What was Washington thinking?

Like with most of the politicians in Washington, the football team is making some puzzling decisions.  They didn’t let Albert Haynesworth go when it was clearly apparent that he didn’t want to play for the Redskins.  Then benching Donovan McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman when they’re down by only one touchdown.  Does anyone honestly think that Rex Grossman is a better quarterback than McNabb?  That’s what Mike Shanahan said.  Now after that, the Redskins went for it and gave McNabb a five year extension.  Amazing indeed.  I’m a firm believer that McNabb is a great quarterback.  Not many can say they led their team to five straight NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl appearance.  With that aside, why did the Redskins give him an extension in the middle of the season?  Someone I know said that it was “shut up” money.  I don’t think that was the reason, but rule number one for me on giving contract extensions is you don’t do it in the middle of the season.  Just ask the New York Knicks how it worked for them giving Isiah Thomas a contract extension in the middle of the season when he was the head coach.  What happened to the Redskins during McNabb’s first game with a new contract?  They fell flat on their face to McNabb’s former team losing 59-28.  Not a wise move in an already lost season.

Jacksonville’s prayers are answered

It’s probably the most exciting play in football, the Hail Mary pass.  It doesn’t happen very often, but it brings everyone to their feet.  I can’t say that I agreed with the move at the time, but I did think, “what the heck, why not try it” if you’re Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio.  It works, you win.  If it doesn’t, it’s overtime.  Houston came into the game with the worst pass defense in the league and Del Rio figured that it was worth a shot on their home turf.  Houston cornerback Glover Quinn did the right thing by batting the ball towards the ground.  That’s what you’re told to do in that situation.  The problem was that no one, and i mean no one was covering Jaguars receivers Mike Thomas or Marcedes Lewis who were two yards away from the endzone when Thomas caught the ball.  It was definitely the most exciting play of the year so far.  The Jaguars and Texans seasons will be marred by that one play.  Jacksonville is moving up while Houston is on the way down. 

Whose the best team?  I don’t know, quit asking.

It’s being asked every single week and frankly I’m tired of hearing it asked.  This week it’s New England turn to be called the best team in the NFL.  Sure they beat a pretty good Pittsburgh Steelers team in Pittsburgh, but they seem to always stiffen up when they play New England for some reason.  The Giants were considered the best team in the NFC.  That is until they laid down against the lowly Dallas Cowboys.  Sure, the stadium had a couple of delays due to the stadium lights being out, but you shouldn’t have been blown out at home by a division rival.  Here’s how it will setup for next week.  Will Indianapolis or New England be the best team after they play each other?  Will Philadelphia be the best team in the NFC if they beat the Giants?  Mark my words that will be the topic of discussion in another episode of, “Whose the beast team?”  Ask me when it’s January 3, 2011.

The Return of the Blackhole

The one overlying question about the Oakland Raiders at the beginning of the season was whether Jason Campbell was the answer to their quarterback problems.  From the start it looked like he wasn’t and Oakland turned to Bruce Gradkowski once again.  Gradkowski isn’t the best quarterback, but brings added life to a struggling offense.  When he went down to a shoulder injury, head coach Tom Cable decided to change the offenses approach.  The answer was to run the football.  Darren McFadden, a former 4th overall pick of the Raiders, has been a big part of the Raiders turnaround the past three weeks.  With that added emphasis on the run, that has made it a lot easier for Jason Campbell to throw the ball down field.  That has led to Campbell throwing 5 touchdowns to 1 interception in the last three games.  It marks the first time that the Raiders have won three straight games since their Super Bowl season of 2002.  Rejoice Raider Nation, with that showing against your rival Kansas City, the rest of the league might have to take you serious once again.

J.J. makes a move

I’ve been confused about the Dallas Cowboys for a long time.  It goes back to the time when they hired Dave Campo as their head coach.  Yeah, who is that again?  Anyway, the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has made a big investment once again into his team and he like any owner expects a return on that investment.  A 1-7 start is not the return he expected.  When J.J. said after one of their losses that Wade Phillips was going to be the head coach for the rest of the season.  I found that kind of odd.  Yes, Jerry has never fired a head coach in the middle of a season, but this was Jerry’s making.  He and many others expected the Cowboys to be Super Bowl contenders.  Dallas was not living up to his expectations.  This last butt whooping against the Green Bay Packers on national television no less was the last straw.  Jerry fired Wade Phillips, who will definitely get another defensive coordinator gig, but I don’t believe he will get another chance as a head coach.  He’s had so many chances to succeed with good teams.  This latest one in Dallas will stick with him for a long time.  Jerry now will have to start over and bring in someone who knows football to over see the operation.  He will also need to bring in a no nonsense coach, like Jon Gruden, to demand more from his players.  If J.J. can do those two things, the Cowboys will be a contender very quickly.

Brett Favre does it again

Just when you think Favre can’t be the old gunslinger again, he surprises us all.  The Vikings being down by two scores against the Arizona Cardinals at home.  Really most of the pressure was on head coach Brad Childress who was probably going to be fired as soon as the game was over.  Favre calmly after throwing his second interception of the game, is given another chance to drive the Vikings down the field for a Adrian Peterson rushing touchdown.  The Cardinals offense is stagnant and the Vikings have another chance with Favre throwing the ball all over the place to tie the game.  Why Visanthe Shiancoe was that wide open I will never know.  With all that momentum the Vikings were sure to win it in overtime thanks to a Ryan Longwell field goal.  Now does this mean the Vikings will turn their 3-5 season around?  Probably not.  It does say that Favre is still Favre and the Vikings have made a deal with the devil in a sense that last season and this season rests on the right arm of Brett Favre.  Childress’ fate has been sealed, but if they have a miraculous turnaround, say winning the Super Bowl, they will probably keep him around for another year.  It won’t happen, but it’s in the back of our minds.  Crazier things have happened.

At the beginning of the season I started doing a weekly segment on twitter called the Good, the Bad and the Ugly after every week in the NFL.  With so much futility this year, I feel this is the best way to sum up the half way point of the 2010 NFL season.  Each team will be briefly broken down into the Good, the Bad and the Ugly section.  Lets get started.

The Good

New England Patriots 6-1
They haven’t missed a beat since trading Randy Moss.  Tom Brady looks as good as ever and the defense, while young is performing above their pre-season standards.  They are doing this while playing in a very competitive division with the Jets and Dolphins looming behind them.

New York Jets 5-2
A slow start was averted and they won five straight.  They hit a snag last week coming off their bye, but this is still the most talented team in the NFL.  As long as they return to their roots of running the ball and controlling the clock, they will be fine.  The defense is as good as advertised even with a banged up Darrelle Revis.

Miami Dolphins 4-3
All of their wins have come while on the road and for some reason they don’t play the same at home.  It has made them a force to be reckoned with the rest of the way.  They will need to fix that problem at home if they want to get into the playoffs.  It won’t help them beat the Jets or Patriots, but other teams might not have a chance if the Dolphins start winning at home.

Baltimore Ravens 5-2
The defense is performing up to their standard and they now have Ed Reed for the rest of the season.  The offense sputtered at times, but it seems that Joe Flacco has a handle on what went wrong and Baltimore seems primed to take a hold of the division.  They’ve already beaten Pittsburgh on their home turf and a season sweep would make it a lot easier to claim the division.

Pittsburgh Steelers 5-2
They went 3-1 without Ben Roethlisberger and everything seems to be running pretty smoothly.  The Steelers are still rushing the ball pretty effectively, but the Steelers are turning the ball over a little too much for their liking.  They have a tough fight ahead with Baltimore in the division, but it isn’t out of the question for them to make the playoffs.

Indianapolis Colts 5-2
When you have Peyton Manning everything else seems to fall into place.  Injuries to Dallas Clark and Joseph Addai haven’t slowed down Manning as the Colts are now positioned to clinch another division title.  It still won’t be a walk in the park, but how can you doubt the Manning led Colts.

Tennessee Titans 5-3
They have been a little inconsistent lately, but the Titans still have the best running back in Chris Johnson.  Now they’ve thrown Randy Moss into the mix to help take pressure off Johnson to produce all the time.  Whether the Titans can keep Moss happy is one thing, but going forward they have another weapon defenses will have to gameplan for.

Kansas City Chiefs 5-2
Yes they are playing in one of the worst divisions, but they are the best team in that division.  It’s no fluke.  They’re winning games they’re supposed to and they have the best 1-2 combination at running back in Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles.  Matt Cassell hasn’t been perfect, but no where near what he was last year.  It’s a recipe for success the rest of the way.

New York Giants 5-2
The defense is playing with the same tenacity that won them a Super Bowl just three years ago.  Eli Manning is on fire.  Especially with his favorite target Hakeem Nicks.  And surprise, surprise the Giants are running the ball effectively too.  The NFC East is theirs until further notice.

Philadelphia Eagles 4-3
Their record is deceiving, but the Eagles are doing a good job while having issues at quarterback.  Obviously hindsight tells you that they have to continue to ride Michael Vick until he falters, but what’s to say that he will after a rib injury kept him out the last couple games.  For now they are in a good position to succeed, but it all rests on Vick’s shoulders.

Green Bay Packers 5-3
Injuries are starting to mount for the Packers, especially on defense.  Has that stopped them?  Hardly.  Beating the Favre led Minnesota Vikings and the New York Jets has put the Packers back into the conversation of contenders in the NFC.  It basically boils down to whether Aaron Rodgers can continue to lead the Packers the way he did last season.

Atlanta Falcons 5-2
They have the slight edge in the suddenly tough NFC South.  The defense is coming around slowly, but what matters is that they can continue to run the ball.  Matt Ryan will need to continue to find Roddy White.  They have become the best quarterback wide receiver combo in the NFL this year.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5-2
The surprise of the NFC.  For the Bucs it comes as no surprise because their quarterback Josh Freeman is the real deal.  I haven’t seen a young quarterback with this much poise since Peyton Manning burst onto the scene.  Tampa Bay will be in the spotlight if they can beat their rivals Atlanta and New Orleans.

New Orleans Saints 5-3
The defending champions still have some life left.  Winning the division is priority number one right now.  They have to get back in sync on offense and they started to against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.  Whether they can get on a winning streak before Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas return is another question they will have to answer now.

St. Louis Rams 4-4
Quite shocking that a .500 team is in this position.  The reason is simple.  They are playing a lot better.  So much so that they have a chance at their division.  Sam Bradford is getting better every week.  The defense is playing with a sense of urgency on every possession.  In the weakest division, the NFC West, the Rams only competition is the lowly Seahawks and Cardinals. 

The Bad

Cleveland Browns 2-5
Who is the quarterback?  Who is running the offense?  Who has all the answers?  How much longer will it be til Mike Holmgren takes the headset away from Eric Mangini?  The Browns only bright spot is their defense, but they can’t score the points at the same time.

Houston Texans 4-3
If you want to be considered a good football team, you have to beat the lowly Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts.  The Cowboys only win was against Houston.  The Colts were fortunate that the Texans forgot that they ran the ball all over the Colts in the first game of the season.  How much longer will it be before the Texans use their strengths to their advantage?

Jacksonville Jaguars 4-4
To be fair, the Jaguars are beating teams they’re supposed to beat.  The next week against a tougher opponent, they seem to lay down.  With the beating they laid at Dallas last week, maybe it finally puts the Jaguars are the right track going into their bye week.  They’ve been inconsistent all year long and they have to show something to counter that.

Oakland Raiders 4-4
They are coming on lately, but it could all be a ruse if they fall flat on their faces against the Kansas City Chiefs.  You can put them a step ahead of the Chiefs if they win their third consecutive game next week.  For now though, there is still a big question mark at quarterback.  Is this Jason Campbell’s job or will Bruce Gradkowski have to save the day again?

San Diego Chargers 3-5
Because they play in the AFC West you can’t count them out just yet.  Sure they haven’t won a game on the road yet.  Why would that matter to a team that plays better in November and December?  Can Norv Turner re-create that magic of years past?  The Chargers will need to for their sake and Turners.

Washington Redskins 4-4
Things are looking pretty bad right now if Mike Shanahan thinks that Rex Grossman gives them a better chance to win than Donovan McNabb.  That’s pretty much what it boiled down to last week when McNabb was benched down by eight points to Detroit.  I said at the beginning of the year that Shanahan lost the season with the Haynesworth fiasco and now he’s lost the team with this move.

Buffalo Bills 0-7
Yes they’re winless, but they haven’t looked like a winless team every week.  They could have easily beaten the Ravens and Chiefs, their last two opponents.  Then you would look at them a little differently.  Alas, they still are the Bills and it will be a matter of when not if they win a game.  Probably sooner than you think in my estimation, but that’s all they have to look forward to the rest of this year.

Seattle Seahawks 4-3
They are leading their division by percentage points right now, but can you see them being on top at season’s end?  Where is the running game?  The defense is carrying them, but after that performance against the Oakland Raiders, I don’t see how Seattle can stay afloat.  It won’t get any easier for them as only two of the remaining teams they play have no shot at the playoffs.

Detroit Lions 2-5
Things are starting to look better with the return of Matthew Stafford.  Him and Calvin Johnson connected for three touchdowns last week.  The defense is starting to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback.  The only problem is keeping a lead.  They haven’t shown the discipline needed to close games out.  The running game has slowly disappeared and the Lions fans start to hope for next year.

The Ugly

Chicago Bears 4-3
After a 3-0 start, they’ve fallen back down to earth.  Jay Cutler has gone back to the turnover prone quarterback from a year ago.  Mike Martz still doesn’t realize he has two running backs capable of running the ball.  The only saving grace for the Bears is their defense, but again how far can they carry them?  The Bears don’t have a huge window anymore and this is the year to make it happen.

Cincinnati Bengals 2-5
Come to find out this year that it wasn’t the talent around Carson Palmer that has been holding the Bengals back.  It was Carson Palmer.  This years talent pool is the best he’s ever had in Cincinnati.  Now the pressure was on him to make it happen.  So far it has been a disaster.  This was the make or break year and Palmer is breaking fast.

Denver Broncos 2-6
Josh McDaniels said goodbye to the franchise quarterback his first year in town.  Then followed that up with the trade of the franchise wide receiver.  What does he have to show for that?  Since they started 6-0 last year the Broncos have gone 4-14 going into Week 9 of the 2010 season.  That’s what the Broncos have to show for those two moves.

Dallas Cowboys 1-6
If there has been another team with as high of expectations as the Dallas Cowboys and fallen faster than them, please tell me.  I didn’t predict them to go to the Super Bowl like some, correction, most pundits did.  I however didn’t expect them to start the season 1-6.  I would be shocked if Wade Phillips is still head coach for one second after their final game.  But Jerry Jones has to look in the mirror as well to cast blame.

Minnesota Vikings 2-5
Favre’s Vikings are the laughing stock of the NFL.  Who is really the head coach?  Come to find out it’s Brett Favre.  Brad Childress admits to making a mistake by acquiring Randy Moss.  He fires him and in the process goes back to square one before they brought in Moss.  If this team makes the playoffs it will be nothing short of amazing.  Favre is done and so is Childress at seasons end.

Carolina Panthers 1-6
The biggest example of why you need a quarterback is right here in Carolina.  Matt Moore is not the answer and unless Jimmy Clausen gets the right tutelage, the Panthers future is even bleaker.  They are playing in the toughest division in football, but they haven’t even looked competitive against their division rivals.  The Panthers need to hope they land a big name coach to help turn their ship around.

Arizona Cardinals 3-4
Something tells me that Ken Whisenhunt wants to have a shot at drafting a quarterback in next years draft.  What was going on last week?  Max Hall was the starting pitcher and Derek Anderson came on in relief.  Was I watching a baseball game?  The Cardinals barely lost to Tampa Bay, but Anderson isn’t the answer with that late interception.  Max Hall looked promising in the pre-season, but it’s a massive fail in Arizona.

San Francisco 49ers 2-6
Alex Smith at times looked great, but wasn’t consistent and went down with a shoulder injury.  Apparently David Carr isn’t the answer as he was passed over for Troy Smith who hasn’t seen much action in the offense.  It worked against a porous Broncos team on a neutral site in London, but will that continue?  Most likely not, but five of the Niners final eight games are against the NFC West.  A 7-9 record is possible in the weakest division.

Is it too early to count out the Saints?

To put it simply, yes.  Have you seen the NFC?  They are well within winning their division.  Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago and Green Bay have the same 4-3 record as they do.  By comparison the Saints have a better team than all of them.  Remember, they are the defending champions.  Now you might think Saints fan(s) that your season hangs in the balance this Sunday when you play host to Pittsburgh.  I don’t think that’s the case.  If they lose to Pittsburgh, but beat Carolina before their bye week, they will be 5-4.  They have a favorable schedule, except for playing at Baltimore and Atlanta.  Lets say they lose those two games.  Their final record will be 10-6.  That seems to be a respectable record and worthy of a playoff spot.  Darren Sharper is back playing for the defense and Reggie Bush is another week away from playing again.  The Saints will be fine as long as they realize this wasn’t the way the won the Super Bowl last year.

An unexpected blowout

Those who say they like seeing a low scoring football game are liars.  Who asked you the following day, “hey did you see that game yesterday?  Man that 6-3 final was intense.”  I hope no one did.  We want to see scoring.  High scoring games when possible.  Yes even the games that involve teams that probably aren’t going to contend this year.  The Oakland Raiders scoring 59 points against their arch rival the Denver Broncos was a beat down in the classic or football sense.  That was the most points the Raiders scored in their franchises history.  It was only fitting that they did that against Denver.  Most Raider fans will tell you that they would’ve loved it if they did that against the Broncos while John Elway was playing.  Either way we as football fans love seeing the blowout games.  We act like it doesn’t matter, but this is now an offensive game and we want to see most points scored possible.  If you’ve ever played the Madden video games over the years, you don’t ever take a knee.  EVER.  That same mentality as a fan goes into watching the team score the most points.  “You play to win the game” and that applies to us.  Score or be scored upon should be the motto.

Pittsburgh wins thanks to inconclusive evidence

I love how the NFL has gone about reviewing plays and wanting to get the calls right.  Frankly a lot of the time it shows just how bad the refs really are.  It’s sad really, but I understand they have a hard job that most of us don’t want.  With that said, they butchered the Week 1 call of no catch of wide receiver Calvin Johnson.  The rule is correct, but it’s a stupid rule.  Enough said.  This past week they screwed up again with the Pittsburgh Steelers getting a tremendous break from the officials.  Ben Roethlisberger clearly fumbled before crossing the goal line for what could have been the go ahead touchdown.  However, the referees couldn’t tell who recovered the football after the fumble.  What?  The reasoning as always is “inconclusive evidence” when reviewing a play.  They couldn’t tell that four Dolphins were closer to the ball than the two Steelers in the pile.  They couldn’t tell that a Dolphin came out of the pile with the football.  Again, they are doing a job that neither I nor you want.  To me though, it seemed to be Dolphins football.

NFC: Who wants it?

The consensus pick to win the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys (1-4), are awful.  The Green Bay Packers (3-3) are battling the injury bug.  The New Orleans Saints (4-2) and the Atlanta Falcons (4-2) look great one week and terrible the next.  Dare I say the best team right now is the Philadelphia Eagles (4-2), but that could change after next week.  There are quite a few critical matchups that will determine who will run the table the rest of the way.  Washington is playing at Chicago.  Minnesota is playing at Green Bay.  New York is playing at Dallas.  Those three games will determine the outcome of the NFC East and the NFC North.  Yes, there are still plenty of games left, but if the Redskins or Bears win, they will be another step closer to being a contender.  The Vikings beat the Packers and they are right back into the pack.  The Cowboys beat the Giants and pundits will hesitate to right them off for another week.  This is hopefully the week we finally see who really wants to win the NFC.

Big Ben’s return

You couldn’t ask for a better time to return to the NFL if you’re Ben Roethlisberger.  After serving a four game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, Ben showed why he is still an elite quarterback.  Granted he was playing the Cleveland Browns, but he still showed the poise and playmaking ability that make him a great quarterback.  Cleveland was starting a rookie in Colt McCoy at quarterback and lets face it, the Browns defense isn’t the Steel Curtain.  On top of having a favorable matchup, Brett Favre is taking away all the attention from Big Ben’s off field troubles with some of his own.  It’s a win-win for Roethlisberger.  He finished the game 16-27 with 257 yards passing and 3 touchdowns.  Not a bad return.  Now he just needs to keep his head on the task at hand and stay down. 

What is a dirty hit and a legal hit?

There has been a lot of emphasis on concussions in the NFL and rightfully so.  A lot can be done to better protect the players now and for the future of the sport.  The apparent problem now is that the NFL can’t communicate to its players and the public exactly what they want to do about it.  Before I go any further I want to say that the NFL has always marketed the sport as a violent sport with big hits.  Anyone who says otherwise is either blind to that fact or doesn’t want to acknowledge it.  Now with that said, the NFL made a big mistake in the beginning.  They said publicly that they want to protect their players by putting stricter guidelines in place for players diagnosed with concussions.  Their mistake was then saying they want to extend the regular season from 16 to 18 games.  Now with a greater emphasis on wanting to protect your players, why do you want them to play an extra two games? 
This week the NFL decided to start a crackdown on dirty hits.  Three players, James Harrison of Pittsburgh, Dunta Robinson of Atlanta and Brandon Meriweather of New England were fined 50,000 dollars for their “dirty” hits.  Harrison was fined 75,000 for being a “repeat offender” as said by the league.  The only hit in my opinion that warranted a massive fine was Meriweather’s hit on Baltimore’s Todd Heap in which Meriweather led with his head on a defenseless receiver when the ball was no where in the area.  The other two were borderline.  The point is made that instincts will tell the player with the football to cradle yourself when the defender is coming at you.  That will lead to most of the helmet to helmet hits you see. 
The NFL might suspend players who make helmet to helmet hits for the duration of the regular season and playoffs.  To me this is the league putting a bigger emphasis on the rules already in place.  However, they seem to be reacting when they should have been preventing.  I’m not saying the league should have fined these guys a lot sooner, but they shouldn’t try to say they were protecting the players when they’ve always marketed the game with big hits and want to add two games to the regular season.  Folks forget that commissioner Roger Goodell is acting on behalf of the owners first and the league second.  The players might be third or fourth.