- Games in no detail: Falcons-Buccaneers (Birds mailing it in); Cardinals-Jaguars (Jags just aren't good); Chargers-Dolphins (that San Diego defense is softer than used bubble gum); Packers-Giants (just another win for the hottest team in the league...wait, what?); Vikings-Seahawks (Minny outclassed all the way).
- This would have been my week by one game over Jason if the damn Titans could have stuck to what was working last Thursday against Indianapolis. But no. OC Dowell Loggains had to show his genius and back off using RB Chris Johnson after he stormed through the Colts for two early TDs. Tennessee was in crossing pattern heaven when they threw, and that combined with CJ?K put the Titans in the driver's seat after one quarter. As Andrew Luck can tell you, though, they play four quarters. Despite falling prey to this recent epidemic of going with 5 wideouts on 3rd-and-1 which has infected the NFL, the Colts mounted yet another comeback victory. What was infuriating was that Luck clearly trusted two guys and only two guys to catch the damn ball--WR T.Y. Hilton and TE Coby Fleener. The Titans still couldn't stop the comeback. Really? They may have panicked after a muffed KO return and subsequent TD, but still, there was no reason to deviate from running and no reason to defend any receivers other than those two. As a last kick to the groin, Titans QB Ryan Fitzpatrick clearly had marching orders to not throw deep and cost them the game, but then down two possessions, he lets it loose and gets the TD to pull them within three. Only problem is, the Colts are still covering the number. Maybe if they threw deep earlier, they could have had more time to come all the way back. Sons of bitches.
- Why do we keep trusting the clown college that is the New York Jets? And why do we keep assuming that the rookie QB Geno Smith will be consistent just because he's shown some flashes? It took a few shots from that dangerous Buffalo defensive line to shake up Geno and make him start turning the ball over like flapjacks. This game turned in the 2nd quarter when the Jets were forcing a Bills punt but stupidly jumped offsides, giving the Bills a 4th-and-1 that they decided to go for, and they got it, then E.J. Manuel flung a wild throw on 3rd down into the end zone which happened to be caught for a TD by T.J. Graham, then Geno fumbles it on the next drive, and that rush TD by Buffalo made it 17-0. Game over. Geno Smith, congrats--that football you played was THE DRIZZLING SHITS. BTW, Jacksonville is the only team in the NFL with a worse points +/- than Gang Green.
- Detroit coach Jim Schwartz felt the need to show everyone how big's his dick against Pittsburgh. Turns out it's really tiny. Also, turns out he was just showing his ass. So the Lions put up a 27-point 2nd quarter, exposing the slow-footed Steelers defense and having their way. But early in the 4th up 27-23, they had a long drive stall, leaving them a chip shot FG attempt that would put them up 7. Schwartz turned it down and had them run a fake FG on 4th-and-5 that failed miserably. Pittsburgh took the subsequent drive for a TD and never trailed again. Nice job, coach. Their offensive philosophy until then was flawless--careful drives in the somewhat harsh conditions, then exploding with their best weapon Calvin Johnson when they fell behind and needed a spark. They were behind because Ben Roethlisberger found his big weapon Antonio Brown for TDs in the 1st quarter. But the way they scored with ease when they needed to, Detroit should have put that game away. Plus, Detroit was starting to pressure Big Ben and would have teed off on him with that 7-point lead. Instead, the Steelers got all the mo and the home crowd aroused, and the Lions shit the bed, as Jason warned might happen.
- It's starting to break down in DC, where Robert Griffin III said after the Redskins managed to lose to the Eagles in Philadelphia that the blame should go to the coaching staff, which didn't draw up confusing plays so therefore the Eagles knew what was coming. The Shanahan Boyz don't seem to like any player who thinks for himself, so their unhappiness with RG3 should become evident as this lost season wears on. They'll do subtle things to undermine him like take veiled shots in the media, as he just did to them, or deactivate his favorite player, which seems to be TE Jordan Reed, or something like that. But Philly's offense running much smoother than Washington's despite a newer coach and starting QB than the Skins is an indictment of the coaching and the quarterback,and neither side is mature enough to admit that. Losing Reed to injury early did seem to throw Griffin off, but ultimately, he's got to figure out how to make plays and win games and overcome his awful defense. Now with a 3-7 record, though, he doesn't have to figure it out this year. He can wait for a new coaching staff and be all in for Week 1 of 2014.
- Baltimore has more practice than anyone at overcoming lengthy and strange game delays, having to do it in last season's Super Bowl and this season's opener at Denver, and in Chicago, horrible weather that everyone knew was coming caused the Ravens-Bears game to be halted for almost two hours after Baltimore had an early lead. The Ravens do not play well after these delays despite having that experience. They came out dominating the Bears, running Ray Rice through large holes and defending Josh McCown and the Marc Trestman offense. But one QB had much better feet in the sloppy field conditions, and he ultimately won. That would be McCown, who moved in and out of the pocket much more adroitly than Joe Flacco. In fact, it was Flacco's bad throw right to DE David Bass for a Pick-6 that first got the Bears in the end zone. Flacco simply didn't move his feet well, and if he did, he probably holds on to the lead and Baltimore wins. But he got picked off and sacked and gave Chicago some confidence on defense, allowing McCown to keep up his smart, solid play and lead the OT comeback win. The national media is starting to seize upon McCown as the answer in Chicago, suggesting he should keep starting even when incumbent Jay Cutler is totally healthy. This ignores three important points: 1, McCown's no youngster with tremendous upside, he was coaching high school football before this gig because he's not that good; 2, Cutler was playing fine before he got hurt, so it's not like the Bears need to find a QB who can handle the system, Jay was off to a 3-0 start, so he's fine; and 3, the media would want anyone to start over Cutler because they don't like Cutler because he doesn't kiss their asses.
- The weather threatened to be part of the story in Cincinnati, too, but instead it was a couple of questions that came to the fore: Why is Andy Dalton playing like shit? And can the Bengals D bail them out like this in big games? Dalton answered any critics of his recent performances by throwing two INTs to Joe Haden, one for a TD, to put Cincy in a 13-0 hole to Cleveland. The Bengals responded by posting a 31-point 2nd quarter that included a blocked punt TD and a fumble return TD. Dalton threw two TDs as well, but he only got 27 passing attempts on the day for all of 93 yards as the Bengals coaches may have lost some trust in him. They can't win with that lack of production from the QB position. Can they? The Browns fell to .500 and seem to be mediocre at best. But the defense is a force with lots of upside.
- Houston's defense actually lost the game for them against Oakland. They didn't play terrible overall against Matt McGloin and the Raiders, just bad at the worst possible times, like leaving receivers wide open in the end zone when McGloin threw, or getting trucked trying to stop Rashad Jennings from running them over. Oakland got off to a lightning-quick 14-0 lead thanks to turnovers, but Case Keenum rallied his team into the lead at the half, which made it puzzling to me why Gary Kubiak pulled Keenum after Jennings's TD run made it 28-17 Oakland at the end of the 3rd quarter. Keenum didn't get leveled by Jennings. Enter Matt Schaub, who was booed so loudly that the Toxins had to go to a silent snap count. Gotta make a new hashtag, #booschaub. Schaub wasn't horrible, but his last pass was towards Andre Johnson into quadruple coverage, and when Schaub yelled at Johnson that he should have continued his route despite the coverage, Johnson yelled back at him and then walked off the field with a minute left in the game. Yet thanks to Jim Schwartz, Kubiak's decision was only the 2nd-worst of the day. I honestly didn't realize that this made it 8 losses in a row for the Toxins after their 2-0 start until I heard it on a show yesterday. Another FedEx Mail-It-In candidate?
- A fun battle in New Orleans became mired in some ref controversy, and that's unfortunate. The Saints were driving down 20-17 with under 4 minutes in the game when 49ers LB Ahmad Brooks got home on a blitz and laid into Drew Brees with a Clothesline from Hell, knocking the ball out and into a San Francisco teammate's paws, maybe sealing a SF victory. But the referee flagged Brooks for contact to the neck of a QB. The replays have been shown endlessly over the last few days, and I'm still not sure what I would have called. The blow was somewhere in that collarbone zone, which can be a neck area or a chest area depending on what day it is, I guess. If it's that close, you can't quibble with the call either way, but I get why they're angry by the Bay and not the Bayou. As for the game, the noise and atmosphere made it so hard for Colin Kaepernick to operate, but as I figured, so long as he had his security blanket Vernon Davis, he would make enough plays to stay close. Kaep may be the poster child for the young QBs who make one read and decide to run, but in this one, that's all he had time for, because Junior Galette and Cameron Jordan were making love to the SF O-line and harassing Kaep all day. They even limited the Niners rushing attack. If New Orleans starts consistently stuffing the run and rushing the passer, the NFC should beware. Lance Moore might be in the doghouse after he dropped passes and muffed a punt for NO. That and a Brooks INT were why SF had the lead, and also NO dropped a potential Pick-6. The Saints were the better team, but it took a ref call to give them a shot at the win.
- Both defenses came out hard in the Kansas City-Denver brawl. They both forced early fumbles. It was clear that the better QB with more poise was going to have to make the difference, because the running attacks weren't going to make headway against the revved-up defenses. And it came as no surprise that Peyton Manning turned out to be that QB. His placement of the deep ball was impeccable, showing that he gets his arm ready to fire one or two deep ones when it's a big game. We saw him try to do it in Indy, but he didn't have enough sauce. Here, he got it done. The game plan was to get the ball out quick and accurately before the Chiefs arrived at Peyton's Place to put a hurt on him. He wasn't sacked once. Props to Alex Smith and coach Andy Reid, though, because they finally put Dwayne Bowe to use in intermediate and deep routes. It's like they figured they had to in this one. They were losing 17-7 when Bowe started getting deeper balls thrown his way, so the Chiefs can open up the field out of necessity. Didn't work for a win this time, but let's see if they go back to it again soon. And I loved the fakes and reverses of well-scouted plays by both teams. If you thought you saw a bubble screen getting set up, the QB stood up and launched a deep ball instead. They came to play in this one, and I'm sure they will again in two weeks.
- Back to the zebras taking center stage, this time to decide the Monday night contest between New England and Carolina. As everyone has seen, Tom Brady had one last throw into the end zone down 4 to win the game with no time left, and he threw for monster TE Rob Gronkowski, who looked to be held by LB Luke Kuechly as the ball was intercepted by someone else four yards in front. A flag came out for defensive holding or interference or face-guarding, but the flag was picked up after a long chat between the officials, and the game ended. I do have an opinion about this ref call: Gronk didn't come back and fight for the pass, so Gronk didn't deserve the bailout call. On every last-second heave, there's defenders holding receivers egregiously like that, and the great ones go up and make a play anyway, and if they don't, they draw the flag because it's so clear that they're trying to make the play if not for being impeded. That's on Gronk for not trying hard enough to make a play and draw an uncontested flag. Overshadowed by that call would be Cam Newton being THE SHIT, playing an almost flawless game, leading the comeback victory with a great TD drive that featured him running when necessary and throwing to the correct option when necessary. He embodied the confidence and attitude the Panthers have as a team right now. He got his man Steve Smith involved early, allowing him to clown Pats CB Aqib Talib and set a tone. And he had an awesome run in the 3rd where he avoided 5 or 6 would-be tacklers with some sweet moves. What's been the question about Ron Rivera's squad the past few years has been: Will they keep it up and show consistency, or will they let down coming off two spotlight wins? If they can keep it going, they're a top contender in the NFC. New England matched the intensity for the most part. They have nothing to be ashamed of. I shook my head at Stevan Ridley deciding to be a fumble machine again now that Shane Vereen is back off of injured reserve; it was the fumbling that gave Vereen a chance to shine in the first game of the year, and he may get more chances again down the road.
Week 11 Records--Dre 7-7-1, .500; Jay 8-6-1, .533
YTD Records--Dre 75-83-4, .475; Jay 83-75-4, .525
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