It’s good to be back. Sorry for the long lay-off between blogs.
Let me start by congratulating Rex Ryan and his stout defense for holding the Patriots to 40 points today. Outstanding work. Ryan had two choices this week when getting his team prepared for the Patriots. Choice #1 was to talk trash and antagonize the Patriots while emboldening New England’s us against the world mentality. Choice #2 is to take the momentum from the impressive victory over the Colts and tell his team we’re on to New England.
But Ryan of course elected for choice #1 which is the mentality that eventually led to his failure in New York. The bluster and bravado just couldn’t be backed up and players stopped buying into it. Then to add insult to injury, after the game the Bills are already predicting a playoff matchup. YAWN!
A word of advice to Buffalo. Stop, watch and learn how the Patriots win. It’s called actions speak louder than words.
A few nuggets of note from the game today:
The four anchors of the Bills defensive line make up 28% of the salary cap for Buffalo and the aggregate contracts exceed 250 million dollars. The combined cap hit of the three rookies that manned the interior today was 1.5 million dollars. The Pats O-line has been phenomenal so far and yes Brady gets rid of the ball exceptionally quick, but he has had real good protection.
Dion Lewis had 138 yards of total offense. A number that exceeds that of any Bills player today. Perhaps Rex knows who he is now. But Dion, how about you stop trying to emulate Steven Ridley in the area of ball possession.
Tom Brady targeted Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman a whopping 32 times among his 59 pass attempts.
Belichick going for it on fourth down twice while throwing the deep ball with big leads would seem to indicate an agenda of trying to win by 100 points?
The Miami Dolphins are nothing short of an embarrassment to start the season. They barely escaped Washington last week only because the Redskins kept blowing the multiple opportunities Miami tried to hand them and this week they lost to Jacksonville who has Marquise Lee and T.J. Yeldon (playing in his second NFL game) as their only real weapons. Miami had two cupcakes to open the season and have come out looking completely unprepared. Today it was the defense and last week was the offense. Joe Philbin needs to go and it is mind-boggling he still has job.
The SI jinx has struck again. SI was among many prognosticators that picked the Baltimore Ravens to win the Superbowl and after losing a tough game to Denver last week, the Ravens made Derek Carr look like Jim Plunkett this week. The loss of Terell Suggs will hurt but more important, 0-2 teams in the NFL have a 12% success rate of making the playoffs. With that said, the Ravens schedule this year is very easy although a 2-0 Cincy team is looming.
Teams that are featured on the HBO special Hard Knocks haven’t fared well and the Texans are continuing that recent trend. An 0-2 start is one thing, but what was supposed to be a vaunted defense has given up 51 points to KC and Carolina who aren’t exactly Green Bay and Pittsburgh. J.J. Watt can’t do it by himself.
The Chiefs loss to Denver this past Thursday was nothing short of egregious. Manning came into the game 13-1 against KC lifetime and the Chiefs had them on the ropes before Chiefs Coach Andy Reid did his best Pete Carroll impersonation and ran a run play deep in his own territory with 21 seconds left. Losing to a rival and the favorite to win the division at home will be a tough loss for the Chiefs to come back from.
Troy Aikman said that the Eagles performance against the Cowboys this evening was one of the all-time worst in NFL history. WOW! I mean that’s pretty bad coming from someone who led his team to an 0-11 record his rookie year with nine touchdowns and 18 picks. Nevertheless, the Eagles and their new running back DeMarco Murray look lost. Murray has 11 yards on 21 carries through two games so I am guessing the Cowboys O-line had nothing to do with his success.
And by the way, Sam Bradford might be better off injured at this rate. The Eagles QB has two touchdowns and four picks while being wildly inconsistent so far. For all the talk of how great Bradford could and would be if he stayed healthy, in his career he has 61 TD’s, 42 picks and 12 fumbles lost. Almost a 1-1 touchdown to turnover ratio.
Speaking of uninspiring quarterbacks, Jay Cutler might be the worst in the history of football. Every time I see another pick six thrown like today and you see that droopy look on his face, you wonder how bad Jimmy Clausen really is to not even get a shot.
How about Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons. An actual road win even against the defensively challenged New York Giants. Did Rashad Jennings think this week he was also not supposed to go in the end zone. And in other Giants news, sounds like JPP gave the Giants the finger.
Wither the New Orleans Saints who are feeling the effects of no Jimmy Graham, an aging Marques Colston and a horrible offensive line. The Saints just lost to a Tampa Bay team that lost at home by 28 points to a Tennessee team that lost to Cleveland today by 14.
But the Miami Dolphins award this week for the most unacceptable loss goes to the St. Louis Rams. How do you beat the Seattle Seahawks in an emotional potential season-defining win the week before and then lay an egg against the Redskins the following week while not ever being in the game.
Lastly, by taking two of three from the first place Toronto Blue Jays, the Sox pulled within seven of the second wildcard spot with 14 games left. If they go 14-0 in the remaining games and….
