Good news from the wild card hunt. The Jets, Chiefs and Broncos all took losses putting them in the crowded field of 7-6 teams. Cincy, sadly, beat the Raiders to keep their run alive. Right now Jacksonville and Cincy are the 7th and 6th seeds respectivly.
ESPN's Len Pasquarelli had a nice piece about the game, worth a read if you're interested in what the worldwide leader has to say about things.
Not related to the Jags, but I have a ton of respect for what the Chargers are doing and especially LT. He's such a team focused guy that even as he shatters records he makes sure that everyone on the field get's their share of credit. He's mastered my favorite TD Celebration, the ye olde "hand the ball to the ref and run to the sideline" approach. It'll be unfortunate if he has to get shut down by the Jags in the playoffs.
We've got another big time game this week. The Titans are looking pretty hot and Vince Young has really gotten this team going. I think they look pretty lopsided and Defensive Mastermind Mike Smith shouldnt have too much trouble game planning to keep Young in the pocket. Vince's last experence against the Jags was pretty rough, hard to tell how much has changed.
That being said, Jacksonville HAS to take this game seriously. We maintained great composure against the Colts and afterwords all focus was on what's happening next week. We've still got to win against the surging Titans, stagnating Pats, and fading Chiefs to make it to the playoffs.
I'm glad Baltimore beat the Chiefs in December so that Jacksonville wouldn't have that habit to worry about breaking come December 31st.
The Folks over at Stampede Blue are in a bit of a funk right now and I have to say I feel for em. It's hard to have as much talent as they have and yet know that the window is rapidly closing. They need to re-make that entire defense.
Ok, this week will be interesting. I've got some traveling to do as I transition into my winter headquaters (Somewhere beteween Here and Here. There will probably be some sort of cross blogging with the folks over at Music City, with most of my blogging coming later in the week.
The NFL is a weird place. Yesterday we hated the Colts, but now we have to (ugh) hope they beat Cincy. I know there is a far-fetched hope to win the division (which would require Indy to drop the next three games, Jax to win the next three, and a few dozen tiebreakers) but I think the best option is to focus on winning the wild-card (we can take the Colt's at home just as easy)
Enjoy the Victory folks, but eyes on the prize!
-Chris