Category: NFL (Page 1167 of 1282)

Last year, Sports Illustrated picked the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl XL. This year, many pundits, including ESPN’s Sean Salisbury, had the Panthers Super Bowl-bound yet again. And now after a 27-24 heartbreaking loss to the Eagles on Monday night, one has to wonder if the Panthers will ever live up to all the hype.

When I say live up to the hype, I mean dominating a division and being considered one of the elite teams in the NFL. That doesn’t entail being an inconsistent 6-6 team on the outside looking in at a playoff berth in the mediocre NFC. Living up to the hype is not allowing scatter-feet Jeff Garcia to throw for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Living up to the hype is beating a down trotted Philadelphia team who, before this win, had been looking for a reason to quit on the season when Donovan McNabb got hurt.

I hear every year how John Fox is this brilliant mind that always gets his team to play for him until the bitter end. If he’s so brilliant why did he only run the ball 23 times against an Eagles defense that just gave up 237 yards to the Colts a week ago? If his players play for him until the end, why does Carolina lead the league with five fourth-quarter losses this season? It’s always tough to play in Philly in the month of December, but you have to beat a Garcia-lead Eagles team when a postseason berth is on the line. Especially when you have first and goal from the seven-yard line with less than thirty seconds left to play and a field goal at least ties the game. Now you allow a very dangerous Andy Reid-led Eagles team to have new life.

P.S. I don’t want Jake Delhomme anywhere near my huddle in the fourth quarter with the game on the line unless Jake Plummer is my backup.

Jay Cutler’s stat line in Denver’s 23-20 loss to the Seahawks will show a decent first outing for the rookie quarterback. Cutler threw for 143 yards and two touchdowns. The young QB also threw two interceptions (one was absolutely horrible) and most of his 143 yards came on a 71 yard Brandon Marshall touchdown reception in which Seattle’s defenders wore Vaseline on their jerseys for one play. I’ll be honest, I expected more from the rookie tonight, but hey, at least he’s not Jake Plummer.

With Josh Brown’s last second field goal in the win, the kicker has now broken the hearts of three teams this season. Denver, Detroit and St. Louis (twice) have all fallen culprit to the wrath of Brown’s right leg. Seattle wasn’t overly impressive in the win – I think the defense can still be had – but it was a win nonetheless. While everyone focuses on Chicago and Dallas in the NFC, the Seahawks might just be the sleeper of conference.

– Marion Barber is starting to make a name for himself around the league if he hasn’t already. Anyone who watches even a speck of a Dallas game can tell that Barber, not Julius Jones, is Bill Parcels go to guy late in games. With Barber’s two-touchdown performance in the Cowboys 23-20 win over the Giants, he now has six touchdowns in three weeks. For me, I’m not ready to crown Tony Romo as God of all quarterbacks yet like ESPN is. However, the guy continues to make big plays down the stretch of ballgames. Romo’s 42-yard pass to Jason Whitten with just over a minute to play essentially won the game for Dallas after the Giants tied the score at 20. I hear Tom Coughlin’s job isn’t on the line, but one has to wonder what he’s brining to the table anymore in New York. Coughlin is suppose to be the tough disciplinarian, but the Giants racked up four personal foul penalties in this game and he’s acting like a little kid on the sidelines after his team gives up big plays.

– After another solid performance by David Garrard, it’s hard to imagine that Byron Leftwich will remain a Jaguar after this season. Garrard was 16 of 22 for 229 yards and two touchdowns in the Jaguars 24-10 win over the red hot Dolphins. Garrard found Matt Jones six times for 128 yards and one touchdown. And what a run by rookie Maurice Jones-Drew, who broke three tackles on a 32 yard lumber into the end zone in the fourth quarter to put the game away for the Jags. Joey Harrington is just as likely to throw a game away as he is to win one this season. Harrington threw two picks, but he seemed to have to do everything himself without Ronnie Brown in the lineup. At least he finally was introduced to Chris Chambers (eight receptions for 121 yards), who he has successful ignored for Wes Welker the past nine weeks.