Put on your cleats and buckle your chinstrap—it’s time for the weekly football post.
Before I get into what we learned last week and what we’ll see this week, congratulations to the White Sox for beating down the annoying Red Sox and winning their first postseason series in 88 years. Hopefully the Yankees go down to the Angels next, and the Braves fall to the Astros. That would make for a refreshing postseason if you ask me. Now on to the football.
Let’s start with which teams showed me what this past week.
Eagles: (You knew I was starting here—don’t act surprised.) The Birds showed me this past week that they are capable of anything. I’m not going to stand here and act like Kansas City’s much-improved defense is impenetrable and the Eagles pulled off some kind of miracle by lighting them up, but putting up 31 unanswered points on anyone is pretty impressive. I’m especially referring to the “unanswered” part of that. The Chiefs have a great offense, and the Eagles D just put the clamp on them after the first part of the 2nd quarter. (I could get into how 14 of the 24 first half points aren’t really on the defense, since there was a kickoff return for a touchdown and a fumbled kickoff return that gave KC the ball in the red zone, but I won’t get into that.) You know what else? We saw in that game an example of how much special teams can make or break a team. Let’s have a look: 1. Dante Hall takes a kickoff return back for a touchdown (which admittedly could happen to anyone—that guy is a TD waiting to happen) – 7 pts. 2. Fumbled KO return gives the Chiefs possession in the red zone – 7 pts. 3. Missed extra point – 1 pt. 4. Missed FG because of a bad snap/hold – 3 pts. That’s an 18 point differential just for the Eagles. Of course, the Chiefs had their own fumble in the red zone as well that cost them 7 points. My point in all this? I thought the Eagles were out of it after the kickoff return. Sheldon Brown had just picked off Trent Green and taken it back for a touchdown, and then the missed PAT and the kickoff return sucked out every bit of that momentum. I thought they were finished. But the defense (led by the unbelievable Brian Dawkins and Jeremiah Trotter) dug in their heels; McNabb got dressed in the phone booth (I can’t say enough about McNabb. The guy is playing out of his mind. Three straight 300+-yard games with his injuries? Impossible.); and they pulled it out. I don’t see anyone taking them out when they play like this. I just can’t see it.
Chargers: Wow. They put a beating on the Patriots. You can’t blame injuries (and to their credit, the Pats never do) because New England has pulled out so many wins with such a depleted roster that it’s become routine. For San Diego to smack the Patriots around like that in Foxboro, that’s something. These guys are good. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Ladanian Tomlinson play, check out their game against the Steelers on Monday night. I haven’t enjoyed watching a running back this much since Barry Sanders. He’s that good and that slippery. You won’t see his legs parallel to the ground like Sanders used to do, but this guy is just an amazing player.
Lions: I sigh as I write this. Joey Harrington, you’re killing me. A quarterback with some composure puts that game away against the Bucs. I know they’ve got a great defense. But you had them on the ropes. The clock was winding down, you’ve got four great weapons on offense, and yet on the last play of the game, you throw the ball way out of bounds to a guy who’s pretty well-covered. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here by saying that Jeff Garcia has a pretty good chance of playing when he comes back close to November. And the way this division looks, the Lions may still have a shot at winning it (no one has a winning record in the division right now). Speaking of which…
Vikings: Their big win against the Saints was a fluke. They’re bad. Very bad. Culpepper looks lost out there. I haven’t seen much of their games, but from what I have seen, it’s looking pretty bleak right now. Let’s see what they do after the bye week. I don’t have much hope for them right now. With all the potential the Lions and Bears have, if one of those teams gets their act together, they can stumble into winning the division.
Cardinals: If you look at my NFC preview, I talked about how the line needed to protect Kurt Warner for Arizona to win the division. I should have just said that they need to start Josh McCown. He played decently last season for the Cards, and Warner is just too inconsistent these days. The Cardinals have good receivers, but a sometimes-questionable running game. I know it was just the 49ers, but they showed some spark out there. It may all come crashing down against the Panthers this week, but we’ll see. (I’m guessing Arizona comes back to reality this week.)
Giants: Outside of San Diego (their only loss), the Giants haven’t really played any big defensive teams. That having been said, Eli Manning is for real. It doesn’t hurt having Plaxico Burress out there to catch what most receivers wouldn’t, but still. Their first test should come against a usually solid Broncos defense in week 7. Other than that, the only good defensive teams they play are the Eagles and Redskins. They could put up a lot of points this year.
Jaguars: For the last couple of years, the Jags have been the really good defensive team with a questionable offense. They’d test teams with good offenses, but usually their O didn’t do enough to finish the job. They’ve been the team who, when another up-and-coming team plays them, we say, “Okay, this team has done well so far, but how will they do against the Jags’ defense?” It seems they’re not doing much to get rid of that role this year. The Broncos made pretty short work of them after the first quarter.
Seahawks: The end of regulation in this game was perplexing. I shall summarize: the Seahawks have the ball on about the Redskins’ 30-yard line. The game is tied, and there’s not much time left. What would a team do here if they wanted to win? If you’re asking me, I say throw the ball to the sidelines, or maybe fake to the sidelines and get some yards down the middle and set up the quick spike to stop the clock and kick a field goal. What did they do? Ran up the middle twice for no yardage, eating up the clock to the point where they had to try for a 47-yard field goal with a kicker that had missed from that distance earlier in the game. Huh? So they went to overtime and lost. And they deserved it. They’ll probably lose to the Rams this week too—not because the Rams are better—just because that’s usually what happens. Those games are always entertaining and usually sloppy.
Rams: Speaking of bad play-calling, in the opening drive of the second half, Rams down by ten on the Giants’ six, they called a reverse, which was in turn fumbled. The Giants hadn’t been able to stop the Rams up until then in this drive, and they call a trick play on the six?? That pretty much deflated St. Louis, and they were trounced for the rest of the game. I won’t mention being pass-happy (Marc Bulger was 40/62 for 442 yards) because my team is notoriously the same way. But I will say that it works for them because of the abundance of short-yardage safe passes that they use, which Andy Reid likes to consider running plays. The Rams throw the ball all over the place all the time. Entertaining to watch, but not always effective. Did I mention they play the Seahawks this week and those games are usually sloppy? Yeah.
Alright, before I get to this week, I’m starting to think I should break up my football posts into two separate weekly posts: reactions and predictions. This is getting a bit long. Thoughts anyone?
There are quite a few teams that have something to prove this week. It should provide some interesting matchups, but of course we’ll still get our share of blowouts. I’ve decided to just do a rundown of all the games now, instead of picking and choosing. (All the more reason I should just do two posts.) Let’s have a look, shall we?
New England at Atlanta: There are some who say that the Patriots will fall to the I-still-say-they’re-overrated Falcons. Excuse me while I go into fits of laughter. If you think the Falcons are actually as good as their record, come see me after they are ripped by an angry New England team.
Miami at Buffalo: Do the Bills have a chance in the AFC East? Are the Dolphins slowly becoming the sleeper favorites? This game should begin to provide an answer, and if Miami wins (I think they will in a close one), they’ll have some momentum going into a tough stretch against the Bucs and the Chiefs.
Chicago at Cleveland: I think the Browns are going to start pulling themselves together and make a mediocre season out of what could still be pretty dismal. Romeo Crennel will be a big part of that. The Bears have a shot, but Kyle Orton has really got to step up here. I think the Browns win a squeaker this week, but the advantage would probably go back to the Bears if the game were in Chicago.
Baltimore at Detroit: Will the Detroit fans get behind Joey Harrington? If they want to win, they ought to. He doesn’t do well with adversity, and he’ll have plenty of it on the field against the Ravens’ defense. This would make it an easy pick for the Ravens, but the question of their offense remains. If the defense can score points, they take the game pretty easily. But Detroit always has the potential to put up points with a few big plays. I’m picking the Lions at home, but there are so many if-then scenarios with this one that it’s a tough pick.
New Orleans at Green Bay: The Saints won’t win many games this year, but they’ll win this one. Sorry Packers fans. The Pack could keep it close, and Favre has enough heart to put the team on his back, but even at home against a mediocre team, I don’t see them pulling it out.
Seattle at St. Louis: I already touched on this a bit, and given the fact that the Rams are at home, that’s another factor on their side. It should be fun to watch, though.
Tampa Bay at NY Jets: Getting Vinny Testaverde was a good move to win games now (and we all know that’s what Herm Edwards likes to do). I still don’t know if it’ll be enough. Vinny got banged around quite a bit last year with the Cowboys, so we’ll have to wait and see what he does here. Brooks Bollinger may have something, but he just was not ready last week. I think the Bucs take this one, but the Jets will probably put up a decent fight.
Tennessee at Houston: A battle for third in the AFC South. That’s…pretty much it. The Texans put up a respectable fight against the Bengals last week, so I’ll give them the nod here.
Indy at San Francisco: This one should be brutal. Remember how the Eagles picked apart the 49ers secondary? Yeah. Expect that.
Philadelphia at Dallas: The Cowboys are better this year, but not good enough just yet to contend for the NFC East. The Eagles may not roll over the ‘Boys, but they should beat them decisively. Not having Dat Nguyen is going to hurt Dallas against the run, and you know Brian Westbrook is hungry for some yards after last week.
Washington at Denver: This week, the ‘Skins will be exposed. Or maybe not. Remember when I was talking about how I never know what the Broncos are going to do? I still don’t. They’ve won three pretty convincing games, and I think they’ll take this one too. Maybe.
Carolina at Arizona: It’s the moment of truth for Arizona. They smoked the 49ers. Can they beat a decent team with McCown under center? I think they can, but I’m not sure they will. I’m not quite off their bandwagon just yet to win the NFC West, so I’ll go ahead and pick them at home against the Panthers. If they don’t get it though, it’s over between us.
Cincinnati at Jacksonville: The Jags will once again resume their role as the team who tests the up-and-coming offense. Will they be able to get it done at home? I just don’t see their offense pulling it off against what’s turned out to be a pretty solid defense for the Bengals. You know what else makes the Bengals dangerous right now? They’re confident. It’s amazing what the oft-discussed “swagger” does for a team. It should be a good Sunday night game, and I’m seeing Cincy coming out of this one with the win.
Pittsburgh at San Diego: Here’s your game of the week, folks. This has the makings of a very good game. I think the Steelers’ defense will make it a game, but the Chargers just have too many weapons with Tomlinson, Gates, the steady Drew Brees, and a solid core of receivers. It won’t start out as a high-scoring game, but by the end I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chargers put up a lot of points.
So there you go. Here’s the games you’ll want to check out in each time slot if you can:
1:00 – Pats vs. Falcons, Seahawks vs. Rams.
4:15 – Redskins vs. Broncos, Eagles vs. Cowboys (you know you want to watch Donovan)
In addition, the Sunday and Monday night games look solid. Thanks for sticking with me here, and enjoy another week of football.
9 years ago
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