He put up a pretty nice passer rating last night, and he didn’t make any big mistakes, and ESPN is declaring that Rex Grossman “has his groove back.” But I’m not buying it. Not yet. What he did last night, he did against a group of defensive linemen that wear tampons. There was never any pressure on Grossman, the offense was clearly designed to give him quick, one-read options, and his downfield looks were extremely, extremely limited. They might as well have gone with Brian Griese … because what Grossman did last night was very Brian Griese-esque.

And he still only completed just over 50% of his passes. He was 13-of-23 for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. I’m not saying that he’s not going to get better, I’m not saying that he can’t pull his season out of the toilet … I’m just saying last night’s performance doesn’t do it for me. And really, we’re not going to find out if Grossman is again an effective, non-game managing quarterback until the playoffs. The Bears close the season with the Bucs, Lions, and Packers, and unless he starts absolutely lighting it up and putting up huge numbers again … I don’t see myself being a big believer in Rex Grossman and the Bears in the playoffs.

…is all the way live.

I manufactured some new Power Rankings over at The FanHouse. You can also find all of the other things I’ve been doing over there at this location.

I may have to find a way to better incorporate the things I’ve doing over there, at this site… which would be easier if there was an RSS feed for just my page. Alas, for now, there is not. And I doubt that there will ever be.

I mentioned in the Smorgasbord that I thought Jon Gruden opting to kick a field goal on the last play of the Steelers/Bucs game was kind of a bitch move. As it turns out, it’s not just bitch, it’s historically bitch.

No one has kicked a field goal on the last play of a game to avoid a shutout since Mose Schrute Kelsch kicked a 21-yarder to get a 3-3 tie for his Pittsburgh Pirates against the Brooklyn Dodgers (and yes, it was a football game) in 1933. And even then, Mose’s was to get his team a tie.

Gruden said he made the decision so that Bruce Gradkowski, a Pittsburgh-area native, would be able to “come away with something positive” from his first NFL game in the ‘Burgh. I understand wanting to protect your quarterback’s psyche (and ultimately, none of this is a big deal to me), but I don’t know how exactly that was accomplished with a last-second field goal… is Gradkowski also the kicker?

If you really want him to forget what happened, slip him a roofie and then pound him in the head with a hammer for about 45 minutes. Or, do him. I don’t think a meaningless field goal is going to obscure the fact that he just got his ass whooped up and down the banks of the Monongahela.

The link comes courtesy of the brand spanking new 65isbetterthan2, a promising young sports blog that’s about 36 hours old.

Can be found at this location.

It was the lead item on SportsCenter last night, Michael Strahan’s little media outburst. It was an entertaining, passionate, spirited … something or other. From what I can gather, Michael Strahan is angry about something that Michael Strahan said.

Strahan went on some radio show, and said some things about Plaxico Burress and how he quit on a play against the Titans. He had some nice things to say about Plax, too, I suppose … I don’t know. Here’s the quote:

“It’s a shame,” Strahan said on the radio Monday. “You can’t give up. You can’t quit, because you’re not quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on everybody. I don’t quite understand what his lack of motivation is in those types of situations. But I’m going to try to see what it is, and if I can talk to him about it. He’s too good for that.”

And that same quote was ready to Plaxico Burress by ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi. Burress hadn’t heard it before, and he was legitimately surprised by it. But he didn’t make a big deal about anything, he said he’d talk to Strahan privately, whatever. And then at the end of Giants media time today, Strahan went nuts on Naqi.

“Come here, I want to see your face when you ask me this question, the way you are going to ask it. I know you are going to ask it in a way there is more division and more of a negative way than it was, so come here, I want to see your face, please. You’re a responsible journalist, look me in the eye and ask this question the way you want to ask it. Look a man in the eye before you try to kill him or make up something. Look me in the eye.”

Well, yeah, but … you said it, jackass. Kelly Naqi quoted you. She didn’t make up any quotes, she didn’t take anything out of context … she just quoted what you said. Again, you said it.

The problem was that the way she asked it was too negative? What do you want her to do, put on a cheerleader outfit, and read Burress the quote like she was reading him Green Eggs and Ham? You want her to slip Burress a half a dozen Prozac before she reads the quote? It’s a quote, as in, that’s exactly what you said, dickweed.

So Strahan embarrassed this reporter, called her out in front of everyone … because he called Plaxico Burress a quitter and then didn’t want to take responsibility for it. For someone who made it a point yesterday to tell the world that he’s “a man” about forty-five times, that’s a pretty bitch thing to do.

You can see video of Plax hearing the comments for the first time, Strahan’s ridiculous outburst, and listen to a Dan Patrick interview with Kelly Naqi here.

In a season that’s seen Randy Moss’s weekly passive-aggressive outbursts, the suspension of Jerry Porter for no real reason, and the mid-season firing of the offensive coordinating pillow-fluffer … this one might be the weirdest for the Raiders. Art Shell is accusing someone within the Raiders organization of trying to undermine the coaching staff and sabotage the team.

He won’t say who it is. It’s not a player or a coach and it’s not Al Davis. He believes someone in the organization is calling media members around the country and criticizing coaches.

“I’m a fighter,” Shell said. “I sit back and I watch things happen and then it gets to the point where you cross the line. That line has been crossed and I won’t sit back and allow it to happen anymore.”

Why would you allow it to happen at all, fighter? It’s Week 12, man. If this is true, and someone is doing that (and I’m not ruling out the possibility that Shell is just paranoid and senile), isn’t that the sort of thing you’d want to stop immediately? Why wait?

Then again … why wait twelve weeks to fire the coordinator of an offense that never really seemed to exist? Say this for him … Art Shell is a patient man. I think he’s probably waiting for just the right time before arguing with the officials about the Vincent Jackson/fumble/forward pass call.

Just a weird, weird story. Ultimately, it’s probably even a meaningless story … it’s just that I can’t envision any other organization in the NFL, and less than a handful in all of professional sports, where a story like this is even possible. Every organization employs a douchebag or two, I’m sure, but … to the point where the head coach is telling the media about the anonymous evil guy who’s trying to destroy the team from within? You don’t see that every day.

It amazes me that the Raiders are playing as well as they are … which, I’m aware, is not at a Super Bowl level or anything, but … they haven’t quit. Hell, this team should quit. They’re 2-9, the most talented player on the team has made himself worthless, the head coach is worried about bullshit like this, the return of Aaron Brooks was seen as a good thing, and this team, at least the defense, still goes out there and works their ass off on Sundays.

I don’t know if it’s admirable or sad.

Eh, not really. But I made new Power Rankings, and I think you’ll enjoy them as much as you’ll enjoy these photographs of the world’s greatest mother.

…is here.