All eyes should be on New Orleans tonight as the Saints have a home game for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. Moreover, U2 and Green Day are performing during the pregame, both teams are 2-0, and it’s the home debut of Reggie Bush.
NFL
Mon, 8:30 PM: Atlanta @ New Orleans – ESPN
CFB
Thurs, 7:30 PM: (2) Auburn @ South Carolina – ESPN
MLB
Thurs, 1:05 PM: Toronto @ Detroit – ESPN2
Thurs, 7:05 PM: Baltimore @ NY Yankees – ESPN2
I like what Brad Childress is doing in Minnesota. He has expunged the sex boat escapades of the past and has turned the Vikings into a stingy, aggressive football team. Chester Taylor is a great back and gives them a versatile player who can run and catch the ball. Troy Williamson, while still plagued by the occasional hands of stone, can get open at will against single coverage and is becoming the team’s most exciting playmaker.
But Childress a couple of questionable calls during the Vikings’ final drive, that had his team trailing, 19-16. With 1:18 to play, Minnesota had a 3rd and 7 at their own 41-yard line, and Childress called a running play to Mewelde Moore. That play call itself wasn’t all that bad – it gained five yards and put the Vikings in a 4th and 2 situation. Still, I don’t know why Taylor isn’t in the game in this situation. Apparently, Childress feels that Moore is the better receiver, but Taylor has shown the ability to make something happen after then catch. Regardless, with 1:10 to play near midfield, and the Vikings needing only a field goal to tie, Childress called a deep pass to Williamson, which wasn’t even close to being completed. Williamson was double covered.
This offseason, the team went out and signed Ryan Longwell for just this situation. The Vikings had plenty of time to run a couple of more plays to get into position for a game-tying field goal. Instead, Childress went for the jugular and it backfired. I don’t mind the aggressiveness, but throw that pass on third down, not fourth. In that situation – at home, down by three – you just have to keep moving the chains and give your kicker the opportunity to send the game to overtime.
Childress was the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia, but Andy Reid called all the plays. I wonder if he was a little unsure of himself, since it was the first time he was calling the shots in a pressure situation in quite a while.
Chris Simms had his spleen removed after the Bucs’ loss to the Panthers. Let me repeat: Chris Simms had his spleen removed. Talk about gutsy – the guy hasn’t played that great this season, but he finished a football game with a spleen so bad that had to be removed. That’s simply mind boggling to me. I don’t know about you, but I’m rooting for this kid now. He’ll probably miss most of the season, but I’m sure he’ll get another chance to start in this league, whether it be with the Bucs or another team. Bruce Gradkowski will take over at QB for Tampa Bay…Frank Gore missed much of the second half with a strained abdomen, but may be available for Week 4. Michael Robinson carried the load (5 carries, 29 yards, 2 TD) in Gore’s absence…According to the AP, Vernon Davis is going to miss four weeks with a cracked bone in his leg. Look for Eric Johnson to step in and provide good production during that span…So much for Najeh Davenport stealing goal-line touches from Willie Parker. Davenport was active for the game, but didn’t get a carry…Corey Dillon left the Sunday night game with an arm injury. He seems to be getting nicked up quite a bit, which is good news for Laurence Maroney owners. The Pats weren’t able to run against Denver, but the Broncos have one of the best rush defenses in the league…According to ESPN, Darrell Jackson could be used as trade bait before the deadline because the team is bored with his contract complaints. Apparently, he wrote “I need DB [Deion Branch] money” on his cleats before Seattle’s game against the Giants. D-Jax is the team’s best receiver but has had trouble staying healthy. Still, it would be surprising to see a Super Bowl contender trade away a WR of his caliber…Skeletor has apparently decided that Tatum Bell is his featured back (for now). Tatum Bell received 27 carries compared to just four for Mike Bell. If this holds, fantasy owners who had the guts (or bad information) to draft him in the fourth or fifth round are going to get great value for that pick…With his job in jeopardy, Jake Plummer responded with a good game against the Pats, throwing for 256 yards and 2 TD. He was just 15/30 from the field and the two TDs came on nicely thrown bombs to Javon Walker, so Plummer will need to increase his accuracy to get the Denver press off his back. Walker had just three catches on the day, but finished with 130 yards and two scores. The Broncos need to get him the ball more consistently to give him more opportunities to make big plays. He looks to be completely back from the knee injury he suffered last season.
The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that ultra moron and Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol at 3:05 Monday morning.
Riding as a passenger with Thurman was WR Chris Henry, who has already been arrested four times in three states since December. To be fair, Henry wasn’t charged in this situation, but it should be documented that he did throw up outside of the vehicle’s window.
Thurman blew a .17, which is considered a high-tier reading, said Officer Stephen Lawson of the Cincinnati Police Traffic Section. The .17 is more than double Ohio’s legal blood-alcohol limit of .08.
Thurman was released to a sober driver, Lawson said.
This is absolutely ridiculous considering that Thurman was already serving a suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. The linebacker had only one more week to go before he could rejoin the team, but now his status with the organization is in question again.
How unbelievably dumb can you be? How unbelievably selfish can you be not only to your teammates, but also to Bengal fans that have seen this team dragged through the muck over a better part of a decade in a half and now are starting to see a winner.
Instead of talking about Cincinnati’s huge victory over hated rival Pittsburgh yesterday -we’re talking about how idiotic Henry and Thurman are.
Chris Henry – five catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns against the Steelers on Sunday.
Chris Henry – seven rum and cokes for $36 and one huge vomit out a vehicle window on Monday morning.
Since when did the Portland Trailblazers move to Cincinnati?
Update: Thurman has been suspended one year by the NFL for violating the terms and conditions of his previous four game suspension.
So, what did we learn from week three in the NFL?
– The Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts are the cream of the crop in the AFC.
– Ben Roethlisberger is playing like a guy that has been in a horrific motorcycle accident and is coming off of appendectomy surgery. But he has to play to shake the cobwebs out.
– Despite losing Sunday to Chicago, Minnesota can compete in the NFC thanks to Brad Childress.
– I swear Jake Delhomme and Kurt Warner play with butter on their hands – three fumbles lost between the both of them Sunday; Warner now has eight on the year.
– Teams in the NFC better hope that Seattle doesn’t earn home field advantage throughout the playoffs, because the Seahawks are a completely different team at Quest Field.
– The Giants secondary is awful.
– Baltimore has a real good player in DT Kelly Greg.
– Miami and Tampa Bay were possibly the two most over hyped teams in the NFL this offseason, you hear that Sports Illustrated?
Lets recap the top match ups heading into Sunday and then look at some quick shots from the rest of the action in Week 3:
Cincinnati 28, Pittsburgh 20
Not to take anything away from Cincinnati, but the Bengals didn’t outplay the Steelers in this game. Pittsburgh out gained Cincinnati, converted more third down attempts, held the ball longer and almost doubled the Bengals first down output (27-15 in favor of the Steelers).
When your quarterback is playing scared and you turn the ball over five times, however, you’re not going to win. Give credit to the Bengals though, because Hines Field is a tough place to play in and they had to battle through a lot of emotion off of last year’s playoff loss. With the Steelers now at 1-2 and Cincinnati at 3-0, for a moment the Bengals can start concentrating on Baltimore and leave Pitt in the dust.
Most impressed with: Carson Palmer and Willie Parker. Palmer led four scoring drives for the Bengals and even though he was picked off twice, he threw for close to 200 yards and four touchdowns. Palmer won the game despite RB Rudi Johnson (19 carries for 47 yards) having a tough time running against the Steelers front seven.
Like I said in the introduction, if it weren’t for Parker the Steelers wouldn’t have scored today. Parker ran for 133 yards on 31 carries and when you get that type of production out of your starting back, you should win the game.
Least impressed with: Roethlisberger is hurt and isn’t getting much on his deep ball. He has happy feet in the pocket and just doesn’t look like himself.
Chicago 19, Minnesota 16
Sloppy game, but the Bears don’t care. They get a division victory on the road in a hostile environment and now have a two game lead (with the head to head victory) over the overachieving Vikings in the NFC North.
Rex Grossman threw for 278 yards and had a touchdown, but he did throw two costly interceptions (one was taken back for a touchdown by CB Antoine Winfield) and came back down to earth a bit. Muhsin Muhammad and Bernard Berrin proved to be solid targets all day long for Grossman and combined for 15 catches and 188 yards.
Most impressed with: Neither team played over its head, but Lovie Smith has this team believing they can compete when they’re behind in games now. Smith is getting no production out of his run game, but his confidence in Grossman to throw late in games is being rewarded with W’s in the win column.
Least impressed with: As noted up above, the Bears have no running game. Thomas Jones – 18 carries for 54 yards against a defense that was giving up an average of 100 yards per game just won’t cut it. At some point this season, Smith is going to have to get something out of his run game or teams are going to start dropping seven into pass coverage and smother Chicago’s receivers.
Indianapolis 21, Jacksonville 14
Outstanding win by the Colts today. I know that the Jaguars were coming off a short week, but Jacksonville has got to beat these guys if everybody is going to consider them as a Super Bowl contender.
Peyton Manning was able to find holes in Jacksonville’s defense for scores and even scored on a two-yard touchdown run himself. Indy’s defense wasn’t overly impressive – in fact it wasn’t impressive at all – but they did enough not to lose the game.
Most impressed with: Maurice Jones-Drew from Jacksonville. This kid was all over the place on offense for the Jaguars. He carried the ball 13 times for 103 yards and caught four passes for 32 yards and a touchdown. He was fun to watch and at times, the rookie was QB Byron Leftwich’s only weapon.
Least impressed with: The Colts running game is back to having question marks (65 total yards on the ground by Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai). However, Jacksonville is so tough to run on, so we’ll give Indy another reprieve.
Quick Shots:
Who was luckier to get a win this weekend: Baltimore or Notre Dame? If the Browns had any offensive firepower in the second half of their 15-14 loss Sunday, they would have clinched their first win of the season. QB Charlie Frye’s interception in the end zone with just over three minutes to play in the game was such a crucial moment in the game. If Cleveland could have at least gotten a field goal to make the score 17-12, I just don’t see the Ravens marching all the way down the field for a touchdown (which they would have had to do to win) the way their offense had been playing. Instead, Matt Stover (clutch-o-matic) nails a 52-yard FG with 24 seconds left to keep Baltimore undefeated…The Dolphins might be the worst team in the AFC East – no joke. Nice job beating the hopeless Tennessee Titans 13-10 on your own field Miami, especially when you were 10.5-point favorites…Somebody woke up Washington’s offense on Sunday! 31 points? Oh, it was against Houston? Never mind – although Mark Brunell going 22 of 22 before his first incompletion is quite remarkable…Brett Favre destroys the Lions for about the 1,000th time in his career. Three touchdowns, 340 yards passing and Green Bay sends Detroit to 0-3 after a 31-24 shoot out at Ford Field…Don’t look now, but the NY Jets are 2-1 and are playing extremely tough under rookie head coach Eric Mangini. The Jets have no running game, but QB Chad Pennington is playing great and has a touchdown to interception ratio of 5:1. J.P. Losman threw for a shocking 328 yards in the Bills 28-20 loss, but I’ll have to check the tapes to see if the Jets were actually on the field when this feat took place…All is right again in Carolina after WR Steve Smith returns in a 26-24 victory over Tampa Bay. Smith caught seven passes for 112 yards, but the real story was WR Keyshawn Johnson lighting up his former team for seven catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns (one was on a reverse). Stick a fork in the Bucs and get one ready for the Panthers, because they still aren’t playing good football – their defense gave up 24 points to a team that came into the game without a touchdown? Yikes…Oh, no! Get out the way – Seattle romped the Giants 42-30. Forget the score, the Seahawks jumped out to a 42-3 lead before Eli Manning made the game somewhat respectable. Seattle at home is almost unbeatable…The Eagles bounced back nicely with a 38-24 win over the 49ers, but San Francisco exploited Philly’s defense a couple of times in the loss. Something just isn’t right about the Eagles defense, but the good news is that QB Donovan McNabb is playing like an M.V.P. candidate and is keeping his team in contention…St. Louis desperately held on to a 16-14 win in Arizona. The Rams were set to cough up the win when the Cardinals scored to cut the lead to 16-14 after St. Louis lead most of the contest 16-7. Marc Bulger fumbled on the Rams ensuing possession and Arizona took over on the Rams 34 yard line with two minutes left to play. Kurt Warner, however, graciously gave the ball back to St. Louis with a fumble of his own and Arizona missed a chance to go 2-1 on the young season. Despite the loss, the Cards duo of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald at receiver is just sick to watch when Arizona’s offense is in unison…In other NFL news, the Raiders lost to the BYE 34-3, which still leaves Oakland without a touchdown this season.
Sunday night match up:
Boy, New England might be the least impressive 2-1 team in the NFL right now. The Patriots had to come from behind to beat the Bills in the opener, then they had to hang on for dear life last week against the Jets and then they look totally uninspiring Sunday night in a 17-7 loss to Denver.
QB Tom Brady was fine, but Denver just completely shut down the Patriots run game. It didn’t help losing Corey Dillon so early in the contest, but rookie Laurence Maroney didn’t look like the back with burst from New England’s first two games. I mean, 18 yards on 12 carries?
I’m sure the Broncos are feeling much better about themselves after QB Jake Plummer showed he had a pulse in throwing for two touchdowns and 256 yards. RB Tatum Bell and WR Javon Walker stole the show with their performances, however.
Bell ran for 123 yards on 27 carries and showed head coach Mike Shanahan what he could do with a full workload. Walker on the other hand, made two phenomenal touchdown catches and finished with 130 receiving yards on just three receptions.
So, after three weeks the New England Patriots and New York Jets are tied atop the AFC East at 2-1 (although the Patriots hold the edge in the head to head tiebreaker right now).
Didn’t see that one coming.
Still left on the Week 3 docket:
New Orleans reopens the Superdome against division rival Atlanta on Monday Night Football tomorrow.
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