Sports Hollywood - Ed Marinaro

Ed Marinaro With All Due Respect

NFL Playoff Notes

Trent Dilfer is 10-1 as Baltimore's starting quarterback. (NFLP)
Greetings, happy belated holidays and happy New Year! With all the brouhaha of the holidays, I have been unable to drop any columns on ya...but I'm back!

Ok, so I guess it's time for me to put in my 2 cents on the NFL Playoffs. I watched all ten games over the last three weeks, and I did not find even one that was competitive. What the sports people are talking about now is about how boring this Super Bowl will be. All I can say is: how can it be boring when you have two great defenses battling it out? It's going to be competitive, and that's all a true football fan wants for a Super Bowl. I'll be down in Tampa for the big game and, believe me, I wouldn't trek down there is I was expecting anything but a thrilling battle.

Ok, more on the Super Bowl next week. But now: last weekend's playoffs.

Daunte Culpepper
Unfortunately, my former team, the Minnesota Vikings, played a horrible game, and thus, once again, lost the NFC Championship and their shot at the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in three years. The Giants' masterful game plan took advantage of the glaring weakness in the Vikings - which is their pass defense. I thought it would be a great game, but the complete shutdown by the Giants' defense of the Vikings' explosive offense totally shocked me. I think what may have happened is a mental breakdown of the younger Viking players, who - when down 14-0 before their offense had even taken possession - let doubt seep into their minds. When that happens, you take yourself out of the game as a player, and when the Giants continued to score at will, the doubt grew into an obstacle that even the offensive talent of Culpepper, Moss, Smith and Carter could not overcome. That being said, my hat's off to the Giants and their coaching staff.

The Raider / Ravens game didn't really surprise me. The Ravens have been so incredibly dominant this year on defense, and when Pro Bowler Rich Gannon went down, I knew that game was over. The Raider ground-game is good, but you can't run against this Ravens team, and Bobby Hoying wasn't going to threaten the Ravens' secondary. This Ravens team proves that a great defense is what will win games, even if the offense is less than spectacular.

This brings us to the big game, Super Bowl XXXV, on January 28th in Tampa. Again, don't believe the media types who predict a boring game. Come on, one of the best defenses of all time versus a team with themselves a very good defense coupled with a big-play offense…it'll be anything but boring! I think this game will be a true test of what the country…the world…thinks of NFL football, and we'll see if the NFL has achieved true parity in the league.

So tune-in next week! I'll talk about the game, give some insight I learned when I was in the Big Game (don't ask about the score), and maybe let a special announcement slip (an exclusive for you SportsHollywooders) of some Hollywood news too!

January 17, 2001

edmarinaro@sportshollywood.com