Friday, September 21. 2007The View From the Crossbar
So week 2 has come and gone. Typically the NFL Season begins to figure itself out after a crazy and wild first two weeks. Well the '07 first two weeks didn't disappoint. There have been some surprises, some disappointments, some head scratching, and a Surprisingly high scoring game, that history tells us shouldn't have surprised us at all.
And while it's hard to really have learned anything after just two weeks, one thing we definitely have learned is that my vantage point on the crossbar, doesn't really do much when it comes to predictions. Sleeping Dragons, and all that.
The NFL world spent most of last week worrying about Belichick's home video collection. Personally I don't think videos of his vacations are that interesting but that's just me. However during their focus, they forgot one thing. The Patriots love it when they are counted out. So while Madden and Michaels rambled on about old news, I know shocking isn't it, they missed something very important. The Patriots looked great demolishing the Chargers. This game was over before it began. With all the negative press there was no way the Patriots didn't win this game, but to completely dominate the Chargers, and shut down league MVP the way they did goes beyond impressive. What we saw was the best game the Patriots have played under Bill Belichick. The other thing we saw, is exactly why Norv Turner should never have been given another Head Coaching job. He's great as an offensive coordinator, but just can't seem to handle the whole ship. His teams are generally sloppy, and they don't get up for big games. If I'm an NFL owner Norv is one of the top 3 I want to run my offense, but when it comes to running my entire team, he's not even on the list. A little defense, I'm begging you! Cleveland 51, Cincinnati 45. Carson Palmer 6 TD's, Derek Anderson 5 TD's. 1,085 yards of total offense. By far the best game of the week. Didn't either of these teams bring a defense to this game? Who would have thought that these two teams could go on such a scoring rampage. Well let's not forget that in 2004 these same two teams combined for an NFL Record 106 points. However in that game the teams were slightly more efficient. They managed to get those points with only 966 yards of total offense. First of 3 Milestones this season. Congratulations to Green Bay QB Brett Favre for overtaking John Elway as the winningest QB of all time. And Especially for taking away that line from all the Elway lovers out there. As much as Favre has declined over the last 5 years, he's still had an amazing QB. And while he's at times put himself above his team, his accomplishments are still something to be hold. Next up for Favre will be either throwing 4 more TD's to overtake Dan Marino's career record of 420, or throwing 3 more interceptions to overtake George Blanda's record of 277. Here's hoping for a 4TD/3Int performance this week against San Diego. Perfection Watch Well the Last Perfect team race became a little bit clearer after week 2. There are now 20 teams still perfect in the NFL, including the entire NFC East, and AFC East divisions. The Top 14 1. Indianapolis Colts - 2-0 - I'm a big believer in your still #1 till it's taken from you, and I won't penalize the Colts for a tough game against the Titans, who always give the Colts fits. But it was close to being a 1a. and 1b. this week. That said, it has to be a bit worrying to see Manning actually taking some shots this season. 2. New England Patriots - 2-0 - Patriots have had two great showings so far this year against two strong teams. Most remarkable was the shutting down of MVP LaDanian Tomlinson. 3. None - The one thing we have really learned through two weeks is that the Colts and the Patriots are in a completely different league from everyone else right now. Can this change? Absolutely, and expect it to, but right now there is just no contest. 4. Pittsburgh Steelers - 2-0 - Tomlin is letting Big Ben loose, and while his percentage isn't as high as you'd like it, he's still playing as good or better than he has throughout his entire career. 5. San Diego Chargers - 1-1 - Got blown out by the Patriots, and don't trust Turner, but truthfully this team is still better than the majority of the league. 6. Dallas Cowboys - 2-0 - Two impressive wins against inferior teams makes this a hard team to get a read on. 7. Seattle Seahawks - 1-1 - Still not sure what Hasselbeck and Alexander were doing on that last play last week. We're getting into the part of the rankings that aren't very sure. 8. Baltimore Ravens - 1-1 - Did Jets QB Kellen Clemons figure out in the 4th Quarter the key to the Ravens Defense? If so bad news for Baltimore, because it's not like you can rely on their offense. 9. Washington Redskins - 2-0 - Campbell and company are slowing starting to figure themselves out. When they do this could be a quietly dangerous team. 10. Detroit Lions - 2-0 - Been proclaiming the Lions about ready to break out for a few years now so this might come back to haunt me. This Lions team can be a bit sloppy but honestly they are for real. 11. Houston Texans - 2-0 - Schaub's been impressive as the Texans are 2-0 for the first time in history, but losing Andre Johnson this week will hurt. 12. Denver Broncos - 2-0 - 2 - 0 record is nice, but waiting until the last second or overtime to take the league is not a good practice to get into. This team will get bit before too long. 13. San Francisco 49ers - 2-0 - Would like to put them higher, but this team has yet to put together a complete game. Heck in 2 games they've yet to accumulate a complete Quarter. Nolan needs to free Alex Smith. 14. Green Bay Packers - 2-0 - Might be one of the biggest fraud 2-0 teams in a long time. The bottom 3 30. Atlanta Falcons - 0-2 - Okay who's got a match, time to permanently burn the Joey Harrington Bandwagon. 31. Miami Dolphins - 0-2 - No running game, No receiving game, Old injury prone qb, and aging defense equals bad times ahead in Miami. 32. Kansas City Chiefs - 0-2 - So you think all those "experts" predicting a blowout by the Chiefs last week feel really really dumb about now? Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry
|
Handy LinksItems of InterestCategoriesBlog AdministrationSyndicate This BlogPowered byTheme dropdownBookmark |