Wednesday, September 26, 2007
(1:59 AM) | Brad:
In Lieu of Prison Break Blogging ... Football Blogging!
1) Week Three really exemplified what I meant when I said that the AFC West would be the most competitively ugly division in football. It's not too late for the Chargers to change course and play like a team that finished 14-2 (rather than the team that choked in the first round of the playoffs), and I still think they'll win the division, but right now it will only be because Oakland and Kansas are unqualifiedly awful (how either of them won in Week Two is really beyond me), and Denver has somehow forgotten how to play quality defense.Relatedly, it's not too late for Thomlinson to pull out some magic. After all, of the thirteen remaining games, six are against his AFC West rivals. I expect a big game this week against the Chiefs.
2) The Patriots' next two opponents: the Bengals and the Browns. I was wondering when Ohio would finally get punished for the '04 election. Some would say living in Ohio is punishment enough, but no, getting destroyed spectacularly on the football field is a far greater punishment in the Buckeye State.
Also, the fact that I look like an extra from Witness makes me extremely partial in these matters, but I'm really liking Carson Palmer's beard.
3) Everybody I know who loves defense says they want their team to develop a shutdown corner. But, how realistic is this? How many truly lockdown cornerbacks are there in the league? Champ Bailey, Asante Samuel (who is not nearly as good as he thinks he is), and ... who else? I know there are a few more names one might throw out, but the one I think gets overlooked (except by his wife when she is coming at him w/ a kniff) is Nick Harper. That guy doesn't get many interceptions, and he isn't flashy, but he just does not get burned very often.
Speaking of interceptions, how important a gauge are they, really, for one's defense? I lived in Cincinnati for several years, and heard more than my fair share of talk about the Bengals' ability to cause turnovers. It's one thing to cause a turnover because you hit a guy w/ the ball so hard, or w/ such a technique, that he coughs up the ball; but it is totally different if you happen to be in the right place at the right time. And this is exactly what most interceptions are. Does good coverage cause them? Sometimes, but most good QBs are going to throw the ball away when there is no discernible defensive breakdown or gap. When he doesn't, he either makes a helluva throw, and even the opposing team's fans has to be impressed, or the ball is batted down or picked off. In that respect, coverage causes a turnover. But how many more times do you see an interception caused by a QB just chucking the ball down the field blindly in the face of an oncoming blitz (every week if you're a Bears fan -- or a Packers fan the past two), or the WR running a horrible route (hello, Buffalo) -- or some combination of the two (that's for you, Chiefs, 49ers, Saints)? I'll wager a guess that a good 80% of the QBs in the league aren't consistently good enough (and by 'good', I'm referring to how they compare to the defenses against which the play) to have even a majority of their interceptions come via coverage.
4) Nov. 29, Green Bay goes to Dallas. Is this game going to decide NFC supremacy? -- which, by the way, is at this point about as prestigious as winning your fantasy football league. Is there anyway Dallas doesn't win this game? Or will the NFC be so bad that Green Bay will win it without ever mounting a rushing threat?
Speaking of Green Bay, is anybody else bothered by Favre's throwing motion in that Wrangler jeans ad of his? Were the producers so afraid of him actually throwing the ball and piercing the chest of somebody on the set that they told him not to follow through with his arm?
5) Unabased pleading: Please arcane football coverage rules, please don't let me get stuck w/ the Seattle-49er game and there not be a game on the other channel!
Unabased complaint: fucking DirectTV ... damn you for your inability to be installed in my building!
** Upset prediction: Arizona knocks off Pittsburgh at home. Or, at the very least, Pittsburgh won't cover the spread. **
