McNabb and Phillys Philly's offensive line notwithstanding if Kurt Warner has time Larry Fitzgerald will be open And if that happens Arizona will score McNabb will have to throw farther often McNabb will get picked off McNabb will get flustered McNabb will another interception Philly will fall behind McNabb will on national television again from nerves and exhaustion Really it hinges on McNabb He can sling it with Kurt Warner and has more weapons just not the best one Arizona wins What to follow in the C G pi Game It Its It's s not the he dog in ip the fight fight its it's the fight in the nir R two close losses to the one of which was decided on a controversial call calC Now add Ray Lewis licking his bleached teeth Baltimore wins It shouldn't be this simple but it is Add em era up Ray Lewis is crazy the Ravens defensive roster is criminally loaded and partly comprised of criminals Defensive Coordinator Rex Ryan knows how to apply confusing manic painful pressure pressure on an offensive line and quarterback and safety Ed Reed will sit back there like hawk waiting to pick off a multiply-concussed multiply Ben errant or forced throw As good as Pittsburgh's defense is js Joe Flacco FIacco wont won't take as a's as many sacks as does Partly because hes he's far more mobile and also because hes he's not afraid to throw the ball away in the face of obvious pressure unlike Zone blitz neutralized Given both defenses' defenses propensity to blitz often watch both offensive lines in this game to see which holds up better Whichever line cant can't pick up opposing blitzes will will belong the loser The safety is a draw but still worth watching because Ed Reed and Pittsburgh's Troy are the best bestin bestin bestin in the game with Ed Reed being brilliant in coverage and when he runs with an interception and Troy being able to do anything short of playing nose much Oddly enough I picked the two Vegas underdogs to win thi this weekend ARI 25 BAL 6 Perhaps a trip on the Wendover Fun Furl Bus is in order I |