Wednesday, October 29, 2008

London calling to the imitation zone

Week 8 had the international game. Since then I've heard nothing but complaints. Mike Ditka even put London in the dog house. It's not fair to put the extra strain and jet lag on the players, coaches, and trainers of the two teams involved during the regular season. It is a huge distraction to the season. If the NFL wants to expand to Europe, they should try pre-season games, where the games will have little to no effect on the success of the teams involved. It also affects the fans. New Orleans hometown fans lost the chance to see their team play in New Orleans for one game because the London game was considered a home game for them.

This season Canada will be seeing regular season games. Expansion into Canada is far more feasible than expansion into England. Toronto is only about 2 hours outside of Buffalo. Having the Bills play at the Rogers Centre is a great way to get the league outside of the U.S. without sacrificing the ability of the teams involved to focus on the task at hand - winning games, and continuing to the playoffs. Also, Bills fans can still travel to Toronto for far less cost than Saints fan would have to pay to get to London.

Personally, I think the London games should be changed to pre-season where the outcomes of games are far less important than regular season.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Injuries, suspensions, and fires - oh my

Everyone seems to be injury prone this season! Week 7 saw a lot of talented players leave their games early: RB Reggie Bush, S Roy Williams, S Rodney Harrison (yeah yeah I included him in a list of talented players - that's as nice as I can possibly be to a Pat), QB Jay Cutler, S Troy Palomalu (bad week to be a safety apparently), WR Devin Hester, QB Brodie Croyle (although the Chiefs are hopeless anyway - maybe I should change the list from 'talented injured players' to 'starting injured players').

What's worse than the injuries though is the suspensions! TE Kellen Winslow won't be playing this weekend thanks to comments he made about the Browns. Dude don't hate on your team; that's just too old T.O.-like. WR Matt Jones will be playing on Sunday and will start his 3 game cocaine suspension week 9. CB Adam 'Pacman' Jones is out indefinitely and in rehab now. RB Larry 'I like to beat women' Johnson doesn't have an official suspension yet but he's inactive for week 8 too for obvious reasons.

It seems like Donald Trump has taught a few teams this year his favourite phrase, "You're fired!" Mike Nolan was the latest coach on the chopping block after the 49ers started the season 2-5. The Raiders' Lane Kiffin got the boot after starting 1-3. Interim coach Tom Cable is 1-1 since taking over. The Rams fired Linehan after starting 0-4, since then the Rams under Haslett are 2-0. Is Singletary going to have the same luck? So who's next? Wade Phillips? The Cowboys have lost 3 of the last 4. Not good for a Super Bowl pick. Marvin Lewis? - his 0-7 Bengals are too talented to be winless. Rod Marinelli? - 0-6 Lions are looking pretty pathetic. Brad Childress, Romeo Crennel, Herm Edwards?? Frankly, I think they're all in trouble.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Steven Jackson For Prez

Let's recap another interesting football sunday.

Chargers @ Bills - Well the game started with a power outage. I didn't realize that Ralph Wilson Stadium even had power to begin with. I didn't even bother watching this game because frankly, seeing teams that should be a lot better have losing records is sad. One thing I did watch though was a SD punt batted out of the endzone and pinned at the 1 yd line. That was awesome. So San Diego, c'mon and get it together. And Buffalo - I still haven't figured you out so please send me a letter explaining how you're 5-1 and San Diego is 3-4.

Saints @ Panthers - Not only did the Saints lose this divisional game, but they lost Reggie Bush too. Turnovers lost the game for them (1 interception by Brees and 1 fumble by Shockey in his return from surgery). A special thanks from my fantasty team to the Panthers though for Stewart and Smith each getting a TD. The Panthers are now 5-2 tied with the Bucs for the NFC South lead.

Vikings @ Bears - 89. That's all I can say. 89. The over/under was 38.5. I thought out of any game this week, betting the under was going to be a safe bet. They more than doubled 38.5. The one thing I will mention is the fact that the Vikes had 5 turnovers. 4 INTs thrown by Frerotte. Gus, hunnie, the guys in the orange aren't on your team. Don't throw to them.

Steelers @ Bengals - Cinci held on for the first half. Half time score was 10-7. But the second got out of hand. 38-7 final score on this one. The Steelers defense was all over Fitzpatrick though, sacking him 7 times. Ouch. Chad "Ocho-Sucko" Johnson continues to be a disappointment with only 52 yds this game. Interesting fact - last time the Bengals started 0-7 was 2002 when they only won 2 games all season to finish with the worst record in the NFL that season with 2-14.

Titans @ Chiefs - LenDale White can be Steven Jackon's running mate. 149 yds and 3 TDs. How excited am I that I wasn't playing the guy in my fantasy league that has him AND Jackson as his 2 RBs. The Titans continue to dominate the league starting 6-0 and remain the only undefeated team in the league. The Chiefs continue to fail; there's really not much more to say. Titans have the Monday night game next week against the Colts - could be a the Titans first loss if the Colts who played the Ravens show up and not the Colts who played the Pack.

Ravens @ Dolphins - I have nothing to say about this game. I can't figure out either team. This was a game that most likely had fewer viewers than the Jets @ Raiders. I know I didn't watch it. Actually, I didn't even watch the highlights. So if anyone wants to fill me in, go for it.

49ers @ Giants - Another game I didn't watch. The Giants are good. The 9ers not so much. The only way this game would have made its way to my attention is if it turned out like the Cowboys @ Rams game (or The Steven Jackson Show as I refer to it).

Cowboys @ Rams - Speaking of The S.J. Show! It was 24-7 at half time; so can someone please explain to me why Brad Johnson marched out onto the field in the second half! Romo was dressed and ready to play and even with his broken finger, he probably would have thrown 3 less INTs than Johnson. Apparently all the Rams needed to do to win was get a new coach. They're 2-0 under Haslett and have shown the NFC East that they're not as pathetic as EVERYONE judged them to be. (My apologies to Dave when he reads this and yells at me for even mentioning this game).

Lions @ Texans - Another battle of epic failure. Does anyone care? Even the Lions fans I know don't care and I don't know any Texans fans. Are there any Texans fans? If so, please let me know and also, let me know if you care. Although, I think I already know the answer.

Colts @ Packers - No comment. I thought we were back in business after last week's domination of the Ravens. Apparently not.

Jets @ Raiders - The kickers made this game. With 3 seconds left in regulation, Feely kicked a 52 yd thud. But wait! Cable called a time out right before the kick. Feely gets another shot. This time makes it and we're off to OT. 2:30 left in OT, Janikowski sets up for a 57 yd field goal and makes it to win the game. Janikowski can be named Secretary of State after that one.

Browns @ Redskins - The Redskins came back and redeemed themselves after last week's loss to the Rams. Although it wasn't much of a redemption. The Browns almost came back to tie it with 25 seconds left, but Dawson's missed 54 yd field goal attempt sealed the Skins' victory.

Last but not least Seahawks @ Bucs - I think everyone in Tampa Bay and most likely the rest of the sports world (minus Andrew) was watching a different Tampa game. At one point in the football game, the crowd was cheering "Let's go Rays" this is what makes my theory complete. Congrats to the Rays, AL Champs! If you were wondering though, Bucs won. What a shock! (Sorry Jordan but if the Seahawks suffer anymore injuries, they might as well get a high school team to play for them.)

Tonight's game between the Broncos and Pats. I've got the Broncos. If history repeats itself, that should be the outcome. The Broncs lead the all-time series of this match-up 24-15.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Twin Roys

This is just a quick comment...Dallas now has Roy Williams the safety and Roy Williams the receiver. I'm truly disappointed that they didn't go after Roydell Williams as well to complete the trio. Also, disappointed that both Roys don't play either offense or defense. It'd be great to see them on the field together.

UPDATE (Oct. 20): Roy Williams the safety broke his forearm AGAIN and will miss 6 weeks. They're down to one Roy Williams again.

So um the Giants...

What happened last night? Eli returned to the interception throwing immature qb we usually associate him with. 3 INTs. He only had 1 all season until last night. The Browns came on the field like last year's Browns; not this year's Browns who in the simplest word - suck. Derek Anderson must not enjoy Brady Quinn getting more attention in the media than him through product endorsements and most recently political endorsements - Dear Mr. Quinn, No one cares who you're voting for. You're a back up hunnie - deal with it. Love, Leah. The Browns offense played much more to the standard everyone was expecting this season than they have been. 454 yards destroyed one of the better defenses in the league.

Ok so now the Titans are the best team in the NFL?? The Titans...seriously. The Titans. Wow. I just had to say it one more time to actually believe it. I wonder if Vince Young is still depressed being the only undefeated team in the NFL. I guess I'd be depressed too if my team all of a sudden sky rocketed to #1 while I was told my job was in the hands of Kerry Collins.

Monday, October 13, 2008

It's the end of the world as we know it and the NFL feels fine?

Is it just me or has climate change/global warming affected the NFL? The NY Giants are the number 1 team?? We’re talking about the team last year that everyone considered a fluke to have even made the playoffs, let alone win the Superbowl! The Redskins and the hip hip hoorays of Jim Zorn are dominating and then lose to the Rams?!? How does that happen? How does anyone lose to the Rams? The baby Falcons are 4-2? Chad Johnson should legally change his name again to 0 and cinco! Last night’s matchup of the Chargers and Patriots should have been the game of the season. Instead, I didn’t even watch it because frankly, it’s just not as fun watching the Pats lose without Tom Brady. Watching them lose the Superbowl with Tom Brady, now that was fun. Watching the Brady-less Pats lose, just feels like picking on the little kid sitting in the corner with no friends. I have never seen people fall off the bandwagon so fast.

Playing pick ‘em is downright impossible. Nothing is logical. Even the analysts don’t have a clue what’s going on. Look at the division leaders. AFC East - the Bills? No one say that coming and if they say they did, then they're probably responsible for Brady's knee. The standings are interesting to say the least.

Then the injuries! My fantasy team is more banged up than Pacman’s hotel room. The top picks are plagued with injuries. Let’s start from the top and cover QBs this week: Brady, Romo, Manning (it took him until yesterday to get in the groove from his offseason knee surgery and play like the Peyton we know), Palmer, Young, Hasselbeck, Edwards. The number 1 fantasy QB in the league right now is Rodgers; he wasn’t even drafted in my league. I picked him up week 2. Seriously. Hey Brett, I guess you now know why the Pack wanted you Favre, Favre away. But, then even good old Brett is showing the league how it’s done. Six touchdowns in one game; good on ya! But, thanks for doing it the week that Rodgers (my starting fantasy QB) gets injured and you’re sitting on my bench.

But what kind of effect does this have on the league? I feel like I’m on my toes. No game’s a gimme – I mean even the Rams won a game now and I definitely didn’t see that coming. It’s exciting nonetheless to see different teams emerge victorious. Although, my biased, little heart was broken to see the Colts receive their first September loss since 2004. 3-2 is still a winning record but I miss starting 5-0.