NFL Week 7 Observations

Weekend Media Gaffes

• Emmitt Smith, a broadcaster who is improving each week in his commentary, both in delivery and quality of analysis, called Chad Johnson an "escape goat" on the Sunday morning ESPN pregame show. Let's not forget the laugh out loud error Smith recently made when quoting coach Jim Valvano, when he said "Don't give up, Don't even give up!" Thank you Bill Simmons for bringing that to national attention.
  
• Tiki Barber, on NBC's Football Night in America, stated that Randy Moss is "head and heels" above any wide receiver in football.
  
• Tony Siragusa, said his psychic-like ability to predict the next down's play derived from the "glass ball" he had in front of him.
  
• Keyshawn Johnson, when asked to predict the outcome of the Houston Texas vs. Tennessee Titans game fell into the trap of making the "David Carr is the starting Texans QB, oh wait no he's not" joke about 7 weeks too late.
  
• Tim McCarver, during game 7 of the ALCS informed viewers that the pitcher has an advantage over the batter when there are 2 strikes in the count. Thanks Timmy!
  
• Memo to the NFL: You cannot make commercials promoting NFL.com with clips of NFL players doing gratuitous end zone celebrations that also feature Shaun "19 carries for 47 yards against the F-ing Rams" Alexander and an overweight Joey Fatone, when you fine fine NFL players thousands of dollars for those very celebrations. What's next, promoting NFL licensed apparel by demonstrating their durability when bitten and clawed by Mike Vick's dogs?
  

Week 7 Observations...

We'll begin with the New York games:

- On the New York Giant's first drive of the game Eli Manning looked like the total package at quarterback. He displayed accuracy, arm strength, and touch all while never blinking an eye when Derrick Ward dropped 2 easy passes, including one sure TD. The rest of the game Manning was solid, making no glaring errors or game-killing mistakes that Giant fans had grown accustomed to in 2006, but also doing nothing that screamed he was on his way to elite status.

- The 49ers seemed reluctant to tackle Brandon Jacobs (18 carries, 108 yards).

- Even though rookie CB Aaron Ross got smoked by Arnez Battle for a TD, it does seem like he makes at least 1 impact defensive play each game, which usually comes via sack or interception. He joined his team this Sunday @ the Trent Dilfer sack party. The guest list also included Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora.

- Vernon "Click-Clack" Davis needs to make a catch, especially when nobody is guarding him. He does look awesome on those Under Armour commercials though.

- The best moment of the Giants vs 49ers game for me was when an injured Larry Allen, the greatest guard of his generation, refused to come off the field despite being in what looked like excruciating pain. He just waived the backup guard off the field while limping around like he stepped on a land mine.

- This was Plaxico Burress's first game this season with a TD reception.

- I now understand why Eric Mangini has been reluctant to go for it on 4th down and inches in his opponent's territory. This week against the Bengals, when coach Mangini actually went for it on 4th and short, Thomas Jones made it VERY interesting to say the least, getting the first down by a nose with a generous spot by the official.

- Laveranues Coles was brilliant in this game (8 rec, 133 yards, 2 TD), especially after the catch as seen in his 2nd TD reception. I couldn't imagine the numbers he'd put up if he had a QB that could stretch the field. Consider Coles the bargain value version of Steve Smith; the compact, athletic receiver with great ball skills and excellent ability after the catch. Coles of course, lacks the elite speed of Steve Smith, who is nearly impossible to over-throw.

- Bengals reserve RB Kenny Watson had 31 carries for the Bengals against the Jets. He had only 35 carries the entire season going into Week 7. In all of 2006 he had 25 carries, and in 2004 he had just 26 carries. The Jets defense made Kenny Watson look like a work-horse comparable to Larry Johnson or Ricky Williams circa 3 years ago.

- Eric Mangini took a lot of heat on the NY talk radio circuit for his play calling against the Eagles in Week 6. The one play that really bothered Jets fans was 4th & goal play which involved a jump ball to Laveranues Coles with no other receivers running patterns. Mangini went to this type of play on more than once occasion this Sunday against the Bengals, each time resulted in an incomplete pass. I don't like this play call for several reasons:

1. Everything must go perfectly soup to nuts for a play like this to work.
2. You only have one receiver to throw the ball to.
3. You receiver must contend both with the defensive back guarding him and trying to keep his feet in bounds. Not to mention Laveranues Coles is not a tall receiver.
4. BUT here is the key reason I do not like this play. The NFL is now in an era where defensive players are almost solely judged coming out of college on their athletic ability (i.e. how they do in the combine) rather than their natural football instincts. SO what we now have are defenses that are comprised of guys with great 40 yard dash times and that have 36'' vertical leaps but often lack natural football instincts on the field. The type of patterns these types of defensive backs can defend are go routes and jump balls - routes defended solely on their ability to run with a WR and/or jump with him. The types of pass plays the modern defensive player struggles with are patterns that confuse the coverage scheme (which I see literally all the time, even on the best defenses) AND plays where speedy yet small cornerbacks are forced to make a tackle on a more physical WR. Chad Pennington, a QB whose career in the NFL is based on his ability to read coverage and be accurate, should be exposing this inherent weakness in defenses in goal line situations and not throwing fade routes. I'm using the Jets as an example here, but I see this WAY too often in the NFL. And just to continue the point I was making on athletic ability vs natural football instincts when drafting defensive players, I think my point is best illustrated when comparing Champ Bailey (hands down the best CB in the NFL) and DeAngelo Hall (the most over-hyped CB in the NFL). Bailey is a great football player who also happens to be a great athlete. How many different positions did he play at UGA? DeAngelo Hall runs a sub 4.3 40 yard dash, and looks great with the ball in his hands, but gets exposed every time he's matched up on a top-notch receiver. Even an aging Amani Toomer had his way with him on MNF in Week 6.

- Chad Johnson, if you are going to the Hall of Fame in 20?? then you MUST make catches on perfectly thrown balls in the end zone. I didn't see you say sorry to Carson Palmer after that drop.

Now my observations from around the league...

- Tavaris Jackson completed 6 total passes against the Cowboys. Tom Brady completed 6 passes for touchdowns against the Dolphins.

- In Marc Bulger's last 3 games he has a combined passer rating of 116.3 (35.6 + 42.7 + 38.0). Tom Brady has had a passer rating greater than 116.3 in 5 of 7 games played this year, with 2 just under (105.7 and 115).

- Tom Brady had more TD passes on Sunday (6) than he did incompletions (4).

- Best stat/observations I heard over the weekend: The Patriots traded a 4th round draft pick for Randy Moss. The New York Jets traded a 2nd round draft pick for Justin McCareins.

- Tony Romo threw his first career opening drive TD against the Vikings.

- Once Adrian Peterson gets by the first level of defense he is almost unstoppable. But after being crowned the 21st century version of Gale Sayers after his Week 6 performance against the Bears, Peterson only got 12 carries against the Cowboys.

- Marion Barber III wears Under Armour underpants!

- The Redskins won their game against the Cardinals despite rushing for just 73 yards on 26 carries and throwing for 95 yards.

- Tampa Bay lost to Detroit even though they won the time of possession by nearly 12 minutes.

- Bears fans were calling for Rex Grossman's head, Cedric Benson might be next. 17 carries for 46 yards against the Eagles (2.7 per carry) and just 3.1 yards per rush going into the game.

- The Falcons against New Orleans had more 1st downs (18-14), converted 3rd downs at a better efficiency (50% - 33%), had more total yards, were more or less equally penalized, won the turnover battle (1-0), and possessed the ball for almost 10 minutes longer, and LOST.

- The Dolphins did lose by 3 TDs so this point may be irrelevant BUT they did rush for 6 yards a clip on 30 carries against the Pats.

- Why is Jason Taylor celebrating his interception return for a TD against the Patriots' 2nd string QB Matt Cassell when the score brought his team to within 3TDs of tying the game??

- I'm beginning to ponder what the Rams should do with the 1st pick in the 2008 draft. Blue chip offensive line prospect or impact defensive player?

- Welcome back Priest Holmes. 5 touches for 3 yards, even with an 8 yard carry mixed in. Yikes.

- With a 61 yard, game winning FG as time as expires on his resume already, Rob Bironas hit 8 field goals (52, 25, 21, 30, 28, 43, 29, 29) to set a new NFL record, including the game-winner.

- What a surprise, Jason Elam hits a GW FG to win a game on Sunday Night Football. I've seen this happen about 500 times. By the way, everybody and their mother had the Steelers to win this game and to cover the 3.5 points. A lot of people also thought the Broncos were done, me included.

- SURREAL MOMENT OF THE WEEK NOMINEES

1. FB Jeremi Johnson #31 and Hank Poteat #31 had offsetting penalties on the same play in the Bengals @ Jets game.
   
2. Tom Brady to Kyle Brady TD. The last times 2 Brady's connected on a TD score was Peter to Bobby on the astro turf in 1973.

I'm an idiot for...

- Eagles (-5) - The only reason i picked the Eagles to cover was because I took the points on too many games this week and tried to even it out. Bad move.

- 49ers (+9.5) - Trent Dilfer running for his life against the best pash rush in the NFL was something I should have envisioned going into the game. He did toss 2 nice TD passes when his protection actually held up to Arnez Battle and Ashley Lelie.

- Dolphins (+16.5) - Thinking that if anybody could have a close game against the Pats, it would be the now 0-7 Dolphins was just asinine.

I'm a genius because...

- In my Week 7 picks I stated that Randy Moss was the most dominant WR of my lifetime. Needless to say he made 2 of the most amazing, freakish display of athleticism/hand-eye-coordination TD receptions you'll ever see by one player in one week, or a season for that matter. Even the one-handed grab he made on a pass thrown out of bounds was a thing of beauty. It's a scary situation when a 6'4 WR runs a 4.3 40 yard dash, has the best hands in the NFL, and has a Hall of Fame QB throwing the ball to him.

- Falcons (+9.5) - I knew the Saints hadn't cured their ills on MNF and they barely eked out a win against the lowly Falcons.

- I made a joke in my NFL picks blog about Jay Cutler the QB and Jay Cutler the bodybuilder. Shannon Sharpe made the same joke this Sunday on the CBS pre-game show - with video.

What to look from me this week...

1. 2 baseball columns, one dealing with the Mets and one breaking down the great right handed hitters of this generation (A-rod, Guerrero, Pujols, Ramirez- notice those names are in alphabetical order with my actual rankings of them to come soon).
   
   
2. Week 8 NFL picks, Week 9 NCCA picks end of the week.
   
   
3. Possible MNF roundup if necessary.