Awhile back, folks were heaping dirt on the graves of the Colts and the Cowboys. Folks act like teams with elite QBs aren’t capable of winning 4 or 5 or 6 in a row. Don’t sleep on the Eagles. There is no reason to believe they can’t get it done. They have all the pieces. They just need to believe in one another and RUN THE DAMN BALL! — except at the GOAL LINE!

Never say never.

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In regards to Tony Dungy, he isn’t on the hot seat and has some ‘political capital’ with his Super Bowl win. However, the Colts are slowing down and aren;t the same offensive juggernaut from years past and he has let it be known that he wants to focus more on family life.

The following was after the 2007-08 season ended.

….”Dungy, who has considered leaving football each of the past two years, acknowledged he would talk with his wife and Indianapolis officials about the future when the Colts’ season ends.

Speculation about his potential departure was fueled by a report in The Tampa Tribune that said his (16-year-old) son, Eric, enrolled at Plant High School in Florida…..”

Dungy had lost one son to suicide and has had a renewed focus on family matters.

So an abrupt retirement is on the table and has been on the table since 2006.

Dungy has put it out there, and if the Colts were to miss the playoffs, fans won’t blame Peyton Manning for the Colts ‘failure’, the focus will be directed towards Dungy and in the age of ESPN and their media circus, Peyton may say something to the affect it was the coaching staff’s fault for the Colts not making the playoffs and then Dungy will become the focus of the ESPN/mainstream/local media sludge machine and I believe the retirement stuff is a preemptive firewall from Dungy if something like that happens.

To me Dungy is a Hall of Fame Coach, but I don’t think he will have a tolerance for negative press hounding him if the Colts miss the playoffs. In the words of Donovan McNabb on that HBO special, black QBs have to do a LITTLE EXTRA, well the same thing applies to a black head coach… win now, win forever..start to lose one year, out the next… and we will see if Marvin Lewis, Herman Edwards and Romeo Crennel will get the collective boot very soon..

By the end of the regular season, Tony Dungy may be the last African-American coach standing, and Dungy has been flirting with retirement ever since he won the Super Bowl.

How is that possible?

A word on Edwards…I heard that the Chiefs franchise owners are happy with what Herman has done. They recognize that the team is rebuilding and believe it should have begun the process a year or two ago. Remember, this is the 1st season of Herman cleaning up the remnants of a 13-3 squad Dick Vermeil coached using Al Saunders’ voluminous playbook. That team, back in ‘04 (I believe) was ousted at home by the Colts. The media are still looking at the Chiefs as though they should be 13-3, but the team is full of rookies and is going through Phase I of rebuilding.

Trent Green is gone. Gonzalez was almost gone. Tony Richardson, Willie Roaf, Will Shields, and many others on both sides of the ball are new. Jared Allen is in Minnesota. Brodie Croyle may not be “The Guy” after all. It may be Tyler Thigpen. The Chiefs are a work in progress. I think Herman has done a tremendous job given the limitations his team faces — especially along the offensive line, serious injuries to his #1 and #2 QBs, and given the instability of Larry Johnson in the backfield. The team is young and is just learning how to compete — let alone finish big games. I’ve been impressed.

By the end of the regular season, Tony Dungy may be the last African-American coach standing, and Dungy has been flirting with retirement ever since he won the Super Bowl. The Colts are beginning to slowly age as the AFC South and the rest of the league has caught up to the antics of Peyton Manning and the Colts. The Colts survived a 10-6 defensive struggle in Cleveland, but this Colts team is not the same explosive team from years past. However, they are still 8-4 and fighting it out with teams such as upstart Miami, surprising New England with Matt Cassell and surprising Baltimore who has been doing well with their rookie QB Joe Flacco.

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And I have to give props to the Giants. It doesn’t matter who is hurt or in jail, they keep on moving– and winning convincingly. Plaxico Burress may have seen his life and football career flash before him along with his 35 million dollar contract after his tragic, unnecessary mistake at a nightclub last week. Burress is a first-time offender, but he should have known better to take a gun into a nightclub in New York City where they have some of the most strictest gun laws in the world. NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, had vowed to strengthen gun laws after the Sean Coombs gun incident and vowed to make minimum penalties require a jail sentence instead of probation. Plaxico may have lost track to where he was and thought he was in Florida, and he has done some boneheaded things of the field during his career (spiking a live football which gave the ball to the other team)..so he may have gotten a little confused, but in NYC, Bloomberg helped to change laws to the point that a defendant ‘not having the intent’ to use a gun or that it was an accident can’t be used as an excuse. Plax is in a tough situation, but he ‘lawyered up’ with Coombs’ former attorney so he has a fighting chance.

As I watch the Falcons defeat the Chargers, I see the Chargers are on the verge of breaking apart and that Norv Turner may be kicked out of town. LT is not happy. Tomlinson wasn’t happy last year and clearly he is more frustrated this year. This Chargers offense isn’t the same explosive offense that I remember from the Marty Schottenheimer years. It seems the offense is now revolving more around the mercurial and a tad overrated Phillip Rivers. Now the Chargers are without Michael Turner the power running former backup to LT and former Pro Bowl fullback Lorenzo Neal, who opened many holes in his years with the Chargers.

Norv has left his imprint on the revised Chargers’ offense and its not producing the same type of success that was once envisioned at the time of his arrival. Norv Turner has never been a big winner or a very successful coach and it seems his welcome is slowly, but surely wearing out.

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I am a little disappointed to see the Redskins slide a little bit down the stretch after having a strong first half of the season, and are now on the outside looking in as the playoff race rolls into Week 14. Jason Campbell is very dependent on the success of Clinton Portis, but Campbell can’t fall into the trap of Donovan McNabb and just staying in the pocket all the time to appease the ‘old school’ media’s perception of a ‘real’ QB. Campbell is mobile and capable of running seven or eight times a game. McNabb showed flashes of his pre-2004 self and was able to use his mobility as an asset and picked up critical first downs and extended offensive drives against the Arizona Cardinals on Thanksgiving night. Campbell has to realize winning is the only thing that matters this time of the year in December and boxing himself in so he won’t be called called a running QB only hurts himself and his team in the end. So Campbell needs to re-evaluate his style of play in these final weeks and ask himself is he doing all that he can do.