Rex Ryan and the New York Jets took trash-talking to another level before their matchup against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. Most people thought he was crazy for all of the trash-talking against a team that was 14-2. The Patriots also beat the Jets 45-3 a month before, so many couldn't understand them. It took a lot for the Jets to back up their talk, and they certainly did so with an outstanding defensive performance that was completely different from their last matchup against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The way the coach and the players are talking, one could definitely figure out that the players are buying in 100 percent into Ryan.
Giants S Antrel Rolle and S Kenny Phillips were on radio earlier in the week talking about Ryan and the Jets. They both proceeded to state that they would love to have a coach like Ryan, while also saying current Giants' coach Tom Coughlin needs to lighten up a little bit and let the players have fun on the field as opposed to treating it like a business. This probably didn't sit well with the Giants camp, as Coughlin received a vote of confidence from the owners and is probably expected to receive a contract extension. Rolle was signed last offseason to a five-year deal and it didn't take long for him to open his mouth. After the second game of the season, a 38-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Rolle expressed frustration with Coughlin and how he's running the team.
C'Mon Man! We are talking about Rolle and Phillips, who at best are slightly overrated, and Coughlin, who is a Super Bowl champion. Coughlin was very successful in his first NFL coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coughlin led the Jaguars to two AFC title games, the first one being in their second season of existence. Coughlin has a track record to prove that he can run the ship however he wants to because he's been successful. Rolle came from an Arizona Cardinals team who, outside their Super Bowl appearance in the 2008 season, are nothing but losers. Rolle comes from a losing culture, so who in the world is he to be expressing how a coach should run the team? Rolle thinks the players need to have fun while doing their jobs. Absolutely. However, if he thinks the Jets will forever be successful with Ryan, think again. When the Jets aren't winning and everything is going wrong, they'll quit on Ryan. The Cowboys did it with Wade Phillips, after they continuously praised him after he took over for Bill Parcells.
ESPN's First Take is certainly a good watch for sports fan looking for a sports show that combines a little bit of everything. Skip Bayless, a regular on the show's 1st and 10 segment, is known to make statements and predictions where the average person wouldn't necessarily agree. This week in football, there's a lot to talk about going into the conference championship matchups. Naturally, it was certainly going to be interesting to see what Bayless had to say about the Jets and the NFC Championship game between rivals Packers and Bears. However, Bayless seems content with how he feels about particulars in sports, and it clouds his mind from reality.
In the week leading up to the Jets-Patriots matchup, Bayless constantly ripped Rex Ryan for trash-talking a team that demolished them a month before. He also tried to make the argument that many players wouldn't want to play for a coach like that. Terry Bradshaw made that point also about Ryan on the FOX Pregame Show on Sunday. Bayless was steadfast in his belief that Ryan would lose the battle to Belichick because of his stubborn talk all week. The Jets won that matchup and proved Bayless wrong. This week, Bayless is also maintaining his argument that QB Jay Cutler is better than QB Aaron Rodgers. He said that 50 percent of sports fan love Rodgers because of what QB Brett Favre did to the Packers. He also says the Packers were idiotic for letting Favre go when he wanted to come back from retirement and letting Rodgers take the reins a season after they made an appearance in the NFC Championship Game.
C'Mon Man! Bayless seems to be the stubborn one. No one can convince him that his thoughts and beliefs are wrong. There is no way Cutler is anywhere close to the level of Rodgers. Rodgers is in another class than Cutler. Bayless made the argument that he would trust Cutler in a two-minute situation more than Rodgers. While the numbers suggest Rodgers hasn't even been in that situation that much, anyone would clearly take the better quarterback in a two-minute situation, which is Rodgers. Cutler doesn't have good numbers in those situations either, and I can't figure out why Bayless is fascinated with Cutler. I believed Cutler was going to be a good quarterback also, when he was with the Broncos. However, his late season fold in his final season with them proved to me that he isn't better than decent. Bayless needs to pay more attention. He is clearly wrong with some of his beliefs.
The conclusion of the college football season came with Auburn winning the national championship over Oregon. However, TCU's performance in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin has people thinking they definitely should've been in the championship game also. How can you justify putting TCU over Oregon or Auburn, the way both of those teams have been playing all season? This brings up the argument that a playoff system is definitely needed. How will that playoff system be constructed and when will it be ready? We can all agree that the past several bowl seasons have been nothing but a joke. The only bowl game that actually matters is the national championship game.
So is there anyone who believes we should continue with the bowl system forever? If you were watching ESPN's College Football Live on Thursday, you got that answer. College football analyst Todd Blackledge stated that the NCAA should continue with the bowl system because it brings fun for the players. He said the experience the players get in the week leading up to the bowl game in the respective cities are invaluable and provide a great time for the coaches and players to bond. Blackledge certainly isn't just looking at a true postseason as validation to change the system. He believes the experience for college players is validation enough to keep the bowl system.
C'Mon Man! The experience? Really? Get real. We need a true postseason system where a national champion is determined the right way. Blackledge probably doesn't believe in a true playoff system because he was a failure and a draft bust in Kansas City. College football needs some sort of playoff system. The tricky part is how that would be put in place. Will there be only the top 25 teams admitted into the postseason? Will there be just the top 12? Sitting down and figuring it out shouldn't be that hard because there are many people out there with brilliant ideas to go about this. Most schools are off for a four-week period between the fall and spring semesters. That should be an adequate amount of time in running a playoff system. The long layoff for these teams from their last regular season game to the bowl game is ridiculous anyway.
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