Strangest thing about the Super Bowl so far is all the so-called victory guarantees by the Giants, from Plaxico Burress to Michael Strahan and others.

Frankly, the media makes too much of this, but then we have a lot of space to fill all week. It would deserve headlines, certainly, if the Giants’ players said they expected to lose. I would hope professional athletes are confident enough to think they can win.

And the Patriots are mature enough to know this all means nothing.

“Just words, right?” said Rodney Harrison. “You have to do it on the field. It doesn’t matter what you say, or what he says, or what they say, it doesn’t matter. It is how you execute and who makes the most plays on Sunday.”

I think the Patriots will execute best, make the most plays, and win, and it could be one-sided.
Read the rest of this entry »

In November, I wrote an item about how Raiders coach Lane Kiffin wanted out, about his difficulties with Al Davis.

I was bombarded with e-mails from Raiders’ loyalists essentially telling me I was nuts and questioning my sources.

I expect I’ll be flooded with apologies this week now that the Kiffin/Davis feud had boiled into the open. But the fact is the problems between the two date almost back to the day when Kiffin was hired a year ago, and they stem largely from young Kiffin’s eagerness to take the job that he took Davis’ word on certain promises about his responsibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Brady is fine, don’t worry

It’s a story that won’t die because this is the Super Bowl, but Tom Brady will play, and he will be fine.

But when Brady was seen in a walking boot one day last week, alarms went off.

When he was asked about his supposedly injured ankle after arriving in Phoenix with the team, Brady said, “What did coach say? It is feeling good. I will be ready to go.”

Normally, that should end it, but it won’t.
Read the rest of this entry »

In November, I wrote an item about how Raiders coach Lane Kiffin wanted out, about his difficulties with Al Davis. I was bombarded with e-mails from Raiders’ loyalists essentially telling me I was nuts and questioning my sources.

I expect I’ll be flooded with apologies this week now that the Kiffin/Davis feud had boiled into the open.

But the fact is the problems between the two date almost back to the day when Kiffin was hired a year ago, and they stem largely from young Kiffin’s eagerness to take the job that he took Davis’ word on certain promises about his responsibilities.
Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting round of coaching changes in the NFL this year. Atlanta’s hiring of Mike Smith, the Jacksonville defensive coordinator, made it 3-of-3 in hirings of first-time coaches, with Washington yet to come.

Recent years have seen a trend toward hiring coaches who have done it before, and it is understandable. Insiders say the changes in the last decade, with free agency and the salary cap now the rule, have called for experienced coaches.

Here is how it has changed.In the first 31 years of the Super Bowl, only two men, Weeb Ewbank and Don Shula, won the championship with their second franchise.

But in the last decade, 8 of the 10 Super Bowls were won by coaches on their second team: Bill Belichick (three times), Mike Shanahan (twice), Tony Dungy, Dick Vermeil and Jon Gruden. Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Holmgren’s decision to coach the Seattle Seahawks for another year, as a lame duck in the final season of his contract, is curious.

Generally, coaches don’t like being a lame duck. It has to do with players knowing the coach won’t be around much longer and sometimes, that can make it tough to command them.

But Holmgren still has the fire to coach, so he didn’t want to leave, not when he has a team that figures to contend for the Super Bowl in the NFC. At the same time, he’s willing to do it without committing to the future with the Seahawks, and that’s where the 49ers come in.

Or could come in.
Read the rest of this entry »

Give the depleted San Diego Chargers a lot of credit for staying with New England, but the lesson here is pretty basic: You don’t beat touchdowns with field goals (although the Giants did it in the 1990 NFC championship game when they beat the 49ers, 15-14).

Playing without LaDainian Tomlinson and with Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates both hobbling, the Chargers needed some breaks on offense but, instead, their poor performance in the red zone did them in.

San Diego’s defense played enough to win the game. The big difference between the teams was a 24-yard touchdown drive following a New England interception.

The Chargers seemed to play too conservatively on offense. Perhaps the strategy was due to the injuries. But San Diego was not going to beat New England this way.
Read the rest of this entry »

The conference championship games present us with some terrific potential story lines for the Super Bowl.

We could see Brett Favre vs. Tom Brady, two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks. This sort of thing happens far too infrequently. Among those that come to mind: Elway vs. Favre after the ’97 season, Montana vs. Marino after ’84.

I know. There have been other matchups of QBs who made it to Canton. But I’m talking about games that looked like they’d be competitive going in, with great QBs on both sides, and the competitive part leaves out the Dallas-Buffalo back-to-back Super Bowls in the ‘90s and even Montana vs. Elway after the ’89 season.
Read the rest of this entry »

So the good politicians of Santa Clara say they are ready to begin negotiating with the 49ers for a new stadium.

Guess they never heard of Irwindale, huh?

You remember Irwindale. Handed Al Davis $10 million. Last I heard the Raiders’ stadium in that southern California backwater never got built.

I don’t believe a 49ers’ stadium will get built in Santa Clara, either. Not with current ownership. And I’m not the only one. Read Tim Kawakami’s excellent piece in the San Jose Mercury for more: http://www.mercurynews.com/49ersheadlines/ci_7974894.

Basically, what Tim says, and I surely agree, is that you can’t trust the York family to get this done. Their near-decade legacy of ownership is bumbling from one screwup to another. They have given zero indication they’re willing to throw several hundred million of their own dollars into a stadium project. If they were, it would be off the ground already.
Read the rest of this entry »

Approaching the conference championship games, history tells us there’s a much greater chance for an upset in the AFC than the NFC, even though the current “greatest team ever” resides in the AFC.

That’s because teams that had to play through the wild-card round traditionally have done much better in the AFC.

Carolina, in 2003, is the only NFC team in history to win three post-season games in order to reach the Super Bowl.

It has occurred more than a half-dozen times in the AFC, including five in the last decade – Denver in 1997, Tennessee in 1999, Baltimore in 2000, Pittsburgh in 2005 and Indianapolis in 2006.

I’d like to give you an explanation for that disparity, but I can’t. Perhaps it’s because there have been more strong teams in the AFC than the NFC, so there’s a greater chance that one of the strong teams will be relegated to the wild-card round since only two teams can earn a bye.
Read the rest of this entry »