New Orleans Saints’ Win Over Bills Their Most Impressive of The Season

Who Dat?! Who Dat?!

Who Dat say they gonna run the ball with authority, play great defense, and win on the road despite a sub-par game from Drew Brees?!

The Saints? Really?!

They did just that as they defeated the Buffalo Bills 27-7 to move to 3-0.

In the process, Sean Payton’s team is proving that they are not the same ol’ Saints.

The Saints may have scored more points in each of their first two games and won by more points against Philadelphia, but their week three victory over Buffalo may later prove to be one of the defining games of the season.

Before you scoff at such a notion, take into account some of these facts:

• The Saints were playing in their second of back to back games on the road, both more than 1,200 miles from home.
• Drew Brees (16 for 29, 172 yards, zero touchdowns, sacked twice, lost a fumble) was merely average.
• Lynell Hamilton, the Saints’ fourth running back, scored the game’s first touchdown.
• Buffalo scored a touchdown on a fake field goal.
• The Saints punted on four straight possessions (not including the one play to end the first half).
• Despite all of this, the Saints still won by 20.

One of the knocks against Sean Payton’s Saints is that they weren’t mentally tough and couldn’t close out games.

This label was well-deserved. New Orleans lost six games last season by seven points or less.

The defense seemed to always allow the big play at the worst possible time (see last season’s losses at Washington and Chicago).

The Saints began shedding that label by outscoring the Bills 17-0 in the fourth quarter and holding Buffalo to 243 total yards, more than 100 below their average.

They extended a 10-7 lead to a 27-7 final margin.

The defense held running back Fred Jackson, who came in averaging 164 total yards from scrimmage, to 97 yards and 3.9 yards per carry.

Charles Grant, (yes, Charles Grant) led a fierce pass rush that recorded four sacks, 14 quarterback hits, and helped hold quarterback Trent Edwards to a passer rating of 56.4.

The defense had a total of eight tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Offensively, the Saints proved that they are not just Drew Brees and 10 other players.

Each of the Saints’ three running backs averaged at least 4.8 yards per carry. Pierre Thomas gained all of his 126 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

New Orleans ran the ball 38 times for 222 yards and three touchdowns while passing 29 times for just 172 yards (not including sacks) and no touchdowns.

All of this while playing much of the second half with third-string left tackle Zach Strief.

When did the Saints offense decide to start imitating the 2008 Baltimore Ravens?

As the two teams combined for 11 punts and three turnovers in the first 49 minutes of the game, I know that I was thinking what most other long-suffering Saints’ fans were thinking:

Just how long can this suddenly impenetrable defense hold out against a team that came in averaging 28.5 points per game?

Turns out, the defense did just fine.

They allowed just one play longer than 18 yards, and that was the 25-yard touchdown off the fake field goal.

Trent Edwards was held to 4.5 yards per pass.

Jabari Greer and Will Smith combined to create one of the game’s biggest plays.

With the Saints clinging to a 10-7 lead late in the third quarter, Edwards had driven the Bills 70 yards to the Saints 27-yard line and faced a third and three.

Edwards’ pass, intended for Terrell Owens, was tipped by Greer and intercepted by Will Smith.

From that point forward, the defense allowed just 18 yards on 16 plays, while the offense scored 17 points to put the game away.

New Orleans, if only for one game, has shown they can win with defense, a running game, and mental toughness.

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New York Giants Defense Dominates, Shuts Out Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-0

The Giants came into Sunday’s game a very banged up team on defense.

Justin Tuck wasn’t starting because of a shoulder injury and Kenny Phillips was recently placed on injured reserve with a serious knee injury.

The Giants didn’t feel sorry for themselves, they just continued to play the same type of smash-mouth football they only know how to.

The Giants took the ball from the opening kickoff and drove 80 yards on a weaker Buccaneers defense. The drive ended with Brandon Jacobs almost walking into the end zone from six yards out to put the Giants ahead 7-0.

Early in the second quarter, the Giants took the ball back from Tampa Bay and drove the field again with the drive ending on an Eli Manning four yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith, and the Giants were up 14-0.

The Buccaneers failed to move the ball on offense and Byron Leftwich wasn’t getting the job done and neither was former Giants running back Derrick Ward, who was getting pounded by his former team. Ward only had five carries for two yards.

The Giants tried to tack on a field goal near halftime, but Lawrence Tynes hooked an easy 21-yard field goal and it stayed 14-0 at halftime.

In the second half, the Buccaneers went three-and-out very quickly and gave the ball back, which was a theme during the entire game as the Giants kept taking the ball away from the Buccaneers.

Tynes made up for his miss by making a 26 yard field goal and making the score 17-0 Giants at the end of the third quarter.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Giants had the ball again and they were driving the field again on Tampa Bay. The drive ended with another Manning touchdown pass, this time an 18 yard pass to Sinorice Moss to put the Giants up 24-0.

That drive was Manning’s last of the game as David Carr took over for Manning in the rest of the quarter.

Manning ended the game going 14 for 24 for 161 yards and two touchdown passes.

The Giants also got the running game established for the first time in 2009 as Ahmad Bradshaw carried the ball for 14 times and 104 yards. Brandon Jacobs carried it 26 times for 92 and a touchdown.

The Giants defense held Tampa Bay to just 86 yards of offense and forced Byron Leftwich out due to ineffective play and may have lost his job to Josh Johnson.

Leftwich was 7 for 16 with 22 yards passing and one interception, a very terrible day for the veteran.

The Giants defense was banged up, but played strong and well enough to pitch a shutout. In the fourth quarter, Johnson was driving the ball on the Giants prevent defense, but Tampa was still showing ineffectiveness to which they failed to get a touchdown when they got in the red zone.

The Giants are now 3-0 and still remain in first place while the Buccaneers drop to 0-3.

In a game that reached over 100 degrees, then rained and had the Giants players banged up, the Giants stepped up and flat out dominated the weaker Buccaneers team. Major credit goes to defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan for the shutout and having a strong game plan.

The Giants will travel again next week and play another 0-3 team, the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Attention Randy Lerner: In Tough Times, Tough Decisions Need To Be Made

(Location: Somewhere unknown)

(Time: Approx. 2:30PM EST)

Random voice through a speaker overhead: “Can someone please locate Mr. Lerner? And tell him that he is needed in Cleveland, Ohio, immediately.”

Male adviser standing next to Mr. Lerner in his secretive and secluded complex: “Oh s***. Mr. Lerner, you are needed in Cleveland again, sir.”

Randy Lerner: “ALREADY?! I was just there a few months back a hired this guy named Eric Mangini who said he would take care of everything, including hiring a general manager for the team. What gives?!”

Random voice through a speaker overhead: “Mr. Mangini just benched Brady Quinn after the first half and replaced him with Derek Anderson, sir.”

Randy Lerner: “HE DID WHAT?!?!?”

 

This may not have been exactly what happened when Lerner found out about Mangini’s indecisiveness, but regardless, the time has come for Lerner to get involved with the team he owns.

Quinn gets benched and Anderson throws three picks.

What to do now?

Start third-stringer Brett Ratliff in week 4?

There is a very good chance that even the Browns coaching staff does not know what to do next.

They may be very coy during interviews, but even the players are in a state of disarray, which was seen by their play during the second half of the game in their demoralizing loss to the Baltimore Ravens 34-3.

Even the fans could not believe what was taking place in front of their eyes.

Now Lerner needs to step in a make an example of someone whether it be the offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, or even head coach Eric Mangini, but someone needs to get fired.

It doesn’t really matter, at this point, who takes the fall but Browns fans want to see someone get the axe because it’s completely obvious that the players are not to blame anymore and full blame needs to go onto the coaches.

The perfect example is when play-calling is so bad, that after a 17-yard run by Jerome Harrison (which is the longest that the Ravens have given up so far this year) a quarterback sneak is called on first and ten.

How about calling a pass that is 20+ yards down the field on first and ten instead?

Apparently, that is too obvious a call and a quarterback sneak would really get the defense off-balance.

Bottom line, this journalist has tried to stay positive, but after Sunday’s contest versus the Ravens, all the positivity is now gone.

Someone needs to go down, and hopefully Lerner is about to make that move sooner than later.

(Special Teams Coordinator/ Assistant Head Coach Brad Seely might make a good head coach…hint, hint.)

 

(Article originally posted on Dawg Scooper)

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Favre Saves Vikings, Himself, and NFL

Like it or not cheeseheads, the magic is back; and you have a date with it next Monday night.

Brett Favre erased an otherwise forgettable second half of three-and-out’s, an interception, and a turnover on downs by throwing the game-winner against the San Francisco 49ers.

But it wasn’t so cut and dry as that; after all, with Favre, it rarely is.

On third and three from the 49ers 32-yard line, Favre dropped back, rolled to his right, avoided a sack, and then launched one of his classic bullets jut before getting thrown to the turf. Greg Lewis did the rest, stretching his entire body out, making the catch, and then possessing the awareness to come down with both feet in bounds.

No, really, watch this one again. It’s one for the ages.

With Adrian Peterson being locked down outside of a nice 35-yard run, the rest was on Favre and the Vikings defense. When the defense began to cave, Favre and the Vikings got one last crack at it, and then lost their chance after Favre incompleted a pass on fourth down with two minutes remaining.

At least, that’s what they thought.

The Vikings defense turned things around and held the 49ers to a three-and-out on the next possession, giving Favre one last shot at making things right. One last shot at restoring the magic, validating the big-money signing, and one last shot at injecting life into the Minnesota faithful.

After failing to top 155 passing yards in his first two games due to a conservative offense, Favre was finally unleashed, as he passed the ball 47 times en route to 301 yards and two touchdowns; the last one putting an epic stamp on Favre’s new presence as a Minnesota quarterback.

Favre quickly led the Vikings down the field from his 20-yard line, as he completed six passes, including the final throw, as he was calm and cool- exactly what the Vikings thought they had paid for.

After his throw sent the Minnesota crowd into a frenzy, Favre only had enough strength to lift his head, watch what he had created come to life, and then, dropped his face into the turf exhausted.

Now, with Green Bay coming into town next Monday night, Favre and the rest of the offense will have to regroup, correct the mistakes that stalled their early success, and do everything possible to ensure that whatever magic was in that stadium Sunday afternoon, stays there.

It’s like Jared Allen said, “Be Brett. Just one time. Be Brett.”

And thankfully, for all the purple-people-eaters out there, Favre found his “ness.” His Favre-ness.

It’s moments like these that remind us what football is all about, and why Brett Favre, for as long as he desires to, is more than welcome to be a part of them.

This may not validate the Vikings signing Favre quite yet, despite five touchdowns and only one interception, as well as a 3-0 record. But it’s sure one hell of a start.

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Questionable Fourth-Quarter Coaching Costs Steelers Another Loss

For the second consecutive week the Pittsburgh Steelers have lost a game they should have won. After falling to the Chicago Bears in Week 2, the Steelers blew an early 13-0 lead to the Cincinnati Bengals, ultimately losing 23-20 in the last minute.

Both losses came in games where the Steelers should have been in control after strong starts, in games against supposedly lesser opponents.

A common factor in both losses seems to be questionable coaching philosophies.

In the fourth quarter of both losses the Steelers’ play calling became remarkably conservative and predictable.

The loss of Troy Polamalu has clearly been a blow for the Steelers. However in the latter stages of both games the Steelers’ defense seemed to play it safe. The result was little or no pressure on Jay Cutler and Carson Palmer. Both quarterbacks marched their teams down the field with apparent ease as they led their teams to victory.

Pittsburgh’s defensive prowess since Dick LeBeau took over the defense has been relentless pressure on the quarterback, earning the team the nickname Blitzburgh. However in the key fourth quarters of both losses LeBeau and Tomlin elected to rush only four players and drop seven into coverage.

That decision seemed to suck confidence out of the defense as opposing receivers found open areas in the zone coverages and easy first downs.

If Polamalu is so important to the defense that they cannot use they blitz packages in his absence, then Polamalu rather than Harrison should have been the league’s defensive MVP last season!

Bruce Arians’ conservative and predictable fourth quarter play calling on the offensive side of the ball has been even more atrocious. In both losses Arians seemed not to recognize that any success on offense was a result of putting the ball in Ben Roethlisberger’s hands. Had it not been for Roethlisberger’s fourth quarter and overtime heroics in Week 1 the team would be looking at an 0-3 record to start the season.

The most talented players on the offensive side of the ball are Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Heath Miller and Santonio Holmes (although he was horrible against the Bengals). Every week Mike Wallace provides evidence of his abilities as well. Conversely, the running game pales in comparison. Willie Parker seems to have lost his amazing acceleration, while Mewelde Moore is a serviceable backup and Rashard Mendenhall an unproven commodity who rarely if ever saw the field in Week 3.

Whatever success Parker has experienced this year has been at times when the offense looks to the pass before the run. In those situations the running plays catch the defenses by surprise and Parker makes some decent yardage.

As soon as teams recognize that Roethlisberger has been reigned in by Arians they crowd the line of scrimmage and stuff the run. In those circumstances Parker has looked slow and tentative.

Arians play calling has rarely been more predictable than the second half of the recent lost to Cincinnati. The Bengals scored an early touchdown on an interception return when it appeared that Santonio Holmes failed to make the correct read on a Cincinnati blitz. That closed the score to 13-10 and appears to have caused Arians to panic and go into a conservative shell.

Not counting the game’s final Hail Mary attempt, the Steelers had eight first down plays following that interception return for a touchdown. Here is what Arians came up with on those plays.

 

THIRD QUARTER

13:26 Parker off right tackle for 0 yards

9:43 Parker off right tackle for 1 yard

7:19 Parker off right tackle for 2 yards

4:46 Roethlisberger passed to Parker for 9 yards

3:30 Parker off right guard for 1 yard

 

FOURTH QUARTER

14:51 Parker off left guard for 3 yards

9:08 Parker off left guard for 0 yards

7:17 Parker off right guard for 3 yards

In eight first down plays the Steelers ran Willie Parker seven times for a total of 10 yards! Following the seven Parker hand-offs the Steelers averaged 2nd and 9. The only time that Roethlisberger was allowed to pass the ball netted a very makable 2nd and one.

This kind of failed play-calling handed all the game’s momentum over to the Cincinnati Bengals. Not a team to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Bengals were happy to be handed a victory in a game that should have been a Steeler blowout. If they want to send a thank you card the Bengals should address it to Bruce Arians.

The 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers have lost their swagger and their aggressive attitude on both sides of the ball. If they don’t play a full sixty minutes of aggressive, risk-taking offensive and defensive football against San Diego next week they will be trying to crawl out of a 1-3 hole in their quest for another playoff appearance.

By the time Troy Polamalu returns to the Steelers their playoff chances may have evaporated. The current season has all the makings of the flat effort that characterized Bill Cowher’s team’s swan song following Super Bowl XL. The coaches should shoulder the blame.

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Cincinnati Bengals Defensive End Antwan Odom Demands Double-Team

September 2009 might just be the best month of Antwan Odom’s life.

Odom, the AFC Defensive Player of the Week after sacking Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers five times in week two, has piled up seven sacks in only three September games. The sack total is more than double his tally of three from an injury-plagued 2008 campaign.

Also, the sixth year defensive end—in the second year of a five year $29.5 million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals—recently welcomed a new addition to his family, as his wife gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, a boy, Memphis, on Sept. 25.

Riding this professional and personal high, Odom—who added 30 pounds to his frame in the offseason, drawing rumors of performance-enhancing drug use in recent weeks—has given the Bengals the elite, gameplan-altering pass rusher that they have lacked for years.

Odom’s effectiveness came to full manifestation in a week three contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite only getting to Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger once in the Bengals 23-20 upset victory—albeit at a critical moment, forcing Roethlisberger to scramble into the arms of Pat Sims and Robert Geathers to thwart a Steeler drive with 5:54 remaining—Odom’s presence on the backside changed the way the Steelers approached their blocking schemes throughout the game.

The Steelers entered the game prepared for Odom, leaving an extra blocker to chip off of him either at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield. This left Steeler left tackle Max Starks with a propensity to push Odom to the outside assistance, causing Odom to dip towards the middle of the field throughout the first half.

The necessity of the soft double team that Odom was given in the first half did not slow the Steeler offense, however, as Odom’s inside rushes repeatedly gave Roethlisberger room to find open throwing lanes.

When Bengal defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer adjusted at halftime, consistently sending a blitzing fifth pass rusher to force Pittsburgh to keep seven blockers in—lest they allow Odom a one-on-one matchup on the outside—the tide of the game began to shift. Odom continued to see two defenders assigned to him as the Steelers ran three-man routes.

As the Bengal defense gained confidence, the requirement of a double-team for Odom became a firm precedent for the rest of the NFL to follow.

It was no coincidence that the increased attention paid to Odom coincided with a stagnation of the Steeler offense, as the Bengal secondary was able to utilize zone coverage to put multiple defenders around the Steeler intermediate routes, limiting their effectiveness.

As the Bengals head to Cleveland in week four they confront a team that has allowed the second most sacks in the league through three weeks, giving Odom—and the strong-side defenders now receiving consistent one-on-one matchups—an opportunity to further cement a newfound image: a team with a dangerous pass rush.

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Neither Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson Will Be on Browns’ Roster in 2010

So much for the whole quarterback secret.

 

When head coach Eric Mangini is fired, either at the end of the year or next year, the secrecy that surrounded the Browns quarterback position will follow him for the rest of his career.

 

Which leads me to this: If Mangini is indeed still the coach at the end of the season, both Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson will be looking for new homes in the off-season.

 

Mangini can at least defend himself by saying that neither quarterback was handpicked by him and general manager George Kokinis.

 

Maybe Mangini thought he would be able to catch lightning in a bottle and find something in either of these guys. So far, it doesn’t look like it.

 

I hate to even bring up this topic, but if the Browns have the No. 1 pick in the draft, they should be looking at three players: safety Eric Berry and quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy.

 

Berry could be the best defensive player in the draft, if not the best player on either side of the ball.

 

The Browns have not had a star safety since they have come back and he could become the quarterback of this weak secondary. Right now, Berry would be an instant upgrade over both Abram Elam and Brodney Pool.

 

Look at how much the Pittsburgh Steelers miss Troy Polamalu. The team is 0-2 without it’s maniac playmaker in the defensive backfield.

 

The Ravens’ Ed Reed was all over the field and picked off Anderson once, while Elam and Pool had as many picks or big plays as you and me. Berry would be a solid choice and would bring a feared presence to a pathetic secondary.

 

Then there is Bradford and McCoy, the two top prospects at the quarterback position. Mangini may have no choice but to select either player under the current situation.

 

Quinn is proving that he was way overhyped coming out of Notre Dame. I am starting to see why 21 teams, including the Browns, passed on him. Anderson is a backup at best and too erratic with the football.

 

If both Quinn and Anderson are dumped after the season, do not be surprised if Mangini picks up Chad Pennington, whose relationship with the Miami Dolphins could be coming to an end.

 

Bill Parcells has already stated that Chad Henne will take over in 2010. I know, another ex-Jet who won’t contribute to this team. He would be a one-year stopgap at most before either McCoy or Bradford is ready. He is in his early 30’s and would not be a threat to either Bradford or McCoy.

 

Again, this team has problems everywhere. I don’t mean to pick on the safeties and quarterbacks only, but it starts with the quarterback. I knew Elam would be a disappointment, and Pool can’t be depended on a regular basis with his injury history.

 

LeBron, Shaq and the Cavaliers open training camp tomorrow. Maybe the Browns should shadow Dan Gilbert, Danny Ferry, and Mike Brown to see how a real professional sports franchise is operated.

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Oakland Raiders: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Stripes

Ugh.

If I had paid $600 dollars for a flight, $76 dollars for a hotel room and then another $80 for the ticket…I’d want my money back.

The Raiders, who were 1-1 going into this game, discovered there are a lot of problems to fix.

Some things were out of our control, obviously. You can’t replace Robert Gallery and expect his replacement to be as good.

But for the Raiders and the Nation, not a lot could be good about today’s game.

For the Good, you could look at Oakland’s Defense on a number of stops, including an opening drive for the Broncos that died on a fourth-and-goal.

Also, Denver could only score two touchdowns, holding Denver to field goals on other drives. Twenty-three points was at least within a ballpark…losing by 41 would have been much more painful.

Also for the good side, Oakland’s running game, when it was used, did have some nice numbers. McFadden and Bush both combined for 65 yards, however it was obvious that Cable didn’t want the run to win this game, he was looking for passing.

The last good point to make, was related to Sebastian Janikowski, who thankfully hit a 48 yard field goal. Without this, Oakland would have been shut out.

The bad side of things, as you can imagine, wasn’t hard to find. Bad passing, bad ball control, and bad play calling.

JaMarcus Russell, is easily in this field, with two interceptions in short order. One was shortly after the Raiders had stopped Denver on a goal-line stand and then with a tired defense, was turned into a touchdown. The second INT, became a 10-0 lead.

Darren McFadden, while partially responsible for not hanging onto the ball securely, wasn’t nearly as effective as hoped. It might be due to Robert Gallery being out, or due to Denver’s effort to stack the box. Whatever the reason may be, McFadden wasn’t given time to perform properly.

The mismatches, primarily created by Denver to exploit Oakland’s man-to-man coverage, helped Denver march often and easily, but also made the Raiders prone to giving up large pieces of yardage. As stated before, this game could have been much worse. But for it’s action, the defense—with a few tweaks—could carry the team.

The ugly aspects, are what makes me worried about the Raiders, in general.

For this, JaMarcus Russell falls into the bad and ugly category. Twelve for 21, his passing numbers were up, but for only 61 yards. On his two interceptions, both were attempts to Darrius Heyward-Bey. One the first one, Darrius looked like he was falling down, and on the second one, the ball simply overflew the receiver and the covering player, turned into a receiver.

Tom Cable, as well gets a nod on this. Early in the game, a drive would start up and the Raiders could convert first downs. For some reason then, Cable would switch to passing the ball, with predictable results. If you know what your teams’ strengths are, use them, don’t use the game as a practice session.

I don’t know what sort of practice sessions they have with the Darrius Heyward-Bey…but after today’s action, I hope they lock this guy in a room with Tim Brown.

Lastly for Ugly, comes the offensive line. These guys need to find some way to find some unity, giving up three sacks was unacceptable—as were the penalties. At the same time, this leads to the last phase: the stripes.

Is it a bad sign, when the announcer for CBS reports that, “this is the first game for Ed Hochuli since last year’s week two game?” We all remember Ed as the reason why Denver won the “fumble game” against the Chargers, for his blowing of a whistle, then seeing Denver keep the ball, scoring a touchdown and inflating Mike Shanahan’s head.

On this afternoon, Ed would have a field day, for different reasons. For one, was a called fumble by Darren McFadden, who when down, lost the ball, had it roll out of bounds and then get picked up by Brian Dawkins. What was also interesting, was that Brian went out of bounds and then back in, to recover the ball.

According to Ed, this is legal. It doesn’t matter that McFadden was down, or that the ball was wobbling out of bounds…Denver would get the ball.

Also on Ed’s to-miss list, was a pushoff by Brandon Marshall. It wouldn’t normally irritate me, but considering he had flagged Chris Johnson for a pass interference call, it was pretty easy to draw your own conclusions on how the stripes would call things.

Missed holding, illegal blocks to the back, a can of pencils for Ed would be in order.

For Oakland, I hope they learn a few things from this mess. JaMarcus Russell has to fix himself…or find himself another team to play for.

They need to find some offense to go along with this defense.

Or we’re going to be seeing more of these games.

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Jets-Titans: New York Wins in Hard-Fought Battle Against Reeling Tennessee

Ups and downs, highs and lows, and everything in between. The New York Jets emerged victorious after a hard-fought battle against the desperate Tennessee Titans, improving to 3-0 and leaving Tennessee winless.

“Their record is not indicative of how tough that team is,” said Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez of his opponents.

Throwing for 171 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, Sanchez had his struggles against a proud defense looking to prove the Titans are better than their record.

The fifth-overall draft pick capped off a strong opening drive with a 14-yard scamper to the end zone and followed it up less than three minutes later with a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Ben Hartsock on a convincing play-action fake.

Then Sanchez started to look a little like a rookie. The wet weather forced him into mistakes as the Titans’ defense pushed the Jets into five consecutive three-and-out drives.

It was the NFL’s top-ranked defense at the start of Week 3 that salvaged the game for New York. It bent for quarterback Kerry Collins, but never broke for running back Chris Johnson.

When there was a game to be won, linebacker David Harris stepped up to intercept Collins to end one drive and sack him for an eight-yard loss to stifle the Titans’ comeback bid in another.

 

There May Be a Kitchen Sink Out There, Too

When Kerry Collins was named the starter in Tennessee, the expectation was that he’d be the game manager for a strong running team with a ragtag crop of receivers. At 36, Collins played that role well for the Titans, working more diligently than anyone in an effort to secure his team’s first victory.

Sure, he may have thrown 13 consecutive incompletions as the offense stalled Tennessee’s attempt at a fourth quarter rally, but Collins stands out for throwing directly at Darrelle Revis, challenging the cornerback who Matt Schaub and Tom Brady avoided in previous weeks.

Ultimately, Collins opened the run game with his passing, threw two touchdowns, and allowed Johnson to dash for 97 yards while LenDale White smashed for the first offensive touchdown scored against the Jets this season.

Tennessee’s defense didn’t let New York off the hook, either.

The Jets’ offensive line had an all-pro opening drive, but couldn’t open any holes big enough for Thomas Jones.

Tennessee showed that adapting to life after Albert Haynesworth is simple enough, limiting Jones to a dismal 20 yards rushing on 14 carries, while the defensive ends applied consistent pressure, flushing Sanchez out of the pocket to end drives.

The Titans’ secondary, featuring three Pro Bowl defensive backs, succeeded in not allowing a 300-yard passer for the first time this season, an accomplishment even though Sanchez is a rookie quarterback.

 

“How Dare You?”

The season is young, and with youth comes questions as to the reality of a team’s abilities. For New York, every contest has been about finding out who the real Jets are while pundits hesitate to acknowledge the impressive nature of their victories.

The reality of Tennessee’s talent should only serve as a testament to the quality of the new, New York Jets.

Gang Green didn’t squeak by with a sloppy victory—they created opportunities, taking advantage of mental errors, particularly at critical moments in the game.

“We’ve played three outstanding football teams. We’re 3-0, right here, maybe that says something about us,” said coach Rex Ryan during the Jets’ postgame press conference.

“For anyone out there who thinks this is a gimmick defense, that this is a defense that can’t play smash mouth: How dare you?” asked linebacker Bart Scott.

“This team’s built on tough, gritty players that can adjust to any style of football.”

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Chicago-Seattle: Bears Quiet Qwest Field

Winning in Qwest Field is no easy feat—especially with the lime green uniforms—but the Bears pull it off against the scrappy Seahawks.

The once-deep line backing corps of the Bears is looking a little thin now after Hunter Hillenmeyer was taken out of the game with sore ribs.

Not only were the Seahawks able to run on the Bears defense, they were able to make completions down the field. Seahawks quarterback Seneca Wallace was able to avoid pressure most of the game and was only sacked three times.

The pressure was there but the inability to finish with a sack almost cost them the game.

I think the war of words between T.J. Houshmandzadeh and the Bears defense ended in kind of a draw. T.J. was held to four catches for 35 yards but also fumbled the ball.

None of that talking stopped Nate Burleson from torching the Bears secondary for 109 yards, but he wasn’t given the chance to get into the end zone.

The Bears offense tried to establish the run against a banged up Seahawks team but couldn’t manage much than short gains.

The offensive line spent most of the game back-pedaling instead of opening up holes for Matt Forte. Zone blitzes and stunts disrupted the Bears offense at key moments leading to tackles for losses and stripping Jay Cutler late in the game.

After a lackluster start to the game, Jay Cutler settled down and was efficient with the ball—going 21 for 27 passing for a shade under 250 yards.

The Good: Jay Cutler. Threw a tipped interception early, but came back with three touchdown passes and led the team down the field in the final minutes to take the lead.

The Bad: Running game. Matt Forte averaged just over three yards on 21 carries. The offensive line looked out-matched most of the game.

The Ugly: Run defense. Julius Jones ran at will against the Bears defense. We should be thankful the Seahawks didn’t run the ball even more.

The Difference: Running after the catch. Both Johnny Knox and Devin Hester made the catch and had the awareness and concentration to run it into the end zone.

Five Questions

Is it time to call Derrick Brooks?

Is Al Afalava the next Mike Brown?

Does Jay Cutler show too much fire?

Why all the hitch passes behind the line of scrimmage?

If Cutler wins a Super Bowl for the Bears can we name a lake after him?

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