Ho, Hum... Any Given Sunday

By now, everyone has heard the term "Any Given Sunday," even if it has no connection other than the 1999 Oliver Stone - Al Pacino - Cameron Diaz - Jamie Foxx movie. Gosh, has it been almost 10 years since that movie came out? The underlying concept, of course, is that any NFL team can beat any other NFL team on "any given Sunday." Pundits and pollsters tie the NFL's rise in popularity both in the U.S. and abroad to this concept of parity, that even a 1-3 team can rise up to smack a 4-0 team on "any given Sunday."

Gone are the days when the Steelers, Cowboys, 49ers, and even the Buffalo Bills could keep their star players together for long stretches of time and continue contending for Super Bowl victories year after year. Free agency had much to do with that, certainly. Revenue sharing amongst the owners has had a lot to do with small market teams being able to sign high priced free agents and remain competitive. The salary cap alone places more emphasis on general managers who understand the inner workings of capology, creatively sign their biggest stars to non-cap crushing contracts, and correctly evaluate talent to know where to spend their money.

I have long maintained that front office success contributes much more to an NFL team's future than does the head coach, the offensive and defensive coordinators, or even the players on the field. It sounds backwards, but having smart football people in the front office determines which person becomes the next head coach, which players get drafted, and which free agents get signed. A mistake in any one of those areas makes it infinitely harder for a team to win on Sundays. As evidence, I've long been able to point to teams like Arizona and Detroit as perrenial doormats in their respective Divisions.

Oops. The Cardinals are now 4-2 after smacking formerly 4-1 Dallas in the mouth on Sunday. True, they had to take the game to OT to win, but they manhandled Tony Romo and the Dallas offense, allowing only 73 rushing Yds to an offense that had been averaging almost 139 Yds per game. The formerly 0-4 St Louis Rams upset the formerly 4-1 Redskins, 19-17. The 0-4 Houston Texans got off the schnide with a last-second TD over the resurgent Miami Dolphins.

Most amazingly of all was my own 1-3 Cleveland Browns upsetting the defending Super Bowl champion and previously undefeated NY Giants, 35-14. I don't get ESPN at home, so I wasn't able to watch the game to see how they did it. The box score itself was pretty incredible, though! The Brownies didn't punt once all game? Really? Derek Anderson was never sacked by the Gints? They held the ball on offense five minutes more than the G-men? All these things seem incredible to me, especially given that one of the Browns' most talented players, Kellen Winslow, Jr. was inactive for the game. Didn't we just have a QB controversy in Cleveland?

At any rate, I'm happy with the result. I don't have any realistic expectations the Browns can find a way to climb back to respectability (or the playoffs) this season. They were handed a brutal schedule by the NFL, and they still have games remaining at Philly and Washington, not to mention at Buffalo, home against Indy and Baltimore, and one last road game against the unbeatable Steelers, just in case the Brownies needed to win one more game to reach the playoffs.

So much for the invincibility and supremacy of the NFC East Division, though. The formerly 4-0 Giants, 4-1 Cowboys, and 4-1 Redskins all lost to teams outside their Division. Only the Eagles won against an inferior 49er team, but it took 23 4th quarter points to do so. Any Given Sunday, indeed!