What have we learned - Week 3

Jim Henley linked to me and my big Saturday post. That was a nice thing for him to do, and apparently a bunch of people have come here checking out my little blog. That's cool. If you check out Unqualified Offerings, Jim's blog, you'll think he's an interesting political writer, and he is. But then you might go over to Howling Curmudgeons, the comics blog to which he contributes, and you'll find out he's a comic book geek, just like all the cool people really are! So thanks, Jim, for the pub. If you're coming here from his blog, hi. Don't expect as much political stuff as Jim gives you - it's football time!

After three weeks, we can start to figure a little bit more out about teams. We still don't know everything, but the trends are emerging. So what have we learned?

Ah, my Eagles. Offsides twice on the opening kickoff. Unwilling to pay Brian Westbrook big money, even though he may be more valuable than McNabb. Too arrogant to carry an extra kicker. They should have lost that game. I'm glad they didn't, but they should have. Now McNabb is hurt, David Akers is hurt, and they go on the road into Kansas City. Randy Moss, as usual, disappears in a big game. He might be the most overrated player we've seen in a long time. I think Terrell Owens is an idiot and needs to shut up, but he comes up big on game day, you can't deny it.

Arizona sucks. Let's move on. Actually, before we move on, Shaun Alexander needs more love. He plays way up in Seattle, tucked away in that little corner of the country, but he is a fabulous running back. One of those guys that when you watch him run, you can't believe Holmgren doesn't use him more. Ride the horse, Holmgren! He can take you further in the playoffs than Hasselbeck can!

When the Eagles are on television, I miss a lot of the games on at the same time. Therefore, I didn't watch much of the Carolina-Miami game. I did see the interception at the end of the game that set up the winning field goal. See? I told you Jake Delhomme was overrated. You can't make that throw with less than two minutes left.

I'm still not ready to crown Michael Vick as the greatest quarterback ever, but that was a good win on the road against a tough team. The Bills lost Takeo Spikes for the season. That will hurt. I'll get on the Vick bandwagon soon enough if he keeps this up, but he still has to win a game when he doesn't run at all. Teams will eventually take that away.

Boy, the Bengals are looking good. I picked the Bears because the game was in Chicago, and the Bears played well but they kept turning the ball over. The nice thing about Cincinnati is that they are starting to make their opponents pay when they turn the ball over. That's what good teams do.

I'm also starting to come around to the Browns. Yes, I know they lost, but they played real well on the road against Indy. Everyone says that we shouldn't be concerned about Peyton Manning and his lack of production. Why not? Still, the Colts are looking good, which bugs the hell out of me. I don't like the Colts.

Whatever happened to the intelligent Steve McNair? Not only did he throw the pick to Archuleta that could not have been easier to intercept, but he threw an interception later that was a horrible throw. Crazy Mike Martz still almost gave the game away. What a lousy coach. The Rams should be near the top of the league every year with their talent.

The Jets are in big trouble. I watched some of the game (missed the ending, though, which is a shame) and New York looked horrible. Just awful. They got a fumble recovery for a touchdown, but other than that, they looked like crap. Of course, Jacksonville doesn't look much better.

Wasn't it sweet watching the Green Bay Brett Favres lose to the Tampa Buccaneers? Sweeeeeet. The Pack may very well be the worst team in the league (the Cardinals give them a good run for their money). Favre looks horrible, which makes me happy. Tampa better win all the games early in their season, because if they keep giving the ball to Carnell Williams 35 times or so a game, he's going to break down late, and I don't think Brian Griese can carry the team. So win now, Buccaneers!

Poor New Orleans. They might not win 4 games. Next week they get a "home" game in San Antonio. They aren't good. Minnesota thought, "Hey, this running game thing might work for us." You think? They're not back, but in the NFC North, they might win the division with an 8-8 record.

Who would have thought the Dallas-San Francisco game would be so entertaining? If the 49ers are a little more experienced, they win that game. And a nice move by Larry Allen, getting in his kicker's face for missing an extra point. Hey, Larry, the snap and hold were crap. How about you get in your fellow lineman's face for a shitty snap? Yeah, didn't think so. It's easy to pick on wussy kickers. Dallas was kind of sloppy - that won't get them wins against good teams.

I just found out that the Pittsburgh clock operator added 52 seconds to the game clock in the fourth quarter, which means that instead of 1:21 left after the Steelers tied the game, the Patriots should have had 29 seconds. Sheesh. I hate the Patriots, because shit like this always happens to them. Yes, they're a good team, but little lucky things like this happen to them. Still, the Steelers should have put that game away in the first half. What the hell was Antwaan Randle El doing, lateraling the ball at the New England 10-yard line? Didn't he see that there were three Patriots just waiting to tackle him and anyone he threw the ball to? What a moron. Stupid Patriots. Everyone should start saying how great they are, because it seems like people still don't respect them, which is insane, and it seems like the less people respect them, the better they play. So guess what, New England? Green Bay in the 1960s, Miami and Pittsburgh in the 1970s, San Francisco in the 1980s, Dallas in the 1990s - high school teams compared to you! You could play your backups and beat the snot out of them! Go, Pats!

Hey, guess what, San Diego? LaDanian Tomlinson is pretty good. Yeah, you stupid coaches. Give him the damned ball.

So have we learned anything? Well, Cincinnati looks really good. Watch out, AFC - here come the Bengals! Chad Johnson is flashing those gold teeth at everyone and doing jigs in the end zone! Bengals in the Super Bowl? You heard it here first!