|
4-6 Arizona wins at 8-2 Oakland.
2-8 Dallas wins at 5-5 Washington. 0-10 Detroit nearly
beats 8-2 Chicago. This is the new NFL. I've
complained for years about the ridiculous non-salary/free
agent rules of Major League Baseball. The NFL has
figured it out. Why have the last couple of years been
so competitive? The NFL alone has figured out how to
spread talent throughout the League. No more will you
see 10 players from one team in the Pro Bowl. No more
will you see a team with three Super Bowls in four years.
Part of me misses having the "great" teams like
Dallas, Buffalo, and San Francisco. But, I welcome
this great new era of competitiveness.
Before the season, there were
two teams that I kept hearing were going to bring the great
"West Coast Offense" and revitalize the team:
the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills, a
combined 1-21. Maybe they should leave the "West
Coast" to the West Coast.
At flag football on Saturday,
some of us were hypothesizing on what the Houston Texans
would do with their #1 draft pick. Our collective
suggestion: All-American DL Julius Peppers from North
Carolina. The thinking: there are no must-have
high-impact offensive players in the draft, so start with
the defense and grab somebody for the offense next year.
Only one team who started 0-2
has a winning record: the New England Patriots.
At 7-5, they are now 1/2 game out of second place in the AFC
East. Drew who?
Oh, and the Titans are
still finished.
My Top 5: 1) Chicago
Bears; 2) Pittsburgh Steelers; 3) St. Louis Rams; 4)
Baltimore Ravens; 5) Oakland Raiders.
My Bottom 5: 5) Tennessee
Titans; 4) Kansas City Chiefs; 3) Carolina Panthers; 2)
Buffalo Bills; 1) Detroit Lions.
|
Sloppy is the best word
to describe Sunday's action. The Indianapolis Colts dropped
six passes and fumbled three times. In the same game the
Baltimore Ravens turned the ball over four times. The
usually reliable Detroit kicker Jason Hanson missed
three field goals in the Lions' 13-10 loss at Chicago,
keeping the Lions winless. We could go on, but overall,
teams did not seem crisp.
Arizona really
impressed me by being the first team this season to go into
Oakland and win. David Boston, all 240 sculpted
pounds of him) might be the game's best receiver right now.
Jacksonville, which
blew a 14-point lead in losing to the Packers on Monday
night, continues to be the best 55-minute team in football.
Unfortunately, games are 60 minutes and the Jags' penchant
for self-destruction is why they are 3-8. Against the Pack
they had three turnovers and more than 100 yards in
penalties. The killer was Mark Brunell's interception
in the end zone in the fourth quarter with the score tied.
I am not impressed by the
Baltimore Ravens, who are a lucky 8-4, and was going to
write that they will not make the Super Bowl. But in the
uneven AFC they have a good chance. The Raiders can't stop the
run, the Steelers play too many close games and have a
kicker with the yips, the Dolphins are a fraud and the Jets
are a mirage. Hell, the Patriots are playing as well as
anyone.
This has to be the weirdest
year for anyone trying to pick games against the pointspread.
I made a small wager on the Pittsburgh Steelers giving the
Minnesota Vikings seven points. With six minutes to go, the
Steelers led by 18 and the Vikings had backup quarterback Todd
Bouman in. No sweat, right? Not so fast, Terrible Towel
breath. Bauman leads two scoring drives, the Vikes lose by
five and I lose my bet. Can you hear me whine?
The Titans are having a down
season but quarterback Steve McNair is coming into
his own. His stats in a 31-15 win at Cleveland are
impressive: 11 for 17, 244 yards, three touchdowns, no
interceptions. McNair--not Eddie George--is now the Titans'
offensive focus.
Saw a weird play in the
Ravens-Colts game. Raven kick returner Jermaine Lewis
was streaking for a touchdown when the ball was knocked out
of his hand. It traveled about 25 yards, landed in the end
zone and the Colts fell on it for a safety. "If there's another way to turn the ball over, I'm not aware of it,"
said Baltimore coach Brian Billick.
In the Atlanta Falcons-St.
Louis Rams game, the Rams did not run a play in the
second quarter until there was 1:42 left. Despite having the
ball almost the whole quarter the Falcons scored only three
points and lost by 29.
My Top 5: 1. St. Louis
(Nice rebound from Monday night loss). 2. Pittsburgh
(The Bus has a flat and that's not good). 3. San
Francisco (defense keeps improving). 4. Green Bay
(they keep living on the edge). 5. Oakland (I could
run for 100 yards against them).
|
Tom
Brady was an obscure bench-warmer when he was called
into action after an injury to Drew Bledsoe. Since
becoming the Patriots quarterback Brady has been amazing.
He's led the team to seven wins in his 10 starts, the
latest coming in a 17-16 comeback against the New
York Jets. Brady was 20 for 28 and led three second-half
scoring drives.