There was once upon a time a coach, a very smart but very strange football coach and his name is Jim E. Mora. Coach Mora once said, “Playoffs, you kidding me? Don’t talk about playoffs, I just hope we can win another game.”
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Marvin Lewis the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, Gary Kubiak, the big man on campus for the Houston Texans and John Fox, the headmaster for the Denver Broncos should all be asking the same question about the chance of success in the post season for their respective teams. “Playoffs, what the heck do you mean playoffs?”
First and foremost, the Texans should have an asterisk placed beside their AFC South “division” title. Houston won the division with a 10-6 record which theoretically would have been at least two games less, (8-8) had they not have had the good fortune of facing a Peyton Manning-less Indy Colts. In defense of Houston, they lost their starting signal caller Matt Schaub and his back up former Heisman winner Matt Leinart. Will the Texans be forced to play “musical” quarterbacks as they begin the post season? Who will start at QB, T. J. Yates or Jake Delhomme? Had it not been for the injury to Peyton Manning, Houston would have probably been no more than a wild card entry at best. The Texans must have a few golden horseshoes borrowed from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as well as several hundred rabbit’s feet because they will be playing the Bengals.
The Bengals did some serious break dancing at the back stage door just to get into the “dance” because they were certainly not on the “A” list. The Bengals could have brought some “swag” into the “second” season. All they had to do was win their season finale against the Baltimore Ravens and they could have strode proudly through the front gate but they were smoked and choked by the Ravens. The Bengals made “Sir” Raymond Rice look like a Hall-of-Famer by their non-tackling “technique.” The Bengals travel to Houston this weekend, advantage Texans.
A few weeks ago the Steelers journeyed to the “Frisco” Bay to face a resurging and rejuvenated 49ers team. They had a “Golden Gate” opportunity to secure a “couch potato” position otherwise known as a bye week for the beginning of the post season. But Pittsburgh’s resident “Intrepid Fox” Ben Roethlisberger convinced the Steelers “fans and the furious” the media, his head coach, offensive coordinator along with Pacific Gas & Electric that he had the courage and physicality to defeat the team from by the “bay.” PG & E did not go for it and sent him a fair warning. They cut the power twice and when the lights were restored Roethlisberger was still limping. That might have been lights out for the Steelers advancing past the wild card round and on that night it was “literally” lights out for the team from the Steel City. The lights went out in San Francisco not in Georgia. Now hear this, had Charley Batch lost that game and won the remaining two games against the Rams and Cleveland, Pittsburgh would have been in the same position as they are now the only exception being Roethlisberger would had from Dec. 8 until Jan 4 to rest his ankle. However, now he will have to continue to play at less than 75 percent with no rest on the road greatly diminishing the Steelers opportunity to end up in Indy. The only ones that will not fall for the “okey doke” are the boys in the locker room.
The only time that Roethlisberger was ever considered and voted for as the most valuable player of the team was in 2009. That was the year after the team voted James Harrison MVP. In my opinion the media browbeat the players about their choice to the point of “media harassment.” If Big Ben was so courageous and possessed such a big heart then his comrades would be rushing to drop his name into the ballot box for MVP but his ego is far bigger than his heart. You may have heard about ‘The Scorpion and the Frog’. This is a fable about a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it stung, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog agrees and begins carrying the scorpion, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature. The narrative is used to confirm the fact that the behavior of some creatures is irrepressible, no matter how they are treated and no matter what the consequences. Roethlisberger may be a distant relative to the ‘Intrepid Fox’, or his cousin Wile. E. Coyote. Regardless of the circumstances, the 2011 season has a new title. It is now called ‘The Ballad of Big Ben.” Nonetheless the Steelers will squeak by the Broncos in the first round, maybe.
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