Thursday, October 29, 2009

By The Pigskin of Our Teeth, Week 7: Day of Destruction

Signal Finder: MIN @ PIT, NE vs. TB @ Wembley, ATL @ DAL, NO @ MIA (end)

Well, one longtime power got upset today; can another one be far behind? Um... no. I should really be having fish and chips while sitting through this. I'm disappointed in myself. Hey, a Josh Freeman sighting. Yeah, it looks like it's time. (Patriots 35, Buccaneers 7)

This is playing out the way it probably should be playing out so far. Aaaaaand the Vikings' defense is collapsing at the end of a half again. I'M MIKE WALLACE. As soon as he caught it I knew he was going in. Favre seems to be targeting Rice to the exclusion of all others. I don't love the play calling down here. You have the best back in the league; I think you have to run it at least twice. One play-action pass is fine, but two pass plays? Dubious. Rice didn't catch that? I thought he caught that. Oh, there we go. Wait, what? And it's LaMarr Woodley and six of his closest friends. I still haven't seen the play where the alleged tripping occurred so I won't pass judgment. It's not over, though – here comes Percy Harvin with the kickoff. And it's definitely not over after Mendenhall fumbled while trying to jump over one of his linemen. Harvin's shoulder's going to be a problem all season. Didn't we JUST see this? Yeah, that'll be that. You gotta catch that, Taylor. (Steelers 27, Vikings 17)

There's another aspect of the Browns' quarterback situation that no one seems to have brought up: Mangini inherited both of these guys and might not actually like either of them. (Packers 31, Browns 3)

Speaking of quarterbacks, looks like it's Round 2 for Alex Smith. (Texans 24, 49ers 21)

If I'm a Cowboys defender I think long and hard about trying to make a stop on third down sometime during this drive. Or... not. Whatever. It's mind-boggling how little they've gotten out of Roy Williams. I thought he was going to be better than Fitzgerald coming out of college and he's dropped two of the easiest catches ever. Seriously, PROTECT THE FOOTBALL. Actually, that hadn't been a problem for the Falcons until today. Hey it's that Miles Austin guy again. He went to Monmouth? How about that. The Cowboys should be throwing down the field with the Falcons' pass defense issues. Boy, this turned around in a hurry. (Cowboys 37, Falcons 21)

The thing is, Cedric Benson has either forgotten or just doesn't realize that all the things he got bashed for while he was with the Bears... were true. And that's what makes this somehow even more compelling. We were trying to think of another player whose career improved after voluntarily joining the Bengals. The best we could do was Jon Kitna when he was the starter in Carson Palmer's rookie year. Also, Jay Cutler was bad today. But he wasn't playing defense. Although... (Bengals 45, Bears 10)

James Brown: “What is JaMarcus Russell missing?” The Rest Of The NFL Today Crew: start laughing And if “Bruce Gradkowski” is the answer, I don't want to know what the question is. (Jets 38, Raiders 0)

I'm Sorry You Had To See That: Bills 20, Panthers 9

So is Boldin playing or not? The visor's usually not a good sign. Oh, all right then. Is Wells really still going by 'Beanie'? Come on; you're a grown man and 'Chris' is a fine name. Um... OOPS. That certainly wasn't DRC's intent. Are the Cardinals ahead here? Wow. They've never had any real success in the Meadowlands (or anywhere, really.) I'm half-paying attention because of Game 6 but every time I look up the Cardinals have the ball. What happened to the Giants? I never thought they'd lose two in a row, and certainly not these two. And just as important: are the Cardinals, of all teams, trying to break the curse? They are back in first place. (Cardinals 24, Giants 17)

That's more like it. People were actually up in arms last week that the Eagles traded Brandon Gibson to get Witherspoon. Yes, really. I hope those two plays silenced their concerns. G-56! (Obligatory Bingo reference.) Did they forget to cover Jackson again? He was ridiculously open there. Oh, that's not good. I wasn't really paying attention at first and thought it was Westbrook's brother who was down because 'Brian' and 'Byron' sound ridiculously alike. Cooley's down? Wow. The Redskins' offense is basically dead now – he's their best player at this point. This is depressing to watch in a way. I mean, I didn't think the Redskins would be good this year, but I had no idea their offense would be this bad. Like the Raiders, they can play a little defense but they can't move the ball at all. It's one thing to hear about it, but quite another to see it. (Eagles 27, Redskins 17)

FANTASY REPORT

aPa (4-3, L1): A weird game from Drew Brees (Three interceptions? Two rushing touchdowns?) and Hines Ward and Willie Parker not even getting me a point combined led me to get stomped by 52 by Hijo Atomicoooo~! Fun fact: Two of my running backs have all but lost their starting jobs.

JackSux6 (5-2, W1): Halfway through the schedule and we're in first place by ourselves after beating the Lunatics in a first-place showdown.

Lincoln Continentals (6-1, W4): Welcome back, Wes Welker. Not that you really went anywhere, but still.

RANKINGS

TOP 4

1. New Orleans (6-0) – At halftime, I said, “They have the offense to come back” and they did

2. Indianapolis (6-0) – Seems like they're under the radar, which I'm sure they're OK with

3. Denver (6-0) – Players actually didn't want week off, and who can blame them?

4. Minnesota (6-1) – A slight tumble

BOTTOM 4

29. Washington (2-5) – Worse when you see it live

30. Tampa Bay (0-7) – Clearly not used to flying east

31. St. Louis (0-7) – At least they held Peyton under 300 yards. “LET'S BUILD ON THAT!”

32. Cleveland (1-6) – Not exactly swimming in options


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Listening to: Bitter:Sweet - The Mating Game
via FoxyTunes

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