SB Nation Recent Football Posts

The Tape: Brandon Jacobs 44 Yard Rush

John Morgan, Field Gulls — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:39:08 -0000

Here's one of the changes I'm making this week: More, shorter post, tape analysis throughout the day.

In which Lofa Tatupu "plays scared":

"But [Jacobs has] matured as a runner, and he's exploring his options, so to speak. He doesn't always take it downhill. He'll make guys miss. He'll sidestep defenders and make them look just as bad as if they were getting run over." -Lofa Tatupu

Third play, first Giants drive of the quarter. 1st and 10 from the Giants 24. New York breaks 2 WR, TE, I. Seattle in a base 4-3. Understanding how this run went down is a process of elimination. At the snap, Kevin Boss turns Lawrence Jackson in, opening the left "C" gap. Brandon Mebane gets a slow jump off the snap. He's a non-factor. Madison Hedgecock lead blocks right; Brandon Jacobs takes two quick steps right, but cuts left. The joint action has already drawn a response from Seattle's linebackers. Leroy Hill, Lofa Tatupu and Julian Peterson begin offensive right and extend their distance to the left "C" gap. Chris Snee and Rich Seubert pull left. Leroy Hill engages Snee, holding his ground and opening a channel for Deon Grant or Lofa Tatupu to tackle. That's his job on this play, take out the lead blocker and setup the tackle, not greedily attempt the tackle himself, vacate his assignment and leave Peterson and Tatupu with Jacobs and two lead blockers. Seubert, continues to pull out, nears Grant, misses engaging him and only accidentally contributes to the play. Unfortunately, Grant is no match for the charging Colossus, arrives at an angle that's best outcome is a broken arm tackle and doesn't even get that.

The remaining players are Tatupu, Peterson from the far side, Seubert lead blocking and Jacobs. Tatupu decelerates, takes a false step towards the line of scrimmage, regains, but now with an impossible angle and can be seen in Jacobs dust cloud as he sprints past. Seubert, running in, loses his feet accidentally tripping Peterson and removing the last barrier between Jacobs and Brian Russell. Russell runs around Jacobs and tackles him from behind. All things considered, it was the right move. Russell was the last line of defense. Do you trust him to take Jacobs head on?

Vikings @ Saints: Inactive Players

Saintsational, Canal Street Chronicles — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:20:40 -0000

Minnesota Vikings	New Orleans Saints
Tom Nalen	Scott Fujita
Hamza Abdullah	Terrance Copper
Nic Clemens	Aaron Glenn
Tim Crowder	Aaron Stecker
Ryan Torain	Mark Campbell
Darrell Jackson	Joey Harrington
Louis Green	Antwan Lake
Erik Pears	Marques Colston

E.J. Henderson was placed on IR

I was hoping Fujita and Lake would be playing tonight but I guess not.

Tony Kornheiser?!?! Ugh!

Saintsational, Canal Street Chronicles — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:43:59 -0000

How appropriate for the season.

As you can see from the countdown clock on the right sidebar we are now under 5 hours until kickoff. While this is a time to be extremely excited - and I am now! - it is also a time for mourning. For most of you who aren't fortunate enough to attend the game like myself, that also means you are less than 5 hours away from being forced to listen to the ear-piercing and incessant noise that is Tony Kornheiser's voice. Here is a little snippet I found on the web today. It's from a while back and it is Tony giving his opinion on bloggers. Of course this hits home for your's truly and this is a fine example of one of the many reason's why I can't stand Kornheiser.

It's a real, it's a real mistake, and it happens. And I don't want to single anybody out in this area, but, you know, some people sit at home and they watch TV and they watch radio and they "blog" about certain "things," and they think they know what they're talking about, and they think they have sources. They have no sources. They make stuff up. They're toads. They're little toads. Actually, they're pimples on the behind of the greater body politic in this country and in this city (everyone in the studio cackles for no reason). And because, because they have access to airwaves and three or four people read them, they think, 'Oh, I'm very important.'

In fact, in fact, if a huge dumpster landed on their mother's house (cackling), and got all the way into the basement and crushed them (more cackling), nobody would care. Nobody would miss them. They provide nothing good, no service that's any good at all. They, they are, they are, they are sucking mole rats (more cackling), and that's the nicest I can be to them. But because, because they have a name, or, you know, because they get feedback from others, you know, they think they're very important. Randy and Paula think the show can't go on without them.

-Washington Post

So now that I have warmed you up a bit for tonight with some of Tony's humour and wit (not), I deem this the official "Make fun of Tony Kornheiser" thread. Wanna rant about how much you hate him? Do it here. Wanna take an old "Yo Momma" joke and replace "yo momma" with Tony Kornheiser? Let it fly. Wanna talk about what you will do tonight while watching the game to avoid listening to Tony and gouging your eyes out with a dull spoon? We all wanna hear it. I will try and get things started.

Tony Kornheiser is so annoying/bald/ugly/stupid that...(you fill in the rest).

Titans 13 Ravens 10: The Recap

Jimmy, Music City Miracles — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:41:23 -0000

First off, I need to apologize again to Alge for what I said about him in the game thread about looking like the high school kid that didn't belong on the football team. He came up big when it mattered the most yesterday.

Also, I love the fact that Kerry Collins faked Ray Lewis out of his jock on the game winning touchdown pass.

Let's talk about Collins for a minute. There is a lot of talk on this site about Collins's performance yesterday. Collins was bad early, but he hung in there, like a true professional, and led the team down the field on the game winning touchdown drive. I really hope Vince Young was paying attention to that because that attitude is what it takes to be a successful NFL quarterback. VY will have to show the coaching staff that he is mentally capable of doing that before we see him on the field again.

Bottom line in the whole Collins/VY debate, Collins is our quarterback for now. Is he a long term solution, absolutely not, but the best thing for this team right now is to have him under center. VY determines where it goes from here.

As for the game yesterday, it was pretty much what I expected it would be. The Titans started fast on offense, like they always do under Dinger, but their first drive was ended with Collins's first interception. To be fair, that one wasn't really his fault because it was tipped at the line.

The Ravens drive that resulted from that pick was very frustrating because the Titans had it stopped until the personal foul call on Chris Hope that shouldn't have been called at all. Sidebar: Someone correct me if I am wrong, but Derrick Mason is a really big punk now, and he wasn't like that when he was with the Titans. I guess going to the Ravens just automatically does that to a person. So instead of the Titans getting the ball back, the drive continued for the Ravens and ended with a 38-yard field goal from Matt Stover.

Chris Carr, who got good all of a sudden, returned the ensuing kickoff 49 yards to set up great field position for the Titans. Of course that was all for naught after Collins threw his second pick of the day 3 plays later. That picks was terrible. I have no idea what he was looking at there.

After trading punts, the Titans got their first turnover of the day when Michael Griffin picked off Joe Flacco at the Baltimore 31. A Ravens' personal foul on the interception gave the Titans the ball at the 17, the Titans would run 3 plays, get no yards, and settle for a 35-yard Rob Bironas field goal.

After trading punts again, the Titans decided to give up some big plays to the Baltimore offense right before the half. Luckily they didn't amount to anything because, as Rexx metioned over at Baltimore Beatdown, the Ravens did a poor job of clock management, decided to take a TO instead of the 10 second runoff after a false start, and then sent Stover to attempt a field goal that he missed.

I was extremely pleased to head into the half with the score tied after how poorly the Titans played in the first half.

The second half did not open very well for the Titans. The Ravens put together a good drive on the Titans' defense that was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown run by LeRon McClain.

Of course, that drive will beremembered for the words and shove between Keith Bulluck and Cortland Finnegan. We all love Finnegan here, but I think we would all agree that he lost his head during that possession. The arguing spilled over to the sideline where the two had to be separated by defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. It doesn't appear to be anything more than something that blew up in the heat of battle. Both players said after the game that they had put it behind them, and I don't see it causing any problems down the road.

Punts were traded once again before the Titans offense, a.k.a. Brandon Jones, came to life. I have been very critical of Jones in the past, but the Titans don't win that game yesterday without him. He had 3 catches for 54 yards on the drive that ended with a field goal to make it 10-6.

The Titans defense gave up some yards on the next drive but were able to force the Ravens to punt. This defense may give up yards but they are able to keep teams out of the end zone. That is all that really matters.

The next drive was the one where Ray Ray lost his jock. Gotta love it. Ravens' fans, with the exception of Rexx, are complaining about the roughing the passer call on Terrell Suggs. Was it a bad call? Yes, but there were some bad calls against the Titans in the game as well. Good teams take advantage of those breaks, and that is what the Titans did yesterday. The game winning touchdown play was beautiful because The Murder jumped the out on Collins's pump fake and left Alge open in the end zone. Ball game. Thanks for playing.

Win number 5 wasn't pretty, but it was a win and that is all that really matters. The Titans now go into the bye week and will have a chance to rest and get healthy coming off a very physical game.

Wade Phillips press conference 10/6/08

Dave Halprin (Grizz), Blogging The Boys — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:06:51 -0000

Usually I just let Wade Phillips' press conferences speak for themselves. But today's PC was kind of funny, long and an example of 20 different ways to say the same thing. The press was relentless in trying to get Wade to say something negative about the game or the team and Wade wasn't having any of it. So instead of re-capping every question with the same answers, I'm just going to highlight some things.

These are summaries of Wade's words.

Tank Johnson forcing the fumble was a big play. Amazed at how Tony Romo can have not one of his best games but hits the TD to Terrell Owens then makes an 80-yard drive to close out the game. Would have liked the team to close out the game earlier but it didn't work out that way. We had a bunch of special teams plays and most of them were good, but three were really bad and that makes it look like we had a bad day. They ran a different blocking scheme on kick returns than we saw on film. Our punts and punt coverage were really good. And on our punt returns we had good blocking but we let a couple of balls hit the ground. Sometime soon Pac is going to make a ply for us in the return game.

We went for it on fourth-down because that was in the decision-making area as far as FG's and we thought we had a play that could make it. Sam Hurd made a great block and Marc Colombo got into the outside guy and let Felix Jones make the play. If they were in a defense where we thought it wouldn't work we would have called a timeout and kicked the FG. We had thought that out before the game and Jason Garrett was ready with the play-call.

I liked the mental toughness to finish the game. Last week we didn't get it done this week we did. It doesn't matter who the opponent is, it's about us and our mental toughness. I'm not harder on the team than they are on themselves. It's important to them and if it's not important to certain players we'll get on them.

The fumble before the half gave them life, we were up 17-3 and we need to hold on to the ball there because we get it back after halftime. That was big for the Bengals.

I talk to them all the time about urgency and not to listen what other people say about the teams we're playing. We have leaders on this team, some vocal and some not, who came through in this game.

I am going to defend the players when they are attacked by the media, I don't feel we need to discuss all the mistakes in the media. I don't use the press to motivate players. I talk to them about the things they need to work on behind close doors and not to the press. If you tell the press things it all comes out that this isn't good enough or this player is doing well enough and that's stuff I don't want. They know what I want from them.

We talk about not turning over the ball all the time and try to correct it.

Each game is different. Sometimes you win by passing, sometimes by running. We just try to be consistent in all those areas and get better at them and feel we have the confidence to do either.

We got some pressure in the pass rush but Palmer was getting rid of the ball quickly. They only had one pass over 20-yards and that's what we like to have. Only got 5 yards per attempt, they threw shorter passes. At the end when he had to hold the ball they got to him.

Don't know anything about Terrell crying on the sidelines, don't even know if it happened. I talked to Terrell today and he seemed normal to me. I care about all my players and if there was a problem I would help them. You guys reported it but I don't know anything about it. He had a big play and gave tremendous effort all game. They doubled him a lot like most teams do. But that helps us in the running game when they concentrate on pass defense and doubling him. Sometimes he's the primary on a play but when everybody is going over to his side the QB can't stay with the read that long and has to go somewhere else.

We'll have to wait and see on Terence Newman. They are running a test today, it may be something other than his groin.

Orlando Scandrick had a pretty good game in coverage.

(When asked about Jerry Jones being on the sideline): I like the owner, he's a great owner and GM. (laughter) I don't think it hurts if he's there. If I though it hurt I would say something. He's being positive, he's encouraging people to help the team win.

Kyle Kosier will not be back this week. Roy Williams may practice some but he won't play this week.

NYGiantsGirl at the Game

jrs1940, Big Blue View — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:00:07 -0000

With apologies to SBNation:

THIS IS WHAT I CALL A "BIG BLUE VIEW":

Did Kurt Warner Really Think About Retiring?

cgolden, Revenge Of The Birds — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:33:20 -0000

From the "what in the world" file cabinet, rumors are starting to surface that Kurt Warner contemplated retiring after the loss to the Jets and Boldin's injury. According to reports, he texted his wife from the bus after the game with a message that simply said:

"This is it. I can’t do this anymore. It’s time to retire."

If you're an Arizona Cardinals fan, that's a scary thought. Kurt Warner is no spring chicken but he is the best quarterback for this offense right now. He's got a QB rating over 100 for the season and after Sunday's game against the Bills he's on pace for 32 touchdowns, 13 interceptions and over 4,700 yards. All of that didn't stop him from getting putting the loss to the Jets into perspective though:

"Something scary like that just makes you contemplate what’s really important and puts football in perspective," Warner reflected after Sunday’s game. "It’s things like that make you say, ‘This game isn’t everything, and I’m not sure if I can do this anymore.’ Because the bottom line is that all I really want is to be able to go home to my wife and kids."

------------------------------------------

I'm sure Warner will get blasted with retirement questions today and throughout the week (and I'll update as more news becomes avaliable), but something tells me this was just a guy disapointed by a horrible performance. The injury to a friend and teammate certainly played into this mood at the time, but I don't think any of this changes his desire to play football for the rest of this season or for another year or two. Thoughts? Is this something that the Cardinals team or fans should worry about?

Poll

If this story is true, does it worry you as a Cardinals fan?

Handing Out Grades After The Arizona Cardinals Get A Big Win Over the Bills

cgolden, Revenge Of The Birds — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:02:00 -0000

The Arizona Cardinals came back home and moved north of .500 with a big win over the previously undefeated Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The offense and defense both looked impressive as they jumped on the Bills early and didn't throttle back until the game was well out of hand. The Cardinals passed a big test and remained perfect at home in 2008.

Kurt Warner: Warner worked the short passing game to perfection in front of the home crowd and even though he didn't have a completion over 20 yards, he was amazingly efficient. He completed passes at a 78.6% clip and notched his second game of the season with a QB rating over 100. It was also his third game of the season in which he didn't turn the ball over (all three games resulted in Cardinals'
wins). He survived a rough hit in the second quarter that left his chin bloodied and even scampered for 11 yards on a drive right before halftime to avoid the rush and pick up a first down. He also completed at least one pass to nine different receivers and overall, it's hard to ask too much more of your quarterback. Grade: A+

Running Backs: For the first time this season the Cardinals had three running backs active and they each got some work in, combining for 113 rushing yards and 54 receiving yards. Edgerrin James was the workhorse with 21 carries but all of his work only amounted to 57 yards (2.7 ypc), although he did add another touchdown. Tim Hightower continues to impress as a rookie with 37 yards on seven carries (5.3 ypc) and he added two touchdowns, giving him five through his first five games. His best run came on nice 17 yard burst through left side of the offensive line on a 3rd and one. I'll continue to say that he may lack some top end speed but he's got the quickness to hit a hole that Edge lacks at times. JJ Arrington got his first action of the season and for the most part played pretty well. He wasn't spectacular but he did have a good series in the third quarter where he converted a 3rd and 13 with a 13 yard reception and a 3rd and nine with a 14 yard draw play. I'm not really a JJ fan but I'm not sure that Hightower or Edge could have made those two plays. As for the fullbacks, Tim Castille was inactive but Terrelle Smith had several critical blocks, especailly around the goal line. Overall, the running game took quantity over quality with 123 yards on 34 carries (3.6 ypc) but we'll take what we can get. Grade: B-

Wide Receivers: We were wondering who would pick up Anquan Boldin's slack, but I don't think anyone expected the answer to be everyone. Nine different players caught passes and eight of them caught multiple passes. It was pretty clear that the Bills wanted to limit the big play and control Fitzgerald so Warner took exacty what he was given. He spread the ball all over the field and Breaston and Fitz ended up tieing for the team lead with seven receptions. Early Doucet, making his first appearance of the season, had six catches for 42 yards. Ben Patrick and Leonard Pope only combined for 15 yards on 3 receptions but they were better contributors in the running game. The receivers didn't break any big gainers but they were reliable and consistent throughout the entire game. Grade: A-

Offensive Line: The offensive line was fabulous in the passing game but they were just about average in the running game. The line didn't allow a sack for the first time this season and they didn't even allow very many hits on Warner. In the running game though they weren't as good, considering that the offense averaged just 3.6 yards per carry but the average was dragged down by the fourth quarter numbers when they ran 13 times for just 29 yards (2.2 ypc) You'd like the offense to be able to grind out yards to end a game but this offensive line isn't much of a mauling group. For the record though, they did average 4.5 yards per carry for the first three quarters and the Bills knew the Cardinals would be running in the fourth to milk the clock. Grade: B

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Thoughts? Agree/Disagree on the grades? How much confidence do you have in the running game?

Golden Nuggets: The Morning After

Fooch, Niners Nation — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:16:35 -0000

EDITOR'S REQUEST: Is there anybody who would be interested in becoming the daily "Golden Nuggets" person for the site? I think people enjoy the convenience of having links to check on a daily basis. It's not a glamorous position, but I think it's an especially important one. So, if you're interested, feel free to leave a note in the comments or email me at ninersnation@gmail.com and we'll discuss the details in a little more depth.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

We're a day removed from another bad loss and the links are certainly not rosy in nature. Given the upcoming schedule, it's safe to say Mike Nolan is entering the proverbial hotseat. I had considered a post asking what people thought would happen to Nolan if the 49ers lost their next three games (quite possible), but I really don't think that's an appropriate post for now. If the 49ers lose their next three games, then, we can discuss it.

On to the links....

ESPN: Mike Sando wrote what we're all thinking: Exciting on offense is definitely not good enough for the 49ers right now.

ESPN: Sando also put together some silver linings from the game. I'd much prefer wins over silver linings.

ESPN: Finally, Sando put together a detailed look at the 49ers committment to using Gore throughout the game (minus trailing in the 4th quarter).

Press Democrat: Maiocco rolled out a quickie report card following the game and suffice to say, the 49ers did not make the honor roll.

Press Democrat: The blitz did NOT work on Sunday in spite of the 5 sacks.

SJ Merc: A solid recap of the Steve Young jersey retirement ceremony.

SJ Merc: A third-down-stoppage stimulus package? That's a good way to put it.

SJ Merc: Steve Young brought back some of the good ole days, for at least a little bit.

SF Chron: The 49ers receivers definitely didn't do JTO any favors yesterday with some rather ugly drops.

SF Chron: Gwen Knapp thinks there is too much of a losing culture with the 49ers. If it is a "losing culture," I don't think it's the traditional culture of losing. It's some twisted version.

SF Chron: The Chronicle's look at Steve Young's retirement ceremony.

SF Chron: Ray Ratto thinks the 49ers defense might still be on the field at Candlestick.

SF Chron: John Crumpacker grades out the 49ers.

Sacramento Bee: Bamm Bamm was PISSED after the game and did not do any interviews.

Sacramento Bee: The 49ers still have a long way to go.

InsideBayArea.com: Another lesson delivered by "the mastered." I'm not sure Belichick is sufficiently a master yet...we'll see how this season plays out before bestowing such a title.

San Francisco Sentinel: Well this Pat Murphy guy certainly has a bug up his ass. I'm certainly not happy with the team's current state, but I'm not feeling quite as negative as Murphy. Of course, some folks here probably agree with him and think I'm off my rocker. Nothing wrong with that.

Recap Week Five: Colts 31-Texans 27 (Cardiac Edition)

BigBlueShoe, Stampede Blue — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:10:55 -0000

This from Jake The Snake demands repeating:

Just in case you weren't sure, what you saw today was exceedingly rare. The Colts became only the second team in NFL history to come back from a 17 point deficit or greater with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter to go on to win the game. The other team to pull off the feat? The Indianapolis Colts, of course (Random fact: the second comeback came on the eve of the 5th anniversary of the first comeback).

Fives year to the day of one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history (between the Colts and the Buccaneers), the Colts engineer yet another improbable comeback, on the road.

Oh, and happy birthday, Coach Dungy. Sincerely, Sage Rosenfels.

Before we get into the particulars of the game, you all remember the 1995 Colts, right? The "Cardiac" Colts? They would usually start a game like garbage, play most of the game like garbage, but then (in the fourth quarter) Jimmy Harbaugh and his Colts mates would come to life and eek out an improbable win, usually with about 2 seconds left in the game.

These Colts, right now, remind me of that team.

You will recall that the defense that year started out like crap, giving up tons of points to Cincinnati, the Jets, and Miami. Yet, the Colts were able to scratch, claw, and fight their way to wins. This team is very similar. There is no quit in them. No give up. No surrender. None. They simply will not stop until the gun sounds, until time runs out and the men in zebra shirts tell them "gave over." We can dissect and dismantle any number of problems this team has.

Heart and guts are one of those problems.

The obvious key to the game was turnovers committed in the last 4 minutes by back-up QB Sage Rosenfels, who started in place of Matt Schaub because Schuab had a stomach virus. Again, rotten luck and crappy circumstance doom the Texans. Contrast this with the Jaguars, who really should be 0-5 if not for HORRIBLE officiating that has benefited them for three straight games. They should not have converted on the final drive against the Colts because of a bad call, and they should not have converted in OT against the Texans because of a bad call. Hell, last night, the Jags had numerous bad calls against the Steelers go their way. The only difference is they lost. Tennessee should have lost yesterday as well. The roughing the passer call on Kerry Collins during their game-winning TD drive was laughable. That ref should be FIRED. Not given some demerit points. Not suspended. Not taken off the list of potential refs to work playoffs games. F. I. R.E.D. My point is it is these kinds of plays (and calls) that are determining wins and loses.

It is a fine line between winning and losing, and the Texans are not your typical 0-4 team.

I have to say, this is the most maddening season I have ever experienced thus far. If it isn't terrible officiating it is Miami's wishbone T formation beating up AFC favorite San Diego. Consider that the teams everyone had contending in the AFC (New England, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, and San Diego) have a combined record of 9-9, with the win number inflated by NE's 3-1 start sans Tom Brady (and without Brady that team has zero chance to win a Super Bowl). Meanwhile, the supposedly "good" teams like Buffalo got destroyed by the friggin Cardinals. The Titans should be 4-1, and their defensive captain is fighting with his DBs during a game. Seattle looks atrocious. Dallas has no defense. And, the Packers have lost 3 straight games; the most recent loss at home to the Falcons. Yes, the Falcons.

Does this make any sense to you? I thought not.

With the way the first quarter of the season has started, I am the happiest fan of a 2-2 team I can be. 2-2 feels like 4-0 right now for me. This season is out of control. No one looks good, save the World Champs. They are the only complete team right now, and they are dominating people without their key players, like Plaxico Burress (who is a dumbass) or Osi Umenyiora (who is out for the year).

Back to the Colts, I hope you all can appreciate just how special yesterday's win was. From Advanced NFL State.com (via a shake n bake story):

The Colts win probability before the Rosenfels fumble was .03, 3%. 3 out a 100 times will a team win in that situation. Amazing.

Special players make special plays on special days. As easy as it is to lay the blame at Sage Rosenfels feet, the facts are that Marlin Jackson, Robert Mathis, Melvin Bullitt, Eric Foster, Reggie Wayne, and Peyton Manning all had to make special plays to create the turnovers and TDs late in the game to win. Wayne's catch is one of the greatest of his brilliant career. Manning's TD to Tom Santi on 4th and 7 was as gutty and ballsy as it gets. Mathis stripping Rosenfel's arm of the ball is why he is one of the most under-rated DEs in football. And all Gary Brackett does is make special plays.

Yes, there are problems. Allowing 156 yards on 32 carries (4.9 average) is bad. Prior to Rosenfels' meltdown, he was carving up the Colts secondary. Peyton is having trouble hitting the deep ball. Marvin and Reggie were KILLING Houston's secondary all game, but Peyton couldn't get it there. On one play, he and Marvin got into a heated discussion, but the fault wasn't Marvin's. He was open all game, and Peyton isn't able to get the ball to him.

We can focus on all these negative things, but the bottom line is our team gutted out yet another cardiac win. That should tell you something about their character. In this season of uncertainty, this team is as resolute as it gets.

Go Colts!

Oakland Raiders News: A Few Quick Hits

saint, Silver And Black Pride — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:05:47 -0000

- It is "Saints" Week, so I'm hoping that it is Saint's Week.

- I Loved how Jack Del Rio, a real coach and a real man at that, asked for his owner's blessing before demoting Byron Leftwich and promoting David Garrard. That is how it is supposed to be done. (Note to Kiffin...Especially when it's in your contract)

- The roster is apparently all systems GO for the game on Sunday, which means that, Smash (Bush), Crash (Fargas) and Dash (McFadden) should rack up big yards on the ground in the BIG EASY.

- Rookie DT Sedrick Ellis will be out and that can only be good news for the running game.

- I am excited to see just how many catches Javon Walker gets this week and IF Chaz Shillens will finally be unleashed on the NFL. The more that I learn about Lane Kiffin, the more I see him as a TINY man who holds grudges and a little part of me thinks that he may have shelved Javon.

- I wonder if we will see a proper balanced attack this week? You know where you run to set up the play action or when you pass to set up draws and soften up the middle of the defense. This is what Cable has mentioned and I know that Knapp can do a fantastic job, I'm just hoping that he does.

- New Orleans is averaging 414 yards per game (3rd in the League) with 327 of them coming through the air. Our run defense has been stout so this should be a test for Nnamdi, Hall and our pass rush. In fact this will be their biggest test yet.

- With two weeks to prepare for this game I am expecting the raiders to win this game. I expect 200 yards rushing. The Saints give up an average of 122 yards a game and 5.2 yards a carry (Tied with the Broncos for last) and they have not seen a running game like the Raiders, when healthy, yet.

Go Raiders!!!!

NFL Week 5 In Review

The Greek!, Big Blue View — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:55:17 -0000

After watching Trent Edwards get knocked out 3 plays into the game and the ensuing dismantling of my Bills in the desert, I’m having a hard time looking at what happened in Week 5. But I’m a professional, or at least pretend to be two days a week, and will have to push on with what was ultimately another great week of football.

Games of the Week

Atlanta 27, Green Bay 24: I hate to keep piling on Wisconsin, but what a week for them. The Brewers barely show up in the baseball playoffs and then another loss for the Packers to the Falcons at home. This is probably worse than the whooping they took in the playoffs to the Falcons a few years back. At least then they had Michael Vick, not Matt Ryan and Michael Turner gashing their defense.

Miami 17, San Diego 10: So how do those Super Bowl-bound Chargers look now? I know that everyone will blame the cross-country trip, but no one mentioned it prior to the start of the season. The Chargers do not look very good, and LaDainian Tomlinson has been average all year. Without Michael Turner to spell him, the Chargers could be in for a disappointing season.

Washington 23, Philadelphia 17: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; how in the world is this the same team that got dismantled in Week 1? Jim Zorn’s learning curve is apparently one game, as he has this team clicking right now. Philly looked like they were for real out of the gates, but after some divisional losses they’re going to have to tread water and hope that the rest of the division falls back to them.

Indianapolis 31, Houston 27: Twenty-one points in 4 minutes. Listening to the announcers for the first three and a half quarters you would have thought that Peyton Manning was done for the year, the team was out of the playoffs, and maybe they decided to move back to Baltimore. All that changed with 4:04 left in the game and Manning pulled another one out of his hat. You can look at this team and say they could be 0-4 or they could be 3-1. Just a really tough team to figure out. But as long as the Colts keep finding a way to win, does it really matter?

Denver 16, Tampa Bay 13: This is the game that probably ticked off more fantasy owners than any other (with the exception of anyone who started Trent Edwards this week). Denver suddenly found a defense, but lost their offense along the way. A win is a win, but this one will hopefully show the Broncos that they can win ugly instead of needing a shootout every week.

Pittsburgh 26, Jacksonville 21: No Willie Parker, no Rashard Mendenhall, no Najeh Davenport to drop the deuce on the Jags. Apparently, no problem. The Steelers got nearly 100 yards from Mewelde Moore and more importantly got “Ben” going, too. The Jaguars have had every game decided by 7 points or less so far this year, but unlike last year have seen themselves on the short end of most of those games. They have got to get this figured out quickly before Tennessee runs away with this division.

Other Thoughts

Matt Millen may be gone, but his team still remains. Now Detroit fans are calling for Roy Williams to be traded. What a mess!
Kansas City had 127 yards of total offense. How is that even possible?
Tennessee got a gift win from the refs in this game. If you didn’t see it Terrell Suggs tapped Kerry Collins on the head on a play that was blown dead on a false start and was called for roughing the quarterback.

I can not remember a season where refs had more bad calls in such a short period of time. We’re very close to another scene like in Cleveland a few years ago with the fans pelting the field with beer bottles after another blown call.
I never thought I’d say this, but Chris Carter made a very insightful comment on 'Sunday Countdown' yesterday. Everyone in the media is complaining about TO and Ocho Cinco talking too much, and saying ridiculous things. Carter made the observation that it’s the media’s fault for seeking them out for comments when they are not needed. Stop creating controversy and start actually reporting on something that’s happening. There are plenty of interesting storylines out there without the media needing to create one.

Monday Night Football

Two underachieving teams meet in New Orleans tonight. These two teams are polar opposites of one another. The Vikings can definitely play some defense, but can’t score consistently, and the Saints have the opposite problem. The problem is that the Vikings defense hasn’t been nearly as dominant as last year, and is not able to hide the deficiencies on offense. I’m taking the Saints at home and waiting to see the “what’s wrong with the Vikings” articles to start tomorrow.

The Quotable Bears (Week Five)

ChiFan13, Windy City Gridiron — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:53:24 -0000

It was a real rough weekend for all of the Lions, not just Orlovsky. Kyle Orton threw for over 300 yards. The fact that a Bears QB did that makes me feel as though I'm rooting for the wrong team or something bad happened, because this doesn't seem like the Bears I know and love.

Roll call: halfblindcubbiegirl dominated everyone on the game threads with 119 posts. Yours truly came in second with 57, followed by beardown (45), mike b (38), tempchad (31), and torch (24) rounding out the top spots.

Anyways, onto the usuals.

Lovie on the game:

"From the first drive, shutting them down and making them punt, really kind of got it started for the day. The defensive line put pressure on the quarterbacks all day. We were able to shut down their run and just make plays. It's the best we've played as a team. This is the best we've played as a team. We talk about starting fast and finishing strong. This week some things came together for us. I think we had control most of the game. I thought we had the momentum from start to finish. Today we just really talked about what we did as much as anything and the effort that we had. There's a lot of football left to go. But that's our goal: getting on top of the division and staying there."

Lovie on Booker's catch:

"He has gloves for hands."

Turner on Orton:

"I think he's playing with a lot of confidence right now and throwing the ball better than he has any time since I've been around him. He's just reading things and throwing the ball with a lot of confidence. No question when your quarterback is throwing well, you have a lot of confidence in him. And if the guy is making plays, it definitely opens things up. Right now, with the way he's playing, we'll call whatever we think we need to call."

Orton on whether he enjoys playing the Lions:

"Yeah, I do for some reason."

Orton on Booker's catch:

"I saw the flag go down and we got the pass interference. Then he said, 'I caught it.' I was like, 'I don't know about that.' I looked up and saw the replay and it was an unbelievable catch."

Forte on his lunge for a TD:

"Oh, yeah, I was in. You can look at the replay. I jumped, and my knee wasn't down when the point of the ball crossed. It was a good effort by myself. I just thank God for the opportunity."

Greg Olsen on Orton's performance:

"He probably had one of his best games ever, with the way he managed the offense and kept us in rhythm the whole game. He was on point, whether it was deep throws or throws in coverage he had to squeeze in there."

Hester on the WR's performance:

"We're a running team, but any time we could be called upon [we're] ready. If they call a receiver's name, you go out to get the job done. I feel like an athlete."

Rashied Davis on the game:

"They made a big effort to come up and stop the run and not let Matt [Forte] or Kevin [Jones] do anything. For us to go out and make plays in the passing game shows that we're not a one-dimensional team. Although we are a running team-we get off the bus running-we can pass the ball. If you're going to try to come up and stop the run, you've got to stop us too."

Mike Brown on being on top of the NFC North:

"If we stay there, we get to the playoffs. If we don't, it's going to be a battle. Our goal is to stay there."

Tillman on the defense:

"You see what happens when we play great, but I still think there's room for improvement. The sky's the limit, and we haven't reached that sky yet."

Tillman on his INT:

"It was just a bad throw, [Williams] tipped it, I caught it and I went into the end zone. It was pretty simple."

Dvoracek on the defense:

"We've started [strong] in a lot of games, but the thing that was so good about today was we played well for all four quarters. Everybody did their job all day and we played well."

Alex Brown on the absence of Tommie Harris:

"I wouldn't go that far. You don't find a guy with Tommie's ability every day. You can't just walk down the street and get it. We have guys that are capable of handling the job. To not have Tommie, that's big. We'd love to have him. ... When [other guys] get their numbers called, you're supposed to step up."

Roy Williams on the game:

"I'm very frustrated. We're an 0-4 ballclub, but we aren't an 0-4 ballclub in my eyes. We're better than that."

Quotables from the WCG Game Thread:

"Games you're ‘supposed' to win scare the s*** outta me" - halfblindcubbiegirl

"Good Lord it is silent in there" - torch

"This Forte kid is kind of good at football" - thecubreporter

"MendenWHO?" - tempchad

"I don't trust Lovie's ‘pretty sure I'm right' meter" - mike b

"When did Hester learn to play WR?" - big_lowitzki

"I thought this team came off the bus running?" - beardown

"Phew...I needed a game like this today..." - Chanman25

"Nice celebration. You're still down 27..." - torch

"Still a lot of time left. My faith isn't quite up to calling anything a win yet" - halfblindcubbiegirl

"Orton drives a Prius and recycles. F*** him" - tempchad (Quote of the Week)

"How to tell it's a blowout: puns about RB's last name and recycling stories" - halfblindcubbiegirl

"Hahaha. That was a great assist on the tackle" - Scott Sox

Poll

Who's your MVP of the game?

Real Solutions To The Kansas City Quarterback Problem

primetime 07, Arrowhead Pride — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:51:09 -0000

So, here's the deal. The feelings regarding our quarterback situation are mixed. However, I feel that a majority of folks are looking to make a change and then some of that group wants to make a change NOW.

I'm on record as saying there's nothing we can do to better the quarterback situation now. Trade scenarios, while always an interesting discussion, almost never come to fruition. There's a reason talented quarterbacks never hit the open market.

Below is a list of quarterbacks who are currently free agents. Keeping this list in mind, I want to hear real solutions to the quarterback problem. Pretend as if trading is not an option (because realistically it's probably not). Anyone can say 'Hey it's not working dump 'em all!' But that's not the way it works.

Tell us who you want and WHY. The latter is key. Would any of these players help us now? Do we currently have the best options on staff?

Player Name	Years Experience	2007 Team
Daunte Culpepper	9	Raiders
Bruce Gradkowski	2	Bucs
Tim Hasselbeck	6	Cardinals
Kelly Holcomb	11	Vikings
Jared Lorenzen	3	Giants
Jamie Martin	13	Saints
Craig Nall	6	Packers
Tim Rattay	8	Cardinals
Lester Ricard	1	Jaguars
Brian St. Pierre	7	Jets
Chris Weinke	8	49ers

After Further Review: Bengals Second Half Against the Cowboys

Kirkendall, Cincy Jungle — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:17:50 -0000

We continue our "review" of the Bengals 31-22 loss the Cowboys.

COWBOYS FIRST POSSESSION. On the first play of the second half, Romo throws a duck from shotgun to Patrick Crayton -- a yard short and incomplete. Barber takes the football on second down, stuffed by a penetrating Robert Geathers who shrugged off a Jason Witten block on the right. The Cowboys line up third-and-13 at their own 19-yard line. Romo, in shotgun with three receivers, throws a short eight-yard pass to Witten over the middle, with the Bengals defense running a deep zone, allowing anything underneath, but nothing over the top forcing a Cowboys three-and-out.

BENGALS FIRST POSSESSION. The Bengals ran an 11-play touchdown drive in 5:18 on this drive. Setting up at their own 28-yard line, Palmer hits Reggie Kelly running a two-yard up and out route, covered by Ware, only picking up a yard. On second down, in standard I-formation, Perry takes the handoff to the right, cutting back left after the offensive line crashed the Cowboys down to their right. Perry found a cutback lane and picked up eight yards on the run.

On third-and-one, Palmer lines up in shotgun, with Chatman in the slot running a short slant pattern. Palmer hit Chatman quickly after the Cowboys blitzed, bringing five defenders. Perry lost two yards after Ware shed off a Reggie Kelly block.

On second-and-12, Palmer drops back and fires a pass to Perry, who lined up at the wide receiver spot, running ten yards up and hooking around, picking up additional yardage after the catch and the first down. After Tank Johnson was called for off-sides, Perry picks up another five yards, up the gut. At this point, the Bengals offensive line finds a rhythm, blocking their guys and running up the gut.

After an incomplete pass that was nearly picked by Adam Jones (miscommunication, Chad ran out and Palmer threw in). Palmer takes the second-down snap, looks over the middle and hits Chad Johnson running 15 yards deep into a wide-open zone on the right. Perry picked up two yards on the next play, tackled by Jay Ratliff who shed off Eric Ghiaciuc's block.

Palmer throws a deep pass to Perry, running a pattern towards the back right pylon. The pass was too high, forcing Perry to jump and attempt a one-handed grab. This set up a 16-yard touchdown pass to Houshmandzadeh. Palmer, in shotgun and Houshmandzadeh lined up outside of Trips formation, throws a rocket while the Cowboys brought five. Houshmandzadeh dropped into an open area of the zone, catch the pass, turned and found the endzone. Bengals reduce the deficit, yet again, to four points.

COWBOYS SECOND POSSESSION. After a five-yard gain by Barber on the ground, Romo throws an incomplete pass intended for Owens -- the pass was skipped like a flat rock on a lake. Geathers pressured and dropped Romo. On third-and-five, Romo set up in shotgun, ripping a pass to Witten running a quick slant route. The Bengals pressured Romo with Brandon Johnson blitzing, forcing Romo to make the quick pass that Ndukwe wasn't ready to defend.

Crayton drops an easy deep pass, with Dhani Jones covering (and it appears that Jones may have masked Crayton just enough to lose sight of the pass in the air). After a pedestrian two-yard gain, Romo throws an incomplete pass to Witten forcing the Cowboys to punt.

BENGALS SECOND POSSESSION. The Bengals go three-and-out, after the offense is forced to start at their own eight yard line. Johnson commits a false start, Benson runs twice for one yard and Palmer completes a short four-yard gain to Chatman.

COWBOYS THIRD POSSESSION. Bengals' Keith Rivers intercepts his first career pass. On the first play of the drive, the Cowboys recovered a fumble forced by Ndukwe while Rivers is making the tackle. Instead, the Cowboys picked up three yards. Jones rushes on a pitch to the left. Leon Hall crashed down containing the edge, forcing Jones inside, limiting his gain to six yards. Barber picked up the first down on a five-yard run on third-and-one.

The situation is first-and-ten at the Cincinnati 35-yard line. The Cowboys line up in off-set I, strong side to the right. Romo fakes the handoff and throws a deep pass intended for Witten. Rivers, sitting in the underneath zone, picks off the under thrown Romo pass and returns it 39 yards.

BENGALS THIRD POSSESSION. On first down, Palmer hits Johnson running a 20 yard up and out route, dropping to his knees to catch the pass for a 19-yard gain. After a short pass to Chatman, Palmer throws two incomplete passes intended for Houshmandzadeh. The Bengals settle for a field goal, reducing the deficit to one-point.

BENGALS FOURTH POSSESSION. After Rashad Jeanty recovered the on-side kick, the Bengals have all the momentum. After two passes to Houshmandzadeh (six yards) and Chad (nine yards), we set up for the play of the game (not a good one from the Bengals perspective)...

The situation is first-and-ten at the Dallas 37-yard line, with 12:42 left in the game. The Bengals line up in I-formation, strong side to the right. Palmer pitches the ball to Perry to the right, with Daniel Coats leading. Levi Jones presses his man out, forcing Perry to cut it up. Tank Johnson is shifting down the line of scrimmage, no matter what Eric Ghiaciuc was trying to do. Johnson lightly tapped the football, forcing Perry's horrible effort to secure the ball to bite the team in the ass. The lost fumble would set up the Bengals' loss.

COWBOYS FOURTH POSSESSION. After a two-yard run by Barber, the Cowboys set up with second-and-eight at the Dallas 43-yard line. The Cowboys line up 3 WR I-formation. Romo fakes the handoff, and hits Terrell Owens running a deep post pattern. The pass was perfect, hitting Owens on stride. The Bengals, it appeared, ran a cover-four with Leon Hall deep on the outside, and (it appears, but not 100% sure) Marvin White covering the deep middle. Romo hit Owens in between defenders, and White (we think) whiffed on the tackle allowing Owens to complete the 57-yard reception for touchdown.

Note: we're not 100% sure if it was White or not. We don't want to say so, because no matter how many times we rewound the play, we couldn't get a good look at the number.

BENGALS FIFTH POSSESSION. After Glenn Holt returned the ensuing kickoff sixty yards, tripped by the kicker, the Bengals lined up first-and-ten at the Dallas 37-yard line. Benson picked up four yards on two plays, while Chris Perry picked up another three yards on two runs. Palmer completed two first down passes (11-yard pass to Coats, and nine-yard pass to Houshmandzadeh).

The Bengals were left with a third-and-seven at the Cowboys 10-yard line. Palmer, in shotgun with Trips to the left, hits Houshmandzadeh running a crossing pattern over the middle. No Cowboys defenders targeted Houshmandzadeh and walked easily into the endzone.

Two point conversion. The play was decent, mainly because of the match-up. Ben Utecht lined up wide left, with a short little cornerback covering. With the size advantage, the Bengals have a favorable match up. Palmer threw the fade pass to the left pylon, nearly caught, but the short little cornerback slapped the pass away for the incomplete and failed two-point conversion. We're not sure if Utecht would have been able to keep both feet inbounds anyway.

COWBOYS FIFTH POSSESSION. The Cowboys mostly grind the clock here, running the ball a lot and hitting short passes. Unquestionably tired, the Bengals defense allow two third down conversions, and three first downs in all. With 1:59 left in the game, the Cowboys line up in shotgun on third-and-11 at the Cincinnati 15-yard line. With two receivers on the left, Romo fakes the hand off with tons of pass protection, and fires a pass to the left. The pass goes through the hands of Miles Austin, with Crayton behind him picking up the sloppy seconds. This is a case of the Bengals having the worst luck in NFL history and all but sealing the victory for Dallas.

BENGALS SIXTH POSSESSION. The Bengals made an attempt to go down the field, but were limited to short gains, and tons of pressure on Palmer -- two sacks, one by Ware, another by Ratliff. The final chance was an incomplete pass on fourth-and-nine to Houshmandzadeh.