Happy 2015! I apologize for not having a Meteorology column this week, the timing of the holiday and an inordinate amount of time driving all over Lower Michigan just didn’t facilitate any time. 

For the record (note the time stamp)…

 

$.01--The most entertaining game of the NFL weekend was the finale in Jerry World. Mr. Jones’ Dallas Cowboys rallied to beat the Detroit Lions 24-20 in a game which will long be remembered for some truly egregious officiating.

It’s rare that one bad call decides an outcome, but it absolutely did in this travesty of a game. With Detroit leading 20-17 halfway through the fourth quarter, the Lions were driving. Dallas LB Anthony Hitchens was flagged for pass interference on 3rd-and-1, an easy call and an automatic first down. Referee Pete Morelli announced the penalty and the chain gang set up from the spot of the foul while the umpire prepared the ball for play. Except Morelli inexplicably changed his mind, offering zero explanation on why. Maybe it was Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant charging onto the field without his helmet on (which should be a 15-yard penalty) to scream at him. Maybe it was a call from above, where NFL VP of Officiating Dean Blandino could be calling in a party bus favor for his favorite team?

Social media erupted. Everyone from national pundits to former officials to Larry King weighed in that the fix was on. Replays showed Hitchens yanked Pettigrew’s jersey out of his waistband and held his right arm, though to be fair Pettigrew had his hand on Hitchens’ facemask for a couple of steps. Instead of first down, it was now 4th-and-1. Detroit ultimately took a delay of game penalty while trying to draw Dallas offsides, followed by normally reliable punter Sam Martin shanking a 10-yarder off the side of his leg. 

The officials didn’t help themselves with several obvious and blatant missed holding calls on the ensuing drive, which ended when Tony Romo found Terrance Williams wide open in the end zone for the game-winning score. Replays showed two clear holds by the Dallas OL on the final play, one less than ten feet from Morelli and in his direct sightline. 

Detroit had more chances, but every time a play needed to be made it was Dallas making it. Whereas Detroit got conservative on its fourth down, Dallas rolled the dice on 4th-and-6 and succeeded. The Lions made dumb mistakes, like Jeremy Ross returning a deep kick to his own five or Calvin Johnson false starting on the final drive. Between that and the obviously unfair officiating, it was too much for the young Lions as they sought the first playoff win since 1991. 

The arrow is still pointing up for Detroit, but this is a bitter loss. The outstanding defense couldn’t hold in the end, while the star-studded offense never got untracked all season. A tearful Ndamukong Suh nicely epitomized the feelings of frustration and disappointment after the game. Detroit has come so far only to fall just short.

Dallas escaped with the win and now heads to Green Bay. If they’re going to require advantageous calls in Lambeau Field, they might as well not even get on the plane. Their offense gives them a fair chance to outscore the Packers, but Romo, Bryant and the offensive line will all have to be a lot better than they were in this one. 

$.02--The Saturday night special featured the third meeting this year between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the NFL’s best rivalries. The 6th-seeded Ravens silenced the crowd and walked away with a 30-17 victory.

Pittsburgh had its chances. They had several long, time-consuming drives in the first half but wound up with little to show for it. The Steelers ran 41 plays and gained 211 yards in the first half but posted just 9 points. Baltimore fluctuated between good and terrible drives early but managed to take the lead to halftime.

Then there was the Terrell Suggs INT between his knees on a Ben Tate drop with just over eight minutes to go. And the late hit on Shamarko Thomas that set up the Ravens to get a field goal on the prior drive. And the Dri Archer TD called back on a Kelvin Beachum holding penalty. It was really over when Ben Roethlisberger returned to action after missing a couple of plays and promptly threw a terrible interception in the end zone. Just for good measure, Heath Miller fumbled away Pittsburgh’s death gasp final drive. 

My old friend and avowed Steelers' fanatic Tom Scott said it succinctly, “Reminded of the first 6 games of the season. Stupid penalties, blown coverage, missed tackles and horrible offensive line play.” Pittsburgh had largely buried those issues late in the year, but their inconsistency throughout the season rose up and bit them at the worst possible time. 

Baltimore might have benefitted from a couple of questionable officiating calls, but they made far fewer mistakes and were clearly the better-coached team over the full 60 minutes. The Ravens will be a tough matchup for New England, whom they knocked out of the 2012 playoffs in Foxboro en route to a Super Bowl title. With their excellent special teams and fearsome pass rush, not to mention a rested Haloti Ngata, they are eminently capable of pulling off a second road victory.

$.03--The Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals opened the Wild Card action. The 7-8-1 Panthers proved they were favored over a Cardinals team which held the NFC’s No. 1 seed until Week 16 by drubbing the offensively challenged visitors 27-16.

The relatively close margin is not indicative of how the game played out. Carolina’s defense completely dominated both overwhelmed third-string QB Ryan Lindley and Arizona’s offensive line. The Cardinals set a new record for offensive ineptitude:

 

Lindley was historically awful, but he didn’t get much help. Carolina was the better-prepared team from the get-go. A couple of awful mistakes--a muffed punt return on a ground ball and a bad Cam Newton INT returned deep into CAR territory--led to Arizona’s only TDs. Newton didn’t play all that well, but Carolina didn’t need him to. 

It’s a sad ending for Arizona. The Cardinals started 9-1 and were a well-oiled, well-coached machine. Then injuries struck, and not just to QBs Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton either. They are a sober reminder being the best team in October doesn’t mean much. With Larry Fitzgerald a potential cap casualty and no sure thing Palmer or Stanton get back to form, the Cardinals have an inordinate amount of major offensive needs for a playoff contender. 

$.04--Sunday kicked off with a yawner in Indianapolis, where the visiting Cincinnati Bengals were handily outgunned by Andrew Luck and the host Colts. Indy pulled away from a plucky Cincinnati defense and advanced to meet Denver with a 26-10 victory.

For once, Cincy’s loss cannot be pinned on quarterback Andy Dalton. The embattled thrower wasn’t great but got little help from a receiving corps missing Pro Bowler A.J. Green and solid TE Jermaine Gresham. The Bengals were so desperate for anyone who could run a route they used reserve RB Rex Burkhead--all 5’11” and 210 pounds--at tight end. It didn’t work. Nothing really worked for Dalton and the Bengals offense.

There were miscommunications. There were drops. There was little room to run against a Colts defense loaded up in the box knowing no receivers could threaten them down the field. Cincy managed just 144 yards passing. Their first five drives of the second half netted just 20 yards on 17 plays, all ending in punts. The next drive ended with a Dalton fumble.

The Colts really weren’t all that impressive. Andrew Luck hit a few critical throws, including a gorgeous 36-yard TD strike to rookie Donte Moncrief. But for the most part he had time to pick apart the Cincy secondary, helped in part by solid running from Boom Herron before he got benched for fumblitis. Cornerback Vontae Davis showed why he earned my PFWA 1st-team cornerback honors, never relenting in coverage as Indianapolis squeezed the hope out of the visiting Bengals.

This is the fourth year in a row Cincinnati is one-and-done in the playoffs. This right here is truly astonishing:

 

I’m an avowed Marvin Lewis supporter, but that is a direct reflection on a coach who cannot get his talented team over a hump. Dalton has to be better too, but it’s perhaps overdue to start wondering if Lewis is the right man for the job going forward.

$.05--The Buffalo Bills are an unexpected player in the head coaching search battle. Former head man Doug Marrone opted out, a highly unusual move.

Marrone had good reasons. Four million of them, in fact. That’s how much the Bills will pay him to not coach their team, regardless of whether he takes another job or not. Normally there is offset language in contracts that would allow the former team to not be responsible for any figure covered by the new deal, but Marrone didn’t have that in his deal. That in and of itself tells you the levels of mismanagement in Buffalo. On Sunday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Marrone stormed out of the draft room last May when the team traded up to acquire WR Sammy Watkins, showing the level of disconnect and discontent between head coach and front office. In that light, it’s downright amazing the Bills were as successful as they were in 2014.

Immediately rumors started circulating Marrone will stay in the Empire State and take over the Jets. He interviewed on Sunday, not long after some of his former Bills cohorts took some shots (for an opinion on this, check out Manish Mehta’s New York Daily News piece). 

Marrone brought the Bills to respectability. Late-season wins over Green Bay and New England (which wasn’t trying) propelled Buffalo to its first winning record since 2004. He accomplished that with Kyle Orton and E.J. Manuel as his quarterbacks and without star RB C.J. Spiller for much of the season.

Cleary the man can coach between the lines. But can he manage a successful organization and all else that goes with being a head coach? Most folks in Buffalo don’t seem to think so, but it sounds like the Jets will pay a hefty price to find that out for themselves. 

We’ll find out if Buffalo learned its lesson, because one of the hot names for the Bills job is former Lions coach--and current Bills Defensive Coordinator--Jim Schwartz. You’d have to look long and very hard to find anyone in Detroit, from players to medical staff to ballboys to ownership, with much nice to say about how he dealt with people. 

$.06--Remember when the Big Ten was gum on the bottom of a dirty old shoe and the SEC was a supermodel that defecated hundred dollar bills? 

The bowl season turned that tired false narrative on its head. The vaunted SEC West took a serious blow with its 2-5 bowl record. Worse, the two wins were by the last-place teams in the division.

Wisconsin 34, Auburn 31

Georgia Tech 49, Mississippi State 34

TCU 42, Ole Miss 3

Notre Dame 31, LSU 28

Ohio State 42, Alabama 35 

The SEC teams were favored in every game except TCU’s romp of the Rebels. Deeper looks at these games are even scarier for the SEC sycophants who revere Paul Finebaum the way confused middle-aged hausfrau flock to Dr. Oz and his cockamamie:

  • Notre Dame had lost 5 in a row and started a new QB
  • Wisconsin ran for exactly 400 yards
  • Ole Miss had under 90 yards of offense before its final drive
  • Georgia Tech led 42-20 into the 4th quarter and ran for 452 yards
  • Ohio State was playing a third-string quarterback 

Meanwhile, the B1G had an impressive bowl season. Aside from the two wins above, Michigan State pulled off a thrilling comeback against bitter Baylor in the Cotton Bowl, while Penn State notched an emotional win over Boston College. 

Is this a one-year fluke or a trend? My guess is it’s more of the latter. This was Nick Saban’s weakest Alabama team, and the two Mississippi schools both faded badly down the stretch despite senior-heavy rosters. None of the teams in the East other than Georgia figure to be ranked in the preseason, though Arkansas (who impressively beat Texas) likely will from the West. I see college football being more fragmented, where it will be more about individual teams and less about conferences…which is good for the sport as a whole but very bad news for the high and mighty SEC.

$.07--Oregon emphatically ended the nation’s longest winning streak by humiliating Florida State 59-20 in the Rose Bowl. The Ducks capitalized on several critical Florida State mistakes, most notably Jameis Winston’s LOL-worthy backwards flip which linebacker Tony Washington scooped up and returned for a touchdown.

This game featured the last two Heisman Trophy winners, Winston and Oregon QB Marcus Mariota. For college football fans, it doesn’t get any better than that. For folks like me with a scouting interest more than a fan interest, it was an excellent evaluation tool to see the top two QBs in this draft class facing off against one another’s strong, fast defenses. Their performances couldn’t have been more divergent.

Other than one terrible overthrow/INT near the end of the first half, Mariota was fantastic. His throws were crisp and featured pinpoint accuracy, often through small, carefully choreographed windows. When he needed to run, he turned into a gazelle. Mariota threw expertly on the run and manipulated the defense with his head, his footwork and his patience despite being in the fast-paced Ducks system. He completed 26-of-36 for 338 yards and two TDs but was in complete command throughout the game. 

Winston put up decent numbers in his own right: 29-of-45 for 348 yards and a TD. Yet he missed several open throws, be it having the ball tipped at the line or just not being on the same page as his receiver. Other deliveries were a count late, completed but not allowing any run after the catch because the defense had an extra step to catch up. Even though Winston put on an outward display of leadership, his Noles teammates didn’t follow. There were bad fumbles, blown blocks and the classless departure at the end of the game by more than half the Florida State team while Winston tried his best to rehab his tarnished image. 

That last point is important to me. If Jameis was truly respected as a leader by the teammates who know him best, they wouldn’t have been so quick to hang him out to dry. I get it was a devastating loss but in times like that people look to leaders. Florida State players did not look to Winston, not enough of them anyway. That says something, and you’d better believe NFL personnel gurus heard it loud and clear too.

$.08--NFL Quickies

--I don’t know where he’s going to wind up, but I would bet good $$ that current UCLA coach Jim Mora Jr. will be hired back to the NFL before Martin Luther King Day. He’d be a good fit for Buffalo if he wants to step into that fiasco. 

--One underrated aspect of Baltimore’s success: both coordinators are former head coaches. Gary Kubiak and Steve Spagnuolo know the NFL ropes. Kubiak is another guy who will be a head coach again before long, though probably not this year. Then again, Pittsburgh had two former head men as coordinators too in Todd Haley and Dick Lebeau, though Lebeau hasn’t been a head coach in over a decade.

--The rumor mill has Mike Shanahan as a leading candidate for the head coach gig in San Francisco. If Niners GM Trent Baalke thought Jim Harbaugh was headstrong and difficult, ask his former colleagues in Denver and Washington about Shanahan. He executed an outright coup on Ted Sundquist in Denver. 

--One question from a message board faithful which deserves a wider audience: What does Tennessee do at quarterback? My condensed answer--Jake Locker won’t be back, Charlie Whitehurst played his way off the roster and Zach Mettenberger is fragile and freakishly inefficient. The free agent pool is like the kiddie section of a poorly maintained public park--shallow and filled with water you don’t want touching your skin. Mariota is going to Tampa Bay at No. 1, which leaves Jameis Winston at the two spot. Either trust in Winston (I would not) or milk another 4-win-maximum season from Mett. 

--I am Lincoln’s ideal demographic target. I really like the MKZ sedan and would strongly consider buying one if not for those ridiculous Matthew McConaughey ads. I don’t desire the guilt by association with those terrible spots that goes along with driving the car. 

--On the flip side of the advertising spectrum, Meathead Rob Lowe is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. They nailed every detail right down to the hyper-white teeth and video of himself lifting playing in the background. Makes me proud to be a DirecTV customer.

$.09--College/Draft quickies

--Oklahoma State won the Cactus Bowl over Washington thanks to defensive tackle James Castleman. The 320-pound nose tackle, who is a 4th-5th round prospect, made his name on offense in this one. He charged in from 2 yards out as the Wildcat back early on, then showed his versatility by playing motion tight end…

 

--That above quickie is why I scoff at the argument there are too many bowls. From that play to the fat-guy TD pass in the Baylor game or the finale of the Bahamas Bowl with Central Michigan’s astonishing TD, coaches show more experimentation in bowls. It also gives invaluable extra practice time for the returning players.

--Among the many early entrants to the draft is Maryland WR Stefon Diggs. It makes sense for the speedy downfield threat, given he’s missed time in each of the last two seasons with injuries. However, he’s a limited one-trick pony as a receiver, very straight-linish and not physical enough when asked to go over the middle. Someone could get enamored with his speed and Torrey Smith-like athletic profile, but he’s not that good. Gimmie plucky Kenny Bell from Nebraska--the best pound-for-pound blocking WR in the draft--in the fourth round instead. 

--Minnesota TE Maxx Williams smartly left school early. He’s head and shoulders above the rest of a truly awful class at his position. How much better? Williams will be a top 40 player on my big board. No other tight end will be in the top 125. His athleticism, body control and nifty speed make up for his only adequate blocking. He’s got Jason Witten potential.

--Hulking Baylor defensive end Shawn Oakman announced he is returning to Waco for another year. Good decision. Even though his physique is what every guy at the gym wants, at this point his on-field play is inconsistent and technically deficient. If he can raise the intensity and learn how to use his hands and translate his weight-room power to the field, Oakman could very well be a top-3 overall pick in 2016. 

$.10--When I started writing for RealGM 11 years ago (!?!), one of the mission statements I wrote down was that I wanted to make my mother proud. 

I know, it sounds lame or cliché. Yet it was very important for me to remember that my mom reads everything I write here, and I need to take into account her level of football knowledge and demographic. I don’t expect her to get all the references, but the basic themes have to reach my Baby Boomer mother and her peers as much as they do the 15-year-old kid reading my work in study hall.

So this cent is dedicated to my mother, Mary Risdon, who retired last week after working for pretty much all my life as a banker. She has been looking forward to this for years, and it’s a wonderful accomplishment. In a few weeks she and my dad will take a lifetime-dream trip to New Zealand, Tasmania (where Risdon abounds) and Australia. 

My siblings and I are very proud of you, mom. You toiled away for years and years without a lot of complaint. You dealt with an armed robbery, a dipstick chauvinist boss for several years, ridiculous oversight from the federal government and working at job titles below your aptitude. You also worked with some truly great people and learned a lot from some nice mentors and savvy coworkers.

Through it all you remained the same person, warm and empathetic but also quick-witted and optimistic. We all try to follow that example, even when the stresses of life make that very difficult. May you have many years of enjoying just being Grandma to five and bedrock for the rest of the family!