Ok, so maybe the Patriots do have some life in them. Everything that Tom Brady did wrong in recent weeks, he corrected in a dominant outing against the Jets. He adjusted to pressure, scanned the field, and found the open man. Rob Gronkowski looks like an absolute beast in the secondary against overmatched defenders. Mark Sanchez on the other hand looked like the real Mark Sanchez – overmatched. The Jets are in trouble any time they get behind by multiple scores; virtually no chance to ride Sanchez’s arm for a meaningful stretch of action. Did the Bills lay an egg or what? In, by far, their worst showing of the year they got manhandled by the Cowboys. They’re fading at the wrong time and travel to Miami this week to face the upstart Dolphins, winners of two straight. Granted those two wins were against the Chiefs and Redskins, but this team, specifically Karlos Dansby and the defense, hasn’t quit on Tony Sparano. I don’t think Matt Moore is going to get much better than what we see from him now, but he’s doing the right thing by continuing to feed Brandon Marshall (20 targets in the last two games).
Up – Patriots, Dolphins
Down – Jets, Bills
AFC North
Yep, they did it again. The Ravens no-showed against a shitty team. I don’t know any way to explain it other than they can’t get back up after a big, emotional game. For the second time this year they lost the week following a win against the Steelers to teams they have no business losing to. Their shitshow against the Jags on MNF was a week after a significant victory against the Texans. David Reed fumbling two kickoffs and giving it to the Seahawks on his team’s doorstep obviously doesn’t help, but the way the Ravens fail to bounce back is troubling to say the least. The Steelers know how to bounce back. They won a much tougher game against the Bengals, scoring a late go-ahead TD and turning over the rookie Andy Dalton in typical championship team fashion. Antonio Brown now has 26 receptions in his last 4 games and is battling Mike Wallace to be Pittsburgh’s most consistent wideout. Cincinnati can’t afford to let this loss linger as they have the Ravens on deck this week. Rookie AJ Green left the game with a hyperextended knee which he suffered after making his one catch (at TD) in the game. He’s expected to play this week, and they’ll definitely need him against Baltimore. One guy they won’t have is Leon Hall who suffered an Achilles injury last week. Huge huge loss. Cleveland lost at home to the 1-7 Rams in a game that I would not call an upset.
Up – Steelers
Down – Browns
AFC South
Wowwie wow wow! Talk about some bad luck. As if losing Andre Johnson and Mario Williams for a significant stretch wasn’t enough, they’re now likely to be without QB Matt Schaub the rest of the year due to a reported Lisfranc injury suffered in their domination of the Bucs. Where do they go from here? Matt Leinart will get the ball when they come out of their bye, and you know the Jags defense (a unit I’ve underestimated this year) has to be licking their chops. Expect a ton of Arian Foster, Ben Tate, and Derrick Ward going forward. In what I thought was a pretty decent surprise, the Titans went to Carolina and spanked the Panthers 30-3 where there was a rare Chris Johnson showing. Johnson totaled 144 yards from scrimmage (130 on the ground) and a TD. No one has surrendered more rushing TDs than the Panthers this year, so maybe we shouldn’t get excited just yet. They’re 5-4 which means they’ll lose next week. The Jaguars beat the Colts in a pretty ugly display of football. Blaine Gabbert threw for 4 more yards than MJD rushed, but a win is a win right? Curtis Painter was mercifully benched for Dan Orlovsky and might have seen his last snap in the league.
Down – Colts
AFC West
This just in – The Chargers are not a good football team. I’m also becoming increasingly disappointed in Philip Rivers. Great QBs find a way to win football games regardless of the health of their teammates or, quite frankly, their own at times. The Chargers just lost for the fourth straight time and don’t resemble a playoff team in any phase of the game. A fifth straight loss looks inevitable as they take on the red hot Bears this week. I’ve mentioned before how Michael Bush might be the best backup back in the league, and he showed why in this one. He was flat out dominant, running over and through Charger defenders even though they knew he was getting the ball. Carson Palmer developing some chemistry with the explosive Denarius Moore, so keep an eye on him in the coming weeks. Congratulations Chiefs. You just lost to a team whose QB completed two, yes dos, passes in an entire four quarter NFL game. Matt Cassel suffered a hand injury that might end his season, so Tyler Palko gets the honor of running the offense for the time being and losing to the Patriots on the road next Monday. Timmy Timmy Timmy. Tebow didn’t complete his first pass of the game until there were less than 4 minutes to go in the third quarter. How is that even possible? If I’m a Bronco fan I’m not sure if I laugh or cry over what’s going on under center. I guess a win is a win, but really? 2 for 8 as a professional QB in a game that you start and finish? Thursday night’s game against the Jets should be a treat.
Up – Raiders
Down – Chargers, Chiefs
In one of the week’s more exciting games, the first place Giants lost on a 4th and 2 at the Niners 10 yard line. Mario Manningham couldn’t hold onto a deep pass that would have been good for the go ahead score earlier in that drive. Otherwise, we might be talking about the 7-2 Giants as one of the league’s elite teams. I’m buying in. The Cowboys are the other NFC East team showing signs of giving a damn. Tony Romo was nearly flawless against the Bills missing on only 3 of his 26 pass attempts and throwing for three scores without a turnover. Dez Bryant led the way with 6 targets and scored once, but Laurent Robinson again had a fine showing, catching all 3 of his targets and turning two of them into TDs. They’ll need more of that with Miles Austin sidelined. Terrence Newman led the way defensively with two INTs including one returned for a score. Their schedule sets up nicely the next three weeks before what should be a huge home Sunday night matchup against the Giants. Damn Philly is bad, and Andy Reid is (or at least should be) in trouble. Their week started with DeSean Jackson being suspended for missing a team meeting and ended with yet another new season low in an inexcusable home loss to the Cardinals. Michael Vick reportedly injured/broke a couple of ribs in the game’s first series, but he still looks clueless out there. Their secondary is baffling. They continue to come up short in big situations and allowed 3 TDs to the unheralded John Skelton. That’s two home losses in a row with a daunting road game at the Giants on this week’s slate. Good luck. The Redskins went back to Rex Grossman at QB, but the results were the same – a fifth straight loss. Like everyone else of late, the Cowboys will likely have their way with them Sunday.
Up – Giants (yes, even with the L), Cowboys
Down – Eagles, Redskins
NFC North
Another week. Another victim. Again, Green Bay was able to do as it pleased offensively, eclipsing the 40 point mark for the fourth time this year. What was more impressive was that their defense finally showed up, holding Minnesota to only 7 points. Aaron Rodgers added 4 TDs to his stat sheet, two of them going to Jordy Nelson. That guy catches everything. Even Matt Flynn found the endzone in mop up duty as the Packers scored 45 points for the second week in a row. You’d have to go back to week 4 of the season against the Colts to add up the Bucs’ last 90 points. Why bring up the Bucs? They’re the next in line to lose to the Packers. Don’t look now, but here come the Chicago Bears. In a contest that was never contested, the Bears flat out dominated the Lions. They picked off Matthew Stafford four times including two pick sixes which happened on back to back possessions. Devin Hester added to his Canton resume with another punt return for a TD and nearly took a second one back as well. These guys are clicking in all phases of the game right now and should wipe the floor with an underperforming, uninspired Chargers team this week. Detroit hosts Carolina this week in a game that should allow them to get back on track while the Vikings have another tough test against the Raiders.
Up – Packers, Bears
Down – Lions
NFC South
In one of the week’s best games, the Saints beat the Falcons in the Georgia Dome following a controversial call in overtime. With the ball on their own 29, Mike Smith decided to go for it on 4th and 1, but Michael Turner got absolutely stuffed by the Saints. Four plays later John Kasay’s kicking the 26 yard game winner. That decision could come back to haunt Smith and the Falcons as they now sit at 5-4 and are unlikely to control their own destiny at any point the rest of the way. Fortunately, they have what looks like a fairly soft schedule (TEN, MIN, HOU-Schaub, CAR, JAX) before facing New Orleans again. The Saints on the other hand head into their bye on an upswing before hosting the Giants in what is likely to be their toughest game the rest of the regular season. They got Mark Ingram back this week, so he should be fairly fresh for the stretch run. Roman Harper is a beast on defense. He totaled 13 tackles and sacked Matt Ryan once, but he had a chance to end the game in regulation if he could have held onto a potential interception. Granted, I’m a cynical son of a bitch, but I’m done with this year’s Bucs after they were flat out embarrassed at home 37-9 by the Texans in a game that saw Jacoby Jones sprint 80 for a TD before most fans found their seats. They’ve been obviously overmatched in their last three contests, and it’s about to get really ugly in Wisconsin. Josh Freeman is a worse player this year, they don’t run the ball well, have no wide receiver that is capable of standing out as a consistent #1, and they’re among the league’s worst in nearly every defensive category. This team isn’t going anywhere with this staff as Raheem Morris can no longer continue laughing and talking his way through letdown after letdown. All that won’t matter if the Glazers don’t start giving a damn about fielding a serious product. If they want to continue taking the uncompetitive route, Morris and crew will be back again next year. Moving on. Once the Titans were able to take Steve Smith out of the game, Cam Newton and the Panthers offense really struggled. Newton failed to find the endzone for the first time this year, and he might make it a second if the Lions play with some heart after getting manhandled by the Bears.
Up – Saints
Down – Falcons, Bucs
NFC West
That’s seven in a row. Seven straight victories for an Alex Smith-led offense. I don’t know how he’s doing it, but Jim Harbaugh has got these 49ers playing at such a high level; sure to be higher after that huge win against the Giants. They haven’t overlooked an opponent yet this year, so I expect them to put a pretty good beating on the Cardinals this year before traveling to Baltimore in what might end up being the most hyped regular season game of the year. Brother vs. brother in a potential Super Bowl matchup. Speaking of the Cardinals, they were the latest team to expose Philly for the fraud they really are. John Skelton has won two straight starts, and Ken Whisenhunt isn’t guaranteeing that Kevin Kolb will get his job back as soon as he’s healthy. Larry Fitzgerald had his best game of the year (7-146-2) as the Cardinals torched the Eagles for 370 total yards. Again, I expect the 49ers to beat them this week,b ut if they can finish strong in games against the Rams, Cowboys, Browns, Bengals, and Seattle, this won’t be an entirely lost season. The Rams didn’t look any better this week, but they did get their second win of the season. They need to use the rest of this season to see what receivers are worth keeping. Brandon Lloyd isn’t going anywhere, but this is an opportunity for Austin Pettis to really carve out a steady role for himself. Seattle was the latest team to benefit from a Ravens flop. They did a great job defensively of taking away the vertical game, limiting Joe Flacco to the short and intermediate zones which really hurt the Ravens when they had to start pressing for points. Good news – Marshawn Lynch had his first back to back 100 yard rushing performance as a pro. Bad News – Sidney Rice had his head slammed pretty hard to the turf and may miss this week’s game against the Rams.
Up – 49ers
Best and Worst
Best Teams (Previous Rank)
1 – Green Bay (1)
The Bucs aren’t knocking them off this spot.
2 – New Orleans (3)
Look to be starting another mini-run here.
3 – Baltimore (2)
They way they flop to slop amazes me.
4 – Pittsburgh (4)
Speaking of runs, I think the Steelers are set to go on one (@KC, v.CIN, v.CLE).
5 – San Francisco (5)
They’re closer to #4 than #6. They’re becoming a very interesting team to follow.
6 – Chicago (NR)
Maybe I’m overdoing this one, but I get a really strong feeling that they’re about to put together a seriously strong stretch and move up this list.
7 – NY Giants (8)
Even with the loss they move up. Eli Manning has become a consistent offensive operator, and they’re a team that no longer relies on their defense to win games for them.
8 – New England (NR)
Maybe last week’s beatdown of the Jets was a tease, but with the defense making a few stops, their offense suddenly looked a lot better. Coincidence? Not!
OUT – Houston (6, no Schaub = no chance), Detroit (7)
Worst Teams (Previous Rank)
1 – Indianapolis (1)
Dan Orlovsky, come on down!
2 – Cleveland (5)
Becoming more and more unimpressed with every part of this team except its secondary. Tremendous chance they don’t win another game. I’d put money on it if I could.
3 – St. Louis (4)
They’re really not going to get any better (or healthier) this year.
4 – Jacksonville (3)
They’ll likely win this week, but losing Rashean Mathis for the year is a huge defensive subtraction.
5 – Washington (NR)
Their defense isn’t bad, but I’m not sure the Ravens or Steelers could win with that offense. They’re only going to get worse too.
6 – Carolina (NR)
Another new entry this week, Carolina quit scoring points last week but continued to surrender them at a near league-high rate.
7 – Miami (2)
That’s two in a row, and I wouldn’t put it past them beating the bumbling Bills to make it a third.
8 – Minnesota (NR)
A ton of talent, but that 2-7 record is hard to ignore.
OUT – Arizona (6), Denver (7), Seattle (8)
This Week’s Predictions
Strongest wins (by more than 14)
Packers over Bucs
Patriots over Chiefs
Bears over Chargers
Giants over Eagles
Double digit dominance (at least 10)
49ers over Cardinals
Cowboys over Redskins
Ravens over Bengals
Just win baby
Jets win at Broncos
Falcons beat Titans
Lions beat Panthers
Rams beat Seahawks
Upsetville – Population 3
Dolphins beat Bills
Raiders win at Vikings
Jaguars win at Browns
“Everything that Tom Brady did wrong in recent weeks, he corrected in a dominant outing against the Jets.”
ReplyDeleteI didn’t think he was particularly dominant until his defense starting giving him three and outs because….”Mark Sanchez on the other hand looked like the real Mark Sanchez – overmatched.” Wow, I completely concur with your 25/32 assessment now. Crikey, he’s TERRIBLE. Let me tell you about a discussion a student and I had this week. He follows the game pretty closely, so I asked if he would put Sanchez near the middle of the pack or near the bottom. He didn’t hesitate to answer “around 28th”. I said that would put him in the Matt Moore zone! His response: “He’s not as good as Matt Moore.” Dang! I guess I can see his point. If you swapped Sanchez with Moore, a journeyman backup and would Sanchez do as well as Moore in Miami? It’s certainly not obvious the answer is yes. BTW, there is a really interesting article on the worst deep throw QBs in the NFL; Mark Sanchez is BY FAR the worst.
“I don’t know any way to explain it (Ravens inconsistency) other than they can’t get back up after a big, emotional game.”
I’ll explain it: You CANNOT trust Joe Flacco week to week. Hell, sometimes he looks like a different player quarter to quarter. You get ‘Good Joe’ that delivers the ball with zip and confidence and throws the best deep ball in the AFC…then you get ‘Bad Joe’ capable of looking very much like someone just signed off the street.
“Antonio Brown now has 26 receptions in his last 4 games and is battling Mike Wallace to be Pittsburgh’s most consistent wideout.”
The emergence of this kid is very, very bad news for the rest of the AFC, and I do not think he is a 4 game flash in the pan. The canyonesque gulf between Hines Ward reputation as a blocker and his recent performances coupled to his inability to do anything but find a hole six yards deep in a zone made the Steelers much more defensible than they are now. Brown has a lot of Miles Austin in him, by which I mean he’s a threat at every number on the route tree.
“As if losing Andre Johnson and Mario Williams for a significant stretch wasn’t enough, they’re now likely to be without QB Matt Schaub the rest of the year”
That franchise cannot catch a break, man. I always pull for Matt Schaub to do well, since I said for years that the Falcons would have been a much better team if they had benched the player he sat behind for years and played him.
“you know the Jags defense (a unit I’ve underestimated this year) has to be licking their chops”.
Remember when all the analysts said they reached for that Samoan kid…I call him RockyHorra…well, he’s outplaying a lot of players taken with picks higher than him over the last few years. I saw they picked up George Selvie. Do you remember there was actually some debate as to whether he was the best lineman on that USF team? He was not.
“the Titans went to Carolina and spanked the Panthers 30-3…”
The ball has been firmly struck and placed 1/2 inch from the out-line in Mr. Newton’s court. It is now time for him to execute his first iteration in the eternal loop of scheme vs. QB adjustments. He either has the ability to do so and become the type of Pro Bowl lever player his physical tools will allow him to be, or he will end up being a much more athletic version of Joe Flacco.
“Great QBs find a way to win football games regardless of the health of their teammates or, quite frankly, their own…”
ReplyDeleteTheir window as a team has been shut with a vehemence. Gates’ foot, loss of Sproles, McNeil in and out of the lineup, average pass rush, average secondary…if it wasn’t the Chargers that have long had an overvalued talent portfolio, they’d be considered an afterthough in the playoff picture, which is in fact what they are.
“If I’m a Bronco fan I’m not sure if I laugh or cry over what’s going on under center.”
If you’re rational about it, you cheer your him and your team as they achieve what is sure to be a limited number of victories using an offense that in untenable in the long term, all the while understanding he is not the quarterback to whom you can speak of as a player capable leading a team to anything better than the occasional win over bad to mediocre teams. John Fox knows by this time next year he is going to have that kid back on the bench if they can find a viable option in the draft. He’s building a defense capable of winning his division in 2012 if they can put a few points on the board. In the middle of the NYJ-DB game, I tweeted someone that the maximum number of points you can expect out of that offense with Tebow there is 17, but that was probably an overestimate. It’s probably more like 13.
“Michael Vick reportedly injured/broke a couple of ribs in the game’s first series, but he still looks clueless out there. Their secondary is baffling.”
Vick, who has herpes, and recently claimed that he never worked at learning to read defenses, which is a specious rationale for his lacking the intellectual capacity to have ever done so or ever do so in the future, is quite capable of leading a team to a championship if the season were perhaps three games long. One thing about the Eagles: There’s a talk show host named Rick Tittle that I call that does a show out of the SF bay area who is a lifelong Raiders fan. He said repeatedly last offseason that Nhmadi was extraordinarily overrated, and if you watched him play every game rather than listen to commentators that bought into his reputation, you would see it for yourself. I would tell him he was nuts. Maybe he wasn’t.
“Tony Romo was nearly flawless against the Bills missing on only 3 of his 26 pass attempts and throwing for three scores without a turnover.
The Packers should be concerned. I don’t think Romo can have these kinds of performances three times in a row (or four if they end up as a wild card) which makes the Cowboys winning a Super Bowl with him very iffy. But if the stars are aligned, namely when he gets back Miles Austin, he is capable getting his team a win against anyone in the NFL.
“Another week. Another victim. Again, Green Bay was able to do as it pleased offensively, eclipsing the 40 point mark for the fourth time this year.”
Here is another reason the Packers should be concerned: Rogers is feeling pressure from the edges. Lucky for them, save for John Elway, the best quarterback and possibly the best player in the history of the NFL, they have a guy well suited to dealing with an outside rush. However, all it takes is one big smack (Jared Allen put him down hard enough to separate a shoulder) and their season is (in terms of their goal to win it all of course) is over. Eventually I will look up when and if Chad Clifton is due back; if he is, then everyone in the NFC is probably playing for second.
“Don’t look now, but here come the Chicago Bears. In a contest that was never contested, the Bears flat out dominated the Lions.”
The Bears are a very good football team, but they don’t have the firepower to get past the Cowboys or Packers. Give Jay Cutler a top five receiver and they’d be a serious threat to win the whole thing. It’s amazing how well a defense can be even with aging players if those players have been together for a long time.
“With the ball on their own 29, Mike Smith decided to go for it on 4th and 1, but Michael Turner got absolutely stuffed by the Saints.”
ReplyDeleteI agreed with the decision. The problem is that coaches fall into the habit of running the same play on 4th and short they might on 2nd and short. As Gregg Easterbrook has pointed out, you must run some misdirection to get defensive players moving around. 4th and inches should be unstoppable if you can get a few guys looking at something other than the ball carrier. Anyway, if these two teams play, the Saints win 8 out of 10 if Mark Ingram is available. He’s not putting up huge numbers, and he will garner no ROY votes, but he’s a positive yard machine that you have to watch play to understand his value.
“Josh Freeman is a worse player this year, they don’t run the ball well, have no wide receiver that is capable of standing out as a consistent #1, and they’re among the league’s worst in nearly every defensive category.”
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? I recently saw something that claimed Freeman is going through a pretty standard slump, which can be partially explained by having no help around him (I think it was by Greg Cosell). Fair enough, but I don’t expect anything better form him until another coach comes in that has a professional level of competence and will call him out when he sails balls all over the yard. His crappy mechanics and inaccuracy have very little to do with what surrounds him; that’s on Freeman.
“That’s seven in a row. Seven straight victories for an Alex Smith-led offense. I don’t know how he’s doing it…”
They don’t turn the ball over on offense and they have a very good defense it a shitty division. They caught the Lions at the beginning of their slide, they beat a mediocre Eagles team on a turnover, and they play in a shitty division. Look at the Broncos: the have an immediate advantage in that Tebow will never throw an INT; first he doesn’t put it in the air enough, and secondly, he is so inaccurate the ball is hardly ever in the vicinity of a DB, much less his intended receiver. You can stay in a lot of games late if the other team isn’t delivered the ball.
“Seattle was the latest team to benefit from a Ravens flop. They did a great job defensively of taking away the vertical game…”
The Seahawks have the worst sideline coaching organization and composure in the NFL. It’s amazing to me how they can win any game, much less one against a decent team. Their not on the Bucs schedule this year are they?
The above comments reflect the opinion of TPE and do not represent the views of the management of this station or it's parent company.
“I didn’t think he was particularly dominant until his defense starting giving him three and outs because….”Mark Sanchez on the other hand looked like the real Mark Sanchez – overmatched.” Wow, I completely concur with your 25/32 assessment now. Crikey, he’s TERRIBLE. Let me tell you about a discussion a student and I had this week. He follows the game pretty closely, so I asked if he would put Sanchez near the middle of the pack or near the bottom. He didn’t hesitate to answer “around 28th”. I said that would put him in the Matt Moore zone! His response: “He’s not as good as Matt Moore.” Dang! I guess I can see his point. If you swapped Sanchez with Moore, a journeyman backup and would Sanchez do as well as Moore in Miami? It’s certainly not obvious the answer is yes. BTW, there is a really interesting article on the worst deep throw QBs in the NFL; Mark Sanchez is BY FAR the worst.”
ReplyDeleteBrady definitely gets/stays in rhythm a lot quicker when he has a viable defense behind him. Sanchez is shit; damn awful. I know I made a comment in last week’s piece about them maybe being unable to pass up a passer in the next 2-3 years, but they might be trading up to get one this year before all is said and done. He absolutely cannot lead a team from behind, due mostly to what you mention, his pathetic arm strength. Matt Moore might be better than Sanchez because he can somewhat create on his own. Santonio Holmes gets visibly pissed off with him every game. Don’t see any upside with Sanchez.
“I’ll explain it: You CANNOT trust Joe Flacco week to week. Hell, sometimes he looks like a different player quarter to quarter. You get ‘Good Joe’ that delivers the ball with zip and confidence and throws the best deep ball in the AFC…then you get ‘Bad Joe’ capable of looking very much like someone just signed off the street.”
I read something this week that puts a lot of blame on Cam Cameron’s inability/unwillingness to make in-game adjustments. Flacco isn’t without blame, but the play calling in each of their losses has been garbage. Ray Rice is easily their best player on that side of the ball, and there’s no excuse for him not touching it at least 20 times a game.
“The emergence of this kid is very, very bad news for the rest of the AFC, and I do not think he is a 4 game flash in the pan. The canyonesque gulf between Hines Ward reputation as a blocker and his recent performances coupled to his inability to do anything but find a hole six yards deep in a zone made the Steelers much more defensible than they are now. Brown has a lot of Miles Austin in him, by which I mean he’s a threat at every number on the route tree.”
Good comparison with Austin from an ability make plays downfield. I too think he’s here to stay. Ward is pretty much done. Whether or not this is his last year, he’s done as a central part of this offense.
“That franchise cannot catch a break, man. I always pull for Matt Schaub to do well, since I said for years that the Falcons would have been a much better team if they had benched the player he sat behind for years and played him.”
What a punch to the gut. If you’re a Texans fan, can you really get excited about Matt Leinart? Brutal loss.
“Remember when all the analysts said they reached for that Samoan kid…I call him RockyHorra…well, he’s outplaying a lot of players taken with picks higher than him over the last few years. I saw they picked up George Selvie. Do you remember there was actually some debate as to whether he was the best lineman on that USF team? He was not.”
ReplyDeleteYou talking about Alualu? I think he was better last year; getting outplayed/overshadowed by Terrence Knighton this year. Selvie pretty much peaked his sophomore year at USF and hasn’t raised his game since.
“The ball has been firmly struck and placed 1/2 inch from the out-line in Mr. Newton’s court. It is now time for him to execute his first iteration in the eternal loop of scheme vs. QB adjustments. He either has the ability to do so and become the type of Pro Bowl lever player his physical tools will allow him to be, or he will end up being a much more athletic version of Joe Flacco.”
I take it Flacco’s not on your Christmas card list. Yeah, Cam has to make adjustments because defenses have started making them against him. His athleticism will only take him so far, and he needs to be able to find other receivers when Steve Smith is neutralized.
“Their window as a team has been shut with a vehemence. Gates’ foot, loss of Sproles, McNeil in and out of the lineup, average pass rush, average secondary…if it wasn’t the Chargers that have long had an overvalued talent portfolio, they’d be considered an afterthough in the playoff picture, which is in fact what they are.”
I personally see them getting stomped in Chicago this week. A sputtering offense against a clicking-on-all-cylinders defense? I’ll take the defense every time.
“If you’re rational about it, you cheer your him and your team as they achieve what is sure to be a limited number of victories using an offense that in untenable in the long term, all the while understanding he is not the quarterback to whom you can speak of as a player capable leading a team to anything better than the occasional win over bad to mediocre teams. John Fox knows by this time next year he is going to have that kid back on the bench if they can find a viable option in the draft. He’s building a defense capable of winning his division in 2012 if they can put a few points on the board. In the middle of the NYJ-DB game, I tweeted someone that the maximum number of points you can expect out of that offense with Tebow there is 17, but that was probably an overestimate. It’s probably more like 13.”
It’s amazing how he can look completely out of his league for 3+ quarters and then, poof, let’s run around with the football and pull one out of our asses. Fox’s comments about Tebow being screwed if they ran a real offense was funny.
“Vick, who has herpes, and recently claimed that he never worked at learning to read defenses, which is a specious rationale for his lacking the intellectual capacity to have ever done so or ever do so in the future, is quite capable of leading a team to a championship if the season were perhaps three games long. One thing about the Eagles: There’s a talk show host named Rick Tittle that I call that does a show out of the SF bay area who is a lifelong Raiders fan. He said repeatedly last offseason that Nhmadi was extraordinarily overrated, and if you watched him play every game rather than listen to commentators that bought into his reputation, you would see it for yourself. I would tell him he was nuts. Maybe he wasn’t.”
Nnamdi definitely wasn’t worth the hassle so far, and he’s clearly no 1a to Darrelle Revis. Thanks for mentioning that talk show host. It seems like he was spot on in his assessment.
“The Packers should be concerned. I don’t think Romo can have these kinds of performances three times in a row (or four if they end up as a wild card) which makes the Cowboys winning a Super Bowl with him very iffy. But if the stars are aligned, namely when he gets back Miles Austin, he is capable getting his team a win against anyone in the NFL.”
ReplyDeleteDallas won’t beat the Packers. If Green Bay goes down I think it’s either to the Bears or Saints.
“Here is another reason the Packers should be concerned: Rogers is feeling pressure from the edges. Lucky for them, save for John Elway, the best quarterback and possibly the best player in the history of the NFL, they have a guy well suited to dealing with an outside rush. However, all it takes is one big smack (Jared Allen put him down hard enough to separate a shoulder) and their season is (in terms of their goal to win it all of course) is over. Eventually I will look up when and if Chad Clifton is due back; if he is, then everyone in the NFC is probably playing for second.”
Yeah I don’t like how Rodgers has little to no pocket to throw. As you mention, the edges are getting collapsed, and they really miss Clifton. I think they’d like to run the ball a lot more and would do so if they felt they could rely on the edge blocking a bit more.
“The Bears are a very good football team, but they don’t have the firepower to get past the Cowboys or Packers. Give Jay Cutler a top five receiver and they’d be a serious threat to win the whole thing. It’s amazing how well a defense can be even with aging players if those players have been together for a long time.”
True. I see Chicago in a treat in a big game because “all” they need is a strong defensive effort and to feed a productive Matt Forte a ton. I could see them working that formula to a low scoring, possible upset against the Packers.
“I agreed with the decision. The problem is that coaches fall into the habit of running the same play on 4th and short they might on 2nd and short. As Gregg Easterbrook has pointed out, you must run some misdirection to get defensive players moving around. 4th and inches should be unstoppable if you can get a few guys looking at something other than the ball carrier. Anyway, if these two teams play, the Saints win 8 out of 10 if Mark Ingram is available. He’s not putting up huge numbers, and he will garner no ROY votes, but he’s a positive yard machine that you have to watch play to understand his value.”
I punt the ball. You don’t get it, you give the Saints the game. If you punt, you leave a chance that someone fumbles or Brees throws an INT; any kind of mistake. You have a hell of a better chance that way in my opinion, but that’s why Mike Smith is on the sidelines and I’m where I am. Yeah, next year will be Ingram’s year. Like they need any more help.
“Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? I recently saw something that claimed Freeman is going through a pretty standard slump, which can be partially explained by having no help around him (I think it was by Greg Cosell). Fair enough, but I don’t expect anything better form him until another coach comes in that has a professional level of competence and will call him out when he sails balls all over the yard. His crappy mechanics and inaccuracy have very little to do with what surrounds him; that’s on Freeman.”
Ha, hard to find much to get excited about with this team. Glad to see Mike Lombardi put the spotlight on the sad state of affairs with this team. Quite simply, I don’t see much of a point in continuing to break down the Bucs under this staff. The offense will continue to be predictable and lethargic under Greg Olson, and Raheem is too much of a cheerleading mouthpiece to be a respected, consistent developer of responsible winners. The team, as currently constructed, isn’t going anywhere, and I get no feeling that the structure is going to change any time soon. Doesn’t mediocrity taste great?
“They don’t turn the ball over on offense and they have a very good defense it a shitty division. They caught the Lions at the beginning of their slide, they beat a mediocre Eagles team on a turnover, and they play in a shitty division. Look at the Broncos: the have an immediate advantage in that Tebow will never throw an INT; first he doesn’t put it in the air enough, and secondly, he is so inaccurate the ball is hardly ever in the vicinity of a DB, much less his intended receiver. You can stay in a lot of games late if the other team isn’t delivered the ball.”
ReplyDeleteTPE, sometimes appreciate for another person’s take cannot properly/sufficiently be put into words. This is one of those times. Great stuff!
“The Seahawks have the worst sideline coaching organization and composure in the NFL. It’s amazing to me how they can win any game, much less one against a decent team. Their not on the Bucs schedule this year are they?”
No, they don’t play the Seahawks. Imagine that coaching matchup. Not quite reminiscent of Lombardi/Stram or even Belichick/Coughlin is it?
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