NFL Playoff Weekend
First, an announcement: Pipeline editors have notified The Seer that his services will no longer be required in this publication after this weekend's disastrous 0-4 showing. However, noting the Seer's tremendous gift for miscalculation and hubris, Rams coach Mike Martz immediately hired The Seer to fill the position of Quality Control Supervisor.
So, then. It was another wild weekend of NFL playoff football, starting with the amazing game between the Panthers and Rams. Due to familial obligations, I was not able to tune this game in until the Rams' final drive in regulation, just in time to see Martz decide not to go for a TD to win when he had the time and the timeouts to give it a shot. I won't recount all the ebbs and flows of the overtime(s), but suffice it to say it was an amazing game, one that both teams would have lamented losing. Why the Rams chose to throw a pass late in the first OT when they were already probably within FG range was beyond me, but it doesn't break my heart seeing Martz take heat in a postgame news conference yet again.
The best part of the game was that it inspired me to give Jane a dramatic reenactment of the Greatest Game I Ever Saw, the Chargers/Dolphins playoff game from early 1982 which went deep into the second OT before the Chargers triumphed on a FG. This is also known as the "Kellen Winslow Game", because Winslow did everything humanly possible to help the Chargers win that day, and had to be carried from the field in exhaustion. I told Jane about the Chargers going up 24-0; I told her about Wes Chandler's punt return which effectively ended the game in the first half (so we all thought). I then told her about the Nat Moore/Joe Nathan hook-and-ladder play to end the first half; no, I actually showed her the play, mimicking the pitch. I was well into my dramatic reenactment of the first overtime of that game before I realized that Jane had left me alone in the basement for perhaps as many as 30 minutes. She better not come running to me next time she doesn't get a Rolf Benirshke reference!
The Titans/Patriots game looked downright miserably cold. I didn't watch most of it, and don't feel like I missed anything.
The Packers/Eagles game ended in a bad, bad way. What can you say when your franchise's ultimate hero makes one of the most boneheaded plays imaginable? Nothing, really. You just put it in the books and move on. The Packers were not a great team, nor were they a team of destiny, unless their destiny was to have their hero throw the ball up for grabs on a broken play to a receiver that wasn't there. Somewhere, Vikings fans were smiling.
Finally, the Colts/Chiefs game was a revelation to me. Virtually every time Colts QB Peyton Manning went to the line, he made a series of hand motions. The most prominent one was when he would cross his arms together at the wrists, which was his way of reconfirming to his teammates that he was "straight edge". It may also have been the sign for "opposite".
Check this out: According to media reports today, Manning spent the entire game calling two plays in the huddle. When he would get to the line of scrimmage, he would survey the defense, and then he would choose one of the two plays based on what he saw. Hence, Manning was using the "opposite" sign quite a bit yesterday, much to the Chiefs chagrin.
This is simply unfair. First of all, the Chiefs defense is already a joke, and the Colts' offense is a machine. That matchup would slant to the Colts on the basis of talent alone. But you take that same QB, and you give him a chance to go to the line and survey the defense, and to have a play at his disposal every time that would take advantage of the defensive formation, and, well, that team might never have to punt the ball. Imagine how all of this made the Chiefs defense feel. "Oh, great. We could stack the line, and they'd still run on us. We could drop 11 guys in coverage, and they'd still find an open receiver. Now they have to trick us, too?"
I'm embarrassed to say that my primary experience from this comes from playing Madden, and not from actually playing football. But Madden has taught me just how amazing the Colts, and Manning's, performance was yesterday. The first thing is, you've got to call two plays, and they've got to be two plays that fit together. In other words, you'll want to get into an either/or situation. If the Chiefs line up with a formation that slants to the right, Manning can switch to the play that best takes advantage of that by going left. It won't always work out that one of your two plays is best going to take advantage of the defense, but of course there are other audibles at Manning's disposal, and he used them liberally. The combinations are endless, really, but suffice it to say that if a QB has six or seven plays at his disposal at any given time, two of which are not vanilla-type audibles, then he's going to carve up even a competent defense. It would be something like playing poker against someone, except you can see all their cards, and they can't see yours. It's quite an advantage. Add to that fact that the Colts were often going with a no-huddle offense, so the Chiefs weren't able to switch personnel for fatigue or strategic reasons, and you have a Code Red for the Chiefs defense.
But it takes more than Manning to make it work. The primary element is to have enough time at the line of scrimmage to make the proper calls. So, the plays have to be sent in to Manning quickly, and he has to call them quickly (and remember, he's calling two plays in each huddle), and the players all have to remember them and be on the lookout for Manning's hand signals if he changes the play.
It was a dramatic exhibition. I didn't see the entire game, but I sure didn't see many broken plays on the Colts' behalf. Everybody knew where to go, everybody was on the same page, a page which was changing all the time. On the contrary, it was the Chiefs' defense that looked confused for much of the game, as though in their 17th game they still didn't get who was supposed to cover whom on the pass routes.
All I can say is that quarterbacks, really good ones, are just complete badasses. The things they have to do before the ball is snapped, in the huddle, at the line, are just mind-boggling. They have to know so many plays, and they have to be able to recognize defenses, coverages and blitzes in a split-second. And that's just the mental part of the game. They then have to execute the plays, read the defenses, avoid 300 pound guys running at them at full speed who want to hurt them, all while making very difficult and risky throws into tight coverages.
To see Peyton Manning perform the way he did yesterday, in front of 79,000 hostile fans, no less, was to nearly see quarterbacking perfection. I was duly impressed. But there is still room to grow. The Chiefs defense isn't exactly the Steel Curtain of the '75 Pittsburgh Steelers. Manning must now face the Patriots in New England, a team with a much stouter defense than the Chiefs. He will do this in what could be sub-zero temperatures, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Can he continue his quest for perfection? It's going to be fun finding out.
12:22:22 PM 
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