Plankton

I hated the TCM remake, but there's a whole lot less with the Friday the 13th movies to mess up. As long as Jason is hacking up teenagers at Camp Crystal Lake, I'm happy.

This was discussed after the game. They showed a replay and Flacco didn't step out. It was close, but he definitely did not step out. I'm surprised they didn't replay it during the game though.

Peyton wouldn't have been my vote for MVP, but IMO, he's one of several players this year who reasonably "deserved" it. I wouldn't have been upset with Michael Turner, Adrian Peterson, Chad Pennington, Philip Rivers, or James Harrison. Turner would have been my pick, but there's no clear winner like last year. You could make an argument for just about any of the major players who made it to the playoffs.

I believe that Cassel has said he wishes to stay with the Patriots. A week ago I would have said that it was just wishful thinking on his part as long as Tom Brady is in the picture, but if Brady's questionable for '09, I wouldn't be shocked if they cut their losses with him and went with the younger Cassel. It's an arguable move either way, but if both QBs can throw for about the same amount of yards on a good day, and one has health issues that could keep him out for a season, and the other is healthier and younger, I'd choose the healthier and younger QB. On the other hand, Cassel could easily be next year's Derek Anderson. Assuming Brady's healthy, he's probably the smarter and more conservative choice. But if his health is up in the air all the way to the preseason, it might be a lot riskier to let a guy like Cassel go.

I admire the fact that your sticking up for Crennel because whenever a team is free falling, the coach is the first to get thrown under the bus while players and GMs get the benefit of the doubt. I agree 100% that the Browns had a lot of problems that was out of Crennel's hands, but if Crennel can't find a way to work around those problems, then why would the Browns want to keep him as a head coach? The players gave up halfway through the season, and you expect a head coach to be able to light a fire under his team. Crennel couldn't do it. I think he's a good coach, and not every coach needs to have the I-think-I-smelled-a-fart-and-I'm-pretty-pissed-about-it Bill Cowher scowl, but some teams need a coach that will stick a foot up their asses when they need it (I can think of another particular Ohio team that is in the same position). Crennel's a good coach, but obviously not the one Cleveland needs. And there were also questionable decisions he made in games. In particular, early in the season, he called for a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down when they were too far behind with too little time left for that field goal to mean anything. He essentially threw the game away because, as he described later, he didn't want his team to be discouraged by not having a scoring drive. In short, he gave up so his team wouldn't feel bad. That's just stupid. Also, he's struggled against division teams. He has never beaten the Steelers, and if you're consistently losing against the same team twice a year, something's not working out. Crennel is a good coach and he hasn't been the entire problem (GM Phil Savage was first to be let go), but he wasn't working out in Cleveland. At a certain point, you have to make a judgment call and decide if this coach, good or not, is best for your team. And with his poor record, I think it's obvious that he wasn't working out.

I think I heard on PTI or Football Today that Tomlin said his starters will play, but of course that doesn't mean for the whole game. For the reasons Be gave, I'm guessing Roethlisberger will be out there for a half at most. I think it's a dumb move on his part because even if Leftwich is in the entire game, I'm guessing the Steelers will run the ball more for three reasons. First, without a reason to play, they're probably going to want their backups to get some playing time, but they're also going to want to wind the clock down to avoid any injuries and to stay fresher for next week (especially if some of their starters play the whole game). There's no use killing yourself just to get some playing time. Secondly, their running game has been bad lately (they average about 100 yards a game), and because the Browns have had such awful run defense (29th in the league), this will be a good week to get things on the right track. And lastly, they ran a lot against the Browns last time. Roethlisberger only had 20 attempts (14 completions) and Parker had 28 carries. It could really pay off if they want to see Leftwich throw a lot, but I'm going to guess that they'll be more interested in running the ball.

If you take away the 6 touchdown game against the Cardinals, Favre's year doesn't look anything more than solid. Thomas Jones has been the biggest impact player of that team, although to be fair, a lot of that has to do with Favre opening up the run for him. Either way, Favre over Rivers and Pennington is way off. Even for fan-voting, when you assume there will be some questionable choices, it's a hard sell. Peyton and Favre definitely made it on name value alone.

I like Steve Slaton over Ronnie Brown. When Brown has been good, he's been really good, but he's had 8 games with 50 or less rushing yards. Slaton's numbers are much better. And looking beyond the numbers, I'd say Slaton has had a higher impact for his team. If you take away the great story of the former 1-15 Dolphins being relevant again and the awesome wild cat offense, Ronnie Brown doesn't look much more impressive than Slaton. Not that I have a problem with Ronnie Brown being in it. He's certainly been a key player for the Dolphins and has had a great season. I just like Slaton a little bit better. It sucks that DeAngelo Williams didn't get in, but considering the competition, it makes sense. The NFC has a bunch of great RBs right now.

I would argue that Chris Johnson is a distant second place in the ROY race. Obviously Ryan is going to get it though.