Some conclusions can be drawn after the NFL’s third week. First, no 3-0 team can be assured of anything. Thirteen games remain and one crucial injury can turn things sour in an instant and ruin post season hopes. Conversely, 0-3 teams are in trouble. Likewise, some other teams are showing some symptoms of danger from what they’ve shown so far. Three 0-3 teams were division leaders last year: Miami, Tennessee, and Carolina.
First, look at Tennessee. If there’s a team capable of rebounding, they have a lot of talent to do so. They had a splendid run in 2008 only to be ruined by the Ravens in the playoffs, but stand at 0-3. Another AFC division champ, Miami is 0-3, but their hopes of any recovery are far worse especially given QB Brad Pennington is lost for the season. The power schedule is especially hard on Miami with the two teams it picks up in the rotation as if the Ravens have it easy as a second place team picking up New England and Indianapolis.
Carolina stands at 0-3 after going to Dallas last night. They looked miserable so far with QB Jake Delholme not fooling anybody. Dallas hardly played brilliantly but were given enough by an unmotivated looking Panther squad that never caught fire.
Other 0-3 teams are just miserable teams, and guess what? Detroit is not one of them. One could argue there are a few teams worse off than Detroit. Cleveland showed zero chemistry in their third loss against the Ravens. Coach “Man-Genius” is not getting the team to gel and could be fostering resentment including petty discipline actions against players including fining the daylights out of a player, $1701.00 who did not pay for a $3.00 bottle of water on his hotel tab. His long wavering on naming a quarterback made no sense. It showed a lack of commitment to his players. Both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn knew one would get the nod and the other wouldn’t. Delaying it didn’t help. Quinn looked horrible against the Ravens defense, but bringing in Anderson did not look like a strategic move. It looked punitive, a knee jerk reaction from an angry coach. Anderson looked better for a couple plays but he was as tentative and ineffective as Quinn over the long haul. Clearly the message to Browns’ players is that the coach will not stand behind them. They are little more than disposable chess pieces. We noted Rex’s brother, Rob Ryan, is now defensive coordinator for the Browns. Mangini does not need him breathing down his yellow little back does he?
St. Louis is now clearly the worst team in the NFL. QB Mark Bulger is out with a shoulder injury. Former Raven, Kyle Boller is in. We wish Boller well. He was a classy young man in Baltimore despite his struggles as quarterback. Life won’t be easy. Tampa Bay is an 0-3 team that looks like a rebuilding project where the new lumber hasn’t shown up yet.
Of the 1-2 teams, the Washington Redskins appear in disarray. Daniel Snyder’s big bucks brought in Albert Haynesworth to solidify their defense, but Haynesworth was carted off the field injured. QB Jason Campbell simply cannot command a game. Questions abound whether Jim Zorn is capable of being an NFL head coach. The NFC East is one of the toughest divisions in football. The Skins not only need new talent, they need a new approach. If Joe Gibbs couldn’t get that team to gel, who could?
Who would expect the Pittsburgh Steelers to be 1-2 having lost to Chicago and Cincinnati back-to-back? Clearly, missing Troy Polamalu weakens their defense and its chemistry, but there’s more to it than that. Arizona went to the Super Bowl last year and stand at 1-2. Did viewers see how rattled Kurt Warner looked as the game progressed?
Turning to the positive, let’s look at the 3-0 teams and examine what’s going on. That the Ravens and Colts are 3-0 surely surprises few though the Ravens win over San Diego was a power win against a potential division winner. Though the New York Giants faded down the stretch last year, their standing shows they still are a very stable franchise. Beyond that, the remaining 3-0 teams each have an interesting story to tell.
The New York Jets benefit from the attitude of new head coach, Rex Ryan who brought Bart Scott from the Ravens to be his star disciple on defense. How quickly the Jets are mastering the “organized chaos” approach to drive opposing offenses mad. Meanwhile, Ryan utilizes a similar approach with his rookie Quarterback, Mark Sanchez that proved successful for the Ravens with Joe Flacco a year ago. Yes, the Jets look much like the Baltimore Ravens and New York fans are taking note.
Finishing the preseason, the Denver Broncos looked like a team in shambles. Brandon Marshall was showing up his teammates and acting openly defiant in training camp leading to his suspension. Their status at quarterback was a huge mystery with Jay Cutler leaving for Chicago. Long time coach, Mike Shannahan, had been dismissed in favor of John McDaniels, a head coach so youthful looking he could be mistaken for a confused rookie. While fans considered the team’s season ahead, they could only see doom and chaos, three weeks later, Denver is 3-0 beating Cincinnati, Cleveland and Oakland. Okay, these are not the most compelling teams unless Cincinnati, their most difficult opponent is now a competitive organization. In recent years, much of Denver’s failure has pointed directly at their defense, but this year in three games, they’ve given up one touchdown, a total of only 16 points total for all three games. By the way, former Ravens’ defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan assumed that roll for Denver. Surprised?
Indianapolis follows Peyton Manning’s lead having quite a battle to win their first game against Jacksonville, showing more power against Miami in week two, but then looking like their toughest against Arizona, Sunday Night. Tony Dungy handed off the Colts to Jim Caldwell, but truly Payton Manning’s example is what leads the Indy franchise to excellence.
The Minnesota Vikings are 3-0 with Brett Favre receiving the snaps. While their first two victories were routine against Cleveland and Detroit, Sunday’s game against San Francisco demonstrated why Favre could be the missing piece to put the Vikings perhaps deep into January play. Not only did he command a final seconds game winning play, but where most QB’s would step out of the way, who was downfield throwing a critical block to help his offense succeed? For those who charge Favre as a privileged character, on game day, few players become more absorbed in the total game like #4. Things will get real interesting Monday night when Green Bay visits Minnesota with Favre staring down his former teammates.
Did anyone see New Orleans as a possible 3-0 team? They’ve conquered Detroit, Philadelphia, and Buffalo scoring over 40 points in their first two games and while only scoring 27 against Buffalo, their defense stepped up to hold Buffalo to a touchdown. Drew Brees appeared masterful in his first three starts with a multifaceted offensive attack. Look at week two. Sure, Philadelphia’s offense was compromised without Donovan McNabb, but their defense was considered among the sports’ top, scoring 48 points against the Eagles in Philadelphia is no fluke.
Finally, the Baltimore Ravens stand at 3-0 beating Kansas City, San Diego, and Cleveland. While some paranoid Baltimore fans rumble the defense isn’t up to form, one of the classic moments of the season had to be Ray Lewis’s game ending hit to punctuate the team’s win against San Diego for their second win. The team seemed a little bit too relaxed in their first game against Kansas City, but they revealed a powerful offense regardless. Their third game against Cleveland showed just how dominating the Ravens can be with their new offensive game giving Joe Flacco the chance to enlist a stronger than expected receiving corps lead by Derrick Mason and finding new life from tight end, Todd Heap. Add to that the double headed monster running the ball with Willis McGahee and Ray Rice chalking up yards and booming into the end zone.
For the 2-1 teams, the glass is half full. The 1-2 teams find the glass half empty. Of the 2-1 teams, the most interesting are Cincinnati and Atlanta. The Bengals are but one play away from being 3-0. They’ve looked strong on both sides of the ball, standing up well against Denver in their only loss, absolutely dominating Green Bay, then perhaps playing better than the three point margin would indicate against Pittsburgh. Atlanta has continued to build on last year’s success but coming up short against New England in Foxboro. They’ll compete with New Orleans for the NFC South and should otherwise be one of the best prospects to win a wild card berth.
The one 1-2 team that stands out is Pittsburgh. They won the one game they’ve played that many would have thought could have been their most likely loss against Tennessee, but then they were embarrassed at home by the Chicago Bears without their leader, Brian Uhrlacher on defense. Add to that, losing to Cincinnati, a divisional rival, must make last year’s Super Bowl win look more and more like a memory. Troy Polamalu’s central role on defense clearly hurts the team’s effort.
The Washington Redskins stand at 1-2 as well, but would they have been expected to do better were one of those losses not against Detroit? What was so conspicuous in yesterday’s game was that Detroit clearly looked like the better team through out yesterday’s game. St. Louis truly appears to be the weakest team in the NFL, but the Redskins only managed a 9-7 win in that contest.
Key matchups we’ll be noting for week 4 include: Baltimore at New England, Dallas at Denver, San Diego at Pittsburgh (the NBC Sunday night game), and Green Bay at Minnesota for Monday Night.
Arizona, Atlanta, Carolina, and Philadelphia are the first teams getting a Sunday off. This should prove most advantageous for Philadelphia giving their QB McNabb another week to recover from his rib injuries before facing live action. Atlanta hardly looks like a team ready for a rest. One would think they’d want to keep going and build on their success. Arizona could use the bye week to get refocused and revitalize after such a devastating defeat as they suffered against the Colts before a nationwide audience. For the Carolina Panthers, they might do well to get as far away from football as possible until its time to begin preparation for week five. They’ve suffered a miserable loss in week one, “shoulda-woulda-coulda” in week two, and then just a pure display of weakness losing to Dallas last night. Jake Delholme has a target on his back. The stat sheet shows interceptions even though two of his tosses were not as much a matter of QB error. Panther fans must wonder if his rebuilt arm still has the power to executive the passing game Delholme attempts to execute.
By the way, Cleveland Brown’s Eric Man-Genius, is holding out announcing who will be the quarterback for Cleveland’s game hosting Cincinnati. Being petty and indecisive is no way for Mangini to be a leader among men. In his big ego, he probably assures himself that Bill Belichick, the prized pupil of Bill Parcells, started off miserably and was widely detested when he first coached the Cleveland Browns. The one-time Belichick prodigy destroyed that relationship when accepting the head post for the Jets opening up the “spy gate” controversy. The Browns look to Buffalo, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Oakland, and Detroit to try to scrap together a win or two.
Finally, what’s going on in Oakland? Head coach Tom Cable appears headed toward felony assault charges for punching assistant coach, Randy Hanson, leaving Hanson with a broken jaw. Clearly, the team’s attempts to keep the episode as “an internal matter” have not succeeded. One can only speculate what turmoil this episode might create for the Raiders and what discipline on top of legal trouble might be forthcoming from Commissioner Roger Goodell.
First, look at Tennessee. If there’s a team capable of rebounding, they have a lot of talent to do so. They had a splendid run in 2008 only to be ruined by the Ravens in the playoffs, but stand at 0-3. Another AFC division champ, Miami is 0-3, but their hopes of any recovery are far worse especially given QB Brad Pennington is lost for the season. The power schedule is especially hard on Miami with the two teams it picks up in the rotation as if the Ravens have it easy as a second place team picking up New England and Indianapolis.
Carolina stands at 0-3 after going to Dallas last night. They looked miserable so far with QB Jake Delholme not fooling anybody. Dallas hardly played brilliantly but were given enough by an unmotivated looking Panther squad that never caught fire.
Other 0-3 teams are just miserable teams, and guess what? Detroit is not one of them. One could argue there are a few teams worse off than Detroit. Cleveland showed zero chemistry in their third loss against the Ravens. Coach “Man-Genius” is not getting the team to gel and could be fostering resentment including petty discipline actions against players including fining the daylights out of a player, $1701.00 who did not pay for a $3.00 bottle of water on his hotel tab. His long wavering on naming a quarterback made no sense. It showed a lack of commitment to his players. Both Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn knew one would get the nod and the other wouldn’t. Delaying it didn’t help. Quinn looked horrible against the Ravens defense, but bringing in Anderson did not look like a strategic move. It looked punitive, a knee jerk reaction from an angry coach. Anderson looked better for a couple plays but he was as tentative and ineffective as Quinn over the long haul. Clearly the message to Browns’ players is that the coach will not stand behind them. They are little more than disposable chess pieces. We noted Rex’s brother, Rob Ryan, is now defensive coordinator for the Browns. Mangini does not need him breathing down his yellow little back does he?
St. Louis is now clearly the worst team in the NFL. QB Mark Bulger is out with a shoulder injury. Former Raven, Kyle Boller is in. We wish Boller well. He was a classy young man in Baltimore despite his struggles as quarterback. Life won’t be easy. Tampa Bay is an 0-3 team that looks like a rebuilding project where the new lumber hasn’t shown up yet.
Of the 1-2 teams, the Washington Redskins appear in disarray. Daniel Snyder’s big bucks brought in Albert Haynesworth to solidify their defense, but Haynesworth was carted off the field injured. QB Jason Campbell simply cannot command a game. Questions abound whether Jim Zorn is capable of being an NFL head coach. The NFC East is one of the toughest divisions in football. The Skins not only need new talent, they need a new approach. If Joe Gibbs couldn’t get that team to gel, who could?
Who would expect the Pittsburgh Steelers to be 1-2 having lost to Chicago and Cincinnati back-to-back? Clearly, missing Troy Polamalu weakens their defense and its chemistry, but there’s more to it than that. Arizona went to the Super Bowl last year and stand at 1-2. Did viewers see how rattled Kurt Warner looked as the game progressed?
Turning to the positive, let’s look at the 3-0 teams and examine what’s going on. That the Ravens and Colts are 3-0 surely surprises few though the Ravens win over San Diego was a power win against a potential division winner. Though the New York Giants faded down the stretch last year, their standing shows they still are a very stable franchise. Beyond that, the remaining 3-0 teams each have an interesting story to tell.
The New York Jets benefit from the attitude of new head coach, Rex Ryan who brought Bart Scott from the Ravens to be his star disciple on defense. How quickly the Jets are mastering the “organized chaos” approach to drive opposing offenses mad. Meanwhile, Ryan utilizes a similar approach with his rookie Quarterback, Mark Sanchez that proved successful for the Ravens with Joe Flacco a year ago. Yes, the Jets look much like the Baltimore Ravens and New York fans are taking note.
Finishing the preseason, the Denver Broncos looked like a team in shambles. Brandon Marshall was showing up his teammates and acting openly defiant in training camp leading to his suspension. Their status at quarterback was a huge mystery with Jay Cutler leaving for Chicago. Long time coach, Mike Shannahan, had been dismissed in favor of John McDaniels, a head coach so youthful looking he could be mistaken for a confused rookie. While fans considered the team’s season ahead, they could only see doom and chaos, three weeks later, Denver is 3-0 beating Cincinnati, Cleveland and Oakland. Okay, these are not the most compelling teams unless Cincinnati, their most difficult opponent is now a competitive organization. In recent years, much of Denver’s failure has pointed directly at their defense, but this year in three games, they’ve given up one touchdown, a total of only 16 points total for all three games. By the way, former Ravens’ defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan assumed that roll for Denver. Surprised?
Indianapolis follows Peyton Manning’s lead having quite a battle to win their first game against Jacksonville, showing more power against Miami in week two, but then looking like their toughest against Arizona, Sunday Night. Tony Dungy handed off the Colts to Jim Caldwell, but truly Payton Manning’s example is what leads the Indy franchise to excellence.
The Minnesota Vikings are 3-0 with Brett Favre receiving the snaps. While their first two victories were routine against Cleveland and Detroit, Sunday’s game against San Francisco demonstrated why Favre could be the missing piece to put the Vikings perhaps deep into January play. Not only did he command a final seconds game winning play, but where most QB’s would step out of the way, who was downfield throwing a critical block to help his offense succeed? For those who charge Favre as a privileged character, on game day, few players become more absorbed in the total game like #4. Things will get real interesting Monday night when Green Bay visits Minnesota with Favre staring down his former teammates.
Did anyone see New Orleans as a possible 3-0 team? They’ve conquered Detroit, Philadelphia, and Buffalo scoring over 40 points in their first two games and while only scoring 27 against Buffalo, their defense stepped up to hold Buffalo to a touchdown. Drew Brees appeared masterful in his first three starts with a multifaceted offensive attack. Look at week two. Sure, Philadelphia’s offense was compromised without Donovan McNabb, but their defense was considered among the sports’ top, scoring 48 points against the Eagles in Philadelphia is no fluke.
Finally, the Baltimore Ravens stand at 3-0 beating Kansas City, San Diego, and Cleveland. While some paranoid Baltimore fans rumble the defense isn’t up to form, one of the classic moments of the season had to be Ray Lewis’s game ending hit to punctuate the team’s win against San Diego for their second win. The team seemed a little bit too relaxed in their first game against Kansas City, but they revealed a powerful offense regardless. Their third game against Cleveland showed just how dominating the Ravens can be with their new offensive game giving Joe Flacco the chance to enlist a stronger than expected receiving corps lead by Derrick Mason and finding new life from tight end, Todd Heap. Add to that the double headed monster running the ball with Willis McGahee and Ray Rice chalking up yards and booming into the end zone.
For the 2-1 teams, the glass is half full. The 1-2 teams find the glass half empty. Of the 2-1 teams, the most interesting are Cincinnati and Atlanta. The Bengals are but one play away from being 3-0. They’ve looked strong on both sides of the ball, standing up well against Denver in their only loss, absolutely dominating Green Bay, then perhaps playing better than the three point margin would indicate against Pittsburgh. Atlanta has continued to build on last year’s success but coming up short against New England in Foxboro. They’ll compete with New Orleans for the NFC South and should otherwise be one of the best prospects to win a wild card berth.
The one 1-2 team that stands out is Pittsburgh. They won the one game they’ve played that many would have thought could have been their most likely loss against Tennessee, but then they were embarrassed at home by the Chicago Bears without their leader, Brian Uhrlacher on defense. Add to that, losing to Cincinnati, a divisional rival, must make last year’s Super Bowl win look more and more like a memory. Troy Polamalu’s central role on defense clearly hurts the team’s effort.
The Washington Redskins stand at 1-2 as well, but would they have been expected to do better were one of those losses not against Detroit? What was so conspicuous in yesterday’s game was that Detroit clearly looked like the better team through out yesterday’s game. St. Louis truly appears to be the weakest team in the NFL, but the Redskins only managed a 9-7 win in that contest.
Key matchups we’ll be noting for week 4 include: Baltimore at New England, Dallas at Denver, San Diego at Pittsburgh (the NBC Sunday night game), and Green Bay at Minnesota for Monday Night.
Arizona, Atlanta, Carolina, and Philadelphia are the first teams getting a Sunday off. This should prove most advantageous for Philadelphia giving their QB McNabb another week to recover from his rib injuries before facing live action. Atlanta hardly looks like a team ready for a rest. One would think they’d want to keep going and build on their success. Arizona could use the bye week to get refocused and revitalize after such a devastating defeat as they suffered against the Colts before a nationwide audience. For the Carolina Panthers, they might do well to get as far away from football as possible until its time to begin preparation for week five. They’ve suffered a miserable loss in week one, “shoulda-woulda-coulda” in week two, and then just a pure display of weakness losing to Dallas last night. Jake Delholme has a target on his back. The stat sheet shows interceptions even though two of his tosses were not as much a matter of QB error. Panther fans must wonder if his rebuilt arm still has the power to executive the passing game Delholme attempts to execute.
By the way, Cleveland Brown’s Eric Man-Genius, is holding out announcing who will be the quarterback for Cleveland’s game hosting Cincinnati. Being petty and indecisive is no way for Mangini to be a leader among men. In his big ego, he probably assures himself that Bill Belichick, the prized pupil of Bill Parcells, started off miserably and was widely detested when he first coached the Cleveland Browns. The one-time Belichick prodigy destroyed that relationship when accepting the head post for the Jets opening up the “spy gate” controversy. The Browns look to Buffalo, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Oakland, and Detroit to try to scrap together a win or two.
Finally, what’s going on in Oakland? Head coach Tom Cable appears headed toward felony assault charges for punching assistant coach, Randy Hanson, leaving Hanson with a broken jaw. Clearly, the team’s attempts to keep the episode as “an internal matter” have not succeeded. One can only speculate what turmoil this episode might create for the Raiders and what discipline on top of legal trouble might be forthcoming from Commissioner Roger Goodell.
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