NFC South Week 16 Wrap Up

                             NFC South Week 16 Wrap Up
 
By Rafael Garcia
Sr. Contributing Writer Football Reporters Online
Southeast Region
 
 Atlanta 31 Buffalo 3
Now that the playoffs are not possible the Falcons decided to play for wins and pride. On Sunday they manhandled the Bills from the start. On the first play from scrimmage Matt Ryan hit Roddy White from 42 yards out to make it 7-0. The Bills would never be in the game from that point on. They managed just 187 total yards with only 40 coming via the run. Ryan finished 18-35 for 250 yards and three touchdowns. White had another scoring catch to close the scoring and finished with 139 yards on eight catches. The running tandem of Jason Snelling and Jerious Norwood combined for 28 carries for 120 yards and the defense is playing the way they had hoped they would all year. They held the Bills to 11 first downs and 2-10 in third down efficiency. They forced three turnovers and 10 penalties for 60 yards and two sacks. Next week they go to Tampa Bay to try and finish the year with a winning record.
 
Tampa Bay 20 New Orleans 17
The last fourth of this season has been really hard on the Saints.  They started off so strong but have been exposed in the last month. The defense is the first thing that needs to be addressed and fast. They are finding ways to keep drives alive by allowing the big play, like the 77-yard punt return by Michael Spurlock to tie the game late in the fourth. They gave up 439 yards total yards to the Bucs. Tampa Bay was 7-12 on third downs and had the ball for 36 minutes. Not too bad for a team that started so bad. It was to the point where people were asking if head coach Raheem Morris could survive more than one year. New Orleans actually lead 17-0 and it was still 17-3 at the half. It would not be enough as Drew Brees was held under 300 yards passing and the Bucs defense came up big when they needed to. They took advantage of an injury to Saints running back Pierre Thomas and shut down the run game in the second half. Josh Freeman continued his evolution going 21-31 for 271 yards with no touchdowns and two picks. He did make a big play in the overtime that kept the winning drive alive. So Tampa continues to look like they are improving with each week and the Saints keep looking more vulnerable game after game. They and some fans thought they had won the game in regulation but Garrett Hartley missed a field goal from 37 yards out with five seconds left in the game. So Tampa moves on to finish the year next week looking to next year and the improvements they need to make. On a last note Morris may have saved his job with the team’s play in the last month or so.
 
Carolina 41 New York Giants 9
It was the last game at the Meadowlands and it hit home for me personally. I grew up going to that stadium and was looking to see the Gmen go out with a win. Unfortunately the Panthers had other plans. They came in with many questions in a season that had gone south. So, with not much to play for, they decided to show up and show out. Matt Moore had an effective day going 15-20 for 171 yards and three touchdowns. On top of that Jonathan Stewart ran all over the Giants defense to the tune of 206 yards on 28 carries and a score. The Panthers were 10-15 on third downs and had 416 total yards. They ran for 247 and forced four turnovers. The defense held the Giants to 60 yards rushing 27 minutes in time of possession. It was an ugly way for New York to go out as they showed no heart and little emotion. Eli Manning was 29-43 for 296 yards but he was playing from behind all day. It was 24-0 at the half and 34-3 by the end of the third. It was Carolina’s third win in their last four games and just like in Tampa that may have saved their coaches job for sure now.

Happy New Year! Oakland Predictions, 2010

Happy New Year, 2010!. It's time for predictions for the new year 2010 and specifically related to my current hometown, Oakland, California. 2010 is an election year, so politics takes center stage, but it's got a huge one in Oakland. This year, Oakland picks a new Mayor.

The stage must be appropriately set by explaining that Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is a giant in Oakland's political history, but a disappointment as mayor. At a time when politicians are expected to act and react fast, and learn quickly, Dellums was too slow to do so. At just the time when it seems he's settled into the job, it's too late: Oaklanders want a change of leadership.

The race for Oakland Mayor currently only consists of two main players, former California State Senator Don Perata and Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan. Don Perata will win, and because he's the only person out of a few well-qualified people that wants the position enough to aggressively go after it.

Don Perata will be Oakland's Mayor, but not after one more big name enters the race, but that person will do so too late and serve only to take potential votes away from Jean Quan. Personally, I'm disappointed that Perata didn't challenge himself and go for higher office, like California Senator, but I'm sure he has his reasons.

Meanwhile, Quan's District Four Council Seat isn't safe either because my long-time friend, Libby Schaaf, the Senior Policy Advisor for Community & Economic Development to the City Council, has been interviewing campaign managers for her run for that position, if Jean Quan's mayoral fantasy becomes reality.

Personally, I think Libby should challenge Jean right off the bat. It's nothing against the personable Quan - let's face it, running for Mayor has made her a nicer person than in the past - but Libby's Oakland ties and friendships run much deeper. Moreover, District Four needs someone who will be a worthy replacement to the legendary shadow cast by former District Four Councilmember Dick Spees, and that person is Libby Schaaf. I don't write that just because she's my friend, but because its true. But I digress.

Regarding Oakland's government, we will see more job cuts and salary reduction efforts this year, as the City works to close its massive budget deficit. More and more Oaklanders will fall victim to the aggressive parking enforcement system and its stupidly-high set of fees, all forcing the successful gathering of signatures for an initiative to change the Oakland parking enforcement and fee system as we know it.

At least one of Oakland's newest downtown and Piedmont Avenue restaurants will close because there's just not enough money to go around. But more small cafes will open, and in neighborhoods that already have too many of them.

The crime problem in East Oakland will get worse, just as Oakland lacks the resources to deal with the problem, even with the stimulus package.

I'm just getting warm with my Oakland predictions, but it's New Year's Day, and I've got to eat breakfast.

Stay tuned.

Happy New Year, 2010! - family is important

Happy New Year, 2010! It's a new decade and even though it wasn't rung in by watching Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, or New Year's Eve Times Square Live, or drooling over Jennifer Lopez' New Year's outfit, or watching Dick Clark's show with Ryan Seacrest and the live ball drop, or even catch the New Year Countdown online or Adam Lambert, or catch-up on Rush Limbaugh, I did get to spend it with family and we didn't make predictions for 2010.

For me it started with the spiritually impossible situation of not being able to get out of O'Hare Airport to San Francisco. The last United Airlines' flight I was listed for had an unbelievable 108 standbys. The United 767 used only held about 160 people. I was standby passenger number 52, and even though I've been in such a situation before and made it on board, it wasn't happening this time.

So I wound up talking with my Mom and a family friend until 3 AM CST here in my hometown of Chicago. And during that time we watched a movie I stumbled upon and always wanted to see: The Ice Storm. Not to digress, but it's an excellent movie that deals with family communication, or lack thereof .

At the end of it, FOX Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman, who hosts the show around which Fox movies were presented last night, obvered that The Ice Storm was about how we try to escape our family, only to have circumstances bring us back to our family.

That was wild.

I sat in total amazement. I've always believed in God, but never more so than last night because not only did that whole flight fiasco bring me to my small family, but talking about how things have changed was a great and necessary way to really take stock of how things have changed. Especially with so many people I've known who died in 2009.

Here I was worrying about meeting friends at the Balboa Cafe and whatever fun I would miss, and I was slammed into this very necessary event. In other words, having been with my family, I was seeking escape with the idea that I was headed toward something "more fun", and all the way missed what family was about. Not any more.

Our families know who we are and accept us, period. They don't have to be blood relations, just people who really truly love you without condition. And those people are there before you, but in the quest to be cool, all of us miss (and mistreat) those who really do care about us. In doing that, we lose the part of ourselves that sometimes we need to find just to successfully carry on.

So I've learned a lesson I'm passing on. Well, let's say I got a refresher course. Family is important to me, but frankly I saw it as a burden at times. It's not. It's freedom and love.

2010 predictions comes later!

Happy New Year from O'Hare Airport in Chicago

Well, as is a habit with my life, I'm stuck in The United Airlines Terminal at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

Getting to San Francisco on United Airlines is always a challenge, but it's more so during the holidays.

Fortunately, I'm in a great city, my hometown, so if I wind up spending New Year's Eve here, it will be OK.

Even though my plans were thrown off.

That happens.

All that aside, Happy New Year to everyone and have a great 2010! Oh, I see where the Stanford Cardinal's tied with Oklahoma at 24-all in the 3rd quarter.

Interesting.

Stay tuned. There's a lot to look back on, which we'll do next week.

Is YouTube / Google Employment as fun as this Google Slide?

On November 11th 2009, I was invited to be one of several YouTube Partners at the YouTube Community Roundtable. The idea was for YouTube Partners who make original video content and are compensated by Google for the traffic those videos generate to meet the staff that helps us. It was a fantastic idea because much of our contact with YouTube is via email and messages on the site itself. We don't get to see the faces behind the names.

Well, until that meeting.

The event was one part meetup and another part tech support and the third part new product roll-out. We saw YouTube's 3D and High Definition initiatives as the new product end of the meeting. But what was cool was just access to the team. Finding out how others are using their channels and ideas they have to revenue generation and content development.

As I understood it this was the "West Coast" Roundtable Meeting; there was a meeting in New York as well. Our meeting turned into a "sharefest" where I quickly learned that many YouTubers were faced with the same problem: comment spammers and flamers.

"It's part of the territory", was the eventual conclusion all of us came to and that perhaps it was a badge of honor to sustain such attacks and keep on churning out content on a regular basis. We also learned how to make full use of all of YouTube's "channel branding" features and got to chime in on what changes we wanted to see in YouTube.

One of the changes we asked for was implemented almost immediately. The "Insight" features that gives traffic updates is now more detailed with respect to time frame. I still want to see more a real time traffic measurement system, but what they have is a great start.

Finally, we were made aware of some of YouTube's vital stats in a kind of "annual report" presentation. For example, YouTube has over 1 million uploads each day, but there are only about 2,500 people who are YouTube Partners who are paid for their efforts via traffic generation. Of the YouTube Partners, some make over six-figures per year and have as many as 40 million views per month.

Amazing.

And on the way out, I took my Flip Video Camera for a ride down the Google Slide.  Check out the video above to ride with me!

I encourage you to start vlogging and work to become a YouTube Parnter. If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Texas Tech's Mike Leach Fired; Cal's Jeff Tedford on hot seat

In the wake of Texas Tech's firing of Head Coach Mike Leach today, we have now-week-old Internet chatter about Cal's Jeff Tedford heating up again.

Cal's uphill battle can do without Leach

Mike Leach was fired for his treatment of Redshirt Sophomore Wide Receiver Adam James, the son of ESPN's College Football Analyst Craig James. Coach Leach twice confined the younger James to a dark, closed room he called a closet and Leach called a room in the wake of James' mild concussion.

Cal's Jeff Tedford had his star player, Running Back Jahvid best sidelined with a concussion toward the end of the season. To Tedford's credit, even with the pressure of several big games, including the Poinsettia Bowl, Cal's Head Coach never pressured his best running back to play for even a single down. In Cal's last game, Best remained in street clothes on the sidelines.

While online publications like Bleacher Report fan the idea that Coach Tedford's on "the hot seat", the reality is he's not, nor should he be. Cal's problems are schematic; Tedford defends his players and to my knowledge he has not, nor would he treat a player like Mike Leach is said, (and agrees) to have done.

Moreover, Texas Tech's real problem with Coach Leach is that he acted like he was bigger than the program. The letter released by Texas Tech President Gus Bailey on Leach's behavior tells much:

Dear Coach Leach,

As you know, we have been conducting an inquiry into allegations by a student athlete that your treatment of him, subsequent to his being diagnosed with a mild concussion, may have been injurious to his health and served no medical and/or educational purposes. Texas Tech takes these allegations very seriously. In addition to being unacceptable, if proven, these allegations constitute a breach of your employment contract.

So that we can carry out an inquiry that takes into account the safety of our student athletes and in addition, that is fair to the students, yourself, and the university, we have determined that you must abide by the following guidelines from this day forward:

1. All practices and other team meetings will be monitored by the athletic director or his representative. (Crossed out with the initials GB beside it.)

2. Any player claiming an injury will be examined by a physician and cleared in writing prior to practicing or playing. Decisions regarding whether an injury warrants suspension from practice and/or play will be determined by a physician without pressure from you or your staff.

3. You must recognize that the players you are working with are student athletes and that you have an obligation to treat them with respect and further to conduct yourself in a manner consistent with your position as an instructor of students.

4. You must at all times assure the fair and responsible treatment of student athletes in relation to their health, welfare, and discipline, and if you are not doing so, you must immediately cease any actions not in compliance with this provision of your contract.

5. There will be no retaliation against any student who has suffered an injury.

Again, these allegations are serious, and should they be substantiated will result in disciplinary action ranging from public or private reprimand, monetary fines or adjustments in compensation, adjustments in the term of this contract, up to termination.

Sincerely,

Guy Bailey

President

Given this letter, and the report that Leach didn't sign it, I can't see Mike Leach being seriously considered for even an assistant's job at Cal Berkeley. Not to say it wouldn't happen, but I can't see it, nor can I see a logical reason for it. The Airraid Passing Concept is not complicated and Cal's problems lean more to passing philosophy rather than just scheme.

Still, all of this will not stop some bloggers from trying to throw Jeff Tedford under the bus, forgetting that he did build this program to where it is today: annually in bowl contention. I still believe Cal can be a National Champion in NCAA Football, but we don't have to sell our soul to get one.

GO BEARS!