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Vegas Chip Shots
By A -Play’s
Chip Chirimbes
NFL
Well, we all saw it Monday Night. The San Francisco 49ers get a
first down between the one and two yard line with 56 second to go.
The Niners are trailing by five 29-24 so most assume with no time
outs left that they will spike the ball to kill the clock. Okay,
maybe it wasn’t what I would have done off the bat but it’s the play
in vogue for the NFL. The problem is that it takes 26 seconds to
stop the clock as Mike Martz sends player substitutions into the
game to spike the ball and stop the clock. This makes NO sense to
me. If you are going to send in players run a passing play to the
flag or post, just don’t give up 26 seconds when there is under a
minute left to spike the ball. You are already giving up a play by
making substitutions and now you don’t even run a play.
What followed was even worse, with no timeouts left Martz decides to
‘trick ‘em’ and calls a running play with Frank Gore. Gore goes down
around the one but there is an official review being called for the
NFL booth. After wasting 26 seconds by failing to line-up and spike
the ball Mike Martz now runs the ball with no time outs and gives
the Niners only one play from inside the two yard line with 56
seconds to go. Now with the clock stopped because of the review,
Martz assumes (once again) that the ball will be placed at the one,
it wasn’t, it was placed outside the three yard line. Then the
Niners run a dive that had no chance with Michael Robinson (Who?)
The officials put four seconds on the clock so the 49ers actually
had time to spike the ball and huddle up before running a final play
be it a pass or run. It is amazing to me that these guys get paid
such big money to make such horrible decisions when the pressure in
on.
NCAA-BCS
I love this stuff. Two weeks ago Southern California wins 56-0
against Washington and drops two spots in the ratings, and in the
same week Penn State has a bye after having beaten Ohio State on the
road and they dropped a spot in the ratings. This was for the most
part because Texas Tech beat Texas at home on a last second throw
and catch. Tech deserved to move up as they killed the Longhorns
with stats. The Red Raiders had 15 more first downs and more than
200 total yards than did Texas. Although Texas Tech needed to score
on the final play of the game they dominated Texas on the field
building a big halftime lead before the ‘Horns made their second
half rush.
Iowa did the BCS a service by knocking off undefeated Penn State. If
the Nittany Lions had remained undefeated they would have made it to
the championship game in Miami although many believe that a one loss
SEC team like Florida or Alabama along with a one loss Big-12 team
like Oklahoma or Texas Tech should have been selected ahead of them
to play in t he big game. If Penn State out of the Big-10 a BCS
conference not matter how weak this year, Penn State would have had
to get the nod. Now, all this talk of Utah or any other undefeated
team having a shot is silly. I’ve seen Utah, Miami-O and Bosie State
play and believe me they are two, three and four loss teams in any
of the BCS conferences (Even the Big-10, or ACC, the Big-East is
another issue). I love this BCS crap because it gives me something
to write about every year. My only hope is that if they have a
playoff system installed that it comes after the Bowl Games.
NBA
Will Greg Odom ever play in the NBA? The Portland Trailblazers have
a history of drafting injury prone players and they did it again
with Odom out of Ohio State after his freshman year where he missed
time because of foot and leg problems. Odom is said to be 19 years
old and maybe he will get healthy and become a star in the NBA. The
problem to me is, I think from looking at him that he really might
be 42 years old and ready for retirement.
Paul
‘Chip’ Chirimbes appeared ’live’ weekly for CNN/SI for six years over
300 appearances from 1995-2001 as Las Vegas’ expert voice for weekend events
where he handled viewer questions and gave his analysis. He currently can be
seen during the football season on Winning Edge which airs on Discovery
Channel network during the NFL season. He appeared from September 1987-
December 2006 on USA’s Proline. As one of the foremost experts in sports,
Chip has been quoted in many national publications including the Wall Street
Journal, New York Times, USA TODAY and countless others.
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