It's the End of the Season As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

What a final week: Five playoff teams decided, Four divisions decided, Ten games that had playoff ramifications. The league couldn't have been happier especially following 2007 where every single division had been wrapped up prior to the final week of play, making virtually all of the contests inflated exhibition contests.

This season has been one of the most unpredictable and for lack of better words "wacky" in NFL history (or at least my years following it). Among the anomalies of the year: An 8-8 division winner who never had a winning record at any point during the year and never lead it's division until the final week of the season; an 11-5 squad who represented the AFC in the Super Bowl last season not making the playoffs; two teams with 8-3 starts that failed to make the playoffs; a 1 win and 3 win team from the previous season both making the playoffs; two teams with rookie coaches and rookie quarterbacks making the playoffs; seven teams that didn't make the post-season last year in the playoffs this year (though this is becoming something of a commonality); 5 of the 6 NFC teams in the playoffs did not make the post-season last year; all four home teams are underdogs on Wild Card weekend; two of the road teams in the Wild Card have better records than the home team they are playing; and last and certainly least, the first 0-16 team ever.

Before we get to the final rankings of the year, and yes it's all academic at this point, here are my playoff predictions, taking into account the fact that the last three Super Bowl champions played on Wild-Card weekend and only once this decade have the two teams with homefield advantage both advanced to the Super Bowl:

NFC

Wild-Card:

Atlanta over Arizona; Minnesota over Philadelphia

Divisional Round:

New York over Atlanta; Carolina over Minnesota

Championship:

New York over Carolina

AFC

Wild-Card:

Baltimore over Miami; Indianapolis over San Diego

Divisional Round:

Tennessee over Baltimore; Indianapolis over Pittsburgh

Championship:

Indianapolis over Tennessee

Super Bowl

Indianapolis over New York (sorry, Pierre--but take solace in the fact I predicted the Jaguars to win it in the pre-season)--I just have a notion that the Cigarette-Smoking Man will make the Manning Bowl finally happen this year

The Rankings:

1. Tennessee Titans (13-3): Their decisive victory over a hot Pittsburgh team last week put them here in a coin toss. Disregard their last game, although you'd think they wouldn't want to end their great season with a shutout loss, even if it was ultimately worthless in terms of seeding. And Vince Young's performance against the Colts' scrubs has to give them pause for the future of the franchise.

2. New York Giants (12-4): Even with starters rested after halftime Minnesota needed a 50 yard field goal to beat them, this bodes well for their prospects of a Super Bowl return.

3. Carolina Panthers (12-4): Found their groove when they shifted their offensive focus to the running game leading to four wins in the final five weeks, but that one loss to the Giants may doom a team that went 8-0 at home.

4. Indianapolis Colts (12-4): Ending the year with a NFL best nine game winning streak and giving Jim Sorgi his annual paycheck earning appearance, the Colts are unquestionably the hottest team in the league. Their record would have nabbed them at least a tie for the lead in every division but their own.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4): Will keeping Ben Roethlisberger in for a meaningless drubbing of the Browns wreck their playoff potential? Does their 4-4 record against this year's playoff crop belie that perhaps they are not an elite team?

6. New England Patriots (11-5): Best team to not make the playoffs ever? Arguable. Obviously this is a homer pick, but I always felt that if the 1991 49ers who finished with a 10-6 record after suffering injuries to Joe Montana and Steve Young found a way into the post-season, they could have given the Mark Rypien lead Redskins a serious threat. As for the QB situation, Bill Belicheck isn't an idiot, he will keep Matt Cassel until Tom Brady plays an entire season healthy.

7. Baltimore Ravens (11-5): The Ravens who already won at Miami in October have extra motivation this week considering that they were the 2007 Dolphins only win and that Dolphins squad was coached by Ravens' coordinator Cam Cameron.

8. Atlanta Falcons (11-5): Remember after the draft when players were complaining that Matt Ryan was overpaid for someone who never took a snap?

9. Miami Dolphins (11-5): Giving hope to the Lions for next year. Can they keep up their error free play against a takeaway hungry Raven's D?

10. Minnesota Vikings (10-6): Tavaris Jackson is finally living up to potential, which is good because the Eagles will not allow the Vikings to be one dimensional and make their contest an Adrian Peterson run-fest.

11. Philadelphia Eagles (9-6-1): Unlikely earned a playoff spot despite needing the Texans to beat the Bears, the Raiders to beat the Buccaneers, the Arena League to cancel the 2009 season, the Lakers to beat the Celtics on Christmas Day and Valkyrie to have a 10 million dollars plus opening weekend. Donovan McNabb is one preservative son of a bitch, but until the Eagles win the Super Bowl, Philly fans will continue to talk shit, it's their nature.

12. San Diego Chargers (8-8): Before they start celebrating too much, let's just note that the four game win streak that catapulted them to the AFC West title included victories over the Raiders, a Kansas City victory they needed a furious final two minutes to win, and two teams that finished the season with four game losing streaks: Tampa Bay & Denver. Not exactly primer for a Super Bowl run.

13. Arizona Cardinals (9-7): With the exception of a week two victory over Miami did not beat a single playoff team this season. In fact, they only won three non-NFC West games the whole year.

14. Chicago Bears (9-7): How strange is this for a Bears team, the defense will have more questions in the off-season than the offense (other than their need for a big play receiver).

15. Dallas Cowboys (9-7): New York Yankees take note, a high payroll and acquisitions of big name players doesn't always translate to a championship no matter the jersey being worn.

16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7): Second consecutive collapse once clinching a winning record. There will have to be a youth movement in the South Bay eventually? Right?

17. New York Jets (9-7): When I wrote my coaching hotseat article, I did not take into account Eric Mangini, because usually coaches aren't fired after a five game win improvement from the prior season. Even if Brett Favre, an aging quarterback who hasn't been to the Super Bowl since the 1997 season (that's 11 seasons for those keeping track at home) had the owner thinking big.

18. New Orleans Saints (8-8): Drew Brees finishing sixteen yards shy of the all time single season passing record is an apt metaphor for the Saints, they are too talented a team to continually underachieve.

19. Houston Texans (8-8): Hard to get a read on this team, started 0-4 with the same personnel that ended the year 5-1. Is the impressive late run promising for next year, or like last year's 8-8 finish, a mediocre team that just happened upon a late hot-streak.

20. San Francisco 49ers (7-9): Promoting Mike Singletary immediately following the end of the game (after the team went 5-2 in its final seven games) showed a rare decisiveness for the York family and considering his popularity amongst players and fans, it was the right move. While Mike Martz had his ups (vast offensive production improvements from 2007) and downs (namely insisting upon JT O'Sullivan as starter and the fucking last play in the Arizona game) but I would've like to see the two Mikes work together one more year for continuity sake alone. A new era seems to be in San Francisco's sights, but before we get too excited, let's remember the last two 49ers teams to go 7-9 followed those seasons with a 2-14 and 5-11 performance the following year.

21. Denver Broncos (8-8): The other coach I never considered as a candidate for being fired is Mike Shanahan, the only coach to lead the Broncos to a Super Bowl victory. I am guessing his dismissal was due to a power struggle, and his not wanting to give up control (although Mike Holmgren went a similar route and still lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl). Probably won't stay unemployed too long, might I suggest returning to your offensive coordinating roots with a certain bay area team you once had ties to (hint: not the Raiders).

22. Washington Redskins (8-8): Looked awfully bad the last few weeks, losing four out of five. Their offense needs to be more explosive.

23. Green Bay Packers (6-10): Well Brett Favre didn't make the playoffs either and you didn't become the team to give the Lions a win. Two positives after a late season five game losing streak. Offense is looking good for the future with Rodgers, Grant, Jennings and Driver being a potentially explosive nucleus

24. Buffalo Bills (7-9): How's this for consistency, Dick Juaron has led the Bills to a 7-9 record all three seasons he's been their coach.

25. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11): I guess laying down and letting the Ravens blow them out was their way of enacting revenge upon the New England Patriots who ended their season in the divisional round of last year's playoffs.

26. Oakland Raiders (5-11): Tom Cable made a statement for being instated as the full time coach, the statement being defeating a Tampa Bay team coached by former Raider wunderkind head coach Jon Gruden whose coordinator is the father of Lane Kiffin thus preventing them from advancing to the post-season. You know Al Davis had to love that.

27. Seattle Seahawks (4-12): For the first time in seven seasons Matt Hasselbeck (injured for most of the year) and Shaun Alexander (cut) were not the team's passing and rushing leaders. Will Hasselbeck be back next year?

28. Cincinnati Bengals (4-11-1): Team played well in the last month. That coupled with the fact Carson Palmer was out for the majority of the year and the owner of the team is a cheapskate who doesn't like paying coaches that are no longer with the team, signal Marvin Lewis is probably returning. The question is: does he want to?

29. Kansas City Chiefs (2-14): Tyler Thigpen looks to have potential and they were very competitive, half of their loses were by a touchdown or less. The problem was they blew leads in many of those close games.

30. Cleveland Browns (4-12): Ended the year without an offensive touchdown in six consecutive games and two consecutive shutout losses. In fact, the only touchdown scored in that span was a meaningless fourth quarter interception by Eagles second string QB Kevin Kolb.

31. St. Louis Rams (2-14): After weeks of incompetence, they showed some improvement in the last weeks of the season, losing four of the last five games by four points or less. Team still has some talent, just a question as to what they need to motivate them.

32. Detroit Lions (0-16): Historically bad, but probably not the worst team of all time. Just of this season. But hey, if the Dolphins, Falcons and Ravens can all turn around....nah, never mind.

Enjoy the playoffs, thanks for reading.

Chill Out!

I'm back in town and will update soon, in the interim, enjoy the winter weather.

Colonel Mortimer's Egg Nog and Menorah Holiday Celebratory Rankings

This will be my last rankings column while the season is still active. I will be out next week but will return the week after that for a wrap-up and playoff prediction.

Before we get to the rankings, let’s talk coaching. This has been an extremely active year as three coaches were fired mid-season. If things go completely batshit insane in the off season there could be as many as fifteen changes when you figure retirements into the picture.

One has to figure that the hiring blueprint will tilt towards low key assistants with minimal head coaching jobs after the quick turnaround in Baltimore (John Harbaugh), Atlanta (Mike Smith), Miami (Tony Sporano), and hell, even the last few weeks in San Francisco (Mike Singletary).

Here are the coaches that could be joining America’s ever increasing longer unemployment lines.

Gone For Sure:

Mike Holmgren (Seattle): His retirement was decided before the season started, after about a few weeks it appears he stayed one year too long. The question is will there be some question as to whether Jim Mora, the groomed heir apparent, is truly the man for the job.

Rod Marinelli (Detroit): Like the 2007 Miami Dolphins who ended with a 1-15 record, the Lions are playing hard and have a few good quality players (most notably Calvin Johnson) to build a nucleus around in the future, but like the Dolphins, the Lions are looking for a new General Manager and President and whoever that is won’t want to start his career with a coach who led his team to an 0-14 start, and a probable 0-16 or 1-15 record.

Romeo Crennel (Cleveland): Led team to improbable 10-6 record last season causing high expectations that were dashed early with a 0-3 record. Crennel probably stuck with ineffective starting quarterback Derek Anderson too long before giving fan favorite Brady Quinn a shot. GM Phil Savage is pretty much throwing him under the bus and Cleveland fans have dreams of Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Cowher or both dancing in their heads.

Tom Cable (interim/Oakland): If there is one thing Al Davis loves to do, it’s hiring then firing a coach. He’s had five in six years and the team got worse after Cable took over for ousted coach Lane Kiffin. The only thing that could save his job is if Davis is self aware to realize there are not a lot of coaches willing to subject themselves to his whims.

Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati): You can pinpoint the exact second that Lewis tenure with the Bengals was doomed: Carson Palmer goes down in the early stages of their first home playoff game in over a decade after tossing a touchdown pass. The Bengals lost that game, and they have been plagued with discord, suspended players and mediocre play ever since. Lewis seems like a good coach, if one in over his head, for his sake, it’s probably for the best he gets out of Cincy.

That Seat is Awfully Hot

Jim Zorn (Washington): At 6-2 he made Dan Snyder look like a genius for plucking this obscure quarterback coach as heir apparent to Joe Gibb’s second term. Five out of six games lost, ineffective offense and disputes with their best player later, his fate may be similar to Richie Petitbon, the heir apparent to Joe Gibb’s initial tenure.

Jim Haslett (interim/St. Louis Rams): After leading the Rams to a two game win streak following the dismissal of Scott Linehan, the Rams started negotiating the removal of the interim label from Haslett’s title. The move was prohibited due to not conforming to the Rooney rule. If you ever needed proof of the effectiveness of affirmative action, there you go!

Dick Juaron (Buffalo): Meanwhile Dick Juaron was actually given an extension early in the season after the Bills started 4-0, they’ve been in freefall and 2-7 ever since, with some questionable game day decision making.

Herm Edwards (Kansas City): There is no question the Chiefs are playing better than their record suggest, however, like this week, they have a strange tendency to find ways to snatch defeat from the hands of victory. With a new General Manager/President coming next season, will he want his own guy?

Wade Phillips (Dallas): In a lose-lose situation, with probably nothing short of a Super Bowl appearance or even victory saving his job after a tumultuous season and a popular and highly paid offensive coordinator who has been groomed by the owner as a future head coach waiting in the wings.

Probably Safe….But You Never Know

Mike Singletary (interim/San Francisco): You would think the interim label would be removed by now, the team is playing much better since he took over, and that’s with the same players that Nolan lead to mediocrity for years. But the Yorks have made some stupid decisions before, and I wouldn’t put it passed them to go another way for purely arbitrary reasons.

Jack Del Rio (Jacksonville): This was a team with Super Bowl aspirations that until last week’s game was playing with minimal passion. His past success should allow him an opportunity to prove this year was just a fluke.

Norv Turner (San Diego): AJ Smith gave Turner a vote of confidence earlier this season, saying that the coach will return. But the Chargers are a loss or Broncos win away from playoff elimination following an AFC Championship appearance last season and a 14-2 record the year prior to his hiring and retaining him will be hard to explain to the team’s fans.

May Retire

Tony Dungy (Indianapolis): The day after the Colt’s season ends will begin the annual will he or won’t he leave discussion. He’s the Brett Favre of coaching.

Possible Big Surprise Resigning/Firing

Andy Reid (Philadelphia): Once Holmgren retires, Reid will be the longest tenured coach in the NFC and the third longest in the league. Has had a bizarre season with the benching of McNabb which led to a surprising resurgence. If the team misses the playoffs, it will be for the third time in four seasons and the census is the current version of the team’s window of opportunity is shut.

Now to the rankings where we have a new number one team:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-3) (3): I guess this may be controversial since they have one less loss than the Titans and actually lost to the Giants; they aren’t exactly blowing teams out and were a questionable call away from possibly losing to the Ravens on Sunday. Still, the defense is as dominant a force that there is currently in the league and Ben Roethlisberger has an uncanny knack to pull out a win in the fourth quarters of all these nail biting contests.

2. New York Giants (11-3) (1): Lost for the second time in two games to a desperate division rival. I will give them the benefit of the doubt due to a lack of Brandon Jacobs and retain them in the top two, where they have resided the entire season, however a loss to the Panthers will see them going in the opposite direction then they were at this time last year.


3. Carolina Panthers (11-3) (4): A part of me just doesn’t trust this team, but I have to give them credit on back to back hard fought wins over good opponents. Jake Delhomme is not having a vintage year, but the defense, when it shows up, and running attack help keep them in games making him need only one or two big plays a game to pull out a victory.

4. Tennessee Titans (12-2) (1): Still have the best record in the league, but there’s a sense that like the Colts in 2005 or the Jaguars in 2000, they are a team that will not have post-season success. The loss of Albert Haynesworth is big.

5. Indianapolis Colts (10-4) (-): Win streak now at seven, seven is also the number of consecutive straight ten win seasons the Colts have had, all since Tony Dungy took over.

6. Minnesota Vikings (9-5) (9): If you ask me, stick with Tavarias Jackson at quarterback, the veteran Gus Frerotte is a better pick to be prepared to come in if Jackson gets injured or is ineffective.

7. Atlanta Falcons (9-5) (8): Proving they are multi-dimensional, still eek out a win despite Matt Ryan’s less than impressive performance.

8. Dallas Cowboys (9-5) (10): Terrell Owens is happy for now. The improved play of the defense is the reason for their reemergence.

9. Baltimore Ravens (9-5) (6): Cannot dwell on the validity of the Steelers touchdown, their playoff hopes require a victory this week at Dallas.

10. New England Patriots (9-5) (11): This was probably the happiest Randy Moss has ever been in Oakland.

11. Miami Dolphins (9-5) (12): Amazingly have only six turnovers this entire year.

12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-5) (7): Their increasing array of injuries may keep them out of the post-season.

13. Philadelphia Eagles (8-5-1) (18): That tie against the Bengals could end up being extremely costly.

14. New York Jets (9-5) (16): Only won due to benefit of the Bills bad play calling and JP Losman’s impressive knack of turning the ball over.

15. Chicago Bears (8-6) (17): Looking to avenge their worst loss of the season when they host the Packers this week.

16. Houston Texans (7-7) (20): Is the late emergence of the team indicative of great things to come next year or is this just like their late emergence of last season, smoke and mirrors?

17. Arizona Cardinals (8-6) (13): Just looked flat out awful at home against the Vikings, its not an excuse, but hey they just aren’t used to playing games as a division champion.

18. Denver Broncos (8-6) (16): It is conceivable that not just one team but two teams can win their division with an 8-8 record this year, the Cardinals and the AFC West champion, however, if the Broncos end up 8-8, it’s likely the Chargers and not them will be representing their division.

19. New Orleans Saints (7-7) (14): Their season may be over, but they don’t want to go down as the team the Lions beat, although they should be able to empathize, the 1980 Saints squad also started 0-14 before finishing 1-15.

20. Washington Redskins (7-7) (19): That “worst coach ever” speech probably didn’t do a lot for owner Dan Snyder’s confidence in Jim Zorn to turn things around next season.

21. San Diego Chargers (6-8) (-): Still mathematically alive, however the fact that they needed two touchdown in last two minutes to beat the Chiefs is proof this team just isn’t playing to the standards of it’s last few seasons.

22. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-9) (25): For the first time in five weeks actually showed moxie and passion. With games against the Colts and the Ravens, could help shape the playoff race even if they are only going to be spectators.

23. Green Bay Packers (5-9) (22): After an impressive start, they have lost four straight games; their last victory was against this week’s opponent, the Chicago Bears.

24. San Francisco 49ers (5-9) (23): While it’s undeniable the Niners are playing much better, the one area they still need to improve exponentially is red zone scoring, they should have won this game and could have been a lot closer against the Cowboys if they scored touchdowns and not settled for field goals so much. This might be a basic flaw of Martz’s system which is built for the big yard plays but not for the crunching short yardage pickups that the red zone necessitates.

25. Buffalo Bills (6-8) (24): If I were a coach, I’d keep the ball out of my second string turnover prone quarterback in the last two minutes of an apparent victory and place my faith in the tough reliable running back. That’s just me though.

26. Cleveland Browns (4-10) (-): Something tells me they are not going to have five primetime games next season.

27. Seattle Seahawks (3-11) (29): It’s been an awful season for the Hawks who plummeted from division champs to a three win squad, but at least they swept the Rams, which is something, I guess.

28. Cincinnati Bengals (2-11-1) (30): Going into the game, a surprise victory over the Redskins, the Bengals offense hadn’t score a touchdown in 11 quarters.

29. Kansas City Chiefs (2-12) (27): I can’t decide which was the sadder sight, the Chiefs giving up a sure victory in the final minutes or Arrowhead stadium not filled to capacity.

30. Oakland Raiders (3-11) (28): Al Davis insists that it’s a conspiracy that the Raiders always have to play a quarterback a few days after his father dies.

31. St. Louis Rams (2-12) (-): Hey Rams fans, Marc Bulger still has four years remaining on his contract, yay!!!!

32. Detroit Lions (0-14) (-): Props for giving strong efforts instead of packing it in, no props however for Calvin Johnson wildly celebrating a touchdown that placed a then 0-13 team 10 points down.

Trailer of the Week: Only 9 More Chopping Day 'Til Xmas Edition

Considering the quality of the film, it's kind of silly that Silent Night, Deadly Night caused such controversy in 1984 when a group of mothers had the film's advertisements featuring an axe wielding madman dressed as Santa Claus removed from television airings and the film effectively pulled out of theatres mid-release. The film is bad, but it's fun/bad, a movie for which alcoholic consumption and a group of like minded trash connoisseurs are paramount to the viewer's enjoyment. It's hard to fathom there was a time the film was ever taken seriously, it was even released by Tri-Star, a secondary arm of Columbia Pictures, let alone considered detrimental to society.

But a murderous Santa Claus cannot be held back, and Silent Night, Deadly Night survived theatrical banishment and became a successful straight to video franchise in the late 80's and early 90's, although only Part 2 (which is most famous for having half its running time consist of flashbacks of scenes from the first film and the "Garbage Day" moment which became a Youtube sensation) expanded on the original storyline.

Really, mothers should have not only not protested the film, but study the essential parental lessons contained within, such as: never leave an impressionable child with his crazed grandfather who may convince him that Santa is an evil entity; don't stop your car and be attacked, raped and murdered by an escaped convict donning a Santa Claus costume in front of said impressionable child's eye; and let me stress this as strongly as humanly possible, never place your stuffed deer's head in a location in which a naked Linnea Quigley could be easily impaled upon it's antlers once said impressionable child has grown up to become a crazed psychopathic killer in a Santa suit!

Here's the trailer from 1984 which caused such a stir:

Curious

Back in May, after seeing the trailer for the new David Fincher film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, it became my most anticipated film of the year. So when I had an opportunity to see it early with a Q & A following the screening with Fincher, a director I hold in high esteem, I jumped at the chance.

What initially drew me in the trailer was the combination of the dreamlike imagery and the tragic implications of a love story where one of the characters is aging in reverse. Fortunately, this element of the film works brilliantly. It contains emotional truths combined with a thoughtful meditation on the aging process. Unfortunately, it only constitutes about an hour of a nearly three hour movie. Further unfortunate is that the other two hours consists of a rather tedious, Forrest Gump like story of an innocent man-child (literally) and his journey through a world which sees him coming face to face with an assortment of colorful characters, historical landmarks, magical Negroes, and metaphorical hummingbirds. The tedium is tempered with beautiful cinematography and seamless innovative special effects; the playful technical advancements in the reverse aging process and impending doom plays to Fincher’s cinematic strengths (he’s a self-proclaimed cynical bastard), much more than the whimsical nature of the first two-thirds. Symbolically the film does not begin to reach it's potential (penetrates, if you will) until Benjamin and his love Daisy's relationship is consummated.

At its current running time, the film, which is well paced, feels either too short or too long. The F. Scott Fitzgerald short story it’s based upon is only 30 pages, and I assume (having never read it), that the crux is the relationship between Benjamin and Daisy, which is the most developed aspect. In the Q & A, Fincher said the original screenplay by Eric Roth (who not so coincidentally wrote the screenplay for Gump) was nearly 400 pages and the shooting script was somewhere along the lines of 240 pages (and I have to ask what an Academy Award winning, successful commercial Hollywood screenwriter is doing writing a 400 page screenplay?), and the truncation of a longer story is felt as well, most specifically in the impact of a very minor character whose death is the motivating factor for Benjamin to leave his surroundings and venture out into the world.

Despite some major reservations, I would recommend anyone who is interested to definitely see this in the theatre, if only for the widescreen scope and technical craftsmanship. Both Brad Pitt, who is an underrated actor and is on a hell of a streak with this, Burn After Reading and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Cate Blanchett give wonderful performances, each providing depth that reaches beyond the characters as written. While it’s hard to gauge the true response of the audience I watched it with considering the sycophantic questions lobbied Fincher’s way, they seemed to be completely with the film for the entire time (my wife though had pretty much the same reaction as I) and it’s classic epic filmmaking milieu should resonate with the majority of viewers. Even if the last hour, especially the devastating conclusion, is the only section that reaches the heights that Fincher was aiming, a flawed film that is one third of a masterpiece offering something unique is ultimately more fulfilling than the umpteenth treaty on the holocaust, disease suffering and biopics that normally litter the Academy Award season.

Colonel Mortimer's NFL Rankings: The Cop-Out Edition

I now have sympathy for BCS voters.

I really couldn’t decide if the Titans should automatically move to the top spot this week after their win and the Giants loss. Or should I cut the Giants some slack since they have had by far the more difficult schedule of the two, for example, their last six games were all victories against teams with winning records versus the Titans who have only played five teams with a winning record this whole season.

I also considered that the Titans latest victory came against the Browns who beat the Giants. But even that is misleading since the Browns team the Giants faced still had their opening week starting quarterback, were not eliminated from the playoffs and Romeo Crennel had yet to become a lame duck coach.

With the strength of schedule argument in play and considering both the distracting week that the Giants had off the field involving their star wide receiver and linebacker and the fact that inner-division games are usually competitive, I decided the hell with it…a tie for first place.

At least in the NFL the actual teams decide the championship.

The rankings:

1. (tie) Tennessee Titans (12-1) (2): Have clinched division and bye week, but homefield advantage probably won’t be decided until their week 16 contest versus the Steelers.

1. (tie) New York Giants (11-2) (1): A week after I praised Domenik Hixson’s special team play he drops a certain touchdown pass. In other news, aren’t the Miami Dolphins (the team the 49ers play this week) wonderful and completely error-free?

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3) (-): Expect a brutal smashmouth match-up this week between the Steelers and Ravens, who openly hate one another, with the AFC North championship on the line.

4. Carolina Panthers (10-3) (8): Their running attack has really blossomed of late, if they win their last three games (which includes a match-up against the Giants), they will have homefield advantage in the playoffs.

5. Indianapolis Colts (9-4) (7): Their victory over the Bengals this week was the only game in their current six week win streak that they won by more than a touchdown. Should make it two this week when they host the Lions.

6. Baltimore Ravens (9-4) (9): You can’t tell by the way he’s playing that Ed Reed is bothered by a lingering neck injury.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-4) (4): Time to ponder if the cumulative age of the Bucs will lead to another late season flame out.

8. Atlanta Falcons (8-5) (6): Their major Achilles heel is that they have not beat a division rival on the road this year.

9. Minnesota Vikings (8-5) (11): For the second time this year, they squeak by the Detroit Lions.

10. Dallas Cowboys (8-5) (5): Championship teams usually are able to hold onto a 10 point lead with less than six minutes left in a game. Hell, even the 49ers did it on Sunday.

11. New England Patriots (8-5) (12): If Mike Singletary doesn’t get anointed the full time coach of the 49ers, the Patriots are interested in him. Not as a coach, as their third linebacker!

12. Miami Dolphins (8-5) (13): Has a team ever went from 1-15 to division champs in a year? The Dolphins have a shot at it.

13. Arizona Cardinals (8-5) (15): Officially won their first division in over thirty years and will host first ever playoff game in Arizona. Still, they could use some momentum to convince doubters they are for real, a victory over the Vikings this week would help.

14. New Orleans Saints (7-6) (17): I guess if there was going to be a NFL player with the name of Pierre to find success in the league, New Orleans would be the place.

15. Denver Broncos (8-5) (16): A win or a San Diego loss away from clinching AFC West and a first round playoff loss to the Colts or Ravens.

16. New York Jets (8-5) (10): And they were feeling so good about themselves after beating the Titans.

17. Chicago Bears (7-6) (18): Looks like the loser of this week's Bears-Saints game will be pretty much eliminated from the playoffs.

18. Philadelphia Eagles (7-5-1) (19): Hard to get a read on this team, tied one of the worst teams three weeks ago, have beat the only two NFC division clinching teams the last two weeks.

19. Washington Redskins (7-6) (14): Note to rookie coach Jim Zorn: Benching your strongest offensive player is probably not the best way to inspire better offensive performance.

20. Houston Texans (6-7) (21): Continuing their annual "look good the last few weeks of the season after we are eliminated from the playoffs so people think we will be good next year" thing.

21. San Diego Chargers (5-8) (23): It's good to have consistency in an unpredictable world, the Chargers have that in the form of a win over the Raiders.

22. Green Bay Packers (5-8) (20): Their defense has been....wait for it...offensive! Hey-o!

23. San Francisco 49ers (5-8) (24): Mike Singletary accomplished something that Mike Nolan, Steve Mariucci and even George Seifert never did, he coached a 49er team to a victory over a Brett Favre led team in the regular season.

24. Buffalo Bills (6-7) (22): J.P. Losman? More like J.P. Loseman. Hey, I'll be here all week!

25. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-9) (-): In accordance with the Jags performance, I will quit writing about them.

26. Cleveland Browns (4-9) (-): They've had three different starting quarterbacks in the last three games, but in solidarity none have led the team to an offensive touchdown in any of those games.

27. Kansas City Chiefs (2-11) (-): Just like Tyler Thigpen in last week's final drive, the Chiefs have been just a few yards shy of victory this entire season.

28. Oakland Raiders (3-10) (-): Let's hear it for consistency! The Raiders have had at least 10 loses the last six seasons.

29. Seattle Seahawks (2-11) (-): A couple of weeks ago, I said that the Seahawks should give some playoff bound teams a scare, they did just that against the Pats.

30. Cincinnati Bengals (1-12-1) (-): Mike Nolan followed Marvin Lewis as the Ravens defensive coordinator, this year, Lewis will follow Nolan to the firing line at the end of the season.
31. St. Louis Rams (2-10) (-): Perhaps the Rams could use a strong veteran QB like that guy the Cardinals have.

32. Detroit Lions (0-12) (-): Came dangerously close to actually winning a game.

Remember Kiddies Only 20 Chopping Days 'Til Christmas

Title featuring a bad pun? You know I must be talking about Tales From the Crypt! In keeping with the merriment of the season of giving, I present you with the opening segment of the 1972 anthology film based on the classic EC comic series and directed by Freddie Francis in its entirety.

In this segment "All Through the House" a fed up housewife (Joan Collins) chooses Christmas Eve as the perfect time to murder her husband. This being TCFTC you know no bad deed shall go unpunished, and as she is prepping her husband's corpse, she is stalked by a madman dressed as Santa Claus who has just escaped from an insane asylum. Caught in a quandary because she cannot call the cops before disposing of incriminating evidence, what will she do? And more importantly what will her daughter, snug in her bed with visions of sugar plumbs dancing in her head, do when she sees Ol' Saint Nick?

Enjoy:

The Free Train to Meatville

The good news: The film adaptation of Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train which distributor Lionsgate dumped into only a handful of second run theatres for a perfunctory release in August after months of prerelease hype and advertising (to which the title admittedly emanated snickers and guffaws from many audiences I was in during showings of the trailers) is available via Fear Net (a Horror themed network that my cable company doesn’t provide) on Demand for free over two months before it hits DVD on February 17th, 2009. It’s presented in widescreen and if you have one of them fancy high-def-o-nition teevees it’s in HD too.

The bad news: It’s really not very good.

Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura shoots the majority of the film in the blue tinted desaturated style that is all the rage amongst the current “extreme” horror crop. Other cinematic atrocities include the over reliant use of the lights on the subway train flickering on and off in quick succession in lieu of ADD editing to mask a lack of craftsmanship and what will sure to disappoint the gorehounds that were most passionately interested in the film: CGI gore, including computer generated blood (really?) and the removal of an eye belonging to a character played by Ted Raimi.

Clive Barker is not really known for the depth of his characters, and the main protagonist, a photographer who wants to impress a famous artist (played by Brooke Shields!) with his gritty “naturalistic” style, is not provided anything else beyond merely being the audience’s portal to the sinister goings on late at night in the New York subways by either screenwriter Jeff Buehler or actor Bradley Cooper (probably best known as Owen Wilson’s foil in Wedding Crashers). Buehler’s script calls for an abundance of contrived motivation, and seriously, is there only one police officer ever on duty in all of New York? Who, of course, happens to be in on the conspiracy! And I am still a little fuzzy as to why they allowed the photographer to survive certain death, was there something about his being destined to take over the meat train that I missed?

I will give credit to the creators for not unveiling too much of the ultimate reveal of what really is going on (spoiler: harvesting of flesh for CHUDs) leaving the specific intricacies mysterious, although one thinks that this is partially due to the overall silliness of the reveal. At this point though I would prefer a good old fashioned silly monster movie to yet another modern, indifferently composed, self serious, gory snoozefest.

If you are a horror fan and were interested in Midnight Meat Train, I recommend you watch the On Demand broadcast and decide yourself; hey the price is right, better than doling out money at your video store or wasting a spot on your Netflix queue. I am not sure why Lionsgate ultimately shied away from a wide release, it wouldn’t have been a blockbuster by any means, but it probably would have made back it’s relatively modest budget in a few weeks.

When all is said and done, it’s no worse than the first Hostel (I like part II better) or any of the Saw movies I’ve seen. Sadly, for horror aficionados, it’s no better either.

The Plaxico Burress Inner Thigh & Career Memorial Rankings

So just how crazy, ker-azy even, has this season been? Consider this, going into Week 12 the Titans were 10-0 and the Chiefs were 1-9. The Titans then lost to the Jets who this week lost to the Broncos who last week lost to the Raiders who this week lost to the Chiefs. Furthermore all the losses came to the home team. And with the exception of the Chiefs-Raiders game, none were particularly close. Is that my Rube Goldbergian way of saying that the Chiefs would beat the Titans in a match-up? Not exactly. But it does display just how thin the line that separates the elite from the dregs truly is.

The Lions and Giants being the extreme-end exception to the rule. And even the Giants lost to the 4-8 Browns.

Le rankings:

1. New York Giants (11-1) (-): The suspension of Burress probably will affect fantasy football playoff performances more than it will affect the Giant's.

2. Tennessee Titans (11-1) (-): Good bounce back game, even if it was the Lions. No matter who they played keeping a team 0 for 11 on third down conversions is impressive.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3) (-): Top ranked defense has allowed exactly 10 points to opponents in the last three consecutive games.

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-3) (-): It will be very strange to see a Monte Kiffin-less Tampa defense if he does decide to join his son at the University of Tennessee.

5. Dallas Cowboys (8-4) (12): Back to back home wins against the Niners and Seahawks have gotten the Cowboys offense back in sync, this week the Steelers will prove the validity of those last two victories.

6. Atlanta Falcons (8-4) (9): I think secretly everybody is waiting for the bottom to drop off for the Falcons, but they are proving doubters wrong every week.

7. Indianapolis Colts (8-4) (-): A five game win streak coupled with three consecutive games against sub .500 team makes a wild-card spot pretty much a certainity. You know NBC is salivating over a possible Manning v Manning Super Bowl game.

8. Carolina Panthers (9-3) (13): I dropped them pretty severely after their limp showing in Atlanta, so they get a bump back up this week. They are maddeningly inconsistent week in and out, but they have won three quarters of their games, so somethings working.

9. Baltimore Ravens (8-4) (11): What a difference a year makes. At this time last season they were in the midst of a 9 game losing streak, this year they have won 6 out of their last 7.

10. New York Jets (8-4) (5): Not so fast on the Subway Super Bowl New Yorkers.

11. Minnesota Vikings (7-5) (15): The loss of the two Williamses could halt the momentum that has propelled them to the head of the division. This week they get a reunion with former number one draft pick Daunte Culpepper and the Lions.

12. New England Patriots (7-5) (6): Perhaps those "trade Brady" mutterings were a tad premature?

13. Miami Dolphins (7-5) (14): Beat the Rams in a game that featured the number one and number two draft picks of 2008. Save a trade, the Dolphins will not be drafting first this year.

14. Washington Redskins (7-5) (8): Probably pissed that their contest against Ravens got pushed to primetime, where they are 0-3 this year.

15. Arizona Cardinals (7-5) (10): Oh yeah, I guess they are still the Cardinals after all.

16. Denver Broncos (7-5) (19): Interesting AFC West Point Margin stat #1: The Broncos have won two more games then they have lost, but have been outscored 292-319 on the year.

17. New Orleans Saints (6-6) (16): With Deuce suspended, it seems all but certain that Drew Brees will surpass Dan Marino single season passing record.

18. Chicago Bears (6-6) (17): The much vaunted defense is sure giving up a lot of points this season.

19. Philadelphia Eagles (6-5-1) (21): Just when you think Donovan is out...they pull him back in. Hopefully the rest of the season will be better for them than Godfather III.

20. Green Bay Packers (5-7) (18): For a team that made the NFC Championship game last year, not making the playoffs has got to be a disappointment, however, the future looks good, this is after all Rodgers' first full year as a starter and if the Jets make the playoffs, they get an additional second round draft pick.

21. Houston Texans (5-7) (23): Won their first ever Monday Night Football game. That's got to count for something...right?

22. Buffalo Bills (6-6) (20): Record since giving Dick Jauron a mid-season extension: 2-6.

23. San Diego Chargers (4-8) (22): Interesting AFC West point-margin stat #2: San Diego has lost four more games than they have won, yet have a point differential margin of plus 16 on the year.

24. San Francisco 49ers (4-8) (26): Nice assist by Bills kicker Rian Lidell. Still it's impressive that they won considering how outplayed they were stat-wise, usually only good teams eek out those kind of wins, see the Colts win over the Browns.

25. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-8) (-): Hard to believe this is the same team, sans Marcus Stroud and some injured players, that went into Pittsburgh in the playoffs and beat the Steelers in January.

26. Cleveland Browns (4-8) (24): Hey if you get desperate for another QB Cleveland, I am sure Seattle will give you Charlie Frye back.

27. Kansas City Chiefs (2-10) (30): Hey a Larry Johnson siting!

28. Oakland Raiders (3-9) (-): Raiders-Chargers Thursday night game will be broadcast in 3-D in selected movie theatres, which makes sense seeing how the majority of movies shown in 3-D are horror films.

29. Seattle Seahawks (2-10) (27): Have only won one game at home this season, so much for the twelfth man.

30. Cincinnati Bengals (1-10-1) (29): Making cross-state rivals Browns look good in comparison.

31. St. Louis Rams (2-10) (-): Were only outscored by one point in the first half this week. Hey, it's a start.

32. Detroit Lions (0-12) (-): While I am a sucker for tradition and don't wish to join the choruses of people requesting the Lions lose their annual Thanksgiving game...I would agree that until the Lions are competitive, these holiday games shouldn't be televised.