Wednesday Morning Quarterback

Posted Dec 27, 2006 by Darin Shaw

Updated Dec 27, 2006 at 10:48 AM

Did you have a Merry Christmas?  The Preacher did!  The Bucs gave us a bit of a Christmas present.  They showed up in all three phases of the game.  Imagine what might have been if Tim Rattay had been the guy we looked to back in week 4.  Maybe not a playoff year, but I’d bet we might have eeked out a few more victories.  Then news of another present the Bucs are prepared to deliver – a new deal with Chris Simms.  I tell you - even those of you who strongly doubt it - there is not a better free-agency option.

So what’s next?  Let’s finish the year off by helping the Seahawks to complete the year riding a four game losing streak into the playoffs!  Talk about momentum.

I need to eat my hat.  I was so sure that Jeff Fisher was done in Tennessee before this season began.  Then, when they coasted out to an 0-5 start, I was smelling blood.  Here’s the reality: the Titans have won six straight and find themselves alive, albeit barely, in the playoff race going into the final weekend.  The Titans need a win Sunday and a half dozen other things to happen, but I stand amazed.  It may even be enough to see Fisher stay on one more year.

Well, if the first coach to be canned isn’t Fisher, then who?  A strong candidate is Raiders Coach Art Shell.  He said Sunday, “I’m not worried that I’ll be fired.”  He is consistent.  He hasn’t been worried about coaching, so why should he be worried about NOT coaching?  I cannot believe that Al Davis will let this circus continue.

In Atlanta, Arthur Blank seems poised to shake up his bag of jacks, too.  In November Blank was quoted saying that an 8-8 season “wouldn’t cut it”.  Well, with a win Sunday his Falcons will finish 8-8.  I said with a win, but against the Eagles, who will have their Division Title for the taking at stake, figure the Falcons lose and finish 7-9.  Uh huh.

Rumors out of Detroit are that Lions’ Owner William Clay Ford has been seen chumming around with Matt Millen in a way that suggests Millen is not on the way out.  Could the Lions actually go another year without really addressing THE problem that plagues them?

Hey, and break up the Texans!  They finally beat the Colts!  After 9 straight losses, the Texans finally beat their achilles.  This is the reason they drafted Mario Williams with the number one pick.  A successful season for the Texans… who will finish with 5 wins… again.  How many wins might they have had if they’d have drafted Reggie Bush?  Ah, but they beat the Colts.

The Giants and the Jets still have a chance, it appears, to make a Subway Series of it.  The Jets (by the way, if it weren’t for Sean Payton, Eric Mangini is Coach of the Year) are practically in a ‘win and you’re in’ scenario.  They play the Raiders at home.  Art Shell isn’t worried.  In other words, Jets are in.  The Giants are on an amazing skid, having lost 6 of their last 7.  Yet, they seem to be in the driver’s seat for the last wildcard slot in the sloppy NFC.  They’ve got the Redskins to close the season.  Tom Coughlin handed playcalling duties from John Hufnagel to Kevin Gilbride.  That should be enough to do it. 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: (Good) Terrell Owens at whining.  He’s the best at it.  This week it’s because the Cowboys don’t get him into the game early enough.  (Bad) Television reports about Dolphins Coach Nick Saban and rumors about the Alabama Coaching vacancy.  I say there’s something to it.  (Ugly) Analyst Steve Young during the MNF broadcast commenting that Daunte Culpepper routinely missed team meetings and lacked discipline… only to be confronted by Culpepper moments later outside the booth.  Culpepper has not missed a team meeting.  Doh!  So, Young ‘did the right thing’.  He got fellow analyst Joe Theismann to correct the error.  Reminds me of comments he once made about Chris Simms.

Hero of the Week: Bucs LB Derrick Brooks.  He hasn’t had a Pro-Bowl Season, but he gave a Pro-Bowl worthy performance Sunday.  Thanks 55.

Goats of the Week: Browns TE Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.  They are two of the most talented ‘up and comers’ in the NFL.  But these guys need to grow up and quit allowing their immaturity to hurt their team.  Have you noticed how after every series the cameras follow them on the sideline?

Back tomorrow to tell you who wins this weekend, and to talk playoff implications.