NFL Week 3 – Nearing the End of the First Quarter: the Weak Are Beginning to Show Themselves
September 28, 2009 by dwil
Detroit's Bryant Johnson snares a 21-yard touchdown pass against the Redskins' Carlos Rogers.
-Detroit 19, Washington 14. I’m sure most Washington Redskins fans hope Sunday was Jim Zorn’s last game as the head coach of the Redskins. If I was Dan Snyder I would have spent the entire game wooing Bill Cowher to D.C. next season and the rest of the evening kicking Zorn out the door.
-Minnesota 27, San Francisco 24. Fifty yards on a a rope to the back of the end zone with his receiver, Greg Lewis, open by, oh, not at all with :02 remaining in the game. Lewis makes a fabulous catch of Favre’s bullet. Touchdown. Sunday’s Vikings win over the Niners was a Brett Favre special. After a great comeback with Frank Gore injured, Mike Singeltary played a defense that allowed Vikings receivers to roam free behind them in the back of the end zone. This loss is on the Niners head coach.
-Baltimore 34, Cleveland 3. Ouch. Brady Quinn was 6-8 when Eric Mangini yanked him; oh, for 34 yards. Maybe he didn’t want his young quarterback to endure a psyche-killing beat down. Joe Flacco has the Ravens rolling.
-Jacksonville 31, Houston 24. A bogus pass interference call on first and goal, then Chris Brown scored before he fumbled. How the first call was made when the referee was part of a Houston-Jacksonville sandwich and how, even with the benefit of instant replay, the Brown TD was ruled a fumble, I’ll never know. But that seems to be the way of the Texans. You have decades – heck, maybe even millennia - of bad karma to shed when the initial owner of the team that shared your nickname was an insider in the plot to assassinate a president.
-New England 26, Atlanta 10. That was a good, old-fashioned, methodical butt-kicking the Patriots administered to the Matty Ice and the Falcons. Atlanta was lucky Tom Bray has yet to get in synch with his receivers or the score would have been much, much worse.
-Philadelphia 34, Kansas City 14. Michael Vick spent the day playing decoy (one rush, seven yards and 0-2 passing) —- so did the Chiefs.
-Green Bay 36, St. Louis 17. The Rams are bad. Really bad.
-NY Giants 24, Tampa Bay 0. What do the Chiefs, Rams and Bucs have in common? They all suck.
-NY Jets 24, Tennessee 17. The Titans dug themselves a 10-point hole and never really recovered. Jeff Fisher must be going mad because the Jets didn’t play that well and Fisher’s team handed Mark Sanchez field position and made the QB look like an All-Pro instead of a confused rookie who is afraid of getting hit every time he dropped back to pass. The Jets as a story are quickly becoming insufferable. The New York press love an arrogant, loud-mouth like Rex Ryan and his team is following his lead. Ryan now says he has a “great team” which allows a journeyman like Jericho Cotchery to say stupid shit like, “I think we’re the best team n football.” Rex is an irascible asshole just like his father Buddy; he just smiles when he talks shit. And if there is one thing you can usually be sure of in the NFL, shit talkers always get their asses kicked in the end. The only problem here is that the shit talkers are from New York and the NFL’s offices are in that abomination of a city. And you know it is a pro sports league’s dream to have a successful team from New York. So, we might just have to sit back and watch in collective disgust as, for the first time in the history of the NFL, a rookie “leads” his team deep, deep into the playoffs.
-New Orleans 27, Buffalo 7. Dick Jauron is a mediocre head coach – period. After all this time and he still can’t but together enough talent to simply compete? Terrell Owens did not bank on this when he came to play for the Bills.
-Chicago 25, Seattle 19. Seneca Wallace and the Seahawks played valiantly. Jay Cutler and Devin Hester were just a little better.
-Cincinnati 23, Pittsburgh 20. The Bengals are a miracle play from being 3-0. And if they remember to play 60 minutes instead of 59:30 they have a chance to be a playoff team, but every game is going to be close. The Steelers, on the other hand finally ran the ball well, but they look just a bit hung over from their Super Bowl win right now. There’s still a lot of season left and Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin is a firm believer that the first quarter of the season is used to evaluate his team so that he can figure out just what their identity will be for the remainder of the season.
-Denver 23, Oakland 3. This was a litmus test game for the Raiders. The litmus strip turned up a pale, weak pink, just like their effort Sunday. JaMarcus Russell’s receivers are so young that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing on the field and Oakland can’t run the ball well enough to make the passing game any simpler. But a QB rating of 22.6?! That makes no sense at all. Meantime the Broncos have used a late-game miracle reception against the Bengals and a weak schedule to propel them to a 3-0 record and first place in the AFC West.
-San Diego 23, Miami 13. A Monday night game followed by a trip across the country was unkind to the Dolphins. Miami wore down and when Chad Pennington went down, so did their chances at a win. The Chargers did just enough to win. They needed to be able to get away with a 40 minute effort win so they can get ready to travel to Pittsburgh next week.
-Indianapolis 21 Arizona 3. The Cardinals scored first and were on their way to making the score 10-0 when CFL-quality runner but Pro Bowl-quality receiving running back Tim Hightower fumbled deep in Indy territory. Three drives later the score was 21-3. The Colts were the other team that played Monday night and then had to travel across country to the West. The Cardinals knew if they could get the Colts down and continue to attack them, the Indy defense might just shut it down for the night. Hightower blew that up.
The Cardinals drove right down the field to end the first half and were about to score but Kurt Warner’s pass bounced off Larry Fitzgerald into the waiting arms of safety Antione Bethea. Too bad the officiating crew missed the fact that Bethea neck-tied Anquan Boldin as Boldin ran his pass route and then grabbed him after the initial brutally obvious penalty. It sure must be nice to be Peyton Manning.
However, there are two halves to every game and the Colts can still be turned into a tired team.
Arizona just score to begin the second half – right down the field, 73 yards in about four minutes, no problem. 21-10. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, defensive tackle and land mover Darnell Dockett is playing hurt. without Dockett’s push into Manning’s face and with Antonio Rogers-Cromartie continuing to play undisciplined corner, Peyton will have a field day exploiting the Cardinals’ weaknesses.
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After a brutal Monday night road game against Miami the Colts travelled to Arizona and crushed the Cardinals 31-10. There are some players on both sides of the ball for Arizona who need to check themselves.
Monday Night
Carolina at Dallas. It should be a long night for the Panthers. But with Tony Romo at quarterback, you never know what you’ll get. If you get the good Romo, you get a 300-yard game and at least two TD passes, no INTs, and an easy win for Dallas. If you get bad Romo, you’ll 220 yards, barely 55% of his passes completed, one TD pass, two INTs, and one of them will be thrown right at the wrong time. The only problem for Carolina is QB Jake Delhomme is capable of an even more horrific game than is Romo.
It should be an interesting night.
“The only problem here is that the shit talkers are from New York and the NFL’s offices are in that abomination of a city. And you know it is a pro sports league’s dream to have a successful team from New York. So, we might just have to sit back and watch in collective disgust as, for the first time in the history of the NFL, a rookie “leads” his team deep, deep into the playoffs.”
Well said D………………plus having a clean cut golden boy at QB doesn’t hurt either.
Don’t be surprised to see the Jets in the superbowl in the next 3 years.
It seems the Titans have given away 3 straight games out the gate. If they quit the turnovers, they’re pretty decent…
Co-signed on the Jets…
Cin-Cin seems to be knocking on the door…
Prepare for the Favre milkshake after that hail mary…
The Broncos have overachieved beyond any fan’s expectations right now on defense because of said weak opposition and an even worse division. I didn’t think it was possible for JaMarcus Russell to regress and it looks like Todd Haley’s lost his team already, plus the Chargers are doing what the Chargers do for the first half of the season: underachieve. Next couple weeks dictate whether or not Denver is real, but Josh McDaniels may be off the hook for his off-season already.
I suspect the Giants like the fact that people are paying more attention to the Jets. They can simply go about their business and take on the harder part of their schedule after a couple cream puffs.
The new Titans, the ones from Tennessee, are in line for some bad karma themselves by wearing those old school Houston Oilers jerseys. That would justify 0-3 to many fans, but the secondary that was Pro-Bowl level last year looks really bad right now. You can’t give a rookie QB looks that good downfield. Sanchez has flashes of really good combined with rookie mistakes (the two fumbles), and the Titans helped his “really good” look like awesome.
Jim Zorn has one job too many in Washington and can’t do any of them very well. The former might keep him employed until the end of the season, but the latter means he won’t have a job next year.
New England did what I said they needed to do — run the freakin’ ball. Fred Taylor still has some life in him and eventhough the Falcons primarily sent 4 pass rushers, the offensive line did a good job in protecting Brady. There is still no chemistry between Brady and Galloway, as they just didn’t look in sync with each other. I guess Wes Welker can’t get back soon enough for Pats fans. The Pats did a great job of limiting Turner, Roddy White and Gonzalez (Did Tony Gonzalez have a catch?).
I honestly thought the Jets would lose to the Titans. Rex Ryan has his team believing that they can win. Their confidence must be through the roof. The Titans on the other hand are in toruble. Will their be cries of “We want Vince!” in Nashville?
I have to endure yet ANOTHER week of just how great Brett Favre is. The 49ers should be 3-0 but it is what it is.
The Steelers lose another game because their offense can’t put their opponents away early and their defense can’t get it done in the 4th QTR. Limus Sweed drops ANOTHER TD, Tyrone Carter is out of position on a Cedric Benson TD and James Farrior can’t make a tackle on 4th and 10. That game should’ve been a blowout but the Bengals hung around and got the win. Mike Wallace is going to be a star for the black & gold.
Maurice Jones-Drew is a beast. Dude ran wild and did wonders for my fantasy squad. (lol)
Why does Jim Zorn still have a job? I was actually rooting for the Lions in this one. Zorn needs to bounce — plain and simple.
The Browns are bad…..really bad.
The Chiefs are bad…..really bad.
The Rams are bad….really…..you get the point.
Wow….T.O. did not have a catch. Well, it doesn’t surprise me since Trent Edwards refuse to throw the ball downfield.
I thought that MV7 would play more than he did, especially being at home. Kolb had another pretty good outing. I think McChunky comes back next week. What will Andy Reid do about his QB situation?
Tampa Bay had only 86 total yards!!! Is the Giants defense that good or is Tampa’s offense that bad?
no one wants to hear about fantasy pouting, but I don’t care…
I’m going into the afternoon and my fantasy opponent has Matt Ryan who throws for 199 yards and zero TDs. then I put my win in the bank because…
I’ve got Drew Brees!
…who throws for 173 and zero TDs…
Unbelievable.
@MODI……
That’s crazy man…..lol.
One of my opponents (separate league, of course) this week had Brees. I didn’t expect him to lay an egg. But regardless of what happens tonight, I think I got the victory against him.
MODI:
I picked up Kevin Kolb this week and beat a guy with Brees. I think he’s as pissed off as you are. If it makes you feel any better, it probably won’t happen again this season.
Don’t be fooled by how Sanchez looked against the Titans. Their secondary is playing REALLY bad right now. You can almost guarantee a TD if you decide you only want to pass the ball. And yes, Collins is turning into a pumpkin before our eyes. Yeesh.
Sanchez started out hot — then looked jumpy and flustered — then calmed down again. He made some nice plays in the beginning, including the touchdown; he missed on several easy plays (the rush? nerves?) and the Titans came back in the game. I think Sanchez has the goods. (It’s really early, but…) In that pre-season game vs. the Ravens, he had a very rough start, but gained his composure and lead a TD drive. I like the Jets’ chances of winning with him because the Titans took Thomas Jones out of the picture and still lost.
MODI – this is why you play defenses and road games more than you play QBs sometimes, but then again, Brees and Philip Rivers are the guaranteed fantasy locks — if there are such things — at QB.
Ah stop hatin on NYC and Sanchez dwil. Right now, the kid looks legit and the Jets are playing tough defense.
ks-
I don’t think I hated on Sanchez at all. I’m a USC fan and hope all their players fare well in the pros.
However, Mark Sanchez looks like a very good rookie QB pick who is basically carried by his team. None of his stats pop out; the Week 1 3rd down completion rate has taken a predictable fall.
One day Sanchez might be one of the league’s best QBs but I also believe NFL players past and present like Tony Dorsett who say QBs must endure learning curves, that, if the talent and will are there, it takes some years to become an upper-tier QB.
So to judge Sanchez as “this” or “that” after three games in nothing more than our recently-derived want to anoint or destroy people overnight.
Now, as far as the NYC press is concerned, I’m not hating on them, either. I’m not the first person to call out the truth about New York and its ridiculous influence on the rest of the country, nor will I be the last.
And ——- if you put me at the podium and ask me, “DWil, are you hating on Rex Ryan?” my answer will be, “Rex Ryan is what I said he is.”
And if you ask, “DWil, why are you dissing Rex so much?” my answer will be, “You plaaaay to win the gaaame!” (lol)
C’mon now dwil, there’s still some haterade going on with you and NYC! Calling the city an “abomination” is hardly a neutral analysis. lol. The New York press loves a winner. As long as you win, you can be an arrogant, loud-mouth like Rex Ryan or a fairly quiet leader like Joe Torre. That attitude of the press is not unique to the NYC press.
Also what’s with the Conspiracy Brother implication about league wanting a successful team in NYC (ok) so therefore we might have to sit back and watch a rookie lead his team deep into the playoffs. What is the lig going to rig the games? : )
Anyway I agree with you about Sanchez but the kid is conming out of the blocks nicely and I think most people do realize that the defense is leading the team (particularly Jenkins and Rivas).
“I’m not the first person to call out the truth about New York and its ridiculous influence on the rest of the country, nor will I be the last.”
Press matters aside, you and others are calling out the obvious but I’m always bemused about the “calling out” aspect. There are several perfectly rational reasons why NYC has an outsized influence on the rest of the country. It’s like “calling out” the truth about London and its ridiculous influence on the rest of England or the truth about Tokyo and its ridiculous influence on the rest of Japan or the truth about Paris and its ridiculous influence on the rest of France and so on…
ks-
Yeah when I look around the country at all the ways of living, I’d have to say NYC is one of the least desirable ways to inhabit a space. Maybe if I was from there I’d appreciate it more. I always had fun when I visited – crazy-ass fun – it is waaaay too expensive, crowded, concrete, and a bunch more for me.
I’ve never been to Tokyo, but that place looks like NYC on some hyper-space ish!
Yes, New York’s influence on the rest of the U.S. is overvalued and because New Yorkers and the people around the country connected to it – like ESPN – seem to protect the image so much, any time someone levies criticism of anything in the city, it amounts to calling it out.
There is so much of worth happening in other places in the U.S. and since NYC inhabits one extremely small area of the U.S., I’d say the outsized influence is more the product of a romanticized image of the place rather than its reality…. when people create central spaces at the expense of other spaces the act demeans and trivializes anything going on anywhere else, and IMO that is one of the serious problems with our country…. same goes for L.A. With places like Paris or Tokyo, or Rome, their influence is greater because the countries in question are so the sizes of out states, so their influence on their countries cannot be compared with that of NYC or L.A., which are but dots on the U.S. landscape.
As far as the attitude of the press, the “standard” is set in NY and followed elsewhere. When Mike Freeman wrote his scathing assault on the NYC press, he got blacklisted for years – and all he did was tell the truth.
Just heard that Chad Pennington is out for the season.
“There is so much of worth happening in other places in the U.S. and since NYC inhabits one extremely small area of the U.S., I’d say the outsized influence is more the product of a romanticized image of the place rather than its reality….”
Dwil, a square acreage argument? : ) Anyway, most people have a romanticized image of the places they live. New Yorkers aren’t unusual in the regard. NYC’s influence on the rest of the country is not overvalued nor the product of romantic imagings. As I said earlier, there are several rational, and factual, reasons why its influence is and has been outsized.
Namely, it is the financial, media, advertsing and fashion center of the US. It is probably the major arts/cultural center of the US as well. The U.N. is in NY. It is still a major immigration point. It was once a major shipping port. It is one of the oldest, historically important and diverse US cities and, remarkably, it has been the largest US city by population since 1790!! and on and on and on.
ANY cities with those characteristics (e.g. London, Tokyo, Paris, et al) are going to have an outsized influence their respective countries. That’s just the way it is.
While I’m a New Yorker, I realize it’s not for everybody and, since I’ve traveled extensively, I realize there are a lot of worthwhile places in the US so it’s all good but we New Yorkers have earned the right to talk shit! : ) Especially when our teams do well. lol.
Temple, no — it doesn’t make me feel any better!
…S2N — I’m starting Brees at Lambeau in a December snowstorm…
… D, I agree with you on the NYC press influence… and that NYers think the sun rises, sets, and revolves around their ass (then there is Manhattanites who don’t even acknowledge other boroughs, or myself who will acknowledge other states but just not Staten Island Wu-Tang or not — but I digress)
– Oh, but I still thought the commentary was a little harsh on the J-E-T-S… just a little bit (I’m grinning and placing my fingers together like De Niro in Goodfellas)
Great points Modi, D and Ks.
Hey Ks if it wasn’t for that damn cow knocking over that lamp and burning down Chicago………..the Chi Might be as populated and big as NYC………..LOL!!!!
Anyway D I totally feel you on all of this. When I was younger living in a big city I always wanted to live in even bigger cities like NYC and LA since they were the next step from Chicago.
But as I got older I could care less about living in Chicago, LA or NYC. Too dirty too crowded and too expensive.
I rather live in the south or the country. You got folks in Chicago and NYC braging about living in a freaking studio condo that costs 700K.
Please you could come to the south and buy 200 acres for less then half of that and live like a king…………in a house thats darn near like a mansion.
Plus the economy is better down here.
And I swear living in less stressful places add years to your life. I swear all those years going to college and living in Mississippi added years to my life. Instead of dealing with the day to day stress back home in chicago.
I have grown to like Los Angeles mainly due to the weather and beautiful women. But I really miss living in Nashville. Just enough city to keep me satisfied and just enough wide open spaces to chill me out.
Yeah AWB I like Nashville its a tight place.
Nice blend of country and city.
Been to LA nice place but the city is way too crowded. And poor public transportation to top it off.
O, I’m right there with you. I moved away from NYC 10 years ago, and will never live there again. Who needs to live in a closet, or the traffic, or the congestion.
Having traveled in the south a lot, I actually really prefer the southern cities. People are just nicer on a daily basis. Now some have argued that it is not a genuine “nicer” and just a matter of surface southern etiquette. I really don’t care either way. Living life with more “pleases”, “thank yous”, and “how are you todays” are a nicer way to live.
Ya’ll talkin’ about movin’ to the country and I’m sittin’ here wondering how to I get the heck out…wtf?!
Reading about ESPiNners up in Bristol, CT is bad enough… living with these red-staters near Bristol, TN is epic-FAIL!
On the real, it’s quite peaceful around here and fall sesaon would probably send some of ya’ll over the edge. I guess a guy like me can only take the country life so much before I’m heading to a filthy, crowded city…and then probably return!
LOL!!!
I’m sorry, guys. I can’t resist:
Eddie Murphy’s father: “Hey, Sanchez! Goony-goo-goo!!!”
Sanchez: “Get the fuck outta here!”
L.A. by birth and I don’t want to live there for a while. It’s poorly designed as a city and I swear I learned to hate driving just by it taking 45 minutes to get some place 15 minutes away. I would like San Fran if I could ever afford it. Love visiting my family in NYC, don’t want to live there.
Much as I’ve had fun in the South and on the East Coast, neither is for me. The humidity kills me. The Pacific Northwest may be my home for a while. 100s are rare and we have decent public transit in Portland.
Atlanta is cool as a fan on the weekends but don’t be fooled it has some of the worst traffic in the country. On the flip side if you want to see some fine ass women this is the place. It is also home to some of the biggest fakes anywhere.
I’m watching Monday Night Football and I love how Jake Delhomme gets the benefit of the doubt, and rightly so, when his receivers don’t make plays but Jamarcus Russell gets no such love from those stiffs he plays with.
I had hoped that JaMarcus Russell had turned the proverbial corner and was ready to lead the Raiders. However, after losing to DENVER at home (in Oakland) is NOT a good sign. Oakland needed to win that game. I don’t expect Jamarcus to be Peyton Manning or Drew Brees, but he needs to complete more passes and also he needs to use his mobility and maybe run the ball seven or eight times a game. I remember last year versus the Falcons he had a couple of drives in which he was moving the team downfield and was acting more like a dual-threat QB. Russell needs to keep an open mind in running the football on bootlegs more often in order to help sustain drives and I believe it may help him on play-action passes.
I am little surprised to see Josh Johnson elevated to #1 in Tampa Bay. I guess Raheem Morris is determined to keep Josh Freeman on the bench for 2009. Josh Johnson was coached by former Chicago Bears QB Jim Harbaugh during his college days at Oakland. So Josh may be better prepared to lead Tampa than people believe. Johnson likes to throw, but he isn’t confined to staying in the pocket if things break down. He is a guy who is willing to do whatever it takes to win and if he needs to run for a 100 yards then so be it.
That Tampa Bay defense is struggling right now so having an offense that can stay on the field and give more rest to the defense is crucial for the Bucs.
I thought Dallas and Romo were supposed to get better without having to “force” the ball to TO on every play… so much for that. If it wasn’t for Felix Jones and Choice running through huge gaps, and Carolina’s inability to stop the run, the heat would have been turned up even more on Romo.
I don’t know what happened to Roy Williams ever since he got to Dallas. It’s like he lost his quickness, and ability to create separation.
I hope Jamarcus can find his way onto another team and work himself up again, and have some professional receivers and coaches to work with.
Speaking of fantasy football I think this will be the last year where i play seriously in a few leagues. I just find that i spend too much time watching games just to keep track of stats, rooting for teams/players i normally wouldn’t. Not to mention that when money gets involved, people tend to start doing under the table BS to get the upper hand.
BTW about big cities – was born and raised in Toronto. It’s not a bad city and for a big city it’s quite clean and safe. Most of the people are nice, but there are a lot of stuck up middle class a-holes, and a growing number of annoying hipster, artsy fartsy types. For a big city it does have a sort of empty feeling in certain areas, and most people who live here say it’s a boring place (night life, attractions, etc).
If i ever had to live in the US, i’d like to try out NYC or Chicago. European cities are quite interesting, but in most places if you’re not white you’re gonna have a hard time getting a job, fitting in etc.
monsoon, besides the weather and the artsy-fartsy types, I have always heard good things about Toronto. Perhaps it was overstated…
I live in the south now, and prefer it to Cali. Seems my ex taking my kids to CA is going to force me from a house into a crappy apartment for a lot more money. Oh and to deal with traffic again… Plus she decided to live in the IE, good god, if I wanted to live in the f’ing desert I’d move back to NM or El Paso and pay half the money in rent.
On the bright side, at least I’ll be able to go to Charger games, assuming I have money. Oh well, Southern Cali is a much better place to be single than South Carolina. Will miss trees and greenery, is that a fair trade off for good Mexican food?
And seriously, Jamarcus sucks. There isn’t any excuse for him at this point. No reason to defend him. But, by all means, I hope Oakland keeps him in. As a Charger fan nothing makes me happier than Oakland losing… except for the Broncos losing. Well and NE too, I love seeing the Patriots lose too.
I think Jamarcus has talent. Two years in and folks are already writing him off. Crazy.
Big Man,
I agree about Russel. I am more prone to give a QB some time rather than not. And if they are in situations such as Oakland-well to me, it seems difficult to assess a QB or a receiver for that matter if the team sucks ass. I mean Randy Moss who is a hall of famer was declared done during his time in Oakland. You just have to have a better organization around you to succeed. This means, management, coaching and players.
That’s why I am finally off of Romo. I gave him the benefit of the doubt a couple of years ago, but he had all the tools in the world last year and was underwhelming. I figured it was time to write him off.
Two years for Jamarcus? This is his third year. No one’s fault but his own that he ruined his first season by holding out. Leaf had 3 years as well, and was benched after 2 games in year 3. Also, I’m seeing Favre’isms popping up around here… blaming it on his WR’s. I thought only Favre got the ‘It’s his receivers fault’ treatment.
Just saying, if you don’t show anything by year three, it might be that you just suck.
But I really hope they keep him around. Two ‘gimme’ wins a year for my team, finally going to tie the all-time series with the Raiders… Just keep him around 5 more years and they’ll pull it off.
GMP
I disagree that he hasn’t “shown anything.” I’m not saying he’s playing great, I’m saying that when I’ve watched dude, I see talent. Often its little mistakes, the kind taht get corrected with the right coaching, that seem to be messing him up. That whole situation is a mess.