This week was a delicious sandwich with stale bread. We opened and closed with awful games, but what was in the middle was one of the most exciting weeks we have seen in a very, very long time.
THE STALE BREAD
SAN FRANCISCO 10 – CHICAGO 6
What a snoozer. Neither team looked well coached, or even that interested in this game. I think the Niners need another year under their head coach Mike Singletary, but they need to get a lot better than this quickly. On the other side Jay Cutler has always been sloppy with the ball, and always made questionable throws. He still has not gotten past his college mentality when a strong arm can beat the opposition. That just is not true in the NFL. He very well could be the new Jeff George. Sorry Chicago, no Olympics, no Super Bowl. Besides that, a very forgettable affair.
BALTIMORE 16 – CLEVELAND 0
O man does Cleveland stink. They were beaten near the goal line for a touchdown when they only had ten men on the field. They are unaware of what packages are coming in or going out, and don’t seem to know the plays. This all can be boiled back to head man Eric Mangini. He just flat out cannot coach, and seeing this once proud franchise fall this low, is sad to anyone who loves the game. The ghost of Paul Brown wouldn’t even haunt the stadium now they are so embarrassing. As for the Ravens, they weren’t real good either, but they did just enough to win, putting away a bad team with scoring on both sides of the ball within 17 seconds to begin the second half.
THE GOOD STUFF!
NEW ORLEANS 28 – ST. LOUIS 23
Once again the Saints squeak one out, and I wonder if this is a team that maybe New England can beat. This came down to the last drive of the game, with the usually woeful Rams moving the ball down the field on a tired defense. St. Louis brought it to the Saints, and threw some great shots. The defense was on attack mode, throwing Drew Brees off his game. I am not sure if the Saints looked at this one as a laugher, overlooking their feisty opponent. I think Steve Spagnulo gets the ship righted for the Rams, but it is going to take some time to bring in the proper talent.
MIAMI 25 – TAMPA BAY 23
Chad Henne throws an inexplicable pass with less than five minutes to go. Tampa Bay takes the ball into the end zone, and begins to celebrate their victory despite there being two minutes left in the game. Henne redeems himself with help from RB Ricky Williams, and a game winning field goal is kicked. This game really spotlighted the immaturity of the Bucs coaching staff, who all but took off their headsets after the go-ahead touchdown. The defense could not answer anything Miami did on their last drive, folding under the pressure with vanilla schemes and play that the Dolphins easily picked apart.
JACKSONVILLE 24 – NY JETS 22
This was another real back-and-forth-er. Rex Ryan’s constant blather about how tough the Jets are falls short again. Jacksonville was able to run with Maurice Jones-Drew and win the turn over battle with their defense. The Jags’ D also toughened up when they had to at critical times, and QB Mark Sanchez seemed a bit confused all day. This one was a fun game with over 600 yards of offense and a lot of game changing plays.
SAN DIEGO 31 – PHILADELPHIA 23
San Diego jumped out to a lead and was able to hold on for the win. Philly failed to gain on the Cowboys, with lackluster play. The key to this game was the top-notch QB play out of Philip Rivers. The tighter the game becomes, the better he plays. I have a feeling he will be one of the league’s most exciting thrower for seasons to come. LaDanian Tomlinson ran hard and well, finding the end zone twice. The Eagles gained 479 yards against the soft Charger’s D, but could not get the ball into the end zone when they really needed to. Once again, Philly can’t get it done in a tight game.
GREEN BAY 17 – DALLAS 7
Let’s get right down to it – WR Roy Williams, whom Jerry Jones traded away a real lot for, cost the Cowboys the game. He fumbled wide open in the field, and dropped a critical pass to convert to a first down. On the goal line, he also was unsure what route to run when an audible was called. Besides that, Green Bay was able to dominate the Cowboys line through a straight up power attack which had QB Tony Romo running all day long. On the other side QB Aaron Rogers was also constantly ducking, but was able to find the soft spots all over the Dallas zones, bringing home the victory. A bit of redemption for the Pack after losing to the Bucs the week before. As for Dallas, they once again a choke in a critical game, losing a firm grip off of their division. The Red Lobsters must have been hopping in Green Bay after this one.
TENNESSEE 41 – BUFFALO 17
This will be memorable for two reasons – Chris Johnson’s amazing running, and Titans owner Bud Adams giving the middle finger MANY times to the Bills’ fans at the end of the game. The Commish was not pleased, relieving Adams of $250,000 of his money. Buffalo is just awful, and TO is once again acting like a little child. Tennessee rattled off its third win in a row, and is starting to find itself with Vince Young under center, and the scintillating play of Chris Johnson taking over games.
MINNESOTA 27 – DETROIT 10
Like with most Lions games, it is tight for a while, until they start to go underwater. Last year, they were usually done by the third commercial break, now it is a half. Still this is an awful, talentless team. Minny is a very good team, and now might be the best in the NFC. What a great playoff game it will be if they play the Saints. There is little else to say here: the Vikes did what they had to, and Detroit what we expected them to do.
WASHINGTON 27 – DENVER 17
Denver has a problem. They have been figured out. It seemed the Broncos had a few magic beans, beating the Pats and Pokes, but have dried up now. QB Kyle Orton was injured, and Chris Simms could do nothing to move the ball down the field on a fired up Redskin defense. Washington really played a complete game here, but they just don’t have what it takes this year, with a coaching staff that knows they are on their way out. This might make them a dangerous opponent from here on out. As for Denver, they really need to get back on track, but the offense is being figured out, and teams are bringing a physical game plan against this speed/finesse defense, and knocking it about.
CINCINNATI 18 – PITTSBURGH 12
Another really big game this week lacked the offensive excitement of New England and Indy, but was every bit the tooth-and-nail defensive struggle that some fans love. Both teams punched each other squarely in the teeth over and over, but it was Cincy able to control the line of scrimmage with a swarming, strong defense. Two key injures with the Bengals losing RB Cedric Benson and the Steelers a key cog in their defensive schemes S Troy Polamalu. This one came down to the last minutes, with the Cats willing themselves ahead. Each drive was dramatic and exciting – the NFL’s version of a classic pitchers duel.
CAROLINA 28 – ATLANTA 19
This one was a close one until WR Steve Smith really took over. The Falcons are reeling now, despite winning last week, losing to a very inconsistent team on Sunday. This was sort of hard game to watch, with choppy, inconsistent play on both sides of the ball. A lack of interesting scheming or game planning made this one a little less exciting than it should have been.
KANSAS CITY 16 – OAKLAND 10
Well here is the pit in the olive of our sandwich. Nothing good can be said of this game, between once great rivals, who put once put on great games. Both teams are both poorly coached and lack any real talent, despite always selecting atop the draft yearly. QB JaMarcus Russell was pulled again by Raider’s much maligned coach Tom Cable. Things are really going poorly for both teams, and a lot of it can be traced right back to their front offices.
ARIZONA 31 – SEATTLE 20
It is still really hard to figure out just how good the Cardinals are. They play well sometimes, they score a lot sometimes, they play poorly sometimes, and the defense sometimes lets up a lot of points. As for the Seahawks, the misery continues as they have quietly become one of the poorest playing teams in the NFL. The Cardinals were clearly the better team today, but at times played down to their opponent’s level. Not a great habit if you want to get back to the big dance.
INDIANAPOLIS 35 – NEW ENGLAND 34
Here is the sweet meat. A game that lived up to its hype. A game that will have fall out for this year, and many to come. Forever to be remembered as the Bill’s failure by the hundreds of millions of people who hate Belichick and the Patriots for their slash and burn 2007 season. This game was very much like the Ravens game the Pats played in 2007, with the undefeated team winning for such an unlikely reason. (Remember Rex Ryan illegally calling a time out, which nullifies an amazing play by his defense which should have won them the game).
As for the game itself, it was everything we hoped for. New England throwing surprises at their rival with Kevin Faulk starting in the backfield, and Randy Moss hiding in the slot to go deep every time. Indianapolis held tough as it did in their classic 2007 AFC title game from the 2006 season. The Colts took the best the Pats had to offer in the first half, and it was quite a bit. Brady and company did what they wanted to the surprisingly predictable cover-2 defense the Colts threw at them. Indy kept it close, and then was able to wear out the defense with some shifty running, and some brilliant passing by Manning.
In the end it came down to one play. I could write and entire article on this classic game, but don’t have the space. Hope the article on Belichick’s gamble makes some sense to you.
