What I was thinking a month ago

I went back and looked at some of my posts from a month ago, and some of it is interesting.

"Or maybe it is, since the '98 Vikings went 15-1, but this is the best Vikings team I've ever seen. I feel confident in saying that after today."

I said that after the Vikings destroyed the Bears at home. I had to open my big fucking mouth. Needless to say, I no longer feel this way.

"After watching the Texans blow a 17-0 and then 20-7 halftime lead, I thought, "I would hate to be a fan of the Texans." "

And you know what? Yesterday the Texans almost blew a 27-0 lead, and ended up winning 27-20. They still have trouble closing out games, even with seemingly insurmountable leads.

"Before the season started, I thought Denver was in a for a terrible 6-10 type season, and I was off. And maybe this is purely selfish on my part, but I don't care. This is not a playoff team, and it feels good to have that feeling justified during the season. I felt stupid when they started 6-0, but now that they're 6-4 I feel better."

As things have turned out, I'm probably not going to be that far off in my 6-10 prediction for Denver, as they seem headed for 8-8 (with a fluky win over Cincinatti, let's not forget). I still can't believe they ever started 6-0, but as the season has progressed they've shown who they really are.

"Russell has done nothing to actually earn the starting job, so I don't feel bad for him, and it may be in the Raiders' best interest to cut him in the offseason and move on. If they had a better replacement than Gradkowski, I'd be all for it. But I can't imagine him putting up much better numbers than Russell was."

Actually, both Gradkowski and Frye have been quite a bit better than Russell. I was wrong in saying they shouldn't make a change; in actuality, they should have made a change sooner. Gradkowski actually gave them some life on offense.

"There's a lot that could be said about the Bears. In the past couple of weeks, they've been absolutely destroyed by the Bengals and Cardinals. Of their remaining schedule, only the Rams and Lions look like wins."

Again, I had to open my big fucking mouth.

"They do have Aaron Rodgers, and if he ever learns how to handle a pass rush, he'll be really good. He already is, really. His QB rating entering today was 110, and when he's in rhythm, few QBs throw as accurate a ball. Get this man a RT, add a pass rusher on defense and this team can be in business."

This was maybe the most prescient thing I've said all season, or it was so obvious that even an idiot could point it out. But ever since losing to Tampa Bay, Green Bay has fixed their RT situation by signing Mark Tauscher and sending Allen Barbre to the bench, and have added a pass rusher by inserting Clay Matthews into the starting lineup. Aaron Kampman getting injured was the best thing to happen to Green Bay; he was subpar in their 3-4, but Matthews has flourished. Ever since then, the Packers have lost one game, are indeed "in business."

I also did a race for LVP back at the miway point of the season, giving it to Derek Anderson over JaMarcus Russell. As the season comes to a close, Russell is the runaway winner of LVP for this NFL season. Brady Quinn came back in for Cleveland and did not play any better than Anderson, while Bruce Gradkowski came in for Russell and, as I said earlier, gave Oakland some life on offense. Charlie Frye has also played better than Russell. What this means is that Oakland actually did improve by benching Russell, meaning his awful play is mostly on him, while the Cleveland QBs were equally hampered by awful receivers. Factor in the big contract and high draft choice that Oakland used on Russell, and he is unquestionably the LVP.