NFC North

The Bears won the division this year and I think they will have a good chance to win it again. The rest of the division is strong, but the Bears are strong too and they can compete with every team in their division. The Packers did win the Super Bowl, but I don't care and that won't make a big difference, they can only go down from there so I'm fine with them winning it. The Vikings aren't the same without Favre, but they will have a chance this year. The Lions are up and coming and will probably have a good year, but I can't guarantee that because the Lions always find a way to screw things up.

The Vikings were not good last year. The Bears swept them and the vikings did not live up to the high expectations for the team. Brett Favre was expected to lead them back to the NFC Championship game and farther and he did not. I like the quarterback that they started to play towards the end of the season. He played well and seemed like the right guy for the Vikings. Adrian Peterson was expected to fix his fumbling issues to be solved and they just got worse. I do think they will be better than last year, but I don't think they have a huge chance to win this division. They are a big question mark, because when you think they will be good they are bad and when you think they will be bad they are good. I don't know what to expect truthfully, but I don't believe that they will make a run at the division.

The Packers are probably the best team in the division, as much as it pains me to say that it is true. That doesn't mean they won't make a mistake along the season and end up not winning. The Saints ended up losing there division this year and losing to a bad playoff team. The Packers could make that same mistake. Championship hangovers are real, look at the Blackhawks this year. A championship hangover is more likely with a young team, and the Packers are a young team. I don't want to sound like a stupid Bears fan, so I'm being honest. They are a good team, but sometimes good teams make mistakes and end up having bad years, I hope the Packers make those mistakes. If the Packers win the division, don't call me an idiot, they are contenders but I have faith in the Bears to get better this offseason and win this division again.

The Lions are always a big question mark. I think that they will be a contender, and then they have a bad season. I think the problem last year was that from the first game when that call was made against them they lost all their momentum and hope. Matthew Stafford got hurt in that game and they didn't think they had hope from then on. They do have good players and a pretty good team, they need to figure out how to get over the Lions curse. The curse that every Lions team must be terrible. They have drafted well in the past few years with Stafford, Suh, and Calvin Johnson but that still hasn't been enough to push them to be contenders in the NFC north. Next year will not be their year to climb to the top, because the other teams will be too good, but I think eventually they will be included in division winner talk.





All this talk about the NFC North is only going to be true if the Lockout ends before the season starts. I don't want a lockout, I want football. This is the first I have talked about the Lockout, but I don't want it to happen. People keep asking me which side I am on and I say that I am on the football side. I don't see why Billionaires can't agree with Millionaires about playing football. Just keep things the same, everything was fine. As a fan, I don't care if there is two more games and I don't care if the preseason is boring, it is still football and I want football. Just give the money to charity and play football. This is just getting ridiculous.


Bears YouTube Video Of the Day
-----------------------------------

This was my reaction when I found out the Bears clinched the Division. Just kidding, this is a crazy Nets fan that I love in a non-gay way.

And then there was Suh

The Detroit Lions have had seven Associated Press Rookie of the Year award winners in the team’s history. In 1967, the award was introduced for the first time and given to a defensive player and an offensive player (the same format we still use today). The Lions won both. Mel Farr, running back drafted out of UCLA won the offensive award and Lem Barney, the Hall of Fame cornerback out of Jackson State won the defensive award. The following year a Lion brought home the award again, this one going to Earl McCullouch, wider receiver out of USC. The other Lions’ offensive winners include two running backs that both wore the number 20. Billy Sims and Hall of Famer Barry Sanders. Our second, and last defensive ROY winner was Al Baker in 1978, until this year.

As expected, Ndamukong Suh won the ROY award on Friday, taking home another

piece of hardware. Suh also won the Sporting New, 

Pepsi, Pro Football Weekly and Pro Football Writers of America 

ROY. And don’t forget a Pro Bowl selection. Suh was also selected 

to the All-Pro team, a rarity for a rookie. 

Suh is now the face of the franchise, and for good reason.

Suh scrambles after his first career INT vs the Rams

Watching the Packers win the Super Bowl remind me of the first Lions game I went to. I watched Barry Sanders run all over the Pack at the Silverdome. We beat Favre and the Packers 31-17. This year I watched the Lions beat the Packers 7-3 at Ford Field for our first divisional win since 2007. The question I asked myself was; when is it finally going to be our time? Our time is now. The Lions organization and the players have an opportunity to really turn this franchise around.  Suh is an example of what the future holds for Detroit. It’s time to get it done. 

Monday Morning Falcons Hangover

Hey, did you know NFL players played a game, and no one, not even the guys in the game, cared?

Yeah, the Pro Bowl. Yawn.

The big news ‘round these parts, or, you know, at least how they pertain to me and y’all, my dozens of readers, is that I’ve decided on how to format my columns / posts / rantings / ravings / whatever you want to call’em.

As I’m sure many of y’all have noticed, I post in the mornings, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I had one “breaking news” post regarding the Falcons losing their QB coach, and will write blog posts like that when the occasion presents itself, but I decided that since I have a fairly easy to follow schedule, I should have some kind of reliable format to help me write, to make it fun to read, and basically, every hack writing about the NFL has a schtick, and this will be mine in as much as I’m not the first to do such things, nor will I be the last.

My Monday columns will be known as Monday Morning Falcons Hangover (if you hadn't already noticed). During the season, the main story will of course by my op-ed take on the Falcons’ most recent Sunday Game. I’m sure I’ll be writing a short, facts-and-stats-based recap of game soon after it’s over, but the Monday post will be my opinion on what went wrong, what went right, etc.

After that, on Mondays only, I’ll post The Seven Things I Know in the NFL. The fun part is, this section won’t always be Falcons related, so it lets me spread my NFL wings a bit.

I’ll be calling my Wednesday posts: Wednesday Football Two-A-Days, because I’ll not only write about the Falcons, but about the Georgia Bulldogs Football team, the SEC, or college football in general for that true, Southern taste of football life.

My Friday columns will be called: Thank Goodell It’s Friday! Yeah, I know, cheesy. I’ll write about what the Falcons need to do to win that weekend’s game, and then I will give my full slate of predictions.

After the Seven Things on Monday, the College Football on Wednesday, and the Predictions on Friday will come the bits I’ll do for all three days I write. First up is Today In History. I love history. I love how history is a cycle that repeats itself. I am two classes shy of obtaining my history degree from UGA. I want to teach history. It’s fairly self-explanatory. I’m going to find an interesting piece of historical trivia and share it with y’all. Learning is fun!

After the seven things will come Film Real on Mondays, TV Dinners on Wednesdays, and The Jukebox on Fridays. I love movies, some tv shows, and music as much as I do sports, and I’ll share some of that with y’all.

After that comes Smart Quotes, which are some of my favorite quotes from famous (or infamous) people throughout time.

And I’ll finish my scheduled posts with Hey, Check This Out! which is the expression used most to rope unsuspecting bystanders into seeing some cool or funny video on YouTube. I will post said video for your enjoyment / amusement.

Alright, now that y’all have the roadmap for how this is going to work from now on, let’s roll.

The Seven Things I Know in the NFL

1) It makes total sense that MeAngelo Hall wins the MVP of a game predicated on individual skill and talent, and not meshing that skill and talent within the concept of TEAM.

2) If Commissioner Goodell and the owners want to make the Pro Bowl meaningful in any way (which would improve ratings), they would do away with paying the losers of the game and only pay the winners. All players get the trip to Hawai’i, but only winners take home a check for $50,000.

3) If I were David Akers, there is no way in HELL I could ever play for Andy Reid again. Not when Andy Reid knew what he knew, and still blamed Akers for the loss against the Packers. Just an inexcusable lack of tact from a coach who is able to find the time to coddle a dog-killing sociopath, but has no room in his heart for a father with a cancer-stricken child.

4) Megatron would look awfully nice in Falcons’ red after the 2013 season.

5) I know it was against a base defense (kind of like what Mike Smith has the Falcons play all of the time), but Matt Ryan can cut it loose longer than 20 yards. I hope Smitty & Mularkey were paying attention Sunday.

6) Anyone willing to pay $200 to stand outside Cowboys Stadium to watch the Super Bowl on what amounts to a big television is a fool, not worthy of his or her money.

7) The Green Bay Packers “PictureGate” is the kind of distraction that can derail a team’s drive for a title. Not good, Cheeseheads. Not good at all.

Today in History

On 31 January 1865, the United States Congress formally passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery for all states in the Union, including those in rebellion. This Amendment was deemed necessary by President Lincoln, because the Emancipation Proclamation was mostly a symbolic gesture that would have no power under Constitutional Law once the Civil War was concluded, and did not include the Border States, such as Kentucky. The 13th Amendment paved the way for American life as we know it today; suffrage for all, black, white, men, women. For Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. For the Civil Rights Movement. For an America that can elect a President who is a black American (whether he was actually worthy of those votes is another debate entirely NOT for this discussion). The 13th Amendment was a triumph of the goodness men can do. Let us be grateful today for the the anniversary of that momentous occasion.

Film Real

Late winter (after football season) is a great time to catch up on films that we wanted to see during football season, but perhaps never got around to due to real life (errands, chores, Honey-Do Lists, Holidays, etc) getting in the way.

A fun, well-reviewed film that was released at the end of the summer / beginning of autumn, Red, is a tale of retired CIA Agents played by Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren, who have become a liability for the Agency, so they send their best “cleaner,” played by Karl Urban (Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings), to take care of the problems those four pose.

Red is sharply written, with a witty sense of humor and crack comic timing displayed by the leads, who are even more impressive with their action work. Also, look for Brian Cox (X-Men 2, The Bourne Supremacy) in an extended cameo as a former KGB Agent. The film was recently released on DVD, and you can find it at a RedBox, from Netflix, on demand, or on iTunes. I recommend this film for pretty much anyone who’s a fan of smart action films in the vein of the last two James Bond films, or the first Die Hard film. Trust me, you won’t be sorry.

Smart Quotes

Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place.

Mark Twain, 1897

Hey, Check This Out!

The video is kind of grainy (okay, it’s very grainy), but this is by far the funniest moment in Late Night with Conan O’Brien’s history. Man, do I miss the Walker Texas Ranger Lever. Damn you, NBC for holding the rights to all of Conan's old bits as well as the video rights of Walker Texas Ranger! (And yes, that IS Haley Joel Osment)

Follow me on Twitter at @UGABugKiller

#DontCrossTheMoats or The Curious Case Of Arthur Moats

This is the story of Arthur Moats. The man with the most famous Twitter hashtag in the history of Buffalo, New York : #DontCrossTheMoats.

If you are a Buffalo Bills fan you automatically recognize the hashtag that ended Brett Favre's season (more on that later). But this is really an incredible phenomena if you consider that on opening day of the 2010 NFL season nobody knew who Arthur Moats was (even in Buffalo). Yes, this is rags to hashtag riches story. So sit back and enjoy!

Once upon a time there was a 6th round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills (pick 178 to be specific) by the name of Arthur Moats. Mr. Moats was the 2009 Buck Buchanan Award winner, given to the best defensive player in the Football Championship Division (formerly known as Division II). He starred at James Madison University (Colonial Athletic Association) where, in 2009, he was team captain, CAA Defensive Player Of The Year, James Madison University Athlete Of the Year, and a first team all-conference selection. He also led the team with 90 tackles (42 solo) while setting a school record of 23.5 tackles for a loss (leading the nation), had 11 sacks (first in the CAA and third in the nation). Yes Arthur was busy destroying the CAA in 2009; however, scouts said he was too small (6-2, 250 lbs) and played against weak competition to be considered a legitimate NFL defensive end.

Well, as the story goes, the Bills have a terrible history with high draft picks, but often strike gold with low round picks or undrafted free agents. This being said, Arthur didn't really distinguish himself in training camp and squeaked onto the roster as a special teams player. The buzz about Sir Arthur didn't start till a Buffalo sports radio personality (Jeremy White at WGR) coined the phrase of "Don't Cross The Moats". It was meant to be funny, since Moats was an unknown who had yet to distinguish himself. But then a funny thing happened - the phrase caught on.

First there was Arthur's dynamic special teams play. With each hit Bills fans would echo the infamous phrase, and on WGR radio each Moats tackle would be re-lived with the tag of "Don't Cross The Moats". Then there were the "Moats Sightings" as Arthur began to see more reps as the season progressed. And then, finally, the epic Twitter hashtag was born. During Bills games, any time Mr. Moats made a play, or came close to making one, Twitter was deluged with #DontCrossTheMoats references.

The Moats frenzy reached its peak (or so Bills fans thought) when any player dared even test Sir Arthur. If you "Crossed The Moats" bad things were destined for you. Twitter was filled with examples of football, and non-football actions that qualified as attempts to "Cross The Moats". Inevitably, any attempt to "Cross The Moats" ended in failure and made Arthur Moats one of the most popular Bills, even with his limited playing time.

As Arthur's game improved he began to play more regularly on defense, primarily on passing downs. The #DontCrossTheMoats legend was born when Arthur sacked Brett Favre and knocked Brett out of his first game of the year, and ended his streak of games started (but not necessarily Brett's streak of emailing pix of his privates).

The final few games of the year saw Moats playing regularly. He was possibly the best pash rusher on the Bills (I know, it ain't much, but its a start). He regularly pressured the QB, made some nice tackles, and showed some promise as a legitimate NFL player. He finished the season with 33 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble.

So, the morale of this tale? What started out as a cute play on words, and morphed into a national story (yes, #DontCrossTheMoats was referenced on game broadcasts, news stories, and sport talk shows), had a happy ending. A football player was discovered and a fan favorite was born. Hopefully Arthur lives happily ever after...

Sir Arthur hopes to bulk up this off season and continue his unlikely rise in the NFL. The coaching staff thinks he has what it takes. He certainly has the needed hashtag!

Just remember, if you, or your favorite NFL team, wants to keep its good karma.........#DontCrossTheMoats!

Mike McCarthy, NFL coach of the year?

When you think of great coaches in the NFL Mike McCarthy probably isn't the first name to come to mind. It should be. If you look at what he has accomplished this year I think he should be the unanimous pick for coach of the year.

Even though the Packers had their ups and downs this sseason they still managed to finish the year 10-6 and made the playoffs. McCarthy did this while having 15 key players placed on injured reserve over the course of the season. This just goes to show that even if he is short handed on players he can find other players that fit into his system and make them successful. McCarthy is a genius when it comes to roster management and he has proven it with his team's success this season.

Separate from this he is a great game planner and motivator. He has proven this recently with his team winning four straight elimination games. This shows how he can control his team and keep them all focused on their goal to just win. Those four elimination victories for the Packers include two huge wins on the road in the playoffs at Philadelphia and at Atlanta. This goes to show that home field advantage isn't as important as it seems. It is all about preparation and execution. Mike McCarthy has excellent preparation skills and he has the talent on his very deep roster to execute his game plans to perfection.

I just can't see how any other coach this year has "out coached" Mike McCarthy. In my opinion he was the best coach of the 2010 NFL season.

Why the Bears will beat the Packers.

A lot of the analysts and "experts" are saying that the Packers are now the favorite to win the Super Bowl. Well, what do they know. They thought that the Patriots would dominate every team and win the Super Bowl without a problem. Now they are out of the playoffs. I don't think that we should listen to the experts and their opinions, we should listen to the facts and realize that the Bears are going to win this game.
First, the Bears are playing at home. We all know this is a HUGE advantage during the playoffs if not all other games. You know that the 4th Phase is going to be a huge factor in this game. Yes, the Bears did struggle playing at home in the beginning of the year, but the Bears at the beginning of the year and the Bears now are two totally different teams. This offense is an offense in progress. Each game they play together they get better and looking at each game of the season, you can see that. Home field advantage is bigger than the experts are making it out to be. I don't think the Seahawks would have won if they were playing in New Orleans. So, playing at Soldier Field is a huge advantage for the Bears.
Second, the Bears could have beat the Packers week 17 if they had pushed it a little more at the end of the game. The Bears are capable of beating this team. I admit that the Packers are a better team on paper than the Bears are. I just think the Bears are going to win because they can play with more heart and determination. They have tons of material to fire them up. That is a big part of the game and I don't think the Packers have any of that. We have loads of things to get us pumped. We can and have beat this team, and we will on sunday.
Third, the Bears have one of the best defenses. If you look at the week 17 game we held the Packers and their powerful offense to only 10 points. Their average is around 24. These two teams have played each other so much that they know how to beat the other team on all phases of the game. Don't expect this game to be a shootout even though both quarterbacks are very good. This game is going to be almost all defense. I think we will see a game very like the week 17 game, but this time the Bears are going to win. Super Bowl here we come!
My Prediction:Bears 13 Packers 7

First Take: Packers 48 Falcons 21

Well, for a quarter and a half, this was a pretty good football game, right?

Of course, the moment Matt Ryan threw his second INT, it ceased being a football game and became a boat race, and not a very interesting boat race at that. Well, uninteresting outside of Wisconsin, of course.

This blog post is as it says: a first take. I am writing a gut reaction to the Falcons game that just happened (It did happen, didn't it? Or was it all a really bad, greasy-food-fueled nightmare?). I will be more than happy to get into statistics and curiously bendy things like facts in the week ahead, but for today, it's opinion. Rage-tinged opinion. I promise sarcasm at various junctures, so be mindful. Enjoy (or loathe) my words at your leisure!

I come not to praise Matt Ryan, I come to bury him. Actually, I will do no such thing; not this morning, not tomorrow, not next month. For now, I will reserve my judgment on the erstwhile Matty Ice (that nickname sounding more ridiculous today than it ever has) for another time entirely.

No, today, my harsh words of judgment are reserved for Mike Smith, head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and the pervasive philosophy he has drilled into both phases of his team since training camp: the dreaded Play-Not-To-Lose philosophy of football. In NFL circles, there is another, cursed name for this loser's philosophy: Martyball.

Martyball is named after perennial post-season-losing coach, Marty Schottenheimer. Marty was a man who could guide a football team to double-digit wins in the regular season by coaching them to play an ultra-conservative ball control offense and a defense that relied on basic zone coverages to limit teams from gaining 20-plus yard plays, what Bill Walsh referred to as "explosive plays." Marty Schottenheimer is the ultimate Play-Not-To-Lose football coach. Marty's teams rarely strayed from a run, run, pass offense, and he never met a field goal he didn't want to kick. In the NFL's regular season, filled with teams such as the Bengals, Texans, Panthers, Bills, and Redskins, a team can do quite well with this kind of offensive and defensive philosophies. A trip to the post-season is a reliable preseason goal, and if the schedule breaks right, a first-round bye can be had.

This is what the Falcons accomplished this season under Mike Smith. The schedule wasn't incredibly easy, but it wasn't hard, either. The Falcons did beat more good teams than Marty's generally did, but they never looked particularly good in doing it; relying on the right arm of their young QB to save them from their unnecessarily conservative game plans at the very end of games. Unfortunately, as Marty's career has shown the NFL world, Martyball does not translate to wins in the NFL post-season. Marty had a regular season career record of 200-126-1, but owned a putrid 5-13 record in the playoffs. His last playoff debacle, losing as the favored, number 1-seeded team in the second round with the 14-2 2007 Chargers, led to his firing.

Mike Smith now owns a very Marty-like distinction on his post-season resume: He's lost his only two playoff games; games in which his team was favored. If you're a head coach in the NFL, this is not the kind of distinction you want on your resume, and Smith's dogged insistence in coaching his players to play 20th Century football in a 21st Century NFL is the yoke that holds the Falcons back from success in the playoffs, and will for years to come.

In the last ten years, the NFL has done everything in its considerable power to create more scoring (Because more scoring equals higher ratings in America... yes, it's why we hate soccer. Well, that, and because soccer is populated by girlie-men who take dives). In enacting rules to create more scoring, the NFL has evolved from a run-orientated league (you have to run the ball to win) to a pass-orientated league (Bill Walsh is smiling from Heaven). It's why teams with "game-manager" QBs never make the playoffs anymore, and if they do, they don't last long (hello, 2008 Titans). It's why teams like the 9-7 Cardinals can come within 2 minutes of winning a Super Bowl. Teams with good-to-great QBs now have an edge like never before.

Okay, so with all of these (Bill Polian-influenced) rule changes dealing with what defenses can and cannot do to QBs and WRs, teams are now favoring offenses that pass to set up the run (WestCoast and Spread offenses) and defenses that put a premium on pressuring the QB (like the 3-4 or exotic, blitz-heavy 4-3 formations). Teams like the Patriots, Steelers, and Saints, teams that have had success in the last decade in the playoffs, are teams who've adapted best and won Super Bowls. Teams that have aggressive, pressuring defenses, but conservative offenses, like the Ravens, Giants, and Jets, can also find success. The Colts have an aggressive offense and conservative defense, and they too have been (sorta) successful in the playoffs.

Teams that continue to play conservative on offense and conservative on defense, however, like the Jaguars, Titans, Bears, and now the Falcons, can, like the best Martyball teams, make the playoffs every so often. But they are quick to make an exit, usually when favored, and often in a very embarrassing manner. Sound familiar Cleveland, Chiefs, Chargers, and now Falcons fans?

The point must be hammered home: you cannot be conservative on both sides of the ball and expect to win in the playoffs, let alone take home the Lombardi Trophy. Even 20 or 30 years ago in the Super Bowl-Era, teams like Parcels' Giants or Noll's Steelers had super-aggressive defenses to go with their run-first offenses. The Raiders teams that won three Super Bowls were aggressive on both sides of the ball, as was the 49ers Dynasty. The modern Ravens and Jets can win playoff games with QBs playing horribly, because their defenses are outstanding. The Falcons came into their two games under Smith with both sides of the ball playing uncreative, vanilla football, and they've lost both games.

Mike Smith has some deep-dish soul-searching to do this off-season. He must realize that Playing-Not-To-Lose Martyball will never win a football game that matters. It never has. This is a fact (sorry to bring facts into this post, but I must) bourn out of every miserable failure Marty Schottenheimer had in Januaries past. Smith must adjust his personal coaching philosophy and his coaching staff accordingly, or the Atlanta Falcons will never win any game that truly means something in the NFL.

Defensive Coordinator Brian Van Gorder could be an easy scapegoat for the way in which the Falcons defense played Saturday night, but to blame BVG would be a mistake. Van Gorder coaches the defense as Smith would have him. At the University of Georgia, BVG's defenses were known as aggressive, creative, turnover-making machines (think of the Saints defense from last season), but this is not how he has coached the defenses with the Falcons. Understandably, a reason for that may be that the Falcons cannot recruit their players, but the finger of blame (you know the one) must be pointed in Smith's direction for how he compels BVG to coach. BVG can coach a defense, if allowed to. Mark Richt, the (soon to be former) head coach at UGA, knows better than anyone how well Van Gorder can coach if left alone, as he's done little without BVG.

Offensive Coordinator Mike Mularkey is often cited by various media outlets for his excellence in "creating" Matt Ryan, the NFL phenom QB. Truthfully, Ryan was an outstanding QB known for his exciting comebacks and calm demeanor while he attended Boston College, so I've always wondered just how much "creating" Mularkey has done. What Mularkey is as an Offensive Coordinator, is a horrible situational play-caller. It is no secret that the Falcons offense is more fluid, more dynamic, and more creative when they run the no-huddle. In the Falcons' no-huddle offense, Ryan, not Mularkey, is the offensive play-caller. Ryan is given a formation, but he decides the play to run, much as Manning and Brady do in their full-time offenses. In these situations, the Falcons' offense cannot be stopped. Unfortunately, Play-Not-To-Lose Mike Smith infrequently called for the Falcons offense to run the no-huddle as the season progressed. This lead to situations culminating in the Saints game in Atlanta, where Mularkey's uncreative offensive play-calling doomed the Falcons to a 3-point loss in a game they had no business losing (Brees had two terrible, momentum-changing INTs).

I know it is a long shot that Smith changes any member of his coaching staff, but if he is honest with himself and the performance of his coaches and his team in games that mattered, he would see that Mularkey needs to go, especially with Josh McDaniels, a great and talented offensive mind, currently out on the market. As an observer of the Falcons, I salivate at the thought of what JMcD, a coach who turned Matt Cassell and Kyle Orton into explosive QBs, could do with a Matt Ryan-led offense. Unfortunately, Smith is unlikely to make this needed change (which seems to be a problem for football coaches in the state of Georgia), so JMcD in Atlanta remains a pipe dream. For now.

Regardless if Smith does anything or not to change his coaching staff, he must create change within himself. He must take a long, hard look at the man in the mirror, and rid himself of the Ghost of Marty Schottenheimer. That particular ghost never won an NFL game that mattered, and Coach Smith would do well to stop emulating Marty's Play-Not-To-Lose philosophies of football.

If Smith doesn't change, he may soon enough join Marty on the never-was pile of NFL broken dreams.