Power Rankings: Week 15

These were brutal. Ranking the top 5 hurt my head. I'll be interested to see how they compare with all the pros' tomorrow.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (3; +2): Their defense is so good that their offense doesn't have to play well until the fourth quarter, which is exactly what's been happening.

2. Indianapolis Colts (4; +1): They have often looked nothing better than mediocre during this seven game win streak, but ... they have a seven game winning streak. They are the Steelers' main competition in the playoffs.

3. Carolina Panthers (6; +3): I didn't fully buy into them after last week because I wanted to see how they would respond from the game. They did it in amazing fashion. Steve Smith is a remarkable football player.

4. Tennessee Titans (2; -2): Are teams - finally - starting to figure out Kerry Collins? It certainly appears so. If the running game doesn't click for them, it won't matter how good their defense is. 

5. New York Giants (1; -4): Without Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress, this team is not Super Bowl-bound. With Brandon Jacobs and without Plaxico Burress is yet to be fully seen.

6. Baltimore Ravens (5; -1): They have a game on Saturday night in Dallas, the last game ever to be played in Texas Stadium. If they lose that game, the sixth ranked team in these power rankings will most likely miss the playoffs. Meanwhile, the 17th is going to get a home game. Am I bitter? Possibly.

7. Miami Dolphins (8; +1): Well, slap them silly and call them the Colts. They can't win anything convincingly, but they're still winning. Im not sure anyones going to be scared of them come playoff time, though.

8. New England Patriots (9; +1): If the same Arizona and Dallas teams that showed up last Sunday show up this Sunday, then the Patriots are going to the playoffs.

9. Dallas Cowboys (13; +4): Who would have thought the defense would be carrying this team? They're playing very, very fast. 

10. Minnesota Vikings (10; 0): It's long been said that if you run the ball and stop the run well, then you will have success in this league. That saying even has an asterisk next to it saying "even if Gus Frerotte and Tavaris Jackson are your quarterbacks."

11. Philadelphia Eagles (14; +3): Boy, what a great job their offensive line did on Monday night against Cleveland. I'm sitting here watching it, and they're just fundamentally sound.

12. Atlanta Falcons (15; +3): They won a game they absolutely had to have to win. If they win out, they will more than likely be in. And then it's really time to see what Matt Ryan is all about.

13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7; -6): If you can't stop the run, good luck in the NFC playoffs, especially considering a first round match-up against Adrian Peterson is certainly possible.

14. New York Jets (16; +2): If they get in the playoffs, they will scare whoever plays them, because they can beat anybody when they play well. They can also lose to anyone when they don't.

15. Chicago Bears (19; +4): Great, gutsy win by the Bears, who can only hope for the Vikings to falter this week at home against Atlanta.

16. Arizona Cardinals (11; -5): This team has absolutely packed it in for the season. Well, at least it looked like that against Arizona. They will need to turn it back on in the next few games; they can't go into the playoffs that cold.

17. Denver Broncos (12; -5): The weekly trip for the Broncos from 17 to 12 and back again. See my comment for the Jets.

18. Houston Texans (20; +2): What a fantastic story for the Texans. While other teams out of it have absolutely quit (see Packers), the Texans keep fighting hard. I never expected Steve Slaton to be so good, let alone in his rookie season.

19. New Orleans Saints (17; -2): A playoff-killing loss. When the defense isn't there, all of the offensive points are for nothing.

20. San Diego Chargers (24; +4): I can not believe that they can still make the playoffs. It's absolutely embarrassing for that division.

21. Washington Redskins (18; -3): Five weeks ago, Jim Zorn was a serious candidate for coach of the year. Now, it's 50-50 he makes it to next season. Hello, Bill Cowher?

22. Buffalo Bills (21; -1): Oh, things have gotten bad in Buffalo. They choked that game away in a big way. Marshawn Lynch is still running very hard, though.

23. San Francisco 49ers (22; -1): They obviously still need a lot of help in a lot of other areas, but can the Hill-Gore-Davis trio be a good NFL unit?

24. Jacksonville Jaguars (26; +2): I didn't see the game against Green Bay, but I saw the game against Chicago, so I know the way Jacksonville's been playing. I also know that I lost in m fantasy playoffs because Garrard and Jones-Drew combined for four touchdowns.

25. Green Bay Packers (23; -2): This defense should be positively ashamed of themselves. I'm still of the belief that this season is in no way, shape or form Brett Favre's or Aaron Rodgers's fault.

26. Cleveland Browns (25; -1): Joshua Cribbs is one of the best all-around football players in the NFL today, and I am neither kidding nor exaggerating. He can run, throw, catch, return, and is fantastic on special teams coverage. Every single team in the NFL would love this guy to be on their team.

27. Kansas City Chiefs (27; 0): Here's where all the rankings become stagnant. The bottom six teams could all get the number one draft pick in any other year. 

28. Seattle Seahawks (28; 0): You expect me to have something intelligent to say about the Seattle Seahawks?

29. Oakland Raiders (29; 0): So much for "at least Oakland's defense has been playing hard."

30. Cincinnati Bengals (30; 0): One play I noted. Chad Ocho Cinco catches a pass across the middle and gets absolutely leveled by a member of the Redskins' secondary. The play didn't even count; it got taken back by a holding penalty. But Ocho Cinco got up and was fired up and in the defensive back's face. It was good to see a team have some sort of life.

31. St. Louis Rams (31; 0): I've been watching ESPN basically all day and I've yet to see anything about the Rams game. Did it even happen?

32. Detroit Lions (32; 0): Calvin Johnson is awesome. Period.

Division Rankings: The NFC East takes back the top spot, and the NFC West breaks the tie at the bottom to take last. 

1. NFC East (average rank: 11.50)

2. NFC South (11.75)

3. AFC South (12.00)

4. AFC East (12.75)

5. AFC North (15.75)

6. NFC North (20.50)

7. AFC West (23.25)

8. NFC West (24.50)

Maryland Basketball: Not Last Year's Team

When I first looked at the Maryland men's basketball 2008-09 schedule, what really stood out to be was one particular seven game stretch. It lasted exactly one month, from December 7-January 7. It had the potential to make or break the Terps' season. 

And no, they didn't play UNC, Duke, or Wake during that stretch at all.

The teams that would line up to face the Terps would be, in order: George Washington, Delaware State, American, Bryant, Elon, Charlotte and Morgan State. 

Why that stretch? Because it was during that stretch last year that the team threw away its season.

Consider that Maryland was a bubble team last year. They were a bubble team despite not winning a single meaningful non-conference game (their three best opponents were UCLA, Missouri and Illinois. They lost to UCLA and Missouri on a neutral court, and then ended up beating Illinois, who ended up being terrible last year anyway.) They were a bubble team despite losing three games in their non-conference schedule that they had no business losing (to VCU, American and Ohio). All that, and if they held on to beat Clemson, they probably would have made the tournament anyway. 

Logic told me at the beginning of the season that the Terps would win at least one of their four games against UNC and Duke (They have at least one victory over those teams in every season this decade except for the 2005-06 team.) That would be the one marquee win of the year that every bubble team needs to have. 

So I stared at that stretch and just thought to myself, "This could not be any worse." You accomplish absolutely nothing by beating American, for instance. You throw your season away by losing to American, though. That's what the team did last year.

This year? No more. 

The team didn't look that set earlier in their overtime win against Vermont, but Vermont played the game of their life that game. Vermont's also not a bad team at all, and Marqus Blakely is a stellar power forward (averaging 17.1 ppg and 9.3 rpg this year, playing the position for which the Terps are having the most problems matching up). 

That was then. This team learned a lot about itself since then, including how they are supposed to play teams they should beat. I don't want to get ahead of myself, because we are only two games in during this seven game stretch. However, the blowout wins against GW and Delaware State were both very convincing. The Terps came out firing and aggressive both times. 

GW and Delaware State are two of the worst "bad teams" the Terps will play this year. If they come out playing against the next five like they did against the first two, however, they will be fine.

The huge wins against Michigan State and Michigan (them beating Duke will turn out to be huge) probably give the Terps a little lee-way for one bad loss. Hopefully, they won't even need it. 

Congratulations Men's Soccer

As the first post of the week, I would be positively remiss not to talk about the University of Maryland men's soccer team, which won the national championship for the second time in four seasons. Graham Zusi scored both of the team's goals in their 1-0 defeats of St. John's and the University of North Carolina in the semifinal and national championship game, respectively. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the College Cup.

I know a lot of you watched the game because it was on ESPN2, but I didn't get a chance to (I was at the Ravens-Steelers game). Because of that, I can't provide any analysis of the matter, but if you want to read all about it, go to http://www.blogger.com/www.umterps.com. On the first page, it also provides a link so that you can send messages to congratulate the team.

Congratulations men. You made University of Maryland students proud.

Edit: Just to add on, head coach Sasho Cirovski called this team one of the best in Maryland history last week (when they beat Creighton). The Terps were one of the best teams in the nation and deserved this title. Congrats to them. -Tyler

Teixeira Hysteria (updated)

With star pitcher C.C. Sabathia signing the biggest contract for a pitcher in history Wednesday morning, Major League Baseball's winter meetings were officially underway.

And with the top prize off the market, all the attention has been placed on 28-year old Mark Teixeira. The first baseman - a native of Severna Park, Maryland - was coveted by many teams before this week, but no offers were made.

On Wednesday, that all changed. For hours, there was rampant speculation about who had offered Teixeira a contract, and for how much. Just about every expert predicted Teixeira would sign with the L.A. Angels, the team who traded for him at this past trading deadline. The first offer he recieved, however, was from the Washington Nationals, a team rumored to have interest all offseason long. Their offer (8 years, $160 million) is still the largest offer on the table, but many believe Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos covets the first baseman so much that he will offer a contract around $200 million, exactly what Teixeira's agent Scott Boras wants.

The breakdown of the offers, via MLBtraderumors.com:

Nationals: 8 years, $160 million
Orioles: 7 years, $140-150 million
Angels: (updated) 8 years, $160 million (possibly more)
Red Sox: not concrete numbers

According to the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles are unwilling to up their offer, despite not being the highest. This could just be a smokescreen, but it's very possible the Orioles believe Teixeira would take a hometown discount.

The Angels, apparently, will not offer an 8th year, and will look towards trading options (Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, or Adrian Beltre) or free agent Raul Ibanez if Boras will not budge from his 8-year contract demands. It is rumored the Angels have already dropped out of the race in favor of Ibanez or a trade.

That really just leaves the Nationals and Red Sox. Let me break down why I think Teixeira should sign with the Nationals.

First, the Nationals are offering the most money. If he wants to follow the money, right now, the Nationals have the most of it.

Second, the Nationals are close to home. It has been reported that his wife wants to stay on the East Coast (we saw how that worked for Sabathia, but in this case, an East-Coast team has a competitive offer). The Red Sox are also on the East Coast, but if you're going to sign with an Eastern team, why not play 30 minutes from your hometown?

Third, Teixeira would be the face of the franchise. In Boston, he would be just another cog in the machine, sharing facetime with David Ortiz, Josh Beckett, Jason Bay, Dice-K, etc. In D.C., he would be top dog. He would be their franchise player. Ryan Zimmerman would become the #2 offensive option and the burdens the young third baseman carries as the franchise player would be made easier.

And fourth, the Nationals are building to be a dynasty in the N.L. East. Their rotation is young and their top prospects are just beginning to see the major leagues. Thier lineup has 5 players under the age of 26, and 2 more players - Austin Kearns and Josh Willingham - under the age of 30 (28 and 29, respectively). The only starter over the age of 30 is shortstop Christian Guzman, who turned 30 in March. Teixeira would stablize the first base position for the next eight years as the young team grows.

Mark Teixeira could sign with the Red Sox, or any other team for that matter. He has a much higher chance of winning a World Series in Boston or L.A. (or New York) than in Washington. But in D.C., he'd have a chance to lead a team to a championship. He'd be a fan favorite and a wonderful story.

Time will only tell if he does decide to sign with the Nationals. But for the first time, Nationals fans have a reason to be excited in December.

Update: According to mlb.com, the Angels have decided to up their offer to match the Nationals' offer. This makes it very interesting and now throws the Angels back into the mix. Also, there are no confirmed offers from the Red Sox...is their interest just a Scott Boras' creation, used to up to offers?

Our BCS Solution: Revisited

Remember a few weeks ago, when Tony and Tyler decided to tell the world about their perfect BCS solution? Remember the outcry about how bad the ACC and Big East were? Remember "How can Maryland possibly be a final four team?" Let's revisit that. All the teams we put in were guess-work. Now that the season is over, we have the pieces to our puzzle.

Remember: What we proposed was to take out the BCS National Championship Game. We would keep the other four BCS bowls. The four winners would then go on to play in a final four of sorts. All this would mean would be one extra game for two schools, two extra games for two schools, and a whole lot of money for both.

I am proposing one different idea, though. Right now, the Rose Bowl is tied to the Pac-10 and the Big-10. The Fiesta Bowl is tied to the Big 12 champion, the Sugar Bowl is tied to the SEC champion, the Orange Bowl the ACC champion. The other three teams are selected in order of Fiesta, Sugar and then Orange. The only requirement is that the Big East champion is somewhere in there. I propose changing that order, and not making it a set one. Change it so that there's a seeding process. Regardless of conference ranks, VT is obviously the worst (we can use the BCS average for this) out of themselves, Oklahoma and Florida. So give the Orange Bowl the first choice, and then the Sugar, and then the Fiesta. 

So, we're off.

No. 1 Bowl: Fiesta Bowl

(Oklahoma (Big 12 champion) vs. Cincinnati (last place BCS team))

vs.

No. 4 Bowl: Orange Bowl

(Virginia Tech (ACC champion) vs. Alabama (first place BCS team*))

No. 2 Bowl: Sugar Bowl

(Florida (SEC champion) vs. Texas (second place BCS team*))

vs.

No. 3 Bowl: Rose Bowl

(Penn State (Big 10 champion) vs. USC (Pac-10 champion))

*Texas would probably be selected first, but the Sugar and Orange Bowl would make an agreement so that SEC wouldn't play SEC.

So, conceivably, you would have a "final four" of Oklahoma vs. Alabama, the winner of which would play the winner of Florida vs. USC. If any of those four didn't make it, the team in their place would have beaten them, deserving to be there.

Questions?

5 Things to Keep an Eye on

Sure, you have the NFL playoff races, but there's other things to keep an eye on this weekend. Here's five things I'll be paying attention to.

1. The Mark Teixeira sweepstakes. C.C. already went to the Yankees; everyone expected that. Teixeira, on the other hand, is a local boy. Both the Orioles and Nationals have expressed interest, and Teixeira has reciprocated with both. It will be interesting to see where Texeira ends up, and whether the local teams will be filling to fork over enough money to get him.

2. Maryland basketball: taking care of business. More on this later, but it's the worst time of the year for Maryland basketball. It's no longer the beginning of the season, so we're not really learning anything about the team. They no longer play anyone that will help their resume at the end of the year. It's full of Elons, Bryants, and Delaware States from here on out. None of these wins will help, but losses will devastate.

3. Pittsburgh-Baltimore: Will the emotions finally boil over? Both teams have been good all week. No players or coaches have expressed anything but mutual respect for the other team. You know it's just because they feel the eyes of Czar Goodell looking over them, though. I mean, after all, this is the same Ravens team with Bart Scott (pictured), who openly threatened to kill Hines Ward last year. It will be interesting to see whether all this emotion they're keeping inside will spill out onto the football field in terms of some 15-yard penalties.

4. Which team will get back on track: Dallas or New York? I have a feeling New York is going to destroy Dallas in this game, but that's just me. Everything I've ever said negative about Tony Romo (pictured) I will reverse if he managed to get the huge win this week. If not, I don't see Dallas winning another game. Conversely, New York has to show the league that they just ran into a Philadelphia team at the wrong time, and that the Giants are still the team to beat in this league, with or without Brandon Jacobs. We're going to learn something about both of these teams after this game.

5. We will immediately start to see the effects of the first big trade in the NBA. Forgive me, but I don't think the Wizards getting rid of Antonio Daniels for two guys who combine to average about 5 ppg is going to make that big of a difference. There was a trade that went down last night between the Bobcats and the Suns, though, that caught a lot of people's interest. Boris Diaw (pictured, left) and Raja Bell (two staples of Suns for the past few years) and Sean Singletary (whom Maryland fans know quite well) left for the Bobcats. In return, the Suns received Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley (also well known by Maryland fans). Steve Nash was visibly upset during last night's Suns-Lakers game. 

And yea, I just wrote about the NBA. 

(Photo Credits: AP)

Too Many To Count

Alexander Semin, Mike Green (pictured), Tom Poti, Chris Clark, Jeff Schultz, Sergei Fedorov, Tomas Fleishmann, Tyler Sloan, Eric Fehr, and John Erskine.

For those of you at home, thats:

41 goals, 56 assists, and a +/- rating of +28.

Wow.

The injury bug has certainly hit the Caps. Hard. Even a replacement - Tyler Sloan - got hurt. Top prospect Karl Alzner was called up to replace Sloan and suffered an injury against Columbus, but hasn't missed a game. Alexander Ovechkin has been playing phenomenal but has a nagging groin injury. Viktor Kozlov just came back into the lineup. And I'm not even counting Brian Pothier, who has been out since last spring, when Boston forward Milan Lucic gave him a concussion.

And speaking of Boston, the injury-depleted Caps take on the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins at Verizon Center in a little less than an hour. It will take a Herculean effort to continue to hold the Southeast Division lead with all the injuries, but if the Caps can make it to overtime - or even better, win - then they will have proved to me that they are finally, after years of struggling teams, done with rebuilding. It would mean that they have the depth in the organization to be able to withstand injuries. A year ago, if you told me that they would lose all these players and still compete regularly, I'd laugh at you.

Now, their depth is being shown. They're getting contributions from the young call-ups such as Alzner and Sami Lepisto (and I anticipate some chances generated by AHL rookie of the month for November Oskar Osala).

Luckily, Semin, Green, Poti, Fedorov, and Sloan are due back this week (for Sloan, tonight). They are going to need those players for the stretch run, when the playoffs are in sight. But for now, they are doing ok.

Oh, and Boston comes into DC with a 6-game winning streak. You know what happened last time they came to DC with a 6-game winning streak? A 10-2 Capitals win.

Let's hope a similar fate results at Verizon tonight.

(Photo: Washington Times)