It’s not 4th and 2 with Bill Belichick earlier this season, but Jim Caldwell’s philosophy of packing it in or pulling an ‘83-’84 Houston Rockets manuever, during Sunday’s 29-15 loss to the New York Jets has caused a tremendous amount of discussion. When Peyton Manning was pulled early on in the second half while Indy held a 15-10 lead, it appeared that the Colts were cashing in their chips a bit too soon and in turn, greatly impacting the AFC playoff picture.

The philosophy of keeping the foot on the gas versus “resting” guys is one that gets played out every single year. At least one team in the conference is faced with this decision and invariable, it appears someone always gets it terribly wrong. Throwing a perfect season in the mix adds another level to this mess.

In the case of Indianapolis, they have recent history around the league and within its on franchise to draw from. Let’s be realistic for a moment. The Colts have won one Super Bowl this decade. One. Not two. Not three. Not four. One. Thus, their philosophy of resting Peyton Manning and others because they might get injured has not exactly paid off handsomely.

Their lone Super Bowl win of the decade came through wild-card weekend as a three-seed. Also, they played the starters to the hilt during the regular season’s final game against Miami.

The last time Indy entered the postseason with home-field advantage in 2005, the Colts came out rusty and flat before losing a last-second battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Divisional playoffs.

Two years later, Indy did not go to the wall again in the season finale against Tennessee, a 16-10 loss. A couple of weeks later, they lost in their opening playoff game once more, this time to the San Diego Chargers.

Further complicating matters is finishing up the regular season 16-0. The Indy party line from team president Bill Polian was that it didn’t matter and that it wasn’t the ultimate goal (a sentiment shared on NBC Sunday night by former Colts head coach Tony Dungy). It was rather obvious by watching the postgame interviews and reading accounts out of Indianapolis that some of the players cared.

Now, I don’t know about you but Peyton Manning strikes me as a fairly competitive soul. Don’t you think he wants to match Tom Brady and the Patriots by going 16-0? Much like Bird’s Celtics had Magic’s Lakers and now, Manning’s Colts have Brady’s Patriots.

Again, as a historical reference, the Patriots decided to go for the perfect season instead of resting starters back in 2007. While they didn’t finish off the mission by winning Super Bowl XLII, they defeated the Giants to finish the regular season 16-0. Belichick honored the game by at least going for it.

Some theorized that the Pats were too tired from pursuing perfection which is why they failed to go 19-0. Did making an effort to go 16-0 make Rodney Harrison incapable of breaking up David Tyree’s helmet catch? Did Asante Samuel’s interception drop on the same drive have a tie-in with Belichick and company going for history? I don’t think so but it sounds good for those conspiracy theory types.

Killer instinct, edge, or whatever you want to call it is important. Teams go too long without playing meaningful games heading into the postseason and it gets them into trouble (see ‘07 Bucs). The Colts, who have shown time and time again that taking the foot off the gas is a mistake, simply are determined to do it their way.

Their way simply put has not been the right way.

While he was starting to approach a realism level similar to that of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, Jim Caldwell does really exist. The Colts elected to eschew going for the perfect season and mailed it in during a 29-15 loss to the Jets on Sunday in Indianapolis.

Caldwell is getting some criticism for pulling Peyton Manning and maybe rightfully so. If you’re going to play them a half, why bother going past the first quarter with it.

More to come on that story later but it’s an interesting situation. I love when people try to project potential injuries. What if Peyton gets hurt? That’s all we’ve heard for the past three weeks. Now, that the road to perfection is officially closed for 2009, I don’t expect to see much from the Colts in Buffalo next week.

We may see a stat line from Manning that reads: 1-2, 5 yards, 0 TD, 0 INTs. We’re going to get a whole lot of Curtis Painter next week. Adjust your social schedules accordingly.

Curtis Painter was overmatched in Indy’s first loss of the season today. Here is his scouting tape. Enjoy. Not exactly watching a young Marino at Pitt.

Happy Holidays to everyone! Speaking of happiness and lack thereof, we take you to Minnesota as the Favre-Childress saga continues. Over at the National Football Post, Mike Lombardi wrote a solid piece on Favre’s issues with Childress. From past history in Minnesota under Childress, he just doesn’t give quarterbacks the ability to call audibles.

As Lombardi astutely points out, isn’t this a good time for the coach to compromise with Favre? The team is struggling and a blowup of big proportions could be a distraction as the playoffs loom. Also, this is not a Holmgrem-Favre combo where a much younger Favre was still learning the position. Instead, it’s a grizzled vet coached by a man who is trying to establish a simple law…that he is the law.

It seems this is a simple situation. If you’re willing to get in a car and drive to an airport to personally pickup your prized acquisition,  essentially disrupt your team’s starting quarterback situation, and allow the aforementioned quarterback to basically skip training camp, shouldn’t the next logical leap be made that Favre changing a play is not really a slap in the face of authority; but instead, Favre continuing behavior that he felt might be ok?

In other words, Favre was already given the keys to the kingdom. Thus, ordering a new sofa for the living room is not a big deal right?

This is plain awful. No wonder the ‘86 Cowboys finished 7-9, which marked the first sub .500 season in Dallas since 1964. Merry Christmas!!

Before there was Michael Vick and Daunte Culpepper, Randall Cunningham was an athlete well ahead of his time. Cunningham could do it all. He could throw it short, medium, or long and then of course, he could run.

Few quarterbacks in league history posed quite the threat that Cunningham did with his legs. During his career, the former UNLV Runnin’ Rebel averaged 6.4 yards per rush. Randall’s athletic prowess earned him the 1989 Sports Illustrated cover accompanied by the phrase “The Ultimate Weapon”.

In a cruel twist of fate, Cunningham’s head coach in Philadelphia from 1986 to 1990, Buddy Ryan, fell in love far too much with Randall’s athletic prowess. Content on letting Randall use his athleticism on offense, he hung him out to dry by focusing so much on defense when evaluating player personnel that it often led to weak offensive units surrounding Ryan’s prized asset.

During Ryan’s tenure from 1986-1990, no quarterback was sacked more times than Cunningham. In fact, he led the NFL in most sacks against four of Ryan’s five seasons. No running game and no offensive line led to meltdowns in the playoffs including the famous Fog Bowl in 1988. Despite throwing for 407 yards, the Eagles succumbed to the weather and the Bears, 20-12 in the NFC Divisional playoffs.

Subsequent playoff losses at home to the Rams and Redskins, left the fanbase unfulfilled after watching one of the most exciting three years runs in Eagles history.

Overall, Cunningham will not only be remembered for being one of the key figureheads on Ryan’s Eagles but also quarterbacking the most prolific offense in NFL history (until the ‘07 Pats came along), the 1998 Minnesota Vikings.

Cunningham was one of the most exciting and breathtaking players in NFL history. He may never make to Canton but he is a worthy candidate for induction in the JMRA Hall of Fame.

Also, Randall was a pretty good punter too…

Not too much today on the Favre/Childress front except for a bit more information regarding reports of Brett getting an earful from Chilly following the game. This is the holiday season and everyone should be happy! At least until Monday night for Minny when it is back to business in Chicago.

Anyhow, it appears the Vikings have forgotten something that Rick James preached years ago…UNITY! This video is a part of a time capsule from 1978 and well, it shows.

The Brett Favre/Brad Childress saga could provide for some compelling drama as we approach the postseason. Last night, Favre told the media that Childress wanted to take him out of the game but Minnesota’s elder quarterback refused. Suffice to say, Chilly was none too pleased. As explained by Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk.com, this isn’t the first time Favre and Childress had a run-in.

The first blowup came on October 5, during Favre vs. Green Bay I. If you remember late in that game, Minnesota exhibited some peculiar play-calling. Favre audibled out of a run to throw a bomb downfield late in the fourth quarter. Geez, I wonder why that happened?

Anyhow, more problems materialized on November 15 when Favre was nearly benched against Detroit (during a 27-10 win no less). This situation brings about a few issues.

1. How could Childress at any point rationalize benching Favre for Tarvaris Jackson to the fans, media, and ownership?

2. Does Childress not have any inkling who Brett Favre is?

3. Why did the Minnesota brass give Childress a contract extension?

These are just some of the questions that might come up over the next few weeks. Is it the first time a coach wanted to pull his all-pro quarterback during a brow-beating? Nope (see Steve Young and George Seifert for further details, worked ok for them).

Yet, the depth and timing of this remains odd. Get ready Vikings fans. The fuse has been light. Your mission will self-destruct in January.

Nothing spells bad season like dropping back to back home game to teams with a combined 8-20 record. Todd Haley’s Chiefs not only lost to Cleveland yesterday but managed to surrender over 200 all-purpose yards to TWO players, which is almost unfathomable.

First, Joshua Cribbs broke the NFL record for most kickoff returns for touchdowns in a career (8) by returning two (100 & 103 yards) for scores on Sunday.

Then, the true crowning achievement of the day came thanks to running back Jerome Harrison, who broke Cleveland’s single game rushing record that was previously held by Jim Brown (237). Harrison amassed 286 yards rushing as a part of Cleveland’s 341 yard rushing effort. It was just another in a long line of epic fails by Kansas City in 2009.

In an effort to bring you the best of the NFL, we give you the JMRA Hall of Fame…

Inductee # 1 – Joe Montana

Inductee # 2 – Philadelphia Eagles’ Gang Green Defense (1989-1992)

Our third induction is represented by another group, this time behind the microphone. I remember being in a casino in Atlantic City when I was 10 years old and walking into some gift shop to buy a USA Today. The mere purpose of buying the paper was to rifle through the USA Today’s Sports section so I could see the game capsules and find out where Pat Summerall and John Madden were going to be that week.

I thought they were the two coolest non-NFL players in the league. They made me care about the game and explained it such a manner that was concise and easy to understand. In fact, I used to keep track of how many times they were in Philadelphia to call Eagles games.

Madden and Summerall were the perfect mix. Summerall, the quiet type, who occasionally added in his dry humor and just did his job. Madden served as the bombastic, friendly analyst; seemingly more likely to be your neighbor than to have ever been one of the most successful head coaches in NFL history.

The duo embodied NFC football on CBS during the 1980s and into the 90s. Once they left for FOX after CBS lost the NFC package following the ‘93 season, things weren’t quite the same. Nonetheless, there hasn’t been a better broadcasting duo since these two called their last game together at Super Bowl XXXVI between the Rams and Patriots.

And now, five great moments in the duo’s history…

1. Darrell Green crushes Chicago in the ‘87 NFC Divisional playoffs.

2. Darryl Grant ices Dallas in the 1982 NFC title game.

3. Intro to 1992 NFC title game

4. There will be noooo three-peat!

5. Madden and Summerall question Burt Reynolds’ playmaking ability.

Thanks guys.