Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 637 of 1503)

      Cowboys make statement in NFC East – are the Giants done?

      November 9, 2009 /

      With their 20-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys made a huge statement in the NFC East.

      After squeaking by a bad Kansas City team in Week 5, Dallas went into its bye week on a mission. They emerged in Week 7 and took it to a good Falcons team at home, beating Atlanta 37-21. They took care of business at home the next week by beating Seattle 38-17 and then proved they could win on the road in a hostile environment last night.

      There’s a lot of football left to be played, but the Cowboys are finally playing with some consistency under Wade Phillips. Granted, maybe nothing has changed and Dallas will go on to lose five of their next eight games and miss the playoffs. But at least for the moment, the Cowboys are playing as good as any team in the league right now.

      All is certainly not lost for the Eagles following this loss, but this was a disappointing defeat after routing the Giants 40-17 last Sunday. They couldn’t sustain drives and Donovan McNabb threw two costly interceptions. With teams like the Chargers, Falcons, Giants, Broncos and Cowboys left on their schedule, the Eagles certainly have their work cut out for them in the second half.

      Speaking of the Giants, with they have now lost four in a row after the Chargers came from behind in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to beat New York 21-20 on Sunday. Eli Manning threw for 215 yards and two touchdowns, but the Giants twice settled for field goals in the second half and it came back to haunt them.

      Even after losing four straight, I don’t think anyone is ready to completely write off the G-Men, but what is this team’s identity is at it stumbles into its bye? The Giants have been a team that lives and dies by rushing the quarterback it’s apparent that this isn’t the same pass-rushing team that it was earlier in the year. Of course, they did rack up wins against the Redskins, Bucs, Chiefs and Raiders, so that built some false hope.

      Tom Coughlin and his coaching staff has a lot to work on heading into the bye. We’ll see if the Giants can emerge from their off week ready to go, because they’ll face the Falcons, Broncos, Cowboys and Eagles in succession starting in Week 11. That’s not exactly the kind of schedule a team wants to deal with after dropping four straight.

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      Saints still unbeatable

      November 8, 2009 /

      For the second week in a row, a division rival walked into the Superdome and punched the Saints in the mouth in the first half. Just as the Falcons did on Monday night earlier in the week, the Panthers took a 17-6 lead into halftime on Sunday and looked to have the Saints on the ropes.

      But the Saints never packed down, didn’t beat themselves and once again came away with a victory.

      Drew Brees completed 24-of-35 passes for 330 yards, one touchdown and one interception to lead New Orleans past the Panthers, 30-20. As usual, Brees was calm and cool despite some early mistakes that cost his team and he spread the ball around to take advantage of holes in Carolina’s stingy secondary.

      These past two wins for the Saints are perhaps more impressive than any in previous weeks. It’s not a shock that Atlanta and Carolina hung with New Orleans on its home turf, because the Falcons and Panthers are familiar with the Saints and Sean Payton’s tendencies. Yet in the end, the Saints proved to be the better team on both sides of the ball and it’s no surprise that they’re running away with the NFC South. (Not to mention the top seed in the NFC.)

      There are two more games on the Saints schedule that I’m interested to see how they respond in: Home against the Patriots in Week 12 and at Atlanta in Week 14. Can New Orleans beat (one of) the best the AFC has to offer? And if the Falcons keep things somewhat close in the division, can New Orleans go into Atlanta and beat a good division rival on the road? As of right now, I’ll say an unwavering “yes” to both.

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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      The NFC North is the most overrated division in the NFL

      November 8, 2009 /

      Once Brett Favre signed with the Vikings and the Bears acquired Jay Cutler this offseason, pundits couldn’t help but to gush over how good the NFC North Division would be.

      But now that nine weeks are in the books, it’s clear that the NFC North is the most overrated division in football.

      With Favre under center, the Vikings have been as good as advertised this season. But the Bears were crushed 41-21 at home by the Cardinals on Sunday and the Packers lost 38-28 to the freaking winless Buccaneers and rookie quarterback Josh Freeman, who was making his first career start.

      Turnovers killed Green Bay today in Tampa. The Packers managed to rack up 404 yards of total offense, 170 yards on the ground (Ryan Grant was effective) and also held the Bucs to just 81 rushing yards of their own. But Aaron Rodgers was intercepted three times, including once with time ticking down in the fourth to seal Green Bay’s fate. (Tanard Jackson returned the interception 35 yards for a touchdown to put Tampa Bay up for good at 38-28.)

      Somehow, the Packers allowed Freeman to throw three touchdown passes without much threat of a running game. Freeman was far from perfect as he threw an interception, struggled with his accuracy and fumbled a snap (which was recovered by Tampa). But he was solid in the second half, showed nice poise for being a rookie and bought extra time for himself while scrambling out of trouble. Head coach Raheem Morris said his rookie signal caller was ready to play coming into the game and it showed.

      The Packers still haven’t beaten a team with a winning record this season. I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong when I said in the preseason that they were Super Bowl contenders. They haven’t been able to overcome the injuries on the offensive line and the defense has been inconsistent. Rodgers wasn’t great today, but for the most part he has kept his team in games on his own by buying himself extra time to find open receivers.

      Green Bay’s schedule is tougher in the second half than it was in the first. This is an 8-8 team at best and so are the Bears (if that). That’s not exactly what most pundits had in mind when they were talking up the NFC North in preseason.

      NFL

      2009 AFC North Champion…Bengals?

      November 8, 2009 /

      With their impressive 17-7 win over the Ravens on Sunday, the Bengals have set themselves up to win the AFC North.

      Yeah, yeah I know – the Steelers have yet to play this week and they could have an identical record as Cincinnati if they win Monday night in Denver. They also host the Bengals next week.

      But don’t forget that Cincy has already beaten Pittsburgh once this year and the Steelers will be coming off a short week of rest after playing what should be a very physical game against the Broncos. Plus, after playing in Pittsburgh next week, the Bengals take on well-known powerhouses in the Raiders, Browns and Lions, and also have the Chiefs in Week 16. If they can beat the Steelers next week, they’re set up for an 11 or 12-win season.

      The Bengals owe most of their success to Cedric Benson and an underrated defense. Benson rushed 34 times for 117 yards and a touchdown in the win over Baltimore and is now on pace for 1,674 yards and 12 scores. He has really found himself in Cincinnati after stealing paychecks in Chicago.

      The defense has been exceptional as well. To hold a potent Baltimore offense to only seven points is quite an accomplishment and the job Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall did on the Ravens’ receivers was outstanding. Joe Flacco had no one to throw to because his receivers couldn’t get open and he wound up throwing two interceptions. All in all, it was an impressive performance by a Bengals team that has its sights on a division title.

      On the other side, this was a punch to the gut for the Ravens, who thought they had ironed out some issues with their win over the Broncos last Sunday. But they ran into a well-rested, well-prepared Cincinnati team that clearly has their number this season.

      NFL

      Kris Brown ruined a lot of people’s days today

      November 8, 2009 /

      Kris Brown made a 56-yard field goal Sunday right before half. But before you celebrate, realize that the joker also missed a 42-yarder as time expired in the Texans’ 20-17 loss to the Colts. Had he made it, Houston would have tied the game and had a chance to win in overtime.

      Now, I realize that a 42-yarder is no chip shot and given that the game was on the line, it was a pressure situation for Brown. But come on – it was a 42-yarder indoors and he had just converted a freaking 56-yarder two quarters before that. His team just busted its ass getting into field goal range in hopes to tie things up and he misses one from a distance of 14 yards less than one he had converted from earlier in the game. Kind of ridiculous when you think about it.

      Nevertheless, the Colts remain undefeated on the season and this was an impressive win given the amount of injuries Indy has in the secondary. The Texans can really move the ball through the air and yet the Colts still managed to intercept Matt Schaub twice and hold Houston to 17 points.

      That said, Indy won’t stay undefeated for very long if it can’t find some more offensive balance. I realize Peyton Manning is going to give them a chance to win every Sunday, but for the most part the 49ers and Texans did a nice job of keeping the Colts out of the end zone the past two weeks. The Colts are moving the ball successfully, but they’re turning into Boise State in the red zone because they don’t have a power running game to get them closer to the goal line. It’ll be interesting to see if the Colts can correct that moving forward.

      NFL

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