The Giants have reportedly reached a four-year deal with Brandon Jacobs. Far be it for me to call $25 million a small amount, but in NFL terms, I'm really surprised at how low this amount looks. At just over $6 million per year on average, this contract won't cripple the Giants' salary cap, and Jacobs was the one guy they had to keep.
Jacobs runs hard (he is, after all, a Juggernaut), and running backs of his punishing style don't normally last long, but this is a deal that is fair for both the Giants and Jacobs.
With the Giants' superb offensive line also returning intact for 2009, I expect big things next season. Now, they just need that field-stretching receiver to keep defenses from crowding the line of scrimmage the way they were able to do towards the end of last year.
Stephon Marbury and the New York Knicks have agreed to a buyout, which means that Marbury is now free to sign with any other team. It also means that Marbury's Play Now standoff with the Knicks is over, which is a shame because it was the source of some good entertainment.
Rumor has it that the Celtics - defending NBA champions, at 46-12, and with an excellent young point guard in Rajon Rondo - are interested in signing Marbury. To this I say: "Yes Boston...please, please sign him."
Given their record number of Super Bowl rings, and overall consistency, especially when considering the salary cap...could the Pittsburgh Steelers be considered the best franchise in all of sports? I can't recall any point during my lifetime when the Steelers truly were a bad team. A look at their franchise history confirms this. The continued success of the Steelers has been staggering. They have finished .500 or better, 30 of last 36 seasons. Yes, a mere six losings seasons since 1972. And only three of them came in the past 17 seasons, what would be considered the "salary cap/parity" era in the NFL. I think it's no coincidence that they have had only three head coaches during this incredible run - Noll, Cowher, and Tomlin - stability that is unheard of. In looking again at more recent success, four times since 2001, the Steelers have had the #1 defense in the NFL in total yardage allowed, and that's with all the big name players they've developed then had to replace...guys like Joey Porter, Earl Holmes, Kendrell Bell, and Kimo von Olehoffen, all signed big contracts elsewhere, but each time the Steelers filled the void with drafting smart and finding gems. LaMarr Woodley was a 2nd rounder. Larry Foote, a 4th. NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison, undrafted.
I think if there is another team that might approach that kind of organizational consistency in the coming years, it's the Giants. With what they have in place, it looks like they'll be a strong contender for a long time. I like what I've seen so far from the Reese/Coughlin combination, and I think they'll make the right moves this offseason to add to the strong young nucleus they have. Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward are both becoming free agents. Obviously, re-signing Jacobs is a must. And I don't expect to see Plaxico Burress back in a Giants' uniform, so wide receiver will be another pressing need. The lack of a downfield threat really hurt them towards the end of last season. On defense, it appears they're set, but if there is one area that can imrpove the most, it's the secondary, which is simply slightly above average, and middle linebacker, where Antonio Pierce is starting to show his age. In the 2009 draft the Giants have one 1st round pick, and two 2nd round picks, so I'm eager to see what they do. Ah, the NFL season never ends. The Lions are on the clock!
What a wonderful game. The Cardinals gave them a heck of a fight, but the Pittsburgh Steelers won their 6th Super Bowl. We are so often prone to the "Error of Recency," wherein the last thing we see tends to resonate the most. But sometimes it can actually be true, and I believe that over the past two seasons, we've seen the best two Super Bowls ever. Last year's is still #1, but this was close. It's going to be a long 6 or 7 months without the NFL, but whenever I feel the need to watch a game, I can turn on either one of these past two Super Bowls anytime, and become happy.
A few immediate observations from the game...
-Ben Roethlisberger has cemented himself as a great quarterback. He was clutch, tough, and incredibly poised. So few times in Super Bowl history has a quarterback led a game winning, length of the field drive with under two minutes to go, but Big Ben did it. (Eli Manning did it last year too - am I mentioning last year's Super Bowl a little too much yet?) And I have never seen a quarterback scramble so well behind the line of scrimmage. Roethlisberger made so many great plays where he had to buy extra time for his receivers to get open. While Santonio Holmes was a great choice for the game's MVP, Roethlisberger would have also been a fine pick.
-And that leads me to Holmes. Dynamic, electrifying, so dangerous with the ball. The Steelers did a good job of giving him a chance to do damage, with quick, short passes, letting him run after the catch. And what else can be said about his game winning grab in the back corner of the end zone.
-Again the Error of Recency becomes a possible reason, but I can't think of a more exciting, game-changing defensive play in the history of the Super Bowl, than Harrison's interception and 100 yard return for a touchdown. His dropping back into coverage surprised Kurt Warner, and Warner made the most crucial mistake of the game. Several great blocks were thrown by the Steelers on the return, and Harrison had just enough in the tank to make it to the end zone.
-It seems like a cliche among sports fans is to be critical of an announce team, as if they could do better. But Al Michaels and John Madden did a great job calling the game. I wouldn't expect anything less from Michaels, the most polished, professional, level-headed commentator in all of sports broadcasting. Speaking of cliches, I expected to hear a lot of them regarding the Cardinals and the underdog angle. I'd have set the over/under line at about 25 on how many times they'd say the words "unheralded," or "unsung hero." But that never came. Not once that I heard. I owe you an apology, Al, I should have known better. And while Madden will be guilty of stating the obvious at times, he didn't do it nearly to the level he's satirized for.
-If I have one criticism of NBC however, it's the lack of variety on replays. For instance, the Steelers kept Larry Fitzgerald from hurting them for most of the game, and I would have liked to seen how. Reportedly, NBC had about 40 or 50 cameras on the game, so surely one or two were fixed on Fitzgerald on each play. Show us exactly why Fitzgerald wasn't open, and what kind of coverages the Steelers used. Pittsburgh left a lot of Arizona receivers wide open in the flats - show us where those Steeler defenders were. The average football watcher, especially in the general audience for the Super Bowl, was probably wondering, "Why don't they just throw it to Fitzgerald? He's awesome."
-And that leads me to Fitzgerald...who is awesome. Yes, he was taken away for most of the game, but like a ticking time bomb, he finally went off in the 4th quarter with his deep TD catch and run right down the middle. It was quite a lapse in coverage by Pittsburgh, and it was all Fitzgerald needed. Fitzgerald also unleashed his inner Tyree with his other TD, using the top of his helmet to aid his leaping catch. By the way, David Tyree already wrote a book, but I think "Unleash Your Inner Tyree" would be a great title for a motivational book. It would also need a good subtitle, incorporating his jersey number. I'm thinking, "Unleash Your Inner Tyree: 85 Ways To Improve Your Life."
-The one tactical decision by the Steelers that I'll question, is Coach Mike Tomlin's decision not to go for it on 4th and inches at the goal line after Roethlisberger's TD run was overturned. In some ways, when a coach decides to kick a field goal from inside the one yard line, he is telling his team that he doesn't believe in them to get that half a yard. I think this can be very deflating, even though points are put on the board. Even if you're stopped, you've pinned the other team on the one yard line to start their drive. If I was a head coach, there would be very few circumstances where I wouldn't go for it on 4th and inches at the goal line.
-Hines Ward is super tough, but was not a big factor in the game. I think he was still really hurting.
In closing, I am really happy for the Steelers and their fans. The win could not have come for a better organization, or fan base. I've said this before, but unlike the Cowboys and their 1970s marketing ploy that the more uninitiated fans fell for, the Steelers are the real America's Team.
The Giants have reportedly reached a four-year deal with Brandon Jacobs. Far be it for me to call $25 million a small amount, but in NFL terms, I'm really surprised at how low this amount looks. At just over $6 million per year on average, this contract won't cripple the Giants' salary cap, and Jacobs was the one guy they had to keep.
