Week 3 Tuesday Afternoon Punter

NOTE: The letter "C" is being really moody on my keyboard so forgive words that should have that letter in them, but don't I tried to fix all that I found, but probably missed some.

Week 3 Thoughts I Think I Thought About Thinking

1.) A pass that hits the WR in the hands gets intercepted, a pass thrown left handed into the endzone gets intercepted, a safety on a questionable chop block call, a missed FG, a fumble near the endzone, a delay of game before another field goal, a missed FG after the delay, a second personal foul on the right tackle after the missed FG after the delay... what a terrible loss by the Giants. Manning threw for over 300 yards and no TDs. They only mustered one TD. They killed themselves. They were the better team, but extremely undisicplined. Next week's game against the Bears is huge. Not only does the season hinge on it, but Coughlin's future also hangs in the balance. We'll see if he can get through to the players or if they've tuned him out. Five personal fouls?! Come on!

2.) This random note is courtesy of my fantasy football free agents search tool: Right now in the league there's a C.J. Spiller and a C.J. Spillman. I know this means nothing but I kind of find that fun.

3.) When are coaches going to figure out how to play the end of games? In the game between the Chargers and Seahawks, the Chargers were down by 7 deep in Seattle's territory. They had fourht and 10 at around the 15 with a little over 3 minutes to go. Their play clock ran low for some reason, so now they have two optiones: A.) They could play for overtime and go for the TD right there. If that's the case, they should call timeout seeing as how they won't need them for regulation or B.) They could take the delay penalty, kick the still short FG, and use your two timeouts and the two minute warning to stop Seattle and get the ball back and try for a game winning TD march. Instead, Turner opted for option C.) Take the penalty, move back five yards and go for the endzone in hopes of ompleting a tough pass and then saving your timeouts to stop Seattle amd go for a game winning FG in regulation. Now, I understand why that's appealing, a last second FG is easier than a last second TD and you have a tie and overtime to fall back on to. But if the situation presented is of an extremely difficult TD or an easy FG, go for the easy FG and try to win the game. I didn't explain this right, I know it could've been simplified, but you guys are smart enough to wade through my ramblings and finding sense.

4.) After Week 1, Mark Sanzhez has played really well. He's not making mistakes and doing enough to win, but the Jets D, again like last season, let the team march down the field at the end of the game with minimal resistance. Miami didn't close the deal there, but that had more to do with Miami than the Jets. Just something they should be weary about.

5.) I haven't seen Ron Mexico play this well since, well ever. It looks like he's figured how to be a running QB rather than a throwing RB like he used to be. It's not a fluke, he's here for good.

6.) Why again had Hester stopped returning kicks?

7.) I find it kind of funny how the analysts are ripping Eli Manning for throwing a left handed pass that was deflected and eventually intercepted into the endzone. Don't get me wrong, it was a stupid move. He needs to know better. He's completed that before, but in the middle of the field when everyone's spread out, in the endzone everyone's condensed so there's less room so the passes need to be thrown with conviction. That said, isn't that the kind of crap that made the media fall in love with Favre? Wasn't Eli just gunslinging there?

8.) It was fantastic to see the Saints call timeout just before the ball was snapped for the game winning FG in overtime by the Falcons, as usual the players didn't hear the whistle and the play went on, only to have the Saints black the try and the Falcons kicker nail the FG on his second try.

9.) The Steelers have to be the scariest team in the league. 3-0 without their QB? Impressive.

10.) There's no way McNabb should recieve anything less than a standing ovation on Sunday. Greatest QB in franchise history, was shipped out, didn't force his way out, never embarassed the franchise.

Limerick of the Week

The NFL is full of violent hits

Bloody fingers and broken bits

Yet with all the pain

You gotta complain

After a very personal foul from Shaun Smith

Peace

Week 2 Tuesday Afternoon Punter

Week 2 Thoughts I Think I Thought About Thinking

1.) Great win for the Jets. Offense looked sharp and defens looked disciplined. Although it did seem that Moss didn't seem as motivated once Revis went down. He committed what might be the greatest sin I could think of a WR committing: A pass was intercepted by Cromartie, who was covering Moss on a go route one on one, in front of him. I mean there are only three ways a pass is intercepted in front of a reciever by a single coverage corner on a go route: 1.) The DB is a ton faster than the WR, 2.) The DB beats the WR on a jump ball and comes down with the ball, 3.) Thw WR quit. Moss is fast enough to get to any deep ball that the DB could catch up with and nobody beats him on a jumo ball. So what's left?

2.) The Titans recovered a late onside kick when the ball bounced off the Steelers' DB, former Giants great, Will Allen. Any Giants fan will tell you that there is no way that Will Allen should be on the "hands" team.

3.) The Eagles should go forward with their QB situation as if they just spent a high pick on Kolb and this is his rookie year. Vick, it seems, would be able to take this team farther than Kolb, but Kolb's their future. If the Eagles want to win this year, they should go to Vick. Worst case scenerio: Vick bombs and you switch to Kolb and embrace your future. If you go with Kolb now and he struggles, and he will, the fans will call for Vick and Kolb's confidence is shot. Suddenly, you've a lame duck starting QB and a rattled young QB. OK the Eagles just said Vick's their starter, but I'm not erasing all of this and thinking up something else.

4.) Have the Ravens ever lost a game that wasn't the refs' fault?

5.) Far be it for me to defend Favre from the media, but I don't care what they think he looks like and how motivated he looks. It'll be funny how much younger Favre could look when the Vikings win.

6.) Carson Palmer's brother is his backup QB. So if you're him, do you root for your brother to play well or are you hoping for him to suck and you get the starting job?

7.) Speaking of brother QBs, two of them played against each other this past week if you hadn't heard. The Giants tried to be too cute on both sides of the ball.Defensively they played with three safetys and one LB with Deion Grant playing the role of a small LB. They were daring Indy to run and Indy did. All over them. It took far too long for the Giants to adjust, but by then it was already too late.

8.) Offensively, they came in knowing that the Colts D is undersized, fast, and struggles againt the run. They also came in knowing that the Colts know this. I guyess they figured that the Colts would be so geared up to stop the run that they (the Giants) can take advantage with misdirection. This was illustrated perfectly on their first offensive snap of the game when they faked a run up the middle and gave it to Manningham on an end around. It didn't work. Speedy defenses are great as misdirection. What they're not good at is power running and the Giants barely used any of that. The few times they brought out a power set, they ran away from the extra lineman. Then, before you knew it, it was too late to adjust. Also, Jacobs should be suspended and the Giants can't get rid of him soon enough. He's gotten soft ever since he got paid.

9.) Watching Freeney and Mathis run around the Giants tackles as if they were stuck in quicksand reminded me once again of an idea someone brought up to Peter King in a mailbag once. The reader pointed out how many teams have gone to having at least one pass rushing specialist. Sometimes the specialist comes in on only passing downs. He's smaller and quicker than traditional pass rushers. So why then don't teams have pass blocking specialists/ A cross somewhere between a tackle and a tight end. I forget King's reason why this wouldn't work, but I don't think it was much good.

10.) I have seen the future of football offenses. It's in college right now. It's called the pistol. In the shotgun, the QB stands five yards behind the center so to be able to survey the defense better and get to his reads quicker. Cool. But the HBs stand next to the QBs and their game is hurt because they have to wait for the ball to be caught by the QB and handed to them before they an start running meaning that runs out of shotgun are limited to variations of draws. While in running plays when the QB is under center, the HB is sprinting forward as soon as the ball is snapped and gets the ball as he passes the QB going the other way. The pistol combines the best of both. In the pistol, the QB stands four yards behind center, so his advantage is basically the same. The HB, however, stands 3 yards directly behind as if they're in a power i and the QB is the fullback. So now on running plays, the HB takes off forward like he does in normal running plays where he stands between five to eight yards behind center. With the influx of spread offenses, but the decline of running in those offenses, the pistol seems like the perfect answer.

Limerick of the Week

Viking fans are starting to fret

Inside them panic begins to set

AP stopped at the one

Favre not having fun

Childress needs to go back to his funky headset.

Peace

Week 1 Tuesday Afternoon Punter

There is no way Felix Hernandez should win the Cy Young over Price or Sabathia. Just wanted to mention that before I began. On thae subject of baseball, I was flipping between the Jets/ Ravens and Yankees/ Rays. On one hand there's the season opener for two teams I don't particularly care for. which was poorly played. On the other hand, my favorite baseball team is locked in a classic pitcher's duel with first place in the division and the league on the line. I watched more of the Jets game. That says it all about baseball vs. football, really.

On to the TAP.

Week 1 Power Rankings

1.) Every team that 1-0

16.) Indy Colts

17.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (They beat the Browns, doesn't count)

18.) Everyone else who's 0-1

Week 1 Thoughts I Think I Thought About Thinking

1.) The Detroit Lions lost fair and square. The refs absolutely got the call right. Johnson went to th e ground and came up without the ball. That's incomplete. Nobody can argue that the refs were wrong. Arguing that the rule's the problem, but not the refs. As for the rule, I wouldn't want it changed. I mean, is it too much to ask someone who's paid to catch the ball to catch the ball? Think about it logically, if a center fielder leaps, gets a line drive in his glove, has a knee hit the ground, followed by his glove hitting the ground, and the ball popping out, what's the call? It's a hit. Same thing here: Johnson goes up and grabs the ball and puts it in his right hand while in air, hits the ground, puts the hand with the ball in front of him to stop his fall and the ball pops out.. It's incomplete. The rule says, as you've probably heard a dozen times already, that on the sidelines and in the endzone, if you go to the ground in the process of making a catch, you gotta get up with the ball. So now I hear people asking how Lance Moore's two point conversion was successful in the Super Bowl. It wasn't the same play. He caught the ball short of the endzone and reached, thus completing the process of the catch and making another move, for the endzone and broke the plane before the ball got knocked loose. He completed the catch THEN reached, so as soon as the nose of the ball crossed the goal line, the play was over. Both calls were right.

2.) Wow, there was some ugly football, namely offenses, this week. Either it was just Week 1 rust or MLBs "Year of the Pitcher" is leaking into other sports.

3.) For the past few years, the Texans and the Niners are everyone's surprise picks to make a run. This season most people, myself included, thought that only one of them would be good, Looks like we picked the wrong one.

4.) Alex Barron is not the goat of the Cowboys loss. Don't get me wrong, he had a terrible game, no doubt about that. The fact, though, is that he's just not that good of a player. He shouldn't be a starting tackle. He didn't do anything stupid or uncharacteristically terrible that would warrant him goat status. Let's say a defense has one great corner and one mediocre to bad corner who on a critical play gets matched up with a great wideout. The wideout burns him for the winning score, would you call the db the goat? No, he just got beat. Samething with Barron. Orakpo abused him all night. I don't understand why, on a critical play where your QB will need time, Barron was left alone to deal with someone he proved he couldn't handle. Brron looks bad because of the fact that it looked like the 'Boys had one and suddenly it gets called back for his penalty. If he hadn't held, Romo would have gotten smoked in the backfield and that would've been the end of the game. And, really, nobody would even know Alex Barron's name today. The real turning point of that game at the end of the other half. First, the Cowboys decide to run a play with 4 seconds left and amile from the endzone. Then, Romo gets under pressure *Nobody remembers which lineman let the pressure get in) and just flips the ball to Choice a yard down the field rather than throw it away. Then, Chouce trues to do something with the ball, gets stripped, and watches DeAngelo Hall run away for what ended up being the difference in the game.

5.) How do the Colts, knowing the Peyton Manning is the entire team, give Mario Williams a free release to the QB?

6.) Oh Philly, mired in a QB controversy already? Like me make it easy for you. Kolb had a concussion. I know you like rushing people back from that type of injury, but try to refrain from ruining another career, will you? Keep him out for a few weeks at least. As for Vick, he did look impressive. Looked like the Michael Vick of young, never thought I'd see that again. Still, the Packers had prepared for Kolb so temper your enthusiasm a little. Let's see him do it a few more times before we name him top dog. No, I'm not above easy jokes. What I didn't like about Viick's performance was when he forced a pass into the endzone when it seemed like he had room to run it in. He said afterward that he's trying not to be selfish. Taking a sure score over a possible score is not being selfish. In fact, giving up a sure score and going for a possible score to avoid being selfish is, in itself, selfish.

7 .) Oh man, the Giants are going to be killed this Sunday night. No way Peyton goes 0-2, especially against the Giants defense. He'll have great field postion to look forward to as the Giants special teams is horrendous.

8.) Speaking of horrendous, how about the Jets offense? Mark Sanchez looked like he wanted no part of the Ravens defense. He wouldn't even look down field. He looked like a guy joining a pick up basketball game with people who are way better than him. He passes the ball as soon as he touches it, sometimes even to the wrong team. When the other team stops covering him, he'll still stand near a defender just so he won't look open and be forced to handle a pass. In short, he looked like me at the Boys' Club.

9.) Antonio Cromartie illustrated once again that 60% of a cornerback's success comes from building a reputation of being shutdown and relying on teams to not throw your way. Of course there are some corners who are legitimately shutdown, but they're rare and don't last long. Take Champ for instance: He used to be a complete shutdown corner. He isn't anymore. He's still good, but not elite anymore. Yet he shuts down recievers now because teams have decided You Do Not Throw Champ Bailey's Way.

The worst thing that happens to there corners is that they get paired up with a better corner. It happened when Deltha O'Neal joined the Broncos during Champ's prime. Denver was supposed to have the best pass defense in the league, but O'Neal got exposed because it was either go at him or go at Champ. Look, all CBs give up room to WRs, it's impossible not to. The great ones just give up less room than their teammates so people don't throw their way. It's like the old joke : Tw0 campers come across an angry bear. One camper says, "I'm glad I brought my running shoes." The other says, "You can't outrun a bear." To which the first replies, "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to out run you." Cromartie was able to outcover his teammates in San Diego, but he can't outcover Revis so he will be picked on and exposed.

10.) I'm no fan of Ray Lewis's, but the hit he put on Kellar at the ned of the game was the absolute textbook hit. No way you could get flagged or fined for that. It was perfext.

Limerick of the Week

Jets, Niners, and Botls fans are sick

Philly fans hyped about Michael Vick

Can't wait for the day

When I can finally say

That I got to shake Eli Manning's hand.

Peace

NFC Tuesday Afternoon Punter

NFC West

1.) San Francisco 49ers - Has an 8-8 tean ever won a division? I don't think the Niners will be 8-8, mind you, but this division really makes that seem possible. This is the make or break year for Alex Smith. This year we find out if Smith can lead a winning team or is, say, David Carr, who also happens to be on the team. Smith is better than people give him credit for. He really seemed to improve when they went to an almost exclusive shotgun offense (Smith never took a nsap from under center before the pros), and that didn't seem to hamper the running game much. He has some weapons too. We all know about Gore, Davis, and Crabtree, but the addition of Westbrook could help spell Gore and give Smith a fantastic safety blanket. Their line is starting two rookies, so their development is worth keeping an eye on. Their defense is among the best in the league, but m 49er sources (Dasser) tell me that their corners are cause for concern. Also, they've a great punter.

2.) St. Louis Rams - Quit shaking your head. This is only through process of elimination. I literally placed the other two teams here and changed my mind. Eventually what this came down to is that this is a quarterback league and the Rams are more solid at QB and HB than the other two teams. Bradford has first year star potential. They have a great running back, who will also be a help to Bradford in the passing game. The WRs, or lack thereoy me. The defense, under second year defensive coach Spags should be improved, though Head Coaches who were "geniuses" on one side of the ball as coordinators will generally be weak on that side of the ball: Dungy, Billick, Cranell, Gruden, the list goes on. Still, it has gone the other way too so...

3.) Arizona Cardinals - Derek Anderson at QB and Beenie Wells at HB do not add up to a great season. Throw in the fact that they lost their best defensive player (Dansby) and another of their top defensvie players (Rolle), this can get ugly. Larry can only do so much.

4.) Seattle Seahawks - Pete Carroll must be convinced that Charlie Witehurst is a franchise QB. Otherwise, it makes no sense to not have taken one in the draft. Hasslebeck is injury prone and past his prime. I don't trust their running game or their WRs. Carroll will be gone by the middle of the next season, whenever that turns out to be.

NFC South

1.) New Orleans Saints - They will come down to earth a bit this year. A great defensive scheme can only mask a lack of great defensive players up to a point. This team will have to outscore their opponents this season, which they're more than capable of doing. Though I see that as being their fatal flaw in the postseason.

2.) Atlanta Falcons - Bounce back year. Ryan's learned that the league's not as easy as it seemed during his rookie year, now he'll learn that, with his tools, it's not as hard as it seemed last season. Gonzalez will turn back the clock for one more year.

3.) Carolina Panthers - Matt Moore has serious Jeff George Phenomenon potential. Was surprisingly good at the end of last season, but now he's on tape and won't sneak up on people. Won't be surprised to see Clausen by Week 9.

4.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - What can you say? A coach and QB who've a ton to prove, and that's being optimistic. Let's just move on.

NFC North

1.) Minnesota Vikings - The dome helps keep Peterson and He Who Plays Like a Kid Out There fresh. Which will be key for the postseason because it's finally going to happen again: The Gunslinger is going to the Super Bowl. Great defense and timely offense will be successful. My biggest concern is Brad Childress's headset messing this up. What a matchup of coaches I'm calling for in February: Norv Turner vs. Brad Childress's headset. I must be losing my mind.

2.) Green Bay Packers - Great team on paper. Too bad the game isn't played on paper. Too badd, too, for the Packers that their games aren't mostly played indoors. Their offense is built for warm weather and I think the best chance they have of going to the Super Bowl is getting in the playoffs via Wild Card. That way they'd play January games (according to my picks) in either Minny, New Orleans, San Francisco, or...

3.) Chicago Bears - Jay Cutler is like most modern video games: Looks amazing, seems to have everything you'd want and yet... yet there's something missing. Something you'd find in almost all of the vintage games. You can't really name what it is, but it's there. The old games aren't as complex or realistic as the new ones, but they're still fun. You could hand me a SNES with NBA Jam T.E., Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Mario World, Super Metroud, A Link to the Past, and Donkey Kong Country and I'm set for months. Would you really be able to say that about any game that came out this year a decade and a half from now? But some of the newer games are legitimately great and maybe Cutler 2011 could be like that. I doubt it though. Did any of that make sense?

4.) Detroit Lions - Taking the step from pathetic to feisty young team who could upset anyone if they're not careful. A year away from being a team that hangs in the Wild Card race until Week 14.

NFC East

1.) Dallas Cowboys - Kind of gave this away in the Green Bay pick if you were reading carefully and even if you weren't, it wasn't all that subtle. They've a stud a QB, a three headed running attack that will kill fantasy seasons worldwide, and a fantastic set of WRs/TEs. Defense is a question mark despite the fact that Wade Phillips is a defensive minded coach (see?). However, when it came to the East, I had a tough time picking an order of finishing. I could see every team winning it and I could see each team finishing last. Dallas just seems the team that needs the most to go wrong to have a disastrous season.

One note on the Cowboys: they, along with a couple of other teams carry a kickoff specialist and on their active roster. This is in addition to a seperate FG kicker. The FG kicker is more accurate while the KOS has the bigger leg and routinely gets touchbacks on kickoffs. I love this idea and don't know why more teams don't use it. I mean, I'm sure that guys who can place kick a football a long way are not rarer than guys who can accurately place kick a football. Former soccer players definately could qualify as are former college kickers who didn't get drafted because their lack of accuracy. My point is, these guys shouldn't be hard to find. Most FG kickers are accurate under 45 yards, shaky under 55, and can't reach after that. This guy gives you at least a shot from 60 yards away. He might not make it, but he'll also eliminate any chance of a run back if this were the end of a half situation. Is the 45th man on the roster really that important that you can't spare him? In a league that preaches field position, it's shocking that most teams are content with kickoffs that come down at about the 10 yard line.

2.) Washington Redskins - A marked improvement at QB and a giant leap at head coach call for a big season out of the Skins. The Skins, though, would have been great 8 years ago with McNabb, Portis, Johnson, Santana Moss, Cooley, and Galloway. This does sound like a perfect Dan Snyder offense, but I think an angry McNabb will make up for it.

3.) New York Giants - I see both the Giants and Eagles finishing 7-9 so I was going to write it as a tie, but that seemed weak. So instead, I put it this way so at least it looks like the Eagles are finishing way behind. As for the Giants, their offensive line is shacky. It's the last hurrah, at best, for most of those guys. If they're able to hold up at all, the offense will be good. If the running game is good, then the offense will be great. The problem's on the other side of the ball. I know you shouldn't take too much from the preseason, but if in all four games it's clear that the other team is targetting the middle of the field at will with their WRs and TEs running the seams without any apparent coverage and the defense never seems to develop an answer for that then, well I think that's one time you could be worried about what you see in the preseason. I think tight ends can torch this defense for its lack of linebackers and the NFC East, with Celek, Witten, and Cooley should have no problem there.

4.) Philadelphia Eagles - Kevin Kolb might end up being really good, but he's going to have to have some growing pains along the way. I see him struggling in the beginning and then eventuakky figure it out. Just hope the Andy Reid takes some pressure off of him by allowing the running backs to actually carry the ball. Strange convept, I know, but strange enough that it just might work. Not a fan of the defense anymore.

Limerick of the Week

The Decision made LeBron easy to jeer

Big Ben probably should've laid off the beer

Tiger crashed his Caddy

Haynesworth became too fatty

But at long last opening kickoff is nearly here!

Peace