The numbers for Anderson were impressive – 18 for 29, 310 yards, 2 TDs – but what doesn’t show up in the stat sheet is how well Cleveland’s offensive line played. They picked up every blitz the Giants’ defense attempted and consistently opened holes for Jamal Lewis and the Browns’ running game. (Lewis, by the way, had his best game of the year. He ran hard all night.)
What Cleveland did was turn the Giants’ game against them. The Browns were more physical, aggressive on both sides of the ball and constantly pressured Eli Manning. And besides committing 45 penalties (including 40 on one drive in the forth quarter), the Brownies played close to perfect. Without a doubt, this was a complete performance.
That said, the Giants also played like absolute crap. Eli had that same dumfounded look on his face tonight as he did when he first came into the league. He made a couple of nice throws, but his three interceptions were brutal and ones that rookie quarterbacks make. Cleveland did a great job of getting in his face all night and he didn’t handle well. Again, the Browns took what New York does best and used it against them.
I know Brown fans love the win, but some of them must feel a little queasy knowing Romeo Crennel will still patrol the sidelines with each victory.
Far be it for me to tell someone how to live their life. But as I sat on my couch watching Week 6 unfold in the NFL, one question kept popping up in my head: Why would anyone gamble on pro football?
For the record, this isn’t about bashing gamblers because, to be brutally honest, I am one. In fact, anyone that shells out a little coin in office pools or even fantasy football is a gambler to some degree. So as it stands, I’m referring to myself when I write this.
This article is about shinning even more light on how unpredictable the NFL is, and how quickly a football game can turn on its head. It has to be easier to predict winning lotto numbers than it is to predict which teams will cover the spread on a consistent basis.
Below are just three examples from Week 6 of how snake-bitten you can be as a gambler of the NFL. And remember, I’m using just three examples from one week of the season. Think about how many times a gambler could get screwed over the course of an entire NFL season and it’s enough to lose your lunch.
Much debate will center around Lovie Smith’s decision to squib-kick rather than ask Robbie Gould to boot it deep to Norwood. That’s convenient second-guessing rooted in frustration more than fact. Remember, Norwood had just burned the Bears for an 85-yard return on the previous kickoff, and the same injury problems that plagued the secondary had decimated special teams.
It made more sense for Smith to rely on his defense to make one stop outside field-goal range than trust a kickoff-coverage team littered with rookies…
“The call didn’t work, and that’s my fault,” Babich said.
He raises a valid point.
The Falcons had the ball at their own 44-yard line. Why Babich couldn’t come up with a three-deep scheme to monitor the sideline routes better could be a question Chicago will still be asking in January if the Bears miss the playoffs by one game.
But Hamilton’s execution of Babich’s Cover-2 call hurt the Bears worse than the decision to use it.
In that zone defense, Hamilton typically has the responsibility of the routes in front of him but needs to drop deep enough at first to take away the corner route Jenkins ran. That buys the safety precious seconds.
Understand that with six seconds left in the game and the Bears protecting a one-point lead, no pass caught in front of Hamilton matters. A 10-yard gain would not have been enough to put Elam in field-goal range. A 15-yard gain probably wouldn’t have either. If Hamilton had dropped a few yards deeper, Matt Ryan never would have thrown that ball.
Yet for reasons that could nag the Bears all winter, Hamilton broke forward to take away a potential completion to Jerious Norwood in the right flat that would have ended the game happily for the Bears.
Haugh is right – the defensive call by Babich to stay in Cover 2 was worse than the squib kick. As Haugh points out, Norwood had just busted off an 80-plus yard return and while hindsight is always 20/20, at least not kicking it deep made a little sense.
But to leave the sideline rout open when all the Falcons could run was a sideline rout in hopes of getting into field goal range is inexcusiable. I realize Hamilton failed to get in the correct position that allowed Jenkins to get open, but coaching plays into that, too. If you’re Babich and you know you have a slew of young corners on the field, why not call for more blanket coverage to take away the sideline rout? Bad decision.
It was amazing to watch the Patriots play the Chargers on Sunday night. New England is a completely different team without Tom Brady under center. And while that’s not an earth-shattering revelation, it’s something that shouldn’t be downplayed as much as it has at this point in the season.
This was a team that went 16-0 last year and outside of a few close calls, it steamrolled opponents on a weekly basis. Had they beaten the Giants in the Super Bowl, an argument could have been made that the 2007 New England Patriots were the greatest team in NFL history.
But as evidence by San Diego’s 30-10 rout on Sunday night, the Patriots are falling incredibly fast from their high perch. Even at 3-2, they’re not true postseason contenders. Not with Matt Cassel under center. And that’s not a knock on Cassel per se – it’s just reality. He’s an inexperienced player trying to lead an experienced team that is so used to having their quarterback know where he’s going to throw on every play and relying on him to make plays when things go haywire.
Without Brady, teams don’t fear the Patriots like they did last year. They don’t respect they’re swagger anymore and with each loss, you know Randy Moss is itching closer and closer to tanking it. It appears that not even Bill Belichick can save this team and it’s hard to hold that against him considering he doesn’t have his quarterback.
New England’s players and coaches have done a nice job trying to convince everybody that they’re fine without Brady – that they can win just as they did last year. But with Denver, Indianapolis, Buffalo and the Jets coming up over the next month and a half, the Patriots have a tough road to stay in the playoff hunt. Save for a Matt Cassel breakout performance, this team is in major trouble. And it’s amazing how fast a team can fall from grace after losing just one player. Even if that player is Tom Brady.
Irrelevant side note that means nothing: It was funny to hear Al Michaels essentially make a reference to gambling at the end of the game. The Patriots called a timeout so that they could run one more play in the red zone with two seconds remaining and while the game was already in the books with the Chargers up 30-10, Michaels noted that, “there are a few people very interested in this play here.”
Michaels said that because the over/under on the game was 45. Had the Patriots scored a touchdown, the total would have gone over. The only reason why his comments were interesting because the media is usually so hush-hush about the world of gambling. Maybe Al had some T.J. Duckett’s riding on the under? Al…you dog you.
With a roster that includes Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Marion Barber and Jason Witten, the Dallas Cowboys are easily the most talented team in the NFC. But individual talent only gets you so far in the game of football.
The Cowboys’ 30-24 overtime loss to Arizona on Sunday might be an indication that Dallas is a bit overrated at this point. They’ve been the media’s darlings since preseason, but despite all of their offensive playmakers, the Cowboys are currently 4-2 and almost choked away a 17-0 lead against the Bengals last week. Worse yet, as Pacman Jones showed earlier this week and T.O. demonstrated by yelling at teammate Andre Gurode on the sidelines in Arizona, the team has shown signs of being dysfunctional.
Of course if the ‘Boys want to point fingers, they’ll have to direct at least some of the attention at the defense, which couldn’t stop Kurt Warner and the Cards’ offense from making big plays in the second half. And they did so without one of their top receivers in Anquan Boldin, who missed his second straight game while recovering from nasal surgery. Dallas even allowed Steve Breaston, Boldin’s replacement, to haul in eight catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.
Somehow the Cowboys finished with more total yards, fewer turnovers and held on to the ball longer, but still found a way to lose. Talent isn’t the issue with Dallas because they’re loaded. Having that talent come together to consistently win seems to be the issue.
And give the Cardinals credit – they’ve been unbeatable at home this year and they came up with big plays on Sunday (see their kickoff return for a TD to start the game and their blocked punt for a TD to win the game). If they can figure out a way to win the road (or at the very least look respectable), then they’re going to the playoffs. Because they’re clearly the best team in the NFC West this season.
If one were to grade the success of Thomas Dimitroff in his first year as general manager for the Atlanta Falcons, there’s no doubt he would receive close to perfect marks. The hire of Mike Smith as head coach and the drafting Matt Ryan – two of Dimitroff’s first moves as GM – have been slam-dunks thus far.
Ryan (22 of 30, 301 yards, 1 TD) was absolutely unbelievable in the Falcons’ exciting 22-20 win over the Bears in Week 6. Chicago was definitely at a disadvantage playing without their two starting corners (Peanut Tillman left the game early with an injury), but most of Ryan’s throws were on the money and well-timed, including his perfect 26-yard toss to Michael Jenkins with 11 seconds remaining in the game to set up Jason Elam’s 48-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.
Give the Falcons credit. They knew they had something special in Ryan and even though the success rate for rookie quarterbacks in this league has been low, they believed in him and made him a starter anyway. He’s a young man playing on a young team, but his maturity so far has been incredibly impressive. And how about the play of the Falcons? This is a team that goof ball Dr. Z of SI.com predicted to win one game this year and they’re 4-2. They’ve got the makings of a nice team.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t say anything about Kyle Orton, who was outstanding himself on Sunday. He drove Chicago 77 yards on 11 plays to set up a 17-yard TD to Rashied Davis, which temporarily gave the Bears a 20-19 lead. Orton has really distinguished himself as a quality quarterback in Chicago, which is something the Bears have been craving for a long time.
How many different ways can the Detroit Lions manage to lose games? Better yet, how many daggers to the heart can Lions fans continue to endure?
The Lions outplayed the Vikings for 59 minutes and 51 seconds on Sunday, yet Ryan Longwell’s 26-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining gave Minnesota a 12-10 win and dropped Detroit to 0-5 on the season.
What’s worse for Detroit is that this safety by quarterback Dan Orlovsky (who was making his first career start) proved to be the difference (at least in terms of the final score) of the game:
The sad thing is that Orlovsky was dangerously close to running out of the back of the end zone on the play before the safety.
As if Lion fans needed to be kicked in jewels anymore than they already have.
While it might be incredibly unfair to suggest this of a player that has only started nine games in his career, but is JaMarcus Russell a bust? Granted he plays for the circus that is the Oakland Raiders, but check out his completion numbers in his first five games this season: 65%, 35.3%, 47.4%, 59.5% and 37.1%. That’s atrocious.
The former first overall pick finished 13 of 35 for 159 yards and an interception Sunday in the Saints’ 34-3 rout over the Raiders. Russell also fumbled twice in the game…in the first quarter.
But to suggest at this point that he’s bust might be a bit premature. Again, it’s not like he has the best situation in Oakland. Not only is his offensive line brutal, but Greg Knapp also continues to prove that he’s a bit clueless in his play calling after taking over those duties since Lane Kiffin was fired.
Speaking of Kiffin, Oakland’s play on Sunday might have proved that he was never the problem. (Or at least, not the main problem.) Even though they were losing, the Raiders at least played hard under Kiffin and showed some improvement this year before he was let go. Nothing against interim head coach Tom Cable, but the only reason he’s in the position he’s in now is because he must have shown at some point that he’s willing to bow down to Al Davis.
Kiffin wasn’t perfect and he made his fair share of mistakes, but given their effort against the Saints on Sunday, it’s fair to say Davis didn’t give the young coach a fair shake. (Or any shake for that matter considering he fired Kiffin over the phone.)
Davis needs to realize that his ship is sinking and he’s at the one at the wheel.
Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com wrote a great piece on Buccaneers’ RB Earnest Graham, who made the switch to fullback in Tampa’s 27-3 win over the Panthers on Sunday because of injuries. Graham’s selflessness allowed Warrick Dunn to rush for 115 yards.
“I’d just like to tell our fans what he did today is what this game is all about,” Gruden said.
Gruden’s right. If Tampa Bay fans didn’t see what Graham did (and they may not have because the position is anonymous by its nature), they should at least know about it.
Graham was the reason Warrick Dunn rushed for 115 yards on 22 carries. That was 115 yards Graham could have had.
“I feel proud to block for Warrick,” Graham said.
Try getting any other starting tailback around the league to say those words. You probably wouldn’t have much luck. Graham has been Tampa Bay’s starting tailback since the middle of last season and had established himself as the team’s primary ball carrier.
But he voluntarily gave up carries for bruises when Byron Storer, Tampa Bay’s only active fullback, went down with a knee injury early in the game. B.J. Askew, the usual starting fullback, was inactive because of an injury.
Gruden’s initial reaction was to turn to the contingency plan the Bucs have in place every week in case they run short of fullbacks. He, and the rest of the offensive coaching staff, began getting tight end Alex Smith ready to go in at fullback.
That’s when Graham approached Gruden on the sideline.
“I came to Gruden and said, ‘If you need a fullback, I’m your fullback,’ ” Graham said.
Hopefully this story doesn’t go unnoticed by the mainstream media (outisde of ESPN obviously). There are so many selfish athletes in sports these days; it’s nice to finally hear about the ones that give themselves up for the greater good of their team.
After they beat division rivals Dallas and Philadelphia on the road the past two weeks to push their winning streak to four games, fans and pundits alike were ready to crown the Washington Redskins as an elite team in the NFC. But hold that thought.
The previously winless, hapless St. Louis Rams waltzed into FedEx Field on Sunday and beat the Redskins 19-17 on a Josh Brown 49-yard field goal as time expired. It wasn’t only the Rams first win of the season, but it was also their first win after head coach Scott Linehan was fired and replaced by defensive coordinator Jim Haslett.
Haslett’s previous tenure as head coach of the New Orleans Saints was up and down, but his players always played hard under him. You could see that again Sunday as Rams players rallied around their head coach and fought hard for four quarters. And when things took a turn for the worse when Redskins’ RB Clinton Portis scored a go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, St. Louis didn’t give in like they might have under Linehan.
Washington took a step back with this loss, but every team has bad days. Maybe expectations should be scaled back a bit, but this is still a good team. Had they not turned the ball over as much as they did Sunday against the Rams, they probably would have walked away with their fifth win in as many games.
Still, it has to be awfully concerning to lose a home game against a previously winless Rams team. It’ll be interesting to see how first-year head coach Jim Zorn can rally his team in the wake of an embarrassing loss.
Matt Schaub has had a rough two weeks. Not only did the Houston Texans’ starting quarterback miss last week’s loss to the Colts due to sickness, but he also had to endure watching his replacement, Sage Rosenfels, cough up a 17-point fourth quarter lead in the process.
Schaub returned to the starting lineup on Sunday against the Dolphins, but after throwing two interceptions on Houston’s first two possessions, Texans fans started shouting for the man who essentially cost their team the game last week.
Texans fans booed heartily after the first interception and some chanted “We want Sage” for backup Sage Rosenfels after the second. The few fans that were left for the winning score replaced those chants with roars of approval for Schaub.
Schaub eventually redeemed himself and got a measure of revenge when he scored the game-winning touchdown on a three-yard run with just three seconds remaining. The play gave the Texans a 29-28 win over the Dolphins, which is their first victory of the year.
What Derek Anderson and the Cleveland Browns did to the New York Giants in their 35-14 win Monday night was shocking, unpredictable and awfully impressive. Not only did Anderson save his job, but the Browns might have also saved their season.
