What have we learned - Week 2
Well, another fun week in the NFL has come and gone (I don't count Monday Night games, because unless the Eagles are playing, I don't watch). Interestingly enough, there were a lot of crappy games. So do we know anything?
Boy, the Eagles looked like they were playing a high school team. I know they were motivated and Owens was playing his former team and they played like crap on Monday Night and they wanted to make a statement and San Francisco is still a year or two away, but the 49ers were REALLY horrible. This is why special teams touchdowns, like the 49ers had last week, are misleading - it's nice to get them, but they artificially inflate your scores and make people think you're better than you are. See the Chicago Bears below.
Arizona stinks. It's a very weird team, the Cardinals. They have won 1 playoff game in the past 56 years. It amazing - nothing they do changes the culture of awfulness. Let's move on.
Chicago has that 2001 look about them, when they went 13-3 but weren't really that good. They got an interception return and punt return for touchdowns, which doesn't make you a good team. Poor Joey Harrington. I like him (he went to the University of Oregon) but he's not really a good NFL quarterback. I thought the Lions were going to run more this year?
I was surprised by the Tennessee-Baltimore game. Yes, Baltimore's offense stinks. But Jamal Lewis is a good runner. His line: 10 carries, 9 yards. Boy, a lot of teams are crap this year, aren't they? I missed most of this game - if I have to explain why, you're not a football fan.
The Steelers are just a juggernaut. Poor David Carr. His offensive line is awful. Today the Texans fired their offensive coordinator and promoted to his place the offensive line coach. This is the guy who coached a unit that has allowed their quarterback to be sacked more in the past five years than any other QB. Yeah, that's smart.
Are the Buccaneers back? I hope not. I didn't like Tampa when they were good, and I liked that they started to suck. I won't like Tampa until they bring back the old, orange creamsicle-looking uniforms. It must be so! On Talk Like A Pirate Day, it should be a federal mandate that they bring back those uniforms.
I'm watching the Indianapolis-Jacksonville game, and I'm a bit scared because it looks like Indy has a defense that can carry them past my beloved Eagles in the Super Bowl (if they both get there), but I really liked that the Jaguars made Peyton Manning look bad. Why don't more teams study film of teams that do well against the Colts and try it? Manning is having a bad year. I hope more teams look at what the Patriots, the Ravens in Week 1, and now the Jaguars do against him. It seems simple, doesn't it?
Will Minnesota even win 6 games? They looked truly horrible against the Bengals, who looked really, really good. I like Cincinnati, and I'm glad to see they're doing well, especially because they have two Oregon State Beavers as wide receivers. We'll see how they do against the Steelers in that division.
I got the final score of a game right! Okay, I said New England would beat Carolina 27-17 and the winner was Carolina, but the score was right! This was a weird game. New England played like crap, which is unusual, and although I said they would win, I'm not terribly surprised the Panthers won. I still don't think Jake Delhomme is the real deal. We'll see as the season progresses.
A lot of people love Michael Vick, and I don't have anything against him, but I still don't think the Falcons are ever going to win anything if he continues to play the way he does. Name one running quarterback who has ever won a Super Bowl. Yesterday was the perfect example. Yes, the Falcons went cross-country, and yes, they played on Monday night, and yes, they were much more motivated to beat Philadelphia than Seattle, but Vick just didn't play that well. He's not that good as a quarterback, and until he gets better, the Falcons will win a lot in the regular season, but lose in the postseason. Bet on it!
I didn't watch much at all of the Dolphins-Jets game, because, well, let's face it, it was the Dolphins-Jets game. Pennington apparently had a good game, but he didn't throw downfield much. That will hurt the Jets later in the year.
I very much doubt if most people believed the Browns could go into Lambeau Field and beat the Packers. I certainly didn't. I watched the game with glee, though - Favre, for the second week, looked lost. I loved it. I guess the Packers defense is MUCH worse than I thought it was. I mean, Trent Dilfer lit them up for well over 300 yards. Beautiful.
Denver isn't going to go far if their players keep running onto the field in the middle of plays. It was very funny watching three or four players during a punt return for a touchdown going onto the field right in front of the official. They had two touchdowns called back and still managed to beat San Diego. I have always liked the Chargers, but they can never put two good seasons in a row together. They are going down hard, unfortunately. Bring back the powder blue uniforms for good!
The Eagles play Oakland next week and go to Kansas City in a few weeks, so the Chiefs-Raiders game was a little interesting to me. I didn't watch all of it, but both of them are beatable, because both defenses are suspect. Randy Moss looked open an awful lot, and the Chiefs still have a great offense. The Eagles might have to outscore both of them, but, well, we all saw what Philly can do on offense.
I didn't mention college football last week, but good things happened this past weekend: Notre Dame lost (always a good thing), Oklahoma lost (also a good thing), Penn State won (sure, it was against Central Michigan, but you take what you can get), Arizona State won, Oregon won, Portland State won. Okay, Miami and Florida State won, but all can't be perfect, I suppose. This week Penn State goes on the road for the first time to play Northwestern. It would be nice if they could beat a semi-decent team on the road. We'll see.
Hey, where is everyone? Pictures of Sydney, jokes at the expense of Republicans, Talk Like A Pirate Day - no one has anything to say about any of that? For shame, people!¹
¹ Oh, I'm kidding. I know you're out there. You can't hide from me!
Boy, the Eagles looked like they were playing a high school team. I know they were motivated and Owens was playing his former team and they played like crap on Monday Night and they wanted to make a statement and San Francisco is still a year or two away, but the 49ers were REALLY horrible. This is why special teams touchdowns, like the 49ers had last week, are misleading - it's nice to get them, but they artificially inflate your scores and make people think you're better than you are. See the Chicago Bears below.
Arizona stinks. It's a very weird team, the Cardinals. They have won 1 playoff game in the past 56 years. It amazing - nothing they do changes the culture of awfulness. Let's move on.
Chicago has that 2001 look about them, when they went 13-3 but weren't really that good. They got an interception return and punt return for touchdowns, which doesn't make you a good team. Poor Joey Harrington. I like him (he went to the University of Oregon) but he's not really a good NFL quarterback. I thought the Lions were going to run more this year?
I was surprised by the Tennessee-Baltimore game. Yes, Baltimore's offense stinks. But Jamal Lewis is a good runner. His line: 10 carries, 9 yards. Boy, a lot of teams are crap this year, aren't they? I missed most of this game - if I have to explain why, you're not a football fan.
The Steelers are just a juggernaut. Poor David Carr. His offensive line is awful. Today the Texans fired their offensive coordinator and promoted to his place the offensive line coach. This is the guy who coached a unit that has allowed their quarterback to be sacked more in the past five years than any other QB. Yeah, that's smart.
Are the Buccaneers back? I hope not. I didn't like Tampa when they were good, and I liked that they started to suck. I won't like Tampa until they bring back the old, orange creamsicle-looking uniforms. It must be so! On Talk Like A Pirate Day, it should be a federal mandate that they bring back those uniforms.
I'm watching the Indianapolis-Jacksonville game, and I'm a bit scared because it looks like Indy has a defense that can carry them past my beloved Eagles in the Super Bowl (if they both get there), but I really liked that the Jaguars made Peyton Manning look bad. Why don't more teams study film of teams that do well against the Colts and try it? Manning is having a bad year. I hope more teams look at what the Patriots, the Ravens in Week 1, and now the Jaguars do against him. It seems simple, doesn't it?
Will Minnesota even win 6 games? They looked truly horrible against the Bengals, who looked really, really good. I like Cincinnati, and I'm glad to see they're doing well, especially because they have two Oregon State Beavers as wide receivers. We'll see how they do against the Steelers in that division.
I got the final score of a game right! Okay, I said New England would beat Carolina 27-17 and the winner was Carolina, but the score was right! This was a weird game. New England played like crap, which is unusual, and although I said they would win, I'm not terribly surprised the Panthers won. I still don't think Jake Delhomme is the real deal. We'll see as the season progresses.
A lot of people love Michael Vick, and I don't have anything against him, but I still don't think the Falcons are ever going to win anything if he continues to play the way he does. Name one running quarterback who has ever won a Super Bowl. Yesterday was the perfect example. Yes, the Falcons went cross-country, and yes, they played on Monday night, and yes, they were much more motivated to beat Philadelphia than Seattle, but Vick just didn't play that well. He's not that good as a quarterback, and until he gets better, the Falcons will win a lot in the regular season, but lose in the postseason. Bet on it!
I didn't watch much at all of the Dolphins-Jets game, because, well, let's face it, it was the Dolphins-Jets game. Pennington apparently had a good game, but he didn't throw downfield much. That will hurt the Jets later in the year.
I very much doubt if most people believed the Browns could go into Lambeau Field and beat the Packers. I certainly didn't. I watched the game with glee, though - Favre, for the second week, looked lost. I loved it. I guess the Packers defense is MUCH worse than I thought it was. I mean, Trent Dilfer lit them up for well over 300 yards. Beautiful.
Denver isn't going to go far if their players keep running onto the field in the middle of plays. It was very funny watching three or four players during a punt return for a touchdown going onto the field right in front of the official. They had two touchdowns called back and still managed to beat San Diego. I have always liked the Chargers, but they can never put two good seasons in a row together. They are going down hard, unfortunately. Bring back the powder blue uniforms for good!
The Eagles play Oakland next week and go to Kansas City in a few weeks, so the Chiefs-Raiders game was a little interesting to me. I didn't watch all of it, but both of them are beatable, because both defenses are suspect. Randy Moss looked open an awful lot, and the Chiefs still have a great offense. The Eagles might have to outscore both of them, but, well, we all saw what Philly can do on offense.
I didn't mention college football last week, but good things happened this past weekend: Notre Dame lost (always a good thing), Oklahoma lost (also a good thing), Penn State won (sure, it was against Central Michigan, but you take what you can get), Arizona State won, Oregon won, Portland State won. Okay, Miami and Florida State won, but all can't be perfect, I suppose. This week Penn State goes on the road for the first time to play Northwestern. It would be nice if they could beat a semi-decent team on the road. We'll see.
Hey, where is everyone? Pictures of Sydney, jokes at the expense of Republicans, Talk Like A Pirate Day - no one has anything to say about any of that? For shame, people!¹
¹ Oh, I'm kidding. I know you're out there. You can't hide from me!
posted by Greg | 2:37 PM
7 Comments:
Actually, I haven't gotten a comment in two days. I may cry.
Hmmm ... Maybe people actually are doing things with their lives! How dare they!
>> I guess the Packers defense is MUCH worse than I thought it was.
Or the Browns offense is better.
Hey, this is our year, baby -- our year to go 0-15. I have no idea what the hell is going wrong with the Vikings, but I've got to believe that Tice won't be paying taxes in Minnesota for much longer (i.e., he'll be out of a job) if things don't improve next week. Our only saving grace is that the Packers are also 0-2 (YEAH! Our division rocks!). Generally Vikings fans don't care about losing if the Pack is losing, too.
Well, I'm sorry, Clone, but I think the Packers defense sucks. Cleveland's offense isn't HORRIBLE, but it's nowhere near as good as it looked on Sunday.
And Chris, a lot of people on ESPN were wondering why Tice wasn't fired on Sunday night. It's only a matter of time ...
>> Cleveland's offense isn't HORRIBLE
That's not what you thought last week:
>> Cincinnati looks explosive, but let's face it, it's the Browns. They're giving Trent Dilfer a chance at quarterback, for crying out loud. The Bungles should be decent, but this week tells us nothing except they can beat up a bad team.
Now for all I know, Cleveland will finish 1-15 and you can have a good laugh, but there have been so many changes in Cleveland that it's impossible to know yet how good or bad we actually are. But, in the meantime, wouldn't it be a good idea to admit that Cleveland played well, and that there's a possibility that we're better than you thought?
And Dilfer is second in the NFL with 614 yards thrown in two games. He doesn't seem like such a bad quarterback to me.
But put Cleveland down to lose against the Colts. We won't win that one...
Curses! Foiled by my own words!
That's why we learn something new every day. The Browns are still a mediocre team, and last week I didn't really say anything about their offense, just their defense. I still think Dilfer is a mediocre quarterback - he's decent, but nothing special.
And yes, Cleveland played well. The effort was there, which is I think what Crennel is trying to instill in them. They won't go 1-15, but they're not going to be very good. However, I think they will bother almost everyone on their schedule, because they'll just keep hanging around. The first step on the road to respectability is playing hard every single week, and I think Crennel, with his background, will have them doing that.
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