Sunday, January 08, 2012

Exploring A Cliche

"That's why they play the game."

Three years ago, I made the mistake of calling the Arizona Cardinals the worst team to make the playoffs in the history of the NFL. All they did after that was go on one of the best playoff runs in recent history, coming this close (hold up thumb and forefinger) to winning the Super Bowl.

And that's why I didn't say the same thing last week about the Denver Broncos, even though I was beginning to think the same thing about them. But the truth of the matter is, with the parity that we see in today's NFL, that there really isn't that huge a gap any more between 15-1 and 8-8. Sure, three of the Wild Card weekend games were close to being blowouts, but to my thinking the Pittsburgh-Denver game had the biggest potential to be a rout, and as we all now know, it didn't quite turn out that way.

You can watch a clip of the winning play here.

A couple of comments about the play. Number one, I missed it live. Since this sort of thing never happens, I figured it was safe to go outside and set up the barbecue for dinner. And my reward for that was walking back in and seeing the massive celebration out on the field. But, no matter. It was still very cool.

Number two, Tim Tebow on that play looked just like Steve Young throwing the slant route pass to Jerry Rice. Just sayin'.

Number three, major kudos to Phil Simms for his comment, while the ball is still in flight, "got 'em." Just matter of fact, but that is exactly why Simms is one of the best.

And lastly, just listen to the crowd noise - how it grows as Thomas gets closer to the end zone, but just explodes once he crosses the goal line.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, regardless of what you think of Tim Tebow, is exactly why we watch pro football. The Patriots better watch out - because a team like this one can be very dangerous.

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