COLT LEADS ANOTHER UPSET, FAVRE GOES OFF, RIVERS TOO & "PRIDE FAILS TO SHOW UP AT LAMBEAU
I mentioned how tough rookie quarterback Colt McCoy's first three NFL starts were, at Pittsburgh, at New Orleans & against New England. The Browns beat the Saints 30-17 & pounded the Pats 34-14. Granted RB Peyton Hillis had 29 carries good for 184-yards & 2 touchdowns, but McCoy had a solid day with 14 completions in 19 attempts good for 174-yards & no turnovers. The Browns were 7 of 13 on 3rd down. They also totaled 230-yards on the ground. I don't see Jake Delhomme(that's Cajun for turnover) regaining his starting job, McCoy may not be Matt Ryan or Sam Bradford, but he's a helluva lot better than the signal callers Brown's fans have had to watch the past few years.
The Jets-Lions game was especially unpleasant to watch. Detroit went ahead 13-10 on a Matthew Stafford run in the 3rd quarter. Their kicker, Jason Elam had been injured when defensive tackle Trevor Pryce landed his 300+ pounds on Hanson's leg. The resulting roughing the kicker penalty set the Lions up for Stafford's TD run. But now they were without a kicker, so they resort to a former high school soccer player, rookie defensive tackle Ndamakong Suh. He gets the kick off alright but hit the upright, no good. That one point cost them in the end as the Jets were able to tie the game in the 4th quarter & win it in overtime. On top of Hanson's injury, Stafford left the game in the 4th quarter with yet another injury to his throwing shoulder. This makes the third time in less than a year & a half. This game featured 22 penalties for 201-yards.
I watched a lot of the Bucs-Falcons game & I'll tell you, Josh Freeman & WR Mike Williams make a great tandem for the future. In the end the Falcons made a few more plays & kept their first place perch in the NFC South. Tampa is one really good draft away from being a serious contender.
I also watched a lot of the Miami-Baltimore game won by the Ravens 26-10. Tho the Ravens didn't punt all day, they hardly blew anyone away. They stalled out in the redzone time after time, forced to kick field goals. After tying the game 7-7, Miami never really mounted a threat, Chad Henne threw three picks, one to Ed Reed. This was only Reed's second game since being activated from the PUP list & he has three interceptions & a fumble recovery. See why he's so valuable?
Brett Favre, much maligned for a variety of reasons, set a career high for yards in a single game with a 36 for 47, 446-yard performance yesterday in Minnesota's come from behind overtime win 27-24 over Arizona. Favre threw a spectacular 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Visanthe Shiancoe with 27-seconds left in regulation to tie the contest at 24-all. The throw had to be in a window about 15" wide 30-yards downfield. The Vikes out-gained Arizona 505 to 225, Minnesota had six sacks, including 2.5 from Jared Allen but numerous mistakes kept Arizona in the game. They returned a kickoff 96-yards for a score. They scooped up a fumbled kickoff by the Vikings & ran 66-yards with it before Rich Camarillo punched the ball out of Kerry Rhodes' hands at the 1-yardline. I doubt Minnesota can mount enough of a comeback to be competitive for a wildcard spot, Philly, New Orleans & Tampa Bay will fight it out for two spots, but the Vikings could derail someone's playoff hopes with performances like this.
I think when you mention the "elite quarterbacks" in the NFL, you'd better put Phillip Rivers on that very short list. He's doing more with less to work with than any other quarterback in the league. In a must-game versus the Texans, Rivers shredded the Houston defense for 295-yards & four touchdowns on just 17 completions. He did so without his top-4 receivers, Antonio Gates, Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd & Legedu Naanee all sat out with injuries or suspension. Norv Turner is signing guys off the street & Rivers is producing with them. Anyone ever heard of Seyi Ajirotutu? Pay attention, Rivers hit him 4 times for 111-yards & two touchdowns. He threw to backup tight end Randy McMichael twice, both for touchdowns. Despite their awful special teams & they let the Chargers down yet again yesterday, Rivers is winning. He's on course to break Dan Marino's single-season yardage record. Rivers has 2,944 thru 9 games. Matt Cassel has 1,412 thru eight games.
The Giants just stomped all over Seattle 41-7. Guess if you have to travel over 3,000 miles to play, you might as well get your money's worth. Eli Manning threw for 290-yards & three touchdown passes & the G-Men ran for 197-yards. Seattle had only 162-yards of total offense.
Michael Vick looked superb in his return to the Eagles starting lineup. He threw for 218-yards & ran for another 74. Peyton Manning fell behind early & played catch-up all afternoon. His first interception by Assante Samuel led to an Eagle field goal, the last one Samuel snagged killed a Colt comeback with 25-seconds remaining. Eagles win 26-24.
Well NBC's Sunday Night matchup dubbed "The Pride against the Packers" was kind of a letdown. "Pride" never showed up as Green Bay stomped Dallas 45-7. Aaron Rodgers was right on target for 289-yards & three touchdown passes. Linebacker Clay Mathews continued his run to the NFL's defensive player of the year as he recorded 4 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack, two other QB hits & returned an interception 62-yards for a score. Maybe "Pride" will show up next week when the 'Boys play in the Meadowlands against the Giants. Yeeeaaahhhh right!
The Bills continue to lose & just like the past two weeks, just by the smallest of margins. The Bears beat them in Toronto 22-19. Last but not least, the Saints buried the Panthers 34-3, as they should.
Thursday night will usher in The NFL Network's slate of games with Baltimore traveling to Atlanta. Ought to be a beauty. This week will also mark the last of the bye weeks, from then on out, it's 16-games every week. The top-4 in the BCS standings didn't change, Oregon, Auburn, TCU & Boise State, with LSU rounding out the top-5. The Steelers play at Cincinnati tonight & will probably put the Bengals out of their misery for 2010.
The Jets-Lions game was especially unpleasant to watch. Detroit went ahead 13-10 on a Matthew Stafford run in the 3rd quarter. Their kicker, Jason Elam had been injured when defensive tackle Trevor Pryce landed his 300+ pounds on Hanson's leg. The resulting roughing the kicker penalty set the Lions up for Stafford's TD run. But now they were without a kicker, so they resort to a former high school soccer player, rookie defensive tackle Ndamakong Suh. He gets the kick off alright but hit the upright, no good. That one point cost them in the end as the Jets were able to tie the game in the 4th quarter & win it in overtime. On top of Hanson's injury, Stafford left the game in the 4th quarter with yet another injury to his throwing shoulder. This makes the third time in less than a year & a half. This game featured 22 penalties for 201-yards.
I watched a lot of the Bucs-Falcons game & I'll tell you, Josh Freeman & WR Mike Williams make a great tandem for the future. In the end the Falcons made a few more plays & kept their first place perch in the NFC South. Tampa is one really good draft away from being a serious contender.
I also watched a lot of the Miami-Baltimore game won by the Ravens 26-10. Tho the Ravens didn't punt all day, they hardly blew anyone away. They stalled out in the redzone time after time, forced to kick field goals. After tying the game 7-7, Miami never really mounted a threat, Chad Henne threw three picks, one to Ed Reed. This was only Reed's second game since being activated from the PUP list & he has three interceptions & a fumble recovery. See why he's so valuable?
Brett Favre, much maligned for a variety of reasons, set a career high for yards in a single game with a 36 for 47, 446-yard performance yesterday in Minnesota's come from behind overtime win 27-24 over Arizona. Favre threw a spectacular 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Visanthe Shiancoe with 27-seconds left in regulation to tie the contest at 24-all. The throw had to be in a window about 15" wide 30-yards downfield. The Vikes out-gained Arizona 505 to 225, Minnesota had six sacks, including 2.5 from Jared Allen but numerous mistakes kept Arizona in the game. They returned a kickoff 96-yards for a score. They scooped up a fumbled kickoff by the Vikings & ran 66-yards with it before Rich Camarillo punched the ball out of Kerry Rhodes' hands at the 1-yardline. I doubt Minnesota can mount enough of a comeback to be competitive for a wildcard spot, Philly, New Orleans & Tampa Bay will fight it out for two spots, but the Vikings could derail someone's playoff hopes with performances like this.
I think when you mention the "elite quarterbacks" in the NFL, you'd better put Phillip Rivers on that very short list. He's doing more with less to work with than any other quarterback in the league. In a must-game versus the Texans, Rivers shredded the Houston defense for 295-yards & four touchdowns on just 17 completions. He did so without his top-4 receivers, Antonio Gates, Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd & Legedu Naanee all sat out with injuries or suspension. Norv Turner is signing guys off the street & Rivers is producing with them. Anyone ever heard of Seyi Ajirotutu? Pay attention, Rivers hit him 4 times for 111-yards & two touchdowns. He threw to backup tight end Randy McMichael twice, both for touchdowns. Despite their awful special teams & they let the Chargers down yet again yesterday, Rivers is winning. He's on course to break Dan Marino's single-season yardage record. Rivers has 2,944 thru 9 games. Matt Cassel has 1,412 thru eight games.
The Giants just stomped all over Seattle 41-7. Guess if you have to travel over 3,000 miles to play, you might as well get your money's worth. Eli Manning threw for 290-yards & three touchdown passes & the G-Men ran for 197-yards. Seattle had only 162-yards of total offense.
Michael Vick looked superb in his return to the Eagles starting lineup. He threw for 218-yards & ran for another 74. Peyton Manning fell behind early & played catch-up all afternoon. His first interception by Assante Samuel led to an Eagle field goal, the last one Samuel snagged killed a Colt comeback with 25-seconds remaining. Eagles win 26-24.
Well NBC's Sunday Night matchup dubbed "The Pride against the Packers" was kind of a letdown. "Pride" never showed up as Green Bay stomped Dallas 45-7. Aaron Rodgers was right on target for 289-yards & three touchdown passes. Linebacker Clay Mathews continued his run to the NFL's defensive player of the year as he recorded 4 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack, two other QB hits & returned an interception 62-yards for a score. Maybe "Pride" will show up next week when the 'Boys play in the Meadowlands against the Giants. Yeeeaaahhhh right!
The Bills continue to lose & just like the past two weeks, just by the smallest of margins. The Bears beat them in Toronto 22-19. Last but not least, the Saints buried the Panthers 34-3, as they should.
Thursday night will usher in The NFL Network's slate of games with Baltimore traveling to Atlanta. Ought to be a beauty. This week will also mark the last of the bye weeks, from then on out, it's 16-games every week. The top-4 in the BCS standings didn't change, Oregon, Auburn, TCU & Boise State, with LSU rounding out the top-5. The Steelers play at Cincinnati tonight & will probably put the Bengals out of their misery for 2010.
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