Last Week: 7-9
Season Total: 16-16
So, after a weekend which saw huge fourth-quarter comebacks, shocking upsets, week 1 failures coming to life, week 1 successes crashing back to earth, and some really awful officiating which definitely did affect the outcome of several games, I find myself in essentially the same position as 20 of the 32 teams in the NFL; at .500, hoping to improve, and dreading a long season of failure. Compared to last year’s start, I feel a bit let down; kind of like theDetroit Lions, but without all the arrests. Ah well, it’s a young season, and I’m looking to bounce back this week.
Before I get to my picks, I’d like to address some of last week’s action, starting with something that I would best describe as a shocking display of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I’m sure many of you saw the incident in question, or heard about it after the fact, and I think you’ll all agree that it’s a pretty cut-and-dried case of the type of misconduct which has no place in the NFL. Simply put, the two teams involved were lined up for a play, the formation was obvious, and I’m sure most viewers saw it as a foregone conclusion. However, one of the teams had decided to attempt a little trickery in order to try to gain an advantage over its unsuspecting foe. The offending team, in its single-minded pursuit of victory, had no regard for the fact that its opponent, caught unawares, was at a greater risk of incurring injury to its players. I was shocked by the callousness of the play, that a team would place such a premium on winning, at the expense of sportsmanship, in a gentlemanly game like professional football. Of course, in the NFL, winning is what matters most, and because the play worked, not a lot of people saw it the same way I did. As we all witnessed, the Packers’ fake field goal resulted in a TD pass, which put Green Bay up 10-0 on their way to a 23-10 victory over the Chicago Bears. Afterwards, Chicago didn’t even complain about the deception, even going so far as to acknowledge that they were caught “flat-footed” on the play. If only those ruffians on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ squad had as much class as the Bears, then they would have accepted their defeat at the hands of the New York (football) Giants gracefully, and would not have lowered themselves to the level of attempting to continue to try to win a game which still had time left on the clock and in which they were still within one score of tying and sending into overtime. Thank goodness that Giants’ coach Tom Coughlin took the time to educate his young counterpart on the Bucs as to the inviolable “unwritten rules” of the NFL, and that the New York players handled the situation in such a classy way by using violence and threats to ensure that, hopefully, such a horrible incident does not occur again. In other news, the league fined 49ers’ CB Tarell Brown $5,250 for wearing red sleeves. What a relief. I watched that game, and the sight of those garish sleeves caused me to spill my tea. What is this league coming to?
In this week’s edition of “Quarterback Rating is Dumb,” let’s compare the week 2 performances of Kevin Kolb and Russell Wilson. For defeating the Pats for the first time EVER in a home opener at Foxborough, Kolb’s stat line of 15 for 27, for 140 yards, with 1 TD and no INTs garnered him a Passer Rating of 82.3, while Wilson’s 15 of 20 for 151, with 1 TD and no INTs in a home victory against the Cowboys was somehow worth over 30 points more, coming in at a robust 112.7. Somehow that doesn’t quite add-up to me.
Sticking with QBs, I am proud to bring you the first edition of my “Shut Up and Play” award. This week, the award is shared by Chicago’s Jay Cutler and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco. Prior to their Thursday night matchup with the Packers in Green Bay, Bears’ QB Cutler’s message to the Packers’ secondary was, “Good luck.” Cutler went on to post a less-than-stellar stat line of 11 of 26 for 126 yards, with 4 INTs and 7 Sacks. Brilliant strategy by Cutler, riling up a Packers team that had lost its home opener to the 49ers and which was desperate not to start 0-2. Meanwhile, Flacco was quoted as saying, “…I think I'm the best…,” en route to a 22 of 42 for 232 yards, with 1 TD and 1 INT, performance. On the Ravens’ final drive of the game, facing 3rd and 1, Baltimore coach John Harbaugh called pass plays on 3rd and 4th down, despite the fact that the Ravens were near midfield, had two timeouts remaining, only needed a FG to win, and have one of the best RBs in football, Ray Rice. The passes called were of the short, swing/screen variety, one to the TE, and one to Rice. The play calling reminded me of a couple of other teams; the first ones that spring to mind are the 2011 and 2010 Ravens. Like I said in my season preview, Joe Flacco has an outstanding W-L record, but he has amassed it on the back of the Ravens’ defence and its running game. Flacco still hasn’t proven anything. He might say he’s the best, but, judging by the play-calling, I suspect that head coach Harbaugh has his doubts. The Ravens’ play calling reeks of a desperate attempt to boost Flacco’s confidence by allowing him to “lead” his team to victory.
Thursday Night
Giants at Panthers
Both teams are coming off emotional victories, New York in a huge comeback, and Carolina against division rival New Orleans, and are playing on short rest. Both have key injuries on offence, with RB Jonathan Stewart or the Panthers hobbled, and WR Hakeem Nicks out for the Giants. I think that the Giants are at a slight disadvantage, due to the way their game against Tampa Bay ended. Acting self-righteous can be exhausting, and playing the victim can have the dual negative effect of making you feel weak, as well as look weak to those who would exploit weakness. In the NFL, the weak get crushed. Winner: Panthers
Sunday
49ers at Vikings
San Fran continues its barnstorming tour of the NFC North, where they will meet their easiest opponent thus far in Minnesota. Randy Moss returns to the city where he began his pro career. The Niners suffered no week 2 letdown, and look great from top to bottom. Winner: 49ers
Lions at Titans
Tennessee looked terrible against the Chargers last week. If Chris Johnson doesn’t break out of his slump soon, his days could be numbered with the Titans, provided they could find a team willing to take on his huge contract. Detroit hung tough against the 49erslast week, and should be more than capable of handling the Titans. Calvin Johnson watch: held out of the end zone for the second straight week. Winner: Lions
Rams at Bears
Things are not all rosy in Chicagoland. Jay Cutler may be talented, but he’s still an insufferable dick. Meanwhile, it has taken all of two games of the Jeff Fisher regime for St. Louis to begin getting a reputation as dirty. Are we sure that Gregg Williams hasn’t been paying any clandestine visits to the Rams’ practice facility? Winner: Bears
Buccaneers at Cowboys
This one is about coaching. The Bucs, like them or not, have strong leadership, and have shown in their first two games that they are willing to lay it all on the line. As for Dallas, Jason Garrett is demonstrating yet again that he is in complete control of how well and quickly he does exactly what Jerry Jones tells him to do. Winner: Buccaneers
Bengals at Washington
Cincinnati’s defence has struggled uncharacteristically, but what I like about the Bengals is that they have acknowledged this, which is the first step toward improvement. Meanwhile, their young talent on offence looks capable of great things. Washington suffered a heartbreaking loss last week to the Rams, as well as some key losses due to injuries. Winner: Bengals
Jaguars at Colts
Andrew Luck did not have to wait very long to notch his first NFL victory. He should get his second this week against the lowly Jags. Winner: Colts
Chiefs at Saints
New Orleans is reeling after two tough losses to division foes. The offence still looks capable of lighting it up, so I expect them to come out fast this week to avoid having to play catch-up like they had to do against the Bucs and Panthers. Winner: Saints
Jets at Dolphins
New York looked like world beaters in week 1, terrible in week 2. Miami was dreadful in their opener, then put up 35 points last week. My head hurts. Winner: Jets
Bills at Browns
Buffalo does this every year. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out, they surprise you. Cleveland has made two good offences struggle already this season. If CJ Spiller wasn’t so ridiculously hot right now, I might give the Browns a shot in this one. Winner: Bills
Eagles at Cardinals
Arizona made the Pats offence look really bad last week, and Michael Vick and the Eagles’ offence have struggled. However, the Cards’ offence has done precious little, and Arizona can’t afford to give Philly the number of opportunities that they will this week. Winner: Eagles
Falcons at Chargers
I still say that San Diego is not very good this year. I can’t say that about Atlanta. The Falcons win big. Winner: Falcons
Texans at Broncos
Peyton Manning proved mortal against an Atlanta team that had a number of key injuries in its secondary. The Houston defence will give him fits. Winner: Texans
Steelers at Raiders
Pittsburgh bounced back nicely against the Jets last week, getting it done on defence despite missing Troy Polamalu and James Harrison. They’ll have to do it again this week against an Oakland team that seems to have lost the ability to run the ball. Winner: Steelers
Patriots at Ravens
Toughest pick for me this week. I know I should go with Baltimore at home, especially with how much they hate New England. I don’t know what it is, but I just have a feeling that the Pats will use Brandon Lloyd to take the top off the Ravens’ defence, while Welker, Ridley, and Gronk kill them underneath, and that their pass rush rattles Flacco into making mistakes. Winner: Patriots
Monday Night
Packers at Seahawks
Green Bay roared back to life last week, as their defence neutralized Jay Cutler. Clay Matthews is on fire after two games. Seattle’s defence is solid, and will create problems for Aaron Rodgers and Co., but not enough. Winner: Packers
Season Total: 16-16
So, after a weekend which saw huge fourth-quarter comebacks, shocking upsets, week 1 failures coming to life, week 1 successes crashing back to earth, and some really awful officiating which definitely did affect the outcome of several games, I find myself in essentially the same position as 20 of the 32 teams in the NFL; at .500, hoping to improve, and dreading a long season of failure. Compared to last year’s start, I feel a bit let down; kind of like theDetroit Lions, but without all the arrests. Ah well, it’s a young season, and I’m looking to bounce back this week.
Before I get to my picks, I’d like to address some of last week’s action, starting with something that I would best describe as a shocking display of unsportsmanlike behaviour. I’m sure many of you saw the incident in question, or heard about it after the fact, and I think you’ll all agree that it’s a pretty cut-and-dried case of the type of misconduct which has no place in the NFL. Simply put, the two teams involved were lined up for a play, the formation was obvious, and I’m sure most viewers saw it as a foregone conclusion. However, one of the teams had decided to attempt a little trickery in order to try to gain an advantage over its unsuspecting foe. The offending team, in its single-minded pursuit of victory, had no regard for the fact that its opponent, caught unawares, was at a greater risk of incurring injury to its players. I was shocked by the callousness of the play, that a team would place such a premium on winning, at the expense of sportsmanship, in a gentlemanly game like professional football. Of course, in the NFL, winning is what matters most, and because the play worked, not a lot of people saw it the same way I did. As we all witnessed, the Packers’ fake field goal resulted in a TD pass, which put Green Bay up 10-0 on their way to a 23-10 victory over the Chicago Bears. Afterwards, Chicago didn’t even complain about the deception, even going so far as to acknowledge that they were caught “flat-footed” on the play. If only those ruffians on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ squad had as much class as the Bears, then they would have accepted their defeat at the hands of the New York (football) Giants gracefully, and would not have lowered themselves to the level of attempting to continue to try to win a game which still had time left on the clock and in which they were still within one score of tying and sending into overtime. Thank goodness that Giants’ coach Tom Coughlin took the time to educate his young counterpart on the Bucs as to the inviolable “unwritten rules” of the NFL, and that the New York players handled the situation in such a classy way by using violence and threats to ensure that, hopefully, such a horrible incident does not occur again. In other news, the league fined 49ers’ CB Tarell Brown $5,250 for wearing red sleeves. What a relief. I watched that game, and the sight of those garish sleeves caused me to spill my tea. What is this league coming to?
In this week’s edition of “Quarterback Rating is Dumb,” let’s compare the week 2 performances of Kevin Kolb and Russell Wilson. For defeating the Pats for the first time EVER in a home opener at Foxborough, Kolb’s stat line of 15 for 27, for 140 yards, with 1 TD and no INTs garnered him a Passer Rating of 82.3, while Wilson’s 15 of 20 for 151, with 1 TD and no INTs in a home victory against the Cowboys was somehow worth over 30 points more, coming in at a robust 112.7. Somehow that doesn’t quite add-up to me.
Sticking with QBs, I am proud to bring you the first edition of my “Shut Up and Play” award. This week, the award is shared by Chicago’s Jay Cutler and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco. Prior to their Thursday night matchup with the Packers in Green Bay, Bears’ QB Cutler’s message to the Packers’ secondary was, “Good luck.” Cutler went on to post a less-than-stellar stat line of 11 of 26 for 126 yards, with 4 INTs and 7 Sacks. Brilliant strategy by Cutler, riling up a Packers team that had lost its home opener to the 49ers and which was desperate not to start 0-2. Meanwhile, Flacco was quoted as saying, “…I think I'm the best…,” en route to a 22 of 42 for 232 yards, with 1 TD and 1 INT, performance. On the Ravens’ final drive of the game, facing 3rd and 1, Baltimore coach John Harbaugh called pass plays on 3rd and 4th down, despite the fact that the Ravens were near midfield, had two timeouts remaining, only needed a FG to win, and have one of the best RBs in football, Ray Rice. The passes called were of the short, swing/screen variety, one to the TE, and one to Rice. The play calling reminded me of a couple of other teams; the first ones that spring to mind are the 2011 and 2010 Ravens. Like I said in my season preview, Joe Flacco has an outstanding W-L record, but he has amassed it on the back of the Ravens’ defence and its running game. Flacco still hasn’t proven anything. He might say he’s the best, but, judging by the play-calling, I suspect that head coach Harbaugh has his doubts. The Ravens’ play calling reeks of a desperate attempt to boost Flacco’s confidence by allowing him to “lead” his team to victory.
Thursday Night
Giants at Panthers
Both teams are coming off emotional victories, New York in a huge comeback, and Carolina against division rival New Orleans, and are playing on short rest. Both have key injuries on offence, with RB Jonathan Stewart or the Panthers hobbled, and WR Hakeem Nicks out for the Giants. I think that the Giants are at a slight disadvantage, due to the way their game against Tampa Bay ended. Acting self-righteous can be exhausting, and playing the victim can have the dual negative effect of making you feel weak, as well as look weak to those who would exploit weakness. In the NFL, the weak get crushed. Winner: Panthers
Sunday
49ers at Vikings
San Fran continues its barnstorming tour of the NFC North, where they will meet their easiest opponent thus far in Minnesota. Randy Moss returns to the city where he began his pro career. The Niners suffered no week 2 letdown, and look great from top to bottom. Winner: 49ers
Lions at Titans
Tennessee looked terrible against the Chargers last week. If Chris Johnson doesn’t break out of his slump soon, his days could be numbered with the Titans, provided they could find a team willing to take on his huge contract. Detroit hung tough against the 49erslast week, and should be more than capable of handling the Titans. Calvin Johnson watch: held out of the end zone for the second straight week. Winner: Lions
Rams at Bears
Things are not all rosy in Chicagoland. Jay Cutler may be talented, but he’s still an insufferable dick. Meanwhile, it has taken all of two games of the Jeff Fisher regime for St. Louis to begin getting a reputation as dirty. Are we sure that Gregg Williams hasn’t been paying any clandestine visits to the Rams’ practice facility? Winner: Bears
Buccaneers at Cowboys
This one is about coaching. The Bucs, like them or not, have strong leadership, and have shown in their first two games that they are willing to lay it all on the line. As for Dallas, Jason Garrett is demonstrating yet again that he is in complete control of how well and quickly he does exactly what Jerry Jones tells him to do. Winner: Buccaneers
Bengals at Washington
Cincinnati’s defence has struggled uncharacteristically, but what I like about the Bengals is that they have acknowledged this, which is the first step toward improvement. Meanwhile, their young talent on offence looks capable of great things. Washington suffered a heartbreaking loss last week to the Rams, as well as some key losses due to injuries. Winner: Bengals
Jaguars at Colts
Andrew Luck did not have to wait very long to notch his first NFL victory. He should get his second this week against the lowly Jags. Winner: Colts
Chiefs at Saints
New Orleans is reeling after two tough losses to division foes. The offence still looks capable of lighting it up, so I expect them to come out fast this week to avoid having to play catch-up like they had to do against the Bucs and Panthers. Winner: Saints
Jets at Dolphins
New York looked like world beaters in week 1, terrible in week 2. Miami was dreadful in their opener, then put up 35 points last week. My head hurts. Winner: Jets
Bills at Browns
Buffalo does this every year. Just when you think you’ve got them figured out, they surprise you. Cleveland has made two good offences struggle already this season. If CJ Spiller wasn’t so ridiculously hot right now, I might give the Browns a shot in this one. Winner: Bills
Eagles at Cardinals
Arizona made the Pats offence look really bad last week, and Michael Vick and the Eagles’ offence have struggled. However, the Cards’ offence has done precious little, and Arizona can’t afford to give Philly the number of opportunities that they will this week. Winner: Eagles
Falcons at Chargers
I still say that San Diego is not very good this year. I can’t say that about Atlanta. The Falcons win big. Winner: Falcons
Texans at Broncos
Peyton Manning proved mortal against an Atlanta team that had a number of key injuries in its secondary. The Houston defence will give him fits. Winner: Texans
Steelers at Raiders
Pittsburgh bounced back nicely against the Jets last week, getting it done on defence despite missing Troy Polamalu and James Harrison. They’ll have to do it again this week against an Oakland team that seems to have lost the ability to run the ball. Winner: Steelers
Patriots at Ravens
Toughest pick for me this week. I know I should go with Baltimore at home, especially with how much they hate New England. I don’t know what it is, but I just have a feeling that the Pats will use Brandon Lloyd to take the top off the Ravens’ defence, while Welker, Ridley, and Gronk kill them underneath, and that their pass rush rattles Flacco into making mistakes. Winner: Patriots
Monday Night
Packers at Seahawks
Green Bay roared back to life last week, as their defence neutralized Jay Cutler. Clay Matthews is on fire after two games. Seattle’s defence is solid, and will create problems for Aaron Rodgers and Co., but not enough. Winner: Packers
RSS Feed