Week one of the NFL featured disappointing starts for the Bears and Ravens, two heavily hyped teams. Both teams' offenses looked pathetic. The Ravens are still crying they were robbed by a suspect pass interence call on TE Todd Heap while he was catching the would-be game winner. Bottom line though was they couldn't punch it in from the 5 yard line with the game on the line. Critics are having a field day second-guessing Coach Billick's decision to throw five times in the zone instead of riding their prized offseason addition, RB Willis McGahee. The other Monday night contest featuring SF and Arizona was another exercise in frustration. Matt Lienart looked very ordinary and no doubt had some of the GM's who passed on him last year heaving a sigh of relief. Niner QB alex Smith was only marginally better, but did display a surprisingly big arm and some nifty running. The Niners are on many analysts' list of teams to keep an eye on, after several years of clever drafting and patient roster-building. My featured game, the Redskins-Dolphins matchup, was marred by dropped passes from both teams and overly active officials. The Dolphins lost a shot to win the game, with a first and goal from the Redksin 8 with three minutes to play, on a questionable intentional grounding penalty. The'Skins power running game came alive in the second half and OT and let them escape with a victory they didn't totally deserve. The Giants have to be disappointed after losing to the Cowboys in a game that saw their once-proud defense shredded by Romo and co. QB Eli Manning turned in a good performance but may have suffered a serious shoulder injury. The Giants are a team to watch. Coach Tom coughlin has a way of wearing his welcome out with players. If things get tough for the Giants, look for them to quit on him. Another surprising result was Philly's loss to GB. Two muffed punts cost the Iggles severely. Still, they have to be concerned. You would have thought they had enough O to overcome even two gift scores against GB, but i guess not. Now they have to face the Redskins rejuvenated defense in a key Monday night matchup. SD has to be pleased with the beating they put on the Bears. The Bears D stiffed LT, but the Bolts still generated offense. The zebras stole another TD from them with a no call on an obvious offsides by the Bears in the shadow of their goalline that lead to a Rivers fumble. This one was not as close as the score indicated. It will be interesting to see if this team is as successful under the laidback Norv turner as they were under Marty Shottenheimer's whip. Atlanta and Cleveland looked terrible and are clearly teams in big trouble. The Steelers looked good, but let's see how they fare against tough competition.
and now we also have the NEW ENGLAND spy fiasco when they went up against the JETS... there where some great games though.....the indy game, the bengals game and the cowboys game ( i have tony romo in my FFL ) so i was biased....
brandon jacobs also went down and wil be out for some weeks. Did you see the smile on Tiki's face?? they might have to beg him to come back
Good point, I forgot about Jacobs. Tough loss for them, the guy is a bruiser. They don't have enough money to get Tiki back. These Rb's who retire early , like Robert smith of the Vikes and Barry Sanders, don't seem to want to return.
NE looked pretty good. This is not the first time there have been allegations of cheating by them. You have to wonder about the security of the communications systems teams use to communicate with the box and the QB. Tough call for the Commish on punishment. Really, I tend to agree with Mark Schlereth. If it is an open and shut case of blatant cheating and sign stealing is considered beyond the pale, then really the punishment should be forfeiting the game. That seems very harsh however. I just don't know how clear it is to teams that this type of thing is unacceptable. It seems very hard to police. It's one thing if the video guy is on the sidelines in plain view, but how do you police it if he is in the press box or on top of the stadium?
Belichek fined $500k? Damn, that's what I call a fine. I don't know what he makes, and I suppose the club will gross him up for it, but that's no slap on the wrist. I think the league would score some big PR points if they took all that fine money and put it toward disability payments for old school players who are having a tough time now. Thjose guys made the NFL, but have really been abandoned by the league and union now. The Pats also were dinged a number one pick, which is an enormous penalty. Considering how harsh the pnalties were, I have to think the league had privately warned them not to be doing this stuff. I think it seriously tarnishes their accomplishments. How many of those rings would they have won without cheating? What else were they, or other teams doing? Eavesdropping on QB radio? Getting around the blackout period on the QB radio so that they could warn Brady of blitzes, etc during a play? Listening devise in opposing teams locker room? Who knows? I don't know how the league can possibly police it. It's one thing if they have a camera guy on the sidelines, but what's to keep them form having one in a sky suite or press box area?
Big games this week are headlined by the Chargers-Pats matchup. Can the Pats recover from the shock of their huge fines and the doubt cast on their past achievements? Will they be out to prove something? Are the Chargers the best team in the league? Will LT get untracked this week after getting stopped cold by the Bears defense? In the NFC a game with potential playoff implications is set for Monday night in Philly as the Iggles play host to the Redskins. The McNabbs were unimpressive in dropping their opener to GB. The 'Skins showed traces of getting their power running game on track, as they rushed for 190 odd yards against a Dolphins defense that was among the league leaders last season. The keys for this game will be whether the Philly offense can show some life against the Gregg Williams-coached defensive unit of the Redskins, and whether Jason Campbell can hit on some downfield bombs to complement the 'Skins' sledgehammer ground game.
how about the fine for mclaren racing or whatever cuz i dont follow racing...but $100million....thats not correct is it? how can they pony up $100million...sheesh...that could have bought you an entire NFL team back in the day... I think the fine was just ok considering he is one arogant prick.. LT must be laughing his ass off...
What the hell do you mean? We started our QB, took him out after quarter 1 and then a few days later traded him for a 6th round pick. I really don't see how you could say we are in trouble. I mean, yeah, it's a little sketchy right now, but there's always next year! Maybe Quinny boy will be our football savior. I'm not holding my breath, but we'll see.