Tiki Barber says he is thinking of retiring. They debated that on Around the Horn yesterday; it was one of the topics on Pardon the Interruption; it was part of SportsCenter; it is a headline article on cbs.sportsline.com and msnbc.com and sportingnews.com this morning. Please, let this not become the latter day version of the Brett Favre soap opera of "will he or won't he?" I don't know about you, but I got more than sick and tired of the way sports writers and commentators fell back on the Brett Favre retirement issue to fill time and space last winter and spring. I really don't want Tiki Barber to become the same thing. We know he's thinking of retirement; after the season is over, someone can ask him about his plans then. After that, sit back and wait for his decision. That's all we really need.
Speaking of Tiki Barber, it appears as if the Giants used their bye week very effectively. Maybe they even turned their season around then. Prior to the bye week, the defense stunk and they were throwing the ball all over the place. Now they are running the ball - Tiki Barber leads the NFL in rushing at this moment - and using the strength of their offensive line to move the ball. The Giants' defense had been listless - to be very polite - until the bye week and now they are playing aggressively and productively. They gave up 92 points in their first three games and have only given up 17 in their next two games.
The Giants next play the Cowboys on Monday night. The Cowboys have the best rushing defense in the NFL so far this year; they only yield an average of 67 yards per game. If the Cowboys can hold Tiki Barber to that number, they ought to win the game but if the Giants can spring Tiki Barber free such that he averages more than 5 yards per carry, the Cowboys might be in for a long night. That's the kind of discussion about Tiki Barber that makes sense, not a discussion of his retirement plans and options.
The KC Chiefs are 2-3 at the moment but that record may be a mirage. They slaughtered the 49ers and then had the Arizona Cardinals hand them a win almost as if the Cards were rehearsing how to hand wins to teams before doing it on MNF against the Bears. Those are not what you would call "quality wins". Last weekend, the Steelers crushed the Chiefs 45-7 and outgained them 457 yards to 213 yards. The schedule for the Chiefs gets worse; they have San Diego this week, Seattle the next and then have to visit St. Louis where the Rams are 4-2 and showing signs of life.
Since I mentioned the 49ers a moment ago, their fans have to wonder when/if the team defense will stop anyone. Four teams are statistically worse than SF on defense, but look at the points given up by the 49ers. In week 2, they held the Rams to 13 points and won that game. Their other win came against the atrocious Oakland Raiders but even there the 49ers gave up 20 points to that woebegone squad. In the other 4 games, the 49ers have yielded 161 points; that's over 40 points per game! Even the Houston Texans are stingier than that on defense.
The five worst teams in the NFL at the moment are:
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5. Texans: They can look ahead to four or five games where they have a shot to win but unless the defense finds a way to yield less than 418.8 yards per game, they're not likely to win very often.
4. Packers: Porous defense and inconsistent offense. At least they won't lose this week; they have a bye.
3. Lions: Yes, they won last week but their less than stout defense will be minus their best defensive lineman for four weeks. Ugly.
2. Dolphins: Is this a truly awful team or merely a very bad one coached by an over-rated media darling?
1. Raiders: You need 5 "Ws" to summarize this team: Weak, Woebegone, Woeful, Worthless and Wretched. They couldn't get 5 "Ws" with this squad if they played an NFL Europe schedule.
Earlier this week, I acknowledged that I have no clue as to how QB Ratings are calculated but I said that Rex Grossman's performance on Monday night could not have generated a rating higher than 50. Boy was I wrong. Rex Grossman's rating in the MNF game against the Cardinals was only 10.7. Here's a perspective for you. When a QB Rating is less than a TV Rating, that's very bad.
Last weekend, there were at least two moments of embarrassment for players/coaches/teams that can't be ignored. In the Minnesota/Wisconsin game, Minnesota blocked an extra point and Mario Reese returned it all the way to score 2 points for Minnesota. Reese went tumbling into the end zone and celebrated that accomplishment. So why is that embarrassing? Well that made the score Wisconsin 41 and Minnesota 5 in the third quarter. Maybe his math skills weren't sufficient to have him realize that the Gophers still trailed by more than four scores? Oh, the final score was 48-12 so that return did not represent a monumental change in game momentum.
Even more embarrassing - because this had to be a coach's decision - was the situation in the Temple/Clemson game. In the fourth quarter, Temple scored a TD to make the score Clemson 63 and Temple 9. What did the Owls do next? That's right, they tried a two-point conversion; had it been successful - it was not - that would have reduced the deficit to 52 points. That could be the gold standard for futility and worthlessness in terms of striving to mount a comeback.
When Lou Piniella was introduced as the new manager of the Cubbies, he talked about playoffs and winning and all those things. He also said he does not believe in curses. Now, I know you have seen Sweet Lou go through some of his most outrageous tirades on the field when he has a strong disagreement with an umpire over a call. So, if you polled all the umpires in MLB, do you think a few of them might say that he believes very strongly in curses because he uses them many a time? Just asking…
Finally, a comment from Jerry Greene in the Orlando Sentinel on the Miami/FIU brawl:
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"They say the suspended FIU players must do community service talking to youngsters about sportsmanship? Yeah, that should work."
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