January 4, 2009: Booyah Utah and checking the results from the weekend

If there were one life lesson that I can pass to you, it would be that life is built on the unexpected. Today was a great example of that lesson. As I started to drive back to Tennessee, I got sick and had to pull over. Just as soon as I was left, I was already coming back. I had to make an adjustment and accept the fact that I couldn’t drive today.

Another great example of this took place this past Friday when the University of Utah “upset” the University of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. From what I saw, the Utes just plain BEAT Alabama. For some, they may pass this game off as the Crimson Tide being a fluke. But the only games Bama lost this year were their last two, against the number one team in the nation, Florida, and Utah.

It is common knowledge that the BCS National Championship Game winner automatically becomes the number one team in the BCS. But the Associated Press poll is not counted towards the BCS anymore, which raises the possibilities. No matter if Oklahoma or Florida wins the “big game,” any other team can be voted to the top of the AP poll.

Could it be Texas? If Oklahoma wins, voters can lean towards giving the number one ranking to the Longhorns if they win their game against Ohio State. The Longhorns defeated the Sooners in the Red River Shootout earlier in the season and, because of the BCS, were denied the opportunity to face Missouri for the Big 12 Championship and thus eliminated them from the BCS title game.

Could it be USC? USC slipped up against Oregon State after defeating Ohio State. They have been a juggernaut in the Pac-10 since that game and proved against Penn State, that they were willing to play anyone, anywhere just to get the proper notoriety.

The only other team that would have qualified is Boise State, who was one point away from finishing the season undefeated as well. Their loss to TCU will surely eliminate them.

My pick is Utah. With wins over Alabama, Oregon State, BYU, and TCU, the Utes have credible wins. Utah cannot control their conference schedule and certainly can’t control the fact that Michigan was just terrible this year. I certainly cannot predict how the AP voters will think but I’m 100% sure that this year there will be a split national champion. In 2004, the BCS left out Auburn and Utah from grabbing an opportunity at a national championship. After that year, the AP asked for their poll to not count in the BCS. If they want to make a statement, vote for Utah!

…I went 2-2 for the NFL’s wild card weekend. The Vikings and Keith Brooking loss this weekend so I couldn’t get the perfect record. As a Falcons fan, I can’t be too upset. This season came out of nowhere. Hopefully we can build on it. Congratulations to Mike Smith for winning Coach of the Year honors.

…Shorter blog today because of me being sick. Tomorrow is my birthday so my gift to you will be another blog based on the NFL playoff weekend. We’ll go NFC on Monday and AFC on Tuesday. For questions and comments, you can email me at richardlowejr@gmail.com or comment below. Have a great day and go blue!

January 3, 2009: Everybody hates Brett and other rumblings across the country

It’s funny what triggers the New York media or teams to get upset about something. This week, Chad Pennington was announced as the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year. Five seconds later, if you were the green team in East Rutherford, NJ then you felt cheated. Newsday interviewed an anonymous Jets player who stated, “There was a lot of resentment in the room about [Favre].” The player also called Favre “distant.” Then running back Thomas Jones went on Hot 97 in New York and expressed his feelings about Favre… or so we thought. Jones said, “If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game.” Even safety Kerry Rhodes stated that he is fine with Favre coming back as long as he is not going to “be half-hearted or he doesn’t want to put the time in with us.”

Let me get this straight. This is the same franchise that was willing to replace Chad Pennington with Kellen Clemons? Who in the world would bench Favre if your options on the bench were Eric Ainge and Kellen Clemons? Brett Favre can throw six interceptions and still be a threat in the passing game. That can only help Thomas Jones. Trust me, running against nine in the box in not an easy task. Brett Favre gives the Jets the very best chance to win. Nobody else does, plain and simple. Jealousy is rearing its ugly head in New York. My advice to that franchise is pray that Favre comes back because you wouldn’t even be in the playoff race without him. If he doesn’t come back, well…Jets let me introduce you to the Lions.

….I woke up this morning with a smile on my face. As a fan of the Atlanta Falcons, it’s hard to say that you’re not happy that you made it. You should always want more. Don’t get me wrong, if the Falcons walk out of here as the Super Bowl champions you will here no complaints from me. But if they lay an egg against the Arizona Cardinals, it will just remind that this is step one of building something special. Before you guys watch the wildcard games and wonder what is wrong with the Falcons today (if anything goes wrong), let me list to you our personnel needs:

• Better offensive linemen
  
• Better linebackers
  
• Another defensive end
  
• A tight end
  
• Another wide receiver
  
• Defensive backs need more experience
  
• Another free safety
  

With all that being said, they have a great chance to win today against the Cardinals. If they do, go Vikings! I would rather play the Giants off of the bye week then play them in the NFC Championship Game.

….I got an interesting e-mail yesterday in response to my column yesterday. Although it had some pretty radical ideas in it, one section caught my attention. I’ll let you guys read it. Since I don’t like to throw people out there without permission, let’s call this person “DemonDeacon:

I agree almost completely with everything you posted, however, with your criteria and guidelines for why you chose Matt Ryan, I have to go with Chad Pennington.  Here’s a guy that came onto a 1-15 team (three games worse than the Falcons) with a complete overhaul of coach, general manager, president, and ownership (even worse than the Falcons) in the AFC East (arguably the third toughest division in football with worse weather conditions to have to deal with) that had just lost its two highest profile and strongest leaders (Zach Thomas / Jason Taylor).  He was also supported by a weaker running game, no true #1 receiver and another locker room completely void of leadership.  Atlanta at least still had Brooking, Lawyer Milloy, and a few others to somewhat keep things together.  I bet most people can’t name five Miami Dolphins, period.  I will even spot them Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, Chad Pennington, and Joey Porter.  I defy most people to name even one more Dolphin player.  That’s how no-name that team is this year.  Not to mistake name for leadership, but individual success has a lot to do with one’s ability to lead and there isn’t hardly anyone in that Miami locker room that has had any success.  In comes Chad Pennington who is playing without a safety net.  Chad Henne was probably not about to have a Matt Ryan season, ditto for John Beck, whereas Ryan had Redman behind him.  He posts the same record, wins his division, wins 9 of his last 10 games and is looking stronger by the week with passer ratings over 100 each of the last 4 games.  Compare this to Ryan who has had his two worst games of the year in the last three games of the season and is starting to look like a rookie or coordinators are starting to figure him out.  I’m not saying Matt Ryan didn’t do incredible things this year and didn’t deserve to runaway with the rookie of the year trophy (Joe Flacco shouldn’t even be in the same sentence considering the talent around him), but I just think Matt is a year away from being the true driver of that team on and off the field.  These last few games, the Falcons won in spite of Matt Ryan, not because of him.  The opposite is true for Chad Pennington.

Duly noted. In case you guys haven’t heard the NFL MVP voters went to their security blanket, Peyton Manning, to win the award. I completely agree with DemonDeacon though except for one glaring fact. The Dolphins were 1-15 with one coach. The Falcons were 4-12 with two coaches (one of them quitting midseason to take a college job). That may put the Falcons over the top as worse franchise. Man, I can’t believe I’m trying to down my favorite team so much but trust me DemonDeacon. The Falcons may have had more wins than the Dolphins but they also had more losses. Think about it.

…As of this posting, today’s Falcons/Cardinals game is sold out so it won’t be blacked out. The Vikings/Eagles game just received their second final 24-hour deadline. If they aren’t sold out by 4:30 EST, Minnesota fans better have a radio handy.

…Finally, and I’ll dive deeper into this tomorrow, no matter what happens with the remaining bowl games your 2009 AP national champion in college football is the University of Utah. Mark it down.

…Check out the blog tomorrow and keep on spreading the word. You can comment below or email me at richardlowejr@gmail.com. Go blue!

January 2, 2009: The NFL's MVP debate and Wild Card Weekend

I walked into the Chicken Shack (a restaurant in Murfreesboro, TN) on Tuesday for lunch. This eatery is one of Steven Chappell’s favorites and mine as well because they just downright have good food. The chicken is great but don’t be afraid to try the rest of the menu. The owner is a diehard Cowboys fan and this was my first time seeing him since the Cowboys choked away their playoff chances. The first thing he did when I walked into the restaurant was flap his arms as if he were a bird, signaling his congratulations to my Atlanta Falcons for making the playoffs. Now that’s service with a smile!

Here is my official endorsement: The Chicken Shack is the official eatery of The Lowedown 365. I’m not talking just food and sports. I’m talking good food, intelligent sports conversation, and good prices. What else can you expect from a restaurant that has actual field turf from Texas Stadium?

Anyways, on my way out I asked the question of who they (the owner and one of the chefs) thought should be the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. By this time, they had already announced Matt Ryan as the NFL’s Rookie of the Year so I was pretty high on him. The names that came out of their mouths, however, were a little more of the usual and one that completely confused me. Just to note, the owner did say that he thought Matt Ryan should win MVP so that’s two votes for Matty Ice.

The chef made it a point to say he wasn’t sure but he knew Matt Ryan WASN’T the MVP. In fact, he wasn’t even the MVP of his own team. His vote went to Falcons’ running back Michael Turner as the Dirty Bird of the Year. He has a point, although not one that I hold very high. It’s hard to dispute a running back that finished one yard shy of 1700 for the season. In Turner’s first game, he broke the franchise single-game rushing record with 212 yards on the day.  In the last game of the season, he almost matched that performance by rushing for 208 yards. As impressive as those performances are, they get a slight downgrade when you mention they were against the 0-16 Detroit Lions and the 2-14 St. Louis Rams.

The other person that was mentioned was Peyton Manning. Now my belief in all professional sports is that every league has a security blanket player. Those players are the one that are consistently good so if you vote them as MVP, then no one will really disagree with you - unless someone is just heads and shoulders better than the rest. Those players are:

NBA – Tim Duncan

MLB – Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter (Used to be Barry Bonds)

NFL – Peyton Manning

Now I do admit that Manning’s stats were impressive this year considering the fact that he didn’t have a leg to stand on (literally) or much of a team surrounding him. If this were the NFL Player of the Year, Manning would win it hands down. But it is not a player of the year trophy. It’s the most valuable player to his team! Matt Ryan is the most valuable player to his team. A year ago, the Falcons had their franchise quarterback entering federal prison, their coach left in the middle of the season, and their entire organization was without leadership below the ownership. In fact, the ownership was even in question. It’s amazing what one offseason did.

The drafting of Ryan was controversial considering there were fans that weren’t, and still aren’t, over the Mike Vick era. Ryan ignored the criticisms and led his team into the playoffs and if it wasn’t for a Jon Kasay last second field goal for Carolina, the Falcons would be the NFC South champions and taking this week off.

Matt Ryan brought much needed leadership and stability to a franchise that was desperate for some. Picture this, the Miami Dolphins finished last season with only one win to the Falcons’ four. They acted as if the Falcons were going to be this year’s Detroit Lions but Ryan would not allow it. Considering where the franchise was a year ago, Matt Ryan is hands down the MVP of the Falcons and the MVP of the NFL (with Peyton at a close second). In fact, my top five looks like this.

1.     Matt Ryan, QB Atlanta Falcons

2.     Peyton Manning, QB Indianapolis Colts

3.     James Harrison, LB Pittsburgh Steelers

4.     Adrian Peterson, RB Minnesota Vikings

5.     Thomas Jones, RB New York Jets

…..The NFL’s wild card weekend begins tomorrow and the home team has to travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals. It scares me to death as a fan to see the Falcons facing such a down team because this could always be the week the Cardinals could turn it all around. I’ve been a fan of this team all my life so it could happen. So here are my picks for the weekend.

Falcons over Cardinals 31-17

Chargers over Colts 27-26

Ravens over Dolphins 13 – 9

Vikings over Eagles 21 – 17

….Finally, it’s a sad state of affairs that fans of the Cardinals and the Vikings might be forced to only get online or radio updates of their playoff games if ticket sales don’t kick up by this afternoon. Both teams are subject to being blacked out because their games are sold out. Is there a brave corporation out there that can save the day by 2:30 p.m.?

I’m headed to Atlanta for the weekend. Keep spreading the word about the blog and go Blue!

January 1, 2009: The first blog!

Welcome to the Lowe Down 365. Now I could sit here and say that this is your top spot for sports and that this blog will be number one in the world but I can’t back that up. What I can say is that this blog will be your number one source for what’s going on in my brain. You guys (and gals) have to right to dispute anything I say and I encourage it only if you are going to be respectful. I don’t want to see any racism, sexism, or any of the other –isms that plague other blogs across the ‘net. In the same accord, I’m not for censorship but just show some self-control.

I am a 22 (soon to be 23)-year-old male from Atlanta, GA and am a senior at Middle Tennessee State University. These facts are important because this blog will be the story of my life. Everyday (starting today) I will give my opinions on the sports world and everything else that’s affecting my world. I am a diehard Falcons, Hawks, and Braves fan. I love the Thrashers simply because they are the NHL team in Atlanta. I grew up a University of Georgia Bulldog fan but my heart belongs to the Blue Raiders of MTSU. With that being said, I will be unbiased in my analysis of these teams as well as others. But if I do have a blog about the Sun Belt Conference or the NFC South, you understand why.

I am the general manager of MTSU’s on-campus student station (MTTV) and I host a show on the student radio station called “The Lowe Down” with Richard Lowe. Last year I was the sport editor for the student newspaper, Sidelines, but ended up resigning because I became the GM for the TV station. However, you can still find me inside of the Sidelines office talking with Steven Chappell (a proud UAB alum) or joking around with the rest of the newspaper staff.

Now that you know my background, let me break down what is going to take place. Starting today, I will be posting a blog about some topic in sports. It will not always be the biggest or the most current story. Sometimes I can offer answers and sometimes I can make the problem more confusing. Either way, you will hear my view of the topic and you are more than welcome to comment. IF you need to email me, you can reach me at richardlowejr@gmail.com. Besides that, comment below and tell your friends!