Before I get into those I must say that I really hate ESPN. I try to stay away from all things Sportscenter, NFL Live and the like. All we see are knee jerk reactions, hype-building and an obvious agenda. You can say the same things for all networks but for whatever reason ESPN just brings the hate out more. Whether it be Stuart Scott and his incessant Booyah’ing to just the random conclusions that come from witnessing two games, how anyone can even try to make a statement on whose done and whose out of the playoffs already?
You have teams like Cleveland who ESPN was fellating for the past 3 months as the defacto representative to come out of the AFC North are now dead and buried because obviously Superbowl trophies are doled out in SEPTEMBER right? Hey just ask last year’s 0-2 NY Giants. Ditto the Minnesota Vikings who with that defense and running game can beat anyone even with White Boy as QB. Anyway, I’m going to continue my ban of ESPN and stick to uh FOX SPORTS BABY!
Mahatma’s top 10 Power Rankings
1) Dallas Cowboys (2-0) – The Cowboys are 1-0 when Jessica Simpson predicts games.
2) New York Giants (2-0) – It's really weird not having Gint fans complaining about both Eli and Coughlin. Sign #487458955 of the apocalypse.
3) Green Bay Packers (2-0) – Hey that "not Brett Favre" QB guy isn’t half bad.
4) New England Patriots (2-0) – Hey do you know that the New England Patriots are just great and classy players, swell guys, heroes to our children, Matt Cassell is the next Tom Brady and everyone disrespects them?
5) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0) – With Mike Tomlin returning to his House duties, it’s going to be interesting to see if they can keep it up.
6) Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) – TRADE MCNABB! KEVIN KOLB BABEE!
7) Buffalo Bills (2-0) – Scott Norwood has been banned from Buffalo practices.
8) Carolina Panthers (2-0) – Whoa! There still in the league?
9) Denver Broncos (2-0) – Has anyone pointed out Shanahan’s uncanny resemblance to this fellow Rodent:
I’m curious if that makes Jay Cutler Leonardo?
10) Tennessee Titans (2-0) – Vince Young needs a hug. (Editors Note: Or at least wrist guards. – Please send all hate mail to straightupsports@gmail.com)
Anyway, with that out of the way here are some reactionary thoughts through 2 weeks of Football:
Mike Shanahan has balls. That move alone secures his job for what another 5 years?
Do the Chargers miss Shawne Merriman or do they miss the roided out freakshow that was patrolling their defense 2 seasons ago?
That is a very explosive offense right now with weapons galore in the pass game but can you really trust a rag tag bunch of Selvin Young, Micheal Pittman, Andre Hall? I know Denver has made running backs look good in their system but no amount of cut blocking will make anyone in Denver forget Clinton or TD.
The NFL would be wise to do a complete overhaul of its current officiating system. There are missed calls frequently and that’s understood in the element but inconsistency for what constitutes what is in question. Example 1) Lamar Woodley gets flagged for tackling Derek Anderson 1 second after he throws the flag and gets a flag. Yet mere drives later, Shaun Rogers takes 3 steps forward and drills Ben Roethlisberger in the shoulder and doesn’t get called. While I know Shaun Rogers is 350 pounds of freight train even his fat ass can, you know, stop himself?
Carolina has hit it big with their two first round picks in Jeff Otah and Jonathan Stewart. Otah has been mauling people left and right for the Panthers while Stewart has been an effective change of pace back similar to Marion Barber last year with some incredible balance.
Did anyone really think Detroit was going to beat Green Bay even when they took the lead?
The Buffalo Bills defeated a banged up Seahawk team and a beat up Jacksonville team. Now they face the vaunted Gaiders and the St. Louis Rams. Will Buffalo win this year’s “Benefits of Scheduling” award? Objectively speaking they will have the best secondary in the league in about 2 years, even though matching up against the Seahawks without 4 receivers and the Jags with 3 banged up, they have yet to be tested.
As I mentioned to Devo lost in the Giants DE’s of death is the unspoken work of two DT’s that have been the two constants since last season. These two men, Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins continuously collapse the pocket and force QBs to be unable to step up – allowing easy access for the DEs to get the accolades. In 20+ games, the DEs continue to get the recognition while the others to do not. Robbins/Cofield are doing their jobs as well.
The same idiots that are saying New England made a statement game are the same idiots that wrote them off last week. Until a team in that division shows at least a moderate amount of overall talent to take advantage of their average secondary and slow linebackers, New England is still the team to beat.
The thing with the Jets/Browns and others having so many new faces, it takes time to form chemistry. You notice this trend with all these free agency frenzied teams. Until these guys play with each over for at least 8 games, you can’t put a gauge on their performance and usually, by that time, it’s too late for a playoff run.
Reason #47898457985 why the Probowl is a joke: Antonio Cromartie. Is he a pro-bowler? Really?
Aaron Rogers is one of the big stories this week for torching the Lions. Think about this for a second. THE LIONS. Let’s give him accolades next week if he does the same against the Cowboys.
The Monday Night Football game might have been one of the most exciting regular season games ever and thankfully all of America could see it. Luckily most of America didn’t see this though:
Kerry Collins makes the Titans a playoff team this year. With Jacksonville banged up and Houston still being the Houston, Tennessee should leap frog the Jagoffs and get in the playoffs. Remember they actually got in last season too before succumbing to The Norv Turner Chargers and Vince Young’s inability to lead a drive together.
I know the light is slowly waning throughout this site about the great Carson Palmer but this past Sunday, I saw Carson struggling the most of seemingly everyone on the field against the Titans. The O-Line, while nowhere near perfect, was at least playing a bit better and the skill players were doing their job for the most part better than last week. Sure you can say the wind hampered what they wanted to do but Kerry Collins did okay.
The Pats/Jets game told me more about the Jets than the Pats. Specifically to son of Schittenheimer following his father’s footsteps with 3 straight runs inside the 5. I understand if you have someone that can move the pile but Thomas Jones? Really? At the best front 3 in all of Football? Play action was no where to be found. To make matters worse the tv viewing audience
had to bear witness to the Nantz and Simms in all their Patriot loving glory.
Romeo Crennel. Why in the world did he kick the field goal? Crennel got a reprieve because of the surprise success Cleveland had last year, and was rewarded with a slew of free agent pickups in the offseason. But, he's simply a poor in-game coach and a complete lack of knowledge of the flow of the game. As a Pittsburgh fan, this was entirely too similar to Bill Cowhard's field goal in 2004 AFC Championship game. The Steeler defense was tired, crowd was in it and you've been driving on them. GO FOR IT! Especially with Anderson sucking and the weather. You might not know how many times you'll have left to go. Sure, you got to stick up for your defense but it was too late.
Yeti, Loch Ness, Sasquatch, Matt Millen being employed: the mysterious of life
Random Link of the week:
http://www.retrieverweekly.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=3643&format=html
Second random link of the week: (BUY A BERNARD POLLARD FANCLUB TSHIRT):
http://www.believemerch.com/products
What I’m watching in College Football this weekend
Some duds this weekend but some tasty matchups:
1) LSU @ Auburn – solid SEC matchup and the best game on paper
2) Georgia @ Arizona State – Lost some luster last week but I’m a Knowshon Guy
3) Wake Forest @ Florida State – Is FSU back?
4) Florida @ Tennessee – Great rivalry with Florida likely to pour it on.
Posts
2 comments:
2 things:
1. I'm still bitching about Eli. He needs one more ring before I'm comfortable letting him bring the play clock down to 1 on each play.
2. Why is no one talking about the game that Rodgers had last year on a Thursday against Dallas? He had damn solid numbers and almost beat a clearly superior Dallas team after Favre got hurt.
I would love to know when and on what channel those games are on. I am too lazy and/or busy to look it up myself. My money is on lazy.
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