Pyle of List

Every Monday, our very own DLamp will be taking a look at what just happened the day before in the NFL, and looking ahead to the Monday night game(s).

I might have mentioned this before, but I am not a college sports fan. It’s not that I dislike it in any manner, I’m just not a fan. I don’t follow college football probably because my alma mater sucks at it. I fill out a bracket for March Madness every year but have no idea what I’m doing. So Satrudays don’t hold a special place in my heart like they do for most males in this country. However, the one advantage of that is when the NFL Playoffs start. Then, I get what are essentially bonus games on a day I normally don’t get football. And they’re going to be pretty good games since, hey, it’s the playoffs. I know none of us were/are math majors, but I think we can all agree on this:

Two days of NFL games > One day of NFL games

Is Peyton Manning entering Bret Favre teritorry?

He is for me. First off, I know the constant media ball washing of Manning is nothing new. I’ve tolerated it for all these years because I thought he deserved it. He always seemed to be the best QB in the biz and therefor deserved the praise heaped upon him. I can’t say the same for Favre, which is what made me despise him so much. But two things have bothered me recently about Manning: 1) The bus-job he pulled on his o-line after the playoff loss. Come on, kid! Those guys are out there protecting your ass week in and week out. You need to have their back the same way they have yours. You’re never going to hear Jeff Saturday say “well, Peyton really let us down today” so you should never hear Pey Pey throw Saturday and his crew under the bus. 2) Winning his third MVP this year. I just don’t think he deserved it. True, there wasn’t a stand out performer this year (like Brady last year), but that means Manning didn’t stand out either. It’s almost as if the voters sit down and go, “well, no one is blowing me away…let’s just give the thing to Manning.” and that is totally bogus to me.

Chargers in the Super Bowl?

Probably not, but man is it fun to watch them play. They are just bad enough to make every game close, but also just good enough to pull out the wins. Living in LA means you don’t have a pro football team (outside of USC), so a lot of us kind of gravitate to the Chargers since they are only two hours away, and so Saturday’s overtime victory saw me and three other Angelinos jumping and screaming and high fiving all night long. I could definitely stand a couple more weeks of that.

Did the Cards just Rocky III us?

Okay, so maybe it’s not the perfect metaphor, but AMC was running all the Rocky movies in order all weekend and I watched part of all the real ones (Rocky V doesn’t count in my book) . Rocky III is the most interesting to me because the climactic fight is the only one in the series that isn’t closely contested. Rocky beats the crap out of Clubber Lang in their rematch. He lays low the entire match, taking a few punches to the head so that Clubber is gassed and then punches his face in. That’s exactly what the Cards have been doing! Since clinching, they have been abismal. They got blown out by the Vikes and the Pats before winning their season finale and limping into the playoffs. But just when those later rounds started, you saw that maybe the Cards were playing possum a little bit. They looked sharp on both sides of the ball Saturday and even ran the battle slightly effectively. In the span of a couple hours they went from a for sure one and done to a dangerously offensive team that some people might not want to play right now.

Anyone else tired of all the ‘coach search’ talk?

Because I sure am. Maybe this is ignorance on my part, but I really do not care who is coaching where. Was I surprised when Shanahan was fired? Of course, and so it was kind of exciting for the day. Can I not wait to see who the Jets/Browns/Lions/Rams/Raiders/anyone else sign as  their new head coach? Hardly.
Why no excitement for the Philly/Minny game last night?

I think I didn’t get up for this game because it was a foregone conclusion that Philly would win. I don’t know what it was, but in my mind there was no way the Vikings were pulling this one off. I don’t think it has anything to do with the players (althought Tarvaris Jackson is reason enough to pick Philly to win) but more of the franchises. I mean, for as long as I’ve been a football fan Philly has been a powerhouse. Four straight NFC title games, one Super Bowl, and countless other playoff appearances just have them labelled as winners in my mind. Minnesota? Not so much. Even when Culpepper and Moss were tearing it up I didn’t take this team seriously. Maybe it’s the purple…