2010 Week 11: What I Learned

• The most important lesson of the week:  When Jason gets sick of being under .500 for the season, he really does something about it.
• Fans are able to rate games and players in a given game at NFL.com, and the game rating is on a 1 to 100 scale, 1 being forgettable and 100 being memorable.  That Bears-Dolphins crib smothering was a 39.  That's failing on any test I've ever taken.  "Fail" would also describe Jake Long's blocking attempts on Julius Peppers, the Dolphins' game plan (they ran the ball 7 times for 12 whole yards, not counting QB scrambles), and the Bears the rest of the way thanks to a killer schedule.
• What must be Carson Palmer's mental state right now?  He gets his Bengals out to a huge lead in the 1st half, then the bad interceptions and overthrows come back, and he can't score a single point in the 2nd half as he watches the Buffalo Bills make like Zenyatta and come flying past everybody from behind.  Cincinnati more than maybe any other team in the league just cannot get out of its own way.  When you can't put away the Bills, how much farther is it to rock bottom?
• Hold on, don't get too giddy about the resurgent Dallas Cowboys.  They're still not whole yet.  They were playing a tight game back and forth with the awful Detroit Lions when a lucky special teams play (Bryan McCann grabbing a batted punt and running 97 yards for a TD) and a turnover by the Lions on a fumble sparked the Boys.  The pass rush took over from there.  Dallas gets a real team in New Orleans on Thanksgiving.  Let's see how they handle that assignment.
• I have no observations on Ariz-KC or Cle-Jack.  A bad team beat a worse team.
• I also don't have anything to add to the Oak-Pit game except to laugh at the score and wonder how anyone mistook the Raiders for a legit team.
• I also don't want to think about what happened in the Car-Bal game except to note one thing.  A successful deep ball should not be allowed by the Ravens to a QB who was a housewife a week ago if Baltimore is really a top contender themselves.  Yet there was Brian St. Pierre nailing David Gettis for an 88-yard TD in the 4th quarter to get the Panthers within a score.  Unacceptable.  Yes, the Ravens took two straight turnovers to the house to seal the deal later in the period, but it should have never had to get to that.
• Never a dull moment when the New York Jets play, huh?  I'd like to point out on the good side that I can hardly believe my eyes when I watch some of the throws Mark Sanchez makes compared to what he was doing last year.  Do you remember 5 INTs against Buffalo?  That Dirty Sanchez seems to be a thing of the past.  He made some really good pro throws this Sunday.  Granted, it was against Houston, but he looks like he knows what he's doing.  Now to point out on the bad side:  Um, I thought the Jets defense was going to be as good as it gets this year and that Revis Island in particular was going to be impenetrable.  Don't look now, but that was the Jets D giving up all manner of yards and points in the 2nd half, allowing the Texans to grab a late lead and forcing Sanchez and the offense to come to the rescue.  Can they win in the playoffs with that formula?  I'm betting no.
• Goodnight, Mssr. Chilly, and turn out the lights on the Metrodome, since the Vikings will now be a real contender to jump to Los Angeles soon.  Of course Jason got this right too.  Vikings go down like cheerleaders at a frat party, and Chilly is shown the door.  Lots of yapping on various talk shows about what should now happen to the Little Wrangler.  Bench?  Cut?  Play out the string?  I say let him play until someone sits on his head and breaks him open on the field like eggs.  What difference does it make?  You don't have to get a look at backup QB Tarvaris Jackson to know that he absolutely sucks.
• I'll take full credit for this one--Redskins go against a more dysfunctional QB-coach combo than theirs, and find a way to win.  What I find interesting is the contrast between Coach Fisher's comments ("Vince is no longer the starter") in the Titans post-game presser and the owner Bud Adams sounding like he has zero plans to let go of VY anytime soon.  Jerry Jones just got a hard-on at the thought of Fisher leaving Tennessee in a him-or-me huff.
• What do the Falcons do against a team they should handle if they're really legit?  Double them up, that's what.  Impressive.  Keep an eye on the Dirty Birds.
• I'm inclined to think, on the other hand, that Tampa Bay's impressive road shutout over Coach Psycho was a mirage, and here's why:  TB came into that game with 8 team sacks the whole season, and they racked up 6 against the 49ers and their previously unflappable QB Troy Smith.  Did the Bucs front 4 force Smith into a terrible game, or was it the Niners and a bad and banged-up O-line?  Let me see Stylez G. White and the rest of the Tampa defensive linemen make some more plays, and then I might start to believe.
• OK, I guess Matt Hasselbeck doesn't make that big of a difference after all.  Watch out for the World champs.
• ...and Tom Brady's STILL YELLING.  He took the most screamy, intense knees you've ever seen to run out the clock and beat the Colts.  This dude's seriously got his panties in a bunch about something.  He's throwing the hell out of the ball while doing all that yelling, and it should have been enough, combined with a staunch New England running attack, to put down Indianapolis and cover 4 points easily.  Of course, I picked against Peyton Manning, so he had to lead a comeback to cover the number and almost win the game.  Any windy conditions Sunday night on the East Coast were worsened by everyone in New England exhaling when Manning floated a bad pass and got picked off inside the NE 10-yard line with 31 seconds to go.  What a finish.
• Plenty of mistakes plagued both the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, and I didn't like what I saw from either team.  Philly settled for way too many FGs after hitting big plays for large chunks of yards.  You gotta put the fucking ball in the end zone when you're hitting 20 and 30-yard pass plays in rapid succession.  There was the Jason Avant wide-open TD drop and Asante Samuel coughing up an INT and giving the ball right back to New York, and the fumbles by Michael Vick, who was carrying the rock way too loose.  He seemed genuinely surprised that a defender was trying to tackle him in his own backfield and take his football away.  And the Giants, of course, had major fuck-ups that cost them the game.  Ahmad Bradshaw couldn't hold on to the ball.  The Giant D put the whole organization in the box on a late 4th down, and the bobbled pitch back to RB LeSean McCoy resulted in a 50-yard TD.  And words can't describe how dumb Eli Manning had to be to dive face first and fumble the ball after a successful scramble.  If he slides feet first, the ball is dead and the fumble doesn't count.  Too many bonehead plays for me to like either squad to go all the way.  Oh, and Eli's favorite target, Hakeem Nicks, is out for the next 3 weeks.  Oh shit.
• How do you know it's the San Diego Chargers' night?  When even the special teams makes plays!  They faked a punt in the 1st quarter, and the punter threw a 29-yard completion.  Yes, even the punter racks up big pass plays for the Bolts.  And San Diego gets its best receiver, Vincent Jackson, back next week.  That would be the cue for the rest of the AFC West to say:  Oh shit.

Week 11 Records--Dre 9-7, .563; Jay 13-3, .813 (!!)
YTD Records--Dre 84-74-2, .532; Jay 83-75-2, .525