The Steelers blow an opportunity and other NFL thoughts

(1) It sure has been an unbelievable turn of events in Pittsburgh since they dominated the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football two weeks ago. Last week, they effectively lost the AFC North title when they were handled by the Cincinnati Bengals. This week, they jeopardized their playoff position with a devastating overtime loss to the lowly Kansas City Chiefs. Even worse than losing to one of the worst teams in the NFL, the Steelers Nation had to hold its collective breath when the franchise, Ben Roethlisberger, went stumbling to the bench after taking an apparent knee to the head during overtime. The Steelers were not volunteering too much information after the game, but if it was indeed a concussion, then Big Ben will likely miss at least one game. With Pittsburgh’s struggles the last two weeks, it is an inopportune moment to lose your leader and quarterback for any period of time. Roethlisberger has been huge all season long and he played very well against the young Chiefs as well. Unfortunately, he was also part of the reason that the Steelers could not finish Kansas City during regulation.
On the positive side, Roethlisberger only misfired on 10 pass attempts and threw for 398 yards, which was the third highest passing performance of his career. He helped stake the Steelers to a 17-7 halftime lead with touchdown passes to Hines Ward and Heath Miller. Nevertheless, he made two bad throws that killed Pittsburgh’s growing momentum. The first bad throw came right out of halftime when the Steelers were looking to build on their strong finish to the first half and blow out the Chiefs. On a first and 10 from the Steelers’ 48-yard line, Big Ben attempted an ill-advised pass to Heath Miller down the middle of the field and was intercepted by some no-name Kansas City defender. Instead of picking up where they left off, the Steelers inadvertently gave the Chiefs an extra boost because Kansas City promptly marched down the field and scored their first offensive touchdown of the day. The second bad decision from Roethlisberger was even more painful than the first. Pittsburgh had taken the ball to the Kansas City 10-yard line and were poised to regain the momentum until Big Ben held the ball too long, was hit as he threw and let a fluttering duck go into the end zone that was intercepted by Kansas City and returned to the Pittsburgh eight-yard line. This interception also turned into points for the Chiefs as they kicked the tying field goal. As great as Big Ben has been this season and in his career, he does have a tendency to make bad decisions from time to time and hold onto to the ball way too long.

As I have said on numerous occasions, turnovers are the great equalizer. If an inferior team can force the better team to make mistakes, then they have an outstanding chance to win the game. The Chiefs were dominated in nearly every statistical category, but they won the all-important turnover battle, which led to their stunning upset. In addition to the two interceptions thrown by Roethlisberger, the Chiefs also forced a fumble by Mike Wallace after he had caught a 33-yard pass from Big Ben in the first quarter. It is likely that the Steelers would have scored at least three points on this possession, so we can reasonably say that Pittsburgh’s turnovers cost them at least six points. This is why a terrible team like Kansas City can win a game despite being outgained nearly two-to-one, allowing nearly 30 first downs (27 to be exact) and only possessing the football for just over 22 minutes. The other thing that really helped the Chiefs is that they returned the opening kickoff for a 97-yard touchdown. Pittsburgh has now allowed a return touchdown in eight straight games, which is an NFL record. In a straight-up football game, Kansas City would lose to the Steelers probably nine out of 10 times, if not more. In a game, where the Chiefs make all the big plays they beat the Steelers and knock their star quarterback out of the game.

(2) What a difference a week makes? Last week, the Cincinnati Bengals were the toast of the NFL after they vanquished their divisional rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, at Heinz Field. This week, they got caught in the glitch in the matrix, otherwise known as Oakland, and lost a heart-breaking game to the Raiders. In fact, it was the Bengals’ 10th loss in 10 trips to Oakland. The Bengals have to be ashamed of themselves for losing a game, where they were clearly the superior team. They should have learned from Philadelphia’s visit to the East Bay that Oakland is very capable of beating people in the Black Hole. Oakland, like Kansas City, is not very good, so they have to find ways to turn games into ugly slugfests. The Raiders achieved their goal against the Bengals by forcing four turnovers, including two from Carson Palmer and one that ultimately set-up the winning field goal. The Bengals did a lot of things correctly on Sunday, but their turnover problems led directly to them allowing a winnable game to get away from them.

The Bengals were better than the Raiders in nearly every statistical category. They out-gained Oakland by 75 yards, ran for 177 yards, converted 23 first downs and possessed the ball for nearly 40 minutes. Cedric Benson’s substitute, Bernard Scott, ran for a career-high 116 yards on 21 carries, which seems to indicate that the Bengals are going to be just fine running the football without their top ball carrier. Palmer completed 14 of 22 passes for 207 yards and became the first Bengals quarterback to run for two touchdowns in a game since Jack Thompson in 1979. On the surface, it appeared to be another game where the Bengals were going to rely on smart decisions from Palmer, a dominating rushing attack and a suffocating effort from their defense. Unfortunately, their best laid plans began to unravel in the 2nd quarter when a Palmer fumble ended a Cincinnati drive at the Oakland 27-yard line. Things got even worse in the fourth quarter starting with a Jeremiah Johnson fumble that killed another scoring opportunity at the Oakland 15-yard line. As I said before, upsets happen when the lesser team can create mistakes and chaos. By forcing two fumbles in their own end, the Raiders did more than just get the ball back for their offense, they delivered a couple of debilitating blows to the Cincinnati psyche. The Bengals are not so accustomed to winning football games that they are able to reach back into their collective memories and find instances where they overcame sloppiness and turnovers to emerge victorious. The Raiders were planting seeds of doubt in the minds of the Bengals. Instead of finding a way to win, the Bengals reverted back to their dismal teams of years past and found a way to lose. After the Raiders had tied the score at 17-17 with less than a minute to play, the Bengals fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, which allowed the Raiders to kick a game-winning field goal and score one of the biggest upsets of the weekend.

It was pretty interesting that two teams from the AFC North, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, lost in the exact same fashion. The AFC North teams dominated statistically, but their turnovers and special teams mistakes doomed them both. I still believe that Cincinnati will win the division, but Pittsburgh is in a little bit of trouble because they have lost their back-up quarterback for six weeks and they have injury concerns with their starter as well.
(3) Don’t look now, but the Jacksonville Jaguars have quietly moved into playoff position on the strength of their first three-game winning streak in nearly two years. They ruined Perry Fewell’s debut as an NFL coach and Terrell Owens’ biggest day in upstate New York with a heart-stopping, last-second victory. David Garrard struggled for most of the day, but put together a memorable fourth quarter that ended with a game-winning touchdown drive. Garrard had only three game-winning drives in 58 career starts prior to week 10 and now has two such drives in the last two weeks alone. He nearly had a perfect fourth quarter completing eight of nine attempts for 113 yards, which included the game-winning connection with Mike Sims-Walker inside of a minute. Garrard has been up and down all season long, but he seems to be playing with a newfound confidence in recent weeks. He hasn’t made all the plays, but he has made the big plays to get Jacksonville into playoff contention.

In addition to Garrard’s stellar final quarter, the Jags won this game because their defense never gave in to the Buffalo Bills. Outside of a fluky 98-yard touchdown reception that they gave up to Terrell Owens, the Jags only allowed 245 yards and three measly field goals in 11 possessions. They forced three Buffalo turnovers and applied enough pressure on quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to make him a little nervous in the pocket. Even on the big play to Owens, the Jaguars had a defender in the face of Fitzpatrick, who barely got the ball away. In addition, Jacksonville did an outstanding job in the red zone (zero touchdowns in three opportunities for Buffalo) and a solid job in third down situations (3-11 and only 14 first downs total). Their solid defensive effort helped their offense control the ball for over 36 minutes of the game, which ultimately wore down a very game Bills defense. It was clear to me that fatigue started to set in for Buffalo early in the fourth quarter after Jacksonville drove 65 yards on seven plays before fumbling the ball away. The Buffalo offense promptly went three-and-out, which set the stage for Garrard’s game-winning heroics. Ultimately, Jacksonville ran 40 plays in the second half compared to only 18 plays for the Buffalo offense. The Bills simply didn’t have anything left when the Jags started their final drive.

The Jaguars are in their current position because they have been a fairly stingy defense and a ball-possessing offense over the last three games. On defense, they have been very stout in the red zone allowing only three touchdowns in 10 overall opportunities inside their own 20-yard line. Some people think that red zone defense statistics are overblown, but I believe they tell a lot about how a defense performs in pressure situations. In my opinion, really bad defenses not only cannot stop their opponents in the middle of the field but they wilt as their opponents get closer to the end zone. A decent to good defense may get victimized between the 20’s, but they have enough savvy to crank up the intensity when their opponent gets into scoring range. I also think that a good red zone defense reduces the pressure placed on their offense to score points. If the defense can hold the opposing offense to three points or less, then their offense doesn’t feel like it has to engage in a shootout to win. The other reason that the Jags are winning recently is that they are controlling the time of possession by running the ball effectively and converting third down opportunities. They have averaged nearly 140 yards rushing on four yards per carry during their current winning streak. In addition, they have converted nearly 57% of their third down opportunities. Both of these statistics are big reasons why the Jags have dominated the time of possession battle against the Chiefs, Jets and Bills with nearly 35 minutes per game. The Jags’ defense has played great against the run and on third down as well. Their opponents have only averaged 74.3 yards per game and 3.5 yards per carry. In addition, in their last three games, Jacksonville is only allowing a third down conversion rate of 37.8%.

The Jags have certainly taken advantage of a soft stretch in their schedule, but things get considerably more difficult in the coming weeks. If they can beat the 49ers on the road this week, then they will be on solid footing heading into a formidable four game stretch that includes the Texans (home), Dolphins (home), Colts (home) and Patriots (road). If the Jags get by San Francisco, then I like their chances of winning three of their last five games and getting into the playoffs with a 10-6 record.

(4) I tuned in to watch a Cowboys-Redskins grudge match and a Cleveland-Detroit game broke out. It was extremely painful to watch the Cowboys and the Skins stumble and bumble their way through 60 minutes of football. The Cowboys didn’t score until late in the fourth quarter for the second consecutive week and they still managed to win the game. Tony Romo threw for only 158 yards, which is his lowest total ever in a victory, and didn’t complete any passes on third down. He seemed to be playing with an aching back, but I’m not going to let Romo get off that easy. For God’s sake, he didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver until 13 seconds remained in the third quarter. If he was hurting that badly, he needed to take himself out of the game. Regardless, the Cowboys struggled to move the football all game long despite a balanced approach to play-calling and 153 yards rushing. Despite the gaudy rushing statistics, the Cowboys were unable to sustain drives because they couldn’t convert on third down. They only converted three out of 12 third or fourth down attempts. Their inability to move the ball consistently greatly limited their scoring opportunities. Prior to scoring the late touchdown, the Cowboys missed a field goal and fumbled the ball inside the Skins’ 15-yard line to halt their only other promising drive. In every imaginable way, the Cowboys played a terrible game and now they have to regroup, on a short week, to face the Raiders on Turkey Day. If things go according to plan, Romo will look fabulous against an overmatched opponent and all will be swell in Big D. If things don’t go well on Thanksgiving, then I believe that the vultures will start to circle over the corpse formerly known as Wade Phillips.

Meanwhile, a full-fledged shootout happened at Ford Field between two teams that have done nothing but lose for the last decade. The Detroit Lions edged the Cleveland Browns 38-37 in one of the most exciting games of 2009. The lead-up to this game was filled with jokes as the pundits wondered aloud who would be watching this game, but it turned into the most entertaining game of the weekend. The Browns entered the game averaging only 8.6 points per game, but scored more points in the first quarter (24 points) than they had scored in any game all season. The Browns set season highs in nearly every category and looked like a completely different team from the one that was shutout by the Baltimore Ravens less than a week ago. Cleveland, who has lost five in a row, recorded four offensive touchdowns after scoring five offensive touchdowns in their previous 15 games combined. More incredibly, Brady Quinn threw four touchdown passes, which eclipsed his career total of three touchdown passes. Not to be outdone, the Lions rang up 473 total yards, which included rookie Matthew Stafford going absolutely bananas with 422 yards passing and five touchdowns. The Lions won this game despite trailing 24-3 in the first quarter. Detroit needed a silly pass interference penalty on the Browns’ Hank Poteat to set up a chaotic winning play from the one-yard line with no time remaining on the clock. It looked like Stafford would miss the final play after getting knocked out on the Hail Mary, but another poor choice by Eric Mangini allowed Stafford to elude the training staff and run one more play. Stafford was able to overcome the intense pain of having his shoulder knocked out of socket to complete a short pass to fellow rookie Brandon Pettigrew for the game-winner. Stafford’s injury is severe enough that he will likely miss the Lions’ annual Turkey Day game. This game gives us another reason to not judge a book by its cover.

(5) There are only two words to describe the effort that the Seattle Seahawks gave in losing to the Minnesota Vikings 35-9: complete embarrassment. The Hawks were dominated in every single phase of the game. On offense, they only ran a measly 44 plays the entire game after running over 80 plays in their loss to Arizona just last week. As a result, the Hawks held the ball for less than 18 minutes. They couldn’t run the ball again after seemingly having a breakthrough against the Cardinals. Amazingly, they set a new low for rushing yards in a game with only four yards the entire game. The worst part is that they had just established a franchise record for the worst rushing game a couple of weeks ago against Arizona. The Hawks were so putrid on offense that they didn’t even cross the 50-yard line until late in the third quarter when they were already trailing 28-0. They turned the ball over twice and only converted one out of 10 third down opportunities. The ultimate indignity for a team that struggled to move the ball all day long was that they committed 10 back-breaking penalties for a total of 64 yards lost. If you are already pissing the day away, it is probably not a good idea to put yourself into a bigger hole with penalties. The Hawks even tried to break out a few plays for Seneca Wallace, which worked about as well as the Balloon Boy’s father’s attempt to land a reality television show. By the way, whoever decided to nickname the Seneca package the “Senecat” needs to put it back where they found it. Until something actually starts working, you are not allowed to give a cute little name. The Hawks need to fix their normal offense before they start adding wrinkles to the mix.

The only thing worse than the Hawks offense was their defense. The Hawks were so bad on defense that the Vikings didn’t feel like they needed to play Brett Favre more than 2.5 quarters. Even Matt Hasselbeck thought it was embarrassing to see old number four standing on the sideline with a ball cap on midway through the third quarter. The Hawks were so defense-less that terrible Tarvaris Jackson even threw a touchdown pass after replacing Favre. I think that Marcus Trufant is still icing his ass from falling down on Jackson’s touchdown connection with Sidney Rice. Overall, the Hawks gave up an astounding 28 first downs, which meant that Hawks’ fans had to endure at least 28 horn blowing sounds from the Metrodome P.A. system. The only team tradition that is more annoying than the Viking horn is the stupid song that the USC band plays 9,000 times per game. The Hawks gave up 431 total yards, including 213 yards passing from Favre and 160 yards rushing from the dynamic duo of Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. In reality, the Hawks did an okay job against Peterson, but they must have let their guard down when Taylor entered the game because he gashed them repeatedly. Ultimately, this game belonged to Favre, who established a career best in completion percentage for a single game after completing 88% of his throws against the hapless Hawks. In addition, Favre established a new NFL record with his 22nd career game with four or more touchdown passes. The Hawks actually generated a little pressure from time to time, but Favre performed a few of his trademark Houdini escapes and killed the Hawks with the extra time in the pocket. The whole game kind of reminded me of the 2007 playoff game in the snow in Lambeau Field, where Favre played like it was 80 degrees and sunny and the Hawks played like a bunch of five year olds ice skating for the first time.

In the end, the Vikings won for the 14th time in 16 games and further proved that they are one of the best teams in the entire NFL. On the flip side, the Hawks lost for the 19th time in 26 games and appear to be headed for a 4-12 season. I would be more encouraged if the Hawks actually put up a fight against the Vikings instead of rolling over like a Cocker Spaniel. This week’s game against the lowly Rams will show if the Hawks are still mentally in the game because, even in their distressed state, they are still head and shoulders above St. Louis. If they manage to lose to the Rams, then Paul Allen and Todd Leiwicke might have to seriously contemplate changes at General Manager and Head Coach.

Stats of the Week - Week 10

Stat of the week No. 1: Chris Johnson joined Jim Brown (2), Jim Taylor and Adrian Peterson as the only players to average 100+ yards per game and over six yards per carry through the first nine games of a season.

Stat of the week No. 2: Brady Quinn became just the fourth quarterback in the last 20 years to throw 30 or more passes for fewer than 100 yards with no touchdowns and multiple interceptions in a game.

Stat of the week No. 3: Randy Moss caught his 27th career touchdown of 50 yards or more, which tied him with Lance Alworth for second most in NFL history.
Stat of the week No. 4: With 146 career touchdowns, LaDanian Tomlinson passed Marcus Allen for third all-time and trails only Jerry Rice (208) and Emmitt Smith (175). It was also the 40th game of Tomlinson’s career with multiple scores.

Stat of the week No. 5: The Detroit Lions lost their 17th straight road game and their 13th straight game against an NFC North opponent.

A case of deja vu in Denver and other NFL thoughts

(1) The City of Denver must have went to bed Sunday night with a collective feeling of ‘here we go again,’ as the Broncos have allowed a seemingly insurmountable lead in the AFC West go up in smoke. The Broncos were the darlings of the NFL after an undefeated start, but they have now lost three straight games and find themselves deadlocked with the San Diego Chargers. The losing streak wouldn’t be so concerning if the Broncos had not coughed up a huge division lead to the Chargers just last season. As if things were not bad enough in Denver, the Broncos have to find a way to right the ship with the Chargers coming to town on Sunday for a titanic division battle. The worst part of the entire situation is that they might have to do it without their starting quarterback after Kyle Orton left the game against the Washington Redskins with an injury.

In order for the Broncos to get back to playing like they were earlier in the season, they need to re-identify the formula that was working so well on defense and reapply it for the last seven games. During their early season success, the Broncos were giving up a miniscule 11 points per game, but they are giving up over 28 points per game during their current losing streak. It was no embarrassment to give up 30 points to the Ravens and 28 to the defending champs, but it has to leave you scratching your head when you give up 27 points to the Washington Redskins. It was the first time since week two of the 2008 season that the Redskins had scored more than 24 points. One of the big reasons that the Broncos played so well early on was that they played a suffocating brand of defense in the second half. From week three to week six, the Broncos did not allow a single third down conversion in the second half and they only allowed two second half conversions during their first six games. As a result of regularly getting off the field in third down situations, the Broncos did not allow more than seven points in any single game after halftime. In the last three weeks, it looks like the Denver defense is in a major slump. In the last three games, the Broncos have allowed their opponents to convert 15 out of 23 third down opportunities. Their inability to stop the other team in the second half has led to them allowing 24 points, 21 points and 13 points after halftime in the last three games. With the red hot San Diego Chargers coming to town on Sunday, it will be interesting to see what the Broncos coaching staff can come up with to turn the tide for their defensive unit.

Unfortunately, the defense isn’t the only area that has let down the team in the recent weeks. Kyle Orton, who was a big part of their initial success, has not played very well since the last time they faced the Chargers. Before playing great in the first half against the Redskins, Orton had played his two worst games of the season against the Ravens and the Steelers. In the Baltimore game, he was held to less than 200 yards passing and was not able to sustain drives against a fierce Ravens defense. In the Steelers game, Orton tossed three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown in the first half. The common denominator in both of those games was that the Ravens and the Steelers did not respect Orton’s ability to push the ball down the field. As a result, they both crowded the line of scrimmage, which allowed them stifle the Broncos’ running game and cause Orton to make mistakes in the passing game. It appeared that Denver made a conscious effort to break the mold in the Redskins game because they struck early with two long touchdown passes to Brandon Marshall. Unfortunately, Orton got hurt and all of the momentum that they had built up was washed away in a flood of bad passes from Chris Simms. The other area that has failed the Broncos has been their special teams unit. In the Ravens game, they gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half that carried the Ravens to the victory. In Sunday’s game, they allowed the Redskins to execute a fake punt even though Washington had tipped its hand before calling a timeout. The Skins came out of the break and lined up in the exact same formation but the Broncos punt return team did not catch on. If Washington had attempted the same trick play during the Broncos’ six game winning streak, I’m sure that Denver would have diagnosed the play and snuffed it out. Unfortunately, when things are not going right, boneheaded mistakes pile up like dirty laundry.

The only way that the Broncos will beat the Chargers and break their losing streak is if Kyle Orton is healthy and ready to play. They have absolutely no chance to win if Chris Simms starts at quarterback. In the end, I don’t think it will matter because I believe that the Chargers will come away with a close, hard-fought victory in the Mile High City. Just like last year, I think that the Chargers are the better team and the better team usually wins out over the long haul.

(2) There appears to have been a changing of the guard in the AFC North after the Cincinnati Bengals completed a season sweep of the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers. It was the first time since 1998 that the Bengals had beaten the Steelers twice in the same regular season. Not only did the Bengals beat the Steelers for the second time, but they swept the big, bad Baltimore Ravens as well and sit with a 5-0 divisional record for the first time in the history of the franchise. As a result of the sweep and the divisional record, the Bengals effectively hold a two-game advantage over Pittsburgh with seven games remaining. Barring a collapse, which would not be unusual for one of the most awful franchises in recent memory, the Bengals should win the division. This development means that the Steelers are left to play for wild card berth, which they all but conceded in their post-game comments.

The Bengals are a team that definitely merits a closer look. In order to put their current success in its proper perspective, we have to remember that Cincinnati is coming off a 4-11-1 campaign in 2008. More importantly, they have been the punch line of lots of jokes since their heyday in the 1980’s under Coach Sam Wyche. Their victory in Pittsburgh was even more impressive when you consider that they have only beaten the Steelers 13 times in 40 road trips to the confluence of the Monongahela, Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. No matter how you look at things, it is clear that this Bengals team is not your mother’s Bengals.

Their success in 2009 is directly related to the return of Carson Palmer from an injury-plagued 2008 season. Palmer may not completely replicate his best years, but I would argue that he is a smarter quarterback now than he was then. He has already saved the Bengals’ bacon on at least three or four occasions this season with clutch plays and he played very efficiently against the vaunted Steelers defense. Sunday might have been his worst statistical game of the season, but the thing that stands out to me was that he didn’t commit a turnover. As a result, he didn’t give Pittsburgh any short fields or any opportunities to turn an interception or fumble into points. Frankly, his performance was reminiscent of Peyton Manning’s “take what the defense gives you” game against the San Francisco 49ers. Like the 49ers, the Steelers were hell-bent against allowing a touchdown, so Palmer was more than happy to take the short and intermediate passes and allow Shayne Graham to kick field goals. Palmer’s approach became even more critical after the Bengals lost their top runner, Cedric Benson, early in the game and the Steelers basically knew that Cincinnati would be unable to run the ball. I think that Palmer’s mental development is the biggest reason why the Bengals have a great chance to win the AFC North.

The other significant reason that the Bengals are the clear-cut favorites in the AFC North is the improved play of their defense. They were extremely impressive in limiting the Pittsburgh Steelers to only four field goals. They dominated the line of scrimmage and made life a living hell for Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben was sacked four times and harassed all day long. He failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time this season and posted his lowest quarterback rating of 2009 (51.5). The Bengals made things so difficult for the Steelers’ offense that I didn’t really feel that Pittsburgh ever had a shot to pull out the victory. The Bengals never had a big lead, but it always felt like they were in complete control because their defense was flying around and making plays. Keep in mind the Bengals were playing without one of their leaders, Keith Rivers, and still held the Steelers to only 226 yards of total offense. I really like this Bengals defense because of their linebackers and their two shutdown cornerbacks, Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph. You cannot underestimate the impact of Hall and Joseph because their presence allows the Bengals defensive coaching staff to dial up pressure with confidence knowing that those two are protecting the back-end.

Ultimately, I believe that the Bengals will win the AFC North. If Cedric Benson does not miss a lot of time, then they will do it easily. Either way, it is their division to win because they have an extremely soft schedule down the stretch. They get a three-pack of cupcakes the next three weeks with Oakland on the road and Cleveland and Detroit at home. After that soft as Charmin stretch, they will play Minnesota followed by the New York Jets and Kansas City. If the Bengals don’t get to at least 11 wins with that schedule, then Coach Marvin Lewis should be shown the door.

(3) The NFL still has two undefeated teams, but the Saints and Colts were less than impressive in keeping their records unblemished. The Saints beat the lowly Lambs, but had to withstand a late drive from St. Louis that nearly led to the biggest upset of the day. The Saints are 9-0 for the first time in their history and they tied a franchise record for consecutive wins, but I would be more than a little concerned if I was Coach Sean Payton. First of all, they turned the ball three times against one of the worst teams in the league, which allowed St. Louis to keep things close throughout. I think that the turnover issue is the dirty little secret for New Orleans especially when it relates to Drew Brees. I think the national media has chosen to ignore Brees’ penchant for turnovers because the Saints are undefeated and one of the best stories of the 2009 season. Brees threw two more interceptions on Sunday and now has 13 total turnovers on the season. He has only played two games all season where he did not turn the ball over. Don’t get me wrong, I love Drew Brees but he has been a major part of the reason why the Saints have struggled to beat the Dolphins, Falcons, Panthers and Lambs recently. If Brees can stop giving the ball to the other team, I think that the Saints are nearly unstoppable on offense. Secondly, I would be concerned that my defense got taken behind the woodshed by the lowly Lambs’ offense. St. Louis is in the bottom third of the league in total offense, but still managed to rack up 434 yards of total offense, 23 first downs and over 32 minutes of ball possession. The Saints got run over by Steven Jackson (131 yards and one touchdown) and they allowed Marc Bulger to look like he had time traveled back to his prime. Overall, the Saints were extremely sloppy and won the game in spite of their performance. They need to get back in synch because it is not far-fetched to think that they could lose in Tampa next week.

The Colts didn’t play much better than the Saints, but managed to escape with a victory thanks to some late-game heroics from Peyton Manning and an idiotic coaching move from the genius himself, Bill Belichick. Let’s begin with why the Colts were down 17 points in the 4th quarter. I hate to do this but we need to lay the blame at the feet of the Colts’ defense. They had no answer for the Patriots’ offense the entire night. The Pats racked up 477 yards of offense, which included 375 yards passing from Tom Brady and 179 yards receiving from Randy Moss. The run-challenged Patriots even managed to rush for 114 yards against the formerly stingy Colts defense. I honestly thought that this game would be a close, low scoring game because both teams know each other so well and would find ways to keep each other off-balance. Instead, the Colts’ defense got torched early and forced their offense to play catch up. For most of the game, the Patriots looked like the 2007 version that scored at will and loved to bury their opponents. Brady was playing pitch and catch with Randy Moss, Wes Welker was killing the Colts in the middle of the field and the Pats even through in a run here and there to keep Indianapolis off balance. In my opinion, it was the most impressive that the Patriots have played this season. Unfortunately, their Rhodes Scholar coach decided to go for a fourth and two inside their own 30-yard line instead of punting the football and forcing the Colts to go the length of the field to win. Listen, I love aggressive coaching as much as the next guy, but it was reckless to not punt the ball in that situation. By not punting the ball, Belichick basically told his defense that he didn’t think they were good enough to stop Manning and the Colts from driving 80 yards for the game-winner. I think it was a bad message to send to his team. His players are all standing by their man like Tammy Wynette, but, in a private moment, I’m sure they would agree that Belichick’s decision was not very smart. In the end, Professor Bill’s blunder not only cost the Patriots the game, but it cost them the ability to catch the Colts for home field advantage. Hey Bill, I hear the weather is great in Indianapolis in mid-to-late January.

(4) Another team that is feeling less then 100% is the Chicago Bears after their face plant in San Francisco. They managed only six points while losing their fourth game in five weeks. They were unable to run the football once again (43 yards on 21 carries), they committed 10 penalties for 75 yards and they turned the ball over five times, including twice in the red zone. The most disturbing part of the entire debacle is that Jay Cutler was responsible for every single turnover. His disastrous performance by the San Francisco Bay equaled his horrific performance from opening night in Green Bay and continued a very unsatisfying first season in a Chicago Bears uniform. I don’t think Bears’ fans expected Cutler to throw 17 interceptions through the first nine games and have a passer rating lower than last year’s quarterback, Kyle Orton. Cutler has posted some gaudy passing numbers but he has done nothing to improve the Bears’ fortunes on the field. He was the first Bear player to have at least four interceptions in a game twice in a season since Billy Wade in 1962. It was also Cutler’s fourth game with three or more interceptions over the last two seasons, which is tied with Jake Delhomme for the most in the NFL. I can’t blame every single interception on Cutler, but a couple of the picks were terrible passes that should’ve never been thrown. In particular, he made several throws in the red zone that killed drives and prevented the Bears from scoring points. After Thursday, Cutler leads the NFL in red zone interceptions over the last two seasons by a wide margin. I will never doubt the strength of Cutler’s arm, but he plays the quarterback position recklessly and then has the nerve to blame others when things don’t work out. Successful quarterbacks are great leaders. Cutler will never truly be successful in the NFL until he realizes that he needs to lead by example and take responsibility when he makes mistakes. No matter what happens in Denver this season, I believe that they got the better end of this deal because they were able to clear their roster of an immature, petulant player in exchange for a team-oriented player. In the long run, I think that Jerry Angelo and the Bears front office will regret trading for Cutler and handing him a big-money contract. In my opinion, he is Jeff George reincarnated.

(5) November 15, 2009 was a sad day in Seattle as the Seahawks’ dreams of reaching the playoffs died a slow and inglorious death in the Arizona desert. The season is over folks. The loss to the Cardinals was another example of how far the Seahawks have fallen since reaching the Super Bowl following the 2005 season. The Super Bowl Seahawks were known for their ability to control the football and their efficiency in the red zone. The 2009 Hawks are extremely erratic on offense and have regularly struggled to score touchdowns. On Sunday, they played well in the first half but settled for a field goal late in the second quarter and were denied twice in the red zone in the second half. This performance followed an up-and-down game against the Lions, where the Hawks kicked way too many field goals. During the Super Bowl season, the Seahawks defense was the ideal complement to their ball-control, punishing offense. The defense would work to get off the field as fast as possible to give their offense another chance. This year’s defense has been pushed around by all of the good teams that they have faced and Sunday was no different. The Cardinals gained 462 total yards, which included Kurt Warner picking apart the Hawks with his trademark efficiency for 340 yards and two touchdowns. The difference in this game is that the Hawks gave up touchdowns easily in the second half while the Cardinals defense forced a field goal and a turnover in two Seattle trips into the red zone. Good teams score touchdowns and bad teams trip all over themselves when they get close to the end zone.

Even though the season is over, I took two positive things from the loss. The first positive is that the Hawks finally ran the ball with the effectiveness that we all expected when Greg Knapp and the zone blocking scheme was brought in. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the running game finally started to click when Julius Jones left the game with an injury. I have been screaming at the top of my lungs to allow the young guns a chance at being the feature back and it finally happened due to the injury. It would have been nice if the coaching staff would have realized it first however. Nevertheless, the rejuvenated running game produced 164 yards on only 24 carries (6.8 yards per carry). The highlight of the day was Justin Forsett picking up his first career 100-yard performance to go along with a touchdown run. Even Louis Rankin displayed a little wiggle with 24 yards on three carries and three catches out of the backfield. With the season lost, I believe the Hawks should commit to giving Forsett and Rankin the bulk of the carries to see if they can continue what they started in the desert. The other positive from the loss was that the Hawks offense did not give up and kept moving the ball up and down the field. The Hawks ran an astonishing 81 plays from scrimmage and actually outgained the Cardinals on the day (472 yards to 462 yards). They had more balance than they have had all season. In my opinion, it was their best offensive performance of the season. If they had executed better in the red zone, the result of this game could have been much different.

Unfortunately, the Hawks made way too many mistakes to win this game. They turned the ball over twice, which included the back-breaking interception by Adrian Wilson on an ill-advised shuffle pass inside the 10-yard line. They committed nine penalties for 113 yards. All of those penalties put the Hawks in long yardage situations on offense and gave the Cardinals short yardage situations or first downs on defense. It is a testament to the Cardinals that they won this game despite the fact that they actually had more penalties and more penalty yardage than the Hawks. They were only one for four in the red zone, while the Cardinals cashed in with touchdowns on three out of five opportunities. The name of the game is scoring touchdowns and the Hawks did not do a good enough job of punching the ball into the end zone. The Hawks got no pressure on the quarterback, while the Cardinals sacked Hasselbeck four times and generated enough pressure throughout the game to cause him to throw 26 incomplete passes. With no pressure on Warner, he dissected the Hawks for 29 completions out of 38 attempts. His 120.5 quarterback rating was double the passer rating from Hasselbeck.

The time has come for Hawks fans to look toward next season. Nevertheless, I think it is important to keep an eye on the team to see how they finish a season where they have nothing to play for but pride. Will they tune out Mora or will they play hard to the end? Otherwise, fans should start thinking about how this team gets better between now and the beginning of the 2010 season. We should still support the team, but we have to understand that we are heading for a 6-10 season at best. I still think that this team has some nice pieces to build with, but the front office and the coaching staff have to analyze the roster very closely to identify who will continue with the team and who gets replaced.

Stats of the Week - Week 9

Stat of the week No. 1: The New Orleans defense has more touchdowns (7) than the Cleveland offense (5) and Kansas City does not have a rushing touchdown this season.

Stat of the week No. 2: Torry Holt became the 10th player in NFL history with 900+ career receptions and passed Steve Largent for 11th place on the NFL’s all-time receiving yardage list.

Stat of the week No. 3: Peyton Manning attempted 40 passes in the first half to become the first QB since Rich Gannon in 2002 to throw at least 40 passes in the first half.

Stat of the week No. 4: Arizona, the most explosive team in the 2008 playoffs, has two gains of more than 27 yards in 2009. Jerheme Urban had a 40-yard reception against the 49ers in week one and Anquan Boldin had a 44-yard reception against the Giants in week seven.

Stat of the week No. 5: Cedric Benson became the second player (Jerome Bettis) to rush for more than 100 yards twice against the Ravens in the same season.

The Packers get embarrassed and other NFL thoughts

(1) The Green Bay Packers are not a playoff team. A playoff team does not lose to a team riding an 11-game losing streak, whether at home or on the road. A playoff team doesn’t blow a 28-17 fourth quarter lead. A playoff team doesn’t make repeated offensive and special teams mistakes that allow a terrible team to hang around. The Packers should be ashamed of how they played on Sunday. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised considering how mediocre they have played all season. They have four wins because they have played terrible teams like St. Louis, Cleveland and Detroit. The only decent team they have beaten were the Chicago Bears and they needed Jay Cutler to play like a high school freshman to get that done. I don’t think anyone imagined that they would lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after what they had done to the rest of their JV schedule. With the rest of their schedule looking pretty brutal, the Packers face an uphill battle to reach the playoffs.

If they have any intention of playing after week 17, the Packers have to shore up their pass protection. After getting sacked six times against the Bucs, Aaron Rodgers has now been sacked a league-leading 37 times. At this rate, the Packers are still on pace to establish a new NFL record for the number of times a quarterback has been sacked in one season. It is one thing to allow an elite pass rusher like Jared Allen to have his way with you, but it is an entirely different thing to allow the lowly Buccaneers to pressure your quarterback consistently throughout the game. Interestingly, the Bucs applied the most pressure when they needed it most, in the fourth quarter. They got to Rodgers four times in the final quarter, which provided a lot of the momentum that they needed to complete the comeback. As a result of the onslaught on the quarterback, Rodgers didn’t even complete 50% of his attempts and threw three passes to the other side. The final interception was the ultimate dagger, as the Bucs returned it for a touchdown that sealed the victory for the creamsicle look-alikes. Rodgers may have entered the game as the league’s highest rated passer, but the Bucs made him look like Matthew Stafford. Honestly, Rodgers has been a product of his weak schedule. He has been unable to carry the Packers to any significant win and now they have to regroup and find a way to beat the red-hot Dallas Cowboys in week 10.

They will have no shot to beat the Cowboys if their special teams continue to make mistakes and give up great field position. The first blunder occurred early in the second quarter when Tampa Bay blocked a punt and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown. It is especially damaging to allow this type of score because it gives the lesser team the belief that they can win. This is how upsets happen. Normally, the weaker team is unable to win games in the conventional manner, so they have to hope that the stronger team makes mistakes that will allow them to score cheap points. The Bucs used this recipe to perfection because the Packers made mistake after mistake. The second blunder came after the Packers took a seemingly insurmountable 28-17 lead with just over 12 minutes left in the game. On the ensuing kickoff, the Bucs’ Clifton Smith returned the kick for 83 yards that set up a short touchdown drive sparking the comeback. It was clear to me, based on the Packers’ lapses, that they were not focused on the Buccaneers. They probably thought they would be able to waltz in to Raymond James Stadium and roll Tampa Bay like they were the Florida Gators playing Central Florida. I kind of suspected that this might happen, which is why I said before the game that this might be the Bucs’ best chance for a victory in 2009. You have to tip your hat to Tampa Bay because they didn’t play great but they made all the big plays.

(2) After winning their second straight game, the Tennessee Titans have found new hope in the right arm of Vince Young. Makes you wonder if Coach Jeff Fisher should have made the switch sooner instead of stubbornly sticking with the struggling Kerry Collins through a brutal 0-6 start. Young’s numbers are not jumping off the page, but it is times like these that we shouldn’t put so much stock in the raw numbers. For all his faults, Young seems to have a knack for winning football games. He is far from being a polished NFL quarterback, but he still has a 20-11 record in his short career. The big thing is that he appears to have learned something from watching Collins lead the team for the last 1.5 years. I think that he has been told that he is so great for so long that it didn’t hurt for this ego to take a bit of a hit. If the Titans can keep the good vibe going, they certainly have some winnable games coming up that might turn their season around.

They have won the last two weeks because they have gone back to playing the way that Coach Fisher envisioned they would play at the beginning of the season. The Fisher recipe for success, which was followed precisely in 2008, is to limit the mistakes from the quarterback position and rely on a strong running game and stout defense. The last two weeks, Young has completed nearly 73% of his attempts for 297 yards and one touchdown passing and rushing. The most important number is that Young has not turned the ball over once. While his numbers are far from rivaling Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, he seems to be channeling the elite quarterbacks in the NFL when the Titans are in most need of a big play. After a Chris Johnson 81-yard touchdown was reversed on review, the Titans could have hung their heads and accepted defeat. Instead, Young led Tennessee down the field, which included a clutch completion to Justin Gage for 33 yards that set-up a short Johnson touchdown. The most significant thing about the drive was that Coach Fisher decided to go for the touchdown on fourth and inches instead of taking the sure three points. The decision to go for it seems to indicate that Fisher has a great deal of confidence in Young and the positive change that Young has brought to the offense.

In addition to the surprising play from Young, the Titans have got back to running the football with consistency. They rolled up 305 yards last week against the Jaguars and followed up that huge performance with 152 yards against the 49ers. The Titans have experienced this running resurgence mostly on the legs of Chris Johnson, who broke the 200-yard plateau last week and rushed the ball a career high 25 times this week. I’m not sure what the Titans have done differently the last two weeks except play with more confidence. It doesn’t matter how much time you prepare or what type of game plan you attempt to execute if your players are not convinced that they are going to be successful. It appears that the Titans are not only prepared to focus on the running game, but they are convinced that the running game can lead the way to victories. I definitely think that the Titans have something good going, which could ultimately make this season much more positive than the train wreck that it was starting to look like. If nothing else, Tennessee might finally figure out whether or not Vince Young is the quarterback of the future. If their answer is yes, then I have to think that the future is bright in Music City.

(3) If a football team wins their fourth game of the season, but there is no one there to see it did it actually happen. I ask the question because the Jaguars beat the Chiefs for their fourth win of the season in front of an announced crowd of 45, 516, which guaranteed that the game was blacked out in Jacksonville as well as all secondary markets. The mediocre attendance has been a recurrent problem in Jacksonville, where local fans have only been able to watch home games if they were among the thousands inside Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. It doesn’t look like things will improve anytime soon as the Jaguars are expecting that all of their 2009 home games will be blacked out. If this dire prediction comes to fruition, it will mean that the Jaguars would have had nearly the same number of blackouts in 2009 that the entire NFL experienced in 2008. Meanwhile, the World’s Largest Cocktail Party was played in the same stadium in front of 84,000+ fanatics and required the addition of temporary seating. The Jags have lost 17,000 season ticket holders this season and are playing to only 68% capacity, which is the league’s lowest figure. They are actually playing in front of smaller crowds than the Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders, who both have a clearly inferior on-field product to showcase.

The million dollar question in NFL circles is if Jacksonville can reverse the giant sucking sound and find a way to make the franchise viable for the long-term. It certainly doesn’t help when the City of Los Angeles just cleared all of the final hurdles to build a 75,000 seat stadium for the express purpose of bringing back the NFL. Anyone with half a brain can see that the Jaguars are the leading candidate for relocation. Jacksonville is one of the NFL’s smaller markets, which puts them in the same company as Green Bay, New Orleans and Buffalo, but, unlike those franchises, the Jags have been unsuccessful at broadening their fan base regionally. In addition, Jacksonville has been hit pretty hard by the downturn in the economy and is currently experiencing over 10% unemployment. Also, Jacksonville, with only two companies in the Fortune 500 (both outside the top 200), does not have the significant corporate presence to help prop up ticket sales when the normal fan is unable to pull their own weight. In hindsight, it was probably a reach to place an NFL franchise in a market like Jacksonville. They scored an upset when they were granted the team in 1993, but they need to recapture the interest of the city if they hope to keep the team around. Owner Wayne Weaver is already dropping hints about playing a game or two in Orlando, which is the second largest television market without an NFL franchise. In addition, the sharks smell blood in the water and are swimming around trying to see if Weaver is willing to sell out.

As I write this, a group of Los Angeles big wigs has laid out a plan to contact several teams with stadium or revenue issues to determine their interest level in relocating to the City of Angels. One of those teams will definitely be Jacksonville along with Buffalo, San Diego, Minnesota, Oakland, St. Louis and San Francisco. The NFL is the richest of North America’s professional leagues, but flux is a regular part of the business. In a span of five years, seven franchises were created or moved: Carolina and Jacksonville were born as expansion teams; the Raiders, Rams, Browns and Oilers all moved; and Cleveland got a new franchise. Also, according to the L.A. ownership group, they have already had 3,146 inquiries about luxury suites (there are only 176 in the proposed stadium), 22,000 inquiries about club seats and 105,000 inquiries about season tickets. With 15 million people living within one hour of the proposed stadium, it is only a matter of time before a team calls Los Angeles home once again. My money is on Jacksonville being that team.

(4) A team that is going nowhere in terms of relocation as well as in the standings is the New York Giants. The Giants have now completely squandered their first 5-0 start since 1990 with their fourth consecutive loss. In my mind, the reversal of fortune for the Giants is the result of their schedule turning much more difficult the last four weeks. Through the first five weeks of the season, the Giants faced only one team that currently has a winning record and the collective records of their five opponents is 12-28. The last four weeks, New York has faced three division leaders whose collective record was 23-9. The Giants were able to overcome their own mistakes in the early part of the season, but now the chickens are coming home to roost. The bye week could not have come at a better time for New York because they have to sort out issues with their preparation, game planning and on-field performance.

It would be simplistic to blame their demise on the poor performances from Eli Manning over the last four weeks. Nevertheless, it is fair to give Manning his share of the blame because, for better or worse, he is the leader of the team. During their hot start, Manning looked like an MVP candidate. He averaged 242 yards passing with a 64% completion percentage, eight touchdowns and only two interceptions. He was playing so well that I was even suckered into believing that Manning had turned the corner and assumed his rightful place in the pantheon of elite NFL quarterbacks. The highlight of his season so far was his cool and calm annihilation of the Cowboys secondary in week two. Unfortunately, things have come undone for Eli and the Giants over the last four weeks. Before a solid performance against the Chargers (25-33, 215 yards, 2 TDs, 0 Int), Eli had just completed a stretch of three games where he had completed less than 50% of his attempts and thrown twice the number of interceptions as touchdowns. As you can imagine, the Giants were effectively destroyed by those three opponents. New York cannot afford for Eli to mismanage a game because their defense has not been playing well recently.

The Giants defense has been roasted over the last few weeks before playing fairly well against San Diego. They gave only 14.2 points during their five game winning streak, but have now given up an average of 33.7 points during their current losing streak. These numbers are pretty indicative of the fact that the G-Men played four of the worst offensive football teams in the NFL in the early part of their season and they now have faced some pretty competent football teams recently. The dirty little secret about the Giants is how terribly they have performed in red zone defense. They have given up touchdowns an astounding 22 times in the 29 opportunities that opposing offenses have ventured inside the 20-yard line. Even the Chiefs, Raiders, Buccaneers and Redskins are five of eight in red zone opportunities against the Giants. I really think the Giants defense is missing their defensive coordinator like the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens seemed to be missing their former coordinators. When coaches get poached by other teams, there will always be some sort of transition regardless of where the new coach comes from. It looks like the Giants have not made a successful transition yet. Another contributing factor might be the new faces that the Giants brought in to bolster their defensive depth. They signed the likes of Rocky Bernard, Chris Canty and Michael Boley and these guys might not be great fits or they may be taking longer to catch onto the schemes implemented by the coaching staff. It also should be noted that the Giants have lost some key contributors on defense to injuries. They just got back Boley and Canty for the Chargers game and the defense actually played markedly better than the previous three weeks. Nevertheless, the return of Canty and Boley was not able to stop the Chargers from marching 80 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 21 seconds remaining. As I mentioned earlier, the bye week should provide a nice opportunity for the Giants to reassess their defensive resources and how to deploy them more effectively.

(5) Before I get too deep into analyzing the Seahawks’ victory over the Detroit Lions, let me just start by saying that it felt good to get a win no matter how ugly the process was to get there. Nevertheless, the Hawks should not feel too good about themselves after having to scratch and claw their way to a win over a team that entered the game 1-23 over the last two seasons. This win felt more like a stay of execution. I still don’t think the Hawks are a very good team and a narrow victory over Detroit isn’t going to change my opinion. I was hoping to see the Hawks dominate the Lions like they dominated the Rams and Jaguars earlier in the season. Instead, the Lions had the ball late in the game with a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown. In the end, the Hawks got it done and that is all that really matters in the NFL because you don’t get credit for style points.

Seattle better thank their lucky stars that they had Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback instead of Seneca Wallace. Without Hasselbeck to save the day, the 12th Man would be choosing a spot on the Aurora Bridge to jump from. After Seattle fell behind 17-0 in the first quarter, Coach Jim Mora threw caution to the wind and went all in with his quarterback. The result was a 32-3 run that included Hasselbeck completing a franchise record 39 passes while he set a franchise record for career completions. At one point, Hasselbeck completed 15 passes in a row. Only Warren Moon, with 17 consecutive completions, has done better as a Seahawk. Most of his passes were of the dink and dunk variety, but Hasselbeck showed why he is a tough son of a gun and a three-time Pro Bowl participant. He also continued to demonstrate why he is the heart and soul of the football team. If the Hawks had 10-15 other guys with the determination and leadership ability of Matt Hasselbeck, we wouldn’t be lamenting a 3-5 start to the season. Unfortunately, the Hawks are a flawed team, whose imperfections were on display for the whole world to see. They still make too many mistakes and they still cannot run the ball with any consistency. On Sunday, they turned the ball over on their first two plays from scrimmage, which resulted in 14 points for the Lions. I started to have flashbacks to the Arizona game. They also flubbed an extra point conversion when the holder was unable to handle the snap. In addition, their running game continues to be a disaster. They only managed 55 yards on 18 carries against a team that allows nearly 110 yards rushing per game and nearly five yards per carry. In my opinion, it is time to end the Julius Jones experiment and allow the young guys, Justin Forsett and Louis Rankin, to carry the rock for the rest of the season. I’m a firm believer that experience should not be the only reason that someone gets to continue to play. If Jones is not getting it done, then it won’t hurt to see if a fresher set of legs can jumpstart the running game. We all know that Hasselbeck will not survive dropping back 51 times against the Arizona Cardinals, so the Hawks better find some answers on the ground.

Ultimately, the Hawks won this game because they were playing the Detroit Lions. Most of the NFL would have finished off the Hawks after being staked to a 17-0 lead. For God’s sake, we all saw what a good team does with a huge lead when the Cardinals stymied the Hawks a few weeks ago. The defense played fairly well for most of the game but I can’t even give them too much credit when you factor in that they were playing a rookie quarterback. They intercepted five passes but most of them were gift wrapped with a huge bow on top. They allowed over five yards per carry on the ground and they didn’t generate any more pressure than they did the week before in getting trounced by the Cowboys. This kind of defensive effort will get you by against the dregs of the NFL, but it is not playoff caliber. The Hawks have to prove that they can slow down good teams with their defense. They get another opportunity when they travel to the desert to battle the Arizona Cardinals. Once again, they will be severely challenged by the quick decision-making of Kurt Warner and the acrobatic play-making of the Cardinals’ receiving corps. It would be great to finally see the Hawks win a big game, but it is more likely that the Cardinals will officially put a fork in the Seahawks’ 2009 season.

Stats of the Week - Week 8

Stat of the week No. 1: Chris Johnson’s 228 yards rushing was more than the Browns, Raiders, Bills, Dolphins and Broncos gained on offense.
Stat of the week No. 2: Jairus Byrd became the second player since 1960 to have two or more interceptions in three consecutive games.

Stat of the week No. 3: DeSean Jackson became just the second player in NFL history with six touchdowns of at least 50 yards in the first seven games of a season.

Stat of the week No. 4: After not throwing an interception against the Seahawks, Tony Romo has gone three consecutive games without an interception for the first time in his career.

Stat of the week No. 5: The Titans-Jaguars game was the first game in NFL history with four rushing touchdowns of 50 or more yards. Maurice Jones-Drew became just the third player in NFL history with two rushing touchdowns of 75 or more yards in one game (Frank Gore – 2009 and Barry Sanders – 1997).

Favre conquers Lambeau and other NFL thoughts

(1) I guess that we can finally say that Brett Favre has gotten the last laugh in his blood feud with Ted Thompson and the Packers front office. It was bad enough that he embarrassed his old team in the Metrodome, but he must have made Thompson and the rest of the Packers’ brass throw up their lunch after he completely shredded the Packers in Lambeau Field. Favre was greeted with boos prior to the game and jeered through most of the early part of the game, but the negative attention from Packers’ fans did not affect his game in the least. Favre threw four touchdowns for the 21st time in his career, tying Dan Marino’s NFL record, and displayed the same flair for the dramatic that he made famous while wearing the green and gold for so many years. Favre’s homecoming featured a little of his trademark gun slinging and a lot of clutch plays. His biggest gunslinger moment came after halftime, when Favre threw a ball up for grabs to Percy Harvin amidst three defenders. Harvin miraculously came down with the ball, while the Packers’ defenders all fell down like bowling pins, and ran untouched for a 51-yard touchdown pass. Favre also thwarted the Packers’ attempt at a rally with several big plays down the stretch, including a touchdown pass on a 3rd and two early in the fourth quarter and a touchdown pass on 3rd and 11 late in the fourth quarter that sealed the Packers’ fate. Favre was one of the biggest reasons that the Vikings swept the Packers for the first time since 2005 and he will rightfully get all the headlines, but he was not the only reason for the Vikings’ big victory.

Another big reason for the Vikings success in Lambeau was the continued harassment of Aaron Rodgers by the Vikings defense. In their earlier match-up, the Vikings sacked Rodgers eight times and never allowed the Packers to get comfortable in their offense. In the rematch, the Vikings did not let up off the pedal and sacked Rodgers six more times. Their constant pressure was one of the biggest reasons why Rodgers only threw for 38 yards in the first half and the Vikings led 24-6. The Packers got back into the game in the second half, but the damage had already been done. Their inability to protect the quarterback on a consistent basis cost them a huge divisional game and, most likely, a shot at the division title. The most amazing thing about the two games against the Vikings is that Minnesota did not have to bring blitzes to generate pressure. Of the 14 total sacks, the Vikings got to Rodgers 12 times with standard pressure (no extra pass rushers) and nine of the sacks came when Rodgers was in the shotgun, when he would supposedly have more time. If the Packers have any shot of making the playoffs, they need to protect Rodgers a lot better than they have to this point.

I also need to give a special shout out to Percy Harvin, who has been a huge difference-maker for the Vikings and the early favorite for rookie of the year. As a wide receiver, Harvin is improving each and every week. He only has 285 yards receiving on the year, but he had his best day of the year with a season-high five catches for 84 yards and the spectacular 51-yard connection with Favre. Perhaps his biggest contribution to the team has been his explosive ability to return kicks. He already has two returns for touchdowns and his kick returns against the Packers were a big reason for their victory. After the Packers went ahead 3-0 early in the game, Harvin answered with a 77-yard kickoff return that set the Vikings up at the Packer’s 14-yard line and led to an Adrian Peterson touchdown. Later in the game, after the Packers had cut the Vikings’ lead to 24-20, Harvin came up big again with a 48-yard kickoff return that started the Vikings drive at the Packers’ 38-yard line. This drive also ended with a touchdown as Favre hit Jeff Dugan for a short touchdown that put the Vikings back up by 11 points. Harvin has been a perfect fit for the Vikings offense and I think he will continue to be a big contributor.

(2) Hallelujah, the St. Louis Lambs have finally gotten into the win column! They snapped their 17-game losing streak by beating a team that just snapped their 19-game losing streak earlier in the season. Also, they snapped their nine-game road losing streak and scored their first rushing touchdown of the season. They were able to earn their first victory by out-playing the Detroit Felines in every phase of the game. For the first time in a long time, the Lambs could finally say that they were the more complete football team. It certainly was not a pretty victory, but the Lambs have lost for so long that they do not have the luxury to complain about the aesthetics, or lack thereof, of a victory.

Their defense led the way behind James Laurinaitis (team-leading seven tackles), Chris Long (one sack) and Leonard Little (one sack). They only allowed one offensive score from the Felines and held Detroit to less than 300 yards of total offense. They knew that Matt Stafford was returning from injury and they did not allow him to get into any rhythm whatsoever. They picked him off just once, but they generally made life uncomfortable for the rookie, which contributed to his 14 for 33 performance. In addition to making life miserable for Stafford, the Lambs bottled up the Detroit running game and did a decent job of getting off the field on third down. The Lambs defense is certainly not very good, but they play hard, which was more than enough against the horrible Felines offense.

In addition to the strong defensive performance, the St. Louis offense also produced a decent effort. There is no secret that the Lambs are severely untalented on offense, but they did three things on Sunday that can go a long way to masking their deficiencies. First of all, they kept Marc Bulger clean. Bulger is at the end of his career and the only way for him to be effective is if his offensive line can do a reasonable job of pass protection. The improved protection didn’t necessarily translate into big numbers from Bulger, but it did ensure that he wouldn’t have another turnover orgy. Bulger only turned the ball over once, which allowed the Lambs to stay in the game and ultimately pull out a victory. Secondly, the Lambs did an outstanding job of running the football behind the only offensive talent that they have: Steven Jackson. Jackson rolled up 149 yards on only 22 carries (6.8 yds/carry) and scored his first touchdown of the season. Jackson’s stellar performance allowed the Lambs to be balanced on offense, which is something they have lacked all season long. Finally, St. Louis mixed in a little trickery in the special teams department, which is an essential component from a team that struggles to move the ball consistently on offense. With Chris Carpenter and Justin Verlander locked in a 3-2 pitching duel late in the second quarter, the Lambs rolled the dice with a fake field goal that resulted in a 36-yard touchdown pass from kicker Josh Brown to Daniel Fells. The post-Halloween trick sent the Lambs into the locker room with a tremendous amount of momentum and was a huge reason that they got their first victory.

With the Lambs’ victory, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the sole remaining NFL team without a win this season. The Buccaneers were on a bye week but they resume their schedule with a visit from the Green Bay Packers. With two weeks to prepare, the game versus the Packers might be their last chance to get a victory in 2009. After Green Bay, the Bucs play five out of their remaining eight games on the road and don’t face anyone with a losing record at home. If the Bucs can’t catch the Packers sleeping, then I’m putting my money on Tampa Bay to go winless.

(3) While on the topic of horrible football teams, the Cleveland Browns are certainly in the conversation when you debate the worst NFL franchises. On Sunday, the Browns lost their seventh game of the season and they appear to be getting worse by the week. They were held to 14 or fewer points and less than 200 total yards for the fourth straight game (10th time in their last 13 games). They only managed nine first downs and turned the ball over a whopping five times. Their quarterback situation is a complete mess and their starting running back was more interested in planning his farewell from the NFL than talking about his team’s awful performance on the Midway. They are a team in complete disarray and no real hope for the foreseeable future. Their owner, Randy Lerner, was “sick” about the current state of his team and vaguely talked about bringing in new leadership, but reaffirmed his commitment to Coach Eric Mangini in the same breath. As I said back when they hired him, I thought the Browns made a mistake in bringing in Mangini after he flamed out in New York. It appears that Lerner is starting to see the errors of his decision, but I don’t think he is prepared to start over with a new coach so soon after replacing Romeo Crennel. Apparently, Lerner is prepared to take some action as he canned General Manager George Kokinis on Monday. It is unfortunate that Kokinis had to be the fall guy for the disaster that is the Cleveland Browns.

I hope that Browns’ fans see through the charade of firing Kokinis and really turn their ire towards the Lerner family, who has owned the team since they were reincarnated before the 1999 season. The Lerner era has been an abject disaster, so the blame should be heaped on them not on Mangini and Kokinis, who have only been around less than a season. The “new” Cleveland Browns have a record of 55-113 with only two winning seasons and only one playoff appearance in 10+ years of existence. They have gone through Chris Palmer, Butch Davis, and Romeo Crennel as the head coach in those 10 short seasons. I’m pretty sure that Mangini will not see the end of his current contract either. The Browns have experienced too much turnover since 1999 for them to have any success. The Lerner family has to look at themselves before they throw their current coach and front office staff under the bus. I didn’t like the Mangini hire to begin with, but only because I would have preferred to see the Browns hire an experienced coach with a track record of success instead of a recent retread, who had just been fired a couple of months previous. There are two common elements across all of the men that have been a head coach in Cleveland: (1) they are all first-year or inexperienced head coaches and (2) they were all hired by the Lerner family. It is clear that the Lerner’s have not been able to identify their own John Harbaugh or Mike Smith or Josh McDaniels, so they need to hire a Bill Cowher or Mike Holmgren and get the heck out of the way.

(4) Like the Saints the week previous, the Colts showed why they are the best team in the AFC with their hard-fought victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts showed the entire NFL that they can win football games without Peyton Manning throwing a touchdown pass. They showed the entire NFL that they can win football games by relying on their defense. They showed the entire NFL that they can win football games despite the fact that they settled for four field goals in four trips into the red zone. In short, the Colts proved that they are a complete team, which has to be considered the favorite to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl.
Despite not doing anything spectacular, Peyton Manning proved why he is still the front-runner for the NFL most valuable player award. He played like a veteran quarterback that knows there is more than one way to skin a cat. He figured out pretty early that the Niners were not going to give up any big plays, so Manning was more than okay to take what the defense was giving him. He knew that his defense was playing very well, so it wasn’t going to take a Herculean effort to beat San Francisco. As a result, Manning didn’t force anything, especially in the red zone, and slowly added field goal after field goal until the big trick play from Joseph Addai. In the end, Manning had his sixth 300+ passing day, but he was also held to zero touchdown passes for the first time this season. The lack of touchdowns led to his lowest quarterback rating of the season, but Manning is savvy enough to understand that the only thing that matters in football is getting a win at the end of the day. I used to think that Manning was one of the biggest chokers in the NFL and that he would go down like Dan Marino, great statistics but no rings, but now I consider him to be the most clutch player in the NFL. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins multiple titles before he calls it a career. I don’t really think it is hyperbole to talk about Manning with such high regard. He has been the best player in the NFL this season despite the fact that he is carrying along the 27th ranked rushing offense in the league.

Manning was solid on Sunday, but the key to victory for the Colts was the outstanding performance of their defense. They held the 49ers to less than 300 yards of total offense, caused two turnovers and forced San Francisco to punt the ball eight times. On a day when they forced six three-and-out possessions from the 49ers, the only mistake that the Colts made on defense was the 61-yard touchdown run they allowed to Frank Gore. In reality, the Colts defense has been solid all season. They are in the top 10 in yards allowed and they lead the league in points allowed (13 pts per game). Their stinginess on defense combined with the high-flying tendencies of the Colts offense makes Indianapolis a scary opponent. The rest of their schedule has several potential pitfalls with upcoming games with Houston, New England, Baltimore, Denver and the New York Jets, but I think the Colts are heading to another 12 or 13 win season. If they beat Houston next week, they will effectively wrap up the AFC South title and they will able to manage the upcoming weeks with an eye to the playoffs.

(5) The Seahawks’ season of redemption has unraveled in a sea of injuries, turnovers and mistakes. Seattle was supposed to prove that 2008 was a mere aberration, but all they have proven is that they are a team in transition from championship-caliber to mediocre at best. Their 2009 season continued to get worse with a 38-17 beat down at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys seemed to have got their mojo back and they took full advantage of the Seahawks despite the fact that Seattle had two weeks to prepare. The most shocking part for Seattle was not that they lost to Dallas but it was the ease with which the Cowboys discarded the Hawks. The Cowboys were extremely efficient on offense, disruptive on defense and opportunistic on special teams.

Before the Seahawks knew what hit them, the Cowboys led 21-10 and the game was essentially over. The Hawks generated very little pressure on Tony Romo, which allowed him to pick apart the Hawks secondary for three touchdowns. The Hawks knew that their only chance to win the game was to force Romo into multiple mistakes, but they couldn’t get it done. The only Seahawk defender that showed up for this game was David Hawthorne, who contributed eight tackles and two sacks while playing in front of family and friends. It is ironic to me that Hawthorne is one of the lowest paid players on the team, but he is outplaying his high-priced linebacker colleagues. Since Romo had plenty of time in the pocket, he was able to dissect the suspect Seahawks’ secondary that was made only marginally better by Marcus Trufant’s return to the line-up. It was clear that Trufant was plenty rusty as he was flagged three times for pass interference. However, I will give him the benefit of the doubt on the first penalty, which looked very suspect to me. Overall, the Hawks played their typical road defense, which meant they generated no pressure, no turnovers and no game-changing plays.

On the offensive side of things, the Hawks played in fits and starts all game long. Hasselbeck was under siege from the Cowboys defense from the start. Dallas only got three quarterback sacks, but Hasselbeck was hit on a number of different occasions. The Hawks may not win many more games this season, but they need to find a way to keep Hasselbeck from getting killed in the pocket. On the surface, Hasselbeck’s numbers were okay but the Hawks’ offense did nothing except punt the football between his touchdown pass to Deion Branch in the second quarter and his touchdown pass to Justin Griffiths in the fourth. In addition to Hasselbeck’s struggles, the Hawks only got into the red zone one time and they failed to run the ball with any consistency. The Hawks have to figure out how to generate more production from their ground game. They only produced 79 yards on 22 carries against the Cowboys. Overall, they are the 28th ranked rushing offense in the NFL. In addition to Tim Ruskell’s inability to plan for Walter Jones’ inevitable retirement, the Hawks’ inability to identify a franchise running back to replace Shaun Alexander has been Ruskell’s biggest mistake. I understand that the Hawks are playing with a makeshift offensive line but they are being outrushed by the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It is my feeling that the Hawks need to focus the majority of their off-season attention on finding offensive linemen and running backs that fit the zone blocking scheme.

Let’s be honest my friends, the Seahawks’ season is going nowhere fast. They should get temporarily healthy against the Lions next week, but their season ends with five out of seven games on the road, which includes trips to Arizona, Minnesota, Houston and Green Bay. If you didn’t already know, the Hawks have lost 11 of their last 13 games on the road. If the Hawks are lucky, they will get three or four more wins. Seattle fans don’t even want to consider the alternative.