First of all, let me start this by commenting on the photo above. Look to the bottom left of the hand corner, you see someone holding a cue card for Eli Manning that reads “I’m going to Disney World.” I know Eli Manning seems a little dim but does he really need a cue card to remember those four words?

But what a night for football! I think this is the first time in recent memory that I remember hearing people talk about what a good game it was, not the halftime show, not the commercials but the game. And what a game it was.

Hats off to Eli Manning, who had his Elway moment last night on that final drive, showing more steely resolve and clutch than I’ve ever seen exhibited by his more famous — and frankly, better — brother, Peyton. That 3rd down when he somehow managed to escape that rush and chucked the ball downfield to David Tyree (who made one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen) is the defining moment of his career. You really can’t say enough about the job he did last night, particularly in the fourth quarter where his offensive line looked completely gassed and wasn’t providing a whole lot of protection, Manning managed the game beautifully.

Giants fans should remember how much they’ve enjoyed having Steve Spagnuolo on the sideline as defensive coordinator because this is likely the last year they will have that experience. My guess is that Spagnulo and Patriots assistant Josh McDaniels will quickly become frontrunners for the coaching vacancy in Washington. Daniel Snyder is looking to bring in a big game and Jim Fassel and Gregg Williams aren’t big names. I mean if Snyder wanted either one of them, wouldn’t he have hired them already? Coaching moves aside, the Giants defense did exactly what they needed to do last night to give them a chance to win. They punished Tom Brady snap after snap and gave him little time to find open receivers.

I have to take umbrage with something Fox color guy Troy Aikman did last night, part of a two-man team with Joe Buck, both of which I think do an excellent job. When discussing injured tight end (and preening loudmouth) Jeremy Shockey, Aikman said that there was no way the Giants were a better team with Shockey on crutches. How can that possibly be true? They won the Super Bowl without him. Not only are they a better team without him but they were the best team in football without him. The proof doesn’t get more definitive than that. It’s bad enough that Eli Manning has to put up with Plaxico Burress but the development that Manning has shown over the course of the year, plus the growing confidence he seems to have in rookies Kevin Boss and Steve Smith, will be drastically stunted if Shockey and his relentless “look at me” antics (not to mention his horrifically cheesy tattoos) return to New York. Make no mistake, the New York Giants are a better TEAM without Shockey. And Eli Manning is a better quarterback without having to worry about getting Shockey AND Plaxico Burress their touches every week.

Let me preface this by saying that I don’t think they’re going to. As a fan of football (and not commercials or halftime shows featuring old white guys chosen because they have virtually no chance of getting undressed on national television), I hope this game is closer than it has the potential to be. I wouldn’t read too much into the last game of the year when the Giants came three points from beating the Patriots. This game has the potential to be a rout.

To win the game, the Giants will have to do a couple of things really well. The first is rush the passer. The teams that have faired the best against New England have been able to get in Brady’s face and not give him time to find any of their 6,000 receivers. You certainly don’t beat the Patriots by rushing four. New York defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is going to have to roll the dice, bring a variety of blitz packages and bet that his pass rushers can get to Brady before he can find a receiver. If you give Brady time, you’ll end up losing by 35 points.

Secondly, the Giants have to find their rushing game, meaning that Brandon Jacobs can’t be the non-factor he was in the NFC Championship game. The Patriots aren’t terribly strong up the middle and the linebacking corps is just younger than John McCain so it is a unit that can definitely been had.

Last but not least, Plaxico Burress cannot, at any point in the game, do his Pre-Patriots Randy Moss impression and pout when he’s not getting the ball and not finish routes. Without a mentally stable Burress, the Giants have no chance.

For those of you who don’t know (a fact that cements the follow argument, in my opinion) this is New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker donning the milk mustache in an upcoming print ad. To put my dismay at the inclusion of Welker in this campaign in proper perspective, let me briefly note the people that have been featured in this ad in the past: Glenn Close, Spike Lee, Ron Howard, Matthew Fox, the cast of Scrubs, Larry King, Conan O’Brien, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Kevin Garnett, Marvin Harrison, Tony Hawk, Jason Kidd, Peyton, Eli and Archie Manning, Pete Sampras, Steve Nash, Alex Rodrgiuez, Cal Ripken, Jr… ok so maybe that wasn’t so brief. But Wes Welker?!?!

Don’t get me wrong Wes Welker is a nice player but make no mistake that the better receiver, arguably the best receiver since Jerry Rice, is the guy lined up on the opposite side of the field, Randy Moss. Welker is a shifty slot receiver, impossible for an outside linebacker to cover and a perfect compliment to a great receiver like Moss but let’s not get carried away. He is not, irrespective of his numbers, one of the top 20 receivers in the NFL.

If you didn’t recognize Welker’s picture at the top of this post, there’s probably a reason for that.

Had a life-altering experience this weekend as the girlfriend and I ventured to Ikea in Orlando. It was not her first time in the store but it was mine and I was blown away. I think Ikea has a genius business model and I am a little surprised that given the store’s tremendous success both in the United States and abroad that it hasn’t been imitated. The store was just smaller than an aircraft carrier and seemed to house more customers than Rhode Island has citizens but the stuff is incredibly a) cheap and b) aesthetically pleasing in a modern, quasi-hipster sort of way.

What I will say is while I love the pair of lamps, silicone tipped tongs and slotted spatula, and $1.99 cutting boards, I would never ever attempt to assemble some of the larger furniture pieces the store offers. Walking into the store, you notice all the people backing their SUVs up to the Returns/Exchanges department, a look of defeat on their face, as they haul the flat box that was supposed to be that trendy-looking armoire back to its home.

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Good for San Diego, bad for football

I watched the end of the San Diego/Indianapolis playoff game this weekend from an elliptical machine at the gym, in front of a guy on a treadmill, rooting rather loudly for the San Diego Chargers as the game neared its finish. I suspect that this guy had no particular alliance with either team and wasn’t rooting for either team but rather rooting against the Colts, presumably because they were the favorite in the game. I felt like shaking that man and making him realize what the Colts losing meant. What it meant was that one of only TWO games that we will get to watch next week will feature a Chargers team that lost to the Patriots by 24 points earlier this season. In contrast, the Colts lost to the Patriots by a mere four points, in a close contrast that was the highest-rated Sunday afternoon game since at least 1987.  I would suggest getting a good movie to watch before Sunday’s Giants/Packers NFC Championship game/Brett Favre lovefest at 4:30. This thing is going to get ugly early. I’ll take the Patriots by 65 points.

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Shut up, Philip Rivers

Did anyone see the Chargers quarterback jaw-jacking with Colts fans at the end of Sunday’s game? I am tired of this kid. Shut up and play. What I’ll say about Rivers is that he has done an awful lot of talking and fist pumping for a guy with 21 TDs to 15 INTs on the year and not to mention.. HE DIDN’T EVEN FINISH THE GAME! If you had nothing to do with the outcome of a game, which he didn’t give credit where it’s due, in this case to Billy Volek, you can’t be trash talking to anyone. I’m tired of Philip Rivers. The dude has been to a single Pro Bowl and is lucky to be playing on a team with LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates.

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T.O. Cries

That’s all…

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Toshiba’s Hail Mary 

Word in the tech world this morning is that Toshiba is slashing prices on its HD-DVD players. The players, one of which I happen to own, will now range in price from $150 to $300. This is all fine and good but what Toshiba doesn’t seem to realize is that the problem isn’t the cost of the players. The problem was never the cost of the players. They are losing the format war agains Blu-Ray because studios have aligned themselves with the Sony’s technology and signed exclusive deals. What this means for consumers is that sure, they will have a top of the line HD-DVD player but they won’t have any High Definition content to play on it. I think it’s very unfortunate that this has played out the way it has for consumers. Consumers are the real losers here because instead of allowing the market to play out and consumers decide which technology they prefer, the studios have decided it for us by signing this exclusivity deals with Blu Ray or HD - DVD (much more so the former than the latter). My hope is that the two sides can make some sort of agreement that will allow the Blu Ray discs to be formatted to play on the HD DVD players or else a lot of consumers will be out a lot of money.

Tim Tebow won the Heisman

Shouldn’t have come to a surprise as anyone. Ever since Dennis Dixon went down against Arizona towards the end of the season (torpedoing the Ducks’ season, his Heisman chances and the Oregon offense), Tebow was my pick to win the award. I agree with ESPN’s Ed Cunningham that this is an award that should be voted on after the bowl season but no one, up until this point, has had been as consistently great as Tebow has. Period. Say what you want about the Gators’ three losses (which this season didn’t put a BCS bowl that far out of reach), Tebow was the reason that team won nine games this season. I thought Darren McFadden was completely undeserving of the award given his mid-season slump and then spectacular last two games. More deserving of a chance to New York than McFadden and Mizzou QB Chase Daniel was Central Florida’s Kevin Smith who, after the Knights Liberty Bowl game against Mississippi State, could put together the greatest season by any college running back ever. Despite his 2,400 yards, Smith was never mentioned in connection with the Heisman, which I think is criminal. But congrats to Tebow who becomes the third Gator to win the Heisman and the first since Destin’s Danny Wuerffel took home the prize in 1996.

The Patriots won’t lose this year

The first half of yesterday’s Steelers/Patriots game was an entertained as I’ve been watching the NFL since.. well, since the Patriots/Colts or the Patriots/Ravens last Monday night. Make no mistake, this team is beatable but none of the teams they play for the rest of the year have the means to exploit their weaknesses. The Steelers, Ravens and Colts have all found ways to take the Pats to the wire but the team always finds a way to create one or two turnovers and win late. Yesterday’s game was no exception. Struggling to stop the Steelers offense (whose strategy was conservative to say the least), the Patriots pulled out the throwback pass and broke the Steelers back. The team never recovered from that touchdown in the third quarter and the league’s only unbeaten team cruised to an easy victory. There are a couple areas of concern if you’re a Patriot fan. One is dropped passes. What I’ve seen when watching the Patriots the last two weeks is tight end Benjamin Watson, the wildly, grossly overrated Wes Welker and Randy Moss all routinely drop catchable balls, particularly in the red zone. Against a better team, that could be an issue. Two, the Patriots defense is especially weak at the corners. The linebacking corps of the Patriots is pretty good in coverage and isn’t giving up a lot underneath but Ellis Hobbs and James Sanders are hardly players without exploitable weaknesses. If yesterday’s game proved nothing it’s that you can’t be afraid to take shots downfield against this Patriot defense and the Steelers were. The last game of the season, one that many of us will never seen because it’s on NFL Network, could be a good one. The Giants have a great pass rush with Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora coming off the edge but they are weak at corner and even weaker at safety and not giving Tom Brady time to sit in the pocket and throw has been huge for success against this Patriot offense. The Giants have big play wide receivers with Plaxico Burress but I wonder about Eli Manning’s ability to hold up under pressure and the mental toughness of the Giants as a whole.

Larry Bird and Jamaal Tinsley should both be on the next flight out of Indianapolis

For those of you who haven’t heard, Pacers point guard Jamaal Tinsley has been involved in yet another off-the-court incident involving a late night, a nightclub and guns. This time, it appears that the Pacers point guard had his Rolls Royce sprayed with assault rifle fire after an argument at an Indianapolis nightclub at three in the morning. Tinsley was not hurt but the Pacers equipment manager was shot in both elbows. Again, the Pacers are reprimanding Tinsley for being out so late and using bad judgment and putting himself in harm’s way but how many times will the team stand behind this knucklehead while he continue to embarrass himself, his team, his league and the community? It’s time to cut him loose. Now onto Larry Legend. When will he and team president Donnie Walsh be held accountable for what this team has become? Upon Bird’s arrival he has made questionable, borderline awful personnel moves and took a perennial playoff team, brought in guys with questionable character and turned it into the 2007 version of the Portland Jailblazers. In a city that has a team like the Indianapolis Colts, the community will not continue to support a team that conducts themselves as poorly off and on the court as this one does and it’s time that Larry be shown the door for bringing in, and standing behind, guys like Marquis Daniels, Stephen Jackson and Jamaal Tinsley.

With all due respect to Vic Carruci of NFL.com, a great sportswriter who I grew up reading in the Buffalo News, he’s out of his mind.

Pittsburgh is for real.

In an article today on NFL.com, Carruci writes that he is unmoved by Pittsburgh’s complete dismantling of Baltimore on Monday night and is not willing to include the 6-2 Steelers among the league’s elite. And I think he’s nuts.

For me, it wasn’t that the Steelers obliterated the Ravens, it was how they did it. For me a perfect encapsulation of the personality of this team was when Hines Ward went right at Ed Reed, arguably one of the league’s best defensive players and de-cleated him. This team isn’t afraid of anyone. Not New England. Not Indianapolis. Not anyone.

An offense that is coming together nicely is paired with the league’s best defense. Check the books. 1st in points allowed, 1st in yards allowed, 1st in passing yards allowed and fourth best in the league against the rush. If Ben Roethlisberger can string together games like the one he had Monday night, a game where, irrespective of the touchdowns he threw, he played within himself and was accurate, this team is going to be very scary come playoff time.

Mark it down. If the Steelers have to travel to the RCA Dome in January to play the Colts. They will beat them. Soundly.

It was the Colts’ offense, not their defense, that was the team’s weak point yesterday.

Having lived in Indiana for some length of time, I know that criticizing Peyton Manning is somewhat blasphemous but someone has to. Make no mistake, it was Manning and the Colts offense’s inability to convert points in the red zone in the first quarter of the mega-game against New England that led to their ultimate demise. Word to the wise for future Patriot opponents: If you get within scoring distance three times in the first quarter, put the ball in the end zone.

And then there’s Manning inability to perform under pressure — again. The fumble-turned-interception that put the nail in the Colts’ coffin was evidence of my belief that the eldest Manning quarterback is one of the league’s worst performers under pressure and almost always shrinks when it counts and when the game is on the line. The last quarterback in the world I want to see trotting onto the field with two minutes to go and my team down four is Peyton Manning because in his career, which has been great, he has never delivered in those moments. For the record, you may be wondering who the first quarterback I would want to see in the huddle on that final drive? That would be the quarterback who stood on the opposite sideline Sunday, Tom Brady. Manning has never had a marquee, Elway-Montana or even Brady-like moment that you point to and go, “Wow, that was really clutch.” He’s a fairweather quarterback and simply, a fairweather leader. Remember when Mike Vanderjagt, who is an absolute dope, criticized Manning and Dungy for lacking fire? I didn’t think then and still don’t think that was an invalid criticism, in spite of the ridiculous source of said criticism. Did you see Manning bouncing his helmet-clad skull into those of his lineman yesterday in the huddle? I rest my case.

All of that being said, I will be happy to never heard the phrase “Super Bowl 41 1/2″ uttered again ever and the importance of the outcome of this game is wildly overstated by the media and fans but I think the players and coaches have put the final score in its proper perspective. Tom Brady said the game “didn’t matter,” appropriately noting that it was in January when the winners and losers of a game is of any significant import. If the Colts won the game and got homefield advantage, it wouldn’t exclude them from potentially losing to the Patriots in the playoffs and vice versa for the Pats. It was an entertaining game that showed us, if nothing else, that the Patriots offense is as diverse as advertised and the Colts defense has come an incredibly long way in a year and may, in the future, be one of the league’s best.

The league’s best two running backs are Joseph Addai and Adrian Peterson

And I’m not just basing that on yesterday’s performance, where Adrian Peterson ran for a jaw-dropping 296 yards on his way to slicing, dicing and downright humiliating the Chargers defense, I’m basing that on facts. Peterson is a shoe-in to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and had it not been for Tom Brady’s soon-to-be-record-breaking-season, he would be a realistic candidate for MVP. Never have I seen a player’s college game translate so literally into an NFL career but Peterson is running and playing exactly the way he did at Oklahoma. Of course, Peterson has a penchant for big debuts, if you’ll remember his rookie year at Oklahoma where he was a Heisman finalist. If he can stay healthy, Peterson may be one for the ages.

And then there’s Addai, who is one of the most consistent and steady running backs in the league. I’m not sure there is a player who sees the field better and makes sharper cuts than the second year man out of LSU. He catches balls out of the back field and he’s a threat to break it everytime he gets his hands on the ball. While his greatness may be lost in an offense that includes Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison and Dallas Clark, don’t get it twisted, getting Addai 20-30 touches a game is integral to this offense being effective.

Ohio State is really good.. no, seriously…

I’ve been down this road before with Jim Tressel’s Buckeyes and I’m hesitant to believe in this team after last year’s stomping at Florida, a stomping that I boldly predicted in our paper wouldn’t happen. In the words of the epic 80s hair metal band Great White I’m “once bitten, twice shy.” But this team is apparently for real after routing a pretty good Wisconsin team this weekend. I’m not convinced that this effective but underwhelming team has the metal to take it into the Big House and pull out a win against archrival Michigan but they’re really good. Quarterback Todd Boeckman is the second-coming of Craig Krenzel and Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline are becoming two viable big-time scoring threats and Beanie Wells is one of the most punishing and quick running backs in the country. After seeing them pound Wisconsin in convincing fashion, I think I’m ready to believe.

Oregon is the second best team in America

One of the nation’s three remaining unbeaten teams solidified their place in the National Championship this weekend — for now. After beating USC soundly last weekend, the Ducks got ready and beat a previously unbeaten —and head-scratching fourth-ranked — Arizona State team. Dennis Dixon is the Heisman trophy frontrunner, Jonathan Stewart is one heck of a running back and their defense isn’t too bad either. Sorry LSU but you can’t be ranked higher than an unbeaten team who plays in a conference that is equally as tough as your own. I would love to see an Oregon/Ohio State national championship game. James Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman and Malcolm Jenkins against Dennis Dixon, Jonathan Stewart and the explosive Oregon offense. That’s a game I would love to watch.

Darren McFadden isn’t out of the Heisman race just yet

Just when pre-season Heisman shoe-in Darren McFadden had become a distant memory, the Razorback junior goes out and rushes for 323 yards. For my money, I still think Knowshon Moreno is the best running back in the SEC but McFadden is almost a lock to be taken in the top 5 in next year’s NFL draft and for good reason — he’s simply filthy.

The Hoosiers are bowl eligibile

Finally. Six wins. It’s tough not to get emotional when I think about my alma mater finally going to a bowl game after all these years but it seems a fitting accomplishment for this team, this year. Make no mistake, this is a tribute to Coach Hep, who lost his battle with brain cancer this summer and made a fanbase and a team of underachievers believe that we could go where we hadn’t gone in more than a decade. While their win Saturday doesn’t guarantee a trip to Tampa or Orlando or San Antonio or Tempe, it gets the Hoosiers one step closer to Hep’s dream of playing 13.