Thoughts on the NFL

- The Vikings played a terrible game last night, and Arizona showed that they are a contender in the NFC. For some reason, Arizona doesn't always play up to their potential every week, but when they do they can take down the Vikings or Saints. That is a team I don't want to see again in the postseason. Give me the Cowboys, Eagles, Packers or Giants every day over facing the Cardinals again. I hope they get the 3 seed in the NFC, and face the Saints if they win in the first round. That offense is frightening, and defensively they've improved from a year ago.

- I feel depressed that the Jaguars are the 6 seed in the AFC right now. This is a team that hasn't sold out a single home game this season, and right now they're headed to the postseason. Can nobody in the AFC knock them out? The Texans are a better team, but laid an egg yesterday. Seriously, the Jaguars lost to the Seahawks and 49ers this season; this is not a playoff-caliber team. And yet, here they are at 7-5. They play the Dolphins this week, and already own tiebreaker over the Jets by beating them earlier this year. What does this team do well? If they were to play San Diego in the first round, I feel like they'd lose 42-10.

- The Patriots have the most underrated bad secondary in the NFL right now, and Tom Brady is playing at a B level when they need him at an A. Those interceptions he threw yesterday were horrific, and the one in the end zone probably cost the Patriots the game. All of a sudden the AFC East is wide open, with the Jets and Dolphins only a game out. Remember in week 1 when the Patriots had to come back in the 4th quarter to beat the freaking Bills? That's the only thing keeping them above .500 at the moment.

- The Steelers should hang their heads in shame this season. An Oakland passing game that hasn't shown life in, oh, 7 years or so puts together 21 points and 3 TD passes to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Absolutely shameful on the part of the Steelers. They kept re-taking the lead in the 4th quarter, but their defense kept giving it right back. When Bruce Gradkowski throws for over 300 yards, and Louis Murphy has over 100 yards receiving against you, you know you have problems. Kudos to the Raiders, though, for actually showing up and competing. It would have been very easy to step off the bus in frosty Pittsburgh and mentally pack it in until they got back to California, but they were in that game the whole time. Gradkowski is certainly not great, and I don't think he's a longterm answer, but he at least gives the Raiders a fighting chance. No way do the Raiders win yesterday with Russell playing.

Oh, and did I mention the Steelers also lost to the Chiefs a couple weeks ago? They're going to miss the playoffs because they lost to Oakland and Kansas City, which is pretty unbelievable.

- Speaking of the Chiefs, that is one horribly constructed roster. They have two top-10 picks on the defensive line who do nothing. They traded a 2nd round pick for Matt Cassel, and then gave him a big contract extension, and he's not any better than the backup they had all along, Brodie Croyle. The only nice thing I can say about the Chiefs right now is that their rookie kicker Ryan Succop looks like a keeper. Otherwise, what a mess. Cassel put together a few nice games against weak competition last year (remember, the Patriots played the AFC and NFC West last season), and all of a sudden he's worth a $60M extension. They'll probably bypass a QB in the draft because of his presence, which will set the franchise back even further.

- I am so sick and tired of officials abusing the replay system that I'm about ready to turn on it altogether and wish we would go back to the way it was. Sure, the way it was wasn't always correct, but at least then the officials had an excuse for making bad calls. Now they go under the curtain and still screw it up. Yesterday, the Saints won in OT largely because of a replay reversal in which Mike Sellers was maybe down/maybe not. The fact that it's inconclusive should of course leave the call on the field, but nooooo this official took the game into his own hands and overturned it. I have seen so many calls this season that were inconclusive get overturned, that I have about had it with replay. Indiana got screwed twice against Iowa, Notre Dame got screwed against Pittsburgh, Washington got screwed yesterday against the Saints, and I know there are other examples that I can't think of right off the top of my head. The bottom line is, this sucks. Officials need to realize that they need INDISPUTABLE VISUAL EVIDENCE to overturn a call. You would have had to have been a Saints fan, or betting on the Saints to say Mike Sellers was indisputably not down and the ball was coming out. The ball may have been coming out, but it also may not have; that's what makes it disputable. I felt dirty having a game decided on a call like that; it made me feel the NBA where referees sometimes make such egregious calls that you think they have to be betting on the games (example; Miami vs. Dallas, 2006 Finals).

- And finally, the award for dumbest motherfucker on the planet goes to Vikings' coach Brad Childress, who kept his starters in the entire 4th quarter of a 27-10, then 30-10 ballgame. Because of this, his team lost E.J. Henderson, although having the defensive starters on the field then was understandable. What was not understandable, and what gives Childress this award, was having his offense on the field when the game was 30-10 with about 4 minutes to go. Really Brad, you're overcoming that deficit? More likely is Favre getting hurt, or Sidney Rice getting hurt, or Peterson getting hurt, or a lineman getting hurt. I honestly could have punched that son of a bitch when I saw the starting offense coming on the field. Just put in Jackson and a couple backup receivers, let them get some work and call it day. The game was over, and yet Childress still had his offense out there, and he even called a timeout like the game was still in doubt. Had a key starter gotten hurt, he'd have hell to pay. He should anyways for even risking it. Dumbest motherfucker on the planet.