It’s Monday morning, the time when we look back at Sunday’s game with a series of 10 takes.
It’s also the time when you’re easing back into the work week, and this is part of our public service to boost worker morale.
Even if it means reducing their productivity.
Either way, read the 10-pack. Then get to work. Unless you want to check out some more of the stuff you missed when you weren’t checking the site over the weekend, because you weren’t working.
1. Titans give the NFL a collective middle finger.
Titans coach Jeff Fisher, the current holder of the longest tenure with the same team, is a widely-respected member of the influential Competition Committee.
The team he runs enjoys no such reputation.
A backlash quietly is building in league circles against the Titans, who entered the weekend with the most personal foul/unnecessary roughness penalties in the league — and who led all teams with fines in the amount of $47,500. Thanks to defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil, that number will climb even higher this week.
Cecil’s blatant middle finger, directed to the officials in plain view of the CBS cameras, surely will draw a huge fine. Given that Jets coach Rex Ryan paid $50,000 for the privilege of showing a middle finger to fans at an offseason MMA event in South Florida, Cecil will be facing a much bigger penalty.
Then, after Sunday’s game, Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton sounded off regarding the “cheap” Titans, pointing a non-middle finger at cornerback Cortland Finnegan, who has claimed that he wants to be known as the dirtiest player in the league.
Some league insiders believe the time has come for Fisher to take control of the situation. Said one high-level source with another team, “We have to sit and listen to Fisher pontificate at league meetings every year, and his guys are as dirty as anyone.”
Maybe, at some point, franchises should be held accountable for fostering an atmosphere in which so much unruly behavior occurs. At a certain point, it no longer can be called a coincidence.
2. Ken Whisenhunt is mad for Max Hall.
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt says that he won’t be naming a starting quarterback for the Week Five game against the Saints until he reviews the tape of Sunday’s blowout loss to the Chargers. Whisenhunt claims he doesn’t want to make an emotional decision.
Surely, the emotional decision would be to park Derek Anderson and give the ball to undrafted rookie Max Hall.
Anderson was yanked from Sunday’s game for Hall, who completed eight of 14 passes for 82 yards. The bigger problem could be the offensive line; the Cardinals surrendered nine sacks to the Chargers.
Still, Whisenhunt really likes Hall. Indeed, as Peter King reported before the season began, it was Whisenhunt’s faith in Hall that contributed to the decision to part ways with former first-rounder Matt Leinart.
All that said, the Cardinals should have gotten someone more accomplished and capable than Derek Anderson to back up Leinart. Though Hall still could have been the quarterback of the future, the Cardinals would have had someone better prepared to get the job done in the present.
3. Josh McDaniels is following nicely in Mike Shanahan’s footsteps.
Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who essentially ran the show in Denver, had a reputation for being a bad evaluator of personnel — and in turn for being a very good coach, given his ability to cook a digestible meal despite making an array of blunders while pushing a cart with that one messed up wheel through the aisles of the market. His successor, Josh McDaniels, already has shown similar tendencies.
McDaniels gave up one of the first-round picks from the Jay Cutler trade to obtain a second-round pick that became cornerback Alphonso Smith, who inexplicably was sent a year later to Detroit for tight end Dan Gronkowski, a seventh-round pick in the same draft.
McDaniels also sent running back Peyton Hillis, who now has two straight 100-yard rushing games, to Cleveland for Brady Quinn. McDaniels surrendered along with Hillis a sixth-round draft pick, and McDaniels obtained in return a guy who will be mired at No. 3 on the depth chart for most of the year.
Then, McDaniels traded for failed first-round running back Laurence Maroney, who had 11 carries for five yards today. That’s an average of 0.45 yards per carry.
The biggest gamble, of course, came when the Broncos traded back into round one to get quarterback Tim Tebow. If Tebow doesn’t become a competent starter, McDaniels may not be in Denver for very long.
Meanwhile, the Broncos have found a way to beat the Titans in Tennessee, proving that McDaniels, like Shanahan, can coach through his mistakes So maybe McDaniels, whose 6-0 turned 3-10 team overcame an 0-6 turned 10-3 team, has what it takes to be a coach.
The sooner he admits that he may not be the best evaluator of personnel, the better he’ll do in his primary job.
4. Jets are becoming what Rex Ryan said they would be.
Through four weeks of the NFL season, only one team is undefeated — the 3-0 Chiefs. No team exhibits the aura of the proverbial “team of destiny.”
Except for, perhaps, the Jets.
Stymied by the Ravens in the season opener at the New Meadowlands Stadium, many assumed the Jets were on their way to mediocrity. They responded by handling the Patriots, beating a tough Dolphins team in their own house, and completely dismantling the Bills.
Next up, they welcome one-year Jets quarterback Brett Favre back to town, and they’ll have receiver Santonio Holmes and possibly linebacker Calvin Pace and cornerback Darrelle Revis in hand when facing Minnesota. Given that the Vikings’ corps of receivers consists of Percy Harvin and a collection of no-names, the Jets can afford to give Revis another week to heal.
They arguably can give him the Broncos game off, too, which then will carry the Jets into the bye week. Coming out of the bye they face the high-flying Packers; assuming Revis will be back to 100 percent by then, they’ll get good use out of him that night.
Still, with or without Revis, the Jets have become, for now, the best team in the league.
Whether they stay there for long remains to be seen.
5. 49ers are still very much alive.
In 1992, the Chargers lost the first four games of the season and somehow made it to the playoffs. The 49ers can do the same thing, for one major reason.
They play in the NFC West.
Even now, the 0-4 Niners are only two games behind the three-way logjam at 2-2, and they can pull themselves back toward contention with a win next Sunday night against the Eagles.
The Seahawks are great at home and dreadful on the road. The Cardinals likely will soon be putting their fate in the hands of undrafted rookie Max Hall. And the Rams surely can’t continue to hover near .500, can they? (No, really. Can they?)
The Niners remain very much alive. They’ve still got five games to play in the division, and they can take some solace in near misses against the 3-1 Saints and the 3-1 Falcons. If they can cut through the distractions and focus on winning one big game on a national stage, they can at a minimum make things interesting.
6. NFC East is jumbled, too.
The presence of three 2-2 teams atop the NFC West surprises no one. A similar cluster in the NFC East is an eye-opener.
But there it is. Giants, 2-2. Eagles, 2-2. Redskins, 2-2.
The Cowboys surely are thrilled to be only one-half game behind the pack, riding high through their bye on the road win they secured in Houston.
The bigger challenge for the eventual champion of the NFC East will be earning a bye in the playoffs. As it stands,
the champions of the NFC North and NFC South again will be in line for the week off, forcing the Cowboys or whoever wins this wide-open division to play an extra postseason game — and if they win it to then go on the road.
7. L.T. could be in danger of wearing down.
In our weekly video segment, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison of Football Night in America and I talked about a former MVP who’s trying to get his first ring.
LaDainian Tomlinson is enjoying a rebirth with the Jets, rushing for 341 yards in only four games — nearly half of his full-season total for 2009. Though he was expected to keep Shonn Greene from becoming the next L.T., chewing into his touches, taking away touchdowns, and in turn keeping Greene from becoming bigger than the team, Tomlinson has become the lead dog.
Along the way, he has passed Tony Dorsett for seventh on the all-time rushing list, and Tomlinson could still pick off Eric Dickerson and Jerome Bettis before the season is over.
But with 68 touches through 25 percent of the season (he’s on pace for 272), a question that has nagged Tomlinson even longer than questions about his age surely will surface.
Can he stay healthy over the long haul?
In this regard, here’s another angle to keep in mind. In San Diego, L.T. often didn’t play at all in the preseason. This year, he added another 25 touches during exhibition play.
Thus, he could be closing in on 300 total touches before the postseason begins. That’s probably twice the touches anyone reasonably thought he’d get — and it could be more than any 31-year-old running back ever should get in the modern NFL.
8. Philly fans earn redemption.
Eagles fans are as smart as they are passionate. And they apparently were smart enough to realize that, by giving former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb a proper welcome, they could go a long way toward exorcising the demons of a snowball-pelted Santa Claus and a Cowboys receiver whose career-ending injury was cheered.
How else can we explain their decision to embrace a man about whom they were for so many years openly ambivalent? Though they possibly don’t like McNabb, they possibly like even less the national perception that they routinely behave like soccer hooligans with a raging case of hemorrhoids.
So, for at least a day, Philly fans were regarded by the masses as classy. (Frankly, we think it wouldn’t have been non-classy to boo McNabb.) And it could be that their treatment of McNabb will alter the manner in which they’re perceived.
Still, we’re not quite sure whether the effort justified blowing a golden opportunity to rattle McNabb only minutes before one of the biggest games of his career. And, yes, it would have rattled him.
9. Lions continue to struggle.
The good news for the Lions is that they could have won three of their four games. The bad news is that they’ve won none of them.
Along the way, coach Jim Schwartz has racked up a dubious distinction. He’s the only coach in franchise history to win only two of his first 20 games.
Though some may now wonder whether Schwartz will be fired during or after the season, the Lions are moving in the right direction. They just need to win a game, and then another win may come. One of these years, they may win more than five or six.
It can’t come soon enough for a franchise whose fans have had nothing about which to feel good since Barry Sanders retired.
10. Something’s wrong with the Saints.
In the only statistical category that matters, the Saints are 3-1. But each win has featured a narrow margin — as did their only defeat.
So where’s the killer instinct? Where’s the magic that made last year’s Saints games into track meets?
Some would say that the absence of running back Reggie Bush has tightened up the team’s options on offense, but the Saints struggled even before he was hurt.
Whatever the reason, the Saints need to find some of that 2009 mojo that carried them to the division crown and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Otherwise, they’ll face much stiffer challenges than the one that nearly derailed their Super Bowl run in the NFC title game.
The Browns and Holmgren suddenly look very good on the Brady Quinn trade. Many people were wondering why they didn’t get anything good in return but Peyton Hillis is looking like Riggins and Czonka out there. Not quite Earl Campbell but he is bulldozing some people and getting a 100yds a game the hard way, 5 chunks at a time with an occasional long one.
A wise move form the front office. The Browns are competitive and in 2 years should be good if they get a hold of a solid QB.
“Then, McDaniels traded for failed first-round running back Laurence Maroney, who had 11 carries for five yards today. That’s an average of 0.45 yards per carry.”
You should’ve said “That’s an average of 16.2 INCHES per carry.”
The Jets the best team? Maybe. Certainly, if a lot of boastful talk and exuberant spending counts for anything.
But one has to wonder if Rex Ryan is just trying to emulate the late George Steinbrenner. That would be good for Jets fans and a good part of New York City but not so much for the rest of the NFL.
But it is a long season. We’ll see.
As to point #1
Maybe the Competition Committee should no longer be comprised of coaches and front office team members. At the very least some outside input from Football people outside the influence of ownership. Who in this group does not draw a paycheck or has some part ownership of a team?
There is not one person that isn’t paid in some way by the ‘NFL’
“We have to sit and listen to Fisher pontificate at league meetings every year, and his guys are as dirty as anyone.”
As of December 5, 2008, the members were:
Co-Chair: Rich McKay (Atlanta Falcons)
Co-Chair: Jeff Fisher (Tennessee Titans)
- Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals)
- Rick Smith (Houston Texans)
- John Mara (New York Giants)
- Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens)
- Bill Polian (Indianapolis Colts)
- Stephen Jones (Dallas Cowboys)
as far as I can tell the fox is in the hen house.
The rules aren’t set by the NFL but by the teams.
At the very least it looks that way to me.
Well the way u explain the cheering for Mcnabb today is easy. Alot of Philly fans like Mcnabb. We didnt cheer today to change peoples opinions and look classy we cheered because we wanted to.
The dislike of Mcnabb in Philly has been greatly overexaggerated by the media. The majority of Eagles fans liked Mcnabb and wanted him to stay. And just like u say boos tend to drown out cheers the same thing goes with negativety.
There are alot more Mcnabb supporters in Philly then haters, but people dont want to hear about things going good they want controversy. They never show the positive side of the fanbase. Good doesnt sell so instead the national media only writes the negative stories. People only believe what they see and if all they see is negativity it makes them think were all like that.
So no matter how respectful Philly fans are they are always going to be precieved as classless thugs until people stop believing everything they’ve been told and go out and get the other side of the story.
Thats why we didnt cheer to change peoples opinions because we know no matter what we do the majority will be ignored while the tiny portion of the fan base that are negative gets all the attention.
Of course the Rams can play .500 ball the rest of the year. They are the “Lambs” no longer. SF may as well start thinking about which QB they want in the draft.
“As it stands, the champions of the NFC North and NFC South again will be in line for the week off, forcing the Cowboys or whoever wins this wide-open division to play an extra postseason game — and if they win it to then go on the road.”
I think you are letting the cat outta the bag that it’s all fixed…………….
Or perhaps you are making an assumption that may be a bit premature, given the first 4 weeks of the season.
No need to rattle McNabb, he does not show up for big games, and thus, only completed 8 passes.
What people DO NOT realize is the people who DO NOT like McNabb are the few that sound their opinions on talk radio and a message boards. I think he deserved the standing-O, but I also think it was a good move to trade and move on considering that him and Reid showed brilliance and mental lapses throughout their careers. Now if only we can get Andy Reid to move on as he has now, too, worn out his welcome in Philly. Yesterday you were able to see how the too are so similar and now have no one else to blame for inadequate play, playcalling, & time management.
the titans are NOT a dirty team…they may suck on offense but they aren’t dirty. how do teams like pittsburgh, baltimore, and the jets get labeled tough while tennessee is dirty? the steelers are the epitome of pushing it to the limits and that’s cool with everybody. VYoung is horrendous and that offense should be fined for ugliness.
Let me ask — what is their takeaway ratio at this point?
Oh wait, I can look it up – thus far this season its INTs by Saints – 3 Opponents 2 — +1
Fumbles lost Saints – 3 Opponents – 1 -2
Overall this season the Saints are -1 turnovers, last season they were an outrageously good
INT Saints 26 Opponents 12 +14
Fumbles Lost Saints 4 Opponents 2 -2
+12 Overall. That’s the ‘magic’ that’s missing. How many INTs were turned into TDs by the Saints D? 5 on INT returns and a bunch more due to field position or killing opponents drives.
If you had paid any attention to dozens of posts from Philly fans (or people like me that aren’t philly fans but are from the area) you wouldn’t have been surprised by the pre-game cheers for McNabb.
As we tried to tell you, when an elite athlete leaves via trade or because the team didn’t want them, they are always given a warm reception when they return:
1) Reggie White
2) Charles Barkley
3) Allen Iverson
4) Brian Dawkins
5) Pat Burrell
6) Rod Brind’amour
7) John LeClair
I am sure I am missing someone, but I think you get the point. The idea that fans in Philly (and again, I’m not biased- I don’t like any Philly teams) are so much worse than fans in other cities is a media creation bought into by the ignorant.
If the Lions fire Schwartz it would line up with many other ‘idiot’ moves made by the organization.
If you uncork the wine too soon, its only grape juice.
Detroit beat writer Tom Kowalski wrote a column last week talking about how its now (already) time to start blaming Schwartz for the losses instead of Millen.
While I don’t think you just put it all on Millen-and I know he was atrocious, it is going to take more than one great off season to get the 53-man talent level up to par.
Jim Schwartz is a fine football coach and to call for the gallows at this point is grossly immature.
I’m not really sure what “Openly ambivalent” means, but I do know that there are plenty of people in Philly that like McNabb. I was there the first game he played in, and despite what Cataldi’s morons did at the draft, the fans in that stadium cheered their asses off when he walked on the field. I’ve been at almost every home game of his carrer, and every time he was introduced that stadium roared approval. Loudly. Yeah, after he drilled a few receivers in the feet folks would start to boo, but all in all people did like him, and they knew what he did here. He did have some holes in his game, but he won a lot more than he lost, and most people did appreciate that. Stop lumping us all in with the idiots.
The Saints are struggeling because its not being handed to them anymore. I refuse to watch any game with them in it, because it always includes a Katrina comment……Get over it.
I’ll be furious if the Lions get rid of Schwartz this year. The coaching carousel has been one of the reasons Detroit has sucked for so long, and Schwartz is a guy who actually seems to have a good head on his shoulders.
Rebuild the secondary in the offseason, bring in a good LT, and watch things change.
Agreed: “The sooner he admits that he may not be the best evaluator of personnel, the better he’ll do in his primary job.”
Arrogance is a career ending attribute. Strangely, how is Xanders not held accountable? He as almost as much say as the coach.
Florio, have you watched the Broncos play or even looked at some of their stats? You say the Jets can probably spare Revis for the game against the Broncos. The Broncos have the most passing yards in the NFL. I’m not saying they’re going to the SB or anything like that just yet, but do your research man.
People forget the saints only steamrolled poeple in the first half of the season. They got *very* lucky a few times in the second half and snuck out with wins they “shouldn’t” have had (Remember the redskins game among others).
They were NOT as controlling the 2nd half of the season, as a matter of fact, to me they look about the same as they ended last year. They play good, hard and get just enough luck to win.
nobody said it was a coincidence that the Titans have been flagged. They play hard to the whistle and get caught sometimes. So be it. If they got the same leeway as the Steelers get, then they wouldn’t have any penalties. Steelers play hard to the whistle but they don’t even get flagged for 3 of them ganging up and body slamming the quarterback.
I lost a lot of respect for Kyle Orton, crying about teams playing hard and wanting to call it cheap. He just wishes his guys would play that hard. Granted they won the game yesterday but if they played hard to the whistle, they would be sitting atop their division.
What Detroit Fans need to realize is that Jim Schwartz is not the coach of the Detroit Lions fanbase- He is the coach of the 53 men on that roster.
As long as he still has the teams respect, he should and will be the head coach. He is the best we have had in a while- and a promising young coach.
This season’s success is not measured in wins; we are rebuilding. They pass the eyeball test as far as noticable improvement is concerned. Who honestly thought we would even be in the game with the Pack in Lambeau, let alone have a chance to win .
It takes more than strong 2 drafts and an offseason to rebuild what is essentially an expansion team. Tough to say given the history, but please have patience. 2011 Playoffs!!!
The Rams will win the NFC West.
Florio, you couldn’t be more wrong. Fans cheered McNabb because they respect and appreciate what he did for the Eagles. There is no way we cheered to avoid being perceived negatively. In fact, the eagles fans who do behave like “soccer hooligans” embrace the negative reaction from the media, and would be more inclined to act like hooligans. Get a clue before writing something so assanine.
@pt8106
I don’t think people are complaining about the Titans playing hard. What people are complaining about is the punching, kicking, shoving in the back, etc that goes on after the play. That’s what the Titans are doing in an effort to gain a reaction and get a penalty called on the other team (generally the one who responds is the one who’s seen by the ref) – it worked against the Giants, not against the Broncos.
Not sure how you consider a Coach flipping off the officials to be – playing hard to the whistle tho.
Yes, at times the Titans played very dirty. I wouldn’t relate a middle finger by a coordinator to on-field play though. Despite them repeatedly ripping off our helmets and the rat like attempt by Cortland “the Delonte West of the NFL” Finnegan to hit Kuper after losing his helmet, the Titans have a damn good defensive line. I could only wish the Broncos had a line that strong and aggressive.
And yea McD has made some serious mistakes. Both McD and Shanahan have peppered in some great talent though. How do you take the reins from someone who has drafted a few great players and a few complete busts? Look at Shannahan’s draft in 2006: Jay Cutler, Tony Scheffler, Brandon Marshall, Elvis Dumervil, Domenik Hixon, Chris Kuper. On McD’s side, Ayers, Knowshon, McBath, Beadles, Walton, Demaryius, Cox, and others look to be heading in the right direction. But I don’t think anyone understands his decisions on Alphonso, Quinn, and Maroney. Just a bad situation I guess. You win some you lose some.
Did anyone actual watch the Eagles game? The fans cheered McNabb when he was introduced. At every point afterward, they booed McNabb all game!!! When he started his first series, after each incomplete…and Aikman would chime in, “philly fans have seen those types of passes before.”
McNabb was his usual self. He was absolutely awful playing in a big game. The Eagles losing Mike Vick is what cost them the game. Kevin Kolb is not a competent starter. Washingtons run game won the day. Which surprised me because I expected the Eagles to shut that down.
I knew McNabb would get cheered. Even though he never got them the Super Bowl they expected, they were always a playoff team when he was there. He handled more criticism than most players have to put up with. he handled T.O. And he did it all with class. Solid all around player and guy. He definitely earned their respect
Excellent 10-pack.
1. I like Fisher, but since owner Adams was fined last season for the same gesture Cecil made, perhaps the Titans coach shouldn’t be chairing the committee until their house is in order.
2. The bigger story re AZ is that there aren’t 32 top-level QBs available. So how does Goodell plan to field European, UK, and Mexican teams? Those countries have no local talent pools; they’ll have to import from our colleges. If, as proposed, their teams compete head to head with ours, it will significantly dilute the quality of the NFL product since there’s not enough talent to go around.
7. In 07 Tomlin said he was going to run Willie Parker until the wheels came off. Parker never fully recovered and he was much younger than L.T. is now. The Jets should pace him.
8. My first real look at Kolb. They dumped McNabb for that???? Good grief.
10. Agree, but apparently the Saints don’t see the problem. Brees said yesterday they were a field goal from 4-0. You can’t fix what you refuse to acknowledge.
Get rid of Schwartz? Give me a break. He took over an 0-16 team and has built them back to being a team I haven’t seen since 1998 when Barry retired. Despite their record nobody is laughing about having to play the Lions right now. The NFL has become so competitive that there is very little difference, talent-wise, between Detroit and many of the elite teams. So far the Lions have played against the Bears, the Vick-led Eagles, the Vikings and the Packers. They might be 0-4 but they’ve been in every game and should have won at least 2 of them. A case could be made they could just as easily be 4-0 right now as 0-4. Schwartz is doing a great job. This team is going to be really good in a year or two. This year wasn’t about getting wins. It was about growing as a team, getting better and moving in the right direction and that’s exactly what they’re doing. They have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL this year and they’ve been in every game so far.
P.S.
I find it very funny how every single week the Lions almost beat elite teams and instead of giving credit to them for playing a hard game and almost pulling it out, people just say the other team played sloppy. Vikings said it, Bears said it, and now the Packers are saying it. The other teams aren’t playing sloppy, the Lions have simply gotten a lot better and are playing neck in neck with some of the best teams in the NFL. And they’ve been doing it with a back up QB none the less. That’s pretty impressive. Also, how come everybody is so quiet about what a monster Suh has been already this year. Doubled and tripled every play of the game he still has 3 sacks. Pretty impressive. You want to see how much better they’ve gotten. Tune in next week when they play another rebuilding team, the Rams, and see how far they’ve come. They’re going to demolish that team, with or without Stafford.
@BillinDC, you make a great point. There were several games were defensive turnovers (and defensive scoring) kept the Saints alive, such as the Jets game. The Saints offense only scored 10 points against the Jets last year, but the defense scored 14. Now, the defense has done a good job of making some big stops, such as the Panthers game, and the Falcons’ first possession in OT, but they are not scoring like they did last year. No doubt the offense is struggling, but last year when they struggled to score, the defense usually helped.
@jediwrstlr
So when the Saints were beating teams by 3 touchdowns, it was because it was “handed” to them? Really? Other people bring up Katrina way more than any Saints fan ever does. Maybe you should get over it.
@Caldon
The Saints didn’t dominate in the 2nd half last season because the top 2 CBs were out with injuries and opposing QBs took advantage of the rookie or the old guys we signed off the street. In the games they barely won, they’d still score 25+ points. When they lost to the Cowboys 24-17, it was the lowest amount of points they’d scored all season. Yet this year we’ve scored less than that in 2 of our first 4 games. I don’t know what the deal is except that our defense isn’t scoring as much as it did last year.
Denver did not use a Cutler pick on Alphonso Smith.
PFT, here’s the Cutler haul (from the Denver post):
“Here’s what the Broncos got: starting quarterback Kyle Orton, starting outside linebacker Robert Ayers, first-round receiver Demaryius Thomas, third-round receiver Eric Decker, one-half of tight end Richard Quinn (Bears’ draft pick plus one more to get him) and one-third of quarterback Tim Tebow (draft pick plus two more).”
Quinn aside, I think Denver made out on this trade.
@ Bill in DC
If you read my comment, you would see at no time did I say that I approved in any way of Cecil’s finger to the refs. It shouldn’t have happened and I’m sure he will pay for showing a lack of class.
As far as the rest of it, the Titans aren’t doing anything that most other teams in the league don’t do. I think they took a page out of the Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Giants, Raiders, etc. handbook. They’ve chosen to fight fire with fire and sometimes they’re going to get caught. Doesn’t make them any worse than any of the other teams that play to the whistle and sometimes after it.
This writer is a bone smoker. The Jets the best in the NFL??? Do you actually watch football? Really? Remember what happened in week one?
Who would have thought that Eagles fans have way more class than Packer fans?
1 – How long did it take people to figure out the Titans can play dirty with anyone? It dates back to the Glanville Oilers era. I’m just hoping they smack around Peyton like they did Eli.
2 – Josh McDaniels is like Mike Shanahan – the team quit on Shanny the last ten years he was in Denver, they quit on Josh last season and Kyle Orton is almost single-handedly delaying them from quitting again now. I see no evidence anyone other than Orton buys into McDaniels.
3 – The Jets are the best team in the league – just as they were in the halfway area through 1985, and 1986, and 1994, and 1998, and 2004, and 2006, and 2008, and last year. They remain the ultimate tease.
4 – Niners may be alive but the Rams are showing they’re for real and the Seahawks are showing anew they aren’t tough enough while the House Of Cardinals is falling again.
5 – Does ANYONE want to win the NFC East? Those same Titans Kyle Orton loves so much out-hit the same NY Giants that sacked Jay Cutler into next month.
6 – Little Tomlinson could wear out? He wore out his last three years in San Diego.
7 – What’s wrong with the Saints is the competitiveness of the league has caught up to them, and the Falcons look to have that mojo this year.
I guess destroying the Cardinals in the divisional round and winning the Super Bowl by 14 was “luck” for the Saints.
Mike Daly,
“I see no evidence anyone other than Orton buys into McDaniels.”
Apparently you’ve never heard Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey speak. Apparently you’re a moron as well.
Still, we’re not quite sure whether the effort justified blowing a golden opportunity to rattle McNabb only minutes before one of the biggest games of his career.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
how in the world is thi his biggest game in his career in anyway he played in a super bowl ?
# jediwrstlr says: October 4, 2010 8:14 AM
The Saints are struggeling because its not being handed to them anymore. I refuse to watch any game with them in it, because it always includes a Katrina comment……Get over it.
________________
you sound like a bitter 60 year old lame ass who’s shaking his fist at the 13″ black and white television screen…”damn Saints! stop it with all your katrina gibberish! Get off my lawn!” Because y’know, the Saints have so much to do with what the commentators say, dipshit.
—————————-
# Caldon says: October 4, 2010 8:35 AM
People forget the saints only steamrolled poeple in the first half of the season. They got *very* lucky a few times in the second half and snuck out with wins they “shouldn’t” have had (Remember the redskins game among others).
They were NOT as controlling the 2nd half of the season, as a matter of fact, to me they look about the same as they ended last year. They play good, hard and get just enough luck to win.
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Another bitter Viking fan? Either that or a Falcon fan, but I’m sure you’ll say you’re neither.
Here’s a tip son, EVERY superbowl team gets a little luck along the way. Name the last superbowl winner that dominated every single one of it’s games and never had to have a little luck to get there. It’s never perfect, but last year the Saints were dominant, and even when both starting corners were injured they STILL had enough moxy to beat contenders.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda is for the birds. Saints fans learned that from Jim Mora, close doesn’t mean anything other than a “moral victory” which translates to “whoopee we lost!”
@pt8106…Go look at the replays of Cortland punching the side of Kuper’s head AFTER the whistle AFTER Kuper’s helmet came off. That’s not playing hard, that’s being a punk bitch. If you’re gonna hit the man, at least don’t sucker punch him from the side.
And I’m sure Orton is losing sleep over losing your respect. Because he made his comments after he took the Titans’ best shot and STILL beat them. Even Finnegan said Orton was too tough to be beaten, that they kept knocking him down and he kept getting up.
This may be the year a division winner finishes below .500. The NFC West really is that bad.
There is no real talk of getting rid of Schwartz. Killers article is merely pointing out that the blame Millen era is coming to end and that Jim has made some poor decisions for which he is culpable.
To fire Schwartz at this point would be like spending a year “acting like a friend” to the hot chick in the office and then turning her down when she is drunk at the office party and ready to get down.
That said Schwartz has made some bad decisions:
-Drafting Branden Pettigrew in the round one instead of going defense or offensive line.
-Not upgrading either offensive tackle positions in either draft or free agency periods
-waiting a year to fire Stan Kwan
-trading ernie sims with no viable option at LB. He should have waited one more year to make that move.
-Not requiring that the Ford’s break their tradition of no cheerleaders.