SOME THINGS I LEARNED…
This was the weekend I have been looking forward to for 3 months. It was the weekend where I would find out what I thought I already knew. I did find out some things and I was right some, and I was wrong on some. Let me revisit this weekend and tell you what I learned.
Let’s start with Saturday…
South Carolina may be ready to finally contend in the East. What they were able to do to a Georgia team that many believed had a shot to challenge Florida in the East was embarrassing. I realize the score stayed close, but Georgia was sloppy, could not tackle and just offered a poor showing. Steve Spurrier looks like he may have found a star in Marcus Lattimore.
The ACC was promised to be better this year. In fact someone posted on this very blog that they were going to be the 2nd best conference in College Football this year, they aren’t even close. In fact, this may be the worst conference in College Football. Georgia Tech, Miami, and Florida State (boy was I wrong on this team) all lost this past weekend. However, none of these teams had the worst weekend in the ACC, that honor goes to Virginia Tech who managed to lose at home to FBS powerhouse James Madison. This conference is TERRIBLE and I feel the need to apologize to all of you for telling you they were going to be good.
The best (or worst depending on which side you are on) of the ACC’s weekend is the Boise State for a BCS Title Game discussion was ruined by Va Tech’s loss to James Madison. How can a team that struggled to win on a “neutral” site (I know it was practically a home game) claim a quality win if that same “guality” team loses to an FBS school in an actual home field. Oh well Boise State, looks like Va Tech really did get the last laugh.
How can I not mention Michigan? Rich Rod has finally found his guy to run his system and he’s doing a great job at it. Denard Robinson has played himself into the Heisman discussion no matter what criteria he uses. He is both the most outstanding and the most valuable player on a team that has not lost yet. What he has done in the 1st 2 weeks has people talking Heisman, but there’s another conversation that people need to start having…CAN MICHIGAN WIN THE BIG 10? If this kid keeps playing like this yes they can. I know it is early but an athlete who can take over a game like this kid can will keep his team close and give them a punchers chance in every game they are in. Of course Robinson and the Wolverines still have Ohio State, Iowa, and Wisconsin in the Big 10, so let’s don’t start that talk to early, but this team will only get better and should be fun to watch the rest of the year.
Alabama, Ohio State, and Oklahoma all took care of business and easily showed they are the 3 best teams in the country. Alabama did what they should do at home, at night, against a freshman qb with a young team, they dominated. Ohio State made Miami look like a school who had no business being on the field with them. Terrelle Pryor looked great and did a good job taking what the Miami defense gave him. He ran when he needed to , but did a great job keeping his head up and looking for an open receiver, this is what he has been doing since about half way through last season and that is what makes this team so dangerous. Oklahoma destroyed my ACC pick in FSU and the surprising part was how bad the FSU offense looked. Landry Jones displayed the form that had him on my preseason Heisman Watch. This team looks like they are every bit as good as I predicted them to be when I said they would be 2rd in the polls by the time that the BCS Games arrive.
If I had a vote in the top 25, I my vote would be look like this: Alabama (they have to be beat to drop the team has it all returning players and a tough schedule), Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Boise State. I look forward to this upcoming week and am looking even more forward to seeing Bama get its 1st real test in a couple of weeks against Arkansas.
Heisman Watch: Denard Robinson, Terrelle Pryor, Landry Jones, Kellen Moore.
SUNDAY:
I will start with the most impressive thing I saw on Sunday and that was how the New England defense shut down a very high powered Cincinnati Bengals offense. Before you start screaming homer, let me explain, the impressive part about that game was not the way the offense looked (although it was great to see Welker looking like his old self). The big question mark for this team was it’s defense, more specifically it’s secondary and the Bengals have more than enough weapons to challenge them and gave them a great chance to show how this season may look. The defense played great as they only gave up 3 points in the 1st half. I know people will say Palmer threw for 345 and a couple of td’s, however by the time he started scoring the game was over and everyone knew that. Look forward to seeing the offensive line get a real test against a very good Jets defense on Sunday.
Other than that there were not very many surprises from this past Sunday. The Falcons looked nothing like a team who I picked to win the South and be a # 2 seed in the playoffs, but not too concerned. I was surprised the Raiders did not perform better against the Titans (although as I have had to tell everyone since I made playoffs picks last week, the Titans are going to be a good team this year). The Cowboys looked terrible on Sunday night, but they have looked terrible the entire off season. This team had better find a way to come together quick or else they will miss the playoffs. The Giants looked really good and they are not going away. I am looking forward to what should be a good game (and a nightmare in terms of matchups) with the Colts.
As for those Colts, let me offer some thoughts on this game and the preseason prediction that they will not make the playoffs. I have taken so much heat for excluding the Colts from the playoffs in my preseason projections, and everyone I know has claimed that I am a homer and am picking against them to get a reaction. I did not lay out all of my reasons for why I think they would miss the playoffs, because I choose to write about the positive things and the teams who would be in. However, as I told everyone since Thursday, the defense is bad, especially against the run (if Arian Foster goes over 200 yards, what will MJD and Chris Johnson do?), the argument against this is Bob Sanders is coming back. My argument against that is the problem with Bob Sanders is he’s coming back every year (he did get injured again on Sunday and not sure when he’ll be back). I also, question the receiving corps. I do not trust Collie (may have been wrong on that one, but we will wait to see), Garcon (I think he had 4 drops and after a couple of them Manning seemed to be visibly upset), Wayne (if he plays he’s solid, but he always seems to have nagging injuries that slow him down – last year he only had more the 5 catches once after week 12 last year and he his high in yards was 48 during that time). I know people are talking about Anthony Gonzalez but he can only be productive if he is healthy and even then, we don’t know how productive he can be because he’s never had more than 57 catches in the Colts pass happy system. He missed all of last season with an injury (he also left Sunday’s game with a high ankle sprain and will not play this week) so I can not count on him to be a contributor. The defense looked bad, the offense looked bad until the game was out of reach, watching a large chunk of that game I never really got the feeling the Colts were going to be able to win. I know it is 1 game, but the problem is the holes that were shown in that game are real, and the team that beat you is at an all time high for the franchise (they beat the mighty Colts, they are coming off of a winning season for the 1st time in franchise history, people seem to think they are good enough to win this year, they are dangerous). I am worried for the Colts, they are in trouble (of course that means they probably will not lose again this year and win a Super Bowl, that’s just how my picks are going).
There you have it, my thoughts on the weekend, what do you think?
THE DR’S TUESDAY MORNING DIAGNOSIS
ReplyDeleteThis is my breakdown of the important (or shocking) NFL games, as well as a prognosis of where the headline teams are headed this season.
THE DIAGNOSIS (What happened? What’s wrong?)
Thursday, September 9th:
Saints 14, Vikings 9 – I don’t know if I’m more surprised that the Saints only scored 2 touchdowns or that Favre only threw 1 interception. Either way, the “Who ‘Dat Nation” (I seriously just gagged a little…) is off to another perfect start at 1-0. Only 18 more to go…
Sunday, Sept 12th:
Patriots 38, Bengals 24 – Wes Welker is back! Eight catches for 64 yards and 2 touchdowns. Not a bad way to come back following knee surgery. After a busy week off the field, the “Golden Child” looked solid, throwing for 258 yards and 3 touchdowns. Also impressive, given the week that he had off the field.
Texans 34, Colts 24 – I know this is the one you’re waiting for me to break down, so here goes…The struggles on the defensive side of the ball are very evident for Indianapolis. I see this more as a wakeup call than a cause for concern. Arian Foster literally ran over Indy, going for a league-leading 231 yards and 3 touchdowns. On the other side, Manning looked great as well, completing 40 passes for 433 yards. I was excited to see him spread the ball around, hitting 7 different receivers, three of which for more than 75 yards, and throwing a touchdown pass to Wayne, Clark, and Collie. Garcon looked rusty to begin the game, but off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single game last year in which he did not drop the first pass thrown his way.
Titans 38, Raiders 13 – Chris Johnson tore up the field running for 142 and 2 touchdowns in this game that was over by halftime. But it wasn’t the on-field action that I was interested in. The strange woodland creature that is the Titans’ mascot – – A raccoon? Really? – – is where my attention was. Watch as he EATS A CHEERLEADER!!! http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Video-Tennessee-Titan-s-mascot-eats-cheerlead?urn=nfl-269355
Redskins 13, Cowboys 7 – Dallas seemed like a cross between Florida’s opener against Miami of Ohio and a Madden 11 game. A fumble returned for 6 on a play where taking a knee would have been more effective, a holding penalty so obvious that Stevie Wonder could have made the call…Ugly on both counts. They easily could have won this game on several occasions, but they beat themselves, allowing McNabb get his first win in a Skins jersey.
Monday, Sept 13th:
Chiefs 21, Chargers 14 – I was absolutely STUNNED at the KC Defense in the first half. – – Who ever would have thought that the Chiefs HAD a defense? – – Yes, they allowed 389 yards, but when they needed to get a stop (especially in the first half), they found a way to get it done, giving the Chiefs their first Monday night win in 10 years.
Ravens 10, Jets 9 – Everything seemed to flow perfectly on defense as the Jets forced 3 turnovers and held the Ravens to only 2 scores. As for the offense, 3 fumbles (1 lost), 60 passing yards, 176 total yards, and 1 for 12 on 3rd and 4th down conversions. In other words, there was none…You have to score to win games. Defense may win championships, but offense tends to help get you there.
-The Dr
THE PROGNOSIIS (What to expect from the teams discussed):
ReplyDeleteSaints – Brees looked solid Thursday night, completing 75% of his passes, including 1 touchdown and no picks. The Saints should have no trouble Monday night in San Francisco, but I look forward to see what they are able to do on Sept 26th when the Falcons come to New Orleans.
Vikings – Brett seemed to be in typical Favre form, forcing passes into holes that didn’t exist and completing only 56% of his passes. Look for troubles to continue in Minnesota as they try to fill the void left by Sidney Rice. They have a very difficult schedule ahead of them after their bye in week 4, playing in New York, Green Bay, and New England, as well as a game at home against the Cowboys in the next 4 weeks. By week 8, they could easily be 2-5.
Patriots – Any questions as to whether or not New England would make it into the playoffs this year were answered for me Sunday afternoon. If they are able to build off of their performance in Week 1, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Patriots walk away with the division title, following one of the few solid wins of the week.
Bengals – The first episode of the “T. Ochocinco Show” (I really should copyright that name…) ended up a little more one-sided than I would have guessed. Not in terms of the numbers on the scoreboard, but in terms of the receptions and yards gained by Owens compared to Ochocinco. The babysitter (Palmer) better even things out, or we may see some fireworks by way of Twitter…
Texans – As they try to establish themselves as a power in the AFC South, I feel the best thing that Houston can do is to stay quiet after the win and prepare for the tough 2 weeks ahead. Blend in so you don’t end up with a target on your back.
Colts – With the recent news about Bob Sanders, Indy’s defense is in trouble. The upside of this past weekend is that they don’t have to worry about making the decision of whether to go for perfection (yes, I’m being sarcastic) The down side is they’ve started with a loss, they have a much harder game next week (which a good safety would have helped in), the leader of their defensive backfield is out indefinitely, and one of their (more) experienced receivers is questionable again. This should make for an interesting couple of weeks while they try to find ways to win in typical Colts fashion.
Titans – I still can’t get over their mascot is a raccoon. Why not a war hero? Or Greek god? Or the Fox Football Robot thingy? Even a pile of grapes makes more sense than a raccoon.
Chiefs – I’m not really sure what to think about these guys. Horrible defense, but able to keep points from getting on the board…Indy needs to learn this trick.
Chargers – San Diego has to find a way to stop the long play (56 yard run for TD, 94 yard punt return for a TD), and to finish drives. The Chargers had twice as many first downs, four and a half times as many passing yards, nearly twice as many total yards, more than twice as many completions, and led in time of possession, but still wound up with a loss. I see them making it to the playoffs despite the lack of LT, but falling out in the first round.
Ravens – Overall, Baltimore played an average game. Several long drives, decent numbers, a touchdown and a field goal. Good enough to get the win, but nothing really notable either. The only reason for the win that I can see can be credited to making less mistakes than the Jets offense.
Jets – As stated before, New York is firing on all cylinders on the defensive side of the ball, but they must find a way to score to have a chance. They are playing in a division where they are going to have to do more than just stop the other team to win. Field goals just aren’t going to get it done when you’re playing teams like the Pats or the Dolphins. Even the Bills put up 10 this week. Bottom line: the Jets had a very rough start Monday night. Things don’t look good against New England next week, especially after losing DT Kris Jenkins, but I see them bouncing back in Week 3, Sunday night in Miami.
-The Dr
WEEKEND SHOCKER:
ReplyDeleteNFC East & AFC East – Before this weekend, I considered these to be the divisions to beat in each conference. After week 1, they are 4-4 (2-2 in non-division games), and questions need to be answered by all the losing teams. Can Dallas play mistake-free? Can Philly rebuild an offense without Kevin Kolb? Can the Sanchez avoid the dreaded Sophomore Slump to backup their dominant D? Can the Bills get to .500? Even the winning teams looked rusty. The Redskins needed a 2nd quarter gaffe and a holding penalty in the final play to hold off the Cowboys, and the Fins let the Bills back in the game in the 4th quarter, only for Buffalo to then run out of time on what would have been a game-winning drive. The bottom line: The only teams who seem to be on top of things are the Pats and the Giants. If something doesn’t change for the rest of these franchises, they’re going to be in for a long year. I expect next week to be slightly better, as they go 5-3. (4-2 in non-division games)
Zebras – I can’t think of a single weekend where I saw more laundry on the field! It seemed there was a flag thrown every other play. for example, the Jets got called for an astonishing 14 penalties, alone. The cost for those penalties: 125 yards (Compare that to the 176 yards of total offense that they put up).
- The Dr