Week 3 Wrap-Up
By Coup
PATRIOTS over Bills 38-7
When it comes to the Patriots I really am getting the feel like I’m repeating myself on a weekly basis. It is almost like being a robot or the formula to a good Britney Spears song. Patriots = really really good. Tom Brady = amazing (23/29, 311 yards, 4 TDs). Randy Moss = very good (5 receptions, 115 yards, 2 TD). They are just that good, what else needs to be said. I mean I’m running out of things to say about them. 1-1
JETS over Dolphins 31-28
The Jets get their first win of the year and they squeaked it out. The Dolphins surprisngly showed signs of a *gasp* offense as Trent Green threw for 318 yards and Ronnie Brown ran for 112 but too many stalled drives don’t get you wins on the road. The Jets didn’t do any damage offensively they just chopped wood and won the game with time. The key was Thomas Jones and his 110 yard performance and the fact that they went 8/13 on 3rd downs. 2-2
EAGLES over Lions 56-21
Holy smokes. First off Coup you were oh so wrong on this one my friend. On Friday, I told you all this was Donovan’s last chance for redemption. I just didn’t think he would go out and do what he did. In those disgusting blue and yellow jerseys, McNabb successfully erased any negative thinking associated with his name. How can you doubt a guy right now after what he just said? What are you going to remember, McNabb’s black quarterback comment or the fact that he looked so damn comfortable in the pocket today. Mission accomplished. Brian Westbrook dominated the Lions and made a bunch of fantasy owners happy they had to “settle” with Westbrook instead of LT, LJ or Reggie. Kevin Curtis also reminded America that white people do play wide receiver and they play it well. At the end of the day I cannot get over how sick McNabb was. 21/26 for 381 yards and 4 TD. Detroit’s defense needs to go in hiding for the next week or so.
However this game is going to get a rare second paragraph. You see people will probably look at this game the wrong way. They’ll jump to the conclusion that the Eagles are back and the Lions are flukes. The result of this game would make that the truth right? Absolutely not. Philadelphia had an outstanding offensive game but just like when the Suns get held to under 90 it isn’t happening all the time. They for sure won’t be setting records in the first half every week. Not too many people are going to talk about the fact that their defense gave up a ton of yards to the Lions. Jon Kitna threw for 446 yards, Roy Williams received 204 of those. Philly shut the run down and had a one-of-a-kind hot day offensively. Their defense still has a lot of work to do though. So lets calm down with the Eagles are back and the Lions are fake talk, please. 3-2
STEELERS over Niners 37-16
I will admit it after Week 3: The Steelers are definitely for real. The Steelers remind me a lot of the Spurs. They aren’t super impressive but the more you watch them the more you realize how good they are. Their defense will punish you and their offense is going to execute. Big Ben and co. simply take whatever the defense is going to give them and get W’s. That is it and that is all. They are a team that does not and will not force the issue. Big Ben threw the ball when he had too otherwise they let Willie Parker run all over you. Meanwhile their defense made a struggling San Francisco offense even worse by shutting down the run game and making the Niners one-diminsional. And when your only dimension is Alex Smith…look out. I am definitely impressed with how much of a machine the Steelers are turning into. Watch out because they are 3-0 on the low. We will see how they play against the big boys though. 4-3
PACKERS over Chargers 31-24
Two things became very evident after this game. The Packers are more contender than pretender and the Chargers are in deep trouble. Turns out you really shouldn’t fire a coach after a terrific season. In the preseason Coup and I talked about how great of a story it would be if Brett Favre could comeback to his old form and lead the Packers to the playoffs. If he and his defense keeps it up we’ll be smiling at a story that will wash out the scandals of the summer. 369 yards, 3 TDs and no INTs. When is the last time Favre didn’t throw a pick? 1996? Unbelievable. And the underrated part about this is the fact that he is doing this with no running game. Seriously the Packers might as well line up a blow up doll at running back they would get the same results. You have to give credit to their defense and to Favre for picking this W up. The only question is can they keep it up. They have put themselves in a good position to start the year. On the other side it has gone from bad to worse real fast. They have no more excuses. Sure they lost to New England and Chicago, but now they dropped one to the Packers of the NFC. LT still hasn’t hit a 100 and Antonio Gates is carrying that offense on his shoulders. They will bounce back over KC next week but they have dug themselves a hole bigger than Britney did at the VMAs. 4-3
CHIEFS over Vikings 13-10
I was not right about Larry Johnson getting back on track (42 yards on 24 carries which is the equivalent of Kobe getting 20 points on 29 shots) but I was right about Minnesota not being ready to pull out a road W. Minnesota’s problem is they have no passing game. Their QB’s are mediocre at best and their WR’s are even worse. Adrian Peterson is carrying them right now but he can only do so much. Their defense is great at shutting down the run but the O is failing them. Give a team enough chances (especially a home team) and eventually they will break you. That’s pretty much what happened in KC today. 5-3
BUCS over Rams 24-3
I hate the Rams. It’s funny how when Steven Jackson finally shows up (115 yards on 30 carries) Marc Bulger self-destructs (116 yards, 3 INTs, 0 TDs). Tampa Bay’s defense was slept on in the preseason and they are getting the job done in a way no one really thought possible. Their offense is just doing enough to get by. St Louis meanwhile was in the game until they missed a field goal late in the first half. After that it was game over. I have a feeling people will start jumping on the Tampa Bay bandwagon just in time to see it fall off. 5-4
RAVENS over Cardinals 26-23
What is up with Baltimore and giving away games this year. They handed Cincy a Week 1 win with all the turnovers, bad playcalls and dropped endzone catches. Then they practically handed the Jets the game back last week but dropped balls kept it in their favor. And now this week they let Kurt Warner lead the Cardinals back from down 20-3 to tie the game? I mean seriously, the Cardinals scored 17 points at Baltimore in the 4th quarter. Who could have seen that coming? Matt Leinart may have messed around and temporairly lost his job until Kurt gets sacked 12 times and throws 4 INTs. Boldin was an absolute monster (14 catches, 181 yards and a TD) on Baltimore’s secondary. The Ravens have got to start putting some offensive TDs on the board, they can’t keep relying on Stover to save the day. 6-5
Colts over TEXANS 30-24
A lot closer than I expected but it seems as if the Colts are simply content with putting W’s on the board. Joseph Addai’s TD was absolutely disgusting by the way. I come away from this game more impressed with the Texans. They held their ground against the defending champs without their number one receiver. Who knows what could have happened had Schaub not thrown those 2 picks. Texans fans have a lot to be excited about in my eyes. For the Colts it was business as usual as they march to the postseason. 7-6
RAIDERS over Browns 26-24
Oakland used that bastardly ‘call a t
imeout right before the other team kicks it’ move that was used on them last week. Raise your hand if you think that rule is going to be looked at. Thank you. That sound you hear is the Cleveland Browns returning back to Earth with the rest of us. Derek Anderson, you ex-Beaver was back to his old ways. Who pissed LaMont Jordan off? He must have realized he’s not a 90 in Madden anymore or something. Another 100+ yard performance and whoever has him on their fantasy team is smiling. Meanwhile, Daunte Culpepper sighting and he put up some solid stats. The Raiders finally won for the first time in forever. 8-7
SEAHAWKS over Bengals 24-21
Had they beaten the Browns last week, this loss wouldn’t be as tough. Instead that 1-2 is looking even more disgusting for Cincy. Coup said the keys for the Bengals would be to force turnovers and get some stops on 3rd down. Well they got two turnovers but they had four and they lost Rudi Johnson. The offense can only do so much. When they needed to stop the Seahawks late they couldn’t get it done and that fumble on special teams was just unfortunate. TJ, Carson and Ocho Cinco can’t play both sides. Meanwhile the Seahawks still didn’t impress me that much as they show up when they want to. Maybe I just hate the Seahawks for having to watch them when they were they bad. 8-8
Jaguars over BRONCOS 23-14
This I did not see coming. The Jags looked so mediocre the first two weeks and the Broncos looked good. But there is one thing you have to do if you want to beat the Jags and that is stop the run. If you stop their run attack they are done. Denver did not stop the running game and paid for it dearly. Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew woke up and combined for 121 yards and David Garrard added 52. When the Jaguars are running they can hold onto the ball and suffocate you. My big thing is why on earth did the Broncos not kick a field goal from their own 9-yard line? Put some trust in your D. Questionable playcall by Shanahan. 8-8
Panthers over FALCONS 27-20
I was wrong but boy was it close. If the Falcons had stayed aggressive and had DeAngelo Hall not let Steve Smith get in his head the Birds would have won this one. Too bad Hall got bamboozled into those three penalties which really took the steam out of Atlanta. Also they could not stop DeShaun Foster at the end of that game, he looked like LT in Madden 08. Kudos to Joey Harrington for bouncing back from the bad two weeks and responding to the Leftwich signing. He must have thought he was back at Oregon or something. They still have no run game though. The bad news for Carolina is Delhomme is banged up (can Carr really play?) and so is Steve Smith. 8-9
Giants over REDSKINS 24-17
That defensive stand at the end of the game could turn around the Giants season. And no I am not kidding. That is just the kind of thing that can wash everything else away and bring everyone together. And the funny part is that the Giants defense has been failing them this year, yet they are the ones who won them this game. As good as the Redskins may have looked on Monday they looked bad today. They aren’t quite ready we will see how both these teams do in the future. 8-9
Cowboys over BEARS 34-10
I know for a fact Coup will fawn over this Cowboys win, I’m surprised he hasn’t changed the design of the blog or the name or something. Romo didn’t make mistakes and Rex Grossman did. This for sure cemented the Cowboys as for real. It’s funny, no one has anything bad to say about T.O. anymore but last year they were dogging him all year. It’s weird what happens when they are all healthy and all seemingly on a mission. Huge dent in the armor of the Bears. They pride themselves on D…and the D got ripped up. They’re still good but the holes just got magnified times 10 after tonight. 9-10