NFL Week 6: Pats Hit 59; Saints Hang 40-Burger on Giants; Atlanta, Vikes Escape; Cards Deal; Reid Passes on Win, and the Rest of Sunday’s Games
October 19, 2009 by dwil
Kansas City (1-5) 14, Washington 2-4) 6. Redskins head coach Jim Zorn yanked Jason Campbell and played backup Todd Collins in the second half of Washington’s game with Kansas City. And other than one long pass on a flea-flicker play and a long Clinton Portis run, the Washington Redskins looked just like they did when Campbell was in the game. In fact, Collins showed exactly how bad he is and then immobile by utterly failing to feel the Chiefs rush and getting sacked for a safety with :25 remaining with Washington down 12-6. Kansas City has improved weekly and was due to win soon, if not Sunday, but after a promising preseason where it appeared Zorn was going to allow Campbell to consistently stretch the field with his strong suit, long passes, Washington has instead become increasingly conservative and has regressed each week.
Riddle me this, Batman: How do you play six winless teams in a row and not be 5-1 (Week 1 was against the Giants)?
After the game Zorn was stripped of his play-calling duties and they were handed to Sherman Lewis who has made no appearances on the sidelines or in the coach’s booth in five years.
Please fire Zorn.
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New Orleans (5-0) 48, New York Giants (5-1) 27. New Orleans is what happens to a team that is missing two secondary stalwarts and gets healthy on teams with one win between them the last two weeks. The Saints showed that right now they are the best team in the NFC by crushing the New York Giants by three touchdowns. Eli Manning didn’t look so hot, which is normal for him when facing quality opponents. Drew Brees was well protected and at one point completed 15 passes in a row, and basically strafed the Giants weakened-by-injury secondary.
New York did close to within 27-17 late in the second quarter. But just after an inspired goal line stand, Roman Harper stripped Manning from behind. Reggie Bush scored two plays later with nine seconds left in the first half to make the score 34-17. The turn of events seemed to deflate New York as their second half was filled with mental errors that led to big plays for the opportunistic Saints.
Brees went 23-30, 369, four TDs, and a tidy 156.8 QB rating.
And yes, Jonathan Vilma did hit Eli helmet-to-helmet.
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Minnesota (6-0) 33, Baltimore (3-3) 31. With Brett Favre and a missed last-second field goal attempt, the Vikings suddenly look charmed. Meantime, while the game commentators extolled the virtues of Joe Flacco (28-43, 385 and two TDs) in leading a frantic fourth quarter charge to get the Ravens up 31-30 late in the game, they overlooked the suddenly passive defense played by the Vikings until the final drive when Flacco (10-16, 148 and two TDs in the fourth) did face down a defense that blitzed the Ravens QB every down.
The vaunted Ravens defense was gouged for 426 total yards. Adrian Peterson rushed for 143 yards on only 22 carries and Favre was very efficient, going 21-29 for 278 and three TDs. While Minnesota surrendered 448, nearly half of those yards were given up in the fourth quarter. Vikings defensive end Jared Allen summed up the defense’s fourth quarter effort just after the game ended:
“That was probably the worst fourth quarter defensive efforts I’ve ever been a part of. Just thank god we made it out on top… We had this game put away and we let ‘em right back in.”
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Houston (3-3) 28, Cincinnati (4-2) 17. The Bengals blew an opportunity to distance themselves from their competitors in the ACF North. Cinci went into halftime up 17-14 and played deplorable offense for the game’s final 30 minutes. Additionally, the Bengals defense allowed Matt Schaub to look like Peyton Manning. Schaub went 28-40 for 392, four TDs and one INT. Rather than try to control the game with their newly-found run game, Marvin Lewis abandoned that ploy. Cedric Benson carried only 16 times for a paltry 44 yards and, other than a Carson Palmer scramble, the Bengals ran not one more time (17 rushes-46 yards).
The Bengals showed they must be prepared to played for a full 60 minutes every game if they want to succeed because they are not, right now that much better than any opponent they will play. And for the normal NFL team, a game like this would be a jump-off point to a successful season. But this is Houston. Don’t get too excited by one good game.
Bad news for Cinci: Bengals DE Antwan Odom, who was leading the NFL in sacks, tore his achilles heel.
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Green Bay (3-2) 26, Detroit (1-5) 0. Detroit regressed. Or the Packers got well. Or Aaron Rodgers smoked the Lions defense, Daunte Culpepper got hurt and Calvn Johnson was out. Ahhhh, there, that’s what I was searching for; Rodgers played really well, Johnson was injured, and Culpepper pulled his hammie. But Culpepper didn’t leave the game until the third quarter. Detroit still hadn’t scored a point. Culpepper is as frustrated as I am trying to figure out what hapened to Detroit:
“It’s very disappointing, very frustrating,” Culpepper said. “It’s embarrassing to me not to be able to move it on the field and get points on the board. We’ve got to figure out a way to do that, simple as that.”
Lions third-string QB Drew Stanton was forced into action and went 5-11 for 57 yards and two INTs. Before he got injured, Culpepper was 6-14 for 48 yards with one INT. Stanton’s QB rating was 22.0 while Culpepper’s was 22.3. Detroit gained a total of 149 yards to Green Bay’s 435. The Packers also had the ball for 40:48 to 19:12 for Detroit.
The Lions seem to lack the overall talent to consistently play with teams week in and week out. But Sunday, it appeared that the team also lacked overall consistent effort. After two weeks of progression in that area it’s back to the drawing board for the Lions – or at least the effort board.
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Jacksonville (3-3) 23 St. Louis (0-6) 20 (OT). The Jaguars are bad. Even after a good chewing out by star running back Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville responded with —————– a resounding come-from-behind win, to nearly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, to coming back again, to allowing the Rams to waltz down the field to tie the score, to finally getting a “W” in overtime. How J-ville won two games prior to this, I’ll never know because they just do not know how to win. Well, let’s see, who have the Jags defeated? One win was against Tennessee, and the other was against Houston. And the win this Sunday was one week after failing to arrive in Seattle and getting blown out, 41-0.
Stephen Jackson really needs to be traded. The Rams can get a first round draft choice for him (New England?). S-Jack played hard Sunday – very hard, and almost close to single-handedly got the Rams in position to win. But not even Hercules could save St. Louis.
WWRD ———– (What would Rush do)?
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Pittsburgh (4-2) 27, Cleveland (1-5) 14. If not for a Josh Cribbs return for a TD, this would have been a 27-7 Steelers drubbing of Cleveland. It was a boring yeoman effort from Pittsburgh, no more, no less. However, Ben Roethlisberger did throw for 417 and two TDs, but hey, it’s the Browns.
The Browngini’s stink.
Welcome back Troy Polamalu. But be careful, everyone saw you limping badly there for a minute.
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Carolina (2-3) 28 Tampa Bay (0-6) 21. Bucs head coach Raheem Morris needs to get a win under his belt and the Panthers almost gave it to them. After Jake Delhomme tossed an interception to Tanard Jackson, who ran it back 26 yards to tie the game at 21, the moment was there for the Panthers to fold. But the defense continued to play well (the Bucs also scored on a 97-yard kickoff return for a TD), and John Fox said no more Jake and fed DeAngelo Williams on the Panthers game-winning drive:
“I’m sure everybody in the stadium knew what we were going to do,” Williams said after the defending NFC South champions drove 80 yards in the closing minutes to beat the winless Bucs 28-21 on Sunday.
“There were times they had nine in the box,” the running back added, “and we were still getting 7 of 8 yards.”
With seven of their remaining 10 games to be played against teams with a .500 record or better and the other three games on the road against Miami, Carolina, and Seattle, I will predict right now that Tampa Bay will not win a game this season.
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New England (4-2) 59, Tennessee (0-6) 0. Look who leads the AFC East by a game (well, half a game because of the loss to the Jets)? That’s right, the 21st century’s best team, THA-A-A-A-A-A, New England Patriots. I seem to remember saying something about the Jets playing their first meeting against New England like it was the Super Bowl and that biting them in the hindquarters – and it has. But I’ll get to that next.
A 50-Burger! Not a “40-Burger,” as former head coach and NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci would say, but a Fiddy-Burger!
But.
This is THE sign that Tennessee has, for now at least, quit on the season. Just check this line for Kerry Collins: 2-12, -7 yards, one INT, QB rating 4.9. The Titans rushed 36 times for 193 yards and passed for minus seven yards. However, the Patriots also rushed for 193 yards ——- on 30 carries. New England gained 619 total yards with Tom Brady going 29-34 for 380 yards and six TDs (426 total passing yards). Brady’s QB rating was a stellar 152.8.
The inevitable question is already being asked: Is this the sign that Tom Brady is “back”? The answer. NO NO NO NO! Tennessee did hit him and at time he did hang in the pocket and moved well in the pocket. And yet I saw Brady attempt to curl into a standing fetal position when a Titans lineman reached over a Pats blocker directly in front to the New England QB. The old Brady would have done a couple of things differently. Firstly, pre-injury Brady would have been more aware of where the rush was coming from and slid immediately to the spot in the pocket with the most room; this Brady took a five-step drop and stood stock still, hoping a receiver would break open without him having to move. Secondly, Brady conceded the sack with no fight. sure, Brady threw – an NFL record for any quarter – five second quarter TD passes, but most of the game he was throwing to NCAA open receivers against a decimated Titans secondary.
What was most encouraging for New England was that they were able to run against a front seven that, unlike the rest of the team, was not out-manned, or had quit.
You’ll have to wait until next season for Brady to be fully healed and ready to go.
And by the way, the 59-point margin of victory tied for the largest margin since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
The bit of silver lining for Tennessee is that head coach Jef Fisher acknowledged that his team has bottomed out. But the Titans have a bye week upcoming and Fisher promised there would be no more performances like Sunday’s against New England.
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Buffalo (2-4) 16 New York Jets (3-3) 13 (OT). Guess which team is but one game out of second place – half a game because they have a win against the team ahead of them – in the AFC East?
Buffalo!
That’s right, with this win the last place in the AFC East Buffalo Bills are less than a game from second place in their division.
After the Jets geared up like it was the AFC Championship for New England, they beat a flagging Titans team by seven and promptly dropped their next three games. After the Pats and ‘Fins games, Rex Ryan was hailed as the next big thing (not here, though). Three games later Ryan and the Jets look more like Charlie Weis and Notre Dame – all pomp and bluster – than a tough guy with an equally tough team. fortunately for Ryan, his team has six games remaining on their schedule against teams with records that are .500 or worse. Unfortunately for Ryan two of those games are against Miami and Buffalo, plus they must face New England (away), Atlanta, and Indianapolis (away).
While it is apparent that defensive coaches have figured out the Jets pass blocking schemes and Mark Sanchez, it is equally apparent that Ryan knows this and did try to take the heat off his rookie QB. Against Buffalo, the Jets rushed 40 times for an incredible 318 yards with Thomas Jones rushing for 210 of those yards on only 22 carries, but Sanchez threw five picks and was only 10-29 passes for 116 yards. Braylon Edwards was blanketed and no receivers looked open if Sanchez’s first option was taken from him. The last three games Sanchez has completed only 45% of his passes, 145 yards per game, thrown only one TD to eight INTs and has a QB rating of 26.5. In his first three games he completed 59% of his passes for 202 ypg, threw four TDs to 2 INTs and had an efficient 87.7 rating.
If Ryan and staff don’t get this figured out soon it would be no surprise if the Jets finish no better than 9-7 and out of the playoffs.
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Arizona (3-2) 27, Seattle (2-4) 3. Arizona took the opening kickoff, ran off 15 plays, held the ball for 10 minutes and 42 seconds, and scored a touchdown. On the drive Kurt Warner was nine-for-nine for 64 yards and a TD. On the ensuing kickoff the Cardinals pooch kicked and recovered the ball at the Seattle 24. Three plays later Tim Hightower scored to give Arizona a 14-0 lead, from which Seattle never recovered.
I thought the Seahawks would be a much better team than they have showed, so far. But Sunday they gained only 128 total yards and had the ball only 17:10. They do not have long to turn their season around.
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Oakland (2-4) 13 Philadelphia (3-2) 9. The Eagles thought they could fly into Oakland and play just hard enough to get by with a win. With John Madden and Tom Flores in attendance, the Raiders pulled off the biggest upset of the NFL season, so far. On the Eagles third possession of the game left tackle Jason Peters’ left knee was injured and thought he returned to the bench, he did not return to the game. But even that early in the game the Raiders were already getting a solid pass rushing push from their middle of their defense and forcing Donovan McNabb to rush his throws. After Peters went down, the Philadelphia offensive line collapsed.
Despite this, McNabb seemed out of sorts all on his own. With :27 remaining in the first half, McNabb tried to call a timeout after the Eagles had used their three alloted timeouts. As he signaled to the official, Brian Westbrook tried to no avail to get McNabb’s attention, and the Eagles settled for a David Akers field goal.
Now, when your quarterback can’t keep track of the timeouts, what hope do you have of him pulling you out of a close game? Not much. All day McNabb was off target with his receivers and completed fewer than 50% of his passes on the day (22-26, 269, 0 TDs). Additionally, he was sacked six times and was harassed all afternoon by Richard Seymour coming off the left side where Peters had been.
However, McNabb was put into a precarious situation by the real culprit for the Eagles loss, head coach Andy Reid. Against the 30th-ranked rush defense Philadelphia attempted only 14 rushes the entire game. Reid is known to love the pass – the Eagles throw on 70% of their plays. But the choice to waste a healthy Brian Westbrook and allow Oakland to concentrate their defensive efforts on getting to McNabb is solely the fault of Reid.
So, while McNabb was off, he was placed in a lose-lose situation by his head coach. Reid’s response to how his team played was tepid, at best:
“They were able to get home and hit our quarterback,” coach Andy Reid said. “When we did have opportunities we didn’t take advantage of opportunities.”
Why, after Peters went down, Reid allowed Marty Mornhinweg to call pass after pass without putting his offensive coordinator in check should have been the primary question asked of the Eagles head coach after the game, as it is next-to impossible to win by throwing 46 times and attempting 14 rushes – even against Oakland.
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Atlanta (4-1) 21, Chicago (3-2) 14. The Bears went up and down the field — and up and down the field to the tune of 373 total yards. And they scored only 14 points.
Jay Cutler opened the game with an interception in the red zone on the Bears first drive. Though Cutler would throw for 300 yards, too many ill-advised passes by the Bears QB, a poor performance by Matt Forte, including fumbles on consecutive possessions in the red zone, and a false start penalty by Orlando Pace on a fourth-and-one at the Falcons five yard line with :34 left in the game cost Chicago a sure victory over the Falcons.
Atlanta was not that impressive on either side of the ball. Chicago held the Falcons to 253 total yards, while Cutler, when he was accurate with his throws sliced and diced the Atlanta secondary. And even after the Pace false start, Cutler threw a perfect pass to Desmond Clark. But the Bears tight end was clearly bumped off his pass route by Atlanta safety Erik Coleman and Cutler’s pass flew behind his receiver. However, there was no flag throw for an obvious illegal contact penalty.
If Chicago wants to win down the road they must run the ball better than the 23 carries for 68 yards they had against the Falcons.
Though Matt Ryan had a decent game, Chicago’s defense rattled the second-year QB. Ryan will have to be steadier in the pocket under pressure if he wants to take his team deep into the playoffs.
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Monday Night
Denver (5-0) at San Diego (2-2). This is a must-win game for the Chargers. Should they lose Monday night they will fall three games behind the Broncos. Will Denver be able to corral a desperate team playing at home? This will be the latest test for Broncos rookie wunderkind – so far – head coach Josh McDaniels. Can he keep his team on an even keel, concentrating on the process of preparing for San Diego, rather than getting ahead of themselves, and thinking about a potential win?
Can San Diego find a reliable rush attack? Can their defense play disciplined football for 60 minutes?
These are some of the key questions that will be answered Monday night.
Does St. Louis play Washington this year? I don’t see them getting a win otherwise.
I was watching the Ravens/Vikings game, and had to mute it, I really couldn’t stand to hear much more about how Favre is ‘just having fun out there’. Really, it is almost like the announcers are parodying themselves, but I think they’re too oblivious to actually realize it.
I hate the Raiders, and have nothing against the Eagles, but man, that is funny. I do have a friend that is an Eagles fan, something tells me he isn’t answering his phone today when he sees I’m calling.
Will anyone be shocked if the Bears are 8 -8 at the end of the season? Seems Cutler excels at mediocrity.
Jay Cuter……….I hate you.
And Remember Dwil that the Eagles actually called 11 running plays.
Mcnabb ran 3 times on pass plays.
11 freaking runs.
Reid crazy but burned the 3 time outs before the 6 minute mark of the 2nd qtr of the first half.
No players called these time outs it was all Reid calling the TOs.
But this is typical Reid………..he called 60 pass plays last year against the bengals and 60 pass plays last year against the Ravens.
The dude is an idiot and a fool and will get Mcnabb killed. Then when Mcnabb gets hurt he will start calling a balanced offense.
You can’t call 70% and 80% pass plays in this league. No QB can’t be successful.
Origin-
“Official” stats unfortunately count scrambles as rushes. And “unofficially,” McNabb ran twice (Vick came in for one play and ran), so they actually had only 12 rushes….
TWELVE! Reid is a fool.
gmp-
St. Louis has more overall talent that do the Bucs. Plus they Detroit and Tennessee, and who knows how Seattle and Houston will be playing when they get to the Rams (the Lions and Titans games are on the road).
I couldn’t bear watching that Titans debacle. That was atrocious…
Da Bears have basically given away 2 games. If they click on all cylinders, they’re 5-0…
The Vikes should be where Da Bears are at (3-2). The Ravens lost that game and “Favre luck” beat the 49ers…
Those Saints aren’t messing around…
LOL@Philly! WTF@Oakland…
CinCin came back to Earth w/ Houston…
Looking forward to Den/SD…
Forgot about the Bucs, they’re truly a bad a team.
It is crazy, but I don’t recall seeing this many bad teams in a season, maybe ever. There are some truly bad teams playing this year.
KC, StL, Det, Cle, Buff, Oak, Was, Jax, TB, Tenn….
I mean, all of those teams you expect to lose and barely even be competitive at that. I can’t recall a season where you had 10 teams this bad.
Last night is the reason why Jay Cutler will get Lovie Smith fired and the reason this over-rated QB has never taken his college team (Vanderbilt) or Denver to the playoffs. He is too careless with the football at crucial moments. Cutler’s red-zone INT was a momentum stopper and I believe he has thrown the most in the past two seasons. To me, Cutler is this decade’s Jeff George…a lot of talent, but he is a careless and care-less leader.
Matt Ryan is better than Jay Cutler. Ryan is a better leader than Jay Cutler. However, Ryan was definitely rattled by the Chicago defense, but the Falcons made just enough plays to win. I seriously doubt that the Falcons will beat the Saints, so in essence, the Falcons are fighting for the LAST WILD-CARD SPOT with teams like Dallas, Green Bay, Carolina, San Francisco and others.
59-0. Patriots. The Titans have quit on Fisher, because he quit on VY. It may have been a delayed reaction, but putting Kerry Collins as a starter was a mistake.
Fisher gambled and lost, and he is the one with egg on his face.
Jeff Fisher made a big mistake taking Vince Young off the field last year (and some may disagree) , but he helped to cripple VY’s reputation when Fisher brought the cops in with a limited amount of information in regard to his ‘disappearance’.Fisher need to apologize for his over-reacton, but Coach Fisher used it as an opportunity to take VY off the field.
Some may talk about the loss of Haynesworth, but VY was the reason Jeff Fisher kept his job in 2006 after Kerry Collins went 0-4 or 0-5 to start the season. If Fisher didn’t want VY and wanted Matt Leinart then he should have said so ..in the beginning. When Norm Chow was hired in 2006, yes the same Norm Chow who was Leinart’s old QB coach.. it was a red flag.
Vince is 27, but I really don’t see he and Fisher co-existing. Jeff Fisher should be ‘dead-coach walking’. And if Bud Adams believes VY is the answer, then FIsher needs to be FIRED THIS WEEK.
I was just watching the Redskins press conference which confirms that Sherman Lewis will be taking over the play-calling duties from Jim Zorn.
Zorn looks like he is about cry . I bet he is thinking that he is way smarter than Sherm Lewis.
I hope Sherm Lewis is able to help Jason Campbell get through this difficult time. The Redskins still has a chance for a wild-card, and may be able to sneak up on the Falcons.
“Last night is the reason why Jay Cutler will get Lovie Smith fired and the reason this over-rated QB has never taken his college team (Vanderbilt) or Denver to the playoffs”
And to which playoffs would he have taken Vanderbilt? Last I remember there are no playoffs in Div. 1 college football.
“the Falcons are fighting for the LAST WILD-CARD SPOT with teams like Dallas, Green Bay, Carolina, San Francisco and others.”
Actually they are in line for the FIRST wild card spot as they have the best record among second place teams in the NFC at 4-1. Dallas, Philly, Green Bay, Chicago, Zona, and San Fran are all 3-2.
“It is crazy, but I don’t recall seeing this many bad teams in a season, maybe ever. There are some truly bad teams playing this year”
It IS crazy. The NFL, since the 80′s really, has always been about parity. A few excellent teams at the top, a few lousy teams at the bottom, and everybody else between 6-10 and 10-6. Hard to explain the inequality. Maybe it has to do with the Gini coefficient.
I realize these two comments have conflicting logic, but I’ll post them anyway
1) Don’t understand the VY-Fisher-quitting connection posted here: The Titans went 13-3 last year with Collins at QB and the Ravens game was … well, just a great game by both teams. I can’t see the 0-6 start being connecting to Young’s benching.
2) Meanwhile, proof the qb ranking system is flawed: Collins still earned a positive ranking with that stat line!
Patrick,
I agree that VY should be playing but I don’t really see why Fisher should be fired or even on the hotseat
Watching most of the games since VY got to Nashville-he should have taken Collins job because was stinking up the joint. Just like Collins was (as much as I hate to say it) playing better than VY when he went down. Surprisingly, he had the hot hand for the rest of the season. I certainly didn’t see that coming, but he did. There was no reason to put VY back in and from all appearances he let the fans get to him. They weren’t being anymore racist than they were when McNair was playing.
However, I think we have seen the extent of Collin’s abilities at this point (really during the game against the Ravens in January) and you aren’t really going to make the playoffs so you might as well play VY. Collins ain’t the answer for the future, but he was the answer last season. Who knew that he would turn into a pumpkin so fast.
Having said all that the Titan’s secondary is the root of all that ails the Titans.
Awb is right, guys: the Titans’ secondary is bootylicious. Now, bootylicious is good if we’re talking about the idea of Megan Good giving you a butt-naked lapdance, but when opposing WRs are calling your defensive backfield bootylicious, you don’t need urbandictionary.com to translate that out for you.
I live in the DC Metro area, and let me tell you first-hand: Redskins’ fans are losing their effin’ mind out in this mickey-flick. So many former ‘Skins here from the glory days that are out and about or on the radio/TV covering the team (Riggo, Doc Walker, Joe Theismann, etc.) and even those guys have to talk about the team with a clothespin on their nose. Daniel Snyder continues to milk his fans of loot and the team continues to suck. In fact, the ‘Skins suck so much that it’s not a question of win or lose. It’s a question of how much DNA from the opposing team is left on the Redskins’ chin and if they leave a dollar on the nightstand on the way out the door.
Jay Cutler is overrated. He is. The media is in love with his arm and his “gunslinging” attitude? But he’s not going to earn respect long-term in a locker room.
McNabb’s O-line was missing in action in Oakland.
Phil,
The Titan’s secondary is indeed bootylicious. Gah.
I look at Fisher’s results over the last decade plus, and don’t see how you could even want him fired after this season. Fisher has been a good/excellent coach for a long time. Chumps don’t stick around in one spot that long.
I’d swap Norv for Fisher any day. Screw it, I just want the Chargers to ditch Norv, and hopefully have some sort of plan on their coach as opposed to what happened with Schottenheimer.
Cutler just doesn’t seem to have ‘it’ as a winning QB. Which goes back to the discussion on how do you rate a QB? Stats or wins? I prefer the wins…. and strangely Orton comes out ahead in that regard. For all his statistical sorriness Orton is 26-12 as a starter. And Cutler is 20-21…
I know Orton has ridden some great defenses to his record, but regardless, he managed to avoid screwing up enough to not cost his teams wins. For whatever that is worth.
@gmp – Yep … I’ve always thought a qb’s W-L record should be in the box scores, just as in baseball.
I got to thinking about Vince Young and Jason Campbell’s response to Donovan’s assertion that African-American quarterbacks have to be better than White quarterbacks. I remember at the time they disagreed with McNabb. I wonder if they feel the same way now.
Glad to see Jamarcus Russell and the Raiders get a win. Not surprised to see Sanchez come back down to earth. Don’t believe the Giants are as bad as they looked yesterday. I still think they will come out of the NFC. I’m not drinking the Brett Favre Vikings Kool-Aid (have they played outside of a dome other than against the Browns). The Cowboys, Falcons, Bengals and 49′ers are all pretenders.
Dan Snyder just castrated Jim Zorn. Its like they are trying to get him to quit. Snyder said playa we won’t even let you call the plays anymore. Now Zorn is undecided about who he is going to play, Todd Collins or Campbell. Please!!!!
The Eagles will always be a streaky team as long as Reid doesn’t stick with the running game which he does not do if McNabb is under center. This was one of the first games I’ve ever seen where every facet of the team was off-kilter with injuries on top of it to boot. I always say that when McNabb goes into his funks during the season that Reid and Morningwheg should go run-heavy on the plays and let Westbrook and the other RB’s carry the load. That didn’t happen and per usual people who don’t bother to watch the entire game will take away from this game that McNabb doesn’t have the “smarts” to be an efficient QB in the league because he lost track of the TO’s without acknowledging that Reid did him no favors with blowing the allotment before the two-minute warning. Gaaah, when that team plays like this I don’t think they’ll ever win another game.
*59-0…nothing else needs to said about that except the Titans need to ride VY the rest of the season to see what he can do and if he’s gotten better.
*Jason Campbell should play the good soldier role and get out of DC when the season ends and go to J’Ville and breathe down Garrard’s neck.
*I haven’t seen so much Golden Boy QB stroking since last week whenever Korny-heiser brought up Tom Brady’s name but the way Trent Dilfer and ESPN praised Jay Cutler in a loss would be mind-boggling if it wasn’t to be expected. I though to quote Herm Edwards you play to win the games. Fukk a pretty pass if it doesn’t win the game. Cutler will throw his teams into win as much as he will throw them into losses and his record as a starter reflects that.
*I’m one to talk about another team’s coach when Andy Reid walks my team’s sidelines but Jeff Fisher should have been fired a long time ago for the unimaginative play-calling he’s had in his Oilers-Titans tenure. His play it close to the vest style is what turned Air McNair into Ground McNair, lost the Titans that Super Bowl and hamstrung VY’s development. I respect a coach more that tailors his game to fit his personnel than one that rigidly follows a set plan.
I felt bad for Vince even having to play in that Tennessee game. Thats not even a game I’d want to appear in the stat line for.
If Zorn quits Snyder doesn’t have to pay him, correct? Could that be the reason for the Skins to do everything in their power to make the job impossible? (Not that they shouldn’t, Zorn has been terrible.) Besides Sherm is a OG, its not like they’re bringing in some unqualified hack.
Like I told my friend, Sanchez is a “prettyboy marketing dream piece of trash” as a QB.
Who is playing better than Drew Bree’s right now? Anyone?
And please don’t jinx Radio Raheem Morris and say Tampa won’t win a game…If they go winless that will set young black coaches back another 5 years.
To all-
I love writing stuff like this for the NFL or NBA because everybody has something to say, everybody seems to have some form of list of opinions and feelings about the teams, and some insightful shit comes out of the comments!
angryblackman-
I don’t know if you meant to, but “Drew Bree” sounds like a porn name…. and sorry about Raheem and the 0-fer prediction.
Harvey-
I’ve wondered how Fisher has received a pass for so long w/out scrutiny (kinda like Del Rio).
mac-
On VY & JC disagreeing – FOR REAL!!!
gmp, LApr-
Agreed on the W-L stat in the box.
gmp, newbie-
I could swear I wrote that this season the good teams will be really good & the bad will be really bad?… and setting themselves up for having $$$$$$$ to spend next uncapped season.
Patrick-
Jay-Boy will get Lovie fired…. Mediocre QB? Fire the head coach.
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Denver looked really nice – really really nice. BUT. Them damn injuries are creeping, creeping in on the D-side. If Dawkins starts showing his age (HGH or IG-F vs. constant auto wrecks every Sunday – the wrecks will still win at age 36!).
That’s why Fisher brought in Heimerdinger as McNair was very similar to John Elway. Result? MVP for McNair. Unimaginative play calling lost the SB? No, Anthony Dorsett blew his frikkin’ coverage leaving Bruce open for the TD. Remember, the Titans had tied the game at that point. Sure all Fisher likes to do is play d and run the ball, but that’s usually a recipe for success-and plus they were in the SB that year and went 13-3 the following season.
Fisher is 3 times the coach Del Rio is which is why he gets a pass.
awb – ‘Sure all Fisher likes to do is play d and run the ball…’
I hated Schottenheimer when that’s all he wanted to do… 3 years of Norv later and I just wish my team could run the ball and play D again.
3rd and goal from the 2 and Norv pulls LT for Sproles. This is where he should’ve made a statement, ‘We will score in the red zone, and we will run it with the best TD per game player in NFL history’. This was his chance to make a point, and Norv bitched out…
God, for as much as the Schottenheimer years (and especially playoffs) made me want to kick the dog, I miss him after the Norv years. All this to say, I’d wish for a Jeff Fisher type of coach at this point.
Also, I have to vent this, Chargers have to lead the league in ticky tack 3rd down penalties that give the opposition first downs. Look at the two PI’s against them in 3rd down last night, and remember the Ravens game where the defender totally busted thru Gates for the pick. I could actually right pages on this and give about 800 examples over the last three years, but whatever. They get more borderline trash calls against them on 3rd down D than any other team (and in the case against Indy last year, they even get called when nobody touches the WR).
@AWB
I stand by my Fisher criticism because his play-calling is unimaginative and any success he and the Titans had in that SB was in the second half when the game plan was opened up for McNair. He and offensive coordinators stunted McNair’s growth early in his career by never giving him skill players on the outside as true complements to Wychek and George. And even though Heimerdinger helped McNair get a co-MVP one season, Heimerdinger has been rode out of many cities because he calls a boring game that will not help in close games when a pass play needs to be made.