What have we learned - Week 8
Ugh. We learned that Andy Reid needs to be beaten with something heavy. He's a big guy, so it needs to be heavy or he wouldn't feel it. Ugh.
Anyway, how about your favorite psychic calling the San Francisco win? That's why they pay me the big bucks. So really, what have we learned?
I love Andy Reid, but I place the blame for the Eagles' poor season so far squarely on his shoulders. He called 11 passing plays and 1 running play in their first 12 plays. McNabb was 0-for-10 with one scramble for 1 yard. The running play picked up 3 yards. Yes, 12 plays, 10 incompletions, 4 yards, 4 punts. No wonder Denver was up in that game 21-0 early! The Broncos were blitzing on every play, and McNabb couldn't get a pass off. You know what slows down the blitz? Running the freakin' ball! I was so angry at that game. The owner needs to tell Andy Reid that in next week's game, if he doesn't run the ball twice as much as pass, win or lose, he gets fired. That's it. Denver looked pretty stinkin' good, I'll say that much. See what happens when you can run the ball and your quarterback doesn't do anything stupid? Good things, that's what.
The Arizona-Dallas game told us nothing about how good the Cowboys are. They're not bad, but who knows when you play the Cardinals. I cannot figure out why the Cardinals can't win. They have tried everything in the past 17 years or so. It's a mystery. The Cowboys get a week off and then they play the Eagles in Philly on Monday night. I'm reserving judgment about them until then.
Raiders-Titans was another brutally boring game. I watched about five minutes of it. It ended up being more exciting than it had any right to be, but I still wasn't watching.
I also called the Houston win, because I figured they had to win some game, and why not this one? I still don't think David Carr is the answer in Houston, but he got the job done yesterday. I think Dilfer gets one more game in Cleveland and then they go to Charlie Frye. Why not? Dilfer just isn't getting it done.
I completely missed the boat on the Washington-New York game. I thought the Giants would ride the emotion of Wellington Mara's death for a quarter, but then the Washington defense would take control. They just got run right out of the Meadowlands. I watched for a while in the first quarter, and Washington looked like they just didn't want to be there. On the radio this morning everyone is talking about how good the Giants are. Hey, New York - win a game on the road. Technically they have a road win, but it was against the Saints in New Jersey. Eli Manning still hasn't won a game on the road, so don't tell me they're the class of the division just yet. They have the talent, but they have to win on the road.
My friend Mike loves the Rams, so he's always watching their games. Yesterday he pointed out that the Jaguars ran for well over 200 yards on the porous St. Louis defense, but the Rams kept getting breaks because Jacksonville would inexplicably start throwing the ball. That's why Jacksonville isn't an elite team yet. You can bet Bill Cowher wouldn't have abandoned the run. He would have kept piling it up. St. Louis dodged a huge bullet because at weird times, the Jaguars went for big plays. And hey, look - the Rams have a running game and it's working for them! I said it a few weeks ago, and I'm sticking to it - I feel bad for Mike Martz, but I thought the Rams would be better without him.
How about that Green Bay team and their sucky quarterback? Five picks for Nancy-Boy Favre is too few in my book. Yes, the Bengals should be worried about this game because they should have blown the Pack right out of the building and only beat them by a touchdown, but a win is a win, and Cincinnati continues to beat the teams they should - the crappy ones. One of these days they're going to have to beat a good team, but as long as they're beating the crappy teams, the victory against the good team will come at some point. And everyone is ragging on the guy who ran onto the field. Sure, he was a tool, but to blame Green Bay's loss on him, as Woody Paige did on ESPN this morning, is crap. Green Bay lost that game all on their own. Five interceptions for Nancy-Boy = sweet.
I didn't watch any of the Miami-New Orleans game, because it was on at the same time as the Eagles game and when I got sick of that, I turned the television off. I thought the Saints would show up for their first game in Louisiana. I was wrong. Their owner tried to beat up a cameraman from a New Orleans television station after the game, which was kind of funny. He shows more spunk than his team, I'll tell you that much.
LaDanian Tomlinson might be the best quarterback on his team. That's pretty sad. San Diego got out to a quick lead on Kansas City and cruised. This was a pretty good game, even though I missed most of it. From what I saw, the teams were really smacking each other around. The Chiefs should probably learn how to tackle. Just a suggestion.
Well, San Francisco won by kicking five field goals and playing good defense. Whenever I turned it on, Tampa had the ball and the 49ers were bashing Chris Sims. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. San Francisco has no talent whatsoever, but they can play hard, especially at home. Tampa = pretenders. Sorry, Gruden.
I watched one snap of last night's game. I was busy with children and cranky from the afternoon's outcome. Bruschi didn't die, so I guess that's something. I really hope the Patriots smack the Colts next week, even though I don't think it's going to happen.
College football gave us some interesting games. Penn State and Wisconsin won easily, setting up the big showdown next week which will probably determine the winner of the Big Ten. Texas looked horrible for the first half, but I knew they would win anyway, because Oklahoma State had a couple of chances to put even more points on the board and they didn't take advantage. It's lucky for Penn State that Michigan sucked earlier in the year, because the Wolverines look like they're putting it together, but it might be too late. UCLA somehow scored three touchdowns in the final 8 minutes to tie Stanford, eventually beating them in OT. I like the Bruins, but even though the game was on the road, you can't get down to Stanford like that. I was so mad at Maryland for blowing the game against Florida State, because every game that Bobby Bowden loses is a good one. Things are shaking out, as they usually do, with undefeated teams losing (this week it was Georgia's turn), but I still have a feeling we'll have AT LEAST three unbeaten teams after the regular season, if not four (Alabama can still run the table). That would be awesome. Any time the BCS gets screwed is a good time for me.
With the decline of the Patriots and Eagles, this NFL season is really shaping up nicely (well, except for fans of those two teams, me included), because who knows who's good? At least it means that when Philadelphia comes to the desert to play Arizona on Christmas Eve, a game for which I have tickets, it will mean something and all their regulars will play. That's something, I guess. And today on ESPN, Skip Bayless said that Ray Lewis was punking out of the game tonight because he didn't want to have to deal with Pittsburgh's running game. Jay Crawford said he was a brave man for calling out Ray Lewis like that. It was the closest thing I have heard in a long time to what I would do if I were a play-by-play man, and that is call Ray Lewis a murderer on every play. Funny stuff. But true. Ray Lewis is a big bully who runs to his mommy if someone stands up to him.
Anyway, how about your favorite psychic calling the San Francisco win? That's why they pay me the big bucks. So really, what have we learned?
I love Andy Reid, but I place the blame for the Eagles' poor season so far squarely on his shoulders. He called 11 passing plays and 1 running play in their first 12 plays. McNabb was 0-for-10 with one scramble for 1 yard. The running play picked up 3 yards. Yes, 12 plays, 10 incompletions, 4 yards, 4 punts. No wonder Denver was up in that game 21-0 early! The Broncos were blitzing on every play, and McNabb couldn't get a pass off. You know what slows down the blitz? Running the freakin' ball! I was so angry at that game. The owner needs to tell Andy Reid that in next week's game, if he doesn't run the ball twice as much as pass, win or lose, he gets fired. That's it. Denver looked pretty stinkin' good, I'll say that much. See what happens when you can run the ball and your quarterback doesn't do anything stupid? Good things, that's what.
The Arizona-Dallas game told us nothing about how good the Cowboys are. They're not bad, but who knows when you play the Cardinals. I cannot figure out why the Cardinals can't win. They have tried everything in the past 17 years or so. It's a mystery. The Cowboys get a week off and then they play the Eagles in Philly on Monday night. I'm reserving judgment about them until then.
Raiders-Titans was another brutally boring game. I watched about five minutes of it. It ended up being more exciting than it had any right to be, but I still wasn't watching.
I also called the Houston win, because I figured they had to win some game, and why not this one? I still don't think David Carr is the answer in Houston, but he got the job done yesterday. I think Dilfer gets one more game in Cleveland and then they go to Charlie Frye. Why not? Dilfer just isn't getting it done.
I completely missed the boat on the Washington-New York game. I thought the Giants would ride the emotion of Wellington Mara's death for a quarter, but then the Washington defense would take control. They just got run right out of the Meadowlands. I watched for a while in the first quarter, and Washington looked like they just didn't want to be there. On the radio this morning everyone is talking about how good the Giants are. Hey, New York - win a game on the road. Technically they have a road win, but it was against the Saints in New Jersey. Eli Manning still hasn't won a game on the road, so don't tell me they're the class of the division just yet. They have the talent, but they have to win on the road.
My friend Mike loves the Rams, so he's always watching their games. Yesterday he pointed out that the Jaguars ran for well over 200 yards on the porous St. Louis defense, but the Rams kept getting breaks because Jacksonville would inexplicably start throwing the ball. That's why Jacksonville isn't an elite team yet. You can bet Bill Cowher wouldn't have abandoned the run. He would have kept piling it up. St. Louis dodged a huge bullet because at weird times, the Jaguars went for big plays. And hey, look - the Rams have a running game and it's working for them! I said it a few weeks ago, and I'm sticking to it - I feel bad for Mike Martz, but I thought the Rams would be better without him.
How about that Green Bay team and their sucky quarterback? Five picks for Nancy-Boy Favre is too few in my book. Yes, the Bengals should be worried about this game because they should have blown the Pack right out of the building and only beat them by a touchdown, but a win is a win, and Cincinnati continues to beat the teams they should - the crappy ones. One of these days they're going to have to beat a good team, but as long as they're beating the crappy teams, the victory against the good team will come at some point. And everyone is ragging on the guy who ran onto the field. Sure, he was a tool, but to blame Green Bay's loss on him, as Woody Paige did on ESPN this morning, is crap. Green Bay lost that game all on their own. Five interceptions for Nancy-Boy = sweet.
I didn't watch any of the Miami-New Orleans game, because it was on at the same time as the Eagles game and when I got sick of that, I turned the television off. I thought the Saints would show up for their first game in Louisiana. I was wrong. Their owner tried to beat up a cameraman from a New Orleans television station after the game, which was kind of funny. He shows more spunk than his team, I'll tell you that much.
LaDanian Tomlinson might be the best quarterback on his team. That's pretty sad. San Diego got out to a quick lead on Kansas City and cruised. This was a pretty good game, even though I missed most of it. From what I saw, the teams were really smacking each other around. The Chiefs should probably learn how to tackle. Just a suggestion.
Well, San Francisco won by kicking five field goals and playing good defense. Whenever I turned it on, Tampa had the ball and the 49ers were bashing Chris Sims. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. San Francisco has no talent whatsoever, but they can play hard, especially at home. Tampa = pretenders. Sorry, Gruden.
I watched one snap of last night's game. I was busy with children and cranky from the afternoon's outcome. Bruschi didn't die, so I guess that's something. I really hope the Patriots smack the Colts next week, even though I don't think it's going to happen.
College football gave us some interesting games. Penn State and Wisconsin won easily, setting up the big showdown next week which will probably determine the winner of the Big Ten. Texas looked horrible for the first half, but I knew they would win anyway, because Oklahoma State had a couple of chances to put even more points on the board and they didn't take advantage. It's lucky for Penn State that Michigan sucked earlier in the year, because the Wolverines look like they're putting it together, but it might be too late. UCLA somehow scored three touchdowns in the final 8 minutes to tie Stanford, eventually beating them in OT. I like the Bruins, but even though the game was on the road, you can't get down to Stanford like that. I was so mad at Maryland for blowing the game against Florida State, because every game that Bobby Bowden loses is a good one. Things are shaking out, as they usually do, with undefeated teams losing (this week it was Georgia's turn), but I still have a feeling we'll have AT LEAST three unbeaten teams after the regular season, if not four (Alabama can still run the table). That would be awesome. Any time the BCS gets screwed is a good time for me.
With the decline of the Patriots and Eagles, this NFL season is really shaping up nicely (well, except for fans of those two teams, me included), because who knows who's good? At least it means that when Philadelphia comes to the desert to play Arizona on Christmas Eve, a game for which I have tickets, it will mean something and all their regulars will play. That's something, I guess. And today on ESPN, Skip Bayless said that Ray Lewis was punking out of the game tonight because he didn't want to have to deal with Pittsburgh's running game. Jay Crawford said he was a brave man for calling out Ray Lewis like that. It was the closest thing I have heard in a long time to what I would do if I were a play-by-play man, and that is call Ray Lewis a murderer on every play. Funny stuff. But true. Ray Lewis is a big bully who runs to his mommy if someone stands up to him.
posted by Greg | 11:10 AM
7 Comments:
If that was a compliment, Thomas, I hate to think of what an attack on him is like. Say what you will, he did get the job done yesterday.
I completely agree with your Bengals assessment. They should knocked out Green Bay in the first quarter, let alone letting them stay in the game until the last play. If Aaron Rodgers had started, the Packers might have actually won that game.
By the way, Bill Cowher does not alway ride the running game like he should. He kept Cincinnati in a lot of games by letting Kordell throw instead of just giving it to the Bus every time.
"nancy-boy"?
Give me a break. And Aaron Rogers starting that game would not have helped at all. Seen who they have at receiver and running back this year?
Does Favre have multi-interception games? You bet. (Third QB to have five against the bengals this year..not just the quarterback)
But I do believe Favre just passed someone on the alltime yards list..oh yeah, some guy named Elway. Well, there must be a ton of people ahead of "Nancy-Boy" on the list...oh wait, no, just ONE.
Do your homework
That was just mean, g andrew, and now I'm sad. I know exactly that Favre passed Elway on Sunday and that only Marino is in front of him on the all-time list. And I don't care who the Packers have as QB, since they're not my team. I hope they keep Favre in there, actually, because I KNOW they're going to lose with him behind center, especially these days.
You have to allow me an unreasonable hatred of a sports star. Everyone has them. Usually it's okay, because it's a punk like Allen Iverson (I love Iverson, by the way). But if people can have unreasonable hatred of punks, I can have unreasonable hatreds of "golden boys." I just think Favre is overrated and hurts his team a lot more than he helps them, because his interceptions come at horrible times when the best thing for him to do is throw the ball away. It's not all his fault, either - the media all love him to death and overlook his faults. Ten years ago he was good quarterback. He hasn't been a good one in five years.
My comment wasn't "mean", and you are a helluva writer by the way. But there is a reason the media likes Favre, and its very simple.
He's one of the five best quarterbacks of all time.
Your "overrated" comment is ridiculous. Just look at where he is currently with alltime NFL records, and the word "overrated" simply can't be used. And I'm not even a Packers fan. But there is no one I'd rather watch play week in and week out, despite his propensity to throw ill-timed picks. And as of last week, he was LEADING the NFL in touchdown passes despite having my mother and my grocer as wide receivers.
Let go of the hate my friend...
One other thing then I'll leave this be..as I said, Im not even a Packers fan (broncos..jake plummer..ugh..although this year..hmmm) Anyway, I know someone who is good friends with a former packers running back, and hung out with them for a few days last year. Just hearing the stories of stuff Favre did charity-wise, and to help out his teammates, well, you couldn't help but really like the guy. And my father passed away two weeks before his did, and that Monday Night game was the first game I had watched post-funeral, and what he did that night..well, c'mon. Ridiculous. So whenever I see someone bash him just for being popular with the media, It always rankles me. Do we want him to be less popular? Less generous Go thru MORE crap personally than he has the past few years?
But I know what you mean about irrational hatred of some sports people. Pete Rose makes my blood boil like no other. And no, he DOES NOT belong in the hall of fame. Watching him shill for it now makes me violently ill. Here endth the soapbox. :)
Keep writing!
I was just kidding, g andrew. And I have nothing against Favre the person - I liked him in There's Something About Mary and those commercials he did when he was the Monday morning quarterback, and what he did for the Katrina victims with Steve McNair was admirable. I still think he's overrated!!!
Thanks for the kind words. I will, indeed, keep writing.
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