October 3, 201115 yr I know there's still a game to be played, but I'm doing it now while I have some time. I reserve the right to add more after tonight's game. The Opening Drive - How about the Houston Texans? A 19-play, 95-yard TD drive that consumed almost 11 minutes to open the game against Pittsburgh, including a 12/7 run/pass ration. That is one of the most impressive drives you'll ever see, especially considering the opponent. The Sean Woods Awareness Award - Goes to Felix Jones. With Dallas trying to drive for a winning TD, Jones did an excellent job of getting out of bounds after a 7-yard gain to save those precious seconds that ... allowed Matthew Stafford to take a knee from the victory formation. It was 4th and 20 genius! Which leads me to the... Most Interesting Man In The World aka "The Tony Romo Is The Most Un-clutch QB In The League Award" - Goes to who else? Tony Romo. In two of the first four games, Romo has made horrendous mistakes that have contributed to collapses by Dallas. After Dallas' opening drive in the second half, Romo was 23/28 for 234 yards, 3 TD, No picks. After that point, he was 11/19 for 97 yards, no TD's, 3 picks. Detroit outscored Dallas 31-3 to steal a win in Big D, 34-30. I don't know what else to say. No excuse. There were other mistakes that deserved criticism in the Jets loss. In this one, I think you can pretty much put it all on Romo. Which leads me to... The Unjust Criticism Award - Jason Garrett's play-calling. Garrett is catching some heat for his play-calling in the second half with Dallas protecting a huge lead. This is the NFL. You can't just shut it down because you have a big lead at the half. Between the first pick six and losing the lead, Dallas had 5 drives. They called 11 runs and 12 passes in those drives. I have no problem with that. Had he just ran it every time, there's a good chance Detroit gets back in the game and then he's getting crucified for taking the air out of the ball and handcuffing his red hot QB. Sorry, this one is on Romo. We're Playing In Glendale, Arizona. What Did You Expect? - Re-visiting the site of their Super Bowl triumph, the Giants get a huge break from the officials and Eli works his fourth quarter magic once again. Manning was 14/17 for 180 yards and 2 TD in the final quarter. The play to Cruz brought back memories of the Super Bowl as Eli scrambled around, avoided getting sacked, kept the play alive before completing a big pass for a first down...and there was some luck involved. It should have been a recovered fumble for Arizona...a little different from pinning a ball to your helmet, but I'm reaching here. Then Eli hits Nicks for the game winner. What Were They Thinking? - Ronnie Brown. In the midst of 15 people in a goal line pile up while being tackled, Ronnie Brown decides to attempt a pass. Inexplicable. :idunno:One of the absolute dumbest plays I've ever seen. Thank Goodness For Tony Romo - Jeremy Maclin and Alex Henery. Probably doesn't help them in Philly, but it does take a little attention from a national perspective. Maclin has now coughed the ball up twice on potential go-ahead drives which turned out to be Philly's last chance in the game. Problems In The Keystone State The Steelers are getting pushed around at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. The combination of Big Ben and a dominant defense have been able to compensate for a sub-par o-line in recent years, but now the d-line is struggling. The Steelers are going to struggle until they get this fixed. The Eagles can't stop the run. It may be surprising that they've been as bad as they have, but I don't think anyone thought they'd be a dominant run defense to start with. What they were supposed to be was a great pass defense. Well, great pass D's don't allow Alex Smith to pick you apart while trying to overcome a 20-point deficit. This defense was built to play with a lead and make life miserable on teams that are in situations where they have to throw. But, don't blame Jason Babin. He has 7 sacks through 4 games. He's been worth the investment. Nnamdi...ahh, not so much. Play Call of the Week - Matthew Stafford. Trailing by 3 late in the fourth, Stafford sees man coverage on Megatron, uses his freedom at the LOS and, on a called run play, throws a jump ball up for an easy TD that turns out to be the game winner. Worst Call of the Week - Rex Ryan. Clinging to a 3-point lead, Ryan single covers Johnson and he scores an easy TD. Then again, considering Johnson had previously beat double coverage on a jump ball, Ryan might have figured why bother. That's understandable. Maybe I should criticize the Jaguars. Playing the Saints with a rookie QB making his second start, they give their best player (MJD) 11 rushing attempts. Cause For Concern (other than the defenses in Pennsylvania) The Chargers offense without Antonio Gates. No idea when he might play again and they aren't the same without him. The Patriots defense. The Raiders averaged almost 6 yards per carry while rushing for 160 and Jason Campbell also threw for 344. The Jets. Not looking great this year. If not for a gift from Tony Romo, they'd be 1-3 right now. Lot of problems on offense. Stat Lines of the Week Aaron Rodgers - 29/38 (76.3%), 408 yards (10.7 avg), 4 TD, 1 Int; 9 rushes, 36 yards (4.0 avg), 2 TD (completed passes to 8 different receivers) Tarvaris Jackson - 25/38 (65.8%), 319 (8.4 avg), 3 TD, 2 Int (Not bad, completed passes to 9 different guys) The Not So Stat Lines of the Week Mark Sanchez - 11/35 (31.4%), 119 yards (3.4 avg), 0 TD, 1 Int, 4 fumbles, 3 lost (interception and 2 fumbles returned for TD's, can't believe I started to believe the Jets needed to put the offense on him) Joe Flacco - 10/31 (32.3%), 163 yards, (5.3 avg), 0 TD, 1 Int, 1 fumble, 1 lost Funny thought I had on Flacco last night. Collinsworth was criticizing him for being loose with the ball after his fumble, but it was promptly erased by a pick six. I think Flacco realized that Sanchez was more likely to throw a TD to a Raven than he was last night. I give him credit for thinking outside the box. :lol: The Mike Shanahan RB Carousel Returns (Get Your Tickets, Place Your Bets) To the delight of fantasy owners across America, he's back. Mike Shanahan strikes again. Week One - Tim Hightower - 28 touches, 97 yards, TD; Roy Helu - 1 rush, 2 yards Week Two - Hightower - 21 touches, 106 yards; Helu - 13 touches, 112 yards Week Three - Hightower - 19 touches, 80 yards, TD; Helu - 7 touches, 32 yards Week Four - Hightower - 9 touches, 28 yards; Helu - 8 rush, 35 yards; Ryan Torain - 19 rush, 135 yards, TD Week Five - :idunno::confused: Welcome back, CJ2K! Congratulations Kansas City, even if it was Minnesota. Winless teams aren't picky. The "Our Jobs Are At Stake You Idiot" Award - Not to mention our franchise QB. This award once again goes to the Lovie Smith/Mike Martz combo. After ignoring the run and conducting tests on the limits of the human body for 3 weeks, the Bears decide to hand the ball off to Forte and he goes for 201. That should be enough rush yards to satisfy Martz for 3 weeks. I believe we'll see "Air Bear" again soon. Fun Stats and Projections Wes Welker is on pace for 160 catches, 2464 yards and 20 TD. Welker has 29 receptions for first downs this year. The second leading receiver in the league has 27 total receptions. More Wes Welker. He has 40 catches, 616 yards and 5 TD. The combo of DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin have 42 catches, 658 yards, and 3 TD. Steve Smith is averaging over 22 yards per catch. Megatron is on pace for 96 catches and 1284 yards. Not bad. Oh, I forgot, he's also on pace for 32 TD receptions. Rob Gronkowski has 18 receptions and 5 TD (tied with Welker for second most behind CJ). He is tied for third in the league with 7 catches of 20+ yards. He ranks 5th in the league in YAC for non-RB's (best among TE's). Also, 16 of his 18 catches have been good for first downs. Saints TE, Jimmy Graham, is on pace for 96 receptions, 1468 yards, and 12 TD. He also has 7 plays for 20+ yards, and 19 receptions for first downs. Matt Forte is on pace for 2536 total yards (1200+ receiving and rushing). Darren McFadden is averaging 6.2 yards per carry. Fred Jackson is averaging 5.8 yards per carry and has 4 rushing TD's. Despite missing parts of two games, Mike Vick is on pace for over 900 yards rushing this season. Even after a 200-ish yard game, Tom Brady is on pace for 6212 yards passing and 52 TD. Aaron Rodgers is completing over 73 percent of his passes. He is on pace for 5300 yards, 48 TD and 8 Int. Drew Brees is on pace for 5640 yards. Cam Newton for 5544 yards. Jason Babin is on pace for 28 sacks. Mark Sanchez is on pace for 32 turnovers. Sam Bradford is on pace to be sacked 72 times. Jay Cutler, 60. First Quarter Awards MVP - Peyton Manning Best Off. Player - Aaron Rodgers Best Def. Player - DT Haloti Ngata BAL Best Rookie - LB Ryan Kerrigan WAS, LB Von Miller DEN Best Team - Green Bay Packers Biggest Surprise - Buffalo Bills Looking Ahead (Tonight & Week Five) Indianapolis @ Tampa Bay - Anniversary of the amazing comeback. I wonder if anything so exciting will happen tonight. Philadelphia @ Buffalo - Must win for Philly. They need to finish 9-3 to get to 10 wins, and that may not be enough in the NFC. NY Jets @ New England - Big divisional rivalry. Jets need this one worse. Green Bay @ Atlanta - Rematch from last year's playoffs. I don't see Atlanta being able to hang with Green Bay, but you never know. Chicago @ Detroit - Another big division game. Chicago needs this one, else they are looking at being 3 games behind both Detroit and Green Bay with losses to both already. Tennessee @ Pittsburgh - The Titans are a surprise at 3-1. Pittsburgh has struggled. A chance for both teams to make a statement. Edited October 3, 201115 yr by 5wide
October 3, 201115 yr I heard something on ESPN that gave me a pretty good laugh. Without Romo the Cowboys are probably looking at 0-4. Of course, without Romo they could very well be 4-0 too. Since they have Romo it all averages out to an even 2-2 record. Truer words have never been spoken.
October 3, 201115 yr Author Romo is definitely the guy. He gives them their best chance. The mistakes he makes are crazy though. It has to frustrating to be a Dallas fan. They should be 4-0. They've pretty much given away the two losses. Here's something crazy though. If Romo doesn't rally the Cowboys, the 49ers are sitting at 4-0 right now.
October 3, 201115 yr The Giants didn't get a huge break from the officials. The rule states the following, Official shall declare ball dead ... when runner declares himself down by falling to ground or kneeling & making no effort to advance Cruz obviously made no attempt to advance after he went to the ground. It's not like he lost the ball going to the ground. He gave himself up, set the ball down and began running back to the huddle to keep the offense moving. The NFL's V.P. of Officiating Agrees and says the Refs got it right.
October 3, 201115 yr How is Peyton Manning the MVP?I think it is more tongue-in-cheek. It is obvious Peyton may be more valuable to his team than any one play to any other.
October 3, 201115 yr On Felix Jones getting out of bounds, equally you have to question Romo dropping it off to Jones. Is there any chance the down marker was at 3rd down because the announcer thought the same thing.
October 4, 201115 yr Author On Felix Jones getting out of bounds, equally you have to question Romo dropping it off to Jones. Is there any chance the down marker was at 3rd down because the announcer thought the same thing. No. It was Joe Buck. I'm assuming he was just unaware. Seriously though, that could be the case. I don't know why Romo dumped it off on 4th and 20. I was expecting Jones to take off and try to get some laterals going, but it didn't look like the play was set up that way since there wasn't really anyone to lateral it to.
October 4, 201115 yr Author The Giants didn't get a huge break from the officials. The rule states the following, Cruz obviously made no attempt to advance after he went to the ground. It's not like he lost the ball going to the ground. He gave himself up, set the ball down and began running back to the huddle to keep the offense moving. The NFL's V.P. of Officiating Agrees and says the Refs got it right. Of course the league office agrees. I haven't heard anyone other than them and some Giants fans try to say it was the right call. Even Eli said the Giants got a break. In honor of the ESPN crew...come on man!
October 4, 201115 yr Of course the league office agrees. I haven't heard anyone other than them and some Giants fans try to say it was the right call. Even Eli said the Giants got a break. In honor of the ESPN crew...come on man! HB20 would feel differently if it was DeSean Jackson haha!
October 4, 201115 yr Author HB20 would feel differently if it was DeSean Jackson haha! No he wouldn't. He's not biased. :sssh:
October 4, 201115 yr Good stuff, 5Wide. Good stuff. I keep telling folks about those Texans. I was telling folks about the Texans on this very board a few months ago. Their prognosis looks even better with the MVP up in the luxury booth. I thought the Giants beat the Patriots in Houston, Texas in Reliant Stadium. Was it in Arizona? I seem to remember the line from Bill Simmons saying everyone in Houston knew the last pass was going to Moss. I could be confusing it with something else though.
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.