womenwatchingfootball

John Harbaugh may be a rookie head coach but he has spent his whole life around football. If you watched the game last week, you might have seen his dad on the sidelines.

His dad, Jack Harbaugh, spent 41 years coaching high school and college teams. His last year coaching, he won the 1-AA championship with Western Kentucky in 2002. He’s been the sounding board for his son all season long. He is no stranger to any of the coaches or players for the Ravens.

John’s brother, Jim, the former quarterback in the NFL, with the Colts mostly, is now the head coach at Stanford. Not a bad job, if you can get it.

If you ask any of the Harbaughs who they were most influenced by Michigan coach Bo Shembechler. Jim played for Bo and Jack was a coach. The Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron also worked under Shembechler.

I think I see a trend that successful coaches in the NFL haven’t been former players but have spent their entire lives around coaches and coaching. The best players don’t always make the best the coaches

Lost in yesterday’s Tony Dungy retirement ceremony was the fact that the Denver Broncos hired former New England Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels as their new head coach.

McDaniels is just 32 years old. There are players on the team that are older than him. He might be young, but he’s definately not inexperienced. He spent 8 years with the Patriots in various capacities (none of them as ball boy). He worked his way up to the offensive coordinator position for the last 2 seasons.

What has he done in that position? Last season, the 18-1 Patriots scored 75 touchdowns. This year, he took relatively inexperienced Matt Cassell and turned him into the next Tom Brady.

McDaniels will have a lot to do in Denver. Their defense has been lacking in the past few seasons. They have the offensive weapons but they need to concentrate on the other side of the ball this off season. His choice of a defensive coordinator should be the first step in the process.

Some people will look at Josh McDaniels and see a kid. Others that know his background know that he’s not only spent his life around football but around football coaches going all the way back to his toddler days in Ohio.

After 13 years as a head coach with 2 teams, 53 year old Tony Dungy called it a career today. He was an extrodinary head coach who was respected by his players, opposing players and coaches around the league.

In those 13 years, he averaged 10.7 wins per season and 11 trips to the playoffs. He was also the first African-American head coach to win the Super Bowl.

He also wrote an autobiography titled “Quiet Strength” which went to number 1 on the best seller list. The title of the book couldn’t be any more fitting.

I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of Tony Dungy but it won’t be as a coach and I bet he won’t be one of the talking heads on network television each week. It’ll be something a lot more important than that. That’s just the type of guy he is.

Well, divisional weekend is over and championship weekend is coming up. As we talked about yesterday, the Ravens took out the number 1 seed Titans 13-10. I’m sure the fans in Tennessee still don’t believe it. They thought they could be heading to an undefeated season and now they are home.

In yesterday’s other game, the surprising Arizona Cardinals beat the Carolina Panthers, 33-13. It was never really a game. The Cardinals had this one all the way. The Panthers turned the ball over 6 times. You don’t turn the ball over that many times and stay in the game.

The Eagles beat the Giants today 23-11. This was a back and forth game until the fourth quarter when the Eagles scored 10 points and sealed it. The Giants were unable to score a touchdown today. I heard one expert today say the Giants really haven’t done anything since Burress shot himself in the leg. Sounds kind of metaphorical if you ask me.

In the late game today, the Steelers beat the Chargers 35-24. It really wasn’t that close as the Chargers scored a late touchdown. Pittsburg had the ball for all but 17 seconds in the third quarter. Yes, the Chargers had one play in all of the third quarter. That’s dominance.

So, Championship weekend shapes up like this: in the early game the Eagles and the Cardinals play for the NFC title. The Ravens visit the Steelers in the late game for the AFC championship. As always, it should be exciting.

The Baltimore Ravens kicked a field goal with 53 seconds left to beat the Tennessee Titans 13-10. This was the opposite score of when the 2 teams met earlier in the season.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco became the first rookie quarterback to win 2 playoff games in a season. He said after the game that the Ravens are not done winning yet.

There was a controversal non-call late in the game. It had looked like the Ravens didn’t get the play off before the play clock expired. No flag was thrown and they completed a 30 yard pass play.

The Titans led in every statistical category, including turnovers. They turned the ball over 3 times. The Ravens did not turn the ball over.

Once again there are 100 fifth graders in Massachusetts who are hopeful that they won’t have a social studies quiz on Monday since their teacher’s beloved Ravens won again this week.

In one of the strangest stories you’ll probably read in this off season, Bill Romanowski wants to be the head coach of the Denver Broncos. This totally came out of left field and surprised a lot of people.

A little background on Romanowski: he was a linebacker and a good one. He came out of Boston College to have a 16 year career in the NFL. Six of those seasons were with the Broncos. He also played with the Raiders. He also had taken the steroids that were at the center of the BALCO scandal. To say he had a bad temper is putting it mildly.

Since his retirement from football, he’s had a financial interest in the EAS company, which is a suppliment producer. Actually, part of his plan, if he is named head coach, is to have a full time person to make protein shakes for the players.

He also has experience in broadcasting and a little acting too. He played a guard in the remake of The Longest Yard. He’s also been in Benchwarmer and Bedtime Stories plus a few other movies.

This week, he submitted a 30+ page Powerpoint presentation to the owner of the Broncos. He outlined his plans for what he would do if the team became his. He has no coaching experience at any level. The only reason to hire Romanowski would be to make a splash. The Denver Broncos don’t need any splash.

“I truly believe that I’d be the best person in the country for the job. That’s me being confident in my abilities,” Romanowski said.

It’s good that he’s so confident because he’s probably the only one with confidence in his ability to be a head coach of an NFL team.

The Divisional round of the playoffs start in 2 days. It feels like forever for me, I can just imagine how the teams feel that had a bye last week. They must be really ready to go.

The first game is Saturday at 4:30 PM eastern time. The Ravens visit the Titans. The Titans have injury concerns that could give the Ravens a serious chance to win the game (remember the fifth graders in MA that’ll be rooting for the Ravens again).

The Ravens defense took care of Chad Pennington and the Dolphins last week causing them to turn over the ball repeatedly. Will Kerry Collins stand a chance against that defense?

Saturday night (8:30 PM eastern time) has the Cardinals visiting the Panthers. The Cardinals have been dismal on trips to the east coast this season. Maybe the fact that they are playing the late game, it could work to their advantage.

The Panthers have won the last 3 matchups between these 2 teams, including a game earlier this season. Every time the Panthers have made the playoffs, they have made it to at least the championship game.

It should be announced tomorrow that Eric Mangini will be the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Mangini was fired by the Jets the day after the regular season was over.

Cleveland has yet to hire a new GM. Some GM candidates would probably shy away from the job because they want to hire their own head coach.

Mangini will replace Romeo Crennel as the Cleveland coach. The 2 guys are the best of friends and have worked together for several different teams. Crennel wanted Mangini to come back to Cleveland with him when Crennel first got the head coach job but Mangini stayed with the Patriots.

In a strange twist, Crennel might be re-hired by the Browns as a defensive coordinator or coach. Crennel and team management had previously discussed this possibility and if Mangini is hired, it’s just about a given.

Look for the press conference to be held tomorrow with the announcement. The Jets on the other hand, are interviewing everybody for the job. Who knows, maybe I’ll get an interview next week.

The season isn’t even over, heck, the college season isn’t over yet and already there are mock drafts out there. A lot of college players haven’t even declared for the draft yet.

Is it just a case of being the first one out with a list? It’s like the retail industry pushing holidays even earlier every year. I actually saw Easter candy today and there is still 3 months to go, just like the draft.

Seriously, how many of these mock drafts even remotely look like what happens on draft day? As it gets closer to the end of April, when the draft actually is, I’ll take a look at some of the more “reputable” mock drafts and we’ll see how close they actually get.

It’s so hard to predict how teams select players. Some look to fill a certain hole while others go for the best available athlete regardless of position. Then there are the trades that get made right up until the time that the team makes it pick.

With my limited knowledge of the college game, I could probably put together a mock draft and be just as close as the professionals.

All four divisional playoff games are rematches of regular season games. The last time this happened was 2005. In 2005, 3 of the 4 regular season winners lost the playoff game.

The Giants and the Eagles are in the same division and have faced each other twice already. Those games were split with each team winning it’s road game. This week’s game is in New York. Does that favor the Eagles?

The Titans beat the Ravens in week 5, with a score of 13-10. That game was in Baltimore. This week they’ll be in Tennessee. Hopefully there will be a little more offense in this week’s game.

The Steelers defeated the Chargers in week 11 in that infamous 11-10 game. It was the first 11-10 game in NFL history. That game was in Pittsburgh and hopefully it won’t be a repeat of week 11.

The Panthers and the Cardinals matched up in week 8 in North Carolina. The Panthers squeaked one out 27-23.

So, that’s how things played out in the regular season but as we’ve seen so far, you can throw out the regular season. Everyone griped, me included, about the west division teams and they both won last week.

Anything is possible.