Archive for the ‘Cowboys / NFL’ Category
Cowboys/Bucs
Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Sep 19th, 2009
Week 1 Thoughts
Did you see Aaron Rodgers’s overthrow of Donald Driver late in the 1st quarter? He rolled right, then set up at the GB 38 and saw pressure coming straight at him, so he didn’t step into the throw at all. And the ball landed at the 2 yard line. He slings it almost all-arm, and it goes 60 yards? Wow! Now that’s an arm.
Speaking of QBs in that game… Did you notice Cutler had at least two INTs dropped and still threw four that the Packers defenders managed to hang onto.
Frightening indicator for the Cheeseheads: How do you win the turnover battle by 4 at home, and barely squeak out a 6-point win with late 4th quarter heroics?
Does either of these teams have a chance in the North against the Adrian Peterson show. AP put up 63.8% of his team’s net offense Sunday against the Browns.
And speaking of the Vikings/Browns, I tuned in to see what Brett Favre and Brady Quinn look like… and I still don’t know. As for Favre, he really didn’t have to throw much because the team had 225 rushing yards. He didn’t give me any reason to believe or disbelieve in his current level of ability. AP looked great though.
As for Quinn… he made one incredible play, rolling to his right in trouble, left his feet and slung the ball all-arm… and threw a perfect strike 30 yards on a rope. I rewound and watched it 4 or 5 times because I couldn’t believe he did it. But he didn’t do much else. He wasn’t throwing downfield except on the sidelines. That’s often a sign of a young QB who isn’t reading things well enough. On the other hand, it could have just been that the defense was taking that away. We’ll have to wait to see what Brady is.
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Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Sep 17th, 2009
Briar Patch Suspensions and Other NFL Ramblings
Football is here. Thank God. It’s been forever. Here are my general NFL thoughts for the week.
First off, Josh Mcdaniels, could you please tell me what you were thinking when you suspended Brandon Marshall through September 5th? I mean… The guy was such a problem that you suspended him from practicing in the summer heat, but didn’t suspend him from any games? Um… NFL players get paid after each game. So you didn’t suspend him from anything pay-related. You suspended from the hard-working part, but you let him come back for the fun part and the paycheck part. Uh… What??
And Mangini was absolutely right to keep his QB decision to himself as long as he could. Why give the Vikings the advantage of knowing which QB to prepare for. Make them waste their practice time preparing and game planning for both.
Nice game at Heinz Field Thursday night. The Titans ran the ball and stopped the run, and they won the turnover battle (though really the turnover battle was even since one of the Steelers’ turnovers was an intercepted Hail Mary at the end of the half), and still lost the game. Two missed FGs (though one of them was blocked) were responsible.
Should be some fun matchups Sunday: I’m really looking forward to the Miami/Atl game. Both teams really seemed to start turning it around last year, and I’d love to see both teams continue that. But it’ll be tough to watch that game with the Jags playing at Indy, and Dallas playing at TB in the same time slot. And who can resist the temptation to watch the 94-year old future hall-of-famer slingin’ it around for the Vikings. And if he plays as well as he did last year, then you have to realize that the Vikes have an outstanding running game, they play very good run-D, and the stop the pass well too. That’s a well-rounded team if Brett Favre is still a real NFL QB.
Then for the late game you’ve got the Skins and G-men. That could be great or terrible depending on what Jim Zorn is doing there. And it might be nice to see if Mike Singletary is strong enough to overcome Niners management and field a real football team against the defending NFC champs in the Dome of the Desert. Honestly, I doubt anybody’s strong enough to win with that organization.
Scott Campisi
Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Sep 11th, 2009
Week 16
Y’know what’s not fair… The Pats are probably gonna beat the Bills Sunday to cap off an outstanding 11-5 season… but then, unless Baltimore or Miami loses, the Pats won’t make the playoffs. 11-5 on the couch. And what’s worse… the 7-8 Chargers can take the 4th seed in the playoffs by simply winning a home game againt the 8-7 Broncos. That ain’t fair.
I say the Lions will be motivated this weekend. I mean if they go 1-15, then they’re just another of the really bad teams that have existed in the NFL throughout history. But if they go 0-16, they’re the worst team ever. Nobody wants to be the worst ever. On the other hand, the Packers have suffered some important losses in Detroit in recent years, and nothing would please the Packer fans more than to send Detroit to 0-16.
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Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Dec 24th, 2008
Thoughts After Week 15
Check out the impact of the AFC East division race on Saturday Night’s game at Texas Stadium. There is currently a 3-way tie for the division lead in the East. The tiebreakers put the Jets first, the Fins 2nd, and the Pats 3rd. The Pats need the Jets and Fins both to lose. But the Jets and Fins play each other in week 17, and obviously they can’t both lose that game. So whoever wins that game in week 17, the Pats will have needed them to lose in week 16, in order for the Pats to take the division. Bottom line: Barring a week 17 tie, the Pats need a loss from Miami (at KC [2-12]) or the Jets (at Seattle [3-11]) this week. And even if one of those teams (Jets or Fins) does lose this week, the Pats will need them to win next week. But no matter what happens in week 17, I don’t think the Chiefs or Hawks can be depended on to beat the Fins or Jets in week 16. So… assuming the Pats lose the division race, they can still win a wild card spot by winning out and getting 1 loss by the Ravens. The Pats have a pretty soft schedule (Cards this week, then at Buffalo), so that means the Ravens can’t afford to lose a game without giving their playoff spot away to the Pats. So the Ravens have to win Saturday Night. If they lose, then they will need some very, very unlikely help. But wait… What if the Cowboys lose Saturday night? Then they’ll need quite a bit of help. They can’t afford to blow this one. They have to win. So if Dallas has to win and Baltimore has to win… then this game should be pretty intense. Two 9-5 teams with their whole year on the line. That’s intense. If you don’t have the NFL Network, then you should probably get it.
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Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Dec 17th, 2008
Did you see that?
Did anyone watch the Cleveland/Philly game? I know, you’ve got to be obsessive to watch a bad team with a 3rd string QB get pounded by the Eagles, but obsession isn’t the worst problem in the world. Anyway… Late in the 2nd quarter Ken Dorsey throws an INT to Asante Samuel, who runs it back… and as he’s about to score… he drops the ball in celebration just like his teammate Desean Jackson did in Week 2 at Texas Stadium. That’s twice the Eagles have simply forgotten to carry the ball all the way to the endzone. How in the world do you do that?
Just so you’ll know, he seemed to recognize his ridiculous error in time to prevent disaster. He picked up the ball once he got into the endzone. But if it had rolled out of bounds, he would have been the idiot’s idiot.
I couldn’t believe the same team did the same thing again. Just stupid.
Scott Campisi
Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Dec 17th, 2008
Yeah, but you wouldn’t want to play them!
It’s been a strange season in the NFL. The team with the most talent is 8-5, and the Titans, having benched their opening day starter early in the season, have ridden a fortuitous schedule to a 12-1 record. The Bengals are 1-11, but they tied the Eagles and went to overtime against the Giants in Jersey. The Broncos are beating the good teams and getting blown out by the bad teams. The Pats are inconsistent, both on offense and defense. After 13 games, the Jets are still a mystery. They seemed so impressive at 8-3, and seem so vulnerable now at 8-5. And the Dolphins, after going 1-15 last year, control their own destiny for the AFC East title. Just weird.
And as a result, I see a number of teams that might not be “good enough” to get to the playoffs, but you wouldn’t want to have to face them in the playoffs. Here are a few:
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Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Dec 12th, 2008
Big Games This Weekend
There are three huge games this weekend where neither team can afford a loss.
Saints at Bears (Thursday Night): Both teams are 7-6, and it’s pretty clear it’s going to take at least 10 wins to get a wild card in the NFC. A loss would end the hope. Of course, even with a loss, it would still be possible for the Bears to win their division, but it would require a good bit of help from the Vikings.
Bucs at Falcons: Huge game here in the NFC South. If Atlanta loses, they could find themselves in serious trouble in the playoff race. Right now they’re the third team in the race for two wild card spots, but a loss would mean they could not only fall a full game (and a tiebreaker) behind the Cowboys and 2 games and a tiebreaker behind the Bucs, but they could fall a half game behind the Eagles, and be tied with the Skins and either the Bears or Saints. On the other hand, if the Bucs lose to the Falcons Sunday, that could put them on the outside looking in since Dallas holds the tiebreaker over Tampa Bay, having beaten them this season. In that even the tiebreaker between Atlanta and TB would come down to strength of victory, which is still undecided.
Steelers at Ravens: If the Steelers win, the division is theirs. But if not, the two teams will be tied at 10-4, with the tiebreaker still up in the air.
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Filed under Cowboys / NFL : Comments (0) : Dec 11th, 2008