The column went on hiatus for Christmas last week.

NFL Blitz Week 17

Here we are at the final week of the regular season. In a season filled with equal mediocrity (only Miami and St. Louis finished with less then 4 wins), we witnessed the first 16-0 regular season, the resurgence of a 38 year old legend, a 44 year old Vinny Testeverde winning games, teams still kicking to Devin Hester, and the Cleveland Browns smashing their to 10 wins. It’s been a weird year for Football as heading into the final Sunday no division was up for grabs, and only two playoff question marks remained, leaving a lackluster feeling to the end of the season. Oh and gotta feel for the Browns who despite 10 wins miss out on the playoffs based on “record against common opponents”

Stats of the Week:
1. Tom Brady threw 50 touchdown passes an average of 3.125 per game and only 8 interceptions.
2. Randy Moss had 23 touchdown catches, Almost 1.5 per game. Not bad for a 4th round pick who’d “ Lost a step”
3. Wes Welker and T.J. Housjmenzadeh tied for the league lead with 112 receptions. Both are second on the depth charts at their positions.
4. I promise the last patriot stats, they set a league record for points in a season (589 or 36.8 per game) and for number of players (26) scoring a touchdown.
5. Derek Anderson nearly made it 5 QB’s to throw for 30 TD’s this season. 4 ties the league record.
6. No team in the NFC East or AFC South finished below .500
7. The AFC West, AFC East, NFC South, and NFC West had only the division leader finish above .500
8. Sage Rosenfels attempted only 18 passes and the Texans scored 42 points.
9. 64 different quarterbacks started a game in the NFL this year. An avaerage of 2 per team.
10. At 44 years and 49 days young Vinny Testaverde took his final snap.
11. Devin Hester returned 6 kicks for touchdowns this year. A new record. Why do people kick to him?

Thoughts:
As a Patriot fan I’m disinclined to cheer for the Colts, but Indianapolis doesn’t help their cause when they rest their starters and don’t help out everyone’s second favorite team the Cleveland Browns who against many odds-makers went 10-6 this year and probably saved Romeo Crennel’s job.

Quarterbacking was a bad year, outside of Brady, Manning, Romo, Roethilsberger, Favre and a handful of others their was bad play at the position, like say Chris Weinke getting a start this week.

Oh, and for the record I’m not sure whom I’m picking but I’ll be rooting for Tennessee over San Diego (I think New England can shred the titans secondary) and Pittsburgh over Jacksonville (Jacksonville is just too tough for a 5 seed).

An unrelated note, but it’s a disgrace to the NFL in my opinion if Belichick doesn’t win coach of the year. The signal stealing didn’t help them at all and they shattered so many records going through this season.

Somewhere, Kurt Warrener despite an 8-8 season is smiling, as his best moments of the season were probably him remembering this week’s pummeling of his former team St. Louis and the man who stole his job, Marc Bulger.

No what were they thinking this week besides the Colts resting their starters knowing what happened to them in 2005 against the Steelers, a potential second round opponent. Just doesn’t make sense. They won the superbowl having to play every week (week 17 last year they had a shot at a bye and needed a win to stay ahead of New England) and they won the Superbowl. So they rest everyone into a bye week this year? Color me skeptical.

The Un-watch (to be renamed the Pat Watch over the next weeks)
What to say that hasn’t been said. Eli played like Peyton for most of the game and they still managed to sneak out a win. The first 16-0 team in the regular season ever. Seems like a big deal to everyone but New England whom it only matters if that six is flipped upside down and it says 19-0. The next opponent for the Patriots will be Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, or Tennessee depending on how the wild card games play out.

Top 5 Teams:
5. Jacksonville Jaguars
4. Green Bay Packers
3. Dallas Cowboys
2. Indianapolis Colts
1. New England Patriots

Week 17 picks:
This Week: 10-6
Overall: 160 – 96
Percentage for the regular season: 62.5%

Hardware:
Coach of the Year – Bill Belichick (New England Patriots)
Runner up: Mike McCarthy (Green Bay Packers)

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Patrick Willis (San Francisco 49er’s)
Runner up: Jon Beason (Carolina Panthers)

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings)
Runner up: Marshawn Lynch (Buffalo Bills)

Comeback Player of the Year: Mario Williams (Houston Texans)
Runner up: Kurt Warrener (Arizona Cardinals)

Offensive Player of the Year: Randy Moss (New England Patriots)
Runner up: Tom Brady (New England Patriots)

Defensive Player of the Year: Albert Haynesworth (Tennessee Titans)
Runner up: Antonio Cromartie (San Diego Chargers)

Most Valuable Player: Tom Brady (New England Patriots)
Runner up: Brett Favre (Green Bay Packers)

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Feedback
	espnking2002 - December 31, 2007 (12:49 PM) I'm a little bit nervous about going into the playoffs for some reason. I can't help but feel like we're gonna lose a game and drop our perfect season.
	Felix_Arabia - December 31, 2007 (01:48 PM) As a Patriot fan I’m disinclined to cheer for the Colts, but Indianapolis doesn’t help their cause when they rest their starters and don’t help out everyone’s second favorite team the Cleveland Browns who against many odds-makers went 10-6 this year and probably saved Romeo Crennel’s job. Since when do the Colts owe the Browns anything? We played the game we wanted to, not the way Clevelanders wanted us to play it. If they were so disenchanted by their team failling to reach the playoffs despite a pretty successful season, they should have beaten the Bengals. In fact, if you want to look at from a long-term standpoint, the Browns had it coming. They bounced the Colts from the playoffs back in 1989. An unrelated note, but it’s a disgrace to the NFL in my opinion if Belichick doesn’t win coach of the year. The signal stealing didn’t help them at all and they shattered so many records going through this season. Nonsense! He's a fiend, a gruesome malcontent who has no qualms about being unsportsmanlike. 16-0 is quite an impressive record. But let's face it -- there division wasn't exactly competitve. He also had quite a stellar offense and defense playing for him. I won't be surprised if Belichick gets it, but the Coach of the Year award really should go to someone whose coaching made a major positive impact on his team's record. Since I'm pretty biased to the Colts, obviously, I'll make my case for Tony Dungy since we had tons and tons of injuries and still finished with a nice 13-3 record at the end of the regular season.
	Suskie - December 31, 2007 (08:47 PM) The Browns? Who gives a damn about the Browns? As much as I dislike the idea of an undefeated team, the Patriots really earned their 16-0 record this year. They truly are a fantastic team.
	ghostyghost - December 31, 2007 (08:49 PM) I was just bugging about the Colts. Everyone's second favorite team is the Browns this year and I was disapointed to see them miss out on the playoffs. And the Patriots have had plenty of injuries to voercome, not as many as the colts but they lost perennial pro-bowler Richard Seymour for the first 7 weeks, Ben Watson (TE) has missed 5 games, Kyle Brady (TE) has missed the last 4 games, Their youngest linebacker, Rosevelt Colvin is out for the Season, Backup RB Sammy Morris who had back to back 100yd rushing games went on IR, Maroney was in out for most of the year. And you need a coach to keep to focused and motivated for 17 weeks and Belichick must be good at it since no other coach has ever done it before.