Tuesday Night Week 12 Recap.

Week 12 Predictions heads up: 10-6

Week 12 Predictions against the Spread: 9-7

Record so far: 80-63

Just when you thought Peyton Manning couldn't throw any more interception he proves us all wrong. I think for the most part we all saw the Chargers catching up to everyone in the AFC west and looking to overtake them in the final weeks of the season. The luck of the interim head coach continued as the Vikings eked out an ugly one over the Redskins and the Bears have finally earned my beleaguered kudos in this week’s recap.

The Beasts of the East

Fun Fact: Brian Urlacher ate Donald Duck after this photo

After Watching the Falcons win a great game against the Packers I was ready to declare them the best team in the NFC. Then I saw the Bears beat the Eagles in a 31-26 game that wasn’t actually that close and I have to say the Bears are legit. I’ve been railing against the Bears and their early win’s against nobody for a while but after beating the team I thought was the best in the NFC handily I have to give them their due.  Jay Cutler was absolutely phenomenal throwing a more or less perfect game, 247 yards 4 touchdowns no interceptions. Their defense did an outstanding job shutting down the big plays that fuel the eagles and keeping everything in front of them with their cover 2 defense. They also did a great job of not over pursuing and creating running lanes for Michael Vick they kept him more or less in check for the entire game as far as running the football goes.  He got 44 yards but it came on 9 carries so he was held under 5 yards a carry and I’m sure most teams would take that. Michael Vick still played a pretty outstanding game, outside of one red zone interception he was patient moving down the field and taking what the Bears gave him and he made one of the best passes of the year on his 30 yard touchdown to Brent Celek however it wasn’t enough. Vick’s performance reminded me of Aaron Rodgers performance earlier in the day where he pretty much was all of the Green Bay Packers offense on the road and almost single handedly lead them to victory over a very tough Falcons team, but the Packers special teams undid what should have been an overtime forcing drive. The Green Bay Packers had 418 total yards and Rodgers was responsible for 395 of them. This game confirmed that both of these teams are among the top 3 or 4 of the NFC and if they meet again it could easily be 20-17 the other way around.

Ok fine. I admit it. The Bears are for real

I’ve been trying for weeks and weeks to write off the Bears as a fluky team lead by a defense that isn’t as good as people think and an offense that doesn’t have anyone a single reliable player but that’s simply not true. The Bears area a team lead by a damn good defense and an offense that doesn’t have a single reliable player. The Bears defense is based more around the turnover than it is completely shutting their opponents down. While their pass defense is ranked a mediocre 16^th in the league they have 16 interceptions which ties them for second in the league. The cover two style they play forces quarterbacks to be patient with their throws or force something and possibly end up with an interception and clearly a lot of quarterbacks lack patience which is what the Bears defense capitalize on.  This defense has been lead by the resurgence of Brian Urlacher into the all-pro form he had a few years ago, he’s roaming sideline to sideline playing that 3^rd safety role that the middle linebacker in a cover two has to do so well. Offensively this team won’t particularly wow you with anything they’re 22^nd in points scored and 28^th in total yardage. However as bad as Jay Cutler has looked at times this season and he has looked really really bad, if you told Bears fans Jay Cutler would have 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with a 90 QB rating they would have taken it.  Part of what makes up for their mediocre offense has been the return of stellar special teams play to the Bears sidelines, Devin Hester is almost back to his old self with two punt returns for touchdown this year the first he’s had since 2008. You combine all 3 things and this bears team has the classic composition of a Chicago football team, a team that’s lead by its defense has a competent but honestly not that good offense and relies on a special teams to generate field position.

Is this the beginning of the end for the Colts?

Seen this a lot more than usual

Part of me wanted to write an article about the Chargers here, but I think I’ve reference the comeback of the Chargers in this blog enough to where you all see where I would go with that. A much more unexpected storyline coming out of that Sunday Night game is that the Colts got absolutely blasted. They lost by 22 points and it should have been 35. I know that by and large the Chargers own the Colts and that Peyton always has bad games against them but the Colts are 6-5 at week 13. When was the last time we were this far into the season and the Colts were a game above .500? The closest I can come up with is the 2008 Colts and they were 7-4 in week 13 before ending the season on a 10 game winning streak. Hey maybe this Colts team will close the season on a 5 game winning streak and end up at 11-5 and we’ll forget that we ever had this conversation but I just can’t shake the fact this Colts team looks incredibly flawed. Normally the Colts can’t run the football, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it this bad. Peyton Manning is on pace to break the all time passes attempted in a season record which is no good for anyone who likes the blue horseshoes. He’s averaging around 45 passing attempts a game and is over 30 attempts ahead of the next closest player.  He’s thrown 7 interceptions in the past two games and it seems as though he’s regressing to his old interception happy days. Many many years ago my brother and I used to call Peyton Manning “intercepto”, we thought of him as a super hero who’s only power was the ability to throw interceptions.  In his rookie season Peyton Manning threw 28 interceptions which is still quite staggering, he followed that up two years later a 23 interception gem. Just to clear up any confusion no I don’t think he’s going back to the days of his early years where he every pass he threw had you worried, but part of me wonders if the days of me thinking Peyton Manning could do no wrong have finally come to an end. 

Tuesday Night Week 10 Recap.

Week 10 Predictions Heads up: 7-7

Never Count out Peyton Manning

Week 10 Predictions against the Spread: 5-9

Record so far: 70-57

Every week things are supposed to become a bit clearer, but this year nothing is really clear except we don’t know much. 3 of the teams I would have put in my top 5 lost last week, the Ravens and Steelers losing tough games to other elite teams while the Giants lost to the Cowboys. I don’t know if Jason Garrett has really inspired the Cowboys or if this is one of those fluky new coach one week of excitement type wins. Normally a win against the Browns doesn’t impress anyone, but Cleveland is playing everyone tough this year so for New York to go in there and steal one in overtime was impressive to me. When I think of the top of the league 6 teams jump to my mind, Falcons, Eagles, Giants, Pats, Steelers, and the Jets. I don't know the exact order but if the 2 super bowl finalists don't come from the those 6 teams you can color me surprised. Well unless its the Colts because here at Screen and Roll out we never count out Peyton Manning. 

Michael Vick turned on God Mode

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything more insane than what Vick did to the Redskins on Monday night football, the closest I’ve probably seen was when Adrian Peterson broke the all time rushing record and Bo Jackson in pretty much any Tecmo Bowl. The first play of the game he throws one of the most beautiful deep passes you’ll ever see to Desean Jackson that travels 60 yards in the air before landing perfectly in Jackson's outstretched arms for 6. It would be one thing if he just put on a passing clinic, but he did it all in a way that only a player of Michael Vicks speed, agility, and overall explosiveness could. He ran for 80 yards on 8 carries most of them the “darting away from a defender at the last second to demoralize a defense variety”. The only bad thing about this game was that it was a blowout which means we were treated to blowout commentary by the Monday night football crew, and when  a crew doesn’t have a good game to talk about they typically drone on about everything and anything which takes away from some of the awesomeness of the performance. The fact that this all happened on the night Donovan Mcnabb christened his new 78 million dollar contract had to be especially stinging to the Redskins and especially rewarding for Vick, because if Mcnabb is worth 78 million over 5 years how much am I worth at 5 years younger and better than he has ever been?

Tom Brady doesn’t like the Steelers

Pure Precision

In another QB tour de force performance Tom Brady put an absolute clinic on in Pennsylvania dissecting the Steelers every which way while being about as pumped as I’d seen him in a while. Part of me wanted to believe he was just pumped because it was a big game, except he’s played in more playoff games and super bowls than most people have seen so he knows big games. Then after seeing him spike that ball after his QB sneak I thought he might dislocate his shoulder. I don’t think I’ve seen Tom Tremendous try to stick it to a team this bad since………..the Steelers during the Patriots date with regular season perfection. Except this time there was no trash talk by a mediocre safety coming into the game it was just a matchup of AFC powerhouses trying to establish a pecking order, and the Patriots made it clear however the pecking order stacks up they’re on top of the Steelers.  350 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a 117.4 QB rating which doesn’t do his performance justice. The first touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski couldn’t have been throwing a millisecond later or an inch in another direction it was like it teleported off his hand onto Gronkowski's fingertips, truly a masterful performance by one of the game’s best.

Have the Falcons been the best team all along?

The Atlanta Falcons beat the Ravens on Thursday night in probably the best and most exciting game of the week. Matt Ryan lived up to the Matty Ice moniker making a tremendous sideline throw with the game on the line in the 2 minute drill before sealing it with a touchdown to Roddy White. In last week’s preview I picked the Ravens in part because I didn’t believe Roddy White would be himself on an injured knee well count my suspicions as invalid because he was absolutely spectacular as he did what he wanted against a Ravens secondary that had been surprisingly stout up to that point. The fact that their passing offense was that effective when they’re normally solid run game was nowhere to be found makes it even more impressive. Michael Turner who was coming off consecutive hundred yard games was held to a mere 39 yards and they had less than 60 rushing yards total. On the defensive side of the ball the Falcons rely on the pressure generated by sack master John Abraham who is two sacks of the league lead with 8 this year. The Falcons only two losses this year have been at Pittsburgh and at Philadelphia both of whom seem like elite teams in the league. However if the Falcons keep playing the way they’re playing they may not have to travel until they make a road trip to Dallas in February. 

Tuesday Morning Week 9 Recap.

Week 9 Predictions Heads up: 9-4

Week 9 Predictions against the Spread: 9-3-1

Record so far: 63-50

Week 9 was a pretty good week for me overall. I did pretty well on my predictions and the Raiders won their biggest game in 8 years. The Cowboys are now officially without a doubt the worst team in the league and are fighting to become the worst team in Cowboys history. The Patriots lost in an absolute blow out to Bill Belichick's most hated rival. I don’t know if I could ask for much more in a week from football. This week we were introduced to Jacoby Ford, Jacob Tamme, and Seyi Ajirotutu. Speaking of Ajirotutu I don’t know if anybody is playing better football right now than Phillip Rivers this week he went out against the Texans and threw for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns on only 23 attempts which is insane. However if that wasn’t crazy enough for you, he does all that without his top 4 receivers relying on the aforementioned Ajirotutu, and Randy McMichael to dissect the Texans secondary. I have to say as big a man crush as I have on Tom Brady and Peyton Manning Phillip Rivers has been the MVP of the league so far through 9 weeks.

Jerry Jones finally takes Wade Phillips out back with the shotgun

This is hanging on my office wall

Seriously was there a sadder team to watch last weekend than the Dallas Cowboys? I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team give up as easily as the cowboys did against the Packers. 45-7 and the game wasn’t even that close as the Packers eased off the gas pedal in the entirety of the 4^th. I assume everyone’s seen the Mike Jenkins play where he’s at the goal line and doesn’t even attempt to make the tackle, a lot of times we talk about teams quitting but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it any clearer than that. As much as Jerry Jones talked about how changing coaches isn’t the thing to do and their isn’t a track record of success from it he had to make this move. If only for mercies sake alone, Wade Phillips needed to be put out of his own misery coaching a team that had clearly given up on him and whatever he had to impart upon them. You combine that with the injury to Tony Romo and a season that already seemed lost was thrown into the abyss. This goes right along with the coaching history of Phillips everywhere he goes it takes around 2 or 3 years for the players to tune him out and for the record to reflect it.  Now where do the Cowboys go from here, the fact it took them this long to fire Wade Phillips doesn’t speak particularly highly of Jason Garrett or anyone else on that staff. However if Jason Garrett were to put together a respectable season he could have a chance at the job going into 2010 however the odds of that seem unlikely. A bigger question to me is whether this team had the talent to compete and not the coaching or do they require more talent as well, as important as coaching is I don’t think a team as talented as the Cowboys are supposed to be can go out and get crushed like they have the past few weeks. Knowing Jerry Jones I see a Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden in the cowboys future at a crisp 7 or 8 million dollars a year.

We can officially welcome the Oakland Raiders back to the land of the living

With 3 straight wins going into the bye week the Oakland Raiders are above 500 this late in the season for the first time since 2002 when they made the super bowl. I doubt any Raider fans have delusions of their team making the Super Bowl but a division crown isn’t nearly as farfetched as it would have seemed this time in august. The AFC West is anyone’s guess right now with the Chargers seemingly righting the ship and Kansas City still a half game ahead but the Raiders have a leg up on both of them with its sterling 3-0 divisional record. However looking at the Raiders schedule the rest of the way and things won’t be easy, if they want to win this division or at least make the playoffs it’s going to be a huge struggle.  At Pittsburgh, Miami, at San Diego, at Jacksonville, Denver, Indy, and the last game is at Kansas City. Looking at those games I would  say that I think the Raiders are only going to win 3 which would put them at 8-8, but as this Raider team has already shown they can’t be counted out as easily as the Raider teams of the past few years. One of the biggest stories of this team that doesn’t get enough attention is the rebirth of the Raider defense, right now they’re only ranked 7^th in total defense and 26^th against the run however in the past 3 weeks they've held teams to 47, 75, and 104 yards rushing. That 104 yard game was last week against the Chiefs who came in with the league’s top rushing attack averaging 190 yards per game and had 3 straight 200 yard rushing performances. Richard Seymour has been a force for the Raiders at defensive tackle so far in 8 weeks he has more individual tackles and sacks than he did in 16 games last year. The Raiders might have finally hit on an offensive tackle prospect with Jared Veldheer out of Hillsdale College; while he gave up a sack to Tamba Hali last week he held his own for a large portion of the game and has come on in recent weeks to be one of their most consistent linemen. It seems the Raiders might have finally learned something the good teams known for a while; you build your team from the offensive and defensive line out. Perhaps all this talent in the trenches can propel the raiders out of the one they’ve been in for the past few years.

Does anybody know who the best team in the NFL is?

Picture unrelated: This blog has gone to long without Mel Kiper's hair

It can’t be the Patriots after they get demolished by the Cleveland browns by 20 points. Is it the Steelers after they squeak by against the Bengals at home? The Ravens who beat a solid Miami team but have already lost to the earlier mentioned Patriots. Maybe the Falcons, but they were a goal line stand away from losing to Tampa Bay this week. Perhaps your team of choice is the Giants being as they've strung off 4 straight wins a few of them in impressive fashion. The only problem with them is how entirely unimpressive that loss in Indy was early in the season.The Packers, they did just beat the Cowboys 45-7 and have played well the past few weeks, but honestly how much is beating the cowboys worth…half a win? A quarter win? We always talk about parity in sports well this is what parity looks like. No dominant teams, a league full of teams who we can all poke holes in. A few teams who seem pretty good, but every week you look at who they play and think that team has a chance. There are so few gimmes anymore in the NFL because so many of the teams are so closely clumped together. There’s the 5 or 6 elite/really good teams, followed by pack of 15 middle of the road teams where 3 or 4 playoff teams will emerge, and then the rest of the league which is pretty bad.  Honestly I have no idea who’s going to win or even make the super bowl right now. There are 8 or so teams I could all see playing in the super bowl right now and part of me is excited in the fact that there’s still so much up in the air, but I’m also disappointed in that no team has really come into this season and taken the league by the reins. 

Tuesday Morning Week 8 Recap.

Week 8 Predictions Heads up: 8-5

Week 8 Predictions against the Spread: 8-5

Record so far: 54-46

Week 8 had a rough beginning with the early games on Sunday being absolutely terrible. The Jacksonville Jaguars blowing out the Cowboys, Denver and San Francisco being themselves in England, and Green Bay and New York playing an incredibly sloppy game in the meadowlands.  However the 2^nd half of Sunday held up much better with a very exciting Arizona Tampa Bay game, the Saints playing like their old selves against the Steelers and San Diego keeping themselves on life support with a win against the Titans.  Then it was closed out with a masterful performance by Peyton Manning on Monday night reminding us that he could probably win a few games surrounded by a rec team. On to the quick hits.

Doesn't Brad Childress look like he belongs on “To Catch a Predator”

Chris Hanson is onto you Childress

That’s more of a side note to the ridiculousness that is going on right now in Minnesota. So it’s written into Brad Childress’ contract that he has complete control over all personal decisions without having to consult with anyone. So of course since his authority and decision making had been questioned it’s ok to jettison a player they traded a 3^rd round pick for 4 weeks after picking him up, and possibly having to pay his salary for the rest of  the year. This move sort of shows the absolute ineptitude of the Minnesota Vikings decision making process. You go out during the summer multiple times to convince a player who doesn’t want to play to come back. You then trade a 3^rd round pick for Randy Moss and are surprised when he says something controversial in a press conference or when he doesn’t play as hard as you would like him to? This is what Randy Moss does, this is what he’s been doing since he came into the league to trade for him and act surprised when this happens shows a complete lack of foresight on the part of the Minnesota Vikings. Sure nobody liked what he did on that play with pass interference he clearly didn’t even try to make a stab at that ball, but that’s what you get when you sign Randy Moss. To give up a 3^rd round pick for him for a 4 week stay is an inexcusable lack of judgment by what we thought was a super bowl team before the season. It just goes to show how truly important coaching is, a good coach can combine personalities, and can handle the disparate ones, and bad coaches cannot. Brad Childress ladies and gentleman is not just a bad coach, he's an awful one.

Speaking of questionable coaching moves……

The 5th sign of the Apocalypse.

So Mike Shanahan decides to bench Donovan Mcnabb for the final drive of the game, this is a bit problematic if he’s playing bad since you’ve already invested in him with a big trade in the offseason and you want to give him every chance to succeed. However this becomes even more insane when he’s replaced by Rex Grossman of all people, who then proceeds to do what he always does and gives up a sack/fumble on his first play. Ballgame lions win get Ndamaka Suh his defensive rookie of the year trophy. Donovan Mcnabb hadn’t been playing all that terrible going into that drive, 210 yards 1 touchdown and 1 pick, nothing spectacular but nothing bench worthy either. After the game Shanahan comes out and says that Mcnabb doesn’t have the knowledge of the 2 minute offense that Rex Grossman does. Really? That’s the best excuse you could come up with? It’s not like Mcnabb got there late, he was there all offseason from OTA’s on and participated in everything imaginable if he didn’t have the offense down by then he shouldn’t have been the starter. Then a few days later he says that the problem was his hamstring injury and that he’s not in the kind of shape they want him to be to run the 2 minute drill. Mcnabb has run the 2 minute drill 4 times for the Redskins you would assume that if he wasn't in the shape to run it you would have said something after the first one. Mike Shanahan has already alienated one member of the Redskins in Albert Hanyseworth and it didn't bite him in the ass, I don't know if he can do it with their starting QB and expect this season to end any better the previous Redskin seasons. Maybe Shanahan looks at Grossman and see's all of what he saw in Jay Cutler a strong arm that can throw an interception with the best of em, and maintain an insane amount of confidence after 1........2........3........hell even 4 interceptions. I mean honestly how could he resist. The question becomes can Shanahan put his Cutler urges aside and try to guide the Redskins with a competent QB or will his itch get the best of them. Oh whats that.....the Redskins just worked out Jamarcus Russell......may god have mercy upon Shanahans soul.

An Old Fashioned AFC West Battle

If somebody would have told you the week 9 game between the Chiefs and Raiders would have been for the lead in the AFC West would you have believed them? Both teams are run first teams with an explosive playmaker in the run game and an adequate QB behind center. Both teams count on their front four to create pressure for their better than expected secondary to capitalize. The Chiefs have Brandon Flowers coming into his own as a shutdown cornerback and their young draft pick Eric Berry turning into the ball hawking safety they hoped when they drafted him 5th overall. The Raiders have mainstay Nnamdi Asomugha finally getting some help on the other side from Stanford Routt who is finally becoming the player the Raiders thought they drafted in the 2^nd round. Up front the Chiefs count on Tamba Hali to create havoc on the edge and he’s doing it with 7 sacks which puts him in the top 5 of the league. The Raiders go with a pass rush by committee approach with Richard Seymour, Matt Shaughnessy, and Kamerion Wimbley all having more than 4.5 sacks. It will be a battle of the #1 rushing offense vs the #2 rushing offense. A battle of a Raider team that has beat its past two opponents by a combined score of 92-17 and chiefs team on its own 2 game winning streak. Now they face off in Oakland in front of presumably half full Oakland Coliseum for the division lead, whoever stays true to their identity of running the football and getting after the quarterback will come out the victor. 

Tuesday Morning Week 7 Recap.

Week 7 Predictions Heads up 7-7 

Week 7 Predictions against the Spread 6-8 

Record so far: 46-41

Wow. As crazy as this year has been in the NFL week 7 was probably the craziest week we’ve had this year. 9 Interception returns for touchdowns on Sunday which was an NFL record by the way. The Raiders basically drop a 60 bomb on the Broncos. Drew Brees throws 4 picks to the BROWNS at home. Carson Palmer decides he’s heard enough of my mouth and goes off for 412 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Refs absolutely blow their whistles too soon and rob the Dolphins of a win at home, and keep the Steelers on top of the AFC. Seriously there are honestly too many stories for this week’s quick hits I’m pretty excited so let’s get to it.

The Autumn Wind is a Raider

Truly the rims of Future Pro Bowler

So could you please raise your hand if you had the Raiders beating the Broncos? Ok thank you that looks like about half the class. So now could you please raise your hand if you had the Raiders beating the Broncos by 45 points? Yeah….didn‘t think so. So I say Oakland’s gonna lose on Sunday, not only do they win, they score the most points in franchise history. This was probably the most dominating performance I’ve seen on all 3 phases of the game in years. This was like watching college football. It seemed like Boise State vs. Nevada or something. Darren McFadden seems to have finally turned the corner and become the elite back the Raiders thought they drafted with the 4^th overall selection. He’s only 3 yards behind Adrian Peterson in yards per game at a sterling 111.4 and he’s averaging an astounding 5.5 yards per rush. He put on a truly dynamic performance reminiscent of some of his more explosive days back in Arkansas. Defensively they shut down the top 3 passing attack of the Broncos holding Kyle Orton to 165 yards total passing, while sacking him 4 times and taking his first pass to the house for a pick 6. The fans in London can’t be too happy about getting to watch that Broncos v 49’ers matchup now, truly a battle of football elites. The question remains, what do the Raiders turn this victory into? Does this become a sign of things to come for the Raiders or does this become an unbelievable anomaly in another forgettable season in Oakland. Watching this team I’m still not sure, I’m hoping it’s the former rather than the later but only time will tell.

Ok we can finally say it………the Cowboys are finished

Even if getting blasted by the Giants on Monday night doesn’t seal it. Tony Romo breaking his Clavicle does. The normal recovery time on an injury like that is 8-10 weeks. So yeah I’m going to go ahead and put a fork in the Cowboys season. I was watching the Monday night game with my brother and I’ll tell you the exact moment I knew the Cowboys were going to lose. They get two interceptions on the first two Giant's possessions, both on tipped passes and they didn’t turn them both into touchdowns. They got the ball on the 6 and punched that one in, but then they got it on the 14 or so and settled for a field goal. That was it for me, you have to put your foot on the gas early and the cowboys don’t know how to do it. Even after the Dez Bryant punt return the feeling still remained the same. They can’t stop the Giants, once the Giants stop killing themselves they’re gonna paste em. All of sudden the Giant receivers stop tipping passes and catch them and its 21-20 at halftime and the game is essentially over. If you get 3 first half turnovers from a team and end up behind at the half you’re not the better team. The Giants proceeded to crush them in the 3^rd quarter before letting off the gas in the 4^th for a 41-35 victory that wasn’t that close. Now here’s the question I have, does this injury save Wade Phillips job? Can he really be blamed for a Tony Romoless team not making the playoffs? I think he should have been gone around week 4 but he wasn’t and now he’s without their most important offensive player for most likely the rest of the season.  I don’t know what Jerry Jones does but I do know that his daughter is absolutely terrifying. Seriously shes like Jerry Jones with a wig. I'm gonna have nightmares.(Google her, I'm not putting a picture in the blog. I have to check this thing once a day)

Well Better luck next year guys.

I knew they were fake just not this fake

Whenever I’m writing my weekend preview I’m always pretty worried about how wrong I’m going to be on stuff and I never fail to be really wrong on things. Observe last week’s Broncos over Raiders pick. However when I picked the Saints over the Browns it was with the caveat that I thought they’d win but I thought they’d scrape it out because something was still wrong with the Saints. I was wrong about them scraping out a win against the Browns. There was a blow out to be seen in the Superdome, the Saints getting blown out by a Cleveland Browns team that absolutely owned Drew Brees. I thought that the Saints hadn’t solved all of their offensive or defensive problems, but Sunday was mostly about offense. The Saints offense couldn’t do anything right. Drew Brees was under pressure constantly, he looked like a shorter Brett Favre out there throwing passes he had absolutely no business throwing. His first interception to David Bowens was a truly Favrian effort. He was wrapped up essentially, but instead of taking the sack and living to see another day he tries to throw the ball away and throws it towards the line; of course it bounces off of David Bowens hands then off of Jahri Evans leg and finally back into Bowens hands for a pick 6. He throws 4 picks total in this game and already this season has a grand total of 10 interceptions, he only had 11 all of last year. On the defensive side of the ball the Saints had trouble stopping a Browns offense lead by Colt Mccoy. I'll give the Browns credit in this, they played to win this game from the outset. They used all the trickeration they had in the books and kudos to them for that. However its week 8 and the Saints just got spanked 30-17 at home by the Browns. That truly doesn’t bode well for New Orleans and their chances of throwing another big bash in the bayou.  

Is this the week that the streak finally ends?

Every great streak in sports eventually ends. The Connecticut womyn’s basketball team will eventually lose a game. Cal Ripken eventually had to hang em up and let his streak go. The all time great UCLA teams of the early 70’s eventually lost to Notre Dame after compiling to me the most impressive team streak: 88 straight victories. The Los Angeles Lakers strung together 33 straight wins before their NBA all time steak ended. It seems that this might be the week that the greatest record in Pro sports finally gets its final number as Brett Favre might have to sit out this week and end his consecutive games streak at 291.  It comes out to an even more amazing 314 if you include the playoffs. Brett Favre has not one but two stress fractures in his ankle. I write this article knowing full and well Brett Favre could easily still decide that he’s Brett Favre and play anyway and be great. I just don’t know how a 40 year old guy with all that punishment on his body goes out there on what amounts to one ankle. To amass a streak like this in the most violent of sports is truly amazing; I think it makes it the most amazing individual streak in all of pro sports. This streak started all the way back in 1992, which comes out to 18 long years. Brett Favre hasn’t stopped playing football since I was 4 years old. As much as we go after Brett Favre here at Screen and Roll Out, if this is the week this streak ends he gets a salute from me because that is truly the work of an iron man. Also I’d like to salute him because Peyton Manning is probably going to break 8 years from now. Sorry I couldn’t help it, I can’t write about Favre without getting a dig in there somewhere. 

Tuesday Morning Week 6 Recap.

Week 6 predictions heads up: 7-7


Week 6 predictions against the spread:8-6


Record so far: 39-34


The NFL had quite a week 6. The prevailing story out of the NFL this week will be concussions and head to head hits and how the NFL can police the violence of football without taking away the essence of what makes it great. The Seahawks go on the road and get a win outside their division for the first time in 3 years under the steady hand of Pete Carroll. Pierre Garcon makes in absolutely ridiculous one handed grab in a Sunday night game that just showcased how amazing Peyton Manning is. Joseph Addai puts up 100+ yards and I feel like a lot of the yards can be attributed to Peyton Manning making the right choices and getting Joseph Addai in a position to be successful. A couple of seemingly game deciding pass interference penalties in the Texans V Chiefs game and the Jets V Broncos game have reignited the call for the NFL to switch to the college rules of a 15 yards pass interference rule. But without further adieu lets break into the things on my mind from Week 6 of the NFL.


The Wraith of Kolb

Fun Fact Kevin Kolb has a really big head

Kevin Kolb apparently reads the blog and wasn’t happy with my repeated bashing of him and his check down bonanza the past two weeks and decided to absolutely obliterate the Falcons. He throws 7 completions for over 20 yards on his way to 326 yards and 3 touchdowns. The final score was 31-17 and it wasn’t that close as David Akers missed a couple of 37 yard gimmes that would have made it even uglier. While the win against the 49’er really didn’t impress anyone, to blow out a Falcons team people were calling the best in the NFC does. Just when you thought things were settled in Philly Kolb throws a monkey wrench into the plans. I thought he might play well enough to up his trade value in the off season but he’s played well enough to once again give Andy Reid a tough decision if he puts together another good game this week. I think the odds are in his favor since Tennessee has the 23^rd ranked passing defense in the NFL and they’re only that high after a Monday night debacle against the Jaguars. So once again we’ll have a quarterback scorn in the city of brotherly love the only question is will it be # 7 or #4.

The Return of Roethlisberger

Big Ben made his return to the Steeler faithful with a beat down of the AFC north punching bag Cleveland Browns. I don’t know if there could have been a better set up for Big Ben he returns to a team that’s just hitting its stride with a plethora of weapons on the offensive end and a defense that will keep them in any game. So of course he goes out and puts up 257 and 3 touchdowns, but something was troubling about the performance. Honestly it didn’t have anything to do with the game that he played but more with his post game interview. He didn’t acknowledge any wrong doing on his part essentially say the suspension was unfair to him. On top of that he then proceeded to say that all of those actions were that of “Big Ben” and not of him. This shows the sort of cavalier attitude that Ben Roethlisberger still has. Despite this suspension he still remains above it all. I would be more prone to forgive and give him the benefit of the doubt if this wasn’t his second rape accusation in as many years with a plethora of evidence coming out against him things just seem to point to a privileged guy living in a world where he thinks he’s untouchable, and it doesn’t seem like the NFL suspension has done anything to change that. Its troubling that in a league where Michael Vick is still pretty reviled for brutally killing a large number of dogs, Ben Roethlisberger is left relatively unscathed after seemingly having non consensual sex with with two different womyn in the span of two years. Don't get me wrong I think that what Michael Vick did is absolutely terrible and he deserves absolutely all of the scorn he receives however Big Ben deserves a heaping helping of it on his plate as well. I guess those two super bowl rings do a good job deflecting a lot of criticism. 

The Vikings win Panic Bowl 2010

With both of their seasons on the brink the Vikings beat the Cowboys in a sloppy turnover and penalty filled game that showed just how far both of these presumptive NFC Super Bowl contenders had fallen. The Cowboys just can’t get out of their own way it seems. Another excessive celebration penalty, an unnecessary push off by Miles Austin that negates a long touchdown pass, blatant pass interference on their last gasp of a defensive stand, and finally a few Tony Romo interceptions. As “talented” as Dallas is supposed to be they can’t seem to win games. I put talent in quotations because I’ve never been a big believer in talented teams that don’t win. If you’re not winning then you’re not all that talented to me. I think the NFL will always be about talent first and discipline/coaching/scheme second. Sure the Steelers run a great 3-4 defense but if they didn’t have a slew of pro bowl players playing in it then it wouldn’t be nearly as dominant. I think the same can be said for the Cowboys. They don’t seem to have a single good player on their offensive line, they have no running game to speak of and while they have a lot of players in the passing game they can’t stop turning the ball over. I don’t think they’re nearly as talented as they’re made out to be. The Vikings also seem to be having offensive line problems. If Brett Favre continues to get hit like he did against the Cowboys he won’t make it through the season. The trio of Randy Moss, Percy Harvin, and Visanthe Shiancoe are dynamic but if Favre doesn’t have time to find them it’ll be for naught. So the Vikings won the game and are right back in their division race because of Packers and Bear’s losses, but things aren’t all fixed in the land of Lakes either.

The obligatory NFL is violent piece

The NFL wants to see less of this

So as we all know the NFL is a violent sport. This weekend it seemed a bit more violent as several players were knocked out of games. The most vicious hit being the Dunta Robinson on Desean Jackson hit which knocked both the hitter and the person hit out of the game. James Harrison delivered two knockout blows and then post game delivered a slew of comments that I don’t think made the NFL too happy. When asked about the violence and whether he has concern for players welfare he said “I thought Cribbs was asleep,”  “A hit like that geeks you up — it geeks everybody up — especially when you find out that the guy is not really hurt — he’s just sleeping. He’s knocked out, but he’s going to be OK.. I don’t know what’s more baffling, that James Harrison is so ignorant to the consequences of the sport that he plays or that a quote like this hasn’t been paraded around as the example of what’s wrong with the NFL. Somebody being knocked out from a hit isn’t them going to “sleep” nor are they ok after the fact. He also dropped this jewel “I want to hurt somebody,If you hurt somebody, they’ll be back the next play. I don’t want to see anybody injured. An injury will keep you out. But I’m not opposed to hurting anybody.” Honestly I don’t have as much trouble with that statement as I do with the previous one. Football is a violent sport and I don’t have a problem with wanting a little intimidation. Players hitting hard isn’t the problem, players leading with their heads, and the coaches that teach them to lead with their heads and the highlight culture that encourages reckless play because of some ridiculous macho standard are the problem. Making football safer doesn’t make it a sissy sport or less manly it makes it smarter. Roger Goodell has talked a good game about the leagues commitment to becoming a safer game and about concussion prevention but now the spotlight is on him. How he handles not only this week but drafting a policy that goes forward from this point will tell a lot about his tenure as commissioner. Punishing the players with suppensions is a start but it doesn’t attack the root cause of the problem. Players are taught from an early age to hit a certain way, dangerous tackles and head to head collisions are branded as tough hard nosed football from an early age. Until something is done about that football will continue to be a sport that is even more dangerous than it needs to be. 

Tuesday Morning Week 5 Recap.

Week 4 Predicitions Heads up 5-9

Week 4 Predictions against the spread 5-9

Record so far 32-27

This was an absolutely putrid week for me picks wise, but hey that’s why I don’t gamble…………………as much as I used to. A week of ginormous upsets this week, Oakland ending a 7 year skid of not being able to beat the bolts and the Cards beating the champs with an undrafted rookie. Brett Favre puts together some second half magic with 3 touchdowns that reminds us he’s still Brett Favre, and then throws a pick 6 to lose the game which reminds us he’s still Brett Favre. The Falcons have begun to emerge as the favorites of the NFC, their only loss being a very close 15-9 game against a Steelers defense we didn’t know was that good at the time. They probably should have lost to Frisco had Nate Clements not fumbled away a game sealing int, but as the saying goes “good teams find a way to win games” and they have. But enough about the Dirty Birds let’s get into the quick hits

Tuesday Morning Week 4 Recap.

Week 4 Predictions Heads up 10-4

Week 4 predictions against the spread 8-6

Record so far 27-18

This week was a week of both upsets and blowouts.  Jacksonville topples Indy at home, Cleveland beats the Bengals at home, and the Ravens squeak by at Heinz field. On the other end of the Ledger the Bills, Dolphins, and Cardinals all got blasted. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a weirder beat down than the one the Pats put on the Dolphins Monday night.  The Pats had 265 yards of total offense two offensive touchdowns yet won 41-14. I don’t think you can count on 3 picks, 2 blocked kicks and touchdowns from your defense and special teams every week. That’s probably the least telling of any game this week. But without further a due let’s get into some quick hits.

Maybe I should follow my intuition more often

T.J. Housyamamma yeah I spelled it right

I only really had a feeling about two games going into last week. I felt that that Donovan Mcnabb wasn’t going to lose against the Eagles in his homecoming and I felt that The Ravens would somehow find a way to beat the Steelers. Those were two of my correct picks in my best week of the year so far. The Eagles game was flukier in that Michael Vick got hurt and was followed by Kevin Kolb doing his best Mark Sanchez week one impression with check downs galore. The Ravens game was just a tight game throughout with Joe Flacco finding T.J. Housyamamma in the end zone with a few seconds left. That win was even more impressive because the Ravens were without probably their most dynamic player in Ray Rice for the duration of the contest. This win to me says more about the Ravens than it does the Steelers. The Steelers we’re already guaranteed a winning record without Big Ben which was more than almost any of us expected while the Ravens needed the win to avoid going 0-2 in divisional play. The Redskins on the other hand didn’t really tell us that much. Michael Vick was hurt on a touchdown run that got called back on a dubious holding penalty and the Eagles offense seemed to be getting into a groove against a suspect Washington defense, luckily for them he was knocked out of the game. Enter a seemingly unprepared Kevin Kolb who didn’t take advantage of two of the most explosive wide outs in the game in Desean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. This development is even more interesting because it seemed bound to happen. Vick takes too much punishment not to eventually miss some time and now it seems he’ll probably be out a month or so giving Kevin Kolb an opportunity to get the fans back on his side, and we’ve already seen how fickle Andy Reid can be.

The Chargers might be really scary good

A friend of mine put up a pretty telling stat earlier today. The Chargers are the first team since 1987 to lead the league in total offense and defense in week 5.  So then why are they 2-2? Well obviously special teams plays a huge role in that. You give up 3 special teams touchdowns through 4 weeks and you’re going to be in trouble no matter who you are.  The Chargers passing attack is as dangerous as ever and they seem to have found something in Mike Tolbert to compliment their 1^st year back Ryan Matthews.  On the defensive side of the ball their second in the league in interceptions with 7 and have 3 fumble recoveries which  only gives them a plus 1 in the turnover category. Their special teams defense is part of the problem kick return wise they’re not as bad as I thought, even with the 2 kickoff returns for touchdowns they’re still 24th in kick off defense however in punt return coverage they're 31^st one away from dead last. However upon closer inspection who have the Chargers played so far. Kansas City, Jacksonville, Arizona, and Seattle. Maybe there’s one playoff team out of the bunch….maybe. The Chargers should definitely be 3-1 or 4-0. The fact that they’re not speaks more to their makeup as a team than their offensive and defensive rankings. The Chargers are always the team that scares the pants off everyone during the regular season only to fall apart during the playoffs. Maybe that was an LT thing, if it was we’ll probably find out this year. This is firmly Phillip Rivers team now and it will go as far as he takes it, so while he may have taken pot shots at L.T. with Antonio Gates right now they’re not looking too good as LT is tearing up the league with a 3-1 Jets team while their Chargers are off to their normal slow start. However it’s only October and the bulk of the season is yet to be played consider this story still under construction.

Bears play game without offensive line…..results mixed

He's still in Jay Cutlers nightmares

 Which is honestly a smart move, sometimes you have to concede the battle to win the war, the war being getting a playoff spot and their chances of that are much greater after not having Jay Cutler play that second half.  The questions coming out of this game are twofold. 1: Is this a condemnation of the entire Bears offensive line. I remember a game a few years back where Osi Umenyiora got six sacks on Winston Justice in a single game and the Eagles still managed to make the playoffs that year.  So all isn’t lost as a Bears fan this might just have been one of those games where everything didn’t go according to plan. The second question coming out of this game is about the Giants. They’ve had two games of absolutely dominant defense and two games of mediocre to absolutely terrible D. The question is which team is the real one. The one that sacked the bears 10 times and held them to 110 total offensive yards, or is it the team that gave up 410 yards to the Colts while not being able to breathe on Peyton Manning? When we know the answer to that question we’ll know whether the Giants have a chance at making some noise in the playoffs. 

Tuesday Morning Week 3 Recap

Week 3 Predictions Head up: 9-7 Straight Up

Week 3 Predictions against the spread 7-9

Record so far 17-14

Another week goes by in the NFL and we know a little bit more about things. There are only 3 undefeated teams left while there are 5 teams yet to get a victory. A pretty good divisional Sunday night game was followed up by a dreadful divisional Monday night game. Adrian Peterson showed me he was still the most spectacular back in the NFL and Charlie Batch showed he still has something left. So let’s get into the Tuesday quick hits.

Don’t Bury us yet

You do know they lost by 22 right Roy??

So going into this week I along with a lot of other people were ready to bury both the Vikings and the Cowboys, so of course they go out and put together wins. However only one of those wins should really ease the nerves of a fan base. If I’m a Vikings fan I still think they’re a bad team after watching that game against the Lions.  This truly speaks to how good Adrian Peterson is but he won that game basically on his own. The question being how many more games can he win by himself? 3? 4? Whatever it is, it’s not enough to get into the playoffs. The man has 392 on 5.6 yards a carry but he can’t overcome Brett Favre giving up the ball 7 times through 3 games. The Vikings beat the Lions but they still have a lot of things to get right going into the bye week. However the Cowboys seemed to play with a bit more urgency on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. They generated their first turnover of the year and decided not to stop there getting 3 more from the Texans. This combined with a competent ground game to complimented Tony Romo well.  Who would have thought Roy Williams would be the guy that carried the Dallas passing game against the sieve that is the Texans secondary. Each week for the Cowboys they’ve had a different receiver step up to the plate, if they can get all 3 going this offense could really become the juggernaut we all thought it would be coming into this season.

Andy Reid takes a bow

So after a week of questions for Andy Reid and one bloggers staunch support Michael Vick goes out and puts on a show once again to the tune of 4 touchdowns and 320 total yards of offense. There’s been a lot of writing about Michael Vick here but he’s been by far the most interesting story so far of this NFL season. If somebody would have told me through three weeks the Eagles would have abandoned Kevin Kolb in favor of Michael Vick and he had put up 750 yards 6 touchdowns and no picks through 3 games I would have been flabbergasted. He’s absolutely tearing it up and sure he’s played 2 pretty bad defenses and one that didn’t prepare for him, but he can only play who’s on the schedule. Looking at said schedule he has two more terrible pass defenses coming up in the Redskins and the 49’ers. So I suppose now is the time for Michael Vick to let the good times roll as they say. The only question that remains in Eagle land is if they actually trade Kevin Kolb or try to ride this hot hand as far as it takes them before they make a decision at the end of the year under a new collective bargaining agreement.(hopefully a new collective bargaining agreement because nobody wants a lockout)

Has the Sanchize put it all together?

Mark Sanchez knows who hes going to be for Halloween

I’m sure J-E-T-S JETS!!! JETS!!! JETS!! Fans are excited about the recent play of Mark Sanchez. Back to back 3 touchdown no interception games against division rivals. Could this be the dream Jets fans had dancing in their heads this off season, their young quarterback taking the next step and leading an explosive offense to go along with a dominant defense? Only one problem there Gang green fans………that defense isn’t looking so dominant anymore. Sure there’s no Revis Island but even sans Revis a top 5 defense shouldn’t be giving up 363 to Chad Henne. The Jets are currently the 19^th overall defense in the league and 26^th against the pass, call me a blasphemer if you must but I don’t think Darrelle Revis Is that good. I could be wrong and he could be the difference between 26^th and 1^st. The thing is the Jets offense has become more a model of efficiency than an explosive one. They’re still ranked 26^th in passing offense, they just have 6 touchdowns to go with that rating. Those numbers are a bit skewed because of the unfathomable 74 yards they put together in that opening night debacle against the Ravens. The past two weeks Sanchez has put up in 220 and 256 in bonafide quarterback duels both of which he won, and one of which was against Tom Brady.

Ladies and Gentleman these are your teams chasing the 72 Dolphins

Steelers, Chiefs, Bears. No matter how many times I see those 3 teams next to each other I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that these are last 3 undefeated teams. The Steelers wouldn’t be such a surprise if they had Big Ben but not only do not have Big Ben they don’t have his back up….or HIS BACK UP…. They’re currently on their 4^thBucs on the road. The Steelers to me are the most impressive of the bunch they seem to be solid in every phase of the game. They have Rashard Mendenhall to anchor the running game, Hines Ward and the speedy Mike Wallace to pair with a hopefully de mulleted Big Been come week 5 and the best defense in the league. The Chiefs on the other hand put together their most complete game of the year, with both a dominant defense and surprising guest appearance by Matt Cassel and the Chiefs passing game. If Matt Cassel can put together some semblance of a confident passing offense going forward in combination with Charlie Weiss and Dwayne Bowe the Chiefs might be the team to beat in the AFC West. The Bears on the other hand beat everyone’s NFC North darling (including mine) the Packers. How’d they do it? Special teams, just enough offense, and the Packers absolutely imploding. That had the classic look of a game the Packers lost more than the Bears won.  The Packers had a team record 18 penalties last night for 152 yards. One of which called back a touchdown. The pass rush that we expected to get to Aaron Rodgers didn’t and he threw it all over the field especially in the short game to the tune of 316 yards. But at the end of the day the Bears won and they should be commended for that. I just think that looking at the resumes of our 3 world beaters they remain the least impressive.

Tuesday Morning Week 2 Recap

Week 2 Predictions Head up   8-7

Week 2 Predictions against the spread 7-7 (1 Push)

Record so far this year: 8-7

Every Tuesday morning I’ll try to have a quick hits section about 4 or 5 things that stuck out to me from this weekend’s slate of action. We’ll start off with my record for the previous week then get into some of the bigger surprises/disappointments of the action.

2-0 surprises

If somebody would have told me before the season that the Chiefs, Bears, and Bucs would be 2-0 to start the season I would have asked them why they were giving me weird NFL predictions, then I would have said they were ridiculous. But apparently coordinators matter in the NFL as Mike Martz has invigorated the passing attack in Chicago, while Scott Pioli is trying to relive the glory years of the Patriots with Romeo Crenell and Charlie Weiss in KC. However it’s not just coordinators it’s also a youth movement going on in both KC and Tampa Bay, the Bucs seem to be reinvigorated by an influx of both offensive and defensive playmakers while the Chiefs seem to be doing the same with the added draw of an explosive special teams.  The chiefs only have two real contributors on their defense over 30 in Mike Vrabel and Jon McGraw, their average age of a starter on their defense is 26.The Bucs are lead by the veteran presence of Ronde Barber one of the few players left from the Bucs super bowl championship of 2002, their defense is even younger coming in at an average age a shade over 25. While the Bears are surprising as well they have a good deal of talent and recognizable names: Jay Cutler, Greg Olsen, Matt Forte, Brian Urlacher, Devin Hester, and Tommie Harris. This Bears team was more a question of using the talent properly and executing. Not many of us thought Jay Cutler could, but through two games he’s been up to the challenge with 5 touchdowns, only 1 interception and a quarterback rating of 121.2. The question remains if any of these teams have it in them to continue to succeed during the long haul of the season or will they whither under the pressure of raised expectations like the Denver Broncos of last year. Only time will tell.

0-2 Disappointments

Even John Madden doesn't think he's having fun out there now

I’m looking at you Cowboys and Vikings. There were supposed to be 4 elite teams in the NFC: The Saints, Vikings, Packers, and Cowboys. Apparently only 2 of them got the message while the Packers and Saints reside in the land of the undefeated the boys and Vikings are simply defeated. What’s the problem?? Well in the land of Lakes it seems to be pretty simple: 1. Brett Favre isn’t nearly as committed to this team as he was to the team in 2009 2. He misses Sydney Rice a lot more than any of us thought he would or 3. He got a lot older really really fast.  I don’t have the answer but I do know the Vikings need to figure it out because the odds for 0-2 team’s making the playoffs reside at 13% and it doesn’t get any easier from here on out as they play a pretty tough Lions team in week 3 also looking for their first win. The Cowboys on the other hand have a bit more blame to go around. The defense was torn apart by Jay Cutler last week to the tune of 21/29, 277 yards, and 3 touchdowns, that comes out to a quarterback rating of 136.7 ouch. However while Tony Romo may be chucking it up and down the field with almost 700 yards in two games but he only has 2 touchdowns to go along with his 2 interceptions. The cowboys have a grand total of 139 rushing yards in their two games, so they can’t run the football and they’re not turning all those passing yards into touchdowns, while they can’t stop the pass. There are a lot of problems in Big D….oh wait did I say they can’t stop the pass? Who’s that coming up on the schedule next week? Could it be Matt Schaub of the 497 passing yards and 3 touchdowns? It looks both of these teams could be 0-3 before we know it.

Defense Wins Championships

Your starting quarterback can not have a Mullet

Are there two defensive players playing any better right now than Troy Polamalu and Clay Matthews? Matthews has an ungodly 6 sacks after two games and doesn’t appear to realize that the other people are trying to block him and he should play along sometimes. While Polamalu is reminding everyone that he is probably more important to the Steelers super bowl chances than Ben Roethlisberger.  I mean just based on hair alone I would value Troy over Big Ben. A ridiculous sideline interception and leaping goal line stop are just the highlights; it’s his consistent ability to be everywhere for the Steelers defense that pushes them from good/great into the truly elite. Speaking of elite defenses who thought the Colts would come into Sunday night and absolutely put the hammer to a giants O that never had a chance, Eli Manning looked like he wanted to stop playing after the 3^rd quarter. 4 Sacks and 3 forced fumbles combined for Robert Mathis and Dwight Freeney, not to mention how many pressures and hits they got on Eli, a game like that would invoke the mercy rule in Madden. When Mathis and Freeney are given a lead on that track in Indy it seems like its lights out for any quarterback. This makes it all the more perplexing that the Giants didn’t try to establish the running game early.  Well I guess they couldn’t really get that two headed running game going when one of the heads couldn’t find his helmet because it was in the stands.

Hey!!!! Remember Michael Vick???

With a performance that would make any coach re evaluate his depth chart Mike Vick reminded us all that he was once the most exciting player in football and probably in all professional sports. Count me as one of the people who didn’t think a 30 year old Mike Vick would still have the speed or the arm strength to do the things he used to. Not only does he still have the arm strength and speed he seems to have added a bit of accuracy and calm within the pocket that you need from your quarterback if you want to have an elite passing game. If the Eagles hadn’t absolutely tied their wagons to Kevin Kolb Vick would be the starter week 3. This is one of the problems with the NFL, people don’t like to admit they’ve made mistakes, and they definitely don’t like to admit they’ve made mistakes with the most important position in the franchise. The Eagles sent Mcnabb packing for Kevin Kolb and all they’ve gotten from Kevin Kolb is an absolutely dreadful preseason and a concussion to show for it.  Too bad the Eagles gave Kolb a 12 million dollar contract extension based on…a 48-22 loss to the saints, a masterful 4 interceptions zero touchdown 2008 year, and a beat down he put on the Kansas City Chiefs. So 12 million bucks for one good game and one game with a lot of yardage and 3 picks. Hmmm I’m gonna say that wasn’t a smart move.

Week 2 Preview

The problem with week 1 of the NFL is that we (we being armchair sports experts) try to read too much into results. We want everything to be spelled out for use immediately. You suck in week one you suck forever. You’re great in week one you’re gonna crush everyone. A team like the Vikings who had Super Bowl aspirations isn’t suddenly doomed after a geriatric performance by Brett Favre. Nor are the Seahawks world beaters after the beat down they put on the 49’ers in week one. The key to viewing the first week is moderation. Don’t ignore the results but don’t take the approach of a small and only remember your immediate past. With that being said lets ignore the past paragraph I just wrote and draw some ridiculous conclusions from week one.

I swore I saw this guy at my rec league

The Bills still suck…in a big way
Unless the Miami Dolphins defense are more stout than anybody predicted the Buffalo Bills offense will be absolutely putrid this year. This was about as big a gap in talent and execution you can have in a 15-10 game. Throughout the entire game the Bills only manage to put together 2 drives of 8 plays or more. Trent Edwards has the look of a quarterback you wouldn’t trust leading your YMCA touch football team, yet there he was with a chance to win the game in the last 2 minutes. Not much a chance mind you as they started from their own 1 but still a chance none the less, he then proceeds to telegraph a dump off, under throw, and overthrow on consecutive downs. Watching a game like that I couldn’t help but think of the Bed and Breakfast offense of the now infamous 2006 Raiders, That juggernaut averaged 10.6 points per game while being dreadful in every phase.



The Chiefs however might not

All praise be to Mike Mayock

In an absolutely great Monday night performance by both the crowd and the team the Kansas Chiefs upset the Chargers in a game that was all about running the football, defense, and special teams. This game might be equal parts the Chargers not being as good as we thought and the Chiefs being better, but the end result is the chiefs are still better. The conservative play calling after the 21-7 lead should have bitten them in the ass luckily Phillip Rivers was too busy berating his teammates to throw too many completions. Being the Mike Mayock convert I am it was not surprising to see Dexter MccCluster going up and down the field like he was playing tag football on punt returns. Jamal Charles is still Chris Johnson light and is probably the 2nd most explosive runner in football, you combine that with a Thomas Jones who still looks relatively quick and powerful and you have yourselves the makings of a dominant running game.

The Patriots will crush you
The Patriots would just like to remind everyone that with basically this same team on offense 3 years ago they went through the league like they were playing madden on rookie. They were beating folks that year by an average 19.7 points per game!! Yikes. So of course watching Tom Brady and Wes Welker rip the Bengals to shreds is going to bring back memories of that, especially when the Bengals were supposed to be a legit playoff team with a pretty good secondary. The scariest thing about that game is that the Bengals still might be that and they were just outclassed.


If the Oakland Raiders are a sleeper somebody better wake them up
This year for the first time since the Kerry Collins Randy Moss era the Raiders were a chic sleeper pick by a number of people. Then week 1 happened. So after a 38-13 demolition that wasn’t even that close, what is there to say about the Raiders? Will they continue their “commitment to excellence” by losing 11 games for the 8th straight season? Giving up a 150 to Chris Johnson isn’t shameful; a number of good teams will do that. The problem is when Vince Young looks like he’s back playing at Texas running the option against you for 20 yards a touch, or he’s throwing 50 yard strikes to unguarded receivers. When Jason Campbell is wondering if he O line realizes they’re supposed to block the guys across from them not just watch them. A lot of people say the league is better when the Raiders are good, well they’ve been bad for quite a while and the league seems to be doing fine.

Arian Foster would like to say Hello

Same time next year right guys??

I don’t know if I can remember an opening weekend running performance like the one Arian Foster put on last Sunday. 33 carries, 231 yards, and 3 touchdowns in what must have been absolutely demoralizing to the Colts defense. Bob Sanders manages to make it through an entire quarter of a game before being injured and that’s their reward? How unfair is that. On the drive that pretty much ended the game he goes for consecutive runs of 42,11, and 25 yards the last of which was a touchdown to put the Texans up 27 10. As a defense you can’t give up back to back to back runs like that unless A. You don’t have the scheme/Talent to match up with the Texans or B. You’ve been getting pounded all game and you’ve packed it in. I tend to think it’s a little from column A and B. We all know the Colts aren’t opposed to packing it in when things don’t go their way Example 1A Week 16 2009 Colts vs. Jets. The Jets hang around a little too long for the colts liking, Peyton Manning gets hit a few times too many and bingo the Colts say enh…we don’t care about a perfect season anyway on the 2nd drive of the 3rd quarter.

Now let’s get to some predictions


Arizona @ Atlanta

Atlanta -6.5

The Falcons come out of week one 0-1 after losing to the Steelers lead by the reincarnation of Kordell Stewart aka Dennis Dixon. I would say that doesn’t bode well for them but they’re about to run into the train wreck that is the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals threw for 300ish yards, forced 4 turnovers, and were playing a rookie quarterback in his first game. Yet they only won by 3? Why you ask they also had 4 turnovers of their own, got that 300 yards on at a 50% completion clip and generally displayed the ineptitude of a team with Derek Anderson at quarterback. 6.5 is a bit much but I’d still take Matty Ice and the Falcons over this dreadful bunch.

Falcons 24

Cardinals 13


Tampa Bay @ Carolina

Carolina -3.5

Speaking of dreadful that’s the perfect word to describe the Bucs vs. Browns contest of last week. It took a classic Jake Delhomme Performance to power the Bucs to victory, however it was a win. Carolina comes into this game 0-1 not looking to fall two games behind a division foe. Luckily for the Bucs they’re facing one of the few Qb’s who threw more int’s than Delhomme in the opening weekend that being Matt Moore. Carolina can’t stop the pass and Josh Freeman is just good enough to make them pay. Carolina gets their run game going but it’s just not enough. I like the Bucs in a slight upset.

Buccaneers 17

Carolina 14


Baltimore @Cincinnati

Baltimore -1

This has the makings of a classic physical AFC North battle. Don’t let the passing numbers from last week fool you, both of these teams like to run the football first. Carson Palmer got yardage in garbage time down 31-3 up to that point he got nothing going against the Pats. Joe Flacco on the other had moved past a brutal sack fumble and interception in the early going to put together a solid game. Combine that with the Bengals getting to see a tougher defense in the Ravens and a Ravens team that has to be thinking payback after the Bengals swept them in the division last year. It’s the makings for an 0-2 start for the orange cats.

Ravens 27

Bengals 13


Kansas City @ Cleveland

Cleveland -3

So earlier I talked about Kansas City maybe being a bit better than previously thought and about how Cleveland looked pretty terrible. Well both of those things still apply. However a lot of the emotion from that new stadium opener for the Chiefs may have worn off and now it’s Cleveland at home. The only problem is everyone in Cleveland will be too busy burning their Lebron James jerseys to make it to the game.

Chiefs 16

Browns 10


Chicago @ Dallas

Dallas -7

Really by 7? That Dallas team is beating anybody by 7? I can’t see it. I think the Redskins D is going to be pretty good but that Cowboys Offense is ghastly. The starters on their offensive line weren’t that good and they’re missing two of them already, and Chicago has just the guy to punish them for it. Alex Barron I’d like you to meet Julius Peppers. Lovie Smith should line Peppers up against Barron on every passing snap; it’s the equivalent of throwing a deep pass trying to get pass interference or a touchdown, you’ll either get a sack or a holding penalty. That being said Jay Cutler is still terrible and the Cowboys defense showed they’re for real not allowing a redskins score outside 2 Redskins field goals. Dallas will get the win but it’ll be closer than previously thought

Cowboys 24

Bears 20


Philadelphia @ Detroit

Philadelphia – 3.5

The triumphant return of Michael Vick. Looking at his performance last week it’s hard not to come away impressed but the question remains can he put together something similar when a defense has a week to prepare. The Lions front four looked pretty good against the Bears but they also gave up 300 yards passing. The Lions will come out firing after getting robbed last week but with no Stafford and not enough talent the Birds take this one.

Eagles 23

Lions 14


Buffalo @ Green Bay

Green Bay -13

The Packers came out of week 1 pretty impressively, managing to beat the Eagles while only clicking offensively for a quarter. They’ll click for more than that against the Bills.

Packers 37

Buffalo 13


Minnesota @Miami

Minnesota -5.5

This might be the most intriguing game of the week. The Dolphins looked like a tough classic Bill Parcells team last week, but they also did it against the Bills. While the Vikings looked out of sorts but it was against the Super Bowl Champs. Even with no Sidney Rice I don’t see Brett Favre coming back to go start this season 0-2.

Vikings 24

Dolphins 17


Pittsburgh @ Tennessee

Tennessee -5

This is another game that sets up to be a battle of tough teams that try to beat you with their defense and their running games. The Steelers have managed to keep Chris Johnson bottled up rather well in their last matchup, however that was with Kerry Collins at QB not Vince Young. I think Vince adds another wrinkle to their offense that will get them the victory but it’ll be close

Titans 20

Steelers 17


St. Louis @ Oakland

Oakland -3.5

In the ugliest game of the week we have the Raiders vs. the Rams. The raiders laid an absolute egg last week while the Rams were competitive against what seemed like a pretty bad Cardinals team. The Raiders can’t stop the run and I think Steven Jackson gets going allowing Sam Bradford to build off a decent showing in his first game to get his first road victory.

Rams 20

Raiders 13


New England @ New York

New England -3.5

The last time the Jets saw the Patriots, Tom Terrific and the Pats hung up 31 on the Jets defense, while Mark Sanchez threw 4 interceptions. With Sanchez relegated to pretty much check downs and dump offs and Darrelle Revis nursing a sore hamstring thing aren’t looking good for the Jets. I see a bit of déjà vu.

Patriots 34

Jets 13


Jacksonville @ San Diego

San Diego -7

San Diego didn’t look that good Monday night against the Chiefs. Their offense was sluggish and their special teams were putrid. The Jags however looked relatively crisp in their passing game against what’s supposed to be a solid Denver secondary. One stat hangs over all of this however. The Jags lost both of the games they played on the West Coast last year 61-3. Yikes. I hate to say it but the Chargers get back on track and avoid another early season slump.

Chargers 31

Jaguars 20


Houston @ Washington

Houston – 3

Does Arian Foster continue his rampage or does the Skins D show that they’re for real. Hmmmm I’m gonna go with neither and say that Andre Johnson Victimizes however covers him and the Texans remind everyone that before game 1 everyone thought they could air it out and they still can.

Texans 27

Redskins 13


New York @ Indianapolis

Indianapolis -5.5

The Manning bowl 2. I’m sure you’ve heard this a lot by now but the last time Peyton Manning started a season 0-2 was his rookie year. Well sorry to say it Peyton but things have come full circle. The Colts can’t stop the run and Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs are just good enough to make them pay. The giants pull an upset and spoil the Colts home opener

Giants 31

Colts 28


San Francisco @ New Orleans

New Orleans -6

San Francisco just got taken apart by USC Northwest in the Seahawks home opener. Going from one of the toughest stadiums in the NFL to arguably an ever tougher home crowd and most definitely a tougher home team, Things don’t bode well for the Niner’s. Saints roll

Saints 37

Niner's 20