Wild Card Weekend Predictions

Tags

Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Football, Houston Texans, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, NFL, NFL Playoffs, Pittsburgh Steelers

With nothing better to write about currently, I figured I’ll give prognostication a shot.  This weekend begins the NFL playoffs, as teams will fight for a chance to play in the Superbowl.

Cincinnati Bengals vs Houston Texans:  I really don’t see the Texans losing this game.  Matt Schaub was already injured when the Texans beat the Bengals earlier this year in Cincinnati, without Andre Johnson.  Andre Johnson is back and they will be playing in Houston.

Cincinnati has been slowly regressing as the season has worn on.  The offense isn’t as productive as it was in the beginning of the year and the defense, while still mostly stout, has developed a penchant for giving up huge plays towards the end of the year.

I think the Texans will win this one, but here’s hoping that I’m wrong.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs Denver Broncos:  This one is easy.  The Broncos defense has not been the same since Brian Dawkins has been injured, and he won’t be playing.  The Steelers, like other Broncos opponents the last 3 weeks, will have their way with Denver’s defense.

On the flip-side, the Steeler’s defense will make Tim Tebow look worse than he has at any point this year.  And Tebow has looked pretty horrible at times.  Unless the Broncos are able to surprise the Steelers with some trick plays or score on a return, I see the Broncos getting shut out in this one.  Steelers win.

Atlanta Falcons vs New York Giants:  The Falcons have been on a tear lately, but so have the Giants.  Both offenses have been very productive, while both defenses have been only mediocre.

Given that these teams are pretty evenly matched, to my eye anyhow, I’ve got to give the home team the advantage in this one.  Giants win.

Detroit Lions vs New Orleans Saints:  This game promises to be an epic shootout.  Both offenses are highly potent and both defenses are fairly inept.

The edge goes to the New Orleans offense, which broke multiple statistical records this year.  The Saints will also have the advantage of playing in the Superdome.  The Lions match up pretty will against the Saints, but the Saints weapons outnumber the Lions’ exponentially.

The Saints will win, but I’ll be pulling for my hometown team.

Agree?  Disagree?  How do you see this weekend playing out?

Random Week 14 Thoughts

Tags

Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Redskins

Sorry I’m late with this, in case anyone cares enough to read this.  I’ve actually been busy this week, so I haven’t gotten around to it.  Let’s get it started.

• The Browns and Steelers played an ugly, ugly game Thursday.  The only highlights were the injuries both quarterbacks sustained.  Big Ben had has ankle rolled (Grade 1 sprain) and Colt McCoy got knocked the fuck out by James Harrison.
• Harrison was suspended 1 game for his helmet-to-helmet hit on McCoy, and has been crying about it.  Look, James, McCoy threw the ball and took two steps before you slammed your helmet directly into his facemask.  Quit crying and accept your punishment.
• Shame on the Browns for putting McCoy back in two plays later.  He was obviously concussed and dizzy and should not have been on the field.  Idiots.
• The Pats win a surprising shoot out with the Redskins.  Rob Gronkowski broke the record for receiving touchdowns in a season for a Tight End.  He now has 15 for the year.
• The Saints made it interesting against the Titans, only winning 22-17.  That was with the Titans losing Matt Hasselbeck to injury early in the game.  Jake Locker lead the Titans to some scoring drives, but also completed less than 50% of his passes.  Chris Johnson returned to mediocrity rushing for only 23 yards on 11 carries.  The Saints defense it NOT that good.  Shame.
• The Dolphins lost Matt Moore and their game against the Eagles.  Then they lost their coach.  Tony Sporano was fired after the Dolphins 9th loss of the season.
• Though the Eagles won, it was more because the Dolphins sucked than because the Eagles played well.  Andy Reid is now on the hot seat, and there are talks that he may be fired after the season.
• It looked like the Panthers were going to beat the Falcons.  They went into halftime up 23-7, then gave up 24 second-half points while scoring none of their own.  Ron Rivera is reportedly pissed about the new ways his team finds to lose every week.  I would be, too.  They’ve blown leads in all but one of their losses this season.  I have two words of advice for Rivera for the offseason:  draft defense!
• The Bucs made the Jags look like the class of the AFC, losing 41-14 to the beleaguered franchise.  The Bucs turned the ball over an unprecidented seven times (4 fumbles, 3 INT’s) to the Jaguars, who actually turned those into points.  I don’t see Raheem Morris returning as coach next year.  He’s totally lost this team.
• Congratulations to the Texans, who clinched their first playoff berth ever by beating the ever eager-to-lose Bengals in Cincinnati.  Seriously, how shameful is it to let a 5th round rookie lead a last-minute drive to win the game without their top receiver?  Shame.
• The Lions almost blew a huge lead against the Vikings, who were led by Joe Webb after Christian Ponder was injured.
• The Jets stomped all over the Chiefs, who fired coach Todd Haley.  Haley then later said he wanted to resign last week.  You can’t fire me!!  I quit!! Nice.
• The new Baltimore team creamed the old Baltimore team.  Why the Colts even deny they’re in full Suck-for-Luck mode is beyond me.  This team needs more than a quarterback anyhow.  They need a good running back and a decent defense.
• I think it was Peter King that said Peyton Manning should be this years MVP.  His case is that the exact same team this year (without Peyton, of course) hasn’t won a game while last year’s team with Peyton won 10 games.  I’d agree with him, except for the fact that the MVP has to, you know, play.
• After Tebow pulled off another “miracle” comeback against the Bears, a bitter Brian Urlacher was quoted as saying that Tebow is “a good running back.”  Really, Brian?  Tebow had only completed 3 passes through the first 3 quarters, which is horrible, but then he completed 18 in the 4th quarter for roughly 190 yards and 10 points to send the game into overtime.   Don’t be a bitch, man.  Love him or hate him, you can’t deny his results.
• The biggest upset last week, to me anyway, was the Cardinals beating the Niners, 22-19.  Alex Smith had an off day, though he was able to get his offense into the red-zone 3 times.  The Niners kicked field goals each time.
• The Cardinals lost Kevin Kolb only a handful of minutes into the game.  John Skelton came in and led the Cards to victory.  In the four games he’s played in this year, they’ve won three of them.  Hmmmmmmm……
• Remember earlier this year when the Bills were everybody’s darling and they were racking up 30 points a game and beating teams like the Patriots?  Yeah, me neither.  They lost their 6th straight game after starting the year 5-2, getting pounded by the Chargers and their suddenly resurgent offense, 37-10.
• Carson Palmer threw 4 more picks as the Packers literally tore the Raiders apart.  Palmer has thrown 13 picks in the 7 games he’s played so far.  If you take away the 3 he threw against the Chiefs three days after his trade and only count the games he’s played since he said he’s got the playbook down cold, he’s thrown 10 in 6 games.  I wonder if Hue Jackson still thinks this was the best trade in the NFL?
• The Cowboys/Giants game was pretty epic.  Eli Manning leads the Giants to another come-from-behind victory.  The Cowboys kicker got iced again, but at least this time it was by the opposing team’s coach.
• The Seahawks made short work of the Rams, who may also be looking for a coach after the season.  The coolest thing in this game were the fans “making it skittle” on Marshawn Lynch after he scored a touchdown.

 

Random Week 13 Thoughts

Tags

Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Redskins

• There was a game Thursday between the Eagles and Seahawks, but only the Seahawks showed up.  Dream Team indeed.  Marshawn Lynch was in Skittle-fueled beast- mode and torched the Eagles “defense.”
• Chris Johnson looks to be back to his old self.  He and the Titans beat the suddenly terrible Bills to keep their very slim playoff hopes alive.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick has sucked since signing his contract extension.  Coincidence?
• The Chiefs and Bears played a game Sunday.  If Matt Forte hadn’t gotten hurt in the game I would deny that it ever happened.  I haven’t seen such inept football since….well, ever.  The only touchdown in this game was a hail-mary Dexter McCluster caught after Brian Urlacher batted it down.  Exciting stuph.
• The Texans somehow managed to beat a very good Falcons team.  Down to their third-string quarterback, TJ Yates, the Texans relied on Andre Johnson, Arian Foster, and a suffocating defense to win this game.  Andre Johnson, who had just missed 6 games with an injured right hamstring, caught 4 passes for 97 yards before injuring his left hamstring.  The Texans must be cursed.
• The Oakland Raiders were absolutely embarrassed and dismantled by the suddenly resurgent Miami Dolphins.  Miami scored all 34 points before the Raiders put up 14 in garbage-time to save some face.  There was even a TJ Housnmandzadeh sighting, but no one cared.  I really don’t know what to make of either team, here.  The Raiders have a different team show up each week and are extremely inconsistent.  The Dolphins lost their first 7 games before finding a metaphorical can of spinach, and going all Popeye the Sailor on every team but the Cowboys since.  The best they can finish now is 8-8, but that may be enough to save Coach Sparano’s job.
• The broken record keeps spinning as Tim Tebow does it again.  This time it wasn’t the Broncos defense, as they surrendered 32 points.  They did score a defensive touchdown, though.  Tebow, Willis McGahee, and Damyrius Thomas did the rest, putting the other 28 points on the board as the Broncos cruise to another win secured with a last-second score.  It’s like the Broncos are stuck on repeat every week.
• New England, as expected, went up 31-3 on the Colts.  Then something expected happened:  the Colts started playing football.  Dan Orlovsky led the Colts to within a touchdown of tying the game.  Weird.
• Watching the Bengals/Steelers game was similar to watching Chuck Norris kick a retarded kid’s ass.  I would, however, like to point out that even though the Bengals played horribly and deserved to lose, the Steelers also had the refs in their pockets on this one.  A phantom pass-interference call put the Steelers in the red-zone on one scoring drive.  Two block-in-the-back penalties were not called on the punt return touchdown and on Mike Wallace’s second touchdown.  Lastly, there was a phantom face-mask penalty on Reggie Nelson that replays showed he never touched Hines Wards mask.  That penalty also put the Steelers in the red-zone.  I know the Steelers are the most popular team in the league, but come on.  Let’s be real here.  You can’t just ignore this crap.  Even Phil Simms made a comment about the penalties the Steelers got away with.
• Andy Dalton has been good, but Cam Newton has to be the Rookie-of-the-Year.  He rushed for 3 touchdowns and now owns the record for most rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback.  He currently has 13.  The Panthers again attacked with the run first, and, again, they won.  I love being right.
• Oh, Raheem Morris will be looking for a new job after this season.  The Bucs suck.
• The Jets won, but it was against the Redskins so no one cared.
• Ray Rice (from Rutgers!) ran for over 200 yards as the old Browns steam-rolled the new Browns.  I seriously feel bad for Browns fans.  They deserve better.
• Here’s news where the joke is already inserted.  The Cowboys iced their own kicker before the game-winning field goal attempt.  They made the first one right after Jason Garrett called a time-out.  He missed the second.  You can’t make this stuph up.  The Cardinals won in over-time when Lerod Stephens-Howling took a screen pass to the house.  I love watching the Cowboys lose.
• As I boldly, or not so boldly, predicted, the Giants gave the Packers a run for their money, but the Pack ultimately prevailed on a last-second field goal.   Their remaining games are against the Raiders, Chiefs, Bears, and Lions.  They will own the Raiders.  I thought the Chiefs game might be tough since it’s at Arrowhead, but with Tyler Palko not quarterbacking for the Chiefs it won’t even be a contest.  The Bears with Caleb Hanie at the helm (and Matt Forte injured) will pose no problem.  The Lions have imploded on themselves.  The Packers will cruise through the playoffs again and win the Superbowl.  Write it down now:  19-0.
• The Niners spanked the Rams 26-0.  This game isn’t really even worth mentioning.
• The Lions had over 100 yards in penalties against the Saints.  The Lions offense put up over 400 yards, but couldn’t score because of all the idiotic penalties they committed, including 3 personal fouls.  Jim Schwartz needs to teach some discipline these guys somehow.
• The Chargers snapped their 6-game losing streak against the recently sold Jaguars.  They piled it on the hapless Jaguars, 38-14.  The Jags are just terrible.

 

Week 13 Thoughts: MNU

Tags

Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I’m going to start with the games that I actually watched at least some of.

* The Bengals got killed 35-7. They were beaten in all 3 phases of the game. While there is hope for the Bengals in the future, this game proved that they still have some work to do before they catch up to the Steelers.

*Tebow brought the Broncos back again, this time against the Vikings 35-32. Willis McGahee has looked like a beast since Tebow has taken over. Maybe the Broncos have a playoff chance after all.

*Even when the Packers don’t have their best game, they still find a way to win. His receivers were dropping passes all day, but Aaron Rodgers still brought them back to beat the Giants 38-35. It was an awesome game to watch.

*I only watched a few minutes of the Saints/Lions game, but I really didn’t miss much from what I saw of the highlights. The Saints pretty much dominated, beating the Lions 31-17. The Lions have fallen apart, and now stand at 7-5 after starting the season 5-0.

Onto the games I didn’t see any of, except for highlights.

*Only one thing of note happened in the Chiefs 10-3 victory over the Bears, and that was the injury to Matt Forte. The Bears’ offense revolved around Forte, especially with Jay Cutler being injured, and without Forte for at least 2 weeks, their playoff chances are all but gone.

*The Eagles implosion continued as they lost to the worse-than-average Seahawks 31-14. Marshawn Lynch had another “Beast Mode” run, and it was awesome.

*The Colts at least made the score respectable in their loss against the Patriots, 31-24. Dan Orlovsky, of running out of the back of the endzone fame, had what will probably be the best game of his career, completing 30 of 37 passes for 353 yards and 2 TDs.

*The 49ers spanked the Rams 26-0. Nothing else really needs to be said about this game.

*Ray Rice rushed for over 200 yards as the Ravens destroyed the Browns 24-10. The only reason I cared about this game is that I have Rice on my fantasy team.

*Dallas drops another December game they should have won, this time losing to the Cardinals 19-13. All talk after the game was about Jason Garrett icing his own kicker at the end of regulation, leading to his kicker missing a game winning field goal. All I can do is laugh at them.

*I don’t know how the Falcons lost to the Texans, even though the Texans were down to their 3rd string rookie QB and with Andre Johnson injuring his other hamstring in the 3rd quarter.

There’s a few games I haven’t done, but they really didn’t matter to me. So in the interest of saving the best for last, here goes my take on my Panthers:

The Panthers finally put together a complete game, owning the Bucs 38-19. Cam Newton ran for 3 TDs and threw for another. His best stat of the game? No turnovers. Stewart and WIlliams combined to rush for over 100 yards and 1 TD.

The defense finally had a good game, holding Tampa Bay’s offense to less than 300 yards, allowing only 78 yards rushing on only 2.9 yards per rush. Where has that been all year? I know some people will say, “Yeah, but the Bucs were without Josh Freeman.” So what? Freeman hasn’t been all that good this year anyways. He sure as hell isn’t as good as he was last year.

I just hope that both sides of the ball learn from this game and keep it going. If the defense can stay with it, it will take some pressure off of the offense. If Cam can continue to limit his turnovers, something he hasn’t been doing to well all year, then this will be a dangerous team.

*Monday Night Update: The Chargers finally showed up for a game, beating the Jags 38-14. Granted, it was against the Jags, but San Diego’s offense finally looked like they should have all season. If only they could play this way all year…

Week 12 Random Thoughts

Tags

Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Redskins

It’s that time again.  Time for my incoherent ramblings on all things NFL.  Here we go!

• For the first time in a long time, meaningful games were played on Thanksgiving.  The Lions and Packers kicked things off at 12:30, then the Packers kicked the Lions off.  Ndamukong Suh decided to kick back, going all Albert Haynesworth on Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith.  Suh was ejected from the game, thus being spared further embarrassment at the hands of the Packers, who stomped the Lions 27-15.  Yes, I still think the Packers go 19-0.
• Speaking of Suh, he should, and probably will be, suspended.  He is out of control. EDIT: As I was writing this, it was announced that Suh will be suspended two games.
• The Cowboys and Dolphins played a pretty good game.  The Cowboys won on a last second field goal to win 20-19.  At 7-4, the Cowboys are surprisingly leading the NFC East.
• The Dolphins plans to win out have been derailed.  The best they can do now is 8-8, but I don’t see that happening either.
• Thanksgiving night featured “Har-bowl 1″.  The 49ers, coached by Jim Harbaugh, squared off against the Ravens, coached by John Harbaugh.  The Ravens brutally dismembered the Niners’ offense, sacking Alex Smith a club-record 9 times.  They win 16-6.  The Ravens are now currently in the driver’s seat of the AFC North.  The Niners can clinch a playoff spot with a win this week.
• Not much to say about the Vikings/Falcons game.  The Falcons owned them.  Matt Ryan threw three more TD’s as the Falcons continue to roll.
• The Bengals/Browns game was much closer than it should have been, as the Bengals are a much better team.  The Browns played well, though.  Jerome Simpson did some great acting.  Andy Dalton notches another fourth quarter comeback under his belt.
• Ron Rivera finally emphasized the run game against the Colts this past weekend.  For probably the first time this season (I’m not going to look it up), I think they ran more than passed and (surprise, surprise) Cam Newton was efficient AND turnover free.  Newton, Williams, and Stewart all had good days rushing the rock for the Panthers and things are so bad in Indy that they’re turning the ball over to Dan Orlovsky this week and have fired their defensive coordinator.  Ouch.
• Playing quarterback for the Texans seems to be a risky proposition lately.  Last week Matt Schaub was lost for the season.  This week Matt Leinart was lost for the season.  TJ Yates (who!?!?) is now the starter for the Texans.  Things are so bad that they’re pondering calling Favre, they have worked out Jeff Garcia and Jake Delhomo, and have signed Kellen Clemens.  Luckily, the rest of their division sucks.  They will ride on their explosive running game and solid defense.  Good luck, guys.
• The Jaguars are FUBAR.  They fired Jack Del Rio this morning and Wayne Weaver announced his selling the team.  Wow.  Los Angeles Jaguars?
• The Bills/Jets game was all kinds of fun.  The Jets win on a fourth quarter come-back engineered by (gasp!) Mark Sanchez.  Steve Johnson scored a touchdown and made fun of Plaxico Burress AND Santonio Holmes by pantomiming Burress shooting himself in the leg and imitating Holmes’ TD celebration where he puts his arms out like wings and “flies”.  Johnson later dropped a possible touchdown catch which was eventually the difference in the game.  Karma’s a bitch, huh?
• Steve Johnson has been widely criticized around the league for making fun of Plax shooting himself.  He’s been referred to as classless and one Jet player accused him of being insensitive to 9/11 victims for doing Holmes’ “Jet” celebration.  Get over it, people.  First and foremost, anyone who shoots himself, accidentally or purposefully, deserve any criticism heaped upon him.  Secondly, NFL players mock other NFL players’ TD celebrations all the time.  Calm down, idiots.
• This week’s Toilet Bowl featured the Cardinals and Rams.  The Cardinals won the “thrilling” contest, 23-20.  Steve Spagnulo is expected to be fired after the season.  Poor St. Louis fans.
• Chris Johnson showed up for his second game this year.  He ran for 190 yards on the stout (cough, gag, chuckle) Buccaneer defense.  Maybe he’ll keep it up, but I doubt it.
• If there is a team underachieving more than the Bucs this year, I don’t know what team that is.
• The Caleb Hanie era started for Chicago as the Bears took on the Raiders.  Hanie…sucked.  He threw for 254 yards and 2 TD’s, but threw three picks as well.  The Bears defense gave up quite a few yards, but only allowed the Raiders to score one touchdown.  Ultimately, the Raiders won 25-20.
• The Redskins and Seahawks played a game Sunday, but I don’t think anyone cared.  Rex Grossman threw for 314 and 2 TD’s, but threw another 2 picks.  The Redskins win, for whatever that’s worth.
• The Pats rolled all over the “Dream Team”.  Chants of “Fire Andy” could be heard throughout the game from the Philly faithful.  Julian Edelman went all Troy Brown against the Eagles, even getting a sack on Vince Young.  He actually did a pretty damn good job on defense.  He should think about switching since the Pats offense is so loaded.
• At last, we have the Broncos/Chargers game.  Tim Tebow and the Broncos somehow pull out another ugly game.  The funniest thing is near the end of regulation, the Chargers had a chance for a winning field goal.  Right before the snap, John Fox called a timeout and the kick was blocked.  I’m sure everyone thought, as did I, that would come back to haunt him.  Nope, the Chargers shanked the next attempt.  Tebow leads the Broncos into field-goal range with only a couple of minutes left in overtime.  Broncos win.  Tebow is now 5-1 as a starter this year.  Who’d have thunk it?
• The Steelers looked horrible against the Chiefs Sunday night, and barely pulled out at 13-9 win.  But for Tyler Palko throwing three picks, and Dwayne Bowe going all Randy Moss on the Chiefs last offensive play, the Chiefs might have (and should have) won.
• Was there even any doubt that the Giants would get pummeled by the Saints this week?  The Giants have been playing horribly of late, and the Saints are running like a well-oiled machine.  The Saints beat them down like Ike beat Tina.  It was like watching a train wreck.

Will the Packers run the table?

Tags

Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, New York Giants, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers

At 9-0, the Packers are the lone unbeaten team in the NFL currently.  So can they finish what they started?  Can they succeed where the 2007 Patriots failed?

I think they will.  If you look at their remaining schedule, the Packers don’t have many tough games left on it.  They still have to play the Bucs, Lions (twice), Bears, Giants, Raiders, and Chiefs.  They should easily win each one of those games. The Bucs are just not that good this year, the Lions are falling apart, the Bears just don’t match up with them, and the Raiders aren’t good enough.

The only games where they might have trouble are at the Chiefs and Giants.  The Giants have a high-powered offense of their own, but it’s prone to the occasional mistake.  Plus, the game is in New York.  You may laugh at the fact that I said the Chiefs may be a tough game for them, but it’s ALWAYS hard to get a win in Kansas City no matter how bad that team is.

Ultimately, I think that the Packers win every game they play this year.  No team can match what they do on offense and their defense, while not great, isn’t a push over either.  BJ Raji, Clay Matthews, Charles Woodson, and company lead a pretty damn good defense.

Currently, it looks like a team that could give them trouble in the playoffs is the 49ers.  They are playing great football this year.  Gore is running wild and Alex Smith is finally living up to his first-round status.  The San Francisco defense is playing extremely well.  That will be a helluva game to watch if it comes to fruition.

As far as the Superbowl, I just don’t see anyone in the AFC that can stop them, either.  The Patriots aren’t as good this year as they normally are.  The Steelers couldn’t stop them last year, and they’ve regressed as a team this year, though they are still good.  The Ravens are too inconsistent.  Those three teams are the class of the AFC right now.

I’m calling it now.  As long as Rodgers is healthy, the Packers go 19-0 this year and repeat as Superbowl champions.  Do you think they will do it?  Why or why not?

Random Week 10 Thoughts *Monday Night Update*

Tags

Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Washington Redskins

I know you’ve all (all 8 of you) been waiting for my opinion of the goings on in the NFL yesterday, and I’m here to not disappoint you (or am I?).  So let’s get to it!

• Week 10 marks the beginning of Thursday Night Football, which I like about as much as Monday Night Football.  I suppose if I lived on the west coast I wouldn’t care as much, but here in the east coast I don’t feel like staying up until midnight (or later) to watch a game.  I will do it (albeit reluctantly) if my Bengals are playing, but that’s about it.
• So there was a game on Thursday.  Carson “The Quitter” Palmer looked good for the most part.  He threw for 299 yards on 20 attempts.  Pretty impressive.  Michael Bush ran roughshod over the Chargers, gaining 150 yards.  I don’t think the Chargers are going to have that miracle surge that they seem to have in the second half of every year lately.
• The Saints edged out the Falcons 26-23 in overtime.  Falcons head coach Mike Smith gift-wrapped the victory and handed it to the Saints by going for it on 4th and 1 (and failing) from his own 29 yard-line.  It was an easy matter for the Saints to kick the game-winning field goal from right there.  What the hell was Smith thinking?
• The Titans annihilated the Panthers yesterday.  Newton was playing with an injury, and it showed.  Ron Rivera is still not using Jonathan Stewart and Deangelo Williams the way he should.  They are still throwing the ball more than running it, which is stupid when you have the best 1-2 running back punch in the league…and a rookie quarterback.
• The Bengals gave the Steelers all they could handle yesterday, but came up a touchdown short.  They were in it all the way to the end despite not having Carlos Dunlap, losing AJ Green in the 2nd quarter (after making a hell of a catch, and Leon Hall in the 3rd (for the season).
• As much as it pains me to say it, Roethlisberger impressed me yesterday.  On the drive in which the Steelers scored the go-ahead touchdown, Roethlisberger was getting hit nearly every down, yet when 3rd down came he would convert.  He made some great throws and his receivers (Antonio Brown) made some great catches.  He even converted a 3rd and 19 at one point.  Asshole.
• There were two games yesterday that I’ll appropriately dub, “Toilet Bowls”  In the first Toilet Bowl the Rams win over the Browns in Cleveland.  Brandon Lloyd made a jaw-dropping one-handed catch in that game and I still don’t know why the Broncos traded him.  The Browns lost even though they lined up for a chip-shot field goal at the end of regulation.  In typical Brown’s style, they botched the snap, therefore the hold wasn’t good.  Phil Dawson got the kick off, but shanked it because of the bad hold.  It’s not fun to be a Brown’s fan this year.
• Dallas slaughtered the Bills yesterday.  The Bills couldn’t stop the Cowboys on defense and the Bills offense just couldn’t do anything right, aside from Fred Jackson.  Fitzpatrick threw three picks.  Ugly game.
• In Toilet Bowl Part Deux, the Jags and Colts did “battle.”  Curtis Painter played pretty well after he took over for Kerry Collins earlier this year, but has gotten progressively worse the last few weeks.  He was benched in favor of Dan Orlovsky late in the game.  For those who don’t know who that is, he’s the guy that ran out of the back of the end-zone for a safety when he played for the Lions.  Yes, Colts fans, it’s that bad.
• I feel sorry for Maurice Jones-Drew.  He’s  Pro-Bowl back on a Toilet Bowl team.  He deserves a chance to compete.
• In the wild, wild, AFC West the Chiefs and Broncos played in what was probably the biggest show of futility yesterday, but Tim Tebow once again somehow leads his team to victory.  Tebow threw 8 passes and completed only two of them, but the Broncos still somehow won while losing both Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno early in the game.
• I can’t figure the Chiefs out.  They play outstanding football one week, then horrible football the next.  I surmise that the real Chiefs lay somewhere in the middle, but I wonder when we’ll actually see them?
• So Mike Shanahan thought that Rex Grossman would give the Redskins the best chance to win against the hapless Dolphins yesterday.  Perhaps he hasn’t watched any game film of Grossman from, well, ever.  Grossman threw two more picks and Miami won 20-9.
• The Dream Team is now officially the Nightmare Team.  How do you lose to the Arizona Cardinals?  At home?  Philly has redefined the term “dysfunctional” this year.  It started by making their long-time offensive line coach the defensive coordinator.  Then by signing a bunch of high-priced free agents.  Then Vince Young dubbed them the “Dream Team.”  Desean Jackson got himself benched yesterday for missing meetings while crusading for a new contract.  Things are getting ugly in Philly.
• The Cardinals may have a quarterback controversy on their hands, and after giving up so much to acquire Kevin Kolb it’s the last thing Coach Wisenhunt needs.  John Skelton has led the Cardinals to victory in consecutive weeks while Kolb has been out hurt.  It hasn’t all been pretty for Skelton, but he’s looked better the Kolb has at any point this year.
• Houston stomped all over Tampa Bay.  Two words:  Arian Foster.  He’s unstoppable.  Imagine how lethal this offense will be when they get Andre Johnson back.
• Baltimore lost to Seattle yesterday.  I’ll pause for a moment while you laugh your ass off……….Okay, so their returner (whose name I cannot recall currently) lost two fumbles yesterday which the Seahawks turned into scoring drives.  With the game on the line, the “vaunted” Ravens defense couldn’t keep the Seattle offensive from converting first downs.  The last conversion was epic, as Marshawn Lynch juked Ray Lewis and another defender straight out of their jocks and then sprinted for the first.  It’s on NFL.com.  Seriously, go watch it.  It’s gratifying.
• Screw that, I’ll put the link right here.  It’s at the very end of the video, but watching Ray Lewis hang his head in shame is awesome.
• I don’t know what happened to the Lions yesterday.  They just sucked.  Matt Stafford apparently was playing with a broken index finger on his throwing hand, and it showed.  He threw four picks, two of which were returned for touchdowns.  The Lions turned the ball over two other times on fumbles by Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson.
• The Lions/Bears game was just ugly all the way around.  The Bears offense didn’t do much, and towards the end the Lions got feisty and started taking their frustration out on the Bears, which ultimately led to a brawl at the end of the game.  There will be many fines handed out to players from that game.
• If anyone was still doubting the 49ers, they should be doubting no more after they took down the New York Giants yesterday.  The Giants were in it all the way to the end of the game.  They even converted to 4th downs on their final drive, but on a third 4th down Justin Smith batted down “Elite” Eli’s pass to end the game.  The 9ers also did it without Frank Gore.
• The Patriots whipped the Jets (who suck) last night.  Neither team looked all that great in the first half, but Tom Brady was able to lead the Pats down the field to score right before the end of the half and the Pats offense took off after that.  Mark Sanchez had another terrible game, and continues to be the most overrated quarterback in the league.
• The Packers make it look easy, don’t they?  Aaron Rodgers tossed four more TD’s against the Vikings last night and the Packers go 9-0 for the first time since 1962.  I seriously don’t think they lose a game this year and will be the first team to repeat as Superbowl champs since the Broncos.

I think I covered everything…

Random NFL Thoughts from Week 8

Tags

Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, postaday2011, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins

I know Revis already did a post on this already, but I’ve gotten into the habit of doing this so here goes:

• The Ravens were extremely lucky to beat the Cardinals.  The Cards were up 24-3 at the half on the strength of two Flacco turnovers and a Patrick Peterson punt return for a touchdown.  The Cardinals totally fell apart in the second half on all sides of the ball and the Ravens came back to twin 30-27.  I just can’t figure Joe Flacco out.
• The Panthers lost at home to the Vikings.  That’s embarrassing.  Newton played well again, but lost two fumbles.  The Carolina ground game is still MIA.  The Panthers have the best 1-2 punch at running back in the league, yet they are still passing it more than they are running it.
• The Vikings, on the other hand, have looked like a completely different team with Ponder at the helm.  They are finally getting production from AP, who had over 150 yards from scrimmage this week, and they are finding ways to get the ball to Percy Harvin.  Perhaps if they had benched McNabb weeks ago they could think about at least a Wild Card birth.
• The Texans are still getting it done without Andre Johnson and Mario Wiliams.  It was against the Jags, but they still won.  The Jags actually have a good defense.  It’s their offense that’s, well, offensive.  Arian Foster went for over 100 yards, but needed 33 caries to do it.
• Blaine Gabbert looks absolutely horrible.  The Jags just went 4 games in a row with less than 100 yards passing and Gabbert only completed 10 of his 30 passes.  Not only is Gabbert raw, but he has absolutely no talent around him except for Maurice Jones-Drew.  Sucks to be them right now.
• Reggie Bush looked like an actual running back this weekend as he racked up only his second career 100 yard rushing game against the Giants.  Can you say bust?
• How about Victor Cruz?  Where did he come from?  He’s got to be the Giants best receiver right now.  He’s been tearing it up for the last three weeks since getting into the lineup due to an injury.
• Eli’s on fire, too.  If I had Manningham, Nicks, and Cruz to throw to I’d have Pro-Bowl stats as well.
• The Rams beat the Saints 31-21.  Raise your hand if you saw THAT coming.  Yeah, me neither.  The Rams defense was all over the place, picking off Brees twice and sacking him 6 times.  On the other side of the ball Stephen Jackson looks to be healthy again, rushing for 125 yards.  What’s the over/under on when he’ll be hurt again?
• Poor Redskins (cough, snicker).  They suck no matter who their QB is.  I still think Beck should continue to start, but after losing Hightower last week they had absolutely no running game.  They picked up Tashard Choice on waivers so that should help them.
• How about them Bills?  They spanked the ‘Skins 23-0.  Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to impress and Fred Jackson is still rolling.  The Bills could steal the AFC West from the Pats and the Jets this year.
• The Colts are now in sole possession of first place in the “Suck for Luck” contest.  They got blown out again.  This time the Titan administered the beating, 27-10.  There’s something wrong when  your leading rusher is Curtis Painter.  The Colts need to look for a running back after they draft Luck next year.  Then they need to go all defense.
• What’s up with Chris Johnson?  He could only manage 34 yards on 14 carries against the worst team in the league.  I have no doubt that the Titans have buyers remorse right now after signing his big extension earlier this year.
• Detroit owned the Broncos 45-10, in Denver.  The less said about this game the better.  The good thing for the Lions as that Stafford is completely healthy after tweaking his ankle last week.  They still need to find a running game somewhere.
• Looks like Tebow buckles under pressure.  He was running for his life all day and when he wasn’t sacked he was making the most horrible throws seen in the NFL since….well, last week in Miami when Tebow played there.  Good thing the rest of the team sucks, too, or else he might be holding them back.
• The Steelers surprisingly (to me anyway) beat the Patriots 25-17.  Brady had owned the Steelers to this point in his career and I didn’t see any reason why that would change, but the “old” Steelers defense was up to the task.  After struggling a little at the beginning of the season the Steelers offense has found its stride and their passing game is pretty damn potent.
• The Pats really have neglected their defense over the years and it shows.  It’s absolutely horrible.   Especially their secondary.  I have no idea why they cut Leigh Bodden this past week but he had to be better than whoever was out on the field Sunday.
• If not for special teams the Bengals would not have won Sunday.  A 66-yard return setup the Bengals first touchdown and Brandon Tate took one to the house on another.  After replacing an ineffective Charlie Whitehurst in the first quarter, Tavaris Jackson looked pretty damn good.  He was victimized by drops frequently, but was able to find his guys deep as the Cincy defensive backs (here’s looking at you, Leon Hall) looked lost all day.
• The 49ers look legit with Jim Harbaugh at the helm.  The rest of their division is so putrid that the 9ers could clinch the division by Thanksgiving.  That should embarrass the rest of that division.
• The Browns are in further trouble with their top two back fighting injuries.  Peyton Hillis was already out for the game against the 9ers and then on his second carry Montario Hardesty to a muscle in his leg.  Sucks to be them.
• Looks like Jason Garrett is only going to get one year to coach the Cowboys.  Jerry Jones’ legendary impatience is not long for failure and the Cowboys are failing badly this year.  They got owned by the Eagles, 34-7.
• The Eagles finally seem to be on track after starting the year 0-3.  The defense is playing well and Andy Reid is finally letting the offense run the ball.  McCoy rushed for 185 yards on 30 carries.  I’d love to know when the last time (if ever) was that a Reid coached team had a back with 30 carries.
• Well, the Chargers gave the Chiefs their fourth win of the season.  Rivers threw two picks and also fumbled, and lost, a snap while the Chargers were driving for a winning score with time running out in the 4th.
• Not much to be said for the Chiefs, either.  They didn’t play all that great.  It’s like each team was trying to see who wanted to lost the most.  Cassel threw two picks and lost a fumble, as well.

Sooooo…..did I miss anything?

Random Week 7 Thoughts

Tags

Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Big Ten, Carolina Panthers, Carson Palmer, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins

Week 7 is now officially in the books so here are my inconsequential thoughts on the happenings in the NFL this past weekend:

• The Panthers got their second win of the season on the most solid performance, to date, by rookie Cam Newton.  I still think the Panthers are under-utilizing Jonathan Stewart and Deangelo Williams.
• The Redskins lost in more ways than one in Charlotte.  Losing 33-20 to the Panthers wasn’t half as bad as losing Tim Hightower for the season due to an ACL tear in his left knee and Santana Moss for at least 3 weeks due to a broken hand.  On the bright side, though, John Beck looked pretty good…
• The Seattle-Cleveland game was one of the most boring in recent memory. The Browns prevailed in the gripping “Field Goal” Bowl.  The Browns had the ball for 42 minutes of the game and still only managed to score 2 field goals while  having another to attempts blocked.  This game was truly a bunch of suck.
• The Lions lost another tough game, this time to the Falcons.  The Lions need to find a way to run the ball.  Matthew Stafford threw the ball over 30 (32) times again and only managed to complete 15 passes.  Until the Lions can affectively run the ball opposing teams will focus on the pass.  The Lions top two running backs are out so I’m not sure how they’ll do it, but they must if they want to continue winning.  Stafford also was injured on the game’s final play.
• The Falcons continued their winning formula by just handing the rock to Michael Turner, who ran the ball another 27 times for 122 yards.  Matt Ryan turned in a decent performance off of play-action, though he threw 2 picks.
• Broncos fans finally got their wish Sunday as Tim Tebow started for the Broncos against the Dolphins.  Tebow looked awful for the first 55 minutes of the game, but led the Broncos to an 18-15 win even though they were down 15-0 with 4 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.  Tebow led a touchdown drive, the Broncos recovered an onside kick, then Tebow led another touchdown drive, and a two point conversion to force overtime.  Tebow also had a couple of pretty damn good runs in this game.  He’s unorthodox, but he’s gotten it done so far. 
• As for the Dolphins, they are fighting with the Colts in the “Suck for Luck” contest.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Coach Sporano fired soon.  The Dolphins suck horribly on both sides of the ball and Sporano just doesn’t have any answers and, much to his detriment, has said so openly to the press.  Idiot.
• The Jets squeaked out a win against the Chargers.  Shonn Greene went for over 100 yards and Plaxico had 3 touchdown catches.  Phillip Rivers threw two more picks and now has 9 picks to 7 touchdowns this season.  The Chargers usually hit their stride about this time of year so we’ll see what happens.
• Even though the Jets are 4-3 now, they still have unhappy players.  Santonio Holmes is apparently still upset about his role (or lack thereof) with the offense.  I hope this team implodes.
• The Bears edged out the Bucs in the “Why the fuck are we playing in Europe?” bowl.  Cutler was erratic again, throwing two more picks, but Matt Forte is just tearing shit up this year.  He goes for 145 on the ground and 38 in the air.  I believe he’s still on pace to run for and catch for over 1000 yards.
• Meanwhile Josh Freeman threw four uncharacteristic picks in this game.  The Bucs had to lean on him a little more than usual since they were without LaGarrett Blount and they lost Earnest Graham early in the game due to a torn ACL.  The Bucs ground game is suddenly in deep trouble.
• The Texans made the Titans their bitch this weekend, spanking them 41-7.  The Titans should be regretting their extension of Chris Johnson.  He’s only ran of 100 yards in one game this year (against Cleveland), and only has 268 yards on the year on 93 carries.  That’s 2.9 per carry.  That’s pathetic.  It seems like he got his payday and is coasting.  Many have noticed that he seems to shy away from contact this year.  I haven’t seen him play so I can’t really say one way or another, but this is a reason to give players incentive laden contracts instead of huge bonuses based on past production.
• The Steelers whipped the Cardinals, who continue to suck.  Granted, they were without Beanie Wells, but so far the trade for Kevin Kolb has not turned out well for them.  He’s routinely missing open receivers (who also suck except for Larry Fitzgerald).  The Arizona defense is horrid this year.  They were able to hold Mendenhall to 32 yards, but then gave up 361 to Roethisberger.  Big Ben threw three touchdowns, too. 
• The Chiefs absolutely dismantled the Raiders.  Offensively anyway.  21 of the Chiefs’ 28 points came off of turnovers, two of which were interception returns.  Kyle Boller played the first half and threw three picks.  I guess Hue Jackson figured they had no chance to win with Boller at that point because he put Palmer in after the first drive in the second half.  Palmer, as you would expect, didn’t look to good.  He threw three picks as well, but also made a couple of decent throws.  The Raiders also lost Darren McFadden in the first quarter.  They have a bye this week so they will hopefully back to full strength in two weeks.
• No Felix Jones?  No problem. Rookie DeMarco Murray fan all over the Rams to the tune of 253 yards.  Impressive, but don’t forget it was against the injury riddled Rams.  Know how good Sunday was to the Cowboys?  Romo didn’t throw any picks.
• The Christian Ponder era began for the Vikings and they almost beat the invincible Packers.  Ponder had his rookie moments, obviously, but he also made some pretty good throws, as well.  Adrian Peterson contributed 175 yards on the ground as the Vikings gave the Pack a run for their money, but fell short 33-27.  Aaron Rodgers threw for 335 yards and 3 more touchdowns.
• The Saints plopped a 60-burger down on the Colts Sunday night.  I didn’t expect the Colts to win, but I thought they’d at least show up to the game.  Curtis Painter had been playing well to this point, but had a horrible night.  So horrible, in fact, that he was pulled in favor of Dan Orlovsky (he who ran out of the back of the endzone for a safety when he was a Lion, for those of you who don’t remember).  How’s THAT for desperate?  Just to highlight how bad the Colt’s defense is, the Saints scored on every offensive position they had and put up 60 points for the first time in the NFL since the Bengals did it to the Oilers in 1989.  Wow.
• The Monday night game was a snoozer, too.  The Jaguars’ 4 field goals beat the Ravens’ 1 touchdown.  Joe Flacco looked absolutely terrible last night.  He had only 8 passing yards at halftime, and would finish with 137.  He threw a pick as the Ravens tried to drive for a game winning touchdown.  Ray Rice only had 8 carries in the game and Terrell Suggs complained about that to the media after the game.  MJD also had an off-night.  Had had 105 yards, but fumbled three times, losing two of them.

This past weekend just featured some pretty boring games.  I can’t wait until next weekend to see some better football.

Random Week 6 Thoughts *Updated*

Tags

Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins

Another NFL week is (almost) in the books so here are my irrelevant thoughts:

• The Panthers lost another tough one on the road.  Cam Newton is still playing well, but is making typical rookie mistakes.  He threw three picks yesterday while Pro-Bowl caliber running backs Jonathan Stewart and Deangelo Williams had 19 carries total.  Why they aren’t getting the ball more is confusing to me.
• Meanwhile the Falcons look to finally get back on track by handing the ball of to Michael Turner 27 times.
• The Colts lost another close game to the Bengals.  The Colts may be missing Manning, but Painter is playing pretty good football.  Manning has been hiding the deficiencies of the Colts running game and defense for years.  Nevertheless, the Colts were in it until the final two minutes when Pierre Garcon did his best Ronnie Brown impression and tried to lateral the football.  He lost it and the Bengals took it in to ice the win.
• Andy Dalton and AJ Green are still looking really good for the Bengals while the running game is inadequate.  I don’t know if it’s just because teams are determined to make Dalton beat them or if the offensive line is really that bad at run-blocking, but the only productive back the Bengals have right now is Brian Leonard, who is their 3rd down back.
• I wish I could have watched the 49ers/Lions game.  It looked like it was going to be good leading up to the game and it was.  The Lions defensive line looked mediocre in this game as Frank Gore tore it up.  Gore had 141 yards on only 15 carries. 
• The Lions need to find a running game.  As impressive as this team has been, particularly on offense, they won’t continue to succeed with a one-dimensional team.  Stafford can’t throw the ball 50 times every week.  To make things worse, their starting running back (Jahvid Best) suffered (another) concussion.  Maurice Morris and Jerome Harrison are still on the roster, but with the trading deadline this week the Lions should look to find something else out there if they want to keep up with the Packers.
• And that brings us to the fireworks after the game.  Coaches Harbaugh and Schwartz met at midfield after the 9ers win, which is customary, where they shook  hands.  Harbaugh then patted him on the back, with extra enthusiasm.  Watching the video, it looks like Harbaugh just tried to push him out of the way.  Schwartz said something Harbaugh.  Harbaugh’s reply seemingly pissed off Schwartz because Schwartz then chased him down the field.  They had to be separated by players and PR people.  Admittedly, I like both of these coaches.  I actually wanted Harbaugh to get the Michigan job this past winter (though Hoke is doing a pretty good job).  I like the fire and passion both of these men have and thought the ordeal was funny.  Schwartz likely earned a lot of respect from his players by going after Harbaugh the way he did.
• The Packers continue to roll, dismantling the hapless Rams 24-3.  The Packers really could have poured it on as they had all 24 points by half-time, but took their foot of the gas and coasted to victory.  The Rams are just decimated by injuries this year anyhow. 
• Call me crazy, but I believe the Packers will go undefeated this year and finally break the ’72 Dolphins perfect season mark, which would be fucking awesome because I’m tired of Mercury Morris running his mouth every fucking year some team gets close to going perfect.
• The Bills lose a close one to the Giants, losing 27-24.  Both teams looked good in this one, included Ahmed Bradshaw racking up 3 rushing touchdowns.  Ryan Fitzpatrick made some uncharacteristic bad throws, which ultimately cost the Bills the game.  Hey, everyone has a bad day once in a while.
• The Steelers beat the Jags 17-13.  The Jags were in it all the way to the end, with Blaine Gabbert throwing an incomplete hail-mary pass as time ran out.  Even though they got the win, there are still concerns for the defending AFC Champs.  First and foremost is why they didn’t steamroll the Jags.  The Jags are dead-last in offense and still scored 13 points on the “steel” curtain.  They did it with a rookie QB, no less.  Troy Palomalu is hurt again and Big Ben had another sophomoric day.  Rashard Mendenhall showed up to play, though.
• Mike Shanahan’s decision to make Rex Grossman his starting QB finally blew up in his face yesterday.  The ‘Skins defense did their part by holding the high-flying Eagles offense to only 20 points, but the ‘Skins offense could only muster 13 points while Grossman threw 4 INT’s.  7 of those points came after Grossman was pulled and John Beck was put in the game.  Sure, Grossman looked pretty good in the preseason, but apparently Shanahan didn’t study Grossman’s history.  He’ll throw for 4 TD’s one week then 4 INT’s the next.  He’s erratic and undependable. Beck should’ve been starting from the get go.
• The Texans are a much weaker team without Andre Johnson and Mario Williams.  Williams is out for the year, but Johnson should be back in a couple of weeks.  The Ravens pounded the Texans.  Flacco had his best game of the year passing for over 300 yards and his completion percentage for the year is finally over 50%.
• The Browns almost pulled out a win in Oakland.  Oakland lost Jason Campbell early in the game to a broken collarbone.  He is expected to miss the rest of the season.  The Raiders winning score came on a fake field-goal.  Shane Lechler to Kevin Boss on 4th and 20.  That’s a ballsy call on Hue Jackson’s part.  The Raiders are now 4-2.
• Reports surfaced all over the interwebs after the Raiders game yesterday that the Raiders really, really want to trade for Carson Palmer.  Hopefully they make some ridiculous offer to the Bengals and Brown has no choice but to accept it.  I’m tired of hearing about the Palmer situation.
• Doesn’t look like Jason Garrett is going to last long as the Cowboys head coach.  Every week Jerry Jones has criticized Garrett publicly about his coaching.  It’s hard to win when your QB keeps giving the ball away…
• Rumors are about that Chad Ochocinco may be cut from the Patriots.  He was only on the field for about 3 plays if I recall correctly, and I think it’s hilarious.  Douche.
• Tampa Bay rebounded nicely after getting stomped by the 49ers last week, beating the Saints 26-20 at home.  They picked off Brees 3 times.
• The Vikings are done.  They got spanked by the Bears, 39-10.  While it’s not all McNabb’s fault, they are not going to make the playoffs so it’s time to put Ponder in and see what he can do.  Ponder did get in during the 4th yesterday and moved the ball well but wasn’t able to get the team into the endzone.
• The Jets beat the lowly Dolphins, then Mark Sanchez declared his team back on track.  Sorry, GQ, but you guys still looked horrible in that game.  The Dolphins were just worse.  Sanchez still missed a ton of open receivers and they couldn’t run on the Dolphins swiss-cheese defense.