|
Hi Folks, Here’s what happens when you
mix an NFL Junkie, Sunday Ticket, a big screen TV and fresh batteries in the
remote… The Drama of the week of
course was Drew Bledsoe vs his Old Team. I’ll admit it was a good story and congrats to the Old
Team. But I think a very interesting
story that was overlooked was the Antowain Smith angle. Basically the reverse of Bledsoe in New
England and with a much lower profile.
Smith started 13 games at RB for Buffalo in 1998. He gained 1124 yards. In 1999 he started 8 games (614 yards) and
in 2000, he only started 3 games and gained 354 yards. Sunday had to be fun for him. ESPN’s Steve Young
talking about how Tom Brady’s come back to earth like the rest of the
league, “Et tu, Tom Brady?” Those
brainy quarterbacks… Yes, I double checked my satellite
dish cable this week well before kickoff… Speaking of Young, I love
the rental car company ad he does with Jerry Rice. Both are arguing and by the end they’re
name calling. Rice calls Young a “backup
QB” and an “analyst”. Young counters
with “butterfingers” and “slowpoke”
Pretty funny. I think I’m with Sterling
Sharpe who says maybe instead of fining the DBs for playing tough football,
we ought to fine them for missing tackles.
And before I get buried in email, no, I do not believe that defensive
backs should launch themselves and lead with the top of their helmet. But I think some of this regulation is
overboard. I
like Sterling Sharpe because he questions the “Conventional Wisdom”. During the pregame talk, there was a funny exchange between he and
Chris Berman. Berman said, “Well, we
all know Tom Brady is a winner.”
Sharpe quickly replies, “He hasn’t won the last 4…” Entering
Sunday’s game, Tampa Bay had allowed 1 TD per every 17 possessions for the
other team. That’s strong. I’ll
have to look it up but my gut feel tells me one of the big problems with Randy
Moss this year is that his Yards After Catch numbers are way down. He just doesn’t seem the threat to take the
10 yard pass all the way anymore. If
you’re looking for that guy who can take the 10 yard pass for a TD, the
discussion pretty much starts and stops with Terrell Owens. Kansas
City WR “Snoop” Minnis will be activated this week. I’m sure this will solve all their problems
at wideout… It’s
a team game but every once in a while one player just rises above the
others. When that happens, it’s fun to
watch. We saw it Sunday as Jeff
Garcia led his team to victory over the Raiders. It had to be tough for Raider fans to watch their team hold SF
on 1st down, hold them on second down, and then watch Garcia
scramble for 8 yards on 3rd and 7.
Clutch play. But
those conversions weren’t the biggest plays of the game. The most important “play” of overtime? The coin toss giving San Francisco
the ball. For the game to be decided
with half of Oakland’s team (the offense) never seeing the field just isn’t
right. The NCAA overtime system is so
much better with the entire team getting a shot. You
knew it was going to happen – With the announcers unable to say 3 words without
mentioning Mike Vick’s zero interceptions this season, he throws
one. I don’t run from black cats, but
I’m not stupid either. The surest jinx
in sports (outside of the Sports Illustrated cover) is for the announcers to
start talking about how the guy “never” does this or that. Have
the Vikings instituted a self imposed “10 Mississippi” pass rush? Sheesh that was weak. I
kinda like seeing former President George Bush at the Houston Games. I bet the Secret Service guys fight for that
detail. Cincinnati’s
Artrell Hawkins came as close as you can possibly come to stepping out
of bounds on the 102 yard interception TD return. From the back, it looked like he was out. From the side, you could clearly see a
sliver of grass between his foot and the sidelines. Or maybe that dark sliver was the bottom of his shoe?… I’m glad the Bengals won though. How
good has Drew Bledsoe been?
Buffalo’s Peerless Price and Eric Moulds are the #1 and the
#2 WRs in Fantasy Football Points. I’m
no coach, but I gotta ask: How can the
Raiders give Terrell Owens that much cushion? With
a fumble on the ground, why don’t players fall on the football anymore? Is it the chance to be on
Sportscenter? Even the good players
routinely blow this. Glaring example
Sunday with Baltimore fumbling on their own 4 yard line and All Pro tackle Jonathon
Ogden trying to stoop down and scoop the ball up so he could run with
it. Of course, he muffed it allowing
Atlanta’s Patrick Kerney to score a TD. In a game Baltimore lost 20-17, that hurts. TV
announcers described “David” Rackers kicking off for Cincinnati. It’s Neil. As long as Neil Rackers gets to kick off 7 times in a
game like he did Sunday, I’d guess the Bengals fan will say call him anything
you like. Is
it just me, or have the pass routes today become just downright funky? I see way more stop and starts mixed in
with strange cuts than ever. Eric
Moulds looks like a jitterbug out there.
One more reason why I think cornerback is one of the toughest jobs in
sports. TV
announcers seemed to want to make a big deal that Peyton Manning had
never won a National Championship in College and he hasn’t won a Super
Bowl. Wouldn’t there be quite a few 5th
year NFL QB’s you could say that about? The
best catch Peerless Price made all day was snagging his own fumble at
the 1 yard line while laying on his back. Between
Filip Filipovic and John Jett, there were 19 punts in the Dallas
– Detroit Game. Will you ever find a
punting matchup with better names? I
think not… What’s
wrong with Buffalo PK Mike Hollis?
In 2000, he made 24 of 26 FGs.
Last year, he slid to 18 of 28.
He’s currently 14 for 20 including 0 for 3 on Sunday. It’s having an effect as Bills Coach Gregg
Williams elected to punt the ball instead of attempting a 49 yard FG. He’s
certainly not there yet, but Drew Bledsoe looks very Marino like in the
pocket. Tall and stiff legged but
quick enough with the release and shifty enough with the feet to avoid the
rush. It
doesn’t show up on the boxscores unless you look real hard, but Donovan
McNabb turns what should be 7 yard sacks for negative yardage into 5 yard
gains. That’s a net swing of 12 yards
on the “should have been” scale. Looks
to me like New England may have turned back the clock… Brad
Johnson’s
clearly a tough guy for playing with cracked ribs. But I started to wonder how bad he’s really hurt as he’s
celebrating wildly after the TD flailing and pumping his arms. Dunno
about the whole crew, but the Falcon Cheerleaders I saw were smokin’… I’ll
admit it. I kinda enjoy watching Brian
Billick get disgusted on the sidelines… Why
does Bills RB Travis Henry use the clear tape for a belt? Excellent
picture of how effective Pittsburgh’s Rushing game is – Everyone in the stadium
knew Amos Zereoue was coming right at them and Cleveland still couldn’t
stop him. Every
time I flipped to the Vikings game, Daunte Culpepper was throwing an
interception. It’s
the trendy thing to rip Randy Moss these days. But after their first 4 years in the league, Moss is ahead of
where Jerry Rice was in both yards and TDs. And no, I’m not saying Moss will wind up with Rice like
numbers. I’m relaying the facts of how
they compare statistically after 4 years. Since
when did the NFL’s definition of “defenseless” change to mean “jumping
in the air”? Class
move by New England’s Bill Belichick at the end of the game. 4th and goal from the 1 with
1:55 left and they make a half hearted attempt to rush for the score that is
stopped. A FG would have been rubbing
it in and a knee would have been kind of humiliating. More coaches should pay attention. Belichick knows full well that goes around, comes around. Somebody
tell Fox’s Jimmy Johnson to fix the button on his jacket… Not
a good weekend for Throwback Uniforms as both Notre Dame and the
Chargers were smacked. But if I’m San
Diego, I go back to those permanently. Announcers
said Minnesota is now 0-15 on the road.
Is that right? Speaking
of how bad it is for the Vikings – Minnesota is down 10 points with 58 seconds
left and they throw in the towel with a 4 yard run up the middle to Moe
Williams. They follow it with
another Williams run up the middle.
One more incomplete pass and the game is over. I
still can’t get used to those endzone stands in Seattle. Oakland’s
Jerry Porter is the best WR the casual fan doesn’t know about. San Francisco’s Tai Streets and
Buffalo’s Josh Reed are right there too. And yes, believe it or not, but for some non FF playing
fans, Jerry Porter and Tai Streets are
not household words. Scary how the rest
of the world lives… For
all the hype leading up to it, I thought Drew Bledsoe and Bill
Belichick handled things exceptionally well. Both showed a ton of class in the post game stuff. So did Tom Brady when he said, “A
lot of what I learned about being an NFL quarterback, I learned from him.’ Fun
to see the Rams score quickly against the Cardinals and for Ricky Proehl
to get the TD. I remember him as a
Phoenix Cardinal. Why
doesn’t the NFL have a standard place for placing the play clock. As important as that is, it doesn’t seem
right for it to be in different places for different stadiums. San
Diego’s Darren Bennett may be the best tackler on the Punt Team. That’s not a good thing though being as how
he’s the punter. Don’t
doubt the Bengals… Tim
Couch had
an interesting observation in his post game comments. With Hines Ward and Antwaan Randel-El, the
Steelers have 3 College QBs on the field for most plays. With that kind of experience, you can do
the tricky laterals and passes you see Pittsburgh flashing. Does
any team lose more close games than Dallas? I
like Cris Collingsworth.
Oakland’s Charlie Garner was hit late and out of bounds on a
play. He said, “If that hit would’ve
been on a quarterback, they’d put the guy in jail” He doesn’t pass up many shots to rib Troy Aikman. Ricky
Williams’
biggest problem isn’t 250 pound linebackers or 300 pound defensive
lineman. It’s his 225 QB Ray Lucas. Lucas seems like a totally class act but
his on field play is allowing opposing defenses to completely focus on
Williams. Sage Rosenfels
doesn’t scare anyone either. Who knew
we’d miss Jay Fiedler this much? If
I were an NFL player, I’d pay the fine every time for throwing the ball into
the stands. I understand the uniform
thing, but fining Mike Vick the other day for launching that ball to the
fans was just stupid. It’s not
unsportsmanlike, the game isn’t disrupted, and the fans love you for it. Yeah, that deserves a fine… Happiest
guy in your league? The guy who dealt David
Boston a few weeks ago. Oakland’s
Charles Woodson was understandably rusty, but he was dominated by Terrell
Owens Sunday. On one catch,
Woodson was flagged for interference but Owens still made the catch with
Woodson riding piggyback. To his
credit, Woodson was cool after the game:
"It definitely wasn't one of
my best games. You have to step up to
those challenges. He came out on top. He made some great plays. He was
money." Is
there a tougher QB in the league than Jeff Garcia? I don’t think so. The
“Mike Holmgren Watch” is definitely heating up in Seattle. I’d be real surprised to see him last. I
can’t imagine Football without instant replay. I’d like to see the pace of the reviews quickened a little but
overall, the system is vastly superior to not having it. And that’s not a knock on the officials. Some of those things are just impossible to
see. Another
funny Cris Collingsworth comment.
Funny pregame shot with Collingsworth on the field and obviously a
little leery of getting to close to the Raider Fans. At the end of the game with San Francisco’s Jose Cortez
lined up for the game winning FG, he said, “You might wanna move those on field
microphones a little further away from the Black Hole”… BTW, anyone that can point me to or get me
one of those “Black Hole” shirts, shoot me an email at [email protected] Doesn’t
look too good for Giants offensive coordinator Sean Payton as New York
rolled Sunday with Jim Fassell calling the plays. Fassell’s no dummy. He lets Payton call the Philadelphia game
and then takes over against Jacksonville which came into the game ranked 27th
against the rush and 15th against the pass. He’ll be a genius for taking over again next
week against Minnesota… Don’t
get too excited about Chicago’s Anthony Thomas getting back on
track. He didn’t look as good as his
numbers would indicate. On
the Monday Night player introductions where they say their school, I thought
Dolphin DE Adewale Ogunleye said he was from India. I almost wrote something about how I didn’t
know the league had any players from India.
To be sure, I checked and he’s from Indiana. He lives in Staten Island was born in Brooklyn. Glad I checked… Nice
show of respect in the Green Bay game.
Miami 2nd year linebacker Morlon Greenwood had a
chance to tackle Brett Favre hard on the sidelines but instead pushed
him out of bounds and sort of held him up.
Are
the Jets fans wondering how good they could have been if Chad Pennington
had been the QB all along? Eddie
George
gained more yards rushing Sunday than Steve McNair gained passing. That might be ok for a team if it’s Priest
Holmes rushing for 220 while Trent Green throws for 215. The bad news is that George had 95 yards. Did
you see the Bears’ Mike Gandy and the Eagles’ Darwin Walker get
their helmets stuck together at the facemasks? I never wore braces but as a kid, but I remember having a friend
who was always scared of getting his braces stuck on his girlfriends
braces. I probably shouldn’t have told
that in a football article… The
Eagles Brian Dawkins tried to “goal tend” Paul Edinger’s long FG
attempt. He almost made it. When’s the last time that happened. I’m sure one you guys has the “Strange But
True Football Stories” book handy. After
2 episodes, the much anticipated Fox blockbuster “Girls Club” was
canceled. Wow, never saw that coming… One
of the fun things about football is getting to teach kids about it if they’re
interested. I’m talking to my 8 year
old son, during ESPN’s Primetime about team names. He’s interested in why some teams have names of the city while
other teams like Arizona or Minnesota use the state name. He’s pretty good knowing what cities are
in each state. I think I have him
pretty well lined out on the state vs city thing about the time that the Seattle
vs Washington highlights come on… Seattle’s
Jeff George has moved to # 2 on the QB charts. It’s just a matter of time… In
the recent Vince Lombardi biography “When Pride Still Mattered”, Jeff
Maraniss spoke of Coach Lombardi getting a weekly haircut. Not passing judgment here but I have to
wonder what St. Vince would have thought of the hairstyles being sported by Najeh
Davenport, Mike McKenzie and Damien Gordon? As
regular readers know, I gave up on David Boston a long time ago. But I’m now officially throwing in the
towel on Jake Plummer. I mean
totally. I think I’d rather have Patrick
Ramsey and take my chances. Keep
an eye on Baltimore WR Travis Taylor.
He’s finally starting to distinguish himself. Clearly, they need better QB play but you have to pay attention
to an emerging WR on a Brian Billick team. Don’t
know about you, but seeing that guy made out of rubber contort himself in Haggar
stretch pants doesn’t make me want to buy them. Talk
about making the most of limited opportunities. Here’s the combined stats for the tight ends in the Cleveland –
Pittsburgh game: 2 catches, 2 yards, 2
TDs. Would
Mike Vick be the best Flag Football QB in history? You’d never touch the guy. Jacksonville’s
Tom Coughlin seems to stay just right on the edge of losing his
team. I can’t look at him without
thinking Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg rolling those marbles in the
Caine Mutiny. The
more I watch football, the more I’m convinced it’s all about Red Zone Defense. Interesting
to me that a guy like Chad Hutchison in Dallas can put up numbers close
to Houston’s David Carr. But
Hutchison’s play is just ugly while Carr looks pretty good. But neither are very effective and at the
end of the day, that’s really all that matters right now. The
only thing funny about Tony Kornheiser’s halftime segment was when Al
Michaels referred to Kornheiser as “one
funny dude”. Even Madden didn’t know
what to do with that one… I
understand that Minnesota Coach Mike Tice nearly benched Daunte
Culpepper Sunday in Tampa Bay.
Culpepper had to talk his way into staying on the field. That would’ve been embarrassing I’m sure
since Culpepper played at Central Florida.
But the bigger question is what are the Vikings going to do? Washington’s
Derrius Thompson started but had zero catches. I wonder how many times a starting WR for Coach Steve
Spurrier hasn’t caught a pass? Hard
Luck Awards Colts
James Mungro 5 yard rush to the 2
(Manning to Roberg TD) Jets
Wayne Chrebet 9 yard reception to the 1 (Pennington to Becht TD) Browns
Jamel White rush for no gain to the 1 Browns
Jamel White rush for no gain to the 1 (yes, twice) (Couch to Heiden TD) Bills
Eric Moulds dropped potential 1 yard TD pass (Bledsoe to Price TD) Steelers
Plaxico Burress 12 yard reception to the 1 (Maddox to Bruener TD) Dolphins
Chris Chambers 11 yard reception to the 1 (Lucas rushing TD) Raiders
Zack Crockett 3 yard rush to the 1
(Gannon to Porter TD) 49ers
Jeff Garcia 2 yard rush to the 2
(Garcia to Streets TD) Falcons
Brian Finneran 25 yard reception to the 1 (Duckett TD) Ravens
Jeff Blake TD Pass to Todd Heap taken away by an inadvertent
whistle. Buccaneers
Mike Alstott 10 yard rushing TD nullified for Penalty on Keyshawn
Johnson (Johnson to Williams TD) Buccaneers
Mike Alstott 6 yard rush to the 2
(Johnson to Dudley TD) Buccaneers
Mike Alstott 1 yard rush to the 2
(Johnson to Johnson TD) Vikings
Daunte Culpepper 40 yard TD to Randy Moss nullified for Penalty
on Corbin Lacina (punt) Vikings
Daunte Culpepper 15 yard pass to Jimmy Kleinsasser to the 1. (Williams TD) Sometimes,
it’s better to just not know… I
won’t get on him too hard as he was the 3rd team RB thrust into a
starters role but the Colts Jim Finn has 5 career carries and 3
fumbles. That’s one fumble every 1.7
times he’s carried the ball. For
comparison, Emmitt Smith has 3,945 career carries and 53 fumbles. Emmitt’s ratio is better… That’ll
do it for this week. Here’s to
Football… Joe Joe
Bryant is the co-owner of www.footballguys.com You can usually find him on Sunday
afternoon staring at the Sunday Ticket broadcast muttering “this is so cool…” |