The Final Drive: Week 17, 2011-12

The 2011 NFL regular season ended with a bang with some great finishes and superb drama on Sunday. Records were set by a back-up QB, a team captain was benched for “quitting” and a fat-handed QB lost missed out on the post-season. The Final Drive must begin!

This makes me beyond furious. Mike McCarthy takes out his MVP quarterback and starts a fourth year back-up with one career start in Matt Flynn, and f*cking records are broken. Six touchdowns? 480 yards? Who wouldn’t want to be Matt Flynn right now? That guy is about to make BANK as a free agent. Blow me Green Bay. Take your awesome quarterback development and blow me.

(6-10) Miami Dolphins 19
(8-8) New York Jets 17
Mark Sanchez: 3 interceptions. Santonio Holmes: benched and called out as a whiny quitter by his teammates.  (Seriously. Worst team captain ever.) Bart Scott: flips off a photographer and refuses to talk to the media (For once). Finally seeing theses loathsome Jets miss the playoffs is SO satisfying to me. Take it Rex Ryan. Take it hard.

I don’t give a crap about the result of this game. What I do care about is DeSean Jackson deciding to actually play like he means it and be remorseful for his completely idiotic actions this season in the last game of the year. I’d be surprised (not stunned though) if the Eagles kept Jackson around. Maybe franchise him and get him on a one-year deal, but you would have thought he’d have been on better behavior once he showed up to 2011.

The poor Bengals got swept for the Ravens and Steelers during the regular season. Luckily for Cincy they still got into the playoffs with some bungling by the teams beneath them and get to take on the banged-up Houston Texans. (Sorry Bryan, your team doesn’t get to lead The Final Drive by backing into the playoffs.) Baltimore wins their way into a first-round bye and (more importantly) a playoff home game for the first time in the Harbaugh era.

So… is anyone else oddly concerned that the Steelers only managed 13 points… against the Browns… in a game that Big Ben played? That’s… not encouraging.

This stat line is why Teebs won’t beat the Steelers: 6 for 22, 60 yards, 1 interception. That won’t get it done at all against a team with a smidgen of an offense. (Which is precisely what KC has.) Major props to the players at Kansas City and coach Romeo Crennel for getting this final win over a team with playoff aspirations. You can tell that team loves Romeo. (Why, who knows.)

Carson Palmer put Tim Tebow in the damn playoffs. I now HATE that stupid trade.

 

(9-7) New York Giants 31
(8-8) Dallas Cowboys 14
This game was way more exciting than the final score would indicate. Tony “Fat Hand” Romo played a pretty decent game (he’s also clearly “tough”), but the Cowboy secondary showed MAJOR lapses on coverage and an inability to make open tackles. Victor Cruz just lit up that backfield and made it crystal clear where the Cowboys need to focus personnel moves this offseason. Terence Newman may have lost them that game with several bone-headed plays. Cut.

That’s all I’ve got for you! Look for a recap of the Black Monday firings coming shortly before I gear up for the playoffs! I love the NFL!