Some Conference Championship Series Trivia

January 19, 2012 - This is a week of rematches, both in the playoffs and regular season.  Each team competing this has won at least one Super Bowl. 

   For the second time ever, the Baltimore Ravens go to Foxboro to face the New England Patriots in the playoffs.  Baltimore has never beaten New England in the regular season (0-6), but is undefeated against the Patriots in the playoffs, winning their lone meeting  from the 2009 playoffs 33-14.  They went ot overtime only once, in their last meeting in 2010.  Again, New England won at home 23-20.  There have been no shutouts in the series.  The only time Baltimore played in the Super Bowl was the 2000 season (SB XXXV).  New England has been to the Super Bowl five times, winning three.  Their last appearance in the Super Bowl was in the 2007 season (SB XLII).

   The New York Giants go to the Stick to take on the San Francisco 49ers.  The Niners beat the Giants earlier this season 27-20.  This will be their eighth playoff meeting and the sixth in San Francisco.  The Niners lead the playoff series 4-3 and lead at home 4-1.  San Francisco leads the all time series 18-17.  Their last playoff game against each other was in 2003, when San Francisco won 39-38.  They first faced each other in the playoffs in 1982.  This is their second meeting in the NFC Championship game.  Their first championship game was in 1991.  The last time the Niners shut out the Giants was 12-0 in 1980.  The Giants have never shut out the Niners.  This series has never gone to overtime.  The Giants have been to four Super Bowls, winning three of them.  Their last appearance was a victory in 2007 (SB XLII).  San Francisco has been to five Super Bowls, winning all of them.  They last appeared in a Super Bowl in 1994 (SB XXIX).

   Who will go to the Super Bowl?  The Patriots remember that loss in the playoffs two years ago and should beat Baltimore this time.  The Ravens have struggled on the road and unless they show up as if this was a home game, New England will win easily.

   In college football, when two teams who met in the regular season play again in a bowl game, the team who lost the regular season game will win the bowl game.  That's not necessarily true in the NFL, although the Giants pulled off the upset win over the Green Bay Packers after losing to them earlier in the season.  The New Orleans Saints beat the Detroit Lions during the season and in the wild card game, the Saints beat the Lions again.  So it's anybody's game.  However, the Niners have a good physical defense, which matches well with the Giants' offense.  San Francisco will win in a close game, maybe even in overtime.

Some Lagniappe

  When I write these entries, I try to look for videos to feature the teams and players, especially for older era games.  YouTube has some videos of previous playoff meetings between the four teams.  I make no claim of ownership of any of the videos featured. 

   Here's highlights from the Ravens and the Patriots only other playoff game against each other.

   Unfortunately, I couldn't find a highlight video of the only other NFC Championship game the Giants and Niners played in that had narration.  However, I found two series of videos, one with 15 parts (the whole game) and one with 5 parts (second half).  Here's the second half of that game, which occurred on January 20, 1991.

    In addition to the Hall of Famers in this game, there were other good players.  The Giants had Jeff Hostetler (playing for an injured Phil Simms), Dave Meggett, Ottis Anderson, Jumbo Elliott, Mark Ingram, Mark Collins, Leonard Marshall, Pepper Johnson, and Mark Bavaro.  The 49ers had Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, John Taylor, Brent Jones, Jesse Sapolu, Matt Millen, Dave Waymer, Jim Burt (who played for both teams), Charles Haley, and Spencer Tillman.  This was a great game played by two great teams.

Have a great weekend!!

Some NFL Divisional Playoff Series Trivia

January 14, 2012 - This year's divisional playoff games feature teams who are all division champions.  The last time all division champions played in the divisional round was in 2006.

   The New Orleans Saints visit Candlestick Park to play their former NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers.  This is their first ever meeting in the playoffs.  San Francisco leads the series 45-24-2.  New Orleans is 9-2 against the Niners since 1999 and has won the last six games.  This is the longest win streak New Orleans ever had over San Francisco.  They went to overtime twice, in 1977 and 1980, both won by San Francisco.  The last time the Niners beat the Saints at home was 28-27 in 2001.  The last time San Francisco shut out New Orleans was 38-0 in 2001.  The Saints have never shut out the Niners.  Their two ties ended with the same score 20-20, in 1970 and 1972.  New Orleans should win, but it will probably not be a blowout.

   The New England Patriots host the Denver Broncos in their third ever playoff meeting.  Denver won the previous two playoff meetings in 1987 and 2005.  The Broncos lead the series 27-17 and is 18-6 against the Patriots since 1979.  They only went to overtime once, in 2009, when Denver won 20-17.  Neither team has ever shut out the other.  History should repeat itself, with New England easily beating Denver, but if Tebow makes good passing decisions and accurate passes, the Broncos could pull off its second consecutive upset.

   Tomorrow starts off with the Houston Texans invading M&T Bank Stadium to take on the Baltimore Ravens.  Since this is Houston's first ever playoff run, this is also obviously their first ever playoff meeting.  Baltimore is undefeated in the series 5-0.  Baltimore beat Houston earlier this season 29-14.  They went to overtime once, in 2010, and the Ravens won 34-28.  There has never been a shutout in the series.  Baltimore should win, but if the Texans get their run game in gear early, they could pull off the upset.

   The New York Giants go to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers.  They have met in three pre-Super Bowl NFL Championships and once in the playoffs.  Green Bay leads the playoff series 4-2, with all four wins earning them NFL Championships in 1939, 1944, 1961, and 1962.  The Giants won one NFL Championship against the Packers in 1938 and their latest playoff meeting in 2008 23-20 in overtime.  Green Bay leads the series 31-23-2, but Green Bay is 6-2 against New York since 1995.  Their lone overtime game was the previously mentioned playoff game.  The last time Green Bay shut out New York was 37-0, their NFL Championship win in 1961.  The last time the Giants shut out the Packers was 24-0 in 1944.  Their last tie was 24-24 in 1947.  Green Bay should dominate the Giants, but if New York can keep Green Bay's offense off the field, they could win instead.  This is a long shot Upset Special.

On This Day

   In 1968, the Packers played the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.  Green Bay dominated the  Raiders 33-14.  Bart Starr won his second consecutive Super Bowl MVP honor.  Both teams' destinies changed after that game.  Green Bay only had four winning seasons from 1968-88 and won their next playoff game in the strike shortened season of 1982.  Oakland became one of the dominant teams of the 1970's and 1980's, including three Super Bowl wins during that two decade span.

    In 1973, the Miami Dolphins capped its undefeated season by winning Super Bowl VII over the Washington Redskins 14-7.  Washington got its only score on the infamous Mike Bass pick six interception of a Garo Yepremian pass.  Miami quarterback Bob Griese started for the first time since Week 5 against San Diego, when Deacon Jones and Ron East sacked him and broke his ankle.  Earl Morrall started the rest of the season and the playoffs.  Strong safety Jake Scott was named the Super Bowl MVP.  Scott was the first Dolphin great to wear the number 13.   Of course, the other was Dan Marino.  In fact, Scott and Marino are the only players to ever wear the number 13 for the Miami Dolphins.

And we have another historical score, today in:

2005 - Denver 27 - New England 13

Some BCS National Championship Thoughts

I got kind of lucky and was able to go the the BCS National Championship game.  It's kind of lucky, because although I got to go, it wasn't with a ticket.  I worked at a nacho booth on the first level for the Greater New Orleans Drum Corps Association.  Although we had a steady flow of customers for most of the game, I got to see bits and pieces of it.  Here's where we were at three hours before game time, with the LSU Band rehearsing its halftime show.  I took the picture from the nacho stand.

   Hats off to Alabama for its dominating 21-0 performance over LSU.  The Crimson Tide proved they were the best in the nation.  Alabama executed on offense and LSU didn't.  On a few LSU plays, I tried to count to three to see when quarterback Jordan Jefferson would get his pass off.  On some plays, I never made it to three and on others, he ran before I got to three.  The offensive line provided Jefferson little protection against the Bama front four, but there were times Jefferson didn't have to run.  Maybe he should have had a long talk with Drew Brees on how to pick apart opposing defenses.  AJ McCarron must have, because there were times he played like Brees.  On one play, he threw a low out pass to Marquis Maze who made a diving catch for a first down in front of the Honey Badger himself, Tyrann Mathieu.

   About the fans...we were stationed behind an Alabama section, but served fans of both teams.  Except for a few idiots, both Tide and Tiger fans were well behaved.  And the Bama fans were just as loud as Tiger fans during the game to the point we were yelling just to barely hear an order.  It was almost like a Saints game.  Starting in the fourth quarter, Alabama fans started to celebrate, but at least where we were, they didn't rub in the fact they were about to win.  The few LSU and Alabama fans who started trouble were quickly arrested by the New Orleans Police Department.

   The AP has Alabama at #1 and LSU at #2.  No argument here.  LSU beat more top ranked teams than the others, including a win over Alabama, and should be #2.  What's notable is the three of the top five teams are not only from the SEC.  They're from the SEC West.  Next year should be fun, especially if Trent Richardson stays at Alabama.  Expect some teams from the Big Ten and Pac-12 (especially Oregon) to make their cases against SEC dominance.

    Here's a little trivia.  There was only one bowl shutout game in the 2011 season and it was the national championship.  The next two bits of trivia involve the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  The last shutout in a bowl game was in 2009, when Nebraska blanked Arizona 33-0.  The last shutout for a national championship was in 1991 when the Miami Hurricanes blanked Nebraska 22-0 for a share of the championship with Washington.

   Congratulations to all the bowl game winners and the 2011 BCS National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide.

Last Place Update

January 2, 2012 – Happy New Year and welcome to the final Last Place Update of the 2011 NFL Season.

After a week off, the 2-14 Indianapolis Colts have secured their title as the NFL’s 2011 Kings of the Cellar.  They have earned that coveted first pick in the 2012 draft and an interesting choice.  If they draft a quarterback, do they pick Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, if he enters the draft?  With Bill and Chris Polian out of the picture, who knows?  The last time the Colts had the first pick in the draft was in 1998, when they picked Peyton Manning.  However, Luck is no Manning.

This year’s first honorable mention goes to the 2-14 St. Louis Rams, obviously for their record, but also for failing to play spoiler when they had the chance this week.  Then management fired head coach Steve Spagnuolo and general manager Bill Devaney.  St. Louis is in a more advantageous position than Indy, since they had three players stand out; RB Steven Jackson, DE Chris Long, and LB James Laurinaitis.  Plus they’ll have their injured standouts back as well.  If the Rams’ management chooses well, they may be off the Last Place Update radar for 2012.

This year’s second honorable mention goes, not to the 3-13 Minnesota Vikings, but to the 4-12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Although Minnesota has the worst record of the two, the Bucs sport a ten game losing streak.  That and Raheem Morris has been fired.  Unless he lost the respect of his team, Tampa Bay should not have fired Morris.  He went young with the team when he took over and this was a year of growing pains.  As with the Rams, whoever takes over as head coach has a chance to make the Bucs a winner in 2012.

Thank you for taking the time to read the updates and this blog.  May 2012 be the best year yet.

Last Place Update

December 27, 2011 – Welcome to this week’s Last Place Update.  The 2-13 Indianapolis Colts’ two game lead is gone.  They went off on a two game winning streak and are now tied with the St. Louis Rams.  And for the first time this season, the Colts are no longer Kings of the Cellar.  That honor now goes to the Rams for getting shut out by the Pittsburgh Steelers (minus Ben Roethlisberger…Charlie Batch was the Steeler QB) 17-0.  The last time Pittsburgh shut out the Rams was in 1981, 24-0.

The Colts beat the Houston Texans 18-16 and will not have a honorable mention this week.  Congrats on two straight wins.  And congrats to the Minnesota Vikings for pulling off the upset special over the Washington Redskins.  You too, will not have an honorable mention.

This week’s first honorable mention goes to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  True, there are teams with fewer wins, but nobody has a longer losing streak, which is now at nine straight.  It’s one thing to lose close games to good teams, but the Bucs got spanked by a losing team, the 4-11 Jacksonville Jaguars.  The Bucs even got swept and dominated by the 6-9 Carolina Panthers.

This week’s second honorable mention barely goes to the Cleveland Browns, who just edged the Chicago Bears for the honor.  Cleveland lost five straight and ten out of their last twelve, but the Browns have not been blown out during this stretch.  However, their wins were against opponents with losing records.  Even Tampa Bay beat two playoff teams.

Before we go to the next loss, I want to make a couple of comments.

First, congrats to Drew Brees for breaking Dan Marino’s single season passing yards record while leading the New Orleans Saints to a dominating win over the Atlanta Falcons.  He did it in fifteen games versus Marino’s sixteen games.  The only downside is if they have to play again in the playoffs.  Not only is it hard to beat the same team three times in a season, but some of the Atlanta players didn’t like the drive for the record and are itching for a rematch.  Here's the link to WWL Radio’s Jim Henderson’s call on the record-breaking play.

Jim Henderson's Call When Brees Passed Marino

Second, congrats to the Detroit Lions for making the playoffs for the first time since 1999, when Barry Sanders ran the ball all over the place.  And who was one of their quarterbacks?  Current Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch.  He and kicker Jason Hanson are the only two players from the 1999 team who are still playing in the NFL and Hanson is still with the Lions.

Next Loss

St. Louis hosts their divisional rival of over 60 years, the San Francisco 49ers.  Upset Special?  Only if the Rams play the Niners like they played the Saints.  Although San Francisco struggles to score touchdowns in the red zone, St. Louis doesn’t have the offensive firepower without Sam Bradford.  Now if Bradford is healthy enough to play, then this will be an upset special.  If he isn’t, then this will be an easy Niners win, who will clinch the #2 spot in the playoffs

Indy goes to Jacksonville to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Upset special?  Why not?  If the Colts play like they did the last two weeks, they should win their first road game.  Indy will finish the season on a positive note with another upset win.

Minnesota takes on their divisional rival for over 50 years, the Chicago Bears, at home.  Could this be a third upset special?  Not this time, even at home.  The Vikings will put up a good fight, but Chicago should end the season with a win.

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week: December 27,

1987 – San Francisco 48 – Los Angeles Rams 0

1992 – Kansas City 42 – Denver 20

1992 – Pittsburgh 23 – Cleveland 13

1998 – San Francisco 38 – St. Louis 19

1999 – New York Jets 38 – Miami 31

2003 – Philadelphia 31 – Dallas 7

2003 – New England 31 – Buffalo 0

Today in 1975 - Kansas City Chief vs Oakland Raiders

Today in 1975, the Oakland Raiders hosted the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional contest and the last game of the regular season.

The Raiders got on the board first on a 5 yard touchdown run by Pete Banaszak.  The Chiefs answered with a Jan Stenerud 35 yard field goal.

Stenerud closed the gap with a 29 yard field goal in the second quarter.  Kansas City took the lead on a 5 yard touchdown pass from Tony Adams to Barry Pearson.  Oakland took the lead again on a Banaszak 3 yard touchdown run and increased the lead when Ken Stabler threw a 16 yard touchdown pass to Morris Bradshaw.  The Raiders led at halftime 21-13.

After a scoreless third quarter, Kansas City closed the gap to one on a 1 yard touchdown run by Jeff Kinney.  But Oakland put the game out of reach when Banaszak scored yet another touchdown on a 1 yard run.  The Oakland Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs 28-20.

For the Chiefs, Tony Adams passed 18-31 for 245 yards, with a touchdown and 2 interceptions.  He also had 3 rushing attempts for 26 yards.  Barry Pearson had 6 receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown.  Willie Lanier had an interception.

For the Raiders, Ken Stabler passed 11-12 for 134 yards and a touchdown.  The elder statesman of the NFL, George Blanda, passed 1-3 for 11 yards and an interception.  Pete Banaszak had 17 rushes for 72 yards and 3 touchdowns.  He also had 2 receptions for 22 yards.  Jess Phillips ran 7 times for 84 yards.  Charlie Phillips, Jack Tatum, and Skip Thomas each had an interception.

The Chiefs finished the season at 5-9, third in the AFC West.  The Raiders finished at 11-3 and were AFC West Champions.  Oakland lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers 16-10 in the AFC Championship game.

Trivia

• There were 13 Hall of Famers present: Len Dawson, Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Jan Stenerud, and Emmitt Thomas for the Chiefs, and Fred Biletnikoff, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Dave Casper, Ted Hendricks, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, and head coach John Madden for the Raiders.
• The Raiders rushed for 246 yards in the game, 199 of them by Banaszak (72), Jess Phillips (84), and Mark Van Eeghen (43).
• This was Paul Wiggin’s first season as head coach of the Chiefs.  He coached the team from 1975-77.
• This was John Madden’s seventh season as head coach of the Raiders.  He coached the team from 1969-78.
• Wiggin played defensive end for the Cleveland Browns from 1957-67.
• Oakland offensive guard Art Shell was the head coach of the Raiders from 1989-94 and 2006.
• This was kicker George Blanda's last appearance ever as quarterback and his last season as a player.  He played from 1949-75 for the Chicago Bears, Baltimore Colts, Houston Oilers, and Oakland Raiders.
• Emmitt Thomas was the interim head coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007.

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week, on December 21,

1980 – Dallas 35 – Philadelphia 27

1997 – Seattle 38 – San Francisco 9

2003 – Baltimore 35 – Cleveland 0

2003 – Philadelphia 27 – Dallas 3

2008 – Buffalo 30 – Denver 23

Game stats can be found on Pro-Football-Reference.com at Kansas City Chiefs vs Oakland Raiders - December 21, 1975.

Last Place Update

December 20, 2011 – Welcome to this week’s Last Place Update.  There are no longer any winless or undefeated teams.  As you already know, the Green Bay Packers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and the 1-13 Indianapolis Colts got their first win against the Tennessee Titans.  Hats off to the Colts for getting into the win column, but they are still Kings of the Cellar.  Indy leads the 2-12 St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings by a game.

This week’s honorable mention goes to the Vikings.  They got spanked by the New Orleans Saints 42-20.  That was the most the Saints ever scored on them and New Orleans kept “Flap Jacket” Jared Allen off Drew Brees.  However, E.J. Henderson put in a respectable eleven tackles, nine of them solo tackles.

The second honorable mention goes to 4-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost to the Dallas Cowboys 31-15 on Thursday.  The Bucs didn’t turn the ball over like they did last week.  They were simply dominated by the Cowboys in the loss.  Their losing streak is now a league leading eight games.  The second longest active losing streak belongs to the Buffalo Bills at seven games.  Buffalo is on the Update’s radar.

Next Loss

Indy hosts the Houston Texans on Thursday.  Can this be two upsets in a row?  Maybe, depending on how the Colts play.  But Houston is coming off a loss to the Carolina Panthers and will probably take that loss out on the Colts.  Sorry, no upset special here.  The Texans will enjoy their first ever season sweep of the Colts.

The Rams invade Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, fresh off their Monday night loss to the San Francisco 49ers.  Could this be an upset special with a gimpy Ben Roethlisberger?  Nah, the Steelers have too much depth and Kellen Clemens isn’t Sam Bradford.  Pittsburgh swept the season series with the same Cincinnati Bengals, who beat the Rams last week in St. Louis.  Steven Jackson and Chris Long could make the game interesting, but they’re not enough to overcome a superior Steelers team.

Minnesota goes to Fed Ex Field play the Washington Redskins.  This is my Upset Special.  Yes, the Vikings need Adrian Peterson’s ankle to hold up, but Allen, Henderson, and the rest of the defensive front seven should make the Redskins try to win on Rex Grossman’s arm and although he’s not bad, he is no Drew Brees.  Unless the Vikings collapse, the game should be close, with Minnesota pulling off the upset. 

Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing each other this week: December 20,

1975 – Los Angeles Rams 10 – Pittsburgh 3

1998 – Dallas 13 – Philadelphia 9

2004 – Miami 29 – New England 28

2007 – Pittsburgh 41 – St. Louis 24