December 2006 Archives

I like the Roches, I do, but I found an electrical outlet up near the food table that's under a heat lamp. I am, as my friend Eric says, "typing one for the team", but there's no reason to look like Snow Miser by game's end.

How bizarre for Miami and Larry Coker to find themselves here. Five years ago Miami flew west for the Rose Bowl and capped off a national championship season with a crush job on Nebraska. Four years ago they jetted west for the Fiesta Bowl, where they lost the national championship game in overtime to Ohio State (Coker's first loss as UM coach after an incredible 24-0 start) . Tonight--and no offense to Boise, but Dec. 31st is not the best day to take advantage of all the city has to offer--they find themselves in the least desirable bowl locale this side of Detroit or Shreveport.

If you are watching---if Carson Daly or Ryan Seacrest just don't cut it for you as New Year's Rockin' Eve hosts--keep your eyes on Miami's No. 81, defensive end Calais Campbell. A redshirt soph, Campbell is 6'8", 280 and may be the best underclassmen D-lineman in the nation. Named the Canes' MVP this season, Campbell had ten sacks. Besides, he's from Denver, so this weather is not bugging him out.

In terms of coaching age, this game is like a junior version of last year's Orange Bowl, which featured then septuagenarians Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno. The MPC Computers Bowl has Miami's Coker, who is 58 and Nevada's Chris Ault, who's 60.

Howdy from Boise, where the sky is gray and the field--and my fingers--are blue.

(dad
I arrived upstairs at Boise State's press box to learn that I'd been placed in auxiliary seating. That means I'm booted from the press box which, considering that it's just below freezing here, did not sound too appealing. But I've actually been kicked out of the open-air press box down to the open-air University Club (read: boosters) seating. The food is better here, but more importantly, each seat comes with its own blanket.

And, as it begins snowing here in the first quarter, I'm sitting with my new friends the Roches, a father-and-son duo from here in Boise. I just told Ken (dad) that I was at the Insight Bowl two nights ago and he said, "They should fire that coach from Minnesota."

"They just did."

Which reminds me: In three of the last four games I've covered, including tonight's, one of the coaches was fired (Dirk Koetter, Glen Mason and Larry Coker). Fired for a subpar season and your team is still bowling...in case you were wondering whether there's an overabundance of bowls.

It's snowing. Just thought you'd like to know. The Roches were up skiing at Bogus Basin (local resort, "a hidden gem," says Ken) on Thursday and they say that the Miami Hurricanes were there. I'm guessing you don't see that many big African-American young men in Boise, so I'm taking their word for it. Anyway, they said the Canes were tubing down hills and having a big ol' time. For many, it was the first time they'd ever seen snow.

Since I'm sitting in a fan section, I'll just keep typing until I run out of power. I'm not talking about computer power. I'm talking about me. Besides, my fingers are numb.

Jay Cutler just made a rookie throw (oh, yeah...he's back in), wrapped up and going down, he threw it to San Fran's Walt Harris who returned it for a touchdown.

17-13 49ers late in the third.

San Diego quarterbck Philip Rivers is really favoring his left ankle which he apparently twisted either late in the first half or early in the second.

Up 24-7 halfway through the third, it might not be a bad time for Marty Schottenheimer to summon either Charlie Whitehurst or Billy Volek to mop up.

Mike Vick is also done. He sprained his ankle and Matt Schaub is in.

Rivers looks pretty bad off. He can't put any pressure on it when he's running.

It was just announced in the press box here that the Giants and Eagles have the last game of Wild Card weekend, next Sunday at 4:30.

Here's how we guess the rest will go.

SATURDAY at 4

Dallas at Seattle.
Even though they are America's team, the Boys and Seahawks don't have the same national oomph as....

SATURDAY AT 8

Denver or the Jets at New England.
The Belichick-Mangini connection is a draw if the Pats get the Jets. Denver is a West Coast draw.
The Pats have Brady and a bigger TV market.

SUNDAY AT 1
Denver or the Jets at Indy. The Colts smaller market keeps them out of prime time.

Jay Cutler got sacked on the Broncos last series and Jake Plummer is in. He promptly threw a pass that looked more like a punt that got picked off and returned to midfield.

It's 6-0 Denver and idway through the second quarter.

Detroit's stirring win over the Cowboys turns into a loss of sorts. The now have the second overall pick as Oakland finishes 2-14 and the Lions are 3-13.

So if Oakland wants dibs on Brady Quinn, it's got 'em.

Meanwhile, if Dancin' Billy Cowher is done in Pittsburgh, his Steelers ended his reign well with a 23-17 overtime win in Cincy.

His decision is reportedly going to come quickly. Steelers' assistant Russ Grimm is a leading candidate to take over for Cowher.

People like to tell this blog that, when a team has something to play for, it should be expected to win.

This blog has always said, "Balderdash."

This blog believes that teams playing with implications in mind play tighter than teams that may be in a spoiler role and have long known their season is dead and buried. There are exceptions, of course, especially if you find a dysfunctional team like the Raiders and put them up against a disciplined team like the Jets. The 20-point New York win was no stunner.

But check out the other teams from the early slate of games who were playing with something on the line.

Tennessee. Lost at home.
Cincinnati. Lost at home.
Dallas. Lost at home.
Giants. Won on the road (narrowly).
Kansas City. Won at home.
Jacksonville. Lost to Kansas City.

1) The Chiefs Can Get In
If Denver loses to San Francisco, the Kansas City Chiefs become the sixth seed and Denver is out. Denver just got turned away on four plays inside the San Fran 5 and will kick a field goal to go up 3-0.

2) The Patriots Can Get the 3 Seed
If Indy loses to Miami (and they trail 3-0 at the end of 1) New England becomes the third seed.

3) The Colts Can Get the 2 Seed
If Indy wins and the Ravens lose, Baltimore drops down to become the No. 3 seed and loses its first-round bye

There's more, but those are the big ones for now.

The key games, of course, are Indy-Miami and Denver-San Fran.

The Lions are going to beat the Cowboys. OK. I said it. No qualifiers. They're getting it done.

Which will clinch the NFC East title for the Eagles and give them a first-round bye against the New York Giants next week.

The way it's shaking out, the drama is going to be in the AFC during this final round of games in the 2006 regular season.

Meanwhile, here's a link to a funny story by the whack jobs at Cold Hard Football facts.

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Article.php?Page=1215&Category=1

This game's about to kick but this blog is focusing on the other messes.

With the Jets about to clinch a spot, it will come down to one open spot on the playoff bus remaining in both conferences.

Denver has the inside track to the final spot but Kansas City's win over Jacksonville will keep them in play to get that final spot if Denver loses in San Francisco.

And the chances aren't that remote. The Titans are losing, and the Bengals are losing. All Denver has to do to blow this is lose.

Gulpage.

Given the choice between playing the Giants at home or the Seahawks in the Pacific Northwest next weekend, the Cowboys are working hard to take the latter.

It's 24-21 Detroit a little more than halfway through the third and the Dallas defense has allowed third-down conversions on 7 of 13 occasions already. The Cowboys have also fumbled it away twice and dropped a certain end zone pick.

To review, if the Cowboys lose, the Eagles automatically clinch the NFC East and the third seed regardless of what happens when they play Atlanta in an hour.

Tony Romo just got picked at the 28 of Dallas and they're about to score and Bill Parcells looks like a Dad who just walked in on his daughter in flagrante delicato.

Smells like the last day of the year around here.

This blog goes from one of the worst press box situations in the league last night in Washington to one of the best in Philly.

This blog had a cheese steak, four meatballs, lasgana, a coke, a water and two ring dings. Then this blog took an upright nap in front of a bank of TVs in the press lounge.

This blog prefers this to working in a sawmill which this blog did in 1984 and 85 in Hanover, Massachusetts.

We'll get you some insights on the early games that we caught when we weren't, ya know, napped out.

Here are the inactives fer ya....

Philly

CB William James
SS Michael Lewis
CB Bruce Perry
LB Dedrick Roper
G Max Jean-Gilles
T Pat McCoy
T Winston Justice
DT LaJuan Ramsey

Atlanta
FB Corey McIntyre
S JR Reed
RB Jamal Robertson
T Frank Omiyale
WR Ashley Lelie
TE Daniel Fells
DT Tommy Jackson

The Giants look like they're going to escape and that's thanks to the fingers on the left hand of third-year safety Gibril Wilson.

On fourth-and-10, Skins quarterback Jason Campbell threw to Antwaan Randle-El running about a 14-yard in-cut. He was open and the throw was good but Wilson dove and broke it up by a fingertip.

The Giants have the ball at the Skins 21 and the clock spins. Washington just burned its final timeout.

The Redskins have the ball at their own 21 with 2:13 left and a chance to tear out the Giants still beating heart.

Insufferable as Tiki Barber's been the past two-plus months, he's hauling the Giants into the playoffs tonight.

He just busted a 50-yard touchdown run and now has 227 rushing yards. He's got 3 touchdowns tonight. The 227 yards is also a franchise record.

The trade-off for such a brilliant performance is the cringe-inducing Tiki Tongue Bath that will follow. Sorry, that's how this blog feels.

It's times like these you wish Tiki had a little more Barry Sanders in him.

As this blog was issuing its last missive, Washington scored to make it 27-14. Now, those Skins are at the Giants 1 annnnnd, now they've scored to make it 27-21.

There's 10 minutes left and that may be more than enough time for the Chokeo di tutti Chokeos from the G-men.

On an unrelated note, this blog is not Johnny PC, but this blog can't fathom how the nickname "Redskins" lives on. Indians, Seminoles, Warriors, all those other nicknames are meant to invoke the best of Native American lore.

Redskins? It's like a freakin' 1890s name that shoulda been wiped out even before the PC crazies rained down.

This blog mean is Irish Catholic. This blog wouldn't like to see a team called the Paleskins with the profile of an Irishman on the side.

This blog can give a dozen other examples that would be analagous to Redskins but all would be offensive, the typing of them would be misunderstood and this blog would have its life complicated.

Barring a collapse that would get him fired before he even made it to the locker room, Tom Coughlin's rugged and resourceful Giants look to be in total control at 24-7 late in the third.

A Giants win will eliminate Atlanta, Carolina and St. Louis from playoff contention.

The only way the Giants can get edged out of the playoffs is if Green Bay wins and (deep breath) Arizona wins, Detroit wins, Miami wins, Minnesota wins, San Francisco wins, Carolina loses, Houston loses, Tampa Bay loses, this blog wakes up after a 6:34 minute sleep with its head perpindicular to the pillows but not lateral to the wall in it Courtyard Marriott room, the number of which must end in a 4.

Good luck, PACK!

Strange ending to the half in which a Plaxico Burress touchdown was waved off as both he and Ade Jimoh were called for offsetting pass interference on each other on a semi-fade with less than 20 seconds left.

The Giants went back to that play on the next down and this time Jimoh interefered (wasn't called) and no flag was thrown on the incompletion. Until Jimoh decided to flap his gums at Burress and drew a taunting penalty (it didn't seem too egregious). So Jay Feely moved 15 yards closer and made a half-ending field goal.

The Skins should be pleased though, because it should have been a non-call in the end zone since both players seem to push simultaneously and with the same force.

The Skins quarterback just gave a quick refresher on How Not To Slide. He went to his knees after a short scramble and tried to roll to the side but before he got there he got blasted by Brandon Short. he remained on the ground for about two minutes. Mark Brunell is in but probably for a short stint. Campbell jogged off the field.

Barber just ran through a skinny hole, sidestepped, ran through a high tackle by Sean Taylor and scored again to make it 17-7.

He went 55 yards. Hmmmph

Tiki took time out from doing everyone else's job to do his own and run 15 yards for a touchdown to make it 10-7, Giants.

He doesn't have it in him to step into throws right now. He just threw a fallaway on second-and-10 from the 29 that went through the hands of Vernon Fox.

Manning followed that with a crisp first-down throw to Plaxico Burress.

Tiki Barber ripped off a 31-yard run on a third-and-2 play which was helpful for New York. But two plays later he got stuck for a 2-yard loss in the backfield and proceeded to ream out fullback Jim Finn, running backs coach Jerald Ingram and the offensive line as the Giants drive stalled.

Must be fun to get told how to do your job by a guy who's quitting his.

He injured his hip and won't return.

This blog just got an e-mail from the Patriots who play at Tennessee.

Not making the trip for the Pats were WR Bam Childress, RB Kevin Faulk, CB Chad Scott, TE Ben Watson, and NT Vince Wilfork.

Derrick Dockery's having a very good game at left tackle so far. He just freed up Ladell Betts for a huge gain on a trap play and then Randle-El made a tremendous throw on an end-around for a 48-yard touchdown to Santana Moss who took the ball away from a barely interested Sam Madison for the score.

The ball traveled close to 60 yards in the air off the hand of the 5-10, 192-pound Randle-El.

The Giants just strung together a 4-play drive that lost 4 yards and settled for a Jay Feely field goal.

If the Giants maintain their pace offensively, they will lose approximately 70 yards this evening. This blog will monitor that.

The Redskins come back out with Jason Campbell having gone 4 for 4 on the first drive. They are at the 20.

Brandon Short just put the nose on the football and jarred it loose from Ladell Betts and wideload Fred Robbins took it 65 yards the other way for the Giants who go to work at the Redskins 12.

LANDOVER, Md. - Here's the Skins first drive...

Nice block by Chris Samuels to pick up a twisting blitzer and help the Redskins convert a third down on the first drive.

Every single Redskins run by Ladell Betts has gone behind Derrick Dockery and Samuels on the left side.

Jason Campbell just did the whoopsie on the sack (Whoopsie: To duck out of while half-entangled) and picked up a cool 12 yards.

Campbell rifled it through to Santana Moss inside R.W. McQuarters for a first down at the Giants 24.

A Redskins fan held up a sign that said, "If We Can't Go, You Can't Go!"

The final score will be....

Giants 16, Redskins 13 (OT)

But this could be Tiki Barber's last game. Yup. Word is, he's retiring after the season. He kept it quiet. He'll probably just saunter into a life of anonymity now. He was never much of a spotlight seeker.

Ahem.

He's made 53 tackles and 5 sacks from his defensive end spot...

LANDOVER, Md. - The Redskins broke the bank - as is their wont - in the offseason.

They had minimal impact for the five-win club. A glance:

Christian Fauria, TE - 2 catches,
TJ Duckett, RB - 35 carries, 136 yards
Adam Archuleta, S - 59 tackles, 1 sack, 0 picks, 7 tackles since the start of November
Antwaan Randle-El, WR - 29 catches, 298 yards and 3 TDs. 36 punt returns, 335 yards, 1 TD.

The only noteworthies sitting this one out are, for Washington, wide receiver Brandon Lloyd and rookie defensive tackle Anthony Montgomery.

For the Giants, tight end Jeremy Shockey is out.

LANDOVER, Md. - Got into the FedEx Field press box about 20 minutes ago, this blog is iin row 3, seat 19, if you're looking.

This blog would have dropped its first entry before this but this blog's computer countered that move with the dreaded blue screen announcement that my computer had encountered some kind of internal tragedy and was shutting down to collect its thoughts.

It does that sometimes. One of these times, though, it's going to get punched in the middle of the face for it and then it won't have anymore tragedies and this blog will have to explain what the hell happened to my computer. And hand.

Saw the news that Navy blew a game to BC today, drawing some penalties and fumbling on a third-and-13 in the final minutes.

Always encouraging when Naval Academy plays with a lack of discipline.

This blog pledged before that this blog wouldn't bee-atch about press box accomodations because, after all, this blog ain't paying.

But lemme describe this spot - the press box is positioned in a corner of the field about 40 rows up in the second level. So this blog is about 145 yards from the opposite goal line. Amplifying things is that we're basically looking out through portholes. We're positioned under an overhang and the windows are about 5 feet tall so anything 20 feet or more above the field - like a pass or punt - will disappear from view.

But this blog will persevere. Although it may make the sad Eli Manning "Who stole my backpack?" face.

Evenin'.

Looks like Jeremy Shockey and his bad ankle won't be on the field for the Giants pivotal game with the Redskins tomorrow night.

We gots ourselves a busy weekend to close out 2006 - at Washington tomorrow night to light the Giants funeral pyre. From there, we go to Philly Sunday morning for the Eagles and Falcons at 1 p.m. for a game that will either have implications for both clubs or just the Eagles trying to win the NFC East.

If the Giants win Saturday night, the Falcons are out of the playoffs and they are a team that - offensively at least - might lick the stamp and mail it in if they're not playing for anything. Hey, they might mail it in if they are playing for something.

Meanwhile, there's an interesting dynamic going on in the AFC where the Patriots have a chance to leapfrog the Colts and get the third seed. New England has to beat Tennessee in Nashville. The Colts are hosting Miami which is giving Cleo Lemon the start at quarterback.

If the AFC's top two seeds stay true to form, the fourth seed has the unenviable task of flying cross-country to play San Diego in the Divisional Playoffs (provided that fourth seed beats the No. 5 wild card seed). New England would likely prefer to stay on the East Coast and play Baltimore rather than take a six-hour flight to Southern California to play a team that's beaten them the last two times they played (2002 and 2005).

Bill Belichick and Nick Saban are old buddies but Saban - rightly - is putting the chance to see what he's got with Lemon ahead of worrying about doing New England any favors.

We'll check in when we get to Washington tomorrow afternoon, hopefully around 5 p.m.

While the Golden Gophers, who just punted for the first time this evening with 2:16 left in the 3rd quarter, hold a comfy 24-point lead against the Red Raiders, back in Minneapolis the 6th Annual Winter Waddle 5-K just finished. Founded and hosted by my friend, the toxically overexposed Mike McCollow (whose name appears frequently in Steve Rushin's "Air & Space" column...then again, look who's calling someone else overexposed), the race dares Minnesota's winter chill to scare hearty harriers away from their pastime. In fact the Winter Waddle is held after sundown, just in case there was a slight chance of solar warmth ruiing the fun.

I'll have the results of the Waddle for you soon.

Texas Tech's Keith Toogood just kicked off to begin the second half. If only the Golden Gophers had a kick returner named Ben True. Then the play would be "Toogood to B. True".

(sometimes I just write blog items to head off G.A. at the pass)

Cupito just completed a ten-yard pass to Simmons. Now he has as many catches, more yards and as many TD's as Spaeth did versus Penn State. And I'll stop whipping that horse now until the game is over.

--I know what you're thinking: Isn't Texas Tech supposed to be this high-scoring machine? Well, while it is true that Graham Harrell, the Red Raider QB, is ranked third in the nation in passing yards and Tech is also third in the nation in passing offense, they're down (for them) in scoring this year. The Red Raiders are only 16th nationally in scoring, with 31.5 points per game. Twice they've been held to lower totals than tonight's 7 points: Texas Christian beat them 12-2 and Colorado silenced them 30-6.

And if you're a Tech fan hoping for a comeback, well, Minnesota just took off nearly half the 3rd quarter (7:13) with a 16-play drive to open the second half. The Gophers only kicked a field goal, but that's a lot of time off the clock.

That and the fact that Minnesota has not yet had to punt tonight.

Because Texas Tech received the opening kickoff, we were not treated to the sight of their kickoff specialist, Keith Toogood, until just a moment ago after the Red Raiders scored their first TD of the game late in the first half. One play before Toogood's teammate, Alex Trlica, converted the PAT. That was the junior from Friendswood's (TX) 162nd successful PAT in 162 career attempts, setting an NCAA record.

--Bryan Cupito just had my 2007 Mackey Award winner Jack Simmons wide open in the end zone but instead chose to attempt the more difficult pass to wideout Logan Payne, who was double-covered. Payne caught it anyway. It's been that kind of opening half for the Golden Gophers, who are vying to become the second team in as many bowlnanza evenings to have a "Golden" in their name and win.

In just the first half for Minnesota...

--Quarterback Bryan Cupito has broken Minnesota's single-season touchdown passes mark (22) and tied former Golden Gopher Cory Sauter's career TD passes mark at 55. Cupito has three first half TD tosses.
--Tailback Amir Pinnix has rushed for 142 yards (his season-high is 178 at Purdue)
--My man Jack Simmons has 5 catches for 101 yards and 1 TD. If Cupito had made the correct read on Minnesota's last TD, he'd have 6 for 104 and 2 TDs. Again, the man he backs up, Mackey Award winner Matt Spaeth, had 6 catchds, 99 yards and 1 TD in his most productive game of the season. There's more to playing tight end than just catching passes, but it does make a fun note.

Or, "Repent, Tempe".

Walking into Sun Devil Stadium this evening, a structure I grew up just four miles away from, I spotted a young blonde woman (as you always seem to do, JW--Wait! Wait! It's not what you think) holding the largest sign I've seen yet this bowlnanza. It read (and I'll have a photo of it for you tomorrow):

LAST DAYS!
SATAN RULES!
TURN TO JESUS
NOT CHURCH!

The young woman told me that her name was Elizabeth, and that she was here to warn the attendees of tonight's Insight Bowl that life is short and that they should turn to Jesus.

"All of this is emptiness," she said. At first I simply assumed that she was referring to the upper tier of Sun Devil Stadium, but she meant the game itself. "Church is for hypocrites. Jesus is not a system, he's a person."

With that Elizabeth handed me a few pamphlets.

There were some ironies here. No more than ten feet away from Elizabeth a young man about her age had a dozen tickets fanned out in his hand, looking to scalp them. Then there's the fact that she's protesting Satan outside Sun Devil Stadium. Lastly, I wondered if her sign might garner more attention if it read:

E verybody
Should
Pray
Now!

In case you're wondering, I don't think Elizabeth is a nutjob at all. Not a "Crazy Christian", as Aaron Sorkin's characters might say. In many ways, Elizabeth is the sanest person I've met in the last week. Certainly more sane than someone attending three bowls in as many days and driving 100 mph through much of the wee hours of the night in order to attend a game between two teams whose combined record is 13-12.

He didn't originate the saying, but Max Kellerman once told me that "sports is man's ulitmate joke on God, because people are so passionate about sports even though they're meaningless."

And in terms of relative meaninglessness, tonight's Insight Bowl is even moreso. That may be God's ultimate joke on me.

Mainly because I find puns irresistible (Luau Cinder, anyone?), I spent halftime and the third quarter canvassing the sidelines. That way I could write the above headline.

As for the half, the Qualcomm folks are a little too enamored of fireworks. At both this game and the Poinsettia Bowl, they turned the air above the stadium into the opening credits of Love, American Style (showing my age yet again).

After both the A&M and Cal bands performed (without any pyrotechnics), some high school all-star band took the field. At that point, and whoever produced this part of the show should have to attend a post-game press conference, they put some type of All-Star marching band on the field whose numbers exceeded that of the population of Chula Vista. And yet, with all those band nerds playing all those instruments, you couldn't hear them over both the fireworks and the piped-in music blaring on the speakers. The fans might have booed, but then if they did, who could have heard them?

I'm telling you, Seminole County (last night) would have benefited from that fireworks display.

Anyway, it was sad. At one point I looked over at a Cal cheerleader and saw her mouth the words, "I feel sorry for the band" as she looked on. That's generally how I always feel when I see the band, but this time I particularly agreed with her.

Besides that, I wish that I had more to report. Renowned Cal alum/hanger-on Adam Duritz (better known as the lead singer of the Counting Crows) is nowhere to be found. Either that or he's ditched his dreds. Even one of my favorite football players, long-time San Diego Charger longsnapper/ladykiller David Binn ( a Cal alum) is nowhere to be found.

Notes on tonight's two quarterbacks, both of whom have thrown just one incomplete pass through 1 1/2 quarters this evening:

--Nate Longshore, Cal: The second Longshore of Bowlnanza, as his brother Nick is an offensive lineman at Brigham Young

--Stephen McGee, Texas A&M: While he is perhaps the most fearless--or, if you prefer, reckless--quarterback in the country when it comes to running the ball, the sophomore from Burnet, Texas, is as prudent--or if you prefer, fortunate--when it comes to passing it. McGee threw just two picks in 274 attempts this season, leading the nation with a 0.73% interception/attempt ratio. And if you just watched McGee throw a pass across nearly two-thirds of the field while rolling right, you may want to go with lucky over prudent.

McGee, Jorvorskie Lane nd Cal's DeSean Jackson are alll sophomores. Plenty of great young talent in this game.

Sorry I'm late. The flight outta San Francisco was delayed two hours. The folks at Hertz were out of cars. the traffic directors at Qualcomm were trying to recreate the flee-for-your-lives scene from Deep Impact . My dog ate the blog. As Alan Alda and McLean Stevenson probably once said, "Swit happens."

I'm calling it Jack Murphy Stadium's Law: If anything can delay you, it will. Then, as I was waiting on the media will call line, there was just one lone photographer behind me, but he was one of those "If I just stand closer to the person in front of me on line, then I'll get through it quicker" types. Honestly, at one point I thought that Brangelina were about to bless our civil union. Finally, I gently nudged him back and asked him to stop copulating me. "What, you don't like Asians?" he asked.

Arriving late does have its benefits, though. I did witness a BMW plow into a black Escalade, setting off a huge argument between two middle-aged men. Aslo, here's a phenomenon only latecomers get to see: the Navy jet flyover causes dozens, if not hundreds, of car alarms to go off in the parking lot. It was a symphony of cacaphony.

The Qualtense Stadium is sold out. And the Cal fans are the loudest I've heard in five games thus far. The Aggie fans are nearly as fired up. Me, I'm looking forward to watching DeSean Jackson and Marshawn Lynch of Cal and Stephen McGee and Jorvorskie Lane of A&M.

Right now it's 7-7. I'll check back after I catch my breath. Meanwhile....

Now, that would be a game. The Munchkins versus the Flying Monkeys. Then again, a game or two from now, I won't really be able to tell if the Flying Monkeys are playing the Arctic Monkeys (20 bonus points for naming a hot band of '06).

Chris Markey (UCLA) and Lorenzo Booker (FSU) are both having themselves career games tonight, and both are number 28. Which brings me to the movie trailer I saw for "23", starring Jim Carrey. In the trailer they mention all the kooky things about the number: our parents each supply 23 chromosomes, that Nagasaki took place on August 15 (8/15, 8 + 15 = 23), that Waco and Oklahoma City took place on 4/19 (4 + 19 =23) , and that 2 divided by 3 = .666, which, if you don't care about decimal points (my high school algebra teacher, Dan Whitehead, certainly did), is the number of the beast.

All of which is to bring us to this point: It wasn't in the trailer, but if that movie does not at least spend 30 seconds on Michael Jordan, then I lose all faith in Hollywood.

Appropriate to use a baseball term to describe where we're sitting, since we're inside a baseball park. The baseball press box is well-situated at AT&T, since it's behind home plate. But that means for football that our vantage point is low and that we're off beyond the corner of the UCLA end zone. In short, you're getting a much better view of the game from your couch.

Fight! No, not on the field, in the seats right in front of us. At least it was between a Seminole fan and a Bruin fan (I'm giving it to the FSU fan on a decision).

I'm seated next to venerable--and personable--columnist Art Spander, who informs me that he has attended the last 53 Rose Bowls in a row, going all the way back to selling programs there as a kid. That's pretty cool, but how many Emerald Bowls in a row have you made, I ask?

"Not all five."

Four-play sequence:

1. Florida State punts from the UCLA 31 yard line. Is this the same school that once had Scott Bentley and Sebastian Janikowski? I'll refrain from any wide right jokes. The punt is successful, being downed at the Bruin 7.
2. Chris Markey fumbles after about a ten-yard gain and FSU's Buster Davis recovers.
3. On 1st-and-ten from the Bruin 25, Lorenzo Booker carries off left tackle for a touchdown.

AND THEN, THE PRESS BOX ANNOUNCER ACTUALLY INFORMS US: "THE TEAM THAT HAS SCORED FIRST HAS WON TWO OF THE PREVIOUS FOUR EMERALD BOWLS".

So you can take that to the bank.

4. On 1st-and-ten from their own 22, UCLA scores on a 78-yard pass from Patrick Cowan to Brandon Breazell, who ran a post route and went untouched.

My Fellow Bolwnanzans,

It's about half an hour before the Emerald Bowl on a clear, cool night in San Francisco. Thus begins a "grueling" stretch of five bowl games in the next six days (I can feel your sympathy). Tonight it's the Emerald, then the Holiday, then the Insight. After a travel day, we'll move on to the MPC Computers followed by the Fiesta.

But I cannot afford to look past tonight. Cannot look past Florida State-UCLA. The game is a homecoming of sorts for Florida State senior tailback Lorenzo Booker, who is from Oxnard, Calif. (about an hour northwest of Los Angeles).
The 'noles have never played in northern California and FSU has never met UCLA in football.

The Seminoles (6-6), have not had a losing season since Bobby Bowden's inaugural one in Tallahassee, back in 1976. So there's the negative incentive for the Garnet and Gold tonight.

As for UCLA, they're trying to become the first Pac-10 school to win a bowl game this December (0-2 thus far) and to continue a late-season surge where they've won three straight and allowed a total of 28 points agains Oregon State, Arizona State and USC.

Right now they're honoring the University of San Francisco Dons 1951 football team. Nine of their players went on to the NFL and three of them --Ollie Matson, Gino Marchetti and Bob St. Clair-- are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The team's publicist was Pete Rozelle.

The Dons are one of those stories that someone will make into a movie someday. The team went 9-0 in 1951 and two of their best players were Matson, a running back, and Burl Toler, a linebacker. Both were black. The Orange Bowl invited USF to play in its game after the season against Georgia Tech with the stipulation that Matson and Toler remain behind. As a team, the Dons refused the invitation. They never played again, as the program was disbanded a few weeks later.

St. Clair, by the way, who is still a live, is a mythic Bay Area figure. Still larger than Sasquatch, the 6'9", 265-pound St. Clair would go on to play for the San Francisco 49ers. He was renowned for only eating his meat raw (his autobiography is entitled "I'll Take It Raw") and for once knocking out two opposing players (on separate blocks) on one kickoff return. A free spirit, St. Clair once left in the middle of a chalk talk given by Vince Lombardi in order to hit a happy hour. Then again, it was only the Pro Bowl. St. Clair also went on to be the mayor of Daly City. Calif., where he once quelled a nudist beach riot. Tough job.

--By the way, even though Florida State has never met UCLA in football, two of their female alums are currently cited on another sports site as being two of the 20 sexiest female athletes: for the Seminoles, former volleyball player Gabrielle Reece. For the Bruins, former high jumper (and Olympian) Amy Acuff.

--A pregame advisory: I plan on doing more observing and less typing tonight. I'm discovering that I'm not getting into the flow of the game as much as I'd like to with all these pithy observations. The republic will sleep just as easily not having my ten best Hawaiian television moments, for example, I believe.

Enjoy the game.

Fellow Bowlnanzans!

Greetings from San Francisco. Actually, greetings from Burlingame, just a few miles south of the San Francisco Airport. Haven't actually made it into San Francisco yet.

It'll be a tough day for arguably the NCAA's best field-goal kicker, UCLA All-American Justin Medlock. The winds are blowing, I'm guessing here, about 30 m.p.h. off the bay. If the winds are this strong at Pac Bell this evening, don't expect much of a passing game, either.

--Reason to like UCLA's chances tonight? Florida State's offense, which finished 73rd nationally.

--Just heard a CNN anchor refer to President Gerald Ford having played for the "gold and blue" of Michigan. And with that an entire state shuddered. They call it maize, of course.

Merry Christmas!

Going to keep this short, since it's been a long and fun day. Spent the early part of the day at Lanikai, which someone here told me was voted best beach in the USA. I drove out about 20 or so miles east from Waikiki to get there, and had the radio station tuned to Christmas music the entire time. It's wild to be listening to that Beach Boys Christmas tune ("It's the little Saint Nick...") as you're driving along the coast of Oahu on an absolutely perfect day.

Went sea-kayaking for about two hours. Rented a kayak almost immediately upon arriving, and then got a little ambitious paddling out about half a mile to a pair of islands that have some killer cross-currents--and waves. Had to paddle back furiously just to return the kayak before the rental place closed. In short, my day at the beach was no day at the beach.

Met a new pal, Pali, at the Shell Station in Kailua. Asked him if he were hiring. "Where you from?" he asked me. I told him. "Ah, that's like Waikiki," he said. "Concrete jungle."

I returned to Waikiki for a luau at the Royal Hawaiian hotel. It's very touristy, but you take your fire dancing where you can get it. Some little kid tried to make off with my drink, and I hollered, "That's mai-tai, son!" And then everyone at my table looked around to see if he was there. That actually happened.*

(*That never happened)

Finished the the night off with a walk along Waikiki beach, where I passed a number of sleeping Don Hobos. Took a photo at the Duke Kahonomoku statue that you've probably seen in photos. A plaque here reads that Duke once rode a 35-foot wave into Waikiki beach. Without a waverunner? I'm dubious.

Hope your Christmas was, if not tropical like mine, then at least filled with warm memories. Rest in peace, Godfather of Soul.

JW

Despite suffering from highlight Tourette's Deion Sanders is tremendous in the NFL Network studio. Funny. Conversational. Insightful. Not afraid to take a swipe.

As for the Tourette's he's got a nasty habit of blurting out pet names of former teammates and buddies whenever one makes a play on a highlight. We get it. You know them. They know you. But it's a minor annoyance and I'm sure some people think it's entertaining.

It was 27-10, fourth quarter, and ASU has a lame-duck staff. You would expect that the Devils might fold up the pitch forks. But no. The alma mater of my brother and sister has stormed back for a pair of TDs and now it's 27-24 with 9:56 to play.

Whereas the first two games of the bowlnanza were blownanzas, or blowoutnanzas, we have a game here on Christmas eve. ASU's Mark Brand reminds me that Dirk Koetter has taken the Devils to four bowl games in six seasons and they've won two in a row.

Koetter, in retrospect, lost his job at least in part to the Rudy Carpenter-Sam Keller fiasco last August. But I suspect there's a lot about that situation that has not been reported, and that perhaps Koetter kept his mouth shut rather than damage someone else's reputation. At this point, we don't know.

Koetter can be a little contemptuous of the media and for that reason his departure did not elicit many tears in Tempe. But I doubt anyone besides Koetter, Keller and the guys who dress in the ASU locker room knows what really went on last summer.

Saw that movie on the flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu. It's a good film, I guess, though I've always thought it felt less like real life than it did a screenplay trying to seem truly, truly indie. The teenage son who is a Nietzche freak AND wants to fly jets at the Air Force Academy?

Anyway, here's my question: Wouldn't it have just been easier if the dad (Greg Kinnear) had driven Olive to Redondo Beach himself? Sure, then you have no movie but it would make sense. And that's what winners do.

Christmas Miracle Network: For anyone who cares, the luggage was discovered and delivered about three hours before game time today.

For anyone who doesn't care, Brennan just tossed his third TD pass of the third quarter, culminating a 99-yard drive. Hawaii leads 24-10. What with Hawaii's long-haired linemen and their trio of touchdowns in as many drives this half, we may want to dub them the "Lather, Rinse, Repeat" offense. Either that or the "Mo' Mane Offense".

Speaking of lather, the action on the field is getting a little chippy. The Warriors were penalized after the play for unsportsmanlike conduct.

John Goodman spoke to Arizona State's football team during Wednesday's practice. Not that John Goodman.

The Goodman I speak of is one of those spectacularly impressive figures who fly under the radar for some unknown reason. If you were to think "Arizona State football" and "armed forces" the first name that probably comes to mind is Pat Tillman. And deservedly so.

But Goodman is someone about whom you should know, as well. Arizona State's quarterback from 1964-66, during their Frank Kush WAC years, Goodman played a few seasons with the New Orleans Saints before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1971. Today Goodman is a three-star Lieutenant General and serves as the Commander General of the U.S. Marine Forces in the Pacific. He has 75,000 men and women serving under him.

Goodman is at the game this afternoon.

--Also, spotted earlier this week jogging in Honolulu. Former Arizona State and current Hawaii Director of Athletics Herman Frazier jogging with Barack Obama.

Hawaii offensive lineman Dane Uperesa is 6'5", 331 pounds. I'm calling him "The Big Island" from now on.

The Warriors have two OL starters named Hercules and Samson. They are cousins, both with the last name Satele. And yes, Samson has a long, long mane of hair.

Arizona State has two wideouts, Mike Jones and Kyle Williams, who are also battling for the number one spot in center field for the Sun Devil baseball team. Kyle is the son of Chicago White Sox GM Ken Williams.

At the half, it's Arizona State 10, Hawaii 3. Here's something curious for you: Only two schools have held the Warriors to three first-half points this season, and both of them (Alabama and ASU) fired their coaches. The difference, as of December 24th, is that Alabama has no head coach today and the Sun Devils have two.

At the half, Colt Brennan thus has zero TD passes and remains one behind David Klingler for the NCAA single-season record. Klingler, who played at Houston, had 54 and Brennan has 53.

Mele Kelikimaka from Aloha Stadium. And, if you're wondering why the Hawaiian Islanders would have their own phrase for "Merry Christmas", since Christianity is a relatively new concept for them, well, good question. The answer I received is that when missionaries visited, the natives had a difficult time pronouncing "Merry Christmas". Phonetically, the closest they could get is the phrase that began this entry.

Pre-game at Aloha Stadium, and here's what I got:

1. It may be Christmas Eve where you are, but walking through the parking lot it feels like a weekend series between the Padres and Dodgers in July.
2. The Hawaii players need their own shampoo commerical. The Warriors have better, and longer, hair than most of the women inside Aloha. I did a pre-game photo essay of some of the better locks that should be posted some time tomorrow.
3. Brandon Rodd, an Arizona State offensive lineman, is an Oahu native. He gulped up more than 100 tickets for today's game. According to associate athletic director Mark Brand, Arizona State only sold about 1,000 tickets of its allotment, meaning that Rodd is responsible for about 10% of ASU's fan base here this afternoon.
4. I went to a bullfight once in Seville, Spain, and what I remember is that you have two options when buying tickets. You can either buy the cheap tickets, which are in the sun, or the expensive tickets, which are in the shade. They could do the same thing here (and at Arizona State, for that matter). It's no coincidence that the Sun Devil bench is located on the sunny side of the field.
5. Jerry Glanville is the defensive coordinator for Hawaii, and true to form he's clad in black. The other coaches, both from Hawaii and ASU, are wearing Hawaiian shirts.
6. How absolutely mind-numbingly prolific is the Warrior offense? Hawaii has scored 84 offensive touchdowns in 2006. Louisville has the second-most with 58, just a little more than 2/3 of Hawaii's output. And Colt Brennan has thrown for more yardage AND more touchdowns than Troy Smith (Ohio State) and Chad Henne (Michigan) combined in 67 fewer passing attempts.
7. Warrior running back Nate Ilaoa, a senior, is listed at 5'9", 254 pounds. That's high school janitor size.
8. How are the Sun Devils defending Colt Brennan and his pals? By going with a 3-man defensive front and six defensive backs for the first time this season. I'm dubbing it their Waikiki D ...and nobody knows it.
9. I know you don't care, but from our spot in the press box we cannot see the scoreboard. I cannot tell you what the score is or how much time remains in the first half. Anyone out there who's sitting home alone, slurping beer and wondering where it all went wrong (as opposed to me, who's sitting at Aloha Stadium and doing the same thing), feel free to text me and provide that vital info.
10. ASU just held Hawaii scoreless in the first quarter. That's happened three other times this season to the Warriors: at Alabama, at Boise State and here versus Oregon State. Those happen to be the Warriors' only three losses.

1. The AFC should secede.

2. The Titans and Bills are going to be everybody's dahhhhhlings in 2007.

3. After taking one of the dirtiest hits in memory - a spear in the spine from Jags linebacker Clint Ingram - Tom Brady once again proved that he's got more toughness in his toenails than most quarterbacks have in their strapping frames. And that includes robo-QB Steve McNair whose litany of injuries was so well documented and marveled at when he was with the Titans. Brady finished the season last year with a sports hernia, the same injury that ended Donovan McNabb's year. Yesterday, the spear he took from Ingram had more bad intentions than the concussive hit Trent Green took from Robert Geathers. Brady missed one play.

4. Jim Mora and Tom Coughlin are done at their present locales. Whether their owners know or admit it is another story but Falcons coach Mora, whose team lost at home to Carolina 10-3, and Giants coach Coughlin, whose team mailed it in against New Orleans at home in a 30-7 loss have lost their teams.

5. What goes around, comes around. The Bengals had their black hearts broken by a PAT snap that went awry and their road to the playoffs is going to be very tough. Couldn't happen to a more dysfunctional, immature, whiny team.

6. If you're in Miami during the first week of February and you see anybody from the Colts, ask them where they're staying and what they're going to be doing Sunday around 6:18 because they sure ain't going to be busy. A crunch time loss to the Texans? And to think this blog thought things were going to be different for Indy in 2006.

7. If your brother-in-law brings fireworks for the Christmas Eve festivities, stand a good distance back. This blog took a sparkler off the bald spot -- seriously -- and got some of his quickly receding hair singed in the process. And it's still STINGING!

8. The Jaguars got screwed. David Garrard's arm was coming forward on the final pass that was ruled a fumble. The call put the Pats into the playoffs and ended Jacksonville's chance at tying and/or winning the game.

9. The Ravens defense is ridiculously good. And they are on a collision course with the Chargers.

10. Can't wait for the games tomorrow night when we can further sort out a very cloudy playoff picture.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

We'll check in at some point Christmas Day.

T

With 37 seconds left, Philip Rivers hit Vincent Jackson for a 37-yard touchdown giving the Chargers a 20-17 win over Seattle and allowing them to keep a leg up on the Ravens in pursuit of the No. 1 seed in the AFC. If San Diego lost, they'd have been in trouble deep since they'd be in a tie with Baltimore and the Ravens hold a head-to-head edge over San Diego.

The Seahawks are in the playoffs thanks to the 49ers loss to the Cardinals at home.

Still, the Seahawks are leading the Chrgers late in the fourth quarter. Bad news for San Diego. If they falter, they drop into a tie with the Ravens at 12-3. Since the Ravens beat San Diego in October, the Ravens have the head-to-head edge and will have home-field advantage if things stay the same.

It's the mosssssttttt passive-aggressive timmmmmmme of the yearrrrrr...

Nobody's worked harder to take the heat off of Michael Vick than his head coach Jim Mora who this season uttered with a straight face that if he was starting a franchise Vick would be the first player he'd take.

If you were only allowed to run the Wing-T, that might make sense, but....we digress.

Anyway, here's what Vick had to say after the loss.

"We've got first-round guys, we've got guys that have been in the Pro Bowl offensively and defensively, guys who've been in the scheme for two to three years," said Vick. "You know, the talent level is there, and I just think it's a question that needs to be answered. I don't know what it is, but we're too good to be losing these games, and we should be ranked among the elite in this league this year and we're not. You just can't come out there and just try to wing it. I'm not saying that we did that, but either we've got to come out and throw the football or come out and try to establish the run."

Nice. Vick himself - who topped 1,000 yards rushing this season - confuses the issue because of his unique ability and also because hasn't distinguished himself as a dropback quarterback. Yet instead of rededicating himself after a season in which his team went belly-up, taking some responsibility and showing some loyalty to the coach (knucklehead though he is) who showed loyalty to him, Vick passed the buck.

At least he can pass something.

So Carolina QB Chris Weinke snapped a personal 17-game losing streak today and in doing so threw just 7 seven passes. On the other side, Mike Vick threw 20.

We'll see how damaging the Falcons loss was to the future of coach Jim Mora who's been taking on water for, oh, about the last two months.

With the Giants and Falcons both losing, the Eagles chances of securing at least a Wild Card spot went up exponentially.

Philly is 8-6, 7-3 in the NFC with a game tomorrow on NBC against the Cowboys.

The Giants, Packers, Panthers, Rams and Falcons are 7-8 fighting for the No. 6 seed.

The Falcons really dealt themselves a blow today losing to Carolina. The Packers moved past them in the pecking order.

The Giants and Packers are in a virtual dead-heat for the No. 6 spot with identical conference records.

The Giants are at Washington and the Packers are at Washington next week.

The Bengals, meanwhile, can get into the playoffs if they win in Denver today.

Chris Henry just made a catch at the Broncos 1 for the Bengals and got pulverized by John Lynch as the both of his feet came down. The ball looked secure and could have plausibly been called a fumble, if you ask this blog. But the pass was ruled incomplete.

On a happier note, it's fun to watch Chris Henry get drilled.

It's scoreless in Denver.

David Garrard just got the ball knocked loose by Jarvis Green of the Patriots and New England recovered.

It looked for all the world like A) the ball was in Garrard's hand as it came forward and B) it was coming forward before Green got to him.

But the ruling on the field stood and the Pats took three knees to qualify for the playoffs and Jacksonville is in trouble.

P.S. The Boss called, Saints run 50 plays in Giants territory and the Giants had run zero in Saints territory.

The Giants are now down 30-7. Despite assurances earlier this year that head coach Tom Coughlin's job was going to be safe, you have to wonder if the situation in New York is getting untenable between a team that just doesn't seem to play to its potential under Coughlin and seems to so often embrace opportunities to make his life difficult.

Jacksonville just went down to again make it a 3-point game with three minutes left. It's 24-21 and the Pats have the ball back and are facing third-and-10 from their 13.

Laurence Maroney just went through a gaping hole to score from 27 yards away making it 24-14 New England and bringing the Pats, most likely, another AFC East title.

Scrambling for a first-down on third-and-6, Tom Brady dove for the sticks and was on the ground when Clint Ingram buried his helmet between his shoulder blades. There was no flag but fines will absolutely be forthcoming.

They lose to Houston, 27-24 at the gun and are now 11-4. Baltimore's now 12-3 and the Chargers are either going to be 12-3 or 13-2 at the end of the day.

If New England wins, they're 11-4 as well but the Colts have the head-to-head over the Pats.

So Indy's shaping up as the No. 3 seed and will theoretically be headed to Baltimore if they knock off...hmmm...whichever wild card team ends up in front of them.

The Colts close by hosting Miami next week which could be a further problem for them.

Houston's near midfield at the two-minute warning, tied at 24. If they can pull off the upset of the Colts, it only reinforces A) that the Peyton Manning Era could very well be ringless and B) the Bengals -- who lost to Indy on Monday with a screwed-up game plan -- are pretenders as well.

With Baltimore poised to win at Pittsburgh, if Indy loses, they blow a chance at a first-round bye.

New England just had an interception waved off because of a roughing-the-passer penalty on Richard Seymour. It was a very tight call and it looked as if Seymour was less than the required one step away from David Garrard when Garrard released the ball.

In any event, after the penalty, Garrard completed it down to the 3 and MJD burrowed in to make it 17-14, New England.

The Patriots have been brilliant defensively today but are in a dogfight on two fluky plays.

Baltimore's up 21-7 on Pittsburgh midway through the third meaning the 7-7 men of steel are on the ropes and -- if they lose -- dead.

That would take care of that.

A win today in Jacksonville will clinch the AFC East for the Patriots and they are closing in on it with a 17-7 lead over the Jags early in the second half.

Jacksonville hasn't gotten anything done aside from Maurice J-D's fluky 74-yard touchdown run.

Annnnd, they pick up a much-needed first down on a bullet from DavidGarrard to Matt Jones.

Could the dramafest that's been the New York Giants this season be coming to a climax?

The Jints are down 13-7 late in the second. The Giants went up on the fourth play of the game on a 55-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress from Eli Manning and they've done Jack T. Squat since.

Meanwhile, the Bills and Titans are in what's basically an elimination game and it's damn entertaining up there, 20-19 Tennessee at the break.

And the Colts are back down 21-14 to Houston. Meanwhile, the Patriots are chipping away at the Jacksonville defense. Nothing but short stuff so far.

And now they're down to the Jags 27 on the first drive of the second half.

On a third-down play, the umpire (dude in around the linebackers) just got hit in the ear with a throw by David Garrard. It fell incomplete and the ump - Garth DeFelice fell too.

And stayed there for about five minutes.

This blog thinks too many umpires get dinged up because they aren't nimble enough to get out of the way and they're too brittle when they hit the ground.

Maybe there was a day when they were but, sorry, when you put them in the middle of some of the world's most powerful and athletic athletes, they should be in the upper percentile of athletes themselves. I'm not saying they have to be Daley Thompson but a little better.

The Colts, somewhat predictably, got things straightened out in Houston and tied that mess at 14.

Meanwhile, the Skins burped up their lead and now trail 14-7 to St. Louis.

This is the time of year defenses start mailing it in so don't be stunned if you see some big points.

The Jones-Drew TD stands and it's 7-3 Jacksonville.

On a first-down play after the Pats got a field goal, Maurice Jones-Drew appears to have scored a bizarre touchdown. On a simple dive, he ran into the back of a lineman and fell. Then got up and ran through half-hearted tackles by Tully Banta-Cain and Artrell Hawkins.

The Patriots are challenging but this blog thinks the play will stand.

In a scoreless game, the Pats just rolled the dice on fourth-and-1 from the Jags 26. Tom Brady got whistled for a false start. Not sure what he did.

The Pats attempt the field goal and get it off a weird spin.

It's 3-0 New England. And kicker Stephen Gostkowski has quietly had a very nice season. He's made 11 straight field goals.

Indy just went three and out and is going to punt to the Texans and David Carr who's suddenly going Pastorini on Indy.

What's it mean if the Colts lose? Not a ton. They've already clinched their division. All that matters now is seeding. If they wind up No. 3 or No. 4, they'll be against a wild card opponent. Then you get into matchups.

As it shakes out, the Colts would be best served staying away from a team like Jacksonville who outplayed them twice and hammered them once.

The Jags need to beat New England today to get that matchup.

They have first-and-goal at the Indy 6 and already lead 7-0. Indy is playing for the first-round bye and a very outside chance at the No. 1 overall seed. Forget it, they got in. It's 14-0.

Todd Sauerbrun puts foot to ball in anger for the first time and hits a little pooch punt. Unremarkable. Yet, I remark.

A few teams have already bounced up on top early. The aforementioned are all up. Meanwhile, the Jaguars-Patriots rock fight is under way in Jacksonville. New England's on the move a little bit, down to the Jags 23 after a completion to Jabar Gaffney but the play is under review.

We got ourselves a home game this weekend. We're monitoring the Week 16 proceedings from headquarters today.

This is a good deal A) because this blog can be within hailing distance if needed for Yule preparations and B) The story today is not limited to one locale but many and we can keep an eye on all of it from here....Sound plausible?

This key games at 1 are New England and Jacksonville, Buffalo and Tennessee, Carolina at Atlanta and the Saints at the Giants.

We'll be all over those with analysis as the day progresses.

The top story on page 1 of the Honolulu Advertiser sports section on Saturday focused on the fact that Hawaii's defense skipped practice on Friday in order to lift weights instead. The author of the piece, Stephen Tsai, also reported that Hawaii safety Desmond Thomas, a 6'2", 172-pound sophomore, is nicknamed "Half Rep" by his teammates because he cannot bench-press 225 pounds.

That weight--225 pounds-- is the benchmark, pardon the pun, at the NFL Combine. One of the ways scouts assess pro prospects is by the number of reps they can do benching 225. So Thomas has to work on that part of his game in the next two years.

Yesterday, reports Tsai, Half Rep's teammates decided to rally around him. They carried him into the weight room with the theme from "Rocky" blaring. Then they loaded up the 45-pound plates (two on each side, plus the 45-pound bar) and he lay down under it.

Thomas benched 225 four times! Half Rep, you stud.

The Patriots left behind nose tackle Vince Wilfork, tight end Benjamin Watson and tackle Ryan O'Callaghan on their trip to Jacksonville.

Tough way to go into what's shaping up as a pivotal game in the AFC playoff race.

Saturday morning finds me in Waikiki Beach....it's a living.

As the Captain Jack Sparrow of Bowlnanza (clueless, charming, dissipated and eyeliner-clad), I have no room to complain. So consider this not a whine but just the bowlog equivalent of a police report: The airline lost my luggage.

It's kind of cool actually, the irony of it. ABC films "Lost" on the North Shore of Oahu, and here I am dealing with "Lost" luggage. Could it be that ABC, which is affiliated with ESPN, is sabotaging Bowlnanza (despite my kind remarks about Brent Musberger in the previous bowlog) and NBC as well due to the unexpected success of "Heroes"?

I don't actually watch "Lost" (shows I should probably watch but do not: "Lost", "The Wire" and "24"), so I don't know whether their characters wear more than one outfit on their deserted isle a la Gilligan's Island . I'm guessing that they do, since even though their plane crashed their luggage was on board.

Hmm... water landing and luggage, or runway landing and no luggage. If you can guarantee my survival, I think I'd take the former. By the way, how often do you see planes ditch in the Pacific and people survive in real life? I'd ask Amelia Erhart that question if I could. But here we have "Lost" and Castaway in which characters do survive. That's Hollywood.

For what it's worth, I saw Castaway when it first came out on a Monday evening in West Hartford, Conn. And, no lie, I was the ONLY person in the movie theater. It's kind of like experiencing Earthquake in Sensurround, watching Castaway in a theater by yourself.

And what ever happened to Sensurround, anyway? Did they just scrap it after Earthquake ? Why not put it in random movies just to see how the audience reacts? " Blood Diamond , in Sensurround!"

If you can't cheat 'em, join 'em.

Punter Todd Sauerbrun, one of four Carolina Panthers that reportedly had steroid prescriptions filled before Super Bowl XXXVIII against the New England Patriots, signed with the Pats today.

Sauerbrun, who was released earlier this year by the Denver Broncos after coming back from an unrelated four-game steroid suspension, will punt for the Pats Sunday in Jacksonville.

During his morning press conference, Pats head coach Bill Belichick said, "We looked at all our options, and feel like this one is the best one for the football team. That's what I said earlier in the week that we'd do and that's what we tried to do - do what's best for the football team. That's always number one."

Asked about Sauerbrun's suspension, Belichick said, "It was a league issue. You have to talk to the league about that. All that stuff is done on a confidential basis. Even if I knew anything, I wouldn't say anything about it. We're not really privy to that type of confidential information. I would say talk to the league about it."

Sauerbrun also had an impact on the Pats last year, forcing a fumble by punt returner Ellis Hobbs during a return in the Patriots loss in Denver.

Fortunately for the Pats, Martin Gramatica - with whom Sauerbrun had a long-standing catfight - was released by the team earlier this year.

Friday morning: Sitting at McCarran International Airport, and quite grateful not to be in Denver's airport or a lot of other harsher climes today. If you happen to be stranded, feel free to email and we'll help one another kill time.

Random Thoughts and Observations from the Past 12 Hours:

--- There's a movie out right now called The Good German and another entitled The Good Shepherd . but no sign of The Good German Shepherd .

--It might cause a Hugh Johnsoner to vomit (a sensation, if you read their comments, that most of them frequently experience anyway), but last night I was introduced to Brent Musberger at halftime. You may be too cool for Brent, but I've been watching him since I was wearing flame-retardant Dallas Cowboy pajamas and he was driving the NFL Today desk with passengers Phyllis George (which happen to be the first names of 40% of my immediate family), Irv Cross and Jimmy the Greek.
Brent was very funny and very gracious and I tried not to sound like I was hosting The Chris Farley Show as we spoke. But I'm quite sure I that I likely embarrassed myself.
The family has grown in the years since, but I'm still wearing my flame-retardant Dallas Cowboy pjs.

--Funny moment I might only care about: There's a story that always causes Eric, who was traveling with me the past couple of days, and I to chuckle. Basically, we were high school sophomores and he was the first guy in our group to get a driver's license. And I happened to live about 15 miles away from anyone who attended our high school. So, one Friday night Eric is chauffering us all home, but he gets me home at least an hour past my curfew (and I hadn't called; my cellphone wasn't working due to the fact that it was 1982). Anyway, when we pulled into the driveway my parents were there, waiting, and they told Eric to "forget John's phone number".
So fast forward to yesterday: My mom phones, but on the cellphone I rarely use now. I've converted to the crackberry. So I ask my mom if she can stop using that cell from now on and instead use the new one.
After hanging up, I looked at Eric. "Do you realize what I just did?" I asked him.
"What's that?" he said.
"I just told my mom to forget my phone number."
"I swear, it's genetic."

--After the Las Vegas Bowl Eric, myself and my good buddy from SI, Arash Markazi, headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel for some gambling....um, gaming. Arash, by the way, did a similar bowl pilgrimage last year. As I told him, "Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism."
Sitting at a restaurant there, licking our wounds after an hour of craps, we came up with a brilliant (we thought) casino offshoot for this hotel/restaurant chain: The Soft Rock Hotel/Cafe . Can't you see it?
"Working up an appetite? Join us at the Starland Vocal Band cafe, sir."
"Do you like pina coladas? Escape to the Rupert Holmes lounge."
"Have you tried the Air Supply oxygen bar?"

I'm sorry. This is too good. We're keeping it for ourselves.

As Brigham Young slowly begins turning Oregon into Northern Illinois...

The Cougars just scored: It's 24-0 with a few minutes remaining in the third period between these two schools who both lost to Arizona earlier this season. BYU is going to finish 11-2 and it's easy to see why:

--a physically dominant offensive line that averages 6'3", 317 pounds.
--a senior quarterback, John Beck, who has passed for more than 10,000 career yards
--a senior tight end, Jonny Harline, who was a 3rd team All-America this season and has 8 catches for a career-best 174 yards this evening
--a defense that held four opponents to seven points or less this season...and that, with one quarter to play here in Las Vegas, is pitching a shutout against the Ducks.
--a decided advantage in terms of the number of Eagle Scouts on its roster.

Brigham Young is about to finish 11-2 for 2006 and is one of those teams that each year looks back at its season and wonders, "If only..." The Cougars' two losses were a 3-point defeat at Arizona and a double overtime loss at Boston College.

The Ducks, meanwhile, are anything but buoyant. It's Game 13 and they still have not decided upon a quarterback. Tonight's loss will be Oregon's fourth in a row and its fifth straight bowl loss. The Ducks are 7-7 in their past 14 games. And Oregon offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, who was fired as BYU's head coach after the 2004 season, will not likely sleep easily tonight.

Earlier in the second half the public address announcer informed us that tonight's attendance is 44,615, making it the largest audience ever to watch a sporting event in person in the Silver State.

"And it had to be this?" griped one scribe on press row.

We're sitting here at the intersection of college football and pop music. Let me explain.

The Las Vegas Bowl is being played in cozy Sam Boyd Stadium--it's tiny, but the stands are very close to the sidelines and it has all the energy that Qualcomm Stadium lacked two nights earlier.

Sam Boyd is a classic Las Vegas success story: He reportedly arrived here from Enid, Oklahoma, in 1941 with $80 in his pocket. Boyd was 31 years old. Starting as a dealer, he rose to pit boss and then shift supervisor until he had enough cash to buy an interest in the Sahara Hotel.

In 1979 Boyd opened a casino about six miles east of The Strip, at the time a risky venture. Boyd's idea was to build a casino where the locals would feel comfortable hanging out and gambling. Well, Sam's Town is still around today and located just a mile or two from the stadium. And it must be popular with the locals, because The Killers, who are from Las Vegas, named their recently released second album Sam's Town.

Here's what separates Brigham Young's football players from those of other schools. Of the 22 starters listed on the Cougar depth chart, eight are married and six are former Eagle Scouts. Four of them have accomplished the vaunted double-double: Eagle Scouts and husband-ry (no idea how many of the Eagle Scouts earned a merit badge in husbandry).

The Fabulous Four: Wide receivers Zac Collie and Matt Allen, right guard Travis Bright and quarterback John Beck.

Other Cougar starter notes:

--outside linebacker David Nixon is a third cousin of former president Richard Nixon

--middle linebacker Aaron Wagner is Canadian and was drafted last April by the Toronto Argonauts. Wagner, 6'3", 247, was Canada's national defensive MVP in high school in Alberta.

Statistically, BYU is the more impressive squad: the Cougars, who just moments ago drove the ball 92 yards before kicking a field goal, are second in the nation in passing efficiency, fourth in passing offense, fifth in total offense and sixth in scoring offense (36.7 points per game). In terms of scoring differential, the Cougs are very impressive: 36.7 points for while allowing just 15.3 points per game (16th nationally), a difference of three touchdowns per game.

Also, the Cougars are 4th in the nation in turnover margin, while the Ducks are 84th in that category.

Pregame at the Las Vegas Bowl is the antipode to pre-game at the Poinsettia Bowl. Fantastic college football atmosphere. I orbited the sidelines, which is always fun. Ryan Leaf is down there, as his little brother Brady is the starting quarterback for the Ducks. Ryan was all cowboy'ed up, with a black cowboy hat and monster belt buckle.

Nine or ten years ago, when Ryan was a senior at Washington State, I did a story for Sports Illustrated on two offensive linemen who blocked for Leaf, Jason McEndoo and Ryan McShane. Leaf had been incredibly cool to me then, and when I said hello to him tonight (he did not remember me; I have that effect on people) he was very personable. People are nice when you're not asking them constantly how come they don't do their job very well...my editor Barry should keep that in mind.

Up here in the press box I have a prime spot. I'm in the very last seat along the front row. Why is that so advantageous? Directly to my left is the ESPN broadcast booth with Brent, Bob and Craig. And through the reflection in the glass I can see everything that they're doing at all times. I'll try not to be too much of a voyeur, but if Brent reaches for a cold one, pardner, I'll let you know.

Oh, and Jerry Tarkanian is seated about ten feet away.

The Ducks just kicked off. More to come.

Last night as we drove into town Eric told me that he'd recently read that we were not actually heading into Las Vegas but rather into the unincorporated town of Paradaise, Nevada (just a few towns down the list alphabetically from Pahrump). Eric said that while most people don't know it, McCarran International Airport and most of the casinos on The Strip--that is, the only spots that many visitors ever see-- are actually located in Paradise. I Wikipedia'd his ass on that one and you know what? He's right:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise,_Nevada

Which leaves lots of room for a plethora of dumb "Paradise, Lost" references. Or "Rockin' the Paradise", for you Styx fans.

Eric and I had planned to drive directly from Encinitas, Calif., to San Diego today. But that was before Lori Nelson emailed.

Lori Nelson is the coach of the USC Song Girls. Her daughter, Natalie, is a Song Girl and perhaps the most recognized sweater in college football. Whenever the Trojans play, cameramen seem drawn to Natalie Nelson the way blue-chip recruits are to Pete Carroll (and that's not just because the Nelsons live a block away from the Carrolls in Palos Verdes Estates).

So when Lori told us that Natalie would be available to answer my dumb questions ("Is it true that if you save a cheerleader, you'll save the world?"), we detoured directly to Heritage Hall on the USC campus. For you, the loyal NBCSports.com reader, of course. This isn't about me.

There's a videotaped piece that hopefully will run later on Thursday. It's not "Song Girls Gone Wild" or anything like that, but Lori and Natalie do explain how the Nelsons are to Song Girling what the Bowdens are to coaching. Not only was Lori a Song Girl in the late 1970s, but Natalie's older sister, Whitney, was a Song Girl earlier this decade. Natalie's other sibling, older brother Ryan (Whitney's twin) was the captain of the USC surfing team. Can you get any more Cali than that?

Lori had some incredible stories. For example, she cheered at the 1977 Notre Dame-USC game in South Bend, the one where the Irish first donned green jerseys and brought a Trojan horse out of the tunnel. So in Notre Dame Stadium that day you had Lori Nelson, Joe Montana and Charlie Weis. And here's an even more bizarre thing: Lori caught the eye of Irish tight end Ken McAfee, and vice-versa. The two wound up dating for awhile.

Even stranger, when McAfee played with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, he roomed with O.J. Simpson. Lori knew O.J. well and even met Nicole Brown. However, she eventually married Natalie's father, who had been a college roommated of USC football players J.K. McKay and Pat Haden.

The world's too small.

Anyway, I can think of about 2,874,290,156 worse ways to spend an afternoon. As mother-daughter teams go, the Song Girls may have replaced the Gilmore Girls as my new favorites (and I think they'll survive any year-end push by the Dream Girls, by the way). And if you read this blog ever, you know that is saying something.

It's actually a little chilly here at the Qualcomm, so I've brought Eric into the press box with me. They have heaters under the counters here. Before we walked in, I warned Eric of the cardinal rule of the press box: No cheering.

Then, about five minutes ago, the public address announcer informed the crowd how much money had been raised for the Make-A-Wish foundation due to tonight's game. There was a friendly cheer from the crowd. Eric looked at me. "Am I not allowed to cheer for the Make-A-Wish foundation in the press box?"

I shrugged.

"That's okay," he said. "They're not my favorite foundation, anyway."

Our new pals, Emphatic Fans A.J. and Lorenzo, were on top of the ramifications of the Retkofsky reduction earlier. "He's also their long snapper," said A.J. As he said that, we looked down at the TCU sideline and saw the reserve long snapper snap a ball over the punter's head.

So, naturally, when the backup snapper finally got in, the punt was blocked (it wasn't that awful of a snap; a little to the right, but certainly fieldable) and NIU took it to the abode for their only score of the evening. It was NIU's third blocked kick of the evening. At least the

Wolfe has surpassed Michael Turner as the MAC's single-season career-rushing leader with 1,926 yards. But he could still lose eleven yards between now and the end of the evening--he just lost three--so don't write that in pen yet.

Tonight's attendance: 29,709. I don't believe it.

TCU is up 23-0 and NIU's Marcus Perez just returned the TCU kickoff all the way to his own 1-yard line. As I said, it's been that kind of night for the Kids from DeKalb. On the other hand, we were handed a release earlier in the game saying that the Huskies will spend tomorrow visiting Sea World before returning home tomorrow night. That's cool. It's beautiful here. Who's in a rush to return?

Random Stat: TCU quarterback Jeff Ballard looks as if he'll be 19-2 as a starter after tonight.

Annoying Sidelinee Gadget: TCU's "Frog Horn", which blows every time TCU scores. It's looks like what would happen if Xzibit got a hold of the Boomer Schooner. It's all pimped out with "TCU" in bright lights and other weird doo-hickeys.

I'm seated next to A.J. and Lorenzo, who are the founders of emphaticfans.online. They're both around college-age and this is their first game as fully-licensed members of the 4th estate. A.J. says that they were walking around the parking lot before the game and happened upon Angel pitcher John Lackey, who has some friends from TCU. "And we're big Angels fans," he says, "so that was cool."

Whereas if they had happened upon Eric and me pre-game, they would have found a John and his lackey.

It's now 30-0. TCU's defense isn't exactly the Michigan Wolverines, but they're more than enough for NIU to handle. The Huskies' long play of the night was a 54-yard completion from Dan Nicholson to flanker Matt Simon. That was also NIU's only first down.

On the next play Tommy Blake knocked Nicholson out of the game. He's back now, though.

Garrett Wolfe just carried on second-and-five and lost one. The Horned Frogs are the fastest defense he's faced this season since Ohio State's. Or maybe faster. Wolfe had 171 yards rushing against the Buckeyes in the season opener. He'll be lucky to go over 50 tonight in his final game as a Huskie.

Since this entry began, NIU has gotten three first downs: two on pass interference penalties and one on a personal foul that led to the ejection of TCU senior defensive end Jared Retkofsky. Poor Retkofsky. He's not even on the two-deep chart, so I'm not sure how many plays he'd been in on when he got kicked out on a weak call. He took a shot after the play from an NIU lineman and retaliated with an elbow to the face mask that must have hurt him more than it did the Huskie. And this is his final game. Not right.

NIU just came up inches short on 4th-and-5. I'd like to think that was for Retkofsky.

If you're watching the POINSETTIA BOWL right now, or if you're just reading this bowlog and considering it ("Hmm, should I be watching the Poinsettia Bowl right now?"), well, there's a good one-on-one matchup in the trenches. NIU left tackle Doug Free is 6'7", 320 pounds and a projected first-round pick in the NFL draft.

Free is lining up against TCU defensive end Tommy Blake, who was the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 and has 12 sacks the past two seasons. Earlier in the second quarter Blake got past Free (yes, a "Free Pass") and blindsided NIU quarterback Dan Nicholson, who had to leave the game. That's bad news for the Huskies, since Nicholson is the backup. Starter Phil Horvath was already injured before the game.

If you're wondering about the running back situation, well, right now there's a flash mob assembling in one corner of the stadium. San Diego Charger running backs LaDanian Tomlinson (a TCU alum) and Michael Turner (an NIU alum) are being interviewed on ESPN.

In the last entry I mentioned ideas I have that will never be instituted. Here's one, a non-football innovation, that I'd like to see. On interstates and such, how come they can't sell space on the road itself for advertising? As long as you can guarantee the safety in terms of tire traction, why not let Home Depot, for example, paint their logo on the road for a quarter-mile stretch? Who would mind that? And if it made your taxes smaller (though I'm sure it wouldn't...weren't lotteries supposed to do that, too?), then all the better.

Garrett Wolfe Update: Wolfe, the nation's leading rusher, entered the evening with 1,900 yards rushing. Obviously, he needed 100 yards to eclipse 2,000 in a season, but he also needed just 15 to overtake Turner as NIU's single-season record holder in rushing yards. Against the Horned Frogs, the nation's No. 4 rushing defense, who haven't allowed a 100-yard game by a back all year, Wolfe has just 7 yards at halftime. In fact, NIU has minus 22 yards rushing, but a lot of that is from sacks.

Alright, time for the fireworks show.

It's Poinsettia time, people. On the drive down from Encinitas to Qualcomm Stadium my buddy Eric, when he wasn't chiding me for driving while reading the crackberry on the 805 ("But I haven't read the transcript from Charlie Weis' presser yet"), noted that the poinsettia is a great name for a bowl. "Because it's a Christmas flower."

Then we both wondered how come no one has ever come up with a Mistletoe Bowl. Maybe next year.

Hung out on the sidelines before the game and during the first few series. I was standing at the goal line during the opening drive of the game, when NIU started from its own 8. The Huskie mascot (not the actual pooch, but a human in a dog costume) was standing there next to me when a security guard approached him and said, "You need to be near the bench area."

Security is big-timing the mascot. It's been that kind of night for Northern Illinois so far. Through the first quarter and two minutes of the second, the Huskies have minus-10 yards rushing and two yards passing. Texas Christian's defense is, of course, crowding the box and making Garrett Wolfe's life miserable. He has minus two yards rushing on seven carries.

Special teams has been an adventure so far: NIU blocked an extra point attempt and a punt, and two punts have been dropped (though the receiving team recovered both fumbles). Eric and I were discussing this and here's yet another idea of mine that will never be instituted: No Fair Catches.

It's not that I want to see punt returners get vivisected while attempting to do their jobs. I just think the fair catch is a copout. If the fair catch were to be outlawed, then it would create more suspense. If the defense covers the punt especially well, then the returner must make a choice: Do I let the punt go, forfeiting my team valuable yards in field position, or am I just not all that interested in ever having children of my own anyway?

I know it's very XFL of me to suggest this, but it makes the punt a more exciting play and if rewards the defense for covering the kick well. And, should the returner catch the ball and get clobbered, well, I really am sorry. But that should be the responsibility of a teammate to tell him whether to field it or not.

I'm a little concerned about Greg Auman (GA to posters). It's been an hour. Greg, I haven't heard from you. Are you alright?

Random Non-Football Thoughts:

1. "Drunken Dialing" is a fine alliterative term, but it's only the beginning. These also need to be incorporated into the lexicon:

Tipsy Texting
IMpaired IM'ing
Blottoed Blackberrying
Sh*&-faced Shout Out

2. I've learned a lot about wilderness survival the past few days courtesy of CNN's Rick Sanchez. My friend who lives in the northwest tells me that the standard credo is "three hours of exposure, three days without water and three weeks without food."

That got me to thinking. There needs to be a sportswriters' corollary to wilderness survival. I think it would go like this:

"Three hours without television, three days without nachos and three years without sex."

Yesterday (Monday) was about as gorgeous a day as you can have in Los Angeles. The weekend's rain had washed the smog from the sky and there was a decent wind. Suddenly you could see the snow on top of the San Gabriel Mountains from as far away as San Pedro (I know because we took a wrong turn off the Harbor Freeway and got lost there). As one of my friends said, in agreement, "It's enough to make you want to become a tree-hugger to see how we've ruined this."

Anyway, that was the weather. We started out at the Rose Bowl, where Miguel was mowing the pristine and unlined turf. It got me to wondering how cool it would be if the Rose Bowl had hired him the way homeowners hire their own lawn care folk out west. "How much for the whole job?" "Twenty?" "You're on."

Our Rose Bowl guide, Charles Thompson, told us that the very first Rose Bowl game was played in 1902, twenty years before the stadium itself was erected. The game was held in Tournament Park, where the campus of Cal Tech now stands, and pitted Michigan versus Stanford. The Wolverines led 49-0 after three quarters and Stanford gave up and the game was called.
The cool thing about that is that yesterday another college game ended prematurely. In women's basketball, Arizona State hosted Texas Tech in only the second game in women's college hoops history to be played outdoors (at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks). However, with 4:18 to play the game was called because of rain. In Phoenix.
I happened to be at the first such game, when ASU hosted Tennessee in December of 2000. It didn't rain that evening, but it was uncommonly chilly for Phoenix. The Lady Vol players were wearing gloves while sitting on the bench.

From there I headed south--even the traffic was light yesterday; like I said, it was just a sublime day all around in LA-- to the Los Angeles Coliseum, where I met Ben Malcolmson. Ben's my hero. A sportswriter for the Daily Trojan, Ben tried out for the USC team last March in order to write a first-person piece on the experience. Instead, he made the team. He's been in on one play this season--the final play against Notre Dame. Take that, Rudy.

By the way, here's a tip from NBCSports.com's own Alan Abrahamson, who's lived in LA for the past two decades: "It's SC, not Southern Cal. If you say anything besides SC, they know you're not from here."

We continued south, stopping on the PCH (as opposed to Pacific Coast Highway...see Alan, we're listening) in Sunset Beach to hang out at Taco Surf, a haunt I discovered in 2004. Taco Surf and the entire town of Sunset Beach is just a great little hideaway that's thankfully been largely ignored (and, because only Greg Auman and my mom read this blog, will continue to be...I know, "Waah") as opposed to neighboring havens such as Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. Anyway, the town reminds you of the kind of place where the Mystery Machine would run out of gas and Taco Surf itself is the first place Scooby and Shaggy would head when it did.

Last night: $1 tacos. How do you beat that? In the Culinary Wing of the Bowlnanza Hall of Fame, please add Taco Surf to In-N-Out Burger.

We finally arrived at Eric's parents' house (he's an old high school buddy) in Encinitas about 8 p.m. It felt later, but that's the west coast. A few thoughts from two uninterrupted hours of TV watching, mostly of ESPN:

1. Has the woman who can be seen laughing sitting behind Isiah Thomas in all the clips from Saturday night been offered her own show yet on ESPN2?

2. Why oh why (and I already emailed this complaint to ESPN spokesperson extraordinaire Josh Krulewitz) did SportsCenter not devote more time to the post-game wrap-up of the Bengals-Colts game? The first 27 minutes of the show is simply not enough.

3. When they show highlights of Gilbert Arenas' 60-point game against the Lakers the other night, shouldn't we be informed real early what the Wizards' uniforms were all about that game? I'm sure there's a better explanation, but Eric offered that the Wizards were donning commemorative Washington Generals uniforms. And you know what? If they weren't, that's a brilliant idea that the wondrous Susan O'Malley (Wizards honcho) should incorporate into a future special event night.

4. My buddy Mike (recently mentioned for the second time this calendar year in Steve Rushin's "Air and Space" column in SI; he's SO overexposed) informs me that contrary to popular belief, Isiah Thomas was disciplined following Saturday night's brawl at the Garden. "David Stern is making him continue coaching the Knicks," Mike says.
By the way, how come no one is giving Isiah any grief (adding to the mountains of grief he's already received) for saying, "We'd already surrendered"? Really? You had? It's hard to believe, but there was once a time when Isiah was making the cover of Sports Illustrated (see after the 1981 NCAA title game where he led Indiana to the title) and considered almost heroic.

5. Have you caught the HBO special in which Bono and The Edge are interviewed by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics? Good stuff if you're a U2 fan (and why aren't you?). Bono tells this story about how he was visiting El Salvador in the 80s and came upon this graffiti that read "(Bleep) Jesus". "And I thought, these people are angry," says Bono. "And religion has something to do with it." And that's when Bono's guide told him that Jesus lived around the corner and that nobody in town could stand him.

Started out this morning, Dec. 19th, by visiting the 101 Diner here in Encinitas. Great grub and a great proprietor, Scott. While I was there I heard a new term that will be the inaugural word to make our Bowlnanza Glossary: "pillowed-out".

It's slang for breast enhancement. Used in a sentence, I heard it as, "She was sitting there at the end of the counter all pillowed-out." Note: When using the term, it helps to hold both arms out in front of your body as if you're carrying a bunch of coconuts.

Oh, and you may not be hearing about it back east, but it's front-page sports news here in San Diego: Jim Harbaugh is the new head coach at Stanford. The former Michigan quarterback and 15-year NFL vet was 22-2 as the head coach at the University of San Diego the past two seasons.

Oh, and here's one good note on tonight's Texas Christian-Northern Illinois game: While the Huskies have the nation's leading rusher in Garrett Wolfe, the Horned Frogs are one of only four defenses in I-A that did not allow a back to have a 100-yard game all season. So there's you unstoppable force-immovable object note for the day.

More later....I think I see some pillowed-out types walking along the beach.

A lot of long faces and hands on hips for the Bengals right now as the Colts pick, pick, pick their way down the field and the Bengals four-game winning streak is about to go up in smoke at 31-16 with 5:30 remaining.

Wide receiver Marvin Harrison just injured a finger on his left hand. He's on the bench now, grimacing and bent over the hand. The trainer is now working on it.

So far, Peyton Manning is 26 for 29 for 248 yards and four touchdowns. A pretty tidy effort, wouldn't you say? He went 8 for 9 for 100 yards and two scores in the third quarter.

Things are threatening to get out of hand for Cincy which trails 24-13 with 5 left in the third.

Not throwing in the first half, letting Harrison get free releases off the line, failing to bring a modicum of pressure on Manning and then -- with that key third-and-1 and nobody over the center they didn't run a QB sneak and instead got Rudi Johnson stacked up.

Poor overall effort.

And now Chad Johnson's getting an IV in the locker room. How dramatic. It'll be just like Willis Reed when he comes back from the locker room and...run blocks.

After attempting just 8 passes in the first half while trying to further humiliate the Colts run defense, the Bengals just hustled to the Colts 22 with completions to T.J. Housh and Chad Johnson.

A huge fourth-down stop at the Bengals 45 on fourth-and-1 set up this drive.

I have no idea why Cincy would allow Marvin Harrison to have a free release off the line from the 3 yard line when all he's done his whole is run slants. At least TRY to cut the dude off. It's too easy otherwise.

And now it's 17-10 Indy with a desperation upcoming.

The Bengals cash in on the fumbled punt as Rudi Johnson waltzes through on a dive and goes almost untouched.

Safety Dexter Reid had a shot at him. But Johnson ran through...Dexterrrrr's Graaaabbbb!

If you have kids, you might get that.

Willie Anderson hurt his foot and his return to his right tackle spot is questionable for Cincy.

And this is what I'm talking about with the Bengals. Chris Henry has a great shot to make a catch down the sidelines and goes for the highlight and the one-handed catch instead of simply trying to execute the play.

Terrence Wilkins fumbles the ensuing punt and the Bengals catch a break.

Peyton Manning sold that touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison by looking to the heavy side of the formation well out to the left where Reggie Wayne and (I think) Ricky Proehl were lined up. At the snap, he kept his eyes there and found the Bengals coverage locked down. Then he came back with barely a glance to hit Marvin Harrison coming free on the slant.

That's where the timing of these plays is so exceptional. Manning's first read was to the left and Harrison was a secondary receiver on that play. Had he run his route too quickly, he'd have run into the coverage. So he needed to run at less than full throttle to be free.

10-3 Colts.

I bet Chris Henry would have caught it. But Carson Palmer's third-and-goal bullet went in and out of Henry's hand and the Bengales are going to settle for the field goal.

Cato June just got run through by Rudi Johnson. June had him wrapped for a gain of maybe 5 and Johnson churned until he broke loose of both June and Dexter Reid who came up to "help out" on the tackle. Johnson gained 21 and it's first and goal Bengals with less than two left in the quarter.

Joseph Addai just checked in after Dom Rhodes was the back for the first five plays. The Colts have a third-and-3 here from the 12.

Annnnnnd, they call timeout with 8:07 left in the quarter.

Now back and Utecht runs a little underneath square in and Manning throws it at his cleats. Incomplete.

AV hits from 30.

What's Carson Palmer think he's out there on walkabout? Jeez, he just got Freeneyed but good and then a Booger fell on it so Indy has the ball at the Bengals 46, first down.

....Look so indisputable to me. But it's back to third-and-5 now afte Johnson's catch got overturned and the Colts have a chance to duck out without allowing points.

Cincy's run four plays. They haven't gained fewer than 5 on any of them and are at the Colts 22 with first-and-10 after a 21-yard completion to Ocho.

Hey, I'm all for game presentation and the like but when the speakers are turned to the point where tympanic membranes are puncturing, that's not what you're looking for.

Some guys just lost an ear. It flew lean off his head. Right off. On the other hand, you don't need ears to appreciate that the Indy cheerleaders are in naughty, naughty little Santas elves costumes.

All about the presentation.

Cincinnati 31, Indianapolis 20.

INDIANAPOLIS - This is where the Bengals wanted to be. In the spotlight, challenging for a slice of AFC supremacy, hopeful of overtaking the Colts as the AFC's most potent offense. For a while this season it didn't look like it would happen. But their four-game winning streak has rocketed them back up the charts.

Three reasons Cincy wins?

1) Rudi Johnson runs wild. The Colts allowed 375 rushing yards last week to the Jaguars and Rudi Johnson, the Bengals running back, is going to feast on the shoddy Colts run defense. No Bob Sanders means it'll be even easier.

2) The Colts safeties can't compete. Dexter Reid and Matt Giordano are in for a long night trying to help slow Johnson in the running game and dealing with the talented Bengals wideouts on the outside.

3) Dallas Clark is out at tight end and Ben Utecht is in. Ricky Proehl is in at wide receiver and Brandon Stokley is on IR. The Colts offense simply isn't at the level it was earlier in the season and they have lost the ability to scare teams just walking on the field. Cincy's defense is more than capable enough of keeping Indy at or near 20 points.

INDIANAPOLIS - The Colts are, quite plainly, reeling. They lost to Tennessee, which turns out isn't a great disgrace since a lot of teams are doing that.

Then they lost to Jacksonville last week. And were embarrassed while doing so.

They haven't lost three straight since 2002 when they started 4-1 and fell to 4-4.

Here's why they won't lose a third in a row.

1) Home sweet flippin' home. This place is giddy right now and the two losses came on the road. At home in the dome things should play out differently.

2) Aside from the 31-16 win in New Orleans, the Bengals haven't been beating up the iron during their four-game winning streak. They handled Cleveland, Oakland and offensively-challenged Baltimore in the rain. They haven't faced an offense of this ilk in a while.

3) Those distractable Bengals. They get so giddy about the spotlight, they forget about the things that help swing the spotlight on them in the first place. Like execution. Cincy could come out flat tonight.

INDIANAPOLIS - We're innnnnnsiiiiiide the RCA Dome in downtown Indianapolis....

Did I type that like Al Michaels would talk it?

Got into Indy today at 4:30 after last night's Chargers game.

I sat next to a great little 9-year-old girl named Mykah on the flight from Phoenix to Indy. She showed me her Bratz, told me her favorite colors, offered me Cheez-its, kept me posted on how high she thought we were and tipped me off to the good parts in Elf which she didn't listen to during the flight since she'd already seen it.

She also showed a terrific aptitude for tapping me on the shoulder every SINGLE time my eyes closed for more than 90 seconds effectively harpooning any chance for me to nap.

*************

Since I forecasted the two game total at 108 and we got 29 points last night in San Diego, we need 79 points tonight to get to the number. Mike Freeman, over there on the left from CBS Sportsline, puts it at a 10 to 20 percent chance.

He just specified 17.8. So that's locked in.

************

I don't like the Colts chances tonight. Nope, not at all. They have Dexter Reid and Matt Giordano starting at safety tonight. Dexter Reid got chased out of New England before the 2005 season after being a fourth-round pick the year before.

As for Giordano, I am just going to point out that, with a name like that, he should be playing hockey for Saugus, Mass. And God bless him he's an NFL safety but this is not what you want to trot out against a team like the Bengales.

Yesterday I spent some happy time with UCLA's juggler, Chris Smith. Before I met Smith I wondered, Does a juggler really belong as a member of a marching band? I mean, if a juggler can stand on the sidelines, why not fire-breathers? Palm readers? Sketch artists? But then Smith made a valid point: "a baton twirler tosses and catches one object. I can do as many as seven."

Excellent point. You can see the video I shot of Chris on the site beginning on Wednesday, most likely. We shot it around the UCLA campus, which I'd forgotten how beautiful it was. It's sort of like the Rachel Ward of campuses. I hadn't seen it in awhile but now having done so, I'm wondering how any other school can compete--and how come no one's made an "Against All Odds: II". Then again, doesn't UCLA have the most NCAA championships of any school? Now I remember why.

You'll like Smith (Me? Not so much. But Smith? Yes.). He told me that after performing at a UCLA basketball game once at Pauley Pavilion, John Wooden looked at him and said, "You're alright, juggler." How priceless would that moment have been to witness?

Also, Smith is studying to be a filmmaker (Cirque du Soleil has yet to call) and I was telling him how one of my favorite movies ever is "American Movie", the documentary about a clueless but loveable loser who's trying to make his own horror film, "Coven" (which he pronounces with a long "o" because he doesn't know better). Smith smiled wide at that and said, "Yeah, I love that movie. And you know what? The man who made that documentary is actually named Chris Smith."

You learn something every day.

SD - The 46-yard completion to Vincent Jackson just apeared to seal this one...Now the Chargers get at least a field goal and - given KC's ineptitude on offense - they're going to need something bizarre to get back into this.

Sean Mitchell from the NFL Network, sitting two seats over to my left, shared these rushing numbers with me from LT's last five games against the Chiefs.

66, 69, 49, 46 and 34.

In the first half tonight, he had 141 on nine carries (including that little 85-yarder).

Larry Johnson has just 21 yards on 10 carries.

Neither QB is lighting it up and you can thank (or blame) the defenses who are applying tons o heat.

Rivers threw for 47 first half yards; Trent Green threw for 95.

Of course, Green will now throw for 237 garbage time yards in the second half and people will think he had a solid game. Such is the lie of passing stats,

Just scored his longest rushing TD, 85 yards and has set the record for rushing TDs (28). He also now has 100 even and is the fastest to 100 touchdowns. He did it in 92 games.

This was his eighth-straight multi-TD game. Another record.

This may be the greatest season a running back's ever had.

Terrific effort by Bernard Pollard to come off the edge and blocked the punt of Chargers punter Mike Scifres.

But after the ball trickled past the line of scrimmage and Kansas City touched it, the ball then becomes live and whichever team gets it will have first down.

The Chargers came up with it annnnnnnd, there goes LT.

How's your 10-point swing feelin' Herm?

SD - The Chiefs have so far done a nice job bringing extra heat on Phillip Rivers and forced him to throw from a few compromising positions.

His pick earlier was pressure induced and he just took an intentional grounding call after Jared Allen came in untouched.

Rivers is 3 for 10 so far.

SAN DIEGO - Trent Green just hit Donnie Edwards in stride for a pick. The Chargers aren't going to get any blood from this one though.

This one has the potential to get verrrrrrry chippy.

Shaun Phillips just gave Jason Dunn a shove in the back behind the play. Barry Sims hauled down Shawne Merriman after a whistle and there have already been two unsportsmanlike calls -- one on each team.

In related news, Carmelo Anthony is still backpedaling.

SAN DIEGO - LT just hit what this blog feels is a Ruthian number. His 30th touchdown of the season. He has 180 points, the highest scoringest season of all TIMES!

Oh, and the big board here at the Q just wished a Happy Birthday to Joe Tenfoot.

The name amuses. And I also extend birthday wishes.

The Chargers just pulled a fake punt with Michael Turner ripping off a 25-yard gain after taking the short snap and motoring to the Chiefs 32.

It's scoreless with 10:32 to go in the first.

I take issue with my writing brethren who complain about ANYTHING while being fed, sheltered and entertained on the dime of A) their employers and B) the teams....all that said, I didn't think it'd be 50 degrees here and I forgot this was an open-air pressbox and I didn't wear a coat and ....screw it, game's starting...

Despite losing to the Iggles today, 36-22 (weird score by the way, that the Giants beat Dallas by earlier in the year), the 7-7 Giants still have the edge on Atlanta for the final Wild Card spot in the NFC because, even though the teams are tied, the Giants have a 6-4 NFC record compared to Atlanta's 5-5.

The Eagles are looking good but what a helluva way to close their season - at Dallas and hosting Atlanta.

PS, this blog TOLD you the Eagles were playoff bound three weeks ago. I also told you the Panthers were. And I think I had the Jets and Jags as my AFC Wild Cards.

This blog asks, can you even half-listen to Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight and not hit the drums during the doov-doov,d-doov,d-doov,d-dooveydoovey DOOV! If you were at a funeral, graveside and a car drove by with that playing and you could hear it, you would drum something. Foot, fingers,head twitch. Have to.

...but if Denver gets into the playoffs, it will have its early-season success under the hand of Jake Plumer to thank for it. Why? Because their conference record right now is 7-4 and Plummer was at the controls for every single AFC win Denver's had. Jay Cutler, by the way, was 21 for 31 for 261 with two TDs today.

12 of the 16 teams in the AFC are at .500 or better.

Seven of 16 in the NFC are .500 or better.

Not breaking news here, but the AFC is vastly superior this year.

Let's make an assumption on Denver beating Arizona this afternoon (they lead 30-13). That gives us three teams at 8-6 (Denver, the Jets, Jacksonville) with Kansas City and Cincinnati at 7-6 and 8-5 respectively. Things break a certain way and we'll have five teams at 8-6 with two weeks left fighting for two Wild Cards.

This blog loves this stuff.

The Jaguars have to be sick to their collective stomachs. They lose 24-17 to Tennessee, with the Titans getting 21 points on defense and then cobbling together a five-yard drive for their field goal.

Vince Young thunders to earth a little bit, going 8 for 15 for 85 yards, but what's the difference. The gentleman got the horse in the barn and stayed out of the way.

It will be verrrry interesting to see Tennessee match up with the Patriots in the final week of the season just to see how the Pats try to defend Young. Not sure if the Pats will have anything to play for at that point after their 40-7 win over Houston.

They got that done today without Laurence Maroney or Ben Watson on offense. At 10-4, they sure don't have the same clout they used to but to be nosing toward 12-4 with the talent level they have on offense is pretty remarkable.

SAN DIEGO - We're at Qualcomm Stadium, seat No. 63 in the press box just nimbling up our typing fingers.....

Done...Two hours to kickoff and right now there are just assorted Chargers and Chiefs in shorts and long-sleeved tees getting loose.

Larry Johnson just finished grabbing some close-range passes from a coach and is now sitting on the KC bench wearing headphones that are so big, his head looks like a pail.

I sense a massive whupping for KC tonight.

Be back in a few with mewsings from earlier results....VINSANITY!

Fiat Bowlnanza!, which I think is Latin for "Let there be Bowlnanza!"

Just finished packing. Wanna be comfortable for the cross-country flight so I'm sporting the Juicy sweats. No. Kidding. Totally going with the Rocawear.

Anyway --

Even though this was the first Saturday in the past 16 without either a Division IA game or trophy security issue, college football is still ruling my world. Thank God.

So right now, Manhattan; tonight, Manhattan Beach.

"You down, George?"
"Oh, I'm down."

Hey, what's shakin'?

It's Friday morning, bleak and drizzly on the East Coast. This blog is flying out tomorrow afternoon for San Diego to catch the Chiefs-Chargers Sunday night. On Monday, I'm going to go to Indy for the Bengals and Colts.

Let's put the number for total points this blog will witness in person over the two games at....108.

Place your bets, over or under. Get it right, this blog will Fedex you a Hoodsie Cup or an Italian Ice. Your call.

This blog compiled a few things over the week that it will unload in no particular order.

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Third-down passing is a cool stat because it gives you an idea of how well quarterbacks respond to those pressure situations where, oftentimes, they may see blitzes or their team really needs them to make a play.

Here's an interesting stat from within those third-down numbers. Peyton Manning has thrown 16 touchdowns on third-down plays on 126 attempts. Next highest in terms of touchdowns is brother Eli (9). Manning's only thrown three third-down picks.

Eli's rating is one of the league's worst (14th in the NFC) because he's only completing 47.5 percent of his third down passes. For an offense with Jeremy Shockey and Tiki Barber, wouldn't you think he'd be better just on dump-offs?

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Here are a few leftovers from my chat-em-up with Jim Brown earlier this week. He was amused by Reggie Bush's comments entering this season.

"I saw an interview with him where he said he wanted to be the best ever. Then the interviewer brought up all names - Marcus Allen, Barry Sanders - and the kid says, 'Yup, I want to tbe better than all of them.'

"I just said, 'Holy Smokes. This kid is fast and quick but Earl Campbell was big and Eric Dickerson, he ran like a gazelle. How can he be better than them when he can't do what they did. Maybe be should have said Marcus Allen. He could have said Barry Sanders but I don't know if he had the same kind of moves. Either way, think about injuries, bad fields, coaching, opponents. There's too many things involeved to be talking on that level.

"Look at his teammate (rookie receiver) Marques Colston. He came in with no fanfare and he's tearing it up."

One other interesting point from Brown in a conversation full of them, he noted LaDainian Tomlinson's passing proficiency.

"In another offense, he might not ever get a chance to throw an option pass. He completes them. Why? It ain’t because he’s a great passer. It's because the coaches know it's going to be wide open because people come up so hard to stop him. And once those coaches make the defense stay honest, he gets the space to run again."

I asked Brown about the biography a friend of mine, Mike Freeman, wrote about him that's on shelves right now.

Brown seemed suspicious.

"Why do you ask?"

I told him I new Mike and just wondered what he thought of the book.

Brown credited Freeman for spending time delving deeply into the issues of abuse against women Brown was charged with in the past, saying Freeman used transcripts to fully show the circumstances of the incidents.

But, Brown added, Freeman quoted him as calling somebody a "honky (Oedipal reference)."

"I never used the word honky in my life. I always thought it was a stupid word and I didn't say it in the sixties and I wouldn't say it now. So, I don't know where he got that."

*******

So who would be at my roundtable of the greatest running backs ever?

Here's my take, in order of excellence. Again, it's like ice cream. There's no right or wrong.

Barry Sanders
Jim Brown
Walter Payton
OJ Simpson
Earl Campbell
LaDainian Tomlinson
Gale Sayers
Emmitt Smith
Bo Jackson
Tony Dorsett
Franco Harris

Personal Favorites
Super Joe Cribbs
Joe Delaney
Joe Washington
Chuck Foreman
Chuck Muncie
John Riggins
Christian Okoye
Charles White
Billy Sims
Mark Van Eeghen
Terrell Davis
Richie Moylan

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Here's my pecking order for Rookie of the Year...

1. Vince Young, Titans
2. Devin Hester, Bears
3. DeMeco Ryans, Texans
4. Reggie Bush, Saints
5. Mark Anderson, Bears
6. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jags
7. Marcus McNeill (ESPN's Mark Schlereth mentioned this SD left tackle. Schlereth is right)
8. Marques Colston, Saints
9. Laurence Maroney, Patriots
10. Joseph Addai, Colts
11. Matt Leinart, Cards

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This blog will hit you back tomorrow morning before or early afternoon after this blog puts up the Christmas tree. Don't bet on a rosy disposition.

Later on today, my Dirty, Dirty Dozen will be up and so will Irrelevant Questions with Jared Allen of the Chiefs and Shaun Phillips of the Chargers.

As always, comment your faces off. Or drop an e-mail if that's your preference. thomas.curran@nbcuni.com.

Talk soon.

With the blowout now fully in hand in the favor of Saints, we'll wrap up this mess and get started on the postgame column we need to do.

I'm leaning toward trying to find out how, ya know, Terrell Owens feels about all this. It's important that he have his temperature taken often. He's a fragile flower.

Continues. Devery Henderson just turned him inside out for a 50-yard gain and now the Saints are at the Cowboys 1. We have a review of an apparent Mike Karney touchdown catch. The dude never scored before tonight, now he's on the edge of getting his third.

Like going to your junior prom a v...never mind. Inappropriate analogy.

Terrell Owens just scored a touchdown off of a pass that deflected off the hand of corner Fred Thomas. It's 28-17 but of greater import is that folks realize the difficulty incumbent in being Terrell Owens. Or T.O. It's a great personal victory for him, scoring on this night and he let us -- America -- share in that because T.O. is about sharing. Terrell. Owens.

Reggie Bush just put the Saints up 28-10, taking a screen pass flipped over the head of DeMarcus Ware and going 61 yards for the touchdown. Bush did a masterful job of waiting for downfield blocks, using them as screens, doing a little giddyup step when defenders got close to his heels then breaking the ankles of Terence Newman inside the 5 for the score.

Again, Payton's doing a terrific jo.

Roy Williams just bungled a coverage inside the Cowboys 5, allowing Jamal Jones to score on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to make it 21-7 with less than a minute left in the half. The throw capped a 95-yard drive.

Williams was back as the single safety on the play and when Jones ran a post, Williams came up to try and break up the pass, didn't get there and was out of position to make a tackle on Jones who wriggled free and scored.

Drew Brees is 19 for 28 for 199 yards and two touchdown passes. Reggie Bush has 76 yards on eight touches from scrimmage (five catches and three runs).

Saints receiver Marques Colston just went down after an incompletion and came off the field after being down for a moment. He had a high ankle sprain that sidelined him earlier this season and this may have been a reaggravation given the way he left the field.

Then turn around and miss a clear-cut 15-yard facemask on Reggie Bush during a punt return. The "they" of course, is the officials. Doing their best. They're doing their best.

Our man in Stamford, Patrick Coleman just let this blog know that Prince will be the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl. Looks like the NFL is going Nu Skool with the 48-year-old Prince after wheeling out back to back 62-year-olds Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger for the past two Super Bowls.

Personally, I'd take the Grambling marching band, Randy Newman or Cake. But that's me talking.

Dallas needs a drive. Their defense has been on the field for 30 plays. The Saints defense has been on the field for 8. And the wear is starting to show for the Boys who just went down 14-7 on a 3-yard flip from Brees to fullback Mike Karney who's gotten in twice now.

He threw late and behind Terry Glenn on a second-down play and was picked by Omar Stoutmire. Now the Saints are on the move with Drew Brees making plays with his feet to extend routes. The Cowboys defense has been on the field a verrrry long time so far. Nearing 15 minutes of the 18 played.

Nice little trap run by fullback Mike Karney for the touchdown on third-and-goal and we're tied at 7. Sean Payton's having a nice day with the playcalling for the Saints.

DeMarcus Ware, who's having a very good game so far, just got called for delay on third-and-goal from the 5 for the Cowboys for flinching and causing a flinch by Saints tight end Billy Miller. It's now third-and-goal from the 3.

Saints timeout.

Devery Henderson just took a double reverse for 3 yards, eluding DeMarcus Ware as he took the handoff, retreating 13 yards away from where he needed to go to pick up the fourth-and-1 and getting it.

The Saints are at the Boys 31.

How many times I've typed Terrence Newman when I should have been typing Terence Newman. He goes into the Jimy Williams, Antwan Harris, Antowain Smith school of unconventional spellings. Feel free to offer me some more. We got all night.

About Reggie Bush is this...he just caught a screen pass on the right side and - for a moment - was one-on-one with a Dallas corner. As the ball hit his hands and the stadium got a look at what was unfolding, there was a murmur of anticipation that coursed through the stadium. And not a lot of players bring that.

Did T.O. chase Julius Jones downfield at an all-out sprint so that he crossed the goal line at the same because ...

a) As a good teammate, he wanted to be the first to congratulate him?

b) He wanted to be there in case Jones needed a block?

c) He knows touchdowns mean camera time and he's a red-light seeking, attention-sucking human who knows if anything is going on near him that doesn't directly include him, that's a situation that just won't do.

Let's go with all of the above.

Julius Jones just went 77 yards off tackle for a touchdown. He got a great seal block from Flozell Adams and a nice block on the edge from Terrell Owens to spring him.

That's a two-play, 79 yard drive in 44 seconds and is the fifth-longest run in Cowboys history.

Quick quiz: what was the longest?

After the Cowboys forced a punt (8-yard sack by DeMarcus Ware on a second-down play gummed things up) the Saints punted to Terrence Newman who fair caught the ball at his own 20 despite having about 15 yards of space between himself and the posse when the ball reached him.

Bill Parcells gave Newman a 45-second ear-bending for the move.

IRVING - What factors point to a Dallas W?

1. This place is frenzied. I was here a few weeks back for the Colts game and the crowd seemed docile. Tonight, for whatever reason (perhaps three extra hours in the parking lots) there is a little more fever.

2. Hollis Thomas being out in the middle gives the Cowboys a chance to get going on the ground with both Marion Barber and Julius Jones. That, in turn, will open things up for Jason Witten who has fast become Romo's favorite target.

3. The Dallas pass rush. They can make things hard on the shortish Brees by getting their hands up in front of him and getting after him on the edge. Blitz pickup by Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush is going to be vital.

IRVING - The Cowboys are in their customary home whites tonight. New Orleans is in black jerseys, black pants. Love the Saints unis.

3 Reasons New Orleans Wins

1. Dreaded Dallas Letdown.
Since November 12, Dallas has beaten the Colts, the Bucs on Thanksgiving and the Giants on the road. And Arizona. That's a month of playing at an extremely high level in well-hyped games (except Zona). Last week's game was a grind in New York. Coming out playing less than their A game is a possibility. And Tony Romo's performance last week wasn't scintillating. He could be entering a period of self-correction.

2. Drew Brees
The Dallas secondary hasn't seen a top-tier passing game since they faced Indianapolis. Drew Brees is smart enough and accurate enough to manage the game through the air if - as I expect - the Saints find they're running into walls trying to establish the run.

3. Bush Whacked
The Cowboys are going to be physical with Reggie Bush. Whack him around, chip him, make life miserable. But if he can get into the second level on routes against Dallas' not-so-fast linebackers either as a receiver or running back he can do damage. Bush comes in on a high after his four-touchdown game last week. Expect a good game.

After losing in Miami 21-0, the Patriots are 9-4 and simply not playing very well. They were life and death with the Lions last week and the bounce they got from beating the Bears Thanksgiving weekend is long gone.

Corner Ellis Hobbs, meanwhile, didn't start today and didn't seem particularly psyched about it either.

"You have to take that up with the coaching staff, Bill in particular, I don't know what they're doing. As far as I'm concerned, wherever I'm at, '’m just trying to make plays. It doesn't matter if it's special teams or whatever, it doesn’t matter to me. Am I disappointed in it? Obviously. But you have to be a professional about it."

Seahawks left tackle Walter Jones just got run over by Chike Okeafor on a critical third-and-12 inside the Arizona 30. The result. An 8-yard sack. On fourth down, Matt Hasselbeck hit Deion Branch for 19 yards on fourth-and-20 as Adrian Wilson and Karlos Dansby combined to squelch Branch before the sticks.

Arizona's going to win, 27-21.

Talk about a throwback. Looks like freakin' Jim Bakken with the single-bar facemack pointed down so it almost touches his chest.

While we're on the Cardinals, they're on the verge of knocking off Seattle. That's not going to impact the Seahawks standing in the playoff race much but it does serve as further evidence that they are a difficult team to take seriously in the NFC given their inconsistency.

Tony Romo is so accurate because he's got terrific mechanics. His balance is excellent, he gets his feet in good position and he has an easy repeatable motion.

As I watch Romo warm up now about 45 minutes before kickoff, one thing that stands out to me is how still and forward Romo holds his head on his delivery. Think about throwing. When you are releasing the ball, there's a tendency to lean back to get extra weight behind the ball. But on Romo's delivery, his head seems to brace against that tendency to move back and he drives into the ball. The result seems to be a more boring trajectory (not dull. piercing).

Check it out tonight and see if you agree.

At the start of the year, the consensus was that the NFC East was the toughest division in football I didn't agree, but I was the lone sane voice in the wilderness. Doesn't often happen. Meanwhile, the AFC East was generally viewed as a collection of slappys outside of the Patriots.

I say the AFC East is now the toughest division in football, top to bottom. Nobody's AFRAID of the Patriots but nobody wants to play them. And the same can be said of Miami, Buffalo and the Jets. Every other division has a patsy. The AFC East does not.

to the stadium. Before I go, I leave must confess, I thought that lifing Jake Plummer for Jay Cutler was a reasonable move. I erred. He's no more ready to play in an NFL game than Rachel Ray.

Titans quarterback Vince Young's 39-yard overtime touchdown run adds to the unfurling legend he's building in Tennessee. The Titans have now won three straight -- one on a 60-yard field goal by Rob Bironas, another on the Giants meltdown and now this. Young is the Rookie of the Year.

According to CBS announcer Kevin Harlan, Maurice Jones-Drew has more than 500 total yards (rushing, receiving, returning) iIn two games against the Colts. And he's just a little fella.

With both Philly and the Giants leading, both teams are headed it seems for 7-6 in the NFC East. It puts a little more heat now on the Cowboys to win tonight and keep their two-game cushion in the division.

If the Boys lose, they drop to 8-5 and - having split with both the Eagles and Giants in their regular season meetings - if it came to tiebreakers, divisional record becomes the first tiebreaker. The Boys are 2-3; the Giants are 3-1, the Eagles seem headed for 3-1.

Atlanta also seems about to go to 7-6 in the NFC South while the Panthers are going to be dipping to 6-7.

It's too early to bury the Patriots for the day down 13-0 in Miami given the work of Tom Brady in his past two fourth quarters against the Bears and Lions but they are playing like an extemely average team. And not just today.

If they lose, they're going to be 9-4 and the Jets - playing at home with the Bills at 4:15 - can close within a game of the lead in the AFC East. And the Jets have an easy closing schedule while the Patriots tour the AFC South, traveling to Jacksonville and Tennessee and hosting Houston. On second thought, that's not a terrifying closing sked for the Pats either. Why isn't Jacksonville scary? Because what they're doing to the Colts run defense won't happen when they face a crew that's respectable.

Another side note on the Jags, while I'm at it -- if David Garrard hadn't thrown a stupid pick for the ages in the end zone (5 Colts on the ball) it'd be 44-10.

Forget the 300 rushing yards the Jaguars are hanging on Indy as they led 37-10 at the end of three, the sideline garb of Jags head coach Jack Del Rio -- he's in the suit -- is having a tremendous impact on that game.

The imminent Indy loss means the most important player for the Colts today becomes....Jay Cutler?

If the Broncos go belly-up against the Chargers this afternoon with Cutler under center, San Diego overtakes the top spot in the AFC race at 11-2 to Indy's 10-3.

What. Is. Up?

This blog is flying out of Boston around 5:30 and into Dallas for tomorrow night's Saints-Cowboys game. This blog wanted to get something up on the Bump & Run before getting out.

We'll start with this: What sicko in the toy industry decided to tether ever inch of every plastic toy to the package with tiny metal twisties that are wound around themselves about 15 times?

Clearly, Mr. Metal Twisty doesn't have kids, otherwise, he'd know the level of stress any parent/guardian or package opener goes through trying to extricate toys from their packaging while the child in question is hanging off their belt grabbing for his bounty.

And if they're trying to make the toys safer, that's terrific but having 77 metal twisties on the floor after unwrapping a couple of plastic trains seems to make life just a smidge more dangerous.

It was young Dan Curran's 9th birthday party. He played mini-golf at this indoor black-lite joint. He's supposed to go out with a few of his buddies from the Bengals tonight so I told him to wear a seatbelt and bring his mouthpiece.

*******

With Boston College making a strong run at replacing head coach Tom O'Brien with Steelers quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple's , Ben Roethlisberger may find himself trying to come back from his most trying pro season minus one very important mentor. Nice hire by the Eagles, though.

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Did you know the Saints were 31st in the NFL last year in points scored and 28th in points allowed? This year they are fifth in points scored at 25.8 per game.

The Cowboys are second at 27.7. The Las Vegas total for tomorrow night's game, by the way is around 47.5.

It'll be interesting to see how the Saints fare without Hollis Thomas on their defensive line. He's got 43 tackles this year and 3.5 sacks from his spot on the nose. He started every game for the Saints. Behind Thomas on the depth chart is Antwan Lake who's made six tackles in 11 games.

As for this week's discussion on whether Thomas got a bad shake from the NFL for innocently taking his prescribed asthma medication? Spare everyone. As Giants kicker Jay Feely pointed out when Shawne Merriman tried to play the "Ooops" card, all you have to do is send in a sample of whatever you're taking to the NFL and they'll get the mess back to you with a yea or nay in great haste.

It's worth the four game checks to do it. Unless, it wasn't the asthma medicine after all.

Oh, it's all about the wordplay, kids. So allow me to use this space righcheer to apologize to ND men's hoops, who proved that it is possible for the Irish to defeat the number four team in the nation and an SEC school, natch, in a men's revenue sport. Russell Carter, who I believe was a character on The White Shadow , had a career-high 27 points as Notre Dame beat Alabama, 99-85.

How long until Notre Dame stages a Come as Coach Brey night? We'd all don our designer T-shirts and blazers and it would be nuts...although some people might mistake it for Sonny Crockett night, I guess.

Was relieved to see BQQB win the Maxwell Award. If Troy Smith had won that as well, and then the Heisman on Saturday night, I'm thinking Quinn, a serious student who has finals coming up this week, would have a look on his face by the end of the Heisman ceremony that says, "I shaved my legs...and arms...for this?" (I know, I know, he'll be $50 million richer this time next year no matter how he does on his Comparative Govt. final).

By the way, in last night's blog I mentioned ESPN's saccharine-features specialist Chris Connelly. Did you know that he is the brother of actress Jennifer Connelly? Totally true.* &&

* Actually, that's not true at all.
&& I completely pilfered that device from Chuck Klosterman. If you have never read Klosterman and think he's just for hipsters, well, allow me to recommend Chuck Klosterman IV, A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas. Good stuff.

Owens: "...I'm late and it gets publicized thatI'm fined x amount of dollars. Why?"

Michael Irvin: "So why don't you go the extra mile to make sure it doesn't jappen because you're TO?"

Owens: "I feel like I have done things to prevent those things but when it's something as simple as stuff that's supposed to be in house that nobody else is should know ... you're a family. Leaking something that's an important conversation that you had, you would feel betrayed and that's how i feel. That's how I feel."

Me: "Shut. Up."

In an ESPN interview with Michael Irvin that will air Sunday morning, Terrell Owens says he feels "betrayed" because news of his snoozing and/or showing up late to meetings made it into the press.

In the interview taped Wednesday, Owens complained to Irvin - a card-carrying Owens apologist whose verbal rubdowns no doubt helped him get the access - that he felt is was "family" business.

To his credit, Irvin (who, in my opinion, does a solid job on roundtable discussions) asked Owens what responsibility he took for, ya know, sleeping and/or missing said meetings.

Owens went into blame-laying mode. The interview was teased on ESPN's NFL Live tonight.

If there's ever been a more needy professional athlete than T.O., his name escapes me. These comments, made just a few days before a pivotal game with New Orleans (I'm headng down for that one) and in the wake of a huge win over the Giants shows - once again - nothing is more important to Owens than Owens. And the NFL will be a much better place when his skills diminish and he's forced into irrelevance or reality TV a la Dennis Rodman.

Thanks to whelming reader demand (not overwhelming, not underwhelming, simply...whelming), I'm continuing the blog another half hour this evening.

As one reader suggested, I did the Last Channel Tango (in Paris) between Scrubs and the first few minutes of the Alabama-Notre Dame hoops game. Now, as I've already written, I'm so not down with this Blackout Night at Notre Dame theme. First, consider Notre Dame coach Mike Brey and his tirelessly tie-less attire...lessness. Should he really be giving any fashion tips to the student body? I mean, I doubt even The Men's Wearhouse still sells those circa 1995 tight-man designer T-shirt thingies (you can tell I write for a living, no?).

Anyway, tonight's Notre Dame hoops game is a fantastic precursor to the Sugar Bowl: the Irish will fall to the No. 4 ranked team in the nation, which just happens to be an SEC team, because that squad is infinitely more athletic than they are. I'm just sayin'....

As for Scrubs, it's not been quite as excellent in its first two weeks this season, but I did like the scene of J.D. and Turk taking the marching band through the drive-thru. Other above-average moments:

1. The Jesus figurine coming to life and being frustrated with JD's inability to grasp the simplicity of the abortion issue. And then the call back when JD and Kim (the wonderful Elizabeth Banks of "Seabiscuit" and "The 40 Year-Old Virgin" fame) emerge from the closet after their first encounter, where Jesus wonders where their wedding rings are.
2. Kim riffing on how she just picked her hair style out randomly from an US Weekly. "Kirsten Dunst?" JD guesses. "Owen Wilson," she answers.
3. Todd: "Great vagina." (You have a show in which a Jesus figurine debates the abortion issue with a dude who in the same episode will ride a stuffed unicorn, and you have a "great vagina" line all in one episode. Maybe Jordan McDeere really is running our network...and hey, Jordan's having a baby, JD's having a baby... maybe one of the higher-ups at NBC really is pregnant...again, I'm here for you).
4. "At your cervix". An oldie but a goodie.

Now, really, I have to go. I'm no Superman.

The Home Depot College Football awards are on tonight on ESPN from 7 to 9 p.m. (here at NBC, we're all about promoting the competition) and I'll be doing a lame rendition of a humorous live blog.

7:00 p.m. You may know him as Dr. Jack Shephard, but he'll always be Charlie Salinger to me. Matthew Fox narrates the intro from the college field where he once played. Yes, Fox was a member of the Columbia University football team back in the late '80s. I'm guessing he did that segment when he was in New York last week hosting Saturday Night Live. He looked relieved to not be sharing air time with Jack Black and Kyle Gass. You know, Tenacious D is an excellent name for a band, but is it really any better than "Black Gass"?

7:01 p.m. Brady Quinn and his mom arrive and stroll down the red carpet. Unfortunately, they are not intercepted (Quinn is good about avoiding them) by Joan Rivers, Phillip Rivers, Doc Rivers, Philip Rivers, Mickey Rivers or Ol' Man Rivers. Mrs. Quinn bares a slight resemblance to Susan Lucci, which is fitting since I have a feeling Brady's going to be suffering through a lot of runner-up dom in the next 72 hours. What are the odds Quinn will ever name a son of his Troy? Yeah, I'd say zero as well.

7:03 p.m. I love Chris Fowler, but please Lord let this opening monologue finish soon.

7:05 p.m. Aaaaaaaaaaand, Troy Smith is your Davey O'Brien Award winner. As he should be. I mean, if he's going to win the Heisman, how do you give Brady Quinn the award for the nation's best quarterback? In short, there's just far too many awards in college football. I'll write more about this later, but basically any local Elks club can create an award and begin handing it out year after year. There's only a few positions that still do not have an award specifically for players at that position. I'm thinking of creating the JW Upback Award for the nation's best signal caller on a punt.

If you visit ndnation.com today they have a mood-brightening piece (if you're a Notre Dame fan, as opposed to an alumnus who regularly bashes the school's BCS worthiness) and Notre Dame's recruiting prospects. According to the site, which cites espn.com, which cites Tom Luginbill (that's correct, you're getting this information fourth-hand), ND has moved up to No. 1 in recruiting. The Irish have seven verbal commitments among the nation's top 150 prospects. They are:

Jimmy Clausen, QB (Calif.)
Gary Gray, CB (S.C.)
Kerry Neal, DE (N.C.)*
Greg Little, WR (N.C.)
Mike Ragone, TE (N.J.)
Duval Kamara, WR (N.J.)
Armando Allen, RB (Fla.)

* Kerry Neal is no relation to my good pal Kelly Neal, who got married and is now known as Kelly Naqi. If that name sounds familiar, she's the intrepid ESPN reporter whom Michael Strahan tried to intimidate last week. He has no idea who he's dealing with. Kelly Neal is one tough--and funny--chick.

Anyway, the list of 150 top prospects also included eleven other players that the Irish are pursuing. Among them is an O-lineman from New Jersey named Anthony Davis, a name that until now was anathema in the Notre Dame family. My favorite, though, is Tennessee cornerback Golden Tate. I'd like to thank his parents for naming him that. First, there's the entire Golden Tate, Golden Domer conceit. Second, every time I hear or read his name I conjure an image of Rick Barry shooting a free throw underhanded.

By the way, has anyone ever (I'm sure they have) compiled a list of the 100 Coolest Things in Sports? Because Rick Barry's free throw belongs on that list, as does the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers only have their logo on one side of their helmets. I'm taking suggestions for others. Go ahead and comment.

If you're Charlie Weis, you have to like the sell you can make to high school seniors: two BCS bowls in two seasons, the nation's highest graduation rate among I-A programs, at least a dozen starters being lost to graduation (with only two returning starters among the junior class, and none from the sophomore class), and not one but two Starbucks locations on campus. And if the recruits ask about the two Ws (Weather and Women), you blind them with your Blood Diamond-sized Super Bowl ring until they forget the question.

Jim Mora, head coach at Flowery Branch (Ga.) High is happy his players like him. "They know I've got their back and it's good to know they've got mine."

"The goal here is not to make the playoffs..." - Well, mission accomplished Professor Gruden.

"I see Jon as our starter for next year. He's going to come in and finish this because he brings everything we want. He's a heck of a quarterback." - Lions coach Rod Marinelli taking one step too many while standing by his Kitna.

"I saw the signal for the fade so I stayed to the outside and he overthrew it." - Lito Sheppard says it's time for new hand signals in Carolina.

"Jay gives them the best opportunity. If they can do it with anybody, they can do it with Jay. It's just going to take some time." - This one's....for Jay...

So the Panthers lose to the Eagles in Philly. Jake Delhomme's pick in the end zone - caused by a brilliant defensive play by Lito Sheppard, getting the jam on Keyshawn Johnson and mucking up the fade route from the Eagles 7 and THEN making the backpedaling pick - sealed it but Delhomme's throw to nobody in particular earlier in the fourth that led to a Philly field goal was the real killer.

Third-and-7, the game tied at 24 and Delhomme makes a panic throw that Brian Dawkins picked off and returned 38 yards.

Carolina is the most disappointing team in the NFL when it comes to return on talent. So now they're 6-6 just like Philly, just like the Giants and just like Atlanta..

The Giants and Eagles now have the lead in the Wild Card race with 5-3 conference records. Atlanta is 4-4 in the conference and the Panthers are 4-5.

What's shakin'?

I got in from frosty Denver around 4:30 p.m., returning to the frosty East Coast.

It's weird being in the air during the meat of an NFL Monday because while you were drooling on your shoulder with your head bouncing off the wall in seat 22F (as I was today) you never know what's been announced during the round of Monday press conferences.

Today seemed kinda mild.

Notable Monday moves...

The Patriots signed defensive back Ray Mickens (33, 11-year vet, whacked by the Jets coming out of training camp) and put Eugene Wilson on IR with a hamstring injury he suffered October 22 that apparently never healed. Wilson, a four-year vet, has now had two disappointing seasons in a row after starting out so well for the Pats. His contract's up in 2007.

The Broncos put running back Cecil Sapp on IR with a broken left leg. He blew it out on a kickoff return according to Denver coach Mike Shanahan.

Shanahan was interesting today saying he regretted the fake field goal that wound up injuring kicker Jason Elam's left hamstring. Elam has a strained hammy but the Denver training staff feels he should be able to kick Sunday against the Chiefs.

"How many fake kicks have I had since I've been here (the answer is zero). Part of the reason is I don't want to take a chance of getting the kicker hurt. Jason assured me he would not be hurt so that's why he's probable for Sunday."

Great news on Al Wilson. The Denver linebacker has pinched nerves in his neck but the X-rays were negative and he was out of the hospital around 11:15 p.m. last night. There's still tingling and numbness in his fingers and arm and will be held out of practice until that clears up.

Here's the quotes from a quick conversation I had with Denver quarterback Jay Cutler as he headed out of the locker room to find his family.

"(The game) started out fast but it slowed down. I'm gonna get better throughout the year, I believe that. I just have to learn from my mistakes. I'm glad (the first game) is over with. There was a lot of hype coming into this game but I'll learn from that too and move on. I'm disappointed but it's a good learning game."

I wasn't overly impressed with Cutler's first night. A C-/D+ would probably be a fair grade. It wasn't just the passing but the decision making - getting stuck in the pocket too close to the rush, ballhandling situations on the snap from center, trying to hand off when everyone else on the offense appeared to see a pass was called - stuff like that.

Near the end of the game, I said to Jeff Chadiha from Sports Illustrated that Cutler seemed capable of anything at that point - fumble, pick, strip-sack. No sooner had I said that than he throws a pass that Brandon Marshall turned a short pass into a 71-yard touchdown.

So many people told me during the week that they had Cutler ahead of both Vince Young and Matt Leinart on their draft boards.

Why, then, was his first performance so uneven? Look at it this way. Leinart came out of a very sophisticated passing offense at USC and was as NFL ready in terms of running an offense and making reads as anyone has been in recent years. Young is a unique talent capable of restarting plays when they break down and making yards with his feet. Both men have Cutler beat in that regard and it may take a significant amount of time for him to round into a capable thrower.

Not a good sign for 7-5 Denver.

I said Ryan Clark on the TD....it was Brandon Marshall....meanwhile, I have no idea why the Seahawks ran the ball on first-and-10 from the Denver 36 with 46 seconds left. They got three yards then had a false start and didn't snap the ball again until it was second-and-12 with 22 seconds left. But Josh Brown made them look good by drilling the field goal for the 23-20 win.

Ryan Clark, the guy who fumbled on the kickoff earlier in the fourth quarter, just took a slant pass from Jay Cutler and scored a 71-yard touchdown. Denver kicked the extra point and it's now 20-20 with less than 2:30 remaining.

Mike Shanahan screwed up by not going for the two-point conversion.

He's got a field goal kicker hobbling around the field and a rookie quarterback who just benefited from some bad tackling by Seattle and a terrific play by Clark. The chances Denver gets another shot at scoring before Seattle does seems remote.

Down 17-13 after the Seahawks got a field goal off a fumbled kickoff return, Jay Cutler had his first pass of the drive tipped at the line and intercepted. Now, with 3:42 left, Seattle is chewing up clock and assuming the field goal that's going to make it 20-13. It's fourth-and-1 at the Seattle 5.

It took all of three plays for the Seahawks to go downfield and score and make it 14-13. Passes of 27 and 33 yards to Darrell Jackson put them at the Denver 1 and then Shaun Alexander barrelled in from there.

Seattle just recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return and Denver is suddenly on the ropes with 7:28 left.

The report from the Broncos sideline is that Al Wilson has a sprained neck. Obviously, he won't be returning. Hopefully, that is the extent of the injury and there's no spinal column or vertebra damage.

DENVER - After all the times we've seen players immobilized, straped to gurneys and carted off the field, it never gets any easier to watch especially in a case like we just witnessed with Al Wilson.

Because of the crowd around Wilson, it wasn't possible to make the quick layman's diagnosis on how desperate his straits were. Any injury is a shame but you come back from knees, ankles and shoulders. All folks want to see is a sign that the player has movement. Although Wilson was sitting up for a brief period after being injured, he was laid down and we didn't see whether or not he had movement.

We'll update that situation as soon as we can.

DENVER - Standout linebacker Al Wilson has been down for several minutes after suffering an injury on a pooch punt by Seattle kicker Josh Brown. It's not clear how Wilson was injured. He's one of the best linebackers in the league.

Since the Seahawks last drive ended, Seattle wide receiver Deion Branch has spoken on the sidelines with offensive coordinator Rick Dennison at length and then quarterback Matt Hasselbeck apparently trying to impress upon them a better way of attacking things in the final quarter.

Whether it floats or not remains to be seen but Branch is sorely underused tonight with just two catches for 15 yards.

Seattle has a great chance here at Denver's 36 after a three-and-out for the Broncos following a terrific punt by Seattle's Ryan Plackemeier pinned Denver at its 1.

Insist on throwing anywhere near Champ Bailey? Matt Hasselbeck just did, trying to find Darrell Jackson down the right sideline on a fly pattern and Bailey sealed off Jackson and easily made the pick. The only thing keeping Seattle in the game, to be honest, is the pot-luck performance of Jay Cutler. He's capable of anything tonight.

is how easily the Broncos have bottled up Shaun Alexander tonight. He's got 10 carries for 18 yards with a long carry of 7 yards so (if my math's right) that's 9 carries and 11 yards otherwise. Actually, Seattle's offense has been a disgrace with Hasselbeck throwing for 48 yards and the team as a whole running for 31 yards.

Damion just proposed to Liz on the big board during halftime. Aside from the general dopiness of the move, though, an idea struck me. I want someone to do this.

Everybody has a buddy who's been going with the same girl for an extended period to the point where she's stopped dropping hints and started dropping ultimatums. Find that guy. Send him and her to a game. Get in touch with the game operations people and let them know you want to propose at halftime on the big board.

Sit back and enjoy.

Kinda. On a fourth-and-1 while in field goal formation, Plummer - the holder - executed a no-look flip to kicker Jason Elam who picked up 2 yards on the play. He also hurt his foot and failed to get out of bounds so the clock ran down to 1 second and the limping Elam had to come back on and kick a real field goal which he made.

So it's 13-7 at the break.

Jay Cutler executed the desperation, if I don't get this ball out of my hands right now the world will explode pass attempt that -- amazingly -- got picked off and returned for a touchdown by Darryl Tapp. Denver followed that up with a Rod Smith fumble that ended up not costing them on the scoreboard.

Jay Cutler just hit Stephen Alexander on an underneath crossing route for a 7-yard touchdown. Tatum Bell's running is making life a little easy for Cutler. He's already got 82 yards on 11 carries

After fumbling the snap on first down, Cutler came back and busted the play on second down. Every Bronco on offense was heading out in pass patterns and Cutler was trying to hand off. He tucked the ball, ran and then adroitly got his face mask in the way of Julian Peterson's hand to draw a 15-yard penalty.

There he goes...nice dart to the sideline to Stephen Alexander for a gain of 9 and a first down for Denver.

Looks a tad rusty still from his layoff. He's taken two delay of game penalties so far, the most recent one coming on third-and-5 from the Denver 22 when he tried to play maestro and shuffle everyone around way too late in the play clock.

They're trying a 40-yard field goal and Josh Brown missed it.

First-and-10 for Denver at its own 2.

They run a dive with Tatum Bell for 1.

Now they run a toss with Bell for 3.

They are playing so conservatively with Cutler in there, it makes you feel that his presence is hamstringing the offense.

Now he completes one into the flat on third-and-6 that he didn't step into so it was underthrown and gained just a yard as Cecil Sapp had to hit the ground to make the catch.

I understand it's 3-0 and the first quarter of the kid's NFL life, but it would be stupid to run half an offense to protect against the kid making mistakes when you're expressly trying to make a playoff run.

Tatum Bell just rung up 35 rushing yards on a scoring drive that sputtered before the end zone when, on third-and-5 from the Seattle 9, Cutler got swarmed, tried to buy time then got tripped up for a 10-yard sack. Jason Elam hit from 37.

DENVER - Don't make any judgments on Cutler's performance until halftime. So far, he looks a little flummoxed, tucking and running once, throwing into pretty tight coverage and nearly getting picked on another.

Seattle is so far mixing its defenses.

They played cover-one on the first drive, creeping safety Ken Hamlin up to the line in run support. Same thing here at the start of the second drive but Tatum Bell just creased them for about 25.

Three of Hasselbeck's first four throws have been dropped. Two by fullback Mack Strong. They go three-and-out again.

DENVER - So Seattle, which had Shaun Alexander run for more than 200 yards the other night, comes out and throws three times on their first possession.

Denver follows up with a three-and-out of its own, Jay Cutler throwing incomplete to Javon Walker on third-and-1 from near midfield.

DENVER - Annnnnnnnd we're underway in Denver. The refs are wearing their unfortunate sweatpants bottoms making them look like Geno Auriemma on the bottom, convicts on the top.

First pass of the night by Matt Hasselbeck and Darrell Jackson - surprise, surprise - drops it. Keep him away from the good china.

DENVER - Big huzzahs from the few thousand fans already in the stadium when Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler just came out of the tunnel. Cutler's the fourth rookie to make a start this season. Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Bruce Gradkowski are the other three. None of those fellas won their first start.

Cutler is warming up throwing to Rod Smith. Twelve cameras are on the sidelines pointed at Cutler and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen is also close by watching.

Jake Plummer is warming up with Cutler, throwing to David Kircus.

Huge win for Dallas, pushing them to 8-4 and dropping the Jints to 6-6. In the unfortunate NFC, however, the Giants are still very much in the Wild Card mix because the only other second place team in the conference that's at .500 is Atlanta. Carolina is 6-5 and plays tomorrow night.

DENVER - Sitting for the Broncos tonight are wide receiver Quincy Morgan, running back Damien Nash, running back Cedric Cobbs, linebacker Nate Webster, tackle Adam Meadows, tight end Chad Mustard, defensive end Kenny Peterson and defensive tackle Antwon Burton.

For the Seahawks, linebacker DD Lewis, center Robbie Tobeck, tackle Ray Willis, defensive end Robert Pollard, wide receiver Bobby Engram and tight end Itula Mili.

The four AFC division leaders -- New England, Baltimore, Indy and San Diego -- are virtual locks to wrap up their divisions.

That puts five teams in competition for two Wild Card spots -- Jets, Bengals, Jaguars, Broncos and Chiefs. All but the Broncos stand at 7-5.

Denver, with a 7-3 conference record, is in pretty good shape despite their rocky past month. The Chiefs record in the conference - 3-5 - could come back to bite them when it comes down to tiebreakers.

The Dolphins loss today leaves them at 5-7 and they probably have too many teams to leapfrog to have a realistic chance of fighting their way into the playoff picture. They probably have to win their final four to get there.

Underdogs feasted in the early games today.

Arizona, Detroit, Tennessee, Cleveland, the Jets and Buffalo all covered their spreads. Arizona, Tennessee, Cleveland and the Jets won outright.

Coming into today's game, the six NFC playoff teams are a combined 10-11 against AFC opponents (Dallas is 3-1, Carlina is 2-1 the rest are 5-9.

The six AFC playoff teams are a combined 15-3 against NFC opponents.

DENVER - So I'm watching the end of the Buffalo-San Diego game before heading over to the stadium (and I just polished off some onion soup to give me the necessary fuel for the p.m.) and I don't think I've ever seen more play stoppages for reviews, meetings and discussions than I've seen in this one.

The Bills, by the way, just closed to 24-21 with 30 seconds left on a touchdown catch by Peerless Price. The TD stood after, what else, a review.

Rob Bironas' 60-yard field goal in the closing seconds gave Tennessee its second straight heart-stopping win and the rest of the AFC playoff contenders a chance to fight for home field.

With San Diego on its way to a win in Buffalo, they'll be tied with the Colts at 10-2 for the best record in the conference. Indy has just one loss in the conference. San Diego has two AFC losses. The loss also puts Baltimore and New England within a game of the lead. Indy has a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Patriots; Baltimore has a head-to-head edge over San Diego.

DENVER - Are you kidding me? 16 degrees? And falling? I don't appreciate the coolness.

Just got to Denver about an hour ago and, as I was getting dropped off in front of the Marriott City Center, there was a guy in an NBC Sunday Night Football hat and black overcoat - strapping fella - giving the cabbie the "You drive me" point.

I was pretty sure it was Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. He took off the hat and removed all doubt.

Being Massachusetts natives (Massholes as we are often accurately referreed to), we caught up for a second, talked briefly about tomorrow night's game with the Broncos and I asked him how his brother, Tim, was doing.

He said he spoke with Tim yesterday and that the Giants had an air-clearing meeting on Friday to blow out the pipes.

We'll see.

********

Now, here's an ongoing conversation I've been having in the comments section of another post on the Bump 'n Run.

I'm pasting the first portion of the conversation here and updating with my reply to much beloved Pats67 at the bottom.

I appreciated your question to Brady regarding the pass to Watson on 3rd and 3. He's tried that a number of times this year with almost exclusively negative results. This points to his receivers' inability to get open.

Posted by: charlie | November 26, 2006 08:47 PM

It's funny too Charlie that his response was that Watson was just "standing there" until the ball was on him. Kinda shows that, once the initial play breaks down, there's not a lot of options.

Posted by: Tom Curran | November 27, 2006 10:57 AM

Is that a shortened version of "not a lot of options with the current cast of receivers"?

What the hell happened to D Gabriel? Must be more than one fumble? Not hearing too much "they stole him for that pick" talk anymore.

Posted by: charlie | November 28, 2006 10:51 PM

I think it is a shortened version of that, yes. And it's been a precipitous drop for Gabriel, hasn't it?

Posted by: Tom Curran | November 29, 2006 1