I Need a Name for this Column

I've been mulling over the name of this column for quite some time and haven't been able to come up with anything clever yet. Dan Shaughnessy from the Boston Globe does his Picked Up Pieces column and others have knee jerk reaction columns on a variety of different subjects. This is a cross between my regular links column and my Patriots wrap up columns, with a variety of thoughts on a variety of different things happening around the NFL. If you've got a clever name, leave me a comment.

Anyway, here are just a few observations from around the NFL after another wild weekend.

According to Peter King, Brett Favre is leaning towards retirement. Personally, I don't buy it but that's another story for another time. What I can't get over is how poorly Favre played this year. He threw 22 touchdowns, which were matched by his 22 interceptions. He racked up 3,472 passing yards for a quarterback rating of 81. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your 2008 starting Pro Bowl quarterback. By comparison, Matt Cassel threw 21 touchdowns with 11 interceptions for 3,693 yards with a quarterback rating of 89.4. Actually, by comparison, we should measure Chad Pennington's stats this year to Favre. Pennington threw for 19 touchdowns and 7 interceptions for 3,653 yards with a quarterback rating of 97.4. So the Jets look pretty dumb for releasing Pennington.

One other note on Favre: he pretty much screwed the Patriots the last two years. Actually, it turns out he screwed them twice in 2008. This was a guy who couldn't seal the deal in last year's NFC Championship game at home against the New York Giants and again screwed them by not being able to beat the Dolphins last week, which would have sent the Patriots to the playoffs. Instead, Favre once again showed that he's not a big game quarterback and hasn't been since winning the Super Bowl in 1996.

Speaking of players not showing up in big situations, what's the story with LaDainian Tomlinson in San Diego? In his last three playoff games he's rushed 14 times for 58 yards and 1 touchdown. And no, those are not average numbers per game. Those are cumulative totals of all three games. Injuries or no injuries, I'm guessing that he'll be taking the Shaun Alexander route out of the NFL pretty soon.

While I'm on the San Diego tangent, I have no problem with an 8-8 division champion hosting a playoff game while an 11-5 Patriots team goes home. You win your division, you should make the playoffs, which is the way it should work. The bigger discussion needs to take place regarding the order of the draft. As it is now, San Diego, based on their 8-8 regular season record, will draft at 16, while the Patriots, with their 11-5 record, will draft at 24. Seems a bit odd that a playoff team receive a higher pick than a non playoff team.

And speaking of not showing up in big games, part II, what's the story with the Colts? Are they the Atlanta Braves of this decade? They're starting to look like it and I'm enjoying it just as much as when the Braves were choking away all those great regular seasons. This article was written before their latest playoff loss so I can only imagine how demoralized they are now. And can we stop talking about how great Tony Dungy is? Any coach with the teams he's had over the years who is only 9-10 in playoff games shouldn't be considered a great coach. That's part truth and part my disgust for the Colts.

I found it interesting that ESPN had breaking news that the Patriots will franchise Matt Cassel. What did you expect the Patriots to do, let him become a free agent and then turn around and sign with a division rival or another team that they play on a regular basis? This is where the true genius of Belichick comes into play. If Tom Brady needs more time to heal, then they can go into next season with Cassel at the healm. However, it appears that Brady will be ready to go so the Patriots can now take their time and work out a deal to send Cassel to a team of their choosing, such as an NFC opponent that they don't play very often. They'll get more and higher draft picks by trading him and they'll also have the flexibility of sending him to a destination of their choice. Yeah, it kind of sucks for Cassel but he'll also be making $14 million next year whether he plays in New England or not.

Can someone please explain to me why the Buffalo Bills are keeping Dick Jauron as their coach? This team started 5-1 and finished the year at 7-9, for the third straight year. Owner Ralph Wilson said the team needed some continuity rather than an overhaul. By that logic, shouldn't Thurman Thomas still be the starting running back? This team looked lifeless the last two months of the year and Jauron's play calling was among the worst I saw this year. Look for Jauron to be out of a job by week eight next year as a young Bills team struggles to overcome this year's failures.

Lastly, I'd like to vent about tight end Benjamin Watson. Earlier this year, I commented on how some company should sponsor each of his dropped passes. Well, as you can see from the video below, not only is Watson adapt at dropping passes, he's also adapt at fumbling the ball when no one is even trying to strip it from him. Does he put vaseline on his gloves and arms to do this? It seems almost impossible to do, doesn't it? Anyway, enjoy one of the worst fumbles you'll ever see: