As always, I will let Peter tell us what happened this weekend in the NFL. My summary will be full of bitterness and just pure anger at an entire NFL team, so let's just let Peter King sum up the week and spew some bitterness about lousy tasting coffee or whatever else is on his mind today.
It's like we never left. We all have springs in our steps this morning, don't we? Football's back, and it's good. Very good in Week 1.
If "spring in our steps" means "overriding dark and deep depression" then sign me up!
Trends: The NFC is catching up.
They came within a touchdown of winning the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl the year before. The NFC has caught up already. I don't even understand what this is supposed to mean.
Whatever the Saints are doing is working.
Beating the Detroit Lions and giving up 27 points to them? That's "working?" I think every team wants to open the season against the team that comes off the worst season ever. I don't buy a game against the Lions as showing what the Saints are doing is "working."
The two successors to Favre, Mark Sanchez (Jets) and Aaron Rodgers (Packers), are doing just fine, thank you. Better than fine. So fine that no one in New York or Green Bay seems to miss Favre.
Why should that shock anyone? Brett Favre is merely an average quarterback and has been for 4 out of the past 5 years.
What was impressive about Sanchez, I thought, was his ability to stand confidently in the pocket with traffic around him, or move out of the pocket while keeping his focus downfield and not on the rush. He was uncanny on third-and-medium-to-long. Watching the game, I kept think, He's converting a lot of thirds.
I guess I still must not be on the Mark Sanchez bandwagon because my initial thought in seeing that the Jets won was, "well I guess I was wrong about the Texans defense being better and the team making the playoffs...because Mark Sanchez just beat them."
Two things happened this weekend that are very good news if you bleed purple. One: Defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams, the great wall of the Twin Cities, will be able to play the season because their Starcaps case is being continued 'til after the season. Two: Coach Brad Childress and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell have figured a good way to preserve Brett Favre -- don't expose him to the kind of hits a quarterback normally takes. Favre, who turns 40 in four weeks, still got hit six times in Cleveland (including four sacks), but he did manage to stay out of the way effectively and help the Vikings to a 34-20 win over the Browns.
You know what? Peter's right, let's just over react to everything that happened this week. The Saints are the second best team in the NFC now, because they beat Detroit, behind the Vikings who somehow managed to give up 20 points and 4 sacks to the power house team that is the Cleveland Browns. Favre's back and he is going to be the MVP this year...based on beating the Cleveland Browns. Those are all the official proclamations Peter wants us to make after the first week.
I have the Saints winning the NFC South this year but I would at least like to give them a chance to prove why against a team better than the Lions.
Time will tell if the 29-year-old Shockey, who likes the good life, will keep himself in great shape so he can validate the 2008 trade to the Saints.
Sorry Jeremy, even though you scored two touchdowns yesterday, you won't get any credit from Peter King for justifying a trade made for you unless you have a prior Vicodin addiction, a Southern accent, a grizzled man-beard, and the workout habits that only an off season of throwing to high school kids can provide.
Miami coach Tony Sparano is maniacal about turnovers. He knows the exact percentages of chances of winning if you have one or two or three turnovers less or more than your foe. Miami turned it over four times, and it didn't help that their three Wildcats plays generated exactly four yards.
It's good to see that all the talk this off season about teams drafting players specifically for the Wildcat and now the Wildcat didn't really seem to work in the first week of the NFL this season has happened. I don't want to over react but it certainly seems like a sort of fad. In reality, it is not an offensive formation you want to base an entire offense around and if the defense covers the gaps, it can be easier to stop.
6. Chicago (0-1). Two things worry me: the Brian Urlacher wrist injury and the way Jay Cutler threw carelessly. Remember a couple of weeks ago, at Denver, when Ron Turner, the offensive coordinator, told me what impressed him was Cutler basically taking what the defense was giving and not being greedy? That was not Cutler Sunday night.
I don't believe all this crap about how some quarterbacks are winners and some are losers (how some people said Cutler wasn't a winner but Orton was), basically where a quarterback may have skill but he can't win games, but if the Bears go 7-9 this year I may actually just start believing it. I know they played Green Bay, who is going to be very good this year, so I won't get too excited but still...
Quote of the Week I
"I watched Brett Favre today. Very impressive. Went the whole game without retiring.
-- Jay Leno, interviewed by Bob Costas at halftime of NBC's Sunday night game.
Haha...I love it when people make fun of Brett Favre. I have always been a Leno guy over a David Letterman guy. Leno makes corny jokes and he is not exactly cutting edge, but at least he is not smug like Letterman comes off as for me. I just thought I would share that...Though I am a little shocked Favre didn't mention retirement after the game by saying something like, "this being my final year, it's good to start it off with a win." The attention after that game was clearly on Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin, we know Favre can't stand that for long. He is going to have to make some official statement to get the focus back on him soon.
Offensive Players of the Week
Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota. This is almost unfair. Peterson does something every week that reminds me of Walter Payton. On a day when only five backs about the league rushed for more than 100 yards, Peterson obliterated the quality standard for runners, carrying 25 times for 180 yards.
Just like Tom Curran said, this is going to be Adrian Peterson's break out year.
What a sage that Tom Curran is, huh? When it comes to being clutch, that's the man you call.
Special Teams Players of the Week
DeSean Jackson, WR/PR, Philadelphia. Jackson's the luckiest man on the face of the earth, Week 1 version. He broke open the Eagles-Panthers game with an 85-yard punt-return for touchdown in the second quarter at Charlotte, and he was barely touched on it. But one of the reasons he was barely touched was a how-did-they-miss-it illegal-block-in-the-back by Philly's Chris Clemons as the return just got up and running.
Yep, that was the difference in the game as well Peter. In this 38-10 game where the Panthers had 7 turnovers, it was this punt return that made the difference. All the Eagles had to do from there was play defense and wait for Jake Delhomme to throw the ball to them...but mostly it was this kick off return that made the difference in the game because it was so close.
Peter also names Joshua Cribbs as Special Teams Player of the Week, which is deserved because he actually had a chance to make a difference in the game with this punt return for a touchdown. Why can't he just be the Special Teams Player of the Week and make it one person? Why does there HAVE to be two? Cribbs made a bigger play in a closer game, he should be the Special Teams Player of the Week.
Goat of the Week
Jake Delhomme, QB, Carolina. He needs to be careful or he's going to retire this award. Five months after signing a new contract extension with $20 million in guarantees, Delhomme had his second straight meltdown at home for Carolina, completing seven of 17 throws for 73 yards, with no touchdowns and four picks.
The difference in that game and the Arizona Cardinal's playoff game is that Delhomme was pulled in the 3rd quarter of this game. Imagine what kind of damage he could have done to the team if he had been allowed to play the entire game? I swear to God Delhomme is point shaving or intentionally throwing games. That has to be the only reason for his shitty performance, there is no other excuse.
From a completely (trying to be) unbiased perspective, Delhomme is the worst quarterback in the NFL right now. I can't recall a time, except maybe in Chicago with Grossman, where a quarterback has actually dragged a team down like Delhomme has done in Carolina. 11 turnovers in the past 2 games! He hasn't stepped into a throw for the past 3 years (he always leans back and floats the ball) and can't seem to not cause turnovers for his team. He's the worst quarterback in the NFL and there is no reasonable way he should be able to start the game next week in Atlanta...but he will.
1. Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota. Brett Favre's got the greatest job a quarterback trying NOT to get hurt could have -- turn around and hand it to the best back in the football.
I can't count how many times in this column today Peter King referred to Brett Favre as not wanting to be injured? Is he now completely unable to take a sack? If so, he shouldn't be playing in the NFL.
Enjoyable, Aggravating Travel Note of the Week
Three German tourists walked into a Starbucks at Seventh Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan Saturday morning. This particular Starbucks is a touristy place. Two males, one female. One male had a little Canon camera and took a photo of the 50ish man and woman walking into the coffee shop, then of them in line at the coffee shop (from three different angles), picking up the drinks at the coffee shop, sitting at a table at the coffee shop. They noticed me staring in amazement at all the photos, and the photographer said to me, "Coffee!'' I nodded. "Everyone likes coffee!'' Then he went over to the shelf with souvenirs on it and picked up a mug and held the mug in front of himself and took a picture of that.
Foreigners! They are so precocious! They are like little children that can only serve as amusement to us Americans.
b. Adam Schefter reported Sunday that all signs point to Michael Crabtree re-entering the draft in 2010. Interesting decision. There is no way -- and if I'm wrong on this, I will fire myself -- that Crabtree would get picked better than 10th in the 2010 draft without playing this year and having the over-inflated salary demands he has. Thus, he would make less, and perhaps significantly so, than the five-year, $27-million deal (approximately) that he's been offered by the 49ers this year, and for what? Because he's angry he's not the highest-paid receiver in this draft. If he re-enters the draft, it's a decision he'll regret the rest of his life.
See, I don't think it is a decision he will regret because I am not so sure he won't get picked as high or even higher than this year. You are telling me Al Davis is going to be willing to pass him up again? As long as there is not an unproven athlete in the draft who can run fast, it would not shock me to see Davis take Crabtree next year in the draft. It only takes one team to take a chance on him. I think he is stupid but I also think NFL teams are equally as stupid and someone would draft him high in the draft.
f. Rookie Eagle defensive coordinator Sean McDermott didn't like what he saw in the preseason, obviously, but blessed relief came in the opener at Carolina. TGFD (Thank God For Delhomme), because the Eagles held Carolina to 169 yards and three of 19 third-down conversions.
Can we not talk about him "Del-Whom?" again? That's his new name in my world because he is dead to me.
The Eagles did play incredibly good defense on Sunday, there is no denying that. It looks like McDermott learned a lot from Jim Johnson, who made the mistake of dying the same week Brett Favre returned to the NFL for the 15th time...if he had just picked a better time to talk maybe he could have gotten a little more credit for how great his defenses were from Peter.
h. Brady Quinn held his own against a very good defense, but he hardly put a vice-grip on the starting job in Cleveland.
Didn't he put up 20 points on the Minnesota Vikings? I would classify that as a good performance personally.
l. Check out my Tuesday column for thoughts on the Packers' win over the Bears ... and what it means to the future of Aaron Rodgers.
It never fails to irritate me how Peter King constantly pimps his articles in Sports Illustrated and on CNNSI.com. I don't read his articles to hear about what he is writing in the future, I read them to make fun of him. I don't care what I will be reading/making fun of tomorrow, I will read it tomorrow. Is he that insecure no one will read what he writes?
Stayed tuned for tomorrow at BotB, I will tell you something really freaking interesting that will cause you to re-think your life! Be sure to tune in!
h. Tremendous Job of the Week By a Scribe: Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe (well, I can't really say that anymore; Reiss goes to ESPNBoston as of today) performed one of the great services a football writer could perform on Thursday in the Globe's NFL Preview section. He printed the starting lineups, including punter and kicker, of every team in the NFL That's 768 pieces of very valuable information for his readers who really love football.
Fred knows why Reiss's readers really love football...because they are from the New England area where the greatest and most knowledgeable football fans in the world are located! They love football more than you love football! NO ONE DENIES THIS!!!!
(I think that is the one and only time I have ever typed those words)
No one said to him, "Hey, for our NFL preview section, why don't you go out and find the lineups after training camps and preseason games end, and we'll run every one of them.'' It's just something he took on as a project as a guy who wants to get to know the league well and be a good national writer -- while covering the Patriots.
Really, to put the starting lineup for every NFL team in the paper isn't that hard. It's more of a cut and paste off the official depth chart for each team. I hate to rain on Peter's parade, but it's just so much fun to do. He is in awe of Mike Reiss right now and I hate to ruin that, but I will anyway.
d. Jay Cutler surrendering not only four interceptions but also 129 interception return yards ... to zero and zero for Green Bay.
Rex Grossman could have at least tackled the ball carriers before giving up 129 interception yards after throwing 4 interceptions. I told everyone I thought we were getting a little too carried away with the Cutler-love for this year. I am sure he will be better than this in the future, even next game probably, but still...
g. The desperate straits Jake Delhomme has left Carolina in. By choosing to show faith in Delhomme and not going out and getting a proven backup in the offseason, John Fox cast his lot with a beloved but shaky player. No team can win with a turnover machine at quarterback.
Ok, we get it. Del-Whom? sucked yesterday and the game before it. Why can't Carolina get this much coverage from Peter King when they are going 12-4 and winning the NFC South? He thankfully shut up about them all offseason and now when he finds something wrong with the team, he mentions this same thing four times in his MMQB. I bet $100 when/if Del-Whom? has a good game next week we won't hear a damn thing out of Peter King about it.
Everyone knows Del-Whom? is a problem but I personally don't want the opinion of the asshole who can't seem to remember the Panthers won the NFC South last year. If you aren't going to mention them when they are good, don't mention them when they are bad. That goes for every team in the NFL. Don't start jumping on the Green Bay bandwagon now because you haven't talked about their defense all offseason and Peter can't talk about the 49ers being a great story if they make the playoffs because he couldn't even remember the last time he had visited their stadium.
8. I think, now that Bill Belichick has dispatched two men who helped him win three rings to the NFL's pasturelands -- Kansas City (Mike Vrabel) and Oakland (Richard Seymour) -- if I were Brady I'd be thinking, When my expiration date comes, Belichick's gonna send me to the Hamilton TigerCats.
I still think Bill Belichick is a witch for still being able to have players on the Patriots buy into the "total team concept" like they do. I think the Patriots have players buy in to what they do just as well as other teams in the NFL, but they don't just re-sign a guy when it comes time to replace him like other teams do, thereby allowing that player to be a free agent, Belichick trades that guy to wherever he can get the highest draft pick. It's not a bad move, but it is a good way to make sure there is little to no team loyalty. Yet his players always buy into what he is saying. He is a witch, I am telling you.
e. It's disturbing enough how Serena Williams blistered the line judge in her U.S. Open semifinal, causing Williams to get a penalty point, the last one in her loss Saturday night. But what was more disturbing, to me was her failure after her tirade to own up to what she did, denying that she threatened to kill the lineswoman when multiple witnesses heard exactly that. Yes, the foot-fault call was terrible. But threatening people the way Williams did ought to be cause for a suspension. It was disgraceful.
It was disgraceful, her actions. I think if you talk to any person who has played tennis competitively it was also disgraceful for that lineswoman to call a borderline foot fault at that point in the match. The match was on the line, it was a borderline foot fault on her second serve which would have allowed Serena to be serving at match point for Clijsters. You don't make that call at that point in the match. If it's an obvious call, yes you do make the call, but not a borderline call. I probably would have shoved a tennis ball up that lineswoman's ass. Actually, I probably would have just thrown a huge temper tantrum and not threatened anyone. Yes, I may not be classy but at least I would know that the lineswoman was wrong. You can't make that call there.
j. First former SI guy Josh Elliott doing "SportsCenter,'' and now Rick Reilly. Who's next? Phil Taylor? Selena Roberts? Nice job, Rick.
Please don't enable him Peter.
In a meeting at NBC Friday morning with Rodney Harrison and the rest of the NBC Sunday night studio crew, I found myself thinking about the strange case of the New England transformation. The team it fields tonight will be offensively identical and defensively almost completely new.
Ten of the 11 offensive starters are the same; only Kyle Brady is not there anymore, and in his place could well be the exact same kind of bulky blocking tight end, 270-pound Michael Matthews, acquired from the Giants a week ago. But on defense? Check out the difference. I should note that I'm using the projected 3-4 lineup that the Patriots are likely to use when they're in their standard look tonight. But there are indications the team will use a four-man front more than in recent years this year, and if so, rookie tackle Ron Brace and Myron Pryor will both get significant playing time, as will pass-rush specialist Derrick Burgess. Burgess figures to play at least 25 snaps.
Read all of that. You are telling me Peter King isn't a Patriots fan? Look, I have no problem with it, but Peter can't deny it when he continuously breaks down the roster in type of fashion. He probably couldn't even tell us who the starting defensive line for half of the NFL teams consists of off the top of his head, but he knows who the backups for the Patriots are and how many snaps the passing rushing specialist is going to get. Again, I have no problem with it, he is from Connecticut and likes the Red Sox so the odds are good if he wasn't a sportswriter he would like the Patriots, just don't deny it.
I could envision a 4-3 front-seven alignment tonight where only one player who started for the team at the end of 2007 would start today -- Burgess and Green or Tully Banta-Cain at the rush ends, with Brace and Pryor or Green inside up front, with Mayo flanked by Woods and Thomas at linebacker.
Really, just admit it, it will make you feel better. Thanks for the thorough analysis of the Patriots lineup for the starting 7. I am sure all the Patriots fans in the world appreciate your ability to analyze the roster.
I hope everyone enjoyed the first week of the NFL and their fantasy team did not stink it up the first week. I think in the BotB league I somehow have a lead in my first week matchup. If I missed anything stupid Peter said, feel free to mock him in the comments.
14 comments:
Can anyone explain to me how he ranks the Bears 6th in his power rankings, yet the Titans are 12th? The Titans looked very good against a very good team, and King praises them several times in the column. The Bears looked mediocre at best last night.
h. Brady Quinn held his own against a very good defense, but he hardly put a vice-grip on the starting job in Cleveland.
Didn't he put up 20 points on the Minnesota Vikings? I would classify that as a good performance personally.
Actually, as King mentioned, the Vikings began with an onside kick that the Browns recovered. Browns gained 31 yards and kicked an easy FG. Cribbs returned a punt for a TD. The offensive TD occurred in a 34-13 game with 35 seconds remaining. Quinn only really earned 3 points in that game.
If I were to describe how the DEN/CIN game ended without telling you the teams, isn't it sad that you would immediately assume the losing team was the Bengals?
I can explain it to you. Peter King has no logical reasoning behind his Fine Fifteen. He lists the teams he likes best at the top and the lack of reasoning just diminishes from there. He likes Chicago better than Tennessee so they get ranked higher. I tried to quit worrying about this last year when Peter had the Panthers ranked below 3 teams they had beaten at one point last year. I still got annoyed though.
I didn't know Cutler threw 4 interceptions until I read his column. How is Del-Whom? such a bum but Cutler isn't? I am wondering the same thing you are.
Thanks for the Browns offensive update, I didn't get to watch the game and I knew when I was typing that I should look it up, but decided against it stupidly.
I would automatically assume it was the Bengals...though the Lions could be in there as well.
I wouldn't worry about Delhomme. He's going to torch the Falcons this week. Atlanta could start 11 CBs on defense and Steve Smith would still be wide open. At least I don't have to hear about him & DeAngelo Hall having dinner the night before the game anymore.
Oh, I forgot to say that when I was watching ESPN's pregame yesterday morning, Tom, Chris and Keyshawn agreed that Brett Favre was one of the best 4-5 QBs in the league over the course of a whole season. I almost wish I'd been drinking something at the time, becuase that deserved a spit-take.
I hate to have your team lose but Del-Whom? (I am calling him that until he throws more TD's than Int's in a game this year) needs to torch your secondary just for my self esteem. Of course he could throw for a ton of yardage and then the Panthers still lose, which would still suck for me.
Trust me, the Falcons should have no problem with the Panther team that showed up on Sunday. Double Smith, put 8 men in the box and then just blitz the hell out of Del-Whom?. Even if there is an open receiver, he will never find him.
Smith and Hall go out to dinner and then fight with each other Sunday, I miss those days, but the story was overplayed.
Favre is NOT one of the top 4-5 QB's over the course of a season. That's ridiculous to say. They Dilfer-ed him yesterday. He is a game manager now and I would even come close to taking Jackson or Rosenfels over him at this point.
Opinions are opinions but they have to be somewhat reality based.
Brett has a tough job this year, handing the ball off to Peterson and watching him run threw huge holes and run right over CB's and S's. This is not something the other QB's they have could have done, only Brett.
And that Leno quote was so stupid...if you watched it live you would see just how stupid it was. Leno and Castes couldn't even hear each other, it was so messed up.
I've also decided Lovie Smith is the worst coach in the NFL, how does this guy still have a job? Fake punt from your own 25 on a 4th and 8 or something, really? Really????
I'm so confused about that Boston Globe reporter thing in this column. What was the point? Did this guy pay King to mention him or something? I mean has King or this Globe guy heard of GOOGLE? You can google 2009 NFL Depth Charts and find 1235216163 hits. I know how hard it must be to hit the "ctrl c" and "ctrl v" buttons on your keyboard.
For the life of me I cannot figure out why the newspaper business is falling apart.
Since Cutler gave up 129 yards on INTs, does that mean he threw for 406 yards? Thats actually a pretty good game then.
And why does he have a MVP watch up then mentions he can't put Brady and Rivers in since they haven't played? Couldn't he just break that stupid part out next week? Or maybe in like week 10 when it makes more sense?
Can you believe Richard Seymour didn't say he hated Oakland in his press conferences? Isn't King implying that he should have? I think King should be a PR rep.
And another point in which King should stop talking about baseball, he says "In the American League, four Wild Card contenders -- Texas, Seattle, Boston and Tampa Bay -- "....tell me how TB (13.5 games back) is considered a wild card contender? What about Seattle (11 games back)?
He clearly only watched one college football game all week, considering he thinks the USC-OSU game was one of the best he's seen in a while. I still have no idea why anyone thought it was a good game.
Maybe because I am an Eagles fan (sorry Ben), but I found it astonishing that King mentioned McNabb's injury in the most obtuse way possible ("Bet you a latte he plays next week!") and he only mentioned the Igs in the most backhanded way possible. (Yeah, DeSean Jackson's great but he only scored because the refs missed the illegal block. Yeah, great Eagles D, but luck you were playing Delhomme.)
And I know you love the Patriots and all, but Brady has not played a complete game of football since Feb. 2008. The partial games he played in the preseason looked good, but preseason means nothing.
Matt Cassell looked terrible in the preseason last year and he managed to do OK.
And Eagles, 9th in your stupid rankings, behind the 0-1 Bears and a Patriots team that hasn't played yet? Suck on it, King.
If Peter thought the USC-Ohio State game was good, then he really doesn't watch college football does he?
I too was amazed by the fact that Peter seems to think the reporter from the Globe typed out by hand or something, the starting lineups for each team. Mr. Free Coffee really has no clue about computers or the Net does he? I bet Ben could do the same exact thing here in 15 minutes.
I'm actually going to stick up for Del a bit here. Yes he threw interceptions, but the bomb to Smith, that's a "Throw it, see if you can get it, we're behind by 24" type play. The rush that the Eagles were getting on him was tremendous. He shouldn't have made that one throw as he was falling down, sort of a screen pass thing, but I can't blame him too much for it, or the fumble, since apparently the Eagles were allowed to start each play with a player in the Panthers backfield. Speaking of which...
Deangelo Freaking Williams and his 13 points are why you're winning Ben! I need Rivers to put up Brees like numbers to even come close to catching you. But I digress... what the hell is going on with the Panther O-Line? Where was the running game? The blocking? Fox is like too many coaches nowadays, get down by 7 or 10 points, abandon the running game until you draw even again. If the running game is the team strength, keep running the ball...
AJ, I don't think Peter actually came out and suggested Favre should be the MVP, but he was certainly impressed with the way he played and how he did not get injured during the game. He refers to Favre like he is made out of glass.
That was a horrible call by Lovie Smith. I don't think anyone can agree that was a good call. If the Bears play poorly this year, I think Lovie may be gone. Maybe he and John Fox can have a competition to see who can get the 1st defensive coordinator job in the off season.
Peter was overly impressed with Reiss's ability to put the starting lineup for every team in the paper. It's really not that hard...I don't get how he doesn't get this.
Cutler had a great game...that would be nice if he got credit for negative yards thrown. I guess if a quarterback gets credit for an incomplete pass, he should get credit for the negative yardage.
No, because he doesn't actually look at who the MVP is going to be, he just is going to put Rivers and Brady in there, regardless of how they played. The odds of Richard Seymour being a jerk and saying he wasn't happy to be in Oakland are 5%. There is nothing that would indicate why he would say he is not happy.
I didn't even notice the Wild Card stuff. Tampa Bay is out of it. I think Peter only did watch one college football game this weekend. It was actually a sort of boring game to be honest, at least until the end. Of course you have to remember the Trojans have a blond QB that Peter is going to be in love with once he makes it to the NFL...so Peter just has to prepare to fawn over him.
Victor, it's ok to be an Eagles fan. You kicked the shit out of the Panthers fair and square. I don't hate the team for beating the Panthers because the Panthers are incompetent and the Eagles are a good team.
I don't personally mean to diminish what the Eagles did, though I know you are speaking about Peter King, but I am just so focused on Jake Delhomme I can't even begin to talk about the things the Eagles did write. Great gameplan and they rattled Del-Whom?, which is apparently the new way to beat the Panthers. Get in Del-Whom?'s head and he will start throwing INTs.
You can't speak to Peter about Tom Brady. He already is preparing to put him in his MVP race. Preseason means absolutely nothing. For example, the Panthers offensive line was great in the preseason, not so much yesterday, they couldn't handle the blitzes thrown at them. So good point on your part about Brady.
I can't even talk about the arbitrary rankings he has up. The Eagles just blew up a 12-4 team (that has 21 of 22 starters back) and they get no credit. He really has no reasoning behind the Fine Fifteen. Once I accepted that, I dealt with it better.
Martin, as I said below I found the USC-OSU game sort of boring. I understand the importance of the game, but I expected a lot more offense from both teams...or at least exciting defense.
I almost took your 15 minute challenge to put the depth chart for every team up on the Internet, but I don't have time now. Yeah, I don't get how that is impressive...maybe it had a really pretty font or something.
Martin, you are clearly baiting me into talking about the Panthers. While I will agree with you the pass rush was furious, which I give all the credit to the Eagles, I still would have liked to see Jake not throw some of the other passes he threw. The first INT was behind Smith and there is NEVER an excuse for underthrowing Steve Smith. There were just some bad reads from Jake as well. The part you talked about where he threw it falling down and the one where he got stripped was not really his fault because the O-line did nothing to protect him.
Rivers is playing the Raiders tonight, so he could very well put Drew Brees type numbers. I am not exactly scared you will catch up though.
The offensive line was absolutely befuddled yesterday by the blizting of the Eagles, if Del-Whom? had any type of time he would have possibly had time to find an open receiver or something to that effect. Either way, the Eagles smelled blood and attacked. The running game died because the Panthers got down by so much. I am not sure the Panthers O-line is a great pass blocking team, so that is a problem.
I have no idea what was wrong with the offensive line yesterday, it's a good group and they have to do better than that.
The little secret is that the Panthers CAN'T come back if they get down 7 to 10 points because they can't pass the ball at all at this point. They don't have good enough receivers to do it and the offensive line is not going to give whoever the QB is time. It's not a team built to come back.
Ha, it's not baiting, I just figure you're better at explaining what happened better then searching the net for an explination. Same asI'll ask Fred about the Pats or Rule about the Cowboys.
I am always fascinated by collapse from a team that is expected to be good, kinda like the Chargers last year.
I can talk about it all day. I will give you a position by position break down of the problems/solutions if necessary.
They still are a good team. The offensive line needs to get its shit together and Del-Whom? has to start throwing the ball to the right team. They are a good team who can run the ball but Del-Whom? and his receivers have no faith in their ability to throw and catch the ball. It's insanity and needs to be stopped ASAP.
After watching tonights game, I will give TMQ some props for his belief that too many guys are focused on themselves and being "the guy", or "making a play" so that they can show off or draw attention to themselves. As he has pointed out before, guys who merely need to knock a ball down, or make an interception and then fall down to win the game, instead try to return it for a touochdown, fumble, and the other team gets the ball back and then wins the game. While this didn't happen tonight, all the Bill kick returner had to do was fall down on contact with both arms wrapped around the ball. Instead he kept trying to fight for an extra yard...and fumbled. Game to the Pats.
I probably see this a good half dozen times each year, where a guy wrapped up, should just fall to the ground, but instead tries for that extra half yard when his team is trying to kill the clock...and FUMBLE!!! It's ego, pure and simple. One of the smartest plays I've seen was when Brian Westbrook hit the ground at the one yard line to kill the clock. Most guys would have scored, done some taunting, got a 15 yard penalty, and then watched as the other team scores twice to win the game. Playing smart is entirely underratted, and I think is the Patriots biggest advantage in the NFL.
I sort of agree with you, as much as it pains me to compliment TMQ. There is a time and a place for fighting for extra yardage and the end of a game when all you need to do is control the ball is not the time to try and get an extra yard.
At a certain point, the game becomes less about yardage and more about winning the game. I couldn't believe the Bills kick returner did that. Not that you want to play conservatively or anything but if you get an interception at the end of a game and can win the game by going down, just go down. Of course players are taught to chase glory and all of that crap, so it goes against their nature and what they want to do.
The Patriots do play the game smart, I have to give them that.
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