Delayed weekend review: Get well soon, Sid

By Jeff

The Pittsburgh Penguins are 0-3 since Sidney Crosby went down with a mild concussion last Wednesday in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that three-game losing streak, the team has scored a combined three goals and surrendered a 2-0 lead in the final 4 minutes of their latest loss.

Yikes.

Despite his incredible numbers this season (32 goals and 34 assists), the play of the Penguins in Crosby's absence might be his strongest case for MVP. When Crosby is down, the team is down. Players like Pascual Dupuis and Chris Kunitz, who Crosby makes into legitimate threats, don't have nearly the same impact they usually do.

Remember when they were 1A and 1B?

The easy road to take is blame Evgeni Malkin for not playing up to his $8.7 million per year contract. Malkin only has 15 goals and 25 points on the season. While he has shown signs of his talents, he has not come close to consistently producing like he did in the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, where he established himself as one of the game's top five players.

I'm not a hockey expert or a psychologist, but it's starting to look like Malkin just doesn't have the mental game to be a true leader. He takes dumb penalties and doesn't seem to be focused at all times like Crosbys and Lidstrom's of the league. These guys might have bad nights, but it's not through lack of effort. It's because teams develop game plans to specifically counter these players.

Another problem with Malkin is I'm not sure he cares enough to want to improve. Crosby was bad at faceoffs and didn't score a lot of goals (well, for a player of his caliber) coming into last season. So Crosby worked his ass off all offseason to improve these categories. The result was Crosby tied for the league lead in goals last season (51) and was 11th in the league in faceoff percentage (55.9 percent).

Malkin has always stunk at faceoffs and still does. He is so bad, he was moved to wing this offseason to make room for Jordan Staal on the second line. He still takes dumb penalties, is lazy in his own zone and turns over the puck too often for my liking.

I'm not trying to tear Malkin down. I don't think we've seen his best hockey yet. The problem is he needs to want to get better and reach his ceiling.

No matter what the outcome of this season, I think Crosby should invite Malkin (and his family) to Canada this summer for the offseason. Someone needs to light a fire under him, and Crosby might be the only one capable of doing it. If Malkin declines, then the Pens should think long and hard if they want him to be here for the long term.

The rest of the weekend review will include Monday. Sorry, I was sick Monday and had no energy to form coherent sentences.

• The Seattle Seahawks lost a lot of people money Saturday with their win 41-36 win against  defending Super Bowl Champions New Orleans Saints. What was even more surprising was it was the most entertaining playoff game of the weekend. 

• Did you see Marshawn Lynch's touchdown run? I so don't want to be stiff-armed by that man.

• Can we please get over Gregg Williams as this elite defensive coordinator? Other than his Tennessee Titans defense in 2000, which ranked second in points against, his defenses have not been that elite. The Saints we good this year, and the Washington Redskins had one excellent year under him, but the rest were mediocre. He was 17-31 when he was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. The man does a decent job, but he is very overhyped. His defense just gave up 41 points to the Seahawks.

• I get that Darrelle Revis is a phenom. But that is still no excuse for Peyton Manning only going to Reggie Wayne once in the Indianapolis Colts' 17-16 loss to the New York Jets this weekend. 

• First, Rex Ryan said it was personal between him and Manning. Now he is saying it's personal between him and Bill Belichick. With a 3-1 postseason record as a head coach, Ryan clearly knows what he's doing, but this "personal" thing is getting annoying. Maybe his players like that he takes attention away from them and places it on himself, but I don't. Maybe I have a thing against fat people, though.

• The Kansas City Chiefs' offensive coaching staff is stupid. How do you give the rock to Jamaal Charles only three times in the second half after he tore holes through the Baltimore defense in the first half? Once again, I might just have something against fat people. I'm looking at you, Charlie Weis.

• Sunday was a sad end for the Michael Vick comeback story, as his last play was an interception in the endzone. Vick played a solid game other than that one throw. It's not his fault receivers were dropping passes and David Akers missed two field goals within 50 yards (one was from 32). That being said, the Green Bay Packers played a great game defensively and earned that win.

• Pitt hired/stole Todd Graham from Tulsa to be the Panthers' next head coach. Seems like a decent hire. I don't follow coaches at the college level, but Graham was successful at Tulsa and brings a fun offense with him. We'll see what happens.

• As noted above, the Pens are sucking right now. Yes, there is still about half the season to play, but every point matters. You don't want to be the No. 4 or 5 seed this year.

• "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" is a weird movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I doubt people who don't love video games will get it or enjoy it. I was laughing for about 3 minutes when Michael Cera's character learned the bass line from Final Fantasy II and was really pumped about it. And just about everyone who reads this blog is now shaking their heads. These people probably would not enjoy the movie.

• Auburn won the National Championship last night. I was sick and in bed by 10, so I missed all the good stuff. Sorry.

• The shooting in Arizona Saturday was a tragedy. I disagree with all the hate and irresponsible statements made by media and commentators on the right and left. These people are hurting society more than they are helping. But with that being said, to blame these people for one person's actions is also irresponsible until all the facts come out. This was a mentally disturbed individual who should have never had access to a gun. Blaming one political party or another is using a tragedy for personal gain and it's sick. Now, if you want to blame the gun control laws in Arizona (or lack thereof) and across the country, I'm with you.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Ohio