NawFuL Notes

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Bye-bye Bill


Is there a soul alive who didn't think Al Davis would can Bill Callahan? With so many available coaches in the unemployment line it only makes sense for Big Al to make a move now. With luck, the Raiders might land somebody like the ex-Cards head cheese, who also knows something about teams that don't win on the road. 2004 should be a big rebuilding year for the Raiders. The aging bodies of Jerry Rice and Tim Brown can only carry a team so far, and their day is about done. Watch Big Al snag Terrell Owens!


Glenn 8-D 2:00:00 AM

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Week 17 reflections


The thrill of victory is still sinking in, but I thought I would take a moment to review the final week of the regular NawFuL season.

THE SURFY ... The Junior Bro offered a congratulatory phone call shortly after the Dolphins and Falcons wrapped up their wins. That was a very classy move from a classy fellow prognosticator. Thanks, Sean. I know how much defending that title meant to you and I am sure it will swing your way again eventually. You made me earn every one of those splits. With the vagaries of the NawFuL it could have gone either way, and for a while this afternoon I was unconvinced that we wouldn't be playing the postseason. Now with the picks finished and the Niners and Raiders both out of the picture, we can simply ignore the run-up to Stupor Bore XXXVIII. (My pick is the Patsies over the Eagles -- or maybe the Rams.)

THE GAMES... Hats off to the Seahawks. Everything that needed to happen for that team to make the playoffs did. They played the Niners well and reaped the rewards, thanks to Dallas and Minnesota collapsing. Now they get to travel to Green Bay again, where they got trounced earlier in the season. Will they exact revenge? Not against a peaking Packers offense.

The Raiders fizzled in San Diego, as they managed to do in every other road game this year. Pathetic! The ESPN gurus said coach Bill Callahan should be excused for the poor performance of his team on account of excessive injuries to key players. Perhaps that had something to do with 4-12, but that doesn't excuse the "healthy" players who could and should have stepped up. I saw every minute of that Monday night debacle against the Packers and, as Sean so aptly stated, the Raiders looked like they had quit. Can we say defense? The offense looked pretty shaky against the Chargers, too.

How about the Lions upending the Rams? What a way to go into the bye week before your playoff debut. St. Louis blew what should have been an easy shot at home field advantage. They'll miss it when they visit the Eagles next month.

And speaking of being upended, so long Vikings. There's just no excuse for losing an 11-point lead against the Cardinals with less than six minutes to play, regardless of where the game is played. After a 6-0 start they should have been division champs, not chumps.


Glenn 8-D 5:34:00 PM

Victory at last


I am thankful. I am humble. It has been five years. Today, at least, I am a Miami Dolphins fan.

Glenn 8-D 12:57:00 PM

Saturday, December 27, 2003

GREATEST CATCH EVER?

Yes, the 49ers lost to the seasquawks today in pathetic fashion, but it was worth watching the game to see the tremendous catch by Brandon Lloyd. The 49ers rookie wide receiver, who will likely be a starter next season with the imminent departure of Terrell Owens, made a play which will certainly be on Sportscenter, and may make highlight reels for years to come. The pass was thrown to the sidelines, over the wrong shoulder. Lloyd did a 180 degree contortion of his body, fully extended one arm, and tipped the pass up in the air with his hand. As he began falling out of bounds, he snagged the ball and gained control with his one hand and still had the presence of mind to make sure to drag both feet in bounds.

It has to be the greatest catch I can ever recall seeing either live or on highlight shows. It was the kind of play that T.O. (who drops three passes before warmups) wouldn't have gotten a glove on. Of course, there are very few receivers who could have made a catch like that.

That was the next to last pass of the 49ers season. I'll try hard to forget that the very last pass thrown was a fourth down, five yard, one bounce pass.


ALSO:

Tomorrow marks the moment of truth! One of the Bros needs a sweep to claim the championship outright.

Junior Bro 7:33:00 PM

An odd finale


The Week 17 predictions are on the board, and they didn't go as I had thought they might. Sean forged a pair of Sunday splits out of the Jets/Dolphins and Jaguars/Falcons games, taking the roadies in each case. The split I expected and was bracing myself for was the Raiders/Chargers game, but we both wound up taking the Raiders of Woe on the road.

Sean is already talking about what happens if we remain tied at the end of Sunday. In the past we have used the playoffs and Stupor Bore to determine the winner, but we are discussing a possible revision of the rules as it has been several years since we have had to use a tiebreaker. Because both of this week's splits involve teams from Florida, maybe we can ask the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved.

What are the odds that the 2003 season will go to OT? Well... Sean's accuracy on split games involving the Dolphins this season has been 100 percent. And he has a better record on splits involving Atlanta. I have had better luck in games involving the Jets and the Jags, so it could go either way. How's that for noncommittal?

One thing I will say: When in doubt, having the home team is almost always a preferred option. We'll be watching nervously on Sunday.

Glenn 8-D 10:33:00 AM

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

MY CALENDAR PROPOSAL AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays only.

I can't eliminate Thursdays because those are good drinking nights (75 cent beers!), but the opening week of the NFL season can be the exception. Fridays are another good night to go out. Saturdays are my day of rest, and I can stand an occasional NFL game. Sundays we can skip, especially given the sorry state of our local NawFuL teams. Finally, YOU KNOW WHY I LIKE MONDAYS!

WEEK 17

Unfortunately, I have had my last Monday night success this season. The final week has no Monday night game. No Gehlke Bros season in recent memory has been this close going into the final week. The only thing close that comes close was when I overcame a four game deficit in the final week to tie, on my way to the second of three consecutive titles.

TIE BREAKERS

Should the bros remain tied, the playoffs are the tiebreaker. If we remain tied, I believe the Senior Bro agreed that one bro would take the NFC and the other, the AFC in the Pro Bowl. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

MONDAY NIGHT RAIDERS

Brett Favre is good, but he's not THAT good. Favre was constantly throwing deep floaters into Raider double and triple-team coverages that were caught by Packer receivers. The DBs were just standing around, seemingly unaware that the ball was on its way. The Raiders have clearly just given up.

THE 49ERS, ON THE OTHER HAND...

At least the Niners haven't given up. The question remains, how far could this team have gone with a decent kicker, a decent punter, and Tim Rattay as the holder on field goals. I would like someone to explain to me why it took 16 weeks to put a quarterback in there as the holder.

GOODBYE T. O.

Terrell Owens broke his collar bone and is out for the rest of the year...YAWN! He broke it on his only catch of the day after several drops. Afterwards, he was seemingly disinterested in the game, yacking on his cell phone. It symbolizes his whole career with the 49ers. T. O. is a great receiver, but if he put in a little effort, he could have been one of the best. He drops too many passes. He takes plays off. He short-arms passes through the middle which turn in to interceptions. He slows down in the middle of a deep route, allowing a potential touchdown pass to sail over his head.

What was ironic is just when T.O. was making his departure, Brandon Lloyd, the 49ers rookie wide receiver, made a leaping grab of a touchdown pass. It was a catch that T.O. never would have made. It was a catch that took a great amount of concentration and effort. The 49ers have seen their future at the wide receiver position, and he isn't wearing #81.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I think I hear Santa's sleigh bells, so I'd better close on this Christmas Eve to wish everyone out there in NawFuL land happy holidays, especially Ben and the Senior Bro.

I know Senior Bro wants Santa to bring him a Surfy for Christmas, but that will have to wait for at least another week, and...hopefully...at least another year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!

Junior Bro 9:39:00 PM

Monday, December 22, 2003

Niners!


Wish I had watched that OT win over the Eagles. Heck, wish I had picked the Niners. I did tell Sean I thought this could be an upset, but i wasn't willing to back up the talk. Looks like Terrell Owens won't be dropping any more passes this season. Broken collarbones will do that to a player. %-(

Glenn 8-D 1:55:00 AM

Sunday, December 21, 2003

Last chance...


...for the Senior Bro to win a Monday night split. Sean has owned Monday nights this season, winning six out of six split games. For the Monday night finale, Glenn has the Raiders of Woe at home while Sean has the Playoff Peaking Packers. Other than yesterday's Kansas City-Minnesota game, this is our only split of the week.

We are setting up for what promises to be an exciting and potentially decisive Week 17.

Glenn 8-D 10:32:00 AM

Monday, December 15, 2003

Who needs the Gregorian calendar?...


I'm going to propose the Senior Bro's NawFuL calendar for 2004. It goes something like this:

A four-day week with the days being Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Thursdays and Saturdays will be allowed February through August only. Mondays will be banned permanently. The clocks all will be reprogrammed so that Sundays begin at 10 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. No organized professional sports will be allowed after the hour of 5 p.m., in darkness, or between teams that might lose games they should win.

Think anyone will back me on this?

Glenn 8-D 11:18:00 PM

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Three splits


Something's gotta give this week, and coming in as the leader I am fearful it might be me. I worry any time we split on a Monday night game, but especially when it involves Miami, which has not been kind to the Senior Bro this season. In fact, in the four previous splits we have had with the Dull-fins, Sean has won them all.

I also waffled on the Cowboys/'Skins game, deciding literally at the last minute to take Washington at home even though Dallas has had phenomenal success against them.

Be afraid... be very afraid...

Glenn 8-D 10:08:00 AM

Saturday, December 13, 2003

I HATE EVERY TEAM I SPLIT ON LAST WEEK!

That being said, I've got to regroup. While I'm demoralized, this season has shown us that momentum can change dramatically on a week to week basis. Something tells me this things not over by a long shot.

Junior Bro 9:33:00 PM

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Hello Vick, so long Reeves


Gee, the Falcons finally get their QB back and beat a playoff contender and how is Dan Reeves rewarded? Yup, the bix ax. Guess the 2004 season for Atlanta begins today.


Glenn 8-D 10:06:00 PM

Sunday, December 07, 2003

Shutout


...I'm talking about NawFuL Notes, not just today's gridiron action. Tried to log on to Blogger to post a new message this morning and it wouldn't let me. Don't know why. Perhaps it was some sort of omen.

Well... what can I say about Week 14 except that it has been a weird sort of season. As Sean said so well in his last post, a 3-game lead seems to be the point at which the rubber band contracts and the leader comes crashing back to earth. Such was the case when I was up 3 earlier this season, and now again after Sean came into the weekend with a similar lead. So just like that, I'm up a game with three weeks to go. Hmmmm.

Yes, now I'm worried...

Glenn 8-D 1:50:00 PM

Friday, December 05, 2003

Only one yard away from a sweep last week. I may be up by three games, but that's precisely the time the leader has had the rug swept from under him this season. We'll see. At least I'm better off than the 49ers and Raiders.

Junior Bro 6:32:00 PM


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