This past weekend, December 10th and 11th, will go down as one of the most notable weekends of 2011. What made this weekend so different you might ask? Well we had many different events occur, some good and some bad, that all combined for one incredible weekend. Let’s break it down a little but listing the highs and then the lows of this past weekend.
The first story to come out of this weekend was the announcement of the 2011 Heisman Trophy. This year’s race was one of the most competitive in recent years and the winner was Baylor’s very own Robert Griffin III, known to most as RG3. He was Baylor’s first, and possibly last, Heisman Trophy winner. Nobody can argue that he did not deserve it. He was second in the nation in total yards per game and led Baylor to a 7-3 record. Some people originally tried to argue that he lost 3 games, but I think the way you had to look at is that he helped Baylor ONLY lose 3 games this season. That is quite an accomplishment for a school that was the laughingstock of the Big 12 for many years. He has led the team to its best record in nearly 20 years. It was not just incredible what he did, it was who he as able to do it against. He put up huge numbers against some of the best teams and defenses in the nation including Oklahoma and the top ten defense of the Longhorns. His game against Texas was the clincher. The second play of the game he found a sprinting wide receiver over the top of the defense for a 60 yard bomb and his numbers just continued to grow from there. He is projected to be a top ten pick in the 2012 NFL draft and I think there are a lot of teams who see him as a Michael Vick type athlete with a much better arm, but only time will tell.
The second best moment of the weekend was Tim Tebow leading the Broncos to another incredible, unbelievable, unfathomable…you get the point, come from behind victory against the Chicago Bears. For 57 minutes, the Broncos looked stagnant, going 3 and out many times. For the final 3 minutes, they looked incredible. Tebow was making great passes, McGahee was running over defenders, and the defense was making big stops. It helped that Marion Barber become the goat and made some absolutely idiotic mistakes, but that is just how Denver wins. They keep a game relatively close, Tebow makes big plays late, and they rely on a little luck to get them over the top. Now the Broncos, who at one point were 2-5, are 8-5 and division leaders with just 3 games to go. Of course if you ask John Elway, Tebow is still a week by week decision. I will avoid all of the religious talk that goes into a normal Tebow discussion and I believe that Tebow really is just that clutch.
The final highlight of the weekend was the Houston Texans, on their third string QB, clinching their division and making the playoffs for the first time ever. The Texans were introduced to the NFL in 2002 and they brought professional football back to the city that had been without a team since 1996 when the Oilers headed for Tennessee. The Texans first draft pick was David Carr and the city was buzzing. The Texans started their inaugural season by beating the Dallas Cowboys in their first ever regular season game. They would eventually go 18-46 over their first four seasons under the leadership of Dom Capers and after a coaching change that brought Gary Kubiak into that role in 2006 the team has had more up and down seasons. Before this season, the Texans best overall record was 8-8 but this season, with a dominating defense and an incredible ground game of Arian Foster and Ben Tate, the Texans are sitting at 10-3 and in the driver seat for a first round bye and possible home field advantage through the AFC playoffs. What makes this feat even more incredible is how they have been able to continue to win with all of the problems that have plagued them this year. Yes we know the Colts have had their issues, but the Texans have had no cake walk to get to the record they are at. Let’s start with the defense. They statistically have one of the best defenses in the league this year and this is happening with their best player, Mario Williams out for the season. He suffered a torn pectoral muscle early in the season and will not return this year. They were able to add some key players in the secondary and they have been able to have a great season so far. The injury bug has hit the offensive side of the ball even harder. The first issue this season was the health of Arian Foster. He was sidelined early but has healed completely and returned stayed a consistent force in the backfield. Andre Johnson has battled issues all season with pulled muscles and has only been completely healthy for a handful of games. The biggest blow to the offense came in their week 10 victory of Tampa Bay where the quarterback Matt Shaub broke his foot and has been placed on the IR list for the remainder of the season. So what do the Texans do? They bring in Matt Leinart as the starter and he goes down with a broken collarbone the following week. “No problem!” says Houston, “we have rookie TJ Yates.” Yates has stepped up and has continued to win for the Texans including a come from behind victory this weekend in Cincinnati, in which Yates drove down the field and threw the game winning TD with 2 seconds left on the game clock. The touchdown won the game, the division, and millions of football fans around the state of Texas who never were quite ready to believe in this team.
Lets turn things around and look at a few disappointing events that took place this past weekend and we will start with Saturday afternoon when Xavier and cross-town rival Cincinnati took the court in a heated basketball game. If you missed the end of the game then you missed a terrible fight between the two schools. It started with verbal jabs thrown at each other and ended with one player having his face bloodied from a punch and kick to the eye. The game was called with 9 seconds remaining and after the carnage was reviewed, it was determined that 8 players total would receive suspensions ranging from 1 game up to 6 games for two of the players. It was a terrible display of sportsmanship that never should have occurred. The officials did not call a bad game, but the coaches allowed immature freshmen to stay on the court when it was obvious things were about to get out of hand. The first people to throw the punches were these freshmen. I bet they think twice before doing that again…that’s if the coach even lets them put a Cincinnati jersey back on. If you saw the postgame interview you would know what I mean about that last statement. Go YouTube it, it’s classic.
The second biggest disappointing story to develop over the weekend was news that NL MVP Ryan Braun had failed a test for performance enhancing drugs. This comes as shocking news especially after the MLB has done so much in the past couple of years to try to fix its image that was terribly damaged when we it was discovered that many of the biggest names in the sport had also used these drugs during their careers. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and the list just grows from there. When news first broke about this failed test, Braun had a very well thought-out, obviously scripted, response of “It is BS!” Thank you for your respectable response and I hope you are correct. Braun has quickly become the face of the Brewers, but he will quickly become the new poster child for PED’s if this is not cleared up soon.
And to put the “icing” on the cake, we will conclude with Cowboys talk. For a second straight week the Cowboys have lost a very winnable game by missing a field goal at the end of regulation. If you watched either of these games, you saw the kicker gets “iced,” once by his coach and once by the Giants coach. Both times he made the first attempt and then missed when it actually mattered. They were both very makeable kicks, and Bailey had been lights out from all distances this year. Now they have become the joke of the NFC again after finding ridiculous ways to lose and are in a neck and neck race with the Giants for the division title. Just when we thought they had turned a corner and could become legit playoff contenders, they do something this bad and remind us that they are still just the Dallas Cowboys.
This weekend was filled with highs and lows, award winners, accusations against award winners, blocked kicks, and realized dreams. Each week we see new and incredible stories come from sports but very rarely do we see so many of these stories all in the span of 48 hours. These stories are not finished however. The Cowboys still must find a way to win, RG3 will now have to show he can play in the pros, Braun will try to clear his name, and Tebow will continue to make headlines if he keeps finding ways to win. Until next weekend, enjoy these musings and let's see what can happen next.
- Edward Jennings
