Monday, October 8, 2007

What we learned from Sunday's NFL action

This is more of a rapid fire list today, because quite frankly, I'm pretty damn tired. But that said, let's get to it.

1. The NFC West may be won by a team that only wins 8 games. This division is dreadful beyond belief. Seattle didn't even bother showing up on Sunday, St. Louis is winless, the 49ers have no offense whatsoever, and the Cardinals will now be with just Kurt Warner. Yes Warner's looked good so far this year, but he's old and not real mobile. Of course Leinart's young and not real mobile either. My gut tells me that Seattle will win this division, but they seriously took yesterday off. I realize Branch was injured, but hey, the Steelers didn't have Ward or Holmes. That's called time for Sean Alexander to do something. And he did nothing. Seattle will likely get some heat from the Cardinals this season who would probably be a trendy pick to win the division right now. But I just can't see Warner doing that. My guess is Seattle wins this division with a record of 9-7.

2. It's good to see the old Brett Favre is back. Frankly he was never really gone. All these people that said "He's really managing games well now" should immediately have a football thrown in their face. Favre's INT to Urlacher was one of the stupidest picks I can remember in recent memory. Guys that have been playing as long as Favre don't do stuff like that. He also easily could have been picked off on an insane underhanded shovel pass he tried to make in the second half to a running back. I realize Favre isn't the only reason why the Packers lost a game they should have won last night, but he didn't help. The fact is that Favre was just lucky he didn't get picked more in the first 4 games. He's still the same QB - a huge risk taker. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. On Sunday, Favre's luck ran out. And he's also now tied for the most INTs in a career. Don't think you'll hear a lot of people bringing that up.

3. New England is still really good. Double team Moss, Stallworth or Welker will kill you. Maroney's out, that's ok, they have Sammy Morris. And now they're suddenly getting Watson involved. Their defense is awesome and Seymour will soon be back. This team has literally no weaknesses.

4. Denver looks like they really suck. I know San Diego had a lot to prove on Sunday, but Denver looks awful. Plus they barely beat Buffalo and Oakland. And they really should have lost to Oakland. This team is two plays away from being 0-5.

5. The Jets have to seriously think about putting Kellen Clemens in at QB. I've never been a big believer in the old axiom that QBs have to have great arm strength (see: Boller, Kyle). Personally, I think good decision making is the most important thing to being a good QB. Pennington is, generally, a good decision maker. But what's also clear is that Pennington's lack of arm strength is noticeably starting to kill the Jets. The Giants, who aren't a great defensive team, were clearly looking to jump Pennington's short passes and it worked to perfection as they picked one to seal the game. There's no vertical game in the Jets offense at all, and it's really starting to kill them.

6. Jacksonville clearly made the right decision in getting rid of Leftwich. Garrard hasn't thrown a pick yet this year and he's been on a roll these last three weeks. Meanwhile Leftwich was air mailing balls everywhere on Sunday for Atlanta. Some of his throws were downright comical, like he was trying to hit fans in the 10th row. But clearly Jack Del Rio knew what he was doing. He made the right choice. By the way, imagine having a QB controversy between Harrington and Leftwich. I don't think Petrino signed up for that.

7. New Orleans, your season is officially over.

8. We all better keep an eye on the Redskins. Campbell is making big strides and the Redskins actually look good. I can't remember the last time I said that.

-WCK

2 comments:

Mac G said...

WCK, Favre made a horrible decision on his first pick and it did change the momentum. However, Favre didnt fumble the ball twice deep in Bears territory. The Packers did not deserve to win that game after all of their turnovers and penalities. Favre actually should have thrown the ball more in the 2nd half and Mc Carthy got WAY too conservative. Several calls went against the Pack, that BS penalty on lining up over the center cost green bay 4 points.

Anonymous said...

Denver has no heart anymore. I fear they have quit on Shannahan. No team in the NFL gets beat by 38 at home if you even somewhat care to play the game. There's too much parity.

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