Dave’s Football Blog

Chris Gamble finally jumped a route and got a pick six. I don’t think I’ve seen him do that all year. Carolina now leads, 21-14, against the Saints’ 2nd team.

Some mullet-wearing kid in an ugly-ass orange Chad Johnson jersey is standing right behind me and clapping and yelling at every opportunity. The old guy in the Cowboys jersey just asked the kid if his Bengals would be willing to take T.O. off the Cowboys’ hands. “We’ll give him to ya! No charge!”

Meanwhile, Justin Fargas has 79 yards on 17 carries against the Jets. Fargas may be option #1 at running back next season for Oakland…

James Harrison just did a pile driver on Chad Johnson. The ref called that unnecessary roughness. I think the 15-yard penalty was worth it, but… uhhhh… Fox just showed the Cowboys cheerleaders doing the splits on the field. I just completely lost my train of thought….

I love football.

The Panthers and Saints are tied at 14-14 at the half. Congrats, Carolina — you’re good enough to play even with the Saints’ second-stringers in a game that means little to you and nothing to them. Bravo…

Pittsburgh has a 7-3 lead on Cincinnati, and Rudi Johnson is wondering whose leg he has to break to get a first down right about now. Willie Parker has 66 yards and a TD on 18 carries so far. The Steelers’ lone scoring drive so far took 8:34 off the clock. That’s Cowher Power, punk…

Kansas City is leading Jacksonville, 21-10, and the Jets are leading the Raiders, 10-3. All of Denver is hoping Jay Cutler and Mike Bell ate their Wheaties and didn’t hit that rookie wall…

Detroit answered the Cowboys’ quick 14-point explosion with a TD of their own, and they now lead 20-14. I would ask if anyone’s reminded the Lions that they’re the Lions, but clearly, the answer is yes, because they’re doing everything in their power to give Oakland that #1 pick…

Apropos of nothing, CBS is advertising that Grissom is leaving CSI. I don’t know what William Peterson’s immediate plans are, but I always imagined that the final episode of CSI would involve Grissom gettting killed and the rest of the team solving the murder. I guess that can still happen if Peterson leaves the show, but it wouldn’t be quite the same…

Oh, and Armed and Famous is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve seen since… well, since I last looked at Jessica Simpson, I suppose…

…but the Detroit Lions have a 13-0 lead on the Dallas Cowboys. In Dallas. I’m not sure how that happened, but the Cowboys fan two seats down from me has the most dour look on his face I’ve ever seen…

Oh, wait, Marion Barber just got in the end zone. It’s now 13-7, Detroit. Somehow, I can’t see the Lions staying in this one, but I’ve been wrong before. Lions fans probably think their team came to play today in a desperate attempt to give away the #1 pick and draft Calvin Johnson.

As for the Jets, they are playing like the game still matters, and they have a 7-3 lead over the Raiders. Memo to Brady Quinn: Make sure JaMarcus Russell looks better than you in the Sugar Bowl tomorrow. (It is the Sugar Bowl, right? I don’t always keep track of the minor leagues…)

As for the Panthers, Mike Minter just let Jamie Martin — yes, that Jamie Martin, complete a long bomb that set up a 1-yard Jamaal Branch TD. Even the Saints backups make Minter look old and slow. Midway through the second, New Orleans leads, 14-7.

I haven’t paid enough attention to this one, but from the looks of it, the Steelers are sticking to the basics — running the ball and stopping the run. Willie Parker at 48 yards on 10 carries in that first quarter, while Rudi Johnso has only 3 yards on 2 carries. Parker then added a few more 1st downs and a TD early in the 2nd Q. With about 11:00 left, Pittsburgh has an early 7-0 lead.

Carson Palmer aired it out twice on the Bengals’ first drive, but unlike last year’s playoff game, both those passes fell incomplete, and Palmer didn’t tear any ligaments. As for Ben Roethlisberger, he’s finding Hines Ward and Cedrick Wilson fairly easily, but he also threw a deep interception early. The defense bailed Big Ben out on that one, though, and Pittsburgh scored on its next drive.

Things are looking pretty good for the Steelers so far, I’d say…

Steve Smith only got three passes thrown to him all week last week. This week? Jake Delhomme completed three passes to him on the first drive, including a touchdown pass to cap the drive. Carolina still ran the ball more than usual, but the run set up the pass nicely. It was the sort of offensive balance I haven’t seen from Carolina all season.

Then Sean Payton pulled Drew Brees from the game. He’s treating this like a warm-up, and he saw enough from Brees and Reggie Bush, who scored the Saints’ TD and looked very good, on that first drive to satisfy him. We’re getting Jamie Martin and some guy named Jamaal Branch the rest of the way.

Deuce McAllister hasn’t seen any action today. I don’t think he will, either.

You know what? I think I’ll be turning my attention to the Steelers-Bengals game for a little while…

One of the TVs in here wasn’t set right, so we got stuck with Panthers-Saints on two screens and Steelers-Bengals on no screens. The manager had a few annoyed people in here over that one.

Also off to a shaky start? The Panthers defense. Even after Reggie Bush fumbled a handoff, the Panthers couldn’t recover, and New Orleans just marched right down the field and scored a TD right off the bat. Early in the 1st, the Saints already have a 7-0 lead.

Oh, and Detroit have an early 3-0 lead. If you’re a Packers fan, that may mean something — for about five minutes, anyway…

So I’ve set up shop for the afternoon at The Original Steakhouse and Sports Theatre in Asheville, and let me tell ya — I’ve missed this environment since the one in Durham shut down. The layout is slightly different, but it’s still got that huge bar surrounded by 11 projection screens…

And really, what more do you need? High definition? That’s just being greedy in a place like this.

So far, I spot replica jerseys for the Panthers, Falcons, Bucs, Cowboys, Colts and Packers, and other folks here are supporting the Bengals, Seahawks and, even though they already played last night, the Redskins. I’m not seeing any Steelers fans, though. And here I thought Steelers fans were everywhere…

Stick around, folks. This should be a fun afternoon.

I’ll say this about Kevin Gilbride. He may not have known what to do with Kordell Stewart, but he’s smart enough to know that the Giants win when they give Tiki Barber the damn ball.

So the Panthers are eliminated from the postseason, just like the Steelers. Both my teams were in conference championship games last season, and now… well, let’s just say my interest in the NFL postseason has waned just a little. New Year’s Eve was not the day I thought I’d be saying, “Well, at least my fantasy team won.”

To be honest, I probably shouldn’t be awake right now. I’ve been out dancing until past 3:00 AM the last two nights, and I’ll be out again tonight. I even have an awesome dinner date lined up for this evening. I should have slept in until noon today, but I have an internal clock that screams, “Football Sunday, bitches!”, and here I am awake and in front of this computer.

Amazingly enough, I think I still want to go out and blog these season-ending games. This could be Bill Cowher’s last game as Steelers head coach today, and this had better be Dan Henning’s last game as Panthers offensive coordinator. Plus, other teams have playoff shots. So there might be something worth writing about today. Besides, there’s an Original Steakhouse and Sports Theatre in Asheville. I’ve missed the Theatre since it closed down in Durham. It would be fun to hang out in that environment one last time this season.

So here we go. One more for the road, on the road. But first, I need a shower. See y’all in a few…

So I’m driving out to Asheville on Friday for a three-day New Year’s Eve party, because getting out of town and dancing all night for a few days seems very necessary after a week of holiday piehole stuffing.

The weekend won’t be devoid of NFL action, though. After a bit of digging, I discovered that there’s an actual Original Steakhouse & Sports Theatre in Asheville — one that didn’t close down and become a Mexican restaurant. It’s pretty close to my hotel, too, so I think I’ll head out there on Sunday.

Then again, If the New York Giants win on Saturday night, though, I may just say, “Screw it,” and drink in my hotel room. A Giants win would eliminate the Carolina Panthers from playoff contention, and that would mean I wouldn’t have a horse in the playoff race for the first time since the 2000 season. Baltimore won the Super Bowl that season. The thought that these things all might happen again terrifies me.

Of course, no playoff run for Carolina also means much less to write about for the Panthers FanHouse in January and February, and thus, much less of that sweet, sweet AOL cash — unless I can convince our pal Jamie Mottram to let me write about that American Football World Cup or something. The last two qualification games are next month, and I’m sure everyone wants to know the outcome of that big Australia-Korea grudge match. After all, this is a sports story of global importance, and besides, I have to do something to pay for that Nintendo Wii I suddenly want to add to my entertainment center…

Anyway, blogging will be light until Sunday. Try to go on with your drab and wretched lives without me until then, ‘kay?