Is Cutler Really to Blame?

Jay Cutler has drawn an immense amount of criticism following the Bears loss to the Packers for not gutting it out and staying in the game despite his injury. Some samples:

Derrick Brooks: "I have to be crawling and can't get up to come off the field. Josh Freeman would not come out. Meds are available ... "

Brooks again: "There is no medicine for a guy with no guts and heart."

Deion Sanders: "I never question a player's injury, but I do question a player's heart."

Darnell Dockett: "If I'm on the Chicago team Jay Cutler has to wait 'til me and the team shower [and] get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room."

Mark Schlereth: "As a guy [who has had] 20 knee surgeries you'd have to drag me out on stretcher to leave a championship game."

Maurice Jones-Drew: "All I'm saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee ... I played the whole season on one."


Pretty harsh stuff, and that's just a small sample of the stuff that's out there. Now, I get it. Some people are upset because Cutler wasn't lying on his deathbed, or jumping up and down screaming to get back into the game, and to them that means he had no heart and/or he should not have come out of the game. I don't know that I agree with that. Sure there are tons of examples in sports of guys gutting it out for glory and putting everything on the line. Phillip Rivers comes to mind. Rivers played in the AFC Championship Game in 2008 against New England with a torn ACL. What people don't remember is that the game Rivers was hurt in, he didn't return. That divisional playoff game against the Colts was won by backup Billy Volek. It's not unheard of for quarterbacks to not be able to return from injury in playoff games. Carson Palmer tore both his ACL and MCL against the Steelers in the 2006 Wildcard Game and had to give way to Jon Kitna. Heck, Joe Montana got blown up by Leonard Marshall in the 1992 NFC Championship Game and had to give way to Steve Young...It happens. I don't recall any of those guys having their toughness questioned by the entire world though. How about 2 years ago when the Titans played the Ravens in the second round of the playoffs? At 13-3 the Titans were the #1 seed and if ever there was a year when they looked poised to make a Super Bowl run this was it. Chris Johnson goes down with an injury in the first half. No crutches, no stretcher, just sat on the sidelines in a parka a la Jay Cutler. Left with LenDale White, the Titans offense which had leaned so heavily on Johnson all year sputtered and the Titans lost on a late field goal to Joe Flacco and company 13-10. Did anyone say anything about Chris Johnson's toughness? Or throw fits about why he wasn't doing everything HE could do to get back into the game? I'm a Titans fan, and while I was disappointed that our star player was out, I don't recall blaming him or accusing him of not trying. I just think it's unfortunate that so many people are jumping on Cutler before they even know the extent of the injury. I mean if it comes back that he had a bad bruise or something, than yeah, go ahead and question his toughness. But this is a guy who plays football despite having Type I Diabetes, got sacked more than anyone else over the course of the season and missed just one game (due to a concussion), and seems to have the complete support of his coach and teammates. Brian Urlacher and center Olin Kreutz seemed quick to defend their quarterback when asked. Same with safety Chris Harris, and backup quarterback Caleb Hanie. Not one hint of dissension among the Bears ranks. To me the whole thing is disappointing. It's easy to say that if you were in Cutler's shoes you would've done things differently, but the fact of the matter is that none of these critics were. Yeah, some of them are football players who battled through injuries. But a lot of them weren't quarterbacks, and they don't know what Cutler was going through. For Maurice Jones-Drew to say that he played the whole year on a bad knee is ridiculous. When the Jaguars were tied atop the AFC South at 8-6 with the Colts and his team needed him, Jones-Drew missed the last two regular season games. Hmmmmmm... Anyhow, people need to lay off of Cutler. He led his team to the NFC Championship game and they came up short. It's unfortunate the way things went down, but no one deserves the sort of judgment that he's receiving.

Big Plays from the Championship Games

NFC Championship Game

Starks' First NFL Touchdown - The Packers reestablished running game is a big reason they're going to the Super Bowl.

Urlacher's Interception - Although it didn't lead to points, it kept Green Bay from taking a 21-0 lead. Note that Rodgers makes a touchdown saving tackle on this play too.

Caleb Hanie's 32 yarder to Knox - Hanie led the Bears down the field on his first drive, and this play set up their first score of the game, a one yard run by Chester Taylor.

B.J. Raji Touchdown - To quote John Madden in the movie The Replacements - "I love to see a fat guy score... Because first you get the fat guy spike, then you get the fat guy dance. Raji didn't get to do the spike because Hanie almost forced a fumble, but he does get to do a dance.

Hanie's First Career Touchdown Pass - Hanie was 4 for 4 on this drive, culminating in this 35 yard strike to Earl Bennett.


Sam Shields Clinches the win with a Pick - Final Score Packers 21, Bears 14.


AFC Championship Game

Mendenhall gives the Steelers an early lead - Rashard Mendenhall would finish the game with 121 yards on 27 carries and this score to put the Steelers up 7-0 on their opening drive.

Big Ben runs in a score - Roethlisberger scores on a keeper from two yards out to extend the leave to 17-0.

Ike Taylor's brutal hit of Sanchez leads to a touchdown - Taylor crushes Sanchez and William Gay returns it for a touchdown to make it 24-0 still in the first half.

Santonio Holmes burns his old team - Sanchez hits Holmes when Ike Taylor falls down on their first possession of the second half as the Jets slowly creep back into the game.

The Goal Line Stand - Don't have a video for this one, but facing a 2nd and goal from the 1, the Steelers defense forces two incompletions and then stop Tomlinson. 17 plays 88 yards 0 points.

The Safety - No video for this one either. One play later, with starting center Maurkice Pouncey out with an injury, backup Doug Legursky and Ben Roethlisberger had a mishap on the snap and while Roethlisberger recovered in the end zone, it still went for a safety. 24-12

Cotchery scores to make it 24-19 - Following the safety, Sanchez drives the Jets down the field and hits Jerricho Cotchery on a 4 yard touchdown pass.

Roethlisberger to Brown to Clinch the Win - 3rd and 6 with the Jets out of timeouts, Roethlisberger scrambles and hits rookie Antonio Brown for 14 yards and a first down. Game, set, match Steelers. 24-19.

Super Bowl XLV - Packers vs Steelers

It's official. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are headed to take on Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Kind of a crazy day of football as both games appeared to be headed for blowouts, and then didn't finally get decided until inside the last two minutes. Rodgers and the Packers got out to an early lead scoring touchdowns on the ground in the first (by Aaron Rodgers) and second (by James Starks) quarters. The Bears offense under Jay Cutler was largely ineffective and to make matters worse, Cutler left the game with a knee injury in the 3rd quarter. Backup Todd Collins came in and was even worse missing on all four of his pass attempts and nearly throwing a pair of interceptions. Lovie Smith and company only let Collins play two series, and then they went off book and brought in 3rd-stringer Caleb Hanie, who'd only appeared in 5 games in 3 seasons, and never thrown more than 5 passes in a game. Hanie proceeded to have the game of his life. Hanie drove the Bears 67 yards in his first series, the big play being a 32 yarder to Johnny Knox on 2nd and 13 that drove the Bears all the way down to the 1. Chester Taylor scored on the next play to cut the deficit in half. A little while later the Packers exposed Hanie's lack of experience and 337 pounder defensive tackle B.J. Raji came up with a pick six to put the Packers back up by two scores. Hanie showed what he was made of on the next drive though, taking the Bears 60 yards on 4 pass plays before connecting on his first career touchdown pass, hooking up with Earl Bennett for 35 yards. After the Bears defense forced the Packers to go 3 and out, Hanie drove the Bears all the way down to the 29, but on 4th and 5, rookie corner Sam Shields came away with the interception to clinch the win. Packers 21, Bears 14.

The AFC Championship game was a tale of two halves. The Steelers jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first half as Pittsburgh had everything working on both sides of the ball. Rashard Mendenhall and Ben Roethlisberger each had rushing touchdowns, and Ike Taylor forced a fumble on a vicious hit of Mark Sanchez that William Gay was able to return for a touchdown. A banged up Sanchez was able to drive the Jets into field goal range and put them on the board with a 39 yard Nick Folk field goal before halftime. Still, it didn't look like it was going to be much of a game. But as much as the first half was all black and gold, the second half was all green and white. Santonio Holmes hauled in a 45 yard touchdown on the opening drive to make it 24-10. Then on the Steelers next drive, Brodney Pool picked off a Roethlisberger pass at the 5. Pittsburgh's offense that had been unstoppable in the first half, now couldn't seem to get anything going. The Jets next drive went 17 plays for 88 yards, but despite 3 tries from the Steeler 1 yard line, the Jets couldn't get into the endzone. One important detail I left out about the first half. Pittsburgh's Pro Bowl Center Maurkice Pouncey left the game with an injury. Backup Doug Legursky had some issues on exchanges with Roethlisberger and on the first play after the turnover on downs, it happened again. Safety. 24-12. The Jets then drove 58 yards in 10 plays and Sanchez hit Jerricho Cotchery on a 4 yard touchdown pass to make it a one possession game. Then Ben Roethlisberger took over. Needing to run out the final 3:06, Big Ben connected on a 14 yarder on 2nd and 9 to Heath Miller and then another one on 3rd and 6 to Antonio Brown and the Steelers were able to run out the clock. Steelers 24, Jets 19. And I win the bet.

Sunday Six Pack

NOT SO SWEET SIXTEEN

A bad season just keeps getting worse for the Cavaliers as they dropped games Friday against the Bucks 102-88 and Saturday in Chicago to the Bulls 92-79. If there is a silver lining though it's that the Cavaliers are starting to get moderately healthy again. Anthony Parker, Christian Eyenga and Joey Graham all returned to action this weekend, but it still wasn't enough. Andrew Bogut scored 23 points on 11 of 14 shooting and Corey Maggette had 20 to lead Milwaukee on Friday night. On Saturday it was Derrick Rose getting 24, and 20 point games for Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer leading Chicago. Saturday's game was particularly rough as the Cavaliers shot just 32.1% from the field. Despite 18 offensive rebounds, the Cavs weren't able to crack the 80 point barrier. J.J. Hickson had 11 of those offensive boards, and 20 total rebounds, but shot just 5 for 19. Antawn Jamison was the only Cavalier to shoot over 50% hitting 12 of 22 shots and scoring 31 points. The rest of the team? 15 for 62. 24.2%. The Cavs are back in action tomorrow night taking on the New Jersey Nets, who at 12-32, are the last losing team that Cleveland will play until they face Indiana on the 2nd of February. The Bulls, meanwhile are quietly 30-14, 12 games ahead of 2nd place Indiana in the Central Division. All this despite Boozer missing 18 games, and starting center Joakim Noah now missing 20. Derrick Rose is quietly having an MVP-type season with career highs in points (24.7) and assists (8.0), and with the Heat, and Magic, and Celtics getting all of the attention, the Bulls are flying right below the radar. Keep an eye on this team down the stretch, especially if Noah can come back from his injury.

BLAKE GRIFFIN IS REALLY GOOD

Griffin continues to impress in his rookie season. His latest performance? Just a cool 30 points and his second straight 18-rebound game to lead the Clippers to their 4th win in 5 games over the Warriors 113-109. Griffin is now averaging 27.2 points and 14.5 rebounds in the month of January. Griffin also chimed in with a career high 8 assists. He also had a ridiculous highlight reel reverse alley-oop slam off an over the head pass from fellow rookie Eric Bledsoe and a 3-pointer, just his 6th of the year, to put the Clippers ahead for good late in the 4th quarter. Watch the highlights below, the guy is ridiculous.

Blake Griffin vs The Warriors


USA WOMEN BOUNCE BACK

After a tough loss to the Swedes on Friday, the U.S. women bounced back and got into the win column for the first time in 2011 with a 2-1 win over Canada. For the second game in a row, the U.S. blew a 1-0 lead, but this time they were able to rally for the victory. Lauren Cheney opened the scoring in the 54th minute with a flick from Lindsay Tarpley for her 12th international goal, but the lead was short-lived. Just two minutes later, Melissa Tancredi equalized with a just just inside the right post. It was Tarpley and Cheney again combining for the game-winner though, as this time Cheney set up Tarpley for her 31st international goal moving her into 11th place among U.S. women. The win, coupled with China's 2-1 win over Sweden, means all 4 teams now enter the final round of play with identical 1-1 records. Canada and China have the advantage in goals scored as they each have 4 while Sweden and the U.S. have 3. The U.S. takes on China and Sweden takes on Canada on Tuesday morning with all 4 teams having a legitimate shot to win the tournament.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN ACTION

Andy Roddick fell in the 4th Round of the Australian Open this morning leaving no Americans left in tournament. Roddick was beaten in straight sets by Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 ending Roddick's title hopes. Wawrinka moves on to the quarterfinals to take on fellow countryman Roger Federer. One other quarterfinal match is set at this point, as Tomas Berdych will take on Novak Djokovic. The other four round 4 matches:

Robin Soderling vs Alexandr Dolgopolov

Milos Raonic vs David Ferrer

Jurgen Melzer vs Andy Murray

Rafael Nadal vs Marin Cilic

On the women's side, two quarterfinal matchups are set as well. Caroline Wozniacki, the tourney's top seed will take on Francesca Schiavone and Andrea Petkovic will take on Li Na. The four remaining 4th round matches:

Petra Kvitova vs Flavia Pennetta

Iveta Benesova vs Vera Zvonareva

Shuai Peng vs Agnieszka Radwanska

Ekaterina Makarova vs Kim Clijsters

ASIAN CUP SOCCER SEMIFINAL MATCHES SET

The Asian Cup is down to their final four teams. Australia's Harry Kewell headed home a winner in the 117th minute to give the Aussies a 1-0 win over Iraq and South Korea's Yoon Bit-Garam scored in the 105th minute to knock off Iran 1-0. Australia will now take on Uzbekistan in one semifinal and South Korea facing off against Japan in the other. Both matches are set for Tuesday.

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

With Texas knocking off Kansas yesterday, we're down to just two undefeateds in Men's Division I Hoops. It's #1 Ohio State (20-0) and a bit of a shocker, #6 San Diego State (20-0). Ohio State is coming off of a hard fought 73-68 win at Illinois yesterday where they erased an 8 point second half deficit. Freshman Jared Sullinger had 27 points an 16 rebounds to lead the way for the Buckeyes. Makes you wonder if they could beat the Cavs right now... Next up, another tough matchup against #13 Purdue who despite being without the services of Robbie Hummel for the year, are still off to a 17-3 start. San Diego State meanwhile gears up for their biggest match of the year against conference rival BYU who is 19-1 and ranked 9th in the country. The Cougars boast the nation's leading scorer in Jimmer Fredette who will enter the game averaging 26.7 points. The Aztecs meanwhile will be led by 6'7" sophomore forward Kawhi Leonard who averages 15.7 points and 10.3 rebounds.

No Bosh, No Wade, No Problem

The Heat's 4th wheel finally got rolling. After scoring just 15 points in his 10 games and converting just 6 of his first 28 shots, Mike Miller finally broke out. Getting his first start of the season with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade both sidelined, Miller hit 12 of 20 shots from the field, 6 of 11 3's and finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists as the shorthanded Heat blew out Toronto 120-103. Lebron James started at power forward and led all scorers with 38 points and added 11 rebounds as the Heat snapped their season long 4 game losing streak. It will be interesting to see if Miller can continue to deliver once Wade and Bosh return to the lineup. If the 4 of them can coexist, it makes what is already one of the NBA's elite just that much tougher. With the loss, the Raptors fell to 13-31, just a game ahead of New Jersey at the bottom of the Atlantic. The Heat meanwhile gained a game on the Celtics who dropped a close one to the struggling Wizards 85-83 at the Verizon Center. All 13 of Washington's wins this year have come at home.

U.S. Battles to a 1-1 Draw with Chile

The U.S. Men fared slightly better than their female counterparts earning a 1-1 draw in their 2011 debut. Bob Bradley's inexperienced squad fell behind early in the second half on a goal by the game's lone 2010 World Cup veteran, Esteban Paredes. Paredes brought down a cross from Felipe Seymour and blasted a pretty scissor kick past Sean Johnson in the 53rd minute for his 7th international goal. The U.S. battled back though largely energized by subs Teal Bunbury and Juan Agudelo who came on in the 60th minute. It would be those two who led to the American equalizer when Agudelo worked a nice combo with Alejandro Bedoya and was then taken down in the penalty box. Bunbury then converted the PK slotting the ball into the lower right-hand corner in the 75th minute past Chilean keeper Paulo Garces. Chile would nearly take the lead back 5 minutes later, but Paredes' header was ruled offsides. Agudelo then had a solid chance in the 85th minute on a nice combo with Bunbury, but his shot was saved by Garces who did a nice job taking away the angle. All in all it was a solid effort by a young inexperienced Team USA. Agudelo was the most experienced player used by the U.S. making just his 7th appearance with the national team. Seven Americans made their first career appearances in this one: starters Sean Franklin, Zach Loyd, Jeff Larentowicz and Chris Wondolowski, and subs Sean Johnson, Anthony Wallace and Eric Alexander. Captain Dax McCarty turned in a strong performance wearing the #10 for the U.S. and gets my vote for our man of the match. Next up for Team USA, a trip to Cairo to take on Egypt on February 9th.

Conference Championship Predictions

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

NEW YORK JETS (13-5) at PITTSBURGH STEELERS (13-4)

It's gonna be out fashioned smash mouth football in this one as once again we'll see two of the league's best defenses in action. I have to admit, my pick in this one is a little biased. To understand, I'll have to take you back to last year where I made a bet with one of my coworkers that the New York Jets wouldn't make the playoffs. We all know how that worked out. Thanks to the Colts benching Peyton Manning and others in the 3rd quarter of Week 16 with a 15-10 lead (Jets would go on to win 29-15), and the Bengals opting to sit everyone in Week 17 (Jets won 37-0), the Jets found a way to sneak into the postseason at 9-7 after starting the year 4-6. Awesome. This year I was given the opportunity to go double or nothing, upping the ante so my coworker would need the Jets to make the Super Bowl to win. So now, after upsetting the Colts and their nemeses, the Patriots, here they are, one win away from the Super Bowl, and setting me up to lose yet another bet. That being said, I like my chances (which probably means you should pick against me). These two teams met back in Week 15 in Pittsburgh and saw the Jets win 22-17. Mark Sanchez was sacked just once and threw no interceptions, Jason Taylor tackled Mewelde Moore in the endzone for a 4th quarter safety, and Brad Smith returned the game's opening kickoff for a touchdown. It certainly wasn't a typical Steelers performance. One big difference this time? Troy Polamalu will be playing. Sure he's only one guy, but his ability to impact a game on defense cannot be understated. Offensively, the Steelers did a lot of things well in that game. Mike Wallace went over 100 receiving yards and Rashard Mendenhall had 99 yards and a touchdown and the Steelers actually had a 17-10 lead in the 2nd half. I think this one plays out differently, and I don't think the Jets will be able to get up for this one like they did against New England last week. If Mark Sanchez starts getting hit a lot, I see him getting rattled, and the Steelers running away with this one late.

Prediction: Steelers 27 Jets 16

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

GREEN BAY PACKERS (12-6) at CHICAGO BEARS (12-5)

Speaking of old fashioned football, in our other conference championship game we have the oldest rivalry in football. The Green Bay Packers will take on the Chicago Bears for the 182nd time since 1921 and the third time this season. Each team has won this year on their home field. The Bears won 20-17 back in Week 3 and Green Bay pulled out a 10-3 win in Week 17 to clinch a playoff berth. In the first matchup Green Bay was plagued by 18 penalties for 152 yards, and Devin Hester returned a 4th quarter punt for a touchdown. Aaron Rodgers was able to complete 34 of 45 passes for 316 yards, 9 for 115 to starting tightend Jermichael Finley, now out for the year with a knee injury. Meanwhile, the Packers running tandem of Brandon Jackson and John Kuhn combined for just 43 yards on 13 carries. The second matchup played out very differently. The Packers got to Cutler for 6 sacks and despite Matt Forte averaging over 6 yards a carry, the Bears were only able to generate one field goal. Aaron Rodgers threw for 229 yards and the game's only touchdown to Donald Lee. James Starks, now the Packers feature running back had 5 carries for 20 yards. For me, the emergence of Starks is the biggest difference in this game. The need to be able to load up the box to stop the run will open up opportunities in the passing game, and Rodgers has shown he doesn't need much of a window to throw into. The Bears and Jay Cutler will not go quietly, and with Devin Hester on their roster, no lead is safe but I see the Packers pulling off the upset in a tight one.

Prediction: Packers 27 Bears 24

PLAYOFF PICK RECORD: 4-4

PICKS NOT INVOLVING THE JETS: 4-2