This weekend there are many wonderful story lines. Might it snow? Might the Eagles be the first team ever to choke 4 straight times in a conference title game? Can the Patriots extend their quest for NFL immortality? But, most interesting to me might be the efforts of Steelers Coach Bill Cowher to finally get the monkey off his back.
The longest tenured coach in the NFL, he was hired by the Steelers in 1992. Since then, he has coached 13 years with 8 resulting in 10 wins or more. His regular season record of 130-77-1 seems amazing in this era. His teams have only missed the playoffs 4 times during that time, as the Steelers have owned the AFC North more often than not since he was hired. Maybe the most impressive thing about what he has done is that it might be difficult to name his best player for these 13 years. No Peyton Manning or Brett Favre at QB for Cowher. Just Tommy Maddox, Kordell Stewart, Mike Tomczak, and Neil O’Donnell.
And yet, it is not all perfect for the man with the wild chin. He is 8-8 in the playoffs (this weekend’s foe Bill Belichick is 8-1) and a very concerning 1-3 in AFC Title games, given the fact that all of them have been played in Pittsburgh. Some are saying he can’t win the big one. I guess the evidence supports their claim, but how do you not marvel at his accomplishments if you look at all of the evidence. No one loses more players every year to free agency. No one shows more consistency as a coach. And yet, we are quick to dismiss those who don’t win the big one. I am torn, frankly, but after losing Title games in Pittsburgh that they were expected to win (1994, 1998 , and 2001) maybe they will win a Title game Sunday they are expected to lose.
Links:
Mavs grind the Clippers down in a classic result of playing back to back games. The Clippers played in San Antonio on Wednesday night, and like the train arriving on time, the Clippers ran out of gas about 2 ½ quarters into their game against the Mavericks last night. In fact, the Clippers scored 29 in the Second half last night. That doesn’t win in this league.
Chris Mannix believes in the Mavs if anyone cares what he thinks…
Packers put two more in their Hall of Fame to increase number of inductees to 133 Which demonstrates how carried away a franchise can get. Don Majkowski??? He was QB for 2 seasons! Neither resulting in even a wildcard game, and they are putting him in the HOF…
Big Ben to lose the gloves …Thank you, Ben. The football gods will be pleased with this decision…
Big weather expected in both Title games …
39 Fun Facts for Eagles-Falcons …
Longhorns lose Tucker for rest of season …
Dvoracek drinks his way to another year …WOW. How do we make this decision? I guess Frank the Tank could have played another year, too…
The News reported that Dvoracek claimed alcoholism was a debilitating medical condition that prevented him from completing the season. Also, a 15-year-old NCAA rule interpretation states that alcoholism can be used to grant a medical hardship waiver.
Two sources close to Dvoracek said in December that the 6-3, 294-pounder had gone through extensive medical counseling for his alcohol addiction.
I had a power outage last night at the house. Nothing big, but my TiVo reset, so my 30-second skip feature was disabled and I had to find it again on the net to remember what it was. Here you go . It makes a perfect machine more perfect...
1 comment:
My view on the Majik man was simply this. He was only the starter full time in 1989. That was a wonderful example of a "one year wonder". I am not taking away what he did, but he never came close to duplicating it before or after. Otherwise, he was a platoon QB with Randy Wright, and of course, most famous for being the modern day Wally Pipp. I guess you can lose your job to injury, because he was hurt in week 3 of 1992, and his replacement has not missed a start since.
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