Carnage’s Long and Boring Week 9 Review

Week 8 had a lot of interesting games early, four pretty bad games played late. The early games had two overtime games, two fourth quarter comebacks, and one failed fourth quarter comeback. Of the four games in the afternoon only one was even worthwhile in the second half. Of course, I had a hard time taking my eyes off of my Packers heartbreaking loss to the Titans, so I did miss some good action. I’ll give it a go with what I did see, though.

Jets over Bills or “Jets are in First place! Wait, Bills are in First! Wait, Patriots are in first!”

The Jets needed this win to keep pace with the Jets and Patriots and win they did, creating a three team log jam for first place with the Dolphins only one game behind. Must be all about Brett Favre, right? Not quite. The Jets defense has been surprisingly good, at least their run stoppers and pass rushers. Ignoring their game against the Cardinals where they gave up a lot of “Garbage time” yardage with Kurt Warner chucking the ball all over the field, they are giving up 290 yards per game.

The Jets absolutely smothered Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson all game long and forced the Bills to throw the ball a lot. Trent Edwards, who has been pretty reasonably efficient and benefits from good protection, had a pretty rough day. The Jets set the tone with a huge sack and fumble recovery deep in the Bills territory and a huge interception for a touchdown on the next drive.

The Bills did move the ball but they just couldn’t get it done near the end zone. Three Bills drives that took over 20 minutes, went for 38 plays, and covered 174 yards resulted in….0 points. I usually applaud going for it on fourth and 1, but will the failure of the Bills to make any sort of room on the line of scrimmage for the backs I thought the Bills should have kicked the field goal in the 2^nd when they got down to the Jets 8 yard line. This team is young and is thus probably more susceptible to the ebb and flow of momentum. While picking up the first down may have ignited them, coming up with nothing on their second long drive is demoralizing.

Brett Favre was a great quarterback and he is still better than average. Watching him, Lavernious Coles and Jerricho Cotchery light it up is a lot of fun when it’s working but I feel they have to continue to try to get the ball into the hands of their two running backs. Favre was terrible in the Red Zone, completing only 1/8 passes for -3 yards. Thomas Jones is quietly having a big season and Leon Washington is absolutely explosive. He was stuffed up pretty good on the ground game this week, but his one long catch and big punt return really highlighted how fast he really is.

Statistical Notes – Brett Favre has thrown an INT in seven straight games. Since his monster day against the Cardinals, he has only 3 TD’s to 8 INT’s! Thomas Jones has 395 yards and 5 TD’s in his last 4 games. He is averaging 4.5 YPC, his best season since his role as a backup with the Bucs in 2003. The Jets have 28 sacks this year…with 13 different defenders getting a piece of the QB! Trent Edwards threw two INT’s in the first six games and three in the last 2 games. The two teams combined for a mere 2 touchdowns in 10 red zone trips and were 2 for 5 inside the 10.

Bears over Lions or “NOOOOO! Not another blown 2^nd half lead!”

Somehow, the Lions have managed to go up on the Vikings 10-2, 10-6 on the Redskins, and 23-13 on the Bears with less than a half of football to play and blew them all…this one of course hurting the worst. After an incredible stretch where they scored three touchdowns and a field goal in the second quarter, they came out fired up and went Punt, Punt, Interception, Punt, Punt, Punt, Fumble in the second half. They probably could have let Jason Hanson, who kicked a 52 yard field goal earlier in the game try to tie it up with a 50 yarder at the end of the game….had Hanson not fallen down on a PAT attempt. Ugh. Always something with these Lions. At least for the first time this season they had the best quarterback on the field for the second half of play.

The news isn’t as bad as it could have been for the Bears, but it’s bad enough. Kyle Orton is going to miss at least a month. The day Bears fans have dreaded is here…Rex Grossman is back under center. Even though as a Packers fan hating the Bears is embedded in my genome I feel bad that Orton went down. Orton had a rough rookie year and sat on the sidelines watching Grossman and Brian Greise struggle for two seasons. He sat back, kept his mouth shut and learned the game. Finally the team gets handed back over to him and he was playing very well. Now he’s back on the sidelines watching Rex.

Rex Grossman threw for a touchdown and ran for one but he really didn’t look very good. The offense in the second half was all about Matt Forte who is looking more and more impressive as the season goes on. I still think he needs to get down a little bit more but I do have to admit watching him standing almost fully upright and barreling down on you as to be a tad intimidating for secondary players and smaller linebackers. He looks bigger than his listed 6′1 220.

Speaking of big, Charles Tillman guarding Calvin Johnson looked pretty funny. The end zone ball that Dan Ovlosky threw to Johnson was really high in the air when he grabbed it. I actually thought that he was going to come down with the end of the game hail mary pass, too. Calvin Johnson is definitely something positive that came out of the Matt Millen era. If the Lions can get better on the offensive line and address their QB situation (Mind you I’m NOT ruling Orvlosky out. He’s a young guy who has played reasonably well given the team and his lack of experience) he’ll be a great one.

Statistical Notes – Calvin Johnson has scored in four straight games. He is on pace for 1400 yards and 12 TD’s. He’s a top 5 fantasy WR in next season’s draft. The Lions gave up only 320 yards of offense! That gives them 3 games with less than 400 yards allowed and was 100 yards under their average. Kyle Orton completed 60% of his passes in 7 out of the 8 games and was gaining 7.1 yards per attempt. Rex Grossman completed 47% of his passes and gained 3.2 yards per attempt on Sunday. Matt Forte went for over 100 total yards for the fifth time this season. He is on pace for a stunning 1700 total yards.

Bengals over Jaguars or “Jags playoff dreams left in a Cedric Benson and Ryan Fitzpatrick induced cloud of dust.”

The Jaguars were a chic pick to go deep into the playoffs and perhaps even represent the AFC in the Super Bowl (My dad….one of the most football savvy people I know was one of them. Nice pick dad.) Losing to an 0-8 team is never a good sign.

Of course like any suitable horrific team, the Bengals tried to squander their 18 point lead in the fourth quarter. After watching the Jaguars mount their longest drive of the game to that point (54 yards) and get a field goal out of it, the Bengals muff a deep kickoff and the Jaguars take it in for seven points to cut the lead to one touchdown plus a two point conversion. Two possessions later David Garrard (Who is 16/30 for 162 yards at this point) marches his team straight down the field, completing 7/8 passes and Maurice Jones-Drew hammers it in. The Jaguars call a pass for the two point try and Garrard tries to force the ball into the only doubled covered receiver, Jerry Porter.

The Jaguars defense, who have played reasonably well this season, looked awful in the first two drives by the Bengals. Rashean Mathis looked lost on the two touchdowns to Chad Johnson. Their containment of Ryan Fitzpatrick…not exactly a speed demon..broke down horribly on containment and watched him scramble twice on third down for large gains. The Bengals have been averaging 77 yards per game and between Bears castoff Cedric Benson and Fitzpatrick’s efforts, the Jags allowed 160 yards on the ground.

I fully expected the tables to be turned and the Jaguars to romp all over the Bengals. I was surprised at the inability of the Jaguars to really run the football in this game. I didn’t even think that the box was all that stacked but I mostly caught second half action. Yes, I realize they were down 18 points, but they had abandoned the running game by the time David Garrard threw the interception to make it a three score contest. Teams think they need to throw to erase big deficits. Note the Panthers comeback last week which was very balanced. At any rate, the Jaguars are one of only two teams that failed to run for at least 109 yards on the Bengals.

MVP…MVP – If the Jaguars would have caught up, you would have had to look at Josh Scobee hitting another 50+ yard field goal near the end of the first half. He is 4/4 from 50+ and 3/3 from 40+. He has converted a field goal of at least 46 yards in 6/8 games this season. It has to be nice to have a kicker that can hit from that deep.

Statistical Notes – Cedric Benson hit the 100 yard mark for only the third time in his career. He had only two 100 yard games out of 35 with the Bears. T.J. Houshmandzedeh has 7 catches or more in the last five games. He has 61 on the season putting him on pace for 108. Not bad, considering the company he keeps. David Garrard leads the team in rushing yards per carry at 4.3. He has rushed for more yards than one of Fred Taylor or Maurice Jones-Drew in five of the eight games. Jones-Drew has scored in five of the last seven games.

My fantasy team or “This may bore you to tears but I feel like talking about it.”

Yeah, you probably don’t care about my fantasy team but after missing the playoffs in the three leagues I was in last year I need to brag about this year…while I can. I posted this now because I grabbed Cedric Benson off the waiver wire a few weeks ago in my 14 team league, while most of the league laughed at me. I needed a flex player this week and my choices didn’t look so great…..Benson, Torry Holt, Bobby Engram, Leon Washington, or Bobby Wade. Benson outscored Holt by five points, and I won the game by three. YaY me. I clinched a playoff spot and have a 9-0 record. The team is pretty ugly…..Kurt Warner, Matt Leinert, Chad Pennington, Frank Gore, MoJo, Lendale White, Calvin Johnson, Braylon Edwards, Todd Heap/Scrub Waiver Tight End of the week, and the Bucs defense round out my lineup. Thank the football gods for giving me Lendale White, Bucs, and Warner all past the 8^th round. Somehow, this team leads my league in scoring.

On the flipside, the team I thought would dominate has lost 4 out of 5 to fall to 4-5. It’s a ten team that sends six to the playoffs so it isn’t over for me. I have Warner, Trent Edwards, Leinert, Brian Westbrook, Marshawn Lynch, Thomas Jones, Michael Pittman, Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Wes Welker, Matt Jones, Donald Driver, Jason Witten, and the Ravens defense. I am second in that league in scoring. I think my 9-0 team is a one and done in the playoffs, but I think my 4-5 is a contender!

Ravens over Browns or “So…you were up by 14 with only 18 minutes left and you LOST by 10??????”

The Browns were successful early in the game by mixing up the run and throwing the ball both short and downfield. With a 14 point lead, they went totally conservative, looking like it was game over and putting up a half hearted effort to run out the clock. The result? Five consecutive three and outs to follow up four consecutive scores. Run, Run, Pass. Run, Run, Pass. Their play calling was transparent and they soon found themselves looking up at the Ravens once again.

It’s time for the Brady Quinn Era. Derek Anderson was fun for last season but he really isn’t nearly accurate enough to hold back the QB drafted as the future of your franchise and makes some really poor decisions under pressure. The interception return that put the game away for the Browns just accentuates that. Anderson had a Ravens defender coming at him hard and was about to get sacked. Instead of covering it up and minimizing the damage, he tried to hit running back Jason Wright on a screen. All the Browns players backs were still turned but at least three Ravens were in the area looking right at Anderson. Weak pass, Terrell Suggs grabs it, takes it to paydirt. Of course Braylon Edwards hasn’t done any favors for Anderson. Edwards dropped a beautifully thrown pass that was a sure touchdown. Are there any stats on how many drops Edwards has this season?

Devin Hester is an exciting player and his return ability was vital to the Bears Super Bowl run and media pundits like to tell us how he is the greatest return man in the history of the game. I am not so sure he’s the best in his ERA. Hester may be a better punt returner than Joe Cribbs, but he is not a better kickoff returner. Over their career, Cribbs is averaging 4 yards per return more than Hester. He has returned the ball more so by extrapolating Hester’s return numbers to match Cribbs we have 20+ returns: 94 vs. 129. 40+ returns: 12 vs. 23. Fumbles: 12 vs. 5. Hester may have six more career touchdowns than Cribbs, but on average Cribbs gives his team way better field position and doesn’t cough the ball up nearly as often.

Has anyone else noticed how fantastic the footwork Derrick Mason has shown this season? In a season where the sidelines have become a more difficult place to try to catch passes, Mason has caught several balls that required him to get two feet in bounds without falling/getting pushed out. This Sunday he caught a quick curl and danced around cornerback Eric Wright for an easy touchdown. Wright should be embarrassed for losing his jock to a stutter by a man a decade older than him.

Statistical Notes – Ray Rice has 72 more total yards than Willis Mcgahee despite having 25 fewer touches. He is averaging 4.8 YPC to Mcgahee’s 3.5. Joe Flacco has 4 TD to 0 Ints in his last 3 games compared to 1 TD/7 INT’s in his first five. Do you think Derrick Mason is happy with Joe Flacco? In his first 48 games as a Raven he had two 100 yard outings. He has 2 already this season. Last year’s Browns had 300+ yards of offense in 14 games. They have 2 this year. Jamal Lewis is 3^rd on the team in receptions with….13. Derek Anderson posted his 2^nd and highest yardage totals for the season the last two weeks…246 and 219.

Buccanneers over Chiefs or “How to lose a game when you are up 21 with 32 minutes to play.”

I was staring in disbelief at this game. I thought it was going to be a rout. I became a little more interested by the time the Chiefs went up 14-3. For some reason the name “Tyler Thigpen cracks my wife up.” We tuned in to see Thigpen split out right with the Chiefs in the wildcat formation. My wife laughed and yelled “They are going to throw it to Tyler Thigpen!” Sure enough, end around, Thigpen “Streaks” down the field, touchdown. Too bad my wife wasn’t there to let Ronde Barbe know that they were going to throw it to Thigpen…because he didn’t have a clue and was 15 yards behind him as the QB trotted into the end zone.

The Bucs had some trickery of their own and though it worked, I have to say NEVER have Earnest Graham throw another pass. That was the ugliest pass this year that wasn’t thrown by Jamarcus Russell.

I was impressed by the Chiefs offense. The Buccanneers defense has been pretty solid this season, with opponents averaging 270 yards total offense and 83 yards on the ground. With their third string quarterback in and their “Star” running back on the bench, they hung 384 total yards including 183 rushing yards on the Bucs. Jaamal Charles fumbled at an inopportune time, but I like him. Tyler Thigpen didn’t give the ball away. I once again must point out that the man that wanted out of KC but couldn’t get out, Tony Gonzlaez, went out and played hard and had a good game. Their “Star” running back Larry Johnson was sitting out again this time I believe because he spit in a woman’s face. I can’t see how a trade with Gonzo didn’t get done…who wouldn’t want a veteran like him on their team? I can see why a trade for LJ didn’t get done. Why would anyone want an utterly selfish 29 year old child on their team?

Time running down? Don’t let guys get behind you. With 41 seconds left in the first half and the ball at the Bucs 34, the Chiefs secondary let Joey Galloway get behind them for a 22 yard gain giving them hope for the second score in the last 2 minutes of the half. With 25 seconds left and the ball on the Chiefs 24 leading by seven, the Chiefs secondary let Antonio Bryant get behind them and score a touchdown. In situations like this, you only have to watch the sidelines and the deep ball…give them the middle of the field. In both cases they looked concerned about the middle of the field and gave up the deep ball.

Statistical Notes – 5 of 20 Tampa Touchdowns have been scored by the defense or special teams. Since returning to the starting role, Jeff Garcia has completed 71% of his passes. Earnest Graham fumbled twice in 24 touches this Sunday. In his previous 401 touches, he fumbled only once. In the last three weeks, Antoinio Bryant has 20 catches for 275 yards and 2 TDs. Tyler Thigpen has 0 INTs in his last four outings. He has 3 passing TDs, a rushing TD, and receiving TD in this span. Tony Gonzalez has 19 catches for 236 yards in the last three weeks.

Vikings over Texans or “Schaub, Rosenfels report shared nightmares about large men in purple.”

The Vikings had expected the addition of Jared Allen to really help put pressure on quarterbacks. The pass rush has been ok, but the Vikings had their breakout game this week. Matt Schaub (Who got injured on what I thought was a tad late of a takedown by Jared Allen) and Safe Rosenfels were sacked five times and hurried many, many more. The rush was directly responsible for two Schaub fumbles (one was recovered) and a Schaub interception. The Texans moved the ball well despite the pass rush, but these turnovers (including Rosenfel’s interceptions were absolute killers as both occurred in the red zone following two long drives.

Gus Frerotte put up some impressive looking numbers but his receivers really bailed him out. Berrian, Rice, and Wade each had at least one catch to bail Frerotte out of poor throws. Berrian had to come back on an underthrown ball and wrestle the ball away from two Texans receiver for a big gain early and came up with a ball thrown really high to take it into the end zone. Early in the season I thought that signing Berrien may have been a mistake, but he’s proven to be a very important part of this team.

Statistical Notes – Owen Daniels continued making an argument for himself to be an elite tight end grabbing 11 balls for over 100 yards. He leads all tight ends in yards per game and is on pace for nearly 1100 yards. Andre Johnson finally had an “Off Day”. His pace has fallen to 120 catches for 1646 yards. Slacker. Mario Williams continues his romp with his sixth sack in five games. He has eight on the season. Bernard Berrian has 432 yards in the last four games and has scored a touchdown in each of those contests. Since getting locked down by the Saints for 32 yards on 21 carries, Adrian Peterson has 371 yards and 3 TD’s in the last three games.

Cardinals over Rams or “The Greatest Show on Turf Returns to St. Louis!”

Uhm, only they are wearing Red and White. If you have not caught any Arizona Cardinals games, you really should. They are a lot of fun to watch. Not to mention they keep winning. If you need more incentive, they have at least five (Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Steve Breaston, and Tim Hightower) fantasy relevant players. Kurt Warner truly is still a good NFL quarterback, Fitz and Boldin are outstanding, and Tim Hightower is one of the exciting rookie backs in the league.

The Rams were coming off three games where they won two and played the Patriots tough. A big part of their two wins was Steven Jackson. I know he isn’t 100% so they were protecting him, but seven carries all game is inexcusable. As crazy as it sounds if they win this game they are only a game and a half out of the division lead. Steven Jackson having the ball gives the Rams the best chance to win.

Edgerrin James had been complaining about his “Reduced Role” with the team. He can’t be very happy now being relegated to the #3 RB. James has had a fantastic career (you have to wonder what it would have ended up being like had he not got hurt his third season) but he is 30 and isn’t what he once was. The Fact that Tim Hightower and J.J. Arrington both had 100+ total yards this week doesn’t bode well for his chances of getting back onto the field. Hightower had some serious burst and is probably better for the Cardinals at this point in time.

Statistical Notes – 2007 7^th round pick Derek Stanley has one career NFL reception….an 80 yard touchdown grab. Talk about making the most of limited opportunities! Marc Bulger led the team in rushing yards with 32. Bulger has less than 200 yards passing in 6 of 7 games. Anquan Boldin has scored in every game he played except for week 1. Kurt Warner remains consistent, throwing at least one TD in the last 16 games and at least two in 15 of the last 16. Larry Fitzgerald had his first game of the season where he didn’t score a touchdown or rack up 100 yards. This terrible game of his only put him at 6 catches for 81 yards.

Rookie Running Backs! – Tim Hightower, Matt Forte, Ray Rice, Jamaal Charles and Chris Johnson all put up 100 yards or more of offense (All but Chris Johnson had 100 yard rushing) this weekend. Of the top 10 running back performances of the week, 7 of them were first or second year running backs and the remaining 3 were first or second year starters. The two “Elder Statesmen” of the group are Michael Turner and Brandon Jacobs. Young backs can make huge differences in this league.

Falcons over Raiders or “60,000+ Raiders fans PAYED to watch this game.”

Oh boy. There is nothing much to say other than the Raiders were dominated in a way I’ve never seen before. We are just going to look at some game stats.

• Atlanta outgained the Raiders by 367 yards.
• Time of Possession – Falcons: 45:15. Raiders: 14:45.
• Plays: Atlanta 82. Raiders 34.
• First downs – Atlanta: 30. Raiders: *3*. No really!
• Yards through three quarters – Raiders: 14
• Matt Ryan: 17/22 for 220 yards and 2 TDs. Jamarcus Russell: 6/19 for 31 yards and 1 INT.
• Russell’s QB rating: 19.0 I didn’t think the QB rating WENT that low.

Did I mention the Raiders were at HOME? Things are ugly in the black hole. REALLY ugly. The worst part was the Raiders having to watch a “Rookie” Matt Ryan who was the first QB selected this season look like an actual professional while Jamarcus Russell…first player selected the prior year was throwing balls into the ground. The fact is……Russell is also a rookie! Not joining the team until the season was underway was a failure by both the Raiders and Russell. Matt Ryan was payed a ridiculous amount of money but reported to camp on time, worked out all summer with his team, and is helping to get the Falcons franchise turned around. Perhaps Russell knew he was probably going to flop and needed to get as much guaranteed money as possible with his rookie contract.

Things were so bad fans were chanting the name of Andrew Walter, a former 3^rd round pick with 3 career touchdowns and 13 career interceptions.

Statistical Notes – Matt Ryan has 200+ yards and a TD in each of the last three games. Johnson Abraham recorded 3 sacks bringing his total to 10. Michael Turner had his fourth 100 yard game and is on pace for 1600 rushing yards. Zack Miller leads the Raiders with 22 receptions on the year…barely above 2 per game. Jamarcus Russel failed to break 48% completions for the fifth time and 37% completions for the third time.

Giants over Cowboys or “Maybe Brooks Bollinger won’t help that much…”

Things are ugly for the Cowboys right now. Real Ugly. They were never even in this game and to be honest…the Giants did not play that well (Ridiculous amount of rushing yards aside, they did turn the ball over three times and tagged on a few three and outs.)

Tony Romo should return after the bye but I don’t even know if that will fix things. The offense will no doubt function better but the defense needs some help of its own. They have given up 190+ yards rushing twice in three weeks. They still have to play the Redskins, Eagles, Ravens, Steelers, and the Giants for the second time. All these teams will surely try to exploit their questionable run defense.

The Giants are not the undefeated team in the league but it’s hard not to consider them the best team in football. They are pretty solid in all aspects of the game. They have a very good chance of getting the first seed in the playoffs and it will be difficult to beat this team at home in the playoffs. It’s pretty crazy when you realize that they lost Michael Strahan, Usi Umenyiora, and Kawika Mitchell during the offseason. How dominant could this defense have been?

A huge reason for the Giants current success is Eli Manning suddenly discovering consistency. In the past you could just about count on Eli giving one away. He threw at least one interception in 42 of his first 57 games. Since the 2007 playoffs began, he has played 12 games and has thrown INTs in only four of them.

Statistical Notes – Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Ahmed Bradshaw have combined to average 5.3 yards per carry, 1528 total yards, and 10 touchdowns. Terrell Owens has posted between 31 and 36 receiving yards in the last four games. That is easily the worst four game stretch of his career. In six games this season, Tony Romo threw 5 interceptions and was sacked 7 times. In three games, Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger have combined to throw 6 interceptions and have been sacked 10 times.

Steelers over Redskins or “A bad day to be a quarterback…”

On Monday night Jason Campbell, Ben Roesthisberger and Byron Leftwich were sacked a combined 12 times and hit a combined 100 times. Ok, the 100 is an exaggeration but it might as well have been. By the end of the first quarter, Big Ben seriously looked like he wanted out.

Oddly enough the Steelers played far better with Byron Leftwich under the helm. After three straight rushing plays that led to a first down, Leftwich found Nate Washington for a huge gain which eventually led to a touchdown which changed the entire complexion of the game. I think more than anything the Steelers finally adapted to the Redskins pass rush style and were able to create a pocket for Leftwich to stand in. It wasn’t a display of Leftwich’s mobility, rather a display of the team finally coming together.

As good as the Redskins defense played in the first half, the Steelers defense probably played better and did so for the entire game. The downfield receivers were well covered at all times and the pass rush was brutal. Many, many times the Redskins lined up in a three wideout set with Clinton Portis as the lone back in the backfield. He’d pick up a pass rusher (Usually on the left side), hold him for a second or two, and flare out as a safety valve. With three quarters of play finished, only Portis, Chris Cooley, and Santana Moss had touched the ball…and Moss only had 2 receptions for 14 yards. When Campbell actually had any kind of time, his guys could not get open downfield.

The true victory for the Steelers defense came in the fact that their early offensive ineptness and good Redskins special teams play gave the Redskins the ball in Steelers territory three times. Out of those three possessions with excellent field position the Redskins walked away with a mere six points. As the game dragged on I knew that the Steelers would make a big play at some point and the Skins were not making enough of the gifts given to them.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, a helmet to helmet hit to Jason Campbell from James Farrior on 4^th and 9 gave the Redskins a glimmer of hope. A few plays later Campbell scrambled on 3^rd and goal on the 6 to apparently get into the end zone. He was stopped short and the Redskins had a chance to cut the lead to 10 on a 4^th and goal from the 1. I figured that despite how strong the Steelers defense had played, nothing would stop Clinton Portis from getting into the end zone. Instead, Defensive Tackle Lorenzo Alexander reported in as eligible and the fourth down play was ran with him as the lone receiving option. On 4^th and 1 with a glimmer of hope you choose a backup defensive lineman over your possible MVP running back as the one to put points on the board? An odd strategy no doubt.

Statistical Notes – The eight game streak of Clinton Portis getting 20 rushes ended with only 12 handoffs taken. He still managed to get enough yardage through the ground and air to go for over 100 total yards for the sixth straight game. He is now on pace for 2035 total yards (Which would be a career best). Jason Campbell threw his first and second interceptions of the season on Monday Night. The Redskins are outgaining Opponents 348 to 272 but have only scored 3 more points than they have allowed. Pittsburgh’s defense has not allowed a team to pass for 200 yards and allowed only the Ravens to rush for 100 yards (103). They are holding to an incredible 232 yards per game. Lamar Woodley and James Harrison have now combined for 19.5 sacks in 8 games. In one half of play, Big Ben’s QB rating was 15.1. In one half of play Byron Leftwich’s rating was 143.8.

Titans over Packers or “Oh, what a Heartbreaker.”

In one of the most engrossing games I have watched this year, my Packers took the Titans into overtime. They seemed to have the momentum but the Titans won the coin flip and scored on the first possession of overtime. Going into the game, I did not think the Packers would win. When it feels like you have the NFL’s only undefeated team on the ropes in their home stadium you get pretty excited.

Greg Jennings has been spectacular for the Packers this season but he looked clueless this Sunday. On at least three plays he wasn’t anywhere close to where he was supposed to be and he dropped two critical balls. One of those was a deep throw that would have changed the game greatly and I must admit I feel that there was obvious pass interference. I still think Jennings should have caught the ball. Jennings still ended up with 79 yards but it was Donald Driver that moved the chains in the passing game.

I admit that I really don’t like Ryan Grant that much but it was hard not to like him this Sunday. He had a few runs on Sunday that looked like they should be no gain where he kept his feet pumping and managed to pick up 4 or 5 yards. Many running backs forget that basic tenant and just try to dive forward for an extra foot or two when a pile emerging on top of them. Grant proved he has the desire to go out and help his team win.

Early in the game, the Titans pass rush was an absolute onslaught. From the first play where Javon Kearse was left unblocked it looked like it could be a long day for Aaron Rodgers. “Roll him out immediate to Haynesworth’s side. It’s going to be harder for Haynesworth to cut back towards him!” my dad said. Soon after, Rodgers started to roll out and the offense moved a little. The performed well between the 20s but boy does the Titans D tighten up inside the Red Zone.

A lot of people make jokes about Lendale White being fat and slow. It was White that broke the big run of the game and he looked anything but slow. Atari Bigby had a pretty rough time catching up to him. White did have to go put on an oxygen mask for a good amount of time after the run though. Lendale and Chris Johnson were responsible for 238 of the Titans 347 yards.

Statistical Notes – The Titans offensive line was a “mess”, giving up as many sacks this game as they have the previous 7. That means they have now given up….FOUR!?!??!! all season. Aaron Rodgers is on pace for just under 4000 yards, 26 TD’s, and 10 INTs. Donald Driver has his first 100 yard game since week 10 of last season. The Titans are the first team not to turn the ball over against the Packers. They have now gone three straight games without a giveaway.

Carnage Guesses on Games.

Here are last week’s picks.

1. Bills over Jets
2. Bears over Lions
3. Jaguars over Bengals
4. Ravens over Browns
5. Bucs over Chiefs
6. Cardinals over Rams
7. Titans over Packers
8. Giants over Cowboys
9. Falcons over Raiders
10. Eagles over Seahawks
11. Colts over Patriots
12. Redskins over Steelers

Crazy Upset Pick duo! Dolphins over Broncos. Broncos can’t stop the run. Here comes the wildcat! Texans over Vikings.

Woo! I finally had a decent week again. I shouldn’t have doubled up my crazy upset pick but I did hit one of them with the Dolphins Beating the Broncos. Those Darn Steelers…they get my vote of confidence last week and they lose. I write them off this week and they win. I am now 78-47 on the year. Remember, I go straight up, not against the spread.

Let’s see what we have for next week.

1. Ravens over Texans
2. Saints over Falcons
3. Titans over Bears
4. Jaguars over Lions
5. Dolphins over Seahawks
6. Packers over Vikings
7. Patriots over Bills
8. Jets over Rams
9. Panthers over Raiders
10. Steelers over Colts
11. Chargers over Chiefs
12. Cardinals over 49ers

    Crazy upset pick????? Broncos over Browns. The Browns are 3 point favorites. Seriously.

That is all for this week. Good luck to everyone but Vikings fans during the league’s final bye week.