Playoff Issues

Why is everyone so wrapped up in knots about Randy Moss and his fake moon? Worse, There's a great stink about Mike Vanderjagt and his comment about the Pats being ripe for the plucking. Holy smoke folks! And I do mean smoke. Let's look at these issues, shall we?

First, Randy Moss in the Green Bay game. For those few of you who don't know, Randy Moss, after scoring a touchdown at Green Bay, pretended to moon members of the crowd. Note carefully, he pretended to do this. He never actually took his pants down. For this act, the NFL fined him $10,000, and Joe Buck, the FOX sports play-by-play guy calling the game, called him "disgusting" and "classless."

Now, don't get me wrong, Randy Moss is a jerk of the lowest caliber, and he is quite often classless. It can be argued that he shows his buttocks on a regular basis, figuratively speaking. If he was on any team I owned, he would be traded (out of the division) ASAP. He's not worth the headaches. All that said, a fake moon is really a non-issue. Given his history, we should be thankful he didn't actually take his pants down.

Predictably, Moss' response to his fine was to note just how little $10,000 meant to him (it "ain't s---"), and to suggest that next game he'll likely remove his pants and do a bit of a "full monty" at the crowd. While the original act was a blip, this response proves that Joe Buck was at least partially correct – Moss is truly classless.

Mike Vanderjagt, the "Great Canadian Mouth," said publicly that he considers the Patriots to be ripe for the picking – that they're not as good now as they were in the beginning of the season. Immediately, there was a huge uproar that a kicker would dare to say such things. There are several schools of thought regarding why Vanderjagt shouldn't have said what he said – all of them are self-righteously incorrect.

School 1 says that Vanderjagt is a kicker, and thus has no right to say anything at all about "real players."

Please. First off, he's one of the best kickers in the NFL – thus, he's a player who's good at his job. Secondly, As a kicker, he spends most of his time watching the other players – which gives him time to analyze how they're doing their jobs. Thirdly, 90% of the pundits who've been saying the exact same thing as Vanderjagt has been have never played football in the NFL. Why is it ok for people who've never been in a game to say it, but not a kicker?

Which brings us to School 2. School 2 (mostly peopled by pundits) says you should never say something like that about the team you're about to play because it gives them "locker-room material." The concept here being that the other team may take offense, and come to the game exceptionally fired up, which would give them an edge, causing them to beat you.

First, if a team isn't "fired up" to the max before a playoff game, they don't belong there, and they will lose. A comment from the other team (especially from their kicker) shouldn't have much additional effect. Secondly, if it does have an effect, it may well be detrimental. If the other team is fully jacked up because it's a playoff game, and they manage to get additionally jacked up (Jagt up?), they may wind up too excited, and get sloppy for a few downs. Giving the Colts offense a few free downs usually means giving them a free touchdown or two. Third, if his comments do draw extra attention from the Pats, Vanderjagt will have done his team a bit of a favor. If the Pats are focusing on the kicker, they're paying less attention to Manning and his offense. That would be a bad idea. An even worse idea would be for the Pats players to "go after" Vanderjagt, as roughing the kicker is bad for field position.

School 3 says Vanderjagt already has a big mouth, and he's wearing out his welcome in the Indy locker room by saying stuff like this.

Possibly true, but it's more likely that his salary cap figure is wearing out it's welcome in the Colts' front office. If he is gone in the off season, it will be because of his contract, not his chatter. And like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, Vanderjagt usually backs up his smack talk. Players who do that tend to be given more leeway by the team. As a side note, the Titans may be looking for a kicker this year, with Anderson retiring and Nedney's health being unreliable. You think Vanderjagt wouldn't love to face Indy twice a year if they cut him?

Finally as an answer to all three schools, is this simple fact: Vanderjagt didn't say anything that's not true. The Pats are known for killer defense, and a quarterback who takes good care of the ball on offense, and makes big plays when he needs to. Right now, the Pats are hurting on defense and Brady has been making some questionable decisions lately, which have turned into big plays for the opponents. As far as it can be said about a Bill Belichick team, the Pats are ripe for the plucking, and the Colts are a team that is perfectly suited to take advantage of that.

So, school's out. All the stink and hullabaloo about these two "incidents" have detracted from the real issues: Playoff Football. So, it's Saturday morning, let's go see how it all turns out.