Reportedly, Miami Dolphins management reached out to the Wizard of Oz after getting annihilated by Buffalo. But unfortunately, no hearts were available. The Wizard said, if you go kill Joe Philbin, the horrible coach of the South, I can then talk about giving your team a heart.
The hot pre-season Superbowl pick Baltimore Ravens are getting worse by the second. The Ravens have given up a staggering six passing touchdowns and 734 yards through the air the last two games to the Raiders and Bengals. Don’t get me wrong, the Bengals made every effort in typical Cincy fashion to give that game away in the fourth quarter, but the Ravens’ secondary is so inept that they let Cincy leave with a win and now trail the Bengals by three games in the standings, three games into the season. But fear not Baltimore, you are among good company with the Saints and Bears as the only other winless teams in the NFL.
The good news for Baltimore is that in four days they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Ben Roethlisberger-less Pittsburgh Steelers. The Roethlisberger injury sent shockwaves through the NFL, but Michael Vick won’t let the Steelers dog it in his absence. With Le’Veon Bell back and Martavius Bryant returning from suspension after next week, the Steelers should be okay as long as Roethlisberger is only out the anticipated 4-6 weeks.
How about the 3-0 Atlanta Falcons? After the Falcons made Cowboys back Joseph Randle look like Emmitt Smith in the first half (two backs by the way that are/were highly reliant on their respective offensive lines to be successful) as opposed to natural skill), they battened down the hatches in the second half and rattled off 25 straight points to close out the game.
The Jets looked really tough after thumping Indy on Monday Night Football and winning two straight to start the season but today they went against a defense not named Cleveland or Indy. Ryan Fitzpatrick also came back down to earth throwing three picks. The real story though was that the Philadelphia Eagles came off an embarrassing effort and were being mocked nationally but responded with a critical road victory and are now within one game of the first place Romo-less Cowboys.
Watch out for Arizona. They destroyed San Francisco today and look dominant on both sides of the ball. Larry Fitzgerald has returned to vintage form and Carson Palmer looks better than ever. At one point in that game today, Colin Kapernick had five completions and four picks (two pick-6’s by the way). Maybe San Francisco shouldn’t have kept Alex Smith or Colin Kapernick.
If there was any doubt the Patriots are out for blood after last week, it was once again confirmed today after the Pats were aggressively trying to score through the air with a 44-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter against the innocent Jacksonville Jaguars.
Cam Newton is quietly been awesome to start the year and this is all the more impressive after he lost his number one weapon Kelvin Benjamin for the year in the pre-season.
I am sure Johnny Manziel could have lost just as easily to Oakland.
Not that NBA training camps are underway, time for some recycled boring storylines.
Carmelo Anthony feels like himself again. Does this mean no one will get a pass again this year from Anthony? He once again will fail to be a leader? What does feel like himself again actually mean?
Does anybody actually care if the Lakers monitor Kobe Bryant’s minutes? He’s not the story anymore, the development of back-to-back lottery picks Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell is though.
John Wall claims he will recruit Kevin Durant once he becomes a free agent, but he couldn’t even convince Paul Pierce to stay after the Wizards showed remarkable improvement.
Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper got in a fight after yet another Washington Nationals implosion. Papelbon’s act continues to wear thin wherever he plays while the definition of leadership continues to elude Harper.
The Nationals are arguably the biggest disappointment in the majors especially with that pitching staff.
As much as the wildcard play-in game has been mocked, the Cubs-Pirates game should be a classic and it is truly a shame that one of those teams will be out of the playoffs after one game. Kudos to Theo Epstein for building a nucleus that could deliver for the Cubs for years to come.
Minnesota, Anaheim and Houston are all within one game of each other for the right to travel to New York for a one-game playoff.
Still a lot of hope for the Red Sox. If the Twins, Angels and Houston lose all of their remaining games and the Sox go undefeated the rest of the way, the Sox will be eligible for a tiebreaker play-in game.
I take offense at the Baltimore Orioles getting shut out three games in a row.
