The Comeback Kids

I don't know if I've ever seen a regular-season NFL Sunday that had as many comebacks as we saw yesterday.

Was it because it was only the second week of the season and many players haven't gotten into mid-season form?

Or was it a sign of things to come?

We shall see, we shall see.

• The San Diego-Denver game may have been the most dramatic game on the schedule.
  
  Denver led, 31-17, at halftime, then gave up 21 points in the second half before scoring the winning touchdown with just under four minutes to play. The Chargers still had a chance to pull it out on the final play of the game, but the Broncos prevailed, 39-38.
  
  The teams combined for an astonishing 942 yards in total offense. The two starting quarterbacks combined for more than 700 yards on 57-of-83 passing — with seven TD passes and only two interceptions — between them.
  
  Kind of like a throwback to the salad days of the old AFL, isn't it?


• Speaking of starting quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers may have made Green Bay's fans forget (albeit temporarily) about Brett Favre's departure.
  
  OK, Packer fans won't forget about Favre any time soon. But Rodgers completed three first-half touchdown passes as the Packers ran up a 21-3 halftime lead on Detroit.
  
  Thanks to a couple of field goals and a couple of Calvin Johnson TD receptions, the Lions rallied to take a 25-24 lead on Green Bay in the fourth quarter, but the Packers scored the last 24 points of the game on a couple of interception returns for touchdowns and a TD run by Brandon Jackson.
  
  Rodgers is now 2-0 as the starting QB for the Packers. The last Green Bay QB who started his tenure in Titletown 2-0 was Scott Hunter, who also replaced a Super Bowl-winning legend — Bart Starr — in 1971.


• Peyton Manning led the Indianapolis Colts to a come-from-behind victory over the Minnesota Vikings on the road.
  
  The Colts trailed, 15-0, before Manning threw for a couple of TDs (one of which included a two-point conversion that tied the score), then maneuvered the team into position for kicker Adam Vinatieri to nail the game-winning field goal with three seconds remaining.
  
  Manning was another member of the 300-yard club, passing for 311 yards against the Vikings.


• The Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars have met nine times. In seven of those games, the winner has outscored the loser by six points or less.
  
  Sunday's game was no exception, as Buffalo improved to 2-0 with a 20-16 victory over the Jaguars.
  
  The Bills led, 10-3, at intermission, then relinquished the lead in the third quarter, trailing 13-10 going into the fourth quarter. But the Bills scored 10 points in the final four minutes to win the game.


• The Washington Redskins jumped out to a 3-0 lead over New Orleans in the first quarter, then fell behind at halftime, 10-9.
  
  The Saints built a two-score advantage by the end of the third quarter, 24-15, but Washington scored 15 unanswered points in the final period to win the game, 29-24.


• The Carolina Panthers remained unbeaten with a 20-17 come-from-behind victory over the Chicago Bears.
  
  The Bears led, 10-3, at halftime, and they maintained their lead by a slimmer margin, 17-13, going into the fourth quarter.
  
  But the Panthers won the game on Jonathan Stewart's 1-yard TD run with 3:52 to play.


• San Francisco and Seattle needed overtime to settle things between them.
  
  The 49ers fell behind, 14-3, in the first quarter, and trailed, 20-13, at halftime. They rallied to take the lead in the third quarter, 27-20, but Seattle took the lead, 30-27, in the fourth quarter before the 49ers tied the game on a 28-yard Joe Nedney field goal with less than 2:30 to play in regulation.
  
  Nedney won the game in the overtime period with a 40-yard field goal.

The week wraps up tonight when the Philadelphia Eagles visit the Dallas Cowboys for ESPN's Monday night football game at 7:30 p.m. (Central).

An End ... And a Beginning

Yesterday, I pointed out how few newspapers in New York paid much attention to the closing of Astroland, the last of the old-fashioned amusement parks on Coney Island.

But in today's New York Times, Cara Buckley, who apparently spent part of Sunday at Astroland, has written a fond farewell to the place. It deserves to be mentioned.

"[T]housands of visitors poured into Astroland for what appeared to be the last time," Buckley writes, "pushing toddlers in strollers and aged relatives in wheelchairs, and taking a final look at a park that may have seen better days, but was still widely adored."

It seems crowds were sizable as Astroland welcomed visitors for the final time.

But many New Yorkers who otherwise might have come to the amusement park may have chosen instead to stay home Sunday to watch quarterback Brett Favre lead the New York Jets to a season-opening 20-14 win over the Miami Dolphins.

That victory, admittedly, came against a team that hasn't been in the playoffs in awhile. Of course, the Jets have only three wins in the postseason in the last 20 years.

But it was Favre's presence that made it noteworthy, and the Jets held on to beat former Jets QB Chad Pennington and the Dolphins in Miami.

The Jets' next opponent is another AFC East foe, the New England Patriots, who won all their regular-season games and two playoff games before losing the Super Bowl last year.

Football fans had been anticipating the Jets-Patriots game since Favre signed with the Jets earlier in the summer. Initially, it was viewed as an opportunity to see two quarterbacks who will ultimately be enshrined in the NFL's Hall of Fame — but that matchup may never occur.

New England's Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in Sunday's win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

It was an unfortunate injury. Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss claimed it was a dirty play. But, in my opinion, it was a clean hit. Unfortunate result. Clean hit.

And, with Brady out of action for the rest of the season, and Favre about to turn 39 this fall, it's far from certain that the two will meet on the football field.

That doesn't mean the Patriots won't be a challenge for the Jets this Sunday. A team doesn't go undefeated during the regular season on the strength of its quarterback alone — even one as talented as Brady.

And, while playoff wins have been rare for the Jets in recent years, this decade has belonged to the Patriots.

It's too bad that some of the lustre from Sunday's game is gone.

Nevertheless, Sports Illustrated's Don Banks says Favre gives the Jets a chance to win a lot of games this year.

Clearly, Jets fans have more reason to feel optimistic this morning than they did before kickoff yesterday.

Some Thoughts on Brett Favre and the NFL

I’ve been communicating via e-mail with a friend of mine on the subject of football.

I’ve known this person since our college days at the University of Arkansas, and we both confess to being lifelong Arkansas Razorback fans.

To borrow her own words, being a Razorback fan is part of our DNA.

When it comes to pro football, she’s been a Packer fan for the last several years, largely because of Brett Favre, who retired in March, tried to un-retire once training camp opened and he decided he wanted to play after all, and has resumed his career as a New York Jet.

I, too, am a Packer fan, although my roots go a little deeper — I’ve been a Packer fan since I was 6 and Vince Lombardi was roaming the sidelines. ("A whole lotta water under the bridge," as Dooley Wilson said upon being reunited with Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca.")

Favre, as I pointed out to my friend, hadn’t even been born when I became a Packer fan. And Favre’s about to turn 39 this fall.

Anyway, my friend says she is no longer a Packer fan. She’s angry with the Packer organization for letting Favre go, and she’ll be watching more Jets games this year.

As much as I enjoy watching Favre play, I don’t know how many opportunities I’ll have to see a Jets telecast in Dallas, Texas — unless the Jets happen to be playing the Cowboys! (Incidentally, the Cowboys do not play the Jets during the regular season.)

But I’ll watch him when I can. As long as he is out there playing, Favre will be entertaining to watch. I wish he was still a Packer.

And I continue to be a Packer fan. I appreciate what Favre did for the team — believe me, after suffering through some of the Packer seasons I’ve suffered through, it was a real joy for me to see them play in two consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s.

But I, along with my colleagues in the so-called ”Packer Nation,” waited 30 years to see the Packers return to the Super Bowl. If it turns out to be another 30-year wait, well, we’ve already put the first 10 years behind us.

That’s how long it’s been since Favre played in a Super Bowl. And, as he takes over the offense of a team that went 4-12 last year and has to play the New England Patriots twice during the regular season, it’s doubtful that he’s about to return to the Super Bowl.

In 2008, anyway. Beyond that, I’m not prepared to say.

Because Brett Favre is a freak of nature. What else can you call a man who has played the demanding position of pro quarterback for as many consecutive games as he has?

(I’ve heard sportscasters say that Peyton Manning would have to play in every game for the next six years to match Favre’s career mark. Even if the Colts didn’t make the playoffs in any of those seasons, that would still require Manning to play in nearly 100 straight games to match the mark Favre has now — and the meter is still running, if Favre plays in the Sept. 7 opener in Miami.)

For all I know, Brett Favre could wind up playing pro football until he’s 50.

But he’s going to need some good fortune to get through the 2008 season. Before it’s over, he may decide that he might have been wise to do his impersonation of Rocky Marciano and retire on his own terms — unblemished and unbowed.

By the way, the Patriots will be the Jets’ second-week opponent. It’s the Jets’ home opener — I’m guessing that one will be televised nationally. The following week, Favre and the Jets will travel to San Diego to play the Chargers on Monday night.

Welcome to the AFC, Brett. Good luck.

Anyway, I guess this is an appropriate point to offer my 2008 predictions.

• AFC East: The New England Patriots. Who else?


• AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers


• AFC South: Indianapolis Colts


• AFC West: San Diego Chargers


• Wild cards: Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins


• First round: San Diego 30, Miami 7; Pittsburgh 21, Cincinnati 17.


• Second round: New England 28, Pittsburgh 14; San Diego 17, Indianapolis 16


• AFC Championship: New England 23, San Diego 20

I’m not predicting a 16-0 season, though!

And, in the NFC …

• NFC East: Dallas Cowboys


• NFC North: Chicago Bears


• NFC South: New Orleans Saints


• NFC West: Seattle Seahawks


• Wild cards: New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings


• First round: New York Giants 20, Seattle 17; Minnesota 16, New Orleans 7


• Second round: New York Giants 21, Dallas 14; Chicago 10, Minnesota 9


• NFC Championship: Chicago 24, New York Giants 3

And that leaves us with a Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears — a rematch of Mike Ditka’s championship nearly a quarter of a century later.

But with a different result — New England 23, Chicago 13

They Lived Wonderful Lives

When the Christmas season is upon us, one of the essential parts of the holiday for many people is spending a couple of hours watching "It's A Wonderful Life," the 1946 Frank Capra film starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore.

It's been more than 60 years since that film was made, and it has achieved a level of popularity in recent decades that it never reached when it was showing in movie theaters.

It has developed such a devoted fan base that it will be a holiday classic for generations to come.

Nearly everyone who appeared in that film is dead now. I'm reminded of that fact after hearing the news that Bob Anderson, who played the young incarnation of Stewart's George Bailey character at the age of 13, died the other day at the age of 75.

He was nearly the last surviving cast member.

As far as I know, that leaves only Karolyn Grimes, who was about 5 or 6 years old when she played Stewart's youngest child, Zuzu, in the movie. She will be 68 on Independence Day.

Anderson tried to pursue an acting career after appearing in "It's A Wonderful Life" -- he even landed a role in "The Bishop's Wife" the following year and appeared on a few TV shows, like "I Love Lucy" -- but his acting career was over by the time he was in his mid-20s.

He managed to stay in the business, doing some directing and performing some stunts. He was also a production manager, a supervising animator and a grip.

The same day that Anderson died, former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Dwight White passed away at the age of 58, the apparent victim of a blood clot in his lung.

Most people probably don't remember White. He wasn't as well known as his more famous Steeler teammates -- and on the defensive side of the ball, that included the likes of Mean Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham and Mel Blount.

But he played a pivotal role in the Steelers' championship years of the 1970s.

When Pittsburgh went to its first-ever Super Bowl (in Super Bowl IX), the Steelers were matched up against a Minnesota Vikings team that had been frustrated in two earlier Super Bowl appearances in the previous five years. Oddsmakers felt the Steelers would add to the Vikings' woes and made them 3-point favorites in a game that matched two of the NFL's best defensive units.

The first half was nearly a scoreless draw, but White tackled Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton for a safety and Pittsburgh led, 2-0, at halftime. It was Pittsburgh's first-ever score in a Super Bowl, and the Steelers went on to win the game, 16-6.

Pittsburgh won three more Super Bowls in that decade, and White was on all those teams. He retired in 1980 and worked as a stock broker in his post-NFL career.

For Anderson and White, their lives may not have been ideal. Few are. But I don't know anyone who would argue that their lives weren't wonderful.

By the Way ...

Lost in the talk of "Tsunami Tuesday" is the fact that we have a football game tonight. The undefeated New England Patriots will face the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. Kickoff is around 6:30 p.m Eastern time on Fox.

Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News thinks there are "12 excellent reasons why the 42nd edition of the greatest American sports event will be the best ever."

I don't know if he's right about that, but I think the game will be closer than the two-touchdown spread the oddsmakers have given the Patriots. I predict a final score of New England 27, New York 24.

The two teams met on the last weekend of the regular season, and New England won by 3 points (38-35). In their previous three Super Bowl victories, the Patriots won each game by 3 points. I think that's the margin they'll win by today, which should mean an entertaining game.

While you're waiting for the kickoff, you might want to take a look at a list compiled by ESPN. It ranks the teams that participated in the first 40 Super Bowls, and it's guaranteed to bring back some "Super" memories -- even of the blowouts.

Avoid the Rush

As Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers prepare to face the New York Giants in Sunday's NFC Championship game, all Jim Baumbach of Newsday can say is that Favre "could have -- maybe even should have -- been a Jet."

If Baumbach is correct, the Jets had a deal in the works with the Cardinals that would have given them the draft spot two positions ahead of Atlanta, the team that drafted Favre in 1991. But the deal fell through, Atlanta drafted Favre, things didn't work out, and he was traded to Green Bay.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Really.

In fact, Favre's career has been so historic, so legendary in nature that, when you see things like the Packers' overwhelming triumph over Seattle in snowy Green Bay on Saturday, it's tempting to ask, "Why not suspend the rules and just go ahead and induct Favre into the NFL's Hall of Fame?"

We all know it's going to happen. We all know that, when we see Favre playing on TV, we're watching a Hall of Famer near the end of his career who is still playing well and clearly having the time of his life.

With a lot of players, you need to wait until their careers are over and then assess what they did. But that's not Brett Favre. We know he'll wind up in Canton, Ohio. The question is when.

Why should we wait until a few years after his career ends -- whenever that turns out to be?

We probably could have gone ahead and put him in the Hall of Fame four years ago, when his father died and Favre played maybe the best game of his life the next night against Oakland. In that now fabled Monday night game, Favre threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns.

Or we could have done it three years ago, when Favre, at the age of 35, led the Packers to a winning streak that wrapped up the division title before the other teams knew what had hit them.

Mark Craig of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says Favre is an "ageless wonder." He reports that a young woman in a bar ("young enough to be carded") observed, while watching the graying Favre on TV last Saturday, that "He looks like he's 58."

"Actually, Brett Favre acts like he's 8, throws like he's 18, plays like he's 28 and understands football like he's 68," Craig writes. "But in reality, he was born Oct. 10, 1969, which makes him too young for those who feel the need to help him across the street or lay a blanket across his lap."

This year, the guy has practically rewritten the NFL's passing record book. He already held the record for most consecutive games started -- a streak that continues to this day. Think of any great quarterback who ever played in the NFL, and his name now comes after Favre's in just about every passing category. Whether it's touchdowns, completions, completion percentage, yardage, you name it. Whether you're talking about Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton, Johnny Unitas or John Elway.

The one exception is total Super Bowl victories. Favre has one Super Bowl win to his credit. I think the most for a starting QB is four, held by Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana. So even if he wins this year's Super Bowl, Favre would need to win the next two as well to match the record.

In the process, of course, Favre would set a couple of other standards for future quarterbacks. He would become the oldest quarterback to start in a Super Bowl and the oldest quarterback to win one.

If you're wondering about Tom Brady, he can join that elite group if he wins this year's Super Bowl. But he might have to get past Favre to do it.

And defeating Brady and preventing the Patriots from finishing the season with a perfect record would certainly be another memorable chapter in Favre's Hall of Fame career.

The Playoffs -- A Tale of Two Days

You thought Hillary Clinton's comeback in the New Hampshire primary was stunning?

Imagine how NFL fans are feeling this morning.

Sure, the unbeaten New England Patriots are keeping their date with destiny and will appear in the AFC Championship game next Sunday. And the Green Bay Packers will host the NFC Championship game next Sunday after hammering Seattle in the snow.

But those were Saturday's winners, doing what was expected of them in their playoff games.

It was a different story on Sunday.

In the AFC, the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts couldn't get the job done at home against the San Diego Chargers. And in the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys failed to complete a three-game sweep of the New York Giants this season in their playoff game at Texas Stadium.

In the Indianapolis Star, Bob Kravitz writes that the Colts' recent playoff woes (with the noteworthy exception of last year's Super Bowl victory) meant Sunday's loss to the Chargers "shouldn't come as such a great surprise."

And, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Randy Galloway looks at the Cowboys' lengthy streak without a playoff win and says, "Let the count continue. It’s 11 years, with the calendar still active, since the Cowboys have won a playoff game. And after Sunday, is it better to ask 'when,' or 'ever?'"

In New York, Newsday's Shaun Powell gives credit to a much-maligned defensive unit that, in the past, "broke more hearts than George Clooney."

And in San Diego, Tim Sullivan contends, in the San Diego Union Tribune, that the Chargers are "pro football's most pragmatic provocateurs."

But Peter King may have provided the most fitting postscript to the weekend's action in his "Monday Morning QB" column in Sports Illustrated:

"There is nothing like Green Bay on a playoff weekend. You've got to go. You just have to."

After Saturday's game in the snow, who can argue with that?

A Team of Destiny

We live in a new world this morning, a world in which an NFL team has remained focused enough for four months to win all 16 of its regular season games.

The New England Patriots finished the regular season 16-0 after rallying to defeat the New York Giants last night, 38-35. Quarterback Tom Brady set a new season record for touchdown passes and receiver Randy Moss set a season record for touchdown receptions.

The Patriots will have next week off, then they will be set to host the next two playoff games en route to the Super Bowl.

A win for the Patriots on the weekend of January 12-13 will match the single season mark set by the 1972 Miami Dolphins of 17-0. Another win on the weekend of January 19-20 will make New England the first team ever to go 18-0 in a single season -- and it would clinch a berth in the Super Bowl.

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe crowed that the Patriots were "just perfect" and provided the "fitting finish to Boston's magical year in sports" -- which included a World Series title for the Boston Red Sox and the winningest football season for Boston College in more than half a century, but no similar success for the NBA's Celtics or the NHL's Bruins.

As good as the Patriots are, a little humility would suit them better, according to SI.com's Andrew Perloff, who says the Pats "walk the fine line between supreme confidence and arrogance."

It's true that going 16-0 is going to make a team very confident. Does it have to make a team arrogant as well? Perhaps that's the negative side that the Patriots must contend with as they enter the home stretch of the season. After all, the playoffs and the Super Bowl will force them to play three of the best teams the NFL has to offer in the coming month.

That could certainly include dates with last year's Super Bowl winner, the Indianapolis Colts, who played New England earlier this year, and an NFC team the Patriots beat this year, the Dallas Cowboys. For the record, the usually dominant Patriots only beat the Colts 24-20. They handled the Cowboys by a wider margin, 48-27.

Other teams New England beat who are potential playoff foes include the team New England beat last night, the Giants; the Chargers (losers to the Patriots, 38-14); Steelers (who lost to the Pats, 34-13); Browns (who can clinch a playoff spot today and lost to New England, 34-17); and Redskins (who can clinch a playoff spot today and lost to the Pats, 52-7).

The Patriots did lose to two potential playoff opponents back during the preseason games in August. They lost their preseason opener to Tampa Bay, 13-10, and they followed that with a loss to Tennessee, 27-24. But, counting the last two preseason games, New England has proceeded to win 18 in a row.

One thing the Patriots can be sure of -- in the postseason, they won't be facing teams like Miami, Buffalo and the New York Jets, who accounted for six of the Patriots' wins in the regular season and, thus far, have combined for a record of 11-34.

Each postseason opponent will want to be the one to knock the chip off the Patriots' shoulder.

Playing for History

When the New England Patriots take the field this weekend to take on the New York Giants, the Patriots will be aiming to be the first team to go 16-0 in the regular season.

That will be two more regular season wins than the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins had -- but Miami went undefeated in the era when the NFL season was 14 games, not 16. The postseason was three games for Miami, the same as it will be for New England, so the Patriots will have to go 19-0 to cap a perfect season. Miami went 17-0.

Today, it was announced that new TV arrangements make the Patriots-Giants game accessible to just about everyone. Instead of airing only on the audience-limited NFL Network, both CBS and NBC will televise the "potentially historic game," in the words of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

It reminds me of the fuss that was made in 1974 when Hank Aaron was about to break Babe Ruth's career home run record.

At the end of the 1973 season, Aaron pulled within one home run of Ruth's career mark, and that left him with the entire offseason to think about what he would be trying to do the following spring.

I was 14 at the time and, as I recall, Aaron tied the home run mark in Atlanta's first series of the 1974 season, which was being played in Cincinnati. After Aaron tied the mark, the Atlanta manager took him out of the game and benched him for the remainder of the series. He wanted Aaron to break the record in front of the home fans.

Major league baseball wanted to televise the historic event. In those days, there was no cable so major league baseball wasn't accessible every night of the season. The networks did have Monday Night Baseball, but it didn't usually begin broadcasts until the summer, when the networks were heavily into reruns.

In this case, baseball made the exception and had a special broadcast of Monday Night Baseball in early April. Everyone wanted to see Aaron break Ruth's record. And, as it turned out, he did break the record that night.

But he might not have broken the record that night, and baseball would have wound up with egg on its face.

I don't think that's a possibility here. Whether the Patriots win and finish the regular season 16-0, or they lose and finish 15-1, it's an historic game. Either the Patriots make history, or the Giants prevent it, which is historic in itself.

The Patriots deserve to be congratulated for their accomplishment. Nothing that happens this weekend can change what they've achieved this year.

And the Dolphins should be remembered in the history books for what they did in 1972, even if New England goes 19-0 and wins the Super Bowl.

After all, no one else went 14-0 during the era of the 14-game seasons. And no one else went 17-0, including postseason wins, during that era. That distinction belongs to the 1972 Miami Dolphins. And it always will.

The real challenge for the Patriots will come next season -- if they finish 16-0 or 19-0 this season. Because next season will be when everyone will be gunning for them. That's when the Patriots will have bull's eyes on their chests and it will be a fight to the finish every week. Whoever snaps the streak will be remembered by history. Playing the Patriots will be each team's Super Bowl.

For the record, the 1973 Dolphins were nearly as good as the 1972 team. The streak was snapped in the second game of the season by the Oakland Raiders, but Miami went 12-2 in 1973 and won the Super Bowl again, finishing 15-2.

Not a bad encore, eh?