Is everybody paying attention with week two pretty much in the books?
Carolina, Tampa Bay, Washington and Denver were all playoff teams last year and all four are a combined 1-7 to start off the year.
Chicago, Baltimore and Atlanta have by far and away the best defenses in the league – giving up a total of just one touchdown between the three teams.
Oh and by the way, New Orleans is undefeated with both wins coming on the road.
I don’t know what the record is for the most missed or blocked field goals in a given week (I tried to Google it to no avail), but there were 17 botched kicks in week two. A total of six field goals were missed or blocked in the Atlanta-Tampa Bay game alone and get this, none of the bad kicks were off of Mike Vanderjagt’s foot.
Here are the cliff notes for your NFL Week 3 exam tomorrow morning:
NY Giants 30, Philadelphia 24 OT
Best win of the day for many reasons. First of all, the G-Men needed to keep from falling to 0-2 if they had any hopes of reaching the playoffs with their horrendous schedule. Secondly, New York was getting hammered in this game before clawing all the way back from 17 points down in the fourth quarter.
Most impressed with: Eli Manning, who almost eclipsed his older brother’s marks with 371 yards and three touchdowns. The winning touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in overtime was out of pure desperation and probably would have gotten knocked down or intercepted any other time. But it was also the right play with Plax being covered one-on-one and Manning allowed his tall receiver to make a play on the ball, which is all you can ask for out of your quarterback.
Least impressed with: Philadelphia’s defense. You can’t go up 24-7 just to let a division rival claw all the way back and take a win in your home opener. Brian Westbrook fumbled in the fourth quarter to set up a Giants score, but safety Michael Lewis was caught out of position on an Amani Toomer TD and all and all the secondary (who should be one of the best in the league) just didn’t make enough plays. The Eagles have a weak enough schedule that they can get by with this loss, but there won’t be too many times when you hold the Giants offense in check for three quarters, just to blow it at the end.
Minnesota 16 , Carolina 13 OT
What a terrible play call by John Fox in this game. With Carolina up by 10 early in the fourth quarter, Fox calls a throw back on a punt return that Chris Gamble muffs up with a terrible throw that causes a fumble. The Vikings recover the ball and score four plays later, on a fake field goal – now that’s a play call, Fox.
Carolina is now 0-2 and two games back in the division to Atlanta – a team that they already beat the Panthers in Carolina. Without Smith this team is hapless and looks desperate for offensive firepower. Rookie DeAngelo Williams did get some carries, however, and got into the endzone for the first time in his career. I don’t see Williams shouldering all the load quite yet, but he is starting to take some quality carries away from DeShaun Foster.
Most impressed with: Chester Taylor, who is proving that he can carry the load for the Vikings. There were so many questions about whether or not he can be a feature back and he has been successful against what was supposed to be two solid defenses in Washington and Carolina.
Least impressed with: Jake Delhomme. In two games, Delhomme has screamed at teammates, coaches and opposing players. Delhomme has pouted after being sacked, pouted when opposing players touch him and pouted when he doesn’t get his meal cooked the right way (okay, so I made that last part up). He is not a leader, he’s not a Super Bowl caliber QB right now and he is nothing without Steve Smith. There, I said it.
Dallas 27, Washington 10
Tony Romo? Hi, it’s Bill Parcells. Can I put you on hold for another couple of weeks?
Most impressed with: Vanderjagt actually making two freaking field goals. Either that or Drew Bledsoe throwing for 237 yards and two scores without any interceptions and managing to find Terry Glenn on a couple of nice deep passes. Glenn was huge in this game, showing that he isn’t a sideshow piece to Terrell Owens (who broke a finger and will be out 2-4 weeks) and that he might be the Cowboys best reciever.
Least impressed with: Washington’s offense. All I keep hearing is how Al Saunders’ playbook is 700 pages deep. Why not try cutting out 650 of those pages Saunders, that way your offense will at least learn the basics and maybe average more than 13 points a game.
Quick Shots:
Buffalo sacked Daunte Culpepper seven times in its 16-6 win over the Dolphins. Five sacks came in Miami’s first 15 offensive snaps…The Bengals got their offense on track, but got bit hard by the injury bug in their 34-17 victory over the Browns. Was it Charlie Frye’s idea to pass short on every play today or was that OC Maurice Carthon’s call?… Andrew Walter is the answer in Oakland. Walter’s line in the Raiders 28-6 loss to the Ravens today: 10 of 27 for 162 yards, three interceptions and was sacked six times. Have a nice day kid. Baltimore is one of two teams that haven’t given up a touchdown on defense so far this season…The other team is Atlanta, who burned Tampa Bay for a franchise record 306 rushing yards in a 14-6 victory. QB Chris Simms was intercepted three times today, making that six on the season for the soon to be replaced single caller… Peyton Manning broke John Unitas’ franchise record for completions in the Colts 48-24 trouncing of Houston. Manning threw for 400 yards and three touchdowns, none of them to receivers Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison, however. Manning is now 9-0 against Houston lifetime and has passed for 2,503 yards and 22 touchdowns… Rex Grossman just woke up the NFL – 20 of 27 for 289 yards and four touchdowns in the Bears 34-7 dismantling of the Lions. Hey Roy Williams, next time you make a guarantee, guarantee you don’t celebrate a meaningless first down catch with your team down by 20 points…The Saints are 2-0 after beating Green Bay 34-27. New Orleans has beaten two cupcakes in Cleveland and the Packers, but that’s two cupcake wins on the road. Next week: Monday night against Atlanta for the reopening of the Louisiana Superdome since Hurricane Katrina destroyed it last year…Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles touchdown receptions in the Jets 24-17 loss to New England were the best highlight plays of the season so far… Philip Rivers wasn’t asked to do too much last week, but he unloaded on the Titans for 235 yards and a touchdown in San Deigo’s 40-7 thrashing of the Titans. Something tells me this young man will do just fine in this league…Don’t look now but San Francisco has a nice little offense with QB Alex Smith joining up with WR Antonio Bryant. Smith looks light years ahead of where he was last season and the 49ers are now 1-1 after beating St. Louis 20-13…Yeah the Broncos beat Kansas City 9-6 in overtime, but Denver better hope it has more firepower than nine points when it plays San Diego… Welcome back to earth Kurt Warner and welcome to the 2006 season Seattle offense. Shaun Alexander reaches paydirt in the Seahawks 21-10 win over Arizona after he was shut out last week in Detroit.
