In his latest edition Monday Morning Quarterback, Peter King of SI.com wants to know what those teams that won on Sunday all have in common with each other. If it wasn’t obvious before it is now: Peter King would love to make babies with the New England Patriots.
Check out his first two paragraphs:
Look at Sunday’s big winners and tell me what they have in common.
Baltimore, Tennessee, Arizona, the New York Giants, Atlanta, Indianapolis and New England. Yes, New England, even after an 18-15 loss to the Colts in Indianapolis.
What? Look at Sunday’s big winners and there’s mention of a Patriot team that choked against the Colts?
King did explain himself:
I include New England in this group for a simple reason: Tom Brady has played for eight minutes in 2008, and the Patriots are 5-3. There are lots of good stories in the first half of the season, but none are as surprising as New England sharing the AFC East lead with Matt Cassel playing quarterback for 31 of the team’s 32 quarters. The Cassel story illustrates why the Bill Belichick/Scott Pioli way is so effective. Remember the hue and cry to go get Chris Simms, Daunte Culpepper or Tim Rattay when Brady went down? The Patriots said: No, we’ll stay in-house for our quarterback, because how can a Simms or a Rattay learn the offense as much as Matt Cassel, who’s been here four years? If we’ve trusted Cassel to back up Brady, why don’t we trust him to play?
And I believe this: If Cassel gets hurt at some point down the stretch, or when he leaves in free-agency after the season, the Patriots will put 2008 third-round pick Kevin O’Connell under center, or use him to back up Brady. The quarterback is develop-able. That’s the New England mantra. Brady got developed. Cassel got developed. And O’Connell will too.
He makes a good point, but I still think it’s kind of funny that King chose the words he did. The Patriots didn’t win and quite frankly played dumb football against the Colts on Sunday night and King essentially called them winners. I might be getting too technical, but why not just say, “Even though they lost, I’m going to include the Patriots in my discussion and here’s why.”
But Petey can’t help but lather himself in Patriot soap every week and take a nice long bath.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Kyle Orton will likely miss one month with a high ankle sprain after he was carted off the field during the Bears’ 27-23 win over the Lions on Sunday.
He is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday. He suffered the injury at the end of the first half of Sunday’s 27-23 win over the Detroit Lions.
While trying to run for a first down, Orton was tackled by Cory Redding then appeared to get his ankle banged by end Dewayne White, who cleaned up on the play. Orton attempted to stand up but fell back to the ground. He was carted off the field with 26 seconds left before halftime.
Being out a month could keep Orton from facing Tennessee, Green Bay, St. Louis and Minnesota. Rex Grossman replaced Orton against the Lions and scored the game-winning, 1-yard touchdown.
Let me see if I can take a stab at how things will play out next week in Chicago when the Bears host the Titans:
1. Rex Grossman throws 40-yard touchdown pass to Marty Booker in the first quarter. Fans go nuts, Rex supporters unleash 37 I-told-you-so comments in a one-minute span. Bears go into halftime up 17-16 and everyone is thinking massive upset.
2. Grossman throws pass off his back foot and is intercepted by Michael Griffin. A low smattering of boos fill Solider Field, but there’s still hope.
3. Grossman stripped in the pocket because he can’t feel the pressure. Titans recover, go up by 10 late in third.
4. Grossman throws his second pick of the day why throwing across his body. Titans put the game away in the fourth quarter and now boos are raining down like fire and brimstone from the sky. Grossman haters are now throwing Grossman supporters off the top deck of the UFO-looking Solider Field.
There are sometimes when Bill Belichick is too smart for his own good. Case in point, the Colts’ 18-15 win over the Patriots on Sunday Night Football.
Three weeks ago the Pats drummed the Broncos in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football. Belichick was so aggressive that he was even instructing Matt Cassel to run the no-huddle offense up by three scores in the second half. Belichick wanted to make the point that the Patriots weren’t done even though Tom Brady had been lost for the year, and that they could still shove the ball down their opponents’ throats if they wanted to.
Fast forward to Sunday night. Instead of taking advantage of an inexperienced Indy secondary that was starting a street free agent at one of its corner spots, Belichick decided to play things close to the vest and stick to the running game. It made sense considering Indy has struggled mightily against the run and he also wanted to keep Peyton Manning and the explosive Colts offense on the sidelines. But Indy sold out to stop the run last week against Tennessee and also was getting back safety Bob Sanders – their best run-stuffer.
Why run the no-huddle three weeks ago to prove a point against Denver, but play ultra-conservative against a secondary begging to be attacked? Belichick continuously stayed with draws and screens, which had some success, but ultimately played into a smaller, quicker Colts’ defense that flies around to the football. It’s mind-boggling.
Belichick and stone-hands Jabar Gaffney cost the Pats a victory last night because once again, the Colts weren’t too impressive and could have easily been had.
A man had to be rushed to the hospital after falling 35 feet into a stairwell at Qwest Field after the Seahawks’ loss to the Eagles on Sunday. The man is still alive, but his condition has not been released.
The victim, described as a 34-year-old man, fell from one level of Qwest Field to the one below, said a spokesperson for the Seattle Fire Department.
Medics responded to the scene at about 5 p.m. and transported the man to Harborview Medical Center.
Witnesses at the scene said the man was hooked to an intravenous tube and a respirator as medics rushed him into the ambulance. They said the victim did not appear to be breathing on his own.
The accident happened after the Seahawks lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s NFL game.
At Harborview on Sunday night, the man’s friends said they had all traveled up from Portland for the game. They said the man’s family is on the way to Seattle to be by his side.
The poor guy had to sit through another Seahawks loss and then fall 35-feet into a stairwell. Things just aren’t very good in Seattle right now.
Everything you need to know (and a lot that you don’t) about the fantasy implications of Sunday’s action.
QUARTERBACKS
Trent Edwards threw two picks and fumbled, but he threw for more than 197+ yards and a TD for the sixth time in eight games…Kyle Orton suffered an ugly ankle injury and it looks like he could be out for a month. Rex Grossman will fill in for him…Gus Frerotte (182 yards, 3 TD, INT) continues to play solid ball for Minnesota. Since he took over six games ago, he is averaging 245 yards and 1.3 pass TD per game.
RUNNING BACKS
Kevin Smith got 16 touches to Rudi Johnson’s 10, and Smith also scored a TD, so it looks like he is the lead back in Detroit…Cedric Benson (25 touches, 109 yards, TD) seems to be settling into the RB1 role in Cincy…All that pregame talk about Michael Bennett getting most of the work for Tampa Bay turned out to be erroneous. Earnest Graham is a solid start as long as Warrick Dunn is out. He fumbled twice, but threw a TD to Alex Smith to make up for it…There were rumors that the Cardinals were going to cut Edgerrin James’ touches and give Tim Hightower more of the workload, but I wasn’t expecting Hightower to register 23 touches (108 yards, TD) and James to register zero. It looks like Hiightower is officially RB1 in Arizona…Ryan Grant (20 carries, 86 yards) ran pretty well against a good Titans defense, which is encouraging for his owners. He failed to score a TD, however…The Denver running game was awful against the Dolphins. Three RBs (Michael Pittman, Andre Hall and Ryan Torain) combined for 12 yards on 11 carries…Michael Turner (31 carries, 139 yards) once again tore up a bad rush defense. He has four 104+ yard games (OAK, GB, KC, DET) against mediocre-to-bad defenses and four sub 58-yard games (PHI, CHI, CAR, TB) against four good defenses. He doesn’t get any action in the passing game (3 receptions all year), so he can’t make up for a bad rushing day in PPR leagues…Maurice Morris (8 touches, 43 yards) and Julius Jones (11 touches, 45 yards) split the RB work almost evenly…BenJarvus Green-Ellis (16 touches, 65 yards, TD) and Kevin Faulk (15 touches, 98 yards) split the work with Sammy Morris and LaMont Jordan out. Faulk has more value in PPR leagues while Green-Ellis is the better play in standard and TD-heavy leagues.
Perhaps no team in the history of the NFL needs their bye week more than the Dallas Cowboys do right now. After suffering a 35-14 blowout at the hands of division rival New York on Sunday, the Cowboys need to regroup before this season continues to slip away from them.
Brad Johnson was once again horrific while completing just 5 of 11 passes for 71 yards and two interceptions. Brooks Bollinger replaced him at halftime, who promptly threw an interception himself on his first pass attempt in the second half. Without the threat of the pass to beat them, the Giants loaded up against the run and stuffed Marion Barber, who only finished with 54 yards on the ground.
What’s worse for Dallas is that the defense that played so well against Tampa last Sunday disappeared again. The Cowboys surrendered 23 first downs, 319 total yards and 35 points. They certainly didn’t get any help from the offense, who constantly put them in poor field position all game, but still, the G-Men essentially did whatever they wanted.
Once again, the Cowboys are in serious trouble. The backup quarterback position remains unsettled and it’s not going to get any better until Tony Romo returns. The idea that Johnson could manage games and keep the team afloat until Romo was healthy again has blown up in their face and Wade Phillips continues to have no clue on how to fix the defense. Phillips better do something over the bye week or his seat will only continue to get hotter throughout the second half of the season.
No team, not even the Jaguars or Rams, played worse than the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. No team.
In the Falcons’ 24-0 win in Oakland, the Raiders managed just three first downs. Total. Three total first downs. They also mustered only 77 total yards, turned the ball over twice and held the ball for only 14 minutes and 45 seconds compared to the Falcons’ 45:15.
The Raiders finished with 10 passing yards. Ten passing yards…the entire game. At one point, JaMarcus Russell attempted a pass and threw the ball behind him like on those football follies videos.
This game was so bad that once Atlanta took a 24-0 lead with six minutes remaining in the second quarter, they ran out the rest of the game clock. Seriously, I don’t know if the Falcons felt bad for the Raiders or what, but they almost looked like they were purposely trying not to score.
Al Davis is getting what he deserves. He never allowed Lane Kiffin to run the team the way he wanted to and now he’s stuck with a team that clearly doesn’t want to play hard for Tom Cable.
How snake-bitten have the Kansas City Chiefs been this year? They just can’t catch a break despite playing hard the past couple weeks. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers overcame four turnovers and a 21-point deficit to beat the Chiefs 30-27 in overtime on Sunday.
The Chiefs rolled out to a 24-3 first half lead but the Bucs kept chipping away until they got within striking distance in the fourth quarter. Jeff Garcia hit Antonio Bryant on a 24-yard touchdown to cut KC’s lead to 27-25, then found Alex Smith between multiple defenders on a successful two point conversion to force overtime. Tampa then won the game on a Matt Bryant 34-yard field goal in OT.
For a team criticized for not being explosive enough offensively, the Bucs turned it up when they had to in this game. It was a gutsy performance by Garcia (339 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) and Tampa’s offense, which had to overcome an Earnest Graham fumble in the end zone late in the game that could have cost them the opportunity to win.
On a day when Monte Kiffin’s defense looked unusually bad, the Bucs’ offense stepped up big time.
The Tennessee Titans might be the most boring team in the NFL. But they’re also the best team in the NFL and remain undefeated on the season after beating the Green Bay Packers 19-16 in overtime at LP Field on Sunday.
As been the case all season, you look at the Titans’ game stats and nothing stands out. Kerry Collins only threw for 180 yards and zero touchdowns, but he also didn’t throw an interception. Rookie Chris Johnson scored a touchdown, but finished with a relatively quiet 89 yards on 24 carries. Tennessee’s defense allowed Aaron Rodgers to throw for 314 yards but only gave up 16 points and forced three turnovers.
This is exactly the way things have been all season for the Titans. This isn’t a flashy team and they’re not very impressive, but the bottom line is they get things done. They’ve also had to scratch and claw for every win this season because every week they’re in tight ballgames. But that will only serve them down the road when they get into dogfights late into the year and in the playoffs.
Almost every team in the NFL can match up with the Titans on paper. But as their record indicates, no team can figure them out this season.
In his latest edition Monday Morning Quarterback, Peter King of SI.com wants to know what those teams that won on Sunday all have in common with each other. If it wasn’t obvious before it is now: Peter King would love to make babies with the New England Patriots.
