First, we have a Congressional Committee looking into the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. Now we have another Congressman, Arlen Specter, who wants to look into why the office of the Commissioner of the NFL destroyed all the evidence collected from the Patriots in the so-called “Tapegate” scandal. Specter has written at least two letters to Roger Goodell, seeking an explanation for why the “evidence” of cheating by the Patriots was destroyed after Goodell reached his decision to fine the team and Bill Belichick. His letters went unanswered.
Specter is now threatening to haul Goodell, and perhaps some employees of the Patriots, before another Congressional Committee to explain the leagues actions. Specter feels it is incumbent upon the Congress to investigate whether the integrity of the game has been compromised. Specter compared the destruction of the tapes to the CIA destruction of evidence or any situation where evidence was destroyed. He went on to say that an explanation is in order from the Commissioner.
What is not clear is where the authority for this comes from. The last time I looked, there was nothing in the Constitution that called for the Congress to investigate private business. Nor does it say anything in there about investigating the private property of a business. That's what the so-called evidence is, by the way. The tapes, papers, notes, and other materials that the NFL confiscated from the Patriots are nothing more than the private property of the Patriots. If there were any objection to its destruction by the Commissioner's office, it would have been raised by the organization that created it in the first place. In the absence of such an objection, there really is no reason for anyone to question what has happened to it. The league took it away so that there would be no further questioning of the Patriot's integrity, or the integrity of the NFL. In truth, the whole episode is a bit of a joke. Specter's grandstanding on the eve of the Super Bowl only makes the joke worse. If I were a Congressman, I would be angered that Specter has over stepped his bounds and drawn the Congress into this situation.
The Patriots taping of coaching signals from the sideline was only illegal in that they were doing it from a prohibited standpoint on the field. There isn't a single team in the league that does not tape the game from multiple perspectives. There isn't a single team that doesn't tape their opponents coaches on the field. They all do it from the stands, press box, or other allowable vantage point on the field. Simply because the Patriots did it from the sidelines, they are being called cheaters. How ridiculous is that?
Our leaders in Washington need to know that we are not going to stand for this kind of stunt from them. The next time Arlen Specter comes up for reelection, I hope the good people in his district have the good sense to throw the bum out on his ear. We don't need our Congressmen and women spending their time and our tax dollars looking into why the NFL destroyed some video tape. I think it's high time we started looking into the myriad ways that the people who run our government waste our money, beginning with Specter.

There were two games this past weekend that showed diametrically opposed schools of thought when it comes to managing a playoff-team. First, we had the Patriots-Giants showdown at Giant Stadium on Saturday. It was a completely meaningless game in terms of the playoffs. Win or lose, both teams were playoff-bound and the outcome was not going to change their opponent, the schedule, or anything else for that matter. Of course, the Patriots were trying to make history, seeking to become the first team to go 16-0 during the regular season. Nevertheless, coach Bill Belichick has been very consistent this season with the use of his starters. His philosophy is that resting certain players, and not others, puts a higher value on the rested players and sends the wrong message to the rest of the team. Belichick always emphasizes the concept of team, with players, regardless of their role, receiving equal treatment and having equal value to the team. Historic game or not, the Patriots were going to play their starters at least until the game was well in hand. The Patriot’s starters ended up playing the whole game en route to victory and history.
The Giants, who had a large contingent of injured players entering the game, were in the unenviable position of having to be cautious about their starters. They are in the playoffs and face a tough opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in round one. Before the game, coach Tom Coughlin made it clear that the team wanted to beat the Patriots to bolster their confidence as a team. He correctly surmised that a victory over the top team in the NFL would create some momentum for the Giants going forward. His team responded by playing their hearts out. To a man, the Giants played an excellent game. It was truly exciting to watch, and as a Patriot fan, I can tell you that I was quite nervous when the Giants were up by 12 points in the third quarter. The starters for the Giants played the entire game. In the end, the fact that they played as hard as they did, and that they played the entire game, reflects very well upon the Giants organization and the NFL in general. They gave their fans a great game to watch, and nearly beat the Patriots. Even though they lost, they should go into next week's playoff game with their heads held up high and their confidence soaring, just because they gave the Pats a run for their money.
The flip side of the coin was the Colts-Titans game Sunday night. The Titans needed a victory to get into the playoffs. There was no question about whether their starters were going to play. All hands were on deck as the team was fighting for their right to play in the post season. The Colts, like the Giants, are a bit banged up, though they are assured of a playoff slot. They even have a bye for the first round. Yet, coach Tony Dungy chose to have a large contingent of players inactive for the game. He also chose to remove quarterback Peyton Manning midway through the first half of the game. As a result, the Colts essentially laid down in front of the Titans and handed them a ticket to the playoffs. Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the members of the Browns watched their playoff hopes fade to black when Manning exchanged his helmet for a headset. All those fans who paid a king's ransom to obtain tickets to the game, were treated to three quarters of Jim Sorgi and a host of other players that are typically buried on the depth chart.
The Colts decision to hand the win to the Titans by keeping their best players off the field, represents everything that is wrong about competitive sports. People don't pay the big bucks to see the Jim Sorgis of the league play. They paid to see Manning and the regular players. And they want to see their team play to win. Every game. Just because the outcome of the game did not matter, doesn't mean that the team should not try to win. Laying down in front of an inferior opponent would be questioned just about any other time. Can the Titans really feel good about themselves today, knowing that they beat the Colts second string team? The Colts have a bye for the first round, and now have two weeks to get completely healthy for their first playoff match up. Oddly enough, they could end up facing these very same Titans in that game. Do you think they'll lay down for that one?
I must confess that I'm writing about this topic because the Colts decision to take Manning out after one quarter of play ended up costing me the title in my primary fantasy football league. I toyed with the idea of picking up Jim Sorgi, but stuck with Manning because of the news that Marvin Harrison was supposed to play. I figured Manning would hook up with Harrison for at least one TD and that I could count on at least 10 points from Manning if he were to play as much as half of the game. As it happened, Manning had 95 yards and no touchdowns, which totaled a measly three points for me. I ended up losing to my opponent by just three points. So if you're wondering why I'm a little bitter about Manning being sidelined by Tony Dungy, you now have your answer.

Congratulations to the Patriots on their perfect regular season. And, congratulations to Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Wes Welker to carrying so many fantasy teams to glory. Needless to say, if you're in a playoff fantasy league, those guys should be the first players off the board.

---

The Lions are reportedly set to fire offensive coordinator Mike Martz. In the first half of the season, Martz seemed to recover his "offensive genius" label, as the Lions scored points by the bushel. However, they faded badly as the season went on, and the struggles were epitomized by Jon Kitna. In the first 8 games, Kitna had 2000 yards passing, 10 TD and 6 INT. In the last 7, he's had 1822 yards passing, 7 TD and 12 INT.

The marriage of Martz and Lions head coach Rod Marinelli seemed an odd one; as a hard-nosed defensive coach, Marinelli would likely to prefer a run-first approach, something Martz obviously does not bring to the table. The Lions passed 539 times and ran 307, a 64/36 pass/run ratio which is the NFL's highest. It's also hard not to imagine that Martz had some serious influence over the team's 2007 draft, picking offensive players with their first two picks (Calvin Johnson and Drew Stanton).

In Martz's defense, he probably didn't expect both Tatum Bell and Kevin Jones to struggle with injury, and that surely curbed the running game, but still, the Lions seldom made much effort to run the ball; their 307 attempts were by far the lowest in the league.

With Martz gone, look for a major changeover in Detroit's offense next year. Stanton's injury in training camp, and the uninspiring list of free agent QBs (Derek Anderson heads the list, but he's not going anywhere, and no one else is an upgrade over Kitna) may have bought Kitna another year, but the consistently disappointing careers of Jones, Bell and TJ Duckett should lead to a complete changeover in the Detroit running game. Here's one out-of-left-field thought: might the Lions try to pick up Cadillac Williams? Williams' injury, plus the emergence of Earnest Graham, may make Williams available. Marinelli would have known Williams from his time in Tampa Bay, which helps. And Williams is far enough into his rookie contract that the Bucs could probably trade him without a huge cap hit, and might be happy to do so for, say, a second round pick.

In any event, it's safe to assume there will be a renewed emphasis on the run next year in Detroit. Given how unbalanced their offense was this year (Gregg Easterbrook would call them pass-wacky), that may help Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams a great deal, by keeping defenses honest.

A few major developments on the injured wide receiver front: Terry Glenn will play this weekend, after missing the entire season. The Cowboys want to get Glenn some game time before the playoffs begin. No word on how long he will play, but the first half would be a good guess. Wade Phillips qualified it by saying it would depend on field conditions.

Also, after missing the vast majority of the season, Marvin Harrison will play as well. As with Glenn, the Colts want to get Harrison some time before the playoffs start. Look for Harrison to play for about a half or so. It's unlikely that he'll play the whole game, but if you're in dire straits at WR, and feel like rolling the dice, he's probably no worse an option than the flotsam and jetsam you'll find on the waiver wire.

Finally, in San Fran, the QB carousel spins once again. It was revealed yesterday that Shaun Hill, who has been a fine late season stopgap for many owners, has three fractured vertebrae in his back. He's obviously out this weekend, and Trent Dilfer is out as well. That means that Chris Weinke, he of the 2-17 record as an NFL starter, will likely get the start this weekend. In a season where we've seen some absolutely dreadful QBs under center, Weinke might well be the worst.

It looks like there will be a mass benching of starters in week 17. Word is that the Cowboys and Packers, like the Colts, will play their star players briefly, if at all. Given how poor the Packers looked last week, I thought there was a chance they'd go with their starters for the whole game, to work out some kinks, but apparently not.

At last check, Jack Del Rio was staying quiet on whether he'd play his starters, but with the team rolling, and locked into the #5 spot, I'd look for David Garrard, Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor to play very little, if at all. Don't go with those guys unless you're really in a gambling mood. You can put the Seahawks in that category, too. Mike Holmgren hasn't said anything, but it's a good bet that his guys will sit, or only play a couple series. Deion Branch is battling an injury, so you can almost certainly count on him sitting the bench.

The Steelers still have playoff seeding to play for, but bet on Ben Roethlisberger sitting this week anyway. He's listed as questionable with ankle and shoulder injuries, so they're probably starting Charlie Batch.

It's a good question what the Chargers will do. Like the Steelers, they have playoff seeding on the line, but they have the luxury of depth behind LaDainian Tomlinson, and so they could ease back on his carries and still have a good chance of winning. Personally, I'd start Tomlinson unless there's a definite report that he's sitting after a series or two. He's been so good against the Raiders that he might have a big day even on just 10 or 15 touches.

ESPN is reporting that the Giants will likely play their starters in Saturday night's game against New England. Earlier this week, it looked as though the Giants would be resting anyone with even a minor injury, but it appears there has been a change in strategy. Even Plax Burress, who hasn't practiced all season, was working in practice on Wednesday.

It appears the Giants are going to take seriously New England's quest for perfection. Brandon Jacobs and Plax Burress owners should benefit. (We still wouldn't play Eli Manning, though.)