I understand that there are only 16 regular season games in the NFL and every game gets put under a microscope. And heading into Week Four (when there are already bye weeks) there are indeed a few teams that everyone can safely say their future's bright or they look worse than George Brett's pants after some bad crab legs. But overall, let's just slow things down a bit, take a step back and objectively look at the state of the league.Okay, so there are four teams that have no business even taking the field for the rest of the year. Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit and Cleveland (wtf Braylon Edwards! catch a friggin pass)are seriously just embarrassing themselves and while the Bengals are also 0-3, Cincy at least showed some heart yesterday against the Giants.
Looking at most teams, it appears that there's going to be a lot of 7-9 and 8-8 teams. We can't have teams finishing 15-1 and 14-2 every year. Injuries have already ravaged a number of rosters. It kinda takes the wind of out the "excitement sails." (I don't really know what that means.) For instance, that Philly/Pittsburgh game yesterday? How insanely boring was that? Westbrook, McNabb and Roethlisberger were all knocked out of the game with only McNabb coming back. 15-6 was the final score. Was it great defense or just poor execution offensively? I don't know about you folks, but watching Byron Leftwich, Correll Buckhalter and (gasp!) Matt Cassel doesn't exactly find my lost remote. Also, back up quarterback play leads to lack of production from wide receivers. Tomlinson, Colston, the list goes on. Yeah, I realize that it's the nature of the beast in the NFL that key players get hurt every year and some miss significant time. But three games into the year? The Brady injury might have been a bit of foreshadowing in relation to the entire season.
Getting back to individual teams, Dallas has looked pretty damn good. But some of the other undefeateds haven't won me over by any means. The defending champs barely beat Washington and Cincinnati and beat up on the Rams. Wow. Denver? They put up an ass ton (actual measurement) of points but were a blown call away from being 2-1. Tennessee's competition so far has been laughable. Buffalo...hmmmm. They have proved they can win close ones and Lynch hasn't even rushed for over 100 yards in a game yet. Their defense and special teams are pretty impressive. Definitely a team to keep an eye on but I wouldn't exactly put a lot of money down on them each week. If I had any.
Yes, I'm getting to the RB23 show. What else can you say really? With Brady out, the New England defense needed to put the rest of the team on their back and power through the regular season in the hopes that Cassel would improve and give the Pats a decent shot in the playoffs. Yesterday, Bill Belichick's team flat out stunk. In every way. One would think that Brady's injury would inspire them to step up and be even more motivated than a team that barely missed out on a 19-0 season. If that's even possible. But nope, they were beaten down essentially by one dude. Granted, he looked great doing it but after the first time he lines up for a direct snap, couldn't you, I don't know, adjust. Isn't that what Belichick specializes in? Being down 21-6 at half time ain't the worst situtation to be in at your home stadium.But again. IT'S JUST ONE GAME. The Patriots are still 2-1 and the Dolphins are still 1-2. So much can happen between now and the end of the year. More stars can and probably will miss multiple games due to injury. J.T. O'Sullivan will remember that he's J.T. O'Sullivan. The Titans will play someone with a pulse. Come talk to me after Week 8 and maybe I'll listen to some of these proclamations.
Oh and then there's the "balance of power switching" argument. I can't stand to hear this in any sport, the NFL in particular. In the finals of all the major sports, it's still one team from the East/AFC, etc. versus one team from the West/NFC, etc. And in football, they only play one game for the trophy! Any Given Sunday right? So what if the NFC East might have three (four?) teams with double digit wins. How many of them are getting to the Super Bowl? It gives the countless drones on all the tv shows to run their yap about but at the end of the day, it's meaningless. Besides, who really pays attention to football until after the World Series anyway...
1 comment:
I tell ya... I was at the game Sunday, and people were losing their f'ing minds. Miami fans were dancing around and taunting Pats fans... in Foxboro... as if their team had one more than a single game since Dec. 10, 2006 (note: they had not). What was even more troubling to me was the way Pats fans reacted. I know the Brady thing has people a bit on edge, but people were snapping. Instead of punching the Fins fans in the face to shut up them, or just shoving them over the railing (like they should have) they got painfully defensive and bitchy. The woman to my right kept chanting "CHEATERS!" all day. She wasn't a Miami fan referencing signal-taping, but rather a Pats fan upset about the early whistle on that 1st quarter Matt Cassel sack. She was convinced the rest of the game that the refs decided the Fins had to win that game. Though to her credit, the back judge totally blew the coverage on that Anthony Fasano TD.
Seriously people, calm down. Last year was not normal, we are actually not supposed to win every game. Your lives are not over.
Oh, and Scrob? I do. I care about football before the World Series is over. kthxbai
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