Holiday Hangover Cured

And we're back! It's been a long and not so productive break away from the blog, but we're back and as commited as ever to try and continue to lower the bar in the blogging world. After a couple weeks of holiday cheer, family, celebrating and hangovers, it's good to be getting back to the monotonous grind of living life in the Cube.

Nothing, of course, cures a good hangover like a weekend full of football. The debacle in Seattle aside, the first round of the playoffs were relatively tame. No seeded upsets, only the late afernoon game on Sunday featured a dog covering, but at least there was football to help get me through. And just in case anyone had forgotten, these two are pretty good at the whole playoff thing in the NFL. Sure the game was a rout in the end, but it's the little things that win championships. So now bring on the Chargers! Only the best, most consistant team in the regular season. One of the best offenses and defenses in the entire NFL, and it will be no small feat to beat them in their home stadium. Just to up the ante on the level of difficulty scale, the Chargers happened to go undefeated at home this season. But this is the playoffs where the Brady and Belichick are always at their best. Also, has anyone mentioned that Marty Schottenheimer happens to coach the Chargers? The man with the sparkling 5 - 12 playoff record, including 2 loses with a #1 seed, has built quite a legacy based on playoff failure. But this is a new team, with an MVP no less, playing at home against the best playoff QB/Coach, this century. The Chargers can make quite a statement in turning away the Pats on their way to Miami, but can Philip Rivers handle playoff pressure? Hell, even if he can will it matter? The Pats game plan won't be built around stopping Rivers, or Gates, or any of SD's WRs. Expect Belichick to recall much of what he did in 2001 against Marshall Faulk as a basis of containing LT. Nobody the past 10 weeks has been able to stop him, but if you hit him on every play, regardless of whether or not he touches the ball, he's going to be worn out, he is still human after all. If you can 'hold' him to about 100 - 115 all purpose yards on 30 touches, you're going to have a good chance of winning the game. But how to do that? Keep him between the tackles, don't give him any cutback lanes, and for the love of God, wrap him up!! You're not going to bring him down with an arm tackle, he's too strong, too fast, just too damn good. After rooting for him all season as he carried my fantasy team through good times and bad, I won't ever want a pulled hamstring more than I will during the Chargers first series on Sunday. Back tomorrow morning with some links.

Pats one step closer to Miami[ABC News]
Nailing the coffin closed [SI]
Chargers end Pats home winning streak [boston.com]
MartyBall doesn't translate to the playoffs [MSNBC.com]