My column for Sunday. By Bill Bouldin Del Rio News Herald I tuned in to the president’s address to the nation Wednesday evening expecting to be underwhelmed. I was not disappointed. Apparently, the man has convinced himself American air power can destroy a motivated enemy with the help of a dispirited, diffident and disaffected indigenous ground force, under the guidance of a handful of American advisors. If he was a student of American history (and he is not) he would recognize this strategy from its first incarnation when it was called Vietnamization. I suspect Iraqization - or Syriaization or Kurdization - will be dashed to smithereens on the rocks of reality in due course, but not until its author has left office in search of greener fairways. In the meantime, he and his sycophants can congratulate themselves on running out the clock. Which brings us to today’s topic – What the heck is going on in the NFC East? While the other divisions of the NFL go about the business of fielding teams that demonstrate to a greater or lesser degree an understanding of the game of football, the NFC East in falling apart like a soggy taco. As a rule, the preseason games are a poor predictor of regular season performance. This year, for instance, the NY Giants went 4 for 4, the Washington Thinskins went 3 for 4, and the Philadelphia Eagles won two if you count beating the Jets as a victory. The Dallas Cowboys, on the other hand, went Oh-for-August. To the surprise of no one not named Jerry Jones, the Cowboys posted a perfect preseason record of 0 and 4, losing all its games by a combined total of 56 points. The point deficit could have been much higher, of course, if Tony Romo had been left in longer. He played only a couple of series in each game, which held the Cowboys’ losses to under triple digits. Anyone who dreamed the Cowboys could not sink any lower was rudely awakened by the first game of the regular season, when four of their first five possessions ended in a turnover. By the end of the first quarter, Jerry Jones’ strategy for the season was plain – he intends to nail down that first pick in the 2015 draft at all costs. The bad news is that the Philadelphia Eagles won their first game of the 2014 season. The worse news is that single win may be all it takes to sweep the NFC East division. Sorry, there is no good news. Statistician and sports journalist Paul Bessire over at Predictalor ran 50,000 computer simulations of every game in the 2014 season and came to the conclusion the teams most likely to reach the AFC playoffs were 1) Broncos 2) Bengals 3) Patriots 4) Colts 5) Dolphins and 6) Texans. The Broncos will beat the Patriots for the conference title, he figures. The NFC playoffs will most likely feature 1) Seahawks 2) Saints 3) Eagles 4) Packers 5) 49ers and 6) Vikings. The Seahawks will top the Saints as the NFC champs. The Predictalator predicts the 2015 Superbowl will see the Denver Broncos beat the stuffing out of the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 24 to 23. Before you call your bookie, keep in mind this same Predictalator had the San Francisco 49ers beating Denver in the 2014 Superbowl, and we all know how that turned out. To end on a positive note, it was heartwarming to see several male – and female – Ravens fans sporting Ray Rice’s jerseys at the Thursday night game between Denver and Baltimore. Apparently clocking your fiancée and dragging her body around like a sack of potatoes is just what they want to see from their professional athletes. Who said chivalry was dead in Baltimore? It’s not dead, it’s just unconscious. (By the way, the Predictalator was silent on the number of days Janay Rice will stick around after the money runs out.) INTERESTING HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK: Sept 14th – National Cream Filled Donut Day. 15th – Felt Hat Day (Put away the straws and break out the Stetsons) 19th – ITLAPD (If you have to ask, you’re a scurvy dog. No grog for you.)
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 15:42:45 +0000
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