It’s hard to tell what the league office woke up Monday more embarrassed about — Jeff Triplette’s officiating or Mike Tomlin’s sideline antics during the Steelers’ loss to the Ravens on Thanksgiving night.
Triplette is under the microscope — again — after his crew botched the down and distance on a key play of the Redskins’ last-ditch drive against the Giants, but you have to figure Tomlin is a bigger source of consternation at the NFL’s Park Avenue headquarters.
The reason is simple: Tomlin had been hand-picked by Roger Goodell to the league’s prestigious competition committee just six months before Tomlin amateurishly interfered with Jacoby Jones’ kickoff return in Pittsburgh’s 22-20 loss.
No wonder anonymous reports say Goodell is prepared to do everything from slap Tomlin with a six-figure fine to suspend him to even dock the Steelers a draft pick.
The draft-pick penalty might sound over the top, but don’t underestimate Goodell’s anger and embarrassment over Tomlin’s actions. This is a Super Bowl-winning coach the league is trying to elevate and promote, not Jason Kidd amateurishly spilling a drink in his first month running an NBA team. And Tomlin won’t be helped by this video from CBS in Pittsburgh, which shows Tomlin taking a step toward Jones as the Ravens returner nears.
Tomlin will be made an example of by the league when the punishment is announced in the next few days, and that’s as it should be. Goodell likes to tell players and coaches to avoid “embarrassing the shield,” and that’s exactly what Tomlin did in this case.
At least the ‘tank’ is empty
If Tomlin’s sidelines chicanery in Baltimore is the bad news for Goodell, the good news is woebegone teams in his league are showing no signs of tanking for the first overall pick in the draft, meaning that the integrity of the game is being honored.
The Texans gave the Patriots a scare.
The Falcons and Bills slugged it out into overtime.
The Vikings beat the Bears in overtime.
The Jaguars won for the third time in four games in Cleveland.
The Raiders made the Cowboys sweat on Thanksgiving.
The Redskins made the Giants sweat Sunday night.
And Big Brother will be watching the rest of the way.
Power struggle in Washington
Now that the Redskins are officially eliminated from the playoffs with Sunday night’s loss to the Giants, the intrigue only figures to intensify in Washington.
Recent events continue to paint the picture of a power struggle between Robert Griffin III and Mike Shanahan, who don’t seem like they can coexist for much longer.
That is despite the fact Shanahan always has deferred to Griffin, be it allowing him to play injured in last season’s playoff loss to the Seahawks, unnecessarily rush his return from knee surgery or allow him to stay on the field instead of backup Kirk Cousins this season even when it was obvious Griffin wasn’t healthy.
Siding with Griffin would seem to be the easy choice for Redskins owner Dan Snyder, considering how much they mortgaged to get him. Snyder also, rather obviously, never has been known for his allegiance to head coaches.
Snyder, though, has been surprisingly loyal to Shanahan, though the former Broncos boss is just 24-36 (.400) with one playoff trip in four seasons. That muddies the situation a little bit.
Snyder could fire Shanahan outright or force him to get rid of his son, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, figuring that might placate Griffin or even prompt Mike Shanahan to quit out of family loyalty.
Whatever happens, it figures to be a lot more interesting than the Redskins’ final four games. And the draft could be even more painful for Washington and its fans, considering the Redskins could end up with the No. 1 or No. 2 pick — which is already committed to the Rams as part of the Griffin trade.
Ouch.
Niners have Hawk vision
The 49ers will be the team nobody wants to play in the playoffs. The Rams dared Colin Kaepernick to beat them Sunday, so he beat them, 23-13, mostly with Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis. And Michael Crabtree returned to begin chipping off the rust from his Achilles exile, a psychological boost for the entire team.
The 49ers, a game up on the Cardinals in the NFC wild-card race, hope the Saints take something out of the Seahawks, their hated rivals, Monday night before they square off next weekend. Already missing Pro Bowl guard Mike Iupati, Jim Harbaugh had to do some more offensive-line shuffling when Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley exited in the first quarter with a knee injury.
Kaepernick may be poised to recapture some of his 2012 magic once Crabtree (two catches, 68 yards) is more functional, simply because Boldin, an offseason steal from the Ravens who tormented the Rams (9-98), has reached 100 yards in his past five playoff games. The bigger the game, the better he plays.
The Seahawks have outscored the 49ers 71-16 in their last two meetings. Giants-Cowboys wasn’t a bloodbath. 49ers-Seahawks will be.
Expect a Brady-Manning redux?
The Road to East Rutherford and Super Bowl XLVIII will go through Denver in the AFC. And we will be graced by another Peyton Manning-Tom Brady duel.
Manning added a fourth Go-To Guy to his arsenal by playing pitch and catch with Eric Decker (four TDs), who abused Chiefs cornerback Marcus Cooper in Sunday’s 35-28 victory. Alex Smith and the Chiefs are game, but lack the firepower to beat Manning.
Brady is a different quarterback than the one who was visibly distressed with his inexperienced receivers early in the season now that Rob Gronkowski and Shane Vereen are back. Brady, for the second straight week, showed no lead is safe against him by bringing the Pats back from a 10-point halftime deficit against the Texans. With Bill Belichick cobbling together a vulnerable, injury-ravaged defense, Brady is once again a luxury fallback resource and saving grace.
Jets look silly for passing on Jeffery
Friendly advice for Jets fans: Avoid the Bears boxscore every week.
They can save themselves a lot of grief, because the Stephen Hill-Alshon Jeffery wide receiver comparison just keeps getting uglier by the game.
While Hill continues to give the Jets practically nothing (he recorded his first catch since Oct. 27 on Sunday, for all of two yards), Jeffery is challenging Pro Bowl veteran Brandon Marshall for the role of Chicago’s go-to target.
Jeffery was ridiculous Sunday in the Bears’ otherwise crushing, 23-20 overtime loss to the Vikings, hauling in 12 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns. It was Jeffery’s fifth game this year with at least 100 receiving yards and his second of more than 200 yards.
The South Carolina product already has 1,109 yards with four games left in the season. Hill, by comparison, has all of 594 receiving yards for his entire career.
The tale of the tape is valid because former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum took Hill two spots ahead of Jeffery in the 2012 draft. Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan were infatuated by Hill’s blazing speed and were willing to overlook his receiving inexperience in Georgia Tech’s running offense.
We don’t know what the Jets thought of Jeffery, but a lot of teams appeared to be scared off by predraft whispers that he had a poor work ethic and was out of shape.
The twin lessons here — don’t draft receivers based solely on speed and don’t put too much stock in the combine rumor mill — are now irrelevant for Tannenbaum, who was fired after last season and went into the agent business.
But they continue to play out in painful fashion for the team and fans he left behind.
Trestman’s kicking himself
Bears coach Marc Trestman wears the coaching duncecap this week for summoning Robbie Gould to kick a 47-yard field goal in overtime … on second down. When Matt Forte was gashing the Vikings for five yards a pop. Gould missed, and the Bears lost. Trestman explained he didn’t want to risk a penalty or anything that would push Gould out of field-goal range. That’s called coaching scared.
George Blanda, Lou “The Toe” Groza and Jan Stenerud will have company one day when Adam Vinatieri makes his way to the Hall of Fame. Vinatieri, still Mr. Clutch, tied a career high with five field goals to help Andrew Luck and the Colts past the Titans. Vinatieri will be 41 later this month, but you’d never know it.
The evidence is piling up that Chip Kelly need not bother looking for a young franchise quarterback in the draft. Nick Foles (19 TDs, O INTs) seems to have the arm and makeup to be a star. He’s the singular reason why the 7-5 Eagles remain in the playoff hunt.