July 12, 2006
One Game Changes Everything
Football fans who were open-minded enough to check out the other football (soccer) this summer probably noticed that the slogan of the World Cup was, “ One game changes everything.” Meaning that winning any one game can propel a team to a world championship.
I believe this sentence holds true for the NFL as well. One game defines the season for every team and can lead to momentum and the playoffs or failure and disappointment.
I thought it might be interesting to look at the games last year that defined the seasons for all the NFC East teams.
New York Giants – This was a pretty easy selection. Coming into week 7 the Giants were an up and down team. While they had blown out three teams, St. Louis, Arizona, and New Orleans, they had not convinced critics they could win big games. Losses to Dallas and San Diego left them with many questions to answer.
Those questions would all be answered in the week 7 game against the Broncos. After playing tough the entire game the Giants still found themselves down by six points with three and a half minutes to go. Eli calmly and steadily drove the Giants down the field, 83 yards in total, and passed the winning touchdown to Amani Toomer with five seconds left on the clock.
The team never looked back as they went on to lose only three more times the rest of the season.
Washington Redskins – Also a pretty easy choice. Down 13-0 against their division rival Cowboys in week 2, the Redskins had little to no chance of winning the game. With less than four minutes left and a stingy Dallas defense to boot, it seemed hopeless.
Enter Santana Moss. Traded for in the offseason, Moss exploded for two long touchdown runs to dash the Cowboys hopes. At the end of the season, the Redskins found themselves just one game ahead of the Cowboys for the final playoff spot.
Santana Moss would be the centerpiece of a passing game that propelled the Redskins to this wild card berth.
Dallas Cowboys – Because of their mediocre season, the Cowboys were a little tougher of a choice to make. Was their season defined by a win or a loss? After all, losing the week 2 game to the Redskins certainly dashed their hopes at the end of week 17.
Just coming up short, like in week 2, is what defined the Cowboys. They had a huge lead against the Redskins and let it slip away, and inconsistency in close games throughout the season left them with only nine wins.
Five of the Cowboy’s seven losses was by one score or less. It is fitting, therefore, that their season is defined by a game that they lost by one point.
Philadelphia Eagles – Coming into week 10, the Eagles were anything but out of the race for the NFC East division. No team had established themselves fully, though the Giants were on their way, as the clear choices for division favorites. With a win against Dallas, the Eagles would overtake the Cowboys as third in the division while keeping a winning record.
With little more than three minutes to play, the Eagles were up by thirteen points and in comfortable position to win. But the Cowboys, receivers of a similar comeback mentioned earlier, were not finished. A touchdown pass to Glenn left them down only six points.
On the ensuing Philadelphia drive, reliable quarterback Donovan McNabb threw one of the worst passes of his career. Forcing a pass into a spot that didn’t exist, McNabb gave up an easy interception to Roy Williams, who ran it back for the winning touchdown.
But the worst news was not the loss, but the season-ending injury to Donovan McNabb. The Cowboys managed to break the backs of a division opponent while picking up a win in this defining game for the Eagle’s 2005 season.
So there you have it. Disagree with my picks? Feel free to let me know by the usual means.
Some good choices there, but.... (you know there had to be a but) for the Skins I'd say you chose a game that more symbolized their season, not one that changed their momentum. The same might be said for Dallas.
For the Giants, I'd say, week 8, against the Redskins, coming off the win against Denver and suffering the loss of Wellington Mara to come back and shut out their division rival Washington was a BIG step forward to taking the division, especially after the OT loss in Dallas 2 weeks earlier. This game would come to set the tone for what the Giants would achieve the rest of the season.
For Washington I'd actualy say they had 2 games that made a difference. One was week 5, Denver, where they lost in a close game. They went on to win only 2 of their next 7 games. For a season that started on a high note with wins against Chicago, at Dallas, and Seattle, the week 5 game was the beginning of a very difficult slide from which they had to struggle to get out. As a second choice I'd say the week 13 win which began their 5 game win streak getting them to the playoffs would have to be it. It was do or die time for them, another loss would essentially have guarrenteed they'd be siting home for the playoffs but they pulled it out in dominating style something they would continue over the next several weeks.
For Dallas, I go with the week 12 loss to Denver. A home game before they played 3 of their next 4 games on the road, with 2 of those trips to division rivals. A win here could have given them some momentum to carry with them on their travels. But the loss made every game they played crucial. They went on to lose the next week in NY and again 2 weeks later in Washington. That's what makes the week 12 loss the "game that made a difference".
As for Philly I think you hit the nail right on the head the loss against Dallas at home was critical. The division was still up for grabs and while they weren't doing all that well at that point, losses at Dallas and Wash, this was a home game with home games against Wash and NY as well as their away game in NY still on the schedule, things were far from decided. This was the game that put everything out of reach for them.
Let me know what you think.
Posted by: Michael at July 12, 2006 3:11 PMAll good picks, you're right that I was going more for the angle of games that symbolized the seasons.
The Redskins actually were a little tough to pick. I picked the week 2 game almost solely cause it set up Santana Moss for a huge season (which in turn turned out to be the piece they were missing in seasons past.)
As for Dallas, they were in the race for a long time and were more of an up and down team then anyone besides maybe the Chargers in the NFL. I actually used week 2 in this case because just the week before they had staged a similar comeback vs. the Chargers. The inconsistancy week to week is what killed them.
The Giants had a lot of memorable games and you can make a case for many of them. The week 1 game established their offense as a powerhouse and could be used, for example. But the game I remember the most is the Denver game, because even though Eli had done nearly the same thing the week before it really was his coming out party.
Thanks for the feedback.
Posted by: cochise at July 12, 2006 3:34 PMI'm not so sure about what you were saying about Dallas being inconsistent from week to week. Their results were somewhat inconsistant, but over all they won the games they were expected to win, and a few that they weren't. Add to that the fact that when it came down to crunch time in the end of a close game they won most of them. I think the biggest problem they had was getting in the endzone consistantly, and their kicking for FGs was a little weak. That may have pushed them to try a few plays that they might not have if they had more confidence in their kicker. But overall they were a tough team to play against, especially at home. I'd say the reason they may have seemed very inconsistant was that they never put together any kind of streak (either victories or losses). But a large part of that was just the schedule playing an easy team one week, a tough one the next. Against weak Ds their offense did well, against teams that could shut down the run and force them to the air, it was another story. A similar situation with the D, some times they could stop the run and force opponents to the air, some weeks they couldn't, and that mostly comes down to the D line, and the MLBs with a 3-4. Something that they had just moved to. In making the switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 you can't do it over night, or even in one season. It takes time to get the right people in place and get them used to their new coverages. Expect to see a different D this year, as they've had time to make the adjustments.
Posted by: Michael at July 13, 2006 6:25 AM