And you should be able to see from this first drive that Jacobs is sufficiently important to the Giants pass game to overcome the loss of Burress. I don’t know if they’ll score, but receivers who’d be covered if Ward or Bradshaw were running are open — and actually catching balls — unlike those busters in Philly.

Panthers are gang-tackling looking for Brandon to do his usual.

Steelers laid a big egg. My first mind (throughout the season) has been tinged with conservatism and doubt about their overall performance. The one week I go out on a limb, they take their first blowout loss — u.g.l.y.

Better luck next week.

Bottom line, the only guys who are even in the conversation are Belichick and Shanahan. They’re post-season percentages are better…and until recently, the Patriots owned the Colts.

What I meant by that was that these are the only 2 that I’ve heard get more props than Dungy. Even Shanahan is a bit diminished by failing to get over the hump without Elway.

Bottom line, dude’s teams have been outscored by an average of 24-9 in 9 season-ending playoff games (Tampa and Indy). They’ve scored 24, 18, 3, 14, 0, 9, 3, 6, and 7. They’ve lost at home (Pittsburgh, San Diego) and on the road (New England, St. Louis, Philadelphia. They’ve lost as favorites and as underdogs. It’s a tremendous accomplishment to do what he’s done. I guess I just don’t where he’s been slighted — especially in light of his post-season performance in relationship to his nemesis.

As great as I think he is, he’s only .500 in the postseason. I think much of that has been due to personnel problems. The Glazer’s didn’t want to pay for an offense until it was too late. The Colts didn’t know how to pay for a defense (or maybe they were just gun shy after losing out on the Steve Emtman/Quentin Coryatt draft picks). If those had panned out, Dungy may not have ever been offered the Indy job.

Bottom line, the only guys who are even in the conversation are Belichick and Shanahan. They’re post-season percentages are better…and until recently, the Patriots owned the Colts.

If you can find an article giving props to coaches based strictly on regular season work where the post-season doesn’t measure up, holla at me. Cowher was killed for years about his post-season games…same for Marv Levy, Bud Grant, Chuck Knox, George Allen, and on and on. People in SF didn’t even think George Seifert was a great coach.

The regular season isn’t where its at. It’s about finishing the job.

As an aside, Don Shula’s legacy as one of the greatest coaches of all-time was cemented when Dan Marino was in diapers.

He’s never mentioned in that regard ala Shula with Marino.

At this point, I really think he is.

I think that Tony Dungy gets as much respect as any coach in the history of the game with only 1 Super Bowl ring. The upper echelon of reverence for coaches is reserved for the select few with multiple rings: Lombardi, Shula, Landry, Noll, Parcells, Walsh, Gibbs, Shanahan, Belichick. The cat who really doesn’t get respect is Tom Flores. He won twice with the Raiders as head coach, and he beat Gibbs and Vermeil - but still takes a back seat to Madden in the Raider pantheon of leaders.

Dungy, to me, gets alot of love and is even credited by many, many folks with the Tampa Bay SB win even though Gruden coached the game. The biggest barrier to Dungy getting his props was the time it took to conquer two teams — the Rams in the NFC and the Patriots in the AFC. You can’t really get to the top of the props ladder when you have a nemesis.

All things considered, I think he’s done very well and is well regarded enough that his proteges have been able to land some of the BEST football jobs with old school franchises across the league: Lovie Smith in Chicago; Herman Edwards in Kansas City; and Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.

Tony Dungy is the man and there are very, very few people who don’t know it.