Three Teams Up/Three Teams Down After Three Weeks

Three Up

Atlanta Falcons: Now, if only they could stay off the police blotter. The Falcons are putting up dominating numbers through three games this season (including two wins on the road). Head Coach Mike Smith has abandoned his more conservative approach in prior years to take advantage of perhaps the best offensive trio of pass catchers in the league (Julio Jones, Roddy White, and Tony Gonzalez). Quarterback Matt Ryan is finally realizing his vast potential, throwing eight touchdowns to one interception thus far. The fourth ranked defense also leads the league with seven interceptions. Normally considered a team only successful inside the Georgia Dome, Atlanta’s 27-3 win over San Diego was conducted in a dominant manner.

Arizona Cardinals: The unequivocal choice for biggest surprise thus far, the Cardinals defense is suffocating opponents to the tune of 13 points per game. After shocking the world and going into New England and dominating the Patriots for most of that game, the Cardinals kept the ball rolling, physically pounding an overmatched Eagles team. Kevin Kolb continued his conservative yet effective play (four TDs and 0 INTs in 59 pass attempts), and Arizona was able to force Philly into three likely turnovers. Arizona is one of those teams that plays great when ahead. They can lock down opposing receivers without having to blitz, and can control the time of possession on offense.

Chicago Bears: Perhaps the most maddeningly inconsistent team in football, perhaps taking on the stigma attached to their star quarterback. The Bears defense throttled Sam Bradford for six total sacks and two interceptions (including one pick-six). The division is there’s for the taking, as the Vikings aren’t for real and the Packers can’t run the ball. For the Bears to succeed, Jay Cutler needs to play within himself and not turn the ball over. Chicago’s defense certainly has the linebackers (Urlacher, Briggs, Peppers), and Tim Jennings is turning into a ball hawk with four interceptions. 

Three Down

New York Jets: If not for two Dan Carpenter missed field goals, the Jets would be 1-2. Either way, the team’s best player is out for the year with a torn ACL. Not only is Darrelle Revis the heart and soul of the team, his shutdown coverage of half of the field allows Rex Ryan to blitz at will. The Jets don’t have depth either, so don’t expect Kyle Wilson to come in and fill in a similar fashion as Revis. They also can’t do anything of significance on offense, and the Tim Tebow mess is only going to get worse.

New Orleans Saints: How bad do they miss Sean Payton right now? They sure wouldn’t be in a position to be potentially 0-4 (next week they travel to equally desperate Green Bay). After going up 24-6 against the winless Kansas City Chiefs at the Superdome, the Saints simply imploded. The defense allowed more than 500 yards and the Saints couldn’t run the ball. Drew Brees doesn’t look right and the team could soon be headed for an implosion.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Not only did they drop a game to a poor Oakland squad, the injuries to Troy Polamalu and James Harrison have to be disconcerting. The defense isn’t getting any younger, and without those two in the lineup, Darren McFadden was able to carve up the Steelers defense. They have failed to run the ball effectively in the absence of Rashard Mendenhall, however, Ben Roethlisberger is playing at a high level. The Ravens are the class of the AFC North right now, but there is still time for Pittsburgh to turn things around. 

Week Two: Where the Broncos and Falcons are Still Playing

Week Two ramblings while trying not to expound on the replacement refs and the fact that they let last night’s Broncos-Falcons game drag on for 3 1/2 hours. It was 10:30 EST by the time halftime mercifully rolled around.

- Speaking of last night’s game, Peyton Manning really took the sails out of his own team. The three interceptions he threw in the first eight minutes against Atlanta set his team back 20-0 on the road. Despite the fact that the Broncos rallied back to lose by six, no team can expect to turn the ball over that frequently and come out victorious.

- What an awful week for the class of elite quarterbacks – Brady, Brees, Manning, and Rodgers. They combined for one win and five touchdowns between the four of them. Fantasy owners everywhere weep.

- Sundays like these make me yearn for the Direct TV package. Not only were the Patriots saddled with being on Fox, there was no other one o’clock game to mirror them; it’s not like Baltimore and Philly were slugging it out on CBS or anything.

- New England played one of its worst games in recent memory, and despite the Cardinals best efforts in trying to hand the game over by running a toss sweep on third down with a rookie running back, the Patriots did not deserve to escape victorious. The Cardinals lived in the Patriots backfield all day, sacking Brady four times, and making the cement-footed quarterback fear for his life. The Patriots biggest concern – offensive line – reared its ugly head, with the right guard position being the main culprit. The best defense against Brady is to get to him, and Arizona did a great job of blowing up the offensive line and collapsing the pocket.  

- If Kevin Kolb can be a competent quarterback this season, the Arizona defense could lead this team to 10 wins. They’re scary on the line with Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett, Daryl Washington brings pain when he hits someone, Adrian Wilson is still underappreciated, and Patrick Peterson is already one of the league’s top cornerbacks in his second season. 

- If there is one positive in this loss for the Patriots, it’s the defense. They limited the Cardinals to 245 total yards. The linebacker core of Hightower, Mayo, and Spikes is already punishing anyone that gets in their way. Spikes pulled off an impressive spin move, nearly sacking Kolb, and his hit on Ryan Williams caused the fumble that nearly brought the team to victory. Devin McCourty also did a great job limiting Larry Fitzgerald to one catch for four yards. Every year the team experiences one of those required humbling losses that young players need. Two years ago it was Cleveland and last year it was Buffalo. Rarely do those losses come at Gillette Stadium.

- The tea and crumpets must not have been up to standard Sunday afternoon, because the Gillette crowd was just plain embarrassing. Not only were they quiet the whole game, besides the booing that could be heard after the first quarter, throngs of “pink-hatters” were spotted leaving early when the Patriots still had a shot to get the ball back. Anyone who leaves early in a situation like that is not a true fan.

- Don’t understand why the Jets didn’t at least insert Tebow in at the end of the game. Jets receivers did little to help out Mark Sanchez, but he just looked plain awful out there, sailing throws and hitting receivers in the back. The Jets mustered 219 total yards of offense, and while Tebow’s style may not be pretty, he has shown signs of being able move a team down the field in some capacity. Good sign for the Steelers being without Polamalu and Harrison, and still reducing the Jets offense to such futility.

- The Saints have a breather next week when they travel home to face the other 0-2 team in the Kansas City Chiefs, but I don’t see their situation improving much this season. Not only are they without their head coach until after Week Six, the defense is like swiss cheese (full of holes), they’re relying on Brees’ arm too much (he’s thrown more than 100 times in two games), and the schedule is daunting (at Green Bay, home versus the 49ers to name a few). Bounty gate has cast a season long shadow over a franchise that won the Super Bowl three seasons ago.

- The 2-0 Eagles could easily be 0-2 after another one-point victory, this time against an elite Baltimore squad. Mike Vick turned the ball over three times, and it could have been more. His offensive line is still a sore spot, and Vick is taking a beating physically. If Vick can stay healthy and the Eagles can limit turnovers they can be a dangerous team. Those two “ifs” remain quite large.

- The Idiot of the Week Award goes to Josh Morgan who legitimately cost his team a chance to win the game after committing a ghastly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of Washington’s 31-28 loss against St. Louis. It doesn’t matter that Cortland Finnegan is known as an instigator (his shove was minimal), Morgan’s actions after the play were just plain childish. The Redskins were forced to attempt a 62-yard field goal that predictably sailed wide. Jay Cutler deserves honorable mention for his quotes inciting the Packers defense.

NFL Week One Thoughts

- Can Roger Goodell and the NFL please pay the real referees to come back? Just like the difference between the speed of a Division III Liberty League game and a Giants-Cowboys tilt is evident, the difference in the quality of NFL refs and replacement refs is too. The NFL is worth billions upon billions of dollars. If they truly cared about player safety, the better referees would be working games at this point.

- No games were cost at this point by a referees decision, but there were a few close calls in Week One, namely between the Seahawks and Cardinals when Seattle was wrongly awarded a fourth timeout. The outcry will be loud and clear the next time a replacement ref makes a game costing decision.

- Despite the referee conundrum, the NFL remains a winner every year. The primetime game between Denver and Pittsburgh set new regular season records, and the league somehow seems to keep getting more popular. The Sunday for the first regular season games should be a national holiday.

- The Giants looked like, well, the Giants. They sleepwalked through Wednesday’s opener against Dallas like they did much of last season. The secondary needs to heal up fast and the running back tandem of Ahmad Bradshaw and David Wilson can’t cough up the football. Turnovers are a death sentence in the NFL.

- The Eagles-Browns game was one of the worst games in a long time. Brandon Weeden had a QB Rating of 5.1, and the Browns somehow should have won the game still. Cleveland dropped a game ending interception, and new coach Pat Shurmur inexplicably had his team kick an extra point when going for two was the obvious choice. Andy Reid tried giving this game away, phasing out LeSean McCoy and having Mike Vick throw 56 times.

- Out of the five rookie quarterbacks starting last Sunday, only Robert Griffin III was victorious. With an impressive 73 Percent completion percentage, 320 passing yards, and two touchdown passes, Griffin III looked poised in what is normally hostile territory (New Orleans’ Superdome). Redskins fans have reason for hope, while the absence of Head Coach Sean Payton may be a doomsday for Saints fans.

- The Patriots using Wes Welker for 64 Percent of its offensive snaps is not surprising (at least as a Patriots fan). The reason Welker has been relied on so heavily since coming to New England is because he has often been one of the only reliable receivers (particularly last season). With Josh McDaniels heavy tight end approach and x-receiver Brandon Lloyd (x-receivers line up on the line of scrimmage and are generally more physical outside receivers) being deployed liberally, Welker’s usage is bound to decline a bit. The Patriots are also trying to become more balanced, evidenced in the success of Stevan Ridley during the team’s 34-13 win in Tennessee. Julian Edelman has also earned more playing time. The team becomes that much scarier offensively using the approach seen on Sunday. The balanced attack also helps the defense out, not being on the field as often.

- Speaking of defenses that needed help on Sunday, I think Buffalo fans were collectively given a cold shower after witnessing the New York Jets drop 48 points, this after failing to score an offensive touchdown the entire preseason. Mario Williams is an incredibly talented player, but his success comes in accumulating sacks. As a defensive end Williams is not an interior player. Meaning he can be taken out of games; not something that a franchise player should have happen to him. Do you think Bills ownership is kicking themselves on Ryan Fitzpatrick? He’s clearly not a franchise quarterback, and should never have been given a big contract after putting up good numbers for all of a half of a season.

- I may have overestimated the Colts this season. There is a real lack of talent there, and Andrew Luck may have a hard time staying on his feet with such a porous offensive line. Perhaps the two most talented members of its defense (Dwight Freeney and Vontae Davis) each suffered setbacks Sunday. Freeney suffered an ankle injury and did not return, while Davis was physically abused by Bears wideout Brandon Marshall (the two were teammates last season in Miami, in which it is safe to say they did not get along).

- The 49ers may have been the biggest winners Sunday, dismantling the Packers in Lambeau Field, 30-22 (the game wasn’t actually that close). Randy Moss made his triumphant return to the NFL, hauling in an easy red zone touchdown, and the San Francisco defense looked like the most physically imposing unit in the league. The Packers reliance on Aaron Rodgers will ultimately be its downfall if they can’t establish some sort of running attack. Other than Cedric Benson’s nine carries for 18 yards, Rodgers was the team’s only other rusher. There is a stark difference between the Patriots and Packers, whereas the Packers have yet to change from the previous season, the Patriots are offering more balance to make Tom Brady that much better.

- It was good to see Peyton Manning make his triumphant return to football (albeit a little weird that it was in Bronco’s orange). While he certainly looked great, the Steelers defense barely laid a finger on him. Denver’s success Sunday night came when running the no-huddle offense that Manning ran in Indy.

- If Baltimore continues to run the vertical game that we saw Monday night against Cincinnati, the team will be very dangerous. Flacco is difficult to game plan against when he is airing it out instead of trying to run some sort of West Coast offense. Torey Smith is turning into a legitimate No. 1 option, and the tight end duo of Ed Dickson and Dennis Pitta is surprisingly dangerous. The defense will always be stout, but it will be noteworthy to monitor the health of Ed Reed and Ray Lewis this season; their combined age is 71.