Well, that was great. 24 hours of football, spread out over two weekends. My “NFL for shutters” plan was outstanding. I get unlimited NFL football through the Super Bowl, my wife gets new PVC shutters and the right to occasionally vacuum the chips off me.
How about the game of the year so far? Pittsburgh goes right into Indy and beats the Colts 21-18. Where do we start in dissecting one of the wildest playoff games in NFL history?
Peyton Manning fails again. Obviously, Manning is nothing special when he isn’t given time to throw. We all know that. We all saw that. But a great leader doesn’t step on teammates to make himself look better.. A great captain goes down with his ship. He doesn’t jump in the lifeboat and throw rocks at his drowning crew. His arrogance was unbelievable. Coming off the field, he’d shake his head, as if to say, “I can’t believe what I have to work with here.” He had the nerve to wave the punting unit off the field. I’ve never even seen that before. Granted, he made a big play on 4th and 2 but he completely undermined Tony Dungy. In the press conference, he effectively buried his teammates.
Manning and the Colts blew it. They didn’t have to go into cold New England this year. The Super Bowl table was set and they threw up on it..
I’m glad Pittsburgh won because the Steelers deserved it. The game would have been clinched had the referee not inexplicably overturned the game clinching interception by Troy Polamalu. “The defender made the catch but then lost the ball before his knee came off the ground, therefore it is an incomplete pass.” Huh?
According to that stupidity, you have to successfully get up and run after making a diving catch. Ridiculous. But it made for an amazing finish.
With 90 seconds left, leading by three, the Steelers took over on downs. The play was try and run it in for a score, since Indy had all of their time outs. Shockingly, Jerome Bettis fumbled, his first fumble of the season, and Colts cornerback Nick Harper picked it up. Harper had only the lumbering Ben Roethlisberger to beat for the winning touchdown. Had Harper cut outside and run up the sideline, he would have scored. Instead, he cut inside and Roethlisberger made the tackle.
This is the same Nick Harper who to go to hospital for stiches Saturday night after his angry wife “accidentally” chucked a knife at him , leaving an inch-deep gash in his knee. He looked like a player who had lost several steps due to the injury. Without the cut, he’s probably gone. Instead, he sets up a failed Mike Vanderjagt field goal.
What a game. One of the stupidest calls in NFL history gave Indy life. An angry wife had a hand in snuffing it out. Thank god my wife is happy with those shutters.
