The (Grid)Iron Giant
Footballguy
As they all complained the few times the NFL dropped the bye week, going from the conference championship game directly to the Super Bowl the next weekend can be murder on coaches and players involved. There's the media day bonanza, getting tickets for everyone, trying to gameplan despite all the distractions, etc. -- I get it. But does anyone else think the layoff does major damage to the quality of the game?
Players on both teams spend two weeks in a media and partygoing maelstrom, distracted from what matters most (once they retire, many players admit to this). The coaches have two weeks to fully disassemble the other team and create maximum disruption (which can make both offenses look inept). And every day Madden gets older, the less coherent he becomes.
Then again, did any of that have to do with Big Ben looking as scared as he did against NE last year? Or Stevens dropping all those balls? Or Hasselbeck crapping the bed at the end of both halves? Or Hines Ward, your MVP, dropping a wide-open TD in the first half? Maybe they were both just terrified and one was going to fall into a win by default. As a very disappointed football fan, that's how it looked to me...
Players on both teams spend two weeks in a media and partygoing maelstrom, distracted from what matters most (once they retire, many players admit to this). The coaches have two weeks to fully disassemble the other team and create maximum disruption (which can make both offenses look inept). And every day Madden gets older, the less coherent he becomes.
Then again, did any of that have to do with Big Ben looking as scared as he did against NE last year? Or Stevens dropping all those balls? Or Hasselbeck crapping the bed at the end of both halves? Or Hines Ward, your MVP, dropping a wide-open TD in the first half? Maybe they were both just terrified and one was going to fall into a win by default. As a very disappointed football fan, that's how it looked to me...