Bye Bye Bledsoe. What can
Drew Bledsoe possibly be thinking right now? In the last six
sesasons, he has been replaced by Tom Brady (New England),
J.P. Losman (Buffalo) and now Tony Romo (Dallas). This
replacement feels like déjà vu. In 2001, Bledsoe was injured
in Week 2 and replaced by Brady, who never gave up the
starting job and led the Patriots to the Super Bowl. Romo,
like Brady in 2001, was shaky in his replacement of Bledsoe
when he was benched, but in his second start looked very
good in leading his team to a big win over a contender
(again, like Brady, who beat Indianapolis, 44-13, in his
first start for the Patriots).
While Bledsoe told some people before the game on Sunday
night that he wasn't happy with the decision to go to Romo,
not even he could argue with the results. While Bledsoe has
been the proverbial statue behind an often-collapsing
offensive line, Romo read it beautifully evading sacks,
stepping up in the pocket and running when necessary.
Probably the best fringe benefit: Terrell Owens is happy.
Number 81 is Romo's first read; He threw to Owens 18 times
(including a two-point conversion), completing nine of them
for 107 yards. And Owens was fighting for every yard out
there. With opens mollified, it's one less big mouth the
players and coaching staff have to deal with.
Was the Steelers' Super Bowl win their last hurrah?
It's become almost a tradition that the team that wins the
Super Bowl lays an egg the next season. But this year, the
Super Bowl champions have start 2-5 and lost this past week
to a team that hadn't won a game until the week before. The
Steelers have been good for years, to be sure. But I'm
wondering if their Super Bowl win was just a fraudulent
aberration. I've thought that since the final tick on the
clock in Detroit last February, after a game that the
referees handed to the Steelers on a silver platter. And
let's not forget that, if the Steelers hadn't taken out
Carson Palmer's knee on the Bengals' first drive in the
first round, they would have been out of the playoffs
without a win.
Anyone still wondering what kind of impact Jerome Bettis had
on this team?
Let the hype begin. The Indianapolis Colts visit the
New England Patriots this Sunday night in what has become an
annual tradition matching up the two best teams in the
league (with 48 and 47 regular-season wins) over the last
three years. Anytime two very good teams meet, it's tough to
figure out who will take the game. Here's my analysis: The
game is actually the Colts' to decide. I think that the
Patriots will come in with a great gameplan and they will
execute their game plan on both sides of the ball. The Colts
will win if Peyton Manning has a good game and if the Colts
can find some way to stop the Patriots' two-headed running
game with Laurence Maroney (the guy the Colts wanted in the
draft) and Corey Dillon. My guess is the Patriots, the
masters of the "we been disrespected" mantra, will fill
Maroney's head with thoughts like, "The Colts are the team
that wouldn't trade up to draft you, even though they wanted
you." My pick: New England 30, Indianapolis 20.
Look who's on a winning streak. Don't look now, but
the last team to win a game this season is on a two-game
winning streak. True, the Oakland Raiders' opponents in
those two games are a combined 3-12, but this is a big
accomplishment for a team that some had decided (after just
Week 2) was going to go 0-16. Another of the last four teams
to win a game this season, the Tennessee Titans, are also on
a two-game winning streak. But don't get too excited; the
Titans are now at 750:1 and the Raiders are at 1000:1 to win
the Super Bowl.
My Top Five:
1) Chicago. Like a good team, they had a bad game and
came right back and dominated their next game in
championship fashion (thanks to the schedule-makers).
2) Indianapolis. They now
have a big win on their schedule. There's no taking away
what they did on Sunday, going into a tough place to play
with a tough defense and putting up 34 points. The reason
they're not No. 1: Their run defense is a big, big problem.
3) New England. We'll
see what happens Monday night. Personally, I'm picking them
to lose to the Vikings. If they win, I'd put them back over
the Colts; but that will be decided next week, anyway.
4) Denver. They
dropped one spot for losing to the Colts by three. They're
still very smart and very good.
5) Baltimore. Brian
Billick is calling the offensive plays for the Ravens now,
and that's not a good thing for the rest of the AFC.
The Philip Marie Giants
It was a tough loss for my
team this weekend, losing 26-19 after putting up a quick
13-0 lead. I actually played what I thought was my best game
as a quarterback, slinging the ball around the field; alas,
like the Carolina Panthers on Sunday night, there were some
dropped passes.
I absolutely love this team.
It's a dozen guys who seem to genuinely like each other, are
having fun together, and who are all focused on winning, and
not in a bad way. We're still five weeks from the playoffs,
so we have lots of time to work out the kinks.
Game of
the year: The Indianapolis Colts' riveting 34-31 win
over the Denver Broncos was one of those games that lived up
to its advance billing. There were eight lead changes. There
were only two punts, all in the first half. The Broncos'
defense, which had allowed 44 points in six games and only
two touchdowns, gave up 34 and four in one game. The Colts
scored on all five second-half possessions and won it on
Adam Vinatieri's 37-yard field goal with two seconds left.
After seven
games, there can be little argument that Colts quarterback
Peyton Manning is the league's MVP. He was 32 for 39 for 345
yards and three touchdowns against a defense that had been
historic the first six games. It was the fourth straight
game that Manning has had to rally the Colts for a win.
Manning was not sacked once against the Broncos, a testament
to his offensive line. Manning and receiver Reggie Wayne
absolutely abused Denver corner Darrant Williams to the tune
of 10 catches for 138 yards, three touchdowns and a
two-point conversion.
"Remember
when (Michael) Jordan was playing and he came into town and
people stood outside the arena just to see him? That's him,"
Broncos defensive lineman Ebenezer Ekuban said about
Manning. "He's a phenomenal quarterback. The best
quarterback I've faced in my eight years in the league."
Denver, for
its part, had not scored more than 17 points all season, but
ran the ball down Indy's throat. Denver ran for 227 yards
and averaged 6.3 yards per carry. If the Colts fall again in
the playoffs, it might be the soft-as-fluff run defense that
does them in.
Still
perfect: The Colts made a huge offseason signing by
snatching Vinatieri from New England. He is 14 for 14 on
field goals, including four on Sunday. Next week he makes
his first trip back to New England, where he twice won Super
Bowls with field goals – I doubt he'll be cheered, despite
his past heroics in New England.
Streaky:
Here's a fascinating stat about the Colts, now 7-0. The
Colts are 28-0 in regular season games that mean something,
going back to Week 8 of the 2004 season. That year they won
eight in a row and rested all the their starters in a
meaningless last-game loss to Denver. In 2005, the Colts
started 13-0 and lost a game after they had clinched
home-field advantage through the playoffs.
Basic
math: The offensive play that drives me most nuts while
watching football is when teams throw short on third down;
such as, throwing a four-yard pass on 3rd-and-10
and hope the receiver can break tackles for the last six.
That seldom happens. I saw several examples Sunday, but the
worst came from the Seattle Seahawks in their 35-27 loss at
Kansas City.
The
Seahawks faced 4th and 15 from the Chiefs' 46 on
their last drive. Backup quarterback Seneca Wallace had some
time to throw, but did he go downfield to Deion Branch,
Darrell Jackson or Nate Burleson? No, he threw a swing pass
to Mack Strong, who was tackled seven yards short and the
game was over. Strong is a great blocker, but slower than a
sundial; even he had caught a 14-yard pass it would have
been debatable whether he could have gotten the extra yard.
Dumb.
Running
backs should not throw: I saw two bad examples of teams
trying to get too cute. In New Orleans, the Saints had first
down deep in Baltimore territory and handed the ball wide to
Reggie Bush. The play took so long to develop that even I
knew he was going to throw. Bush dutifully threw the ball
into double coverage and it was intercepted by Chris
McAlister.
The second
example came at Denver, where Indianapolis Colts rookie
Joseph Addai also tried a pass, this time on 2nd
and 4 with the Colts driving. Addai also threw into double
coverage and the ball would have been picked except that
Colts receiver Reggie Wayne mugged the defender and got
called for offensive pass interference. The 10-yard penalty
forced the Colts to settle for a field goal.
A running
back pass is occasionally a great call, but backs need to
learn that if the receiver is not wide open, to throw it
away. Quarterbacks have trouble throwing into double
coverage, let alone a running back.
Hottie
of the week: Hard to go wrong with Colts kicker Adam
Vinatieri. Outsports readers still remember his shirtless
spread for a fitness mag a few years ago.
Showoff:
Ed "Guns" Hochuli, the exceedingly buff ref, was at the
Eagles game, where the high was a blustery 55 and players
were on the sidelines in long-sleeves. But Guns wore his
usual extra-tight short-sleeve shirt, better to expose his
biceps; he reminds me of gay guys who wear tank tops no
matter how chilly it gets.
Well, it's
time for me to drop the F bomb. No, not that F bomb.
The F bomb I'm talking about is fraud. And I'm ready to
declare our first fraud team of the 2006 season: yes, it's
the Philadelphia Eagles. The [Jacksonville] Jaguars ran the
ball up and down the field all afternoon -- over 200 yards
rushing -- while the Eagles' offense was utterly inept all
day from top to bottom. There were some of those usual
stupid mistakes, but unlike other weeks they weren't
game-killers. Despite a 13-6 score, the Jaguars dominated
all afternoon.
All week the Eagles kept proclaiming that, despite having a
4-3 record, they were a great team. A great team! The
arrogance of this team -- underachieving players, overrated
coach, stubborn management -- is mind-boggling. Well, now
they're a 4-4 team. A .500 team. Mediocrity.
This so-called great team that was averaging over 400 yards'
offense per game was almost completely shut down. Meanwhile,
the worst team in college football (Temple) scored 28 points
and actually won on the same field yesterday.
Fool me once -- shame on you.
Fool me twice -- shame on me.
Fool me three times -- okay, it's getting ridiculous.
Fool me FOUR times -- no more fooling. Philadelphia
Eagles, you are officially frauds!
Bad
team, man: Never would have thought that after seven
games, the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers would have
the same record (2-5) as the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders
shocked the Steelers, 20-13, on Sunday despite gaining only
98 offensive yards. The Raiders' star was Steelers QB Ben
Roethlisberger, who threw four interceptions, two of which
were returned for touchdowns. This season, Big Ben has zero
touchdowns and five interceptions on drives inside the
opponent's 20.
#85: I
loved Chad Johnson's new name for himself – Ocho Cinco. He
had it stitched on the back of his jersey and it was
dramatically ripped off before the game by quarterback
Carson Palmer. Ocho had uno touchdowns against Atlanta
Falcons as his Cincinnati Bengals lost, 29-27.
Numbers:
The Chicago Bears moved to 7-0 with a 41-0 wipeout of
San Francisco. The Bears led 41-0 at halftime before taking
the foot off the gas. It was the largest first-half lead
since the NFL merger in 1970… Atlanta's Michael Vick has
thrown seven touchdown passes the last two weeks and has a
140 QB rating in those games. … The league's worst division
is easily the NFC West, where St. Louis and Seattle lead the
division with 4-3 records. All four West teams lost on
Sunday by 8 (Seahawks at Chiefs), 14 (Rams at Chargers), 17
(Cardinals at Packers) and 31 points (49ers at Bears). …
Second worst division is the AFC East where only New England
is above .500.
Top 5
1.
Indianapolis (7-0): The Colts are the first team since
the 1930 Green Bay Packers to start consecutive seasons
7-0.
2.
Chicago (7-0): The Bears have had a soft schedule,
beating Green Bay, Detroit, Arizona (luckily), San
Francisco, Seattle minus Shaun Alexander. Only the win at
Minnesota could be considered clutch.
3. New
England (5-1): My sense says the Pats hand the Colts
their first loss next week, but they first must get by
Minnesota tonight.
4.
Denver (5-2): The Broncos are still a tough team despite
the loss to the Colts.
5. San
Diego (5-2): LaDainian Tomlinson continues to show he's
the most complete back in the game.
Hottie
of the week: Hard to go wrong with Colts kicker Adam
Vinatieri. Outsports readers still remember his shirtless
spread for a fitness mag a few years ago. 