Go win this thing, Peyton

The ball was right there in his hands, but then it slipped out. This time was different, though.

Instead of slipping right back into the New England Patriots' hands, as so many of these games had before, Reggie Wayne snatched that ball out of the air and cradled it in his arms as he fell to the ground. First down, 23 yards closer to one of the greatest comebacks any of us have ever seen. (To quote Barney from How I Met Your Mother, it would be "legendary.")

To me, that play, just before the two-minute warning at the end of last night's game, was an allegory for the Indianapolis Colts' recent playoff failures. How many times have the Colts had their eyes on the prize, had it right in their hands, only to see the Patriots take it away - and kick them down the stairs, for good measure?

But this time, Charlie Brown got to kick that football. Lucy couldn't pull it away, no matter how hard she may have tried. Peyton Manning and the Colts had the answers. They made the plays when they counted the most. They finally ran through the wall they'd been banging their heads against for so many years.

This thing was over in the second quarter. 21-3? Asante Samuel's 39-yard interception return for a touchdown was yet another slap right to Manning's face. And you had to wonder what was going to happen to the Colts after this game. Because if they couldn't beat the Patriots this time, when the hell were they going to do it?

But wasn't it even sweeter with that comeback? Could it really have happened any other way? The Patriots had to beat Peyton Manning down and rub his face in the dirt before he could push them off, get back up, and fight back. It was like an old Hulk Hogan wrestling match. The Hulkster looks beaten. The Iron Sheik keeps hammering away. But he keeps taking the punches, until that last one finally jolts him back to life. And then the rally begins.

Yet until it actually happened, until Manning finished off one of those drives that makes a quarterback legendary, until Joseph Addai pushed into the end zone with one minute left in the game, did such a comeback seem possible? Because we've never seen this before. The Patriots don't lose these games - especially to the Colts.

Even when Indianapolis beat New England earlier in the season, it seemed like the Patriots let it happen. They didn't attack Manning with blitzes as they had before. They didn't run Corey Dillon and Laurence Maroney into the middle of that soft Colts defense. Belichick was just toying with Indianapolis, right? He had to be holding stuff back for that inevitable playoff rematch. Any time he wanted to, he could unleash the hounds on Manning.

But not last night. Tony Dungy and his staff should hold clinics on whatever adjustments they made during halftime. Instead of looking at the scoreboard and curling into the fetal position, the Colts came out with purpose.

Even Manning seemed more focused. He cut down on the pre-snap histrionics. No pointing to the right, hand signals to the left. No stepping back from center, pointing at a blitzer, yelling out instructions to his backs and receivers, and stepping under center again for an audible that may or may not have been called. No more trying to fool the defense. Just do what you do, and see if they can stop it.

And this time, the Patriots couldn't. Not only that, they were the ones committing costly penalties. They were the ones dropping the wide-open passes. They were the ones who'd look back on this game and kick themselves.

For the Colts' sake, I hope it doesn't end here. I get a little uneasy when I see a team celebrate like Indianapolis did right after the game. I know they cleared a huge hurdle, and going to the Super Bowl is one hell of an accomplishment. And doing it in front of the home fans had to make it feel that much more special.

But I couldn't help but think of the Pistons after they beat the Celtics in '88, or the Tigers after beating Oakland last season. Both those teams acted as if they'd already won the championship. Yes, they had to celebrate. It was only natural, considering all the frustration that came beforehand. I've obviously never been in such a position, but it seems like it'd be difficult to come back from that and play again. And I hope the Colts don't fall into that trap. That was just too good a comeback to waste.

Happy Hour 01/15: The Curse Even L.T. Can't Lift

Facing the possibility of losing your job after a 14-2 regular season seems pretty harsh. But when your postseason record is 5-13, and your team - which might just have been the best in the NFL - is going home after losing in the divisional round of the playoffs, I suppose you have to deal with a tough crowd.

I feel bad for Marty Schottenheimer. And I found it hard to believe that there was talk about him being fired if the Chargers lost to the Patriots.

Yet here he is, trying to digest another playoff loss. And he can't just shrug his shoulders and chalk it up to John Elway's greatness anymore. This Chargers team was probably the best team he's ever had going into the postseason. Better than those Browns teams that lost to John Elway. Better than the Joe Montana Traveling Road Show in Kansas City.

It wasn't Schottenheimer that fumbled away an interception, giving New England the ball back on the San Diego 32-yard line. Had Marlon McCree hung onto that ball, the game might have been over. The Chargers had an eight-point lead, and could've run a big chunk of the remaining six-and-a-half minutes off the clock. Yet the Patriots capitalized on the opportunity - because that's what they do - and tied the game five plays later.

However, the head coach may have made the situation even worse by challenging for a replay when it was glaringly obvious that McCree had fumbled. Down by contact? No chance, Coach. Burning what turned out to be a precious time-out on such an unnecessary challenge likely cost the Chargers crucial yards they needed for a game-tying field goal attempt.

And Schottenheimer did make the call to go for it on 4th-and-11 from the New England 30-yard line. Was he just trying not to be Andy Reid? Sure, that decision was made in the first quarter and didn't directly affect the outcome of the game. But those three points ended up being pretty important.

Dropped passes? Muffed punts? Turnovers? Personal foul and unnecessary roughness penalties? Even though the head coach didn't botch those plays, we know where the blame for such mental mistakes ultimately falls.

This one really has to hurt. Because the MVP, LaDainian Tomlinson, had a good enough game for his team to win. And the Patriots looked as beatable as they ever have in the Belichick/Brady era. Schottenheimer may never have had a better chance than this - and it could be the last one he gets.

Why I wanted the Seahawks to lose?

I didn't watch much of yesterday's Seahawks-Bears playoff game (this isn't helping my sports blogging bona fides), but I suppose I was sort of cheering for Seattle, as my default setting is to root against any Chicago sports team.

Yet while I was watching - and later listening on the radio in my car - my interests changed, and I began pulling for the Seahawks' elimination from the playoffs. It's not because of any dislike toward the team. Their uniforms look pretty cool. It's nothing against Matt Hasselbeck or Shaun Alexander. I like both of those players. I think Mike Holmgren's a very good coach. And Seattle is a city I desperately want to visit someday soon.

But if I had to hear one more reference to Seattle's Pete Hunter being a loan officer, I was probably going to shove a white-hot knitting needle through one ear and out the other.

Yes, I get it. One week, this guy is processing loans for a mortgage office. The next, a Seahawks team with no healthy defensive backs is calling him to ask if he wants to cover Terrell Owens in a playoff game. It's a fun story.

But did we have to be reminded of it every single time Hunter was involved in a play?

"Pass to Berrian out in the flat, tackled by the loan officer."

"Grossman down the sideline, incomplete. Pete Hunter on the
coverage. Did you know he was a loan officer just two weeks ago?

"Hey, maybe after the game, he can help me refinance my mortgage.

Oh yeah, you need all the help you can get with that! HAR HAR!
CHORTLE!

And oh, by the way, a gain of three up the middle for Thomas Jones..."

For the love of Starbucks, how much more of this could we have been subjected to, had the Seahawks advanced? Can you imagine if Seattle made it to the Super Bowl again, and we'd have had two weeks of loan officer stories to listen to?

So thank you, Chicago Bears. Thank you, Robbie Gould, for kicking the 49-yard field goal in overtime that sent the Seahawks home. And thanks also for sending Pete Hunter back to that mortgage office. No offense, Pete.

Could Andy Reid just kick himself?

I didn't watch a whole lot of NFL playoff action yesterday. I missed all of the Colts-Ravens game, though when I looked at the box score and saw that Indianapolis won without Peyton Manning throwing a touchdown pass, I began to think that this might be their year.

My long-term memory might be failing me, but I don't recall the Colts winning too many games like that in their years of assorted playoff disappointments. Less than 200 yards passing for Manning? And only 100 yards rushing - as a team? Winning ugly can get you a long way...

But I did get home in time for the fourth quarter of Eagles-Saints. And based on what I was able to see, I really have only one question:

Why in the name of Ron Jaworski did Andy Reid decide to punt with less than two minutes left in the game?!?

Even with two time-outs to burn, did he really think the Eagles could get the ball back with time to drive for a game-tying field goal? With the way New Orleans (especially Deuce McAllister) was running the ball?

Maybe Marty "We'll take the wind!" Mornhinweg has a greater influence over Philadelphia's play-calling than we could ever have imagined.

And this was after Reid had opted to go for it when it was 4th-and-10, only to see Jeff Garcia's pass to Hank Baskett (which would've gotten a first down) wiped out by a false start penalty. At that point in the game, how much of a difference does five yards make?

"In hindsight, I guess maybe we should have [gone for it]," Reid said after the game, "because we didn't get the ball back. I thought we would be able to get the ball back."

It was an utterly baffling decision. Had he made such a call during the regular season, maybe it would've been understandable. Maybe it would've been a valuable exercise in seeing what your defense is made of. But with the season on the line? How could a team that played with such urgency on the way to a surprising NFC East division title suddenly turn so conservative when it needed to be most daring?

That's a hell of a question for Reid, his team, and Eagles fans to chew on from now until the beginning of training camp in late July.

Friday Follow-Up #2: Those Frisky Philly Fans

Ever since the story about the two grad students who were willing to have sex for a voyeur in exchange for Eagles playoff tickets broke last weekend, I've been wondering how things ended up. Did they end up performing their way to seeing the Eagles beat the Giants last Sunday?

(Thanks to all of you who stopped by to read about that, by the way.)

According to the Eagles' AOL Fanhouse blog, the answer is... well, maybe. I suppose we should commend these kids for not kissing (or, well, you know...) and telling. But their proposal certainly drummed up some interest.

From Philadelphia Will Do (via Philly Edge - who changed his name to protect the, um... kinky?):

“We (had several) offers,” Peter said, declining to divulge details of any encounter. He said he had been contacted by five newspapers, and men’s magazine Hustler, with requests for more on the story.

He admitted to being “(un)comfortable with all the commotion this has caused.”

Peter, though, had no regrets about the posting, which was first reported on by Philebrity.com, and then subsequently by the Daily News and several national Web sites. The results of the game, however, did disappoint him.

I'm a Giants fan. She’s the Eagles fan…. This was a big game for the both of us. (It was for) bragging rights.”

So wait - she wasn't an Eagles fan, but a Giants fan? Wow, that's kinda hot. (For an early Friday evening, anyway.)

A Nick Saban in training?

This might be an unfair comparison to make, but when I heard the news last night that the Atlanta Falcons had hired Louisville's Bobby Petrino to be their new head coach, the first thing thought I had was, "Another Nick Saban in the making."

No, he hasn't moved around quite as much as Saban. At least not yet. I realize that coaching careers are typically nomadic, as you jump from staff to staff, trying to build your resume. But now that Petrino's made the jump from a college head coaching job to the NFL, let's see what happens.

If there's been a job opening at a school in a major conference or in the NFL, Petrino's probably been mentioned as a candidate. (Of course, this doesn't mean he actually expressed interest in the job.)

Ole Miss? Notre Dame? Florida? Washington? LSU? A particular highlight was when the Auburn athletic department snuck behind Tommy Tuberville's back to offer Petrino his job back in 2003. And last year, Al Davis offered Petrino the Oakland Raiders job (more than once), which he turned down.

If you signed up to play for Petrino at Louisville, how does it feel when your coach is attached to another job every other week? Is that just a part of doing business these days? Or do you go to a school with the hope and expectation that the man who convinced you to play for him will be there throughout your college career?

Meanwhile, the Cardinals athletic department did everything it could, burying Petrino in extra money and contract years, to get their coach to stay. Just last summer, he signed a 10-year, $25-million extension with the school. And this year, Louisville looked like a program that could (along with the Big East conference) possibly establish a presence in college football for years to come. (Would John L. Smith have left Louisville for Michigan State if he knew what might happen four years later?)

So much for that. You have to pounce while you're hot, right? Nick Saban did the same thing when he left both MSU and LSU. No one sticks around for 15-20 years anymore. Petrino has obviously kept an eye on the NFL since working in Jacksonville as an offensive coordinator, so when Atlanta offered virtually the same amount of money with half the years, he figured it was time to bolt.

I'm kind of surprised the Falcons didn't hire Ken Whisenhunt or Cam Cameron. Those guys have shown they're creative enough to do something with Michael Vick. But maybe Whisenhunt's staying with the Steelers, and Cameron could be busy with the Chargers for up to another month. And Petrino is known for innovative and explosive offenses. Anyway, they seem pretty happy with the hire in Atlanta.

However, given the recent success rate of college coaches going to the NFL, if you're an athletic director, keeping Petrino on your list might not be a bad idea. He might be available in the next couple of years, after deciding that the pros just aren't suited for him.

Hey, at least you're not Tony Romo today

If you had a bad weekend - one of those weekends where you're actually happy to be back at work - let's try to help you turn that frown upside down. (I had a good weekend, so I'd be one of those annoying guys trying to bring sunshine into the office.)

Sit back on this Monday morning and appreciate that you weren't the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night. Even if you struck out or things didn't work to your liking, you couldn't have let the evening slip through your fingers like Tony Romo did.

In my lifetime of watching sports, something that has often amazed me is how many times a game is won by performing the simplest, most routine act, something done over and over to the point it becomes automatic.

I know, I know - athletes tune the surrounding circumstances out, get "in the zone," and just concentrate on the matter at hand. Happens all the time. But it seems to me that once you start thinking about the situation - that you really have to get it right this time, that this should be no problem because you've done it many times before - you're toast.

Do you have a better explanation for what happened to Romo against the Seahawks?

As Marty Mornhinweg once infamously said as Detroit Lions head coach, "There's no excuses in this league. Snap, hold, kick." Well, the snap was perfect, and the catch was fine. Place the ball down, and Dallas is off to Chicago for their next playoff game, right? But from there, in a split-second, it's like Romo's hands suddenly began sweating popcorn butter. Oops.

"That's as automatic a play as you have in this game," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said afterwards. "That just doesn't happen."

Another thing that sometimes amazes me in sports is how fast an athlete's fortunes can change. Since taking over for Drew Bledsoe in October, Romo has largely been on top of the sports world. It almost became comical how many interviews the guy was doing. If you had a camera and a microphone, and a sports show on television, Romo was talking to you. The can-you-believe-I'm-doing-this-right-now grin stuck on his face was charming.

He became America's sports sweetheart - a pop culture sensation - and just covering his games was no longer enough. We had to hear about the guy's social life, too. We were given more whether we wanted it or not. By the time he was voted to the NFC Pro Bowl team, I was pretty much sick of the guy. And maybe that's why my initial reaction to his botched snap on Saturday night was a Nelson Muntz-like, "HA-ha!"

After seeing him on the sideline, however, hunched over as if he might never look up from the ground again, I felt bad for Romo. Because this is the kind of thing that could ruin a promising career if he lets it stick with him. I imagine it won't. For one thing, Romo might never have to hold a place-kick in a game again. And to come from a small school and fight for a job the way he has shows that he's pretty tough.

But the burden of being the marquee player seemed to weigh Romo down during the final few games of the season. Maybe the pressure of living up to that billing finally caught up with him when he tried to place the ball down for Martin Gramatica. Is this just a painful trial that an athlete has to endure on the way to finding success? Or was this a quick flash that was destined to burn out fast?

Surely much more fun than scalping

As we've heard all too often, the playoffs are a whole different game. And apparently, that applies to scoring playoff tickets, as well.

According to today's Philadelphia Inquirer, there's an ad on craigslist.org from two "very attractive" grad students who will let you watch them have sex in exchange for Eagles-Giants seats.

Even better, these kids will let you do more than watch. You can even script the plays, if you know what I mean.

And if you're bringing your own play calls, you might want to make sure that Denny's menu-like play sheet is laminated. (Sorry - that was over the line, wasn't it?)

Just before you think this couple doesn't have any standards, there are certain plays that you wouldn't be able to call. Again, if you know what I mean. (And I really probably should leave it at that. You can go ahead and fill in the blanks yourselves. Pervs.)

So if you're at the game tomorrow, just for $#!+s and giggles, it might be fun to ask the guy next to you how he got his seats. Or maybe not. You might be eating at the time. Or with your son.

Meanwhile, you can always try those ticket brokers we bloggers have listed on our sidebars...