NFL Week 10 Observations

Weekend Media Gaffe

• Troy Aikman made one of the most biased statements imaginable after the Dallas @ Giants game. In a complete disregard for the Colts, Aikman said the "Big 2" in the NFL right now are the Patriots and Cowboys. Easy Troy, the Colts are the defending Super Bowl champions and played New England down to the wire. If Eli Manning can throw on the Dallas defense what do you think Peyton would do? I type this as Indianapolis is in the process of completely mailing in the game against the Chargers. But considering the injuries Indy has on offense, the cross-country trip, their opponent the previous week, and the weather, can you really fault the Colts for losing to the most talented roster in the NFL? And, Aikman made this statement well before Indianapolis @ San Diego even started.
  

Week 10 Observations...

We'll start with the New York game...

This Sunday it was the same old story for the Giants under Tom Coughlin. The bullying defense turned out to be a paper tiger when the chips were down, the entire team was incredibly undisciplined - committing countless penalties in crucial parts of the game, and Eli Manning, despite playing reasonably well, couldn't be counted on to will his team to victory.

Let's begin with the David Copperfield disappearing act pulled by the Giants Defense. The pass rush was Okay, but okay in a huge game isn't enough when you're supposed to have the best rush in the NFC. The Giants' pass rush was actually out-sacked by Dallas 5-2. Then there was the secondary. Not only did they do a poor job tackling - Patrick Crayton scored a TD he had no business making, but they were smoked down field twice by T.O., the same player that killed them in Week 1 and the one player you'd think they'd make a concerted effort to stop. But then again, Sam Madison in 2007 is not even close to the same player he was with the Dolphins. Well, at least they shut down Jason Witten.

While previewing this game, I said I had no choice but to choose the Cowboys to win because of the Giants' defensive history of NEVER showing up in big games. This Sunday, I was on Giants defense Paper Tiger watch while watching Dallas @ New York. I saw the tiger stripes come out on the Cowboys first drive of the game, when they marched down the field and scored a touchdown with the greatest of ease. But then the G-Men defense stiffened up, as they began making big plays in the secondary while the front-4 made Romo look uncomfortable. But I knew the tiger stripes would be out for good when the Giants' defense was unable to go into halftime with the lead, as they allowed Cowboys wide receiver Patrick Crayton score a touchdown that was the result shotty tackling. Then Romo and Owens preceded to light the Giants up in the second half and the rest was history. But the Giants could have still won the game...

Should I blame the Giants lack of discipline on Tom Coughlin? In his keynote address as Giants head coach, Coughlin promised that the team would not suffer injuries and that they would not commit penalties. Well the last 3 years or so, the story of the Giants' seasons have been too many injuries and too many penalties. Just when we thought the Giants' had turned the page on committing game killing penalties and making terrible decisions, they play a huge game and empty an entire clip while shooting them self in the foot. How many delay of game penalties did Eli and the offense commit? Safety Mike Johnson had a late hit penalty. Kevin "Who's the" Boss killed an 83 yard kick return with a hold, Chris Snee cost Brandon Jacobs a TD with a hold, Aaron Ross had a hands to the face called against him on a key 3rd and 10, Reuben Droughns didn't get out of bounds during a 2 minute drill, and Eli Manning forgot about a little invention called the Play Clock. If the Giants play smart football on Sunday, they'd be tied for the top spot in the NFC East at 7-2. Now they have to endure the questions. Will there be another 2nd half collapse? Why the penalties? Are the 6 wins a product of the easy schedule? Et cetra.

Now for Eli Manning. He certainly didn't lose the game for the Giants. But he wasn't able to win the game either. He made some extraordinary throws, one throw to Shockey was so impressive that Troy Aikman said it was the best pass he's seen Eli make his entire career. But Manning's problem is that he's too inconsistent. One second, he's displaying the full repertoire of throws. The next, he'll either lose his accuracy or show terrible lapses in judgement. Plain and simple - He's an erratic player. And whenever you have the word erratic attached to your quarterback, it's very difficult to take that next step as team towards Super Bowl contention.

In 2007, Eli Manning reminds me of one of Michael Vick's pit bulls. How so? Let's say one of Vick's dogs is rescued, nursed back to health and cared for by a loving family. Still, there is something in the dog's nature, where if its put in the wrong environment again, it will attack or turn rogue. Eli Manning, whose early career was marred by inaccurate passing and bad decision making, seemed to have matured into a top level quarterback. He was "nursed" or coached to eventually make good decisions with the football and pass with accuracy. But every now and then, when Manning is put in the right or wrong situation, depending on what team you're rooting for, we see the ugly glimpses of his erratic nature, even if its just for one play or a series of downs. I firmly believe, that just as one of Michael Vick's pit bulls could never fully be trusted in a family environment, that Eli Manning could never be trusted to lead his team to a Super Bowl. He'll be a top 10 QB for the next ten years, he'll post great stats and maybe even show signs of greatness. But when you least expect, at the least opportune time, Eli Manning is going to bite some kid's face off.

Some Other Observations from Dallas @ New York...

- I'm not questioning whether or not Julius Jones is better than Marion Barber III, because he clearly is not. But Julius Jones can play in this league. He's pretty, pretty, pretty good.

- Tony Romo (20/28, 4 TD) had a terrific game against the Giants. An interesting aspect of Romo's game is that he does not only use his feet to buy time in order to make plays down field (which he is amongst the best at doing), but he sometimes breaks the pocket and throws on the run when he really doesn't have to. In other words, he prefers to throw the ball while moving. I think a good defensive coordinator should game plan around keeping him in the pocket and not allow him to make throws from outside the tackle box.

- Jeremy Shockey had a huge game against Dallas. For somebody that talks as much as Shockey does, you wouldn't suspect that this was his first 100 yard game since 2005. Then again, if you saw how many passes he drops every week, maybe you would.

Observations from around the league...

- Every week I am more and more impressed by the Packers. Here's what the Packers have going for them.

1. Green Bay discovered how to run the football against a top notch run defense in Minnesota. Ryan Grant ran for 119 yards at nearly 5 yards per carry. Looks like the Packers found their starting RB. This is the second week in a row he's looked very good.
   
   
2. Favre is lighting it up this year! This week against the Vikings: 351 yards and 3 TD. That's following back to back weeks where he threw the game winning TD pass against Denver and KC.
   
   
3. A very under-rated receiving corps. Jennings, Driver, and Robinson are amongst the best WR threesomes in the NFC. With their ability to run after the catch, Green Bay is able to use the short passing game as an extension of the run game when they are unable to rush the ball effectively.
   
   
4. AND OF COURSE.... the Green Bay defense is stellar. They held Adrian Peterson to 45 yards rushing and shutout the Vikings. Enough said there.

- Favre threw his 200th TD at Lambeau Field and passed the 60,000 passing yards mark.

- Adrian Peterson may or may not be the best running back in the NFL. There's a good chance he is. But at this juncture in his young career, A.P. has a fumbling problem.

- Vince Young is playing so poorly that he's losing to Quinn Gray...At home. Yes, Quinn "If I'm starting you know things are" Gray got a road win against Vince Young. But maybe it wasn't Young's fault, though he did throw 2 more picks upping his season totals to 4 TD and 10 INT. Anytime VY is asked to throw the ball 41 times in a game, it's probably not going to be pretty. The bottom line in the Jacksonville @ Tennessee game was that the Jags completely shut down the Titans running game (Lendale White: 8 carries, 12 yards) and the Titans allowed the Jags to carry the ball 44 times against them. How were the Jags able run 44 times against the best run defense in the NFL? Alberty Haynesworth did not play for the Titans. If this doesn't prove who this year's defensive MVP is, I don't know what does. This is the same way Steve Nash won his first MVP award.

- The Ravens offense is officially in a state of disaster, with back to back putrid performances against the Steelers and Bengals. I guess you can say the Baltimore defense did their job, holding Cincy to 7 field goals on the day. I think that's a record for most points scored with a TD. Anyway, I said it after the Ravens played on Monday Night last week, Steve McNair is done. He was a great player at one point, a former league MVP, but his body has officially betrayed him. Or maybe it's his mind? For the second straight week he has refused to throw the ball down the field. It wasn't until Kyle Boller relived McNair that the Raven's offense was able to metriculate the ball enough to score a touchdown. Boller has some talent and he has guts. Billick has to give him another chance at the helm OR he might be done as the Ravens head coach. It's been like 8 years and the supposed offensive guru is still using his defense as a crutch.

- Don't jump back on the Bengals bandwagon after his week. Trust me.

MY TOP 5 Quarterbacks to this point in 2007:

1. Tom Brady
2. Peyton Manning
3. Benjamin Roethlisberger
4. Brett Favre
5. Tony Romo

Honorable Mentions: Derek Anderson, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Jeff Garcia

- The Steelers showed a tremendous amount of resolve coming back to win against the Browns after being down by 15 points. The Browns also showed a tremendous amount of resolve regaining the lead, though they ultimately lost. The difference in this game was Ben Roethlisberger. He made all the plays with his feet and his arm down the stretch, and unlikely Eli Manning, was able to will his team to victory when behind late in the game at home.

- Are the Steelers definitively one of the Top-3 teams in the AFC? YES.

- The Steelers played a weird game defensively against the Browns. Rather then the classic "bend but don't break defense," the Steelers had a "break but don't bend" style of play. The Browns had 163 total yards of offense, yet scored 28 points. Derek Anderson only threw for 123 yards but had 3 TD passes. And Josh Cribb's return for a TD is probably the best tight rope job you'll see all year. BUT, the fact remains that you can't expect to beat the Steelers at home when you're starting running back carries the ball 16 times for 32 yards (2.2 per carry). Outside of Jamal Lewis's out-of-body experience when he carried for 216 yards in one game this year, here are the rest of his totals: 35, 56, 64, 11, 61, 37, 35 yards. This is why I'm not sure if the Brownies are real playoff contenders yet. Remember, the weather is changing (especially in the AFC North) meaning they're going to have to run the ball effectively at some point.

- What was the difference in the Redskins vs Eagles game, where both teams rushed and passed the ball extraordinarily evenly? I watched the end of this game, and as cliche as it may sound the Eagles made all the big plays down stretch. Brian Westbrook broke a 57 yard TD reception on a screen pass, they converted a 4th and inches on their own 39 yard line, had a pivotal goal line stand, and made a huge sack on Jason Campbell with 1:55 left to force a 3rd down and 15. It is now official, though I've speculated for weeks - The Redskins are pretenders.

- Cliton Portis seems to be back to his old self. His last 2 weeks: 196 and 137 rushing yards respectively.

- In a week where Saints head coach Sean Payton strategically placed 80 St Louis Rams painted mouse traps around the New Orleans locker room as a symbolic gesture that the 0-8 Rams were a potential trap game, the Saints still lost to a then winless team, in the Superdome. There's not much to say about this game, New Orleans didn't show up to play until the 4th quarter where it was too little, too late. BUT, New Orleans (4-5) can still potentially win 10 games. Their remaining opponents: Houston, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Arizona, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Obviously, after a loss to the Rams, there are no gimme games. But I'm just saying.

- Give the Bills credit, they're 5-4 despite missing half of their starting defensive cast. I think Dick Jauron deserves some coach of the year votes.

- Antonio Cromartie is having the 3 best consecutive games I've ever seen from a defensive player.

- The Panthers are so bad at home (0-4) they allowed Joey Harrington and the Falcons to beat them. Where has Julius Peppers been this year? One solo tackle tackle this week? 1.5 sacks for the entire season? His 2007 season is eerily similar to Sammy Sosa's with the Orioles.

- I think I've called out Ced Benson every week and I think I will continue to until he produces. Benson against the Raiders: 29 carries, 9 yard long, 2.6 yards per rush. I think the Bears need to go with Adrian Peterson (yes, there's another Adrian Peterson) as their starter, just because there might be some magic in that name. The Bears won anyway and they're now 4-5, with a fighting chance to reach the playoffs in the NFC. Rex Grossman played well, throwing 1 TD without an interception, in a relief of Brian Griese.

- The slipper may have fallen off the foot of the Lions. With a loss to the Cardinals, Detroit now falls to 6-3 with a rough 7 games left to play. Detroit's remaining opponents: Giants, Packers, Vikings, Cowboys, Chargers, Chiefs, Packers.

- Lions rushed for -18 yards on Sunday.

My TOP 5 Running Backs to this point in 2007:

1. Adrian Peterson
2. LaDainian Tomlinson
3. Willie Parker
4. Brian Westbrook
5. Joseph Addai

Honorable Mentions: Clinton Portis, Marshawn Lynch, Marion Barber III, Ronnie Brown (pre injury)

MY TOP 5 Wide Receivers to this point in 2007:

1. Randy Moss
2. Reggie Wayne
3. Braylon Edwards
4. Terrell Owens
5. TJ Houshmandzadeh

Honorable Mentions: Larry Fitzgerald, Wes Welker, Steve Smith, Jericho Cotchery, Roy Williams, Donald Driver, Plaxico Burress (Stock Dropping)

I'm an Idiot because...

1. I too jumped on the Saints bandwagon.
   
   
   
2. I underestimated the heart of the Eagles. My apologies to Donovan McNabb and Andrew Reid.
   
   
   
3. I ignored the Lions history and picked them to beat the Cardinals anyway. And Kurt Warner made me eat my words.

I'm a Genius because...

1. Last week 9-2-1 against the spread, this week I'm 9-4 going into Monday Night.
   
   
   
2. I told you the Giants defense was a paper tiger. I told you there was nobody on the Giants that could stop Romo to Owens.
   
   
   
3. I really hit the nail on the head with my Cowboys, Jaguars, Bengals, Bears, Chargers, Bills, Packers, and Brown picks. I mean, I just didn't pick them correctly, I gave all the right reasons. You have to enjoy the hot streaks while they last, because it wasn't too long ago that I was on two week streak that was way under the 50% mark.