- Games in no detail: Vikings-Falcons (good fight shown by Minnesota, but just not good enough); Panthers-Colts (one of Curtis Painter's better games except for that end-zone INT, so now he gets benched), Cardinals-Rams (hey Rams, Beanie Wells? Really?! And stop fucking punting it to Patrick Peterson!), Redskins-Seahawks (only Rex Grossman, and not John Beck, could have led that comeback win).
- Well, Detroit had its big chance. They stifled the vaunted Green Bay offense in the 1st half, limiting them to only one touchdown, but the Lions couldn't score at all. One got the feeling that Detroit was blowing a great opportunity to light up the Packer defense and put points in the bank before Aaron Rodgers and the Packer offense found their stride. And the 3rd quarter saw everything unravel in the Motor City. Green Bay scored 17 points, Ndamukong Suh got ejected for stepping on someone, Kevin Smith remembered that he's injury prone, and Matthew Stafford remembered that he has a busted digit that makes him throw the ball to the other team. He overcame that last week when I picked against him, and he couldn't this time when I went with him. What a lost opportunity.
- Miami's long-snapping failed them in Dallas. Maybe the Dolphins could have pulled off the upset if they could take a shotgun snap instead of coughing up the football and fumbling around a couple of different times. They also settled for FGs instead of punching the ball into the end zone. But the bottom line for the picks is, I lost and Jason won because Miami gave way more effort and fight than I expected them to. They are playing hard, and QB Matt Moore is making smart throws and looks much improved. The Fish look dangerous.
- And in the nightcap, Baltimore decided to tune up San Francisco whenever they had the football, and San Fran never found an answer, and with that, the Ravens just gave the blueprint on how to beat the 49ers. Ten team sacks on Alex Smith made sure that the San Fran popgun offense couldn't gather any momentum to mount a comeback on the Ravens. Seriously, did every member of the Niners o-line eat some tainted turkey that day or something? It was the physical low-scoring battle that I expected, but it seemed like SF didn't expect that kind of pass rush at all.
- There's a curse on the Houston Texans quarterbacks, but it held off long enough for them to build an insurmountable lead on the hapless Jaguars. And by insurmountable, I mean ten points. It was another bad offense for the Texans D to dine on and pad their great stats. But make no mistake, Houston has a problem. The great T.J. Yates at QB resulted in no points for the Texans after the 2nd-quarter shoulder crumbling of Matt Leinart. But on the other hand, I was counting on Leinart to fuck up the game in the 2nd half, which is his move, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. And it doesn't matter who's at QB for Jacksonville, they are just terrible.
- In a sloppy, turnover-filled affair, Tennessee discovered a new old way to beat Tampa Bay--the running game. Chris Johnson finally found a defense bad enough to run on and racked up 190 yards on the ground. And when the Titans needed a 4th-down end-zone pass to complete the comeback, the Bucs allowed that as well. Never underestimate Tampa's ability to allow their opponent any offense they may need to get a win.
- Cleveland's effort almost caught Cincinnati by surprise and created a big upset. Almost. The Bengals righted the ship and found some big passes from Andy Dalton to his best friend A.J. Green. Cincy's not good enough to take opponents lightly yet. The big class drop allowed them to get the victory, but their lack of intensity resulted in the Browns covering the number.
- Speaking of lack of intensity, the Jets looked like they lost their passion coming off the loss to Tim Tebow a week and a half ago. First, let me break down the Stevie Johnson Celebration Controversy. Johnson, the Buffalo WR, scored a TD near the end of the 1st half and proceeded to mock Jets WR Plaxico Burress by dancing and then grabbing his leg as if he'd been shot, then he mocked the silly Jets arms-extended flying celebration, then he fell to the ground to symbolize crashing Jets, which was perhaps a little harsh in New York. The falling to the ground resulted in a 15-yard kickoff penalty, and yes, the Jets scored on the ensuing possession. But here are some facts being ignored--the Jets started their possession on the Bills 36-yard line due to the Buffalo kicker completely shanking the kickoff, which I don't think I've ever seen before...followed by a personal foul for hitting Jets QB Mark Sanchez in the head...followed two plays later by a TD pass, ironically, to Burress because the Bills secondary totally blew the coverage. Many TV pundits jumped on Stevie, saying that it was his celebration that allowed the Jets to easily score on the next possession. To that I say, did you just read what happened after the celebration? NONE OF THAT WAS STEVIE JOHNSON'S FAULT, DICKHEADS. Other observations from the game: Good for Sanchez that he discovered his TE Dustin Keller (after I cut Keller from my fantasy team), but Sanchize once again looked bad overall, throwing into double and triple coverage over the middle multiple times; had to be the worst 4-TD game for a QB evah; the Jets CBs continue to be overrated and seemed to have no coverage ability if Gang Green's front seven wasn't rushing the passer; and Stevie can be blamed for dropping the game-winning TD, just as he did in the end zone last year against Pittsburgh.
- Why, Hanie, why? Many Chicago Bears fans had to be screaming that after replacement QB Caleb Hanie came out in Oakland trying to make passes that he shouldn't have tried to make, and wound up throwing the rock to the Raiders three times in the 1st half alone. The Bears defense made new use of the bend but don't break defensive philosophy, letting Oakland drive within FG range over and over and over again but not letting them into the end zone. So Oakland's kicker Sebastian Janikowski calmly nailed six FGs and racked up the points that Hanie and the Bears couldn't get in any fashion. Matt Forte continued to look tired overall, despite a big run. And Hanie had an all-timer to end the game--he rushed up to the ball with four seconds left at his own 46-yard line trailing by five, and there's only one play in that spot, which is to spike the ball to set up the Hail Mary. But Hanie faked the spike, looking for God knows what, then spiked the ball when the pass rush came for him, which is intentional grounding when you don't spike it immediately, which ended the game. Say it with me in a Texas drawl--Caleb is our quarterback...
- The "FIRE ANDY!" chants started up in Philadelphia, never a good sign for a head coach named Andy. The Eagles had early success against New England, jumping off to a 10-0 lead thanks to no Patriots pass rush and the worst pass defense in the league (NE ranked #32 even before Vince Young tallied 400 yards on Sunday). Here's the three-play momentum shift in the 2nd quarter: Tom Brady goes deep to Deion Branch for 63 yards, NE rushing TD to take a 14-10 lead, then Young on the next play after kickoff throws a deep ball for DeSean Jackson that gets picked off. Sucked the air right out of Lincoln Financial Field and the entire City of Brotherly Love. Then New England sped up the tempo and executed the Eagles right off the field. And speaking of DeSean, what the fuck is his problem? He had a few passes go right through his hands, and others where he didn't exactly fight for the ball. He's starting to approach that Terrell Owens "Just go home" level of toxicity.
- You know, the sample size for Denver's own personal Jesus is still somewhat small. His 5-1 record as a starter still only equals six games, and only the very best (or very worst) reveal themselves completely after six games. I'll give Tim Tebow credit for this--motherfucker has some great football instincts. He knows just when to pitch the ball, just when to throw it up for a wide-open WR, just when to truck someone in the open field. His mechanics and throwing prowess are still vomit-inducing. But his ability to create plays out of nothing is rather impressive. I still wouldn't dare name him my permanent starter, but I've always said I'd love to have him on the team in a role other than QB. Now, all that said, let's not overlook the real reason Denver is back in the hunt for a division title, which anyone not a retard knows is the Broncos defense. The pass rush is ferocious, led by rookie Von Miller, and the rush defense is getting stronger each week (they stopped Ryan Mathews and Mike Tolbert when they had to). Denver had a little help in winning at San Diego, that being bad coaching by the Chargers and Norv Turner. In regulation, SD was close to midfield and had one timeout with the game tied, but instead of calling the TO and setting up the Hail Mary, they purposefully let the clock run as the crowd booed and settled for OT. Then they conservatively ran the ball in OT trying to set up the game-winning FG, but it was still a 53-yard attempt, and it was wide. Or maybe it wasn't bad coaching, maybe SD QB Philip Rivers is really hurt, as is being rumored, and Norv knows he doesn't have the arm strength to go for big plays downfield. If that's the case, then I don't care how tenured Rivers is, get him the fuck off the field and get another QB out there.
- We lost the Pittsburgh pick because Pittsburgh was incredibly out of sync on offense coming out of the bye and couldn't take advantage of Kansas City's horrible offense to cover the spread. Despite that, they succeed in covering if RB Rashard Mendenhall doesn't fumble a sure TD near the goal line, but hey, shit happens. What was important to the Steelers was that they overcome that and missing safety Troy Polamalu, who got concussed early, to get the victory, and they did that. But Jason and I needed them to overcome that to win by 11 points, and that wasn't in the cards.
- And we lost the New York Giants pick because New Orleans found a rhythm and got in mad sync coming off the bye. I mean, mad sync. It was a reminder of how great Drew Brees and the Saints offense can be when they're clicking. They pick on the weakness of the opponent as well as anyone in the league. New York is desperately seeking not Susan, but linebackers who can cover downfield, and almost all of Brees's passes were intermediate routes crossing in front of the confused Giants LB corps. It was fun watching both New York and New Orleans fluster each other in the 1st quarter with various blitz packages, but clearly, Brees got loose and adjusted better than Eli Manning and the Giants. That's two ugly losses in a row for the G-Men. There's something wrong with their rushing game. Eli's not having a career year only because he's gotten so much better, but also because he's having to throw much more then normal. Ahmad Bradshaw's hurt and Brandon Jacobs isn't what he once was, and as a result, the #32 rushing team in the NFL after this game, in yards and yards per attempt, are the New York Football Giants. For shame, G-Men. For shame.
YTD Records--Dre 74-95-7, .438; Jay 86-83-7, .509
No comments:
Post a Comment