Monday Shmonday - Week 4
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From: http://afraidofedhochuli.blogspot.com
After a quarter of the season we are seeing trends. We are starting to see who has a good team, a bad team, a deep team, a team that can’t deal with injuries, a team that is overmatched and a team that is under/over-rated.
It is really too bad that we are already at the quarter point. That is sad…oooohhhh football season. How I love thee.
Surprise of the weekend:
Arizona 21, Pittsburgh 14 The Steelers looked pedestrian. The problem that this causes for Pittsburgh is that now there is a blueprint on how to beat them. They were held to 77 yards on the ground (Big Ben amassed 26 of these) and Parker was there for a season low of 47 rush yards.
This was a great win for the Cards because it showed that they had the secondary to shut down a very potent offense. True, Hines was out and Holmes caught 6 for 128 and 2 TDs, but they shut it down when they needed to; amassing 4 sacks and 2 picks. They are showing that their D might be better then drawn.
After their start, I saw Pitt coming out and destroying the “back-and-forth” QB carousel of Arizona, but they weren’t able to do that. This doesn’t bode well for the future of the Steelers. People now know how to stop them.
In the “not-so-much-an-upset-as-it-is-surprising” category:
What has happened to the Chargers? They have lost their fire. They have lost their “attack” mentality. Honestly, I don’t blame Norv Turner because he is NOT a head coach. He has shown that over and over. He is a coordinator.
And what kind of a GM takes his personal feelings over the needs of the team? A.J. Smith is the one to blame for this. He fired a coach that took the team to 14-2 because they didn’t get along. Boo hoo, Smith, boo hoo.
Man, Philly. What the heck happened here? I give massive Kudos to Osi for the sacks, but at some point you have to give Winston Justice some help. Maybe a TE? But no, they didn’t and McNabb hit the turf 12 times. What was that sound? Oh, McNabb was just sacked again.
And the Giants defense! Where did that come from? A team that gave up 478 total yards to Dallas, 369 to Green Bay and 260 to the Redskins only allowed 190 to McNabb and the Eagles. Wait…they gave up 109 less yards between weeks 1 and 2, 109 less between weeks 2 and 3 and 70 between weeks 3 and 4. Does that mean they will give up only 120 total yards this weekend to the Jets.
This Defense is good. Who saw that coming this year? The Bucs have a team, that can compete this season, and they showed that against the Panthers. They held Steve “The Entire Offense” Smith to just 32 yards on 5 catches. That is scary. They did lose Cadillac, hopefully not for the full season, but Michael Pittman will be serviceable.
The Panthers, though, are not what they were. Their run game is pathetic. It actually makes me cringe, and losing Delhomme may cause some larger problems. Carr is not a viable starter, so hopefully Jake will be back next week against the floundering Saints.
I only have this on here as an “I-told-you-so.” No one gave the Seahawks a chance saying that the window was closed. Well, they did it. Fox said that the 49ers lost the game for themselves…well…that is how it works. Someone has to lose it. But the Hawks Defense SHOWED up. They had 6 sacks.
Play of the game: Rocky Bernard coming in on a CLEAN hit and taking out Alex Smith.
I file this under: Who cares. I have it on here for one reason…what happened to the Miami Defense? Was it because Zach Thomas was out? No, because he has been in for 2 of the 4 games and they still can’t stop the run.
And I guess we need to ask: Where did Oakland’s Offense come from? Daunte is better then people gave him credit for. Both teams will still end up at the bottom…but at least the Raiders are making it interesting.
And my biggest disappointment of the weekend:
Hello-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o? Is anyone there-ere-ere-ere-ere?
You hear that echo? That is the void left by the missing Defense that the Ravens used to bring on the field. That’s all there is to it. Did you see how open Braylon Edwards was?
Pick update (Spread): 7 of13 with The Pats to win by 7.5 tonight. But even then, I don’t win since I missed my eliminator…which was Pittsburgh…thanks a lot Arizona.
