National Football Post Diner News

20    Oct 2008

QUOTE:  “The problems of victory are more agreeable than the problems of defeat, but they are no less difficult.”   Winston Churchill

SOME GAME OBSERVATIONS AND QUESTIONS

1. The Rams played the game perfectly.  They put pressure on the Cowboys and the Cowboys could not respond.  After scoring on their opening drive, the Boys next ten drives-only 8 first downs, 3 interceptions, 1 fumble, 1 missed field goal, and 5 punts.   
2. How does acquiring and spending the money for Roy Williams really help the Dallas defense?   Their defense struggled to cover the Rams and let them score the first three times they touched the ball.  I thought the reason for hiring Wade Phillips was because he was going to improve the defense. 
3. The further this team moves away from the Bill Parcells era, the more they will lose.  And losing Tony Sparano clearly hurts their offensive line as they are not playing nearly as well as they did last year. 
4. The Cowboys secondary is really playing poorly right now and you can tell the Rams were going after the OTHER Roy Williams down the field.  Williams broke his forearm and now is out of the year. 
5. The more I watch Drew Brees, the more amazed I become.  But let’s face it, the Saints have no physical qualities offensively or defensively and when they play a tough minded team because they don’t respond. 
6. The Reggie Bush injury will affect the Saints greatly because they don’t have another player who can do what Bush can do.  His plays are his plays—only.   And because the Saints don’t have a foundation for a power running back they will struggle to find the big plays. 
7. The Panthers won the game yesterday because they were the most physical team.  The might not of be pretty or flashy, but they were very effective.  They wore down the Saints. 
8. Was anyone here surprised that Brodie Croyle was re-injured again?  I hope now the Chiefs realize he is not the QB of the future.  He does not have an NFL body and can never be more than a back-up. 
9. What do the Chiefs do now?  I expect they will have a few quarterbacks in for a work out and will continue to do so until they address this situation in the off season.  The rebuilding process will take some time. 
10. The Chargers only had the ball for 24:31, yet were 64% on third downs, had a quarterback with over a 100 rating, and still lost.  The Chargers cannot cover anyone and they cannot get off the field on third down.  This secondary is playing very bad. 
11. The NFL is all about consistency and last week, the Browns and the Colts looked like they had things turned around.  And this week, they looked as bad as they ever looked all season.
12. The Browns cannot catch and pitch the ball.   Derek Anderson gets way too many balls batted down for a tall quarterback.  The Browns have themselves to blame for not at least tying the game. 
13. The Colts have to play from the lead, and when they play on the road, their lack of size and their lack of power hurts them.   They got overpowered on both lines by the Packers yesterday. 
14. Cedric Benson does not look better to me than Chris Perry.  The Bengals don’t have any backs, and really struggled to protect.  If they don’t get Palmer back, I cannot imagine the Bengals winning more than 2 games. 
15. Chad Johnson’s longest play of the game yesterday was nine yards and he has not had more than 60 receiving in any game this year. 
16. The Lions have to get the ball to Calvin Johnson more and more and if they can keep from digging a big hole for themselves, they might be able to win some games.  The Texans secondary is very suspect. 
17. Baltimore only had 8 offensive possessions yesterday and made the most of all of them. Only one time did they go three and out.  Cam Cameron did a great job of giving Joe Flacco some easy throws and allowing him to make plays. 
18. The more JT O’Sullivan plays, the more you realize he is not a starter and that he makes too many mistakes.  The 49ers are in desperate need of a quarterback. 
19. The Jets paid all that money for their offensive line and yesterday they struggled to protect Brett Favre.  Favre took a beating yesterday and I bet he will be sore for most of the week.  The Raiders defensive line was too powerful for the Jets. 
20. I wish the Raiders would let JaMarcus Russell throw the ball down the field more often.  And the Jets have to be worried about that secondary.  It will struggle to cover when they play better passing teams.  The Jets struggled to cover Javon Walker. 

GAME NOTES

NY JETS AT OAKLAND RAIDERS

FROM NFL.COM                 GAME BALL                             JAMARCUS RUSSELL

The Raiders have been guarded with second-year quarterback JaMarcus Russell. But offensive coordinator Greg Knapp took the wraps off his young signal caller at the end of OT, and Russell responded with impressive completions to Javon Walker and Zach Miller to get the Raiders in position for Janikowski's winning kick.

Sebastian Janikowsi: 57-yard FG was the longest in franchise history and longest in overtime history

Raiders win despite season-high 14 penalties

Brett Favre: 2 INT in 3 of 6 games this season; 1st game with 0 TD passes as a Jet

Thomas Jones: 159 rush yards (2nd most in career); 22nd career 100-yd game (2nd this season)

Jets: 242 rush yds (most by NYJ since rushing for 275 yds vs MIA Nov. 1, 2004) Jets averaged 7.3 yards per rush

JaMarcus Russell: 1st career home win, 2-5 career as starter; 0 INT in 4 of 7 career starts

Raiders get their first OT win since Sept. 28, 2003 when they def. SD 34-31 in OT

SAN DIEGO AT BUFFALO

FROM NFL.COM                 GAME BALL                             TRENT EDWARDS

Bills QB Trent Edwards was sharp, playing for the first time since suffering a concussion in Week 5. Edwards completed 20 of his first 22 passes and finished 25-of-30 for 261 yards and a touchdown.

Chargers fall to 3-4, they have not been above .500 all season

Chargers are 1-3 on the road this season

Bills improve to 3-0 at home this season; they've won their first 3 home games in a season for the first time since 1995

The Bills allowed 0 sacks; allowed 15 sacks in previous 4 games

Bills: 14-6 all-time in games following bye week (won 4 straight in games following a bye)

Bills scored 10 points off 3 Chargers turnovers

Trent Edwards: completed 25-30 passes, 25 completions is career high

Philip Rivers: 14th straight game with a TD pass

Bills vs 2007 Playoff Teams

THIS SEASON

                                          Week                        Result

Chargers                                 7                          W, 23-14

       Jaguars                                  2                          W, 20-16

Seahawks                               1                           W, 34-10

INDY AT GREEN BAY        

FROM NFL.COM                 GAME BALL                             PACKERS SECONDARY

The Packers shut down the Colts' offense through the air, limiting star wide receivers Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison to just four receptions between them and returning two interceptions for touchdowns.

20-point loss is 2nd worst loss for Colts under Tony Dungy (since 2002)

Packers scored 31 straight points after trailing 7-3

Colts' 3-3 mark after 6 games is their worst since 2001 when they also started 3-3 (finished 6-10 that season, last time they missed the playoffs)

Colts had won 13 straight October games, it's their first October loss since 2004

Colts 5-game road win streak ends (2nd loss in last 11 road games)

Peyton Manning had 2 INT returned for a TD for the 2nd time in his career (had 2 INT returned for a TD on Sept. 30, 2001 vs NE by Ty Law and Otis Smith)

Ryan Grant: 6th career 100-yd game (1st this season); also had first rush TD of season

Dominic Rhodes: 3rd career 2-TD game (1st since 2001)

Aaron Rodgers: 0 INT in 5 of 7 games this season

Colts had 12 penalties, tied for most in Tony Dungy era (23 penalties in last 2 games)

Colts: 3-7 all-time at Lambeau Field

Packers lead NFL with 5 INT for TD this season; 13 INT also leads NFL

SAN FRANCISCO AT NEW YORK GIANTS               

FROM NFL.COM                 GAME BALL                             CHASE BLACKBURN

Filling in for an injured Antonio Pierce, backup LB Chase Blackburn stepped in and had a career game. The fourth-year player was all over the field and finished with 10 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble as he made life miserable for 49ers RB Frank Gore and O'Sullivan.

Giants 5-1 start is their best 6-game start since 1993 when they were also 5-1

Giants are 4-0 at home this season (3-5 at home in each of previous 2 seasons)

49ers have lost 4 straight following 2-1 start (lost 8 straight following 2-0 start last season)

Brandon Jacobs: 4th straight game with a rush TD (6 rush TD in last 4 games); 6th career game with 2 rush TD

Both teams combined for 24 penalties; 49ers 13 penalties tied season high

J.T. O'Sullivan was the 49ers leading rusher with 4 rush, 27 yards

Frank Gore: 11 rush, 11 yds (fewest rush yds in 39 career starts)

J.T. O'Sullivan was sacked 6 more times; he's been sacked 29 times this season; with 115 completions for O'Sullivan this season, he's averaging 3.97 completions for every sack

49ers were just 2-10 on 3rd downs

Giants scored 10 points off 3 49ers turnovers

Giants have 12 sacks, 7 takeaways in last 2 games vs 49ers

Eli Manning-Plaxico Burress: 32 TD since 2005, most by QB-WR duo

MINNESOTA AT CHICAGO

FROM NFL.COM                 GAME BALL                             BEARS SECONDARY

The Bears' secondary was depleted coming into the game, but the backups stepped up against the Vikings. Cornerbacks Corey Graham and Trumaine McBride, filling in for starters Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman, each came up with an interception for a unit that registered four picks on the day.

Kyle Orton: 274.0 pass YPG, 10 TD in last 5 games

89 combined points makes this the highest scoring Bears-Vikings game in the 47-year history of the series (95th all-time meeting including playoffs)

48 points for Bears is their most since Dec. 7, 1986 when they also scored 48 points vs TB

Vikings 41 points is their most ever in a losing effort

Bears have 6 return TD this season (including 3 Sunday); they have 36 return TD since 2004, most in NFL…Since 2004, the Bears are 20-6 when they have a return TD (kick, punt, INT, blocked punt, fumble, missed FG)

Adrian Peterson: 4th 100-yd game this season (2nd straight 100-yd game); he has 100+ rush yards in 10 of 21 career games

Peterson has 345 rush yds, 5 TD in 2 career games at Chicago

Vikings had 5 turnovers, led to 14 points

Jared Allen: 13th career game with 2+ sacks

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