Do Da Dirty Bird: Falcons’ Embarassment of Receiving Riches

There’s nothing “relative” about the Falcons’ receiving corps any more. Anywhere, anytime, to anyone, they kick tail.

Yes, I’m on a bit of a delusional high having just got back from the crushing of our rival Carolina Panthers at the Dome. But I doubt I’m alone when I say what was once considered a weakness on this team—the void that prompted us to use several high draft picks on wide receivers in the middle of the decade—has become the strength of our strengths.

No disrespect intended to Michael Turner the Burner, who very much turned up the heat in Week Two with over 100 yards. And same goes for Matty “Ice” Ryan, who can seemingly do nothing wrong.

But between Roddy White, Michael Jenkins, Marty Booker, Brian Finneran, and Tony Gonzalez (good lord, Tony Gonzalez!), much love was spread and many TDs were scored this nasty afternoon in the Dirty.

The numbers look fairly similar to last week, both in terms of total yards through the air (229 to 220) and distribution (five different guys with double figures yards, each). Makes it look like we remained pretty even, but allow me to explain the key difference, one that showed that the offense actually improved:

We were completely unpredictable today. Last week, guys were effective here and there (namely Jerious Norwood, White, and Jenkins), but when we needed the yards badly, we went to Gonzo. Towards the end of the game, if we were stalling, everyone knew where the ball was going.

Not saying it’s a bad thing to use the top pass-catching tight end ever as your fallback receiver.

But had we continued to do that this week, I have a hunch that the Panthers would have caught on, and the Patriots (with their secret cameras) would have definitely been ready for it in Week Three.

But today, Gonzo (who’s had over 70 yards in both contests so far), even though he led the team again, was just “one of the guys.” Several times when we needed that first down, we mixed it up and went to Roddy, Jenks, or Booker. Carolina simply could not handle them all.

It’s one of those classic DDDB ideas that you all know so well, and it’s becoming increasingly true. Aren’t you glad you read my column?

This progress is merely a sign of a process, though. We’re working with our new tool (Tony G) and finding more and better ways to incorporate him along with White and the rest of the regular wideouts.

It’s not like we forked over that money to Roddy a few weeks ago so that he could play second-fiddle.

For one, the Falcons don’t play fiddles or other such bluegrass-y instruments; they’re more rock-and-roll. I like to think of it this way: Gonzalez, White, Jenks, Book, the whole crew, every one of them can shred an electric guitar solo (of a catch) should the song (play) call for it.

Right now offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey is experimenting with the band he has, and because of their all-around, top-to-bottom quality, even though he’s just fooling around, he’s getting amazing results.

The great thing (or more accurately, one of the many great things) is that Mularkey can continue to tweak. We see a truly elite secondary for the first and last time in Week Nine, when the ‘Skins come to town. No disrespect to the Jets, Bills, or Philadelphia’s Asante Samuel, but in terms of defensive backs, our receivers have the table largely beat.

Going forward, I hope for even more balance and unpredictability. I honestly have little trouble imagining a game in which Ice throws for 240 yards, of which 60 go to Gonzo, 60 to White, 60 to Jenkins, 30 to Booker, and 30 to Finn. Or insert Norwood (assuming he’s alright after today), or Snelling, or Mughelli…

Catch my drift?

I can see why some people might be a little bit distressed at the fact that the man labeled (and paid) as No. 1 hasn’t topped 50 yet. Roddy is apparently happy, though, and the key for literally every member of the team (Ryan stressed this at the postgame press conference) is winning.

That’s what the Dirty Birds are doing. Ron Jaworski would tell them:

“Play on, playa.”

And I would echo his sentiments.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

New Orleans Saints Pluck Eagles on the Road, Move to 2-0

All week long, the New Orleans Saints heard the noise.

The only reason they were able to score 45 points in week one is because they were playing the Detroit Lions at home.

No way they’d be able to match that on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Well, they didn’t match it. They surpassed it.

Drew Brees and his offensive machine rolled up 41 points on the Eagles, and safety Darren Sharper added a late touchdown on a 97-yard interception return to lead the Saints to a 48-22 victory over the Eagles.

The Saints opening drive, just like last week’s, culminated with a touchdown pass to Marques Colston. This one was right over the head of Pro Bowl safety Asante’ Samuel.

Colston now has three touchdowns in two games. I’d say he is back from last year’s injury.

Devery Henderson later abused Samuel in the second quarter. On third and 12 and on their own side of the field, Henderson hauled in a 16-yard pass right in front of Samuel to keep the drive alive.

That drive later ended, though, when linebacker Akeem Jordan made a leaping, one-handed interception deep in Saints’ territory.

While the Saints held just a 17-13 lead at the half, they bust the game wide open in the third quarter.

New Orleans forced and recovered a fumble on the second half kickoff. Eagles’ quarterback Kevin Kolb, making his first career start, threw an interception to Scott Shanle on the Eagles’ second play from scrimmage in the second half.

The Saints turned both turnovers into easy touchdowns, and a 17-13 lead exploded into a 31-13 lead.

The defense pressured Kolb throughout the day. Even though they only registered two sacks, they forced Kolb to check down to tight end Brent Celek and to throw the ball away to the sidelines on several occasions.

Celek was impressive, as his physical play helped him to a 104-yard receiving day.

The defense did allow 463 yards, but 130 of those yards came on four fourth-quarter drives after the outcome was no longer in doubt.

By the way, the only points on those four drives were scored by Darren Sharper.

 

In my Saints-Eagles preview, I listed three things the Saints must do to win. Let’s re-visit them:

 

1) Cut down on turnovers.

Check. The Saints turned it over just once and never fumbled the ball.

 

2) Improve drastically on special teams.

There was an improvement, but it wasn’t perfect.

Positives: Forced and recovered a fumble on a kickoff return. Held DeSean Jackson to just five yards on two punt returns after he torched the Panthers for an 85-yard touchdown. Thomas Morstead averaged 52 yards on three punts.

Negatives: Allowed a 63-yard kickoff return which led to a fourth-down touchdown. Morstead kicked the ball out of bounds on an early kickoff.

3) Run the ball effectively between the tackles.

Check again. Mike Bell, who is the anti-Reggie Bush in that he rarely bounces the ball outside behind the line of scrimmage, was good for 86 yards and touchdown.

The only question I have is this: Why is Sean Payton risking a safety by handing the ball off to Bush from the Saints’ own 1-yard line?

 

I also posed three questions for the Saints as they headed into week two. Let’s see how they were answered them:

 

1) Will Jermon Bushrod improve in his second career start?

He improved but still gave up a sack to Trent Cole. He will have his hands full again next week against Buffalo’s Aaron Schobel.

 

2) How effective will the pass rush be?

The stat sheet will show that the Saints got just two sacks on Kolb, but it won’t show how many times he had to get rid of the ball quickly by throwing it out of bounds.

All in all, the pass rush was about average and needs to steadily improve over the course of the season.

 

3) Does Reggie Bush bounce back after a poor performance?

Bush had a better game than he did last week when he fumbled the ball twice. He managed 76 total yards and a touchdown. He also had a key 29-yard reception that led to Colston’s second touchdown.

He was ineffective, though, as a punt returner. He lost six yards on one of his two returns.

 

Overall, you can’t ask the Saints to play much better than they did against the Eagles.  New Orleans committed just three penalties for 13 yards and held Philadelphia to just one touchdown in five trips to the red zone.

They scored 48 points and won convincingly against a good NFC team that was celebrating its home opener.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Packers Plagued By Penalties and Pressure In Loss to Bengals

Where did the high-powered offense go?

Where is this vaunted Packers defense?

For the second straight week, the Green Bay offense was inconsistent. The defense, which bailed the Packers out against Chicago, couldn’t stop the run in their 31-24 loss to Cincinnati Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field.

Bears castoff Cedric Benson looked like a Pro Bowler while gashing the Packers defense for 141 yards on 29 carries. It was pretty clear the Packers still have some issues against the run, and they’re still without first-round pick B.J. Raji, who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury.

The Bengals were also 9-of-14 on third down conversions as the Packers defense even allowed a third-and-34 conversion late in the second quarter.

Instead of punting from its own end zone, Cincinnati then had the ball near midfield. One play later, Chad Ochocinco burnt Jarrett Bush for a 44-yard gain. That led to a controversial touchdown for Carson Palmer on a quarterback sneak.

The official who initially signaled for the touchdown had his vision of the play obstructed by Ochocinco. Although replays appeared to show that, not only did the ball not break the plain, Palmer fumbled as he raised the ball up over the heap of bodies.

Referee Ed Hochuli called it a touchdown, the first of two crucial mistakes he made. The second came in the game’s waning seconds.

With the Packers trailing 31-24 with 10 seconds remaining, Donald Driver caught his sixth pass over the middle at the Cincinnati 10. The Packers rushed to the line, and the ball was snapped with a second remaining. All this before a pair of Bengals were able to get back on their side of the line of scrimmage.

A flag was thrown, and the assumption was for offsides. Instead, Hochuli’s crew ruled that tight end Jermichael Finley was not set and moved early. Hochuli’s explanation was that time expired before the ball was snapped, which was false, but “even if the ball was snapped before time expired, there was a false start on the play, which requires a 10-second runoff. The game is over.”

The loss overshadowed a stellar performance from Charles Woodson, who picked off Palmer twice, returning one for a touchdown to give Green Bay a 21-14 lead in the second. He also led the team with nine tackles, seemingly being the only defensive player to show up to play.

Backup defensive backs Aaron Rouse and Bush were both forced into more playing time because of injuries to starting safeties Atari Bigby and Nick Collins, who left early in the second quarter.

As poorly as the Packers played on defense, the offensive line was worse. Green Bay (1-1) managed just 89 rushing yards, 43 of which came on four Aaron Rodgers scrambles, and Rodgers was sacked six times. Five of those sacks came from Cincinnati defensive end Antwan Odom, who now has seven sacks in two games.

Odom abused the Packers line, especially after tackle Chad Clifton was carted off the field with an ankle injury. Whether he was lined up over Allen Barbre or Daryn Colledge, Odom was in Rodgers’ face the entire game.

The receivers, who dropped six passes, weren’t helping Rodgers at all, as he finished 21-of-39 for 261 yards and a three-yard touchdown toss to Driver in the first. Driver led the Packers with six catches for 99 yards, but Greg Jennings was held without a catch.

That score tied the game at 7-7 after the Bengals (1-1) scored on their opening possession. Palmer and Benson easily led them downfield, averaging 10 yards per play before a 5-yard touchdown pass to Laveranues Coles.

Woodson’s first interception set up a four-yard touchdown run from Ryan Grant, who struggled to find holes for the second straight week. He finished with 46 yards on 14 carries, a 3.3-yard average, and a crucial fumble that led to Cincinnati’s go-ahead score in the third.

The Packers special teams also struggled, giving up punt returns of 60 and 32 from rookie Quan Cosby that both led to scores. Mason Crosby also badly missed a 55-yard field goal.

Both teams played sloppy football. Cincinnati was flagged 13 times for 100 yards, while the Packers had 11 penalties for 76 yards.

The Packers were a nine-point favorite, but the linemen were flat on both sides of the ball. With the St. Louis Rams and Steven Jackson next on the schedule, if the Packers don’t figure out how to stop the run, they could fall victim to another disappointing upset.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Texans-Titans: A Future Classic Rivalry

The Texans-Titans rivalry may not have the recent playoff drama of Pats-Colts. It may not have the historical implications of Browns-Steelers or Bears-Packers. But try telling fans of these teams the atmosphere of this afternoon’s game is any less intense.

The Texans-Titans rivalry hasn’t even existed for a full decade, and thus far has been fairly one-sided. The conflict between fan bases, however, goes back a bit further. 

In 1997, Bud Adams dropped the city of Houston like a little kid who found a new playground. The swings in the old playground may not have been as shiny, but well-behaved kids know the importance of maintaining old relationships and supporting their community.

Bud Adams, however, was more like a spoiled brat. His actions would ultimately spawn the rivalry between Houston and Nashville. 

In 2002, football fans in Houston—those who retained loyalty to their city, that is—were finally rewarded with a new team. 

In the Texans’ early years, they developed more of a rivalry with the Jaguars than the Titans, but then in 2006, Bud Adams stepped in again.

There is no need to recount the story of draft day in April 2006—as hindsight has proven the Texans correct—but on that day, Bud again stirred the emotions of Houstonians by drafting Vince Young.

After Young’s famous overtime run later that season, the rivarly started to grow.

Then, in 2008, it grew even more fierce as Albert Haynesworth separated Matt Schaub’s shoulder.

Last year, despite cheap shots from Cortland “Little Guy” Finnegan, the Texans dealt a big blow to the Titan’s hopes of home-field advantage with a Monday night upset.  The Titans would recover with a win against Pittsburgh, but the rivalry now had teeth—big, sharp, nasty teeth.

Now with both teams facing 0-1 deficits, this early-season matchup promises to further build the rivalry.

Hopefully the Texans can come away with a victory, but the game will undoubtedly live up to some high expectations.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Brett Favre: How Football Karma Will Mess with the Vikings QB This Season

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Oakland Raiders Must Increase Individual Defense: Look at the Data

You are dressed for success. Now take a look at each individual and his defense statistics.

It’s easy to see that the numbers for certain players must increase.

I call it “player integrity.” You say you can do the job, so do the job.

Look at this simple chart. Yes, this is the last pep talk in the locker room before you get out there, tough enough to tackle and tumble the opponent, down to his knees and on the ground!

The average number of tackles per individual player is four. So, according to this method of mini-analysis, the high performers (in terms of efficiency) are

 

Tyvon Branch

Thomas Howard

Chris Johnson

Ricky Brown

Richard Seymour

The players who need more opportunity or efficiency are

Greg Ellis

Trevor Scott

Gerard Warren

Nnamdi Asomugha

Hiram Eugene

Kirk Morrison

Jon Alston

Tommy Kelly

Michael Huff

Enough said!  Play ball and demonstrate that what you say you can do, you DO! We believe in you so believe in yourself and demonstrate your strength.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

NFL Week Two Predictions

Week One finally came!

After a long summer and what seemed like a thousand preseason games, the fans finally got their early Christmas present as the season kicked off.  The week had great comebacks, a quarterback going bananas, and gave most fans optimistic views on their teams.

Let’s see what Week Two will bring us (picks are in bold).

 

Houston at Tennessee

The Houston Texans are an up-and-coming team with young talent on both sides of the ball.  This year I really do believe that they can piece it all together and finally make it over the hump and into the postseason. 

Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, and Steve Slaton run the offense while Mario Williams, Amobi Okoye, Brian Cushing, and DeMeco Ryans help lead the defense into battle week in and week out.

Despite how much promise I think this team has, it won’t come together this weekend against the Tennessee Titans who are hungry after an over-time loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last weekend.  They have too much on the defensive side of the ball and with Kevin Curtis most likely out for Houston, they can really focus on shutting down Andre Johnson.

The Texans still need to come together. The Titans are the pick.

 

New Orleans at Philadelphia

The Eagles looked like an elite team last week, with QB Donovan McNabb leading a strong passing attack.

However, McNabb won’t be playing this week and it is uncertain who will line up under center for the Eagles.  In any case, the defense needs to put pressure on Saints QB Drew Brees, who has thrown 22 touchdown passes in the last seven games.  If the Eagles can’t get pressure on him, Brees will have a field day.

The Saints will need to stop the running game, as the Eagles will turn to Brain Westbrook to take some of the pressure off of whoever plays QB.  If the Saints can stop the run, and put points on the board, the Eagles shouldn’t stand a chance.

New Orleans is the pick.

 

Arizona at Jacksonville

The struggle with last years Arizona Cardinal’s team is that they couldn’t run the ball during the regular season.  Last week, they couldn’t do it again, gaining a mere 40 yards in their home loss to the 49ers.  In order for the Cardinals to make another run at the postseason, they need to get the ground game going with Tim Hightower and rookie Beanie Wells.

I like the Cardinals more than I like the Jaguars this year, despite the fact that they have the most all around back in the league.  The Jags do have one thing going for them though, the Cardinals lost all five games in the regular season last year when they had to travel across the country to play an east coast team.

If the Cardinals are sluggish, Jacksonville will take it to them early.  I think veteran Kurt Warner will find his rhythm though and get the Cards a win on the road.

 

Oakland at Kansas City

If this isn’t the worst game on the schedule, I don’t know what is.

Both the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs have huge question marks on all sides of the ball, as both are in full rebuilding mode.

Why waste my time going into this game anymore?  I will spend as much time talking about this game as you should be watching it.

Oakland is the pick.

 

Cincinnati at Green Bay

The Bengals are the joke of the NFL, and knowing how that team is run (not to mention the huge late second loss last week) I don’t see them keeping up with the Green Bay Packers at all this week.

The Packers are good on all sides of the ball, and Aaron Rodgers is leading the offense against a very weak defensive unit that the Bengals have.

The Packers offense alone should be too much for the Bengals to handle, and I don’t see them putting many points up either.

Packers are the pick.

 

New England at NY Jets

The game of the week pits two AFC East rivals against one another, both coming off big wins last weekend.

The Jets showed that they have one of the best defensive units in the entire NFL last weekend as they dominated the Houston Texans attack.  The question mark on the team is still at the quarterback position. 

Yes, I know that Mark Sanchez played very well last weekend, but this isn’t the Houston Texans defense.  He is facing one of the best coaches of all-time who will certainly be disguising their coverages and blitzing schemes.

Look at that, already a few lines in and I still haven’t even mentioned that Tom Brady is back and is looking for revenge.  He didn’t play well starting out of the gate against the Buffalo Bills last week but finished strong. 

Look for him to build off of the second half performance against Buffalo and to get the ball to their playmakers, Wes Welker and Randy Moss who both hauled in 12 catches last week.

It will be very close, but ultimately it will come down to quarterback play against two very good defenses.  I’ll take Tom Brady any day of the week.

Pats are the pick.

 

Carolina at Atlanta

Just watching the highlights, it was hard not to just assume that the Panthers are not a very good team.  Jake Delhomme had five turnovers last week in the Panthers flop.  However, the defense played huge, giving up just 267 yards of total offense.

The Falcons bring in an explosive offense though, with Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez.  The Panthers will have to try to take all of their playmakers out of the mix, which I don’t think will be possible.

Atlanta takes this one.

 

Baltimore at San Diego

The San Diego Chargers were my Super Bowl pick, but last week they looked very average, just squeaking past the Oakland Raiders.

Baltimore has a much better defense than the Raiders, and will look to stop the run against a Chargers team playing without running back LaDainian Tomlinson.  Darren Sproles will try to take over the workload, but he is not a between-the-tackles runner like LT, and won’t fair well against the Ravens killer defense which limited the Chiefs to 1.7 yards a rush. 

The Chargers will turn into a one-dimensional team which is never a good thing to do against the Ravens.  Phillip Rivers might put up some good stats, but it the end, the Ravens defense will be too much.

Ravens taking this one.

Pittsburgh at Chicago

As if franchise quarterback Jay Cutler throwing a ton of passes to the other team wasn’t bad enough, the Bears lost Pro Bowl linebacker Brain Urlacher for the season.  It shouldn’t get any better for them this week as the Bears go up against a very strong defense.

Big Ben should be able to make enough plays to be able to take it to the Bears.

 

NY Giants at Dallas

This is the first regular season game to be played in the new Cowboy’s stadium and Dallas fans are hopeful about Tony Romo after his strong performance last weekend.  Dallas is 4-0 against the Giants in the regular season all-time, but I have a feeling something is about to give in this game.

The Giants defense will be getting after Romo all game and will force him into turning the ball over.  I am still not high on Eli Manning, but with the great running game behind him, he should be able to manage the game well.

Giants in a close one.

 

Indianapolis at Miami

The Monday night matchup pits together a team battling injuries against a team trying to regain the momentum they had last season.

Even with wide out Anthony Gonzalez and safety Bob Sanders out for Indy, they still have Peyton Manning who will keep them in every game they play.

In what could turn into a high-scoring affair, I like Peyton to keep the Colts ahead on the score board.

Colts are the pick.

 

The rest

Minnesota at Detroit

St. Louis at Washington

Tampa Bay at Buffalo

Seattle at San Francisco

Cleveland at Denver

Last Week: 13-3

Season: 13-3

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

The Picks: NFL Week Two

Here are my picks for week two of NFL action (first paragraph is on the away team, second is on the home team):

Last weeks picks: 12-4

Overall: 12-4

 

Atlanta vs. Carolina

 

Delhomme will bounce back a little bit and Steve Smith will break off a big play or two in this one. Delhomme will end up with one touchdown and one interception. DeAngelo Williams will score a pair of touchdowns as on the ground. The Panthers will look a lot better in this one than in the previous game.

This is the game for Michael Turner to bounce back. He’s gonna have 120 yards and two scores in this one. Matt Ryan will play solid, but will manage his team more than lead them to victory. The Falcon’s defense won’t be as good as Philly’s was last week against the Cats.

Carolina 30, Atlanta 24

 

Detroit vs. Minnesota

Peterson is going to eat up this Detroit defense. They couldn’t slow the immortal Mike Bell last week, what are they going to do against Peterson. Big game for AD. Favre will make this game a lot closer than it should be. At least one of his passes will go the other way for a touchdown. This is really the first game Vikings fans realize that Favre could be their undoing. The defense for the Vikes might get burnt on a few deep balls in this game.

Matthew Stafford will have his coming out party in this game, at least yards and touchdowns wise. Calvin Johnson is going to get deep a few times and score one or two long touchdowns. Kevin Smith will have a tough time against the stout run D that Minny has. The defense will be bad, but Minnesota’s offense isn’t going to put up 45 like New Orleans did. The Lions will put a scare into the Vikings.

Minnesota 27, Detroit 24

 

Green Bay vs. Cincinnati

Cincinnati’s offense was horrible in week one. Palmer looked very bad. Not a good sign for optimistic Bengals fans. Chad Ochocinco did look good though. He was the only guy Palmer found consistently and is really their only great receiving option. He’s going to catch a ton of passes this year. Palmer will bounce back a little and find Chris Henry on a deep ball as well as Ochocinco for a TD. Chad will indeed get a chance to do the Lambeau Leap.

Green Bay didn’t look as good as they were hyped up to be in game one. It took a long TD with a minute left to beat a Bears team whose quarterback had thrown four interceptions. Rodgers will bounce back a little with a nice game here. The Bengals will surprise by shutting down the run though. The Packers D will pick Palmer off two or three times in this game.

Green Bay 23, Cincinnati 14

 

Tennessee vs. Houston

Houston was plain awful offensively last week, but will surprisingly rebound against the Titans, through the air at least. Schaub finds Johnson all day as well as Kevin Walter. Slaton will be shut down again though. Any fantasy owners who picked him will not be happy. The Jets running game ran all over Houston last week and there should be a whole lot more of that here.

The Titans will be running a lot in this matchup. If Thomas Jones could break off big runs against the Texans D, Chris Johnson should definitely be able to. Justin Gage won’t be as big of a factor though. Nobody should be surprised if the Titans only threw like 20 times. Their D will struggle a little bit against the pass.

Tennessee 30, Houston 21

 

New York Jets  vs. New England

The Patriots will not let themselves be embarrassed like last week, even if they did win. The Pats are going to come out firing on all cylinders, especially with all of the trash talking by the Jets this week. Brady is going to be in 2007 form and Randy Moss will be as well. The defense will give up their points, but the offense is going to explode this game.

New York’s new look looked great last week. Rex Ryan’s D looked excellent and so did Mark Sanchez. Belichick will find things to throw at the rookie this week though. The Pats defense might not be super talented, but they’ll throw some different looks at Sanchez. The running game will be good again against New England, but expect Leon Washington to have a bigger game than Thomas Jones. He’s gonna break some long runs. The defense will have a much better offense lining up on the other side in this game and will suddenly not have as many people taking about it.

New England 34, New York 20

 

Philadelphia vs. New Orleans

The Saints offense was great last week and will continue to be all year. The defense did allow 27 points against the Lions. That’s a sign that the defense will be just as bad as usual. Brees will definitely not put up six touchdowns this game and will be running from the Eagles fierce pass rush all day. Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas, and Mike Bell will not be able to run successfully against that Eagles D. The defense got lucky by getting the Eagles without McNabb. That might be the deciding factor in this game.

Philly’s defense is shaping up very nicely. It’s hard to tell if Philadelphia’s defense forced all those Jake Delhomme turnovers or Delhomme is just horrible. Maybe it is both. New Orleans will test them more. Kevin Kolb is going to struggle like Matthew Stafford did last week against the Saints. Westbrook should still have a good day. They need some big plays from their receivers to win, but they won’t get enough.

New Orleans 21, Philadelphia 16

 

Kansas City vs. Oakland

Oakland is going to have a hard time recovering after a heart wrenching loss against the Chargers last week. Going into Arrowhead will be difficult, but Oakland is up to the challenge. The Raiders are actually a pretty good pass defense. Nmadi Asumgha is probably the best corner in the league. Jamarcus Russell isn’t going to win this game for Oakland, but he isn’t going to lose it for them either. Darren McFadden is going to go absolutely nuts in this game. Oakland will play another great game.

The Chiefs offense might actually better than previously thought. Putting 24 points on the Ravens is not an easy task, so they should be able to put up at least the same on the Raiders. Matt Cassel will play and show Chiefs fans that it was a huge mistake to give him 50 million dollars. He is going to fall flat on his face. Larry Johnson will have a good game, but that won’t win the game for them. This defense is not good. Any team that they play is going to run and pass all over them.

Oakland 23, Kansas City 17

 

Washington vs. St. Louis

The Rams are by far the worst team in the league this year. the defense is very bad. the offense is very bad. Everything is very bad. Seattle is a good team this year, but scoring a big goose egg is not acceptable. Marc Bulger was good three or four years ago, but now he should be a backup somewhere, not a starter. Steven Jackson is a very talented back, but his stats are not going to be good running behind the Rams offensive line. The defense is going to give up points in this game, even against the below average Washington offense.

The Redskins will whoop up on the Rams in this game. Jason Campbell will suddenly look like Joe Montana against this Ram’s defense. Julius Jones tore up the Ram’s run D last week, imagine how bad Clinton Portis will annahliate that defense. The Skins are going to roll.

Washington 31, St. Louis 14

 

Jacksonville vs. Arizona

The defending NFC champs looked like they would continue the year after curse of Super Bowl runner ups. Going to Jacksonville against a rejuvenated Jaguars team is not going to turn the season around, especially with unhealthy wide receivers. Larry Fitzgerald is going to put up great numbers still, but the Cards need a healthy Anquan Boldin and healthy Steve Breaston to win games. Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells aren’t going to kill anybody. The defense is just average and Jacksonville can score points against them.

The Jags are on their way to a big bounceback year. They played the Colts very tightly last week and get a worse opponent at home this week Gerrard will have a better game this week, as will everybody else on the Jaguars offense. The defense looks very good, only giving up 14 points to the Colts.

Jacksonville 24, Arizona 17

 

San Francisco vs. Seattle

The Seahawks looked good last week as my sleeper of the year pick. The were playing the Rams, but they still looked very good. If Hasselbeck stays healthy the Seahawks are going to have a very successful season. He will be able to tear up this San Francisco defense. Houshmandzadeh will catch eight or nine balls and get in the end zone twice. Once they develop the proper chemistry, people will realize Housh is a premier NFL receiver. Julius Jones won’t be able to run like last week, but will still be effective.

The Niners have caught on as a sleeper pick, but they will not be as good as some people think. They don’t really have a big strength. What is it? They don’t have their “thing.” Shaun Hill is solid, but against the Seahawks defense he won’t have a great game, just an average one. Frank Gore was bad against the Cardinals defense, there is no reason to believe he’ll be able to run against a defense that shut down Steven Jackson. The Niners defense will be tough all year long with Singletary leading them, but the Seahawks offense is very good.

Seattle 24, San Francisco 16 (Upset of the Week)

 

Buffalo vs. Tampa Bay

Tampa is better than people think. They gave up too many big plays against Dallas, but that was against Tony Romo. They get Trent Edwards this week, which is a big drop off. Tampa might not have much of a passing game, especially without Antonio Bryant, but their running game is one of the best in the league. Derrick Ward, Cadillac Williams, and Earnest Graham are all legitimate NFL starters, Cadillac is going to have another big game, as will Derrick Ward. The defense will play much better this week.

Buffalo is going to struggle this week. They’re facing the hangover effect, losing a game against a favored opponent in heartbreaking fashion. Edwards will find TO more, but he won’t be as efficient. Fred Jackson won’t play as well either. The defense played well against Brady, but won’t be able to stop Tampa’s rushing attack.

Tampa Bay 20, Buffalo 14

 

Chicago vs. Pittsburgh

The Super Bowl champs are going to have another good year. Roethlisberger looked great last week in the fourth quarter, but also threw two interceptions. He will throw at least one or two against Chicago and won’t be able to escape the faster Chicago pass rush as well as he escaped the Tennessee pass rush. Willie Parker will run better against Chicago, but still will be shut down. He will score a TD though. The defense will force a lot of turnovers to make up for offensive struggles.

Jay Cutler looked awful against Green Bay and now has to face the best defense in the league. Cutler might throw four more interceptions in this game. Pittsburgh is going to be all over him, and the only way to beat Pittsburgh is through the air. Matt Forte is going to have another bad game. The defense will struggle a little bit now that Urlacher is out.

Pittsburgh 20, Chicago 15

 

Denver vs. Cleveland

The Browns didn’t look half bad against the Vikes last week and have a much worse opponent this week. However, they go on the road to Denver instead of playing at one of the friendliest confines in the league in Cleveland. Brady Quinn isn’t the answer, but neither is Derek Anderson. The running game isn’t strong either. The offensive line is the only thing that is holds this team together. The defense is horrible and will probably get run all over in this game.

Denver will be better than people think. They’re going to start 2-0 after this game. Orton is going to have a better game and will find chemistry with Brandon Marshall. Knowshon Moreno is healthy and will breakout in this one, he’ll get about 90 yards and a touchdown. The defense looked good against a decent (on paper) Cincinnati offense. They should play even better against Cleveland.

Denver 21, Cleveland 13

 

San Diego vs. Baltimore (GAME OF THE WEEK)

Baltimore looked like the bizarro Ravens last week, scoring a bunch of points and giving up a lot of points to a bad team. That just doesn’t happen to the Ravens. The defense will give up points against the Chargers offense this week too. Flacco is poised for a breakout year and will tear the Chargers defense up just like he did to the Chiefs. McGahee isn’t done and Ray Rice has looked great. They will be great again against San Diego.

San Diego (the greatest city in the world by the way, it’s a fact) is going to bounce back a little bit after struggling against the Raiders last week. Tomlinson is out, but the Ravens got hurt through the air last week anyway, so it shouldn’t matter to much. Sproles won’t do a whole lot on the ground, but he is very dangerous on screen passes kick returns. He is going to get a lot of touches and knows what to do with them. Vincent Jackson will catch another touchdown on his way to a breakout year. The defense will step up after struggling last week.

San Diego 24, Baltimore 21

 

Dallas vs. New York Giants

The Giants will be great this year. They are clearly the class of the NFC. Their defense is second to none and will shut down Dallas’s potent passing attack. Eli Manning will play well against Dallas and will make it apparent who his new favorite receiver will be this year. Brandon Jacobs will score two or three touchdowns in this game in a big statement game for New York.

Tony Romo and Co. looked great against Tampa last week, but this Giants defense is much better than Tampa Bay’s. Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice form one of the best running back trio in the league. They will be able to have some success against the Giants. Barber will have the most success. Jason Witten will have success in the passing game, but nobody else will.

New York 31, Dallas 14

 

Miami vs. Indianapolis

Indianapolis got off to a good start in the Jim Caldwell era with a win at home. Now they will get their first road win and start 2-0. Manning will have a big day picking apart Miami’s weak pass D. Reggie Wayne will go over 100 yards again and Dallas Clark will have a big day as well. The defense will shut down Miami’s weak offense.

The Dolphins are going to fall back to earth this season. A healthy Tom Brady+Chad Pennington a year older+no good receivers= bad year for the Fish. Pennington will struggle again and so will the rest of the offense. Jacksonville’s offense in better than Miami’s and the Colts limited them to just 12. The Dolphins will barely get out of single digits in this game.

Indianapoilis 28, Miami 13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Sunday Morning Under the Helmet: What To Watch for in NFL Week Two

Before you crack open a can of beer, light the grill, or flip on the big screen, take a couple minutes to gather around your computer and get a sneak peak at what’s gonna go down in the NFL week two.

We’ll go around the league and tackle the day’s biggest matchup, preview three “no-names” who will have big games, and wrap up with which team will pull off the week’s biggest upset.

So put on the pads, buckle your chinstrap, and get ready for this Sunday Morning wild ride around the National Football League!

 

 

Matchup of the week:  Patriots @ Jets

There’s no question the most buzz in the NFL this week has been focused on this clashing of two AFC East rivals.  Rex Ryan and the Jets have taken the trash talking, intimidating approach while the Patriots have taken the “we’ll do the talking on the field” approach. Who will prevail???

According to Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, the Jets are planning on not just beating the Pats, but “embarrassing” them.

“You go out from the first quarter on, from the first play on, and try to embarrass them,” Rhodes said, according to the New York Daily News.

“Not just go out there and try to win, try to embarrass them. Try to make them feel bad when they leave here. We don’t want to just beat them. We want to send a message to them, ‘We’re not backing down from you and we expect to win this game, and it’s not going to be luck, it’s not going to be a mistake.’ “

In order to ensure New England doesn’t pick up it’s ninth-consecutive win against the Jets in the Meadowlands Sunday, coach Ryan sent a voicemail message to every Jets season ticket holder encouraging them to come out and make the Pats feel the pressure.

The Jets are clearly going to try to pressure Patriots quarterback Tom Brady from the first snap, to the last.

Rhodes even promised to the Daily News that they’d hit Brady more than six times.

As the Jets trash-talk, the Patriots remain pretty quiet like usual.

The Patriots will need to find a way to protect Brady and keep him on his feet.  In order to do that they’ll need to keep the Jets defense off balance. Therefore, we could see New England focus on getting things going on the ground early.

On the defensive side of the ball, Bill Belichick’s defense will likely try to put lots of pressure on rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez as he makes just his second NFL start, and home debut.

This will likely be a close game, maybe a field goal will be the difference.

 

Small names, big games

Today we’ll take a look at three non-superstars who will post big numbers in week two.

-Austin Collie (WR, Indianapolis)

Ever heard of him?  I didn’t think so. 

Austin Collie is a rookie fourth round wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts.  With Anthony Gonzalez now out for several weeks, Collie could see a significant increase in his playing time.

Last week against Jacksonville, Collie had two catches for 15 yards and in three preseason games he caught eight balls for 69 yards.

In his final season at Brigham Young, Collie snagged 106 passes for 1,538 yards and 15 touchdowns.

So clearly, this guy knows how to play football. Oh, plus he’s got some guy named Peyton Manning throwing to him.

-Trent Edwards (QB, Buffalo)

Trent Edwards was pretty impressive in week one against New England.  He threw for a very respectable 212 yards and two touchdowns in the 25-24 loss to the Pats.

In week two he goes head-to-head with a Buccaneers defense that gave up 344 passing yards, including three long touchdowns, to Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys last week.

Expect Edwards to hit T.O. and Lee Evans for multiple big plays against the weak Bucs secondary.

-Louis Murphy (WR, Oakland)

Rookie Louis Murphy has quickly become the Raiders No. 1 wideout.  He showed off his talents in week one against San Diego by collecting four catches for 87 yards, not including the touchdown that was overturned at the end of the half.

In preseason he caught seven passes for 158 yards and one touchdown.

Watch for quarterback JaMarcus Russell to look for Murphy quite a bit against the weak Chiefs defense.

-Others to watch: Kevin Kolb, Jason Campbell, Fred Jackson

 

Upset Alert!: Chicago over Pittsburgh???

When the defending champs head into Chicago for this week two battle, Steelers fans could be in for a disappointment.

Jay Cutler played pretty awful in week one at Green Bay, but he will bounce back in week two at home, especially with Polamalu out.  He’ll also get help from Matt Forte and the rushing department.

Until late last week against the Titans, the Steelers’ offense struggled to score points mostly because of their lack of a solid rushing attack. The run game could be a little better this week with Brian Urlacher out for the Bears, but don’t expect any 100-yard rushers for Pittsburgh. 

Overall, expect this to be a dogfight throughout. It won’t be easy, but a couple freak plays could be the difference in this one for Chicago.

Prediction: Bears win 26-24.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys Preview and Pick

NFL Football Betting Preview by Jay of BangTheBook.com
New York Giants (1-0) at Dallas Cowboys (1-0)
Sunday, Sept. 20th, 8:20PM Eastern

 

Bookmaker betting line—Dallas -3, 45 O/U

The hardest division in football will kick off action this weekend when the Dallas Cowboys host their first regular season game inside the new Cowboys Stadium when they host the New York Giants Sunday night. Both teams captured wins in their openers. The Giants withstood a tough challenge from the Washington Redskins.

However, in the end Eli Manning and the passing game got the job done holding onto a 23-17 victory. The Cowboys took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. Tony Romo had a big game with the help of some emerging Cowboys receivers. Romo threw for 353 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Cowboys to a 34-21 victory. However, both teams real test will come this weekend when the always important record in the division makes its first tally on the standings page.

The game features two offenses who are both trying to overcome big losses. Eli Manning lost favorite target Plaxico Burress while Tony Romo lost an equally dangerous Terrell Owens on the outside. The Giants also lost a part of their running threat that was apart of the most dangerous duo in the NFL in 2008. Derrick Ward parted ways to Tampa Bay after a 1,000 yards season sharing time with Brandon Jacobs in the backfield.

Jacobs the primary back also was over the 1,000 yard mark in 2008 and will be the main threat on the ground for the New York rushing attack this season. Jacobs did not get off to an overwhelming great start last week carrying the ball 16 times for just 46 yards. If the passing game starts to struggle like they did at the end of 2008, Jacobs will have to be a bigger contribution to the offense.

The offense will still rely on QB Eli Manning to get the job done. Manning has some talented young guys in the arsenal, but they really need one of those guys to step up to be a big playmaker since they are without a big play threat at the receiving position. Steve Smith is the most likely candidate after six catches for 80 yards last week. It is jus Smith’s third year in the league and with Burress out there is a good chance that Smith could have a breakout year.

Manning had some accuracy issues last year struggling with interceptions, but looked solid last week completing 70 percent of his passes. Still, the Cowboys got to the quarterback more than any other team in 2008 sacking the quarterback 51 times and it will be interesting to see if Manning can stay effective if the guys with the stars on their helmets start getting into the backfield.

The Cowboys as noted earlier are also trying to find some wide receivers to emerge into big play threats. Romo still has one of his favorite targets in tight end Jason Witten who caught more passes than anyone in their opener (five). Witten has racked up over 2,000 yards receiving over the last two years and is one of the most effective pass catching tight ends in the NFL. Still, Romo is awaiting a wide out to really add the big play threat. Roy Williams was brought over from Detroit to fill that void and revive his career. However, Williams is yet a 100 yard receiving day for the Cowboys. Williams did catch three balls for 86 yards last week, but the Cowboys offense could truly be dynamic if he could become a big threat week in and week out.

The other candidate on the outside is Patrick Crayton. Crayton has decent speed and a knack for getting behind defenders as seen last week on an 80 yard touchdown pass. Crayton ended the day with a team high 135 yards of receiving. If the Cowboys can get that kind of results out of Crayton, then it will not matter how Williams performs. Still, the Cowboys offense was up against a fairly weak defense last week and it will be interesting to see how they are able to move the ball against one of the best defenses in the NFC.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cowboys played very well during the second half of 2008. The defense was expected to perform better than expected this year if you ask Cowboys faithful. However, they were not overly impressive last week allowing 450 total yards from an average offense. The defense must be better throughout the remainder of the season. Also, even more shocking the defense failed to bring down the quarterback at all last week. The Cowboys racked up more sacks than any other team in the NFL last week and failed to pick up a single sack against what many would consider a weak offensive line.

Considering how well the Giants offensive line is as an entire group. If the Cowboys defensive line does not penetrate, Manning will have all day to throw the ball and Jacobs could run wild. The Cowboys allowed over 170 yards on the ground last week. If they play that way against the Giants, Jacobs will have 300 yards by the time the whistle blows. Rest assured the defense is aware they have to play better, but will they play better enough to stop the run and get the victory?

Pick—The first meeting between these two every year have a history of being a shootout. Considering both defenses have not started clicking yet, the trend may continue. Take the over 45.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

« Previous Page — Next Page »

NFL Sport Channel Latest

• Just How Far Would You Go?
• Sorry Rex, But It Isn’t Happening
• Super Bowl Predictions: Five Stat-Free Reasons Why the Eagles Will Reach The Super Bowl
• Seahawks Attempt to Turn Corner With Heavy Pursuit of Pete Carroll
• Bill Cowher Unlikely to Coach in 2010