Is it the AFC East, with the Patriots, Jets and Bills all at 5-3? Is it the NFC East, with the Giants, Redskins, Eagles and Cowboys, who have a combined record of 23-10? Or is it the NFC South, where the Panthers, Buccaneers, Falcons and Saints have a combined record of 21-12?
Category: NFL (Page 906 of 1282)
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.
Anyone that is confused about Edgerrin James being benched in Arizona needs to watch this.
James might not even be on the roster next year if Hightower continues to run like he did Sunday against the Rams.
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.
Rinse and repeat as necessary.
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.
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