The Chiefs take the field tonight with heavy hearts; team owner Lamar Hunt having passed away earlier in the week. I don’t know if Lamar gets to control such things wherever he is, but the San Diego forecast calls for high winds and a chance for rain. That probably benefits the Chiefs and their power running game, and it’s a shame that no one in the San Diego organization died this week to even out the karmic forces.
The Chiefs beat the Chargers back in Week 7 on a 53-yard Lawrence Tynes field goal with six seconds left on the clock. Larry Johnson bested LaDainian Tomlinson on that day, too, with 132 yards and 2 TDs to Tomlinson’s 66 yards and 0 TDs. Since then, Tomlinson has not had a game in which he rushed for fewer than 100 yards or scored fewer than 2 TDs. With a win tonight and an Indianapolis loss tomorrow night, the Chargers can lock up a first-round playoff bye.
So get yourself good and drunk, get away from the holiday shopping crowds, stop calling around and trying to find someone who likes you enough to watch the game with you… settle in with us here. It’s what Lamar Hunt would want.
• Eagles 36, Giants 22. There are still over 2:00 to play, but an Eli Manning tipped ball was intercepted by the Eagles and taken to the house. That should do it, but the way things have gone in this game, though, I wouldn’t rule anything out. I’ll be happy to see it end, though, as I’m getting tired of looking at the bizarre, bloody, red, disgusting mass on Jeff Garcia’s hand.
• Broncos 37, Cardinals 20. The Cardinals kinda kept scoring in the second half so that the game was never really completely out of question until they end. But they never honestly threatened, either. I hate games like that. Jay Cutler’s 21-of-30 for 2 touchdowns and one interception with a couple of minutes to play. Matt Leinart was 13-of-25 for 146 yards and 2 interceptions, one of which was a backpedaling prayer which he just heaved into the middle of the Broncos secondary.
• Rams 20, Saints 0. Art Shell has had roughly 4,872 opportunities this year in which he’d have been perfectly justified in benching Aaron Brooks. He picked today. Since then, Andrew Walter’s stepped in and gone 8-of-12 for 70 yards, which isn’t half bad… until you consider the 2 interceptions. Oh, and the Rams beat their ass, in case that wasn’t implied. Steven Jackson’s been the stud of the game with 127 yards and 2 TDs.
• Broncos 16, Cardinals 10. Jay Cutler’s winning the battle of the white first-round quarterbacks, quite handily. Cutler’s 13-of-17 for 160 yards and a touchdown, while Leinart is 4-of-10 for 30 yards and an interception. The Cardinals have kept themselves in the game, however, by returning a Tatum Bell fumble for a touchdown. Javon Walker’s caught 5 balls for 84 yards and a touchdown.
• Rams 6, Raiders 0. I don’t have any idea how the Raiders have avoided a massive team mutiny this year. The defense is taking it to the Rams, keeping them out of the endzone. Marc Bulger’s only got 84 yards passing. But when the Raiders get the ball, it’s like their job is to take as much time as possible between plays, to get the defense some rest. That’s the best they can hope for. Aaron Brooks is 4-of-8 for 27 yards and 1 interception. Naturally, no touchdowns.
• Eagles 14, Giants 7. The Eagles and the Giants are… I don’t know. It looks sort of like football, but uglier. The Giants have turned the ball over a couple of times, and the Eagles have moved it pretty well. Correll Buckhalter and Brian Westbrook each have 8 carries, and have combined for 73 yards and two touchdowns. Tiki Barber has the Giants lone score.
• Bears 31, Buccaneers 17. Rex Grossman’s had his second straight better-than-decent game against a pretty bad team. Of course, it was hard not to look good against the Gradkowski/Rattay combination that the Bucs trotted out there. I don’t know if Bruce Gradkwoski was hurt, injured, or kidnapped by a pissed off Bucs fan, but Tim Rattay threw 20+ passes today. Still plenty of time for the Bucs… not much talent or hope, though. UPDATE: This game is tied now. Holy fuck.
• Titans 24, Jaguars 17. Vince Young has just 9 rushing yards and 85 passng yards, and Travis Henry has 37 rushing yards, but every member of the Titans defense has scored a touchdown. Chris Hope, Pac-Man Jones, and someone named Cortland Finnegan, who surprisingly did not go to Dartmouth (he is the pride of Samford). The Titans have the ball and a 7-point lead with 1:12 to play.
• Washington 16, New Orleans 10. Bizarre. A week after uglying the Cowboys, the Saints come out at home and lose to the Redskins. Drew Brees had a very poor day (for Drew Brees) with 207 yards and a pick. The Redskins locked them up on the ground, too, holding Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush to under 65 rushing yards. I don’t understand.
I realize that this isn’t breaking any new ground, but man, Terrell Owens is a sensitive guy. DeAngelo Hall, who engages in some friendly trash talk with Terrell Owens on the phone from time to time, did some of that same trash talking to Owens during the Cowboys/Falcons game last night. Owens spit in his face.
He admitted it, too. “I got frustrated and I apologize for that,” Owens said. “It was a situation where he kept bugging me and getting in my face.”
Well, you certainly wouldn’t expect anyone in the NFL to bug you or get in your face. The NFL, if nothing else, is a league of politeness and respect for personal boundaries. That’s why there’s a 10-yard penalty for close-talking, and a 15-yarder for invasion of the personal space. Hall managed not to get flagged, though, and the Cowboys opted against challenging the call.
I don’t even know where the frustration comes in. Owens had already beaten Hall for a 51-yard touchdown, the Cowboys were winning the game, and he wasn’t involved in the play that occurred right before the spitting. He’s just sensitive. Reeeeally sensitive.
• Pittsburgh 17, Carolina 0. The Steelers have picked a pretty good time to start playing decent football. They’re all over the Panthers right now, taking a 17-3 lead into the half. Willie Parker has 72 yards rushing, Ben Roethlisberger has a rushing touchdown, and the Panthers have been held to 8 yards rushing on 5 carries.
• Patriots 27, Texans 0. Tom Brady’s taking the Bridget Moynahan break-up pretty hard, throwing for two touchdowns in the first half against the Texans. The lone bright spot for the Texans has been Ron Dayne, and… that’s just not a sentence you ever want to hear. David Carr, who I’m beginning to think isn’t a franchise quarterback, is 6-of-13 for 59 yards and 2 touchdowns at the moment.
• Ravens 17, Browns 10. Steve McNair has some kind of a hand injury, but it doesn’t matter to the Ravens. You know, why? Because they still had Kyle Boller. Thank goodness the Ravens were able to resist trading him to one of the legions of teams that wanted to acquire him in a trade. The two or three 1st round draft picks they could’ve gotten were tempting, but they showed restraint. He’s 6-of-9 for 73 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
Well, it was about time. Over 20 games into the NBA season, there hadn’t been a single bench-clearing melee. People were about to start thinking that the NBA had gone soft. Think again, fools.
A Pier-Sixer broke out in New York last night between the Knicks and Nuggets. The two most guilty parties look to be Knicks rookie guard Mardy Collins and Carmelo Anthony. Collins hammered J.R. Smith on a breakaway layup for no good reason, and then Carmelo dropped Collins with a right to the jaw. Also, Jared Jeffries’ shirt came untucked. David Stern’s not going to put up with that bullshit.
Now, this is not a good thing for the individuals involved or the league’s image, and it is unfortunate that the youngsters out there have to see their role models throwing punches. But this wasn’t like the brawl in Detroit. There were no injuries, and no one had to fight who didn’t want to fight. I can’t pretend like I wasn’t mildly entertained. And if I was alone in that, it probably wouldn’t have been the lead item on SportsCenter for about 12 hours.
So much to see here. Carmelo Anthony’s self-contradictory actions, stepping into the fight and throwing a punch for the sake of some “you hit my guy, I hit you” code… and then immediately backing up like Deebo wanted the chain his grandmama gave him. And Nate Robinson was one of the guys Carmelo was backing up from, for God’s sake. Nate, by the way, really seems to enjoy being in his “dukes up” stance.
Then there’s Eduardo Najera, trying to break things up at every turn, failing every time, and getting nothing for his efforts but an ejection and Jared Jeffries trying to yank his shorts off.
And then Isiah Thomas’s bemused zen-like comments afterwards, as he seemed relieved to be talking about something other than the Knicks last soul-crushing defeat. He remarks that Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby shouldn’t have been in the game, implies that George Karl was running up the score, and then laughs like he’s genuinely amused and surprised that he knew something the other coach didn’t know.
News of fines and suspensions should be coming soon.
Seven games. That’s the incredible streak the San Diego Chargers are in, winning seven straight games in a row.
Do you know which NFL Football team beat these Chargers this season before their incredible seven-game winning path of destruction? The Kansas City Chiefs. Yep, the Chiefs. And on NFL Sunday Night Football, these Chiefs will be looking to do it to San Diego again as they go for an AFC Wild Card spot.
However, it won’t be easy for Kansas City, considering that this team is NOT THE SAME team that beat the Chargers a couple of months ago.
The Kansas City Chiefs are the last team to beat the San Diego Chargers, but these are not good times in K.C. The Chiefs lost two straight games to fall toward the brink of playoff elimination after an impressive start of this year’s NFL Football season.
Kansas City was sailing toward the playoffs just 10 days ago with a 7-4 record and a 14-point lead against the Cleveland Browns. But the Chiefs lost that game in overtime, thanks to someone that goes by the name Derek Anderson, and were routed at home by the…
The Chiefs take the field tonight with heavy hearts; team owner Lamar Hunt having passed away earlier in the week. I don’t know if Lamar gets to control such things wherever he is, but the San Diego forecast calls for high winds and a chance for rain. That probably benefits the Chiefs and their power running game, and it’s a shame that no one in the San Diego organization died this week to even out the karmic forces.
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I realize that this isn’t breaking any new ground, but man, Terrell Owens is a sensitive guy. DeAngelo Hall, who engages in some friendly trash talk with Terrell Owens on the phone from time to time, did some of that same trash talking to Owens during the Cowboys/Falcons game last night. 
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