Football

Week 9 Review of the NFL

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No One Wants To Play Them
They are in fact looking to make some noise this year.  The Cam Newton led Carolina Panthers have two big tests coming up with the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots in back-to-back weeks.  If they can come away with one win or win both games that will be a sign that Carolina should be taken seriously.  I’m really intrigued by their defense more than anything.  They have a pack mentality and are constantly swarming to the ball on all sides of the field.  Cam Newton has done a great job this year with the struggles in his first two seasons in Carolina.  But if you look at his stats he has been a great player.  He has struggled with the losing atmosphere, but the Panthers are finally looking to break out of that funk this year.  They’ll still have to prove it against the New Orleans Saints whom they haven’t played yet this year, but I’m sure the Panthers can win at least one of those games.  They should be playing in the NFC East because none of those teams deserve to make the playoffs this year.
Simply Unbelievable
You never want to see what happened just as halftime started during the Sunday night game.  Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak started to go to the ground with an unknown medical ailment and was rushed to a local hospital.  Turns out it wasn’t anything seriously thought of at the time, but he will miss some time due to the health scare.  The Texans had a comfortable lead going into halftime against the Indianapolis Colts, but that second seemed like a totally different game as the Texans fell flat and the Colts charged ahead.  Credit the Colts for not giving up and letting Andrew Luck do his thing in leading a tremendous come from behind victory.  This was a game that the Texans desperately need to win and with Case Keenum having a great game throwing and running the ball Houston looked to rebound in the second half. Now with this loss they’re still falling out of contention while the Colts are continuing to rise.  I hate to say it, but having Kubiak leave the game seemed to have taken all the life out of that team.  I wish him a speedy recovery, but even if the Texans still won that game they didn’t look any better after the first half on Sunday.
A Tale Of Two Teams
No one has ever scored that many points on the Pittsburgh Steelers.  55 to be exact.  That is the most points allowed in the history of the Steelers.  Funny enough one of their current rivals the New England Patriots managed to be the record holder.  It wasn’t as though the Steelers didn’t show up.  Ben Roethlisberger had a good game with 400 yards passing and four touchdown passes. But once again a huge flaw was exposed in that the Steelers don’t cause enough turnovers on defense to help take pressure off their offense to put up points.  I’m surprised this record didn’t happen sooner, but will this wake up the current crop of players?  Probably not, but the Steelers have a favorable home schedule with five of their next eight games played at Heinz Field and against teams that they can beat.  Even if they do manage to scrap a couple victories down the stretch unless the Bengals start to realize they’re the Bengals I don’t see Pittsburgh getting back in the playoff picture. Giving up 55 points is degrading even for the most veteran of teams.  This one will last most of the season.

Week 8 Review of the NFL

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It’s time to see how all 32 NFL teams are doing at the half way point of the season.  It’s part of a segment I do on twitter after the Sunday Night game is over called, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ in the NFL.  Some teams are good, some are bad and there are those that shouldn’t be mentioned.  Lets see where your team(s) ended up this year.

The Good

New England Patriots 6-2

Aside from two road losses to the Bengals and Jets the Patriots are sitting pretty atop the division.  It seems that the receivers are starting to get in line with Tom Brady and having Rob Gronkowski backs helps too.

Cincinnati Bengals 6-2

They have looked really good so far.  Winning close games and beating teams that they’re supposed to beat.  Four of their last eight games are against division opponents.  Two of those games are against the Baltimore Ravens who have given the Bengals fits the last couple seasons.

Indianapolis Colts 5-2

With big wins over the Seahawks, 49ers and Broncos already in their pocket the Colts look to be a sneaky contender for the Super Bowl this year.  They will need to get more from their running game and losing Reggie Wayne will hurt.

Kansas City Chiefs 8-0

They’re still undefeated and are ahead of the Broncos.  Two things that no one saw happening this season.  They still have to play Denver twice, but even if they lose those two games they are still a playoff team with that defense.

Denver Broncos 7-1

It’s turning into a record breaking year for the Broncos offense. They won’t be able to score at will for every game of the season though with the Chiefs looming for two games and the chance that they could fall flat toward the playoff run.

San Diego Chargers 4-3

Surprisingly the Chargers are in the mix for a Wild Card spot.  Philip Rivers has looked good and the offense has some balance with a good rushing attack.  The defense is still a work in progress, but the Chargers are headed in the right direction.

Green Bay Packers 5-2

After their bye week the Packers are on a four game winning streak and are starting to peak at the right time.  They have had a good amount of injuries on offense, but Aaron Rodgers continues to dominate with whomever can catch the ball.

Detroit Lions 5-3

They’ve been involved in some good games this year, but they’ll need to avoid a let down in the second half.  Green Bay and Chicago are still around and the Lions don’t have the greatest defense in the league to keep them at bay.

Chicago Bears 4-3

With Jay Cutler out for a while with a groin injury the Bears might be out of the playoff race.  If the Bears can win a few games until he returns then they should be in a good position to compete for either the division or a Wild Card spot.

New Orleans Saints 6-1

If Seattle wasn’t as dominant the Saints would be the best team in the NFC.  They have continued their offensive success without any hitch and the defense is playing great aside from one drive against the New England Patriots.

Carolina Panthers 4-3

Sometimes they’ve looked good and other times they’ve looked mediocre.  Regardless the Panthers are a solid team that relies on their defense and quarterback to win games for them.  Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but they are a sneaky good team.

Seattle Seahawks 7-1

Most have been talking about the Broncos and Chiefs, but Seattle is once again becoming a dominant team before our eyes.  One scary thought for them though is the lack of offensive punch with Russell Wilson this season.  His receivers are adequate at best and they’ll need Percy Harvin pretty soon.

San Francisco 49ers 6-2

They have bounced back nicely since their rough patch to start the season.  Time will tell if they can overcome the Seahawks surge in a rematch later this year, but the 49ers are proving that they still are contenders going forward.

The Bad

Arizona Cardinals 4-4

The Cardinals defense has played well, but they are still getting inconsistent play from their quarterback spot.  If Carson Palmer can improve with a pourous offensive line in front of him Arizona could be in contention for a Wild Card spot.

Dallas Cowboys 4-4

They are better than their record indicates, but the Cowboys have had the misfortune of playing in a shootout with the Broncos and giving up a late score to the Lions.  Their defense has played better, but they must avoid those lapses at key moments of the game.

Philadelphia Eagles 3-5

The Eagles stunned the Redskins Week 1, but everyone else has studied that film and learned how to contain the Eagles weapons.  It also doesn’t help that both Michael Vick and Nick Foles have missed time due to injury.  It’s Matt Barkley’s time to shine.

Oakland Raiders 3-4

With the lack of receiving options for Terrelle Pryor it’s amazing that the Raiders have won three games.  Pryor’s running ability has wowed opponents and the return of Darren McFadden as the feature back has put the Raiders above the cellar.

Tennessee Titans 3-4

If Jake Locker hadn’t missed a couple games maybe the Titans would have a winning record at this point, but they have had miscues on defense and no consistency in the running game to offset Locker’s absence.  Maybe a fresh start in the second half will help.

Baltimore Ravens 3-4

It’s been hit or miss with the Ravens this season.  If they run the ball consistently they will win or be close enough to win the game. If Joe Flacco throws the ball more than 50 times, the Ravens are losing or will lose big.  He’s a good quarterback, but something is wrong when he throws it that much.

New York Jets 4-4

No one expected them to win this many games so early in the season.  If Geno Smith continues to show improvement and win some more games he’ll be the favorite for offensive rookie of the year, but the Jets fans will get greedy and think the playoffs are possible.

Miami Dolphins 3-4

They got off to a great start, but have since lost four straight.  And the way they have lost games has been tough.  Ryan Tannehill is doing a great job with his new weapons, but the offensive line has let him down and there doesn’t appear to be a feature back to take pressure of the passing game.

The Ugly

Buffalo Bills 3-5

They have managed to surprise some opponents early in their games this season, but Buffalo manages to trail off and give the game right back to their opponent.  Their record is deceiving, but they’ve looked good on defense this season.

Cleveland Browns 3-5

With the shuffling at the quarterback position the Browns haven’t been able to play consistent football this year.  Trading away Trent Richardson has turned Cleveland into a pass happy offense, but that doesn’t stop them from nearly beating some good teams this year.

Pittsburgh Steelers 2-5

It could have been worse for the Steelers, but to their loyal fans this is as bad as it gets right now.  There is no rushing attack and the receivers have been inconsistent.  The defense has been good, but the lack of turnovers their causing is putting a lot of pressure on the offense to do more.

Houston Texans 2-5

Injuries are always a concern for a team like the Texans, but they didn’t expect their quarterback Matt Schaub to play the way he has this season.  Case Keenum is going to be the guy going forward and that could mean a big second half surge or time to start planning for the future.

Jacksonville Jaguars 0-8

Almost everything about them has been awful this year.  They do have some good players, but the atmosphere has been toxic for them and they are having terrible years.  If the Jaguars do win more than one game it will be a surprise.

Washington Redskins 2-5

Robert Griffin is starting to look better and the running game is picking up speed.  If only their defense would match that play.  Most were keying in on the Redskins offense, but their defense has been their achilles heel this year.

New York Giants 2-6

Their starting to win some games now, but it might be too little too late to start a miracle comeback this year.  The only thing keeping that alive is the fact that the Dallas Cowboys record is only 4-4. The Giants are amazingly still in contention.

Minnesota Vikings 1-6

They’ve had quarterback issues all year and they wish they had what the Cleveland Browns have at this point.  Adrian Peterson would be lucky to get 1,000 yards rushing let alone 2,000 this season and the defense has had a rough year.

Atlanta Falcons 2-5

Injuries on offense have destroyed their fire power and that has put a strain on the defense with them being on the field more than they want to be.  The only hope for them is that they keep their quarterback Matt Ryan upright for him to make plays.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 0-7

The Jaguars are the worst team, but the Bucs are making a pretty good case why they should be.  Josh Freeman is gone and they have a rookie quarterback at the helm, but that hasn’t fixed any issues they have with the locker room and the coaching staff.

St. Louis Rams 3-5

They haven’t looked good when they try to run the ball this year and now without Sam Bradford for the rest of the year the Rams passing game is going to get a whole lot worse just when they were starting to be a cohesive unit.

Week 7 Review of the NFL

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Peyton Goes To Indianapolis
Regardless of whether you thought Colts owner Jim Irsay meant well or not with his comments before Peyton Manning’s return to Indianapolis you have to admit that he and the Colts organization did a great job welcoming him back.  Manning is a class act and he isn’t going to get dragged into commenting on Jim Irsay and what he did or didn’t say.  They both handled that Sunday night game with class as far as I’m concerned.  When Brett Favre returned to Green Bay as a Minnesota Viking, he didn’t handle it with class and to an extent neither did the Packers organization.  Nonetheless Favre held a tremendous grudge against them and you could tell the way he handled himself leading up to and after that game. Favre won in his return where Manning lost.  It was rather one-sided in favor of the Colts, but there were moments in the second half where the Broncos could have easily tied if not taken the lead. If it hadn’t been for RB Ronnie Hillman’s fumble near the goal line the Broncos potentially could have been down by only one score. Alas the Colts won and the Broncos lost.  It was one of the few bright spots in a week where there were many bad games.  Be thankful that this was a watchable game and not the Vikings vs. Giants on Monday night.
The Game Nobody Thought To Watch
All eyes were waiting for the Sunday night game, but most didn’t see the 4-2 Cincinnati Bengals and the 4-2 Detroit Lions as a game worth watching and I don’t blame them.  They are the Bengals and the Lions after all.  However, this was a great matchup between two of the games best wide receivers in the Bengals A.J. Green and the Lions Calvin Johnson.  First of all, no one should be able to do what Calvin Johnson did in this game (see above).  Catching a touchdown pass with three defenders around in the end zone.  That does not make sense.  Seeing A.J. Green catch and breakaway for an 82 yard opening drive touchdown shouldn’t happen either. Calvin Johnson would add another touchdown to finish with 9 catches for 155 yards.  A.J. Green finished with 6 catches for 155 yards and the win.  Both teams didn’t turn the ball over and both quarterbacks had great games.  Bengals QB Andy Dalton and Lions QB Matthew Stafford threw for over 350 yards with 3 touchdowns.  This game showed that both teams are capable of making the playoffs and even making some noise.  This also could be a sign of things to come as the Bengals won a big road game while the Lions lost on a late field goal attempt.  Either way this was the game of the week had it not been for the Broncos vs. Colts.
J-E-T-S One Game Out Of First
No one except for Jets head coach Rex Ryan thought the Jets would be this close to first place near the half way point of the season.  To the New England Patriots credit they didn’t over estimate the Jets this time around.  They nearly beat the Patriots in Foxboro during the second week of the season.  This was a relatively close game that ended up going to overtime where there were grumblings about a rule that nobody had heard of before. Clearly the Patriots were in violation when one of their players was pushing another player into the line.  The NFL clearly states that you can’t do that.  Of course Patriots head coach Bill Belichick becomes the most vocal person in the room when it happens against him, but the rule is there.  Yes, it’s a new rule, but every team should know about it.  It wasn’t like the Jets marched down and scored a touchdown in overtime, but the penalty gave them an extra 10-15 yards of wiggle room to make the game winning field goal.  Everyone knows about the rule now, but that’s not to say that other teams were doing it before and getting away with it.  We’ll probably never hear about this rule again, but it’s always funny to see these kinds of rules crop up in a game when the New England Patriots are playing.  Most of the time it’s been in their favor.

Week 6 Review of the NFL

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One-Sided Until The End
This matchup was hyped as one to determine if the Saints QB Drew Brees could demolish the Patriots with the amount of weapons at his disposal and if the Patriots QB Tom Brady could counter with his lack of weapons.  Well it turned out that Brees was missing one for the entire game.  TE Jimmy Graham was no where to be found.  He ended up leaving the game in the 4th quarter with an ankle injury, but it was weird to see Brees not even look for Graham at crucial moments of the game.  From what I could see Graham was in single coverage in those key spots.  Regardless the Saints were doing a good job staying ahead of the Patriots and the Saints defense did a good job keeping Brady out of the end zone.  That is until the final drive.  For some reason the Saints went to a prevent defense and some of their players went brain dead and tackled a Patriots receiver out of bounds in field goal range.  That extra timeout for New England setup the eventual game winning touchdown catch you see above.  New Orleans’ defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s face after that play said it all. But again why would you do the complete opposite of your teams gameplan on the final drive of the game?  Alas the Saints are no longer undefeated and the Patriots can brag about beating a pretty good football team.
A Sad State
You know it’s bad when your home fans cheer seeing your starting quarterback being taken off the field due to injury.  That’s what happened when Texans QB Matt Schaub’s ankle was rolled over by St. Louis Rams DE Chris Long.  It wasn’t a dirty play by any means.  You see it all the time now in football.  What you don’t want to see is the fans that cheered Schaub getting hurt.  I get that he hasn’t been the guy you expected him to be and that most Texans fans would have expected a Super Bowl appearance by now let alone an AFC Championship game.  That doesn’t mean you need to lower yourself to barbarism and cheer someone’s pain.  I get that it was a select few, but they need to be called out for what it is.  In a football sense it was interesting to see if backup T.J. Yates would fair any better, but on that very drive after Schaub was hurt, Yates threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by the Rams.  Guess that idea won’t work either.  If Schaub misses a significant portion of the season it doesn’t bode well for the Texans.  No matter how you look at it the Texans are better with him.  Going forward it doesn’t look that way.  If Houston should finish with a losing record this year it will likely mean a lot of coaches and players will be looking for work elsewhere next year. Possibly even some front office officials.  Regardless of their outcome the Texans are better than their record indicates and they need to start playing with some urgency.
Believe The Hype 
I know, I know.  I’m the same person that said the Buffalo Bills were back a few years ago when they started the season 5-2 and then went 1-8 to finish the season.  Don’t doubt me now.  This Chiefs team is 6-0 and has beaten some tough opponents so far. The Dallas Cowboys were the closest team to beat the Chiefs losing by only one point at Arrowhead Stadium.  Their new head coach Andy Reid had them well prepared against his former team in Philadelphia.  At the time the Eagles offense was the talk of the league and the Chiefs defense made them look ordinary.  And although the New York Giants were 0-3 at the time they were still considered a good team when they played the Chiefs.  Kansas City’s next three games before their bye week should ensure that they stay undefeated for their Week 11 matchup with the Denver Broncos.  My hope is that Denver stays undefeated so that we can see a division rivalry renewed with two undefeated teams going at it.  After playing Denver and San Diego twice after their bye week the Chiefs only worthy opponent will be the Indianapolis Colts. Should the Chiefs win their home matchups with the Broncos and Chargers, but lose on the road and to the Colts their final record would be 13-3 at the end of the season.  Not bad for a team that was 2-14 a season ago.  With that top notch defense and a steady quarterback in Alex Smith the Chiefs are here to stay.

Week 5 Review of the NFL

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Missed A Win By That Much
It has been a dreadful start to the Atlanta Falcons season.  Under the tenure of their current head coach Mike Smith the Falcons have not had a losing record and have only missed the playoffs once.  They are now in danger of having both a losing record and missing the playoffs for the only the second time under Mike Smith.  It doesn’t help that the Falcons have some injuries at key positions.  WR Julio Jones will now miss the entire season with a foot injury.  RB Steven Jackson has missed some time with a quad injury.  Their best defensive player, LB Sean Weatherspoon hasn’t played this season, but is eligible to return later this year. Even with the setback the Falcons have managed to stay competitive, but the losses are starting to mount.  Coming up short against the New Orleans Saints to start the season.  Losing late to the Dolphins, Patriots and Jets in consecutive weeks could put a damper on their Super Bowl aspirations.  Their schedule will get a little easier, but they still have the Seahawks, Saints, Packers and 49ers later in the season.  If Atlanta didn’t lose to the New York Jets on Monday night I wouldn’t be writing them off, but it’s hard not to when they lose another game at home and Julio Jones is lost for the season.
They’re On A Roll
Here’s the scary thing about the Indianapolis Colts.  They are just about to get through the toughest part of their schedule.  Their next two games are against the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos.  The rest of their schedule has them playing the Tennessee Titans twice and the Kansas City Chiefs.  Those two teams are their toughest opponents.  I would have put the Houston Texans in that category, but the Texans are falling faster than the Atlanta Falcons.  If the Colts defeat the Chargers and the Broncos they will be looked at as Super Bowl contenders the rest of the way.  I’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again.  It is amazing to see that the Colts with QB Andrew Luck look like the same team with Peyton Manning as their quarterback.  It’s only Luck’s second year, but he looks even better than his great rookie season.  It’s a different looking Colts team than in years past, but they would like to win another Super Bowl and prove they don’t need Peyton to do it.
Impressive, But Let’s Be Realistic
Since their struggles against the Seattle Seahawks and the Indianapolis Colts in consecutive weeks, the 49ers have dominated their opponents.  They are back to looking like the Super Bowl contenders that they’re supposed to be, but looking at their last two opponents we should wait a little bit.  The St. Louis Rams and the Houston Texans have been rather suspect early in the season and they were ill prepared for the 49ers.  I’m first and foremost a Niners fan, but I’m holding back any kind of assumption that they will coast through the rest of the season.  They still have to play the Seattle Seahawks one more time.  Also the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.  Another division opponent, the Arizona Cardinals have had a good start to the season and the Niners will host them next week.  If the 49ers win their next three games before their bye week they will be sitting pretty at 6-2.  It will be interesting to see, but make no mistake that the 49ers are playing great football right now and they want to prove everyone wrong about their early season struggles.