NFL 2009 Regular Season Discussion Thread - Page 3

I have always taken that SB talk with grains of salt and now I use boulders of salt when I hear the talk.  They only ray of hope I see is that under Turner this is a notoriously slow starting team and we still won the game.  If we go 2-2 in the first four, it will be a good start.

Scott, as for Cromartie, he has a ton of talent and had a wonderful rookie year that has yet to be built upon.  If he keeps it up, he might be available.  I hope I have to eat humble pie about him soon.

Johnny,

 

I could see the Chargers having a good year (maybe even 11-5). Rivers is a very good quarterback. And from my limited (meaning I don’t know all that much about San Diego ) perspective, I think he’s a good team leader. Still, it would be good to have LT injury-free for a year, not only for the Chargers, but for the league. This kind of thing must be very tiring/frustrating for fans of the Chargers.

Did anyone see no. 13 for the Bears the other night? I can’t recall his name without looking it up, but that guy ran like lightning. He’s not very big at all. He reminded me in some ways of the former punter for the Raiders, Ray Guy. His speed really surprised me. And I don’t think I’m the only one it surprised.

I agree, Rivers is top-flight.  Stat-wise, I think he was the number one rated QB last year.  Oh, do I agree it would be nice to have LT injury free and back in top-form.  I am becoming very worried we'll never see that again.

Okay, this isn't that important, and it's almost a week later, but it finally dawned on me why there was a direct snap called to the upback on that 4th and 8 play.  I had an epiphany at lunch I wanted to share.

The normal call is, if the upback counts 12 men on the field, quicksnap to the upback.  The initial criticism was that the 5 yd penalty would have just netted a 4th and 3 and they would have to kick again.  Someone else suggested later, why not just quick snap to the punter and play out the kick?

The reason (as far as I can figure) is that since they are going to get a rekick anyway, might as well snap it to the upback and maybe gain enough for the first down considering the element of surprise.  If you can't get it, well no harm no foul since the 12 men on the field penalty would result in a rekick.  Kind of like the "free play" when the defense jumps offsides -- the QB looks downfield to air it out since any INT will be called back anyway.

Of course, the upback that night counted 12 instead of 11, so they lost the ball on downs.  So don't criticize the guy for making the call.  Criticize the guy for not being able to count.

Exactly. The announcer blew it.

Is Reggie Bush playing?  I haven't head a thing about him.

What is everyone's pick for most exciting game this weekend?  It doesn't have to be between contenders.  Just what you think will be the most exciting game to watch.

Johnny,

I think the Cowboys - Giants and Patriots - Jets games could be very exciting.  I'm picking the Cowboys and Patriots to prevail.  That being said, there are several other games that look to be very interesting this weekend.

I agree both look good.  I interested in the Pats/Jets.  Like to see how the rookie Sanchez(?) qb does against the patriots.

Johnny,

Well, we know that at least one player wants to 'embarrass' the Patriots, as in not only defeat them, but make them look really bad.  That's what ESPN reported a couple of days ago.  We'll see how it goes.

Pittsburgh has 3rd and 1 and goes into the shotgun formation.  What's that say about their confidence in the running game/offensive line?  If they want to meet expectations this year, they're going to need to address this glaring weakness.
Edited by Bryan X - 9/20/09 at 3:31pm

Congratulations to the Jets for a well-planned (and esp. well-executed) gameplan.  They showed me a lot out there today.  Much of this credit goes to Ryan, who IMO showed a lot of class during the post-game news conference.

The Lions looked oh so good in the first half of their game today.  My son and I were cheering their every play, and for a while there, they looked like they had a fairly strong defense, especially against the run.  But then....

Edited by Ockeghem - 9/20/09 at 3:39pm

It's nice to see Denver finally display a strong defense after so many years of defensive cluelessness under Shanahan.  I'm feeling better about McDaniels as a coach.  The team still needs a quarterback, though.

Capacity at the new Cowboy stadium is about 111,000 - which would be a new attendance record if that many people could actually afford tickets in that stadium.

It is a big deal because NFL stadiums have seats, and it has 80,000 seats.  The GA dome has 71250 and doesn't have all that standing room.  It's easy to squeeze in more people in bleachers. 

Can't believe Romo threw three picks, that lost them the game, not the Giants last drive.

The Packers lost Chad Clifton (left tackle) in the 3rd quarter. That helped Antwan Odom; he got 5 sacks on Rodgers (4 after Clifton was hurt). Also, Cedric Benson ran for 100+ yards.

In their defense, they won the previous week on a Sproles run up the middle.  However, what #$%$#$% where they thinking.  Surely they had to know the Ravens would look for that?  Your QB has a career day and you run on 4th down?  Your QB has a career day and the defense can't hold the Ravens to under 40 points?

BTW, I didn't watch the game I just knew with all those injuries and with the way they played the week before, they would lose.  What a team...they could easily be 0 and 2 or 2 and 0.  I guess I should be grateful for 1 and 1.

The Jets QB just may...may be the real deal.  2 games do not a career make.  I enjoyed the Cowboys/Giants game, specially the end.  Jeez is that a big HD screen?  The economy is in the toilet but we can build a billion dollar stadium?

Not so much "we", as the NFL, Jerry Jones, and, unfortunately, local Texas taxpayers.

What an embarrassing loss for the Dolphins.  The Colts only have the ball for about 15 minutes the entire game and the Dolphin defense cannot even hold up for that very short period of time.  Looks like Miami is back to their old ways after the promising season last year.

ESPN's sportcenter had fun with the Dolphins inept hurry-up offense at the end of the game.  Even pee-wee football teams would have been better in a hurry-up offense.

Redskins lose to the Lions!

Redsins officially the "Most Demoralized" team in the NFL.  And the kicker?  Haynesworth left the game with an injury after he sacked Stafford.  That's right, Haynesworth is so out of shape he hurt himself getting a sack. BTW, the Lions whipped them from the start and had the lead throughout.  It was not a fluky win by any stretch.

Someone on the Redskins board said it best -- in response to the thread entitled "paper bag status acheived!" (referring to the paper bags the fans wear on their heads out of shame), someone answered, "another loss like that and we'll be at plastic bag status."

That is the best Bengals game I have ever watched.

 Just wanted to stop by and give a "whoo-hoo" for the LIons ending the losing streak.  Now Michigan and Detroit have bettered their win totals from last year. :)

That was a fun game to watch (Lions - Redskins).  This win is very important to the franchise, and it showed.  I loved what the coach did after his team won and went into the locker room.  That was classy and wise, IMO.

The Detroit Lions?  "You cannot stop them; you can only hope to contain them."

;)

Scott,

I still hope the Lions will win six games this year.  If/when they win on the road, I will know more of what this year brings for the team.

Don't forget Tampa Bay.  I'm a huge Giants fan and they are very good, but that Tampa defense is dying without Kiffin.  Or playmakers.  And that may have been the worst offensive display in 10 years.  It was truly an offensive display.

Oakland is a QB away from being a competent team.  Their defense is actually pretty good and they can run the ball, but Russell may be the worst QB in the NFL.  The fact that he has two rookie starting WR's who are lost out there doesn't help at all.

There's going to be a mutiny in Cleveland soon.  The players absolutely HATE Mangini.  Then again, that's what they said about the Giants in Coughlin's first year.

Does any team miss one player as much as the Steelers miss Polamalu?  That defense just can't get it done without him, and no team is going to win consistently without a running game and a dominanting defense.  The Steelers currently have neither.

I know they lost to Peyton Manning and all, but that Colts defense has no business shutting down the Cards to 10 points.  Looks like all you need is a pass rush to stop their offense.  After you knock Warner down a few times, he starts spraying passes all over the field.  There was one point in the beginning of the 4th Q he was knocked down 12 times.  Did they even attempt a running play?

DeSean Jackson is the best WR in the NFC East.  Hands down.  He may also be the stupidest -- he punctuated his TD catch with an endzone flip landing into a split.  The thing is, he had to get a cortizone shot for a sore groin that almost sidelined him, and he was throwing up so much on the sidelines after the celebration that he had to miss a portion of the game.  All that talent and rocks in your head.  Such a waste.

Teams that look unstoppable right now: Giants, Ravens, & Saints.  Teams that look unstoppable but aren't:  Colts, Vikings, & Jets.

I may die from paroxysms of laughter if the Cowboys start their new stadium 0-2.  Go Panthers!  Take a page from the Giants defensive playbook and keep Romo in the pocket and don't let him step up.  He is mistake prone when he stays contained.  If Barber does not play (and all indications are that he won't), I predict Felix Jones will get hurt taking up the slack and will miss at least a few games.  There were a few plays in the Giants game where he was really slow to get up -- on routine tackles.  That guy is made of glass or something.