The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

Quick Thoughts - Week 2 Recap

Quick thoughts while wondering if it’s too early to start changing predictions…

n You know, it’s amazing. I know the Lions are overrated, I know that they can’t win on the road, I know that the Bears have an extremely good defense, and yet I still manage to find a way to parlay the Lions (-2) into all but 2 of my bets this weekend. Smooth, D. Real smooth…

n So, let’s see. The Vikings are 0-2 and looked awful, again. The Ravens are 0-2, and have still not found a way to produce anything on offense. The Chargers are 0-2, and looked terrible late in both games. The Pats, Rams, and Panthers are 1-1. And the Colts & Eagles are 2-0. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the ultimate in parity – D’s predictions as 2005 Division Winners!

n Ugly, ugly weekend. Between the Sox splitting with the A’s, the Pats coughing one up in Carolina (winnable game without the 12 penalties for 86 yards – six false starts?! – and 233 return yards allowed), and my ill-advised, boredom-fueled return to online poker, plus the aforementioned Lions-parlays, it was just a less than pleasant weekend for me all around. At least I look poised to win the week in 2 of 3 fantasy football leagues.

n I liked what I saw from:

o Carolina. This is the Panthers team we all expected to see this year. Unfortunately, they had to show up against the Patriots.

o Jacksonville. That AFC South isn’t just going to be handed to the Colts this year, folks. Expect a dogfight all season long.

o Kansas City. Two weeks, 24 total points allowed. I can remember games in the last couple of years where 24 points allowed was a good quarter for the KC defense.

o Chicago. They’re slowly creeping up to… first place in the NFC North?! With Minnesota & Green Bay 0-2, they now hold the tiebreaker over the Lions. That bandwagon is getting heavier and heavier…

o Chad Pennington. OK, maybe his shoulder isn’t 100%, but maybe it’s not completely useless, either.

o Philadelphia. Wow. Can I take a mulligan on that 49ers pick from Thursday? “Teams always get that garbage-time TD to make it close”. In this case, San Francisco would have needed four garbage-time TD’s to cover the line. Oops.

o Ben Roethlisberger. 2-0 in his sophomore season (Slump? What slump?), and he was actually worse yesterday. He’s got a 153.6 passer rating through the first two weeks. That’s pretty good…

n I was appalled by:

o The Patriots’ coaching staff. Hear me out here. Poor play-calling. Good, but not great adjustments at halftime (they looked ready to take over in the third quarter until Brady fumbled). A sudden inability to throw the little red challenge flag (Steven Davis DID NOT score that TD, although I can understand that a challenge was basically useless – it couldn’t have been called a fumble.) Just not the best effort of the Belichick era…

o Minnesota. C’mon, Randy Moss could not have been that integral to this team. I mean, the Raiders are 0-2 with him. Did Daunte Culpepper just forget how to throw to anyone without #84 on his jersey? At least, anyone on his own team…

o Green Bay. This is the end of an era. Plain and simple. Someday, we’ll look back on the mid-90’s – early 00’s Packers as an absolutely great team that reached their peak early in the run (Super Bowl XXXII) and never hit full potential again.

o Baltimore. Can we get Jeff George’s agent on the phone? Ryan Leaf? Anyone that can throw a spiral? I’m available if you need me. Maybe we could get that ex-NFL quarterback who’s on Survivor right now…

o San Diego. Remember last week when I said I was impressed by Kansas City, and made mention that the Chargers were going to get a fight for the AFC West? Well, I might have been a little off. I’m starting to wonder if anyone will give The Chiefs a fight for the AFC West. Awful. Totally awful.

o Detroit. Although, really, I shouldn’t be so surprised by this.

n Can you say “Bengals – AFC Wild Card team”? I know, it might sound strange. Maybe even wrong. But it’s looking like they’ll be serious contenders for that title…

n If Joey Harrington is the starting QB for the Lions next week, there’s a serious problem with the NFL. I don’t care if your backup QB is named Dan Orlovsky – he can’t possibly be any worse than Harrington right now. I’ve been a big Harrington supporter for three years now, and I’m fed up. Move on, take your lumps, and draft someone in the off-season.

n Ditto for the Ravens, unless Kyle Boller pulls a Superman and returns to lead Baltimore to the playoffs.

n Mike Tice – I wouldn’t go making any plans to stick around in Minnesota after this 1-year contract runs out…

n Next weeks’ Pats/Steelers matchup is probably going to be one of the most physical games you will ever see. The Pats are fired up; the Steelers are on a roll. Add in the possible return of Jerome Bettis (although, if you’re Bill Cowher, are you really in any rush to sit Willy Parker and welcome back The Bus?), and you’re looking at football, circa 1947.

OK, I think I’ve vented enough. I’m sticking by my picks for tonight - Giants (-3), Cowboys (-6). If both of them are right, I finish the week 8-7-1. If not, well, I might just have more to rant about tomorrow.

posted by Big D @ 8:51 AM