Not a bad throw just a good defensive play

Andrew and Steven tried the Niners, Chris and Dray took the Ravens, Steven chose the Browns, Andrew and Scotty put faith in the Falcons, and Chris (as previously noted) opted for the Broncos.Despite all of these Underdog choices, not a single one hit.I guess it was "Favorites Week". Hot Streak - Andrew/Ron/Steven (Nearly Perfect on the Last Half)It's hard to find a hot streak in a week with three unanimous missed picks, but these three guys really picked up their stride in the afternoon/night games.The entire competition missed Oakland over Cincinnati (surprise), but aside from that, these three guys did not miss a single game past the morning games.Good run, guys. Struck Out Swinging - NoneAs previously noted, this was a very level week, so there wasn't a contestant who really screwed the pooch.Congratulations to the group for this accomplishment! What Might Have Been - Had Kris Brown hit that field goal (and Houston somehow won in OT)Oh Kris Brown...The original Texan did in his team for the second time this season.Had Kris Brown hit that field goal, the game goes to OT, and Houston has an equal chance at winning. Had Houston won, the standings for this week would have separated themselves. Instead of SF23, SEA23, ARI22, STL22, we would be looking at SEA25, SF21, STL21, ARI20.Bottom line: Had Houston somehow pulled off the comeback win, the Seattle FCs would have picked up this week's win in convincing fashion. Good week, guys.That's it for Week 11 Chip in on what you think.. When the Oakland Raiders were discussed at the beginning of this season, the question, "How far can they go" was generally answered with, "As far as JaMarcus Russell can take them." Based on his play over the first nine games, that wasn’t very far at all. Now, Russell is on the bench (and some might argue that this is long overdue), and there is a new man under center: Bruce Gradkowski. What we saw from him on Sunday against the Bengals was some real passion. He made good decisions, was generally accurate, and didn’t hurt the Raiders with bad plays. Not a bad throw, just a good defensive play. His statistics weren’t that great, but he delivered when it mattered and got the win. Even though he led the Raiders from 14 points down to beat Cincinnati, who have played extremely well on both sides of the ball this year, one good game doesn’t make a successful starting quarterback in the National Football League.Gradkowski has a career quarterback rating of 59.9, a completion percentage of 52.9, and a record of 4-9 as a starter. These figures are hardly inspirational. On a more positive note, there are many quarterbacks in the league that take time to develop into quality signal callers: Jim Plunkett and Rich Gannon, to name but two. Gannon was a backup through most of his 17-year career before starring in Oakland and becoming a league MVP. When Gradkowski came out of Toledo, some of the phrases scouts used to describe him were: "Plays with intensity and elevates the level of his teammates," and "Has the toughness and intangibles teams seek at the quarterback position." He was also compared to Jeff Garcia, which was high praise indeed. Quarterback is the one position in football where athletic ability is not the prime requisite.

Mental toughness, decision-making, and a strong work ethic are more important. Somebody needs to send a thank you card to Urban Meyer for helping the University of Notre Dame prevent the ever-embarrassing disappointment of repeated first refusal. Amidst the coachingcarousel that has become the Notre Dame football program, the pains of junior high awkwardness have taken up permanent residence.If you look closely during the Friday night dance, you'll see the confidant Texan left all by himself, the little man from Stanford whos as attractive asleprosy, the lying sonofagun from Georgia Tech who's cowering in the corner, and everybody's last choice, the brazen hometown kid who nobody wants to dance with for reasons too many to count. It started with the Bob Davie experiment, and a first-time coach with a great defensive background, and pound the ball offensive mindset, but the offensive creativity of a Pop Warner coach.

There was the George OLeary episode with more half-truths than a Jack Bauer interrogation. There was the once-promising Age of Ty (Willingham) that began with national title hopes and fell into a mess of poor recruiting, horrid losses, and a cabinet barren of developed talent And then there was Charlie Weis. The ND grad drove a veteran Irish team to two BCS bowl games (only to get massacred by far superior programs) before leading ND to one of the worst three-year stretches in the history of the program. Now its time to look forward to a new age in Fighting Irish football. The names have come fast and furiously from the NFL (Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden), major college powers (Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer), and mid-major upstarts (Chris Peterson and Brian Kelly) This CANT go poorly. Nobody wants to be the wallflower beside the snack table, awkwardly sidling up to the next pretty girl in line only to be laughed at,publicly humiliated, and left alone, once again, to stew in their ill-perceived greatness In short, move fast, Notre Dame.