Most impressed with: Adrian Peterson (163 total yards, 1 TD) is going to flourish behind Minny’s o-line. He runs hard, finds positive yardage and flashed major speed on his 60-yard TD reception today…
Least impressed with: For a guy that was so hyped before the season, Steven Jackson (18 carries, 58 yards, two fumbles) looked very sub par against the Panthers. Carolina did a fantastic job keeping him contained and the Rams supposed stout offense looked very mediocre.
Wake up call goes too: anyone who doesn’t think Randy Moss (9 catches, 183 yards, 1 TD) will make a difference in New England. He’s going to keep his mouth shut and play for a ring.
Play of the day: Ellis Hobbs’ 108-yard kickoff return was sweet, although if the Jets’ return team knew how to wrap up, I’d be writing about a different play.
My best advice of the week: don’t fall asleep on Pittsburgh this year. Yeah it was only the Browns, but Ben Roethlisberger looks comfortable again and Mike Tomlin’s defense is downright nasty…
Draft talk (yes, already): Anyone else smell the crap coming from Joey Harrington’s pants as he freaked out every time the Vikings blitzed? Was he that bad? No, but Bobby Petrino has to be dreaming of calling plays for Brian Brohm right about now.
Many applauds to: Matt Schaub to Andre Johnson is pretty…Antonio Gates is just so clutch. Every time Philip Rivers needed a target, Gates was always open…Clinton Portis looks healthy again – he gained 98 yards on a usually dominant Miami front seven…the Packers defense is very underrated – Nick Barnett was a wild man against Philly…
Cheap shots: Sorry Chiefs, but you’ll need more than Larry Johnson this year…give me one player on the Bucs offense that scares you…why can’t defenses defend when LT throws a halfback pass? I know he’s so dangerous, but seriously, teams are still generally fooled when he cocks his arm back to throw…Jon Kitna plays so well at times and absolutely loses his mind at others…
It was interesting to watch the Packers today. The offense looks the same – it’s been on the decline for the last few years as Favre ages and they lose talent (namely Javon Walker, Ahman Green, Mike Wahle). They weren’t able to move the ball consistently and couldn’t put together that critical go-ahead drive in the early to mid-fourth quarter. They haven’t been able to do that against good teams for the last few years.
But the defense looked terrific. Holding McNabb and Co. to 13 points and forcing a few three-and-outs in the second half – at least two in the fourth quarter – were huge. When they got the second fluke fumble it gave Green Bay the chance to win (instead of trying to tie, as in other years). This defense looks like it could make up for a lot of the offense’s mistakes.
And how about that rookie kicker knocking through two deep FGs – including the game winner – in his first game as a pro…that’s pretty impressive.
I was extremely impressed with what the Packers did on Sunday JP, because I actually think the Eagles have a shot to make it to the NFC Champ Game this year if McNabb stays healthy.
I think you hit the nail on the head with their offense and defense. They’re going to need more pop from their backfield, but the defense was aggressive and the secondary (which arguably was a weak spot coming into the season) stayed with receivers long enough for the front four to get to McNabb.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Pack give the Bears a run for the North this year…
There wasn’t much room to run, but Jackson and Wynn showed a few good moves when they had some space. Getting Greg Jennings back will help – that would give the team three good route runners to work the entire field. They have problems at TE – neither Bubba Franks nor David Lee was able to get any separation. That’s always been a bread and butter position of the GB offense. The O-line held up pretty well against the blitzing Eagles D, so that would imply that GB will be able to go with more 3 WR sets and get all of their playmakers on the field.
If they keep winning games like this, they have a chance to challenge in the North, but they could easily to off the rails if the offense doesn’t get it going. Still, it’s pretty impressive to beat the Eagles when your offense plays so badly.
I read somewhere that Favre was among the league leaders in overthrown passes in 2006, and he just missed a long bomb to James Jones that might have gone for a TD. Then he makes a couple of great plays in the third quarter that turned a punt into a FG…he’s still fun to watch.