It's Tebow Time (Again)!

How can it not be Tebow Time? I’m being serious when I ask that question, too. The New York Jets, who slipped to below .500 after their gut-wrenching 23-17 loss to the now undefeated Houston Texans, and whose two best players on either side of the ball have been knocked out with season-ending injuries (allegedly by ghosts), and whose number one receiving weapon is CHAZ SCHILENS, are in dire need of some magic. I ask you again: how can it not be Tebow Time?

Tonight Tebow successfully got a first down on a fake punt, had a momentous 13-yard carry in the red zone, and threw a perfectly-placed deep ball to receiver Jason Hill who dropped the pass out of no fault but his own. Now that may not sound like a performance worthy of a starting nod, but perhaps what is most important is that Jets fans at MetLife Stadium tonight were at their most boisterous when Tebow was in the game. Whenever he came in, the crowd was ignited; it was inspired; they believed. There is no denying it: love him or hate him, there is something special about Tim Tebow.

Jets head coach Rex Ryan has belabored time and time again that the team’s starting quarterback is Mark Sanchez. Yes, Sanchez has been to two AFC Championships, and yes, he is capable of making big plays, but really, is there anything special about Mark Sanchez? What is the difference, for instance, between Sanchez and Matt Cassell? Or Sanchez and Browns rookie Brandon Weeden (who ironically is three years older than Sanchez)? In other words, do any of those three inspire football fans? Cassell was booed by his own fans Sunday after an injury forced him to come out of the game, and Weeden is on pace to throw more interceptions than any rookie in history. And Sanchez? Well let’s just say his time may have already come and gone.

Let me be frank: it is probably not any kind of fun to be in Mark Sanchez’s position on the field with the Jets (I imagine that it would be much more fun to be in Sanchez’s position off the field, anyway) in having Tim Tebow as your backup and having to deflect a myriad of questions asked by the relentless New York media addressing your sense of job security. I get that. But is there really anything that is inspiring about the way Sanchez plays quarterback? He will occasionally make some nice throws, but will then inevitably offset those throws with a horrible interception or two.

Just before halftime in the Jets Texans game tonight, I found myself rooting on Sanchez like I hadn’t before in years. He had made a couple of those nice throws and was marching the Jets toward the end zone to tie the game at 14.

I thought to myself, “Hey! Maybe this is when Sanchez can turn the whole season around! He’s gotten us to two AFC Championships before, and he’s still a great quarterback! And you know what? I feel bad that Tebow is his backup and he has to feel all this pressure! Look at how he’s handling himself on this drive! Making throws to no-namers like Jeremy Kerley and Jeff Cumberland! And we’re about to tie the game against the undefeated Houston Texans! It’d be so typical if he threw an interception here, but I don’t think he’s going to! Yes! It’s going to be different this time! I really think he won’t throw an interception here! I’m ready to believe in Mark Sanchez again!”

And then Sanchez threw one of those horrible interceptions right to Texans cornerback Brice McCain, who nearly ran it back for a touchdown. The Texans sank a field goal and were up 17-7 at halftime. It was as crushing as it was predictable. That little voice of optimism that stood up for Mr. Sanchez tonight doesn’t live here anymore.

I don’t care if you think that Tim Tebow is bad or that you think he can’t cut it as a starting quarterback in the NFL or that he’s too self-righteous for you, which makes you uncomfortable about your own religion or lack thereof. Tim Tebow is capable of inspiring a team and a fan base in a way that Mark Sanchez can only dream of. At this point last season, the Jets had the same 2-3 record with a healthy Darrelle Revis, Santonio Holmes, and even Dustin Keller, and they finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs with Sanchez at quarterback. Now the Jets have the same 2-3 without any of those players and a much less confident Sanchez (if that is even possible), not to mention a wide receiving core that is beyond depleted (considering that most of these receivers were never thrown to by their previous team’s quarterbacks, I’m sure they’ll be just fine with Tebow in there). Yes, it’s high-time Rex Ryan let a new man take the reigns at quarterback. Scratch that. It’s not high-time; it’s Tebow Time.

The Future of the Champions League

For Real Madrid supporters, there was plenty to cheer about following the conclusion of the Champions League draw almost four weeks ago in Monaco. It’s true that Los Blancos had been dealt a tricky hand, finding themselves in the Group of Death with Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax, all of whom won their respective domestic leagues last season.

It will be a challenging group for the reigning Spanish champions, as evidenced by the club’s 3-2 victory against Roberto Mancini’s men last week, but if that match was any indication of what’s to come, it may be just one of several meaningful group stage matches that will be played at the Bernabéu for the first time in years.

Since the inception of the current group stage format in 2003, Real Madrid have yet to fail in sealing progression to the knockout round. It has become an annual foregone conclusion that the club will still be playing Champions League football come February. This year, however, is different, and for the first time in its history, advancement to the final 16 looks far from guaranteed.

Group D of the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League represents the quintessential group of a knockout football tournament. It is daunting, it is perilous and, above all, it is unpredictable. It is all that we fans could hope for in group stage matches that collectively have become a boring, humdrum rite of passage for the top clubs in Europe.

With the exception of last year’s Manchester United and a deteriorating Liverpool in 2009, the clubs that were expected to advance to the knockout round from the start of the group stages have done so. Perhaps even more predictable are the club(s) that have no shot of advancing to the knockout stages, such as Nordsjælland in this year’s Group E, Dinamo Zagreb in Group A and BATE Borisov in Group F (their win over Lille notwithstanding), to name a few. It would surely require some divine miracle for Ajax to finish in the top two of the Group of Death.

This yearly group stage triteness as well as the justification of the away goals rule are two of the more prominent issues surrounding the current Champions League format. The away goals rule was introduced by UEFA in 1965 as a way to encourage the visiting club to play more aggressively.

But now, almost a half-century later, the rule has lost relevance, as nearly all of Europe’s top clubs have played at the home stadiums of their most menacing foes. In other words, the intimidation factor of playing on the road has vanished. Bayern Munich and Chelsea proved as much in their respective triumphs at the Bernabéu and Nou Camp in last year’s semifinals.

Travel can also take its toll on players, especially when flying to distant cities like Moscow or Donetsk, but even a flight from London to the Russian capital is only four hours. It would be a genuine shocker if Chelsea, for example, wasn’t able to pull out at least a draw against Spartak should the Blues meet Krasno-Belye in this season’s knockout stage.

However, we are now living in a more globalized world. This fact, compounded with the ever-increasing ubiquity of wealthy investors injecting their millions (and sometimes billions) into clubs around the globe, as well as the ongoing improvements being made in the efficiency of travel are gradually starting to shift the landscape of Champions League football.

Take Anzhi Makhachkala, for example, the Dagestan-based club bankrolled by Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov. Since the affluent owner purchased the club back in January of 2011, Anzhi has made several headlines with the signings of Roberto Carlos, Samuel Eto'o, Christopher Samba and Lassana Diarra, among others. The squad—now managed by Dutch legend Guus Hiddink—is already slated to compete in this year’s Europa League and has further aspirations to qualify for next season’s Champions League and to eventually become one of the more formidable sides in Europe.

Anzhi will play its Europa League matches this season at Lokomotiv Stadium in Moscow—deemed a safer environment than the club’s home stadium in volatile Dagestan—but plans are already in the works for a new 40,000-seat stadium on the banks of the Caspian Sea, which will meet all UEFA requirements. Should Anzhi qualify for the Champions League in subsequent years, which seems likely, a flight for a club from London to Makhachkala would be just under five-and-a-half-hours.

Projects similar to that of Anzhi are currently being undertaken in Malaga, St.Petersburg (Zenit) and Shanghai (Shenhua), to name a few, and the prodigious finances of Middle Eastern clubs such as the UAE’s Al Ain and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal will be difficult to ignore in the coming years.

The same goes for much of the Far East, which has proven to be a football-supporting hotbed. We mustn’t forget the aspirations of MLS clubs either, nor the immense pool of talent in both Africa and Latin America whose current wunderkinds are typically exported to Europe. All regions, countries and cities of the world will play a part in this forthcoming global Champions League.

Not only would this new global Champions League be far more cosmopolitan than the present UEFA Champions League, but it would be more competitive too. Imagine for a moment if Group E minnows Nordsjælland were replaced by Corinthians—the winners of the 2012 Copa Libertadores. Or if Group F’s weakest link, BATE Borisov, were supplanted by 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League winners Monterrey. You’d then be looking at groups consisting of Chelsea, Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk and Corinthians, and Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille and Monterrey, respectively.

The addition of clubs like Argentina’s Boca Juniors, Qatar’s Al-Sadd, Japan’s Gamba Osaka and the DRC’s TP Mazembe would give fans the most comprehensive and competitive football tournament to date. The FIFA Club World Cup is the closest thing we have to this kind of tournament today, but the prestige of winning it pales significantly when compared to winning the UEFA Champions League.

The formation of a new global Champions League is as ambitious an endeavor as it is lofty, and obviously, much would need to happen before this kind of tournament could feasibly exist, perhaps most crucially the expediting of travel.

A plane ride from London to Kuala Lumpur, for instance, lasts about 13 hours—far too long a flight for a club to make midweek for a group stage game in September. But remember that the Football Federation of Kazakhstan based in Almaty—almost a seven-and-a-half hour flight from London—still falls under UEFA’s jurisdiction. If a team such as last year’s Kazakhstan Premier League champions Shakhter Karagandy had managed to reached the group stage, each team in their group would have had to make the long haul to the city in Kazakhstan that is further east than Tashkent—the capital of Uzbekistan—whose governing football body falls under the Asian Football Confederation.

So how many years will it be until this new global Champions League begins in earnest? 20? 30? 50 years? It is almost impossible to tell. But if you look carefully at how the world of football has been and is continuing to unfold in different corners of the world, it is clear that the first few infantile steps have already been taken. And it may only be a matter of time before we see Real Madrid squaring off against LA Galaxy live from a foreign neutral site such as Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok in the first-ever Global Champions League Final.

As always, only time will tell.

10 Teams that Aren’t Interested in Signing Peyton Manning that Should Be

Peyton Manning was released by the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday, and 12 teams have reportedly already contacted the four-time MVP winner’s representatives about playing for their squad next season. Five of those 12 teams have yet to be identified, but sources claim the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Redskins, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos and New York Jets have expressed interest in acquiring him. It is no secret that each of these teams is looking to upgrade at the quarterback position, and (a healthy) Manning would surely fit the bill.

Here are 10 more teams that should probably consider inquiring about Manning’s services. Try to keep an open mind with each of these suggestions, and with every squad, ask yourself, if this were my favorite team, would I rather have the incumbent quarterback or (a healthy) Peyton Manning?

11. Buffalo Bills

It’s true that Buffalo handed current starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick a six-year, $59 million contract extension midway through last season, but it’s also true that Fitzpatrick won only two of the Bills’ final 10 games after signing that deal. I don’t want to speak for a Harvard man, but my guess is the incumbent Bills quarterback was shocked when he discovered how much money Buffalo’s front office was offering him, and that if asked to take a pay cut in order to bring in a much better quarterback, he probably would.

Let’s face it: The Bills would be much more of a threat with Manning under center gunning deep spirals to Stevie Johnson and company. It’s not that Fitzpatrick is a bad quarterback, it’s just that he’s the perfect backup. Not even Mark Sanchez can say that.

10. Minnesota Vikings

We all saw what rookie Christian Ponder could last season, and he did a respectable job breaking even in touchdown passes and interceptions (13-13—Marc Bulger made the Pro Bowl once with 22-22; it’s not so bad). But clearly, he is not the answer to a woeful Vikings squad that finished a putrid 3-13 last year.

Depth at wide receiver is not one of Minnesota’s strengths—though Percy Harvin is an exceptionally versatile weapon—but with a healthy Adrian Peterson in the backfield and Manning under center, I actually struggle to think of a more dangerous trio than that of Adrian, Percy and Peyton—APP for short, of course. Just imagine if Reggie Wayne signed on…

9. Houston Texans

Houston? But they made the playoffs last year! And their starting quarterback (and backup) got hurt before the postseason even started! And they still won a playoff game! Just imagine how far they would have gone had Matt Schaub been healthy!

I can’t argue with any of this, but that’s all I can do: imagine.

The fact of the matter is that Schaub did in fact get injured and that he has never personally led the Texans to the playoffs during his five years with the team. He’s also 30 years old, and you can’t look me in the eye and tell me that Schaub will ever be as good as Manning (not to mention conference rivals Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Tim Tebow etc. I’m kidding about Tebow…though he has won playoff game).

With Arian Foster running the ball, a rejuvenated Andre Johnson going deep and Manning running the offense, I think I just found an even more dangerous trio. Now, what if Reggie Wayne signed on?

8. Dallas Cowboys

I haven’t met one Cowboys fan over the last half-decade that hasn’t expressed to me at one point or another how infuriating it is to have Tony Romo quarterback their favorite football team. Romo definitely has the skills to be a successful quarterback; it’s just rare that you’ll see him utilize those skills over the duration of an entire season (his 1-3 record in the postseason can attest for that).

The three-time Pro Bowler will also be turning 32 in April, and he isn’t getting any younger. To be sure, neither is Manning, but I think most Dallas fans would feel a much greater sense of ease with Peyton calling the shots in crunch time than Tony.

Bryant. Austin. Witten. Murray. Manning. Imagine the possibilities.

7. Jacksonville Jaguars

There are few situations in the NFL more dismal than Jacksonville, and there are few players in Jacksonville more dismal than Blaine Gabbert. The former Missouri quarterback had a disappointing rookie year, highlighted by his paltry 64.3 QB rating, and whether or not he can succeed in the league (not to mention whether or not he wants to) has already been called into question.

The Jags have the one of the best running backs in the human bowling ball, Maurice Jones-Drew, and while they’re thin in the wide receiver department, Manning is an alchemist of sorts and can work with pretty much anything you give him to use, especially tight ends. Mercedes Lewis has three inches and 25 pounds on Manning’s former TE target, Dallas Clark and has a fantastic vertical jump.

If the Blaine Gabbert experiment is going to have any hope, having a guy like Manning around to mentor the mercurial 22-year-old couldn’t hurt.

6. Atlanta Falcons

What about Matty Ice? Indeed, what about Matty Ice? The Falcons starting quarterback is undoubtedly talented and has proven that by leading Atlanta to the postseason in three of his first four seasons in the league. Impressive, but Matt Ryan still has not won a single playoff game.

His greatest chance to take the Falcons to the Super Bowl came at the backend of a tremendous 14-2 season, when they hosted a divisional round game in 2011. But the Aaron Rodgers we know and love showed up and pummeled the overachieving hosts, 48-21, and went on to lead the Packers to their first Super Bowl in 15 years.

Ryan’s most recent postseason performance—a 24-2 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants—wasn’t much better.

Don’t you think another quarterback might be able to better maximize the overabundance of talent that is Roddy White, Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez and Michael Turner? Manning could be that guy.

5. Oakland Raiders

Not that Manning would ever want to don the silver and black, but if one thing’s for sure, it’s that Carson Palmer is not the answer in Oaktown. The former Bengals quarterback was handed a golden opportunity to seal a Raiders playoff berth at home on the final game of the season after Tim Tebow’s Broncos fell to the Chiefs,  but didn’t answer the bell, as San Diego stormed the bay area and spoiled Oakland’s postseason dreams.

There is talent abound at wide receiver with Darrius Heyward-Bey and Denarius Moore leading the way, two targets Manning could have a real field day with if he signed for the late Al Davis’ ever-intriguing side.

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Did I say Jacksonville was the most dismal situation in the NFL? Sorry, I meant Tampa Bay. The promise of plentiful sunshine would be the main (and only) reason for Manning’s relocating to the west coast of Florida, and I’m not sure even he could turn around this ship that has already sunk.

3. San Diego Chargers

I know, I know: Philip Rivers is a solid quarterback. But he hasn’t really won anything since becoming the team’s starter back in 2006. He’s been to one AFC Championship, and every year, it seems like he is the central reason behind the Chargers underachieving.

Also, doesn’t the Manning family owe something to San Diego? The least they could do is send their eldest son to play for the team that almost drafted him back in 1998.

One more thing: Rivers, for whatever reason, continues to be an unpopular figure throughout the league, and more significantly, has never played in the Super Bowl. Manning is as likeable as they come and has played in two Super Bowls, winning it all in his first one.

2. Chicago Bears

Speaking of likeable characters, how about Jay Cutler? It was a real shame the former Vanderbilt quarterback got injured (again) last year just as the Bears were starting to make a playoff push. Then again, it was unfortunate when he got hurt during the NFC title game two years ago and refused to—sorry, couldn’t—return. The Packers knocked off backup Caleb Hanie in Chicago to advance to the Super Bowl where they defeated the Steelers.

Bears fans deserve a reliable quarterback they can count on, and who better than Peyton Manning to take them to the Promised Land? Four matchups featuring a combination of Manning and Aaron Rodgers/Matthew Stafford would make for prime-time television every time.

1. Indianapolis Colts

Too soon?

Champions League Round of 16 - Real Held in Moscow, Napoli's Blue Crush

Here are some of my thoughts on tonight’s two Champions League matches…

Real Madrid @ CSKA Moscow (first leg: 1-1)

Although Real conceded a goal to 25-year-old Sweden international Pontus Wernbloom (who has arguably one of the better names in football) at the death, this has to be viewed as a positive result for the nine-time European champions.

Jose Mourinho’s men took the lead in the 28^th minute after CSKA’s horrible attempt at clearing the ball, which allowed Cristiano Ronaldo—who else?—to find the back of the net with a well struck shot off his weak foot that beat goalkeeper Sergei Chepchugov, who was forced to stand on his head more than once in Moscow tonight.

Mourinho supporters will remember his Inter squad that came to the Luzhniki Stadium two years ago up 1-0 on aggregate after the first leg of the 2009-10 Champions League quarter-finals, and doubling their lead before advancing to the semi-finals—en route to their historic treble-winning season—thanks to a lucky Wesley Sneijder strike. Inter did not concede a goal over their tie with CSKA that year, and while Real already have thanks to the Swede’s late-game heroics (something CSKA has shown a real affinity for in Europe’s premier tournament in recent years, actually), don’t expect them to do so in the return leg three weeks from tomorrow. However slim the Russian side’s chances are of pulling off a miracle at the Bernabeu, though, CSKA boss Leonid Slutsky should be extremely proud of his club’s hard-fought effort tonight against superior opposition in front of just over 70,000 spectators.

Real Madrid currently sit a whopping ten points ahead of Barcelona atop La Liga, and will surely move on to this year’s Champions League quarter-finals, but you start to get the feeling that a double-winning season will have an air of incompleteness about it unless the club proves that it can defeat Barcelona…like that’s ever going to happen.

 Chelsea @ Napoli (first leg: 3-1 Napoli)

This one, for whatever reason, reminded me a lot of this year’s Super Bowl. I am not a New England fan—and never will be—but I know that the vast majority of my friends who are told me they weren’t the least bit surprised when their precious Patriots fell to the Giants (again).

I am, however, a Chelsea fan, and sadly, I share the same sentiments of my New England adversaries tonight.

This result was to be expected, was it not? The horrid run Chelsea has been on. Their highly questionable backline. The fact that Napoli is just a hungrier club at the moment. All three of these factors—and surely dozens more—conspired and brought down the mighty Blues in southern Italy this evening, and once again put a giant dent in their Champions League title hopes. But it was all too predictable.

The only thing that really surprised me was the fact that over 82% of people who had submitted a pick for the match on ESPN.com’s Streak for the Cash had elected a Chelsea win over a Napoli win…or draw (I chose the latter and can now boast a proud two-game winning streak with eight days left in the month).

Clearly these people hadn’t been paying attention to how Chelsea actually plies their trade these days.

The team is completely different than in years past, and it is becoming more and more evident with each passing fixture just how clueless, helpless, and unsuited manager Andre Villas-Boas is for his current post.

The backline acted almost as a parody of itself with David Luiz leading the way committing his usual comedy of errors, all of which contributed to the three Napoli goals. Chelsea created some chances, but they looked like a dispirited bunch for much of the night, quite the contrary to what we’ve all grown so accustomed to seeing over the past half decade. The most egregious act of the evening, however, was found on AVB’s lineup card.

Why Michael Essien, Ashley Cole, and Frank Lampard—three Chelsea legends who have enjoyed unparalleled success in Europe compared to most of their teammates—were all left out of the starting XI for what was obviously the club’s most important match of the season yet is both baffling and downright inexcusable.

It’s almost as if AVB is trying to get sacked. He is on thin ice as it is—that is no secret—and there’s no telling when that ice might finally crack, but if the Portuguese is still around in three weeks for the return leg at Stamford Bridge and still wants to keep his job, he will put his grand, revolutionary plans aside for 90 minutes and give the club a fresh injection of veteran experience (an oxy-moron if I ever heard one) and leadership and hope for the best. That means starting Essien and Lampard, Drogba and Torres (Yes. Together.), and maybe even Salomon Kalou. Chelsea is not the formidable European side they’ve been in years past, but they’ve scored more than a couple goals at home before. Maybe a desperate, last-second return to the club’s golden era can salvage a Champions League campaign that may have already reached yet another abrupt and premature ending. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I almost miss Nicolas Anelka…almost.

A quick word on Napoli: their front three of Ezequiel Lavezzi, Marek Hamsik, and the ferociously indomitable Edinson Cavani is as good as they come. The trio talked the talk before Tuesday night’s showdown, and then more than walked the walk tonight in the chances they both created and converted. An Argentine, a Slovak, and a Uruguayan, it turns out, form a perfect triangle.