TERRY MOSHER
I look at the coming NFL playoffs this Saturday and Sunday a little differently than the average bear. On radio the area sports shock jocks are endlessly taking apart the Seahawks’ chances on Saturday when they collide with Atlanta in the Georgia Dome, which, by the way, is likely the last game to be played there because right next door is being constructed the New Atlanta Stadium scheduled to open this year in time for the Atlanta Braves home season.
As the sports shock jocks rattle on and on, I started to think of the Seahawks and the seven other teams left in the playoffs in a new light. So, first, here is the schedule for this weekend: Seattle at Atlanta; Houston at New England, both on Saturday and then on Sunday Green Bay at Dallas and Pittsburgh at Kansas City.
Another way to look at this is that this is the round of the Elite Eight. Although as I look at it, I don’t know if I can justify calling the Houston Texans an elite team. They “sneaked” into the Elite Eight by having the good fortune to host the Oakland Raiders that had lost its premier quarterback Derek Carr to a broken leg in the next-to-last regular season game against the Indianapolis Colts.
By losing Carr, the Raiders lost any chance for victory. Indeed, the Raiders lost to Denver in its last regular season game without Carr and then lost to the Texans at Houston in the first round of the playoffs.
In my mind, by the way, Carr deserves to be the MVP of the NFL. Without Carr the Raiders are an average team. As they proved by losing both games after he was injured.
The Texans are an okay team. Not bad, not good. They lost to New England 27-0 in the regular season. And New England was playing without its suspended future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady for deflategate.
So I’m saying the Houston-New England game if it w as a nightclub act would be the warm-up for the main act. You can snooze through this game and not miss a thing. If it was a movie, it would be a B-Movie.
Then there is probably your favorite team, the Seattle Seahawks, playing at Atlanta. This has many sub-plots, but I will leave them to the sports shock jocks. Plainly, the Hawks are not playing as well as you would want them to. They have been very inconsistent, but are sort of the darlings of this region because the two guys at the top of the organization – coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider – have made a formable partnership in finding gems in the later rounds of the NFL draft and by being on the same page when it comes to construction of this team.
Carroll also does things differently when it comes to the atmosphere around the team. He is into music and having fun at the team practice facility while also maintaining a high level of competitiveness within the 53-man roster. He and Schneider are good at identifying talented players and getting those players to play within themselves to maximize performance.
I don’t think this edition of the Hawks is Super Bowl material. There is something missing and I’m not quite sure what it is. Yes, it hurts not to have Earl Thomas on the backend of the defense, but that’s not what it is. Maybe other teams have finally figured them out and aren’t afraid to stand up to them and trade punches. I especially see that with notorious corner Richard Sherman. He’s had an off-year and his tirades on the sidelines gives me a sense that something is just not right with chemistry on the team.
Anyway, this is the main act on Saturday. The Falcons may be looking for payback for that 26-24 loss to the Hawks in Seattle during the regular season and being home in perhaps the last game at the Georgia Dome gives them and their explosive offense a decided edge.
So say goodbye to the Seahawks. But it’s going to be a classic battle because you have the old Top Gun (Hawks) facing the new Top Gun (Falcons) and in the movies, the new boy on the block usually wins.
The Green Bay-Dallas battle is one between two of the more storied franchise in the NFL. Whenever I think of Green Bay the name Vince Lombardi and the Packer Sweep instantly come to mind. Back in the 1960s Lombardi and the Packers were THE team.
You have to be old enough to remember quarterback Bart Starr handing off to Paul Hornung and as he sweeps around end he is being escorted by tackle Forrest Gregg and guards Jerry Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston. That sweep led the Lombardi Packers to five NFL titles and wins in the first two Super Bowls.
They don’t sweep anymore, but their history is littered with glamour and now that glamour shines on quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is unbelievable sharp right now. He just flicks his wrist and the ball travels on a perfect arc 40-50 yards to its intended target and there isn’t a whole lot that can be done about it.
Then you have the Cowboys and when you mention their name I think of coach Tom Landry, Roger “Captain America” Staubach, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Bullet Bob Hayes, Jethro Pugh and the brain trust of Tex Schramm and Gil Brandt.
These days, I don’t hold the Cowboys in such glorious light as I did when the above mentioned men were leading the team to stardom. That’s because of outspoken owner Jerry Jones, a 1.2 billion-dollar stadium that is an affront to sensibilities when I think of people on food stamps or homeless, and an estimated worth of the franchise of about $4 billion.
The Cowboys have been down for a while and that is okay with me. But with rookie QB sensation Dak Prescott and rookie sensation running back Ezekiel Elliott and an offensive line considered the best in the NFL, the Cowboys are taking names and kicking butt.
It doesn’t take much imagination to look at this match-up as almost one for the ages. They played at Green Bay earlier in the season and the Cowboys won 30-16, but that was before Rodgers caught fire. He is a cagey guy who looks to get big plays on free plays (when there is an off-side penalty) or on deep throws where he hopes to get pass interference calls on one-on-one defenses.
Rodgers has led Green Bay to seven consecutive wins, including a 38-10 pasting of the Seahawks, and I suspect he will find a way – or a Hail Mary – that will beat Jones’ Cowboys.
If the Packers win and the Seahawks win, the Hawks would entertain Rodgers and friends in the NFC championship game in Seattle on Jan. 22.
The Pittsburgh-Kansas City scrum in Kansas City is an interesting one because it pits two teams that are vastly different. The KC Chiefs are a controlled team that relies on the old West Coast offense of short passes to dink you to death in a slow, maddening process. Alex Smith, who was born in Bremerton, handles the controls for the Chiefs at quarterback and while he doesn’t often throw deep, he is smart and can run if needed.
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is emerging from a deep slumber and is on a seven-game winning streak that coincides with the return of 6-1, 225-pound running back Le’Veon Bell from a three-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse program, and then getting into football shape.
Bell, who is an amazing running back because he, unlike a lot of others, can stop on a dime and wait for his blockers to clear a path and then can accelerate with explosive fury. He, along with talented receiver Antonio Brown, and Big Ben Roethlisberger are the steel backbone of the Steelers.
The Steelers crushed the Chiefs 43-14 in Week Four, grabbing a 22-0 first quarter lead. That likely won’t happen on Sunday, but I expect the Chiefs to get their Bell rung in a game where unlike romances where opposites often attract, these opposites will make for an interesting and suspenseful day at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
So there you have it, the count-down to the semifinals and the Super Bowl. It’s gotten dark around here since I started writing this. Hopefully you won’t be disappointed in the results this weekend. I suspect there will be plenty of good moments in the four games. I just hope nobody gets badly hurt. The game has always been violent, but now that players are bigger, stronger, faster and quicker, injuries happen more frequently.
Anyway, it’s a good night to you from here. Thanks for sticking around.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a good day (or night)
You are loved.