SUNDAY'S WINNERS & LOSERS
The Winners:
Chiefs running game Sunday brought a 236-yard performance bringing their 6-game total to 1,059 yards. That's an average of 176.5 yards per game, by far the best in the league. Just for fun, that average projects out to 2,824 yards in 16-games. Thomas Jones has 489-yards & Jamaal Charles, 461. The addition of Dexter McCluster has boosted the threat level to opposing defenses, if only this offense had a dominating right tackle & another wide receiver.
Kenny Britt, Titans WR Benched for the 1st quarter after being involved in a late night barroom brawl early Friday Britt made amends with Tennessee fans. He caught 7 passes for 225-yards & 3 touchdowns to lead the Titans to a 37-19 win over Philadelphia. The Titans didn't score in the 1st period & down 19-10 to start the 4th, Britt caught a pair of touchdowns.
Oakland Raiders who scored 59-points in the first three quarters while bombing the Denver Broncos. The Raiders amassed 328-yards & 5 touchdowns on the ground. Losing by this margin at home to the Oakland Raiders might have turned on the hot seat for coach Josh McDaniel.
Dwayne Bowe has already scored five touchdowns this season. That tops two of his previous three seasons. He has been like a new player the past two weeks. Catching everything in site, making the spectacular endzone catch, blocking like he's Hines Ward or something, all the while keeping a semi-low profile. If Bowe becomes a consistent force in the Chiefs' offense, like they envisioned when they drafted him, it will help keep those safeties out of the box, which helps the running game stay productive.
Mike Williams, Seattle WR Williams was a 1st round choice of the Detroit Lions in 2005 & he was a miserable flop. When Pete Carroll took the Seahawks job, he contacted Williams, who had been out of football since 2007 & told him to get in shape & for God's sake, lose about 25-pounds. Williams has made a remarkable comeback so far in 2010. He has 32 catches for 348-yards, just 12 catches short of his career total. Today he caught 11 passes for 87-yards & a score.
David Bowens, Cleveland LB had the best day of his career as the 1-5 Browns went into the Louisiana Super Dome & whipped the Super Bowl Champs, 30-17. He returned two of Drew Brees' 4 interceptions for touchdowns, one from 30-yards, the second was a 64-yard romp. He was also part of a Cleveland defense that held the Saints to just 58-yards on the ground.
DeAngelo Hall, Washington CB also had a career-type day in Soldier Field against the Bears. Hall intercepted four Jay Cutler passes, tying 18 other defenders who had 4 picks in one game. Hall returned one 92-yards for a score in the Redskins' 17-14 win.
Carolina Panthers finally hung one in the win column. The previously winless Panthers beat San Francisco 23-20, leaving Niner coach Mike Singletary promising better things & playoffs & a lot of crap he can't deliver most likely. QB Alex Smith sustained a shoulder injury early in the third quarter & was replaced by David Carr. Panther QB Matt Moore, who just got his job back, threw for 308-yards & directed the drive for the winning field goal with 39-seconds left.
The Auburn Tigers are the new #1 team in the BCS rankings & Oregon is #1 in both the AP & USA Today/Coaches polls. This sets up a couple of scenarios similar to what has transpired the last three weeks. Auburn travels to Ole Miss to play Houston Nutt's Rebels. Nutt has been the master of the upset since he started at Arkansas. Oregon plays in the coliseum against USC. The Trojans are under a bowl ban from the NCAA, so this is it, their version of a bowl game. Knock off the top team & give your fans & alums a little satisfaction. USC has two losses, both from field goals on the last play of the game. Oregon pounded the Trojans last year 47-20, just more fuel for the fire.
The Losers:
Brett Favre, the Vikings & Brad Childress I won't be shocked to see this team go down the drain very soon. Favre threw 3 interceptions tonight in their 28-24 loss at Green Bay. His ankle is injured. The Vikings have lost their intimidation factor on defense, Jared Allen has one sack for the season, teams run on them. Their offensive line play is miserable, right tackle Phillip Loadholt is a penalty & sack machine plus they're not lucky, they had 3 TD's reversed with instant replay. I watched 193-pound Percy Harvin take on Packer OLB Clay Mathews & stand him up, while Loadholt could only grab & hold Mathews. Childress' press conference gum chewing looked like he was munching on broken glass, he was obviously pissed at Favre for the turnovers, his checkdowns & audibles weighed heavily on the Vikings boss. He said he didn't understand why certain plays went to one side of the field when they was supposed to go to the opposite. He kept talking about turnovers, he was hot. With the league's investigation into Favre's communications with Jenn Sterger, I think the Vikings are about to go up in smoke.
The San Diego Chargers lost again, this time to the Patriots, 23-20. San Diego, plagued by injuries & holdouts, now have a 2-5 record. This afternoon they committed 4 turnovers, ran the ball 19 times for just 38-yards & committed a terrible penalty as they were about to attempt the tying field goal. They were flagged for a false start, moved back 5-yards & then new kicker Kris Brown doinked one off the right upright sealing their fate. With home games with Tennessee & Kansas City plus road trips to Houston & Indianapolis, I just can't see them winning the AFC West for the 5th consecutive year.
Jay Cutler, Drew Brees & Kyle Orton all had horrible Sundays. Cutler threw the aforementioned 4 interceptions to DeAngelo Hall. He also fumbled at the goal line & was sacked 4 more times. Brees also threw 4 picks, two returned for touchdowns. The Champs don't seem to have much of what got them that big diamond ring. I said before the season started they wouldn't win their division & they are beginning to prove me right. Orton was miserable, a 12 of 29 day with an interception & a fumble as the Broncos were humiliated by the Raiders, 59-14. Tom Cable called the dogs off in the 4th quarter, Oakland didn't score after the final period began.
Buffalo Bills get their best offensive output of the season, on the road, in of all places, Baltimore & still lost, in overtime, but a loss is a loss. The winless Bills doubled their average total yardage, 251 to 506 on Sunday. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick ripped thru the vaunted Raven defense for 374-yards & 4 touchdowns on a 29 of 43 performance. WR Lee Evans caught three of the TD passes. The Bills were twice ahead by 14-points only to have to rally from a 10-point 4th quarter deficit to force overtime. A Ray Lewis-induced fumble set up the winning Raven field goal. The Bills come to K.C. next week, the Chiefs had better take them more seriously than Baltimore did.
The Bengals are folding right before our eyes. Now 2-4, Cincinnati has a failure in some part of their game nearly every week. QB Carson Palmer had been playing badly, very badly, then against the Falcons he had a 36 of 50 day for 412-yards & three scores. He didn't throw a pick either. The Bengal secondary allowed Roddy White to run wild, catching 11-passes for 201-yards & two touchdowns. The Bengals fought back from a 24-3 deficit to lead 25-24 heading into the 4th quarter only to fold like a card table, final score: 39-32.
Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor uttered the kind of quote that makes you know his coach will soon decide to not allow Pryor to speak to the press. After the Buckeyes' 49-0 rebound beating of Purdue, Pryor decided to speak to Buckeyextra.com about their loss last Saturday night as the nations' #1 team. "Not to take anything away from Wisconsin at all, I really don't want to come off like this, but they weren't better than us" Pryor said. "Everybody knows that if we play, 9 out of 10 times we'd beat Wisconsin" he added just to make it worse. Ohio State was completely outplayed, losing by 13-points but he won't take the high road, the Tim Tebow-road if you will. When Ole Miss upset Florida during Tebow's junior season, he appeared at the post-game press conference. He promised Gator fans no one would work harder to correct their problems than he. As the starting QB, Tebow shouldered the blame for the loss & promised it wouldn't happen again the rest of the season. It didn't, Florida went on to win the BCS title that year. Pryor should learn a little Leadership 101. Saying you're better than a team that just beat you by 13-points is pretty hollow isn't it? I guess a better question would be "if you can beat Wisconsin 9 of 10 times, why did you start with game #10?
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