Washington Redskins players reminisced about their experience dealing with Eagles fans this past weekend and it was nothing out of the usual: Fans threw eggs at the team buses. Kids gave players the middle finger…Grandma pulled down her skivvies to moon the Redskins’ arrival.
“You’ve got the six -year olds flipping you off, and the dad’s patting them on the back,” Rabach said.
“They give us the bird, we wave,” Sellers said. “The universal greeting, I guess, for Philly.”
“Grandma’s mooning you,” Jon Jansen said.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Rabach said.
“I’ve had some old ladies moon us, oh yeah,” Jansen said.
“It’s hard to tell from the backside, to tell you the truth,” Rabach said.
“Oh, you can tell,” Jansen said. “When it’s an old lady, you can tell.”
Only in Philly would someone’s grandmother reveal her bare ass at one of the Eagles’ opponents. You gotta love what Eagle fans bring to the table.
Jean-Jacques Taylor of The Dallas Morning News writes that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shouldn’t be the one pumping up his team on the sidelines during games. That job should fall on Wade Phillips and the rest of the Dallas coaching staff.
Jerry shouldn’t be delivering pep talks to an overly sensitive Terrell Owens with 5:14 left in the third quarter because Owens needs a hug while sulking on the bench. Nor should Jerry be exhorting the first-team defense between series.
The same goes for handing out high-fives to Courtney Brown and patting Zach Thomas on the back after Anthony Spencer’s fourth-quarter fumble recovery or congratulating each member of the extra-point unit following T.O.’s key touchdown in the fourth quarter.
After the game, the sweat rapidly rolled down Jerry’s flushed cheeks, staining his snazzy navy and black tie and making his shirt damp.
Jerry crosses a fine line when he’s that involved with the players during the game, because it goes way beyond his duties as owner or general manager.
Blame Wade Phillips. Obviously, the owner thought he was giving the team something it needed.
“It was my emotion,” Jerry said of heading to the field in the third quarter. “In my own way, I was reminding everyone how important – not that they needed reminding – this game was. I added an additional impetus to it. This game was every bit as big as it was against Washington last week.”
I’ve always had mixed emotions regarding this topic. On one hand, it’s the owner’s team. If he wants to be on the sidelines at the end of games and slap high-fives with the players he’s paying millions of dollars to, than he should be able to do that. But where do you draw the line? The owners higher coaches to run the team and should rely on them to keep the players motivated. And besides, if the coaches can’t fire up the players, what makes the owner think he will?
But in the specific case of Jerry Jones, I don’t think there’s anything new here. He’s always been on the sidelines and to me, he doesn’t seem to be a distraction. Do I think it’s ridiculous that he’s giving pep talks to T.O. during a game? Yeah. But that reflects more poorly on T.O. than Owens in my opinion.
Houston head coach Gary Kubiak had to go with Sage Rosenfels Sunday against Indianapolis because his starter, Matt Schaub, was sick. And things didn’t look to bad for ol’ Sage and Texans as they amassed a 27-10 fourth quarter lead.
That is, until Rosenfels decided that the Houston fan base hasn’t suffered enough this year and started handing out turnovers like they were candy on Halloween.
- Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson said earlier this week that he would kiss the Dallas star if/when he scores a touchdown against the Cowboys on Sunday. But Dallas held him to only 43 yards on three catches in their 31-22 win over the Bengals, so the only kiss he got to plant was on head coach Marvin Lewis’s face. You know that kid at a birthday party who does a couple of funny things, gets people’s attention, but then eventually becomes annoying? That’s where I’m at right now with Ocho Cinco.
- After getting destroyed by the Jets last Sunday, the Cardinals had one hell of a bounce back this week, beating the previously undefeated Bills 41-17. But ‘Zona has got to do something about its secondary. They gave up 56 points and allowed Brett Favre to throw six touchdown passes last week, and then proceeded to allow J.P. Losman to complete 15 of 21 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown today. That’s brutal. Losman hasn’t played in over a year and even when he did he was downright atrocious in most of his games. When J.P. Losman shreds you through the air, something’s up.
- Seven carries, two yards. That’s what Carolina held Chiefs’ RB Larry Johnson to in its 34-0 win Sunday. This coming just one week after LJ rushed for nearly 200 yards against Denver. Rightfully so, everyone talks about the Vikings’ run defense being so good, but take a look at what the Panthers have done against some of the best running backs the past couple of weeks: LaDainian Tomlinson – 97 yards. Adrian Peterson – 77 yards. Michael Turner – 56 yards. Larry Johnson – 2 yards. Wow.
- Out of their three victories this season, the Broncos can be most proud of their 16-13 win over the Buccaneers on Sunday. They beat a quality opponent (unlike their Week 1 win over the Raiders), they didn’t need a controversial call to go in their favor (unlike their Week 2 win over the Chargers) and for the first time all year, they didn’t surrender 30-plus points defensively.
- So…who’s the real J.T. O’Sullivan? The one that threw for over 300 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions in a win over Seattle or the one that played Sunday and threw three picks against New England? (Although in O’Sullivan’s defense, he did throw three touchdowns in the Niners’ 30-21 loss to the Pats, too.)
- Did Laurence Maroney kick Bill Belichick’s cat one time at a team barbecue or something one time? For the life of me I can’t figure out why Sammy Morris continues to get more carries than Maroney.
- Gutsy, gutsy performance by Big Ben on Sunday night. The Jags couldn’t get any pressure on him early on, but when they started to get to him in second half, he hung in tough and delivered a huge win the Steelers. Just when you think Pittsburgh is going to crash with so many injuries in the backfield and along the offensive line, they step up and play a complete game like they did in Week 5. The final score wasn’t a good indicator of how much the Steelers actually dominated the Jaguars.
Two of the worst teams in the NFL last year resided in Miami and Atlanta. So following the 2007 season, the two franchises decided to start fresh with new front office personal, new head coaches and a lot of new faces on their respective rosters.
The Dolphins hired Bill Parcells to run the football operations and former Cowboys’ assistant Tony Sparano to replace Cam Cameron as head coach. The Falcons tabbed former Patriots’ director of college scouting Thomas Dimitroff as GM and ex-Jaguars’ defensive coordinator Mike Smith as head coach.
Few pundits figured that with all of the changes that were made, that the Dolphins and Falcons would compete right away. But that’s exactly what’s happening.
After beating the Patriots two weeks ago, the Dolphins pulled off another big upset on Sunday, knocking off the Chargers 17-10 in Miami. The team once again used the “Wildcat” formation with Ronnie Brown taking direct snaps and gashing San Diego for 125 yards and a touchdown. Chad Pennington (one of those new roster faces) was also solid, completing 22 of 29 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Falcons and rookie QB Matt Ryan (one of the many new faces on the Falcons’ overhauled roster) waltz into Green Bay, mounted a 17-7 lead and eventually hung on for a 27-24 win. It was Ryan’s first win on the road as a starter, and the team’s third victory of the season. Not bad for a team that many prognosticators predicted would only have one or two wins total in 2008.
One thing that both of these teams lacked in prior years was toughness and neither franchise was very physical. But Sparano and Smith have changed that in just a short period of time and it’s amazing how much of a difference a year can make. Especially in Atlanta’s case, which was left in complete disarray following Michael Vick’s arrest and Bobby Petrino’s spinelessness.
Entering the year, pundits gave the Washington Redskins about as much respect as Paris Hilton gives herself. The team had a first-year head coach, a new offensive system for quarterback Jason Campbell to learn and they play in a stacked division. And after their dazzling performance against the Giants in Week 1, it was easy to see why the Skins weren’t given any respect in preseason.
But after rallying 23-17 to beat NFC East foe Philadelphia on Sunday, the Redskins are proving critics wrong. And it’s not like they’re beating the Lions, Chiefs and Texans every week – they’ve knocked off some of the best teams in the NFC over the past couple weeks, including the Eagles and Cowboys on the road.
They’re also not winning by smoke and mirrors, either. Campbell’s development has been solid (he’s yet to throw an interception), Clinton Portis (145 yards, 1 TD vs. Philly) has been excellent and the defense has tightened up in clutch situations. They’ve also kept up the physical brand of football that Joe Gibbs implemented when he was head coach.
It’s time to admit that the Redskins are better than what most people thought they’d be. And that’s a huge credit to rookie head coach Jim Zorn.
Peter Schmuck of The Baltimore Sun writes that the Ravens were screwed in Sunday’s 13-10 loss to the Titans after Terrell Suggs was called for a personal foul penalty late in the game.
It has been my policy for a long, long time — long before I became a blowhard blogger — to avoid any discussion of officiating that might appear partisan unless the situation is so impactful that it cannot be left out of any meaningful conversation about the game.
I think the personal foul call on Terrell Suggs late in today’s game rises well beyond that standard. Suggs was rushing Kerry Collins and was batting at the ball when his right arm came down on Collins shoulder pad. The supposed helmet contact that basically turned the game around was ridiculously incidental and should never have been called.
“I was nowhere near his head,” Suggs said afterward. “We just hit arms. I’m guilty of playing physical football. They said I hit him in the head. I wasn’t anywhere near his head.”
Perhaps the strangest thing about the call was the revelation after the play that the officials had called a false start on the Titans, but it was outweighed by the personal foul because the NFL’s 5-15 rule. I understand the rule and agree with it. In cases where there is a minor penalty and a major personal foul, the personal foul is penalized instead of offset. In this case, however, I’m trying to figure out why the play continued long enough for the second foul to be called.
There was no flag visible at the beginning of the play and no attempt by the officials to stop the play. Frankly, I’m surprised they even mentioned it after the play, since the result would have been the same without it. It simply made them look even more inept.
That’s two weeks in a row that personal foul penalties played a huge role in Raven losses. Good teams overcome those calls and still find ways to win, but momentum swings can have such a damning effect for teams, especially young ones like Baltimore.
Small change of subject – how clutch is Tennessee’s defense? They remind me a little of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens defense, not necessarily for how dominant they are, but how they always seem to come up with the big play at the end of the game. And just like those ’00 Ravens, the Titans’ D isn’t getting a ton of help from the offense.
It’s amazing when teams don’t do the little things and how it can affect an entire season. Take the Chicago Bears for example, who could easily be 5-0 right now after destroying the Detroit Lions 34-7 at Ford Field on Sunday.
The Bears are 3-2 on the season, but they had double-digit leads in the fourth quarters of each of their two losses. And had Kyle Orton and the offense managed just one first down late in the game against the Panthers and Bucs, we would be discussing how Chicago stacks up to the Giants and Cowboys as the best in the NFC.
One of the problems the Bears have had this year is that they get too conservative in the second half of games. Orton and the offense have come out firing in the first half of every game this year, only to fall back on the run in the second half. In theory, the game plan is solid. Build a lead, control the game on the ground and rely on your defense and special teams to win. But the problem that Chicago has had is that once one thing goes wrong, that game plan is shot to hell. The offense turns the ball over, then all of a sudden they can’t pick up first downs and then the defense tires out. See the Bears’ losses to Carolina and Tampa this year as proof to what I’m referring to.
Chicago did a great job today not letting up in the second half. They were still throwing late into the fourth quarter despite having a comfortable 24-point lead. Orton (24 of 34, 334 yards, 2 TDs) is better than what most make him out to be and he does have a bit of a gunslinger mentality. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner needs to be as aggressive as he was today with his play calling, because the Bears are a much better team when is.
The Dallas Cowboys might be the most talented team in the NFC East, but the New York Giants are clearly still the team to beat. And it’s amazing the way the G-Men continue to fly under the radar in the NFL.
The Giants crushed the Seahawks on Sunday. By crushed, I mean destroyed, hammered and routed. And it wasn’t flashy, either. They ran Brandon Jacobs down the Seahawks’ throat, played outstanding defense and Eli Manning took care of the football. The end result was a 44-6 drubbing of Seattle at the Meadowlands – without WR Plaxico Burress, by the way. (Nice fill-in job Domenik Hixon.)
Entering the season, the Giants were easy targets for a team that could potentially fall apart this year. Michael Strahan retired, Jeremy Shockey was traded, Burress was bitching about his contract and Osi Umenyiora didn’t even take one snap before his season ended due to a knee injury. But after five weeks, there might not be a more sound football team in the league, save for maybe the Tennessee Titans.
Here’s a revelation – Aaron Rodgers isn’t Brett Favre. He’ll never be. And he doesn’t deserve the constant comparisons that now come with being the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback.
When Rodgers hurt his shoulder last week in a loss to the Buccaneers, it was all the media could do to ask him about Favre’s record for consecutive starts and whether or not he felt pressure to play. Rodgers responded by saying he doesn’t need any motivation to play. If he could, he would. And he did.
Rodgers was clearly in pain during Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Falcons, but he gutted it out and finished with over 300 yards passing and three touchdowns. And while his late interception was a killer, he didn’t hurt his team by playing injured. He deserves credit for his toughness (especially when one of the knocks on him is his durability, or lack thereof) and the respect not to be compared to Favre in every situation.
- Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis says that ‘All systems are go’ for quarterback Carson Palmer to play Sunday against the Cowboys. (Bengals.com)
- Despite Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger returning to practice on Friday, the team has listed him as questionable to face Jacksonville. Big Ben is dealing with a shoulder injury. (NFL.com)
- Baltimore running back Willis McGahee was limited in Friday’s practice and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Titans. McGahee suffered a rib injury Monday night against the Steelers. (NFL.com)
- Anquan Boldin underwent surgery to repair his sinus fracture and will not play in the Cardinals game Sunday against the Bills. Steve Breaston will start in Boldin’s place. (Arizona Republic)
- The Eagles are reporting that RB Brian Westbrook should play this weekend against the Redskins despite being hobbled by an ankle injury. (PhiladelphiaEagles.com)
Sunday’s Best:Redskins (3-1) at Eagles (2-2) 1:00 PM ET FOX
Who would have thought after four weeks that the Washington Redskins would be right in the thick of things in the NFC East? Especially after they bombed in the opener against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. But they are, and a big reason for that is the maturity of QB Jason Campbell, who has looked comfortable running Jim Zorn’s West Coast Offense the past three weeks. But he’ll get a major test this weekend against Jim Johnson’s blitz-happy defense. The WCO is predicated on short timing routes and getting the ball into the hands of receivers so they can get yards after the catch. If Campbell can’t get the ball out of his hands quickly, Philly is sure to produce plenty of sacks and turnovers. Whether or not the Eagle offense converts those turnovers into points remains to be seen, however. In their loss last week to Chicago, Donovan McNabb struggled getting the Eagles into the end zone without the threat of Brian Westbrook in the backfield. Westbrook will be a game time decision, although he has seen a fair about of practice time this week, which might be a good sign that he’ll play. Expect another physical matchup between NFC East rivals.
Upset Watch:Bills (4-0) at Cardinals (2-2), 4:15 PM ET CBS
I’m not fooling oddsmakers by calling this a potential upset because they’ve already established the Cardinals as 1-point favorites. But considering how well the Bills have played this year and how Arizona surrendered 56 points in last weeks loss to the Jets, a Cardinal victory would be an upset. The fact of the matter is that the Cards just flat out play better in the desert than they do on the road. They’re a completely different team and while dynamic wide out Anquan Boldin is not expected to play after suffering a nasal injury last Sunday, the Cards have more than enough offensive weapons to pull out a win. The key will be Kurt Warner not turning the ball over and for the team to play all four quarters. Buffalo has trailed in the second half of three of their four victories this year, which means that they’ve been outstanding in the clutch. Arizona will have to play a complete game to earn a win, but an upset could be in the making.
Intriguing Matchup:Steelers (3-1) at Jaguars (2-2), 8:15 PM ET NBC
The Steelers may be 3-1, but they can’t feel too good about the way things are unraveling as injuries continue to mount. Not only will Pittsburgh go into this game without their top two backs in Willie Parker and Rashard Mendenhall, but Ben Roethlisberger is also dealing with shoulder and hand injuries and OT Kendall Simmons is now lost for the year. The Steelers had offensive line issues coming into the season with Simmons in their lineup. Now they have to play without him, which isn’t good news for Big Ben and the rest of the offense. The Jaguars started the year 0-2 but are now gaining confidence after beating the Colts and Texans in dramatic fashion over the past two weeks. The running game has opened up the passing attack for David Garrard, who is starting to play like the quarterback who led the Jags deep into the playoffs last season. We’re going to see what Pittsburgh is made of, because Jacksonville is starting to show signs of the Super Bowl contender that everyone that they’d be in preseason.
Other Notable Games: Titans (4-0) at Ravens (2-1), 1:00 PM ET
Tennessee is one of only two teams still undefeated and perhaps is playing the best defense in the AFC. Rookie Joe Flacco looked like he was starting to come into his home against the Steelers, so it’ll be interesting to see how he fares against a tough Titans’ defense.
Buccaneers (3-1) at Broncos (3-1), 4:05 PM ET
This is one of the best matchups on the Week 5 schedule as it pits Monte Kiffin’s defense against the Broncos’ offense, which has been one of the best units in the league so far. Can Denver bounce back from its embarrassing loss to the Chiefs last week? Can the Bucs further convince people that they’re a contender with Brain Griese under center?
Bengals (0-4) at Cowboys (3-1), 4:15 PM ET CBS
Ocho Cinco vs. Grab Your Popcorn. Should be a good one.
“[Davis] is the common equation,” Sapp said on “Inside the NFL.” “You take him out, put him at home watching film or whatever he is doing — you have a functioning football organization. But once he comes over the top, he goes and starts moving it around.
“Al Davis knows football — it’s just ’60s and ’70s football. That’s what it is. He’s thinking that Cliff Branch is outside and [Jim] Plunkett is dropping back and you can throw it 80 yards down the field — deep ball, deep ball, deep ball.”
Sapp even said that Davis would call in plays when Sapp was playing for the Raiders.
“I remember the first two weeks I was there, we played a preseason game. Somebody came up one time and said, ‘We’re going deep right here, dog.’ I said, how do you know? He said, ‘The phone just rang.’
“All the preparation that goes into a week of work is there, the practicing that you have to put in order to do these things, sometimes [Al Davis] messed with that part of it and that’s what kills you,” Sapp said on “Inside the NFL.”
“Al Davis is the total bottom line, buck stops right there,” said Sapp. “I remember one time we had a defensive game plan because we were struggling against the run. We were going to get our safeties and put them up in the box and almost have a nine-man front. We practiced this thing 80 percent of the time on Wednesday and Thursday. We showed up that Friday morning, [defensive coordinator] Rob Ryan came in and he looked like someone had just shot his dog. He said he [Davis] pulled it on us … He snatched the teeth out of our defense.”
And people want to hammer Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones and Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank for standing on the sidelines at the conclusion of games? Last I checked, neither of them has been telling coordinators what plays to run or how to scheme for their next opponent.
What a joke. Sapp’s comments just play into the notion that Kiffin was fired because he wasn’t a servant to Al Davis. That organization is long overdue for a culture change.
SPORTSbyBROOKS.com notes that Baltimore’s Willis McGahee isn’t too fond of NFL sideline reporter Suzy Kolber’s latest work, which had her stating on Monday Night Football that maybe part of the reason why he got hurt against the Steelers was because he missed OTAs this summer.
The CARROLL COUNTY TIMES reports that Willis McGahee didn’t take too kindly to Kolber’s suggestion of why the RB got hurt in the Ravens’ 23-20 loss to the Steelers. McGahee went down in the first half after suffering a bruised rib, and his status is still uncertain for this Sunday’s game against the Titans.
Kolber had reported that McGahee skipped out on almost all of the Ravens’ voluntary organized team actvities, or “OTA’s”, during the offseason - and such an absence may have been to blame for Willis’ wounds.
But McGahee didn’t like hearing that:
“Yeah, that bothers me,” McGahee said. “I’m not here for OTAs, so I get hurt? If I was at OTAs and I got hurt, then it would be, ‘He worked so hard. It’s a shame.’ No, it doesn’t work like that. Things happen in football.
“I got hit in the ribs. Would my ribs have been stronger if I had been at OTAs? I guess I’m not drinking enough milk. I’m very disappointed that once again the reason I got hurt is because of OTAs. That was garbage.”
Hey, watch what you say, Willis - Joe doesn’t like it when you mess with his women. Then again, if McGahee had bothered to practice with his teammates in Baltimore instead of by himself down in South Florida, the subject never would have been brought up in the first place. Don’t blame Suzy for your poor judgment.
I agree with Brooks in that the subject wouldn’t be open for debate had he been with his teammates this summer, but McGahee does have a point. What does a rib injury have to do with him missing OTAs while trying to recover from a knee procedure? And his comment about not drinking enough milk was pretty funny.
Fantasy owners that were hoping to have Brian Westbrook back in their lineups this weekend might have to wait another week or two. According to Brian’s brother Byron, who plays corner for the Redskins, Brian’s ankle injury is more serious than the Eagles are letting on.
“I don’t think he’ll play,” Byron Westbrook said. “The ankle injury is more serious than what the Eagles put out. You know how Andy Reid is about injuries and giving out information. Just watching him on the sidelines after he turned his ankle [against Pittsburgh two weeks ago], it didn’t look good.
“He’s a warrior and it’s an NFC East game and he wants to play, but its also early in the season and it’s not a playoff game. If he goes out and plays at 75 percent, you could end up making it a lot worse. He would want to get to 90 percent to really be able to play.”
Westbrook said he and his big brother, who is getting treatment but, according to the Eagles, is scheduled to practice today, last talked on Sunday.
As he usually does when the Redskins are preparing to face the Eagles, Byron Westbrook will continue to act as his brother on the scout team all week. The Redskins will still prepare in case Brian Westbrook plays.
“We still have to prepare for him regardless,” Byron Westbrook said. “And if he can”t play, then we’ll just be over-prepared.”
Considering that the Redskins play the Eagles this weekend, it’s wise to take Byron’s information with a grain of salt. The two are family, but it’s not like Brian is going to hand out trade secrets to his practice squad brother, who-oh-by-the-way, plays for a division rival. It looks like (Brian) Westbrook will be a game-time decision, but I’m willing to bet he plays considering he practiced some on Wednesday.
Only four weeks have past in the 2008 NFL Season, but as Don Banks of SI.com writes, the four rookie head coaches are already off to a respectable start.
– Washington’s Jim Zorn has his confident Redskins at 3-1, on a three-game winning streak, and coming off a head-turning 26-24 upset of the previously undefeated Cowboys in Texas Stadium, where no new Redskins coach had ever won before.
– Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and his scrappy Ravens are 2-1, and on Monday night in Pittsburgh came within a play or two of going to 3-0 within the AFC North despite starting a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco.
– Atlanta’s Mike Smith has brought 2-2 respectability to his rebuilding Falcons, who are only a game behind NFC South co-leaders Carolina and Tampa Bay (3-1). Atlanta, too, is doing just fine with a rookie quarterback in Matt Ryan.
– And even Miami’s Tony Sparano made us sit up and take notice, with his 1-2 Dolphins pulling off the NFL’s upset of the year, that imaginative 38-13 Week 3 thrashing of New England in Foxboro — a loss that snapped the Patriots’ league-record 21-game regular-season win streak. Miami, in case you forgot, finished a cool 15 games behind New England last year.
All four of these head coaches have done a wonderful job, but the one that has most impressed is Zorn. We always hear that the West Coast Offense takes two to three years to learn and yet QB Jason Campbell has already shown how comfortable he is in the new system. That’s a testament to Zorn’s coaching and getting his players up to speed with a rather complicated offensive system.
It’s not uncommon to see a team with a rookie head coach start the year winless for the first couple weeks. But considering all of these teams except Miami have two wins, it’s fair to say that these first-year head coaches are off to solid starts.
Washington Redskins players reminisced about their experience dealing with Eagles fans this past weekend and it was nothing out of the usual: Fans threw eggs at the team buses. Kids gave players the middle finger…Grandma pulled down her skivvies to moon the Redskins’ arrival.
