Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Thursday Night NFL: Vikings at Packers
(Plus: My Take on CFB Coach of the Year)

Be honest: If you were Packers GM and you were offered a trade of Tarvaris Jackson for Brett Favre, you'd be crazy not to do it. (And Packers fans would be crazy to gripe.) Pick: Vikings.

Can I just add an unrelated note about the AP voters picking Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe as Coach of the Year? This year was a brutal choice: Grobe or Rutgers' Greg Schiano. In any single year, Wake's BCS success or Rutgers' Cinderella ride alone would have been among the greatest coaching jobs in college football history, right up there with Gary Barnett at Northwestern in 1995, which, to me, is the gold standard for turnaround jobs. How to pick between them? Obviously, the AP voters put more weight in Grobe's ACC title than Rutgers' narrative/p.r. advantage. It's a cop-out, but I would have given it to both. I guess it works out sort of the same: Grobe wins the AP award; Schiano wins the Liberty Mutual (aka Made-for-TV) Coach of the Year award.

24 comments:

Christian Thoma said...

Are you taking off tomorrow or something?

Unknown said...

Favre has 1 year left likely.
Jackson has possibly 8-9 years. So yes, a trade would happen.


However, i don't attach the same anti-favre venom you do.

Packers 31
Vikings 17

Christian Thoma said...

Has everyone seen this?

http://playoffs.nfl.com/bandwagon/

It has a ridiculously long load time and pointless graphics, but I persevered.

It gave me Saints.

CMFost said...

chrth, I did it and it gave my the NEW YORK F'N Giants, as a Boston sports fan there is no way in hell that I could root for any New York Team unless they are playing the Yankees.

My prediction:
2 TD's out of Chester Taylor
Vikings roll 24-7

Christian Thoma said...

As for the game tomorrow night, it really depends on the Vikings attitude and Packers playcalling.

If the Vikings come in to Lambeau itching for revenge for their earlier loss this season and hoping to finish up the season positively, they'll put up a fight. If they've already checked out until 2007 (and switching QBs is a signal to players to do so), they have little chance.

As for the Packers playcalling, hopefully the coaches will realize that 8 TDs in 2 games is too steep a target to aim for, and go back to the sort of playcalling we saw at San Francisco and Minnesota (i.e. not going Pass-Pass-Pass(INT) in the Red Zone). If so, that increases their odds of winning, even if the Vikes refuse to roll over.

Unknown said...

the nfl bandwagon thing told me to go for the Vikings for the following reasons:
Big Market
Good at home
Good D
West Coast
Seasoned Vets

right, so here's my questions...

Big Market: Minnesota?
Good at Home: Beat Carolina by 3 in OT before steve smith came back, lost to the bears, beat detroit by 9 when roy williams got hurt on the 2nd play, got crushed by the Pats on MNF, lost to Green Bay, beat the Cardinals by 5, lost to the Jets.
Good D: 11th in the league in Points per Game.
West Coast: of Lake Michigan?
Seasoned Vets: QB: Tavarius Jackson's first start, RB: Chester Taylor's first year starting RB, WR: Troy Williamson's 2nd season.

I'm SO confused.

Sheldiz said...

chrth...

...it gave me the 49ers. i think i just threw up a little in my mouth.

Christian Thoma said...

They must be asking different questions for people. I got the Saints because I support Free Agents, southern teams, and classic franchises (don't recall the other two).

Maybe it's based on who you choose as your team?

Anonymous said...

I got the Bills on the "Bandwagon" deal. Not good...
As for the Thursday night game, the question is: How many red zone Int's will Brett throw? I wish the coaches would give up on the TD pass record for this year and just call smart plays in the red zone. They are asking a guy who takes a lot of bad chances anyway to make 10+ throws a game down near the goal line, where there is no room for error. No wonder he has 44 Ints in 2 years.

Now Shanoff wants to trade Favre for Tarvaris Jackson? Wow, Dan, your hate for Favre is limitless. Hate to tell you Dan, but as mediocre-to-bad as Brett has been over the last 2 years, he still is better (at 37 yrs old) than a lot of the QBs in the league.

The pick? Packers 17, Vikes 13 in an ugly one...

Brian in Oxford said...

Can't I pick a perfect medium for the steak? I don't want a bloody mess OR shoe leather.

I got the 49ers, too.

Anonymous said...

The NFL Bandwagon site told me to go for the Packers...that's really depressing.

Christian Thoma said...


The NFL Bandwagon site told me to go for the Packers...that's really depressing.



Damn, I was trying to see if I could get that as a choice, but the thing flipped out on me (about the tenth time Coughlin's face flashed by I realized the thing was hosed up). I'm just curious what the answer to "Is there a lady in the house?" indicates ... let's try again.

Unknown said...

I'm a Steelers fan...and that site gave me the Denver Broncos.

Talk about a serious downgrade. No thanks.

Unknown said...

BTW,
I was asked about
1) eating in or eating out
2) blockbuster movies or independent films
3)pick a penny up off floor or walk on by
4)"you all" or "y'all"
5) um...i forget the 5th.

mattie said...

I just got the Bengals. Hmmm... Maybe their searing questions revealed some sort of criminal longings in my psyche?

I got asked whether out-of-town friends stay on my couch/in a hotel, whether I'd pick up a penny/keep walking, whether there's a missus in the house (guess no women take the survey, or only lesbians in Massachusetts?), how I like my steak cooked, and Leno/Letterman.

Anonymous said...

I came to this thread just to glimpse the inevitable Farve fight, and then you distract everyone with a great link, chrth!

I think mine takes the cake, though: it called San Diego a northern city!!! At least Minnesota is west of something... I also humbly disagree that they are a team with few stars, NFL.com.

And I'm not rooting for the Chargers until the Bears lose, lest we end up playing them.

Christian Thoma said...

I came to this thread just to glimpse the inevitable Farve fight, and then you distract everyone with a great link, chrth!


My plan all along ;)


I think mine takes the cake, though: it called San Diego a northern city!!!


That's hysterical ... let's see. A location N of New Orleans, S of San Diego, and E of Minnesota. I think this was programmed in Pascagoula.

Big D said...

How much do you think they had to pay Harry Calas to say "How do you roll - Bling or No Bling? It's OK - you still got mad style, dawg... I feel ya shorty" Sadly reminiscent of Finding Forrester

Sheldiz, you think you threw up a little?

The seizure-inducing photo montage at the end was a nice touch though...

For the record, I got San Diego. I can handle that.

Christian Thoma said...

Why Jim Grobe this season is more impressive than Greg Schiano:

1) Wake Forest lost their starting QB and RB at the start of the season
2) Wake Forest was picked dead last in their division by pretty much everybody (Rutgers went to a bowl game last year, everyone seems to forget)
3) Wake Forest has the smallest enrollment of all Big Six conference schools, and third smallest in I-A.
4) New Jersey is a major high school football state; granted, not as strong as Florida or Texas, but definitely up there. Since Rutgers is the only big Six Conference school anywhere close, Rutgers should be able to field a strong team every year simply by recruiting in their own backyard (frequently pillaged by PoSU, btw). As a result, Rutgers should be able to take this momentum and move forward and be competitive for at least the next decade if they play their cards right.
Wake Forest, on the other hand, shares NC with the three schools in the Triangle, and have a hard time attracting talent outside their state, especially since
5) Wake Forest has the highest graduation rate of any I-A school.

While I root for Rutgers due to my upbringing and my friends that went there, this race shouldn't even be close. Schiano gets the press because Rutgers *could* have finished undefeated, but what Grobe has done in Winston-Salem is historic.

But kudos to both coaches (so far) in staying with the schools instead of moving on to greener ($$$) pastures.

john (east lansing, mi) said...

I'm not sure if it's been brought up on another post's comments section, but I thought there would be a number of commenters delighted to see that Reggie Ball is academically ineligible to play in the Gator Bowl.

I don't care about him or his lousy, er, I mean, ACC, team at all, but I do think it's funny, given all y'all's opinions of him.

Mega said...

Is Madden calling the game tomorrow night?

After Favre throws 2 picks, will he say "Favre is just having fun out there" as his damn excuse for sucktitude?

Anonymous said...

Ball ineligible? What was he doing this semester? If he wasn't going to class, you'd think he'd been better on the field.

I love it. He manages even to screw up his ride off into the sunset at GT.

marcomarco said...

1. Evergreen - A cold weather team
2. On the Edge - A team that goes for it on 4th down
3. Morning Person - A team that plays early games
4. Blockbusters - A team with many stars.

The Rams of Saint Louis. Fine by me.

Sean said...

I'm a Steelers fan...and that site gave me the Denver Broncos too!

I was asked about

1) museum or zoo
2) hire help or do it yourself
3) eating in or out
4) you all or y'all
5) um...i forget the 5th