Bringing The Swaggar Back to The Stick: The 49ers Are Opening Eyes

Though the 2009-2010 season is just two games deep, 49ers fans have a lot to be happy about these days. It has been a long time since the Red and Gold have started the season 2-0, and against NFC West division rivals at that. 

This season’s rendition of the 49ers team has renewed focus and discipline and is starting to see themselves as legitimate. While this writer may get a little flack for this coming statement, I believe the Bay Area thanks Coach Singletary and owner Jed York for the team they have assembled this year.

Key players and decisions have also made sportswriters take a renewed look at this former deflated organization that was once the kings of the NFL gridiron. 

Vernon Davis has finally come into his own as a tight end and as a player and was blessed with the moniker of Captain by Coach Singletary. He has embraced the role of leading the team morale and setting the example of what a 49er is supposed to be. This is a concept that had long been forgotten by many players and fans. 

While he was, for the most part, quiet during the first game against the Cardinals last week, running back stud Frank Gore and the offensive line exploded on Sunday, bringing back the form Gore once established a few seasons ago and now re-legitimizing the running game. He rushed for a career high 246 yards on Sunday and had two touchdown runs of more than 75 yards each in a single game, a feat preceded only by Barry Sanders.

The defense, however, has become to show a little swagger. Led by All-Pro Linebacker Patrick Willis, they demoralized the Cardinals offense last week, quashing the highly effective trio of Warner, Boldin and Fitzgerald.

During Sunday’s game, the defense held their division rival to 283 total yards including 1 interception compared to their 379. 

Patrick Willis has mentioned that he does not want to just be a hall of famer, he wants to be considered the best in his position. Quite frankly, not only is he on his way, he’s probably got the best coach to take him there in Singletary who was enviable one of the best in the position himself during his playing days.

Coach Singletary has also now quieted the preseason quarterback controversy by choosing Shaun Hill over Alex Smith. With two wins under his belt, Hill is proving to be the right choice having completed 37 of 57 passes over the last two games with no interceptions. A far cry from what 49ers quarterbacks have produced over the past few seasons opening two games. 

The fans of the Niners have a lot to be happy about these days. With two games deep, the team is winning. While they are probably far from contending for the championship, the team and the fans see what is being built and they are all happy. As far as this past Sunday goes…Crabtree who? 

They have the Vikings to contend with next week, but as Coach Singletary said today, “This week was ugly, but I loved it.” 

The fans love it too.

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Bears-Steelers: Good Jay Cutler Shows Up, Chicago Shuts Down Pittsburgh 17-14

Two things we can be sure of after watching the Bears-Steelers game.

Coach Tomlin knows his team, and Troy Polamalu really is that damned important to the Steelers defense.

All week long, Coach Tomlin made sure that the Steelers saw game film of not only last week’s performance by Jay Cutler against the Packers, but last year’s performance by Jay Cutler against the Steelers in Denver.

He knew how dangerous Cutler can be when he gets going, and he wanted to make sure his team didn’t forget it.

One of two things happened: either they felt supremely confident in their ability to limit Cutler’s production and didn’t take him seriously, or Coach Tomlin talked too much over the ensuing week that they acted like my children do when I try to get a point across, and totally ignored the message.

Turns out Coach was right.

Jay Cutler came out looking like a Pro Bowl quarterback, and he made the Steelers secondary look like an average unit.

Which, it appears, they are without Troy Polamalu.

The Steelers need to hope that he is ready to go closer to the three-week mark rather than the six weeks it could take for his knee to heal.

Can anyone say platelet-plasma therapy and a hyperbaric chamber?

Without Polamalu in the lineup, the Steelers were forced into a zone defense, having to play things closer to the vest than they normally do with Troy running around in the backfield like a madman.

The Bears, on the other hand, joined the Titans in exposing the Steelers offensive front as the weak run-blocking unit that they are. Without Brian Urlacher in the lineup for Chicago, Pittsburgh should have had a huge day running.

Without Ben Roethlisberger’s six yards, they failed to gain 100 yards for the second straight week.

When the Steelers don’t gain 100 yards rushing, and Big Ben doesn’t gain over 300 yards passing in the same game, their win-loss record is far from desirable.

On the other side of the ball, the Bears showed that even without their defensive leader, they have got a little moxie.

I don’t care what you think about Cutler: he is a talented quarterback, and if you give him a zone to play against all day, he is going to pick it apart. It’s when you throw different coverages at him that he gets excited and starts forcing things.

But today, he had all the time in the world to throw the ball.  

Which he did, all day long. With near pinpoint accuracy, time and again Cutler laid off the deep pass and beat the Steelers underneath with short- to medium-range passes.

He completed one deep pass for 29 yards; the rest were slants, screen, out routes, with the receivers doing the bulk of the work after the catch to gain the big yards.

If Polamalu is in the game, those passes aren’t there.

It wasn’t a high scoring contest. Steelers games rarely are, even when they are gaining over 100 yards on the ground and Big Ben is throwing the ball all over the place.

But without their star safety, the Steelers kept giving inch after inch after inch, which was just enough to give the Bears a couple of touchdowns and a late field goal.

Of course, normally solid Jeff Reed shanked two critical field goals that would have forced Chicago to go for a touchdown in the fourth quarter instead of having the luxury of a field goal to win the game.

And of course, Steelers rookie Stefan Logan fumbling the ensuing kickoff didn’t help much either, but the likelihood of the Steelers completing a Hail Mary pass to win are as likely as Brendan Stokely catching a tipped pass and running it in for the winning touchdown.

Wait a minute…

Well, whatever the bounce, the Steelers didn’t get it this week. Chicago recovered the fumble, and sent the Steelers to the locker room with a record of 1-1.

Jay Cutler took a step towards redeeming last week’s performance, although in his case the jury will likely stay out for most of the season.

Pittsburgh continues to showcase their weakness—i.e. they can’t seem to run block against a decent defensive front—to the rest of the league.

And Jeff Reed may have had to take a separate plane home.

At 1-1, the Steelers have now had two games decided by fewer than a touchdown.

Close games are the Steelers’ forte, but come on, guys, can we have at LEAST one or two blowouts this year? At the very least, can we take a lead and hold it instead of having to come from behind?

Is that too much to ask?

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Week Two Waiver Wire Adds

Depending on your league’s competitiveness and format, there usually are a few enticing waiver wire options available after each NFL Sunday. Last week there seemed to be a few more—typical for the first week—than after week two, but still some valuable commodities are floating on waivers this morning.

In dynasty leagues, consider the following: Laurent Robinson (WR, Rams), Mike Sims-Walker (WR, Jaguars), and Justin Forsett (RB, Seahawks). All could be valuable adds as they established themselves offensively in week two. Julian Edelman (WR, Patriots) also is an interesting option, though I am not sure there is room for him on the field when Wes Welker returns.

Yesterday was an exciting day of football, but then again any Sunday during the fall is exciting…because of football.

The top three players likely on waivers in your league(s) are shown below. If you have a high waiver priority, consider using it on one of these guys.

 

Mario Manningham (WR, New York Giants)

Mario Manningham was a fantasy stud last night against the Dallas Cowboys, reeling in 10 catches for 150 yards and a score. This performance makes two weeks in a row that Manningham has broken into double-digit fantasy scoring. He is a must add in all scoring formats.

 

Willis McGahee (RB, Baltimore Ravens)

All of the hype leading into the season was on Ray Rice, but Willis McGahee has not so silently ran his way to the top of Baltimore’s running back by committee (RBBC). The Ravens will more than likely employ a RBBC for each week and try to ride the hot hand. So far McGahee has been their workhorse.

 

LeSean McCoy (RB, Philadelphia Eagles)

The Philadelphia Eagles’ offense is being decimated with injuries…and it’s only week two! This time Brian Westbrook falls victim to an ankle sprain. Much like last season, Westbrook will probably spend much of the year on the team’s injury report. 

Although the sprain is said to be not serious, any set back could keep him off of the field, which would allow McCoy to get the lion’s share of the snaps.

 

Thank you for reading the latest post from The Hazean. Please visit our Web site for more great fantasy content!

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Broncos-Browns: Denver Goes 2-0 in Commanding Victory over Cleveland

The Denver Broncos had their home opener Sunday, as they drew the Cleveland Browns in the second contest in a row against an Ohio football team, defeating them 27-6

Mike Nolan’s 3-4 defense seems to be adapting quite well as they all but shut down the Bengals’ potent offense in Week One and much was the same Sunday as Denver basically shut down Cleveland’s offense.

But the Browns’ offense is more dilapidated than domineering, as they have been ranked 32nd in the NFL in almost every important offensive category since November of 2008.

The Broncos defense was stellar, but it could just be a house of cards built upon sorry opposition. Sure, Denver only allowed 200 total yards of offense by the Browns (after allowing only 307 to the Bengals), but that was behind an old and fat Jamal Lewis (38 yards) and holding a young and inexperienced Brady Quinn to a paltry 161 yards and picked him off once.

Easily the star of the defense was Elvis Dumervil. The converted lineman to linebacker had a career-high four sacks versus Cleveland and seems to be enjoying it so far.

“Yeah, I guess I’m a linebacker now,” he said. “It’s fun, though. I get to play linebacker and I still get to do what I love—rush the passer. I’ve found my niche. It makes me a complete player.”

The fact of the matter remains that the ’09 Broncos defense is like the new Cowboys’ stadium fire escapes—untested. What will the Broncos do against some of the better offenses in New England, Pittsburgh, or Philly?

The offense on the other hand, was anemic at best in Week One, but rather fruitful on Sunday at home. The ground game was good as Correll Buckhalter had 76 yards on nine carries, the biggest an explosive 45-yard touchdown romp in the third quarter.

Josh McDaniels’ play-calling was dynamic and with 449 total yards including 263 passing by Kyle Orton. The young coach couldn’t really be happier, but you couldn’t tell from some post-game quotes.

“I think that our guys understand that there are a lot of things that we want to fix and a lot of things we want to improve on, which, I think, is really where most teams in the league are right now. You are never at your peak after Week One. Our players saw that on the film on Monday, and we have got to get better.”

And including his great play-calling, the young coach has a deep desire to improve on a week-to-week basis, which is very promising indeed. The Broncos are (shh!) rebuilding, the word with a million negative connotations in sports. The best ideology to have with a team in the situation is to attempt to cultivate a team-first mentality, and to progress in any and all areas possible.

Really though, in the big picture of things, the Broncos are 2-0 now after winning 27-6 over Cleveland. Also, Denver is leading the AFC West heading into Oakland.

The Raiders have looked surprisingly decent so far in 2009, taking the Chargers down to the wire, and winning a grind-it-out battle against the Chiefs today. So, any writers that predicted Denver would easily sweep the Raiders this year would find himself terribly mistaken.

Well, I know there is a reason this is a rivalry, both teams play each other as hard as possible no matter what the records of either team are. The point is, the Broncos find a difficult opponent in Oakland next week and are likely already preparing for them. Denver plays the Raiders on Sunday the 27th at 2:15 p.m. MDT.

 

Notes

Broncos great Shannon Sharpe was inducted into the Ring of Fame at Invesco Field at Mile High during halftime of today’s game, that was after he parachuted in before kickoff. He is currently a finalist for becoming an NFL Hall-of-Famer with his own bronze bust in Canton, Ohio in 2010 … McDaniels beat Eric Mangini today, another Bill Belichick disciple …Kn owshon Moreno looked healthy rushing for 75 yards on 17 carries and also caught two passes for 22 yards as well.

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San Francisco 49ers: What To Love About The Season To Date

The 49ers are 2-0? It’s almost too good to be true. Reflecting upon the last two weeks, there are a lot of reasons for why the 49ers find themselves in a commanding position as they embark upon a tough-as-nails schedule.

This afternoon’s game against Seattle offered one obvious explanation for their success: Frank Gore. But even No. 21’s heroics would not have meant much in previous seasons, where San Francisco routinely squandered great performances and under-served their star running back.

Here are—in this writer’s opinion—the five major reasons for the 49ers early success…

 

1. Discipline

Mike Singletary promised discipline from his first moments as a coach last year, when he memorably kicked Vernon Davis out of a game. That same work ethic is still holding strong. In a game of inches, the avoidance of stupid mistakes can be all the difference.

The reason the 49ers are 2-0 right now, is because they displayed far more discipline than Arizona in Week One, and that discrepancy in penalties turned the game in their direction.

They made a few more mistakes against Seattle, though the most critical one took place on a kick return, and from my vantage point, was a highly questionable call.

If Mike Singletary can continue to control the players on his team, expect to gain a much needed 20-30 yard edge on opponents throughout the year.

 

2. Health

Knock on wood. Perhaps this is good luck, or maybe it is a result of the 49ers having a young team. Either way, they are playing in a geriatric division, where the biggest stars are also some of the oldest and most brittle.

It also appears that God hath plagued the Seahawks with one misfortune after another. This doesn’t fully explain the victory today over Seattle, but it more or less put a nail in the Seahawks’ coffin with plenty of time on the clock.

 

3. The 3-4 Defense

What more can you ask for? We’ve got three young linebackers starting for us, as well as a reinvigorated veteran standout. One of them—Patrick Willis—is arguably the most impressive ILB in the entire NFL.

Our head coach knows how to mentor them, because he is one of the Top 5 LB’s of the modern era. They continuously pull through on 3rd downs, holding their last two opponents to a combined eight conversions.

And they are sandwiched between a D-Line and a Secondary that have both exceeded expectations so far.

Let’s face it. This is damn exciting.

 

4. Attitude, Morale, and Fight

This one may seem corny, but it is real, and it is palpable.

How many times did Mike Nolan try to “turn the team around” with a half-hearted speech in the 4th quarter?

When Singletary speaks to his men, the fans know that it will result in a turnaround.

The week after the O-Line humiliated itself, contributing to Frank Gore’s least productive performance as a 49er, what happens? They respond with a massive first half. Sure, there’s still room for improvement, and the fans have every reason to believe that next week will be a step up from this one.

 

5. Vernon Davis, Nate Clements Being Who We Thought They Were

Nate Clements was a high-priced free agent. Vernon Davis was an early First Round draft pick.

But the way they’ve played to date, you might not believe it.

While neither of them were ‘busts’ up until this season, they both fell short of the sky-high expectations that fans harbored.

Now, we are finally seeing that potential being realized.

Seattle and Arizona are both passing teams, and Clements was key in shutting down their Pro Bowl quarterbacks.

Vernon Davis has always been a great blocker, but as a TE, he has dropped passes and failed in the clutch. In the last two games, though, he has delivered on several critical third downs, one of which fell off the score sheet due to a helmet-to-helmet hit.

Regardless, this is the best that he has ever looked, and we all know who to thank for turning the diva around.

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Pittsburgh Steelers Take Ugly Loss But Still Look Good

So, Mike Tomlin didn’t become the third head coach in NFL history to start out 2-0 in his first three seasons. The Steelers lost in Week 2 for just the second time in Ben Roethlisberger’s career. 

 

The defending Super Bowl champs lost for the first time since December 21, 2008, in Nashville.

 

No worries.

 

In many ways, the Steelers played markedly better in their second game than in the dramatic season-opening victory. A stagnant offense looked balanced and efficient (for a while, at least) as they racked up 119 first quarter yards. 

 

All three running backs had at least one gain of double-digit yards, and collectively broke the 100-yard barrier. The special teams held star return man Devin Hester in check, as punter Daniel Sepulveda averaged a booming 54.9 yards per punt.

 

Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth, the two-headed monster at tight end, each played a strong game. The offensive line, although they aren’t yet reminding anyone of The Hogs, finally opened up some nice running holes. 

 

Big Ben generally played well, as usual, and I’m firmly convinced that if he could have gotten the ball again with a little more time, he would have found a way to get the team into field goal range.

 

No worries for the critics either, because there was plenty of sloppiness on this soggy day. 

 

The return game has been disappointing.  Stefan Logan has plenty of skills but he has yet to find a way to make a big play; look for Santonio Holmes or Mike Wallace to get a shot returning kickoffs soon. 

 

The receiving corps had a rough afternoon, dropping at least five perfectly catchable passes, with a few coming at critical points in the game. Mike Wallace also failed to judge a deep ball that was picked off by Bears CB Charles Tillman. 

 

It looked like Wallace could have at least made an attempt to break it up. 

 

For all the good things the running backs and offensive line did, there were still bad signs —missed blocks, false starts, and four plays that resulted in negative rushing yards. 

 

And Rashard Mendenhall had a huge run, but you would have liked to see him finish it off in the end zone instead of being run down.  Yes, it’s nitpicking, but it’s what Steelers fans do best sometimes.

 

And then there was Skippy.

 

Jeff Reed has had a tremendous career so far in Pittsburgh. He has been reliable from the beginning. Only Gary Anderson and Roy Gerela are ahead of him on the franchise’s all-time kicking statistics, and he is more accurate than both of them. 

 

He has made so many clutch kicks over the past eight years, there are almost too many to count.

 

He missed two crucial kicks on Sunday, the first time in his career that he’s been wide twice in a fourth quarter. He may have cost the team a win and, judging solely by his face, I’m pretty sure he knew it.

 

The field was wet, yes, but not wet enough to affect Robbie Gould on his 44-yard game-winner. Skippy looked genuinely crushed that he missed both, a rare display of emotion for him. 

 

Even if his confidence is shaken, the team is fully behind him, as Tomlin showed on the sidelines just after the second miss. I have no doubt Reed will recover and continue his accurate kicking.

 

And if he still needs to be cheered up, someone only needs to remind him that next week’s opponent is the Bengals.

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Brett Favre Vs. Aaron Rodgers II; Week Two

Welcome friends to Week Two of Brett Favre vs. Aaron Rodgers. Last week we saw the reigning champion get an early start on his repeat. You guys seemed to largely support my pick of Rodgers, despite his lower passer rating.

This week Favre will be looking to even the score. Enough formalities, let’s do this shall we?

Minnesota Vikings 27
Detroit Lions        13

 

Brett Favre: 23-27, 155 yards, 2 TD’s

The Good: This week’s performance was a huge improvement from his week one performance. Once again, Favre was extremely accurate with the ball and made excellent decisions with the football. The Lions defense gave his receivers lots of space at the line, which Favre capitalized on with short seven yard throws.

Unlike last week, Adrian Peterson was not running the show. In fact, early in the game the Vikings were losing 10-0. Favre led a long drive that he finished off with his first touchdown pass.

Once the Lions defense took notice to Favre, the Vikings were able to get their running game going.

Brett Favre also set another NFL record for most consecutive starts. I think of all his records, this one is the most precious to him.

 

The Bad: Once again, no downfield passing for Brett. I’m not sure whether it is the Vikings playcalling that is limiting Favre’s options, or if Favre is just taking things slow, but it needs to change fast.

When the Vikings play a good pass defense, they will need to have a more versatile passing game.

Right now they are extremely limited in what they can do, but they certainly have the weapons to expand their play calling

Green Bay Packers 24
Cincinnati Bengals 31

 

Aaron Rodgers: 21-39, 261 yards, 1 TD

The Good: Rodgers’ stats were pretty solid this week. He did a great job of moving around in the pocket and letting his receivers get open. With the running game virtually ineffective, Rodgers got the chance to sling the ball around.

Yet again, the offensive line for the Packers crumbled and allowed Rodgers to be sacked more than a quarterback should. This effected Rodgers’ overall game.  However, he did a great job of not getting rattled and did not make a costly mistake.

 

The Bad: Early in the game Rodgers was shockingly inaccurate. He missed a few open receivers by a good two yards. Also, Rodgers seemed to get to antsy in the pocket whenever the rush was coming. He seemed to do a lot of scrambling east and west and never had the ball in throwing position, meaning he was literally running for dear life.

I’m not sure if the Bengals just had great coverage all day, or if the Packer receivers simply weren’t getting open, but Rodgers held onto the ball too long at times in the game.

Unfortunately for Rodgers, he found his rythm too late in the game to complete the comeback.

 

The Pick

Both quarterbacks faced some intense pressure today, but only one quarterback managed to complete 85% of his passes. Brett Favre is our winner for week two.

When Adrian Peterson was ineffective (what??), Favre took control of the offense and brought the Vikings back. A flawless game from Favre as he ties the series at 1-1.

 

A look ahead….

Next week Aaron Rodgers and the Packers travel to St. Louis where they will take on another weaker team. I’m sure they will be looking to bounce back from a very disappointing loss.

Brett Favre makes his home debut next week as the 49ers come into Minnesota. This is a battle of 2-0 teams and should be interesting.

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The Oakland Raiders Worriesome Win

The Raiders and Chiefs played yet another closely contested battle today at Arrowhead, with the Raiders pulling out a victory after a late touchdown drive that saw an offense stuck in neutral the entire day finally get it going when it mattered.

History will show that JaMarcus Russell showed well on the winning drive, going 3 of 6 for 58 yards with a couple of key first down conversions after penalties had mired the team in difficult situations. History will also show that before this drive, Russell had one of the worst quarterback performances I’ve ever witnessed.

That the Raiders were on the winning end of a drive in the final minutes is not lost on me, nor the rest of Raider Nation. Russell came through when it mattered, and Darren McFadden, bottled up most of the day, found no resistance on the left end to waltz in for the game-winning touchdown with 1:07 left to cap the drive.

It was a great feeling as a Raider fan to finally see a victory after trading scores in the final minutes. It far more often than not for far too long has gone the other way. The collective feelings of joy and relief across Raider Nation were tangible, and I know it was one of my best football moments in quite a while.

Up until the point that the clock read 0:00, I was unhappy with Russell’s performance. He’s engineered two go-ahead drives in the fourth quarter in two weeks, and that’s to be commended. But his erratic passing that we all hoped was an anomaly against the Chargers turned into an utter nightmare against the Chiefs.

Starting out 0-5, he never seemed to be able to get in a rhythm. When he connected with Darrius Heyward-Bey for the kid’s first NFL reception it was his first really good on target throw of the day down the field, it seemed a good bet he was about to get going.

But, he then proceeded to misfire constantly in the 2nd half. He missed a couple by just a touch, such as the potential Louis Murphy touchdown pass that was just out of reach.

He also was the victim of some excellent D-Line play from the Chiefs, who batted down a couple of balls that were intended as screen passes, one of the few plays that the Raiders had any success with all day.

Until the final drive, in which he zipped a couple of bullets right on the money, Russell looked very poor. He’s still showing better pocket presence, and the line once again gave him time for the most part; but he simply must get better at putting the ball on target. We cannot continually blame others for his inability to hit open targets.

The Chiefs showed that if you dare Russell to beat you, then you can stop their running game. We need the run game to be effective, because the defense cannot keep playing as much as they did today and continue to hold up as well as they did.

Without having to worry about defending the pass, the Chiefs were free to send run blitzes and put eight and nine in the box to stop McFadden and Bush. The two backs combined for a hard-fought 70 yards on the ground, a far cry from the 138 yards the Raiders gained as a team against the Chargers on Monday night.

That can largely be attributed to Russell’s ineffectiveness today, as the Chiefs found out early that they had little to worry about from the Raider passing game. 

It’s maddening to watch him at times because he’ll miss easy throws or overthrow a simple screen like he did today to McFadden; and then he’ll come out and zip throws down the field right on the money like he did with Watkins and Murphy on the final drive. He teases you with his ability to make amazing throws, and then makes you crazy by missing the simplest targets.

His accuracy problems can largely be attributed to him not knowing how to throw the ball in every situation; he fires the ball hard almost all the time, when touch is required on many of the throws he needs to make.

He’s regressed as far as his accuracy goes, but he’s definitely progressed in his leadership and his clutch performance. Those tendencies are of infinite importance, and no matter how hard you try you cannot truly simulate game situations in practice.

To know he can execute with the game on the line is comforting, but it would help the team if he could do it consistently for four quarters. Accuracy is all about repetition, and he obviously needs to work more with his receivers and put more time into his game.

Other than the final drive, there is little positive to say about the offense today. The penalties had gotten better, but three times on the final drive the old albatross reared it’s ugly head. Cornell Green has got to go. Just…has…to…go.

The defense bent but didn’t break today, and showed well when it counted. I was disappointed that they were getting pushed around more than doing the pushing this game, but they fought back and fought hard.

The late touchdown, given up when Nnamdi Asomugha was out of the game and Stanford Routt was left to cover Dwayne Bowe, was a blemish in an otherwise impressive performance considering they got zero help from the offense all game.

In the first quarter the Chiefs offensive line were bullying the Raiders front, something we didn’t expect to see after the beating the Raiders put on the Chargers last week. The Chiefs had an impressive 17-play, 74 yard drive that ate up over nine minutes of the clock in the first quarter, but the Raider defense held them to a field goal.

Despite the fact that the defense held us in the game, and Michael Huff came up huge once again with a two-turnover game, grabbing a couple of picks from Matt Cassell, the run defense once again looked suspect at times. The bullying, in-your-face presence shown last Monday was nonexistent today. But that’s understandable.

Coming off a short week after a highly emotional game, they can be forgiven for being a little sluggish. It’s a testament to their will and talent that they kept the team in the game despite a tidal wave of three-and-outs from the offense.

I said before I felt this was a must-win game, and I meant it. This team, although not as fired up as they were on Monday, still showed we have the will to win and the want to fight for every game.

Now that we’ve won, it’s a must that Russell bounces back next week against Denver, who he has played well against in the past, and puts the fears of a Nation to rest. We are all feeling that with our defense and the potential of our running game we have a chance to be a good team if we can get consistent production from our quarterback.

I still have faith in JaMarcus and his talents, but I must say my faith is getting thinner by the week at this point. I have given him the benefit of the doubt, but today was a nightmare, and one more repeat performance will have all Raider Nation cringing every time he drops back to pass.

A few thoughts:

• Why rotate Richard Seymour out of the game so often? He was a force last Monday. He needed to be on the field more today
• I like Matt Shaugnessy and Desmond Bryant; we suddenly have a deep D-Line
• How much does JaMarcus Russell miss Chaz Schilens right now?
• Heyward-Bey is getting better at selling his routes, but still has a long way to go. Congrats on catch #1 kid
• Louis Murphy is eventually going to be very, very dangerous
• We need to call more running plays to the outside

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Destroying The Village In Order To Save It: Quinn Needs To Play

I’m too young to have served in Vietnam.

Too many lives were wasted there for no reason.

Gen, William Westmoreland (known by the left as “Waste More Land”) once defended eviscerating a hamlet in Vietnam by saying “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.”

Gen. Eric Mangini might be dropping the Napalm on many Browns fans on the 2009 season for the same reason.

You wanted Brady Quinn, you have him. Now, enjoy.

Quinn looked inept against the Minnesota Vikings’ defense, but the Vikings can make many QBs look bad. The next test was Denver, and Golden Domer produced two field goals against a mediocre defense.

After Quinn was unimpressive against the Broncos in the first half, I drove four miles to a local waterhole who has the NFL Sunday Ticket. I wanted to see if the hoi polloi was seeing the same things, and for the most part, they saw them.

In the second half, Quinn looked worse. I heard things like “He’s got all (Lord condemned) day! What the (fornication) is he doing?”

Quinn had plenty of time against the Broncos, in fact, more time than most. But, any legitimate NFL quarterback would have been able to take the time that I took to say “one thousand five” and unleashed a bomb downfield, not taken a sack or completed a pass for negative two yards when the Browns needed ten.

Destroying the village in order to save it might not be a bad idea, after all.

Browns fans, once some of the NFL’s most knowledgeable, may have the numerous imbeciles culled from their ranks.

Adding insult to incompetence, the Broncos did not go into a prevent defense to let Quinn pad his statistics.

Next stop for Brady Quinn is at Baltimore. Good luck with that.

RIP, Gen. Westmoreland.

In your honor, I suggest the Browns play Brady Quinn until the bye week, go 1-7 or 0-8 and determine he is NOT the answer at quarterback.

The village needs to be saved.

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Darrelle Revis: Best Cover Corner In The NFL?

Darrelle Revis may be No. 24 on the field, but he may just be No. 1 when it comes to cornerbacks in the NFL.

In just his third year in the NFL, Revis routinely and willingly accepts the challenge to cover the top receiver on the opposing team week after week. For two years, Revis has performed admirably, but his performance in the Jets’ first two games of 2009 has been off the charts.

In week one, Revis drew Andre Johnson, the ultra-talented wide-out for the Houston Texans and covered him one-on-one most the game. Benefiting greatly from pressure up front, but running stride for stride and cut for cut with Johnson, Revis held Johnson to just four catches and a paltry 35 yards, an average of under 9 yards a reception.

Johnson and his teammates failed to score an offensive touchdown.

These are incredible numbers, considering Johnson has caught a total of 175 balls and averaged about 14 yards a catch the past two seasons.

For comparison’s sake, Johnson and the Houston Texans played the Titans today in Tennessee. Johnson, feeling free of the Revis stranglehold, caught 10 passes for 149 yards and 2 touchdowns.

To back up his previous performance, Revis covered Randy Moss today. In a game that featured the hoopla and pregame smack talk of a playoff matchup, Revis certainly played his part.

Revis held Moss to four catches and just 24 receiving yards. Revis also soared over Moss to snatch a ball out of the air for a sensational interception!  And for the second straight week, Revis kept his man out of the end zone. 

The Jets’ defense, in the first two games of the season, has surrendered only three field goals and it partially has its number one corner to thank for that impressive stat.

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