Halftime Adjustments Hall of Fame

No, there isn’t one…yet, but if there was, Brian Westbrook would have earned his way in it yesterday.

By now you probably know the scenario. The Eagles were beating the Dallas Cowboys 10-6, with just over two minutes to go in the game. Dallas had used all of their timeouts. On a first down carry, Westbrook broke through the line and found himself with a waltz to the end zone. As I watched him run towards the goal line I figured this TD was going to secure the game, even though Dallas would get the ball back. What happened next amazed me.

Westbrook slid on the 1 yard line, forfeiting the the touchdown, so that the Eagles could run the clock out. Word is that he was told by O-lineman Jon Runyan to fall down if he got near the goal line. Even if that is the case, it was still an amazing unselfish play for Westbrook to go through with it. I was extremely impressed with his decision, and would be happy to have Westbrook play for my team any day.

Let’s ask this question- would Terrell Owens have done the same thing if he were in that situation? Of course not. Owens not only would have taken the TD, but he would have celebrated in some way that his team was penalized on the kick-off.

Congrats Westbrook. Way to show teamwork and class, and to realize there are things more important than your own numbers.

It’s not over yet…

The Browns survived the storm on Sunday, but let’s hold off on the champagne for now.

They say that’s Derek Anderson sliding through the snow to celebrate a Browns’ victory over Buffalo. I see a 3 in there somewhere, so I’ll have to take their word for it. Anderson, who admitted he’d never played a game in conditions remotely close to this, spent the majority of the game watching his big running back carry the pile 3 or 4 yards. Watching the game with me, Mrs. Adjustments repeatedly said, “I can’t believe they didn’t cancel this game.” She grew up in Kentucky, where they probably would have cancelled it.

This was a game built for Jamal Lewis. As many have already said, his stature and short choppy running style are perfect for these conditions. I’m frankly surprised that he didn’t find the end zone. Lewis ran for 163 yards, averaging just a hair under 5 yards per carry. His counterpart on the Bills had a decent game going early on, but finished with 82 yards on 21 carries. It was Lynch’s first time running in these types of conditions.

The Browns looked to be in their element. They certainly seemed to be the most confident and sure-footed of the two teams out there. The defense was aggressive, daring the Bills to try and beat them through the air. Safeties Brodney Pool and Sean Jones crept up to the line of scrimmage early and often to make plays in the running game. The defense pitched a shut-out, and my first reaction was that there probably should be some type of asterisk next to this shut-out, but then I reconsidered. If we had shut-out the Buccaneers, or the Dolphins, or the Cardinals I would say none of those teams are designed to play in these type of conditions, and you could understand why they would struggle. But these are the Buffalo Bills! Last time I checked their weather was about the same as ours. They get no sympathy from me. Edwards and Lynch are California guys who looked startled to even be standing around in snow like this, let alone trying to play football.