- I learned that I'm #10 overall after two weeks on the Covers.com NFL contest. So if you want my spread picks and over/unders, just follow "dredog" and rack up the cash. Although, I will say that it hasn't been hard picking o/u for most of this year's games so far. Just take mostly overs. Duh.
- So many storylines emerged from the Bears-Packers game, but I can't ignore the most important one, which I've been saying all along: If Clay Matthews plays like he's capable, Green Bay can beat anyone anytime. That defense is so much better when they've got a Neanderthal roided-up troglodyte running around trying to murder the QB. If Jay Cutler could have yelled and shoved Matthews, he would have, but instead he went after the softest player on the field, which was his own LT JaMarcus Webb. I should fly my fat ass to Chicago and audition for the gig. I can't be a worse blocker than Webb. And I thought Cutler had much more control of the offense under the new coordinator Mike Tice. If I knew Meathead Mike was going to call most of the plays, I never would have picked the Bears as my Super Bowl team.
- Sometimes, a game seems like two different games in one because a team plays one way early and adjusts and plays better late. In Jersey, the Giants and Eli Manning came out sleepwalking, and a fast, alert and young Tampa D made them pay. I don't want to sound like I'm declaring the Bucs defense as back on track, but man, they looked swift and dangerous for a half. Keep an eye on them. If they make strides throughout the season, Tampa can become competent. What a turnaround in the 2nd half for Eli and his gutsy WRs, Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz. Nicks fought injuries and Cruz his emotions (his grandma died earlier in the week) to make plays and complete the comeback. Jason certainly was cussing the G-Men out as they not only stole the game, but forced a push on the spread.
- Carolina is just scratching the surface of what they can do on offense. They're still running many college-like formations, with Cam Newton holding the option of pitch, keep, or fling downfield, and it's not like New Orleans has a great defense against standard offenses, but they really looked lost against the Panthers. The Saints ran out to the early lead, too, but Drew Brees and his offense couldn't get out of 2nd gear. The game plan was to kill a blitzing Carolina D with screens and underneath routes to RB Darren Sproles, but once the Saints fell behind and had to hit bigger plays downfield, Brees couldn't make the connections. I continue to have a bad feeling about New Orleans as the season wears on. If that offense isn't clicking, that defense will get them beat consistently.
- Bad, worse, worst. Bad: New England's pass protection. Worse: Arizona's ball security, as they were trying to run the ball and run the clock out when they simply coughed the thing up into the air for anyone to grab. New England took it and drove down for what should have been the game-winning FG. Worst: Stephen Gostkowski, who nailed four long FGs on the day, only to hook the game-winner badly. And down in flames go millions of Boston-area survivor pools. Oh, and I dunno what the Pats are trying to with their pass distribution, but it sure looks like they're trying to phase out Wes Welker. He isn't being targeted nearly as much as usual. Good luck with that, Mr. Brady.
- I thought that Minnesota would feed Adrian Peterson and destroy Indianapolis on the ground, and I thought Jared Allen and the Vikings would rush Andrew Luck and sit on his head all day. Neither happened. Luck displayed some surprising elusivity, which isn't a word but I just made it one, in avoiding the rush and hitting big passes when needed, and the Colts get a FG and win it late. Yeah, that Luck guy? He's pretty good.
- Ravens-Eagles was another performance where it seemed like two games in one. Michael Vick continues to play reckless and give the ball to the other team, and he put Philadelphia in a big hole at home to Baltimore. Then Vick discovered TE Brent Celek and relied on him to move the chains in the 2nd half, and the Eagles completed a stunning comeback. As a fantasy guy, I know how frustrated Houston was with Jacoby Jones as they tried to make him a receiving threat, but he was just no good at it. Joe Flacco certainly made use of him. I'm still high on Flacco, especially after seeing him make a receiver out of Jones, but he found himself in a high-scoring shootout, and he couldn't answer the bell at the end. The Ravens D won't always be there to hold the other team down, so Joe still has a ways to go in order to be elite.
- Romeo Crennel is not having fun as the defensive guru and permanent head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. Week 1 saw his Chiefs get lit by the Falcons, and Week 2 has 2 TD passes, 2 TD runs, and a punt return against his squad. And it was the Buffalo Bills! I'm a C.J. Spiller fan from his college days, but come on, he's not this good. KC is just this bad. I ain't picking the Chiefs anytime soon until they show me some consistency, on offense and defense.
- 318 yards and three TD throws from Andy Dalton, and the Bengals still couldn't blow out the Browns? A couple of things to take away--Cleveland may have won if their CBs were on the field (Joe Haden was suspended and Sheldon Brown was hurt), and Cleveland isn't a complete no-show on offense apparently. It's hard to love Brandon Weeden at QB, what with his thin receiving corps and his 83-year-old body, but he almost led the comeback, so he's worth watching. And Trent Richardson is a bitch to tackle, which is not news, but he's so banged up that it's hard to know when he's going to give a full effort. Let's see if Cleveland can put together consecutive good efforts on offense.
- Memo to new Raiders coach Dennis Allen: See that other fucker running everywhere against your defense? That's called a running back. His name is Reggie Bush. You may have heard of him because he used to fuck this skank named Kardashian. But that's of no matter to you. What matters is, you have a very good running back too. His name's Darren McFadden. I ask you, Allen, what do you think the game outcome will be when you rush McFadden only 11 times for 22 yards? You think you're gonna win doing that? Check that final score and get back to me. Idiot.
- Um, what was that in Seattle?! Yes, we picked the Seahawks to knock off the new kings of hype, the Dallas Cowboys, but it looked like Dallas didn't even show up. Dallas fumbled the opening kick, had a punt blocked, and were down 10-0 in the first 5 minutes, and they responded with exactly one scoring drive the whole game. Maybe Tony Romo still had Carrie Underwood's pussy juice on his fingers from fumbling that FG in the playoffs in Seattle oh so many years ago. Actually, it's completely unfair to bring that fumble up again because it had nothing to do with this game, but I just want to try and get "Carrie Underwood's pussy juice" trending.
- Washington looked like much the better team in St. Louis for most of the game. They lost their poise and blew it late, but at least they can try to build off of their good play for the first 3 quarters. The Rams and Sam Bradford decided to make a star and a new possession WR out of Danny Amendola, but the Redskins were still winning before gagging it up. Josh Morgan caught a pass for the Skins, then got provoked by annoying CB Cortland Finnegan and threw the ball at him, prompting a 15-yard penalty and making the game-tying FG attempt over 60 yards away. It was obviously unsuccessful. There's been a lot of comparing Skins QB Robert Griffin to Cam Newton, but what I saw on Sunday was, Washington has a much more scaled-down, easy-to-process offense in place for RGIII, and that's probably the right move, but the team can only succeed running that offense against really bad defenses like the Saints. Once they get into division play, I expect them to struggle mightily.
- More Mark Sanchez pump-faking gave the Jets an early edge in Pittsburgh, and I just had to shake my head. How can it be that easy for an inferior QB and receiving group to get open just by using stutter routes and pump fakes? Are they going to get big yards all year by doing that? Unreal. The Steelers D stepped up big-time in the 2nd half, and they smothered what passed for New York Jets air attacks. Isaac Redman stepped up as well, running hard for the Steelers, and that's really big, because Todd Haley can try to coordinate big pass plays all he wants for the Pittsburgh offense, but it won't work without a rushing component to force opposing defenses to hesitate before sending everyone at the immobile QB Ben Roethlisberger.
- I'm also shaking my head at the style of play employed by San Francisco. Alex Smith just keeps making the right decisions, and the ball just keeps moving despite my skepticism. I'm trying to not point at the other team's D every time the 49ers succeed on offense, because eventually, I have to give credit to Smith, Coach Insane, and the architects putting the game plans together. But really, the Lions can't cover at all. Good Lord, their secondary is putrid. The San Fran D is scary, but that's also not news. I think they can be beaten, but only by a very well-coached, prepared team, which was not what they faced Sunday night.
- I was sad to see what's become of Peyton Manning's arm on Monday night. Much was made on commentary of Atlanta disguising defenses and surprising Manning once the play started, but he's seen that shit before. His reads were what they always have been, but his arm isn't, and that's why he was intercepted three times in the 1st half. By the time he figured out that he had to scale down his throws in velocity, the comeback fell short. Denver should be okay going forward, so long as Manning realizes that he's not gunning balls through tight spaces the way he used to. As for the Falcons, I liked how Matt Ryan didn't try to force the issue, taking what Denver gave him. His lack of mistakes is what allowed Atlanta to hold the lead. I think he's learning that when he needs to break out the big gun and hit Roddy White and Julio Jones all over the field, he'll be able to do so, but when it's not necessary, he can be cool and play conservative. It almost cost his team this time, but it's better than giving the ball away trying to take risks and stay aggressive.
YTD Records--Dre 20-10-2, .667; Jay 18-12-2, .600
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