What an Amazing Weekend for Football

I got to see three awesome games this weekend. The first was a classic college football upset. On one hand you had the undefeated Missouri Tigers, ranked 19th in the country. On the other you had the once deafeated Texas A&M Aggies. Now...you've got two once-defeated teams.

Jorvorskie Lane ran for 127 yards and a touchdown and Texas A&M handed Missouri its first loss of the season by beating the Tigers, 25-19, on Saturday in a Big 12 Conference game.

Missouri, 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference, entered the day as one of nine remaining unbeaten teams in Division I-A and was trying to go 7-0 for the first time in 46 years.

[full story] I'm not much of a better, but knowing what it is like in College Station (A&M's home turf) I thought they had an excellent chance to pull off the upset. I won a drink on the game.

Next came Sunday and the cross-state professional rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans. The Cowboys have been waiting to break out in a game, and this was the first time they were really able to bring the T.O. hammer down.

"[Haley's] my coach and I respect him for that," said Owens, who ended a three-game scoring drought and recorded the 25th multiple-touchdown game of his career. "It's unfortunate that we had an argument and it was blown out of proportion. It's funny everything I do, it makes national news. But it's something I have to deal with. But I still love Todd, he's my coach and I'm going to go out there and play hard for him and hope we can still get some things done."

The Dallas defense got some things done by holding the Texans to 232 total yards of offense and quieting Houston quarterback David Carr, who completed 15-of-27 passes for 128 yards and no touchdowns with two costly interceptions. Carr was replaced by backup Sage Rosenfels in the fourth quarter, after compiling a 37.3 passer rating.

[full story] T.O.'s comments come after (like he said) a sideline spat became national news. Frankly, this T.O. stuff is totally ridiculous. The "suicide attempt", the sideline fight, the constant speculation about when T.O. is going to blow. It's all so incredibly silly...and very nice to get a big W and for the Cowboys to show that killer attitude and finally put a team away.

This was followed by the inredibly Monday night game pitting the Arizona Cardinals against the Chicago Bears. By all rights, Matt Lienart should have gotten the MVP and the W. He did everything you could ask from a quarterback, up to and including leading his team down the field in the final minutes to set up the winning score. However, the Cardinals still found a way to lose and keep the Bears perfect season on a roll. This game illustrated, in dramatic fashion, how much of football is a game of momentum as much as it is a game of power and skill. The Cardinals had to make a move after that utter and complete debacle and today they did.

TEMPE, Ariz. Oct 17, 2006 (AP)— Frustrated Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green fired offensive coordinator Keith Rowen on Tuesday and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Mike Kruczek.

The move came hours after the Cardinals blew a 20-point lead and lost to the Chicago Bears 24-23 on Monday night.

"I've known Keith for a long time. I have the utmost respect for him," Green said. "We are not scoring enough points."

[full story] IMHO, the problem wasn't that the Cardinals aren't scoring enough points, the problem is that they are losers. I'm not sure if Leinart is the one who can turn that around, but they need a complete and total change of attitude.

Football is, to a certain degree, about confidence. About expecting to win. About bringing the machismo of a winner onto the field and just making it happen. The Aggies showed Mizzou how to do it. T.O. showed the Texans how it was done. The Cardinals should get behind Leinart, and take a lesson from one of the most successful quarterbacks in college football, and learn how to win.