When New York Jets coach Herm Edwards was asked about the likelihood of a 2-6 football team making the playoffs, he reminded reporters that the Jets came back from a 2-5 record to make the playoffs two years ago.
With the Jets struggling all year to find an identity, New York might have found the missing piece to the puzzle for the second half of the season in Brooks Bollinger.
Bollinger was awful in his first start, forcing the Jets to ring up former starting quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who had been getting used to watching football games on the couch. On Sunday, however, the Jets' offense could not do much of anything in the first half against the San Diego Chargers scoring just one touchdown on a bomb to tight-end Chris Baker.
With the Chargers cruising 28-10 in the third quarter, Edwards changed things up and inserted Bollinger into the lineup. Although New York still went on to lose the game, Bollinger sparked the team's impotent offense helping orchestrate a solid comeback.
Bollinger was the Jets' third string quarterback at the beginning of the year behind Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler. When the vertically-challenged Bollinger entered the game on Sunday, the Chargers upped their blitz frequency and kept their hands in the air while rushing the quarterback to try and take advantage of the new QB's stature.
With San Diego blitzing more, Bollinger was able to use his speed to get outside the pocket and burn the Chargers on a number of plays, accruing a 103.3 quarterback rating on the day.
Down 31-26 at the end of the fourth quarter, the Jets, on San Diego's three yard line, were in prime position to take the lead and earn a comeback victory over the Chargers. Even with a dominant running back like Curtis Martin, however, New York still decided to throw the ball three straight times in an attempt to exploit a weak San Diego secondary without cornerback Sammy Davis.
Bollinger's height, however, factored in on a crucial third and goal play. San Diego defensive end Jamal Williams was able to knock down a Bollinger pass with receivers open in the end zone. On fourth down, Bollinger threw a fade route to wide receiver Justin McCareins that was dropped erasing the Jets' chance for the upset.
Philadelphia Eagles wide-receiver Terrell Owens has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is impossible to have on a team without causing controversy. There is no question that if TO could not survive Andy Reid than there is probably no coach in football that will tolerate him.
Reid, Edwards, and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy are probably the three biggest players' coaches in football. Reid gave Owens every chance in the world, but a fight with Hugh Douglas, the Eagles' ambassador, and refusing to mention Donovan McNabb in his media apology are probably the straws that broke the camel's back.
It was not that long ago that the Green Bay Packers, under the tenure of hall of fame candidate Ron Wolf, were churning out 12, 13, and 14-win seasons. But the Packers are now 1-6 and have a starting running back named Samko Gado. The biggest question for the Packers is why they chose to give coach Mike Sherman a contract extension.
Green Bay's offense suffers from poor play just as much as bad coaching. They have never been forced to control future hall-of-famer Brett Favre, but the aging QB's accuracy has declined tremendously in recent years making those plays that used to be SportsCenter highlights now interceptions. It has not helped that the Packers lost Javon Walker, their best wide receiver, for the season and fields a defense that allowed Pittsburgh Steeler backup quarterback Charlie Batch to look like pro-bowler.
