Aloha... will try to tackle this as briefly as possible...
- Redskins/Cowboys - This game set back football by decades... lol... I can't figure out why Dallas couldn't score... Romo had a decent game on paper, the RB tandem had effective YPC averages, and Miles Austin is a beast... just mistakes/penalties at terrible times personified by the human holding penalty Alex Barron at the end of the game... Washington looked wildly inept offensively at times... Donovan was inaccurate, they don't have a legit outside threat, and outside of a freak play by DeAngelo Hall (sigh), they couldn't score either...
- Bills/Dolphins - I wouldn't cover this... but shoutout to Andrew Bernard... For Buffalo, it's the same story... Trent Edwards is below average... can't win with bad QB play... especially when you don't have any receivers... the RB triumvirate will be fine with the explosive Spiller and the steady hand of Jackson (and eventually Lynch)... but they will be facing 9 man fronts... The bright spot for Miami had to be how good Ronnie Brown looked... 5 ypc, and there was legit explosion...
- Lions/Bears - One note here... the "Calvin Johnson rule" is a terrible one... in what world is that not a catch/touchdown?
- Bengals/Patriots - 25 of 35 for 258 yards and 3 TDs against the best CB tandem in the league and they stopped throwing in the 3rd quarter... Tom Brady is in eff you mode... and he doesn't care how unhappy Randy Moss is... the Bengals passing game was surprisingly effective in their own right but that was mostly garbage winging against bad corners... unimpressed, and Cedric Benson looked a step slow... Big ups to Wes Welker for coming all the way back from that knee injury and putting up 2 TDs in week 1...
- Falcons/Steelers - I'm a little angry here... so I'll try to temper it... I thought Michael Turner reminded me alot of a cross between TJ Duckett and L. Tomlinson circa 2009... that's a bad thing... could be an overreaction, but I can't be swayed just because it was the Steelers defense... he looked slow... and Matt Ryan... you can't throw that soul crushing INT... it was a great play by Polamalu, but it was stared down, and floated... 9 points is unacceptable, and whatever progress the defense seems to have made, I'll put a star by it for facing a 3rd string QB... hey, at least Roddy White looked good...
- Texans/Colts - What would the odds have been of the Colts winning this game if I granted you Peyton Manning's line of 40-57 for 433 and 3 TDs? They lost by 10 still! I know alot of those numbers were in catch-up mode... but Schaub threw for 107 yards... oh yeah... I haven't mentioned Arian Foster running for 230 yards and 3 Tds... there it is... Changing of the guard in the AFC South? Wouldn't say that.. but that's about as big of a Week 1 win as you can get if you're Houston...
- Pack/Eagles - The vaunted GB offense wasn't terribly impressive although they put up 27 points... the stories here center around 1) the injury to Ryan Grant, and 2) the emergence of Mr. Michael Vick... Kevin Kolb went down fairly early, and #7 emerged with 100+ rushing yards, and 66% completion percentage and 175 yards... That'll be an issue going forward because Kolb was underwhelming in his time...
- Seahawks/49ers - Oh Alex Smith... I'm planting my flag (again) on how bad you are... 2 INTs and a fumble, 0 TDs... complete ineptness... 52.5 QB rating! It's so baffling to me how anyone can put stock in the 49ers without considering how bad he continues to be... Alas, the Seahawks put on a fairly impressive performance offensively with efficiency from Hasselbeck (18 of 23), and were able to salt the game away late despite a lackluster running game (23 carries for 77 yards total... which isn't so bad until you realize 32 of those yards came on a garbage time carry by Forsett)... Pete Carroll ftw...
Non-NFL...
- USA Hoops takes gold.... Mr. Durant puts up 28 including 7 of 13 threes to go with his 38 point semifinal performance... strapping them to his back a bit... but Turkey looked overmatched physically, and a random outburst from Lamar Odom (15 and 11) sealed their fate... Hedo was efficient for Turkey, but looked fat (hilariously), and they were held to under 37% shooting... Fairly impressive performance by the US without all their top guys...
- Braves lose, Phillies win... Seems like a fairly consistent result recently... Philly takes sole possession of 1st place back behind a falter by Tim Hudson (courtesy of Pujols, etc.), and the CG shutout by Roy Oswalt... I'm as worried as I've been in months about missing the playoffs entirely with how Colorado is playing, and Atlanta inching back to the pack of the NL West contenders...
- Tiger Woods missed the FedEx cup finals... that's crazy... he didn't even qualify...
- The Boise State slide has begun... they were off in Week 2 and lost 7 of their 8 first-place votes... the dream is over... and no, I don't want to talk about Michigan being ranked... it's not realistic and it raises expectations that don't need to be raised when you look at the (lack of) depth on defense, and the relative inexperience of Shoelace...
What to watch for...
- MNF Game 1 - Ravens/Jets - 7:00 ESPN - First chance for the Jets to back up the hype... I wish they were playing an undervalued team.. but Baltimore's hype is at epic levels too...
- MNF Game 2 - Chargers/Chiefs - 10:15 ESPN - Intrigued by the KC running back situation... and the fact that SD is missing their best O-lineman and best receiver... and everyone still assumes they'll win the AFC west (me included)
- Braves/Nats - 7:00 SportSouth - Lowe/Maya - Welcome back Derek...
Enjoy the slate...
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