12/21/24
January 08, 2005
Rams Top Seahawks 27-20: Cam Cleeland picked a good time for his first touchdown catch as a member of the St. Louis Rams, a fourth-quarter grab that beat the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the NFL playoffs. The Tor Johnson lookalike kept the Hawks from winning their first playoff game since 1984, a 20-year drought that's the longest in the NFL.
I've been wondering the same thing. Maybe he just looked good in comparison to Mike Martz, who became the first coach in NFL history to run out of timeouts before the pre-game coin toss.
posted by rcade at 08:11 PM on January 08, 2005
The "fantasic coach" stuff is based mainly on his impressive record with the Packers, including winning Super Bowl XXXI in 1997. (I'd say winning the Super Bowl makes you a very good coach, at least.) He hasn't done as well with the Seahawks, in my opinion due to his being overextended as the GM and the head coach.
posted by kirkaracha at 08:19 PM on January 08, 2005
Plan 9 From St. Louis staring Cam Cleeland...I had picked Seattle, that's how I knew they were doomed. I thought they might tie it up at the end there, but of course not. He needs to give up the GM part of his duties.
posted by chris2sy at 08:23 PM on January 08, 2005
God, Seattle is just awful. I've never seen a team (okay, outside the Red Sox pre-2004) so able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Granted, some very bad calls went their way, ticky-tack contact calls, or non-calls in some cases (like the non-roughing of the passer), but jeez... Holmgren is a terrible coach; he's had all the resources in the world, along with total autonomy... and hasn't pushed this team past the first round. They looked helpless trying to stop the Rams on that final St. Louis drive, and even when everyone knew that those 2 running plays during the 4th quarter drive for the winning touchdown were setting up a 3rd down 15-yard pass attempt, the coverage was still minimal downfield. I feel bad for Hasselback; the receiver should have caught that ball on the final play of the 4th, to send it to OT: it was very catchable for an NFL receiver, and in that situation he has to catch that ball. It's hard for a QB to thrive if his receivers drop balls like that, and others throughout the game.
posted by hincandenza at 04:02 PM on January 09, 2005
I heard that Seattle receivers had a habit of dropping passes during the season. That's a pretty good way of confirming that. Did Jerry Rice not play? I noticed that he didn't have one single catch the entire game (according to the stats). If he didn't play (or worse, never had the ball thrown to him), what a sad way to end his career...
posted by grum@work at 06:19 PM on January 09, 2005
I second Hal's emotion -- the only reason Holmgren won a Super Bowl title still wears No. 4 for Green Bay. Favre had an outstanding, almost stupidity-free postseason that year (the antithesis of yesterday's dumbass performance), and the defense then was solid. He's got too much on his plate, and if these receivers are the best he can do as a GM? Time to hang it up.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:40 AM on January 10, 2005
One of the ABC commentators (I suspect Joe T.) called Mike Holmgren "a fantastic coach". Can someone give me some evidence to support that?