Merry Xmas for me!

I suppose it goes without saying that I was glad to see the Colts win the other day.  Dungy, Manning, and Marvin all deserve it.  But I was doubly happy because had the Patriots won I'm not sure I could have brought myself to root for either team in the Super Bowl.  As a Packer fan it would be difficult to root for the Bears (though not impossible, like it would be with the Vikings), but I might have had to do it.  But now it's easy, go Colts!

Being the long time Pats fan, I can't even root for the Colts if I tried and am not the biggest fan of the NFC. Is it possible to root for a tie? Jokes aside, I see it being a blowout, not quite sure for which side yet. All depends what the magic 8-ball tells me...
 

Anybody up for making a prediction for tonight's big game? I'll take the Bears over the Colts...21-17 (I'll cancel my blowout prediction solely on wanting to see a good game, the last 2 SuperBowl's the Pats haven't been in, XXXVII and XL have been bad). I think that Manning is destined to be the next Dan Marino, a great QB but can't win the SuperBowl.
 

I had said before the game that I figured the only way the Bears could possibly win is if it became a smash-mouth, grind-it-out kind of game.  The Bears once again proved they have no offense, and Rex Grossman  proved he's one of the worst quarterbacks ever to get so far into the postseason.  Honestly, the game wasn't as close as the score showed but Hester's punt return and one big run by Thomas Jones (the only play the Bears offense made all game) kept Chicago in it, while the Colts had a couple occasions they came away with 3 when they should have had 7.

Finally I was able to bring my 6-game Super Bowl losing streak to an end.  I hadn't rooted for the winning team since the Rams beat the Titans in '99.  Since then I'd cheered for the Giants against the Ravens, the Rams against the Patriots, the Raiders against the Bucs, the Panthers and Eagles against the Patriots, and the Seahawks against the Steelers.  And there was nothing better than to listen to all the whining on Chicago sports radio after the game. :)

It was odd how the Bears seemed to abandon the run after Jones long run. Sure, Benson was hurt, however they had another back, Petterson. Fault the Bears too for some bad tackling regardless of the field conditions.

Peterson hadn't hardly been used all year. People make a big deal about him but he'd only had something like 10 carries all regular season. I don't think it was so much they abandoned the run as it was they didn't have the ball often enough to run much. They'd go run-pass-pass punt or run-run-pass-punt...and unless that first run is getting you 5 or 6 yards to where you can really open the playbook on 2nd down, Rex wasn't able to make the plays to keep drives alive. Yeah he had a great completion percentage, but how many of those were actually more than just little dump offs in the flat?

The bottom line is the Bears were exposed for nearly every fault they had on offense, and their defense compounded the problem by having a so-so at best game, which was made even worse since they had to be on the field nearly constantly.

It was readily apparent which team was the better team. The Colts really should have won that game by even more than they did. There were just a few key breaks that held the Bears in contention far longer than their play warranted.

The new AFL game is out soon...... http://www.easports.com/afl2/

Unfortunatly it's PS2 only...tha really bites when a game is only on one console. Quite unfair but that's the way it goes... 

I must say I'm really impressed with the Patriots signing of Adalius Thomas. I think he'll be a great addition to the defence and it will be interesting to see it play out on the field. I like the signings of Kyle Brady and Sammy Morris as well. In Brady you get a good blocking tight end who is basically replacing Daniel Graham. Morris should be a good back to compliment Maroney. Time will tell though. And with the Moss to Pats rumours heating up again, this a great time to be a Pats fan in the offseason!

 

And it was great to see some AFL on ABC yesterday!
 

With the 2007 Draft happening in a few hours, I'll go out on a limb and say that the Raiders take Brady Quinn over JaMarus Russell with the first overall pick.
 

Well, was I ever off on my Quinn prediction, but it's freaking awesome to have Randy Moss as a Patriot!!! The Pats have nothing to lose and everything to gain by it. Brady gets a legitimate deep threat that he's never really had in his career.