You're Only As Good As Your Last Game, According to the Media

After watching football this week, I was reminded of just how much the media overreacts to the question, “What have you done for me lately?"

On Thanksgiving Day alone, I was reminded in all three games how short-minded the media truly is.

In the first game of the day, The Titans, who were somehow considered by many not to be the favorites in the AFC anymore because of their one loss the week before to the Jets, put on a football clinic as they manhandled the Detroit Lions, 47-10.

While watching the game, I was reminded of just how dominant the Titans had been all season, as they rushed for a total of 292 rushing yards and gave up only six first downs the entire game.

Was it really fair for the media to declare a Jets team that had lost to the Raiders earlier this year the favorites last week because the Titans had one bad day. While the Jets are a very good team, it was unfair for the media to crown them after one big victory.

This was the same media that claimed that a Titan’s loss might be good for their team because it would take more pressure off them. 

The media completely turned on the Titans last week and suddenly didn’t consider them the best team in the AFC anymore.

Every team in the NFL besides the Giants would love to be 11-1 and now that the Jets have lost on Sunday, the media is eating their words even more than they were on Thanksgiving Day.

In the second game of the day, the Dallas Cowboys, who, in the middle of season were predicted by many people to fall a part, won their third straight game, beating the Seattle Seahawks 34-9 as they improved their record to 8-4.

Early in the season, when the media everywhere was jumping off the Cowboys bandwagon, I knew they were making a mistake.

The Cowboys were 4-2 before Romo’s injuries with two close losses in their past three games to two formidable teams in Arizona and Washington and people already started jumping off their bandwagon.  

After the Cardinals game, Romo was doubtful for the next three games because of a pinky injury and even more people started writing them off. I knew that even if the Cowboys unlikely lost all three games without Romo, they wouldn’t be out of the playoff race at 4-5.

But much of the media panicked and many NFL fans thought the Cowboys season could be over. The following week, after their embarrassing loss to the Rams, the Cowboys traded for wide receiver Roy Williams, even though their offense wasn’t the problem and even more people started jumping off their bandwagon. 

The following weeks, the Cowboys beat the now 9-3 Buccaneers without Romo and lost to the now 10-1 Giants without Romo as well. Suddenly, at 5-4, the Cowboys were considered irrelevant by many fans and much of the media everywhere.

I didn’t understand what anyone was thinking. I knew once the Cowboys would get Romo back, they would be just fine. Did people forget just how important Romo was to this team?

With Romo back the Cowboys have won three straight games and suddenly look like a team who very much could still contend for a Super Bowl.

In the third game of the day, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who was written off by much of the media after two poor games in a row, threw 4 touchdowns and led his team to a 48-20 victory over the NFC West leading Arizona Cardinals.

After McNabb had had two poor games in a row and was even benched for the second half of the second game against Baltimore, suddenly McNabb’s future in Philadelphia was in question.

I was shocked by what was being said and how much the media was overreacting two his past two games. Before he played Arizona last game, McNabb still had solid numbers of 15 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, on the seasons, and the Eagles were in the top 10 in total offense.

The media forgot that this was the same guy who had thrown for three touchdowns in Week 11 against the now 10-1 Giants. It wasn’t important to the media that Brian Westbrook had only averaged 49.5 yards rushing in those two losses because McNabb was the one who was going to be blamed.  

McNabb not to my surprise had a great game against the Cardinals and showed the media that his career in Philadelphia isn’t quite over just yet.

On Sunday, besides the Jets game which I addressed above, one game in particular shows me how much the media can overreact to the near past.

After two great 400-yard passing games by Matt Cassel, suddenly people started comparing Tom Brady to Matt Cassel. Some people even questioned which quarterback should be the starter next year.

Did people forget that Tom Brady, a three-time Super Bowl Champion, had 50 passing touchdowns last year while Cassel only had 13 before last game?

Matt Cassel has a lot of potential but is very young, inexperienced, still has a lot to learn, and showed it this past Sunday in the Patriots 10-33 loss against the Steelers.

Cassel himself was responsible for four turnovers and showed everyone that he shouldn’t be anointed the Next Tom Brady just yet.

The Media is all about feeding off what just happened.

They can suddenly forget past accomplishments whether good or bad, and can suddenly only remember the present whether good or bad.

I understand that one of the reasons this happens is because their overreactions create a lot of interest.

However, I don’t believe it’s fair to the players, the teams, and especially the fans for these so called experts in the media to be blowing things out of proportion.