Diner morning news: Only best teams are left

good times lombardi...jets advance...pats roll over and die at home.....good times

Michael, no Revis will make V Jackson disappear on Revis Island ! Wayne will have his way with Baltimore's secondary.

C'mon man!

"next week he’ll get another great player in Reggie Wayne" --- huh?

To be fair, GB's defense "only" allowed 45 points. Sigh.

Totally agree with you about the onside kick Mike. I was impressed that McCarthy did it at the beginning of the 3rd. In a game like that a coach needs understand his strengths and weaknesses. And clearly last night neither team had anything going for them on defense.

Totally agree with you about the onside kick Mike. I was impressed that McCarthy did it at the beginning of the 3rd. In a game like that a coach needs understand his strengths and weaknesses. And clearly last night neither team had anything going for them on defense.

As predicted..BRady not same QB....bum leg...illigeitimate kid...new kid with new wife.. ..way too much goin on to be same kinda QB....plus without welker you knew moss was gonna mail it in...and bellicheck is just average these days..if that.....good to see them get embarrased at home..looks like the end of that run... good riddance

As predicted..BRady not same QB....bum leg...illigeitimate kid...new kid with new wife.. ..way too much goin on to be same kinda QB....plus without welker you knew moss was gonna mail it in...and bellicheck is just average these days..if that.....good to see them get embarrased at home..looks like the end of that run... good riddance

As predicted..BRady not same QB....bum leg...illigeitimate kid...new kid with new wife.. ..way too much goin on to be same kinda QB....plus without welker you knew moss was gonna mail it in...and bellicheck is just average these days..if that.....good to see them get embarrased at home..looks like the end of that run... good riddance

Patriots lack explosiveness (a/k/a youth) on offense and special teams. Not to toot my own horn, but I was advocating for the Pats to do everything to get one Percy Harvin in the draft this year (I believe Mr. Murder hated this idea) and that might have solved both these problems to a degree.

But the Pats were not a super bowl team either way; still too many holes on defense and not inspired enough on either end. I hate to say it, but when the going got tough, the Pats cowered.

Light will be gone; Wilfork franchised and probably traded; Mankins, Faulk and Bodden are keepers. I'm torn on Watson.

Thank you Lombardi for saying what I have always felt about the Pats O since they went to that spread stuff more in 2007. I HATED that style as a mainstay then, I hate it now. And I definitely think it made them less tough mentally and physically. OL love to run the ball. Pass blocking is passive, run blocking is aggressive. When you go spread as a mainstay, you lose that mentality.

Pats best O was 2004. Power run, play action. Very balanced, tough to gameplan for because they had both elements.

Yahoo Dave, I know you have a woody today, but keep it off the keyboard so you don't post everything 3 times...

Pats had to change O style, because league rule changes dictated it. - No allowable contact, etc. etc. So they had to try to keep up with those offenses in the AFC (SD / IND / Pitt, yes I said Pitt - They are a pass team now as well)

Look at every team right now, no one has a dominat D, Teams can have a great defense from game to game, but no one team (cept maybe the Jets) can say they have a shut down D. And even the jets had a few collapses (Atl, 2nd game with the Pats)

Pats were rebuilding this year on D, they had a total of 25 out of 53 players this year who had never played in any playoff game. Well see how they rebuild at the end of next year.

sorry bout the 3 posts...little bit excited today....accident....giddy about the demise of the overrated cheating pats...and about the rise of NY J E T S

Carson Palmer looks like a shell of himself. Maybe his skill players need a QB.

I'll ask it again--if you are Green Bay and you score at the end of the game, do you consider going for two since Arizona was likely going to score? (Rakers missed the FG, but whatever.)

I for one cant wait to see how my Jets do on Sunday on the road in San Diego. I havnt enjoyed playoff football in a long time.

as for bradys "broken" ribs...not buying it...if htey were so broken...he wouldnt have been playing late into the game in a meaningless final regular season game...sounds ike the pats PR people trying to spin his sub par performance...

sorry, but youre just wrong on so many accounts. The jets have the #1 defense, in points and yards allowed, and theyre playing the chargers, not the colts.

As a Packer fan, I have to agree with you on both counts. The offense can get even better but AR needs the type of protection afforded to Favre, Warner and Romo who all play behind big physical O-lines. If Ted tries to go cheap, it won't happen for the Packers.

As for the D, find a big nasty DE good enough to fight through double teams. There are enough players on the line and in the linebacking corp to be really good with a major upgrade at one of the Ends

Brady doesn't need any excuses. He didn't have Welker, Moss looked terrible and his ribs hurt. He's brought 3 rings to a doormat franchise. I'm glad they're gone, but it isn't his fault. Or his injury. I wasn't glued to the TV, but I only saw one pass that he blew.

I love the playoffs. I'm currently watching the Packers-Cardinals game, which I Tivoed. Completely epic. Kurt Warner is the most accurate quarterback in NFL history (along with Chad Pennington) for a reason. Fitzgerald, Doucet and Breaston each had excellent games. Also, Aaron Rodgers is the answer for the Packers and Greg Jennings is an outstanding wideout. Jermichael Finley is a matchup nightmare as well. Beyond that, it's nice to see the Pats get smoked. Good job Ravens! Good job Jets and (I guess) Cowboys. I just don't like Dallas, but I have to give credit to them. Lots of good games still to come Lombardi. Thanks for helping us make sense of it all!

The headline for this story is relatively idiotic. By definition, if you won, you're better than the team you played, thus the best teams will be left no matter who wins. The Bengals OWNED the Ravens this year, so right there your headline is incorrect, while the Pats went 1-1 with the Jets. The Jets are NOT one of the best 8 teams in the NFL, and shouldn't have even made the playoffs, but they match up really well with and are better than the Bengals, so they beat them twice. Had the Patriots played the Jets and the Bengals played the Ravens, we'd likely have a different AFC final four.

Perhaps the better headline would be: "Only Healthy Teams Left" since the winners were essentially the least injury-riddled teams.

And here I thought it was Coles making all the catches and Ochostinko running the wrong routes Saturday

capper77..wah wah wah...welker was hurt..wah wah wah.... leon washington and kris jenkins were also hurt...jets adjusted....bellicehck is so overrated he had no clue what to do without welker....wah wah wah

I think you nailed it on the Patriots -- the league has caught up. They used to have a tough, power running offense and a tough, smart defense. Adding Welker and Moss in 2007 dramatically changed the offense and it took the league a while to catch up -- their games in the last third of the year were much closer than the earlier games, just because it took a while for the league to dissect the offense. But by scoring early and forcing teams to give up the run, the offense masked the D's age and declining speed.
What was interesting about this year was how their first defeats were to teams which knew the ins and outs of their offense incredibly well -- Denver because of McDaniels and the Jets from O'Connell. Many of the later losses seemed to build on how NY and Denver defended them. And I'm sure DCs in the AFC East will be looking at yesterday's game over and over and over again to see how to bust NE's protection schemes and option routes.

If they're going to be successful next year, they're going to need to introduce as much change to their schemes as they did in 2007.

But the other thing about this year's team was the absence of the locker room presence that Bruschi, Vrabel, and Harrison in particular brought, and wasn't replaced. I can't imagine Adalius Thomas going public with his complaint about being sent home after being late to a meeting if any of the three had still been around. On the other hand, that generation of players seemed to be able to get through to Belichick more than a Gary Guyton or even Jerod Mayo might.

The good news for New England -- sorry, yahooDave -- is Belichick can accept reality, is willing and able to make some bold moves, and still has a very smart, very creative football mind. The Pats' schedule is brutal next year, and he has to know that unless they get very aggressive they could be staring at 7-9 or worse. The last time they were this bad was 2002, when they missed the playoffs after their Superbowl win. THen they won everything in 2003 and 2004. So it wouldn't be smart to count them out of anything.

Dont confuse the Jets with a good team. They get gifted 3 weeks in a row and now will have to play from behind for the first time in a month. Vegas has no respect for the JEts as that is the biggest spread of the playoffs to date.

Dont confuse the Jets with a good team. They get gifted 3 weeks in a row and now will have to play from behind for the first time in a month. Vegas has no respect for the JEts as that is the biggest spread of the playoffs to date.

In January 2010, the Jets & Ravens clearly belong atop the Bengals & Patriots.

The idea that different AFC Wildcard matchups would have yielded different results is absurd. The Ravens steamrolled the Patriots with an overwhelming running attack and a merciless & swarming pass defense. Jets rank #1 in the NFL in the same two categories.

Writers and NFL talking heads were all too eager to usher in the supposed new era of NFL playoff outcomes -- where "defense & ground games" were antiquated relics. The Ravens and Jets represented the old philosophies and could be demonstrably (with multiple pages of supporting statistics) dismissed as playoff threats in this "modern" NFL.

Then came reality. Both teams are CLEARLY powerful threats, and it will require a uniquely effective passing attack to even hope for a victorious outcome over them through "new" NFL philosophies. Either that or you need some offensive balance (e.g. Cedric Benson -- not Kevin Faulk) to offset the long day facing your QB.

EAGLES ~ DEBACLE

The self-proclaimed "best roster in the league" was clearly not that as they did not have the personnell to handle the Cowboys. They got dominated in the trenches and just could not matchup. Andy Reid, Joe Banner, and Jeffrey Lurie need to look in the mirror and figure out how to better evaluate players.

Jason Peters - "the best LT in the league" I don't think he had a bad year but he certainly had a bad, bad night vs D.Ware on Saturday Night when it mattered most. Not only did he get turnstiled but he had what 3 false starts?

Andrews Brothers - Ok, can't blame them for Shawn Andrews' meltdown but what about the "hope for a plan" mistake of signing Stacy Andrews? He's supposed to keep Shawn motivated to play? Fail. He can play RT or RG? Fail. The guy wasn't ever recovered from ACL and MCL injuries, big waste.

Brian Dawkins - The fans, myself included, were outraged but of course instead of the Eagles getting killed they're commended because supposedly he was over-the-hill. Whatever, I would have loved to see him out on the field Saturday Night to lead that sad defense, show someone how to frickin tackle. We were told Quentin Demps was ready to step in, he's young and on the rise - Fail. Its ok, we have an insurance policy in another injured free agent, Sean Jones - Fail. They're so underwhelming they handed the starting job to 5th round lightweight Macho Harris who went to the Assante Samuel lunge and pretend you're going to deliver a big hit and then watch the ball carrier motor on through you for extra yardage school of tackling. Fail. None of them cover or tackle. Guess what, shoulda kept Dawkins because in addition to all this the team completely lacked a leader. Fail.

Stewart Bradley - The Eagles don't believe LBs are important so they never bother to bring any in that can play a lick. So what happens when the only player in the LB core goes down? They're left with no contingency plan and desperately trade for mediocre Witherspoon and beg Trotter to come back out of retirement. Loved Trott way back when but CMON MAN he literally can't cover me in a phone booth, in a brown paper bag. Every LB on the roster is a scrub.

On top of all this, I didn't see Andy and the coaches make ANY adjustments from the previous week's embarrassment. Gee, another bubble screen to the WR, unstoppable. Hey we're trailing, time to scrap the run game completely and let that Cowboys pass rush tee off and feast. And why is Westbrook standing on the sidelines watching? He may not be what he once was but give hime some carries!!! Throw him some screens! Let him play, let him pick up the pass rushers McCoy can't. Uuuuuugh.

Mike,

What did you mean by "Marvin Lewis is going to need some help next year?" How was he ridiculous ?

- 802Sam - I believe he's talking about the 2 awful challenges M.Lewis used in the 1st quarter costing himself 2 timeouts and giving them 0 chance to challenge the rest of the game.

- Michael - You haven't been big on Ray Lewis this season but he played a heck of game Sunday.

Man you all get cranky when your team loses.

For the record, yahoodave, I could care less about the Pats. In fact, I despise them and was ecstatic that they got crushed by an AFC North Team, and believe that the Jets would have likely beaten them as well.

You completely missed my point since you're apparently a Jets homer and can't look at things objectively. My point is that, for example, if Shank Graham had actually hit his chip-shot field goals, and the Bengals somehow managed to beat the Jets, Mike's headline would have been the same. He wouldn't have changed it to "Only Best Teams and the Bengals are Left," so it's a stupid headline. By definition, the final 8 teams, no matter who they are, can be considered the "best" teams.

My comment about injuries was more directed at the Bengals (losing Odom, Mauluga, and Sims completely while Peko, Tank Johnson and Chris Crocker were hobbled) than the Pats. I completely agree with you that Kris Jenkins being hurt is a huge loss (although, we'll have to agree to disagree about Washington). It just worked out that the healthiest teams overall this weekend seemed to be the teams that won (except the Cardinals, but that's just because even an injured Arizona team can beat the one-trick pony that is the Green Bay Packers!).

The Eagles' backfield was one dimensional at halfback. Westbrook was no longer an explosive runner, he was strictly a screen target. McCoy has protection issues as a rookie and was strictly a runner, and their downhill power back lacked lateral ability, so each back could be dealt with from formations or matchups and the coverage didn't suffer.

That's a lot to ask of a great player, even McNabb, to always be a step behind from the selections. Playoff teams can eat up one dimensional opponents.

"He avoided about 10 sacks and always seemed to be running for his life."
My thought during the Cowboys - Eagles game, was that the McNabb might end up having the best performance of anyone against the Cowboys, at this stage, with the way he kept plays alive.

The Cowboys D is playing greatly. They have a system in place on offense and can go to any matchup they have at this time and feel like they will make the play. The way these teams matched up, there was no chance for Phillly against them. The game helped me realize how good a job of coaching Reid did this year, and how well McNabb played, with huge leverage challenges to their game plan in comparison to other playoff teams.

Threat level for yahoodave postings is set at at "giddity" for the rest of this post season. The reason why: Sanchez mobility. This kid's intangibles and ability to extend plays could really work up their drives.

What impressed me that game was the Cally O line, a bunch of zone blockers getting on a slant track and mauling anyone they met. Tackles and guards getting 6-8 yard upfeild and coming off stunts cleanly. The run game was dominating, and Gibbs announcing helped indicate some of that.

The items Gibbs highlight: each of the Jets runners were getting playcalls to one direction. We put Jones in, we'll run this way, because we want to. Same for Greene. You had better fit the front on an overload, or slant that way. The time Gibbs makes note of it during a game, about the time coaches would communicate this to their team, Sanchez starts running bootlegs and waggles off the backfield keys for indivudual players.

These new angles and tempos let someone like Keller get the ball with yards after catch chances and he becomes the creative and dynamic item. Then linebackers and safeties are suddenly mismatched. They could probably line Keller up at one wideout and Edwards at the other and still have a tight end on the formation and play pitch and catch all game or run with numbers.

That ability of Sanchez to run like that compliments the zone rushing attack perfectly. His ability to change launch points on rollouts solidifes their protections as well. Perhaps we can get the NFP's Matt Bowen to discuss the inside zone run play, because the Jets ran that so well, that the team developed an attitude in the game. That confidence boosts helps Sanchez become more dynamic because he has expanded his comfort range to create opportunity for other Jets and himself.

Some of us expected great things of Doucet in this game, judging by his no.4 reps at wideout when he was usually the target of Warner all season. The expectation was that he could do good on a few reps, Doucet would be great on a lot of reps.He wowed people all night on the shallow cross(Fitz's big route). So they ran both on shallow clearing Fitz out, or to a sideline shallow when Doucet was being keyed(the other tall pass routes opened up in later stages). Or. They used Fitz top greater extents vertically or on the dig/deep in since Doucet commaded the shallow.


This basically allowed the Cards to switch who ran the routes, and maintain the same system they always had. Breaston got into the act in the second half on that same adjustment curve.


This year's playoffs have featured some great viewing, and the Packers established their identity. The coach and the quarterback were truly great, and Woodson's amazing and intense example succumbed to the fact that no one player can do enough when he faces eleven on the same page.Green Bay put up a proud effort in all respects.

The weather for football at this time is great there, hooray for AZ playoff football!

The Ravens got inside the Pats playbook, during the game early I told my friend that the agressive Ravens would get at what the pats do. Ray was on their checks, Carr has game sense and it showed as the person to tag on their crossing route/checkdown players. It seems like Washington was not thrown at a lot of what I could view, it was fun to root for former Raiders in the game.

Told my friend that Mauroney was the weak link, after his two yard run early, I told my Patriot compadre that "they should blitz Ray Lewis every time Mauroney lines up beind the passer." The first time they did it from three wide that happened, there was no way for Mauroney to command the blocking track on a path to the A gap as a setback, the quarterback MUST get him in offset to match the protection.

Harbaugh's team ate that playbook up. My thought during the game was that coach Harbaugh's brother must have some huge stock right now. His not being a pro coach at this time may be one reason other coaches were kept on, teetered to a short leash, when front offices changed. Especially teams with Walsh coaching trees or Stanford roots. That, and the fact coach Dungy stays busy mentoring other aspects of the game in commentary, and mentoring life off the field to new levels as a philanthropist. those two names would be huge to directing an entire organization in its mindset and approach.

You could see it in the Ravens last year, a head coach who gets out there on the drills and actually runs some of those reps out with his younger players. Look at the yield for Ravens players he's invested attention with, such as Yanda.
The Ravens have done that, building upon what each coach brings and strengthening their core players. Lewis, Nolan, and Ryan are great defensive minds and the team has developed a methodology in playing, planning and practicing defense.

Their coach has "it" in Baltimore. Despite a loss for the Bengals, I remember someone compliment Marv Lewis after another game in mentioning who they learned great defense with, perhaps it was a Ravens veteran. Coaches who lost this year such as Reid and Bellichick might have been doing some of their best work in light of injury or personnel changes.

This has been a very good round of playoffs, if it continues like this, it could be compared to great seasons of the dynasty seventies. Though I think it will probably signal an eighties style spree of NFC teams hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

This is the first year in a long time where ANY TEAM CAN TAKE IT and no team looks so dominating on a week to week basis.

Not a single mention of the facemask non call at the end of the Cards Packers game , you should be ashamed not mentioning this as that would have not only negated the winning score , but would have given the Pack a first down . The refs in this game were horrible period .

When will the national media stop being in love with Reid and McNabb. They think Philly fans
overreact, but the last 2 games against the Cowboys speaks volumes.

Sorry to but yahoo dave or any other of the New Jersey Jets fans' bubble, but thinking that one little Revis is going to shut down the SD offense is a joke. Chargers just don't have one (1) reciever like Cincy and thinking that Revis is going to out-physical Jackson or any of the other power forward size receiviing corps is just not happening. On top of that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and if Rex "Baby Buddy Huey" Ryan thinks he's going to do his overload blitz and get away with it from Rivers and co. is just not happening. Not only does SD bring the best overall receiving corp in football against the Jets but let's not forget Sproles gashing holes when the Jets attempt their blitzes and an wiser LT still a 1st down machine. Factor in that Sanchez (who I like alot) is going against a strong bend-but-don't-break defense that has shined in the red zone means he will have to pass for the Jets to win and that puts SD back in the drivers seat. Factor in the superiority of SD's kicking game (Kaeding and Scifres are both top notch) and New Jersey doesn't match up. Jets had a nice little run backing into the playoffs with 3 games in a row that had teams lay down for them but now it's big boy time. RIght when the Jets thought they had all the answers the Chargers change the questions. Whatcha going to do Rex "Baby Buddy Huey"?

Sorry to but yahoo dave or any other of the New Jersey Jets fans' bubble, but thinking that one little Revis is going to shut down the SD offense is a joke. Chargers just don't have one (1) reciever like Cincy and thinking that Revis is going to out-physical Jackson or any of the other power forward size receiviing corps is just not happening. On top of that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and if Rex "Baby Buddy Huey" Ryan thinks he's going to do his overload blitz and get away with it from Rivers and co. is just not happening. Not only does SD bring the best overall receiving corp in football against the Jets but let's not forget Sproles gashing holes when the Jets attempt their blitzes and an wiser LT still a 1st down machine. Factor in that Sanchez (who I like alot) is going against a strong bend-but-don't-break defense that has shined in the red zone means he will have to pass for the Jets to win and that puts SD back in the drivers seat. Factor in the superiority of SD's kicking game (Kaeding and Scifres are both top notch) and New Jersey doesn't match up. Jets had a nice little run backing into the playoffs with 3 games in a row that had teams lay down for them but now it's big boy time. RIght when the Jets thought they had all the answers the Chargers change the questions. Whatcha going to do Rex "Baby Buddy Huey"?