RECAPPING THE THURSDAY NIGHT GAMES
Watched 6 games last evening, some thoughts on them;
Philly at the Jets
Mark Sanchez had an impressive drive going 5 for 5 for 67 yards & a TD pass. He then retired for the evening. Michael Vick looked pretty good at times & pretty bad as well. His 29.7 passer rating wasn't too hot & he ran himself into a 22-yard sack & fumble. He also threw a pick, but he ran well, scored a touchdown on the ground but the 7 completions for 26 yards was disappointing. Still, the media was all over this story & I'm already growing tired of it.
Kansas City at St Louis
Chiefs' fans, there was good news & there was awful news. I'll give you the good news first. The linebacker play was pretty decent up & down the line. Backup safeties, Jon McGraw & DaJuan Morgan played lights out. I never saw Morgan do anything to get excited about. Tank Tyler had 9 solo tackles. Alex Magee put some pressure on Ram QB's & forced a fumble. Dantrell Savage had a 70-yard run, LJ had a 41-yard run, TE Sean Ryan had a 40-yard reception. But look who they were playing, a team with an identical 2-14 record last season. Haley's play calling didn't suck. Our kickers were good too, Succop redeemed himself with a 3 for 3 performance.
Now for the awful news & most of it was just a repeat of what we've been forced to watch all preseason. Damien McIntosh, Barry Richardson & Ike Ndukwe were dreadful at tackle once again. They are so 'over quicked' it's pathetic. Mike Goff missed two blitzers but his run blocking was much better as was the entire O-line in the 1st half. The punt return game continues to be an adventure. You just want to close your eyes, it's really a train wreck. Rookie cornerback, Donald Washington got screwed into the ground a couple of times, totally losing his man on 2 third down conversions.
Which brings me to the quarterbacks. Oy vey. Compared to Tyler Thigpen, Brodie Croyle looked almost Elvis Grbac-like. That'll tell you how awful Thigpen was, how about 2 for 7 with 2 interceptions, one returned for the go-ahead touchdown. It was as bad as I've ever seen a QB play for this franchise. I hope this puts the folks who "knew" Thigpen should have been our starting QB out of their misery. I wish someone would've put me out of my misery, this team is really dreadful. Croyle threw a few decent passes & then he overthrew a couple of wide open receivers downfield & threw a couple into the Edward Jones Dome's fake dirt on a couple of shorter attempts. Granted they didn't have the best protection, something they're going to have to get used to, but when given time they still looked terrible. Todd Haley has that "I'm gonna kick somebody's ass" look on his face most of the time, at least he did after nearly all of the passing attempts. In just 10 short days we'll be forced to watch this band of wannabe-quarterbacks go against one of the NFL's meanest defenses. Remember when Todd Haley was hired & at his 1st news conference he was asked if he planned to shake up the team, his reply was "honestly, you could get 22 guys off the street & win 2 games". Really? Well Coach Haley, you better start hanging around the Home Depot or wherever you can find those guys to win 2 games. You're gonna need 'em.
Oakland at Seattle
Two things stuck out in this game, the Raiders have 3 really good running backs, but virtually nothing else. Man, they might be worse than the Chiefs. The guy everyone in K.C. poo-poo'd, Aaron Curry, is going to be a many-time Pro Bowl player. I've seen this kid play twice now & he's all-pro material. For all of the pundits & fans who said over & over "he can't rush the QB & we need a pass rusher", I say phooey. I said in April he wasn't called upon to rush the passer at Wake Forest, he looks like he could do anything he's asked to do. In the 2 games I've watched, he played almost 3 quarters of football, had 9 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles & was constantly in the quarterback's face when blitzing & always around the ball in run defense. I think Tyson Jackson will be a good player for the Chiefs, but we passed on a player who is already a difference maker.
South Carolina at North Carolina State
Steve Spurrier was 18-1 in college openers, make it 19-1. His Gamecocks prevailed 7-3 in a snorefest. Both teams combined didn't have 400 yards of offense & it's not like these are top-10 defenses either. Both have rather inept offensive units that made for tortuous TV viewing.
North Texas State at Ball State
Caught this beauty on ESPN-U. North Texas, ranked in the bottom 10 of the 120 FBS schools for as long as I can remember, went on the road & upset Ball State in a shocker, 20-10. N. Texas is 3-21 the last 2 seasons. They had the 120th ranked defense last year. Ball State went 12-2 last season, of course QB Nate Davis is now with the 49ers, so this had the faithful in Muncie headed for the exits with about 7 minutes to go. Even tho you might never have seen either team before, this was a major upset.
Oregon at Boise State
The NCAA encouraged all teams playing this weekend to show sportsmanship & shake hands before the kickoff. In spite of some bad blood from last season's Boise State win at Oregon, the 2 teams shook hands at midfield before the coin toss. Sadly very little sportsmanship was shown after the game ended.
The Broncos defense wore out the Ducks offense in the first half. Oregon managed 14 yards of total offense & ZERO first downs. BSU scored a touchdown on a Kellen Moore pass & then went into their bag of tricks for a 2-point conversion. I'd never seen such a formation & from Oregon's reaction, neither had they. On The Ducks ensuing possession, LeGarrette Blount was brought down in the end zone for a safety. Blunt had given the Broncos some bulletin board material with "we owe them an ass-whippin". Blount was in the hole for the evening, 8 carries for -5 yards & was twice stopped on 4th & 1. Oregon didn't record a first down until 7:43 left in the 3rd quarter. By then it was too late & the 4th quarter turned into a sloppy turnover fest.
After the game ended, Byron Haut, a Boise defensive lineman, slapped Blount on his shoulder pad & said something with a smile on his face. I'm guessing he referenced Blount's pregame comments about kicking their ass. Blunt sucker punched Haut, knocking him to the ground. Boise State coaches intervened & hustled him to the sideline, but Blount was really mad now, he got into a shouting match with Boise State fans on the way to the locker room & had to be restrained by 2 coaches & 3 police officers. He had a complete meltdown & ESPN cameras caught every single second of it from pre-punch to watching him being forced thru the locker room doors. It was really ugly & new head coach Chip Kelly needs to suspend this kid for awhile. He was really scary. It's bad enough for the 16th ranked team in the country to lay an egg in their opener with 152 yards of total offense & be totally dominated by tiny Boise State, but to bring shame on your program & your school the way Blunt did, well it's just sad. Boise State won by the way, 19-8, running their 10-year homefield advantage to 65-2. I told you this afternoon that Papa Smurf blue field is trouble for road teams. It gave Linda a headache tonight, gave one to Oregon supporters as well.
Philly at the Jets
Mark Sanchez had an impressive drive going 5 for 5 for 67 yards & a TD pass. He then retired for the evening. Michael Vick looked pretty good at times & pretty bad as well. His 29.7 passer rating wasn't too hot & he ran himself into a 22-yard sack & fumble. He also threw a pick, but he ran well, scored a touchdown on the ground but the 7 completions for 26 yards was disappointing. Still, the media was all over this story & I'm already growing tired of it.
Kansas City at St Louis
Chiefs' fans, there was good news & there was awful news. I'll give you the good news first. The linebacker play was pretty decent up & down the line. Backup safeties, Jon McGraw & DaJuan Morgan played lights out. I never saw Morgan do anything to get excited about. Tank Tyler had 9 solo tackles. Alex Magee put some pressure on Ram QB's & forced a fumble. Dantrell Savage had a 70-yard run, LJ had a 41-yard run, TE Sean Ryan had a 40-yard reception. But look who they were playing, a team with an identical 2-14 record last season. Haley's play calling didn't suck. Our kickers were good too, Succop redeemed himself with a 3 for 3 performance.
Now for the awful news & most of it was just a repeat of what we've been forced to watch all preseason. Damien McIntosh, Barry Richardson & Ike Ndukwe were dreadful at tackle once again. They are so 'over quicked' it's pathetic. Mike Goff missed two blitzers but his run blocking was much better as was the entire O-line in the 1st half. The punt return game continues to be an adventure. You just want to close your eyes, it's really a train wreck. Rookie cornerback, Donald Washington got screwed into the ground a couple of times, totally losing his man on 2 third down conversions.
Which brings me to the quarterbacks. Oy vey. Compared to Tyler Thigpen, Brodie Croyle looked almost Elvis Grbac-like. That'll tell you how awful Thigpen was, how about 2 for 7 with 2 interceptions, one returned for the go-ahead touchdown. It was as bad as I've ever seen a QB play for this franchise. I hope this puts the folks who "knew" Thigpen should have been our starting QB out of their misery. I wish someone would've put me out of my misery, this team is really dreadful. Croyle threw a few decent passes & then he overthrew a couple of wide open receivers downfield & threw a couple into the Edward Jones Dome's fake dirt on a couple of shorter attempts. Granted they didn't have the best protection, something they're going to have to get used to, but when given time they still looked terrible. Todd Haley has that "I'm gonna kick somebody's ass" look on his face most of the time, at least he did after nearly all of the passing attempts. In just 10 short days we'll be forced to watch this band of wannabe-quarterbacks go against one of the NFL's meanest defenses. Remember when Todd Haley was hired & at his 1st news conference he was asked if he planned to shake up the team, his reply was "honestly, you could get 22 guys off the street & win 2 games". Really? Well Coach Haley, you better start hanging around the Home Depot or wherever you can find those guys to win 2 games. You're gonna need 'em.
Oakland at Seattle
Two things stuck out in this game, the Raiders have 3 really good running backs, but virtually nothing else. Man, they might be worse than the Chiefs. The guy everyone in K.C. poo-poo'd, Aaron Curry, is going to be a many-time Pro Bowl player. I've seen this kid play twice now & he's all-pro material. For all of the pundits & fans who said over & over "he can't rush the QB & we need a pass rusher", I say phooey. I said in April he wasn't called upon to rush the passer at Wake Forest, he looks like he could do anything he's asked to do. In the 2 games I've watched, he played almost 3 quarters of football, had 9 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles & was constantly in the quarterback's face when blitzing & always around the ball in run defense. I think Tyson Jackson will be a good player for the Chiefs, but we passed on a player who is already a difference maker.
South Carolina at North Carolina State
Steve Spurrier was 18-1 in college openers, make it 19-1. His Gamecocks prevailed 7-3 in a snorefest. Both teams combined didn't have 400 yards of offense & it's not like these are top-10 defenses either. Both have rather inept offensive units that made for tortuous TV viewing.
North Texas State at Ball State
Caught this beauty on ESPN-U. North Texas, ranked in the bottom 10 of the 120 FBS schools for as long as I can remember, went on the road & upset Ball State in a shocker, 20-10. N. Texas is 3-21 the last 2 seasons. They had the 120th ranked defense last year. Ball State went 12-2 last season, of course QB Nate Davis is now with the 49ers, so this had the faithful in Muncie headed for the exits with about 7 minutes to go. Even tho you might never have seen either team before, this was a major upset.
Oregon at Boise State
The NCAA encouraged all teams playing this weekend to show sportsmanship & shake hands before the kickoff. In spite of some bad blood from last season's Boise State win at Oregon, the 2 teams shook hands at midfield before the coin toss. Sadly very little sportsmanship was shown after the game ended.
The Broncos defense wore out the Ducks offense in the first half. Oregon managed 14 yards of total offense & ZERO first downs. BSU scored a touchdown on a Kellen Moore pass & then went into their bag of tricks for a 2-point conversion. I'd never seen such a formation & from Oregon's reaction, neither had they. On The Ducks ensuing possession, LeGarrette Blount was brought down in the end zone for a safety. Blunt had given the Broncos some bulletin board material with "we owe them an ass-whippin". Blount was in the hole for the evening, 8 carries for -5 yards & was twice stopped on 4th & 1. Oregon didn't record a first down until 7:43 left in the 3rd quarter. By then it was too late & the 4th quarter turned into a sloppy turnover fest.
After the game ended, Byron Haut, a Boise defensive lineman, slapped Blount on his shoulder pad & said something with a smile on his face. I'm guessing he referenced Blount's pregame comments about kicking their ass. Blunt sucker punched Haut, knocking him to the ground. Boise State coaches intervened & hustled him to the sideline, but Blount was really mad now, he got into a shouting match with Boise State fans on the way to the locker room & had to be restrained by 2 coaches & 3 police officers. He had a complete meltdown & ESPN cameras caught every single second of it from pre-punch to watching him being forced thru the locker room doors. It was really ugly & new head coach Chip Kelly needs to suspend this kid for awhile. He was really scary. It's bad enough for the 16th ranked team in the country to lay an egg in their opener with 152 yards of total offense & be totally dominated by tiny Boise State, but to bring shame on your program & your school the way Blunt did, well it's just sad. Boise State won by the way, 19-8, running their 10-year homefield advantage to 65-2. I told you this afternoon that Papa Smurf blue field is trouble for road teams. It gave Linda a headache tonight, gave one to Oregon supporters as well.
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