NFL Institutes New Goal Post Slam Dunk Penalty

Let's just call the new penalty the "Jimmy Graham Rule."

Photo Courtesy of: Wikimedia

Jeffrey Beall under CC BY-SA 3.0 License

When will the ridiculousness end?!  At this week's owners' meetings, the NFL decided to make slam dunks into goalposts after touchdowns illegal.

The reason for this new penalty apparently is to guard against the goalposts being bent out of shape, thus becoming a little lopsided.  This particular scenario occurred in a game on November 21 of last year when Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints bent the goalpost in the Georgia Dome against the Atlanta Falcons.

As always it seems, the safety and health argument figures to have prevailed here and I have no issues with that.  On the other hand, what's wrong with having a player being about to celebrate a big moment in a game such as a touchdown?

I'm coming to the realization that the game of football as I once knew it is not the game that it used to be some years back.  I'm okay with certain changes geared towards protecting players from concussions, but rule changes involving player celebrations seems a little excessive.  The NFL is surely not doing itself any favors to live down its nickname of the "No Fun League."

Tim Musick
Copyright 2014
All Rights Reserved    

Tim's Two Cents-February 8

The Saints Go Marching On.  Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints in the big game?  This year: nobody!  Not even Peyton Manning.  I know I predicted the Colts would win, but I couldn't be happier with the result.  At least my prediction that the Saints would score 31 points was spot on.  Even though my dad's prediction didn't come true, he wasn't that far off on the scoring margin of 14.  He had predicted the Colts would win by 16. 

Congratulations to the Saints and the city of New Orleans.  The Saints played like they wanted it more.  They were the more aggresive team.  I applaud them taking a chance on fourth down in the first half and doing an onside kick to begin the second half. 

On the other side, Peyton Manning started out well in the first half leading the Colts to a 10 nothing lead in the first quarter.  In the second half, it was the Saints, not the Colts, who made the adjustments and took control of the contest, outscoring Indy 25 to 7 after the first quarter.

The overall broadcast by CBS was also very good.  Jim Nantz and Phil Simms were stellar on the call.  They treated the game for what it was, just another game.  That's how it should be done.  I was happy to see that there were very little talk of Archie Manning and there were no snapshots of Kim Kardashian.  In other words, I'm glad this didn't turn into a celebrity event like the Oscars.

Another enjoyable aspect of the game was the officiating crew.  The pace of the game was excellent.  It was flying by very fast.  The officials also let the players play.  Call me crazy, but I think there were no more than 10 penalties called, 8 to be exact.  That's my kind of officiating.  If I were a referee, I wouldn't call penalties unless it is really blatant.

Once again, congratulations to Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees and the Saints.  New Orleans will definitely be partying well past Mardi Gras.

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and dbking under CC-BY 2.0 License    

Tim's Two Cents-February 7

The Countdown to Glory Begins.  The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived.  We are less than six hours from the big game between the Saints and the Colts. 

The opponents in this matchup make it hard to root against one team over the other.  The opposing quarterbacks are two of the best liked in the game and they are awesome competitors.  Peyton Manning has a knack for leading his team to late game winning drives.  Drew Brees has led what has been the most prolific offense in the NFL this season. 

How can you not also root for the city of New Orleans?  What has happened in that city since Hurricane Katrina is something special.  The Superdome is probably the loudest stadium in the league, but it won't be a factor today. 

As the days leading up to the game have gone by, I find myself conflicted in my heart and my head.  For the Colts to win, Peyton Manning has to be, well, Peyton Manning.  That is he has to be the general on the field leading his troops in battle.  On defense, all signs are pointing to Dwight Freeney giving the ankle a go.  How effective he'll be remains to be seen.  He definitely won't be 100%, that I'm fairly certain of.

For the Saints it's simple, they have to keep Peyton Manning on the sidelines and force some turnovers.  Drew Brees also needs to continue doing what he has done as one of the best quarterbacks in the game today.  The best quarterback is the one he's facing today.

So here we go.  After a week long wait, I'm going with my head and taking the five and a half and the Colts to win their second Vince Lombardi trophy in four years.  Colts 35, Saints 31.  Sorry Who Dat nation. 

For the record, my dad's also picking the Colts to win by 16, but he won't give a final score.  Newflash dad, that's not how this works!

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and BrokenSphere under under CC-SA 3.0 License

Tim's Two Cents-January 25

Super Bowl XLIV Matchup Revealed.  For once, my prediction came true!  It will be the Saints and the Colts battling it out on February 7 in Miami.

What can I say about the Colts?  Peyton Manning is unbelievable.  He didn't panic in the first half when the Colts were down 17 to 6 against the Jets.  With under two minutes remaining before halftime, Peyton Manning and the Colts marched down the field in just two plays that ended in an Austin Collie touchdown reception to cut the defecit to four at 17 to 13 before the half. 

From that point on, the Jets had no chance to win in the second half.  Peyton Manning dissected the Jets defense with a surgeon's knife.  The Jets were held scoreless in the second half as the Colts punched their ticket to Miami with a 30 to 17 triumph.

The Vikings and Saints was a good encore that followed.  It was a back and forth matchup like the Packers and Cardinals a couple weeks before.  The Vikings put up a good effort even with five turnovers in a 31 to 28 overtime loss in the Big Easy against Drew Brees and the Saints.  Brett Favre stood resilient even though he was getting knocked around like a human pinata.  The retirement discussion is sure to start up again soon.  My prediction is he'll decide to come back eventually at some point over the summer, probably after training camp.

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Ytoyoda and Craig ONeal under CC-SA 2.0 License

Tim's Two Cents-January 17

NFL Playoffs Get Turned Up a Notch.  So much for my predictions for yesterday.  The Saints and Colts both won rather covincingly.  Peyton Manning and Drew Brees each had good performances for their respective teams.

Looking ahead to today's action, we'll see if the Cowboys can punch their ticket to New Orleans and if the Chargers can race to Indy next week.

Tim's Two Cents-January 15

What I'll Be Watching This Weekend.  In an effort to do something different today, here's what I'll be watching this upcoming weekend in sports.

NFL Divisional Playoffs.  Another great weekend of playoff action is almost upon us. 

Will the Cowboys continue their recent hot streak against the Minnesota Vikings?  I certainly hope so if for no other reason than to see Brett Favre lose again.  If that happens, Favre will start crying like the prima donna that he is.  By this time next Monday, I hope Brett Favre is back in Mississippi where he belongs.

Will the Colts take advantage of home field or will rust kick in?  My gut feeling right now is the latter.  History over the last few years has shown that the Colts have had little success as the top team in the postseason.  Peyton Manning, the talented quarterback that he is, has only one Super Bowl victory in his career so far.  He is the face of the Colts.  One could argue that without Peyton Manning, the Colts would not be the good team that they are.  I'll go with the upset and the Ravens because rust will be a big factor for the Colts as usual.

Will the Saints have a party in the Big Easy?  This is a tough one that I think could go either way.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Saints offense breaks out in front the home crowd.  As for their opponent, the Cardinals.  We saw what they're capable of last week against Green Bay.  This one's a coin flip.  I'll go with the upset pick once again and the Cardinals just to mess everything up and make things more interesting.

As for the Chargers and Jets, let's keep it simple and sweet.  The Chargers will continue their late season surge and I think they will host the AFC Championship game next week against the Ravens.  

Australian Open in Melbourne.  You probably wouldn't think of me as a tennis fan at first glance, but I am.  The Australian Open, which starts on Sunday, marks the beginning of the new year in tennis as it is the first grand slam event.  As usual Roger Federer enters the tournament as the number one seed on the men's side.  Barring an unforseen turn of events, it will be another Federer-Nadal final in two weeks time.  If history is any indication, it should be epic if it were to happen.   

Photo courtesy:
Wikimedia Commons and Steve Collis under CC-BY 2.0 License

Tim's Two Cents-December 21

It's time to take a look at the big stories from this past weekend.

1. Dallas Cowboys Spoil Saints Bid for Perfection.  In what was the major upset of the weekend, the Dallas Cowboys ended the New Orleans Saints perfect season in a 24 to 17 win.  Now I must admit, I, along with several other experts did not see this coming.  I called the Cowboys a joke of a team in my Two Cents column yesterday.  This was a game where everybody and their mothers were picking the Cowboys to lose.  Good for them for proving us wrong.  We all thought there was good reason to pick against them due to their struggles in December the last couple of seasons.

Not only did the Cowboys win the game, but they got off to a fast start in doing so.  By halftime the score was 17 to 3.  They actually played solid defense from the start. DeMarcus Ware was a beast.  He had two sacks for a total of nine yards lost.  Orlando Scandrick had a team high eight tackles.  Dallas continued their first half success when Marion Barber ran it in from two yards out at the 8-minute mark of the third quarter to make it 24 to 3.  Fans at the Superdome didn't know what hit them.

The Saints made a push in the fourth quarter scoring two touchdowns to make it 24 to 17, but Drew Brees was sacked by DeMarcus Ware and fumbled with six seconds left dashing any hope of a comeback.  So that means the Indianapolis Colts are the last remaining team to be undefeated through week 15 at 14-0.  The Saints fall to 13-1.  Time for Mercury Morris of the 1972 Miami Dolphins to come out of hiding and put a curse on the Colts.

2. Chargers Beat Bengals to Clinch AFC West.  Phillip Rivers and company edged Cincinnati 27 to 24 thanks to a Nate Kaeding 52-yard field goal with three seconds left.  When the game was over they clinched a playoff berth, but had to wait and see what would happen between the Broncos and Raiders.  When Oakland scored a game winning touchdown at the end of the game, the Chargers were crowned AFC West champions.  The Chargers are now 11-3 on the season, have a nine game winning streak, and are 17-0 the last few years in the month of December.  One thing that shouldn't be overlooked is that the Bengals were very competitive considering the week they've been through. 

There's no place like home for the Lakers.
      
 3. Lakers and Clippers Both Dominate Over the Weekend.  The Purple and Gold finished a five game road trip with a 93 to 81 win against the Detroit Pistons yesterday.  They went 4-1 on the trip that included games at Utah, Chicago, Milwaukee, New Jersey and Detroit.  Their only loss came against the Jazz.  They now head home for a brief two game homestand against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Lebron James and the Cavaliers on Christmas Day.

The Clippers were also in the winning spirit suprisingly as they came out on top against the Philadelphia 76ers 112 to 107 in overtime on Saturday. 


Photo coutesy:
Wikimedia Commons and dbking under CC-BY License
Wikimedia Commons and Conman 33 under CC-BY License
Wikimedia Commons and JoeJohnson2 under CC-BY License

NFL Roulette Week 15-Part 2

Kicking off week 15 last night, the Colts are now 14-0 following a come-from-behind 35 to 31 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  What else is new.  It was their seventh win after trailing in the fourth quarter this season.  Looking ahead to other key games this weekend:

Dallas Cowboys (8-5) Vs. New Orleans Saints (13-0)

This is probably the easiest game for me to break down this week.  Let's start with the Cowboys.

Cowboys-We all know about their recent December struggles, 0-2 so far this season.  They have a head coach in Wade Phillips who is average at best.  They have an owner in Jerry Jones who can't help himself to having a say in the running of the team.  They have a quarterback in Tony Romo who, to his credit has played well so far this month, but can't do it all by himself.  Now, they're going on the road to play the NFL's #1 offense this season in an environment with a party atmosphere and raucous crowds.  Good luck.  They'll need it.

Saints-Does anybody really think the Saints will lose this game?  I certainly don't.  They've played well at home.  They seem to be a team of destiny.  They are clearly the best team in the league.  I see them winning rather easily and they will match the Colts at 14-0 by Monday.

Prediction: Saints 45, Cowboys 20

Cincinnati Bengals (9-4) Vs. San Diego Chargers (10-3)

Bengals-It is going to be awfully tough for Cincinnati to compete at a high level this weekend.  Following the death of Chris Henry, they are going to be playing with heavy hearts.  I guess they could use it to their advantage and win one for Henry, but I don't see it happening.  Also consider that the game will be played in San Diego.  What a tough week it has been and will be for the Bengals.

Chargers-After getting to a rough start, the Chargers have gotten hot, winning eight straight after starting 2-3.  This is nothing new for them as they have started slow the past couple years before going on long winning streaks to end the season.  I expect their current streak to reach nine this weekend.

Prediction: Chargers 35, Bengals 10

Photos courtesy:

Wikimedia Commons and Summertx under CC-BY-SA license
Wikimedia Commons and dbking under CC-BY license
Wikimedia Commons and SteelCityHobbies under CC-BY license
Wikimedia Commons and Dirk Hansen under CC-BY license

5 Most Important Storylines From the Weekend in Sports

Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints (left), and Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts (right), each led their respective teams to another win to remain  undefeated.  Their pursuit of perfection is one of my top 5 storylines from the weekend in sports.

It's Monday, December 14, and I'm going to do something a little different from now on.  Instead of doing a daily sports update, I'm going to give you my top storylines from the day in sports.  I will still continue to do updates for local colleges in the Southern California area, such as those schools in the SCIAC Conference, since there is very little to no coverage of those schools.  You can always keep updated on professional sports by watching Sprtscenter on ESPN throughout each day, so there really is no purpose to recap the scores each day.  So, with that being said, let's get to my top 5 storylines.

1. Colts and Saints win again to stay undefeated.  Make that 13 and 0 and counting.  The Colts and Saints remain perfect following Sunday's NFL action that saw the Saints win late against the Atlanta Falcons 26 to 23 and the Colts victorious over the Denver Broncos 28 to 16.  It's not surprising that they are clearly the 2 best teams in the league right now.  They both are led by very good quarterbacks.  Drew Brees has the highest QB rating and highest completion percentage this year at  112.3 and 69.9% respectively.  On the other side, Peyton Manning is a sure fire future Hall of Famer who this season has had a knack for leading his to late game-winning drives week in and week out.  The most notable came against the Patriots in week 10 where Bill Belichick went for it on 4th down late in the game and we all know what happened.  I don't think the Saints and Colts will go undefeated, but it would be exciting to see two undefeated teams fight it out in the Super Bowl in February.  You can bet that the members of the 1972 Dolphins team would watch that matchup for sure.

2. Cowboys December woes continue.  Cowboy fans are waking up this morning probably wondering when the team's annual December swoon is going to end. So far, the Cowboys are now 0 and 2 in December following a 30 to 27 loss to the San Diego Chargers yesterday.  You know the Dallas media will be asking  head coach Wade Phillips why this continues to happen.  The bottom line is Phillips is an average head coach and the Cowboys don't have any real big playmakers that perform at a high level down the stretch..  In December, they are the polar opposite of their opponent from yesterday.  With yesterday's triumph the Chargers are now 16 and 0 in December over the last few years.  I don't see an end to the Cowboys struggles wih their remaining schedule that includes road games at New Orleans and Washington and a home matchup against the Eagles.  I see them missing the playoffs.

3. The Lakers 11 game winning streak comes to an end.  What a streak it was, but let's be honest, it had to come to an end at some point and it did against the Utah Jazz Saturday 102 to 94.  Not to mention that it was the second game of a back to back part of the schedule.  It was also a streak where most of the wins came at Staples Center in a 6 game homestand that led up to the team's current 5 game road trip.  They were also helped by a schedule where 17 of their first 21 games were on their home court.  We'll see if they can bounce back with a win tomorrow in Chicago.

4. Mark Ingram wins the Heisman Trophy.  Congratulations to the sophomore running back of Alabama.  It was an exciting year of college football that included one of the closest races for the Heisman Trophy I have ever seen.  Each of the 5 finalists-Ingram, last year's winner Tim Tebow of Florida, Toby Gerhart of Stanford, Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska and Colt McCoy of Texas-had a legitimate chance to win the award.  As the season went along, there wasn't a player who separated himself from the others.  What helped Ingram was a big performance in the SEC Championship game against Florida in a 32 to 13 win.

5. The Tiger Woods Soap Opera Continues.  This story just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  It was just a few weeks ago when all that happened was a seemingly simple traffic accident at Tiger's home in Florida.  Ever since, we've heard about Tigers alleged affairs with numerous women while being married to his Swedish supermodel wife and more 911 calls where his mother-in-law was taken to the hospital with stomach pains.  Now some of Tiger's sponsors, including Accenture,  have decided to move on while Tiger deals with his personal issues.

Photos courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
dbking under CC-BY license