One Fan's View: WIldcard Weekend

by Kevin Shenoy

Well I went 3 of 4 on the games this week. I skipped the Giants game (more on that below). Here is my assessment of the games.

Washington vs. Seattle
First of all, I’d like to say Todd Collins looks like the scrawniest QB to play in the new millennium. He almost has this Grogan-like neck, so that isn’t very inspiring. And then you add in the fact that the Bills didn’t stick it out with him; I couldn’t root for the Redskins.

This game was fairly entertaining though. When you factor in its an NFC game on the west coast, it has the potential to bore you death. I really thought the Redskins were going to pull it out when they got the bounce on the kickoff. When they missed the field goal, we screamed “game over” in unison. We is defined as Pam, Paris, Shelly and myself. When Seattle picked off the last pass for a TD return, Shelly aptly noted, “that stinks for the Redskins. They lost by 21.” Ahhh, the irony of it all.

Only thing I really noticed from this game is that Shaun Alexander seems to be a shell of his former self, and Hasslebeck can’t have that many turnovers against a much better Packer team. That being said, the Seahawks defense ain’t no joke and with the Packers playing like they have, Hasselbeck might finally be able to, “take the ball, and we’re going to win.”

Jacksonville vs Steelers
My cousin Radhika’s birthday is January 9th, and her Saturday birthday party always falls during the weekend Wildcard games. The last party I got to attend for her was at this fairly swank night club when the Jets beat the Chargers in a ridiculous game. I’m sure you all recall this game.

I remember standing around all these beautiful people who were lost in the music and partying while I was standing there with 15 other guys watching the game. I was taken aback at what a wild finish it was and how only 15 people out of like 150 actually cared. After the game ended, literally everyone cheered and went back to dancing and drinking.

Fast forward to this year’s party. Radhika held it at her place and kept a TV on as she is also a football fan. It was a nice house party and as is the case with Radhika’s parties and Wildcard Football, the game of the weekend took place.

I was stunned at how slowly the Steelers had lost their machismo. When they beat the Bills in week 2, they looked like one of the top 5 teams. By the middle of the second quarter, I thought, “could a Fairchild offense beat this team?” Not good.

Radhika’s brother, Neil, and I strongly believe that Jacksonville may be the only ones to knock off the Patriots. While the Jags were mid choke, Neil and I both thought but never said to each other, “is there a single damn team we can root for who won’t just screw us in the end?” On 4th and 2, when Garrard made it out on his scamper, I think I made the sign of the cross. Which in the end is amazing seeing that I am neither religious nor Christian.

New York vs Tampa Bay
I didn’t watch this game because neither of these teams will be getting past Dallas. More importantly, we got an offer to go to Costco. If you are not aware of what Costco is, it’s the only Sam’s Club like place in New York. It’s tough to go to if you are in the city because Costco is in Queens, and we don’t access to a car. But Pam and Paris took us and we were forever grateful. We now have enough cleaning supplies until 2012, enough ground beef to feed the OL of any of the playoff teams through Superbowl Weekend, and enough batteries to get us through a blackout.

This has nothing to do with football, but when in those bulk stores, if you pass the dietary fiber section, you can’t help but be confused. Whose train is so backed up that they need Metamucil in bulk? One drink maybe two should get you back to easy street. But a box that can make 30 cups? I think you should probably visit a doctor at that point. It’s kind of astonishing and highly gross.

Tennessee vs San Diego
Tennessee proved why the Colts should have played their starters last week. I think Cleveland could have made it a more interesting game.

It was a fairly boring game and I took away something from this game. Actually it’s in combination with the Chargers Broncos Sunday night game a few weeks ago. Phillip Rivers is a massive tool. He’s always whining, always jabbing, and he’s never really all that good. For being like 6 foot 13 or whatever he is, he really labors to throw the ball. He looks like he is pushing it to a location in a shotput kind of style.

LT seemingly has this older brother relationship with Rivers. Not in that “I’ll take care of you, little bro” kind of way either. More like the “I’m only putting up with this because mom told me to be with you, but once we are in public and she’s gone, I’m probably going to try to lose you….forever” If Rivers has a bad game next week and they lose, I can’t help but think LT is going to trash Rivers publicly.

DVD Extras:[list][*]With Billick fired, my sense is that he is going to become like Cuba Gooding Jr. Cuba is an Academy Award winner, yet has only stared in junk movies. Billick won a Superbowl, but he’ll probably be a head coach one more time in his career. And if you can imagine it, he’ll be significantly worse than he’s been over the last 6 years or so. Because whoever hires him will be one desperate team with nothing going right. That’s significantly different than having an amazing defense with which you had nothing to do wih.[*]JP wants out of Buffalo. My sources tell me that the local flag football team is willing to give us three players for the practice squad for JP. Seeing that the Bills seem to only pick up players for the practice squad, this trade is as good as done.

Kevin Shenoy can be reached at Binauarl02@hotmail.com