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12-18-2006, 09:08 PM
December 18, 2006
Sports of The Times
In the N.F.L., Just Being Good Can Be Enough
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/columns/williamcrhoden/?inline=nyt-per)
MINNEAPOLIS
Things change in an instant in the National Football League. This is not your father’s N.F.L.; it’s not even mine, though I’m starting to wrap my mind around it.
In the new, salary-cap N.F.L., you don’t have to be great to win the Super Bowl. You have to be hot, and right now the Jets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newyorkjets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) are hot.
This isn’t solely a reaction to Sunday’s 26-13 victory against the hapless Minnesota Vikings (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/minnesotavikings/index.html?inline=nyt-org). I’m reacting more to the mercurial nature of the N.F.L.
The foundation of the league’s popularity is a fragile, week-to-week competitive balance in which you really are only as good as your last game.
The up-and-down Jets are symbolic of this era. We’ve seen them lose to Cleveland at Cleveland, then beat New England at New England. They routed Green Bay (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/greenbaypackers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) on the road, then lost last week to Buffalo at home. Their fate is not in their own hands, but if luck is on their side and they sneak in — watch out.
You don’t have to be great, just hot.
•
After yesterday’s game, receiver Laveranues Coles (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/laveranues_coles/index.html?inline=nyt-per) put the victory in the context of a playoff race. “The great thing about it is that we bounced back and won a football game,” he said. In fact, the Jets have won three of their past four games.
I don’t know what to make of salary-cap football. The talent certainly isn’t mediocre, but the teams certainly can be. In the days of old, a handful of teams controlled most of the victories: the Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/clevelandbrowns/index.html?inline=nyt-org), then the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/pittsburghsteelers/index.html?inline=nyt-org). Dominance was gauged decade to decade. Today, dominance is week to week.
There has to be something between unmitigated parity and widespread mediocrity.
Last year at this time, Pittsburgh was gaining momentum, but no one was calling the Steelers a Super Bowl team. They lost five regular-season games and reached the Super Bowl and won. Pittsburgh wasn’t a great team; the Steelers had a great run and had a good day when it mattered.
The standard for greatness in the contemporary era is the 1972 Miami Dolphins (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/miamidolphins/index.html?inline=nyt-org) team, which went undefeated. There will not be another undefeated team any time soon. The Indianapolis Colts (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/indianapoliscolts/index.html?inline=nyt-org) came close last year, but the Colts were not built defensively to go undefeated. The Baltimore Ravens (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/baltimoreravens/index.html?inline=nyt-org) of 2000 were not built offensively to go undefeated, yet they won the Super Bowl on the strength of a great defense and a hot streak.
In fact, there is no traditional greatness any more.
In this era, greatness is compartmentalized — you have an outstanding offense or a great defense. Usually not both. A great offensive line or a great secondary. Not both. New England was balanced, not great.
The fans can make the case that the Jets have balance. Coles is having a Pro Bowl season at wide receiver, and the Jets’ other starting wide receiver, Jerricho Cotchery, is having a solid complementary season. Chad Pennington (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/chad_pennington/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the quarterback, is playing intelligently and intuitively — not forcing things, not trying to be anyone’s hero.
Why the Jets?
Why not? Really.
The Jets have defeated the Patriots (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newenglandpatriots/index.html?inline=nyt-org) at New England.
And who really scares you? Does Dallas’s Tony Romo scare you? I know he entertains you, but does he scare you?
Does Eli Manning (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/eli_manning/index.html?inline=nyt-per)? Does Jeff Garcia make you shiver in your shoes? Do the Eagles (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/philadelphiaeagles/index.html?inline=nyt-org)?
The only team that has played well from wire to wire is New Orleans — America’s team — even though the Saints (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/neworleanssaints/index.html?inline=nyt-org) lost to Washington yesterday.
“I think this is a fun time of year to play football,” Eric Mangini, the Jets’ coach, said yesterday.
The Jets have had an intriguing six-year period of success and failure with Herman Edwards (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/herman_edwards/index.html?inline=nyt-per), currently the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/kansascitychiefs/index.html?inline=nyt-org), and Mangini, who succeeded Edwards.
Edwards, in his first season as the Jets’ coach, reached the playoffs in 2001. In 2002, the Jets reached the playoffs again but missed them in 2003. They reached the playoffs in 2004 — in fact, they came within an overtime of reaching the American Football Conference championship game. Then came last year’s debacle, when the Jets, playing without their first- and second-string quarterbacks, finished 4-12.
•
Today, the Jets are 8-6 and Mangini has a smile on his face.
“Winning always makes me smile,” he said. “It’s fun to win, and the way the guys worked throughout the week, they way they’ve worked throughout the season, to come out and execute after that adversity initially and play team football, play complete football, that makes me happy. But the way we played as a team makes me even happier.”
Last season, a good, not great Pittsburgh team caught fire and won the Super Bowl. The Jets are good — not great. But they’re hot.
The Jets in the Super Bowl?
Don’t laugh.
In this N.F.L., heat wins.
E-mail: [email protected]
Sports of The Times
In the N.F.L., Just Being Good Can Be Enough
By WILLIAM C. RHODEN (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/columns/williamcrhoden/?inline=nyt-per)
MINNEAPOLIS
Things change in an instant in the National Football League. This is not your father’s N.F.L.; it’s not even mine, though I’m starting to wrap my mind around it.
In the new, salary-cap N.F.L., you don’t have to be great to win the Super Bowl. You have to be hot, and right now the Jets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newyorkjets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) are hot.
This isn’t solely a reaction to Sunday’s 26-13 victory against the hapless Minnesota Vikings (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/minnesotavikings/index.html?inline=nyt-org). I’m reacting more to the mercurial nature of the N.F.L.
The foundation of the league’s popularity is a fragile, week-to-week competitive balance in which you really are only as good as your last game.
The up-and-down Jets are symbolic of this era. We’ve seen them lose to Cleveland at Cleveland, then beat New England at New England. They routed Green Bay (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/greenbaypackers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) on the road, then lost last week to Buffalo at home. Their fate is not in their own hands, but if luck is on their side and they sneak in — watch out.
You don’t have to be great, just hot.
•
After yesterday’s game, receiver Laveranues Coles (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/laveranues_coles/index.html?inline=nyt-per) put the victory in the context of a playoff race. “The great thing about it is that we bounced back and won a football game,” he said. In fact, the Jets have won three of their past four games.
I don’t know what to make of salary-cap football. The talent certainly isn’t mediocre, but the teams certainly can be. In the days of old, a handful of teams controlled most of the victories: the Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/clevelandbrowns/index.html?inline=nyt-org), then the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/pittsburghsteelers/index.html?inline=nyt-org). Dominance was gauged decade to decade. Today, dominance is week to week.
There has to be something between unmitigated parity and widespread mediocrity.
Last year at this time, Pittsburgh was gaining momentum, but no one was calling the Steelers a Super Bowl team. They lost five regular-season games and reached the Super Bowl and won. Pittsburgh wasn’t a great team; the Steelers had a great run and had a good day when it mattered.
The standard for greatness in the contemporary era is the 1972 Miami Dolphins (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/miamidolphins/index.html?inline=nyt-org) team, which went undefeated. There will not be another undefeated team any time soon. The Indianapolis Colts (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/indianapoliscolts/index.html?inline=nyt-org) came close last year, but the Colts were not built defensively to go undefeated. The Baltimore Ravens (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/baltimoreravens/index.html?inline=nyt-org) of 2000 were not built offensively to go undefeated, yet they won the Super Bowl on the strength of a great defense and a hot streak.
In fact, there is no traditional greatness any more.
In this era, greatness is compartmentalized — you have an outstanding offense or a great defense. Usually not both. A great offensive line or a great secondary. Not both. New England was balanced, not great.
The fans can make the case that the Jets have balance. Coles is having a Pro Bowl season at wide receiver, and the Jets’ other starting wide receiver, Jerricho Cotchery, is having a solid complementary season. Chad Pennington (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/chad_pennington/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the quarterback, is playing intelligently and intuitively — not forcing things, not trying to be anyone’s hero.
Why the Jets?
Why not? Really.
The Jets have defeated the Patriots (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newenglandpatriots/index.html?inline=nyt-org) at New England.
And who really scares you? Does Dallas’s Tony Romo scare you? I know he entertains you, but does he scare you?
Does Eli Manning (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/eli_manning/index.html?inline=nyt-per)? Does Jeff Garcia make you shiver in your shoes? Do the Eagles (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/philadelphiaeagles/index.html?inline=nyt-org)?
The only team that has played well from wire to wire is New Orleans — America’s team — even though the Saints (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/neworleanssaints/index.html?inline=nyt-org) lost to Washington yesterday.
“I think this is a fun time of year to play football,” Eric Mangini, the Jets’ coach, said yesterday.
The Jets have had an intriguing six-year period of success and failure with Herman Edwards (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/herman_edwards/index.html?inline=nyt-per), currently the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/kansascitychiefs/index.html?inline=nyt-org), and Mangini, who succeeded Edwards.
Edwards, in his first season as the Jets’ coach, reached the playoffs in 2001. In 2002, the Jets reached the playoffs again but missed them in 2003. They reached the playoffs in 2004 — in fact, they came within an overtime of reaching the American Football Conference championship game. Then came last year’s debacle, when the Jets, playing without their first- and second-string quarterbacks, finished 4-12.
•
Today, the Jets are 8-6 and Mangini has a smile on his face.
“Winning always makes me smile,” he said. “It’s fun to win, and the way the guys worked throughout the week, they way they’ve worked throughout the season, to come out and execute after that adversity initially and play team football, play complete football, that makes me happy. But the way we played as a team makes me even happier.”
Last season, a good, not great Pittsburgh team caught fire and won the Super Bowl. The Jets are good — not great. But they’re hot.
The Jets in the Super Bowl?
Don’t laugh.
In this N.F.L., heat wins.
E-mail: [email protected]